#cricket web stories

[rajexpress-seo]

Famous Female ''Kaathavachak'' Of India

Web Stories - Visual Stories

1. Jaya Kishori:

Jaya Kishori is an Indian musician and spiritual speaker, known for her motivational talks and religious albums. The stories of Shri Krishna are described in his stories.

2. Chitralekha

Chitralekha is an Indian renowned storyteller and spiritual speaker who is famous for her motivational talks and sermons. She preaches Bhagwat Geeta.

3. Prachi Devi:

Prachi Devi is an Indian female storyteller, famous for her sermons. She preaches Bhagwat Geeta.

4. Palak Kishori:

Palak Kishori recites Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta in a musical manner. People have liked her style of storytelling so much that now she has become quite famous.

News Web Stories - Sports Web stories

5. Pratibha Devi:

Pratibha Devi is an Indian famous story teller, who is famous for giving sermons. She preaches Bhagwat Geeta.

6. Krishnapriya:

Krishnapriya is a 27 year old famous female storyteller, who is famous for her Bhagwat stories as well as Ram stories.

7. Devi Nidhi Saraswat

Devi Nidhi Saraswat is a very famous preacher of Srimad Bhagavad Katha and Ramayana. It narrates the story with her sister Neha Saraswat.

8. Neha Saraswat:

Aligarh resident Neha Saraswat, who has been propagating Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta since the age of 7, recites the story of Shrimad Bhagwat Katha and Ramayana along with her sister Nidhi Saraswat.

[mossmx]

love this movie, I mantain the idea was perfect, ecco una dimostrazione del mio amore:

[flawseer]

#29b - "Pokémon"

Smaugust 2024

I felt bad for kind of phoning this one in. So I cut into some of my down time to resurrect a small portion of my original plan for this prompt.

You may or may not be confused by some of the typings I have chosen for these characters, foremost likely why none of them have "Dragon" as their type. Dragon, in the source material, is supposed to be a rare type, and I believe this characteristic would become muddled and meaningless if it was given to basically every character in the story. So the Dragon type here is reserved for Queens, great leaders, and characters of mythical significance. This means that Glory will evolve into a Poison/Dragon type somewhere down the line.

Another, smaller source of befuddlement may come from making Starflight a Dark type. I had this idea that, in ancient times, Nightwings used to be Psychic types, but then became Dark types when they lost their powers.

And lastly, it's not relevant for the characters on these cards, but the Fairy type is reserved for animus dragons.

Here are some other characters who didn't make it:

Moonwatcher, PSYCHIC, Quiet nature, Forewarn

Winter, ICE, Serious nature, Dazzling

Kinkajou, POISON, Impish nature, Vital Spirit

Turtle, WATER/FAIRY, Timid nature, Battle Armor

Qibli, GROUND/POISON, Naughty nature, Adaptability

Peril, FIRE/FLYING, Lonely nature, Flame Body

Riptide, WATER/FIGHTING, Serious nature, Contrary

Deathbringer, DARK/GHOST, Quirky nature, Infiltrator

Fatespeaker, DARK/PSYCHIC, Jolly nature, Anticipation

Flame, FIRE/DARK, Hasty nature, Pickpocket

Squid, WATER, Naive nature, Damp

Ochre, GROUND/ROCK, Lax nature, Gluttony

Viper, GROUND/POISON, Bold nature, Aftermath

Anemone, WATER/FAIRY, Sassy nature, Klutz

Icicle, ICE, Serious nature, Competitive

Ostrich, GROUND/POISON, Impish nature, Keen Eye

Tamarin, POISON/GRASS, Modest nature, Flower Gift

Webs, WATER, Timid nature, Defeatist

Dune, GROUND/POISON, Calm nature, Slow Start

Kestrel, FIRE/FLYING, Hardy nature, Anger Point

Morrowseer, DARK, Lonely nature, Mold Breaker

Scarlet, DRAGON/FIRE, Bold nature, Bad Dreams

Coral, DRAGON/WATER, Adamant nature, Merciless

Burn, DRAGON/GROUND, Bold nature, Beast Boost

Blister, DRAGON/POISON, Careful nature, Corrosion

Blaze, DRAGON/GROUND, Relaxed nature, Emergency Exit

Darkstalker, PSYCHIC/FAIRY, Impish nature, Wonder Guard

Clearsight, PSYCHIC, Serious nature, Telepathy

Fathom, WATER/FAIRY, Timid nature, Triage

Indigo, WATER/FIGHTING, Hardy nature, Stalwart

Whiteout, DARK/PSYCHIC, Quirky nature, Own Tempo

Blue, BUG/NORMAL, Mild nature, Simple

Cricket, BUG, Jolly nature, Power of Alchemy

And probably many more that I didn't get around to.

The default ability of Rainwings would likely be Color Change, for Mudwings it would be Earth Eater... Maybe Sturdy for Sandwings.

Okay, I think that's enough.

[sudokuplayer]

I agree with you about the ridiculous book titles but I don't think the ones you mention are so great. Like what's so good about them👀

hiii 👋🏻 I apologize for this long answer. This is so serious for me lol I could talk about it for hours.

I think Giovanni's Room is a perfect title. As I said, it's short and evocative, and I think it's also mysterious but not that mysterious. You don't know what's up with the room in question but you can gather, for example, that this guy Giovanni is Italian, otherwise the name would be John or something, so for sure his Italian identity will be relevant. You have to assume there’s intention behind something as significant as a main character’s name. Also, and more importantly, there's no last name attached to Giovanni so it suggests intimacy—being on a first name basis. It lets you know that whoever tells the story is close to Giovanni; for sure close enough to have been inside his room. Name and last name creates a sense of distance and formality, or it suggests the person is 'important' or special; preternatural like Dorian Gray, famous like that woman Evelyn Hugo (probably, I haven't read it). But just ✨Giovanni✨ ... you can tell it's going to be a first person account of the events by someone who knows Giovanni very intimately. But obviously I’ve already read it and my interpretation is biased. Nothing about the title guarantees it'll be a first person account. This is just what I mean by evocative; it makes me theorize and read into it...

Now, just Giovanni, like Emma or Carrie or Rebecca, wouldn't work because—and this you find out once you read the novel but the title is already telling you—the room is the main character; it's the metaphor. But I wanted to mention those single name titles just to say I don't like them lol. I get them but I think they don't really work nowadays. A recent example I can think of is Eileen. Crickets, right? Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh. It's a good novel though.

And I also don't like "[Name] [Last Name]" titles very much:  - Anna Karenina  - Jane Eyre  - David Copperfield  - Oliver Twist 

As I said, full names give a sense of distance (imo!), BUT those I mentioned make sense because the novels span the lifetime of the character. Of course the title of a person's life should be their name, and at least it's not something like The Unbelievable Life of David Copperfield, which would be so silly. I think full name titles had their time too. Just Evelyn Hugo would be crickets but it doesn't mean its original title is any better lol 

Giovanni's Room is perfect because I think "[Name]’s [Noun]" is a good title formula: - Charlotte’s Web - Ender’s Game - Sophie’s Choice

Adding an adjective to any of these would truly fuck them up. Imagine if it was Giovanni's Mysterious Room… flop! It was already mysterious. Or Giovanni's Peculiar Room, also a flop and an awful sounding adjective. 

You have to be very particular about the adjective to make "[Name]’s [Adjective] [Noun]" work.

Howl's Moving Castle is a perfect example of a good one because it could have been something like Howl's Magical Castle, right? But that sounds basic. The chosen adjective, Moving, couldn't be more perfect.

The other title I mentioned in my post is The Bell Jar. Just picture a bell jar; something so delicate that can trap or protect or display or contain. You can already tell the metaphor game is going to be strong. Also, its formula is my favorite ever: "The [Noun]": - The Trial - The Metamorphosis - The Waves - The Tunnel  - The Goldfinch

This formula is serious business for me. I think it's perfect. Short and so sure of itself. They demand to be taken seriously. I see them and I feel reassured that the author is confident and clear about their work. 

"The [Adjective] [Noun]" is good too but it really has to need that adjective:  - The Virgin Suicides  - The Savage Detectives

I love "[Adjective] [Noun]" — Short yet compelling. Just two words so you can have them tattooed on the back of you ankles or something: - White Teeth  - Wuthering Heights - Sharp Objects - Invisible Monsters (Chuck Palahnuik’s titles are always a hit with me. Short and straightforward; they come across as very cool and crude, Fight Club, Choke, Snuff, and then he delivers cool and crude. The 3 titles below are by authors with a similar vibe to Palahnuik, and look at those titles… chef's kiss) - Exquisite Corpse  - American Psycho - Mysterious Skin

I also love "[Noun] and [Noun]" — To contrast, to compare, to complement each other, whatever it is it's always a hit. The alliteration in both Jane Austen's titles is more poetic than whatever long wordy title you can think of: - Pride and Prejudice  - Sense and Sensibility - War and Peace  - Sons and Lovers - Crime and Punishment 

❌ Now, the ones I consider flops no matter what. The long “creative” ones that come across as eager and insecure and make me roll my eyes.

Anything that tries to sound like The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Also these wretched formulas:

"The [Adjective] [Noun] of [Fuckass Name + Last Name]": - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August  - The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (Two adjectives! Get out of here!)

"A [Noun] of [Noun] and [Noun]": - A Song of Ice and Fire - A Court of Thorns and Roses - A Book of Spirits and Thieves

"The [Person’s Job/Occupation] [Relative]" — The relative is usually a wife or a daughter: - The Surgeon's Daughter - The Time Traveler's Wife  - The Zookeeper's Wife - The Shopkeeper's Daughter

"All The + [Some Bullshit]": - All the Bright Places  - All the Light We Cannot See - All the Dangerous Things - All the Colors of the Dark

"Where the + [Some Bullshit]": - Where the Crawdads Sing - Where the Red Fern Grows - Where the Dead Sit Talking

"This Is How + [Some Bullshit]": - This Is How You Lose the Time War - This Is How It Always Is - This is How You Lose Her

"We Are All + [Some Bullshit]": - We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - We Are All the Same in the Dark - We Are All Birds of Uganda - We Are All Made of Molecules

I also don't vibe with titles that instruct you to do something: - Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone  - Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (good novel though!) - Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters - Go Tell It on the Mountain (adding one by the author of my beloved Giovanni's Room so you know I'm serious about this lol)

💌 To finish my rant on a more positive note, there are always exceptions, and I do like some poetic titles: - Tender Is the Night

One of my favorites and I haven't read it, I just like how it sounds. That would be "[Adjective] is the [Noun]". I don't know if there are more like this. I like that it's taken from a poem but it's not too wordy. 

And the following are all by John Steinbeck. His title game was insane! And they are all references, which shows it can be done with grace and measure: - East of Eden — biblical reference - The Grapes of Wrath — lyrics from hymn which references a bible passage - In Dubious Battle — from Paradise Lost - Of Mice and Men — this one could go in the [Noun] and [Noun] category but the preposition adds a little something imo, and it's also taken from a poem by Robert Burns.

Anyway, I hope this wasn't a bore! 💌

[shurisneakers]

being on this webbed site and seeing 2 levels of media legacy is insane. supernatural trends every week and a meme from its penultimate episode 4 years ago has become a permanent part of the culture here. every major news story has castiel's face before an actual article.

on the other hand you couldn't escape the mcu from 2014 to 2020. sebastian stan was tumblrs boyfriend for years. the newest mcu movie dropped on friday and i haven't seen a single post about it. they just announced that rdj whose character died in 2019 is coming back as one of their flagship villains in a movie directed by the same guys who directed Avengers 3 and 4. crickets.

[cherrynflowergarden]

stranger? yes. danger? no. || shubman gill

summary; yn sturniolo is in italy and so is shubman gill.

@love-belle pookie wookie cookie this is for you🎀💋🫀‼️

an; hiiiiiii soooooo sorry for disappearing just like that my results for this very important exams were declared few days ago and i'm so disappointed w it :( anyways i'm back pls pls pls someone tell me how to login on tumblr web 🙏🙏🙏 picture quality in the app is horrible idk if you'll be able to read it properly 😓

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urbffswife italy pt 2 (heh)

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♫ mitski • my love mine all mine

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yourusername cause my love is mine all mine💌

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[artstar1997]

Here’s the poster for @georgi-girl’s Trolls Elemental AU fanfic, Winged Reign, which coincidentally is a crossover between Trolls and Neopets. It follows the story of Princess Poppy, Branch, and the Snack Pack as butterfly fairies as they grew up with the dragonfly fairies alongside their childhood friend, Princess Rosetta a.k.a Princess Rose after they were scattered from their court during the escape, which is “orchestrated” by the Darkest Faerie. Together, they’d spend the day playing hide-and-seek and flying without a care at day and wishing upon stars at night.

When Princess Rose made a wish, she gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when she got an unexpected call from her ancestors to reunite the seven fairy courts and take down the Darkest Faerie together. As they travel throughout their home, the Isle of the Fay and all over Neopia, they met humans, neopets, and other mythical creatures as they learn the key to making their dreams come true and the connection between stars, wishes, and the soul.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The trolls characters in this AU are mythical beings and I wanna start about the trolls characters as fairies. The fairies are a subspecies of fae who are the more colorful cousins of the faeries. They have longer, pointed ears, colorful skin, hair, and eyes, insectoid wings that vary in shapes and size, and matching antennae. There are seven fairy courts that rule over fairykind, the earth court (its fairies have beigetone coloration, cricket-like antennae, and their wings are shaped like fruit slices, flower petals, and leaves), the water court (the fairies have neon colors but lacked antennae, have webbed-like ears, and fish fin wings for both swimming and flying), the fire court (the fairies that belong to the fire court are muddy-colored, with beetle-like clubbed antennae, beetle-like wings, and beetle shells as armor), the air court (they’re mostly yellow skinned but have bee antennae and wings with a light plaster of glitter), the mind court (the fairies there are colorful have moth-like antennae (the men have thick feathery antennae while the women have refined and threadlike antennae) and wings, are African-coded, and they’re powerful empaths), the energy court (the fairies are very colorful, possess butterfly wings and antennae, and some can have glittery details on their wings, which makes them emit fairy dust in flight), and the light court (the fairies of the dominant tribe have a variety of colored skin, hair, and eyes but some have some have luminous, chrome, metallic, pastel or vibrant hair and eyes, straight antennae, and dragonfly wings). The subtribes are the noble houses that were the nobility of the light court, with spring, summer, autumn, and winter houses leading them.

As for the Bergens, they’re giants in Neopia, the Party Crashers are drakes, the vacaytioners are merfolk, and the rageons are elves while the known neopets, both heroes and villains, are mostly humans but the others being pixies, centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, ogres, and other mythical beings and creatures.

Enjoy the fanfic that me and @georgi-girl made.

[britishraptor]

Gonna kick the hornets nest here, but the file from the most recent episode of The Magnus Protocol was incredibly underwhelming. It didn’t take into account at all anything that actually makes snakes scary, little to no foreshadowing, and basically attempted to jumpscare the audience with a reveal that reads more like a parody of a horror story than an actual one.

I might look like an idiot or a fool when everything all strings together later than the line, but I’m questioning so much about this episode.

Parasites are scary. Worms, and insects and mold and rot. Decay, possession. Spiders are scary because they’re hard to see, hard to pinpoint and they move fast, plus the connections with webs related to control, and manipulation. So yeah, a worm lady, sure, a person filled with spiderwebs, also sure. But the only connection between snakes and parasitism could be a joke about ‘shedding your skin’ or how disturbing that one scene in Harry Potter was.

Snakes are scary for two reasons:

1) the same reason bears and tigers all that are scary. Hunt style being hurt, and killed, and eaten. Simple.

B) uncanny valley reasons. Snakes don’t blink. They don’t have facial expressions. The way they move and eat and exist is totally different from humans and mammals. They’re often described as alien and cold.

My questions:

a) why rodent control? why was he even actually brought in? His walls are FULL OF SNAKES. It wouldn’t have lasted five minutes. It doesn’t make any sense even if you know he was concerned about parasites. Snakes don’t give a shit about other snakes. To call someone a snake is to literally call them callous and prone to betrayal. A snake eats the rodent, so you kill the snake. Plus a snake store would have access to medications to kill mites and deal with snake illness? Why call the guy at all?

b) the foreshadowing on the owner is terrible. You could have mentioned his skin needed moisturising. That it seemed dry, flaky. Scaly. But just. A red rash? A rash? Are you saying being full of snakes is an infectious disease? That’s what he said at the end, right? That his throat itches. It was swelling. You can just?? Grow your own snakes?? Is that the implication?

No uncanny valley mention on the owner either at all. He didn’t move weird, being full of snakes? Didn’t sway or limp as he walked, didn’t move sluggishly? Bad hearing, didn’t know what to do with his hands? No? Just a short tempered customer. Okay.

c) You lost me at the thousands of snakes. THOUSANDS? What is this, a clown car? A snake clown car in some random guys skin, who explodes because he was mad a customer walked out.

Look, I’m Australian. And when I ask my friends ‘hey, how big do you normally picture a snake being?’ we picture snakes about 1.5m long. Dinner table length is pretty common for all of our common brown, tiger snakes, red bellies, and even longer for our common carpet pythons. But even if I adjust to like, other countries’ grass snakes, thousands?

The throwaway line at the end was plot relevant I’m sure, but I’m all around confused, and totally not even a little bit scared.

The only praise I have is that the description of the crickets was very creepy, and I loved the visual of them moving around like a shuddering wave of pixels on a screen, only really perceived by their screaming.

But yeah. The setup, the foreshadowing, the coherent theming and consistency all just fell totally flat for me. The only thing I learnt was that this guy applied to the institute and was rejected, and that snakes can’t do dishes.

[quaker-oatz]

"As you turn the corner to the living room, you look back at the android where he still lingers in the doorway. His form is silhouetted against the warm light of the kitchen. The barest cool blue glow filters from his eyes, illuminating his fingers where they brush against his cheek."

This drawing ended up more abstract than I originally intended, and I think there are definitely some improvements I would make in the future color-wise. However, I'm still proud of the work I put in and I wanted to share! I love Sunspot!! And I had a lot of thoughts about the mistletoe scene in the latest gitm chapter...Rambling under the "read more."

Sunspot is a character from the Ghost in the Machine fic by @venomous-qwille A super awesome story!!! I highly recommend it!

I loved the Christmas chapter so much!!! And that mistletoe kiss melted my heart the first time I read it. However, after rereading the chapter I started thinking (obviously this is all my interpretation), and I suspect that the language surrounding the mistletoe and the kiss as foreshadowing to more tension and conflict between Cricket and Sunspot.

Fool's mistletoe is described in two ways in this chapter: twice as a fly caught in a web, and once as the sword of Damocles. At first, these are comedic descriptions. For the fly-in-a-web metaphor, it’s silly that Fool, in the spirit of the season and mischief, decides to pin up mistletoe using a ridiculous amount of tape (it might even go against his protocols to try and handle it any other way). However, this imagery is most commonly used in a more malicious light: as a trap (which Cricket themself calls it when Fool puts it up). For the sword metaphor, it is a looming promise that literally comes down on Cricket when they decide to kiss Sunspot. I think that while cute descriptions of a silly holiday tradition, this language also invokes imagery that presents a deeper conflict that Cricket began when they kissed Sunspot.

Something else that made me a little suspicious of how feel-good this moment is are these lines from Cricket's POV as they are trying to untangle the mistletoe from their hair:

"'Can you help me—? I think I’m just making it worse.'

You are definitely making it worse."

Visually, the line break makes the sentiment come across more seriously by isolating it from its original context. Additionally, I think that this set of lines are important because of the recent and extended conflict that Sunspot and Cricket had about Spot’s bounding box. Sunspot does not shy away from separating himself from Cricket. While they are friends, and enjoy each other’s company, Sunspot almost always puts himself in the position of caretaker, and is quick to delineate himself as a synth. Therefore, he acts like he does not need the same care in return. I think that the implications of Cricket’s kiss could bring up another, emotional bounding box that Sunspot is hesitant to cross. I think that this is shown in the way that Sunspot acts for the rest of the chapter after the kiss. Sunspot, rather than smiling or blushing as he had during his dinner with Cricket, avoids Cricket’s eyes. And, he’s described as frowning. Additionally, while Cricket laughs in response to his suggestion that this stays a secret from Fool, I think that Sunspot was thinking about this much more seriously than Cricket was.

Now, later he does say that he's, "feeling festive,” but that doesn’t contradict the fact that Cricket crossed a line. I guess the question is, how will Sunspot respond to this ambiguity? Will he actually talk to Cricket about it? Will Cricket remember the kiss? And if they do, will they want to talk to Sunspot about it? I don’t know if either will want to disrupt the even ground they've built after their original conflict because they both care a lot about what the other thinks of them. But, I'm unsure if they will be able to act the same way around each other. Or, I could be completely wrong!! I fell down a rabbit hole of speculation!!! If you read through all this, please let me know what you think, or if you read it differently!!! And thank you for reading and looking at my art!

[xandriagreat]

Fate Be Changed

Chapter 8: Cleaning up/Dig a little Deeper

First chapter | Last chapter | Next chapter

Author’s note: reminder: The song’s lyrics are going to be bold and italic.

Notice/warnings: naked, showers/cleaning, food, scary moment, pain, transformation

▪▪▪

As they followed Granny Gumbo to her place, there were some stilt houses and there were some other people living.

It felt like a whole community. 

Diane noticed the sound about people talking to each other, music playing, the chirping of birds and crickets, and the water streaming. To her, the sounds made this community all more alive.

Then they soon got to some type of tree house. Of course it was big and beautiful. Almost like a mansion but it was almost like a cottage somewhere around the late 18th to early 19th century.

The lights inside were on as they approached the tree house.

When they went inside, Diane saw Ruby (who was still human) and an alligator wearing a suit.

The both of them just finished talking about something.

Diane gasped excitedly when seeing Ruby. “Ruby!” said Diane, running to her.

Ruby turned around and her eyes lit up with excitement. “Diane!” Ruby exclaimed, hugging her when she got to her.

“Thank goodness you're ok!” Ruby said, looking at Diane again after they hugged.

“Same with you.” Diane said, smiling.

Ruby’s eyes sparkled with excitement when looking at Diane, gently petting her fur. “You are so fluffy!!!” Ruby exclaimed with a big smile. Then she pulled her hand away and quickly said, “Sorry, I should have asked.”

Diane blushed a bit red after her fur was touched. “I am fluffy but thank you for stopping.” she said

Ruby nodded and looked at Lou, Pepe, Moe, Herbert, and Webs. “Are those one of your new friends?” she asked, looking back at Diane.

The ‘fox’ looked at them before looking back at Ruby, nodding. “Yes, this is Lou, Pepe, Moe, Herbert, and Webs.”

Ruby hummed and nodded with a soft smile, waving at them.

While that was happening, Rhonda was still carrying Webs as she walked over to the alligator wearing a suit. Then she offers Webs to him, as if to say ‘Here’.

The ‘alligator’s’ eyes lit up in excitement and in relief when seeing the spider, smiling big. “Webs! You okay?” said the ‘alligator’, picking up the ‘spider’ from the ‘Tasmanian Devil’.

Webs stared at the ‘alligator’ in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. “Wait… Milton?!” Webs said in shock, realizing that it was her other friend.

“Yes! It's me!” Milton said, putting Webs on a nearby table. “You, Moe and Herbert weren't at the place of the meeting and showed you guys a place to stay. So I knew something was up finding you until I found you guys with-”

“Yes, Marmalade, and we made a dumb deal with him.” Webs said flatly as she got on a table. 

“Yeah, I was completely affected by it by the time I alerted Granny Gumbo about it.” Milton explained.

Webs nodded before pausing and stared at him in silence for a bit. “Wait… How did you get infected.” she asked, pointing at him.

“It's a long story.” Milton said “But that’s why I’m also here. To see what’s going on and see if it can be reversed.” 

“Ah. Got it.” Webs humming, nodding.

Then everyone looked at Granny Gumbo as Granny looked at the two ‘water animals’ and asked, “Do you two fishes need a bath too?”

“We’re good but thanks.” Pepe said, shaking his head.

Granny Gumbo looked at Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs. “I’ll show you four where the showers and baths are.” the old woman said to them. “Did you bring extra clothes?”

The four looked at each other before looking back at Granny Gumbo. “Well… uh… Lou made us some clothes.” Moe said, pointing at Lou.

Lou took a bow and smiled. “I can go get them.”

“Alright.” Granny Gumbo hummed with a soft smile. Then she looked back at the four. “Now, let's get you four washed up.”

Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs nodded to her.

Diane picked up Webs before Granny Gumbo began to guide the four to the bathroom.

◇

The four followed Granny Gumbo to the bathroom.

“So, how long have you four been animals?” Granny Gumbo asked.

“Two days.” the four said in unison.

Granny Gumbo hummed and nodded before opening and going through the door to the bathroom.

Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs followed after her and the four ‘animals’ looked surprised when seeing the bathroom as they got in.

There were multiple showers and a few bathtubs. There were even some sinks. There were also a few wooden benches. It was like it came out of another country.

The bathroom looked more like a bathhouse, just with privacy options and curtains.

“Well, this is very interesting.” Moe said, continuing to look around.

The other nodded in agreement.

Then they looked at Granny Gumbo as the old woman got a basket. “This is for dirty clothes.” she explained before she plugged one of the sinks and began to fill it up with water. “And this is for Ms. Spider.” 

“Thank you.” Webs said.

Granny Gumbo nodded and then pointed at one of the cabinets. “There’s soap, shampoo, and conditioner in there, along with fresh towels.” she said before turning around. “Now I’ll leave to give you four privacy.”

Then she left the room to give them privacy, closing the door on her way out.

Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs looked at each other.

“So, how should we do this?” Diane asked as she put Webs on the counter.

“Well, let's get the toiletries and towels out first.” Herbert said, slithering over to the cabinet. 

Moe walks over to help as the ‘snake’ opens it and pulls out a few towels. The ‘wolf’ got the bottles and both of them put them on the counter.

Moe looked at the cabinet one more time and pulled out a med kit before closing it. “Just in case.” he said, pointing it at Diane.

The ‘fox’ hummed and nodded in agreement.

Then the four start to sort the bottles, for who gets what bottles and who gets which shower.

There’s liquid hand soap and travel bottles of shampoo and conditioner set up for Webs. The others are the normal-size bottles for the animal's fur, like for Moe and Diane. And lastly the other bottles are good for scales, like for Herbert.

After sorting the bottles and picking which shower, they all start to realize something.

It seems Granny Gumbo has been prepared for this. 

“It looks like Granny has been doing this for a long time.” Diane said as she realized.

Moe, Herbert, and Webs nodded, looking very worried.

“Let’s get clean.” Moe said, taking his bottles and towel to the shower that he’s going to use.

The others nodded.

Diane and Herbert got their bottles and towels, taking them to their showers that they’re going to use.

Then they each got undressed, putting the very dirty clothes in the basket (except for Webs’ hoodie and Herbert’s hat, those were put on the counter) before going to wash up.

Webs got in the sink while Moe, Herbert, and Diane got in their showers after getting them going.

Diane, Moe, and Herbert begin taking a shower while Webs was taking a bath in a sink, washing off any dirt from their bodies to clean and getting their furs and scales soft. 

They start to feel clean as they clean themselves. 

After cleaning and washing up, Diane shook her body a bit to get some water off of her before she got her towel and wrapped it around her as she got out of her shower. 

She dries herself a bit as looked around to see Webs just got out of the sink and got the hand towel over herself.

Then Webs looked at her and the both of them made eye contact, both starting to blush a bit.

“I- sorry!” Diane started, sounding panic as she covered her eyes with one hand while the other kept her towel up.

“It’s ok!” Webs reassured, wrapping herself in the towel to cover herself. “I promise it’s fine!”

Diane, slowly, uncovered her eyes and lowered her hand to look at Webs, who was still covered by her towel and got something from her hoodie pocket and started to unwrap it.

Both the ‘fox’ and ‘spider’ looked at each other for a moment.

“I've been bathing and showering whenever I can while on the run and doing my business. I normally use gym showers, sometimes rivers, motel bathrooms, or bath houses, depending on the area that I’m in.” Webs explained a bit embarrassedly. “I hope that wasn’t too much.”

Diane hummed and nodded. “It’s ok.” she reassured her, getting her undergarments.

Webs looked at her for a moment before smiling softly and then pulled out a new light green tank top, which got Diane looking confused at her. 

“I told Lou earlier to just make a new hoodie. I have a spare top.” Webs said as she got her backup sports bra on before getting her new tank top.

“Ah, got it.” Diane said with a hum, getting her undergarments on before grabbing the aid kit to get a new bandage on her foot.

“How’s your foot?” Webs asked, tossing the dirty hoodie into the basket.

Diane looked at her and shrugged. “Meh…” she said as she got to one of the benches and sat down. She opened the kit and set it down next to her before lifting and checking her injured foot.

Diane looked at her foot after unwrapping the bandaging.

The cut was still there but the bleeding had stopped.

“Hm…” Diane sighed softly and started to clean her foot with disinfecting cream, which got her to hiss a bit in pain.

The sounds of running water stopped and then Moe asked, “Need help?” 

Diane looked over to see Moe and Herbert just got out of their shower, with their towels over themselves.

Diane nodded. “Yes, please.” she said, putting her towel over herself to cover herself.

“Alright. Give me a moment, then I’ll help.” Moe said, walked over to get his undergarments. After he got his undergarments on, he went to Diane and knelt down in front of her. He checked her foot before getting new bandages from the kit.

It looked like he knew what he was doing as he wrapped her foot.

“I did this all the time back when I was young and while I was on the run with Herbert and Webs.” Moe said, continuing to wrap carefully the foot.

Diane hummed with a soft chuckle. “That’s interesting.” she said, nodding. 

Then the ‘fox’ looked at the ‘snake’, who was looking at the door, as if to either distract himself or know something was coming.

Then there was a knock on the door, which got all four of their attention. 

“I’ll get it.” Herbert said as he slithered over to the door, holding his towel around himself tight so it wouldn't slip.

He carefully opened the door to see Lou, who was holding the new outfits.

“Hi. I’m back with the new finished outfits.” Lou said, showing the outfits in a folded pile. 

Herbert nodded with a hum and carefully took the pile from him, bringing them inside.

Lou turns the other way as he gives the outfits to him.

“Thank you, Lou.” the four ‘animals’ said as Herbert put the clothes on the counter.

“No problem.” Lou said, his head still looking the other way. “Could one of you put the basket of dirty clothes out? There’s a washing machine that Granny has, it’s fast and quick with cleaning.”

“Alright. Here you go.” Herbert said, taking the basket and putting it out into the hallway before closing the door.

The four ‘animals’ looked at the door as they listened Lou pick up the basket and then walked away.

Then Moe went back to bandaging Diane’s foot. “Alright, here go.” Moe said when he was done. 

“Thank you.” Diane said, wiggle her toes for a moment before standing up. Then Diane started to sort out the clothes in order while making sure her towel doesn't fall off her back.

“Ok, I just sorted out the outfits so we don’t get a bit of a mix up.” Diane said when she was done sorting. 

The other ‘animals’ nodded and all four got their clothes.

Diane, Moe, Herbert and Webs smell great, they hadn't washed up since yesterday, aside from the river. They got dressed after they finished washing and drying off.

Diane got on her clothes, which is a violet purple pinafore dress over a royal blue t-shirt, and black flats that fit perfectly. 

Wolf got an ocean color blue suit coat along with a gorgeous grass green swirl design on it, green pants, white socks and even brown shoes. 

Snake got a white shirt with a unique ruby red snake scale-like design on it. He put on his bucket hat back on.

Webs got on cyan blue hoodie with red lining.

All four of them looked at their reflections and they were amazed by their reflections.

The four animals left the bathroom when they were ready.

◇

When Moe, Herbert, Webs, and Diane got to the others, they could hear some of the conversations.

The four of them looked around as they entered the room.

Granny Gumbo was the first one to notice them as they entered the room. “Ah! I see that you four are done.” she said to them before pointing at a nearby table. “I made warm drinks for the four of you.”

“Thank you.” the four ‘animals’ said together.

They noticed warm hot drinks for them on a table as the four went to the table while Granny left the room with Lou and Pepe.

Diane put Webs on the table when they got to the table.

It's been a while since they had warm drinks. There were three normal cups with one small cup.

They each picked up one of the cups.

Moe sniffed his cup before drinking it. 

Herbert and Webs looked at their cups before drinking theirs.

Diane blew her cup before she drank hers.

The drinks tasted good.

They were able to drink some of it.

When Diane finished drinking her drink, she got up and went after Granny Gumbo.

“Hey, wait for us!” Moe called after her as they put their ups down and started to follow her to get the same answer.

They found where Granny went around the house.

It looked like she was looking for something.

“We are so glad we found you, Granny Gumbo. Pepe and Lou have been telling us all about you. We’ve been traveling quite a long way. And you can’t imagine what we’ve been through.” Diane said, walking over to Granny Gumbo, who looked like she was looking for something. “And we heard that yo-”

Then Granny Gumbo began to interrupt her by calling out, “Zee!”

Then a lizard jumps onto a desk and squeaks, getting Granny Gumbo’s attention.

“Come on, over here, you bad boy. Give me some love now.” Granny Gumbo said with a smile, offering her hand to Zee. 

Zee got on her hand, nuzzling, as Granny Gumbo gently pets him and said, “You just missed your mama, don’t you?”

Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs all look at each other with weird looks.

Granny Gumbo chuckled as she put Zee on her head. Then she looked at Pepe and Lou, smiling at them. “Again, it’s good to see you both again, Pepe and Lou.” she said as she went to a recliner. “How's everything been since we last talked?” 

“Yeah, it has been a while.”  Pepe said, smiling.

“We have been surviving but we’re good.” Lou said with a soft chuckle.

Granny Gumbo sat down in the recliner and laughed warmly, “That’s nice.” 

Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs went to Granny Gumbo, who got comfortable in her seat.

“Granny Gumbo… We don’t want to take too much of your time.” Diane said

“You want some candies?” Granny asked, opening her hand to reveal some candies that looked a bit old and could break your teeth if you tried to bite them.

The four look at each other

“No, not really.” Moe and Daine said while Herbert and Webs said, “No, no thank you.”

Granny looked at them and hummed, nodding slowly.

“Well now, that’s too bad.” she started as she took one of the candies, putting the rest away and wiping one of them off the dust before eating it. “This is a special candy. Woulda turn y’all human.”

After hearing that, Moe, Diane, Herbert and Webs’ eyes widened in a panic. “No, no, no, please!” the four said in a panic. “We’ll take it!”

Granny Gumbo just started laughing, like she just pulled a good prank. “I’m just messing with y’all!”

Moe, Diane, Herbert, and Webs sighed in relief after realizing that it was a bit of a joke, laughing a bit and calming down.

Diane smiled at the others as she started “How on earth did you know that we want to turn back-?” 

She was cut off when seeing Granny Gumbo napping in the chair.

“Um… Granny Gumbo?” Herbert asked, tapping her arm a bit with his tail.

Then Granny Gumbo jumped out of her seat, startling the four (again), and ran into a different room, shouting, “Zee! Why didn’t you tell me my gumbo was burnin’?!”

“Gumbo?” Diane asked before smelling air to smell the scent. It was one of her favorite father's cooking when she was a kid (No offense to her mother's or her friends or even her own).

She followed the old lady to the kitchen, seeing her stir a big pot.

“I can’t believe this…” Granny Gumbo grumbled to herself. “Got to do everythin’ around here…”

Diane glanced over to see what was in the gumbo pot before looking at the old woman. “What type of gumbo is it?” Diane asked, checking and inspecting. She's seen many different types of gumbo, so much so though she couldn't identify which one exactly it is.

“It’s a recipe that I made.” Granny Gumbo said, glancing at her as she stirred the gumbo. “You can taste it if you like.”

The old woman pulled one of the nearby drawers to show where the silverware was.

Diane got a spoon out, so she could taste it. She got a spoonful of the gumbo and tasted it. She noticed that it was a bit sour and a bit sweeter than any gumbo she had tasted.

“Well? What do you think?” Granny Gumbo asked, looking at her.

“Hm… Your gumbo is pretty amazing actually unlike anything I have seen since I was child but… add a little cumin, hit the parsley, lemon zest, additional cinnamon, with a mix of Tabasco and red peppers and it'll have a good taste.”

Granny Gumbo hummed and went to a cabinet, looking for the things that Diane suggested.

Zee got the cheese grinder out, for the lemon zest, with his mouth holding onto the handle of it, while Granny Gumbo got the things on the counter.

The others peaked in as Granny Gumbo got the things into the pot and then stirred the food together.

Then she began taking a taste after letting the ingredients mix together.

It tasted better than expected.

Granny Gumbo started to  laugh and exclaim excitedly, “That got some zydin’ to it! I guess that’s what we needed.” 

“No problem.” Diane said with a confused chuckle.

Granny Gumbo chuckled and looked at her. “Now, you figured out what you need?” 

Diane was confused by the question as Webs crawled onto her shoulder while Moe and Herbert walked over to them.

“Uh… Well… It’s just like you said, Granny Gumbo. We need to be human.” Diane said, pointing at herself and then at the others.

Granny Gumbo’s smile faded into a frown and then she gave a loud forced laugh in her face, making the ‘fox’ jump back a bit and bump into the ‘wolf’.

Webs quickly got onto Moe's shoulder after the bump, clinging onto him.

“You are blind to what’s in front of ya!” Granny Gumbo said with sass, pointing at Diane in the chest. 

Diane was confused about what saying and looked at Webs, Moe, and Herbert to see if they understood what she’s saying.

The three of them looked equally confused.

“What’s going on in here?” Pam asked, walking in with Emmlylou, Joy, Rhonda, Ruby, and Mitlon.

“Well the thing is-” Herbert started but was interpreted by Granny Gumbo clearing her throat, which got everyone’s attention.

“You want to be human…” Granny Gumbo started, sounding calm. “But you blind to what you need.”

“What we want, what we need… It’s all the same thing, yes?” Moe asked with a shrug.

Then Granny gave the ‘wolf’ an angry glare before slapping on the back of his head. 

“Ow!” Moe exclaimed a bit in pain, rubbing where he got slapped.

“It’s the same thing? No!” Granny Gumbo shouted at him before walking away, going to the .

“Come on, there has to be something!” Ruby said angrily. “I don’t want my friends to be hurt or dead because of an animal mix up from hunters!”

Granny Gumbo began to think for a moment as she walked to the main room, where there’s a huge open sunroof on the ceiling and some neighbors went over by the rooftops.

“Well I got an answer.” she said, turning a crank of a record player to play music. 

Everyone (except for Pepe, Lou, Milton, and the other guests) were confused of what’s going on.

Granny Gumbo around to look at everyone, chuckling, “You all better to listen to Granny now!”

She set the tone as she hopped back a bit, smiling at them. Then she begins to sing, “Don't matter what you look like!” 

Granny Gumbo summoned a sort of cane as she continued, “Don't matter what you wear! How many rings you got on your finger, we don't care!” She summoned magical rings on her fingers, showing it to the four animals before making the rings disappear.

“No we don't care!” The neighbors (suddenly appeared on the rooftop) singing like the chorus, which startled most of the ‘animals’ again.

Granny Gumbo chuckled softly as she picked up Zee and put him on the floor.

“Don't matter where you come from. It doesn't even matter what you are.” Granny Gumbo sang before snapping her fingers. “A dog, a pig, a cow, a goat! Had 'em all in here!

She turned Zee into different animals as she listed the animals before turning him back to a lizard.

“We had 'em all in here!” The neighbors repeated.

Granny Gumbo chuckled and spun around a bit as she continued, “And they all knew what they wanted, what they wanted me to do. I told 'em what they needed. Just like I be telling you! You got to dig a little deeper! Find out who you are! You got to dig a little deeper! It really ain't that far! When you find out who you are, You'll find out what you need! Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!”

Granny Gumbo got her magic cane out and did a digging motion.

“You got to dig!” “(dig!)”

“You got to dig!” “(dig!)”

Then Granny Gumbo looked at Moe, Herbert, and Webs. They looked like they were about to step out of the room, like this doesn’t infect them.

The old woman got a crate that was near them, looking down at them while they tried to step out.

“Hey, Mr. Wolfy, Mr. Snakey, and Websy.” Granny Gumbo sang as Moe stepped away with Herbert and Webs. They stopped and looked up at her when she tapped her magic cane.

“Hey!” the three exclaimed as she pulled them back into the spotlight to them.

“You wanna keep on running with your lover? That ain't gonna make you happy now, Did it make you happy then?”

Moe and Webs were about to say something but were cut off by Granny Gumbo shouting “No!”

With the tap of her cane, Granny gumbo begins to use some wind with her magic spinning all around the three of them.

“Running means no stopping! Running means to let go!”

Moe and Herbert held onto each other while Webs clung onto Moe’s suit jacket like her life depended on it.

“All you need is to stop and look around.” Granny Gumbo explained, tapping her cane and the magic wind stopped blowing. “Make yourself a brand new start! You got to dig a little deeper.”

Moe and Herbert let go and looked at each other before starting to laugh while Webs started to slide off the suit jacket and onto the crate, looking at Granny Gumbo in confusion.

The old woman smiles down at her while she hops down from the crate and then points a hand to someone as she explains to her, “Don't have far to go.”

Webs looked to see that Granny Gumbo was pointing at Diane, who was dancing Rhonda.

The ‘fox’ looks happy and beautiful while dancing. 

“You got to dig a little deeper!” 

Webs start to recognize that she did feel different when she was with Diane. She stared at Diane in awe, a small smile and blush a little appeared on her face as she started to realize what Granny was singing.

“Tell the people Granny told you so!” Granny Gumbo chuckled, putting a gentle hand on Webs’ back. “Can't tell you what you'll find, maybe love will grant you peace of mind. Dig a little deeper and you'll know!”

Webs looked up at Granny and nodded to her, showing that she started to understand.

Granny Gumbo chuckled softly as she gently patted Webs’ back before she started to walk over to Diane.

Then Moe gently tapped the crate top, getting Webs’ attention. She looked up at Moe and smiled softly at him. “... Moe, can I ask you something?” Webs asked, walking over to him.

“Sure.” Moe said, offering his paw to her. “You want to talk about something?”

Webs smiles soft and nodded, climbing up his hand and up his arm. “Yeah… The question is this… How do you tell someone that you… like or love them?” the ‘spider’ asked a bit embarrassedly, looking at the ‘wolf’.

“Here are a couple of suggestions. Pick a good time to tell the person how you feel and don’t rush into it. Also be your real self and be the better person that you want to be.” Wolf explained as he looked at Webs, a soft smile on his face.

Webs nodded before looking at Diane again. ‘Maybe I’ll ask her.’ she thought, smiling softly.

Diane stopped dancing when she noticed Granny Gumbo walk over to her.

“Miss Foxy, might I have a word?” Granny Gumbo asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” Diane said, nodding.

“You're a hard one, that's what I heard.” Granny Gumbo chuckled as she took Diane to the kitchen and to the gumbo, while her friends followed them and stood by the doorway.

It shows Diane a memory of her childhood with her parents (the one with them at the potluck).

Diane’s eyes lit up when seeing the memory, smiling softly at it.

“Your father is a loving man. Family through and through. You are your father's daughter. What he had in him you got in you!”

Granny Gumbo patted Diane's back and guided her out of the kitchen by a different door, taking her up the stairs to the rooftop.

“You got to dig a little deeper! For you it's gonna be tough. You gotta dig a little deeper! You ain't dug near far enough! Dig down deep inside yourself, you'll find out what you need!” 

Everyone starts to follow them, very into the song.

… except for Ruby. 

Ruby looked dizzy as she tried to follow everyone but kept on stumbling until she just stopped and leaned on the wall, panting softly while watching everyone go to the next level as the song continued.

“Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed!”

“Open up the windows! Let in the light, children!” Granny Gumbo exclaimed, using her magic to light up the darkness.

“Blue skies and sunshine! Blue skies and sunshine!” Everyone sang happily. 

“Blue skies and sunshine!” Diane sang, a big smile on her face.

“Guaranteed!” Granny Gumbo sang.

Everyone sang and held a long note until the music finished as a grand finale, the magic lights shined bright. 

Everyone started to talk with each other when the music stopped.

Diane had never felt this joyful since New Year's Eve of Y2K.

The neighbors talked with each other as they went back to their homes

Lou and Pepe thought the music was still on but Milton snapped them out of it by tapping their shoulders. “Hey, it’s done.” Milton said to them.

The two looked at him and gave (more of tried) a thumbs up.

Granny Gumbo chuckled softly and looked at Diane as she asked, “So, Ms Foxxy? Do you know what you need?”

Diane nodded excitedly. She didn't know what to say but before she could say anything, a loud crash came from down stairs and a loud scream, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!” 

Everyone jumped and looked at the direction where it came from.

It was Ruby… and she sounded like she was in a lot of pain…

Diane was the first to snap out of the shock. “Oh my- Ruby!” Diane exclaimed worried, rushing over to where Ruby was. 

“Ruby!?” Diane, Pam, Emmily Lou, Joy and Rhonda called out, quickly rushed downstairs to help and see what’s going on.

The other ‘animals’ and Granny Gumbo quickly followed after them.

“Ruby-!” Diane started as she got to the room but she stopped when seeing what was happening to Ruby.

There were different colors spinning around the friend.

Ruby was on the floor, she stopped screaming as different colors spin quickly around her, starting to transform her into an animal.

When the transformation was done, the different color lights were gone and Ruby was a German Shepherd. Ruby panted as she passed out from pain. 

The five friends stared at their passed out friend, processing what happened, as the rest of the others and Granny Gumbo just got into the room.

Before anyone walked over, Ruby let out a groan, “UGH…”

Ruby slowly opened her eyes as she slowly sat up and looked at everyone, confused about what happened. 

“What… happened?” she asked, looking at everyone before looking at herself. Her breathing became heavy and quick, tears peeking at her eyes. “What… What happened to me?” Ruby whimpered, fear in her voice as her ears went back to her head and she looked at her hands that just became paws.

Pam and Granny Gumbo quickly went to her and checked on her.

Ruby looked at both of them, hoping there was an answer to what was happening.

Everyone was worried and wanted an answer for what’s going on too. 

“Is she ok?” Emmy Lou asked, worried.

“Does it look like she is ok?!” Diane snapped angrily at her.  

Emmy Lou looked at Diane, a look of confusion on her face. “I’m just asking if she’s ok! I’m worried for her. We’re all worried!”

Diane froze for a moment and then took in a breath, trying to calm down. “I… sorry about that…” she apologized. 

Then Diane walked out of the room to get herself to calm down.

Moe looked at where Diane went before going after her. “Diane?” he called out to her.

Diane was in the hallway, leaning against the wall. She took a deep breath before looking at him.

“Hey… You ok?” Moe asked, walking over to her.

Diane stared at him for a moment before looking at the ceiling and sighing, “I don’t know what I’m feeling… Mad? Upset? All I know is that the emotion I’m feeling it’s at myself…”

Moe nodded in understanding. “Can't blame ya.” Moe said, shrugging a bit and looking up at the ceiling. “When Herbert, Webs, and I woke up after our transformations, I was mad and upset at myself…”

Diane looked at Moe. “You were?” she asked.

Moe nodded sadly, looking down. “Yeah…”

They pause for a moment, silence filled the air in the hall.

Then Diane started to ask, “How are you so calm?”

“What do you mean?” Moe asked, looking at her again.

“I mean you sometimes calmer in situations.” Diane said

“Well, remember I told you about how I grew up with my mother?” Moe asked with a chuckle.

Diane nodded.

“I was taught to be calm during situations.” Moe explained, a small smile on his face. “Ever since Young age with my mother's guidance but not only that but along with some of my father figures.”

“Father figures?” she asked “I didn't know you had father figures other than your mother?”

“Yeah. It does also make sense on how I act and treat others.”

Diane hummed and nodded.

Then they looked down the hallway at the room where they came from, seeing Herbert slithering over to them.

“Everything ok?” he asked, looking at both of them.

The two ‘canines’ nodded.

“Yea… I feel a bit better now.” Diane said.

“That’s good.” Herbert said before pointing into the other room. “Granny and Pam just finished checking on Ruby. We’re most likely going to have an answer about what’s going on.” 

Diane and Moe nodded before they both followed Herbert back into the room where everyone else was in.

The others were still in the room when they got back in.

Granny Gumbo and Pam finished checking Ruby to see what was going on with her. 

“Oh… this is bad… this is not good…” Granny Gumbo said under her breath, shaking her head.

“What’s wrong?” Pam asked, worried.

“This curse is different from the others… The curse is spreading.” Granny Gumbo answered loudly, turning around to look at everyone.

“What?!” Milton shouted angrily, walking in. “Granny! You said that it wouldn't spread unless it was fresh made contact!”

“She didn't touch any of the water.” Pam said while Ruby said “I didn’t touch the water.”

Granny Gumbo sighed and looked at the ‘animals’. “This curse is acting more like a sickness that can spread like wildfire instead of just  infecting a few people at a time…” the old woman explained, worried in her voice.

Pam’s eyes widened when hearing this, like it reminds her of her studies. “Like a plague…” Pam said, very worried.

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and worry, unsure of what to say.

The quiet silence filled the room.

“Is there a way to break this curse? Or is there nothing?” Herbert asked, breaking the silence.

Granny Gumbo looked at him before nodding and pointed at Herbert, Moe, Webs, and Diane. “You four, follow me.” she said as she started to leave the room.

As the four began to follow her, Diane looked back at her friends then at Granny Gumbo.

Diane had a lot of things going through her head and it made her worried. ‘Hope everything will be okay and this will all be fixed.’ she thought.

“There’s one way to break this curse.” Granny Gumbo said to them as they walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

They made it to the kitchen, seeing that Zee was helping with the gumbo by watching it and making sure it didn’t burn again.

“And that’s what?” the four ‘animals’ asked together as they watched Granny Gumbo as the old woman got a spoon out, tapped it and made it glow gold.

“Look in the gumbo pot.” Granny Gumbo said as she got to the gumbo pot, putting the spoon into the pot and begins stirring the gumbo

The four ‘animals’ went to the gumbo pot and looked at the gumbo inside as Granny Gumbo started to chant something.

“Gumbo, gumbo in the pot…” Granny chanted as she stirred. “We need answers, show what you got!”

The gumbo shined for a moment before showing Marmalade with Cuddles in a hotel room.

“Huh?” Diane, Moe, Herbert, and Webs asked, confused and looked at Granny Gumbo.

“Just watch the gumbo.” granny said, repeating what she said earlier as she pointed at the pot.

The four ‘animals’ looked back at the pot to watch the scene.

“Everything will be ok.” Marmalade reassured Cuddles.

(But what we don’t-!) Cuddles started to sign but stopped when Marmalade shouted, “We will!”

Cuddles stared at him, worried on his face.

Marmalade took in a breath, calming down, and then smiled softly. 

“Thankfully, I have a plan,” Marmalade said, taking something out of his jacket pocket. It was a voodoo doll.

The voodoo doll looked like Vinny Wolf.

“Once the shadows come back and we get the Wolf’s blood, things will get back on track. You play as Mason Wolf for the wedding.” Marmalade explained, showing him the voodoo doll. Then a dark smile around his face as he said, “After the ‘I do’s, Vinny Wolf will be taken care of.” 

Cuddles look at him, unsure about all this. (Ok, but what about Mary? She will find out that I am not Mason.) Cuddles signed.

Marmalade stared at him before smiling softly at him. “Don’t worry, everything will be ok, Cornelius.” Marmalade reassured him, putting the voodoo doll back in his jacket pocket.

Then Marmalade went to the door, “I’ll be back.” he said to Cuddles, looking at him as he opened the door.

Cuddles nodded.

Marmalade left the room and closed the door before walking down the hallways.

He sighed as he went down the hallway and went into the stairwell.

Marmalade got something else out of his jacket as he went to one of the walls of the stairwell, drawing a door.

When he was done drawing, he snapped his fingers together and the drawn door started to glow before it became a real door. 

The door was a dark purple.

He opened the magic door and entered this new magic room. 

It was a dark room, full of other voodoo dolls that look like they’re from different centuries. In the middle of the room, there was a table. On it were some tarot cards, a candle, a science kit, and a spell book.

Marmalade walked over to the table, flicking his wrist and the candle lit up.

He got the Talisman out, looking at it with his shadow. Marmalade sighed as he looked at the Talisman.

“Come on, now… I’m running out of time, I need more for the harvest- wait…” he said to himself then an idea popped into his head. Then he looked at his shadow with a dark smile before grabbing and opening the magic book.

Marmalade looked at a page with his shadow.

On the page, it showed how to combine a good soul along with a sinister soul.

“Combining two souls, one good and one sinister, it’ll make a bigger soul. That’ll be more than enough for the harvest.” Marmalade said out loud, pointing at the page.

A sinister smile began to form on his face while his shadow nodded.

Then Marmalade looked at his shadow and asked, “Could you get some more of the shadows?”

The four ‘animals’ were shocked and looked at each other then at the gumbo again.

Marmalade’s shadow showed a bit worried by -body- shadow language.

“Don’t worry.” Marmalade reassured the shadow. “It’ll give us a bigger chance.”

Marmalade’s shadow showed calmer and nodded as Marmalade smiled at his shadow.

Then the vision in gumbo faded away and went back to being gumbo.

“This can't be happening…” Moe breathed, worried as he looked at Herbert, Diane, and Webs. “We need to stop this from happening. If he does this, who knows what horrors will happen…”

Herbert, Webs, and Diane nodded. 

Then they looked at each other before looking at Granny Gumbo.

“What should we do?” Diane asked, worry in her voice.

“There is one way to break the curse.” Granny Gumbo said, putting up a finger. “Break the talisman.”

The four ‘animals’ nodded.

“Ok… Break the talisman…” Webs repeated, recapping what was told before asking, “Then what?”

“I’m getting to that.” Granny Gumbo said, looking at her before stirring the gumbo again.

The gumbo glowed again and showed the silhouette form of the talisman.

“You four, or at least one of you, need to break the talisman.” Granny explained, pointing at the silhouette of the talisman “When you do, BOOM!” She tapped on the form and a burst of light shined and then showed everyone’s silhouettes as human in the pot. “The curse will stop and you’ll all turn back to human!”

The four started to smile with excitement but then stopped when Granny held up a hand and added with some worry, “But… if the four of you aren't back being human again after the talisman is broken… then I’ll try and find something else to help.”

The four ‘animals’ looked at each other, worried expressions on their faces.

“Like a kiss or something?” Webs asked, looking back at Granny.

Granny Gumbo stared for a moment before shrugging. “Maybe.”

That didn’t ease their worries.

“We need to go and stop this from happening.” Moe said, looking at the others before starting to leave the room with Webs. “Come on!”

Herbert nodded and followed after them while Moe talked to the others in the other room.

Diane was about to follow them but stopped by Granny Gumbo grabbing her arm.

“Hm? Granny?” Diane asked, confused.

The ‘fox’ tried to shake her arm to get Granny to let go of her, but the old woman had a tight grip on her arm.

Granny looked at Diane, worried in her eyes. “Diane, I need you to be strong when you face Him.” the old woman warned, not letting go of her arm.

“Um… What do you mean?” Diane asked, getting more confused and worried.

“I see two paths when you face him.” Granny Gumbo explained with warning in her voice, still holding her arm. “He gives you a deal, a deal that you can’t refuse. You MUST say no to him.”

“And if he eventually wins then that means…?” Diane asked, starting to get scared.

“Everyone will be nothing but food and play things to his ‘friends’ while he joins them as being a powerful being… along with you…” Granny Gumbo explained before begging, “So, Please… when the time comes, say no to him!”

The ‘fox’ snapped out of the fear and nodded. “I understand. I won’t let you down.” she reassured her.

Granny Gumbo sighs with a small smile as she lets go of Diane’s arm.

Diane looked at her before leaving the kitchen, looking at the other ‘animals’.

They all begin checking everything and getting their things before they leave.

Diane walked over to them, going to Ruby first.

Ruby looked at herself in the mirror, looking at her new form in the reflection. She looked like she was close to crying, whimpering a bit as her ears went back to her head.

Diane went over to her and asked, “Hey, you ok?”

Ruby looked at Diane and shrugged. “I don’t know…” she replied, holding her hands close to herself.

“Everything will be ok.” Diane reassures her.

“But what if I never-” Ruby started, sounding panicked, but was cut off as Diane held her hands to get her attention and interrupted, “You will go back to being human again, along with everyone else. I promise.”

“That’s right.” Pam said.

Ruby and Diane looked over to see Pam, Emmy Lou, Joy, and Rhonda nodding in agreement.

Ruby started to calm down before hugging Diane, who hugged her back.

Meanwhile, Webs was on a table as she looked at Daine with her friends. She sighed softly and hugged herself.

“Webs?” Milton asked with a blank around his face

Webs look up to see Milton walk over to her. He had a satchel bag full of something. 

“You ok?” Milton asked when he got to her.

“Hm? Oh, I’m ok.” Webs said, trying to sound reassuring.

Milton raised an eyebrow and gave her a look. “Come on, I know you. Something is on your mind.” he said.

“It's just…” Webs started, trying to get out what she wants to say. “I’m just thinking… of asking someone out… It’s stupid…”

Milton hummed softly, nodding. Then he noticed the others starting to leave. 

“How about you tell me while we leave?” Milton asked, looking back at Webs.

Webs nodded.

Then she looked at that satchel bag. “What’s in the bag?” she asked, pointing at the bag

“Some light. Just in case those Shadows come out and attack.” Milton said, adjusting the satchel bag on his shoulder.

Webs hummed and nodded. 

Milton smiled softly and offered his hand to her, so she could crawl up.

She got on his hand and crawled up his arm.

Milton started to walk as Webs explain, “It's just… being on the run for so long and just going from place to place, barely stopping. I just… I’m also scared she would say ‘no’… after everything.”

Milton hummed softly and nodded as he continued to walk. “Well… you can still ask her to see if she wants to. It’s good to ask.” he reassured, smiling softly at her as they got outside.

Thank you.” Webs said, smiling back before then realized something. Then she looked at him and asked, “Wait… how did you and Diane’s friends get here?” 

Milton got quiet for a moment before laughing softly. “Well… It's a long story. A complicated one, but…to cut it short, we got here by a yacht that Emmly Lou owns.” Milton said

Webs hummed and nodded. “Interesting.” 

Milton nodded with a chuckle. “Yeah, but anyways, you got this. Ask her.” he said as he continued to walk.

Webs nodded a bit before looking at where Diane was, who was talking to Pam and Ruby for a bit.

Webs couldn’t help but smile at her. ‘Got to dig deeper and tell her.’ she thought, chuckling softly.

▪▪▪

Author’s Notes: Just to explain, Granny is older and she doesn’t always remember the right things. Like the witch from Brave; she forgot the bit of the spell when Merida left but then remembers sometime later.

[welcome-to-ratterrock]

Hello! I read your FAQ about the animals in this world, but I was curious, what about insects? Are they consider nothing but pests?

Cats and dogs won’t be featuring in our story, but by rodentdom at large, they’re seen as beasts of burden at best and dangerous, predators at worst. They have their own form of sentience amongst others of their kind, but communication between other animals, especially rodents…that’s never happened and any chance of that happening is far fetched at best, dangerous lunacy at worst. After all, what would be the point of talking to your food, hmm? 

As mentioned before in another ask/post, birds are by and large merely steeds for the truly daring of mice - think of them as a horse equivalent, if you will. They can be trained, but it takes a certain daring for a rodent to leave the ground. 

But as for insects like crickets and moths and spiders and butterflies, it’s very common for rodent families to have them as pets! Sometimes they serve a purpose - spiders can be trained to spin their webs in certain areas, and their silk can be used to make clothing. Fireflies can be gently put into little paper lanterns or have leashes attached so mice can  walk around at night. And crickets can be trained to play certain tunes as well. 

Baji had the wonderful idea that the rodents have domesticated caterpillars into big fat fluffy weird breeds, and I know for a fact that Rilla definitely had dainty, darling pet butterflies when she was a wee girlie. There’s competitions for showing off your special breed of caterpillar/moth/butterfly, and flight demonstrations too! 

While there’s definitely a few insects that are seen as nothing but pests, there’s a good number that have become very popular with rodentdom and who have even gone on to being treasured family pets.

[demvalhaken]

Hiiiiiii!!! Here’s me yapping about Insect culture and stuff

I drew this little thing of Mrs. Creek, who’s a Dragonfly by-the-way. This is probably just a doodle cus I didn’t work that long on this drawing of her. The architecture in the back is based off on some Greek temples and stuff like that. The Library of Aldaros is basically where she lives as she’s like literatures number one fan. Also don’t judge, she’s bald on the top of her head.

(Random language thingy cus I like making weird words in fictional languages)

So the language of Aldaros is called Aldarin because you know, but Aldaros/Aldarin are exoterms (I think that’s the right word?) Aldaros and Aldarin are actually from ancient Wasps who discovered the continent and it’s inhabitants (Ex: Crickets, Dragonflies, and Flies) The name comes from the ancient Waspian root Aldar/Aldor which means “less or fewer.” Basically the name of the continent means “Land of the lesser/inferior” to people who understood the ancient Waspian language. The endoterm actually used by its people is Ultoria, where Ult means foliage or flora and Ria means land or area. The endoterm is Ultoria (Land of great flora/foliage) and the exoterm is Aldaros (Land of the lesser) There’s actually unique letters for both Wasp and Ultorian but it’s better to show them in English then the actual native letters. Hold on, let me write them for your own curiosity!

I might change these letters but remember THIS IS NOT MODERN WASP LETTERS!!! This is from around 4,000-6,000 years ago when the term was created.

I forgot to mention but in Ultorian if there is an G-like letter in-between two other letters it means there is great/many of the first letter. A lot of people just write it without the G-like letter but some like to describe it better with great/many.

You should probably know who Bevel Stingheart is by now if you’ve seen my post but for those who haven’t I’ll basically just say who she is.

Bevel Stingheart is a descendant of Henry Stingheart, who was a royal guard like her. Bevel is in a secret marriage with Queen Snow Seaclaw (Current ruler of Wasp City) and is her royal bodyguard. She’s also a General of the People and General of War, as for General of the People that means she can arrest people and do whatever to keep the people protected and/or safe. General of War means that if there’s a war, she’d probably help make plans and get everyone ready for combat/give instruction or help.

I think Bevel is really silly, I really need a break from all this nerd talk help :l

Ancient Queen Bloodlust/Bloodlust 2,000 years ago when she was actually visible to the public. I based her clothing off of Ancient Chinese wears like the Han Dynasty I believe (I REALLY HOPE IM SPELLING THAT RIGHT) I never really had a crown design for her so I just put a giant jade on her crown cus like I don’t really have any Spider culture down just yet BUT I PROMISE I WILL! There are claw marks on her neck because of a recent war that happened in the Ancient Spider Kingdom (War of Webs) THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE THOUGH!!! I believe as of right now the war is about territory, Bloodlust’s kingdom wanted more land as their population was growing but the lesser weren’t cooperating. NOW THATS A LOT OF YAP I KNOW, BUT I LOVE THESE GUYS THOUGH!!! CATECIS IS JUST A WAY FOR ME TO SHOW MY LOVE FOR STORIES

So sorry I haven’t been posting a lot, I haven’t been doing too well mentally and I feel like shit 24/7. I love all of you so much!!! Especially my children (Followers)!!!

(If you have any questions, you can ask. If you like this yapping, consider supporting because there’s a lot of Catecis art on the way)

EDIT: I FORGOT TO MENTION BUT BLOODLUST’S HAIR IS TIED IN LIKE A BOW SHAPE!!! No the hair on her head isn’t ears or stuff like that, it’s just a hair-tied bow. Spiders don’t even have that kind of hearing

[web-novel-polls]

Have You Read This Web Novel?

If you’re in the process of reading this web novel, please choose whichever option best fits your situation. You do not have to be completely finished with it to answer “yes.”

If you’ve never heard of it, please read the description below the cut!

See similar polls and results here!

Humans embody the spirit of all living things, while Gu hold the essence of heaven and earth.* Twisted by his own corrupted beliefs, he rises as a demon, a shadow of his former self. The past fades like a distant dream, but a familiar name returns with newfound purpose. This is the tale of a time traveler who plays a dangerous game with fate, never knowing if each death will bring his next rebirth—or his final end. In a unique world that nurtures, refines, and wields Gu—magical creatures of the cosmos—legends like the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fortune Rivaling Heaven Immortal Gu, Hope Gu and Destiny Gu come to life… And at the heart of it all is a great demon who follows his whims! A story of a villain, Fang Yuan, who was reborn 500 years into the past with the Spring Autumn Cicada he painstakingly refined. With his profound wisdom, battle, and life experiences, he seeks to overcome his foes with skill and wit! Unbound by morality or mercy, he stops at nothing in his relentless quest for eternal life. Read how in a brutal world where cultivation hinges on Gu, Fang Yuan rises above all, wielding his intellect & power to conquer and defy the limits of life itself. Note: * Gu are legendary creatures in various insect forms—venomous worms, snakes, crickets, and more—sought after for their unique powers. Masters refine and wield them in a relentless struggle for survival, where only the strongest and most cunning can prevail.

- Novel Updates

Wiki Link

[lukes-curls]

by the way, i read r. f. kuang’s ‘babel’ the other day and holy secret history, i was obsessed. a literal dream bleeding ink and bound with glue and paper. i have never ever read anything like it— the ingenuity of using a mortar and pestle (figuratively speaking) to grind truth and fiction until the two blend into some frankenstein’d being not unlike the english language. the thesis of its fiction is a function of its very structure.

there is a point to this paragraph. i was brought up aware of many religions (i received communion in my hometown catholic church every sunday with my great grandma, and afterward sipped grape juice and played cricket at an anglican sunday school with my best friend and her nan, read ‘buddhism for kids!’ at the local library when i was eight and now i study theology and english at uni) which is to say i was introduced to the tower of babel parable in genesis veryyy young. i remember thinking it was so curious probably because i was young and everything was exciting and it was one of those moments where so many things align and it just feeds your interest. i think the same year i learned about the story i also started learning french. (i can speak at a toddler’s capacity thanks to self doubt but writing and reading, i am fluent).

coming into my adult years, dragging all of that with me, i wrote my thesis loosely based on this slippery idea of absolution (because really that’s what this is all about— trying to get to the absolute ideas of things) and how we are practically locked outside of the absolute truth of things by our language, first, and by each other, second. babel emphasises this in ways i can’t even fathom or put into words. i guess what i am trying to say is that as someone who was brought up in an in between of sorts, who was blessed and so exposed to a multitude of perspectives of one thing, i believe that absolutes are moot. thinking and writing in absolutes are kapoot. we are fluid beings. we change our mind, nothing is as permanent as a kiss to a backspace key and i just think that we must account for this before we bring ourselves to ruin.

kuang’s mind is genuinely so immense and i would love to walk around her mind for a day. it was so interesting to me this idea of flying too close to the sun, of grasping at rocks and binding to get at god through literature and being punished cardinally for it. lord, deliver me from evil! and forgive my trespasses! and though i’m not necessarily an expert in any of this, just a philosophy/english student who loves to read and build my web of interests, and nor am i necessarily loyal to a sole strain of faith (this was clear when i learned about how the spanish bury god in their architecture), it really awoke something that has laid dormant in me for too long of a time. also RAMY!!! RAMY AND BIRDIE!!!! i cried. like actually cried. i don’t think i can even talk about them. i will admit my sole critique is that some of the characters fell flat to me but this is definitely a sacrifice to make the novel read as an academic transcript, something that exists after (the immortality of fiction is frightening but i love it) (WHY ARE WE STILL BANNING BOOKS IT MAKES ME WANNA TEAR MY HAIR OUT D:).

also i adore how it reads as an academic transcript, complete with footnotes and citations that i implore you to look at as you read if not to learn actual factoids about translation theory then to further your immersion in the fiction. the insanity of writing additional notes in the margins ties into that idea further— in a paragraph, one can TRY their hardest to communicate an idea but there will always be more to explain to successfully convey an idea or action from one person to another. language is an ouroboros— and translation is a product of fallacy we delude ourselves into thinking is real. but still we try! and still it is a necessary endeavour!

the narrative itself pulls from many inspirations, one of which is so glaringly obvious; orwell’s 1984. i mean, double speak— professor LOVE-ll, HELLO! the cantonese robin recites warning father and death. i think gulliver’s travels is blatant, too, among others i admittedly dont recall because this was like a week ago.

anyway i guess what i’m trying to say is kuang’s ability to smelt the idea of translation between languages into the translation between people who are displaced from one country to another and distill it into this potent idea of loss. THERE IS ALWAYS LOSS IN TRANSLATION (which babel proves extends beyond going between one language to another) because of context, bias, and the fallacy of truth. it was immaculate. five stars. i can’t stop thinking about it and i read it a week ago.

[boygiwrites]

Harley D. Dixon 9

An amazing edit inspired by this story! (Cred to Cora_Line99) Harley D. Dixon's Pinterest Board! Harley D. Dixon's Playlist!

📖Chapter List.

Author's Note. New chapter! :)

If I had to guess, I'd say a week has passed.

Our days are spent driving, siphoning gas, and sleeping. We wake up in whatever overgrown pocket of forest we spent the night in, buckle up for an entire day of winding up and down side-roads blocked by trucks or dead bodies or fallen trees, and then we spend the night in another pocket of overgrown forest, feeling just a little more exhausted than we were the day before; dirtier, bloodier, and hungrier.

At least nothing more has happened between Shane and my Dad, yet. We've all been too busy trying not to starve for that.

Tonight, as the thicket hoots and rustles around me, I close my eyes.

It's nice to pretend that time has stopped.

I listen as the river flows past my bare shoulders, undisturbed, like I'm just another steady rock amongst its gentle ripples. I let the water skim across my fingers and wash over my hair. I can feel the satisfying smoothness of riverbed stones on the pearly soles of my feet, and I wiggle my toes against the current, breathing in the freshness of night air. It's not as luxurious as a shower, 'cause showers don't quite got leaves and twigs and dirt in 'em, but I pretend it's luxurious, anyway. I feel the day being lifted from my skin and carried away down-stream.

Fwip.

A flock of birds takes off from the trees.

I snap my eyes open.

On the muddy bank of the river, a dead woman drops to her knees. Blood oozes like thick, brown pudding from a crossbow bolt pierced through one of her eyes. I gasp, paddling backwards, as she slumps head-first into the water. The rest of her mossy body slides in after her.

Splash.

The river carries her away, too.

I watch as the fuzzy hump of her back slowly floats away until it disappears around the bend.

Whew. That was close.

"Harley!"

I turn around.

On the opposite bank, from where he's been supervising the whole time, my Dad swings his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Time to get out, now. Ya clean enough?"

Oh, right. I'm supposed to be bathing. I got a little distracted.

"Yeah!" I call back. "I'm clean!"

I squeeze the last of the suds outta my hair.

"Come on, then."

He holds out his hand.

Quick to obey, I wade through the water and onto the pebbly shore. He grabs my arm and helps me step up over the shelf of dirt, onto dry land, where he wraps me up in the big towel that he bought with us. A gust of hot breeze sails through the forest as I hastily dry myself off, wanting to get back to camp as soon as possible. It's never good news when we find walkers. They've been following us for days, travelling tirelessly through the night while we sleep. Besides, dinner is probably being served by now, since I'm the last one to bathe tonight.

As usual, I'm not looking forward to it.

Once I'm dry, I step into my underwear and my purple pyjama pants, and then pull on my frog shirt and my lady-bug boots.

My Dad packs the bottle of hand-soap that I used to wash myself with and my old, dirty clothes into his pack.

He nods me forward. "Let's go."

We start the short hike back to camp. We step over mushroom-infested logs and shallow ditches filled with noisy crickets; our path lit by a flashlight. At one point, we have to duck under a glittering spider-web, which is pretty cool. I like spiders, especially fat and colorful ones.

Soon enough, we can hear a fire crackling in the distance, and we step through the trees.

We made it back.

All the vehicles are parked in a bumper-to-bumper ring around a tiny campfire, where the group is silently sitting together in the grass. Rick rations the cooked food into a bunch of bowls, mugs, and plates as Glenn passes bottles of boiled water around. We take our spots next to Carol. She takes four bowls from Rick, and hands one to Sophia, and then another two to me and my Dad. Dale hands us some spoons. We don't bother thanking them. There's a grim look on both their faces. They don't wanna be doin' this, but they don't got a choice, and neither do we.

Everyone settles down, reluctant to begin eating.

I look over at Carl, who's hair is also wet from his river-bath. He peers into his bowl. He looks like he's gonna puke.

I peer down at mine. I feel the same way.

"Dig in, everyone." Rick mutters.

T-Dog echoes him unenthusiastically.

Oh, well.

I can't survive without food. I should just get it over with.

I start with the intestines.

There are disgusting crunching and chewing and slurping noises all around me as I inch the brown tube into my mouth.

It's chewy like a frozen squid ring, and slippery like sausage-skin.

Tastes like chicken, I tell myself, even though I know it came from a skunk.

I think about what's inside a skunk. It's got a little heart, much smaller than ours, which I think is what Rick is eating, 'cause I can see little pipe-like things hanging off the chunk of meat in his hand. The fire flutters ominously over his face, his stare locked onto a burning branch as it turns to ash. Then there's the liver, which is now diced up on Carl's spoon. He swallows it one go, like cough medicine. There are the kidneys. Glenn got those, but he's not really eating 'em. He's knocking 'em back like big, rubbery pills instead, so he don't gotta taste 'em. There's also its stomach and its spaghetti-intestines, and then the breast and the ribs, which is the good part, which I'm saving for last.

Then, the most shameful parts are the paws and the tongue and, ugh, the nose and the tail and the eyeballs.

Those parts aren't meant for eating. I never even saw 'em in the freezer section at the supermarket.

But we're eating 'em.

We'll starve if we don't.

With oily fingers and scrunched up noses, we bite and chew and swallow every last morsel of the poor skunk, including the feet and the snout, until it's just a bad memory — Just protein and fat to keep us alive, and not animal-guts. I remember back at the quarry, I used to think surviving meant using a single square of toilet paper instead of four or five, but now I know it's this. It's gnashing on skunk organs.

"Saw a walker out there." Dad mumbles, as he nibbles on the tail bone. "S'just the one, but..."

"Where there's one, there's a hundred." Glenn muses.

Walkers are like ants. There used to be a big ant-hill in our yard, and sometimes I'd just watch 'em crawl over each other, mindless.

"We'll pack up at first light." Rick frowns. "One walker ain't gonna slow us down."

"You okay?" Jacqui asks us.

I nod, staring down at my shiny lumps of skunk-gut.

"What happened?"

"It was just some loaner." Dad explains. "Came up to the river while Harley was washin'. Shot it quick."

"More and more seem to be poppin' up." Shane tells everybody. "Keep your eyes peeled tonight, alright? Who's on watch?"

Glenn and Andrea lift their hands.

Then Morales points between himself and Rick. "We take over, afterwards."

Shane nods. "Y'all know the drill. No noisy weapons; no gunfire. Try to keep everyone alive 'till sunrise."

"How close even is Fort Benning by now?" Carl suddenly asks. "We've been driving for ages."

"Carl..." Rick rubs his forehead.

"Listen, we drove down Lone Oak today. We're nearin' Hogansville." Shane says. "So, we're just shy three days away, I reckon."

Carl sighs heavily, picking at his food.

Three more days means three more nights, which means three more dinners like this one. My Dad skinned it the best he could, and it's cooked all the way through, but it's still a little nasty considering we've only been eating granola bars and tinned fruit up until now. Even the squirrel burgers Uncle Merle used to make tasted better than this, 'cause at least he threw some salt and pepper on those.

"It's not forever, baby." Lori comforts Carl. "We just need to stick it out until then."

"Yeah, I guess." He grouches.

As I suck the meat off the skunk's leg bone, I think to myself, Just three more days.

After a while, T-Dog stands.

"Thanks for the experience, man," He sighs, "But I think I'm gonna turn in."

Rick nods. "I think it's best we all do. We got more travelling ahead of us; Need the rest."

"I know I do." Dale scoffs, stretching.

Glenn and Andrea walk off to start patrolling the area for the night, and the rest of us drop our dishes into a bucket of water to be washed tomorrow morning. I say goodnight to everyone and follow my Dad into the truck. He hands me one of the pillows and the blanket to snuggle into. He clicks off the ceiling light, and 'cause he don't sing for me tonight, I count the fish on my blanket until I drift off to sleep instead.

I swear I hear Shane and Dale arguing sometime during the night.

Grrr...

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of a car engine humming lowly. Groggily, I turn over, covering my ears with my blanket. The noise persists. I turn over again, trying to fall back asleep, but again, the noise persists. And it keeps persisting, almost for a full minute, until I begin to think, That doesn't actually sound much like a car engine. Confused, I slowly lift my head, peeking out the wind—

Smack!

A pale hand, grabbing at the glass.

Grrrr...

It's not an engine.

It's a walker.

It's nose bone makes a tick, tick, tick sound as it knocks into the window, its purple gums and black teeth kissing at me, tongue licking.

I scream.

My Dad jumps awake beside me.

Smack!

He's confronted with the sight of the walker mouthing and groping the glass, and he quickly puts his arm in front of me.

He huffs, "What the Hell?"

Smack!

"You okay?"

"Uh-huh." I answer, "But... aren't Morales and Rick supposed to be on watch?"

They wouldn't have let a walker get this close if they could help it.

He peers outside. "Yeah, they are."

Smack!

Behind us, there's another one. With two bloated, gummy hands, a second walker palms at Dad's window, leaving behind sticky hand-prints and gooey blood. He unsheathes his knife, angrily winds the window down about an inch, and stabs it through the forehead. It crumples to the ground, only to be replaced by another one. Then another, and another, all rushing to pile on top of each other, sniffing the air and clicking their rotten teeth at us. I count them — Three, four, five — Five walkers crowding against Dad's side of the truck.

He scoffs, "Found us, did ya?"

Where there's one, there's a hundred.

He winds the window back up, but the walkers wiggle their fingers through the gap like little worms.

"Damn it."

They start tugging it down with combined strength, shoving their knobbly elbows and shoulders and hands inside. Dad tries to ram it closed, but it gives in, sliding all the way open once more. The dead immediately start climbing inside. I scream again. Dad scoots back until we're pressed up against the opposite window, with the original walker licking at the back of our necks through the glass. I can hear it going, Tick, tick, tick.

Dad picks his crossbow up off the floor and loads it, aims it, and—

Fwip!

The closest walker face-plants onto the driver's seat.

"Where are they?" I worry. "Morales and Rick. What if they're in trouble?"

Fwip!

"Just stay behind me."

The next walker slumps on top of the last one.

He yanks the bolt out its nose and stabs the next one in the eye with it, and then the one after that, too.

He grunts as he pulls it out. Grey blood splatters the ceiling.

"Rick!" He calls out. "Morales! Glenn! Where are ya?"

"Dad, they're not answering!"

Dad drives the bolt into the last walker's ear canal, slamming its head into the side mirror. Both the walker-skull and the mirror crack in half, tumbling into the grass below. He lets the bolt fall with 'em, and winds up the window just in time for three more walkers to run into it, their peeling mouths held agape, and their eyeballs rolling up into their lids. I watch them slobber and moan.

One of them has a hatchet in its neck.

Dad drops back down, panting.

I recognise the yellow tape wound around the handle.

Dad must, too, 'cause he says, "That's Rick's hatchet."

The walkers continue slapping the truck and moaning incoherently as we peer out the windows. Over their shoulders, I can see one, two, three, five, eight, ten walkers stumbling through camp, all tripping over the chairs and the logs from the fire. One by one, they latch onto their choice of vehicle with dead hands, like the RV, which is totally surrounded. I've never seen this many walkers, not even back at the quarry. In the back window, we can see Sophia peeking past the curtains. In the front, we see Dale and Glenn trying to get our attention.

My Dad waves to 'em once he notices.

"Where's Rick and Morales?" He yells.

They get the gist of what he's tryna ask, and they both shrug, which makes us even more worried.

"They gotta still be out there." Dad grumbles.

I scan the sea of greasy heads wandering by. They're all half-beaten, blood-soaked, stringy, and mishappen, but oh, not that one — That one's regular, and it's moving way faster than the others. Another one trails behind it, I realize, slightly taller. It must be them.

"Dad!" I point. "I think that's them!"

"Yeah? Where?"

"There!"

One, two, three walkers are slashed to the ground, revealing — Yes! — Rick and Morales.

"There they are!"

Dad leans over me, opening the door. "Hey! Over here!"

"Get ready to go!" Rick yells at us.

The original walker falls onto its back, and both Rick and Morales make a bee-line for the truck, shouldering their way past walker after walker after walker, until they reach the door. They step over the flailing walker and climb inside. We make room for them as fast as we can. I climb onto my Dad's lap behind the wheel as Morales slams the door closed, panting, covered head to toe in blood of all different colors.

"Go!" Rick pats the dash. "Drive! We gotta go!"

"What about all the stuff out there?" I ask.

The dishes, the bucket, the chairs.

"We have to leave it." Rick shakes his head. "We can't stay here a second longer."

"Everyone good?" My Dad asks him, turning the keys.

"Yeah." He pants. "Got— Got caught off guard, that's all. Everyone else was still inside the cars. They're safe."

The truck sputters to life. Dad stomps on the gas. The tyres squeal all at once, and we tear off into the forest, between clusters of thin trees. The walkers try to cling on, but they're too weak to keep up and they topple over into the dirt. We leave them in the distance — shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, until they look like little stick figures, and then like nothing. The truck bumps and wobbles along the dirt road, following after the RV.

Behind us, the rest of the vehicles catch up.

Rick counts them through the back window. He sighs. Everyone's here.

As branches hit the sides of the truck, he speaks up. "You two okay? Harley, you okay?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Just... There were so many of 'em."

He puts his hand on my shoulder, leaning his head back, closing his eyes. "Tell me about it."

We enjoy the silence — the calm — as we make our way through the woods. I can tell Dad wants to ask what happened, but he keeps his mouth shut for now. Caught off guard? What does that mean? After some time, we reach a break in the trees. We tail the RV as it pulls back onto the highway that we started on, feeling just a little more exhausted than we were the day before; dirtier, bloodier, and hungrier.

At least we're alive.

It's not until we've been driving for at least twenty minutes that I spot the bite mark on Morales' wrist.

Oh.

Rick catches me looking, but he doesn't look surprised.

He just looks defeated.

The next time we stop, it's not to siphon gas or to sleep.

It's to kill Morales.

We all wait together on the highway as Shane and Rick march him into the trees. It'll be quick and painless, were the words they used. Apparently, Morales chose to be shot in the head instead of bein' left to turn, and they're gonna honour that choice by killing him. Louis and Eliza weren't comforted by any of this, though. Neither was Miranda. I feel so awful for them. They cling to each other, a family made up of pain and hurt waiting for the worst to come, which will be in the form of an echoing Bang a few minutes from now.

Jacqui gives Miranda's tear-coated cheek a kiss, and Lori rubs her back gently.

It's the best anyone can do.

My Dad sits next to me on the bed of the truck, watching the trio disappear between the shrubs.

Rick's revolver glints in the afternoon sun.

"It's gonna be like Tank again, ain't it?" I ask numbly, ready.

It's quick and painless, the vet-lady had said, before she poked him with a needle that sent him into a permanent sleep.

"Yeah." He mutters.

He rubs my back now, as well.

It's a bit like Jenner, too, I accidently think, And a bit like Momma.

Sadly, I muse, "I liked Morales."

He grips my shoulder and pulls me into his side.

Together we watch summer clouds pan overhead.

Bang!

Kinda sounds like a firework.

Miranda starts weeping.

Quick and painless.

Maybe for Morales.

But not for us.

It's two days later now, and we still haven't reached Fort Benning.

Miranda, Louis and Eliza are no longer part of the group. After Morales died, they wanted to leave, and so they left. After some convincing, Rick and Shane set them up with a box of bullets, a pistol, and a map, and then we all exchanged hugs. Eliza gave me and Sophia each of her two beaded bracelets. We were real sad to be saying goodbye the other kids like this. Their little station wagon drove off into the horizon, and then that was it — We were suddenly down four people; one dead, and three gone, all overnight. I never realized how small our group was until then.

I think everybody's takin' it pretty hard — Especially Rick, who hasn't spoke in days. I think he was the one that shot Morales.

Problems, I can handle. Full-scale disasters, not so much.

Nobody from our group has died until now, so I'd say this classifies as a full-scale disaster.

I think what we've learnt from all this is that whether you're scavenging or travelling, you can't cheat yourself out of danger.

Still, we've been pushing on. It's what we do best.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the RV, I try re-reading Hairy Maclary again while Dale drives beside me, but it's hard to concentrate. I give up after a while and switch to gazing outside at the rolling landscape. Every now and then, we pass a walker, and I'm reminded of everything all over again.

I'm staring at a bird soaring alongside the highway when the RV comes to a stop.

"Ah, jeez." Dale mutters.

I frown, "What's goin' on?"

When I look out the window, the answer is immediately obvious.

"Oh."

"Jammed to Hell." He sighs.

"We gotta be cursed or somethin'." I mumble. "So much is goin' wrong."

He chuckles a little. "I think you might be right about that."

Glenn walks up behind us and grabs both our chairs, peering outside at the littering of cars.

"Wow..." He sighs.

Dale gestures vaguely at it all. "Just our luck, isn't it?"

"Maybe we can circle back?" Glenn suggests. "There was an interstate bypass back there."

Dale shakes his head. "We can't spare the fuel."

I glance at the fuel meter. I don't know how it works, but I'm pretty sure the E is for empty, and the needle is way too close to it right now.

My Dad brings the truck up besides the RV.

"You see a way through?" Dale calls out to him.

Dad nods us forward, driving ahead to guide us through the wreckage. Dale follows. He steers the huge RV along the narrow path, and we crawl along like this for a couple minutes. We watch in unison as a group of birds casually peck at an empty baby seat strewn across the tarmac. They stare at us with their beady little eyes as we pass. There are car crashes mangled in with the guardrail, and walker-bodies smeared into the gravel. I remember bein' on a highway exactly like this one with my Dad and my Uncle Merle, in the beginning, when people still thought they could drive away from it all. We chose to leave after a while, but many stayed. I guess this is pretty much what happened to them all.

All of a sudden, as we're turning a slight corner, the RV gives out a clunk, clunk, clunk noise.

That's not good.

"What was that?" Glenn frowns.

Clunk!

As if to answer, smoke starts trickling out from underneath the hood.

We roll along for a couple more feet before creaking to a definite stop.

That's not good either.

"Ugh, it's that darn radiator hose." Dale slaps his knee, frustrated. "I knew it wouldn't survive the trip. I just knew it."

He gets up, and me and Glenn follow him outside into the hot sun.

Both ahead of us and behind us, the others hop out their cars, confused.

"I said it, didn't I?" Dale complains, watching hopelessly as his precious RV billows smoke. "A thousand times... Dead in the water."

I try smiling. "Don't worry. We'll fix it."

He tries smiling back, but he doesn't look too convinced.

Shane approaches. "Problem, Dale?"

"Oh, I don't know." He sighs. "Just the small matter of being stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a herd breathing down our necks and no hope of ever finding a new—" He cuts himself off, remembering where it is we're standing exactly. "Okay," He mutters, "That was dumb."

We're surrounded by radiator hoses.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane scoffs.

My Dad jogs up to us, frowning at the broken engine. "What's goin' on? That the hose again?"

Dale nods. "Broken, just like I predicted."

Dad shrugs. "I can have a go fixin' it up. You got tools?"

"A few. Nothing fancy."

"I can siphon more fuel." T-Dog offers.

Carol suggests, "Maybe find some water?"

"And some food." Glenn adds, cringing already at the thought of eating another dinner of skunk-kidneys. "We could definitely use some food."

Everyone looks like they agree with that sentiment.

Rick considers all this.

It wasn't his plan to scavenge any more, but we need to, and we're not gonna get a more perfect opportunity than this.

"Okay," He eventually decides, clearing his throat. "We'll split into pairs; conquer this one car at a time, together. T-Dog, Glenn. See if you can't find us some more fuel. Shane, Daryl. You're with me. We'll circle the area for walkers, make sure it's safe for now. Dale, you're on watch. We don't need that herd sneaking up on us today. Rest of you, don't wander too far. And keep an eye out for any food and water laying around, okay? We'll be back on track in about half an hour, I reckon."

"Are you sure about this?" Lori asks, clutching her necklace. "This place is a graveyard."

"It—" Rick shakes his head. "It'll have to do."

"C'mon, y'all." Shane says. "Let's just take a look around. Doesn't have to take long."

With that, Rick's new plan is put into motion.

I look down at the pink and green bracelet on my wrist, next to Amy's hair lackey, and I pretend I don't feel sad at all.

I been doin' that a lot lately.

Author's Note.

Okay, admittedly, this one is a little filler-y... I just needed to set up the whole herd situation, and I also wanted to spend a little more time on the road before we reach the farm. I still hope you enjoyed. I've been feeling a little insecure recently about how often I've been deviating from canon, but I'm trying to ignore it, haha.

RIP Morales. Season two just wasn't in the cards for him.

Also the Shane vs Daryl thing didn't really come up in this chapter... Oops. Next time! It's about to get crazy for those two, ahaha. I have some interesting things planned for them and Harley.

Thank you everyone for reading!

[missterious-figure]

“Come into my parlor” said the spider to the fly.

I quote from my favorite children’s book (if you haven’t read it I recommend it! It’s on wiki. These are the last few pages) :

…The spider turned him round about, and went into his den,

For well he knew, the silly fly would soon come back again:

So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner, sly,

And set his table ready, to dine upon the fly.

Then he went out to his door again, and merrily did sing,

"Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing;

Your robes are green and purple – there's a crest upon your head;

Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead."

Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little fly,

Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;

With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,

Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue:–

Thinking only of her crested head, poor foolish thing! – At last

Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast

He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,

Within his little parlour – but she ne'er came out again!

– And now, dear little children, who may this story read,

To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed:

Unto an evil counsellor, close heart, and ear, and eye,

And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.

"Cricket, what a wonderful peom! Appropriate dynamic, too~ I indeed enjoyed it."

(This is actually my favorite poem, too!)