#and the spider monster transformation he gets later

[lesbiansybelle]

They make me feel insane

[kairawrites]

sweet escape.

🌺 masterlist 🌺

pairing: lewis hamilton x his wife

requested: A kiss that tastes of the food/dessert they are eating.

summary: It's your turn to host the sleepover, and the house is crawling with kids. All Lewis wants is to enjoy his favorite snack in peace, but someone else has beaten him to it.

words: 1.7k

It was your turn to host the sleepover, and Ariel and Mason, along with their friends, had been buzzing with excitement all week. Their friends always claimed that you hosted the best sleepovers, and tonight was no exception. The living room had been transformed into a comfort kingdom, a cozy haven that would make any child’s sleepover dreams come true.

The sofa was covered in blankets and pillows, perfectly prepared for you and Lewis to cuddle up later. Roscoe was already settled in, burrowed into one of the blankets. Air mattresses, each adorned with fluffy blankets and an array of pillows, covered the remainder of the living room floor. Pressed together and ready for the kids, they formed cozy nests. String lights hung from the ceiling, casting a warm, twinkling glow over the room, and each air mattress had a customized snack basket placed at the foot, filled with treats specially chosen for each child.

In the kitchen, boxes of freshly delivered pizza sat waiting on the island, their aroma mingling with the sweet scent of the homemade treats you had prepared. After picking up the kids and their friends from their respective homes, Lewis had returned to find this magical setup already prepared and waiting for the night’s festivities. The sight of it had brought a smile to his face—this was exactly what a sleepover should be.

Once Ariel and Mason, along with their friends, were fed and changed into their pajamas, you managed to get them to agree on a movie. They were going to watch Monsters, Inc., a classic that never failed to entertain. The kids settled into their cozy nests of blankets and pillows, their faces illuminated by the soft glow of the string lights as you switched off the overhead light. Lewis watched in awe as you effortlessly managed all eight of them, your voice calm and soothing as you adjusted the volume and made sure everyone was comfortable.

You were wearing pajamas that matched Ariel’s and her friends’—a cute set in soft pink with Hello Kitty prints scattered across the fabric. Lewis, on the other hand, was dressed in black pajamas adorned with Spider-Man prints, matching those of Mason and his friends. His pajama top was emblazoned with the superhero’s web design, while the pants were red with a Miles Morales pattern.

As the kids finally settled into their makeshift beds, Lewis watched you walk over, a smile playing on his lips as you let out a breath, clearly relieved that the evening was under control. He reached out, his fingers lightly touching the hem of your shorts. “Cute pajamas,” he noted.

You giggled as you glanced up at him. “Thanks, but you’re one to talk.” You gestured to his Spider-Man pajamas, and he grinned.

“Hey, don’t be mad I got the better pair,” Lewis said with a chuckle, leaning down to steal a quick kiss.

“I have something for you,” you said, reaching around him. Lewis’s eyes lit up with curiosity and excitement as you produced a personalized snack basket just for him. “The kids wanted to try the peanut butter bites, so I had to give you only two,” you said with a playful grin.

Lewis’s grin widened as he took the basket from you. His hand instantly moved to retrieve a peanut butter bite. A soft moan of appreciation was muffled as he bit into the sweet treat. He’d been looking forward to this moment all day, from the moment he found you pulling out the ingredients in the morning.

“You always spoil me,” he said, giving you a quick kiss before moving to join Roscoe on the sofa, ready to enjoy the treats.

Lewis was sprawled comfortably on the sofa, Roscoe resting contentedly against his chest as he scratched behind the dog’s ears. The kids were thoroughly engrossed, laughing at the antics of Sulley and Mike.

However, something felt off. The absence of your laughter was unusual. You were always the one who laughed the loudest at this film. Lewis lifted his head from the armrest behind him and scanned the room, searching for you.

Seeing that you were nowhere in sight, he figured you might have slipped upstairs for a bit of peace and quiet. With a small smile, he reached into his personalized snack basket, hoping to grab another peanut butter bite. To his dismay, he found that there were none left.

He set the basket aside and rose from the sofa, leaving Roscoe to stretch out in his spot. Lewis headed to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and checked every shelf and corner for any remaining peanut butter bites. His search proved fruitless, leaving him mildly frustrated. He sighed, shutting the fridge.

A thought crossed his mind—maybe, just maybe, there was one last stash hidden away in the pantry. You had the habit of storing treats in the pantry when you wanted to keep them away from the kids.

Lewis opened the pantry door, only to stop in his tracks. There you were, standing in the small pantry, looking a little too guilty for someone just grabbing a snack. Your hand was tucked behind your back, your eyes wide with surprise as you met his gaze.

Lewis raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding?”

“Just…getting a snack,” you replied.

Lewis’s gaze passed over your face, his eyes lingering for just a moment. He had known you long enough to recognize the subtle signs when you were hiding something. The way your eyes shifted slightly to the side and the faintest of smiles that didn’t quite reach your eyes were all dead giveaways.

He could tell you were trying to play it cool, but he could see through it. “What are you hiding back there?” he asked, a teasing edge to his voice. His expression was one of playful suspicion, a knowing smile tugging at the corners of his lips, his arms crossing over his chest.

“Nothing,” you said quickly, but you took a step back as he advanced.

Lewis leaned in, the familiar scent of chocolate and peanut butter widening his smile. “Is that the last of the peanut butter bites?”

Before he could say another word, you quickly stepped forward, covering his mouth with your hand. “Shh!” you hissed, glancing over his shoulder at the kitchen as if expecting the kids to burst in at any moment.

Lewis chuckled, his laughter muffled against your hand. You guided him by the front of his shirt, pulling him inside the pantry as he reached back to shut the door behind him. The small space felt even smaller with the two of you squeezed inside.

You tried to maintain your composure, but with him this close you failed.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, you looked up at him. “Alright, fine,” you admitted, unable to keep up the pretense any longer. “I took the last of the peanut butter bites.”

Lewis’s eyes lit up with a mix of triumph and amusement. “So, you were hiding them?” he asked, his voice full of mock surprise. “I thought you made these for me.”

Your eyes rolled, yet you allowed him to take a bite out of the bar in your hand. “What if I want them for myself?”

Lewis paused, a mock-serious expression on his face. “Then you shouldn’t have made them so good.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, shaking your head as you watched him take a second bite. “Guess that’s on me, huh?”

“Yeah, means you gotta share.” Lewis leaned in, his smile widening as he kissed you softly.

You broke the remainder of the bar in half. You held out one piece to Lewis.

“You know,” he said with a chuckle, “I didn’t kiss you just to get that bar.”

You giggled, raising an eyebrow. “Really? I find that hard to believe.”

With a mischievous grin, Lewis leaned in closer, his nose brushing against yours as he placed a second, more lingering kiss on your lips. The sweet taste of peanut butter lingered between you. You could feel the warmth of his hand against the back of your neck.

As he pulled back slightly, his eyes locked onto yours with a playful glint. “Maybe that's all I'm after,” he mumbled, lips brushing against yours again.

Despite the warmth of your husband's lips against yours, you can't help but giggle. “Why are we hiding snacks in our own home?”

The sound of your laughter pulled a smile to your husband’s lips.

“Have you seen the way those kids look at me the second they realize I have food?” His brows raised, Lewis popped the last of his bar into his mouth. “They’ve got their mother’s eyes—big, innocent, and impossible to say no to.”

The two of you stayed there for a few more minutes, savoring a few moments of quiet. Eventually, the sound of muffled laughter pulled your gaze to your husband’s.

“Thanks for sharing,” he smiled softly, gently cupping your face, leaning in for a kiss.

You found yourself pressed against the pantry door, your breath catching as his lips moved against yours with a slow, deliberate intensity. His touch slipping beneath your pajama top.

When he finally pulled back, you were both slightly dazed, your heart racing in your chest. Lewis rested his forehead against yours, his voice a low murmur. “Whose idea was it to invite a bunch of kids to our house again?”

You giggled, remembering the enthusiasm in his voice when he suggested it. “Yours.”

He groaned, shaking his head as he kissed you again, a little less serious this time, more playful. “Remind me to never get any bright ideas.”

“Don’t let them stay up too late,” you warned with a smile. “Or you'll have to wait until tomorrow to get what you want.”

“They’re not the issue,” Lewis teased, his voice soft as his fingers traced your jawline. “Keeping you quiet is.”

You gently rolled your eyes at his teasing, but your heart fluttered as his gaze drifted back to your lips.

“Get rid of the evidence,” you whispered, your smile widening as you reached behind you to open the pantry door.

But before you step out, you stood on your toes and kissed him quickly, a soft, sweet peck that was over almost as soon as it began. Lewis watched you go with a lingering smile.

[sonicasura]

Skyscraper Softie

Kaiju No.8 but Kafka's kaiju form is huge and he has a lot more difficulty retaining his human visage. Yup you read that right. I'm screwing around with Kafka's kaiju half again although things might get a bit eldritch. Enjoy.

Let's first start with our himbo's kaiju descriptor. Instead of 6'4, No.8 is now an astounding 68 ft 11 inches tall paired alongside a body type similar to Monsterverse Godzilla. Big beefy that comes with a long thick tail since his kaiju form honestly feels off without it.

Yes Kafka did jump out of the window at the hospital when he began to transform. Reno watched him do it in sheer horror before witnessing the man rapidly shift into kaiju form under 40 seconds. You can say their attempt to avoid the Defense Force was even more awkward than in canon.

Luckily Kafka learned halfway through the trek that he could blend into the surroundings like a chameleon. He had to close his eyes and have Reno guide him though as this is a part of his body he couldn't camouflage. Another issue also cropped up that night than just yellow rivers on the streets. Kafka was hungry. (Yeah he eats the spider Yoju.)

Now Kafka has a lot more difficulty keeping the kaiju inside suppressed. At most, he can stay human for 4 hrs before he's forced to transform. The kaiju is 'just too big' in his words. He also runs the risk of transforming whenever unconscious.

Thus Kafka was forced to live in the wilderness than just give up his last chance at the Defense Force. He still works with the Monster Sweepers who play a much bigger role here than just emotional. Knowing Kafka's new appetite, they allow him to feed on the corpses.

The Sweepers also help him find a place in the mountains where he could live and sustain himself without causing others trouble. Although it wouldn't take long for the Defense Force to later find Kafka again. His massive size, difficulty to revert to human form, and people hiking where they shouldn't led to this.

Although the Defense Force don't kill him immediately. His strange behavior being the major reason why. Despite being a Kaiju, No.8 has only killed and eaten kaiju. Any humans that stumble upon him were either ignored, he tries to avoid or even more unusual benevolent.

This leads to a proposition about studying No.8. Should things go well and enough breakthroughs are provided, he would be captured. Whether it's for further study or attempts to turn No.8 into a guard dog is mixed.

Things only ramp up when their special interest reveals a new ability. He can create an avatar of sorts. A smaller clone body(canon form) that he could operate while his real one goes into autopilot. No.8 reverts to normal once the copy rejoins the original form or is destroyed.

An ability that slates him for capture by the Defense Force. Even moreso once he uses them for the Training Exam and First Mission incidents. Kafka will experiment with this power in hopes he could get more of his human life back.

You can say his new chance at the Defense Force isn't gonna be nice nor fun.

@renard-dartigue @popipopipopipopipo000 @discoknack @drmarune

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Victor Edwin Payne

Thomas King doesn’t know what he’s fucking dealing with. Thomas might have power and money, but he’s Capitol born and bred. He has power, alright, and he might have allied with the rebellion to take down the Games and the President’s Council, still ruling Panem in the President’s name, but he doesn’t know what it takes to be Edwin Payne. What it takes to get out of that Arena, breathing through blood and broken bones and guilt and crawling your way to your Victory. What it takes to be a child forced to kill other children, forced to make yourself into a monster, forced to be the only one to make it out. What it takes to be standing there in front of the hovercraft, bleeding, half-dead, knowing that you only survived because everyone else died.

Monty remembers Edwin’s Games. Remembers the way that he had mostly won using traps, able to keep far away, until the final day when he had been in a fight with Simon. Simon, the boy from One, had tried to sacrifice Edwin to the spider mutts, and by all means, Simon, who was bigger and better-trained and had been eating better for the three weeks they’d been in the Arena, should have won. Edwin Payne should have died that day and Monty should have died three years later.

But Edwin has always run faster than anyone would have predicted. He’s always been faster, endured longer, broken harder without falling than anyone ever gave him credit for.

Edwin is not just a pretty thing that ended up in Capitolite beds. He’s not just a quick tongue and a quicker mind. He is a survivor with a heart that beats louder and bigger than anyone else that Monty has ever met. He is bloodied and broken and brutal and beautiful because of all of that.

-aletterinthenameofsanity, there's nothing sweeter than my baby (so full of love I could barely eat)

But oh, my heart was flawed I knew my weakness So hold my hand Consign me not to darkness

So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down I'll never wear your broken crown I can take the road and I can fuck it all away But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate

-Mumford & Sons, Broken Crown

@deadboy-edwin @icecreambrownies @anonymousbooknerd-universe @ashildrs

@tragedy-machine @just-existing-as-you-do-blog @orpheusetude @mj-irvine-selby

@pappelsiin @itsbitmxdinhere @rexrevri @sweet-like-h0ney-lavender @saffirez

@the-ipre @sunnylemonss @days-light @agentearthling @helltechnicality

@tiredghostby @sethlost @catboy-cabin @secretlyafiveheadeddragon @vyther15

@anything-thats-rock-and-roll @queen-of-hobgobblers @every-moment-a-different-sound

@nix-nihili @holvivum

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

Had this idea for a Super Hero AU in a dystopian future. Based slightly in Hermitcraft. With some magic and fantasy elements.

A world that is set in a post apocalyptic time.

Watchers have pretty much desired the world’s ecosystem and atmosphere.

Humans died or became pets to them. Those that did escape made these advance dome cities in the sky, land, and underground.

Two people made and created the Mod Project.

Which took 13 humans and mixed their dna with that of various hostile mobs to create Super Soldiers to fight the watcher and protect their chosen city.

Of the 13 only 8 survived the process.

These soilders don’t need sleep. They feed on the blood usually of Watcher monsters they’ve slayed.

Because most people don’t travel outside their chosen city they don’t have much contact with each other.

Meaning each solider of the dorm city has various levels of what they consider to be ‘morally right’.

They can also eat normal food but not as much as a normal human.

Hybrids do exist in this. Often these were the first attempt of the Mod Project. They still need basic human functions. And have bred with humans to make natural born hybrids by this point.

The story follows HotGuy, the ‘hero’ and ‘protector’ of the Crystal Dome City. In the east. His code name is The Vex

As to why humans don’t leave the city. The oxygen levels around the dome are of 60%

The farther you get from the dome the less you have and the more monsters you encounter.

The Dead Zone to the far west has only 10% oxygen.

Supposedly a few miles from it is a dome city in the sky? Land? They aren’t sure. And is protected by their solider called The Dragon.

There is one under ground run by The Warden

Two in the sky to the far north called the Phantom and the one to the south called The Blaze.

And one to the east also near the coast line, roughly a few weeks from HG’s city. It’s under the protection of The Guardian.

It’s unsure why the ‘Dead Zone’ is so well dead. But some speculate that this is where the Watchers first started their assault of Planet Craft.

There are 8 creatures with their own city.

-

The Vex

The Guardian

The Warden

The Phantom

The Blaze

The Dragon

The Ender

The Spider

-

The failed ones were

The Wither

The Husk

The Skeleton

The Piglin

The Ravager

-

They failed mainly because during the process the human died before the full transformation could be realized.

The Vex, or Hotguy/Scar, is able to turn into a monster like vex. He’s taller than the usual vex, about 6 or 7 feet tall. Long claws, sharp teeth, perfect hearing and smell. But has low eye sight in daylight, mostly can only see when something moves. He also has an aversion to fire in this form as vexes are cold beings.

The story in my head is HG with his friend Mumbo are trying to get back in contact with the 8 cities the Hart Foundation is still in contact with. In order to try to come together to stop the Watchers once and for all.

Of the ones he’s met so far is The Warden (Cub), The Blaze (Tango), and The Guardian (Grian). (Yes we are going with Sea Grian for this.)

Each of these groups of ‘Heroes’ have different ideas of what they consider to be ‘good’. Mainly due to the fact society is very different for each of them.

The Warden’s city is in the east but is deep underground.

The Blaze’s is in the south and is a city far in the sky. The only reason HG got tos we is is because, after contact with the Guardian and Warden, the Blaze opened up his teleporters to meet with The Vex in person.

Despite being of the same project, they don’t know each other and have foggy memories of their time being tested on.

Feel free to write for this or draw if you guys want. I’m just coming up with ideas. I’ll write a oneshot later.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. :3

Btw the ‘oxygen levels’ is mostly the amount of ‘breathable air’ for them. It’s not the amount of pure oxygen, it’s just the percentage of air that is breathable.

[stinkysam]

Peter Parker - Did you know I love lizards ?

Warning : none

Genre : fluff

Synopsis : The reader has powers like the lizard because he took a more advance version of the serum that made the lizard what he was and now at will he can transform into his lizard state. So after the reader takes the serum he started to help around the city and Spiderman starts to investigate and finds out that this new hero is his boyfriend who was diagnosed with cancer and the reader had to take the serum or die

Reader : male (you/his)

A/N : part TWO

He came home earlier. Again.

It was weird.

This is not something that happens a lot and especially not multiple times in a row. At least not since he picked up the spider suit.

At first he was happy about it. Somehow New York city was being nice and had decided to give him some peace.

It allowed him to spend more time with you, his boyfriend.

He wouldn't have questioned it if his boyfriend hadn't been acting weird lately.

Despite your cancer, you never let it get the best of you, even during the hardest time. But this was something else.

You were hiding something, he could feel it. Sense it.

So he decided to follow you one day, to stalk you ; and you turned out to be pretty difficult to follow. Multiple times he lost you only to find you back later at a totally normal place. Nothing out of the ordinary except from these disappearances.

Which was weird as well because how could you escape him like that, so easily without even being aware you were being watched. Or so he thought.

Then, something caught his attention. Another "hero" appeared. It's what he heard in a conversation between two police officers. 

Hero or, as the police call it, "another criminal / madman / monster" wait what.

"Monster" ?

Peter wondered why they would call someone a monster, what did he do to be called such a thing ? Nothing, he found later at home. This "monster" did the same as him, handing criminals to the police. You were the one to tell him that.

Yet you couldn't explain the "monster" part. So later he browsed the internet only to find amateur videos about a lizard man. He thought they were fake at first. It wasn't the first time he saw those kinds of videos, but those relayed by the TV ? He had no choice but to believe it.

He wondered how such a thing could happen. Everyone who had been transformed into a lizard got turned back into humans thanks to the serum he launched right after. It couldn't have missed someone, right ? And be stuck as a lizard for years without making it known ? Weird. Was this "hero" really born that night ?

He had to find them to know and to help them fix it.

Peter thought that since they did the same thing as him, it would be easy to find them, where the crime is, there they are ! But each time they seemed to always be in the opposite place as him, always so far away as if they knew where he was and were avoiding him.

After a few days he remembered the sewers. He could catch them there, playing on their field.

And it didn't miss. After a few hours of waiting one of his webs moved.

Following its direction, another one vibrated, quickly he followed them and fast enough he found the lizard.

Quietly and slowly he hid, not wanting to be found just yet, waiting for a good and safe opportunity to show up.

But suddenly, they jump up the drain to leave the sewers and their shape changes, slimmer, smaller. And their face shows just for a second.

?!

They looked like you ?! Quickly, he followed you, them, ??? and found himself facing you as you were about to close the manhole. 

"[Name] ?"

"Pete- Spider-man ?"

"You're the lizard-man ?"

"No ?"

"...oh sorry for a moment I thought I saw the lizard turn literally into you. [Name]."

You sigh, helping him out the drain and explain yourself. For a moment he can't believe it's you and wonders if you don't have a clone or something like that. Then it made sense.

You had quitted your job, you had free time yet you were barely home. You didn't text him as much as before now, too busy to keep him company through text.

"So your cancer is, gone, gone ?"

"Yeah"

"How are you going to explain that to your friends ?"

"Well, my cancer is gone. I beat it. I won. I'm cancer free. Whatever cancer free person say."

For a moment he doesn't know what to say. Congrats ? You did the right thing ? It could've been dangerous you shouldn't have ? He's glad you're okay ?

So he says nothing, first taking in everything you told him and understanding how you felt and feel now. 

"Why didn't you tell me ?"

"I didn't know how to. I tried dropping hints but it was so lame I-"

"You said you loved lizards two weeks ago. I should've known."

"No."

[bigjuicymuscle]

Spider Hulk

Part 3

(Disclaimer: All images used are AI generated.)

A few months ago Peter Parker got bitten by a radioactive spider. As a result he transformed from a skinny nerd to a super jacked muscle monster. And monster in a litteral sense. Not only he gained super powers which made him fight the evil of New York City as Spider-Man. His transformation was complete when he turned to a Hulk.

And from then he got to fight criminals as the Spider Hulk who had all powers of Hulk and Spider-Man combined.

Peter felt amazing when he was the big green man nobody could stop. But unlucky for him the Hulk state never lasted for too long. Afterwards it was always like a cold turkey from that power. He always felt small and weak. Even tho he had a larger frame than any human being on earth.

He hated it so he made the desicion to do everything to always feel that strong and powerful. So he broke into the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Banner, the original Hulk. On a long night there he made it to collect venom from the radioactive spider that bit him and turned it into a serum that could probably help to fulfil his wish.

Peter injected himself the serum and immediately turned into his Hulk form.

Suddenly the green skin color started to disappear but Peter could feel that his strength stayed. Also he felt slightly... bigger.

Peter felt amazing! He also had the intense urge to work with his new muscles. So he ran into the next gym.

With his new size he barely was able to pass through the gym doors. He made his way through and packed all weights he could find onto the gym equipment.

But... There was no resistance at all. Even the heaviest barbell was as hard to lift as a feather.

Nonetheless his muscles grew like weed. Everyone else who was there to train was left mouth open as they watched Peter.

It was like a time lapse watching him getting bigger within minutes.

Peter took a look in the mirror and he started to like what he saw. But this still wasn't anywhere near of what he wanted. As a reflex he stared to lift the gym equipment itself with all the weights stacked on it. But this also wasn't heavier than a folding chair to him.

Within only half an hour he almost doubled his size. And he didn't want it to stop.

Only a few moments later he passed the point that he could use the doors to go out.

Peter was in trance. But it felt amazing! Apparently he made his way out of the gym. He might have ruined a wall or two. But he had to. His body needed space to grow.

At some point as walked through the city the growth stopped.

Peter was HUGE. He was about three times taller that an average human being. And I would need two people to barely hug his biceps. He would be unable to enter any building ever again. But this wouldn't matter anyway. Peter wasn't satisfied at all. He wanted to grow bigger. He wanted MORE!

[ghostlyglimmer]

The Phantom's Bane

Chapter 1-3

Summary:

Danny Fenton’s camping trip turns nightmarish when he interrupts a cult’s ritual and becomes host to a lupine specter. Awaking amidst carnage and transformed with new, terrifying abilities, Danny must hide his changes from family and friends while battling the monster within. TLDR: Danny Phantom Werewolf AU

Notes:

Please be gentle this is the first time writing fanfiction since 2011. So I am very, very, very rusty. I also have horrible brain with words and numbers, so if I skip some words or there's misspellings that's why. I promise I can spell and can write adequately ;A; Also no beta reader so whomp whomp I can't find any angsty werewolf Danny fics so I figured I'd make my own. I hope you all enjoy! I'll also be including art that I'm sketching of this story later on :D

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Danny couldn’t believe his parents let him borrow Jazz’s car for this short camping trip. Who was he kidding, yes he can. After his parents surprisingly got the Ghost Portal working, they would only leave the lab for food and or the occasional bathroom breaks. Asking them anything while in the middle of a task will usually result in mumbled yeses. You bet that Danny and Jazz take every advantage they can to use it. 

Danny definitely needed a break. Being out here in nature should help reset himself for the start of the new school year.

Gripping the straps of his hiking bag, he sets off on the hiking trail. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Finding himself noticing even the smallest of fauna and flora. He peers down to see ants that are scrambling on a log carrying a large spider that was curled into a death pose.

‘Ants are crazy.’ he thinks to himself. ‘Wild that they can carry that despite how small they are.’ He lets out a small small and continues on the route while pulling out his map. He gets his bearings and treks towards the end of the trail. He gazes across the lake as he finally heads down towards the end of the hike. Seeing the sunset going lower and lower into the lake he decides that this should be a great place to set his tent up for the night. With a few pinched fingers and some mild cursing, he stands back with his hands on his hips looking upon the finished tent. He grins to himself in achievement at finally getting the dumb thing to stay together. 

He then unfurls his sleeping bag and throws it onto the floor of the tent and gingerly steps inside and zips up the entrance. He snuggles into a cocoon and sighs contentedly. This was a really refreshing day trip. He needed this. Solitude, Nature, and a place where he can think in peace. He slowly drifts off into a deep slumber. 

Danny awakens to the feeling of urgency. Duty calls. He emerges from his sleeping bag and finds a nice secluded area to water the bushes. While emptying his tank he looks to his left to see a warm light of a campfire and a group of people talking. 

Danny zips up and heads towards the commotion. The closer he gets the more he has the sinking feeling he should be crouching and hiding behind a bush. He listens to his gut and does exactly that. Peering through the leaves Danny sees a scene that would belong in a campy horror movie. Six robed figures around a large circular rune that looks like it was made with red paint. The color in Danny’s face leaves when he sees in the middle of the circle a beheaded goat. Now he knows where the red paint came from. 

Soon the group starts chanting: 

Spirits of the wild, hear our plea,Grant us strength and unity.By the moon and ancient trees,Bestow upon us nature's keys.

Wolves of shadow, guide our path,Through the forest, let us pass.With this chant, our bond is sealed,Boon of the wild, be revealed.

Danny gasps as the rune on the ground lights up an ectoplasmic green and within the circle a lupine figure bounds up from the ground howling. Danny screams and jumps back at the sight. All of the cultists whip around at the scream to see Danny standing there behind the bushes. The wolf standing in the circle looks about the group sizing everyone up. The cultists move forward towards Danny so that the wolf does not choose him for the ritual. The lupine specter’s eyes narrow and meets Danny’s Gaze her eyes a bright glowing yellow. 

Danny can hear a deep feminine voice echo in his mind. No doubt the specter

From shadows deep, I now emerge,With my blessing, feel the surge.Strength and wisdom I bestow,Nature's secrets you will know.

Walk with courage, tread with care,My boon upon you, everywhere.The wilds will guide your way,With this blessing, night and day.

The wolf bares her teeth and snarls bounding forward and entering Danny with a airborne jump. Danny falls to his knees, the wind knocked out of his chest. Danny feels so cold and starts to shake violently. The cultists stand around him eyes wide at what just happened. The she wolf was supposed to gift them the boon. Not this stupid teenager? They come closer to Danny yelling at him and surrounding him. Danny’s eyes open, startling the cultists. His eyes glowing a bright bestial yellow. Danny clutches his chest and screams in agonizing pain and before he knew it he blacked out. Listening to the cultist’s blood curdling screams in the background.

Danny gasped awake, blinking his eyes hazily. He groans as a massive migraine hits him like a truck. He sits up and rubs his face and takes a deep breath. He smells copper. Blood.

Danny opens his eyes to see the most gruesome scene he’d ever seen in his lifetime. The six cultists were torn to literal shred. Body parts strewn about, one guy lost his head. Literally. Danny starts to hyperventilate staring into one of the cultist's milky eyes. 

Danny looks down to see his hands. They were caked with blood and dirt. And he looks down further to see that he was not wearing any clothes. Danny blinked in confusion and horror. Wondering what the hell happened last night? He remembers going to pee and then he walked into a ritua-

“Oh my fucking god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh fuck.” Danny repeated over and over like a mantra. His stomach rising to his throat, nausea taking over. He wretched and wretched until it was just dry heaves. Wiping his eyes with his bloodied hands he looks down to the pile of his vomit and sees something. A pinky finger with a golden ring. 

Danny stares at it for a good 2 minutes and then he just starts laughing “Ha, ha ha hahahahahaha aaaaaaaaaah ahhahahh” Then his laughter turns into a raw sob. He can’t understand what is happening? Why did this happen? Why him? He just wanted to take a nice little day trip before school started again. Why? He tugs at his raven hair pulling it in force to see if the pain will wake him up from this nightmare. It did not work. 

Chapter 2

Summary:

After a breakdown, Danny Fenton cleans himself up and packs up camp. He heads home, avoiding his sister Jazz’s questions with a quick lie. Alone, he discovers unsettling changes: beastly yellow eyes and sharper canines. Despite Jazz's concern, Danny tries to maintain normalcy while grappling with his new reality.

Notes:

Once again I'm still new at this and have bad writing brain where my brain will skip words and spell things wrong even though I know how to spell them so be kind ;0; Phew, thank you for clicking! No beta reader so you get what you get~

Chapter Text

After Danny’s tear reservoir dries out. He sniffles and pulls himself up to his feet, stumbling like a newborn fawn. He looks over all of the corpses, taking in their faces and the carnage they faced. Danny searched through the cultists trying to find a robe that wasn't shredded into oblivion. He found one that wasn’t too bloodstained and then he gingerly removed it trying not to leave more fingerprints than he already had. He realized he doesn’t have shoes, and has no clue where they went so he checked each cultist’s foot to find a size that was somewhat similar to Danny’s.

With clothing successfully applied he ambles to the lakeside. Kneeling down towards the water's surface. He shoves his hands into the crystal clear lake cupping the frozen liquid to his face and scrubs until his face and hands burn. Once Danny got as much of the blood off as he could with the tools at his disposal, he took a deep sigh.

“Fuck, I have to go back to camp.” He mutters to himself. He gets up from the lake and ambles towards his homebase. He does not have the energy to take down the tent in slightest, but he doesn’t want to take any chances of anything being tied to him. So Danny slowly takes the tent down and packs it away. His head throbbing in his ears. He felt like utter shit. Finally he hefts the backpack on and trudges towards Jazz’s car.

 The trek was 20x harder this time around. Drunkenly trying to wade through the hiking trail. Thankfully at this time of the hour it was pretty slow in foot traffic so he managed to make it back without being seen. 

Logical Danny knows he should stay at the scene and wait for the police to come, but Emotional Danny’s brain shut off. The only thing in his head is just ‘Go home, go home, take a shower, sleep and wake up like this never happened.’

This is just a nightmare, it isn’t real, so what if he just went home?

Danny comes up to Jazz’s 2002 Toyota Camry and unlocks the door. He flops into the driver's seat looking up at the rearview mirror. He gasps seeing his eyes, a beastial glowing yellow instead of his normal icy blue. Danny blinks trying to will the eyes away. Praying that he just ate the wrong type of mushroom while practicing his foraging skills. He looked back and his eyes were normal again. He shakes his head and mumbles “What the fuck is going on.” He starts the car up and speeds home.

Danny surprisingly made it home without a speeding ticket. He parked the car and dashed up to the house bounding up the stairs. Jazz was in the dining room enjoying a grilled cheese. Before taking a bite she  glances Danny up and down with a furrowed brow opening her mouth to say something before he blurts out 

“Tucker wanted to do some LARPing, OK bye.” He then shoots upstairs with a slam of his bedroom door.

Jazz sat there shaking her head while taking another bite of the goopy sandwich. “Little Brothers�� She mumbles rolling her eyes. 

Danny rips off the robe and throws it into his trash bin and quickly picks out some clean clothes and rushes into the bathroom, turns the water to the lowest temperature it can offer and sat on the floor of the shower staring at his hands while the chilled water caressed his new base line temperature of 101. Before he knows it he sobs. Clapping his hands to mouth to make sure Jazz couldn’t hear from downstairs. He sits there for what feels like eternity until a knock jolts him out of his dissociative stupor. 

“Danny? Are you good?” Jazz calls out behind the door.

“Ye-” His voice cracked. “Yes, sorry I’m almost done, give me a second.” Danny replies as he shut the water off. 

Jazz sighs and heads off towards her room to start gathering her supplies for her summer school tutoring session. She was always the brains of the family and Danny would be lying if he wasn’t jealous of the fact.

Danny pulls on some grey sweats and a comfy Doomed shirt that Tucker got him for his birthday 3 years ago. Next he grabs his toothbrush and squirts a small dollop of toothpaste. The taste of copper and bile still hung on his breath and he quickly shoved the toothbrush to his teeth. While doing so he lets out a yelp of surprise. Opening his mouth wide, he saw his bottom and top canines were sharper, more defined. He was in complete disbelief seeing what he was looking at. He pulled at his mouth to get a better angle of it. Jazz knocks once more asking

“Hey, are you almost done in there? I need to get ready for my tutoring session with Dash.”  

Danny spits out the toothpaste looking at all the blood that came out of his mouth. He grimaces and turns the water on watching the blood circling down. He grabs his deodorant and does a quick swipe and then pulls his shirt on and his pants and then opens the door. 

Jazz is standing there waiting. She looked at him and furrowed her brow.

“You look rough, are you feeling okay? Do you need some tums or an ibuprofen?” she asked quizzically 

Danny walks past her towards her rooms replying

 “No, thank you though. Good luck with Dash” And he makes a fake gagging noise after it.

Jazz chuckles at his quip and counters. “Okay, but if you do I’ll leave some on the counter in the bathroom for you.”

Danny yells thank you from the confines of his room.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Summary:

Danny retreats to his room, trying to sleep off his traumatic experience. He wakes from a nightmare of transforming painfully and notices enhanced senses, sharp canines, and intense meat cravings. The next morning, he wakes with claws, escalating his fear and confusion about his transformation.

Notes:

Thank you for getting this far ;w;

Chapter Text

He locked the door as soon as he entered and flopped onto the bed. Staring up at the glow in the dark stars that make out the shape of Orion's belt, the big and little dipper and ursa major and minor and more.

He charted them out and with the help of his dad they had made a beautiful map of the constellations. 

Sighing Danny covers his eyes with his arm squeezing his eyes trying to fight the horrible ringing headache. He feels like he got hit by a semi, then a train, and then another semi. He lays there letting the darkness of sleep wash over him. 

Danny wakes to a terror filled scream, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He bolts upright to a stand. Wearily he rubs his sleepy eyes to try to jumpstart them into functioning. He looks around himself, trying to gather his bearings. Finally it registers that he’s in the middle of a wheat field. All he can see is just rolling hills of the grainy produce. He gazes upwards to see a blanket of stars litter the night sky. Charting the stars out in his head. He then careens to his right to see a  giant full moon beaming down on him. 

He shudders, feeling a jolt of electricity course through his entire body. He screams out in pain clutching his chest trying to catch his breath. He looks down to his hands to his nails bulging upward. Watching in horror, he watches his nail bed snap, claws erupting from them with oozing blood to follow. He starts to hyperventilate. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real.” He chanted trying to gaslight himself into a state of denial. He hears a growl behind him and he whips around to see a large lupine specter staring at him within the fronds of billowing wheat. With that the entire scene cuts and he jolts up in bed panting in a sweat.

Danny looks down to his hands to find nothing out of the ordinary. He lets out a sigh of relief and looks over to his rocket ship alarm clock to see that his alarm was about to go off. He reaches to turn it when suddenly the alarm goes off.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

He screams in surprise and covers his ears in pain. The alarm thundering against his ear drums. Jazz attempts to open the door, but Danny forgot that he locked it. He grits his teeth and removes one of his hands from his ear grimacing in pain. He quickly hits the off button and sighs with relief. 

“Danny? Are you okay? I heard you scream, can you please open the door or just let me know you’re okay?” Jazz asks behind the locked door. Danny stumbles out of bed and opens the door, a sliver, peeking his head out.

 “I’m good. The alarm scared me.” he said quicker than he intended it too. Jazz raises her eyebrow looking at him. 

“The alarm you’ve had since you were 5 startled you?” Danny rolls his eyes and then shuts the door. He sighs and gets started on getting his school stuff together for the start of the new school year. It starts tomorrow. He always dreads going back to school. The A-Listers fucking with him every chance they get, being the lowest of the popularity pole. At least he had Sam and Tucker. 

Oh god. Sam and Tucker. He sweats at the prospect of telling them what happened to him. Should he? No… They could get in real legal trouble if he roped them in on it. Harboring a fugitive, Wait, would he even be considered one? He didn’t kill them. He knows he didn’t, he couldn’t, wouldn’t! 

Danny shakes his head trying to shuffle the thoughts out of his brain. He signs and concentrates on getting his new year binders in order for each subject. Science is green, math is red, history is yellow, and English is blue. That’s the colors he always picked, every year. The rest of Danny’s day consisted of preparing for school, picking out his outfit for the new school year, and helping Jazz tidy up the house, and prepping dinner. His parents probably never noticed he actually went out on that hike. It’s always been like that. He resents ghosts so much. They took his parents from him. 

Danny’s eyes start watering while cutting up an onion. Jazz put him to work for dinner. They were doing baked steak. He was in charge of veggie prep and helping with the seasoning of the meat. While Jazz was working on the Gravy over the stove, trying to get it to start browning. Danny starts seasoning the beef flank. He never noticed how… delicious it smells. How much his mouth started to drool. He licked his lips and winced, he poked his tongue on his hand to see blood, he then gingerly moved his tongue on his canines and they were absolutely massive. They protruded farther than they ever have, and with a razer sharp tip to boot. He gasped stepping back and knocking into Jazz. Jazz yelped and was able to stop herself from falling face first into the boiling gravy. Jazz whips around and spats “What the hell Danny? Watch where you’re going! You almost gave me a gravy face mask!” Danny snickers at that comment and Jazz’s face flushes red. DANNY YOU’RE DISGUSTING GET OUT YOU’RE FIRED!” She yelled. Danny puts his hands up and chuckles while he bounds up the stairs towards his room. He stopped by the bathroom and decided to step in and check. He opened his mouth and gasped when he saw his teeth jutting out. The first thought that came to his head when he looked into the mirror

M O N S T E R

Danny covers his mouth and runs to his room. “It has to be temporary. This is NOT happening. Especially before the first day of school. Fuuuuck” He exclaims sliding down his bedroom door with a thump. Danny grabs his old diary he has had in middle school. He always hates pulling it out, the stuff he wrote in the past was so cringe. If his friends ever got their hands on it he’d never hear the end of it. 

Danny opens the journal to the first empty page. He jots down everything that has happened and a list of what has been happening to him and symptoms

-Teeth

-Craving Meat

-Night Terrors

-Smell & Hearing is enhanced?

He shuts the book and stretches. He looks at the clock to see 9:43 PM. He usually stays up a bit later than that but decided it might be a good idea to get a head start on a better sleeping schedule. Danny falls back onto his bed tracing out the glowing stars on his ceiling, his version of counting sheep. He slowly lulled into the darkness of sleep.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Danny jolted out of bed and smashed the alarm clock. His eyes wide as he watched the rocket crumple under his fist. He pulled back his fist as quick as he had smashed it and stared at it. He saw his nails were…. Claws. CLAWS? 

“Nononoonnonononnononoon.” He echoed over and over. Jazz knocks on the outside of his door 

“Hey Danny! Do you want a ride to school?”

 “No thanks Jazz, I’m going to walk today.” he replies hastily.

 “Okay! Be safe little brother, love you!” She finally walks away heading to the garage. Danny looked back down to his fist and noticed that the claws are still there…. Fuck. Teeth and now claws? Can this get any worse?

[allol12]

Arcane Characters + Universal Studios Headcanons

Hi!! I wanna be more active on here and since I've hit a bit of an artblock I've decided I'll do my second favorite thing which is headcanons!

As a Floridian, I decided to start with a topic I am quite familiar with which is of course, Universal Studios. In this imaginary situation they have the 2 parks 1 day ticket bc that's the one I usually use.

Also this would be a modern setting for obvious reasons.

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Jinx would 100% ride as many rollercoasters as she can. She rarely gets motion sickness.

If the lines weren't too long she would ride them multiple times all day long.

If they were, Cait and Vi would get sick of seeing her suffer through the long ass lines so they would just buy her an express ticket.

Ekko usually rides with her but he can only take so much.

When she was a little older, (still Powder by this point), Mylo tricked her into riding Jurassic Park (85 ft drop). He thought it'd just be a mean prank, little did he know he created a tiny adrenaline-seeking monster.

She would also violently compete against Caitlyn in Men in Black.

Favorite Universal Rides : Rip Ride Rocket, VelociCoaster, The Hulk, and Men in Black

Favorite Park: Islands of Adventure

I get the feeling Vi would be a foodie. And I can't blame her, theme park food is a lot of fun to explore. (I spent a good chunk of 2018 binge-watching DFBguide)

She would always try to go to a new restaurant every trip, and you will most likely find her chomping on a turkey leg.

When it comes to rides though, she also likes her fair share of rollercoasters. Though, she tries to ride them in the morning off the bat so she could eat in peace without feeling sick later.

I do think she'd like the 3D rides a lot too! I can definitely see her liking Transformers and Spider-Man.

Favorite Universal Rides : Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Rip Ride Rocket, Revenge of the Mummy

Favorite Park: Universal Studios

Caitlyn likes the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I know this is a bit on the nose because her VA was literally in Harry Potter, but it's a good combo between atmosphere, thrill, shopping, and treats.

I don't think Caitlyn is too into rollercoasters. I think she'd be more into rides with movement and a few drops rather than full on coasters.

The HP rides are mostly pretty tame in comparison to the rest of the coasters in the parks, so I can see her liking those the most. Gringotts and Forbidden Journey in particular.

I think she'd definitely be the most into shopping, her favorite park would probably be Studios due to this.

She likes going to Honeydukes with Vi, they like trying all the different sweets and treats together.

Lets Jinx win in Men in Black because she knows if she beats her Jinx will be annoyed at her for the rest of the day. If she's not going against Jinx though, she would absolutely annihilate you.

Favorite Universal Rides : Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Men in Black

Favorite Park: Universal Studios

This poor man has a horribly weak stomach.

Jayce is NOT a rollercoaster fan. He is strictly 3D and dark rides only, with very few exceptions.

Hell I think the Gringotts drop might be too much for him. Not the first cart, but the second cart for sure makes him feel uneasy. (I am projecting, sitting in the second cart was not fun for me LMAO)

I think he and Viktor would have a blast looking into the behind the scenes part of theme parks, especially the engineering element.

If they're in Universal Studios Hollywood they would absolutely do the Studio Tour.

With the level of charisma he has, I can see him LOVING meet and greets. He really loves playing along with the characters. By the end of the day he'll have his little autograph notebook full of characters.

Favorite Universal Rides : The Simpsons Ride, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Transformers

Favorite Park: Universal Studios

Viktor doesn't really mind rollercoasters. He wouldn't die on them like Jayce, but he doesn't actively seek to ride them. Maybe if the line was short and the group wanted to ride it, sure.

Actually speaking of lines, he would get an accessibility pass so he wouldn't have to stand for extended periods of time. He would also make sure to sit down and take breaks as to not strain his leg too much.

Breaks could also mean going to watch the many shows Universal provides, like the Horror Makeup Show or The Bourne Stuntacular.

Back to rides though, he likes, no, LOVES Transformers. It's fast, the queue is very scientific-esc, and honestly.. transformers just give me machine herald vibes.

He is very awkward when it comes to meet and greets, so he's usually just taking the picture for Jayce. However, the only meet and greet he really truly looks forward to is the Transformers. He is extremely fascinated with the way Universal was able to create such an immersive and realistic looking replica of them.

I think him and Jayce would be intrigued by the interactive wands in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They think it's fun that they found a way to create the illusion of magic by using sensors in the wands.

I think he'd like Forbidden Journey bc the ride makes you feel like you're flying, and he seemed to be having a blast in Ep 3 haha

Favorite Universal Rides : Transformers, Forbidden Journey, Skull Island: Reign of Kong (literally only to see that insanely realistic looking animatronic)

Favorite Park: Universal Studios

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My god that took longer than I thought it would. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I adore theme parks so this was a lot of fun to do.

Also as a bonus, I have a little paper Viktor cut out that I take basically everywhere, including Universal! Here's him in front of the Universal ball haha

[that-ari-blogger]

Medusa, A Myth Set In Stone?

CW: Mention of sexual assault.

Medusa is possibly the single most iconic monster from Ancient Greek Mythology. To the point where if you are writing a story drawing from that history, you need to namedrop her at least once. Stray Gods: The Role Playing Musical includes her as a character, although that's actually a confusing addition.

Stray Gods is about family, and trauma, and choice, and Medusa doesn't have a direct link to that. Does she? We'll get back to this.

Medusa's mythology is varied, and adaptations pick and choose elements to include. So, this post will take a look at how Stray Gods goes about adapting her to fit its themes and narrative. But I'd like to examine the musical in comparison to another take on the character that I found fascinating. One Piece, and Boa Hancock.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The first thing to point out about Medusa is that she's not a historical figure, she's a mythological one. So there is no exact character to draw on. Also, because Ancient Greece was such a diverse place, the myth has also diversified.

So, lets start with what we know. Medusa has snakes for hair. Well... no. In his Theogony, Hesiod described her and her sisters as women with snakes hanging from their belts.

She had sisters? Yes. Two of them. They were all the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, both primordial sea deities.

I've found references to older stories in which she couldn't petrify people, only kill them. But these references are dubious and do not cite their sources. Which is frustrating.

This all leads to Ovid, who wrote Metamorphoses. And before I explain his take on this, I need to point out his biases. Ovid was a Roman poet who lived until the 1st century AD (notably seven centuries after Medusa's first reference), and he was exiled from Rome during the writing of his most famous work, according to Britanica.

As such, Metamorphoses has a tendency to either embellish or completely make up features of stories, as well as being noticeably anti-authoritarian and anti-deity. The gods in Metamorphosis are more callous than usual. For example, this is the book in which the usually level-headed Athena turns a lady into a spider, simply for addressing Zeus' infidelity.

The point is: In my opinion, Ovid seems to have gone out of his way to make the gods and goddesses of ancient Greek mythology seem as cruel and impersonal as possible.

Which finally leads us to Medusa. In Ovid's tale, Medusa is a beautiful woman who earns the attention of Poseidon who sexually assaults her in Athena's temple. Athena then decides to punish Medusa for this and transforms her into the snake haired monster that the modern world recognises.

Later interpretations have pretty much used this story, but with one majour adjustment brought on by poet Percy Shelley's On The Medusa Of Leonardo DaVinci in the Florentine Gallery. The transformation by Athena becomes a blessing, not a curse. Athena bestowed upon Medusa a way of protecting herself. As Dr Emily Zarka put it in the youtube video, Medusa, Victim Or Villain?:

"A creature that could literally turn the leering male gaze back on itself."

Boa Hancock is one of the most interesting characters in One Piece who isn't a Strawhat. There is so much going on with her character that I can't mention here because this is meant to be a post about Stray Gods. If you want a full breakdown of the character, @melonteee has a fantastic video on the subject, that I would highly recommend.

In essence, Boa is a victim. She was forced to eat the devil fruit for the entertainment of the world government, so now she has a distrust of men and an ability to turn people to stone. The medusa references in her story are not subtle, and the allegory inherent in being forced to eat the fruit is rather blatant.

The interesting thing about Boa is how she is introduced. Boa is initially shown as a terrible human being. She kicks a small animal for the fun of it, because she is evil, and because she can get away with it. People look at her and just see her beauty, and they expect things of her. They don't care to look at the story or the character or the trauma, it's just the beauty. People within One Piece do this, and an uncomfortable amount of people who read or watch it have the same view of her.

Boa is a protector, Amazon Lilly is her home, and she protects it from shame, and from trauma. She protects her people from having to bear the same scars as her, physically and psychologically.

That's why she acts the way she does and dresses the way she does, its a mask to draw attention, to scare people away. Like Medusa, she weaponises the idolisation of beauty in order to protect.

Contrast this with Stray Gods, and the Medusa portrayed by Anjali Bhimani. And we see a remarkably similar take on the character.

This is a character with a level of self-loathing that render the entirety of the rest of the cast egomaniacal, but that is almost hidden by a veneer of confidence.

Medusa slithers as she walks. She gets close to Grace and in her face, she's revelling in her power. But the second Grace pushes the right buttons, that entire demeanour changes. Those buttons being two words: Monster and Athena.

This is why Medusa is in the story. Because the relationship between her and Athena is, at least in my reading, analogous to an abusive parent and child dynamic. Athena professes to protect Medusa, but she is the reason Medusa is the way she is, she controls Medusa's every move, and Medusa fears what might happen if Athena would find out about her actions.

I said Medusa and Boa are similar, and I meant it. Both put up a facade of confidence as a means of defence. And when that facade cracks, then we see what that character truly is.

"Don't look at me"

Medusa couldn't be further from her facade. That's what this line signifies, the transition from "look into me" to "don't look at me" shows in no uncertain terms the breaking away of that mask. Although it does come back for a brief moment, in a fascinating way.

"You're lost little girl, no more Hail Mary's"

This is a repeated line in the musical, the idea of being directionless. We keep hearing it, in variations of the same tune. And now we hear Medusa say it. But there's two things going on here.

First up, this is projecting, Medusa is lost, and she is shifting the blame for that onto Grace.

Second, this is just what others have said. Medusa is simply repeating what she has heard and has no defence of her own.

"The "not unhot" girl is you, the monster is me"

Medusa is clutching onto her idea of self, she has to be the monster, because otherwise everything Athena did to her was unwarranted. She has to have deserved it, right? She's rationalising, and projecting, and avoiding.

I've seen people do this in real life.

The mirror is a fascinating little detail here. The visual focus of a large portion of this song is the flipping between who is in the mirror and who is on the outside. Because the two characters are trying to connect, and they are mirrors of each other as victims of Athena's meddling.

The wording of Grace's offer here is interesting.

"Appollo could get you free"

Not cure or fix, but free. That's what Medusa needs, freedom.

In conclusion, Medusa is a monster and Medusa is also a woman and a victim and many other things. Those who say a story must abide by the canon of mythology don't understand mythology at all. There is no canon. Sure, stick to the spirit of the myth, don't make the minotaur into a bird, but a character like Medusa can be anything, and adapting the myth isn't remotely a new thing. Ovid did it, One Piece did it, and Stray Gods has done it. All of them taking a different part of the myth and creating a story out of it for their own purposes.

I am excited to see who tries their hand at it next.

Previous - Next

[sneezyonmain]

OC Post- Araneus Cinderfang

vbrit part two: emo twink edition DISCLAIMER: All of my OCs are actually my friend's and I's DnD characters, used with permission. Some details may be a little confusing as I've taken their standard backstories and modified them to fit a modern fantasy setting. I'll list the class for anyone curious, but it won't come into much use unless they're a spellcaster. CW: Mention(s) of parental abuse, PTSD, anxiety, forced mutation/experimentation, homelessness, nsft themes

(Picrew credit to Brightgoat's Bright's Picrew Hell and Baydews' [BAYDEWS' avatar maker!!] V2)

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Name: Araneus CInderfang

Race: Half-elf (Shifter)

Age: 22

Sex: Male

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Sexuality: Bisexual (In denial) (this is a common theme with vbrit OCs, I think he's protecting tbh)

Class: Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter

Height: 6'0

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Red

Basic Description: Araneus is built like a string bean, standing at a decent height while also being relatively underweight. He has perpetual bags under his eyes that he cannot seem to rid himself of, and dark hair that stays messy regardless of how much he tries to tidy it. He stands with a slouch, and keeps his head down. He's got scars and spots on his pale skin, and unnaturally red eyes. He has pointed ears, and spider-like fangs that are only visible when he lifts his lip to reveal them. He looks far more arachnid-like when transformed, which he doesn't do unless necessary and frankly I don't feel like describing it.

Background: Araneus grew up primarily with his father, who was a prominent professor at a university. Through a series of gruesome experiments throughout the course of his childhood, (which I will not elaborate on due to their upsetting nature), Araneus developed a form of lycanthropy. Specifically, his body mutated to include many spider-like qualities, including fangs and extra insectoid limbs that emerge from his body when transformed. He eventually escaped that situation, and spent a long time homeless and in shelters before moving in with a woman named Aria, who later became his girlfriend. He has severe PTSD and anxiety from the event, and since he was already relatively introverted before he became a "monster", he now rarely ever leaves the house.

Personality: He is very introverted, and much prefers to stay inside all day than to talk to people. He is slow to trust people due to his past, but when he does, he is loyal to a fault. Aside from various comics and watching anime, he loves literature, but doesn't have too many hobbies as he either couldn't do them or didn't have the funds until very recently. He's anxious and closed off but longs for friends and companionship. He doesn't think much about romance, since he has other things to worry about, (that is, before he met his girlfriend). When he does attempt social interaction, he has a very dry sense of humor he uses to compensate for how nervous he is.

Snz Info: He hardly ever gets sick, which is one of the few benefits of his lycanthropy. When he does get sick, however, it hits him like a truck, since the virus has to be quite strong in order to impact him at all. He tries very hard to be self-sufficient when it happens, since he's not used to being able to rely on people, but he really just wants comfort and soup. His heightened sense of smell means his nose is very sensitive to perfume and physical touch. He has a lot of rapid-fire, stifled fits that he can't hold back, but they're breathy and quiet.

Fun Facts:

He loves dogs a whole lot

He's Australian

Would call a woman "Mommy" probably

Has a blood kink

Will gladly explain every sex joke in Hamlet to you

Used to have asthma before he was mutated

Has ear piercings

Dresses emo simply because they were the first clothes he saw at the thrift store once he got out of his bad situation

Has a nipple piercing that he got for his girlfriend, Aria

Ironically, he is severely arachnophobic due to trauma.

Still owns a stuffed spider to help him cope

Needs like four weighted blankets to sleep

[iobartach]

okay but since this is hogging my brainrot all week, here's a taste of what acolyte!miguel is like, a.k.a mig in my gach dual síoda / each strand of silk verse 👀

Miguel is from piltover, so he was a scholar, with a bright and intelligent mind as ever. more specifically, i'm gonna draw this from the arcane version of piltover, where most folk there are adverse to magic, including the council. basically; heimerdinger was right

so hey, guess what, he is also a bit of a magic sceptic, probably more than in any verse i've previously established for him

another point to note for piltover!mig, during his studies, he potentially went on field trips around and near piltover? especially since the place is pretty much a nexus for merchant trade anyway, and heard more than a few stories from visiting adventurers that got him curious enough to explore other shores and lands.

one of the places he visited was most definitely bilgewater, since this'll be important later ~

bilgewater being, ofc, a completely different beast, even compared to what zaun might throw out. it'll be where miguel likely realises that his shiny lil' piltover degree aint gonna matter squatttt in such a lawless place lmao.

idk who'd be ruling bilgewater at the time -- i don't know enough about either miss fortune or gankplank to officially decide tgyhuj. but basically; mig is toast if he crosses the wrong person whilst visiting there

but well. maybe he went to bilgewater every so often, eventually getting in touch with some pilgrims and cultists, that make mention to him stories concerning the shadow isles, and the dark magic that has long come to infect such an accursed place.

mig, being the magic sceptic that he is, is all, 'bet', and doesn't buy such tall tales for a second bc an island? home to the living dead and ghosts? you've got to be kidding--

but no, actually, it might have some merit after all, as he'll eventually recall his studies back in piltover, where he had spent more than a few hours pouring over various scrolls and tomes that he had collected on his adventures, that spoke of.... the blessed isles.

which, ofc, the shadow isles later became, after viego's desperate attempt to revive his dead wife using the waters of life, that only happened to backfire spectacularly 💀

....but miguel's interest is piqued, now, and he seeks a way to pay such a ruinous place a visit. but there's a slight problem; no sailor nor pirate with any sense of self preservation left will be caught DEAD ferrying any smuck to such a place!!! helll nawh!!!!!! and these are the same folks that go hunting the eldritch-looking sea monsters for a living! so you know this is serious!

fortunately (or not 💀) for miguel, this is the point where he officially comes in contact with a cult, that happened to worship a particular spider god ( i can't remember if they have a name or not 🥹), which happily obliges, since you know.... more blood for the blood god hfghgfh

AHEM, so then!!! Mig and his party, head off to the shadow isles, and probably come across elise, who in turn takes mig & co to meet their god, that all pilgrims who visit the shadow isles are said to worship

and mig, sceptic that he is, falls for elise's alluring and -- deliberately -- seductive charms, happy to make false promises that all will be revealed to him, if he just follows her

so ofc he does, except that's a TERRIBLE MISTAKE, that earns him a venomous bite from the spider god himself, vilemaw 💀

who maybe, maybe, wanted to make an example of this nonbeliever. and transform him, by injecting him with a venom that runs through his veins and changes him forever

which also is significant when you consider; vilemaw tends to just straight up d e v o u r anyone that elise happens to bring before him. yes, even putrid arachnid horrors need to eat.... and, uh, dance, apparently

but, yeah, BAMMM, ACOLTYE MIGUEL IS BORN

a spooky creecher who has WEBS THAT STEAL YOUR SOULS

AND POTENTIAL SHADOW POWERS

And dont get me started on his bite 😤

but well, details details, tl;dr he'll become something similar to elise????

and as for what happens next, welp...... no more piltover for him. 🥹 if he's lucky, he might be able to lurk in the deepest caverns of zaun, but more than likely wouldn't really belong there??? or feel welcome? i'm debating --

but heyyyy, y'knw where he could go instead??? 👀

the black rose 😈

potentially through elise's connection with house kythera, back in good ol' noxus 👀 and through her, leblanc

bc yes, everything always fucking comes back to leblanc 🥹

and hey, guess what miggy? if he tries to decline, wanting to have no part of this (considering he is vilemaw's acolyte now, fun-funnn) , well guess what? leblanc is still gonna do her thing, and puppeteer him around. if need be.

but alsooo alsoooo, i need to point out; maybe sometimes mig does vilemaw's bidding? and mayyyybe sometimes he doesn't????

maybeeee sometimes he'll lead strayed souls back to the spider god....

or mayyybeee he might devour a few himself....

all whilst still being that saaaame damn sceptic at heart 🥹

who now seeks freedom, the chance to get away...

...but in true miguel fashion, it never works 😔

vilemaw's dark corruption is in him. as is the power of the shadow isles itself.

there's no 'quitting' from him, not even dying will grant him release.

but he still struggles, anyway. because that's how he always rolls.

🥹🥹🥹🥹

[gemwing1988]

Rugrats: Curse of the Werewuff Review 🎃

Hey, it’s time again and Halloween is just around the corner. To celebrate the spooky, month, I’ll be doing a review of one of my favourite Halloween episodes from one of my favourite childhood franchises; Rugrats, Season 8 Halloween special, “The Curse of the Werewuff”.

Despite Tommy, Chuckie and the twins had been introduced to Halloween way back in Season 1 concerning the adults building a little haunted house for the trick-or-treaters and where the babies accidentally scared Angelica and even Grandpa Lou when trying to try some Reptar bars, Season 8 retcons this special to be their first Halloween alongside Kimi and Baby Dil. As confusing as it is, I didn’t mind it at all. I’m not too fussy as long as it gives us a good storyline.

Anyway, the episode begins with the grown-ups preparing for Halloween and once again, Chuckie is scared by the concept and things go from bad to worst when Angelica decided to scare him for her own amusement (as usual) told him and the rest of the babies a little fib about what happens when they dress up for Halloween.

“According” to Angelica, once you dress up in the Halloween costume, you turn into a monster and become one for forever. Typically due to their very young age, the babies believed her and Chuckie takes it really badly as he’s horrified he’ll permanently turn into a werewolf, or in baby talk, “werewuff”.

The following night before Halloween, Chuckie has a nightmare of transforming into a cute little werewolf pup where everything is black and white just like in of those old timey and mildly cheesy horror movies. After a failed attempt of stealing babies just like what Angelica claimed in her lie, Chuckie the Werewuff gets chased out of the village by an angry mob consisting of all of his friends and loved ones. After the mob cornered Chuckie in the woods, an apologetic Chas advanced on his own son, intending to trap him inside a Jack’s lantern to prevent him from potentially hurting anyone.

Thankfully, the nightmare ends before that could happen and Chuckie was relieved when he woke up that he was normal. Unfortunately, it was short-lived when Kimi happily enters the room, donning her witch costume, wishing her brother a happy Halloween and Chas enters with the werewolf costume in hand.

I really love the choices of costumes for the babies. Kira certainly made a good choice top for Kimi since she makes such a cute witch. There’s something especially wholesome where Tommy is dressed up like a vampire like his dad so they could match. They even got Dil dressed up as a spider.

For Phil and Lil, they’re most especially delighted with being dressed up as bats when Chuckie bluntly informed them that bats eat bugs, which would make no difference since they tend to such that even when not in costume. At least Lil used to until she decided to swear off her bug eating habits after being traumatised seeing a dragonfly getting devoured by a flytrap on the Isle of Uninhabited in Rugrats Go Wild.

There’s a small running gag where Angelica tries to sneak some candy out of the candy bowl meant for the other kids trick-or-treating from door to door, only to get caught by both her parents. When she was caught far too many times, her parents threatened to ban her from going trick-or-treating herself.

That’s when Angelica schemes to take whatever candy the babies collect for herself by manipulating them into giving them to her by claiming she can undo the “curse” because her princess costume would transform her into a magical princess. Of course, all of the babies (sans Chuckie, who was thinking about it) refused, much to her annoyance.

Later, the adults take the kids over to a Halloween fair. There, Angelica meets up with her friend/rival and Tommy’s neighbour across the street, Susie Carmichael, who is dressed as a sweet little angel. When Susie invited her to go trick-or-treating with her, Angelica begs her father if she could go. Being the doormat father as he is, Drew promised Angelica she can go on the condition she’ll be on her best behaviour.

Since this is Angelica Pickles we’re all talking about here, I doubt she would be behave even if her life depends upon it. 🙄

As the adults go about doing their own thing at the fair, Grandpa Lou and Grandma Lulu take the kids to a special little haunted house attraction made especially for the kids to explore where they get to terrorize a man in a dopey monster mad scientist costume to “show him who’s boss”.

While straying away from Lou, Lulu and Dil, the babies wondered through a little section that shows off some of those funhouse mirrors. There, Chuckie tries to seek help with “turning back to normal” from another girl dressed up like a princess, assuming she would be a better magic princess than Angelica. Unfortunately, due to the funhouse mirror making his reflection distorted, this made Chuckie believe he had accidentally scared the “princess” and runs away in fear of being doomed to be a Werewuff forever.

Realising that Chuckie was right, the rest of the babies decided that the best chance of ever being normal again is to collect as much as candy as they can and give them to Angelica in a trade for her to “use her magic to change them back”.

After successfully collecting a good amount of sweets that could last for a couple of weeks to satisfy a sweet tooth, the babies track down Angelica, who carelessly wandered into a a haunted house made especially for the grown-ups. Although Chuckie object to it at first since they’re babies, Tommy reminded him that they’re “monsters” now. Chuckie then questioned if he’s a baby monster that hadn’t grown up yet.

The babies ventured into the grown-up haunted house. To be honest, it’s no different from the kiddy haunted house since it is after all a kid’s show. However, I suppose the props such as animatronics with scarily carved Jack’o lanterns for heads and fake zombies rising up from their graves are pretty much scary for the standards of cartoon toddlers.

When a terrified Angelica pleaded for the babies to get her out of the cemetery section of the haunted house, an overly frustrated Chuckie out his foot down and demand her to change the babies back first. A very annoyed and reluctant Angelica agrees and Chuckie boldly leads her and the rest of the gang out, all the while making use of his Werewuff persona to intimidate the zombie animatronics.

After the kids escaped the haunted house, Tommy, Kimi and the twins happily praised Chuckie for his bravery, only for Angelica to mock the babies for believing her lie from the start, gleefully gloating about it when Chuckie asked she had made the whole thing up.

Despite Tommy’s stern logic that he and his friends shouldn’t give their candy after all, Angelica adamantly claimed otherwise as she forcefully snatched Chuckie’s candy bag and greedily eat as much candy as she could.

Unfortunately for Angelica, karma was got the drop on her once again when she gets caught red-handed by both her parents, which not only cost her the opportunity to go trick-or-treating with Susie, but also giving her a serious time-out.

Deliberately disobeying them by repeatedly attempting to sneak sweets out of the candy bowl meant for trick-or-treaters is one thing, but for Drew and Charlotte, catching their wayward daughter bullying babies out of their Halloween candy and eating them before their very eyes is what the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Once again, Angelica ends up facing the consequences of her greed and lack of obedience. Typical Angelica.

While Chuckie’s relieved that he hadn’t permanently turned into a real werewolf, it was still awesome he got to display an awesome moment where his bravery shines between standing up to Angelica and guiding his friends safely through the grown-up haunted house. That’s such an impressive feat for a 2-year-old. 😄

As with any other Rugrats episode, the Halloween special has a couple of humour and brick jokes like Stu trying to Bob for apples with his fake vampire fangs, only to lose them in the tub of water during the said attempt.

I also liked the chemistry between Lou and his wife when he pulled a harmless Halloween prank on her by sneaking up from behind a door. Lulu took the small jumpscare in stride as she jokingly said that her husband scared her so bad, her hair had turned white.

It’s also most hilariously adorable how the adults got the dogs, Spike and Fifi into the holiday spirit by dress them up as ghost dogs, which basically have them wearing sheets with eye holes for them to see through, which is so cute. 🥰

Personally, I really enjoyed that episode for its charm and spooky moments. And now and forever, the original Rugrats cartoon will always have a special place in my heart, no matter what the years.

I certainly hope you enjoyed my review and please share your opinions about the special in the comments alone but please keep it kid friendly as possible and no flames, please.

Happy Halloween and may your dreams shine. ✨🎃

[breezeinmonochromenight]

Where are you in SH2R??? And are your favorite and least favorite things about it?

I’m closing in on the end of the game, in/under the Historical Society.

Favorites

Maria/Her voice actor. I would literally listen to Maria’s new VA read a phone book. She does so much lifting to actually make Maria enticing and attractive while retaining her mysteriousness. I always found the original Maria mysterious but incredibly off-putting to the point that I’d speed run it to hospital.

Bloober’s insertion of “their own personal stories” in the form of flourishes on the world/new puzzles/changes to some old puzzles/new mini-areas/new notes. I’m actually not joking. They’re miraculously interesting and pretty well done/feel natural to the game. A good example is the jukebox puzzle near the start of the game. It ultimately triggers James’ memory of spending the day with Mary at the park, and that’s how he decides that’s their special place and why he should go there. You also get a little snippet of Mary standing in the spot where you find Maria later. I honestly like that better than OG James just kind of making the executive decision for the player with very little context.

THEY TOOK THE LETTER READING OUT OF THE MARIA ENDING THANK FUCK. It never made any sense to me that they’d have Mary read her letter in the ending where her sexed up doppelgänger who is totally healthy and will never* get sick. Maria just gives him the letter in this version, he tucks it in his jacket, and they go to leave.

All six OG endings are back and there are two new endings. One basically extends the original In Water ending and plays into the the “Mary was in the back of the car the whole time” thing the OG devs have talked about and the other is sort of an… equal but opposite version of the Maria Ending.

Most of the wonky looking and/or lame looking shit from the trailer got fixed, including some face models/James expressions/etc.

Dislikes:

The Mary’s Letter reading and her final hallway monologue are super fucking weak. For everything the Mary/Maria VA gave to Maria, Mary lost. Neither of those moments feel very raw or real in the Remake, and they don’t hit nearly as hard. It also doesn’t help that everyone has had a more “traditional” voice acting job — all of the dialogue for everyone except Mary being weird/dreamy/unhinged only enhanced a really good performance.

Eddie’s character model looks like he has been outed as The Thing and is starting to transform into the head spider monster, but got a cramp early on and said fuck it. Just an absolute fucking mutant that doesn’t look human in comparison to the rest of the cast. Genuinely hard to look at.

Angela got an epi-pen, but her story and VA’s performance is a fucking mess. Every time her VA starts building some emotion or has a really good line read, it is immediately ruined by the next line being delivered atrociously. They also changed some of her dialogue/interactions with James and it makes her backstory so much harder to follow — some of it starts feeling like a word salad. The original game said everything you needed to hear without ever actually saying it.

The Abstract Daddy fight/section is also really watered down and not nearly as visually interesting.

There’s a much more elaborate labyrinth/below the Historical Society area in the Remake, and while there’s some neat design ideas, it largely fucking sucks.

The over-the-shoulder camera feels weird and way too intimate for a protagonist that feels suspicious/untrustworthy and has a questionable grip on reality from jump street.

[iris-of-the-eye]

@cult-of-the-eye thanks for the ask about the winx au!!!! sadly, my tumblr glitched out and it lost the ask so im doing a regular post :(

i have so so much content i am very normal!!

Ok so Martin is our quote unquote protagonist here with a very Bloom-esque backstory. He grew with his human mother on Earth and all was relatively normal until she died, which made him go through the family history and notice the discrepancies in the father's side. And he realized he's a fairy. He tried to do something about it but it's not like he knew any magical people so he was self taught. He even learnt a few spell, albeit minor ones.

That is until he gets accidentally roped into a fight with giant magical worms! He gets saved by a man named Tim, the fairy of humanity. Seeing this as his chance, Martin told him he's a fairy and asked how he can learn more about magic. And Tim was very happy to smuggle him over to Alfea University! So Martin wrote a letter to his partner (more on that later 👀) and left.

I took some creative liberties and changed the magic system a bit, mostly to fix the whole "this transformation is the strongest ever- oh wait this new one is- oh wait-" thing the later seasons have going on. And I made it more like regular academia?

Each fairy spends their teens learning the basic power, what's called Magic Winx in the show. Fully mastering it is equivalent to a bachelor's degree. Then you can pick another transformation to study. This is like a master's degree. This includes most of the post-s4 transformations.

Alfea has school's for both underaged and adult students. The former is like the one we see in the show, the latter is what we see in the au. Alfea University also offers courses for fairies who are only starting education as adults, which is what Martin is there for, so that they don't have to go to school with kids.

He arrives and meets Tim's two friends: Sasha, the fairy of preservation, and Jon, the fairy of information. And Jon is the stereotypical mean girl here. Hates Martin's guts from day one, views him as inferior because while Jon is studying to earn his Harmonix, Martin can't even transform yet.

The rest of the hypothetical show is Martin learning about his powers, transforming for the first time as the fairy of poetry, fighting evil monsters and people trying to kill them, including the witch of spiders, the university's evil founder, and a ton more worms. And growing closer with his new friends <3

Anyone who's interested can ask me questions in DMs or bully me into making another post, or perhaps drawing something. Then I can tell you about Martin's love life on Earth or Jon getting manipulated into pursuing Sirenix 👀

[caffinedragon]

Ghost Spider Besties

Context: R'yleh = Durge.

Before the game I have it where R'yleh and Kar'niss had met and were the type of best buddies that people were like "You sure they ain't dating?"

Here are some of the head canons:

R'yleh and Kar'niss are both ghost spiders/albino drow

Both of them get trained and sent to the surface as spies and assassins.

Both of them figure out, "Hey, I like it up here. Fuck the spider bitch."

Both try to escape.

Kar'niss gets caught and gets turned into a drider for his trouble.

R'yleh gets caught but when they try to do the same, the Bhaalspawn powers kick in and he leaves no one behind to follow him.

Skip to a few years or so before the game, R'yleh is tired of having everything in his life be tied to his dad, so reaches out to his mother (A great old one who is also his patron) for help in finding something for himself. *Insert lilo and stitch meme of lilo praying for an angel here*

A few weeks later his mother answers and leads him to a place a mile or two away from the edge of the shadow curse where he finds monster hunters hassling a drider.

A drider, he realizes, is a ghost spider like him.

Bhaalspawn Bhaalspawns and he leaves one alive to give to the spider as a peace offering.

Conversation is basically this:

"Ghost spider?"

"Ghost spider."

"Fuck spider bitch?"

"Fuck spider bitch."

"Best friend?"

"Best friend!"

For years after this R'yleh intentionally and successfully hides him from Enver and Orin, while he looks for a way to undue Kar'niss's transformation. Even if only temporarily.

But, eventually Orin notices him leaving on a regular basis and uses the information to stoke Enver's jealousy. Causing him to burn the true poly morph spell scroll R'yleh had managed to acquire in a tantrum.

This jealousy also causes Enver to run his mouth and demand he know whats going on, forcing R'yleh to show him to keep Orin from causing more problems. And to help him find a new place to hide him so Orin didn't try to kill him.

That is where the lantern and the path to the towers comes in.

After that everything proceeds as normal until the events that lead up to the start of the game.

After R'yleh is attacked by Orin, Kar'niss refuses to do the task assigned by "My King" which forces Kethric and Enver to trick/force him into being implanted with one of the parasites, leaving him as he is in the game.

Once R'yleh escapes the nautiloid all he remumbers is his name, his mother, that he is a warlock, and someone named Kar'niss and a feeling of fear, anger and guilt.

When he kills Minthara at the goblin camp and finds the spider lyre, he remembers who Kar'niss is and becomes desperate to get to the shadow lands.

Once they finally get there and he see's Kar'niss, he learns what they did to him.

And not even his and Envers former "relationship" could save them from the destruction he brought shortly after.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't officially met Kar'niss yet but doom scrolling causes spoilers and he gets the short end of the stick.

I also liked the idea of the Durge being the one who gave him the task but refused to tadpole him, and since the three knew how strong he was weren't going to argue with him.

So when he gets back and finds out, he goes full Bhaalspawn with Astarion skipping along behind singing, "Someone's gonna get it!"