thelibraryoflily

[thelibraryoflily]

You know the Grimm version of Snow White makes more sense than most versions if only because in that version Snow White was like 7 years old.

[thelibraryoflily]

It occurs to you just then, the true depth of your helplessness: you've been taken to another universe, alone with no way home, you're stuck prisoner, your phone has no signal...and they don't even know what Wi-Fi is. Yeah. You're screwed.

DEMO ♔ FORUM POST ♔ ARTBREEDERS

♔ The Decoy is a dark fantasy that follows you, a 21st century normal human, kidnapped to an alternate magical universe to play the part of the missing heir to a powerful throne...who also happens to be your doppelgänger. ♔

Life, for the most part, has been all-around uneventful. You work in Manhattan at a convenience store under a sleazy boss in order to scrape by and support your struggling family. Your dad is absent, your mom is too tired to parent, one brother is getting arrested while the other has detached himself from the life he once had. Still, while your days as a twenty-something employee are mundane, at least they're predictable.

Meanwhile, in another realm, the magical dark world of Eterna is in ruin. A war against an entity and his bloodthirsty creatures is brewing, and after the powerful royal family is viciously murdered and the only living child--and now rightful owner of the throne--goes missing, that evil is one step closer to winning.

But of course, that's not your problem. That's in a whole other universe, one you don't even know exists. Your biggest worry is whether you'll be able to take on a double shift tomorrow. Right?

Wrong.

Turns out the missing heir is your doppelganger. In a desperate attempt to save face and stop from losing a war before it even starts, you're kidnapped and taken to Eterna in order to play the part of the monarch, all while working behind the (bloody) scenes to find the true heir and get home.

Stuck in a world of magic and fantasy you've only ever seen in movies, an entire country--and an impending war-- is now dependent on how well you can act.

No pressure.

The Decoy is rated 18+ for dark themes, violence, and explicit content.

FEATURES

Customize your MC from gender identity, pronouns, personality, and appearance.

Choose whether to adapt to this new world or reject it, whether to be defiant or not. Pick what kind of monarch you'll lead as and take full advantage of your new royal identity.

Build yourself up in this new world, focus on honing combat or knowledge of the realm, choose a preferred choice of weapon and more.

Romance one of six ROs with a variety of backgrounds and magical types. Some more dangerous than others.

Maybe teach your new makeshift gang what television is? Hopefully find some signal for your phone? (not going to happen).

CHARACTERS + ROs

SERIDA/SOREN/SAHAR CRETILLON (m/f/nb , identity dependent on player choice ): the successor to the throne and only living person left in the Cretillon line, S has gone missing not long after the slaughter that murdered their entire family. People have been waiting for them to be coronated in order to plan their next move, but they're now gone without a trace and without them and the power that binds them together, Eterna is vulnerable. That's where you come in.

AZRIEL DAMARIS [RO] (m, he/him): once S's primary royal guard, Azriel has been promoted as the general of the Eternan army and head of the operation to save S. Stiff, serious, and severe, Azriel is tasked with being guard and guiding you through the world of politics and royalty. Unfortunately, Azriel doesn't want you here and he doesn't do much to hide it.

NAMARA AL-LUVEN: [RO] (f, she/her) Azriel's second, Namara is a fierce warrior and loyal to the cause. She's quite difficult to read, distant considering who you are.

DRENWIN SILVA: [RO](m, he/him): a skilled Mage and jester, Drenwin works alongside the Eternan army and puts his skills to work. He seems to be the most approachable of the bunch, which isn't saying much.

VALE: [RO](nb, they/them) the boisterous, flirtatious and arrogant mercenary turned pirate captain of The Lady Mystica. Vale exists simply to make and spend as much coin as possible while engaging in their harem and abundance of bad habits.

CERIS BESILLE [RO] (selectable, she/her, he/him, they/them): a priest-in-training, Ceris is fiercely devoted to their beliefs. Reserved and easily scandalized, they haven't left their quarters in the church since they were twelve, contributing to their lack of outside experience and rather insular outlook on the world.

????? [RO?] -- They are actively hunting you.

[thelibraryoflily]

How to Bury a Gentile

I wrote a short vaguely historical vaguely spooky ghost story about Jews and burial rites and I have to justify it existing so here it is.

“Are you the leader of the Jews?”

There was no good that ever came from that question. Rabbi Jacob stood in the doorway, one hand on the knob and the other on the frame, ready to yank it closed at a moment’s notice.

“Well, not all of the Jews.”

The man at the door made a frustrated little grunt. He was clad almost completely in dark grey clothing that seemed to fade into the shadows of the darkened street behind him. The collar of his coat was pulled up so high that it was impossible to make out more than a pair of sharp grey eyes beneath the brim of his hat, and the cloak he wore over the top of it concealed most of his body. There could be any number of guns, knives, or angry mobs hidden under there.

“But the ones in this town, yes? You are their priest, you lead prayers and weddings and so on?” the man said impatiently.

“Rabbi. Yes. I’m the rabbi, that’s correct.” Jacob said, stiffening his posture and assuming the most neutral expression he could manage. Being completely ignorant didn’t exclude someone from being completely dangerous–if anything, that heightened the risk. “What can I do for you?”

“Rabbi,” the man repeated, as if to seal it into his memory properly. One gloved hand squeezed the pommel of his walking stick. “And you preside over the funerals of your people, and perform the rites to send them to the next world?”

“Yyyyyes?” Jacob shifted his weight to his back foot, poised to slam the door in his face. This sounded unpleasantly like an opening for a death threat.

“To any of them, regardless of the sins they carried in life?” An eagerness entered the man’s voice.

“Of course. Though sin as a Jewish concept differs from the Christian…mm. Yes, of course.” The scholars of old might have debated the nature of the evil in men’s souls until the crack of dawn but Jacob had no intention of doing so at half-past midnight with a complete stranger.

The shadowed man took a half step forward and Jacob leaned back to maintain the distance between him. “What about a gentile?” the man pressed. “Would you tend to his corpse too?”

“Huh?”

“There is a man needing to be buried tonight who requires absolution. He is not a Jew, but a Jew’s prayers may be close enough for what is needed.”

“Um. It’s not usually a request I get.” Jacob tried to keep his voice calm and soothing. There was some kind of entrapment lingering in the conversation, he just knew it. That or a giant box of crazy that had managed to dress itself stylishly. Gentiles asking Jews intrusive but urgent questions never turned out well for their target–a day-long case of irritation was the best outcome the target could hope for.

The man’s hands pressed together as he completed the full step forward, making Jacob back up into the doorframe. Desperation was in his tone and Jacob was forced back over the threshold just to stay out of his grip “All I need is someone to accompany me to the cemetery to consecrate the body and pray for its soul. Barely an hour of your time. I cannot pay you with anything but my gratitude, but you will have it eternally.”

“And you came to me?”

The man sighed. Even the top hat seemed to slouch slightly as his body slumped. “I have asked every holy man in the city, Catholic and Protestant alike, and they have refused to come to the cemetery,“ he bemoaned. “The last one told me to visit you. Likely a ploy to make me leave faster, but you are all I have left.”

“What did this man do, that so many people refused him? Who was he?”

The man at the door hesitated. The sharp eyes vanished as his eyelids slid down, and then appeared a few moments later.

“Must you ask?” he said quietly. “Is it not enough that it is a corpse which can do no man harm any longer, and you will lose nothing but a half-night of sleep?”

The inside of Jacob’s head was ringing with warning bells like the frantic clanging of gongs announcing a fire. He swallowed and tried to ignore them.

“You say he wasn’t Jewish?”

“He was not…much of anything. He felt God had no interest in him, and returned a lack of interest in kind. Perhaps if he had been more attentive he wouldn’t lie in a pauper’s grave…or perhaps he would have not changed a whit.” The man’s voice was bitter and the sharp eyes briefly looked away from Jacob, to Jacob’s deep relief.

“Who was this man, to you?” he asked.

“Close. I would prefer to say no more. Please, rabbi. It must be done, and it must be tonight.”

Seminary did not prepare me for this, Jacob thought, and then thought again. There is absolutely something in the Talmud about this and I’ve just forgotten it, because I’m an idiot and I’m half asleep and there is a goy on my doorstep asking me to go out to the cemetery with him at midnight to bury a man whose name he won’t tell me.

“Look, I’ll need someone to help dig the grave.”

“Of course.”

“And a coffin. A plain pine box. And I’ll need to get my supplies from the–”

“But you’ll do it?” said the man excitedly, standing up even taller. “And do it tonight, before the cock crows?”

Jacob held up his hands to keep the man from getting even further into his personal space. “Fine. Yes. Give me half an hour and a lazy rooster.”

The cloak almost seem to inflate as the man gasped for joy. He grabbed Jacob’s hands and shook both with enthusiasm, sending Jacob stumbling. “Thank God for you, my good rabbit! Whatever God there is, thank God for you!”

The man ran off into the shadowed streets and was out of sight almost immediately.

Jacob’s hands slowly fell back to his side as he mumbled, “Rabbi,” to the darkness.

My wife is going to kill me if whatever’s at the cemetery doesn’t.

Keep reading

[thelibraryoflily]

Ah, I see. Thank you for your honesty. Please, take as much as you need. There will be enough for everyone.

A change of scenery. Simple, but marvelous.

A glimpse into your future, for you brave souls! (Divination is tricky business, tread carefully my dear!)

Knowledge from the universe, eh? Perhaps this will be of interest to you.

Rest for the weary, right this way. It's a personal favourite of mine.

A home-cooked meal you say? I like how you think! A labour of love worth savoring (and sharing with friends!)

For something to pass the time, try looking here, or if that doesn't hit the spot, here.

Seeking adventure to a far-off place? I know a way to get you there.

✨

I hope you found what you were looking for!

[thelibraryoflily]

Short Story: An Abstract Concept

“You’ve got no idea what it’s like to be lonely,” the immortal in the backseat says. He’s already broken out of his cuffs, but that’s as far as he’s gotten. The crosses engraved on the windows and in the metal around him prevent him from using his strength to punch out of the car. “Not truly lonely.”

You don’t look back, focusing on the road. Your partner is dead next to you, throat torn out and head gently thunking against the window every time you hit a pothole. His hand is lying next to his leg,  blood filling his palm from where he tried to patch over the hole in his neck. You say, “Not a good enough reason for kidnapping seventeen innocent girls.”

The immortal raises a dark eyebrow. “If they’d been guilty, would that have been better?” The silence stretches and he scoffs when it’s clear you aren’t going to give him an answer. “Or maybe if I hadn’t been a vampire?”

“It’d’ve been better if you hadn’t broken the law,” you say. You take a left sooner than you should and, if your passengers notice the car picking up speed, neither mention it. “Or at least not done in my partner.”

“He surprised me,” the immortal says carelessly. He frowns out the window, eyes tracking the passing street signs. “Impressive stealth. I’m not easily surprised.”

You bet. According to the brief, he’s nearly two centuries old. You focus on the town’s perimeter coming up and reach over to prod your partner’s corpse. “Hey.”

“We,” the vampire says slowly, “are heading away from the station.”

You let the gas pedal touch the floor. The buildings melt away and the desert bursts out to either side of the car. Miles and miles of desert. You jab your partner with three fingers. “Hey, wake up. I’m gonna crash the car.”

Keep reading

[thelibraryoflily]

Speaker - A Reintroduction Masterpost

Your family is cursed.

The firstborn child in each generation is born a Seer, haunted by visions of the future they can neither stop nor control. For thirteen generations, they’ve suffered in silence, seeing death and disaster before it comes but unable to prevent it or even give it voice.

You are the second born.

Born only a few minutes after your twin sister, you avoided your family’s curse - by either luck or providence. As the twin sibling to your generation’s Seer, however, you have a rare and amazing gift. You are a Speaker, able to understand her visions and translate them in a way other people can understand.

The two of you have made a living hunting down and trying to stop them at the source, plucking people from the clutches of death. You aren’t always successful, and the pay is pretty much nonexistent, but it gives you a sense of purpose and hey, it’s still better than working retail.

The visions are becoming more frequent lately, and their contents more violent. Is there a thread connecting them that you aren’t able to see? Or is this just a sign of the times?

Either way, one thing is for sure: it’s too much for just the two of you. You’re going to need help.

—

Speaker is a modern fantasy character-driven interactive novel focusing on the relationships (romantic, familial, or otherwise) formed within your rag-tag group of misfits. It will be the first book in a series.

It is a work in progress. I try to update at the end of every month, and I post weekly progress reports so you know how things are going! It is created in Twine and hosted on itch.io.

More information on the characters can be found here or on my itch.io page.

You can read it here!

Current word count: 238,665 before code

Last update: 8/25/22

—

What is Idle Hands? More information here!

I have a Patreon and a Ko-fi if you would like to support me and my writing! (ko-fi commissions are currently closed)

We also have a Discord server!

The nsfw tag is “not safe for seer”

Playlists: Official | Azalea | Sebastian | Li | Kana | Rory

I’m Rhi (they/she), and I’ve been a writer for most of my life, though it’s mostly been fanfiction up until this point. I’ve always wanted to write my own novel, and some iteration of the Speaker characters have been floating around in my head for a long time, but it wasn’t until I discovered interactive fiction that I decided to finally put it on paper.

Finally, if you have any comments/questions/requests/anything at all you’d like to know about the game, the characters, or myself, the Ask Box is always open!

[thelibraryoflily]

life advice:

never say anything to a penguin that the penguin has not already said to you

[thelibraryoflily]

Oberyn Martell Masterlist

(Titles marked with an asterisk * should be considered 18+ only due to adult themes, such as sexual situations, adult language, smoking, violence, etc.)

Series

Burning Bright (with F!Reader)

• Burning Bright Masterlist

Mini-Series

Of Vipers and Direwolves Miniseries:

• Part 1

• Part 2

• Part 3

One-Shots

• Answered Prayers *

[thelibraryoflily]

Oberyn Martell:  Burning Bright Masterlist

(Titles marked with an asterisk * should be considered 18+ only due to adult themes, such as sexual situations, adult language, smoking, violence, etc.)

• Prologue

• Chapter One

• Chapter Two 

• Chapter Three *

• Chapter Four

• Chapter Five

• Chapter Six *

• Chapter Seven *

• Chapter Eight *

• Chapter Nine *

• Chapter Ten *

• Chapter Eleven *

• Chapter Twelve

• Chapter Thirteen *

• Chapter Fourteen *

• Chapter Fifteen *

• Chapter Sixteen *

• Chapter Seventeen

• Chapter Eighteen

• Chapter Nineteen *

[thelibraryoflily]

Sea Glass

yandere!octavinelle trio x (gender neutral) reader  cw: yandere, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, obsession, implied stalking, blood, murder, mentions of drowning, captivity, slight violence, body modification, memory loss, non-consensual kiss, use of potions, manipulation note - this is my debut fic as a yan!twst writer! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و i hope it’s enjoyable!

i. the house on the hilltop is curious. two bipedal creatures enter, but only one ever leaves. as for us, we are confined to the shadowy depths of the sea, bearing silent witness to the tale of unwilling coexistence. 

The leaking faucet drips out a somber rhythm, its gentle plip-plip-plip rousing you from your slumber. You lift your head from the cold tiles and survey the interior of the kitchen, which is spattered in colors of the setting sun. Dust motes are caught in the early-evening light and they seem to float weightlessly in the humid room while you remain there on the floor, pressed against a cupboard. A sudden pressure at the back of your head has your hand carding through tangled locks, fingers tracing over a ghastly area of raised skin. It stings under your cautious touch and you let out a sharp hiss through clenched teeth. 

In the distance, just down the sandy slope of a great, big hill, hungry waves lap at the shoreline. A sandpiper shrieks out its shrill calls and your mind is momentarily filled with images of the bird hopping around in the sand, beak sorting through the grit for useful materials and food scraps. The old grandfather clock in the hall ticks away, joining the sink in its measured serenade. Your soft inhalation sticks in your throat as soon as you smell it—the acrid, metallic stench of blood. 

Keep reading

[thelibraryoflily]

i just want to know how you got here, nyt reporter who had to issue this correction

[thelibraryoflily]

Do y'all remember how Trump declared during his 2016 campaign that women should be punished for having abortions and that potential fathers should have no culpability? How Trump stated that he would appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade? How voters, pro-choice activists and organizations, Planned Parenthood, and Democratic politicians like Hillary Clinton warned that the 2016 Presidential Election would impact reproductive rights in this country for decades to come? That Supreme Court vacancies were the most significant issue facing the county? But people decided that Hillary Clinton was somehow "just as bad as Trump" and took the gamble that Roe v. Wade couldn't possibly be overturned, that women would not actually face severe consequences because of a Trump presidency?

Last year, Texas devised S.B. 8, a de facto ban on all abortions, and despite the fact that it clearly violates Supreme Court precedent, Trump’s three nominees to the Court refused to strike down the law. In the wake of that ban, a woman in Texas was arrested on murder charges for allegedly inducing an abortion. While the charges were eventually dropped, the mistreatment she faced sends a message to all women in Texas. And it’s not just Texas. Across Republican-controlled legislatures, abortion bans are sweeping the nation. And today, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, signed into law a de facto ban that criminalizes providing an abortion:

Once the law goes into effect, anyone who provides an abortion will face a felony charge of up to ten years in prison and a fine up to $100,000. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

Republicans told everyone exactly what they would do if they took power. But for some reason, people chose not to take them at their word, they trivialized concerns about the Supreme Court, about reproductive rights, they bought into propaganda and misinformation, and here we are. Because Trump was able to stack the Court with three conservative justices (which are all lifelong appointments), he and the GOP have effectively killed Roe v. Wade, but it's innocent women across this country who will carry that burden.

That harm can't be undone, but we can still change course. I'm choosing to underscore the myopic discourse of 2016 not because I want to shame people who protested voting but to emphasize the fact that the future harm was so understated. No matter what people say about 2022 and 2024, about how Biden or any other Democrat is “just as bad as [literal fascist]," their claims will pale in comparison to the reality of Republicans taking power again. Queer rights, free speech rights to even just talk about race and racism, voting rights, freedom to protest and engage in political activism—all of these basic civil liberties are at risk if people choose to repeat the mistakes of 2016. If Trump's election proved anything, it's that no one can predict just how much devastation can be inflicted by choosing not to vote.

Midterm elections are coming up. If we want to codify Roe v. Wade and open the door for Biden to sign life-changing legislation into law, we need to reshape Congress and put progressive lawmakers into positions where they can remove the filibuster. We need to vote.

Get registered here: VOTE!

[thelibraryoflily]

all’s fair in love and war.

summary: what if twst was an otome game, and the housewardens were the love interests?

notes: scenario, 2.3k words, fluff, what was supposed to be a short concept turned into a full-blown fic, each section is a separate route

You’re a scholarship student at the prestigious Night Raven College, a school with a glowing academic reputation, but less than stellar opinions on the student body (arrogant, uptight, self-centered: you’ve heard it all). You just want to keep your head down and graduate without any issues, but unfortunately, you’re in a dating sim fate has other plans for you. 

One day, Headmaster Crowley calls you to his office. There’s a vacancy in the student council, and he wants you to fill it! The student council is filled with the best students of NRC… and also the most notoriously difficult to deal with. But surely you, with your… ordinary charm… can whip them into shape! You wouldn’t want to lose your scholarship, right? He’s not threatening you (Crowley is a kind person; how could you suggest that?) but someone needs to deal with his biggest problem students, and he’s out of solutions.

Somehow, you’re now tasked with ensuring NRC’s end of the year school festival goes off without a hitch, and that the other student council members don’t strangle each other to death. At least this is going to look good on your university applications, even if it’s going to be at the cost of your sanity.

Keep reading

[thelibraryoflily]

our time here is precious (don’t you ever forget that).

Lilia Vanrouge is your first love.

and he’s also your first love (second love).

and your first (third).

and once again, you’re first (fifteenth). 

He’s your first love and he’ll always be your first true love. Someone who’s not some small hallway crush where attraction bloomed at first glance. No, he’s your first love and he’s also every other lover you’ve ever had. 

But you don’t know that. 

And at this rate, he doesn’t think you ever will. Lilia doesn’t think you should have to know. You are too far gone and yet, too close. You’re just a breath away before he sees the real picture and realizes you were never there in the first place. Sometimes he thinks he might be stuck in some nightmare, other times, he might’ve convinced himself that he was delusional.

Lilia remembers every single time very vividly. He remembers the fall and he remembers each and every landing. Maybe there isn’t even a landing, where he hits rock bottom after falling for so long.

Maybe there’s just a cold, cold period where he has to suffer alone coping with the loss of someone he’s lost too many times before.

You’re gone, gone, gone. 

But you’re still here.

He doesn’t know if this is a blessing or a curse. He thinks it might be both.

Keep reading

[thelibraryoflily]

Heather’s Masterlist :)

carry you [Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader] (Ongoing)

Treacherous [Elijah x Reader, Dean Winchester x Reader] (Complete)

Devil’s Backbone  [Elijah x Reader] (Complete)

Oceans  [Elijah x Reader] (Complete)

Another Love [Elijah x Reader, Damon x Reader, Kol x Reader] (Complete)

World Spins Madly On [Steve Rogers x Reader] *on pause*

That’s Not What I Meant (Prompt) [Steve Rogers x Reader]

Home for Christmas [Klaus x Reader]

Get Me Through December [Elijah x Reader]

All I Want for Christmas [Elijah x Reader]

Wrapped in Red [Elijah x Reader]

The Bet [Elijah x Reader]

We’re Not Friends  [Elijah x Reader]

Let Her Go [Elijah x Hayley]

The Last Time [Elijah x Reader]

Gravity (Prompt) [Elijah x Reader]

Not Without Me (Prompt) [Elijah x Reader]

graphics by @whimsicalrogers​

[thelibraryoflily]

A brief summary of how user engagement is tracked on Tumblr, for the newcomer:

When you like or reblog a post, that counts as user engagement for the person you liked or reblogged from, and shows up in their notifications.  

If the person you liked or reblogged a post from wasn’t the original poster (i.e., you’re liking or reblogging a reblog), it also counts as user engagement for the original poster, and shows up in their notifications as well.  

This means that user engagement from your likes and reblogs can potential accrue to two different people, the original poster and the person you liked or reblogged from.  

Consequently, you cannot “steal” user engagement from someone by reblogging their post.  

This is one of the very few areas where Tumblr is actually functions more reasonably than other social media platforms.  

Note that this is only true if you use Tumblr’s built-in reblogging function. If you save someone else’s content to your local device and append it to a new post, you effectively become the original poster from that point on.  

This means that on Tumblr, “reblogging” and “reposting” are two different things; if you see someone complaining about “reposting”, this is not the same as reblogging.  

Commenting when reblogging does not affect any of this – unlike, say, Twitter, where quote-retweeting causes user engagement to accrue to the quote-retweet and not to the original tweet – and you can and should do so freely.  

However, every Tumblr user can see who exactly you reblogged a post from, which functions as a soft disincentive against making inane comments; if you make a dumb comment on a reblog, people who see your reblog may “back up” one step in the reblog chain to reblog a version of the post without your comment.  

Nobody understands tags, and there’s a fair amount of evidence that how tags work changes periodically and without warning.  

Tags are a divine mystery.

[thelibraryoflily]

Obsessed with the idea of being a symbiont’s first host. Gaining pretty much nothing from the process because the only memories it has is of swimming around in a cave. Go worm, give us nothing.