#I have no idea how you drew this and animated it

[madfantom]

Full animatic And so, part 2 of my comments, let's start.

◁Part 1

In the last part, and here, the order in which the children got to William is shown, and I will explain why it is not the order of the murders Here is a MEMO with missing children to make it easier to navigate, since I drew very simplistically.

I mean, when watching usually fnaf animations, I myself had the question "who the fuck are all these kids?" and, either in another animation I understood, or I did not understand at all, or the designs were so simplified that you can guess (I mean a child in all red or with a pirate armband is foxy, Freddy is all brown, etc.) So I just made outlines of their hair and costumes and that's it

It's just a little complaint here, don't pay attention, I'll just say it once, and that's because I didn't think that someone would write the same thing all the time when writing AU And one more thing. Chick's name is SOFIA. Please guys, I know that Suzy from fnaf 6 exists, okay? She's there, hell, she's even in the animation next to Cassidy. I just shifted her from being a chick to another one, not removed. And she also has an interesting role and a different design logic, I just don't have time to do everything. In fact, I even have a reason why Sofia exists and I wrote a very long text post about it, but I haven't finished drawing sketches there, so you won't see it yet. It's just that I'm starting to get a little bit hung up by the same type of comments from Pinterest, although to get rid of this, I write in big letters everywhere that it's AU

Let's go back to the animatic

I have displayed the methods of killing, which will then be reflected in the appearance of the ghosts. In fact, I took the idea from my old horror zine Fnaf art when I was thinking about how the children died there to make their appearance more creepy. Some of the ideas remained, and some were redesigned, as well as some designs

Sofia was placed in a ventilation unit. William caught her and left her there suffocating in the off ventilation , after a light strangulation, suffocating in the off ventilation. She didn't actually die, but she was the first (And I refer to this also in a custom night with the phrase "I was the first, I have seen everything!") And now imagine how the room smelled of chemicals after cleaning it from all kinds of oils and other liquids necessary for mechanisms that are very difficult to wipe off. While ventilation did not work and the girl was locked in a narrow place after she was strangled, forced to watch through the slots for the children who were after her That's why Sofia's ghost makes such a quiet clucking sound, as she coughs as if she's still in the ventilation. She won't die of suffocation, nah, in this comic she's still alive and William can cut her throat.

About the rest it is more obvious, well, not counting the pictures on the Background.

Jeremy was electrocuted, so his ghost hair is pulled up as if by an electric shock. He also has charred lips and eyelid skin and no eyebrows, and his hands have torn and charred stripes from just the same clamp. He looks like the most crippled of the three

Fritz couldn't stand the blows from blunt and sharp objects and in the end they attached a mask to his face with a nail gun or something like that and set it on fire quite a bit. Well, just a little bit. His background is directly related to the comic, which Redraw at the beginning, and now I continue. I'm still doing it, but I need a lot of time for it

Gabriella was basically cut while they wrapped one of those cables around his neck that are forever hanging on the walls in fnaf and pulled out his eye after death

[fruitylittlewriter]

I love you, I'm sorry - [Agathario]

Summary: shameless Agathario fix-it-fic because I cannot stand how Marvel left them.

word count: 1.4k

warnings: loss of a child, regret, death (not explicit)

The idea that death might ever come for her without the sweet face of the woman she’d loved for centuries was enough to turn her ancient, iron stomach. How could she ever succumb to the end looking into anything but the eyes she came to know as her sons? Nicky had looked like Agatha, it’s true, but those eyes were Rio’s, and so too had been the tip of his nose which she kissed every night. 

...

"I never wanted to take him from you,"

"You didn't, he was never mine to keep,"

...

Whether the wind whipping around them had calmed or Agatha had simply ceased to notice it she did not know. 

No, Agatha thought. It was all wrong. 

Rio was right, she wasn’t mad at her, possibly never had been. And as the guilt and shame settled in her chest, she cursed the time they’d lost with each other, with Nicky. Why don’t you want me? Rio had asked. Why? She couldn’t face him. Her baby deserved a mother better than she, one who wouldn’t muddy his innocence with her fear of being betrayed. Though she would abhor forever what her coven had done to her, Nicky deserved softness. Agatha cringed at the thought of her son’s last day, cringed again upon remembering what she’d said to Rio on the road. How could she have said that? You took. It was Rio that had given her their son to begin with, with whom she had made that beautiful boy from scratch. How could she have been so cavalier with her words, as if Rio had not had to take their son from the arms of his sleeping mother? They both loved Nicky, but no one in the world loved Agatha like Rio did. Her sobs the morning she awoke cradling Nicky’s lifeless body rattled around inside her head like the echo of a tolling bell, though now she thought of Rio. Had Rio heard her cries? Had the sound ripped the black, beating heart clean from her chest? Agatha had never considered the tears Rio must have shed, how much she gave up, what she risked to give Agatha the time she got. And after everything- 

Agatha felt everything, the rough bark against her back through the cloth of her dress, the earth beneath her; her hair was sweaty and plastered to her forehead, pressure bearing down in her whole body. Something was wrong, she could feel it as she tried desperately to bring her son forth. Never had Agatha thought that the sight of Rio’s face would make the blood run cold in her veins the way it did when she appeared by the lakeside, green cloak draped over her shoulders. Agatha begged and pleaded, why would Rio come? Surely it could not be. Surely, she would not take her son away. “Please, my love,” Anything, Agatha would do anything to save her child. Rio’s blushing cheeks and raven hair should have been such a comfort, but she was there to steal. To steal the breath of Agatha’s child from its lungs, to steal the life from her womb. In that moment, Agatha was an animal, a mother, and Rio was a threat. Not the love of her life or Nicky’s mom, but a something to be stopped. Rio was powerful and Agatha her only weak spot, so Agatha drew her knife and pressed it into the only place on Rio she could hurt. “If you do this I will hate you forever,” 

After everything-

The idea that death might ever come for her without the sweet face of the woman she’d loved for centuries was enough to turn her ancient, iron stomach. How could she ever succumb to the end looking into anything but the eyes she came to know as her sons? Nicky had looked like Agatha, it’s true, but those eyes were Rio’s, and so too had been the tip of his nose which she kissed every night. 

Agatha’s gaze felt a thousand pounds, weighed down and stuck staring at the ground before her. It was this same weight that would keep her from her son if she let it. 

Agatha Harkness, the way Rio said her name had always made her feel powerful, but she had been a coward for so long now. 

Formidable. 

The formidable Agatha Harkness ought not to be defined by her fear, by her shame… 

I ought to have killed you the moment you left my body. She had always been evil, hadn’t she? Agatha thought back to Nicky’s first moments; holding him, gazing into his beautiful, familiar eyes for the first time, how nothing in the entire world could have changed how she felt about him. That moment she held him, and realised that forever her heart would be walking around outside of her chest. Nicky was so perfect, he deserved everything she had to give. 

Perhaps looking up would be the bravest thing Agatha ever did. And so for Nicky, for Rio, for herself, she found strength. 

It was her eyes, the look on Rio’s face that tore clean through the armor she’d spent years tending. Agatha must have hurt her profoundly to have earned the stoney mask that slipped over Rio’s features. 

Her feet were iron and the ground a magnet, but she willed her legs to move. Just one small step. 

“Rio,” Her voice was a whisper, almost lost in the distance between them. Her eyes burned, could she do it?

Rio met her gaze, her mouth wired stubbornly closed, attempting to fortify herself in preempt against whatever Agatha had cooked up to force her hand, to let that teenaged witchling continue to hitch a free ride in one of her bodies. “No, Agatha,” She bit. “I have to take him, it’s my job, I can’t--” 

Agatha cut her off, legs finally finding the strength to carry her forward. The distance between them disappeared into nothing as Agatha threw herself into her lover’s arms. Like a stone sinking into water Agatha was enveloped. Then, Agatha kissed her. Rushed and reflexive, and for no reason but to feel Rio against her again. Their mouths slotted together, teeth and tongues, all surrendered to passion, to love. All that could not be said passing between them. What a relief, to feel Agatha so closely, to feel her pulse under her fingers as they tightened around her wrists, to feel Agatha’s touch on her face, their bodies a hairsbreadth from melting into one another such that they might never be pulled apart by anything ever again. Her hand found the back of Rio’s head, pulling her close, protecting her from what, she did not know, but something great and looming. “I don’t hate you,” She sobbed into the tiny gap between them, their foreheads pressed together. There was a pause, a silence where Agatha worried Rio might never believe her, might never let her back in. Then, all be damned, Rio pulled her in and Agatha felt Rio’s ribs shake softly against her as Rio’s fingers took fists of her dress.

“I’m sorry,” Rio’s voice wavered in Agatha’s ear. 

Agatha pulled away, clutched Rio’s face between her palms and stared into her watering eyes with more command and purpose than she had ever done. “No,” She said, her voice stern. “My love,” Rio gripped Agatha’s wrist, eyebrows knitting together. It had been a long time since she’d heard that name, and the last time had changed something in her, leaving it broken and mangled. “You have nothing to apologize for,” Her eyes burned once more, brimming with tears. “I am so sorry,”

“I never wanted to take him from you,”

“You didn’t,” Hot droplets rolled down her face as she remembered their boy; his laugh, his voice, his face. Rio had bent the world in half to give her time with him. Agatha leaned in, her chin tilted up so that her lips could meet the tip of Rio’s nose, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He was never mine to keep,” Her throat tightened. “He was always meant to go with you… as I am,”

“Agatha,” Rio’s head tilted to the side, her eyebrows tightening. 

“I have lived without you long enough,” Agatha’s words ghosted Rio’s lips as she chased after them, her eyes coming up to meet Agatha’s. “If it’s quite alright with you I’d like to amend my last request,”

“Please,”

“Lay me next to Nicky?”

Agatha felt another tear roll into her palm.

“As if I could ever leave you to rest without him,”

Rio lets Agatha pull her in once more, as if she might ever get enough of Agatha’s lips on hers, as if her need for her might ever be sated. “Take me home?”

“With pleasure, my love,” Rio pulled away from her and Agatha reached out, already missing her touch. What was she doing? She watched Rio’s eyes land on something in the grass before leaning over to pick it up. “I believe this belongs to you,” Rio took Agatha’s collar in her fingers, affixing her broach to the fabric. Her hands worked their way to Agatha’s hair, tucking a flower behind one ear. “Shall we?”

...

Let me know if you have any requests!!

[quibbs126]

So these are currently my two pieces of attempted Transformers art

First one was practice, 2nd was just something I wanted to draw. Debated putting them on different posts, but I thought might as well have them on the same

I’m starting with the Animated characters because it’s what I’m watching, and also I like the art style. Or I at least like how Optimus looks. I drew a Ratchet elsewhere on Friday but it’s on a physical sheet of paper so I can’t show it to you

It’s…coming along, I suppose? It’s not the best, but I suppose I should also admit to myself that I’ve literally never drawn a Transformer before. And for that, I suppose it isn’t the worst? Like it just looks kind of off

I am getting the hang of drawing Optimus though. I probably need to figure out how to draw the others though, and not just him

I think with the 2nd drawing in particular, I’m making the head too big. Old habits are hard to break, I suppose

But also another thing, I am struggling with the eye shadow things. It looks cool, and I’d like to keep doing it for that reason, but I struggle with making it look right. And by proxy, that goes for the eyes in general. How do people draw them?

Also how do you draw the bots in general? I have no clue how I’m supposed to pose them

But yeah, on to things I drew

The shocked Optimus in the 1st one has been in my head for a while now, I had to draw it. Context, crossovers between the canons have been stuck on my head a LOT. And I think I’ve already mentioned my whole idea of Animated Optimus being absolutely horrified hearing about the Transformers One Sentinel

Tragically, I couldn’t figure out how specifically to draw his expression. What you see there is the best I could do

Then we have the 2nd picture, which is just because I like the headless Sentinel episode, their dynamic there is amazing. Didn’t think I’d care for the second Headmaster episode, but it’s great for them

I’m still considering the whole Optimus/Sentinel situationship in current day, but I think I’d need to make it through Season 3 first before I can say for sure. But I still don’t yet see TFA megop (they basically haven’t interacted in Season 2 so far), so I’m still going with it

There’s probably more I meant to mention, but I’ve forgotten it in the moment. So take this

[swiftgod003]

For the new saga, I have some of my own ideas, well, I hope many people will accept them, but unfortunately, in my country, many fans don't listen to what I say and just want to hear what they want to hear(My English level is not very good, the following are machine translatisee):

What I'm saying is that everyone has assumed Jay's goofy animations (which I would consider goofy enough) as the official established plot (note that plot and storyline are different, the storyline serves the plot). But in reality, Jay's first album did not have the long animations found in his new album, at most there were some short clips to help understand the storyline. The animators at the time drew their animations based on their own interpretations of the lyrics and their own imagination, creating excellent works one by one. Later albums saw Jay adding more and more long animations, it is likely that he did so because he saw more and more animations and wanted to try it himself (or at the request of his fans) to create his own animations. Jay has also said that he is not good at visual design, so he may have known that the animations he designed would not be good. (It seems that they were used to help understand the storyline, telling us that we're going to drown here, or that we're about to fight here.)

So, I think that what Jay thought of can be considered just one of the countless works, and if you don't like it, you don't have to watch his works.

In summary, the plot was something that Jay had thought out in advance, but the storyline was not. His animation was simply his own idea of the storyline, so if you don't like it, you don't have to watch it. (I think there will definitely be an animation where Ody has an epic battle with Poseidon, both of them getting badly hurt in the process, and Ody just barely wins in the end. Even if there isn't one, we can create our own, again, to reiterate, the plot is predetermined, but the storyline is free.)

Regarding the plot where a mortal defeats a god, and in the end, Poseidon is injured and says "Please," if you simply cannot stand this scene, then you can stop reading here and leave (thank you for your cooperation).

Epic, in essence, is a large-scale, adaptation and re-creation of the original work, rather than being completely based on the original classic. Why could Ody defeat Poseidon? It's not about who is stronger or weaker, it's about skill counter! Skill counter! Didn't Jay post his setting for the gods earlier? In his setting, even Hermes can fight Poseidon. Then, it makes sense for Ody to wear a windbag like Hermes and use speed to fight Poseidon. If Poseidon were as powerful as in myth, the fight between Hermes and Poseidon would be a joke, let alone Ody. (Of course, the jetpack is a little bit unrealistic.)

There's also the fact that Ody is fighting with Poseidon directly, which is just not realistic. Does Ody have to be the same wise and cunning as in the original? I think a human, no matter how powerful, is still just a human. After going through so much pain and suffering, he would break down, lose his mind completely, and give up. Let's not talk about the original here. In Epic, Ody is already a completely different person from the beginning. Epic's Ody would feel guilty for killing a baby, would he? He would, right? He would just pat himself on the back and walk away without any burden. Epic's Ody is suffering from the goddess's harassment on Calypso's island, would he? He would, right? He even had a child with the goddess.

For me, I would rather accept the epic version of the Odysey. If the epic version of the Odysey, which has endured all the sufferings over the past 20 years, can go home immediately, but then be stopped again, and still be able to play mind games with Poseidon as before, then I suggest abandoning the epic version and going back to the original work. The original version of the Odysey is more in line with everyone's mental standards.

Finally, I ask loyal readers not to curse me 🧎🏻‍♂️. If my opinion has made you uncomfortable, you can simply exit. Please don't curse me, I really fear it. Thank you for your cooperation 🙏🏻.(However, I welcome friendly discussions.)

[springsketches]

He’s very tired, TLQ has more decisions to make… Oh hey, the pristine cut comes out tomorrow! Have a last minute picture I did! This was surprisingly difficult ha ha ha, I don’t know how many times I’m gonna draw the shifting mound again... Congratulations Abby and Tony for their time and efforts! I look forward to playin it tomorrow!

It’s exciting!! I’ve been waiting a while for this one! I hope people have been as excited as I’ve been! Maybe sometime I’ll create a more detailed/flushed out drawing, but for now I’m happy with this drawing given the short amount of time I gave myself.

Being loosely a part of this fandom has definitely helped me in my art journey and inspired me to become a better creator.

Also, if I may be a little self-indulgent, I’m gonna show my oc clapping for them! She’s excited too

[hellspawnmotel]

epsilons

[basslinegrave]

[all-my-ocs-are-evil]

Grojband, but as a band from an early 2000s shoujo manga

[socially-awkward-chocobo]

Tada!!!! I made three more stain glass-ish style drawings! (Here's the Kido-Seto-Kano ones I made)

[cargoshortsenjoyer]

This is Herbert West about to experiment on Jeffrey Combs. The concept originally came from @heliojip on here. He hasn't released his image yet though.

I had begun jokingly brainstorming how Jeffrey Combs would react if he was transported into the Reanimator universe and met Herbert. I think he'd escape with his knowledge of how horror movies work and how to act if you wanna be the survivor, and then go eat some keebler fudge magic middles (discontinued). Then Herbert would find him and Jeffrey would have to make up a reason why they look so similar, and he'd tell him that he was his REAL biological dad; the sperm donor to his actually adoptive father. Anyways if you want more of this headcanon tell me, it was fun

[joannes-journal]

=+=+=+=+=

I was going through one of Jo's old journals while settling down at our new place. It's this beautiful cabin out in... well...a forest. Bifrons was a sweetheart and helped us move in. He even sat down and colored with the kids for a bit and told them about the local plants.

Jo said before that she couldn't get photos of DISC0RD without the camera distorting. Her solution? Draw the beast. The journal was wedged between a copy of Stephen King's IT (the book) and an empty journal.

=+=+=+=+=

[festeringmoons]

Happy full moon! This is my first ever finished animation; my goal was to finish it within a week, which I did! I thought it best to start with something simple, so that I’ll know more when I work on my more ambitious projects.

[Image Description: A short, 2D animated video of a simplistic, slightly wobbling moon going from full to new to back again, with stars in the background. On the third cycle, the waning moon has an inhuman face behind it, with red eyes and sharp teeth. The face is the only thing in the animation that does not wobble slightly as the frames change. End ID]

[eggmeralda]

just woke up from the best film I've ever watched in my life only to realise it was a dream

[science-lings]

I wish I knew how to draw birds bc I have so many ideas for how I want Phoenix!Phoenix and Phoenix!Ryunosuke to look but animals in general are hard and I feel like I can never quite get the results that I want no matter how much I try and one of these days it's going to drive me crazy

[elodieunderglass]

hi! i was just wondering if you’re getting a piece of this pie. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/voidrealmminis/rise-of-the-eldertubbies?ref=profile_saved_projects_live

Oh my goodness! Haha thanks for showing me! And no, of course, this guy is still selling my dream while claiming it’s totally nothing to do with me. I hadn’t heard about it so thank you.

For those just joining us, here is the saga of the elder teletubbies:

1. in 2017 I posted a dream I had on Tumblr. In the dream I discovered that the childish teletubbies shown on BBC’s Teletubbies are merely the children of a species that grows up to be forest cryptids as adults. The post contained a detailed character description explaining how the children’s simple antennae become more complex antlers; their coats become thicker hair; their eldritch screens are unknowable; here, look:

The adult Teletubbies have more branching, complex antlers and shaggy coats. They are less brightly coloured. They are terrifyingly large. Their strangely human faces, emerging from the thick fur, are unquestionably adult; remote, serene, reproachful. Their television screens are glitchy, esoteric and unknowable. They are cryptids whose public exploitation has undermined their rarity and their strange, alien dignity.

That’s a pretty clear description.

2. The post quickly gained attention and many people drew art, made sculptures, designed in-depth character concepts, and even made DnD character sheets and entries with detailed notes. It was 2017. The post got over 90k notes. It had an extremely clear description of the cryptid in it. This wasn’t at all obscure.

3. The post and four pieces of the concept art, including the first piece by were screencapped and posted on r/tumblr. The post included this art by the now-deactivated @finoliatav which is, I think, the first piece of art. Most screencaps don’t show that it’s animated! Once you see it you can no longer pretend that any more work needs to be done in designing these characters, really - they’re all variations on a very clear theme.

4. A guy called Jars started drawing the BBC Teletubbies as adult Teletubbies. He noted on Reddit that his inspiration for the first one was the r/tumblr post but after that, he considered it entirely his own creative work. He drew each of the 4 BBC Teletubbies as adults using my character description and wrote a little story about how his character had stumbled upon them in the woods. He’s a good artist and his work went viral on Reddit and instagram. Those places being separate from Tumblr by the walls of the enclosure, they quickly believed the Jars was being highly original and praised him for it.

5. jars got carried away by his fame and started merchandising for all he’s worth. He’s selling elder teletubbies placemats. He got a collaborator to help him make and sell plushies.

6. Plushies of my character design applied to BBC characters. Jars sells them. To people. Who buy them. He sells these.

7. I think this is like… his job.

8. It has been years of this. I don’t think he has actually come up with anything else to sell by himself. But given that he now has millions upon millions of views on platforms I don’t use, let alone dominate (Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok) he seems to have fully subscribed to the idea that this is his THING.

9. After a while I wrote him a friendly email expressing that since my original dream was very much about discomfort with how the teletubbies were being exploited, I didn’t mind him selling his own art but that I wasn’t happy with him selling plushes based on my writing.

10. He wrote back along the lines of it all being his original intellectual property and absolutely nothing to do with me, etc, so jog on and don’t interfere.

11. I’m not entirely sure where the original intellectual property is when taking BBC characters and drawing them according to someone else’s detailed description of how to “evolve” them (branching antlers, shaggy coats, eldritch screens, serene adult human faces) especially having drawn them after seeing four separate detailed reference photos to base your own drawings on; especially when they’re the existing BBC characters from the show and not even your own. Like, Jars, you were given an entire detailed brief, several sets of references, an entire concept and a television show: the only artistic choices made here were to pick up your own personal pen and do the drawing. You have never deviated from my description, which you did not come up with yourself in any way. But okay Jars. You did some real intellectual heavy lifting here, this is Intellectual Property suddenly, and I guess this is your day job!

12. I myself actually have a day job, am capable of generating lots of other original material just for funsies, have never asked you guys for money, and I’m not generally huge jerk I don’t think. Also, I’m uncomfortable but have never been clear on how to stop him - I don’t think I can. So I don’t do much about this, apart from occasionally scream with hilarity with you guys about it.

13. Like this is the opposite of Goncharov. This is a guy making his wage on a 2017 tumblr collaborative shitpost insisting that this is the beautiful fruit of his only brain. And millions of people believe him.

14. There are now YouTube documentaries with millions of views and TikTok lore about Jars, and his lore, the Elder Teletubbies, which apparently he invented. People are making their wage talking about the history of Jars and his teletubbies lore. These documentaries are, if you can’t tell, not especially well-researched, as it is not difficult to find the original elder teletubbies art on the internet, which is all timestamped. Occasionally hilarious people from Tumblr point this out in the comments (thank you, you guys are hilarious) but the juggernaut is unstoppable!

15. Jars is now, apparently, doing a kickstarter to raise money for some kind of DnD sheets using the grown up BBC teletubbies.

16. I will point out that tumblr made and played with DnD teletubbies in 2017 for free and nobody had to pay $3000, but again. The juggernaut is unstoppable.

I have never, ever known what to do about this guy.

I have always been open to advice but genuinely never been able to articulate how it “damages” me, apart from ethical discomfort about how much I hate my writing being monetised by other people, especially when it was about my discomfort with exploitation. The juggernaut is unstoppable though. He fully intends to get thousands of dollars from this. He almost certainly will!

[foldingfittedsheets]

I’ve always been a pretty good liar. As an adult I’ve come to a moral place in which I don’t use that skill set unless it will explicitly benefit someone. But when I was a kid all bets were off.

I think tiny child me was doing their little autistic best but recognized that some situations would be best navigated by lying as telling the truth never netted positive results. Whether it was because my needs often went unmet or ignored, or because I didn’t see any reason not to lie if it would be more favorable, I’m not sure.

This is the story of my proudest lie. The best lie I ever did. A lie that looking back I still go, damn, I was eight.

Our story begins in second grade. I was eight. My school was having a book fair and I spent my small stipend on Gulliver’s Travels. No idea why. Lacking further funds I wandered the fair and came upon the greatest sight known to man. Frog erasers. They were so cute and I was extremely into animals of all kinds.

The whimsy. Who could have known they made erasers in such wonderful shapes? I mourned that I’d spent my money already, and played quietly with the little frogs in their bin. That’s when I was approached by a few other kids from my class.

I didn’t know most of them very well, but enough that it was civil when they asked me, “Are you going to buy those frogs?”

“I’d like to,” I admitted, “but I spent all my money.”

“Why don’t you steal them?”

“I thought about that, but I don’t have pockets.” Indeed, stealing had crossed my mind but it had been a brief temptation. I wasn’t even scandalized that the other girls suggested it.

“Caitlin has pockets,” the leader of the pack said. And indeed, Caitlin in her purple overalls did have pocket space for two frogs. So Caitlin and I became partners. My role in the escapade was just... wanting frogs and walking out with her. We stole two frogs, a yellow and a purple, and united by the misdeed we played together with them at recess despite not really being friendly prior.

After lunch I was called from class to the library. The principal herself was there waiting for me. She had a somber air, almost mournful that she needed to punish me. It was self evident to me that I was here for frog crimes. Caitlin had cracked and taken the fastest route to forgiveness- snitching on an accomplice. Despite the fact that my role was just: wanted frogs, I knew I was going to be in trouble.

Now, I could have told the truth. Pulled a Caitlin and ratted on the girl who told us to steal them. But clearly I’d still be in trouble for having gone along with the morally bereft plan. I was mad at Caitlin for telling but not enough to foist the onus back into her.

“Do you know why you’re here?” The principal asked kindly.

“Is it about the frogs?”

“Yes, Caitlin told us you stole the frogs.”

I quivered my lip and drew myself up indignantly. “I didn’t steal them!”

She blinked at my vehemence but since I looked near tears she carefully asked, “What happened?”

“I really wanted the frogs, but I didn’t have any money. So I asked the librarian if I could take them and bring the money tomorrow! But she was really busy and lots of people were talking to her, and she said yes! But maybe she was saying yes to someone else? And I thought it was to me but Caitlin didn’t, but I was going to bring money tomorrow!”

The principal. Was flummoxed. This was a situation in which I clearly thought I’d done no wrong, in which she couldn’t prove I had done anything wrong, and which the librarian would almost certainly not be able to weigh in. She regarded me not with suspicion but rather vaguely confused as to how to handle me.

I got off with a slight warning that I should pay for things before taking them, despite not having been the one to take things in the first place, and the frogs were confiscated.

I was vaguely worried they’d call my parents but years later when I admitted the story to my mom as an adult she laughed herself sick and said she’d never gotten a call.