#hope you all have a fantastic day!!

[emberglowfox]

weird bugs on a mission

[sun-e-chips]

Friendly reminder that your art makes someone happy, even if it’s just for yourself.

It is ok to make “messy” art, what matters is you got to have fun creating something and that in itself is wonderful!

[rillils]

how do explain stucky from the moment they met to where they are now (together in each others arms) to my friend who knows nothing about marvel

ohh this is a tough one, honey! i think i've got two options for you:

the short answer:

stucky is a compendium of all the best tropes out there, and i'm sure i'm gonna miss a few:

soulmates? check! star-crossed lovers? check! battle husbands? super check! mutual pining? check! 'and they were roommates'? check! best friends to lovers? check check check! long-lost lover comes back from the dead? fuck yeah, check! temporary amnesia? check! dude in distress trope? check! 'they will always find each other and choose each other in every lifetime'? also check! identity porn? extra check! saved by the power of love? you guessed it: check! slow burn or childhood sweethearts? you decide!!! did they share their first kiss when steve was 16, as per a popular fanon theory? did they only confess their feelings during the war? did they only get together much later, when bucky was healing in wakanda? you can pick literally ANY point in their timeline, and it will still make sense! they're all equally valid! you can even have multiple different headcanons at once, i mean who's gonna stop you??? all you have to do is join in the fun! 💕

the long AF answer, aka:

STEVE & BUCKY'S LOVE STORY, UNABRIDGED SOMEWHAT ABRIDGED, part 1/3

all right, let's set the scene:

imagine two young kids, let's call them steve and bucky. they meet, they immediately take to each other, they become instant besties! and as they grow up together, facing many hardships, their bond deepens. not only are they best friends; they are also each other's family. they take care of each other, and they both know they can always rely on one another in times of need.

when steve's mom (and only remaining relative) passes away, bucky reminds him that he's not as alone in this world as he thinks he is: bucky will always be by his side. bucky will always love him unconditionally, will always be there for him, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, and he wants steve to know that.

in fact, he asks steve to move in with him, thus offering steve both a literal and a metaphorical home.

and steve says yes!

SO. they are each other's home, they're living together, they're getting by all right. but then war breaks out, and eventually it reaches their little home as well: bucky is drafted, and steve, due to his many health issues, and despite his best intentions, can't follow the boy he loves onto the battlefield.

it's a very difficult time for them both - so much so that they can't even bring themselves to talk about it.

they have no choice but to say goodbye for now, knowing that they might never see each other again. but here's something you might not know yet about steve: he's the most reckless, most stubborn fucker america's ever seen. he's not gonna let this stop him!!! instead, he goes and gets a very sweet, kindly scientist to fucking experiment on him, because screw it, he's going to fight in this war if it's the last thing he does. and that's how he goes from Smol Steeb to Lorge Premium Steeb.

of course, things don't go exactly as he predicted, and steve is made to be the star of a war propaganda-fuelled musical kinda thingie, which he resents (but he looks fucking precious in his costume)

BUT! he does get closer to the actual battlefield. which is where he discovers that bucky has been captured by the enemy (!!!!!!!) and is most likely dead by now. but steve isn't willing to give up so easily! he'll believe bucky's dead when he sees it with his own eyes. so, he embarks on this suicide solo mission in the attempt to get bucky back, even if it means wandering on his own. into enemy territory. where he would be shot. on. sight. with no protection for his dumb ass except for a bunch of theater props!!! but such is the power of love, y'all.

against all odds, steve finds bucky very much still alive! and as soon as bucky recognizes him, even as confused as he is, he pulls out this beautiful, ecstatic, angelic-ass smile, like he's just seen god or he got high on some real good edibles or maybe both idk, like my man here was having a serious Religious Experience™ you guys

and i just wanna say, they could have totally kissed here and it would have made plenty of sense. but that's true of like 90% of their scenes in this franchise, so *shrugs*

ANYWAY steve takes bucky in his arms (well technically yes he does) and brings him to safety, and on their way there, bucky proves once more just how hard he meant that "with you til the end of the line" from before

afterwards, steve is finally given the chance to fight, just like he wanted.

bucky, on the other hand, could very well leave the war behind and go home; but when he learns that steve is staying, he chooses to stay too, and fight by his side. and he tells steve so in this very intimate, softspoken, delightfully suggestive conversation, which can be summed up like this:

and so they walk right back into the heart of the fight, only this time together, as they were always meant to be!

but. during an especially tricky mission, they're surprised by the enemy, and as a result, bucky falls to his death into a deep ravine.

steve is devastated. overwhelmed with guilt, grief and rage, he vows to bring down the people responsible for his loss, even if it costs him his own life.

and um, it kind of does? cost him his own life?

victorious after his last vis-a-vis with The Antagonist™, steve still chooses to sacrifice himself to prevent the catastrophe set into motion by the aforementioned Antagonist™. he's flying a jet over the frosty expanse of the atlantic, and you know, from the outside, you could easily argue that he could try to save himself. if he really wanted to. but with bucky dead, and the people responsible for all this pain, either dead or captured, it seems like all the will to fight is gone from steve; and so he plunges the jet straight into the ocean, and himself with it.

is this the end of their story?, you might ask.

the answer is: of course not!!!! the best is yet to come, babes!!!

EDIT: here is part 2

[pushing500]

What's it like being a mechanitor?

Being a mechanitor is awesome!! It takes a bit of getting used to at first, having all those ultrafine wires settling into their places around your skull, but after that, you have so much power!! You can get mechanoids to do everything you want with little more than a thought! It's perfect for anybody who wishes to transcend their weak, useless bodies! The first step toward a perfected humanity!

... Of course, there are drawbacks. If you happen to be suddenly spawned into existence with every memory of being a mechanitor but none of the actual abilities, it will leave you feeling hollow and more useless than you ever felt before. Now you know what you could be, you feel the loss that much more sharply.

That would never happen, though, so we probably don't need to consider such a ridiculous, outlandish scenario.

[batsplat]

hi batsplat! i would like to say that you are an absolute pillar of the motogp community on here, like you are truly so so appreciated. both for your knowledge and also for the way you write about things (i think you could write 3000 words on a grocery store trip valentino took in 2003 and still make it super interesting reading)

i was reading your post about your favourite rivalries that didnt include one of the aliens, who would you personally include as part of that list? (versus who is really good but not quite alien status) id also really like to know if (and who) youd count as aliens from the pre-motogp era, and if theres been a difference over time about how often we are seeing aliens or if theyre easier/harder to spot as technical developments have sped up

hope you have a great day!

that's so sweet... thank you that's such an incredible compliment dsdkhfkhfd

about the aliens, the way I use the term is entirely as a historical descriptor, not as a qualitative assessment of any riders. it's a useful shorthand for a specific riders in a specific era, but to me it has limited relevance outside of that era. so to be clear we're talking valentino, casey, dani, jorge and marc - and according to common wisdom this usage originated from colin edwards' 2009 comment:

“But as I’ve said before, I’ve got to be pleased to be finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. “They are riding out of this world and to be right behind them means I’m doing the best job I can and that’s about as good as I can hope for at the moment.”

(jorge discusses valentino as an alien in 2007, see here. which might be complete coincidence, but has always made me kind of curious whether the word was floating around in the paddock in some capacity before edwards 'coined' the term)

the thing is, right, it made sense to treat those four (and later -casey +marc) as distinct from the field, because they were winning almost everything. one reason for this was that they were very good, very skilled riders. another was that from 2007-15, only four to six bikes were capable of regularly challenging for wins at any one time. it was a massive field disparity that quite frankly was partly enforced through machinery. that's why it makes sense to include marc in that term: it's not just the fact that he was very good, it's the fact that he was riding a repsol honda that was the best or second best bike by a long way for his first three years in the premier class. in 2016, motogp returned to michelins and introduced new technical regulations - and for all intents and purposes, the alien era ended. it ended when eight different riders won in eight races that season. yes, marc, valentino and jorge were still the top three in the championship... but it's the difference of whether you go into a weekend convinced you know the winner will come from a list of four riders, or if you very much do not know that. between 2008 to 2015, apart from the aliens, a grand total of two riders claimed wins - dovi on a repsol honda in 2009 and ben spies on a factory yamaha in 2011. both of those were wet races (which of course are generally more open than dry ones). so just to reiterate: a greater number of riders won in 2016 alone (9) than in 2008-15 combined (7). (in 2007, a further two different riders won races - capirossi on the championship-winning factory ducati and vermeulen on the suzuki.) yes, obviously the aliens were very good riders, nobody is going to argue with you over that... but those numbers? they're only possible in a specific version of motogp - one that only existed for a few years

honestly, I don't even really use the term 'alien' to describe valentino pre-2006 or marc post-2016. it's just not that useful to me... aliens to me is a 'pack hunter' thing, where even if some of them are injured or are having a bad day or whatever, at least one of them will basically always be there to pick up the pieces. marc and valentino might have dominated the sport as a whole - but not all of their championship seasons were completely dominant, and there's only so much any one athlete can dominate in the sport... you're not going into every single weekend thinking 'oh yeah they're definitely going to win' (yes, yes, there were two times per year where you did very much do that with marc). which is different when you compare it to the aliens as a pack, where you could be confident that ONE of them would end the weekend on the top step of the podium

which is why I just don't apply the alien term to anyone pre-valentino - it's not because I think they were less good or less talented or less anything, it's because for me it's a term that's more about an era than it is about individual riders. you have to treat each era on its own, and I'm not really a big fan of inter-era comparisons. it's just kind of impossible to say whether a rider in the 1970s is more talented than one in the 2020s, whether ago's numbers are more or less impressive than marc's and so on... the sport has just changed in so many ways over the years. of course, in sports you do generally have this upward momentum where each generation is 'better' than the last. sports has gotten more professionalised, there's been massive advances in terms of pedagogy and sports medicine and exercise science and all of those things - all of which already affects how athletes train from childhood onwards. the young aren't more 'talented' in the sense that they were born with an innate superior ability to compete at the sport, but they are more 'talented' in that their ultimate ceiling will be higher as a result of all these gradual changes over time. these things can change quite quickly even (and if other sports is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if the nineties/early noughties brought some big changes in that regard) - so already between, for instance, valentino and marc there'd probably been a real shift in how young talent is being nurtured

(the most blunt illustration of this is that young valentino's lifestyle was completely different from that of young riders today, in terms of how much time he spent training in the gym, sleeping habits, nutrition etc etc. athletes now can't get away with that much deviation any more, and indeed valentino had to massively change his approach in the 2010s to remain competitive - but of course it's different if you haven't been doing this stuff since you were a kid. I think we can safely assume valentino's 2003 supermarket trips looked rather different from marc's 2017 ones)

being good in pro sports may in some ways be harder now than it was in, say, the eighties, and the level of competition you're facing might be higher now - but of course, it would also by extension be unfair to judge those athletes by the standards of today. also, different eras are going to lend themselves to different profiles of rider depending on competitive trends, type of machinery and so on - even very basic stuff like how tall you are might have helped you in a certain era and hindered you in another... so what does that mean for talent? if we're discussing 'talent' at all, how can we possibly treat it as anything other than relative to the era we're discussing? to me, it just makes these comparisons between different generations pretty pointless... or well, I like talking about some of this stuff in a more holistic 'isn't this interesting' kind of way, not a 'this is why xyz is better than xyz' approach... this kind of thing is also why I finds goat debate such a uniquely boring way to spend your time, incidentally

this is a very long way of saying, I don't have a metric by which I judge athletes pre-2000 as 'alien' or 'not alien'! I think you have similarly dominant athletes, though again it is so tough to decide how much of that is down to talent and how much of it is down to bike advantage. if you take doohan's title winning seasons for instance:

yeah, look, sure, you can call him an alien as far as I'm concerned - if I'm watching these races live I will be expecting doohan to win in any given weekend. I'm still kind of missing the pack hunter feel in some of these seasons, so I won't know for certain the winner is going to come from a very short list. like take 1998:

not really one group vs the field, is it? and yeah, even if I consider doohan an 'alien' in some of those seasons, I'm still not going to call him that - because the term was essentially coined in 2009 for a specific group of guys that one other guy was later added onto. the competitive landscape and demands of doohan's era were so different that it feels off to try and go back and label him or any other past riders aliens... they were phenomenally talented, yes, they were great champions, yes, they can be called as good as the aliens, sure - but why wrench the term out of its historical context? is it still an analytically useful concept if you do so, except as a way to generically refer to a rider as 'very talented'?

which is also why I personally don't describe anyone since then as an alien. this doesn't mean I don't think fabio or now pedro aren't as good as those guys were, I just don't think they've been given the opportunity to have that kind of hold over the sport. fabio won five out of eighteen races in 2021 - and he did so on a yamaha that basically only he was able to consistently get a high level of performance out of. which is deeply impressive - but unlike say casey in 2007, he didn't have those other riders to dominate all the other races. eight riders won a race that season! it's just a fundamentally different competitive landscape. personally, I'd be perfectly content if we don't get another alien era. of course 2007-15 isn't all bad, but for good reason most fans' most fondly remembered eras are either 2001-06 or 2017-19... yes, at times one rider was too dominant, but it still felt like more riders had a shot at victory - and most importantly the quality of the racing was generally very high. this kind of domination by a few mega talents on the best machinery can get drab pretty quickly (though of course a lot of the blame for decreased race quality needs to be assigned to the 800cc era 2007-11, not to any of the aliens themselves)

I'd be quite happy to retire the term alien going forwards... except as a useful shorthand for a specific group of guys who have mostly retired. it shouldn't be used as a way to bash the young stars, as if they just can't measure up to the legends of the past. which would be dumb! again, plenty of ways in which motogp is harder now than it ever has been, though the most important thing is that it's just... different. not better, not worse, just different. sure, maybe we'll get another equivalent to the alien era, even though I personally think it's quite unlikely. if it happens, yeah, let's discuss cranking the term out again (and, yes, if you look at the current season and ignore sprints... if this current trend continues then we can have the debate at the end of the season. pecco and jorge despite all their apparent inconsistencies are currently building a pretty solid case for themselves) (now I've said that they're both gonna crash out of assen huh)

that being said! I don't exactly neatly follow this principle myself, because sometimes I do use something like the term 'alien-like talent' to refer to fabio or pedro... obviously, you can argue this is basically the same as calling them aliens in everything but semantics. so what's the criteria there? when do I use this term? I think to me it's just... instant, 'in your face' talent. they arrive to the premier class and they shine basically immediately. valentino got a relatively sedate start to the premier class by alien standards - which is fitting, because he's not really about that blistering raw pace. still, he wasn't far from being a rookie champion, got ten podiums, two wins... not too bad. casey was on a satellite team, but he got pole in his second ever race and came painfully close to winning his third. dani got a podium on debut and fought for the championship for almost the entire season. jorge got pole in his first three races and won his third. marc won the second time out and of course secured the title in his rookie season. compare that to fabio - pole in his fourth ever race on satellite machinery, fighting for wins in his first season. pedro got a podium in his second ever race and is handily outperforming everyone else on that bike

so it's about how quickly these guys pick this stuff up, how quickly they make that step from one level to another - though again, it's important to stress you can't just neatly compare these achievements! valentino's first two seasons were on 500cc bikes, which were notorious for being kind of evil. some of these riders started on satellite bikes (we're not counting valentino here), and there's also plenty of talk about how the bikes have become more complicated to ride now, making pedro's rapid adjustment even more impressive. but in every case, there is just this ability to 'be fast immediately', whatever the circumstances... and it's worth pointing out that even though pecco had a mediocre rookie season, he was incredibly quick in 2019 pre-season testing. jorge martin secured his first pole position and podium at his second race in motogp

speaking of, those two were already a touch older when they joined the premier class. there does generally seem to be something to the idea that in motorcycle racing, if you are not already very fast at a certain age, you will have a quite definitive ceiling... and from valentino onwards, the age by which you need to already have reached that standard of 'very good' seems to have gone down. when we're talking about talent and throwing around the term alien, this feels like another important change to mention - doohan was not winning his titles as a 22 year old! neither was rainey! or schwantz! or lawson! or... actually spencer was very young, yeah. but I think you get the point. I cannot tell you definitively why this changed, but it clearly has changed. in the 21st century, only two riders have won titles when they were older than 26: valentino (29-30) and jorge (28). valentino and marc were both 27 when their dominance over the sport ended (even if valentino secured titles after that point and marc will very probably do so as well). casey was 27 when he retired. (fun fact: pecco bagnaia is currently 27 years old.) so overall it's pretty rare in grand prix motorcycle racing to operate at the top of the premier class for more than a certain number of years - but the precise age window in which you are likely to be at your best does seem to have shifted pretty radically this century. which should demonstrate how hard these things are to compare... like I said, talent is often assessed by how quickly you are good at something - but if we called mick doohan a late bloomer, it would be wildly ahistorical

and yeah, look, this idea of 'you have to be good young or you will have a certain ceiling' is hardly unique to motogp, lots of sports are like that... another measure of this precocity that's perhaps more useful than just 'age' is looking how long it took them to win a title from when they joined the premier class (if they did so at all, of course). it's generally very fast! marc year one, valentino, casey and joan year two, jorge and fabio year three... and, well, pecco and hayden year four. of course, there's exceptions to this 'be fast immediately' rule - athletes who ended up being very good and title contenders who had slightly different paths getting there. the sete's and dovi's of this world - and to a lesser extent hayden too, who unlike those two was only even really a title contender in a single season... but generally speaking, those riders seem more heavily reliant on circumstances playing out just right to have a shot at a title

or perhaps! perhaps it's going to change! especially if you look at repeat champions, pecco does become a bit of an outlier in how he got there this century, doesn't he? compare the numbers he was posting in his rookie season vs valentino, casey, jorge and marc. and in some ways, you can extend this even further and say he's a massive historical outlier in terms of any premier class champions. there was an article about this in late 2022:

and some more about how historically unusual he is:

isn't that great? you don't become premier class champion with that kind of a rookie season, but pecco did! hey, aleix was a serious title threat in that season, which is a far more remarkable story still! and the thing is, right, if you're studying the current era and are labelling some riders aliens but leaving out pecco... then no offence but what's the point? look, who knows, maybe marc and pedro and david alonso are going to dominate the next twenty titles and pecco will have been a weird blip. but isn't there something fun about believing that a bunch of different riders could eventually develop into title threats? wouldn't it be kind of cool if you don't have to just write someone off age 22 any more? I don't know, I think it's a neat development! I hope it sticks around! there'll be plenty of alien-level talents in the future, but personally I wouldn't mind at all if there were no more aliens

[nuclearanomaly]

✨loadstar✨ happy birthday @windupnamazu !!!

[only-lonely-stars]

gratitude posting on main o_o

I saw another post today talking about fandom etiquette and being respectful to fan writers/artists, and it made me think.

I've heard a lot of people in fandom, rightly so, telling people to appreciate what they're given. To leave nice comments and kudos, reblog AND like, stuff like that. It's all good to hear and a reminder is often a good thing, but it made me realize:

In my 8+ years as a fan writer, I've never received a hate comment. Only lovely reviews and messages. Sometimes requests, occasionally criticism, but never anything truly mean. That is so special and I am so grateful.

I'm grateful for all of you who value my work and enjoy it like I do. This corner of the Internet is really special to me. Thank you.

[thatonegeekygirl]

its trans day of visibility everyone, and you know what that means! *scoots the opacity bars of all the trans folks to 500%, casting the world in a blinding blue-pink-white light* AGH MY EYES

[chocolatewoosh]

Finally put together a neat Meet The Artist thingie for myself, and something I can pin to my blog! Yippee!!

So, howdy! I'm Kailey, She/They, butch lesbian and currently 29 as of writing this! Also I'm Canadian! I like to draw, and I animate for a living. :] You can find me just about anywhere on the internet as Chocolatewoosh!

✨ About Me | Reblog Blog | My Characters | Art Tag | Ask Box ✨

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope y'have a lovely day!

[arsenicflame]

hi so, checking in (sorry, its personal bullshit again, ill get back to the fandom stuff you actually wanted,,,, eventually)

things. are going bad. like, really bad, like last january bad. like im about to lose all my personhood again bad. im hoping its still just going to be a small blip and things will start upticking soon, but. im bracing for that not to be the case. it feels different to me

i vaguely mentioned earlier in the week taking a bit of a step back, and ive decided to extend that into a full break. my queues probably going to run out before im back, though i have slowed it down some. thatll be the only noticable difference for 99% of people. i wont guarantee any dm responses on here, but ill do my best for the couple of people who have me on discord

i didnt really want to do this again but it gets messy in my head, and ive found the best way to control the clawing beast of attention and need and the things that make me want to be a person i dont want to be is to cut it off at the source. its not nice, and it hurts, and it definitely kills the chances of making friends but. i promise you its better than the alternative.

ill see you when i see you, i guess. i hope its soon. i hope this isnt how it feels to be. i hope the feelings that have existed this week go dormant again. but itll be what itll be. i can't change that

[orange-dreamzer]

hehehehehhHEHWHWHHHWAHA

happy birhtday @zu-is-here :333333

gehhehehehe :3 have a wonderlicious day !!!!!!!!!!!

hehehe

<3333333

[inkykeiji]

clari, clari! have you seen the movie "grease"? if so, what'd you think about it? to tell you the truth, it's my favorite romance film! my mom introduced it to me when i was a little girl and i still love it so much to this day 🥺💖

beloved ran!!! (ㅅ´ ˘ `) I HAVE HEHEHE oh my gosh okay so, similar to you, my best friend’s mom introduced us to it when we were like, so young (maybe a little too young; took us many many many years to finally understand what broke in the car with kenickie and rizzo LMAO) because she was a HUGE fan. she had a really cool collectors edition of the VHS that came with the script and some other fun memorabilia :3

anyway, i love that film so much and it has such a special spot in my heart bcoz we used to watch it every sleepover and just like ??? act it out hahaha (*ﾉωﾉ) i often credit grease as the first piece of art that really got me into that good girl x bad boy dynamic ehehehe <3

[blametheeditor]

Voretober Day 31 | ...Believe

Voretober Prompt List

First | Previous

If given the opportunity, would you take the chance to go to space and travel the stars? What if the person offering to take you was someone you trusted more than anyone else?

What if that person is no longer entirely human?

...what consequences would follow such a choice?

MENTIONS OF SOFT VORE

Content Warnings: Forced sedation. Soft, non-sexual vore (only mentions for now). Mentions of body horror. Mentions of experimenting on people. Mentions of death and murder, violence. Being trapped against one's will. Dehumanization. Abductions. Cursing. Darker themes/tone

___________________________________

Fritz sits huddled in a corner of his cage, hugging his legs tightly against his chest, watching what was once a breathtaking view of Earth become too small to make out any distinct features. Soon, he won’t even be able to see the moon. And depending on how far away he gets, the planet itself might become too small to even see. 

Considering how he got here in the first place, he has a feeling not only will Earth completely disappear, but the sun won’t even be a star to find in the sky. 

With a shiver, the teenager manages to curl up even tighter, sending a fearful glance toward the door that sits on the opposite side of the room, dreading the moment it will open. The moment when he finally meets the creature that needs an entryway that stands taller than a skyscraper.

He has yet to actually meet his captures. Well, unless they’re something made of nothing but light, because that’s the last thing he remembers. Walking home well after dark, not exactly hurrying considering how late he stayed out, and then a bright blue light exploded around him. Kept him frozen in place, unable to scream for help as it seemed to crawl over him. From his shoes, up his legs, not missing a single inch as he felt lighter and lighter the further it traveled. 

When it finally reached his head and blinded him, Fritz felt weightless, as if he could fall through the light at any moment. And then he did, finally allowed to scream only for his feet to touch solid ground within seconds. 

He wasn’t prepared for the weight of his backpack, the sudden feeling of his books and papers almost appearing on his shoulders sending him crashing to the ground. Not onto sidewalk, though, onto metal. A cold, grey floor connected to bars spaced close enough together it would be impossible for him to slip through. 

Up until that point, he thought he was dreaming. That instead of leaving work later than he intended, he had fallen asleep in the break room. Was just having a rather horrible and vivid nightmare of being teleported. Because something like that isn’t possible, there’s no such thing as light taking him somewhere. 

But then he saw the room beyond the bars. At the dizzying cliff to his left, and a large expanse of a platform to his right. At the numerous objects next to something that looks like some kind of plate, except they’re all at least twice his size if not more. 

It’s the window that sealed it for him, that this isn’t a dream. He could never dream something so real as an almost distant view of Earth. Where he can only see a little bit of green, but the clouds and oceans are unmistakable. And hovering seemingly in midair was the moon, craters barely visible, nothing like the silver disk that lit his path home. 

Fritz was never afraid of being abducted by aliens, never thought he would ever have to worry about someone being able to take him into space. But here he is, trapped like an interesting specimen waiting to be examined. 

...what’s going to happen to him? 

Suddenly, a loud hissing sound makes Fritz jump, his eyes snapping away from the window and toward the door. When nothing happens, the teenager pushes himself as far into the corner as possible, going so still he doesn’t dare breathe as he tries to ignore his pounding heart.  

Does he know it’s hopeless to try and hide? That something coming into the room is most likely coming for him? Yes, but there has to be a chance he was forgotten. A slim one, but a chance, right? 

Slowly, the door slides open and into the wall. In its place stands a giant, with a shadow that stretches so far it almost touches the cage. And as its massive head lifts up from the tablet it holds, Fritz can feel it’s gaze. 

He wasn’t forgotten. 

It doesn’t move for a moment, standing in the doorway as it watches him. When there finally is movement, it’s only to raise a hand. And then it...waves? Wait, yes, that’s a wave! The creature is waving at him! 

Fritz’s terror melts into hope. Because someone who stole him with the intention to hurt him wouldn’t try to be friendly. 

Well...he might still be scared. Because even though someone’s trying to be nice, they’re still giant. He was still taken away from his home, and he doesn’t think the creature has the intention to just ask him questions before sending him back right where they found him. But they won’t hurt him, and that’s what matters. 

He can’t help the trembles, but he does slowly lift his own hand to give a small wave back, hoping it can be seen even though he’s still curled up in the corner. “H-Hi?” 

Pure yellow eyes that remind him a lot like a cat’s narrow as the giant creature lowers their hand. Then they start walking closer, and what little warmth was left is stolen as the cage starts to rattle in time with every step taken, the shadow slowly creeping across the room until it lands on him. 

Fritz’s chest tightens as he feels an overwhelming sense of panic. A giant is coming for him, and even if they might not want to hurt him, they’re still big. Still tower over him like he’s nothing more than a bug to crush. And there’s nowhere for him to go, nowhere he can run. He’s trapped. 

The creature suddenly stops, opening its mouth as it chitters, making the hair on the back of Fritz’s neck stand up. When he doesn’t respond and can only concentrate on breathing, it makes a quiet coo before making a deep and continuous rumble. 

It seems to shake the very air. After a moment of it seeming to purr at him without making any other motions to get closer, he relaxes slightly. “Um-m-m, can you tell me where I am?” 

The towering being doesn’t respond. Instead, it continues to rumble as it slowly walks closer. Gets bigger and bigger until Fritz feels like he’s no bigger than a spider. As insignificant as an ant. Yet those eyes never leave him, so he holds onto the fact that even though they’re big, they won’t hurt him. 

But then a hand with three fingers is reaching toward the cage. Removes the entire wall of bars directly across from him. Realizes what is about to happen next. 

“Wait,” he pleads as he desperately tries to get as far away from the open wall as possible. From the giant who without a doubt will crush him if they were to grab him. Feels blinding terror claw up his throat, making it impossible to breathe. “W-Wait.” 

His words aren’t understood as a hand reaches for him. He doesn’t know if the familiar sight of a human one would be any better, but it wouldn’t be by much. He’s still tiny in comparison. Still is going to be grabbed, and there is nothing he can do to stop it. 

A shriek escapes when a finger taller than he is touches his shoulder. Fritz tries to twist away, turns to leap out of reach only to be stopped by a second one. Within a second they’re winding around him. Pinning his arms to his side and keeping his legs tightly together. 

“N-No, please, let me go!” Fritz begs. 

Again, he isn’t heard as the hand pulls him outside the cage. Up into the air where a sickening drop that makes his stomach flip. Both the fear of falling and the stare from vertical pupils keeps him from squirming. 

It doesn’t stop purring, the noise a constant background as Fritz gasps from vertigo as he’s suddenly lowered back down to the platform. Starts to feel nauseous when he realizes it’s a table for the giant. One that’s at a perfect level for a second pair of arms to easily move the objects twice his size around with ease. 

When something reminiscent of a syringe is picked up, Fritz clenches his eyes shut as he’s lowered far too quickly toward the square plate in the center of it all. He flinches when his arms meet something so cold it almost burns, his eyes snapping open to see he’s being set on the plate. 

...no, not set, pinned. Forced to lie down as a palm flattens him to effortlessly stop his struggles from doing anything except make him more panicked because this can’t be real, this isn’t happening, he refuses to believe anything except for the fact nothing is going to hurt him. 

“Please, wait!” Fritz calls up to the massive being treating him as nothing more than a scared animal who doesn’t understand someone is just trying to help it. Except this doesn’t feel like help. It feels like something much more sinister. “W-What are you doing!” 

The creature doesn’t answer, only continues to purr as its only occupied hand moves out of sight. 

“No!” Fritz sobs as his cheek is pressed painfully to the frozen ground. Tries to sit up, kick, anything. But nothing works. He is completely at the mercy of a giant. “Stop, I don’t want this! I want to go home, please, don’t hurt me!” 

The only answer he’s given is darkness. 

[captainsweet]

It's The Meaning

For the Rottmnt Secret Gift Exchange!!!:D

Gift for: @temva!!

@rottmnt-secret-gifting

It started with a small Yellow painted pumpkin.

Donnie didn't get it, and no one ever elaborated when he asked. But each year, like absolute clockwork, each of his brothers would paint pumpkins, and they would usually consist of Yellow.

It wasn't a Halloween tradition, Donnie knew that, but he didn't understand why they did it. No matter how many times he said he'd prefer purple, it didn't matter. If they were giving Donnie a pumpkin, it would always be Yellow.

One time it was Yellow and Blue, but only once. After that, it never happened again. Donnie never got anything but nervous laughs and guilty looks as to why it never happened again, so, he never pressed despite his ever growing curiosity.

Then one day, Leo and Mikey suggested painting their pumpkins for Raph Teal. He didn't get it. Raph always preferred red, but now they were suggesting Teal. Yet, Donnie did it anyway. He always added Teal, and then Raph was the one confused.

Donnie didn't get it, but it meant something, and after a while, Raph started to get a slight touched look on his face with every single pumpkin that included Teal just for him.

Next he knows, Mikey's getting Teal too. No sense or reason, Leo just suggested it, Raph agreed with it, and Donnie doesn't think he's ever seen Mikey smile so widely before, and that was a feat to accomplish.

Yellow and Teal. Donnie knew it had a meaning. But, he never searched for what. Not because he wasn't curious, no, he hardly can go a day without thinking about it or about to click enter in the search bar.

Though he still didn't want to search for it.

It didn't matter what it meant, hell, it could mean some of the most vile and cruel things ever. What mattered to him was that it mattered to his brothers. That it made them happy whenever there was some Teal and Yellow on their pumpkins, so why would he ever stop?

It hurt the day when Donnie only had two Pumpkins to give. He dreaded it every time when he had to paint so much Black next to the Teal and Yellow, but.. he dreads the day he won't even be there to paint the pumpkins so much more.

[pushing500]

After fleeing from Monster's Basin to a new settlement by a river in a temperate forest, Buckeye and Magic Man's sapling child is safely planted. Now we can breathe easy as we build a new home for ourselves from the ground up.

First things first, our beloved T'au baby is now our beloved T'au adult! Happy birthday Pro!!

She has matured with the 'heavy sleeper' trait, which means she can now share a room with restless, nyctophobic Bella without issue. As soon as we can, we'll get Euclid to make some proper T'au fatigues and armour. I am going to enjoy drawing tall, lanky, air-caste T'au shenanigans.

The first two randomly generated names for the settlement were "Isk", which sounded too much like "Ick", and "Wessleton", which made me think of that annoying guy from Disney's 'Frozen'.

Fortunately, the third option was "Loyalty's Meander," which was very nice and thematic. After all, loyalty drove us to abandon Monster's Basin and come here, and the new settlement is set on a pretty meandering river—it's the perfect name!

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[dailypearldoodles]

Day 246

Blep :0