#and she's no longer around

[whumpster-fire]

Rikki Tikki Dalby

The only species of venomous snake native to the British Isles is the European Adder, and it is never found on the Isle of Man. But the creature winding its way up the rutted lane towards the old stone farmhouse wasn’t.

It would have seemed a trick of the light to anyone who glanced at the road, and it would have been hard to do more than glance because it is the nature of the human mind to protect itself. It appeared as a shadow of inky black, shimmering as it weaved from one side of the road to the other, leaving patches of withered, rotted grass where it touched the vegetation on the edges. It was only as broad as a human arm, with little sign of the sheep that it had consumed, but it was hard to tell where its head was, and its  tail didn’t seem to have an end, just stretching on and on.

It wasn’t from here. It had slipped through a gap, a small crack in the world, as snakes do. But now it was here, and it was hungry. Sheep wouldn’t satisfy it. Too dull, not enough brains, not enough spirit. It   wound around and around the house, sniffing at the air, probing at the stone walls. It smelled better prey inside.

The serpent crept up the walls and through the windows and down the chimneys, until it was certain that only one human was inside right now. It would feed now, and stay here and wait for others to come.

The girl heard it enter the room. She heard the scraping of scales, and a weird hiss like the static of a wireless. But she was used to hearing odd sounds in this house. She sighed, but paid the noise no mind and stayed bent over the table, focused on her schoolwork. She never looked up as the serpent coiled and reared up, preparing to strike.

Easy prey. Too blind to notice the predator in the room.

SNAP.

The light vanished. The gray overcast sky blotted out by nothing. No light to define the serpent’s form, no shadows to hide it. There was no electricity in the farmhouse, but the air filled with the smell of ozone.

Two points of red light appeared in the blackness, and rapidly expanded until it was clear that they were eyes. Blazing scarlet, the subtle patterns of color in the irises dancing and writhing like flames and  breaking free of the edges of each eye, flattened slits of pupils appearing to perpetually shrink without truly changing size.

The serpent turned from its intended prey and struck at the eyes, but hit only stone. They opened again in the other direction. Then more eyes, then more, and more.

SNAP.

The weak light of the gloomy day returned to the kitchen. A bolt of shadow whipped across the room, carving deep into the floor. Shards of stone flew, and the farmhouse shook. The girl screamed, and leaped to her feet, but there was such a great force resisting all movement, and so little binding her or anything else to the floor. It was like moving through treacle. She ran for the door, but her feet just slid as she began to tumble in the shimmering air.

The serpent found its new target, coiling and knotting around a small, disgustingly warm body. It struck again and again, sinking fangs so inimical to life that anything should have been snuffed out with one bite into what should have been flesh. A shrill squeal burst crockery on the counter, but still it struggled.

Then came the explosion. The implosion. The wall of wrathful sound that tore the windows from their frames and the serpent’s cloak of shadows from its body and scattered it around the room, turning everything to night again.

The girl hit the ground hard, skinning her knees and elbows. She lay there in shock, paralyzed with fright at what seemed to be an entire thunderstorm crammed into the kitchen. Something long and sinuous thrashed and writhed, scattering chairs and tables to splinters, blindly seeking a streak of light and flame. For a moment she caught a glimpse of the form of a small animal, back arched, fur standing on end, fur alive with rippling arcs of ghostly fire of the blinding color and intensity of a bolt of lightning, and an eerie blue glow that seemed to pierce through even the walls. She flinched away and closed her eyes, but that image was burned into them for a long time. Sparks of color burst in her vision, and there was a strong taste of metal in her mouth, though she was sure she hadn’t bitten her tongue in the fall.

The serpent was lifted into the air, writhing and fighting to escape now, but it found no purchase on anything. The room was too wide, too long, even for its endless length to touch the walls. There was nothing around it but eyes and teeth and flame. It was pulled, twisted, and tied into knots tighter and tighter until it was bound into a compact, tangled ball, and its death throes fell still.

When the girl found her feet again, there was nothing but the scorched remnants of broken furniture and shattered pots in the kitchen, and a dusting of ash on the floor, and the pieces of something sinuous and impossibly long, now dried out and crumpled and broken and dried out and burnt. More of it littered the ground as nothing but scattered bones.

A high-pitched voice from nowhere laughed. “That was the best sport I have had in years, but you are too small and you taste empty. Send your big brothers and give me a proper meal, I am tired of rats and poultry!”

It is a mongoose’s nature to hunt snakes.

~~

So I had a silly idea. Gef is a mongoose, a creature best known in folklore for being a relatively harmless critter that hunts and kills things that are much, much more dangerous to humans. So what if Gef was a small, friendly eldritch abomination that protected his people from much, much nastier enemies?

(incidentally, the “ghostly fire” is ionized air, and the “eerie blue glow” and sparks of color are Cherenkov Radiation generated in the air and inside Voirrey’s eyeballs! Gef may be a boastful little shit but his warnings are truthful!)

#my writing #Gef the Mongoose #Lemon Demon fandom #cryptids #technically rpf #but its Gef's original creator #and she's no longer around #i wrote it for the devilment #there's too much liiii-iiight #investigators said the wood was scorched

[hellafluff]

Garrus' interactions with Shepard post-Thessia are so fucking well written. Everyone else is telling Shepard they're sorry or doing a soft sad voice asking if she's okay but Garrus has this moving little speech about how losing a fight isn't the end of the war and I just. He's so fucking good. He knows what Shepard needs to hear and has the experience to back up the things he says. He's so good to her

#post-thessia is sooooooooo fucking devastating #Shepard's stress is so high all her friends are trying to crack through the soldier to get to the woman to make sure shes okay #i LOVE the conversation with joker where he tells her Anderson wanted HIM to look after HER #in a galaxy that is on fire and these people trying to keep the firebreak maintained for just a little longer theyre all worried #ABOUT SHEPARD #and shepard knows she cant breakdown shes channeling all the stress and fear into action and anger instead of showing how scared she is #even when everyone around her is saying its okay to show that to them because theyre her friends and family but she CANT #i love mass effect #mass effect #mass effect 3 #me3 #shakarian #crazee talk

[egophiliac]

How do you imagine Levan/Revan/ Mallenoa's husband?

Appearance, personality etc.

Revaan/Laverne/whatever-his-name-is's title sort of implies that he might be from a fantasy-Eastern country (they've established that in Twstland, 竜 = Eastern-style dragons, andドラゴン = Western-style dragons). and that's about as much as we know right now about...anything in regards to what he might look like. so I've been trying very hard not to form too much of a mental picture of him, because I'm still hoping we'll get to see him (or at least a silhouette)! ergo, in my head, he kind of looks like this:

so handsome. surely Malenoa fell in love at first glance.

I do think the funniest thing about what we've learned so far is that Malleus being kind of quiet and reserved and dignified...absolutely did not come from the Draconias. and he sure as heck did not learn it from Lilia. so he probably got a lot of that from his dad! the vibe I get from how Lilia talks about him is that he could be a bit of a prim little fancyboy sometimes, but was (mostly) willing to go along with his wife's zany antics out of love. he sounds sweet, honestly! I'm sorry he (maybe) died. :(

my favorite thing about Mal's parents is that Malenoa and Lilia's dynamic was "long-suffering guard and princess who has long been the cause of said suffering":

but then they would happily join forces in order to gang up on Revaan:

tl;dr Revaan was the straightman in Malenoa and Lilia's comedy act until it all ended horribly whoops

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #can't wait to be proven wrong about all of this! #no seriously if it means more episode 7 i literally cannot wait #oh revaan. hopefully they will not make us wait much longer to learn...anything at all about you #international relations probably got a lot easier once he was around to do the diplomatic stuff #the malenoa-revaan-lilia dynamic seemed to largely revolve around lilia and revaan's shared understanding #that malenoa does whatever she wants and neither of them can stop her #god i love them #while we're on the subject i found out the other day that the romanization of the name eleanor is エレノア #so i wonder if malenoa is actually meant to be something like maleanor as a takeoff on that #i am going to stick with malenoa for now but i think that's kind of cute! #we desperately need some kind of confirmation on revaan's name though twst please #if malleus' dad is actually named laverne i need to know

[cromulentreader]

Do y'all also think about how Cardan went from telling Jude she was destined to and deserving of death to being like Jude dies over my dead body? Or are you normal?

#and how Madoc said Cardan would always see Jude as inferior to him (for being fae implied) #that said more about how Madoc saw Eva that anything else in the books to me #maybe she is no longer mortal as queen or maybe she is #Cardan will still risk his life to save hers #it might have started in TWK with Cardan letting Roiben's court be decimated to save Jude's life #the realization that he cared for her short life more than any long-living creature around #normal is the wrong answer #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #tfota #the cruel prince #matter not #the wicked king #the queen of nothing #the prisoner's throne #jurdan

[vampireharpy]

i hope tunglr is cool with werewhale tits

felt compelled to do an updated ref for bonnie's whale form

#ocs #bonnie #moby dykes #she's been around for longer than i realize!! she's already changed so much

[sherokutakari]

Okay but can we have Mary meet Ed

PLEASE can we have Mary meet Ed?

#Our Flag Means Death #OFMD #OFMD 2 #Our Flag Means Death 2 #SUPER EXTRA BIG BONUS POINTS IF IT'S RANDOM AND SANS-STEDE #idk why they meet butnthey end up talking about Life #Ed loves her bc she found the love of her life after her husband died #and when it turns out he faked his death she decided he was gonna die anyway and Ed LOVES THAT for her #Mary hates him at first bc big annoying pirate man and she has had eNOUGH of pirate nonsense #thankyouverymuch #but then ends up loving him bc he literally chose life and love and happiness over a past he no longer identifies with #and she starts to view him as a kindred spirit #THEN Stede can show up and it all starts to fall into place in the most hilarious way #initiate spiderman points all around #please you know it would be hilarious #BlackBonnet #GentleBeard #spoilers #only very vaguely by name

[darlingod]

It’s just… it is everything that Cardan thought Jude would notice his “SO OBVIOUS” exile riddle and thinks Jude to not hesitate to come back. Beside his certainty of her cleverness to piece the riddle together, he believed he was that clear about his feelings toward her; he had thought she absolutely ought to know how he feels for her.

Like oh buddy. BUDDY. Your wife had thought of the answer to your little riddle like you thought she would. But guess what? She has detrimental TRUST ISSUES. (Like… Ur super mean and hot, I can’t blame her.) Anyway.. it’s SUPER adorable of him to so wholeheartedly believe she wouldn’t question his trust. It reveals so much about his pov of thier relationship.

Jude thought Cardan’s (silly) trick was a (vile) trick, when it was simply a: “Im trying to impress/pay you back in kind with our romantic metaphorical sparring and eventually get you out of political drama for a bit,” trick.

I’m fucking laughing wow these delusional ass children I fucking love them.

#IM JUST NOW REALIZING I SPELT THEIR WRONG AND IM SO EMBARRASSED #at least it was the right their😭😭 #THEYRE SO REAL LMFAOOOOOO #like they both were so hot ofc they constantly questioned the validity of each others feelings #if the last part didn’t make sense I’ll explain #she knew he had tricked her into exile and when Jude was like ‘can I pardon myself?’ she thought it was another trick to humiliate her #like girl it was to do THE OPPOSITE of humiliation #HE WAS SENDING YOU TO SAFETY UNTIL YOU COULD COME BACK AND FLAUNT UR NEW POSITION #but basically it revealed that he loved like Jude loves #that they have the same heart #(he’s not like the reg folk. he grew up around so many mortals as she did the folk) #but he’s a faerie so he doesn’t take caution to being unpredictable #Jude even knew: the folk could be humanlike but they (the folk) inevitably would do something to remind her that they STILL ARE folk #though she had too easily assumed that the folk acting like the folk meant betrayal #he thought the whole marriage thing had meant she fully trusted him #because he knew how hard it would be for her to give up her power over him #and he thought because that she had given up her ability to command him(comma) that she couldn’t doubt trusting him any longer #queen of nothing #the cruel prince #the wicked king #Jude Duarte #jurdan #cardan greenbriar #tfota #I’ve known them since I was 13 they’re much older in my stubborn pov #also me using the semi colon as if I’m sure that it’s proper grammar LMAOOOOO #confidence is key

[artsyhamster]

Rediscovered the Disco Elysium timetable I made for myself, and figured someone else might find it useful. maybe, lol

Dates are taken from the wiki, I hope I made no error

#disco elysium #white numbers are their ages at specific times #red text below is general stuff from the wiki was going on in those times #mostly made this for myself bc i kept confusing for how long jean and harry were partnered #and how long dora stuck around. because honestly wow she stuck around for longer than I thought

[lunarharp]

What led to this (orufrey comic, cw an uncomfortable/creepy scene)

#witch hat tag #orufrey #er.... i'm too tired to have anything to say..i worked several days on this. #wait.. didn't i say just recently here that i probably wouldn't ever depict 'what if alaira is qifrey's sort-of ex'. What's going on #i don't even remember deciding to draw this..it's all a blur..i'm not sure why i WOULD decide to draw delicate scenes in my head #that i wouldn't really want to share with anyone/discuss so why did i draw it... #some part of me really really wants to draw things that are more and more true to myself... #maybe because of my alienation with most romance/shipping/dynamics the rest of the world depicts. #orufrey really is perfectly suited to me - what i read in the text and what is in my head. well anyway #i am TIRED of drawing poses and angles and..maybe now i will actually take a break from drawing bc of the tediousness of Angles #btw it really is a 'stretch of time' . . . assuming witches graduate age 18-20 #well orufrey are canonically 30-ish. they've only had agott around for presumably about TWO years (?) bc she took the test age 10 #and it feels like oru moving in/unknown atelier acquisition/building (?) .. i guess that could be a year or so before agott at most #(she was the first disciple) so... ????????? What about the other 7 or so years ?!?!?!!?!?! Unemployed Brimhat Hatred era #that time is very nebulous. after qifrey went to the tower i feel like it's been implied he and oru drifted apart a little. #certainly they didn't live together at first... no way. that doesn't feel like how it is based on things oru has said about becoming Eye #idk. I'm tired now. i don't usually think of alaira as necessarily qifrey's ex and this being how things went in that 'sliver of time'. #i usually prefer the idea that they have their first kiss with each other in their 30s cause That's Just The Orufrey Lifestyle #just felt like making a more relatable alternative view of my own Cai Orufrey Canon one time. btw im a big monoshipper and it hurt a bit #let's leave it there. this is surely the most i've worked on a 'single' art - though now i realise just how much longer the fic took :')

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Culture Shock

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #xiao xingchen #xue yang #a-qing #As I sit here and type out my thoughts I realize that the last panel looks like A-Qing is crushing XY's candy...oops. #she's supposed to be crunching her *own* wrapper for dramatic effect. XY's candy is still in XXC's hand. #Hes still standing there. 180 degrees out of frame. Which is where your heart is! MEANING: XXC is in your heart right now #holding out a little piece of candy that has yet to be taken. #This comic was so close to being on the chopping block. Honestly I'm still not sure I should have kept it in #but I liked this scene a lot*** and tbh the yi-city arc isn't around for much longer. Let them have fun while it lasts. #not to mention I have few opportunities to build up spanish speaking XXC. And we are close to the pay off. #XY is in his 'oh god I need to start learning the basics of this language or I will drown' phases. Lets see how well he does! #***The candy represents so much! It's a symbol of unobtainability! Of comfort and status! Both A-qing and XY crave candy as much as they- #-crave those 'unobtainables'! XY has money to by candy (part of status) but he lacks love and comfort is his life! #So XXC offering them this little piece of candy is more than just a treat! It's a piece of love! #But as sweet as candy is....it cannot last.... #(this also makes the scene where XY disrupts A-Qing's comfort by offering candy very interesting to analyze)

[goldenromione]

A female character shouldn't have to be gay, childless, and/or morally gray in order for you to consider her to be well-written.

#why does lily only become interesting to you when she is no longer a mom #why does she have to resent james #i could go into the language this fandom has around motherhood but i'll save it for another post #anti marauders fandom #harry potter #hp #jk rowling

[op3ra]

For your colorful Cats designs, Electra or Tugger?

boom electra <3 would love to doodle my tugger another time when i have energy

#i think it's very very obvious she's my favorite bc i've always been an electra lover #and i gave her my favorite things #her design has been around since 2021 if not longer #guess whatttt we've started working on building a real cosplay of her #bestie is taking care of the warmers & collar and i'm doing everything else :3 #electra cats #cats electra #art or whatever #cats musical #cats the musical #cats fanart #cats musical fanart #cats non replica #colorful cats redesign

[bonefall]

ougghhh everyone’s talking so fondly about lionpaw and his new friendships made by the ripwater event but all i can think about is his mention of ashfur’s comment. and how lion probably thinks it’s just a little joke but ash might actually mean it :(

There's this little pearl of a theme hidden in the Ripwater Episode, if you look carefully; abuse acts on people in insidious but subtle ways.

It's Mistystar who's defensive of asking for help or admitting a problem, thinking of what she did to Leopardstar and also repeating cultural sentiment that once victimized her herself.

It's Squirrelflight shouting at her daughter for acting like she used to, because she's spent some years being yelled at in a similar way

It's Hollypaw who isn't allowed to enjoy her achievement of saving Otterpaw's life or lean into how much she has in common with Lakepaw, because she's ashamed of how she did something "wrong" by snooping

And lastly, it's Lionpaw, who's starting to believe the vicious comments that Ashfur says about him. I referenced Willowpelt partially for the sweet little irony of him teaching her recipe to her unknown grandson, Ripplepaw, but ALSO because Ashfur is starting to isolate him.

Willowpelt is the Head of Hunting, currently, a position that Lionblaze is going to succeed her in. I don't think Ashfur is playing 4D chess quite yet, but there's a couple of little motivations knocking around in Ashfur's heart for why he's nasty whenever Lionpaw interacts with her;

Ashfur hates Willowpelt, because of the events from Ferncloud's Parting. He isn't aggressive to her directly, but he does spread rumors and slander whenever possible, happy to remind others of her exile.

Lionpaw getting close to Willowpelt will annoy him. Ashfur both hates and resents his apprentice, but also feels POSSESSIVE of him. He feels like Willowpelt will "steal" what's his.

A simple but hard truth; Ashfur wants Lionpaw to hurt. Maybe Ashfur sees it in his head like "telling the hard truth" or "toughening his apprentice up," but when he makes those malicious little comments, makes him recoil with hurt, it feels righteous.

Maybe in the next draft, it should actually be Ashfur, not Blackclaw, who comes to growl at Lionpaw for bonding with Lakepaw over the spears. Maybe have Willowpelt come in to show them how to properly use one and that's actually what set Ash off. Like he just used xenophobia because it was convenient in that moment.

#Also I have been waffling on where BB!Willowpelt dies #But I've realized I need her around for a good part of Po3 #She has a really juicy history now and the dynamics are playing out too well to just pass over. She's too useful to be fodder. #And since I want her around for early Po3 it makes the most sense for her to hang on just long enough to eventually be succeeded by Lion #And if she dies sometime in BB!OotS it's REALLY convenient to fill the 6-month timeskip between Cruel Season and The Beaver Mission with it #Like Lion and Jay threw themselves into work to stay busy while mourning their sister #Plus she can purr and say she's excited that Lion is her grandson-in-law now when he gets with Cinder #See what I mean? It just works out too well if she hangs on a bit longer. #ANYWAY yeah good on you for catching that tiny nugget. There is a LOT behind that little statement #BB!PO3 #better bones au #Emotional Abuse #Child abuse #BB!Lionblaze #BB!Willowpelt #BB!Ashfur

[mintytrifecta]

#IM AN APPLE SUPPORTER UNTIL THE DAY I AM NO LONGER OF THIS EARTH IDGAF I'LL DEFEND HER TO THE DEATH #'she was such a bitch to raven and so manipulative and vain' BABYGIRL SHE WAS FORCED INTO THAT BY EVERY ADULT AROUND HER AND GREW OUT OF IT #SHE DEVELOPED AND BECAME A BETTER PERSON AFTER ACKNOWLEDGING WHERE SHE WENT WRONG AND GREW FROM IT!!! #If you hate apple you just didn't pay attention to her character arc imo #Apple deserves better man idgaf I could write a wholeass essay defending her #ever after high #Eah #Apple white #apple white ever after high #This isn't directed at anyone in the fandom btw this is about people outside of it who've only seen the show like Once years ago -.-

[demonzoro]

i am once again wishing that reiju was written in a more interesting way in fics. i think she wld be fucked up in the way of "every day i tightrope a line of protecting my brother against a family that wld gladly revoke my favored position" and "am i my brother's keeper". contradictions in contradictions. unable to empathise/incapable of excising her sympathy. equal parts wondrous and revolted by the depth of human emotion that sanji feels. the only one in her family that takes after both her parents' will - her father's soldier and her mother's daughter. yeah sure you could write her as tepid and simply dust your hands off after damning her for her compliance in the abuse cycle but what if we made her interesting.

#[grips you by the shoulders] SHE CLD BE SO INTERESTING.... #in an ideal world i wld've loved for reiju to disappear from the story completely #as in she makes it that she is no longer beholden to anyone #not anyone's soldier not anyone's sister not anyone's daughter #i am not looking at this from a chara arc centered around sanji #i think it wld be most fitting for reiju to suddenly be removed from the constant balancing act #smthng smthng butterly motifs ... smthng smthng a poison master that's been stewing in poison for her whole life #oh shit the themes have got m— [line is cut] #vinsmoke reiju

[worthyofmygrace]

Her gay ass kickstarted the apocalypse lmao. We love to see it.

#it was an ok movie #I mean I think it should have been longer (I can't believe I said that) #there's no way she's just gonna go around like she didn't provoke at least 5 deaths #including herself??? She fucking killed herself for 2 minutes??? #I need to see her grieving this shit #guy who has only seen evangelion: getting a lot of evangelion vibes from this #ghostbusters #phoebe spengler