#tag spam ->

[buildheight]

“Right,” Gem says, keeping her voice steady like a hand of cards to her chest. “What do you know, then?”

It’s not so much a question as it is a threat, and Pix answers in kind. “I think we’re both aware of what’s going on here.” 

It’s a bluff. Gem darts her eyes back at the group in the courtyard, then to Pix again, who gives her a bemused smirk. “Okay,” she says. “Just… don’t mess this up for me.”

“I certainly have no intention of the sort,” Pix says. A cloud passes over the sun, casting a long shadow.

==

This Scott smells very distinctly like llama. It’s not an unwelcome thing. Gem observes the way he talks sweetly to his herd and moves his hands through their coats. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen another Scott act like this. His clothes are garish and, by all standards, mismatched, and his hands are stained with an ever changing array of dyes. He very calmly and confidently attaches the saddle to the llama he’s working with, and it seems soothed by his presence.

“Sorry about that,” he says with a grin that reaches his eyes. “What colors were you looking for?”

==

The rift glows ominously, and pulses with a sick purple energy. Gem can’t keep her eyes off it.

“What’d’you reckon, then?” A voice pipes up from behind her. She bristles.

“No idea,” she says, smiling, then turning around. In that order.

“Bit weird, if you ask me,” Joel says. Gem can’t help but think of a bird puffing out its feathers to seem bigger.

“I don’t know anything about magic, really,” she lies. 

Joel gives her a blank look with those familiar glass eyes. To her credit, her smile doesn’t twitch. “Right then.” He shrugs. “Not much of a conversationalist.”

==

“I’m sure there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Gem says, running her fingers through her hair, watching the way the strands catch the moonlight.

False doesn’t turn to look at her, but her movements do slow. It’s enough of an answer.

“I’m not just saying it,” Gem insists, but something in the way False reaches up to her hair to mirror Gem’s movements makes her stomach flip.

“I think I need a haircut,” False says instead, voice no louder than a whisper. 

Gem moves to close the shutters, not looking at the moon. “That would be nice,” she whispers back.

==

Gem watches as Sausage orbits around Pearl. The Hermits, to their credit, have been very accommodating. They don’t ask too many questions. The dry heat of the Nether Roof is a good excuse for why her palms are sweating.

Pix, to her chagrin, seems bemused.

“Don’t say anything,” she says, hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Pix does a convincing approximation of a cough into his hand.

Gem watches as Sausage enters course for collision. It takes her every ounce of strength to turn away when he puts his hand on Pearl’s shoulder. She catches Joel’s eye instead.

==

“He’s a bit pants, isn’t he?” Jimmy whispers loudly. Oli was too loud in his crooning to notice the crowd ignoring him.

“Yeah,” she admits.

“I think it’s nice,” the Old Sheriff says. “He’s trying to recapture his glory years. Good reminder to us all that the past is left dead.” He spits a glob of something mysteriously dusty onto the floor.

“That’s nice?” Jimmy scoffs.

“You’ll get it one day, buddy,” Joel says, and pats Jimmy on the back.

“Darn tootin’,” the Old Sheriff agrees.

Gem feels the words stick in her throat. Someone throws a rock at Oli.

==

“I’m not sure I need something super new,” Katherine says, holding up two nearly identical pink dresses in the mirror. One is a bit shorter than the other, but they’re both lavishly embellished. It’s like playing dress-up. Spending time with Katherine is easy, if nothing else. She’s so very… Katherine. Watching her flutter around the room is a good comfortable feeling. “What do you think?”

“Left one?” Gem offers. “I like the matte fabric.”

“I’m going with this one. I like the shiny silk.”

“Good choice,” Gem says. “Go with what your heart says.”

Katherine laughs, and Gem laughs, too.

==

“Have you known?” Sausage says one night, sitting up on the roof of his tavern, watching the stars. “This whole time?”

Gem doesn’t answer right away. The cool night air feels so good on her face. There’s no need to say out loud what Sausage already knows.

“I just have one question,” he says next. It’s so quiet, so honest. Gem can hardly match the Sausage she knew with the one sitting next to her. “Why leave me there?”

It’s a question Gem has answered to herself a million times over in the mirror. Tonight she confesses. “I was scared.”

==

By the time Gem packs her bags, Pix and Joel have already gone.

“It’s just time,” she says to herself. She’s not sure who she’s justifying herself to. Sausage seems perfectly content to let her go. There’s nothing keeping her here. 

The flight to the Rift is shorter than she anticipated. The sun setting over the Great Bridge casts a long shadow over the land, and she watches as lights flicker on in homes dotted across the valley. The corpse of Grumbot is the only thing left to wave her goodbye.

Perhaps, she thinks, people don’t need the past anymore.

[bigskycastle]

the old cistern beneath the flood control system

[thefangirl-16-blog]

WHO WILL WIN

[silkysousaphone]

Just got some glass pebbles for stainglass making and they're so cute I just had to make them into stickers!

Free to use without credit, but please credit if you repost :3

Finished piece /Part one / Part two

[sextuspompey]

city new new new city

[scorbunny]

matthew lillard doing the iconic ghostface knife wipe like that HAD to be intentional

[slicedseafoam]

notes game but the note targets get increasingly more unrealistic to achieve

10 i drink 8 glasses of water tomorrow. so healthy ik… woaw…

25: i eat one (1) vegetable. (i havent had one in months) 50 i go to sleep at a reasonable time tomorrow somehow… (9pm)

100 i go on a walk??? touch grass??? crazy

200 idfk i uh eat a vegetable every day for a week

400 i have a good sleep schedule for a week… yikes

800 i stop chewing on my nails!! forever!! idk if i could actually do this but maybe i would feel guilty if i promised to do it so it would motivate me

1600 i go on a walk two times every single week until the school year ends. wild.

STRETCH GOAL BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE WAS ACHIEVED???

2k i eat a veggie every week

3k i try to brush my teeth more…

have you noticed after the second one they started doubling? i really doubt ill get past 25 though but fuck it we ball

[craftexchange]

Ever wanted to trade a knit hat for a necklace? Maybe the other way round? This page is a (small) attempt at trying to set those up! I'm trying to help crafty people find each other so everyone gets cool art - art trades make the world a more fun place, and it's always a great excuse to spend more time on a new piece. Would appreciate reblogs for reach!

[failbettergames]

Announcing Mandrake

You are the last of the Mandrakes, a sorcerous line of gardeners. At long last, you’ve returned to your family's abandoned home. Make friends, tend your gardens, and put down roots. Fish, gather and delve in the wilds. Make a place for yourself, and uncover the mysteries your family left behind.

The Lost Arts of Horticulture

Horticulture is a cursed and forbidden practice... except to you. You come from a long line of sorcerers who practiced the green and growing arts, and you’re able to grow such marvels as: runner beans! Cherry trees! The humble turnip!

And as your skills grow, you'll be able to plant stranger seeds, like thunder-calling taran, or rhewyn, which waters your gardens for you. Perhaps you'll even grow a goose-tree! (Where did you think geese came from? Other geese? Preposterous.)

Place beds, decorations and resting spots. Find, plant, nurture, grow and harvest plants both mundane and magical, and gradually expand your gardens into the tangled grounds of your family's abandoned castle.

A World to Inhabit

Discover a beguiling new world inspired by British history and folklore. A world of old, wild powers, of uncanny spirits that reside in those places mortals dare not go; of deep histories, and deeper mysteries.

You won't just work in your gardens. Forage for resources in the nearby woods and along the beach. Go fishing (but take care not to be cursed by the river). Delve into dangerous mines in search of bright minerals and stolen secrets.

Breathe life into the Mandrake lodge with your choice of furnishings and renovations; acquire old books, and spend the evenings reading in the candlelit comfort of your study. Learn to cook. Meet your neighbours, become entangled in their lives, give them gifts and learn their stories.

Fireside Menace

Long ago, the world changed. The Covenant of the Hearth decreed that the day belonged to humanity, but the night... the night belonged to other things. Now, all earthly lights save hearthfires go out when the sun sets, and the Mara ride the night-winds. Don't go out after dark – the night is not for you. 

For now. (After all, what self-respecting sorcerer follows the rules?)

Human, Humble Magic

Magic in Mandrake isn't about flashy fireballs and shimmering shields, but about folkloric ingenuity, whimsy and patience. Grow a cherry tree from seedling to maturity in seven days rather than seven years, then fashion your sorcerer's staff from its wood. Befriend a river. Eavesdrop on the dead. Spend a haunted night at the Butcher's Oak. Drink tea with the god who lives in your chimney. 

A Host of Lavishly-Realised Characters

Welcome to the village of Chandley. It's small, it's complicated, and everyone's got their own story. 

Meet Rosen – bee-keeper, candlemaker, rook-speaker – the even-handed village leader charged with steering this troublesome community of eccentrics. Or Gideon, the sombre hunter who makes pacts with the wild powers of the woods. Befriend Nessa, the village smith, whose kindness conceals the scars of an old tragedy; and Thackery, the effusive Voicer, who keeps technology that no-one – least of all he – fully understands. Visit the lighthouse, where Jory and Ruan Vicory live with young Tamsyn: the girl they saved from the sea, and who still hears voices calling to her from beneath the waves...

Chandley may be small, but it's old, thick with secrets, and set in its ways. Is it ready for the return of a Mandrake?

Beyond the firelight

Encounter the spirits, gods and bogles that live alongside the people of Chandley: the smiling revenant imprisoned in a tree, who claims he knows you (even though he's hundreds of years dead). Lonely, long-armed Granny Jakes in her hidden orchard, who offers you a sip of a drink that the world has forgotten how to make. The Regent of the Woods, bearer of a white crown. The shy thing that whistles an old tune in the depths of a mine no-one has worked in decades. Hroame, who is sometimes stone and sometimes not.

Come along with us

If you’d like to hear from us when we release Mandrake or upload a demo, please consider wishlisting the game on Steam.

Because Mandrake is complex and has some very unusual features, we’ll be seeking ongoing feedback from players. At first, that will be through playtests on Steam, and later we’ll be releasing Mandrake in Early Access.

If you’d like to hear about playtests or just learn more about the game, you can follow us here or sign up for our monthly newsletter, which covers music, internet ephemera, art and film recommendations, strange historical anecdotes, pigeons, various mines/caves/catacombs, and sometimes also updates on our games.

About Failbetter Games

Should you see this and not know us! Founded in 2009, we’re an indie game studio known for quality storytelling and highly atmospheric art. You might know us from our other games: Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies and Mask of the Rose, which are set in the world of our long-running browser game Fallen London. In a break from studio tradition, this is a game where you can't eat people.

[newttxt]

lulaw bodyswap (or, the exquisite humiliation of trafalgar law) for @strawhattery's birthday!

bonus: the original toilet humor gag that ended up on the chopping block

[podddcasttt]

Friendly reminder that if you talk about how representation is important and how there's not enough diverse media, I implore you to seek out the media that already exists. And if you live in an area with a public library, go to see if they're available at your public library. And then go check them out.

As a librarian, it is demoralizing to see how low the circulation statistics are on lgbt+ books and books by BIPOC authors. I include them in displays and readers advisory, but people still don't check them out as much. Libraries only have a finite amount of resources, including space. We don't get a book then keep it forever. If not enough people check it out, we have to get rid of it to make room for more books. And when James Patterson Book #69 gets checked out 30 times in one year and cool, subversive Sci fi novel with a Black trans woman main character has never been checked out once, the librarian (me) has to make a hard decision.

If you're looking for something tangible and easy to do this pride month, look for lgbt+ books (there are millions of lists online that you can find. It's easier than it's ever been to find diverse books) and check them out from your library.

No time to read? Look for a short story or poetry anthology and just read as much as you have time for. Or just check out a book cus it looks interesting and read as much as you can. We have movies too.

As cool as it would be for me to just keep the books I want and get rid of the ones I don't, I have to listen to the community on matters of collection development. And the community tells me what books they want by checking them out and leaving the ones they don't want on the shelf.

If you think this doesn't apply to you because you live in a progressive area and obviously the books are being checked out, you're wrong. I once worked in a community with a large lgbt population. Those books were not getting checked out. If you want to tell me you live in a conservative area and your library doesn't have any diverse books, you are legally obligated to check the catalog before replying to this post. I currently work in a conservative community and we have lgbt+ and bipoc books. And if you still cannot find any, you are legally obligated to see if your library has a collection request form that patrons can fill out before replying to this post.

[auxtii]

Drawing TWST characters from memory

Part 1: Heartslabyul

This was actually awful. Sorry for the shoddy art.. I used absolutely 0 references because it was a memory challenge.

Deuce and Cater are the only ones who look okay, I fear.

BUT SAVANACLAW IS NEXT ‼️

[enderspawn]

these have been in my brain for literal months now please just get them out of here

[sandflakedraws]

WAHOOO here's my piece for the @sing-it-togetherzine, which you can find a free gumroad download link for right here~! 138 pages of troll goodness for your enjoyment :DDD

the theme was 'relationships' and i wanted to try and include as many details between these characters as i could :

Branch, as the man that everyone can rally behind.

Poppy as the first one to notice Branch's struggle and offer him help.

Likewise, the first person Poppy thinks to call on is her sister :3

Then it's Viva calling out to her long time co-runner Clay, and Bruce jumping in for him too.

Clay's addition also introduces a 🎉new strategy🎉! The characters start alternating sides for pulling the rope.

And Floyd joining in changes the strategy again, to something a bit more... mischievous, shall we say.

One crucial aspect is that Floyd runs his idea by Branch (the man in charge) before going for it.

Hickory, for his part, doesn't pull his punches for the group. There's no ~tricking~ them by faking an early loss, it's all gotta be genuine.

And of course, Hickory's undoing is his tender heart.

In the back, Dickory and John banter over which side they want to win.

Just the fact that John is letting go of the reins here, allowing the group to lead themselves, is very Big for him.

Dickory's suspicion of what Floyd has planned (warranted).

John's sitting out because he's got a cast on his arm, but it's been "signed" by various stickers from the group (yellow star from viva, pink heart from poppy, green lightning bolt from clay, etc etc etc). and of course

flickory (cause my city now)

in conclusion can u tell i love the interplay of this cast a lot

original zine format under the cut:

[enbyandyy]

NAMEMC SPOILERS

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE FOR ANYONE WHO SEES!!!! THIS WAS FOR WILD LIFE!! THIS IS OUT OF DATE!!!