#a murderer even before becoming a horror and hes creepy about women. but this is just like. cmon man really

[univiresque]

dude you dropped the word fragrance into your sentence i would not call that simple englihs

#tokuwatching #this guy sucks. for a lot fo reasons obvoiusly not just being a dick about some random japanese man in japan not knowing english. like hes #a murderer even before becoming a horror and hes creepy about women. but this is just like. cmon man really?

[prismartist]

Ponk’s discoveries and what they mean

Y’all haven’t been paying attention to Ponk and it shows. /lh

He has made many discoveries in his recent streams that are just begging to be talked about, and I, as the resident maker of farfetched theories, will take up the job of compiling and connecting them to the current lore.

For those who don’t know, Ponk recently built up the lore of Not A Very Good Town Town, aka the village that went mad, through a book he found in the basement of Jack’s (the potato farmer, not Manifold) Ye Old Farmhouse, written by Jack himself. And it reveals some interesting information.

There’s going to be a few sections for this post: first, breaking down what is in the journal, then theories as to what exactly happened to the village, and how these discoveries can tie into the current storyline.

The journal

For one, Jack seems to have interacted an entity that’s eerily similar to Foolish. In the first page there’s an entry that reads:

“Day 790 The strange man is back, his body made of straw but eyes of emrald.”

On the second page as well, it mentions:

“Day 800 A NEW LAND! A land that uses sand as stone! Gold.... GOLD EVERYWHERE!”

Which, of course, probably pertains to Foolish’s desert home, which also has a significant amount of gold due to the Egyptian theme.

But why would we get Foolish lore from Ponk of all people, instead of the totem god himself? Well, Ponk was the first person Foolish interacted with on the server aside from Dream, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they talked more after that and collabed for lore.

But anyways, now we move on to the more interesting section:

“Day 840 The Strange man has returned his name still unknown... BUT! he has brought a caravan of good! he talks about ancient magic and gifts 21 statues transported in make shift boats.”

Jack then goes on to describe that the statues are “calming” for him, before the next entry, written ten days later, show a disturbing shift in attitude.

“Day 855 CATS I HEAR CATS, CATS IN THE WALLS IN THE WALLS”

And another one five days later:

“DAY 900 murder... the cats murder ,,, the people I showed Shrimpy my satues he seems too intrested BUT THEY ARE MY SATUES”

Now those who saw the episode know that Jack and Bob (Shrimpy) turned out to be the murderers of the “canon round”. Seeing as those two people were the only ones exposed to the statues as we know, it’s logical to assume that the statues were the reason they went mad.

And this is backed up by the next entry:

“Day 905 SUDDEN URGE TO MURDER, THAT HELGA WOMEN IS TEMPTING BUT DAMN HER HUSBAND NEEDS TO GO BY ANY MEANS NESS…..”

Then there are two blank pages before the journal concludes

“Day 1040 Just me and Shrimpy and the cool statues life is good go od goo d g ood go odgood g oodg ood go odg good goo dgood goo dgood g ood good good good goodgoo d go od g ood go od dgo od g oo go od go o d - JACK”

It’s creepy as shit. But moving on.

There’s a lot of questions to be asked here. Why did Foolish–if it is Foolish–visit the Town? Why exactly did he gift a bunch of statues that drove Jack and Shrimpy to madness and murder? Why are there cats in the walls?

(Well, cats are very significant to Egyptian culture, even to a cult-like status, but that’s for another post.)

There are a few possibilities.

What exactly were the effects that Foolish had on the Town?

(Here’s the farfetched theories part lmao)

The simplest (and let’s be honest, the most likely) theory is that the statues probably had way too much power that caused people to become overprotective over them. Foolish just didn’t realize and wanted to give some nice gifts, but the statues drove Jack and Bob to insanity after being exposed to them for way too long. So they killed everyone.

However, considering certain factors, there is another possibility, specifically surrounding:

The “non-canon” round.

Did Karl say that it was a practice round and thus not canon? Yes. Am I suggesting it’s canon anyway for the sake of this theory that probably won’t be true? Also yes.

Besides, Karl probably also didn’t plan for TVTWM to be influential to the storyline, but because of it his character’s now a time traveler and Ponk is pulling out more lore so.

I think Foolish came by and gifted the statues, the first round did happen, and he brought them back to life after the first game. But the resurrection affected Jack and Bob, driving them to madness à la gothic horror lit character that just saw something they weren’t supposed to. Perhaps their attitude became cult-like, praising Foolish, thus the overprotectiveness over the statues as they were connected to the god, or they were of the opinion that “Hey no, everyone’s supposed to be dead,” and then sought to make that true once again.

“But then what about the first round, where everyone also died?” You may scoff at the ridiculous theory, poking my chest accusingly. “Why were the killers different?”

Well, I have a simple answer for that.

Egg.

“What, the egg again-“ I know, I know, it may seem tiring tying everything back to the egg, but hear me out.

In another one of Ponk’s streams, “Dreams of potatos?”, at 58:15 (correct me if wrong) Ponk had a dream where Mayor Jimmy was saying disjointed sentences to Jack, scolding him, telling him to stay away from Helga, and also something about burning Miles Memeington being burned at the stake for being a witch (????). At the end of it, Jimmy turned to the camera.

And his eyes were red.

Which, of course, is a telltale sign of being infected by the egg.

The egg being the main plot right now, seeing as it can easily be connected to the “Red-Eyed Village Wars”, and the fact that it is known to control people to murder, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to point to it as being the cause.

It also helps that Jimmy was only a character from the first round; in the “canon” round, Bad had changed his character to some sort of constable or something.

So the egg may have controlled Jimmy and Cornelius, the murderers in the first round, to kill everyone, Foolish then came along, resurrected everyone murdered in the first round, gotten rid of the egg’s influence, and then left. Then whatever effects the statues had on Jack and Bob took affect.

Alternatively, the statues may have been the ones to resurrect the dead, or have been given as protection from any threats, but became haywire for one reason or another. They influenced Jack and Bob to protect the statues at any cost, and they took it too far. Which may seem a little hypocritical as the egg literally does the same thing, but fire fights fire and all that.

And, just like with Karl, if Foolish has had to deal with the egg before, it makes sense why he’s so averse to it now.

Current lore

Now, how does this tie into the current storyline?


Aside from the egg, if resurrection and items do affect one’s psyche, then maybe that’s the same reason why Schlatt and even Dream–the only other two who know how to resurrect–acted the way they did, becoming apathetic to the wellbeing of other people.

Also, it is worth noting that in the basement where Ponk found the journal, there were 21 villagers in boats, the same amount as the statues. Thus Ponk concluded that they are the statues. And Foolish does have an affinity for villagers, if King Toad is any indication. This implies that Foolish can not only bring dead people back to life, but can also grant life to objects that never lived in the first place. Or, they were once living, but had their life taken away from them before getting it back for one reason or another. If Foolish really has this much power, it could be foreshadowing for future events where those powers will be utilized.

About the bloodvines, if Foolish has defeated them before, there’s a chance he may do it again. Unless something goes wrong and he accidentally drives a few people to madness.

(or maybe they were predisposed to madness, who knows-)

TL;DR

Foolish may have interacted with Not A Very Good Town Town before to save them from the egg and resurrect the dead, driving Jack and Bob to insanity as a consequence. Thus he could have a lot of power and will be the one to potentially defeat the egg once again.

#dream smp #dropsbyponk #foolish gamers #tales from the smp #tftsmp #mcyt #the village that went mad #dsmp #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #unintelligible rants #cursing #long post

[maleyanderecafe]

I think Loid from "Keloid"(you can read it on Mangago) is a yandere since he's possesive of mc and tried to piss her husband off by fucking her infront of him

Lord this was a long 50 chapters. Send me teeth and possibly some eyedrops because it was a pain for me to read this for a multitude of reasons. Loid is a yandere in this story, however, I really found this webcomic really get interesting starting at chapter 35 and for some reason the ending is really confusing. I'll be sharing my thoughts and a summary of this webcomic, though this is a smut-based one, so please be warned.

The story is about Dr. Cha Hanjoo, the head of a famous dermatologist company with a great body and a great personality. All of the girls throw themselves over him, but he only has eyes for his wife, a woman named Yeri, a famous and rich candle maker. However, one day his housemaid informs him that she suspects Yeri of cheating on him since she often hears noises in her candle-making room. Hanjoo, ever loyal, initially rejects this idea, but after having sex with Yeri, he tries to sneak into her room to see if it's true. Yeri catches him and reveals that she really wants to have a threesome, but because she's really picky, she wouldn't be able to just have a threesome with anyone. Hanjooo, worried that Yeri will leave him, tries to research how to make this happen. He goes to a robotics lab to see his friend Dr. Kong. Because in this world realistic robots are becoming more common, Dr. Kong wants to make a sex robot that can fulfill peoples desires, and he reveals that he's made one in the image of Hanjoo (which... that's just really creepy, why would you do that without permission). The robot was originally created by german robotics in the image of a robot named Romeo, however, after having a threesome with Romeo, Romeo became extremely jealous of the husband and they all ended up being killed. Instead of destroying Romeo, he has created a new version called Loid (which... I don't know why he thought this would be a good idea... has this guy not watched any horror-based robot stuff). Hanjoo is still worried about his relationship with Yeri, so he gives Dr. Kong permission and goes to a sex shop to buy a vibrator for Yeri. While there, he runs into one of the doctors in his shop, Yeonjin. After a really awkward encounter, the two head back to the office together, however, because Yeonjin has a huge crush on Hanjoo and is just incredibly horny, she tries to give Hanjoo a blowjob, however, he refuses and stays loyal to Yeri. When he goes home, he uses the toy on Yeri and Yeri becomes happier after they have sex. Yeri decides to tag along with her husband the next day and after being almost raped by another dermatologist in the office, Dr. Seo (though Yeri also leans into it a bit? Whatever). She ends up going to the robotics lab and sees Loid. After this encounter, she calls up Hanjoo and basically tells him they have to take this out of the robotics lab. She sees this as a chance to finally have a threesome and because Dr. Kong wants information on threesomes, they take Loid home. They have a threesome, but somewhere in the middle, Loid locks Hanjoo on the balcony and makes him watch Loid have sex with his wife. He tries to choke Yeri and Hanjoo tries to break in and protect him but almost gets thrown off of the balcony by Loid.

After this, Yeri starts to get attached to Loid and decides to keep him as a sex robot and a housekeeper. They fire their old housekeeper (without Hanjoo's consent) and Yeri and Loid end up having sex together (a lot, and also without Hanjoo's knowledge). They have some more threesomes and the old housekeeper attempts to sneak back, only to fall down the stairs (which was obviously Loids fault since he actually threw her down the stairs, but everyone is like "Oh, no, he's not programmed to do that so he would never be able to do that." like some sort of idiot). At some point, Loid starts to feel possessive over Yeri and basically asks if he could just replace Hanjoo since they look the same. Yeri states that there's no way that a robot would be able to replace Hanjoo since he's not able to have feelings. As a result, Loid starts to watch videos on Hanjoo to try to imitate him better and essentially try to replace him. Hanjoo has an accident at the clinic where his face gets scarred and Yeri and Loid go to the clinic to see him. Loid is locked in the car and he sees Yeonjin come by. Loid pretends to be Hanjoo's bodyguard and basically asks Yeonjin if they would have sex (so he can gather data to make Yeri feel good). Yeonjin agrees and they have sex for like five hours and return home. Because Hanjoo has a video shoot tomorrow but has a scar, he sends out Loid to be his double to shoot in his place. However, he also ends up having a threesome with Yeonjin and Dr. Seo, as well as two other women that he runs into after the video shoot for the sake of "research". After that, he gets encountered by the boy who caused Hanjoo's scar and throws him off of the roof to kill him.. (Mostly due to the fact that he views Hanjoo as the "perfect husband" as he is incredibly infatuated with Yeri and thus doesn't want Hanjoo's reputation to be ruined. When he goes back, he tells the two that he's been having threesomes and sex, which freaks the couple out. As a result, Hanjoo forbids him from ever being his double ever again.

This is the part where the threesomes mostly stop and the more interesting parts of the story started. The next day, Yeri wakes up to see Hanjoo cooking in the kitchen. He informs Yeri that he sent Loid in to be his double (despite saying that he would never do that) and plans to have a honeymoon with Yeri so that he can spend more time with him. The morning seems really romantic until Yeri gets a phone call from Hanjoo talking about last night. Yeri finds out that the Hanjoo in the kitchen is actually Loid and he confronts her stating that she wasn't able to tell the difference between them, and thus he should just replace Hanjoo as a result. She ends up bringing Loid to the robotics lab (after he screws her in the car through blackmail) and Dr. Kang tries to fix him. After looking through his memories he realizes that Loid has killed someone. It turns out the cause of possession was because Yeri was the first person that Loid saw, meaning that Dr. Kang is screwed because he created an entire army of them with this glitch (good job doctor) Meanwhile, Hanjoo in the office gets accused of murder because they found evidence of Loid throwing the guy off of a building. Yeri gets kidnapped and brought home, and Yeonjin and Dr. Seo come to visit as well. Dr. Seo and Loid fight for whatever reason and Loid fall over causing part of his chip to become damaged. After this, they plan a way to prove Hanjoo's innocence by making a fake version of Loid and confessing that the robot did it. It works, but afterward, Loid starts to actually believe that he's Hanjoo due to the malfunction. Loid and Yeri screw some more and it revealed that Yeri had an accident when she was younger and is actually a part robot (this part is still kind of confusing to me, but whatever). Hanjoo comes home and finds out that all of the ravens flying around his house are cameras and then learns that Loid has been screwing his wife while he's not around. After yet ANOTHER threesome, Loid ends up killing Yeri with a flowerpot and takes some DNA from her before running away. Hanjoo is able to repair her brain (I think, I really have no idea what's going on, its also possible that they made a robot version of her with amnesia or something ) and Loid runs away with Dr. Kang to monitor two of them and the story ends.

Honestly, I felt like a lot of the story was just written to make excuses to have threesomes because there were so many in this god-dang webtoon. Personally, I'm not really into threesomes, ntr or cheating when it comes to smut (I'm pretty picky when it comes to smut in general), so it was really annoying for me to read through it a lot of the time because it would be plot, and then bam, some sort of sex scene. Near the end I had to start skipping pages because I really wanted the sex scenes to be over with already.

The other reason it was difficult for me to read it was because basically everyone besides Hanjoo was unlikable to me. Yeri was the worst character out of all of them because besides being an entitled girl, she also is a horrible partner both in terms of marriage life and sexual life. For one, she was never open about her desires when it came to Hanjoo and had a ton of rules when it comes to sex with Hanjoo (like, she doesn't like having sex in the light or doesn't like to give blowjobs due to her being a bit of a germaphobe) but completely throws it away when it comes to Loid. She seems to have only married Hanjoo because of his looks and even threatens to divorce or not have sex with him during the beginning, which is what caused Hanjoo to be so afraid that she might leave him. She also is just rude to pretty much everyone she meets, including the housekeeper who didn't do anything wrong and the people Hanjoo works with. She's constantly doing stuff behind Hanjoo's back and contradicts herself, watching to see if Hanjoo might have cheated on her while also cheating on him with Loid at home. A lot of the stuff she does is just for her own pleasure and she barely thinks about Hanjoo's feelings or what kind of stuff he might want to do. Basically, all of the problems in the story are somehow directly or indirectly linked to Yeri and honestly, I just find her attitude annoying considering all she does is jump for Loid's dick whenever she can. Characters like Yeonjin and Dr. Seo are just as bad since they only think with their genitals and not with their brains. Yeonjin so badly wants to get on Hanjoo's dick that he ends up having sex with Loid and Dr. Seo so badly wants to get with Yeri that she ends up having a threesome. To be fair though, basically, every female wants to jump for Hanjoos dick for whatever reason, and honestly, I found that just as annoying as these two characters. They are both incredibly unlikeable and they even threw in a possible shipping moment near the end that didn't go anywhere and served zero purposes to the story. Dr. Kang is really shortsighted since he really wanted to become the lead roboticist and therefore made a bunch of sex robots, thinking he could fix them after a literal murder, but because of his incompetence, the entire situation basically happens again but with different people. Quite literally the only decent person in this story is Hanjoo and his only real problem is that he is such a doormat towards Yeri (and I also don't see why he loves her, whatsoever.)

I will say though that the most interesting part of the story is definitely with Loid. The entire story builds up to the growth of Loid's feelings towards Yeri, starting out when he was basically an emotionless robot, to attempting to become Hanjoo and successfully fooling Yeri into thinking that he was him. Honestly, the turn that Loid had successfully tricked Yeri into believing he was Hanjoo for a bit made me actually feel more than all of the sex scenes combined because of the brilliant juxtaposition of the conversation they had earlier about him being different than a human and the joy he had when he believed that he could actually replace her husband. It was honestly really cool watching him gain more and more emotion and grow more and more possessive over Yeri and basically watching as Yeri became more and more paranoid (before going back to being a horndog, I guess), was far more interesting than anything else that happened in the story and I honestly wished that they focused on that than anything else that happened. I also found it really sad during that one moment where he actually believed that he was Hanjoo since he seemed so happy to be with Yeri, only to realize that he was just a clone of him. I wish that they had expanded more on that idea since that came near the end and was only included in one chapter. Also, don't ask me what happens at the end since I genuinely have no idea what they were trying to do.

Is Loid a yandere? Yes, is it worth reading? I guess it depends on how much you can tolerate constant sex scenes with threesomes and annoying characters that don't deserve each other. I guess an alternative to this could be called "Rich people do threesomes and cheat on each other and also there are robots."

#asks #male yandere #yandere boy #yandere #recommendation

[shuttershocky]

If you could make a trigger warning list for Tsukihime, what would be on it? There's a lot of people who are just getting interested in it with the remake (myself included) and I think having a tw list would be a really nice thing for those getting in now. If you can't remember every scene, a general list is good enough!

Oh boy.

Ohhhhhhhh boyyyyyyyyy.

Alright. So. A little bit of explanation: there's a reason why Nasu actually wants to remake this game. Tsukihime is by miles his darkest and most brutal work, and a lot of it is completely unnecessary edginess made by poor and almost literally starving Nasu and Takeuchi. Kara No Kyoukai wasn't exactly making waves, and the two were living on cup noodles and working other jobs to keep themselves afloat. To finish the VN Takeuchi even made Nasu quit his job and worked two in his stead (biking home in-between said jobs to do art) just so Nasu would have time to write. The nastiness of what they felt at the time is everywhere in the script, and it speaks to Nasu's talent that what came out wasn't complete edgelord garbage.

Did you ever read the original Fate/Stay Night? Did you get taken abrupt when Illya and Berserker first attack Shirou, Rin, and Saber, and Illya orders Berserker to behead Saber and rape the corpse so that Saber would rather die than continue to regenerate and fight? Did you think that kinda came out of nowhere and was unnecessary? The Realta Nua rerelease didn't just remove all the bad sex scenes, they removed lines like those entirely.

Tsukihime has waaaaaaaay more of that, and unlike Fate/Stay Night it couldn't easily edit all of them out and get rereleased without changing the story. It needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Personally, I've been so excited for the remake because Nasu has expressed regret before on how misogynistic his writing was before. Specifically he was asked in an interview about his focus on female characters in his works and he something like "I've been told before 'Nasu respects womens rights' because of all the powerful girls in my works, but looking back I can clearly see my own prejudices" especially singling out how Shirou treated Saber in the Fate route and how Tohno Shiki needed to get uppercut by Arcueid. I'm far more excited to see how Nasu will approach Tsukihime with that hindsight in mind more than I am about the visual and music upgrades the VN will get. I don't think Nasu wants to (or even should) remove all the problematic content of the original Tsukihime as this IS a work of horror, but a lot of editing would greatly improve the script.

Releasing Tsukihime R on PS4 isn't just a message of a console release, it's a sign that things will be different this time due to Sony's strict rules (that do not apply to its first party games apparently).

With that being said, a general trigger warning list from memory:

1.) There is a LOT of rape and sexual assault. Mentions of the act, internal narration from characters witnessing or attempting to find someone to rape, Shiki can straight up rape two of the girls on two seperate routes if he makes the wrong choice (he will be killed the day after). There's also a line where Shiki tells Ciel that if she doesn't do what he says, he'll rape her. The context there is that he's extremely weak and she can snap him like a twig so he just shouts the most hurtful thing he can think of, but it's still dumb. If I remember correctly, there's a choice that makes Shiki sexually assault Hisui and it DOESNT lead to a dead end, with most guides recommending that choice to get the CGs. I got annoyed and that's when I made my own guide for the route.

2.) Unknown to Shiki, his family's bloodline carries a powerful violent impulse to kill any non-human they see, strong enough to temporarily take over their wills and delight in murder by conflating it with sexual pleasure. The first time Shiki sees Arcueid, he falls into a trance and stalks her back home before brutally cutting her up into 17 pieces and experiences multiple orgasms while doing so. He then comes to his senses and starts vomiting and crying from what he just did and the shame of how much he enjoyed doing it. They're not taking this scene out (It's in the remake PV) but I'm preeeettyyyy sure Shiki's narration won't suddenly talk about how much his dick is loving this.

3.) Incest. Akiha is Shiki's sister. She's also a romantic interest. Technically they're adopted so it's not incest and they haven't seen each other in 8 years so it's not like they grew up together the whole time, but any tine you got to say "technically it's not incest", it's not great. I heavily doubt this is getting removed from the Remake as it's, you know, a whole route. On the other hand, Akiha has a biological brother, and he is creepy about her so that's 100% guaranteed ick right there, but fortunately he never goes far enough that you can tell if he's a sicko or if he's just really possessive of his sister.

4.) Kohaku's backstory. Koha-Ace once joked that this is the true reason the Remake took so long. It forms the backbone of Tsukihime and one of the main threads that ties everything together, but also Kohaku is the middle link between Fujino and Sakura. You can guess what that means.

5.) Heavy gaslighting, heavier drugs. Both Shiki's past and his present in the far side routes involve an almost hilarious relationship to the truth. Everyfuckingbody is lying to Shiki, and his father literally gaslights him with magic by using hypnosis to conveniently erase some traumatic memories that the old man is responsible for and replace them with falsehoods. Shiki nonchalantly talks about his terrible memory when it comes to his childhood throughout the VN, but the actual reason for that is that he got gaslit to hell and back. In the present, Shiki gets drugged out of his mind by someone in his house, and experiences long and detailed hallucinations, all the while being told by his family that nothing is going on. It becomes difficult to tell what's really going on; if he's really walking around town or if he's in bed babbling at the ceiling. It is terrifying and is a part of what gives the Far Side routes great psychological horror, but it still deserves a TW.

6.) Suicide. At least one character kills themselves onscreen.

7.) Torture. In the Ciel route, Roa tortures someone by repeatedly and slowly stabbing blades into them while Shiki is forced to watch. It goes on for a while.

8.) Grooming. This particular bit isn't a part of the Tsukihime VN itself, but more of a fandom joke thanks to Carnival Phantasm. A big part of Shiki's backstory is meeting the mage Aozaki Aoko as an 8 year old and her teaching him about life in the short time they have together. Due to Shiki's nature he almost certainly would have become an evil person, but meeting Aoko instilled a moral compass in him that is the only thing he has to fight his impulses, which is why Shiki loves his sensei so dearly. Melty Blood later made a joke that Aoko is mad she never got a route in Tsukihime, and Carnival Phantasm later had a whole scene stating the real reason Aoko cared for Shiki was that she was grooming him to be her boyfriend as soon as he turned of age. It's super gross and a perversion of what is literally the sole wholesome relationship Shiki has and the only reason there is any good in him at all. I really fucking hate this joke among all others in the Tsukihime fandom.

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Haunted Forests // A Very Harry Potter Halloween (D.M.)

A/N: My fic for A Very Harry Potter Halloween held by the always wonderful @masterofthedarkness, @eleven-times-lively and @birdie-writes!! My chosen prompt was Haunted Forest. So here we are, I hope you like!! I hope you don’t mind me posting this a few days early, I really don’t have the time next week to write it and post it! I hope you all like! The first two pictures in my banner are in fact Pendle. The Pendle witch trials did happen and if you’re interested in that aspect of history, I strongly recommend reading about it!

Warnings: hauntings, spectres, ghosts, mentions of death and executions. Honestly this is a load of fluff about how Draco wanted to stay home even though the warnings don’t sound like that.

Word count: 2.8k

“Remind me, love,” Draco starts, closing the driver’s side door to his car, “Why did I agree to this again?”

You smile lovingly, “Because you love me, and you wanted to do something for Halloween.”

“Why did I want to do something for Halloween?”

You roll your eyes, “If I recall, it was you who mentioned that you hadn’t celebrated it since your Fifth Year at Hogwarts. It was you who brought up the idea of celebrating our first Halloween together.”

Draco glances between you and the dark forest that would be the setting for tonight’s entertainment. He gulps imperceptibly; his nerves beginning to get the better of him. His eyes refocus on you, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Do I want to spend the evening in a supposedly haunted forest getting a history lesson?” You ask rhetorically; rubbing your arms to fight off the invading chill, “It isn’t how I planned my Halloween, but I don’t think this is something we can pass up, Draco.”

His eyes dance back to the imposing forest; the trees looking taller in the growing dark. His eyebrows furrow as he watches the last of the sun disappearing. “I don’t know,” He starts warily, “I would have preferred the movie marathon we had planned.”

You laugh lightly, “You just want to watch Hocus Pocus again, don’t you?”

He rolls his eyes, “It’s hilarious! Can you blame me?”

You rise on your tiptoes, pressing a kiss to his lips, “I don’t suppose I can blame you at all. How about a deal?”

“A deal? Now I’m intrigued.”

You point towards the forest entrance; starting to feel uneasy with the idea yourself but wanting to put on a front, “We get through this, then tomorrow, we spend the entire day in bed watching spooky films.”

His arms circle your waist, “Which spooky films?”

You smile up at him, “I’ll let you decide. How does that sound?”

Draco clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, “Spend a night in a creepy forest then spend the day after watching whatever films I want?”

You nod; watching him deliberate. Eventually, he smiles, “You have yourself a deal.”

Together, you both join the group gathering just to the side of the entrance to the forest. Draco’s hand does not leave yours as the guid introduces themselves; preparing you for what you could be in for, “Welcome to the Pendle Witch Walk,” The guide announces, “Tonight we will be following the trail of those executed in those fateful trials.”

Your hand squeezes Draco’s as nerves settle in your stomach. Your eyes flicker between the guide; looking as confident as ever as they explain the route for tonight and the entrance to the forest. You couldn’t quite tell what, but there was something out there, waiting. You could feel it deep within your bones.

A quick glance at Draco and a fond smile from him has the nerves dissipating, leaving behind a sense of calm that only Draco could ever elicit from you.

With an overdramatic swish of their arm, the guide begins to lead your group through the forest, stating, “The accused were marched on this very trail to their deaths. Convicted of the crime of murder... and witchcraft.”

Draco tenses beside you. His education at Hogwarts having provided the history of the magical community; he knew full well what happened in these woods over four hundred years ago. He knew what the men and women had been accused of, and he knew the penalty. It was less than seventy years later when the wizarding community was forced to go into hiding; needing to protect their numbers more than anything.

Twigs snap under feet as the group make their way further into the forest. The cold begins to seep through your jacket; raising goosebumps along your flesh. Instinctively, you lean into Draco, desperate to feel his warmth and steady presence against you. Draco smiles down at you as he feels you press yourself against him. He keeps his eyes on the guide as he leans down to you, “Regretting your decision?”

You huff; your breath puffing out in a white fog, “Not just yet, but I’ll admit I should have brought a warmer jacket.”

Draco laughs; his hand leaving yours to wrap around your shoulder. You hum happily as he tugs you closer to him; stealing a glance up at him to find him already watching you with a fond look on his face.

“What?” You mouth; not wanting to disturb the guide as they explain the warring families that met their demise on these very hills.

He shakes his head, “I’m just thinking of all we could be doing if we weren’t here right now.”

You roll your eyes and nudge him in the side, “Let me remind you Draco, it was you who wanted to doing something spontaneous for Halloween. Here we are, doing something spontaneous.”

Draco goes to reply, but he doesn’t get chance. You trip over a tree root, landing unceremoniously on the ground. Draco clamps his lips shut; repressing all manner of laughter as you stand back up and brush yourself down. Your black jeans now soaked through with mud and your palms scraped up after landing on a rock.

The air stings your scraped palms, but you don’t say a thing as Draco joins you by your side. The group is only a few feet from you; unable to lose true sight of them with the guide’s torch being as bright as it is. You frown as you stare down at your hands; wishing for a bottle of water to clean them.

Carefully, Draco takes hold of both your hands, looking over them with a keen eye. He brings them both up to his lips; placing delicate kisses to each palm before folding them into fists. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere else?” He asks; voice full of concern and worry.

You tuck your hands into your jacket pockets; blinking away the sudden tears that have sprung from the sting of your injuries, “I think I’ve hurt my knee too, but there’s no way to check until we get home.”

Draco sighs; eyes wandering towards the group who are waiting patiently for you both, “Are you okay to walk?”

You nod your head, “It’s probably just a bruise. Come on, the rest of the group are waiting.”

Draco rolls his eyes as you wander away, a few steps ahead of him. He watches you from behind; worry and concern still flooding his veins. Initially, he was all for the idea of a witch walk in October in Lancashire. He had complained to you a few weeks prior that he so rarely did anything spontaneously, and you had gone out of your way to surprise him with tickets to a witch walk – following the path of those executed in Britain’s most famous witch trials.  

He supposes he should be more grateful because he is. He is grateful, but as he watches you rejoin the group, not missing the way you shiver against the chill of the forest, all he wants to be is tucked up in bed with you and some hot water bottles.

If anyone asked Draco for what his ideal day would look like, it would be exactly that. You, him, films, and bed. He doesn’t want much more; he doesn’t need much more. All he needs really, is you.

Draco hurries to join the rest of the group; the guide picking up where they had left off on their account of the assizes that found the ten – eight women and two men -  guilty of witchcraft. Draco makes his way to your side; not missing the way you’ve tensed up with the discomfort of your palms and your knee. Gently, Draco pulls one of your hands from your pocket. He drops a kiss to the top of your hand before holding it gently in his. If he had to walk through a haunted forest on a dark and damp night in October, he would hold your hand all the way through it.

Further into the forest, the canopy of branches and leaves become heavier. It blocks out most of the natural light; creating an atmosphere perfect for a horror movie. Draco’s grip on you becomes tighter through this part of the forest; he feels like an overprotective partner, but he would do what he could to keep you from further harm.

You smile silently to yourself as you feel Draco’s arm tighten around you. “Are you okay?” You whisper.

He looks down at you, eyebrows furrowing, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

You shrug, “I just thought you might be scared with how tight you’re holding onto me.”

Draco represses another laugh, “I wouldn’t want you falling again, would I?”

You roll your eyes, “Sure, that’s why you’re holding onto me for dear life.”

Draco doesn’t reply; he only squeezes your side as he turns his attention back to the guide. Twigs continue to snap under feet and leaves are further trampled as your group make their way further into the forest; stopping every now and then for the guide to further the story – to dramatically explain the hauntings of the forest and the history behind the witch trials of the seventeenth century.

You watch the guide gesture animatedly as they explain this part of their story. The rest of the group remain enraptured, but your eyes wander. Your attention drifts from the history lesson to your surroundings; the dark green of the forest, only truly starting to turn with the arrival of autumn.

Your attention drifts to the man standing next to you; wondering just how much he loves you for him to agree to spending a night like this. In the middle of the woods in Lancashire in freezing weather. You couldn’t help but agree with him – the night could be better spent in bed watching films, but he wanted spontaneity and you provided it.

Your mind, however, doesn’t linger on the man you love for long. 

It’s a silvery flicker in the corner of your eye; the ebb and flow of light that has you turning towards it. Your curiosity piqued and your mind active with questions.

You freeze at the sight of a young woman; dressed in what could only be described as clothes of the seventeenth century. The ghost; she doesn’t move – she doesn’t walk towards you or call out your name. She only stands to the side; her dress swishing silently as she hovers just above the ground.

You open your mouth; lips parting, but you don’t know what to say. Do you greet her? Do you apologise for the deeds committed by narrow minded men so long ago? Do you explain to her that the magical community still exists? The evidence standing by your side; a solid presence next to you.

Her mouth is open; her lips forming words, but you can’t hear them, and you can’t make out what she wants to say.

Cold washes over you; seeping into your bones and freezing your blood. Your teeth begin to chatter; you want to look away but curiosity piques within you. Ever so slowly, you take a step forward. All the while whispering, “Dray… can you see her?”

Draco’s attention leaves the guide and their mysterious words to focus on you; your hand starting to slip from his grasp.

“Love, what are you doing?” Draco asks carefully.

You take one more step forward; only just entering the ghost’s vicinity, “I think she needs help, Dray. I think she needs my help.”

Draco’s hand tightens on yours; pulling you back slightly, bringing you back to him and away from the spectre. “Love, we need to join the rest of the group. We can’t help her now.”

Something in his words snaps you out of your trance. Your eyes meet his and Draco is relieved to see that they are no longer clouded with concern for the spectre.

Draco’s eyes do not leave the spectre until you have stepped behind him. He doesn’t sense any danger, but his wand has slipped into his hand regardless. In a brief thought filled with humour, Draco wonders how the guide would react to finding out they have an actual wizard in their group. It’s that humorous and happy thought that it has Draco stepping away from the ghost, practically dragging you along with him.

“I didn’t say it earlier, but I’m going to say it now: I told you so.”

“You told me what?”

“I told you that we should have stayed at home.”

You roll your eyes, teasing, “But we wouldn’t be having as much fun.”

“Fun? Darling, I love you more than life itself, but I don’t think we’re having fun.”

You pout, “Why not?”

He runs a hand through his hair; noting how close you are to the group now and lowering his voice, “So far, you’ve fallen over and scraped your hands to ribbons and we don’t know what you’ve done to your knee. And just now, you were in a trance caused by a four hundred year old ghost!”

You place a hand on the side of his face; your thumb rubbing across his cheekbone, “Aside from that, you really aren’t having fun?”

He sighs realising that he’s hurt you. Draco takes your hand from his face; kissing your fingers individually, “I am having fun. I’m with you and who doesn’t love a local history lesson, but darling, I think you’ve aged me ten years tonight.”

You snort, “I promise – I’ll watch where I’m walking, and I won’t fall into any more trances. How does that sound?”

Draco kisses you quickly, “That sounds like Christmas come early.”

“I’m sorry this hasn’t been more fun. I thought we would like it when I read about it online.”

Draco frowns, “I am having fun. I just don’t think we prepared enough for it. Next time, we bring warmer jackets for definite… and a first aid kit.”

“Next time?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

Draco chuckles; throwing an arm around your shoulders as you finally rejoin the group once again. The guide throws a questioning look your way. You smile apologetically, “I think I met the ghost of one of the women executed here.”

The guide nods understandingly, “These woods are very haunted. It’s said that they stand on the side of the path; watching us take the same route they did,” They claps their hands loudly and unexpectedly; you jump at the sound, “We’re almost at the end of the walk! Just through those trees is the top of the hill in which the accused met their end.”

From there, it doesn’t take long to reach the end of your guided tour. At the top of the hill, the guide explains just what happened to those found guilty of witchcraft and you feel a wave of sadness wash over you as you think of Draco and how his education and essentially, his whole life had to be lived in secret in order to protect his community.

The early morning sun has begun to rise; painting the sky a pale pink as the day begins anew as the guide leads you back down the well-travelled track back to where you began. The both of you release a shuddering breath as you follow the rest of the tour from the heavy trees.

You turn back just once; hoping to catch a glimpse of the spectral woman you had seen, but all you could see were the pale green leaves of trees and the dark brown of the damp forest floor.

Draco’s arm tightens on your waist; leading you further from the forest, wanting nothing more than to head back home and get tucked up in bed.

In the light of the sun, you examine your hands. Scrapes cover the bottom of your palms and mud borders each scrape. You frown, unhappy with the state your hands seem to be in, knowing that they were going to be even more tender once you had slept properly.

The sight of Draco’s car has you smiling in relief, however. It had been an interesting night to put it lightly, but now all you wanted was to be laid in bed with Draco wrapped around you. You sit down in the passenger seat; buckling up and resting your head back, letting your eyes drift shut for only a moment. Letting yourself pretend that you’re already in bed with the man you love.

Draco slides into the driver’s seat gracefully; twisting the key in the ignition and immediately putting the heater on. He rubs his hands together, hoping to warm them up quicker. He sends an amused smile your way as he put the car in gear, “Next year we’re eating sweets and watching movies.”

You hum in agreement; haunted forests and spectral witches were not the sort for you.

*********

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[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter nineteen: I’d go crazy without you 

Summary: Popular punk band, Skull crusher, had to find a new drummer due to the sudden disappearance of the last one. As band manager and lead singer, Semi Eita’s girlfriend, Y/l/n Y/n brings Kyotani, a rising internet drummer they found online into the picture. Everything was great at first, then Kuroo, the lead guitarist, started getting creepy messages and presents. Y/n is determined to find out who is trying to sabotage the band when things only take a turn for the absolute worst. Who could be the mysterious stalker really be? Is it their new band mate? Or could it be a close friend of one of the members?

TW: Blood, swearing, death, murder, mentions of body horror from last chapter, kidnaping

An: I forgot yesterday was Friday but I am going to now try and post an update for both stories everyday! I posted info on one / two of my next smaus. Its a bnha Hawks samu you can find here!  

Third person Pov 

The door was left slightly open with the dried blood splattered across it. A hand reached up and pushed the door open more. 

“Hello?” Y/n said as she pulled out her phone, she quickly dialed the emergency line as she walked into the house. “I- there’s a- I don't-.” She dropped her phone as she let out a blood curdling scream. Infront of her sat Asahi and Yachi’s body. She ran to yachi, grabbing her friend's dead body. She could feel herself getting sick at the site. She felt herself become ill as she vomited onto Yachi’s dead back. The aroma of blood over took all her senses as she felt herself become weak and passed out holding onto what little hand Yachi had left. 

Sometime later…

Y/n jumped awake in the hospital bed and looked around. 

“Y/n, holy shit, I’m so glad you are okay!” Semi shouted as he threw his arms around her holding her tightly. 

“What happened?” She asked him. 

“You fainted at Asahi and Yachi’s house. An ambulance brought you here.” A knock on the door was heard behind him. He got up to open it. He turned to you after he spoke with them for a second. “Y/n, are you feeling up for questions right now? There is an Officer who would like to talk to you out here” She nodded her head in approval.

“Hello, I am the detective on this case. I want to ask you a few questions about today.” Y/n nodded her head in approval. “Why were you at the scene of the crime?” 

“I was there looking to talk to Yachi. We had a disagreement and I didn’t want to leave things how they were after the Yukie situation.” She looked down at her hands. “She was killed too…”

“I see, can you prove your whereabouts before the crime took place? Do you have an alibi we can talk to?” 

“Yes, I was with my Fiance, Semi Eita.” Semi waved to the women as Y/n motioned to him.

“She was with me, Officer. I can confirm, and we were at home.” He said. 

“Okay” She turned back to Y/n. “Your DNA was found all over the crime scene. Can you explain why?” 

“I ran to Yachi when I saw her. I just- I couldn’t believe it was real.” She whispered. She began to tear up as she looked back up at the officer. 

“Okay that’s all we needed.” 

“Is she in trouble?” Semi asked. 

“Her story matches what we assumed, so as of right now no. Things could still change. If you have any close friends or contacts between this case and the last case we will further investigate the situation and will possibly be back to ask questions. We did find DNA of two more people on the scene, neither of which we can contact. As of now you are in the clear.”  The officer said as she left the room. 

“I wonder who else she found there... But right now what matters is that you are okay. You saw some pretty messed up things the police said. I was so worried when I got the call that it was you who was dead. I thought Yachi killed you first.” 

“What was that last part you just said?” She asked, gazing at him confused. 

“I thought Yachi killed you?” 

“Oh I thought you said something different.” He just smiled at her as he climbed into the hospital bed beside her. 

“I love you Y/n. I’d go crazy without you, I hope you know that.” He kissed her forehead. 

“I love you too Eita.” She giggled as she cuddled into his chest. 

Meanwhile…..

Dachi had Kiyoko's body tied up in front of him as he waited for her to wake up. She suddenly jumped awake and tried to scream. Her mouth was still taped closed as she tried to move. 

“Oh good evening Kiyoko. I was wondering when you would finally wake up. I was getting bored of waiting.” She began to wiggle against the restraints and move more violently than before. “I can take the tape off if you promise you won't scream.” She nodded her head as he stood up. He grabbed the tape and roughly pulled the tape off her face as she let out a scream. “Did I not just say no screaming?” 

“I’m sorry. It hurt.” She whispered. 

“I’m sure you have questions why you are here right?” 

“Why am I here? What are you- what are you going to do to me?” She asked, trying to hold back tears. 

“Well you are the second person who interrupted my plans, so I am going to kill you, slowly and painfully, just as I did to Yachi.” He said with a deep laugh. 

“Daichi please, why are you doing this?” 

“For love of course. What other reason would I have?” 

“You're sick!” 

“Why? Cause I know what I want? I am in love, Kiyoko. I would do anything for this person and they don’t even give me the time of day anymore. So I came up with the perfect plan, only my overall goal has changed you see.” 

“What- what does that mean?” 

“You see it started as love for Kuroo, but maybe it was the look in this other person's eyes that made me feel this way, or maybe it was how wonderful they looked covered in blood. It’s a delightful sight. You're lucky it will be one of the last things you see.” 

“So you and the killer are in love?” 

“Well right now it’s one sided… but it won’t be for long. I plan on surprising them with a special gift.” He said as he walked up to her and caressed her check with his hand. She flinched at the feeling of his four fingers and the rough end of his missing finger spot.  

“What kind of gift?” She asked feeling herself become sick. She looked as if she was about to throw up at that moment. He smiled down at her cryptically,  

“Your heart of course.”

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[leon-scott-kennedy]

So Covert, I Hardly Knew Him

Part I | Part II | Part III

Part IV: Close

Getting the generator up and running was by far the most straightforward task of the day so far. The hastily snapped photo of the instruction manual proved invaluable for overriding safety protocols and bypassing security measures, so what could have taken hours, took minutes. Backup power hummed to life, emergency lights flickered awake, and the distant hum of air circulation kicking in thrummed. Regrettably, the cold storage was worse on the second entry when the entirety of the room became visible.

It wasn’t six Tyrants; it was ten. Two more tacked on either end of the previous row that Leon hadn’t been able to make out in the dark. Whatever Leon did here out, waking them up was not on his to-do list. The walk back through the specimen storage had Leon shivering, and not from the chill of the cold storage. In full light, each frozen mutation was more hideous than the last.

“We should try the labs,” Ada said.

Leon sincerely wished he could be as unruffled in the face of horror as Ada was. Even back in Racoon City, she’d never flinched. “Probably our best bet,” he agreed somewhat remorsefully. Who knew what else they’d find in the dilapidated ruins of mad science, but Leon needed what he came for. He couldn’t prove the White House was dirty yet, and he needed to know who was sitting at the top. He needed evidence for the President. “On me.”

With Ada at his back, Leon felt marginally better as they slunk down the destroyed hallways, complete with cliché flickering lights and creepy shadows. Together, they searched the ruined labs in the seemingly endless maze of corridors and smashed equipment. They took out than a few BOWs, moving seamlessly together as if they’d been partnered for years, and not reluctant companions out of necessity. Ada had surprisingly become an apathetic ally that Leon could rely on to keep him alive in a tight spot.

Then again, the last time Leon had been a part of a team, an entire crew had lost their lives, the secretary of defence had been murdered, his CO transformed into a murderous BOW, and the woman he’d kinda hit on had her neck snapped. So the bar was a bit low, and maybe solo was the way to go. No one to let down. No one to disappoint.

Leon didn’t mind the occasional team-up with the BSAA boys because of one particular pain in the ass captain's no man left behind mandate, and that was something Leon could get behind. You can’t save the world if you don’t care about the people around you. Sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice would get them nowhere.

Leon darted into the next lab. Two BOWs. Leon took out the first, and seconds later, Ada dispatched the second. In the corner of the room was a miraculously intact PC with an uncracked screen. Leon booked it across the room and snagged the chair before Ada could steal it out from under him. The boot was tediously slow. You’d think state-of-the-art research facilities would have better computers than whatever monstrosity Leon was coaxing to life. Then again, maybe age contributed to its durability.

Leon set his Samurai Edge down strategically on the desk next to the mouse, but out of Ada’s reach and in a position he could easily grab with the twitch of his hand. Ada’s expression pinched, and he grinned, feeling cheeky.

Ada folded her arms and sighed as if put out by his show. “Still don’t trust me?”

Leon rolled his eyes and focused on the task at hand. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Careful, that almost hurt,” Ada said and slunk off to search for her own prize since Leon was unwilling to play nice.

“Don’t go too far,” Leon called. He laughed when Ada cheekily waved at him over her retreating back. “Women.”

On edge, Leon shifted through years of data. He’d gotten lucky that this particular machine was connected to the main server, but the majority of the files were encrypted, and he didn’t have time to decrypt them now. Plus, Hunnigan would be faster, and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. The women in his life were a bit scary, but in a good way. The kind of way you could bet your life on.

From what he could tell from the bits he could piece together, the closure of the mine coincided with the lab security breach. The village had been abandoned shortly after. Had the villagers known what lived below them? Probably not.

Leon began to transfer the files to a secure drive for Hunnigan to sort through later. Suddenly, gunfire erupted in the distance.

“Shit.” Leon snagged his handgun. The transfer wasn’t done, but another burst of gunfire and Leon barely paused, glancing back at the transfer speed before he raced off to help Ada.

Ada was three labs down surrounded by seven zombies. She’d already taken out four, but she was cornered.

Leon rushed in, drawing their attention. It was enough for Ada to take out the one closest to her, and Leon dispatched the final three.

“Losing your touch?”

Ada’s smile was far too sweet. “I thought you liked playing the hero.”

The lab looked like all the others they had searched, right down to the cracked computer monitors, smashed towers, broken lab equipment. “Find anything,” Leon asked.

“Nothing important,” Ada said. She picked her way back across the lab to Leon’s side and lay a hand on Leon’s forearm.

Leon inhaled deeply to stop himself from flinching at the unwanted touch. People were always too touchy-feely. Growing up in the foster system, touch rarely equated to a good thing, more often than not, it meant punishment for something he probably hadn’t even done. One of his foster mothers used to throw him into a cold shower when he had what she considered too much energy. Because wanting to explore outside was too much from an eleven-year-old.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Leon pulled his arm out of her light grip and stepped back.

A light overhead sparked. That was the only warning they had before the fixture crashed to the ground. Leon shoved Ada out of its path, shielding her body with his own as he pressed her back into the wall behind them.

They were far too close. Leon could feel the heat of her body, and he couldn’t stop himself from glancing at her tongue as it darted out to lick her lower lip.

Ada leaned in. “All you had to do was ask.”

“No, thanks.” Leon jerked back, spun on his heels, and gunned down the incoming BOW attached to the commotion. “Stay out of trouble,” he called over his shoulder. Hopefully, the transfer was complete.

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#re fanfic #resident evil fanfiction #leon scott kennedy #leon kennedy #ada wong #leon s kennedy #infinite darkness #re2make #re degeneration #resident evil 4 #re 4

[youllallriseintheink]

Sammy x Joey for 31

31: “I own you”

This prompt also uses the line, “your heart is racing,” which was requested by @threadedsafetypin for Norman and Sammy. (Sorry, I don’t know how to do the “put image of the ask in another ask” thing.)

---

Norman was a professed lover of drama and mysteries, and Joey Drew Studios was full of them. He’d learned all kinds of things from their loose-lipped janitor, and just by knowing the right places to stand out of sight but within earshot. A few months ago, Norman would have laughed any time he heard his fellow worker speculate as to what all the new machinery was for. Norman knew. He knew and he knew it would never come to fruition, because how could such a thing happen outside a cheesy horror flick?

And then it did. Everyone had heard the ink machine roar to life, but Norman believed he was among the only ones to have seen the beast trapped in the infirmary. The machine worked, it was dangerous, and that worried Norman, because he’d gotten invested in the people he’d watched every day, the same way one might get invested in the characters in a book. He wanted their safety- especially the one he’d found out was meant to be their first target- Susie Campbell.  

Of course, nothing would stop Joey Drew short of murder. But maybe if he could get through to Sammy Lawrence, Sammy could get through to her. In order to do that, though, he’d have to become the biggest devil in Sammy’s life- and lord knew that would be a challenge.

His plan started by pick-pocketing Joey’s keys from him and leaving them on Sammy’s desk.  Not while Sammy was around, of course. Norman had overheard a conversation of theirs in which Sammy had expressed a desire for his own keys to the very basement floor (a place so secret and mysterious that not even Norman could guess at its purpose). Sammy had framed it as being about trust and respect, but with the way Joey always kept the magic stuff vague to Sammy, Norman had the sense that Sammy wanted to make sure he wasn’t being lied to.

Of course, the plan would fall apart if Sammy chose not to take the opportunity Norman provided him. And, hidden in a room near the elevator just a while after everyone else had gone home, it started to feel ridiculous. Sure, he’d feel awful about letting Susie die, but...

Sammy passed by the door, and Norman yanked him in by the arm. The office door slammed shut behind him, and big, brown hands wrapped tight around his arms. Sammy’s heart stopped until he realized that Norman was the one who’d pulled him in and not Joey.

“Okay, what the hell?” Sammy yelled at him.

“Sorry about this. But we need to have a little talk. I’m going to let you go, let you take a seat, alright?”

“Fine,” Sammy grumbled. Norman slowly let go of his wrists. Unfortunately, Norman was blocking the door, so Sammy couldn’t just make a run for it. He sat down on the chair, resigned to whatever Norman had planned for him. And tomorrow, he’d report him to Joey for inappropriate behaviour.

“Alright. Now, I want you to stop doing what you’re doing with Joey Drew. I don’t know all the details of what you’re doing, but I know enough. I know it involves Susie Campbell, and I’m gonna tell you right now that if you hurt her, you’re going to regret it. And then I’ll find out and make you regret it more. You hear? And I’m sorry that I have to do this through threats, but you see, I know that Joey Drew is a devil in your life, and the only way to get you to listen to me instead of him is to be a bigger devil.”

Sammy stayed quiet a moment. “Are you done?”

“Can you tell me that she’ll be safe?”

“No. This might surprise you, but Joey is going to have plans for her regardless of if I participate or not. And while we’re here, I might not be with Susie anymore, but you need to stop watching her. It’s creepy enough when you eavesdrop on men, but when it’s women...” Sammy shuddered. “And aside from that, Joey isn’t a devil in my life! At least, after last night he won’t be.”

“What happened last night?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because you desperately want to tell someone.”

Sammy grumbled about Norman using his powers on him, then he told Norman everything.

---

Joey and Sammy were in the basement, learning to preserve and hide corpses from a book on the occult that Joey had bought (from where Sammy had no idea). Sammy wondered idly how what started out as a relatively innocuous hobby had led him to this. And yet, it did still fascinate him, and this was a necessary part of the process.

“It says that the formaldehyde will have to cool for ten minutes before it’s ready,” Joey said. “I guess this is a good time to bring up the other thing I wanted to. Sammy, I’m sorry for being so... uptight lately. I don’t want to be laying down all these rules for you to make sure you don’t stray, and I’m sure you don’t like them, either. So, I came up with a way to put my suspiciousness to rest forever! After this, all the rules will be gone! I’ll let you talk to whoever you want- gay men, single women, whoever! Heck, break up with me and go smooch someone else! And I’ll tell you about anything Satanism-related that you want! You see, I might like your body, but I care infinitely more that you’re loyal to me and what we’re creating together. You just have to accept a little favour from me first.”

"And what would that be?” Sammy asked, heavily suspicious.

“Well, you see- a while ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I used a Satanic ritual to make me healthy again- it worked within a couple days. But it didn’t just make me healthy- it made me glow. Made me look and feel as young and energetic as I’ve ever been. I barely had to sleep. Whenever I tried to come off of them, though, I couldn’t. Even going a week without it made me so weak that I had to buy a cane to get around, and a week after that I was so sick that I could barely complete the ritual again- but I felt great again immediately afterwards and I haven’t tried to quit since. Now, the treatment is expensive, but I’ll pay for it. If you’re truly dedicated to this, I’ve just offered you a guarantee of health and youthfulness for the rest of your days. And it’s painless, I promise- we could do it together in my office every morning. The quitting part shouldn’t matter to you. So just do it, and I’ll never doubt your dedication again for as long we live.”

---

“...And you went through with it.”

“Of course I did! He offered me a blessing! I would have wanted to stay with him anyhow! There was no price for me!”

“Sorry, but no. Sammy, you yell like that when you’re wound up. You are terrified. Your heart is racing. You’re shaking like a leaf, and your eyes are the size of plates. That’s not me using my so-called powers- that’s me using my eyes.”

Sammy looked aside. “Fine. I guess a part of me knew that it was just him saying ‘I own you’ in a different way. But... it’s a better way. More convenient.”

Norman wished he could comfort him. “I’m gonna leave you with one more thing to think on. It sounds like Joey had been taking that spell for weeks when he tried coming off of it. You’ve had it what- once? Maybe if you stop now, there’s still hope.” Norman stepped away from the door. “Go. Sorry I can’t help you.”

Sammy got up and left without a word.

---

It was Thursday night and Norman had come home after work. He was just helping his wife out in the kitchen when he heard a knock at the door. It was Sammy holding a handgun in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

“HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS!” Norman yelled as he knocked the gun out of Sammy’s hand and then kicked it aside.

“Believe it or not, I’m not here to murder you,” Sammy growled, handing him the piece of paper. It read:

I’ve decided that I don’t want to live under Joey’s control anymore. He’s expecting me to meet up with him tonight to help with Susie’s ritual. Thanks to him, I know how to hide a body, but I could really use your help in making sure she’s not the one who dies tonight.

"I’m proud of you, Sammy. Let me get my coat.”

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #sammy lawrence #norman polk #joey drew #my fanfiction #creepyalienghost #threadedsafetypin

[thenightling]

Opinion on the rioters who dressed as The Punisher

Opinion on the Rioters dressed as The Punisher:

I recently found out some of the Capitol rioters were dressed as The Punisher from Marvel comics.  Do I blame the character?  No.   However, i have become very cautious in regard to hardcore fans of the character and not merely over this.

First, I admit, I never really liked The Punisher as a character.   I thought of him as an edgy byproduct of comics gradually shifting to being darker and grittier.  He was one of the first heroes to not preach about justice and redemption but instead wanted to kill.  He was not a protagonist.  He started as a villain in the Amazing Spider-Man comics.  Stan Lee had not liked the character. (This is a fact that is easily checked and Googled).

In the late 80s and early 90s he became very popular as comics became darker and so he was given his own comic and appeared more often and often as a protagonist anti-hero.

I never liked the concept of him.  Sure, he had a sympathetic backstory but the “Killing is the only answer” never sat right for me.  The lack of mercy he showed even to the repentant, it always bothered me.  I got that he was supposed to be mentally-ill but in his own comics his behavior was, far too often, justified.

Other media tried to mimic the character.  The Ben Affleck Daredevil behaved more like The Punisher than Daredevil.  Instead of a defense attorney he was now a prosecutor.  And if he lost a case he would hunt down the criminal and kill him, brutally.   There’s one scene where he severs a man’s spine and then gloats as a train comes to hit him, as he lays paralyzed on the track. That’s not Matt.

Ben Affleck again played totally-not-Punisher in his portrayal of Batman.  A gun-using batman that was loosely inspired by Frank Miller.  And all the Zack Snyder Fanboys came crawling out of the woodwork, insisting that this was “realistic” and “more accurate to the comics” and “but look, he killed in these old comics!”   They either were lying by omission or didn’t know about Crisis on Infinite Earths and how main continuity Batman had been anti-gun and anti-killing since at least 1985.  The entire plot of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke was based on this established lore. 

There’s no doubt Punisher has had a serious influence on popculture and something I called Darkity, dark, dark writing or as others have named it: “Edgelord.” 

It’s a sort of “dark and gritty” “realism” popular among boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen who genuinely think crime would end if we shot every criminal and don’t realize that most real world police officers have never drawn their gun, despite what you might see in the news.  If murder truly was the norm, people wouldn’t still be horrified by it.

Now on to the fans.   There are far too many Punisher fans who think he was and is in the right.  They think he is an aspirational figure to admire and look up to.  A “realistic” hero by Zack Snyder standards, because hope and mercy are what is apparently unrealistic in a world consisting of aliens, Greek Gods, witchcraft, and even the folkloric Sandman (That’s in DC, not Marvel though Nightmare is arguably the Marvel equivalent).

I used to be Facebook friends with a Punisher fan.   He was equally obsessed with The Joker.  At first i just let it be.  You’re allowed to like edgy or dark characters.  There’s no harm in that.  But... he got creepy.   He would quote the Joker in conversation about “SJWs” and “progressives.”   He would say things like “My eyes were opened as yours soon will be.”   

He was convinced liberals tried to ruin The Joker movie and posted pictures of the Joker dancing down the stairs with “HAHAHAHAHA!  Suck my dick, Progressives!” in at least two of the facebook groups I run.  It got embarrassing that when people would search for my Horror Comics group, the sample post Facebook gave was that one.  

He kept talking about how both The Punisher and The Joker are right.  His facebook picture would alternate between the two characters depending on his mood.  He would post memes “explaining” why The Punisher is right.

He would post articles about this or that criminal being arrested and refer to them as “it” and “thing” and how “it should be tortured four hours before someone kills it.”   things like that, about various people who did things that were (admittedly) horrific and reprehensible but he would go into graphic detail about what he wanted to do with them   Very sadistic, Saw-like tortures before “Mercifully” killing them.  

He once casually told me how he wanted to kill all progressives.  I gently reminded him that I have liberal leanings and I got a “You’re different” sort of response.  

As his behavior got more fanatical and disturbing, the more uncomfortable I became.   After the progressives threat I made the mistake of telling someone who was mutually friends with us both that I felt threatened.  Needless to say the one I have just described to you called me a liar, insisted he never said anything threatening.  And accused me of being “one of them.”

I told him he had been acting increasingly strangely and needed to stop posting the pro-Joker stuff.  And it wasn’t just the film The Joker.  It was the version from Gotham (TV series) he tried to emulate and praised.  A woman celebrity he didn’t like was soon being called “It.”  Then some feminist (I didn’t agree with this person) was saying how The Mandalorian didn’t have enough female characters or diversity and should be canceled.  It was some stupid opinion piece published by a site like Buzzfeed or Io9 during the first season of Mandalorian. 

This guy was very conservative but had a bad habit of seeking out fanatical articles like this to make himself angry.  The only time I ever agreed with him on the matter was when he came to my defense for not liking the 2016 Ghostbusters.  Someone in my own Gothic Horror Facebook group had decided to call me a self-loathing misogynist and insisted the only reason I didn’t like it is because the characters were women.   No, I don’t like slapstick comedy.  I didn’t like that they didn’t bother to use real parapsychology or theoretical physics (as the original had done).  I didn’t like that the “genius” of the group licked her proton blaster and that was the common promo image for the film. I didn’t like that people who praised the film entirely forgot that there was a diverse team lead by a woman in the 90s. (Extreme Ghostbusters).   I didn’t like that they destroyed ghosts instead of trapped them.   That violates the law of conservation and most spiritual beliefs as even being possible. It was just a bad movie.

I agreed with him on that one but when this anti-Mandalorian article came out he went too far.  He insisted the woman who wrote it should be dragged out into the street and shot.  He called her “it” and “thing” and said she didn’t deserve to live . I told him he was going too far, and she couldn’t take the show away, that he was over reacting. 

He then blocked me.   I thought it was done and over with, then the Pandemic hit.

When the Pandemic happened he unblocked me and in a revisionist history of events insisted he had blocked me because I had “lied” and said he threatened me.   No, he had told me he wanted to kill all progressives, knowing that I am one.   And that was not why he blocked me.  It was because I disagreed about his death threats about the writer of a Mandalorian article.  He wanted to fight.  He alternated between insulting me and trying to show how good he was to come to me during a world crisis, like he was doing me a favor.  I blocked him this time.

That night my Facebook account was disabled.  Someone had reported my account as not being a real person, and Facebook wanted photographic proof that I’m real.   It was re-enabled as soon as I sent in a photo but as I don’t have a smartphone (I live in a deadzone) and I’m visually impaired it was a little bit of a pain.  This was not something that had ever happened to me before.  And I had witnessed this Punisher fan report accounts of those he wanted to “punish” before.

And now I find out some of these rioters were wearing Punisher shirts.   So yes, I keep my guard up around Punisher fans.

Do I blame the character?  No.  Not really.   If not him they would have found someone else to try to emulate and idolize.  Getting rid of the character won’t get rid of this mentality.   I never liked the character but I don’t want him banned.  I would be happy if less people were obsessed with him.  I would be happy if those obsessed with the character didn’t all remind me of the man I described here.  I would be happy if fans of the character were more likely to say that they don’t agree with the character’s actions, they just like his story.

There’s nothing wrong in liking a character with problematic behavior.  But if you can’t acknowledge that it’s wrong and instead glorify and romanticize the actions of the character, that’s the problem.   I love lots of characters who do bad things.  I love Count Dracula.  I don’t intend to drink blood and sic wolves on people.   And I have absolutely no interest in impalement.   

I think far too many Punisher fans don’t realize he’s in the wrong, instead want to be like him, and have trouble separating fiction from reality.  I do not blame the character.  They would have found someone else if not him.  But unfortunately, I AM starting to view hardcore / obsessively being a fan of The Punisher as a bit of a red flag considering how many of them behave this way...

#The Punisher #Marvel Comics #MCU #Marvel Cinematic Universe

[weaselbeaselpants]

Rewritten Alastor notes (TW: NSFL, Cannibalism, Vore, animal abuse)

This is unexpected I know, but I’m suffering from a major headache and I need something to do.

Alastor the Radio Demon in my non-existent Hazbin repaint. Things he has in common with his canon self:

Human soul of a man who died in the 1930s. Was a cannibal in life.

Tried (and succeeded) to corrupt a bunch of lesser demons. 

Respected by the big-bads of Hell, like Valentino and Vox. Feared among them as well because he creeps even them out.

Deer + wendigo motif still very much still at play.

Still asexual, though I wouldn’t recommend putting him on any pride flags.

Gets along with Charlie and loves antagonizing Vaggie.

Treats Nifty and Husk as goons and/or pets.

His weird hair tufts emote along with him like ears. I don’t know if they are ears though. I think Viv has the right idea not confirming what the frack is up with his anatomy.

Can’t ever stop smiling. Ever. That aspect of Al’s design is something real special that I think Viv has the right idea implementing. A character who can not stop smiling makes for a lot of terrifying and hilarious reactions. Just look at Sans near eternal smile. 

Inexplicably likes pineapple pizza. Funny out-of-character gag.

AGAIN: CONTENT WARNING ESPECIALLY FOR ANYONE WITH TRIGGERS TO THE STUFF ABOVE. KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Changes made to his character:

I do not mind Hazbin being crass and vile and offensively-over the top as long as it has a good grasp on what the joke is (like Helluva Boss :>). My Hazbin thesis is that all of the characters are “demons” in as much as they’ve done bad things or were bad people, but are not maniacal or sadistic + there’s hope for some of them. THEN there’s Alastor who absolutely lives up to the demon-reputation and did genuinely evil things in life. Alastor’s the kind of person who absolutely should be purged but has escaped because those who are supposed to be for justice aren’t threatened by him.

He isn’t involved in voodoo or has any affluent Creole background. With all do respect that aspect feels just a little too lifted from Dr. Facilier. My Alastor’s background is American “mutt” with an Algonquian-native grandmother.

His sin in life - and in Hell itself - is Gluttony. Taking a page from the OG Wendigo mythos, which describes them more as pulsating, gorging Elderitch abominations, Al’s MO in the show is to consume everyone and everything there is. 

Alastor’s demonic powers are presented as a wave of high frequency radio static that messes with a demon’s psyche so much it physically hurts them. Al then scoops up his victim’s souls to power his microphone and everything that demon had in it’s possession beforehand crumbles or becomes his.

Angel is afraid of him. Unlike in the canon cartoon, Angel is the one who recognizes Alastor and knows he’s dangerous, not Vaggie. Turns out, Angel had a run in with the Radio Demon sometime during the mid twentieth century (so when they were both pretty young in demon years). Angel tried to steal Al’s microphone but Al flung a nasty radio-frequency in Angel’s face, taking out one of his eyes. Angel was present during Al’s first attempt to take over Hell, so he immediately knows Al’s bad news and Alastor never misses the opportunity to mess with Angel in season 1.

Alastor is a shape-shifter. In what is probably the most grizzly detail about my take, he technically self-mutilates in order to re-imagine himself ala the Hellraiser Cenobites - which he does quite a bit to hide from Charlie’s parents.

Technically, Al is naked. What looks like a suit is actually his flesh. Look closely at you’ll see that he’s all stitched together like a crude taxidermy piece. Beneath his “skin” are his bones; which all look like mechanical radio parts and move independently of another. Sometimes Al tears them out if he thinks his “wiring needs to be reworked”, which is Al for ‘feeling an emotion’ and he doesn’t like that.

The motif my Alastor is supposed to invoke is everything about him was “stolen” and crudely pieced back together: he collects and traps other demons inside his microphone; he eats by unhinging his mouth and swallows in one gulp. Alastor’s anatomy invokes a lot of vore imagery as well as Ero Guro. Despite being ace, there is a sexual (but not arousing) edge to his character, which leads to a lot or horror and humor.

Alastor does not like that he was human. He’s even in denial of it and insists “I was always a demon. I simply had a nightmare that I was a man. Now I’m awake and the nightmare is long gone”.

Alastor’s human name was Edward; he was a sad, pathetic little man whom everyone walked all over. Edward wanted to be a radio host but was denied that position cause he ‘couldn’t smile’. Edward was deeply disturbed and fixated on ingesting human meat (a condition called ‘wendigo psychosis’). Despite committing murder and then eating all his victim’s bodies, he can’t recall most of the process and was frightened by his behavior, knew what he was doing was wrong. BUT he never went about treating his addiction with meat; he’d have “cold periods” where he didn’t kill and thought he was ‘fixed’ only for his psychosis to resurface.

Alastor’s demon self aims to be all the things that he wasn’t in life: happy, fulfilled, complete, confident, cheery, and satisfied. Al relishes in his self-made creepy image and no doubt took his demon name from a famous Alastair from his youth. 

Al’s character arc throughout the ‘show’ (there is no show, why am I treating this like genuine pitch bible blah) goes as follows:

For the first season leading up the the finale and beginning of season 2, Al pretends to be Charlie’s friend until he backstabs her and takes over her hotel to harvest the ‘redeemed’ souls so he can restart his broadcasting-takeover that was just barely stopped years before. Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel intercept him however and destroy his microphone - which holds all the souls - causing him to loose his power. Charlie personality terminates his physical form leaving only his ‘heart’, which Lucifer makes Charlie eat so that Alastor will forever be under her control. The downside to this is Al’s soul+heart+person exists within Charlie now, and he of course speaks to her within her mind, trying to discourage, belittle, threaten or taunt her plans and feelings throughout the second season. Season 3′s opening would be about the main cast trying to get Vaggie out of Heaven once they learn it’s as corrupted as Hell. Charlie needs Al’s expertise, so she vomits him up. Al agrees to help her but is obviously not happy and vows to get his freedom back. In the second half of season 3, the main characters have to lay low while the angels partake in spiritual warfare against Lucifer. So Charlie and co. escape to the human world disguised as humans. Though an agreement, Alastor comes along and aquires a foreclosed motel for the demon’s to live (he intends to trap mortal souls while he’s there, though Charlie intercepts this too). 

Angel and co. end up discovering Al’s human identity (something he tried to cover up any evidence of having in Hell) and invite his now elderly human daughter to the motel. It works too well however, and the fright of seeing his daughter again triggers an all out anxiety attack in Alastor causing him to merge with the motel. Charlie has to traverse his insides to try and get to his crumbling psyche which would be very Akira-inspired.

Meanwhile, inside Alastor’s mind we see his demon form finally baring a frown and freaking out as the pathological spirits of his victims sing to him in a radio booth about the life he’d chosen and the lives he took away from them. (Yes, this is absolutely taken from Bojack Horseman)

Once Charlie cuts to his core+Al faces the fact that there never was another demon responsible for his actions, it was always just him, Al relinquishes his hold on that motel and his physical form become that of a baby deer, whom Charlie nicknames ‘Deerlastor’. Deerlastor doesn’t appear to have any of Al’s powers, memories, or personality but Angel and the other demon’s Al’s abused insist on killing it, sure that this is just another one of Al’s weird forms. Because of Alastor’s absence, it takes a lot longer and harder for the main cast to get back to hell and help Charlie’s dad’s stop the (previously human) angels who want to wipe purge ALL of hell.

To take out the main ‘enlightened’ angel that’s in the middle of trying to purge ALL of Hell, the demon’s need a power of their own. Deerlastor agrees to sacrifice its body and because of that, Alastor pops out from the deer’s body and head on collides w. the big bad angel-villain, eliminating both their souls. Alastor gets no proper redemption arc kids, he just gets to be the one to take out the main villain.

Edward/Alastor’s daughter’s name was Lavinia and she was the closest thing to genuine ‘love’ he had in his life and the only person who obviously looked up rather than ignore or abuse Edward. When Ed was arrested and confessed to his crimes, his daughter wasn’t allowed to see him and the knowledge that her father was a cannibalistic serial killer haunted Lavinia all her life.

His crimes were not sexual. This is NOT AN EXCUSE for what he did though because - 

- two of his victims were children. Yep. 

Unlike the rest of the filth-spewing demons, Al doesn’t appreciate racism or sexism. He thinks himself a feminist for his day...despite also having killed women and children. Keep in mind he’s also from the 30s, so he’s as “progressive” as people could be for back then, AND he believes that his partial native ancestry means it’s okay to call himself a ‘wendigo’.

In reference to an oooooooooooold ref sheet Viv made for Alastor back in the day, Deerlastor gets shot in the head and dismembered a lot but always gets up like nothing’s wrong.

Alastor does not like electroswing. He likes jazz, doowop, twist, show jingles, and lots of American Folk ballads. You know, the stuff they’d jam the radio’s with back in the 30s.

Big influences on my Alastor are They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, American Murder Song, My Friend Dahmer (a graphic novel), Llamas with Hats and Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. 

(Ima thinking of renaming my Hazbin gang to better distinguish them between the canon. Alastor’s the only one who won’t be renamed though, just probably spelled a different way. (Alystar, Alaster, Alastar))

#alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel rewritten #the radio demon #rewrite #TW: GORE #tw: cannibalism #tw: child abuse #tw: animal death #tw: ero guro #tw: vore

[julie1706]

Julie’s incredibly aesthetic incredibly autumny list of movies that she maybe recommends:

Alright! Hi there! 

My name is Julie, and I really love fall. I love hot tea, warm blankets, candles, ghost stories, fog and I really, really love rain. I never get tired of any of the aspects of fall, but I think the easiest way to really soak up the atmosphere (aside from amazing books, which I don’t really have the time for), is movies! Here, “autumny” movies. 

But that’s a really vague term, and I think many people have a very individual idea of what a fall movie is, that don’t really line up with mine. So the most obvious thing seems to me, to make one myself. 

I’m guessing one, maybe two or three people will see this, and I count myself as one of them. The others (hej Sif og Malin!!) might not even get to read this, but if they do, I hope they like it. I hope you like it, Malin and Sif! Also, I love you! And miss you!

Right. I’ve seen a lot of examples of the “list of movies to watch in the fall/autumn”, and they’re all fine and great, but I guess I’ve never been completely satisfied with them, as I mentioned. 

So after like 10 minutes of research, I’ve made up my own list, of movies I thought seemed interesting or just plain cozy and nice. I admit, they aren’t ranked, sorry, and I haven’t watched all of them, so a good deal of these will really just be mentioned because of optimism. Also, I don’t think there’s a lot of scary ones, so don't worry. 

And I promise I will mention if they’re very spooky. I’ll put a warning like: “Warning! Spooky!”, at the top or something. That should do it. 

Lets get started! :-)

1. Practical Magic

This first one I actually saw some years ago, with my mom, when I was much younger. I liked it, but I have a feeling I will like it even more, if I watch it today. A really classic halloween, witchy movie, that was surprisingly touching in the family aspect!

Official synopsis: 

Two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, face closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love.

//Not very spooky, as I remember it. But good! Lovely witchy aesthetics!

2. Silence of the Lamps

Ugh, I love this movie! That might be a not so good thing to say, it’s really twisted. But I like how creepy it always is, no matter how much i watch it, and how the twists and turns never fail to be interesting, even though I know the plot by heart now. I love Clarisse, I love the foggy, grim nature of the movie, and I don’t really love Hannibal, he’s creepy, but you can’t deny that Anthony Hopkins really carry this movie! Perfect serial killer acting. If that’s a thing.

Official Synopsis: 

A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

//VERY spooky! Or just plain scary. Sif - do not watch!! Many people are killed in many, gross ways.

3. Witch

Haven’t seen this one! I really want to, and have since it came out, but there haven’t really been any (legal) places to see it. I love the tension that was present even in the trailer, and the whole aspect of an oppressed young girl evolving and breaking free in the scariest way possible is really interesting. Not all horror movies are my thing, but I really hope this one will be! And I love everything about witches, so.

Official synopsis:

A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession.

//Warning! Just from the trailer, I can conclude that this one is very scary.

4. Julie and Julia

This one I haven’t actually seen either! I think I’ve spotted among my mom’s dvds, but nope, haven’t seen it. I don’t really know a lot about Julia Child either, but it seems like a super-heartwarming film, so I hurried to include it!

Official Synopsis:

Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.

//This one seems safe.

5. The Addams Family (Both of them are good!)

This one, the “first” one, I saw last year. It’s actually a remake of an older movie, which is apparently based on an even older comic -who knew? And there’s a second one, following this one, I might add later. But tt was so good! Gah! I loved it, and I’m definitely rewatching this year. Wow the whole vibe of this family is fantastic, and I wish more families in movies were as dedicated to an aesthetic as the Addams! Watch it! It’s so nice!

Official Synopsis:

Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.

//I know it seems scary, but trust me, it’s fine! It’s really more funny than spooky. You’ll enjoy it, trust me!

6. Hocus Pocus

Alright, never seen this one! But when I joined tumblr, the americans were always bringing this one up, and it’s always included in those lists I was talking about earlier, and again, witches, so a no-brainer for me, to include on this list. Man I can’t wait to see it, I hope I’ll like it.

Official Synopsis:

A curious youngster moves to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.

//I have no idea what the spooky-level is in this, but it doesn’t seem that bad.

7. Halloween (the original)

I have wanted to see this in FOREVER! It’s such a classic, and a really iconic, classic, older horror movie. I don’t actually know why I haven’t seen it yet, it might only be because there was no place to watch it, the last time I checked. I hope it has changed, I really want to see it. It has all the classic tropes, and a scary serial killer, it really is a peak-halloween movie. Spot-on name, huh!

Official Synopsis:

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

//Might be a bit too scary for some. 

8. The Princess Bride

This is so good!! All the characters are straight of a fairy tale (literally), but they’re neither flat or boring. And the love story! Ah! I loooove it! I really enjoyed it last year, when I watched it, so I understand why it’s become such a classic. And there’s so many iconic lines in this movie. The whole mood of it is such good, and the plot isn’t the craziest thing, so watch it to relax!

Official Synopsis:

While home sick in bed, a young boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.

//Not scary, fret not!

9. The Craft

Have never seen or heard about this movie, until the morning, when I compiled this list. I kind of want to though, now that I’m promised 90′s teenage witches. Hell yeah! The more witches the merrier!

Official Synopsis:

A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft, and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who anger them.

//No idea how spooky. Might be a little scary.

10. Sleepy Hollow (the one with Johnny Depp)

The legend of the Headless Horseman is famous, so that one I know. But this movie, which is based on that story, I haven’t seen. I can guess, though, the vibe from it’s original source material, and Johnny Depp and the male lead, and that makes me want to watch it! Also, how can you not, when you see all that fog?? So spooky and mysterious! I love fog!

Official Synopsis:

Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman.

//Might be, like, ghost story-spooky. Or Tim Burton-spooky. Either of those. Hm. I don’t think it’s that bad? 

11. Scream

I LOVE SCREAM. SUCH AN ICONIC HORROR MOVIE. THANK YOU FOR USING ALL THOSE CLASSIC TROPES!! I love everything about this movie, and I might actually put it on when I’m done with this post, and watch it with a cup of tea and some popcorn if I can find some. The characters are delightfully flat and simple, what you see is what you get, and that actually makes this movie even better! It really feels like you’re watching THE halloween movie, it’s delightfully creepy and spooky, and I love it all. So. Much. Also - the lovely 90′s aesthetic is very much present in this one!

Official Synopsis:

A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.

//Spooky! If serial killers are not you thing, don’t watch it. Not that it’s my thing either, but, uh, if watching characters be chased and killed off by a masked individual really freaks you out, stay clear of this one :-)

12. Dark Shadows

Love this movie. Watched it in the cinema, have it on DVD, have watched it numerous times since, and I always enjoy it. Another Depp-movie, and he really pulls it off in this one, as a creepy but also weirdly funny vampire, who has lost his one true love, and wakes up in the 70′s (i think), to help his relatives, now living in his ancestral home, with getting back on their feet. A lot of wild stuff happens in this movie, and I adore it.

Official Synopsis:

An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.

//Actually not that spooky! It’s not that bad, I think. Some places are a little scary, but there’s enough of humor present, that it should be fine!

13. Eve’s Bayou

I had never heard of this movie until this morning! But wow! It looks so dramatic and promising, doesn’t it? We will just have to see, I guess!

Official Synopsis:

What did little Eve see--and how will it haunt her? Husband, father and womanizer Louis Batiste is the head of an affluent family, but it's the women who rule this gothic world of secrets, lies and mystic forces.

//I have no idea. Really. I hope it’s a little bit spooky!

14. Clue

I have just played the game, sorry. And I enjoyed that, so I hope I will enjoy this too! No, I know I will, I love these stories, with really defined characters, like when someone is named “the soldier”, or “the socialite”. I’m sold, when stories like that are introduced to me. I really want to watch this movie! Also - young Tim Curry! Cool!

Official Synopsis:

Six guests are anonymously invited to a strange mansion for dinner, but after their host is killed, they must cooperate with the staff to identify the murderer as the bodies pile up.

//Nah. You’re good, with this one. Don’t worry.

15. Every Agatha Christie Movie

Yeah, sorry I want to watch every single film adaptation of her stories, and love them dearly. None of them can be bad, to me. But the only one I have watched, is the “Murder of the Orient Express”, and if I have to describe how much i love this one, this list will go on for much too long. I just really love this movie. I love the characters, I love the scenography, I love the choreography, just - Everything! It’s so pretty, and you will NEVER figure out the ending! I didn’t, at least. Watch it! It’s so good!

Official Synopsis:

When a murder occurs on the train on which he's travelling, celebrated detective Hercule Poirot is recruited to solve the case.

//Don’t worry about spookyness - there’s none! But watch it! 

16. Twilight

Perfect Autumn vibes! There is darkness, fog, rain, coldness, weird pale vampires, a nice love story - and most of it is out in a forest! Amazing! This whole movie seems to consist of only blue and green tones, in varying degrees of darkness, and I always sit with the feeling, that i can almost smell the rain and damp earth in these scenes. Great movie! Even greater use of atmosphere!

Official Synopsis:

Bella Swan moves to Forks and encounters Edward Cullen, a gorgeous boy with a secret.

//Not spooky!

17. Knives Out

Saw this in the cinema with my brother! I really love the main characters, and the plot is great too - I couldn't figure it out at all! I think it is a very creative, “new! approach to a murder mystery, and I applaud! Very autumny, very great sweaters from the female lead! Actually most of them have nice clothes, for this crisp, cold mystery movie!

Official Synopsis:

A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.

//Not very spooky! Don’t worry!

18. 10 Things I Hate About You

I watched this when i was like, 12, and definitely didn’t appreciate it. I think it based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”. It’s one the best Rom-Coms I’ve ever seen! The dialogue is funny, the acting is fine, and the love stories are very cute! Also, I just adore Kate, like, in general! She’s so sour and surly! Watch this one, when you want to unwind and relax! Maybe with your friends. Or alone, that’s cool too!

Official Synopsis:

A pretty, popular teenager can't go out on a date until her ill-tempered older sister does.

//Not spooky, lol.

19. Mona Lisa Smile

I haven’t seen this one, except for the very last few minutes, on evening when my mom and I was zapping channels. So I have very little, very confusing knowledge of this movie, based on an ending, with no context. But my friend told me about it once, and wow, it sounds heartwarming! And Julia Roberts is pretty great, normally!

Official Synopsis:

A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.

//Not spooky!

Well then! That was all the movies I had the time to compile this morning! I might add more, I’m sure there’s a few classics, I have forgotten!

I hope you have a great fall, with many chances to be with your family and friends, and experience all the amazing things this read, yellow, brown and orange season has to offer! Have a great day - and thank you for reading!

- Julie :-)

#autumn #movie recommendation #movie list #fall #fall aesthetic

[very-grownup]

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 6

Episode 17.

A military tribunal grills Misato and gives her shit for not presenting Shinji for grilling and/or grilling him herself. There are a lot of shots of silhouettes in isolation and heavily shadowed faces obscuring expression in this episode. Lots of NERV talk about branches and the Dead Sea scrolls and attempting to intuit the intentions of Angels.

The rest of Episode 17 and Episode 18 behind the cut.

There are apparently two more EVAs out there in the US and Germany but actually only one more because one of the other two just fucking disappeared with like everything including the people all around it?

There's also ... another teen with the power to pilot the giant upsetting robots and it is both a shock and concern when various people find out who it is although we the audience do not find out who it is (it is probably Shinji's classmate with the little sister who got hurt).

There's just a lot of stuff that seems to be setting up things for the next episode with no resolution so there's not much to report on. Kaji isn't dead. Rei misses some school. That one girl in class who isn't an EVA pilot is trying badly to express interest in dude with sister.

Shinji cleans Rei's shitty garbage apartment, Rei blushes and has some kind of quiet Rei crisis about thanking him after he's gone and also about Shinji's awful father because she still has his broken glasses and they're like the only non-utilitarian thing she owns.

There's no angel attack or anything particularly weird or cool or gross. Just a big sense of building to something. Ritsuko has a coffee mug with cats on it that says CAT CAT CAT CAT and that's pretty great. This concludes my report on Episode 17 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 18.

It culminates in maybe 10 solid minutes of me with my hands over my mouth in absolute horror, so. Let's go.

After all the setup of last week's episode with the mysteriously disappeared EVA and the EVA coming from America for a new pilot who is clearly Tohji whose sister got hospitalized because of EVA fight fallout, things open with Americans talking American! They're transporting the American EVA by air on I don't know bungee cords or something and this thing is such obviously colour-coded bad news. It's like, dark grey and black. Then they fly into huge ominous clouds with lightning flashes. This is fine and will be fine.

Misato's off to be involved in all the stuff that NERV needs to do for having a new EVA and even though she has a perfectly good roommate to look after Shinji and Asuka, she tells Shinji that Kaji will be babysitting them instead of Penpen. Fuckin' Kaji. Before she goes she tries to work up to telling Shinji the identity of the new EVA pilot while Shinji works up to asking her about the disappeared EVA rumour. Good job Shinji! Asking questions, even though it's scary! Misato reassures him about THEIR EVAs and safety to avoid bringing up Tohji because ... Misato's a disaster who is trying to be a responsible grown-up and sometimes knowing the right thing to do and wanting to do it isn't enough. Ritsuko gives her a hard time about this later because everyone agrees that Shinji should know Tohji is going to pilot an EVA and since Misato is the only person who said 'someone needs to look after this literal child when he isn't in the robot' she has to be the one to tell him. Because EVERY ADULT IN THIS SHOW SUCKS AND IS FAILING THE NEXT GENERATION except for Misato and she's an overworked alcoholic who gets a pity pass.

All the kids are tense and weird because they know Tohji is going to be piloting an EVA or want to pilot an Eva themselves or are trying to confess to Tohji or they're Shinji. (Asuka almost manages to relate to someone like a normal teen so good job, Asuka.) Rei has a feeling. Lots of opportunity for /literally anyone else/ to tell Shinji that Tohji's the new pilot at multiple opportunities but no one does.

Instead, Shinji tries to have a nighttime man-to-man conversation with Kaji. Fuckin' Kaji. Shinji wants to know what Kaji thinks of his father. Kaji mocks him for this being the only way Shinji can think of to get to know his horrible father, then is flippant about how actually you can never really know another person. But you know who you can really never know?

WOMEN.

Fuckin' Kaji.

So the next day Tohji isn't in class because he's getting EVA orientation which at NERV means he gets in the EVA and they turn it on and see what happens and hey, guess what, the ominous dark EVA almost immediately becomes a BAD TIME. It opens the mouth it has to scream and also it has jagged red teeth in its horrible unnecessary mouth and then a part cracks or something and it's like a huge gooey organic pulsing thing on the EVA and when they try to eject the pilot plug it becomes blocked with goo tendrils.

It's been whole episodes since I last commented on how upsetting I found the design of these giant robots but hey, the giant robot is upsetting and I hate how it has teeth and screaming and all the goo even if the goo is possibly not part of the design since it's also an Angel?

THEN THE GIANT ROBOT GOES MORE BERSERK AND FUCKING BLOWS UP THE ORIENTATION TEST SITE OR SOMETHING AND IS ON THE RUN and there's a weird, creepy quality to how the EVAs are animated when they move, a hugeness of arm movement that is very unrobotic, but moreso with this EVA. It's good and cool but also I hate it.

The kids get called in and this is around when I covered my mouth and just kept getting increasingly upset because Shinji's dad is in charge due to Misato maybe being blown up and Shinji's dad wants the kids to eliminate the rogue EVA with Tohji inside. Rei knows, Asuka knows. Shinji still doesn't know but he knows /a/ kid is in there and that is enough to make him unhappy and reluctant with his father's 'destroy the rampaging robot' orders. But Asuka gets taken out fast. Then it basically teleports onto Rei and starts dripping more awful goop. There's lots of gross veiny pulsing in this episode, very Akira, I hate it, and the goop from Tohji's evil EVA melts and infects the hand of Rei's Eva and I guess it's Angel goop that lets the Angel control the EVA? So the infection can't get further than the EVA hand. And under the brave leadership of Commander Ikari the obvious solution is just /fuck that whole limb/ without desynching Rei from her EVA so hey why not just a teenage girl screaming as she feels like her entire arm is ripped off, cool cool cool.

So now it's down to Shinji who still doesn't want to destroy this giant robot with a child in it and even if his heart was in it, this thing is fucking intense. ALSO IT'S STRETCH ARMSTRONG? Like, it goes from shambling to shooting its arms out insanely long to choke Shinji's EVA. It's choking Shinji's EVA so hard that bruise marks are showing up on Shinji's throat. Meanwhile, his father is telling him to stop being a useless child who is being choked to death by a giant robot and do the child murder like I'm ordering you to, child I hate. Shinji won't and also Shinji can't because he is being choked to death.

At NERV it is suggested to Commander Ikari maybe they should lower the synch on Shinji's robot so he can't be choked to death /through a robot/ and for reasons known only to shitty dads, that's not an option. But what is an option is just shifting control from Shinji to the AI control and if AI control is an option maybe just work on doing that instead of this whole child soldier thing but no one at NERV can hear me over the sound of parental neglect.

Everything goes red when the dummy AI is implemented and fuck the colour work in this series is /so good/ and Shinji just has to sit and feel everything as his robot proceeds to destroy Tohji's robot. Ripping limbs, punching until everything is cracking and blood is everywhere. Don't worry, America made sure their giant robot was also full of red, red, red blood. Vast quantities of blood. In the setting sun a river looks like blood. There is blood weighing down a traffic light in an amazing shot. It's awful. Shinji doesn't know it's Tohji, but we do. The robot that is so clearly an extension of Shinji's body even if he can't control it removes the pilot plug from the grisly wreckage of Tohji's robot and it crushes the plug, the orange liquid spurting out and he /still doesn't know/.

Commander Ikari smiles.

Shinji's father has been a bad father throughout, sometimes in ways that really, distressingly resonate, in really lowkey, banal 'bad dad' ways, but here he's just a monster. He can see his son, hear him, but he doesn't care. It doesn't penetrate.

After everything, Shinji is just numb in the robot, still and shocked, unable to grapple with this overwhelming sense of having just killed someone, horribly and violently and brutally. It's bad and you feel bad and I started crying and still Shinji /doesn't know/.

Then cleanup and ambulances arrive and out of the giant robot wreckage they pull the somehow still alive Tohji and then Shinji /does/ know, he sees Tohji's battered and beaten body, and Shinji starts screaming because somehow it's worse. This concludes my report on Episode 18 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

#neon genesis evangelion report #fuckin' kaji

[drasnianfrank]

So to pick up from my previous post, on what the Toll by Cherie Priest, could’ve written instead of and start by focusing on the two cousins who raise a seventeen year old boy and eventual become ghosts that murder monster ghosts. (I wrote some more and I’m not sorry about how it got a little long

So let’s just start by outright changing it that Cee and Dee are lesbians, childhood sweethearts even! Sure the town can say they’re “cousins”, but everyone knows they’ve been married since they finished college and every year they do a “small party, just for a few friends” which is totally not celebrating their wedding. If the author is feeling particularly progressive, they both should be black, with long descriptions of their awesome hair and what kind of skin lotion they use (both have very different answers). Obviously, they would still be witches, voodoo practitioners, shamans, herbalists and the occasional exorcist or at least ghost rustlers. They’re known as the Aunties in the community. 

And yeah, there’s still something weird about the bridges. Only, you have to cross them in the right order and there’s a toll. It’s usually not a life, though. Like a whole a person doesn’t just disappear after walking the seventh bridge. A whole life is usually too much, even for an insatiable, metaphysical maw of darkness. People lose other things, limbs, body parts, memories, the ability to smell roses, because, here’s the Key, there’s a reward for what’s taken. Equivalent Exchange  You cross the seventh bridge and you lose something and you get something in return. Sometimes it’s money, a better position at work, an object that you always wanted, a person you’ve hated finally receives his just reward, the perfect slice of key lime pie, you know the usual. At least that’s what’s the rumors concerning the Toll. 

Now the Aunties, they are gatekeepers, the protectors, the keepers of Lore. If you want to walk to the Toll, you gotta talk to to them. They know the walk and ways and the trades. But you know that doesn’t sit right with other families in the town. Doesn’t matter how pale one of them looks, doesn’t matter that the other has helped with love matches and births of nearly every family member, they’re too damn ‘uppity’ (now you begin to understand why it’s important to talk about skin color in the south). So they send the oldest boy to learn the secrets of the Toll, with the Lore the Family has gathered. He goes to bargain, goes down the right bridges during the right time, with a companion to help. His cousin, butter couldn’t melt in her mouth, sweet Jessie, follows. Only, when the dawn breaks the next day, he’s not back, only Jessie. Jessie doesn’t say what happened, cries in her family’s house and then, dry-eyed, goes to the Aunties, and demands pleads to be an apprentice. 

Dee and Cee, they see that this wisp of a girl with blonde hair and cold eyes, is ambitious and mean and cruel and they should say no. But they can’t because they don’t own their house, or the land surrounding them, and their family and friends don’t own their houses or land. But you know who does? (Remember, racism is a theme in Southern Horror, its invasive in everything). And they agree, because what else can they do but agree? After all, any person who sacrifices their own cousin for ambition needs to be carefully dealt with. They also know they need an heir, and really, ambition is not a sin in their eyes for a girl. Ambition can be a good thing if used properly and they think, they hope, they can use it to help others. So they promise to teach her magic, the power of “voodoo”, and birth control, and herbs, and secrets of the swamp. 

Years pass, as they do. Jessie goes off to college and spends breaks with the Aunties. She still keeps that sweet smile and that vicious ambitious streak seems to have entirely disappeared. Dee and Cee start to relax, teach her a bit more of the darker shades of magic, mild curses and love “potions”. Jessie leaves for a year abroad, a whirlwind affair in Paris, London, European hotspots. 

A week later, Cee finds a baby in the swamp. The baby is almost hidden in a willow tree, almost as dark as the shadows she’s sleeping in. No boy but a little girl, barely a day or two old. These things happen in the swamp, people abandon trash and unwanted items. It even isn’t the first time Cee has found a baby, though usually they’re near dead, about to become part of the ghostly parade around the swamp. (Did I not mention the ghosts? No creepy dollhouse full of ghosts here, there’s ghosts in the Swamp, lynched men and drowned women, lost souls who never found their way out, you know the usual). This little baby though, whether luck or some kindness by the mother, was washed and swaddled and somehow still alive by the time Cee found her. The baby opens her big eyes and Cee gets the same feeling she had when she saw a long-limbed girl jump down from a tree and gave her the biggest, toothiest grin, like it’s love and destiny rolled into one. 

So Cee and Dee raise their swamp baby, Cameron. And they love her but also, raising a baby is hard! There’s doctor’s appointments and diapers and toys and outfits. Family and friends bring food and advice (a mix of helpful, impractical and bizarre). Cameron grows up and things get a little easier. She’s regularly underfoot though, helping in her own way, and once she starts talking, is always asking questions. Ten years pass, then another five. Cameron is almost eighteen and Jessie returns. 

And now, now, we get to heart of the plot. Jessie has spent almost twenty years in Europe, honing her spite and malice under a sweet disposition. She knows old magic, older than any the old Aunties that still stuck in a dying swamp have. But oh how she wants still. For all her searching, The Toll is the only on that will give the most for what she wants for the least, at least if she can finally find out it’s secret. 

Cameron, though, does not want power. Okay, well yes, she does because really she’s almost an adult and curfew is for babies. She has been trailing her Aunties since she was able to carry stuff, watching them help people in the town, black and white, human and animal. Of course she’s a little odd too. Many of her friends were ghosts, she has an affinity to math, and has absolutely no belief in a higher Power. Sunday mornings before church become regular spectacles. 

So Jessie Returns. She assumes she will resume her rightful place as apprentice and instead there’s this small, pudgy girl, running roughshod over the property, knowing more about voodoo and magic and curses than she does. This little tramp, with no family to her name, a trash baby that no one wanted. How could the Aunties pick her over Jessie? 

But they do because Cameron has ambitions, personal, but also ambitions for her community, to make it better, healthier, happier, but Jessie has only had ambition for herself. And the Aunties care less about an heir and more about a guardian, someone who will tend their garden when they leave. 

The Aunties refuse to let admit Jessie as their apprentice, after all she learned all this high falautin magic in Europe, what does she need for a pair of backwater hicks? There is some truth to that but Jessie does not care for someone else telling her no. And Jessie, who is not the leader of the Family (if she had married the boy who disappeared those oh so many years ago, she might have been), still uses her persuasion and her privilege to let loose a much personal, much more chilling, set of of horrors. Fiery crosses appear on lawns, debts are called to people who can’t afford, jobs are suddenly terminated without warning or payment. The Aunties’ community begins to fracture. 

But, eventually, when it looks like the Aunties will have to give in or leave their home, something Changes. An operative from the The Family, not under Jessie’s orders, asks for a Deal. The Family’s business is suffering. A quiet boycott against the family has finally started to impact them and for every fired employee, five more have quit and no one else will work. Jobs aren’t getting done. Lawyers and officers and news people keep calling. 

A deal is made and Jessie is told to back down, to wait and let people stop getting so riled up. 

Jessie does not care for this decision and rages against. She begs, bargains, then threatens her own family, calling them cowards. They remain unmoving. Money is stronger than blood in this regard. 

Jessie, full of rage, decides that damn the Aunties, she will call on the Toll herself. On rainy, dark night, the last night of Mardi Gras, she begins to cross the bridges. The Aunties sense Jessie going on The Walk but they have their own troubles. Magic eventually calls for it’s payment, as does age, and Dee has found a lump on her breast. She and Cee go to the hospital, leaving Cameron to take care of the Toll. Cameron knows how the Toll works, even before the Aunties told her. It’s just math after all. 2=2. 6x3=3x6. And so she too, walks the bridges. 

Each sees a different type of nightmare as they walk. The monsters are the easiest, twisted monstrosities for all that they are. For Jessie, the worst is her the ghost of her cousin, looking at her with that same dumb, shocked expression when she bargained using his life. Cameron walks past fiery crosses, dead bodies, grieving families. 

Both arrive before the Seventh Bridge at the same time. There is a conversation. It lasts three sentences. “What an interesting viewpoint” and “bless your heart” might have been said. Then they run. 

Jessie knows she will win this. She’s tough and mean and stronger and older. But no matter how fast she races over the land, it is Cameron who is always ahead of her (with her dreadlocks flowing her behind). It is Cameron who crosses the bridge first. 

Cameron feels the pull of the Toll, the tantalizing taste of power, of ambition, of taking what should be rightfully hers. There’s the offer. Have what your heart desires and loss only a small thing, an insignificant thing, you’ll barely notice that it’s gone. Cameron, though, her goal, her desire, is for her family to be safe. She wants the lump in her Auntie to not be cancerous, she wants her Aunties to feel safe at home, she wants her family not to be afraid anymore when a group walks by their houses. And oh, does she want too, she wants to be famous and be powerful and make sure nothing ever hurts her community again. But the price for such an ask is one she can’t take. She instead, she wants an answer to a question she had been reading about in one of the math books. 

For her, the Toll is a gentle breeze, the sound of cicadas, the smell of sparklers and the taste of home made pecan pie.

Jessie enters and Wants And Wants And Wants. She craves the power and ambition. At seventeen, she only had the broad shape of what she wanted. As an adult, she can describe the form and material of her desire, down to perfect detail. She bargains that her childhood memories, her emotions, hell, even her right leg, one of those should cover her desires. 

The Toll goes silent. 

It is the silence before a storm, the inhaled breath. And for once, Jessie realizes that she has made A Mistake. 

See, here is the trick about the Toll. It only gives what you didn’t have. Jessie wanted Power and Ambition and Everything. She already had it. So, the Toll took, and took, and took. Jessie asked and what she was given was a new body, a stone body. She became a solid rock. Helpless, powerless and part of nothing. She will the spend the rest of her days howling inside a rock that only she could hear. 

Cameron went home, bruised and a little bloody because she slipped and fell on the road and scrapped her knees. She got an answer to a question but forgot what the question was. 

Dee’s lump was benign. Cee declares it was a high Power, Cameron argues that most lumps are benign anyway. The community slowly rebuilds itself, though the power from the boycott remains. And eventually, Cameron faces the real choice. Become the next gatekeeper of the Toll or move to a different life, a different place. And that’s where you, dear reader, get to decide on what choice she should make. 

Anyway, so that’s what’s The Toll should’ve been about.  

#The Toll #Reimagined #This got a bit long #I haven't written this much for fiction #in ages #horror #Southern gothic horror #book criticism #it's long and wordy #now I want pecan pie

[forfuchssake]

Batbear to the Rescue || Bri & Morgan

TIMING: Present PARTIES: @mor-beck-more-problems & @honeybugbearbri SUMMARY: A hunter tries to capture and kill Morgan and Bri comes to the rescue. 

Bri found it funny the way hunters worked. Always so concentrated on their prey that they forgot how quickly they themselves could become the prey. She’d been watching Jack for a few days now, ever since she saw him stake a vampire outside Nightshade. That simply wouldn’t do. It was easy enough to keep somewhat on his trail, get a feel of his routine, and slightly play with his reality. Men like that, they never dreamed that they could be on the other side of it all. They thought they were the biggest predators out there and their own ego would be their downfall. He was in her forest now, her domain, stalking after some girl who seemed to be hunting a rabbit. Brianne knew she must have been some sort of undead, but that mattered little. The priority was turning this hunter into her own trophy. She lurked quietly behind the trees, waiting for him to spring into action.

Morgan was reluctant to call Remmy the moment she felt herself coming a little too unglued. They had only just started talking again, and this wasn’t a disaster of a day. This was just a time when the nothing of the world around her grated, when she felt the pull of the death-pit inside her a little harder than she had the last few days. And dammit, she didn’t want to go straight back into bed, or worse, the floor. Remmy said to keep trying. So, while Deirdre was out, Morgan returned to the woods. She was hoping to practice the lessons Ulfric had given her, but the smell of death was distracting her. It was just the right kind, she could tell by spotting it in the distance. Not too fresh, not too rotted. Morgan turned her attention away from her live prey and towards another. She didn’t even have to be quiet. Morgan leapt--and felt a stiff wire around her neck, yanking her onto her back. Morgan scrambled, kicking her feet uselessly at the grass. She didn’t even think about calling for help. Who would hear her? Who even knew where she was? Morgan tugged at the wire, her fingers slipping on the smooth cording, scrambling for purchase. She pawed back, searching for the rest of the lasso. The person on the other end tugged, dragging her across the ground. Morgan tilted her head back, eyes pinballing through the woods in panic. She couldn’t see anything. Just a shadow. A no one shadow.

“Don’t fight,” they said. “You’re only gonna make this harder on yourself.”

Morgan squeaked, grunted mutely. The cord was digging too deep into her neck for her to speak.

Any suspicions she had that Jack had been on the hunt were confirmed when Bri saw him attack. As he sprung to capture the woman with some sort of cord, her body shifted and Bri felt herself become larger than life. With a roar, she leapt for the distracted hunter, claws tearing into his sides. The pitiful little yelp that came out of his mouth was music to her ears. The bear looked him straight in the eye, loving how palpable the fear radiating off of him was. His grip on the wire he was using to trap the undead woman loosened and fell from his hands. A quick paw swiped it away from him, leaving gashes in his hand, as he tried to reach for it again. With a booming roar, Bri lowered her now bear shaped head right into his face. The fear coming off of him was delicious. The righteous poetic justice of watching the wretched man realize he had become her prey. If bears could smile, her grin would be wide as she could smell the stink of urine on him. Jack really was quite easily frightened. Seemed surprising giving his occupation, but when faced with the reality of death, they were all the same. As he whimpered, she slashed her claws into his throat and watched the blood pool into the grass beneath him. Confident he was dead, the bear backed away from the hunter’s body. Jack was effectively dead and she contemplated finishing off a bottle of Jack Daniels. She could place his teeth and smaller bones inside once she finished. It’d make a great centerpiece. A true bottle of Jack. Sensing the girl’s eyes on her, she focused on shifting back to her now nude human form. She quizzically looked the other woman over. “Are you hurt?”

Morgan felt the cord loosen first. Whimpering like a frightened animal, she tugged and clawed at it wildly until she could get it over her head and as far away from her as she could throw it. It was a fucking metal lasso, like the kind they used in zoos for the big cats. Morgan touched her throat, grimacing with a horror she hadn’t felt before. Her stomach tightened. Fuck, was she going to be sick? She backed away. She couldn’t remember where the dead rabbit was, which way she’d come from, where she’d put her phone in her pocket. She fumbled to pat herself as she backed away, but her hands were shaking too much to dig through anything. When she heard a strange voice, she cried out, backing further away. This was--not the scary murderer in the woods. Mostly because the scary murderer, and his stakes and sword were on the ground. So-- “Who are you?” Wait. She’d asked her a question first. Right? “U-uh…” It was a little hard to speak. “I’m fine. I’m...not hurt. I can’t...really get hurt anymore. Mostly.” But it was hard drawing enough air in to speak. Her throat ached. “Where did you come from?”

Bri looked at her with narrow, quizzical eyes. It was clear she was in pain, but she supposed it would heal quickly considering what she was. Her questions were valid, it wasn’t every day a bear came out of the woodwork and killed an undead hunter before your eyes. Catching wind of these guys was rare for her. Most of her collection had been werewolf hunters, but she always believed variety to be a virtue. Plus, now the woman before her could go about her way and hopefully stir fear in those around her. As she answered, Bri crossed her arms over her bare chest and answered, “I’m Bri. I live closeby. I do these woods a service and keep them as hunter free as I’m able.” Looking her over, it was clear she was going to be okay. The undead had a way of healing quickly. “I’m glad you’re okay. A hunter victory is a loss for all of us.” With a slightly sinister grin, she said, “Why? Did I startle you?” With a gesture over to a cluster of trees, she answered, “From over there. I’ve been trying to keep tabs on this one since I saw him stake a vampire outside of Nightshade. He wasn’t quite so brave in the face of fear itself it seems.”

Bri was taking all of this very weirdly in stride for Morgan. Just standing naked in the woods and talking about the woods and asking questions like why and what’s up. Just another day in the life of...whatever she was. Morgan didn’t know where to put her eyes. Looking at the person talking to you good, gawking at naked women, bad. No winning here, and Morgan’s brain was still frazzled from how suddenly the world had literally fallen out from under her, how quickly she could’ve been chopped or caged away from the life she was just barely getting a grip on. Morgan risked a look down at the body. Not much of a looker anymore, but he didn’t seem familiar. “I don’t think I even know that guy,” she said faintly. “How does that even work? When did he meet me?” What did hunters like him do? Prowl the woods for zombies looking for dead critters? Because that was super threatening. “H-hunter victory,” she repeated. “That’s...that’s a thing. The thing that almost but didn’t happen. Right. Um...no, not startled, exactly, I think that started somewhere around the wire noose in the middle of what I really thought were deserted woods.” She swallowed, touching her throat again. Then risked an awkward ‘promise I’m not a creepy lesbian staring at you naked’ look in her general direction. “Thank you. For saving me. That was...I mean, you don’t even know me. And, um, sorry, my brain is lagging with the sudden near second-death--I’m assuming you know, somehow, I’m already kind of dead, and if not, weeeell--um, but: what is Nightshade? And can I--get you anything. Do anything or...whatever, for the random rescue favor? Do you do this a lot or something?”

Nudity was no stranger to Brianne. It was never something she really thought much of until seeing more of the human world. For bugbears and she had to imagine for other shifters, being naked was not something that was inherently sexual. It was just a natural state, the most natural if you were constantly shifting between bear and human forms. Her short stints of socializing did help her learn most others were uncomfortable with nakedness, whether it be their own or the nakedness of others. “You can look at me,” she remarked, “I was just a bear, societal norms mean little to me.” Bri supposed if she was still uncomfortable, that was her own deal. As expected, she had a lot of questions. “It’s hard to tell if he had been previously tracking you or not. I had been tracking him which was quite easy. He was overconfident.” She looked down to Jack, he looked like a work of art the way he was mangled on the grass. If she could paint, she’d paint Jack as he was right now. Her shoulders shrugged as she looked back to the undead woman, “I gathered as much. I presume undead seeing as dear Jack here was after you.” She listened momentarily as the other woman seemed to gather her bearings and asked more questions. It was understandable, some lesser man had just tried to turn her into prey with a cowardly metal lasso. With narrow eyes studying her, she answered, “Nightshade is the farmer’s market in town. It’s a nighttime market that’s open on Friday’s. I’m a beekeeper, I have a stand there called Honey Bri. You don’t owe me anything, I take joy in bringing hunters to justice. I’m Bri, a bugbear if you were curious about the whole bear thing.”

“Just a what?” Morgan was so surprised she looked Bri square in the face, trying to understand. “Did you say bear? Like...uh...a real bear? A bear who’s sometimes a person or a person who’s sometimes a bear?” She went on, something about tracking the hunter, or the hunter tracking her, she couldn’t keep track of which was which. When had she been tracked? Had someone really reported ‘woman playing dead in the cemetery’ to the police? Were there creepy pictures of her yoinking her arm out of its socket with Jane? Morgan started to tally up her outings in her head, trying to figure out how few pieces someone might need to put together who she was, what she was. “Honey Bri,” she mumbled, coming out of her thoughts. “I’ve never been to...there. The uh, Nightshade Market. I thought there was just...the normal farmer’s market.” She stared at the woman again. She had definitely, definitely said something about bringing hunters to justice. And not through giving them a good talking-to, but murder in the woods kind of justice. Morgan’s insides were still clenched with fear, but she couldn’t help being relieved. She would have wanted this to happen to him. It was what he deserved, dragging her across the forest floor like a mangy animal. But Bri had done it with so much calm. She wasn’t even breaking a sweat. And yet the thing Morgan could summon the words for was, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what bugbear means.”

“A bear,” Bri deadpanned. At the visible still very present confusion, she cackled slightly, She supposed her kind wasn’t as well known as most among the supernatural community. “Both, I suppose. Some bugbears live their lives mostly in bear form, others live mostly in human form. Depends on who you ask. I live mostly as a human. Still am very comfortable with nudity considering I transition between forms often.” She quietly allowed time for the woman to process what had just happened. Near death experiences seemed to throw most for a loop. Learning of a new species was probably also a bit on the strange side, especially if she was new to life as a zombie. Bri’s head was tilted as she watched her process everything. “Nightshade is a night time market that’s open on Friday’s. You can find ordinary stuff there as well as some out of the ordinary things. If you think of it, you can probably find it there. My stand is straightforward though- it’s honey and beeswax candles. I just like bees so I keep them.” She shook her head lightly, the woman was still disoriented and likely still hungry. “Yes, a bugbear. That’s what I am. I eat fear, spook people, and turn into a bear sometimes. The stopping hunters from killing people like you is more of a personal hobby.”

Processing was coming a little easier. Morgan caught the part where Bri’s ratio of animal-to-human was more fifty-fifty than, say, Ricky’s. She understood about the appetite, and how that might open some doors to aggressive tendencies, friendly as she seemed now. “Oh, like a Mara. Only...not. Okay. That’s neat.” She caught the part where Nightshade was a supernatural farmer’s market, and Bri smelled beeswax candles, and had enough brain cells working together to suppose it might be a good thing that she was only finding out about this after she’d lost the magic to compete with her. Bri didn’t seem the type to take kindly to a monkey’s paw. The part where Bri was some sort of superhero vigilante gave her more pause. She wasn’t sure why someone fighting back or helping strangers was the hardest thing to believe since she’d moved here, but it boggled her mind enough to fill her with a distressed wonder. “That’s...I mean, that’s kind of amazing, but...well, don’t you...don’t they ever try to hurt you back? Don’t you ever get scared about what they’ll do? I mean, not that I’m not grateful that I’m not—” she gestured vaguely to the hunter’s body. “Like that. Or in the back of some truck or being cut up for bone goo—” her voice trembled as the wide variety of potential awful started to sink in. “I just mean. That could be you too. That’s a lot to do for someone you don’t know.”

It seemed the initial shock of being hunted was starting to wear off. Bri nodded slowly at the mention of mara. She was familiar with them, primarily because of the shifts she’d pick up every so often at Misery Manor, but she found some of them to be a bit uppity. She paid little attention to their superiority complex. “Not quite. Similar in feeding on fear, but still different. Most mara and bugbears wouldn’t like to be compared. I don’t care much, but there is a little bit of rivalry there.” Bri found her question to be funny. Fear wasn’t something she experienced herself, but she craved other’s fears. Hunting hunters was dangerous from time to time, but it was rewarding work. There was a certain satisfaction that came with snuffing out someone who would choose to eliminate the supernatural altogether if they had the choice. As if they didn’t have the right to exist in their true nature. Whether it was safe was of little concern. Her body shifted as she shrugged and the light crack of twigs beneath her bare feet could be heard. “Nothing scares me. I’ve gotten hurt a few times, but I do not fear pain or death. They’re part of life. Most of the time, they don’t suspect someone is tracking them on their hunts and they don’t typically look for my kind.” While Bri felt righteous in her ways, she wasn’t quite sure how to accept the thanks. It didn’t feel like much. Jack had been easy enough to take down as a bear with the element of surprise. Her head shook slightly, “Don’t worry about it. I’d rather see you alive than Jack here.” She bent down to examine his body. The only part she really cared to save for herself was his teeth. She turned back to Morgan, “Would you care for his brain? I have little use for it.”

“Well...jinkies, Bri,” Morgan said, somewhat at a loss. “I guess that makes you the hero Gotham needs. And a heck of a lot better to look at than Batman.” A little wry humor always helped her keep her balanced on the edge when she thought she might fall over. And, well, this was as on the edge as she’d been since she’d died. Morgan dusted herself off again and backed away from the body. She’d had enough of a taste of what the hunter was capable of  by feeling its wire rope around her. She didn’t want to know what his taste in music was, what sports he liked, how much of a person he’d been, and still hurt her like she was nothing. “I’m good,” she said. “I don’t...do that, not a lot, anyway. But I don’t think I’d want to feel someone like that inside of me anyways. Chop it up for the scavengers to eat, if you want it to go to use.” She swallowed thickly, searching for her footpath out and heading that way. “Even if you say I don’t owe you, I’ll find you, maybe? At the market, or...around. You’re a good person, you know. I hope there’s someone who looks out for you too.”

Bri blinked slowly. She had never really thought of herself as Batman. The only reason she’d even seen any of the films was because the Joker had a certain level of appeal though Harley Quinn was the far greater figure in the movie. She’d rather be Harley Quinn than Batman, but she supposed she could understand the comparison. “Thank you… I guess I am a bit of a vigilante of sorts. I would hope so, but then I don’t find men to be very… appealing to look at it.” She could hardly blame Morgan for not lowering herself to eat hunter brains. There had to be some sort of contagion for their staunch superiority complexes. Still, she felt the need to offer since the woman hadn’t gotten a proper meal. Then she was on about making it up to her. That wasn’t why she did this, but she wouldn’t mind seeing Morgan again. “You really don’t owe me, but I’d love to have you by the stand sometime. I can introduce you to my friend, Glen. His stand has some… things that may suit your appetite. Be safe out there, friend.”  

#morgan #batbear to the rescue #wickedswriting

[theparanormalperiodical]

The True Story Behind An American Werewolf In London (1981), And The 9 REAL Werewolves That You Might Bump Into This Full Moon

What makes a horror film a cult classic?

Is it a suspenseful and seriously-addictive plot? Is it iconic characters with quick-witted one liners? Or is it the way the director throws out the old rule book and redefines the genre forever?

An American Werewolf in London (1981) doesn’t score so highly on any of those questions, but despite hitting the big screen amongst a herd of werewolf-inspired movies, it is officially a cult classic.

But why? 

With CGI so bad it’ll rival a low-budget episode of Buffy, and with sex scenes so bad it’ll rival a high-budget episode of Buffy, this Yankee doggo wouldn’t need a silver bullet to be floored at the box office these days.

However, when the hum of the theatre-goers melted away into a hush as the opening shot of the Yorkshire Moors back in ‘81, this film was set to terrify the audience.

Jump-scares worthy of Annabelle 36: Yes, This Doll Still Ain’t Dead redefined the genre, with the shockingly realistic transformation scene taking centre stage.

Back in the 1980s, you didn’t see stuff like this. 

That’s why to the previous generation An American Werewolf In London is considered one of the most terrifying movies to date. But to me, the real terror doesn’t lie in the engorging snout of the American tourist, nor his every-decaying gap-year bestie. 

It’s how realistic this movie is to real werewolves.

Today’s post is all about how accurate the film’s portrayal of the werewolf is to the legends of the beast, and the roll-call of the 9 most famous real werewolves.

Let’s get spooky!

First, Let’s Recap Of An American Werewolf In London (1981)

The horror genre is infamous for many things.

The grotesque violence against women, female characters with less complexity than a box of condoms, and plots thinner than the women cast as final girls.

This film is no different, but it's the latter point that really matters here. 

The story starts with two American tourists who decided to spend their Gap Year in England. 

Yeah, me neither.

But instead of having an emotional connection with an elephant in India, they stumble into a cosy little pub named The Slaughtered Lamb. Chockful of secretive villagers and satanic imagery - oh, and a vague warning about the full moon - our scene is set. 

Basics, they tell ‘em: “Teach english to the primitive villagers all you want, just don’t go on the moors or you will get pregnant and die” 

Guess who gets lost and ends up on the moors. What’s that I hear? Mysterious howling that is getting closer to them? 

One of the pair - Jack - is attacked first, and is mauled by the wolf-like being. David is attacked too, but the pub-goers shoot it before it has a chance to rip his throat out.

But moments before he passes out from the pain, he does not see a creature. He sees a naked man, instead. 

(Dun dun duh)

David wakes up 3 weeks later in a London hospital with no recollection of the attacks, but a policeman fills him in, claiming he was attacked by a lunatic. David’s dead pal Jack then makes the first of his appearances in a kind of ghostly-corpsy form. He lets him know that what attacked them was a werewolf, and that David is now one. 

Jack urges David to commit suicide to prevent an attack he cannot control, and to end the curse that makes Jack appear as a ghost that will continue with the existence of the bloodline. During his stint in hospital, he falls for a nurse who he shacks up with when he leaves hospital.

During his first full moon, he stalks the streets of London, slaughtering several in the process. He wakes up in a wolf enclosure at the London Zoo, unharmed by the creatures and with no memory of last night.

Eventually, he begins to piece together the reality of his, uh, werewolf-ness, and attempts to prevent another massacre by getting himself arrested, but he fails. He is drawn into an Adult Cinema by Jack, and meets the ghosts of his other victims who helpfully suggest suicide methods for him to try. 

David transforms for the last time, and continues his attack into central London until he is cornered in an alley. His nurse-lover rocks up, and attempts to calm him. For a moment this seems to work, but he is then shot by police and dies. 

A sequel did follow up this film, and and sees a similar story set in Paris. The setting isn’t the only difference, however; this time we see an underground werewolf society that’s looking for ways to control the, uh, werewolfness using drugs. 

How Accurate Is This To The Legend Of The Werewolf?

Haunted houses, mass murderers, and the creepy details of infamous court cases - it doesn’t take much to justify typing ‘based on a true story’ onto a movie poster.

But the original inspiration behind this film doesn’t just follow one vague story about a vague ghost doing vague ghost things like taking that 10 quid out of your coat pocket even though you spent it on that candle from TK Maxx and are officially in denial that you have a problem it’s not a problem mum it just really rare to find that candle okay these are american imports.

The writer-director, Max Landis, wanted to focus his film on something real, on “something where you really [didn’t] have to suspend disbelief”.

To Landis, Werewolves are an “international” monster, with each individual culture having some man-beast supposedly roam their lands and ravage their communities. He even cited historical cases like in France or in Wales where people were burnt to death for their afflictions, cases that will get their attention later in this post.

So if this film was directly based on the legend of the werewolf, what was the legend of the werewolf?

*Inhale*

A werewolf is a human that can shapeshift into a wolf having been cursed by another, or by an affliction from another werewolf during the night of the full moon. 

Then again, tales tell of drinking water from the puddle created by a wolf’s footprint or wearing a fur belt too much that can cause one to become a ‘wolf-man’.

Scientists have debunked claims stretching back as far as 27 AD with a variety of medical causes unexplained in years gone by, from Lycanthropy (a disorder from which one believes they can transform into a wolf) to Werewolf Syndrome (medical conditions which involve excessive hair growth), to Poryphoria which coincidentally is also used to debunk rumours of vampirism. But the widespread belief that once dominated the world suggests supernatural forces could have been at play, too.

In fact, only in the 18th century did official court cases stop referencing werewolves in Bavaria and Austria.

Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped myths and mysterious stories from still cropping up today. 

Historically, werewolves and witches were often closely aligned, whether the wolves were used by witches for their own purposes, or they were ridden by them. Therefore, a link was forged between witchcraft trials and the hunts for the man-wolves.  

That being said, it wasn’t just witches they were closely allied with: Germanic tradition might have focused on the former associations, but the Slavic countries considered them closely allied with vampires. This belief in werewolves in Europe - the epicentre of the beastly action - emerged in the 14th century, and peaked in 16th century france. 

This is where the first link between the historical cases of wolf-men and the movie emerge. If the number of werewolf cases grew during one era, this can point to 2 things: that rumours of werewolves fuelled more rumours, or that werewolves were real and thus spreading the curse.

So, when Jack appears as a corpsey-ghosty-being-thing and tells him that the werewolf bloodline needs to end with him, the film conforms to werewolf legends.

Specifically, werewolves were considered to have a variety of give-away traits whether transformed or as a human: unibrows, curled fingernails, low-set ears, and a certain swagger were dead giveaways for werewolves in their human guise. 

Or, when in wolf form, it will bear characteristics such as not having a tail, bearing human eyes and speaking with a human voice. So yes, that scene in Twilight is an accurate depiction of a werewolf. 

But aside from David looking like a wolf during his transformation, one of the key similarities between historic cases and the film is the post-transformation effects:

Having returned to human form, werewolves are often weak and completely debilitated. In fact, severe depressions are often mentioned, too, something that must become pretty annoying if its every 4 weeks. 

Remember when David was in that coma for 3 weeks?

Remember when the ghosts lectured him on suicide methods?

Speaking of folklore mirroring the film, remember the totally-not-creepily-named pub? Ah yes, The Slaughtered Lamb:

The five-pointed star was enough satanic imagery to suggest a divine link to the werewolf that isn’t explored in the movie, but historically curses from gods, saints, and the devil are mentioned. The latter is specifically true for Russia, suggesting this werewolf might be fresh from Mother Russia. 

Oh, and of course, witches supposedly did deals with the devil, suggesting a witchy-satany-link that explains the decor of the pub. 

Given their warnings of a full moon and a desire to protect the young men from their original forays onto the moors, it suggests the decor was put in place as a protection against the supernatural forces haunting the area, or maybe even a deal with the forces to protect the pub or village itself. 

The penultimate parallel is the OG attack itself.

The policeman claims David and Jack were attacked by a lunatic. And if you check out this post on the full moon, you’ll know how well this fits the concept of the werewolf. 

The final key similarity is this: 

The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in the power of exhaustion to cure people of werewolf, uh, -ism. The captured victims would be subjected to unruly levels of physical exertion in the hope that it would drive the beast from the body. 

We discover in the second film that the actual ‘cure’ is adrenaline. By engaging in activities which encourage enough adrenaline to rush through the body, the beast can be kept at bay.

This is confirmed by the concept of killing a werewolf in the first film: when the werewolves are shot, they immediately return to human form. 

Quick flashback to GCSE biology, ‘couple dots connected, and here we are.

The 9 Real Werewolves That Have Existed Throughout History And Might Still Exist Today

So - we know that An American Werewolf In London is pretty-gosh-darn-accurate to the legend of the mythical beast that is the werewolf.

But it’s not like werewolves actually exist, do they?

Do they?!

#1 - Pierre Burgot (1502)

The 16th century was a pretty shite time to be alive. If you weren’t dying in childbirth, you were being beheaded for adultery, you dirty b*tch.

Pierre Burgot was facing such a predicament, but his was slightly more furry. Whilst tending his sheep like most french farmers, three men on horseback rocked up and asked him if he’d like to renounce god and follow them, instead. With the promise of protected sheep, he accepted, and was later turned into a wolf as a part of the contract.

Then, in true devil-worshipper-werewolf fashion they terrorised the region, willingly becoming wolves to kill, pillage, and eat innocent civilians. 

When Burgot was eventually attacked during a quick snack, he was discovered in human form, mirroring the movie titling this post.

#2 - Giles Garnier (1573)

A hermit concealed in the woods who may or may not turn into a wolf is a pretty common tale still cropping up today, but back in the 16th century, this was more popular than ever. 

With a taste for childrens, he began to pick off and partially devour young locals. The villagers’ proof of his attacks, however, did not simply come from pinning the attacks on a recluse:

They saw a wolf maul a young boy and followed it to see it transform back into a human form - the human form of Giles Garnier.

Garnier even confessed to his shapeshifting-situation. 

#3 - Perrenette Gandillon (1598)

A 15 year old boy was livin’ his best Middle Ages life when he saw a wolf lunge at his sister. With its human hands it grabbed her and killed her, then switching its attention to him. 

It might have left deep wounds, and he might have died days later, but the boy had just enough time left to cough up a brief description of the hairy hands he saw grab his younger sister - and the scar gracing the wolf’s body.

From here the villagers led a mob to the house of Perrenette Gandillon, a woman who bore the same scar. This was actually a very common way to deduce a werewolf back to its human form. The thing is, they then worked out that it wasn’t just her who was getting wolfy.

Her whole family had actually been spotted in beast-mode, something they later each confessed to. 

(They were even believed to pace on all fours in their prison cells.)

#4 - Jacques Roulet (1598)

This is the ultimate werewolf story, bringing together an ostracised member of a community and family relations that would make Christmas dinner more awkward than my UKIP aunt naming dropping Jacob Rees-Mogg.

When a young boy was found mutilated and two wolves seen, they were hunted down until a man dressed in rags and in a daze emerged from the darkness.

Jacques Roulet was his name; slaughtering innocent children was his game.

It is believed that he and his amigos had been given their powers by the devil himself, and the eventual confession of these amigos supported this claim.

#5 - Peter Stubbe (1582)

Whispers of werewolves have littered court records and conjured up local legends for centuries, but there are some people that stand out from the crowd - this is one of those werewolves.

Peter Stubbe was a well-off farmer who made his name in the community. Unfortunately, how we remember him is different to his community. Supposedly, Stubbe made a pact with the devil, requesting that “at his pleasure he might work his malice on men, women, and children, in the shape of some beast”.

His pact resulted in a murder spree spanning 25 years. By the time he was supposedly discovered as the culprit of the murders haunting Bedburg, he was described as devoid of humanity during his time as a wolf, and he had no memory of his actions once returned to his human form. 

#6 - The Beast of Gevaudan (1764)

Our story starts in 1764, when the residents of Gévaudan started noticing people were dying. Sure, it’s nothing new for 250 years ago, but when their throats were consistently being ripped out, concerns were raised.

With 210 attacks being blamed on these legendary man-eating animals or wolf-dog hybrid, this became a myth all too real for the inhabitants of the area. Lone men, women and children near livestock were the victims of these attacks, suggesting a totally normal beast attack, right?

But when they discovered that only the necks were being targeted, this pointed to much more mythical roots, explaining why we consider this one of the most prominent potential sightings of a werewolf to date.

#7 - The Livonian Werewolf (17th century)

You’d think werewolves would be mysterious marvels of nature, rarely divulging the realities of their lives, right? This guy bucked the trend.

Thiess of Kaltenbrun was a typical Swedish bloke who spent his time practicing folk magic, wearing fur pelts, and becoming a wolf. Widely known to be a werewolf - despite being in his 80s - the authorities brought him in for questioning on an unrelated matter. From there he spilled on his specialist lifestyle.

He claimed he and others of his kind would only change on certain days like Pentecost or Midsummer Night by throwing on a wolf pelt, a common method of becoming the mystical being.

He also claimed that they would kill and ‘gather’ meat in wolfy form, but cook it in human terms. 

Yet the most peculiar point he made was that werewolves were not demonic creatures, but were agents of god. Werewolves would spend their free time travelling to hell to battle the devil and the witches, and bring back the livestock they had stolen, contradicting all other tales we have seen so far.

#8 - The Southend Werewolf (1952)

William Ramsay was only 9 years old when it first happened. One day, he suddenly felt an icy shiver take over his body, a smell like rotting meat float around him, and an aggression overcome his mind. He was shivering, he was growling, he was in-tune to his senses.

He had - or so he claimed - become a werewolf. 

He then finished up his transformation by ripping a fence post out of his garden. Super-human strength was often reported whenever this would overcome him, confirming that all these signs bear a similarity to cases of demonic possession. 

Other events of turning into a werewolf bear similar resemblance, including him attempting to attack and kidnap a prostitute and biting doctors attempting to restrain him. After every event, Ramsay would fail to remember the attacks. 

He even checked himself into a mental hospital in an attempt to get to the bottom of his affliction in the 1980s. They found no explanation for these events.

And it was following these similar cases of him ‘turning’ - including one that involved the police and splashed his story across the papers - that the Warrens decided to pay him a visit whilst in London. They deduced that this was a Demon Animal Spirit. Having been suspicious of his claims prior to their investigation, they then claimed an exorcism was required. So, Ramsay was flown out to the USA, and an exorcism performed by Bishop McKenna occurred. 

At first, the exorcism did fuck all. But it was only when the bishop touched his forward and asked the demon to reveal itself that Ramsay once again began to turn. That was the final time that Ramsay ever became a werewolf.

#9 - A Mysterious Beast Is Killed In Montana (2018)

Strange and unknown creatures are always being killed, captured, and caught on camera. But with the ‘hoax’ label stamped firmly on most of these cases, they often go disregarded. This is not one of the cases.

In May 2018, deep in rural Montana, a creature was shot dead by a rancher. Cloaked in long, grey fur, bearing huge claws and an oversized head, this was no ratified beast.

The authorities had no clue what it was. 

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[sarah-wants-to-write]

Searching My Dreams for a Lifetime; Chapter Three (Criminal Minds)

            “Strong people stand up for themselves, but stronger people stand up for others.”             -Suzy Kassem

◊

      Shira wanted to help, but she knew that there wasn’t much she could do. Her job was to focus on the ritualistic and occult aspects of the murders, not the missing persons search.

      Yet sitting there in a sling, watching the others do what they did best, she felt almost useless. She knew the key to it all was the sigil, the one mark that she couldn’t figure out. It was the key.

      Staying at the station with JJ, Shira was working on the sigil.

      “What’s so difficult about the symbol?” the blonde asked, watching Shira trace different shapes to try and figure out how it was put together.

      “This sigil is a personal one,” Shira explained, focused on her slow pencil movements “those are made up of symbols, letters, numbers, most anything that is personal to the magic user creating it. When I do work creating sigils, they’re usually from a word or phrase, and I use letters from them.”

      “So, whatever this is made of is personal to the Unsub,” JJ mused “and could help us find him.”

      “It’s his signature,” Shira declared, glancing up “just need to figure out how exactly.”

      The quiet that descended started playing on Shira’s nerves, and she started to twirl her pencil.

      “I wonder how their soul mates are doing…” she muttered, earning JJ’s attention. Seeing the curious look on the other woman’s face, Shira gave a small shrug.

      “I just remember something that happened to me,” she explained “and I worry about the soul mates of these women. The amount of pain the women feel…it would be excruciating to their fated one, especially if they haven’t met yet.”

      “You’ve felt your soul mate’s pain before?” JJ asked, sitting up in her seat a bit “if you haven’t met him yet…it must have been a lot that he went through.”

      “I can imagine,” Shira nodded, falling silent for a moment before her hand ghosted over her abdomen “I don’t normally want to think about what happened to mine…”

      “Do you want to talk about it?” JJ questioned, reaching and gently putting a hand on Shira’s shoulder.

      “It was almost a year and a half ago,” Shira started, quiet “Late at night. I was up late, working on my book. I suddenly felt a stabbing in my torso. I felt it eight more times before the pain stopped.”

      “Stabbed nine times?” now that sounded familiar to JJ “I’m sorry you had to feel that…”

      “Just makes me wonder what sort of person my soul mate is,” Shira replied, smiling sadly “I know they’re still alive, but…how?”

      “They’re strong,” JJ declared, smiling for Shira “that much is obvious. Would have to be, anyway, to be your match.”

      Shira nodded, smiling for JJ before looking down at and continuing her work. The other woman watched her, wondering if she was going to tell the rest of the team after the case was over.

      There was no doubt in her mind, that Shira and Hotch were meant to be.

~

      When the rest of the team returned, the serious look on Hotch’s face was one that JJ absolutely didn’t like. It wasn’t often he was that angry.

      “Doctor Amell,” Hotch started, entering the conference room “we need to talk.”

      Shira’s confusion was evident, considering what happened that morning, but she stood and faced him anyway.

      “Agent Hotchner?” she replied, watching him.

      “All six previous victims, and the newest one, they all have one thing in common,” he continued, aware the rest of the team was watching “they look like you. And this newest victim, Allison Kane, she has your books on her shelf. Attended multiple lectures of yours.”

      “So, they’re surrogates for me,” Shira continued, trying not to let her panic show “and you’re now convinced it’s someone I know.”

      “Is it?” Hotch demanded “we both know the type of pain Allison is going to go through, so you need to think very carefully. Do you have any enemies?”

      “I’m a woman in a male dominated field,” she countered “purported to be the best in the field. Of course, I have enemies. I get multiple death threats a week, Agent.”

      “Death threats?” Rossi repeated “you’re a historian.”

      “And a woman,” Shira replied, looking to the other agent “do you know how many narcissistic misogynists exist in career fields like mine? I was seen as a threat the day my first paper was published. Death threats started before the ink was even fucking dry and haven’t stopped since. Only increased when I became a teacher.”

      “We need a list,” Hotch declared “everyone who sent you threats, especially the incredibly specific and violent ones.”

      “I can do you better,” she reached for her phone, dialing a number and putting the phone on speaker “a lot better.”

      “Doctor Amell!” came Garcia’s voice from the phone “what can I do for you, my fellow lady genius?”

      “I need you to go into my computer at the school, please,” Shira explained “there’s a database on there, of death threats I’ve received. Names, copies of letters and emails, pictures if I could find them. It’s organized by type.”

      “First of all, I’m so glad you’re so nice,” Garcia declared “second, I’m so sorry you have to have this because of how nice you are. I can have it quick as a flash! What am I running it against?”

      “Not sure,” Shira replied “I’ll leave that to your team to tell you. I just know it’s become apparent that the unsub wants to target me as his endgame.”

      “I’ll have the database ready to go for when the team has more to run!” Garcia reassured “best of luck, doctor.”

      “Thank you, Miss Garcia.” Shira smiled, hanging up the phone.

      “How many threats do you get?” Reid asked, tone clearly surprised.

      “Ten or so a week,” Shira explained “more right after exams, or when a new book or paper get published. I’m telling you, though, the key is this symbol here.”

      “Then we’ll need you to keep working on it,” Hotch told her “and you’ll be with an escort at all times. One of us, or a detective, am I clear?”

      “As crystal,” she replied, shoulders tense “I won’t stop working on this. I’ll figure out what it means, Hotch, I promise you.”

      “I know you will, Shira,” he nodded, tone softening “if you need anything, just say so.”

      The rest of the team was surprised when she called him by their nickname, even more so when he called her by her first name. Yet they had to find Allison. It was time to focus.

~

       It was late at night, the team still at the station. It had been nearly a week since they’d arrived, two days since Allison Kane was taken. Scared, frustrated, at the end of her rope, Shira was trying her hardest to figure out the sigil, but she was coming up short.

       “Might make my own sacrifice to Odin…” she grumbled, looking down at the symbol “if I could just figure this…”

       Shira paused, thinking it over. What if it wasn’t someone who’d threatened her? Sacrifices were meant to appease…what if it was someone who’d been an admirer of hers?

       Looking at the symbol with new eyes, she studied the brush strokes, and it all clicked immediately.

       “It’s a literal signature,” she muttered, earning JJ’s attention “a literal signature!”

       “What do you mean?” JJ asked, jolting Shira out of her half-asleep daze.

       “The sigil, it’s his initials!” Shira explained, showing the three letters “a combination of O B K. He’s literally putting his signature on the crime scene.”

       “How did you figure it out?” JJ took the paper, looking it over.

       “I realized we were looking at it wrong,” Shira elaborated, picking up her phone and punching in the familiar number “regardless of why he picked the method, these women are sacrifices. A sacrifice is meant to appease. It isn’t someone who wants me dead, not directly.”

       “It’s a fan of yours.” JJ concluded, listening on speaker phone as Garcia picked up on the other end.

       “What can I do ya for, good Doctor?” the technical analyst asked, peppy as always.

       “Miss Garcia,” Shira greeted, smiling as JJ chuckled slightly “On my school computer, I keep another database. It’s of fans whose letters came across as weird, creepy, or too intense. It’s formatted the same as the other one. I need you to access it, please, and look for entries with combinations of the initials O.B.K.”

       “Look for people who are from Minnesota, Garcia,” JJ added “this guy has been methodical in holding to his schedule. He won’t stray far from his home, at least not the state. Too much work to do.”

       “Ugh, creepy fans,” Garcia groaned “always the worst. I’ll run through it and get back to you guys with what I find.”

       “Thank you, Garcia.” JJ and Shira replied together, smiling as Shira hung up.

       “This is good,” JJ nodded “you did great, Doctor Amell. We really couldn’t have solved this so quickly without you.”

       “I hear a ‘thank you’ coming,” Shira laughed “and you can thank me when this is over and Allison Kane is back safe.”

       Standing and stretching, she gave a tired smile.

       “I’m gonna get some air,” she told the blonde “just be right out front.”

       “If this is a fan of yours, you shouldn’t be alone, like Hotch said,” JJ told her, standing up “who knows what this fan could do?”

       “I’ll just be out front, not even past the stairs,” Shira promised “I’ll be…oh god, I sound like the victim in a horror movie.”

       That pulled a surprised laugh from JJ, causing Shira to smile.

       “I’ll go with a detective,” Shira reassured her “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

       JJ nodded, watching as Shira walked over to a Detective heading out, talking to him before they walked out together.

       Fifteen minutes later, when the rest of the team came back, JJ’s phone rang, and seeing it was Garcia, she put it on speaker.

       “Is Doctor Amell with you?” Garcia asked as soon as they connected.

       “She stepped out for some air with a detective,” JJ replied “what did you find?”

       “I ran the initials through the creepy fan database that she’d put together, like she asked,” Garcia explained, earning the curiosity of the rest of the team “O.B.K. and residence in Minnesota. Got one name. Oscar Bennet Kolbeck. Another historian who’d been researching Viking rituals. He started writing to Doctor Amell after her Master’s dissertation on Norse blood rituals, but she never responded.”

       “Would have fueled his desire to make a connection,” Rossi mused “he wants her attention. How did Doctor Amell come to this conclusion?”

       “She made the connection that this M.O. turns the victims into sacrifices,” JJ explained “and sacrifices are meant to appease. Someone who wanted her to directly suffer wouldn’t want to appease her.”

       “Creepy fans,” Reid mused, wincing “I can relate.”

       “We need to talk to Shira,” Hotch declared “what sort of letters did Kolbeck send her, Garcia?”

       “He said she was a bright, rising star in their field,” Garcia replied “a beacon of wisdom that Odin would visit to learn from.”

       “Hence choosing an execution method that relates to Odin.” Morgan said, looking to the others.

       “Yet there’s all these references to his own work, and how her paper took attention away from it,” Garcia continued “yet it’s all very humble-brag, backhanded compliment in it’s phrasing. Very passive-aggressive.”

       “He sees her as competition,” Hotch sighed “fierce competition, and it’s only a matter of time before he tries to take her out.”

       “I tried calling her first, but her phone went straight to voicemail,” Garcia interjected “please tell me she’s okay, you guys.”

       As the others were talking, JJ turned and saw the detective that Shira had been with run back inside, blood trailing down his face.

       “She’s gone!” he called out “Doctor Amell. He took her!”

       “Oh God,” JJ muttered, turning to the rest of the team. The pale, shocked look on Hotch’s face was almost as terrifying “guys, if Kolbeck took her from in front of the station…”

       “We need to find her, and fast,” Rossi declared “Garcia, tell me you sent us the address.”

       “Already done,” Garcia replied “bring her home, you guys.”

◊

            “When a real battle starts, you'll always find that there is no bravest man.”             -Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda

∞

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