#danse macabre original story

[watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees]

The easy way

masterlist

tw: manipulation, noncon drugging, implied threat of noncon, a little manhandlig, intimate whumper

"How many reminders do you need to get it through your pretty head, huh?" In all honesty Alyssa didn't need any. She wished she did so she wouldn't be stuck paralysed in his grip, fully aware of the lack of choice she has in the matter.

"Easy way or the hard?" he asked again, pushing her further so she was flush between him and the door. Easy? What was so easy about doing what she was about to on her own volition? Taking all the drugs she was offered, just so he doesn't jam a syringe in her neck while she's fighting him off. She should not be letting it happen. Fighting should be the better option, because if she fights she might be able to hold onto some scraps of her dignity. If she fought she could've proved to herself that she's not compliant. Not broken. And most importantly that she still hates him.

"The easy way then" she looked down, face turning red with shame. She was just so tired. She desperately needed those few seconds of quiet, over her dignity. The latter didn't hold much weight in this place any way.

"Good girl" Luke praised and opened the door they were standing at. She would've fell on her back into the room if he hadn't held onto her.

He motioned her to sit on the edge of the bed. She sat, timidly, unable to even mimick being relaxed.

He pulled a tray of chocolates from the bedside cabinet and offered it to her.

"Take one then!" She looked at the tray confused. Where are the pills? Will she have to pass the time eating chocolates before someone else comes in?

"What's in it?" she asked cautiously.

"Chocolate, of course" he laughed "And something else I can't wait for you to try" so the drug was inside the sweets. Sickeningly enticing array of delicious chocolates she hadn't had one in so long, and now it was offered on a silver platter. She slowly reached for one and took it out of thw box. It melted right where her fingers touched it, and she just stared.

"What are you waiting for? Eat it" he commanded and Aly obeyed. The chocolate didn't taste weird. She hoped it would just so she can feel a semblance of the pain that comes with being forced into this. The stupid thing tasted just like regular chocolate "Good girl" he praised again, she wanted to crawl out of her skin. She wasn't good. She wasn't anything, nothing she did matter because he would get whatever he wanted anyway.

He stood in front of her and slowly pushed her down into the pillows. Climbing on top of her effectively mobilising her.

"You make everything so hard on yourself all the time. Isn't this nicer?" It's not. This meant she gave in. She just nodded in acknowledgement "Come on now, I know when you're lying to me" he raked through her hair gently before grabbing it. He didn't pull on it yet.

"We can chat before it kicks in" he nudged.

"I- I don't, I can't- I don't want to choose the easy way"

"But you did" he pointed out "So many times before you chose it. Why?"

"Because it hurts less" she whispered averting her gaze "But I think about it more and it hurts that I- I took part in it" he cocked his head to the side studying her.

"But you know once you stop trying to go against me in everything it won't hurt at all? I won't hurt you then." he carressed her cheeks and wiped away the tears that started flowing with his free hand "I get what I want either way" he shrugged.

"And what do you want with me now?"

"You don't have to worry about that"

"Why do you need me to be drugged then?"

"Because it's fun. And I do what I want"

...

She didn't immediately open her eyes when she came to. She felt his hands draped around her waist huggung her from behind. She felt she had clothes on that was a good sign.

Her head was spinning a bit when she tried to move slowly inching away from him, but he pulled her back into his chest with a sleepy grunt as one would a teddy bear. It hurt her hip where he held onto, there was a few days old bruise, but it wasn't anything she couldm't handle. There was no other form of pain other than the dull headache she was sure would turn splitting later.

She tried to be conscious of her body to figure out what happened the night before. She felt nothing. No soreness, no weird sensations.

"Good morning, princess" he greeted her groggily.

"What did you do to me?"

"No 'good morning' to me?" he kissed into the crook of her neck "That's rude"

"Did you- did we sleep together?"

"Yes" he murmured "and we'd still be, if you haven't woken me up"

"I hate you"

"No, you don't" he smiled still not letting go of her "If you hated me we wouldn't be here like this"

"I truly do you drugged me for no reason!"

"You hate uncertainity not me. And you hate that I didn't fuck you last night"

"You're disgusting" Aly tried to wriggle away again earning a hand on her throat to keep her in place.

"Oh come on, you are you lying to here" he laughed squeezing her thoat "You're a little scared of me, and a lot more angry, but you like being this close, just enjoy it"

"No, I seriously fucking hate you, Luke" this time his hand closed around her throat.

"Let's get something straight here" he started "You don't call me that. And you certainly should think about when you decide to hate me" he suddenly let go "This is the thanks for a fucking nap? How can I reward you with anything bigger if you can't even appreciate this?"

#intimate whumper #tw manipulation #tw drugging #tw noncon mention #whump #whump writing #oc whump #Danse Macabre original story

[blackcatsandstupidhats]

Stories based on Classical Music:

I think you'd like this story: "Danse Macabre - A Short Story" by KrystlFyre on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/342102981?utm_source=android&utm_medium=com.tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=reading_part_end&wp_uname=KrystlFyre&wp_originator=MNA9wFPgx4oPjaoJxHFQ2Tfe1VaY7RW1BBG8LjH7c327w%2FQCvOOUico01fbHIZQ8yNhn70PTVJ5wjLnAnOx%2BqoGHmpBFwD5lmn0SYy7aP1Po4Q58pIn2zyHgKPL1fy2A

#tragic #short story #dark acamedia #horror #original post #original story #danse macabre #classical music #nature #sad stories #romance #tragic romance #dark romance #wattpad #krystl fyre #stories #story by me #story by krystl fyre

[willowmaidsworld]

Good Omens s3 clue

I realised I never posted this, although I made it ages ago! So here y'all go!

This is going to be long, and I hope it will make sense. Please bear with me to the end, I will eventually get to the Judgement Day, Armageddon, Death (and four horsemen of Apocalypse) and I will mention goats.

I noticed this tiny clue when watching s2ep3. Aziraphale drives to Edinburgh and the Bentley plays classical music. But not just any classical music – it’s Danse Macabre by Camill Saint-Saëns.

I am a musician and I've played this piece in the past, so I knew there was a lot of symbolism to uncover. And that thing is deeper than I thought. I will be speaking about some music theory, but I will try to make it as understandable as possible. 

I think it would be best, if you listened to Danse Macabre: https://youtu.be/…zrJ 

I would like to speak once more about the scene in which Danse macabre appears. Aziraphale is driving to Edinburgh in now a yellow Bentley, and he even has his "car sweets". He is quite satisfied. And he plays this, certainly dark-themed, music. It is a major contrast. 

Danse Macabre, "the dance of death" is a memento mori. Memento mori is a theme we see in art, and it originated in medieval times as reaction to the plague. It should remind us of our own mortality. “Memento mori” literary translates as "remember death". And mark my words, do remember death!

The composition uses tritones, a special kind of a music interval. (Interval is the tonal distance between two tones, you can play the tones together and/or separate.) Tritone is seemingly dissonant because it uses seemingly inharmonious tones. (You can hear tritones just at the beginning, the violins play it.) Because of its dissonance it was called "the devil in music" and was considered forbidden and associated with Hell/demons/death.

Since the music piece and the poem is based on the theme of Memento mori, I had to look into it as well. Turns out Danse Macabre was inspired by a poem by Henry Cazalis. Here is the poem: https://oxfordsong.org/…bre Memento mori doesn't only remind us of death and our mortality, it also reminds us, that everyone's equal in death. Henry Cazalis, the poet, writes: Long live death and equality! The poem is called, of course, Danse Macabre, but I found that it is also called Égalité - Fraternité (when reading stuff about it in French). This is a reference to the French revolution motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood), but Liberty is missing. Is there then no Liberty in death and we are all doomed to obey someone's will, The Ineffable plan? (Good Omens book and season one also deals with topics of free will, look at Crowley and Anathema. She has been doing only the things her dead ancestor told her to do, she overcomes it in the end. I think it nicely illustrates the problematic of a free will. And Crowley values free will a lot.)

Memento mori says one thing - remember death, no one can outrun it. And there I would like to get back to season 1, because who else we meet here than Death itself.

Death is one of the Four Bikers/Riders/Horsemen of Apocalypse. But I always thought Death has a higher rank than the others. If you think of it, War, Pollution and Famine all lead to one thing- to Death. Why would you need all three then? Isn't Death qualified enough to do its job? Also, rewatch the scene where Adam and his friends battle them! War, Pollution and Famine all get destroyed by the flaming sword. But not Death- it spreads its wings and says (quote from the book): "You cannot destroy me. That would destroy the world." And later he adds that they are never far away. And he flies of. He isn't destroyed.

Death didn't appear in season two and I think people are starting to forget it, but Memento mori! Remember Death!

I would also like to remark that Neil Gaiman says the whole story is plotted out and that he has done this with Terry Pratchett. In every Discworld series book (the magnum opus of Sir Terry Pratchett), apart from two or three, there is the character of Death. And I think it would make sense that Death would appear in Good Omens as well, after all, it is also Pratchett's book. I think we might see Death returning in season three, because the Day of Wrath/Last Judgement/Armageddon is coming. And this music piece could serve as a literal memento mori - remember Death, it has not exited the scene yet. (A lot of Pratchett's humour is based on puns, and this seems like a joke/plot twist he would try to use. It's my personal opinion based on how I know his style from his books.) 

And what's next? Armageddon is coming, the Day of Wrath is here! Both sides are pretty eager to do this ending-of-the-world thing and after all, it's what they have been trying to start from the begging of the show. It was delayed by Gabriel's "disappearance", but things are now getting into motion, I think. 

But back to the Danse macabre, because it (surprise surprise!) has quite some things to do with the Judgement Day. In the middle of the composition Cammille Saint-Saëns uses a musical theme from a different work, a Gregorian chant called Deis irae ("Day of Wrath").

Here is a link to Wikipedia page about the chant, you can listen to it there. (I didn't find any recording on YouTube, only other musicians using the quite popular words of the chant and not the actual music.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/…rae 

About the chant itself. It is written from the point of view of a sinner/normal person, and it describes how the Last Judgement shall be. Before dealing with the themes of the chant itself, I would like to say, that Saint-Saëns has used the Deis irae in a major key. Allow me to do a quick music theory intermission.

You can play in two keys, major and minor. These are, if I oversimplify things, sets of notes with different intervals. The melody, played one tone at a time, can be used in both major and minor key. The melody isn't the thing that determines the key of the song, the tones played with it do. And depends on what tones you use, you either get major or minor. Major is (in western culture) associated with happiness and good things, while minor with sadness. (It's not always like that, but for the sake of understanding we are going to pretend it is.) Now, the Deis irae is usually written in the sad minor key. Saint-Saëns decided to use the happy major key with this depressing chant, once again creating contrast. I'm stumbling over contrasts more than usually, so this may be important. End of the intermission. 

In the third and fourth strophe of Deis irae, it's described how the sound of a trumpet will sound everywhere and the Death will resurrect all dead creations to be brought to the Judge. (Death is back again and resurrecting, that sounds familiar, where have we seen that before?)

In the fifteenth strophe, the writer, a sinner, prays for this: Put me with the sheep and separate me from the goats, guide me to the right side! Goats again, there they are! This strophe of course references the chapter 25 in the Gospel of Matthew, the Separation of sheep and goats. Sheep go to the right and goats to the left. I think the side symbolism is pretty clear in Good Omens. Right is the righteous side and left is the sign of sin. And we also know how Crowley cares about the goats. There is also the Jewish tradition of scapegoat. Either way, goats are connected to Crowley, their symbolism of being “on the left side” is clear. This interesting bit can play part in Armageddon.

In the fifth strophe of Deis irae the Book, that is exactly and perfectly worded and that will judge all world, appears. And this book is no other than The Book of Life.

We know about Book of Life from the season 2, Micheal threatens to force "extreme sanctions" (erasing them form the Book) upon anyone who knows about Gabriel. 

Enter a fan theory I read: Nor Heaven or Hell actually have the Book of Life, we never see it on screen. This was mentioned in a tumblr post, and I will probably never be able to dig it up from the depths of the internet, so remember this is not my theory. (Although I find it very interesting.) The post continues and remarks, that when Crowley in the first episode of the second season learns about the Book and the "extreme sanctions" from Beelzebub, he doesn't bat an eye. He is pretty calm and doesn't seem surprised. (He literary says: "That will teach them a lesson", man, we're talking about being wiped from the earth's surface completely!) The writer of the post thinks, this is because Crowley knows that Heaven doesn't have the book and he knows where it is. The writer claims, it was Crowley, who took it as a little souvenir before his Fall, and later has hidden it in Aziraphale's bookshop. ('Cause one single book will definitely stay hidden in all those piles of old books.)

I think this is really interesting because of Crowley’s reaction. He knows what Aziraphale is risking, and he loves that angel, yet he seems so calm. When the bookshop burned down in the fifth episode of season one and Crowley thought Aziraphale died, he went feral: he was angry and furious, and he was destroyed by the fact that he has lost Aziraphale. He mourns and gets drunk. Nothing of this happens in season two! 

So, what are my thoughts on season three? It will get really dark and serious, the Armageddon is coming, after all. I think we will see Death return and the Book of Life will appear. The goats may not be used literally, like on screen, but I think we will get some metaphors.

In all of this, I tried to say one thing. All of the cards are laid out, we have all of the clues. It would be pretty cheap trick to use some ineffable "deus ex machina", that's not Gaiman's and Pratchett's style.

I think everything is now foreshadowed; we have been given all the information. We just haven't made the links in-between. Given the uproar the second season has caused, I think people are forgetting the first season a bit. But it must end with what it started with.

I think we should look at both seasons equally and try to pick up as much as we can, after all the third season will not be based solely on the season two...

We have all the clues, now it's Neil Gaiman who plays an ineffable game of his own devising, a poker that nobody has the rules for and the dealer, Neil himself, is smiling all the time. Ineffable, indeed. If you ask me, he's enjoying it bloody-well.

#good omens #neil gaiman #s3 speculation #good omens clues #good omens meta #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #good omens fandom #go 2 #david tennant #micheal sheen #good ineffable omens #ineffable fandom

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

[Translation] SPUR September 2023

Exclusive Interview with Stéphane Lambiel "About Love"

Stéphane Lambiel invites us into his beautiful musical world with his smooth skating and graceful ballet-like movements on the ice. He talks about his love and passion for skating, and everything in his life.

Looking back on his remarkable season as a coach.

Stéphane Lambiel came to Japan to perform in "Fantasy on Ice," the most prominent ice show in Japan. In the 2022-23 figure skating season, Japan's Shoma Uno, whom he coaches, won his second consecutive World Championships, and Koshiro Shimada won a silver medal at the All-Japan Championships. Latvia's Deniss Vasiljevs has also distinguished himself in the Grand Prix Series, so it has been smooth sailing for the coach.

"Shoma, Koshiro, and Deniss are not the only young talents sprouting up one after another. I want all the students at Champery (Switzerland) to grow. I hope my teaching will have a positive impact on their careers and lives. That's my number one goal right now."

After the Corona disaster, the international sports scene is slowly returning to its original state. This year, Stéphane organized a joint training camp in Kyoto with students from the Kinoshita Academy in Japan and Champéry.

"This is a good opportunity for the students to experience a different method from the one they are used to," said Stéphane. This time, we also made time for them to learn physical performance that is different from skating, such as yoga and dance lessons, not only on the ice. By learning new ways to use their bodies, they can feed back to their skating and improve their artistry. They were able to motivate each other, so I felt it was beneficial to share practice.

Today, Kinoshita is home to an elite group of figure skaters who are the future of figure skating.

"I was amazed by all the students. They are able to practice very meticulously while also maintaining their focus. If I had to name a few players that I personally pay attention to, I would say junior players Mao Shimada and Shunsuke Nakamura. I feel something special about them. Hana Yoshida knows her body well and has the ability to use it well."

About the challenges to tackle for the new season

During the training camp, Stéphane also choreographed new programs. He also said it was an opportunity to see the response from Uno, Shimada, and Vasilijevs.

"As for Koshiro, he will continue with his SP "Sing Sing Sing". For FS, he will perform a piano version of "Danse Macabre," choreographed by me. Denis performed his new SP "Hallelujah" for "Fantasy on Ice". This was his first time working with choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne. It was a very innovative piece, and it took him some time to understand what she was trying to achieve. Then he practiced a lot, and made it his own. I will be choreographing the FS, which will be different from the atmosphere of the past. Please look forward to it.

Shoma has two programs for SP, and I think he is considering which one to use for the competition.One is by Shae-Lynn, and the other one is my creation. I think he will decide after skating both of them at the summer ice show. The SP I made will have a pretty challenging content. It will be divided into several parts, with a short intro to present the outline of the story, followed by a romantic and lyrical part, and then a dynamic change at the end. The unfolding is quite extreme, and I think it will be a very intense performance. I'm looking forward to seeing it at the show, too. For FS, I have proposed some songs, and the choreography will be done by Kenji Miyamoto."

This will be his third (sic) season as Uno's coach. Stéphane says he will do his best to support Uno, who has expressed his desire to improve his expressive side.

There are two wonderful things about Shoma," said Stéphane. One is the rich expressive power of his eyes and of his body movements as a whole. The other is his passion to control everything by himself. When he learns something new, his willingness to practice and make it absolutely his own is second to none. These two virtues have already made him a unique, one-of-a-kind skater. If he is looking for something more on top of that... from me, I think I can help him in terms of musicality. Of course he has musical sense, but I think he can deepen it even more. by refining his sensibility, he will be able to add more "umami", as they say in Japanese, to his performance, a taste that only he can bring out. I believe that the audience too will be able to sense something special from his performance.

Putting his love for his soulmate into his dance on the ice

Thirteen years after retiring from professional skating, Stéphane is now in his mature stage as a professional figure skater. The two performances at this year's Ice Show were truly musical works that moved the audience emotionally.

The first piece performed at Fantasy on Ice was the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5, Adagietto. My friend Beatrice Belieu(?), a musician, played the piano and made the arrangement. The second is "Simple song" from the soundtrack of the movie "Grand Finale" (2015). Adagietto was choreographed by Salome Brunner. In fact, the performance presented here is only a part of the whole. Champéry has a festival called "Rencontres Musicales de Champéry" (Encounters with Music), and next year I will be skating Adagietto with Beatrice, who will play live.

The adagietto by Maher, known in the 70's for the film "Death in Venice" and more recently as the key piece in the film "TAR" (2022), is a classic. The sweet and dramatic tune is linked with a personal story.

Mahler's Adagietto was written with love as its theme. Through this song, I wanted to express the various stages of love that I have experienced. It begins with the meeting of two people, the period of burning love that brings them together as one, and then the period when there are discrepancies in the relationship. After overcoming these difficulties, they feel comfortable with each other, and then they rediscover each other as if they had met anew, even though they are the same person. The first meeting and the last meeting have different meanings, and their love evolves. When I skate to this song, I envision in my mind's eye a very rich relationship with the person I am now living with, my soulmate. There is actually a subtle twist to this performance. I thought of it with Salome, it has the same movement at the beginning and the end, but in reverse. With that movement, I expressed the evolution of the relationship and the sense of distance that is created.

He devised the choreography for 'Simple song' with his colleagues at Champéry. It is an insert song for the movie, sung wistfully by Korean opera singer Sumi Jo.

I had heard this song by chance before I saw the movie, and I thought it was a great song. I rediscovered it after watching the film, and then chose it. The personal theme of this film is growing older. Considering my own career, I am slowly approaching the limits of my physical capabilities, and I don't think I will be able to skate for much longer in the future. Still, there is a part of me that wants to skate forever. So when I am skating to this song, I express myself to the fullest as my performance, and I hope that it will be forever. *Adagietto and Simple Song both incorporate movements that require quite a bit of physical endurance, since I have to stand on one point of the edge of my skates and hold it for a long time. The goal is to achieve a noble movement despite being forced to exert that kind of control. Although I feel pleasure in being able to be in control, there are also times when I feel fragility and danger in front of the audience. It's a very lovely moment."

At this year's Fantasy on Ice, fellow skater Johnny Weir retired.

We get together every year in early summer for the show, and the performers are like family. I've talked about that with Johnny, too. It's sad to retire from the ice show, but I think it's also a positive thing. I can't speak for him, but I think he would like to do another project in his life. We have promised that we will spend time together again somewhere. Maybe a private vacation! Sometimes I think about my last show myself. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Despite being involved in a variety of activities, you are still passionate about skating. What is the source of your motivation?

I think it has something to do with the fact that I have matured, and when I aim for my best performance, I want to express myself in the most natural way. My personality is lyrical and romantic, so I often get inspiration from watching that kind of movies or from stage music. Music shakes up emotions from a deep place inside of me, and pushes to the surface the life force within. I can skate by borrowing the energy of the song. As I feel that, I guess that maybe I can perform better, with a sense of unity."

#stephane lambiel #shoma uno #figure skating #I love when steph talks about shoma #I love when steph talks about his own skating #I just love him period #my translation

[venerable-sun]

La Danse Macabre (Ticci Toby x Reader)

Everyone must meet you, in the end. A Creepypasta x Death!Reader story.

TW: Mentions of violence, gore, and overall very dark themes. If you are uncomfortable in any way with the thought of what comes after life, I would not recommend reading.

A/N: This is a fic I wrote about two years ago, originally published on Quotev. I am aware that the creator of the character of Ticci Toby does not desire for anyone to use him in content, but seeing as this fic has existed on the internet for two years- I am merely just reposting it here. This is part one of a series involving various Creepypasta characters and the reader, the personification of death.

The first time you meet, Toby mistakes you for an angel.

You gaze down at him through shattered glass and twisted metal with nothing but pity in your eyes. Even as the car burns around him, all he wants to do is continue looking upon your beauty. His breath catches in his throat as you reach towards him, a dainty hand emerging from your billowing robes.

Toby prays you will grace him with your touch, but he is not what you have come for. Only then does he become aware of his sister slumped against his side, her head lolling forward at an unnatural angle.

That can’t be comfortable, Toby thinks as he watches you brush away the hair stuck to Lyra’s forehead. A red substance trickles from her nose, but he pays no mind to it as you press three fingertips to her skin. When you withdraw them, a gold light follows, morphing around your fingers in warm whisps. They settle into a glowing orb that floats in your palm, its soft light illuminating the sharp features of your face before you tuck your hand into your robes once more.

Where are you taking her? Toby wants to ask, the words unwilling to spill out. His desperate eyes lock with yours. Take me with you!

As if you heard his plea, you shake your head once softly. A sad smile twists your lips as you take a step back.

Please don’t leave me! Toby tries to shout. All he can manage is a garbled groan, his dry throat constricting with the effort. He blinks and you’re gone, not a single trace of you left behind.

Despair takes over him, and the next thing he’s aware of is the harsh fluorescent light of his hospital room beating down on him. His mother is in the chair beside his bed, her fingers interwoven tightly in his own.

He barely registers her words as she tells him of the accident, the fire, his sister. Numbness creeps over his senses, until the memory of your face gazing upon him is all he can see. 

~ 

The next time you meet, Toby believes you are the devil.

You are a shadow in his periphery from the moment his service to the Slenderman begins, a blight in the corner of his vision that disappears every time he turns his head.

He can always feel you there, watching him. He wants to hate you. A part of him does, if only for the fact that you left him to continue living alone. However, as time goes on and your presence becomes as familiar as a second skin, he finds himself doing just the opposite. You are the only thing that ties him to who he was before, the only thing that bridges his current life to his previous one.

It isn’t until one fateful night that you make yourself truly known.

Toby stands over the slaughtered family, blood dripping from his hatchets. He is breathing heavily, the strong scent of iron and tears filling the air. A little girl lays at his boots, her eyes blown wide in terror, her last scream forever frozen on her lips.

You morph into being from the shadows, bending down and closing her eyelids. Her soul is malleable and warm, glowing with a pale pink. Your heart is heavy as you tuck it into your robes.

“You are trying very hard to make me regret sparing your life,” You say, your gaze glued to the child’s face.

Toby scoffs, ignoring the twinge of guilt deep in his gut. “It sh-should have b-been me th-th-that day.”

“Do not play this game with me,” you warn, finally standing to face him. “You will lose.”

Last time he saw you fully, Toby thought you were his guardian angel finally showing yourself. He thought you bright and beautiful as the starlight. Now he knows you to be as terrible as the dawn. He holds your gaze defiantly even as desire sweeps through him.

You soften slightly, reaching up and cupping his cheek. He keens into your touch, twitching slightly. You sigh. Times like these make you detest the immortal blood running through your veins. “Life is a sacred gift, my love.” you say, your fingers deftly lowering his mouth guard. “Please don’t waste it.”

For once, Toby- shy, demure, Toby- is bold. He leans forward, capturing your lips with his. You taste of honey, you taste of wind. You taste of all that has been and all that will be, and he would gladly drown in it forever, as long as it was by your side.

You reluctantly pull away, the moment having gone on too long. You can feel the souls from around the world crying out for you, begging for their release.

“Will I see you again?” Toby asks hopefully.

You bow your head. “Not if you continue along your current path,” you whisper, your eyes filling with tears. They spill over as you meet his gaze once more, the edges of your form beginning to flicker. “You tread a way I cannot follow.”

With that, you are gone. Blood from the corpses at his feet pools in your place. They are the only thing that bear witness to his agonized screams. 

~

The last time you meet, you are his salvation. Toby stands with his back against the wall, shaking hands in the air. Spots of red dot his form as cops surround him, their guns primed and ready to fire.

You stand behind them, a shade in the mist, barely a whisper. He catches sight of you through the night, your eyes piercing even deeper than the first bullet does.

Time stills as you move towards him, picking your way to him with ease. You are just as beautiful as the day he first saw you. He watches your lips move, his name falling from your lips like a pour of sugar.

“Toby.”

Your voice carries to him over the din, and his eyes close in pleasure as the second bullet hits. His knees hit the ground with a thud, and he can barely register the shouts of the police through the roar in his ears. When he looks up, you are standing over him, your eyes filled with love and the secrets of the universe.

“It is time to go, my love.” You say, your three fingers coming to press against his forehead. He shudders at the impact of the third bullet, but still remains kneeling. 

“Will you keep me with you?” He asks, another bullet shattering through him. He falls backwards this time, the hard reality of the earth rising to greet him. His vision blurs until all he can see is your face close to his. You peck both his cheeks before finally settling your lips on his. With much strain, he weaves his fingers through your hair, holding you against him even as you pull his soul from his body.

It is so large you require both hands to hold its shimmering mass. Instead of placing it in your robe, you press it against your heart, allowing it to seep into you.

A translucent form of the corpse laying in front of you appears as he once did in life. Sleek brown hair flops in front of his handsome features, and a boyish smile tugs at his lips. He offers you a hand with flourish, eyes twinkling with mischief.

You take it with a smile, walking with him hand in hand into the stars.

“Always.”

#texts #reader insert #creepypasta #ticci toby #ticci toby x reader #creepypasta fandom #x reader #female reader

[dailydemonspotlight]

David - Day 26

Race: Fiend

Alignment: Neutral

April 25th, 2024

The Danse Macabre is one of the most famous pieces of classical music- a winding tale of death and a beautiful dance unto one's own end, with its own folklore surrounding it. On All Hallow's Eve, one is said to be able to spot skeletons rise from their graves and play the song of death, dancing until the sun rises, whereupon they collapse yet again. One of the subjects of this dance, David, belies himself as the demon of the day- a fiend who dances until sunrise, and then some, when the moon is highest on Halloween night.

According to the poem that inspired the famous classical piece, Danse Macabre, when it turns to midnight on Halloween, Death will rise. However, he's not interested in claiming souls- instead, he shall play the fiddle, calling forth the dead from their graves to dance for him, causing a night of an ecstatic dance until the cockerel crows the day anew. It's then that the skeletons shall return to their graves, waiting for the next year to come.

This famous French legend is what the Danse Macabre is primarily based upon, and is also where David originates; in this case, David represents Death in the story, calling upon his fellow fiends to dance a dance of death that continues until dawn. Heeded with the playing of his violin, he guides the living to the realm of the dead to play and dance alongside the legions of the revived skeletons. David is a unique invention, though, and his name seems to be based on the instrument he plays, that being the Davidoff Stradivarius violin.

David's design is clearly inspired by classical depictions of bards, as is his ability described in the compendium- according to most descriptions of him throughout the series, he plays songs on his enchanted violin that drive people to madness, dancing unto their death. This may be a bit of a reach on my part, but I personally hypothesize that this may also be inspired by the infamous case of mass hysteria, the Dancing Plague of 1518. Maybe, in the SMT world, David was the one who caused so many people to dance to their literal deaths in such a frenzied fervor. Another possible connection lies in the famous tale of the Pied Piper, what with his ability to control people through dance, though this is admittedly also a bit of a stretch.

David is typically one of the first fiends faced in the series, owing to his non-intimidating appearance and the fact that the most he does is play the fiddle, and he mostly serves as a useful early-game debuffer and magic attacker. He's a nice introduction to the fiend race, serving as a quick and easy guide to a game over, though nothing too special.

However, in spite of his lack of backstory and middling stats, David has certainly won my heart with his fun design and mix of inspirations, and I hope that we can all spot him next Halloween night playing the dance of death for years to come.

#shin megami tensei #smt #megaten #persona #daily #david #the skeleton appears #this little FREAK caused the dancing plague you will NOT change my mind its CANON TO ME. #anyway this was a fun one! #i always will love the fiends

[gefdreamsofthesea]

Spot the lie: Shin Megami Tensei edition

Note: I'm including everything under the SMT label in English except the Persona games. No I don't care if they're technically part of another subseries in Japan. Also, these apply to the original releases. I know some have been updated but I haven't played them.

I especially want to hear from people who haven't played them because this feels too easy for a veteran.

Poll results are in and I'm very disappointed that only 3.7% of you got it right.

I will now reveal the correct answers:

1. TRUE - The first major boss in Devil Survivor, Beldr, can only be killed by mistletoe, a mistletoe-shaped cellphone strap is just as effective.

2. TRUE - Yggdrasil is sapient and steals time warping powers from the Disir. The protagonist has to go back in time to save themselves with the help of the Norns (who have evolved from the Disir who gave him the quest, you know like Pokemon)

3. TRUE - Dante made a guest appearance in the original release of SMT Nocturne. Later versions replaced him with Raidou Kuzunoha, the protagonist of two games in the Devil Summoner spinoff series

4. TRUE - It's ordinary literature, there's nothing wrong with it the citizens of the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado are just that brainwashed

5. TRUE - The entry is in Strange Journey. "Originally, he looked like an abominable snowman, but perhaps he changed form to more efficiently freeze people."

6. TRUE - The bondage angel design debuted in SMT 2. Here's a screenshot of SMT 1 showing its original design.

7. TRUE - A lot of people voted for this one but it's actually true. Cerberus' single head is a reference to the original novel the series is based on (Digital Devil Story). He is depicted with three heads in SMT: IMAGINE, Soul Hackers, and Digital Devil Saga.

8. TRUE - I did not know the origin of David's name myself so I looked it up. His design is possibly a reference to the poem Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens.

9. FALSE (ish) - It's actually the reverse: Astaroth wishes to become the goddess Ishtar (technically to return to being Ishtar but in game terms Ishtar is treated as his "evolution"). He is usually required in order to fuse her. In some games, the two don't appear to be connected at all.

10. TRUE - As the accuser, Satan is part of the Law alignment (and therefore on YHVH's side) against Lucifer, who (usually) represents the Chaos alignment. His role in SMT IV Apocalypse is more complicated.

Anyways good job everyone. Everyone gets a cookie.

[jiubilant]

20 questions for writers

thanks @wispstalk for the tag <3

tagging @zurin @ghoulsbeard @danse--macabre @menzoberranyr @nulfaga @trinimac. no pressure!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

i have 113 works on ao3. one of them is a multichapter containing two separate-but-connected short stories, which brings the tally up to 114. this is what happens when you publish a series of standalone flash fiction pieces individually lmao

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

oogh let's see...68,128 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

i've now written for both tes and bg3! getting attached to a customizable player character and wanting to develop their story is usually what moves me to start writing fanfic. if i stopped playing rpgs i'd probably stop writing fanfic

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

a simple solution threescore and nine the way an esteemed and venerable office silly

5. Do you respond to comments?

on ao3, i try to respond to all of them! i don't respond to tags that people leave on my work here on tumblr, but i read them all and really appreciate them

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i'm thinking that it's a tie between the stomach for it (which ends the story of shurri as a plucky orphan learning about the good in people and starts the story of shurri as a traumatized pawn of empire) and as of the world untwisting

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

most of the pieces about ravi and little shurri (in vignettes: solitude) end on a deliberately sweet and hopeful note—i try to write them so that it's possible to read them as standalones, without prior context about the characters, so it's important to finish them up in a way that suggests the overall tenor of their dynamic but the form's a little restrictive sometimes! if i wanted to really delve into the ways that they made each other's lives difficult and frustrating (the ways in which they were an average family, in other words), i'd have to write a novel

8. Do you get hate on fics?

it's never happened, to my recollection

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i've included sex scenes in original works that called for sex scenes...i haven't yet run into a narrative reason to write any fanfic with on-the-page sex in it, but i've hinted at the sex lives of my characters in a few pieces, when relevant. it's not usually relevant! the style of my tes stuff is fairly middle-grade. not that diana wynne jones didn't write about sex but you'd be surprised to find a sex scene in the middle of howl's moving castle the likeliest scenario for future work is that i'll write about a character in flagrante if it's funny. enthir's in the faculty lounge smugly hinting that he gets around more than anyone else in the college (he sometimes flirts with birna, who ignores him) (smash cut to urag and ravi smoking in bed)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i've never written a crossover

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge! i've occasionally read bits of things that felt inspired by my style or subject matter and i love that. it's very flattering. i think i remember someone quoting one of my posts in their fic summary once?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

don't think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

gf and i have had one in the works forever. that it's not done yet is my fault. it takes me ten thousand years to write anything

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

obviously it's potemaphine

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i hate to say that the future of peace in any season ("the big wip") is in question but it's been in question since i started it...i chose to focus it on a series of events ten years out from the main storyline of tes v on purpose, so that readers wouldn't miss anything too crucial if i stalled out on it but i still have a lot of love for the project and work on it when i can. i'd really like to bring this one to you

16. What are your writing strengths?

what i often hear is that people like my dialogue. i'm glad...it's my favorite part of a story to write

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

very often i lose interest in a piece too quickly to finish writing it down. i have to set it aside until i get the urge to pick it up again. i'm working on a (currently) 1300-word piece right now that i started three years ago, and i wrote 900 of those words last week

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

if cormac mccarthy can do it...

19. First fandom you wrote for?

that'd be tes lmao. before playing skyrim i got a lot more of my original work done

20. Favorite fic you've written?

it's a tie. before the world had skin and cruel and unusual!

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

WIP Questionnaire ±2

I was tagged by @rjcopeseethemald! I haven't done one of these in a while and really enjoyed the questions here, so I decided I'd give it a go for my wip: Wings of Faith!

Original from @illarian-rambling.

If you want to know more about Wings of Faith, check out my post here!

RULES: 1. Answer as few or as many of the following questions as you’d like! 2. In passing the tag along to others, you can add one question of your own, or replace an existing question.

This art is a bit old but it's the last time I've drawn everyone all together haha

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

Surprisingly enough, Emmie (a main character, but not the protagonist) is the first part of my wip that I created (See the red girl on the top left). She was the protagonist of the very first book I wrote in fifth grade, and I wanted to pay homage to that work by including her. However, she's changed a LOT since then (even her name!), and the only remaining carry-over is the red streak in her hair.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Intro song: "Run to the Devil" by Dragonwyck or "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. Outro song: "It Will Come Back" or "Francesca" by Hozier Instrumental: "Dragonlord Placidusax" from the Elden Ring Soundtrack or "Danse Macabre" by The Oh Hellos

3. Who are your favorite characters you’ve made? Why?

Andrew, my protagonist, is by far my favorite character. Writing from the POV of an incredibly sensitive, incredibly traumatized person (who feels things very deeply), while outwardly projecting a cruel and defensive facade is... *chef's kiss* Otherwise, I'd have to say Emmie. She is a very layered and multifaceted character with an incredibly important role to play in the story, and her kindness is refreshing amid a mostly hardened cast of characters.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Six of Crows fans

Dante's Inferno fans who don't mind me bending the lore a bit

Fellow ex-Catholics

Fans of Hozier's "Unreal Unearth" album

Supernatural fans into the "corrupted angel x man struggling for redemption" dynamic

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Keeping the facts straight. This has been a 10+ year project and sometimes I forget the revisions I've made, and accidentally cut out important details...

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Yes! Rimfaxe is a wraith, aka a shapeshifting shadow monster that takes the form of the things he's killed and eaten. (See the top left of the art above!) Emmie stole him from the government and now he's basically her kid.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They mostly walk (or fly on Rimfaxe)! Because Hell has a ceiling, the authorities restrict car transport to government officials ONLY to keep down emissions.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

A giant, chapter-long fight scene that I've been working on for a literal year. It's TORTURE. Can't explain much else because of spoilers haha.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

The main romance is an mlm enemies-to-friends-to-lovers angel x demon pairing! (Angel x demon pairings where they're both assholes>>>>>) Also I feel like there's been a void in lore-focused media dealing with angels and demons, and I'm hoping Wings of Faith will fill that void!

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

That I get it done after 10+ years... and that people will like it :')

11. (Added by rjcopeseethemald) What pieces of media have been the most inspiring to you for this wip?

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Hozier's "Unreal Unearth" album

Adding a Question 12: Is there a part of your wip you wish that you could change, but it's too late to go back now?

I don't want to bother anyone by tagging them directly, so I tag anyone who sees this post and wants to do it! Blanks below.

What was the first part of your wip that you created?

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Who are your favourite characters you’ve made? Why?

What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

What part of your wip are you working on rn?

What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

What are your hopes for your wip?

What pieces of media have been the most inspiring to you for this WIP?

#long post #tag game #writing tag game #writeblr #booklr #writing #writers #wings of faith #wof #maddytalks #oc

[msperfectsheep-posts]

hm. for the character ask game. idolish7 protagonist bingo : -riku -tsumugi -hope -arme -momiji why not

SORRY THIS IS LATE. I did this earlier and accidentally closed my art program right as I was opening this ask so. Yeah. I'm going to put my thoughts below a cut like last time just to not flood any dashes <3

Riku Nanase: (IDOLiSH7, normal canon)

Riku's...really interesting to me in a few ways. Like, he is not my favorite by any means, but I think his character is one that I really enjoy digging into because of all of the small parts that go into making him him. He's been sick his entire life and wants to get past that and seen as a person rather than a weak little animal that's a burden, but he's also reckless and bull-headed. He starts fights and doesn't even realize it. He's selfish in a manner that is so innocent, and he's silly in a way that's deeply charming. I think he's a lot more than just the :D face you see him making a lot of the time, but he also is just very silly sometimes. And he can canonically see ghosts??? So there's that.

Tsumugi Takanashi (IDOLiSH7, normal canon)

Chitra this is your blorbo prime. You automatically won her a bingo square just by being my friend <3. Anyways! This is for anime/Rabbichat Tsumugi, since technically she isn't supposed to have much of a personality in the game and I think the anime does a lot for her character. She's really great! God is she fun! She's a workaholic freak that loves her boys dearly but man is there a lot more than just that. I would love to dig more into her as a character one day, but for now, I will just say BANGER female supporting character. I'm glad the boys are with her

Hope: (IDOLiSH7, Hoshimeguri no Kansokusha)

HOPE MY BELOVED. OH MY GOD. Well first of all, I'm not going to write a novelization of a story if I don't fuck with the main character. Like. I may not like them as a person, but I have to at least like them as a character. And Hope is just an excellent bildungsroman protagonist for this space fantasy adventure story. He's earnest and loving, and as the emotional core of the entire story, you NEED to understand why his personality is so integral to how things end up, and I think the writers did an excellent job with that in the original story. He's a deeply charismatic character in that I never want to stop writing things with him and all of his friends in it. I'm ill.

Arme: (IDOLiSH7, La Danse Macabre)

MY FIRST BINGO!! Arme my belarme. I roleplay him in one of my friend's multifandom servers. I have so many headcanons. He's a fucked up little creature and baby boy in a way both parallel and perpendicular to Haruka. I want to squish him and also watch him from a distance. The fact that you can choose his biggest decision in Danmaca is INSANE and speaks a lot to how his character progressed in the story without progressing too much. It's just. Ough. I know danmaca was long but honestly I would have loved it to be doubly as long just so I could see more of all the characters and more of Arme's development, especially post canon.

Momiji: (IDOLiSH7, Ayakashi Mangekyo Karatogaokuri)

I have to be real here. I have not read Karatoga in a recent enough time for me to remember a lot of Momiji's character. I remember thinking this was one of the weakest Kujis, but also, I'm not a big fan of tournament arcs and a lot of this Kuji is just one big tournament arc. I liked the central dynamic he was involved in and how a lot of Momiji's character background shared similarities with Sougo's in canon, but he's not really a stand out Kuji protagonist from what I can remember! If I go back and re-read, I'll reblog this with an updated opinion!

Thank you for the asks!! You should read Mechalala and LINK RING WIND now so you'll know all the protagonists :)

#ask game

[ac-liveblogs]

References in Penacony 2.1's Chapter Titles

I recognised a few of them as I was playing (I don't usually notice or pay attention to chapter titles, but it was hard to miss them this time around because of the character switching mechanic) and decided to compile the meanings of all the chapter titles in 2.1 and which events they specifically directly or probably reference.

This is not spoiler free.

I've probably missed something - I haven't experienced everything referenced in this patch firsthand, but a lot of the references did slide directly into my wheelhouse for once.

I'll do a separate post for Aventurine's allusions specifically; there's a lot going on with him and this post was getting long enough.

Trailblaze Mission: Cat Among Pigeons

'Cat Amongst the Pigeons' is a murder mystery written by Agatha Christie featuring famous fictional detective Hercule Poirot. The story heavily concerns the stolen gemstones at the root of the murders, which have been smuggled overseas.

The obvious connection is Aventurine's gambit with the Cornerstones and the steps he took to smuggle his own into the Dreamscape.

In the original novel, the gems were hidden in plain sight in a tennis racquet - Aventurine hid one of the Cornerstones in his care in a bag full of money to try and pull a similar trick.

Chapter 1: The Devil in Velvet

Time travel romance and murder mystery written by John Dickson Carr featuring, as expected, a deal with the devil. The protagonist later becomes known as 'The Devil in Velvet'.

Aventurine makes a deal with the devil (the IPC), becomes known by a different name and becomes a 'devil' himself - this is the chapter where the Trailblazer agrees to work with him to solve the murders on Penacony.

Chapter 2: Lost Generation

A term used to describe Americans that reached adulthood in the 1900-10s. Americans in this era lived through the end of the Industrial Revolution, WW1, the Great Depression and WW2 - allusions to this can be seen in the lore of Penacony and its founding. This generation also lived through the Roaring 20s (the Jazz Age), which contributes greatly to aspects of Penacony's aesthetic.

Also, the meteoric rise of Disney. Mickey Mouse was born in 1928 in the cartoon Steamboat Willie. Which you probably know thanks to the Public Domain Mickey Saga. Mikhail, the Father of Penacony, is... probably... a reference to Walt Disney, and Dreamville/Penacony itself is probably Space Disneyland (a world where your dreams come true!)* Also, like. Clockie and Mickey, right?

*I have not been to Disneyland, world or any Disney-associated theme park. But I'm... pretty sure that's. it.

Chapter 3: Double Indemnity

Classic film noir featuring a manipulative femme fatale and her lover, who conspire to kill her husband and collect insurance money. The plan falls apart and the two eventually turn on each other. In the novel the two die together, but in the movie adaptation the femme fatale only realises her feelings for her lover when she finds herself unable to shoot him - he kills her, instead.

This is the chapter where Aventurine and Ratio conspire to trick Sunday re; Aventurine's Cornerstone gambit. Though the two pretend to turn on each other, unlike in the movie Aventurine's scheme works out as planned.

Despite Aventurine being unsure of it earlier in the patch, Ratio confirms he does care about Aventurine's wellbeing via the note in the 'prescription' given to Aventurine later down the line.

Aventurine's personal questline, Danse Macabre, appears. There's enough going on with Aventurine's symbolism that I'll put it in a separate post.

Chapter 4: When The Sacred Ginmill Closes

Murder mystery written by Lawrence Block featuring an alcoholic detective (Matt Scudder) trying to connect the dots between a series of murders. This one seems to be a bit looser.

The Express Crew reunite with bartender and head of the Bloodhound Family, Gallagher, who will take them to a bar the next time we see them.

Welt and Acheron discuss life in Penacony, as well as Welt lore.

Black Swan talks to Mysterious Voice On the Phone and learns that Acheron 'wasn't meant to exist.'

Chapter 5: Heaven is a Place On Earth

The only connection that immediately comes to mind is the song 'Heaven is a Place on Earth' by Belinda Carlisle. I am actually unable to think of the phrase 'Heaven is a Place on Earth' without mentally putting an 'ooh' in front of it. Catchy song.

This may be a reference to Penacony seeming to be a miraculous wonderland where everything is great and everyone has a wonderful time - contrary to Acheron's accounts of what she witnessed in her travels through the Dreamscape.

Aventurine runs around throwing money at NPCs and meets up with Sparkle. A reference is made to The Statue of the Happy Prince that I will explain in another post.

Chapter 6: Why Do The Heathen Rage?

One translation of Psalm 2.1, from the Book of Psalms. Broad interpretation; 'it is impossible to undermine or escape the will of God and all attempts to do so will fail'.

E.g. the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt (water turns to blood, plague of frogs, locusts, pestilence etc.) were a both a show of force and the ongoing consequences of the then-Pharaoh refusing to obey a direct command from God.

The Express crew questions Gallagher about the murders on Penacony, and Gallagher discusses the contentious relationship between the Family and the Watchmaker (the Father of Penacony and creator of Clockie and co.)

Bonus: all of the drinks you can make in this chapter are also references to books. The 'base' you choose determines which author you get, and the ingredients selects one of three of their books. Two of those authors are referenced elsewhere in this patch - Poe and Lawrence Block.

The Watchmaker is, quote Gallagher, "the root cause of all the anomalies in the Dreamscape", who betrayed the family and is apparently the source of the impossible deaths in Penacony. Gallagher believes the Family screwed over Mikhail, and Something Unto Death is the direct consequence.

Chapter 7: The Tell-Tale Heart

Short gothic/psychological horror written by Edgar Allen Poe. A madman recounts a murder he claims to have committed - he killed a man with unnerving eyes and hid the body beneath the floorboards in his house. Despite almost getting away with the murder, the madman is driven to confess his crime because he is haunted by the sound of the dead man's still beating heart, coming from beneath his house.

The chapter Acheron becomes playable.

A lot of attention is given to both a) Aventurine's eyes and b) Aventurine being a 'madman';

Ergo; Acheron + Aventurine (the madman) kill Aventurine (the man with the disquieting eyes/murder victim) - Acheron kills Aventurine directly, but it was a result of Aventurine's scheme that she did so. When I said I knew how Aventurine's story was going to go by this point, I wasn't kidding.

The madman in the Tell-Tale Heart can still hear the victim's heart beating beneath his floorboards; like the victim in the book, Aventurine ends up in a state of being dead but not quite.

Acheron's personal questline debuts here as well - it's called 'Good and Evil', which is the name of a philosophical text written by Frederick Nietzche that I have not read and have no plans to do so. Sorry. Aventurine had the good grace of having a lot of visual and literary allusions I'm familiar with - Acheron does not.

Chapter 8: All The Sad Tales

Doesn't seem to relate to anything, but most of this chapter's literary references are elsewhere. This is the chapter where we get a huge chunk of Aventurine's tragic backstory as he walks to his death.

The poem The Wasteland, specifically the 5th part 'What the Thunder Said', is directly quoted repeatedly throughout this chapter. I'll talk more about that in the Aventurine post.

Chapter 9: A Walk Among the Tombstones

A murder mystery by Lawrence Block featuring alcoholic detective Matt Scudder.

This chapter addresses multiple 'deaths' (tombstones) in one way or another;

Aventurine dies and meets Acheron in a place that's not quite the land of the dead, but prepares to continue his journey onward. the IPC prepares their next move following his death.

The Trailblazer reunites with the supposedly dead Firefly.

The true culprit, Gallagher, a bartender and the head of the Bloodhound Family, murders Sunday. I suppose Gallagher might be, symbolically, representative of the two things Scudder consistently has to deal with (murder and alcohol) lmao.

#ac plays hsr

[watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees]

Home

masterlist

TW: restraints, intimate whumper, past relationship with whumpee, lady whump, choking, betrayal (sort of)

“I want to go home” Claire cried into his chest finally breaking down. They were sitting in the basement, by the she was chained to by her collar. He held her close to him, soothingly rubbing circles on her back, careful to avoid the bruises covering her all over. In an attempt to coax some reaction out of her yet again, he changed his previous tactics, and cornered her emotionally. They talked and talked, superficial things, easy conversations. They ended up sitting next to each other, then Claire in his lap, “Hold me” she’d asked. The more her body relaxed, her mind raced. How comfortable his body was pressed up against her, how he manipulated her to barely notice the change from fiance to owner, how his proximity brought comfort against all odds. How she missed her family, her life, their home together with Luke.

“I know, love” he kissed into her hair.

“I miss my family” she admitted for the first time out loud. She sobbed into his chest, grabbing onto his t-shirt like a lifeline. Luke smiled, as if he was breathing her desperation in, inhaled deeply and sighed.

“We could call you mom, if you wanted” he offered innocently.

“What?” She shot up looking at him warily. It’s been weeks and he never even hinted at such a thing. Would he actually let them talk? Would this put her in danger, if she knew where her daughter was, wouldn’t he have to hurt her?

“I mean, I could call her, and you could listen, how does that sound?” She could scream for help when her mom picks up. He would finally be caught and she would be free. He could rot in jail.

“Would you really?”

“Of course I would” he laughed. There had to be a catch “In fact let’s call her right now” He pushed Claire out of his lap, to get his phone out of the back pocket. After a few clicks he held the phone out between them, the screen was dark, she could see her tear stained reflection on it. She took a deep breath, she needed it to scream as soon as her mom would pick up. It looked way too easy. Did he become so careless after a few minutes of heart-to-heart? Something was wrong, and this was her only chance.

He playfully put a finger over his lips, smiling, asking her to keep quiet as the line started ringing. After the fourth agonizingly long beep, they were connected.

Claire didn’t waste a second waiting for a greeting before locking eyes with Luke and started screaming for help. There was no sound coming from the phone, then laughter erupted on both ends of the line.

“Are you really kidnapped?” Cole laughed into the speaker “Foolproof escape plan, Sherlock” he teased.

“I don’t know, she doesn’t look kidnapped to me” Luke joined in “She looks a bit stressed though, is this how married life is treating you?” he pushed the phone in her face to answer. She couldn’t back away any further, the chain on her collar was pulled taut. A new wave of tears spilled from her eyes, tears of frustration mostly. She shook her head.

“Thanks man” He hung up when she wouldn’t reply. The smug grin wouldn’t leave his face “I know you, Claire, way too well for this” She stayed silent “But as promised, we’ll call your mom” “I just need to take some precautionary measures” he reached up and unbuckled her collar, just to pull it tighter. It was too late when she realised just how tight he actually set it. She opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out, and then even worse, no air went in.

“Let’s hope Mrs. D is not in a chatty mood today” he looked her up and down as she struggled to get a breath in.

“Luke, what a nice surprise” she picked up cheerfully. Claire wished she could actually cry “I was just about to call you today”

“Oh, really? Are there any updates on Claire?” she couldn’t fathom how he made his voice sound so honestly hopeful and desperate.

“Actually yes!” she exclaimed “Well, not actual news, but someone reported seeing a girl that fits the description a few towns over. They’re extending the search to other cities”

“That’s… I… I’m more hopeful than I had ever been, this is the best news I could ever receive”

“It’s not set in stone yet, let’s not get carried away” There was a soft hopeful smile in her voice.

“No, I know, honestly I just wanted to check in if you needed anything, but this one is better than anything I could offer” “Call me if you hear anything else?’

“Will do. And Luke, take care of yourself!”

He unbuckled the collar with a swift set of movements as soon as they hung up.

“Have I told you I’m the head of the civilian led search for you?” he fumbled with the collar, taking it off the chain, and putting it back on her neck. She didn’t protest, just tried to catch her breath. “I guess I haven’t, but it’s over now anyway” he sighed contently.

“Why are you doing this?” she wheezed out between a few breaths.

“I thought you wanted to hear your mom’s voice, and I feel like you didn’t really appreciate my gesture” he stated, and started fidgeting with the loose end of the chain he took off her collar.

“I-” She was so caught up in the whirlwind of emotions that she almost forgot about what started it all. The feeling was the opposite of finding that one thought that grounds you and takes you back to where a painful thought process started. It made her heart sank. She heard her mom’s voice. She’s looking for her, full of hope, and she’s never going to see her again.

“Wasn’t it just so generous of me to let you hear all that? Now you know she’s okay” he gloated.

“Why-?” she tried to get a word in, but she broke out in a coughing fit. He just shrugged.

“I told you… I w-wanted… home”

“And you got a piece of it, come on, you heard her voice, isn’t that precious?” he started petting her hair, coaxing her to sit back in his lap. She violently shook her head. She could’ve crawled away from him now that she wasn’t held back by a chain but she stayed in place.

“Please” she tried when pulling away didn’t stop the unwelcome touch.

“Get back here and we can talk about it” he taunted.

#danse macabre original story #oc whump #lady whump #tw choking #tw captivity #intimate whumper

[mask131]

Deadly fall: The Grim Reaper

THE GRIM REAPER

Category: World culture / World mythologies

Everybody knows that, when it comes time to personify or embody the concept of Death in fiction, the Grim Reaper appears. Everybody knows what the Grim Reaper looks like: a skeleton dressed in a black robe or cloak with a hood, wielding a scythe, coming to collect the soul of a deceased or to “cut” the life of a person to cause their death.

But while this image is considered to be “universal” today, it wasn’t always the case. In fact, the very concept and idea of a Grim Reaper was conceived in England! In Europe, death as a concept and manifestation was always represented in art through skeletons. Moving, animated skeletons – even dancing skeletons in the case of the “Danse Macabre” motives. These skeletons were often draped in shrouds (which later caused the “white sheets” of the ghosts), but due to black being a color more associated with death, soon the embodiment of death came to be seen as wearing capes or cloaks of this color. Death in particular was VERY personified in England, where he was a traditional character of morality plays as well as of folk songs – but then, Death was only known as “Death”, nothing else. We would have to wait for 1847 and “The Circle of Human Life” for the term “grim reaper” to appear, describing dying as “meeting the grim reaper with his scythe”. Later, the expression became so popular it evolved into the “proper name” of the character, Grim Reaper.

Why a scythe, you might ask? Well originally speaking, it all dates back to Greek mythology. There is the characters of Kronos, the king of Titans and father of Zeus, who was depicted as holding a scythe – he had used it to emasculate his own father (long story). Kronos was turned by the Romans into Saturn, a god of agriculture and fertility, and the scythe symbol was kept. Already depicted as an old man, to show the “ancientness” of this deity, there also came to be a confusion between “Kronos” (the god’s name) and “Chronos”, which is the Greek word for time – this resulted in the well-known figure today of “Father Time”. Kronos devouring his own children to avoid being overtaken was completely counter-interpreted as “Time devouring all” and “Time destroying youth”. And soon, due to a displacement between Time and Death, the scythe of Kronos/Saturn was given to Death, who “reaps” the human souls when they are about to die the same way a reaper reaps the crops once the harvest is ready to be taken. But before the scythe was settled as THE weapon of death, many other instruments and tools were used: you can see medieval depictions of Death showing him wielding swords, spears or pitchforks.

I say “he” because the English language and tradition masculinized Death, something that Germany also did – but it should be remembered that in Latin-speaking countries of Europe, such as France, Spain and Italy, “death” is a female word, and by extension could often be depicted as a female entity. A last inspiration for the formation of the Grim Reaper figure should be mentioned: the Bible. More precisely the Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse). When describing the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the last one is said to “ride a pale horseman”, and that his name is “Death”. This image of Death as a pale horseman struck DEEPLY popular imagination, which explains why Death is now often seen as a “pale rider”, or as riding a white horse. But again, it is a bit of a twist – as the “pale” of the original text did not mean “white” like people think today, but rather it designated a greenish color, “chloros”, a bit yellow on the side, meant to evoke the color of rot and of a corpse’ putrefaction. The name however was correctly translated as the text says the rider’s name was “Thanatos”, which is the Greek word for Death (as well as the name of their own death god), and the Biblical text even hit the nail even more by adding “and Hades followed him”. It is usually translated as “and Hell followed him”, but “Hades” in Greek was a more neutral word who simply designated the underworld and afterlife in a general way – and even could be used figuratively to talk about a tomb or a grave.

Once the picture of the scythe-wielding skeleton was settled, it quickly spread to the rest of Europe, often replacing local death incarnations.

For example, in Scandinavia the traditional Grim Reaper replaced “Pesta”, a supernatural hag in black hood embodying the plague (she was a death entity that was created during the times of the Black Plague). A descendant of the Norse goddess Hel, Pesta was said to wander into towns with either a broom or a rake, to collect the souls of her victims: if she had a rake, some people in the town would survive, like leaves escaping a rake; but if she had a broom, she would forget and spare no one. But when the Grim Reaper arrived, poor old Pesta was quickly forgotten: in fact, it is from Scandinavia that came to us one of the most memorable and influential depictions of Death on a cinema screen. “The Seventh Seal”, the Swedish film by Bergman. Lithuanians also had their own female incarnation of death replaced by the traditional Grim Reaper: they had the goddess Giltine, an ugly old woman with a long blue nose and a tongue covered with a deadly poison. Interestingly, according to their myth, she used to be a pretty young goddess, and a very pleasant person, but spending seven years locked in a coffin turned her into the monster she is today: meanwhile her sister, Laima, kept her charm, beauty and pleasantness – and she was the goddess of life, destiny, childbirth, marriage and luck.

Of course, while the Grim Reaper figure spread everywhere, it still has numerous local variations (it is Europe after all).

For example, in the French region of Bretagne there is the Ankou (see my posts about him). In Poland, the Grim Reaper is dressed in white, not black, and given their word for death is female (“smierc”), he tends to be a she, a skeletal old woman. In the Netherlands, Death is known as “Magere Hein” (Meager Hein) or “Pietje de Dood” (Peter the Death). And in many European countries, one will note that the behavior of Death or the names given to Death will correspond to those attributed to the devil – as often the fear and hatred of death led people to fuse together or confuse the figure of the devil and the one of the grim reaper.

- - - - - - - - - -

A fascinating study of the “Grim Reaper figures” would be the one of Death in Latin America. They have here a very rich series of cultures with very unique interpretations mixing the traditional Grim Reaper imagery with Christian religion. Three main entities come to my mind, all “folk saints” (saints that are not recognized by the Church in any way, but that exist in popular worship and in folklore):

# San Pascualito in Guatemala. The “King of the Graveyard” as he is called, San Pascualito Muerte appears as a skeleton in robes, or a skeleton wearing a crown, often with a scythe. A distortion of the cult of the actual saint known as Paschal Baylon, beyond a cult of death he is invoked and prayed to cure diseases and appease epidemics. His feast day is said to be the 17th of May, and he is usually given candles of different colors depending on what you ask him for (red for love, pink for health ; dark blue for work, light blue for money ; black for revenge, white for protecting children, etc…)

# San La Muerte. Mostly worshiped in Paraguy, with also a presence in north-eastern Argentine and southern Brazil (plus Buenos Aires). “Saint Death” appears as a skeleton with a hooded cloak (usually black and red) wielding a scythe (with sometimes blood on the blade), and is sometimes called “Señor de la Muerte” or Señor de la Buena Muerte, even “San Esqueleto” (Saint Skeleton). Like the previous saint, in exchange for prayers and offerings (one’s own blood, alcohol or precious objects) San La Muerte offers a variety of services : restore love, fortune or health, protect from witchcraft and remove the evil eye, offer good luck when gambling… But unlike San Pascualito, San La Muerte also has an active cult in prisons due to the saint also offering favors related to crime and violence: he can avoid one going to prison, shorten prison sentences, or cause the death of an enemy. Often invoked by brujas (witches) and curanderos (folk healers), San La Muerte’s feast day is the 15th of August.

A very “pagan” element of San La Muerte cult is the fact that the statues of his are the center of said cult, and treated as physical manifestations of the saint. They are consecrated by Catholic priest seven times to become “true” incarnations of the San (and since the Church disapproves and reject San La Muerte, people tend to hide the statue under the image of another saint to get the blessing anyway). These statues are kept on altars and “fed” with the offerings – families usually keep them hidden in their household for the San to bring protection over their families. When someone is favored by the San, they can pass on their protection to another person by giving them their statue of San La Muerte. It is also believed that if the statue is made of special materials, it will be more “powerful”: thus you have San La Muerte statues made out of baby bones, of Christian man bones, of coffin woods, carved in the crucifix that belonged to deceased… Same thing works for various amulets made of bullets (usually those that killed a man, especially a Christian man). These amulets, and tattoos or carvings of San La Muerte in the skin, are said to protect from bodily harm and imprisonment. And unlike other saint cults where you ask, beg, request favors from a saint, in the cult of San La Muerte, you have to “threaten” the saint: you threaten the statue with “hunger” (no offerings) or with “solitude” (banishing it to a dark corner of the house) in exchange for its favors, and once the San grants the favor you “reward” him through his statue (but not too much, as you must keep him “starving” for him to be open to a new deal).

# Santa Muerte is the Mexican manifestation of the “death cult” of Southern America. Santa Muerte (Holy Death/Saint Death), also known as “Our Lady of Holy Death”, Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte, is a female folk saint acting as the embodiment of death – a female skeleton with a long robe, holding a scythe and a globe. She is not like other saints a dead human: she IS death itself, taking shape: while the scythe is the typical tool represent her job of cutting the thread of life, the globe represents her dominion over all of earth. Despite her grim appearance, Santa Muerte is actually a benevolent entity who offers healing, protection, financial wellbeing, and a safe travel to the afterlife. Worshiped clandestinely until the 1990s, since then she became a popular public figure. Other attributes of her include the lamp (that she uses to guide us through the darkness, figuratively or literally), the owl (that acts as her messenger), the scale (that represents the divine justice and the equity and impartiality of the will she enacts), and the hourglass (typical Grim Reaper symbol, representing the limited lifespan of a human life – another heritage that the Grim Reaper got from Father Time). Her cult is informal and unorganized, going from a clandestine cult to a highly popular and fast-spreading trend: most people have home shrines dedicated to her, there are special votive candles of different colors to invoke her various favors ; similarly statues of the Santa Muerte are dressed in different colors to pray for different things (white for gratitude, purity and cleansing ; red for love and passion ; green for justice and legal matters ; gold for money, prosperity and economical success…). She receives a special sub-cult as “Señora de la Noche”, Lady of the Night, by those exposed to the dangers of working at night  (taxi drivers, bar owners, prostitutes, policemen…). Her feast day is either the 1st of November or the 15th of August depending on which area you are. Santa Muerte got for a time a bad reputation due to being one of the favorite saints of drug dealers, with her cult spreading to prisons (both among inmates and staff) and her prayers being tied to violent and illegal businesses ; but more recently, she also became the protectress of homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, and other queer people of Mexico due to them being outcasts of Christian religion and Mexican society, and Santa Muerte precisely being a non-conforming saint like them: her image is notably used during same-sex marriage ceremonies.

All these folk saints are part of the wider “cult of death” prominent across most Southern America cultures, a cult that is HIGHLY rejected by the Catholic Church, despite these folk saints precisely being created to fit in a Catholic context. It is not so much because they are fictional, or because some of them are clearly “pagan” practices (see San La Muerte), but it is rather because their very existence contradicts the fundamental teaching of Christianity – the one of Resurrection. Through Resurrection, Christ is the one who defeated and vanquished death, and the promise of Heaven by God is the one of an “endless” and “eternal” “true life”, going well beyond our limital physical existence ; the Christian doctrine does insist on death being simply a temporary state, and during Judgement Day, at the end of time, death will be erased as all will be resurrected to live in a state of eternity.

All this concept of death as a temporary thing or a vanquished power, by nature, cannot fit with the worship of death as a saint or holy concept in itself.

#deadly fall #grim reaper #santa muerte #psychopomp #death cult #south american religion #european folklore

[pb-dot]

WIP Character Introduction: One

The Blorbo Train continues ever onwards, and I have been debating what level of detail to cover with the antagonists and the clockmen in particular. I've settled on covering the two most prominent in The Clockwork Boy, One and 10. Today, we're dealing with the original specimen herself, the one who sees and hears without being seen or heard.

To start off with her allegiances, One works with the Clockmen and ostensibly answers to their tyrannical ruler, Creator. It is, however, not on Creator's orders she assists her brutish compatriot 10 in attempting to reacquire 13. While she does assist in the hunt, One clearly has bigger plans in mind. Exactly who benefits from these plans in the long term remains to be seen, but suffice it to say, their impact will be considerable.

One's clockwork body is somewhat shorter in stature than 13's, but her long limbs give her similar reach. Even without seeing the more complex internal clockwork unfold and transform with unnerving speed, it is obvious that she is more than capable in a fight. Even so, the many scars left on her face and buzzcut brown-haired head tell tales of violent encounters that got closer to ending in death than One would have preferred. Her green eyes, similarly, appear keen and alert, but with a slight tremble to them that makes her seem perpetually nervous.

The general idea behind One at the outset was as a sort of mirror of 13. She is the first-ever Clockman, 13 is the last, she's a hardened cynic with a soft spot somewhere deep inside, he's an emotional idealist whose pacifism might one day shatter into blind violence, and so on. While this isn't quite where she ended up as her story is more tangential to 13's than parallel. Her role in the narrative, apart from the help and hindrance she provides is more like being the protagonist of a different, considerably grittier story. It is my hope that I'll be able to show sufficient parts of this story to communicate this bit, and One's ultimate goals and motivations, without writing a whole spinoff from her perspective, but we'll see what the future might bring in that regard.

The inspirations for One are a bit harder to track for me, but I do think of her as a bit more of a post-post 9/11 spy movie-type character, still marked by the intense brutality of the previous era, but not gleefully, or grimly, indulging in it. It's been a while since I saw it, but my mind does harken back to Atomic Blonde from 2017 as a possible source of inspiration. If nothing else, Charlize Theron in her Mad Max look has also been a reference point my mind has gone to several times. There is also, I'm starting to realize, more than a little bit of Akemi Homura from Madoka Magica in her, albeit in reverse. While Homura twists the story around her in a more cynical direction to suit her goals, One's investment in 13 could be construed to try to force the cynical post-collapse world to tend toward optimism. Whether this optimism is warranted, of course, remains to be seen.

One is probably the character in this series that feels the least like she'd ever listen to music, but if she did, she'd probably like classical music pretty well. Danse Macabre and Valse Sentimentale are both songs I can imagine her finding some scant bitter, enjoyment out of, and perhaps she could even be found cracking a slight smile of enjoyment over Vivaldi's Four Seasons provided her day was good and she didn't see any observers coming.

Taglist:

@ettawritesnstudies @mrbexwrites @teacupsandstarlight

If you want to be put on the Tag List for this project, please interact with my Tag List Post

#writing #wip wednesday #the clockwork boy #hearts in clockwork #long reads

[becomingbuffypodcast]

Hush, Identity, & the subversion of the female scream

We have talked before about how music and the absence of music are critical to the Buffyverse, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the episode, “Hush.” Season 4 is all about identity, shown through the Scoobies discovering who they are in this new season of life, and their conflicts and the monsters they face often highlight this through the theme of identity theft.

Sunday & her gang feed off the insecurity of incoming freshmen while also stealing their things. Kathy steals Buffy’s soul in an effort to form a new life away from her family, Buffy tries on Parker in an attempt to have a normal life, Xander and Giles try new hobbies and jobs in an effort to figure out where they belong, and the entire premise of the Initiative is to change the demons and monsters—taking their basic instincts and making them something else.

In “Hush,” the writers cleverly continue this theme of identity, not only through Buffy and Riley revealing their secret identities to each other, but through the Gentlemen and their silencing of the most human expression of identity—the voice.

Because of this, the music plays a significant role in not only accentuating the silence of the characters, but also in revealing the insidious nature of the Gentlemen. Joss Whedon and “Hush” composer, Christophe Beck, drew inspiration from multiple sources, including Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman, as well as the orchestral accompaniment of silent films. But the biggest influence undoubtedly comes from “Danse Macabre,” the piece that accompanies Giles’ non-verbal presentation of the Gentlemen.

Written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saens, “Danse Macabre” is a tone poem, originally composed as an art song, to be played while someone recites an old French superstition. The story was an old legend about Death appearing at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the skeletons from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle until dawn. Beck cleverly calls back to the piece in his music for “Hush”—the solo violin reminding us of the devil’s fiddle, while the use of dissonant intervals, known as the devil’s tritone, reminds us of the devil himself. Beck will utilize a similar trick in writing the theme for Wanda in Wanda-Vision, where his use of devil’s tritones hints at her darker side.

Coupled with the many phallic symbols and Joss Whedon’s original intent for them to represent a certain class, the Gentlemen can be seen as a repressive patriarchal symbol, and a metaphor for classism, sexism, and even assault. They penetrate, violate, and silence their victims, tearing out their hearts and stealing their voices. Their nice clothing, smiles, and even their names convey an idea of white-washed social assimilation, yet their lethargic mannerisms and precise medical tools betray a calculated and intelligent malevolence. They are able to get away with their abuse due to their silencing of not only the victim, but the community as a whole.

The book, “Music, Sound, & Silence in BTVS” makes a comparison between the scene of the Gentlemen stealing away the town’s voices, and Kathy trying to steal Buffy’s soul, arguing that these correlating images show that “the voice represents something of the essence of a subject and its materiality brings to life an enigmatic element of the individual. This visualization of voice, disembodied from its source but still “live,” marks a clear appreciation for the voice as a material body in itself—a physical trace and a distinct object.”

So often in film and media, the cry of women is shown as that of the conquered, not the conqueror. French film theorist and composer, Michel Chion, in his essay “the Screaming Point,” asserts that “the female scream, the woman’s cry, represents a misfortune and a sexual vulnerability available for the pleasure of the male spectator.” Yet in true Buffy form, the show subverts the female scream and imbues it with strength. “Music, Sound, and Silence” writes, “Buffy’s scream is more in line with what Chion describes as the male “shout,” imbued as it is with power and mastery. Buffy wields this masculine shout as she does the phallic stake: both are her weapons for penetrating and obliterating the Other—the monster, the demon.”

In the end it is the cry of the victim, a woman, that exerts her dominance and destroys her oppressor.

[crouton-knight]

WIP grab bag

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Tagging: @oddeyesight @valorousowl @7yd1a @tmae3114 @mismagireve

Haven't seen this in a while so I'm bringing it back, especially since some things have been added/removed since the last time I was working on my WIPs. This time all the titles are taken directly from my trello list, so they're a little more descriptive than usual, but I italicized the actual titles to make them easier to find.

DragonFable

And miles to go before I sleep (Nameless-centric, pre-canon origin story) 518 words, started sep 24 2022

As the rain comes home to the sea - ch. 4 (Notha/Remthalas, The Shape of Water AU), 1368 words, started august 4 2022

Blueberry Blowpop Flavor (hero/Aegis, sexual mistakes) 0 words

dancers in the garden (Notha/Remthalas, romantic party date), 2172 words, started august 5 2022

Doppelganger (Aspar/Tomix, angst and skinsuiting), 76 words, started jul 28 2022

eye for an eye (Hansa-centric, life on Lore humor) 0 words

House Rules (Cysero/Warlic, pre-canon), 2020 words, started jul 13 2022

Hypnagogia (Notha/Remthool, Reawakening nightmare), 1450 words, started jun 27 2022

Infernal Succession (Cysero/Warlic, royalty degradation kink), 446 words, started nov 16 2022

The Late Night Adventurers' Guild (general-ish? OC-centric? Names changed for privacy? sex workers on Lore) 0 words

Lovebites (Notha/Remthalas, makeup kink), 487 words, started jan 12 2023

Milkteeth (Notha-centric, pre-canon childhood fic), 250 words, started dec 20 2022

Power And Control (Theano/nameless mage, abuse of power) 0 words

Take A Man To Dinner First (Valen/Vaal, vivisection fic) 0 words

Trust Fall (Notha/Remthalas, non-Maleurous survival horror) 178 words, started dec 21 2022

[untitled] (Kara/Akanthus, jail sex) 0 words

[untitled] (Notha/MushRem, Dragesvard rift) 0 words

[untitled] (Notha/Remthalas, phantom pregnancy, sequel to Butterfly Paradox) 0 words

[untitled] (Voyna-centric, post-Maleurous piracy) 0 words

Wake Up (gen, horror animatic) 951 words, started dec 31 2022

Warp And Weft (Vaal/Hero/Aegis, void ship shenanigans), 3063 words, started oct 4 2022

Your Lover/Your Jailor (Notha/Remthalas, general kink/character exploration) 0 words

Homestuck

An Unfortunate Honor: Bearing, Duty, And Other Troubles - ch. 15 (Kanaya<>Karkat, various/Karkat, alien breeder AU) 1599 words, started feb 15 2022

Blood Worship - ch. 3 (various/Karkat, temple acolyte AU) 1076 words, started oct 26 2021

Brother Lover ep. 2: I Can't Believe I'm Trying To Seduce My Elder Bro By Crossdressing (Bro/Dave, crossdressing kink), 0 words

crucible ch. 1/5 (various, torture porn), 438 words, started oct 11 2022

Danse Macabre - ch. 5 (Dave/Karkat, descent into the underworld AU) 352 words, started feb 3 2022

Decompression Sickness (Dualscar/Alecir, space trucker AU), 4008 words, started sep 20 2022

Equinox (Dirk/John. kingdomstuck), 2075 words, started dec 15 2022

HELIOKENTRIKOS - epilogue rewrite (Dirk/Jake, immortal/time traveler AU), 290 words, started aug 26 2022

I'll Set You Up Against The Stars - ch. 2 (DaveRose, weird gods), 2120 words, started may 31 2022

Let Me Tell You About Humanity - ch. 12 (really 13) (various/Karkat, xenophilia from alien pov), 8 words, started feb 13 2022

Lotus Hotel - ch. 2 (Dave/Karkat, dreamsharing AU) 1374 words, started feb 15 2021

Matches and Tar (Sollux/Karkat, steampunk AU), 4776 words, started jun 6 2022

The Menagerie - ch. 9 (primarily Equius/Karkat, Brothel AU), 578 words, started aug 20 2021

Monsters Fair And Fearsome - ch. 3 (Dualscar/Karkat, BatB AU), 950 words, started jun 6 2021

The Oddities of Jake English (Dirk/Jake, erotic horror) 1043 words, started dec 15 2022

Price of an Empire, or, A Mutant MechPilot Gets Fucked Up (various/Karkat, space fantasy torture porn), 1112 words, started dec 15 2022

raze the sky in engine fire - ch. 14 (Sollux/Karkat, cyberpunk torture porn) 0 words

Skaia City: Underground - ch. 4 (gen, superstuck), 1935 words, started feb 15 2022

space cowboy disaster zone - ch. 9 (Dave/Karkat/Jade, space scavengers AU), 571 words, started jul 9 2022

Starry Defender Zodiac Knight - ch. 1 (various/Karkat, magical girl hentai AU), 1758 words, started jan 20 2022

Stranger Stars and Suns - ch. 8 (various, Empirestuck), 549 words, started jul 10 2022

we daren't go a-hunting - ch. 4 (Eridan/Feferi/Karkat, Fae AU), 0 words

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Arrhythmia - ch. 3 (Homura/Madoka, vampire AU) 1703 words, started jun 30 2021

Catch Up (OC/OC, Tales From Kazamuki, slice of life) 163 words, started dec 16 2022

Original

A Rock And A Hard Place (Marzi/various, Marzipan pt. 3) 0 words

God Will Understand (Sister Netta/Rahz'matia, fantasy-comedy) 0 words

Harem Counseling - ch. 1 (Gerhardt/Harem, fantasy-romcom series) 0 words

Lays of Legend (Marzi/various, Marzipan pt. 4) 0 words

Magical Yakuza Girl (gen, one-chapter comic) 145 words, started jul 30 2021

Milk and Honey (Marzi/various, Marzipan pt. 2), 1174 words, started dec 5 2022

Naughty Little Helpers (Knoell/various, origin story) 19 words, started dec 23 2022

Seto Taisho and the Kitchen War (gen, fantasy), 0 words

#wip grab bag #my writing #wips #work in progress #dragonfable #homestuck #puella magi madoka magica #original fiction #tagged some friends #fanfic #fanfiction