#cw anglerfish

[paintingpuff]

When there's not enough official Outer Wilds merch so you make your own poster

[bigshotspambot]

Just FYI, I bit and ate violent Sneo before he could eat me.

Do whatever you want with this information.

Same energy

[blinkpen]

round the sound of your shout to the void and the smell of your blood in the water deep sea leviathan circles, swims close from the darkest scarlet place, she arrives seeking not to join the hooks sinking their fangs upon you but to lend you her wrath, her own teeth and the closest thing her impossible body has to a hand

deep in the sky is a crimson abyss so how fast can you fly fish girl

[serialmilipede]

WWX reincarnates as LWJ's son

tw grooming! inc*st, underage, sexual assault, dark!LWJ

In a universe where Wei Wuxian is never resurrected, Nie Huaisang still finds a way to expose Jin Guangyao's crimes. And with Lan Xichen in indefinite seclusion, the Lan elders force Lan Wangji to marry. There’s whispers. Fear of a sect without heirs, fear of a sect leader decaying in his own bed. 

So Lan Wangji marries a pretty disciple, only five years his junior, named Lan Meifang. On their wedding night he can’t get it up. He lies about having erectile dysfunction, but maybe in a way that’s what being a cutsleeve to the extent of being sexually repulsed by women is. They figure it out together, eventually. He needs to be totally blindfolded and at maximum arousal prior to her getting anywhere near him. It’s weird. So weird. Lan Meifang definitely knows other couples are not having sex like this. 

But it’s fine. This is a practical relationship and they both know it. All business. They just need two or three kids out of it and it can all be over. Then, the only thing worse than Wei Wuxian coming back to life happens. He reincarnates as Lan Wangji’s first son. 

In isolation none of the things that led Lan Wangji to believe his son is Wei Wuxian are particularly striking. A beauty mark on his chin. Piercing grey eyes that neither of his parents have. (Lan Meifang says her grandfather used to have them.) Laughter like a tinkling bell. Wild black hair that cannot be tamed. The way Lan Wangji’s uncle looks at him when they name the boy “Lan Ying” is so repulsed it’s almost funny. Regular, ordinary coincidences. Not to worry over. 

By ten months the boy is on his feet, waddling around yelling “Baba! Baba!”. He shows Lan Wangji everything. A ladybug he found, a leaf he thinks is interesting, a stray chive in his congee that he refuses to eat. It’s impossibly endearing and Lan Wangji becomes pliable in his little boy’s hands. Anything Lan Ying wants, Lan Ying gets. He’s the only person Lan Wangji spares a glance or smiles at. Lan Sizhui silently watches himself get sidelined in favour of the real son. Lan Wangji’s blood. 

As Lan Ying grows it becomes increasingly obvious that the closeness between them will not abate. The child really is the splitting image of Wei Wuxian, down to the way his eyelashes curl and his hair grows lighter at the edges. Although the boy is eight now Lan Wangji still lets him sit on his lap, spoon-feeds him, waits on him hand and foot, baths him. Lan Ying is a chatterbox, and cannot adhere to the prescribed Lan silence. Another coincidence. Very normal and regular. The elders worry he’ll never grow a backbone and it enrages Lan Wangji so much he blindfolds and straps himself to the bed, telling Lan Meifang not to stop until he’s cum successfully. 

It bears fruit, another boy. Lan Wangji never grows close to him. However, the plan works and the elders stop pestering Lan Wangji about Lan Ying so much. With age Lan Ying grows rowdier, more and more like Wei Ying. At the first discussion conference they take him to Jiang Wanyin freezes and has to take a double take at the new heir to the Lan sect. Briefly, Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin make eye contact. With horror, they both realise the other definitely knows. 

Of course, Lan Ying doesn’t suspect a thing and continues causing trouble, to the point that he has to be sent to his room for misbehaving and embarrassing the sect. He never attends another because the staring from the Jiang sect leader makes the entire Lan delegation uncomfortable. Lan Meifang and Lan Wangji give Lan Ying the courtesy name “Fenghong” meaning great phoenix. It is an incredibly thinly veiled reference to Lan Wangji’s belief in Wei Ying’s reincarnation. 

When he receives his blade at twelve the sword he’s given is crafted of fine silver, and engraved beautifully. Lan Wangji stops pretending to care for anyone but his child. With age the child grows… prettier. Soft, curvy features. Gorgeous eyes, pink lips and a wicked smirk. Lan Wangji never pushes him to train more than he needs to, read more than he wants. The boy spends most of his time reading pornography, which Lan Wangji happily supplies upon his son’s request. Lan Ying requests help with homework, help with folding his clothes, help with making his bed, and where anyone else tries to provide it, or scold him for being incompetent, Lan Wangji is there to guard the task of keeping his child well-kept and safe. No rules apply to Lan Ying. There’s a joke amongst the teenagers that the Lan sect would allow murder if the victim was killed by Lan Ying. 

As he enters his teenage years his father’s coddling gives way to bullying from his peers. Lan Ying is teased relentlessly for being unable to perform basic tasks, for being too pretty, “like a girl,” and for clinging to his father. His cultivation is lower than expected, especially with his parentage in mind and Lan Qiren advises his nephew to enrol his son in some kind of private training with a stronger disciple - like Lan Sizhui. Lan Wangji reassures his uncle that he’ll resolve the issue himself but Lan Ying cries so bitterly at having to train that he makes little progress. The physical inferiority of the Lan Sect’s first heir is made apparent in duels, and Lan Ying is moved down a class to avoid further humiliation. It also allows the bullies more authority over him, causing their altercations to become physical. 

When Lan Ying shows up to the Jingshi with a black eye Lan Wangji instantly abuses his position as head disciplinarian to enact revenge for his son. He prescribes one hundred lashes for each boy named, ten in total, and a year of copying the Lan Sect rules. The parents protest on the basis of unfair bias, and Lan Xichen comes out of seclusion in an attempt to desperately remedy the situation. Lan Wangji is quietly stripped of his title, and their punishments are lessened - 30 lashes each, 50 for the one who punched him. A standard month of copying the rules. 

When he passes the boys in the Cloud Recesses Hanguang-Jun seethes with barely concealed rage. Lan Xichen briefly considers addressing his brother’s possessive attitude towards his son but… feels it’s none of his business. He comments on it to Lan Meifang, but she shrugs it off as him being overly concerned. Fatherhood changes people. Lan Xichen wouldn’t know… After the incident, Lan Wangji convinces his son, makes him promise, never to keep anything from him ever again. Lan Ying can and must tell his father everything. 

So he does. Bullying, studying, his thoughts and feelings, crushes. Lan Wangji does a double take when Lan Ying brings up a girl he thinks is cute. He has her carefully removed from the cultivation pathway and transferred to a medical one. 

The same year Lan Wangji leaves the Cloud Recesses to attend an annual discussion conference. While there, a servant informs him that Lan Ying is unwell. Rather than enquire further about the severity of the illness Lan Wangji rushes back. He snatches his son from his mother’s quarters, where the boy is resting, and takes him back to the Jingshi. Laying him on his bed, Lan Wangji takes his temperature, brings him cold towels, feeds him, brings him medicine from the physicians, circulates spiritual energy through his body, and sleeps on the floor next to him until the boy is well again. He refuses to return to the conference, leave Lan Ying’s bedside, or let anyone see Lan Ying. 

Perhaps Lan Wangji is becoming delusional but Lan Ying’s spiritual energy mixing with his feels so right, it feels… like Wei Ying. Lan Wangji tries to swallow the thought. If this is Wei Ying’s reincarnation… he deserves as cushy and pampered a life as possible. As long as Lan Wangji doesn’t reveal his suspicions he can give Wei Ying the life he should have had the first time. (Privately, the physicians inform Lan Xichen it was nothing but a mild cold. Lan Wangji’s constant pampering is likely contributing to the severity of his fever, as Lan Ying’s immune system is poorly adjusted and kept weak). 

The next year, Lan Ying somehow gets sick again, this time when Lan Wangji is at attendance for a meeting about the Lotus Pier rebuilding effort. Despite being almost fully finished, the Sect is requesting material aid for some of the more symbolic or sentimental parts that were left unbuilt until stability was achieved. Wangji is supposed to survey the necessity of these areas, and whether or not the Lan Sect can provide sufficient materials. 

Lan Qiren orders servants not to inform any of the delegation in Lotus Pier of Lan Ying’s condition. Of course, he still gets well. It starts to look like the incident will blow over. A lie of omission, yes, but it’s very important that Lan Wangji doesn’t sabotage relations between the Lan and Jiang sect by prioritising his son’s mild case of illness. 

But of course… Lan Ying tells him. He promised his baba, and he won’t break it! Unable to take revenge for this lie, Lan Wangji silently rages. There’s a noticeable shift in how he regards the other members of his Sect. When the next conference comes around there is a great conundrum as the Lan Sect heir reappears in the public eye. 

The hair on everyone’s necks stands on end as a young boy, fifteen at most, skips into the hall in front of Lan Wangji, whistling and twirling his ponytail. Rumours begin to spread that a soul summoning ritual must have been performed. Something is not right - there’s no way the Lan heir and Wei Wuxian are coincidentally that similar! Lan Qiren almost spits blood at this new, frightening potential for diplomatic incident. He looks more and more like Wei Ying and it’s driving everyone, most of all his own father, entirely mad!

Lan Ying’s first night hunt without Lan Wangji is where it all goes wrong. Despite lagging behind his peers in his studies, at an entry level at sixteen, Lan Wangji insists the boy can manage. Lan Sizhui is leading. He has grown into an outstanding member of the sect, well on his way to either ascension or starting his own sect. Knowing Hanguang-Jun’s… close relationship with his son, Lan Sizhui pays careful attention to ensure his safety, but Lan Ying is simply too far behind for the task. 

He gets slashed across the thighs by a monster, and has to be carried back to the Cloud Recesses on a stretcher made of Lan Sizhui’s own robes, moaning and groaning desperately, crying out for his baba. As expected, Hanguang-Jun is absolutely hysterical. No one, not even Lan Ying’s bullies, have ever seen him look so terrifying. He stays by Lan Ying’s bedside looking positively manic as the physicians make light work of the wounds. After his wounds are tended to, Lan Wangji once again whisks Lan Ying away to the Jingshi and nurses him back to health. 

When the injury heals, Lan Ying stays. A second bed is installed, in the same room as Lan Wangji’s. Life goes on as normal. Except it doesn’t. It becomes impossible to suppress Lan Wangji’s notice of the similarities between Lan and Wei Ying. Having him in his room becomes hard to bear, but Lan Wangji refuses to let anyone else have him. On the nights Lan Ying crawls into his father’s bed with him Lan Wangji can only close his eyes with a grimace and try to still his stuttering heart. 

Lan Wangji becomes increasingly reclusive. Lan Ying frequently calls in sick to class. He doesn’t attend more often than he does. Instead, he spends his days lounging around the Jingshi, waiting for his dad to come home so he can talk to him about what he’s reading, painting, or thinking about in the hours he’s not with him. They hone their boardgames skills, and practise calligraphy together, Lan Ying perched in Lan Wangji’s lap as the elder’s hand guides his through strokes. Lan Wangji teaches the boy to brew the perfect teas, cook congee, clean different stubborn materials, plant flowers. He takes him to the field of bunnies often and Lan Ying likes that most of all. 

Lan Ying grows paler and prettier. More spindly with his lack of exercise. On days where he doesn’t leave the Jingshi he wears only his inner robe, scampering around scantily. It makes Lan Wangji wonder… growing into a young man, especially one so sickly, can’t be easy. Lan Wangji remembers it being impossibly difficult, and he was one of the strongest of his generation. While Lan Ying would definitely win in a looks competition, he had little stimulation outside of their walks in the evening, or visits to the library or rabbits. Once or twice a week, class time, but Lan Wangji knew he hated that. 

They eat dinner with the rest of the Sect, but all other meals are served directly to the Jingshi. Lan Meifang visits the Jingshi every few weeks, but she’s busy bringing up her other two children (who she slept with for the third one Lan Wangji may never know. He doesn’t really care). The whispers of townspeople insist that they’re far more confident than the sickly first master Lan. 

Lan Wangji frets over everything to do with his son. His eating, sleeping, drinking, feelings. As he nears seventeen Lan Wangji frets for Lan Ying’s sexual health, as he remembers this being around the time his own sexuality developed. It starts innocently enough. They already tell each other everything, so Lan Wangji asks him simple questions about his interests. Boys or girls. Has he kissed anyone? Read porn? Touched himself. Lan Ying answers truthfully. Lan Wangji asks him if he’s touched himself in this room and gets so worked up by the embarrassed “yes” that not even the cold pond can calm his hard on. 

He jerks off on the bank before curling up in the water in shame. A brief scream under the water relieves him of any guilt. Something’s wrong with him, he feels like he’s going crazy. Why is his own son so… seductive?! His son… who is the reincarnation of the only man you’ve ever loved, his brain supplies helpfully. Lan Wangji groans into his hands. 

For his seventeenth birthday Lan Wangji takes Lan Ying to the market in Caiyi, where he selects a wooden dizi and a new set of grey robes for purchase. They eat rich food, and Lan Ying drinks wine. Late at night, Lan Wangji inconspicuously walks through the wards of the Cloud Recesses, carrying a (deniably) intoxicated Lan Ying back to the Jingshi. Lan Wangji slips three porn novels into the pile of new purchases. Dutifully, Lan Ying practises the dizi every day and Lan Wangji thrills at the nightly sessions where Lan Ying shows off what he’s learnt. It suits him so well. 

Lan Wangji also notices the spring books moving around shelf. Rearranged. Unmoved if you don’t look close enough, but it’s clear Lan Ying has been making… use of them. It makes Lan Wangji glad. He secretly jerks off in the bath tub. Life continues at this weird, jagged pace. 

Lan Xichen asks his brother if it is perhaps time for Lan Ying to rejoin his classmates in the dorms, but Lan Wangji insists the boy is far too unwell, and traumatised by his experience to reintegrate into cultivation like normal boys. After a brief, lying-by-omission style conversation with Lan Ying, the mantle of Sect Leader is finally given to his younger brother. The boy is ten by now, and a strong cultivator for his age. Ripe for the position, and malleable. Now Lan Wangji… truly has his Lan Ying all to himself. 

A few weeks later he finds Lan Ying masturbating. It’s an accident. He’s relieved of his duties around lunchtime as he finds himself without his advanced class, comprised of three students who are taking their guqin cultivation further, due to a small flu going around. Giddy, he almost skips back to the Jingshi. Any excuse to spend more time with his son is a plus. Not thinking to knock (they never do), he enters the room and locks eyes with Lan Ying, sitting on Lan Wangji’s bed with his hand round his dick and Lan Wangji’s pillow hugged to his chest. They freeze. 

One… two… three seconds. Lan Ying frantically springs into action, roughly pulling his pants back up and apologising profusely, but Lan Wangji raises a hand to stop him. He shuts the door. Locks it. Turns and approaches the bed. The mattress dips as he sits next to Lan Ying. It’s silent for a few moments more. 

“Why were you holding my pillow?” he asks, finally. Lan Ying turns even redder, almost purple.

“It’s… easier with your uh. Smell,” he says, covering his face with his hands. “I’m sorry Ba…” 

Lan Wangji shushes him gently, before patting his lap. 

“Sit,” Lan Wangji instructs. Lan Ying hesitates, but obeys. “Good boy.” 

Gently, Lan Wangji peels the boys pants down. Lan Ying inhales sharply. He’s only half hard now, but Lan Wangji remedies this with a few pumps - gently down, twisting on the upstroke. Lan Ying whimpers pitifully, melting into the touch.

“Here,” Lan Wangji says, tapping Lan Ying’s chin until the boy’s nose is settled in the crook of his father’s neck. “For the smell.” 

“Baba,” Lan Ying whines, writhing. 

Lan Wangji continues stroking his dick and Lan Ying’s breathing becomes increasingly erratic. He presses his face into his dad’s collarbones and neck and begins messily suckling at it. Drool spills from the sides of his mouth and his leg muscles twitch, backside pressing against Lan Wangji's hardening dick. Lan Ying cums with a soft cry, muffled in Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Silently, Lan Wangji cleans the boy up, putting his clothes in a separate bucket to be washed by Lan Wangji’s hands. No one can know Lan Ying like he does. 

After that it becomes horribly easier. Lan Ying doesn’t attend class. Lan Wangji says he’s sick. He makes Lan Ying promise not to tell anyone. Everything they do together is so Lan Ying can learn how to please his future partners. It’s all in the interest of education. Every night he touches him. When Lan Ying offers to reciprocate he’s tragically bad at it. He cries when Lan Wangji suggests he finish himself off, so the boy ends up kneeling on the floor with his mouth open while Lan Wangji jerks off into it. 

It escalates. Of course it does. They make rapid progress. Lan Wangji teaches Lan Ying how to use his mouth, his thighs, his feet, his hands, his ass. He gets to share everything, all these special things with his beautiful boy… they still eat meals with the rest of the Sect. It’s weird for everyone else but the two of them are only too content with each other’s presence. Lan Ying clings to his father like some kind of concubine. The righteous Hanguang-Jun hand-feeds him, and Lan Ying nuzzles his neck contentedly. He even stays in the room while his father makes brief conversation during the tea break between senior sect members, after the disciples have finished.

There’s a new joke going around. About Lan er-gongzi’s second wife. It’s vulgar, and Lan Qiren makes efforts to silence the whispers but Lan Wangji can’t find it in himself to get defensive. That would mean denying what he has with A-Ying… and he realises, with a strange mix of giddiness and horror, that he doesn’t want to hide it, deny that he loves his Lan Ying, his Wei Ying, more than anyone. Not even blood can keep them from each other. 

[interstella-eyes]

✦ Happy Halloween! 🎃 here’s another horror art piece for the occasion :3

CW: Gore and body horror! (Full uncensored artwork under the cut!)

My past week was pretty busy with irl stuff, so I couldn’t draw for a while :( so I decided to post this older piece

This one features Nathan again, but this time during instead of after he is going feral. This process is extremely painful and involuntary, and in this feral state, he has zero control over himself and becomes a serious threat to himself and others. I based his feral form on an anglerfish as a reference to the way he lures people in with false promises for his own benefits.

[granny-griffin]

🏏

(That's a cricket bat because for some reason on my phone I could find neither an Actual Animal Bat nor a baseball bat. my phone emojis are lacking apparently)

favorite spooky animal?

anglerfish my beloved

from this ask game

[heartless-aro]

Reasons why anglerfish are aro culture #63,360

That’s right y’all. It’s time for my regularly scheduled “anglerfish are aro culture” propaganda. Many species of deep sea anglerfish engage in a mode of reproduction called “sexual parasitism,” wherein the male anglerfish permanently fuses its body to the female anglerfish and becomes reliant on the female for its nutrients, much like a developing fetus in the womb.

In species where the reproductive process DOESNT involve permanent fusion and instead involves external fertilization, the male anglerfish leaves afterwards to find another mate bc he’s not looking for love. he’s looking to 🔥FUCK🔥.

What this means is that:

1. if you see an anglerfish that isn’t fused to the body of another anglerfish, then that bitch is probably 🔥SINGLE🔥

2. If you see two anglerfish that ARE fused together, it isn’t because they ✨fell in love✨. It’s because they’re 🔥FUCKING🔥.

So in conclusion, anglerfish are either SINGLE or they’re together for SEX. The only logical explanation for this is that anglerfish are ARO AF 🏹. thank you for coming to my TED talk

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

setrákus is interesting because he is just 'what self-harming to process trauma, unchecked rumination spirals, and the cycle of gaslighting and systemic/ideological violence does to a mfer': the character

[bison2winquote]

- Gigi, Merfight  (Mattrified Games)

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Shark Baited Ooh La La! Pt. 2

Yandere Goblin Shark Merman x Purple Firefish Merman Reader (CW: Kidnapping, blood, pain, peril, sharkman yandere, mermen, merfolk, anglerfish merfolk that try to kill the reader, minor character death, their living privileges are revoked most thoroughly, thalassophobia, a horrible title with a very forced pun for which I refuse to apologize) Word count: 1k (Sorry this took 11 months for me to start. No smut here, but I think if you read both parts together they fit nicely. Happy mermay!!) First part can be found here: Shark Baited Ooh La La! Pt. 1 

It was easy to make the decision that you should try to make a break for it, there was nothing he could do to you if you were caught that he hadn’t already done and even a small possibility of making it home was worth it. You held your breath as you carefully extricated yourself from Damian’s sleep-loosened grasp, you had enough wits about you to grab a sharp looking dagger Damian had hanging on the wall, and then quickly made your exit out of the sea cave that he called his home.

Wasting no time you swam with all the urgency that your exhausted and aching body could muster. You remembered the general direction and swam and swam and swam.

But once the sea cave was behind you you were left in the cold embrace of open ocean. Your whole life was spent inside the city and reef you had called home, over time the natural homing instincts of your kind had been almost completely lost and you were no exception.

While you were indeed heading in the correct general direction that wasn’t enough as just being a bit off would end with you not being able to find your way home. Inevitably you veered just a bit and found yourself completely lost, though you didn’t realize it yet.

Only when you felt that you had swam for hours did you finally realize that you should have already arrived back to the safety of your home.

Now you were panicking, this was not a place for you. This was not a good place for anyone except the mightiest predators of the ocean. And you were vulnerable. You were tired from your previous struggles trying to escape Damian after he tied you up, you were battered, bruised, and sore from the rough fucking he had imposed on you, you were tired from your hours long swim in search of home, and to top it all off you were weighed down by being full of Damian’s eggs.

You could practically hear your heartbeat, sure that at any moment something or someone would emerge from the endless blue surrounding you and make a meal of you. Your hand shook as you gripped the dagger you stole tightly. 

In your fear you desperately searched aimlessly for any sign of your beloved reef. But it was simply no use. You were on the verge of tears, but then things got even worse…

Suddenly you were swept up in a powerful current! Had you been at full strength you almost certainly could have been able to power through it and remove yourself, but in your current state there was just nothing for it. You were swept deeper and even farther away from your goal. You were unable to even maintain a grip on your weapon as it drifted uselessly below. 

You were only swept up in the current for several minutes but it felt like hours, when you were finally released you found yourself a decent distance above a large and sinister looking trench. The cold caused you to shiver, you were not used to the cold water that occurred at this depth.

Out of the trench you saw three orbs of light shortly followed by the dimly illuminated forms of three thin merfolk of some kind, too far away to really make them out. You immediately dashed away as best you could but your own bioluminescence gave you away and made for an easy hunt.

It didn’t help that the current had beaten most of your remaining energy out of you.

They easily began catching up to you and you could soon see that these were anglerfish merfolk, if the sickly green glow of their lures didn’t give them away then the wide empty eyes and the wide gaping maws and lolling tongues certainly did.

"Please! Please leave me alone!" You sobbed desperately.

As they steadily pursued you and came ever closer they finally entered striking distance. They lunged. 

You spun around sharply, smacking one away with your tail with strength you didn't know you had while dodging another. But a few lucky strikes couldn't save you from a small pack of skilled predators. 

The third one managed to catch your arm and bit down on your hand causing you to shriek in pain. Red flowed from your arm behind you as you managed to shake your assailant loose. You swam as fast as you could but you didn't make it far before you were pulled back by the sharp clawed hands of these angler folk. 

"NO NO NO NOOO!" You screamed, hurting your throat, as you felt teeth sink into your tail.

Suddenly the pressure of the bite stopped as the anglers that had their hands on you were pulled swiftly backwards. Confused, you looked up to see your hero, Damian, as he crushed the throat of one of the anglers and viciously bit into another until it stopped moving.

The final one came at him and grabbed it and easily snapped its neck.

Now that all three had been deaded most thoroughly Damian swam over to you where you were struggling to keep yourself in place in the water.

"Fucking dumbass! What were you thinking!? That you could just run off? Think I couldn’t follow your scent?"

Despite his harsh words he gently picked you up and held you close. 

"When I woke up without you in my arms I was so fucking pissed! But... looks like you learned your lesson so... I won't be hard on you..." He kissed your head and started swimming back to his nest. He wanted your wounds dressed as soon as possible and then he wanted to hold and kiss you as you slept in his arms.

"Your wounds don't look life threatening but I still need to treat em'. Okay babe?" 

You responded only with a soft sniffling whimper and by burying your head in his neck. You were bruised, bleeding, and fatigued. You just wanted to be home, and you supposed that meant Damian's den because you surely weren't ever going to attempt to escape again. 

[anglingforlevels]

Nature's Losers (Yandere Anglerfish x Reader)

CW: body horror, violence, non-graphic death depiction, reader is kinda useless in this, swearing. stalking and general creepiness, monsterfuckery, bad writing, dead dove.

Minors DNI

In nature, there’s winners and losers. Although enthusiastic biology professors throughout your school years had argued that, by virtue of surviving and continuing to survive and reproduce, there weren’t any losers among the living.

Late-night nature programs made it hard to agree, when they featured hapless creatures like the male anglerfish, doomed to fumble through the darkness through smell to find an elusive mate with the only end goal of holding onto the mate they found, ultimately, dying a parasite. Nature certainly picks losers, or so you had thought back then.

You hadn’t spared much thought for the female anglerfish in your assessment, it just seemed obvious that the loser in the equation was the male.

That day too, the day you met it.

It was a simple day by the oceanside, you were trying to enjoy a warm summer day through an increasingly harsh breeze, emphasize on trying, as the breeze seemed determined to outgrow its label of breeze to become a gust of wind, an achievement of personal growth that you were not in support of.

That’s when you spotted him. By the rocky hillside, where the rowdy waves crashed against rocks out amidst the water, before growing still and reaching its end by the hillside, but not without having splashed said hillside wet in the process. A small figure laid, collapsed, among the rocky land.

“Is that a child?!”

Panicked, you rushed out there, navigating between slippery rocks and wet sand. Your outfit clinging to your legs, which you ignored in your pursuit to reach the collapsed child. Getting closer, it didn’t seem to be a child at all.

Though, he was small. He seemed barely big enough to go to your armpit, even as his figure was fully splayed out. But he didn’t seem particularly young, or even youthful. He didn’t seem old or mature either. He just seemed odd. He felt undefined, like something that hadn’t been developed or fully rendered, with colors washed out.

Stepping closer, your heart rate spiked as you noticed the way his skin seemed too pale and paper-thin, he almost felt transparent, so much so that it felt as if a lazy sunbeam would reveal shadows of bones encased in flesh. Christ, had you found a corpse? He didn’t look bloated like a drowned corpse ordinarily would, quite the opposite but still, was this really a living person?

With his brittle and scrawny figure laid out, bruised and still upon the rocks, it really felt as if you were watching a shattered doll carefully positioned. You swallowed.

“Hey, uh, are you- are you okay?”

At this, he opened up his eyes, revealing one key characteristic of note. Big, milky-white, and slightly bulging eyes. You startled a little at the sudden intensity as he fixed you with a relentless stare, for how lifeless the rest of him had seemed, it appeared as if all life in him had been dedicated to those eyes, and yet their dedicated stare felt purposeless, as if it he saw nothing.

You quickly snapped out of it, instead shifting to relief at the fact he wasn’t dead.

“Hey, what happened?” You asked, but he simply continued staring at you, not even shifting his head, instead following your movements with his eyes exclusively. You cleared your throat before trying again with a gentler tone. “Hey, it’s okay. Can you tell me who are you?”

He repeatedly opened and closed his mouth slightly, and while you weren’t sure what that really meant – and you were increasingly unsettled by the lack of blinking – you decided to brush the growing discomfort aside. Really, given his situation, acting a little unsettling didn’t seem too unreasonable, the guy was probably in shock, so you took the fact he reacted at all, as a good sign.

You laid a hand on his shoulder, hoping it might offer some comfort, but almost retracted it per reflex at his cold, clammy skin.

“Goodness, you’re freezing.” You were about to take off your cardigan for some kind of cover, when you realized that your clothes was, of course, soaking wet and clinging to you, from the climb here. So, instead you held him, hoping your body warmth could provide anything, as you frantically fumbled with your phone to call for an ambulance. Honestly, with a temperature like this, you were surprised he wasn’t a corpse yet.

He burrowed further into your embrace, his head resting in the crook of your neck, as if desperate to get closer than what the laws of physics allowed. His breathing grew heavier, and his teeth accidentally scratched you in what you assumed was clumsily expressed distress, you couldn’t tell if the drips you felt was tears or simply ocean water. You tried to soothe him by rubbing his back as your call got through.

Sitting like this, more than anything, you had felt that nature really did pick losers, a pitiful truth.

You weren’t sure how long it took before the ambulance arrived, but the chill of his body felt as if it had seeped through you, zapping out most of your own warmth, and you were now shivering yourself as well. You were planning on going home for a warmth bath and then going to bed, since you had work in the morning, and your boss weren’t exactly lenient, so even with your spare time being spent like this, you hoped to at least be well-rested physically.

But when they tried to usher him off you to cover him in a blanket, he clung desperately onto you, nails digging into your skin. Your heart ached for him, it really did, you were sure he were feeling disorientated and scared, but it was best to leave this kind of thing in the hands of professionals, and, while you felt like a jerk for it, you still had to think about yourself and your depressingly early shift tomorrow morning, a shift you’d only survive through with the company of your friend and coworker Julia, and the upcoming weekend off.

Prying him off you was easy. Even his desperate, fumbling grasp around you didn’t amount to being much more than feathery, with even gentle prying leaving him stumbling a bit from the force. It was hard to tell if it was due to his sickly state or just general, physical weakness.

You did really hope the best for him.

“Hm?”

On your way home, as you separated from the crowd after a good ten minutes of walking, you took notice of steps behind you that echoed out with a loud, inelegant thud, thud, thud. You turned around and furrowed your brows in perplexation. The sickly complexion and the stare was undeniable – it was him.

Walking with clumsy steps, he moved forward with the blank, staring expression he had donned when you first found him as well, a poorly wrapped blanket still around him but gliding off as he continued to move forth slowly but resolutely, paying it no mind.

“Did you… Follow me?”

All the way from the oceanside? Your hands felt clammy at the thought of him following you between the crowds and many corners – it couldn’t be an accident, and in the first place, he was supposed to have been in a hospital by now, or at the very least, still inside the ambulance.

He didn’t answer, though you hadn’t expected him to, he just kept moving closer and closer. Perhaps it was his empty stare and clumsy movements, but it felt as if he moved with one singular purpose, not as in he was driven, but rather, he lacked any other intentions behind his movement than his goal.

Something deep within you seemed to come undone at that, an unsettling feeling grasping hold of you. You didn’t think he was able of hurting you, really, you were surprised he could even stand, yet goosebumps littered your skin, there was just something wrong about him.

He can’t do anything to you, it’s okay. It’s fine. You reminded yourself through a shaky breath. That’s right, you bested him physically, so, you ran. With the speed he was at right now, you could surely manage to lose him, and then that would be that.

You’d avoid this area for a while, it wasn’t like you came here a lot anyway, and that would be the last of this. It felt more like you were pleading with yourself rather than stating a fact, and you hated that sense of irrationality, after all, that was all it was.

This was creepy but not dangerous, you were sure, you had to be sure. So, you ran. You ran and didn’t stop. Not until your lungs and sides burned, and you stood before your apartment complex. Looking around, he was nowhere to be seen. Even after entering the building, which only residents could enter, and your dingy apartment, you didn’t see him from your small window.

The warm bath helped calm your nerves a bit and you went to bed, to face a new day, one devoid of him.

 

“Okay, so you think he went Wolverine on the door. Wasn’t he like, super weak?” Julia asked, as she unloaded the cargo of the day, prompting a sigh from you.

This morning, when you had woken up and left for the bus, you had noticed scratches on the door to the building, and had had a sinking feeling, but you hadn’t seen anything of him or any other sign of him. you had confided in Julia about the experience, though Julia seemed skeptical about whether the scratches even made up a sign about him having managed to find your apartment to begin with.

“I don’t know, I know it sounds stupid, but seriously, he just kept following me.” You reiterated this for what must have been the thousandth time, and judging by Julia’s expression, that estimate couldn’t be far off.

“Have you considered calling the police about stalking?”

“Well, it’s not like he’s done anything, or that I know he’s stalking me. It’s not like I saw him by my apartment to begin with.”

And stalking didn’t feel like the right word. It felt more like you were being pursued. Less thought-out and hidden, instead he seemed to be following the most direct path he could perceive towards you in the most literal way possible, and while it should feel less threatening and invasive, the simplicity and literalness of his behavior didn’t do much in the way of comfort.

Most of all, you didn’t feel like it warranted a call to the police, especially with a pursuer this ineffective at pursuit. Not when you had heard stories of others reporting stalking, cases much worse and more explicit, yet getting dismissed, you were sure your case would get you laughed out of the station.

And then, a bump took them out of the conversation, and your heart dropped. At the door, he stood. Fumbling around, lightly bumping into the door in attempts to open it or bypass it. “No fucking way.”

Julia glanced at the small, scrappy guy clumsily failing to open a door, with a raised eyebrow. “And this is the guy that’s got you all worried? I mean, freaked out I get, but…”

But I doubt he could do much, even if he tried.

You looked away, frowning. Julia took notice and sighed, putting a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Hey, I’m sorry, are you okay?”

It felt unfair, but somehow you almost felt worse from her words. Julia had always lived by the idea that, even if something wasn’t necessarily real, it still felt real to the person who was upset. But you knew that this was real, this pit in your stomach, it wasn’t for nothing, it wasn’t just nerves, you just couldn’t… explain it.

Julia understood it was terrifying to see someone possibly following you, and even though the store was public, she understood it being scary to see him here all of a sudden, without knowing if it was a coincident or on purpose, but for you, it was more than that, but you couldn’t put it into words. You didn’t understand it. The frustrating acid of “it’s real for you” poisoned Julia’s good intentions, but you swallowed the bitterness, and smiled a forced smile.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s… it’s fine.”

Julia shook her head. “It’s not. You don’t feel safe, and that’s not okay. Listen, we’ll be going on our weekend camping trip tomorrow, and there’s no way that the guy who can’t figure out doors, can find you out there, so… Stay at my place tonight, then we’ll go camping, and we’ll figure this out, alright?”

She squeezed your shoulder reassuringly, and you felt a pang of guilt. God, you were such an asshole. You nodded, but your eyes were still fixed on him, luckily no one had gone through the door, thus giving him access, because you needed this job, you couldn’t afford any more late rent and your boss was an asshole, so bailing wasn’t an option but if he got into the store, you’d… Fuck, you wished you could barricade the doors.

Then suddenly he stopped his fruitless attempts, maybe even he had a limit wherein he recognized something to be futile. His vacant eyes shot up and stared directly at you. And he simply stood like that, absentmindedly clenching his jaw as if chewing. Your heart pounded against your chest, it felt almost painful as if you felt an actual recoil from its force, but you couldn’t focus on that when the world seemed to blur together around you, leaving only his eyes, pooling in all light despite their own pale shine.

Julia glanced at you, worry barely hidden on her face, before clapping her hands resolutely. “That’s it – By now, even our boss will accept us having called the cops on this guy for being a public nuisance. Or, if nothing else, he’ll agree that the guy is definitely scaring customers away, what with the blocking of the door and general creepiness.” Julia said, though you suspected she’d be scolded for it regardless, and you knew that she knew that too.

He had begun to lean against the door. Man, you couldn’t wait for camping trip…

 

Even when time seems to stand still, eventually it caves in, making way for the approaching future, settling into the current present, which was, unfortunately, you sweating profusely as you fought to set up a tent, but even the frustrating battle of tents could not deter your relief and joy at finally having arrived at the weekend, and more importantly, the camping trip.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to bend that way.” Julia commented. You rolled your eyes at it.

“A lot of words coming from the person not helping me set it up.”

“Hey, you oh so cruelly banished me from helping, remember?”

“You’re just not that good at it.”

“Right, because this is the pinnacle of putting up tents. I salute your hard work.”

Julia’s unhelpful commentary aside, you were almost done, you just needed to focus. As if that was a cue, your focus was shattered by something rushing through a bush, and instinctively let go of the tent, as you tensed up.

And then a rabbit jumped out, making its escape from the loud sound of tent gear clattering. The world felt woozy for a moment as you collected yourself, breathlessly laughing. The tension still lingered in the air, but Julia made quick work of it.

“I gotta say, I think I’m a little better at putting up tents than that.” She said, gesturing to the pile of now fully undone work. The tension dissolved and the nervous laughter turned sincere. Julia was, benevolently, allowed to assist with setting up the tent – to her great dismay – and you laughed and talked together as you set up camp.

After a job well-done, you both felt a meal was in order, so Julia found the ingredients as you collected firewood while the sun was still out. With your arms full of twigs, your attention suddenly snapped to a bush, at the sound of the leaves being rustled quite harshly. No doubt by a particularly ungraceful critter, hopefully one as cute as the rabbit.

You were about to laugh and comment on how they must be a magnet for forest animals when a small but very humanoid figure stepped forth instead.

Your blood seemed to freeze.

It wasn’t like it was impossible to follow them. With the smarts and know-how, one could find out where they were camping. And then, it was just as simple as taking an uber. Or you could simply trail Julia’s car here.

Except, the torn clothes. The scarred and bruised skin. The ruffled, dirtied look. He had not gotten here by car.   

“Fucking hell.” Julia’s whispered words said it all, fucking hell was right.

You stood frozen. Unable to tear yourself from his stare. He opened his mouth-

“Let’s go!”

It was first when Julia’s frenzied voice called out, and pulled your arm, that you began to move. Absentmindedly, you took notice of his bloody, jagged nails. It took a moment before the adrenaline kicked in, and you stopped being dragged rather than running yourself.

The car, they just had to get to the car and leave. Recoup, figure something out, cool their heads, just, they needed to get away. You practically flung the door open when the two of you reached the old car. Neither of you bothered with seatbelt before starting the car.

But all it did was cough sadly.

“Huh? It can’t have run out of gas.” Julia looked bewildered, trying to start it again, only for it not to turn on at all. “Oh – Oh. You have got to be kidding me”

“Care to clue me in?” Your voice cracked slightly, and Julia glanced at you, before composing herself, and trying to smile reassuringly, though her smile wavered.

“Well, it’s just, the battery. It’s dead. But” she hurriedly added, seeing the way your face fell at her words, “I have an extra one. Since we were going on a trip away from any kind of mechanic.”

“Right… But we didn’t park that far from the camp.” He’ll reach us before.

Julia nodded seriously. “That’s why, we’ll run. We’ll circle around, since he’s following you, if we get him far enough away, we can probably give ourselves enough time. We’ll run straightforward till we reach the cliffs, and then back.”

You didn’t like that idea very much, willingly letting yourself be chased and running around in the forest when dusk was approaching, neither felt appealing. But they didn’t have a lot of options.

“Since I’m the one he’s following, why don’t I do that while you change the battery?”

“And leave you to run around alone with a freak after you? No way. ‘sides, I wouldn’t freeze up in a fight.” Julia said, her smile no longer wavering. You weren’t sure if there was enough words to fully show your appreciation for Julia, warmth pooling in your stomach, despite everything, it felt a little more okay with Julia by your side.

So, the two of you got out of the car, and waited anxiously for the sound of him approaching. Neither of you had talked about how he had gotten here, or known where to find you, perhaps none of you wanted to breach the topic.

Finally, you heard footsteps. And you sprinted. Then after a while, you’d wait for him to get closer. Then sprint again. On repeat. The darkness was rapidly increasing, forcing you to lower your speed, lest you injure yourself, and with the night animals awakening, it was both harder to hear and see him approaching.

“Just a little more, alright?” Julia said, between heavy breaths. The small sound of bells from her necklace and the way she held your hand, was a comforting reminder of her presence, amidst the darkness of the forest, each dancing shadow and crunching leaf reminding you that, hidden somewhere, was he. “Waves, listen, thank god, waves.”

Just as Julia had said, when you strained your ears, you heard the waves crashing into the cliffside. On burning, wobbly legs, you reached your destination, the trees giving way for the cliff edge.

“We probably don’t need to wait for him to be within hearable range, this time. Let’s just make our way ba-“

Crack.

Out he stepped. Only meters away. He lifted his hand up, as if reaching out to you already. You needed to move but only your beating heart seemed to get the memo. Then Julia flashed by, lunging at him.

Watching them both fall to the ground; it was a reminder. No matter how creepy he was, no matter how relentless – he was basically a stack of cards waiting to be knocked down by the wind. But you couldn’t help but feel like there were something more to it, a danger lurking within him.

Even as he was wrestled to the ground, his eyes stayed on you.

“Ouch!” Julia yelped, accidentally letting go of him, clutching her hand. “He bit me. it’s- it’s fine.”

You had seen the red liquid running between her fingers, even though she tried to hide it. It wasn’t fine. He, in the moment of being released, got up and returned to his goal of reaching you. Julia grabbed onto his ankle, forcing him down once more. You noticed that she used only one hand, the other curled up against her chest still.

He kicked his legs while continuing to attempt to crawl closer, somehow not paying attention to Julia beyond “hindered movements”, he seemed to just keep going despite his severe weakness. His kicks were weak but even so, a kick to the face was still unpleasant, enough so that he managed to squirm out of her hold to stand up.

But the sight of Julia’s pained expression, her hand bleeding profusely – you felt angry. Far angrier than the fear that gnawed at your core. Your hand searched for something, landing on a branch, and you jumped forth, hitting him.

You hadn’t expected him to be this frail and light, that it would practically send him flying, edging closer to the edge of the cliff. He stumbled around, the stones beneath his feet too loose for him to regain balance. He grasped blindly out for something to support him, as his body threatened to take a plunge down the cliffside.

His hand reached Julia’s necklace, as she was still laid on the ground. Before she could swat his hands away or do anything – a force stronger than either of us overpowered them, gravity pulling them downwards.

Your heart sank but even moving as fast as you could, you couldn’t reach Julia in time, her strangled scream cut off by the pull of her necklace must have been cutting off her airway before the unruly water ever got a chance.

“Julia!”

It was a long fall, directly into deep water, with jagged cliffs, even so, Julia had to… she had to be… She’d be alright. She just had to be. Frantically, ignoring the growing darkness and your own exhaustion, you ran. You had to get down there, to search for Julia.

You ignored the way your legs and lungs burnt, the way you only managed shallow breaths – you needed to find Julia, to see that she was okay. You don’t know how long it took until you got down to the bottom of the cliffside, but only the bright moon served as any light by now.

Your heart sank further as you stood at the edge of the water. How were you supposed to get over there, it was so far away, it would take you an hour to swim over there when well-rested – more importantly, how was Julia supposed to ever make it back here? With an injured hand to boot.

You ran out anyway, water going up to your ribs, as you desperately called out her name. It was futile, perhaps, but you just couldn’t accept it. If you called and looked, maybe you’d find her, maybe she had managed to get closer. Even though it was an impossible hope, you continued to search.

Each stray touch of seaweed wrapping around your legs made both dread and hope to shoot up in you, only for the same hope to crash into despair once more, that it wasn’t Julia, it wasn’t her. You spent so long out there in the darkness before you finally dragged yourself back to land, and only because the already unruly water had gotten worse, threatening to pull you down, and you knew, if it knocked you down, you wouldn’t be able to get back up, not as you were now.

You sat down on the sand, with legs numb from exhaustion and the cold, and just stared into the water. If you hadn’t used that branch, then Julia would… Julia would still… Exhaustion and grief made both your mind and body feel so incredibly heavy.

Then you heard it. Something else walking out of the water, and the small metallic clang of bells. Your head shot up. “Julia?” you voice couldn’t manage more than hoarse whisper at this point. But out of the water wasn’t Julia, of course, how could it be. It would be impossible to survive falling into such deep water, even if you hadn’t hit any of the sharp edges of the cliff.

That’s why, stone-cold dread turned into lead in your stomach at the sight. From the water emerged a small, soaked figure. It was him, no, it, because no human could have survived this long underwater. It was walking with the same expression as always, eyes finding and locking onto you, and it walked, with the same stumbling ease as always. And around his fingers and hand, Julia’s necklace was entangled, the bells clinging.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t human. Whatever this was, it had dragged Julia down with it.

You had to run, even though the world was spinning from dizziness and exhaustion, you had to run. Even standing up again was a struggle. On numb legs you clumsily ran. Even putting your all into it, you and it was evenly matched in speed now.

It got closer. Each step is accompanied by wet drips and clinging bells.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

You couldn’t see the ground before you. You had run into the forest, you needed to get to the car or civilization, or anything. The trees kept out most of the moons light.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

Branches and bushes caught onto hair and clothes. Leaving stinging nicks on your skin. No matter, continue, run, run, run.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

What way was the car? How had you gotten down here to begin with? Not this way, that’s for sure. Just continue forward, no time to think.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

You felt a pull, your foot getting caught by a root. Falling to the ground, dirt and stones stuck to you. You needed to untangle yourself.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

Oh god, you needed to get free and get back up. You couldn’t see the root, so fumbling blindly in the dark, you tried to pull, pull, pull.

Drip, drip, cling, cling.

Cold, clammy hands touched you. Slowly look up from the root, it had crouched down before you. It’s eyes were the only source of light in the darkness of the forest, and you were almost mesmerized. Despite you being the only one out of breath, your jagged breaths were matched by it.

It leaned closer and you realized, the deep breaths – it was sniffing you.

It curled up against your stomach, as if settling to sleep. Was this the goal? It had gotten to you, was this it? Lie together like your first meeting? And then, searing pain shot through the exhaustion. It bit you, teeth tearing through flesh and holding on.

You felt light-headed and nauseous from the pain, or maybe the exhaustion? You couldn’t tell, growing disorientated, unable to focus on anything but the pain, so as the corners of your eyes darkened, you gave in to the numb darkness. As you fell unconscious, you thought you heard bells once more.

 

Your head hurts… That was the first sensation you noticed when you awoke.

It felt as if it was being split in two, a searing fire burning away any sense of emergence and thought, leaving you in hazy pain. Then again, your entire body felt heavy and warm in a drowsy and exhausting type of misery.

It took a moment to connect the sudden pain with anything, blinking yourself back into consciousness. You had been in cold water, maybe it was the flu? But it felt different, your head felt full but more than that, your body was too. There was a foreign sense of fullness, amid the dull, throbbing aches throughout her body, like something burrowing in between the fiery heat.

It was like a steady flow throughout your body, of something cold amidst the warmth. It felt wrong. That’s when you had half a mind to notice the most soaring pain of all was perhaps related to the weight of a very real thing, a very real presence.

On top of you, he… no, it laid, resting its head on your stomach, where it had bit you. God, it had bitten you, maybe it was an infection, no, that didn’t matter, not now.

Off, off, needed it off you.

Though the world spun around you, as dizziness clouded your mind from the simple act of lifting your arm, you managed to place your hands, your awfully clammy hands, on it, and push.

It didn’t budge, rather, the action seemed to hurt you. Like something attempting to tear your flesh off, oh god, was it still biting you? Was that why the pain felt so searing still? As your attempts to push it grew more frantic, it remained unmoved by it.

“Why, why, why the fuck won’t you- god,” tears prickled at the corner of your eyes, and the sensation seemed to bring you further into reality, the pain growing more and more real, and while you somehow had not been crying before, tears turned into full-out sobs and screams.

“You’re so weak, just, god why, why can’t I- off, off, off! I need you to-“ get off me. It had been so weak before, easily pushed and shoved. Then why, why couldn’t you make it budge now, each attempt hurting you further, at some point, you were convinced you heard the sound of flesh tearing, but you weren’t in your right mind to stop hopelessly trying through brute force.

As the pain became too much, the fight ebbed out of you, replaced by exhausted agony, moving already felt so hard, when you felt icy fire alongside the burning inside, and your skin felt… tight, as if it was housing more than it could, something prodding and poking uncomfortably at your own skin.

Had it not been because you could so clearly see the creature, you’d have frantically checked your clothes, at the feeling of intrusion, even if said intrusion seemed to be everywhere within you, all at the same time. As your fighting died out, replaced by breathless sobs, it lifted its head ever so slightly, its milky eyes finding yours, somehow, they didn’t look quite as empty now. You could have sworn the look in its eyes was joyful.

You broke eye contact because (it’s unbearable), because… Right, biting, was he still biting you? You stared blankly for a moment when you finally looked further down. You blinked. Once, twice, thrice. No, no, no, no. You hadn’t woken up yet. That’s it, this wasn’t real. Oh god, no, no, no. You blinked again, four times, five times, six times.

But the sight before you remained the same.

His lower face seemed as if melted, seeping into your skin. You couldn’t tell where his skin ended and yours began, as his face stretched out awkwardly, like melted wax, only the top retaining a semblance to his earlier appearance, though the skin around his eyes felt awfully loose, as if dragged down by the weight of… You? This?

Its nails dug into your skin, drawing blood, as its arms encircled you, and it nuzzled closer as if this proximity still wasn’t enough; more skin breaking loose and absolving before your eyes, as if watching a melting clay figure, the skin burning as it melted into yours.

Nature really did pick losers.

[blinkpen]

Okay now I really want to see Demersa's hadal Bibby form 🤣 like how JRPG final bosses used to go through normal form > monster form > vaguely abstract angelic form

I'm not sure what it Would look like, but for the funsies, I cooked these thematically similar bibbys, cooked em up digimon style, fun results but I wandered off pretty fast and didn't quite nail the actual assignment in my mind, I'll have to try again later,

[jensencart]

MerMay 2023 - Angler-fish Mermaid

Can't believe I forgot to post this one!! In addition to the Keyfish Mermaid, I drew this super creepy anglerfish mermaid :DDD (apologies to my sister lol, I've been telling her if she ever made me mad enough I'd draw something like this and sneak it as her desktop background somehow when she least suspects it XD, oh and cw thalassophobia)

Detail shots at the end because I'm pretty proud of how the transparency came out on the figure.

[griefabyss69]

Pulling

Written for @steddiemicrofic!

[ AO3 ] [ Tip / Commissions post ]

‘EDGE’ wc: 509 | rated: T | cw: Still just weed!

Here's 2/4 of Eddie's side of The Hole Story (Rated E), there will be 2 more installments <3

Steve surprises Eddie by accepting his offer.

His favorite customer shouldn't be Steve.

The guy who just last year he'd wanted to knock down ten pegs, who he would try to scare with the big bad satanic wolf routine, who he'd been so pissed off about lusting after that he didn't dare complain even about it even while three sheets to the wind in Gareth's garage after band practice.

He's just so… he's so.

God.

He'd been staring at Eddie's mouth again, encouraging the stupid habit of constantly licking his lips, getting them all chapped which is not fucking sexy, not copacetic to the whole “I’m a young adult in the big wild oyster of the world” thing…

Jesus Christmas.

Despite the massive hots he has for the guy, he really shouldn't have done the whole "Call me if you get bored" thing, transparently flirting as crystal clear as a fancy whiskey glass, or even worse, showing he cared about how his holidays went.

Just because there's something sad about him that makes Eddie want to dig in and figure him out with his teeth. Just because he has his big eyes and pouty mouth and sure hands.

Just because whenever Eddie gets a smile out of him it's like the big guy in the sky decided to come down and personally award him with an angel's blessing.

And he can admit it, he was wrong. The jock stain doesn't lacquer Steve with a sparkling clean glaze. He's all ocean surface and the deepest water; coral and anglerfish and other fucked up things all live inside of him but some of them glow in the dark to get by and he thinks that maybe Steve does too.

He's got secrets obviously, but he's maybe the most sincere person Eddie's ever met.

Still.

He doesn't expect the call.

Even after the friendly not-flirting, the little touches to his hands, the way if he looked closely he could see the way Steve's cheeks were getting pink because Eddie was playing with his lip and not because of the chill in the air.

The jury's still out on if homosexuality is one of Steve's sad little secrets, but Eddie hopes it is because he's a traitor to himself.

His voice is all tinny on the shitty old phone and it should've been unpleasant but instead there was a laser light dance party going on in Eddie's stomach.

Steve wants to hang out. No transactions involved.

"So like, yeah… If you want, I'm free?"

It sounds like more than what it is, like Steve's offering up his naked chest and asking him to feast on it.

But Eddie doesn't want to rip him open.

Instead he stares at the edges of his own life, finds places to fit him in seamlessly. Places that would change forever with Steve’s presence even if they're just going to smoke a joint and lament about how winter's so different now that they're adults.

He cracks one of those edges open, and smiles into the phone.

"Yeah, come over, I made cookies. They're even edible."

[treasure-goblin]

Cal Reacts Masterlist

-----

DUNE

Tag: #cal liveblogs dune

Dune 1

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE

Tag: #cal in night vale

Ep. 1 the first and the last, never again

TWILIGHT PRINCESS MANGA

Tag: #cal reads twilight princess

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Tag: #cal in the archives

Season 1

Ep. 1 Lawnchair Anglerfish

Ep. 2 The coffin wanted orange juice

Ep.3 Chicken Doppleganger crossed the road

Ep. 4 Spooky book with lightning smells

Ep. 5 Penguin Bin Man

Ep. 6 Tiny Tim and his exploding girlfriend (cw. Body horror)

Ep.7 Clarice, The Pie Man, and Willy, who is not better than me

Ep. 8 Handy Manny and the arsonist who was a tree

Ep. 9 We're here for the cult stuff

Ep. 10 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ep. 11 Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift

Ep. 12 TWAS I WHO SET THE HOUSE ABLAZE

Ep. 13 Nomi and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ep. 14 Hungry Hungry Hippos

Ep. 15 Pocket full of Johns (cw. Potential claustrophobia trigger)

Ep. 16 The Itzy Bitzy Spider (cw. Spiders)

Ep. 17 Jared but not the one we like (cw. Body horror)

Ep. 18 Wtf Toby

Ep. 19½ Handy Manny comes in clutch

Ep. 20 The other part, Handy Manny couldn't save him

Ep. 21 Unlicensed Chiropractor

Ep. 22 Reverse Escape Room

Ep. 23 Not the one with the Ponies

Ep. 24 Well that escalated quickly

Ep. 25 Fuck Natalie, we hate her

Ep. 26 The Wiggly Wobbly Friemd

Ep. 27 This is apparently normal Paul behavior

Ep. 28 Sarah keep your pants on

Ep. 30 I got pancake mix on my special pajamas while Davey had a mental breakdown

Ep. 31 Irresponsible pet ownership

Ep. 32 Jane talks in circles

Ep. 33 Second-hand Horror

Ep. 34 Baby Chicken Spiders <3

Ep. 35 Emo in a basement

Ep. 36 The Walls are closing in now

Ep. 37 Apparently, more than just Jon take issue with Gertrude's filing system.

Ep. 38 Married to Odysseus (Run, run as fast as you can...)

Ep. 39 Puzzle Pieces of doom falling into place

Ep. 40 Season One ending, Not-Sasha must die.

Season 2

Ep. 41 Well that was stupid

Ep. 42 Well ya shouldn't have done that

Ep. 43 I'VE CONNECTED THE DOTS /ref

Ep. 44 Gertrude reads my story this time and the circus doesn't kill anyone for once

[oppaihun]

hi bldear bestie would you be up to write some bloody Rain prompt (i might be obsessed with him)

MURDER GHOULS MURDER GHOULS MURDER GHOULS

With that in mind, CW for content under the cut: murder ghouls, mild gore and blood, predator Rain.

Rain likes to circle his way in the depths of the late. Most of its on ministry property, but there’s a good length of shoreline that runs along the city. It’s something he’s more than happy to take advantage off. His full unglamored look may or may not be leading to social media threads of some hot new cryptid in the area.

On this particular night, he’s been toying with his prey, a camper that’s closer to the ministry grounds. He’s mimicked sounds at him, both animal and their own voice. Rain’s more than enthusiastic to have the man question his own sanity as the night goes on. Adds to the taste, or at least that’s his excuse. He’s never been one to rush into his prey, more apt to bait them in and lie in wait like an anglerfish.

Whilst the hours pass, and he entertains himself with toying with the man, he slowly gets closer. Rain knows he’s got him cornered, there’s no one around to witness or ask questions. The supplies will be dealt with later, when he’s satisfied.

His head will finally break the surface of the lake after dark, skin shifting to show the bioluminescent markings in the water. He bellows like a crocodile, before ducking back into the water. Gets his prey looking one way whilst he moves in another. It’s exactly as he planned. The camper comes closer to the water via the dock. Close enough for Rain to be able to jump up from the depths and sink his claws into him. The man screams as he’s pulled down, but soon the water is muffling that.

This is when Rain works quickly, claws tearing flesh and teeth moving in quick to wrap around his throat. He shreds through the meat of his throat, larynx and jugular vein effectively killing him in one go. Once he has his prey, Rain doesn’t like to chase them anymore. He bites, tears, snaps bones, if anyone had been around to see it would be nothing but a cloud of bloody water. Nothing goes to waste, he’ll spend all night cleaning bones of any connective tissues and meat. Organs are saved as the treat at the end, he likes the liver best.

When he’s done he’ll take everything the camper brought in with them, scatter it amongst the woods until it looks as if the man’s lost his way and died trying to brave the elements. His cellphone gets tossed into the deepest part of the lake to ensure maximum damage to the device.

When he’s done, he’ll trudge back up the hill towards the Ministry. Fully sated and ready for a nap infront of a fireplace, or with one of his walking heating pads, whichever he finds first.