there’s a constant feeling in nighttime horror of “this is an unnatural, liminal situation you’ve stumbled into. once you make it to the other end, or if everyone were to know the truth, you will be free of it.”
once the sun crests the horizon, however, there’s an unspoken shift in the underlying tone. this aberration of the natural order has come under all scrutiny and it is still there. you continue to cry for normalcy, but the world does not acknowledge what you believe it should be. no amount of truth or time will end this, and in my favourite of executions the very framing and narrative itself doesn’t acknowledge the dissonance.
it all comes back to alienation, in the end. always.
if nighttime horror evokes a sense of isolation through salvation being just out of reach, then daytime horror evokes it through the realization that it never existed to begin with. that the walls and locks were all paper-thin artifice. that this is now tomorrow. forever.
broad daylight in horror is seeing the yawning abyss and knowing there’s nothing to wake up to.
I think about this a lot because I grew up on the high plains.
I maintain that while the forest is terrifying because it’s dark and you don’t where you can be attacked from, the plains are more horrifying. Imagine seeing a creature just coming toward you on the horizon. You never lose sight of the abomination as it comes closer and closer. You know it’s there the whole time. You look around, and there is no where to hide. You can only run until you can’t run anymore.
no this is a good point because i grew up on an island beach? and there’s absolutely nothing more horrific to me than going under and seeing the sunlight through the water knowing - *KNOWING* you cant reach the air you need but the light is still there, it’s fine for everyone but you.
i think about it a lot. the horror of being alone on the water, endless, expansive, and feeling utterly alone and knowing that nothing and no one can save you where somewhere, out of sight, other people are drinking beers and skiing. the horror of what it would be like when something comes up out of the sand or crawls out of the water or pulls you away while everyone else is enjoying tourist season. because someone will probably find you, eventually, but the bones will be white, picked clean by the fish and crabs and seagulls under the bright happy sun.
”He must be the most arrogant person I’ve ever met.” Hermione’s voice echoed in the empty office.
”Are you talking about Malfoy again?”
”Yes. I mean… You have met him, right? He’s unbearabe. He is always early, which makes me feel like I’m late. He calls me ’Granger’ even though I’ve asked him to call me Hermione a hundred times. He never asks how I am. Never, Dottie! And we meet almost every day. And he always stares at me with this weird look in his eyes.”
”I see. You must really hate him.”
”I don’t know if hate is the right word,” Hermione said.
”What is it, then?”
”I don’t know! I just – I can’t stop thinking about him. I have to see him at work everyday, and when I go home, all I can think about is his stupid face and the pretentious way he talks. And have you ever smelled him, Dottie?”
”Have I… have I ever smelled Malfoy?”
”Even his smell is so distracting! He smells so… fresh and clean. Like rain mixed with some spices or something. It’s really hard to focus around him because of that. I swear, he doesn’t think anybody but himsef.”
”I think you’re right,” Dottie said slowly.
”You think he’s unbearable too?”
”No. I think you’re right, hate is not the right word for this situation.”
You are a supervillain who has just captured your rival’s child. Rather than being afraid, they’re begging you to let them stay.
Frankly, you’d known those idiots had had a kid for years now. You’d pretended not to, because while you’d committed a lot of atrocities in your life, you weren’t willing to face the moral quandary of whether you would knowingly kill a child just to spite its parents.
They probably thought they were being clever though, what with the blaming you for an injury you knew damn well you’d never given keeping one of them out of commission for a few months, then references to what they would ‘leave behind’ or ‘could not follow’ when in the latest death trap. One of them had accidentally pulled a pacifier out of their utility belt once, and tried to pass it off as being prepared for any young children they came across while rescuing.
Idiots.
Still, you had standards. Standards that fell somewhere past war crimes and before common decency, but they were standards.
Nothing is funnier to me than Mr Darcy telling his best friend not to propose to the girl he loves bc 1. Her family are unsuitable and 2. She doesn’t truly like him enough to marry… only to then himself propose to a woman who is 1. From the exact same family and 2. Has done nothing but roast him since they met
You gotta hand it to George for really playing up Jaime’s reputation as the kingslayer in AGOT and ACOK as this no good, terrible man without honor who did this really backhanded thing with Aerys, (not to mention THAT with Cersei and THAT with bran.) who then later taunts Catelyn as he’s rotting away in prison. The starks hate him, and since we predominantly follow the Starks and want to see them succeed, of course we dislike Jaime Lannister. We have little reason to want to root for him, even though you don’t see much of Jaime in the first two books, (especially the second.) but people in the world constantly mention him, and that developes a reputation and mystique for the reader, kinda like his own reputation in Westeros as the kingslayer and man without honor. In text and meta-textually, he has a reputation that we also pick up on and apply to him.
Then after all this, after the prologue of ASOS you turn the page and you see a Jaime POV all of a sudden when you haven’t before. So you might think to yourself that it’s kinda weird. we’ve had no reason to like him at this point, (other than Tyrion’s subtle hints of love toward his brother.) so why would I want to read his POV and why would George start giving us his perspective?
But then you read his first chapter…the very first chapter of the new book after the prologue. And one of Jaime’s first thoughts is “I am alive and drunk on sunlight,” and that’s just…so pure? Then when he’s in the boat he playfully dunks his head, splashes around, and then laughs like a loon? he constantly insults brienne’s looks and dour attitude but privately thinks she has pretty eyes? This playfulness and merriness is a stark contrast to the reputation that was built up in the first two books. George skillfully played up his in universe reputation before his POV chapters in the third book so we ourselves can be just as surprised at him as brienne is, this taken aback. George played on our perceptions of him in the same way as how his reputation functions in Westeros. This is so skillful and cool…and dare I say a good example of subversion of expectations.
And, another thing to note. He doesn’t get a POV until he’s with BRIENNE. She propels his story and change. He doesn’t deserve a POV and we don’t deserve to know him until he meets Brienne.
HIT ME WITH YOUR CAR.lyra fairbanks x elliot honeysett
crying screaming throwing up engaging in a fit of female hysteria etc thanks to @faithchel absolutely fucking obliterating my emotional composure with this piece of our girls for my early birthday present! um!!!!! do you see that guy’s lil face!!!! do you see my girl holding a raccoon as she should as is her right!!!!! with her evil special tortured meow meow wife!!!! anyway im going to go lay down and astral project like napstablook but please look this work ye mighty and despair. thank you so much stella for such a beautiful gift i’m (ಥ﹏ಥ) so very very lucky to have you as friend, ily!!!!
[ID: the original post shows a comic panel, cropped only to show speech bubbles. Superman says, “This is a love story.” Batman says, “This is a detective story.” The reblog by ip2lb shows a text conversation. Person one says, “baby,” and person two replies, “fellow associate.” End ID.]
if these two met they Would be friends and they Would swap recipes and she Would Certainly use her barbarian strength to pick him up
ID: a sketch in shades of greens of Moonshine from Not Another DnD Podcast and Caduceus from Critical Role. Moonshine is an elf with freckles and long hair in two braids. She is wearing a pair of overalls and has mushrooms growing from behind her ear. She is carrying Caduceus bridal style. Caduceus is a firbolg with large furry ears and a flat square nose. His hair is shaved on one side and long on the other. He is wearing a jacket, long pants and dress shoes. He has a pauldron on his right shoulder and a gossamer fabric falling from underneath it. A text bubble on the right side of the image says, “Mr. Clay, you are always welcome at the Crick.” end ID/
