#they're the worst...

[renai-fr]

Smaugust 2023 Day 4- Treasure

...I'll be honest, I mostly went with this design because I didn't want to draw a full hoard. But, this is my boy Edward as he first hatched! I gave him his genes (Speckle/Freckle/Firefly) basically as early as I could, but he still didn't hatch with 'em. I'll have to draw him in his current position as familiar wrangler one of these days! Oh, and he is still a Nocturne- it fit well.

(I like doing this storybook coloring style when I'm in a hurry- it takes probably half the time that my cleaner style does, and it has a really nice watercolor storybook vibe ^-^ Or like old Ken Sugimori art for Pokémon, which is also something I enjoy. It's hard to do certain details, though, like Speck/Freck, since if you make the airbrush too small it loses the lovely soft edges...)

[redvelvetwishtree]

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

in desperate need of a superhero who has every conceivable superpower...but isn't "overpowered" bc they're mediocre at everything. flight? i mean yeah they can fly. with all the grace of a drunken butterfly, bumping into multiple surfaces in the process, but yeah technically they're flying. super strength? sure with super butterfingers built-in, but it counts. laser eyes but their aim's for shit. they've saved the world as many times as they've endangered it by making a bad situation worse. the "good guys" and "bad guys" are equally apprehensive of having this person on their team

[lazylittledragon]

if i had a nickel for every au spawned from twitter that i SWORE i was going to be normal about

[nugothrhythms]

Just one more reason to not use Spotify -_-

Link to story here

[kaahmbem]

legend has it that the young witch circe and the once beautiful nymph scylla shared a complicated past...

[snek-eyes]

Can we go back to this for a sec? To Aziraphale having to explain the concept of being in love to the other angels? Because I cannot imagine what a trip it has to be, falling in love with someone when that is literally not something you are supposed to be able to do. When it is something you barely understand. When the object of whatever this is isn't supposed to be able to feel this way either, except as time goes on you start to realize it's happening to him too. And neither of you can actually talk to each other about it.

[olessan]

In light of recent revelations about the ghast life cycle... amphibian?? ghasts in all their ugly majesty

Theories below:

Toughened skin as adult, to retain water in nether climate

larvae hatch with a small amount of buoyancy - from gas?

ghastlings can still land and spend most of their time consuming water, snow, and ice in order to grow

do ghastlings feed on algae and other microbes, and plankton? Do adult ghasts filter them from the nether's congested air?

ghastlings that don't get enough water become ill and go into a semi-dormant stasis, at which point players find them?

9 tentacles - 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 tail, 2 barbels, and 2 gill appendages

highly derived and in order to float, they have very shortened spines and likely have massive gas bladders deep inside their body, which require water (the gas is a digestive biproduct)

species' eyes are highly light-sensitive after adapting to the nether

[technically-human]

Oh my gosh your art is so beautiful!! How do you think S1 Robotnik and Stone would react to seeing their S3/ S4 versions being with each other?

They're judgy

ko-fi

[sunlight-shunlight]

anyway dai solas you will always be famous to me. nothing but respect for my boy who wandered off mid-cutscene in the hinterlands to go help out refugees, is extremely good at Lies Of Omission™️, has a whole spy/agent/informant network of elves who followed him, fervently argues that it's unethical to be happy about killing bandits bc they had lives and loved ones, describes his own temple(?) prison(?) as having "indecipherable" elven writing, has ferocious debates with dorian and iron bull about slavery, set himself on fire once by mistake, and within about a year of his 10000 year lifespan, went from seeing all the world as disposable emotionless husks, to developing actual friendships and even falling in love.

and then! still thought it was necessary to destroy and reset the world! but he would treasure the chance to be wrong again!!

[starlightshore]

you keep telling yourself that, buddy.

[demaparbat-hp]

The Argument (aka Watch as These Two Nerds Fight Over Whether Ghosts or Aliens Spirits or Yokai are Real).

It's Dandadan AU time! A bit of lore:

Spirits are supernatural creatures who govern over certain aspects of our world (like Agni is a Sun spirit while Hei Bai is a forest). Yokai are the corrupted souls of humans who suffered in terrible ways, and were unable to move on to the afterlife—thus becoming something else.

Most people can't tell the difference between a spirit and a yokai. These two dorks, though? They're painfully aware of it.

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[nikonuee]

Airplane and Cucumber should've made out at least ONCE

One sloppy, angry, half-drunk, make-out could fix them (make them so so much worse-)

One moment they're snarking at each other over plot points and "Well I don't see you writing anything, huh? I know how many of those shitty chapters you bought, you masochist!" Their wine is sloshing over the edges of their cups as they animatedly gesture to emphasise their point; The next, The two transmigration are pulling at the other's hair and exchanging wet, open-mouthed kisses. Complaining all through as they paw at the "Stupid Xianxia clothing" "You think it's cool-" and attempt to slip a hand beneath all the layers.

Cucumber ends up seated in Airplane's lap, head tilted back to allow more of that--surprisingly clever when it's not running off--mouth access to his collarbones, teeth running across the thin skin and sending shivers running down his back to pool at the base of his spine.

"I hate you so, so much"

"Yeah, yeah, can you hate me after you get your pants off?"

Cucumber's hissing insults between gasps as Airplane mouths his way up his thigh and Damn, 'Maybe those fingers aren't just for writing shitty porn after all? Oh, Oh-'

Cucumber absolutely doesn't have the face to see Airplane or God Forbid talk about it afterwards so he sneaks out of the Pleasure (heh) House in the early hours of the morning and takes the next available mission far far away from the sect.

He comes back to a smug Airplane who promptly gets his ass 'thwapped!' Because he couldn't resist the "Is it because we didn't say 'No Homo'?"

[polmin]

they're going to slay. literally

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."