#I’m sure she’s exhausted

[rosicheeks]

is your mom ok?

Hopefully 🤞

[seastarblue]

Training

Trying my hand at whump bless ft Kaiden and Sir Santhuff

and now the TWs: exhaustion whump, sleep deprivation, paranoia, poison (delivered via arrow), chasing? whump idk man she’s getting chased, ankle injury, suicidal ideation/thoughts, whumper trying to make whumpee “perfect”, training whump, fantasy whump, mentions of setting a bone back into place, beating, hair pulling, using whumpee as a punching bag, uh yea 👍

———

The knight collapsed onto the damp earth, tremors causing her whole form to quiver. Her runeswords—a pair of them, specially designed for her—slipped from her grasp. She tasted metal; from what, she did not know. Her quick, frantic breaths mixed with the crisp night air. A creek babbled nearby, mingling with her buzzing thoughts. It was nearly pitch black, and the dark spots now cluttering the edge of her vision didn’t help in any way.

‘That can’t be good,’ she thought, her mind feeling sluggish and slow.

That was even worse. She needed to stay alert, no matter the exhaustion deadening her senses, no matter the chill that seeped into her bones from the wet night, no matter how much she wanted to lay down and sleep right there in the mud.

He was going to find her, sprawled out on the floor, panting, pathetic, and she wouldn’t—couldn’t—let him see her like this. Not after he had gotten so close to catching her just now: she remembered the sting in her leg from the arrow he’d shot at her.

‘Get up,’ she told herself. ‘Get up and prove yourself. Prove him wrong. Make him proud.’

Staggering to her feet, she gripped a nearby  fallen tree to heave herself up. She wavered in place, dizzy, then steadily moved forward, inch by inch, step by step, making her way to the creek. Water would assist the wound, her sluggishness, and provide her a good way of making it back to the starting point—the goal of this gruesome training session. She needed to make it back before Santhuff ensnared her in one of his many,  many traps. He’d almost gotten her twice on the first day, and the number kept increasing as fatigue and hunger set in. She couldn’t hunt for food; he was hunting her. She couldn’t rest for longer than a few hours before his arrows whizzed past her head and into the bark behind her. She even tried to sleep nestled in a tree, but the lack of suitable escape routes made her already frayed nerves go haywire.

He might actually kill her at this point.

‘Though,’ she realized with chagrin, ‘that would just prove him right, wouldn’t it?’

She couldn’t have that. Santhuff had already been reluctant on letting her join the Azari in the first place. She would never had guessed it, given his previous enthusiasm on the night of the Ball, unless she hadn’t been eavesdropping on him while recording an entry for his diary.

So, pride and ego giving her strength, she started cleaning the possible poison out of her leg wound, and replenished her thirst with the river water. She looked up into the sky above, the twinkling stars winking at her, as if to say, ‘You can do it, just a little further, see, past the little berry bush, then you’re free.’

The knight got up again, feeling a little better at least, and started moving towards the goal point, moving quietly to avoid snapping twigs and the like.

Maybe she’d actually make it. Maybe she could prove Santhuff wrong. Maybe the self-deprecating part of her would see that she could do it, she could be just as good as the other Azari, then it would quiet itself forever. All she needed to do was make it to the goal.

She told herself that again and again, until the small yellow flag, magicked to glow gently for visibility, came into view, just a few dozen paces ahead. There wasn’t a need for the glow now—the sun had started rising, bathing the forest in gentle pinks and purples.

Lowering her guard—a bad idea, in theory, but she didn’t care—the knight stumbled towards the flag. The thought of a warm bed, a nice meal, and most of all, the boost of confidence, almost made her sob with relief.

She’d won! Against the First Justice! No one had ever bested him before—much less a new recruit—and here she was, outlasting him at his own game. Not outwitting—she was too frazzled for that—but she decided outlasting should be good enough tonight.

Just as the thought passed, an arrow flew by, nicking her face. A trickle of gold blood followed, and then the knight-turned-target was sprinting in another direction, away from the flag, her saving grace.

She’d been noticed. Damn it. She should have waited till she was certain Santhuff had moved on, till the wound on her leg had healed completely. Now she ran, branches whipping at her face, snagging her muddy clothes, and puddles splashing as her boots landed on them. Regret trailed near behind her, but the First Justice was nearer yet.

Despite her greatest efforts, the target’s injured leg caught onto a root, and she fell on hard earth. Her ankle twinged, and she was fairly certain it had twisted, if not worse. She’d have to fix that somehow before her curse healed it wrong.

“…you’ve lost.” the First Justice said, striding over to his target. He returned his bow to his back, the quiver still half full of arrows, some of which she knew were tipped with narcotics. “You know what that means, Kaiden.” He sounded dissatisfied, and that drained Kaiden of any pride she had.

She turned to get a better look at him. That was all she could do, after all, the fatigue—or perhaps the poison—had gotten to her. Once she was prone, she couldn’t find the strength to right herself and run again.

His eyes, normally blue, were stark yellow against the dark night, and Kaiden knew: he wasn’t simply displeased. He was furious. Dread filled her as he continued speaking.

“I am greatly disappointed. You have spent three days in pursuit of the flag, and what do you have to show for it? Nothing. Nothing but a muddy face and shame.”

He was now right next to her, looking down as if she was nothing.

‘I might as well be,’ she thought. Kaiden stared at his shoe, not wanting to make eye contact or even look upwards. She stayed like that for a while, panic slowly setting in.

Then, a rough hand pulled her hair, forcing her to look Santhuff in the eye. “Well?” he spat, teeth bared in a snarl. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Kaiden simply stared. She could have died if his aim was just a little off earlier, and Lloyd Santhuff never missed. He could have killed her just like that, left her body out to rot with the wolves and vermin, truly killed her by cutting her head off—but he didn’t. She needed to keep it that way. If she said anything, it could—would—get worse.

The forest was silent for a few moments, the only sounds being the crickets, the swooshing of the branches, and Kaiden’s wildly beating heart.

Then he let her hair go and she crumpled to the ground in relief.

Santhuff turned to leave, and Kaiden made to follow—as best she could—but he stopped her with a swift kick to the ankle. The twisted one. She bit her tongue, drawing more gold blood, and braced herself for more blows.

One on her back, another at her gut, two more on her other leg, and a final one to the gut. Kaiden tried her best to stay silent, but she let out sob after sob.

A kick. Then another sob. Then another kick, and another, and another.

Then, finally, he stopped the assault, and stepped away.

“Come to the clearing a league north,” he said, voice devoid of any of the rage from mere moments ago. “In 3 hours. Don’t be late.”

And then he was gone, leaving the knight with the twinkling stars above. They didn’t seem so helpful now. In fact, they seemed to call to her now, mockingly:

‘Come join us, foolish girl, you will never succeed. The only certainty you have is death, so for once, do the useful thing and join us!’

~~~

It took Kaiden a couple of hours to make it to the rendezvous point. She was worried that she was late, but if Santhuff’s silence was anything to go by, she wasn’t. ‘Thank the stars,’ she sighed with relief.

Back to Vespar they went, a teacher and his student, a hunter and his quarry, the First Justice and the rookie Azari he’d sworn to mold to perfection. No matter what.

———

and then they lived happily ever after n Lloyd got yeeted off a cliff <3

finally trying my hand at whump lemme know what yall thinkkkkk plzzzz

I had fun!!!! this was fun :3

nyeh heh heh heh @bamber344 @aalinaaaaaa @abiteofhoney @cc-writes-stuff

[headfullof-ideas]

Allllrighty, I’m not too sure how to feel about these, BUT, here are name reveals and inadvertent location reveals of the doodles of even more supporting characters that I did a few days ago. I’ve been having so much fun creating supporting characters to further develop the story and each faction or region of the world that the Dragon Riders, and these three have been especially fun to develop

[caterpillarinacave]

The article posted by the Cut concerning Lucky the cat is honestly disturbing to read. The apathy in which the author describes her treatment of her innocent pet, the casualty in which she jokes about hoping her cat dies (“call it voluntary catslaughter”), the halfhearted conclusion stating simply that she’ll “shut the window” is all very unsettling.

Yes, the author is clearly suffering from PPD. I hope sincerely that she can seek help and that she and her infant can thrive. However, while PPD is an explanation, it does not make the environment any less unsafe for Lucky. No living animal deserves the conditions Lucky has been subjected to. She deserves a loving home with owners who take care of her health and safety.

It is deeply disappointing that The Cut has not stepped to address the situation and work to help remove the cat from an abusive and neglectful situation. It’s just as disappointing that they have been actively avoiding the situation, limiting comments, blocking individuals who have spoken publicly, and largely ignoring the public backlash.

I encourage you to visit the Instagram account lucilleherescuecat who has covered this story closely and has compiled a list of resources to help advocate for lucky, including an email template and list of individuals to reach out to at nycmag. Additionally, you can sign the petition at change .org calling for the Cut to provide an actual update on the condition of Lucky.

I hope that the original author of the article will do the humane thing and allow her cat to be rehomed for the health and safety of everyone involved.

Shown beneath the cut is the original article, which is currently behind a paywall. TW; animal cruelty and neglect

[vex-00]

TPTM fans I request your opinions

[sassmill]

Last night I watched 3 children while their parents went to a concert—2 five year olds and an eight year old—and they were calling each other nonsense mean names. I asked what one of the names meant and they told me “it means Donald Trump.” I laughed at that because. Kids are funny. And then the LOOK that came over them all as they squinted at me suspiciously and the eldest asked me quietly, “are you voting for him, or are you voting for her?”

And guys they literally started cheering and dancing when I said I was voting for Kamala Harris and it was just the funniest sweetest little moment ever

[cream-and-tea]

the thing about judge/calliope is that they really did have a fairly normal budding relationship (<- or as normal a budding relationship as a girl living out the evil version of every portal fantasy story and a preteen monsterthing could have) until everything went Wrong (<- surprise werewolf transformation and maiming) after which judge basically immediately forgave calliope on the grounds that ‘it wasn’t really her doing that’ (<- the maiming) and went “hey can we please still date?” and calliope categorically could notttt handle this so he went “no sorry no dating only guilt driven homoerotic devotion and laying myself at your feet like a dog allowed now” and judge went “sooooo can we still make out?” and calliope said “babygirl at this point i would literally let you waterboard me do whatever you want i will kill anyone who so much as implies they’d hurt you” and judge went “umm okay i guess i can work with– hey wait what was that last part?” and calliope went “nothing 🥰” with their teeth already fully clamped in the throat of some guy who looked at judge funny

[otamotone-dnp]

about to vent in the tags real quick gonna be annoying and emo sorry in advance

[eternal-moss]

Hello Gamers. It turns out that I’ve done all my homework (somehow) ((miraculously)) which means I can spend this evening drawing/writing rather than doing maths until midnight. Yippee. This doesn’t happen very often, hence the urge to announce it.

[butididntpourthewhiskeys]

I wonder if Taylor feels so homesick right now, by the end of August thats 4 months in total of being overseas.

I wonder if that homesickness is a bit intensified because no one from her family was there these past days and I’m sure it must all seem a bit isolating at times

[widowshill]

[coldbug]

i fucking hate having to hold my coworker’s hand just to make her do her fucking job, like girl can you please fucking grow up i’m not your fucking mom

[dancedance-resolution]

exhausted dot png

[waywardvagabonds]

I will not beat myself up if I don’t get much housework done this weekend I will not beat myself up if I don’t get much housework done this weekend I will not beat myself up if I don’t get much housework done this weekend…

[caterpillarinacave]

Just realized we might never see Roman again

[itspileofgoodthings]

also … that IS one of her greatest strengths. using criticism to better her craft and propel herself forward.