#and aggressive predators

[riderart]

Pink

[aerknight]

@naffeclipse orcas beach themselves to hunt seals orca!eclipse beaches themself to hunt y/n :)

[yautjalover]

This Pride I’m fist fighting Biphobes. Spines will be ripped!

I have the urge to make all my ocs Bisexual to piss off the queers who try to erase us or say we’re “privileged”. Like, bitch we’re the B IN LGBT!

Oh? You think my oc Dhare being mated to a woman negates his Queerness? I hope you savor what it’s like to have a spine! 😃

[banyanas]

cringe is dead (and so is andrias very shortly)

(crossover oneshot, mostly used as a warmup before other fics but that does mean it will get done at some point)

[allastoredeer]

I agree wholeheartedly with your “dear/deer” pet peeve and it reminds of a thing that has been steadily annoying me the more Alastor-centric fic I read and it’s the phrase “deer in headlights”.

It just feels so often shoehorned in and rarely feels like a phrase the matches the moment / tone. It genuinely takes me right out of the fic the moment I see it now, lol. I have to put my phone down for a few minutes and go do something else.

OHHHH! Yes, that's another one!

Believe me, I love bringing out a characters animal features and incorporating it into their very psyche and personality (I literally have an entire 100,000+ word fanfic about Spider-Man having more spider-like attributes than people notice), but this is still Alastor we're talking about here.

"deer in headlights" is a phrase to describe someone who is in a state of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment. It doesn't mean they're just surprised or caught off guard. It's paralyzing. Like, they can't move. Can't speak. They're unable to even react. All they can do is stare and wait for the impact of the car.

Alastor becoming a "deer in headlights" has to be for a big reason. It needs to be something jarring enough, intimidating enough, for me to believe he is in a paralyzed state like that. So when it happens out of nowhere, for the most mundane reasons, you're right, it does feel very shoehorned in.

I think this is how I feel about any deer-like qualities Alastor is given.

Particularly anything that involves "prey-like" instincts.

I love the concept of Alastor having "prey" instincts, it is so fascinating and so much fun when you also consider how much he also falls into the "predator" side of things too. But I think what takes me out of scenarios when Alastor's "prey instincts" come out, is that, yes, a "prey animals" instinctive reaction to a dangerous situation is to run, but when they're stuck, when they're put in a situation they can't get out of, they fight.

Herbivores ("prey animals") are some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. Typically, they're FAR more aggressive than carnivores, which makes sense considering they're the ones being hunted for food. They WILL attack and they WILL kill when threatened, no hesitation, whereas most carnivores will leave at the first sign of trouble.

I love the idea of Alastor having "FLEE! RUN! SURVIVE!" instincts that he absolutely hates and is constantly suppressing, but only if its coupled with him getting super ultra "MURDER! DIE! TRY ME BITCH!" instincts when he's truly stuck in a dangerous situation he has no way out of. You thought the Radio Demon was dangerous before? Oh no, you just unlocked a whole new level of dangerous and he will not hesitate to kill anyone that gets too close. Rational thought is gone, survival mode has taken over, and he has now become an uncontrollable threat to every person within a block radius.

[kaythefloppa]

[praazlwurm]

Giratina's Temple and the Celestica Ruins

aka Giratina/platinum clan theory is back (also sorry for using mspaint lmao)

So we all know about the Shrouded Ruins, yeah?

(This is the only spoiler warning for Pokemon Legends: Arceus you're gonna get)

Spooky. Ever-cloaked in mists and mystery, surrounded by black-stoned cairns like graves and home to the giant Odd Keystone that once (?) housed 108 souls. Very ghost-centric.

Well what if I told you it was a temple?

Greco-roman temples (and, problematic or otherwise the celestica are absolutely greco-roman coded) are constructed relatively uniformly, with an outer later of columns holding up the roof and an inner layer holding up an internal structure, providing additional support, ect.

We have a perfect in-game model to project from, too, in the Temple of Sinnoh (pre-explosion). You can see that some of the smaller columns are sometimes decorative - likely they held up torches or, in the case of the two nearest the 'altar,' offerings

So knowing that style and having the remaining structures we do see in-game, we can approximate a lay out of what the building may have looked like.

What makes this a temple, however, is more open to interpretation. My evidence to support that it is is actually the blue-tinged pedestals seen within the outline of the building - the place(s) of honor in any temple. Irl, the inner structure - the cella - was often fully-walled in, though sometimes this was constructed via wood and other materials that don't withstand time.

Now, ENORMOUS shout-out to pokemaniacchris and the incredible Crimson Mirelands Archeological Survey Project for a really detailed, in-character breakdown of the ruins structures throughout the mirelands. I can only assume the 'surveyors' hadn't reached Mt. Coronet yet in their explorations.

Pedestals like these (at least superficially similar) are found beneath dozens of statues around Mt. Coronet, including beneath Giratina, Palkia and Dialga in the Sacred Plaza area. Now, I know I'm supposed to be claiming that this is a temple to Giratina, but if we work on the assumption that the four pedestals corollate with Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus, a new conclusion can, perhaps, be drawn:

That whoever built this temple saw all four of them on the same 'level' of power or -- and this is my hc taking over -- if the statues were placed in a certain orientation (see below) that they saw Arceus and Giratina on equal footing, with Dialga and Palkia one rank below.

And there is, imo, more evidence to support this disruption of the 'creation trio' into two pairs on equal footing, found in the Celestica Ruins! So, among the structures there are two notable, circular buildings that the Greeks also utilized, called tholoi (plural). Irl, tholoi were a mix of secular-use and small-scale temples, and seeing as these two are small (maybe 10ft across inside?) I would maintain the claim that they're small temples.

And they align/mirror each other just as the statues of Palkia and Dialga do.

This part becomes pure conjecture, but I like to think the smaller structures in the ruins might be other small-scale temples for the various mythicals, honoring each much as the Greeks honored a pantheon.

Lastly, the CMASP describes the "Gapejaw Bog Complex" as being potentially an entire agora all its own and I can't agree more. Such evidence would support the idea of there being two groups of Celestica (Note: Not the Clans.)

I actually found myself wondering if the mirelands weren't always quite so swampy, and instead flooded at some point in the past with the depressions around Gapejaw - left by housing foundations - filled in with swamp water.

At the end of the day, I think there's a lot of evidence that the Celestica revered Giratina as well as Arceus, Dialga and Palkia - at least early on. Something happened to cause this schism, and the Old Verses/Plate inscriptions point to an outburst of rage from Giratina -- though, in "pick a god (and pray)" I actually argue it was mispercieved on the part of the Celestica and this misperception is what caused Arceus to despair and withdraw.

Open to discussion!! fellow nerds please interact!!

[13pointer]

the aggression of the prey animal.

Ann Carrington, Muntjac // Karen Solie. Cardio room, young women’s christian association // NBC Hannibal // Shomen Mukherjee and Michael R. Heithaus, Dangerous prey and daring predators: A review // NBC Hannibal // Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis // unknown // Florence + The Machine, i'm not calling you a liar // NBC Hannibal // Boyish, Japanese Breakfast // Emerald Fennell, Saltburn // Sue Zhao // Field & Stream, Man Rescues Big Mule Deer Buck Locked to the Antlers of a Dead 5X5 // Yves Olade, Bloodsport // Samuel John Carter, Legend of St. Hubert //

[sneepity-snoop-snorpity-sneep]

THERE'S A NEW PREDATOR THING COM ING OUT AND ITS A N I M A T E D YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS

ITS DIRECTED BY THE GUY WHO DID PREY

ITS GOT MULTIPLE TIMES AND PLACES FOR THE SETTING: PREDATOR FIGHTING THE NORSE

GRENDEL PREDATOR??????

PREDATOR FIGHTING JAPANESE SAMURAI

PREDATOR INTERJECTING THEMSELF INTO WW2 DOGFIGHT

apparently it's a film? huh, I would've guessed a serialized story would do better for this BUT IM STILL PUMPED but obviously folks should

y'know. BUT WE STILL PUMPED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SDFJSLKJFLSDFJ CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT

[devilsrecreation]

Sometimes I can’t tell who’s cuter

[autisticrosewilson]

First of all, you have given me so much to work with, thank you so much. Second of all, I’m really glad you could see where I was going with Grant’s real test not actually being about killing Slade. Third of all, I absolutely love what you’ve suggested with the powers and I am currently designing met gala esque outfits for the trio and Tara’s specifically is really fun to play around with. I’ve been thinking to show they’re becoming more divine I’ll change their hair and eye colours but not their faces for the most part. I was drawing robin Jason with Natalia and decided he should have brown eyes and a crooked nose from breaking it as a kid but once he returns his eyes get weird (eg go blue and occasionally other colours), a patch of his hair went white and he lost all of his scars. Also, I think the closer they get to divinity I’m gonna draw cracks on their body that glow with their specific colours just to hammer home how they’re shedding their mortal forms.

With Tara being able to see the strings of fate, I though it’d be fun to give her a harp and then with Jason having the see no evil trait I thought it’d be fun to give him weighing scales since lady justice wears a blindfold. Idk what to give Grant though. I mean probably a weapon of some sort or maybe a Shepard’s crook that he can turn into a scythe to play into the sheep, wolf, Hunter thing.

With Jason and Tara’s splintering, I love the idea of them making fun of Grant for being the baby god. He hasn’t even had a cult yet, gosh he’s so young. Also them being besties just holds a special place in my heart.

And I just came up with this, of course they have parallels to the trinity but in universe rumours of their existence have been around much longer than Bruce, Clark and Diana. They’re the big three of the justice league but these guys are justice gods. So they start calling themselves the justice trinity but then people get confused about which trinity is which because the justice leagues’ trinity sounds awfully close to the justice gods’ trinity. The new all caste is certainly more distinctive branding but the point isn’t to be distinctive, it’s to be petty.

I'm so glad my unmedicated rambling helped!!! And I'm so excited for the outfits!!! I love when characters start becoming less and less human, when they're stuck in that uncanny valley spot of not quite human but not entirely Other, when they lose control and the cracks start to show...um I should probably give a warning for slight body horror elements. Not in the gore sense, in the "this body is not made of flesh and there is something divine clawing it's way out". Uh also there are teeth. Just. Teeth. I dipped into a little bit of cosmic horror at the end there because I wanted to cover my bases with mixed mythologies

Jason, with his defined splinters, is usually depicted with three faces in ancient texts. The Child, gaunt and dark colored, is said to appear before the downtrodden and impoverished. The few stories remaining tell of kindly people who give him an offering, and in exchange he reveals his true form, with his crown of golden ivy and beautiful strong wings to gift them bounties of food and water and riches. Other stories tell of not so kind encounters, where The Child witnesses an injustice - typically against women or children - and again reveals his true form, one with clawed hands and a mouth dripping with blood. Scholars argue what the wings looked like, but whichever All-Caste member annotated it before has compared their likeness to either a Robin or a Shrike.

There's also The Ghost, He appears young at first glance, but his hair is wirey and gray, his eyes milky and unseeing, in bloodied armor he greets the souls of the damned as they're delivered to him, and with scarred hands he wipes the tears of children taken too soon. Accounts of this face are few and far between, but all of them are entrenched in sorrow.

Finally there is The Soldier, scarred and still smoking from the ruins of battle he emerges, giving voice to the weak and resources to the needy. He champions revolutionaries and philosophers first, a strategist who delights in the liberation of the people from corrupt systems. Accounts of him usually come from times of famine and war, and he was particularly popular with poor villages, who would mark the graves of their dead with the symbol of his sword as offerings. For some reason or other, he got particularly popular with the youth, girls and boys both seemed to pray for him and leave him offerings.

The way these manifest on Jason is subtle at first. I could go the body horror route, but I won't. Yet. Instead I think his splinters show up as reflections, shadows, imprints. The faint echo of bell-like laughter when Jason does a move he learned as Robin, the image of a younger him with longer hair and unblinking eyes staring at him in the mirror. It gets worse when he gets the blades, the white streaks his hair, the swirling mark covers more of his skin every time he uses them, he trails the scent of smoke and blood behind him like a signature. His scars...they should disappear. They have for everyone else who used the pit, but instead his skin starts cracking. Any place he's ever been scarred glowing cracks break up his skin. He can't feel them, but he's always aware of them, the meaning behind them, the divinity literally leaking through his body. His eyes aren't brown anymore. They aren't even green. He looks in the mirror and they are copper, molten and burning. He tries his best to keep his mask on.

What do you think of when you imagine the word divinity? Probably something like Tara. Something with skin carved from stone, with moss and fungus crawling up her legs and snow laden shoulders. They say her hair is made of swirling clouds and the sun and moon are her eyes.

Some say she's a nymph although no one knows what kind. You're just as likely to see her name among the naiads as the dryads. Whether flowers bloom where she dances or waves crash when she sings, she's known to be more vicious towards suitors than her sisters.

Others have said she's a faerie, who takes the faces of lost daughters and lovers, slipping into their places seamlessly, forcing unruly men to pay their dues. Others say she's a shifter of a different sort, with a shawl of feathers and a crown of twine and gems. Stories range from men trying to steal her coat (and paying dearly) to lost children returned safely home on the back of a swan.

Tara doesn't think about it at first, the way gravity tends to cede to her, she doesn't notice how sunflowers turn their faces towards her instead of the sun. She doesn't notice the way her face...shifts. it's imperceptible really, and it's not like she looks in the mirror all that often. But everyone around her notices it, on some level, the way her expressions are off. A little too exaggerated. The way her limbs bend just a little too oddly. The way she never looks quite the same as she did the day before, the way she picks up features from the people around her the way she picks up rocks from ground to add to her collection. Clay molded subtly into the image of those she loves, a museum of everyone she's ever met. She does notice when her hair starts going white at the ends, the strange way her hair starts to curl unnaturally, almost floating. She's not so upset about her eyes, the deep blue of her father that has glared down at her day after day, she has changed her hair, her face, her language but she could not change her eyes. It seems she didn't have to, when she wakes up with one a little too silver to be gray and one a little too gold to be brown. And then her skin starts splitting, a cavern made from a broken rib and ravines made by the slashing of knives. She doesn't even bleed anymore, they never scab over. They crystallize, amber like ambrosia, like ichor. Her body a geode waiting to be cracked open to let the thing within finally break free.

They know the least about Grant, whatever he used to be. Half written scrolls, torn or burnt or simply stopped abruptly, illegible journal entries with symbols never recorded in any known language, half finished sketches where the details are never quite clear. A few things are usually consistent though, signs that he's been there, usually from hunters down on their luck or the particularly old and sickly. First, the howling. Like a wolf or a storm, although later accounts would add that it occasionally sounds like a mechanical whirring. Then the rabbits, dead and gutted, but not a trace of blood. Piles of them left in heaps on doorsteps or windowsills. Some have reported knocking at strange hours or finding teeth in their homes, a mix of human and animal. There is one photo on record, the most recent thing in the archive most likely, of claw marks on the side of a barn, too big and oddly serrated, certainly not from anything native to the area. Elderly that report these phenomena typically pass from heart problems within the week, according to some of the old medical files.

Grant came back wrong. Physically, at least. He knows that he's still himself for the most part, dying didn't make him a selfish asshole he did that all on his own, but...but something is wrong with him. It's the way lightbulbs flicker when he's mad and how cameras, no matter the quality, never quite get a clear shot of him. The way Joey can't ever grasp his features, not fully, the details slipping from his mind like water. The way eyes on his face slide right past, unable to look directly at him. It's in the gray spreading from his roots and his eyes too wide and dark to belong to something human. It's the way death clings to him like a second skin, sickly and pallid turning the tips of his fingers gray. His teeth are starting to feel too sharp for his mouth, and he hears things no one else does, whispers of voices that Are Not and Can't Be. The worst part is the orange, liquid candlelight under his skin, lighting up all of his veins and scars, webbing together like the world's worst game of connect the dots. No, there is no mistaking him for something human, so there is no reason to try. If this is his fate then he will take it, because he is not a sheep and he will not be a wolf, he is a hunter, and he is hungry.

[souless-minion-of-orthodoxy]

You’ve seen the 1966 production memo about Vulcan names from Bob Justman-

(This one)

-but have you seen the REPLY?!?

Taken from this article:

[garsideofthemoon]

I know it’s fanfic and doesn’t matter but I would love to know the alt history/explanations for the Desi Harry Potter headcanons

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

Hate how the only redeeming quality that the real penelope has is her beauty for the mc to take over... Really fucked up that whenever anyone says anything remotely nice about og penelope is when they are talking about her appearance...

would expect of no better from child abusers. what did the Duke like about Penelope enough to be willing to adopt her? was it really just her physical resemblance to Ivonne? There had to be one positive quality at least. If he wanted a substitute that wasn't being difficult he could have just put one of those appearance changing bracelets on a random kid. Or would he consider that more immoral than neglecting a traumatized orphan cause she couldn't play her role right?

[ourstarsystem]

beastars is FUCKING AWFUL but it's awesome if you love picking apart the political implications of pieces of media 👍

[swiftthecardinal]

why is sigma so ouppy. litteraly an ouppy bog