#even though one's a girl

[marlynnofmany]

Scary Stories in Space

If you’ve ever wanted to experience the rapt attention of bodybuilder-shaped swamp monster/goldfish crosses, who are equal parts muscles, fins, and floaty silk clothes with absolutely zero interest in blinking, then I can’t speak highly enough of telling ghosts stories to a pair of Frillians.

That hadn’t been the plan; it just came up in conversation while we tidied the storage hold. Our ship was going to take on a lot of cargo soon. There were things on the floor that needing picking up, which was boring, so we passed the time with stories.

As it turns out, Frillians love ghost stories.

“Then what happened??” asked Blip when I paused for effect. She’d frozen in place holding a wrench and a heat sensor, wide-eyed in a cloud of fluttering silks and fins, all electric blue and bright red and deeply invested in my story. Her brother Blop was her mirror in aqua and lavender.

“Then,” I said, picking up a crowbar, “When he went to let her out of the car, he found a hook on the door handle!” I caught the crowbar on my hand dramatically.

“Ohhh!” they chorused with a gratifying flinch, for all the world like frat bros watching someone get hit in the nuts. “Near miss! Oh, wow!”

I grinned and put the crowbar in a cabinet while they rehashed the very simple story to each other. I’d already told them a few others, and I was going to run out of stories before they ran out of enthusiasm.

Blip asked, “What do you think they did when they found that?”

With a shudder like a bird fluffing feathers, Blop suggested, “Throw it as far away as possible? Run into the house?”

Blip nodded, fins still flared slightly. “Maybe both. Then call the authorities.”

I walked past to collect a stray cable. “I don’t know about the authorities where you’re from, but mine wouldn’t have been much help.”

The twins discussed this some more, then agreed that the best response would be to run screaming into the house and lock every door they could find. Only then did they remember that they were supposed to be cleaning, and resume putting stuff away.

After three seconds of silence, Blop asked, “Know any more?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Lemme think.” I shelved a box and looked around the room for inspiration. No ghosts hid in this storage hold, though it had been home to many an animal cargo. The reinforced clear pen was still empty, and had been for a while — our cargos were mostly boxes these days. The door to the hallway stood open, and I almost had a thought about some doorway-based haunting, but couldn’t pin it down. I moved to stack a few stale tubs of animal food while I thought.

Then my cat Telly walked in, recently free to roam the ship on a provisional basis, and I had an idea. The fact that Telly had made a beeline for Blip’s spare overcoat helped. She burrowed right under, sniffing out the shrimp sticks that were undoubtedly hidden in several pockets.

Neither Frillian noticed.

“There was one story,” I said, watching them both perk up like meerkats. Fishy, musclebound meerkats. “The legend of the Pants With Nobody Inside Them.”

“Pants With Nobody Inside Them?” they dutifully asked.

I tugged at my own pant leg. “People where I’m from wear a lot of clothes that are shaped to fit our bodies, and have the same silhouette when they’re empty. Just imagine how creepy and unsettling it must have been for the first person to venture into a dark forest at night, and see the shape of another human — but only the bottom half. Walking … steadily … towards them.” I took slow and deliberate strides toward the far side of the animal pen, drawing their gaze away from the shrimp stick excavation.

“That sounds terrifying,” Blip declared. “Did they run?”

“Oh, you bet they did!” I said, jogging slowly in place, then speeding up. “But the pants ran after.”

Blop squeaked in fear, muscly arms bent to bring his hands to his mouth.

They had no idea how hard I was working not to laugh. “That first person got away, and so did the next. But it kept happening, and the pants got faster each time. People started to worry about going outside, and wonder about their own clothes — they’d look at a pair of pants on the floor, and imagine it starting to get up on its own. Then OH JEEZ WHAT’S THAT?!” I pointed through the clear walls of the pen.

Both Frillians whirled and screamed at the sight of — as promised — an item of clothing moving around.

Telly bolted in panic, with one shrimp stick in her mouth and several others scattering in all directions. I heard someone down the hall yelp, though it was hard to make out over the Frillians screaming.

“WHAT WAS THAT?”

“WAS THAT AN ANIMAL?”

“WAIT, THAT WAS YOUR ANIMAL, WASN’T IT?”

“WHAT WAS IT DOING IN MY COAT??”

I leaned against a wall, laughing. I couldn’t hold it back any more. “Stealing your shrimp sticks,” I managed. “Sorry.”

After a little more yelling and hyperventilating, during which three other crew members came to see what the emergency was, they finally calmed down. The rest of the crew was waved away.

“So,” Blip said, clearly determined to speak evenly, “How does the story end?”

I was still grinning. “Somebody makes friends with the pants. They were chasing after people because they were lonely.”

“What!” Blip exclaimed, fins spread and eyes wide, which just made me burst into laughter again. Blop echoed her.

“It’s a children’s story,” I explained. “I think the pants wanted to dance with other people. Or they wanted someone to wear them; I honestly don’t remember the details. But they were lonely.”

Blop shook his head. “Lonely haunted clothing,” he said. “Your planet sure has some memorable ones.”

Blip picked up her coat at arm’s length, and I couldn’t tell if she was looking for damage or ghosts. “Maybe it was hungry,” she suggested.

“I’m sure many ghosts like shrimp sticks,” I said, picking one up from the floor. “I’ll bet we could think up a new story about that. Maybe they’re haunted by the ghosts of the shrimp, mad about being eaten?”

Their dismayed expressions told me that such a story might ruin their favorite snack for them.

“Or,” I said, turning on my heel, “We could think up a story about a haunted… stun gun! Maybe it keeps a ghostly copy of all the people it’s stunned. How do you think a story like that would work?”

To my delight, Blip and Blop proved just as interested in composing new stories as listening to old ones. The rest of the tidying session passed quickly.

I take no responsibility for the nightmares they inflicted on the rest of the crew.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

(And yes that’s a reference to the Dr Seuss story.)

#my writing #The Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #humans are space orcs #humans are storytellers #ghost stories #featuring the return of everybody's favorite space himbos #even though one's a girl #their species handles gender differently anyway #they definitely qualify #writeblr #writers on Tumblr

[zoe-oneesama]

Some "Special" Girls! And the late girls.

Ko-fi | Patreon

#you don't even know how long I've held onto the Zoe one I made her with the quickness #I still haven't seen the Shanghai or New York Special I went in mostly blind on their looks #all the 'Specials' girls did get a redesign from me so the version where their mimicking their render pose is the redesign #though I kept Jess's hair wraps even though I don't love them #I know Native American people DO wrap their hair sometimes but I think it was to cop-out of animating her braids #my art #fashion #ml paris special #emonette #jess #aeon #new york special #fei #shanghai special #socqueline #zoe #socqueline wang #zoe lee #marinette #marinette dupain-cheng #ml art #miraculous ladybug

[haunted-xander]

Well, I guess you didn't have much of a choice either

#sooooo fucked up being a teenage boy just messing around with friends one day #and the next weird monsters are after you #and suspicious guys youve never met before start telling you you shouldnt even exist #and even the gentle girl who seems to know SO much that you met #says you have to disappear #all for the sake of this one boy youve never heard of #who apparently everyone loves and wants back #even if it means essentially killing someone else(you) #and youre expected to just. follow along and sacrifice yourself for him #even though you are also a real perosn with real friends (or so you believe) #and at the end you do it #because youre tired and confused #and part of you feels like it should do it #that its the right thing to do #even though you still dont know anything bc no one will tell you #except for the girl but everyone always goes out of their way to stop her #anyway im rambling the kh2 prolouge is so fucked up when u think about it #roxas #sora #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 2 #kh #kh2 #art #my art #xanders art #digital art #fan art

[tinkkles]

I really do love the fresh take on the dead wife aspect in scavengers reign like. She didn't die in some terrible accident or at the hands of an evil third party, she died because of you. Because of your ambition and carelessness and because you didn't prioritize her enough to even look for her as the ship was going down. You will carry this guilt for the rest of your life. She will haunt you forever. Pray that her ghost is enough to change you for the better.

#i just think the parallel of azi still running to mia's pod even though theres no way she can get her out in time #just some girl she barely knows & had a one night stand with and she still thinks of her first #vs kamen just going to argue w/ sam & fully buckling himself in to the escape pod before he even thinks about his fucking WIFE #kamen is such a good character (derogatory) like hes not cruel hes just so self centered and he doesnt realize it until its too late #AND THEN HIS PUNISHMENT IS TO. LOSE ALL SENSE OF HIMSELF. TO BECOME A PSYCHIC SLAVE TO THE MEMORY OF HIS WIFE. GOD #this show is so fuckin brutal man. oough. #scavengers reign

[wintermoth]

damn, you know who I'd have liked to see have a go at the Toymaker?? Jack Harkness. That would've been fun. The Toymaker couldn't kill him, Jack wouldn't respect him (he'd cheat, obviously), and it'd have been a whole thing. :'D

#Dw 60th #Doctor Who #The Toymaker #Jack Harkness #i know Jack isnt The One Who Waits that the Toymaker was referring to (even though he fits the bill) but damn a girl can dream

[future-crab]

It's been said before, it will be said again, but it's still worth saying: the fact that art centering on straight romance is allowed to just be bad, but art with queer romance in it always has to be indicative of A Serious Problem With the Way We Tell Queer Stories makes being a queer person making queer art deeply stressful

#just saw smthing about red white and royal blue #and like i never watched/read that one so maybe everything ppl say about it is true #and i never watched heartbreaker or love simon so maybe those ones are also genuinely a sign of a serious problem #but idk. the fact that this happens every damn time makes me think that maybe queer stories are being held to different standards #and it's exhausting writing stuff while having a chorus of voices in the back of my head saying i'm misrepresenting my own identities and #making the whole community look bad by writing mediorcre romance #and knowing that even though i'm neither straight nor a girl there WILL be ppl calling me a straight girl fetishizing queer relationships #lgbt #queer community #writer stuff #idk what else to tag this #asexual #bisexual #nonbinary #venttag

[mister13eyond]

I just saw barbie and i have Thoughts

#i simply think allan is THE transmasc experience #you know when you're a guy and you know you're a guy but like #even though the guys all act like you're welcome to hang with them #you're still not ONE of them #but you're also Definitely not one of the girls #but the stupid shit guys are doing makes you feel insane #and also you know for a fact girls are way better than they get treated by men #so you're like on their side #but you're still not ONE of them #anyways we stan allan #barbie #barbie 2023 #greta gerwig barbie #allan #allan barbie

[anna-scribbles]

they should've been at the club(infertility treatment centers)

#like guys. be real with me. how many options did you even try before turning to dark magic #nothing about the situation called for all that😭 #in my mind they're like 22 and 25 here which makes it all even funnier #guys please just adopt a dog or something😭 #nothing about either of you screams ready for parenthood #im so happy adrien agreste exists but the circumstances of his birth are so ridiculous #there is so much gabe and emilie couldve done besides this. they could have done anything #honestly knowing them(<-girl who believes she knows them) im not even convinced the infertility treatment wasnt working #I think they just both were so allured by the concept of a magic baby #they were like six months in and hadn't gotten pregnant yet and were like. well. I guess we're out of options! dark magic it is! #and made it everyone else's problem forever #these two wanted to be doomed by the narrative SO bad #honestly though being a 22 year old girl I kind of yet it. sometimes I see a cute baby and want one so bad maybe I too would use dark magic #maybe emilie agreste was just a girl. #anyway. sorry adrien that your parents were Like This but it is so so funny #anna rambles #ml #gabriel agreste #emilie agreste

[somegrumpynerd]

(They did not stop shredding the curtains)

#UTDR #UTMV #Nightmare Sans #Killer Sans #Trying out a new style for this one #I don't know if I'll do the boxes again but it was fun to play around with #Also I had this idea last night when I was awake and supposed to be sleeping #I told myself if I still remembered it in the morning I'd draw it so here we are #I wonder what troublesome creatures Nightmare might have taken in... hmmm... #Also the return of Freddie Purrcury #They found out she's a girl but they're keeping the name #She likes to hang around Nightmare for some reason even though he's still not used to pets

[noecoded]

ok..view my yuri boy

#worst yuri relapse in 6months . fml #i miss asmo though nd i keep picture #picturing mae nd asmo in one img together anf feeling a little sick. like thinkiing of mixing pepsi and milk. theres something wrong #i dont even like limbus company i dont play it either idgaf about anything that isnt these 2 girls... latched into my brain bad #come chat w me eslewhere at 2400db i hide out there nd post ab my sillies despite my hatred for that app frowning emoji #faust #ishmael

[soni-dragon]

ive seen a couple pokemon character color wheels around so i tried one with some of my favorites!

#not ALL my favorites I had to do a bit of switching around with some to fit the right colors hehe #halfway through drawing this i stopped and filled out an entire tier list of all the pokemon characters #brawly is just a silly guy what can i say #i dunno why ive always liked him! even though hes just a random gym leader #i wanted to include iris but leon's the king of purple so i had to put him there #oooh know what ill do another one w the girls! #weve got leaf may iris roxie... ill have to think of who else i like too #pokemon #pokemon art #color wheel challenge #aqua leader archie #magma leader maxie #blue oak #green oak #pokemon red #trainer red #rival blue #champion leon #pokemon leon #pokemon allister #gym leader allister #gym leader brawly #pokemon brawly #pokemon n #natural harmonia gropius #i will never be over the fact that that’s his name #reguri #originalshipping #hardenshipping #my art

[newgroundstier]

favourite riptide guys (little guy mode)

#gillion tidestrider #kira jrwi #niklaus hendrix #jrwi #when i was doodlin these i was like hey all the guys i like have tails #n then i remembered niki is the only one who actually has a tail in canon rofl #AND i dont even draw gil with one half the time #a thing they ac2ally do all have is shit growin outta their skulls tho. cool ! #i like that kira stabs people with hers. good life choice girl #it took all my willpower 2 draw niki holding a wine glass instead of some fuckign gamer energy drink #i never said its got wine in it though. ...........................

[rapha-reads]

No but I gotta talk about Medusa for a minute actually.

It's been. A very long time since I read the PJO books so I don't exactly remember how Uncle Rick presents Medusa in the book. But the way the show introduces her myth? Fascinating. For me as a Greek mythology enthusiast, that is.

The show makes Medusa a victim of Athena. Of course, the show is mainly for kids, so they can't exactly say that, hey, kids, Medusa was Athena's priestess and she was raped by Poseidon, YEP, or protagonist's father, IN Athena's temple, nah, that's neither kid-friendly nor does it endears us to Poseidon. Not that Poseidon is very dear to us viewers/readers at this point, our narrator/protagonist can't stand his own dad.

But still what fascinates me is that even though they twisted the myth to ft the narrative they still managed to evoke Athena's curse as being actually a gift, and Medusa not feeling wretched over her condition but blessed.

Which is not a modern reading of the myth, actually. Saying that Athena couldn't punish Poseidon for his transgression and could only punish Medusa, but did so in a way that would give Medusa weapons to defend herself against whoever and whatever would try to harm her again, is a narrative that exists since Antiquity.

My point is that the re-framing of Medusa's myth, departing from the traditional, non-kid-friendly version while still incorporating both classic and modern elements, is a good frame of reference for the series (book and show)' entire approach to mythology. And I guess I'm saying that mostly for the non-book readers who are discovering this world, many of whom might be Greek mythology fans and might have gone "wait, why is Hades AGAIN presented as the bad guy when he's the chillest, most normal, most stable god in this entire pantheon", because that's a conversation the book fandom has been having (over and over again) for more than a decade.

Anyway, yeah. As a long time book fan and a show appreciative, here's my advice to anyone who knows WAY too much about Greek myths and still want to enjoy the ride without going every five minutes "wait, that's not correct": reframe. Contemporary rewritings, modern audiences and Fantasy genre.

#pjo series #pjo series spoilers #pjo #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #rick riordan #medusa #greek myths #greek mythology #rapha talks #the funny thing is that one of the art exhibition i've been giving tours of these past couple of months is about goddesses #and it has some statues and objects about both athena and medusa so i've been talking a lot about these two for weeks now #so even though i still remember some from the books and i know damn well uncle rick's priority wasn't myth accuracy #i still got a bit floored by the planet-size holes in medusa's myth in the show #not enough to dislike the episode (au contraire i quite enjoyed it) but enough to feel compelled to say a word about it #(can you tell my special interest as a weird little girl was greek mythology and how it still is to this day...)

[thatorangedrank]

Little is Alyx 👎🏻

Little is Penny 👎🏻

Little is a reflection of Ruby in Vol.1 and is a physical representation of “healing your inner child” 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

#like seriously Little reminds me more of Ruby than Ruby herself right now #I relate to Ruby so much in just needing to be ok for everyone all the time for things to be stable #when WBY is talking about how they bring her up by saying ‘we count on you’ and ‘you can do it’ and that’s basically what I heard growin up #my therapist once told me that you have to be the friend and caretaker for that little girl who always had to be ok #that she is still inside of my heart and that I’m the only one who can be there for her now #and something about… making sure my inner child feels safe reminds me so much of Ruby’s relationship with Little #also Little’s mannerisms are just … so v.1 Ruby it’s just uncanny #’I want to help even though I may not know how’ #that’s blind Ruby optimism if I’ve ever seen it #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby9 #rwby volume 9 #rwby ruby rose #rwby v9 #rwby volume 9 spoilers #rwby theory #ruby rose

[kelocitta]

Day 29: Nightcat Reina de la Noche

#rain world #rainworld #rwartmonth #rw art month #authors note: its a name for a flower (or well like several of them. in this case a cactus flower) #went with one of the non english names because i didnt want people being like ummm are you calling nightcat a girl #even though the names mean the exact same thing #but also the common names all refer to like 7 different flowers!! literally all of them!! make up ur mind people!! #is it a jasmine or a cactus!!!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

You're mine now, old man.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #a-qing #xiao xingchen #A-qing's story kicks off so strong. You really get a sense that she feels strongly attached to xxc during the pre-empathy scenes #and that she has a strong sense of loyalty and perseverance with strong survival instinct #but then you see her before all the tragedy and you *immediately* learn she is a clever trickster! #She follows xxc not out of gratitude but out of a sense that this guy is her meal ticket. #xxc is kind and strong but most importantly *noble* #she can smell the self-sacrificing bright eyed hope on this stranger. She knows the mere fact she's a young blind girl means #he will protect her. The fact he gives her a little money doesn't hurt her justification but tbh she would have followed all the same #a-qing is *the* catgirl of all time actually. Follows you for the fact you provide food and shelter. Opportunistic. May grow to be loyal. #That's not even getting into the parallels here between these two characters and wwx (who is seeing these events play out) #the yi city trio are arguably the three split aspects of wwx: who he feels like (a-qing the opportunist) who he wants to be (xxc the noble) #and who he feels seen as (xy the vengeful). #one day I'll write a more robust analysis on that. prob in the tags though #(His a-qing parallels are also tied with the fact they both were street rat orphans who learned how to code-switch to be whoever #they need to be to feel safe. I have a lot more thoughts to share but augh another time...another time)