Tumgik
#i mean that is cosmic horror anyway
theotherhappyplace · 1 year
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art for the animatic i am making starring our horrible boy Mr. Smiles. (and poor Vinnie having a very bad time) my friends are voice acting it!!! (it’s not going to be animated, just an animatic/story board with sfx and voice acting! i’ll post the video here when it’s done)
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creatively-cosmic · 6 hours
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Perhaps in another lifetime, things could have been different.
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theminecraftbee · 2 years
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The five members of Boatem drift through the void. They are surrounded by Uno cards that have been bent and torn into a million attempts to build plans. A dragon is curled up in Pearl's hood. Helmets are piled in the middle of the five of them. In a set of ordinary playing cards that Scar had revealed after they'd run out of cards for him to try to build trees with, there are abandoned maps and plans for leaving. There's an exhaustion in the bones of this place, alongside frantic attempts to stay awake and from getting so bored they lost themselves entirely. There's something almost despairing, about the attempts to build with only the scraps they'd had on hand. There's something terrifying, about a circle of ten people, built out of nothingness and terror these days. There's -
"Three points," Pearl says.
"What? No, those are the same ones that were there earlier," Grian says.
"No, no, they're new ones. See, the void's shaped differently around them," Pearl says. "They move differently."
Grian squints, the void twisting around his vision. "Uh. No, they definitely look like the same guys to me. I mean, I know defining them as separate from the void's actually a whole thing, but I think they haven't actually moved, and -"
"I think I get three more points."
"You absolutely don't."
"Hold on, I can arbitrate," Scar says brightly.
"No, you can't!" says Grian, throwing his hands up. "Because you'll give them to Pearl!"
"There are definitely new cows there," Scar says sagely.
"There are not!"
The five members of Boatem drift through the void, doing the same thing they've always done: being incredibly petty to each other. Honestly, Grian thinks he should be proud.
"Look, fine, then we should get Impulse in on the arbitration too," Pearl says. Grian scoffs loudly. "Oh, come on, he doesn't have that much of a bias for me! Didn't he do several whole things with you, too? You two have known each other longer!"
"I'm just saying, if you're getting Impulse, who will agree with you, and Scar, who just wants me to lose, involved, I should get Mumbo involved," Grian says. "The stakes are high this round, after all."
"Your head will make my base beautiful," Pearl says primly.
"I think you mean your head," Grian says.
"You wish. I just got two points up," Pearl says.
"No you didn't! Mumbo!" Grian says. "Mumbo, tell her that those aren't three new cows, that they're the same cows as before."
Mumbo is quiet.
"Mumbo?"
"Is it just me," Mumbo says, and then he stops. He swallows. "Grian, is it just me, or do you - feel? See? I don't know? I mean, I don't think I really see yet, I think... I don't know what I'm saying."
Grian turns and looks where Mumbo is. There's nothing there. Grian breathes out, and stops bothering to pretend to look at things that make sense in a human way, stops pretending to be human for a moment, and just tries to feel.
He feels... hungry. Empty, and hungry, and like he is reaching, reaching, reaching, a yawning abyss in the him that is the void that is nothing that is made of emptiness that wants to fill it that wants to eat that which falls into him that -
He stops after a moment and looks back to Mumbo. "...yeah. Yeah, there is something, isn't there?"
Mumbo nods.
"I spotted it before Pearl," Grian says on instinct.
"What?" Pearl says, furious.
"I saw it before Pearl, so that's points to me," he says.
"Whatever it is isn't a cow!" Pearl says. "Excuse me, you don't get points you, you nugget! Just because it's something strange doesn't make it points in the game!"
"Maybe that's a graveyard, and he gets to wipe all of your points," Impulse says.
"Who's side are you on?" Pearl asks.
Impulse shrugs. "No one's? I'm busy building little houses, see, I'm undecided on my base floorplan. Do you think people would want iTrade again? I think I could do iTrade again. Would you want to live in iTrade?"
"Nevermind," Pearl says. "Scar."
Scar has a very particular kind of pained expression on his face, and that's when Grian knows he has him. Grian says, softly: "I know you want an excuse for Pearl to kill me, but she'll definitely kill me if I beat her in this game this thoroughly." He smiles a little wider. "And, Scar, don't you think it would be funnier if we counted whatever that thing is as a graveyard? I mean, we'd been arguing about how the cow game didn't have a pretty fundamental game piece, and now we have one! When a, uh, whatever that is..."
"A meal," Mumbo says, sounding vaguely nauseous.
"Yeah, no, we aren't calling it that. A graveyard," Grian says. "Since, you know, that's what it'll be in the cow game."
"Hm," Scar says.
"There's no reason it should be anything special. Also, Mumbo told him about it, which I think makes it cheating, Scar," Pearl says.
"Oh, I don't mind cheating," Scar says.
"He doesn't," says Grian.
"Fine. But still, Scar, if you let Grian make this arbitrary rule, you know he will in games he plays against you next season. Given that I'm sure Grian's planning Tag again, do you really want to give him the ability to change the rules on the fly?"
"I would never," Grian says, genuinely offended.
"Hm. You have a point as well," Scar says. "...which one of you wants to help me build my tree more? Best offer gets to decide what we're doing about this."
Before either of them can make an argument, Pancake pokes her head up from inside of Pearl's hoodie. The dragon screeches, a sound that sounds more like shattering glass and metal scraping against metal than it does properly sound like a dragon cry. Grian grimaces.  He reaches out again, trying to sense what it is that Pancake is screeching about, and then he stops.
There's a figure in a suit. It reminds Grian of the suits they'd used, only there's what seems to be a long cord attached to it, reaching so far out that Grian can't tell where it leads anymore. Also, Grian notes a bit drily, he doesn't think the zipper the figure is wearing has air gaps, the way their zippers had. But it's unmistakably meant to protect them from the void, protect them long enough to get past the impersonal void that wants to eat them, to the void that has personal reasons to feel hungry.
And Grian feels hungry. And he feels desperate. But more than he feels any of those things, he feels -
He feels like he can't breathe. Which is silly. He doesn't need to anymore. All the same, he feels like there's no air in his lungs. The playing cards and cow game and helmets and even the cows and the feeling of being inhuman and everything feels... embarrassing. Empty. Meaningless.
The figure looks forward through their visor and no one speaks, for a bit.
Then, Scar speaks: "...Iskall?"
"Scar?" says the figure, unmistakably Iskall, and Grian starts laughing, and laughing, and he's not able to focus enough to make it come out of him like it should a human. He has never been happier to hear his fellow Architech in his life. "No, not Scar! A... get back, thingy! Where's my friends, huh?"
"No, Iskall," says Mumbo. "It's us. Can't you see? Iskall -"
"They're supposed to be near here, according to Cub's math. So where are you?"
"We're right here!" Scar says. "No no no, we're right here, come on Iskall, what are you even doing here?"
Iskall stares right at them, shuddering. "Where?" he asks.
"We're," starts Grian, and he looks at the cows that he and Pearl had been counting a moment ago. "We're. Right here. It's a long story. I'll come over. I'll..."
Grian goes to Iskall. He starts trying a bit harder to look human, but he's not sure how to do that for Iskall. As he moves, he sees Iskall and Scar start to frantically collect floating playing cards, as though cleaning up. Pearl is holding Pancake so tightly that the dragon might burst. Mumbo hasn't moved in what feels like several minutes.
"We're... what do you see?" Grian asks.
"A monster of the void, but you sound like Grian," Iskall says. "And if I squint, you sort of look like him, I guess. But you're hard to look at, dude."
"You believe me?"
"I sort of have to. If I don't, I think those helmets I see would mean you're dead, and, Grian, I don't want you to be..."
"Okay," says Grian, because he's not sure how to respond to that at all. "That's - it didn't matter anymore, okay? But we aren't dead."
(Well. It's a difficult semantic argument. Once they're out of here, Grian will get them all together with Zedaph and Ren and they'll argue about what death means until they run out of ways to argue about it. They'll argue if what's happened to them killed them meaningfully, or if there's a meaning to being alive, or. But that's not what Iskall needs to hear right now, and it's not what Grian needs to say, either.)
"Sure," Iskall says.
"Sure," Grian repeats.
"I'm supposed to come down here and get you all," Iskall says.
"Our valiant rescue," Grian says. "What's the damage?"
"Three months," Iskall says.
"You're lying," Impulse says from behind Grian, and oh. They're all collected right here now.
"I..." Iskall shakes. Iskall looks away. "Sorry. It makes me sick, looking at all of you. Is it all of you? Something about it..."
"It can't have been three months," Mumbo says.
"How long are you thinking it was?"
Everyone's quiet for a while. It hits Grian that he has no idea how to contextualize any of this to Iskall. Three months feels wrong, though. Maybe it's too long? But that doesn't seem right. Maybe it's too short? No, that's... all Grian knows is that three months is wrong. It can't be right. He's not sure what number he expected to hear, but three months is...
"So it's March?" Pearl says. "It doesn't feel like March."
"True, it doesn't," Scar says.
"Guys," Iskall says. "Can you - one at a time - my head."
"Oh," Scar says, very quietly, and then they're all quiet. It takes Grian a moment to realize he's been put in charge of continuing the conversation he started.
"Well, I guess it's March," Grian says. "Um. If you're here to get us..."
"I tug on this, it pulls us all up. Here's a hand," Iskall says, and Grian steps back, trying to gesture for someone else to take it first. He has a strong desire to - to grab, to, to... he's not sure. But the part of Grian that loves Iskall knows he can't take Iskall's hand.
No one grabs Iskall's hand.
Iskall frowns. "Dudes, don't be like that. I don't bite."
Before Grian can say anything, Iskall screws his eyes closed and he reaches to grab Grian.
The hand goes right through, and suddenly Grian feels - he is empty, and there is a gap, and he needs to fill it, and something in him pulls, and Iskall screams.  
Someone else moves before Grian does. He feels, rather than sees, Pearl surround him, and yank him away from Iskall. He feels, rather than sees, someone yank violently on the connection Iskall has to the surface. Iskall is still screaming and Grian is hungry and Grian is lonely and Grian is desperate and Grian is horrified. He didn't know he would - but he hadn't want to take - but he hadn't known. He hadn't - of course he would, though. Hadn't they established what they were? Hadn't they established - they are the void, and when the void touches a player, it does one thing only, and when a player touches the void - hadn't they established? Hadn't they, hadn't they...
And Iskall is gone and Grian's still not quite sure what happened.
"I sent him back up," Impulse says, finally.
"That's... good. He probably just broke his suit," Scar says, finally. "Given the screaming. We don't want him..."
"No, we don't," agrees Impulse.
"What now?" Pearl asks.
"I didn't mean to," Grian says, and Pearl sighs.
"You didn't do anything," she says quietly.
"They know where we are," Impulse says. "It'll..."
"We can't touch them," Grian says.
"We'll figure it out," Mumbo says, because that's all he can say.
They're all still gathered around the spot Iskall was. Grian realizes he's lost track of his score in the cow game again. Graveyard. All of the cows, gone. Pearl's graveyard, he thinks distantly, not his. She wins after all.
"...we'll take each other's heads," Pearl says.
"Okay," Grian says. "Obviously, that's the important part of all of this. Obviously, that's..."
"Yeah," Pearl says. "Don't worry about it."
Slowly, they return to the cards that are still floating, and while they've been floating in an infinite void, it's never felt more like a tiny box, looking back at it then. Still, they've got to get ready.
Grian picks up his useless helmet, turns it over in his hands, and puts it on. Best not to litter, for when they leave, he thinks, and he resolutely doesn't think about any other option.
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trainingdummyrabbit · 4 months
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anyway listening to your heart is a skill
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strawberrybabydog · 1 year
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it is such a blessing to be allowed to be part of human culture. my biocat will spend his entire life not knowing that humans love him so much they learned how to craft toys, furniture and food only for him. every time i lay out a soft blanket for him he doesnt know that humans thousands of years ago learned how to weave fabrics just so we could be comfy, and that it is a rarity and a privilege to feel something like that. i dont care that he doesnt notice, i just mean, i do, and as a dog its really special to me
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the20thcenturykid · 5 months
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one piece? more like mid piece
If this is mid think about how high we can still go! Such opportunity! Sky isn't the limit anymore!
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lyrebright · 2 years
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so, I'm still early days in TMA, but now that I've got a minute, I'm just going to compile some quick thoughts I've had throughout the handful of episodes I've watched.
They're British??? I've inadvertently learned a few things over the years via Existing Online osmosis but somehow this wasn't one of them. The accents took me the fuck out.
One of the things I Know from aforementioned Existing Online is that there is an overarching plot to this so like. I am hyped for that, but my little short story collector heart is currently loving the anthology vibes rn.
Speaking of anthology vibes, the statements? Good shit. I'm trying to pay attention to Remember Things in case they come up later (I am eyeing that delivery company) but like. They're just genuinely good. Holds them close to my little short story collector heart.
I keep getting so invested into what is going in in the statements that I am bracing for the inevitable bad end wherein They All Die that you normally see at the end of short horror stories, forgetting that. This is a statement. That they made. Post surviving their spookernatural encounter. The power of immersion!
I can only assume the immersion is SO strong because when jonathan sims drops the asshole archivist voice and actually does the statements like holy shit?? He too is getting invested. His vibes are like rancid strict librarian can you imagine being one of his assistants. Sasha just thinks her boss has a permanent stick up his ass but walks past him recording a statement and he's just Really Fucking Into It
can you be attracted to a voice?
Jonathan Sims Is Theatre Kid Coded (I will not elaborate)
anyway. I'm having fun for Sure.
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KASUSHKJHFSIAU Gremlins I neeed to talk about these little fuckers and I love them however since the time I originally wrote them, they've changed.....alot and also I unintentionally made them pretty problematic so we're changing that today. I need to rewrite them a little. But today we start with the basics and Lee~
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Meet the not so sweet boi Lee Neya! Resident Prince of the Gremlins (sole ruler of the bunny people) and cute husband to Lust!
This cutie prides himself on his looks and is the one where most gremlin stereotypes come from, he's playful, bubbly, flirty and soft. Surface level anyways, you don't need to look to hard to find the truth.
He's a malevolent ruler of a chaotic hivemind race of people who tries very hard to subtly infect the world with eldritch and void influences. His favorite thing is melting people's mind, breaking them far beyond repair and then eating them alive for a snack. Sometimes he'll just skip that first part and shove like a wad of sock in their mouths and go to town because he finds the screaming is a little annoying sometimes.
A wolf in sheeps clothing if you will, but gremlins as a whole are more like eldritch flesh monsters in cute semi-humanoid bunny clothing. Their anatomy is....something else....compared to most living things. Gremlins are mostly made of a soft fleshy void matter shaped into their desired form, since theyre a hivemind with Lee as the head of it, he chose this cute small customizable form that could appeal to many, giving those in the hivemind a small sense of identity in choosing the color of their skin, corruption (the purple stuff on the feet in second image doesnt have to be purple...or that much), tail and ears (color, type and size) hair (color, type and length), perceived gender and gender expression and height ranging from 4 ft to 5'4" ft for adults and eyebrows and eye color. So obviously they can look like their own individuals, and they seemingly have their own personalities.
The way the hivemind works is they're all individual people right? but theyre all connected to the same sort of neural network type of thinking. Everyone can hear what everyone thinks all the time, the only one who can opt out of that is Lee. Everyone else can limit their range via proximity and sort of tune out people far away that are easier to ignore. While they can think and act for themselves especially when farther away from the hivemind they ultimately just kinda roll with what Lee says should go because he's the strongest and if you're going to disagree you're going to have to convince him or fight him about it....so guuddd lucckkk
Anyways, gremlins are chaos bunnies, feel free to ask more about Lee (or ask him questions) and since my drawing is so damn inconsistent the top image is more like what his face and top body looks like and the second is more accurate to his lower half. Side profiles are hard ;-; and yes ik the first one is better i spent more time on it
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polyphagist · 2 years
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I see my stranger things verse....... and raise u....... an SCP or similar verse 👁👁
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kates-cosmos · 9 months
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My experience with Analog Horror/ARGs and why you should check them out
Marble Hornets: the classic, and a big favorite of mine for obvious reasons. I cannot stress enough how good and spooky that series is, and the ToTheArk videos gave me nightmares, love it! <3
If you're into Slenderman stories, you should definitely check it out. The acting is very well done and the story is awesome overall :)
The Sun Vanished: the ARG that started my interest for ARGs, and especially enigmas/internet puzzles. Unfortunately I was not smart enough to figure the stuff out by myself, so I just watched explanations on it. Highly recommended if you like post-apocalyptic settings and subtle horror.
The Mandela Catalogue: possibly the series that brought back my interest for these things. I have only watched the first two seasons of it, as I sadly lost interest after a while, but from what I have watched, I would recommend it to those of you who like horror with religious themes (which is a big thing for me) and most importantly, trust issues. Do keep in mind this series deals with more serious and dark topics, though you have probably heard it already.
Local58: the analog horror of all analog horrors, Local58 barged in before TMC took the spotlight. There is so much going on and all of it is very interesting and scary. America's pride leads to its doom, the moon can control electronic devices, and weird creatures spread through the world. If you like stories that leave you not understanding what the hell just happened but loving it anyway, you will love Local58.
Rocket Archives: A single-video series that has unfortunately been taken down for reasons I am not certain of. But if you're curious what it was about, the video presented a reality where us humans were forced to leave Earth with how hot it was getting, and moved to contained bubbles in space. Suddenly, uh oh! The sun's getting closer! Outer Wilds moment! Everything is melting! Humans are gone and the sun is... alive???
Analog Archives: made by the creator of Rocket Archives, has also been taken down but can still be found re-uploaded. The series is slightly similar to Local58, as in it also focuses on broadcast hijacking used for ending off humans. The series also includes a few religious topics that can get very dark. I love it. "Nature Show" makes me tear up with fear every time.
Gemini Home Entertainment: ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOMENT!!! I don't think I need to explain why I love this one so much. GHE leaves a lot to your imagination/speculation, while also twisting your head directly into the direction of the threat and forcing you to look at it while you squirm in fear. GHE is subtle in the most obvious way, obvious in the most subtle way, and most importantly, IT'S COSMIC HORROR, BABY!!! THERE IS A PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM THAT GOT HERE UNINVITED AND NOW IT WANTS TO EAT US!!! UGHHHH I can't put in words why I think it's so good, it just is. Watch it. The Gardeners are cute, I swear. There's even a plush of them.
Monument Mythos: something something alternate realities, something something time loops. I have not watched all of it, barely even half, but I deemed it a little bit too confusing for my brain. BUT! If you're into things that boogle your mind, you might really like this series! I mean, world monuments are alive, what could be scarier?
Vita Carnis: EW. (affectionate)
But, seriously, if you like gross, you are certainly going to like this series. It's meat, and it's alive. Although, I did stop watching it because it got a tad too graphic and violent for my taste, but if that doesn't bother you, then I recommend it a lot! The editing is soooo good, and some of the creatures are very likable and cute ^v^ (the others are gross and I do not want them near me I do not WANT FUCK OFF)
Don't Look at the Moon: Minecraft spooky. Do I need to say more?
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axcel-lucci · 7 months
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I was cooking (literally) 🤭
Trafalgar Law x fem!reader.
(Angst?)
@the-fluff-piece @sailor-cosmic-horror (idk what blog to tag 😭)
Part 1 is here
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"Fuuuuuckkk" (y/n) groaned as Bepo tilted his head slightly.
"What's wrong, (y/n)...?" He asked cutely
"Ah... it's nothing... but fuck- my side hurts..." she laid back down with a grunt, "everything hurts..."
"A-ah?! I should call captain!"
"No-!" She yelled back, "I mean... no... it's not that kind of pain... well I mean it is kinda painful physically, but... not the pain I'm complaining about..." she sighed deeply.
Bepo merely hummed and sat beside her, "when you told captain how you felt and passed out... he panicked. I don't think I've ever seen him so panicked and stressed like that before." He admitted, "and when I asked him why he was like that, there was no clear answer... like he changes his story every time I ask a question. And once you were better he just... stormed out. It's weird... he'd usually check on his patient's condition before leaving..."
"O-oh..." she mumbled.
'I messed up this time... Huh? Do I talk to him? He might be mad or weirded out because of my confession... if only I didn't tell him all those things! I thought I was gonna die! Goddamit!!' She thought before frowning.
"Uh... you need to rest, okay? I'll check on captain first, then I'll come back to you..." Bepo said as he left
She just sighed deeply, "I need to make this right. If I just kept it a secret to the grave... to be fair, he would never let his crew die on him... no one really died in his hands, unless for enemies." She muttered.
A few hours later, she didn't realize she had drifted off to sleep. Only to be woken up by a warm hand softly clearing the hair away from her face.
Her eyes slowly opened before groaning, "again with the fucking light."
A deep chuckle echoed beside her, one that was highly recognizable by the human ears.
"C-captain?!" She gasped as she looked at him standing over her.
"How are you feeling? Sorry I stormed out like that... I just had to deal with some affairs of the sub. It was kinda damaged from the battle. Though I had Bepo check your vitals. I guess he forgot to do that..." he explains as he adjusts the tube that gives her some IV.
"A-ah..." she sighed before humming, "hey... captain. Can I ask you something?"
"Hm? Sure" he muttered as he scribbled down the clipboard.
She stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking of what to say; "remember what I said...? Before blacking out...?"
Law paused for a bit before sighing and nodded, "yeah... I... I do..." he muttered before placing down the clipboard and pen, "how... how long?"
"What...?"
"For how long have you felt this...?"
Her throat starts to dry and close up as she looked away, "quite a while now..."
"I need the exact date."
She took a deep breath, "I think... a year and a half... I'm not too sure though."
"So... you kept this to yourself... for a year a half...? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He muttered, he was hurt. Obviously. He knows why, but doesn't want to admit it.
She sighed deeply once more, "because I know you wouldn't feel the same about me..."
Law snapped his head to look at her in such a shocked manner. His wide eyes and a slight frown.
She didn't see it but it was fairly obvious.
"What do you mean...?"
"Cut me some slack, captain. The crew knows your stance on relationships... you just don't do them." (Y/n) muttered, her words getting choked on her throat, making it hard to speak. Her vision blurring with tears.
Law could only look at her with clear confusion and shock, "look... don't trust everything the crew says. Most of it is just rumour anyways." He grumbled a bit before holding her hand, "look. I didn't mean to make it seem like that, but in reality... I... I like you too... I just... didn't know you felt the same..."
She finally looked at him with tear filled eyes before sniffling, "really...?"
"Yes, really" he smiled softly before bringing her hand up for him to kiss, "when you get better, I'll take you out... what do you say?"
"Oh captain..."
"Law... just call me by my name now"
"Law... yes... please"
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albatris · 3 months
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Since it's come to my attention a lot of folks don't know ATDAO....... here's an intro post :3c
All the Doors are Open! A funky lil sci-fi-ish, fantasy-ish, horror-ish tale about some South Australian kids going about their daily lives... oh, and also reality is collapsing and cracks between universes called Ports are appearing, letting otherworldly energy leak through and wreak havoc.
Four plotlines intertwine into one big stupid plotline, n the key players are as follows:
Tris Greer, panic attack in human form, who just witnessed a freak car accident that somehow caused his older brother to blip out of existence. The relevant authorities prove supremely unhelpful, so he takes it upon himself to find the truth and bring his brother home, even if it means a daring trip into an unstable air bubble between dimensions - a task easier said than done when he’s anxious enough just leaving the house.
Yun Sung-won, edgy intimidating badass hiding nooo insecurities or trauma whatsoever, who can suddenly bend and break the reality around her the same way Ports do. The shiny new destructive powers might be kinda cool - if the crack in reality inside her wasn’t chaotically deteriorating... and if she didn’t work for the Department of Interdimensional Instabilities, whose whole shtick is eliminating dangerous interdimensional energies.
Shara Aleng, conspiracy enthusiast and amateur paranormal investigator, who's new in town and on a mission. She's been able to see cracks in reality no one else notices since she was a kid, and, armed with just a handheld radio, she's mapping interdimensional fault lines and hunting down the source of the apocalypse.
Kai Lancaster, peddler of haunted antiques and mender of cracks in reality, who went to investigate an abandoned house for an hour and emerged to find seven years had passed. They're now grappling with the emotional and social repercussions of their trip out of time, having been tossed into a life that's moved on without them. And how can they try and re-enter their family's lives when their family has spent seven years grieving them and fighting to get back to any sense of normality?
Anyway. It's a cheesy power of friendship story about the human capacity for kindness and connection! It’s also full of horrifying things that will make your skin crawl <3 We got existential horror, we got body horror, we got cosmic horror... we got love and courage and joy in the face of despair! Also, we got mentally ill heroes, including one with psychosis and one with a dissociative disorder, whose experiences are never demonised or used as cheap plot twists :3
Here is the them:
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I'm not posting much about it at the moment but it's my longest-standing WIP and very close to my heart :D I've been working on some version of it since I was 16! Lemme know at any time if you wanna be added to the tag list~ I can't guarantee I'll work on it soon but I CAN guarantee I'll work on it sometime!
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i think i've mentioned The Magnus Archives before, but i wanted to talk about it again, in connection with Catra's redemption. The Magnus Archives is a fictional horror podcast with an overarching storyline and amazingly written characters.
[spoilers for TMA below]
one of the themes that was briefly explored in the final season was about forgiveness. it was a very brief moment but it really stuck with me so i'll share it with y'all.
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this right here was so important. for context, one of the characters, Daisy Tonner, was a cop who frequently engaged in police brutality. there was nuance to this since she was an Avatar of the Hunt but simply put, she thought she was doing the right thing. regardless of her intentions, a lot of people were killed or grievously harmed by her. for similar reasons, she tries to kill Jon, the protagonist.
later after disconnecting from her entity, Daisy realizes her mistakes and feels painfully guilty about everything. she couldn't bring back the dead, she couldn't reverse anything that she had done. all she could do at that point was to just stop engaging in violence and try to be a better person.
she bonds with Jon after some time of mutual awkwardness. Jon, being lonely himself, wasn't entirely opposed to talking to her and they even form a friendship of sorts. for context, Jon has hurt people too and he could relate with Daisy's guilt and her attempts at redemption.
in the transcript i shared above, Jon is discussing her crimes with the other characters. the thing that was so refreshing about Daisy's redemption is that Jon wasn't forced to forgive her. she put him through an extremely traumatizing and agonizing situation that he couldn't forget. his trauma was taken seriously and while he had begun to consider Daisy as his friend, that doesn't mean he forgave her. and she knew that. she understood that she didn't deserve forgiveness, but she still worked on trying to be a better person.
and later on in the series, Jon even expresses his appreciation for her friendship and admits to wanting to say goodbye to her.
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i feel like this is the best way to write a redemption arc. of course it's nice seeing the bad guy being forgiven and accepted by the other characters. but sometimes you have to acknowledge that some people go too far and while they deserve a redemption, they don't deserve forgiveness. the other characters can still appreciate and respect their attempts at redemption, and even become their friend but without being forced to forgive them.
contrast this to SPOP where literally all of the characters have to forgive Catra after everything she's done to them. it doesn't matter how much damage she caused, as soon as she expresses the tiniest bit of guilt, she is instantly forgiven. there's no question of how the other characters feel, their trauma is not valid.
also, i have a feeling that if any of the characters refused to forgive Catra, she would have immediately thrown a hissy fit and spiralled right back to square one. i mean, look at her reaction to Frosta punching her.
by the way, i want to add that Daisy was also a traumatized character. she was also a sympathetic antagonist and she was partially controlled by the Hunt (whether the entities controlled their avatars or not was an unanswered question but it was confirmed that the Avatars were at least 80% in control of themselves). but she still did what she did and no amount of tragic backstory could justify her actions. if only the writers of SPOP actually stopped to think this through, instead of just hyperfocusing on getting Catra and Adora together.
anyway, if you like cosmic/existential horror, lots of angst, deep psychological stuff, complex morally grey characters, and queer representation, i highly recommend TMA! it's the whole package.
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glam-pir · 9 months
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- introduction to writeblr -
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p e r s o n a l i n f o
hi !! i'm em, i'm 18, almost 19, and i use she/they pronouns. writing's always been part of my life, i've just never actually believed i could do it. so, here i am, yada yada yada more cheesy shit. anyways, i'm in college so my activity levels are all over the place, i'm hoping having a blog to even myself out and make myself stay consistent will actually work. i love all things dark, gloomy, scary, and puzzle-ey, which goes without saying that my hobbies follow the same tragectory. i've been playing piano since i was four years old and i love writing music, solving puzzles, writing and reading (goes without saying frankly).
a b o u t m y w r i t i n g
let’s get into it, shall we? i really like a blether, and by that i mean i’m indecisive beyond words. my most common genres in the overarching sense is urban fantasy combined with cosmic horror, and high fantasy. i love worldbuilding don’t come for me i’m sensitive.
but in terms of smaller little motifs and themes, i love delving into folklore (slavic and north african, gotta stick to my roots), low fantasy and surrealism, political intrigue, dark romanticism, gothic horror, monster girls, lesbians, a good ole butch/femme dynamic, dead people, ghosts, generational stories, and of course, anything you could listen to depeche mode while reading.
w i p i n f o
jesus it’s uh, um, it’s a mess in here, please ignore the state of my mind rn, all titles are subject to change, for now i'll be titling them by vibe and vibe alone, these will probably be their tags for the forseeable future, also they're all gay
no guts, all gory
a story of suspicious internships, monsterous girls, the desire for knowledge, dead people, things man was not mean to see, and lunch dates with your coworkers. [ low fantasy / surrealism / cosmic horror ]
baba yaga's moving castle
a story of matriarchies, political intrigue, slavic folklore. [ high fantasy / multiple povs ]
gas station prophecies
a story of gas station prophets, things in the fog, shadows in the woods, spooky towns and liminal spaces, odd summer vacations, and some very important realizations. [ low fantasy / surrealism / gothic horror / coming of age ]
saints of nothing at all
a story of secret societies that are worse than they seem, culty schools, ✨cunty✨outfits, mean girls, meaner lesbians, himbos, ballroom dancing, and just a little bit of a roll in the uncanny valley. [ surrealism / hauntings / gothic horror / academia ]
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honourablejester · 6 months
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Random half-baked 5e thought, but as the spooky month approaches, I’m reminded that I really, really want to play a Stars Druid for horror. Just. A lot.
It’s just the imagery of stars and omens that permeates the subclass. Starry Form, you become a piece of the night sky, your body a dark canvas on which glowing constellations paint themselves. Omens, weal or woe. Constellations, to dispense healing or radiant judgement. If you like cosmic horror, and I quite like cosmic horror, there’s such a temptation there.
And. There’s a background in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, called the Haunted One, which is that your entire character history is dominated by a dark event or secret that, well, haunts you. You get a feature, Heart of Darkness, which is just that people looking at you can tell that you have seen some shit and will try to help you out if you haven’t pissed them off, and you also get a ‘Harrowing Event’. Which is that dark event that dogs your footsteps. And one of them is the following:
“You were born under a dark star. You can feel it watching you, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons you in the dead of night.”
And sometimes, if you’re a Stars Druid, it beckons you from within your body. Every time you invoke Starry Form. There’s a constellation on your body, a dragon or a chalice or an archer, but there’s also, every time, somewhere on your skin, in your bones, shining from your flesh, another, darker, more distant star. Maybe you can’t see it yourself, in that form, not always, but you can feel it.
You’re a child of omen. You were born under a dark star. A watching star. And you like to think you could have run from it, but instead you carry it with you. Within your skin. Within your magic.
Was it on purpose? Your birth? The difference between ‘circle’ and ‘cult’ is sometimes rather academic, after all. Or were you an infection, a curse? Were you driven out, a cursed omen to wander the land, and that’s why you’re here now? Or were you taught instead. Trained to embrace it. Perhaps your circle were a circle of ill omen, believers of an apocalyptic destiny. That dark star is distant now, but it won’t always be. And you, you are a harbinger of that fate.
I do like the Star Map as well, on this character. Any of the suggested forms, but in particular the ‘collection of maps bound in an ebony cover’. Your star map is your own creation. Perhaps you’ve been tracking your star’s approach. Maps of the night sky, and maps of your skin. Maybe every time you invoke Starry Form, you ask those around you afterwards where it was. That other star. Where has it moved, and does it mean anything? What happens when that dark star reaches your heart? Or your brow? Does the movement across your skin match the movements across the skies? Or is it a more personal, intimate motion, a signifier of a smaller and more personal apocalypse?
There is a temptation to flavour some of the druid spells to reflect the dark star’s influence, Entangle most easily, but that might be a trap. The druid list doesn’t lend particularly well to that. Maybe keep the horror for starry form, and have your magic be your attempt to ground yourself back down. Ground yourself in the world, in the dirt and the soil and the water, to stave off that darker influence. But maybe it creeps in anyway. Maybe you find yourself favouring spells like Moonbeam and Heat Metal, like Maelstrom and Cone of Cold. Divinations, like Augury, Divination, Scrying. Seeking omens.
Druids don’t, generally, have the spell list for cosmic horror, not like an aberrant sorcerer or a goolock, but just from Starry Form. Just from that. And the divination, omen, weal or woe aspect. Your omen is written in your flesh. And every time, to empower yourself, you invoke it. You pull it closer. Wear it inside your skin. Shine its light out into the world through the vessel of your own form. A harbinger, a walking omen of a distant malice.
A child of omen. A daughter of a dark star. Clinging to earth, to stone, to the magic of this world, but forever bearing witness to something more distant and more alien. And drawing it, by your own actions, ever closer to all that you protect.
Oh, I do, I really do, want to play Stars Druid for horror. So very much. Heh.
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xenosagaepisodeone · 6 months
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as a child, movie monsters scare you because they inhabit the same kind of all-dominating realm as adults. even putting the matter of being too young to be able to discern reality from fiction aside, it doesn't matter if you know logically that jason voorhees couldn't fit under your bed or in your closet, because adults already navigate the world in ways you don't quite understand and already impose their will upon you without reproach. the idea that jason voorhees would kill you if he saw you is enough to make him real in the mind of a child, all because of that tacit understanding that your safety is entirely subject to the whims of others.
adults are usually frightened by movie monsters for superficially similar reasons- ie the feeling of loss of control. this is sometimes entwined with the larger cultural anxieties evoked in a work of fiction to punctuate some kind of feeling of realness, but any anxiety elicited from these types of movies normally wears off over a short period of time. nobody's jumped you while in an underground parking garage and nothings popped out of your basement. the vulnerability you are feeling is situational. life goes on. recent years have seen an increase horror media that attempts to capture loss of control as an antagonizing force, largely in the form of ambiently hostile space. the rise of interest in liminal spaces (when its not just being done by kids who are fascinated by the parts of fast food joints they arent allowed to be in), the backrooms, neo-lovecraftian cosmic horror(+the whole "lovecraft would be pissed if he saw what were doing with his ideas >:)" genre), the renewed interest in cold 70s sci-fi, and even analog horror to extent embody this curiosity. enemies that can't be seen or even understood, but are definitely felt. people at large are interested in experiencing a total loss of control; physically, socially and sensory-wise.
anyways, this is why I believe that this means culturally, the people are interested in a new kind of sex. slashers and monsters have existed for so long that they have ceded that murky unknowability compelling one to fear strangers to the spectacle of popular culture. the danger has been excavated and demystified from both the canon and fandom perspective, allowing more people than before to feel comfortable recognizing "i kind of want to suck it off" as a response to their fear of ghostface or jason voorhees, and playing with what that would entail. honestly any director in the genre worth their salt understands this, which is why clive barker is the goat. but what would be the normative sexual response in circumstances like that of skinamarink be? would jacking off in the backrooms exerting control over your circumstances or would abstaining be (and would not jacking off be the hornier option?)? discuss.
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