#YELLOW AND RED PLAGUE DOCTOR MASK??

[palettepainter]

Babygirl you might be able to fix him mentally but I PROMISE you cannot fix this godawful fashion sense

[spid3rw0mxn]

The Injured Spider

-

Peter Parker angst: Mentions of: Blood and violence :)

—

“You’re going to die.” Her words hung in the air around them. 3am, He came through her window. Battered, bruised and in need of immediate medical attention. Medical attention he couldn’t receive without risking his identity so instead they sat in her studio apartment. The lamp light illuminated the current slash she was tending towards. Her fingertips stained crimson as he winced from her stitching. She’d grown accustomed to blood. The smell didn’t phase her anymore, it had come to be something she’d associated her boyfriend with.

Peter let out a small chuckle, trying to defuse the situation at hand. He wanted to avoid the conversation that statement would lead. “You should see the other guy.”

Silence followed his words. It was Interrupted by the sound of a police siren ringing out, followed by that of an ambulance. 3am In a city that never sleeps.

Static sounds came from Peters police radio. How he’d managed all this equipment evaded her, she didn’t bother to ask. She listened in, it seemed the police had it covered. His body relaxed back, shoulders slouching as he continued to let her doctor his wounds. No doubt if they’d needed him he would’ve swung off into the night. Completely ignoring his own needs, As he was known to do.

That’s what Spider-Man did. He had found himself to be more of a symbol for New York than a person. A symbol doesn’t rest, a savior doesn’t succumb to injury. Spider-Man doesn’t stop.

She let out a sigh as she fixed up the last stitch, sitting back on her knees to examine her work. The first-aid course she’d picked up after high school came in handy more and more often these days.

“You’re going to die in this suit.” She tugged her lip between her teeth when she spoke again. She stared down at her chipped red polish, at least it matched the staining underneath her nails.

Peter sighed and turned to face her. This was a conversation he’d had before. A glimpse of Gwen and him in a similar position plagued his mind. He had failed her, and it had taken him a while before he learned to love again. He couldn’t help but fall for the girl who sat opposite of him now. She’d been patient, she’d been kind, she’d been understanding before even knowing who he was. Even going as far as sweeping the cancelled dates under the rug with a smile and rescheduling.

It was easier when she didn’t know. Lying was easier. She didn’t get that furrow in her brows from worry. She didn’t chew her bottom lip from nerves while watching the news. She didn’t frown at the articles against Spider-Man. When she didn’t know, she watched with wonder as the masked hero swung by her. She didn’t look up to blow a kiss, wondering if he’d make it to their dinner reservations. He couldn’t protect her from the dangers of loving a superhero. He knew that. He had learned that before. But, If he could go back and protect her from doing so knowingly, he would.

“Someone has to protect the people.” He stated plainly. The humor in his voice from earlier disappeared. It was replaced with a solemn tone, one she couldn’t say she hadn’t heard him use before. Especially when this discussion arose.

“It has to be you?” She questioned, but she knew the answer. ‘With great power’ and all of that. She wondered if Uncle Ben had known the life he was sentencing Peter with at those final words. “You’ve done enough. Maybe it’s time now to just be Peter Parker, a student at Empire State.”

“I’m not just Peter Parker. I haven’t been in a long time.” Truth be told, he hadn’t felt like Peter Parker since he turned 15. If he’d become the spider or the spider became him, he was unsure. All he knew now was the strength he had, the responsibility he held in his hands.

“You could be.” She tried again, cupping his face in her left hand, thumb gently brushing over the yellow bruise under his left eye. “It doesn’t have to fall on you.”

“But it does fall on me. If I don’t do this, people die. Innocent people.”

“You’re an innocent person Peter.”

“If I do nothing, I’m not innocent. I’m a bystander.”

She was stunned by that. How could she argue? He was right. She hated to admit it so instead she just turned her head from him.

“I’m scared for you.” She exhaled, fighting with the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. “I can’t keep watching you do this to yourself.”

“Then don’t.” He said the words before he’d thought them through. The implication behind the sentence suffocating them both.

A beat passed, then another. She looked back towards Peter. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” He started, pausing as he tried to think of what to say. His eyebrows fell in defeat as he reached towards her.

She shook her head and he retreated. “No, You’re right. I can’t do this. You want to kill the man I love? Do it. But, I refuse to be part of it.”

He stared at her, blinking a few times in surprise. “What?” His voice was soft, like a child being scolded. “That’s not-“ He stopped himself as he heard another siren in the distance. Peter took a breath before slipping his mask back down over his face.

“We will talk about this later.” He moved down, lifting his mask up over his lips to plant a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I’m Sorry.��� Peter left the same way he had entered. Through the window, Following after the bright red and blue lights. He was headed towards whatever danger awaited him.

The depth of his apology wasn’t lost on her. “I know.”

[corvidsocs]

Hey mate can I get some detailed descriptions of like 2 of your ocs because I want to draw them

( my stupid device won't let me scroll enough to see them :( )

I'm not sure I've got properly detailed descriptions of them anyways, so this was a good ask. I think I'll do more than two just to have more available to see, and then you can pick the ones ya like most, if that makes sense?

Dialtone: A tall, mostly humanoid robot. Her head's a screen of about a 3:2 ratio, and she typically displays some relevant symbol or expression on there. She doesn't like to have words on the screen, but it's technologically available. Clothing-wise she's got a purple tuxedo, white shirt, a bow tie that's whatever color looks nice for the art, and some quite standard shoes. She's not got any traits that in humans are examples of sexual dimorphism. She's fairly lanky, and her limbs as well as her neck have that sort of endlessly bendy and stretchy system you see quite often on fictional robots.

Alice: She along with Simon, Edmund, and Elizabeth are all an alien species called Thirlens. Some consistent traits to these are an entirely black, rather goopy looking body, ability to shift and contort pretty much however's convenient, and some degree of control over their physical size that has an increasing upper limit as they age. They've usually got one face, in a faintly glowing white, but if there's some manner of serious emotional conflict or turmoil or such there can be more. Thirlens tend to wear full body cloaks with a mask over the face (one mask regardless of however many faces there are, as well). Alice specifically has a light gray mask rather resembling that of a plague doctor, albeit in a firmer material. Think perhaps along the lines of plastic. Her cloak is more of a middle grey, and she's also got a wide brimmed, flat hat. Size-wise, she tends to be about the height of a standard human. You could look her in the eyes without much trouble.

Simon: He's a great deal taller than Alice, though I've never been much one for comparisons. He's taller than a lot of buildings, but there's a lot taller than him. His mask is a triangle, with triangular eyeholes. His greys are darker, with a trick I often do being to have his mask gray be Alice's cloak grey, thus ensuring an overall darker look while having a nice bit of consistency.

Hyacinth: This one's quite tall, though still within a very understandable range. Probably around 8-9 feet, though that's with a design featuring a lot of slouching. Their head looks rather like a video camera, with a long antenna coming off the back and ending in a red sphere. After the head there's two portions of neck leading to a very boxy body segment. Going down another step there's some rather complicated shaped sections working to make a curve between the body and the treds used for locomotion, which have a triangular cover/connecting piece. The arms hang down to just off the ground, the body is teal, and this one's complex enough I'll have to reblog with an art once I can just to have an example.

Nathaniel Robot: A scruffy looking caucasian man with generous hair both upon his head and upon his face, whitened by age. His clothing is typically a buttoned shirt and standard pants. Lived in the 19th and early to mid 20th centuries if that matters.

Targvenn: Quite tall, mostly in the neck. Reptile, with a very round snout and no tail. Bipedal. Mostly dark grey scales, with teal on his belly and throat. His eyes are in a matching color.

Flitzkel: A short, fuzzy creature. No arms, and legs that only barely reach out beyond the fluff. Four alternating stripes in black and yellow, with his eyes being in a yellow stripe at the second-highest.

Morf Dalilce: looks mostly human. Average height, brown unruly hair of about chin length. The inhuman aspects are blue skin, short orange horns, and a standard triangular demon tail with a chunk out, making a lopsided double triangle. They wear a tuxedo that, while once quite nice, has become quite worn, with a great many patched sewn on in a variety of colors. Smirks.

That's all the big ones, I could add less important ones in a reblog if people want that

[stariisoda]

Arcana Themed Kandi Bracelets (PART 1)

The Main Six! (Left: Asra, Julian and Nadia/Right: Muriel, Portia and Lucio

Guess who got into Kandi making? Me. Wanted to make some Arcana inspired singles (cause that's all I can make lol)

So I went with the most obvious characters:the ones you can date in game.... Duhhh....

(I'm gonna make more, maybe the courtiers next???)

(Read for more photos and explanation)

Asra: I chose a heart charm that has a smaller heart inside of it for... Obvious plot reasons. Then the teal and purple because I think teal is their favorite color? I think? And purple because that's what I see when I think about him. Star beads because magic. Also, the little white tri-beads kinda look like bones from the side, so take that as you will.

Nadia: I picked an owl charm for her because it could either represent Chandra or The High Priestess. Her colors are mainly her color palette, and most of the beads are pearlesent.

Julian: There wasn't a raven, but this bird that kinda looks like a hummingbird? Whoops, I just couldn't find anything else that reminded me of him. So the bird is supposed to represent either Malak, The Hanged Man or a plague doctor mask (the beak is long lol) This one is pretty plain, having black beads in the back and two ab finish black beads in the front. And the red.

Muriel: You can't really see it in this angle, but I picked a house charm, because it reminds me of his little hut in the woods. Also Muriel's a home body. Used the tri-beads again for the same purpose as Asra. Chose big blocky letters because it better suits his vibe. And then more earthy tones, with the black ab beads for his cloak.

Portia: A cat charm to represent either Pepi or The Star. Star beads because The Star. Then the rest of it is just her color palette. (Don't know a whole lot about her, sorry)

Lucio: I picked a crown charm because... Because he's the count. Also it's so ugly, I honestly dislike his bracelet, despite him being my favorite character. I chose those awful gold beads because, let's be honest, Lucio would love that. Picked them because they were kinda over the top. (Originally was going to use the same letter beads as Asra and Nadia.) Uses small red beads and two faceted yellow beads at the front (looks like gems). The rest is his color palette, although it's mainly ab, pearl and glitter colors other than the red, which is solid. I made his bracelet ugly on purpose because he would probably have something like that. (Oh, he has his necklace haha)

Them all laid out together

Then all of them on my arm

Anyways, that's it for now! If you stayed to read all of that, thank you! I liked trying to come up with meanings behind them and designing each one.

I'm aiming to do the courtiers next 👀

[mackthecheese]

My bestie and I were hanging out today and I brought up the idea of fankids specifically for the Nightmare Mode characters and. We have some fun ones and I wanted to share. I would also like to note the only ship listed here I don't actually support is the first one

Abducius + Zoth + Yog: E. Bola, the Bloodletter (14/15, they/he) A very tall plague doctor looking guy who's "beak" does in fact open like a beak, and is full of razor blades. Their nails are also as sharp as razor blades, and they have like. A whole bunch of arms hidden under their cloak. They can drop and move like a centipede if they wish. They are very loud and annoying, finding everything to be a joke. They literally live in the walls. They mostly avoid their fathers as Yog doesn't seem to actually care about them, Zoth is rarely home, and Abducius is a little to eager to punish him. Very jumpy. Literally the worst instigator ever. Is very protective of the other kids (including Quachil).

Bryn Mawr* + Teutates: M11257403LY a.k.a. Molly (13, they/it) the Weapon. Molly outwardly looks like a bomb. They are made of grey steel and have no facial features except glass eyes that look welded on, and behind them the colour of their eyes shift in a warm colour spectrum. They wear a black military uniform with no medals, dog tags with the nuclear waste symbol painted on them in yellow, and a red beret. Molly is capable of flipping inside out, exposing all around it to radiation and risking an explosion, but that only happens under dire circumstances as it can only explode once. It rarely shows emotion other than extreme anger. It has a very strong bond to its parents and often goes out to help them. It has a robotic voice with no emotion behind it, and speaks like a soldier. It is also very susceptible to manipulation. This becomes important because Yan Luo Wang Diyu realizes they are a weapon and wishes to train it. It scares the other kids, but it isn't bad.

Shub + Ishtar + Lilith: Buggaboo (5, she/her) the Crop Carver. Buggy looks like a giant bug, specifically a cicada. She has big eyes, wings that are almost too big and antennae, as well as demon horns that stick straight up and red runes all over her body. She wears a little yellow and white sundress. Buggy is five. She is happy to do literally everything. She loves to "draw pictures" on farmer's fields and play hide and seek, even if she's bad at it because she gets very loud when she's happy. She's never seen without one of her mamas with her, they take very good care of her. Sweetums. She also is usually seen with E. Bola as he has claimed her as sibling no. 2.

Xezbet + Drugia: Amygdala, or Amy (17, she/her) the Trapper. Amy is a ghost with shackles around her neck and wrists, who is surrounded by floating hands. She wears a long, tattered white dress and glows blue. Instead of a face she has a black void, and she has flowing white hair. She helps her mother and father by creating labyrinths in people's dreams (with her mother's help) to trap them so her father can take their souls. She herself takes pride in her work, and she loves designing her traps to suit whichever poor soul she's tormenting. She's cordial to her neighbors and isn't all the agressive towards them.

Dagda + Izanami: Gl'bgolyb or Gloppy. (18/19, he/him) the Impersonator. Gloppy appears to be a wooden puppet body at first, being held up by something behind it. Its face is worn and scratched, almost unrecognizable as a face. The rest of its body is equally weathered and worn, splintering in off places and moving jerkily. Gloppy himself is actually a flesh creature behind the puppet, a mass of skin and eyes and mouths and ears and anything you can think of. Gloppy is a very jealous person, wanting to be seen as the most disturbing thing here but losing to Molly. Despite this he is the next reasonable of the kids next to Amy. He mostly just acts as a lure.

Chaugnar + Nyogtha: Mal (28, she/her) the Slaughterer. Mal wears a lamb mask with blacked out eyes and a simple red robe. Her hair can be seen, it's sort of fluffed out behind her head. She often visits her parents and helps out with rituals as she carries out sacrifices (she also works with Zoth). She usually babysits the younger kids, or teaches them how rituals work and how they are meant to be done. She's actually a very pleasant person!

Also important to note. Mal and Buggaboo have real world counterparts (Malinda Schmidt, and Sheila Bubbles (Margarette adopted her from one of her friends who couldn't take care of her), but no one else does. Amy and Gloppy may be based off of Roman and Lois' and Alf and Rafttellyn's kids but. Yeah. E. Bola and Molly both have absolutely no basis in reality and only exist in the nightmare.

*Here Bryn Mawr is Francis 2's nightmare form. Bryn Mawr is a spirit from Welsh folklore who goes from house to house during Yule, asking to be let in. If you let her in she'll eat for food and join your celebration, and if you refuse to let her in she curses you. So I feel it fits. Bryn has a pleasant looking face, quite cute actually, but wears a muzzle. He also wears torn clothes that show mouths all over his body, and he has claws and a cat tail. He is usually used as a hunting dog for whoever needs one.

Oh my god these are so fucking sick-

I want to doodle them heheheh >:)

[birdmitosis]

I have been trying to figure out my designs for the Voices for my various fics, and I think I've figured a lot of stuff out! Little details might change from fic to fic if I feel something might work better, but descriptions of what I'm going with mainly are under the cut:

Broken: Feathered face and a cracked crow-like beak. Has one brown eye and one yellow eye, with no pupils. Smooth but dull feathers which they over-preen; said feathers are black on their head, throat, wings, arms and legs, but their neck and the rest of their body have grey feathers, like a hooded crow. Their wings have been clipped but they've plucked at those feathers so much that it might not be obvious at first. Their horn tufts at the top of their head are slight enough to practically not be there, giving them a head shape that's almost more barn owl than horned owl. Cheated: Feathered face and a grey, almost jackdaw-shaped beak. Has blue eyes with pupils. Her feathers are smooth and have a healthy shine, but everywhere but on her wings they're almost more brown than black. Has the horn tufts at the top of her head. Cold: No beak and no feathers on their face; it's scaled like their arms/hands and legs/feet. Has white eyes with no pupils. Their feathers have a duller shine than some of the others, and are a bit poofier especially around the neck area in the way that raven feathers are, and while mostly black they have definite white patches as if they're partially leucistic, especially on their wings. Has the horn tufts as well. Contrarian: Wears a mask most of the time because of course they've gotta be extra. It's white and almost plague doctor-y with the beak and all, but under it Contrarian doesn't have a beak (and with that scaled face with no feathers). Their eyes are such a dark brown they're almost black, and it's a little hard to tell that they have pupils at all. They have more raven-like poofy feathers as well with a healthy shine, with the slight white coloring of a collared crow. Has small horn tufts. Hero: No beak and no feathers on their scaled face. Has white eyes, but with pupils. Their feathers could use some preening but are smooth and healthy, and they have horn tufts just like the Protagonist's. Almost a "default" design. Hunted: Has a feathered face and a beak, but it's a beak that's more owl-like; its feathers are outright brown, and usually puffed up. It has black and white eyespots on its wings and the back of its head, and sizeable head tufts. Its eyes are yellow and have pupils (usually very wide pupils), but in certain types or angles or flashes of light they look pupilless and red. Opportunist: No beak and no feathers on his scaled face. Has yellow eyes, with no pupils, that don't do the red thing Hunted's eyes do. Other than the eyes, he looks a lot like a pied crow, including with a white "vest" of otherwise smooth, shiny black feathers. Has the horn tufts. Paranoid: No beak and no feathers on her scaled face. Has orange eyes with pupils (usually quite constricted). Her feathers are a bit of a disaster; they're all black like any crow's but she over-preens and plucks them, especially her wings, and it's at the point where she can't fly despite not having clipped wings like Broken. Has sizeable horn tufts. Sceptic: Has a feathered face and a beak that's more like a raven's, and feathers that are more like a raven's too. Has brown eyes without pupils. His feathers are healthy if a bit unkempt, and again a bit more raven-like, and he also has the horn tufts. Smitten: No beak and no feathers on his scaled face; he has blue eyes with no pupils and all of his feathers are quite shiny and beautifully kept. Very smooth crow-like feathers for the most part, though his throat and chest feathers are a bit floofy, and he also has the horn tufts. Again, mostly a more "default" design but with some "romantic" flourishes. Stubborn: Has a beak like a hawk and no feathers on his scaled face, giving him a more dragon-like countenance. This is only helped along by the fact that he has yellow eyes with slitted pupils, and the "horn tufts" are instead actual horns that match his black feathers. The pattern on his feathers also sort of resembles that of a black banded owl, giving those also a slightly scale-like look.

I am also undecided if I want to give each Voice some element of their respective Princess (or one of them). If so:

Broken's yellow eye has that inner glow that The Tower and The Apotheosis's eyes had. This one is not subtle. (The clipped wings are also arguably an element and they ARE more subtle.)

Cheated is just overall spikier, something that she of course got from The Razor... Her claws and beak are sharper than the others'; her wings' primary feathers are sharper-looking, as are the tips of her horn tufts; her pupils are even also slitted like Stubborn's are. This isn't particularly subtle. (Thanks to @mochiandturtlesisheretoo for this super cool idea!!)

Part of Cold's leucism would take the form of the The Spectre and The Wraith's knife scar on his chest. This one is not subtle.

Arguably, Contrarian's mask gives him "more than one face" like The Stranger? This one is subtle.

Hero… I'm not sure. Might not just be default like The (Default) Princess but I'm not sure what else it could be.

Either Hunted has patterns of slightly lighter brown on its chest that look almost like a ribcage like The Wounded Wild AND/OR its big ear tufts resemble The Den's ears in size and shape. The first one isn't subtle; the second one is.

Opportunist has The Witch's tail, except black and feathery. This one's easy. It's also not subtle.

Paranoid has markings in the scales around her eyes that are reminiscent of The Nightmare's "eyelashes," and maybe even the cracks on her face, as well as probably dark circles around her eyes. This one is not subtle.

Skeptic has slightly darker black markings around his wrists, and an even darker one around his neck, like The Prisoner's manacles. This one is subtle.

Smitten has poofy, ruffly looking feathers at his arms that are reminiscent of The Damsel's poofier, frillier little sleeves. This one is subtle.

Stubborn has The Adversary's horns, just black. This one, again, is easy. It's also not subtle.

[artzychic27]

More Coven Box stuff because I remembered I fucking love this au. This au was brought to you by @eternalnexuswarrior

Today… OUTFITS!

Nathaniel-

Red and Black color scheme

Scarlet Warlock’s outfit but with some upgrades like some fancy-ass sleeves, a black sleeveless waistcoat, and high heels to kill a man with

Power up potions hanging off of his belt and tucked into the hand of his witch hat in case he needs them

Aurore-

Grey, white, and slate blue

A little inspiration from the Swedish Easter Witch attire

A grey head scarf with the fabric on top tied to look like wolf fears, slate blue sleeveless jumper paired with a white fur shawl that connects in the front with a silver latch, belt with a wolf tail connected to the back, and fancy white hunting boots

Reshma-

Black and red with some hints of white

Dark ballerina aesthetic with a TON of mesh and beautiful billowing sleeves

Her skirt is decorated with a white hem that looks like a spider web, and her flats have sturdy soles. Her mask makes it looks like she’s got six more eyes

Jean-

Black with a light neon green

Fabulous✨

A cyberpunk look becuase the color scheme demands it. A visor, crop jacket some long sleeves decorated with light green designs, black halter top, black utility belt, black cargo pants with light green design, and black boots

When it’s dark out, that’s when the light green starts glowing

Juleka-

Dark purple, black, dark grey

Plague Doctor outfit to go with her plague doctor cane

She’s got a practical dark purple knee length dress with a hood, a black non-constricting corset, feathered collar, some silver jewelry, and the plague Doctor mask that with posies decorated on the beak

Simon-

Brown, light grey, and silver

Trench coat with a hood to look sophisticated and mysterious. The hood literally casts a shadow over his whole face and you can only see his eyes. It freaks out villains

Dress shoes with noise canceling soles so he can sneak up on some motherfuckers, and a fancy pair of gloves

Lacey-

Green, yellow, black

Imagine Froppy

Basically that, but not as skin tight, and with a crop jacket because I said so. And she’s got shock absorption shoes for when she lands

Ismael-

Purple, black, and gold

He’s got a sleeveless hoodie with a cobra hood, and a mask that turns his eyes into slits

Gold cale patterns on the black pants, black shrug top that extends into finger less gloves, and a purple undershirt that looks similar to the top half of Viperion’s outfit rift

Denise-

Red, black, and gold

Studded wrist gauntlets because they need more than just a poison-filled tail

Red headscarf, red ruffle top over a black halter top, gold warp around belt, an asymmetrical ankle length red skirt with a black hem, torn black pants, and black ankle boots

Marc-

Dark green, black, hints of yellow

TON of leather- Jacket, boots, gloves

Scale pattern, torn… Everything, his eyes turn into slits, his hair is wilder than canon, and he’s got a silver choker and cuffs with broken chains attached

He’s got the biggest fangs out of the others

Zoé-

Tan and black

Shredded clothes, leather jacket with a fur collar, one torn faux ear

Silver piercings- Ears, eyebrow, nose

Silver jewelry- Cuffs with broken chains

Cosette-

Light green with hints of an iridescent black

Hooded black asymmetrical jacket that turns all sorts of colors whenever it moves at different angles, green pants with scale pattern, black knee length boots, and a green visor

Mireille

A light brown, white

Imagine Isi Dawndancer’s antler headband, but white

Brown crop hoodie with little white specs and deer ears on the hood, thigh length white skater dress under brown leggings, and white ankle length boots that look like hooves

[shmilestprower]

Hello Guest: Sometimes Conversation Is A Raven Nest

Part of my Hello Neighbor story, we learn more about the Guest in this headcanon and the story.

Mr. Peterson glared at the creature in front of him, not in the slightest bit. Did he like it, Peterson was a 50 year old man with a well trimmed mustache, always curled at each side. His hair was brown, but near to greying. Forming a swirl at the top, wearing a yellow shirt, with a stain on it. The stain was unspecified. Theodore had green, piercing eyes staring at the thing. He had a strong cheekbones, something his childhood self never possessed. And he had a round chin, an swirl on his chin. He had grown a stubble, as he was older.

Peterson had thick, arching eyebrows. Which gave him an intimidating appearance, and they pointed straight downwards, to his nose. His unusual head has numerous wrinkles and creases on his forehead. The mustached man also wore thick, and greasy rubber gloves. Of a black color. He wore a blue diamond patterned vest, with a argyle style. The very small part, the comprising material of his shirt was a rain-resistant material. The edges of the vest are dark blue and ridged, while the diamonds are a lighter blue. There are white dotted lines crossing the vest as part of its pattern. Theodore's pants are an orange color with darker orange stripes, and his shoes are black and white sneakers.

"Explain your actions, especially after you possessed MY son. And chased me." The black sheep of Raven Brooks asked, adjusting his collared shirt.

"Theodore, relax. I think you and I can speak, whilst we remain civil."

The creature in front of him ironically looked somewhat similar, but vastly different, beefier. Wearing a purple, dirty dark striped sweater with a red pocket on the front. The top, inside this pocket was a tissue. There was the presence of yellow stitching, around the armpit area, as if somebody created the sweater. The sweater had light red sleeves with lines on them, the sleeves were significantly dirtier than one expected. However they were incredibly dirty, one could not tell if they were red or orange. In opposite of Mr. Peterson's muscular form, and limbs. The creature had lanky limbs. Wearing, similar gloves. But shredded, the fingers resembled talons of a raven or a crow. And these gloves have dirt on him. It wore brown lined pants, with black shoes with yellow laces and soles. However, as one would expect. Because of the body shape. The entity had lankier limbs. The hood was pulled past the head, and for a face. Was a raven beak, resembling wood, but if you were stupid enough to touch the beak, it was certainly organic. The figure wore a black, hooded cloak. Held together by a circular clasp, with an eye symbol. Theo knew the symbol all too well. Forest Protectors. However as a man could not think the same way a insect could, one would wrongfully think this cloak is brown.

The Guest. The Raven Man, the mysterious urban legend of Raven Brooks. Who had existed for ages, a demonic supernatural entity. And dealmaker who had complete control over Raven Brooks. Some doubted his existence, because Raven Man, Raven Brooks. However this simply didn't deter the mind of believers or conspiracy theorists.

Beside the creature were three men, wearing black hooded figures, with hundreds of feathers attached to their cloaks. They had their hoods up, obscuring their head, and they wore white, curved beak masks. Resembling a plague doctor mask from medieval times. These figures also wore long black gloves with claws. Forest Protectors.

Peterson knew why they wore these raven like costumes. Because they worshipped The Guest, and sacrificed people to him. Representing his legend and existence through the cloaks.

"I merely gave your son an opportunity, one he should have been grateful for, an escape from that prison you hold him in." The beaked creature said. His voice was full of envy and greed, contempt. He didn't speak by words, but spoke with telepathy. As his beak didn't move. Ethereal and sadism, but with multiple voices. Of various emotions and feelings. Giving the Guest an unearthly way of speaking. The legend lacked eyes, but he could still see Theodore.

Mr. Peterson rubbed his stubble, listening to the demon speaking. Having to hear multiple voices and emotions at once was annoying, but he had the opportunity to question The Guest. "You think it was an opportunity? One you think Aaron should be grateful for, I know you. You don't play kid games. You tried linking my son to a curse."

"I thought you humans knew the meaning of sacrifice. Do you not know the meaning of "it's for the greater good?" The bird-like beast laughed. His laughter echoing in Theo's mind. The crow creature adjusted his cloak, as he stared. Eagerly waiting.

"So. What are you, trying to make me understand the weight of my actions? I'm no saint, as I have framed Nicky. I have kidnapped him, buried my own daughter in my backyard. And chase anyone I see off my property. Kept Aaron locked in the basement to protect himself from the authorities, if so. You're just making me think different things." The neighbor stared, he didn't care about The Guest. Nor did he care about the cult. The bird society and it's God was like a thorn in his side. He had mixed emotions about The Guest, he loathed him. But he also feared him.

A chuckle of multiple voices, laughing with sadism could be heard, the mustached man clenched his gloved fist. As he didn't find that funny. "Way worse. I may be enforcing and influencing someone's thoughts. But it's actually to torture, haunt and break you." Theodore stared, sternly. Holding a pitchfork at the creature. He shook with a small bit of fear, but kept his composure. Clearly determined.

"It does not matter what I was taking, if I'm lonely, because you don't appreciate it, don't deserve it, or if you love it. What matters is, those who or what is taken. Isn't destroyed, grew distant from or even died. They are gone."

"Right, like making a kid linked to your cult and possessing him is good, you're nothing without bad luck." The man said, sarcastically.

"I might be, I could be a lot of things. Small things, big things. It doesn't matter. What matters is what I'm becoming, little Theo. I'm the monster; I'm the monster that manifests when you think your God takes away your crops, I'm the monster that takes away what you don't deserve. I'm your life's betrayal." The Raven Man claimed it was life's betrayal, one of the Forest Protectors wanted to kill Peterson here and now. But the Guest held him off.

"Why not kill me anyways, instead of being a clown? And not going with your word?"

"New toys to play with. Torture, despair. DEATH! Taking what you don't deserve. As much as I wish I could take credit, your wife wasn't my work. But I did see it."

This set off the green eyed, and suspicious man. He rose from his seat, his well built frame rising up. As The Guest cawed. Peterson was increasingly frustrated.

"Do not bring up Diane into this. Or Mya. But there are kids. I have to deal with, they are trying to send me to prison again."

"Oh, you think you can negotiate with me? I give the word, and my Ravens pay a visit to your son. At a certain house. Consider your position very carefully, Theodore. Because you are not with the power."

He took in the Guest's words. Mr. Peterson didn't at all want Aaron dying by the Forest Protectors, especially after such a threat like that. But he chuckled. Which caught The Guest by surprise. "Maybe I need your help more than you do, feeding off bad luck." A laugh, with opportunity. The Guest turned to Gordon Cleave, a 6'1 blonde man with fierce brown eyes, wearing a brown suit. Cleave also had a tooth pick in his mouth and turned to the Forest Protectors.

"And just, what did I tell you about him? Bold mindset. How have you lived like that? Especially when I and a representation of your guilt attack you?! Your mind and head is mine. Alright. Deal. Help you get rid of Trinity, and Aaron is my host." The Guest referenced The Thing, the representation of Nicky's fears and Theo's guilt.

"Deal." Mr. Peterson shook hands with The Guest, as he warned the creature. Giving it a cold look.

"I will warn you, only once. This is solely a partnership and business. No emotion." The bird like creature warned him.

"I am aware."

Mr. Peterson walked out of the catacombs, and sewers. Heading back to his house. Whilst the Guest transformed into a Raven and flew off to the Forest.

[talenlee]

Decemberween '23 — Smogon RBY Afficionados

This is pretty funny when you consider last month I wrote three thousand words about how I think Smogon has a fundamental problem in terms of its game design toolkit. Wa hey anyway.

I’ve talked about how when it comes to any given internet niche you run the risk of running headlong into the cursed distinction between ‘pronouns in bio :)’ and ‘pronouns in bio :^)’. There are a whole lot of spaces on the internet where you can always find someone who knows way too much about it and is happy to infodump to you about it, and for the increasingly pointed niches, those interests are usually represented by a truly sweaty nerd or some detail oriented queer person. It is in this space that I wish to proffer to you two people who make interesting material about Smogon.

Not only Smogon, but the part of Smogon focusing on a game mode which has three Pokemon that probably are 100% represented. That’s right, Red Blue Yellow, the oldest metagame of all, and the weirdest.

Let me show you the work of Plague Von Karma and Big Yellow.

Plague von Karma is a delightful channel if you’re into vtubers wearing plague doctor masks talking about thirty years of gameplay history. Which I guess I am. And statistically, so are you. Plague Von Karma’s channel is more brisk, with a lot of shorter videos designed to introduce you to the history of this game, documented in distinct ideas rather than long, broad overviews of a variety of topics.

The Rise of TobyBro | RBY Bytes

Watch this video on YouTube

This is also just coincidentally, an examination of when I engaged with the period of time, and therefore periodically I see people I know mentioned by name. Well, knew. I was a teenager. But like, I was there when the TobyBro arose and I hung out in chat rooms with Cat Gonk and it’s an incredible story to see as the narrative of the TobyBro endures for decades.

I mean, as a game designer I would have something of a problem if my game lasted that long with a generic piece like that but also, y’know, Chess got away with it, and we’ve never needed a Chess 2.0 (aside from how Pokemon is Chess 2).

If you look at the videos of Plague Von Karma, there’s a quantity of videos that are kind of meant to get you up to speed for what RBY is like, and why it’s like that, and when you understand those things you can approach the format more wholly. It’s not exactly positioned as ‘behold, I, an educator am here to get you involved in this format’ but it really feels like a good place to start that doesn’t involve reading the Smogon forums, which are…

Lively.

BigYellow is a lot more into these long form, dense and humour-driven kinda memelord treatments of the RBY OU format. It’s not quite a guide to getting involved – I mean, there’s really nothing to it beyond ‘you should probably have Snorlax, Chansey and Tauros on your team,’ but it’s still approached with a conversational mien and… like

it’s funny?

I think these videos are really funny. I watch them because BigYellow is charming and talks about Pokemon in a way that’s charming even as they talk about a format of Pokemon I think looks horrendous to play. I have the nagging suspicion that sometime I’m going to drop some joke somewhere in one of my videos and well after it’s gone up realise that I’m just copying this ginger Irish person who’s half my age and funnier as well.

Ice Type Pokémon in RBY

Watch this video on YouTube

BigYellow forwards what I think is one of the healthiest visions of Pokemon in the Smogon play space, where you should only ever consider the game to be a series of spaces you move between. If you want to play a Pokemon, don’t try and drag it into the ‘proper’ format, but rather look around for the formats where it is playable, then see if you can find a way to play that format. Charizard doesn’t have to be in OU for you to enjoy playing it, and if you start looking at Smogon tiers like playgrounds with some bumpers around them, you start to see some really cute, interesting metagame spaces to play around in.

It’s a diagnostic treatment of the tiering system. The game is not there to be proscribed, but described. There are ways the game works, there are ways it doesn’t work and some of the ways it doesn’t work result from silly people with weird grudges against Jumpluff.

But alright, sure, what if I’m not interested in a twenty-five year old Pokemon metagame that’s built out of emulators that are designed to implement bugs properly? Well, what if I told you that BigYellow also did videos about fight games? Oh, no? That’s not exciting? What if I told you there’s a 45 minute long video about the history of brown bricks in lego?

The Brilliant History of Brown Lego

Watch this video on YouTube

Yeah that’s right.

And I watched the whole thing.

And really, you probably will too, right?

I just can’t tell you what this channel’s identity is, not really. It’s BigYellow, who makes a game that I think sounds awful sound amazing. It’s about Lego. It’s about nostalgia. It’s about Guilty Gear Strive and how sometimes the weather being too severe shuts you out of playing the videogames you intended to play. It’s ultimately an insight into how one person who’s interested in stuff expresses that interest.

And that’s really cool.

Also, and this isn’t really important, but if you’re like me and you notice when you’re hearing voices that aren’t just More Americans talking about things, these reminders that the world’s culture does not actually stop at the edges of the mainland USA, then yeah, here are some channels discussing a Japanese game from places like Ireland and… I’m guessing Australia? But maybe New Zealand? I’m not about to say where or when.

The world is not a place where we intrude, it’s a place we share.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[the-ravens-requiem]

Plague-Tober 2023 #2 - Puddle

It was a cozy, rainy day at the shop.

The soft crackle of the fireplace offered Doctor some company as they watched the raindrops trickle lazily down the front-facing glass window.

There had been little customers today, and that was fine by Doctor. It was a sleepy sort of afternoon, grey clouds overhead and the wind fortified with autumn's chill. A good day for cozying up with a blanket and reading a good book.

Doctor was idily thinking about cold season starting soon. How they'd need to stock up on honey from their beekeeping friend in town, and replenish their supply of different herbs and berries that could soothe throats and halt the mundane agony of coughing fits. Simple things, easy cures. Honest work.

Suddenly, a steam-like apparation formed itself around Doctor's shoulder, slowly manifesting into the shape of a cat. The happy meow in greeting sounded echoed and far-away, though the glowing yellow eyes of the ghost were bright and steady.

"Oh, little Spectre! How charming it is of you to visit me on such a lovely day." Doctor cooed, pleasantly surprised by her sudden appearance. The cat languished across their arm comfortably, peering up into the red glass eyes of the mask. As quickly as she relaxed, however, she suddenly perked up and dropped to the floor, fluffy tail faded but pleasantly at attention.

She began to float towards the door, pausing and turning every few steps as if to beseech her new master to follow her. Doctor ambled along her trail before she disappeared through the door. With languid movements, Doctor followed her outside and into the front garden, enclosed with a wrought iron fence.

"Silly cat, what could you possibly want in the rain?" Doctor stood with their hands on their hips, teasingly admonishing the ghost.

In response, the cat wound up its body for a moment and then jumped into a puddle. The water was unaffected besides the barest hint of disturbance, perhaps by the wind, though this seemed to please the cat. She jumped again and again, mostly using her front paws to try to splash, though her incorporeal form did not afford her much luck. Nevertheless her tail was high and she seemed to be in a playful mood. After repeating the action a few times, she wound herself around Doctor's legs, purring and making figure eights.

"Imagine that. A cat that loves playing in water." Doctor leaned down to 'pet' her, though their gloved hand passed through her steam-like body. "You are so strange and odd, my sweetling."

Doctor 'picked up' Spectre in their arms and was still for a moment, as if thinking, then with sudden joyous laughter -- they too jumped into the puddle. It splashed around their legs, though the waxen suit saved them from getting wet.

Abandoning decorum, Doctor began stomping with their heavy boots. It reminded them of being a child. Before they were this, before they were anything but a simple babe with dreams and hopes wider than the sky. Before they knew terror or fear or hatred, the way a man's eyes loses light when they die. Before they knew the smell of blood, the feel of a blade in their hand. Doctor had once been something innocent, like Spectre, and sometimes it felt so far away. It felt like lifetimes ago. And perhaps it was.

But for now, there was this. There was the rain, and Spectre, and there was the puddle.

[odysseywritings]

⚔️

Like seasons in a year, an adventure party needs a quartet for the world to revolve around.

At the front, the mighty and dangerous barbarian from the north, Brihel. Harsh climates of unforgiving winters where food is a privilege. Raiders from all over threatening her very life. Without the freedom and security of magic or tool proficiency, she learned to thrive with determination, the desire to win every obstacle, and to be ruthless and crazed in life threatening stakes. Blue tattoos cover her muscular body, ruddy hair flows free, and an axe that chops a man as easily as a tree.

At her left flank, the wily and unpredictable outlaw from the east, Lagashy. A bureaucratic metropolis to some, but a well of opportunity for others, this pint sized marksman manages to make a profit with guileful bartering and occasional looting. Free from stifling laws and multiple routes to hide into, they have the quick thinking to evade capture, and a red cowl and cloak to strike fear in bounty hunters.

Opposite to them, the enigmatic and magical sorceress of the west, Void. Found in the vast unexplored Wildlands, she is educated in the crafting of spells that alter nature and reality, with ample ways of ensuring her enemies avoid her godlike (or devilish) powers. A plague doctor mask covers a beautiful violet face with red markings over her yellow eyes. A robe of weathers covered in eye markings cement her avian appearance as she soars above mortal comprehension to her intentions.

Behind all, the easygoing and daydreaming bard from the south, Echo. A quiet green lizard folk from a tropical land, he found himself in a more violent land looking for patrons for his whimsical or bawdy tunes. Apathetic to anything that does not provide a good story, he remains stolid as his party relies on his chords seamlessly weaving entertainment with healing magic, requiring concentration for effect.

Their individual goals range from the immediate to the complicated, yet they all unite for profit and an easier life, with their skills all combining for a solid fortress moving from land to land.

[coffee-in-veins]

What are your headcanons for DD characters' eyes? We never see them, and as much as it is a hidden gem of a design choice, I've always been curious what other people think of this.

hello hello! o/ thank you for the ask

In fact, I actually do, quite a few of those. I love overanalyzing things, and eyes were a thing I loved poking (figuratively! mostly...) in my characters. I wish naming eye colours wasn't so exhausting, though, because let me tell you it is a mess! It almost feels like everyone tries to outshine the name from another site, so I'll try my best to be descriptive but won't add images because finding proper ones is a doozy.

Please note that mostly I have headcanons for characters used in the fic the most (since most of those headcanons are for writing RRR), and some will be far less thought-through than others.

Abomination/Bigby – dusty green eyes with a bright, yellowish-green shine to them when he transforms or is close to transforming or uses his power; imagine the colour of the veins on his beast form arm's veins.

Antiquarian/Josephine – light, amber eyes, almost the colour of linden honey. Because of them, she looks trustworthy, sweet and approachable, and she knows that. Do with this what you will.

Arbalest/Missandei – light brown eyes with a bit of yellow and a dark limbal ring, which can make them appear black at a glance under a right angle.

Bounty Hunter/Tardif – brown eyes with grey flakes, but very few people ever saw those.

Crusader/Reynauld – bright blue eyes with a steel tint to them and a ring of tiny yellow flakes around the pupil, but those are almost impossible to see from afar.

Flagellant/Damian – striking, pale baby blue eyes which look amazingly out of place on his face and with his stature.

Grave Robber/Audrey – prominent bottle green eyes with a darker ring around the pupils. Prefers dusty-blue clothes to make them look shinier.

Hellion/Boudica – bright, leafy-green eyes with a prominent limbal ring and sparse yellow flakes.

Highwayman/Dismas – dark, almost black, brown eyes with tiny yellowish specks around the pupils, but very few people know about their existence due to him not liking people being close to his face and squinting quite a lot.

Houndmaster/Willam – grey eyes with prominent green flakes, darkening and more green than grey around the pupil.

Jester/Sarmenti – he has incomplete heterochromia; most of his eyes are dark hazel green with sectors of brown in each eye. This was one of the reasons he was forced into the role of a jester, who often had deformities in the middle ages.

Leper/Baldwin – pale brown eyes with milky, hazy pupils due to his deteriorating condition. Used to be brown, maybe with a bit of amber flakes.

Man-at-Arms/Barristan – dark grey eye, paling in colour to the pupil.

Musketeer/Margaret – sapphire blue eyes with hazel flakes around the pupils.

Occultist/Alhazred – dark carob eyes with a greyish ring around the pupil. His eyes probably look dark wine-red/purple if the light falls under a right angle, but that is mostly a result of his Pact.

Plague Doctor/Paracelsus – steel-grey with a prominent, thick dark limbal ring. They appear foggy behind her glasses if she's without her mask.

Shieldbreaker/Amani – dark brown eyes, almost the colour of buckwheat honey, since those are considered the prettiest colour in the part of the world she supposedly is from, and she is 'a beautiful thing' after all.

Vestal/Junia – warm brown hazel eyes with gray flecks which appeared in them after her 'enlightenment'. She believes this was because of her 'rejuvenation' by the Light.

Phew, that was a lot! Hope you liked my ideas ^^ Did they match any of yours?

[sakurachan7734]

Keys to a forbidden Kingdom

Chapter 5: lost keys

Aristotle and lavender climb up to the roof of a building to watch the parade 

Aristotle: let’s hope nobody sees us

Lavender: there’s a bunch of stuff going on they probably won’t notice us

Aristotle:*looks up at the castle* wow

Lavender: what?

Aristotle: look up

Lavender:* looks at the castle* hey that’s where I got my key

Aristotle: where in that castle?

Lavender: do you see that pillar on the top of the castle?

Aristotle: yes

Lavender: that’s the kings room that’s where I got the key

Aristotle: let’s get down and keep exploring

Lavender: ok

Third person pov

Aristotle and lavender jump down and start looking around but then one of the resident notice that lavender was wearing a key to a kingdom and quickly steals it off her neck and brought it back to the king

Hours passed and they both decided to go home

Aristotle: alright give me the key

Lavender: ok * looks down and then looks in her bag* I don’t have it 

Aristotle: what do you mean? you had it when you came in. 

Lavender: I don’t have it! Either I took it off or somebody stole it 

Aristotle: well now we have to go look for it I will check that castle and you will look around this place.

Lavender: Ok

Third person pov

Aristotle runs to the castle and opens the large door and start to walk around

Aristotle pov

This place is quit too quite it’s kinda unsettling but it’s pretty I just passed by some Stainglass windows of the four lor- wait didn’t dads say there was only three Why am I seeing four large stained glass window?

I move up to the black stained glass window and look at the little gold plate underneath the window

Aristotle: “the black lord of Alagadda, dýo polonium” *looks up at the mask* dad? 

Meanwhile with the ambassador and the red lord

Red lord: ambassador do you remember that plague doctor that was here a couple decades ago? 

Ambassador: yes is that same plague doctor back? Even though we banished him?

Red lord: I don’t know he looks different from the other one

Ambassador: what does he look like?

Red lord: I only saw him for a minute and what I saw was long brown hair with like a black stripe in the front and black underneath his brown hair a yellow and purple eye with black goo pouring from his eyes and mouth

Ambassador: where is he now?

Red lord: he was staring at the black Lord stained glass window, but now he’s upstairs I believe

Ambassador: I thought we destroyed that window

Red lord: well apparently we didn’t 

Back with Aristotle

Aristotle pov

So I need to find the kings chamber so we can get out of here hopefully lavender is ok and hopefully nobody will see me or worse try to attack me

Third person pov

Aristotle reaches the part of the castle where the bedrooms are and they were about to look into the rooms until they were stopped

White lord: excuse me sir you know you aren’t allowed in the castle unless there’s a party remember?

Aristotle: oh I’m the uhhh…I’m the new jester!

White lord: hm the king never mentioned that he had hired a new entertainer

Aristotle: uhh yes he did and he told me that I start tomorrow morning and he told me to meet him in his chamber Do you know where it is? 

White lord: you have to go up exactly free floors and find a door at the end of the hallway and go up the stairs you will be in the King‘s room 

Aristotle: ok thank you ma’am 

Third person pov

Aristotle immediately ran up three floors and ran up a flight of stairs

Aristotle:*enters the room* I told you look in the village

Lavender: it was too loud Nobody could hear me.

Aristotle: well did you find the key?

Lavender: yes

Aristotle: ok let’s get out of here

Lavender: I saw a picture that looked like dad

Aristotle: really?

Lavender: yes

Aristotle: show me please

Lavender: ok follow me

End of chapter





[ketchup112]

I have two OC characters. Are doctors. One of them is Snowy, who dresses up like a punk Apocalyptic Plague Dr.

The second one is her mom, who is a pretty much my virgin of A. White Mage. Or my version? What would a alchemist Dr. look like?

Reason why I brought that up is because of Veigar white mage skin which is just a recolor of his regular clothing. And it's sort of boring to me. Yes, he's supposed to be a mimic of a White Mage, but there's no. Other creativity there. So I decided to go into the White Mage angle, study it a little bit, and realize normally they're healers. So I did a thing.

Medical white Veigar.

Sticking with the white and red color theme. But add an extra color like the greenish gem around his neck the Browns and I left it a little black for the heel of his boots.

The dominant color is the white color and it's mostly the surrounding outfits the Reds are his little shahs his glove the face mask and the little band around his hat. The Browns are his boots the Brown is his smock.

Now that giant iron gauntlet of his is now a medical tool that he uses for his magic .

If I had to imagine a magical healer, I would imagine something like this but more like wood would Veigar wear. And I do a little research what the past medical people used to wear and today I come up with an outfit like this.

A nurses cloth hat to keep his hair away from the injured party. It is a opposite than his normal hat than you normally see him wear. Less pointy, less spikes and... no space cloud?

A face mask to cover up his face and keep away germs.Which that's normal for any doctor sometimes.But in this case, he doesn't have his rim of his hat to cover his face and shadow.

He does have a smoke because I see photos of doctors wearing something like that. And it's a policeman for his undershirt. And the red sash. You can easily take off. It's like his belt.

Is Scotland being less spiky and more stubby, like they're built to slice someone open for surgery. And the other glove is just another glove. With some medical tape around it.

And the choker necklace with the blue dish gym around his neck there's no reason for it I thought it just looked nice I like giving characters chokers somewhat reason.

His eyes are still yellow he doesn't have dawned this trust me and he has nice guy bullish purplish eyes that's what I guessed that his eyes look like before he became him.

Now for his normal weapon I don't know what that is in an axs or is it a wizard staff So maybe I will just give him a wooden stick if I ever get around to drawing it

[emotionally-defeated-mimic]

A Breezy Day

[Ooc: Anything below keep reading is character rp. Just a general cw, this little writing includes mild nightmare-ish/hallucination writing at the beginning and cuts off at the star and mentions pills (once but still).]

[This is a short writing, about 620 or so words]

[This is the first open thread I've made! Anyone and anything can reply to it without having to ask!]

It’s freezing when he opens his eyes, lazily gazing at the ceiling of his worn room. Decay clings to it, fades away, and a nasty brown with green. They wince, feeling the pressure of a bed that has seen better days.

Cold.

Brick. They had always assumed that was what it was. 

For a long time, he had assumed someone had replaced his mattress with bricks. However silly the idea he wouldn’t doubt someone doing it, there was always someone on base who found something so irrelevant funny.

This couldn’t possibly be a usable bed but they humored it. Slept on it many countless nights only to wake up minutes later or rise with a throbbing pain in their back. 

But what was he to argue? They were just a merc after all. 

They aim to move, feeling the twitch of their fingers, and yet their arms refuse to move. His face pulls into a small frown, eyes moving away from the ceiling. 

They can’t move their head without effort, earning a small groan from him. 

This must be a dream. 

They spot movement from the corner of their eye and a nasty sensation coils itself into their body. It wraps itself around their organs and squeezes sharply, taking away the sensation of breathing. 

A feeling similar to being stuck underwater. 

They don’t look, shifting their attention back to the mold on the ceiling as the movement shuffles closer. 

What is it?

What could it be?

What are you?

A beak, they remember. The tip of a plague doctor's mask peering around the side of their bed. Long claws reached out from the darkness, reaching for their face.

Mimic feels the involuntary twitch of their fingers, trying to wrestle out of paralysis. 

A coo of words, garbled and overlapped. Tones of children, of men, of women. All one broken symphony as the thing croaked. Mimic never seemed to have noticed how the room, once a deep shade of black, now shuddered with a blood red. 

Desperation. They almost don't remember the nasty feeling as they tried to move. Eyes darting across the mold, the decay, that clings to the ceiling. It shifts and moves like little eyes peering down at their dismay.

Mimic feels their eyes flutter open, a tremble in his hand as he holds a cup. 

The claws of that... Thing moved rather slowly and clung to the edge of the bed before lurching forward at a speed Mimic could not comprehend.

⋆

They sat idly in a small garden, sat below a tree whose leaves had started to grow once more. Pollen drifted idly in the air, covering everything in a small blanket of yellow and comfort.

Yes, outside

They were outside. 

They tip their head to the side, eyes glancing at the flowers whose idle growth had become prominent. Once small blooms stood tall, scattered in a disarray. Never placed in order, haphazardly thrown around. 

They must have drifted off, placing his cup down quietly. The tea within it is steaming yet abandoned. Left to cool off as Mimic takes a quiet moment to themselves.

A small gust of wind has them waving off a cloud of pollen, a sneeze on their dry lips. He rubs a glove over their eyes, pushing away hints of pollen that clung to their face.

How long has he been out here?

Yes

Yes, they remember, a Demoman had helped them. 

They can’t seem to remember. The thought is distant, replaced with red walls and green mold. Yes, yes, that nightmare. Or perhaps a hallucination. He isn’t the most fond of placing titles on things so silly that could be chased away with pills. 

Was it RED or BLU?

Where is their tea? 

They placed it down, yes, yes.

His hand gently cups the rim of their tea. Picking it back up and gently pressing it to his mouth. He drinks the hot liquid, almost lukewarm. The kettle rested against the trunk of the tree with three other cups, once steaming now cooling down. A small line of smoke stems from the spout. 

Their eyes drift up, the sun is almost overhead.

Noon.

He nods his head with a little hum. It would soon be time to water their garden, one small chore of the day that they enjoyed.

Then dinner, what would they make today?

Small questions for later.

Later.

[accessible-tumbling]

VD: Museum curator Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto next to a display of a Plague Doctor mask and headdress.

She says "what are we looking at here. This is a work called “Resilience: Living in a Pandemic since 1492” by Osceola and Genevieve Red Shirt who conceived of the work in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic. It features a leather plague doctor's mask inscribed with the names of diseases that have devastated Indigenous nations through history. Caption reads "Smallpox, Diphtheria, Spanish Flu, Covid-19.

Wendy says "these are overlaid with Indigenous medicinal plants. The mask is paired with a war bonnet to honor Indigenous people as survivors and warriors" /End VD

Additional description of the work: The medicinal plants are: Marsh Marigold (yellow); Pokeweed (cone shape with purple berries); Purple Coneflower (lavender color with orange center); Skunk Cabbage (burgundy with bright green).

The work is made from: Wicket and Craig tooling leather, glass, metal, sweet grass, thread, hand-painted imitation eagle feathers, ermine pelts, red wool, red horsehair, buckskin leather, re-purposed Buffalo felt hat.