#krak��w

[bwtalpine]

Me infecting my school-issued Dell laptop w 40k viruses and 10 new covid strains while agonizingly trying to send my "canCUCKS" message in the nhl66 chat but being barred due to my lack of account

[frasermints]

this is something that doesn't just start and end w/ hockey canada btw.

it's a tumblr blogger selling "crosbussy" merchandise to fans, and encouraging them to wear it to games. it is that very same tumblr blogger getting asked by a team to create their pride night merch. it is a tiktokker pointedly yelling "krak my back" next to home bench during warmups and making so many overt sexual comments both on and offline that a player's wife needs to speak up about it. it is seattle's media team intertwining itself so closely with the sexually explicit side of booktok that the franchise's reputation is permanently tainted.

it's a juniors coach assaulting the kids on his team and getting paid out by his organization. it is hockey canada and usa hockey continuing to push the envelope with what is excusable in their organizations. it is chronic drug and alcohol abuse being excusable until one of your players physically assaults his teammates.

it's a juniors player jumping out of a building and killing himself after failure to perform. it's a fifth overall pick refusing to show up to the team that drafted him because he's uncomfortable around the franchise staff, and becoming the joke of the league. it is said draft pick explicitly stating "i do not feel safe around [these] specific men" and the entire league calling him an entitled pussy anyway.*

it's a coach demanding to see the phones and private photos of the men he holds power over, threatening them with trades or waivers if they don't, and fans calling the men that speak up weak and soft.

this didn't come out of nowhere. you can't beat hockey culture out of hockey players from the top down. this starts with you, this starts with your kids, and this starts with what you say online. holding the nhl and hockey canada accountable doesn't mean shit when you yourself are part of the fucking problem.

[dipetschmot]

Radio Kraków zwolniło kilkanaście osób. Nowymi prowadzącymi mają być 3 postacie wygenerowane przez AI

Brzmi jak żart ale dosłownie tak było.

Od 22 października na antenie usłyszymy głosy trojga nowych prowadzących. 20-letniej Emilii „Emi” Nowa, studentki dziennikarstwa, ekspertki od popkultury; 22-letniego Jakuba „Kuby” Zielińskiego, specjalisty od technologii i muzyki oraz 23-letniego, zaangażowanego społecznie Alexa – poruszającego tematy związane z tożsamością i kulturą queer.

Źródło gdzie macie napisane dużo więcej o tej sprawie.

Najbardziej uderzyło mnie to, że jakiś dziad pomyślał, że młode pokolenie będzie chciało słuchać jak SZTUCZNIE WYGENEROWANA POSTAĆ mówi o sprawach młodych ludzi tak, jakby faktycznie doświadczała podobnych problemów co oni. Że robot może mówić o kulturze queer, która jest ściśle związana z wykluczeniem, przemocą itd., stawiając się jakby w roli przedstawiciela tych osób? No bo chyba o to chodzi w tworzeniu postaci która ma 20-parę lat, żeby była relatable.

Przeraża mnie ta łatwość w wybieraniu AI do rozwiązywania problemów i to jak starsze pokolenie postrzega młodsze – że jak nastolatek odrabia lekcje z chatem gpt to pewnie chętnie będzie słuchał jak maszyna tłumaczy mu czym jest tożsamość? Albo że włączając przypadkiem stację nie domyśli się, że mówi do niego sztuczna inteligencja a nie człowiek?

Zupełnie tego nie rozumiem i mam nadzieję, że to jest po prostu ten moment w historii, kiedy musimy nauczyć się metodą prób i błędów do czego warto wykorzystywać te technologie, a co jest już przesadą. A przesadą na pewno jest zastępowanie robotami osób, które mają dotrzymywać ludziom towarzystwa w ciągu dnia i sprawiać, że czują się reprezentowani w mediach.

No i przesadą jest zwalnianie nastu osób z pracy, bo przecież ich pracę może w całości wykonać komputer. To nie może stać się nowym standardem.

Jeśli Was też zmartwiła ta wiadomość to podpiszcie tę petycję:

[jazjelspen]

my angel baby (part 7)

alastor w/ angel daughter reader

(note: the reader’s first day at the Hazbin Hotel!! Wishing her the best of luck!…)

(tags: @wildfire153 @nevermorekisses @corvidae-00 @des-deswain5621 @thekanrojimitsuri2 @mo-0-o @pooplyface1423 @insomniacfigure @potaturkey17 @just-here-reading @avitute @sleepdeprived-barelyalive @1potato2rulethemall @sirenetheblogger @krak-jj @kiraisastay )

my editorrr: @kruncher

Laid beneath the heavy hotel sheets and warm blanket provided by your room, was you.

You would twist and turn under the covers, as if trapped in an upcoming dream that was meant to either haunt or kiss you with kindness and love yet despite this of course your slumber would soon be interrupted by the loudness of a few rows of knocks.

At first it awakened you slightly, your eyes barely opening but your mind not completely conscious.

But just as your eyes were about to close again to go back to sleep there was another set of incredibly loud knocks to which this time got your brain to finally react.

Your arms slowly brought your body up in a sit-up position, uncovering yourself from the sheets to get your legs over and off the bed, feet now snuggling in some cozy slippers.

Your nightwear was simple but comfortable, fitting exactly all your right preferences and into your favorite colors and/or patterns. It seemed to slightly resemble pj's from the more modern times but with your own 30s twist on it for nostalgia.

You would've ignored the knocks and stayed in bed longer, but you were never much of a sloth in heaven so you got up as you usually would.. yet somehow you were even more sleepier and tired down here.

Turning on a single lamp just to brighten up the room you slowly moved up to the door and opened it immediately-- not the safest move but here you were.

Opening it up you encountered yet again that damned face.

"Hel--!" you closed the door on the visitor, you were not in the mood to talk to him while he was acting all bright and loud at your front door like some sort of overzealous salesman.

But he wouldn't leave until he got to finish what to say, you knew that very well from him.

'Just see what he wants and get it over with.. the faster you deal with him the quicker he'll be away..'

With a reluctant sigh, you opened once more.

"--lo!" you let him finish his single word greeting before you crossed your arms with attitude, not exactly thrilled about this.

"What do you want, can't you see I am sleeping?.."

Alastor cackled lightly, "Sleeping? Oh dear then you must be sleep walking right now!"

"I…wha..” Your eyes squinted in confusion, barely understanding what the hell he’s saying with how slow your brain was processing all this “You know what- I'm not in the mood to play games with you right now so what exactly do you want..”

“Oh darling stop acting so harshly, I’m just here to tell you to come down and eat! You missed breakfast with everyone and you know how the princess wants you to meet the rest of the residents properly!..” he paused, then went back with a slightly ominous tone “-it doesn’t seem like your setting a good first impression on yourself my dear.”

You tensed up, knowing that to some extent he could be right— and you really wanted to get back home soon after the fight..

You sighed, “I’ll go down when I want to and when I think I'm ready— and do you ever leave people alone? I constantly ask you to fuck off and you just don’t.”

His grin widened, it irked you more “No dear, I don’t.”

“...Noted.” And for the last time you slammed the door in front of his face again and you locked it with no intent to open it a third time for him if he knocked again.. which luckily for you he didn't.

Turning your heel you then proceeded to drop down on the bed and lay flat on your back.

"Please.." you mumbled, your eyes and chest heavy, "Please.. help me get through this and get back home safely.."

Although.. Alastor behind the door wasn’t exactly thrilled. After all, you told your own father to walk away and bite the curb.

He began grumbling under his breath, your disrespect really starting to claw at him.

���Who in the world would tell their own father who raised them himself to ‘fuck off’.. where did I fail in raising this wretched girl..” yet a part of him knew he couldn’t blame you, you had much good reason to act this way.. but he always preffered to be the one in the right.

If he wasn’t so desperate to try to regain your respect, admiration, and acceptance he would’ve held the door opened and had his shadow scare the absolute soul out of you as to teach you a lesson—

But he knows that will only drive you away even more, so he bit his tongue.

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

You rushed downstairs with your shoes clicking every step of the way, dusting yourself off and fixing your halo as you went down the stairs.

Reaching the end you turned your head to the left where the seating area was, the right to see a space of nothing. Both ways were quiet, no signs of life you could hear or see at the moment

"Hm.." taking a few cautious steps forward to continue to eye your surroundings, becoming a little nervous that maybe you took much longer to get ready than you initially thought.

"Hello?.." Your voice echoed and bounced across the large spaces inside the hotel, light vaguely shining from the glass windows and doors that lead as the main entrance and exit of the building. The air floating several dots of small dust against the light and the silence could almost be deafening--

until you walked a bit further into the middle of the place.

"New here?" A low and deep voice cut through the empty sound, booming from a turquoise green environment that seemed to be dressed up as a bar.

The bar looked a bit out of place compared to the rest of the red color schemes of the hotel, not only does the green and blue hues make it pop more but it seems as if it was ripped right out of a building and placed in there.

You turned and faced the direction of the voice-- although weary you really wanted to find the princess to apologize for your oversleeping.

Walking towards the voice you noticed that it was a dark brown cat with silver fur, a hat, bowtie, a unique set of wings, and a calm scowl on his face. He seemed to be leaning against the bar and cleaning a glass with a small towel. He seemed to be looking at you and referencing you as well.

"Oh! Hello mister!.." you walked up to the bar hastily, giving him a very small wave as you came up "You know where I could find her highness?.. I need to apologize for coming down here late..!"

The anthropomorphic cat shrugged his shoulders as he then went to place the now clean glass in his hands down and bring up another one and start cleaning that too. His eyes going from you to the actions he's doing "For all I know she's probably up in her room preparing her next 'lesson plan'. Other than that, I know shit to nothing."

You felt slightly discouraged as you looked off to the side "Well.. then, I suppose I just have to wait?" you asked, your brows furrowing in concern and eyes widening in a sort of 'doe' way. Not like you were trying to, it was just part of your look.

"I wouldn't know, stay here, stay there, stay anywhere. Not like it matters."

There was a pause, you thought that maybe this could be a good time to ask some questions and get an idea of how things work here. "May I stay here for a bit? If you don't mind?.. "

And with a second shrug of his shoulders, he said "Be my guest."

"Thank you.." you pulled out one of the bar stools in front of the bartender and sat on one of them with your arms leaning against the bar table and awkwardly just sitting there-- until you spoke up again.

"Sooo.." you started, the bartender looking up at you almost disinterested "How are you.. sir?.."

Another slight pause, he replies "Who cares, and just call me Husk it saves the more words you would have to say."

"O--kay!.. well uhm.. sir- Husk!" you leaned against the bar table yourself to try to start making proper conversation.

"So.. after all this-- you know the fight between Heaven and Hell.. I'm planning to go home ri--"

"Yeah yeah, what about it?" he interrupted you, your impression of him not really turning out very well.

"Uh.. so.. what I'm trying to ask is- how do I survive this place till I get to go back home? Any ways to avoid trouble or maybe at least not come off bad to the rest of the residents?.."

Husk took a moment staring at his glass that he was cleaning, seeing as he now had a new customer who needed advice from this experienced bartender. He would calmly set down his towel before responding,

"Coming off bad is the least of your problems down here, to survive you must avoid sticking out like a sore thumb.. which doesn't exactly seem like an option for you since you look like a fuckin' glowstick."

Your shoulders perked up in slight embarrassment, barely recognizing that somehow you seemed to faintly glow against the dark colors and shadows of your environments since you've been down here.

"But you also must make sure to connect to the right people, and avoid making deals with sinners that only want to drag you through the mud for their own benefit."

That part seemed to peak your interest a bit.. "Avoid and connect.. who would you recommend for those two things?.. is there anyone in particular I should shy away from?"

"I would say stay an arm's length away from everyone in hell, even in the hotel." He seemed to be looking down under his bar table, reaching for something.

"Not all of us are bad but it's more of a chance for you to get back home unscathed. Besides that, the Princess would be a good person to befriend."

"Hmm.. " you hummed in thought, feeling a bit curious about wanting to know if Alastor is someone to be wary of here. You already knew that he wasn't someone good to stick with but needing the opinions of others would help and set you at ease.

"Well.. should I stay away from the red deer man?--"

"Stay away from him at all costs." Husk's voice seemed to raise in volume slightly as he unintentionally slammed a bottle of juice down on the table.

Oh..well that made you jump slightly.

"That demon you seem to be referring to, is Alastor, he isn't someone to be taken lightly. An overlord like him shouldn't be dealt with in any way.."

"Wait.. What's an overlord, mister?.."

"..It's someone who's gained power down here for centuries, dealing with souls and owning many of them gives you that kind of status.." there was a bit of a somber expression on his face as he then went to pour the liquid in the glass in front of him.

"Alastor is one that you should stay away from, at all costs. That sadistic fuck only kills and kills for fun and manipulates those for their souls," He then pushed the glass lightly at your hands that were resting on the table, gliding across the wood only to lightly bump into you. Your hands themselves are a bit too shocked to even move at the moment.

"I can't imagine what he would want with yours but considering your own status.. wouldn't be surprised if he took an interest in you."

'I guess I was right,' you thought 'he's still as sick in the head as he was before..'

you wanted to tear up, you weren't quite sure why.

maybe you hoped that he wasn't as bad as you remembered.

that maybe you exaggerated.

that your memory failed you.

that for your sake, he somehow changed, that he learned his lesson down here.

instead he thrived, thrived and overcame, took over and is now an 'overlord'..

he only got worse and played into his sick fantasies and killed more than you could imagine for his own benefit.

you bit your lip lightly as if trying to hold something back, hold your disappointment in.

"So.. is it fair to say he is a bit famous for being a merciless killer?.."

"Basically it."

'as if it couldn't get any worse.'

Husk seemed to notice your conflicting expressions, since he seemed to sound a bit more gentle this time. "Look, kid, this whole thing will be some kind of culture shock. But just stay away from him and others similar, you're only asking for trouble if you do."

You were in fact, just a kid.

Maybe not one by definition, mentally you're not the same as the day you died, but inside you're still a little girl somehow. Scared and frightened, weary of the world--

a girl who needs her god-forsaken father.

but he isn't worth it.

since he's become who he truly was, and belongs right where he is.

"Follow that, and you'll get home just fine." and just like that Husk backed away to go work at the back of the bar to leave you with your thoughts, assuming that perhaps the full realization of the dangers in hell and how close they are could be infecting your brain.

Letting you take a minute to breathe, you finally looked down at the glass below your chin on the table.

It was a cup of a colorful liquid, you held the cup and put it up your nose to smell if there was alcohol.

None at all.

Your brows raised a bit in intrigue, maybe just the fact that you were an angel or seemed a bit young gave him the idea to give you anything that wasn't alcohol..

He seems like a good bartender.

You brought the drink up to your lips to quench that subtle thirst you had, the flavor of the drink tasted just as good as it would have in heaven or in life.

"Heyy Huskyy!" a new unique voice exclaimed from your right hand side, the noises of the bar chair moving in and out made you stiffen slightly.

Husk turned only to aggressively point a finger at the new person beside you. "Do not call me that yo--"

"Yeah yeah, anyway could you give me something fun with a bit of a kick to it?"

The cat rolled his eyes as he proceeded to grab a clean cup to mix something similar up to what this guest wanted. "Why? Finally something good happened to you for once?"

"Basically yeah, I got no shoots to do today due to Val's car breaking down and the guys he hired got kidnapped by a gang so I don't have to see my boss's bald head all fuckin' day! You know how amazing that is??"

You took a moment to move your head slightly to take a peak at this new person, surprisingly they seemed to look back at you too.. eyes widening slightly in the process.

It was a tall and slim guy that dressed rather provocatively, had fur that seemed soft to the touch and the extra arms and eyes seemed to give you an idea that he was a kind of spider sinner, his color scheme full of soft and hot pinks. A rather interesting individual to say the least..

"Say.. aren't you the angel gal that Charlie won't shut up over? You're much prettier than I thought you'd be."

"Lay off her Angel, the kid's got enough on her plate as it is."

"Now now whiskers, I haven't even gotten to introduce myself!-" he then proceeded to take out one of his four gloved hands towards you, waiting for you to shake it.

"The names Angel Dust toots, famous pornstar in all of hell!" he bragged, exclaiming proudly and seemingly posing as well.

Wait..

That Angel Dust?

The sinner that Charlie presented as her evidence of the hotel?

"Hey.. I.. think I know you.." you mumbled, your head turning slightly and slowly shaking his hand back while in a sort of an ‘awe’ trance.

Angel Dust chuckled a bit, a tint of awkwardness behind it. "Sweetheart!.. you seem too young to be watching my work!.."

"I.. no nononono! not like that!--" you shook your hands in panic, eyes widening in shock as you tried your best to get your words out. "I meant as in I've seen you before when Princess Charlie was presenting her evidence to the court in heaven!.. "

"Oh? Now this is new.." Angel leaned against the bar table yet his whole body faced you as he spoke to you. "Charlie hasn't told me about this yet.."

"Yes!.. you seemed to be developing quite well in reaching heaven! Of course there's some.. issues I see there are with both places so I'm unsure how it's going exactly but!.." you smiled more fondly at him, a genuine expression with a sense of hopeful pride for him "You seem to be making amazing progress!.. genuinely, I think if you keep it up.. you'll make it just fine!"

Angel's eyes warmed up a bit, his expression changing into one in which it feels almost bittersweet. "Pfft, kid you and your ideas are cute but it's too late for m--"

A sudden poof of a shadow solidified into none other than of course, that demon of a formal man.

"Greetings! I see we're all mingling in vibrant conversation here."

You held back the biggest urge to let out the loudest sigh in all your afterlife.

'Where's the princess when you need her..'

—----------------------------------------------

It was an early evening in New Orleans, and Alastor had some business to attend to.

Unfortunately, he didn't have anyone to look after you and he wasn't willing to leave you alone at home even if you were only thirteen years of age.

Your adolescent years were the years in which Alastor knew he would fear the most. He knew that the youth of today like to frolic in hobbies and places that are considered taboo and absolutely prohibited.. not like he was one to judge he's been a serial killer for almost decades at this point.

Nonetheless, he didn't need you to get any ideas to misbehave while he was gone. Even if you were one of the most well-behaving children in the world he knew that even the smallest of thoughts can plant seeds of defiance in the mind.

He would rather not risk anything.

"Hurry now _____! We can't be any minute late now! Remember, punctuality is good character!" He exclaimed from the exit of your shared house while holding your jacket and thick scarf in his hands and his own on his back, the small thuds and clicks of shoes against the wooden floor rushing out of your room and through the halls that connected every other room in the home.

"I'm here, father!.. I'm here!" you scrambled up as you fixed yourself up by straightening your outfit and dusting yourself off.

"Good girl, now remember darling we're going to be in a place where only adults belong." He spoke as he would then be putting your coat on for you, with you helping out by sticking your arms out in the process of it all.

"Young impressionable girls such as yourself should never ever be in places like those until you're of age, the only reason why I'm even taking you with me is because I can't bear the thought of leaving you alone while there's a wild killer on the loose!" He would straighten your jacket for you, wrap your scarf around your neck and tuck it in to keep you warm, make sure your gloves were set right and as the cherry on top would then pet your head gently with care.

"I can't have my one and only daughter out for the slaughter now can I?" Real funny Al... "Just keep in mind, don't talk to anyone while walking through there, well anyone that isn't your.. aunt."

You nodded enthusiastically, a tingle of excitement swelling in your chest in finally seeing such a place! Even being in there would make you feel like a cool grown up!.. like getting a small glance at the forbidden fruit of Eden.

"Yes yes, of course father!"

"Good good, now hop to it!"

Cheering as he opened the door for you to exit first, soon after he exited and locked the door behind him. He would continue to lead the way through there.

It was a very cold winter this year, as if it was threatening to snow at any moment yet never did. Cold winds would blow in your faces causing you to sneeze a few times but nothing major. Alastor seemed perfectly unaffected by the weather, nothing but calm and content with his permanent smile on his face. You held up your own smile as well.

The walk was quiet with small chatter between the two of you here in there, mostly your father asking you if you were okay and how he's going to make sure to brew up some warm stew when you both come back home.

It wasn't too much of a walk, most clubs were nearby due to how high demand they are but father always forbid you to ever go in them let alone peek inside, but since he will be around and has given you permission to see the forbidden, the air that hit you only ended up feeling like a chill of excitement instead.

You two finally arrived at the entrance, jazz music booming against the doors only heightened your senses even more.

Alastor looked at you from over his shoulder, "Behind me dear, keep your hands to yourself, don't talk to strangers, don't accept anything from strangers, and if anything happens just scream for me and I'll assist you.. oh and don't get far, stay behind and close at all times so I don't lose you." You could've sworn you've heard these rules many times even in public places that weren't clubs, but you simply nodded and obeyed.

Now that you properly noticed, he seemed to be dressed rather more sophisticated than usual. You would usually see him dressed this way for nights out and you could even smell that specific cologne he would put on when visiting jazz clubs in town so it does make sense but.. why was he wearing his work coat and not his going-out coat?... Maybe it wasn't anything but, you knew how calculated your father was to an extent.

He knocked on the door, when it was opened a tall man was seen through the crack. Alastor mumbled something to the man and the door widened further, seemingly accepting the two of you with just a few simple words from your father.

You two walked in and you stayed close to him as you were told, yet your eyes were widened and wandering around like birds in the wild.

Your brain was trying to absorb all the colors, noises, and smells all at once-- the smell of alcohol, cigarettes and cigars weren't pleasant in the slightest but the sweet and tangy scents of women's perfume and men's cologne were a treat to your nose.

It was surprisingly much warmer inside, aside from all the people here you also assumed that the collective body heat, sweat, and breaths made the room much more manageable than the winter streets.

People were on either side of the room eating, drinking, chatting to their heart's content while the others danced their souls out and listened to jazz with pure enthusiasm and joy you have only ever seen at those parties your father has taken you before.

Cheering, yelling, laughing, and talking were amongst one of the noises you heard aside from the music blasting across the room.

The various colors of women's dresses, heels, make up, and accessories had every color of the rainbow while men's suits would mostly be muted or monochrome at best, but there were few specks of color amongst the men at times.

"Whoa.." your throat couldn't help but show your amazement for all that was around. A twinge of amazement growing and growing each step of the way.

You two stopped in front of a large bar, Alastor stopped to talk to the bartender before pausing and looking back at you to continue following him. He seemed a bit peeved from that short interaction.

'Dad says he had business with someone here.. does it have to do with auntie?'..'

A huff of air escaped through your nostrils while you followed closely, saying a few 'excuse me miss/mister' here in there while passing by. Many people noticed you but didn't bother, or others didn't even acknowledge you due to them being caught up in their own world.

You two walked to the very back of the club where the band was playing their hearts out, you seemed to have walked behind the stage where the decorative curtains hid behind the stage and covered where the magic is made. It was much darker compared to the brightly lit place, there seemed to be a short hall of several backstage rooms, more specifically dressing rooms for singers or performers.

You two stopped yet again but at the entrance of one of the rooms, you smiled when your dad then started knocking on it twice. After all, it had the name 'Mimzy' plastered in bold.

The door was opened with slight caution but soon opened wide when the voice inside realized who it was that knocked on her door, "Alastor! Sweetie, doll face! Didn't expect you to visit me so soon, come in! And-- oh! My, do my eyes deceive me--"

Your smile only widened further when you finally felt the warmth of two familiar arms, the scent of, what the ladies would call 'Chanel No.5' basically slapped you in the face along with the smell of cigarettes and tobacco- even the feathers in her hair made your nose tickle but you didn't mind, since it was none other than!--

"Auntie Mimzy!!"

"______ dear! Why it's so good to see your little self again, look you've grown so much since the last time I've seen you!"

You giggled at her claim, "But auntie! You saw me only two weeks ago!"

She gasped, her hand over her mouth as if surprised "Oh my goodness! You've got to be kiddin' me! You've grown sooo much in just two weeks! What does your father even feed you huh?"

You giggled along with her before Alastor cleared his throat to catch the attention of the only girls in the hall.

"Why Mimzy dear, I absolutely hate to interrupt your ladies talk but I fear that there's some business you and I must discuss quickly?"

"Oh! Right!.." Mimzy then went to hold your hand gently, the sound of her heels clicked as she tugged you inside the dressing room "Come in dear, I have a few treats I've been given by a few admirers, so you can have some chocolate or cake while I talk to your daddy, does that sound good sweetheart?"

You nodded enthusiastically, almost jumping in excitement after hearing that. "Mhm mhm! Thank you sosososo much auntie! You're the best!!"

"Of course sweetheart, they are all on the vanity." She would then release your hand while you rushed towards the opened heart box full of deserts, you looked at them with such delight before you picked out your favorite and dug in.

Your father and auntie then walked out of the room, but before they closed the door Alastor only said one thing to you "We're right behind the door, if you need anything we're simply going to be here talking okay?"

"O-kay!" you spoke while eating the treats of your choice.

Although..

Gosh... you knew you weren't supposed to but--

'wait.. why couldn't they talk while I'm here?.. maybe it's adult business but- I'm grown enough to at least talk around!..' you frowned slightly while munching. You took your last bite before you took a moment to just sit there in thought..

'maybe just-- just for one second..? it shouldn't be anything bad.. im grown enough to hear this I'm sure..' you then decided to just take slow and quiet steps towards the door of the dressing room, hearing the two hushed voices seemingly quarreling calmly.. but it was still a bit tough to hear everything coherently so you could only try to make out what words they were saying with your ear pressed against the door.

all you could hear is your father say these few broken words:

"mimzy..... my friend.... is all... give...."

Mimzy replied with something along the lines of:

"....great help...but.....really it?.....wont help me any....."

He responded in a bit of a-- snarky tone?.. it was too faint to fully comprehend but you did hear him say:

"......won't risk.... for you...... my daughter...... care of it yourself......"

'Huh?' you thought, a bit concerned 'why am I mentioned.. what about me?..'

There was a sudden pause before you heard more muffled talking but you stopped focusing on what they were saying when you realized that the door knob started jiggling.

Uh oh.. guess they finished a bit sooner than anticipated!

'Oh fu-'

The door widened a bit harshly by Mimzy, she seemed much upset this time herself but at least they both came with a smile.. her's more forced.

Thank goodness you were fast enough to have sprinted and hopped on the chair in front of your aunt's before they could've seen you eavesdrop on them first.

"Well my dear, let's get back home now! All I needed to do was to talk about something important with Mimzy, let's get started on that stew now so you won't catch a cold so soon!"

You nodded sheepishly as you waved at Auntie Mimzy, she seemed a bit too upset to properly acknowledge you at first but she would soon shine back a brighter smile than before and then pet your head quickly. "Bye bye dearie! Don't forget to give your father a hard time at some point! A bit of rebellion is good for the soul!..”

You just smiled as you brightly before rushing towards Alastor, who seemed unimpressed. He turned his back towards the exit with you following behind and exiting yourself, closing the door behind him carefully before putting said hand behind your shoulders to lead you outside the establishment.

Your head almost turned back to where you were before due to the sudden distant noises of glass breaking and high pitched squeals of anger pounding against the door that held them back, Alastor kept your head forward from looking behind.

A few minutes later, you two were now outside the club. The inside was just the same as it was when you first walked in. As the door closed behind the two of you Alastor took a moment to just stand there, you followed what he did.

He simply looked forward with an almost blank smile, until his chin slowly looked down at you. It brightened, warmed up, his glasses glistening with his eyes even for just a moment.. a glistening that was only empty from his eyes if he wasn't looking at his pride of joy.

You looked up at him and smiled back warmly, innocent yet fearless.

His few words to you before you two finally walked home couldn't help but make you wrap his arms around his torso into a strong hug, and his arms around your shoulders and caressed your hair that he took care of each morning of every day.

"I will never let anything hurt a single hair on your head, my little dove."

He will protect you from all that threatens to linger, shelter you from the evil world for as long as he can.. for as long as he lives.

And keep you as oblivious as you can possibly be.

[simplygojo]

TDHMM Chapter 8 Teaser..

Series Masterlist || Chapter Seven || First Chapter || Chapter Eight

Here is a little teaser for chapter 8, which will be released at 7:30pm EST/EDT tonight!! I hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist!

Pairing: Satoru Gojo x f!reader

w/c: ~400

Tags: @mawhoreagaa; @peqch-pie; @blue-serendipity; @simplyyyuji; @starrnai; @sorcerersseestars; @n1vi; @angryglitterperfection; @krak-jj; @coweringbear; @holylonelyponyeatingmacaroni; @cococola-cocaine; @sdv98o; @theendx888; @dvmb4ssbiatch; @sugxryratz; @kinny-away;

The tension in the room thickened as his voice, once sharp and biting, softened.

"You don’t get it," he continued, his tone no longer laced with irritation but with a vulnerability you rarely saw from him.

Emotion clung to every word, weighed down with a gravity that made your chest tighten.

“I’ve lost people before. Too many.” He paused, his jaw clenched as if wrestling with the words he couldn’t bring himself to say.

His eyes squeezed shut briefly, the weight of the unspoken hanging in the air between you. “But losing you—” His voice faltered. He shook his head, unable to finish the sentence, as if the mere thought was unbearable.

A lump rose in your throat, and you swallowed hard, your heartbeat echoing in your ears.

The look in his eyes wasn’t just frustration or anger. No, it was something deeper—something raw and unguarded. Fear. You saw fear flickering in his gaze like a storm brewing just beneath the surface. Not just any fear—fear of loss, fear of exposing himself, of being vulnerable in front of you.

The realization hit you like a wave crashing over your head. How much he had been holding back, how carefully he had concealed the depths of his care for you.

“I didn’t realize…” you murmured, your voice barely above a whisper, shaky from the emotions swirling inside you.

Your pulse was racing, pounding so loudly that you wondered if he could hear it too. "I didn’t know I was that important to you."

Gojo exhaled a rough breath, the warmth of it brushing against your skin as he leaned in closer.

His face was so near now that you could see every detail, every fine line and imperfection that made him so infuriatingly perfect. His striking blue eyes, unobscured by his blindfold, bore into yours, the silver strands of his hair falling messily across his forehead. It was as if time had stopped, and all you could focus on was him.

“Yeah, well, now you do,” he muttered, his voice rough around the edges, but not without that familiar sarcasm.

His hand hovered just above your arm, fingers twitching like he wanted to reach out and touch you, to ground himself in your presence, but something held him back.

His restraint, however, only made the moment feel more intimate, more charged.

“So stop acting like your life doesn’t matter," he continued, the frustration still there but overshadowed by something raw, something real.

His voice wavered, just slightly, as if the emotion threatening to spill over was too much even for him to hold back.

"Because it does. It matters to me."

The weight of his words crashed into you, heavier than any curse you’d ever faced. There was no bravado left in his voice, no shield of humor to deflect from his feelings. Just honesty. Sincerity.

The air between you felt electric, as if every unsaid word, every unexpressed emotion was swirling around you, charging the space with a thick tension.

Neither of you moved, and yet everything felt different now—more fragile, more real.

[annieqattheperipheral]

Paraphrasing from bedsy's wed (oct 30) altitude radio show w moser & brett:

We won't be able to keep 3 goalies (with all these injuries) so we're playing all of them to see how they are and see who we should keep

All these injuries is not the worst he's ever seen. It seems to happen at some point of every team he's coached. This is just the first time it's all at the start of the season, but we are at the point when players start to come back

Bedsy is calm n fine, sees this as adversity to persevere thru, everyone should still be stepping into the system and playing as the team knows they should play. Likes what kovalenko, ivan, stieny been doing

Cale at near top of league points board. Bc of the many injuries avs are actually scoring less than we usually do. Imagine where he'll be at in the standings when the top forwards are back!!

Summary of injuries from this chat and latest sources:

Landy: no timeline

Val: mid-Nov to be cleared to practice with avs, then they'll see when back in games

Lehky: Tuesday? vs. krak

Jo: 1-2 weeks

Rosco: 6-8 weeks

Woody: 7-10 days

[tom-is-online]

SPLATOON X SEKAI AU

LEO / NEED - HERO MODE Ichika - Inkling - hero shot / splattershot - Agent 1 Saki - Octoling - Undercover Brella - Agent 2 Honami - Octoling - heavy splatling / dynamo roller - Agent 3 Shiho - Inkling - 52 GAL - Agent 4 After the great zapfish is stolen from Inkopolis the Neo Squidbeak splatoon, Consisting of Captain Miku and her four agents, takes out to find it!

MORE MORE JUMP - IDOLS Minori - Inkling - sploosh-o-matic Haruka - Inkling - trislinger Airi - Inkling - krak-on roller Shizuku - Inkling - aerospray Splatfests are back! Inkopolis's upcoming all-girl idol group is here to spice up the classic fest format, picking a topic and splitting into duos to support their side! Whoever's side fights hardest for their beliefs will reign supreme!

VIVID BAD SQUAD - BATTLE Kohane - Octoling - splat roller An - Octoling - enperry dualies Akito - Inkling - clash blaster / rapid blaster Toya - Octoling - e-liter After the sudden appearance of swarms of octolings, many flooded Vivid Street - becoming a hub for the Turf War scene. After a trio of Octolings against all odds swept a season's 4 VS 4 bracket many new teams have attempted to surpass their raw power

WONDERLAND X SHOWTIME - CHALLENGE MODE Tsukasa - Octoling - splatana stamper Emu - Inkling - carbon roller Nene - Octoling - splatterscope Rui - Octoling - Natuilus Come one and come all! Water or participate in WXS's CHALLENGE BATTLES! Where battling meets the outrageous! Play your part and maybe your team will receive some help from our wonderful helpers in battle!

NIGHTCORD AT 25:00 - DLC STORY MODES Kanade - Inkling - Octoshot Mafuyu - Sanitized Octoling - Octoshot Ena - Inkling - painbrush / inkbrush Mizuki - Octoling - Dapple Dualies / trislosher Despite the screams of the Deepsea Metro becoming quieter recently, the chemicals behind "Sanitization" are still spoken of with such fascination by those seeking perfection, talent or themselves.

Feel free to give me any criticism, questions or thoughts in the notes or in my asks, I will elaborate on my thought process

Also whilst I'm here I have ideas on like their nationality cuz i think its important to note down cuz like I put thought into it

Inkopolis Natives Ichika, Airi, Akito, Emu, Kanade, Ena

Octovalley Natives Honami, An, Nene, Rui, Mizuki

Splatsville Natives Shiho, Minori, Shizuku, Kohane

Deepsea Metro Natives Saki, Toya, Tsukasa, Mafuyu

Calimari County Natives Haruka

+ BONUS THOUGHTS

the Calimari Inkantation is just sung by the vocaloids cuz like of course

each unit knows the vocaloids, they are different ppl

L/N Miku (Inkling) is the Captain of Neo Squidbeak

MMJ Miku (Inkling) helps MMJ like a manager

VBS Miku (octoling) on a team with Rin, Len and Luka. helps vbs train, doubles w/ luka

WXS Miku (Inkling) she just likes challenge stuff. maybe shes like judd

NIIGO Miku (Octoling) is like a guide in the deepsea, she don't do much. She knows Mafuyu already

I imagine the L/N story being most similar to Splatoon3's main story

Mafuyu is a high-ranking sanitized octoling soldier, despite the Tenmas + Toya being from the Metro too, they don't know each other due to military ranks

Due to the metro being freed, Toya was not fully sanitized like Mafuyu, which is the reason I have come up with for his hair being like that

Akito has seen Ena go into the deepsea before and is very against the idea. Toya says it's probably a bad idea to go there so it must be horrible

Ena and Akito's dad does NOT like octolings and taught them not to since it's a thing a lot of inkling parents tell their kids.

[captain-ravioli7321]

post traumatic manifesto splatoon 3 headcanons

heres what i think each of the gurls so far would main!! specifically in splatoon 3 cuz i haven't played the other games disposable: feel like she's a splattershot main... she'd go crazy with the trizooka.

irreverent: bloblobber. Don't ask why i simply feel it in my bones. specifically the one with kraken.

splitter: splatana stamper w/zip, or new squiffer. she'd be hittin CRAZY trickshots with the squiffer

faineant: heavy edit splatling with tacticooler! theyd spam the crap out of tacticooler

caliber: Z+F splatter-scope w/ ink strikes. i'd be lying if i said i didn't partially choose this bc its close to her color scheme but like. She would main some charger i think

choco-box: krak-on roller! im only now realizing how many of these have kraken. Kraken is just on a lot of fun weapons...

taxidermy: e-liter scope. caliber and taxidermy play sometimes and squidbag the SHITTTT out of eachother every time they kill one another (all in good fun tho)

chemical: range blaster... I love custom range blaster but if i give another girl kraken i feel like im gonna get striked down by the gods...

[ajwrites52]

Batober 2023: Day 3-Spooked

Wake Up.

“Huh?” Damian said as he leapt from his cot. He remembered this, the cold and empty place that he’d called home for the first ten years of his life. He was back in that cot that held none of his sketches or trinkets and memorabilia, no beds next to his workbench for Titus and Ace to nap in while he did homework, and worst of all no sense of safety. 

“No. No. No!” Yelled Damian as he threw off his covers and ran for the door. Only to be met with the silhouette of his grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul.

“Damian.”

“G-Grandfather. But… you’re-” 

Before he could even finish his sentence, suddenly found in his grandfather’s arena dressed in his League uniform with a bloodstained saber in his hand. Damian trembled as he turned and found the sobering and hate filled visage of his cousin Mara Al Ghul clutching her bleeding right eye. 

“Demon! How could you?!” Mara’s voice was filled with such venom and animosity as she glared at her cousin who could only tremble at her gaze. “I thought we were family! 

“No. This isn’t real!” Damian tossed his bloodstained blade to the ground in denial of his vision, as he looked back up he found himself face to face with his mother. Her face was obscured in shadows but he could tell that she wasn’t looking at him at all. 

“That was an embarrassment Damian. You are an embarrassment.” Those very words struck the child to his core, but he clenched his fists and growled as he ran forward to force her to look at him.

“Silence! I’m not an embarrassment! No matter what you say!” Talia vanished into smoke which filled every corner of the darkened room, Damian clenched his teeth and spun around as he was now in his first Robin costume. “Oh great! What is this? Some kind of parlor trick? Scarecrow? Strange? Or is it you clown? I beat you senseless before and I’ll do it again!”

Something stirred in the shadows of the room, Damian pounced at it with no hesitation and sent it flying with a flying drop kick. The sounds of shattered glass and screaming echoed loudly and cleared away the smoke, forcing Damian to see the bloodied and battered body of his adopted brother-Tim Drake. 

“W-Why? I just wanted to know you, to understand you? Why did you?”

“No! SHUT UP! I’m not playing this game! I did what I was taught, I know I was wrong okay! Now face me you coward!” 

“What’s wrong kid?” spoke a dark and heavy voice who placed a cold hand upon his shoulder, Damian growled and spun around to deliver a powerful punch to whoever stood behind him. But as he did, he was only met with the white and bleeding eyes of Morgan Ducard with his fist landing in his forehead just like it did in the submarine. The cold deceased corpse of the dead man creaked as its eyes rotated back in place to glare at him and grab his wrists. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“STOP IT! I… I repented for your death Ducard! I’ve paid that toll in blood and tears!” Damian screamed and tried to pry himself from the undead Ducard’s grasp, Ducard scoffed before tossing Damian into a wall with little effort as he approached him with a sword in hand. 

“Repented? You? Heh. Don’t make me laugh.” Damian stood back up to his feet, spitting on the ground as he threw out two Birdarangs in Ducard’s direction. The zombified Ducard took both to the chest and just laughed in response, Damian noticing his eyes burning  with crimson flames that spread and melted away his flesh and armor leaving him a burning skeleton. “I’ve seen your true self, who you TRULY ARE BOY!” 

The burning visage of a man stood before Damian, its flames and skull morphing to resemble that of a Batman with devil horns and a trench coat made of hellfire. The area around him burned away as he now stood on the roof of Wayne Industries with Gotham ablaze beneath them. “T-This isn’t real! I know this is a game! This isn’t happening!”

KRAK! 

The demonic Batman backhanded Robin, knocking his domino mask off of his face before picking him up by the collar and holding him so they were eye to eye. 

“THIS IS FAR MORE REAL THAN YOU REALIZE YOU HORRID WASTE OF FLESH!” yelled the Demonic Batman as it raised its sword in the air. “You were born cursed, unwanted by your witch of a mother and monster of a grandfather! An ocean of blood follows you wherever you go, and will never leave you. You have only one true home, and it's time you returned back to the pit. Demon child.”

STAB!! 

Damian felt a sharp pain in his chest as the sword ran itself through his heart, the world went cold and dark. He couldn’t move anymore, his limbs failed him and his heart froze still, this was a fitting end to the Grandson of The Demon. The Child of Talia Al Ghul. The Prince of Blood. Damian…

Wayne

“He’s wrong about that, you know.” A gloved hand grabbed the hilt of the sword, Damian’s heart began to stir as the blade began to vacate Damian’s chest cavity causing a bright heavenly light to fill the room. Damian screamed as he opened his eyes and found himself now wearing his black and red uniform as well as sitting in the kitchen of Wayne Manor. 

“What?!” yelled the demonic Batman, the two turned to the door as Alfred Pennyworth appeared with a kettle of tea and cup in hand. The demonic Batman growled as it lunged at the two only to be sent flying out of the nearest door leaving Alfred and Damian alone. 

“A-Alfred?” Damian asked, slowly removing his mask as he was truly met with the smiling face of his grandfather figure who poured him a cup of tea. “But…”

“I’m afraid I can’t divulge that information, Master Damian. An old man must retain some mystique afterall. But I can tell you that whatever that monster said about you is utter nonsense, and you’d be daft to believe any of it.” Damian looked down at his feet, tears stung his eyes as he couldn’t look the former butler in the eyes. 

“But I did all those horrible things,” Damian wiped away his tears with his thumb only for more to follow suit. “I-I’m not worthy of any redemption. Of this suit or any of that forgiveness I’ve been given over the years. Christ Alfred it’s because of me that-” Damian’s words were interrupted by a warm hand placed on his head by Alfred, followed by a warm embrace. 

“Master Damian. It pains me to see how similar you are to your father,” Alfred pushed the boy away as he took Damian’s domino mask and held it in his gloved hand. “Both of you hold yourselves to such high standards, you think that your mistakes and failures define you. It’s painful to watch you both forget your successes and those you’ve touched in your lifetime.”

Damian looked around as he found the kitchen now bustling with all he considered friends and family, Jon smiling as he, Maya, and Kathy engage in a card game of the Superboy’s choosing while Jason fights to save his leather jacket from the jaws of Titus. Stephanie and Cassandra wave at him as they enter the kitchen with breakfast for the whole family, only for Dick to sneak up behind and snatch away the first Breakfast Burrito from Duke who groaned. Even Tim laughed as he grabbed his coffee from Cassandra and reunited with Bernard who stood waiting for him at the counter. Then Damian felt a pair of warm hands on his shoulders, he looked up to find his father’s smiling face alongside Selina’s who had Alfred the cat on her shoulders. 

“Your past will always exist Master Damian, but it is your present and who you choose to be that defines you. Now…” Alfred holds Damian’s domino mask in front of him as the doors to the garden open revealing the Demonic Batman growling as the garden is consumed by the blaze. “Who are you, Damian?”

“Pennyworth.” Damian smiled and took back his mask as he stood up and walked out to face the demon before him. Placing his mask on his face and cracking his knuckles Damian ran forward with a smile on his face as he announced, “I’m ROBIN!”

robin

Robin

ROBIN!

Damian gasped for air as he jolted out of bed, sweat dripping down his forehead as he found himself back in his bedroom with Titus at the foot of his bed and the relieved face of his father to his right. Bruce hugged his son in relief as he began to detail what had happened to The Boy Wonder, apparently The Spook had returned and sought revenge against the Son of Batman. Using a combination of his hypnosis and Fear Toxin, he’d trapped Damian in his own mental prison and was on the run. 

“Well then, I guess that means that Batman and Robin are still on the case. Let’s get to work, father.” Damian leapt out of bed and ran towards the entrance of the Batcave, Bruce chuckled and followed behind his son to the Batmobile. 

They weren’t going to let a simple scare tear them down, they were BATMAN AND ROBIN!

THE END

[quirkyenby]

Chilling w/ the Pachan Polycule feat. Ada

Hjalmar, with Illoe, Frer, Era, and Mana.

Also included in the Polycule is Jelrod (husband w/ two boys), Jukk, Voda, Krak, and Vallah

[mechanomorphic]

giving my splatoon agents my gaming habits as i played each game is so funny bcs like

og three picked up the krak on roller their first day and never played anything else. they had run speed up on every gear piece. the played turf war like they were a car

four picked up the slosher and the dualies for fifteen minutes and then vanished into the sewer, never to be seen again

neo three changes weapons CONSTANTLY. a bit of bias towards shooters but also loves splatanas and dualies and buckets and rollers. theyll play three matches w a splatana and then come out with a new outfit and a mini splatling

none of them have ever picked up a charger

[pumpkinsy0]

its caribbean heritage month im back on my dailt shepards hc shit srry not srry to everyone who doesnt like these!!!!

im gonna make up for the past few says and today so here we go‼️‼️

for context i hc the shepards as haitian but i will make comments about them being dominican cause i feel like of they were hispnic theyd b that so,, yea,,,

1) curly tends to whisper in creole (or spanish if u wanna hc the shepards as dominican pick ur poison) anout whatevers on his mind while ponys sleeping next to him cause pony finds it pretty comforting actually and thinks curlys voice sounds nice!!!!

2)when at a beach or rlly anywhere w seashells they play zanset (this traditional haitian game. where u toss and catch shells in rhythms/patterns)

3) i already gave them middle names but imagine em w more haitian middle names!!! angelas could b like erzulie, antoinette, or roseléne and tim and curlys could b nerat, désir, anri, zamor, isidor, list goes on

4)when they were way younger, tim did this thing w pony and curly called krik-krak, and its this call and response thing done in haiti used during storytelling of things like haitian folklore n stuff like that but rlly curly did it anytime he was telling a story bc oral storytelling is very important in haitian culture

basically the storyteller goes “krik” and the ppl listening go “krak”

5) now im adding this cause my mom did this a lot when i was a kid BUT the shepards (mostly angela) always says “anmwey” when they see something that annoys or fustrates them, they just mumble it under their breath and rub their face its just so funny to me

[cherryistired]

my opinions on your favorite splatoon gear brand

nobody asked for this but i have OPINIONS

squidforce -the brand is basic, but if you tell me that's your all time favorite brand? I have to respect that level of authenticity. there are better brands for basic tees and shoes but don't let me stop you. live your truth

zink - BEST SHOES IN THE GAME. not the best sportswear brand but i have massive respect for your taste in shoes

krak-on - you've got good taste. i'd be surprised if you wore krak-on exclusively tho (and dissapointed. i hate brand loyalties)

rockenberg - one of the few popular brands i actually like! if you wear all rockenberg tho stop doing that (unless you're doing cowboy shit. then good for you howdy hat supremacy)

zekko - i was about to say zekko was mid but then i remembered they have the varsity jacket. you're on thin ice tho

forge - yeah forge does have the best headgear in the game. can't even argue about you with that

firefin - mid. what even is the appeal here. this just looks like a generic splatoon brand

skalop - best graphic tees in the game hands down. kinda mid otherwise tho

splash mob - why??? is it the hats??? the hats are cool ig but like. why

inkline - it's fine. definitely more of a cohesive style to this brand than some others, i can see why you'd like it

tentatek - kinda mid. it's sportswear which is fun, but like. there are better brands for that

takoroka - W BRAND. I LOVE TAKOROKA SO MUCH. LITERALLY NEVER MISSES

annaki - poser. point and laugh

enperry - you only like this brand bc it has 1 piece of gear you like don't you

toni kensa - i hate this brand. you're not fashionable because you only wear black and white. get some real style and then we'll talk

z+f - the "new brand" hype has died down. why are you still stanning this collab. granted the crocs are cool but still. it's not fresh anymore, move on

barazushi - it's kind of a worse inkline. i'm right sorry

emberz - never met an emberz fan that wasn't cool

grizzco - now, i could make a capitalism joke here, but i won't, bc grizzco gear unironically slaps. go get those scales girl

cuttlegear - yes, i also miss agent 4's gear and the new octoling armor. they're not in the game. move on

amiibo - there are 2 type of ammibo gear wearers: people who bought amiibos, and people who are cool. if amiibo is your favorite brand you're the first type of person

any brand that isn't in splatoon 3 - the newest game is the best in the series, you're literally just blinded by nostalgia. move on alreadyyyyyyyy

[ashenberry]

CARBON AND KRAK-ON BOTH WOOO A W FOR ME SPECIFICALLY

[scuttling-comfuddlement]

You know what it is. It's a colossal cephalopod that turns into an island when it dies.

The kraken (/ˈkrɑːkən/)[7] is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland. It is believed that the legend of the Kraken may have originated from sightings of giant squid, which may grow to 12–15 m (40–50 feet) in length.

Kraken vs. ship

Kraken attacking ship

Kraken, an unconfirmed cephalopod.[a] Engraving by W. H. Lizars, in Hamilton, Robert (1839). Naturalist's Library. Adapted "from Denys Montford" [sic.][3]

colossal octopus engraving

A "colossal octopus" that attacked a ship. Drawing by Pierre Denys-Montfort, engraved by Étienne Claude Voysard [fr], 1801[4]

colossal octopus in color

Colorized facsimile[5] – hand-colored woodcut[6] or pen and wash[citation needed]

The kraken, as a subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos, was first described in the modern era in a travelogue by Francesco Negri in 1700. This description was followed in 1734 by an account from Dano-Norwegian missionary and explorer Hans Egede, who described the kraken in detail and equated it with the hafgufa of medieval lore. However, the first description of the creature is usually credited to the Danish bishop Pontoppidan (1753). Pontoppidan was the first to describe the kraken as an octopus (polypus) of tremendous size,[b] and wrote that it had a reputation for pulling down ships. The French malacologist Denys-Montfort, of the 19th century, is also known for his pioneering inquiries into the existence of gigantic octopuses (Octupi).

The great man-killing octopus entered French fiction when novelist Victor Hugo (1866) introduced the pieuvre octopus of Guernsey lore, which he identified with the kraken of legend. This led to Jules Verne's depiction of the kraken, although Verne did not distinguish between squid and octopus.

Linnaeus may have indirectly written about the kraken. Linnaeus wrote about the Microcosmus genus (an animal with various other organisms or growths attached to it, comprising a colony). Subsequent authors have referred to Linnaeus's writing, and the writings of Bartholin's cetus called hafgufa, and Paullini's monstrum marinum as "krakens".[c] That said, the claim that Linnaeus used the word "kraken" in the margin of a later edition of Systema Naturae has not been confirmed.

Etymology

edit

The English word "kraken" (in the sense of sea monster) derives from Norwegian kraken or krakjen, which are the definite forms of krake ("the krake").[7]

According to a Norwegian dictionary, the root meaning of krake is "malformed or overgrown, crooked tree".[8] It originates from Old Norse kraki, which is etymologically related to Old Norse krókr, lit. 'hook', cognate with "crook". This is backed up by the Swedish dictionary SAOB, published by the Swedish Academy, which gives essentially the exact same description for the word in Swedish and confirming the lead krak as a diminutive form of krok, Norwegian and Swedish for 'hook/crook' (krake thus roughly translate to "crookie").[9] With time, "krake" have come to mean any severed tree stem or trunk with crooked outgrowths, in turn giving name to objects and tools based on such, notably for the subject matter, primitive anchors and drags (grapnel anchors) made from severed spruce tops or branchy bush trunks outfitted with a stone sinker,[8][9] known as krake, but also krabbe in Norwegian or krabba in Swedish (lit. 'crab').[d] Old Norse kraki mostly corresponds to these uses in modern Icelandic, meaning, among other things, "twig" and "drag", but also "pole/stake used in pole blockages [sv]" and "boat hook".[13] Swedish SAOB gives the translations of Icelandic kraki as "thin rod with hook on it", "wooden drag with stone sinker" and "dry spruce trunk with the crooked, stripped branches still attached".[9]

Old style Scandinavian drag (grapnel anchor) made from the top of a tree, historically known as krake or krabbe in the Scandinavian languages, probably the root for the naming of the mythological monster.

Kraken is assumed to have been named figuratively after the meaning “crooked tree” or its derivate meaning “drag”, as trunks with crooked branches or outgrowths, and especially drags, wooden or not, readily conjure up the image of a cephalopod or similar.[14][15][9][8] This idea seems to first have been notably remarked by Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson in 1920.[16] A synonym for kraken has also been krabbe (see below), which further indicates a name-theme referencing drags.

Synonyms

edit

Besides kraken, the monster went under a variety of names early on, the second to kraken being horven ("the horv").[17] Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson explained this name in 1920 as an alternative form of harv (lit. 'harrow') and conjectured that this name was suggested by the inkfish's action of seeming to plow the sea.[16]

Some of the synonyms of krake given by Erik Pontoppidan were, in Danish:[e]

horv (horven) – harrow[16][18][17]

søe-horv (søe-horven) – sea-harrow[16][19]

søe-krake (søe-kraken) – sea-krake[18]

kraxe (kraxen) – alternate spelling of "krakse"[18][f]

krabbe (krabben) – named after the drag (grapnel anchor) "crab" (see above)[19][8][9]

anker-trold – anchor-troll[19][g]

Related words

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Since the 19th century, the word krake have, beyond the monster, given name to the cephalopod order Octopoda in Swedish (krakar)[h] and German (Kraken), resulting in many species of octopuses partly named such, such as the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), which is named jättekrake ("giant kraken") in Swedish and Gewöhnlicher Krake ("common kraken") in German. The family Octopodidae is also known as Echte Kraken ("true krakens") in German. In Icelandic, octopoda is instead named kolkrabbar ("coal crabs") after the crab nickname, the common octopus simply named kolkrabbi.

The Swedish diminutive form kräkel, a word for a branchy/spiny piece of wood,[29] have given name to a variety of sea dwelling plants in Swedish, most notably furcellaria lumbricalis, a species of red algae.[30][i] There is also the morphological derivation kräkla (dialectal Norwegian: krekle), meaning crooked piece of wood, which has given name to primitive forms of whisks and beaters (cooking), made from the tops of trees by keeping a row of twigs as the beating element, resembling the appearance of a cephalopod, but also crosiers and shepherd's crooks.[33]

Shetlandic krekin for "whale", a taboo word, is listed as etymologically related.[14][34]

General description and myth

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In Norwegian sailor folklore, kraken ("the krake" or "the crookie"), also known as horven (among others), is a legendary sea monster said to appear in the sea between Norway and Iceland.

It is said that when fishermen row out a few miles (Scandinavian miles) from the coast on a hot summer's day in a calm, and according to normal calculations should find a depth of 80–100 fathoms (140–180 metres (460–590 ft) deep), it sometimes happens that the plummet bottoms at 20–30 fathoms (35–50 metres (115–164 ft) deep). But in this water stand the most abundant shoals of cod and lings. Then you can assume that the kraken lurks down there; as it is he who forms the artificial elevation of the bottom and by his secretions attracts fish there. But if those fishing notices that the kraken is rising, it is necessary to row away for all the boat can take. After a few minutes, the beast can then be seen lifting the upper part of its body above the surface of the water, which for a quarter of a mile (ca 1.5 mi.) in circumference appears as a collection of skerries, covered with swaying, seaweed-like growths. Finally, a few shining tentacles rise up in the air, increasingly thicker at the bottom, which can even appear as high as ship's masts. After a while, the kraken gives in to sinking again, and you then have to be careful not to run into the suction vortex that is formed.[17]

First descriptions

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Two monsters, the ferocious toothed "swine whale", and the horned, flashy-eyed "bearded whale" on Olaus's map, given specific names by Gesner.[35][36] The "bearded" is possibly a kraken.[37][j] Olaus Magnus, Carta marina (1539)

The first description of the krake as "sciu-crak" was given by Italian writer Negri in Viaggio settentrionale (Padua, 1700), a travelogue about Scandinavia.[39][40] The book describes the sciu-crak as a massive "fish" which was many-horned or many-armed. The author also distinguished this from a sea-serpent.[41]

The kraken was described as a many-headed and clawed creature by Egede (1741)[1729], who stated it was equivalent to the Icelanders' hafgufa,[42] but the latter is commonly treated as a fabulous whale.[43] Erik Pontoppidan (1753), who popularized the kraken to the world, noted that it was multiple-armed according to lore, and conjectured it to be a giant sea-crab, starfish or a polypus (octopus).[44] Still, the bishop is considered to have been instrumental in sparking interest for the kraken in the English-speaking world,[45] as well as becoming regarded as the authority on sea-serpents and krakens.[46]

Although it has been stated that the kraken (Norwegian: krake) was "described for the first time by that name" in the writings of Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen, in his Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie "The First Attempt at [a] Natural History of Norway" (1752–53),[47] a German source qualified Pontoppidan to be the first source on kraken available to be read in the German language.[48] A description of the kraken had been anticipated by Hans Egede.[49]

Denys-Montfort (1801) published on two giants, the "colossal octopus" with the enduring image of it attacking a ship, and the "kraken octopod", deemed to be the largest organism in zoology. Denys-Montfort matched his "colossal" with Pliny's tale of the giant polypus that attacked ships-wrecked people, while making correspondence between his kraken and Pliny's monster called the arbor marina.[k] Finnur Jónsson (1920) also favored identifying the kraken as an inkfish (squid/octopus) on etymological grounds.

Egede

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The krake (English: kraken) was described by Hans Egede in his Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration (1729; Ger. t. 1730; tr. Description of Greenland, 1745),[50] drawing from the fables of his native region, the Nordlandene len [no] of Norway, then under Danish rule.[52][53]

According to his Norwegian informants, the kraken's body measured many miles in length, and when it surfaced it seemed to cover the whole sea, and "having many heads and a number of claws". With its claws it captured its prey, which included ships, men, fish, and animals, carrying its victims back into the depths.[53] Egede conjectured that the krake was equatable to the monster that the Icelanders call hafgufa, but as he had not obtained anything related to him through an informant, he had difficulty describing the latter.[42][l]

According to the lore of Norwegian fishermen, they could mount upon the fish-attracting kraken as if it were a sand-bank (Fiske-Grund 'fishing shoal'), but if they ever had the misfortune to capture the kraken, getting it entangled on their hooks, the only way to avoid destruction was to pronounce its name to make it go back to its depths.[55][56] Egede also wrote that the krake fell under the general category of "sea spectre" (Danish: søe-trold og [søe]-spøgelse),[58] adding that "the Draw" (Danish: Drauen, definite form) was another being within that sea spectre classification.[24][56][m]

Hafgufa

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Main article: hafgufa

Egede also made the aforementioned identification of krake as being the same as the hafgufa of the Icelanders,[20][42] though he seemed to have obtained the information indirectly from medieval Norwegian work, the Speculum Regale (or King's Mirror, c. 1250).[n][61][62][49][20]

Later, David Crantz [de] in Historie von Grönland (History of Greenland, 1765) also reported kraken and the hafgufa to be synonymous.[63][64]

An English translator of the King's Mirror in 1917 opted to translate hafgufa as kraken.[65]

The hafgufa (described as the largest of the sea monsters, inhabiting the Greenland Sea) from the King's Mirror[66][67][o] continues to be identified with the kraken in some scholarly writings,[69][20] and if this equivalence were allowed, the kraken-hafgufa's range would extend, at least legendarily, to waters approaching Helluland (Baffin Island, Canada), as described in Örvar-Odds saga.[70][p]

Contrary opinion

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The description of the hafgufa in the King's Mirror suggests a garbled eyewitness account of what was actually a whale, at least to Grönlands historiske Mindesmaerker.[71] Halldór Hermannsson [sv] also reads the work as describing the hafgufa as a type of whale.[43]

Finnur Jónsson (1920) having arrived at the opinion that the kraken probably represented an inkfish (squid/octopus), as discussed earlier, expressed his skepticism towards the standing notion that the kraken originated from the hafgufa.[16]

Pontoppidan

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Erik Pontoppidan's Det første Forsøg paa Norges naturlige Historie (1752, actually volume 2, 1753)[72] made several claims regarding kraken, including the notion that the creature was sometimes mistaken for a group of small islands with fish swimming in-between,[73] Norwegian fishermen often took the risk of trying to fish over kraken, since the catch was so plentiful[74] (hence the saying "You must have fished on Kraken"[75]).

However, there was also the danger to seamen of being engulfed by the whirlpool when it submerged,[76][12] and this whirlpool was compared to Norway's famed Moskstraumen often known as "the Maelstrom".[77][78]

Pontoppidan also described the destructive potential of the giant beast: "it is said that if [the creature's arms] were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom".[79][76][12][80]

Kraken purportedly exclusively fed for several months, then spent the following few months emptying its excrement, and the thickened clouded water attracted fish.[81] Later Henry Lee commented that the supposed excreta may have been the discharge of ink by a cephalopod.[82]

Taxonomic identifications

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Pontoppidan wrote of a possible specimen of the krake, "perhaps a young and careless one", which washed ashore and died at Alstahaug, Norway, in 1680.[80][78][22] He observed that it had long "arms", and guessed that it must have been crawling like a snail/slug with the use of these "arms", but got lodged in the landscape during the process.[83][84] 20th century malacologist Paul Bartsch conjectured this to have been a giant squid,[85] as did literary scholar Finnur Jónsson.[86]

However, what Pontoppidan actually stated regarding what creatures he regarded as candidates for the kraken is quite complicated.

Pontoppidan did tentatively identify the kraken to be a sort of giant crab, stating that the alias krabben best describes its characteristics.[21][87][78][q]

Medusa's head, or kraken's young according to fishermen's lore

Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae or Medusa's head

Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae  [nl] (old name Astrophyton Linckii[90]), possibly Linnaeus's "Medusa's head"? according to Lyman;[91] native to the North Sea.[92]

Gorgonocephalus eucnemis, perhaps Shetland Argus

Gorgonocephalus eucnemis.[93] "Shetland Argus", according to Bell; possibly Linnaeus's caput medusa[e] also;[94][95] this a more far-ranging species.[95]

However, further down in his writing, compares the creature to some creature(s) from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 4: the sea-monster called arbor, with tree-branch like multiple arms,[r] complicated by the fact that Pontoppidan adds another of Pliny's creature called rota with eight arms, and conflates them into one organism.[96][97] Pontoppidan is suggesting this is an ancient example of kraken, as a modern commentator analyzes.[98]

Pontoppidan then declared the kraken to be a type of polypus (=octopus)[101] or "starfish", particularly the kind Gesner called Stella Arborescens, later identifiable as one of the northerly ophiurids[102] or possibly more specifically as one of the Gorgonocephalids or even the genus Gorgonocephalus (though no longer regarded as family/genus under order Ophiurida, but under Phrynophiurida in current taxonomy).[106][109]

This ancient arbor (admixed rota and thus made eight-armed) seems like an octopus at first blush[110] but with additional data, the ophiurid starfish now appears bishop's preferential choice.[111]

The ophiurid starfish seems further fortified when he notes that "starfish" called "Medusa's heads" (caput medusæ; pl. capita medusæ) are considered to be "the young of the great sea-krake" by local lore. Pontoppidan ventured the 'young krakens' may rather be the eggs (ova) of the starfish.[112] Pontopiddan was satisfied that "Medusa's heads" was the same as the foregoing starfish (Stella arborensis of old),[113] but "Medusa's heads" were something found ashore aplenty across Norway according to von Bergen, who thought it absurd these could be young "Kraken" since that would mean the seas would be full of (the adults).[114][115] The "Medusa's heads" appear to be a Gorgonocephalid, with Gorgonocephalus spp. being tentatively suggested.[116][s]

[120]

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (July 2023)

[122]

In the end though, Pontoppidan again appears ambivalent, stating "Polype, or Star-fish [belongs to] the whole genus of Kors-Trold ['cross troll'], ... some that are much larger, .. even the very largest ... of the ocean", and concluding that "this Krake must be of the Polypus kind".[123] By "this Krake" here, he apparently meant in particular the giant polypus octopus of Carteia from Pliny, Book IX, Ch. 30 (though he only used the general nickname "ozaena" 'stinkard' for the octopus kind).[97][124][t]

Denys-Montfort

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In 1802, the French malacologist Pierre Denys-Montfort recognized the existence of two "species" of giant octopuses in Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques, an encyclopedic description of mollusks.[4]

The "colossal giant" was supposedly the same as Pliny's "monstrous polypus",[125][126] which was a man-killer which ripped apart (Latin: distrahit) shipwrecked people and divers.[129][130] Montfort accompanied his publication with an engraving representing the giant octopus poised to destroy a three-masted ship.[4][131]

Whereas the "kraken octopus", was the most gigantic animal on the planet in the writer's estimation, dwarfing Pliny's "colossal octopus"/"monstrous polypus",[132][133] and identified here as the aforementioned Pliny's monster, called the arbor marinus.[134]

Montfort also listed additional wondrous fauna as identifiable with the kraken.[135] [136] There was Paullini's monstrum marinum glossed as a sea crab (German: Seekrabbe),[137] which a later biologist has suggested to be one of the Hyas spp.[138] It was also described as resembling Gesner's Cancer heracleoticus crab alleged to appear off the Finnish coast.[137][133] von Bergen's "bellua marina omnium vastissima" (meaning 'vastest-of-all sea-beast'), namely the trolwal ('ogre whale', 'troll whale') of Northern Europe, and the Teufelwal ('devil whale') of the Germans follow in the list.[139][136]

Angola octopus, pictured in St. Malo

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It is in his chapter on the "colossal octopus" that Montfort provides the contemporary eyewitness example of a group of sailors who encounter the giant off the coast of Angola, who afterwards deposited a pictorial commemoration of the event as a votive offering at St. Thomas's chapel in Saint-Malo, France.[140] Based on that picture, Montfort drew a "colossal octopus" attacking a ship, and included the engraving in his book.[5][6] However, an English author recapitulating Montfort's account of it attaches an illustration of it, which was captioned: "The Kraken supposed a sepia or cuttlefish", while attributing Montfort.[141]

Hamilton's book was not alone in recontextualizing Montfort's ship-assaulting colossal octopus as a kraken; for instance, the piece on the "kraken" by American zoologist Packard.[142]

The Frenchman Montfort used the obsolete scientific name Sepia octopodia but called it a poulpe,[143] which means "octopus" to this day; meanwhile the English-speaking naturalists had developed the convention of calling the octopus "eight-armed cuttle-fish", as did Packard[2] and Hamilton,[3] even though modern-day speakers are probably unfamiliar with that name.

Warship Ville de Paris

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200-foot octopus allegedly seen in 1813

The Niagara sighting. 60-metre (200 ft) creature allegedly seen afloat in 1813, depicted as octopus by a naturalist

Having accepted as fact that a colossal octopus was capable of dragging a ship down, Montfort made a more daring hypothesis. He attempted to blame colossal octopuses for the loss of ten warships under British control in 1782, including six captured French men-of-war. The disaster began with the distress signal fired by the captured ship of the line Ville de Paris which was then swallowed up by parting waves, and the other ships coming to aid shared the same fate. He proposed, by process of elimination, that such an event could only be accounted for as the work of many octopuses.[144][145][146] But it has been pointed out the sinkings have simply been explained by the presence of a storm,[131] and Montfort's involving octopuses as complicit has been characterized as "reckless falsity".[146]

It has also been noted that Montfort once quipped to a friend, DeFrance: "If my entangled ship is accepted, I will make my 'colossal poulpe' overthrow a whole fleet".[147][148][2]

Niagara

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The ship Niagara on course from Lisbon to New York in 1813 logged a sighting of a marine animal spotted afloat at sea. It was claimed to be 60 m (200 feet) in length, covered in shells, and had many birds alighted upon it.[citation needed]

Samuel Latham Mitchill reported this, and referencing Montfort's kraken, reproduced an illustration of it as an octopus.[149]

Linnaeus's microcosmus

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Sea-grapes, or cephalopod eggs

The famous Swedish 18th century naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae (1735) described a fabulous genus Microcosmus a "body covered with various heterogeneous [other bits]" (Latin: Corpus variis heterogeneis tectum).[138][150][151][u]

Linnaeus cited four sources under Microcosmus, namely:[v][138][153] Thomas Bartholin's cetus (≈whale) type hafgufa;[155] Paullin's monstrum marinum aforementioned;[137] and Francesco Redi's giant tunicate (Ascidia[138]) in Italian and Latin.[156][157]

According to the Swedish zoologist Lovén, the common name kraken was added to the 6th edition of Systema Naturae (1748),[138] which was a Latin version augmented with Swedish names[158] (in blackletter), but such Swedish text is wanting on this particular entry, e.g. in the copy held by NCSU.[152] It is true that the 7th edition of 1748, which adds German vernacular names,[158] identifies the Microcosmus as "sea-grape" (German: Meertrauben), referring to a cluster of cephalopod eggs.[159][160][w][x]

Also, the Frenchman Louis Figuier in 1860 misstated that Linnaeus included in his classification a cephalopod called "Sepia microcosmus"[y] in his first edition of Systema Naturae (1735).[164] Figuier's mistake has been pointed out, and Linnaeus never represented the kraken as such a cephalopod.[165] Nevertheless, the error has been perpetuated by even modern-day writers.[167]

Linnaeus in English

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Thomas Pennant, an Englishman, had written of Sepia octopodia as "eight-armed cuttlefish" (we call it octopus today), and documented reported cases in the Indian isles where specimen grow to 2 fathoms [3.7 m; 12 ft] wide, "and each arms 9 fathoms [16 m; 54 ft] long".[2][1] This was added as a species Sepia octopusa [sic.] by William Turton in his English version of Linnaeus's System of Nature, together with the account of the 9-fathom-long (16 m; 54 ft) armed octopuses.[2][168]

The trail stemming from Linnaeus, eventually leading to such pieces on the kraken written in English by the naturalist James Wilson for the Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1818 sparked an awareness of the kraken among 19th century English, hence Tennyson's poem, "The Kraken".[69]

Iconography

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Kraken of the imagination

"Kraken of the imagination". John Gibson, 1887.[169]

As to the iconography, Denys-Montfort's engraving of the "colossal octopus" is often shown, though this differs from the kraken according to the French malacologist,[5] and commentators are found characterizing the ship attack representing the "kraken octopod".[2][170]

And after Denys-Monfort's illustration, various publishers produced similar illustrations depicting the kraken attacking a ship.[3][169]

Whereas the kraken was described by Egede as having "many Heads and a Number of Claws", the creature is also depicted to have spikes or horns, at least in illustrations of creatures which commentators have conjectured to be krakens. The "bearded whale" shown on an early map (pictured above) is conjectured to be a kraken perhaps (cf. §Olaus Magnus below). Also, there was an alleged two-headed and horned monster that beached ashore in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, thought to be a giant cephalopod, of which there was a picture/painting made by the discoverer.[171] He made a travelling show of his work on canvas, as introduced in a book on the kraken.[172]

Olaus Magnus

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While Swedish writer Olaus Magnus did not use the term kraken, various sea-monsters were illustrated on his famous map, the Carta marina (1539). Modern writers have since tried to interpret various sea creatures illustrated as a portrayal of the kraken.

Olaus gives description of a whale with two elongated teeth ("like a boar's or elephant's tusk") to protect its huge eyes, which "sprouts horns", and although these are as hard as horn, they can be made supple also.[173][38] But the tusked form was named "swine-whale" (German: Schweinwal), and the horned form "bearded whale" (German: Bart-wal) by Swiss naturalist Gesner, who observed it possessed a "starry beard" around the upper and lower jaws.[174][36] At least one writer has suggested this might represent the kraken of Norwegian lore.[37]

Another work commented less discerningly that Olaus's map is "replete with imagery of krakens and other monsters".[20]

Ashton's Curious Creatures (1890) drew significantly from Olaus's work[175] and even quoted the Swede's description of the horned whale.[176] But he identified the kraken as a cephalopod and devoted much space on Pliny's and Olaus's descriptions of the giant "polypus",[177] noting that Olaus had represented the kraken-polypus as a crayfish or lobster in his illustrations, [178] and reproducing the images from both Olaus's book[179][173][38] and his map.[180][181] In Olaus book, the giant lobster illustration is uncaptioned, but appears right above the words "De Polypis (on the octopus)", which is the chapter heading.[173] Hery Lee was also of the opinion that the multi-legged lobster was a misrepresentation of a reported cephalopod attack on a ship.[182]

The legend in Olaus's map fails to clarify on the lobster-like monster "M",[z] depicted off the island of Iona.[aa][184] However, the associated writing called the Auslegung adds that this section of the map extends from Ireland to the "Insula Fortunata".[185] This "Fortunate Island" was a destination on St. Brendan's Voyage, one of whose adventures was the landing of the crew on an island-sized monstrous, as depicted in a 17th century engraving (cf. figure right);[188] and this monstrous fish, according to Bartholin was the aforementioned hafgufa,[155] which has already been discussed above as one of the creatures of lore equated with kraken.

Kraken represented as a Crayfish or Lobster.[189] Monster "M". Carta marina (1539), detail.

Kraken represented as a Crayfish or Lobster.[189] Monster "M". Carta marina (1539), detail.

Giant lobster attacking ship. Lee, Henry (1884), p. 58, after Olaus Magnus (1555), Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus.

Giant lobster attacking ship. Lee, Henry (1884), p. 58, after Olaus Magnus (1555), Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus.

Giant fish encountered by St. Brendan. "Insula Fortunata" marked near it.[186]

Giant fish encountered by St. Brendan. "Insula Fortunata" marked near it.[186]

Giant squid

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Modern artistic depiction of a giant squid attacking two fisherman.

The piece of squid recovered by the French ship Alecton in 1861, discussed by Henry Lee in his chapter on the "Kraken",[190] would later be identified as a giant squid, Architeuthis by A. E. Verrill.[191]

After a specimen of the giant squid, Architeuthis, was discovered by Rev. Moses Harvey and published in science by Professor A. E. Verrill, commentators have remarked on this cephalopod as possibly explaining the legendary kraken.[192][193][194]

Historian Otto Latva, who has studied the historical relationship between humans and giant squid, has pointed out that giant squid did not become widely associated with the myth of the kraken in Western culture until the late 19th century. In his book The Giant Squid in Transatlantic Culture, he suggests that the kraken may not even have originated from an animal sighting. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals and the Linnean classification system, however, natural historians and others interested in the study of nature began to look for an explanation for it among marine animals in the 18th century. Among other species, starfish, whales, crustaceans and shelled marine molluscs were suggested as models for the kraken. It was not until Pierre Denys de Montfort's research on molluscs in the early 19th century that the octopus became established in Western culture as an archetype for the kraken. As the kraken became understood as a giant octopus, it was also easy to start interpreting the large squid as the model for kraken stories. However, it was not until the late 19th century that such interpretations became widespread. As Latva points out, the giant squid is not the archetype of the mythical kraken, but was made into one just over 100 years ago in the late 19th century.[195][dubious – discuss]

Paleo-cephalopod

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Main article: Mark McMenamin § Triassic kraken

Paleontologist Mark McMenamin and his spouse Dianna Schulte McMenamin claimed that an ancient, giant cephalopod resembling the legendary kraken caused the deaths of ichthyosaurs during the Triassic Period.[196][197][198][199] However, this theory has been met with criticisms by multiple researchers.[200][201][202][203]

Literary influences

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An illustration from the original 1870 edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne

The French novelist Victor Hugo's Les Travailleurs de la mer (1866, "Toilers of the Sea") discusses the man-eating octopus, the kraken of legend, called pieuvre by the locals of the Channel Islands (in the Guernsey dialect, etc.).[204][205][ab] Hugo's octopus later influenced Jules Verne's depiction of the kraken in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas,[207] though Verne also drew on the real-life encounter the French ship Alecton had with what was probably a giant squid.[208] It has been noted that Verne indiscriminately interchanged kraken with calmar (squid) and poulpe (octopus).[209]

In the English-speaking world, examples in fine literature are Alfred Tennyson's 1830 irregular sonnet The Kraken,[210] references in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick (Chapter 59 "Squid"),[211]

Modern use

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Main article: Kraken in popular culture

Although fictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the Kraken continues to the present day, with numerous references in film, literature, television, and other popular culture topics.[212]

Examples include: John Wyndham's novel The Kraken Wakes (1953), the Kraken of Marvel Comics, the 1981 film Clash of the Titans and its 2010 remake of the same name, and the Seattle Kraken professional ice hockey team. Krakens also appear in video games such as Sea of Thieves, God of War II, Return of the Obra Dinn and Dredge. The kraken was also featured in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, as the pet of the fearsome Davy Jones in the 2006 film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and appears in the film's sequel, At World's End. In George R.R. Martin's fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire and its HBO series adaptations, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, the mythical kraken is the sigil of House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands.

Two features on the surfaces of other celestial objects have been named after the Kraken. Kraken Mare, a major sea of liquid ethane and methane, is the largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan.[213] Kraken Catena is a crater chain and possible tectonic fault on Neptune's moon Triton.[214]

You find a letter on your desk, sealed in red wax.

If you choose to open it, it says:

'Meet me at the dock by nightfall.'

Huh... Will do i suppose.

*I wait till nightfall then begin walking there*

[fearsome-series]

BOOK ONE

Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nin

Winds blew hard through the late summer trees they howled & Laura howled & Laura ran, she ran after the scent of blood heavy in the air and-

“OH GOD!”

She cried out in pain. A throbbing pain running throughout her body, constantly shifting, moving. Her skin itched. Not itched, felt too tight, too constrained, she felt trapped in her own flesh. She scratched frantically at the wires attached to her. Get off get off get off. She needed to be free. As they slipped off, she felt no freedom, no relief from the ever-shifting pain.

“W-what the hell? Help!” she rasped out.

Something was wrong. Oh God, I’m about to die, she thought. Worse than the forest worse than the bite so much worse. She looked down at her hand. It was changing, her fingers growing longer with the crunching of bones. Kriiiiik krak. They extended, widened, reshaped themselves. Laura was too stunned to speak. More stabs of pain, more crunching. Her legs were grinding - cracking and changing and lengthening, bone pressing harshly against muscle and skin.  At least I can’t see them. At least I can’t see them. But god could she feel them.

The itchiness grew to a fever pitch. Hair burst from her skin - all across her arms, gray hair sprouting up in thick patches. Something grew just above her knuckles - something bulging out as it grew. It spread up to her nails and burst out with a deep pang of pain. Dark, tough claws - with flecks of her fading green nail polish. She stared at her hands in silent horror, no longer recognizing them.

Laura tried to call out again, but nothing came out. Why can’t anyone hear me? Someone  had to, they had to. Before her eyes, her very face changed. She heard more crunching - louder than ever - as her mouth grew out to a point. Little pinpricks of pain shot through her mouth. Her teeth were shifting. Growing.

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

“I need to talk to you about your child,” the nurse said.

“What’s wrong?” Heather asked, jumping to the edge of her chair in the lobby.

“I don’t think you realize how destructive the medication you’re giving your child can be,” the nurse said. “I don’t think you realize how permanent its effects can be.”

“What kind of medication d’you mean?” Christian asked.

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

Oh God, what’s happening? Hair kept growing, and now she could hear so much. Distant beeping machines, frantic footsteps, yelling, doors opening and slamming and too much it was too much. She clutched her hands over her ears, only to feel a jolt of pain and let them down.

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

“...you should read those pieces in The Atlantic and The New York Times about how damaging it is to arrest a child’s natural development. After all, your child is too young to really understand what’s happening.”

“Ahuh. Are you going to actually use our daughter’s name or pronouns or keep dancin’ around ‘em?”

“I’m not accusing you of being abusive, but you need to think about this seriously. This is the biggest, most destructive transformation your daughter can make to their body. Have you read JK Rowling?”

“No, we’re adults,” Heather said.

“I don’t think you can keep people from doing what they’re going to do,” Christian said. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

The nurse gathered up her tray. “You should think about it before it’s too late.”

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Drops of blood splashed across her claws - she had scratched the side of her head.

CLANG!

She lifted her head. The nurse watched from the doorway, backing away slowly. A tray bounced across the floor. Laura tried to ask for help, but only heard a low growl come out. The nurse stared, turned, ran.

Laura tried to stand. She tripped and caught herself on her hands. Good. Moving on four legs felt…easier. Felt right. She rose up unsteadily on two feet again. Footsteps. Yelling. Alarms blaring so loudly - like they were in the room with her, but she saw nothing. Laura backed against the wall. A threat. Danger.

Footsteps. Rockwell walked through the doorway. Cautious, hands up. She felt at ease…until a red-faced cop walked in, hand atop the gun at his waist.

“W-what is it? Where’s the patient?” Rockwell asked, shaking.

Laura remained alert, but maybe, even with the cop, she’d be safe. She’d be okay. Rockwell took a step closer.

“Where is she? Can anyone see her?”

Laura walked closer. I haven’t hurt anyone, Laura tried to say. She only let out a defensive growl.

“You don’t have to-”

“Get back! Back!” The cop shouted; he shoved the doctor aside, reached up and -

Something buzzed by Laura’s ear and shattered against the wall. A bullet. What the…? She let out a threatening growl, went down on all fours and barreled past, slipping on the floor as she went. She pushed the man away, and then a deafening bang echoed through the room. As her ears rang deafly, she felt a throbbing pain deep in her side - and smelled blood. She’d been shot. She didn’t slow down. As she ran down the hallway, staff jumping out of her way, she already felt the pain going away.

She needed a way out, a place to hide. She wouldn’t hurt anyone. She didn’t feel like hurting anyone. She knew that. She ran down an expanse of hallway, catching fleeting glimpses of a patient or doctor in the second before they fled, hid. Doors locked with a snap. Over the PA, a man warned of a lockdown. So many smells, noises, sensations. Whispers and prayers in the locked rooms. Yelling voices asking for help. Shoes squeaking over tile, approaching sirens, cars pulling up, distant sirens that felt so close. Floor wax and bodily decay and blood. Sweaty people and neutral people and - was that her mom and dad, somewhere below? Eventually, the hallways cleared completely.

She came to a window. She looked out into the nighttime sky: the blue-and-red of the cars’ whirling lights, the lights of the closest town, the Full Moon above.

And her reflection.

She reached out and traced her reflection’s canine snout, her pointed ears, her gray hair. No, not hair. Fur. Her yellow eyes glanced at her claws, flecked with green and her own blood. God. She looked…she looked like the creature that bit her. Oh my God.

Manuel was right.

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“Laur…Laura?”

Behind her. Doctor Rockwell. She took a sniff. No one else with him. Her fear mixed with amazement - that she could picture the world around her so powerfully from only smells, from sounds. That it came to her so instinctively.

When she turned around, he was trembling.

“So it is you. That nurse was right about...about what you are. I didn’t want to hurt you. He shot you, I wanted to stop him…”

She let out a low, mellow growl. She guess that meant “hey, it’s okay”. Rockwell stepped closer.

“They’re here for you. You need to hide until dawn -”

“There it is!”

The cop stormed in, gun drawn high. No.

“No, please-”

“Behind me!”

“No, no, it’s-”

BLAM.

Before Laura could even register the pain, before she could think, she charged forward. She swiped one paw towards the man. The gun flew out of his hand - and so did a spray of blood. Clutching his arm, he stumbled. She knew she hurt him. She knew her promise. She hadn’t wanted to, if he hadn’t…

“S-stop!”

Doctor Rockwell picked up the gun, aiming it at Laura with one shaking hand., “I’ll shoot! I’ll…”

She looked at him with wide eyes. Oh God, what had she done? She looked at the once-friendly doctor, now so afraid. She looked at the man on the floor. She looked out the window into the night. And she leapt through the glass and ran.