#Yes the horse is Mantis

[casukaga]

Hi im sorry but i saw your tags on a post about a mantis face and im so intrigued- i wanted to ask first tho if it's okay to dm you to ask you/talk about characters because!!! Im so curious!!!

ye!! i don’t mind dms abt my characters! (i also don’t mind the asks! but if ur actually interested in character lore that i am currently keeping hidden from the dnd group, yes u can send me a dm LMAO)

tho if you wanna know more abt ka’vor (my praying mantis inspired charrie), i don’t actually have a lot for her atm. i’m playing it for my gf’s upcoming dnd campaign and am still figuring out its character. ka’vor is more of a humanoid mantis that my gf made a homebrew race for than like. an actual bug but People-Sized. she’s like a centaur, but with a praying mantis lower half instead of a horse lmao.

i’m still workin on her design and it’s prone to changing, but this is her rn

[vind3miat0r]

redacted listener hcs — favorite animals

i was bored and decided to give the listeners favorite animals based purely on vibes :) (also some pet hcs heheh)

long warning

Angel — most people would assume that they like something basic, like cats. while they do like cats, they like llamas and alpacas more; they think theyre silly and cool and always whines about David not letting them ride any when they go to some sort of fair or carnival

Babe — classic cat lover! they grew up with cats, so it was to be expected. they also likes dogs a lot; their favorite breeds of both being devon rexes (cats) and borzois (dogs)

Sweetheart — they like lizards. while they never had any pets growing up, they became acquainted with the multiple lizards that lived in their school friends’ gardens. they specifically like green basilisk lizards and draco volans

Darlin’ — surprisingly, they like insects. they found a preying mantis egg sac in their backyard when they were ten, and they managed to convince their parents to let them keep one of the mantises once it hatched. they like carpenter ants and preying mantises

Lovely — they like both snakes and cats. after turning, they joked to Vincent about how they were “like an albino snake now.” they begged Vincent for them to get a cat, even though cats tend to disagree with Vincent. they like corn snakes a lot and had one as a pet before they met Vincent (Rory lived a good 13 years and passed away peacefully a few weeks before the E&E 2021 games began)

Treasure — they like deer. they loved reading about the “majestic creatures” in the library, and always beelined to the deer enclosure when they visited the zoo with their family. they particularly love sambar deer and sika deer, liking the way their antlers are shaped

Freelancer — they never gave much thought to things like favorite animals, and theyd often ask growing up, “I’m supposed to have a favorite?” but, they do have an inclination towards zebras and mantis shrimp

Coworker — they love love love ferrets! when they were little, one of their friends got a ferret, and they begged their parents to let them get one (they got a hamster instead. and yes, it died because one of their siblings put it in the microwave). they did all sorts of research on ferrets (what they eat, what amount of love is good for them), and then scolded their friend because they only had one ferret and ferrets need socialization with another of their kind, or they’ll be sad and lonely. they currently have two ferrets of their own, Muffy and Minx

Starlight — theyve always liked birds, even when they were little. a local event that was hosted at a reserve near their house called the Hummingbird Festival took place every spring and fall, and their parents always made the long drive so that they could see the hummingbirds as they migrated. theyve flipped through a few favorites over the years, but the current ones are: barn owls, rosefinches, and ravens. they also like planaria worms, mainly because theyre easy to care for if kept as a pet

Sunshine — they reeeally like horses. like,, reeeeally likes them. bro was that girl /gn growing up: always begging their parents for a horse a pony, even when they knew realistically that it would cost waaay too much. they like black forest horses, colorado rangers, and gypsy vanners the most

Cutie — they went out of their way to like “different” and “unique” animals while growing up, and that habit followed them into adulthood; unlike in school, however, they genuinely like meerkats and lemurs, instead of just saying they do in order to gain clout. they also like beta fish and axolotls

Doc — same as Freelancer, they never gave much thought to their favorite animal. usually, they just said they liked dogs in order to get whoever was asking off their back. after many years of saying that as their answer, its kinda become true. while theyre more of a cat-person, they do like dogs, and has owned them in the past. currently, they have a siberian cat named Vale, and they want to get a bearded collie

Warden — while having favorite animals is considered a “human thing,” Warden likes jellyfish and sea bunnies. one of their charges really likes sea creatures, and they asked her to tell them about them, resulting in about an hour long lesson on whales and sharks. Warden (of their own accord) started researching other sea animals, and found that they really like jellyfish and sea slugs. they specifically like moon jellyfish, mushroom jellyfish, sea bunnies, and sea angels

[limbus-limousine]

Ik you're mostly a Sinclair poster (a very good one at that) but do you have any animal associations for Dante? Or any of the other sinners for that matter

YES YES ACTUALLY!!! SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS ASK...

I have a list of animal associations for project moon characters in general... I'm still working on it but I eventually want to get to background characters too like the optional ruina receptions etc. But currently these are my thoughts for limbus...

Dante: Merulanella blister/tricolor isopod (a perfect match if you ask me... very expensive collectionist morph too). This might change once we know more about them though!

For Verg and Charon I still have to think some up... But Charon is giving mustelid I must say

Yi Sang: Hooded crow + cicada

Dongbaek: Caramel crow!! (This would be a regular American crow, caramel is a mutation that's still being researched which gives them a creamy brown coloration)

Samjo: Great auk (extinct diver bird/penguin) + Royal tern + otter

Dongrang: African forest buffalo + blue roan shorthorn + Oxpecker + cattle egret

Faust: Rock ptarmigan + wooly aphid (still want to look for more...)

Don Quixote: Quagga + Bearded vulture + Monitor lizard

Ryoshu: Horned owl + Dragontail butterfly + Moth (still need to look into species) + ratsnake/black mamba (reference to Hell Screen)

Meursault: Honestly very hard choice... Mostly for personality reasons, I've been thinking of a Nurse shark + MAYBE badger (noctural + def. want an omnivore in there) + Clam or something

Hong Lu: Mantis shrimp + lemur + Sinosauropteryx (chinese compsognathid with conserved pigments of a ringed tail!)

Heathcliff: Aardwolf + Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant (want to look for more too...)

Ishmael: Orca (only predator of whales) + kutchicetus (cetacean transitional fossil) + lobster

Ahab: Sperm whale + Narwhal + polar bear

Queequeg: Leopard seal

Rodya: Manul + Cozumel raccoon

Sonya: Leucistic amur leopard + Mediterranean fruit fly

Sinclair (more details...): Eurasian sparrowhawk + indeterminate canine traits. I imagine him as a bilateral gynandromorph (half male/female mutation), inspired by the real recorded specimens of lazuli buntings and canaries.

Demian: Malayan blue coral snake + Boelen's python + Luzon bleeding-heart dove. Pondering on lamb motif + maybe some traces of corvid

Kromer: Mountain lion + Hercules beetle grub + red headed centipede + some mantid perhaps (looking into it)

Outis: Przewalski's horse, or maybe a Mustang (debating, I'm not as informed about equines !) + Harris Hawk + Black headed python

Gregor: Painted trilobite cockroach (infestation) + Ensign wasp (main/original body) + House centipede

[we-were-meant-to-be-one]

Oddly specific Heathers headcanons!

These just kind of popped into my brain, so I compiled them! They include the Heathers, Ronnie, and J.D.! Enjoy!

Ronnie:

Defo built little mud and stick houses for bugs as a kid.

Owns probably 17 tubes of chapstick because she keeps losing them.

Ex-horse-girl

Had an egyptology phase in 6th grade.

Sharpens her candy canes when she eats them.

Loves those peach gummies.

Hated baths as a kid. The water was either way too hot or way too cold for her. No matter how much it was adjusted.

Basically lives in sweatshirts and sweatpants at home. She likes tank tops in summer. She steals them from J.D. He is not happy about it.

J.D.:

Constantly cracking his bones. Not an intimidation thing, he’s just like that.

Can’t keep the same pencil for more than 3 days. He loses them. Yes he has many deep pockets in his coat. No they don’t have holes. He just doesn’t know where the pencils go.

One of those people who lights his marshmallows on fire until they’re black when making s’mores. Except he will chase people around with the flaming marshmallow.

Doesn’t bite his nails, but he bites his cuticles.

Also sharpens his candy canes when he eats them. He has candy cane sword fights with Ronnie during Christmas.

Only likes the cheap drugstore chocolate. He can’t stand any of the high-end stuff.

He does his own eyebrows. He’s really intense about it. He will pluck and wax them. His favorite part of his face are his brows. Am I saying this solely because I think he has hot eyebrows? Maybe. Shhhhh.

Chandler:

HATES IHOP.

Also an ex-horse-girl.

HATED pink as a kid, but came to terms with it and now loves it.

Kissed her best friend in kindergarten because “that’s what friends do!” It was a sign.

Has a 29,848-step skincare and haircare and nailcare and teethcare and bodycare and eyelashcare routine.

HATES relish.

Only chews pink bubblegum. No other flavors. No other colors.

Has like 5,000,001 pairs of shoes. In fact, she has a whole separate closet for them.

“I’m not gay. I just think women are really really pretty. Wouldn’t it be funny if I kissed a Ronnie? I’m not gay.”

McNamara:

Also also an ex-horse-girl.

Had a pet rat, pet praying mantis, pet tarantula, and pet snake.

Hates plain water.

Prefers butterscotch over cinnamon (iykyk).

She spends ages on her hair, just for it to explode during rain and humidity. She hates bad weather due to this.

Would definitely win Wheel of Fortune.

LOVES mustard. It’s yellow and she thinks it’s tasty.

Duke:

Actually, all of the Heathers were ex-horse-girls.

Chewed on pencil erasers as a kid. Also had those pencil eraser caps.

LOVES glitter gel pens and pretty notes. Y’know those TikToks of people making pretty colorful notes and it pans and the title is “𝐵𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓁 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇” or something? That’s Duke.

Has tons of fake plants. She may like green, but by God she does not have a green thumb.

“Pspspppsspspspsps”’s at every cat she sees.

Thinks she is amazing at baking. She is not. Everyone encourages her. The cycle continues.

[so-many-kwamis]

About boxes, the Emotion box, I am not sure on the status of the Orca and the Butterfly (I feel like the Butterfly would still go better with the other power-affecting Miraculous, as in the Ant, Monkey, Scorpion, Frog, and remind me what the Wolf can do now, can it copy powers?). The other maybe-candidates for the Emotion box I feel are the Mantis and the Koala? Not sure.

If I recall right you were thinking of specially 6-7-8 kwami groups in a box? This way, Peacock+Swan+Dove+Bat+Griffin+Bull=6, technically it could be a complete box or fit one or two more... Or the Mantis, the Koala and the Orca could belong to a different Mind box or something.

The elementals are still pretty easy, Parrot+Thunderbird+Phoenix+Penguin+Seal+Deer+Dragon=7, a good box, and interesting since it has one third layer and a bunch of second layers contrary to a "normal" box, especially since I think you said that Longg could be a leader figure for personality reasons?

Others need to be thought on a bit more. If there's a Mind box, can also be a Body box (including Rabbit, Axolotl, Spider, maybe Bee, maybe Frog, not sure whom else)

Also, since the power to speed time (for an object?) belongs to Eggo, shouldn't the opposite power belong to Niic instead of the Sloth?

I agree with the butterfly, but I'm not sure about the orca. Since the dolphin (who had the same power) was in the Emotion box previously.

The frog doesn't fit in that one, it only affects physical stuff. The wolf can copy someone's appearance so it could kinda fit? It depends on what the other boxes will be.

The koala and mantis are a good idea, the mantis definitely fits there. The Emotion box now would have 7 miraculous.

I don't think I ever said that but it would be good if the boxes were at least similar size.

At that time, when Bloom didn't exist, yes. But I think that Bloom would have the role of the leader since the others are a bit ,, wild, emotional? Bloom is caring and knows how to stand up for herself so the others would respect her. Longg would be like her right-hand man tho.

Body box could have the rabbit, axolotl, frog, wolf, mouse, spider, and tiger. Maybe also the horse and the cow? But that's already 9 miraculous..

Mind box could have the bee, crow, owl, opossum, and koala.

Eggo speeds up time and Niic completely stops it. The sloth stops an object in time and space.

[hazbinhotelfan666]

Slumber Party

June comes in with her pillow and blanket “Hey Cel, why are you next in line to become the grand witch? Isn’t your cousin Martha older then you?”

Celestine peered over to June as she put her novel down “Age does not determine anything, the council is very selective as to who becomes the grand witch.” Celestine would go back to reading.

Maria who was braiding Mantises hair chimed in “ Why did the council pick you then?”

Celestine would put her book down once again “ I cannot say, I know I have many capabilities.” She would then wait a moment before raising her book again.

Mantis would began to open her mouth “ Wouldn’t Martha be a better fit?”

Celestine would sigh becoming quite annoyed with all these questions. The poor pagan just wanted to read her novel “ No, Martha isn’t as skilled as me, believe me if she was I would have her replace me.” She said opening her book for the third time.

Sterling would get up and hold her pillow in front of her “Hey Celestine?”

Celestine kept her composure as she shut her book once more putting it down. “Yes dear?” She looked at the hell borne imp.

“Why are you so adamant about avoiding hell?” The imp would stare at Celestine with a blank expression.

Celestine would look at the two grims, imp and ghoul before saying a word “Let me ask you girls a question, why do you think I would venture off to such a place?” She asked as she waited for them to answer.

The group of purgatory souls could only pause at her question.They were dumbfounded to say the least.

Hearing the silence Celestine would sit up and lean in as she motioned for the other females to circle around her “Come on, gather around.” She said waiting for the girls to get settled.

“I am a pagan, a free soul with no strings attached. My soul is a wild horse with no fence or bridle to contain me. My soul runs for eternity like yours as well.Saints and Sinners are all alike for they do not know what free-will is.” She looked at the imp “ As for hell and heaven bornes you have a chance to steer your own path here. I am lucky to be a witch.” She said before going back to reading.

[olderthannetfic]

So, beating a dead horse and all that, but as someone who occasionally puts "please be careful and don't click on this if the tags dont sound like something you can handle" warnings on our fic, we don't blame people for being put off by it, but we're still unlikely to stop using it anytime soon.

Is it the kind of thing we think shouldn't be necessary? Yes. Is it the kind of thing that we still put in there? Yes, because we feel we have to keep in mind the fandom we're writing for, and considering that the fandom we're writing for contains a certain amount of people who will openly brag about not reading the tags, including one specific person who did so immediately before clicking on a fic before bashing on a gore fic we wrote (anonymously, in a space where we hadn't admitted to writing it) for containing things such as beheading despite being an explicit-rated fic with "romance" in the title, as they expected to be good, wholesome smut.

We don't have faith in the dregs of this fandom to avoid clicking on our fic, and it's nice to have something we can passive-aggressively point to when they complain it wasn't warned for, since reading the tags is apparently too much to ask and we don't wish to be blatantly rude to people in our comments section. We like to see it as a nice little reading comprehension test wrapped up in enough fluff that we aren't just yelling at our readers to not be stupid before getting into the meat of the mantis sex.

We can only hope for the day where our fandom improves enough that we don't have to drop that in, but for now, a little speedbump is an acceptable sacrifice if it keeps us from having to read any more rants about there being gore in their good, christian bug porn. If it turns away a few readers who might be legitimately interested... fair enough, we don't blame you for being turned off, we just don't want to deal with another damn post being stuck to the top of the tag for a week.

--

[mitamicah]

Looked at more (almost all of them) of your ocs, so cute. They are adorable.

So cool, love the horns/antlers? And colourful hair, sea horses are cool.

This lil one is adorable, and very fascinating :3 love the hair, look like bunny ears which is so awwwwwwww.

Now my favourite quill, I love him so much, so freaking sweet and cute, chimeras are so cool and I have to know a few things.

1. does he like dressing up?

2. if he does what about dog costumes?

3. is it offensive that I want to put him into several dog outfits since he’s a chimera?

4. here are a few suggestions if it is not offensive :3

(Yes I know the shark one is a cat😺 but the ones with a dog didn’t looked as sweet 😭)

And can we get more quill facts? :3👀👀👀👀👀👀

Like are there more? He’s the adopted son of phoenix, is there a reason? Tragic backstory or just sweet like sugar?

Thanks for listening. And I hope this wasn’t too much :3

Why, thank you Jay ^V^ glad to see my babies getting some love :3

The rest of the reply will be under the line :3

Ah, that's Skari ^V^ he's pretty cool :3 it is indeed horns like those on a seahorse ... just a lot bigger x'D

Aww, you found little Val :3 I believe he is my newest closed species character (an original species created by another online creator that has given me permission to make a character in this species ^V^) I had a fun time designing him for sure :D bunny ears and all :3

Heck yeah, more love for Quill :D!! He is not usually one who gets a lot of attention so I am glad to see he caught your eye ^V^

Why then ask away :3

Quill haven't done a lot of dress up but like most else in live he is very happy and eager to try :3

Same as before - he is a happy boy who'd be open to try anything else dog costumes

I don't think so?

Oh these are cute :3 although I hope that Phoenix are allowed to make little adjustments for their friend since otherwise I fear Quill's secondary set of arms would feel very cramped in these :'D

Is there anything specific you'd like to know ^V^?

Depending on how much you've read already these might already be something you know :'D

Quill is part fruitbat, part deer, part dog, part praying mantis, part bird (could be a parrot given his ability to learn words) and possibly part snake.

Quill hasn't learned to speak in full sentences so he communicates with single words like "hi", "road" (his way of asking to go for a walk), and "bed" (his way of saying goodnight).

Quill has learned to weave with his secondary pair of arms (I call them his mantis arms).

Quill learns new words through echolalia which in short is that he echoes a word you say to him in the same tonality back at you (it is often seen with autistic people).

While Quill can speak a few words his vocal chords are actually better suited for high pitched bird like sounds so he is often found echoing bird twitter/song.

(if you want more and/or more deep cut facts than this let me know :'D

Oh no his story isn't that tragic :'D Quill was bred in captivity to be a housepet. Phoenix found Quill at a parisian adoption center where the little guy had been given up since nobody had wanted to adopt him from the breeder. Phoenix themselves being a chimera chose to adopt Quill as a sort of son. Quill is often seen helping Phoenix carry around their arrows (Phoenix are an archer amongst other things) - actually this is how Quill got his name. :3

Thank you for the questions ^V^ I hope you can use my answers :3

[truedarkhunter]

A little more about Book of Circus

So I was squinting at the opening images of the Circus anime and thought I saw an alicorn or a winged horse, so I went back and paused it. Instead, it was a griffin. My favorite fantasy creature. That, of course, got me thinking about it. Why is it there? Is it a metaphor about the show? A merging of two things that should be impossible. (Well, Yana Toboso certainly has been repeating that theme throughout, hasn't she?) Nearly all the top circus performers in the show have been given prosthetic limbs, a merging of bodies or forms, if you will. (If you've seen the show, it does make that "merging" idea come out in yet another creepy, creative way.) However, near it is an Egyptian-styled statue. Then I realized, Noah's Arc Circus showed curiosities! Yes, we have Snake, but didn't really see his act. The strongman at the opening is doing fire-breathing, another curiosity act, not necessarily his main one.

The third one appeared to be displaying paintings or photographs of some sort. They look like they have figures in them. Unfortunately, as best as I can make out, the first one could be Baron Kelvin, or a person in a bear head and long jacket holding a basket of flowers. So...images of past performers? Art for sale? Previous/current fliers or posters? Whatever the case, these are in the white and purple striped tent set.

When we see Ciel Phantomhive, he is in one that has another juggler or stage magician with a green colored ball in hand, entertaining a pair of children. They appear to be out with a governess or long-suffering mother. The tent appears green, and indeed they have a green lamp outside similar to the one in front of Undertaker's shop. However, instead of being green flame, it is likely that it is green glass causing the color change. (Does anyone else wonder about that green flame at Undertaker's shop that never gets remarked upon?)

On the wall behind the performer are a pair of framed pieces. The one directly above the performer's head appears strongly to be a set of pinned insects on display. There is a large moth or butterfly on the left, a similar shape above, center, but to the right, the shape shifts, so my guess would be a locust or mantis. The far right is very spread out. That looks more like a crayfish/small lobster, fish, or a humming bird. Quite a range, I know. The "tail" is telling. That drooping shape isn't that common. The thicker body and smaller lumps imply fins or claws. Some fancy goldfish can sport such a tail, but the bodies tend to be more rounded. I'd place my bet on the cast shell of a fancy lobster like a blue lobster, or maybe something similarly bright like a mantis shrimp. Hmm, Homarus gammarus "European lobster" would fit the bill, but be rather common. Still, not everyone would have seen them up close. It might be a Florida crayfish since that would be quite "exotic" and the right size in comparison to the possible Atlas Moth also displayed. Catching some more still frames, there is a series of 3-sided tents with open fronts showing paintings, some implements including a guitar and a coal shovel with a cover (to keep the coal dust down). These could have been innovations on everyday objects or some things brought in from Spain or the Americas.

The second booth has a low glass case with some women ooh-ing over it. That could very well be a mummy they are displaying. Having looked at Victorian England history, they were absolutely disrespectful of Egyptian dead! "Mummy brown" was literally a paint made from mummy corpses. People would grind them up and try to treat ailments like it was tiger gall bladder. There is so much story fodder here. Anyway, there is a strong likelihood that they had one they put on their train as they set up in different locals. So they had that on their train...along with a sewn-together griffin. It makes sense that they would create such a creature much as P.T. Barnum did with the Fiji mermaid. Noah's Arc Circus wasn't as small as it seemed.

It makes some sense, clearly their benefactor, Baron Kelvin, had deep pockets. The lion used could even have been from the circus from earlier years or purchased from another circus when it got too old for it to inspire people. Alternatively Kelvin could have hunted it himself in his early years on a game preserve or just had one sent by a trophy hunter. The eagle(s) may have also been show animals.

There are two in the opening.

The first is part of the griffin. You can see the lion's tail in the frame of the red archway as the "camera" moves from Jumbo to Doll and Wendy and Peter. The second is on Dagger's left as he looks over at Beast who lounges across Betty. This one has its full eagle tail spread, so it is a second bird. Why this one? It could symbolize the desire to be free from the dark servitude the circus players are forced to do. It may also be how Dagger's pride is keeping him from being honest with Beast about how he feels. Alternatively, it could be that the Circus once had a falconer as part of their show who flew a pair of eagles. They had them taxidermied as they birds are expensive, rare, and could still draw a crowd/keep people entertained at the curiosities booths before the main performance.

More evidence that this is a larger circus: They have a carousel/merry-go-round (or roundabout in England or "galloper" by showmen) that has wooden horses in place of real ones. It has 4-5 horses only, but carousel horses were rather expensive as they were hand-crafted. By 1889, they were common at fairs, so having one would boost their credibility. (These details are from Wikipedia on Carousels btw, and a little from Greenfield Village.) On a side note: Apparently in the United Kingdom the horses move clockwise (with the animals facing left), while in N. America and Mainland Europe, they go counterclockwise (the animals facing to the right.)

In front of the carousel is a performer in a white top hat, layers of ruffles around the neck, and 4 stripes down the front of a shirt, likely also ruffles or meant to imitate the pleats of a formal shirt. To their right is another performer wearing a pink bow, black mask, and purple and white stripes on the top with a purple skirt below. The edge of the top has a soft material that looks like purple knitting. They have a black mask and a white or pale pink choker on and appear to be selling balloons...with helium or hydrogen in them. The New York Times reported on the balloon's potential for amusement at popular gatherings in 1873 (according to slate.com). So there was time for rubber balloons to be in popular production by 1889 when Circus takes place. However, they were likely still pretty cutting-edge. Tigers started appearing in circuses around 1831 with the French trainer Henri Martin in Germany. (britannica.com)

Then we have the chandeliers. These are being suspended off a hefty wooden frame inside the big tent. The center one ha the most impressive glass or crystal hanging from it. The others in the background seem to serve more for illumination.

However, the stage lights appear to be gas lights. At the very least they are candles and there are many. Even the main tent had a separate, squared-off entrance, if not multiple such entrances. All of this starts to add a lot of time to set-up, tear-down, and transport. When we look at the clothing of the guests, we see quite a few elegant gowns in various styles with bows and bustles. Likewise, the coifs are done up high and many ladies are sporting hats with some form of decoration, from bands to feathers. The 2 children behind Ciel show the girl wearing a fur-trimmed cape with white gloves and the little boy is sporting a bowtie. Thus, the middle and upper classes were definitely drawn to it. So Noah's Arc Circus was well-funded and likely had at least a month or more in a single location in order to make up for the number of days it took to break it down.

There were separate areas for the top tier performers vs. the lower tier ones. We are mostly introduced to the top-tier tents, but can see hints of the other area outside it. While not as large as Barnum and Bailey at it's height of 1, 100 people, it had to have a good sized number of people to make it work. That means lots of interesting side characters and stories to draw from.

Looking at the frames of people practicing, there are between 15-22. (Is that William in a yellow top, shorts, and leggings in the background?) When "Black" shows off, there are 2 scenes, one of people drawn to watch and the other of people gathering around him. Most of the people are not repeats and there is again about 15-22, and that isn't including the 2-3 Italian-style clowns that show up. So Noah's Arc Circus is probably around 100-300 people, I would guess. What's your guess?

For @Shinigami-Mistress (My response to Shinigami-Mistress' lovely art piece was to write a long blog post. Sorry it isn't about Grelle, but hopefully it will give you some new ideas, too.)

[lilaqpetal]

General Knowledge - SHS

get to know the band!

LILINIETH AEYSS (LILI) :

her full name is lilinieth aeyss, but the name lili is fine too!

she is 6”5.

lili is a succubus, although expressing natural and stereotypical succubus features, she tends to steer from the stereotype of “i have sex with guys and then steal their soul” (although, she could’ve taken that career path)

her lifespan derives off of eating arms — typically human flesh. (it only adds about 3-4 years.)

in the first game, she is presented with short hair, messy, but kept to her neck. over the next two games, it grows longer. by monster roadtrip, it is styled into a long high ponytail.

she dawns a third eye and four horns on her head, with two of the horns being smaller than the other two. this third eye has a mind of its own, but decides it doesn’t want to harm lili or anyone else- purely because its too lazy and it likes to see the crazy shenanigans SHS get up to. sometimes, it likes to speak through lili, but such occurrences are rare.

she has an interdimensional pet named bluey! it dawns multiple eyes and arms. it is 10ft tall when it stands, but it likes to shrink to a cute size, about the size of a cat.

lili is the lead singer of SHS.

she is also the song writer!

she dawns a tattoo of the SHS logo on her waist (it was a stick and poke. her first ever tattoo!)

she is the last to die out of all her friends

her family consists of her older sister: aurora, and her blind mother: camilla. her father is dead.

her main group of friends consist of SHS (of course), but out of the love interests, she is mainly friends with vera, polly and liam.

out of the playable characters, her favourite is vicky.

voice claim : panty from Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt

assigned song - cherry bomb, the runaways

NYX :

nyx is 4”11.

nyx is made of dark matter, since they are a boogeyman. this means they can shapeshift, transform, and yes, she can turn into liquid.

she has a pet bird named niel cockatiel!

they also have an orchid mantis!

nyx has two dads, a grim reaper and poltergeist (with a tragic story too!), noah and rex!

nyx is the bassist of SHS.

originally, nyx was called ‘bookshelf’, because she liked books, and used to have glasses!

now instead, they dawn white freckles!

nyx loves everything to do with space, plants, literature and birds.

she has a burning hatred for leonard, even to go as far as to make her twitter username dissing him.

out of the love interests, their main friends are zoe, scott and kale.

out of the playable characters, their favourite is brian.

she and oz like to joke that they are long lost siblings, since the two are very similar, oz being the embodiment/god of fear and nyx, a boogeyman.

they are the third to die out of the band

they dawn two antler-like horns on their head.

voice claim : Baby from Five Nights At Freddy’s - Sister Location

assigned song - Thus Always To Tyrants , The Oh Hellos

APUT :

aput is a yakutian horse from canada!

he is 6”0.

aput actually had moved to america to attend a highschool there- that is where he met the rest of SHS (and eventually got expelled and moved to spooky high.)

before moving to america, aput actually had a boyfriend in canada! his name was aaron, but since aput moved to america, they could not stand a ldr (long-distance relationship), so the relationship ended.

his family consists of his mother, cupun; his middle brother, panuk and his oldest brother: nuniq.

the tufts on their chest represent their status in the family.

cupun’s tuft is the largest, and nuniq’s being the smallest.

he is the drummer for SHS.

aput loves to race and run track!

he is the first to die out of the band

out of the love interests, he is mainly friends with damien, cal and mothman.

out of the playable characters, his favourite is oz.

he was once a lead in a school production! that being a princess and he had to wear a dress. there is more to this— but that’s a story for another day..

yes, he has crashed into many people, and yes, he has crashed through a wall. this was because of the haunted house at spooky camp, to which he crashed right through the wall and dragged scott with him.

voice claim - jack frost, rise of the guardians

assigned song - love grows (where my rosemary grows), Edison Lighthouse

SANRIO + THAF :

sanrio is the guitarist for SHS.

he is selectively mute- so his puppet, thaf, speaks for him.. despite his vulgarity.

he is 5”3.

sanrio has a fear of ants.

he dawns a mask and his hair covers his eyes— due to the fact his eye sockets are empty and his mouth is torn.

his puppet, thaf, knows how to make alcoholic beverages. he has the ability to possess sanrio, but doesn’t unless necessary.

he is the second to die out of the band

thaf used to be human.

sanrio only really speaks once in a blue moon, but even so, it is raspy and almost inaudible.

sanrio’s only family is his father, who is currently unknown.

he has no pets - unless you’d like to count thaf, then be my guest..

he has the most tolerance of spicy food.

out of the love interests, he is friends with joy, miranda and scott.

out of the playable characters, his favourite is amira.

voice claim - ???

assigned song - devil town, cavetown

fin.

(the image above depicts cupun showing sanrio aput’s baby photos.)

art credits to sadratatouille on instagram

[dilfdoctordoom]

Is it crazy to think that out of all the guardians Gamora is not imo the least likely to return? Besides Drax who is clearly out, and Rocket, Groot and Peter who is supposdly coming back, I could see Gamora making an appearence if Marvel ever wanted to touch the guardians ever again (which is not very likely but you get what I mean). Yes, there is the argument of whether she is a guardian or not but if she understood Groot then I ma take James' comment as an actual thing that is written and that makes her family in a way. I could see Nebula appearing but out of the girls, her arc seems the most done and she is busy running Knowhere, its not impossible but it doesnt have many options. I could see Mantis being used again but Pom said that the story needs to feel right and thats her only request which seeing hoe the MCU is doing now, gurl dont get your hopes up. For Gamora, if Zoe is telling the truth, she is at least willing to come back for the fans, and like Mantis her story feels unfinished.

Apart from this, even if I wish the guardians are never used again, I know deep down they will (and not in a good way), because one thing Marvel is known for doing is beating dead horses. Sadly all of them are breathing by the end.

From a story standpoint, I'd put Gamora as the most likely to return. From a logical standpoint, on the way Marvel as a whole has treated her, she's the least likely to return.

Gamora's a solid part of stories like Annihilation & Conquest, both of which are heavily rumored to be coming in the future. Some version of the Infinity Watch could easily be whipped up. Having her in Nova's supporting cast seems obvious to me. The Ravagers could take the place of Starjammers & just show up every time they need a collection of morally dubious space pirates.

However, Gamora's had her role diminished in Vol 3, her episode of What If...? cut & pushed to literal years later, been absent from stories where she'd clearly play a part & had little to no merch across the last few years. Marvel has no interest in bringing her back which sucks because, as stated above, there are so many different options on how to bring her back into the fold.

[madluluwriting]

Six-ish sentence sunday

From Mesh bal kari chapter 10 or so. Beware there be eventual spoilers.

The beast stays where he is, panting and still, ears twitching. Boba winces when he sees something wet reflect the light. He’s hurt. He must have pushed himself to catch up and reopened his wounds. Fuck, they make such a pair, the both of them. Even the horse is wounded, she limps back to them and snorts in the beast’s hair.

The beast sighs fondly and scratches at her neck, careful. Then he turns to Boba and he pins him with a furious glare.

“Of all the stupid, reckless, hot-headed-”

“I-”

“Shut up! I’m not finished. Get back on Mantis. I’ll bitch at you when we’re back inside.”

[jgnico]

Some "bad miracles" in Nope. (Or rather bad things that were inadvertently miracles and vice versa.)

The power outtages. It's something that we normally see as a an inconvenience, same as our cell phones suddenly going out. But the lack of light/sound (the house going dark, the car stopping, the music cutting, the phone call dropping) is what essentially hides our main characters thoughout the movie.

The shoe standing upright during Gordy's massacre. While the byproduct of something horrific, its what essentially keeps Jupe alive, by distracting him long enough during the rampage for the actor that played the father to take Gordy's attention away from the room that Jupe was hiding in. (Also the birthday balloons --normally seen as a gift-- being what sets Gordy off.)

Money falling from the sky. Something that's commonly thought of as a miracle, a dream scenario, being what killed Otis Sr.

OJ having to sell the horses to Jupe (bad) being what kept Jean Jacket from seeking food at the Ranch for half a year.

Angel getting trapped in a tarp AND barb wire while trying to run from Jean Jacket being what actually kept him from being eaten.

Em accidentally photo-bombing some kids (bad for them) being what allows her to finally take a photo of JJ when all their other plans have failed. (Also shoutout to the mantis that just so happened to cover the camera for the entire time that Jean was attacking, only for it to leave right after. I'd say that can fit in here too.)

The motocyclist showing up in the middle of the main characters' big plan. While inconvient for them pre-crash, and awful for the cyclist post-crash, he and his reflective helmet actually completely draw and keep JJ's attention long enough for OJ to make it to safety. Much like how the vfx ball spooked and irritated Lucky, the helmet most likely did the same for JJ and completely derailed her focus from both OJ and the horse.

And finally, the "rain" of blood/saliva from Jean Jacket falling on the house. This one has isn't immediately obvious but it's pretty safe to say that it's a refence to water bring turned into blood in Exodus. While a miracle from God for his people, yes, it was both a plague and punishment for the Egyptians.

[penis-unavailable-845]

Grimmel wasn't as smart as the movie makes him look.

he was honestly obnoxious with his little god complex. he could have been a teensy more humble, especially with how stupid he is.

first, he didn't have the light fury drugged with the deathgripper venom. that allowed her to do a lot of things that really jinxed him in the end, especially when she revealed the Hidden World to Toothless (and Hicstrid, if i remember correctly). that offered a whole new arsenal of dragons for Toothless to command. even if he didn't know it existed, wouldn't it have been just plain foolish to let a wild dragon do wild dragon things when her single job was to seduce Toothless and bring him back to Grimmel to be slaughtered? especially when he knew she must've had a family out there she could have easily ran back to? Grimmel was taking a shot in the dark by using her in the first place.

second, he only had deathgrippers. he didn't keep a SINGLE other dragon. and while i love deathgrippers with all my heart, they do have a lot of weaknesses. they can't breathe fire (naturally, they wouldn't need to as ambush hunters) so against dragons who can fire at a long range, they're basically useless. they have to get close to a target to sting it and they certainly aren't THAT fast. definitely not fast enough to chase down a night fury (arguably one of the fastest dragons in the air) and sting it. with their mantis-like front legs, it would have been equally hard on land. which is why they're AMBUSH HUNTERS. had he had some deadly nadders or something, he'd probably would've claimed more lives in that fight. hell, he's probably smart enough to have grabbed a skrill. but he didn't.

third, why didn't he just grab Toothless himself? the gang is very, very trusting and probably would've accepted him. he could have easily made up a name and story on the spot that made him look like he rescued the deathgrippers. (ex."i'm Nicholas and these are my deathgrippers. i rescued them and also they're very sick. these purple vials are actually a very special medicine i make specifically for their condition. Also I'm from like Nebraska or something.") and like nobody would question it (aside from Astrid who's actually skeptical and Hiccup and Fishlegs who'd probably want the recipe and know what the dragons do). then he could gain their trust and definitely use his like six deathgrippers to paralyze, kill, and carry Toothless off. you know the phrase "if you want something done right, you do it yourself"? yeah.

fourth, he didn't have many people working for him and he certainly didn't use them responsibly. if HE didn't want to manipulate the gang, he could have easily sent a guy. he certainly didn't give them ample weaponry or the ability to go airborne to fight for him. yes, he hates dragons, big fucking whoop. but so did Drago and Viggo and Ryker. but Drago used a bewilderbeast to usurp power from Valka's. Ryker and Viggo kept the dragons they captured to harvest materials like the nadders' spines or gronkle iron and probably more. they used the flightmare for Dragon Eye fuel. AND they let Heather keep Windshear. it honestly couldn't have been that fucking hard to give his men some damn gronkles or something. but no.

fifth, he obviously doesn't know shit about night furies for someone who's hunted them for a large chunk of his life. "they can't fly very far" then there's Toothless flying damn near across the entire archipelago with no rest, "they can't handle cold temperatures" and here's Toothless sitting in the artic for an hour or so because of the Snow Wraith and living on Berk for like 6 years, which is apparently freezing half the year. Grimmel HAD to have been tripping on some venom to actually believe that, especially since HE HUNTED THEM. he had no clue how they operate aside from the fact they're black, fast, and look like cats. he was ridiculous and it's a damn surprise one of those other dragon hunters didn't slap him across his horse-ass face for saying that.

[spotsupstuff]

Hey, I was just wondering, could you tell us more about your Yin's flood au? I instantly fell in love with it!

yin's flood... i haven't heard that name in ages.... well, if you wanna kno smth specifically, feel free to send another question!

in an another post i had planned out but i never got around to do i was gon introduce the Yin's flood's Six Ear, who, in this version, i've had planned to be as different from the fruit twins version as i dared to in Yin's flood, i wanted to go n try out the theory of "Six Ear used to be a student of Sun Wukong, just like Qi Xiaotian is". I'm still kind of deciding if he used to be human originally, or if he was always a monkey monster (lowkey leaning to the first version just cuz it's different). His og name was meant to be Li Gen (meaning plum root), but it might change cuz i later found out a yaksha general who was killed by Nezha had the exact same name

He seeked training from the monkey king mostly out of selfish reasons, his goal was to one day become stronger than SWK. SWK saw thru it basically right away, but accepted him just to amuse himself (maybe). Flash forward multiple years of relationship building to when The Flood happens n the two have their giant fight at the shores of mountain huaguo, with SWK struggling to fight the now six eared macaque (grew to care for him like for a son) while also spendin his energy on saving mount. huaguo from The Flood (that came in as a tsunami) ofc, SWK ended up victorious. as punishment for Six Ear for turning against him- at such horrid time, no less- he cursed him into becoming a deep sea siren. The curse can be broken only if he swims above the water surface during a full moon, but since Six Ear is now bound to be a deep sea creature, a singular trip upwards at a wrong time would end with him dead because of the drastic pressure difference Naturally, the "s1e9" ends up with Qi Xiaotian helping Six Ear escape his curse

here's some old sketches I have of him:

he generally sticks to the frilled shark version cuz -kicks the vampire squid version- i couldn't get this thing to look satisfactory enough

Mountain Huaguo is, just like in the canon cartoon, protected by the Flaming Mountains-

-except SWK made them grow during his fight against Six Ear/during The Flood. The heat of them vaporates away the ocean water, creating something aking to a crater where mount. Huaguo lies, hidden in the mist (pretty similarly to HTTYD 3, when i think bout it but with less waterfalls). As a baby, Qi Xiaotian managed to get into the inner mount. Huaguo waters thru underwater tunnels in the foundations of the Flaming mountains There he "terrorized" the monkeys by being a not-monkey and very curious bout what the yes-monkeys were doing on the shores, until SWK was called to deal with the "dangeer". He ended up basically adopting Xiaotian in a matter of a week or so Xiaotian's red bandanna is actually a gift from SWK in this au. Xiaotian kinda forgets about ever actually meetin SWK cuz baby memory sucks n once SWK helped him get back into the actual ocean, he didn't know how to come back cuz, once again, baby navigation has failed him

Tang shifu is this fucking thing (Mantis Shrimp):

because it looks like a flashy stuck up nerd who's boutta cry at any given moment but packs a surprisingly strong punch

Chef Zhu is either a Goliath Grouper or a pufferfuck cuz i have a surprising amount of pufferfish memes n am known as the pufferfuck meme dispenser in my older friend groups

Sha Dali stays the same n Long Xiaojiao is either a sea horse or straight up just some kinda human n dragon hybrid

Wan Qian Cheng is flooded pretty hardcore (with only the upper parts of skyscrapes sticking out n the homes built on top of the mountains- only yaoguai live there instead of humans) so the main place of shenanigangs is usually the city of the Eastern Dragon King which was built larger than what is seen in the canon cartoon to accomodate basically all humans (everyone was turned into a mermaid/siren as a way of preservation. one day they are supposed to come back on the surface but the restoration of the earth is going pretty slowly)

The main antag is Wuzhiqi instead of WBS, since Wuzhiqi is also known as "the great water ape sage". She caused The Flood and SWK is training Xiaotian after he gets Jingu Bang to one day try n trap her again. No clue what i wanna do with either Six Ear or WBS yet in the grander scheme of things cuz Wuzhiqi wouldn't care to enslave Six as her "champion" or whatever n WBS is prolly aggressively twirling her thumbs in her now claustrophobia-indicing Submerged grave

N yaaas, Xiaotian gets legs on account of being trained by SWK n Red Son, while generally stickin in normal bipedal mode, can magic himself a tail (prolly a mako shark.....) so he can cause Issues to team QXT. BDK, PIF, Jin & Yin, spider gang n others i may be forgettin rn r still normal. The encounter with spider queen happens because of scavenging thru Wan Qian Cheng (as do most of location locked plot points)

oh yea also Jin n Yin wear this shit while underwater:

important information here

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 14

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: The guardians keep trying to include you in various activities to keep your mind off what's troubling you since you won't talk about it. However, one of these activities turns out to have a, shall we say... slightly less than desired outcome.

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: Thank you to @quillsandtypos, @theambracer88, @mcugiggles, @marvelouslyfluffy and all the anons who participated in my questionnaire post! As you probably guessed, I'll be using the answers (and any future ones, if anyone else still wants to play) to complete some fluffy scenes in the story! Also, for my records this chapter ends on day 23 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!

Word Count: 4,683

Rocket, though he finally had a way to repair the device, had decided to wait a bit before actually doing so. Hell, he had waited this long, certain that his smuggling had been in vain once he found one of the parts had broken on... ahem, "departure," so what was another day or two? It was obvious they were going to be here awhile anyway, so he wasn't too rushed.

One might wonder, how was Rocket able to smuggle anything if SHIELD had searched him, already having found and confiscated contraband he had hidden in his "back pocket?"

Well, Rocket wasn't an idiot. He knew of other ways to smuggle goods on his person. Or, in his person, rather. That being said, maybe to say he wasn't an idiot might be giving him a bit too much credit... Swallowing the pieces of a small data pad might not have been exactly the safest thing to do, though he had given himself a pat on the back for rightfully assuming the Terran's wouldn't think to put him through a body scanner.

He had been damned lucky that nothing had gotten lodged or had punctured any of his innards on the way through, but hey, it worked, didn't it?

Well, mostly.

As said, a part had broken on "departure," which he of course blamed on Gamora and Mantis for rushing him in the bathroom that first day. If that bug-eyed chick didn't have such a tiny bladder then he could have allowed for a more "graceful landing."

No matter, he now had a way to fix it thanks to you. This had admittedly softened his attitude towards you the tiniest bit, though he wasn't going to admit it, nor was he going to completely let his guard down. Use of your workshop was probably just another bribe to win his favor, after all. Just like the bed. He was definitely going to take advantage of it, don't get him wrong. He wasn't just not going to use the tools available to him. Just like he wasn't going to just not sleep in the bed you built him. It was better than sleeping in the crib, though he had been grateful the crib had been left in the room when you left the bed. He had been hiding the pieces of the smuggled device under the crib's mattress -the only good use he saw for it, other than the fact that Groot actually slept pretty well in it- because boy, if the others had found out he had smuggled that in, they would have been pissed. Hence, why he wasn't in too big a hurry to fix it just yet.

Perhaps it couldn't hurt to maybe fix that broken stool in the shed for you, though. Just for a warm up, not because he thought he owed you anything, of course.

***

The evening of the check-in you had found yourself with nothing to do and back in the thoughts that had plagued you since the couple came, and you once again considered pouring yourself a glass or two of whiskey.

Yondu had been leaning against the counter enjoying a snack when he saw you retrieve the bottle from the fridge. Remembering the previous night he raised an eyebrow at you. The last thing he wanted was to witness a repeat, but thought he'd still keep an eye on you. Cut you off again before/if you started to look a little too "weepy." He had doubts that you even remembered what you'd done the previous night, and this was confirmed when he made a lighthearted comment about, "Ya goin' to take it easy tonight, or will I be needin' to cut you off again?" and you raised an eyebrow at him before saying, "What? You didn'- Oh right- I think I do remember you taking my drink now that you mention it," as you set the bottle on the table and went to retrieve a glass from the cupboard.

You now sported a slight blush and, pausing your actions, asked, "I um, didn't say or do anything embarrassing to have warranted that, did I?"

Yondu looked you right in the eye, and lied. "Nope. It was just clear ya had a bit much. Figured I'd save yer wimpy Terran liver." He laughed at your slight pout and added, "Ya just whined at me fer takin' yer drink and then fell asleep. Nuttin' too excitin'."

Yondu could see the relief on your face and it solidified his lack of regret of not telling you. Sure, he might have wanted to crack the mystery to see why you were the way you were, but not like that. He hadn't expected the previous night's display, and if anything, it made him feel like he should back off. Yes, it prompted more burning questions, but even he knew there were some things you just didn't pry into.

Around that time Peter and Kraglin came into the kitchen, messing about and horse-playing. You considered telling them to break it up, but then decided you didn't actually care enough as long as they weren't about to break anything... or anyone. You were about to make your standard polite offer of a drink when suddenly a rip was heard and Peter whined out, "Aw man! You ripped my favorite shirt!"

Sure enough, their rough-housing had managed to rip the seam along the left-shoulder of Peter's dark blue shirt, leaving a sizable hole of a couple inches long that revealed another white shirt underneath.

You rolled your eyes and told him where he could find the sewing kit.

Peter looked at you sheepishly and said, "I don't know how to sew."

You sighed and said, "I guess I'm not doing anything..." and you began to walk towards him and the exit of the kitchen, abandoning the bottle of whiskey on the table without having poured a drink.

Peter took off his ripped shirt and in a surprised voice said, "Oh!- Thanks-" starting to hand you the shirt as you walked past.

You didn't take the shirt, just looked at him as a laugh escaped your throat. "I didn't say I'd do it for you. I meant I'll teach you." With that you cocked your head towards the door and headed out towards the sitting room.

As you walked away you shook your head and muttered something Peter couldn't hear but assumed was an insult as he blushed both from embarrassment at his mistake and from hearing Yondu and Kraglin now laughing at him. He wordlessly followed, not wishing to make more of a fool of himself.

Watching Peter leave, inspiration struck Yondu. It might be overstepping, and might have been a long shot, but it was worth a try. He nudged Kraglin in the arm to get his attention. "Ya remember last night? How things got a little too..." he searched for the right word.

Kraglin finished for him, "Sad? Yeah. I remember." He caught sight of the bottle on the table. "She back at it tonight?" He and Yondu hadn't discussed what happened when he had returned to the kitchen after walking you to your room. It had gone unsaid that you were in a bad way.

"She was gonna," Yondu answered, "but then you two came in and gave her something to distract herself. Might not hurt to keep doing that for a bit."

"Ya wanna keep her busy?" Kraglin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Better than watchin' her drown herself in a bottle," Yondu replied flippantly with a shrug, but Kraglin could see through his blasé attitude.

He was slightly surprised, but not completely opposed to Yondu's suggestion. You had been drinking a lot the past few days. It didn't take a genius to see that something was obviously wrong, and he knew better that drinking like that only made sad feelings worse. If this had been the Eclector, and you part of the crew, he or Yondu would have cut you off well before now once they saw the pit you were digging. You just don't let sad people drink themselves into a stupor. It's bad form. But this wasn't the ship, and you weren't crew, and they couldn't stop you. They were in your house. They've barely known you for three weeks. He knew they couldn't just order you around, but if a little bit of distraction kept him from seeing you looking that sad again and kept you from hiding in the bottom of a bottle, he was for it.

Yondu spoke again, more or less repeating Kraglin's thoughts back at him. "I know we're on her turf, but someone's gotta do somethin'. It's bad form to just let h- to just to let a person drown like that. She needs to get her mind off what's been troubling her."

Kraglin examined the former captain's features. There was something else there. An emotion behind his eyes the first mate was familiar with after years of faithful service. Cap'n might not always be the best at admitting his softer feelings, but Kraglin knew. He could see it.

It was a look similar to the one he wore after he finished telling Rocket just how alike they were, right before they went to fight Ego. It was the same look in his eyes he had shortly after Peter came aboard the Eclector as a boy and it was decided he wasn't going to be delivered to Ego. One Kraglin even thought he recognized being on the receiving end of when he was a younger lad on the crew.

Kraglin smiled, a soft mix of understanding and sadness. "Sir," he said gently.

Yondu grunted in response and glanced at him.

"First, I do agree with ya, we should help keep her mind off it, but I just gotta say this too." He sighed before continuing. He knew Yondu wasn't going to like what he was about to say, but they were alone now, so he felt safe to say it. He knew if he said this in front of anyone else it'd a a surefire way to put Yondu dangerously close to whistling territory. "We can't be getting too attached, now."

Yondu glared at him. "Who said anythin' about-"

"Sir, all respect and all, but I think I can say I know ya better than anyone else here." Kraglin said, having cut Yondu off with a slight chuckle. "I can see it, I can tell when you're getting attached." His tone got slightly more serious, more comforting. "I don't think it'll be good for ya to get too attached, sir. We'll be leaving here eventually, and we know she ain't gonna be coming with us."

Yondu set his mouth in a firm line and stared Kraglin down hard but didn't say anything. He knew his first mate was right, but that didn't mean he had to admit it. Finally he answered with, "I ain't gettin' attached to nuttin' or nobody."

Kraglin sighed. If he knew anything else it was that Yondu could also be stubborn as hell. If he wanted to live in denial, well there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. "Alright, sir," he said with a shake of his head. "I believe ya." He didn't, and his tone betrayed that, earning him a narrowed eyed look from Yondu, but they dropped the conversation, at least for now.

***

Showing Peter how to sew went fairly smoothly. He seemed to grasp the concept well enough, watching you sew the first third of the tear - not the easiest task with your brace on- and then repeating what you had shown him on the rest himself. He finished soon enough and thanked you before leaving the table.

However, almost immediately after that Kraglin showed up with something ripped and asked if you could teach him too. You sighed, and mildly scolded him about how come he couldn't have asked while you were showing Peter, but you agreed regardless. Again, it wasn't exactly the easiest task considering you only had a limited range of motion to move your arm, but you managed. After he finally seemed to get it (he asked a lot of questions, even if he understood, assuming it'd be helpful to keep you occupied for longer) you noticed it had gotten dark out, and you were tired anyway, and so when it looked like he had a handle on it you decided to just go to bed.

***

The next day it seemed like people just kept asking you to do things. Not like they were ordering you around, but more like asking you to do things with them, which they hadn't often done.

It wasn't all bad, but you had the feeling it wasn't just a coincidence that they were seemingly trying to keep you engaged in various tasks and activities after Maria had informed you that one of them had expressed concerns about your well-being. You didn't know if they were now acting on their own or if Fury or Agent Hill had suggested it, but either way you figured you'd just roll with it. If you made an effort maybe they'd be happy and drop it.

That morning, before you realized what was going on, Mantis came to you with a book on plants and asked you to help her identify different plants around the property. You had almost said no, perhaps another time, but then you saw the expectant look on her happy face and decided you had time to kill anyway, so what could it hurt?

It was about when you were asked by Mantis and Drax to join the others for a game of UNO that you started to suspect what was going on.

Before this, Peter had kept coming up to you wanting to show you funny videos he found, having recently discovered the YouTube app on the TV; Yondu had come to you with an archery book and tried making small-talk asking about Terran types of archery; and Gamora and Kraglin asked you to help ref while everyone sparred.

You had agreed to reffing, feeling a little better than you had been all those days you had refused and now therefore not seeing any reason not to.

It was a slight bummer though, needing to sit on the sidelines and watching others train, but you supposed watching them to see if they knew any cool 'space moves' couldn't hurt. Plus, watching how the raccoon was able to hold his own against human-sized opponents was always interesting. Groot sat with you, not being permitted to spar with the others (except for when Rocket would decide to pretend spar with him, just to make him happy) and he was adorable as he played with the grass, so it wasn't all bad.

After that everyone else was pretty much tired, but Groot came up to you with the car you had given him, holding it above his head. You raised an eyebrow and looked to Peter, who informed you that the little guy wanted you to push him on it. You did, because how could you possibly say no to that?

What was cute to Peter, however, was the fact that no one had prompted Groot to do that. He just genuinely wanted you to play with him.

After a while of playing with Groot is when Mantis and Drax had come to you about playing UNO. Now you were getting a hint of what they were doing, but you agreed to play a few games with them anyway. You even caught yourself actually starting to have fun.

Around suppertime Peter came up to you, asking if you could teach him how to cook something. He talked about how he thought it'd be fun to learn to cook more things from his home world, and also reminded you how you did say several times that he could 'help you cook later.'

You sighed and after some more prodding from Peter you finally agreed, asking him what he might like to learn how to cook.

Peter looked like a deer in the headlights before admitting that he didn't actually know. He didn't remember a whole lot of different Terran foods from when he was a kid, and he was now drawing a blank.

You nodded towards the kitchen and told him the two of you would figure it out.

After looking for a bit you decided on a vegetable stew, mostly because this had been unexpected and you hadn't pulled any meat from the freezer to thaw.

Peter was surprisingly not bad at it. He handled the knife safely, he cut the vegetables evenly, and he listened as you told him what to do and when. You wondered if he had some experience cooking before, but you didn't ask.

After dinner Gamora wouldn't take no for an answer on helping with the dishes, of course using your injury as an excuse. You sighed, but allowed it, agreeing to dry while she washed, still under the impression that if you just indulged them for a bit they'd eventually stop and start leaving you along again.

Just as you finished Peter came to the two of you asking if you wanted to see a new movie he found on Netflix.

Figuring it wouldn't hurt to make an effort, you agreed to watching a movie with them and followed into the sitting room, wondering what film he had picked out.

Turned out, he had chosen a horror movie. Candy Man.

You sighed. Obviously you weren't completely immune to jump scares, but you didn't really mind horror movies. You could even go as far to say that you enjoyed most of them. However, you were concerned about Mantis, who you could see sitting happily on the rug in front of the couch next to Rocket as you entered the room.

"Are you sure this movie is appropriate for everyone?" you ask Peter.

"What? You scARed?" Rocket taunted with a smirk, and it was then that you saw Groot on the rug as well, having been sitting in Rocket's lap.

You roll your eyes and explain that your concerns were for the wooden child and Mantis, as your time spent with them hadn't made you very confident that they would recieve a scary movie well. "I'm more concerned the movie's gonna give them nightmares," you explained as you took a seat at the end of the couch.

Gamora seemed to agree with you, but the two of you were outvoted. Rocket just rolled his eyes and snarked that he bet you were scared, and Mantis assured excitedly that she could watch it. Groot, even though you couldn't understand him, also seemed adamant. You had a feeling they didn't really know what they were getting into, but combined with the fact that Mantis was an adult, and Groot wasn't your child, and Peter was doing his best to convince you and Gamora that everything would be fine, you eventually gave in, stating, "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. She better not crawl into my bed tonight. I'll send her your way."

Peter just laughed and shook his head, not taking you seriously, before turning out the lights and taking a seat next to Gamora at the other end of the couch. Kraglin took the last available seat between you and Peter and Rocket smarted off again.

"If you're gonna get scared maybe Kraglin will hold your hand!" he laughed as Peter turned on the film.

You rolled your eyes at him and crossed your arms over your chest, refusing to look at Kraglin to give the rodent any satisfaction that he might have succeeded in embarrassing you. This, Kraglin was grateful for, because he was sort of an easy blusher, and he didn't want you to get the wrong idea. He just gave Rocket an unamused look, but he was also grateful the lights had been dimmed so that Yondu couldn't see him blushing and then tease him for it. Whether or not the former Ravager captain would actually believe Kraglin might have managed to develop feelings for you wouldn't matter. That fact that Kraglin had just told Yondu the previous night that he shouldn't be getting attached would be enough for him to jump on it and tease the hell out of him purely out of spite.

Despite the movie being old, it was still relatively new to you. You had heard about it, thought you remembered seeing a commercial or maybe a clip or two of it over the years, but this had been your first time actually watching it.

It was about halfway though and nothing terribly scary had happened yet. There was the flashback scene of a little boy having been mutilated that made you cringe, as any show that featured little kids being harmed always hit a sore spot, but it didn't really show much more than a bloody bathroom.

You were starting to think it probably wasn't going to be any real scary scenes, but then Candyman started to call the college lady's name, and it actually made you fight a shiver. You didn't know why, but creepy sounds were one of the few things from a film that could actually strike fear in your heart. Thankfully it didn't last long. You weren't looking forward to being teased for jumping or shivering at a movie that wasn't really even that scary.

At least it would mean that Mantis would be unlikely to crawl into your bed scared tonigh-

Candyman just shoved his hook through the college lady's medicine cabinet.

Half of everyone jumped, including you. Among those startled was Kraglin, and he shot you a glance that you purposely didn't return, not wanting to answer to any cocky smiles or teases accusing you of being scared.

A shot came on the screen centering on the baby Candyman took and you tensed, worried he was going to kill it, but you were relieved to see that he only let it suckle on his finger.

Kraglin felt you tense and then relax beside him, and he frowned, remembering the other night. He considered asking if you were alright, but then thought better of it and held his tongue, instead watching on as a scene played where the lady was now stuck in a mental hospital, having been believed to have killed her best friend and said baby from the previous scene.

Yondu didn't think he liked this movie, but he continued to watch in silence. He didn't want to see kids being hurt, and he had also tensed at the previous scene. Like you, he was sure that the bad guy was about to kill the baby. However, as he was sitting in his usual spot in the armchair, his tension went unnoticed.

Mantis let out a short scream when the lady summoned Candyman and he killed the psychiatrist. You sighed, realizing this wasn't looking good for her staying in her own bed tonight. Little did Peter know, you hadn't been kidding. If she tries to crawl in with you, you're sending her right to him, seeing as it would be his fault.

The lady was now exploring Candyman's lair, and you started to get a little tense at the creepy sounds of his breathing, and you mentally cursed whoever mixed the sound for this movie.

You got even more tense and fidgety when he opened his robe to reveal a ribcage full of bees. You only hoped no one noticed to tease you for it. Body horror was another thing that never failed to make you shudder.

Eventually the movie started to come to a close, a scene played where the lady's jerk ex-fiancé was having flashbacks to how good he had it with her now that she was dead, and you thought it was just going to end on a sad note.

That is, until he said her name, Helen, five times in the mirror (just like Candyman) and she came back and killed him with the Candyman's hook. Her sudden appearance made you startle slightly, and you heard more squeals from Mantis. You sighed again. Yep, she was definitely not going to sleep tonight.

The movie was finally over and Peter got up to turn on the lights. He turned to see you giving him a glare and he smiled. "What? Was it too scary for you?" he jeered.

You just pointed down to Groot. He had his head buried in Rocket's chest and was softly whimpering. "I told you that movie wasn't for kids."

Rocket scoffed at you and told you he would be fine, then turned it on you, saying how he felt you jump at least three times from where he was sitting.

You rolled your eyes and ignored him, turning to Peter and this time gesturing to Mantis, who still looked a bit shaken. "I meant what I said. She tries to crawl in bed with me, I'm sending her to you," you say, leaving to go to go get ready for bed, both because it was now late, and to avoid any inevitable further teasing from Rocket.

The others seemed to have much the same idea about bedtime, and a few of them followed you up the stairs.

You let Mantis shower first, hopeful that if you went after her that she might hopefully be asleep by the time you got out. However, when you finished your own shower, Peter had thought it'd be funny to jump-scare you as you exited the bathroom, grabbing your shoulders and shouting, "CANDYMAN'S GOTCHA!" which resulted in you jumping a mile with a noise you'd deny was a shriek before you turned to punch him in the arm scolding, "Damn you!"

He, along with Rocket, only responded by laughing their asses off at you. You thought you could also hear Drax's own booming laughter down the hall from his room, and you caught a glimpse of Yondu and Kraglin sharing amused glances and snickering from their shared room.

Your face getting warm at the fact that he had actually managed to get you pretty good, you then just storm off to your room, ignoring Rocket's teases that he bet that you'd be the one crawling into Mantis's bed tonight.

You shut the bedroom door behind you to see Mantis awake and clutching her bear for dear life. Whether she was just already awake due to nerves or you had woken her with your startled cry, you didn't know, but you flicked on your desk lamp for her, turned out your overhead light and crawled into bed without a word.

Sometime later, long enough for you to have drifted off into a decently sound enough sleep to be dreaming, you were startled awake by someone crawling into your bed.

Guess who. That's right. Mantis.

You groaned and turned to see she had already crawled halfway into your bed before you stopped her by rousing. "Mantis," you groaned, pointing towards the door, "go climb into Peter's bed. He's the one that chose the movie."

Mantis tucked her chin sheepishly and admitted she had already tried that, but his and Gamora's door had been locked.

You stared at the ceiling and sighed. Clever bastard.

You made a mental note to squirt lemon juice in his coffee in the morning before letting out another groan. "Ugh, fine. But just this once," you allowed, ignoring the fact that this would actually technically be the second time. You were also not actually quite as salty as you let on. If anything, you should maybe thank her for waking you from a bad dream involving the Candyman's ribcage full of bees, but you weren't going to tell her that.

She smiled gratefully and thanked you as she snuggled in.

You sighed quietly and Mantis fell asleep quickly. At least she didn't snore.

You spent the next bit before you fell asleep yourself contemplating different ways that you might be able to annoy Peter for sufficient payback.