#one nightmare mindscape

[basingstokemercury]

If I had a nickel for every time an episode largely consisted of Julian navigating a world peopled with fake versions of his friends, I'd have three nickels.

Which is actually a lot for one character in one show.

#deep space nine #space station squad #the julian bashir chronicles #two holosuites (one accident one malicious) #one nightmare mindscape #one alongside Garak #one with the mental projection of his would-be killer #one alone except for the man who becomes his nemesis #two knowing it's an illusion one not #only one with any contact with the outside world #or any support aside from his own fortitude #...why does this stuff never happen to anyone else? does Julian just have the most interesting mind? #also not that Distant Voices doesn't have a cool ending #but I kinda wish they'd done the thing that SGA episode did where one of the crew members goes in to help him break out #and serves as his anchor - wait SGA did that TWICE #of course that would require them knowing what's going on #uh say they monitor brainwaves or something #NO I AM NOT WRITING THAT AU I ALREADY HAVE A DISTANT VOICES FIC TO WRITE

[its-teeem]

A Dream of Black Dahlias

At some point, memories and nightmares start to merge.

#The struggles of being haunted by one of your victims #Is this an actual memmory? #Is it just a nightmare? #No idea since it's Dorian's problem #the picture of dorian gray #the portrait of dorian gray #dorian gray #basil hallward #tpodg #classic lit #classical literature #gothic literature #gothic lit #tpodg mindscape au

[crimeronan]

Holy shit yeah I forgot the last time Hunter left her alone at the castle was when Belos…

Actually, what was going on through Hunter’s mind when both he and Amity heard from the guard that something had happened to the princess? Did he really think she died? What were the worst case scenarios running through his mind?

he honest-to-god thought that belos had killed luz. or seriously injured her At The Very Least.

the thought process is like:

okay, everyone's outside the emperor's chambers. luz would have been having a private lesson/conference with him. luz has been going to pieces for Months and won't tell you why except it's very clear it has to do with the emperor which sucks because the one thing you're good for is keeping him from hurting her.

you know the emperor has a temper and loses control sometimes. you know that luz doesn't know how to manage his temper the same way you do. you know that luz is stubborn and independent and doesn't really understand what he's capable of (it's your fault) (it's all your fault) (you should have warned her) (you should have been here) (you should have killed him) (you are GOING to kill him)

something serious enough for people to gather outside of belos's private space waiting for news... that's not a normal loss of control for belos. the emperor is good at keeping his violence a secret.

hunter thinks luz is dead. and if she isn't then she needs him Immediately.

#replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au meta #horrible mindscape trauma pals #hunter toh #he feels UNBELIEVABLY guilty and sick about having gone anywhere else. feels like he should have known not to leave #and then once he knows luz is alive he's just confused and hurt and guilty over the fact that she handled it alone instead of trusting him #amity telling him 'i'm not the one who wasn't there' wasn't just pressing on a wound it was digging her fingers in to the knuckle #which is why hunter responds in kind. by being like if you're gonna give me shit about how i'm living my worst nightmare #i can make your nightmares come true too. Don't Fucking Test Me. #mmm. mess.

[astro-b-o-y-d]

So question about Bill's lack of a physical form. Do we think he originally had one in the Second Dimension and burned it with everything else?

#Hayley Speaks #I might be thinking that #I'm just saying; a complete lack of one while everyone else (Dipper Mabel and Soos) has one to return to outside the mindscape- #-makes one wonder #He could always have it squatting over in the Nightmare Realm but hmmm

[levshany]

about the Mindscape in Tandem AU

I really want to talk about Colibri, but I have to be careful because I can’t spoil too much. spoilers for Tandem are spoilers for "The Dawn". Therefore, I cannot yet explain some moments. But it's fine for the mindscape I guess. After all this is one of the most delicious parts of the story >:3

those of you who have read "At The Dawn Of The Light" know that Philip had the same dream for ten years in a row, where he is small and lives in his old house with Caleb. and Philip convinced himself that this was true reality, and the Boiling Islands were a nightmare

but then Philip, carelessly, without thinking it over, allowed Collie to come to him in his dreams. and at the same time he opened access to his mind, which later ended with Collie possessing Philips body in order to prevent him from “falling asleep forever”

In Mindscape, Collie set himself the following goals: to restore Philip's mind, make him stop considering his dream to be reality and make him want to return to the REAL reality

Both tasks turned out to be much more difficult than Collie thought. First, in Philip's mind he was completely powerless. he cannot in any way influence the surrounding space, and therefore he's not able to simply restore the forest of memories with a snap of his fingers. And secondly, Pip (surprisingly) doesn't want to be dissuaded of the falsity of his little world! No matter what cool logical arguments Collie puts forward, Philip just ignores or parries everything he says! The most offensive thing is that Pip actually understands perfectly well where the dream is and where the reality is, but for some reason he refuses to admit it. And and every time he runs away from answering, either disappearing into thin air in the middle of a conversation, or distracting Collie with something stupid. For example, he snatches his hat and starts a battle over it

Collie thought he could drag the surviving memories from the basement into the forest by hand, but Caleb wouldn’t let him. “How did Caleb end up here?”, those who have not read "The Dawn" will ask. and I will say that this is a part of Philip’s mind that performs a protective function and protects little Pip from unpleasant thoughts and gives advice on how to behave in situations. and the local Caleb regards Collie as a real threat, who with his mere presence breaks the “realness” of their little cozy reality, and even tries to make Pip remember some things that are unpleasant for both of them. each time Caleb caught Collie near the basement and drove him away. the only memory he allowed to return to the forest was Philip's first meeting with Collie

So it turns out that so far Collie can’t figure out how to help Philip. the only thing he can do now is get him out of the Boiling Isles. Replace this “nightmare” with some more pleasant dream, so that Philip is no longer afraid to at least wake up in this reality

#toh tandem au #the owl house #toh #phillip wittebane #toh pip #toh collector #the collector #my art #my comic

[forbidden-sunlight]

yandere!carcel escalante with ines!reader scenario

Warning: OOC, obsessive behavior, implied violence, language, mention of death, possible spoilers for latest chapters on the manhwa.

There may be possible triggers in this story.

If you do not feel comfortable venturing any further, please hit the 'back' button on your device or computer and read something much more pleasant than a possible series of unfortunate events.

You are responsible for your own Internet consumption!

Hey guys, hope you have all been well! I'd like to thank @ceeesxy-blog for providing honest feedback on the earlier drafts on this story!

For those who are wondering, I am still revising/editing the other headcanons I had written for Carcel Escalante. When they are ready, they will be posted.

With that being said, sit back, relax, and let's dive into world of romance and second chances. Or maybe four :)

The Spirit was glaring heatedly at your back again. She seemed to be doing that a lot more lately than critiquing your posture or whispering the names of the nobility in your ear to make sure you did not mispronounce it when they approached you at teeth-grinding social functions. It made you wonder what you did to upset her for the nth time behind the polite smile you gave to the blonde-haired child sitting across from you. 

For the record, it had not been your intention to possess the body of Ines Valeztena de Perez  in the first place. You simply woke up and found her soul occupying the same space. Two souls in one meatsack, to put it so crudely; impossible in theory, yet here is the miracle. Note the sarcasm. 

Where this is her fourth reincarnation, it was your first, and you had retained the knowledge of this reality where it was the backdrop of a novel based on her life. The title? The Broken Ring, This Marriage Will Fail Anyway. Not only did include the details of her life in this timeline, but also her marriages to both the future Emperor and the painter Emiliano. One was a nightmare where she took her own life, and the second was to get away from her responsibilities and be happy for once. Her brother killed Emiliano and the child she had with him, dragging her back to the duchy she had tried to escape from. 

In this life, she has already secured an engagement with Carcel Escalante on the basis that he is the best-looking young man. Her father approved because he loved his only daughter. That worked in her favor because she did not want to get involved with the imperial family again, and already had a plan in the works. This plan involved treating Carcel coldly for seventeen years and he would have numerous affairs, before and after their marriage. Once she gives birth to a child, she will divorce him and attain true freedom. But now, Ines has become a lingering Spirit which only you could see. You are occupying the Body. You are the main driver behind it. And by God, her plan is utter bullshit. 

Make a child who has yet to understand communication and very much innocent in the way of how an adult’s mind works hate you by being a cold-hearted bitch? Absolutely not! That is not how you treat someone, even if you do remember that Carcel Escalante was a playboy in a previous lifetime. This is the present, do not put so much emphasis on the past. 

You have told the Spirit many times when the room was empty and you were visiting her in your mindscape; the backdrop of a library and seated in a plush chair with a table that held two steaming cups of coffee that you couldn’t taste. You did not know if she or you had created it, but this was where she had closed herself off most of the time and where you would see her as soon as you drifted off to sleep. Whether she actually listened to you during these therapy sessions or just put up with your company because you were in her body is another question entirely. 

“Ines?”

Jolting slightly, you looked up from the rim of  your teacup and nodded at the flustered Carcel Escalante. “Yes?” Cerulean orbs twinkled beneath the chandelier’s light as he stared at you, cradling his own cup and looking…frustrated? You furrowed your brow in concern, carefully placing it back down on the saucer that sat on the table. “Is everything all right, Carcel?”

“Why?” He answered your question with a question. You played along, asking him what he meant. 

“Do you really want to marry me because of my good looks?”

Oh, dear. Suppose this was a conversation bond to be brought up. You thought warily. Not even a minute has passed and already you could feel the Spirit’s menacing glare directed at the back of your head. Ines, for God’s sake, trust me. Let me handle this. You hissed in your mind. 

“You cannot ruin this chance.”

Ines, I am fully aware that this is crucial to your plan, thank you. Your very piss-poor plan, I might add. You promised you would give me one chance to prove there is another way to attain happiness. I will deliver. So let me speak or so help me, I will stuff your consciousness in the back of my brain and lock you in there until the day is over. You threatened. That wasn’t a threat either. It was a promise because you had done it before, unintentionally, when the world was spinning and her nagging was not helping. You couldn’t allow her access to the Body for nearly two days. 

She went silent, and the heat on the back of your head subsided slightly, but you could see her from the corner of your eye. Folding your hands neatly in your lap and straightening the curve of your spine, you spoke to Carcel with your eyes directly locked onto his own. 

“Yes. You are very handsome by the Empire’s standards, Carcel. But that isn’t the only reason.”

“It…isn’t?”

“Correct.”

“Then, why?”

“To avoid being married into the imperial family. Your cousin, the crown prince, Oscar is…a twit. Emotionally immature, rude, I could go on. You recall how he arrived at my home without any notice nor any requests to visit, and I told him that I did not like him, yes? You were there, dragged by him because he can do that.” 

Carcel’s face paled. “You could get punished for speaking like that about him. He is the future of our Empire.”

“And what a bleak future that will be.” You sniffed. 

“Ines!”

“The Empress wouldn’t risk angering one of the founding families of this country. Without our support, they would not be standing where they are right now, the pinnacle of high society and power, so I am not afraid to criticize how her son has no regard for the consequences of his actions because he believes his status gives him an excuse to do anything he wants to do.” You squeezed your hands together. “I also believe you are much more agreeable and level-headed than him. Your good looks are a bonus…but I would like to get to know you more. Your likes, your dislikes, anything, really, that you are comfortable with sharing. Believe it or not, Carcel Escalante, I do want us to get along. Not just for appearance's sake.”

You watched his eyes widen in disbelief, his face pinken with embarrassment before he stuttered. “R-Really?”

“Yes.”

“A-And you won’t…be mean? Or ignore me?”

You shook your head. “I will not.” You said. “If I am cruel in your eyes, I would rather you say it to my face then keep silent. I will not understand how you feel if you do not say anything. Though…if the imperial family is watching us, I might have to act out of character. Not just to protect myself and my family from their interference, but yours. Do you understand?”

“I-I suppose.” Carcel swallowed. “But…will you inform me…if you have to act like that?”

“I shall.” 

You answered Carcel’s questions as honestly as you could to a six-year-old child, even when you were roughly the same age as him. He seemed to believe you, as his stiffened posture loosened, and his smile was a little less forced. Eventually it was time for him to leave the estate and return to the Escalante duchy. You walked him to the door alongside the servants, and bade him farewell. When his carriage faded in the distance, growing smaller and smaller, the Spirit wasted no time in materializing, scolding you for making such promises right until it was time for bed. 

But this was a positive change, you emphasized, not a negative one. Would she rather hate the two of you for saying that you liked him and then say you don’t care if he has an affair because your feelings change? That made absolutely no sense. Yes, feelings change with time, this is true, but it is still cruel in your perspective and you will not subject Carcel to such treatment. 

When you received an invitation to attend the Empress’ annual tea party, a letter from the Escalante duchy was delivered to your desk the very next day. Carcel asked if he would have the honor to be your escort. You replied that you would be delighted; you were looking forward to seeing him there, and do not mind if you were acting coldly towards him if the Empress or the crowned prince were within feet of either of you. 

You kept your word to him. Now, and for the following seventeen years. 

If neither of your schedules were not booked with various lessons and social functions, Carcel would make an effort to visit you or invite you to spend an afternoon doing something together. He would offer flowers, and you thanked him. You idly chatted over lunch at a cafe after a shopping trip, all expenses paid by Carcel at his insistence, even when your monthly allowance was more than enough to purchase jewelry, dresses, or anything that piqued your interest during the outing. 

When he was invited to a friendly hunting trip at the Valeztena estate, Carcel had been stunned into silence as you handled the recoil of the hunting rifle in your hands without so much as a sound. 

The Spirit had drilled the basics of gun safety and aiming into your brain until she was confident that no one would think the wiser in the unlikely event that the two of you had to exchange control over the Body. Moreover, it put her at ease knowing she could protect herself from the crown prince. She will not allow Oscar to get the upper hand in this lifetime. Never again. 

You agreed wholeheartedly with her reasoning. Now if she actually lifted some damned weights between target practice and sipping tea with her peers, that would be great. You did not want the time and effort you have put into toning your arms from swinging a practice sword in the knight’s training arena to go to waste. 

Securing a competent tutor who would willingly teach a woman the fundamentals of swordsmanship, even if it’s a fucking rapier and not a broadsword like you initially wanted to learn how to use, had been difficult. If the Spirit was going to use a weapon to protect herself, then so are you. 

End of discussion. 

Carcel eventually became of age and was forced to enlist in the naval academy as his forefathers had done. It was the first step towards becoming the duke of the Escalante estate. Although you were a little sad to see him go, you promised to write him letters. If you were allowed to visit him at the base or a port that wasn’t too far from the Empire’s shores, you swore that you would try, weather permitting of course. 

However…if you or the Spirit had known the weight of these promises…would you have known just how madly in love Carcel Escalante de Esposa was with you? Would he? 

Carcel hated his time at the naval academy. As invigorating and stressful it was to learn everything about a ship’s vessel to the areas where the enemies of the Empire have attacked in recent years and even swordsmanship or rifle training, there were days when he wanted to throw everything away and just run off from Meldoza. 

Never looking back,  becoming a free man who could do as he pleased without the obligations. 

The soldiers in his fleet understood his frustration and have offered more than once to take him to the ports and have a bit of fun with some lovely ladies, on their tap. Yet for all his ranting and grumbling, it took a single letter from his dear Ines to keep the young duke grounded. 

She informed him of the events occurring in the Empire’s polite society, highlighting gossip and any exploits pertaining to his cousin, aggravated that she still cannot swing her sword at the right angle just yet even after her tutor went over the lesson several times, amongst other topics of discussion including what she has been doing since he’s been at sea. She reminded him to stay strong, keep his wits sharp, and never forget that she is here, waiting for him to return. Before he ventured out to sea for his duties, he would always keep a letter folded against his breast pocket. A reminder of why he is here. 

Contrary to the rumors circulating around him, he did not elect to remain in the military for an additional five years because he was avoiding getting married at the tender age of eighteen. He wanted to prove to his future father-in-law that he is worthy to be the husband of his only daughter. 

Just because he may be lacking in some areas, that does not mean he should be switched out for someone higher up or of equal ranking in the hierarchy. Or with a gentleman whom Duke Valeztena would much prefer to have as a son-in-law than him. That will never happen so long as he, Carcel Escalante de Esposa, lives. 

He is a man who will get jealous if anyone would dare to approach his future wife with the intention of bedding her once he, her husband, had gotten tired of her. An absolutely foolish notion, because Carcel will remain faithful to Ines. 

It would take a lot of self-control to not gut those fools right on the spot, because Ines would hate getting blood on the floor. Furthermore, he would never have a mistress before or after he exchanged his vows. Women might line up outside his door because adultery is encouraged in the Ortega Empire. Flowers and love letters might decorate every square inch of his office. Temptation will lurk around every corner, and he will burn them in his fireplace. The ladies? Well, he’d tell them to politely sod off and never darken his doorstep again. 

If there were gifts from Ines, however, he would keep him. 

Ines is his sun. The light of his life. No one else would even compare to the woman who is waiting for him to return from these treacherous waters. Until it was his time to leave this world, he would show Ines just how much he loved her. He would buy her anything she wanted, make her life as comfortable as possible even if she told him a thousand times that she does not need anything. 

Just never leave his side. Never fall in love with another man who wasn’t him, because he cannot conceive a universe without you. 

Taglist

@lxdymoon0357

@nunezs-stuff

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@yandere-dark-cupid

@that-one-pretty-bitch

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@black-swan-blog27

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@nunezs-stuff

#forbidden-sunlight #yandere x reader #x reader #yandere male #yandere #ns.fw #the broken ring this marriage will fail anyway #carcel escalante #carcel escalante x reader #ines!reader #cw obsessive love #cw obsessive behavior #tw violence #tw obsessive behavior #tw obsessive love #yandere manhwa x reader

[magical-mascots]

Magical Mascots AU Character sheets ahoy~

Okay so first up we have Sun - hope his nervous energy shines through because he has a lot to spare! So Sun is an overstretched mascot who can make balloon dogs and paper plates and all sorts come alive before your very eyes (much to every parent’s delight I’m sure)! In the end, he ended up taking on pretty much all the tasks at the play park once Moon was found to have …issues that seemed to come about as an unexpected side effect of his dream weaving ability. He’d sooner explode than admit it but it hasn’t been easy for him. Outside of Moon he doesn’t have a friend in the world, and to top it all off he was decommissioned and left to rot in the once busy soft play area following a mysterious incident, which has taken its toll on him. He would love nothing more than to be best friends forever and show you all the things and possibly keep you in his pocket!

Next up is Moon. Moon is difficult to read at the best of times, but all the more so since his role was cut down more and more at the theme park and he was forced to reside in the mindscape he shares with Sun for most of time. Moon has been basically starved of all interactions in the real world for the longest time which has left him extremely elusive and wary. You’ll mostly only see him in doll form until you get to know him because he’s been kept away from people for so long he’s unsure of how to interact with them. He is playful, but it mostly seems to be on his own terms for the time being. Moon actually spends a lot of his time hanging out in the dreamscape and it’s in your dreams (or possibly your nightmares depending on whether you’ve been good or bad) where you’ll find him most.

Aaaaand that brings us to our third major player …y/n! No stranger to fixing up toys and mascots in your brief time as Freddy’s handler at the theme park, now you’ve found yourself in the strange position of needing to fix yourself before you fade into oblivion. Ever since you woke up in the hospital following an unexpected incident with Freddy, your body has been glitching and fading on and off at the worst possible moments, and it’s starting to feel like you’re neither here nor there. A mysterious counsellor has promised a cure, but the only problem is it’s locked away in a dusty old corner somewhere along with one (or was it two?) apparently decommissioned mascots who are looking to be a lot more alive than you’d been led to believe. Will they be your best bet at getting the cure to your affliction or will they literally turn out to be your own worst nightmare?

#fnaf #sundrop #moondrop #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf security breach #fnaf au #fnaf sb au #fnaf sun x reader #fnaf moon x reader #magical mascots au #please be kind they’re our babies #asks and such are much appreciated! #y/n is for all intents and purposes you but this is basically the model we’ll tend to be drawing for comics and so on #no physical descriptors etc are used in the fanfic

[steddie-fanfic-recs]

Eddie Munson and the Dreamboy

by pukner

Rating: Not Rated Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Steve Harrington, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Eddie Munson Character: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Robin Buckley Additional Tags: 5+1 Things, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Eddie Munson Calls Steve Harrington Pet Names, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Brotherly Steve Harrington, Dreamscapes, Post-Vecna (Stranger Things), Steve Harrington Has Head Trauma, Eddie Munson is Whipped, Eddie Munson Lives, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Steve Harrington's Scoops Ahoy Uniform, Siblings Eleven | Jane Hopper & Steve Harrington, Steve's Hair Obsession Is A Plot Point, Requited Love, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Friendship, Robin doesn't show up much but she is his SOULMATE Words: 8,147 Chapters: 1/1

Summary

"How'd you get in here--" Steve hisses. "Your security sucks, sweetheart," says Eddie. Then, "Actually, that isn't true. It was a nightmare getting here, and the inside of your brain is a fucking labyrinth." Or, five times El and Eddie find a version of Steve Harrington while traversing his mindscape to drag him out of a coma (thanks, Vecna). And one time Steve finds Eddie.

#steddie #steddie fic rec #oneshot #5-10k #5+1 things

[sepublic]

Watching and Dreaming Trailer!!!

Oh my god. OH MY TITAN.

OKAY OKAY!!! Lemme analyze in as close to a chronological order as possible…

We start right off where For the Future ended, with the Collector attacking our found family of Luz, her friends, and Camila! We also see that Luz finally gets to reunite with Eda and King, only to be interrupted by an angry Collector, who is being particularly freakish!

We see Gus and Willow in their regular outfits inside a room with a bunch of puppets, including Amelia and Terra, the Bard teacher, etc.! So it seems that Luz goes off to reunite with Eda and King, while her friends and possibly Camila access the puppets, possibly finding a way to free them! Speaking of…

Lilith has been turned into a puppet! So I imagine the Collector sends his spies to where Eda, Lilith, and King are, causing her to be transformed. It’s not the first time she’s become a puppet, so perhaps King and Eda relay the knowledge of how to undo becoming a puppet, which must’ve been utilized on Lilith during the timeskip!

LUZ IS DRESSED LIKE BELOS?! And at his castle?! She mentions something about ‘waking up’ so I think it’s a dreamscape…? We see her look through an old photo and even a nightmare version of the Conformatorium, likely calling back to the first episode! It’s all coming full circle…

RAINE AND BELOS MIND BATTLE!!! Belos sheds off even more of himself to hold back Raine as he crawls to his throne room…

Okay. A part of me thinks it’s a dream, but another part of me think it’s real life, and Belos is using the giant heart in the throne room, which the trailer reminds us of, to… Well, we see a shot of Eda and King outside, surrounded by a dark-green ‘coral’ that resembles hands and has Belos eyes. I’ll be frank, I think Belos is using the heart and he’s planning to possess it, because it’s the Titan’s heart; Thereby infecting the entire Boiling Isles with himself!

He remarks as Raine how things will be ‘easier’ than he thought while holding a lone star… Could just be a set piece symbolic of his hold over the Collector, but what if that IS the Collector? What if we start with the Collector attacking our protagonists, they incapacitate and talk them down, just for Belos to attack from behind and take their power! And then flee to his castle to possess the Titan’s heart?

So if it IS real life, why does Amity advise Luz wake up from a ‘dream’? Why is Luz dressed like Belos? Are they in HIS mindscape, in the Titan’s? Did Belos use the Collector’s reality-manipulating powers to dress Luz as his heir and protege, to hammer in his insistence on their parallels? 

We see Bump, Derwin, Morton, Boscha, and Mattholomule petrified, right below the bridge leading to Belos’ castle. God I hope this can be reversed with the Collector’s power, or maybe it is a part of a nightmare sequence. Maybe it’s part of an elaborate illusion Belos has laid over the place, reflecting Luz’s worst fears back at her, not unlike what Gus did in Labyrinth Runners to Adrian and even Hunter!

And the puppet strings, around Luz’s friends? Reset to their old selves, almost mocking their attempt to grow? Saying they’ll never change, which particularly hurts given Willow’s recent arc no less? And Luz uses Light, her signature spell, her first one that started it all, presumably to defeat Belos!

I think the story goes as… Collector VS Luz, Eda, and King. The kids go off to the puppet room and free everyone, probably running into Odalia since she’s a loose thread. The Collector is talked down, but at a vulnerable moment Belos jumps in to take their power. He then flees to his castle, planning to possess the isles itself with this power, our protagonists follow chase.

Belos casts a powerful fear illusion (lowkey a jab at Gus for doing the same to him in King’s Tide), and tries to infect the heart but Raine fights back; The puppet effect was reversed but they’re still possessed, or at least partially. Eda and King also navigate a nightmare labyrinth, and Luz eventually fights back after Amity encourages her, before she and the others are pulled off by I guess Belos? 

Oh god. Oh Titan. Oh Titan oh fuck we’re screwed. And we still have to talk about the dude in the in-between! Luz seems to be entering it, possibly her establishing a portal with King’s help, which might lead to finding this dude, either a Titan or Titan Trapper, and freeing him! It’s all coming together, it’s all full circle and I see why it’s called Watching and Dreaming now…!

#the owl house #luz noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #raine whispers #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne #king clawthorne #the owl house collector #analysis #speculation

[anistarrose]

the rebel coven heads hiding in the night market: got some straight gas for you 🔥😛 this strain is called "hollow mind" 😳💊 it'll have you trapped inside another mindscape, and this one is a twisted nightmare 💯👨‍💻

me: yeah whatever. i don't feel shit.

5 minutes later: dude i think i just saw an amalgamation of unquiet palismen souls taking on the shape of the emperor

my buddy hunter pacing: belos is lying to me

#the owl house #luz noceda #the owl house hunter #emperor belos #surely this has been done right? #drugs mention #i guess

[ronanceautistic]

Back on my “Nancy was cursed for the entirety of Season 4” bullshit.

No, no, no seriously because firstly, the flashback she has in Episode 2, Barb calling her name and being dragged into the pool. She never fucking saw that in real life i.e how could she have a flashback of it. And then later she has an actual Vecna vision of the exact same fucking thing.

There was a shot of her waking up in the exact same way Max woke up after a Vecna nightmare. Fred was cursed for a trauma that has literally defined Nancy’s personality. And in my heart of hearts and my third eye and my mind you can literally see her in Vecna’s mindscape of potential victims in Episode 4. Like there’s a figure in the background whose outfit almost completely resembles the one Nancy gets cursed in. I’M NOT CRAZY.

Also as an unrelated side note when he says “you were so close to the truth”, oh he knows how to get under Nancy Wheeler’s skin specifically. Implying she’s just a kid who doesn’t know what she’s doing aka the thing Nancy was terrified of the previous year. Sick, twisted, I’m obsessed.

#feel like nancy with the rabid rats thing #like guys just listen #nancy wheeler #stranger things

[ckret2]

What would be Bill's hobbies in the nightmare realm? Like ok he's been there for a million years, what would he do? Aside from partying, ruling and planning world domination?

Hate to nitpick—but one trillion years. To me the difference isn't a trivial "okay they're both impossibly big numbers" if we're considering what Bill's life must have been like; because one million years ago, humans had already evolved. One TRILLION years is 72 times longer than our entire universe has existed. We're talking about a life where for most of his existence, the universe he would ultimately try to conquer—much less the species that would help him do it—didn't even exist yet.

But to the actual question:

Genuinely I think partying took up most of his free time lmao. Maybe not at the start; but over time, getting absolutely smashed and "having fun" would have become an essential strategy to hold on to what was left of his fraying mental health, so it probably became more and more of his schedule while he waited for an in to a universe. And it combines several of his top hobbies: socializing, meeting people, dancing, substance abuse... But even something that takes "most of his free time" could leave billions of years unaccounted for, SO:

I mentioned yesterday that meditation is one of his unexpected hobbies. It's useful for refining his dream demon skills & various other psychic tricks; but mostly it's just, if you can drop into a trance for a thousand, a million, a billion years, then that's a lot of waiting & boredom you can just skip.

He's got a lot of eyes in other dimensions. It's like television to him.

He's unable to visit other dimensions before his portal is built, but he is able to visit other dimensions' mindscapes. He can't interact with things, but he can look around like an invisible tourist, and he can invade people's dreams.

We see what looks like weirdness bubbles scattered all around the Nightmare Realm in Don't Dimension It. I headcanon that Bill didn't just invent them on the spot in Weirdmageddon, he made them ahead of time in the Nightmare Realm; and thus that they probably take some time and skill to create. He doesn't control the end result but he can influence it based on what materials he puts in and how he creates it, kind of like an acrylic dirty pour painting. It's like art to him. He's proud of it.

He's never had higher education but he's book-read and self-taught on a wide variety of subjects. At bare minimum, every time he sees a new universe and goes "maybe I can conquer this," he has to teach himself that universe's rules of physics (often before a species in that universe has evolved enough to study it themselves), and one of the intelligent species's available engineering capabilities and native languages, all so that he can translate his portal blueprints into a form someone in that universe can build. That adds up to learning a LOT of languages, engineering, and physics. Ours is far from the first dimension he tried to conquer. Plus throw in all the other stuff he's probably learning on the side while trying to get something going with a new species: local politics, religion, chemistry, biology, pop culture...

He DID pick up piano at some point. Probably not the only instrument he's learned. I headcanon piano is conceptually similar to an instrument in his home dimension.

He likes playing games. Sometimes games of skill, because dice rolls and card draws would be easy to manipulate & cheat in a dreamscape; but sometimes games of chance, because he wants to cheat lol. He's not athletically inclined, so his preference is board games, card games, word games, pen-and-paper games, video games, etc.

Any time something falls into the Nightmare Realm, he can sense it; sometimes he goes and checks out the new arrival. It can be anything from objects (new stuff to scavenge through) to people (new friends and/or torture toys and/or networking opportunities) to whole worlds (there's a LOT of fun you can have with a planet—especially a populated one).

He spends a lot of time cultivating mini-cults and pockets of worship toward him amongst alien species. He claims this is all in service to his ultimate conquest plans, but honestly, he just really likes being worshiped.

There were a few survivors of Bill's home dimension. Not many, with a starting population of billions (and that's not even counting alien life); but a few thousand. Most of them ultimately moved to other dimensions and tried to start new societies. Early on, Bill tried to keep in contact with them, and that took up a fair amount of his time; but as they rejected him or he rejected them, he cut them off. Now the only people from or descended from his universe that he still talks to are the shapes in the Henchmaniacs.

Imagine if all the oceans on Earth were ruled over by a single pirate king, and also he knows any time something—from a cargo ship to a surfer—enters his domain, and he COULD just teleport to where they are and wreck their day if he wants to; so any nation that wants to safely ship goods or maintain a navy has to bargain with the pirate king; but also the pirate king is an immature clown who's easily flattered and distracted by shiny toys. That's the relationship Bill has to other dimensions. For cultures that have discovered interdimensional travel, transit through the Nightmare Realm COULD be very useful... if it weren't for this one guy who's somehow borderline omnipotent within the NR but can't leave it. So Bill spends a lot of time politicking and bartering with neighboring dimensions that don't trust him, know he'll violate treaties on a whim, but nevertheless need access to his realm.

There's also some uneasy politicking and socializing with the few powerful entities that Bill thinks might be able to wreck his day but isn't quite foolhardy enough to test, like the Axolotl.

Sometimes he just makes stuff that sounds cool. He made the Quadrangle of Qonfusion. (Amorphous Shape helped, they're better at the architecture side of things.) He also sometimes just goes and gets stuff that strikes his fancy, like his throne made of optical illusions. The Nightmare Realm is riddled with unfinished projects and impulse purchases.

#anonymous #ask #about my writing #bill goldilocks cipher

[crimeronan]

thinking about what absolute fucking Hell On Earth it would be for luz to send hunter away from the castle in the princess AU. it's like the worst possible version of the argument they have where he's like "tell me what's going on so i can protect you" and she's like "no. stop protecting me." in this version hunter doesn't have his imagination to come up with whatever luz is hiding, she tells him straight-up that belos wants to kill him. and orders him to leave. and once again tells him she has everything under control even though she really really really clearly doesn't

like. hunter really wouldn't care about his life being in danger in this AU, if luz told him and let him stay. but if she made him LEAVE??

hunter's entire Life is centered on protecting luz. and the most core facet of that protection, up until belos dies, is Managing The Emperor. hunter weathering ungodly amounts of physical abuse and letting belos do fuck-knows-what to him because they have an agreement: it's Good for hunter to be the recipient of belos's anger, because then belos isn't in danger of hurting luz. it's good for hunter to suffer in her stead, that's what he's built for, that's what he's made for.

hunter being told not only that he's having his entire purpose ripped from him, but ALSO that now luz is going to be the one Managing The Emperor?? and being told she "has everything under control"??? and being told that she's going to take it all on alone??

he wouldn't know whether it's worse if luz still doesn't know exactly what belos is capable of and is making this decision out of ignorance, or if she Does know exactly what belos is capable of and has actually weighed the risks. bc that would mean he's already failed in his entire reason for Being.

nightmare scenario!!! nightmare nightmare nightmare!!

#when he tells luz in the canon AU timeline that it wouldve shattered him. He Knows What He's Talking About #imagining him going to lilith or amity or darius like. i need help. and there is no one else i can ask #all three have appeal. lilith in that it puts her in a nightmare position herself when she doesnt even get along with hunter #amity in that being asked to protect luz is HER worst nightmare but if a genuinely desperate hunter asked it of her #.....she might. she might do her best. #and darius because it makes most sense for hunter to trust him and because he'd Freak. #darius straight-up eviscerates belos and solves everyone's problems ASMR. #toh #princess luz au #hunter toh #luz noceda #horrible mindscape trauma pals #belos toh #abuse #child abuse #princess luz au alt timeline

[tokimaeki]

Making a post about Sasha and Milla's respective traumas and how they handle them, bc I'm obsessed with the way they foil one another. Read below for my takes:

SO. In Sasha's Shooting Gallery, Sasha's mindscape is a big, mechanical cube. It's sleek. It's clean. It's perfectly controlled, just like Sasha himself.

Then Raz starts messing with the lever, and things start going wrong very quickly. It only takes one mistake for Sasha's childhood traumas to come bursting out of the cube in a way that is far less organized than his mindscape would like to have you think. What's more, these childhood traumas aren't exactly well-organized. Each side is haphazardly cluttered, as if the memories were just shoved inside the cube with no thought given how well they'd fit.

It's sort of like how, when cleaning my room as a kid, I'd just shove all my stuff into the closet and shut the door before it could all tumble out. Sure, the room looks great now-- but once I mess up and accidentally open that door, it's going to take a lot of work to get things back to normal.

And the same thing happens in Sasha's mind. Once one repressed trauma bursts out, it doesn't take long for another to follow suit. And another. And another. Raz can't stop them from coming out, and by the time he's managed to deal with one side of the cube, another one has already popped open. And of course, this all culminates in a giant Censor coming out to promptly beat the tar out of Sasha. It takes a lot of time, effort, and pain to get Sasha's mind back in order.

Meanwhile, Milla's mind is, for the entirety of her stage, perfectly stable-- despite her tragic backstory of her orphanage burning down in a fire, the psychic screams of the children in her care echoing in her mind. Why is that? Well, it's because Milla's traumatic memories and other painful emotions are safely sequestered off the beaten path, in that little locked room of fire and brimstone.

At first, I thought this was another case of a character dealing with their trauma in an unhealthy way. I mean, she's literally locking away her negative thoughts! That can't possibly be healthy, right?

But then it hit me. While Milla has put her thoughts in a part of her mind that's difficult to access, they're not really 'locked away.' in fact, you can access them pretty easily, as long as you know what you're doing and what steps you have to take. And once you do get there, the nightmares can't hurt you. They're scary to confront, sure. It's heartbreaking and distressing to hear the children's screams for help. But nothing in that room physically harms you.

And that's the beauty of Milla's mind. Similarly to Sasha, she successfully copes with her trauma by compartmentalizing it, putting it in a spot where it can't hurt herself or others. But unlike Sasha, Milla's pain is accessible. It's easily reachable, but near impossible to stumble into accidentally. And most importantly, it isn't going to come bursting out and causing mayhem if you make a mistake somewhere.

I love the way these two's minds foil one another. It's such a good example of unhealthy repression VS healthy compartmentalization.

#psychonauts #psychonauts spoilers #sasha nein #milla vodello

[levshany]

Tandem, this is an AU in which the Collector possesses Philip, and there are a lot of things happening afterwards. but now we’ll just retell how it basically started

@angstyhikka drew a couple of arts and helped me with coloring

This is an alternative development of events after the ending of the fanfic “At The Dawn of The Light” (it's not finished yet, but there is already an AU from the ending, yes). The idea belongs to @lasymit, and I (Lev) picked it up :3

Before King's Tide, all events take place according to canon. And then the following changes occur: the witches capture Philip and lock him in a cave in the Titan's skull. The draining spell is stopped without the help of the Collector, but he himself is not found. His mirror remains lying at the bottom of the pit.

For 10 years, Philip was under a sleeping spell. Everything would be fine, but when the Hexside squad wakes up Philip to make him help them with one super important problem, not only does he become mischievous but he also has problems in his head now. Luz and the team think that Philip is manipulating them (you can't blame them for this, Philip is Philip, even with a leaky memory and a leaking roof, he manages to be such an asshole), and therefore they torture him to force him to cooperate with them.

While Philip was sleeping, a cozy corner appeared in his head, in which there was nothing but a green hill, a small house and an apple tree. There, Philip, in his child form, lives with Caleb, who is a figment of his sick mind. During his 10 years in this mindscape, Philip convinced himself that this was reality. And the Boiling Isles, the cave and the witches who torture him are an endless nightmare. Because, on the Boiling Isles, he sometimes remembers that he killed his brother. But this simply cannot be reality.

At some point, Luz and Hunter realize that Philip is not pretending that he is seriously ill and no matter how much he denies it, he needs help, and they soften towards him somewhat. Although both have rather mixed feelings towards their dementia grandpa.

Even in the moments when Philip remembers himself fully enough, his attitude towards the Boiling Isles, Luz, Hunter and even his own mission has changed greatly in any case. He no longer cares about the destruction of witches and revenge for his brother. Philip is tired. Deadly tired. All he wants to do is sleep. He slept for ten years, and this was perhaps the first time in decades of his life that he felt peace and happiness.

While he is in this state, it happens that he encounter the Collector. This is a difficult meeting for both of them, but it all ends with the forgiveness of all grievances. They both don't want to lose each other now. The collector is still locked in the disk, but Philip has the opportunity to let his friend into his subconscious. Seeing the deplorable state of Philip's mind, he decides that he must help - after all, Philip is still his only friend. Collie asks Philip not to go to "sleep" forever, but Philip replies that he has no joy in waking up here. All he dreams of is never returning to the world of the Boiling Islands. The collector, frightened that his only friend is about to leave him, possesses Philip and promises him that he will get them both out of this nightmare.

This is how Tandem's story begins

a huge amount of detail has been omitted to avoid spoilers for "The Dawn". if you wanna learn more go check the fanfic *wink wink*

#by the way their name is Colibri #toh #the owl house #toh tandem au #phillip wittebane #toh phillip #toh collector #collector possess #toh colibri #toh tandem #my comic #my art

[pinkfestivalpeanuttree]

random slay the princess questions i have:

why do we get two new voices in the chapter 3 of the razor route?

why is the razor route the odd one out in so many ways

see previous question

only route with a chapter 4

only route without a chapter 3 that doesn't merge with any other chapter 2 (with the exception of the stranger)

only route that's basically set in stone (as in, the only major variations are whether you take the pristine blade in chapter 2 or not resulting in you either getting the razor or the razor's heart, and the rest of the plot is essentially the same)

one of two routes where you get every voice (and even then the nightmare route isn't set in stone to lead to the moment of clarity like the razor route is)

why is the gray route the only one with a major variation (burning vs drowned) (arguably there's also the networked wild vs the wounded wild, but those you get via your choices. the gray routes are noticably different right from the beginning)

what does the sequence of images in the nightmare -> moment of clarity route represent?

how can the narrator get a drink from wherever he is (presumably some sort of mindscape in the protagonist's head) and what would happen if he got drunk

also, if the protagonist got drunk would the voices get drunk by proxy

what exactly are the qualifications for the shifting mound taking a vessel away

usually for the chapter 2s it's once you and the princess escape the cabin, but the one that stuck out to me was the fury, since it felt really short in comparison to the other chapter 3s... and actually, the shifting mound takes away most of the chapter 3 princesses even if you haven't escaped the cabin

not exactly a question but i find it interesting how the interior of the cabin changes in chapter 2 and the woods change in chapter 3 but we never really see the exterior change with the exception of the moment of clarity and the razor (cheated teleports us to the cabin, so we can't say for sure)

does the razor know what a bird is

are there any parallels between the routes that merge into a chapter 3

for example, you get the fury by basically giving the princess an identity crisis (refusing to fight the adversary/fighting the adversary without the blade resulting in you failing to give her the mutual rivalry she craved, or stripping the tower of her divinity)

check out this post by @/lipstickchainsaw for a better analysis

damsel and prisoner are both, in a way, the damsel in distress trope, with the prisoner route being given a serious dose of cynicism, both sort of having a theme of trust (getting the voice of the skeptic in the prisoner route, both you and the princess needing to put trust in each other to escape the cabin: the prisoner putting her trust in you to figure out what to do with her severed head, the damsel and the smitten's blind trust in each other, and in a way, being distrusting of either of them is what results in the gray routes or the deconstructed damsel)

i got the trust theme from this post by @/honeyfizzly and the damsel in distress similarity from the tags on this reblog

the witch and the beast both get you the wild... catgirls?

fr though after thinking about this post by @/birdmitosis and how opportunist and hunted are both survival-oriented, a noticeable thing about the witch and the beast is that they're arguably the routes where you and the princess are most at odds with each other (mutual backstabbing vs predator and prey dynamic) and yet the wild is where the two of you are the most in sync- literally, you and her are one

nightmare and spectre get you wraith... ghost ladies?

idk about this one guys

help

also not a question but i find it fitting how the ending dialogue changes depending on your very, very first impression of the princess, whether you took the blade or not or if you got the stranger route- something something themes of perception and first impressions something something

is the narrator's world on the verge of an apocalypse or something or is he just a scared little bitch

considering his last words in the mirror i think it could be the former but the latter makes it easier to make fun of him

#slay the princess #stp #epilogue speaks #slay the princess spoilers #stp spoilers