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spectruminterests · 4 months

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What other ideas did you also have for the Hollow Knight Modern AU?

I have… a lot. (For context: I originally posted about my Hollow Knight Modern AU here). I tried to type some things out and then tumblr erased it, so instead you get my unorganized ramblings that I have on my notes app. (Under the cut so not everyone has to read them). Essentially, Pale Royal (the Pale King) is the mayor of the oddball town of Hallownest and the somewhat negligent father of five chaotic children.

Character names:

Pale Royal (= The Pale King)

Blanca Royal (White Lady)

Hollis Royal (The Hollow Knight/Pure Vessel)

Kinsey Royal (Broken Vessel/Lost Kin)

Hornet Weaver (Hornet- her mom insisted she should have the Weaver name)

Herrah Weaver (Herrah the Beast)

Greene Royal (Greenpath vessel)

Knight "Ghost" Royal (The Knight/Ghost/player character)

Grimm Nightmare Sr. (Troupe Master/Nightmare King Grimm)

Grimm Nightmare Jr. (Grimmchild)

Dr. Sophia Monomon (Monomon the Teacher, I chose the name Sophia because it means wisdom or knowledge)

Quirrel Monomon (Quirrel, Monomon's adopted son)

Morningstar Claw (Mantis Lord)

Lance Claw (Mantis Lord)

Arrow Claw (Mantis Lord)

Mace Claw (Traitor Lord)

Bretta Scriber (Bretta)

Tiso Shieldsmith (Tiso)

Sybil Erebis (Seer)

Pale and Blanca have an open relationship - Blanca and Herrah get along fine and Pale having a child with Herrah wasn’t a problem for Blanca. Blanca is also bisexual and in a relationship with Dryya, the Hallownest Chief of Police.

Tween Hornet: What are you talking about I have no interest in girly things I like ninjas and swords! *hides princess book under the bed*

Ghost: second grade Force of Chaos

Grimmchild/Grimm Jr.: Second grade arsonist and Ghost's best friend/accomplice

Pale King and White Lady: parenting is easy! Just let the kids figure it out for themselves!

Teenage/Young adult Hollow Knight: the only responsible person in the household. Is slowly going insane taking care of four younger siblings.

Troupe Master Grimm/Grimm Sr.: Similar parenting philosophy to PK and WL. Is *fabulous* Actively encourages his son to be a ball of chaos.

Herrah: Like a crazy cat lady but with spiders. Her home is not a place for the faint of heart.

Teenage Mantis Lords: Sisters Morningstar, Lance, and Arrow. Leaders of the student-run Fencing Club which is really just a veneer for a bunch of kids who want to be TOUGH WARRIORS! Members include Hornet and Cloth.

Traitor Lord: Mantis sisters’ older brother Mace. A deadbeat high school dropout who makes a living as a drug dealer. The family doesn't talk about him.

Lance: "Yes I'm a girl and anyone else who'd like to comment gets STABBED!"

People know better than to mess with these kids.

When Grimm gets a call from the school: "Oh? My son set a fire in the boys' bathroom, you say? Did he tell you why? Because toilet paper is very flammable, he said? Oh well, kids will be kids, it sounds very much like something I would have done at his age... Suspended? Surely that's a little harsh? With all due respect, I think this behavior is teaching him important life skills! Surely that should be more acceptable in a school?"

I'm imagining Grimm Jr. asking Ghost to run away and join the circus with him 😆😆😆

"You'd be a great act, Ghost! I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind having another kid! You could be an acrobat or a clown or a mime... (at this point Ghost gives him a look).... okay, maybe not a mime."

The town of Hallownest is technically their "hometown," but the Nightmares travel. Grimm Sr. just drops his kid off at the local public school whenever he's too busy to take care of him, never mind whether or not he's actually enrolled. Cue a lot of teachers trying to figure out where the hell this kid came from. How much the kid is actually learning, missing school so often and being dropped in random classes is... questionable, but everything is fine! The Hallownest school system has already given up. Grimm Jr. really only goes to school because Dad is too busy to deal with him full time 😆

He's doing his best to just push his kid off on a stranger like in-game 😆

Ghost also often begs for Grimm to come sleep over, which of course causes more chaos than usual in the Royal household. Poor Hollis, trying to maintain some semblance of order.

Bretta is already writing fanfic. Ghost once saves her from a bully by dropping onto him from a tree, at which point Bretta decides she’s in love. Then Bretta mentions this to Greene. Bretta: “Oh, is he your brother? He’s so hot! 😍😍” Greene: “… sibling. And they’re seven.” Bretta: “Oh… so that’s why he’s… they’re… so short….” *is mortified*

Bretta later develops a crush on Hollis and writes fan fiction about them.

Grimm just drops off his kid at the Royal house with no notice and no indication of how long he'll be gone 😆

The whole Royal family is autistic in some fashion, because look at them. Pale is an inventor in his spare time and is always thinking about how to optimize infrastructure in the town of Hallownest. He also works late and forgets to eat or sleep when he's hyperfocused. Blanca (White Lady) spends more time with her garden and her large variety of houseplants than with her children, and everything has to be clean and Just So or she'll make a fuss. She always adjusts her children's and stepdaughter's clothing before they leave the house, much to Ghost's and Hornet's chagrin.

Hollis couldn't break a rule to save their life and comes off as stiff and robotic when trying to interact with people. Their parents are proud of the former and entirely oblivious to the latter.

Kinsey is sensory-sensitive and awkward. Loud noises, bright lights, and busy rooms drive them crazy. This does not stop them from being kind of an extrovert or from getting into trouble with Hornet.

Hornet, for her part, has some sensory issues with clothing (and hates the fancy things her stepmother tries to shove her into with a passion) and speaks in a very blunt but also overly archaic/wordy manner (if you've seen her dialogue in game you'll know what I'm talking about). She has little interest in socializing with people unless a) they're her mom or siblings, b) she's causing trouble, and/ or c) it's something violence-related.

Greene takes after their mom with their love of plants. They also love animals and are better with animals than people. They're super shy and awkward lol

Ghost is well, Ghost. They often struggle to speak/experience speech loss and have a raging case of ADHD in addition to the autism, making them constantly chasing after new and interesting things, unwilling and unable to pay attention unless they're interested, and entirely oblivious to social norms. In other words, they're hell to deal with 😆

Quirrel is Miss Monomon's adopted son and a giant nerd. He's 14 and a sophomore in high school because he skipped a grade as a kid. He has an I ❤️ isopods (group including pill bugs) pin on his backpack and is really into "bugs" and other invertebrates.

Hollis, nicknamed "Holly" by their siblings, is Very Tall (like 6 foot 5 or something), rather gangly and skinny, and AMAB (in part to make their height more plausible lol). At first they look kinda intimidating but they wouldn't hurt a fly, and are just about the quietest, shyest person ever, with one exception: if you hurt their siblings, you incur their wrath. Other than that they will take anything that's thrown at them - bullying, name-calling, way too many home responsibilities for a teenager, etc. - with a stoic front. They have just about no self-esteem and have a bad case of "awkward tall person syndrome," always hunching over and trying not to stand out despite the fact that they are literally head and shoulders above their classmates. Like all their siblings they have white hair (which they keep long), pale skin and very dark eyes.

Blanca (the White Lady) is an albino, thus the white skin, white hair, and very light blue eyes. She's also something of a Karen and acts like being an albino makes her an oppressed minority or something.

She also never leaves the house without makeup.

Tiso Shieldsmith is Hollis's classmate and maybe-friend who moved to Hallownest last year. He's kind of an idiot teenage boy and he calls Hollis "Stick Bug" thanks to their stick-bug-esque physique. He's, obviously, in the martial arts and fencing club, and he's kind of trying to be a tough jock but not always succeeding. I love the way he interacts with Hollis:

"Yo, Stick Bug, my man! I mean, my non-binary guy... I mean, uh...whatever. How are you doing, pal?"

*Hollis stares at him in an expressionless way as Tiso rambles.*

Hollis always refers to their parents as Mother and Father instead of just saying "Mom" or "Dad." It's out of respect mainly, and also because Blanca tends to like everything fancy. The outfit I drew Hollis in is what they normally wear to school, at their mother's request XD

Radiance is a local celebrity with a cult-like fan base. Miss Sybil (Seer) is the school's history teacher and the students are shocked when they discover she's an intense Radiance fan. “Radiance” is a stage name and she's Grimm's cousin (a relationship neither of them particularly care to mention most of the time). Pale hates her for reasons unknown, to the point where Pale has tried to pass all kinds of town restrictions on shows and circuses specifically because of Grimm and Radiance. Grimm either ignores the anti-circus ordinances or finds loopholes, and protesters stormed the town hall at the restrictions affecting the Radiance, enough that Pale had to undo them.

Grimm has some level of ability to break the law in Hallownest in part because the police in Hallownest don't want to deal with him either (lol) and in part because Blanca has used her influence and her relationship with the Chief of Police, Dryya, to discourage the Hallownest Police Department from prosecuting him. “Oh, Mr. Nightmare can’t be in jail, his son is my youngest’s best friend, and the poor man is a single father. I can’t imagine what that would do to poor Grimm Junior. Not to mention I’ve heard that Radiance is actually a relative of his… do you want her fans storming the police department?” (This is, of course, behind her husband’s back.)

Grimm is also very good at finding loopholes, twisting people's words, and generally being a pain in the arse to anyone who has issues with him.

Herrah has dark skin and a fat but very muscular figure. Usually around Hornet and the Royal kids she's all motherly and sweet, but when dealing with people she doesn't like she's intimidating AF.

Obviously the Royal family is white af because... a) they're entitled jerks, at least to a degree and b) look at them.

Hornet has brown/light brown skin but still has the white-blond hair and almost-black irises that run in Dad's side of the family. She gets strangers trying not to stare occasionally, but at least she isn't so pale she could be mistaken for a corpse XD

In fact I imagine that several of the characters often get strangers trying not to stare- Hollis and Grimm Jr. come to mind.

Grimm has dressed his son in red and black since he was a baby; it’s not every day you see an 8-year old dressed in a fancy black and red suit with a cape and makeup that looks like a cross between "vampire," "emo," and "circus."

Tiso: Yo, Stick Bug! What's with the dress? You look like you're going to prom or something!

[Hollis is wearing a white frilly dress that's too long to be anything other than one their mom ordered specially made, along with a fancy necklace and earrings]

Hollis: Mother has tea with her gardeners' club this afternoon and would like to show me off to all her gardening friends (said in a completely calm tone, even with a slight smile)

Tiso: "Show you off?!?” You say it like you're her favorite doll instead of her kid! Are you expected to do anything at her event? That sure doesn't look like gardening clothes. Your mom is definitely being weird, you sure you're okay with this?

Hollis: Of course. It means Mother is proud of me.

Hollis has issues.

They're shy and desperate for approval and their parents are (somewhat unintentionally) walking all over them. They need love and support that's not tying their value to being "perfect." Luckily, their siblings don't want Perfect Obedient Hollis, they want the real, happy them.

#katlyn post #hollow knight #the pale king #ghost hollow knight #fanfiction #the hollow knight #hornet #hornet hollow knight #hollow knight au #katlyn writes nonsense #Town of Hallownest AU

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lucky-draws · 2 years

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thinking abt the coincidence/fate/parallel thingy of big boss being in the coma for 9 years aka exactly the same amount of years as the age gap between him and ocelot.

because it's like. at first you have ocelot as the bratty rookie kid falling for the older supersoldier guy and maybe ocelot spends years trying to bridge that gap, to prove himself, to impress, to make bb notice him. but then. once the coma happens and bb wakes up again suddenly it's all different.

ocelot is now 39 aka the same age as bb when he went under. and during the 9 years ocelot has grown up while bb has slept, unchanging, so while bb is now physically 48 really they're mentally sort of the same age. equals now. (but it took a tragedy and 9 missing years of bb's life to get to this.)

but ALSO do u ever think abt. the sheer amount of trust they have in each other in 84. ocelot is entrusting bb with the words to wake him up from his hypnosis. bb is entrusting ocelot to carry out the phantom plan. but it's LIKE. it's not that trust itself but the context of it. like. [continued below]

i think of them as being always sort of scared of each other in some ways. like it's a contradiction of bb knowing ocelot has pledged his loyalty and yet being wary of ocelot all the same. and ocelot for all his ability is still sort of at the mercy of bb like anyone else is. and maybe more so because bb knows the extent of ocelot's feelings for him. (in my mind.) there's power in that fact bc bb knows that ocelot will likely do whatever bb asks of him if it's in bb's best interests.

but also on a more general level they're both such deadly killers. neither is more powerful than the other in terms of a simple physical fight. they're both predators; it's not cat and mouse. and they're opposites in many ways and could even hate each other in some ways but at the same time they're the only people alive who can properly understand each other. and they're linked together by the you killed my mom thing whether they like it or not. i digress but the point is.

they're red string of fate intertwined in weird twisted ways and bb has all sorts of conflicting feelings about ocelot and ocelot although he's madly in love is also so coldly rational at the same time that you never know what he might do and they're locked in this tense thing of mutually assured destruction and fucked up dynamics BUT.

in spite of this they "trust" each other. in 84 bb's life (his safety) is in ocelot's hands. and ocelot's life (his real memories) is in bb's hands. they know they'll meet again, because how could they not. they're inseparable from each other but not even inherently in a romantic way they're just like that.

they almost blur into one. they're both monstrous, they're both deadly. when they fight with each other it's like something they could never find in anyone else. maybe ocelot tried to find it in kaz during the 9 years, but it wasn't the same. kaz is a warrior, a liar, a manipulator, a betrayer, sure; but amongst his lack of morals and his confused cravings for power, control, money, sex, blood, a place to belong, whatever, there's something deep down in him, some kindness or compassion of some sort maybe, which prevents him from ever fully becoming all monster and no man.

whereas with bb it's different. they're both equally insane. when they fight they don't hold back; their eyes glow red.

they're both "sons of the boss" too, of course, which is a whole kinda thing. maybe ocelot hates that bb sees her in him; but maybe he's also glad of it, bc if she wasn't his mother, maybe bb wouldn't bother to keep him around at all. and he can't pretend he's never been curious about his mother, and bb is one of the only people he knows who knew her; so while he might like to forget her, to pretend that she's dead and gone, it's not really like that. and ocelot knows better than most people whether the dead really stay gone or not.

which brings me to something else im thinking abt. like what if it's 1999 and john is dead, everyone says he's dead, killed by his son, but if that's true then why hasn't ocelot seen him? OK, some people don't come back as ghosts, but John's soul hardly deserves to rest in peace. every time it rains he's all antsy, wondering if this time bb will show up, but he never does. and ocelot is as rational, logical and calculating as he is hopelessly in love so he thinks about it and draws two possible conclusions. either bb is genuinely at peace, or he isn't actually dead. it's entirely possible that he's still alive - stranger things have happened, and the man does seem to lead a charmed life. and maybe somehow he manages to hear something from someone that bb is in a coma again. but - my god, if that is true, how long will it be this time? another 9 years? he doesn't even know where john is this time. it's 75 all over again. he should have been there when the crash happened; he should have been there in zanzibarland.

so anyway. too long did not read. do you ever feel just a tiny little bit insane about bosselot. because of things like these.

#alright i meant to save this as a draft but accidentally posted it instead .Oh well.its here now #LOL #lisette mumbles #bosselot #top secret documents

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quietwingsinthesky · 1 year

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I have been tagged by @sugaraddictarchangels! ^-^

Your name: I am Will. Still debating acquiring other names.

Your first fandom(s): HP, but let's not talk about that. The real shit was in the Warriors fandom. I survived wars in there. Cat wars.

Your current fandom(s): Primarily Supernatural. (It's my special interest! I do not have a choice in being here! uwu!) but also, rotating around Mass Effect, Succession, and if Cat succeeds in drawing me back in, I'm gonna end up in my Elder Scrolls phase again.

How did you first get into fandom? Well, you see, I was given far too much unrestricted access to the internet as a child. And I wanted to read Everything.

How long have you been engaging in fandom spaces? Forever? Forever. Long as I can remember, anyway, which to be fair, isn't very long.

How often do you read fanfics? Well, damn, dude, I just set one down to come answer this. (Really though, a lot. Idk I like seeing the blorbos dance. And also I'm still experiencing some burn-out from having to be autistic and in college and such so actual books... no. only blorbo.)

Top three characters from your current fandom(s):

Supernatural: Sam Winchester the most character of all time. Lucifer! Second most character of all time! and rn, Michael. but that third slot is always subject to change. Last week it was Raphael lmao.

Mass Effect: Legion. They're my favorite robot, I want their gender and their name. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, genuinely my favorite teammate and I think she has the best plotline through all three games don't @ me. and hm. hard choice. Joker. Because he is funny. Because his relationship to Shepard is maybe my favorite out of anyone's, even the romance options. (Tiptree + "Anderson told me to take care of you" conversation in my mind always at all times...)

Succession: (okay this is cruel this is actually like asking me to pick a favorite child. but i will.) Shiv my beloved my queen i would die for her. Gerri my other beloved and queen i would also die for her. and Roman, my favorite little guy with everything in the world wrong with him.

Elder Scrolls: Martin Septim & the v specific version of Hero of Kvatch who does mantle Sheogorath, yes, both of them together, they are a set but the point is that they are separated by fate and godhood. and then also Nazeem. because he is funny. I wrote a whole fic about him.

Have you ever written fic for a fandom? YES! someone go read my silly mass effect fic i just wrote i crave attention

Have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? Also yes. I don't post much and what I have I delete later because it's never good enough. i am. hard on my art.

Share a personal headcanon that you feel very strongly about: sam is queer of sexuality and trans of gender. end of story. (and the reason I feel strongly about this is people who claim he's 'too boring' to be queer. first of all, you're wrong, he's amazing. second of all, you don't earn queerness by being cool. you just are. fandoms stop treating queerness as a reward for some characters and being cishet as a punishment for others challenge.)

You’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? Depends on the friend. But I stand by that if you want to infect someone with the spn brainworms, give them a copy of john's journal and watch the rot set in.

And finally, what does fandom mean to you? it's all of us sitting around a campfire sharing insane takes.

I am tagging... hm. @godsprettiestprincess, @synesindri, @archangelsammy, @herefortears, @ladyknightskye, @thnks-fr-th-samulet, and anyone else who wants in. :3

#tag game

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janeromeroshow · 1 year

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get to know the author

name : rev

pronouns : they/he/she

preference of communication : discord!!! tumblr ims r the worst i'm sorry

most active muse : jane by far but i also have a LOT of muse for vanny/vanessa on my fnaf multi ( @rcluctantfollowcr, which only has one other muse besides them. and it's toy bonnie. )

experience / how many years : fully depends on what you count as experience! my first brush with roleplaying was on an old warrior cats forum when i was around 8-10, and i remember doing silly little roleplays with my friends on our messaging apps (like kik... so sorry to anyone else on there). but in terms of more serious roleplay and tumblr specific, i made my first account (which is still active if not on hiatus!) late last year :)

best experience : getting to write with the absolute platonic loml and my best friend in the whole world, flowers @mortisvitae (+ other accounts). not that they're the ONLY person i write with or that my friends i've made in the rpc matter less but i really got into this because of them and they mean the world to me <3

rp pet peeves : people who shit on younger/less "skilled" writers / blogs that don't use a shit ton of fancy fonts and images, people who harass others for responses (either ic or ooc), people who make drama out of what's supposed to be a fun hobby, and my most famous pet peeve of all: people who contribute (even unintentionally) to the insane amount of misogyny in the rpc by nitpicking, harassing or outright ignoring female muses and muns. same goes with any marginalized identity, i just think the misogyny is often ignored or brushed over which makes me want to be even louder about it.

fluff, angst, or smut : i have been known to dabble in all three <3

plots or memes : i generally tend to start things with memes due to my ridiculously annoying bouts of anxiety, but i love plotting, even if it doesn't end up being a thread :).

long or short replies : i tend to match or go over my partners' reply lengths - not out of expectation that they do the same, but i don't like leaving people with super-short responses if they've written a novel and sometimes the inspiration hits.

time to write : whenever the adhd goes "it's time to write right now or you'll suffer a cartoonish demise".

are you like your muses : yes and no - for jane, i definitely see a lot of myself in her (and project even more ONTO her), but i do enjoy writing characters who are completely different - i think you can see a bit of yourself in everyone, however small.

tagged by : nobody i stole this >:3 tagging : @mortisvitae @thesheepcote @thehxrlequin / @entitemalefique @mxlevolence

#ooc.#mun.#new tag oh boy

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eughjesusgross · 1 year

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Positively no one is going to care or look at this, but this is purely for my documentation. Will be updated when appropriate.

Hi, I’m Kristina Sweeties System, and I’m a scaredy-cat-turned-horror-fan. I watched the original Scream film in November of 2021, following with the three sequels before the 2022 film, and then with the Child’s Play franchise and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I refuse to watch the Saw series and the Final Destination series, as they contain huge triggers for me, but I’m basically game to watch anything else.

This is going to be my list of horror films that I watch for the first time, with my honest reviews of them.

- Ghoulies : 10/10. So campy and insane, a wild, dumb ride from start to finish. Also featuring Mariska Hargitay in her earliest role, good for you.

- Fright Night : 10/10. Camp. Queer. Gothic. Chris Sarandon and Amanda Bearse. Takes a spot as one of my favorite films.

- Night of the Living Dead (68) : 6/10. Pretty good for an OG horror film with practically no budget. Unintentional racial aspect is such a plus, it’s so poetic. A bit slow in parts, with unnecessarily long, awkward scenes, but great acting. They’re coming for you, Barbara.

- Night of the Living Dead (90) : 10/10. So much better pacing, loved that they let Barbara actually do shit. Also enjoyed the different ending. Good on you, 90’s film making.

- Elvira, Mistress of the Dark : 10/10. I was gagged all the way through. The scene where Elvira first meets Patty, there was so much homoerotic tension, especially now that we know Cassandra Peterson is a lesbian. Like, there is no heterosexual explanation for that.

- Nightmare on Elm Street (84) : 8/10. Loved Nancy, loved the kills, but her friends were borderline annoying at times. Tina’s death was INSANE, and I loved it. Glen’s was also a standout, the amount of blood coming out of that waterbed was so unnecessary but oh so incredible.

- Nightmare on Elm Street part 2; Freddy’s Revenge : 9/10. I’ve heard so many great and gay things about this one, and boy did it live up to its word. My favorite was the practical effects of Jesse splitting in two so Freddy could come through.

- Nightmare on Elm Street 3; Dream Warriors: 10/10. A fan favorite, and MY favorite. Love Nancy and love Kristen. This one was so much fun!

- Nightmare on Elm Street 4; Dream Master: 9/10. Absolutely obsessed with Sheila and Alice. Not a fan of the Kristen recast, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. Kudos to Rick’s actor for doing that fight scene all on his own. Also enjoyed the practical effects.

- Nightmare on Elm Street 5; Dream Baby: 8/10. Absolutely bananas. I was a big fan of Mark’s death, on a visual aspect. The acting felt kind of dull, soap-opera like, but I enjoyed myself over all.

- Nightmare on Elm Street; Final Nightmare: 6/10. Absolute trash film (/pos) I really like Tracy’s enthusiasm. Maggie’s storyline was so tragic yet so silly.

- X : 10/10. Absolutely fucking incredible. No notes. If anyone has anything poor to say about this film, feed ‘em to Theda.

- Pearl : 10/10. I was absolutely gagged by this film. I didn’t like it as much as I did X, but it was still a phenomenal film. Loved the connections and easter eggs from X, like where the car in the lake came from.

- Evil Dead (81) : 8/10. The practical effects were GREAT for its time, and I really enjoyed myself during this film. My only complaint is that at times, it took me a second to figure out what was happening on screen, and confused the female characters with each other.

- Evil Dead 2 : 8/10. A great continuation with a stellar, bizarre ending. I enjoyed watching Ash descend into madness with his bite, and I thoroughly enjoyed Annie’s character.

- Army of Darkness : 10/10. So camp, so beautiful. Reminds me of Robin Hood (Men in Tights) or Monty Python. So ridiculous, yet still containing so much gore and… somehow a storyline? Ash may be one of my favorite delusional himbos in horror.

- Evil Dead (2013) : 9/10. This film was INCREDIBLE, with great jumpscares, gore, and a compelling character in a format based on the original ED. The coloring of it was absolutely true to the 2010’s style of film. My only complaint is that the jumpscares were drawn out a little too long.

Evil Dead Rise: 8/10. INSANE opening scene, and has incredible kills and gore throughout. I was SO concerned for Kassie the whole film, that poor girl has SO many years of therapy ahead of her. Wish the rest of the film’s storyline had matched that opening.

- Orphan First Kill : 10/10 I watched this the day it came out, not even having seen the first Orphan film, but having enough knowledge of it for things to make sense. That final fight was INTENSE. Stand-out scene was Esther in Anna’s home.

- Cocaine Bear : 10/10. Super camp and fun, but also full of sick kills. Also I would die for Keri Russell

- Cabin in the Woods : 10/10. This was so much fun! I really liked the take on the people being behind the film’s plot, and them all just not giving a shit about the people in the “film” because they don’t see them as real people. The kills were BRUTAL, but also tame in the same sense, like you could see all of the gore and aftermath, but didn’t really witness anyone’s demise thoroughly. I actually laughed out loud when Curt hit the wall, because I knew that it was going to happen (because of the bird foreshadowing earlier). Stellar parody.

- Halloween (71) : 10/10. I love the fact that the darkness aids makes it a million times more tense, you can hardly see Michael, and it adds to it. Also loved the creepy, slowed-down version of the theme.

- Halloween 2: 7/10. Slow-paced, which made it even creepier. Love that it could have been played with the first as one film. Big fan of the jacuzzi scene. Also a big fan of Michael walking out of that explosion on fire. Not rated a ten because it didn’t really add very many new storylines to be invested in.

- Rubber: 10/10. Wish I could rate it higher. This movie was absolute trash (/pos) and there wasn’t a moment where I wasn’t laughing at how absurd it was. Incredible watch.

- Friday the 13th:

#horror films #ghoulies #fright night #night of the living dead #elvira mistress of the dark #nightmare on elm street #x #pearl #evil dead #evil dead 2 #army of darkness #orphan first kill #my horror reviews #cocaine bear

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raspberrybluejeans · 2 years

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given the birth of a second hyperfixation in this new era of mine i decided to try and think of all of the ones i’ve had before lol. long ass post under the cut

I don’t know the exact order of some of these things but roughly, and mostly categorized by what school I was in at the time because its easier to remember where I was spending my time thinking about these lol:

Robin Hood. (just elementary school I think) Just in general. Consumed anything I could find about him. Somehow believed I was his descendent 💀 I actually visited Sherwood forest and I can’t remember if this Started the madness or if I was already starting lol

Warriors (elementary and I think going into middle school a bit too) The king. the big one. It was my fucking lifestyle. Believed I was a cat in a human body. I had my dad preorder the books as they came out, they’d come in the mail and I’d read the whole thing in a day. I literally prayed to StarClan. I prosthelytized these books to anyone who would listen. I still proudly display the books in my room they are a part of my soul even if I barely remember particular events of them anymore lol

Fushigi Yugi (middle school I think) I don't know how tf I found this anime and I've never heard of anyone else talk about it before. I don't even remember what it was really about anymore. But I know I was making OCs and drawing fanart and had books of notes and little fanfiction things that I never shared with anyone lol. I vaguely remember that this show actually had a trans character, though its anime so of course it wasn't done particularly respectfully lmao. But I think its part of why it stuck with me so much at this time that my gender was starting to trans lmfao. (All i remember is the protagonist was going to get the ability to grant wishes at some point, and one character who was mostly seemingly male asked if she would use her wish to term him(?) into a woman)

His Dark Materials (middle school) I ate these books up and I liked The Golden Compass movie too, but definitely not as much as the books. I made myself a daemon and I am so sad to say I don't remember his name anymore. At the time I was still identifying as female so the daemon was a male lol. I think I had decided his settled form would be a Jaguarundi even though I was still a kid lmfao. I remember gently forcing my friends to make daemons for themselves too lol

Hetalia (middle school. pretty sure the hyperfixation was about done before starting high school) I don't know that I want to share much details about these dark times but I was so insane 💀

Star Trek (high school) I watched The Original Series when I was younger with my dad and I loved it but didnt particularly hyperfixate until high school, where I started also watching The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Loved them all so much. Made OCs, fanart, etc. For some reason I never really got into shipping with Star Trek though. I've always said they feel like my family members so it feels wrong LOL. I do ship Spock and Kirk and stuff but it took me awhile to get into seeing actual ship fanart because it felt like seeing your parents kiss or something 😂 I remember I would draw little star trek things and look up lore and I'd talk about the different species and stuff to anyone who would listen lol

SuperWhoLock (high school) I sort of fixated on each of these more at random times, though I'm pretty sure that Doctor Who was the strongest interest of the three? I think I did cosplay stuff for all of them, fanart stuff for all of them. Read so much Sherlock fanfiction it makes me sick to think about now

Homestuck (high school) pain. OCs, fanart, cosplaying, everything. Parodies of real songs made to be about homestuck filled my song library. Madness

Marvel (high school and slowly tapered off into the medicated years lol) MCU, Xmen, comics, everything. I watched all the movies religiously and I had a subscription to the marvel comics app where you could read most of the comics or whatever. I LOVED The Young Avengers and I was sad that they never really made a movie or show for them, but I'm sorta glad they havent now. They would have fucked them up. I also loved the XMen First Class movie and was obsessed with Cherik. And I ate up all the MCU crap, I loved Thor and Jane. I just watched Thor: Love and Thunder which was my first MCU movie in quite awhile and the Thor and Jane stuff in it was kind of cathartic tbh

And then I was medicated 💀 The medication was good in some ways, but it seriously deadened all of my emotions. I just did not deeply care about anything or anyone and thought that was just part of maturing. The MCU movies getting worse and worse until they were unwatchable kind of crushed me and the urge to be interested in anything as well. The closest thing I had to big interests in this time was weirdly enough all games: Pokemon Go, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Minecraft. Not full obsession but they took up most of my free time. But I sort of realized that most of my zest for life died around the time I started taking the medication. And the main reason that I stopped taking it was that when I forgot to take it the detox symptoms or whatever were so violent and it literally would make me sick for days just from forgetting ONE day. So I decided to stop taking them (I weaned off them slowly) and have mostly not regretted that decision. Now I get the thrill of hyperfixations again, which feel even more exciting after being numb for so long lmao

Our Flag Means Death. Obsessed obsessed obsessed. I think I may have read more fanfiction for these ten bitch ass little episodes than anything else before. I made the sideblog to allow myself to go full balls to the wall without flooding my main lmfao. I loved being a part of this fandom as it was born and it has been so much fun. I joined a discord server for this show and I love talking to them. Even though the hyperfixation has faded I still adore this show and I am SO happy there's going to be a season 2, I can't wait, and I hope the hyperfixation sparks up again when it comes out. I can't wait to tear apart every little detail again.

The Magnus Archives. This shit hit me out of left field. I was sad from my OFMD era being burned out and I was tired of all of my music and I decided to listen to this just for something to do. This shit grabbed me by the gooch and swung me around the room. I listened completely blind I had no idea what was going to happen at all and I am just fucking losing my shit. That ending literally has me eating drywall. And since it ended like over a year ago pretty much everyone else is over it now and I have no one to talk to and I'm losing my mind. Help. Help.

Notable shoutouts for things I really loved/love but they never fully manifested into like. obsession (at least they haven’t yet lol)

Animal Ark (elementary) I just ate up these books I read so many but didnt quite have enough lore to obsess over lmao

Animorphs (elementary/middle) not sure why this didnt really manifest into obsession. i own all of the books though, and still display them lol

Several random animes I no longer remember. (middle) There was some period where I'd watch any anime/read any manga I could get my hands on and have a brief little moment with that lol

Merlin (high school) loved it but alas. no insanity

Teen Wolf (high school) even closer to hyperfixation but not quite

In The Flesh (high school) I think this one almost could have been considered a hyperfixation but I got into it like. basically right when it got cancelled and it just SHATTERED my heart I did not recover for years I still live in terror from that

Welcome To Nightvale (high school) So I was MAINLY obsessed with the fact that the protagonist was gay and less so with the actual plot lol. I did cosplay for this though, I was even Cecil for Halloween one year. I want to restart listening to this soon, to give it another chance, since I have a new appreciation for spooky shit. Once my TMA era has faded lmfao.

Ice Planet Barbarians Series (I think I was reading these right around the time I stopped taking meds lol) I started reading the first one as a joke because it has a funny name and funny cover but I actually loved it. I loved the world and the lore and everything. It frustrated me in the end though because a) each book got too formulaic. Every book was a brand new couple. Girl I want to hear more about the established couples and their families and shit. and b) because gay stuff was almost impossible given the way things worked in this series lol. Anyways close but no cigar. I read at least 20 of those fuckin books tho

Howl's Moving Castle book series (Post Medication Modern Era) I fucking adored these books, they were so easy to read and the world was so delightful and funny. I wish there was more. But there was not enough lore or community for me to hyperfixate

The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings books (PMME) Fucking incredible even if they were very hard to read. I'm almost certain I would have had a full LOTR era if OFMD had not hit me like a train. So maybe this will happen eventually but I think I've been enjoying it The Normal Amount for a longer amount of time instead lol. I did also have sort of a mini era back in high school or something over The Hobbit movies but now that I've read the books those leave sort of a bad taste in my mouth lol

Black Sails (PMME) I was still too obsessed with OFMD when I watched this lol. This show was so good and had I seen it before OFMD I might have gone super crazy for it. I still think it was such a good story though.

Theres a good chance that I'm forgetting some stuff here but oh well lmfao. If you actually read all of this I give you a kiss on the lips

#ograt

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sillygoofychampion · 6 months

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Warriors head rant

What if like at some point during warriors a bunch of cats were like “fuck this, we hate this shit, we’re leaving.” And so like 9 cats from all the clans gathered up and were like “let’s go. And so they leave and they go so far away they think they would never get found. They end up finding this area where it’s this shorter mountain with a pretty damn big river encircling its base and a thick ass dark green forest surrounding the outside of the river. The river doesn’t connect in a circle instead there’s an opening to get to the mountain. The cats are like “damn lmao this shit seems pretty cool let’s go here” and so they just kinda set up. The cats hunt in the places they were used to when they were in the clans but always come back together and share with each other. Here there’s no star clan there’s just these giant spirits. In the forest the spirit of a huge bear who’s favorite food is nuts. In the water the spirit of a gator who loves fish. And lastly the spirit of a flying squirrel who goes all around. All three of these spirits watch these cats grow and grow as a community, even inviting lost cats that end up there to live with them. The spirits are like “damn these bitches cool.” And use some ghostly magic on them. The bear grants the larger of the cats lots of strength, and the ability to digest nuts. The gator grants the cats who prefer the water the ability to be underwater for hours, to the point they can basically live in the water. The squirrel grants particularly fast cats lots of agility and energy and the ability to digest berries. As the community grows this changes how they are set up. They call themselves “the folks” and some folks are just better fit for some jobs than others. Brutish folks are cats who have the bears gift. They’re absolutely MASSIVE and most have long fur and they live mostly under the large trees cracking nuts open for the others as they fall down. They’re strong enough to shake the trees so nuts fall down. Then the splashy folk have the gators gift and they spend an insane amount of time in the water. Instead of just fishing they have to farm the fish to make sure they don’t just decimate their population. The freed go all over the place. They bring messages, they hunt, they help out, just generally they’re doing lots of different stuff and they like it like that. There’s also cats who don’t fit into those folks which is fine. There’s the centrist folks who live on the mountain and that’s where a TON of stuff happens. That’s where the medicine cats are, that’s where all of the kits are raised, that’s where kits make decisions on what folk they would like to be part of, that’s where kits get initial training, that’s where discussions between all the folks happen to get past problems, all of it. Then there’s the roost, which is between the diverging rivers. That’s where cats who need assistance living can go. It’s in a very easy to maneuver area which the other places aren’t. All of the folk are together, all working for each other. There are no borders, no rules on who to love, no leaders, they’re all just working together. While some have an advantage based on if they have a gift or not, anyone can become part of any of the folks. They also just kinda roam about when they die. They can stay with them or go wherever else they want to go. Eventually the clans forget their nine missing cats and the folk forget about the clans other than small stories. Starclan of course gets pissssseeedd that the folk left and did their own thing and it’s going well, and so they tell a party of cats about the folk and then are like “go bring them back home/turn them into part of the clans” or somethin and so the party go but when they get there they’re greeted by a whole bunch of cats who have nooooo clue what they’re talking about but they’re happy to give them some food and a place to stay and the warriors just have to sit there and stew in their dislike of these cats in spite

#insanity

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apricusnights · 9 months

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"It's funny, what little we actually know about this world. Take the five Emperors for example. The amount of information we have is..well it really isn't all that impressive."

"I doubt that is anything that bothers you too much right? Otherwise you wouldn't have asked about it in the first place. Well, sit down and I'll tell you everything we know. Everything that the previous university presentation didn't go over."

"You can probably guess that we don't have concrete details on things like ages or where they are from. Just know that everything I tell you is pretty much everything anyone is gonna know. I doubt you're gonna find out any way other than tryin to speak to one of them...good luck with that."

"See this drawing? Oh right, I should probably mention that since we don't really have any pictures we have to go off details of those who have been before them. Anyway.."

"This is Clarion. We know the name because a few others have heard it. Clarion is..kind of..well if all of them are mysterious, this one is likely the most. They seem to enjoy causing mischief, they are something of a trickster if you will. They have a set of cat ears so we have to assume they decided at one point to get augmentation, unless those are natural..who knows."

"Nobody has seen Clarion fight but they are an emperor so I'm willing to bet their skill is way above just about everyone else. They seem to have some sort of shadow based power. Members of the Marigold clan reported being engulfed in shadow and suddenly waking up on a beach..half a world away."

Nations with possible bloodline ties: Fae Apricus Kwailai

"Ah right, the big man. His name is Vili, or so we are told. He's monstrous, we're talkin someone who could probably throw a titan class chimera. Vili has a set of horns, again maybe an augmentation at some point. He values strength above all else. It's said he watches battles across all nations. If you ask me it's likely that warriors often seek his blessing."

"He's regarded as the second strongest emperor, and possibly the oldest. He have some reports of a fight against him and it went about as well as you could expect Still, seems he respect those who refuse to give up even against overwhelming odds."

"We have no real idea what his powers may be. All we have are reports of his sheer strength, size, and neat invulnerability. Perhaps he simply hasn't had an open he considers worthy enough to show off what he can really do."

Nations with possible bloodline ties: Nivis Völsung Calere

"This is Tagetes, the rabbit eared emperor. As you can tell by the nickname she's got rabbit ear augmentations, I think? Like I said before, maybe they are natural..who knows with these folk."

"Tagetes hasn't been seen fighting so we don' have a lot of information on her style or what her combat abilities may be. We can assume they are fairly high though as she's managed to talk two of the other emperors down and that's not somethin everyone can do."

"She seems to posses the ability to heal someone from nearly any wound inflicted on them. There are rumors that she can pinpoint weak spots of sorts on any opponent and is able to somehow shut down someone's offense by striking them. Again, we've never heard of her fighting so how much of that is true, we may never know."

Nations with possible bloodline ties: Ricusare Asirel Fulminare Islands

"The drawing of the big lady there? That's Morrigan. Least I think that's her name. She's one we got a little bit of combat information about. She's strong, like insanely strong..might even rival Vili. But she's also really quick, quicker than she has any right to be. She seems to control some incredibly unique weapons...or maybe it's one weapon in several parts..hard to say."

"Reports say she's got some weird ability to drain the life force out of someone. Maybe it makes her stronger, maybe she just does it for fun. She's been known to be a bit sadistic on the battlefield."

"She's one of only two emperors that seem to have no augmentation done. She also seems to be one of the more mysterious emperors since little else is known about her."

Nations with possible bloodline tie: Kwailai Fae Réunion

"This one is gonna be short. See this guy? We don't even know what his name is. He's often referred to "The First". The first what? We don't know, maybe the first of the emperors. It would fit since he seems to have been around longer than the other four."

"Without any doubt in my mind I'd say he's the strongest one of the bunch. When you've got people as strong as the other emperors listening to you, and not wanting to get on your bad side..yeah."

"We have no reports on what his powers are, no reports on anything really. Wish I had more to give you but everyone seems to be at a loss when it comes to this guy."

Nations with possible bloodline ties: Apricus Crepusculum ???

"Can these folks really grant just about any desire you have? Who knows. Anyway, thanks for droppin by. You may be able to find some more information if you dig around enough but I doubt you'll find much more. "

"Have a nice weekend everyone!"

#Mr. Kusunoki

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celticbarb · 1 year

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Book: Highland Beast

Author: Heather McCollum

Series: Sons of Sinclair, Book #4

Publisher: Entangled

Book Length: 334 pages

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

Blog Rating: 5 Saltire Book Reviews

They were two halves that together created a magical whole….Dick Button

This story is set around Chieftain George Sinclair’s fourth son who he named after Bàs, after his wife died in childbirth. This Sinclair Chieftain was filled with grief and became very eccentric, abusive and insane. He renamed all his sons from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse plus ignoring his fourth child who was a female named Hannah, as his fourth son was actually his wife’s fifth birth. He decided his fourth son would be the clan's executioner back when he was a boy of five summers. A gentle kind boy who loved picking flowers and animals fiercely, now he forced him to wear a skull mask made from a human enemy. It was a severe case of child abuse and George Sinclair was absolutely wicked and insane calling the wife he lost in childbirth his first execution and beating the boy for not killing animals he asked him to kill as practice. Now the boy wishes he was beastie like his animal friends as he could no longer have human friends as they were all afraid of him. Therefore when he became a man he never had any female friends or companionship until he met Shana Drummond. A midwife who is about to change his life, his total opposite, yet so were the sun and the moon. This bonnie lass shows him his true worth however she doesn't know his role as Death. Will she despise him if she finds out the truth? Now see how this clan role affected Bàs and how this ginger haired Scottish beauty changes his life. Therefore as a man, this is the story of The Horseman of Death, also known as Bàs Sinclair, as the Sons of Sinclair saga continues…

Scotland, 1591

Bàs Sinclair discovers a woman who he saves from a pack of wolves ready to devour Shana Drummond and her newborn nephew Edward. It turns out she meets this gentle giant who cares for animals. However if he names the beasties/animals which means he will never kill or eat them and they will be under his care forever. Especially a wolf named Beò, dogs named Artemis and Apollo, horse named Dòchas, cat named Banshee, hawk named Bruce, Highland coo’s named Ilsa and her calf Iona and the newest member a squirrel named Betty. Shana assumes his name is short for Sebastian not Death. So when she goes back to save her sister Ivy from her abusive cruel brother-in-law, Chieftain Erskine Oliphant and is caught!

Bàs the sword of justice is called to execute Shana for murders she did not commit, as this is the kind midwife who brings life into the world and Bàs’s heart had shared his first kiss with. Of course he knows this Chieftain Oliphant who is Shana’s cruel brother-in-law is lying, claiming she killed his wife and son. When the son was at Bàs home and Shana’s sister who had just delivered Edward only days before was with fever in her husband's cold, dirty, smelly dungeon! Of course Bàs refuses to execute Shana wearing his skull mask and holding his hammer in one hand and sword in another and threatens the Chieftain when he claims he will kill Shana himself. This is when Bàs threatens Oliphant with civil war if he touches a hair on Shana! However, he does it without speaking to his brothers. Needless to say for not being honest with Shana and threatening a possible civil war without speaking to his elder brothers first-Bàs Sinclair is definitely in a heap of trouble!

Even though Bàs saved Shana’s life and is trying to find a solution for Shana’s troubles she feels very betrayed and hurt. Afterall she had developed feelings for this warrior not knowing he was a killer! This also questions Bàs wondering if he had killed other innocents without questioning or asking for proof of their crimes. This was the first time he refused an execution and now he wonders if anyone else he had killed had truly committed those crimes. As Bàs is a person who ends life and Shana is a person who brings life into the world. Can this man and woman be any more different? Can they be any more different and still have a future together? Shall Shana hate this man she had started to love feeling the ultimate betrayal? Will she be burned for witchcraft by King James due to her brother-in-law’s lies? Will there be a clan war started by the Sinclair’s to protect innocent lives? Read and find out in this captivating action packed, awe-inspiring, page-turning, heart pulling, romantic adventure with multi-dimensional characters and detailed plot lines that absolutely draw readers in!

Heather McCollum continues to be my go to author as she has for many years. She is definitely the master of her genre, as her gripping tales touch my soul in a way not many books can accomplish! On a personal note: I am a devout animal lover and as a young girl I brought home a goat, nine kittens, countless puppies, bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters etc. Okay maybe I did not own a wolf but I grew up with german shepherds that looked and howled like wolves. I also have a love for highland coos which I fed in Scotland at a coo farm in the Highlands.

Needless to say, how can your heart not feel for this young boy who had been both mentally and physically abused by his own father and forcing him to wear a human skull mask! Plus beating him as a child for not killing the animals he loves so much. It was absolutely so abusive and despicable on so many levels! If it was this century the father would have been taken away and put in a mental facility, plus their sweet Aunt Merida would have gotten full custody of all of her brother's children. My heart has always gone out for Bàs since “Highland Conquest” in book one, so I was very excited and impatiently waiting for Bàs Sinclair’s story to come out. I must say this is definitely my favorite book of the “Sons of Sinclair” series, but definitely have a box of Kleenex nearby-as this breathtaking story was also very emotional for me. For me that only means how phenomenal and brilliant the story is to touch my heart and soul that much, that I am that emotionally involved to make me sob. It just shows how real the story is and what a phenomenal storyteller Ms. McCollum is! I definitely recommend this book and looking forward to Hannah’s story next, the ignored daughter.

As a lover of Scottish history: I also love how this author weaves true historic facts in her fictional stories as her research is always on target. For example King Janes VI of Scotland and I of England who was the son of Mary Queen of Scots yet the heir of Queen Elizabeth I of England. This eccentric King blamed witches for trying to kill the King and Queen Anne as they were caught in a bad storm in the sea. This started his royal obsession with witches that started brutal witch hunts and tortured and killed thousands of innocent women that spread all over Europe. Midwives, and healers were some of the biggest targets for these horrendous witch hunts.

This is definitely my favorite book of the “Sons of Sinclair” series, but definitely have a box of Kleenex nearby-as this breathtaking story was also very emotional for me. For me that only means this book is absolutely brilliant and a total masterpiece from start to finish. To touch my heart and soul that much that I am that emotionally involved in a story to make me sob is just amazing. It just shows how real the story is to me and what a dazzling storyteller Ms. McCollum is! I definitely highly recommend this book and the entire series and look forward to the ignored daughter, Hannah’s story next!

Sons of Sinclair series that can be read as a stand alone or in series order. I have read each book as I am obsessed with back stories and family connections.

SONS OF SINCLAIR SERIES

by Heather McCollum

1)Highland Conquest - Cain

2) Highland Warrior - Joshua

3)Highland Justice - Gideon

4)Highland Beast - Bàs TBR 4/25/2023

5)Title unknown - Hannah TBR my guess is April 2024

Disclaimer: I recteived an advance readers copy from Entangled publishing. I voluntarily agreed to do an honest, fair, review and blog through netgalley. All words, thoughts, ideas are my own.

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=highland+beast+heather+mccollum&crid=LO4KJTYO1JNR&sprefix=highland+beast%2Caps%2C88&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_14

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/highland-beast-heather-mccollum/1141363831;

https://books.apple.com/us/book/highland-beast/id1623195929

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?PAffiliateID=1l3vnbh&PCamRefID=bookbubblogd&_bbid=121268437&_bbreg=us&_bbtype=blog&id=SpduEAAAQBAJ

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/highland-beast-8?utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=BookBub&utm_term=bookbubblogd&ranMID=37217&ranEAID=tWxX

https://www.entangledpublishing.com/books/highland-beast

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bokettochild · 2 years

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Everyone in the chain can be intimidating, but there's a ranking for who is the scariest:

Wind: He is a child, a smallish one at that. He might be able to wield big weapons, but his battle face is actually kinda cute at the moment. When he grows up he probably gets more intimidating, but for now he's just a little kid with a big hammer.

Hyrule: Kid can shapeshift and control lightning, but when you get down to it he's really just a cinnamon roll who's fighting to defend. When angry he can be a bit intimidating, but not as much as the others on the list.

Wild: This kid is batshit insane and can kill you in a variety of ways. His downside is that he's freaking adorable and can't look scary for the life of him. He just looks like a bean with oversized armor and weapons, not a scary dude. He can be scary when he bombs stuff and does dumb shit, but the scary part is more that he'll get hurt than that he'll hurt anyone else (except monsters).

Legend: Physically, he's not intimidating, not at all. He's the third shortest and he doesn't even have Wind's sturdy build. Kid is a twig. Why does he rank higher than the others though? His abilities and a glare that could level a field. Seriously, he's descended from Hylia, his eyes glint gold when he's furious or using his abilities, and it's scary as heck. Also, Din may have rubbed off on him enough that the grass literally withers beneath his feet when he's upset. He's like a contained storm when mad, ready at any second to unleash his fury on someone.

Twilight: Wolf man is tall and buff. He has the sweetest personality and not a lot of scary powers (except the wolf thing) but he's big, and the fact that he could probably crush anyone who makes him mad is enough to put him higher than the shortstacks of the group. No powers means nothing, he's like a mountain of a man.

Time: Two words- Dad Glare. We've seen Scary Time before, we've seen him mad and we have a good idea how he would be if he ever lashed out. His fear factor comes both from his big presence, big frame and the sense of not quite being Hylian that his masks and fae upbringing gave him. But when you get down to it he's just another powerful mortal

Warriors: There's a rumor is Castletown that General Link isn't even a Hylian. Some people are convinced he's some sort of god of war or something. He's the tallest of the chain, and while not as built as Time or Twilight (or Sky) his height more than makes up for it, along with the sparkling armor and the way his eyes almost glow when he's angry. Artemis describes it as the flames of the goddesses burning in his soul when he gets mad.

Four: He is small. He is shorter than everyone and unfortunately less built than even Wind, but Four's smirks are terrifying. No holy light or powers needed, his purple eyes just scream doom and you could swear his shadow is twisting behind him like a snake coiled to strike. Where the others tremble with light forces, Four ekes darkness in a way that is frequently abused to scare off cats.

Sky: He killed a god, and no one would doubt that if they saw him mad. He has the presence of a king, regal, fierce and cold when he's angered. He still looks the same, but it's like watching a lion tensed to pounce instead of seeing it laying about sleepily with it's pack. Sky could make anyone shit themselves with a single look.

#lu wind #lu hyrule #lu wild #lu legend #lu twilight #lu time #lu warriors #lu four #lu sky #linked universe #linkeduniverse #ketto's brainfarts

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astaroth1357 · 3 years

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Demigod MC Series: Ares

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares

Lucifer

He cannot overstate what kind of damage this mortal was able to do in their first few seconds in the Devildom...

The instant they got to their feet, they had managed to incapacitate Satan and knock down Beel. Lucifer himself tried to get between them and Diavolo but…

If he hadn’t moved his head, if he was standing just ONE INCH to the left… he wouldn’t have a head anymore. Barbatos was there to intervene, but had he not they could have probably taken out the Avatar of Pride and done critical damage to the Demon Prince himself in one strike...

Frankly, Lucifer prefers not to dwell on that moment... He's sure Ares must be proud of this one...

He pretty much treats the mortal like a live bomb afterward, if he can get away with not interacting with them at all, that’s what he’ll do.

He’s NOT scared of them... much... It’s just that they have a bullish and uncooperative attitude at best and since they know they can take any of them, they don't even consider him - Lucifer, the eldest demon brother - a threat...

But you know what the most frustrating thing is? They won't give him an inch of respect, but they'll always listen to Levi! Levi!!

Look, Lucifer knows he may not hold a rank among the Hell's army and he might not have been a major player in the Celestial/Demonic wars of the day, but he's still the strongest demons here, dammit!! 😡

Lucifer finds nothing is more embarrassing than having to ask Levi of all people to keep the mortal in line because he can't... Oh, the humiliation… He hopes they leave soon...

Mammon

At first, he thought they were scary. But in time he thought they were scary… and also pretty damn awkward.

Mammon wasn’t there when they more or less wiped out the majority of his brothers in the Conference Hall but when he finally showed up he'd never seen Lucifer look so pale… If THAT doesn't make you shit your pants, he doesn't know what will.

Naturally, he kind of toned it down on the "stupid human" stuff real quick after seeing that…

But here's the thing. After the two made a pact together, Mammon started to notice that the MC wasn't all that mean, they were just… violent?

He legitimately thought that they couldn’t stand him for a while until one day a guy on the street called him a dirtbag. The MC threw a punch right there! No questions asked, they just decked that guy!!

It was kind of touching… and messy. Very messy. Did he mention that they’re terrifying yet? 😥

As it turns out, the MC has apparently spent a lot of their life just fighting things and being asked to fight things so they're not very used to showing non-violent affection…

It took him awhile, but he realized that their way of saying, "I like you," is, "I will attack your enemies." So now all he does when his brothers tease him is say, "I'm telling MC!'' and they'll stop immediately. It's great!! 😁

Considers them to be his bodyguard when he goes out to gamble in some… shadier places. Most of the time not even the bouncers want to take on the MC, ain't nobody getting paid enough to lose that many teeth…

Leviathan

Okay, so. It's not very obvious anymore, but he USED to be on the front lines of the war against demons in the Celestial Realm. He was in charge of battle strategies, he led armies, and even now he still holds the highest rank of the royal navy!

So leave it to the kid of a war god to sniff all that out about him, huh…? They appeared to know all about his record the instant they saw him and they actually seemed to respect him for it!

For context, this mortal tells pretty much everybody to shove off but any time he’s around they call him “Admiral” or “sir” and actually pay attention to what he says! He can tell it drives Lucifer insane, but honestly? It’s a bit of an ego boost. 😌

It’s sort of cute when they come to him asking for tactical advice… They get just as into it as he does with his anime and any time he points out something that they haven't seen before they get so excited it's like they're a kid watching a magic trick. HUGE ego boost. 😏

Speaking of anime, it’s hit or miss whether or not they can watch any of it. Anything with good fight scenes (and let’s be honest, not that much talking) they’re on board for. But if the hero and the villain talk to each other for like an episode before throwing punches then the MC will just rant...

MC: “The enemy is distracted... Why aren’t they attacking yet??”

Levi: “Because the villain killed the hero’s best friend and they’re-”

MC: “They could avenge their friend right now if they ended things right here!”

Levi: “MC, we’ve been over this... That’s not how plot works.”

MC: “And now he got away!! See?? They should have killed him when they had the chance!”

Levi: “*sigh*... Let’s just play some CoD.”

Satan

The last thing he remembered when the “human” hopped out of the portal was a sharp pain to the side of the temple and Asmo wailing as he fell unconscious…

Yeeeeah, not great. And unfortunately for the mortal the Avatar of Wrath tends to hold a grudge…

For a comparatively brief moment in time, all of Satan’s considerable ire had shifted away from Lucifer and to their new housemate. They found their bed, clothes, pillows, food, and even their toothbrush cursed!

… But Ares kids must be built from some strong stuff, because half of what he employed didn’t even faze them! He even put an explosive spell on their backpack and not only did they tank the blast, it didn’t hurt them at all!! It was like they’re damn near immortal!

Annnnd they kind of are. Apparently the MC had taken a dip in the River Styx at some point before and became nigh invulnerable…

Was it maybe a little terrifying to know that they had kidnapped a nearly invincible demigod on the level of Achilles? Yes. Did that also mean that they must have had a weakness too? In theory....

Satan honestly devoted a depressing amount of time trying to uncover the “Achilles’ Heel” of his new sworn enemy… until…

The MC was walking with him and Asmo to RAD one morning when they passed by a group of lesser demons harassing a small puppy. Now Satan may be more of a cat man, but NO ONE fucks with animals while he’s around.

He was right about to go over and rip those demons a new one but the MC actually beat him to it! Apparently, the second that they realized what was happening, they launched themselves forward and started bashing the abusers' heads into a wall!

… Live by violence, forgive by violence because in that very moment Satan decided they weren’t so bad after all. He even joined in!

Oh, Asmo gave them both shit all day for the bloodstains on their uniforms and the scratches on their… everywhere, but it’s not like either of them cared. Righteous justice had been served and it was glorious!!

100% would team up with the MC in some kind of vigilante “punish-all-animal-abusers” gig. They have but to ask. 😌

Asmodeus

Oh they TERRIFIED Asmo when they first showed up! How else was he supposed to react?? They brought down his brothers like they were made of cardboard!!

Though he had to admit that the confident, battle-ready look they had about them was sexy as hell, he knew better than to go bear poking! 😣 He avoided them like plague until they finally asked him for a pact.

And then he discovered something… something very unexpected….

They're actually adorable!!!

Okay, like, not in appearance (they look like they could pile drive Cerberus for Pete’s sake!) but he discovered that they have NO CLUE how to handle physical affection. Like zero!!

The first time Asmo actually got the courage to try and hug them he expected them to toss him off, but instead they just stood there like a malfunctioning doll, all flustered and confused… It was so cute!!! 🥰

From that point on, Asmo would take every chance he could to wrap his arms around them or kiss their cheeks just to watch them try and fail to handle it. It's more fun than picking on Levi!!

It took two months for them to finally attempt any kind of reciprocation and even that was adorable! They pecked him on the forehead without thinking about it then nearly passed out from the realization. Apparently, they had never felt like kissing anyone before so he was quite honored!

The brothers know that if the MC's looking too mad to listen to Levi, they just need to call Asmo. A nigh invincible warrior becomes a LOT less scary after you’ve cuddled them into submission! 🤭

Beelzebub

Beel didn't like them one bit, at least not at the beginning. They had managed to get past him and actually attack Lucifer which was NOT a great first impression on their part...

He honestly saw them as a threat for a while, but unlike the rest of his brothers he didn’t avoid them. He just kept an eye on them.... constantly….

Look. Beel is a big guy. Stealth is not his strong suit… If he's tailing you, you're probably going to know about it because there's a six-foot something behemoth in orange following you around while pounding down bags of chips. He's not very subtle…

That being said, after following them around for a while the two finally got to talking and he realized that they didn’t want to hurt anybody or anything. They were just acting on instinct before.

After making the MC promise not to hurt any of his family, they got on much better terms. Hell, he actually got them into fangol!

Beel's sport of choice is pretty much just ultra-violent American football so the MC took a liking to it instantly! After enough begging, the coach let them try out and they got onto his team immediately.

He likes having them as a teammate! They're very good at the game, uh... even if they take it a little too seriously…

They once tried to convince his teammates to decorate the team bus with "the helmets of their fallen foes." They're REALLY into the sport… But hey, they haven't lost a game since they’ve joined. It’ll be fine!... Probably.

Belphegor

Hahaha… He’s in danger… 😥

It took one look at this mortal to make him rethink the whole, “Trick the Human” plan… Since when have humans looked like that?? They could crush his skull under their heel!!

It took all he had in him to play it cool when they first met because his internal monologue was nothing but screaming… THIS was the "human" he had to use to get him out of there?? How in the WORLD was he going to kill them?!

Admittedly, he had to think about it for a while. Belphie's a clever guy… and a demon. So who needs an honorable fight, anyway? If he can’t win one-on-one, then he’ll cheat!

He waited until the MC got the door open and didn't attempt a frontal assault… No laughter, no gloating. He just waited for them to turn their back, claws ready to dig out their heart, and then-!

MC: "Do you really want to try that?"

The MC must have had some kind of danger sense, because they didn't even have to turn around to know what Belphie was doing…

MC: "Look. I like Beel and you're his twin brother… So I'm willing to let this slide. But if you really want to try me…"

MC: *looks over their shoulder with the glare of a bona fide killer* "I won't hold back."

That was... very persuasive.

The MC brought Belphie down to the others peacefully with his tail between his legs and honestly Lucifer was more relieved that he wasn’t a bloodstain on the floor than he was mad… They could have killed him sooo easily…

They did, indeed, forgive and forget about the whole “attempted murder” thing, though Belphie was never quite able to shake off how frightening they were in that moment… He had nightmares for a while.

Thankfully, Asmo clued him in that the MC would melt into a harmless puddle of fluff if they got even the slightest bit of physical affection... Oh, the sweet payback he could dish out... It’s cuddle time. 😏

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me demigods #obey me headcanons

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yanderenightmare · 4 years

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Oh master, plez, DRAGON WARRIOR BAKUGO, my lord! I was thinking, if you please, a darling who is like clairvoyant, and that's why King bakugo needs her??? can you make it dark ;3 like like like whatever means necessary dark, like like like ill murder anyone who gets in my way, also also also it being really grotesque, I want merciless bakugo, BUT also kinda sweet when it comes to darling?? I don't know what exactly I want, but I know whatever you write I'll prob enjoy, Master Nightmare :3

DRAGON ! WARRIOR ! KING BAKUGO KATSUKI x FEM ! READER

goodiebag WARNINGS: abuse, violence, genocide, kidnapping, abduction, death, blood, murder, ableism, classism, anxiety, arson, narcissistic personality disorder, slavery, trauma, war

so, a little foreword, the darling in this story has a quirk (ik, I’m breaking my beliefs thinking Bakugo should have a quirkless reader! The insanity!) but it’s because in this au not it’s quite special to have a quirk. Quirks are achieved and not given so to say. So Katsuki has earned his quirk and reader has earned her quirk, and so has everyone else who has a quirk. Also the song is called “If I Had a Heart” by Fever Ray, it’s the theme song to vikings ironically haha.

PART TWO

MUTE AND NUDE

The King was in her village.

Word from the south spread quickly, like any wildfire would, especially when riding the wings of a dragon. The Kingdom’s seer was dead, and the almighty bruise-knuckled King required a new one. They called it misfortune, but give a child a toy, and the toy is destined to break. Some might say that that’s what they’re made for. The old toy had apparently done something so distasteful that it cost her own tongue. Unfortunately, or perhaps ironically the only thing she was useful for: on her knees, mouth open, worshipping her king.

She counted the smoke rising to the sky near the horizon. Hers would be the thirteenth village they came to, lest their quest was done. She thought she might have seen him in the cloud-coverage. Eerie shadows resembling what bats she found in the caves, but the sun was bright and could easily be mistaken for him, or the other way around, as she’s heard his coat is golden.

She heard the rumbling tumbling of hooves and paws and claws riding up the mountain-side. They were coming.

Their houses were made of rock, sturdy as they should be when placed on a mountain-top with constant winds howling at them, and handled the fire well. But people aren’t made of stone. The smell of burning flesh is awful, and though she had nothing to puke, she barfed nonetheless. People were screaming and she probably would have too if she could, she was most certainly crying and bleeding and heaving for breath like those unlucky others that were still left alive.

High mountains are a bleak habitat for animal life, partially why they lived up there: to be spared of being hunted, to escape fangs and claws. And now: people running for their lives, the aching in her ankles, a body not built for running, and a mind not used to being hunted. Yet, it was strange but, it wasn’t really foreign at all.

She’d been dreaming of things lately, and as death as well as dust and ash and blood settled and seeped into the mud around her, she couldn’t help but feel as though she’d seen it all before. In fact, there came a point in the middle of the fray she was certain she was dreaming as she stopped to eye the great golden mass in front of her. Scales sharp and silvery like mica on the mountainside, ruby-red eyes as though soaked with blood. Teeth long and sturdy like the jagged rocks of the tunnels, dripping not with water as they did in the caves but with blood and guts and torn clothes. And the talons, curved and shiny, black as night, digging into the gravel by his feet, treating the soil as though it were as thin as the air. But the wings… the wings are what had her falling to her knees, skin bitten by gravel. Greater then roofs, sweeping the sky as though he could pluck each and every star from the welkin, stud himself with them if he so wanted to, or swallow them if only to breath the light onto earth. He could shred trees with those wings, he could slice oceans apart, he could probably part the mountain, head in the heavens and roots with hell, the bridge that had stood for thousands of years, singlehandedly torn open by that great monster conquering both sky and earth as though they gave him life.

Her arm was bleeding. It had dentures, no… puncture wounds it seemed the more she looked. A pretty crescent moon of red marking deep into the soft tissue of her meager muscles, dripping onto the dirt, creating streaks in the mud caking her bare feet. She looked up to see a wolf turn into a man, a large man with spikes for hair, red but not the same red she’d seen earlier in those eyes, red like poppies far away from the red flowing in her veins, from what was leaking out of her arm.

She looked forward and saw bodies… no, not bodies… mangled mockeries of the human form strewn about her as though they were trampled wildflowers on a field. She looked to her side and saw her reflection in the faces of those she’d grown up with but never truly knew. She looked behind her, not spotting what abomination of life she’d seen earlier, the one painting the sky, the one eclipsing the sun.

Every young, pretty thing was lined up on a row that stretched about ten meters long as they weren’t that many in her village, and she was surprised to be one of them. The auditions began in the early left side of the fray, boys and girl shaking on unsteady knees, holding onto broken arms and gushing wounds. Her bitemark was begging for a fist around it too, but she had not the focus to indulge the wish as her eyes caught sight of a blot of gold contrasting the otherwise grey figures, it being clear who he was despite having altered form. Although not the tallest in stature, one could see it as clear as day, he towered over the rest of the flock.

The tones ripped from their throats were scratchy, untuned; garbage. It would seem none of the kids in the village were gifted, but if the Gods were of mercy they would grant them the vocal cords to survive the night. She couldn’t blame them for allowing their fear to taint their song. Seeing how the drapes in which the hooded figures dressed were soaked in blood from past failures. Knowing well how their weapons would breach flesh and bone were they not of any use to them.

If she had a voice she would use it for speaking and not for singing. This would probably be her last night.

They rushed through the girls and boys rather quickly. Swiftly; as if they had done it countless times before, as if they could decide by the first utterance of their very first tone, that they were a disappointment, that they were as good as dead.

Caught in the middle of the small gathering; her turn came along. The man, standing in front, had purple hair and a nasty scar on his face, adorned with bladed eyes like a cat. Another blade, a steel blade, was held at her throat. Unnecessary, as the brutal scarring of his arms was intimidating enough for her to understand she could survive nothing compared to what he had already lived through. “Sing.” He commanded abruptly, an atmosphere of force settled on the word, as though compelling her, quite like how the wind shakes the trees in command to dance for them.

She did her hand gestures as smooth as she could under the pressure, lips remaining closed.

He threw his eyebrows up, scar shifting in its place like a serpent, the message had clearly gotten across. A condescending smile, a most sinister snicker and an unfortunate scoff was all the sympathy he allowed her. “No voice?” It wasn’t a question. “What a meaningless life.” He stated in a mutter, before moving onto the next girl.

The golden figure, who had followed discreetly, didn’t continue on with the scarred boy, he instead planted his clawedfeet in front of the girl, threatening to crush her barefooted toes, sinking into the red clay of the town square. “Sing.” His voice was fuller, and because of it she didn’t dare look up.

The scarred boy came to a halt, looking back to watch the girl repeat the hand gestures once again, she thinking that maybe the scarred boy had blocked the view the first time.

“No excuses.” His foot shifted in the mud, talons somehow growing longer as they impaled the ground, indicated he leant in closer. “Sing.” He said again, the sharpness of the demand sending a shiver to travel down her spine as it was accompanied with a growl too much like the sound of thunder to be called human. The girl furrowed her brows and looked up, her bottom lip visible quaking. Yet, what looked at her was no dragon, no… it was a man, a boy. And his skin was not golden like the rarity found in the mountain halls, but tan like sand, and his hair was only a shade lighter, nothing alike the mane of the sun. But those eyes had her quaking, those sharp slitted eyes that seemed to hold her soul in a chokehold, full of cultivated knowledge, merciless, red like wine, red like blood, red like hell. What’s a fate worse than death? She wondered and swallowed at the thought, her breathing picking up its pace. “Sing!” Spit flew to her face like venom with the roar, the tone reverberating through the ground, shaking in her knees.

She felt the itch in her throat, and she would be lying if she said she hadn’t been feeling it more and more lately, the feeling of dead born words somehow washing away. Her whimpers, absent of anything except for breathiness before, now carrying a somewhat lilt of tone. She stared a little deeper into those blood-soaked orbs of the man that looked like the onset of death before her.

“If I had heart.”

The wind roared as if it were as surprised as she was, or perhaps it rejoiced, or perhaps it mourned.

She was silent, the wind crashing and flailing, whipping the rags of her dress, letting the ripped fabric lick her dirty and bruised legs, pulling the disheveled locks of hair out from her face. Eyes; terror-wide, looking into a pair of sharp ones, who seemed to be looking beyond her disheveled state, into something far more divine than she had ever seen, ever known. “Continue.” The red-eyed boy commanded firmly, a detectable form of lust in his voice.

Startled, feeling the gravel dig into her soles. “I would love you... if I had a voice, I would sing.” The people on either side of her looked to be even more distressed now, crying and screaming, looking like wraiths in those charcoaled rags they wore, hands covering their ears as though to protect themselves, terrified as they looked to the sky expecting it to come falling down upon them.

However, their insolence and disrespect wasn’t what angered him, he could allow them that much before he took their lives. But the conflict found in her voice, that’s what truly boiled beneath his skin. He reached out his hand, quick like a viper, the pressure in his fingertips simmering on her skin, sizzling with heat, only for him to dig his fingernails into her throat as well. “Forget everything you know, except for that your life is in the palm of my hand.” He said, securing her gaze, lifting her up to her tippy-toes, though still nowhere near leveling his height.

Awakened by his words and frightened to her bones by the searing look of his eyes, she did as she was told and forgot who she was, forgot what she was and gave into simply doing exactly what needed to be done to keep her alive, to keep what beast in front of her subdued, or perhaps also to satiate what fire seemed to have burst to life inside of her, screaming to be heard. “After the night, when I wake up, I’ll see what tomorrow brings.” Eyes glazed over by some infernal light. She roared, a howl of some sorts, and the trees seemed to shiver and shake in the outmost reverence. “More, give me more, give me more.”

Somehow the leaves stopped rustling at the sound of her abrupt finish. Overwhelmed; all she could do was breath, all she could to was quake, the wind making the tears ever present on her face, the blood of her arm drying and awakened again as new blood came gushing out of her wounds.

The swirling dramatics in his eyes died down into a calm yet eerie content look. “Found you.” He stated, taking his time for the awakening to soak in, bask in the glorious feeling of triumph, before breaking focus from her. He let out a long, satisfied sigh. “Burn the village.” The statement left her blood turning cold. “There’s nothing left for us here. Dispose of the disappointments.” He was quick with his words as though they had been said many times before, and the actions performed by the ones in grey were just as swift, just as merciless. Humans turning into monsters murdering humans.

“No!” She wasn’t aware the voice belonged to her, so many years gone by without being able to voice anything; an opinion; nothing more than a foreigner, let alone an objection.

The people beside her dropped to the floor like rag dolls nonetheless, her voice just as insignificant as if she was still voiceless, drowning in their own bloodied throats. Her throat didn’t match theirs, but had strong, calloused fingers wrapped around it instead, coated with blood, the stench of it becoming so familiar yet far from friendly.

“Forget them, they don’t matter.” His voice still sheer, despite the screams around them both, overwhelming in fact. She felt her mind slip away from her then, as though her sentience was squeezed out from her by the deadlock fist wrapped around her neck, a conquering drowsiness following, seeping into her like the crawling of darkness when the sun settles on the horizon, her vision blurring everything except for those red, red eyes, who; from this point until her death, would never leave her.

PART TWO

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neokad · 3 years

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Phantasy Star II - The 1989 JRPG that could

(This post is dedicated to @kuukigajan, my best friend, whom motivated me to post here again, so... I hope you'll enjoy this!)

This game. This freaking game.

I'm gonna say it right now: this post will contain massive spoilers about pretty much everything in Phantasy Star 2's story, so if you do plan on experiencing this game fresh, I strongly advise you to not read this post at all beyond the first paragraph, but... here's the gist of it: Phantasy Star II is one of the most important and groundbreaking JRPGs of its time, and I just did not believe this game was from 1989, at ALL. For that and a few other reasons, it has become one of my new favourite games of all time <3

In fact, I do want to start with the one big flaw of this adventure so that I can just gush about everything else that's brilliant about PSII. I have to be honest: the dungeon design in this game is horrible. Now to be fair, it does make the many places you visit more memorable, but well... there's a rumor floating around that an actual trainee made the layouts for the dungeons - and since this game was a bit rushed for the Genesis's launch, the devs just didn't have time to replace the... stuff he submitted. And let me tell you, this rumor makes sense: PSII's dungeons are too big, too maze-like, too confusing and also FILLED with strong enemies. And in a game where you don't get a way to save anywhere until the midway point, it can make your adventure very frustrating and potentially grindy because of that... Now I wouldn't say that PSII's nearly as bad in this area as say, the original version of Dragon Warrior or ironically the first Phantasy Star, but the dungeons can totally make you feel like the game's harder than it actually is, at least without a map.

Thankfully, you should never feel bad for using any maps or guides with this game! The execs at SEGA at the time made the very smart decision to include a walkthrough with each copy of the game, including maps, tips, secrets and more! Said guide does encourage youto not look at it as much as possible but... it's totally fair to just use this, without any shame!

And that is a great thing, because... with you armed with this piece of paper, Phantasy Star II can finally show you its actual brilliance.

The game's plot starts off a thousand years after the events of the first Phantasy Star game. Since Alis and her party defeated Dark Force, the inhabitants of the Algol solar system - and its three planets of Palma, Motavia and Dezolis - have enjoyed relative peace. However, at a (to my knowledge) unknown point in time, a computer entity known as Mother Brain has started imposing itself onto mostly Motavia. This, over time, has actually given many benefits to the region: the once deserted wasteland was given rain, water and crops, so that it could finally host viable, comfortable civilizations. The citizens that lived here could finally ditch their (arguably) nomadic, harsh lives in favor of comfort, pleasant weather and more. And most importantly, Mother Brain allowed its citizens, save for a few, to ditch their current jobs and live a life of laziness, without any obligations or pressure to do anything other than well, existence. This is reflected many times during the game through NPC dialogue, too!

It is on such a setting that our protagonist, Rolf, wakes up from a strange nightmare. In it, we see Alis batting Dark Force and struggling in doing so, but as soon as he realizes this, Rolf wakes up in cold sweat. He then proceeds to calm his nerves, realizing that no such dramatic events could possible happen to him - after all, he and many others have been under the universal protection and care of Mother Brain, whom at this point, has provided all of their needs for centuries. He then gets out of bed and goes to the central tower, where we works as an agent in case some things do go wrong.

And gone wrong things have! His superior informs him that biological monsters, which had been created and bred in the Mota biosystems laboratory, have gone rogue and infected the regions of Motavia at a rapid rate. Because of this, Rolf is asked to investigate the cause of this phenomenon. Once he gets home to prepare for his journey, he is ambushed by best girl Nei, who has been rescued by him many months ago from the clutches of a serial killer. She does not want to be left alone anymore, and since she is also worried for Rolf's sefety, asks him to accompany him on the mission. Naturally, Rolf accepts.

Here, I do want to bring up Nei in more detail! She's in fact, the first of PSII's brilliant story-gameplay interactions, and here's why! Nei is in fact, a crossbreed experiment between a human and an unknown animal with cat-like features, but here's the thing: this said experiment was a failure. Because of this, Nei is only one years old, and yet her physical and mental age are progressing way more rapidly than they should. And you can feel this effect on the game itself: she needs way less EXP than any other party member in the game to level up, and because of this she will skyrocket in levels way beyond the rest of your crew... with a catch. Because of the nature of the experiment, the genetic code inside of her is slowly being messed up and corrupted, which not only causes her level ups to be less valuable than anyone else's, but it also becomes an important plot point later... Unfortunately, despite her absolute cuteness, her status as a half-half made her a victim of bullying, racism and so much more, which is... pretty messed up to bring up at the time not gonna lie o_o

Starting up the journey, the party discovers that rogues have destroyed a neighboring city, and it just so happens that their base is situed at Shure, the first dungeon of the game . One assumption I like to make from this scene is that life has become so easy and careless on Motavia that people just went and did crime out of pure boredom, because life just wasn't thrilling enough anymore with Mother Brain doing everything it could for its inhabitants...

However, upon climbing said tower, Rolf and Nei find out multiple dead rogue bodies, whom have been presumably murdered by the many biomonsters roaming the place. They do, however, manage to find some dynamite and most importantly, a letter. This piece of paper informs our heroes that the daughter of a Darum, the very same person that tried to murder Nei months ago, is held captive in another tower, which explains why he turned to crime in the first place. They then decide to do the obvious, which is to rescue daughter Teim in her captivity location. Once they meet up with her, she explains her desire to talk to her father to set things straight and sway him from the life he's been getting into, as well as hide her from the surviving rogue members with the help of a veil. Our group manages to meet up with Darum, but... her daughter asks the party to stay put, as she does not want them to interfere with her as she explains things to her father. However, in the heat of the moment, she forgets to remove her veil, which causes Darum to not recognize her. In his confusion, he murders her own flesh and blood and sits there, stunned, as he watches the reason he caused many untold atrocities... wither away below him. Shocked and going insane by this situation, he sees no other way out... but to commit suicide with the help of a bomb.

It gets worse.

While this scene was tragic and brutal to say the least, it does allow Rolf to cross the previously guarded bridge where Darum was always located, which allows him to investigate his mission further.

I do want to make a sidenote here actually! Phantasy Star II does include eight playable characters, but unlike Rolf and Nei they do not join you at fixed intervals - instead, they will become available in your home town of Paseo once conditions are met. Sadly while they do have a recruitment quote, a few lines and a backstory, they do not have an impact on the main story in any way. This does blow as this means PSII does not have much in character development and interaction, but I did want to mention that there’s more to this game than just Rolf and Nei :P

Upon exploring the regions of Motavia, the party manages to make its way to the Biosystems lab, and what they find here is horrifying to say the least. The lab is in horrible shape, with cracked floors everywhere. On top of that, there is no one inside the lab anymore, it being completely deserted, save for some horrible-looking creatures being kept insides tubes, decorating the now sinister looking building... Because of this, Rolf deems it safe to pick up the recorder inside the lab, to analyze it and try to find out just what exactly went wrong - if anything at all - to hopefully figure out why the world has been sacked by biomonsters. And sure enough, the gang make its way back to Paseo. After handing over the recorder to the library located in Paseo’s Central Tower, it is now made clear: the biomonsters were caused by a large amount of energy used in a very short amount of time in those labs, causing them to mutate extremely rapidly. This had the predictable but unfortunate effect of ruining the natural order of the ecosystem, which is why these species are wrecking havoc without control. The librarian giving this information also makes the following connection: this outpour of energy must have come from Climatrol - another lab which regulates the weather of the terraformed planet so that it can sustain its new shape. Following this, Rolf and co. take a few steps to reach Climatrol - and I want to highlight a specific one!

The story somewhat pauses until then, but one of the dungeons you’ll go through is a garbage dump... and one of the treasures is a jet scooter you can use! Sounds cool, right? Well it is, but even such a cool object has been abandoned by the lazy society, since teleportation is much more convenient to them. I just thought it was a really neat detail, that’s all ^_^

Once making their way through the relatively normal Climatrol, something does wait for them at the top of the building... something... unsettling...

This is Neifirst. She was another failed experiment just like Nei, sharing the same biological data as her. However, unlike her sister, her creators tried to kill her on the spot due to her status. This made her enraged against the species that gave her life, and as an act of revenge, decided to unleash this bio catastrophy to slowly wipe us out. This is where another truth is revealed: Nei did not come with Rolf just to protect him, she actually wanted to put a stop to her sister, because while she did dislike being treated like a freak or a monster, she never wanted to hate her species as a whole... It remains that she still wants to stop her sister’s plans, and despite Rolf’s protests, the two engages in a fight. However, due to Neifirst being much stronger, Nei sustains heavy damage and is incapacitated. But, this is where the rest of the party comes in, and thus they finish the job and kill off Neifirst dead in her tracks, Rolf then quickly rushes in to his dear friend’s side, but as he does... it’s too late... Nei is dead.

This is yet another reason why Phantasy Star II is such an important game: it is, to my knowledge, the very first JRPG in which a major playable character dies permanently. Heck, Rolf even tries to bring her back through the local Clone Lab - because yes, citizens have access to eternal life by cloning their bodies until the end of time - but... since Nei’s genetic code was degenerating rapidly, they could not clone her body anymore. And, since Neifirst was also defeated, it is also impossible to get a fresh code back from anywhere in the world. Nei is dead. And you cannot do anything about it.

But don’t worry! It still gets worse!

But just as you’re about to find a way to fix this, it turns out that Climatrol has collapsed, which caused an immense flood all over the world. Since the government - and by extension, Mother Brain - isn’t happy about this, you are now considered a fugitive, a criminal. You are now the bad guy, and you are wanted for treason. 1989, anyone??

This is where the second brilliant story-gameplay integration of Phantasy Star II happens. Where until now you’ve only fought mutated monsters due to the outbreak, the government has now sent thousands of carious cyborgs and robots against you - and lo and behold, this is now the only thing you are fighting in both the overworld and dungeons, and the previous creatures are now nowhere to be seen. THAT’S REALLY SMART. Now sure, even if you are considered evil to many, you still task yourself with the task of unflooding the planet, and to do so you simply reactivate all four colored dams in the continent. However, upon reactivating the fourth one, your party is suddenly ambushed by a trio of robots sent by the cops, and this time? They succeed in capturing you. Your party is now sent in chains on a hovering satellite, as you are sentenced to slowly wither away and die in there without any trial of any sort, simply because you went against Mother Brain’s dear wishes...

But, something goes amiss. The sattelite starts to malfunction, and is now set to crash on one of the three planets of the Algol system. And despite you all trying to alter its course, it is too late. The satellite crashes onto Palma - the planet of the first Phantasy Star game - and it is gone.

That’s right! The planet in which many players took the time to save with Alis’s gang, to have a huge dungeon crawling adventure, the planet where you defeated Lassic in a glorious fashion. GONE. In only a few seconds. But... what about yourself? Well, you actually died! But a space pirate wandering close to the crash site pulled out your remains and cloned everyone’s body back to life... which makes you technically not yourself, and also dead, for the remainder of the game! ...May I remind you this game was developed in 1989?

Tyler the space pirate then escorts the zombie party back to Paseo, but not for long - you see, your commander, who hasn’t truly approved of Mother Brain’s actions against your group, allows you access to a spaceship. This is a big deal, because space travel as a whole has been banned ten years ago due to a major accident in which Rolf had lost his parents, and thus, the one stationed in Paseo is the last one remaining on the planet. But sure enough, Rolf takes the opportunity and travels to the ice planet of Dezolis, or Dezo.

And honestly? Even though this next part has nothing to do with the main story, it’s probably one of my favourites in the entire game. In this section, you simply must make your way through an abandoned space station, which has not seen use in years. At first, you’d think it was somewhat related to the spaceship incident, but as you explore this space station, you find a bunch of animals and newspapers lying around. You not only find some irrelevant ads about various products, but also news flash about a horrible gas spreading throughout the station, begging every inhabitant to evacuate immediately, which... definitively implies a very bleak fate to the place and its inhabitants o_o

And on top of this unsettling setting, this is the first time you get to hear “Silent Zone”, my favourite track in the game. While the rest of the soundtrack is very upbeat, catchy and all around excellent, this track in particular is very... sad, desolate, lonely, in spite of it being just as catchy! It all combines for a brilliant example of “show, don’t tell” that really sets the mood perfectly to me <3

Either way, upon exploring more of Dezo - a frigid wasteland with few inhabitants - the party gets to meet up with Noah, a party member from Phantasy Star I! After reawakening from a cryogenic sleep, he then reveals that unlike Paseo and Motavia, Dezo basically never submitted with Mother Brain’s control and benefits simply because they did not want to live a life without any struggles. Unfortunately, this is also where you learn that Paseo came to terms with this *after* being to MB’s whims and as such, you can connect the dots and realize that the satellite crash was no accident after all... it was all planned.

Noah, however, knows about how deeply MB has ruined everything for the inhabitants of Motavia and thus tasks Rolf with collecting eight legendary ancient weapons all throughout Dezo, located within some ruinous, empty, cold dungeons which make for stunning atmosphere and presence, believe me!

Once that’s done, he then entrusts Rolf with the ultimate Sword and, thanks to kinetic abilities, sends him and his troupe to the space station housing Mother Brain. And once there, for the first time in centuries, a human being has met with Mother Brain.

And of course, the computer scoffs at those rebelling against her. She laughs at how they think they’d want a life with struggles, wtihout comfort, without anyone providing their needs, when work and hardship seems so uninviting on a desert wasteland like Motavia, or a frigid hell like Dezo. And yet, after a (pretty difficult!) battle, you emerge victorious! Or do you?

After the victorious outcome, Noah senses some additional presences beyond Mother Brain’s spot, and urges the party to investigate. And then... I don’t think I’ll even explain it in words. Please watch what happens. It is disturbing.

youtube

Yeah. We, the humans, were destroying our planet, Earth. Thus, we escaped through this spaceship to avoid extinction, and found the Algo system. It then, to our species, only seemed logical with so few numbers, to instead slowly weaken the population of all three planets with Mother Brain, making it then easy (although a very long process) to get rid of the population and start anew, even if it meant genocide. What I love about this twist ending is not only how it’s presented: the creepy music, the way you did *not* expect it at all, the number of humans on the screen at once, and so on... but also, how you don’t even know for sure how it ends. You don’t know if Rolf, Rudo, Amy, Kain, Hugh, Shir, Anna... if any of them survived. But it looks grim. It looks like we lost. And it looks like everyone we fought and tried to save... will rot until the final days anyway... Phantasy Star II... is important. Sure, I could talk about how the game is challenging due to how both your party members AND the enemies are very capable in battle or the stellar, catchy, memorable soundtrack... but its story... is stunning. In 1989, we were still used to princesses being saved by armored heroes from dark dragons. We were used to things going all well in the end. But in 1989, Phantasy Star II taught us many things that would become staples in the future of JRPGs: Yes, your cherished ones may die with you not being able to do anything about it No, you may not be able to save everyone you’d like to. Yes, your actions might make things worse for yourself and everyone else. No, things aren’t quite as black or white as they seem. And no, you might not always win. Phantasy Star II is a masterpiece. It’s a bit hard to approach this game today, but with a guide, this game is a must play. It’s unique. It’s ambitious. It’s chilling. And I adore this game to pieces. Thank you for reading, somehow <3

#long post #phantasy star ii #phantasy star #jrpg #sega genesis

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words-writ-in-starlight · 3 years

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I'm thinking of reading Kencyrath, but I'm not sure whether i'll like it. What do you like about the series? Who would you recommend it for?

OKAY SO, first, the people I would recommend it to:

Anyone who read or watched more than half a book/four episodes of Game of Thrones--the Kencyrath has a similar list of trigger warnings, but commits much harder to the fantasy angle, and in my opinion deals more directly with the ethical problems raised by those trigger warnings

People who like those posts picking apart the minutiae of how high fantasy worlds work--the Kencyrath is one of the only series I’m familiar with that answers the question of “okay great you have a warrior race, so how does that actually work” with “it kind of doesn’t, everyone is starving half the time because we’re all warriors and our land can barely grow food, so if our mercenaries don’t get paid, we don’t eat”

People who like a mix of “low fantasy” moral questions (the first book is kind of like...hm, Lies of Locke Lamora?) with classic “high fantasy” political machinations and battles of good vs evil and such--the Kencyrath HAVE a grand sweeping destiny more or less on their doorstep, but they’ve sort of fallen down on the job about it

People who like books that deal with trauma recovery--Jame, the main character, spends most of her time trying to drag herself (and, ideally, her brother, cousin, and entire race) out of the cycle of abuse that they’ve all lived through, and every character has, to some extent, a trauma that shapes their actions one way or another

People who don’t mind a big cast as long as there are a couple main characters to focus on--the Kencyrath ends up being a pretty expansive cast, with a lot of schemes running at any given time, but it always revolves around Jame and her twin brother Tori

People who like complex societal worldbuilding and Loyalty Stuff--the Kendar/Highborn dynamic (warrior class/ruling class) is so wonderfully messed up and I love how seriously the books take both the advantages and massive pitfalls of that kind of society

People who listened to TAZ Balance and thought that the Hunger was really cool and terrifying and wanted a whole book series about the sequence where the world is fighting it

Anyone who ever read a standard high fantasy book with a Rambunctious Young Lady as the lead and went “this is fine, but if you’re going to spend 250 pages telling me that this girl is wild and uncontrollable, I would like to see her go completely feral, please”--Jame’s brain plays Yakety Sax 24/7 and you can TELL, so if you ever wanted a book where the Unladylike Lead Character goes genuinely apeshit, but also learns how to make friends and respect the value of traditionally feminine work even if it’s not for her

People I would recommend NOT read the Kencyrath:

Anyone who knows they are triggered by written discussion of assault, abuse, sexism, coercion, torture, flashbacks, racism, murder, or basically any other major trigger warning--I personally think the books deal with things pretty well, and they’re never grimdark, but they deal with a lot of incredibly heavy material, including child abuse, sexual assault, coercion, and torture. If you know you have a major trigger that really messes you up when you read about it, please exercise caution and feel free to contact me for more details. Also, if you have a specific trigger and want a different book recommendation, I have them on tap.

Anyone who struggles to read or connect with “problematic” characters--pretty much every character in this series will EVENTUALLY do something you don’t like, including Jame. The books go very hard on “who you are is defined by how you handle making an irreparable mistake,” so be prepared for that. If this is your hard stop but everything else is fine, I would recommend the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie (spaceships and war crimes and found family), or something by Robin McKinley (mostly fantasy), especially the Damar books or Sunshine!

Anyone for whom incest between twins is a hard stop--the primary romantic relationship is Jame/Tori, and while I would consider it easily the healthiest relationship in the series, that’s the ship and you should be aware of it. If this is your hard stop but everything else is fine, I would recommend the Captive Prince series by CS Pacat (political scheming and romance) or the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden (fairy tale fantasy)!

The stuff I like about the series:

Jame. I love that she’s allowed to be completely unhinged. I love that she faces consequences for her actions. I love her determination to slit reality open and lay it all out like a scientist in her search for the truth. I love her willingness to face unpleasant realities, and I love the times when she can’t bear them and has to figure out how to deal. I love every second she spends trying to figure out how honor works, and whether it’s even possible for a Highborn to be honorable, and how she can save her people without sacrificing who she is. I love to watch people pick a fight with her and immediately learn the error of her ways.

Tori. I know I pick on him a lot, and he deserves to be picked on, but Tori is really one of my favorite characters. He struggles a lot more than Jame to move past their father’s abuse, and he makes a lot of genuinely harmful choices in the depths of that struggle, but I love watching the times where he wins. It makes me frustrated beyond words when he caves to what he was taught, but I’m always elated when he can push past that and reveal the deeply loyal, sincerely honorable, incredibly good person that he became in spite of their father. He’s a good leader, despite everyone’s best efforts, and I love to see him fight for his people. Love to see him consider HIMSELF one of “his people” someday.

Kindrie. I won’t say too much about him, except that I didn’t actually like him that much when I first read the books, for basically the exact reasons Jame didn’t like him much at first--he’s someone doing trauma recovery in the exact opposite way that I was comfortable with. But god I love him so much, he is doing his best and his best is so much better than anyone would expect, from his past. Truly the best boy in the Kencyrath, wise beyond his years and just insane enough to get into the disasters where he’s most needed.

The Kendar. Instead of making this post 4k with individual bullet points about every Kendar I love, here is a brief litany. I love Marc because he’s the only stable person in the Kencyrath. I love Brier because she’s doing her best and it would be okay if everyone (including her) admitted that she doesn’t always know what that actually means. I love Burr and Rue because their rabid determination to turn Tori and Jame (Confirmed Feral Cats) into real nobility will never NOT be funny to me. I love Sheth Sharp-tongue because he’s the only person with his shit so together that not even Jame can ruffle him. I love the Randir Kendar who didn’t move, at the start of Bound in Blood. The Kendar are the most nuanced take on the concept of an eternally loyal warrior caste I’ve ever seen and I love them.

The Villains. I believe I have established that I love a nuanced villain. The Master is a pretty straight up and down villain figure, the voice of the darkness, John Hunger or Saruman or whatever else you might like to compare him to, but no one else is that simple. I love the Dreamweaver, who didn’t know what she was doing and paid for it anyway. I love Tyrandis, who knew what he was doing and did it and spent his eternity trying to fix it without breaking a single rule. I do NOT love Caldane, but he’s a kind of viscerally real, slimy evil that is exceptionally well executed. Likewise, I would like Rawneth to die, painfully, in short order, but godDAMN watching her chessboard unfold over the course of the books is hypnotic. The villains in this are GOOD, folks, and I like them.

I really need to wrap this up, so my last pick for what I like is Overpowered Characters. I complain a lot about media that panics over powerful characters, and responds by taking that power away, or having unstable worldbuilding that means the character is weak when the narrative demands it. The Kencyrath doesn’t do that. Jame is bonkers powerful from day one, and pretty much maintains that level through the series. Instead of focusing on characters building their power, like leveling in DnD, the Kencyrath focuses on the question of using power. Jame’s power in the first book is terrifying not just because she’s insanely strong, but because she has no idea how to use it. Likewise, Tori is determined pretty quickly to be at the same level that she is, but he’s in such deep denial that he’s as likely to kill himself as do anything useful. It’s just very SATISFYING, okay, to have a series actually do interesting things with OP characters. Sure, in a weird way Jame seems less like a magical nuke in book 8 than in book 1, but it’s because she’s not just throwing power around like someone playing darts blindfolded. And watching her figure out how to harness her power into something useful is so gratifying.

#kencyrath #chronicles of the kencyrath #book rec #my a+ number one alternative book rec if you don't think you want to read the kencyrath because of jame/tori is the captive prince #also i know those other book recs seem arbitrary but they're NOT okay i've thought about this #ANYWAY #A N Y W A Y #i hope this was enlightening anon #i'm sorry it got so long but i would need to know a little more about you personally to be more specific #if you have specific concerns please feel free to hit me up #anyway i'm listening to tam lin by tricky pixie and thinking big thoughts about some kencyrath aus after writing this #i need to get back into the me trilogy so i can actually write some stuff for the mass effectyrath au #or maybe go through the books and find a place to spin off that buddy cop jame & archiem arranged marriage fic #OH or to shove a lotus eater plot in there #what are some other good settings...hm actually i'd love to do a hanahaki au of gates of tagmeth #Let Torisen Be Aggressively Confronted With The Reality Of His Feelings 2021 #(i should try and figure out what i was doing with this three pages of soulmate su actually)#(i have no idea what past me was doing)#(but 'you get a mark for your soulmate and also for every lord you're bound to' kinda slaps as a concept)#a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #ALSO MY QUEUE TAG IS FROM THE KENCYRATH #Anonymous #asked and answered

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