#i am inpenetrable

[kilisworld]

I'll still watch it.

NEIL GAIMAN PLEASE TELL THAT AZIRAPHELLE AND CROWLEY WILL BE TOGETHER, I'M TRUMPING WITH THE QUESTION WHEN THEY WILL BE TOGETHER

I'm afraid not. They are barely in it. Crowley dies in the beginning of Season 3 tragically, because of pies, and Aziraphale also dies in Season 3 but hilariously, because of falling in a hole.

The rest of Season 3 is a story about three little rabbits who go to the big city to open a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and their family's involvement with the East German secret police in the early 1960s.

[choropilled]

whenever . i think about their fuckass bowlcuts im ok bc i just think anout debut shinee . Coconut head boys. My life is beautiful.

[polskasroka]

EPIC thoughts after The Vengeance Saga aka my problems with how logic gets shattered in this saga

600 Strike depicts Odysseus as Athena wanted him to be at the very start. She wanted him to kill the cyclops, and he didn't do it because of his hubris and alleged mercy. Now he has no mercy.

Thereby, Athena's character arc stops making sense in regards to what is presented in The Venegance Saga. She's found the power of friendship with Telemachus, abandoning the "I'm not looking for a friend" mentality that led her in her anger. She uses said power of friendship and, in fact, asks Zeus for mercy for Odysseus. To win his game, she used her own wit and wisdom, the Goddess of Wisdom she is. However, "you rely on wit" stops being applicable to Odysseus. The wit, the trait he's best-known for, his most trusted weapon, is no longer of use against Poseidon. It's ruthlessness. It's the lack of mercy towards the other that he uses when arguments fail him. Poseidon has literally taught Odysseus a more important lesson than Athena.

And put your whole brain in it Remember every trick in your domain for this Odysseus' domain is mind, his wit. While he uses that with avoiding Charybdis, he doesn't do so during the confrontation with Poseidon. You'll need a mindset change for this I suppose he did change his mindset, as he says, I'm gonna use ruthlessness Every trick, every skill put to use for this I plan to put an end to all the foolishness I have to get home, put it all on the line I'll be dangerous

The second wind bag ex machina. One with Poseidon's storm. One that he gets defeated with. What. Then, Odysseus uses his trident against him. What x2. Why doesn't he defend himself? Why won't he try to fight back? Why would an immortal beg a mortal for mercy?

Also, it's said that Odysseus opened the wind bag to beat Poseidon. And then it's 600 Strike. So like. Odysseus has beaten him with the storm or with the power of his lost comraders OR both? Or am I not getting something?

OOC Poseidon asking Odysseus how he's gonna sleep at night. I'd rather expect Poseidon to laugh and tell Odysseus that he's finally learnt his lesson.

You can't tell me that Poseidon, being the pettiest bitch out there (love him for that), would NOT drown Ithaca after what Odysseus did to him. He'd damn make him watch and get in that damn water. He would get his revenge.

I generally think that what killed the logic was abandoning the source material too much, a problem that many modern media have. See, Charybdis being in the Vengeance saga fits well, it's just in the different part of Odysseus' journey. But there's no Odysseus beating up Poseidon's ass in The Odyssey. The Phaecians would've worked so well instead of the ordeal with Poseidon in The Vengeance Saga.

Also some nitpicking: 'Cause no mortal can pass Poseidon's storm Does this mean that whenever there's a storm at the sea, literally no ships can pass? It's not that every storm is inpenetrable. And if those inpenetrable ones are caused by Poseidon, who causes the penetrable ones?

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[askzloyxp]

i finished part 1 of the S9 recap and am making my way through part 2, and i just really wanted to let you know that i like your accent. i know it's probably just for shits and giggles, but it did make me feel a bit sad to hear you self deprecate about it, so here's some love 🎉

oh it really isn't just a joke. I make sure to include a gag about my accent being inpenetrable every time I voice, because it helps to defuse the comments lamenting that they can't understand my speech. I've used to get much more hate for it and believe you me, it still sucks to get the occasional "I wish this was voiced by Pix instead".

Generally with the Recap, its deep attachment to Hermitcraft and its reliance on Pix whom I genuinely see as so much more talented than myself, it feels like I never took off my training wheels as a Youtuber, and am just coasting on virtues of others. I love the show the way it is, but there is certainly all the insecurity there.

Thank you for the kind words!

[fanfictin]

"Hey- hey. Sonic."

Someone shook him just slightly roughly, and he managed to blink up enough to see Shadow's usually neutral expression shaded with concealed concern.

"Don't close your eyes," Shadow said shortly when Sonic slowly met his gaze. The latter took a moment to process the words, but Shadow had already disappeared before he could answer.

The computer console wouldn't benefit from physical aggression, but Shadow felt like punching it anyway as he continued trying to find a way to unlock the doors. Eggman's trap had turned out to be, unsurprisingly, a trap, but despite being ready for it, it had ended up actually succeeding.

Now he was stuck with an injured tag along that wasn't even supposed to be along for this mission, and more infuriatingly, had got to this state by taking a hit that Shadow should have seen coming and calculated for.

Then they'd both fallen down into whatever pit like room this was supposed to be, with only a console and an inpenetrable metal door to work with, the walls too slick to get back up to the higher levels with.

He glanced around again, ruthlessly pushing down the sense of wrongness that seeing Sonic quietly leaning against a wall was, blinking heavily against the effects of a nasty head injury.

It was bad enough Shadow was trapped, let alone with someone else. Let alone someone who was hurt because of him and he needed to get out to get to help.

With a huff, he turned his attention back to the console, trying unecesfully to navigate through menus in order to do something about the situation.

But it seemed like a dead end.

Letting his temper get the better of him, Shadow gave up restraint and let a fist bash down onto some of the keys with a growl. Stupid technology.

There was a snort from behind him, one ear flickering towards the sound before turning his head to face it.

Sonic had slipped down the wall to sit sideways against it, which immediately set off alarm bells in Shadow's continued assessment of the situation - Sonic didn't sit when there was clearly something to do, didn't just stop when he was obviously trapped.

He closed his eyes despite the wry smile, and Shadow immediately found himself skating to his side, snapping two fingers right in front of his face on instinct.

"Keep your eyes open," Shadow repeated sharply, "and tell me whats so hilarious."

Sonic's gaze was slow at best, one pupil dilated against the light of the room while the other refused to focus. But his smirk was more familiar, even marred by a bloody nose that he lifted an arm to wipe at.

"You're not the best at computers either, huh." There was no jeer in his voice, and the light teasing felt like the most normal thing that had happened in the past ten minutes.

Shadow stared back blandly. "I've never had the opportunity to know much about them."

Squinting in a way that suggested he couldn't really tell where exactly Shadow stood in front of him, Sonic chuckled. "Fair enough. I only know the basics."

"Id wager you couldn't even read a line of text on a screen right now," Shadow half grumbled, before sighing and holding up a gloved hand with two fingers extended. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Sonic squinted some more, which wasn't very confidence inspiring. "Three? Wait- four."

Shadow pursed his lips, dropping his hand to instead push at Sonic's shoulder when he wavered from being away from the wall's support for too long.

"No." He paused, assessing the situation. "Do you have any ideas on getting out of here?"

It took a moment for the words to process. "Oh, yeah. I turned on my location earlier. Tails'll be here at some point." Sonic shrugged.

Shadow blinked. "Why wouldn't you say that before?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your computer time." The smirk in his voice was clear this time. Shadow inhaled through his nose.

Great, now he just had to keep the usually hyper hedgehog conscious for an unknown period of time. When usually he'd prefer the opposite in such a situation. Being trapped with someone who refuses to shut up would at least be less… involving.

Well, maybe. It may include a fist in a face after a while.

Either way, he couldn't pick and choose. This was the scenario in front of him, and he had to deal with it.

Shadow sat against the wall with a sigh, keeping a couple of metres from his current companion, who eyed him amusedly from a half-lidded gaze.

"Not gonna argue?"

He looked at the opposite side of the room from the eyes on him. "No point. Door won't open, the technology is useless, and this place is big enough to provide air for a little while."

"Hmm. Guess so." Sonic took a slow breath, settling against the wall with his back to copy the other. "Shame you don't have an emerald. Though, you'd've used it already if y'did."

Shadow frowned at the computer instead of looking around. "That wasn't a word. You can't have that many contractions in it," he said, wondering why he cared.

"Eh. Does 't matter if y'can understand what 'm sayin'?"

The question was rhetorical so Shadow didn't bother to answer. The increased amount of slurring to the words was becoming very noticeable.

After a pause, he responded. "What makes you think I would have left if I could? Maybe I do have an emerald right now."

Sonic snorted. "Uh-huh. Sure y'do. Jus' choosin' to stay here w'me."

It was said in a matter of fact way, not harsh or judgemental. Just as if it was a fact that was to be expected. It made Shadow pause again.

"You think I would have just left you if I could?"

"Mm. Prob'ly."

The voice was getting quieter aswell, but Shadow frowned at the wall, thinking about the clear way his actions were being assumed. It struck something in him, though he didn't know quite what.

After a moment, he spoke again, slowly. "Earlier, perhaps," he admitted, "but I would not leave someone in need, that I am aware could not or won't be able to get out on their own. Even if someone else is due to arrive, if there's a chance my presence could stop a deterioration in health, I would often choose to stay. Even if there was the option. Unless it would be more prudent for me to leave and find help, of course. But it would depend on the situation, and how much energy I have myself."

There was a silence after his little speech; it was the most he had said in one go for quite a while, at least. Long periods of conversation were not usually his preference, but it seemed important to outline his principles in a genuine way here. Being assumed as someone who would leave the second he could didn't feel right.

Granted, he felt like a different person these days from the vague memories that occasionally could be recalled of space stations and falling and--

There was a small grating noise and Shadow's ears immediately flicked towards the sound above, entirely focused on the present again. Nothing occurred after a couple of minutes, so he sighed and glanced towards his companion to share the feeling of heightened senses.

"This place is-- Sonic?! Hey!" The sight of a silent slumped over blue hedgehog had Shadow on his feet and crouched next to him in a split-second, mind filled with alarm as he scanned the still form.

A single shake of a shoulder was all it took for the precarious balance of the unresponsive form against the wall to shift, and Shadow quickly found himself lowering Sonic to lie on the floor without so much of a twitch.

"Sonic, wake up. Open your eyes," Shadow ordered, shaking him again a little more roughly than ideal. "Sonic. Can you hear me?"

There was no reaction to patting one side of his face not so lightly, and Shadow swore under his breath. He looked up and around the room, trying to quash the strange panic that threatened.

But it was just as bare and jeeringly empty as ever, and he took a breath before focusing back on the most imminent problem.

"Right. Fine. Just-" He pulled one of Sonic's knees up and put a hand palm outwards against a cheek before pulling him over onto his side facing the room. With one hand, Shadow also nudged his chin up resting on his fingers above the cold floor.

Shadow checked his work for a moment. Though clearly unconscious, Sonic was at least still breathing if shallowly, and there didn't appear to be any more injuries than already inflicted by the time they fell in here. Though, Shadow mused absently, given he'd been here the entire time too and hadn't noticed anything, it stood to reason.

With the room quiet again, Shadow's ears suddenly twitched when a small hissing sound registered. He frowned, not recalling when he had heard this in the last half hour or so. Glancing around, he noticed where Sonic had been sitting against was what seemed to be an air vent of some sort in the wall.

Shadow leaned closer to it suspiciously. The hiss grew louder, confirming where it was coming from. He sniffed, detecting something just slightly off in the air around the vent. It wasn't particularly strong, but there was definitely something off - it certainly wasn't fresh air, nor the stale state that most of the base emmetted.

He leaned back, narrowing his eyes. There was no way to be sure without any sort of analysis, but considering how quickly Sonic had gone from responding fairly coherently to practically comatose, and the fact that this had been, after all, a trap…

Well, Eggman never seemed to tire of new or backup plans.

With a growl, Shadow swiped at the vent cover, removing the metal with a punch that had it folding in on itself. The hole in the wall gaped, the hissing and smell emitting from it stronger now, confirming his suspicions.

Shadow glanced around the room for something that could block it up. The only items were related to the computer he had been trying to access previously, so he quickly skated over, eyeing the variety of technology for something that would be able to block the passage of air.

Frustration reaching a peak, a protective rage rose within him and he grabbed a black rectangular box-like thing with flashing lights dotted on its front. With a sharp yank, he broke it free from the wires connected to who knows what from the back of the box, and immediately returned to the wall.

With a few shoves, he wedged the box into the vent hole, edges crushing slightly in the space just a little too small for it.

But it seemed to fit well enough.

The hissing tapered off and Shadow thumped the box into the vent one more time, making sure it had stopped the gas from escaping. He wrinkled his nose, testing the air. The scent of whatever poison used still lingered, but was surprisingly quickly dissipating, given the fair size of the room.

He glanced at Sonic, checking he hadn't stopped breathing in the minutes the gas he been concentrated on him. Thankfully, either it hadnt been exposed long enough or it wasn't made to cause asphyxia, and Sonic's free shoulder moved slightly with short but steady breaths.

With a sigh, Shadow settled in front of the unconscious hedgehog and briefly closed his eyes. The strange protectiveness that had roared began to quiet with removal of threat, and he calmly soothed himself while his ears honed in on the reassuring pattern of inhales and exhales from nearby.

After a short while, there was a groan.

Ever stubborn, Sonic shifted as soon as began to slowly gain awareness, fingers under his cheek feeling the floor for purchase before his eyes even began to open.

"Stay down. You've been subject to some sort of poison and I'm not sure of its after effects."

"…huh?" Was all Sonic managed to eloquently reply. He forced his eyes to groggily blink open, taking in the sight of the sideways floor and the form of someone in front of him.

He exhaled a sort of 'ugh' sound and closed his eyes again, pushing against the floor with the hand supporting his face in an attempt to rise.

"Hey-" His head was immediately caught before it could smack against the ground when the attempt to push up failed after a few inches. It was lowered gently back to the floor and tilted up slightly, the careful touch at odds with the annoyed voice that accompanied: "I said don't move. Passing out again could cause further neurological symptoms. Not to mention injuries."

Once again, Sonic could only utter a half-formed "…'uh?"

He heard Shadow sigh as the hands retreated, fingers briefly pressing into his outstretched wrist before Shadow spoke again.

"How are you feeling? Other than the obvious weakness. Is breathing difficult at all? Any nausea?"

Sonic blinked and squinted to try and bring what he could see from the floor into view. Shadow's gloved hand released his wrist as he waited expectantly for an answer.

Instead, Sonic turned his head slightly to find Shadow's concerned frown looking down at him. "When did you become a medic- doctor- uh, person?" He tried to ask, trying and failing to keep slurring from his voice.

Shadow's expression changed into a more familiar unimpressed gaze. "I was created to be a cure," he intoned, "So I happen to have quite substantial medical knowledge."

"Mm. Oh, yeah," Sonic mumbled, eyes closing again when they refused to focus anyway.

"Hey." Fingers snapped in front of his face and his ears twitched in annoyance. He frowned up at Shadow, squinting again. "Keep your eyes open. Try to stay conscious," the hybrid said.

Sonic grumbled wordlessly, but let his gaze wander instead of closing again. The room looked the same as before; the only difference was on the computer table, where some of the technology looked searched through or pushed haphazardly aside.

He tried keeping focus by counting the number of edges on all the rectangle or square shaped things, but haziness made it difficult.

There must have been a few moments of time missed, because Shadow's voice had taken on an only parted covered urgent tone when it registered in Sonic's scrambled mind again.

"Sonic. Stay with me. Sonic." Something tapped the side of his face persistently and Sonic screwed up his expression in distaste.

"Ngh," he said eloquently. Heavily, he managed to open his eyes yet again.

The next unknown amount of time passed in a similar manner. Shadow snapped at him every now and again as Sonic drifted in and out of consciousness, but the constant presence nearby gave a consistent feeling of safety despite the numbness and confusion and slow seconds.

After a while, though, when Shadow shook his shoulder roughly in an attempt to get him to come round and take a some deep breaths to see if that helped to stave off unconsciousness, there was a commotion outside the room.

Both hedgehogs glanced around from their respective positions on the floor - sitting and lying - as the metal door seemed to take several hits from the other side, clanging in a way that made Sonic wince in typical head injury sensitivity.

"Sonic?! Are you in there?" A shout came muffled from the other side inbetween attacks, and beside him, Shadow stood up, an uncharacteristically clear look of relief on his face as he walked towards the metal to help the others break in.

Backup had arrived.

[mousegirlheart]

No more owl just emp

i am inpenetrable against owls and all an emp will do is let me nap im unstoppable

[the-jovian-plutonian-effect]

i pretend

to be tough, inpenetrable by any sharp object or blunt tool

i allow my bones to break

skin tear

chest crack open to bloody the waters and reassure that its wine to be shared by the communion

take as much as you need

take as much as you want

take it all

i will give and give and give until there is nothing left of me

maybe there was nothing to give to begin with

maybe that is why i am here bleeding out in open water, hoping for a chapel when all i find is waves that take me under

is it really sacrifice if there is nothing to be offered?

[foxymoxynoona]

Oh god foxy😭😭 I usually wait a bit before writing to you so that I don’t end up giving you a whiplash like I did with ✨the breakup✨ in flux 💀 but damn it this one hit me right in the feels😭. Personally, I know Sasha’s life has been shitty but every time you go into detail about how shitty it actually was it’s like I never fully realized it. When it got to the “scars in my bones, teeth, immune system, digestive system” part I had to stop for a few minutes and go watch videos of puppies playing🙃. I can’t even imagine how I will be (or how everyone including JK will be) when she tells him about the rest. And the way you portrayed the “I feel bad for shitty things happening in the world but it’s not compatible to what I feel when these things happen to people I care about” feeling so perfectly. Some sort of guilt in being privileged and not being able to make it better for them. ALSO: Sasha’s emotion when his family included her in their traditions was so beautiful to read. It was about been seen and recognized in a culture that doesn’t belong to her and being accepted. TMI but it’s one of my biggest fears that of not being accepted or liked by the family of whoever (or IF ever😅) I end up with. I saw unnecessary hurtful family drama happen one too many times and it’s so painful but for what?! And maybe it’s just me but appreciating the culture of the people you love feels so… intimate? I always love to think about it.

Ugh why am I being so sappy and emotional I’m swear I’m a bitch 98% of the time. See this is why I wait before writing you, give me a minute I’ll go back to being a sarcastic ass😫

PS. Last chapter! It’s going to break me, I know😫 I have a feeling it’s going to end with a twist… you surely wouldn’t leave me hanging like that tho, right?🫣🫣. OH I have a question I’ll regret asking: let’s say you give this book a 7/10 for pain and angst. Based on this scale, what would the number be for the next book? Should I cry? Should I scream? Should I cry as I scream?😃

🌸

I hate to break it to you but I guess we only see the 2% because you have never seemed like a bitch in your notes haha. Nice try with your lies!! And hey, I love the immediate unfiltered response to chapters, though you are notably not drinking this time. Those are always even funnier 🤣

The cognitive dissonance between Sasha now and Sasha as a child is so real even she feels it, definitely not surprise Jungkook is still not quite able to grasp the reality of it. Who could? Maybe it makes more sense as this book has blurred what previously looked like an inpenetrable wall boxing up her past, but still, I think what you said is probably what JK will always think when she tells a story: "I know Sasha’s life has been shitty but every time you go into detail about how shitty it actually was it’s like I never fully realized it."

Also I don't know that this comforting about the other culture significant other thing, but you and your future partner can figure out how to adapt to anything. It's tragic when it's not working, but a good partner won't just leave you to struggle and hurt if things don't align well. I'm confident you'll find your way no matter what life throws at you, even if it's impossible to predict now what that'll look like <3

Soooooon for the last chapter!! Comparing to the next book though... I mean the break up in this was SUCH high angst, I think I felt like it was higher than a 7 to me. Writing Sasha's depression fucked me up. The next book shifts a little more to Jungkook, to some of those threads you may have noticed are still dangling --some of you have been pointing those out in comments 😎 I didn't forget.

SO... it's different but soem of you may find the next book almost or just as painful but I think the pain is mostly a slower burn than how sudden this one hit? I can't wait to see what y'all think!

[artcalledwrap]

Charlie Ettes What I would have been In a part With Charlie H H T! Headquarters and Headquarters Transportation ?ettes! Weak mind in shame Republican’s For letting Trump A walk again See my si you see my finger! No comments on this part With Gabby Sound off girlie Surely And the Charlie ettes folks! Head quartering you In you and your so you are dumb skulls!!!!!!!!! PBS 23:00 minutes in Can’t add me own comments! But here on Artcalledwrap Has no sense To be here but I must add to the Rhetoric in one side of political party That’s half Thee other pronounce correct I just can’t We got fired 26:00 It does worsen I need nicotine obliterated wanting! Charlie’ettes Something from a video game Choking on my veins Well oh Woman X that thumb over three Cross that thumb over three Hope to God Cross that thumb over three Kick the legs After eaten just watering Predator takes you To eat later or have you now Cross criss more than in jeopardy In a Trump Party Let’s cognitive test Anyone, mics Debate reeds in the wind Pussy willows Was that how Biden was debated? Under closed mics It should change a perspective Trump-ettes I wrote that! Will I be gone to further! Am I absurdly thinking by surrounding’s I can write The Smallest And Mean The Mostest I can write The Smallest And Mean The Mostest After my thought’s you ‘ettes AMTY After my thoughts you AMTY After my thoughts you ‘Ettes AMTY Count yourself! I can write The Smallest And Mean The Mostest Charlie ‘Ettes That was just dumb and stupid! As AMTY Cross a thumb! Cross a thumb! Cross a thumb! X’s9 Add together x’s7add together two integers X’s the 9 it will always equal nine That’s the power In movies only up to three Add me as outlandish Through times We’ll give and give again The roevswade is not in your way Produce become It’s Pink Floyd Backwards VD J JDVanceMT VanceTM TVM Fucted’Up in yo head’s : a needed colon Assholes<greaters!?startersofPro2025…..,law —can’t debate {pussy in my being}always needing my following dumb$they give me2keep#’sgoing*inpenetrations In Trump-ing it, glorified golden Let me drain on@Trumphimself<understatement~hablointheeSpanish,whatofmefromEstonia,inAmericaorjustgatheringduty The soldiers read it Small caption For meanest caption The Charlie-Ettes It’s cute!!!!!!!!!!

[fragileizywriting]

she is, quite literally, strapped to a deskchair, with no escape.

and yet.

and yet.

"don't," mister bug tries.

"i will," lady noire replies, her silent boots making a slow climb up the desk. she's trying to tip the chair, or at least that's what he understands, because the chair is leaning, and she is grinning, and he is getting more and more exhausted by the minute.

"stop it. you tip that chair over, i'm not picking you back up."

"don't need you to."

"you're gonna get stuck on the floor."

"i can figure myself out, thanks."

"believe me, you won't. the center of gravity on that thing is not where you think it is."

she drops her legs back down with a huff, and with it, the chair bobs back into place with a sharp crack. "you know, when i imagined i would get mister bugged to a chair—"

"—that's not a phrase."

"—with your super-duty rope, i imagined it would be a little more..." she waits a few seconds to find a word, large hexleather ears swiveling to noises he can't hear. "sexy?"

"you really have a crush on me, huh?"

"oh, god," she mumbles, all green eyes and little hearts for pupils and breath heaving though she hasn't done anything to warrant the big inhale, "if only you knew how much i'm obsessed with you, buggy boy."

"stop that. i have an actual name."

"you're the man of my dreams," she continues, biting her lip in a way that— yeah, okay, sure, he can see why there are people who think she's attractive, but at most he sees her as an annoyance. she's not evil by any means, more like a fan that wants to interrupt his plans on beating the akuma, all for a sake of a kiss or two. he's not sure he can trust her; at no point in these years has she admitted to an allegience with hawkmoth, but she makes no actual effort to help on the regular. sometimes she does, but that's very rare occassions. "usually when i'm tied up like this, you're wearing a lot less clothes, though. who am i to complain? love me a man in a suit, that's for sure!"

this time, he finally approaches her. reaching up towards her mouth, which is his first mistake, he doesn't realize that she's barely making any effort at all to move her hands— in a flash, her teeth snap, and her fangs dig into his skin. he doesn't panic, though he probably should; though her teeth get into his (supposedly) inpenetrable skin, and there's pitters of blood, he's more impressed at how his lightning reaction is to grab her by the root of her hair and start to pull.

the two of them are at a standstill, and it... it feels refreshing, actually, to find someone who can keep him on his toes.

"let go," he tells her, soft and smooth, though his heart is anything but.

she's refusing. staring at him in the eyes as she flexes her jaw and continues to dig her very, very sharp teeth into him.

he just pulls harder on her hair.

"let go," he tells her again. "i'm gonna keep pulling your hair until your spine pops out. you know i have the strength to do it."

"kinky," she says, or at least that's what he hears, because her mouth is busy. when she finally winces enough to let go, she groans, because he's a man of his word, and sags back into her chair. "ow. god, ow."

"tell me about it," he hisses out, cradling his injury. he brings his hand closer, inspecting the wound with a frown. she got him good. thank god for the hexleather; his palm would've shattered by her teeth... that's very impressive. "what was the plan there?" he asks, ignoring the way she licks her lips when he licks at his own fingers.

"look between your legs," she tells him, eyes blazing green. "someone likes it a little too much when he bleeds. all i was doing was providing him with that interest."

[housecatclawmarks]

I really want to be held and I don’t mean that in a romantic way I just want someone to bring me a cup of warm milk with honey and turmeric and hold me and tell me theyve got me and its gonna be okay!

[linkspooky]

Eren Jaeger’s Final Words

So there are many people unimpressed with the final statement given by Eren’s character, either finding it inconsistent with the build up to this point, or too ambiguous a motivation for trampling all over the world. I’m not really here to talk about the quality of the story, whether it was good or bad, because I don’t really care. However, I think it’s fascinating what the text is trying to say about Eren’s character and his motivation. 

This is why, “I don’t know, shrug” is both an answer and not an answer to why Eren did what he did in the end. For making my point in this analysis, I’ll be talking about Eren’s character from Marley on showing both the Eren that appeared before Reiner, the one that talked to Zeke, and finally the one Armin saw are all the same person. 

1. And Now for Something Completely Different

Before I even begin though, let’s talk about something entirely different. My favorite episode of Doctor Who is from the 4th Doctor Era, entitled “Genesis of the Daleks” first broadcast around 1975. What makes this episode my favorite episode is both the premise, and the question it asks. If you haven’t watched Doctor Who the basic premise is the main character is a time traveler who can go everywhere and everywhen in the universe. One of his common enemies is the Daleks, a race whose goal is to kill everything else in the universe. The Time Lords order the Doctor to go back in time to the era the daleks were created, and prevent their creation in order to prevent every person they would eventually kill. 

He goes do the Dalek homeworld, and meets the scientist who created them Davros. Eventually, the doctor fails enough that he’s not able to prevent their creation, but he could, wipe them out when they were just newly born children and completely innocent. The doctor decides not to kill them right then because that would be a pre-emptive genocide, and the Doctor is a pacifist. When Davros witnesses him making this choice it prompts this conversation one of my favorite in all of television. The link to the clip is here if you’re interested. [Source.]

Davros: "Now, future errors will be come victories. You have changed the future of the universe, Doctor." Doctor: "I have betrayed the future. Davros, for the last time, consider what you're doing. Stop the development of the Daleks." Davros: "Impossible. It is beyond my control. The workshops are already fully automated to produce the Dalek machines." Doctor: "It's not the machines, it's the minds of the creatures inside them. Minds that you created. They are totally evil." Davros: "Evil? No. No, I will not accept that. They are conditioned simply to survive. They can survive by becoming the dominant species. When all other life forms are suppressed, when the Daleks are the supreme rules of the universe, then you will have peace. Wars will end. They are the power not of evil, but of good." Doctor:"Davros, if you had created a virus in your laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact, a virus that would destroy all other forms of life, would you allow its use?" Davros: "It is an interesting conjecture." Doctor: "Would you do it?" Davros: "The only living thing, a microscopic organism reigning supreme... A fascinating idea. Doctor: "But, would you do it?" Davros: "Yes... yes..." [ Davros raises a hand as if holding the metaphorical capsule.]

Davros: "To hold in my hand a capsule that contains such power, to know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure of my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything... Yes, I would do it! That power would set me above the gods!

Davros’ motivations seem at first brush look one-note and evil, just another mad scientist playing god. However, what makes the conversation great is the context it takes place in. Here is the choice offered to the doctor, kill a race that he knows will go on to make war and kill innocents in the future in their infancy before they have done anything wrong, or don’t kill them and ensure the future you know will happen. 

The Doctor isn’t saying that his choice is the right one. He’s not saying he’s doing good by choosing not to slaughter an innocent race. He’s saying, he can’t bring himself to make that choice. In that situation he chooses not to choose, because it would be against his pacifist believes to choose either way. Which Davros at first, takes to mean the Doctor siding with him. However, when they begin to debate it, notice how they’re not talking about what is the philosophically correct choice to do. The doctor hammers in this point, would you do it? Would you do it? After getting Davros to admit that yes, he would do it, his motivation becomes much clearer, he doesn’t actually care whether his actions result in a good thing or a bad thing, he simply wanted to be the one who got to choose. 

What does Davros want? The power that surpasses a normal human being’s ability to choose. Davros himself is basically written to be pure evil, but his desire itself is a little more complex. Davros is a person lacking in agency, if you tear him away from his support system he’ll die within thirty seconds. He designs what he believes is the perfect race capable of conqueringthe universe which are reflections of him. They’re soft little squid creatures in mechanical shells which are inpenetrable. Davros himself cannot seize that power, he is inferior because he’s attached to the life support system (in his own mind), so the power he wants instead is the power to make the choice to unleash them upon the world. 

If the Doctor by failing to make that impossible choice in the situation, by not wanting to even hold the capsule in his hands and have that ability to choose remains a man, then Davros chooses to throw away his humanity (which he ties to his inferiority and weakness) and becomes a god instead. To tie my long tangent which just shows how much of a geek I am back to Eren, Eren’s choice wasn’t actually about bringing a good result or a bad one at all. He simply wanted to choose. People who are lacking for agency, who feel powerless and inferior to tend to grasp for it. They try to fix external circumstances instead of internally facing what is within them, because they can’t bear to face it (hence the complex about being inferior in the first place). 

People often compare Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul to Eren because their stated motivation bears some resemblance “we were doing this all to protect our friends”, however, it’s important to grasp that Kaneki and Eren are liars and unreliable narrators both. Their stated motivation isn’t necessarily true. I don’t think the final chapter is as clear as it could have been in nailing down the finer points of this, but Eren does in fact change his stated motivation from “I was doing it all to set up you as heroes of the world” to “I would have done it anyway even if you didn’t come to stop me” to “I don’t know. I just wanted to.” So, the fact that Eren will directly lie about his motivation and try to rationalize his actions and even switch stories in the space of one conversation is at least established. 

So to bring the comparison back to Kaneki, both Eren and Kaneki lie about their external motivations that they are doing this for their friends when really they act because of unacknowledged internal motivators. They are secretly selfish, while presenting their actions as some kind of great sacrifice they’re making for the sake of others. The deepest we ever dig into Kaneki’s head he makes this statement. 

I’m going to do something that will make everyone love me. Good, bad, it could be anything. After that, I wanna die heroically!

Eren and Kaneki aren’t the same because they’re brave people who fight for their friends, it’s because internally they’re pathetic and unlovable. They’re so starved for agency and attention that they’ll do anything for it, and they just don’t care about the consequences for their actions. Kaneki also, later on in the manga engages in mass slaughter for once again what is a pretty bad reason. It’s not to protect someone or for the sake of someone else. It’s because he’s lonely and wants comfort. 

Kaneki doesn’t care about what he’s doing or the consequences of his actions, he’s desperate and wants to do what will immediately gratify him in the moment. He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing will unleash mass slaughter and have greater consequences because he’s not thinking about that. 

Compare this to the doctor’s choice. The doctor knows the direct result of his actions, if he does not abort the daleks he will fail to prevent the deaths of innocent people. Knowing those consequences he says he still won’t make the choice because he believes his pacifist principles are something he won’t bend on. Kaneki, and Eren both have on principles, or no reasons. They just do whatever in the moment, and make up a reason after the fact. For Touka, For his friends, because he wanted to, because of freedom, because why not? 

Kaneki and Eren can construct no good reason for their actions, and no principles behind their actions, because unlike the doctor, they don’t have a developed enough and they’re not capable of making measured choices. They steal away agency because they’ve been deprived of it, they want the feeling of power and control that comes with making the choice, but they don’t want the responsibility for it. The doctor knows if he doesn’t choose to wipe out the Daleks he’s responsible for that choice, but can’t bring himself to kill. His actions are pacifistic. However, Eren and Kaneki choose to kill in the same situation, and their actions inevitably cause the conflict to accelerate. The Doctor remains a man, Kaneki and Eren do not. 

What kind of person would want to become a god anyway? 

A person pathetically, incapable of feeling alright as a human being. 

That’s why Kaneki and Eren make the choice to become monsters, because they’re incapable of living with themselves, or their actions as people. Either way they can’t live with it, hence why, Kaneki’s stated motivation is I’ll make everyone love me and then I’ll just die. Hence why the person who is making this statment is a childish version of him. 

There is no good reason for what Eren does. That sounds like a cop-out answer after making you read all this long, but what is a good reason for killing people? This is a lot of rambling but I hope I’ve at least established that Eren’s internal reasonings make no sense, his internal mechanisms at least do. The reason he doesn’t come up with a reason is because he didn’t actually care about the result of his actions, he just wanted to be in the position to choose. He wanted absolute agency because he was denied agency like a child, and as a forever stunted child, he never grew up to realize that most people in the whole world eventually make compromises and live on with sadness instead of getting to do whatever they want. 

Words that Eren was told again and again but failed to listen to. He’s not the only person that suffers in the world. He’s not the only person that’s lost people. He’s not the all-suffering protagonist of reality, he’s just one personin the greater scheme of things. However, the ability to compromise like that. To realize that other people exist besides you, that they have feelings separate from yours, that you are not the protagonist of reality is what an adult does, and what Eren can’t do. It’s easier to become god apparently, throw his whole life away as a child soldier making the ultimate sacrifice then just try growing up. 

What’s the point of writing a character with such a pathetic motivvation? It’s because it’s human. 

To badly misquote Jung, most people assume they are nice people when really they are in fact jerks. The reasons can be very complex, but sometimes it’s just as simple as not being able to look past your own ego and understand people feel differently than you do. Eren cannot accept other people, whether they be his friends, the comrades he’s fought with this entire time, the adults trying to guide him, he is just so incapable of accepting them that he regresses into a child making selfish demands of the world. It seems inhuman but imagine Eren in a completely different setting. What if Eren were just a shut-in? Just a teenager who didn’t leave his room. A fundamental ability to accept other people would sabotage all his other attempts to grow up and leave his room, and he’d choose to remain a child forever. The stakes are different, the situation is different, but the internal mechanisms are unmistakably human. 

2. All Erens is the Same

Okay, here’s where I actually try to prove that Eren’s character arc is consistent with the story. What was revealed in 139 at all wasn’t a 180, and wasn’t a reveal that secretly Eren had good intentions all along. He never had good motivations, or selfless one. From beginning to end he was a selfish child, and his reasoning was always that of a stunted individual unable to understand the feelings of others but placing his own feelings as far more important.

What Eren does in 139 is rationalizing and changing his answer, which he has done several times before that point anyway, and is therefore consistent with his behavior up until that point. It’s important to acknowledge that Eren models himself, not after Grisha, but rather Eren Kruger. The foil to Grisha and the reaction to Grisha’s bad parenting is Zeke. The person who Eren makes similiar choices to is Kruger says the reason he picked Grisha is the eyes he possessed in childhood. 

The thing about Kruger is, textually, Kruger fucking sucks. He says it himself. He claims he was doing it for the sake of helping others, and yet, all he ever felt like he was doing, was torturing people, and throwing them to the dogs. He kept saying he had good motivations, but his actions were repeated brutal violence, over and over again. He contributed more to the conflict than he helped to resolve it. 

At the end of his life, Kruger says once again he doesn’t believe what he’s done has changed anything, and doesn’t believe he himself hs changed. He’s still the child with hatred in his eyes. His reason for passing it onto Grisha is because he knew Grisha wouldn’t grow up either, and would keep that inside of him. Kruger failed to grow, Grisha failed to grow, in a way that mattered, in time to make an actual change. They only ever made things worse, and that is, the model we are supposed to parallel Eren to. 

Now this is at the same time that the Attack Titan’s future vision powers are shown to us. The question a lot of people are asking is if Eren had free will in his choice, or he was fated to make that choce all along. The answer is. No. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not at all. The fact that Eren was destined to do it, is yet another excuse, the like seventh change of motivation that Eren gives us. “I saw it happen in the future so I did everything I could to make it happen, but I didn’t think I had a choice this was the only way to make you guys hero,” Eren says, and then five seconds later. “I didn’t know what would happen , I probably  would have done it anyway even if I knew you guys were all going to die and fail to stop me.” 

Eren is once again making excuses, and avoiding all kinds of responsibility. If he is the chosen one, if his actions are controlled by fate, if he’s a god, if he’s a devil, he is not human and therefore he is not responsible. Eren wants the power to decide the fate for the world, but will do anything but accept responsibility for that choice. Eren wants to be Eren the bloody conqueror, but he’s not even self-aware enough to see himself as a bad person he can’t even own that so when confronted on his actions he reduces himself back to a child, and evades responsibility. Eren’s own motivation, his stated motivation is for no reason, however, the reasons he avoids the guilt like this are complex in their mechanisms as I wrote about above. The simple question is if Eren saw this future why did he not try to stop it? The simple answer is because he did not want to. 

There are a million and one excuses Eren has for why he thought the future could be avoided, but his actions tell a different story. He didn’t lift a finger to try. He spent the next four years making rationalizations for what he eventually would do. I will now establish, Eren was actually given several oppurtunities to stop, and then he just did not stop. 

In the Reiner and Eren scene while Tybur is speaking in the background, Eren is offered a choice. Quite literally, Tybur is narrating the same story that Eren wants to set up. Become the devil that tried to destroy the world, so the heroes (his friends) will defeat him. He’s given the chance to be genuine and talk things out with Reiner and what does he choose. 

He chooses to accelerate. He could have stopped. Remember how Reiner was practically begging him to talk things out? Not only that but Eren sees that Reiner’s stated motivations for doing what he did were, completely fake, just rationalizations made up in the moment. 

Eren is presented with the reality of who he really is, a child who hates himself, who wants to kill himself rather than take responsibility for his actions, and he chooses the narrative Tybur offers him. Rather than be hismelf, stop the story here, he chooses to move the story forward.And the conflict accelerates when they could have reconciled. Not because there was no other choice, Reiner was begging, crying, and holding Eren’s hand at the same time asking for peace and forgiveness but because Eren chose to accelerate the conflict. 

Eren’s choices are always that of an accelerationist. When given the oppurtunity to stop, he chooses instead, to always make the conflict worse. That is, the result of Eren’s myriad of choices made throughout the arc. Everything is worse now, and more people are dead. Nothing good is achieved through these means because Eren wasn’t trying for good. Eren didn’t care about good results, he just wanted to be doing something. Easier to be an all powerful demon, than a powerless child which is what he sees Reiner as in the moment.

The only time I believe that Eren was putting on an act was when speaking with Mikasa and Armin. The rest of it wasn’t acts, it was just who Eren is, who he sees himself to be. The thing is most people don’t read Eren’s kind of behavior, constant masculine posturing, war mongering, accelerating the conflict, throwing himself into fighting, as childish and toxic when it is. The point of Eren’s masculinity is it’s a performance. Reiner crying and begging in front of Eren is embarrassing and pathetic yes, but it’s also how he felt in that moment, it’s a human vulnerability. Whereas, Eren’s outer persona is entirely empty of love and vulernability, of every emotion besides anger, and violence. However, because it’s empty, he just acts, empty... Great wording there I know. Eren when posturing in front of others basically has no personality. He is just guy who fights. 

Eren performs the role of a ruthless soldier in front of others, because it prevents him from being vulnerable. Remember who Eren is posturing in front of, Reiner, and then later Zeke. What were they doing? They were both at the moment trying to appeal to his human side, Reiner by crying and begging for forgiveness a show of vulnerability, and Zeke by tryig to show Eren what their father did to them was wrong.

Calls for violence, posturing, warmongering and rhetoric, Eren’s every response when Zeke tries to examine his humanity. Eren insists over and over again, you see I’m not actually a human being. It was impossible for father to reach me because I was simply born that way. However, the kind of person Eren pretends to be is empty, someone incapable of feeling anything. The only way he knows how to be strong, is to simply not have feelings, to deny all human emotion and become something else and that’s just lame. We also know, that Eren himself is not like that because he contradicts his stated motivation that the only reason he killed those slavers was for the concept of freedom itself when he takes too long trying to look at Mikasa.

Eren denies himself empathy, he denies himself udnerstanding, and therefore no one will ever see his emotional wounds. That way, he can be invulenerable forever, but at the same time he denies MIkasa and Armin.

We return again to the motif of the story. It’s the same repeated image, someone tells Eren to stop, Eren says that it must not stop, the story must continue. 

Both of Eren’s foils and family members,Zeke and Grisha  tell Eren to stop this. That they do not want this. The whole world yells at Eren to stop, and he does not stop. Stopping would mean, accepting some measure of helplessness so Eren does not stop. 

To be honest, what Eren says in 131 is far more telling than literally any of the excuses he came up with in 139 which is why I think it should be interpreted not as the final word on Eren’s character but rather, showing what his waffling actually looks like to an outside observer - not heroic at all but rather pathetic. 

Eren’s childish desire to be this powerful, to stand up above everyone like a god while ignoring the suffering of the world around him - is pretty telling enough of Eren’s true motivations that he needs no further elaboration. Eren does not become god for the sake of his friends, he does not do it because he thinks it will make the world a better place, he does it because of childish delusions of grandeur and his inability to let go of his childish feelings of entitlement. The world isn’t the way he wants it to be and he can’t comrpomise with that in any way. Eren is more like a caricature of the most petty person on earth when you put it that way, but this is... a fictional story. Thematically Eren is a good example why ideals are ideals, and people are in fact, people, ulitmately very disappointing and falling short of those idealse. So once again moving past this. 

Eren, you can literally just stop. Eren is basically given every choice in the world to stop, everyone else in the story tells him to, and he just doesn’t. The author does go to a painstaking extent to show that Eren in fact could have stopped. Every single time he is given the oppurtunity to stop he instead chooses to accelerate the conflict.

It is interesting to show the one time Eren actually did stop though. It wasn’t for Mikasa, it was Mikasa’s decision. 

When Eren puts the decision on someone else, he can stop. Eren has feelings for Mikasa, but rather than confessing to her he makes her speak up about what her feelings are, even when everyone around him just, straight up tells him. 

Why is he capable of stopping when it’s someone else’s choice? In those cases, Eren succesfully avoids responsibility. When he makes the decision to run away in the possible alternate reality he’s doing what Mikasa wanted. 

The other time is when he decides to accept the result of whatever Mikasa decides. In both cases, Eren rather than accept responsibility for his actions and the results of his actions, just, puts it all on Mikasa. 

Is he doing this for Mikasa’s sake? To set Mikasa up as the hero of the world? No, he can’t even face Mikasa and explain himself or his feelings. Eren makes the choices to... put the ultimate decision on Mikasa, and run away without explaining himself because, that’s easier than taking repsonsibility for his choices. Every choice Eren makes, is to either make the conflict worse, because stirring the pot makes him feel powerful and in control, or throw control away to someonee else or some other reason (predestination whatnot) because he can’t bear the responsibility of what he’s doing. He wants to kill a bunch of people, but like... he doesn’t want to feel like a bad person about it (hence the excuse, he was doing it for his friends and yet later in the same conversation him saying that if he had killed his friends and they failed he still would have done it anyway). 

Therein lies the rub. Eren is not doing this for his friends, because he takes the one path that is guaranteed to take him out of their lives. He doesn’t do it for Mikasa because he does the one thing guaranteed to destroy her. 

I love this girl so much, that I created this elaborate scenario where the only way she could save the world was to horribly behead me, the one family member left from her childhood after she spent her entire life trying to protect me from fear of losing her family - yeah that sounds completely insane.

It is meant to be. Eren is thinking jack all about what his friends are feeling. His feelings for Mikasa, his desire to keep her safe and away from everything else trump everything even the idea that his love might be returned. He loves at Mikasa. He’s not in love with her, he’s projecting his love upon her. “Why didn’t he just tell her about his feelings if he secretly loved her all this time?” the point was, he couldn’t. Eren’s ego isn’t developed enough to love another person, that requires actually caring about their feelings which Eren doesn’t do to well.

 There’s a reason Eren and Mikasa’s connection keeps lingering back to the small kindness they showed each other as childhood,it’s because literally despite spending their entire lives growing up together, their connection hasn’t grown at all since then, because they can’t grown. 

At the end of the series however, Mikasa makes the opposite coice of Eren. If Eren’s choice has been to remain a selfish child all this time, to make other people suffer rather than face his own hurt feelings. Mikasa makes the choice of selflessness, to grow up, beyond the child who loved Eren into the adult who knows that even if you love people, one day you might lose them. 

Eren’s choices only ever make the conflict worse. Mikasa’s choice finally stopped the conflict that Eren kept accelerating. It didn’t save the world, it saved the world from Eren. 

I think it’s important to remember that Eren didn’t see what MIkasa was going to do, that her actions were going to end up breaking the curse. He literally had no idea what was going to happena fter the massacre, all he saw was the massacre and decided to do what he could to bring it about. 

“I did all of this for you guy.” 

Backtracking, five seconds later, and making excuses it all would have happened anyway. 

It’s the same behavior consistently shown throughout. Eren could have stopped. Eren did not stop. Afterwards, Eren wants to reconcile the guilt and believe that his motives were good, when his actions were the actions of a bad person. It’s the same as Reiner’s crying and begging after years of guilt and failure to reconcile his acitons with who he is. Eren can’t understand why he did what he did, he just knows he did it, and he can’t accept responsibility for any of it. So that’s why Eren throws the choice away. 

Eren can’t understand his father’s words, because in the end, being born, living his life, growing up, falling in love, making friends, losing some of those friends, growing older, getting weaker, all of those things are things Eren doesn’t want to do. Eren begins his life with “You were born into this world, you’re free to live hwoever you want” and ends his life wishing he was never born, and that’s the utlimate tragedy of his character arc. Not that it was inevitable he would eventually do these things, but beause it wasn’t and Eren chose to do them anyway instead of choosing literally anything else. Therefore, despite claiming Mikasa and Armin as the reason behind all of his actions, they weren’t, because he was inacapable of making the simple choice to be with them and grow up with them which is all they ever wanted from him. 

[mermaid--bride]

The secret letter

"His skin is so cold and yet I always catch myself wishing for a touch... His eyes are so clear and yet his gaze feels like the gates o an inpenetrable fort, keeping his darkest secrets out of my rich. His kisses are suffocating. There are no feelings behind them and yet they leave me craving for more. His hair is so soft... his scent is nausiating... If I try to reach for him it's like he disappears... and yet the more I try to get away, the harder seems to be the grip with which he pulls me back. Why... Why must I be part of this game? Why am I the one emprisioned by the one who claims to be excluded from love?Why do these feelings continue to grow when I know his heart belongs to another? Even after her death..."

Kazemi: *knocks on the bedroom door* Maria?

Maria: Y-Yeah!?

Kazemi: *comes in* What are you doing?

Maria: Just... writing...

Kazemi: Oh really? What are you writing? *tries to see it*

Maria: *Hides it* It’s a... letter! Just a letter. You can’t read it.

Kazemi: A letter? To who?

Maria: I... um...

Kazemi: ... Is it for him?

Maria: Wh-Who...?

Kazemi: You know who.

Maria: ... Yeah...

Kazemi: Maria, you know he’s no good!

Maria: I know!

Kazemi: He’s gonna kill you!

Maria: He will!

Kazemi: Then forget about him!

Maria: I can’t!! *starts crying*

Kazemi: ... *sighs and embraces her*

Maria: I hate him...

Kazemi: ... No, you don’t...

[titleknown]

In my professional opinion, I have concerns. Their lack of deliberate aggression is interesting, but their proximity to the Pyramid Society’s investigations and their crustracean nature is troubling in light of the evidence about the CarciNation and the nature of their disappearance.

In my unprofessional opinion, they are babey.

-Kerry Crown, addressing the press about Chuggy

____

Who is this very good boy with ominous portents? More on them and a bit past the break!

Chuggy is, in many ways, a simple kaiju that keeps to itself, rarely getting within distance of cities and mostly preferring combat in their aquatic environments. But, the fact that they were discovered in the spots the Pyramid Society was investigating regarding the CarciNation, with shards of crablike carapace nearby indicating a struggle, along with their extreme, further avoidance of that spot, indicates possible action by the imperialistic; undersea power after their previously unexpected retreat.

But, for now, they are peaceful, but by no means a pushover in combat. With their ability to curl into a spiked, nigh-inpenetrable fast-moving ball and their powerful pincers (Able to collapse and retract when in ball form).

These pincers are able to sectete a toxin which not only chemically burns the victim when raked at the dermis level, but for larger foes, may be directly injected into the veins with a powerful bite, reacting with the target’s internal fluids to create bubbles of air, causing massive arterial bursts of gore.

But, these extensive injections are rare, as it prefers to curl into a defensive sphere and move away when attacked, only using its bite when it appears to have no other choice.

It is mostly non-hostile to human settlements, but they did, however, once attack a coastal Doritos factory, Which lead to the discovery of their craving for Dorito dust, which may come in handy if there’s a threat one needs to direct it towards...

If you wanna catch up on the previous history of this setting, here’s Year 1 and Year 2 archived on the Wik for the newbiesi!

And, as per usual with Kaijune, this precious friend is free to use as you see fit under a CC-BY 4.0 license so long as I; Thomas F. Johnson, am credited as their creator!

And, if you wanna support me, maybe check out my Patreon, or even just send a Ko-Fi my way! Every penny is appreciated, and I am eternally grateful for those who donate!

Or, if you wanna commission me for a pic like this, my commission info is thisaway!

There wasn’t much to this other than “I wanted giant bugs as a major theme, somebody suggested giant isopod” and here we are. I am proud of the coloring I did on ‘em, in particular the opalescent shell...

[roelifant]

Spreekt u bodemtong?

Cautiously Filip krept down into the pit towards the luminous, winged being. All the while it stared at him. Magic radiating from it, tingling Filip's antennae. Finally he stopped. Now at the same level as the strange being, he no longer dared to come any closer. It kept staring at him in anticipation, and Filip stared back just the same. It might be verbal. No, it *must* be verbal. Filip thought. Bravely Filip raised his voice and asked: "Do you speak the tongue of the dirt?" Upon hearing this the being suddenly grew in size. Going from a crouched position to an erect stance, revealing its strange number of limbs and its fleshy body. A look of confusion on its face, as though Filip had said something offensive. This sudden action in turn surprised Filip, who moved a few steps back. There was another silence, untill finally the being opened its small mouth and spoke: "What dark magic has enabled you to speak?" "Magic?" said Filip, letting out an awkward chuckle. "Why I'm but a simple bug. I struggle to think on most days, let alone cast spells." "A spell was cast on you to make you speak." said the being. "No. No. We all learn to speak. The ants taught us. Well actually, they taught my mother and then she taught me and my siblings." Another silence broke out. Filip got the feeling that the being didn't believe him. "Why would insects need to speak?" the being asked quietly, as though it was the world's biggest conundrum. "To understand and share the Queen's orders." Filip said. "You are an ant?" asked the being. "Oh no. I'm an earwig. But we bare the Emperial Mark. That means we work for the ants in exchange for their protection." "You dig for them." the being deducted. "Yes. They're amazing diggers themselves but some places they find too dangerous or scary to dig in. So they ask us." "They order you to." said the being. "Yes. Isn't that what I said?" "You bare a mark of darkness and now you are unknowingly a slave to their magic. What wicked fairy has done this?" "Fairy?" Filip asked excitingly. "You know about fairies?" "Yes. I am one." the being said. Filip laughed, allthough the being didn't seem like it was joking. "No." Filip said. "The fairies are extinct since forever ago. They wiped each others out." "The Great Aberon traded our immortality in exchange for a victory. He saved the cosmos from darkness but shortly after vanquishing the Dark Fairies, The Old Nothing came and claimed us all. Thousands of years of eternal life not lived, caught up with us and we crumbled into the dust we were supposed to be." "Ok." Filip said, pretending to understand. "But I lived. I was young enough to survive the transition to a mortal existence. Then I slept in amber for a long time. I don't know how long. Long enough for magic to return to this realm, so the stone could crack open again. If the amber can crack, then there too should be enough magic in the world for me to reclaim my fairy soul. My true, immortal soul." "That sounds like a whole thing." Filip said, just making conversation. "But if I somehow were to die on my journey to reclaim my soul, I will die a mortal death. Then The Old Nothing will claim me after all." "Cool." Filip said. "Hey you seem really nice and all but the ants said this place is dangerous. It's actually an old temple build by magic beings long long ago and there might be magical traps in here and what not. And dead magic things. You don't want to run into some magical zombie, now do you?" The being just looked at Filip and said "You truely are a simple creature." "So you really shouldn't be there." Filip continued without skipping a beat. "Not to mention this is ant territory, well within the borders of the Amfel nest. You know how ants are when they think someone crossed their imaginary lines without their permission." "I don't fear them." said the being. "I wield magic much stronger than theirs. Half a spell is enough to atomize any insect." Filip didn't know what the word atomize meant, but he said "Sure, but they have spears." "Spears?" "Yes. They're like sticks, but sharp. Ants flock together into these huge inpenetrable military formations. It's super unfair. You don't want to find yourself facing off against a spear-wall just because some crazy ant queen finds you're not where you're supposed to be." "Since when do insects cary arms?" asked the being. "I think they started doing it when the spiders became verbal." Filip said. "That was a big yikes for the Empire. The spiders started banding together and attacking ant nests. Ever since then they've been trying to one-up the spiders by creating weapons, and taming beasts and ..." "I must have slept longer than I thought. Maybe for centuries... I was worried when I no longer recognised the temple. Now I no longer recognise the world. I wonder if this happened to all worlds." "You say many weird things." said Filip. "But so do I, so don't you worry. Can you come with me now? I'll help you out of this place. I know a tunnel the ants don't know about." "I won't follow a creature of darkness." said the being. "Oh come on man. Don't give me a hard time. I'm trying to help you." "I am not a man." said the being. "I am a woman. A princess, in fact." "A princess?" asked Filip. "Fascinating! I've never heard of such an insect before!" "A princess is the daughter of a queen." explained the being patiently. "Oh, wait so you're an ant now?! You don't even look like one!" The being just stared at Filip, annoyed. "Some sort of freakish bee then?" Filip asked carefully.

[transmimir]

realized how much this poem slapped so heres sm i wrote about being in love w lady dimitrescu, inspired by the fact that the Lords as well as Mother Miranda were worshipped by the villagers. Love me some religious imagery 😌

----

Lady, Divine

O Lady,

am I the only one to hear the good news?

Your existence shines a brilliant hue

fairer beauty than Venus,

Fortuna could not have predicted how

Your Grace erased my ignorance

You are a God

I know, I worship you

on my knees with the midday sun on my back

digging Your heels between my vertebrae

The pain of someone so Holy

it can be healing (?)

I love You more than a follower should

Is it a sin, how I press my lips against Yours?

Your crystalline is inpenetrable

yet I wonder if Your ichor could cure me

would You allow me to suckle from Your vein

like You drink from mine?

Foolish are those who do not Believe,

May they earn fear tenfold for their ignorance

You have never been a merciful God

For You've known eternally You are Divine in perfection

Do You scorn Your faithful servant from the tower of heaven?

Or would You choose to lay Your blessing unto me

I'd let my bones break if You wished

to drink the marrow held within