#Taura

[sylvanmigdal]

The Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet Wants You

[sophietisthebest]

Sophie with her friends at the Cowdray Gold Cup Finals.

[mixvillainousandtcoaal]

"THE INCIDENT”

Years ago, a mother and her daughter went camping in a forest far from the city, hoping that they would bond since the daughter was adopted.

When the mother was busy setting up camp, her daughter ended up getting distracted by two rabbits. The daughter tried to get closer, but the two rabbits ended up running away, forcing her to go deeper into the forest.

After a while, the daughter realized she was lost, she tried to find her way back, but she ended up getting more and more lost until she found a camp but unfortunately it wasn't hers and before she could realize it someone hit her in the head.

The poor daughter was used for a demonic ritual, they cut off her head to use her blood to draw the symbol of the entity and when they finally summoned their evil master, the 2 cultists who summoned him ended up arguing about whose request would be granted, since they only had 1 soul to offer, this made the entity realize that they were just idiots and decided to check the soul that was given to him.

Because it would be more interesting than dealing with those 2 idiots and he felt something strange with the little soul.

After having a little chat with the soul, he decided to make a deal, the entity wouldn't let her die if he did something for it and let's just say those 2 cultists didn't end up surviving.

But was this deal worth it?

[the-demoness-next-door]

a flat fullbody of Unzipped-Fizz's character Taura :)

(they/he)

[kadharononart]

did I ever dump my vorkosigan doodles over here? I can't remember.

I also have a sketch of Tej somewhere but I'm not thrilled with it any more, so that can stay in my Procreate files.

[cookie-nom-nom]

Sargent Taura! My beloved space wolf girl <3

She could snap my spine in half. Queen. Anyway, her braided hair can wag like a tail through the power of cute. I know she doesn’t look good in pink canonically, but that’s what I had on me rip. Super beef, natch, plus I figure she has just random scars from experiments and mercenary battles. There’s a big litchdenburg lightning scar stretching from cheek to hip that’s from a shock collar. Since. Why not, and I feel like Jackson’s Hole would do that for genetic constructs/slaves who act out especially when there wasn’t a buyer anymore, and they don’t have a lot of other options for keeping her controlled. Plus a funky fresh cattle tag! Cause I love sprinkling trauma from dehumanization wherever I go.

[vorkosigankinkmeme]

Aral meets Taura, develops an instant crush (she is the ultimate soldier ;>)

[taura-frogtraveler]

Finally, I got out of this fucking “not drawing”! The redrawing of the other art is completed. And I went to kick myself to draw further and write ff.

[cobraonthecob]

easiest name to have, and perhaps i care too much about yuki and nyck that i've put the most brainpower into this. welcome taura, at least, taura of a few months. she'll undergo a few more changes that i'm currently working on lol

you'll notice that as i design the dresses, there'll be overlaps. rota and taura both have the same collar and sleeveless, ferrata and taura have one slit in the skirt, and several others will have similar features. this is to reference the similarities and overlap teams have, so if they share an engine or name, they'll have similar parts.

taura was easy to design because yuki and nyck had plants on their helmets - yuki with his momiji and nyck with his frisian lilies - along with alphatauri being the name of a star, so i had to put a star motif somewhere. other parts of the dress are inspired by the AT-04 itself, namely the floor being referenced near the collar and the shoes being wire-like.

that line is based off of some of the lines that are on the AT merch, but i based the shape off of imola circuit

jewelry are based off the jewelry both drivers i've seen wearing

rota, ferrata, PRopposites, mclaren, alpine, pink momiji, alfaromeo, williams, mercedes

[ben-the-hyena]

Remember that dream I had months ago about a Tahitian shark mermaid guardian-human hybrid lovechild which inspired me a story ? It's been months I wanted this story to be accurate to Tahitian myths without changing the dream for how beautiful it looked but I had a hard time finding shark people guardians. Now I finally found 2 possible solutions : either make them the descendants of Te M'ao, the shark who guards the sacred celestial waters of Te-vai-ora (it's what I personally lean more towards), or make them taura, animal guardians who watch over people from afar. None of them are described as mersharks, but it's close enough and we can suppose they are divine shapeshifting beings, especially since in the dream they could turn into actual sharks. Also a bit frustrated, Solomon Islands DO have shark mermen creatures called Adaro, but not only I don't want to change the Tahitian setting the dream had, Adaro are evil and aggressive unlike the sharks from my dreams who were peaceful guardians

[snakegirllovehandles]

It is a curious and poignant thought that I can now find grief in things.

I wonder if Bujold knew she was writing such a powerful transgender allegory with Taura. Strong as she was, the way she moved through the world without feeling like she could be a part of it because of her appearance, her long belief that nobody could love her. All of these things, struggled through. Fought through. Recalling these things about her, I found new and fresh personal connection with them.

I reread Cryoburn today and though I knew it was coming, the news of her passing struck me hard.

No one should die of old age at 30.

[mixvillainousandtcoaal]

I feel like these two motherfuckers would get along great, but there would only be 2 options over them.

1-Option: The two of them wouldn't fuck each other and would become friends, yeah!

2-Option: The two of them would fuck and then try to kill each other. OHHH

[wally-b-feed]

Anthony Fineran (B 1981), Hong Kong Taura, 2023

[bestofsophieturner]

Sophie Turner via instagram story

[cobraonthecob]

so um. miami livery inspired dress that i cracked out a few months ago and haven't posted until AFTER one of the two drivers in this combination got dropped lmfao

also that livery was kind of pansexual lmfao

[thirdwifeofriversong]

this is really well written and much better than what happens canonically. the first time i read “labyrinth” i spent the next day or so thinking about the morality/legality/ethics of it all, and the power dynamic is pretty fucked up from both sides. like it turns out okay for them both but is super problematic at the onset (and also later when miles is cheating on elli…)

[“But I’m not even human.” 

Miles shrugged. “Human is as human does.” He forced himself to reach out and touch her damp cheek. “Animals don’t weep, Nine.”

She jerked, as if from electric shock. “Animals don’t lie. Humans do. All the time.”

“Not all the time.”

“Prove it.” She tilted her head as she sat cross-legged, her pale gold eyes were suddenly burning. Speculative. 

“Uh, sure. How?”

“Take off your clothes.”

“Wot.”

“Take off your clothes and lay with me as humans do, men and women.” Her hand reached out to touch his throat. The pressing claws made little wells in his flesh.

“Urp?” choked Miles. His eyes felt wide as saucers. A little more pressure and those wells would spring out red fountains. I’m about to die. 

She stared into his face with a strange, frightening, bottomless hunger. Then, abruptly, she released him. He sprang up and cracked his head on the low ceiling and dropped back down, the stars in his eyes unrelated to love at first sight. Her lips wrinkled back on a fanged groan of despair. “Ugly,” she wailed, her clawed nails raked across her cheeks, leaving furrows. “Too ugly. Animal. You don’t think I’m human.” She seemed to swell with some destructive resolve. 

“No no no!” Gibbered Miles, lurching to his knees and grabbing her hands and pulling them down. “It’s not that, it’s just— how old are you, anyway?” 

“Sixteen.”]

——

Miles instantly recoiled, cracking his head on the ceiling again because those who didn’t learn history were doomed to repeat it, as Commodore Tung was fond of reminding him. Immediately her eyes narrowed, a snarl creeping over her sharp teeth. “You don’t think I’m human enough,” she accused, voice still husky from disuse. “I knew it.” Her claws slipped back up to the scratches on her damp face, and he jolted forward, batting them down again in a reckless manner. 

“No, it’s not that,” Miles insisted, eyeing the way her claws were curling into fists about the same size as his entire face. “You’re a child! I can’t do that.”

“My life expectancy was barely a few years. The rest of the projects have been long dead.”

“Well, it’s still wrong in human years, which is the point. There’s plenty of other tests for humanity, anyways.” Sex was by no means the epitome of human existence. “What about Socrates? Human choice motivated by the desire for happiness? Or, oh, what was that test for AI centuries ago? The Tuning Test? That would work too.” He didn’t remember what it actually entailed. “There’s many tests. You yourself said only humans lie. By your own logic, lie, ergo, human. Human is as human does.” That’s what he’d meant it to be applied to, anyway. 

Her eyes narrowed. “None of those prove your belief to me. I still like my test.” Well, naturally. [Sixteen. God. He remembered sixteen. Sex obsessed and dying every minute.]��

[“Aren’t you a little young for this?” he tried hopefully.] She started a protest, but he continued. “It’s illegal. There. I applied human laws to you.” Probably a first for Jackson’s Hole. “I also just offered you a job, and regulations ban interrank romantic interactions.” No matter how much he might want to with one particular Eli Quinn...

The power dynamic was entirely wrong, between his age and rank and the fact he was beginning to suspect he was about to rescue this girl. Or, hell, look at it the other way, at the underlying threat that he must prove he believed her human or die. It was a messed up power imbalance from nearly every angle. 

A crumpled look crossed her wolfish features. Miles tried to console her. One for it being the Vorish, gentlemanly thing to do, and two because while he thought it unlikely she’d kill him at this point, he still didn’t want to increase his chances. “I’m probably the first nice face you’ve seen in a while. Don’t settle for me simply since I got here first. There are plenty of suitable partners once you get out of this basement. Which, reminder, we’re in a hostile environment surrounded by enemies. We still need to escape.” 

Moroseness slumped her features. “It’s impossible. I stopped trying years ago. And…” a shudder ran down her strong back, ears flattening. “...they don’t like it when you try,” she said lowly. “They wouldn’t do this to me if I was human.”

“Eh, actually they would. I mean, I’m human, and I’m down here, aren’t I? I’ve been deemed subhuman before. It hurts when they think it’d be a mercy to ‘put you out of your misery’.” He was going to strangle that scientist.

She gave him an odd look, scrutinizing him more thoroughly. “You don’t look like Jacksonian work. And you said you’re human. Why isn’t that enough for them?” 

Miles spread his hands wide, a wry expression crossing his features. “Ah, but I’m a mutant. A weakling. A curse from God upon my father’s house for every sin they can think to lay at his feet. They will find anything and everything they can to hold against you, Nine, no matter what it is that makes you different. Eight feet tall or four foot nine, unmatched strength or bones of glass; they will despise you either way. Well damn their notion of being born wrong because I intend to be ten times the man they ever could be.”

“Then it’s hopeless.” 

“If you want it to be handed to you, yes. You can’t rely on someone else to give you your humanity, because that implies they can revoke it at any time. It’s a value you have to find within yourself.” It sounded like some pithy Betan advice he would’ve picked up from his mother. “With your test, you wanted your body to feel human. But what about your soul, Nine?” He paused. “No, we need a name for you. I can’t be calling you a number like some type of lab rat.” Something strong and pretty, like her. He fell into that well of old earth philosophy he had initially fallen back on. Socrates, the Greeks, the like. When he finally found the name, it seemed perfect for the girl called a monster and trapped deep in the heart of a labyrinth of labs. Wasn’t Miles intended to be some blood sacrifice to her as well? And hadn’t the minotaur been a child when he was imprisoned for life? Punished for the crime of being born, just like them. “Taura,” he breathed. “I think I shall call you Taura.”

She went still, enraptured. “A name.” Tears welled in her golden eyes. “No one has ever given me a name.” 

“I’m not giving it to you. I’m letting you take it, to seize it, to make it your own. As much as I’d like to, I can’t give you your humanity either. That’s all up to you. Break free of every cruel moniker hurled at you. Monster, mutant– who cares what any of them think!? Prove them all wrong and never look back. That’s what I did. So here: I may reject your test, but I offer my own. I believe you’re ‘human enough’ because I believe you’re worthy of freedom, of a future, of a name. I certainly can’t give any of that to you, but I sure can help you try.” Something sparked in her gilded gaze, the tantalizing offer she’d likely never been given before. It was a hope doused quickly, but it had been there at all. Miles had a chance of relighting it, of fanning the flames. 

“You really think so?” Uncertain, her fangs twisted into a guarded frown. 

Miles batted aside a twinge of guilt. It wasn’t just because she was his only shot of escape, and it certainly wasn’t for a particular scientist whose neck he wanted to wring. This was because Taura didn’t deserve to be trapped in a basement eating rats for the rest of her tenuous life. He might have needed her, but she needed him, too, if only for a little while. 

“I don’t make offers I don’t intend to provide. So, care to escape with me?” He held out an arm, almost ridiculously formal, and she took it, choosing to trust him if only hesitantly, if only for that little spark of hope still in here somewhere.