DARK IN HERE STARTERS

DARK IN HERE STARTERS

taken from the 2021 album by the mountain goats

PARISIAN ENCLAVE

’ let the devil take the rest. ’ ’ walls envelop all of us like a mother who protects her young. ’ ’ i go beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the neverending shadow. ’

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KOLA SUPERDEEP BOREHOLE TOWER

’ stick bright reflective tape to the collar of your shirt. ’ ’ mind your business, and you won’t get hurt. ’ ’ be true to the things you said you’d  be true to. ’ ’ always keep your objective in view. ’ ’ those who came to learn these lessons left no trace of their presence. ’ ’ show the world your true face. ’ ’ burn such fuel as you need to burn. ’ ’ keep a sense of wonder when you finally reach your goal. ’ ’ what will they say back home about you? ’

MOBILE

’ they threw him down into the water, but he did not drown. ’ ’ be free of your burden. ’ ’ i’m on a balcony waiting for the wind to throw me down. ’ ’ if you won’t keep me safe and warm, then send down the storm. ’ ’ why do you hold back your fury? ’ ’ don’t hold back your fury. ’

DARK IN HERE

’ steal away at sundown. ’ ’ check for signs of ambush. ’ ’ i’m tired of running, tired of never standing still. ’ ’ hear them riding up the hill? ’ ’ it’s high noon somewhere, but it’s dark in here. ’ ’ you, who thirst for action: i will give you some. ’ ’ when the smoke dies down, you can rest assured that we will know who kept their word. ’ ’ you stood so proud once. ’ ’ i can taste your fear. ’ ’ it’s dark as a coal mine filling up with gas. ’ ’ will you be ready when your moment comes? ’ ’ i live in the darkness. ’

LIZARD SUIT

’ take the trouble to pronounce the street names right; people like it when you show respect. ’ ’ it’s so hard to get noticed in this town. ’ ’ you’re almost invisible aboard the train. ’ ’ there’s so many people who i just can’t read. ’ ’ i have to trust that my compass stays true. ’ ’ i let my phobias control my habits, and i let my habits form the shapes of days. ’

WHEN A POWERFUL ANIMAL COMES

’ we move by night. ’ ’ we’ll follow the shoreline until we’ve run clean out of land. ’ ’ we’ve made mistakes. ’ ’ everyone spots their own mess when the dawn breaks. ’ ’ life is short, and life is hard, and life is sweet. ’ ’ they will never know what hit them. ’ ’ it gets pretty hard to concentrate. ’

TO THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN

’ i rode past you on the road again today. ’ ’ who awakes prepared to face such sights as these? ’ ’ god keep the hunter who shows mercy to his prey. ’ ’ as you approached, i could sense the threat. ’ ’ a stranger’s just a friend who hasn’t shared their secrets yet. ’ ’ songs bloom in the dark. ’ ’ i seek the gate of wisdom. ’ ’ get ready for the waterworks. ’ ’ one of us will tire, and one will rise and ride away. ’

THE NEW HYDRA COLLECTION

’ i’m hell bent on doing the work that you cowards won’t do. ’ ’ we’re weaving the future from bright new threads. ’ ’ i dream of the day when the calm waters break. ’ ’ the safe way isn’t the only way to go. ’ ’ it’s only a test run. ’ ’ the tension’s too delicious to bear. ’ ’ according to my projections, everybody’s going to run for their lives. ’ ’ wait until our time has come. ’

THE SLOW PARTS ON DEATH METAL ALBUMS

’ i’m jumping out of my skin. ’ ’ this tiny sector can’t contain me. ’ ’ i go where i’m not wanted. ’ ’ i’m trying to find the mask that fits me. ’ ’ let me dance until i die. ’ ’ let it begin with me. ’ ’ we’re never quite free. ’

BEFORE I GOT THERE

’ the relics are all in ruin. ’ ’ it’s illegible forever. ’ ’ it’s an oracle with no tongue. ’ ’ the bodies of the fallen are in a pit behind the altar. ’ ’ their faces were turned toward the sky that they would never see again. ’ ’ i have failed you. ’

ARGUING WITH THE GHOST OF PETER LAUGHNER ABOUT HIS CONEY ISLAND BABY REVIEW

’ will there be another way? ’ ’ you took the ancient spell with you wen you fell. ’ ’ i hurt too hard, too long, and i’ll die too young. ’ ’ may your passage be assured. ’ ’ you will always have been here once. ’

LET ME BATHE IN DEMONIC LIGHT

’ someday, the old flesh will give way to the new. ’ ’ find a functioning mirror inside, and slip right through. ’ ’ who’s coming with me? ’ ’ show me my one true face. ’ ’ i’m hopeless, but free. ’ ’ you’re lit up like a marquee shining over the freeway. ’ ’ where will my long trail end? ’ ’ there’s undying hunger deep in the bloodline. ’

you're not ascending to godhood you're just dehydrated

See I like Sans but not in the funny meme sexyman way I like him in the way that he promised Toriel to protect a child that was going to be served as a sacrifice from the start because he couldn't find himself to say no to her genuine laughter and sense of humor at every dumb joke they told each other, how he cracked jokes and pranks to make this child feel comfortable while warning them to be careful and reminding them that people loved them and having a gentle heart doesn't make you weak like to this day I still think about "Take care of yourself, kid. Cause someone out there really loves you." and "You didn't gain LOVE, but you gained love." Sans is our friend actually

If looks could kill, by now he'd be dead thirty times over, he'd imagine.

So maybe it's just dauntless pride in such a fact ━ or perhaps some fashion of exhaustion from seasickness, given how much running around, swinging, and jumping he's had to do lately, though he's been handling it like a champ ━ that the boy doesn't wilt away from her trite gaze, but the name ( or title, rather ) does get a displeased squint from him, thick brows furrowing in a mild irritation. he didn't much care for it, and such a fact he was not afraid to display, despite it all.

he huffs, looking off as he crosses his arms over his chest and puffs a lip only slightly in attitude, hair a tangle on the saltwater breeze. " as y'wish, captain, 'suppose I ought not tell y'what the crew broke on deck while y'weren't lookin, then. " ━ petty as ever, isn't he?

@quillheel : “ I see great rage in y'er future. ” // from WW link to tetra!

Mixed Starters || Accepting

▲☠️▲❝ It'll be in your future too if y'don't keep those comments to yourself, swabby. ❞

Ohhhh if looks could kill.

open starter! // goro akechi

somewhere in the city, a white crow looms, deathlike, over the bones of mouse. feathers like ivory, eyes like blood vessels, mind like something hungry wing into limbs built for it, gravity taking hold, and catching air in asphalt claws. Akechi feels the same, for a blinding moment, and wills himself to be unflinching after finding an anticipation of one less step than there was as he goes up the stubby staircase of his office, only realizing his error as his foot goes through the space where the ground comes up to meet him, just in the wrong way.

his balance threatens him like gunpoint for a moment, and some minor shameful part of him shivers with the fact he'd have preferred that opposed to someone catching him like this ━ an angry thrum behind his eyes making them feel tense and pained and dull ━ but the rest of him floods in too fast by the time he's down the stairs properly, releasing held breath only when he's halfway down the hall, and reminds it that a little humility/humanity is a good thing, as that minor shameful part mumbles under its breath that perfection is a virtue, or at least, it used to be.

he finds himself navigating the office almost blind as sharp pain crackles along the seams of the skull like an electric board, shuffling mindfully in some of the more cramped spaces as the brain struggles to consciously process the outside world, so instead it reverts inwards, leaves him on autopilot; on memory. Goro is lucky that while he had not memorized the stairs, he has with nearly the entire rest of the building, or at least the route to his office. some coworkers try and catch his sleeve in conversation as he passes, but he brushes them off, social and sweet, that he's very busy right now, perhaps later! and the mission resumes. ( perhaps it simply does not occur to him of how rushed his stride is, how his knuckles turn into angry white ridges on the grip of paperwork, how one eye on the left side twitches; how this would be worrying if you knew him well enough, and sometimes, if you didn't. )

and when he does get into his office, he shuts the door, turns off the light, and sinks into the feeling of plushed-out fabric on a relatively cheap but not terrible desk chair that offers what familiar comfort it can, and what familiar discomforts he knows which he can avoid and which ones he can't; precise poise not enough, where he imagines he could stay for the rest of the day. ━ he'd rather be lying down right now, migraine lashing into him where even the modest sunlight drips in behind him from concealing blinds is too much, but he takes what he can get with two sharp hands, nails digging into it, and he accepts that this; in all likelihood; is going to be the best remedy that he has for the majority of the day until he can snag a bottle of painkillers on the way back home. resting the cool gloved back of his hand overtop the skin of his eyes. best just to survive, for now, he quietly decides…

… and the peace he craves does not last as long as he so wished it would. minutes or hours, he catches footsteps outside his door just before his doom comes, jolting alive in his seat even to the chagrin of the flesh of the brain as the doorknob rattles, he's lucky he can mask the pain with the squint of trying to change out a lightbulb in his turned off lamp as he peers over to the opened door ( although, he can't hide the twitch ) part of him begs to swipe at them with large heavy claws and rip out anything foolishly not nailed down from his rude guest, fingers poised at the neck of the lightbulb and dexterous enough to turn them even if he was blinded by the light from the rest of the station sweeping into his own little room like bleeding an infection, but he carefully tucks the impulse back. at least, in part, to know who he was going to be clawing at in the first place; not really out of unwillingness to be ruthless, perhaps cruel.

Akechi's head pounds. He finds himself unable to remember the shape of their shadow through the glazed window that otherwise he should've caught. He resists a wave of nausea that threatens to sink in. ( easy, now… )

" Oh, hi! I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, so you might want to take up your problem with someone else if you're looking for speed, but what can I help you with? "

// at this point i really oughta note it, SO: headsup to all my roleplay partners! because of a lot of irl shit happening and stressors including financial concerns and losing two pets in the span of a few months, my brain's been really struggling with processing time and getting in the headspace to Be here beyond JUST writing (so DMs and the like), so if i don't respond, that is why, and i sincerely apologize! I'm trying to get back into the swing of Actually answering people but if I don't or it takes a while, that's why!