A Gh0stly Inktober: Day 26 - Fear

My fear turned to a pearl in my heart. I could show you, but then I’d have to kill you. It’s cliche, and we are laughing, yes, but the fear in your eyes tells me that you know I speak the truth. If I could show my heart to you, the true pearl of my life, would you stand to treasure it? Or would it blind you until you stumbled upon yourself to your own doom as you regretted ever prying?

My teeth are cut sharp, and my tongue was honed sharper. I’ve learned through the fires of hell how to turn the greatest of pain into my own gain. I’ve turned my fear into a pearl, and what would you dare to do with someone like me? Surely you cannot seriously expect someone such as me to serve you? You come to the forest of the Harpies expecting a slave? I wonder just how your heart will taste and if my fury will ever be assuaged.

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[Inspired by @gh0stlyink's Inktober Prompt List: Day 26 - Fear]

A Gh0stly Inktober: Day 7 - Scream

The threat of rain loomed heavy and dark, but the clouds had not broken. Not yet. The lightning raged throughout the clouds, sparking and erupting in a violent fury that echoed across the land. I turned to you in the garden as the lightning struck--a camera flash forever embedding the last sight of you alive deep within the recesses of my mind. I saw the wild look in your eyes as you ran, your right arm extending out, reaching desperately toward me.

If I had better reflexes, perhaps I could have pivoted in time to catch you in my arms. But as with all things in my life it seems, I was too late even for this. The only thing I was in time for was to see the glint of the lightning flash shining in the bright red eyes just behind you. A skull, a reaper, a laughing skeleton, with every one of its eerily exposed teeth cackling triumphantly as it reached out with its bony hands.

I heard you scream as I heard the cackling bones, and as the thunder rolled across the lands, you both were drowned out and I heard no more. In some ways, I am still there in our old garden. Every night I visit that spot, wondering, pondering, ruminating as to what happened to you. Could I have protected you? From a fiend like that? One that would come up from the bowels of hell itself to find you?

But alas, I fear to say that I do know the truth after all. I could not have protected you and it was not my fault. I found your grimoire locked within your nightstand. I saw the blood stains in your lockbox, the old bones and preserved organs in your locked storage. I found all of it and, my love, I’m sorry to say, I could not protect even your beautiful glimmering soul. It had never been in my power to save one who had ventured to make an inescapable pact with the Devil himself.

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[Inspired by @gh0stlyink's Inktober Prompt List - Day 7: Scream]

A Gh0stly Inktober: Day 6 - Possessed

He screamed my name in between murmurings, in between dreams. Standing in the doorway, I saw him with his eyes wide open in the dead of the night, breathing the air that was not here. Somewhere else, he said. Somewhere else. I stared at him in the night. I had stopped being afraid a long time ago, and though I saw how tightly he clung to the sheets, I knew better than to touch my own son when he was in this state.

“Where?” was all I asked. My son, who was not my son, turned to me, and sighed with the heaviness of a man ten times his age.

You shouldn’t have to ask. The boy’s wide eyes slowly crept up and met mine in the darkness. Mishka. A chill ran down the back of my neck. Mishka, your mother isn’t here. She is...

“Somewhere else, yeah, I’ll bet.” My lips became a thin line. “And why do you want her? You didn’t care about her while she was still alive, why would you care about her now?”

A Gh0stly Inktober: Day 27 - Iridescent

Iridescent was the word that came to mind, only it was much too late by then to make a difference. I had seen the oil slick fresh on the waters as we sailed on and on, never thinking that we were following a trail leading straight to our doom. But when our ship had been enveloped by the fog, and the ship became covered in oil, we were even then too stupid to see.

All we heard was the song. The only thing I focused upon was the beautiful swirling of the oil on the water, rainbows hovering in and out of sight, just there and then not--effervescence eclipsed by the shadows of itself. The ever moving and ever changing oil slick slowly transformed until our ship lurched in one great sigh of relief and we were grounded upon a reef.

That’s when the iridescence turned into a hardness and the water turned to scales before my sleepy gaze. Utterly relaxed and entranced, I felt the slender cool fingers slide around the back of my neck, felt the kiss upon my lips, felt myself close my eyes. I was but seafoam upon the wind, and my body was dragged down, down, down.

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[Inspired by @gh0stlyink's Inktober Prompt List: Day 27 - Iridescent]

Look, I am but a simple writer with simple needs. All I want is for my characters to suffer greatly, then hug each other when it’s all over.

Sticker Sheets

Ivy Alive on Etsy

—

Leonard Bernstein

Remain (Wish You Were Here) | Character Introductions

Lief

they/them - 18 - Chosen One’s best friend

A lovable troublemaker who lives with their Gran and works as an apprentice at the local smithy. Lief writes letters about the run-of-the-mill occurrences in their hometown and sends them to the Chosen One with the help of their spirit falcon Malachi.

Sorin

he/him - 18 - Chosen One

The young man who’s supposed to save the world from being wiped out by an ever expanding fog that swallows people and changes them into monsters. He’s the recipient of Lief’s letters.

Vera

she/her - 16 - Chosen One’s little sister

The young and sensitive daughter of a pharmacist, who despite (or perhaps because of) her intimate knowledge of the threat looming over the world, just wants to perform on a stage in front of an audience. Proud owner of the world’s most gluttonous ferret Cinnamon.

Emil

he/him - 20 - Stillwater guard

Born and raised in Stillwater, Emil has seen the fog creeps closer and closer until it was right at his doorstep. His years of guard duty have left him scarred, impatient and thoroughly without faith.

Some recurring characters:

Taglist: @ellierenae​, @hannahs-kudos​, @pagesofcursive​, @talesfromgringolandia (let me know if you wanna be +/- from the taglist!)

PSA: Just a friendly reminder that whenever you start a creative project, you will invariably hit a phase where the Thing™️ appears horrendous and you start asking existential questions. But if you keep working, it invariably passes and starts to resemble something less like the devil’s vomit. Doesn’t matter if it’s art, writing, or what–this happens repeatedly. Carry on.

Because i had a really bad week and need to vent on it a bit. People keep asking me for a new expression meme sheet and here you go after all those years. You can use it or not use it as you like QwQ just pls credit me. Thanks :3

I think sometimes with writing fanfiction it's so easy to forget that it's supposed to be self-indulgent and not a game of statistics.

Of course it's nice to have people like your work, and it feels good to be appreciated for how much effort you put into it. But fanfiction writing is often a thankless job, so write what you would want to read. If people like it, they like it. If people don't, oh well. Write for you and no one else.

to be a fan of both dracula and sherlock holmes is to have the widest experience possible on the question of “what would the author think of x” because bram stoker would be getting in months long twitter battles defending lucy while arthur conan doyle would come after anyone who asked him any question with a baseball bat

bram stoker: (with tears in his eyes, speaking with joy from the bottom of his heart) dracula is still popular???

acd: (with disgust and frustration so palpable you could spread it on bread) sherlock holmes is still popular???

all I do is listen to music and think about my silly little fictional people