fyeahpoisonivy:

[Trauma Warning: Death, Skeletons, Bones]

[Image: A full color and moody illustration of DC comics character Poison Ivy. She is lying on the ground in what looks like a dark forest next to a human skeleton. One hand of the skeleton is resting on her thigh, and Ivy is lovingly touching the skull. Some red roses are scattered across the skeleton’s pelvis.]

xombiedirge:

Poison Ivy by Vanessa Del Rey

It’s been 11 years to the day since my mother passed away.

That familiar ache of loss, pain, and heart-wrenching longing to just hug her one more time always comes back. It never fails. Leukemia tore her away from me when I was far too young — I was only 11 years old. Now at 22, it’s terrifying to think that as of today, I’ve spent exactly half of my life without her.

She’s gone. I’ll never get to see her or hear her beautiful voice. I’ll never get another whiff of her familiar perfume. I’ll never hear her laugh again, never be able to hear her pick away at her 12 string guitar. I’ll never again taste one of her home cooked meals or dance with her.

At the same time, she won’t get to see me graduate from her collegiate alma mater this year. She’ll never meet any of my future lovers, or any of her possible grandchildren, nor was she there when my heart was broken. She won’t ever meet my best friends (some of the most important people in my life) nor will she ever see the person I’ve become or will eventually grow into. She’s just gone. 

I don’t understand it. I never will. I mean, I know death is a part of life and all that bullshit, but it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I had to grow up without my mother, one of the most beautiful and dedicated individuals that I’ve ever met. The day she was ripped away from me and my family was a day that changed my life and my ways of thinking forever. I’m not afraid of death. I’m not afraid of an afterlife, good or bad. Thoughts of it just simply don’t bother me because inevitably, whatever we do now won’t matter. In the end, everyone dies. All you can do now is enjoy the moments you have with the people who mean the most to you, however fleeting those people or the times you spend with them may be. 

This depression that tears through me every year is just a reminder that I am human. No matter what fuckery life throws at me, it’s part of life and I have to deal with it while I’m still here and I have the opportunity to, simply, live. 

[Spoiler alert and trigger warning for death/cancer]

The episode originally aired on Feb. 27, 2001—just 34 days after my mother passed away from leukemia on Jan. 24, 2001. 

It is honestly one of the best pieces of television that I remember seeing, let alone one of the best episodes of the series. It is an episode of a show that is typically riddled with action and twisted love plots punctuated with a plethora of bad puns and somewhat cheesy monsters. Instead, it breaks down, not only the style of the show, but the individual characters themselves, revealing weaknesses in them all. With one event, each character becomes vulnerable in a way that had never been touched before, opening them up to a world of expression and development. 

For those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, “The Body” episode in season 5 of BTVS involves Buffy finding the body of her mother, whom she later finds out has died of an aneurysm associated with the brain cancer which had been operated on previously. Throughout the episode, each character goes through different stages of grieving. Buffy of course is confused and lost, not knowing what to do with herself or the situation. Dawn has a complete breakdown, not believing that it’s real, and not understanding how it could have happened so suddenly. Giles steps up and completely takes over as the parental figure for the group, continuing to be the father-figure for them all. Xander shuts down, retreating into himself and not expressing his grief until it builds to the point of him punching a wall, breaking his knuckles. Willow weeps, displacing her normally calm demeanor and replacing it with frustration over something as trivial as an outfit, which is very unlike her personality. Tara exhibits a completely collected demeanor, attempting to help in any way that she can, eventually revealing that she lost her mother when she was younger. Anya initially seems heartless and unsympathetic, but eventually reveals that she is completely breaking down, confused with the morality of human life and questioning everything about what it is to be a human—this event makes her more human than she has been up to this point. 

It is a turning point for all of them. They each, in their own way, express different stages of grieving; denial, anger, sadness, depression, and acceptance. It is a deeply moving episode, but also has a haunting feel to it. There is never a background soundtrack, nor what seems like any background noises. There is only silence and the voices of the cast. It is eerie and makes the episode that much more chilling. 

Until tonight, I hadn’t watched this episode since it first aired. When I first watched it, it was so soon after my own mother’s death that I couldn’t bear to sit through it again, so I always skipped over it. It touched so close to home, a mother suddenly dying from cancer. One minute, they’re fine. Laughing, talking, just living their life, then suddenly, they’re sick and in the hospital. You’re scared. Confused. Lost. Then everything seems to be getting better. They start to feel better and you start to have hope. The doctors say that everything is looking up. Then suddenly one day, you get a phone call and you have to look into your father’s eyes as he hangs up the line and says the words you’ve dreaded hearing. “She’s gone.” Those words will haunt me for the rest of my life. I was only 11 years old when it happened and it effected me more than anything else has in my entire life. Those words. That day. That moment, frozen in time. Scared. Confused. Lost. No one understands. Not able to express it without losing it again. It still hurts. Almost 11 years later, and it still hurts. Almost half my life has passed me by without her here, and it will never stop hurting, nor will anything effect me the way that event did. I can relate to this episode so terribly, and it kills me to watch it. But tonight, I sat down with it and I saw it through. And I cried. This episode hits so close to home, but was such a beautiful piece of television that no other can be compared to it.

This episode, no matter how hard or painful it is to sit through, is just one of the many reasons why BTVS is and always will be one of my all time favorite shows. It’s not just witty, action-packed, quotable, and dramatic, it also has so much heart and speaks to it’s audience with such raw emotion like no other show can muster. 

liambelle:

2nd Endless. Death.

I’m there for old and young, innocent and guilty,

those who die together and those who die alone.

 

I’m in cars and boats and planes;

in hospitals and forests and abattoirs.

 

For some folks death is a release,

and for others death is a abomination, a terrible thing.

But in the end, I’m there for all of them

 

…when the first living thing existed,

I was there waiting…

when the last living thing dies,

my job will be finished.

 

I’ll put the chairs on the table,

turn out the lights

and lock the universe behind me when I leave.

 

—-Death(Neil Gaiman’s Sandman)

gypsyboyinabox:

thegypsyinplaid:

shoebian:

Death <3

 http://saulone.deviantart.com/

Probably the most adorable psychopomp out there.

One/Two cosplays I’m working on for Megacon this year. 

The Endless inspired by Neil Gaiman’s comic series entitled Sandman.

(from left to right)
Dream, Death, Desire, Delirium, Despair, Destruction, Destiny 

thedailywhat:

Lights Out: A supercut of every death scene from Saw I through VI.

Sleep tight.

[moviefone.]

There must be something wrong with me considering I found this awesome. Right?

(Source: thedailywhat)