#Frogs are easier to draw than humans

[kittenclifford]

sometimes you just gotta make ✨️frog Michael✨️ fanart for @clumsyclifford's fic

[peachypede]

Au: What if humans had pokemon types?

The idea struck me after seeing some of @bluebellowl ‘s art of Ingo and Emmet wielding flames and electricity and I was thinking ooo what if humans had typings.

Then I made an au with a bunch of headcanons…

More below the cut

(Almost forgot to add that I took some inspo from @critterbitter ‘s Elesa hairstyle because I love how they draw her hair in the back all spiky, electricy like in some of their drawing just yes)

- most humans are purely 1 type, but a rare person may have a dual typing. (Ingo and Emmet are dual types that cover their least publicly liked typing with their more favorable type)

- Some types are more stigmatized and feared than others for have abilities/features that are frightening: Bug, Ghost, Psychic, Poison and Dark types are the 5 most stigmatized groups.

- Most humans have very small or weak abilities, but some are capable of amazing feats.

- Humans tend to favor pokemon partners that share their typings since it’s easier to connect and communicate but some people do like opposite or different typings.

- When babies are born, they’re given a test to see what type they are so their parents will know how to handle their abilities.

- Each types abilities include:

Normal - Sadly, this typing doesn’t get much special abilities. They’re normal humans. A very, very rare normal type can send a hyper beam out of their mouth.

Fire - Can control small flames and are fire resistant. They can warm their bodies up to feverish temperatures without being sick. Some can breathe fire and have flame like hair. Fire types often have irrational fears of water.

Water - They can control small amounts of water. Their skin gets dried out easily and they have to take showers frequently or have humidifiers in their homes. A few individuals have gills that allows them to breathe fully underwater.

Grass - They can breathe life into plants and cause flowers to bloom. If they have a garden, they’ll produce giant and delicious fruit. Some can make plants move on their own, but this is a rare ability. When happy, a lot of grass-type people will sprout plants on their heads. Some even have plant like hair.

Electric - Able to cause small electric shocks and store bits of electricity. Can turn off and on appliances without touching them. Those who take time to learn can communicate with electric Pokémon using the electrical language all electric types know. They can also talk to humans in electric language who are electric types as well.

Ice - Freezing to the touch and tolerant to below zero temps. They can freeze the surface of water by touching their hand to it. They’re a rare type that hardly leave frosty mountain cities and towns because they’re prone to overheating in warmer weather.

Fighting - Stronger than other humans, but few reach true inhumane strength. Rare individuals have an extra set of arms like Machamp. Most take pride in their strength and hone their skills their entire lives.

Poison - Immune to poisons, some even have poisonous breath or saliva. Most of them have to wear masks around people who aren’t fellow poison types. Some individuals have multicolored skin, like frogs warning others that they’re dangerous. People of this type like steel types, because they can remove their masks for once around these people who are immune to them.

Ground - Can feel vibrations in the ground and if they learn, can properly use this as another sense of sight and see things underground. Rare individuals can make the ground shake and have long claws for digging. Some families are known for living underground where they feel more at ease.

Flying - they have a very keen eye for long distance sight. Lots of people with this type have wings. Not all can fly, since one needs large wings and hollow bones to do so, but some can. Most however are gliders. Some have feathers instead of body hair.

Psychic - People with this type usually have one “talent” ability, such as levitating objects or seeing the future. It’s rare for an individual to have more than one of these talents but it has happened before. They’re seen as power houses amongst the other types for their special abilities and usually are seen offering their services in exchange for coin.

Bug - They can attract a lot of bug type pokemon to them via pheromones and with practice, they can even control them. Like ants, bug types can talk through pheromones like alerting to danger, creating trails, or even just generally talking like electric types do (its not all just attracting mates although bugs are more likely to be attracted to other bug people) Grass types dislike the smell of bug types, whereas flying types get hungry around them. Rumor has it that bugs can control others through their pheromones but its just a rumor. Pheromones make it easy to persuade, but can’t truly control people.

Rock - They have skin as tough as rocks and most can dig through rock itself. Rare people look like a cluster of rocks themselves. They dislike water since it erodes away their skin, so they take mud baths and showers instead.

Ghost- Many can float above the ground and go through walls. Similar to ice types, They are cold to the touch. They can see ghost type pokemon even if they are invisible. Rare abilities are being able to see and commune with human spirits. (And only once a century is there an individual who has truly open eyes and can see the entire world of the dead walking amongst the living) People who fear this type spread rumors that ghost types are evil and can raise the dead to do their bidding, but these are only rumors.

Dragon - Noble types that are descended from long blood lines. A lot of individuals have scales and wings and claws. Rare ones can breathe fire. Once in every 100 years there will be a dragon-type who can communicate and wield their type’s pokemon with high efficiency, even mighty legendaries. Families of dragons can be very prideful and look down on other types. Noble families don’t like their children mingling or marrying other types.

Dark - A stigmatized group to the point that their typing is labeled as the “evil” type in some languages. Many have a bad luck effect on the people around them and some can sense disasters before they happen. Dark types often are lonely because of their bad luck charm abilities make other people wary of them.

Steel - Most in this group have skin that shines like a type of metal and are able to bend metals in their hands. They’re immune to poison and bug types abilities, and often are friends with these stigmatized types because of this.

Fairy - This group have small magical abilities and unluck the dark type, they have a lucky effect around them. Some individuals have wings, some have unnaturally colored hair. Fairies have a high social standings with other types because they’re thought to do nothing wrong, when fairies actually often have trouble makers in the midst of them taking advantage of this.

[fakemonexperiments]

any tips for drawing grass type pokemon?

grass types, despite the name, are actually about the concept of plants/vegetables rather than strictly being plants. this is why mushroom pokemon (amogus etc) are considered grass types.

my general process for grass pokemon is about the same as any other pokemon except that

pick a plant or fungus. determine the defining characteristics of this plant or fungus and what would make it unique and interesting, either to the naked eye or in terms of function/role in the ecosystem. be as specific with this plant or fungus as possible - this will make it easier for you to highlight defining traits.

find another concept to marry with your plant. this will help you anthropomorphise it but also give depth to your pokemon. this can be anything - a literal animal (bulbasaur is a frog-dinosaur mixed with a flower bulb), a character type (shiftry is a ninja), or something more abstract/referential (applin worm in an apple). think about whether this pokemon comes in groups, like paired pokemon or an evolution line. how does it interact with other pokemon? if in an evolution line, base stages tend to be simpler and much more aligned with seeds/sprouts, while fully evolved forms are flowering/mature plants. alternatively, you could just pick a bigger version of an adjacent plant (see cacnea and cacturne). pokemon tend to develop more arms and legs as they get bigger, also.

characterise your pokemon. what’s their personality like? how would this appeal to a child? for this I like to use the five contest appeals (cool, smart, beautiful, tough, cute) and sort of pick 1-2 that i think will work. write 2 pokedex entries - this should help you determine how your pokemon would function in the wild, or how it interacts with humans! around this time, you can also finish off the laundry list of pokemon characteristics: things like type, stats, and so on.

now that you have your pokemon concept clearly laid out, it’ll be much easier for you to draw the pokemon. the complexity of your drawing should scale with A) the evolution stage and B) box legendary-itis. in general however, you should think of the pokemon as something that a child should be able to draw if they tried hard enough. for grass pokemon, focus on your concept and see how you can break it down into simplified shapes (e.g. virizion does not look like a real life deer, it looks like a very stylised deer slimmed down to reflect a sort of elegance). simplify the shapes and proportions. remember that this isn’t necessarily about what the things you’re drawing from look like in real life, but something that should be easily parseable to a child. lastly, try to convey their personality: through their size, shape, pose.

grass types lean towards being green because of the generalised plant theme, but this is not the only colour a grass pokemon can be. even grass starters don’t have to be fully green - think rowlet and green bowtie as an accent. pick the colours that work best for the vibe you want to give off: they do not have to be realistic to your plant or animal at all. shiinotic is purple because it glows in the dark, not because shiitakes are purple. do whatever you want 🙏

at this point I feel like I should give an example of a grass pokemon I’ve designed, so here’s coconaught again:

I started with the concept of a coconut, but I wanted to do something different from alolan exeggutor. I always kind of thought that the three holes in a coconut kind of looked like its face, so that of course became its face. when I doodled a first draft, it looked somewhat haunted, which gave me the idea to give it a secondary ghost typing! coconuts are naturally round, so the silhouette was easy but too simple - I gave it the coconut tree/sprout to make it distinct at first glance what the pokemon was intended to be. then I trialed different legs (whether one leg to hop around on or two legs to waddle on) and sort of settled on this mr game & watch type legs, which had a sort of synergy with the haunted/ghosty nature of it all. I think I went for something cute but in a kind of spooky way - sort of mimikyu-adjacent. then I named it coconaught (coconut + naught as in nothing, to convey the sense of hollowness). anyway I think he’s really good. hope that helps

[chaletnz]

Amazon: Ayahuasca Ceremony

I made my way up the hill to the temple around 8.30 for my spiritual awakening. Maestro Alfredo was there waiting for me, and Rodrigo and Segundo (a guy who worked in the kitchen) were both also there. The American couple had backed out at the last moment so it would just be three of us drinking under Maestro Alfredo’s guidance. He introduced himself and told us how he had drank his first ayahuasca at 15 years old with his uncle who taught him all the shamanic practices - he is now 70 years old and has drunk ayahuasca thousands of times. Maestro Alfredo told me to trust him and our ceremony began as a torrential downpour of rain started. First he gave me a few drops of some “Amazon perfume” and I was instructed to rub it over myself. Then the cup of ayahuasca was poured. I took a whiff as I held the small wooden cup, it didn’t smell good but certainly not too bad. I was instructed to introduce myself to the ayahuasca and then drink the full cup in one go. It tasted a lot worse than it smelled so I had to do it in two sips rather than one. I sat back down, then Rodrigo and Segundo took their dose. By this time it was 9pm and the generator was turned off to throw us all into complete darkness. All there was to do now was wait, cradling my sick bucket until the aya kicked in.

The first thing I noticed was that my sense of sound was far heightened. It could’ve been the darkness or the aya, I’m not sure, but I could hear the rain as well as every other sound of the jungle like croaking frogs. I had a loud ringing in my right ear which sounded like a chainsaw - it couldn’t be, so I figured  it must be a boat. In hindsight though, it was raining so heavily and the nearest boat with an engine would have to be about a mile or two away, it was probably my imagination. I was able to slow down the individual sounds and isolate them to listen in more carefully and that’s when I really felt like I was on drugs. The shaman regularly performed songs with his “instrument”, a flax brush, and singing to Ayahuasca to give us her energy. I tried to see some visions asking Aya internally for a glimpse of my future if she would be so kind to show me. In the pitch blackness I started to see coloured outlines drawing themselves, a spark of blue and then an outline of a cat - throughout the night I saw some greens and pinks too drawing random shapes but the cats were recurring, big jungle cat faces like a jaguar, or puma. Most of the visions were hard to make out, a lot of human and animal eyes, I did make out my mum’s face at one point, as well as something else that looked like a cartoon Pokémon but there was nothing super distinct other than the multiple cats. In my head there was some shouting back and forth which sounded like a domestic argument and was kind of scary although I couldn't make out the words. I felt my stomach churning as time passed and eventually I threw up about three times which burned my throat a lot. I started to hear snippets of music in my head, they sounded like songs I’d listen to but not so familiar that I knew them. It seemed like someone had a radio on but I think it was my imagination because I wouldn’t have been able to hear it over the rain if there was one. Maestro Alfredo told me to focus on the messages in my head rather than the images, as I’d said they were weak and hard to see when he asked me what I saw/heard/felt. I thought about my mum, she is the most important. I also had thoughts about my brain not being able to trip “properly” maybe something is wired wrong or different or possibly I have a health issue? About an hour in I realised it was easier to see the visions with my eyes open just staring into the darkness because I was so tired, my body wanted to sleep but the visions are not dreams so I needed to be conscious. I would see maybe three or four continuous sparks of colour making a line drawing of a shape and then changing to another one but then it would fade out into the black. There was nothing so profound or enlightening that I saw or felt or thought and after an hour and a half it seemed to get weaker still and Maestro was closer than before. He’d sounded very far away compared to the boat/chainsaw and the rain and jungle noises when he’d been performing his songs. He said I probably could’ve taken more but he didn’t recommend it now because I’d be up for hours longer. I was tired and the waves of hot and cold had landed on cold also from the wind and rain - at 11pm I pulled on my hoody but was still cold. Wild as I had been sweating the entire time since I’d landed in Iquitos airport. I wanted to lie down in bed but Segundo and Rodrigo were still tripping hard so I had to wait about another 20 minutes for them to come down enough to be able to walk back. The walk back was tricky, pouring rain and a slippery grass slope to climb over, Rodrigo also had to stop at a tree to throw up a lot. Once I got back to my room I felt almost completely lucid though. I tried to sleep but I was still seeing a few coloured sparks trying to draw outlines, I saw a house with a straw thatched roof on fire and others I couldn’t make out before I finally drifted off feeling restless and weak.

The experience was enjoyable, but I didn't feel the enlightenment I think I was expecting from it. I had requested a lesser dose from the Maestro as I was afraid. I would try ayahuasca again, and I would take a full dose, or even slightly more, now I am not afraid of it.

Myself and the shaman Maestro Alfredo

[burnwater13]

Grogu knew that one of the big problems with an Empire that stripped resources from countless planets and turned those materials into weapons was that you would find those weapons almost anywhere.

How Sorgan, a peaceful, green, agrarian planet, had even ended up with an AT-ST on it was a mystery to him. The people he’d met certainly had no use for it. But the people who threatened them with it certainly had a purpose. They wanted to steal stuff. But what stuff were they actually stealing?

Sorgan was a big planet with a small population by all accounts. If the folks with the AT-ST wanted to work, it seemed to Grogu that they had plenty of land to go around. They could be farmers. Or craftspeople or anything like that. But they chose to be bullies.

But being a bully was a lot of work. The instant you let your guard down the people you bullied had a chance to get away. Or organize. Which is exactly what the folks from the farming collective did as soon as they heard that a Mandalorian had landed on the planet. 

That had been interesting. Sorgan didn’t seem to have a lot of technology to hand. After all, they farmed little shrimp critters called krill. Were they shrimp or fish? Grogu didn’t know. But whatever they were, that stuff got turned into Spotchka. A blue drink. All the locals drank it.

The Mandalorian didn’t let Grogu try the Spotchka, although he had some. Grogu was disappointed with that. The Spotchka was a fascinating color blue, like the critters it was made from. He liked blue foods. He didn’t know why; he just did.

But they had found out about Din Djarin and Grogu had to smile at that. The Mandalorian really didn’t like being ‘found’. He much rather be the person doing the finding. 

They traveled to the collective and that was pretty fun. The People there were nice. They had a lot of young humans there which was good from Grogu’s perspective. Young humans tended to be smaller and that made it a lot easier for him to interact with them. They liked to run around and place games, another good thing.

The Mandalorian was good about making sure he was fed and had enough sleep and stuff like that. He’d saved him from the Imps and that made a huge difference to Grogu’s quality of life. But, if living with a Mandalorian had one draw back, it was the fact that they didn’t seem to play very much. They were very serious, purposeful people. Which, in Grogu’s opinion, caused them to miss out on some of the finer things in life. Like chasing frogs.

Sorgan had a one eyed frog, called the Sorgan frog (very imaginative). They were blue like the rest of the critters. They were also plentiful and tasty. The kids that it was fun to run after them. Grogu had to agree. But they weren’t as keen on eating them whole as he was. Someone, probably Winta, complained that they were still alive! Yup. They were. They aren’t anymore.

The Mandalorian didn’t do stuff like that. On the other hand, he was pretty good at organizing the people to defend themselves against the bullies with the AT-ST. The villagers did the heavy work, but Din Djarin and his new friend, Cara Dune, managed to stop the bullies from raiding the collective. Grogu still didn’t understand what they hoped to gain by attacking it in the first place, but much like the Empire that had left junk around for them to use, it didn’t have to make sense. Greedy people were always motivated by taking more than their fair share. 

Grogu wondered if that’s why the Mandalorian didn’t want to stay on Sorgan. He was afraid that Grogu’s love of the blue frogs would make him become greedy and a bully. Or he just didn’t like all the water there. It took a while to clean after getting all the krill in it. Grogu laughed because it had turned as blue as spotchka for a while. Maybe Din was worried that Grogu would mistake him for a Sorgan frog? 

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

There's a lot of pictures and comics about the Calamity Trio smoochin but not so much of the frogs smoochin (*cough cough Ivy/Sprig/Maddie *cough cough Polly/Pearl), do you have plans for future comics or drawings for that?

Love your art!

I think it’s because that the Trio being humans it’s easier to imagine and draw them kissing, meanwhile the Amphibian designs r a bit harder to make it look good other than a kiss on the cheek. Idk if I have any plans to try and draw it but who knows

Thank ya’z

[skyfirecn]

Third part of s3 No Patience AU!

The two humans discuss saving Anne and Sasha apologizes for being so stupid about Amphibia, because human or not, they’re still people and still matter, and the two vow to get Anne and Maddie out of there and stop King Andrias. Yunan and Marcy’s discussion is after; Marcy is actually the one to bring it up and apologizes properly for lying to Yunan, explaining her reasoning but going on to say that if still wasn’t the right course of action, and that she’ll try to do better. Yunan accepts this apology for the moment, but refrains from forgiving Marcy completely. They arrive and the plan, derived straight from War of the Warlocks, goes about as well as canon. They fight a mind-controlled Anne guarding the throne room and set her free before continuing in trying to find the music box, but are tricked by Magi, finally revealing themselves. Knowing about the plan thanks to Marcy gushing to Maddie about the movie (and possibly showing her), they lock the group up and use robots to keep the rest of the army busy while Andrias comes in and locks them all up in the contraption from canon. He explains that they need the energy inside Marcy to open a portal large enough for the castle to go through, and that this was all bait to get her right where they wanted her. Using the box, they draw Marcy’s power out to be used with the power in the stones themselves and use it to open a giant portal in the sky, the action knocking Marcy out as they go through. The invasion kicks off in much the same manner, the group having to use Frobo to break free of their constraints and waking Marcy up after they land safely. They regroup with Mr. X alongside Dr. Jan all decked out in high-tech gear and ready to kick butt, getting themselves in order at Saint James Middle School. Their plan is for Sasha, Yunan, Grime and Olivia to attack and weaken Andrias while Marcy and Sprig go to confront Magi - they hope that by targeting the brains behind the operation, Andrias will be easier to take down and that their failings will lead to openings to take down both figureheads. Yunan insists, however, that she join Marcy in fighting Magi, disgusted at The Core for how it’s puppeteering Maddie. With Sasha and her crew alongside Polly going for Andrias, Marcy, Yunan and Sprig find and confront Magi once again in the throne room. Marcy accesses her powers, but Magi proves more than capable of going toe to toe with her, until the three are all beaten down and Marcy uses sheer force of will to get back up. This draws the remaining energy out of the stones and back into Marcy, powering her back up to her god-like state with her putting a hand to Magi’s helmet and instantly shutting it down. Sasha and Grime tag team it to deal as much damage to Andrias as possible, but Olivia deals the final blow with a laser gun Mr. X gave her to use, right through the heart, instantly killing him. Yunan and Marcy would have a teary reunion with Maddie, the frog bringing Yunan to fully forgive Marcy, just wanting to be friends again after everything, which the other girls are all for. Maddie also apologizes for lying to Yunan, but she assures them that Andrias was the one to truly betray her, by way of her scar. After putting a stop to the invasion, they’d head back, stopping the Rebellion by announcing their victory, Marcy celebrating with both of her friend groups. However, the final protocol would be enacted thanks to The Core being offline for a set amount of time, and they would be forced to confront the moon. Mother Olm would appear and tell them that this is what the prophecy referred to, but that it’s their choice, Anne and Sasha agreeing if only to keep the world Marcy cares about safe. Valeriana would use the box as a conduit to channel the power out of Marcy to give each girl their intended power, the three assuming their calamity forms. They’d fight the moon, Andrias’ robots helping a lot with pushing it back at Olivia’s command, but it would land a blow that sends them careening back down to Amphibia’s surface, battered and losing power.

[idiotcurls]

a place I call my home

What are we dealing with here, you ask? We got hurt/comfort, Steddie as dads, friends to lovers, domestic fluff, A PROPOSAL?, Eddie wants to be a cat dad too. After Vecna Universe. Found Family. All the things I love. It's very sappy

chapter 1 to build a home - the cinematic orchestra

It's a warm night in early summer. The door to the patio is open, faint sounds of crickets and frogs from the nearby creek make their way into the little family home, a small orchestra, to provide a soundtrack for the evening. The light on the wooden patio is on, attracting some moths, which are circling the bulb. The blanket and the book Steve was reading yesterday night are still on the Hollywood swing Dustin and Eddie repainted last spring. A flower is sticking out the well loved pages of Steve's copy of "pride and prejudice". Steve is using one of the flowers as bookmark he dried. He usually keeps one from every bouquet Eddie brings home. The kitchen curtains seem illuminated by the light from the lamp outside. Plants and burned down candles on the window sill. A worn down acoustic guitar leans on the wall, the strings sticking out the head. Eddie never cared to clip them. He has to change them at one point anyway, you know. Eddie is on sleepy time mission, convincing the little one to go to sleep, while Steve is cleaning up the kitchen. They had made Spaghetti with tomato sauce, the Italian recipe from Steve's grandma. He likes to press the garlic with the flat side of a knife before he peels them. It makes them easier to handle and also smells amazing. Eddie loves the recipe and basically bathes his plate of spaghetti with olive oil and parmigiano at the table. Steve thinks it's disgusting, but let's it happen anyway. Maybe he somehow grew fond of the whole ordeal. Maybe because he likes, that Eddie hums when he tastes something he enjoys. Steve likes to hear him hum on the dining table as much as he loves to hear him hum between their sheets, intimate moments exchanged like in a movie, which is shot on warm film, grainy but authentic. A child has some different ideas about eating noodles, than most grown ups do. Steve smiles at the little bit of chaos left on the dining table. He is almost certain, Eddie must have some bits of noodle in his hair from feeding their daughter, Rosie, who laughs loud and bangs her little hands on the table, full of joy about the plane of food flying towards her. Her dads making plane noises and pretending to be pilots making announcements about the destination. Flight noodle 237 ready to land, the weather is mild with chances of tomato sauce, please fasten your seatbelts for take down. Chaos means a house is lived in. Dirty dishes mean people shared a meal with each other. Happy and nourished. Like home. And it does feel so for Steve. Maybe for the first time in his life, it finally does feel like home, for Steve. He plugs the drain and lets the water fill the sink, soap creating bubbles that shine and pop. There are lots of plants in their living space, with big, green, juicy leaves. A picture that Will painted, hanging on the wall over the couch. Snapshots of Robin and Nancy, a picture of Argyle and Jonathan sitting on the couch, laughing with Erica, Lucas and Max on the fridge. A picture of the kid's graduation.

Little trinkets Eddie likes to collect on the filled bookshelves, lots of black cats somehow. A framed ultrasound picture. Some drawings. Letters, Postcards from Dustin when he was abroad for college. Toys on the ground. It's a little house, but it's enough. It never feels empty.

Soft light falls from of the small bedroom's dimmed lights, onto the wooden corridor floor. Eddie is reading a book to his stepdaughter. Not that he ever saw her as a step-anything. Those are just technicalities. Eddie adores that small human more than he previously thought he was able to adore someone. Eddie sees Steve's big brown eyes in her eyes, which are so kind and curious about the world around her. He wants to lay the world at her feet. And at her other dad's feet too. He likes to do Dungeon and Dragon voices, when he reads to her, but he tones them down a bit. Makes them less scary for her. Steve can hear Eddie's rumbling "dragon voice" and small giggles from their daughter. He shakes his head fondly. His heart is full. Almost overflowing.

He is standing by the sink, washing the night's dishes, when Eddie sneaks up behind him and wraps his arms around Steve's waist. He nuzzles into Steve's neck to drink in his scent. Eddie hums and Steve smiles, knowingly. "Look at you!", Eddie says softly. "My little home-maker. Maybe we should get you one of those frilly aprons, hmmm?" Steve puts a clean dish on the drying rack and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Maybe you can wear it next time you vacuum the living room." Steve is a bit snarky, but with no ill intent. Eddie had forgotten to vacuum that week, because he got carried away with his anniversary campaign. All of their lives were busy and full, so of course finding a date that worked for everyone to meet up is basically impossible. So, Hellfire D and D sessions became a rarity. But for the big 10 year anniversary, they decided to come together at Joyce and Hop's farm. Eddie begins to sway Steve's hips from side to side, to a melody that plays in his heart. “Maybe I can wear it with nothing under it.” Eddie smiles into Steve's neck as he hears Steve's little scoff. “I'm trying to do the dishes here, Eds...” “I can wear the apron and you can pretend to be my boss and you're going to be really strict with me and oh, no, I dropped my, uh... feather duster and then-” “Eddie...” “Fiiiiiine...” Eddie kisses Steve's shoulder before he sighs dramatically, as he goes to sit down on their big green couch with his guitar. Steve heard the tuning process so many times, he thinks he too could tune a guitar by ear, if he tried. Eddie likes to serenade his man with the songs he wrote for him, or Steve's favourites. He plays quietly, plucks lightly, as not to wake a certain someone, called Rosie. “Is she asleep?” “As much as she did not want to go to sleep, she is asleep now.”, Eddie says smiling into himself. The last bit of sunlight has faded completely and stars covered the sky. A summer breeze rustled through the trees and moved the curtains around softly. “Do you think we're going to have a thunderstorm?” Eddie looks out the window, furrowing his brows. “I've been waiting for one for a while, but I'm afraid it'll wake her...” “I hope not, I've got all my stuff outside and I really need a quiet evening... But uh hey, did you call the guy about the thing?” Steve unplugs the sink and dries his hands, before throwing the towel over his shoulder. Eddie smiles at that sentence. But he knows what Steve means. “Yeah, I called the car-insurance guy. We're all good.” “Good. Thank you. I don't want to drive to east-jesus-nowhere and like, something happens and then we'd have to deal with the bureaucracy of it all and I don't want to pay for a whole new car...” Steve gets two glasses out of the cabinet and grabs a bottle of wine for them, while he rambles. White for summer, Red for Winter. He switched a while ago. Steve smelled the air the other day and decided it smelled like summer enough for the change. Same in autumn. He calls that “going with the flow”. Eddie puts the guitar down and grabs the Swiss army knife from his leather jacket's pocket, that hangs on a chair, to help open the corked bottle. “Don't worry. It will all be fine. I know it's a long ride to Joyce and Jim. But we're going to travel like royals, compared to back then.”

Eddie saying Jim instead of Hopper or Mr.Officerman was a big step in their relationship. Eddie was a scared of cops, given his history, his dad's history more like, that was understandable. ' But Hop had always had a fleeting suspicion that it was Eddie's old man, who was the real culprit in the situation and for Eddie, he was just a kid back then, a kid who risked it all for the party and the world. Eddie is and always was a good kid in his books.

Steve gives one of the elegant white wine glasses he picked to Eddie and sighs deeply. “I know, we've just never drove that far with her...I know she's not sooo tiny any more...” Eddie fills their glasses and puts the bottle back on the couch table, puts his hand around Steve's shoulders.

“I bet you 10 bucks, she's going to sleep through most of it. Remember when she was really, really tiny and wouldn't stop crying because of the colics and you drove with her for hours, in your old BMW? She was asleep in minutes.” Steve leans into Eddie and takes a sip of his wine. He remembers those days. The Beemer's engine sounds relaxed her as much as it relaxed him. “Yeah. That's true. And I have to worry less, because you don't drive like a maniac any more.” “Exactly. I drive like a real gentleman, use my blinkers and everything.”, Eddie says smugly. Steve snorts and Eddie presses a kiss to Steve's cheek. “What's going on, really? Are you not happy to see the gang?”, Eddie asks. “Now that we are Dads we don't have to sleep in the pool house any more too.” “The pool house” is really a garden hut, that they renovated in a community effort. The kids didn't sleep on mattress forts any more, so a couple beds more isn't a bad move. “Well...” Steve begins. “Every time we are near Indiana, or drive through it, I feel my scars more than usual. It's probably psycho... somatic. Or whatever the doctors always say.” The doctor did say that. But doctors used to say a lot of things back then. Eddie nods and his eyes wander towards Rosie's door. Is there any way to know for sure, their collective scars flare up, just because they all remember. Like an anniversary effect? They remember so very well. Or is it some sort of poison that just took a place in all of their bodies, that calls back to the split up town, with it's craters and scars, the landscape endured, like their bodies and minds did. Some insane evil in the endless woods, still lurking. It's scary, no matter if it is real or psycho...somatic. “I think, that even if there is something out there. We're not our parents. We basically raised ourselves and then each other. We're like, professionals, at this point.”

Steve nods as his fingers trace along the faint scars on his neck, which healed and faded long ago. “You know, now that we have her, I understand Joyce's horror and her constant worries better.”, Steve says. “Yeah, I wasn't really around when Will- when it started.” Eddie leans forward to put his glass on the table, to wrap his arms tighter around Steve's shoulders, melts into him, as if he was able to suck the sorrow out of him, somehow. Steve looks up into Eddie's eyes. They are still as big and bright as they were, when they were younger. Big, sad deer eyes, Robin said. But they seem glazed over. “We were just kids then.”, Steve's voice feels small. “We were.”, Eddie answers, swallowing heavily. No kid should be left alone like that. Even though Eddie always had Wayne to believe in him, when there were cars full of people looking for “the freak”.

There is nothing more to say to that statement. No use to talk it away or make it feel smaller. That would not do justice to their collective past. An unused kitty litter box, filled with cat food, toys and other bits and bops a household with a cat needs, stands in a nook of the garage. It pops into Eddie's mind. Somewhere in the garage is another small box hidden, that Steve has never seen before. It pops into his mind too, like a lightbulb that was lit. Eddie's heart starts racing. It feels like now or never. “You know...”, he begins. “When we come back from Joyce and Jim's, we could finally go to the shelter and look for a kitty. I know, I love black cats, sue me, but honestly, I just want to give a cat a home, I don't really care about the colouration, or if it has stripes or not. It could have an amputated tail, or no ears, I would love it.” Eddie rambles and Steve tries to follow, furrowing his brows, given the sudden change of topic. “It doesn't have to be a kitten either, every cat needs to be loved. And during summer, you're off school and I have less work, probably. So, we can spend time with it. So the cat can get used to us. It's a good opportunity, to teach our little princess about animals and that we love them. And after that, when we mastered the cat-baby stuff, maybe, I thought, we could get married, you know. I don't think the cat can be a ring bearer, like dogs sometimes do though. But wouldn't that be nice?” Steve freezes for a second there, sits up and looks at Eddie and every muscle in Eddie's body tenses. He stopped breathing for a second there too. All Eddie can hear is the wind outside and the wind chime on the patio and his own heart beat. Eddie was never a religious guy, but in that very second, he reached out to some sort of deity. Anyone who would listen to him, really. Steve's mouth falls open, still staring at his boyfriend. Eddie is looking anywhere but him, just sort of stares ahead. “What?”, Steve manages. “I thought, that if the cat doesn't have a tail, it maybe have some problems with, I don't know, balance or something... but there might be therapy...”

“No, Eddie. No. Not the cat!!” Part two "toughter than the rest" coming soon <3

[soysaucevictim]

“it feels like my brain (was floating in a fishtank)”

(See warnings/summary on Ao3.)

[ Prologue/Start ] [ Previous ]

Chapter 10: When Shall I Be Free?

Vic noticed Roman acting strange, a lot like Remus had before he made Jude.

So he wasn’t as blindsided when Roman asked to come with him to work, otherwise, out of nowhere. Roman was twitchy and distracted, as Vic refreshed his kid on where everything was at the zoo. Roman was never as interested in the animals there as Remus and it had been years since Roman was last here. 

Vic knew if he hadn’t had the blessing of knowing his sons their whole life – he’d probably be confused about why they were so different about it. Vic agreed with Remus on the animals being better than people, humans also being animals taken into account, it really was like the kid sort of knew what he was on some level?

Roman was very visibly uncomfortable with basically any animal species that had some sort of nonsense stigma attached to them. The last time Roman was even at the zoo ended in him being spooked by watching one of the ambassador komodo dragons tearing apart a deer carcass behind the scenes. It was like he desperately wanted to separate himself from them.

Ever since Vic Awakened, he realized he only could draw parallels with his “patients”, personal experiences, and philosophy more than fully getting inside their heads. Perhaps, Logan was onto something on that one. He saw how uncomfortable Roman was about a lot of things, and wished he could help more.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“This is going to sound weird and gross… but where do you keep the animals when they die? I-I don’t think I can do what I need to when there’s still life in their eyes...”

“Understandable. Admittedly, the bureaucracy will be easier to deal with that way, too.”

Vic brought his son over to the freezers where they kept all dead animals for processing. They were waiting on necropsy and sample-taking from the on-site lab. Those not to be cremated in the same lab were to be prepared for natural history museums or colleges with veterinary/ecological programs.

There were different species at different stages – grouped together by taxa. There was usually a pretty diverse selection from eagles to green iguanas. Vic wasn’t sure where to point his son toward, worried he wouldn’t stand the sight of it all. “Take your time, mijo. I’ll tell you if you can… use the remains.”

It was a chilled room with shelves of labeled containers, Vic always shivered a little bit in this space. Remus often shrugged it off and it looked like Roman was unaffected too. Remus liked colder weather and Roman just ran pretty hot, so it made sense to Vic. Roman paced around looking for whatever he needed here, not saying anything and a look of laser focus.

Eventually they stuck around the iguanas section, this zoo had a robust population that were crowd favorites. They were pretty well cared for there, but accidents, old age, and other things happen. A lot of times it was pretty open and shut cases for the zoo staff.

When Vic cleared Roman for a pair of specimens, and they had them splayed onto a table nearby. Roman asked, “There’s no cameras in here are there?”

Vic had to glance around before reassuring him, “Nope!”

“Okay, didn’t think so.”

Vic watched as a low growl came from Roman and energies gathered around him. This time he saw features of Roman’s Horror flicker into view, jagged claws and scaly skin. The skin looked ethereal and mid-molt, no wonder he seemed so agitated. 

Roman peeled off pieces of skin and gingerly swaddled the two lizards in it. In moments, the skin melted into them. They started to twitch uncontrollably like Galvani’s frogs. The green scales took on the same colors of his Horror, even though the iguanas’ natural color pattern remained.

These weren’t juveniles and weren’t exactly small – but they grew nearly a whole extra yard in length. Their claws and spines hardened, twisted, and darkened into gnarled lava glass. The teeth grew larger and sharper – no longer the herbivorous pattern they naturally had and so quickly that their jaws warped unevenly. Then, the two creatures curled up into a painful looking ball as each violently sprouted bloody wings. The blood crystallized into scales and the two creatures righted themselves as if nothing had happened.

Vic swore that the whole thing should have disturbed Roman, given how he acted around Remus’s horrorspawn. But Roman stood there with a hazy smile, petting them affectionately. Roman looked to Vic asking, “Aren’t Rubí and Oro the cutest?”

Vic blinked and stared at them, he and Remus had a bizarre definition of “cute” as it was. He could find something uncanny and endearing about these new horrorspawn – but he had enough social awareness to know that not many would upon looking at them.

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, given the time he wandered around in Roman’s soul. A solid reminder of what Roman and Remus were – there was no way of changing that. And he had no desire to.

They could unpack everything once Remus was back, safe and sound.

-

In the last week of October, Remus’s horrorspawn stopped harassing the brood entirely.

The instant midnight struck, making it officially All Hallow’s Eve, Remus left Roman another message. Only it didn’t sound like his brother at all, at least at first.

“Miss me? I hope you didn’t forget our appointment this fine evening? I’ve been building up to something and I’m looking forward to showing it to you all. I’ll be around the New Orleans Square. You won’t disappoint me, will you? Please please be there, Robro. I-I’m sca-!”

Again, he was cut off. Roman was relieved his brother was still alive out there, but he had no idea what to expect once at Disneyland. Everyone had whipped together some costumes beforehand. Besides being festive, it would provide some plausibly deniable cover for some of the brood’s planned supernatural activity. That’s what Janus asserted, anyways.

Roman couldn’t get out of his mind ever since he “talked” to Milo about making nightmares, the stupid nickname he got. He huffed, going for Jake Long’s outfit. It was still Disney, so it was good enough. The green highlights suited Remus more, if he was being honest with himself.

Everyone was to arrive at the park, except for Patton. Pretty much everyone was vocal about not endangering him by taking him along. Carrie was able to convince him to go trick-or-treating with those Heroes she met at the Ren Fair. He’d be in good hands. That didn’t stop her worrying about all the other park guests, nor whatever state Remus was in.

Virgil was restless about the separation, but Carrie was glad that he could be convinced this was for the best. Patton even cheerfully handed him the costume he wanted his brother to wear, which made Virgil flush with embarrassment. It was a Spider-Man suit – but at least he picked the black one from the third movie. Tastefully edgy.

Carrie found some amusement that Vic and Logan were dressed as fictional doctors, Dolittle and Frankenstein, respectively. Logan seemed more annoyed about it than Vic – so he used that magic to make them more distinguished. Logan cribbed from the Romantic Period attire and Vic was more contemporary. Vic asked to have some embroidery with animals on his own lab coat, Logan obliged in that embellishment.

Carrie herself dressed up like Elizabeth Swan, in a stylish replication of Sao Feng’s armor. She also tied on that enchanted bag, to hide her actual weapons from the gate crew. She did, however, bring along fake swords to assemble the look. She was more focused on wanting to completely and utterly exterminate the monster that took her son from her, but if that wasn’t feasible- she shook her head. She simply thought, “We’ll obliterate that bridge when we get to it.”

In addition to the contingency plan materials, Logan tossed a can of AXE body spray and a lighter into the bag. Carrie quirked an eyebrow and Logan simply answered, “Just in case.”

Janus didn’t really stray from their typical color scheme and elegance. When Vic asked about it, Janus smirked and showed him some fangs and a few fake blood squibs. Logan groaned, “A vampire, of course she picks that.”

This earned an indignant huff from Janus, and some much needed laughter from the remaining brood members. They were all sure they wouldn’t be able to appreciate the mirth at the park for long.

-

They arrived a few hours after noon.

The park was done up for the whole month to celebrate the occasion. Topping the entrance gates were several pumpkins and jack o’ lanterns fashioned into characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald.

There were no incidents in line, as Roman had his horrorspawn sneak through ahead of them. There were a few scant glances at them, but no one intervened. The funny thing about all this supernatural stuff was how beings like himself had to pretend to be Normal. They could find some protection in the crowd, but he was sure that wasn’t going to remain the case soon.

Roman still had trouble getting into the mood like pretty much every year before this point. It was one of his and Remus’s favorite holidays. It was definitely Remus’s, to no one’s surprise. Roman had it tied with Christmas – that meant more treasure to his pile. He groaned, thinking, “Quit thinking like Remus is- no. I’m not even going to finish that thought.”

City Hall and the rest of Main Street were decorated with warm, fall colors: in the bunting, the marigolds, the carnations, and more jack o’lanterns peppering the buildings around them. Roman couldn’t focus very well, in between the overhanging dread and maintaining command of Rubí and Oro. Oro kept wanting to snatch away some of the carved pumpkins, littering the place. Rubí snuck off and stole one of those Mickey light spinners from some random guest that was too busy on the phone to notice it.

At least they hid from sight of most people here, when they returned with the objects he loved. It was energizing to him, but he had to tell them to stop doing it, just in case. His mom noticed how restless he was, “Roise, don’t worry too much, alright? We’ll find him. So help me-”

Roman noticed that terrifying fury simmering behind her eyes, fury and fear. He didn’t comment on that, “Th-thanks, mom…”

While they were still going north along Main Street, someone bumped into Virgil. Virgil didn’t seem to catch who they were beyond saying, “Geez, dude. Coming in here smelling like an entire brewery!?”

Roman’s attention snapped to them just before they got lost in the crowd. It was some random guy dressed as King Triton, his gait obviously drunken. He wore one of those golden sequin shirts, on top of all the canon stuff. He had a suspicious fanny pack around the waist and a replica of the Trident strapped to his back. The prop seemed familiar to Roman, somehow. It was a wonder how he managed to get past park security in such a state.

Despite some of his face being covered by a large costume beard, Roman suddenly recognized it. Roman elbowed Virgil, “I-I think that was the police chief, Vee.”

Virgil let out a hushed curse, “Why is he here!?”

“I don’t know!”

Roman was unsettled by that, “Was he going where I think he was going?”

Janus cleared their throat, “I believe he was heading into Frontierland.”

Vic piped up, “How-?”

Janus whispered to him, “You should know by now. I have eyes in many places, Val.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, as the rest of them renewed their focus. It was along the way to New Orleans Square. As they walked along the Rivers of America, everyone had a strange feeling. Carrie looked around first, “I-I think I can sense him nearby!”

The Beasts in the group nodded at each other.

Before much longer, Roman saw Remus standing there at the Photo Spot. Remus was staring at the docked Columbia, very still, with strange company. He was dressed like the others in the group, wearing burgundy robes. Roman shuddered about them being the so-called friends his brother mentioned. They reeked of overflowing fear and admiration, yet no other guests acknowledged their presence.

He looked back, “I-I want to try to talk to him, first.”

Janus whispered back, “Be careful.”

Virgil added, “We got your back. Because, someone has to.”

Roman took a deep breath and approached. He recognized at least one of the robed guys from the scalpers group and another one of the staff members from their high school. Another of them, a total stranger, had a more elaborate robe. They had a hand on his brother’s shoulders, they hadn’t moved the entire time. As he drew closer he saw just how sickly Remus appeared, it made him want to run toward him. “Remus! Is that you?”

Remus waved back eagerly, and once the distance was closed he wore an unhinged smile, “The, one and only, Robro!”

“A-are you okay?”

“Never better!”, Remus’s smile appeared forced, “But yeah, wanted to show off some new friends!”

The person who was still holding Remus’s shoulder smiled at Roman, “I’m sorry I took so long to properly introduce myself. You may call me Cass, you must be Roman! I’ve heard so much about you from My Sign.”

They reached out with a free hand. Roman noticed that it had burns on it and he shook his head vigorously, “Let go of him.”

Remus frowned, his face flashing with fear before that smile was plastered back on.

Cass’s tone became apathetic, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m its Herald and we are bonded by such a great Promise, you see?”

Roman looked more closely at where the two had contact and was immediately revolted. The arm was writhing and incomprehensibly inhuman and actually buried into his brother’s shoulder. Cass smiled as they went toward caressing Remus, more of Cass’s body boring into Remus.

Remus’s manner was delirious, “¿No es maravilloso Cass? ”

Roman saw red and went to try to rip Cass off his brother, but it happened too fast. In an instant, the Insatiable and Remus had merged completely into one another. “Say hello to my Harbingers! Go forth and tear at reality itself!”

From out of the river rose a fleet of Remus’s horrorspawn. Just like Remus, they looked wrong. They looked like they were rotting and blistered and some of the many eyes on them were clouded over. Before Roman could react – they started to dart off in different directions of the park.

That was the rest of the Brood’s cue to step in, before anyone could get hurt. The nearest crowd of guests ran off screaming, Carrie took the opportunity to shoot down one of the spawn, it took a few frantic reloads for it to fall and come apart. It was difficult with how unpredictably it moved and not wanting to hurt any of the guests.

Vic was restless, looking at Logan, “Do you feel that Ellis?”

Logan, nodded, “Unfortunately. It would seem they were here longer than we anticipated.”

Carrie spoke up, “What are you two-?”

The mages shivered moments before a fog rolled in. From the mist, phantoms appeared among the crowd. Some looked confused and benign, but many took more guests for a chase, some even entered the humans around them. Vic was told of one of the things that the Insatiable can do – thinning the veil between ghosts, spirits, and mortals. It could be so thin that those without Sight can see them, too. There was a reason for this to be the chosen day.

Familiar faces manifested before the party. The ghost of Steve gazing upon those who knew him with uncharacteristic resignation. He was somehow readable despite the poorly reconstructed approximation of what his face used to be. A few others had circled Remus, some Roman vaguely recognized, others not. Remus froze at the sight of one of them, as if he remembered something horrific.

Vic was told by Logan that ghosts like these typically weren’t able to speak and were drawn to whatever or whoever anchors them to the Material plane. This was entirely Logan’s wheelhouse and he seemed to remain cool about it all. Logan used some of his own magic to fend off whatever ghosts he could.

Ghosts weren’t the only thing that came out to play. Spirits were something Vic grew a sensitivity toward. Unlike ghosts, they were never human in nature. Manifestations of gluttony bleeding into view from the nearby restaurants. They impelled a few humans to overwhelm said venues to eat and eat and eat. To say nothing of representations for the many other emotions, drives, and concepts the park had distilled over its decades of existence – some had even taken the shape of Disney characters. One of those spirits of gluttony? It looked like Winnie the Pooh, and it seemed to be completely oblivious about its own influence. The sheer bedlam of it all made it hard for him to remain focused on why they were there.

Vic did grasp that Arcana well enough to shield himself against the more aggressive of these spirits. He narrowly avoided a metaphysical volley from a spirit in the shape of Clayton himself, approaching from Tarzan's Treehouse. Vic didn’t have the same command over them, like what Logan was demonstrating with the dead. He was just glad that Clayton's attention was taken by the crowd-swell, its very presence bringing some guests and Character Actors to violence against each other. Really, most of his concerns lied in the fate of his children, as selfish as that sounded. He just needed to stay out of harm's way and conserve energy, to provide healing where necessary.

Something that broke through the attention of the brood was Wayne running towards Remus, shouting, “KENNY!?”

The ghost that gripped Remus with fear slowly and mournfully looked over at Wayne. Kenny had looked like he was dismembered, the pieces floating roughly where they should normally. It looked like something had voraciously gnawed onto those pieces. Roman then recognized that face and name for the ghost – he didn’t have the time to connect more than that. Within that fanny pack, Wayne had somehow smuggled in a pistol.

Roman and Virgil ran after.

Something stopped Wayne’s pursuit cold, another ghost stood between Remus and Wayne. “D-Diane? Is that you? I heard from Ken- are you really-?”

Diane was mangled and parts of her looked like she was being eaten through by a powerful acid. Her face was screwed into a scowl, nodding. Wayne looked like he was going to collapse from grief, before she reached out to him. He reached back, allowing her possession of him. The union marched up and took aim. Diane’s voice came from Wayne with renewed and sober resolve, “You ruined everything! My big day! Our lives! MY life!”

Virgil looked about the area, webbed one of the nearest trash cans, and clipped out, “Oh no you don’t!”

Virgil pulled the bin and swung it into Wayne, just as he was about to squeeze the trigger.

Before the gun flew out of Wayne’s hands, he managed to fire a couple shots. Both missed Remus. One landed into Jim’s shoulder, the other vaguely toward Tom Sawyer’s Island. Jim immediately screamed as he attempted to take cover, despite the threat and pain, he never strayed too far from Remus. The union’s expression only got angrier, wincing and huffing, “Daddy Dearest. I think you had far too much to drink.”

Carrie dispatched another of Remus’s spawn. Wayne, during his attempt at recovery, fumbled in his reach for the trident. Virgil dashed up to Wayne before he could take up the weapon, aiming to neutralize that threat.

Roman approached his brother again. Remus seemed lucid and horrified in that moment, his eyes stuck on Kenny the entire time.

Roman shouted, “Taz, what’s going on!?”

Remus stammered, not registering Roman at all, “C-Cass, why did-?”

Remus doubled over vomiting and what came out was an endless tarry torrent. He heaved and heaved and heaved. It wasn’t natural, Roman dreaded to think what that fiend was doing to his brother. Roman stepped up close, unavoidably stepping in the mess, “Taz, are you still in there?”

Remus gave a few shuddering breaths before erupting into a broken cackle, it made Roman step back.

Not-Remus stood up straight, staring into Roman, “Not for long, morsel.”

Not-Remus charged after Roman with a murderous glare, his eyes holding a searing green glow and his sclera turning black. A glow made brighter against the dusky sky. Roman froze a moment before getting his spawn on the scene and jumping back, assisted by a powerful wing beat. The gust of wind also unsteadied Not-Remus’s pursuit.

Both Carrie and Vic cried out, in between all the threats, “REJOE!”

Roman’s voice trembled, “Remus. Please. Are you-!?”

Before vanishing into the Primordial Dream, Janus hissed out, “Remember. The Plan. Everyone!”

Not-Remus laughed, glancing where Janus once stood, “Running away?”

Roman lunged forward to tackle Remus, “Eyes on me, brother!”

Roman really tried not to injure Remus, while restraining him. Not-Remus cackled, seeming to know that Roman was holding back, they spat more of that tar into Roman’s face. It smelled like rot and Roman tried not to gag, letting go momentarily to wipe it clear. “Don’t you have any more fight in you?”

“If you would just stop fighting dirty-!”

Roman grappled Remus even harder, this time his claws drawing some blood. The back of Roman’s mind raced, hoping this plan was going to work, he just needed to buy everyone time. His dad could heal Remus after it was over, he hoped. He didn’t want to think about failure. He didn’t want to think about killing his own brother.

Wayne was desperately constrained by Virgil’s webs, wheezy screaming and coughing in the process. Vic glanced over and could tell the police chief had definitely broken a rib or few, in the scuffle. The union's gaze glared at Remus first, but darted toward Virgil and Roman, too. “I should have killed that thing when I had the chance!”

Virgil groaned, binding up Wayne tighter, “‘Didn’t even have one in hell, pig.”

Virgil was done with Wayne once he sealed the man’s mouth shut. He then went to help Roman’s horrorspawn and Carrie in destroying more of Remus’s.

Not-Remus kept thrashing and started shrieking in pain and fury against Roman’s hold, Roman grimaced, “I don’t know what this Promise bullshit is and I don’t fucking care!”

As more and more of Remus’s horrorspawn were knocked out, Remus started to look more and more sickly. And his body started to shift. His skin started to look like his Horror, only this wasn’t like normal atavism use. It was visceral and Remus looked like he was in the most pain Roman had ever seen.

Roman’s grip loosened enough for Remus to wriggle out from underneath. Remus stood up shakily and hunched over as his tentacles started coming forth. Roman was dumbstruck, as Remus dived into the nearby water feature.

Roman screamed, “REMUS!”

He was about to follow, but Remus surfaced before he could.

Remus still looked vaguely human. But his form was more twisted and imposing, with features of his own towering Horror looking more corporeal than ever. There were other details that were completely wrong, pieces of marine life that looked as if they were fused to Remus. If the stakes were any smaller, he would imagine Remus quipping about “Dead Man’s Chest” and Davy Jones’s cursed crew.

Barnacles, starfish, blue bottles. Many alien, vibrant and luminescent strands of tissue wrapped around Remus like a creeping vine. Many more of such strands floated freely, threatening to ensnare anything in reach. They were grotesque and beautiful, reminding Roman of those sparkling waterfall fireworks the park would use in their nightly shows. Only the trails hung from the tendrils in a stasis. Rather, it was like a shining beaded curtain, held together with gnarled strands of jellied viscera. A cross between Remus's own tentacles and something almost wing-like.

Roman remembered something either Remus or his dad brought up once…

Vic gasped, “That, that looks like a giant siphonophore! Everyone be careful!”

Vic was divided between trying to pacify the rampant spirits and running to help Remus. Logan stopped him, “Don’t. Janus is working on pulling Cass out of your son’s Lair. Cass appears to be desperate now.”

Virgil looked worried, “This almost looks like…”

Carrie asked, “What?”

“Something that Beasts can’t turn back from. But-”

“Hm?”

“Janus knows this stuff better, they really need to hurry up.”

Roman was getting frustrated, he jumped up from the nearest railing and just out of reach of those tendrils. Roman then burned the nearest appendage with his breath. This earned more wild flailing and inhuman screeching from Not-Remus.

Roman managed to disable a couple more of them, dodging many swipes to grab him. It was like Hercules versus the Hydra, there just seemed to be more around the corner. He was so focused on them that he didn’t expect one of Remus's tentacles managing to grab him by the foot and being yanked down into the water. It happened so fast, he didn’t have the chance to hold his breath.

Roman never wanted to experience what his brother did in his nightmares. Yet here he was, lungs burning for air, thrashing uselessly, a creeping sense of doom coming over him. The sensation worsened as he felt something else grab him and the stabbing, burning sensation spread all over, he realized he could no longer move.

Carrie hurled the magic bag to Logan. She took only her estoc with her as she sprinted and dived in the water without a thought. The Bright Dream mixing with her overwhelming desire to protect Roman in that moment, guided her blade. She sliced through something. She felt more sounds of pain coming from Not-Remus as she tried to scoop Roman up and out of the water.

When they surfaced, Vic immediately went to work resuscitating the unconscious Roman. Vic channeled his magic into counteracting the venom as he helped his son purge the water from his lungs.

Carrie looked back and saw the severed tentacle stub flail and bleed blue. Remus’s breathing was ragged, about to grab at anyone who got too close to the water before his eyes widened, staring at his brother.

Remus clutched himself as he lurched back onto dry land. He wanted to see if he was okay. His form was still twisted and wrong, and his legs felt like noodles, unaware they were still mostly in the form of tentacles. He didn’t get far before more sick erupted from his mouth. He passed out and his body slowly started to shrink aground.

Janus reappeared on the scene, at the foot of Remus. Janus's breathing was ragged, with a few tears and other things amiss in their outfit. They hissed in Remus's direction, bringing attention to it, "You owe me a new sssunhat!"

Janus then took up one of the unresponsive tendrils, wrapping it around their hand and pulled hard. 

More pain shot through Remus as he felt something being ripped out of him. He only had the energy to curl up as felt something loosen its grip around its soul. The pain started to wash away, he wasn’t aware enough to notice his body had slowly started to turn back to normal.

Janus stood there with an enormous, bloated, waterlogged corpse of something not even remotely human. An incomprehensible hodgepodge of rotting sea life parts, and far too many teeth. It reeked strongly of salty sea water, sulfur, and ammonia. It twitched and writhed, as it tried to take in Janus as another host.

Logan fashioned a magically enhanced flamethrower from his last minute additions to the inventory. He immediately blasted the mass that they all knew to be Cass. Cass recoiled from the wave of heat and so did Janus.

Logan then used his magic to command the ghosts to continue tearing apart Cass. Cass’s screams would have been a source of mirth if not for how it persisted in its writhing.

Virgil flinched before cocooning the portions of Cass and tacking them down before they could converge once more. Logan sighed, “Looks like it’s time for Plan B. Carrie? We don’t have much time to pull this off.”

They pulled forth the components to contain Cass, their special enchantments giving off an eerily hungry glow. Reliquaries mostly fashioned out of several gaudy pieces of costume jewelry, alongside that jar of dirt Roman suggested, to Logan’s bafflement at the time.

As Logan and Carrie worked together to imprison Cass piece by piece, the spell Cass had on the park was slowly receding. The Schism. They had to hurry and leave the scene before anyone held any suspicions on what transpired there.

The twins were stabilized, but still lethargic and disoriented according to Vic.

The party split up from there. It was the Espinoza parents and Logan’s job to transport Cass’s remains. None of the Beasts were willing to let that thing into the Primordial Dream as they used that path out of the park – the fastest way to get the twins back to the estate, courtesy of Janus this time.

-

Once they did reconvene, the exhaustion in everyone was evident. For the moment, Carrie and Vic were simply glad to have their children back and together again.

-

@milktea531 @r0sethrills

Feel free to ask to be on a tag list, if you wish!

(I’ll probably tag every other cross-post.)

-

[ Next ]

[lgcrp]

◔ ┈ LOADING … TRAINEE PROFILE INITIATED !

SOMSRI SOFIA ( READ MORE HERE )

AGE 22 ( 10 OCTOBER 2000 )

TRAINED FOR 3 YEARS 1 MONTH ( SIGNED JULY 2020 )

              INTRODUCTION VIDEO FOUND … PRESS PLAY ?

 Here we go again. Sofia hastily tightened the laces of the combat boots adorning her feet as she prepared herself for yet another introduction video. She’d normally be inside the training room to film it, but today–for some odd reason–she stepped out into the hallway moments prior. She hated to admit it but, at the time, there was something unusually unnerving about having the staff watch her nervously rehearse. “Come on, come on, come on,”  She mumbled under her breath, growing impatient with what was–in fact–the most human emotion she’s dealt with in weeks; anxiety. She shook her hands, took deep breaths, paced up and down the hallway and reviewed lyrics to relieve the nerves that plagued her being, but to no avail. You’ve done this so many times. Is what she’d normally say in moments like these but she was unfortunately aware that this time was very much unlike the others. something  far heavier than she knew she (as an indecisive person) was prepared for : a major career-altering choice. It wasn't like this single action was going to uproot her entire life or anything, but at the time, that's exactly what it felt like and it was…terrifying. Would she reveal that she had intentions of pursuing singing or would she continue with the easier, safer route of just keeping that to herself. Both options left her feeling sick to her stomach. Sofia stood face to face with the door she was avoiding walking through, a shaky hand resting on the handle as she drew in another incredibly deep and slow breath. What was she if not a risk-taker? A knock on the door cued her inside and as she stepped in, the vice-like grip of anxiety that once dragged her down faded away, and she was found stepping within the direct frame of the camera. Her posture was straight, expression stoic, and the occasional siren-like gaze she was known to carry focused on the camera at the end of the room, using it to center herself.  What was she striving so hard to become if not a rebel- or better yet– a dreamer? Each step was perfectly timed to the first forty seconds of flashing lights, and once she made it to the camera and walked back about half way, she spun on her heels to face the camera once again. Her heartbeat racked within the anterior of her ribs as the music finally came to a stop. She’d been scared to take this next step, but singing and performing was a passion she couldn’t shake. And if she was going to eventually chase that dream she was going to have to step out of her comfort zone (somewhat) publicly. Her fathers words echoed in her mind; what’s a risk if not something meant to be taken? The grips of anxiety inched closer, but before its claws could seep in, the outro instrumentals of “almost there” from princess and the frog quickly swelled within the room…and just like that– she snapped out of it.  Drawing in another deep breath, the lyrics of the song left her almost as well as when she practiced them in the comfort of her room. She sang the entirety of the outro without a microphone, hoping to convey just how capable she was of projecting her voice.  When the final note came she belted it out; she couldn’t allow her voice to falter for even a moment, carrying the note for as long as the music played. Once it was all said and done, she smiled brightly amidst her rushed breathing and took a bow. “ hoo- Hey everyone! Uh- Legacy Entertainment’s Sofia Somsri here! You just witnessed the beginning of an era for a little up-and-coming model like myself.  And surprise, I can sing! Heh. I am…” She trailed off, hands immediately searching for each other as a sense of comfort while she spoke, “a model, but I dream of dabbling in musical theatre one day. Or just… singing in general, and I really hope you all look forward to what I have in store for the future!” Sofia took a final bow and waved at the camera, the long anticipated wave of relief finally washing over her, once and for all.

            INTERESTED ? REACH OUT TO THE TRAINEE !

[wickedsrest-rp]

NAME: Household Fae

ALSO KNOWN AS: Domestic Fae, Fae Pest

RARITY: ★★☆☆☆ | Variable, but these are some of the most common fae and among the most likely to have frequent encounters with humans.

THREAT LEVEL: ★★☆☆☆ | Variable, but most are simply nuisances. Occasional deaths do occur.

HABITAT: Almost exclusively in the homes of people. They can’t survive out in the world on their own.

DESCRIPTION: Many fae species have found a parasitic lifestyle suits them. Some may find shelter in human homes for safety or easy sources of food, while others may have more specific needs that can only be met by cohabitation. It’s common for these fae to ransack the kitchens and cupboards at night in search of food, and others may cause additional havoc around the house, such as throwing things around, pulling pranks, and inviting some more dangerous friends over. Most can use some magic to cause further chaos. Household fae aren’t capable of human speech, but many have at least somewhat of a grasp of human language enough to understand what is being said to them. These fae are all weak to iron, and many are vulnerable to charms that can be placed around the home to keep them out. 

In many cases, it’s possible to win the favor of these fae through kindness and offerings of food. Should that happen, they will be less likely to cause trouble… provided your kindness continues. Some will accept certain gifts or deals in exchange for leaving a home for good. While all of these household fae lack physical defenses, most are quick-moving and skilled at evading attempts to squash them. Culling these common pests can be the bread and butter for some wardens who are content for an easier hunting life.

TYPES:

Boggart (Bogle, Boggle): The size of a mere guinea pig, boggarts can cause a lot of chaos despite their stature. Rarely seen but always present, they can cause milk to sour, things to vanish, and animals to startle; they take pleasure in this but don’t mean to cause harm. It’s rare that those cohabitating with a boggart actually see what it looks like. Those who do get a glimpse will see a small, rabbit-like creature that makes tell-tale scratching noises as it traverses the house with incredible speed. They can hide in even paper-thin crevices that defy physics. Boggarts have been known to be a little more cooperative with people they’re fond of, but that’s not saying much. They’re difficult to capture due to their speed and ability to hide, and will manage to find their way back if relocated; killing them is usually the only way to permanently rid yourself of one. They have a fondness of peanut butter, both smooth and crunchy. 

Brownie (Hob, Domovo): Easily confused with the dessert in casual conversation by laypeople, brownies are unpleasant little house guests. Going by different names in different cultures, this species has a worldwide distribution. They stand about 2 feet tall and have a somewhat feline appearance, with long, floppy ears and sharp teeth. During the winter they have a layer of fur. These tricksters enjoy the typical mischief, but also have proclivity toward stealing and collecting things. Owners may stumble upon a cache of socks or jewelry in the home. When approached, they behave like a wild animal and will attack with claws and teeth before turning invisible to escape. They release a pungent odor when frightened that smells like rotting cheese. Some brownies will accept food offerings in exchange for chores, but others may take offense and become more troublesome. Brownies are fiercely territorial, so introducing the scent of another brownie will draw them out.

Bullywug: These amphibious fae are known to lurk around the pipes of kitchen sinks. While frog-like in appearance with brown, green, or dull yellow skin, they are seen walking on two legs more than they are hopping on all four. Bullywugs particularly love the bits of food left behind on dishes and are especially attracted to homes where dishes sit in the sink for long stretches of time. While mostly harmless, bullywugs love to cause chaos in the kitchen. From adding extra sugar to recipes for their own benefit to hiding kitchen utensils, bullywugs will do just about anything to confuse humans in the kitchen. Usually, it’s all in good fun, but bullywugs can get aggravated if the humans in “their” home start cleaning up food too quickly. For little frog-like creatures, they have surprisingly sharp teeth and have a tendency to bite people’s hands while they’re doing dishes. Keeping a cleaner kitchen will eventually cause bullywugs to move. There are some less savory methods for removal involving food and garbage disposals as well, but it is rumored killing them is bad luck.

Fenodyree: These hair-covered, kitten-sized little fae are proven annoyances. They take up residence in peoples’ houses, specifically underneath the stairs. They’re known to grab the ankles of people going up and down if displeased, and might chomp off a toe or two with their sharp teeth if successful. Another hallmark of a fenodyree is using their power to freeze people in place so they’re stuck where they stand. If a fenodyree is so inclined, and has some food left out for them every night, they may decide to help with household chores and will assist in guarding the homestead from intruders. However, they’re much more likely to cause trouble. Because fenodyree are known to feed on human flesh, they are less sensitive to heme iron than most other fae species, but are still vulnerable to iron blades. Additionally, they’re terrified of wearing any clothes. If someone can force a piece of clothing onto a fenodyree, they’ll leave their dwelling forever.

Lubber Fiend (Abbey Lubber, Lubberkin, Lob): Standing at about 3 feet tall, lubber fiends are the largest of the common household fae, though they’re typically seen on all fours. They have a lanky, goblin-like appearance and exclusively reside in homes that have wine cellars, where they gorge themselves on the finest wine. They also scrounge through peoples’ kitchens when they’re not paying attention, and when not living in a home, can occasionally be seen digging through garbage cans and dumpsters. While lubber fiends aren’t violent by nature, their presence is dangerous. Those sharing a home with them will slowly be driven closer toward temptations like drunkenness, gluttony, and lasciviousness; this can result in regretful actions and risky behavior that may be deadly. Once the lubber fiend is evicted, these behaviors come to an end. If the lubber fiend can’t be killed, it can be lured out with its favorite meal (though figuring out what this is may take some time).

Prigirstytis: Sometimes referred to as a “household deity” by overtly religious households, prigirstysis are known for preying on guilty members of a household. Though they are rarely seen, they are often heard by inhabitants of the homes in which they live. Prigirstysis will often choose one member of a household to follow around, whispering through the walls to torment them. Often, this leads the victim to descend into madness, and can even lead to violence towards other household members who don’t hear the whispers. It is believed by those “in the know” that Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart” may pull from an experience with a prigirstysis. While typically malicious, prigirstysis may occasionally latch on to a household member and offer them helpful whispers instead of torment if they decide they ‘like’ the inhabitant. This sort of behavior is usually extended primarily towards children, who prigirstysis tend to find quaint and entertaining. 

Zlydzen: These fae cause destructive mischief, waiting for the occupants of the house to leave to make a mess of the house. They live in various nooks and crannies but have a preference for warm places, often near heaters or insulation. In the winter, they go into hibernation, burrowing in peoples’ coat closets and emerging in March. These fleshy, humpbacked fae are not pretty to look at. They’re self-conscious about their appearance so many wear big boots and hats with earflaps. While most household fae are solitary, the zlydzen is only found in groups of 2-10 individuals, which is why it’s more threatening than most. Being alone puts them in a weakened state. A group of zyldzen is known to make it look as though a tornado blew through the interior of a home, such is their propensity for chaos. Zyldzen are incredibly cowardly and will attempt to hide or flee if discovered and confronted. They have sharp teeth and will attack when backed into a corner, but for the most part, they look more frightening than they are, relying on their appearance and numbers to scare humans enough to leave them alone.

[carewyncromwell]

Okay. Let’s Talk About Victor Ketsueki.

I know it’s early, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about this guy, but I have some initial thoughts, so let’s jump in.

Interestingly, it’s not the character himself I have a problem with. This clearly incredibly insecure Ravenclaw boy who takes advantage of this thing that happened to him that makes him seem super cool and edgy to his classmates in order to get attention is a great idea. And honestly, I get such  “no, I TOTALLY don’t think he’s hot, I’m just ‘fascinated’” vibes from Corey toward Victor that it kind of made me laugh. My issues with Victor instead come back to vampires’ place in the Wizarding World overall. 

Because here’s the thing -- vampires get just about no focus in the Harry Potter universe, in canon. To quote Jo herself on Pottermore, “Although vampires exist in the world of Harry Potter, as shown by the literature that Harry and his friends study in Defense Against the Dark Arts, they play no meaningful part in the story.” We don’t even know how many Muggle stories surrounding vampires apply to Potterverse vampires. Considering how diversely vampires have been depicted over many different types of media, it’s really anyone’s guess. Do they drink human blood? Does sunlight hurt them? Do they suffer from severe blood cravings? Can they not cross running water? Are they warded off by crosses and other Christian iconography? Do they have an obsession with counting? Are they immortal? Can they turn into other animals or mist? Do they have hypnotic powers? The answer to just about all of these things, at least in the Potterverse, would be a question mark. 

Here’s what we do know, though -- 

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, students theorize that Professor Quirrell is keeping garlic in his turban to ward off vampires. This insinuates that vampires are dangerous for humans to be around, and that -- yes -- the Muggle superstition of garlic being able to ward off vampires is true. 

Blood pops are sold in Honeydukes, and Hermione theorizes they’re for vampires. This means vampires do drink blood, but there are other sources of blood devised for them so that they don’t have to attack people and forcibly drain blood. 

According to HP Wiki, there exists a Society for the Tolerance of Vampires, a group that advocates for vampire rights. One could draw from this that vampires are a group that are marginalized in wizarding society, a lot like werewolves are. 

Vampires are studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Therefore, they are associated with the Dark Arts and are therefore -- like Inferi and werewolves -- considered dark creatures. 

Gilderoy Lockhart writes a book called Voyages with Vampires, where he boasts about defeating a vampire so soundly that he could only eat lettuce afterwards. If Lockhart was supposed to be seen as heroic for this, rather than despicable, then ipso facto, vampires must be seen by the Wizarding World at large as threatening enough to deserve being hurt that badly. 

A wizard at the Quidditch World Cup boasts about being a vampire hunter to try to impress some Veela, but vampire hunting is apparently illegal under the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Humans, something referenced by Percy Weasley when Rita Skeeter likewise suggests killing vampires. This confirms both that 1, vampire hunting is a thing and seen as something glamorous and appealing, but 2, it’s something that Wizarding law is trying to regulate. 

There was a famous vampire in the 1880′s named Sir Herbert Varney (no relation to my own HPHL vampire MC, Bartholomew “Bat” Varney), which, like the Muggle Jack the Ripper, killed and desecrated the bodies of a hell of a lot of Muggles. He was eventually tracked down and killed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and now appears as a character on a Chocolate Frog card. The only other known vampire to end up on a Chocolate Frog card is Amarillo Lestoat, who published a book meant to lull people to sleep so it’d be easier to bite them. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude, therefore, that vampires -- at least in magical pop culture -- are generally best known for their violence toward humans, over anything else. 

Speaking of historical vampires, the other best known ones include Blodwyn Bludd, who would sing to his victims before biting them; Lady Carmilla Sanguina, who bathed in the blood of her victims; and Lord Vlad Drakul, who yeah, obviously went on to inspire the character of Dracula. Once again -- the best known vampires are known for victimizing humans.

One exception to this rule apparently is Lorcan d’Eath, a part-vampire wizard born in the 1960′s who was apparently fancied by witches -- but even he ends up having a smash hit song called “Necks to You,” clearly a reference to his vampire ancestry. This tells us vampires can apparently have off-spring with humans in the Potterverse, and at least gives some credence to the idea that there are those in the Wizarding World (at least closer to the modern era) who find enough fascination with the dark and macabre to be more interested in than afraid of vampires. 

The Quibbler once theorized Rufus Scrimgeour was a vampire and treated it as a big, scandalous story. If vampires were well accepted by wizarding society, I don’t see why a tabloid would have a field day with such a story. 

At Slughorn’s Christmas party, we meet Eldred Worple, the author of a book about vampires called Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires, and the vampire that clearly inspired it, Sanguini, who is there as Worple’s guest. He’s described as tall and emaciated with dark shadows under his eyes -- decidedly unattractive, rather than anything charming or handsome. Sanguini appears completely disinterested in the party until he catches sight of some girls, at which point Worple shoves a pastry in his hand to distract him (presumably because he’s hungry and Worple thinks food will prevent him from going after blood?). From this, we can guess that some attempts are being made to understand how vampires live (hence why a book like this would even need to be written at all), but that they are still on the outside enough to need a wizard to speak on their behalf, rather than their stories being enough to maintain interest. 

Are you starting to see why I’m a little “ehhhhh” on the direction they went with for Victor yet? Yes, perhaps Lorcan D’Eath shows some wizarding attitudes toward vampires are changing, but overall, we get a picture of a largely victimized group that has been treated like a seductive, violent stereotype for a really, really long time and still has to fight to be treated as beings worthy of respect. This doesn’t exactly fit with this image of the “cool edgy boy” we see Victor being. If Victor ended up getting in any kind of legal trouble, he wouldn’t even be treated like a wizard anymore -- rather than the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he’d be handled by the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, as part of its “Being” division. He wouldn’t even be considered a human wizard anymore -- no more than Remus Lupin was, once he became a werewolf. How is being treated as a second-class citizen “cool” or “glamorous?” I could see people like Ismelda reacting positively to Victor’s change, and I could even see Victor using it to seem strong and to intimidate people, so he gets attention...but the overwhelming positive attention he receives for it seems a bit off somehow. There seems like there should be more backlash, for this whole thing to make sense with what little we can glean about vampires in the Wizarding World based on previous canon.

I don’t mind Jam City taking a different angle with their vampires than I did for my vampire MC, or even for writing Victor differently than how many fans envisioned him -- as I said, I actually like Victor’s character all right, for what it is. It just seems like Hogwarts’s -- and therefore wizardkind’s -- reaction to him in general shouldn’t be so universally positive. But maybe we’ll see more of that negative reaction later on from other sources, even though it seems like Corey would’ve brought up the width of reactions and the general, more negative attitude toward vampires when they were complaining about how everyone’s so weirdly interested in Victor all of a sudden? *shrugs*

[charliedawn]

Pennywise 1990 X Reader X Pennywise 2017 "The Joke's On You" part 1

Part 2: https://charliedawn.tumblr.com/post/648205835225415680/the-jokes-on-them-part-2

"Ssssooooo..Why clowns ?"

Both of them look at you with a frown of incomprehension on their faces..

" Because of the fear."

They answer at the same time. Funny, its the first time you see them act so..alike. You mean, of course, they are big scary child-eating monsters..But they never seemed to be agreeing on anything, so when you ask the question, their looks and answers are so similar that it makes you think of another question.

" Also..Are you like brothers or something ? Related ? Father and son, or that can't happen with your kind ? You just eat children and do not produce them ?"

Penny, the tall ginger clown only crouches like a frog while the other one only looks at him with disgust.

" Yeah..Right..As if I would ever be related to that one..Nah. We're just hunting together now..Normally, he would not wake up at the same time as me, so we wouldn't really meet. But the idiot messed up his schedule while overstaying in order to kill some dumb kids and he woke up the same time I did !"

He glares at Penny who doesn't seem concerned at all by the way the other one is describing the situation. Even though it's quite offensive..The older one continues and looks at me with a repulsive snare at the idea.

" We don't produce children. Although, we never tried. We are mostly made of pure fear materialized only by the decaying flesh of our victims..We're supposed to be impossible to kill and we don't even know when we were born nor where. But, I remember that the first time I saw a human, many centuries ago, people mostly called us "Wendigos".."

You open your eyes wide in surprise at the news.

"Wendigos ?! So, that means you were humans before ?!"

The young one snickers and his yellow eyes glare at me.

" Humans ?! Ah ! What a joke ! They cry, love, betray, they only crawl on an endless path until they become old, ugly and die. This is why we eat them..They are of no use..They are dancing on a ball of dirt that they squeezed so much that it has no more to give..And you know what is the most ironic ? Is that they prefer to blind themselves more than face the truth..There is no beauty or originality in humans..Doves fly, dogs bark, dears run and even dolphins are more intelligent than you..Now tell me, why would the world need you, when we have the exact same talents in every animal that comes with the letter D ? I didn't even have to go out of my favorite letter to find every good thing you've ever done in animals that are not destroying their own habitat. What makes you so special ? What makes you think that you deserve living when all you do is destroy and hide the truth ?!"

It is the most you have ever heard Penny speak and even Pennywise seems shocked by his sudden outburst. Penny is so close to you that you can see his anger reflecting in his eyes. You try to not let fear show but, it's hard. You gulp and look at the ground in shame. He was right..What did you bring that no other living being ever did ? Humans were parasites and he smirks before returning at his crouching position.

" That's what I thought."

He whispers and Pennywise smiles almost proudly before hitting him in the back a little too hard since Penny growls.

" Wow. Didn't know you had it in you ! In all honesty, I never even thought about why I eat humans..I mean, we both know that human and animal food taste the same..But, for some reason, I always hated humans..Never really knew why and never cared enough to ask !"

He answers with a grin.

You frown then gasp in horror which both of them seem to notice since they turn their heads towards you in frightening synchronization.

" Wait ! Does that mean..You chose to eat humans ?! That you can perfectly live without their meat and just eat like normal people?!"

Pennywise answers with a grin.

" Come on..You should have figured it out by now..We don't really care about what we're eating, as long as it has flesh and fear : which animals and humans both have in common. But, as he said before, why choose them over you ?"

He looks at you up and down before adding with a large grin.

" Now that I think about it, if it wasn't for your rare quality of blood, you would already be a past meal.."

You shiver and he bursts out laughing.

Yeah..You remember..The only thing that kept you alive was you blood type..O- was, from what you had understood, sweeter ? Like some kind of cake or candy..This is why they wanted to keep you alive.."Saving best for last" as they had said.

Ah ! How lucky am I ?! You think.

You sigh and turn the other way to face anything else but the two clowns. At that moment, your foot hits something. You look down at the ground and are surprised to see some pencils. You glance behind you, but the other two don't seem to care about you anymore..for now. You get the pencils and look around for a surface to try them on and when you've finally decided, you walk towards it. You stop and close your eyes to visualise what you want to draw..Then, inspiration hits you and it's like your hands are dancing on the hard surface. You're so concentrated that you don't even notice the two creatures stopping whatever they were doing to look at you with confusion written all over their faces. You continue and seconds, minutes, hours pass. The two clowns, curious of what you are doing, now stand next to you silently, as to not break your concentration. They just look at your drawing from each side of you, their eyes wide, surprised and unable to find words to describe it. You are breathless, exhausted, but don't want to stop. If it was the last thing you would do, then let it be beautiful..Even if the only living things that would ever see it would be two nightmarish clowns that didn't give two shits about art or expression of oneself. When you finish, you are surprised to find two gloved hands on you drawing..You look at each side of yourself and see the two clowns, weirdly still and their eyes glued to your work. For a moment, you almost laugh at their, surprisingly, childish faces. They look like your young Art and Crafts students that you teach, always awed by whatever you would do.

But, what makes you smile the most, is that the first reaction they had was to touch it with their hands, as if the drawing had called them in. You sometimes had students like that, that could only understand Art by touching it. This is why whenever you would bring one of your works, you told the kids to do the first thing that came to their mind with it (as long as it wasn't tearing it apart or painting on it of course) Everyone had different reactions. Some liked to look from a far, some liked a closer angle and, as you had witnessed, some preferred touching it..But, what surprises you next is your own reaction. You grab one of the pencils and trace the shadow of your own hand on your drawing, as a proof. Then, you gently take Penny's hand that looks almost frightened by your touch, but he lets you hold onto his hand and do the same thing that you just did with your own. He giggles slightly as the pencil lightly "tickles" him and, to your surprise, his claws get out. He wants to retract them, nearly in shame, but you make it clear that it doesn't bother you while tracing the contour of his claws as well. When you are finished with him, you turn towards the older one that had already taken his hand off with a snicker.

" If it is a trick to impress us, it will not work, your hocus-pocus will not stop us from eating you..Anyway, I'm sure you have a knife hidden somewhere and only wait for me to let my guard down to stab me in the back."

You only answer with a sad smile of silent resolve while reaching for his hand.

" No trick. No hocus-pocus. No knife. Only me, your hand and a way to make you remember that, for a minute, I managed to make you feel something else than anger, hate or hurt.."

He frowns, visibly hesitant, before finally giving in with a childish grumble.

You finally trace his fingers on your colorful drawing, mixing the color of the rainbow and the greyish color that composed the colors of their suits. And, at the middle, all those colors forming one gigantic tree, that tree being your own personal touch..A tree that, maybe, will learn Penny that, even though humans destroy, they also create and Pennywise that, even though he lost any hopes concerning humanity, the particularity of the humans, the thing that makes them truly special are their hope. Because, even if animals are better than you in every aspect, they do not hope..And they do not have the imagination to create any other outcomes than eat or be eaten. This is maybe why the two clowns seem much more appreciative of those creatures than the humans ? Because they are much easier to understand ? You smile proudly at your little discovery. Like this tree, humans are made of so many different colors that it is difficult to find a pattern..Both of them said that they hated Humanity, but if it is true then..

" I may have understood why you chose to be clowns.."

They turn towards you : Penny with a side smile and Pennywise with an arked eyebrow.

" Oh ? And why is that ? You're gonna tell us that it's because we liked making people laugh when we were "humans" ?!"

The older one says, putting humans between brackets mockingly while the other one is cackling behind him. You smile again and shake your head while they come down to a sitting position; one on his favorite worn out leather chair and the other one on the dirty floor. They both look up at you expectantly, as if they are expecting you to read them a bedtime story..

" Well..I don't think it is about the form in itself, it is more about the colors and the fact that it symbolizes things that you never had when you were "humans".."

You say between brackets as to imitate Pennywise that is looking at you with another one of his signature mocking smile.

" What are you talking about ?! I am funny ! The funniest in town if you ask me !"

He says proudly, while Penny only rolls his eyes at his comment.

You shake your head again with a smile and even answer with a little laugh.

" No. Not that. You feed only from fear..Correct ?"

They both nod in unison and then, you ask a question that they had never even asked themselves before.

" Why only fear ?"

They want to answer that it is obvious, that it is stupid to even ask. But they have to admit it at the end, they do not know themselves. After a while, you answer for them.

" You do not feed on fear. But on faith."

They frown and Pennywise asks, confused.

" What do you mean ?"

You try to find words to explain your thinking and finally sigh, as it is no easy task.

" You feed on the only thing that you do not have, and that humans are the only ones to possess..Our faith and beliefs. We believe that there are monsters under our beds, then you take their appearance. In fact, I don't even know if you can transform in anything else than scary things, can you ?"

They look at each other before looking back at you and Penny is the first one to answer you.

" We never tried..and what for even ?"

You smile and get up, dusting your knees.

" Humans are afraid, but what they fear the most is losing their most cherished things. Try with me. Try to guess my most cherished thing on Earth.."

The two clowns seem interested by the idea and you can feel them trying to find your most precious memories. They already know your biggest fear..And in all honesty, after having seen it so many times, you aren't that scared of insects anymore. Now, let's see if they are as powerful as they say they are..

Penny transforms into a puppy and you smile tenderly while extending your arms in order to take him in your arms. But then, another head appears, then another, then another..

He returns to his normal appearance, almost as out of breath as you were before.

" I..I can't..stay in this form very long."

You nod understandingly and then, turn towards the oldest that only shrugs at the odd reaction of the young one. Pennywise seems to look at you with a little bit more seriousness, his hand scratching his chin in silent observation. You know that he is trying to figure you out and is taking the dare to heart. And, suddenly, his smile widens and his eyes brighten as he has a sudden epiphany and you frown in worry. What did he see ? Suddenly, he gets up and slowly walks towards you with a weird crooked smile, looking more smug than usual.

" If I have learned something about your kind is that you have one thing that you always bring up.."

You frown in incomprehension, what does he mean ? Suddenly, Penny smiles creepily and you shiver, he must have understood some kind of hidden message because you sure as hell didn't get the memo ! You smile awkwardly, your pulse racing and cold sweat start to form on your skin. Whatever he has in mind..You sure as Hell didn't know what it is, and that scares you more than anything..Pennywise backs you up against the wall of your drawing and smirks.

" I..I think we played enough..I'm tired..We can maybe continue tomorrow..?"

You ask, your heartbeats quickening and both clowns looking at you with bright yellow eyes. However, suddenly, both of them shout at the same time.

" Money !"

" Food !"

You open your eyes wide at Pennywise that gets out some coins from his pocket and you then turn towards Penny that just shouted food like it was some kind of good answer at a test. Tears start building up at the corner of your eyes and you sigh in relief before biting your lips shut, trying to contain your laughter.

Penny frowns at your expression and says in a small, almost childish, voice.

" Wasn't the point of the game to say one of the things you cherish the most ? Don't you cherish food ? Why are you crying ? Did I win ?!"

Suddenly, you start laughing uncontrollably and Pennywise answers him in a really angry voice.

" No! You didn't, big dummy! The game was transform, not yelling the answer at the top of you lungs like an idiot!"

Penny frowns and crosses his arms while pouting. But you answer through each giggle.

" You're wrong! Both of you!"

They look at you with wide eyes before growling.

" Then, what is the answer ?! "

Pennywise yells, frustrated and you answer.

" Love ! We value love ! Family, friends.."

Penny frowns and scoffs.

" Well, you're funny ! How do you transform into something you don't even know ?!"

You gasp, this is why he couldn't stay in the form of a puppy ! He didn't know how they truly acted towards affection ! You could have almost felt sorry for them if it didn't mean alerting their fear senses for food..But, you could try to find a way to get them to learn more about the true meaning of love. 

Pennywise lets you go and sighs in defeat while turning towards Penny.

" Boy ! You don't have to transform into love ! You just had to take the appearance of something she wanted to love, dumbass ! Like I don't know, a human she know ?!"

You suddenly open your arms wide and they both look at you with widened eyes.

" What the heck are you doing ?"

Pennywise asks with a scowl and Penny only frowns, his eyes diverting on strange angles. You try not to think about the fact that you're going to try to hug two interdimensional demons and just wrap your arms around them. At first, you really thought one of them was going to shred you to pieces, but they become as still as statues.

" This is what humans call a hug. It's super effective and it is the first thing in affection."

Penny is still as a rock, and you even ask yourself if he is even breathing..Before remembering that he surely doesn't even have a heart. Pennywise is the first one to move and gets you off harshly. His eyes are of a wild red color and he looks in pain. He clutches his heart and growls animalistically at you. He then runs towards the exit and glances at you one last time.

" I am hungry. I'm going hunting..Penny, keep an eye on her ! If she even moves a muscle, eat her."

Penny seems to get back from his shock and only nods quietly.

When Pennywise is gone, your focus comes back on Penny that, you had noticed, had taken more distance between himself and you after your attempt at affection. As if he was..scared ? You try to approach him, talk or even apologize, but he only growls warningly at you and shows you his really sharp teethes..making you reconsider.

You tried to make them look at humanity from a different perspective, like at your drawing, but looks like nothing could be done..You'd die here. Anyway, the joke's on you since you were the one who thought you could change them..Silly you. Monsters will always remain monsters..Hope ? Who are you kidding ?! You lost that the moment you ended up in that damned sewer ! You start crying and, for some reason, your sobs catch the attention of Penny. He looks at you, then at his pile of toys, then back at you. He then begins climbing it and that makes you wonder what he is doing ? Is he leaving you ? Eat a rotten piece of child ? You have no time to wonder more as he quickly gets back on the ground and, with measured steps, approaches you with the same wariness as a wild animal. He then throws you something and gets back into his corner with a piece of a child's leg in his other hand.

He starts chomping on it and you look at what he threw at you..A music box ? You look at him quizzically and, after swallowing, he answers your silent question.

" Don't read anything into it. Your tears make me uncomfortable, so I got you something to keep you from doing that..If I eat you now, Pennywise would be angry at me for not sharing, and I have had enough of his loud voice for one day. Now, make this thing work. I want to listen to it, it has a nice sound and you have nothing else to do.."

You stay still for a moment before smiling softly at him.

" Sure..Thanks.."

You start playing the little music box and are surprised to see that it is the moonlight sonata of Beethoven..A beautiful music that invades the whole sewer with its melody echoing on the walls. You smile widely, at least something to remind you of the outside world.

Outside, Pennywise has his mind set on finding his next meal, but, suddenly stops in the forest and, weirdly enough, hears the song..Then, the pang in his chest that he felt before comes back and he can suddenly hear the words that an idiotic turtle called Maturin once told him before dying..

" Just because you bury something, that doesn’t mean it stops existing, Robert Gray. You can hide your heart, but someone will one day dig far enough to find it.."

Robert Gray..It had been such a long time that he had heard this name. At the time, he had only laughed mockingly at the old senile turtle..But now..Even Bob had felt it. No..Not Bob..Penny. They had chosen to never speak of those disgusting human names again. But then, she had showed up..They could eat her, never talk about it again, continue hunting children and living until the end of the world..She was human..They both knew that, she would grow old..tired..cumbersome and then die. But then, something else that the bothersome turtle had said comes back in his mind. One time, Pennywise had dared ask why the turtle loved humanity so much ? And he had answered something strange that Pennywise had not expected.

" Humanity has only scratched the surface of its real potential. Someday, you will understand why Humanity is so important, Robert.."

" My name is Pennywise ! The destroyer ! The eater of Worlds ! I have no sympathy for humans ! Whoever they are or whatever they do !"

He kept telling himself that, trying to convince himself but then..Why can't he believe his own words ? What was bothering him ?! Why did he feel this way after only talking for a few days to a simple human ?! Or..was it the tree ? The tree she had drawn ? Yes, there should have been some kind of trick behind it ?! She had tricked them as he had firstly assumed ! But then, why did he feel so out of control ? As if he was wrong ? Did the words of the turtle, for once, really made sense ? He closes his eyes and sighs before punching a tree and making it fall..No ! He wouldn't allow it ! He wouldn't allow the old turtle to make a fool out of him even after death ! He was going to kill her ! And that was a promise ! He was not going to let her question everything anymore ! He would shut her up ! No more idiotic questions: no more opportunities to manipulate his feelings ! Yes ! That would be it ! The idea of going hunting out of his head, he walks back to the sewer with a determined smirk. Yeah..We'll see who'll be the fool at the end..Maturin..

[0livec0w]

Fiinally sketched out my WoF headcanon tribe designs! I’m still working on Nightwings. h

Notes on their designs under the cut!

Mudwings: They have very bovine type faces and bodies. They're basically big cow-crocodiles.They have leathery scales like a crocodile and BIG THICK bodies and tailsI like to imagine that Mudwings have the most variety in horn shapes and number.You can have little bun horns to great pronged antlers. Any shape and size. I also imagine that their coloring is a bit splotchy and that its common for plants to grow on them.Some even plant seeds to get pretty flowers to grow on them since they're always caked in mud. They have droopy ears that lay flat on the top of the mud when they take naps. Icewings: Icewings are like arctic porcupines.Spikes EVERYWHERE.That's pretty much it for their design. SPikes. A lot of them are serrated too. They also don't have "real" teeth?I just kinda draw em with external teeth idk.

Nightwings: I think Nightwings are the hardest to design. I'm not all that happy w this particular design but I'm working on it.Nightwings have bat noses and straight rOUnd horns. All of their body is pretty round. Their scales are iridescent and very reflective and cold to the touch.They feel like they're made of shiny rocks. I don't like how light the canon design makes their underbelly. I like to imagine that instead, they have the same star patterns that they have on the bottoms of their wings.Nightwings with powers get cool white markings on their scales. All Nightwings eyes glow. Ones with powers glow more than others.

Skywings: They have very tall vertical ears and horns. They're just tall in general. They just pointy. Very pointy.They look the most like what I would consider a "regular dragon"Their wings are slightly transparent and are the thinnest and largest of all the tribes.

Rainwings: Rainwings are a real eyesore.They are constantly saturated to the mAX.They look like poison dart frogs on acid. I like to imagine that their horns and claws are very thorny and sharp.Their frills are sharp too. Rainwings are sharp and colorful.They have HUGE eyes with fun shaped pupils.I cram as many frills on their face as I can.They normally gave a base dark color and then 3-4 neon-y colors overtop it.If they want to, they can strobe their colors and give everyone a headache.They're the smallest and skinniest tribe. They have the longest tails of all the tribes. It just doesn't look that way bc they're always coiled up.All of their horns, claws, and spikes are needle thin.Some Rainwings are born with exceptionally strong venom and have it leak through their skin like a dart frog. Silkwings: FLUFFY, BABYI don't know why tf the books didnt make em fluffy.I don't like thinking that the silk just pops out of their wrist. Makes me feel weird.Instead I imagine it kinda magical like a fire wizard spawning fire in his hand except more wispy. I gotta illustrate it sometime.Their wings look like butterfly wings except a little more layered on top of each other and they have wing joints. A lot also have wings with that one bit that dips down further than the rest of the wing (just bc I think it looks cool) They are any color of the rainbow, just a very pastel shade.They have plenty of patterns in their fur and a poof at the end of their tail.They have kinda paw-like hands. They look like total wimps.

Sandwings: Tattoos are a big thing among Sandwings. They get SO MANY. Entire sleeves and body art are common.They also wear hella jewelry and clothes.Their manes/ frills come in all shapes and sizes and can almost be styled like our hair.They can grow out frills to a few feet. (like shoulder length for humans)They have large fangs like Rainwings but their venom isn't nearly as strong.Sandwings tend to have two sets of smaller horns. They have LARGE ears for venting heat. They also have patches of scraggly fur/hair between scales. There are Sandwing skin conditions where some Sandwings are bore entirely covered in hair with no scales.Royal Sandwings have a hood like some snakes do.

Leafwings: Leafwing's frill is actually a double frill that splits in the middle.Their large ears and eyelashes are leaf shaped. Other bits of leaves poke out ever so often on different parts of their bodies.They have leathery skin with a few brighter colored scales every once and a while. Their horns are slightly prehensile and can be moved slightly (with great effort)There is a fan of leaves at the end of their tails.They have large eyes with rectangular pupils. Seawings: Seawings are very squishy and blubbery and fat.They have plenty of little dangly bits all over them that look AWESOME when they're floating around in the water.Their eyes are large and round.They have no horns, only frills and dangLIES.Seawings tails have large fins going along the top and bottom. The tails also flatten out towards the end for easier swimming.The danglies below their chin grow with age.They have the shortest legs of all the tribes and they are the slowest fliers.When a Seawing has been out of water for too long, they get gross and slimy and smell terrible.

Hivewings: Hivewings are very shiny. All of their black scales are incredibly reflective and polished.They are very cold to the touch and have extra thick scales.Their mouths and insides are blue.Their wings are jointed in the middle and clear. They have spines along their bodies. Some Hivewing's spines are venomous. Hivewings have very long retractable claws and nimble hands.They can stand deathly still for long periods of time.

[mintenochian]

what other people want added to Minecraft: g u n s

what I want added to Minecraft

•Birds

-For multiple biomes, but mainly for the forests.

-Songbirds would add SO MUCH life to the otherwise quiet areas of the game

-Ravens and crows would be awesome and could use some of the parrot mimicking AI

-Cardinals in the snow biomes would bring a GORGEOUS pop of colour into the white atmosphere

-Seriously we need something to populate the sky, parrots do NOT fly like they should

-nests in trees, can find eggs in them

-doesn't really add a use but fun new feather types would be cool

•Owls

-technically still a bird but would go really well in covered rooftop forests and snow biomes

-we're already getting larger avians added in the form of vultures so why not more large birds?

•Mice and / or rats

-absolute precious babies

-sadly would go well with owls :(

-with cave update coming we need adorable rodents scurrying around

-lil bastards could make mouseholes inside of blocks

-will they be tameable? idk.

-adds the necessity for cheese

•Deer

-MOJANG this is a MUST, this is a NEED

-You literally have pigs, chickens, cows, and sheep spawning in forests what the fuck

-Deer with spotty baby fawns??? Yes

-Young bucks with different stages of antler growth? Yes

-Fawns frolicking in flower forests bc they feel safe

-Stripped wood appearing on trees where bucks scrape velvet off their antlers

-Being able to collect sets of antlers when they fall off periodically (would NOT be attainable by killing the deer, you have to wait for them to shed)

•Elk and Moose

-Same vein as deer

-Bigger, much bigger, neutral instead of passive, less shy

-Snowy biomes

-Better additions than fucking llamas tyvm

-Sidenote but savannahs could also really use some endangered deer-like species to help raise awareness for their status

•Squirrels

-Mojang plz

-Adds nuts to Minecraft ;)

-Black, grey, red, and mixed colour squirrels and breeding

-Brings life to forests like songbirds and deer

•Bears

-Mojang bby you literally already have a neutral bear in Minecraft why have you not reskinned it for grizzly/brown/black bears?

-Bear caves

-Hibernating mobs

-Brings more use to the beehives and bees, bears could be attracted to any area that has more than one bee hive with honey

•WOLVES AND DOGS

-They NEED the ocelots and cats update

-More wolf types (red, timber, snow, black, etc)

-Actual wolf packs (the AI would be difficult to program but the doges are worth it)

-Please let the howl at the moon, if foxes get to say ringdingding all night long wolves deserve to be allowed to howl

-More dog breeds (I know that there's no reason for domesticated dog breeds in Minecraft but ACTUALLY THERE IS)

-Hunting dogs like springers that can jump and run faster

-Foxhounds :D

-Most Important Goodest Boy: Herding dogs like collies and sheepdogs

-Herding dogs could be found in plains where cows and sheep spawn and create herds

-LET DOGS LAY DOWN FOR FUCKS SAKE

•Herding

-Instead of having to pen up and enclose your livestock you could form herds of cows and sheep

-Your Goodest Boi herding dog would protect them and move around with them when they graze

-Just soft peaceful minecraft tingz

•Salt licks

-Something SO SMALL but would make SO MUCH HAPPINESS

-Drawing new cows into your herd by putting up a salt lick

-I'm soft

-I guess salt would be a new ore???

•Bird feeders

-idk I think it would be cool

-excess seeds used for SOMETHING

•Raccoons

-The coolness of wolves, the chaos of foxes, the cunning of cats

-thumbs

-be gay do crimes

-can open chests (trigger trap chests to catch them?)

-Fantastic little shits

-Not tameable but will trust players like foxes do

•Snakes

-I know it's a lot to ask and it would be hard to make them look good

-But??? Imagine a tiny lil garter snake in your garden

-unlikely but would be so fantastic

•Rope

-climeable

-please Mojang we need this so badly

-imagine the ships? The bridges? The bell towers and everything?

-super easy to add, just reskin vines and add a string crafting recipie

•Butterflies and Moths

-Bflies could be a unique mob to flower forests and friends with bees

-if moobloom is added they would all be BEST BUDS

-get it "buds" ahahaha

-help with flower polination but just gives a TON of life to flower forests

-We literally have lanterns in minecraft why do we NOT have moths? Such a cool aesthetic addition.

-helps fill both the daytime and nighttime sky

•Hummingbirds

-fourth member of BEST BUDS

-just soft baby

-i love birbs okay

-the only avian who does not work for the bourgeoisie

•Fireflies

-10 million of them please

-they give great hugs

-adds so much atmosphere to the night world

•Cheese

-We have milk

-We have, presumably, goat milk

-Quit being cowards and add butter and cheese

-Butter churn job block for villagers

-V funny bc they have no arms to churn with?? Oh well

•Seashells

-Something decorative and beautiful that could 1) liven up beaches and 2) have snails and crabs inside!

-Mojang plz do not add sand dollars to the game people already don't know how to tell if they're still alive before trying to take them home

•Whales

-WHALES.

-Imagine something as massive as the ender dragon but peaceful. Allows you to stand on them (idk how but make it happen Jeb)

-WHALE SONGS.

-Being so deep and far out into the ocean, and when the moon is high in the sky and you're sitting in your boat, you just hear the beautiful melancholy sounds of the whales in the distance

•Jellyfish

-Idk if y'all know this but the glow squid is a bad idea

-Dream buddy you fucked up, please use your influence to get in contact with Mojang and have them redo the vote. People would have so much regained respect for you if you tried to fix your mistake.

-Also why does a speedrunner get to tell millions of people what mob would bring more life to Minecraft? He's only playing the game for 5 minutes smh

-aNYWAYS

-Jellyfish could literally do everything the glow squid is going to and look better for it AND possibly be neutral instead of peaceful

•Orcas

-Not much to say but it would liven up the frozen water biomes a bit

•Penguins

-You already know why

-Imagine giving a new home to all the Club Penguin players? Legendary.

-Gender doesn't exist in Minecraft but we all know penguins would be hella gay

•Lobsters

-I think they would be cute

-You would NOT BE ABLE TO BOIL THEM ALIVE THANK YOU VERY MUCH

•Mermaids

-Never going to happen since passive mobs are generally real life animals but it would be so cool

•Otters

-they can hold hands

-brings life to the rivers

-super cute

•Frogs and possibly toads

-Swamp gods

-Absolute mad lads

-maybe grow from tadpoles

-wouldn't do much but needed

•Fairy Forests

-NOT Twilight Forests. Not a new dimension.

-Just gentle hidden groves in forests

-ADD FAIRY RING GENERATION TO MINECRAFT.

•Big cats

-Tigers, lions, bobcats, panthers

-Literally anything that could finally add a strong predator possibility to savannahs and jungles

•Zebras and Giraffes

-Shy and skittish

-cannot ride (their skeletal structure is NOT MADE FOR CARRYING HUMANS)

-Super cute tho, brings much needed life to savannahs

•Camels

-The better llama

-Can honestly just be a reskin

-brings much needed life to the desert

-spits and wears carpet and forms caravans like llamas

•Lemurs

-Easier to add to "jungles" than monkeys

-it would be really cool if we could just get a Rainforest biome

-King Julian stans awaken

•Red pandas

-we need them

-cuter than normal pandas and you can @ me

-better idea than sloths or koalas

•More Eldritch Horror Hostile Mobs

-Fun fact time

-The enchanting table language already has Lovecraftian references

-"phnglui mglwnafh cthulhu rlyeh wgahnagl fhtagn" is literally a quote from the enchanting table

-translates to "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

-Bet you didn't know that fun fact

-aNYWAYS add the Kraken to Minecraft instead of the shitty guardians. Thanks.

-imagine how cool it would be to see lights slowly extinguish as something terrifying and dangerous slowly moves in for the kill

-torches get extinguished and can get relit

-if not relit fast enough Something will be waiting

•Ice statues

-We have giant fossils and ship wrecks and cool stuff like that but please imagine finding a GIANT humanoid ice sculpture in an ice spikes biome

-maybe bones inside to show you that... That wasn't carved or naturally generated.

•Skeletons

-Not a mob but a decoration block

-Found in temples, mineshafts, and caves

-implied to be the remains of miners and explorers

-rare

-also implies that every skeleton you kill has some backstory since they look the same

•Constellations

-Not real world star maps but completely unique to Minecraft

-chance for LOTS of fun references

-The stars are your only companions in an apocalyptic world where you are the last of your kind

-Space is gay minecraft is gay thus minecraft space is gay

•Corn

-we have butter in this list

-we have salt in this list

-popcorn. That is all.

And finally

•Leeks

-mostly a joke but would be a cool crop

-100% a reference to Hatsune Miku the creator of Minecraft

DISCLAIMER: I recognize that mobs are added to Minecraft to serve a purpose within the game and that many of these mobs would be better in mods and such, but I also feel like many of these suggestions would really bring so much more life to parts of the game that really need it. Even if they don't serve a huge purpose, they would still be really amazing additions imo.

I would love to see the ideas and suggestions that other people have for what they want added to Minecraft, please TAG ME if you make a post like this, I wanna hear and read it!

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About the Climax of "Reunion" from Amphibia

Salutations, random people on the internet who are already scrolling right past this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

So, Season Three of Amphibia is coming pretty soon. And I am...excited, but not as much as most people.

If you've seen my reviews, you'll know that while I do like Amphibia, I wouldn't go so far as to say it grabbed me as well as a series like The Owl House. With a show like that, it took me until Episode Five before I realized The Owl House was something special that was worth remembering. For Amphibia? It took me until the Season One finale before I had a similar reaction. But, to be fair, that's because this series is really good at making an ending. "Reunion," for example, takes a lot of the small things the first season has been building up, taking plots from episodes I considered filler and tying it all together in a pretty satisfying ending. I know people are still reeling over the epicness of "True Colors," and all for a good reason, but I want to start the new season on the right foot by discussing a moment that made me consider giving the series a chance.

But it also contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen Amphibia yet, now might be a good time to check it out. It may not have grabbed me and might not even grab you, but trust me when I say that it's worth it just to get to that final scene.

Now, let's review, shall we?

Grime Explaining Flipwart and Bogjump: One thing I will always defend about this series is its humor. More often than not, it succeeds in getting a chuckle out of me with perfect timing and solid comedic delivery. And stuff like this? Where Grime takes a break from his evilness to explain how two board games work to two teenagers? Only to then give up and stick with a simple answer? Yeah, I'm sorry, but that's funny to me. A good thing, too, given how this show relies more on humor than anything else. It may have an overarching plot and its fair share of grim moments (I give you Marcy's maybe death), but Amphibia knows when to keep things light amongst the darkness, which I always appreciate.

Anne Pleading with Sasha: Here, the scene showcases Anne's own personal struggle with Sasha. We know Sasha's a bad friend, primarily because we have eyes. But Anne still needs convincing. Because while she speaks up, she still doesn't assert herself. Anne doesn't yell at Sasha or tell her she's going too far. Instead, she just begs and pleads, hoping to seek the bit of humanity of this girl that Anne sees as a friend. Only for Grime to cut things short in demanding Hop Pop.

Anne Grabbing a Sword to Defend Hop Pop: This, on the other hand, was a defining moment for Anne. She spent so much time with the Plantars, risking life and limb for their own personal health and safety in multiple episodes before this one. So in desperation and due to being backed into a corner, she yanks out one of the guards' swords and orders people to back up, including her "best friend." This moment is when Anne is right on the edge of standing up against Sasha, ready to do all she can to help a person, er, frog that treats her right.

Sasha Talking Anne Down: But she isn't fully ready to fight back yet. Sasha sees the panic and desperation and uses that to her advantage and takes control. She speaks calmly, attracting Anne with talks of going home and pointing out the ridiculousness of standing up for Hop Pop. And my blood boils with how easily she does it. It was like a light switch, turning off her intensity just so Sasha appears to be empathetic. Even though she isn't. You can tell just how cold hearted she can be with the way she says the line "End of discussion." Does the way she say that really sound like a person who has Anne's best interests at heart. I wouldn't think so.

Sprig’s Reaction to Anne Lowering the Sword: And neither does Sprig. I mean, look at Sprig's expressions when he sees Anne lower the sword:

First, there's shock and empathy in seeing Anne crumble to Sasha's will. And unlike the fake empathy Sasha offered, you can see that it's real.

Almost as real as the look of pure disgust he gives Sasha afterward. Personally, I can't blame him. Sprig cares deeply for Anne, as the two of them have the most real friendship out of everyone else in the main cast, one built on mutual trust, respect, and willingness to have the other's best interests at heart.

Sprig Standing Up for Anne: This only proves my point. By slingshotting mud (was that mud?) into Sasha's face and praising how incredible Anne is, Sprig proved he really is the true friend that Sasha can only wish to be. And it's just the boost Anne needed to snap out of her stupor and do, in her words, "something that [she] should have done a long time ago."

Anne Standing Up to Sasha: If standing up for Hop Pop was a defining moment for Anne, defending Sprig from Sasha was a moment Anne could never go back on. It was one thing to fight for her found family against soldiers she's never met before. It's something else to do that against Sasha, Anne's best friend, who she pleaded with earlier and was so close to falling into submission for. But not anymore. At this moment, Anne decided to think for herself and do what needed to be done. Rather than let a bully tell her what to do instead.

Grime’s Words of Warning for Sasha: Grime’s little warning is similar to how a commander gives tips to a fellow commander in leading the troops. Because that's what Sasha really seems like. Not a friend, but someone who takes charge and orders what Anne and Marcy should do rather than listen to the opinions of the group. You see it more in "Battle of the Bands," and that's why I think she follows his advice to "stamp this out." Especially with how he finishes his warning: "Fail, and nothing will ever be the same."

There are two things to take away from that.

The fact that Grime was right. Sasha failed, and nothing was the same because of it. Anne now stood up to her and won't take her orders anymore. The thing is, that would have happened if Anne failed or not. Sasha winning may have stamped Anne's spirit a bit, but it still shows a dark side to her that wouldn't have been forgotten for long.

The fact that Sasha vocally admits that she won't let things change. It proves how twisted her mindset on friendship is that Sasha would willingly partake in a sword fight with her "best friend" because she refuses to have Anne standing up for herself. She likes being in charge and refuses to lose her power no matter what needs to be done to keep it.

If Anne defending Sprig is a moment where she crosses the line for the better, Sasha listening to Grime is a moment where she crosses the line for the worst.

“Anne, you don’t have to do this”: I love how Hop Pop tries to talk Anne out of the challenge. It's his life that's on the line, but he cares just as deeply for Anne as she does for him, that letting her duel Sasha, her supposed "best friend," is a choice he doesn't want her to make.

“Yes, I do.”: But Anne isn't about that. She now knows the type of person Sasha is, and letting her get away with more control is something no one should allow. And Anne won't. Not anymore.

The Fight: The fight isn't all that special compared to other action animation, and even to a certain fight scene we see in "True Colors." But as is, it is still pretty tense. I mean, for f**k's sake, it's two thirteen-year-olds fighting each other with swords! It's a miracle that only Sasha got a small scar at the end of it. Plus, while not the show's highest standard yet, there is a lot of effort and attention put into this battle. Anne is a lot more inexperienced and frantic with her attacks, where Sasha shows she was trained well in her time with the toads and is rotten given that she cheated by blinding Anne to force a victory. In a way, it illustrates the desperation the two of them have for winning, making Sasha's actions, in particular, easier to root for Anne.

Anne Wins: So when Anne is victorious, it's all the more satisfying. Primarily thanks to the look on Sasha's face. Look at it:

That is the definition of shock and anger, mostly shock. Sure, Sasha might be ticked that she lost, but it's Anne's words that I think really hit a specific soft spot: "You're not going to push me around anymore." That's probably the first time that Anne called Sasha out on her awful behavior. Saying that she's standing up to her huts, but pointing out how Sasha basically controlled Anne and how that's something she won't allow anymore, could be an eye-opening moment that Sasha needed.

Grime Goes Against the Deal: Ok, full disclosure, while this post is meant to shine a light on how great a scene is, there is one complaint I've got to get out of the way. You see, Grime going against his deal to let Hop Pop go free if Anne wins was way too predictable. Because why the f**k would he?!

I mean, does this seriously look like the face of a man you can trust? This scene may excel at everything else, but this one predictable moment is just a little off to forgive.

The Tower Blowing Up: This predictable moment, however, is done flawlessly. Because there's a difference between a twist and a payoff. Where a twist is meant to shock the audience, a payoff has to, well, pay off a setup brought up earlier in the story. And Wally's boom-shrooms going off at just the right time, transitioning to the most iconic moment of the series? Yeah, that's a payoff done right.

(Also, Wally cursing his one eye is hilarious)

“Lean On Me”: By the way, NOT joking when I say what follows is the most iconic moment of the series. All of which is aided by the inclusion of "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers. I'm not a music theory major and have no idea if the song itself is actually mildly appropriate to the scene, much like how "All Star" and "I Need a Hero" work perfectly for Shrek and Shrek 2, respectively. With that said, "Lean On Me" really does add an extra Umph! power to what follows. And as Matt Braley, series creator, describes, it is the coolest thing, but it will never happen again.

(Apparently, the song was too expensive).

Anne Goes to Save Sasha: Believe it or not, I actually do love this decision. Sasha may be a bad friend...Actually, no. Sasha is definitely a bad friend, but that doesn't mean Anne wants her to die. Not after all the good times that they had with each other. Anne might refuse to let Sasha push her around, but she's not ready to cut Sasha out of her life. Not yet.

Anne Holds Onto Sasha, the Plantars Hold Onto Anne: ...I mean...just f**king that! Through this moment, we get a perfect idea of how Anne's relationships work.

To put it simply, the Plantars raise Anne up and keep her safe, where Sasha just weighs her down and risks her safety. And the saddest part is that Sasha knows this.

“Anne. Maybe you’re better off without me…”: Some say that this could be Sasha trying to get in one last manipulation, using her own sacrifice to stick to Anne for choosing talking frogs over her. While I could see that perspective as a possibility, I personally take this moment as Sasha finally realizing the damage she causes for Anne and admits her faults. Sure, Sasha might have backpedaled in later episodes. What with refusing to change and even directing her anger towards Anne instead of towards herself. But that's because she had time to process these events and unfairly aim her negative feelings at Anne for wanting something better. So it doesn't seem implausible to me that Sasha admitting that Anne's better off without her is something she believed deep down and, for just a moment, allowed herself to accept this heavy truth. I won't deny the possibility that she's still trying to manipulate Anne, but to me, with the tone and expression Sasha has with her admission, you can't fake that. And you can't fake what she does next.

Sasha Lets Go: This...shocked me right down to my core.

I knew Grime would go back on his word, and I assumed the boom-shrooms would pay off somehow. But Sasha, willingly and unhesitantly, letting go of Anne's grip and falling to an expected demise? I...I couldn't have ever predicted that. Not with what we've seen from her before. When I hear how people see this as one last manipulation tactic, I just can't see it. Yes, there are monsters on this planet who would go this far, but I don't think Sasha is one of them. Later episodes like "Battle of the Bands" (despite a rough start) show signs of a person who could be better, and the Season Three trailer hints that she might actually learn from her mistakes. So her letting go, with no way of knowing her survival, could be the first sign that Sasha would one day make that first step. She might not be able to become Anne’s friend again, thanks to burning that bridge in "True Colors," but she'll at least try to become a better person. She just needs to do one good thing in her life first.

Plus, whenever I see this image:

I’m reminded why I could never say that I didn’t like this show.

Grime Saving Sasha: A lesser viewer would say this cheapens Sasha's sacrifice, but not to me. She had no way of knowing Grime would save her, so to her, so this is still a bid decision to go through with, even if she couldn't have gone all the way. In no way does it take away from the sacrifice, just as much as it doesn't strike a chord deep in Anne's heart.

Anne Breaks Down: Because what else would she do?

It's true, Sasha isn't a good friend, and Anne would likely be better off without her. But that's not what Anne's thinking at this moment.

She's thinking about the good fun she had with her best friend.

She was thinking about the person she could lean on.

And she was thinking about how she almost lost this person forever.

So when it all comes crashing down on Anne at once, there's nothing left to do but cry. It is such a real moment that proves one thing: There was effort put into this finale.

IN CONCLUSION

Would I say Amphibia draws me in as much as The Owl House does? No. But it still has my respect. A finale like this proves how hard the writers try to give a good experience. Even if a Schmuck like me thinks that all the pieces don't come together, they still do all they can to make a beloved series.

Season Three is on the way, and while I'm not as hyped as others, I still can't wait to see how it ends. Because if "Reunion" taught me anything, this series really nails an ending.

(And if you want me to do a scene breakdown of the finale in "True Colors," I'll tell you now: I won't...alright, maybe I'll do something for the mid-season premiere. But no promises!)