#aasb

Happy Halloween 🦇👁️

now go read as above so below, by @birrdies

close up below vvv

One day... I will make something actually cool for aasb... One day...

You know the drill, @birrdies boys as usual.

It was a dusty book with worn edges, title on the front cover printed in a heavy gothic script and embossed with gold foil. A Modern Bestiary for the 20th Century by Professor Hellen Magnus and Doctor Pellinore Warthrop Eddie's hand shot to it immediately, intrigued, and he spent a good few minutes flipping through the pages. He vibrated as he went page by page, eyes scanning over one creature or another. Harpies and gargoyles and sea serpents. He thought of all the Hellfire sessions that would benefit from this book. It really felt like an ancient tome with all of the scientific diagrams and breakdowns of each creature's skeleton, brief summaries of associated myths, and place of origin. [...] Fate was funny that way. And funnier still...when he drew his eyes across the page once again and saw, scribbled in the corner in...colored pencil or crayon...he couldn't say for sure...was your name. "No..." he squinted and pulled the page closer to his face. "Can't be."

Excerpt from AASB Hymn of Heaven: Manticore (with spoilers for Chapter 12: Ab Aeterno)

Art by the most talented and wonderful @disjointed-art

Ok so this is only partly tied to As Above, So Below. The Eddie drawing was a gift for @fracturedarkness from last year. But since we have a reference to this book in AASB, I thought it was only fitting to have a version that included Knight and our babies Cerby and Lucy. And it turned out beyond anything of my wildest dreams.

i love so so so much how blurred the line is between reality and not .it genuinely reminds me of what it feels like to be in a psychotic episode as a schizospec guy (e.g., fully believing something to be true but hiding it from other people because of fear/understanding youd be seen as crazy) but at the same time i cant help but wonder. with "horror" "unreliable narrator" "scifi" and the other tags......fuuuck IS what he's seeing real? <- rhetorical question im so excited to find out through the actual fic,,,,i looooveee the way you write earth.AGAIN hes everything to me fuuuck giving you director of the show award so you can fix everything right now this is so good. where was i oh yesyes AH ALSO i love earth constantly calling himself crazy, it speaks reallly true to like. what ive experienced personally LOL author idk if youve had psychotic experiences before but you fucking NAILED it and i have so much respect for that forever and always and forever and forever Now onto my fucking Batshit Bonkers:

jupiter. oh my godd the part with jupiter is so sweet he has the best intentions, i REALLY do like the point where he stumbles over his words a little "k- destroy..." like he was about to say *kill* but. I guess kill DOES have a more... visceral meaning? Destroy is almost more neutral, you can destroy something thats not alive you cant kill something thats not alive. Inherent killable property of living things. Which ties in really well with Earth constantly finding way to differentiate himself FROM his living things ("i dont dream its another difference between me and my earthlings"). Im also not entirely sure how youve rewritten canon or iffff earth's attempt occurs in ur rewrite but Its a neat tie to that too i think ("destroying oneself" has a VERY DIFFERENT CONNOTATION than "killing oneself" afterall)

THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!! fuuuck dude idek whats happening anymore the way he vanished??? just??? gone??? after earth admits that. No. its not educational its legitimate fear something something. ALSO THE "is this educational" LINE IS SO FUNNY. AMAZING CALLBACK TO JUPITER. LIKE STAR LIKE PLANET. Backtracking a little THE SUN his personality is so fun i lovelovelove how you write him (i love how you write every character, you'll find) the way he completely derails on earth UNTIL earth clarifies he's not asking about the whole solar system ("if something bad would happen would you do anything about it" fucking of course he would, its kinda does sound like a mockery of the sun's efforts to keep everyone safe. to try and prevent them from all DYING -> "if something really bad happened TO ME would you be able to stop it") AND HE LOOKS TERRFIIEDDDD. does the sun know. does the sun know. does he know. i think my answer initially was Yes but im teetering to No because of the "disarming" "reserve" etc etc BUT THEN HE LOOKS TERRIFIED! "he's more afraid than Earth" i do still have my reserves thinking Sun knows anything but i cant help but wonder if he knows more than he lets on (the sudden vanishing anger??? is that just a reaction to earth's clarification or or or). I feel like im in earths fucking head right now GET ME OUT GET ME OUT!!!!

LUNA LUNA LUNAAAA FUCK. where did he go. yes okay probably moon club hes probbaly fine but im in the fgucking earth's head right now what if he's just gone. what if this if the beginning. ohhh im sickk im siiiiick. I do think that the WhateverItIs points to it only being earth that'd be effected by The End (tm) but like "The world" is very subjective wording, sure all that follows is earth-related (plants, animals, people, rain, rivers, himself literally) but does it means Earth's world will vanish? a slow trickle down till hes all thats left and then he DIES!!!! im reading too "wheres the trickery" into it and im doing it in the LUNA section but Luna vanishing and that being mentioned several times has like driven a wedge into my brain where Did He Go. Idk maybe its because Earth mentions it several times i just. god. goddd im earthpilled right now and its killing me Earth my psychotic king!!!!!! LUNA IS WRITTEN SO WELL BUY THE WAY i love their twibling antics.luna needs a good college friendgroup and some fuckign beer for what hes dealing with. i do REALLY appreciate the way luna notes earth's Weird behaviors and tells him to his face about it like fuuuck. ALSO WAIT HOLD ON A FUCKING SECOND??? Luna mentions earth "drifting in a random direction for an hour" WAS JUPITER NOT FUCKING REAL????? (dont answer i need to see this through im so hyped) im losing my shit im losing my MIND. this fic is making me feel so many things AM I IN FUCKING NARNIA. anyways luna is written BEAUTIFULLY i love him i love the fact he says "Dude" cynically it made me chuckle i love that he's got a very good reading on the sun i like how he talks to Earth and i love their banter YET AGAIN FUCKING STELLLLAAARRRR WRITING

earth fuuuucuuuuuuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck duuuuude fuuuuuuuuuuucukkkk easrthhhhhhh earthhhhhhh. fuuuck.

I feel like im crazy this is WONDERFUL amazing writing amazing fic i cant wait to see how this plans out idk idk im so hyped at the idea of Not Knowing Anything it is VERY rare a fic makes me feel so many things all at once. YOU are jingling a little toy in front of my face and i cant tell if the toy is real or a figment or something way fucking scarier or if you or i are even here or there in the first place AND I AM ENTHRALLED. dear author oh my god please pat yourself on the back and maybe have the best sleep of your life please this is so good. i feel the incredible NEED to know the rest of the story along with the deepest satisfaction for a story ive felt in a. very long time (which is amazing, its so perfect im in love with your writing oh muy godd) i just. please know through all these fucking insane ramblings and my wild theorizations that are probably wrong and all but just just. just please know i have so much respect for you this is so fucking cool ohhh my god sincerely, a guy with a normal job who does niormal things in a normal world OH MY GODDDD im going to be thinking about this fic for weeks FUUUCKJSO GOOD

I just want you to know this meant the absolute world (maybe even the absolute end of it 😁) to me when I got it last night, and it still means as much now. You and every other comment I got on the prologue all joined hands like came together with the power of friendship and singlehandedly expedited chapter 2's release date. Wow they really aren't kidding when they say feedback is a motivator. I'm not sure how I got the first 10k words out solely powered by vagueposts

Anyway you're like my little Earth endorsement person. I keep you in my pocket dormant until you come out like a groundhog and give me the go-ahead for my Earth shenanigans. And on the topic of psychotic episodes and whether I've had them or anything similar before, I actually haven't! I do however have a few friends who experience psychotic episodes and have schizophrenia. Either way, Earth is an extremely dissimilar character to me, both in personal experiences and personality, which is extremely fun for me. That being said, I am absolutely STOKED you can connect with Earth here, like just THRILLED. I mean, best day ever or what??!??