#the humans don’t really call them anything as they’re actually very small

[kirisclangen]

Pinned!

This is just where I wanna put all the designs I’ve been making for all the cats I currently have on Clangen! There’s a lot of them so… idk, I reckon I can just queue a few up and set it to post once a day? That seems good.

Once I get through all of the existing cats I have, I think I’ll end up doing semi-regular updates on what happens between them every few moons! Doodle pages, profiles for new cats, etc.

My main is @fantasykiri5, and I mostly make hermitcraft/life series fanart there, so pretty different from anything that’s gonna be here.

I mentioned it in the sub header but the rough format I’m gonna use for this blog is very much inspired by @/warriorsproject and @/cryptidclaw! Go check them both out!

World setup under cut:

There are 5 clans;

Beetleclan,

Tulipclan,

Honeyclan,

Bayclan,

and Vixenclan.

1: The Mountains

2: Abandoned Twoleg Nest (old cabin)

3: The Farm

4: The Maple Hollow (Vixenclan Camp)

5: Tunderpath (mountain road. All other thinderpaths are very scarcely used, like the one up to the farm or to the dock. There not a large risk, but they’re also called thunderpaths by the cats.)

6: The Clearing (Tulipclan Camp)

7: The Small Valley (Honeyclan Camp)

8: Twoleg Place

9: The Lake (meeting place)

10: Southern Twoleg Bridge

11: Northern Twoleg Bridge

12: The Tidepools (Bayclan Camp)

13: Twoleg Nowhere Bridge (fishing dock and small parking lot)

14: The Shipwreck (Beetleclan Camp)

15: Bearclaw Islands

16: Star-Spinner (lighthouse)

17: Lonely Twoleg Nest

Links (will be updated as I go):

Bayclan Lore

Beetleclan Lore

Tulipclan Lore

Honeyclan Lore

Vixenclan Lore

[koolades-world]

Ok so this is on the angsty side, you can write this how you generally want but I do hope you keep the concept the same, you can add less angst if you want

Ok so

A replaced AU where MC is pretty much discarded by the brothers so they can pay more attention to the new exchange student. It starts off slowly at first, them saying they want to make sure RN(replacement name) knows their way around and that they’re new so they want to make them feel welcomed, but then it starts becoming where they stop hanging out with MC in general. They stop inviting them out, they forget to tell them food is ready or that they ordered food(they don’t even get them food either). MC just feels very forgotten

Ok so for the actual request now lol

Can you do pretty much this concept for a fic with MC who got attacked and really badly injured by another demon, was found by either Solomon or Simeon, and after they contacted Diavolo(and got MC bandaged and cleaned up) they all collectively decided(Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon, Solomon, and even Luke) that they wouldn’t tell the brothers what happened. They wouldn’t even have MC go back to HOL, they let them stay at purgatory hall and would have Barbatos keep an eye on them when they were in RAD. They’ll wait to see how long it takes them to notice their absence. And months pass. Months of MC slowly healing from her trauma of being attacked and slowly learning how to be a basic human again. None of the brothers realize MC is even gone. They only notice once one of them need something from them and they ask if anyone has seen them. When they go to Diavolo to ask, he immediately reprimands and yells at them for not noticing the fact that they were gone for MONTHS. He asks where they were when MC was attacked and bleeding out on the floor and where they were when they were healing from that attack

They now all feel like shit and they just get the exact same reaction from Solomon and Simeon when they try and call them too. Everytime they see MC in public, they always have someone by their side, always ready to keep them away from them. When they do see MC from far away, they see how small they look, how they’re constantly looking around and flinching at any sudden movement or loud sound. They feel even worse by the day. They were all also blocked on MC’s DDD so they can’t even try and talk through messages or calls. They need to slowly regain their trust, if they even regain it at all.

Yeah that got a little angsty lol

Again you don’t have to make it as angsty as I described, you can make it as angsty as you want(I would love a good cry though lol)

Please please please and thank you! Take your time with this one if you need

this request vanished on me a couple times now so I grabbed it as soon as I saw it again! curse tumblr and whatever it’s on. really hope they get around to fixing that because it is so scary and nerve wracking to have something disappear on you like that

i can only assume the second ask was also you haha it was quite fun to read and really get into the idea you created :) i decided to use Rn for the replacement mc, like how I used Mc as a name, since i liked it so much

alright enough about that, i love my angst and it feels like you almost knew it haha. you asked and i will deliver! i veered off the idea a little, but i hope you enjoy :)

enjoy <3

bygone

It was hard being second best at anything. Constantly being passed over and just missing the mark of being best. It hurt, knowing you were so close yet so far from number one. But what you were to the brothers now was far worse than second best; forgotten.

You don't know when this all had started, and initially, you'd been forgiving, because the treatment Rn was getting was the treatment you wished you'd had when you arrived in the Devildom. You wouldn't want to wish a negative experience upon them, since you were in their shoes at one point. And yet after everything, you couldn't find a reason to blame them for anything.

It wasn't their fault they were in the Devildom. It wasn't their fault they were more likable than you. And it wasn't their fault you were attacked.

It was particularly gloomy that day, and it was so windy you almost got swept away a couple times. But the brothers didn't care and you knew it. Your Purgatory Hall friends were all busy at clubs, and while they'd offered a quiet corner for you to do your work in so they could walk you home, you refused. You didn't want to bother then even though you knew they didn't mind.

You thought the walk home would've been uneventful, like it usually was. You were right, and you made it home safely, until you realized you'd left an important textbook in your locker. You made it successfully back to RAD, and were in front of your locker trying to open it when you were slammed from behind into it. You must've hit your head, because everything after that was hazy and you struggled to recall what happened, or who attacked you. The next thing you remembered was Simeon hovering over you, looking more distressed than you'd ever seen him.

The morning after, you woke up with a pounding headache you thought was due to your morning alarm. You'd reached over to turn it off, but before you could, Luke rushed in the room and began scolding you for trying to get up. As he talked at you, his words went in one ear and out the other. The other members of Purgatory Hall, as well as Barbatos entered the room at some point. They all looked strained or disturbed in a way. When you asked what had happened, Solomon was the one to break the news to you. You didn't know quite how to feel, but you knew at the very least that you were finally in good hands.

After this, the four of them sat in the room with you, and just chatted with you. It was nice to feel welcome in such a casual space again. At some point, you realized you weren't at home, and were instead at Purgatory Hall. That was when they revealed their plan to just not tell the brothers, and that you were more than welcome to live with your friends at Purgatory Hall instead. You felt a weak smile form on your face. It was good to be wanted again.

As time passed by, you grew physically better thanks to the attentive care of your new housemates, but the same couldn't be said emotionally. In the comfort of home, you felt safe, especially surrounded by your wonderful support system. At first, you couldn't even bring yourself to leave the house, and the first time you saw one of the brothers again was a major setback, but you did what you could. Those around you gave you all the time you needed to heal, and you let them know you were finally ready to try and take that next step again.

Barbatos and Diavolo had invited the residents of Purgatory Hall over for a nice little tea party, which you were proud to say you were now included in. They’d told you to get dressed up to spend a nice afternoon with them and enjoy yourself. It was something to look forward to, so the night before, you laid out an outfit. The next morning, you woke up feeling excited for once. Your new support system seemed determined to make this the best day possible, and despite asking them not to jump through hoops for you, they went to whatever lengths possible just to see you smile.

You felt possible the happiest you’d ever been since before Rn arrived when you got to the castle. All the little D’s welcomed you enthusiastically and ushered the four of you into the castle. Diavolo was already seated, but got up as soon as you walked into the room. He greeted you with a hug and soon, the five of you were happily talking. Barbatos joined you at some point, and knowing you would insist he relax, he sat down with the promise to get up if you needed anything.

It was supposed to be perfect.

You were enjoying your second cup of tea when there was a frantic knock at the door. It was distant, but you could all hear the panic behind it. Barbatos was the first to get up and he announced he would check it out. The five of you glanced around at each other, but continued as normal. A couple minutes went by, and a little D flew into the room and pleaded with Diavolo for help. This alarmed all of you, but Diavolo had you sit back down while he went to go assist Barbatos. Solomon and Simeon exchanged glances, but did as he asked.

You began to hear yelling, and the door Diavolo had just left through burst open. An awfully familiar pair of blue eyes locked onto you. "Mc!" Mammon called out. You froze, not sure how to react. Solomon stood up, pushing his chair back and letting it scrape against the ground.

Before anyone could speak, Diavolo pushed past Mammon and stood directly in front of him, arms crossed. "I didn't give you permission to enter my home." You'd never seen Diavolo more serious. Mammon was hidden from view now, thankfully, but that couldn't stop the sound of his voice reaching your ears.

"You lied to us. Mc is here." Mammon's tone was so sharp, it nearly cut the tension in the room.

"Why would you do that? We miss them." Levi sounded more angry than you'd ever heard him. The noise of his tails thrashing angrily about against the marble floors echoed through the hall.

"Oh really? You miss them, you say? Did you miss them when they were alone because of your actions? Did you miss them when they were bleeding out in the halls of RAD? Did you miss them in the months of recovery? You were so consumed with Rn that you failed to notice the absence of the very person that solved many of your problems and brought your family back together." Diavolo had shifted into his demon form in the middle of his rant. You could feel the waves of anger peeling off of him, and you knew sure as hell that the brothers could feel it too.

The room was filled with silence again. Solomon moved to stand next to the future king. "You should go now." His voice was soft, but firm.

"I'll see them out." Barbatos was behind the brothers somewhere. They left without much resistance after they got a glimpse at your face. During the entire interaction, you felt silent tears streaming down your face. Luke leant over and tried to offer you a handkerchief with his name embroidered on the corner. When you didn't move to take it, he dabbed the tears from your face for you and embraced you tightly.

"I'm sorry about them, Mc." Diavolo walked back over to you and stood behind you.

"It's alright." You hugged Luke back. Diavolo joined in, causing Solomon and Simeon to as well. "I have you guys, don't I?"

[luniviravosshipper]

Okay, so this is going to be a very low effort post because it’s late where I am and I’m tired, but I honestly really want to talk about this so I’m going to anyways.

So. About Sol Regem eating Pharos.

This is most definitely one of my most favorite scenes and moments in the show for many different reasons. But one of the many aspects I thought was great about it was that it did the opposite of ‘tell no show’.

The show has been hinting for ages how the dragons see the humans and elves as ants for them to stomp on or to toss around. It’s always been implied or explicitly said. There’s several moments in the show where we see the dragons threatening the lives of the main cast whenever they are even slightly displeased with them. All in all, they see them as just small things that they can disregard the lives of whenever.

Although they perhaps have more of a bias against humans, in general they look down upon both humans and elves and view them as less then. They don’t value their lives because they find their lives to be so short and them to be so minuscule in comparison to them.

And yet when we finally get to see a dragon prove this sentiment by literally eating someone, they end up choking. It’s only fitting for a dragon who believes himself to be so powerful and shows absolutely no remorse for harming the lives of others around him to end up dying literally by doing just that. His pride and arrogance, as Aaravos calls it, finally caught up to him. And in a way, as awful as it probably was for Aaravos to basically sacrifice Pharos here, it helped prove a point. It proved Aaravos’s whole argument regarding the dragons, and how selfish and apathetic they are. How they do not care about life. In this situation in particular, Sol Regem did this knowing that Pharos wasn’t the real body of Aaravos and that he was only manifesting himself through him and still ate him rashly and in a fit of rage, not even considering for a moment that he’s hurting this other person and not even remotely doing anything to harm Aaravos. If anything, again, he only helped his argument.

(I can talk about this more in another post, but I just realized that it’s also ironic how much Sol Regem hated humans because he thought they took life and showed no care for it when that’s literally all that he does. And I think that specifically is actually what Aaravos was kind of trying to prove all along. His personal vendetta against him started off with him wanting to get back at him for ratting out his daughter for sharing magic with humans, but I can imagine that after he discovered dark magic it started to shift and became more so about proving to Sol Regem that he simply had no place in general to judge dark magic or humans who use it.)

This works very well thematically and really helps to better shape the viewers understanding of the role the dragons take in the world building of this universe. As these creatures who have been put into positions of power throughout Xadia’s history, not because of what knowledge or wisdom they have or because of some special capabilities that they possess that others don’t, but because they’re so feared. They’re these big, angry, and violent creatures that everyone has just grown too fearful of to actually face.

And when we’re finally shown why they have been so feared, we see one of them face the consequences of his own actions within the very same moment he acts. And it’s great.

[bots-and-cons]

How about knockout secretly becoming friends with reader who is under autobot protection?

A/N: I’ve got these HCs about Knockout’s s/o being under autobot protection. This is a bit of a different thing though, and I thought it was different enough to warrant its own post. These ended up kinda long, because I got invested, lol

•You and Knockout met by total accident, when a few off your friends had dragged you to watch an illegal street racing competition

•You had snuck out without telling the bots so they didn’t know where you were, hence none of them were there to stop you from being a bit reckless and having a good time

•Your friends wanted pictures with the cars and when you got close to Knockout, you noticed the small-ish decepticon insignia

•You of course tried to get your friends away from him, because who knows what he might do if he recognized you as one the autobot’s charges

•Knockout honestly hadn’t been paying much attention to what any of the humans who were under the autobot’s protection looked like, so he didn’t realize who you were right away

•Your friends wanted to take a couple of pictures despite your protests

•Knockout of course told them “Watch the paint job, I don’t want any scratches” as they leaned against him to take the pics

•Your friends thought it was just the driver saying it from inside the car, but you knew otherwise

•Your friends went away to the next car, but you marched up to Knockout’s driver side window and started talking to him

•”Why are you here?” you asked him

•”To race, obviously. Why else?” he scoffed

•That’s when he took a better look at you, because you were obviously talking to him like you knew him

•”Oh, you’re one of the autobot’s pets” you could basically hear the smirk in his voice

•”I’m not anyone’s pet you idiot, they’re my friends” you retorted

•Knockout found himself enjoying your banter, but the friend comment made him somewhat jealous, he couldn’t really call any of the decepticons his friends, except for Breakdown

•That’s basically where your friendship begun, you talked for quite a while and before you realized, your friends had left and so had your ride

•”Dammit, I’m gonna have to walk home” you muttered as the crowd kept thinning

•You didn’t know anyone else there, and your friends had left you there, so you started walking

•Knockout didn’t really say anything as you left, but a couple of minutes later, he realized it was quite cold outside and human’s don’t handle it very well or at least that’s what he’d understood

•He didn’t want you to die because of the cold, because that would just invite retribution from the autobots

•It actually wasn’t that cold, but you did live on the other side of town, so you had quite a long way to go

•Knockout didn’t know where you lived, but he drove after you and offered you a ride

•”So you can kidnap me and take me to the Nemesis? No thanks” you told him as he drove slowly next to you

•”I’m not going to kidnap you. I’m just not giddy at the thought of you dying in the cold and us getting blamed for it”

•You stopped walking and considered it for a moment, you really didn’t feel like walking over 5km in the chilly weather, and it looked like it was about to start raining too

•”Fine, you can take me close, but I’m not telling you where I live” you sighed, and hopped into the passenger’s seat

•You gave him directions, as he talked about something or other

•Knockout tends to talk a lot when he’s nervous, so he just kept talking to you

•You laughed at some of his jokes and he also commented how your friends were kinda mean for leaving you there like that

•You couldn’t help but agree, and you started ranting about your friends and the idiotic things they did sometimes

•You didn’t understand why, but he was just so easy to talk to, and you didn’t need to hide your opinions/feelings about your friends from him or hear a lecture or anything like that

•You could just talk, and he would listen and also validate your feelings by telling you your friends were in fact assholes 

•Knockout stopped at the grocery store parking lot that you had guided him to, but even then you continued talking

•”I know this is probably a stupid thing to say, but thanks, I haven’t been able to vent like that in a long while”

•”No problem, it was nice for me too” Knockout admitted

•He had talked about what an aft Megatron was and how badly Starscream treated him, but it was kind of funny how the inner workings of the decepticon leadership reminded you of a high school mean girls clique or something

•You told Knockout you weren’t going to mention this to the autobots, because you didn’t want a lecture and there really wasn’t anything to tell, he hadn’t done anything bad

•Knockout decided to leave you his comm link number (idk how it would work, but I decided it’s like a phone) so you could contact him if you wanted to

•You wrote it down on the notes on your phone and hopped out

•He could see you waving in the rearview mirror as you walked away

•It was the start of a rather odd friendship, which was not without its problems, but you grew to be good friends and confidants

•Of course you had to keep the whole thing hidden from the autobots, the same way Knockout couldn’t tell any of the cons

[agustdiv1ne]

telepathy (m) — cbg [TEASER]

OUT NOW! READ HERE!

pairing: choi beomgyu x fem!reader

genre: smut, strangers to ???, mind reader/telepathist!beomgyu, funeral home employee!beomgyu (it's for the plot ok??)

wc: tbd (projected to be around 7-8k)

synopsis: most people would abhor a packed subway car — but beomgyu, telepathist extraordinaire, relishes in it. with a career in the funeral business, he finds his morning commute to be the only thing that keeps him relatively sane. reading the mundane thoughts of mundane people maintains his tether to his humanity, but when he goes to read your mind...oh, things get a whole lot more interesting.

warnings: mdni!! 18+ only, there isn't much in this teaser, but here are the warnings for the rest of the fic so far: mentions of dead bodies, embalming, and funerals (though not very descriptive — it's only bc of gyu's profession), reader is a freak that listens to nsfw audios on her way to work!, gyu is a perv so it's a match made in heaven (hell?), explicit consent is given before anything happens bc consent is sexy <3, mind manipulation (he makes it feel like he's touching her), exhibitionism in a way...it will all make sense, trust 🙏

note: this is inspired by a p*rn audio LMAO,,, lmk if you'd like to be tagged via an ask, or just drop a comment below ^^

masterlist

☆ TEASER ☆

the rest of the weekend passes without fanfare, and monday returns to rear its ugly head once again. monday is beomgyu’s least favorite day of the week; it brings a raging headache from his 5 a.m. alarm, a bone-deep fatigue that lingers for the rest of the day. it brings grumpy commuters whose knees and elbows uncomfortably bump against his own. it brings people who think that he should give up his seat, and silently tell him so with narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows. how selfish, they all think whenever he actually bothers to read their thoughts. what a fucking dick, some of them even snarl within the so-called impenetrable walls of their minds, walls he so easily breaks down. he levels those ones with a half-awake glare, pupils gloomy and lifeless. internally, their uneasy reactions make him want to laugh, hysterically cackle in their faces because wow, is he really that scary? he shouldn’t be, but maybe the dark under eyes are doing something for him.

surprisingly, the subway car he frequents is less crowded than usual. not as many people stand in front of him, and he’s actually able to see directly across the car for the first time in a while. doors shut, and he’s left to look around at the regulars and the new patrons that often don’t show up again. they’re easily less interesting than the regulars. really, what can he say? the daily life updates satisfy his nosy tendencies. 

still, he hates mondays. mondays suck. mondays make him want to crawl into a hole and eventually join the bodies at his workplace. they bring out the worst in his mind. all they do is remind him of the neverending cycle that he has trapped himself in — wake up, work, go to sleep, and do it all over again the next day.

mondays bring a lot of things he fundamentally dislikes, but this particular monday also brings you. 

it’s split-second eye contact. nothing more, nothing less. your eyes grow wide, your lips parting just the slightest bit in surprise. though he has not invaded your mind (yet), he can already tell what you are thinking. fuck, he isn’t blind — he knows that he is handsome.

your eyes shoot downward, your head hanging low with your phone clenched between your fingers. one of his eyebrows raises while a small smirk plays on his lips — you’re new, and even better, you’re cute. his dark, seemingly bored gaze trails over to the earbuds nestled in your ears, then to your crossed legs. you glance up at him again, eyes blowing wide again as your thighs press together just enough for him to notice the movement. his own eyes narrow slightly, evaluating the sight. 

you seem...interesting. prim, proper, sitting in a modest-length skirt and a plain blouse and coat that paint you as an unassuming character, just another random person in this sardine can of a train car. yet there’s this glint in your eyes that tells him there is so, so much more to you than what meets the eye — that the innocent, put-together little front that you display to the world is a complete and utter lie. it’s intriguing. new patrons come and go from this particular subway car every day, but you and your fresh face have caught his interest — and so has your odd behavior. 

then, without warning, realization punches him square in the gut.

you were there the other night, with those girls at the bar. the one sitting at the end of the table with the small glass of water as you scrolled through your phone. the one who shot a piercing glare at him as you looked out for your inebriated friends. your current behavior is a far cry from the strong front he first encountered that night, small and oh-so meek and lacking the sharp, piercing edge to your gaze that initially piqued his interest in you. the change, for some reason, intrigues him more. what happened to that feisty glare, that confident air to your posture? he wants to know why you seem so meek, so he taps in to your mind and—

“you’re my dumb little slut, aren’t you? fuckin’ say it—”

beomgyu flinches in his seat, the door to your mind slamming shut as he sits there in shock. did he really just hear that? are you listening to fucking porn on the subway? what the fuck?

he’s never had this happen to him before. he’s accidentally stumbled upon the occasional horny thought before, sure, but listening to porn on the subway? that’s a new one. he decides to give you another glance; your lips are pressed together now, eyes pointed towards the floor as you further shrink into yourself. fuck, you’re so cute, but now he knows you’re also awfully perverted — and for some reason, he feels himself getting hard in his trousers at the thought of entering your mind again.

he should do something about this little development, shouldn't he?

again, if you would like to be tagged, shoot me an ask or comment down below!! and if you'd like to join my permanent taglist, please do so through this form!

© to agustdiv1ne. do not copy, repost, steal, and/or translate.

[f1ghtsoftly]

While, I don’t hate the women that express “doomer” ideology, I do think it’s Really Bad for a wide range of reasons. One of the most important of which is the all or nothing type of valuation it places on resistance, we either destroy all patriarchy, or we’re all doomed, and the way it negates our power as living breathing adult women to do anything at all the change our circumstances, because I can’t change all of it-I change nothing instead.

There are thousands of women on this website that are alive right now who want a better world-do you seriously believe none of our efforts, do you believe the efforts of all the women who’ve ever lived amount to nothing just because we haven’t achieved a post-patriarchal society? Think about all the ways women’s resistance, big and small, has nurtured you-even before feminism was a thought in your head. Did that not matter to you? Did it not help protect you? To warn you? To feed your soul? Not enough of course, but all of that effort was enough to make you brave enough to dig for answers, to not immediately give in to all that was expected of you, to find a place here on this website, surely. It did matter, even just hearing or seeing something that made you feel seen for the first time in your life-that does matter.

I think one of patriarchy’s most pernicious effects is the way it corrupts intimacy between women. We are trained to play act images of women that men create through media and social control we end up worrying if we’re successful in our impersonation of this being we call “woman” always trying to be nice enough, tidy enough, small enough etc…and disrupts our images of woman’s actual humanity and personhood. Remember how crazy you felt before you discovered feminism, imagine all the other women and girls who already do and will one day feel like you. You thought no other woman was like you, until one day you went to a secret place, somewhere men didn’t control, and discovered, it wasn’t true.

Women’s ability to resist patriarchy is a gift to us, it lets us know, even hundreds of years into the future, that we have never really been alone. Women who acted out to the point of being disciplined via religious, psychiatric or state institutions. Women who worked in secret as men to be able to write, create, make and live independently. Women who pushed politically for their rights. Even just women who survived and gained power for themselves in environments that were hostile to it. They all gave us a gift and that gift is the knowledge that they were alive, they mattered and they didn’t like it-they weren’t these images of women that men created-they were human, just like us. More than just giving us comfort, these big and small acts of resistance allow us to more fully understand not only the totality of what we’re up against-but also to appreciate the incredible fortitude of women who persisted against incredible odds. They didn’t know what their fates were going to be either and it probably felt as bleak, if not more, than it does right now. We can find women like this in the historical record, even if Big Patriarchy is still around.

It’s true that individually we don’t have a lot of control over the Really Big Historical Picture, but the good news is we don’t have to-we just need to control our slice of it. There are so many women just waiting to find women like us, there are girls growing up who need to see us to know that they’re not alone and that there is a community of women who feel like them and who are worth fighting for. Focus on making yourself visible as a human being to the women around you, on trying to make a mark big enough so that women in the future can find you. We are alive and we matter-and I really think this is enough. It’s a very worthy effort to live by and for other women and usefully it’s also a really critical step in building solidarity, so even if some of us get crazy ideas about doing something to change the Big Historical Picture, they’ll have a much better chance of achieving it.

[five-rivers]

Continuation of my pollfic! I'm almost done. Just a couple more...

.

Wait a second.  Danny was only half ghost.  This cuff and chain, as disturbing as they were, were ghostly in nature, and in the Ghost Zone.  He could just phase out.  

He flicked human - his wings really didn’t like that - and phased out of the cuff.  It and the chain writhed around on the floor like a demented snake.  Danny sort of felt sorry for it.  Sort of.  Almost.  Not really.  Not nearly enough to refrain from making a shield and keeping it between him and the chain.  And, for that matter, the other chains binding the books.  Just in case.  

Although, maybe he could do some of the translating and copying he’d first come here for…

No.  He was pretty sure he’d done enough for the Lost Library for a long, long time.  He didn’t like being kidnapped, actually, and he didn’t want to take the risk.  Because, wow, he did not want to wind up chained to a desk, even if he could just phase out of any chain the library conjured.  

He was just… He was done.  That’s all.  

There was a table.  One not covered in chained books.  If he didn’t want to hunker down on the floor or sit backwards on a chair or something.  He was just going to rest a minute or two.  He wasn’t going to fall asleep or anything.  Just.  Rest.  

He crawled onto the table and laid down, resenting the fact he fit, given how small it was.  His feet hung off the edge of the table, and he rested his chin on his folded hands.  Yeah.  He just needed some rest.  Not sleep!  Nope.  He wasn’t going to fall asleep.  He wasn’t.  

He sighed and rolled off the table.  If he stayed here, lying down, he’d definitely fall asleep.  He knew himself.  He had to do something.  This wasn’t made to be a maze - on purpose, anyway.  He could figure it out.

He stretched, back and forth, his arms and his wings, then his legs.  It didn’t feel as effective as usual.  Maybe side differences mattered there, too.  He didn’t know much about things like that.  Or maybe it was a bone thing?  He knew that children had more bones than adults - thank you bone-obsessed ghosts - so he might have more bones right now than he usually did.  Maybe.  

Okay, now, he was pretty sure that the library attendant had led him through this way…  Or was it this way…  Or, uh…  Hm.  

Yeah.  

Okay.  

One at random it was.  

“What in the world happened to you?”

… Or the attendant could just show up.  Cool.  

Danny stared up at them, the words to describe his situation completely escaping him.  “It’s a long story, honestly.  A really long story.”

“I only left you here for a…”  She trailed off.  “How long did I leave you in here?  Just a few hours, right?”

“I… honestly have no idea.”  He didn’t.  Time was already weird in the Ghost Zone, even when you weren’t being chased by weird perfectly silent ghosts and taking surprise naps.  Hanging out with Clockwork was sometimes helpful keeping things straight… and sometimes the exact opposite of helpful.  He was half certain that libraries ran on their own time, anyway.  Especially in the Ghost Zone.  

“Yes, well,” said the attendant.  “That’s… you…  Your visitor’s badge must have malfunctioned.  Or something.”

“I was kidnapped,” said Danny.  “By the, uh, the quiet ones.  The lost ones.  Whatever.”

“But they aren’t real,” said the attendant, sounding bewildered.  “How would they even…”  She waved at Danny.  

“I don’t know.”

“And they brought you back here?”

Danny shrugged.  “I’d really like to leave, now.  And get rid of all this…”  He waved at himself.  “You know.  Go back to my normal self.”

“Yes, right.  Of course.  Sorry for the…  Well.  If it’s any consolation, you are very cute.”

It wasn’t.  He shrugged.  “Can I get back to the front, now?  Please?”

“Yes,” said the attendant.  “Oh, goodness, I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before…”

“Isn’t there, like, a whole legend about the quiet ones, or the lost ones, or whatever they’re called?  The person at the front desk said something about it.”

“Yes, but they’re not real,” said the attendant, still scandalized by the whole idea.  

“They are, though.  They’re definitely real.”

“I am just going to take you to the front desk, okay?” asked the attendant.  She turned and started to float away without waiting for an answer.  

Danny took off after her, not wanting to get lost again.  Or kidnapped again.  There could be dozens of ‘legends’ in a place like this.  It was possible the quiet ones were only the tip of the giant, literary, legendary iceberg.  

Or maybe stress was making Danny paranoid.  Obviously, he hadn’t been nearly paranoid enough through this whole venture.  

Instead of taking Danny through the copyists’ room again, the attendant took a shorter route that went directly to the front lobby of the library.  

The librarian at the desk frowned at him.  “What happened to you?”

“Quiet ones.  Lost ones.  Whatever.”  Danny pulled the visitor’s badge from his pocket, and spared a moment to appreciate that it was still intact before putting it on the librarian’s desk.  “Can you undo this?”

The librarian picked up the badge and stared at first it, then Danny, then back at it again.  “You will have to explain what happened to you.”

“Your mysterious legendary bogymen have hijacked your system and were maybe caused by your system.  And your library steals voices.”

“Pardon?”

“These ghosts who looked like this-” he gestured at himself, “-kidnapped me and made me look like this by drawing the symbols you had on your badges.”

“Ah,” said the librarian.  She turned to look at the attendant.  “Could you please send a message to the Library of Tongues?  I assume that you want to be picked up.”

“Why?”

“Because it is very unlikely that I will be able to completely reverse this, and I doubt you will want to fly back while you are… like this.”  

“Do you think I live in the Library of Tongues?”

“I don’t think you live anywhere,” said the Librarian.  “But you are a member, aren’t you?”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose.  It wasn’t a terrible suggestion, all things considered.  Flying through the Zone while he felt this flimsy wasn’t something he really wanted to do.  Even if there were other problems… like his parents’ equipment… his parents… and who the Library of Tongues would send…

[marlynnofmany]

The Oddest of Odd Jobs

Captain Piercing Sunlight rubbed her knuckles together, making yellow scales click. It was a more worrying sign of agitation than when Paint did it. The good captain was concerned.

“I imagine more opportunities will be posted soon,” she said, staring up at the job board. Not a single one of the posts was a request for a courier ship, or even passenger transport. It was all local stuff for this colony world. Surprising, really, since the people living here surely needed stuff they couldn’t make for themselves yet, but nobody seemed to be asking for a delivery.

“We could try the other colony,” Kavlae suggested, pointing vaguely over her shoulder while a gust of wind ruffled her head frills. With the sky-blue tone of her skin, she looked cold in the breeze, but that was normal. “I spotted a big spaceport while we were coming in.” Kavlae always noticed alternate landing sites; it was part of what made her a good pilot.

Before Captain Sunlight could reply, Zhee hissed sharply, which I’d learned was the bug-alien equivalent of a skeptical snort. “They’ll know we came from this one,” he said. “The local news said there’s feuding already.”

“What, really?” Kavlae asked while Captain Sunlight sighed deeply. “Weren’t the colonies started by the same group? They’ve got the whole planet to share, and they’re feuding?”

“Territorial species,” Zhee said with a dismissive click of his pincher arms. “Not enough food-plants to go around, apparently.”

“Keep your voice small,” warned the captain with a pointed glance at the nearest large passerby, who could crush any of us with a single hoof. Not a species to insult carelessly, or even on purpose. Six limbs, two of which were sometimes arms, lots of muscle, and even antlers. Nobody had told me the species name yet, but I was privately calling them Space Moose.

“Fine, fine,” Zhee said, folding his pinchers grumpily and glaring up at the board.

Captain Sunlight looked up as well. “Is there anything on here that looks do-able?” she asked, addressing all three of us.

I studied the grid of job posts. The rest of our crew was busy getting supplies — I hoped we weren’t about to skim over something that another person would catch. But just as I thought it, my eyes fell on a posting from a human ship.

“Oh, someone lost a dog!” I exclaimed, pointing. “They couldn’t find it before they left. That’s so sad.”

“We can keep an eye out,” Captain Sunlight said. “Our ship doesn’t have any of the fancy bio-scanners for seeking out that sort of thing.”

I read the whole post, looking for details. A three-year-old husky, male, “exceptionally fluffy,” named Matt. Which was short for Mattress. I loved him already.

“How recent is the post?” Kavlae asked.

“Just two days ago,” I said. “I hope the dog is okay. It says they last saw him at the edge of town.”

“There is a thriving ecosystem here,” Captain Sunlight reminded me gently. “The animal can surely find its way.”

“But he’ll be lonely,” I said, forlorn. Poor Mattress.

Before I could whine about it further, Zhee laughed and pointed at a different post, tapping it with one of his little wrist fingers. “Look at this. Anyone fancy being an exorcist today?” At his tap, the post unfurled a map and a sound clip. He pressed play.

A very familiar yodeling howl filled the air. Unsettling, if you were an alien herbivore. A glance at my crewmates showed that none of them recognized it either.

I grinned. “You guys, we have to be exorcists today.”

* * *

“We saw it again just last night,” said the enormous space moose, his deep voice going high with nerves. “It actually went into our shed, and no one is ready to go see if it’s gone yet.”

“I will check for you,” I assured him. Captain Sunlight was letting me take point on this job, and Zhee was doing his best to keep his sarcasm to himself. Kavlae looked nervous.

“You don’t need anything else?” the space moose asked. “Armor, weapons?”

“No, I’m pretty sure this ghost is friendly,” I said, holding up the only two things I had brought: a sheet of fish jerky and a clip-rope from the cargo bay. “At least, he should be happy to see me. But you guys stay back, okay?”

The towering behemoth was more than ready to stay behind. Several other moosey faces peered through a long window in the house nearby. They hadn’t even come outside. Captain Sunlight told Zhee and Kavlae to stay where they were, and to give the human space to work.

I looped the rope over my shoulder and approached the shed on quiet feet. The post had said the dog wasn’t aggressive, but I knew full well how unpredictable fear could make an animal. (People too, really. All the more reason for the others to hang back.)

The shed was big, more what would pass for house-sized where I was from, and it just seemed to get bigger. Plain-looking otherwise. Flat beige walls and a slanted roof, no windows. A door that stood open. A spill of pellets all over the floor, which proved to be from the torn corner of a bag like I’d seen at the market.

Grain stuff, so hopefully okay for a dog’s system, I thought, hesitating outside the doorway. As long as he didn’t eat more than his stomach can hold. Here’s hoping it tastes bad.

I cleared my throat. “Ma-att,” I singsonged. “Matt! Mattress! Here, boy!”

A rustle and a thump was all the warning I got before a very large and exceptionally fluffy dog charged out and tackled me to the ground.

The moose bellowed in panic and my crewmates shouted. Mattress licked every inch of my face, prancing and whining while I did my level best to sit up.

“It’s okay!” I called out between licks. “He’s just happy! Here, boy, do you want a treat?” I scrabbled for the jerky that I’d dropped, and managed to redirect the dog’s attention without losing a finger. I got to my feet while he tore at the jerky, tail wagging at light speed. Good thing it was the soft kind of fish jerky. At this rate, he might have hurt himself on the stiff kind.

“Are you all right?” Captain Sunlight asked from where she stood.

“I’m fine!” I said with a wave.

She and the other two had stepped away from the space moose, who seemed to be making an effort to breathe his way through a panic attack. I didn’t blame them. The poor guy looked equally likely to pick fight over flight.

Better get everybody settled, I thought, turning back to Mattress and finding the rope where it had fallen. He had a collar, thankfully. While he finished gulping down the food, I clipped the rope to his collar and wrapped the end around my hand multiple times. Then I stroked that thick fur and murmured praises.

“Is it safe?” asked the space moose in a strained voice.

“Yes, just a moment,” I said as Mattress started prancing about again. “Matt, sit.”

He sat. Huzzah. I stroked his head, and his tail thumped the ground with gusto.

“Good dog.” I took a step and tugged the leash. “Heel.”

He sprang up and trotted after me, tail wagging and tongue lolling, though with slightly less chaos-gremlin energy.

“Good boy,” I said, then led him over to where everyone waited. I didn’t get too close. “Sit,” I repeated. He sat.

The space moose was calming down admirably, though his eyes were still a little wide. “You do seem to have it well under control,” he admitted. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” I told him. “This guy just wants to go home. We can handle that.”

“You have my gratitude,” the moose said. “And now, money. Extra for speed.”

Captain Sunlight handled that part, while I stroked Mattress in a subtle search for injuries or problems stuck in his fur. He returned the favor by licking my ear with far too much saliva. I tried not to grimace, and wiped it off with my sleeve. “Good dog.”

“All right, let’s get this animal to the ship,” Captain Sunlight said.

“I’ll call up the owners for you as soon as we get there,” Kavlae said, checking her pocket communicator for the phone number from the post. We’d all saved copies.

“I’m sure they will want to see their animal in the cameras,” Captain Sunlight said, turning to me. “I trust you can keep it calm inside the cabin?”

I assured her that I could. We said our goodbyes to the space moose and his family watching from the house, then headed back to the spaceport.

Mattress followed happily, though judging by the panting, he was thirsty. There probably hadn’t been much to drink in that shed, and the jerky on top of alien kibble was bound to make things worse.

“We’ll get you a bowl of water right away,” I promised him. “Okay, boy?”

Mattress looked up at me with alert ears and that particular doggy smile.

Captain Sunlight got out her own phone. “I’ll have Wio ready one for us. How big of a bowl do you need?”

“Um, just have her fill one of the smaller cookpots. He looks pretty thirsty.”

Kavlae asked from a fair distance away, “How can you tell?”

“He’s breathing hard,” I said. “With his tongue sticking out like that.”

Zhee was also giving the dog a wide berth. “Is that why it’s doing that?” he asked. “I assumed the animal was showing off its teeth for the benefit of anyone who might offer it harm.”

“No, he’s smiling!” I said. “Look at that; that’s a happy face. Just a little thirsty.”

Zhee muttered something disparaging about predators being allowed in close range. Kavlae laughed, and Captain Sunlight shook her head.

I looked from face to face. “You guys don’t keep pets, do you?” I asked. “None of you?”

“None like that,” Captain Sunlight said. “Nothing that could kill us, no.”

“He wouldn’t do that!” I said with an exaggerated ruffle of Mattress’s fur. “He’s a good dog! And look how fluffy! Such a nice soft pillow, he’d probably let you take a nap on him.”

“No thanks,” said Zhee. “I don’t see the appeal.”

“You don’t see the appeal? Do—” My smile slipped when I really looked at Zhee’s exoskeleton. “I don’t think you can fully appreciate the feel of soft fluffy things, can you?”

Zhee’s unimpressed scoffing confirmed my suspicions. I looked to Captain Sunlight, and her own scaly hands. “What about you? Not a big deal?” I didn’t wait for her answer before turning to Kavlae, the vaguely fishy humanoid with frills everywhere. “You have proper skin! Come pet this dog!”

She didn’t want to, but under my insistence and Mattress’s continued good behavior, she finally edged forward and brushed a hand across the copious floof.

“Oh, that is soft,” she said.

“See? And he is such a good boy.” I patted him some more, and he responded by licking both of us.

Kavlae yelped, pulling back.

“It’s okay,” I hurried to say. “That means he likes you.”

“Oh,” Kavlae said. She sniffed her hand, then retched. “Oh, he smells!”

I looked down at him and had to admit, “Yeah, that’s another thing dogs do.”

“To the ship!” Captain Sunlight announced. “For water, a phone call, and then a thorough cleansing! Which I’m sure our favorite animal expert can handle, yes?”

I sighed. “Yes. I won’t enjoy it, though.”

Zhee hissed a laugh. “Maybe you can take a nap on the creature afterward.”

“Maybe! Just you watch. Might have to tire him out a bit first though. I’m sure nobody would mind a game of fetch in the cargo bay, right?”

Captain Sunlight gave me a look, but she didn’t say no.

~~~

The ongoing adventures in backstory for this book! More to come.

[lunamaraproject]

LUNAMARA: Fragments [3]

🦢

“What’re you doing?”

Felix doesn’t startle - Elsie is hardly the most stealthy in her approach. He pulls himself bodily out of the large filing box he was halfway falling into, having to unstick a stray notepaper from his long hair, and turns to smile at the young girl.

He would never call her that out loud, now that she’s reached that particular age where a youngster insists they’re grown enough and hates to be treated like a child. To do so would be inviting her wrath, which in turn would mean Rufus’ wrath, and Felix can’t afford that. 

“Sorting through some old historical documents,” Felix replies, holding up a few sheafs of paper. “Though, it hurts my soul a little that items from my youth are now called ‘historical documents’.”

“Well you fought in the war, you must have known you’d be making history,” Elsie says, sitting on the edge of the box in her wide, poofy skirt, quite unlike the typical style of courtly formal wear. Her moonlight silver hair is worn in two buns on either side of her head, which always makes Felix think of those adorable ‘bear’ animals from the surface. He knows that if she let her hair down and dressed appropriately, she’d be the spitting image of her mother the Queen. Perhaps that’s why she never does so. 

“Actually, at the time, I was more worried about where the next meal was coming from. We were on the surface, and there’s no manna there, so it was quite nerve wracking,” Felix chuckles, turning the old scraps over in his hands. “And I wasn’t the only one. We don’t have many official documents left from that time, since all of them were digital, and the systems are down or gone now. Mostly just these letters sent to home by soldiers, or other odds and ends.”

“Hmm,” she kicks her feet back and forth, craning her neck to look at what’s in his hand. He shows her, though her face immediately twists in a frown when she realises it’s in Common. He should really teach her how to read it, but they have other priorities than learning nearly-dead languages. “If there was no manna, what did you eat?”

“Surface substances. They grown on the plants, and sometimes it’s the plants themselves. I was somewhat loathe to eat any of the moving, breathing creatures, but the humans weren’t, and nor were most of my comrades by the end of it,” he tucks the sheets into a pocket in his tunic, and glances around the cavernous shelves of the palace archives. “It tasted amazing.”

“Tasted?”

Felix smiles at her, chuckling. “Surely when you were very, very small, someone brought you something from the surface to eat…? Someone devastatingly beautiful…?”

Elsie looks thoughtful, then snaps her fingers in realisation. “Oh, yeah! Cassius brought me that thing! An ah-pull!” “I did! I brought it!” Felix whines miserably, hanging his head by her knees like a forlorn pet. “I can’t believe you forgot my thoughtful gift! My beautiful apple!”

“Oh please, I was like, 25!” Elsie huffs. “How am I going to remember one gift from a century ago!”

Felix clutches his chest. “So cruel! I got that apple from one of the last attempts to reclaim the surface! I almost got chipped! Look!” And he hitches up the edge of his tunic to reveal…

“...I can’t see anything,” Elsie declares, squinting at his thigh. 

“There! This hairline fracture!” he pokes pointedly at the thinnest, most nigh-invisible line just above his knee, showing the faintest glimmer of orange fire-opal bright crystal underneath. “Never been the same since!” 

When he raises his gaze, he’s met with the patented ‘Totally Over It’ Elsie look. “How can you be so old and such a whiny baby at the same time.”

“Ack! You’re too cold, Princess Elsennae!”

“Ugh, stop! Stars, can you be any more embarrassing?” she shoves his shoulder, though with no real force, and stands up, dusting off her skirts. Certainly, this room isn’t the cleanest. “I’m going back upstairs, come find me if you discover anything actually cool or useful.”

And with that summary end to the conversation, the last of the royal family of Lunamara marches her way out of the archives, leaving Felix in the dark, surrounded only by the history he himself is a part of. He smiles, and tries to remember what an apple tastes like. 

Maybe one of the files in here will describe it. 

🌗

More from LUNAMARA:

Fragments [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]<-- More every Thursday!

Comic [Prologue]

Art by Luka (http://nousanti.tumblr.com/) Story by Pidge (http://pidgestories.tumblr.com/)

[ricky-tiki-tah]

Ego Headcanons: The Ipliers

Pt. 2

Iplier Manor is home to most of Mark Fischbach’s egos, the Ipliers.

Part 1

Google Blue(he/him): the head of the android family. Is the one that goes to meetings. Often helps Dark keep the schedule updated and followed.

Google Green-GG(he/him): generally easygoing and helpful. If you need a question answered, he’s the one to go to.

Google Red(he/him): very easily annoyed and tends to avoid Bing for that reason. Is not the one you want to ask for help with anything.

Google Yellow-Oliver(he/him): the most human of the Googles. He suspects it’s because he has a name and he’s tried giving his siblings names but they never stick. Spends most of his time with Bing or Eric (he enjoys the quiet company of the younger ego).

Bing(he/him): your basic skater bro. Enjoys annoying Blue. Is always very happy when Oliver agrees to watch him do tricks on his skateboard.

—The androids are their own family.

Reporter Jim-RJ(he/him): always has a microphone.

Cameraman Jim-CJ(he/him): always has a camera.

Anchorman Jim-AJ(he/him): knows thingsTM.

Weatherman Jim-DubJ(he/him): always has an accurate weather forecast.

—The Jims are clones. No one (besides Dark) knows where they came from but they call each other brothers. If more Jims appear, they will be immediately added to the family. They have some sort of hive mind/telepathy and often talk to each other nonverbally. Dark is strangely protective of them. Apart from the telepathy, they have no known powers.

Sliver Shepherd(he/him): doesn’t live in the Manor. Has a girlfriend. Only visits for mandatory meeting and Christmas. Has beef with his alter ego (nobody knows why, or how). - Powers: super strength/speed.

Dadiplier-Stan(he/him): BiAce but hasn’t really acknowledged it yet. Shares an apartment with Friendly J. Rarely visits, only for mandatory meetings. Generally friendly and easygoing guy. Typical suburban dad. Runs a water business (and is a drug dealer on the side) with Jimmy. Is a grade A criminal but you’d never suspect it. - Power: hydrokinesis.

Ed Edgar(he/him): doesn’t live in the manor. Runs a small illegal adoption agency for kids that have suffered abuse. Is really, really bad at advertising. - Power: unknown.

Captain Magnum(he/him): pirate dad. Doesn’t live at the manor. Very tallTM. - Powers: unknown.

Illinois Smith(he/him): pan adventurer dude. Lives in a separate cabin in the Iplier woods with Camper. The two keep an eye on Heehoo. - Powers: absurdly good luck

Camper Mark-Cam(he/him): lives with Illinois. Has a tent permanently set up beside the cabin for Heehoo when it rains. - Powers: unknown.

Heehoo(???): feral. Loves takis. Lives in the woods surrounding Iplier Manor. Really only interacts with Camper and Illinois. - Powers: unknown.

MerMark(he/him): merman with a rainbow tail. He has an aquarium like room in the manor that connects to the swimming pool and a lake in the woods by the cabin. He’ll see Heehoo every once in a while. - Powers: can talk to any aquatic creature.

King of FNAF-Mike(he/him): isnt actually a security guards for Iplier Manor. (He works at this pizza joint with haunted animatronics). Was later promoted to ceo. Hates his job (but can’t quit because FazEnt somehow basically owns him?? He doesn’t know when that happened either). Is terrified of animatronics and mannequins. Hangs around Dave mostly (he’s the only one awake when he gets off work and Dave is a pretty chill guy. He helps Mike calm down enough to sleep. Yes, Yan thinks they’re dating. Are they? They don’t even know themselves.) - Powers: heightened endurance.

Dave Torres(he/him): has no idea how he got to the manor and at this point is too scared to ask. Keeps to himself mostly but enjoys hanging out with Mike. Doesn’t need much sleep to function, but seems to always have a cup of coffee anyway. - Powers: dream walking.

Annus Memento(he/they/any): agender aroace god of time. Spends most of his time with Unus(possibly in a QPR). Absolutely hates being called “Old Man Time” despite that being his title. Followed constantly by the sound of a ticking clock (Elliot and Unus find it comforting). Is a wacky weirdo but can be serious. - Powers: time(controls the amount of time people have in their life, but can also warp time like if he wanted to run away from Dark after pranking him).

Eboy Mark-Elliot(he/him): gay e-boy and in a relationship with Gothan. One of the physically younger egos (around 20). Sees Annus as a father figure (Annus doesn’t understand how but accepts it as inevitable). Will occasionally call the other young egos his younger siblings. - Powers: unknown.

Convict-Vic(they/he): Largely nonverbal. Severely traumatized. Seems to be the embodiment of a pathetic sad puppy. Surprisingly doesn’t hate water (it’s clear and they can see through it well enough), but will not go in the pool/lake. No one actually knows what crime he committed and they’ve never said. Hangs around Engie the most, often just following him around like an extra shadow (he enjoys their warm hugs and the fact that Engie doesn’t expect them to talk). Will also sometimes hang around Annus, Dark, or Dave as well, seeing as they’re fairly calm egos and they let him just exist nearby and watch them do whatever they might be doing at the moment. Carries around a notebook for if they really need to say something. - Powers: unknown.

The Ipliers are always eager and open to answer questions :)

[eternal-moss]

MY MORAX DRAGON PLUSH WAS UP AGAINST THE RADIATOR AND NOW HE’S SO WARM AND LOVELYYY. Hm… actually…

I wonder if his dragon form is an endotherm or not… I suspect Neuvillette’s is, he seems primarily mammalian based (he still has horns and a tail). I don’t know whether or not Zhongli is, I think the consensus for more reptilian dragons is that they’re ectothermic, like Apep & Ourobaxi, but for Chinese dragons I’m not sure.. he has some reptilian features like his main snake-like body having scales, and his claws are probably reptilian not avian. He also has antlers and a beard/mane which are features that endotherms would have, and whiskers which are probably most similar to fish (ectotherm) whiskers (sometimes called barbels)

Dvalin too is one that’s confusing, and I think he actually might be even more bird/mammal based. His body is covered in fur and feathers, and only really has scales at his head and feet. I originally imagined him to be like typically European dragons (ie. probably an ectotherm that reptilian like) but if anything he seems to be mainly bird-like, especially his tail. The material of his wings though is so confusing! It’s hard to tell whether there’s feathers or if it’s even butterfly-esque wings!! I’m tentatively putting him as warm blooded.

Azhdaha is probably cold blooded, although his body is heavily affected by the elements, and he even has a tree growing out of his tail… the designers of Azhdaha said he was inspired by many things (being crocodile-like, as well as based on a ‘quadruped toad’, Komodo dragon, alligator snapping turtle and stegosaurus) but they all are ectotherms.

Both Ursa the Drake and Durin (though he seems to have had a very damaged body even when he was alive) are much more based on typical European dragons than Dvalin, and appear to both be cold blooded too.

So my guess is this:

MOST LIKELY TO BE WARM-BLOODED

-Neuvillette (there’s a chance he might be more like a serpent, but he’s also designed very similarly to Fontaine otters. His ladle- very presumably based on his dragon- doesn’t give us many details either. He has horns & a tail that looks like a fluke (aquatic mammal tail) rather than a fish tail (caudal fin). So my guess is warm blooded!)

-Dvalin (bird/mammal/potentially insect type)

-Morax/Zhongli/Deus Auri <- this might be his oldest title, it precedes him being the Geo Archon by several thousand years. (Chinese dragon- 龙/龍 type. If anyone knows whether they’re official warm or cold blooded please tell me!)

MOST LIKELY TO BE COLD BLOODED

-Ursa & Durin (European reptilian type)

-Azhdaha (mixed reptile/amphibian type)

-Apep & Ourobaxi (fully serpent types)

???

-Elynas (probably cold blooded, Rhine seems to make that kind. Melusines are confusing biologically, but how similar he is to them is unknown. His projected spirit looks like one, but his corpse/skeleton is like Durin. Melusines look potentially mammalian but also have rhinophores… then again they sometimes have small wings. Real life melusines are a mix of human & sea serpent. So like. I really don’t know what category to put them in)

[sixeyescurseuser]

Modern AU where Yuji has to work after school in order to help pay for his grandfather’s medical bills.

He finally gets hired as a cashier/helper at the ancient local library.

It’s ginormous. There are walls of bookshelves, entirely filled with books of all sizes - hardcovers, soft covers, manuals - and different colors.

Understandably, Yuji goes through lots of training: learning how the ship is organized, how to help customers at the register, and how to keep the place clean.

Once, when Yuji is snacking on a few candies he got from the school vending machines, his manager warns him not to leave his food out, especially sweets.

“It attracts nasty, unwanted critters,” she states.

Yuji easily agreed and stuffs the rest of his candies in his hoodie pocket. They’re just about to close, so he gets to sweeping the floors of the bookstore. 

About one month in, Yuji has everything down. He’s a quick and eager learner, and actually had a very sharp memory. This serves him well as the manager who showed him all the ropes suddenly calls it quits.

Something about going insane in the bookshop, seeing things that don’t exist…

A haunted bookstore? Yuji questions himself. Seems likely. 

He’s never actually met the owner in person. And he barely catches sight of the other person who works the early afternoon shift.

For a bookstore so vast and abundant, there weren’t a ton of customers filtering in and out all the time.

One day, Yuji’s friends surprise him with a whole box full of donuts for his birthday. 

Yuji shares the donuts, but alas, there are still two left. He decides to bring the leftover two to work, intent on offering them to any lucky customer that might come in hungry.

Only two customers come in over the next few hours: an older woman who returns a couple books and borrows two more, and a father with a young boy who is looking for a “children’s horror book” about a boy being pulled into the ocean and dragged to hell. 

Weird.

The boy takes one donut. 

One donut remains.

Really, Yuji is unsure of how the owner is keeping this business running. But at least he’s being paid a decent wage. And it’s simple enough work too.

It’s quiet for the next hour. 

Already done with most of his housekeeping tasks, Yuji ventures to the sci-fi section, which is near the front of the store where he can still see the entryway, in case anyone comes in. This means he can also see the register counter, where the donut box lays, lid open.

Pop music softly plays from the store speakers. Yuji hums to the vaguely familiar tune, sifting through the shelves. 

But the music is not loud enough to mask the shuffle of the donut box on the counter.

Yuji pauses his search, scanning the doorway to make sure no one has entered the store. Not hearing any other pair of footsteps, Yuji turns back to the books.

A long moment passes before an unmistakable noise of laughter rings out.

Yuji whirls around because he did NOT imagine that!

He rushes to the counter, right in time to see the donut escaping the box. Or rather, upon closer inspection, a tiny person not even the height of a birthday candle, carrying said donut and bounding away.

Yuji, unable to process anything besides the fact that the tiny person is taking his last donut, chases after them.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

Yuji easily catches up to the tiny-person-donut-blob, cupping them between his palms right when the tiny person makes a leap for a bookshelf.

“Gotcha-!“ Yuji shouts in triumph. He squeezes tight enough to trap, then takes a closer look.

This tiny person is dressed in just as tiny clothes. Human-shaped enough, with white hair and black blindfold over their eyes. 

Before Yuji can ask “What ARE you?” The tiny person finishes chewing what Yuji assumes was a piece of donut, and opens their mouth to yell out:

“Formation B!”

Before Yuji can blink, two other small people fly from opposite bookshelves.

One lands on his right wrist and thumps it with a tiny hammer; this causes Yuji to let go of the white-haired-tiny-person and donut in tow. 

The other smacks right onto his nose, making Yuji go cross-eyed. This tiny human has black spiky hair and dark eyes. His expression offers nothing more than stone-cold as he throws a glittery powder into Yuji’s face- 

Yuji promptly blacks out.

***

The powder was supposed to make Yuji forget about the little people sighting, but it doesn’t work on him.

Now that he’s aware of their existence, he starts seeing the little people everywhere now: hopping from shelf to shelf, meddling in customer’s bags or purses, changing the music from Yuji’s classical playlist to a TWICE song.

(“It’s like TT~~like TT” in the background.

Yuji, in his head: “so that explains the random song changes” 🧐

It was all Gojo. 

Gojo also played pranks on the manager and made her quit lol. )

Au-wise, the major issue is that a real estate company is looking to buy out the building, wanting to create a more high-end shopping strip. The local bookstore is at risk of being closed down, which has been the home of little people for years. 

Many traveling little people even use the bookstore as a place to rest and find community. Yuji finds that there's a whole other tiny world within the bookshelves thanks to Gojo and his little family.

So Yuji has to help figure out a way to generate more business for the bookstore without risking the livelihoods of the little people, or help scout out a new location for the little people in case that doesn't work.

***

Bonus: 

Geto had always been curious about other little people's locations. A few months ago, he set out on his journey to explore outside the bookstore. 

("I'm going on a little adventure! I'll make sure to bring souvenirs for you all!" Geto pats his special bag that has an infinite amount of space before heading off into the big wide world.)

But he never returned, and has been missing ever since. Gojo is :(((. 

(Yuji: “I mean, I go outside all the time. If you tell me what kind of places he’d go, I can help search for him?”

Gojo: “I knew I liked you for a reason!”)

In hindsight, Geto’s first mistake was getting kidnapped by a hawk, which clearly thought he was food. Cue the hawk soaring through the sky and Geto's tiny screaming.

He ended up in a nest with baby hawks. 

See, living with Gojo and the kids back in the bookstore, Geto ran a lot in his life. But he swears, he's never ran so fast until then, away from the birds trying to gobble him up.

Geto simply yanked a tree leaf off the branch and sailed down to the ground. Geto ended up at a cafe a few blocks down. He's been trying to find his way back ever since. 🥹

It comes down to when Gojo tags along with Yuji during their weekly searches and Gojo’s gets enamored by the smell coming from the cafe.

Imagine Geto’s surprise when he’s hiding within the shelves behind the counter and sees a tuft of white hair peeking from this large human’s collar.

Satoru!

And it’s as if he can sense Geto anywhere because Gojo locks eyes with Geto right away.

Suguru!

Gojo jumps down from his perch - he’s gone rogue!

Yuji, internally: “NOOO”

Luckily, most people in the cafe are engrossed in conversation or their work. The only person Yuji makes a fool out of himself for covering the clearly tiny person making a dash for the back shelves is the barista.

Geto hops down the shelves and meets Gojo in the middle of the coffee machine, wrapping him in a tight embrace.

Yuji, stalling his order so the barista doesn’t notice the tiny Satosugu reunion on the mf coffee machine: “Uh, so what do you recommend?”

Geto quickly sweeps Gojo up in his arms and heads towards Yuji. The barista is still talking through their recommendations. 

Yuji: “Oh, um, I’ll actually have one hot chocolate, please. Also, how much is that pastry?”  

Yuji points to the display so the barista doesn’t see him scooping up tiny Satosugu into his hoodie - who whisper loudly among themselves. 😭

(Gojo: “Suguru, your hair got so long!”

Geto: “It did, I didn’t really have anything to cut it. You like?” 😉

Gojo: “Oh I much more than like it~”

Luckily, Geto puts his palm over Gojo’s mouth before he can continue.)

Once they’re back on the street, Yuji feels a tap on his neck.

“Hello, I’m Geto Suguru. What’s your name?”

“Itadori Yuji. Bookstore cashier, shelver, and tiny person transporter,” Yuji introduces himself. “It’s nice to meet you, Geto-sama.”

Geto laughs loudly. 

“Nice to meet you too, Yuji-kun.”

A moment passes, before he adds: 

“Thank you for helping Satoru find me.”

[mychlapci]

alright! first installment of my tfp notes series!

Episode One - Darkness Rising, Part 1

Characters Introduced [In order of appearance]

Cliffjumper [00:08 - In Altmode]

Arcee [00:17 - In Altmode]

Arcee is also the only Autobot to utilise a holoform of some kind, likely because she’s a motorcycle. 

Optimus Prime [02:27 - In Altmode]

Ratchet [02:34 - In Altmode]

Bulkhead [02:43 - In Altmode]

Bumblebee [02:44 - In Altmode]

Starscream [03:38 - In Root Mode]

Soundwave [05:37 - In Root Mode]

Jack [07:12]

Raf [11:42]

Miko [15:43]

Megatron [21:08 - In Altmode]

At 00:46 Arcee mentions that Cliffjumper escaping from a car boot in front of the New York City police would be breaking Autobot rule #1. While this is a general set of rules established while the Autobots are on Earth, I personally like to think that this is Transformers Prime’s version of the Autobot Code. 

“Do I ever need backup?” - Cliffjumper. He’s going to eat those words in about three minutes. Also it’s a damn shame they specifically picked Mr. The Rock Johnson as Cliffjumper’s voice actor because I think he would’ve been an interesting character had he been allowed to live. Obviously they probably already decided that he was going to be voiced by such a big name actor before they fully sorted out plot details so it makes sense that he would be the one to die considering it would be way too expensive to keep having him be voiced but still… 

Ngl I forgot how gangly Starscream’s model is. Put some meat on his bones please, he’s too skinny. 

I completely forgot that Cliffjumper calls him Scream, which is oddly endearing. Like obviously it could just be a demeaning nickname riffing off of Starscream’s grating voice but Starscream doesn’t react that much to being called that, in fact he reacts more to Cliffjumper asking where Megatron is. 

RIP Cliffjumper, you were there for all of four minutes and twenty five seconds. You will not be missed by me babygirl. 

I need to reign in my hatred of TFP Soundwave or I’m going to get hunted for sport by someone. 

Optimus’ comment about them being the last five Autobots on Earth is interesting to me because it implies that there used to be more. Cliffjumper said at the beginning of the episode that it had been three years since the Decepticons were spotted but I don’t remember if it was ever stated how long exactly the Autobots have been on Earth. 

I didn’t notice that Bumblebee’s shoulders are actually his tire kibble, that’s very cute. 

“Optimus, helping humans will only result in more tragedy.” Ratchet is so real for this actually. I love it when there’s an Autobot who just wants to leave and doesn’t give a fuck about Earth or humanity, at least not in the typical “Oh these tiny organics need assistance from the big scary Decepticons.” 

$5.59 for two fast food meals. Fucking god I wish that was real. Burger is so expensive nowadays. 

Arcee tilts her side mirrors when she’s being tailed by those two vehicons and now I’m wondering if those are were her optical sensors reroute when she’s in altmode. Also she named her holoform Saddy! That’s fucking adorable. 

Sierra’s comment of “you know my name?” Is actually so funny to me as someone who lives in a small town. Because Jasper, Nevada is described as a small town. There seems to be only one school there and if it’s anything like my small town, you’ll know every single person’s name because you see them a lot. Jack also says that they’re in homeroom together which makes Sierra’s comment even funnier because like… girl? Do you know how homeroom works, you’re gonna know everyone there. So either the writers have never lived in a small town or Sierra is just a cunt thinks remembering people’s names is a weird thing. 

“I don’t exist, tell anyone about me and I’ll hunt you down!” FUCKING LMFAO???? ARCEE YOU CAN’T THREATEN TO HUNT DOWN A CHILD! 

I think they should’ve kept Jack as the guy who really doesn’t understand Cybertronians and kept getting freaked out by them. Like both Miko and Raf are very comfortable around Cybertronians from the get go but Jack is very much terrified by everything that is going on. But once he starts getting more comfortable around them he looses one of his main interesting character traits which is a shame. 

The fact that Raf’s mom just lets him play near a busy interstate kinda scares me. Like… does she not worry about car accidents? I’m probably overthinking that but still… surely there are parks or playgrounds or literally anywhere else that he could play. 

I’m still so mad that they made Arcee so twinky and small. She should be beefy and strong and she could still be short but ough… buff woman. 

I still think about the fact that Raf can just understand Bumblebee right off the bat. Like it’s cute and I’m glad they had one human who could understand him but like…explanation???? Even power of friendship would work. 

Bulkhead <3

Miko should’ve been the main human send tweet. Her whole thing with being a host student would’ve made for a really interesting plot considering the fact that the Autobots literally have a teleportation device that can transport people to anywhere in the world. 

I can’t not squeal a little at how cute Miko and Bulkhead are. Like the way he tenses up just a bit and steps back as she runs up to him completely unafraid. That is peak dynamic there. 

I want to put Ratchet in a blender. As a treat <3

Someone needs to put Megatron down. Also why is he shouting in the middle of space???? There’s no one there. This is for the audience only and is really funny to think about in universe. The first thing this dramatic fuck does upon emerging from the space bridge is transform and yap about being back. 

Other Notes!

Okay just going to ramble for a second as to why the TFP models keep throwing me off. It’s because they’re visually inconsistent. Not in the sense that the models are inconsistent from scene to scene, but because the backgrounds, bots, and humans are all in different styles. The Autobots and Decepticons are all these super highly rendered shiny metal with incredibly detailed textures that have scratches and dents and a bunch of little parts that all move or animate slightly as the character moves. 

However, the humans of TFP look like plastic. I think Raf’s hair best portrays this because it has a ton of volume and yet it just sort of sits there, like it was superglued into place. The character’s skin is also really one dimensional, it’s just a single texture. And then the backgrounds, while realistic like the bots, are very…Fallout esc, if that makes sense. They’re simplistic in a way that I don’t really think blends well with the characters.

This isn’t actually meant to be a critique of the show’s art style. Humans are wildly complicated to animate and I imagine most of the budget for animating and rigging went into making the Cybertronians look as cool as possible since they’re the main selling point of the show. It’s just a small thing I picked up on while looking at this show again. 

I will forever bitch about their lack of noses till the cows come home. Optimus opened his mask at 05:00 and I immediately recoiled in horror. Like I don’t think Opitmus looks particularly good without his mask in any continuity, but in TFP it’s especially bad. I understand what they were doing with the lack of noses, it makes them more uncanny and therefore makes them feel more alien to the audience. But unlike the Bayverse models, which have faces broken up by tiny little shifting pieces that masks some of that uncomfortable uncanniness, the TFP models have a single flat texture as their face plate which leads to them feeling off in my opinion. Megatron suffers the worst from this because I can only look at him and see one of those horribly bred dogs that have super fucked up genetics. 

But this is all personal opinion, I know plenty of people really like the TFP designs and that’s entirely fair. I gotta give props and credits to the team who rigged and animated the models because they did an incredible job. Shoutout to the hands in this series because they are as sexy as they come. And the optics of this series are also incredible!!! Love it when Cybertronians get optics that cycle and spin around. 

The voice acting is also a highlight! TFP had a great english cast and I really enjoy most of the voices. Currently Arcee is my favourite because she has a ton of screen time in the first episode and her voice actress really has the snarky, dry sarcasm down pat. 

-burnt ice anon (this is 1.5k words of notes dear lord)

this is so much longer and more comprehensive than i expected ashjvdhahahh. i gotta say i agree with a lot. the humans look waxy, but i always just deal with it by reminding myself of budgeting issues.... the fact that the bots dont have noses truly annoys me as someone who always starts drawing faces nose first, and also i just feel like that would make kissing weird. they're sucking on each other's flat faces and stuff. And Arcee should've been beefier‼️ but no matter, she really is one of their best characters.

also can i say, since we started with the designs... i think the bots are Too big compared to their altmodes. i keep noticing it over and over again, they're too big. okay, i am literally watching an episode right now and my point was proven because the tire in Ratchet's forearm was literally bigger than Raf. Not how big tires are. Anyways,

[a-strange-inkling]

Ew Grace joined a misogynistic org. U still gonna Stan her?

A good time to say my piece on this and then that will be it. I’m a fan blog for fictional characters, not a celebrity commentator.

Not my field of expertise.

Anyway… People are really losing it right now as they do with anything this woman does and the best thing for us to do is handle this all with awareness. Real awareness. Like everyone needs to stop and take a second to think about this, then look at themselves.

First things first, yes I really enjoy and admire Grace as an actress, she brought to life a character I love and strongly connect with. I consider myself a fan of her work and have also witnessed her receiving a disgusting amount of hate for simply existing in the same space as her male co-star because many of his fans behave so atrociously that multiple articles have been written about them. They’ve made subfandom history as one of the most toxic groups of people on the internet.

I’ve always had sympathy for her having to deal with this and constantly having to stand up for herself for a small role connected to a side character. And then, of course, having to deal with the backlash of actually standing up for herself and continuing to dare to have an online presence. Because how dare anyone try to counter lies and unjustified hate about/directed toward themselves?

That being said, I don’t believe in blind loyalty either. Especially for celebrities. We can admire them all we want, but we don’t know them and they don’t know us. They’re not the characters that they play. Grace is not Chrissy. Joe is not Eddie. Grace is a human being that I don’t know in real life. Being a fan is not the same as really knowing someone and being their friend. I don’t believe in parasocial relationships with actors, actresses, musicians etc, it’s not healthy. As much as I enjoy her as an actress, and will speak up for her against unnecessary hate, I don’t have to agree with everything that she does or says. I don’t put her on a pedestal. She’s liable to make mistakes like the rest of us and I don’t think this was a wise or safe decision on her part.

With all the information I have on this current situation (which is not much), I can say that I’m worried for her more than anything else. This woman has gone through the ringer for a full year now and it seems this will just be used as more fuel against her. Whatever she chooses to do professionally, she is met with so much hate and frankly misogynistic hypocrisy. All that negativity worries me the most. She’s young and trying to make a living doing what she loves, so I feel bad seeing things going in the direction that they are presently.

I don’t know much about the gaming community, I’ve avoided it and have always played solo because what I do know is that it can be a very toxic and hate fueled place. Especially for women. After having to deal with what she already has, angry gamers and her own fans turning on her is going to be sad to see. And I’m not saying calling her out on this decision is turning on her, or hating on her, I think people should call out their faves when they do something wrong… it’s just going to be sad to see the discourse that follows this.

For context, for those that don’t know, this organization she’s signed up with has some really bad allegations against it, really bad, and I don’t condone or support anything to do with that.

But this is where the self awareness has to kick in for anyone in fanbase communities or, you know, just going about their daily lives.

What large entertainment organization or company doesn’t have red in their ledger? Tell me honestly. Anything dealing with a big group of people is going to have skeletons in the closet. Not condoning anything, but also trying not to be a hypocrite here, as we all should.

If you watch and enjoy Stranger Things on Netflix, if you’re a Joe Quinn/Eddie fan, you’re supporting a company that’s riddled with scandal, hiring numerous actors, writers, producers and directors accused of s*xual assault. Do you watch Disney? Visit the parks? Wear Sketchers? Any name brand clothes? Buy from Amazon? Wal-Mart? Target? Listen to Taylor Swift? Support or watch anything in Hollywood? Read Harry Potter? Watch the movies? Are you on Twitter? This website? YouTube? Facebook? Eat name brand food? If so, you’re supporting problematic, at best, people, companies, and organizations all around. We all know they’re tied to histories of scandal, hate, controversy, or even criminal activity, yet we keep watching, buying, wearing, listening, eating, consuming and supporting them as a whole. Unless you’re living off the grid, grow your own food, make your own clothes and don’t watch any form media, no one has any room to talk here. No one wants to hear this, but we’re all supporting things we would normally speak out against either consciously or unconsciously. Hollywood and streaming services are full of misogynistic, r*cist, behavior. They’ve hidden countless accusations and protected numerous r*pists since the beginning of film. But we’re still watching their movies and shows. Not saying it’s right, but we should criticize ourselves first before going after one working actress signing a deal with just one of the many bad organizations out there.

Joe recently did a voiceover for an organization that apparently is really problematic. He’s currently working with a big Hollywood film industry that also has some really shady (again, at best) history, but everyone’s going to go watch his movies, aren’t they? His stans are going to keep stanning him. So make sure you anon ask all of them the same question, kay?

Being hateful and criticizing a twenty-six-year-old actress/streamer really should not be anyone’s first steps toward activism or change. Especially if you originally didn’t like her because she’s standing near the favorite white British boy of the month. I’ve said it from the beginning, if you don’t like her or what she’s doing, block her. Unfollow her. Obsessing over her and everything she does is on the same level of intensity as stanning her.

I am disappointed in her decision, I’m worried what this means for her and her fans who’ve been in the trenches for her, but Grace’s decisions are not mine. From what I’ve heard and seen, she said she considered the risks and wants to be apart of rebuilding the organization that is trying to move forward from the allegations last year and be more supportive of female gamers. All I can do is hope that’s true. What they need to do first is call out and condemn the parties responsible for any and all crimes they’ve committed. I hope they do and that Grace will encourage that as she’s signed on with them. If not, I hope she leaves them for her own morals and safety.

This is how I feel on the matter. I’m not going to get into this any further via asks. This blog is for hellcheer content and will continue to be so. I want it to be a safe space. Anything negative in my anon messages will be reported and/or ignored from here on. So keep that in mind. I’m not into drama. If any mutuals just want to talk or vent about this you can always DM me.

🤍

[luveline]

hi jade! i think your concerns about the way people are treating you are completely valid!! you are allowed to speak up and say actually people aren’t being that nice to me and it isn’t victim mentality, the people we’re surrounded by have serious effects on us as humans because we’re social creatures and have always depended on one another so when the people around us make us feel bad and like there’s something wrong with us your brain convinces you that there must be!!! but there isn’t, you’re just not with the right people! but don’t worry they’ll come; you have to trust the universe she will always provide for you.

i think life’s stressful at the minute, i’m feeling it too! the job market in the UK is so so difficult and being unemployed is a real kick in the teeth, being at the age where all your friends are off dating but you’re not and you’re not even sure you want to is really isolating because you know your friends don’t want to see you as much because there’s someone else for them now, they get to go home to someone and you don’t, i’ve been following you for a while because i like your work but also because you make me feel less alone, a lot of the problems you face i also face, you post complaints and worry they’re annoying but i read them and know the world isn’t as small or as dark as my room, that i’m not completely alone even in my isolation- and i want you to know that the way people treat you isn’t fair! you deserve the kindness and joy you put out, you deserve it ten fold! you’ll get it one day i promise, i think continuing in an environment that’s hard for you is a very brave thing to do, yoy just have to remember it’s not forever 🫶🏻

I think I’m like, always looking at myself through someone else’s eyes, if that makes sense?

So instead of being able to just say people haven’t been that good to me lately, I read it in someone else’s head and think oh look Jade’s on another ego trip she thinks she deserves more than she has because she’s delusional but honestly, right now, I think so many people have disappointed me, not like they’ve hurt me or that a persons job is to be perfect, and not that we should expect people to be perfect and never disappoint us because I really don’t think that and don’t think we should expect people to read our minds and always be their perfect selves, but oh my god! Oh my god I am so tired of people acting like there’s nothing wrong with me when I am constantly telling people I am not okay. Obvi this doesn’t apply to everyone in my life because some people of course don’t even know how I feel and that’s my choice because like I’m vaguely private as a person (you wouldn’t think so on luveline.tumblr) so I’m not saying every person in my life is letting me down, but a surprising selection of friends and family have really hurt me lately. It’s so complicated! I hope you’re getting a sense of what I’m saying cos I am not doing a good job. I sent a friend a message recently about how I’d felt like hurting myself (they’ve told me in the past it’s okay to bring up btw I promise I’m not just randomly saying such heavy things to friends) and they didn’t acknowledge it, and I know we can’t expect people to be at our beck and call or to always have the capacity for our hurts and pains, but I felt so ashamed of myself for opening up and just wished they’d said hey I don’t have the space for that right now, or anything. Maybe that’s silly. I don’t hold it against them because that’s a big thing to tell someone, but I really can’t help feeling hurt that it was ignored. I don’t want to be that person who imposed on friends and doesn’t seem to realise what a burden they are, but I also just don’t know what to do with myself now, because i can’t keep writing the same thing in my diary every day. my head hurts allll the time and I’m barely eating and some days I spend the whole day in bed, and I know that that’s making me bitter, I know that when you get super depressed we can start to hate everything, but I really can’t help thinking that I’m being let down for real

I don’t want you to think that I’m ungrateful for the people in my life though I’m blessed to have a family and to live in a home with no shouting, I’m lucky to have friends who go out and people who want me to be safe and happy, I just feel so lonely lately. Usually I’m pretty good at getting over it, but I can’t kick this. I know exactly what’s hurting me and I’m too afraid to say what it is in case people think I’m childish, or selfish, or ridiculous 😭

I’m sorry you’re having a hard time like you said everything is so hard, but I’m glad you don’t feel so alone, at least my mindless deluge of thoughts (and idiocy) can have a positive! Thank you for listening to me lovely

[errorryx]

blood moon – part three

read on ao3 | read part one | gemcyt/life series, 3.2k words

for this update, i scrapped an old scene that provided context but was otherwise very boring. if you're curious, there's a longer explanation available in my ao3 notes.

—

Bdubs woke up in the late morning to the sound of several people arguing in the next room. He recognized Grian and Cleo’s voices, so he got up to see what all the fuss was, only to run right into Pearl in the hallway.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Pearl said in a low voice. “I was just…”

“Snooping around?” Bdubs attempted to deliver this line with an intimidating glare, but he only managed a yawn.

“What? No, of course not! I just wanted—I wanted to talk to you, actually.”

“Why’s that?”

“Grian said you were an expert on building. I had a few questions for you.”

“Really?” He brightened. “What else did he tell you about me?”

“He said if I had any questions about making a base, I should go to you first.”

“Well, he’s absolutely right. I know everything there is to know about building. I built this base we’re standing in now, you know. It’s called a crastle.”

“It’s lovely,” Pearl said. “Probably my favorite base! Don’t tell Grian, though.”

“Oh, you flatterer.” Bdubs waved her off modestly. “I do my best. So what were your questions?”

“Do you know what a chimney is?”

…A chimney. Right. Yes, he definitely knew what that was. “It’s the top part of a fireplace,” Bdubs said with perfect confidence.

“And what’s a fireplace?”

“Why, it’s the place you put fire, of course!”

Pearl looked baffled. “Why would you need a place to put fire?”

This stumped him for a few moments. Why would anyone have a place for fire in their home? “It’s a very complicated question,” Bdubs said. “I could explain it, but it would take all day, and I’m sure you’d find it very boring.”

“Right, of course.” A small smile appeared on Pearl’s face. “I wouldn’t want to take up all of your valuable time.”

“Is there anything else you want to know?”

“I guess I want to know why you’ve all started building bases for yourselves in the first place,” Pearl said. “They’re very lovely, but I don’t understand what they’re for, exactly.”

“Oh, of course! You’re a pearl, so you’ve probably never had a space just for yourself, right?”

Pearl blinked. “I guess not.”

“When me, Cleo, Tango, and Impulse first got here, we found lots of old ruins,” Bdubs explained. “That’s where we got all our books. Let me see, where is it…” He got up and looked through the nearby bookshelf. “Here it is! Man-Made Wonders of The World.”

He presented the book to Pearl with a giddy smile. Pearl took it, flipping through the first few pages with delicate hands. “What’s a man?”

“It’s short for human,” Bdubs said. He was very proud of having figured that one out on his own. “They’re a type of life-form that used to live here on this planet a long time ago. Cleo thinks they’re extinct, because otherwise we would have found one by now.”

“And they built all these? Without gem technology?” Pearl’s eyes widened. “Where are these structures? Have you seen them all?”

“Well, that’s the problem,” Bdubs sighed. “This planet’s really big, and none of us have a working ship anymore. If we had one, we might be able to explore, but it would be a long journey on foot, and Cleo doesn’t believe me when I tell her I can make sure we don’t get lost.”

“That’s a shame,” Pearl said, so quietly that Bdubs almost missed it.

“Wait a minute!” he said. “You must have had a ship to get here, right? Where is it?”

Pearl looked very much as if an agate had just walked in and caught her goofing off. “Well, you see—”

“Bdubs!” Cleo called from the other room. “What are you shouting about?”

“Coming!” Bdubs answered. “Don’t go anywhere,” he told Pearl, before poking his head into the other room.

He was greeted with the sight of two unfamiliar gems, a rose quartz and a peridot, the latter of whom seemed to be attempting to hide behind Grian. (It wasn’t working.) “These are Lizzie and Mumbo,” Cleo told Bdubs. “They came here with Pearl, apparently. Pearl was just here a second ago, but…”

“Oh, she was talking to me!” Bdubs said. “We were having a wonderful little conversation about bases.” He glanced back into the hallway, but Pearl had already disappeared. “Huh. She must have wandered off.”

“Seems to be a habit of hers.” Cleo didn’t look too happy. “You entertain our guests for a minute, and I’ll go make sure she’s not rifling around in our storage.”

“Sure thing!” Bdubs’ arms instinctively went to perform the diamond salute, but he knew Cleo hated when he did that, so he disguised the gesture by clapping his hands together. “So how did you guys all get here? Where’s your ship?”

“They claim there’s no ship,” Cleo said on their way out of the room. Her tone of voice clearly indicated that she didn’t believe them.

“It crashed,” Lizzie told him very solemnly. “Horribly. Went up in flames and everything. Big disaster.”

“Funny coincidence,” Bdubs said, “that’s exactly what happened to ours.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pearl through the window, in the process of sneaking away. She met Bdubs’ gaze for a split second, and gave him a wink before vanishing from view.

—

Scott was out in the garden when Jimmy heard a visitor knocking at their door. Usually he waited for Scott to tell him what to expect, but it had been a while since they’d had any surprises, and besides, Scott rarely gave him a straight answer when it came to the future. So instead of waiting for him, Jimmy got up and opened the door by himself.

“Hi! You’re Jimmy, right?” Pearl stuck out her arm, and he took it, bewildered. “I just learned about handshakes from Bdubs. Did I do it right?”

“Probably,” Jimmy said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t know. What’s up?”

“You fuse a lot, right? I wanna talk about fusion.”

She must have seen Flower Agate at the party last night. “Yeah, sure. Come on in.” Jimmy stepped aside to allow Pearl to enter. She took a few steps, only to be stopped by the sudden appearance of a wall of ice between them.

“No,” Scott said evenly from where he stood at the back door, his arm outstretched. “Not happening.”

“Scott, what’s going on?” Jimmy backed away from Pearl, who looked just as confused as he felt. “Is something wrong?”

Scott ignored him. “I can’t tell what you’re planning,” he said to Pearl, “but it won’t work. You’re going to get yourself and a lot of other gems hurt.”

“What are you talking about?” Pearl asked. The ice only came up to her waist, but she didn’t try to step over it. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Her voice trembled on the words.

“Maybe not, but you will.”

“Is this about a future vision you saw?” Pearl said. “Just tell me what it was, that way I can—”

“I’m not taking that risk,” Scott said. “Just stay away from me and Jimmy.”

“Hey, wait a minute!” Jimmy interrupted. “Can’t we talk about this? I’d rather have nobody get hurt, if that’s an option.”

“You and I can talk about this,” Scott told him. “But you—” he turned his attention back to Pearl, “—need to leave.”

Before Pearl could respond, Scott pushed the ice wall further forward, forcing her out the door. It slammed shut, and he hurried over to lock it.

“What has gotten into you?” Jimmy asked him. “Wouldn’t it have been a better idea to talk it out with her? What harm can one pearl do?”

“You really have to ask that question? You’ve met Joel.”

He couldn’t argue with that—Joel had caused a lot of trouble when he’d first arrived. But for the brief time they’d spoken, Pearl had been perfectly pleasant. “Can you at least tell me what’s going to happen?”

“I can’t,” Scott said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t. There are too many possibilities right now. We’ll have to wait it out and see how things end up.”

Jimmy loved Scott, he really did, but sometimes he made Jimmy want to tear his hair out. “Then what’s the use of future vision if we still don’t know what to do?”

Scott didn’t answer him. Jimmy looked down to see a small ring of ice encircling the hem of his skirt.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said hastily, reaching to pry Scott free of the ice. He set him down on the couch. “Forget I said that. How about tonight? Can you see what happens tonight?”

“We go to the party,” Scott said slowly. “We fuse again. It’s—I think there’s a new fusion? It’s hard to see as Flower Agate.”

“So that’s good, right?” Jimmy asked. “We’re safe.”

“I think so.”

“We’re safe,” Jimmy repeated, with more confidence this time. “We��ll be fine.”

He hoped Scott believed him. He wasn’t sure he believed himself.

—

Mumbo was at a party with a bunch of rebel gems, and people were fusing.

At least, that’s what he thought they were doing. Pearl had warned him this would happen, but it was one thing to hear about it and quite another to see it for himself. Right now, the sapphire and the lapis lazuli were involved in a dance that made Mumbo want to politely avert his eyes—yet at the same time, he couldn’t look away.

“This is…a lot,” he said.

“Yeah,” Pearl agreed. “Are you freaking out? It’s okay if you’re freaking out. We can go back to the ship.”

“No, it’s alright!” Mumbo couldn’t imagine going back to the ship and letting this happen without him. “We can stay.”

The sapphire and lapis finally fused, and he got to watch in real time as their forms merged into one. It was slow and confusing and oddly beautiful. He let out a gasp when the ball of light finally solidified into a single figure, which stood taller than most of the other nearby gems.

“I’m trying to be supportive of Gri,” Pearl said. “I know he likes this. When he fused yesterday, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so…”

“Happy?” Mumbo guessed, searching for Grian in the crowd. He found him talking to a blue gem, with Scar somewhere off in the distance. Maybe Grian didn’t always fuse with Scar, then. Maybe he liked to branch out. “He seems really at home here.”

He’d officially reunited with Grian that morning, which had been wonderful, but…strange. Tense. Mumbo had been expecting everything to promptly return to normal once they found Gri, but it was becoming more and more obvious that that would not be the case. Even worse, Pearl seemed to be in denial about it, and Mumbo had been taking cues from her for long enough that he had no idea what to do.

His attention was pulled to the nephrite and green jasper he’d met earlier, who were—well, if the previous fusion dance had made Mumbo want to look away, this one made him want to bury his head in the ground. Still, he watched. He’d never seen anything even remotely like it. He couldn’t imagine himself ever making moves like that, but perhaps he could manage a twirl or two. Would he have to take off his limb enhancers?

“I don’t know what else to do,” Pearl said.  “Do you think if I fused with him, it would convince him to choose us instead of them?”

“Huh?” The second fusion dance had reached its culmination, but a third and a fourth had started up. Mumbo managed to tear his eyes away for a moment to look at Pearl. She had taken on an odd in-between color, which corresponded with the sun’s current position most of the way below the horizon. “Beg your pardon, did you say you were thinking of fusing with Grian?”

“I might as well try.” Pearl got to her feet. “I’ll just go ask him. No big deal, right?”

Mumbo was fairly certain that Pearl and Grian fusing would be a recipe for disaster, but he doubted Pearl would listen to him. “He’s been talking to that blue gem for quite a while now. You might be interrupting something.”

“I don’t care.” Pearl was fully red now. “We’re losing him. He’s in love with this planet. If we don’t offer him something better, he’s going to realize he prefers it to us.”

“Surely there’s a better way than—”

Pearl had already begun walking away before he could finish. Mumbo didn’t follow her. He’d seen enough of Pearl in her red state to know there wasn’t anything he could do except watch the disaster unfold in front of him.

“Boys,” a very sarcastic voice said behind him.

Mumbo looked up to see Rose Quartz—no, Lizzie—taking a seat in the grass beside him. “What’s a boy?” he asked.

“Not sure!” Lizzie said. “I heard Cleo say it earlier, just like that. I think it’s an insult.”

“Boys,” Mumbo repeated, trying to mimic her derision. He watched Pearl storm up to Grian and grab his arm, pulling him away from the blue quartz. “I really don’t understand pearls.”

“Me neither,” Lizzie said, with a little huff of exasperation. “Want a flower? I’ve been picking off the petals for fun.” She passed Mumbo a small white blossom with long petals, the stem severed halfway down.

Mumbo methodically plucked every third petal as he watched Pearl and Grian’s conversation from afar. He didn’t dare approach them, but he couldn’t help but wonder what they were saying.

—

“What are you even saying?” Grian said, throwing up his hands. “Have you gone mad?”

“Am I not good enough to fuse with?” Pearl asked. “You’ll fuse with spinels and quartzes but not me?”

“Pearl, I’m not—” Grian cast a glance at BigB, who was trying to mind his own business. It was proving to be a very difficult task. “I haven’t even fused with any quartzes yet, I’ll have you know. And besides, it’s not about what type of gem you are.”

“So why not? Spit it out.”

“I don’t think this is a good time.” Grian looked wary, but his mind was clearly made up. “Not while you’re still red.”

“That’s it, then?” Pearl threw up her hands. “You won’t fuse with me because I’m off-color?”

BigB winced at that one. “Woah, okay, I don’t think that’s—”

“Don’t you start,” Pearl snapped. “I’m talking to Grian right now.”

“Actually, I was talking to him first,” Grian said, before BigB could figure out a polite way to exit the conversation. “I know you’re still adjusting to living here, Pearl, but BigB didn’t do anything wrong.”

Pearl gave him a look of pure fury, then turned the same gaze on BigB, who immediately put up his hands in surrender. “Fine,” she said. “I get it. You’d rather hang out with your new friends.”

“Pearl, I don’t—”

“Whatever, Gri,” she said coldly, and turned on her heel, walking away into the dark.

Grian sighed. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he told BigB.

“Did you know her from somewhere?” BigB asked him. “That really didn’t seem like a conversation between two gems that met yesterday.”

“I guess there’s no point in keeping it a secret if she wants to have loud arguments in front of people,” Grian said. “Yeah, I know her. At least, I thought I did.”

“That bad, huh?”

Grian shrugged. “Something’s going on with her, but I have no idea what it is.”

“You think it has anything to do with the whole color-changing thing?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her do that before.” Grian stared off into the woods where Pearl had just disappeared. “I’ve never seen any gem do that before.”

“Me neither,” BigB said. “I bet if anyone knows, it’s Ren. He’s seen a lot of weird stuff.”

“You think he’d know something?” Grian looked even more worried at the prospect. “I’m not sure if I should bother him with this.”

“I can ask him,” BigB volunteered. “I don’t mind.”

He looked around at the rest of the party, finding Ren lounging in the grass by himself. He was surprised Ren and Martyn hadn’t formed Red Diamond yet, considering all the other fusions that were going on, but he wasn’t about to question it. “Hey, Ren! Can I ask you something?”

“What’s up, dude?” Ren waved him over. “Is something wrong?”

“Not with me,” BigB said. “I just wanted to ask, have you ever seen a gem change color?”

“Hmm.” Ren took a moment to think. “I can’t say I have. Not permanently, at least.”

“What about temporarily?”

“Well, that’s a different story. I’ve seen it happen a few times.”

“You have? Really?”

“Sure, have, m’dude. It’s pretty funky.” Ren sat up straight, immediately towering over BigB. “Happens sometimes on planets with different types of suns. Most gems look about the same, but sometimes a gem will go a bit—well, I don’t want to say off-color, but—”

“So it’s just a trick of the light?” BigB asked.

“Sometimes,” Ren said. “Sometimes nothing else happens, but—haven’t seen it myself, mind you, but I’ve heard certain gems will start to go a little off the rails, if you know what I mean.”

BigB laughed. “Like we all did when we got here?”

“Hey! Not all of us!”

“You’re right,” BigB said. “It was mostly you and Martyn.”

Ren sighed. “I suppose you’re not wrong. Why were you asking about color-changing gems, anyway?”

“You’ve met the new gems, haven’t you?”

“Seen ‘em, yes. Not really had a chat with any of them yet. I was planning on introducing myself, but I was worried I might intimidate them with my size.”

“You could always shrink down,” BigB suggested. “But yeah, Grian and I just talked to Pearl, and she was kind of…the wrong color? Last I saw her she was close to the same color as Grian, but this time she was red. Is that normal?”

“She was red, you say?” Ren looked alarmed. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. Saw it with my own eyes. Grian said it happened last night, too.”

“That’s…not good,” Ren said. “Where is she now?”

“She got upset and ran off.” BigB pointed in the direction he’d seen Pearl disappear. Ren’s frown only deepened.

“We should probably go make sure she’s okay.” He got to his feet, then looked down at BigB and hesitated. “Maybe I’ll take your advice on that shrinking thing. Wouldn’t want to scare her.”

BigB watched as Ren shrank down to match his height. Amusingly, Ren’s gem stayed the same size, making it look huge on his chest. It was odd to be able to look Ren in the eye, but BigB found he quite liked it.

“Alright, you lead the way,” Ren told him.

“Just you and me?” BigB asked. “We’re not getting anyone else?”

“We don’t need a whole group for one pearl,” Ren said. “She’s not hostile, is she?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then I’m sure we’ll be fine!” Ren flashed him a grin. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

—

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