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universaln0b0dy · 6 months

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Bully twist au v.s reader (untouchable part 4)

《Summary》: You snapped everything in you did. You wanted them dead, but this was a college full of magic students right? Well, you might just needed to become another Rook hunt.

《Note》: warning proceed with caution! Credit for the bully au @.azulsluver. Also reader has some abilities that allow them not to be seen.

Riddle: Stalkers Tango

Riddle had some weird obsession with you, or so it felt like. He always snooped around in your business, checked your grades, behaviour... he was trying to control every part of your life and got Violent pretty fast.

You hated him for that. He had embarrassed you on multiple occasions and something snapped in you, after you had to handle another one of his outbursts.

If he was so obsessed with you, maybe you should be with him? Maybe you should destroy him, deliver over every punch he had given you, collar him, kill him.

Everything was a blur in your head all those stupid things he had done to you. You wanted revenge, desperately.

It was probably about 12 in the evening and Riddle being the rule freak he is went to bed at 8 pm sharp. You walk into the dark Heartslabyul dorm, your dark clothing making you blend in with the night.

Riddles room was of course looked, but you were able to lock pick wich was very helpful in that situation. The door opens without creaking even a bit.

You close the door behind you and make sure no one could come in. You walked over to Riddles writing desk, skipping through the his planner. Everything was neatly written down, though you bet he had everything memorized.

Quickly you write down the schedule of his for the next for weeks, before closing the planner again. You would leave hand prints you made sure of that by using disposable rubber gloves.

You also stole Riddles dorms spare keys, in order to replicate them with the set you had brought.

After you brought everything back into Ramshackle, you threw your rubber gloves into the school dump. Only selected students knew were it was and you were one of them. And because of Octavinelle rubbergloves weren't a rare sight in the dump.

You decide to go back to Ramshackle, in order to get some sleep.

Riddle didn't know it, but his lost keys were only the beginning of a very horrible month. He had kinda expected the day to come were he too, would loose something. The bigger problem was that they were the spare keys.

He was in a horrible mood because of that and you tried your best to avoid him because of that. But well, you couldn't and know you were forced to calmly get your face punched and lectured, simply because there was a small bit of dirt on your hands.

The first week passed with you occasionally moving Riddles stuff away and letting it show up randomly.

This was enough for Riddle go think he was going crazy. His mood dropped into a bottomless hole and the abuse you had to go through became worse, but you didn't care.

Well the first week was just there to annoy him, in the second you started to do some more serious stuff.

You had found a dead hedgehog in the woods, it was poisoned by something you assumed, as the rat trap was about 3 steps away from it. It looked exactly like one of the hedgehogs you had stolen.

The hedgehog was fine, living like a king in the gardens of Ramshackle. You wouldn't involve innocent people in your plan.

You started writing a letter to Riddle, mimicking his handwriting and way of writing perfectly. That was the only thing why you still endured Riddles lessons. To study him.

Riddle found the letter the next day, next to the dead hedgehog, calling him out for the murder. He had guiltripped you so many times, though it might have been unintentional, you wanted to include it.

The next two weeks were hell for him. Wherever he went he saw a reminder of the fact that someone stalked him, his favourite food out on display, comments about his insecurities in his own textbooks. All of them written in the same neat handwriting he had.

Lucky for him you didn't want him to be publicly humiliated, just like he had done to you so many times. No, you only wanted him to have a taste of his own medicine.

Treg started to worry about Riddle, fully aware what was eating away at him. He just wanted to know who would do such a thing. At first he thought it was the prefect. But they were magic less and way to scared of Riddle to pull something like that and every other student had an alibi to prove he wasn't the one doing all of that.

"time for my last act!" You thought, gulping down the bitter liquid that would turn you into Riddle for the next twelve hours. It was the middle of the night and you had gotten the Heartslabyul uniform from the laundry room.

You step into Riddles room, looking the dood behind you, looking at him. He was sleeping, for now.

You grab a lamp, just like he did during a study lesson and threw it at him. He jolted awake staring at you in shook. You had transformed into the other Riddle.

"My dear mirror self, have you ever danced Tango?" You whisper, harshly grabbing Riddles arms, forcing him to dance with you.

Idia: Watch

You knew Idia watched your every step, making a meme complication out of all your slip ups over the day, he was a hard nut to crack. You wanted revenge, but you couldn't plan it in secret without Idia watching.

So you decided to call a friend. You really don't remember how you met them, but they were helpful. They always helped you and know you needed desperate help.

"Hey! Hello I would like to ask the prices of watches." (Help, I'm being watched.)

Your friend of course new the code. "Yeah! We currently had a stock refill. In how many watches are you intrested?" (Yeah, how hard are you watched.)

You grinned akwardly into the phone. "Strange question. Many watches, do you also have watches that show wich year we have?"(Always and everywhere.) You can hear your friend scribble something onto a book.

"Yes we have them. Is there a watch model you like currently and in wich colour?"(are you being watched this very moment? By who?)

You sigh. "A fiery blue model x11." (Idia shroud, yes, need to hang up.)

You hear your friend walk around opening a door. "We do not have that model in stock. Please call again in a week." (We will come asap, prepare everything.)

You nod saying a quick bye and hanging up. The camera probably recorded the stupid exchange, but the only thing that mattered is that you had help on your side now.

Idia didn't know what to think. Was the prefect so stupid they couldn't even order a simple watch? He sighed getting the recording in order to make another compilation. He wasn't bothered in the slightest it hurt you and that you came begging on both of your knees to stop him from doing so.

He only liked that. You used to be willing to act like a house pet. It was cringe but he craved that attention. He needed you to tremble every time you saw him, fear his anger and come begging on both of your knees.

You on the other hand had everything prepared to watch him, though it wasn't completely your job. All the information would be immediately send to your friend. They were always listening and watching, but it didn't feel threatening this time.

Soon enough Idia hac some serios problems, all because people caught wind on how he treated you. The whole world seemed to see him as a monster.

You had won, and you only had to watch.

(Also this is the same friend that helped with Carter. Let me know if you would like go meet them as a character!)

Leona: like a hunter

Leona was a lazy bastard, but he always went extra lengths to make sure you would suffer.

Sometimes your arm got turned into sand, you had to fetch stuff for him and you were treated like a servant, or worse dog. You hated that feeling. You hated the fact he had control over you like this. In some way you only wanted to hide but you couldn't, cause that would prove that you were simply some weak prey.

You couldn't have that. Maybe this caused you to do what you choose to do, maybe it was the fact you finally went insane but you wanted to prove you were strong. A strong and pesky bastard everyone should fear.

Wich is why you decided that you would put sleeping pills into Leonas food. The sleeping pills were something you had back from your world and it turned out beast men couldn't smell them. Your sick little brain had decided to get rid of Leona once and for all, wearing his tail as some sort of winning ornament.

You had managed to lure Leona into Ramshackle making him eat the food. You were a bit worried about the fact that maybe the pill amount normal humans needed wasn't enough and almost put the whole bottle in.

He was knocked out cold after two bites of the food.

You decided yo drag him outside far into the woods, fastly before binding him into a rope and letting him hang from the tree. You hated him, his cocky smile everytime he forced you to lick up the food you had dropped on the floor, the way you were forced to clean up his room. Oh, you would be enjoying his pain.

You decide to put him into a slight disadvantage splashing his eyes with a potion that made his eyesight bad. It's not like he needed to rely on that part that much, but he would need glasses after that.

Leona wakes up, his eyes all blury. No matter how hard he tries he can't focus his eyes on the blurry person in front of him. He recognises their smell, it's his prefect.

"Ah, couldn't even protect me you stupid bitch? At least you are here to help me." He assumed something happened to him was an accident, but the giggle that comes out of your throat leaves him speechless. You weren't trembling like usual when you made a mistake.

He can hear something land with a thud in the tree next to him. He can't recognise what it is. He curses as he realises his eyes a damaged.

"We will change the roles today Kingscholar. I'll be hunter and you the prey. Alright?" You laugh, letting him free from the tree. The first thing Leona tries is attack you, but without his eyes his movements are restricted. You use the opportunity to stab him in the side, before moving away.

"Run kitty cat, run." You whisper right into his ear and Leona does as he is told. He can hear your steps behind him and he runs into a tree kne or two times. Your voice is everywhere in the woods, as if you are right beside him and he can only hear the words.

"I'll be the hunter!"

(Boom! Finished!)

Next part: Ace+Deuce: haunted house, Epel: the ghost in me, jade+silver+jack: to you who only watched

Special shout out to @danika-redgrave124 who may or may not inspired me to maybe make a second part to some of the stories.

#twisted wonderland #bully twist au v.s reader #leona kingscholar #riddle rosehearts #idia shroud #x reader

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spacexseven · 1 year

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V LATE REPLY BECAUSE I HAVE LONGER QUESTIONS AND ANSWER FOR YOU TUNA! bit here i throw these ones.

if only your ability didn't need you to kill...in that case, are you really to blame? such what-ifs only work in your favor, and if it comes to the point for a majority believes that you're needed alive, if only because you can be a wonderful weapon for the special division (much like how despite how his ability is considered the most dangerous, ayatsuji is kept alive and working), and the ada is given the work of keeping you alive and preventing you from harming others...then yes i can make a wonderful little thing w yan dazai (and ada) hehehe

A: delusional yanderes (my beloved). A quick background check helps in the implication that sk reader actions, while drastic, were merely built on survival. in a kinder world sk reader “would be a good person” but they “had to” be cruel to survive. Its half truths and lies that are stretched far too thin fit a false narrative that plants the seeds of a festering obsession within the ADA and Ayatsuji. Tsujimura and Ayatsuji can be placed as SK Reader’s semi-handlers. Watching over period to ensure that SK reader rehabilitation is working as intended. It doesn’t please Ayatsuji to have to part ways, but he doesn’t have much of a choice with giving SK readers to the ADA.

SK reader has a hostile and wary group of people who aren’t exactly pleased with the arrangement but are willing to attempt to give SK the benefit of the doubt. It’s a boring turn of events, but SK Reader can longer collect any abilities, nor hunt down any ability user without a proper reason. The mysterious killer suddenly goes missing, and the cases go unsolved. Of course, the truth is a bitter pill for many involved, but the saying: “how much is a person worth?” comes to mind as SK reader’s quiet fate is chosen, and the outcome shows that SK Reader’s Ability is worth over a dozen guilty and innocent lives.

Life is not fair. SK reader case shows that to many and the results lives a poisonous cocktail of emotions to stew. For, Dazai Osamu, it leaves a mess of anger and attraction to build up. (more thoughts on this man in the second question)

I feel Yosano probably develops this way towards SK reader too but its much more slow burn and with dignity. Given her past with Mori and the whole war, its natural for her to avoid getting too attached to people. She already has a low opinion on a murderer who kills people for merely having an “interesting” ability. She’s one of the more full blown hostile and indifferent yet passive aggressive ada members. At least at the start of it. She’s probably noticing the behavior of others first before she notices her own. Her own obsession and repression blinding her actions with quick, yet childish lies. Her hand linger on SK reader’s body when they get injured. Well, she just needs ro make sure SK readers injuries aren’t severe. She finds herself bantering, not arguing or scoffing at SK reader, but full blown banter. As if they’re friends, and not a guard and a prisoner who barely escaped their own execution. The feeling of want and lust breaks her ideals. She won’t cage or break SK reader. She won’t be like that man. She won't And yet, when she looks at the mirror, the horror that consumes Yosano is horrible because she doesn’t see Yosano Akiko in the mirror, but only Mori Ougai staring back at her.

or you know. dazai is losing himself in the desire to get revenge on the person who killed oda. but while trying to find you, somehow it turns into him learning more about you. somehow your evil existence turns into something addictive and alluring for him. who are you, really? dazai feels like he's the only one who knows. and you're the last connection between him and oda (since ango is gone too), so he's even more fixated on you. if you went after them, then why not him? everyone knows the infamous ability nullifier, right? cherry on top is if you blatantly tell him you have no use for his ability. i think it'd break him to the point where he completely loses himself

I do love hurting Dazai. His ability nullifies SK readers and in a way, nullifies and destroys everything sk reader has worked for. With his ability, there is no point in hunting and going after ability users, he’ll merely cancel it and it devolves to a physical fight rather than an ability fight. His ability is also rather boring and a “cheat” one that sk reader probably dislikes. I feel SK reader values work because they always work in getting the abilities they want and carefully maneuver their way into getting said abilities. While Dazai is heavily interesting and very complex, I feel that SK reader is someone who doesn’t project their own feelings onto others. Dazai’s been projected by Fyodor, Chuuya, Akutagawa, Mori, and even Oda. SK reader doesn’t have that need to understand or be near Dazai. He’s just the person who holds a powerful, but boring, (and the biggest sin for an ability, or at least I think SK reader would feel, it’s for it to be boring) compared to other seemingly dull ones. I genuinely find it ironic in a horrible and tragic way, that dazai would most likely project his own feelings and ideas on SK reader and feel as if only he, Dazai Osamu, truly knows you. Dazai becomes something like Akutagawa, always chasing after someone. He’s like Nikolai but worse in a pathetic and depressing way (so basically in canon anyways). He has journals filled with newspapers and photos of you. Random garbage and items that you dropped or wouldn’t notice being taken (Reader probably has but doesn’t feel threatened yet). He haunts SK reader, nipping at their heels like a starving dog. Unlike Nikolai, Dazai consumes ascoets of SK reader. He buys (or steals, maybe just takes the original) the same shirt Sk reader was wearing a day ago, the shoes they were gazing at or recently bought. records the shows sk reader enjoys or would like to watch. the food that they like to eat. the brands sk reader uses. the same shampoo.He records common words sk reader uses, or phrases they repeat. Whenever dazai wakes up, it's always to sk reader’s voice. But the looks SK reader gives him (indifference, boredom, annoyance) when they tell him that they have no use for such “boring and cheating like ability” gives a despair filled filling that not even Oda’s death gave him. (Honestly, Dazai is pur punching bag in this au and he’s the fyodor with god darling.) - 🦄 (the rest of the ada is still being finished, plus the other question and answers i have. this only the brief thoughts on this idea. Including yosano because she’s so fun to imagine as yandere)

okay quickly before i start!!! for some reason it totally slipped my mind that dazai's ability is. literally nullifying other abilities so😭trying to steal his ability would result in a singularity or something. i don't know how i mentioned his ability and still forgot?!?!

okay yea i just wanted to say that Anyways moving on

i do like having tsujimara and ayatsuji (tsuji2) as sort of sk reader's handlers (esp because both ayatsuji and reader are considered to have dangerous abilities and what not) also reluctant cooperation to ayatsuji becoming obsessed w sk reader is sooo fun heheh

in terms of the ada, much like how dazai's record was wiped and he was sent to the ada, sk reader gets a clean slate (they have to do it themselves since mushitarou is dead like sk reader and their interesting takes about abilities and ability users, especially if they show some form of admiration to ranpo first) is the only one who's explicitly told about what he's dealing with. he's not pleased, but better have you here than on the streets killing more users, or worse yet, in mori's hands

yosano finds out your identity when you use an ability you've stolen, one she recognizes from seeing the corpse of the user on the news. and once she finds out, everything she thought she knew about you feels like a lie. she might start hating you. she's someone who treasures life and people, and knowing you do what you do for your own reasons, with no regard for the users you've slaughtered fills her with anger. still, it's complicated. you were introduced to her as someone who made some mistakes, but has a chance at rehabilitation. wasn't that her, too? after tormenting all the soldiers (though against her will), she was given a chance to live with the ada, despite her past. when she thinks about the conversations you've had with her, the times she's used her ability on you and you've never once shied away from her touch, despite knowing she had to hurt you to heal you...it hurts. she remembers how you busted into an underground hideout once, to save her when she was taken by an enemy organization. now she knows the ability you used to save her then, came at the cost of a life. and she doesn't know how to feel about that.

there must be a reason that fukuzawa and ranpo have kept silent about your past. that everyone has treated you with the same familiarity the others get. and there must be a reason you're here now, that you took the opportunity to come to the ada instead of continuing your crimes. she wants to believe it; that you had changed. that your past didn't matter. after all, when you leaned on her arm after a night of drinking and told her you liked her company, that must have meant something, right? when you listened to her story and squeezed her hand, you felt for her, right? there was some humanity in you, and the little bit of it was enough for her—but only for her. she tells you that the others won't be welcoming if they knew who you are, hoping that, at the very least, you'd distance yourself from them if you believed that. she lies about their feelings towards ability users that abuse their power, claims that even if the special division begged the ada to help you, they'd toss you out at once. she lies and pretends she doesn't remind herself of someone she hates.

most ability users find dazai's ability annoying, but this blatant hatred you have for his is painful. you like figuring out how abilities work, how their users can use it to their advantage and how it shapes a person; but dazai's serves you no use (and you tell him all this to his face, not at all worried about how he may react), it only renders abilities useless, it only negates power. it doesn't contribute, doesn't leave a trace—it's not even permanent. and, when you think of the others in your collection, it's just boring.

"besides," you say, unbothered by dazai's obvious pain, "i have better things to do than entertain your stupid questions. the user of flawless (it rips him apart, how you can't even say oda's name) is dead, and nothing you do now will change that."

since you don't give him the answers he wants, he instead decides he can only find them out by following you. dazai thinks you'd be the kind of person everyone hates, the sort that harboured such hatred for the world that you'd turn to committing brutal crimes out of anger and jealousy. but it's far from the truth. what he sees of you is...an unbelievably normal person. you smile at the barista that makes your morning coffee, you stop to pet the stray cats that rub against your leg, you read books and listen to music and you're so ordinary like this that it makes his head spin. how were you the same ruthless murderer that he met before?

the salt in his wound is nikolai. seeing you talk to him, listen and entertain his questions, letting him walk you to the station after a murder like it was the end of a regular day fills him with an unfamiliar feeling. he watches nikolai ask when you'll go after him, sees you smile sharply and wink back, instead of your usual glowering silence. he realizes how you're warming up to the clown, becoming familiar with him. you even call him by his name—nikolai, you say, amused—and not by his ability. nobody else earned that honor from you. and it feels like you've stabbed him straight in the heart.

this all sets off his all consuming obsession with you. it's pathetic, how he searches desperately for something. it's not the answers he came looking for, but it's even more important. he looks for clues in your empty coffee cup and the cream you use on your hands. he searches for evidence in the books you read and your contacts list. he digs for the meaning behind why you keep the torn glove of nikolai gogol and why his name is on the list of abilities you plan to steal. by the end of it, dazai can't even recognize why he's doing this for.

he doesn't bother to hide his tracks, but it doesn't matter. as always, all you offer him is an uninterested, passive look, even when you find him in your room, looking at your papers.

"if you have to be a creep," you say, your apathetic tone twisting the knife in his heart, "at least have the courtesy to clean up after yourself." and that's all there is to it.

#the part about yosano not wanting to become like mori ahghbhgghg im sobbing #sk reader au 🐟#bsd 🐟#yosano 🐟#dazai 🐟#ia this my first yosano piece here woah #ask 🐟#anon 🐟#🦄 anon 🐟

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yakool-foolio · 3 months

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(Stranger Things season 4 and Rain Code spoilers ahead, if that matters to anyone)

Okay, this is a very 'me being me with my silly lil interests' moment, but I feel like Yakou and Eddie from Stranger Things and how their deaths affect the larger scale of their respective arcs are a prime example of how to and how not to do a 'heroic sacrifice.' The main comparison in these two characters' deaths is how their acts of defiance helped protect the city they love, despite the city directly opposing them.

Let's start off with the heroic sacrifice that truly means something by talking about Yakou! Long story short: Yakou loves Kanai Ward, living there for all his life, but once Amaterasu's peacekeepers rose to power, the city turned against him for his detective work. Everyone in the city, including his own former colleagues, deemed his job useless since the peacekeepers could simply handle everything instead of relying on detectives. Yakou even lost his wife because they were motivated to expose Amaterasu's cruelty and leaks, which would ultimately lead to her death. He spent years trying to bring her killer(s) to justice but never could because the peacekeepers did everything in their power to keep him out of it. He's misrepresented across the city as a pest that needs to be eliminated. But most importantly, in terms of how his character is written, he's never shunned by the narrative for his need to stay far away from Amaterasu in fear of what they'll do to him if he sticks his nose in their business as a detective. Him being cowardly was never something that was 'corrected' as a part of his arc.

Yakou continues to care for the city despite everything he's been through. And he shows how he cares by knocking out several birds with one stone by murdering the vile Huesca and dying to the gas in order to reach him. And his sacrifice doesn't go ignored by the public. With the death of Huesca and the reveal of Yomi leaking homunculus info to the outside, changes are made. Yomi is arrested and a new sense of order is brought to the peacekeepers, becoming a much safer place for the NDA detectives and any future detectives in Kanai Ward. Yakou's sacrifice made the city that hated him change all for the better. And with the prototype pill in his possession, he has the ability to make even more change and help save so many lives and not just his own! The characters and the story itself openly acknowledges his selfless deeds and repay him in kind.

Now let's talk about Eddie. He struggles similarly to Yakou in that the town he loves hates him due to something entirely out of his control. He's outcasted by society for leading a group of other outsiders or 'freaks,' and the citizens rally against him when he's believed to be the murderer of a girl he was friendly with. Eddie then goes into hiding to escape the police hunting for him, and teams up with the main group to bring an end to the real cause of the deaths around Hawkins. He clearly wants to prove the citizens wrong about himself and show that he cares about the town by working to help take down Vecna. And in order to do so, he makes himself a distraction and lures the hostile demobats to him, giving the group enough time to defeat Vecna and saving his friend Dustin from the swarm's attacks. In doing so, he's killed by the bats, sacrificing himself for the greater good of his friends and Hawkins as a whole.

But this is where Eddie's sacrifice really starts to fall apart. Only Dustin is there to see Eddie die and console Eddie's uncle about it. Besides Dustin, no one else seems to be impacted by it, not the other outcasts he took under his wing or the citizens who continue to demonize him. His death is an afterthought to everybody but two people, one friend and one family member. He took part in saving the town he loved in hopes it could redeem himself in their eyes to show he wasn't the horrible person everyone else thought he was. But nobody was there to see it, so his sacrifice ultimately meant nothing to the scope of his arc and the future of the town, as Vecna is still out there. The story tries to act like his sacrifice meant more than the characters act like it does. His sacrifice was far from pointless, but the ignorance of the other characters after it was all said and done sure did make it feel like it was. And once again, Stranger Things falls into their own trope of killing off their new fan-favorite character each season, but this time it feels like an even bigger stab in the gut. Eddie's heroism is but a footnote in the epilogue of the season that promised him greatness. I feel like Eddie's sacrifice could've meant a whole lot more if the other characters worked to disprove the citizens' perspective on Eddie, pushing toward giving him the respect he deserved and made his story be heard. It's unsure whether anything like that will happen in season 5, but with how season 4 decided to leave itself on, it's not looking promising. Eddie will continue to be not just be disrespected by the characters, but by the writers as well.

I highly suggest reading the article "This Stranger Things 4 Death Isn't Noble Nor Necessary" because it goes even deeper into why Eddie being viewed as cowardly by the writing is a huge disservice to what his character represents. It's a good read, and it made me think a lot about Yakou's own cowardice and how it's not treated as an inherently bad thing that needed to be 'fixed' by the writers.

#listen i know i said i would answer an ask tonight but #i was watchin the finale of st season 4 again while dealin' with The Aches so this just kinda happened #not much of an analysis. just more of a 'they did eddie so damn dirty' post and i dont have anywhere else to rant about it #so let's toss yakou in the mix cause that fixes all my problems #master detective archives: rain code #rain code #rain code spoilers #yakou furio #stranger things #eddie munson

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banished-to-ebott · 9 months

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Desperate Dad Asgore

Just some headcanons in an au of undertale

Desperate Dad Asgore... whose heart breaks when a small child finds their way into his throne room, so small and bruised and bloodied from a journey through the Underground.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who cannot raise his trident to the little human, instead finds himself retrieving a medical kit, setting the tiny child onto his throne with a cup of tea the size of their head so he can tend to their wounds.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who jokes with them, commenting on how lovely their ribbon looks, finds himself thankful to find no dust on them. But they're dirty. Clothes damp from the snow and water, pants singed, and sweat sticking to their body as they look so tired.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who could never get rid of Chara and Asriel's old clothes, so he offers the child a night so sleep and some clothes.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who struggles to compose himself when the child comes out from a bath adorned in the green and yellow striped sweater. He admits he teared up quite a lot, the child's short brown hair only kick starting his memory of Chara shyly exploring the kingdom home.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who cares for the child to the best of his ability, goes overboard with his worrying. He baby-proofs his house, is ever so careful of what he cooks, and especially never allows the child alone with his buttercup garden.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who keeps the child secret from his own people, assuring that their soul has been secured and the child killed.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who raises the child alone, until another falls only a few months later, a sibling to the original, adorning boxing gear, a slight dust coating their body. The older sibling only breaks down into tears when they see their little sibling, alive and okay. All the monsters had been talking about how they were 'another human! The second soul! We'll be free if I can just kill you!'

Desperate Dad Asgore... who doesn't know how to feel when the older child sobs out about how they killed an innocent monster who said they tried to kill the cyan soul. How they couldn't move after the situation, felt so horrible, and didn't mean to! They just got so, so angry and they punched and then the monster just... disintegrated.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who decides to talk the child down, assuring them that they're okay, they are just a scared child in an unfamiliar situation and they didn't know what else to do. He won't admit how apprehensive he was when he considered taking in the child.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who ultimately decides yes, he will take in this child. He won't let them separate from their sibling, nor kill another monster to leave the underground.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who slowly grows more content when more children fall, the sixth child falling by the time the first two humans are middle age, the castle remodeled for more housing as he took in the children.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who equally shared his attention with all of his children, until the orange-souled child passes from old age, and the whole family mourns horribly from the loss.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who gets found out after, and his people are furious, and he breaks down, struggling to choose between his people under the rule that had put their whole and unwavering trust in him or his family that he had built from shattered remains that he had spent decades protecting and nurturing.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who steels himself and calls his people to hear a public announcement. It develops into a slideshow as he shows the decades spent cooking, laughing, raising, and showing how amazing his kids and he was. He relents how wrong he was to declare a human hunt decree, how wrong he was to with death upon these wonderful, beautiful children when he knew they were innocent and that the humans who had murdered Asriel were long gone, and the humans that had sealed them underground were nothing but particles now, any and all memories of them forgotten entirely and the only way they survived was from the legend of the great war.

Desperate Dad Asgore... who pleads with his people to leave his children untouched, who even brings up the fact his oldest child' had passed and even promised their soul to free monster kind. He pleads to let time play out, no matter how morbid the idea is, no matter how horrible it will be to watch his children die in front of him, but letting them age out would be much easier than letting his children spill their own blood all in that day. His youngest was three for his own sake! Three years old!

#undertale #undertale au #ut au #undertale writing #asgore #asgore dreemurr #asgore undertale #asgore ut #undertale souls #idk #I got bored #have a bit of angst and fluff with dadgore

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bestworstcase · 1 year

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Seem's kind of a stretch to claim that Salem "values humanity" while she's canonically used her minions to slaughter silver-eyed warriors before using them as grotesque, inhumane grimm experiments like with the Hound?

by the same token, it seems like a stretch to claim that ozpin “values humanity” when he canonically coerces a seventeen-year-old girl into agreeing to let him and his colleagues murder a comatose young woman by ripping out her soul and shoving it into the girl; canonically believes that humanity does not intrinsically deserve to exist; and canonically used the pretense of defending people from monsters to set up a perpetual stream of teenagers to train as warriors to safeguard his relics after having magically nuked his own allies to win a war.

it’s a stretch to take salem at her word? “mankind was strong, brave, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world […] even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man’s passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds […] man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow’s absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life.” “the ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute […] your faith in mankind was not misplaced [etc]” the general thrust of both her songs is raging at ozma specifically for deceiving, manipulating, and sacrificing people for his own ends.

people contain multitudes

loving humanity in the abstract while being abysmally cruel to individual humans is not even the deepest level of hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance exhibited by the two immortal characters

i would stand by this even if salem really HAD made a regular habit of grimmifying silver eyed people

but, uh, she hasn’t

like she explicitly has not done that, the hound was an experiment she tested for the first time in atlas.

what salem has actually spent thousands of years doing is hunting down and murdering people with silver eyes. is this not reprehensible enough for you. is it insufficiently evil

it’s also worth noting that salem does not think of the grimm as grotesque or horrifying. she herself is a grimm, and she’s shown to be fairly affectionate toward them. if she did make the hound by grimmifying a person with silver eyes (and it bears repeating that we don’t know that for sure) it wouldn’t have been something she thought of as torturing someone by warping him into a horrible monster—which matters not at all for the ethics of doing so but does matter a great deal as far as the compatibility of the hound experiment with salem’s ideological admiration of human nature.

#we do not do the ‘the laundry list of atrocities means this character cannot have complex interiority’ thing in this household

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spaceless-vacuum · 2 years

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Fandom‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Legend of Zelda

Pairing‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Yandere!Link x reader

Word count‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ 725

Summery‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ The idea was you’re just someone from some village he falls in love with. I couldn’t get the idea of how he’d ratioanlize and explain his own behavior to himself so I wrote this.

Misc‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ third pov, kidnapping, mentions of violence, murder, emotional manipulation, kidnapping

Link is unable to understand that you don’t want him. His worst tendency is the fact that in his mind you either do love him or will fall in love with him. There is no if or maybe. He has deluded himself into thinking that if he just tries one more time he can't fail. Seventeen tries later and he still isn't about to give up.

In his mind he has everything he needs to succeed; and anything he doesn't have he can go get. He faced hordes of monsters, killed ganon, and saved Zelda so many times it made him a bit too confident in his abilities. A warrior is never without a weapon if they train their mind and body after all. If you don't like what he has he just needs to try another way through.

That’s what being the hero of courage is. Perseverance.

The idea that no matter what he does you wont like he never crosses this man's mind. It can come off as childish and cruel. To him it doesn't matter what the issue is, he just needs to find a new way to approach the issue. You refuse to eat the food he cooks for you? That's ok! Hell just buy you food, or buy the ingredients so you can cook instead. The entire time he’s so proud of himself. He filled your kitchen with so much food you won't have to shop for the next month. To Link it isn't a big deal. Why are you even complaining?

God forbid you show interest in any of his advances either (unless you want to feed these tendencies?). Once interest is shown in one tactic he'll lean hard into it. You said thank you to him for giving you a gemstone one time? Now you have ten sitting on your table. The next day he brings you even more. Apparently he hunted down a magma Talos just for you. No need to thank him, except you have to. Seriously, don't be ungrateful, it will only make things worse.

This goes for anything you ask of well. Need some ingredients for a stew? You have enough stock to last for three months worth of ingredients. If you don't tell him to stop bringing you ingredients he'll never stop. It’ll just start to pile up in the pantry. The whole time he never stops to think it’s an inappropriate reaction. He's just doing his best!

Just don't treat him or any of his gifts with malice or disinterest. If you start to act cruel (ie: selling the gifts he gives you or by lying to him) he will take to more extreme measures. Rumors will spread about you. Starting with your hometown and then leading to cities and other kingdoms if your actions were that horrible. None of what is said is actually true, but sometimes the truth needs to be stretched to make a point.

Items in your home will go missing. The only way to get them back is to act nicely. To go along with the game in his head. Pretend you love him and give him his wholesome moments or he will start to take everything from you. There's where to run, no one to turn to, and no escape. Just accept Link and he will make you happy.

If you continue to push back he’ll grow harsh. Don't get him wrong he hates to enact violence against you, his love, but sometimes it must be done. Being a hero isn't all sunshine and rainbows. tough choices are made every day by people in power. If someone gets in the way there's not much that can be done. They will disappear and you will live by his side.

When push comes to shove he’ll do it. First he'll start with his usual methods. Just talk them away from you, threaten them a little, but if all else fails actions speak louder than words. A moment of rage and passion later the evidence must be destroyed. Monster attacks happen so often in this world. It’s a shame they got caught by one.

The remorse from having to take such an action hangs with him for a few days. However, getting to see you again makes it all worth it. For you, for Hyrule, no price is too high.

#eye write #yandere x reader #link x reader #legend of zelda #loz #headcanons

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lycanlovingvampyre · 1 year

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MAG 153 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: apple cutting.

"Intelligence doesn’t make you less prone to taking on bad ideas, it just makes you better at defending them to other people and to yourself. Smart people can believe some truly ridiculous things, and then deploy all the reason and logic at their disposal to justify them, because a belief doesn’t begin in your mind. It begins in your feelings. Cults are very good at finding you when you’re at your lowest point, when you’re your most emotionally vulnerable. And when you’re at that point it’s astounding what can crawl into your heart and start to fester there." Generally I'd say "intelligent people" are a lot less prone to joining stupid ideas. Especially since we now had a global event, that put this to the test. The Covid pandemic. All those people, of whom I'd have expected to believe stupid shit, did. I personally know no one, who surprised me to suddenly chime in to a conspiracy theory. But a few friends told me they had someone like this in their circle of friends and acquaintances - someone they always deemed smart and stable and suddenly they fell down this hole because they lost something important to them that put them at an emotional low. And then they’ll want to believe that shit that would them get their thing back.

"But that was when I started to properly look at my life, and I really didn’t like what was looking back." Ah yes, getting back to that DMN talk from yesterday's episode. The ability of self-awareness buys us the ticket to depression.

"And I’d always assumed that that was enough to eventually have real success, and for the first 10 years it seemed like I was right. I worked my way up, performed for basically nothing basically every night and got to be pretty successful." Yeah, I know that feeling... I get pretty decent fairly quickly when I latch onto a new interest. Problem is, I stay there. After my initial climb to "better than average" I stagnate and no matter what I do I just won't climb any higher. But I’m surrounded by people who do get farther and I stay just behind. It's frustrating. Doomed to be mediocre forever.

"do you know how much a “pretty successful” comedian makes?" Another line that's featured in the "Jonathan asks you things" video!^^

"Let’s just say I had a full-time office job and was still barely making rent. But between working full-time and gigging full-time I just kept putting off everything else in my life, always so sure the big time was just around the corner. This is the TV spot that gets me noticed, this is the sell-out fringe show that makes me mainstream, this is the deal that actually goes somewhere." Is that still part of the statement or is this just Jonny venting? xD

So Agape apparently means "love", and in Christianity it's meant as the love for god or god's love for humankind. Fits the toxic love theme.

“We formed into a long line, a chain holding hands with Joyce at the very end of it. It stretched from one end of the building to the other. “ When I hear about cult settlements, my mind wanders pretty quickly to Jonestown. And while there's nothing even remotely in common aside from just being a cult, there is one thing, that actually did remind me a bit of Jonestown. The thing about the cult members having to line up for the horrible thing. (If you're not familiar with Jonestown and are planning to look it up, be warned for suicide. Mass murder-suicide. It’s extremely gruesome...)

"Did you ever do that experiment in science class, where you held hands in a line and the teacher passed a very gentle electric shock down through the students" Okay first, what the fuck, no? Second, this is also in the "Jonathan asks you things" video!

JON: "He asked me to." JULIA: "Oh really? You always do what evil books tell you to, do you?" Oh wow... That was a low blow...

JON: "Christ, he was right, I didn’t – didn’t – when did you get so thin?" DAISY: "I’m not, it’s fine." JON: "It’s the Hunt, isn’t it? Without it –" Not submitting to their purpose does eat away at them. And to think that Jon never really as one of the physically fittest people out there..

JON: "Don’t listen to the blood." DAISY: "Listen to the quiet." One of my favorite quotes of TMA <3

@a-mag-a-day

#a-mag-a-day #mag 153 #tma #tma spoilers

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ofpineapplesanddawns · 1 year

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A while back I listened to the Tenth Doctor audio adventures where he was involved in three stories with three past companions from the Classic Era (Leela, Nyssa, and Ace, with K-9 tagging along in all three), and in the Leela story, Splinters, we’re introduced to the villain pretty quickly.

And after just hearing him speak a few lines, I instantly knew he was played by David. Took a bit of listening to the adventure before I figured out why he was played by David specifically, so... spoilers!

He’s an alternate reality version of the Doctor who, through Time War nonsense, ended up in Cornwall in what I think is the medieval ages (they never specify), and started up the legend of the Spriggan, a plant creature that steals children. He’s a horrible bastard who sounds like a gremlin and I love him.

And I said I’m gonna write something with him and Lucian, so here it is, for personal enjoyment reasons and I think some of you guys might enjoy it.

Remember forever ago the small series of one-shots I wrote with Ten and Lucian? Let’s... say that this au exists in that universe, yes? :3c

Warning: mentioned kidnappings, mentioned murders (both human and vampire)

On with the fic!

Winters here in England seemed much wetter and bitter than what Lucian was used to, and he had lived in the mountains for over two hundred years.

He shouldn’t be here, but he had been hunting a few vampires down who had caused trouble for his people, attempting to take down their society in Viktor’s old castle. Lucian had just one left to destroy, taking on the mission himself as he had known this one during his slave days and held a grudge for how disgusting the man was towards Sonja.

His heart ached as he thought of her, but he pushed it down, he was on a mission. He couldn’t afford anymore distractions. Lucian had already been nearly killed earlier in the day by a group of frightened humans.

They had explained to him that they mistook him for a terrifying creature that haunted these woods. The group had been frightened that he was the creature, coming earlier than expected to take what was, as they put it, his property.

When Lucian asked what the creature was and what he was after, they informed him that it was something called a Spriggan. A creature of the woods, related to giants, apparently, who caused trouble and were known to steal children and replaced them with a changling. Sounded like one of the fae folk, from what Lucian could tell.

Seemed that a child was nearly the age of eighteen, but still had weeks to go before then. However, the arrival of a stranger scared the village into believing that the Spriggan was not up for waiting for the exact day anymore, and thus they tried to stop him.

Lucian told them that he’d be out of their hair, he was just passing through, and some of them begged him to avoid the woods, find the right paths to escape. He was an outsider, he had that ability. A strong welled woman, who Lucian could instantly sense was not of this land, maybe... not even human? told him where to go, where to avoid.

Then she quietly asked him if he was a warrior. He had told her that he was, in his own right. She told him she knew he was not human, and when he went to deny this, she smiled, a lost look in her eyes.

“My dearest friend is not human either, your secret is safe with me.” She had said, before asking him if, and only if, he dared to venture too far... if he were to see the shadow that haunted them, would he kill the Spriggan for them?

Lucian wanted to say no, but in the end, he decided that he would, but only if their paths crossed. He was on a mission to hunt someone down already, he didn’t want to fight a fae unless if it was necessary.

Now Lucian found himself in the dark, in a forest that seemed thicker, more dangerous, than any he had seen before. But the scent of vampire was in the air, a trail he continued to follow, even as he felt like he was being watched by the trees themselves.

The falling snow covered much of the tracks, but Lucian could still follow them well enough, until he found them entering a cavern, though it strangely reminded him of a burrow. He felt eyes on him still, and he looked at the trees, were they alive in the sense of humans and himself were? He felt himself tense up, as if in warning, but nothing happened.

He entered.

The scent of vampire was stronger in here, along with a mix of human. And... something a bit like the dead.

There was also a strange, earthy scent that didn’t seem quite right, like there was more to it. Mixed with metal and wood, gunpowder and something sweet, along with strange scents he couldn’t recognized, at least not until centuries later, the scent of computers.

The floor under him went from ground, to rocks, to a flat, even surface as the cavern became smooth walls of metal and wood, mechanical and organic all at once.

And he found himself in a large, open room, where humans were entrapped in casings of roots and branches, and two figures stood near something that sort of reminded Lucian of a toadstool.

One was the vampire, entrapped in a tangle of plant matter that kept his limbs from thrashing about. However, it was very clear that the vampire was dead, there was no sign of life in those pale blue eyes, the skin too pale, and the scent of blood was strong in the air.

The figure before him was tall, gangly, covered in bark and plants, shaped like a man. Articles of clothing were barely clinging to the growth that encapsulated the other one, their face turned from Lucian, hands behind their back.

“I do so hate unwanted guests.” The plant figure sighed, though clearly not that bothered, there was a dark amusement in their voice. “Two in one day, my, my, I must be popular, yes?”

Lucian felt something grab his legs tightly, and then his wrists, keeping him in place. He snarled, looking down at the roots that had shot up from out of the ground, their holds tight and strong. Not even Lucian’s unnatural strength seemed to work against them.

There was a tisking sound as the figure waved a hand, the vampire was released and collapsed in a heap on the ground. The creature, the Spriggan, as there was no other thing it could be, turned and Lucian felt his heart jump at the familiar face before him.

Even covered in plant matter, with the eyes a bit darker, almost like wet soil, it was the Doctor. Lucian knew that face anywhere! But... but what was he doing here? Why was he..? What happened to him?

“And who do we have here?” The Do- the Spriggan said, smiling, showing too much teeth as he approached. He stood before Lucian, tilting the lycan’s face up just a tiny bit to look directly into his eyes. “Such a handsome thing, someone... not human. How curious...”

“Doctor...” Lucian said, shivering at the touch.

This seemed to give the other pause. “Doctor? Oh, that’s a name I have not heard it... nearly a decade now, yes.” He smiled, and it was both delightful and cold. “How do you know my old name, little man?”

“I know the Doctor, he is a... he is a dear friend of mine. But you are him, what happened to you?”

“A friend.” The Spriggan smirked, as if he knew there was more to it than just that. “Right. Well, I am... the Doctor, yes, though not of this time, this... reality. I am trapped here, until my dear TARDIS can be revived completely, then I shall be on my way. Probably. We’ll see how I’m feeling. Though that is quite fascinating! So this reality has its own Doctor! Tell me, what are they like? You seemed to recognize them in me, so I suppose that they are quite handsome, yes?”

“You are both vain beings who speak a lot, so there is at least that.” Lucian frowned.

The Spriggan laughed at this. “Ah, some things never change between realities, it seems. I cannot deny that I have my quirks. Now, what brings you here to my domain, little man? Not many can just enter and live, as you can tell.” He gestured towards the corpse on the floor.

“I came to kill the vampire, but you seemed to have done the job for me.” He sniffed, and the creature smiled even more.

“Then your deed is done!”

“And I was asked, if we were to cross paths, to kill you.”

This seemed to make the smile falter, but then it turned wicked. “Really? I suppose you have met the village then. It would be wise of them to just stick to the rules I have set, then no one needs to be harmed. Ah. Aside from those here, but it is necessary in order for me to leave. I’ll spare you the details.”

Lucian frowned and shifted, trying to break free. “Will you let me go if I spare you?”

“As if you had much of a chance of fighting me, especially on my domain.” The Spriggan said before leaning in close. “Hmm... I could let you go, but I am rather curious of you. You say know me of this universe, I’d love to hear more about my counterpart.”

He was closer now, Lucian could smell that odd, earthy scent coming right from him. He looked into dark, brown eyes, seeing that the freckles were tinted green, it was terrifying that he looked exactly like the Doctor, and yet so vastly different.

“And I’d love to hear about you, my familiar stranger.” He practically purred and Lucian found himself being kissed.

At this point, any new ship thing I make is basically self-indulgent.

This should not surprise any of you guys if you’ve been here since the beginning.

#lucian x tenth doctor #john's drabbles #good omens extended universe

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my-toh-theories-2 · 2 years

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So, so, so sorry in advance but this is gonna be a DUMB long post as I have So Many Thoughts that led into So Many Different Tangents but, some Belos, Caleb and his partner thoughts!!! Just the past for right now. This post was originally going to be about both the past and where I think TOH will go from there but honestly, I've been working on this stupid fucking post since early June. Idk why but I just keep hitting writing blocks writing about the future. I think it'd just be best to crank this one out now and hopefully some feedback will help me write about the future. Also I REALLY wanna get this out before S3 comes out djsjsk

Oh, and disclaimer. When talking about past Philip am I in no way trying to excuse any of the shit he pulled as Belos. Lmao no. Fuck him. This man lived for 300+ years and still didn't learn that genocide, colonization, bigotry, abuse, murder, etc. is bad, actually. He is a grown ass man capable of making his own choices and he chose to do this. To be like this. Only he and he alone is complicit in his own damnation and I hope he gets hit by a fucking truck lmao

Anyways, onto the post!!

Ok firstly just getting this out of the way, no, I don't think Caleb is inherently good and that Belos was just born evil (like look at child him in Hollow Mind his aura was purple before it became red). I think they're both just: people, who did both good and bad things. Just, were, y'know? What separates them I think is choice and the ability to change. When Caleb learned that witch hunting was actually wrong he chose to not want to become a witch hunter and changed for the better. When Philip learned it was wrong he chose to double down on his bigoted beliefs (well I think it's a bit more complex than that but I'll talk about it later lmao). They were just, both people, both kids, that came from the same fucked up environment. It's what they chose to do after they learned the truth and left that environment that differentiates them.

Ok so, onto their childhood in the Human Realm. Something right off the bat that strikes me is how just, alone the two are.

Sure they're having fun but it's just them. The only other people we see are just silhouettes in the background. We don't even see their parents!! Where are they? Hello??? I do think like Eda and Lilith they were each other's only friends. Also personal lil’ head cannon but I do think some parentification happened on Caleb's part and he was forced to act as a parental figure to Philip due to their parent's absence/neglect. Like, they're both figuratively and literally out of these pictures!!! This isn't even touching on the religious trauma these two most definitely have (lmaoo like look at Belos). God these kids came from such a fucked up home.

Also I think how the Emperor's Coven operates gives us a good picture on what their home life was like. Like look at this man that religious trauma had to have come from somewhere lol. In all seriousness tho Belos does have a major theme of the cycle of abuse (esp with the grimwalkers). Sometimes, when the cycle continues the abused turned abuser does so as a way to reclaim power. I feel small so I'm going to make you feel even smaller. Remember how he used his curse goo to make himself MASSIVE in Young Blood Old Souls? He is both figuratively and literally making himself bigger. To reclaim that power. He made Luz KNEEL before him. Made everyone else smaller.

I also noticed that sometimes when he does something horrible it looks just so goddamn cathartic to him. Like he's scratching some very deep wounds.

Ok back to their childhood djsjsks (I told you there were gonna be So Many Tangents fjskssk). But, now looking at the Gravesfeild crest: I think it gives us a pretty good look at how they felt about Gravesfeild/how they were perceived by their town. There are 3 variations in show. The golden guard crest which is just a bird in an outline that looks like a bird cage (like all it's missing is bars and the loop at top to hang it), Philip’s version that just has the wings under it no bird up top on his explorer jacket and the one in Gravesfeild that has both.

Considering that the version without wings is worn by Hunter and was the old Golden Guard sigil I think it's safe to say that Caleb is the bird in the bird cage. Philip also has a wing motif as Belos seen with his staff, coven sigil and rebuilt portal so yeah he's the wings. I do think the both of them didn't fit in in Gravesfeild but Caleb in particular really felt like he didn't fit in/belong there. Which, now that I think about it, yeah, makes sense. This kid is so happy go lucky and looks like he'd sob if he accidentally stepped on a bird lol. His name, Caleb, means wholehearted too. (It could also mean dog idk every website I looked at kept contradicting each other saying “oh it’s wholehearted,” “NO it actually means DOG the other website was wrong,” “ACTUALLY-” DJFJFJ. I digress lol. I’m just gonna view it as both sdkfsj.) Anyways, he really just doesn't look like witch hunting material. On the other hand I don't think Philip (and Belos now) feels the same way as his adventuring outfit does have a simplified logo of the crest on his jacket only without the bird (Caleb) in the bird cage. But that doesn't change the fact that the pair of wings are still under the birdcage... he was just as trapped as Caleb. Imo Philip gives me the vibes of someone who doesn’t fit into society in one way or another yet desperately wants to.

Now one last tidbit about their childhood before I move on to them entering the demon realm. Philip and Belos are shown in show to be ambidextrous but left-hand dominant. And, in childhood is shown only using his right hand. Considering his time period... yeah they forced this kid to be right-handed didn’t they? And considering how the left hand was believed to be the “devil’s hand” or smthing I wouldn’t be surprised if he developed a lot of self loathing and self hatred from that that would then, to him, be later used to justify his horrible actions. “I’m already an evil sinner for being left handed so why even try be good? There’s no point.” A very nasty self fulfilling prophecy. Idk Just a thought.

Also I think it's super interesting how Belos has a bird motif but only as wings. Never an actual bird of his own. Nor does he fully become left-handed. He never really fully self actualized nor healed huh. Which, yeah Hollow Mind basically confirmed that with inner kid Belos. The guy was crying alone when we first met him. Plus that painting of adult him post fratricide wearing his childhood mask Caleb made of him. He really is just a giant man child huh?

Ok now onto them entering the demon realm. Firstly, I do think they were "lured in by a real witch." It's both what the historical account says and what Philip's own memories show. Only Philip's journal says otherwise and well, we know he lied a FUCK TON in that journal I wouldn't really trust anything he says in that unless shown otherwise (and I'm not really gonna rely on that for this post). Also Philip’s journal explanation of how he got there reeks of bullshit.

“After 5 years I have finally found it. A power source so potent it can pierce through realms: Titan’s blood. There are old tales of lakes reflecting green trees and blue skies. The Titan’s veins run through the land and many believe these wild portals are made when a little of it’s blood leaks into the water. That is how I came here, so that is the first place I shall look. I will journey back to Eclipse Lake.” Belos, Eclipse Lake

So you’re telling me that you came through a wild portal and only NOW after trying to make a portal door for 5 YEARS you just thought to look into wild portals???? Only NOW?????? Dude if someone got isekai-ed to the demon realm through a wild portal and wanted to get back home they would IMEDITALLY look into wild portals to figure out how they worked to get back home. You’re telling me you only thought to look into these wild portals NOW?????? AFTER 5 YEARS????? Yeah no I’m calling bullshit.

Ok, lil’ side rant tangent done. But, I do think the memories are biased from Philip's perspective and I don't think that's quite how it went down. Mindscapes do reflect the individual after all. Anyways, there looks to be 2 paintings of the event and the historical depictions in Yesterday’s Lie.

This, what I think is most likely right before them entering the demon realm, and them being “lured in by a witch.” It’s honestly interesting how Caleb is framed from Philip’s perspective; it's like he’s on “his side” one minute then “on the side of the witches,” the next. Choosing them over him. This encounter in both the historical account and in Philip’s memories is framed as a deal with the devil of sorts. A temptation of sin. A corruption of Caleb.

But, I don’t think that fast “switch” is what happened for Caleb. That’s not how it happens for ex-cult members/deradicalization. It’s a very long process. And within the historical account he’s pretty friendly with the witch, shaking their hand and he already has Flapjack on his shoulder. Going off of this he could’ve already been “on their side” for years at this point. This day is just the first time Philip found out about it. Which is why he’s on “his side” one minute and then “the witches side” the next.

When Luz first enters the Demon Realm not really of her own choice, her Azura book is almost burned by Eda. Mirroring Philip's journal almost being burned in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. However, when Luz chooses to stay at the end of the episode, the eye from “Del's tower” blinks. The first and only time it's done that.

Anyways, when they enter the demon realm Caleb looks 18/19 and Philip looks mid-teens. And then there's just a huge time skip to young adult Philip traveling the Boiling Isles?? Girl what happened during that time period??? Well, I'd like to propose an idea.

A while back I made a speculative post wondering that, hey, considering that this show loves to do parallels what if the Wittebane brothers were once in a trio similar to our modern day trio of Eda, King and Luz? Caleb is Luz, Philip is King and that "witch that lured them in" is Eda. Belos already feels like a worse case scenario of King. And well, since then we learned more (like Luz really parallels Caleb now) + we know this hole in time exists, yeah l really think this is what happened lol.

Starting off with Philip again he does feel like he’s a worst case senario of King. Mainly season 1 King. Like this man became an actual tyrant. It’s like he never got his own Echoes of The Past moment (or he could’ve and it just never stuck).

They’re both little guys with big Napoleon complexes that want to be taken seriously. They crave power, have main character syndrome and treat people like minions (with Philip specifically treating others like NPCs). Season 1 King had this King of Demons fantasy and a lot of his own self worth was tied up into this story. Which hey, sounds a lot like a certain someone’s journal.

Imo I think his own fantasy was a “chosen one” fantasy. There’s a lot of little references to him in Witches Before Wizards. Luz’s toy sword’s hilt has a crown on top like the Emperor’s sigil, the chosen one map has a bunch of lil’ suns on it (as Belos he has a sun motif seen in propaganda paintings I’d show them but posts have a 30 pic post limit sflakjzjk), and Azura shares a lot of design similarities with Belos.

They also share possessiveness and a fear of being abandoned. Remember when King shrunk down Willow and Gus due to his jealousy and possessiveness of Luz in Really Small Problems? When they all get shrunk down and Tibbles throw them into the tent of tiny terrors they (and by they I mean more specifically King) have to fight against horses with blue eyes. (If you didn't know the name Philip means friend of horses which yeah, that's pretty self explanatory).

As much as I just harped on him (I mean it's very easy and fun to bully this senior citizen) I do actually think this lil trio did him some good. Remember my whole spiel about the wings? I personally think it came from here. Whether he was actually putting in the effort or it was better, not abusive, environment + Caleb, like Luz, bringing the best out of everyone I'm unsure. Could be both. I do 100% think Caleb brought out the best in Philip and that's why he went downhill fast without him.

With Caleb while yeah he def parallels Luz by falling in love with a witch but I also think they parallel in spirit, falling in love with the demon realm + wanting to stay and in their affinity for magic. Like, Belos straight up tells Luz, "I like your spirit," in Young Blood Old Souls dhsnsj yeah.

In terms of magic remember this man made Flapjack. Which is, y’know, a right of passage for a witch. Also this is a show about witches, demons and magic with the main villain being a puritanical 1600s witch hunter. So his brother both falling in love with a witch and becoming one is very fitting lol.

Bit of a tangent but I wanna talk about what kind of magic he practiced cuz I think I cracked it lol. It definitely wasn't glyphs cuz Belos had to learn that on his own (and remember had a very difficult time with it it took him years to find those glyphs). Knowing Caleb he probably would've just, shared that knowledge with his brother. I think he practiced elemental magic instead. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first time we heard of it being a thing is when Hunter mentioned it in Hunting Palismen.

When Hunter fights with Flapjack in Eclipse Lake the attacks he used is elemental in nature. Lighting bolt shower (fire), a stone fist (earth) and his teleportation which feels very electric. Tying it back to that lighting bolt shower. But Belos never really uses any spells like that just sticking to glyphs (except that one time he moved rock in Young Blood; Old Souls but remember with the right combination you can cast anything). This... has some interesting implications. Firstly, we know magic is a gift from the isles. The Titan will tell it to you, you just gotta listen. So, if I'm right about Caleb practicing elemental magic, why show that to Caleb and not to either Philip or Luz? And why doesn't Belos use it? He does want to definitely wants to look at these unfinished glyph combos in Them’s The Breaks, Kid. They’re all elemental in nature...

Windy is air, the water fountain is water, petrification is stone. There isn't a fire one cuz it already exists in glyph form. The envy here is pulpable lol

Also remember how Philip called glyphs picto-glyphs in Elsewhere and Elsewhen? If you look into the etymology of the word picto it derives from Latin, meaning panting/to paint. On the contrary we know spoken spells are a thing and thanks to Hooty's Moving Castle we know a human too can cast a spoken spell. Mabye it's a language barrier? That's why the Titan only showed Caleb elemental magic to stop Philip and showed Luz glyph magic cuz it's much eaiser to learn for a beginner compared to elemental magic? Just an idea but yeah. But I do think he practiced elemental magic tho. Elemental magic user Caleb truther.

Oh and one more Luz and Caleb parallel I wanna talk about. "You witches come up with the worst lies." Belos, Elsewhere and Elsewhen. Considering that he parallels both Luz and Eda (I will talk about the latter’s parallels soon) and that both have lied/withheld the truth in the past.... That line was also about Caleb wasn't it Philip? I mean the episode where we learned that Caleb existed was the same one where Luz told her mom the truth about where she’s actually been (Yesterday’s Lie) … Idk just wanted to put this here cuz this line has always stuck out to me as having a double meaning.

Again, hard to really write anything for their Eda but considering how she had that portal door for years and freely traveled back and forth for decades; I'd assume their version of Eda had their own door that later got destroyed (like how Eda's door got destroyed) trapping the Wittebane brothers in the demon realm.

Before we go back into the timeline I wanna go over their Clawthorne sisters parallels. Cuz yeah, it's pretty obvi they parallel them too (GOD this show loves doing parallels fjsksk). In Them’s The Breaks, Kid we actually learn that joining the Emperor’s Coven was more Lilith’s dream and Eda only tagged along because she didn’t want to be separated from Lilith. But, when she met Raine and learned how fucked up covens actually were thanks to Terra she realized that she that she could actually decide for herself. That joining the Emperor’s Coven wasn’t her only path in life she had options. And months later she made that choice. I think Caleb was the same way.

Like yeah he’s having fun but he’s not looking up at the witch hunters in the same aspirational awe like Philip is. Again, I think Caleb was “on the witches’ side” before entering the demon realm. Unsure when this change began to happen for Caleb but I do think it was a process (I mean this kind of deradicalization is always a progress but I digress.)

After Eda made her choice the sisters then stopped talking: becoming foils to one another as well as ideologically opposing each other. Eda the free wild witch who refuses to join a coven vs Lilith the tamed and subdued Coven witch. A big S1 main plot point was Lilith trying to tame Eda and force her to join the Emperor’s Coven thinking that it’d be both for her good and that Belos would heal her.

Ngl I think this happened to the Wittebane brothers when they first entered the demon realm. Becoming foils and ideologically opposing each other. Specifically about their thoughts about the demon realm, magic and witches. Philip saw the demon realm as his fantasy world to conquer and colonize. Magic as dangerous (a LOT of his propaganda is about how magic/wild magic is dangerous. As bullshit as his propaganda is I do think there’s little nuggets of truths in said propaganda.) And witches as subhuman. Caleb however saw the demon realm as just another place that he eventually wanted to live in, magic as beautiful and witches as equals.

Now, back to the timeline and to when Philip's traveling the Demon Realm. Again, I'm taking the journal with a HUGE grain of salt and I'll mostly be focusing on the paintings but, looking at them I get the vibe that Philip traveled alone?

I wouldn’t put it past him to want to do his “hero’s journey” alone. But it could also just be him being egotistical again and making the story in his journal all about him. He also could’ve split from everyone else at some point before the fratricide. Eclipse Lake seems like a good point for him to do that. That is when he started growing a beard which symbolizes that a character isn’t doing too hot. Also during these travels is when he carved those glyphs into his skin and cursed himself… god he was Going Through It. I wouldn’t be surprised if this curse made him return back to and/or even doubled down on his childhood, witch hunting bigoted beleifs.

I also think Philip bottled up all of these negative feelings during this time too. Like, look at his expression when Caleb’s hugging/supporting Philip. He’s just, standing there; not allowing himself to accept this love and support with his curse. Not accepting help. And when you bottle up all of your emotions like that well... (heheh post foreshadowing).

Ok now onto Caleb cuz while his brother is off loosing his fucking mind he's off GETTING IT LMAOO. Anyways, these two. There's not much to go on cuz we don't know that much but I think that owl crest and Caleb's Alador connections can tell us some things.

Oh also I do think they're Clawthorne ancestors. There's just so, so many little things tying the Wittebane brothers to the Clawthornes. How Eda and Hunter both say bye the same way (they also snort when they laugh), Eda's cloak has a little owl clasp that looks like Hunter's GG mask, Dell. Just, Dell fjsks. When Belos tries to flee back to the human realm after the Day of Unity his hair looks a bit like Eda's and Dell's. That reddit QNA where Dana said "bird themed houses are a Clawthorne thing." Fisksok there's more but I can't remember them all. But, you get my jist.

So something I’d like to start off with is all of Caleb’s Alador connections?? Same nose shape, same widows peak, they both had long hair in low ponytails before chopping it off. Also Alador’s Bonesborough brawl outfit had a lot of similarities to Caleb’s outfit. Why these connections? What do they mean? Off the bat I wondered if he and Wittewife were either parallels or foils to Alador and Odalia? I particularly lean more towards them being foils. Girlboss x malewife: healthy edition I guess? Also a while back round the end of S2 I speculated if Caleb made the Jean-Lucs and that “King’s castle” was just a Titan hatchery/daycare because of this connection (I mean it is something he could make without a bile sack lol. Stone + glyph abomination). Another potential foil.

But I think this connection could also mean something else. It could show us what it’d look like if Philip got his way. That Caleb instead just became Philip’s right hand man/side kick instead of wanting to choose his own life for himself and settling down with Wittewife. And what that’d specifically look like for Caleb too. Which is fucking miserable to say the least lol

Not much else to go off here cuz there’s so little to work with yeah. Also what this means for Wittewife and Odalia??? Too early to say lol. I’m gonna talk more about this in a bit but if they are foils then maybe a reverse Odalia? Instead of someone who claws her way to the top she was already on the top who then relinquished that privilege to live a more simple life? (I promise I am not pulling this out of my ass here there is some precedent here dsjsdkj).

Also I’d like to talk about Caleb’s Titan connections cuz there wow he Has Them? The first obvious one is the Titan death pose but they’re also both fathers and like the Titans, life too sprung from Caleb’s corpse (grimwalkers).

Also the yellow sclarea and black pupil slit found on the portal door shows up fucking everywhere and is connected to the Titan’s via Eda’s wanted poster??? Like c’mon it’s most likely at this point that Caleb made this stupid fucking door (imo with Wittewife too cuz remember 2 people made the door) so that’s another connection??? Idk what any of this means just putting these observations on the table.

Almost forgot but when King was having his identity crisis in Knock Knock Knockin on Hooty's Door it happened in "Del's old tower." Which I'm pretty damn sure is the first and only time we're actually in that stupid tower.

Ok now, this thing. This thing shows up ALL the god damn time throughout the show. Only in Eda's home on her living room ceiling. But like seriously in rewatching episodes to write this stupid fucking post I realized how often this guy shows up. He also sometimes glows gold. This and all the little connections tieing the Wittebane brothers with the Clawthornes I think this guy was Caleb's and his partner's family crest that then became the Clawthorne family crest. Also, I have no basis for this, this is just my own dumb lil’ headcannon but I’d like to think they made the last name Clawthorne together. She’s the claw and he’s the thorne. They’re the start of the Clawthornes. Idk I just think it’s cute :3. Plus that’s how Belos would know that Eda and Lilith are descendants cuz it’s a name they made up so if someone has that last name, yeah, they’re most likely related. Remember he doesn’t eat both of their palismen and he’s pretty lenient with them whereas he’s much more cut throat with everyone else. So…

Ok back on track with this stupid fucking crest but something really interesting about it is it has a crown… why?? What??? This, led me down a fucking rabbit hole and I have SO many thoughts. Mayhaps a queen or something who then gave up her crown to live her life how she saw fit???? A reverse Odalia? (Also Odalia thought the day of unity would’ve made her family royalty and her a queen). I know that's a huge claim to make but hear me out.

Firstly there’s ruins on the knee that imply some grand/big structures and we see in Hollow Mind Belos destroying these now ruins. He is known to rewrite history and is the kind of petty bitch to completely erase her specifically from the history books. LMAO cope n sethe harder Bitchlos. However, let's look more closely at the ruins from Hollow Mind to Adventures In The Elements, from past to present.

That same archway with that dangling chain is in both past and present but if you look closely there is a big structure behind that archway in Hollow Mind that is now completely gone today… and Bill in Edge of The World called the Boiling Isles the “Carcass Kingdom '' instead of an Empire which is what it is now.

Also this. It's from the Owl pellets shorts from S1. It's a soap opera parody of a young, high class woman having to choose between a vain man who only wants her for the power she'd give him and a down to earth farm boy who actually loves her. That, Fucking Egg is wearing Caleb's outfit minus the shirt being white fjsjsk. Also those stupid fucking eyes are back GOD I think this is the smoking gun that show that yeah these eyes and Caleb are in some way connected fjsjsk.

Also this lol. “Little Prince...”

If I'm right and Wittewife was the queen who gave up her throne in some way I'm then in turn not insinuating that Caleb is now The True Good King or smthing. I really don't think TOH would go there. This is a fantasy show that breaks the fantasy genre. They're both just, people. And Caleb didn't fall in love with her because she is The Queen and wanted to be The King (like look at how he dresses he's pretty down to earth). He fell in love with Wittewife, not the queen. And they both just wanted to live a simple life together in the woods.

But I don't think that's how Philip saw it. He can't pull himself out of the fantasy. Out of his little power fantasy. And here's Caleb is who Stole His Dream. Absolute, pulpable envy.

Ok before we get onto the fratricide, the grimwalkers and what that all means I wanna talk about Belos for a bit. Specifically about why he became Belos. Again I don't think he was just born evil (nobody is). His child self's aura in his mindscape was purple after all. And in writing this post I think I finally get why he became Belos. He 1. can't accept help 2. he can't admit to fault and 3. aggrieved entitlement.

Firstly with being unable to accept help. I think his curse shows this off pretty well. Any and all offers of help from Hunter about his curse are quickly and violently shot down. And when Caleb supports Philip with his curse he doesn't even hug him back. He's just, standing there. Not allowing himself to be vulnerable and accept Caleb's love and support. Of course when you don't allow yourself to open up with your emotions well, things bottle up...

Secondly he can't admit to any faults. Think about the grimwalkers. It's always them betraying him. When in reality it sounds like they wanted to either leave or opposed him cuz they found out either about the other grimwalkers or more out about him. This motherfucker has SO many both metaphorical and LITERAL skeletons in his closet that when your average person finds out about them they OBVIOUSLY bail. Dude it’s you dsjhdj. You’re the problem. Incel-esque motherfucker.

"You know. Unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt." Hunter, Hollow Mind

“Not unless he stays on the right path. I tell him, “the Titan has big plans for you,” and he does what he’s told. Unlike the previous attempts.” Belos, Hollow Mind

Also think about how he acts when confronted with an angry Luz and Lilith after he just tried sacrificing them in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. This man just casually brushes off their rightful anger about him almost killing them. And, after they demand info from him he has the GAUL to say that they need to further work for him before he’ll give that info. Then he goes full mask off with a childish temper tantrum in his little cuck no bitches cave after Lilith decked him. “Those barbarian witches!” DUDE!! Lilith baby girl PLEASE punch him again I am BEGGING YOU.

And finally, Aggrieved entitlement. God I love this word and I'm so glad I found it while writing this stupid fucking post cuz it describes both Belos and well, fucking everything SO WELL. It's a pretty broad word but it's specifically relating to men. Broadly, it's when men in general feel like their "rightful place" as men is challenged and their access to their "rightful things" such as money, power and/or women is diminished or denied. It's humiliation that eventually turns itself into violence. Y'know, incels! The manosphere, MRAs etc!! It is why they are Like That.

This ties into Philip and both his main character syndrome + his eventual colonization of the Boiling Isles. He feels that, as a white cishet man, he ought to be the main character. That this is his fantasy story. His world. And in any other fantasy story it would be. But not here. Luz, a bi, poc and gnc girl is the main character. And the Demon Realm isn't going to give him special treatment just cause he's a white human man. He's not special. That's not what the Demon Realm is. And in fact his lack of a bile sack actually puts him lower on the totem pole in this society and it's very clear that this pisses him off. "Here to gawk? I may not have a bile sack but I still have dignity." This envy then turns inwards as he carves glyphs into his skin; cursing himself in the process.

Wonder if they’ll discuss toxic masculinity with Belos too. Cuz all 3 of these problems are PEAK toxic masculinity. Knowing this show possibly. I’d personally would like to see it lol.

OK! Fratricide time! Hurray!! Ok firstly I don't think this was just all over Caleb being with a witch. Well, that was what was apart of it yes but it's not all of it. I think this particular moment was the culmination of all of the things Belos hated about Caleb. A nasty tipping point.

Firstly I wanna talk about the portal door. "Two people made it," either Caleb and Belos made it or Caleb and his partner made it (I strongly lean towards the latter). Someone had to have had made this fucking thing. And remember, Eda found the portal door buried in dirt in the ruins of a structure. That same structure surrounds the Emperor's Castle today. With these 2 connections I think it's pretty safe to say the fight happened in those ruins. Portal door + those ruins paints a fight not just about him being with a witch but also Caleb not going home with him. “We don’t belong here.” Belos to Luz, King’s Tide. Belos is really, weirdly, obsessive and possessive of Caleb (cough cough grimwalkers). To Belos, this feels like a betrayal. Like Caleb is choosing them, choosing sin over him. Replacing him with Wittewife. Look at this painting they both have the same lil front hair cow lick.

Choosing to become a witch rather then become a witch hunter with him.

Of course this all doesn't mean Caleb wouldn't still visit/keep in touch he definitely loves his brother. Like think about that panting of Caleb supporting Philip while he's suffering from his curse. That pure love and support on his face for his baby brother. He'd never abandon him. Nor choose someone else over him. And hey they got that portal door now he'd obviously come and visit you, Philip. This is just Philip's worst fears which he feels has just come to fruition. That Caleb is abandoning and replacing him with Wittewife.

But I don’t really think that’s the end of it though. People are messy. And even the most evil of people feel. And it's pretty clear that he does feel guilty about this. It is his worst memory after all.

The shock and fear of being forced to relive those memories again. The grief of seeing Caleb’s dead body. And finally, curiously, him making a grimwalker. Where he then screams. Imo I think this was the first grimwalker and he thought he was bringing Caleb back. Not making a clone. Which is why he then screams. Caleb’s gone.

I think the panting of Ivan The Terrible killing his own son describes the soul crushing guilt here better then I ever could.

Before I end this post here I want to talk a bit about the grimwalkers and what they mean. Like yeah at first glance it’s a metaphor for the cycle of abuse. But, what does this mean for Belos? Why add this to his character? He knows they’re not Caleb, they’re all their own people but he keeps going. He keeps making them. And he keeps killing them once they "betray" him. Why? Again, I think it’s because he can’t bare to live his life without Caleb.

Think about how he kills off all the grimwalkers when they “betray” him. How he tried trapping Hunter, alone, forever, in his subconscious while he and Luz were trapped in his mindscape. How even though he knew Hunter’s sigil would kill him in a week’s time he was still on the hunt for him. It's because like how Belos can't bare to live his life without Caleb, none of the grimwalkers are allowed to live their own lives without Belos.

"You know, unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt." Hunter, Hollow Mind

"I say, the Titan has big plans for you. And he does what he's told. Unlike the previous attempts." Belos about Hunter, Hollow Mind. Again, cuz it bares repeating.

And just a lil note about the grimwalkers. It's not that the grimwalkers have Caleb's Good Gene or some other weird bio-essentialist thought that makes them "rebel." The problem is Belos. He only uses people then throws them away once he's done. Nobody is gonna wanna stick around with a person who treats them like that. And nobody is gonna wanna stick around when they find the numerous skeletons in his closet too. He's always been the problem. (Baring Kikimora but I think what she represents is what he's looking for in a Caleb sidekick. He just doesn't notice cuz 1. Demon and 2. Not Caleb. His head is stuck pretty far up his own ass I noticed).

Oh and one last thing before I end this but like a little taste for the future post...

I really don’t think the Day of Unity is the end of Belos’ plans. I didn’t then and I still don’t. Look at this man he thrives off of his own bullshit you seriously think he’s gonna stop now lol? And Caleb. Why add him to Belos’ story? We know he desperately wants him back... and we know he knows the time pools exist...

“Witches and demons are real. And they’re all sent from Mars to harvest human teeth to power their time machine.” Jacob, Yesterday’s Lie

OK DONE.

#the owl house #toh #toh belos #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #toh wittewife #toh speculation #toh theory #oh my god this post is finally fucking done #if you notice any errors no you didn't #this stupid fucking post has been haunting me since early June #i am Now Free

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dragongirlmesilune · 2 years

Text

Stealing Fire

(I wrote this for my friend @ibrithir-was-here it's based on their Endless Heirs AU, plus the recent 'The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country' comics, which I feel would fit into their AU quite well, as it seems a certain golden eyed anthropomorphic personification is messing with their older brother YET AGAIN. Also, Daniel is about 18 in this.)

The last thing Madison Flynn remembered was her dead friend Kells snapping her neck on the orders of two murderous gimps, while said dead friend was being stabbed by a man with teeth for eyes who was apparently not only a serial killer, but also a dream, and now she was in some unending white void, probably dead, and her only remaining friend Robbie would probably be joining her momentarily.

She was pretty sure the situation could not get any weirder.

She was quickly proven wrong.

"Um... Excuse me? Madison Flynn?"

She whirled around at the sudden voice- and came face to face with a guy about her age.

Or, at least, it had the general shape of a guy about her age.

It- he, really, was white, unnaturally white. From his skin to his hair (which seemed to float about in defiance of gravity) to the robe he wore, everything about him was as white as a piece of paper. The only exceptions were the emerald that hung from a chain around his neck, and his eyes, which were black voids dotted with pinpricks of light.

Stars. Madison realized.

He has actual fuckin' STARS inside his fuckin' EYEBALLS.

The being seemed to notice her discomfort and took a step back, a slightly worried look on his face.

"You- you don't need to be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you..."

It took her a moment to find her voice. "Am... am I dead?"

"Unfortunately."

"Are you death?"

He snorts a bit at that. "No, I'm not Death, thats my auntie. I'm Daniel. Cori asked me to talk to you."

It took Madison a moment to realize who he was talking about. "The Corinthian?"

"Yeah. He kinda works for my Dad, and he asked him to save you. Except, Dad is a bit... intimidating, so he decided to let me do the talking instead."

"Who... Who exactly is your Dad? What exactly is he?" Madison had a feeling the answer was going to be something big.

Daniel smiled gently. "Dad has a lot of names. Lord Shaper, King of Stories, Kai'ckul, Onerios, The Sandman... the name he uses most often is Morpheus, but his true one is Dream of the Endless. As for what he is... well, I think of him as a very polite Lovecraftian eldrich horror- insanely powerful, but you can't perceive his true form because your mind would melt into goo."

"I... see." Madison said, even though she really didn't. "And what does that make you?"

"I'm... complicated." Daniel scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "You ever seen that movie Wolfwalkers, where the people's spirits become wolves while their bodies sleep? I'm kinda like that, except instead of a wolf, my spirit turns into... this." He gestured to himself.

Madison was silent for a moment, before she finally responded. "So which one of you is responsible for those bullshit dreams about my middle school bullies apologizing to me?!"

"Actually, neither of us is." Daniel said, his voice grave. "And that's a huge problem."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Whenever a being dreams, they come to a place called the Dreaming. But when Dad examined your body, he discovered you hadn't been there since you were little. Somehow, something has taken your ability to enter the Dreaming and has been feeding you false dreams in its place. And this 'Smiling Man', this waking nightmare you keep seeing who looks a little like Cori? Neither Dad nor I made him, and we've literally made every dream and nightmare there is. And it isn't just you either. There have been at least fourteen other people who've seen the Smiling Man- and most of them have died horribly in the past six weeks. Cori wants to hunt it- and whoever is behind it- down, but he wants your help doing it. I'm probably going to be coming along too, just so he doesn't start eating eyeballs again. And before you ask, no I won't be looking like this, like I said before, I'm a human when I'm awake."

"So, my options are to help a serial killer and a demigod solve the mystery of my death or just like... fuck off to heaven or something?"

"Pretty much."

Madison thought about it. From what Daniel had said, someone had been messing with her head for a long time, and whoever had done it was not only responsible for her death, but the deaths of multiple other people and judging by the way they had torched her dormroom and butchered Kells, they didn't care about collateral damage.

She had every right to rest in peace... but she couldn't.

Not when innocent people were dying and she could do something to stop it.

She stuck out her hand. "I'm in."

"Great!" Daniel said, grabbing the offered appendage. "Now hold still, I've never made a once-living person a new body before, and I don't wanna mess up."

"Wait- 'New body'?!"

Everything went white.

-------

The door to Limbo opened, and the Prince of Dreams stepped through, into the bloodstained living room where his Dad, Matthew, and the Corinthian stood waiting amongst several sleeping humans.

"So?" Dream asked.

"How did it go?"

Daniel smiled. "See for yourself."

There was the sound of wings, and a raven came to land on the floor. Unlike Matthew, however, this bird had plumage as white as Daniels robes. The raven glared at Daniel with black eyes for a moment before opening its beak to speak in Madisons voice. "You could've said I was gonna come back as a bird!"

He shrugged. "Well I couldn't exactly bring you back in your old form could I? Walking around with a dead person tends to draw unwanted attention, and this way you can go between the Waking and the Dreaming without my help. Plus, now Matthew doesn't need to run himself ragged trying to keep an eye on both me and Dad."

"Well I still would've preferred a warning! And who's Matthew?"

"That'd be me."

Madison let out a squawk of fright as she laid eyes on the tall, eerie figure of Dream, swathed in night colored robes with flame-licked edges and with an omen of death perched on his shoulder.

No wonder he let Daniel do the talking.

"Madison, meet my Dad, Dream of the Endless, and his raven Matthew."

"Hi."

"Greetings, Miss Madison." Dream nodded before looking at his son.

"She is white, Daniel."

"Hey, it was my first time! And I think I did a pretty good job, all things considered."

"I was not criticizing your work, merely stating a fact."

"Uh, my Lord?" The Corinthian said.

"I don't mean to alarm you, but Agony and Ecstasy are gone."

Sure enough, despite Dream having put them to sleep, both murderous gimps had vanished without a trace.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Daniel shook his head in disbelief.

"Interesting..." Dream mused. "It would take a considerable amount of power to recall them without my notice."

"Narrows down the suspect list, I'd imagine."

"Indeed. I suggest we return to the Dreaming for now, to formulate a plan of action."

"Sounds like a plan to me Dad."

"W-Wait! What about Robbie?"

Dream shook his head. "I can do no more for him, unfortunately."

"If its any consolation, he'll probably think this was all a dream." Daniel said.

"Hes holding my dead body!"

"... mostly a dream."

"Enough. It is time we leave. I trust you will be right behind me, Daniel?"

"Of course Dad."

"Good." Dream pulled a worn leather pouch from within his robes and opening it. "Corinthian, Matthew, with me."

"Of course, my lord."

"Sure boss."

Sand began to swirl about the three like a tornado, engulfing them completely until it stilled, revealing an empty space where they had been moments before.

Madison just stared. "... wow. That was... something."

"You get used to it." Daniel said, tilting his head away from his left shoulder.

Madison let out a caw and flapped her wings, steering herself towards Daniels open shoulder. "It's funny."

"What?" The young demi-Endless asked as she settled herself.

"I just remembered an old story I heard about a white raven." She said as he pulled out his own pouch.

"Apparently Raven was originally white and had a beautiful voice, but when the gods took fire away from mankind, he flew up to the sun with a twig in his beak to bring it back. His feathers were charred black and his throat was half cooked, but he returned to earth a hero."

"Well then," Daniel smirked as the sand began to swirl around them.

"Let's go steal fire from the gods."

#the sandman comics #the sandman

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sarah-sandwich-writes · 2 years

Text

Summary:

Thousands of years ago, Earth woke up. In a magnificent burst of energy, magic infused the planet and every living thing on it, irreversibly changing the trajectory of human civilization.

But that's old news. Magic is inherent in living, herbivores and plants are big now, blah blah.

What's actually important is that Midge needs to convince her idiot brother that he's an idiot for trying to run off when they have a perfectly good thing going for them at home. They should be on the ranch, working hard and living well, but instead they're on the run with some guy named Gem who keeps trying to kick the bucket while his murderous human trafficker ex-girlfriend—

Is she still his girlfriend since they didn't technically break up before she tried to sell him into slavery?

Whatever. The point is, she sucks, Gem is… alright, and Jax is on thin fucking ice.

She would wash her hands of the whole drama Gem brings to their table, but she sees the sappy wet moon-eyes Jax makes at him and thinks, she's not enough to convince Jax to come home, but maybe Gem is.

Characters:

Midge - 26, short, stubborn, hard-working, self-absorbed, and utterly ignorant to all things romance

Jax - 29, leggy, sarcastic, process-oriented, lonely, not physically prepared for running for his life in the woods, determined to stand up for himself for the first time

Gem - 26, small, quick, dorky, distrustful, angry, kind, self-preservation whomst???

Olivia - 27, effortlessly polished, manipulative, cunning, loyal, and resolved to hunt down her fate and throw the first punch

Magic:

There are two magic systems. First, are True Names. Your True Name is your deepest, closest held secret because anyone who calls you by your Name can magically control your every action. To divulge your True Name is the most intimate display of trust, whether between partners, friends, or even siblings, but trust the wrong person and things can go horribly, horribly wrong. Many people go their entire life without sharing their Name with anyone at all.

Second, everyone has an innate magical ability. There are a variety but each has strict limitations:

Midge is a transmuter. So long as she has the exact ingredients, she can create a final product with the wave of her hand. Most transmuters work in textiles or in constructing building materials. The more ingredients used to form the final product, the more energy it costs to combine them. It's also possible to transmute the temperature, but it costs significantly more energy.

Jax is an infuser. During the creation process, he can infuse magic into otherwise ordinary ingredients to achieve extraordinary results. Cakes that instill in you a feeling of peace, ale that grants good fortune, not to mention health elixirs and tonics. There is a dark side of course. Infused goods can elicit a burning rage, confusion and muddled thoughts, depression, and there are stories of infusers who learned to work metal and leather to make cursed items that will steal your mind and leave your body to wither. Because of this, infusers are treated with a great deal of wariness, even as people come to them for migraine cures and prenatal potions.

Gem is an internal amplifier. He can augment his own abilities to temporarily makes himself stronger, faster, smarter, etc. His opposite is the external amplifier, someone who can only augment someone else the same way. Internal amplifiers run the greatest risk of burning out. While their abilities are enhanced, they don't feel the drain on their magic. Once their magic fades, if they've used too much too fast, they could fall to exhaustion so strong they sleep for days or even potentially die. This is the risk everyone faces when they use their magic, but internal amplifiers have a greater need to learn their limits because they won't know they've reached it until they've already surpassed it.

Olivia is a grower. Growers can tap into the life force of a living thing and coax it farther along, or further back, on its life path. Colloquially referred to as suckers (because they’ll suck the life out of you). Gardens flourish under their care. Chicken eggs can be hatched in a matter of days. Chicks grow to full egg-bearing hens in a matter of weeks. Rotten apples can be reversed back to their prime. Rumor says there are growers who live forever because they keep reversing their own aging. Rumors also say there are growers who can literally suck the life out of you. It costs more to move back that it does to push forward.

There are also tellers (can tell the future but like, not well), dampeners (dead zones where magic doesn't work, but they can turn it on and off--highly sought after by anyone who likes to control people, ie. gov't and crime organizations (but Sarah, you just said the same thing twice (•‿•), and perceptors (they're just lucky. They listen to their gut and things just kind of work out for them. Unfortunately, Gem's girlfriend is a perceptor and that makes things... difficult.)

Setting: Woolen Hollow is the name of the dusty little town where Midge and Jax have lived their entire lives on their family ranch with their mom, paternal grandmother, and Aunt Judith, their mother's man-hating sister who has a personal vendetta against Jax because thinks he is going to turn out just like his lowlife abuser dad that she, Mama, and Gramma ran off more than two decades ago along with all of his hired ranch hands. He keeps out of her way as much as possible and everything is fine. Totally fine.

Midge is living her best life. She's in charge of the sheep, her big woolly babies, which can be tricky considering a millennia ago all herbivores had a massive growth spurt and each sheep is double her height. Granted, she's short, roughly 5'2", but still, a 10-foot tall sheep is nothing to scoff at. Ma and Judith handle the cattle, Gramma keeps the big house from falling apart around their ears, and Jax mostly keeps to himself in his little pantry-turned-apothecary in the back of the little house he and Midge share on the property.

Alleyn is the name of the city where Midge and the other nearby ranchers drive the livestock they want to sell for calk--that's money. It's made of bone and comes in chips or rings and is practically worthless in Woolen Hollow considering most of them would rather trade. That is until tax collectors come around and expect payment in something other than knitted sweaters and zucchini. The entire town counts on the ranchers to return with enough calk to keep them afloat another year. It's a heavy burden but it's one Midge relishes.

Alleyn is also where Gem lives--or rather, lived, before he had to go on the run. It's where he grew up. Where his parents died. Where his foster father was killed by an off-duty peace officer, and where he skulked the streets at night, stepping into the middle of fights and searching for trouble to put a stop to. Right up until the day he stuck his nose too deep and trouble found him with a mouthful of pretty lies and a pair of thugs equipped with handcuffs and black holes where their conscious was meant to be.

The road between Woolen Hollow and Alleyn is dangerous. Train is the best way to travel, but when driving hundreds of mega-sized livestock, or when running for your life from people who could make you stop and walk back into cage with a few well-spoken words, train isn't an option. Across the plains where each blade of grass is a foot wide and twice as tall as a grown man, through the forest where a single tree could hide an entire cow behind its trunk and the thick canopy turns day to night, and over the mountains where massive packs of wolves and coyotes hunt for deer that tower overhead on legs as thick as a blade of grass--it's a difficult journey on its own, never mind while being chased down by the scourge of humanity.

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