Theancientdreamer - To Be An Ancient Plotter

dear people with OCD: the next time you have spiraling & intrusive thoughts, what-ifs, or catastrophizing scenarios, I am sending a cardigan-wearing 46-year old NYU professor directly into your brain and he says "Aaaaand scene!!!" and he claps his hands slowly. and he says "Wow. Wow. Powerful stuff. Evocative imagery. A little bit post-modern, a little bit hysterical realism in the vein of Don Delilo but let's pause right here." and you will recognize your thoughts as a perplexing avant-garde film shown to an audience of 15 liberal arts students who are now trying to get a good grade and sleep with their professor.

Did Sung Hyeonje ever fail?

Most people wouldn’t even think to ask such a question. He seemed like someone who had never even scraped his knee, as if he had succeeded in walking on his first try without ever falling. He must have effortlessly maintained first place throughout his school years, naturally taking the position of student council president. He probably entered university as the top student, graduated with honors, and, rather than working under someone else, built his own business—becoming one of the top 100 wealthiest individuals at a young age.  

A person whose brilliant golden path naturally shines before your eyes.

But the real Sung Hyeonje. He was someone who had experienced more failures than anyone else in this world.  

He failed, and failed, and failed again, stacking up failures like an impossibly high mountain until he finally reached its peak.  

Before my regression, I must have admired and envied Sung Hyeonje. Even after turning back time, I still thought the same. I believed he was perfect. I secretly harbored the expectation that, if he helped me, everything I had to do would become much easier.  

But now, I know about his failures. I know how long he had wandered. The perfection I once looked up to had cracked and faded, yet—  

That imperfect Sung Hyeonje felt far more amazing and wonderful. I couldn’t help but be impressed. 

The path that exhausted me after just walking it once—he had endured it for an unimaginable amount of time.  

He never gave up. He came all the way here, right before my eyes. And in the end, he surpassed it.  

- MSCH side story chapter 83

heart pirates 🫶💞

by the way, quietly bottling your discomfort with someone and just hoping they'll "get the hint" until you can't take it anymore and then taking it to the nearest moderator isn't "setting a boundary" or "being victimized," it's actually called "being a huge piece of shit" and "expecting people to read your mind."

Sorry about your conflict aversion, but you actually need to tell people when they're making you uncomfortable. like, with explicit, clear, unmistakeable words that don't give you a safe cover of plausible deniability with which you can back out and "still be the good guy." It is kinder to let someone down face-to-face so they can hurt and move on knowing what went wrong than it is to lead someone on and then stab them in the fucking back, you know?

Also, I cannot stress this enough, it is not actually someone else's fault for making you uncomfortable when you literally make a point to lie to them about how much you like them by pretending you're enjoying their company more than you are. That's your fault. That's called making a bed to lie in. Maybe just desperately hoping someone who has already misinterpreted how close they are to you will just happen to pick up on the subtle signs of you desperately hiding your discomfort is, frankly, fucking stupid, and you need to get over yourself and say real words to them instead of getting some third party to punish them for your own inability to communicate.

Sorry this one isn't as nice as my other posts, but some of you need a wake-up slap. Stop fucking burning autistic people and trans women one-by-one because being a coward is easier than being a villain. It's not fucking nice, it's not cute, and the more I see it happen, the less forgivable it gets. Grow the fuck up and change in the scary but necessary ways.

Because it's kinder to tell someone when they're fucking up than it is to let them make the same mistakes in ignorance until you've secretly tallied enough transgressions to safely write them off as unforgivable, and thus disposable. Because I care about you, and everyone else, enough to give you a real chance to actually correct your harmful behaviors by being honest to you about the harm they cause. Because I believe people can make hurtful mistakes while still being genuine unintended mistakes, and that they can change.

Hint, hint.

Fell in love with the storyline

Got Plopped In a Ghost Story, You Still Gotta Work: A visual primer for English speakers

This took me a week. I did this for ORV like 4 years ago so it felt like my moral obligation to make one again.

Some notes on character designs and images without text:

Gorals and domestic goats look very different, but in Manor of the Blind attention is put into how these two are similar and contrasting, the truly noble Go Yeongeun with the white goat and the sinister Baek Saheon with the black goat. I also picked a literal goral instead of a mountain goat (which are naturally white) because gorals look more like roe deers than goats, making the 3 of them more closely linked.

Because this is a horror novel and unnatural features aren't mentioned, I tried to keep this as grounded as possible. Sorry to the three WHABs I eliminated in cold blood ⭐

Another hardliner of of grounded designs is Jin Nasol, who gets the most ostentatious anime character treatment besides Jay in fanart. She is coldly utilitarian and prizes efficiency over all else, there is no way that woman has bangs

I am not giving Park Minseong brown hair. There is nothing wrong with a good warm black

Lee Jaheon is often depicted as an adorable little newt in fanart, but a huge part of why he is so hysterical is that he is scary, so I picked more intimidating lizard traits so he functions in both dramatic heroic scenes and eating granola bars with the wrappers still on. He gets to keep the newt mask though

I gave Braun white gloves at first but I saw a Braun cosplayer and a demon possessed me. I have no idea what colour is canon. who doesnt love black leather

Making Jang Heo-un the "sharp eyes meek personality" trope made my brain light up so good. I was trying to contrast with the relaxed eyes of the easygoing Park Minseong to make them more obviously different but this feels cosmically correct

You can use these pics in whatever. ⬆️

“The Longer I’d Stall

The Further I’d Crawl

The Further I’d Crawl

The Harder I’d Fall

Into The Fire “

Gotta Knock a Little Harder - The Seatbelts

Suddenly it Occurred to Me , The Reason for The Run and Hide Had Totalled My Existence…..

this is when you know you are fucked for a long long time…

Greetings bugs and worms!

This comic is a little different than what I usually do but I worked real hard on it—Maybe I'll make more infographic stuff in the future this ended up being fun. Hope you learned something new :)

If you are still curious and want to learn more about OCD, you can visit the International OCD Foundation's website. I also recommend this amazing TED ED video "Starving The Monster", which was my first introduction to the disorder and this video by John Green about his own experience with OCD.

The IOCDF's website can also help you find support groups, therapy, and has lots of online guides and resources as well if you or a loved one is struggling with the disorder. It is very comprehensive!

Reblog to teach your followers about OCD

(But also not reblogging doesn't make you evil, silly goose)

I need their lore like I need air

ocd is honestly fucking soul destroying. it's 4am and for the first time in years, tonight I've managed to alter one of my compulsions and take one of the rules out and it feels like - like the world is coming to an end. every atom in my body feels like it's screaming at me to do the compulsion over again and i can't make it stop. i feel like something terrible is going to happen to my family and it will all be my fault bc I couldn't just do the stupid fucking compulsion like I was supposed to and its hell this is hell I am in hell