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Happy Pride!

catch them at a parade 🗣️

ID in alt!

had a lot of fun making this hehe also imagining their Modern!AU looks— anyways!

yay gay month wahoo yippee

art tag list!

@bamber344 @inspirationallybored @leahnardo-da-veggie @cepheusgalaxy

@urnumber1star @melodxi @write-with-will @teratheo @bioniclechronicles

@oros-ash3s @satohqbanana @carb0n-m0n0xide @ominous-faechild @sunflowerrosy

@megandaisy9 @ashandamen @illarian-rambling @corinneglass

@finickyfelix @vesanal

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My two favorite relationship tropes

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please put in the tags how many siblings you have and whether you’re a competitive person or not it’s for science

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yap session because this is kinda like the magic system in TAC :3 under the cut:

magic is very versatile, as in there are a lot of ways to cast spells; be it by speaking, or hand movements, or drawing runes, or even feeling something strongly enough. so, humans can make magic in the more “traditional” sense.

but, there is a type of magic that only a few species can master, and as a placeholder name, let’s call it “the arcane tongue”.

basically. it’s like speaking magic (“abracadabra 🪄” type spells) but there’s a specific way the words are spoken that cannot be made with human vocal cords.

an example: siren songs! sirens/merfolk/sea elves have two voice boxes: one for their regular voice, and one for communicating underwater. with enough practice, they can use both at the same time to create their version of arcane tongue, to lure fish, people, and other Things to where they are. they can also use this magic as a sort of Bardic Inspiration (if yall know DnD), to stir the emotions in the listener’s heart. :3

another example: callistite’s spells. the callistites are a species whose magic is very unique; its the ability to see, hear, speak with, and command spirits (detached souls) and the very outer bits of souls. basically it’s necromancy lol. they don’t have a fancy voice box or anything like the merfolk, but their voices carry a specific frequency that is only picked up by spirits, and some animals (like crows, ravens, vultures, most scavengers, basically anything associated with death). sometimes this is felt within someone’a soul, but it’s too deep for them to really feel it in their conscious mind.

yeah :} I think there are more species that have this, but I still need to develop more stuff so we shall SEE

thank you for reading if you have lmao

Thinking about how it seems that spells, in most magic systems, are cast by speaking them, right. You spell a spell and it's cast. So it's kind of like the magic resides in the words? In the sound?

But it's sorta funny. What a coincidence, that spells are the language people in this setting can speak. And then I was like "wait. What if spells were cast in something humans can't even speak...?"

So I raise you: Magic system in which the spells are to be cast by sounds that... human vocal chords can't make. There's a few animals that can, but they don't have the sapience to. This way the only way people can spellcast is by using machines (imagine if magic was "discovered" relatively late because of that) or musical instruments.

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yknow what they say

be who you are… for your PRIIIIIDE (I have had that video stuck in my head for far too long)

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Saying this right fucking now.

I don’t want to see ANY of you touching that fuckass new Harry Potter series.

That woman has set us back YEARS. YEARS. And whose money is she using to do it? People who continually support her and her sorry excuse for a book series.

If you simply must watch it? Pirate. It’s not hard.

Do not give her money. Do not give her a platform. Do not contribute. Please.

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happy PRIDE i’m here i’m queer and i believe the land should be given back to the proper indigenous stewards.

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I FORGOT MY GLASSES END ME

[Image ID: half a purple heart with a little guy inside of it, yellow lettering above reads “ILY!” with some smaller hearts surrounding it. End ID]

may or may not have forgotten about this my baddddd 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[Image ID: the same heart from before, now completed with a teal one, with me inside! I have brown skin, a blue hijab, and a teal and grey shirt. I make a heart with my hands. Dark blue lettering above reads: “LYT!” with more little hearts surrounding it. End ID]

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[Image ID: half a purple heart with a little guy inside of it, yellow lettering above reads “ILY!” with some smaller hearts surrounding it. End ID]

may or may not have forgotten about this my baddddd 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[Image ID: the same heart from before, now completed with a teal one, with me inside! I have brown skin, a blue hijab, and a teal and grey shirt. I make a heart with my hands. Dark blue lettering above reads: “LYT!” with more little hearts surrounding it. End ID]

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“A Tour Around the Lab”

me when I lock INNNN

ID in alt text — fair warning it’s a bit long

guys I’m genuinely so proud of this like LOOK AT THE GURLS!!!! THEY ARE REAL!!!! 🫵

also this might be Kaiden’s new design. I fw it heavyyyy — and it’s a lot more fun to draw.

I was playing around with backgrounds???? and then this happens???? goodness. I had too much fun I need to do this again ong

for the people that like context, I can imagine this taking place a little bit before this snippet ^^

closeups and art tag list under the cut:

art taglist!

@bamber344 @inspirationallybored @leahnardo-da-veggie @cepheusgalaxy

@urnumber1star @melodxi @write-with-will @teratheo @bioniclechronicles

@oros-ash3s @satohqbanana @carb0n-m0n0xide @ominous-faechild @sunflowerrosy

@megandaisy9 @ashandamen @illarian-rambling @corinneglass

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To fit the theme of the world I figured out that they use pearls for money! They weigh pearls, and pearls have to be made with a fleck of gold at the center to be seen as official currency. When made with gold, they are able to harden, which makes them easier to identify against many counterfeits. Pearl farms are heavily regulated for this reason. Other metals given to the mollusks can produce other pearls with different sheens, but to prevent illegal currency they are not ones of monetary value and are instead used for fashion. Some communities will trade in other pearls, but these are often poorer districts or villages who don't have access to gold pearls on a daily basis.

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Summer's Stag, Swift, Stern, Soft- Part 1!

Frost crept up on the threshold of Yize's camp like Death on his horse. She fended it off with a fire, wide-brimmed hat covering her face, warming her hands as she slept on her travel pack.

Somewhere in the distance, a beast howled. Larn-wolf, perhaps. Or maybe a shiikae. She ignored it as well as she could, wrapping her scarf around her ears and closing her eyes.

Cunzhuan, the nearest town, was a half day ride, and Yize had about a day's worth of supplies left. Everything would be fine, if only she had a horse to ride. Unfortunately for her, her beloved Masi was dead, victim to a holebug that clamped its iron jaws on his ankle. So she had best hope her stomach and foraging skills could handle the miserable walk there. 

The beast howled again. Definitely a larn-wolf. The sound had that twang to it, a signal to other larns to not steal its prey. She pitied the poor fool who had gotten in its sights. 

But not enough to save them. No, Yize knew how futile it was to rescue someone out here in the bitter moors. Better to pray for a swift death than a miraculous saving. 

She had done it before. It was so easy. Just roll over, ignore the screams, and sleep well, thankful that that poor soul had been the meal and not you. She repeated it to herself insistently. She had better things to do than save an idiot who went out into the moors at night.

Unfortunately for her, she had not been born without a heart. Hers was quite loud. Before she could think better of it, Yize was on her feet, hat on her head, sword half unsheathed. She was running towards the howling even as she told herself to go to sleep. 

The larn-wolf was young, a solo male out looking for dinner, out to prove his worth to his pack and obtain a mate. Its quills were still soft, teeth closer to steel than the adamantium that they were fabled to be, eyes glowing softer than the fireflies.

It never stood a chance. 

Yize's sword cleaved through its head before it noticed her. Her feet had been swift and steady, body twisting with the motion of her blade. The decapitated larn-wolf head tumbled down the hill, stopping only at the feet of its would-be victim.

Almost instantly, Yize regretted her actions. She had abandoned her pack— a coyote would surely be gnawing on her jerky by now — and went off to rescue some random soul, like a self-righteous fool. 

Still, there was nothing she could do to change it now. She wiped her sword on the edge of her shirt and strutted down to meet her damsel in distress.

Said damsel was, in fact, a man. He had an effeminate face and a sleek figure, sure, but a man nonetheless. He turned as she approached, smiling widely. 

“Well, if it isn't my saviour,” the man said. His eyes glinted violet in the moonlight, dark hair slick like the stars trapped in oil. Magic hung about his too-clean clothes, a scent of jasmine and incense. “Nice hat.”

Yize stood at an arm's length. “You're a witch,” she stated. “I just saved a witch.”

“What, me?” He pressed a hand to his chest, affronted. “I take umbrage with that statement! I'm no more a witch than you are, cursed one.”

Yize all but flinched at his words. Her hands found her sword again, and the witch backpedaled. 

“Now, now, let's not be hasty,” he said. “I'm not judging you for having a curse, so I do hope you don't judge me for dabbling with Words. You did save my life, after all, and I would hate for all your hard work to go to waste.” He slicked his hair back nervously. “Why not work together instead? A friend gained is a struggle halved, after all.”

“I have never heard that statement in my life,” Yize told him flatly. “And I work alone. Begone, witch.”

She made to leave, and the witch followed her. “Come on, now,” he wheedled, “At least exchange names with me, and share a campfire. I could give you a charm to ward off danger, if you gave me some time. It simply wounds me to walk off without repaying the blood-debt.”

That word— debt —made Yize stop in her tracks. “Nobody owes me a debt,” she said firmly. “You most certainly do not.”

“Uhhh, I say otherwise,” the witch replied, flitting around her. His long coat fluttered in the wind. “And what do you know about blood-debts to reject them so, mortal woman? Such things are the prerogative of witches and other creatures of the night.”

Yize sighed. “So you admit you are a witch, at least. Twice I say begone, son of the night. When that reaches thrice, I shall draw my sword upon you. A cursed one such as I does not fear what you might do in retaliation.”

“Brave woman. Foolish woman.” He gave her a wan smile. “My name is Deng, before you chase me off. Remember it well, and call for me thrice whence you need it.”

“I shall not, Deng. Now—” And the witch was gone, before she even finished her sentence. “Ugh, whatever.”

Yize stomped back to her campfire. It was still lit, thank the gods, and her bag untouched. In a huff, she laid back down on it, looking up at the stars.

Trillions of them, there were, right beside Anshile's twin moons. They twinkled in the sky, constellations she remembered by heart, disrupted only by…

“Lanterns,” Yize said with a soft smile. So it was that time of the year. Wanderer that she was, she had not realised Summer’s leap across the sky was at its apex. 

Twenty of them, she counted. Twenty paper lanterns, drifting across the sky like jellyfish, trails of wishes brushing against the top of the trees. A single nightingale sang its song somewhere in the distance, and Yize slept, safe in the great wilderness.

Then dawn came.

They say Dawn rides a great Hawk, just like Dusk with his Falcon, and Noon with the Eagle. Yize found herself awoken by a gunshot, and a bird falling from thin air. It landed on her stomach, which hurt like a bitch. 

She shot up, looking for the perpetrator of this foul crime. It was none other than sharp-eyed, gun-toting youth, with a triumphant grin.

“Hail,” Yize said to her, holding the dead creature with one unamused hand, and resting the other on her hip.

“Hail indeed,” she replied, laughing. “A hail of birds! Did you see that? My gun took it straight out of the sky! And it's still whole! That pheasant could feed a family. Mother will be most pleased indeed.” 

Yize signed. “Your mother will not be pleased, least of all because isn't a pheasant. Look at the crest on it.”

The girl peered closely at the bird. “It's golden?” she offered. “I don't see what difference that makes.”

“You shot a mimic, kid. Its crest is graying at the roots. This thing's inedible,” Yize said tiredly. “Some witch made this and released it for fun.” She paused. “I can think of who did it.”

“Oh?” Almost instantly, the girl perked back up. “You know witches? Can you introduce me to them?”

For one moment, Yize wanted to take a good swing at the idiot child. “No, I will not. Witches are nothing but trouble, and you should not associate yourself with them.”

The girl pouted. “But why-y? I wanna meet witches! I wanna learn magic! Imagine what I could do with that power,” she exclaimed.

“Imagine what you would have to do to get that power. Imagine what it would do to you.” She placed one hand on the little huntress' back. “Come on now, let us go home.”

The girl pouted. “Who are you to tell me what to do? I have seen the rise and fall of sixteen cycles, lain upon the altar of Guanyin and brought about the death of many a foul beast! There is no need for some… vagrant to mother me like a moorhen!”

Yize pressed her lips together. “Alright, brave and mighty warrior. Where do you make your home? I would gladly hunt some edible foul beasts for your family.”

Chastened, the girl nodded. “I will lead you there. Mother and Father do not mind taking in strays once in a while.”

So they went, the would-be warrior and the would-rather-not, to the place that had once been a home.

It was a smoking crater, reeking of magic deep and dark. The surrounding vegetation, shrubs and trees and rows of once-perfect crops, was wilted, life drained out from it in a perfect circle the size of a summons grid.

It reeked. Of blood and screams. Of sulfur and fire. Of scents only dead men knew. Yize tasted the bitterness of the air, and recognised it at once for what it was: the birthplace of something evil.

She shoved the child behind her. “Cock your gun and be wary,” she warned.

“Wary of what?” Stripped of her arrogance, the girl clung to Yize's coat. 

“Whatever drained the life from this place and made a body for itself,” Yize said. “This work of magic was fresh; two days at most. When did you last venture from your home?”

“I- Last week? I think? I went on the summer solstice pilgrimage to the temple in Laoshan, and then stayed at my cousin Qianlai's house for a night in Cunzhuan on my way back,” she said. “Do you think the one who made that mimic did this too?”

It was an almost laughable thought. “No,” Yize said firmly. “A Summoner of such power would not be fooling about with pheasant-mimics. They would be far too great for that.” 

“Oh.” The girl did not know what to think of that. She did not want to think at all, to be honest.

“My parents… they have to be at Cunzhuan. Right?” The girl looked up at Yize, close enough that the tassels of her hat brushed against her forehead. “Right?”

Yize was not a soft woman. The wilderness swallowed soft women. The curse would have devoured a soft woman. So she gave the kid a hard smile. “I doubt it. Let's get going.”

And then she was off, striding back down the road towards civilisation, leaving a little hunter-girl trotting to keep up with a sinking feeling in her chest.

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“A Tour Around the Lab”

me when I lock INNNN

ID in alt text — fair warning it’s a bit long

guys I’m genuinely so proud of this like LOOK AT THE GURLS!!!! THEY ARE REAL!!!! 🫵

also this might be Kaiden’s new design. I fw it heavyyyy — and it’s a lot more fun to draw.

I was playing around with backgrounds???? and then this happens???? goodness. I had too much fun I need to do this again ong

for the people that like context, I can imagine this taking place a little bit before this snippet ^^

closeups and art tag list under the cut:

art taglist!

@bamber344 @inspirationallybored @leahnardo-da-veggie @cepheusgalaxy

@urnumber1star @melodxi @write-with-will @teratheo @bioniclechronicles

@oros-ash3s @satohqbanana @carb0n-m0n0xide @ominous-faechild @sunflowerrosy

@megandaisy9 @ashandamen @illarian-rambling @corinneglass

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AAF1: Chapter Eight: Halek: Lose-Lose Situation

content notices: swearing, sibling relationship

Halek was alerted to the problem by a shriek of "What the fuck!" from the backyard. 

That could very well mean they'd been discovered, so he dashed out before anyone else could, pushing too hard and straining his knee along the way.

Talí was standing at the open door to the root cellar, staring into it. They took a step forward and jabbed their finger into one of the shadowed figures inside, eliciting a yelp.

"WHAT THE FUCK," Talí repeated.

"Close it!" Halek said urgently.

Talí slammed the door and whirled on him. "There's people in our shed. There's the Younger Emperor in our shed. You can't tell me it's not real, I touched them, they're real and they're there in our shed, why are they in our shed?"

"There was… a mistake," said Halek cagily. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of.

"Just tell me the truth," said Talí. "For once just tell me the truth. I deserve to know what's going on."

The ever-present pit of guilt in Halek's stomach deepened. 

"I'm… involved in some things that I can't talk about," Halek said. "You know that."

"I think we're past that when there's royalty in our shed. The less you tell me the worse I'll have to assume, and the worse everyone else will have to assume." 

"You can't tell them!" said Halek. 

"Then tell me what's going on!" Talí thumped their fist against their leg. "Why won't you ever just trust me?"

"Some of the people I'm involved with made a rash decision," said Halek. "I didn't know what to do so now the Younger Enperor and a gardener are in our backyard." He paused. "It's not… it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that the more people who know, the less secure it is." 

"This doesn't seem very secure." 

"It was a mistake!" 

"I want to help," said Talí. "Whatever you're doing, I want to help. You know how I feel about the empire."

Indeed he did. Everyone knew how Talí felt about the empire. They did not have good judgement on who should know what. "No." 

"I'll keep your secret if you let me help," said Talí. "If you don't let me help I'm telling our parents about the kids in our root cellar." 

"Don't be like that," said Halek, the pit in his stomach more fear than guilt now. "Please, Talí, I can't- you shouldn't have to deal with this stuff."

"I'm fifteen, not five," said Talí. "I want to be involved. I'm good at patterns, and I speak almost as many languages as you, and I can keep it secret, and you've already kind of involved me with this whole situation, and I'm going to end up involved some way or another and I would rather it be with you because I can trust you." 

"I'm just trying to protect you," Halek said. Maybe he should have tried to convince Talí it wasn't real, but- no, Talí already couldn't trust their own senses, and Halek wasn't going to contribute to that. He was a shitty, manipulative liar and a terrible brother, but that would have been a bridge too far. 

If Talí got involved with this, with QD, they could get hurt. They could end up in prison, and Halek would not have what had happened to him happen to his little sibling. They could die. 

But if he refused, and they told, that would get everyone in the house irrevocably involved, because then they couldn't claim ignorance. It would also make it much easier for the secret to leak out, because it would go from six- seven now, with Talí- people (not counting the kids) knowing to sixteen (again, not counting the kids). That was nine (really eight since Saujei wouldn't be able to communicate it and probably wouldn't understand at all, and in fairness Juraji was on the other side of the continent, but Halek was catastrophizing) more potential points of failure. 

Talí would be unsafe either way. 

"You can help with correspondence," said Halek finally. "There's encoding and decoding you can do." That would keep them separate from the really dangerous active situations, at least, and he could keep the identities of the other members of his cell from them so hopefully his comerades wouldn't be too upset with him for this breach of security protocol. "You can help me look after these two, too, if you want, I suppose. Maybe they'll be a bit less hostile to you than to me, although given that jab… it's a lot of work, anyway, and now that you know you might as well help." 

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Taglist (ask to be added/removed):

@cepheusgalaxy @seastarblue @asher-writes

@pomegranate-opossum @aro-villain @transmasc-wizard

@stabbydragon @softandwigglybones @albatris

@write-with-will @bloodmoodtrash @trixierosewrites @flock-from-the-void

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doing little RPs with friends >>>>

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prev actually hates bees and only has “bee-person” in their url to try and lull bees into a false sense of security

open tag lol

New REBLOG Game

Just fucking lie about the previous poster