#this took longer than expected

[matchstique]

A Casey Sr. And Casey Jr. Comic.

Prompt submitted by @jacazull 😊

[ricecodes]

[ Theme #11: TTYL ]

Preview + Install (Theme Garden) Live Preview + Static Preview + Code (GitHub)

A responsive, all-in-one theme that includes the option to hide the about, navigation, muses, following, and recently liked sections!

Features:

Day and night toggle button that will stay in the selected mode until it is turned off. A dark mode option is available for those who prefer a dark color scheme on their blogs instead of the default light colors. The day and night mode button will also change according to the scheme you are using.

6 sections are included in the theme (blog posts, an about me, navigation links, muses, following, and recently liked posts).

Left or right sidebar. Both layouts are responsive on multiple screens including mobile.

You can also choose icons that you like for various elements of the theme (i.e. the menu links in the sidebar) from Tabler Icons. Please refer to the theme guide linked below for more information.

Like and reblog buttons, a search bar, an updates tab, and a custom "Not Found" page.

A drop-down menu with 3 custom links.

Supports NPF posts and page links.

Options:

Instead of giving you a selection of post sizes to choose from, you can enter your desired post size (i.e. 500px or 40vw). The same applies to the sidebar.

A custom title and/or description. To activate the custom title and description options, just type anything in the text boxes "Custom Title" and "Custom Description."

You have the option to choose whether your accent colors will be a gradient or one color.

There is a selection of border styles and header styles to choose from.

Different sidebar images are optional. However, the first sidebar image that uses your header image as the default will always be visible on your blog. There is no option to hide it like the other sidebar image.

Show or hide tags on the index page.

Notes:

The search bar will be hidden automatically if you have the option to hide your blog from search results enabled.

The following and recently liked sections will only work if you're using the theme on a primary blog. It will not work with side blogs. Please also make sure you have enabled the options to share your following and liked posts in your blog settings.

For an in-depth explanation and tutorial on how to customize the theme to your liking, please refer to the theme guide! Everything you need to know will be addressed there.

Credit:

NPF Audio Player by @glenthemes

Tabler Icons by Paweł Kuna

See full list of credits here.

Please make sure to read the theme guide before sending in any questions about customization, thank you!

[maryheart22]

The different phases of Luz ✨

[teddy-bear-d]

Gem and the Scotts, Scotts and the Gem

[cinnamonteaart]

Nap time, Philza, Chayanne, and Tallulah (Lullah)

[zzzx009]

Hello, today I'm offering soukoku being clingy (specifically dazai)

Based on this official art

[atlantis-area]

TAEMIN Ending Fairy (The Rizzness, 231103)

[alphynix]

Crystal Palace Field Trip Part 3: Walking With Victorian Beasts

[Previously: the Jurassic and Cretaceous]

The final section of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur trail brings us to the Cenozoic, and a selection of ancient mammals.

Image from 2009 by Loz Pycock (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Originally represented by three statues, there are two surviving originals of the Eocene-aged palaeotheres depicting Plagiolophus minor (the smaller sitting one) and Palaeotherium medium (the larger standing one).

The sitting palaeothere unfortunately lost its head sometime in the late 20th century, and the image above shows it with a modern fiberglass replacement. Then around 2014/2015 the new head was knocked off again, and has not yet been reattached – partly due to a recent discovery that it wasn't actually accurate to the sculpture's original design. Instead there are plans to eventually restore it with a much more faithful head.

These early odd-toed ungulates were already known from near-complete skeletons in the 1850s, and are depicted here as tapir-like animals with short trunks based on the scientific opinion of the time. We now think their heads would have looked more horse-like, without trunks, but otherwise they're not too far off modern reconstructions.

There was also something exciting nearby:

The recently-recreated Palaeotherium magnum!

This sculpture went missing sometime after the 1950s, and its existence was almost completely forgotten until archive images of it were discovered a few years ago. Funds were raised to create a replica as accurate to the original as possible, and in summer 2023 (just a month before the date of my visit) this larger palaeothere species finally rejoined its companions in the park.

Compared to the other palaeotheres this one is weird, though. Much chonkier, wrinkly, and with big eyes and an almost cartoonish tubular trunk. It seems to have taken a lot of anatomical inspiration from animals like rhinos and elephants, since in the mid-1800s odd-toed ungulates were grouped together with "pachyderms".

———

Next is Anoplotherium, an Eocene even-toed ungulate distantly related to modern camels.

(Apparently the sculpture closest to the water is a replica of a now-lost original, recreated from photo references in the same manner as the new Palaeotherium magnum. I can't find a definite reference for when this one was done, though – I'd guess probably during the last round of major renovations in the early 2000s, at the same time as the now-destroyed Jurassic pterosaur replicas?)

Anoplotherium commune is a rather obscure species today, but it was one of the first early Cenozoic fossil mammals to be recognized by science in the early 1800s. Depicted here as small camel-like animals, the three statues are positioned near the water's edge to reflect the Victorian idea that they were semi-aquatic based on their muscular tails.

Today we instead think these animals were fully terrestrial, using their tails to balance themselves while rearing up to reach higher vegetation. Their heads would also have looked a bit less camel-like, but otherwise the Crystal Palace trio are still really good representations.

———

Next is a sculpture that's very easy to miss in the current overgrown state.

Who's that peeking over the bushes?

Going all the way around to the far side of the lake reveals a distant glimpse of the Pliocene-to-Holocene giant ground sloth Megatherium.

A better view of the Megatherium | "Tree Hugger" by Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fossils of Megatherium americanum had been known since the late 1700s, but the 1854 Crystal Palace statue was still one of the first life reconstructions of this animal. Its anatomy is actually very close to our modern understanding, depicted with correctly inward-turned feet and sitting upright to feed on a tree with its tail acting as a "tripod".

However, we now know it didn't have a trunk-like nose, but instead probably had prehensile lips more like those of a modern black rhino.

Something weird also appears to have happened to the Crystal Palace Megatherium's hands. Early illustrations of the sculpture all consistently show it with the typical long claws of a sloth, but today it's missing its right hand and its left has only a strangely stumpy paw – suggesting that at some point in the intervening 170 years there was an unrecorded crude repair.

———

And finally we end the trail with three Megaloceros, the Pleistocene-to-Holocene "Irish Elk" that's actually neither exclusively Irish nor an elk.

A closer look at the second stag and the doe.

There was originally a fourth giant deer sculpture in this herd, a second resting doe, but it was destroyed sometime during the mid-20th century. The stags also initially had real fossil antlers attached to their heads, but these were removed and replaced with less accurate versions at some point by the mid-20th century.

One of the stags' antlers suffered some damage in 2020, ending up drooping, and since then one antler has either fallen off or been removed.

In the 1850s Megaloceros giganteus was thought to be closely related to deer in the genus Cervus, and so the Crystal Palace reconstructions seem to be based on modern wapiti – specifically in their winter coats, fitting for ice age animals – since both the stags and the doe sport distinctive thick neck manes.

The stags from the other side.

We now know Megaloceros was actually much more closely related to modern fallow deer, and so probably resembled them more than wapiti. Cave art also shows that it had a hump on its shoulders, and even gives us an idea of what its coloration was.

———

…But wait!

There's actually one more thing.

A small statue sitting on the far side of the deer herd, missing its ears, and seemingly representing a Megaloceros fawn.

Except it's actually something very different and very special.

Ceci n'est pas un cerf.

Some recent investigation work revealed some surprising information about the Crystal Palace mammal statues – much like the nearly-forgotten large Palaeotherium, there was originally an entire group of four small Eocene-aged llama-like Xiphodon gracilis that had disappeared from living memory.

There was also no historic record of a fawn with the giant deer, but instead a suspiciously similar-looking sitting sculpture is illustrated among what we now known are the four missing Xiphodon in early records.

An 1853 illustration of the sculpture workshop. The four Xiphodon are shown in the center, directly in front of a Megaloceros stag and doe. (public domain)

Somewhere in the late 19th or early 20th century three of the Xiphodon must have been completely lost, and the remaining individual was misidentified as a fawn and placed with the giant deer herd.

———

Rediscovering a whole extra species among the Crystal Palace statues is exciting, but it also demonstrates just how much of these sculptures' history has gone completely undocumented. 

The mammal statues especially seem to have suffered the most out of the "Dinosaur Court", being often overlooked, neglected, disrespected (at one point the Megatherium was inside a goat pen in a petting zoo!), and subjected to cruder repairs. A total of five original statues are now known to be missing from this Cenozoic section – the original large Palaeotherium, the three other Xiphodon, and the second Megaloceros doe – compared to the two pterosaurs lost from the Mesozoic island.

Hopefully the excellent recreation of the lost Palaeotherium magnum is the start of a long overdue new lease of life and conservation attention for all of the Crystal Palace sculptures. It was disappointing seeing them all in such an overgrown state, and with signs of ongoing disrepair in places such as the plant growing out of the big ichthyosaur's back.

But there has been some resurgence of interest and public attention in the Crystal Palace sculptures over the last few years, so with any luck these historic pieces of early paleoart will survive on to their 200th anniversary and beyond, to keep on reminding us of where things began and how far our understanding of prehistoric life has since come.

[granola-slut-quet]

so i may have gotten a drawing tablet and i wanted to experiment,,

still learning how to use procreate but im a little proud of this

and so I made this because MK1 brainrot will eat me alive, blank version for meme reasons under the cut

[kxllboii]

I did it! I made some art for the Corpse Puppet au :0

I really wanted to do some art with a similar art style to the original Corpse Bride since I want to practice different styles (in this case, improve is a better word for this)

This took a while, struggled waaaay too much but it ended up pretty good, Y/N is my favorite out of the three here haha

Of course this wonderful au belongs to @sketchquill (If you see this, I hope you like it! Your au is pretty sick :) )

Please enjoy my attempt and have a great day/afternoon/evening/night!

[marbledhornets25]

TOBY!!! ITS THE GUY!!!! (i included two other like colour overlay thingys cuz indecisive)

oc by kastoway

[doodly-monk]

Metalhead Allan real

Tried editing some clothes & accessories to Allan and such a tiring job but interesting challenge at least haha

[2-sleepy-for-this]

Our little brother pt.1

Hey lovelies! So sorry for the long wait, I didn’t realize how busy my week would be, but I managed to finish the first part of my newest au!

I now realize how much I suck at writing little kids so I’m just gonna change Tommy’s age range to around 7-10 :’)

Without further ado here it is!

tw ~ dehumanization (calling a person ‘it’), squeezing, minor injury, fear of death, (technically) abandonment, unintentional fearplay

word count ~ 1.5k

Tommy couldn’t find them. His family is gone. They told him to stay, but they never came back. It’s been hours, his legs are tired and his body’s numb from the cold snowy air around him.

Large snowflakes fell around him while the ground became colder by the minute. It had to have been hours since they left him in the shadowed alleyway, telling him it wasn’t safe in the open. He had curled up in a crack on one of the brick buildings surrounding him and fell asleep with the help of his mum. By the time Tommy woke up, the sun had already set and his parents were missing.

All Tommy could do was stand in the open, calling out for them. Sure, they said to stay hidden till they got back, but they should’ve been back hours ago.

He could feel his tail shaking as he wrapped it around his leg, trying not to squeeze his leg and make it more numb than it was already. All he had to do was find his family and everything would be fine again, right?

A loud, miserable noise echoed through the alley, making Tommy jump before realizing that it had come from him. He tried calming down but he couldn’t and in an instant sobs tore their way up his throat. It wasn’t fair. Where were they? 

Tears fell freely from his eyes, only making his face colder from the wind blowing on his shivering body. Tommy tried to look around for the hundredth time, but he couldn’t see anything but blobs of light from the street lamp above. The tears blurred his vision until he couldn’t see his own hands in front of him.

All of a sudden, there was a loud slam and the ground started shaking harder than he was. Tommy could hear the thumping of something big getting louder, getting closer. He needed to move, hide, do anything, but he couldn’t. Tommy honestly didn’t know if he was frozen from fear or if the ice on the ground had finally frozen to his feet.

There was only one thing that could sound like that, a beast his parents told him about so many times. Earlier today he would have told you there was no such thing, but after he heard it the first time, thudding louder than his mum's panicked voice, he knew it was real.

That thudding was what stole his family away. Everything was okay until it started and everything was gone when it thudded away.

His legs felt like they would drop him any second, and he still couldn’t move an inch. 

Tommy wanted to close his eyes. Maybe if he couldn’t see it, then it wouldn’t see him? Still, he kept his sight sharp. If he let his guard down, who knew what would happen?

His head whipped around, eyes focused on a giant hand that grabbed the corner of the wall. He trembled harder. As if in slow motion, Tommy could see a huge head move out from behind the building's wall, its giant eyes scanning for something, scanning for him. It’s weirdly pink long hair moved with the cold wind. Maybe if he wasn’t about to die he would think it’s pretty.

Tommy could see the moment its eyes snapped to him.

Its large mouth opened slightly before it went back behind the building, leaving Tommy alone. This didn’t last long though. A few seconds later the pink-haired human came back, but this time it brought another one.

The new one stared at him and even though it wasn’t as intimidating as the first human, its gaze was still terrifying to be under.

Everything was silent and still except for Tommy’s rapid shaking, more from the fear than the cold now. 

Then the worst thing happened.

Tommy sneezed.

Time started again all at once. In a single moment, the gigantic brown haired beast stepped into the alleyway and began moving towards him.

Tommy tried to show off his sharp teeth and claws but it did nothing to slow it down.

The huge monster just came closer. His threat displays weren’t working. Tommy tried backing up, but his tail got in the way and he fell onto his back, but he didn’t waste a second and kept skittering across the concrete floor. The giant didn’t seem fazed as it kept walking towards him with its too big feet, staring at him with its too big eyes, talking at him in its too big voice. Tommy’s brain couldn’t think about anything, it was all too much. He couldn’t focus. Tommy didn’t see the giant's too big hand reaching out until it was too late.

For the first time in a while Tommy felt warmth as giant fingers wrapped around his small form. He fought the urge to lean into the touch. This was a beast. It’s gonna hurt him. He needs to fight. 

He tried kicking his legs and thrashing, but nothing was working, his body was trapped completely. So he did the only other thing he could think of. Tommy put his head down and bit the skin surrounding him as hard as he could.

All at once, his surroundings jolted and squeezed in on him more, leaving him without any air. He tried to scream but all he could manage was a small pained wheeze.

The giant above him yelled out in pain, but Tommy couldn’t cover his ears from the agonizingly loud noise. The other giant seemed shocked and moved closer to Tommy fast, grabbing him.

All Tommy accomplished while fighting with all of his strength was moving from one pair of hands to the next. It was hopeless. The giants were probably angry at him now, they’ll definitely hurt him bad.

The new grip Tommy was in was firmer, it wasn’t suffocating but he knew the giant could squeeze him even tighter than the other one. He stopped moving completely at the silent threat. 

The brown-haired giant was still being a baby about his bite. Good. At least he could hurt them enough to not seem so helpless. 

The brown-haired giant glared at him while holding his thumb, Tommy shrunk back at the gaze. Tommy thought this had to be it for him, he pushed his luck, but then the gaze softened. It tried to speak to him again, but Tommy still couldn’t understand a word. The pounding of his heart still occupied his ears. 

After what felt like ages, the two giants started moving, walking across the alleyway that would take Tommy hours to cross in seconds. They walked up to a giant door before pausing.

Inside the building, Tommy could hear more loud voices. Were they gonna show him to a whole bunch of humans? Were they gonna fight over who gets to keep him? It didn’t matter. Tommy wouldn’t be able to stop them if they did.

Suddenly the hand he was in started moving, his vision went dark as he was stuffed into the pocket of the giants hoodie. He saw the light outside briefly before both of the giant's hands blocked the two holes of the pocket, caging him in.

Without the fingers holding him in place, Tommy tried finding a hole or anything he could use the get away without going near those giant hands again. Tommy gave up after a few minutes of searching, not finding anything. 

He could feel the pocket sway as the giant began to walk again. Tommy was stuck and couldn’t do anything about it, so when he heard an even louder new voice and felt the vibrations of the giant speaking, he began to listen.

“Hey Techno! Wilbur! Are you both still going to dream’s place after exams are over? I heard the party’s gonna be awesome.”

“Yeah, spending the night after draining tests cramped in a room with a bunch of loud drunk college students sounds great, Quackity. "

Quackity stared unamused at Techno before looking at Wilbur.

“What about you wil? I bet you’ll be there right?”

“I’ll think about it. Oh and tell dream I said hi.”

The two started towards the elevator, pressing the button to go up. 

Tommy was left confused. Why didn’t the giants give him away to the other one? Maybe they wanted him all for themselves? Yeah, that had to be it.

The hands near him twitched as the giants walked into the small box in the wall and the whole thing started moving up. Tommy felt nauseous by the time the floor stopped moving and the doors opened again.

The humans walked to another door before pulling out a key to open it. Seriously, how many doors do humans need? 

Stepping inside and locking the door behind them, Tommy heard and felt the giant around him let out a sigh.

The hands started moving around him again, grabbing him and blinding Tommy with the lights in the new room. When his vision cleared, Tommy could see the two pairs of eyes on him once again. 

He tried squirming briefly before the pink-haired giant spoke.

“So, what do we do with it now?”

Tommy paled, freezing in place, waiting for the answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there you go! Hope you enjoyed reading, I’ll try to get the next part out asap

eat a snack, drink some water and get good rest! :)

[peachycrime]

Take This to the Grave-Chapter 2

After 3 months chapter 2 is OUT!! @joeyleesblog had the idea and gave me permission to write it out and make it a fic

I’ll try to update every 2 weeks… but you never know 🌚

@spicymilk @be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie @sesshomamelia

Summary;

"I saved him." his voice is strained, and cracks at the last syllable.

"What?" and the way Lo'ak looks at him, his eyes are dead, voice empty, he repeats himself, "What did you just say?"

"I saved him - Quaritch, I saved him" The swords seep from his lips like poison, Spider prepares himself for the worst, any reaction is one he would accept, he expects screaming anything. And when Lo'ak's big hands gripped his arms so hard his bones ached, Spider momentarily believed that this would be the end of him, that this was his punishment for saving that monster

"We're not going to tell anyone about this, Spider. Do you hear me? No one can know. Not Kiri, not anyone."

Shock and disbelief hit Spider hard and for a moment all he could do was look at Lo'ak. Loak had his eyes wide open full of something he can't begin to understand- as though he wasn't in his right mind, which was much, much scarier.

"Lo'ak, what are you saying?"

"Never repeat those words ever again, this dies here with us Spider. He says those words with a determination that makes his heart leap out of his chest.

Lo'ak wanted him to lie, about this?

[rottenbubblegum]

[abhainnwhump]

You know what? Sure, why not (sorry for getting to this so late). @aarika-merrill

First part

Caretaker knew they should run, but their legs wouldn't listen to their brain. They were in shock; none of this felt real. The last few months faded away to nothing. It finally made sense as to why they barely talked about what Whumper did to them.

"Whumpee, why? You . . . I thought you were healing. Was any of it real?"

Whumpee stayed quiet, suddenly finding the dirt very interesting. Whumper stopped petting their head and strode toward Caretaker. Their arrogant smile made Caretaker's teeth clench. Caretaker felt around their cargo shorts for the pocket knife they always carried. They pulled it out and held it as a threat.

Laughing, Whumper casually put their hand on Caretaker's shoulder.

"Caretaker, my old friend," Whumper started.

"Get your hands off me!" Caretaker pushed them off, but Whumper was stronger. They barely budged. "What did you do to Whumpee?"

"I fixed them, you're welcome." Whumper let go of their shoulder, but not before pinching their neck. What were they, eight? Caretaker rolled their eyes and slashed at Whumper's neck, only to miss. By a lot. A wave of dizziness and nausea swept over them, making them drop their knife. They glanced up and noticed the syringe in their left hand.

Caretaker gripped their temple. It felt like their pounding heart was inside their skull instead. They glared at Whumper. "You, ugh . . . what did you do to me?"

Still kneeling on the dirt, Whumpee looked up a little. Their expression was a mix of worry and excitement. Caretaker couldn't hold their own weight and leaned against a nearby tree. Their head spun once more before passing out.

Caretaker opened their eyes, still groggy from whatever Whumper drugged them with. The air was humid, the room was dark. They tried to stand up, only to be pulled back down again. Their wrists were tied with scratchy rope and security mittens.

They spotted a piece of paper in the corner of the room, one of the only spots with light. Grunting, they dragged themselves over to it, using their teeth to grab it. Caretaker put the paper in more light. The words were in Whumper's scratchy handwriting.

Dear Caretaker,

If you're really wondering what I did to Whumpee, I trained them to be a loyal, manipulative weapon. Remember that string of murders on the news? Yes, that was dear Whumpee. I had them take out people who betrayed me. They couldn't do it the first time but hey, nothing an hour long whipping can't fix.

Now, I plan to do the same to you. I know you're very anti-murder and a pacifist, but I can change that. You will be happier once your mind goes blank like their's. You two can even become friends again.

Rest up, you have a big day of training tommorow.

~ Whumper.

Caretaker couldn't believe it. No, this is Whumper they're talking about. The person who had crazy, violent fantasies of harming others since they first tasted power.

Whumpee used to be terrified of slasher movies, anything with gory deaths really. They were the kind of person to trap a spider inside a cup and bring it back outside. Caretaker couldn't imagine them killing someone. Though they did lead to what could be their death, so who knew what the new Whumpee was capable of. What kind of torture did Whumper put them through to make them like this?

Caretaker slacked in their restraints. Their poor friend didn't deserve this. This was Caretaker's battle, not theirs. They had to get Whumpee out of here and into some proper therapy, something they were too nervous about doing before. That was their mistake.

But they couldn't make a plan until they got some rest, so they did, closing their eyes and hoping for the best.