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nei-ning · 9 months

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Ever since my childhood I've been having dreams where I see people or fictional characters who I have not met in "real life". Who actually hasn't even been "made" in real life yet. I "meet them" usually decades later. That was the case with my last night's dream. The dream was long and confusing so I write it the best I can.

In the dream I was with a group of humans on this weird place which probably was an island or something. Our "leader" was this thin and tall man in a black suit with dark glasses. I, now, instantly recognized him as Crowley from Good Omens (which I just saw few days ago for the first time in my life, having not any knowledge of it). He walked us around, showing us placed. There was a rain forest hill with a path which came from the right and headed down. On this path soon walked some dinosaurs and people were in awe! None of them had NEVER even heard about dinosaurs. I think I was the only one but I was in awe as well. I reached to touch one (long neck) as they walked past me and it was a hologram. However, these were "living holograms" so the dinosaur felt my touch, freaking out! It, with every other dinosaur just started to run the path down as fast as they could. I felt sorry for what I did.

We then ended up in a forest with snow. I headed down this small cliff with very steep, tiny steps. They barely showed under the snow. I noticed glass beer bottles, half empty, in the snow and I got angry because I knew it was 3 young men (maybe 18 at max) who drank there and threw their bottles there. Not to mention that area was already right in front of my house's front door. It took me some time when I saw those boys, telling them to drink elsewhere and take their trashes with them. They tried to joke about it but did as I told them.

Next I was on small but round summer field in the middle of the forest with the group and Crowley. I heard this same sound what can be heard when Shiny Pokemon in Arceus appears. I looked around, seeing this huge Ursaluna standing up on it's back legs. S/He stood way above the tree tops even that those trees were ancient and super tall! I got excited since I wanted to catch that Alpha Shiny Ursaluna (Ursaluna is my fave, ahah!). My bird Pokemon flied behind me and grabbed me, taking me to this Ursaluna but when I got there, there was MANY super cute and tiny bear pokemons. All seeming like chibi Ursaluna in different brown colors. I loved them all BUT I got disappointed since I couldn't see or tell that Shiny Ursaluna apart from the others so... I didn't get him / her :'D

Now I was back in that snow forest, heading inside "my house" where everyone else already was. I don't remember all what happened but at some point I was walking on this hallway with doors each side. I noticed that on the floor, in front of every door, was palm sized crystal. In front of one door was glowing red crystal, other had glowing purple crystal etc. I walked through this hallway, turning to left at the end of it, ending up in my childhood's neighbor's living room. I wanted to be alone so I laid down and I think I had a pet there with me, either a dog or a cat. Then Crowley came there too and he had a doberman. I was instantly worried it would attack on my pet but it didn't. Crowley said to me something like: "Why are you here all by yourself?" and I just said I needed some time to be alone. He understood but he remained there, giving me space nonetheless.

Suddenly I decided to look at the window right above my head and I saw black, chimp kind of hand pressed against the window. Very thin, full of wrinkles. I watched it a while thinking how the hell it could be that! I ended up thinking it could be a demon or some other evil entity since I now noticed 2 pairs more. I took a pillow which I had under my bust, starting to slam the window with it, screaming. Turned out those hands belonged to 3 human woman, older ones. Maybe witches or something. I don't remember them so well. Next we all ended up back on this dinosaur hill and once again people were in awe as they saw these dinosaurs. This time, however, it was someone else who touched one of them, making them all rampage and run away. I yelled: "I'm so sorry! I forgot to warn you not to touch them! I did that mistake myself last time!"

Next we all were on a pirate ship, being under attack by other pirates. Crowley easily dealt with them, letting the crew sink with the ship. Next we noticed a ship wreck floating on the sea, some of the crew members hanging there for their lives. We stole their gold or something, but left them with food and other supplies. I asked from Crowley why. He said that bad he left to die but these men needed help so they he let live. I understood his point.

Next we all ended up in small room which had many levels and we waited to get out or something. It was very pretty room but very weirdly shaped and tight. I was playing some matching game with my phone (find a pair and click them so that they combine and disappear from the level) when Crowley came to sit right next to me, leaning over my shoulder to check my game. I was stuck. I eyed the level when Crowley pointed one piece and spoke with his soft voice: "You can pair these." I eyed them once more, deciding to go for it since I was going to lose anyway. So I clicked them, pairing them. Right after that pair vanished, so many puzzles moved and found their pair on their own! I watched that in awe until half of them was gone! I looked at Crowley with wide happy smile, tapping his left arm near the shoulder few times. I said:

"It worked! Half of the pieces vanished on their own! Thank you!"

I felt so warm and happy inside, thanks and towards him, but I felt the same warmth from him, a bit more puzzled too. I knew he had not been used of being thanked, yet alone being touched. Usually none never thanked him or touched him (in a friendly way or at all). I managed to beat the level and then I woke up when Verti was meowing loud, demanding to go out and then also get some food.

But yeah, back then when I saw this dream for the first time like 20+ years ago, I had NO IDEA what or who Ursaluna is or Crowley. Had never seen them, had never heard of them, they had never even been created yet here on Earth.

#text #dream #neis dream #Good Omens #Crowley #Pokemon #Ursaluna #20+ years old dream #coming back now for a some reason #my dreams do come back after decades #it's like a tradition :'D #9.9.2023 #I think they repeat themselves until I get their message

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abbatoirablaze · 2 years

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SDAU-Raised By Bears, Chapter 10

Word Count: 726

“And do you, Thor Odinson, take this woman to be your wife, until death do you part?” the priest asked, looking to the alpha in front of him. Thor smiled, giving his young bride a proud look.

“I do.”

“If there is any person in this place of holiness that think these two should not join in matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace!”

“WAIT!” A voice yelled from the back of the church. Everyone turned to look at the young man standing at its entrance, the doors thrown open wide. The loud banging from the heavy oaken doors against the churches interior had made quite a few people jump in surprise and gasp. Andy stood there, basked in the light from outside, “STOP THE WEDDING!”

“And who are you?” the priest scolded, “why have you stopped this union?”

“Andy Barber!” Andy said quickly, stepping into the church, “I’m in love with this woman, and she’s, my mate! I don’t want her to get married to this bear!”

“A-Andy.”

“Son of a bitch,” Thor growled, the alpha stepping down off the altar. He started stalking down the aisles, passing the congregation as he made his way to Andy, “who the fuck do you think you are, coming in and ruining my wedding? Ruining thi-“

“Mate?” an older gentleman asked. He looked expectantly between her and Thor before turning to Andy. Thor froze in his spot, while Andy’s heart raced, staring at the head of her family, “you’re my daughter’s mate?”

Andy nodded nervously, fighting the words so that they should pass through his lips, “I-I am sir. And I’m in love with your daughter. And I refuse to let her marry this jackass. He doesn’t love her…not like I do.”

“I ought to-“ But Thor was cut off by one of her brothers, who’d stepped out of the aisle and placed himself between Thor and Andy, “What the hell are you doing, Ben?”

Her father turned towards her, “sweetheart, is this bear telling the truth? Are you his mate?”

She bit her lip, nodding at her father, “h-he rejected me because I’m human.”

Her father’s jaw tensed as he looked back at Andy. And suddenly her other brothers stood as Thor pushed her elder brother.

“I was afraid,” he proclaimed loudly to the crowd that had gathered for her wedding, “I -I was afraid Bailey. I-But I’m more afraid of losing you. I-I can’t lose you. I can lose everything else in this world…and that’s fine. But I won’t lose you. Y-you’re my mate.”

“Bailey?” her father asked, looking towards her. He gave her a soft look, and they seemed to have a silent conversation between the two of them.

She looked at Andy, “what’s stopping you from changing your mind the second I call off my wedding, Andy? What’s stop-“

“I want to mark you!” he proclaimed louder, taking another few steps down the aisle, “I don’t want to run from it anymore. I want to be with you, more than anything in this world. I want you to be the mother of my cubs, Bailey. Last night when I made love to you-“

Thor turned towards his fiancé as the crowd gasped, “you cheated on me?”

“And when your sister came and told me that you still loved me too-“

“Crystal?” she asked, turning towards her older sister who was standing beside her.

“I know what it’s like to leave behind your mate,” she said firmly, shooting a glare to her own husband before looking at her sister, “you deserve better than that, Bailey. You don’t want to be Bailey Odinson. You want to be Bailey Barber…”

“Bailey…”

Bailey’s heart ached as she looked at Andy, and she wanted nothing more in the world than to take his hand and run. She spared a final glance to her elder sister, and then her fiancé, and finally to her father before slipping out of her heels and running past them all.

She grabbed Andy’s hand and kept running, pulling him out of the church. The couple stopped at the bottom of the steps and Andy pulled her to him in a passionate kiss.

“I love you, Andy Barber.”

“I love you, Bailey,” he whispered, cradling her face in his hands, “and I’m going to spend the rest of our lives proving that to you.”

Tag List: @evanswife1918, @lohnes16, @tenaciousperfectionunknown, @alexalovekeyloki, @eralen

#school days au #school days #college #a/b/o fic #a/b/o au #a/b/o #alpha andy barber #alpha thor odinson #marvel au #marvel #the avengers #thor #thor odinson #mcu #marvel mcu #soft andy barber #andy barber #werebear #defending jacob

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endofherwildsideau · 1 year

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🌊°🔱𝙳𝚈𝙻𝙰𝙽🔱°🌊

His Voice by young Hercules

DeadName: Phillip Vase Aukai

Name: King Dylan the Aquatic Alpha

Name Meaning: Son of the sea. Sea. Toward the tide. Born from the ocean. Son of the wave. Son of the ocean. Influence.

Nicknames: Dyl, Dilly, Danny, dyldo, Dyl-Dyl & dilly bear (by Harper)

Birthday: June 25

Cause of Death: murder by his own biological father

Age: 188 (die at the age of 17)

Species: a hybrid of Human, Black River Dragon, Anglerfish, and Hippocampus.

Race: Polynesian or Hawaiian and Greek 🇬🇷

Gender: Male ♂

Relationship status: married

Sexuality: Pansexual

Roles or Jobs: God of water. Pasty chef. Bakery chef. Club and mobile DJ. Keyboardist and vocalist. Leader of Aquatic Alphas. Ruler of Aquatic animals. Water bender master. Holder of Crown Jewel pieces.

Home World: Earth (Formerly) Miracle Region (Currently)

Kingdom: Crystal Reef, The Calmest Gulf, The Pleasant Abyss, and The Deepest Abyss.

Home: Azuri keeps

Facts: Dylan is the most talented DJ in the kingdom, besides he is part of a group with his brothers and sisters, he is a master of pasty. Dylan has many half-siblings, he even knew they were uncomfortable with others because of the same father problems, but he doesn't see them as half-siblings, just his real family. When he was young, his mother told him "try to make someone happy, but sometimes people struggle, and perhaps your act of kindness may be their day. Our purpose in life is to enjoy your life—to be happy. It's all that matters. "He is a more happy and cheerful animal, a ridiculous pranker, but he rarely gets angry unless...

Bonding Partner:

???

Partner:

Queen Harper the Seal Alpha (wife)

Parents:

Cassia Aukai (Biological mother)

Anwin Aukai (Ex-biological father)

Sibling:

Poseidon the Orca Alpha (Half-brother)

Mano the Shark Alpha (Half-brother)

Victor the Octopus Alpha (Half-brother)

Cornelius the Crocodile Alpha (Half-brother)

Hudson the Otter Alpha (Half-brother)

Calypso the Sea Turtle Alpha (Half-sister)

???

Relative:

Tutu Wahine Kaimana Aukai (paternal grandmother)

Abilities:

Greek Deity Physiology

Hippocampus Physiology

Human Physiology

Hybrid Physiology

Lophiiformes Physiology

Merfolk Physiology

Mythic physiology

Stomiiform Physiology

Mythical Bestiary

Aquatic Adaptation

Aquatic Breathing

Aquatic Empathy

Aquatic Telepathy

Bioluminescence

Chimerism

Cold Resistance

Companion Connection

Declaration Aging

Enhanced Lung Capacity

Enhanced Senses

Enhanced Swimming

Enhanced Weapon Proficiency

Entity Bonding

Expressive Ears

Fin Manifestation

Gill Manifestation

Glowing Eyes - only when the power is active or glows in the dark.

Hair Growth

Infinite Digestive System

Lure Protrusion

Omnilingualism

Marine Biology Mastery

Mode Switching - Mythic, Demon, and Rage Form.

Pointed Ears

Prehensile Tail

Pressure Resistance

Regeneration Healer Factor

Scale Manifestation

Spear Proficiency

Speed Swimming

Swimming Tail

Symbiosis

Tail Manifestation

Trident Proficiency

Underwater Combat

Underwater Hearing

Underwater Senses

Underwater Smell

Underwater Strength

Underwater Taste

Underwater Touch

Underwater Vision

Unique Eye Coloration

Unique Hair Coloration

Weapon Summoning

Zoolingualism

Zoological Mastery

Powers:

Aquatic Life Lordship

Aquatic Life Manipulation

Dehydration

Flood Creation

Hydro-Telekinesis

Hydrokinetic Cloning

Hydrokinetic Combat

Hydrokinetic Constructs

Hydrokinetic Invisibility

Hydrokinetic Regeneration

Liquid Surveillance Communication

Ocean Communication

Ocean Embodiment

Ocean Lordship

Oceanscience

Ocean Magic

Ocean Manipulation

Pure Water Manipulation

Sea Monster Manipulation

Tidal Wave Generation

Water Absorption

Water Artillery

Water Attacks

Water Augmentation

Water Aura

Water Boundary

Water Defense

Water Detection

Water Embodiment

Water Empowerment

Water Exoskeleton

Water Generation

Water Immunity

Water Imprisonment

Water Infusion

Water Magic

Water Maneuverability

Water Manipulation

Water Negation

Water Portal Creation

Water Pressure Generation

Water Purification

Water Sealing

Water Sense

Water Separation

Water Solidification

Water Strike

Water Teleportation

Water Transformation

Water Wall Generation

Water Weaponry

Whirlpool Generation

#pansexual #pan #end of her wild side au #end of her wild side oc #artists on tumblr #digital art #eohws #sketchbook app #my art style #emilythehybridwolf #oc info #reference sheet #png art #King Dylan the Aquatic Alpha #Dylan the God of Water #my art 2023 #redesign oc #my ocs do not steal

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o-craven-canto · 1 year

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Ea: Our Second Chance (7)

7. Ean Biochemistry

(< 6a. The Mission) (> 6b. The Commander)

(full-sized image)

« In a sense, a squid is the attempt of mollusks to produce a fish. The same basic materials absolve to the same functions, but they do so through completely different structures and systems. So with this planet. Ea is Earth-like in broad strokes – yellow sun, solid surface, molten metal core, liquid water, free oxygen, carbon-based life – but the details, the details are all wrong. » – Eugene Wilson, Darwin Among the Stars

« Complaints that we have lost everything are understandable but wrong. We have all the CHNOPS available. We have sunlight. We have ourselves. That will be enough. Everything else is but details. » – Commander Arslana Samirowa, address to Pod 39

a. Paralaminarin. This glucose polymer appears to be Ea's most widespread storage carbohydrate. It resembles the laminarin found in Earth's brown algae, except it has only 2 beta(1→3) links for each beta(1→6) link, rather than 3. It is fully digestible by humans, and has many culinary uses, particularly in Enlilene molecular cuisine. Redstick syrup is up to 30% paralaminarin by dry weight. b. Pseudoxylan (b1). Another carbohydrate, but mostly structural. It is a polymer of five-carbon xylose (b2), united by beta(1→4) links. Unlike Earth's xylan, its lateral groups are ammonium and carboxyl rather than acetyl and uronic acids. The positively charged ammonium groups and the negatively charged carboxyl groups are believed to be responsible for the ionic bonds that keep pseudoxylan fibers coherent. c. Zincochrome. The key component of hematophyll, the metalloprotein responsible for photosynthesis in the Hematophytes. The double bonds in the tetrapyrrolic ring allow the absorption of energy from photons. This structure bears an astonishing resemblance to the heme group of hemoglobin (where iron takes the place of zinc), and – if a double bond is broken and the zinc replaced with magnesium – to the chlorin of chlorophyll. The function of the surrounding groups is not yet understood, though they are certainly necessary to anchor the ring into the protein. The copper-containing protein (cyanoglobin) responsible for oxygen absorption in Pentamera probably has a similar structure. d. Sulfolipid. Ea's equivalent of Earth's phospholipids, sulfolipids are the main components of cell membranes. The apolar portion is formed by two fatty alkyls of various lengths, united to the carbon skeleton by ether links. Ea's triglycerids (common fats and oils) have three fatty alkyl ethers, whereas sulfolipids replace one of them with a negatively charged sulfonate group, which forms the polar portion in contact with the cytoplasm or the external environment. Most xenolytics [i.e. treatments for animals and plants meant specifically to kill Ean pathogens] act by degrading sulfolipids, thereby selectively damaging the cells of Ean organisms. e. D-amino acids (e1: norvaline/2-aminopentanoic acid; e2: cycloleucine/1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid; e3: homoalanin/alpha-aminobutyric acid). Both the D- and the L-isomers of all these amino acids are found in Terran biochemistry, though the former never form proteins, unlike on Ea. The commonality of amino acids between the two biospheres in not surprising: amino acids were known to exist abundantly in carbonaceous meteorites a full century before the Exodus, as they form spontaneously from methane and ammonia in aqueous solution. Similarly, sugars are produced by relatively simple condensation cycles from formaldehyde. f. Polysulfonamide (PSA). A structural polymer found in many unrelated Ean organisms. The rigidity of the sulfonyl group causes it to form solid crystals under many conditions. PSA is not as much a molecule as a large class of molecules: the lateral groups ( R) can be very different, but they are generally polar and negatively charged. Forms in which R groups are mostly sugars are found in the mucus of many aquatic organisms, whereas forms in which R are long-chain hydrocarbons form the waxy hydrophobic coating of certain cactus-like plants. g. Thiopolypropylene (TPP). The main component of the exoskeleton of Glissozoa, as well as the rind of most Dichogastria. Each strand is a chain of syndyotactic polypropylene, that is, one whose lateral methyls regularly protrude in alternate directions. This allows it to form, with sulfur, thioetheric cross-links to the surrounding chains, giving it immense mechanical resistence and a texture that recalls vulcanized rubber. TPP can be produced from transgenic bacterial cultures as a relatively biodegradable form of plastic, since many Ean prokaryotes are capable of digesting it, though rarely at a rate above a few millimeters per year. h. PNA (peptidonucleic acid) (h1). This molecule carries genetic information thanks to its sequence of nitrogenous bases (e.g. xanthin, h2). It exists in two forms, ketonic (C-C=O, "keto-PNA") and enolic (C=C-O, "enol-PNA"). The first is able to fold on itself and act much like Earth's RNA, performing a number of enzymatic functions, including self-replication. When enzymes convert the keton into enol, the new carbon-carbon double bond makes the backbone much more rigid, and the new negative charge on the oxygen causes them to repel other backbones, forming base-base hydrogen bonds. In the enolic form, PNA forms double helices, like DNA: it's more stable than the ketonic form, but unable to self-replicate. PNA has proven itself a useful substrate for nanocomputation. – Popular New World Science, n. 46 (184 AL, month 7), p. 33 (Complexity Level: Intermediate), Leeuwenhoek Academic Press

(Note: at first, the zincochrome was called “siderochrome”, and used iron instead of zinc. I changed this after the user Lowry of the Speculative Evolution Forum kindly pointed out that iron would absorb any excited electron in the pigment and thereby make photosynthesis impossible.)

#speculative evolution #speculative biology #xenobiology #alien life #worldbuilding #biochemistry #my work #ea our second chance

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twiggystarrdust · 2 years

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A bunch of things I just learned about gelflings

I just found this website with loads of information about the gelfling race that I JUST DIDNT KNOW so i had to share.

some i reckon are just fan theories, but hey, they fit pretty well.

anyway, let me know what you think of some of these points.

Astronomy, Biology, Psychology and Culture of the Gelfling.

n this article we shall briefly examine the main characteristics of Gelfing biology and culture, starting with their planet of Thra.

Astronomical characteristics

Thra is the world of the object formerly known as the Dark Crystal. It is a type-M planet, meaning capable of supporting humanoid life. It is similar to the earth in size, with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a great abundance of life forms. Thra circles three stars, one the "dying sun," a red dwarf star near the end of its life cycle. the second star, the "rose sun" is a class M red star. The third member of this stellar trilogy is a type G1 star, slightly larger than our own type G2 star.

Although inhabited planets orbiting triple-sun systems are quite rare due to the complexities of orbital mechanics, Thra is one of those rare planets where the complexities work out just right to allow the planet to maintain a relatively constant surface temperature.

The planet has three major continents. Alpha continent is the location of the Crystal Castle. Beta continent is located to the east, while Gamma continent is located to the west.

There is a relatively wide variety of biomes present, although the slightly warmer temperatures on Thra do not allow the presence of the Arctic-type biomes as found on earth. Swampland, Tropical Rain Forests, Temperate Deciduous Forests and Grasslands are the major biomes found on Thra. There is a season which approximates Earth's fall, but no winter season is present.

The vast majority of the planetary surface, some 83%, is made up of ocean. This compares to Earth's 75%-25% mix.

Gelfling evolution

Gelfling and Podling life forms arose on Alpha continent through normal evolutionary processes. Gelfling stand, in adult size, between three and four and a half feet tall. They possess four digits on hands and feet, a warm-blooded circulatory system and all other typical characteristics of intelligent humanoid life forms.

Examination of fossil life forms show an interesting lack of any large land predatory species such as the dinosaurs as found on the earth. Other than that major difference, Thra evolution has produced an extremely wide variety of life forms, perhaps even more different kinds then have been discovered on the earth.

Since the Gelfling society is based on a more harmonious living with their environment than Terran society, Thra has not suffered the ravages of wide-spread deforestation and massive building construction as has been present on the earth, nor has it suffered from any major pollution. Both these reasons have contributed to the continuing wide variety of life forms and the relatively low level of extinction on the planet (other than during the Dark Millennium).

Gelfling Biology

Birth Rate

The Gelfling possess a relatively low birth rate. They do not become capable of bearing children until they have reached their forties. Generally after bonding there would be a period of ten to twenty years before any children would be born. After that several children would be born within the next couple of decades; after that the rate of births tends to fall off. Typically a Gelfling female can bear ten to fifteen children during her life span.

The exception to the general rule was that of the Queens who, for some reason yet unknown, generally were able to bear children for a much longer period of time than the "average" Gelfling female; hence, some Queens had over twenty daughters.

Overpopulation has never become a severe problem with the Gelfling. It seems that the Gelfling live extremely close to the planet itself. A sort of feedback mechanism has been hypothesized between the environment and the female Gelfling which tends to limit the number of children born to a number that the environment can adequately feed and house.

Any period of widespread plague or disaster, for example, reduces the population considerably; consequently, there is always a considerable increase in the birthrate for a short time until the overall Gelfling population once again stabilizes.

Fertility

Fertility is controlled by the female Gelfling in some manner apparently intimately linked to the environment. When the environment alters in either a positive or a negative way, Gelfling fertility either increases or decreases. The exact mechanism behind this is not known at this time.

Sexual activity is quite common among Gelfling, yet unwanted births are virtually unknown, again indicating that the female has some form of control of whether or not she will become pregnant no matter how frequently she has sexual activity.

Bone Structure

The Gelfling possess a light bone structure, the females somewhat moreso than the males. The ability to fly, of course, would be impossible if the Gelfling possessed a heavy bone structure, so it is believed that the light bone structure and flying ability evolved together during the earliest part of Gelfling evolution.

Flight

The ability to fly is possessed only by female Gelfling. During the early years of Gelfling history females could make unassisted flight. During the Dark Millennium this ability to fly was gradually lost, resulting in the females being capable only of gliding. After the healing of the Great Crystal the ability to fly quickly returned.

Flight has two primary advantages to the female. First, the mating ritual involves an aerial dance and other activities in which the female performs a particularly sensuous aerial dance, enticing the male and generally leading to sexual activity and a strengthening of their bonding.

The second advantage is tactical. Females can explore wider areas, search for new food sources and, in some instances, actually do aerial artwork. The physical advantage over the male Gelfling was never exploited by the females, however, Such an exploitation was not within the real of thought for any Gelfling.

Mating Dance

The mating dance as the most intense sensual and sexual experience that a Gelfling can feel. It occurs only between deeply bonded pairs, and the female determines when the dance will occur. The female performs a preliminary dance during which she gradually removes her clothing. The normal pheromones the female produces increase strongly during this activity. After disrobing the female becomes airborne, performing an aerial ballet for her mate. During this activity the mate is virtually spellbound. After the aerial ballet the female lands, mounts her mate and begins actual sexual activity.

The session of sexual activity continues for a period of hours after which the mate ritualistically gently strokes the female's wings and both Gelfling fall asleep. Pregnancy as a result of the mating dance is estimated to be in the neighborhood of 93%, so a link between the dance and the reproductive drive is considered likely.

Lifespan

The average lifespan of a Gelfling is from 350 to 400 years. The ability to reproduce begins during the forties and extends for the next several decades, although having children even in later years is not totally unknown. The Gelfling remain physically vigorous and mentally alert until shortly before their death. Gelfling can somehow sense when their natural lifespan was near an end and they tend to approach their deaths with calm dignity.

Gelfling Psychology

Bonding

There are several levels of bonding, varying in intensity and length of effects. One level of bonding is through the process of dreamfasting. This can be done between two Gelfling or between a Gelfling and a Podling. This level tends to temporarily increase the psychic awareness of the bonding pair, establishing a mental link between them that will gradually decrease over time unless a deeper level of bonding is obtained.

The strongest level of bonding results in a bonding that will last throughout an entire lifetime. This can, on rare instances, begin during the first dreamfasting episode, as it did with Jen and Kira. The psychic bonds formed are intense and permanent and present in virtually every level of activity. A strong degree of telepathy is often established and, during the most intense sexual sessions a virtual unification of the minds of the two Gelfling takes place.

An extended familial bonding can also take place, increasing the strength of the family relationship in Gelfling society. This bonding also tends to last the entire lifetime of the individuals involved.

Should one of the two members of the strong pair-bonding die, some elements of the bonding will still remain, but a new bonding can still take place so that even the eldest of the Gelfling are still usually in some high level of pair-bond relationship.

Dreamfasting

Dreamfasting is an important means of communication amongst the Gelfling in that it allows a very deep sharing of personal experiences between them, taking place on a non-verbal level. Dreamfasting also varies in strength and can take place between two Gelfling, a Gelfling and a Podling, and perhaps between a Gelfling and Aughra, although no written evidence of this has yet been found. It is not a prerequisite to the strongest level of bonding but can lead to that level. It is an instinctual activity and cannot be "taught" or "improved upon." It helps to increase the ability of Gelfling to understand each other for, by understanding the background of the other Gelfling in such intimate detail, conflicts end up being minimized.

Family

The Gelfling are extremely family oriented. Once permanent bonding has taken place and the raising of a family has begun the close family structure becomes even closer. The Gelfling possess an extended-family structure and thus one tribe might be made up of a dozen or more families, each family with several generations of members.

The familial units have not led to any sense of territoriality, however, as happened in early human evolution. No one family is considered superior to another; delight is taken in differences of thought and abilities. Quarreling between families in general and family members in particular is virtually unheard of in Gelfling society. Care of children is seen as a family project in which Gelfling of all generations and both sexes take great delight.

General Gelfling psychology

The Gelfling are a very peaceful race that lives in complete harmony with the planet. Their greatest pleasures are in music, food, fun, love and sexual activity. No concepts of tribal superiority, sexual superiority or age superiority are present. The Gelfling considered all their surroundings to be alive and to be treated with the greatest of this respect. In this matter some of their behavior is not unlike that of many of the earlier Native American tribes.

Female Gelfling are extremely sensual in nature and are in some manner strongly psychically linked to the planet. Only females are healers and the healers could calm emotional disturbances as well as heal physical ills.

The "emotional disturbances" referred to problems arising from the loss of a bondmate and similar problems. No true "psychotic" Gelfling remained so for long, as several healers together, sometimes even involving the Queen as chief healer, would be able to restore the Gelfling to mental harmony. Even the worse of the psychotic cases that arose (and these were extremely few) realized, on an instinctual level, that they needed the aid of a healer and sought out such aid as soon as possible.

The abilities of the Gelfling males in the field of music are exceptional, and virtually all music is performed by male Gelfling.

The vast majority of the Gelfling bonding relationship occurs on the nonverbal level, and a description of their deepest psychological traits is beyond the ability of mere words to express. Much of Gelfling life is on a "felt" level rather than on a rational/logical level of understanding.

Sex

The Gelfling are an intensely sexual race, using sex as much as a means of communication as anything else. Sexual activity begins for the Gelfling when they enter their twenties. Until permanent bonding takes place sex can be with a wide variety of partners. Never during this time, however, is the mating ritual performed and no female Gelfling ever becomes pregnant before permanent bonding takes place.

Once permanent bonding has taken place sexual activity tends to be only with the bondmate. Sexual activity is quite frequent, both before and after bonding, and is considered one of life's greatest pleasures.

Telepathy

All Gelfling are mildly telepathic at birth. Gelfling who have permanently bonded have the highest level of telepathy, but all Gelfling remain telepathic at least at a basic level for their entire lives.

Gelfling Culture

Gelfling Art and Music

Two of the major delights of Gelfling are their art and their music. both have been developed to a very high degree; musical artifacts dating back nearly to the very beginning of Gelfling history have been found.

Although both art and music were highly developed, there was never a sense of competition amongst the Gelfling as there is with humans. Gelfling artists and musicians took great delight in teaching their crafts and even greater delight when one of their pupils turned out to be a master at the craft.

The vast majority of the music was limited to oral tradition; therefore, in the great purges carried out against the Gelfling much of this was lost forever. Only a few songs were ever recorded in written form; a few of those managed to survive the burning of the Music Academy.

Crafts

A wide variety of crafts is practiced by the Gelfling. Flower arrangement, jewelry crafting, carpentry, dancing and limited use of metals are all practiced, although never on a massive scale. Objects produced are made in numbers sufficient for immediate use, and emphasize beauty of form and structure. The tendency to want "possessions" so common in humans is not present in the Gelfling. This has helped to hold down the number of "objects" produced and minimizes damage to the environment.

The Gathering of the Tribes

The purpose of a Gathering of the Tribes is to select a new Queen. If a Queen ended her reign and none of her daughters wished to become Queen, or if it was "felt" by the Gelfling that a new Queen from another tribe was needed, then representatives of all Gelfling tribes would meet in the capital of Tarakendal. The representatives, both male and female, would hold hands and engage in a mass dreamfasting session, after which would follow a period of meditation. The name of the individual that was to become the Queen would then become known to all the Gelfling in a process that cannot be analyzed or expressed in words. The Gelfling so chosen would be crowned and recognized by all Gelfling tribes as the "rightful" Queen.

At no time during Gelfling history did any female "campaign" for Queen, nor did any tribe attempt to put forth a candidate. Such thoughts were alien to the Gelfling psychology.

Healers

Healers were inevitably female. They were born with the ability and would be trained by other healers. A healer had the ability to heal both physical and emotional illnesses. In severe cases the serves of more than one healer was used, sometimes as many as four healers working on the Gelfling at the same time.

For some yet unknown reason, when a female Gelfling became Queen she found that her healing abilities were increased substantially.

Matriarchy

Gelfling society is matriarchal in nature. Only female Gelfling become Queens or healers, and females control the times of their fertility. This does not mean, however, that the females were considered dominant or superior to the males, for such thoughts were foreign to Gelfling psychology. The matriarchal arrangement was accepted by all Gelfling without any qualms. Whenever a situation arose in which a male Gelfling had to assume command of a tribe temporarily, a great deal of unease was felt, and the leadership of the tribe was turned over to a female Gelfling as quickly as possible.

Gelfling society is not biologically equal, of course, since it is the female Gelfling that possesses wings and controls the fertility level. Again, however, this does not mean that the males are considered subordinate to the females. There are, in fact, no words in human language to describe the detailed arrangement of Gelfling society and how it functions since attitudes of dominance, aggression and control are not part of Gelfling psychological makeup.

Meals

Meals are always taken communally. At least two families if not more will eat their meals at the same time. The preparation of meals is done by the female Gelfling, with children of proper age being allowed to "assist." This form of communal dining is evidenced by the construction of Gelfling castles which also contain a single large banquet hall in which all the individuals staying at the castle take their meals together.

The Gelfling are almost entirely vegetarian in nature. Food is gathered by male and female Gelfling alike and then taken to the communal kitchen.

Before the meal begins there is a short period of grace during which thanks are given for the food. This grace generally consists of an apology for the taking of the life of the plants involved and a since wish that, through the death of the plants, new life would be created and would serve the planet well.

Pictographic Writing

Pictographic writing was developed early in Gelfling history. It is believed that it was introduced by Aughra around 3325 BDM. Almost all history and records were kept in this format. Pictographic writing became an art form unto itself and resulted in the decoration of many castles with pictographs that described the history of the tribes forming the castle family. The ability to read pictographic writing, for reasons unknown, is limited strictly to male Gelfling.

Written language

The written language is used infrequently and is believed to have also been introduced by Aughra. Only males are capable of using the written form of language for some unknown reason.

Religion

Religion is a very personal experience for the Gelfling, and there is apparently only one form of religion present amongst the tribes. A single Creator is worshiped, the worship consisting primarily of the Gelfling living their lives the best way they can in the closest harmony with the planet and all other life forms that they can achieve.

No formal churches or religious artifacts ever arose amongst Gelfling. There is a firm belief in an afterlife in which the individual goes to another dimension in which he or she finds themselves on another Thra but at a very young age, allowing the individual to live another full life. A series of such events is postulated, but no "goal" of "eventual purification" is ever stated or implied.

source: www\.bookmice.net/darkchilde/dark/gelfling.html

#the more you know #gelfling #dark crystal #age of resistance #okay now for storytime #in my roleplay campaign #my gelfling character has had a crush on another character for a while but he's rubbish at picking up hints #one night she gets really drunk and starts to sleepwalk and her desires take over #she basicly strips and gives him a lapdance #unaware that shes even doing it cause shes sleeping #oh did i mention she did all this in front of her entire party?#now if that aint bad enough now I've just learned about the MATING DANCE #like not only did she strip off she basically said #hey i wanna have your babies!#no wonder twiggy was so embarrassed!#now she just has to HOPE that her non gelfling friends don't learn about that otherwise they'll rip the SHIT out of her.#the second hand embarrassment i feel is unreal #girl #you don't do things by half.#hashtag pray for twiggy

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afuntimepartyy · 2 years

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in attempt to throw these out there i accidentally pasted molten choco bear my bad

THESE. were done some time ago? not too terribly long but not super recent either... posting these as just a silly real quick (also this was more of a different style test than anything tbh) so

#crystal bear alpha #unicorn bear alpha #crystal bear #unicorn bear #bear alpha roblox #bear roblox #bear alpha #crying sobbing hitting the whip nae nae etc etc

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roguetelepaths · 2 years

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my empty halls to echo with grand self-mythology

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Genre: Character Study Words: 997 Characters: Primarily the Voice of the Great Link (I refuse to call her “Female Changeling”, that’s stupid), but also Weyoun 6 towards the end Summary: As she prepares for the arrival of a new Weyoun iteration, the Voice of the Great Link begins to suspect that something is seriously wrong. Set shortly before 7x06 “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River”. Not necessarily part of the Far Places Universe, but can be read as such. Content Warnings: Implied epidemic/contagious disease (not really implied if you know what’s going on in canon with the Founders at this time, but we only see a small part of it in this story specifically)

Read on AO3 | @flashfictionfridayofficial

The Voice of the Great Link was displeased.

Anger seemed too strong a word for it– to stoop to anger over the actions of solids would be beneath her. No. She prided herself on control, not just control of her Dominion, but of herself as well. She was serene. Calm. A guiding Voice to set all things in perfect order.

But those that resisted her guidance were always such a thorn in her side, if she were to use such limiting and imprecise metaphors. These Cardassians, especially. To her, they were a prime example of solid hypocrisy. It was not that the Link particularly favored Bajor over Cardassia– soon, the entirety of the Alpha Quadrant would be brought under their sway– but the Dominion’s presence on Cardassia was surely much less oppressive, in the grand scheme of things, than the Cardassian presence on Bajor had ever been. Obedience brought privilege within the Dominion. And these solids were stubbornly, childishly refusing to obey.

She found herself spending more and more time in her liquid state when she was not required to oversee the annexation. It almost eased the loneliness she felt, almost allowed her to believe that she was back within the Link. Perhaps it was this that led her to first suspect that something was deeply wrong.

It began with a sort of… slowness, or stiffness, as she rose from her regenerative state. Her awareness crystallized into a clearer picture as quickly as ever, senses sharpening and unifying into something that exceeded those of most solids. But her morphogenic matrix struggled to keep up with it. Strange, she thought to herself. I know my body well enough to know that this has never happened to me before.

She examined her form as it solidified. The appearance she’d chosen to wear today was that of a female Cardassian. More than most forms she’d assumed in the past, Cardassian womanhood suited her precise and analytical nature. Even more so when she got to watch the likes of Dukat and Damar react to her strategic pronouncements with horror that came less from the fact that they were suggested by one bearing the appearance of a fellow Cardassian than from the fact that they were suggested by one bearing the appearance of a woman.

Solid inequalities. How they fascinated her.

Her examination was usually done with the aid of an attendant, however, her last attendant had recently died in a transporter accident. So she scrutinized her own form in the reflection of a glass panel, on higher alert than usual after that temporary lapse in control over her abilities. Upon noticing that a scale on her neck was out of place, she attempted to partially return to liquid form to put it right, but realized as she did that it seemed to be much more difficult than usual to do so.

Now, that was odd. She’d not had this trouble controlling her appearance since she first attained awareness.

The comms system in her quarters buzzed abruptly, startling her out of her contemplation. “Apologies for the interruption, Founder, but–”

Now she was angry. How much had he seen? She could not allow her servants to know that she was ill, not before she’d first attempted to solve the problem on her own. She took a moment of silence to compose herself before responding. “Rinath,” she said, in the brisk, professional tone she often used when speaking to Vorta. “What have I discussed with you in the past about contacting me so early after my regeneration cycle?”

“It brings me displeasure to have to disobey your command, Founder, but the Weyoun model you requested is ready for activation and imprint.” He spoke quickly, realizing his mistake and attempting to avoid punishment. “I was under the impression that you wanted to be informed. Forgive me if I misunderstood.”

There was no indication in any of what he said that he’d picked up on the struggles of a few moments earlier. Good. I remain infallible in the eyes of our servants. “No. You understood perfectly. I’ll be at the facility to collect him momentarily.”

Quickly, though with no small amount of effort on her part, she assumed the form she often assumed around Vorta– a statuesque, semihumanoid thing of liquid gold, designed to reinforce their feelings of awe and respect– and beamed onto the ship that would take her to Rondac III.

—

She arrived just in time, and sped through the usual greetings and pleasantries to make sure that she could be there to activate this new Weyoun personally. He should be grateful for this level of attention from her. Very few Founders would go to the trouble, but beyond all reason, she’d developed an attachment to his lineage. She’d done this for every new iteration since his second, so the activation sequence came naturally to her. Final imprinting, even more so. It was a simple process, usually done by a fellow Vorta, but infinitely more impactful when done by a Founder.

His eyes fixed on her as he emerged from the chamber, taking his first few uneasy steps.

"Weyoun,” she addressed him. “Sixth of your lineage. For what purpose were you created?” My limbs feel like they’re liable to melt at any moment. I must maintain control.

The traditional response came without a thought. “All that I am belongs to the Founders,” he answered, bowing low. “I exist to do your will, from the first to the last.”

There was a hint of what sounded almost like hesitance, which she carefully observed.

“Then I welcome you into my service as personal attendant and representative,” she finished, one arm becoming a tendril and wrapping itself around Weyoun’s wrist. “May you perform your duty w–”

But she never finished her sentence, as she collapsed on the floor, partially returning to her liquid state and partially unable to. Her loyal, newly minted personal attendant rushed to her side. “Founder,” he exclaimed in a panic. “You’re not well.”

#flash fiction friday #far places friday #ds9 #the dominion

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exhausted-archivist · 1 year

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Dragon Age Inquisition Game Model Heights: Fauna and Enemies

Please note that none of these are canon. None of these numbers are reliable or meant to assert any sort of canon status. Some of these models do not appear the same size as in game.

I started pulling creature models from Inquisition for my bestiary project. Since my gaming computer died and it's hard to get a good screenshot on console, so I was hoping to do extracts.

But, I kept pulling them because I wanted to see if I could find a a rhyme or reason to ground my height estimates for the fauna of Thedas where I could. (Spoiler, I couldn't) I do however still find worth in these heights if for no other reason than for the fun of them. That said, I'm once again asking BioWare why they're changing the size of models in game so drastically with no clear system and scaling them up so drastically.

In terms of known incorrect scaling models, as in they do not reflect what is displayed in game, the following is what I know/can easily confirm: Deepstalkers, dragons*, dragonlings, fennic, giants*, great bears, large bears, lurkers, and phoenix.

* For the dragons and giants it is unclear which model's scaling is off, as in game we know that the giant is bigger than the vinsomer dragon on the Storm Coast. We also cannot confirm or deny if the dragon models are the same size across all of the different subspecies. I would say you reasonably could assume that given they all share the same skeleton, but I don't want to assume anything when it comes to scaling in Inquisition.

I would also like to note an update on some of the previously shared models from this post. I got better at blender, studied the models more to find the true shoulder, and thus these numbers have gotten more accurate. It's truly amazing what a mouse and hours of practice and study will do.

Methodology

These models are extracted from the game files using Frosty Editor in the measurement units of meters. I then brought the models into Blender. When it comes to measuring the heights, I'm measuring from the shoulder of quadrupeds, head for bipedals, and included some variations - such as additional height due to horns, crystals, ect. separately. For any creature with armor, helmets, ect, I measured from the top of their skull when possible or from an estimated top of their skull, such as with the Arcane Horror.

In terms of the numbers provided in measurement in Blender. I am taking the numbers only from the first 2 decimal places, I'm not rounding up nor am I rounding down in any area. When converting from meters to inches, I am only doing whole numbers so these will be rounded down if below .5 or up if they are .5 and above.

Darkspawn Heights

From left to right, we have:

Ogre: 11'11 / 3.64m at the head, 14'6 / 4.42m with horns

Emissary: 10'5 / 3.18m

Alpha Emissary: 10'4 / 3.16m

Corypheus: 10'5 / 3.17m

Hurlock: 7' / 2.15m

Alpha genlock: 3'11 / 1.19m

Hurlock: 5'11 / 1.81m

Hurlock: 5'11 / 1.80m

Shriek: 5'11 / 1.81m

Ghoul: 5'11 / 1.81m

Genlock: 4'8 / 1.42m

Corrupted Spider: 3'3 / 0.98m

ALT

Draconic Heights

These are measured from their shoulder height, however I would like to note that due to the high dragons A-pose putting their front legs off the ground level they are measured off of their hind legs. In order from left to right:

Corypheus's dragon: 22'4 / 6.8m

Trespasser dragon: 23' / 7.02m

Crestwood dragon: 23' / 7m

Dragonling: 8'2 / 2.5m

Snowy "wyvern": 8' / 2.44m

Varghest: 7'6 / 2.28m

Wyvern: 8'2 / 2.49m

Wingspan of the high dragons are: 163'10 / 49.94m, one wing is 81'11 / 24.97m.

ALT

General Fauna Heights

From left to right across all images:

Giant: 17'9 / 5.41m

Druffalo: 6'7 / 2m

Nuggalope: 6'6 / 1.97m

Red Hart - Mount: 6'3 / 1.91m

Crehtahl: 6'2 / 1.89m

Horse: 6'2 / 1.89m

Dracolisk: 6'2 / 1.88m

Gurn: 5'11 / 1.80m

Bronto: 5'12 / 1.82m

Bronto carrying: 5'12 / 1.82m

Bogfisher: 5'11 / 1.80m

Quillback: 4'11 / 1.49m

August Ram: 4'2 / 1.28m

Red Hart - Small/Non-mount: 4'2 / 1.27m

Halla: 4'1 / 1.25m

Ram: 4'1 / 1.25m

Large bear: 4'4 / 1.31m

Great Bear: 4'3 / 1.29m

Giant Spider: 3'5 / 1.03m

Corrupt Spider: 3'3 / 1m

Fennic: 3'3 / 0.99m

Black Wolf: 3'4 / 1.02m

Hyena: 3'5 / 1.05m

Mabari: 3'3 / 0.99m

Armored Mabari: 4'4 / 1.31m at the head

Tusket: 2'4 / 0.72m

Snoufleur: 2' / 0.62m

Nug: 1'9 / 0.53m

Lurker: 2'9 / 0.84m

Pheonix: 2'8 / 0.80m

Deepstalker: 2'6 / 0.76m

Raven: 1'8 / 0.52m

Gull: 1'9 / 0.53m

Cockatrice: 1'9 / 0.53m

Raven - Small: 9" / 0.22m

ALT

Red Templar Heights

From left to right:

Behemoth: 11' / 3.36m at the head, 15'7 / 4.75m with the crystals

Red Templar Horror: 7'9 / 2.37m

Red Templar Knight: 7'4 / 2.24m

Red Templar Shadow: 6' / 1.82m

Red Templar Foot Soldier: 6' / 1.83m

Red Templar Guard: 6' / 1.84m

Red Templar Marksman: 6' / 1.83m

ALT

Demon and Spirit Heights

From left to right across all images:

Gibbering Horror: 2'8 / 0.82m

Fearling Spider: 4'5 / 1.34m

Despair demon: 5'7 / 1.70m

Shade 1: 6'3 / 1.90m

Shade 2: 6'3 / 1.90m

Shade 3: 6'3 / 1.90m

Shade 4: 6'3 / 1.90m

Shade 5: 6'3 / 1.90m

Rage Demon: 6'4 / 1.93m

Revanant: 7'5 / 2.26m

Terror demon: 8'2 / 2.49m

Greater Terror demon: 8'2 / 2.49m

Envy demon: 8'3 / 2.51m

Nightmare demon: 8'6 / 2.58m

Arcane Horror: 10'1 / 3.08m

Pride demon: 14'10 / 4.53m at the head, 18'5 / 5.61m with the horns

Greater Fear demon aka Smiley aka Blinky: 93'6 / 28.49m

ALT

Corpses

All corpses use the same default/base model and are all the same height without their armor putting them all at a height of: 6' / 1.82m

ALT

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#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dai #dai game models #dai extracts #tw spiders #dragon age fauna #da dragons #da demons #da spirits #I still hate the dai models #I am not using them with any sort of reliability for obvious reasons #I thought these were neat so I wanted to share

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waltzshouldbewriting · 11 months

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The OUTER Series Teams and Members List:

(Names and members subject to change)

OUTER Front Line Team:

Neuron

The Nemean Lion (AKA Ariel)

Monsoon

Cannon Blast (AKA RJ)

Rattler (AKA Rat)

Medusa (Book 2 onward)

Vesuvius (Book 2 onward)

Category Five (previous)

Milkweed (previous)

Typhoon (previous)

Tytanium (previous)

OUTER Stage Hands:

Shandiin/Izzy

Flower Girl (AKA Lian)

Felix

Xavier (AKA Sea Wolf or SW)

Emma (AKA Amaranth)

Javelina

The Yankee

Flying Squirrel

InFRARED Alpha Team:

Gadget

Ad Lib

Tsunami

Tectonic (AKA Toni)

African Violet (AKA Aisha) (previous)

Virmin (AKA Minerva or Minnie or Min) (previous)

Lightning Bug (previous)

Firefly (previous)

Asa (previous)

InFRARED Bravo Team:

Megafauna (AKA Meg)

Mjolnir (Book 3 onwards)

Cavazioni

Pompeii

Ferrous Fury

Chanchita (Book 3 onwards)

Igneous

Odysseus

Hydroplane (previous)

Greek Fire (Previous)

Other characters

Dracula (Charlie team)

Mercury (Echo team)

Asteroid (tbd)

Tiger Lily (multiple)

C&A travelers

Ash

Crystal

Antique

Old Man Young

Voyage

Melody

Marina

Badulf

Libra

Tide

Saffron

Piper

Henna

Brychan (kid)

Cuan (kid)

Linda (kid)

Sprite 5 Team + Sprites

Liz Bethany (current) + unnamed sprite

Jael (retired) + Trixie

Natalya (retired) + Flame

Zander (retired) + Bear

Ellie (retired) + Summer

Colleen (retired) + Winny

Night (Retired) + Nyx

Other stories

JD (Ghostmind)

Claudia (Ghostmind)

Cassandra (Divided Lands)

Ariadne (Divided Lands)

Haf (Familiar)

Rosamunda (Familiar)

Ajax (Familiar)

Oscar (Familiar)

Deorwine (Familiar)

Cola (Familiar)

Fiz (Fissure)

Truce (Fissure)

Kayos (Fissure)

Trench (Fissure)

Zee (Alexandria)

Alex (Alexandria)

Villains and Antagonists

Shatterthought (The OUTER Series)

Lahar (The OUTER Series)

Banshee (The OUTER Series)

Blue Ring (The OUTER Series)

Tidal (The OUTER Series)

Theremin (The OUTER Series)

Flashover (The OUTER Series)

Mickey Mouse (The OUTER Series)

Frankenstein (The OUTER Series)

Kudzu (The OUTER Series)

Khione (The OUTER Series)

Strife (Fissure)

Zombie (Ghostmind)

Blaze (Crystals & Ash)

#the outer series #notes to self

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clovercrafted · 1 year

Note

Hope I'm not asking too many, but 🦙, 🌻, 🕰️?

Thanks for the ask :D

🦙 (llama) give us a list of your favourite Minecraft mobs! Why are these ones specifically Your Little Guys? Ironically, love the Llamas but thats probably because I love llamas irl as well. Love how we can put little carpets on them and dress them up and make them into the most fancy of lads! Wish we could dress other mobs like that. Axolotls, again same reason I love them irl as well and I have a small collection of build-a-bear lotties! Warden, big, strong, husband material. He's soooooo mysterious and can kill me by screaming Very Loud which 10/10 would die again. I will forever mourn the loss of the glare. I miss him every day. OH and I actually like the Wandering Trader. He's my buddy, he's my pal, I made him my husband in one world, worst trades on the Overworld.

🌻(sunflower) what are your favourite biomes? Furthermore which biome feels most like home to you (might not even be your fave!). If you could add new biomes to the game what would they be?

OOOOOh. Okay so-

Flower Forests - Theres flowers, there's forest, there's cute bunnies, and it's super super pretty

Meadow - once again, flowers everywhere but meadows just have this detatched feeling seperate from all other biomes thats just so isolating and makes you really think about how vast everything is

Warped Forest - blue/turquoise mushroom trees go brrrrrr

Lush Caves - there's literally magic in these caves I swear to god

Giant Tree Taiga - a new entry but I've really been appreciating spruce lately

Biomes that most feel like home to me are dark oak forests (first ever minecraft world, my little cobblestone shack was in a tiny pond in the middle of the forest) and swamps (mine and my brother's bases are set in a swamp and the amount of time I've spent there is A Lot).

Biomes I would add-

Ice Caves- just c'mon Ice Caves would fuck hard. We have dripstone all you'd need to do is make it look like ice and slap some ice in a cave and be like boom ice cave

Lush Forest - azalea forests that spawn with moss and clay like a surface lush cave almost

Rose/Peony/Lilac Plains - sunflower plains exist why not these?

Mega Deep Ocean - give us fucked up sea life!!! I want the horrors!!!

Crystal Caves - give us some different geodes!!! give me shiny rocks I wish to Eat Them.

🕰 (clock) what version of Minecraft do you remember playing first? What has been your favourite update? If you could make an update what would it be?

I first played uhhhh 1.13 I think it was? Update Aquatic since bedrock was my first chance to own the game on my own console/device since I had to share the old pc we had with my brother. But I remember me and my brother having game night when I'd sit at the desk waaaay back with Alpha when he used to play.

My favourite update is defo Nether Update. A common answer and pretty basic but I am gentle hold the Piglins and the amount of blocks added was astounding! 1.18 is a close second but I miss the old generation a lot more than I enjoy the new sometimes. I fuckin love the caves though!

As for an update hmmm... I'd either love to do an End Update or a Second Update That Changes the World which would update old biomes and add some new interesting ones... like more cave biomes... please Mojang... more cave biomes. I like the three we have but please........... m o r e. Imagine: ice caves, fungal caves, crystal caves, volcanic caves, better mineshafts, proper ocean caves...... imagine the possibilities!!!

#asks #shellsbellslove #long post

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saintsofwarding · 1 year

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SAINTS OF WARDING; HUNGRY DEMONS

Chapter 6: In Which the Lycans get A New Alpha

By midday, Heisenberg was ready. Broken rib- treated. Gash in his side- not actively spurting blood. Knee- it'd hold, unless it didn't.

Either way, he'd deal.

He unearthed a new trench coat from the racks of old clothes mildewing in the church undercroft, got a shirt that wasn't ninety percent hole. His glasses went back on, cracked though they were. The film of darkness over the world steadied him, centered him, quieted down his brain. He'd need the calm for this conversation.

Taking a narrow set of back stairs, the middle of each step worn down by countless centuries of priestly feet, Heisenberg followed the sound of singing. She sang as pretty as she spoke, silvery and thin, some song he didn't recognize. Maybe Ethan or her mother Mia had sung it to her as a baby. Was she still a baby? Heisenberg didn't know. Maybe she wasn't anything, just like how he wasn't anything, just a body kept alive past its sell-by date.

He ducked through a doorway and into the catacombs. Beautiful, he had to admit, if you liked that kind of thing. These catacombs must spread under the entire town, a network of vaulted passageways and stacked-stone recesses bearing coffins. Blue tiles glimmered like gas flames in the scanty candlelight, and paintings of holy figures stared down from the walls, wreathed with lupine imagery.

Somewhere in the depths Heisenberg heard the steady dring of water, the scrabblings of rats. Likely worse than rats, too, but if any nasty ghoulie lay in wait, it didn't poke its head out. Heisenberg hefted his new hammer higher on his shoulder. Anything decided to get nosy, he'd smash the appendage in question clean off.

He reached a central chamber, the source of the singing. A round, shallow pool in its middle, tiled blue like the rest, glimmered in a shaft of daylight. An oculus in the ceiling admitted enough light to illuminate the room, even before the candles. Rose sat at the pool's edge, one foot trailing in the water. She was busy fiddling with something in her hands. Her long white-blonde hair seemed to glow in the weak daylight, caught with motes of ice dust, as if she was still transformed into crystal.

Her singing faded as Heisenberg approached and stopped at the far side of the pool.

"Hey, kid," he said.

She glanced up. "Did you make that?" she asked him.

"This?" He swung the hammer down, bracing its head against the edge of the pool. It was an ugly thing, rusty scrap welded into an approximation of his original weapon. Even without his powers to help him he was a fair hand with a blowtorch, and, unlike a pussy, he didn't require a mask and protective gear to use one. "Hell yeah."

Rose gave him a tiny smile. "It's cool."

"You're damn right." He paused. "So are you, kid. You're powerful. The stuff you can do...it took the rest of us years to get that kind of control over our abilities."

Rose shrugged with one shoulder, nonchalant, but he didn't miss her blush.

"What's that you've got there?" he asked, nodding at her handiwork.

She held it up. It was a tiny doll woven of straw, a piece of red yarn tied around its neck. "It's going to be my friend."

"Yeah? You need a friend?"

She nodded. "So do you."

Heisenberg fell silent. The air seemed colder than it had a moment before. He watched Rose work, then coughed.

"Kid," he said. "Rose."

She stopped and looked at him. Her expression was unreadable.

"You're the one who's been stopping my powers," he said. "Aren't you? When you got inside my head, sent me on that acid trip, you got ahold of me. Took control. Like-"

Like Miranda, he thought, but stopped himself before her name could be in the air.

"Did I get it right?" he said.

Rose chewed her lower lip. She set her doll beside her on the rim of the pool. Heisenberg understood. If she didn't have a friend, she'd make one.

"You were going to hurt those people," she said. "I saw what you wanted. You wanted to kill them all. You would have."

"And in the graveyard, against Lady Mega-Bitch-"

Rose clapped her hands over her ears. "Not nice!"

"Fine. Against Dimitrescu-"

"You needed help. Everyone did." She paused. "I did."

"Self-serving. Good trait, kid. That'll get you far in life."

She cast him a reproachful glare. "Stop that."

"Don't you tell me what to do, you brat," Heisenberg said. Rose splashed her foot back and forth through the pool. "Listen."

She didn't look at him.

"Back in the kitchen...sorry about that."

She splashed harder. Heisenberg ground his teeth together. "Can't you take a goddamn apology?" He let out a heavy sigh, leaning on his hammer. "Rosemary."

The girl stopped. Ripples cast coins of light across the walls. The bell began its heavy toll from above, the sound vibrating down to the catacomb depths. Midday.

"I made your pa a promise," Heisenberg said. "That I'd get you out of here. That I'd make sure you were safe. And I will. Even from me. You understand?"

He wasn't sure she was listening.

"Where we're going is gonna be dangerous. So you'd better stay sharp."

"I know," she murmured.

"No dicking around. You listen, get it? To whatever I say."

Rose climbed to her feet, picking up her straw doll and hugging it to her chest. Balancing on the rim of the pool, she approached him. She looked immaterial in the light, bleached of color. Heisenberg stared down at her as she regarded him in turn.

"Claudia listened too," she said.

Heisenberg stiffened, but was spared a response. Bootsteps echoed down the passageway. Teodora emerged into the chamber, rifle over her shoulder, a clean parka zipped to her throat. She'd changed from her mold-burnt clothes, packed a satchel, cleaned the vampire blood off her knee boots. Dark circles cut under her eyes, but her affect was brisk as she nodded at Heisenberg.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yup. Come on, brat," he said, swinging his hammer over his shoulder. "Let's roll."

Rose hopped down from the pool and went to go pull on a pair of small combat boots left in a corner. "Wait," Teodora said. "She's not coming-"

"Yeah she is." Heisenberg rummaged for a cigar and stuck it between his teeth. He lit it, inhaled a lungful of smoke, and blew it into Teodora's face.

She coughed, waving it away. "Are you insane?" she said.

"Probably."

"You are not taking a child-"

"How long is this whole operation gonna be?"

"It's a couple days hike. Too rough for horses, and they draw too much attention, so we've got to go on foot."

"Rose doesn't have that kind of time. You know how to make this holy water, right?"

Teodora nodded.

"So we bring her. Spare her the return trip. Make her the medicine on-site. Got it?"

"Fine," Teodora said. She rubbed her forehead and turned, already striding away. "Then there's no time to waste."

***

The main road to the town was barricaded with old cars, fences, and barbed wire, but Teodora headed the opposite direction, past the outskirts and into the trees at the edge of town, up a narrow track that wended toward the distant mountainside.

The snowfall had slowed, the air clear and sharp as broken glass, and for the first time in days Heisenberg could make out the faint, pale circle of the sun. Rose walked for a while, one small hand gripping onto Heisenberg's pocket, then, once the pathway steepened and she began to stumble, he caught her up and swung her onto his shoulders.

She giggled, hanging onto the hammer, her small face aglow as she watched the sunlight through the trees.

"That's not a very safe place for her to be," Teodora groused.

"Where's the fun in safe?" Heisenberg said. "You like it up there, kid?"

"Yeah," Rose said.

"See?" Heisenberg knocked his boot against Teodora's ankle. "Nothing to worry about."

"Not until..."

She trailed off. They had reached a break in the treeline, a rocky outcropping that overlooked the long climb and the valley below. The sunlight glowed on the red roofs of the town, filling the snow-mist with a candlelit haze. Trails of smoke hung in the air, and somewhere, far away, Heisenberg thought he heard music, carried long on the still, winter air.

Teodora stood for a moment, staring downslope.

"Homesick already?" Heisenberg said.

"Do you-" She shook her head and hiked her pack higher on her shoulder. "No. Stupid question. Of course you don't."

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

"I know enough."

"Ask your goddamn question before I push you off this cliff."

She let out a groan. "Saints, is this how you always talk to people? Little wonder you and the Lady of Blood didn't get along."

"It's worked for me so far."

A faint smile touched her face. "Guess it has. I must be a fool too. I'm here, aren't I?" She looked up at him. "This place demands a price of me. But I've always paid it. I...uh."

She stopped speaking, averted her eyes, and with a last glance down at the town began upslope again. Heisenberg let Rose down into the crook of one burly arm, cradling her like he'd once seen Donna do with her psychotic doll, Angie. She'd rocked the creepy-ass thing, humming as if to soothe them both.

Rose curled a little against him, her hands fisted inside her sweater sleeves.

"You cold?" he asked her.

"No. Tired."

"You can sleep."

"Really?"

"If you get too heavy I'll just feed you to the wolves."

"No wolves around here," Rose mumbled against his coat. "Something ate them all."

***

She was asleep within the hour, the sunlight fading as their ascent steepened and the mountain mist set in. The lights of town became amber blurs through fog, then were gone altogether, nothing below but a sea of cloudy shadow. The trees thickened around them, creaking with each gust of wind. In the darkness between them the silence seemed a living thing, as if watching them, as if waiting.

Rose shivered in her sleep. Heisenberg adjusted his grip on the hammer, but Teodora didn't unsling her rifle.

"It's cool if you have the heebie jeebies," he told her, lighting up a cigar. "I won't think of you any different in the morning." He laughed.

She shook her head, watching the shadows in turn. "I don't want to look scared. They smell your fear."

The wind picked up. In it, over the cigar smoke, Heisenberg caught the thick, yolky smell of fresh blood.

He glanced at Teodora. Judging by her grim expression, she'd smelled it too.

They rounded the next stand of trees. Spread across the snow, blood black in the fading light, was the mauled corpse of a stag. Its head was twisted to the side, one antler snagged deep into the ground. Not long dead. Something had ripped it open, and its glistening tangle of viscera steamed in the air.

"Hm." Heisenberg sidled up to the dead stag and nudged it with his boot toe.

"Think whatever killed it is still around?" Teodora was pale, but her voice kept steady.

"If it was, it would've gone for you by now." He took a drag on his cigar, sprinkling ash onto the dead stag. "Lycans prefer their meat human."

"You're sure this was a lycan?"

He swung round to face her. "Sweetheart," he drawled. "This isn't my first rodeo, now. I've been dealing with lycans since before your granny was born."

"Okay, okay. I get it. You're old." Teodora looked him over. "I thought the Great Ones held sway over the monster wolves of fable and fairy-tale."

Heisenberg took another long lungful of smoke off his cigar. "Management changed," he said. "I lost my member rewards card."

A brow lifted. "Home went kaboom and now your attack dogs won't obey you anymore?"

"More or less."

She nodded. "Our loss. Keep quiet and stay in my footprints. The place we're passing through soon is dangerous. May be more around."

They stepped through the trees and onto mountainside, an expanse of pristine snow and blue haze, the cold so pure it hurt to breathe. Nothing moved in it save the lazy spirals of Heisenberg's cigar smoke.

After a while, Heisenberg began to notice shapes in the trees. They swam from the gloom- statues carved of crumbling stone. Saints, like those in the church, like those in the caves deep beneath the village where the Black God slumbered, but not all of these were human. Some bore bared fangs, wolfish aspect. Others clutched human limbs and organs, tearing at them with their teeth.

"Saints of warding," Teodora murmured. "To keep away the dark. They've been up here since before the town was built. Some say they were made by the people of an underground city. A paradise destroyed. Its people fled after the calamity, settling into these mountains."

She released a long breath into the still air. "But the hungry demons of the lonely places beset them, and in the darkness, when their god did not answer them, the people turned to the very monsters they feared for salvation."

Heisenberg shrugged. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"So," Teodora asked, her voice low as they tromped through the calf-deep snow. "Are you going to dip and run once I make the medicine for Rose? Leave me to the mercy of the lycans?"

"Nah."

"And why should I believe that?"

"I've waited years to smack Dimitrescu around in a big way," Heisenberg said. "You think I'm gonna give up that chance now?"

She gave a short laugh. "Fair enough. Hate is an excellent motivator."

"You sound like you know from experience."

She stopped short. Heisenberg nearly ran into her.

"What is it?" he said.

"Quiet."

Together they watched the treeline. A plume of snow scattered, released from a bowed branch. At last, Teodora let out her breath.

"Come on," she said. "Night's falling. No use risking a broken leg in the dark. We'll make camp under those rocks, just past the ridge. It'll be tough, cold, but I'm not risking a fire."

They reached the lee face of the ridge as the last dregs of light left the sky. It was a hollow between jumbled boulders, watched over by one of the warding saints, its fanged jaws clutching a carved stone heart. Somewhere, close by, Heisenberg heard the rush of water. The mist was a deep, luminous gray, the darkness beyond absolute. A moonless, starless night.

Teodora busied herself with chemical hand-warmers, a few thermal blankets, some rations and canteens, while Heisenberg settled Rose. He cocooned her in a couple of the blankets, then sat beside her with his hammer over his knees, watching Teodora as she checked over the rest of their supplies.

She looked up from counting bullets. "Do you need something to do?"

"I am doing something."

"Uh-huh." She finished her counting and yanked a war-era combat knife from the top of her boot. "How's the girl?"

Rose slept with her hands curled under her cheek, her shoulders rising and falling in steady rhythm. Her eyes flickered behind closed lids. Of what would she dream? Her parents, maybe. Infant memories, hazy and warm. Perhaps she dreamed of Miranda, her crystallization, the deep, slow heartbeat of the megamycete lulling her in the depths of its visions. Or did she swim through memories that weren't her own? Did she stand in the entryway of that long-forgotten house? Did she curl at the feet of the woman singing to the baby, calming herself with lullabies meant for a little boy named Karl?

Heisenberg tugged off his glove and touched her cheek. Cold, sure, but anyone would be cold out here.

"She's fine," he said. "For now." He settled back with a groan, one booted foot kicked up on a rock, his arms behind his head. His knee gave off throbs of hot pain. He'd pop eyeballs for a shot of adrenaline to the heart right about now, or, barring that, the mud-thick coffee he'd chug straight from the pot each morning, complete with an entire bowl's worth of sugar. "What about you?"

She drew a whetstone down her combat knife with a swick and spit of sparks. "If Emilia isn't all right-" Swick. A spurt of orange in the blue darkness. "She has to be. She will be. She and the other girls. All of them."

"Can't save everyone. Not all the time."

Swick. "I will this time."

"This time?" Heisenberg said quickly.

Teodora pressed her lips together. She clearly knew she'd said too much, and Heisenberg, mongrel worrying at every bit of gristle that he was, had grabbed hold. She set to her knife again, but Heisenberg kept staring at her.

"Stop that," Teodora snapped. "Those damned glasses of yours don't hide anything."

"So tell me."

"There's nothing to tell-"

"I saw you in the churchyard," Heisenberg cut in, waving a hand. "Against Dimitrescu. You would have killed yourself rather than run from her. You would have let her devour you. What was it, then? Someone you know got killed by a lycan in the night? Did the hungry demons come for you, and that time, there was no salvation?"

Her head was bent over the knife. She held it in a trembling grip. "You would never understand, O Lord Heisenberg," she said. "How many times did you unleash your lycans on an innocent? How many times did you order them to descend to teach someone a lesson? To entertain yourself? On a mere whim?"

"Lots of times, Teo. We're not talking about me, here-"

"Oh, when are we not?" Teodora snapped, jerking her head up. "And don't call me that."

"Teo? Why not?"

"I am not discussing this-"

"Worried you might start to like me?"

"Definitely not," Teodora said with a snort. She pointed at him with the knife. "Don't think I haven't noticed your little problem. Metal doesn't obey you like it should, does it? Not anymore. You know what I think? I think you've lost it. I think when the Black God died in flames so did your power. And without it, what does that make you?"

Heisenberg laughed, throwing his head back. "You really are a total moron," he managed, between laughs.

"Better that than a broken-down fool dreaming of cruelty-"

"Stop."

Rose's voice cut between them. She was awake, sitting bolt upright. She grabbed Heisenberg's wrist. Her eyes were huge, shining, pupils blown so they seemed like endless black wells in her face.

"They're coming," she hissed.

A howl filled the night- distant, but still too close by far. Lycans only howled like that when they scented prey. In seconds, Heisenberg was on his feet, hammer in his hands. Rose huddled behind him, holding onto the belt loops of his trench coat.

Teodora swung into a crouch with rifle at the ready.

"Where are they?" she said.

"All around." Rose's eyes darted. Trees thrashed; weight beat against the snow. "Everywhere- they're riled up- hungry- they found a new alpha, a better one-"

A stream of gravel skittered from a boulder above.

Teodora whirled and fired; the flash struck a flare of green off the lycan's eyes. Blood burst, raining down in a spatter of dark fluid, and the creature jerked back, vanishing from sight.

Another snarl; another gunshot. This time the muzzle flash illuminated the trees ahead, pinpoints of green fire, bared teeth dripping with saliva. Matted hair, corded muscle, the rags of what had once been clothing, makeshift weapons made from farm tools and animal bones. A third shot. A fourth.

A lycan lunged for Rose; she screamed, the sound muffled by the wet crack of crushed bones. Heisenberg lifted the dripping hammer, bits of brain-matter raining to the snow. The next two lycans backed off, yelping, but behind them were more. More. The trees coursed with movement. These woods were crawling with them.

"Shouldn't have yelled at me like that, sweetheart!" Heisenberg called as he smacked another Lycan aside, a backhand blow that sent it tumbling downslope. Judging by its screeches and yowls, it caught every sharp rock along the way. "You really got these guys going!"

"I fucking hate you!" Teodora roared.

Her next gunshot burst a lycan's skull like a sledgehammer against a melon. In the shot's echoes rose another howl, a different howl. A lycan's howl, but magnified and reverberating, made as if by twin throats working in tandem.

"What is that?" Teodora's face was blanched. She fired off another shot, but Heisenberg didn't miss how her finger shook on the trigger. "Heisenberg?"

"Hell if I know! We need to get the fuck-" A lycan snapped for his face. He smashed the aft end of his hammer into its teeth, then followed up with a solid punch to the throat, sending the monster flying. "-out of here!"

"I- I know a place-"

"Then let's motor!"

She swung round, sending another bullet into the throng of lycans, then sprang for Heisenberg. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled, over the rocks, downslope, half-falling, half-sprinting, pelting down the pitch-black mountainside. Rose's hand was clenched in his; he gathered her up, where she clung, arms around his neck, face pressed to his shoulder.

The lycans tore after them. They were shapes in the dark, darting in and out of Heisenberg's vision. Claws slashed for him. He brought his hammer down in a broad three-sixty arc, holding the lycans at bay for a few precious seconds.

"This way!" Teodora's voice in the dark. The thunder of water grew louder. Mist gusted beyond the trees. They plunged at full tilt from the forest and onto a riverbank. The river raged beyond, a span of black water and whitecaps, churned to froth around jagged rocks that thrust from its surface like teeth.

Behind them echoed that double-throated howl again. Something huge crashed through the trees, and Heisenberg heard the screech of claws in wood.

"We need to get across." Teodora flung an arm toward the far side of the river. "We can ford it here! See the statue?"

On the far bank, barely visible in the snowfall, was another saint's statue. A long, ragged piece of red fabric flapped from its upraised arm.

Heisenberg didn't wait around. He hoisted Rose higher on his shoulder and plunged into the river. The water burned like torched gasoline, sucking all feeling from his skin. He shoved ahead, his next step sending the water to his knees; currents pushed at him, threatening to send both him and Rose under.

He hazarded a glance back. Teodora balanced atop a rock at the riverbank, taking shots at the mass of lycans.

"Come on!" Heisenberg yelled.

"Go!" she yelled back.

"We are not doing this again! I'm-"

His next words crumbled. Trees shook; something was coming. Something huge. The muzzle-flash glistened off matted black fur, a mane of whipping Cadou tentacles, knots of warped, corded muscle. Wood cracked and groaned, entire trees shoved aside, lycans scattering as the beast emerged onto the riverbank.

"Hah!" Heisenberg said. "Fuck!"

Not just a lycan. Heisenberg thought of the varcolac, ancient beast, a lycan grown so huge it was more wolf than human, but that wasn't right. This thing was twice the size of any varcolac he'd seen, loping along on its three sets of knuckles. Bones jutted at wrong angles, its gait rolling and arrhythmic. It was as if vast hands had molded two lycans into one, flesh stretched and twisted like molten metal in a forge, twin ribcages growing nested, a mass of mold pulsating in their center where a heart should be.

One head snapped and slavered, milky white eyes fixed on nothing. A second head sprouted from the side of its neck. Its eyes glimmered green. That one could see. It fixed its gaze on Teodora, firing wildly from her rocky perch, and drew massive teeth apart-

"Teo," it wailed. "Te-ohhh."

It began to laugh. A high-pitched, screeching giggle. The dominant head rumbled a roar, the two sounds rolling into chorus, a mewl of pure, ravenous hunger.

That got Teodora. She whirled and leaped from the rock, landing in the river. She sloshed toward Heisenberg.

"Decided to listen?" he panted.

She didn't speak. Maybe she couldn't. She tugged him behind her with one hand. Huge footfalls slammed the riverbank.

"Kid," Heisenberg urged Rose. "I could really use some juice about now."

Power crackled down his nerves in answer. He clenched his hand, then splayed it, and his hammer split apart. Bits of metal whirled in midair, pressing together again into a long, jagged javelin of scrap.

Heisenberg twisted round, heaving his arm forward. The makeshift spear shot toward the creature and through its neck. It burst from the back of the smaller head in an eruption of mold and blood, impaling deep into a tree.

Its manic laughter cut off. Heisenberg bent his arm, teeth grit; the close end of the spear bent upward with a screech. The lycan slammed against it, metal digging into its flesh. Clawed hands tore at the hook, to no avail. As long as the sharp end was stuck in the tree, the thing was trapped.

It'd free itself before long, and the lycans were still coming. Heisenberg grabbed Teodora by the scruff of her coat and flung her ahead, toward the far side of the river.

They stumbled together onto the bank and hurtled upslope, past the warding saint, into the trees. A small path twisted underfoot, a path Teodora fell onto like she knew it by heart. The trees fell away, and ahead, in an overgrown clearing, rose the black, decaying hulk of an old house.

"In here." Teodora's voice sounded strangled and high, almost childlike.

They ducked under the remnants of its doorway; char crumbled under Heisenberg's hand as he pulled himself inside. Wet, dripping, icicles hanging like teeth from blackened beams. An old cast-iron stove. A rotted rug.

Teodora kicked it aside; beneath was a trap-door. She grabbed for the metal ring set into the boards, but Heisenberg seized it first with his power and flung the door open.

He shoved Teodora through. She plummeted into the darkness. He scrambled in after her, pulling the trapdoor down over his head. Multiple bolts studded its underside. He slammed them all home. Seconds later, claws screeched and scrabbled against the reinforced wood.

Heisenberg dropped the rest of the way down and onto a packed earthen floor. The darkness was absolute, thick as tar. He found a match and struck it. In its shivering light he saw they were in a cellar, its walls banded with strips of iron, its ceiling set with a grid of bars. He couldn't shake the impression of being inside a huge cage.

Rose's arms tightened around his neck. Vast bellows-breaths huffed at the trap-door, two exhales in perfect unison.

"Teo," the creature coaxed, its voice made glutinous by its throat injury. Liquid spattered the boards and oozed between their gaps.

Rose pressed her finger to her lips.

"Look," she mouthed, then pointed.

Heisenberg looked. Teodora lay curled in a corner, knees to chest. She rocked back and forth, back and forth, hands pressed over her eyes. Scratches cross-hatched the wall in front of her, carved deep into the stone and iron. Old scratches, and old bloodstains, too. They had dried in crusts down the bars of the cage.

Overhead, lycans clawed and snarled, searching for a way in. Heisenberg crossed to Teodora in one step.

"Hey," he said. "Snap out of it. This place will hold." She didn't stop her rocking. He grabbed her by the shoulder. "I said snap out of it-"

Pressure lurched in the pit of his stomach. His Cadou writhed. Darkness crashed over him, and he fell headlong into the nightmare.

#re8 #re8 fanfiction #karl heisenberg #rosemary winters #resident evil #resident evil village #karl heisenberg x oc #chapter 6

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