#things are strange

[nobodywritingao3]

shameful company was going to get vaguely dark in the later chapters. I'd been really looking forward to it

I had been setting up in chapter 6 an account of Phil and Wilbur's time after they got closer. It was the last few months they saw each other where they noticed things going wrong around them. Phil had plans to take Wilbur and leave the forest altogether but hadn't shared this with him. Wilbur realized something was changing and assumed the worst but never asked. Random forest fires keep almost killing Phil. Eventually there's a fire inside their home and Phil is [thiiiis] close to death so he takes the incantation off Wilbur. Wilbur has the power then to save him, so he does, and Phil, realizing that Wilbur can fend for himself for a little while leaves him there for a few hours intending to bring back Technoblade so they can move immediately. He doesn't explain this very thoroughly and ends up never coming back, leaving Wilbur to assume the worst

Back in present time I was going to show Wilbur getting weird and a little possessive as time progresses. I was going to stage an incident where Tommy mentions going back to the village for something and queuing Wilbur's abandonment issues. I wanted to set up a progression/montage of Wilbur's slow deterioration as he gets closer to Tommy, and his fear of driving him away only growing and getting in the way of that. I wanted to finish the chapter with a fight and Tommy returning to the village only to get captured and set up for execution.

the next chapter would feature Wilbur wreaking havoc on the village and eating a lot of it. hed take Tommy back and nurture him back to health, promising to take good care of him. he'd stay exclusively human and small for this. theyd get close again. when Tommy was healed up enough, he'd ask to leave the cave. he would ask for space and to think about what had happened. in his mind, everything was fine. Wilbur would flip his lid, remembering Phil and (perceived) empty promises. he'd start off begging Tommy to stay, promising that he would stay good and human and reminding him of how happy and close they were as brothers. tommy would gently push back and Wilbur would escalate to tears and panic. tommy would relent, realizing that Wilbur was doing pretty awfully emotionally, but it would be too late by now. anything he'd say would only be perceived as a lie. Wilbur would rage and keep him hostage. He would grow back into his giant naga form and keep Tommy trapped in the cave

the next chapter was going to be bleak and gloomy. it would show the deterioration of their relationship as well as Wilbur in general. Wilbur would have reverted back to sweet, desperate, and nurturing, trying to convince Tommy to stay. he would be very pathetic in this chapter. Tommy would be freaked out a lot. I'd probably add a nom scene. tommy would be pushed to his limits.

the final chapter I was going to have dream come back. there would be hints thrown here and there about his true nature. he would reveal himself as a serpent as well and keep tommy trapped with him as a means to lure out Wilbur for revenge. dream had worked out a way to keep a steady supply of prey that wilbur had kind of ruined with his murderous killing. I thought it would be funny if the murder weapon of choice for my characters was a pistol. when Wilbur arrived I would have dream reveal that he had driven Phil away and cast a spell to make the forest unreachable to him again. there would be other hurts he had caused over the years and Wilbur would realize how much of his life and been controlled at a distance and he would be pushed to the edge. dream would attack him then and badly hurt him, given that wilbur would not be fighting back. dream would give Tommy the gun for fhe killing shot. he'd list all of Wilbur's mistakes and tommy would accept the pistol and play along. wilbur would be a broken wreck. I planned to add so much pain to this scene it was ridiculous. Tommy would shoot dream in the face. hurt comfort scene. many tears. Tommy would nurse Wilbur back to health.

for the epilogue Phil would return with technoblade. there was going to be a small sweet scene for that. apologies and crying. and then a tommy introduction.

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[virovirokun-has-adhd]

[fairsweetlonging]

truth serum / system reveal au where shen qingqiu gets hit with an uncloaking spell that reveals the system in the reflection of his eyes every time it pops up.

during one of his missions, in the treasure hoard of some dragon-like creature, he finds a golden, oval shaped hand mirror, its gaudy style more victorian based than anything (airplane you hack!), that doesn't seem to do anything when he looks into it. but when he does, it reveals the system's screen in his eyes.

he doesn't notice this, of course, because he can't see it, and the system, surprisingly, stays quiet.

the peak lords think he's cursed.

maybe mu qingfang is the first to notice, during the mandatory post mission check-up, when shen qingqiu is scrolling through his most recently accumulated points and mu qingfang can see the strange vividly-blue lines reflected in his pupils. it's gone when shen qingqiu blinks, like it was nothing but a trick of the light.

it comes out when yue qingyuan is visiting and, just as he's done laying out the plans for a new mission, shen qingqiu's eyes glaze over and a bright blue box takes over the whole of his iris. shen qingqiu goes quiet; the thing in his eyes moves, shifts, pulses for a second, like static worms crawling all over his pupils. then he blinks, and it's gone, and shen qingqiu accepts the mission that yue qingyuan was almost sure he would decline.

maybe there is an intervention, when the peak lords corner shen qingqiu at qian cao peak and try to figure out what's wrong, subjecting him to all kinds of treatments and curse-finding spells that turn up empty, they can't find anything.

of course, the silencing threat is still very much up and running. at first shen qingqiu was kind of confused by the whole ordeal, but when the peak lords start describing a "strange blue box", he realizes, with sickening suddenty, that they're describing the system. and he can't say anything.

this only makes everything worse, because their fellow peak lord now keeps evading every question and acts like he doesn't understand. liu qingge points right at his face and asks, "that blue box, what is it?" and shen qingqiu laughs nervously and starts talking about how bright the weather is and surely it's the sky and nothing to worry about!

even worse, during the intervention the system thought it was a good idea to start talking to him, so now even the peak lords who hadn't seen it and who might have been persuaded by light tricks and reflections, get a first row view that no, that definitely isn't a trick of the light.

they try to do the whole thing of "are you in danger, blink twice" but shen qingqiu can't even do that because it's still a direct admittance!

maybe eventually he starts saying vague confirmations that don't actually confirm anything, like "this master hears what you're saying", or maybe he goes with a classic "this master can neither confirm nor deny that." but the system starts warning him for that too and eventually he stops saying anything, which worries the others more.

luckily mu qingfang catches on that every time they ask a direct question about the box or shen qingqiu says anything vaguely confirming, it appears. it doesn't appear when they ask about curses or demons, so it must not see that as a threat.

for a little extra angst: maybe the peak lords keep pressuring him for answers, and at some point shen qingqiu gets fed up and snaps out something like, "why don't you understand that i'm not allowed to answer that!" the system counts this as a direct admittance, threatening it's existence. so it punishes. shen qingqiu has a qi deviation so bad it lasts two weeks and takes two people every day to cleanse his meridians. the system doesn't appear in that time. it doesn't appear for a long while after that, either. the peak lords stop asking, mainly because shen qingqiu will instantly leave the room if they do. they don't stop searching for a cure, though.

shang qinghua returns from a business trip and catches on the second someone mentions a blue box and forced silencing.

[vmkhoneyy]

“People are inherently terrible” no!!! Have you ever seen a child wait for their friend while they tie their shoelaces? Have you ever known someone who would bring hurt squirrels and rabbits and mice to the nearest vet just so it doesn’t suffer? Have you seen someone grieve? Have you ever read something that hit your heart like a freight train? Have you looked at the stars and felt an unexplainable joy? Have you ever baked bread? Have you shared a meal with a friend? Have you not seen it? All the love? All the good? I know it’s hard to see sometimes, I know there’s pain everywhere. But look, there’s a child helping another up after a hard fall. Look, there’s someone giving their umbrella to a stranger. Look, there’s someone admiring the spring flowers. Look, there’s good, there’s good, there’s good. Look!!!!

[magentasnail]

so I started playing stardew valley, and now it's the only thing I want to do with my life

I had to trick myself by drawing stardew things, namely krobus my beloved

[iloveurteeth]

but i hope to figure it out

[chloesimaginationthings]

Abby finally meets FNAF game Michael Afton

[planariaareneat]

How The Nocturnal Bottleneck and Nipples Make Us Human

Almost every post here considers what humans do have, really. It’s a little tiring; realistically every world has its harsh environments and vicious species and a sophont to match. We probably wouldn’t be unique for our adaptability or our persistence or even adrenaline

But our evolution is fucked up as hell, to put it lightly.

Mammals went through what’s been dubbed the nocturnal bottleneck essentially since the start of the mesozoic right up until the Cretaceous ended the archosaur’s exclusive hold over the daylight. We lost a lot of things from every mammal spending most of its time in either a cramped, suffocating burrow or scrounging around in the faint hours of nighttime. Our blood cells lost their nuclei to hold more oxygen while we spent time deep underground, we lost protections against ultraviolet rays in our skin and eyes, we can’t even repair our own DNA using the light of the sun. Most aliens probably wouldn’t have such traits unless their evolution followed a very similar path to ours. They’d be able to see ultraviolet and wouldn’t have to worry about sunburn and all the wonderful privileges essentially all fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles enjoy as we speak. 

There’s also what we gained from spending so much time in the dark.

Brown fat is only found in mammals, it’s a special type of fat which bear cells with several oil droplets and are utterly jammed with mitochondria. This lets it make heat, a lot of it, fast. We don’t even need to shiver to induce this heat generation from brown adipose tissue - factor in our downright hyperactive mitochondria, and we can warm up quickly. Sure, it doesn’t have too much use in adult humans, but it keeps our infants warm and still provides a little boost the whole run we have in this universe.

Unless aliens also went through a time where their small ancestors had to face cold nights, they’d have to produce heat the old fashioned way when chilled. Aliens might have to shiver the whole time they’re in a cold room while the human watches in confusion, quite literally unshaken, and wonders if the room is a lot colder than the thermostat set to 60 says. The aliens stare at their companion in confusion, it’s just a normal temperature to shiver at after all, how is the human sitting so still?

Our small ancestors spending all their time out foraging at night is also why we have such a good sense of touch, smell, and hearing. They were more important senses than vision (we’re lucky to have even redeveloped basic color vision, frankly) at the time and place and simply ended up continuing to serve us well. Birds and reptiles rarely have acute senses of smell and the latter especially are lucky to have acute hearing, and birds rarely have impeccable hearing themselves either. Our skin is free of scales and honed to sensitivity, and our external ears and complicated ear bones provide an immense range of hearing (from 20 all the way to 17,000 hertz!).

Aliens might not be able to pin down the chirp of a cricket or the light click of a lock being picked. The human might be the only one on board a ship that can pick out the finer sounds of the engine’s constant thrum and know the critical difference between when everything is fine and when something is wrong. The human could probably pick out the sounds of an approaching enemy’s careless footsteps - they’re only as light enough for *them* to stop hearing them, after all - and be the one to see the horrified expression (well, more on that later) on their face when we get the drop on them in spite of their perceived stealth. 

But perhaps the most versatile, convoluted, amazing, and utterly unique trait we have is right on your face this instant. Lips.

Lips in most animals are a simple seal to hold in the mouth’s moisture and protect the teeth, even if they’re supple they’re NEVER muscular except in mammals, and we have only one thing to thank for it; milk and nipples. Lips evolved exclusively to allow babies to suckle, it required a vacuum to be created in the mouth, and with no other animal having anything like a nipple it never happened in other animals. Many animals make milk, to be frank, but no other animal has nipples.

Your cheeks and lips are a marvel among tetrapods, no other animal can suck like mammals can. Aliens wouldn’t have straws or even be able to sip from the edge of a glass, they’d have to have a proboscis or simply tilt the whole thing back. Aliens likely won’t have woodwind instruments or balloons you can blow into. We take so much about our lips for granted. Hell, our muscular faces are vital for expressions, we’re probably absolute facial contortionists among a cast of creatures with mandibles and beaks and expressionless scaly maws. Aliens might find us ridiculously easy to read, if anything, compared to their own kind (all the better to deceive them) - or perhaps they’d find us hard to decipher anyways, with our lack of color-changing skin or erectable crests of bright feathers. Baring teeth might not be seen as a sign of aggression in most of the universe, smiling would be all too distinctly human. 

Perhaps with how infectious we are sometimes, that’s what we’d contribute to the universe; others might have to make do with opening their mouths just enough to show their teeth or splaying their innumerable mouthparts with just the right curve, but perhaps we’d teach the galaxy to smile, one ally at a time. 

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

[marmialadee]

So real,You’ll find me by the pond contemplating life 🌷

[doctormori]

I love this book to death, so here's some things I noticed <3

[qweenofurheart]

the tim drake experience

[turndecassette2]

[sm0y]

t̷h̷e̷ ̷v̷o̷i̷d̷ ̷t̷a̷k̷e̷s̷ ̷o̷v̷e̷r̷

[tiny-crescent]

sorry Mochi ♡🙏 

this may be my favorite Misa moment in Death Note. listen, she gets shit done. not in a safe or sane way, but she gets it done... lol

[6lackestl0v3]

h8 to admit it, i thought we were the best.. u would’ve been the one yet i knew something was off but i gave in cs i believe in second chances. now i now whats real and whats gaslighting, u tried coming back to act worse than before? i don’t want it to but its only fair ur karma comes though it already was when u left before. i cant say im sorry bc nothings my fault, made me be seen as something im not but i feel sorry for u; not sure if that feeling can hold out any longer.