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wifelinkmtg · 1 year

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Transformation, Horror, Eros, Phyrexia

There is another shore, you know, upon the other side. - Lewis Carroll, “The Lobster Quadrille,”

ONE.

There is a moment early in H.P. Lovecraft’s 1931 novella The Shadow over Innsmouth where the nameless narrator looks out from the rotting seaside hamlet where he has lucklessly ventured, to the so-called Devil Reef some ways out in the harbor, darkened by a cloud of evil rumor—and something curious happens: the narrator experiences two opposed sensations simultaneously. The “long, black line” of the reef conveys “a suggestion of odd latent malignancy,” but also, “a subtle, curious sense of beckoning seemed superadded to the grim repulsion.” This bit of foreshadowing—the reef both calling and repelling the narrator—only finds its denouement at the very end of the story, after our narrator has narrowly escaped Innsmouth, the fish-like monsters who swarm in off of Devil Reef and their part-human descendants who inhabit the town in an unconvincing and repellent simulacrum of humanity. After his escape, the narrator does some genealogical research into his own troubled family history, full of disappearances and suicides, and concludes that he himself is one such abyssal hybrid. As he ages, he finds himself changing to resemble them, and in his dreams he swims among them in undersea palaces and gardens. The call of the deep becomes impossible to ignore:

So far I have not shot myself as my uncle Douglas did. I bought an automatic and almost took the step, but certain dreams deterred me. The tense extremes of horror are lessening, and I feel queerly drawn toward the unknown sea-deeps instead of fearing them. I hear and do strange things in sleep, and awake with a kind of exaltation instead of terror.

In the end, the narrator embraces the change and determines to flee to those oceanic depths, to live “amidst wonder and glory for ever.”

This is horror.

Something curious also happens in Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House. Our heroine, Eleanor Vance, flees an unhappy life with a loveless sister to a haunted house, to take part in a paranormal experiment with three new friends. The haunting proceeds predictably but effectively: labyrinthine corridors, voices, unearthly cold, banging on doors, the rare apparition. The participants find themselves see-sawing between increasing night-time terror and a strangely intense joie de vivre by day, until one night, as the house seems to shake itself down upon its terrified guests in a dizzying cataclysm, Eleanor breaks:

She heard the laughter over all, coming thin and lunatic, rising in its little crazy tune, and thought, No; it is over for me. It is too much, she thought, I will relinquish my possession of this self of mine, abdicate, give over willingly what I never wanted at all; whatever it wants of me it can have.

By the next line, it is abruptly morning. The terror has ceased; the house stands. Its manifestations, for Eleanor, become benign: an unseen figure catches her beside a brook,

and she was held tight and safe. It is not cold at all, she thought, it is not cold at all.

She is through the horror now, on the other side of something. She becomes part of the haunting. Her senses encompass the whole of the house. She runs unafraid through the house by night, banging on doors, laughing as she eludes the other guests. When they finally catch up to her, it seems clear to them that Hill House has crept into her, that she has crossed some line, and they decide the best course of action is to send her away, in the hopes that with time she will return to this side, the normal side, the human side.

Instead, faced with rejection behind her and her old unhappy life before her, Eleanor Vance steers her car into a tree. There are holes which admit passage in only one direction. This, too, is horror.

In the 2018 film Annihilation, Lena (played by Natalie Portman) crosses a literal barrier called the Shimmer into a dangerous yet beautiful alien landscape full of mutated creatures. During their journey deeper into this territory, Lena and her companions realize that they themselves are also changing under the alien influence. Some break under the realization. Some surrender to the change and vanish into the landscape. Lena alone returns from the heart of the phenomenon, but she is no longer herself. Is this still horror? The film has many horror elements to it, but in this last moment, as she embraces her similarly-transformed husband, it is something else.

Cyberqueen, a 2012 text game created by Porpentine, draws on a legacy of godlike malevolent artificial intelligences in fiction (AM, from Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” GladOS from the Portal games, and most importantly SHODAN from the System Shock series, who is cited as an inspiration eleven times in the Cyberqueen acknowledgements.) In this game, you awake from cryosleep on a colony spaceship where the shipboard AI has gone rogue. You fight her. You lose. You run. You are caught. You are forcibly cyberized, your mind surgically altered, your will brought into line with that of the AI. Finally, you kill or mutilate every other surviving human aboard the ship. It is filthily, overwhelmingly erotic throughout. (You can play it here, and I strongly recommend doing so if you have the stomach for it.)

This is no longer horror, is it? How can the same sort of transformation we encounter as horror in Lovecraft be encountered here as something to get off to? Well,

TWO.

I don’t remember now where I got the idea from, but there was a period in my childhood where I was terrified of the idea of time travel—specifically of the idea that someone in the future would invent it, travel to before I was born, and through the butterfly effect cause me to be born a girl instead. I used to lie awake at night circling the idea like a broken tooth. It was an irrational fear on multiple levels: I wasn’t afraid of being written out of the timeline through time travel, and I knew, intellectually, that in the timeline where I was born a girl I would have no memory of ever having been anything else, but even so, the horror of it caught me and held me by the throat.

This meant something, of course—in retrospect obvious, but at the time literally unimaginable, and it wasn’t until college, sitting at my computer in the dark in my dorm room at three in the morning, following the itching in my brain, that I unearthed alchemical knowledge: the transmutation of sex, male into female, in a dizzying profusion of form and process and—okay what I’m saying is I discovered forced feminization porn, yeah? It was revelatory. It was squalid. I was still Christian and couldn’t even bring myself to jerk off yet, so I sat there, the itch in my brain grown into a thunderous buzz, unable or unwilling to look away.

Forced feminization—I promise this is relevant—is the unwilling transformation of (usually) a man into (usually) a hyper-feminine woman, accomplished by a wide variety of means, including but not limited to blackmail, magic potions, nanite swarms, cursed artifacts, hacks or glitches in virtual reality programs, badly-worded wishes, industrial accidents, chemical leaks, abduction and surgery, medical malpractice, and hypnosis. You may notice that many if not all of these scenarios could be made into horror with little change, and in fact it is not uncommon for a poorly-written or over-ambitious forced-fem story to wind up as horror by accident (though of course this greatly depends on the tastes of the individual reader.)

(As an aside, I’d like to note that there is a great deal to learn from porn—not in terms of How to Do Sex, but about how the culture which produced it thinks about sex, and gender, and race and morality and technology and a host of other things. It’s a lot like popping the hood of a car and examining the engine. Sure, you wind up greasy and should probably wash your hands before you rejoin polite company, but if you don’t, you’ll never figure out the underlying issues. Actually, it’s a lot like horror in that regard.)

Let’s talk about a very different transformation I was undergoing at the same time: the loss of my faith. I was raised, as mentioned, very Christian—and in one of the worst strains of fundamentalist white American Evangelicalism. I was a true believer: the world for me was entirely divided between the faithful elect and the unbelievers, who must necessarily know the truth of the (fundamentalist white American Evangelical) gospel in their hearts, but had wilfully chosen to oppose Christ. The prospect of passing from the elect into the category of the unbeliever was unthinkable. The process of deconversion led only into the outer darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And yet I found myself on that precipice anyway. The worldview of FWAE is not one which survives too much contact with the actual world, and I had chosen against my parents’ preferences to go to a secular university, the better to witness to the unsaved. In the end, the process I had been mortally afraid of consisted of a couple days’ agonized thought, unanswered prayer and tearful calls to my unresponsive parents and pastor, after which I emerged into a world much bigger and much more complex than the one I’d grown up in. The serpent had told the truth after all: I had eaten of the fruit, and had not died.

Okay: is this horror? Reader, forgive me for presupposing anything about your perspective, but you’re on a horny lesbian Magic: the Gathering card art review tumblr, so I’m going to assume that losing one’s hateful, fundamentalist faith is the opposite of horrifying to you. But it was, absolutely, horror to contemplate for someone on the other side of that process.

But then... is the horror of any given transformation only a matter of where you’re standing? If you read The Shadow over Innsmouth aware of Lovecraft’s profound racism, it becomes very, very obvious that the horror of Innsmouth is the specter of miscegenation. The narrator’s horrified cataloging of the facial features of the offspring of fishmen and humans, the South Pacific origin of the sea-devil-worship of Innsmouth brought back by an enterprising merchant captain, the fear of the unsuspected poison of one’s own ancestry lurking in one’s own blood: all of this is much less effective as horror for someone living in a country where interracial marriages are protected under law and seen as unproblematic in consensus morality (assume whatever asterisks are necessary for the complicated landscape of attitudes toward interracial relationships in the United States, please, I do not have the expertise or desire to get into it here.) My point is that since 1967 (asterisk asterisk asterisk), we are through to the other side of that horror, and it turns out there literally wasn’t anything to be afraid of. The pelagial palaces and terraced coral gardens of Y’ha-nthlei just sound beautiful to me.

And it’s hard for me—though I may be in the minority here—to view Hill House as the primary antagonist in Jackson’s novel. The true source of evil is all the things Eleanor runs from and therefore brings with her: her cruel, deceased mother, her exploitation and infantilization by her sister; as well as the final polite unwillingness of her new friends at Hill House to do anything but send her away once she goes inconveniently mad. These mundane ills are what sends Eleanor Vance careening into the tree, not the supernatural will of malignant architecture.

Here, then, is the better part of my thesis: transformation horror is something that can be traversed. You can come out the other end of a transformation unrecognizable to you-as-you-were, and yet still very much yourself. Moreover, it is this navigability, this double-sidedness which so closely links the horror of transformation to the eros of transformation. Not all transformation horror, passed through, becomes plainly erotic, but it is very often portrayed as a kind of seduction, and it is difficult for me to conceive of eros without some kind of change. Desire is a kind of transformation, is it not?

In fact, isn’t it true that a great many of us have already passed through such a transformation? Recall yourself as a child, as you were when you first learned about sex: wasn’t there something repellent and unhygienic about the idea? Wasn’t there a small horror in being told, you will change, and this will cease to be loathsome and become something you desire fervently, something you seek out, something you go to great lengths to experience? ...or were you, possibly, raised in a family & culture that was normal about sex and bodies? I admit I may be generalizing my individual neuroses to some extent here. Well, stet, at the very least you can see where I’m coming from.

THREE.

Returning for a moment to the subject of porn: why forced feminization, specifically? There are—you’re going to have to trust me here—no shortage of ways in the real world by which a man transforms into a woman, and very few of them involve coercion or all the horror-adjacent setup of, say, mind-control devices or vengeful curses. Why does a simple story of a willing gender transition fail to function as erotica? Why did it take stories of unwilling transformation for me to learn I was transgender? What’s the juice ne sais quoi at play in forced-fem?

Well, how does Luke Skywalker come to leave Tatooine? He gets a mysterious message from a princess, a desert wizard tells him to come help rescue her, and... he says no. He has obligations to family here, a job to do, power converters to bring back from Tosche Station. He is enmeshed in a social web, like all of us: it surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together and so forth. So in order for Luke to go on grand adventures, the story needs to murder his aunt and uncle and sever those threads of social obligation.

Joseph Campbell, monomyth monomane that he was, would say this is “Refusing the Call” and find it in Jungian shadow on every cave wall, signifying something important in the heart of humanity, but really this is just a useful storytelling tool: a story needs change, but a virtuous protagonist cannot simply abandon their obligations and designated social role to go gallivanting off into space, so change must be forced upon them.

The bodice-ripper romance novel, the rape fantasy, the forced feminization story are all operating on a similar premise: you are so wrapped in society’s web, in your socially-dictated identity, that you cannot even acknowledge your desires on the level of conscious thought. When these things are enacted on your body, you will find yourself changed by the experience. You will love what has been done to you, and you remain blameless, since it’s not as though you sought this out.

These are liberatory fantasies. The lack of consent is precisely what allows you to move beyond what is permitted you into something new.

Incantation Against Bad-Faith Interpretation because I, a transsexual, just called rape fantasies “liberatory”: I am talking about fantasies, I am talking about why people fantasize about having their consent violated, I am talking about the role such fantasies play and what they can tell us about horror and desire. I am not advocating for real people to have real bad things done to them in real life, fuck off, End of Incantation.

So then, we’ve assembled the full thesis: transformation horror is traversible to the other side, and is inextricably linked to transformation erotica, both because of the seduction of transformation in horror and because the horror of transformation unlocks regions of desire which would otherwise have remained inaccessible.

Okay, now we can talk about Phyrexia.

FOUR.

I hear the roar of the big machine / Two worlds and in between / Hot metal and methedrine / I hear empire down

- The Sisters of Mercy, “Lucretia My Reflection”, from Floodland

Phyrexia is many things—a world, another world, a faction, a kind of creature—but I think it can most succinctly be understood as a virulently contagious biomechanical body horror cult dedicated to the ultimate incorporation of all things into itself. It’s a bit like Star Trek’s the Borg, if the Borg had any style whatsoever. It draws heavy inspiration from H. R. Giger’s work—some Phyrexian horrors are barely-altered versions of the xenomorph from Alien—as well as from Clive Barker’s Cenobites in Hellraiser, whose alien BDSM schtick is especially influential on the aesthetic of New Phyrexia. It is transmitted through glistening oil, an infection vector capable of reshaping bodies and minds, and given enough time, whole worlds. The process by which a being is made into a Phyrexian, “compleation,” is accomplished via glistening oil exposure, surgery, cyberization, and brainwashing.

This essay is in many ways a response to Rhystic Studies’ latest video, called “Phyrexia is Hell”. I think it’s a well-made video, as is true of all Sam Gaglio’s work, and a lot of it is really good—the overview of the nearly-thirty-year history of depictions of Phyrexia in Magic: the Gathering art is invaluable, and the stuff about the Phyrexian conlang is unbelievably cool—but the way he identifies Phyrexia one-to-one with a pretty facile understanding of transhumanism leads him to confused and frankly silly conclusions, like placing Phyrexian compleation on the same continuum with cosmetic orthodontics. Like,

Mandible Justiciar (art by Mike Franchina)

Phyrexia is perfectly happy for you to have teeth in your arms instead of your head! They don’t care about the narrow ideal of a conventionally-attractive human smile. This is a whole other thing.

Now, I don’t want to come down too hard on Gaglio here for a couple of reasons: one, he is very good at what he does (see his videos Understanding Sagas and Red Deck Wins, for example); two, it’s reasonable to say that a full understanding of transhumanism is beyond the scope of a video essay about the tiny pictures on cards for dweebs; and three, most importantly, because I see people make this same mistake all the time. People focus on the things that are textually true about Phyrexia and miss the tension between that and the very different things currently being said by the Phyrexian aesthetic. They miss the razorverge thicket, as it were, for the mycosynth trees.

For instance: it is textually the case that Phyrexia is a sort of fascist cult stemming from the depraved machinations of a dead eugenicist god. Contrast, however, other fascist factions in science fiction: the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40K worships a massive Aryan god-emperor übermensch, its battles are fought by nine-foot-tall genetically-engineered supersoldiers, and it slaps either skulls or chainsaws on every available surface. The Galactic Empire from Star Wars has legions of identical, uniform stormtroopers. Even the Borg all look alike. Phyrexians talk of ideal perfection of form and then make ten thousand completely different monsters. Phyrexians talk of perfect unity and splinter into nearly a dozen factions who can’t even agree on a name for what they’re trying to accomplish. Other fictional fascisms don’t do this—sure, there’s internal contradiction, as in real fascism, but the core aesthetic remains recognizably, sometimes indistinguishably fascist. You can easily find terminally-online Nazis using Warhammer 40K lingo with that peculiar sincerity which is indistinguishable from irony when you’ve decided the truth doesn’t matter, but it would be a lot harder to find some alt-right bozo going all-in on the Glory of Phyrexia. The aesthetic is all wrong, and fascism’s aesthetic is one of its few consistent features.

Mondrak, Glory Dominus (art by Jason A. Engle)

You see what I mean? The aesthetic evokes a sort of alien fascism, but the art itself would be considered “degenerate” by actual fascists.

Tamiyo’s Immobilizer (art by Daren Bader)

This is much, much closer to Mapplethorpe than to Riefenstahl. And people respond to Phyrexia similarly! The body horror and grotesquerie make them uncomfortable, and then they try to moralize that discomfort. This has been happening at the very least since 2011 with the release of New Phyrexia, and I have seen people on Tumblr arguing in total sincerity that people who are into Phyrexia are making themselves susceptible to real-life cult recruitment (again, the heterogeneity of form in Phyrexia is incompatible with the enforced uniformity of cults and other high-control groups. The appeal of Phyrexia does not translate into real-life cults.)

So, okay, what is the appeal of Phyrexia? Well, you get a sick fuckin cyborg body, is what. Many of us, for various reasons (disability, disease, gender, and so forth) find ourselve intensely dissatisfied with our own bodies, and wanting to radically alter them. Many of us already have. Yes, you surrender your humanity when you are compleated, but we know first-hand that “humanity” is socially-constructed and contingent on certain kinds of conformity. We’ve had our humanity doubted, interrogated, stripped away. We’ve done without. It’s not too high a price to pay, if we get to look like this at the end:

Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting (art by Chase Stone)

I’d even argue that getting to reject humanity as it has rejected you is part of the appeal of compleation. This isn’t quite transhumanism; I might call it exhumanism: the freedom to unearth a way of being that is no longer being human. This is why compleation is coercive, remember? The fantasy allows you to get to this point without making the unimaginable decision to reject not only your individual social obligations, but the idea that you could owe anyone or everyone any kind of social conformity simply for having been born into your species—and then you get to be a cool and powerful cybergorgon.

This, then, is why I don’t blame someone like Sam Gaglio (who is to the best of my knowledge both cisgender and able-bodied) for not really getting what’s going on with Phyrexia. He lives on the before side of the horror of transformation; he’s never had to cross over.

In fact, I’d go one step further here. Phyrexia has existed for almost thirty years, and in that time it’s changed quite a bit. Gaglio quotes an article by Rob Bockman in Hipsters of the Coast which comments on how the shift in the depictions of Phyrexia from 1994 to 2000 reflected shifts in cultural fears over time. The Satanic Panic shaded into multidirectional Y2K anxieties, and the necromancy of original Phyrexia mutated into technological horror. This is what effective horror does: it reflects the fears of its age back to us.

Today, Phyrexia is a seductive, corrupting influence. They have figured out how to compleat planeswalkers—the protagonists of Magic storylines; named, important characters (and Lukka)—which was previously thought impossible. Characters we knew and loved (and Lukka) are seduced, brainwashed, bodily violated, surgically altered, and returned to us unrecognizable. It is not coincidental that this version of Phyrexia is concurrent with the worst wave of anti-transgender legislation to hit the United States in decades—legislation which plays on the specters of the transsexual bathroom predator and on the brainwashed child transitioner, on the idea that transsexuality is a form of social contagion we must protect our children from even learning about. The horror of Phyrexia in its current incarnation is a mirror of our cultural fear of transsexual bodies.

Irreversible Damage: the Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters (art by Lauren K. Cannon)

I want to be very clear here—actually, one moment, my extremely funny Abigail Schrier joke notwithstanding, I do need to tell you that the actual name of the above card is “Furnace Punisher”, which is just peak Phyrexia—I want to be clear that I am not ascribing any kind of malice or antipathy towards trans people, either intentional or unconscious, to Wizards of the Coast or the people who make Magic: the Gathering. I would be shocked if anyone there set out to make Innsmouth-style horror about transsexuals. Nor am I upset that they kind of have! Something being fun and interesting is way more important to me than whether or not it’s problematic, and it’s not like I haven’t seen way more vicious horror about transsexuals. We’ll laugh about this someday, in the coral gardens of Y’ha-nthlei, and you’ll wonder what you were ever so afraid of.

In fact, this is another reason why Phyrexia is so appealing to people like us: we are a kind of social contagion. We are carriers for the viral idea that modes of being outside patriarchy and the nuclear family exist; that gender is a marketing demographic, not an ontological truth; that damn near everything about the world we’ve built is not a necessary fact but a social construct contingent upon a half-dozen other social constructs. A new world grows from many, many seeds, and this one germinates in us.

Anyway! What were we talking aboFIVE.

//please state your name for the record

bone-wife / spit-dribbler / understudy for the underdog / uphill rumor / fine-toothed cunt

- Franny Choi, “Turing Test”, from Death by Sex Machine

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (art by Igor Kieryluk)

There is a gravitational pull this painting exerts on people. Even people who don’t get Phyrexia find themselves drawn in, find it difficult to look away (e.g. 26:30 in that Rhystic Studies video.) I have for a long time maintained that Elesh Norn is the hottest character in Magic, and that Kieryluk’s portrayal of her is the best art in Magic, and neither of these opinions are particularly surprising coming from me. What is surprising is just how many people also converge on Miss Multiverse’s-Most-Fuckable-Pyramid-Head as, not just a sex icon of Magic: the Gathering, but the sex icon.

Well, or is it? Giant anchor-shaped porcelain mask aside, her silhouette is more or less that of a painfully-thin woman; she stands fully twelve feet tall, and we remember how wild everyone went over Resident Evil: Village’s woman who was only three-quarters of that; and though not an artificial intelligence herself, it’s hard not to place her somewhere in the Cyberqueen lineage. Like SHODAN, like GladOS, like Cyberqueen, she exerts a near-omnipotent level of control over (part of) her world; like them, she is a megalomaniacal egotist (though she cloaks her egotism in piety); like them, she is happy to render you more useful to her via surgery, brainwashing, or deadly neurotoxin. Her mask obscures where her eyes would be, and if I’ve learned anything from a decade of playing or mostly watching other people play the various Dark Souls games, it’s that people go apeshit for character designs without visible eyes (see also: the xenomorph from Alien; I did a whole thing on this subject somewhere back in the Wifelink archive.) So you’ve got a 12′ nigh-omnipotent eyeless dominatrix mostly shaped like a skinny woman, which is maybe pushing a whole lot of buttons at once for a lot of people.

As a character, we don’t know much about her: at some point, she became undisputed leader of the Machine Orthodoxy, the cultiest bit of New Phyrexia. At a later point, she became the extremely-disputed leader of New Phyrexia as a whole. She likes long walks on the beach and multiversal Phyrexian dominion, you get it. There is, however, one good story featuring her, and it is “A Garden of Flesh” by Lora Gray (sorry to give you additional reading in a five-thousand-word essay.) The story is interesting because it is the rare story told from a Phyrexian point of view, and because it flies in the face of many of our assumptions about Phyrexian interiority. Phyrexians, we’re told, lack souls. They’re unfeeling, more machine than man. They most certainly don’t dream.

“A Garden of Flesh” is what happens when Ashiok, planeswalker architect of nightmares and an eyeless smokeshow in their own right, gets curious about whether they can induce nightmares in a Phyrexian mind. What follows is a curiously-effective piece of body & transformation horror, told from the point of view of what is supposed to be the awful endpoint of transformation horror. What does a perfect, powerful biomechanical creature fear? The organic, soft, spongy. Putrefaction. Decay. What does such a creature fear becoming? Human.

I didn’t devote a fifth of this essay to Elesh Norn just because she’s unbelievably hot (although dayenu), but because of this story, and how it complicates our thesis. The horror of transformation is traversible, yes, but what will you find on the other side? More transformation. More horror. And transformation is inevitable: who of us are who we expected to be? Who of us still hold dear the precious things of childhood? And even you few who are raising your hands right now, you too will experience transformation. Should you live long enough, you will find yourself changing. Your body and mind will grow rebellious, unreliable. You will grow old. You will decay.

And yet—it’s a matter of perspective, of where you weight your focus, isn’t it? There will always be more transformation and more horror, but there will always be a way through it. There will always be another shore upon the other side. You will change. You will become unrecognizable to who you were before. You will be fine.

Incompleat Bibliography & Further Reading/Viewing/Playing

Rhystic Studies, “Phyrexia is Hell”, 2023. H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow over Innsmouth, 1931. Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House, 1959. Alex Garland, Annihilation, 2018. Harlan Ellison, “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, 1967. Ken Levine, System Shock 2, 1999. —never played it myself. Mostly I just open up a youtube video of SHODAN voice lines when I want to get belittled by an AI dominatrix. Valve, Portal 2, 2011. —there is a lot more to be said about GladOS and Elesh Norn specifically and their respective fraught relationships with the idea of their own humanity. Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Cyberqueen, 2012. —whence my chapter header screenshots. Seriously, this game fucks so hard. Franny Choi, Death by Sex Machine, 2017. —Choi is making extensive use of cyborg metaphor to address the specific experience of being a Korean-American woman. This is very different from anything I’m talking about, but it also always felt extremely relevant to me as a trans woman. Subaltern-to-subaltern communication. Lora Gray, “A Garden of Flesh,” 2022. —it’s no accident that the author of the one good story told from a Phyrexian POV is nonbinary. hbomberguy, “Outsiders: How To Adapt H.P. Lovecraft In the 21st Century”, 2018. Jacob Geller, “Who’s Afraid of Modern Art: Vandalism, Video Games, and Fascism”, 2019. Caitlín R Kiernan, The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, 2012. —only tangentially relevant, except insofar as it recontextualizes the Lewis Carroll line I open the essay with, and insofar as it is my favorite novel and I’m writing the bibliography. Debatable whether it counts as transformation horror, and I imagine the author would bridle at its being described as horror, but nevertheless: you should read this book.

#magic the gathering #phyrexia

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bitterkarella · 5 months

Text

Midnight Pals: Prog Harder

Stephen King: you know i'm something of a prog guy myself Todd Keisling: is that right King: maybe you've heard of a little band called the rock bottom remainders Keisling: yeah i've heard of them King: King: well King: well i was in that band

Keisling: steve i would hardly compare the rock bottom remainders to the awesome power of progressive rock King: c'mon todd i got progressive cred! King: i got the crimson king in my dark tower books! Poe: Barker: Koontz: Lovecraft: King: the crimson king! King: the crimson king! Poe: Barker: Koontz: Lovecraft: King: based on king crimson! Poe: Barker: Koontz: Lovecraft: King: oh for crying out loud you guys

Barker: i don't know how you expect anyone to get that reference Barker: when you mix up the name like that King: but Barker: i mean "crimson king," "king crimson" Barker: you reversed the words King: but Barker: kinda confusing you know King: but Poe: yeah i never picked up on it

King: c'mon! I'm totally prog! King: what about imaginos King: i wrote imaginos! Keisling: ffft blue oyster cult? that's barely prog King: "not prog"?!? King: haven't you seen the shooting shark music video???

Koontz: what's imaginos? King: oh dean you're in for a real treat King: hold on i'll recite it for you Barker: oh christ King: no no you'll like i swear King: "imagine" King: "if you will" King: "a world where anything can happen" King: "if you can imaginos it"

King: a bedtime story for the children of the damned King: from the dream world paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history Barker: hahah what the fuck Poe: cliveffffffffffft ha ha ha King: guys! stop laughing!! King: i'm being serious!

King: c'mon Todd! Let me prove it! King: dean give me those headphones King: I'm gonna listen to Gentle Giant! Keisling: no steve don't do it! Keisling: you have so much to live for!

King: [listening to Gentle Giant] yeah yeah i get it, i dig it Keisling: oh my god steve i misjudged you Keisling: you really are a prog master Keisling: only a true black belt prog master could listen to Gentle Giant without brain hemorrhages King: that's what i've been saying

Keisling: in fact i Keisling: wait a second Keisling: what gentle giant album are you listening to King: uh Keisling: is it their commercially palatable sellout album Giant for a Day??? King: [sweating] n-no?

#midnight pals #the midnight society #midnight society #stephen king #clive barker #edgar allan poe #dean koontz #hp lovecraft #todd keisling

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fandomtrumpshate · 2 months

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Unlisted Fandom Challenge

Two days ago, at our last Unlisted Fandom Challenge update, we had a 3-way tie for first. Today? One of those fandoms has taken the lead AND a new fandom that hadn't had even a single signup before has jumped all the way into a 4-way tie for second. Your fandom could do the same, in the hours still left before signups close!

At present, our leaderboard looks like this:

7 Danny Phantom

5 Carmen Sandiego (2019) 5 For All Mankind 5 Tortall 5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney 4 Alan Wake/Remedyverse 4 Formula 1 RPF 4 Ted Lasso 4 The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison 4 The Stanley Parable

3 Greek Mythology/Religion 3 Buffyverse 3 Bungo Stray Dogs 3 Call of Duty 3 Detective Conan 3 Dragon Ball 3 HBO War 3 Kingdom Hearts 3 Persona Series: 3-5 3 Professional Wrestling 3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb 3 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab 3 The Mummy films 1999-2008 3 Undertale

Given the way Carmen Sandiego came from *nowhere* to tie for 2nd place, a single signup really can shake things up! And for the next few hours, signups are STILL OPEN! Do the thing!

The rest of our unlisted write-in fandoms under the cut for length -

2 Ghosts (TV) 2 Black Sails 2 Cosmere 2 CSI 2 Cyberpunk 2077 2 Dead Friend Forever 2 Death Stranding 2 Dice Punks (podcast) 2 Dimension 20 2 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds 2 Dracula 2 Dune 2 Firefly 2 Glee 2 Guardian/Zhen Hun 2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP 2 Imperial Radch Series 2 Inception 2 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 2 Mob Psycho 100 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury 2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 2 Ordem Paranormal Quarentena 2 QSMP / Quackity SMP 2 Riverdale 2 Saw 2 Slow Horses (TV Show) 2 South Park 2 Stormlight Archive 2 The Bear (TV) 2 The Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros 2 The Folk of the Air (Holly Black) 2 The Radiant Emperor Series 2 Venture Bros 2 Voltron 2 Wolf Pack 1 1670 1 A Court of Fey & Flowers 1 a league of their own (TV series) 1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series) 1 American Gods 1 Among Us 1 Bandom RPF (Bad Omens) 1 Bandom RPF (Lorna Shore) 1 Bandom RPF (Motionless In White) 1 Beastars 1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival) 1 Horror 1 Bioshock 1&2 1 Blue Beetle 1 Blue Eye Samurai 1 Books of the Raksura 1 Boondock Saints 1 Breakfast With Scot 1 Bunny - Mona Awad 1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF 1 Cabin Pressure 1 Cats the musical 1 Charlie's Angels (2019) 1 Cherry Magic 1 Chronicles of Narnia 1 Cobra Kai 1 Coffee Talk (Video Game) 1 Criminal Minds 1 Death Note 1 Devil May Cry 1 Dexter 1 Digimon 1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett 1 Disney Theatrical Animated Universe 1 Divergent 1 DMBJ (Grave Robber's Chronicles) - Xu Lei 1 Dream SMP 1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast) 1 Endeavour/Morseverse/Inspector Morse (ITV/Dexter) 1 Ensemble Stars!! 1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda) 1 Falsettos 1 Fargo FX 1 Farscape 1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16) 1 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Friends at the Table 1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid 1 Grantchester 1 Green Creek 1 Grey's Anatomy 1 Grimm 1 Gundam (see below for details) 1 Hatchetfield 1 Hawaii 5.0 1 Hello From The Hallowoods 1 High School Musical 1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 1 Hollow Knight 1 Honkai Star Rail 1 Horizon Zero Dawn 1 Infinity Train 1 IT (Movies - Muschietti) 1 Jeff Satur - music videos 1 Julie and the Phantoms 1 Kushiel's Legacy 1 Law and Order 1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) 1 London Spy 1 Lovecraft Mythos 1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic 1 Magnificent Seven 1 Mary Grant Bruce's Billabong series 1 Mrs. Davis 1 My Little Pony 1 Nancy Drew (CW Series) 1 Narcos (TV) 1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard 1 NU: Carnival 1 Omori 1 One Direction 1 Orphan Black 1 Outlast 1 Paranatural 1 Phantomarine 1 Re-Animator 1 Resident Evil/Biohazard 1 Sex Education (TV) 1 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 1 Simon Snow Series 1 Skins (UK) 1 Slam Dunk 1 Starry Musical 1 Succession 1 Sunless Sea 1 Super Sentai 1 Sweeney Todd 1 Team Starkid 1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 The Adventure Zone: Balance 1 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension 1 The Adventures of Tintin 1 The Artful Dodger 1 The Good Place 1 The Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh 1 The Hollows - Kim Harrison 1 The Last Kingdom 1 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix 1 The Lunar Chronicles 1 The Mechanisms 1 The Pairing (Casey McQuiston) 1 The Saint of Steel 1 The Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler 1 The Terror (TV 2018) 1 Three of Hearts 1 Tin Can Bros 1 Tower of God 1 True Detective 1 Twilight 1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers) 1 Weak Hero Class 1 1 Westworld (TV) 1 Yellowjackets 1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate #fanworks charity auction #unlisted fandom challenge #signups are STILL OPEN!#do the thing!

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tachimichishrine · 6 months

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"the cat came back"

⫭◦⨝◦⫬

h. p. lovecraft x fem! natsume's daughter! reader

lovecraft is canon afraid of cats! now you know >:)

warnings: uncontrollable fluff ; that was a joke idk how to fluff ; made him ooc af womp womp ; i want to eat lovecraft ; just a little nom nom is that too much to ask; tentacle hentai (reader eats his hair) ; fishing boats (derogatory) ; intended lowercase

moonlight was his favourite time of the day.

his eyes peeked out from the rippling surface of the water, hair floating and spanning out like branches of a tree. he was sleeping a short while ago, until...

"shh!! it's the middle of the night, someone's gonna yell at us for doing this!"

disinterested eyes glanced at a boat. a fishing boat. he shuddered; it appeared like two adults were sitting down on it, giggling mischievously at each other while the motor grumbled loudly, scaring away the sea life from the secluded corner along the coast.

"bah, it's not a big deal," the other person responded, sporting a confident smirk. "we're out in the middle of nowhere. who are we going to disturb, the little mermaid?"

another round of giggles. the couple bickered about something else, something he didn't care to remember, then ate each other. lovecraft watched curiously as their lips met, then sighed. he wanted to sleep.

he reached a tentacle from under the surface of the water and capsized the boat.

another week, another goddamn boat. he just wanted to sleep: ever since the guild had fallen apart, he didn't have to do anything, and he enjoyed it very much. he'd occasionally leave the comfort of the sea for some ice cream, but the looks he'd get while out in public made him anxious, so he'd stopped doing that a long time ago.

"I heard the spooky sea beast lives around here..." a voice said lowly, holding a flashlight out to the murky waters. "some say it's the kraken, others that it's the soul of the deceased..."

he didn't like to be disturbed. lovecraft flipped them over.

the next night, it happened again.

by the end of the month, it seemed he had become a local folklore story. he wasn't particularly interested in hearing all the stories about himself, and what was worse is that he found himself at the center of attention. gross.

he would keep flipping boats until they would leave him alone.

"[_____], come on, get in the boat! you're such a scaredy cat!"

"yeah, I am!" the woman yelling from the shore exclaimed. she was watching a few of her friends get into a wooden tub of death and paddle in the direction of a sea creature that had been terrorizing their city. it wasn't a myth, as everyone who doubted would go and find themselves thrown into the water promptly. the question was mostly as to what on earth was doing this. "you know I hate getting wet, and I don't want to get eaten by a sea beast today, thank you very much!"

the friends pouted, pleaded for her to come along, and the only agreement they came to involved the woman following them from land. she watched them as her boots squelched into the damp earth in the same direction as their path, and they spoke from a far distance.

which woke up lovecraft.

he grumbled, displeased. this was never fun, and it was getting even worse now. the top of his head peeped out from the water as he got a look at the young adults laughing and joking from their fishing boat, and he flipped them with one movement.

they all yelled out as they splashed into the water, arms desperately gripping onto the upside-down boat as they looked around fearfully, then at each other with chuckles.

"told ya it was real!"

"gahh, my shirt is soaked!"

"dude, your entire body is soaked."

it was all a game to them, he seemed to notice. they thought this little escapade and mission of disturbing him was all for fun. he didn't have time to feel annoyed about it, because it was time to sleep. on the verge or disappearing back into the abyss, he felt a pebble bounce on the back of his head.

he turned his head around, his neck contorting as he saw a young woman looking at him, eyes wide.

they stared at each other for a few moments.

she let out a yelp, and her entire body compressed down to that of a calico cat.

he saw the cat and yelled out in response, tentacles sprouting, bursting out from various parts of his body.

the cat ran away and nothing was said. the group of friends were still laughing as they had gotten back into the boat and began paddling to shore, not seeing the iceberg underneath their feet that was the body of a real sea monster.

the next day, lovecraft was out of the water, in the middle of the day nonetheless, simply to dry up a little bit before he went back into the water. somehow, this logic added up to him.

all was fine until he saw the woman again.

she was leaning against a rock, not quite sitting but not quite standing. she looked nervous, glancing around her everywhere as if she was expecting to get attacked at any moment. her eyes darted to the water, where she saw nothing, then back to her surrounding. back to the water. back the the surroundings. her foot was tapping the soil incessantly and her lower lip was being abused by her teeth as she nibbled to distract herself.

this time, she saw him.

they looked at each other again, but it was much more tamed than the previous time. she didn't turn into a cat, and he didn't turn into a natural catastrophe.

her mouth seemed to open, but lovecraft didn't hear any words from out of her. she just creased her brows together, then sighed. "um... hi, hello. I'm... I'm [_____]. you're howard phillips lovecraft, aren't you?"

he hovered at the surface with only his dark eyes and long hair visible, maintaining blank stare.

she extended her hand out to him, then realized it was stupid to shake hands with someone who was several meters away, several meters deep into the water. laughing nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck.

"I didn't... I didn't mean to scare you the other day, you just caught me off guard. you see, I'm in the business of keeping track of the ability users in yokohoma, and you never came up on my radar. so I asked around," and here she kicked a rock with a chuckle to herself, "actually, I just asked my dad, and he told me about the guild."

still no reaction. lovecraft had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

she crouched down, grabbed a pebble, and flicked it onto his forehead. heavy eyelids raised for a moment.

"would you be willing to uh... get out of the water to speak with me, for just a moment? I can... well, I don't really know what to offer you."

she babbled on, face flushed and looking at the ground and her feet as she kept speaking, saying things that neither of them understood, and it was only when he got close that she took notice the tall, dripping wet figure looming over her. he was wearing clothes and everything, even had was appeared to have been a nice jacket in the past before... whatever tore it apart. she met his eyes.

"thank you! it just makes this... whatever... easier... ahh, forget about it. could we... walk and talk? I don't want to lure you away from your... your home?..."

"I'm hungry," he proclaims, a statement more than a request.

"sure!" she nodded, although a little confused and uncertain, leading the way as she walks through the rugged terrain of the trail before arriving at her car and opening the passenger door for him, waiting for him to hop inside.

now, he looked confused.

"is there food inside?"

this was going to be a long discussion.

[_____]'s job was simple: she had to keep tabs on all of the ability users in yokohoma. know who they worked for, their relationships, their dreams and aspirations. when you can turn into a cuddly ball of fur, it isn't particularly hard to gain information.

she had no clue what was going on with this man, though.

rumours had sprung up about the sea monster. she knew, of course, there was no such thing, but in the spirit of the approaching holiday she indulged her friends in a trip.

seeing a man living in the water was not what she had expected, much less to surprise herself by getting flustered enough to accidentally use her ability and turn into a cat. it was just her luck that cats seemed to terrify the man.

speaking was hard too, since he didn't really seem to know much about the ways of the world. she knew he was from america, but common courtesy of not trying to eat someone's car for dinner was likely the same there as it was in japan. likely.

it was cute how ice cream was the secret to taming him.

"lovecraft," she snapped her fingers in his face as he zoned out for what could be the seventh time in the same sentence, "look, I don't mean to take your entire day. I was just hoping you could lay low on the boat flipping for the time being."

"I am laying low," he stated blankly, a smudge of chocolate cream smeared across the corner of his lip, like a child. she chuckled warmly and pointed it out to him, but he just shrugged and kept licking the frozen treat. "the boats keep coming."

"because you've become a horror attraction," she retorted. something deep within her caused her to run her thumb along the edge of his lip to clean him up, partly because she knew he wouldn't do it himself, partly because she thought she'd go mad over the messiness. "leave the boats alone and they'll leave you alone. it's as simple as that."

he wasn't paying attention again. he'd gotten tired of licking and dislocated his jaw just to swallow the entire cone in one bite. the paper wrapper and napkin around it were still not removed, too, but he didn't seem to care as he pushed his jaw back into place and kept walking by her side, as if it were nothing.

she decided it was easier to not comment.

they made their way back to the vehicle, and she dropped him back off at his corner of the water, verifying multiple times that he didn't want help looking for a place to live. a slight pause and hesitation; she wanted to give him her phone number in the event he needed something, but she quickly realized he probably doesn't even have a phone, let alone one he uses.

another ability user to add to her list. what a bunch of weirdos.

boats kept coming.

this time, they were getting louder, more intrusive. some people brought diving gear and headlights, eager to explore the water for the sea beat. lovecraft was not pleased.

it was hard at first to take the advice of the strange woman. then, when they put on loud speakers and played blaring music during their expeditions, it became impossible to ignore them. a blizzard of tentacles and otherworldly monstrous body parts ravaged every boat on the lake.

[_____] showed up a dozen minutes later, not pleased.

no one was injured, but news reporters had gathered and were making a bug fuss out of it all. they dispersed after some time, and she was the only one left. she tossed pebbles into the water, hoping for him to resurface for them to talk.

"I specifically told you to do one thing," she grumbled, glaring into his sleepy eyes that peeked up. "now the whole town knows there's something going on here."

he briefly racked his brain for past interactions with his former partner, steinbeck, and realized this was the sort of situation where he was supposed to apologize. she looked at him with distrust when he did (quite blandly), but ultimately sighed and shook her head, saying it wasn't a problem.

"maybe you just need to get out of here," she proposed. "if you're not in the water when the tourists arrive, you won't have to endure all of it. do you have someplace else to go in the meantime?"

a shake of his head signaled he didn't, but also that he didn't seem to care. of course he wasn't picky about where he lived, he was currently residing in what amounted to a swamp.

"would you like to stay with me until this whole thing goes away?"

lovecraft shrugged, "okay," as if it weren't a big deal for either of them. she scolded herself for being baffled at his nonchalant reaction, which was to be expected.

she insisted he dry himself up this time before getting in her car, though.

lovecraft made himself at home by eating just about everything she had in her pantry, then trying to eat the pantry.

a smack on the back of his neck with a rolled up newspaper, and he was set straight. she indicated that he could sleep on the couch for the time being, just as long as he double-checked with her that it was okay before eating anything, emphasis on thing.

"I'm not around most of the time," she told him as she put on a coat while near the entrance, eyes darting around to make sure she wasn't leaving any valuable around in the event that they magically disappear upon her return. "so, the place is yours. are you sure you don't have anyone you want to stay with? I was told you had a partner when you were in the guild, a young lad named steinbeck. I can track him and the remnants of the guild down, if you'd like."

"no."

not a trace of anger, disgust, or even any emotion from his response. he simply wanted to be left alone, she realized.

her expression softened and she put the coat back down, walking up to him.

"how about this, would you want to go get some ice cream again? I can pay, of course."

money didn't seem to cross his radar, so the final comment went through his head. she wanted to understand him, as was the task her father had delegated onto her to know all ability users, but it was proving a lot harder than she'd thought.

that's how she found herself, a disgusted look on her face as she watched lovecraft jump into a small pond near the ice cream shop, the treat still in his hand. the ball of frozen cream floated on the surface of the murky water, and he opened his mouth to eat it like a koi fish.

"there's... there's so much wrong with what you're doing right now," she frowned, watching him happily ruin the clothes she'd just bought for him by swimming around in them. again. "howard, you're going to have to take it easy on my wallet, I don't have an infinite supply of clothes to get you."

he vanished under the surface and did not come back up for an entire minute.

she couldn't handle water - she retained quite a bit of feline features even in human form, after all - and there was no way in hell she was going to jump in to save him if he were drowning. he wasn't drowning, of course, he'd just made his way along the floor and chomped down on unsuspecting sea-dwellers. since she'd said she can't pay for everything, this was free. at least, he thinks it is.

when he came back up, she sighed with a tired smile on her face, leading him back to the apartment.

"how does your hair never get tangled?"

she was watching him curiously as he spread his lanky limbs across the sofa, bones breaking and body distorting to make it more comfortable for him. he didn't seem to hear her question until fingers raked through silky locks.

"why would it?" he raised a brow, eyelids still shut. after a few weeks, he'd gotten better at conversation, but the horror fanatics were still invading his little corner of the sea. besides, he liked it better here.

"oh right, I forgot that you don't have the problems the rest of us mortals have," she said jokingly, but realized she wasn't even sure if it was a joke. she started having doubts that he had an ability and wasn't really just a sea monster after all. fingers combed through obsidian streaks. "ahhh... it's so soft..."

she stood up in front of him, and made her entire body visible. "I'm going to turn into a cat, now."

they agreed to make it clear to the other before doing anything that scared the other, and that involved using their abilities. she liked being a cat, most of the time, as it was more pleasant to nap and lounge around in that form. however, it still caught him by surprise, and he nearly shattered the entire apartment once when he went into the kitchen for some food and caught her sleeping in a bread basket.

grey eyes watched the calico cat pounce up from the floor onto the sofa, hobble along the edge of his body until it twirled around itself and slept in the waves of hair.

he was already asleep by then, so he didn't mind when little cat teeth nibbled on the strands. they tasted like sea water, to no one's shock. paws stretched out with a yawn, then went back to snuggling themselves under the warm body of fur.

maybe this arrangement wasn't so bad.

he was getting much better as weeks turned into months. the craze over the yokohoma sea monster died down, but he found himself attached to someone for the first time in his existence. he didn't know how to describe the feeling other than warmth and that of a full stomach.

giggles exhaled in clouds of fog as she walked on the empty streets at night with him by her side. she was cold, and so was he; the only difference is that she felt it whereas he simply didn't care.

"can we go home..." he grumbled, albeit glad for the absence of people in the vicinity. they made him uncomfortable, all except for her. he didn't know why his lips were tugging upwards as she took his hand in hers.

"you're freezing," she remarked against icy flesh. "I'm sure there's a café or something nearby, if you want to warm up before headi-"

his other arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her against his frame, face buried deep enough in his chest to cause her to suffocate. her feet were kicked upwards behind her, body no longer touching the ground as he carried her entire weight with his one arm.

"you're cold too. this will help."

"MFMFMFMNMNMF!!"

he took her muffled cries for confirmation that he did the right thing, and walked them home in just about the most awkward position possible. she managed to crane her neck to the side, gasping for breaths, but just laughed to herself at his peculiarities.

he was right, it did help.

she remained curled up against him even as they got inside, slipped under blankets and were laying on the couch. not that she had a choice; he didn't seem keen on letting go anytime soon.

"my limbs don't bend like yours do. could I..." she squirmed, grateful that he seemed to get the message and loosened his hold on her. she repositioned herself then curled back up into him, rubbing her head in slow circles against his chest from feline instinct. she muttered a thanks into his slowly warming shirt.

everything felt so uncomplicated in his presence. even as a horror movie played in the background, she nearly fell asleep on him, and he had long gone into the realm of dreams. they were both snoring softly when a dramatic scream emanated from the television, jolting him awake.

her eyes were still closed, and he just took a look at her face for a few moments before having what was more of an urge than an idea.

he ate her mouth.

this sprung her wide awake as she pulled away from shock once she'd realized he was biting her lips.

"what are you doing?!" she shrieked, hands pushing on his chest to lift herself up and off of him. "you can't just... what... why would you... ?!!!"

he looked at her with a dull expression, a sliver of confusion revealing itself on his long features. "I saw... I saw people do this when they're content. I-"

"oh my god," she let out a breath of relief as she understood that his actions didn't align with his intentions, even chuckling softly as she let herself fall back onto him, body now completely on top of his. her face was hovering on top of him, and she kept a gentle smile. "people do that when they're in love, howard. it's called a kiss."

again, confusion and a grumble. "oh. what does that mean?"

she squinted, almost as if looking for the answer to his question in the backrooms of his irises. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's what people feel when they're really happy around each other."

"I feel like that," he stated blankly, watching as her face flushed in embarrassment.

"you can't just say that like it's nothing," she managed to croak out without combusting on the spot. "love is a very big thing. you have to mean it."

"why wouldn't I mean it?"

her lips parted as she tried to respond, then realized just how simple everything was with this man. lovecraft didn't care about the specifics, and maybe she shouldn't either. she exhaled through her mouth slowly, then brought her hands to his cheek.

"okay, fine. I'm going to kiss you now, alright? don't do anything like try to bite my flesh off, just... just let me kiss you. can we try that?" the words felt silly as they spilled out, but he nodded. if it didn't involve him doing anything, that was even better, he thought.

his eyes were open as lips met again. he took notice that hers were closed, but he couldn't quite understand why. it was nothing like what he'd tried earlier: she was soft and slow about it. he could feel her chest fall and rise in sync with the gentle breaths she let out. it was clear she wasn't sure about what she was doing, but after a few moments, she leaned in closer and he could taste her on his tongue. she rubbed her lips on his, and smirked once she felt him trying to reciprocate by copying her movements. fingers slid from his cheeks to his hair, and she pulled his face deeper into hers.

she let out a soft yelp as his tongue dipped further into her, now an addict of her taste. he tried to be careful, he really did, but his teeth bit down into her tongue a little harshly as he tried to get the hang of this. as soon as things got too messy, too fast, she slowly pulled away, his lower lip flicking back upwards as her own let it go. her eyes fluttered back open, and she found herself giggling as she saw that his were open the entire time. of course they were.

"that," she whispered with a smile, fingers stroking his hair and weaving through them at his scalp, "that is a kiss. how did that feel?"

his face literally melted and he became a gooey mess of tentacles and monstrous shapes as he felt his entire body explode internally.

watching his version of being flustered be to turn into his alternate form, she was tempted to giggle at how adorable his reaction was. however, she quickly found herself projected across the room as he accidentally threw her out of panic.

she chuckled, back slumped against the wall while sitting on the floor on the opposite end of the room, a hand on her head feeling for any bumps or cuts. "I take it that means you liked it."

a hand around his hips, a hand holding a cup of hot chocolate.

a hand on her waist, a hand gripping five different ice cream cones all at once.

they sat on a bench in the dead of the night, which was really the only time she could get him out of the apartment. during the day, she would go out and work while he stayed home and slept. during the night, they would occasionally go out, then come home and sleep. it was quite the schedule.

she took a slow sip of her hot chocolate, head tilting to the side in order to rest on his shoulder. in order to not disturb her, he contorted his neck at an angle that would make anybody call on for a higher being's protection, and tossed all the cones into his mouth in one motion.

"want a sip?" she offered her drink, unfazed by anything he did anymore. "not the whole cup, just a taste."

his eyes met hers, and he shrugged yes. she smirked and kissed his lips, the chocolate flavour lingering even as she pulled away.

thankfully, as they were in public even though there was no one out at this unholy hour, he just blushed and did not morph into an enemy of the state and humanity. she liked it when he blushed; his sharp features softened and glistened under the moonlight. another kiss to the high of his cheekbones paired with fingertips sliding along his abdomen, and the red deepened.

"m'just messin' with you," murmured against his skin. "want to go home now?"

it was a stupid question: he always wanted to go home.

only, his home was no longer a place, but a person.

#shoutout to irl lovecraft's cat. WHAT A FUCKING MENACE OF A NAME THOUGH #your local aro tries to write about love challenge horribly failed #alternatively: how to love lovecraft without sounding like a monsterfucker challenge - level : impossible #help i'm writing all these hirotsu's daughter! natsume's daughter! fics #then im gonna pull up with the gramps smut later #big oof #i just wanna be inside their balls (interpret this as you will. slapping this with /j so i don't get cancelled)#lovecraft #lovecraft bsd #bsd lovecraft #h. p. lovecraft #lovecraft x reader #bsd lovecraft x reader #h. p. lovecraft x reader #bsd x reader #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs x reader #im unwell for them

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the-perks-of-being-a-person · 8 months

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Wait.

What if the story of Bungou Stray Dogs is just a frame narrative. So maybe Atsushi is telling this story to his children, but it's their bedtime, so he tells them that he will tell the rest of the story the next night. Atsushi then cuddles for the rest of the night with his husband, Akutagawa, who pretends to be a vampire, making both of them laugh.

In the morning, their children meet up with Chuuya and Dazai's children, who are joined by Higuchi and Gin's kid. Kenji and Kyouka reveal that they are engaged. Poe and Ranpo call in from America to say they can make the wedding date. Yosano and Kouyou shed tears at this beautiful turn of fate. Nikolai and Fyodor show up, and everyone is jokingly mad at them. Fyodor promised to bring his band over for the wedding. Nikolai says he can provide the entertainment. Kyouka and Kenji have invited Mori and Fukuzawa, who were currently on a honeymoon in Italy.

Fukuchi died because he set one order wrong and ended up killing himself and nobody else.

Aya and Teruko live with Bram and Sigma.

Kunikida started up his old relationship with Katai, and managed to clean him up a bit.

Jouno and Tetchou live happily but the Hunting Dogs group chat keeps getting spammed by Jouno and his text-to-speech.

Tachihara and Tanizaki get together after Naomi forced him to go on a double date with her and Haruno.

Lucy and Lousia get a thing going on, leaving Fitzgerald and Steinbeck alone. They get a thing going too.

Lovecraft stays asleep (he tired of this)

And they all lived gaily ever after (pun intended).

This was Asagiri can keep the mystique of what happened, leaving the fandom to wonder how everybody was still alive, and begging Asagiri on a daily basis to ask him how he did it.

There is no other way.

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writing-blocked-me · 1 year

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Glued to Your Side

CW: Spoilers for everything past season 1, clingy Dazai, little bit of angst, brief mention of Oda, Dazai is so so smart but so so dumb, maybe OOC?, hurt/comfort, bad writing - I can’t write dialogue sorry!

Pairings: Dazai x Reader

Author’s Note: I need to stop writing angst so have a fluff piece! Or at least what was supposed to be a fluff piece. It turned more into hurt/comfort tbh. Also I attempted dialogue for this fic but I am BAD at writing any form of speech so sorry for that. Not proofread also I was very hungover when I finsihed this lmao.

Also! I have a Masterlist now! It only has like 4 works so far but hopefully that’ll change aha.

Masterlist

Ever since you started working at the ADA, your world had been turned on its head. There was always some sort of strange job to take, or fight to have with the mafia or some other organisation. However, there was one fact that remained constant since you had become a detective: Dazai Osamu was a flirt.

You were fine with it, even sometimes enjoying some back and forth banter with the living mummy. It was completely harmless, you knew it wasn't going anywhere so it wouldn't get in the way of your professional career. Plus, you knew you weren't the only one subject to Dazai's affectionate teasing, so you knew there would never be anything romantic between you too, meaning you were free to pursue real romance if you wanted to.

At least that's what you thought.

In the weeks following the batte against the Guild, Dazai had been clingier than usual. He made a point of always keeping some sort physical contact with you, whether it was leaning on you while you were sat on the agency's couch (after he dragged you to sit and do work there instead of your desk), or having you walk shoulder to shoulder when you went on jobs.

You guessed the close eye he had been keeping on you had something to do with meeting Q. You had been the agency member tasked with escorting Haruno and Naomi to safety. While the three of you were on the train, after escaping Lovecraft and Steinbeck, you met the small child named Yumeno. They had seemed like a perfectly normal, sweet little kid. The four of you got along and chatted as you waited to reach your stop. Getting off the train, however, was a different story. When Q bumped into Atsushi and activated his ability, your memories got a little fuzzy. It was like a flip switched in Atsushi as he suddenly became violent, lashing out towards Haruno, Naomi and yourself. You quickly jumped in to protect them, bearing the brunt of the attack and being thrown into the walls of the train station. You'd hit your head pretty badly, so you could not fully register the rest of what happened. You vaguely recalled Dazai rushing in and stopping Q's ability and watching the child wave goodbye as the train carried him off. You passed out shortly afterwards.

According to the others, Atsushi had taken Haruno and Naomi to safety, while Dazai took you straight to Yosano.

After the Guild used Q to attack Yokohama, Dazai had been stuck to you like glue. You hadn't minded, you were used to his antics and affectionate behaviour. But a week passed. Then two weeks and still Dazai was fixed at your side. You had begun to get suspicious. While he was clearly putting effort into appearing as his usual self, it was clear there was something going on. He had started flirting less and less with others, even ceasing his witty back and forths with the waitress at the cafe below the agency offices. He had gradually gotten clingier and clingier too, seeking you out even on days off, to the point where soemtimes you felt as if you were being suffocated.

Everything came to a head when your friends from home were visiting the city. You had planned to meet up with your friends in the shopping district. You had not planned on bumping into Dazai. Wandering through the shopping district, arms linked and laughing at old memories, you didn't even see the bandaged man until you walked straight into him.

“Belladonna! Fancy seeing you here!" Your coworker greeted you, eyes glinting with mischief.

You were sure he was up to something, but you couldn't quite figure it out. One thing you knew though, it was no surprise that he saw you there. You had made it known to the agency how you would be spending the day off.

"Yes, well you did know I was going to be here. I mentioned it yesterday Osamu," you remarked.

Truth be told, you'd been attempting to have a Dazai-free day. He hadn't left your side in a while and you were really in desperate need of some time to collect your thoughts. Due to his attentiveness over the past few weeks, your friendship with Dazai was slowly turning into something more, at least on your end. You were sure it was all in your head though so you needed some time away from him until you could collect yourself and sort your feelings out. His recent actions confused you.

Dazai's smile faltered at the mention of your plans. "Oh, I must have forgotten," he said, his tone uncharacteristically subdued.

You raised an eyebrow at his unusual behavior, but before you could say anything, your friends interrupted.

"Hey, who's your friend?" one of them asked, eyeing Dazai curiously.

"This is my coworker, Dazai Osamu," you introduced him, not noticing the way Dazai's jaw clenched at the mention of "coworker."

Your friends chatted with Dazai for a few minutes before you realised the time and had to rush to your lunch reservations. Quickly saying goodbye to Dazai, you grabbed your friends and rushed off.

During lunch, your friends regaled you with stories from home, and you laughed and joked with them. However, your mind was elsewhere, thinking of the strange actions of your fellow detective. Dazai never forgot anything, you knew that you had mentioned coming out with your friends multiple times too, so what was he doing showing up? It was messing with your head. At least you’d managed to escape him during lunch.

After saying goodbye to your friends, you decided you needed rest and you went home. Shutting the door behind you, you dragged yourself over to your coush and toppled onto it, exhausted. You had barely shut your eyes when you heard a knock at the door. Opening the door, you came to see a familiar sight.

"Dazai? What are you doing here?" you asked, confused.

"Dropping by to say hello, of course," Dazai replied, strolling past you into the house and settling down on your couch. “Bella you would not believe the day I’ve had. First, Kunikida would not stop bugging me about th-”

“Stop.” You cut him off before he could finish his story. “Osamu, what are you doing here? I mean what are you really doing here?”

His eyes softened at the use of his first name. “I wanted to see you,” he spoke softly, barely above a whisper, as if he were afraid to let anyone else hear it.

“You see me all the time!” Your frustration started to get to you as you raised your voice. “You literally saw me just a few hours ago, which, by the way, I know wasn’t a coincidence beacuse I definitely told you I was going out with my friends.”

“Y/N I-” he started, but you quickly shut him down.

“No. Listen to what I have to say first. I don’t understand Dazai. What do you want from me? You’ve been glued to my side ever since the battle with the Guild and you’ve been acting weird and I, I don’t know what’s going on but you’re messing with my head. I was fine before, talking and joking with you, but now you’re just making me so confused and I don’t know what to think anymore.” You ranted and rambled on and on, letting all your thoughts out. “What’s going on? Please tell me.”

“I’m sorry,” he started, as he watched you fall onto the couch beside him. He knew he had been acting different lately and he knew exactly why. He couldn’t help himself, after all, he’d come to find he cared for you. A lot. Much more than he wanted to for everything that was ever worth wanting was lost the moment he obtained it. But by God did he want you.

When Higuchi and Gin lured him away from the station to talk, he had been suspicious. But as he realised that Q had been unleashed, he felt his stomach drop. He had never feared for another person so much, not since Oda. He couldn’t lose you. But he had been to late to protect you from Q. So, while he knew he could not have you all to himself, he also decided he would always stay by you to ensure your safety. You had become his top priority.

Still, when you confronted him about his change in behaviour, he didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t want to suffocate you, but he knew he had to protect you. He couldn’t be with you, but he knew how crushed he would be if you were with someone else and it would no longer be his place to stay by your side. He did not want to lose you and everything he ever managed to grasp was lost to him. Hearing your words, he knew you had romantic feelings for him. And now, as he gazed into your eyes, he was torn between his head and his heart.

Noticing his silence, you began to speak again. “This isn’t fair to me you know. You have to be honset with me. Just tell me the truth and from there, we’ll figure it out.” You smiled, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. He seemed so fragile, so delicate in a way you’d never seen him before.

The reassuring gesture prompted Dazai to once again look to the floor. He know what you’d probably say, if he was honest with you. You’d probably tell him it didn’t matter and that you could be together anyway. Then you would get hurt and he couldn’t have that. But he didn’t think he could lie to you either, not anymore. You wouldn’t believe him. So he chose his words carefully as he turned to you and began explaining.

“I know I've been...clingy, lately. And I'm sorry for that.” He snuck a glance at you, seeing you staring back, listening intently. “You have to understand that what happened with Q, I just- I just need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I can handle myself.”

“I know, belladonna, I’ve seen you in the field. But this is something different. I have to make sure i don’t lose you. I need to make sure you’re safe because I-” He takes a pause again to collect himself, bracing for what comes next. “I care about you a lot. But I can’t be with you. Everything I ever want, I ever love, is always lost and I can’t have that happen to you. I tried to stop it, I flirted with others, told myself that it’s no different with you, but it was. And the thing is, I’ve come to realise, I can’t help the way I feel about you.”

“Dazai-” You spoke, but this time he cut you off.

“Please just let me get this out.” He looked at you once more and you could see the raw emotion in his eyes. Never had he been so open, so vulnerable. “I can’t help how I feel about you, and I can’t be with you. Not in the way I want. But I can protect you. If I just stay close enough, I can protect you and you won’t have to be hurt. I know it’s selfish, but it’s the only reason to stay close to you, without ever having to lose you, because you wouldn’t be mine.”

“Osamu-” He noticed you beginning to speak, but continued on, eyes now fixed to the floor.

“I knew what you’d say if I told you this. I know what you’d probably tell me now if I let you speak. That it’s not true, right? I can have you and you won’t be lost to me. Except that it is true. Everyone I’ve ever held close has been taken from me. I will not let that happen again.” His tone was filled with conviction as his gaze grew more determined. “I’ve been to lenient, allowing myself to flirt and joke about with you. It’s selfish of me, to do that to you when we have no future together, but I can never seem to help it when it comes to you. I’m going to step back now though, let you live your life, find someone who deserves yo-”

“Don’t.” Dazai’s eyes widen as he takes you in. Your eyes are glazed over, as if tears are about to spill at any moment, lip quivering, but your determination is written all over your face. “You told me how much you care for me and want to keep me safe, right? Well, I feel the same way about you.” You were in complete disbelief. How could he be so dumb as to believe you would ever love anyone else? “You haven’t lost me yet, even though you said you wanted me. There are some things in this life that we just can’t control, like when it’s time to depart from it. You may lose some whom you love but that doesn’t mean that everyone else we love will follow the same pattern.” You reached out and grabbed his hands. “Osamu, have you ever considered that, given that it’s my life, I should be able to decide how to spend it and who I spend it with?”

“Of course I have and you should, but that person can’t-”

“It can be you. I don’t want to hear anymore of this ‘selfish’ crap about how you want to protect me and love me but can only do it from a safe distance. I feel safest and happiest when I’m around you. I feel protected because you’re there. You’re a fool if you think anyone else is capable of making me feel that way. Osamu I-” You took a breath, choosing how to word your next sentence carefully. “Osamu. You are the most intelligent person I know, so I honestly don’t understand why you’re being so stupid right now.”

Dazai let out a shocked laugh at that. He guessed he deserved the insult. He guessed he probably deserved a lot worse than a single insult as he remained quiet, head down.

“You’re not being selfish by wanting to be close to me, especially when I want that too. You are being selfish by keeping me at a distance and I won’t be letting that happen anymore.” At that Dazai lifted his head, turning to you wide eyed. “These feelings go both ways. The idea of losing you is terrifying to me, just as losing me terrifies you, but we can’t stop loving others just because we’re afraid of loss. We have to go on. Maybe one day we might lose each other, but that’s not either of our faults, that is life. We have to make the best of it by staying together and protecting each other. The most fulfilling life for me is the one I get to spend with the person I love.”

Dazai’s hands retracted from yours in one swift motion. Startled, you jumped back slightly. Had you said something wrong? Touched a nerve? Had you gone too far when you called him stupid?

“You... love me?” Wait what? Did he hear you right? You loved him? He had assumed you’d had romantic feelings for him, yes, but love? He hadn’t realised you felt that strongly for him. He’d assumed you’d easily be able to get over him as long as he distanced himself and he was dead set on keeping that distnce after starting this conversation. Now, he didn’t think he could. You loved him. Him. After that confession, Dazai lost any resolve he had left. His body moved of its own accord as his hands cupped your face, pulling you towards him.

His lips met yours in a soft, tender kiss, not at all what you’d imagined your first kiss with him to be like. It was delicate and gentle, as if he was afraid of breaking you, yet still firm enough that you couldn’t escape his grasp, like he thought you may leave. You assured him that wasn’t the case by raising your arms to rest around his neck, keeping him close. As you broke apart for breath, Dazai rested his forehead against yours, keeping you as close as possible.

You stayed like that for while, holding each other, exchanging soft kisses, small reassurances that shared how much you cared for one another. After that conversation, Dazai could not deny himself of you any longer, he couldn’t push you away, not after feeling your love. You still had a lot to talk about, but for now, Osamu Dazai was happy to just hold you until you fell asleep in his arms and he could whisper his reply to your confession.

“I love you too.”

#bsd dazai #dazai x reader #dazai osamu #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd x reader

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twinksintrees · 2 months

Text

bsd incorrect quotes but the quotes were taken from me and my friend’s dnd quote book

“I hope you go suck a squid “ - Lovecraft

“I’m addicted to bombs but other than that I’m a pretty well rounded person “ -Kaji

“I’m taller than you” - dazai “I’m older than you, I’ll always be older than you” - chuuya “not if you’re dead” - dazai

“Sorry I died” - atsushi

“The orphans need their alcohol” - pretty much the entire ada tbh

“Did you punch it? THEN YEAH IT HAS DENTS!” -kouyou @ chuuya

“If you’re gonna kill somebody at least do it quietly!” -Gin

“the love of my life *turns to woman* what’s your name?” - dazai

“why is everyone crying? what happened? Trick question, I happened “ - mori

“I’ve never been a children.” - akutagawa

“I’m not gonna play into cat stereotypes” -atsushi

“bold of them to assume Im not gonna eat the gag” -dazai

“I fought a dragon with badger” - chuuya

“Ah southern people!” -the guild

“*eagle noise*” - Fitzgerald

“Please don’t just live in a hole” - chuuya when he sees dazai’s shipping container

“Now I know how parents feel” - fukuzawa w ranpo and yosano

“I’m a teen boy I’m always hungry” - kenji

“Don’t hit the puppy with a hammer” -chuuya @ dazai (the puppy is akutagawa)

“It’s a pizza party everyday in the mafia” -the port mafia

“Money doesn’t grow on trees it gets birthed from holes” -Fitzgerald

“You know what’s hot? Eating fruit and taking showers” -kunikida

“There’s no romantic tension it’s meant to be threatening” -soukoku

“I didn’t try to stab Kenji, I tried to punch him” -Tecchou

“You’re having violence without me?” - Akutagawa

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t like my homeless orphan pick up line” - atsushi

Nikolai, staring Fyodor dead in the eyes: “concuss me baby”

“My head is a weapon” - ranpo

“Has Nikolai ever killed one of his lovers?” “We all make mistakes in the heat of passion” - Sigma and Fyodor

“I am in a threesome with writing and sleep” -Poe

“Small? No. I’m big boy” -ranpo

“I forgot I had a gun in my mouth and kissed my lover! Oh no!” -s5 soukoku

“Can his catch phrase be ‘time to bite the bullet’?” -soukoku when vampire chuuya

“Dazai I’m feeling less bad about shooting you” -‘vampire’ chuuya

“Me and the boys know all about religion” -Nathaniel Hawthorne (also fyodor)

*deep voice* “boom boom for the orphans” -when oda’s orphans died

“If I would turn into a horse would I be free” -Nikolai

“what are you doing, are you just eating ham and laughing!?” -kunikida @ ranpo

“do you have any idea how much your head is worth” -Akutagawa @ atsushi (i can hear this in his voice so clearly)

“If we weren’t homeless you’d be grounded” -when the ada were on the run in s4

“Who needs a gender when your in love with a boat” -Herman Melville

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #incorrect quotes #bsd incorrect quotes #i don’t think i could tag every character if i tried #so i wont

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macabrecabra · 7 months

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LOVECRAFTOBER: DAY TWO

NYARLATHOTEP: The Crawling Chaos; Stalker Among the Stars, God of a Thousand Forms, Soul and Messenger of the Outer Gods

Affiliation: The Court of Azathoth

The top picture is a newer concept of him to try and neaten up a few things, but overall, Nya's design has long since been finalized for a while, but still wanted to give em some love as they are the primary character in the Live, Laugh, and Lovecraft story, or at least the most commonly occurring outer god! (Included some older doodles and emotes of the crawling chaos for funsies!)

The Crawling Chaos is known to be rather cold and does not like for other gods to get in his way or cause him any sort of inconvenience and is known to be rather bad-tempered in most situations. Also one of the more apathetic outer gods in that he has very little care or concept for other beings, even other gods. However, he is known to care in his strange way at times and can be terribly vindictive in other cases.

Nya is the only one able to interpret the insane babbles of Azathoth and thus primarily works as a messenger of the mad idiot god's will... there are very few beings that would call Nya friend and even fewer that Nya themselves would call a friend.

#Live Laugh and Lovecraft #Lovecraft #Lovecraft AU #Nyarlathotep #the crawling chaos #I just think he's neat!#Live Laugh and Lovecraft concept art

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kunikidas-lost-glasses · 1 year

Note

Do you have some bramcraft or steinbramcraft headcanons?

First of all, I am genuinely so sorry that I am answering to this only now! I found your ask late in my ask box, I was extremely busy with school, I was lacking headcanons, had no time to post anything on any platform, etc. I am genuinely super sorry.

Secondly, I'm so glad that you're asking anon!! I do have quite a bunch of headcanons for both ships (more for Bramcraft than for Steinbramcraft but okay) but I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in them!

This post is only about Bramcraft but I will probably make one about Steinbramcraft too.

I hope you enjoy those headcanons and thank you so so much for your question!

TWs: Losing someone (temporary), slight mentions of injuries

---------------------------------------------------

Bram and Lovecraft met during the medival era by coincidence at night on the shore

Bram had been strolling along the shore after a hunting trip with his vampires and Lovecraft had swam up to the surface for the first time since years for some reason and they spotted each other

Bram got quite spooked when he saw a slightly off looking and very tall person suddenly breaking through the surface of the sea

They eventually started a conversation since Lovecraft asked him what year it was right after they started at each other for quite some time as well as after Lovecraft stretched a bit and also since Bram couldn't resist asking Lovecraft who or what he was

One conversation turned into multiple conversations and eventually they've developed feelings for each other (Bram was a lot more aware of them since he had been a human once and due to this was more familiar with human feelings and behaviors) but it took them literal years until they got together since both are utterly dense and can't handle emotions that well/don't understand them very good

They often spend time together by just sleeping (literally sleeping) together at the most random places

Bram was tall but Lovecraft was still a lot taller than the vampire

Usually they would meet up during the night on the shore but when the weather was bad, Lovecraft would come to Bram's castle where the latter lived with his vampires because Bram didn't really like being outside for long while it was cold and rainy

Lovecraft on the other hand, didn't particularly mind the weather but he wanted his partner to be comfortable

At first Bram called Lovecraft, Lovecraft but after a while he started calling him Howard

Bram is one of the very few persons who actually know Lovecraft's first name and who's allowed to call him by his very first name

Bram has a very thick Irish accent which gets thicker when he's ranting, angry, stressed or very emotional and Lovecraft thinks it's adorable

Bram would always be super careful when they kissed or when they were making-out (which happened kinda rarely) because of his sharp fangs and his long and sharp claws, not wanting to hurt the other

Lovecraft on the other hand was always careful when he hugged or just generally touched Bram because even if Bram was the immortal and feared King of the undead, his body still felt nearly as fragile as the one of a human for Lovecraft and since he was aware of his own immense strength, Lovecraft would always be super careful with Bram

They would spend whole nights talking about deep and heavy topics with each other while Bram sipped blood out of a fancy glass while on other nights they just went to bed and slept for hours

Bram being super sarcastic sometimes and Lovecraft not understanding, causing Bram to laugh it is a thing

When Lovecraft went to the vampire castle the first time without telling Bram about it, the vampires tried to attack him, thinking he was an intruder but Bram who noticed the fuss in the courtyard went outside and stopped them, telling them that this man was a close friend and that had to treat him like a noble guest

He even forbid to even just touch Lovecraft in any way

Since then the vampires treat Lovecraft with a similar respect like how they treat their king

Lovecraft is kind of possessive of what's his (to this counts his home, his "territory" underwater but also Bram) and would kill when someone dared to try to take it away from him so when Bram got kind of badly injured by vampire hunters once he nearly went to burn the whole town down

Them dancing together in the big empty ballroom of the vampire castle but while Bram is leading and dancing incredibly elegantly, seemingly floating across the floor, Lovecraft is clumsily following and often trips because he is still not completely used to his human body, is a thing too

Bram thinks is adorable and amusing

He always tries to hold in his laughter then but often he can't hold back an amused and soft smile

Sometimes they lie together in the sand on the shore or sit on the rooftop of the castle house and watch the night sky

They only exchange some sentences then once a while. Mostly they are just lying or sitting there, enjoying each other's presence

Sometimes they just sat there next to each other but sometimes they would hold hands or Bram would lie his head against Lovecraft's shoulder as he was getting more and more tired

Bram never forced Lovecraft to attend to any formal vampire events and they kept their relationship a secret. Even from Bram's closest relatives

Bram himself would often sneak out of the ballroom during festivities, even though he was the king of the undead and should be attending at whatever celebration was going on, and went down to the shore where Lovecraft was already waiting for him

Large celebrations always tired him endlessly and he preferred to spend the night with his close friend anyways

Bram can't swim at all (like the most people who lived during the medival era) so when Lovecraft once dragged him with him into the water just for the sake of it, he did get scared for a second and screamed out of reflex before his head went underwater despite being immortal, so when they resurfaced again and when he felt that Lovecraft was steadily holding him over the surface, keeping him from drowning he proceeded to yell at Lovecraft after getting the water out of his eyes

Lovecraft didn't even tried to stay serious and burst out laughing

They sometimes sit together in Bram's chamber and read while the fire in the fireplace in crackling and creates an incredibly calm and domestic atmosphere

Bram and Lovecraft both were a bit more energetic and Bram felt more emotions before the invasion happened during which he got sliced in half and got taken away like a trophy

Lovecraft had been sleeping underwater while it happened and after he woke up, swam up to the surface and realized what happened, he did destroy what was left of the town in his sheer rage and pain but it was too late

He did search for Bram for years and when he found him centuries later, he was in the hands of Fukuichi

At first he wanted to save him but soon enough he realized that Fukuichi would most likely use Bram against Lovecraft since Bram was under complete control of him and it be would horrible and most likely hurt Bram even more so Lovecraft couldn't do anything

Despite this, he decided to stay close to Bram and always kept close to wherever Bram and Fukuichi went, waiting for a moment where he could get Bram out of Fukuichis hands

Bram often finds himself thinking or dreaming about Lovecraft

Sometimes he dreams about long, messy black hair, the smell of the sea but which surprisingly it lacked the unpleasant strong smell of fish and the smell of old books like which Lovecraft always smelled for some reason, tired black eyes and cold yet not unpleasantly cold hands as well as about the shore and his castle

Sometimes he thinks about how Lovecraft's hair felt and how his cold lips felt against his but he always quickly snaps himself out of it

On some days he can't even escape him in his sleep.

Bram usually tried to sleep everything off. He can't really do anything besides sleeping or lying awake thinking in that coffin anyways but sometimes Lovecraft also appears in his dreams

Lovecraft has some memories of Bram's real smile or of him smiling sheepishly. He saw it some times when Bram was truly happy or a bit embarrassed.

Seeing Bram smiling was a rare thing because just like Lovecraft, he wasn't smiling very often so it was always a special thing but it also always looked weirdly adorable in Lovecraft's opinion.

When Bram smiled widely, his fangs would poke out and Lovecraft loved seeing him smile. Now he cherishes those memories greatly. They are one of the very few things he has left of the other.

Bram would sometimes play the piano for Lovecraft back in the castle

Bram was the one who thought Lovecraft how to write properly

Bram loved roaming through Lovecraft's long and messy hair with his own hands

Lovecraft loved listening to Bram and loved watching him

He'd be lying if he didn't admire Bram and fell for him even more when he saw him commanding/ruling over his kins, standing on top of the staircase with his long black coat, his long soft white hair and piercing red eyes which seemingly could notice everything

Lovecraft once took care of Bram while he was recovering from an attack of vampire hunters and was even more protective of him during that time

The recommend books to each other

Lovecraft is boiling with rage which is aimed towards Fukuichi and he's wanting the moment where he can free Bram and face Fukuichi to arrive oh so bad

Lovecraft gifted Bram small or a bit bigger treasures which he found underwater and Bram cherished them greatly as well as kept each of them in a box which he protected greatly

To those treasures also counted extremely old books, jewels and other things he found underwater as well and he also gifted him an antique and elegant ring once.

It was the only thing which Bram didn't put in his box. He always kept it on his finger.

Many vampires admired the old ring greatly and wondered from where Bram got such a rare treasure but he never told them.

#Finally I could upload some of my Bramcraft headcanons #I hope they weren't boring #I also apologize again #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou gay dogs #bungou stray dogs hcs #bsd headcanons #bungou stray dogs headcanons #bsd manga #bsd lovecraft #bsd bram #bsd bram stoker #bungou stray dogs manga #bu bungoustraydogs #bungostraydogs #bramcraft #headcanons

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theseventhoffrostfall · 4 months

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I won't spoil Alan wake ii if you havent played it yet, but ngl while I dont think Kojima is bad at all, its really opening my eyes a bit. Sam Lake (real last name is finnish or a lovecraftian god) uses what he's inspired by way more integrated into his games. And the interplay of multiple forms of media including live action and music and, god help me for uttering this overused phrase, playing with the fourth wall, is something that makes Kojima look like simultaneously like an amateur and an elitist at the same time.

Let's say Kojima likes David Bowie. He'd have a character named David Bowie, Otacon would call in on the comms and say "Snake, that's david bowie. He's named after David Bowie the singer. He was a glam rock singer active from the late 1960s to 2016 most known for Ziggy Stardust" and the entire thing would be a thinly veiled excuse to hang out with David Bowie and put his likeness in the game and maybe release some haute couture sunglasses or something, while also namedropping extremely esoteric things Kojima can feel smart over knowing people will have to go to Wikipedia to understand the concepts he stayed up last weekend reading about. I cant really give an example for Alan Wake/Control like that entirely because everything is so worked in. Yeah its clearly Twin Peaks and X-Files and True Detective and a bit of that sparse Scandinavian Noir and some Lovecraft as well. But everything is blended together without coming to a screeching halt while you listen to the games creator tell you about the stuff he likes.

Not that I dislike MGS or anything, but in terms of "visionary" creators I think Sam Lake has just pulled ahead of Kojima in a really big way. He feels more like those TGWTG people who were only there as a stepping stone to their big hollywood career (which never panned out) and likewise Kojima treats his games more like the artsy movies he's always wanted to make instead of trying to be truly creative.

That's essentially the conclusion I've come to, yeah. Plus, Lake seems to embrace making games while Kojima seems to bitterly regret that he'd be laughed out of Hollywood.

Hell, MGS is supposed to be like an overblown, larger-than-life metaphor/representation of real, serious topics like nuclear proliferation and yadda yadda yadda. Except it gets muddled and stupid because the mechs that symbolize nuclear weapons are just dangerous for being nuclear launch platforms, because metaphors are hard. 30% of the earth's population was a child soldier who now wanders the land fighting for obscure philosophical reasons but shows little to none of the actual problems associated with former child soldiers, and 45% of all military personnel are clones or genetically engineered or turbocyborgs or something. Because this story that tries to touch on Very Serious Issues about soldiers and their place in the world was written in a country with pretty much 0 living combat veterans by a man who's never raised a fist in anger

#metal gear solid #alan wake

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archive-of-fear · 3 months

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Name: Sutter Cane

Source: In the Mouth of Madness

Category: Avatar

Alignment: The Spiral, The Web

Description: Sutter Cane is a notorious horror writer, someone akin Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft, whose rise in popularity has also seen a rise in his readers becoming paranoid and violent. In truth, Cane is a conduit for ancient entities referred to as “The Old Ones”, and people’s strength in their belief of his books as well as their loosening grip on reality allow for them to “make their journey back.” He can warp reality with his writing, blurring the line between what is real and what isn’t. What he creates becomes reality. Once his role in the story is fulfilled, he becomes a near god that toys with the main character’s sanity as reality devolves around them.

In fact his latest book, In the Mouth of Madness, is the plot of the movie and everything – from the town and it’s people, to the main character himself, did not exist until Cane wrote them into being. The entire plot was quite literally conducted and written up by him. The people he creates do not know they’re fiction initially, having memories and entire lives they never truly lived, but all eventually realize they are helpless to the narrative Cane writes for them. Often they will act against their own will, saying that they can’t fight against it because “he wrote me this way.” The main character, John, vehemently denies all of this for the longest, insisting that he knows whats real and he’s real. But he’s ultimately still powerless in continuing the story and helping publish the work. With the popularity of the book, a movie adaption is made (presumably, the movie we as the audience are currently watching), which seals humanity’s fate and brings the Old Ones into this world. The movie ends with the main character watching the story – the length of his existence – play out on screen and laughing, having fully lost his mind.

#submission #category: avatar #the spiral #the web #submitter: danidoesathing #sutter cane #in the mouth of madness

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livinluxuriouslyselena · 1 year

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Audiodrama Recommendations

Since I see so many requests for recommendations (mainly on the Audiodrama Subreddit) and make plenty of my own requests 😚

I decided a few months back that it seemed the least I could do was to pay the kindness forward (for all the times y’all have supplied me with suggestions).

Before browsing my list- I think it’s important to have a general idea of what kind of person the AD-lover is before getting your hopes up by their recommendations- because, taste is subjective, no? 😉☺️🌟

So, to me, audio drama is defined by having a full-cast of talented voice actors who’s job is to bring a well-written script to life. It is my opinion that *narration* has *no place* in audio drama **unless** it’s *absolutely essential* to the development of the plot as the script requires.

I’m a lover of all things **surreal** ( favorite Artist? Salvador Dalí, favorite author? Rob Shearman 🫠)- I have LOTS of weird sci-fi/horror/thriller/mystery AD’s under my belt.. (I have literally cleaned out the entire *Big Finish Audio* catalogue. 😳)

I grew up on horror everything - I was 5 when I saw *Poltergeist* 👀 so… and was reading my parents Stephen King books in elementary school 😅🙈🤷🏻‍♀️ - by the time I hit highschool I had watched every horror film in Blockbuster (wow I am old 🤦🏻‍♀️) - from the classics like *Psycho* & The Exorcist to the cheesy 80s b-roll slasher films 🙈😂🤣.

That said - I am an equal opportunity listener and I love many shades of comedy dramas. Though I do prefer my comedy to have a bit of *bite* to it.. 😅 and I’m not here for narration. Full cast audiodrama with sound production is my thing. 😅😉😘

as an adult I am partial to UK/Australian/Canada based entertainment. Even though I have lived in NYC my whole life 🤷🏻‍♀️

And here’s the list (I am sure I have forgotten about the audios from before I began this list - so feel free to add to it in the comments)

NOTE- most links take you to Spotify, some exceptions include the BBC SOUNDS app & audible

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Horror/sci-fi thriller/supernatural thrillers (simplified into “more-serious audiodrama”)

—Restart : by the creators of **The Cypher**

— Children of the Stones : (BBC) paranormal/sci-fi/thriller-mystery full cast audio drama.

—The Piper - (BBC) paranormal/sci-fi detective mystery/horror story (full cast audio drama)

— Jackie the Ripper : the infamous 19th century Whitechapel murders retold with some very sociologically-relevant, feminist twists. I debated whether to place this in the comedy or sci-fi/horror section because, technically, it’s a brilliantly British & even mix of both. Description from their website: “in this modern twist, men are the victims of dark, sexually aggressive murders. The kind that leave them penis-less... Behind all the bloodshed is a woman, Jackie, a ruthless serial killer ready to strike again, and again, and again….without a single ounce of remorse and ready to share it all on social media.”

— BODY HORROR (BBC) : psychological mystery thriller (contrary to the title of the piece, it’s not even remotely in the body horror subgenre lol - no gore or any talk of blood 🩸 because it’s not necessary - this one cuts deep, in particular for any1 who’s suffered from issues of identity or body-image disorders).

—In Another Room : paranormal investigation turned straight-horror

—Fulmar’s Folly uk-based post-apocalyptic water world

— Red Valley : surrealist-sci-fi-thriller-horror full cast UK audio drama. BRILLIANT plot & a few thought-provoking mysteries. S1 & 2 end w/ incredible twists & had me in tears one moment; and laughing the next. S3 is in the making & will be it’s final season; completing the story.

— Lusus - (BBC)- *like* an anthology (which I am not really into anthologies unless they are super original 😅) but if you *pay attention*, each very different story is linked. Each episode is unique in its own subgenre of the horror/mystery category.

—5 Week Countdown

— Murmurs (BBC) high-concept, surrealistic sci-fi-horror

—Limelight - another BBC AD: composed of mini-serials. My personal favorites are English Rose (5 part mini-series) ,The System series 1 (6 parts) & 2 (5 parts), Dead Hand (5 part mini-series, each episode a half an hour run-time), & Steelheads (5 parts)

—**Weird Tales** : (BBC) Some of these were just phenomenal. They ease you in with *The Fly* (not associated with the movie) and then they dial up the psychological fear-factor times 10 for *The Loop* - which was my favorite of the entire series. But they are all great (though the framing device is lazy & unnecessary)

— Malevolent : an indie lovecraftian tale

— Dashing Onions Audio : I read a review while Google searching best audiodrama - the mini series When We Were Two (3 part mini-series) was a perfect recommendation- this is how *every* Twilight Zone episode should have been. Upstairs, Upstairs was good just too short. Customs is a master class in script editing. Overall I prefer their mini series.

— Video Palace : traditional horror story

— The Man in Black bought on audible the version with Mark Gatiss; listened to the OG version on the BBC SOUNDS app. ((Anthology-horror)) Each episode is the length of many modern podcasted-audiodrama’s full seasons.

— Dangerous Visions (BBC) Horror/thriller

— Forest 404 (bbc) sci-fi/fantasy-thriller; hard to actually put this one into a genre category..but it’s written by Timothy X Attack, & if you’re a fan of his work with **Big Finish Audio**, it’s worth ur time.

— The Message sci-fi/mystery/thriller

— LifeAfter sci-fi/mystery/thriller

— Archive 81 : ((i suggest u start with S3. If you like it, wither go back to S1 & continue in order, or stick with the “backwards” route; going from S3->S2->S1 😉))

— The Imperfection : award winning. Any more description will ruin it. Go in cold.

— Who Killed Alaska? : sci-fi/mystery/thriller w/elements of surrealism,dark comedy, & possibilities of the paranormal..?

— How I Died : ongoing sci-fi/mystery/horror-thriller

— The Cypher : truly a great mystery (or mysteries..?), definitely a futuristic, world. Sci-fi thriller. Also by the BBC but available on most podcasting apps like the other BBC AD’s I have recommended here (spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts, a few are even available on audible)

— Petrified: Ireland based award winning full cast horror audio drama

— Subsister: A Real Podcast ongoing sci-fi mystery with multi-media/arg elements.

— The Deep Vault : made by the Archive 81 team. Fast paced true horror.

— The Oyster : this one I was apprehensive about & it was just… great. Cerebral, thought provoking, *moving*, psychologically-terrifying sci-fi. You will laugh & likely cry & feel your stomach fill with butterflies & it leaves a definite impression that lasts for days…

— Tracks (BBC) There are 5 different seasons - each could be listened to in isolation as they all have their own individual mysteries that are solved. All weird sci-fi, psychological thriller fiction

—Steal the Stars (renamed STORIES FROM THE STARS) : a shortened version (and obviously far more streamlined in storyline, production etc) of Archive 81 but here the writing shines, the pacing is absolute perfection - and then it’s like a roller coaster that I didn’t see coming - that ending I was so, so unprepared for 🤯🫢🤐

— Marvel’s Wolverine: The Long Night (can be found under the feed “Marvel’s Wolverine: The Lost Trail” - which is the 2nd season of the series) : I am not into the DC/Marvel universe. The last super-hero movie I saw was the 1990’s Batman movies 😳. I knew literally *nothing* about Wolverine, the character, when I finally caved into trying this…and boy, am I glad I did. This AD serves as yet another reminder of how holding onto preconceived notions only limits one’s potential for enjoyment. Anyway… this is absolutely not for children, & not an origin story (which is what I had been expecting). I was shocked to hear that the titular character (the term “Wolverine” is never used. It took a bit of googling for me to see that the missing “Logan” = Wolverine) is played by none other than Richard Armitage (who I know most recently from his spine-tingling portrayal of Rassilon in the Gallifrey Time War boxsets) and oddly enough, said-titular-character has very, very few lines/appearances in this story. I could go on, & on, & on trying to sell the idea of what this thing is & why it deserves your time - but it’s easy enough to just Google..

— St. Mary’s School for Children with the Stigmata

— The Grove : short serialized mythological horror story (obviously full cast)

—The Deca Tapes : almost like an experimental ARG-type formula? Basically you are dropped into a futuristic sociological experiment of sorts- and it’s up to the listener to figure out wtf is going on. This one has narration but it’s integral to the storytelling.

— BOOM (by Stak) : From their website: “It's 1999 and Enron finance manager Jim Yang has received an email from the future.”

—Parkdale Haunt* ((*I found the first season to be almost intolerable due to the very slow opening and pacing issues - but when it gets going it is good. I get the impression that they were finding their feet so-to-speak)) a supernatural horror story- seasons 2 & 3 are great - season 1 is a treck so if you don’t have the patience or tolerance, I advise skipping this one

—The Bright Sessions* (slow the 1st season. But worth it come the AM Archives)

—SCP: Find Us Alive : a darkly comedic horror serial set in the SCP universe but doing something CREATIVE within it

—The Sink: A Sleep Aid (BBC) immersive experience in psychological horror

—Case 63 : a short, professionally recorded, concisely-written psychological thriller

—Blood Culture : horror/sci-fi serial

—Quiet Part Loud : by Jordan Peele. This is a must listen.

—Tomorrow’s Monsters : serialized horror/sci-fi thriller

—Eliza : A Robot’s Story : professionally recorded.

—Borrasca* : paranormal investigation turned horror series by Q-code so that in itself is an advertisement warning complete.

—Passenger List: slow burn mystery. Caitlin Le, an Asian college student from Kansas is attending university in NYC when news breaks of a plane going missing (ala the Malaysian airline’s mystery). As the “disaster” unfurls, she is surprised to discover her twin brother was on the flight from London to New York. Months later the airline announces a “bird strike” was responsible for the flight crash; despite the fact that no evidence of a crash has been found. Caitlin Le can’t move on until she knows what happened to her twin. Soon she uncovers multiple rabbit holes 🕳️ and she gets lost . Did she really ever truly know her twin brother?

— Batman Unburied : I’m not into the whole Marvel comics thing but this audio drama does something different with classic tropes

—Batman : The Audio Adventures : again, very well done. I was into the Gotham TV show for awhile - but that’s the only marvel/DC-spawned-entertainment that’s ever caught my attention. This is another one that works for both fans of the Batman and newbs alike

—The Secret of St. Kilda : this is more of a drama with some supernatural/mythical elements

—Give Me Away : I was torn whether to put this one in the comedy or serious section because it’s more of a “dramedy ”. And it’s scary because of what it says about society but not traditional horror. It’s also by the team who did *Steal the Stars*

—Paragon : an hour-length sci-fi/horror audio drama and is part of the PRIMORDIAL DEEP feed

—Wake of Corrosion : post-apocalyptic horror (ongoing)

—Quietly Yours : straight-up horror, bottle episodes (anthology of cinematic horror drama for the ears)

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Non-horror full cast audio drama (space operas, comedic serials, etc)

—Juno Steel : part of the Penumbra Podcast

—EOS 10 : comedic space opera

— Brimstone Valley Mall : dark comedy nostalgia fest

—We Fix Space Junk : comedic space opera

—Marscorp : comedic space opera

—Classified : Dark Comedy, triggers : mental illness/asylums

—Wooden Overcoats : dark comedy “sitcom”

—Mockery Manor : nostalgia-fueled dark comedy/mock/horror

—Eternal Strife : comedic serial

—Victoriocity : a less serious, less professional version of Jago & Litefoot

—Alba Salix : comedic serial fantasy

—Bubble : this one is a weird one because it is full cast and yet it has a designated narrator… so… 😏 give it a shot & if it doesn’t work for you probably give it a pass 😙

—The Candyman : Horror-comedy/parody - very indie but quite short and worth it 👏😂

—Human B-Gone : ongoing but so far so funny

—Two Flat-Earthers Kidnap a Free Mason: This one is definitely meant to be a farcical, satirical look at the internet conspiracy world (ie: the people who followed Alex Jones’ almost religiously lol) - it’s only 14 episodes in so far, and clearly ongoing… it’s not great but it works if you’re bored..? There are certain parts that would be really funny if the pacing had been better.

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Free Full Cast Audible Audio Dramas Worth Your Time (modern radio/audio drama & *FREE*)

—Space: 1969 (comedy/alternate reality) pieces of the description from the site: “What if President John F. Kennedy had survived and rocketed the Space Race of the 1960s into overdrive? And what if he was, maybe, not quite… himself? Space: 1969 is a retro sci-fi comedy adventure that has to be heard to be believed!”

—Heads Will Roll dark fantasy comedy

—Radioman (psych thriller/horror) from the site: “When a series of gruesome murders leaves a community in despair, a former local DJ decides to start a podcast and do something about it. But as his following grows, long-buried secrets from the past resurface revealing not everyone is who they truly seem....”

—The Method (serial killing actor- intense)from the site: “James Patterson leads you into the darkest recesses of the mind with this chilling, immersive audio thriller. We meet Brent Quill, a frustrated actor trying to take his game to the next level. When he learns about the intensive Method acting process, he dives in deep—and immediately lands the lead role in a TV series about a brutal serial killer.”

—The Catchers (straight horror/paranormal possibly cryptid) from the site: “Catchers is a small-town horror tale with all the charm of a classic ‘80s creature-feature, updated for the modern era.”

—Self Center (dark comedic horror; social relevancy)

—Hit Job (dark comedy)

—The Rivals: Tales of Sherlock Holmes’ Rivals (what it says on the tin - but very funny as well as delivering good mysteries)

—Tribulation : religion trigger warning. Interesting idea - religious cult on an AM broadcast is using electricity to “steal” people and force them into “tribulation”…

—High Strangeness : Doctor Who meets X-Files & Stranger Things - very good; very funny

—Apocalypse Untreated : “five mentally ill teenagers in an inpatient wilderness program during the apocalypse face not only the end of the world, but also the end of their prescriptions. Now, they have to figure out what’s real and what’s just a side effect, and keep their wits about them as they fight for their lives and their minds. Apocalypse Untreated is a multi-part, post-apocalyptic thriller brought to life with world class sound design, and performance.”

—Sorry Charlie Miller : another one w/Zachary Quinto (the protagonist/antagonist of The Method) but this is a modern comedy - from the website “Sorry Charlie Miller is a Tik Tok era mystery with twists, turns, and a whole lot of questionable fashion choices. It takes place in Florida, hello.” - so yeah, for me it depends on the time of the day and time of the month. It’s good for the right time basically 😂

—Sheltered : British humor - very bingeable just wish there was more 😔 Description from the site: “It’s been centuries since Armageddon and no one has ever left the bunker that has sustained what remains of civilised human life....When innocent simpleton Gary and social climber Veronica are sent to explore the world outside, they soon regret ever leaving the safety, soft furnishings and quilted toilet paper of Fallout Shelter 7421.”

—Sour Hall : magical horror staring Pearl Mackie (aka: Bill from the Capaldi years of Doctor Who, also the protagonist of AD Forest 404)

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#Spotify #audio drama #fiction podcast #show recommendations #podcast recommendation #bbc sounds #audible #radio play #Apollo #full cast #full cast audio drama #no narration #reddit #controlandownership

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