#tiny!shroud

[i-am-beckyu]

Prompt 3 bc you said I'm in a chaos mood

You said you lost it, was this it?

Treat Spiders the way you want to be treated. Killed without hesitation.

3D my gorgeous child. When you first sent your prompts, I was hyper fixating on jornos. But at 11pm we had an idea and brain said: WRITE IT! and speed wrote it. So I hope you like this extremely angsty fic because it is just angst on angst on angst :D

cw: death mentions (there's a lot but no one other than a mention bugs actually dying), fear, panic, anxiety, spider hybrids (arachnophobes I gotchu) death, a bit graphic with descriptions. In other words: I went hard with angst lol promise it has happy ending one shot words: 1204

Disclaimer! This story is based on the characters of the Dream SMP and not the real life content creators. Anything that occurs in this story is purely fiction and should be treated as such. Thank you.

Shroud knew he wasn't going to make it. His own mother had made that clear to him the day he had hatched, but he had never thought he was going to meet his end this way. It was a cruel life to be born into, but he had managed and now he was fully grown to a good 2 inches tall. All his siblings had long since left the cocoon leaving him to fend for himself. In a world that was kill or be killed, he was lucky he had survived this long. Even if it was through hiding in the unreachable crevices of his old home to avoid being picked off. But without anyone or anything left in the cocoon to provide him nutrients with, he’d eventually been forced to leave and find somewhere that had more food available. 

He’d seen many things on his journey looking for a safe haven to call home. Many terrible and horrible things. He’d watched as helpless other spiders had been snatched up and devoured by birds. Watched as heavy rains drowned other insects and bugs. He’d witnessed how insects and bugs fought others of their own species and eaten the remains of their dead foes. He was lucky in the sense of being a spider hybrid, having the smarts of a person rather than just another mindless prey, but having witnessed such horrors the world could cause, made him ever restless in his search for safety. But even they were nothing in comparison to how he was to meet his end. 

He’d only heard of them in legend. One of the few stories his mother had told him when they went to sleep at night. Out of all the predators in this world, none are more ruthless and terrifying than humans. 100x a spider hybrids size with triple the smarts. While they seem just like them minus 4 arms and a few other features, never mistake: they will only ever bring about your doom. For every way you could possibly think of dying, they had 10 plus more unimaginable ways to bring about your death. They could squish you beneath their gigantic thumbs, use their despicable sprays to poison the air, suck you up and leave you to die in their monstrous machines, trap you in jars and use you for experimentation or perhaps even burn you alive! The humans were creatures that could and would only bring about your demise. And Shroud was trapped in one’s cabinet. 

He didn’t know it was a humans’ home he had stumbled upon. The space he’d been scouting had been clear of any living creature for several hours before he had even dared getting closer and climbing up with the help of his webs. But as he had made his way about looking for food, the loud voices of people approaching could be heard, along with the vibrations of their footsteps shaking the earth as they went. It wasn’t hard to guess what was coming. Shroud didn’t have time to think as the door to the cabinet was flung open. He tried to hide behind one of the boxes on the shelf in attempts of not being seen, but unfortunately for him, it was the very box he was hidden behind that the human grabbed.

 A loud scream filled the air, as did the sound of a box crashing harshly down and onto the floor. “THERE’S A SPIDER IN THE CABINET!!!” The human shrieked. Shroud threw his hands over his ears at the sheer volume the human spoke in. “TOMMY!!!! GET IN HERE AND KILL IT!!!” Shroud froze at the humans’ words. He tried to turn and run, but his legs felt like jelly and he barely stumbled a few steps before falling to the cabinets floor. “TUBBO?!? TUBBO WHAT’S WRONG??” A second humans’ voice appeared yelling in alarm. Shroud continued to try and get away, till he had scrambled into the corner of the cabinet. 

“It's in the Cabinet Tommy. Top shelf! Kill it!! Please kill it! Kill it! Kill it!!!” the first human shouted again. 

A shadow was suddenly cast over Shroud, blocking out the light. He scrunched his eyes tightly shut, as his entire body began to shake uncontrollably. His breathing became short and staggered as he waited for his impending doom. He didn’t want to see how he was going to die. He’d tried so hard to make it. He’d survived with so little for so long. He just wanted to find someplace safe! 

“A spider is not going to hurt you Tubbo so just- oh. Hello.” The human spoke above him, surprise laced in their voice. When nothing happened, Shroud peaked an eye open and was surprised to see not the human ready to kill him, but instead adorned with a soft gentle smile. “Just look at you.” They exclaimed, reaching their hand towards him, their pointer finger outstretched. Shroud shut his eyes once more and buried his face into his 6 arms tighter, willing himself to just disappear from existence.

“Tubbo you d*** head, this isn’t a spider. It’s a tiny spider-human-like hybrid.”

The human began to gently scratch the top of Shrouds head. He relaxed slightly at the contact. No one had ever touched him like this before. “Well just hurry up and kill it Tommy! It’s still a spider!” the other human screeched at its human friend. 

“Tubbo! You can’t say s*** like that!” The human replied as he stopped scratching Shrouds head. Shroud whined at the loss of contact lifting his head as if to follow after the giant appendage. He didn’t want them to stop. 

“Like that huh?” The human said, smirking a little at his display. 

Shroud looked the human over once more. They were like nothing he’d ever imagined. They had blond curly hair and bright blue eyes and were staring at him like he was the most precious thing in the entire world. But that didn’t make sense? Humans were supposed to be ruthless killing machines? Even their friend had seemed desperate for their companion to dispose of him! Why were they being so kind? 

Suddenly the human's hands reappeared and scooped him up off the shelf and into its grasp. He wanted to fight it and get away, but Shroud couldn’t help himself from melting into the warmth beneath him. It was so nice and it felt safe. “Oh you’re such a sweetie.” The human said, raising him up higher to his face to get a better look at him. “What’s your name?” they asked. Oh so quietly, he responded “Shroud.” he said semi trying to hide himself at being so close to the apex predator. 

“It’s nice to meet you Shroud. I’m Tommy.” The human- Tommy said with a smile. “Would you like to get something to eat?” He asked. Shroud gave a very hesitant nod, and Tommy began to walk out of wherever it was they were in and to somewhere new. Not even acknowledging the other freaked out human as they went. 

And it was after that day that two things happened to Shroud. He finally had found himself a safe place to call home, and somehow gained a loving protecting father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

wow. just wow. I just chose angst writing this. like man. Just how many different ways can I cram in death in one fic? A lot it seems. If you read to the end, thanks for doing so and I hope you enjoyed the fic ❤️

[timethehobo]

A tiny romantic.

[kenchann]

doodles (mostly some firsties)

[tarobii]

what's this? our favorite gang of first years causing trouble again?

here's a little sneak peek at my contributions to @theprefectspageszine !!

it's been an absolute delight working on this zine! everyone's been so lovely, and I'm so excited for everyone to see the fruit of our labor! please be sure to check it out when it drops!! :D

[r-aindr0p]

since Halloween event has a rerun I remembered that moment I found just so heartwarming of Riddle dancing with Ortho ghugjkshkrs, look at the tinies look at them

[bloodiegawz]

local shrimp attempts to fistfight actual demons more at 11

[fair-night-starry-tears]

@adrianasunderworld @mangacupcake @writing-heiress @the-weirdos-mind @skboba-stars @nproduction626

Get ur asses over here and admire them as the demons

[cerealmonster15]

gift giving w/ class 2c and 3b

[ohlookitsmorgan]

funnily enough most of the pages in my sketchbook are just doodles pasted in rather than actually drawing on the pages

[mintybytes]

checkmate ♟️

[apiigeon]

some twst headcanons i have!!

(mostly for characters' appearances)

◍ Rook has dimples

◍ Deuce had multiple ear piercings during his delinquent phase, he no longer wears them

◍ Cater actually has brown hair and just dyes it ginger. he also likes to change his hairstyle every couple of months. sometimes he dyes it differently, sometimes he has different bangs, sometimes he just has something completely new

◍ Kalim, seeing Cater's and Lilia's dyed hair, also wanted to try. you can guess what Jamil's reaction was

◍ sometimes pop music club just get together and paint each other's nails all evening

◍ Riddle has freckles

◍ Epel has long eyelashes

◍ Ortho and Idia have a greek nose

◍ Idia is transmasc. he just is. idk this is like one of my two main gender/sexuality hcs for twst cast (the other one is Vil using he/she pronouns but that's practically canon so)

◍ Malleus has black scales on his body. aside from the canon ones on his forehead, he also has some on his spine, around his shoulder blades and a little bit on his arms

◍ also his nails are just naturally black, he doesn't paint them

◍ many characters have scars:

- Deuce: a few scars on his hands and one on his lips that are left from his delinquent phase

- Epel: a small scar on his forehead under his bangs from the time he fell and hit his head as a kid, as well as a couple tiny scars on his fingers from when he was just learning apple carving

- Ace: small scars on his hands, elbows and knees, also from falling a bit too hard

- Ruggie: a few scars on his hands and knees. also has calluses on his hands

- Lilia: multiple different scars from the war. they weren't able to fully heal, since they were left by iron weapons

- Rook: scars all around his body from all the harsh training he endured as a kid. he used to have calluses on his hands, but Vil gave him a list of hand creams with instructions on how to use them, so his hands are more soft now

- Idia: a scar on his arm from encountering a phantom as a kid

that is not all, i just don't have any specific ideas for the rest

◍ Vil has moles on his right hand and on his collarbone (both of which Rook loves to kiss quite a lot)

◍ Azul has horizontal pupils

◍ he also has a lot of moles on his body

◍ Idia doesn't like his fire hair (for multiple reasons), but there is one good thing about it – it doesn't require any care at all

◍ Ruggie has vitiligo

◍ i really liked people's hcs of Leona having dreadlocks with gold jewelry so im adopting it

◍ Rook, Azul and Sebek are ambidextrous

◍ after a long day (and if she doesn't have any other plans) Vil likes to take a long bath

[jeshoo-pon]

I LOVE TINY DIAMOND YEAH YEAH YEAH

[jangmi-latte]

Hello, is there anything about Idia and/or Sikver in the new book? If so could you post it please 🙏

none for silver but here are some scrapped outfits for the events idia's been in :D

[nrc-confessions]

Dropping my list of people ig

My octavanille bf

savannaclaw gym bro that calls me child

Weed mod

🎪 aka pathetic clown boy

Trey

My Octavanille bf

Lilia

Sebek

leona Kingscholar

Renee and Nerei

Sylo

The one person in the Mostro Lounge that places a drop of wine in my strawberry sorbet

the Jellyfish mostro lounge worker

Idia Shroud

My Octavanille bf

The cleaning club’s leader

the person that spiked the drink during the last scarabia party

the person that my boyfriend and I made out at the scarabia party

…. My Octavanille boyfriend….

-tiny

TINY IM CRYING?!????! THIS LIST??!?? 😭😭😭 I DONT KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS KM SORRY ITS KINDA FUNNY

ALSO DAMN!!?? Number 3?!?? 🤭🤭🤭 ur all so nice to me

[autopotion]

There are a number of things in Crimson Shroud I was kind of iffy about that put me off playing it, but now that I am I actually find I'm liking it quite a bit. The writing, art, and music are all very moody in a way that's familiar to me (Yasumi Matsuno + Basiscape, you know how it is lol, plus I think the guy who did the art took notes from Akihiko Yoshida) and while I originally found the tabletop aesthetic to be off-putting (your guys are always represented by little tabletop figurines, and dice that you physically roll with the stylus are a big part of the mechanics) over time it's really really growing on me. I think it's kinda cute ngl.

I feel like this is the type of game I would've been obsessed with if it had come out in the early 2000s and I'd played it then. Really weird, very stylistic, thick with lore for a relatively short game, not very well known, moody tone... Like it brings Summoner to mind, actually, which was a flop of an RPG that came out in the early 2000s that was also openly and heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, but also I have a lot of fond memories of it lol. And that game was also very moody

Also you can totally tell this was intended to be a sequel to Vagrant Story originally, it wears its spiritual predecessor on its sleeve. It really feels like a journey through Lea Monde abstracted through figurines, dice, and dungeon maps. This might be heretical to say... but I'm kinda... enjoying it more than I was Vagrant Story, LMAO. I think for two reasons: 1. turn-based combat is more familiar to me, so I'm adapting to Crimson Shroud's mechanical depth much more quickly, and 2. the major female character in this game, Frea, is actually playable, and is your party's linchpin. Will always be lamenting Callo Merlose's demotion to NPC in vanilla Vagrant Story for game memory reasons u_u

The main dude is also growing on me unfortunately. "Giauque," the stupidest possible version of "Jack." I had my hackles up when he internally referred to Frea as a she-dog early on (shortly after she was revealed to be a member of an oppressed fantasy ethnic group, which like. I don't even want to get into all that shit right now, but it's the other reason I was put off by this game) but over time I think it's clear that was just a very poor way of demonstrating their usual dynamic, which is that he took Frea under his wing and likes her quite a bit, but portrays himself as a gruff, amoral lout, so he prefers to bicker instead of be effusive. The implication is that they're a bit like each other IMO, both too sharp-tongued for their own good

I also know a ton of spoilers so I'm paying lots of attention to Frea in the frame story... We'll have to see how it's handled, but I do like that the main antagonist of this game is a woman. So few games feature a woman as the primary villain, and even if they do, they find ways to blunt her impact (like Ultima in FFT, she's resurrected at the ass end of the story and then Ramza & co. kill her immediately), so I'm curious to see where Crimson Shroud will go with Abigail (an insane name for a villainess in a dark fantasy piece btw)

BASICALLY I think if CS was a fifty-hour game I might find it more exhausting, but since it barely hits twenty if you're taking your time, I'm a lot more invigorated by it. The short runtime works in its favor IMO.

[cecilebutcher]

HES SO TINY😭