#the electrical menagerie

[fictionadventurer]

The Electrical Menagerie: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17

1 what got you into this story?

I don't remember, but I probably saw it discussed in the Christian indie fantasy circles, bought it on sale, and was shocked by how much I loved it.

2. describe it in one or two sentences.

A middle-aged starry-eyed small-time illusionist and his fast-talking young manager enter a competition that could save their show or end it forever--and find themselves in mortal danger from their competitors.

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

The complex characters and the development of their friendship, the whimsical world, the wondrous illusions

4. assign this story a hyper-specific genre name

Edwardian stardust steampunk space fantasy show business buddy comedy murder mystery

5. do you have a favorite character? who?

How dare you make me choose between Carthage and Huxley? Carthage's idealism and sense of wonder, plus his fascinating blend of introversion and showmanship, might just give him the edge, but I also love Huxley's fast-talking practicality and his hidden homesickness.

13. tell me an out-of-context piece of worldbuilding or lore!

This world exists as a series of floating islands that exist in different points in space, and their climate is based on their position/elevation.

17. compare this story to your usual tastes. how does it differ from what you've already enjoyed?

It lines up almost exactly with the kind of fantasy and Edwardian fiction I already loved, but it's not often that I run into middle-aged heroes in those genres.

[sxilor-1010]

I’m an au enthusiast (if you can’t tell), so I wanna know the deets. What kind of robot? is this similar to something like Detroit turning human or something else? Does Robot Egon imply he was ALWAYS a robot or just was put into a robot? Is he a ghost possessing a machine? I must know.

I feel stupid for not realizing you're an AU enthusiast but oh my god I'm so happy to be able to ramble about this!!! I did answer another ask about how this AU effects the storyline of Ghostbusters if you wanna give that a read first! It'll help to give an understanding for the plot c: But to answer your question, Robot Egon is pretty humanoid but he's not highly advanced humanoid like the Androids in Detroit: Become Human. His actual body (which is sorta designed like a mannequin doll) is made of the strongest metals the robotics company had at the time of the incident. His human skin is made up of rubber to cover up his metal body (which yes can be burnt off and its a bit of a scary sight), his hair is soft colored metal but scrunching it in your hand is akin to squeezing a metal sponge, and his blood mostly consists of oil and coolant. During the 'Awakening' period as a robot as Egon calls it, he took the time to study his body and what he was capable of now that he was beyond human flesh and bones. After a few days of studying his strengths and limits, the idea of experimenting and mechanically rearranging or upgrading parts of his body became known. With the help of Ray (much to slight discomfort of performing a live mechanical vivisection on his close friend), Egon managed to build himself into a living proton pack and ghost trap. The palms of his hands become neutrona wands, while his chest can suck up ghosts and hold them temporarily till they needed to be emptied. Oh, and he also upgraded his eyes to become PKE scanners. So if you see the sight of green light shining up and down, chances are it's Egon looking for the ghost with his eyes.

[qwimblenorrisstan]

ParkRanger!Reader and Hybrid!141 Hc’s

This can really be interpreted as platonic or romantic, depending on how you look at it, but I just think it would be hilarious to be a fire lookout or one of those people who stays in the tall towers in a park for months on end.

Sure, maybe some of the wildlife was a bit too friendly, but that was just normal, right?

Like that burly bear that lived in a cave nearby, occasionally migrating, but never attacking you when you accidentally crossed its path. It got along oddly well with the other wildlife, well, except for the other male bears, who seemed to not respect its territory. You’d nicknamed it “Price”, because of how much money the park had to pay each year due to the bear mauling the electrical system sometimes.

Or the buck that would wander around sometimes, one of the prettiest deer you’d ever seen in all honesty. It was a wonder it hadn’t been devoured by some other animal yet. But it would sometimes let you give it secret little pets, even if the park discouraged any interaction with wildlife. You’d nicknamed it “Gaz”, because of the incident where it had gotten into a barrel of gas for your generator, and you’d had to rush it to a local vet.

The shaggy stray wolf that hung around was a bit odd, too. Blond fur hidden underneath grey and black patches, with keen eyes that you seldom noticed before it moved. It never let you pet it, but sometimes in the middle of the night, you’d be out on a trail, and you both would catch eyes. Or it would give little growls in warning to you, of whatever else lurked these woods. You’d nicknamed it “Ghost”, for obvious reasons.

And last, but certainly not least of your strange menagerie of animals, was the honey badger. It looked normal, other than some strange spots of hair sticking up that looked like some larger animal had tried to groom it. It snarled at anything, but as long as you didn’t get too close, it would happily trail behind you on whatever path you were taking for work. It was mischievous too, getting into your food and belongings in your backpack. You’d nicknamed it “Soap”, because, in the middle of the night, you’d woken up to find the thing in your tower, drinking some liquid soap. It had run before you’d gotten it to a vet but seemed fine a few days later.

Your odd little group of animal friends seemed weird, obviously, but you’d just chalked it up to them being exposed to park rangers and humans more often than normal wildlife. That was, until, one night you went out late to fix your generator that had run out of gas, only to hear footsteps crunching behind you, and whirling just in time to see a middle-aged man you’d given a fine earlier for setting off fireworks in the forest, holding a thick log, ready to smack you with it.

Rather, he was going to smack you with it, before he was tackled to the ground, and multiple fists began beating him into the dirt.

You stood there, dumbfounded, watching as four men, bare as the day they were born, slowly got off the unconscious man’s body.

One shorter man with a mohawk, one pretty one with browned skin, a taller one with a gruff beard, and the tallest, a grumpy-looking man who was built like a brick wall. They stared back, at least moving to cover themselves for your sake before the man with a mohawk and a stupid grin on his face spoke.

“Been wanton’ to bea’ his head in for a while.”

His chin jerked to the unconscious man, now bleeding everywhere in the grass.

You sighed, knowing that you were in for a long night.

(might write a fic for this?? lmk if I should)

[occidentalavian]

Something I'm always fascinated by are the minor mundane things that exist in Exandria. Little objects and inventions here and there that don't play a major role in the stories but just kind of exist in the background.

Early machine guns: Yes, Percy's invention of guns was a major plot point in Campaign 1, but what I'm talking about is how they've changed since then. Percy's guns were flintlock, but by Campaign 3 the guns that Bells Hells encountered in Marquet are caplock, only 30 years later. And because of this, this has allowed for the invention of the Kshatriya Special, Exandria's equivalent of the Gatling Gun!

Phonographs: Called the Audiomatic by its inventor Hazel Copperpot, it uses wax cylinders to record and play back audio, such as her reading of Tary's books. Invented by 826 PD, conceivably these could exist in a more widespread fashion 10 years later by Campaign 2.

Electric lights: Another one of Percy's inventions. Using the acid pits that Ripley left beneath the castle as a battery, Percy was able to create a grid of electric street lamps to light up Whitestone.

Soda: This one's my personal favorite. There's mentions of root beer and sarsaparilla in Campaign 2 that could be chalked up as only jokes, but Explorer's Guide to Wildemount also lists a drink from the Menagerie Coast called Queen's Water as a "soft drink", which often refers to carbonated beverages. Finally, the Ruby of the Sea cocktail from Exquisite Exandria, a book that canonically exists in-universe, uses tonic water!

Theoretically, Percy could go to a cafe in Whitestone at night, order a sarsaparilla, and sit in the outside dining area lit by electric street lamps while the cafe plays a recording of "Jordan, Fetch my Whiskey" on their audiomatic.

[lunar-serpentinite]

assorted hjp headcanons

he takes to guitars like a bird to the sky. acoustic, bass, electric, you name it, he'd slay it

he eventually finds a way to force kreacher into retirement, but still lets the house elf have absolutely free reign in the former bedrooms of his beloved departed masters

harry has this habit of just picking up all the even mildly pathetic/helpless strays he finds on the streets and ends up raising them. 12 grimmauld place looks a lot like a menagerie now, and he kinda likes it

he went to luna for help on how to take care of his newfound animal roommates and thats how he befriended luna's then-penpal-turned-bf rolf scamander

eventually he moves to a quaint little cottage right outside of godrics hollow to be closer to his parents' final resting place. it's heavily warded, fidelius'd, and nobody except for ron, hermione and luna know the address

he never really did like living in a gated community / suburban neighbourhood, it reminded him too much of privet drive

the first time someone mocked him by calling him freak, harry blacked out a bit and the next thing he knew he was standing over a decently beat-up person

creatures associated w death like corvids, moths and the like are weirdly attracted to him. hell, he even found a whole vulture in his backyard once

harry is pretty apathetic about the notion of his own death post-battle of hogwarts. he told luna once that it felt like he was just idly waiting by for death to come by again

differences aside, he and pansy (my characterisation of her anyways) wld bond over being nosy, gossipy little shits

he would've said yes if cedric and cho invited him into their relationship lmao

i dont think hes necessarily a naturally jealous/possessive person. he just doesn't know how to properly have a grip on himself if the few scant ppl and stuff that he considers his are in danger of being taken away from him, born from trauma from the dursleys ofc. make him feel secure enough and he'd be chill

hes kinda shit at potions especially without proper instructions and motivation because he learned how to cook first, and potions deals w exact measurements while cooking is just measure based on vibes

he would make an excellent beekeeper. idk but he just gives me that vibe

harry's vibe checks are rarely wrong but he doesn't say anything abt em anymore bc hes used to ppl automatically assuming that hes a liar

"harry, why didnt u tell us" "you didnt ask. and if u did ask, youd probably assume im lying"

hes a bit of a hoarder lmao he has a small room in his new cottage thats just filled w his trinkets

he has absolutely no qualms in lying to everyone's faces if he thinks he's justified based on his own criteria of justice

he cant dance those fancy formal dances but at some point he will discover that he likes other types of dancing, just not in front of other people

harry would abuse the FUCK out of slang so he can say as little words as possible. his convo partner is confused but he also doesnt like them ? theyre a grownup with access to books, they can figure it out by themselves

[gallavich-fic-club]

🧾2023 Favorite Fics! 🧾

Hey Fic Fans!

As 2023 comes to a close, we at the Gallavich Fic Club wanted to take a minute to thank everyone that has supported us, joined us, and helped us out in our journey to put together a place where all Gallavich fans can come together to discuss our favorite fics, new and old. After mulling it over like a fine wine, we decided that to celebrate the year that our amazingly fun little group was founded, we wanted to put together a list of our favorite fics from this year. Each of us have selected 6 of our favorite fics that were either published or updated in 2023.  And so - the Fic Club Admin Team brings you 24 fics to read in 2024! Julia

One-Shots

How to Bag a Baddie - by @whatthebodygraspsnot

you make my dreams come true - by @sam-loves-seb

Completed Multi-Chaps

773 Green - by @notherenewjersey

Going Off-Script - by @mzshko

WIPS

Roleplaying - by @callivich

hearts and lattes - by @darlingian

Kat

One-Shots

Playing it cool - by @captainjowl

Lava Java - by @stocious

Completed Multi-Chaps

Dead Meet - by @energievie and @look-i-love-u

The Bruises on You (They're on Me Too) - we are unsure if this author is on tumblr? If so please let us know!

WIPS

Electric Blue - by @goodkwuestion

Tender Hearts and Other Maladies - by @whatwouldmickeydo

Mandi

One-Shots

whole foods fruits - by @depressedstressedlemonzest

quiet - by @babygirlmickey

Completed Multi-Chaps

the Menagerie - by @crossmydna

Magnificent Mile - by @juliakayyy

WIPS

the ink is a witness to this - by @palepinkgoat

the fugitive - by @dodgerbear84

Nosho

One-Shots

caught in the act - by @gallawitchxx

Outnumbered - by @deathclassic

Completed Multi-Chaps

Your Question Has Been Received - by @heymacy

31 Ways We Never Meet - by @callivich

WIPS

Africa - by @ian-galagher

Reckoner - by @thisdivorce

Happy New Year everyone!

[deusvervewrites]

Just read the menagerie Sero ask and, yeah, fair.

I know I was one of the spider suggestions. I wasn0t that happy with it either but I didn't want repeats and I couldn't remember which animals were already taken.

Just to keep track, can you send a list of special course students and their species?

Aizawa: Cat

Aoyama: Transformed Human (Unspecified)

Ashido: Moth

Asui: Human bonded to Quirked Frog

Iida: Horse

Uraraka: Flying Squirrel

Ojiro: Lion

Kaminari: Electric Eel

Kirishima: Armadillo

Koda: Human

Sato: Bear

Shoji: Transformed Human (Octopus)

Jiro: Bat

Sero: Spider monkey

Tokoyami: Crow

Todoroki: Spliced Human (Komodo Dragon)

Hagakure: Chameleon

Bakugou: Transformed Human (Hyena)

Midoriya: Shapeshifter, species unknown

Himiko: Transformed Human (Rat/Cat/Tanuki/Dog/Bird/Lizard/Rabbit)

Yaoyorozu: Magpie

[prettyflyshyguy]

Kaicon Melbourne 2024 part 2: electric boogaloo is a wrap!

And Holy Shit. What a good event. I was randomly paired with the absolutely lovely liannnarts_jg and it was a real contrast having my menagerie of horror, and her lovely vtuber idol prints next to each other but it was a really fun weekend and we had a bit of a laugh switching our table mascots on day 2!

The SCP fandom absolutely carried me and for that I am forever thankful. I met so many lovely people, got to chat with some incredible artists and overall I'm so tired but my heart is so full.

Had a customer tell me they'd seen people walking around the con wearing my lanyards and keycards and I got really emotional.

I have so many cool ideas for new merch based on live feedback from people and I am so fucking pumped to produce more stuff for February next year! Kaicon Melb 2025 here we fucking go!!!!

[intosnarkness]

i am proud of this scene, so have a fic preview for the magical realism kaz-and-inej-share-dreams thing I'm working on

(rated t for teen; characters get themselves into a compromising position and kissing just so much)

Inej dreams of a tall ship with soaring sails, of rocking decks and salt-spay air.

She dreams of a crew of people answering to her orders, committed to righting the way things are and creating the way they should be.

She dreams of cannons and knives, of blood in the water and hopeful hands, outstretched to her as their salvation.

She reaches out to a wretched soul in the dark, dirty hold of a slaver's ship, and she feels a dark thrill run through her body as her fingers meet leather where there should be skin.

The eyes that look up at her are big and dark, intense. The thing inside of her that has just fought a great battle whispers that they look like pools of blood on wet wood. She holds onto the hand as she sinks to her knees next to him, and his fingers find her biceps, gripping her tightly through silk and leather.

"Kaz?" she asks, but he doesn't say anything in return. Instead the ship is gone and there is rain falling soft against the window of Kaz's garret bedroom. His hands are hot on her waist. He sighs softly, leans in, and kisses her.

Inej has been kissed any number of times. By her parents, first. Her aunties and uncles and the others who rode in the caravan with them. The familial hands were steady and sure as they held her heart aloft.

Later she was kissed by the terrible monsters who came to her in the menagerie, taking from her body without question or permission, their mouths hot and wet and unwelcome on hers.

And then, when it was safe again, by her friends. The gift of light brushes of lips from Jesper or Nina, fond kisses on her cheeks or her forehead.

This is a different kiss. This is a kiss of hunger and intensity, and it sets her alight in a way nothing else ever has. She wants it like she has never wanted anything before, and it ignites her. She climbed six stories of burning rock a few hours ago, and his kiss scorches with a fire that is hotter and wilder than anything she found in the Ice Court.

It consumes her, engulfs her, transforms her. Inej ceases to be the wraith in the crucible of his kiss, and becomes, quite simply, a girl. A girl who wants more, who wants to be kissed and touched and held and loved by the inferno of this man. 

"Inej," he whispers, when she pulls back so she can breathe. His lips find her cheek, and he lays kisses trailing down to her neck, teasing her with feather-soft brushes.

"Kaz," she replies. "How-- how?"

"It's not real," he says, his voice matter-of-fact as if it should be obvious to her. "I can do anything with you, if it isn't real."

He nips at a spot on her neck that sends a jolt of electricity through her - he is danger and he is desire and if she is half afraid that if she lets him, that he will take everything she is until she has nothing left to give.

Inej's eyes flutter closed as she leans into the brush of his mouth. His hands move from her waist, one running up the column of her spine to gently cradle the back of her head, the other finding the small of her back to pull her body against his. Her heart stutters as she realizes he's not wearing his gloves, that he's touching her skin with his fingertips and it feels more scandalous and sacred than all the kisses she's ever had.

"I want it to be real," she whispers, moving to capture his mouth again, to try and put all the longing she can never show him into the world of this fantasy.

He smiles against her lips when she relents, letting his fingers tangle into the strands of her hair.

"No, you don't." His voice is heavy and dark with something that Inej thinks is either sadness or longing, but either way it is an alien sound coming from Kaz's mouth. "But I do."

The answer makes her dizzy. She can't understand why he would tell her such a lovely lie. Usually his lies hurt, they wound, but this one is almost soothing. He wants it to be real. He wants her. She can let herself believe it, she thinks. She can let it be true for the duration.

She puts her hands on his shoulders and shoves, watching as he falls backward to the bed slowly, like he's falling through water. She doesn't move, but she finds herself straddling his hips, her knees splayed obscenely and her center pressed against his arousal. They're still dressed, but that could change any moment. That's the way of dreams. She could fuck him here and they would both be fine.

She wants to be fine with him.

"Inej," he says her name like a prayer. Like he's finally found a god that he doesn't want to mock. His hands are on her waist again, and his eyes are wide and dark as the night sky above them, the roof having disappeared at some point. The bed is gone, too; his back is cushioned in grass and trees loom over them like soldiers standing guard. She knows this place. She grew up in places like this.

"Tell me what you want me to know," she says, reaching down to trace the line of his lips, her fingers like brave explorers on the frontier of his skin. He lets her touch him, showing none of the panic he had in the wagon. His breath stutters, but she thinks it can't be from that familiar panic. It's a new panic to her, but she knows it a kind people have been finding together as long as there have been people. He has never done this before, never been with a woman. She doesn't care.

Inej can feel his interest pressing hard and insistent and just off from where she wants him. She shifts her hips and lets herself touch the high planes of his cheekbones and the hinge of his jaw and the soft scar on his neck that she had seen back in Ketterdam, when he was carrying her to the boat and she was fighting for consciousness. His skin is imperfect - there are marks from some long-ago disease, one of the childhood poxes, probably, and freckles and scars and the dark suggestion of stubble - but it's Kaz, and she thinks it's beautiful. He is beautiful.

Kaz's eyes flutter closed while she touches him, and he tilts his head back to bare his throat in a move that might have been romantic on another man, but on Kaz seems to be a submission. He is a being made of deadly grace and the heat of a gunshot, and if he is baring his throat it is an invitation to cut, not to kiss.

She presses her lips to this neck anyway, and he lets a broken little sound escape his mouth. "I--" Kaz swallows, his throat bobbing, and Inej looks up, her eyes meeting his and finding him still utterly stunning. 

"Inej, I lo--"

[befuddled-calico-whump]

T$$ Menagerie AU (summary)

cw: mentioned/implied captivity/enslavement, torture, noncon drugging, noncon, and death

AU Masterlist

×~×~×

When a wealthy man gets it in his head that he wants to start his own private zoo, he’s determined to create something that's a cut above the rest. Instead of simple animals, he wants to fill his manor’s gardens with Mythos, rare, sentient creatures known throughout myth and folklore.

Benji, a jistu, is the first to be taken after he's caught in a robbery. The hopeful collector, Adam Roth, hears of his arrest and pays off law enforcement to hand him over to the menagerie instead.

Kaius, a banished kinnara prince, is the next. He's offered refuge when running from enemies in his human form, and drugged at dinner once Roth realizes he's a Mytho. Jericho, a mer who regularly makes trouble for ships, and Joy, an anggitay, are captured a few weeks apart; after being spotted in the wild, Roth decides he wants them for his collection and hires freelance hunters to bring them in.

Now with four mythos on his hands, he also hires two well-known hunters, Vic Shepard and Ander Sahota, to act as guards and enforcers.

The duo have been working together for years, and they share a secret: Sahota is a Mytho himself, a selkie. Vic stole his pelt and trained him as a hunter to prove a point that any Mytho had the potential to be dangerous, no matter how harmless they may seem.

Roth has a lot of respect for both of them initially, but once Vic makes him aware of Sahota's true nature, he starts treating him with something almost like disdain.

The final acquisition for the menagerie is Hunter, a kumiho.

All five are given gilded cages and put on full display for visitors. They're initially allowed to roam the grounds by day, as Roth underestimates his captives and assumes they lack the intelligence required to coordinate and unite against him. Vic advises otherwise, and he reluctantly listens, moving the cages further apart so they can't talk as a group, and making it so that only one or two of them are allowed to be out of their enclosure at a time for exercise.

The captives are also made to wear custom collars that are designed to track them and subdue them in the event they're disobedient. In addition to that, Vic and Sahota keep the area under guard.

On the first day Hunter is allowed to roam the gardens, he books it, powering through the electrical shock delivered by his collar and making a break for the gardens' wall. The rest of the prisoners can only watch as he's brought down by an unsympathetic Sahota. He and Vic drag him to the edge of the gardens and lock him in a small cage that offers no protection from the elements, telling the rest that this is what awaits if any of them steps out of line. He's left there for a day as punishment, and his collar is adjusted to deliver a more powerful shock.

In spite of all their restrictions and the threat of punishment, the captives find ways to communicate. Jericho, who has experience with coordinated attacks due to past scuffles with fishing vessels, ends up the group's unofficial leader. He and Joy lead the charge in planning an escape. They learn of Kaius's gift with strategizing, and rope him into it, breaking through his reluctance to let himself be a part of the group. Benji, on the other hand, is eager to make friends, and Hunter, while distrustful of anyone else, is eager to escape.

Planning anything is difficult with the tight leash they're all kept on, and it’s months before they're able to carefully map out their surroundings and develop a solid idea of what to do.

In that timeframe, Jericho notices that Sahota seems to be treated poorly by both Vic and Roth, and tries to connect with him, with little apparent success. Meanwhile, Hunter continuously gets himself punished by acting out, snapping at guests, and making his own escape attempts. Joy is frustrated with this, and after one too many instances, yells at him for ruining everything for the rest of them.

After this incident, Vic, who's suspicious that the Mythos are up to something, notices that Hunter’s starting to isolate himself more, and seizes the opportunity to catch him alone.

Attempting to scare him into a confession, Vic tells him there's no way they'll all escape, and alludes to letting Hunter go free if he helps him nip any trouble in the bud. Hunter refuses and tries to get away from him, but Vic has Sahota cut off his escape. Once the pair has him cornered, Vic pins him down, but realizing his intentions, Sahota yanks him off, allowing Hunter to get away.

Despite Sahota trying to frame it as following Roth's interests since Vic didn't get permission from him, Vic is furious, and throws him in the punishment cage. 

Hunter tells no one about the attempted assault, so the rest are unaware of the reason why Sahota has been locked up, assuming it's due to a dispute between the hunters. Having a general dislike for Sahota because of his role in keeping them trapped here, they don't have much sympathy for him. The only ones who do anything about it are Jericho, who sneaks him water once it starts getting hot, and Hunter, who sits quietly beside him, grateful, but unsure how to express it.

Jericho once again tries to reason with Sahota, insisting that even if they're on opposite ends of this conflict as hunter and Mytho, they seem to share a common enemy in Vic. Sahota brushes it off, saying he earned his punishment by acting rashly.

Later that week, Jericho and Joy are fine-tuning the escape, planning to kick it off on a day when Benji is the one out of his cage, so he can use his lockpicking skills to free the rest. Sahota overhears their plans, but lets the pair know that just this once, he'll forget he heard anything. Joy is skeptical, but after days go by without any additional security measures implemented, she figures that he was telling the truth, and she and Jericho share this information so that the rest of prisoners know they have a tentative ally.

Not long after this, Hunter is once again cornered by Vic, and when pressured, lets a little too much slip, also accidentally hinting at Sahota's involvement. Despite this, Vic doesn't seem overeager to act on the new information, and Hunter once again hides this from the rest, both ashamed and afraid that they'll completely cut him off if they hear about it.

Meanwhile, Roth is growing bored of the menagerie. At Vic's suggestion, he makes plans to sell a few of his Mythos off, and at least profit from his flight of fancy. He discusses the matter with the hunters, saying that he'll get rid of the troublemakers and the more “boring” members of his collection, and only keep one or two.

Vic suggests he sell Benji to a brothel due to the whole ��fucking like rabbits” stereotype, and Jericho to a restaurant for exotic sushi. Roth also wants to get rid of Hunter, since he's the biggest troublemaker, and Vic offers to buy him.

Roth wants to keep Kaius, due to him being the flashiest of the bunch, but plans to keep him sedated in order to prevent him from causing trouble. He considers keeping Joy and using Kaius's well-being as a way to keep her in line, but reasons that if she proves to be a hassle, there's probably another rich man out there who'd love to have her in his stables.

Though he tries to hide it, Sahota is horrified at the idea, and tries to talk him down. When pushed, he tells Roth to just let them go. Roth is amused by this, but also pissed off at his boldness, and tells Vic to "get a handle on his pet".

 Vic leads him away, hangs him by his wrists and uses him as a punching bag, then brutally whips him. Before Sahota passes out, Vic reveals that he knows about the escape plan, and he knows that Sahota learned of it but kept it from him. He tells Sahota that “if he wants to side with the animals, he'll be treated like an animal”, and covers Sahota with his seal pelt, knowing he can no longer control his own shifting due to the pelt being damaged by Vic. Vic then dumps his unconscious body into Jericho’s tank, leaving it up to fate whether or not he survives.

Jericho, unaware of Sahota's true nature, is quick to aid the wounded seal, gently holding him to ensure his head stays above water. When Sahota weakens to the point that he can no longer remain in his seal form, he shifts back, shocking the mer. Barely conscious, he manages to warn Jericho of Roth's plans, telling him they need to make their move before it's too late. He also tells him that Vic knows, so they'll have to be extra careful.

Jericho passes the message on to Joy, who's initially angry at Sahota, assuming he lied about keeping their plan secret. When Hunter hears about this, he feels immensely guilty, and reluctantly fesses up that he's the one who told Vic. 

Joy is upset, but says they'll talk about it later. Right now, they just need to get out.

With Sahota's help, Joy and Jericho disable the collars, and the group puts their plan in motion, starting a fire to distract Vic and Roth, and making for the planned route. They barely make it past the gate before Vic shoots Joy. Unwilling to leave her behind, the group is heavily slowed down. Though barely able to stand, Sahota tells them to run, saying he'll hold Vic off as long as he can.

Jericho is torn, but knows they need to get Joy out of there fast, and reluctantly leaves him behind. They make it to Roth's garage, where Benji hotwires one of his cars for the getaway.

Back in the garden, Sahota faces off against Vic, managing to hold his own long enough to buy the other Mythos time, despite his injuries. Vic overpowers him, and forces him to watch as he throws his pelt into the fire that's consuming the gardens, telling him he can never go home.

In a final, desperate move, Sahota manages to get the gun away from Vic. He shoots him in the chest, but it looks like neither of them will make it out of the gardens. Vic is quickly bleeding out, and Sahota is too weak to escape the fire. Then, as the flames are closing in, Roth's car crashes through the bushes, and Jericho jumps out, managing to grab Sahota before it's too late.

Injured but free, the crew drives away, leaving Roth to his burning manor.

[filmnoirsbian]

Hi !! I was wondering if you had any book recs/favorite books? Things that you think of as inspiration or just plain like? Genuinely curious. <3 im in love with your work btw i spent the other day binging your patreon

Some favorites that deeply impacted me from a young age up into teenagedom: the Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, Oddly Enough by Bruce Coville, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Little Sister by Kara Dalkey, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, Piratica by Tanith Lee, the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, Holes by Louis Sachar, The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg, Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori, The Sea-Wolf by Jack London, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath, Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, The Iliad and Odyssey (allegedly) by Homer, The Táin by many people, Harlem by Walter Dean Myers, Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan, The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein, The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, The Ethical Vampire series by Susan Hubbard, The Howl Series by Diana Wynne Jones, the Curseworkers series by Holly Black, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters, An Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, Beloved by Toni Morrison, A Stir of Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, World War Z by Max Brooks, This is Not A Drill by K. A. Holt, Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, The Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Crush by Richard Siken, Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, Devotions by Mary Oliver, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Some favorites read more recently: The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey, Engine Summer by John Crowley, Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot, My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, Reprieve by James Han Mattson, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Kindred by Octavia Butler, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, Station Eleven by Emily St. John-Mandel, The Crown Ain't Worth Much by Hanif Abdurraqib, The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica, The Girl with All the Gifts by Mike Carey, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, She had some horses by Joy Harjo, Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón, The King Must Die by Mary Renault, Books of Blood by Clive Barker, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, Cassandra by Christa Wolfe

Plays: The Oresteia by Aeschylus, Electra by Sophocles, Los Reyes by Julio Cortázar, Angels in America by Tony Kushner, August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco, The Trojan Women by Euripides, Salome by Oscar Wilde, Girl on an Altar by Marina Carr, Fences by August Wilson, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond

Graphic novels: The Crow by James O'Barr, DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, Eternals (2021) by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Tank Girl by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

[fictionadventurer]

Story asks, for The Electrical Menagerie: 3, 17, 18, 19

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

The characters and their friendship, the world of flying trains and floating islands, the character arcs

17. compare this story to your usual tastes. how does it differ from what you've already enjoyed?

I think it almost perfectly fits my previous tastes, actually. I don't tend to read many stories involving middle-aged male protagonists, but that's less by choice and more because they don't tend to star in the genres I usually read.

18. compare this story to your usual tastes. what parts of it are exactly the kind of thing you've always loved?

The whimsical imaginative world, the Edwardian steampunk aesthetic (that doesn't have the smoke that usually turns me away from steampunk), the friendship, the light religious element, the tone that makes it suitable for people of all ages, the exploration of the creative process, people who are dealing with separation from family and are haunted by past failures, the sense of wonder

19. pitch an idea for a sequel or spinoff novel for this story!

I'm just going to pitch the actual sequel, which is in an Edwardian carnival setting and is apparently finished but she's stopped talking about it and I'm worried that we're never going to get it.

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

Windshear - Northern Featherwing Griffon

Thunderclap - Fulgurite Ridgeback Jackal

Blitz - Lepidote Brute Skyscale

Presenting: 3 of Ruju's menagerie of mounts, all gradually gathered and tamed over the course of his journey as the Commander. each is just as stubborn as he is-- for better and DEFINITELY for worse.

Windshear

- an early encounter; Ruju met her in Lornar's Pass on a diplomacy mission for the Vigil, and was consequently carried off by the bird

- fortunately it turned out she was more interested in having a playmate to fly with than actually harming him

- the most dramatic of creatures. she takes him on the wildest and steepest possible routes entirely on purpose

- also the most likely to let you pet her. she loves being scritched right behind the ears and will lean her FULL weight into it

- (Ruju has been flattened by this on multiple occasions)

Thunderclap

- the djinn of the Desolation were tracking this runaway jackal when Ruju came into the area, so he decided to help them out

- turned out the jackal had a prideful nature; he expected any tamer to match his ferocity and prove their worth

- Ruju ultimately accomplished this by facing the jackal 1v1 with his air element, wrestling among the toxic sands

- his violet air element blended with the djinn's taming magic, producing his unique coloration and electrical current

- unlike Windshear he does NOT like being petted. however... he does enjoy a good game of tug-o-war, but will NOT hold back

Blitz

- Gorrik initially joked that the hatchling was so fiercely rebellious because Ruju was the one to retrieve his egg

- this stopped being funny after getting bitten like 15 times

- absolutely VORACIOUS eater when it comes to magic... but also notoriously picky. tends towards crystallized energy

- particular favorite is bloodstone, which caused his eventual bright red coloration. his scales glitter with crimson gems

- somewhat vain. he's very proud of his spiky crimson look and tends to preen and show off when other skyscales are around

- they all just think he's weird though (because he is)

[asmallmoon333]

Halloween season! So monster AU Lawlight. What do you think they would be? The rest of the cast?

Fun question!! I'd say in a Haloween setting we'd have:

Light: Demon, particularly one with powers of compulsion, contracts, and death. Makes a contract in exchange for a life, the contractees never get what they think they will and all end up dying of heart attacks. Alias Kira, goal to purify the world. He's a pretty young supernatural, only a year old after dying as a human at 23. Demons are humans or supernaturals that died with unfilfilled desires, but ones so strong they become demons rather than ghosts. Helps if they contracted another demon before dying. They can also very sucessfully pass as the human/super they used to be, making them difficult to find.

L: Vampire, very old and powerful, has spent most of the last few decades napping. May or may not have been due to an epic sugar crash. He heard Demon blood tastes wonderfully sweet from an anonymous source and now wants to confirm >v>. Goal: to have cake and nibble on Kira.

Misa: Witch, she's been working ages to make a love potion that works on a demon. Has been unsuccessful. In the meantime tries her best to kill L with unique spells. Also unsuccessfully. A very powerful witch as she has a demon familiar who shares her powers with Misa.

Rem: Demon familair, Misa's in particular. Her original form was something aquatic, deep sea horror-type supernatural. She bound herself to Misa willingly out of love and gave Misa full access to her powers. That's why Misa is a very powerful witch despite still being human, and why Light keeps her around.

Ryuk: Also a demon, but uncontracted. Was a tengu before dying. He was the one that made a deal with Light was the latter was human, and the reason Light was reborn as a demon after dying. Is having the time of his life.

Mello: Vamp, sired by L so he took some of his traits. Mello was dying one night from a gang fight and L saved him and then just vanished. Mello wants to meet L to ask him why he turned him. He's competitive against Near. Doesn't try to control his bloodlust at all, and becomes the head of the mafia that killed him in a very brutal takeover.

Near: Also a Vamp sired by L, doesn't care as much as Mello does, but is still curious to meet him. Was half-fae on his mother's side but no one knew it since he was an orphan, the fact that he managed to turn successfully into a Vamp shocked a lot of people. Is under constant watch by the US government. He can control his bloodlust very well and has muted emotions. He's ambivalent to Mello.

Matt: Sylph, electric specifically. Likes to static shock people for fun. Was Mello's friend when he'd been human but didn't tell him about the supernatural community. He and Mello are sometimes at odds because of it since Mello thought they'd told each other everything, considering they grew up together.

Watari: Mad Scientist/Professor Fankenstein type. Can bring inanimate objects to life. He woke L from a very long sleep and now works with him to police the unruly supernatural community in exchange for the blood of criminals L catches. His main goal is to stop Kira.

Kiyomi: Siren, her voice and words can compel people to believe her. Acts as Kira's public voice. She thinks her voice works on Light; it does not.

Mikami: Werewolf or werecat. Hates it. His main goal in life is to be able to suppress his animalistic transformation completely. Hates both humans and the supernatural community, loves Kira for culling them.

Matsuda: Wizard. Very bad at it lmao, but born into a powerful family so he has access to a lot of good tools and relics for hunting demons.

Soichiro, Sayu, Sachiko: All human, Light's family whom he still protects. Light pretends to be human still and lives close to them. Soichiro knows about supernaturals since he works in the government, and has his suspicions of Light.

Rest of the cast: a menagerie of humans and otherwise, but my brain is tired. In general, the governments of every country know about this but keep it quiet for public panic reasons.

So, yeah, thanks for the fun question!! It ended up turning into a whole AU with background involved lmao.

[arimiadev]

Today I'm going to be talking about how the GUI in my latest visual novel Asphodelium was designed! You can also read this devlog on my website or the itch.io page for the game.

"Asphodelium" is a combination of "asphodel" and "lilium". Both of these are flowers related to death, grief, and regrets.

Asphodelium is a melancholic slice-of-life visual novel about literally living with your past regrets, your grief manifested into your new roommate that you have to help. Because of this, I wanted the visual novel to have more narration than I usually write so as to set the mood of the story more effectively.

Most visual novels nowadays are displayed in ADV mode, which is short for adventure mode. It’s where the textbox is at the bottom of the screen and is what most people think of when they say "visual novel".

(for example, my other visual novel Canvas Menagerie is in ADV mode)

However, I’ve always been a fan of NVL mode and felt it was more effective for delivering long narration segments. NVL mode, which is short for novel mode, is where the textbox covers most or the entire screen. That’s the format I knew I wanted for Asphodelium.

I designed the GUI for Asphodelium, using free to use assets from Clip Studio. I combined and edited them into what you see here. It’s very simple but evocative of what I wanted.

Asphodelium is lite horror (a doppelganger of the ex-cult leader you killed finds you) but it’s also partially fantasy, with magic being a part of the world but kind of a back seat in this story itself. Still, I wanted the user experience to invoke a bit of that fantasy feeling.

For the GUI & logo, I had a few key elements:

flowers (namely an asphodel)

ornate (but not overly detailed)

fantasy & ethereal

lots of periwinkle

The asphodel being the main element of the game is important since, well, it’s the title of the game and represents regrets and remembering someone after death. The story is set in a turn of the century-esque world, not quite Victorian but not quite modern, as magic has improved people’s living standards but the electric age isn’t in full swing just yet.

I also love the color purple and making my games very blue & purple and with Aster’s hair being periwinkle & blue it fits the game well. It’s also a great way to set the mood, as the blues & purples are more somber.

You can see this best in the logo, designed by Baguetti.

She provided several different concepts for how the logo could look based on the above criteria. My favorites were A, H, and I!

We ended up proceeding further with A, as it had such a striking fantasy vibe. I really liked the silhouette dissolving into the flower petals as they fly off.

The next part was determining how to display the font! Baguetti again provided a lot of choices for how to style the title as well as flower choices for behind the silhouette.

We ended up going with something in between 2 and 3 and making the silhouette look closer to Aster. The final result was…

With the artwork, it keeps the very melancholic fantasy vibes I was looking for.

If you haven’t played Asphodelium yet, check it out! It’s free and around 4 hours long. I haven’t spoiled anything here that’s not already on the itchio page.

— Arimia

[brb-on-a-quest]

If you send me photos of cute animals I’ll literally love you forever (ok my love is not entirely dependent on that but it would make me soooo happy)

*opens trenchcoat* *speaks with a gravelly voice* Oh you've come to the right place friend i've got the goods.

Ok so actually my house is always a menagerie at any given moment and its chaos and like I love animals and I love my family but I at the moment I can not wait to leave this whole zoo behind because things are never calm ever. Like we have five animals that live here full time and my mother has a dog boarding business so in addition to the main cast of characters we have a whole bunch of side characters that have stayed like a couple weeks sometimes? (Literally if you're looking for peace and quiet ever, you won't find it here).

Also got most of these for my phone and i can tell i am more cat person than dog person because I have two videos of the actual puppy, two photos of my other dog and like more decent photos of the cats. So let me introduce you to the whole main cast of characters:

^ This is Benji. Maltese poodle mix. We've had him since he was about 7 months old? Couple years old now and has started going into old man routine. He's very talkative and likes to make his opinion known and make sure that we greet every guest properly with due enthusiasm. Sorry to all the people who have been to my house and he's jumped on them we're trying its hard. He's currently in 4H Obedience club with my sister who adores him entirely (he puts up with her as he settles into his old man era). Fun fact about him: mans gets entirely jealous when any other dog recieves more attention than him (how dare they).

I actually don't have any good photos of Rosie (not named after @igotthisaccountunderduress, I swear but that's why I can only call you Iggy now), so take a video of our newest recruit! She's a three months old puppy? maybe four? idk how time works. She's learning a lot of things and mom's having a blast training her from scratch as we got her from a breeder rather from like a shelter as with all our other pets (my mother is obssesed with animals but wanted to do all the ground work of raising a puppy and making sure it was socialized/housetrained etc. Kudos to her because I could never. My mom is really awesome and I don't know where she finds time for this). Anyway she's kind of in her destructive menace stage still but also she hops around and it's really funny. We aquired this one after our old Corgi/lab/otherquestionable things (I just realized I don't have any pics of him) passed away from cancer. She is also the first female pet we have owned since I was a baby (mainly by coincidence I swear but it's just funny).

And now we get on to the cats. There are three of them so I'm going to start with oldest to youngest.

This is Zorro (my favorite) out of all the cats. He was acquired shortly after George when we found mice in one of our old houses. He put up with George, but after mom started getting more and more animals into the house Zorro became more and more fed up and trying to get out and away from all the whippersnappers so he's an outdoor cat now (don't worry he has an electrically heated house and is fed wonderfully and is still living his best life). He's also the only one who will actually sit on my lap and let me pet for long periods of time (I love him he's my favorite, when I move out for reals I kind of want to take him with me so he can get as pampered as he wants in his older years but IDK how much he would like adjusting back to indoor life again). He's very grumpy old man but like would die for him yk? Bebe.

This is Rocky (short for Rocket, although no one ever calls him that ever.) The reason he is called Rockey is that when we brought him home there was so much fighting and indecision over what we should call him (including much bribery and corruption when my dad tried to call a democratic vote -> one of my siblings tried selling his vote for a snickers) so we ended up just by calling him by the nickname he was given at the shelter. And it stuck. Rocky kinda forgets he is a cat sometimes and acts more like the dogs that he grew up around like by wagging his tail and like chirps instead of a proper meow. He also can never sit like a normal cat and I find him curled up in probably the most strangest positions known to man that can't be comfortable (i have a few pics but not nearly enough of all the ones he does)

This is Tigger. Tigger came from my Grandma tricking us into taking the psycho. Do not let his baby face fool you this cat is a menace to society. He was with a friend of my grandma's who liked antagonizing him and taught him to play really rough and maybe neglected him? Which is really sad because it taught him so many bad habits that means he is the menace that he is. Anyway, parents got him while I was away at college and adopted him on my birthday (when i wasn't there). But even though none of the human peoples like him all that much, Rocky does and also we would all feel really guilty about rehoming him because if we rehomed him he'd probably be euthanized or something because he's not a friendly cat. Or rather, let me put it this way. I think he's very friendly he's just too violently playful. His favorite game is hiding in like darkened corners and under covered tables and then jumping out and scratching/biting people (traumatized lil 7yo sis bc of it so she stays far away from him now). The funniest thing is that he'll still keep the baby face and he looks like he has no thoughts behind his eyes and the next thing you know he's clawing off your hand. We've been trying to train the agression out of him but it's really not as easy as training dogs.

like don't get me wrong I love murder cat (as I have dubbed him) but also I fear him and he knows it. However his eternal baby face gives me much meme material so he do pull his own weight around the house. He's also the only cat to have ever caught and killed a mouse inside. So we're grateful to him and glad he's part of our family but he's more effective than either of our dogs if a burglar breaks in. Actually, I should put the other pic here as well.

He may look cute but don't believe him. It's all part of his plan to get you in your sleep. (JK JK, murder cat, if you learned to read and are watching me as you sit behind me, please know that I do love you even though you frustrate me to know end pelase don't eat me).

Bonus: some very raw (still alive) baby birbs found by a friend of mine. Still alive as far as im aware. Also all of them are at my school so thankfully far away from my murderous pets.