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#that squid hat is a real hat believe it or not
orobty · 1 year
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i'm so sorry if i spam liked you!! but i just have to say, i absolutely adore your art. your style is so fitting for rise, and all your drawings are really pretty!
Nono no! I love seeing spam likes and thank you so much!!!! Always happy to see people enjoying my goofy turtle drawings lol
Here's some turtles in hats for your troubles!
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larrythefloridaman · 5 months
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WOAH, HE'S BIGENDER? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!
#hey. hey. im just saying. he LITERALLY 'transed his gender' in a diagetic bit in orange. and if that wasnt enough.#in blue he disguised himself as squid jenny specifically with larry's powers (the only thing hes done with them on screen)#got caught by his god-assigned roles-obsessed caretaker. and was given the label of being something intrinsically unescapably deceitful.#while 'pretending' to be trans girl.#like. if i wasnt pretty sure it was all an accident i might even call the allegory here slightly heavy-handed.#with the nccts emphasizing a theme of 'youre not just what people say you are#you can be more than one thing at the same time' with crim#i think crimson can have boygirl swag. some bigender pizzazz. i think he deserves it.#is it REALLY a cpu kerfuffle arc without a subversive narratively relevant gender-transing.#am i supposed to believe the spirit of deviance himself is cis? get fucking real. grow up. /silly#also a lil crimtoinette in there. just for flavor. because i cant help myself.#also sidenote the nccts have given him this cute lil tendency#to tip his hat down to hide his face when hes trying to be Genuine or Thoughtful or Poignant. and i enjoy that little touch#i maybe like this guy a little too much. hes most of what ive drawn for months.#but what do you want from me. i read him as a queercoded villain deconstructed at the metanarrative level.#am i just supposed to be normal about that.#me and zia talked about this in dms and discovered. we came to a lot of the same conclusions. completely independently. lmao
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picapicamagpie · 1 year
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Sing Marine Life!
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I’ll deal with you at the end.
As promised, here’s the follow up post including the marine animals! We don’t see many in the film, so I’ve broken it down by each species.
Squid
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I love these guys. They don’t do much, but they look cool. The most notable thing about them is their bioluminescence, which is indeed a trait some real squid have, though not to this degree. Based off their size, bioluminescence, and spotted patterns, I believe these are firefly squid. The bioluminescence is very inaccurate in Sing, but it’s probably exaggerated for dramatic effect and it’s totally fair because the scenes they’re in look amazing. In real life, only the spots on the squid light up and they are only blue, I don’t believe they can change the colour.
Something worth pointing out is that the anatomy of the squid in Sing is completely wrong. And I mean royally messed up. Squid have a mouth that is more like a beak, no lips, certainly no teeth, and it’s located in the middle of the tentacles. The eyes are also further down the body, basically on the tentacles too. What Illumination has done is use the mantle as the squid’s face, when that’s actually their body. It’s the equivalent of putting Buster’s face on his torso. Soooooo something happened to the Sing squid to completely rearrange their bodies and essentially swap the locations of their head and body. Wild.
Shrimp
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This is fairly accurate because some crustaceans can survive on regular air for a short time and don’t need to be constantly submerged. Like the squid, these guys have been given a more mammalian body type and can even wear clothes. I don’t know the specific species of shrimp because my God, they all looked the same to me. There’s also this concept art crab who is just chilling about on land. He’d either be dead in a few hours or Sing crabs can now live on land. But I won’t explore it much as it’s not something that’s actually appeared in the films so it’s not canon.
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Whale
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He doesn’t appear very much, but he’s there. We don’t see enough of him to determine his species but he wears a neat hat. I have nothing else to say about him. Why is Buster in the sky
Fish
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Again, super brief appearance and oh my God this screenshot was so hard to get?! I had to load up the film and grab it myself because no one cares about these fish at all. It’s too blurry to tell what species they are, and again, not much to say on them.
Walrus
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I have beef with this walrus because his design interrupted the old, more realistic style of Sing. He really cemented the feeling to me that Sing 2 is no longer using the “rules” set by Sing 1. I remember first seeing him and thinking how odd and out of place he looked. While I thought he was a funny character, his design just bothered me so much, something about him felt so off. The sheer audacity of this man to walk on two feet and basically look like a big ape. Generally, Sing was quite realistic with its body types. Ok except the squids. Although technically four legged, walruses and seals have flippers and such a unique way of moving that I really kinda expected Sing to stick to this, or at least make them more hunched over or do something to make them a bit more real, instead of the weird “walrus head on gorilla body” design we got.
To start with, walruses are insanely heavy and huge. A male gets up to 12ft long. To put it into perspective, a walrus standing up would be roughly the same height as an elephant. Mason really should be as tall as Meena but he’s like, 2 Busters.
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Real life walruses could never stand on their rear flippers because of their sheer size, and because flippers are not legs. They’re too large and heavy for their adapted limbs to support. That’s why they do that weird flopping about thing that walruses and seals do. So it’s not a case of just making them stand on two legs like every other animal. However now that I’ve looked at him a bit more, Mason is a lot smaller than he “should” be, which makes me think maybe Sing walruses evolved quite differently. They’re much smaller, lighter, and thus able to stand. Maybe also their rear flippers never reached the stage of being super short and small, and are some sort of weird leg/flipper middle stage rather than just being flippers.
Ok Mason, you’re not as bad as I thought you were. But I still don’t like your design.
Also according to the Wiki there’s seals in some advert somewhere but I can’t find it. I’d love to see if they are designed the same as Mason so please if anyone can find it, let me know!
Here’s the canon “rules” I can gather for aquatic animals:
🐳 Honestly there aren’t any
🐳 ok ok, they generally only wear accessories rather than proper clothes but some do also wear full outfits (shrimp)
🐳 They still need water to survive and it hints that there’s an aquatic biome for them to live and work in, with regular cities having waterways as a method of transportation for them. I like this idea and hope it’s explored more
🐳 Bioluminescence can do whatever you want it to do as long as it looks nice, but it’s still limited to animals who have it in real life (which is basically just some fish and invertebrates)
🐳 Some, like the whales and fish, are essentially just the same as real life ones. Others, like squid and shrimp, are more mammalian now. Somewhere, evolution went wild and completely changed the body design of squid completely, reversing their heads and torsos
🐳 Walruses are smaller than they are in real life, and now able to support their bodies on two… flippers? They are much, much more humanoid now and are incredibly different to their real life counterparts
My main take away from this is that mammalian body types have become the norm in the Sing universe. Take (almost) any real animal, make it sort of humanoid, and it’ll belong in Sing. I reckon it’s some kind of convergent evolution thing where animals end up looking similar.
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flyingspicerack · 1 year
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Inside Job Pt2Ep3 Myc Analysis Pt1
ALRIGHT FUCKERS! AS THE OFFICAL CEO OF MYC ITS TIME i GIVE YOU MY BREAKDOWN ON EP 3 BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL!!!!!
THIS IS GONNA BE A BIGGUN AND PRETTY MUCH A PLAY BY PLAY SO STRAP IN!!!
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The way he's clinging to the rope here? Oh so cute. But also! Very telling of how he's able to distribute his weight? Body and tendrils seem much like.... idk squid/octopus like? Also in this scene, all of the insults he throws around <3 He's such a catty little bitch I also love that Gigi is the one he doesn't insult the most through the ep? Like I know everyone is like OMG ANDRE AND MYC are such good 'friends' and all that (yes i am one of those too) but we see in pt1 that Myc and Gigi hang out a fair bit and I like to think he's got like, a respect for her? Idk
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The fucking way the little itty bitty orb inside his orb gets smaller when the flashlight from the security guard hits him is so brief but oh so important to me, oh my GOD this little bit of detail has me HGFUIEOHGFOI:SGHJIO
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HHHHH OK FIRSTLY! Reagan tells Myc to, and I quote "Spurt on that guy!" And he refers to himself as a soft serve machine that needs to warm up and cannot just jizz on command, which definitely makes sense. He also says for no one to look at him so.... hes shy
SO THAT leads me to believe, that his jiss doesn't actually need to be processed at all to become the stuff they put in the memory erasing guns, so, they can just erase minds... SO what does that mean for sex with humans, as well as that one time Andre licked Myc's flagella on the yacht during the wedding, he didn't get erased.... thoughts thoughts thoughts
REAGAN YELLING AT HIM AND CALLING HIM A WASTE OF SPACE FUCKING HURT ME
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OH MY GOD BABY! NO DONT CRY!!!!!!! UAOGH WHAT THE FUCK
Reagan: Okay I was not ready for that" ME NEITHER BITCH????? MYC CRYING????? WHY WOULD HE CRY????
WAS ANISE RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THAT MYC IS ACTUALLY A DWEEB???? UH YEAH?????? IM AS SURPRISED AS YALL ARE
god ok you guys im never gonna stop talking about this, we got so much mushroom lore, we have so much mushroom plot, we have so much MYC LORE AND I AM HERE FOR IT!!!!! AND IM WRITING IT ALL DOWN IN ONE PLACE!! RIGHT HERE!!!
Myc LIED about how old he was prior to this. In Pt1Ep3 we see his RightSwipe profile says 4041 for his age, but this here is his 5000 year reunion, so he's says he's younger than he really is.
He's from "A million year old mushroom hive cluster from the center of the earth" MILLION!!!!!! HES OLDER THAN WE CAN EVEN COMPREHEND
FIRST he apparently lied and said that everyone was jealous of his "huge dong" and he left, THEN JUST IN THIS SCENE, he says that they kicked him out because he was too much of a rebel, AND THEN AT THE END OF HIS RANT he finally comes clean and says that he never went to prom, graduation, AND no one signed his yearbook BECAUSE HE WAS A FUCKING DWEEB THAT LOOKED LIKE THIS:
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(yeah honey i'd hate you too)
he was .... a fucking DWEEB! HE WAS A NERD!! THE BRACES?! THE PIMPLES! THE.... somehow.... FACIAL HAIR?? The hat.. yeesh boy ouch
WHEN HE LEFT HE WANTED TO PROVE HE COULD BE SOMEBODY! oH MY LORD!!!! HE CALLS HIMSELF A SINGLE MIDDLE AGED LOSER.... HOW OLD IS HE IF HES MIDDLE AGED IM GOING INSANE OVER HERE!!!!!!!!!
also his name, can we take about the name we have a real full name for him its not Magic Myc, its fucking MYC CELLIUM im going feral here and frothing
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This uh.... this makes me..... hes so.... PATHETIC!! He's crying!!! HES FUCKING WHIMPERING AND CRYING AND SNIFLING CAUSE HES SO ASHAMED ABOUT GOING TO HIS REUNION LIKE WHAT THE FUCK HES LITERALLY BABYGIRL I DONT UNDERSTAND???????????????????
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why are you so moe? WHY ARE YOU THE CUTEST GUY EVER! HIS GASP! Also like, Reagan, you REALLLY think this dude is never gonna insult you again? I thought you were a super genius? How can you literally be this stupid.
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SORTA MUCUS SORTA JIZZ CALLED JUCUS!!!!!!!
I think it is SO AMAZING that the hole down to the mushroom hive is in Oregon, cause like, the worlds biggest mycelium network is under there.... hehe
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FRUITY FLAILING ASS BITCH!!
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OK If you go to 4:40 and look in the bg, you can see Myc get on the elevator down and he is fucking TREMBLING!! HE is SO nervous!! IM FUCK NGKJENSfewtgfwsg
Myc confirmed leftist, so thats a W but an L for thinking u can ge a nobel prize in podcasting... then again hes a mushroom and doesnt care so he is always a W in my heart
Look how far his flagella can stretch
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HOLLOW EARTH! OH ITS SO LOVELY! AND I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT IT
I am very curious to know, if when Myc tells the hive to put a 'psychic metaphor' over the place, is that... only for the characters in the show or is it also for the viewer? It has to be, because we are also human and therefore wouldn't be able to comprehend the societal differences of mushroom dynamics! RIGHT?! SO I will also touch upon things as they happen later with this mindset.
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FUCK!! RIGHT HERE!! Myc's asking Reagan if his BREATH smells bad!!!! He touches the top little frills and then puts his tentacle under Reagan's nose!! Does he... His scent glands?? WHAT?? AHHHHH I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS???
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... I got one thing to say about stem-mantha... myc sure does love pink bitches .... makes eye contact with anise
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LOOK AT HIM ALL.... NERVOUS!
Okay so then... Stem-Mantha asks if Myc was the guy who did puzzles with her parents so she could go have sex... SO, yes, the fucking mushrooms DO fuck each other, AND they have like, parents They dont just grow?? (As seen from Myc wanting to be a mommy in Pt2Ep7)
THEN Myc gets fucking pelted with a goddamn football and we are now included on the information that Myc ran out at graduation before everyone merged consciousnesses and became assimilated. SO It is OH SO interesting to see that each of these mushroom clusters are there OWN individual personalities but THEN they all are joined and have a shared consciousness thats a part of the hive!
Stem-Mantha then asks if the gang are Myc's parole officers, so does that mean that everyone was under the impression he went to like, jail topside after he left hollow earth??
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HIS TENDRIL HEART IM FUCKING LOSING IT AHHHHHHH
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ALRIGHT!!! FUCKERS FIRSt things first. Yes he wore that stupid fucking "NO FAT CHIX" hat but are we talking about it? NO, well YES, in that he wore it because he was in denail thats it thats the story thank you very much
SECONDLY here is were I'm touching upon the psychic metaphor thing again right here. I am thinking waaaay too deeply about a silly little cartoon and i feel very much like 'charlie pepe silvia meme' right now in idk how meta this whole thing is supposed to be? Like I don't think Myc was actually into dragon ball Z considering it was 5000 years ago and dbz didn't exist then, and we're just supposed to believe dudes was the mushroom equivalent of a little itty bitty pathetic nerd with pimples and acne, right??
but im also crazy coo coo bananas insane in thinkiing how fucking funny would it be if dbz was some kind of true space epic and myc is like, the equivalent of a greek mythology nerd in that hes a little fanboy.
THIRDLY. MY MANS GOT EXTRA STRONG POWERS THAT MAKE HIM EXTRA SENSITIVE?????? HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NURSE
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His fucking signature babygirl i loooove you its so cute what the FUCK!! and look at how he carried himself like a fucking .... beanie babie, hes full of beans or whatever, i just love how this fucker carries his weight its so cool to look at wtf
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HES NERVOUS AGAIN IM JUST GFJHEL"GSGJ"LG I KNOW ITS NOT IMPORTANT BUT IT IS TO ME
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They are SO fucking mean to him. But also this scene, you can see that not everyone is on board with Reagan doing this, like they're all really uncomfortable when she pulls this picture up, and Brett isn't even there
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Why is there so much jucus... was he tearing up about getting found out? OH LAWDY I HOPE NOT ILL FUCKING CRY?????
HAHHA SO this post has gotten waaay too long so i think i'm gonna make it two parts, so part 2 will be post assimilation!!! Also because posts can only have 30 images and we at the max babes
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karltface · 2 years
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I warned you, didn't I?
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Boom. Bogleech box. And we're gonna have some mysteries on our hands.
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First up, some gimmicky fun. There's a busted pumpkin with a second Jack-o'-lantern face inside of it. Said face rotates (vertically, interestingly enough) to reveal three other faces- a classic Jack, a slightly flame-like face, and Basically Kool-Aid Man. Hopping Pinkeye is kind of hilarious, and the Pocket Screamer doesn't actually scream, but laughs menacingly. My last copy was deader than disco, so this was a fun reveal.
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Well, that's interesting. I feel like I remember these stick dolls, but damned if I know where. Hot Topic is probably a safe bet. Anyway, mummies are always cool, and this one looks absolutely stellar within the confines of the line. The skull, I believe, is from one of those excavation kits in the STEM section (it sounds pretentious, but every one is listed as STEM online). Fun, but not the real thing. I'm liking the amber tint of that superball, too.
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Proper action figures, kind of. The Ovion hails from Battlestar Galactica, 1979, and while short the bit of doily it used to wear, still looks good enough for the time. All six limbs move, though the head doesn't.
And then there's the Tangle Twist-A-Zoids. McDonald's toys, yes, but fully compatible with the Tangle system, a wide array of curvy tubes that connected to various fanciful body parts, looking like noodly marionettes that could stand under their own power. There could be an enormous, badly-proportioned parody of a bird sprouting from that orange dude's mouth if you wanted. Madness, I tell you.
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Apologies for the bad photos, I'm trying to keep these things from scratching each other. Pins this time around were Elbow Squid (and that completes the set!), Mothman, and Mothman Larva. Glowy eyes across the board, I believe. Good stuff.
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Figurines, part one! Stoplight Head can't really stand (I'll work something out), so he's just linking arms with Mark the Skeleton like a couple of drunks helping each other out of the bar. Mark is tired of being bonked on the head.
I think I finally got a duplicate Tiny Kaiju, and that's out of like 10 by now. The dogu is blatantly King Joe, finally nailing down their origin: it's all Ultraman characters I haven't seen. Which is a pretty wide umbrella.
And that exhausts all I know about these. The bugs are total unknowns (it's a very wide world of these things), the evil...sumo... Snake Man? No idea.
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Part two! An adorable turtle in a cute hat is legitimately fun (oh no, I'm old!), but look at that fishman! The rat-dragon is no slouch, almost big enough for some sort of articulation and very nicely painted. The only things I actually recognize are Axew and Magnemite, which is a good thing in that the rest can fit in just about anywhere.
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All in all, worth every penny as always. Even the stuff I don't want will make someone happy; I always have a handful of trinkets on hand for anyone that makes my day brighter in some way, or could use a treat themselves.
Still a few of these to be had, but if you're on a budget, there are still the mini versions as well.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/scythemantis
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mongoose-bite · 4 months
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I have found the best NPC. I love kobolds. Look at this stylish little guy! He's still got the weird dog nose they gave them for 5th edition but I am still delighted with him. I miss my kobold sorcerer. This is like seeing him for reals. Also, while I try to remain vague, there are spoilers unavoidable below. Shulkie don't read this.
So we finally get some answers regarding the prism. Now I know why it was confusing; there were multiple things inside. The only mystery now is why the Sharrans were after it. I tried very hard to kill the Emperor twice. Faye feels like eating the tadpole was the worst decision of her life, but eventually I took the hint and we still remain on its side.
Faye hates that manipulative thing, but I on the other hand am now pretty curious about a squid run. Ngl I always thought illithids were kind of hot, but my inner lorebeard was always 'no it would never make sense for them to fuck.' Thank you, Larian, for suggesting a way to reconcile these things. They're in that sweet spot between 'humans with a coat of paint' and 'what would even count as sex with a sentient rock half a mile across' where it's an interesting challenge, but you've got some places to start.
I, and Faye, still don't really believe its story, but there's no point accusing it of lying. So she humours it, but burned inspiration to keep herself from tadpoling further, and did not offer to hold its hand.
We arrive in Riverton and immediately I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of NPCs chattering. I often don't like city areas in games. Too much going on. I got used to it after half an hour of mindlessly running around and eavesdropping.
Once we arrived in the city Faye started spending money like it was water; to be fair, I needed to gear up Jahira a bit, but a lot of it went on fucking around, metaphorically and literally, because while Faye would never have the nerve to take up the twins' offer by herself, Halsin had invited her out to the woods the night before, and he makes her adventurous, as long as he's with her. That did escalate quickly though, and then again when we went to the circus and aced the dryad quiz. Quicksave unnecessary. She has zero fashion sense and he doesn't see the need for clothes at all; they're fucking perfect for each other. They both project noble gravitas in public and are horny dorks in private. I am pleased with my pick.
What I think is interesting is the story Halsin tells you about his previous experiences with drow. Faye was just 'oh that's awful,' but Dyce would know the feeling. He's enthusiastically consented to things because his other options weren't that great. He'd get it, and probably reevaluate some things himself, which is frankly an impressive feat, because he doesn't do introspection much; these characters are so well-written. That experience might have been formative for Halsin, and feeds into how he approaches relationships, as much as he doesn't like the word. His 'feel free to make other people happy too,' would have Dyce all 'same hat!' as well, which was not something I expected from this character. Sluts with layers.
Speaking of bad options, I spent a good five minutes back and forthing on Raphael's offer before realising he'd told me where he kept Grabthar's Hammer, and luckily Faye was on the same wavelength. Have I also mentioned how much I love Laz'ael? Her 'why you make this difficult? But I think that's admirable' is adorable. Exchanging a queen for a prince feels like a sideways step rather than a forward one, but it proves she can move.
At the time it didn't occur to me that Raphael was talking about somewhere in the Hells, cause I am dumb, but I'm guessing one of his neighbours will sell him out, although who knows what she'll want in exchange.
Next stop, lower city.
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probablynotasquid · 2 years
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i've been watching a lot of drawfee lately and seeing all the @vaaiz content lately had motivated me to draw something, and that something just happened to be a pretty much self-insert oc lmao
behold my tumblr persona as a genshin character :DD some details under the cut if youre interested ;)))
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Name: Squid (nickname, probably)
Affiliation: Apam Woods
Vision: Anemo
Weapon: Catalyst
Constellation: Architeuthis
they use finger guns to fire anemo bullets :D their elemental burst summons a fungus friend that deals an extra instance of anemo dmg every 1.5 seconds and reduces the enemy's elemental res to whatever it swirls
some random details/facts:
has aloy's vision shell type because they're technically an outlander as well
they call themselves 'squid' but nobody believes it's their real name bc who would name their child squid lmao
they live in the apam woods just vibing with the fungi in a crappy little hut up in one of the huge trees
also befriended some dusk birds and teaches them to talk
uses their vision to traverse the woods and peep above the canopy
sometimes helps the forest rangers with withering zones (they encountered tighnari one day and he tried to kill their fungus friends lmao rip but they're cool now)
love language is giving people little rocks or shinies or things from the forest that make them think of someone
collei especially has a little pile of pebbles and a single decorated ruin guard piece somewhere in her room
tighnari once opened his door to find a piece of driftwood poorly carved into a little fox on his doorstep
lowkey wants to try on cyno's funky hat but has never actually seen him around and would never ask anyway because they're way too intimidated
fun fact this design is actually v2 because v1 didn't look very genshin so i did a bit of an overhaul :D i tried to make the longer cape things' inner design look a bit like tentacles but idk how well it really worked ahah
i didn't really base them off of any real-life culture, rather in-game sumeru npcs (corps of thirty, merchants...) they're not originally from sumeru but they're technically living in the region so i figured i would try and make them look like it lol
i know this isn't what you followed for but you know what i had fun drawing this up and exploring their character a little bit so humour me lol
i realise now that it actually seems a bit like i based quite a bit off vaaiz but i didn't i swear we're just too similar asdfghjkl im sorry i did my best to make them their own character
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sodascribbles · 1 year
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KICKS DOOR IN IM HERE FOR RTTM HEADCANONS FOR MY SELF INDULGENT FIC UNIVERSE. PRIMARILY TEAM BLUE BC THEYRE THE ONLY ONES IVE SEEN <<33 this is also mostly me bullshitting bc it has been a while since ive seen all of it but!! ill come back and retcon as needed heart emoji
below the cut bc they're long <<33
chache and snake are clones created by The Aliens™️ which i think is canon to mtm but dont quote me on that it's been a while. amy is not- the 33 in her name is an unlucky coincidence.
i cant decide if i wanna be gbu-adjacent (/ij and/or /ref) and have squid be a former blood god or if he is just The Blood God. but either way he is the Kraken as per lovely world lore
stampys immortal and has ✨ magic powers ✨ but rarely uses them. hes skilled in the same kind of wizardry that keen and heinous use, and frequently sends them letters still
snakedoctor1 was just kind of a Normal Dude who got kidnapped by aliens and cloned a lot. .....probably. i dont think about snake lore very often i only know him from mtm and squiddy sundays
superchache1 however was a... nether prince of a sort. he escaped the aliens via being summoned somewhere else, and rumor has it that he's still out there vibing
chache- our chache, 39, and every chache before that- were very firmly told that 1 was dead (he was frequently made an example of as a matter of fact)
chache and snake weren't aware of the aliens plans before the race to the moon ending, and once theyd learned it was the classic theyd grown so attached they rebelled against their creators
ok enough of clone shenanigans ill spoil the plot
amy and squid arent bio family but they grew up together and consider each other siblings <3
stampy has a twin brother, who we simply know as stampylongpants- that's not his real name, obviously, just a long convoluted joke w the familia
this twin brother has. three whole children, two of which are traumatized and adopted unintentionally and the other is probably traumatized and adopted intentionally
stampy is a great-uncle and has a dragon grandniece and at least one robot grandnephew and i will not be elaborating (.....yet)
stampy and squid are qpps sorry not sorry
chache can float. he says it's the hat. nobody believes him
KINDNESS IS REAL
i have no intent of touching shady oaks again though. so who knows how canon-adjacent shell wind up. but my girl WILL be appearing and she WILL be a sassy talking sword
squid is in fact a glowsquid
stampy is the best airship pilot of the three of them its bc he stole The Birdy
chache is vaguely technopathic but has no idea how to properly harness it so will occasionally just panic and like the jukebox will start playing or the quarry will stop/start
if you startle stampy theres like a 25% chance he bursts into flame
he does have a more human form (like squid does) but he rarely ever uses it
squid tends to flip-flop between human and squid on legs. he went full glowsquid once when him and stampy were bickering in the river below their mountain and. swam away
chache technically has a more Creachur-like form but again he has No Idea how to Use It
snake is supposed to be a creeper. something went wrong when the aliens were synthesizing but supposedly theyve since fixed it
stampy is like an 8th warden on his mother's side. usually this manifests in what he likes to call the Lay in Moss Instinct (it's exactly what it sounds like) and protectiveness over his friends
he was a normal dude at first i think but then he got cursed with furry immortality and it's been so long now that he really doesnt remember who he used to be. netty got cursed trying to reverse his curse before they decided they liked being cats better
squiashey is simply stampy's pen pal rn but dw theyll meet and date and get married even if i dont touch on it know it happened
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makeste · 3 years
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BnHA Chapter 320: Deku vs. Class 1-A
Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Kacchan was all “fuck Deku and fuck his stupid goodbye letters, I need to speak to somebody in charge.” Endeavor was all “hello, I am Somebody In Charge.” Kacchan was all “listen up asshole, you need to let us go out and collect our wayward nerd because you stupidly left him alone with All Might and that’s a fast track to disaster right there.” Endeavor was all, “[self-incriminating silence].” Rat Principal was all, “okay sure, have fun kids.” Back in the present, class 1-A was all “hi Deku” and Deku was all “I’M FINE!!!!!” and Kacchan was all “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY YOU DUMB FUCKING NERD” and so the kids all got ready to fight, because OF COURSE they’re gonna fight. Sorry guys, but yeah it’s happening.
Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “what’s up Deku you look like a possessed Rorschach test, so anyway how are the new quirks coming along.” Deku is all “they’re coming along like THIS” and uses Smokescreen to try and get away. Kacchan is all “PHASE ONE COMMENCE”, and Kouda, Sero, Jirou, and Ojiro leap into the fray to shower Deku with heaps of love and violence, because this is a shounen manga and kicking someone’s ass while simultaneously proclaiming your undying admiration for them is just how it’s done in these parts. The KoudaSeroOJirou squad then passes the baton to Satou, Momo, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shouji, who are all “fuck this mask” and do a bunch of stuff to tear Deku’s mask off because they’re the real heroes. Shouto is all “LOOK AT THE LITTLE CRYBABY, THAT’S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND FUCKING CRY and by the way let us share your burden please,” and once again I swear this is all very deeply moving and touching within the actual context. The chapter ends with Tsuyu being all “look at me. I’m the cliffhanger now,” and damn.
lol what
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I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I mean, not that I’ve got anything against Tsuyu or anything. anyways it’s a very nice cover and I love the colors and I hope this means Tsuyu’s gonna do something badass
also, “Deku vs Class A” -- pretty much the expected title, but it’s still got me hyped nonetheless fuck yeah let’s go
IIDA ANGST
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Iida Tenya really said “fuck the uniform code, we’re leaving the helmet at home today.” sorry kids, prim and proper C-3PO Comic Relief Iida has left the building. can I interest you in some Serious Iida
meanwhile Kacchan is all “sup Deku, I heard you got a few more quirks, and might I just add that you look like the Snyder Cut of Detective Pikachu”
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“you look like a tarred and feathered squid” okay easy there Kacchan. I mean it’s all true of course, but still
“thank you all for coming” OH EXCUSE ME SON, WERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING SOMEWHERE. LET’S JUST SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT
yep and there’s Smokescreen, right on cue
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okay Horikoshi, I leave it in your hands. hopefully you can come up with some more interesting combos than my dumbass predictions lol
LOL THIS ISN’T A COMBO AT ALL
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“explosions solve everything” -- Horikoshi Kouhei, 2021. something something shockwave, something something handwave ta-da no more smoke. lol okay then
oh, ouch
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he would know, wouldn’t he. nice application of one of your many hard-earned life lessons, Kacchan
by the way you guys, just as an experiment, I’m going to try to anticipate some of the discourse this week in the hopes of preemptively addressing it and thus saving myself some time later on lol. so here’s our first test run!
ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “oh my god what a fucking hypocrite can you believe this fucking guy”
PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: it’s precisely because Kacchan has been in this exact situation himself that he’s able to recognize his past self in Deku now and call him out on it. just because it took him sixteen years to get it through his head that he can’t accomplish every single thing completely by himself doesn’t mean Deku has to go down that same path. so yeah, maybe it is a bit hypocritical, but if you insist that the only people qualified to call out stupid shit are people who have never done a single stupid thing in their own lives, then what you’re basically saying is that absolutely no one on earth is qualified lol. so yeah, I’d have to disagree
and one last unrelated note, I’m willing to bet the whole “you didn’t even say a word before you ran off” thing is possibly the first thing Kacchan’s said in this whole encounter that actually does stem from genuine hurt rather than his tough-love-harsh-truths strategy. I’M TAKING NOTES HERE HORIKOSHI. at this rate it’ll take twice as many chapters as DvK2 for them to hash out all the stuff between them, geez
anyway so I gotta say, so far Deku vs. Class A is looking an awful lot like a DvK3 wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and sunglasses lol
OH SHIT I TAKE IT BACK??
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FUCK YEAH, YOU GO KOUDA. and I guess he ditched his mask as well! excellent
so far the strategy here seems to be “Kacchan says all the mean tough love shit while the rest of 1-A balances it out with warmth and kindness”, which actually works pretty well imo. Deku is one of those people that doesn’t usually need a Kacchan Translator anyway, but just in case, this is very efficient
mm but of course Deku is slingshotting himself away with Blackwhip. all right then, who’s up next!
FUCK YEAH
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okay but seriously you guys, what is going on with Sero’s face in these last couple of chapters though, it’s really starting to unnerve me. is he trying to emulate Kacchan’s whole asymmetrical facial expressions thing?
in fact let me just quickly hit pause here because,
ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “SERO IS TOGA??!”
PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: no
oh snap looks like Jirou’s getting in on the action too!
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poor Jirou probably spent days racking her brain trying to think of something she could bond with Deku over. is Horikoshi doing these in reverse order of the kids who have had the most interaction with him? that would explain why poor Kouda didn’t get a flashback lol
omg. well that answers that
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so by my count, Satou and Hagakure are the only ones remaining in this first tier of kids who Still Appreciate Midoriya even though they’ve barely ever spoken two words to him in their lives lol. so they’ll probably be next, and then we’ll get to the next tier of kids who are pretty good friends with him but not quite besties. and then we’ll move on to the IidaRokiRaka trio, and then lastly, to the boy who is in a tier all his own
BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
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and by “sponsor” I mean the Dekuangst. just in case that wasn’t clear. indeed, many thanks to the Dekuangst for making this all possible
(ETA: okay so this whole “take me away” line seemed pretty weird to me, and sure enough it’s yet another one of those cases where only the verb is specified, and the object is left to the reader’s interpretation. so even though the translation says “take me away”, I’m pretty sure that what Deku’s actually saying is “take you away” -- as in, his loved ones will be taken away by AFO.
and that is literally the way he phrases it, though -- the verb used is “奪う” (ubau), meaning “to snatch away; to dispossess; to steal.” which, god, that hurts my whole goddamn heart though, because for him to say it like that?? not “AFO will kill you”, but “AFO will take you away from me.” he can’t have nice things anymore because of AFO. he can’t be around the people he loves because AFO will hurt them. he can’t have happiness because AFO will take it away from him. anyway so where the fuck is AFO right now, motherfucker I just want to talk.)
by the way can Ojiro just extend his tail to whatever fucking length he wants or what because it’s like twelve feet long in this panel lol
WOOO FUCK YEAH TOKOYAMI
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YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!! BUT WHERE’S YOUR FLASHBACK? YOU’VE HAD A BUNCH OF INTERACTIONS WITH HIM, THAT’S NOT FAIR
okay so now Satou’s stepping in which is back to my anticipated order, so maybe Toko will finish his little moment afterward
dskfjfkk
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“REMEMBER THAT TIME DEKU BORROWED SATOU’S FOOD COLORING” Horikoshi says, sweating. “AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE, UM, SMILED IN HAGAKURE’S GENERAL DIRECTION”
actually I am curious about what Hagakure’s part will be because, you know, the whole traitor thing lol
(ETA: funny how we just skipped right over it huh. can we get a traitor reveal countdown started here? definitely getting close to that time.)
whoa lol wtf
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MOMO??? THIS HAS MOMO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT DAMMIT
-- SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK
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“SORRY MIDORIYA-SAN, I LEFT MY FUCKING CHILL AT HOME IN THE LOCKER NEXT TO IIDA’S HELMET” holy shit lmao
and here I thought she’d get a flashback to her time on the Baku Rescue Squad or something. but nope, no flashbacks from Momo, only terrifying sci-fi torture devices
poor Dark Shadow is such a trooper omg
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“why am I the only one who has to make prolonged contact with his smelly disgusting self” taking one for the team there DS
FUCK YEAH KAMINARI NO JUTSU
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THE PRICKLY BASTARD WHISPERER STRIKES AGAIN!! don’t suppose you brought any clean clothes you could sneakily force him into huh Kami
okay here we go, so now Shouji and Tokoyami are joining forces
um excuse me this is fucking awesome
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wonder how he’ll break free? don’t think he’ll reveal Fa Jin until the end of the chapter, so maybe Air Force or something? idk
TOKO GETS AN EXTENDED MOMENT BECAUSE HE IS A TIER TWO PATREON REWARD LEVEL FRIEND YAY
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WHY IS MOMO MAKING THIS FACE LOL YOUR THING WAS WAY WORSE
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and Shouji just casually hitting him with what is easily the best comment from anyone yet. too bad Deku’s just gonna ignore it. you deserve better Shouji
KAMINARI OMFG
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it only just occurred to me that Kami is currently trapped inside Dark Shadow right along with him lmao omg. realest one in the entirety of BnHA, right here. we will never forget your sacrifice
aaaaaaand Deku’s yeeting himself
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do you really hate the thought of taking a bath that much my dude
oh shit the mask!!
-- oh shit the feels
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o(TヘTo)
fuck. and I mean, we knew he was crying, that was a done deal. but still, to see him in this much pain is just...
and the acknowledgement that he knows they’re worried about him, but that it doesn’t change his mind one bit. this, right here, is why they have to be a bit harsh with him, you guys. because they’re up against the full, unbridled stubbornness of Midoriya fucking Izuku, and if they don’t match that stubbornness with an equal stubbornness of their own, they basically don’t stand a chance
(ETA: quick note that there is apparently another mistranslation here -- rather than saying that his friends are oblivious to the danger, what Deku is actually saying is that none of his friends have activated his Danger Sense once throughout this entire fight. which I had been wondering about, and it turns out Horikoshi actually confirmed it. so basically none of the kids bears any ill intent toward him, and there’s literal proof right there.
incidentally, as @class1akids​ pointed out, this also casts an interesting light on this chapter in terms of who hasn’t fought Deku yet. not to play the Hagakure Traitor Music for the billionth time you guys, but I’M JUST SAYING lol.)
anyway, but the good news is that they all seem to understand that. and the even better news is that we have reached the tier 3 friends!!
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“OR ELSE” lol, great to see Shouto wielding his friendship just as aggressively as Deku once did towards him. I do love a good role reversal
p.s., ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “why is Shouto being so cruel to Deku can’t he see how hard this is on him”
PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: this is a callback to the classic “even heroes cry when they have to” Shouto line from chapter 137. Shouto is clearly following Kacchan’s lead here and going for the more ruthless approach, knowing that the gentle approach isn’t getting through to him (if anything it’s only making him more stubborn as we saw on the previous page). basically it’s his way of pointing out that even heroes are still only human, and so is Deku last time he checked
ah okay, and there Tsuyu is at last
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okay real talk, I get why Tsuyu is included in the tier 3 friends, because she was one of the first people to team up with Deku going all the way back to USJ. but that said, this probably would have had more impact if their most recent interaction hadn’t been like 150 chapters ago
but anyway though it’s still a good speech. maybe not quite a cliffhanger-level speech, but a good speech nonetheless. in a way though, I’m glad to see that Horikoshi seemingly didn’t give a fuck whether he ended this on an actual cliffhanger or not for once
and that “headed toward the climax” part has me excited too, ngl. because if we really are getting to the so-called climax this soon, that makes me even more certain that there is indeed a DvK3 in the forecast. so I presume that next week (or I guess two weeks from now) will be the tier 3s along with the remaining tier 2s like Kirishima and Aoyama
and then after that, well... [orange and green banners being hoisted] [sound of screeching airhorns and vuvuzelas in the distance] [sound of All Might approaching in his car which I didn’t notice until I looked back at this page a second time whoops] THE PROPHECY WILL NOT BE DENIED
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sunshinewrit-ing · 3 years
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Norse Mythology
ig: @sunshine.writing
As with every culture, there are many different interpretations and I tried my best to use the most popular ones. There are also many different versions and spellings for the names of the gods and goddesses, but I used the anglicized and most popular spellings. 
Aesir and Vanir
The Norse gods are divided into two families, the Aesir family, and the Vanir family. The Aesir family is the larger of the two and is mostly connected with war and government and includes the gods Odin, Thor, Loki, Baldr, Hodr, Heimdall, and Tyr. The Vanir family includes the fertility gods and goddesses such as Njord, Feyr, and Freyja. Both families reside in Asgard but don’t see eye-to-eye as shown through the Aesir-Vanir war. 
Besides the Aesir and Vanir, there are also female deities known as Disir, Alfar (elves), Jotnar (giants), and Dvergar (dwarves).
Aesir Gods and Goddesses
Odin - Odin was the King of the Aesir clan and known as “the father of all gods.” He’s depicted as a one-eyed, bearded old man wearing a hat and a cloak. He was said to have slain the first being known as Ymir before carving up his body to help create the Earth. He was one of the most powerful and revered of the gods and associated with wisdom, knowledge, healing, death, and war. He also ruled over Valhalla. 
Thor - Son of Odin, he was regarded as the strongest of all the Norse deities because he was tasked with safeguarding Asgard. He was the most popular of all the gods and worshipped by most Vikings. He was the god of thunder and lightning and wielded the Mjolnir. He rode a chariot drawn by two massive goats called Tanngnjostr and Tanngrisnir.
Loki - Loki was considered a “blood brother” of Odin. He was known as the trickster god and was equipped with the ability to shapeshift into different forms. He was the chief engineer behind the death of Balder.
Frigg - Frigg was the wife of Odin and the queen of the Aesir gods. She was the only one allowed to sit next to her husband and always stuck by her partner even though he had many extramarital affairs.  She was worshipped as the goddess of the sky and associated with wisdom, marriage, family, and fertility. She was blessed with the power of divination but never revealed her visions to anyone. 
Baldur - Son of Odin and half-brother to Thor, Baldur was the god of light and purity. He was described as fair, kind, and handsome, whose beauty was unparalleled. He was the epitome of all things wise and good and often praised for his mercifulness. Also thought to be immortal, he had been prophesied to die and was slain by an arrow made out of mistletoe, his death orchestrated by Loki. 
Heimdall - Heimdall is the son of Odin and no less than nine mothers, and is the watchman of the god. He dwelt at the entry to Asgard where he guarded Bifrost. 
Tyr - Tyr is the god of War and the Lawgiver of the gods. The bravest of the gods, he makes the binding of Fenrir possible by sacrificing his right hand. He’s the son of Odin and the son of the giant Hymir.
Idun - Idun is the goddess of spring or rejuvenation and is the wife of Bragi. She was the keeper of the magic apples of immortality which the gods must eat to preserve their youth. 
Bragi - Bragi is the skaldic poet of the Aesir and his name means “poet”. He’s the son of Odin and possibly the giantess Gunnlod, and the husband to Idun. 
Vili and Ve - Vili and Ve are the two brothers of Odin who helped to slay Ymir to create the remaining seven realms. They’re the sons of Bestla and Borr and were raised in the realm of Nifelheim. 
Forseti - He’s the son of Baldr and Nanna, and is the god of justice and reconciliation.
Gefjun - She’s the goddess of agriculture, fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Her name can be translated to “Giver” or “Generous One.”
Sif - Sif is the wife of Thor as well as a giantess and the goddess of grain and fertility. She was one of the Asynjur and mother of Ullr.
Fjorgynn and Fjorgyn - Fjorgyn, also known as Jord, is a giantess and the mother of Thor through an affair with Odin. Her masculine form Fjorgynn is the father of the goddess Frigg, the wife of Odin. 
Sol and Mani - Sol and Mani were the beings who drove the sun and the moon in their courses through the sun. They were sister and brother, and both were fair and beautiful. Sol had to travel at great speed, pursued by a wolf named Skoll who would eventually devour her. Mani kidnapped two humans named Bil (waning) and Hjuki (waxing), children of Vidfinn, and forced them to travel with him. Like his sister, he was also being chased by a hound named Hati Hrodvitnisson. 
Ullr - Ullr is the god of sports, particularly archery and skiing. He’s the son of Sif and Egill and step-son to Thor. 
Hoenir - Hoenir is a warrior god and is the travel companion of Odin and Loki. He was also part of the creation of Ask and Embla. He goes with Mimir to the Vanir as a hostage in order to seal a truce to the Aesir-Vanir War. He’s the god of indecision, avoidance, and mystery. 
Vidar - Son of Odin and Gridr, he was known as Vidar the silent, the possessor of the iron shoe, the enemy and slayer of Fenrir, the avenger, and he who inhabits the homestead of his father. He’s a warrior god and an excellent fighter. 
Hodr - Hodr is the blind god of winter and warriors. Oftentimes he’s depicted with a bow and arrows, or the spear that Loki used to trick him. He was the son of Frigg and Odin and twin brother of Baldr. Sometimes he’s thought to be a god of darkness.
Vali - Son of Odin and the giantess Rindr, Vali was born for the sole purpose of avenging Baldr. He kills Hodr and binds Loki with the entrails of his son Narfi. He’s the god of vengeance.
Vanir Gods and Goddesses
Freya - Freya was the goddess of fate, love, beauty, gold, war, and fertility. She ruled over the meadow of Folkvangr and owned a torc or necklace known as the Brisingamen as well as a cloak made of falcon feathers. She rode a chariot drawn by two cats and was accompanied by a board called Hildisvini most of the time. She practiced Seidr, which is a form of magic that allowed her the ability to control and manipulate the desires and prosperity of others. 
Freyr - Freyr is associated with sacral kingship, virility, peace, prosperity, sunshine and fair weather, and good harvest. He’s the son of Njord and the god of fertility, rain, and sunshine. His twin sister is Freyja.
Freyja - Freyja, twin sister and counterpart of Freyr, was the goddess of love, fertility, battle, and death. Her father was Njord. Pigs were sacred to her, and she rode a boar with golden bristles. 
Njord - Njord is the god of seas, wealth, wind, and fishing. He was the father of Freyr and Freyja. 
Nerthus - Nerthus is a goddess associated with fertility. She was also associated with peace and prosperity. She was the wife and sister of Njord and the mother of Freyr and Freyja.
Gullveig - Gullveig is a sorceress and seer with great love and lust for gold. She was speared by the Aesir, burnt three times, and yet thrice reborn.
Odr - Odr is the husband of Freyja
Norse Creatures
Dwarves - Also known as dark elves, they’re small creatures that originated as maggots from the corpse of Ymir. They live underground in Svartalfheim (literally means “home of the black elves”) and are said to have crafted the finest weapons and jewelry such as Mjollnir and Gungnir. In certain myths, they’re portrayed as turning to stone if exposed to sunlight. 
Draugar - The Draugar are the undead. Some myths describe them as creatures who drink blood, they’re more similar to zombies than vampires. They possess superhuman strength and can increase their size at will, but have a constant stench of decay and appear as a dead body. They often live in their graves to defend the treasure they were buried with but can also enter communities to torment those who wronged them in life. They’re said to be able to enter the dreams of the living to torment them, and would leave behind a gift so the victims knew the encounter was real. 
Elves - Elves are separated into two different types; Dokkalfar, or dark elves, and Ljosalfar, light elves. Dark elves are thought to be the same as dwarves and light elves are described as more beautiful than the sun. They’re generally described as having an ambivalent relationship with humans.
Fenrir - Fenrir was the son of Loki and the giantess Angroboda. He was raised by the gods of Asgard to stop him from wreaking havoc across the nine worlds but the gods ended up deciding to chain him up. It’s believed that when Fenrir breaks his chains to get his revenge, it will lead to Ragnarok, the end of the world. 
Fossegrimen - Also known as the grim, he’s a water spirit who plays the fiddle mimicking the sounds of the forest, wind, and water. He can be bribed to teach his skill with an offering that he deems sufficient. He’s also known to lure women and children to lakes and streams where they drown.
Huldra - Wardens of the forest and part of a group of Ra that protects various locations. Female Huldra are described as beautiful and seductive, with a long tail of a cow and their back covered in bark. They can disguise themselves as young women to walk in the world of men but their power of illusion is broken if someone sees their tail. They lure young, unmarried men into the forest and keep them as slaves, lovers, or sometimes they’ll suck the life out of them. 
Jormungandr - Also known as the Midgard Serpent, Jormungandr is another child of Loki and Angrboda. He is a snake or dragon that lives in the sea surrounding Midgard. He is described as an enemy of Thor and during Ragnarok, the two are fated to slay one another. 
Jotnar - Jotnar, meaning “devourers”, are giants with powers that rival the power of the gods. They’re the enemy of the gods and the Jotnar embody chaos. Many of the Asgardian gods are descended from Jotnar such as Odin and Thor. 
Kraken - Aquatic monsters that are believed to live off the shores of Norway and Greenland. They’re depicted as gigantic octopi or squids. They mostly ate fish but when it rose to the surface, it was believed to cause large whirlpools which would help it attack ships.
Valkyries - The female helping spirits of Odin, depicted as elegant maidens who ferry the slain to Valhalla. Their name means “choosers of the Slain”, which hints at their more sinister side, the fact that they also choose who lives and dies in battle. They would sometimes use malicious magic to ensure their preferences.
Sleipnir - Odin’s mighty eight-legged horse is the child of Loki and Svadilfari. It had eight legs so that it could have one leg in each of the Norse worlds. 
Mare - The Mare monster gave people bad dreams at night by sitting on them in their sleep. Often they were witches whose souls took the forms of animals, but normal people, particularly adolescents, were also thought to become Mare when their spirits wandered. It was believed that when the Mare touched a living thing, people, cattle, or trees, it would cause their hair to become entangled. 
Trolls - There are large ugly trolls that dwell in forests and mountains, and small gnome-like trolls that live underground in deep caves and caverns. They’re depicted as not very intelligent and malevolent but can show kindness in exchange for a favor.
Norns - The three principal Norns served as the caretakers of the tree of life, but their care only slowed the death of the tree. 
Ratatoskr - A squirrel that runs up and down the tree of life delivering the messages of the gods. He enjoys stirring trouble between the wise eagle that sits atop the tree and the hungry dragon that swells in its roots. 
The Nine Realms
Yggdrasil - Yggdrasil is the mighty tree whose trunk rises at the geographical center of the Norse spiritual cosmos. It’s believed that the nine worlds are all held in the branches and roots of the tree of Yggdrasil. It’s commonly said to be an ash tree.
Niflheim - The realm of fog and mist. It’s the darkest and coldest region of all the realms. It’s one of the first two realms and is placed in the northern region of Ginnngagap. Hvergelmir is located in Niflheim, which is said to be the source of the elven rivers. As Yggdrasil started to grow, it stretched one of its large roots far into Niflheim to draw water from Hvergelmir. 
Muspelheim - The land of fire. Muspelheim was created at the same time as Niflheim but was created far to the south. It’s a burning hot place filled with lava, flames, sparks, and soot. It’s the home of the fire giants, fire demons, and is ruled by Surtr.
Asgard - Home of the Gods. The most commonly known realm, Asgard is located in the middle of the world, high up in the sky. It’s the home of the gods and goddesses and is ruled by the chief of Aesir Odin. Inside the gates of Asgard is Valhalla, the place where half who die in battle will go for the afterlife and the other half go to Folkvangr.
Midgard - Home of the humans. “Middle earth” is located in the middle of the world below Asgard. Midgard and Asgard are connected by Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge. It’s surrounded by a large, impassable ocean that is occupied by the Midgard Serpent. The first two humans were Ash and Embla and were sent to Midgard after being created from tree logs by Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve.
Jotunheim - Home of the giants. Jotunheim consists mostly of rocks, wilderness, and dense forests, and lies in the snowy regions on the outermost shores of the ocean. There is no fertile land in Jotunheim. Jotunheim is separated from Asgard by the river living which never freezes over.
Vanaheim - Home of the Vanir. Nobody knows where exactly the land is located or how it looks. 
Alfheim - Home of the light elves. Alfheim is located right next to Asgard in heaven. The god Freyr is the ruler of Alfheim. 
Svartalfheim - Home of the dwarves. Svartalfheim means dark fields, and they live under the rocks, in caves, and underground. Hreidmar was the king of Svartalfheim until he was killed. 
Helheim - Home of the dishonorable dead. Hel is where the dishonorable dead, thieves, murderers, or those the gods and goddesses feel are not brave enough to go to Valhalla or Folkvangr. Helheim is ruled over by Hel and is a very grim and cold place. Any person who arrives at Helheim will never feel joy or happiness again. 
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rhyselinn · 3 years
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Gather round folks, it’s time to talk about Shovel Knight characters’ canon heights!
First things first, let’s talk about our friend Reize Seatlan.
His creator, Seizui, has been building canon around this character for years, and this link tells us that Reize’s canon height is 160 cm (5'3").
Let’s take a look at this boy’s sprite: (complete with blue Photoshop rulers in case you want to see where I measured from)
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*caveat: Reize’s hair is extremely fluffy. It runs in the family, so I counted his height as being shorter than the height of his hair. It makes sense and it makes the math easier
Counting the pixels in Reize’s sprite, we can see that he is 32 pixels tall. So when we divide 160 cm by 32 pixels, we discover that each pixel in the Shovel Knight universe is 5 centimeters in real life.
So, what does this mean for the rest of the Shovel Knight cast?
Great question: I’ve got the rest of the math (with screenshot proof) under the cut:
Alright, in no particular order, let’s talk about Plague Knight next.
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--Worth noting that I’m using playable/Showdown sprites as opposed to boss sprites when possible. This helps keep characters proportional to each other
--Plague Knight is 31 pixels tall = 155 cm tall = 5 foot 1. Tiny plague knight, but as we’ll see later, not the tiniest member of the cast
Tiniest member of the cast, you say? Could you mean... Tinker Knight?
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--Tinker Knight slouches in almost all of his sprites, so I tried to find a sprite of him NOT slouching. That extra pixel makes a difference for this tiny character lol
--27 pixels tall = 135 cm tall = 4 foot 5. tiny tinker. But still not the tiniest member of the cast, believe it or not!
Shovel Knight:
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--fairly straightforward. i did wonder if his victory pose was any taller than his regular pose, but it's not
24 pixels tall = 120 cm = 3 foot 11. tiny. tiny shovel. the average 9 year old child is between 120-145 centimeters. So not only is Shovel the size of a 9 year old, but he might actually be the shortest in the class...
Black Knight:
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--there are interesting things i could say about the bird feather situation but eh. imma go with eh. bird feathers do not count as height, final answer --other than that, pretty easy here
24 pixels tall = 120 cm = 3 foot 11. same size as shovel, aka also the size of a 9 year old. adorable
Propeller Knight:
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--slouches REALLY BAD. ALL THE TIME. --his least slouch-y sprite is his tuxedo sprite from the end of Plague of Shadows, so I used that initially... only to realize that he's the exact same height in his other sprites as well. How about that! Maybe he has some kind of a battery pack for his propeller hat in the back of his shirt. It would explain his terrible posture.
--39 pixels tall = 195 cm tall = 6 foot 4. Tall, but not unreasonable.
Mole Knight:
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--has some fascinating squash and stretch in his sprite sheet --fabulous from an animation standpoint. difficult from a math standpoint --i refuse to count his fire-hair as height lol
Squash sprite: 32 pixels tall = 160 cm = 5 foot 2 Normal: 36 pixels tall = 180 cm = 5 foot 10 Stretch sprite: 46 pixels tall = 230 cm = 7 foot 6 (!!!)
I have no explanation for this other than artistic liberties lol
Specter Knight:
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--i'm so glad player sprites exist lol. Specter's boss fight sprites are just piles of cloth with him slouching underneath. I will gleefully ignore them for this exercise --that said, even with player sprites, specter knight is HUNCHED OVER ALMOST ALL THE TIME. AUGH. --fortunately, cold shoulder sprites exist, and a few other action-y type poses. they’re pretty consistent with each other (within a pixel or so) --how much of Specter's hood is fluffy cloth vs actual height? good question. I compared to one of Donovan's sprites to give us a good estimate, give or take 1 pixel or so
37 pixels tall = 185 cm = 6 foot 0. Pretty average here.
Treasure Knight:
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--also slouches in a lot of his sprites, but at least has a few non-slouchy sprites for us to examine. I chose the taller of the two for consistency (difference of 50 vs 51 pixels)
Treasure Height: 51 pixels = 255 cm = 8 foot 4 (!!!?!) This man is huge!
King Knight:
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--his normal standing sprite met my requirements, so I used that --I included his boss sprite without the crown for comparison, because a crown does not actually make one taller lol (sorry not sorry, king) --this also shows the importance of using player sprites vs boss sprites. the difference between the two is pretty obvious here
32 pixels tall = 160 cm = 5 foot 2. tiny. tiny king
Polar Knight:
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--hunched over. like, all the time. --there aren't really any sprites of him not hunched over, but the least hunched over is him doing his shovel up attack, so I'll use that, and his normal sprite for comparison
Normal sprite: 47 pixels tall = 235 cm = 7 foot 8 (!!!) Tall sprite: 58 pixels tall = 290 cm = 9 foot 6 (!!!?!?!?!) tl;dr polar knight is a beast of a man and we all knew that already hahaha. the tallest man on record in medical history was 8 ft 11. This is absolutely bonkers
Shield Knight:
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--while she does have hunched over sprites, i simply avoided them lol. --how tall is her head inside her helmet? great question! the world may never know. Since our only reference for this is concept art (which does little more than tells us her head is shaped like a human’s and not, say, a squid’s), I kinda winged the exact pixel count. --also worth noting is that she grows a few inches when she sticks her leg out lol
Normal sprite: 35 pixels = 175 cm = 5 foot 8 (tall but normal height for an adult woman) Tall sprite: 40 pixels = 200 cm = 6 foot 6 (!!!!) (hOLY MAMA beautiful big buff lady)
And just for fun, I added a few other important characters from the main stories:
Mona:
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--we know she is a tall lady, but exactly how tall? --all of her sprites seem pretty consistent in height, which makes my job easy!
48 pixels tall = 240 cm = 7 foot 10. (???????!!!?) She is the size of Shovel Knight and Black Knight stacked on top of each other. Amazing. I have nothing but awe and admiration for this incredibly tall lady
Luan:
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--He has a bunch of funky tumbling/hunched over sprites and very fluffy hair. like father, like son. I did my best to pick the most reasonable sprites of the bunch --after that, I decided two pixels of hair is enough. voluminous hair is impressive but is not height --similar to Shield Knight, he grows a few inches when he sticks his leg out lol
Normal Sprite: 39 pixels = 195 cm = 6 foot 4 Tall Sprite: 43 pixels = 215 cm = 7 foot 0 (!!) All the better for reaching those hard-to-reach platforms in the Tower of Fate, I guess?
King Knight’s Mom:
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--last but not least, the best character in king of cards (you know it's true lol) --she also has somewhat fluffy hair. i'm not counting her bun as height.
41 pixels = 205 cm = 6 foot 8 (!!!). It's not Mona tall, but it's still very tall. Tallness may run in the family, but King Knight seeems to have missed out on all of those genes hahaha.
Special thanks to https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/shovelknight/ for having all the sprites in one easy place! Thanks for reading!
*disclaimer: I am only human and if I flubbed the math or measurements on any of this, I hope you’ll forgive me. I promise I didn’t mean to slight whichever character was affected
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tealquacks · 4 years
Text
They Share a Kitchen 3: Grocery Gathering
Originally posted here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317644/chapters/58625389
@alexalexisalexej
I’m sorry this took so long, but I hope y’all enjoy!
It had been a little over a week since Remus made the croissants, and the daily routines still hadn’t quite recovered. At breakfast, Virgil showed up ten minutes later than usual, and stood nervously in the doorway, checking to make sure nobody unexpected would be in the kitchen. Roman never came to visit the kitchen, but Patton brought him meals three times a day— 9:30 am, 1:20 pm, and 5:50 pm. Virgil would occasionally join him. 
Patton and Janus still met for tea every single day, but they never stayed in the kitchen anymore. Patton would ask Janus to take walks with him. They’d stroll through Roman’s side of the imagination, then drink their tea and talk. The only reason Logan knew this was because Patton brought it up at dinner one night. Virgil left shortly after. 
The only people who remained unaffected were Remus and him. They kept to their usual schedules. Except now Logan found himself staying up late to talk to Remus while he cooked. He had yet to make paella— something about wanting to save it for a special occasion.
Every day felt like a special occasion. Logan couldn’t help but stare at the charts he had made, one pre-Remus, and one post-Remus. Color coded and organized. Pristine.
“It’s surprising,” Logan had said at breakfast that morning, eating some waffles Patton had made, “that Remus spending one day in the kitchen threw all of our schedules into chaos.”
Virgil glared at him silently. Patton stared down blankly at his waffles.
“I don’t like him,” Patton murmured.
“You seem to get along with Deceit just fine,” Virgil spat, lip twitching in silent anger. Patton sighed.
“His name is Janus, Virgil. Be polite.”
“Why should I care?”
“Because it’s rude to call him Deceit— Logan, how would you feel if we only called you Logic?”
Logan sat straight. If he said he didn’t care, that would be mostly honest. If he said he did care, that would make it seem he had some sort of emotional attachment to his name. He swallowed.
“I don’t care either way. However, Janus now seems to prefer we address him by his real name. Besides, deceit is not his only function.”
Virgil rolled his eyes, staring angrily down at his plate of waffles. That was the end of the conversation at the breakfast table. Logan ate in silence, slowly sipping water out of a glass with a lemon on the rim. 
Now, he sat at his desk. The clock said it was 2:28 pm. The kitchen would be perfectly empty, since Virgil and Patton no longer had their little talks in the kitchen. Logan didn’t know where they went, and he didn’t care to ask. Of course he worried about them, but he didn’t think where they talked mattered so much. He set down his pen, thinking of when Roman had run from the kitchen in horror, Remus doing nothing but sitting at the table.
Suddenly, someone knocked at his door. Logan stood from his comfortable office chair, and walked to the door. He adjusted his tie and smoothed his hair down before calmly opening it. That calm facade almost broke when he saw Remus on the other side, wearing a painfully bright yellow bucket hat, a fishnet shirt, and a green pair of cargo shorts. He had a bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hello, Remus.”
“You remember how you said I should make paella? Well I thought real long and hard and I thought that you could not only help me with the cooking but you could also help me with gathering the shit that goes in it! Like clams and mussels. One recipe says squid but I’ve honestly never cooked with squid and I’m not interested in fucking with that.”
Logan blinked, slowly trying to take in the information, and the sight of Remus before him. Remus never came to his room. Nobody did. It seemed like there had been an unspoken rule made, that he was never to be interrupted. Now the matter at hand.
“You want me to accompany you in collecting the ingredients?”
Remus nodded violently, causing the bright hat to flop off his head. He picked it up, and put it back on. Logan blinked.
“I’ll take that as a yes. And this involves going under the water?”
“No shit Sherlock! That’s where the mussels are! Unless you count these guns—“ Remus flexed his arms, a stunning smile on his face. Logan looked at the bag he carried, then to the yellow hat on his head.
“I think it would be best if you changed into something more… sensible.”
Remus wagged his brows, leaning up against the doorway.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m wearing a speedo under these shorts.”
“I meant the hat. It will make you very, very visible.”
“It’s okay,” Remus rebutted, “I think fish are colorblind. Maybe. Do you know?”
Logan gnawed on the inside of his lip. He didn’t know. He couldn’t say so, that would be seen as weakness. But Remus was… different, somehow, uncaring about strength and weakness. He took a slow, deep breath.
“I honestly don’t know,” Logan responded, “most fish only see two colors, but I’m unsure how many can see yellow. However, if your plans are to go underwater, it would be wise to forgo the hat.”
Remus shrugged, took off his hat, and tossed it into Logan’s room. It landed on the neat sheets of his bed.
“We won’t be in the water the whole time,” Remus said, “we still have to get other things? Like, erm, I don’t have the recipe on me but we’re almost out of apples, and honey— honey will be a bitch to get but you know what I have?”
Logan furrowed his brows, staring at the bag.
“A beekeeping suit, a smoker, and an apiary of some sort?”
“Nope! Just my morning star and overwhelming hubris!”
Logan didn't know what he’d expected. Of course Remus wouldn’t go about getting honey in any sort of logical way. 
“There are other things we will need.”
“You have a special request?”
Logan shook his head.
“I don’t. But paella requires saffron,” Logan explained. “Saffron is derived from the stigma of Crocus sativus.”
“Huh? What’s uh….” Remus trailed off, snapping his fingers a few times. “What’s the common name of that?”
“They are also known as autumn crocus, or saffron crocus. Do you know where these flowers grow?”
Remus raised his eyebrows, tapping his fingers to one another— thumb to index, thumb to middle, thumb to ring, thumb to pinkie. 
“Lemme think… I have a spice garden in my side, but I didn’t know that saffron came from a fucking flower! But I do have a bit of land I could… flowers. Goddamn! Saffron from flowers! That’s pretty cool! I have to ask— how did people think of putting it on shit?”
Logan suppressed a smile as Remus flapped one of his hands a little. It felt nice, being asked harmless questions, not being interrupted. Even then, he couldn’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop, for Remus to tell him to shut up. He took a deep breath.
“It is commonly believed that saffron originated in Greece, however most of it is grown in Iran, I believe.” He paused, giving Remus ample time to say something. Instead, Remus waved his hand at him.
“Well? Go on.” 
Logan shifted from foot to foot.
“Saffron is incredibly expensive due to the fact that one flower only produces three strands when it blooms, and the flowers only bloom for one week each year. Saffron has been used and cultivated by humans for more than three thousand and five hundred years, and has been used not only as a seasoning, but also as a dye, fragrance, and medicine.”
Remus grinned, eyebrows raised. 
“Cocaine used to be used as a medicine! Freud diagnosed it to some of his patients for depression, I think! Did you know that cocaine, like meth, can cause people to hallucinate vermin crawling under their skin? And they’ll scratch at their skins to get them out!”
“Ah, yes, delusional parasitosis, also called formication.”
“Fornication?”
Logan shook his head.
“I doubt formication and fornication could be mistaken for one another, unless ones idea of fornication is subdermal penetration.”
“Oh, talk dirty to me!” Remus cried, rolling his shoulders. Logan couldn’t stop his lips from twitching up into a small smile, but turned his expression back to a straight face as quickly as he could. 
“So what are you looking to retrieve?” Logan asked. Remus reached into one of the many pockets of his cargo shorts, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He dramatically unfolded it.
“Apples, honey, saffron, I guess, and mussels and clams and whatever else we may find. So is that a yes?”
Logan paused for a moment. He’d been to Roman’s side of the imagination, and the land was bright and beautiful, filled with fantastical creatures and lush landscapes. However, Remus was the opposite of Roman, or at least the bits of creativity that Thomas considered unpleasant enough to purge from his consciousness. So what did that include? The horrifying, the macabre, and the explicit. Dicks, drugs, and the disturbing. None of it could hurt him. And judging by the fact Remus sought him out to come with him, he wouldn’t even be threatened. As long as he was cautious, he would remain unharmed during their journey. That was reasonable enough to assume.
 But what about the others? He would be expected back at dinner, which was at five pm. That would only give him two and a half hours with Remus, and time seemed to go much faster while around him, probably something to do with how Remus’ nature distorted reality around him, that reality including the way one would perceive time passing. Logan looked into his room. If he left the door closed, the others wouldn’t bother him. Patton would leave dinner outside of his door, he’d done it before, many times, but he wouldn’t come in. So he could miss dinner. If they asked questions, he could say he was busy. And they’d believe him.
Logan stared at the yellow bucket hat, garish and blinding on top of his sheets. He swallowed.
“Yes, I will accompany you.”
Remus flapped his hands expressively, smiling like a million and a half suns. He hopped from foot to foot, then did a little spin. 
“Fuck yeah! I’ll let you get changed, meet me in the kitchen as soon as possible! It’ll be so much fun!”
Just as Logan opened his mouth to tell Remus he would be wearing his usual clothing, Remus sprinted away. He let out a deep sigh. He wore his usual outfit— black dress pants, a black polo, indigo tie, dress shoes. Comfortable and professional. If he were to open his closet, there would be exact clones of the exact same outfit. Of course there was always the clothing he wore on Halloween, but a bulky, velveteen coat would be even less practical. The Sherlock costume would be out of the question, and he’d long since gotten rid of his onesie. 
So that left him in his typical outfit. However, the tie around his throat could possibly get caught and damaged. Logan touched his striped indigo tie, and slowly loosened it. Halfway through doing so, he realized he would look like an absolute fool without his tie. Even to Remus. Logan pulled the tie tight, so tight it almost choked him, and walked out of his room, slowly shutting the door behind him.
Logan silently crept through the hallway then down the stairs, making sure to skip the one squeaky step. If Virgil caught him with Remus, willingly spending time with him… well, he didn’t know how he would react. Virgil hated him, saw him as a nuisance, and there certainly was some history between the two of them. He had no clue what, despite the fact Virgil had once been a ‘dark’ side. 
He stepped into the kitchen. Remus sat on the table, kicking his legs back and forth. Somehow, even wearing those ridiculous clothes, he looked like he belonged in the kitchen. Logan pushed his glasses up. Remus smiled at him, hopping off of the table and grabbing his arm in a tight grip. His hands felt burning hot.
“Are you ready to go?”
Was he? If the others—
“—Yes, I am.”
Remus tugged on his arm, and they both sunk down into the white tile of the kitchen floor.
A gust of warm, sweet air hit him in the face. Logan gasped at the sensation, staggering backwards. He tripped on a stone, and landed on his ass in tall grass. All around them grew wildflowers and grass, and the clouds gently danced in the sky. The flowers swayed in the wind, blossoms of all hues growing around them. Truly, a beautiful landscape. Strange.
“Is this your side of the imagination?” Logan asked, ignoring Remus’ offered hand in favor of standing up by himself. 
“Yup! Wild and uncivilized. I had an idea for a monster— it’s an intelligent being that’s made of fungi that connects to the roots of plants, like how a brain makes neuron paths! Earth brain! We’re currently standing upon the brain of the smartest being in the imagination! Well, except for you, now that you’re here.”
Logan nervously looked down at his feet, face flushed. He really didn’t want to ask what the thing looked like, but his curiosity begged him to. His ego, meanwhile, preened at the small praise.
“Does it have a body?” Logan asked, “does it need to feed?”
“Yes to both questions!” Remus proclaimed, “The body is like. Laying down sort of? It’s like a big, smart pancake! And it eats! Don’t worry, it won’t eat us. Or any other side. Or cows since it’s lactose intolerant. But it won’t eat any sentient beings, like us sides! Except for Roman and his creations of course.”
Logan raised an eyebrow.
“Why only him?”
Remus twirled around, then pointed off into the distance. Logan looked to where he was pointing, and there in the horizon he spotted a massive palace, one he immediately recognized as belonging to Roman.. 
Remus opened his mouth, then suddenly shut it, a manic smile splitting his face. 
“Look, here comes a unicorn! Oh, you’ll love this.”
And just as Remus had said, a white stallion with a gleaming horn pranced into the field of flowers. It wandered forward, then bent down and started to graze. As it opened its mouth to take a bite, the plants suddenly burst to life, wrapping around the unicorn. It fought and kicked as the thick grass dragged it to the ground— no, into the ground, as if the prairie earth had turned into quicksand. The unicorn whinnied and thrashed, until it was pulled fully under the ground, horn disappearing in the thick foliage. 
“It absorbs its prey, like a protist.” Logan said breathlessly. If he could feel, he wouldn’t know if he felt shocked or impressed. 
“Yeah! This land, in like a mile wide stripe, is the border between my land and Roman’s. And I don’t want anything to do with his shit. So anything that comes over here gets chomped up by Bartholomew!”
“Bartholomew?” Logan asked.
Remus crouched, patting the ground. He flopped onto his front, pressing a little kiss to the earth.
“It goes by Bart for short. And don’t worry, we had a conversation and it’s fine with it/its pronouns. Anyways what should we get first?”
Logan stared at the earth, shifting from foot to foot. Thousands of questions were bubbling in his head, but Remus had brought him to gather ingredients, not to ask questions. 
“Apples,” he croaked out. Remus leapt to his feet, looking him in the eye.
“I said it won’t absorb you. It only eats Roman and Roman’s shit. And even if you did get eaten, you’d be able to sink out. You’re safe.”
Logan inhaled slowly, then let out a deep breath. He didn’t care if he was safe. He wanted to ask how Bartholomew dissolved its prey, what acid it used to break down prey, he wanted to ask about the ph of the soil—
“Let’s go get the apples,” Logan insisted.
Remus nodded.
“The orchard is like, ten miles away? I don’t know but I can teleport us. Will it make you puke? Since Jannie told me that when he and Patton were in the imagination they saw Roman and Roman teleported them away from him and then Patton puked his guts up!”
“I don’t puke,” Logan explained, “I’m not human, and I can’t pretend to be.”
“You are a part of a human. Anyways, let’s go!”
Remus grabbed his arm, and the world shifted around them, the ground fell out from under his feet— for an instant, he felt like he was flying and falling all at the same time.
Then the ground appeared again. Logan stumbled. The sun was filtered through the branches of tall trees, taller than any apple tree he’d seen. The ground felt hard, and thorny bushes grew between each massive tree. Strangely enough, even though the air felt warm, the branches had no leaves, as if winter was coming. Logan looked down at his feet. The earth was covered in a layer of frost. He crouched down and touched it, and his fingers brushed coarse weeds and warm frost.
“This is fascinating,” Logan said. He scooped a little bit of frost into his hand. It didn’t melt. 
“How so?”
“Where do I start? The trees— they’re far too tall to be apple trees, yet they still bear fruit. And they have no leaves, which raises the question of how they perform photosynthesis. Not only that but the ground is covered in frost, and the frost is warm. The frost is warm, but it also doesn’t melt in my touch. Truly fascinating.”
Remus flicked his wrist, and a red apple the size of a fist fell into his palm.
“I like the way that frost looks, but I fucking hate the cold! So I made this place! And the branches are high so I can climb them and see out above the entirety of the land! But if you take issue with the height of the trees…”
Remus took a bite of the apple. He stomped his foot. Suddenly, one of the trees shrank, smaller and smaller, until it was the size of an actual apple tree. Ripe, beautiful apples hung off the branches.
“There,” Remus said, “that should be low enough for you to reach.”
“I’m not that much shorter than you,” Logan said, “do you have something to keep the apples in?”
Remus reached into the bag, and pulled out a wicker basket. Logan almost asked how he managed to do that, but realized it would be pointless. This was Remus’ land, it ran by his rules.
“I have a question!” Remus proclaimed.
“Go ahead,” Logan said, silently glad Remus had gone back to asking questions.
“Why are you so touchy about shapeshifting? Like. You never do it. I mean when the cameras aren’t rolling. You look exactly like Thomas and you never change it up!”
Logan froze. He pulled an apple from one of the branches and set it carefully in the basket.
“Patton is emotionally unstable. Virgil is a ticking time bomb. Roman tends to prioritize fantastical ideals over reality. Janus is level headed, but Thomas only just accepted him. And I’m unsure if he’ll ever accept you.”
Remus took another big bite of the apple.
“And what does this have to do with you not shapeshifting?”
Logan sighed.
“Thomas needs someone to be steady. Someone for him to rely on and trust no matter what the situation is. I don’t want to lose his trust.”
Remus giggled. Logan picked another apple.
“He trusts Patton even when he’s a fucking puppet. It’s not about trust, is it?”
Logan set the apple down in his basket.
“How many of these do we need?”
“Fuck if I know, fill the basket. But if it’s not about trust, then what is it about?”
Logan picked an apple, staring at the deep red color. He rubbed it against his polo, and he could see his reflection.
“Thomas hasn’t been listening to me as much as he should. I’m hoping that if I maintain the same appearance as him, he’ll be more inclined to listen to what I have to say.”
Logan stared at the apple. He shouldn’t be here. If the others found out he’d spent so much time with Remus, then what would they think of him? Would they consider him a friend anymore? That plus the fact he was picking apples, something they didn’t even need to do because they could be summoned with the snap of a finger. He didn’t need to eat. Logan set the apple in his basket.
Remus hummed. He flicked his wrist again, and apples began to rain from the sky. They struck the ground hard enough to bruise, and the noise they made was thunderous.
“Do you think the apple rain helps or diminishes the experience of apple picking?”
Logan stared up at the sky— cloudy, with a chance of apples.
“I don’t think catching apples in a basket counts as picking.”
“But it does count as fun!” Remus insisted.
“It’s not very effective.”
“Really now? Watch this!”
Remus pulled another wicker basket from the bag, and held it above his head. One, two, three apples hit the basket hard. The fourth made a sickening crunch as it hit the basket, and Logan flinched.
“What was that?”
“Some of the apples have bones!”
Logan furrowed his brows, looking at Remus. Another apple fell into his basket, thankfully lacking the crunching.
“An odd feature for an apple to have. What are the purpose of the bones? Structural stability? Do the bones assist in reproduction?”
“None of that!” Remus responded, “I just like the crunch! And Jannie likes the extra calcium!”
Logan nodded. Somehow, the fact that nothing made sense was logical. This was Remus’ land, it obeyed him. He plucked another apple from the tree.
“You know, Logan,” Remus said after a moment,  basket held over his head, “I think you’re Eve.”
Logan raised his eyebrow.
“And what do you mean by that?”
Remus shrugged. Another apple landed in the basket with a crunch.
“Well, you see, Eve ate the apple from the forbidden tree, because she wanted to know the difference between good and evil, she wanted to see like god. In all honesty, I don’t think she was tricked. She knew what she wanted. She knew what she was getting into. She was just scared to be held liable. She was scared of the judgement.”
Logan plucked another apple from the tree. He had to stand on his toes to reach it. What Remus was saying made no sense. If God had dropped him in the garden and told him to not eat the apple, he would’ve followed the rules. And he certainly feared no judgement. Certainly.
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t? So you would have rather stayed ignorant? Unharmed by what you don’t know?”
Logan froze. Remus continued talking.
“I remember Janus told me you really went off at him when he suggested that ignorance is bliss. So, I think you’re just like Eve. I mean, would you give up peace for knowledge?”
Logan plucked another apple. Of course he would. What he wanted more than anything was a life full of books and reading, knowing everything there was to know. Being an academic.
“That isn’t my choice to make. Thomas has chosen his path in life.”
“But what if it was your choice? Then what would you do?”
Logan picked another apple. The basket was close to full.
“I would choose knowledge. I have told you what I would do as a human, I would pursue knowledge above all. I wouldn’t be able to stop my pursuit. I would never be satisfied.”
Remus snapped his fingers, and the apple rain stopped as suddenly as it started.
“Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. Proverbs 1, verse 20.  You’d never be able to stop learning once you started. Which I think is pretty cool!” Remus looked him dead in the eye, lowering his basket from his head. “You’re a passionate guy, Lo. Show it. I liked hearing you talk about saffron. And if they won’t listen? Then—“
“Then make them listen. Yes. You said it before.” Logan sighed. “I must admit, I don’t think I would be able to. Once they see me as a joke, it’s over. I’m only listened to when I’m being used to counter something that inhibits Virgil and Patton. For example, when you and Janus first appeared. I… I think we have enough apples.”
Remus took his basket, full of apples, and shoved it into the bag. Logan gave him his basket, and watched Remus make it disappear.
“If they won’t listen to you just because they see you act improperly, because they see you smile and feel happy, then they’re a bunch of hypocrites that I want to punt into the fucking sun.”
Logan took a deep breath in. A tiny little voice inside of him screamed to lash out, punch a tree in anger and frustration and pain, but that would be illogical. The apples had been picked. That was all. Now saffron, or honey, or whatever Remus would drag him to next. Then he’d be back in his room, asleep in his chair, then in the morning—
“I honestly don’t know why you care so much,” Remus said.
Logan exhaled.
“They’re all I have.”
Remus set a hand on his shoulder.
“Well, you’re have me now, too. Let’s go get the saffron!”
The earth suddenly fell out from under his feet. Logan couldn’t help the surprised yelp that escaped his mouth, hand flying out to grab Remus’ arm. Then as quickly as it disappeared, the earth came back, and his feet hit the ground. He yanked his hand away from Remus, brushing invisible dust off of the front of his shirt. 
They had appeared in a desert. The sun beat down bright and strong, no clouds in the sky to inhibit it. His feet sank into the sand. A harsh wind kicked up the sand, and it flew around in a flurry like a blizzard. Logan gazed at the horizon. Nothing for miles and miles, just sand, low and level.
“Is this where you find saffron?” Logan asked. Remus crossed his arms.
“You should know better than anyone that flowers can’t grow in a desert! And besides, I just found out saffron came from flowers. So I have to grow them!”
Logan raised an eyebrow.
“Why bring us to a desert then?”
Remus smiled.
“Oh, you’ll see.”
Remus turned away from him. He raised his hands out, like he was conducting a band. He slowly breathed in. Logan felt the sand under his feet shift, pull together, and shake. Logan’s eyes went wide.
“What’re you—“
Remus turned back to Logan, eyes filled with fire.
“What is the best condition for crocuses, Logan?”
Logan swallowed, mouth suddenly dry.
“Saffron crocuses bloom in early to mid fall, and prefer sandy loam and lots of sunshine. They prefer soil with good drainage, as well as a pH range of 6.0 to 7.0. Crocus grow best in hardiness zones 5 through 8, not too hot, but not too cold either.”
A cool, fall breeze ruffled Remus’ hair and the fishnet shirt he wore. Logan raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t tell the temperature, but it certainly had gotten cooler.
“What is sandy loam?” Remus asked, knocking Logan’s train of thought off the tracks.
Logan paused for a moment. Remus really wanted to know. But why? The imagination didn’t follow the laws of physics or nature, why would he want to know? He said he liked hearing him talk. But did he?
“Sandy loam is soil that, while containing silt and clay, has primarily sand in it. It is a good soil for gardening because of its draining abilities… Does it matter?”
Remus tilted his head.
“Well, if you were to be making a big ol’ crocus field, you’d care about the soil! Everything about it! So since it matters to you…”
Remus smiled brightly, and grabbed Logan’s arm, tugging him. Logan let himself be pulled, finding himself right in front of Remus, stumbling as the ground shifted under his feet. Bright sand melded together and changed, turning into dark, rich earth. Logan knelt, scooping a little bit into his hand. Sandy loam. 
The soil in his hand moved, like a miniature earthquake. A small, green sprout rose from the dirt, reaching towards the sun. Delicate green leaves grew, and so did a small, purple bud. It opened. Vibrant amethyst petals showed themselves to him, but so did three red stigma. Saffron.
“My god,” Logan said, “that was amazing!”
Remus snorted out a laugh.
“What, you've never seen Roman do something like that?”
Logan shook his head. Roman preferred to run his side of the imagination like an actual human kingdom, planting saplings and waiting patiently for them to grow. Sometimes, he’d see Roman in the wheat fields, harvesting wheat with a large iron scythe, just how a human would do. He let everything take its time, and grow at its own pace. 
“Really?” Remus crowed. “Well then— watch this!”
Remus cackled, and snapped his fingers.
The ground shifted under Logan’s knees, and hundreds of little green sprouts poked out from the dark earth, basking in the gentle sunlight. Glorious purple buds opened to reveal perfect crocuses, each with three sprigs of saffron inside. Logan gazed out to the horizon. The desert had turned to a field of purple, as grand and never ending as a sunset.
Logan’s jaw dropped open in shock. For miles and miles, nothing but crocus…
“Amazing,” Logan whispered, “absolutely amazing.”
With a thud, Remus sat down next to him. He leaned forward, and tore one of the crocuses from the ground, holding it up to Logan. Then, the petals shuddered, as if blown by an invisible wind, merging and shifting until they had formed a purple frog.
“Look,” Remus exclaimed, “it’s a croak-us!”
Logan couldn’t help but snort with laughter, covering his mouth quickly. His eyes went wide. Remus didn’t seem to have any intention of poking fun at him for laughing, but it was better safe than sorry. Though he couldn’t help but think of Remus, sat at the kitchen table in nothing but an apron, saying that he’d beaten him fair and square, and could do so again. Logan lowered his hand from his mouth, chuckling quietly. It was a pretty funny pun.
"Yes," Logan opened his mouth, closed it, then exhaled. "'It's quite ribbit-ing." 
Logan looked up, meeting Remus’ eyes. There was no judgement, no smugness. Remus looked absolutely fucking delighted, a manic glint in his eyes.
"You've toad the line!” Remus cackled. Logan laughed quietly, staring right at the little frog in the flower, trying to think of another frog pun. His brows furrowed in thought. 
"Did you know that in South America, there's a species of big frog with enough poison to kill two thousand men?” Remus said, interrupting Logan’s train of a thought. 
"I don't believe that's true. The golden dart frog grows only up to five millimeters, as opposed to the goliath frog, which can grow up to three-hundred and twenty, and weigh just over four pounds."
“Damn, you know a lot about frogs,” Remus said, “it’s pretty cool!”
“I researched them extensively after Patton turned into one, just in case another problem arose.” 
They stared at each other, much too long to be considered normal. Remus's lips twitched. The silence grated on Logan’s nerves. Had he said something wrong? 
“Would you like to play a word association game?” Logan nervously asked.
"Part two: Electric Boogaloo!" Remus exclaimed, startling the croak-us enough to hop into the fields of its former kin.
He brought his hand down onto Logan's in a low five, purple petals smeared onto his palm. Remus was still grinning, parts of his moustache standing on end, like he'd been shocked. Electric Boogaloo. Remus sat, cross-legged in the new soil so they were face to face. Logan brushed against him, and felt the burn of a spark go out on his leg. Electric Boogaloo, again.
"Vampire,” Remus said.
Logan’s mind jumped to when Virgil had dressed as a vampire for halloween.
"Halloween."
“Black?”
"Orange."
"Bok choy!” Remus chirped.
Logan paused. What led to that connection? Remus shrugged.
"Plant,” Logan said, brushing off his previous confusion.
"Maple.”
"Canada.”
"Pancakes."
"Syrup."
"HONEY!"
Remus snapped, loud as a cracking whip. Logan watched him shake a freshly printed page he clutched in his hand, peering at it intensely. 
“It says on our list that we need honey!”
Logan looked back out at the field of crocuses. Every single one of them had three sprigs of saffron inside, red and beautiful. He could smell it, the aroma beautiful and heavy. 
“We have to harvest the saffron first, for the paella. How much will we need for the recipe, Remus?”
Remus sighed.
“Harvesting saffron ourselves sounds like a big waste of time. Don’t you think?”
Logan brushed his fingers on the warm, rich soil. He imagined Remus and him in the field of saffron, carefully plucking saffron from the flowers, putting the delicate threads in jars to be dried later. Then he could ask all the questions in the world about the soil, the saffron. He could spend hours talking to Remus about everything he wanted to. He wanted to say so much. And yet his mouth wouldn’t obey him. Remus wouldn’t tell him to shut up, so what was stopping him? Nothing was stopping him.
“Yes,” Logan said, “it would take up a good deal of time. But honey won’t take that long, will it?”
“I don’t even need honey,” Remus admitted, “I just wanted an excuse to spend time with you without any of the others popping in or having to wait until like five am. You’re the functional one, you gotta get some sleep.”
Logan’s eyebrows shot up. Oh. Remus’ words slowly went through his head. His heart did a backflip— even though that certainly was anatomically impossible— and his lungs stopped taking in air.
“Yeah,” Logan said, voice quiet, “I do. I mean— uh. Spending time with you is much better than laying unconscious for eight hours.”
“As if you get eight hours of sleep,” Remus said, a bright smile plastered on his face.
“So. We don’t need honey?”
“We still need mussels.”
“Mussels, yeah,” Logan said, breathless, standing up, “lead the way.”
“What about the saffron?” Remus said, raising an eyebrow. He stood.
“...Well. We can always come back for that some other time.”
Remus nodded, a bright smile plastered on his face.
“Yeah, some other time. Well then. Off we go!”
Remus grabbed Logan’s arm, and the world fell away from them. Logan closed his eyes. 
Waves crashed gently. He could hear them, and feel a cold sea breeze blow on his skin, ruffling his hair. He slowly opened his eyes. Apparently, night had fallen while his eyes were shut, and moonlight bathed everything in a pearly pale light. The air smelled like salt. Both of his feet were solidly on a wooden dock. Remus’ hand still felt warm on his arm.
“How long did that take?” Logan asked. The sun had still been up when they left.
“It’s always night here,” Remus explained, shifting his weight from foot to foot, “I like it better that way. Look at the beach and you’ll see why.”
Logan turned his head. The moon shone gently on the black sand beach, but more impressive were the waves— each foaming, rushing wave carried with it an ethereal teal glow, like all the stars in the sky were gently ebbing with every wave. Logan stared at the water, eyes wide. 
“The waves glow like that because of an algal bloom, right? And when the water moves it causes the algae to glow. It is absolutely wonderful, Remus.”
Remus smiled, running his hand through his hair, almost as if he was shy.
“Thanks, this place is one of the first places I’ve ever made, and the first one I felt satisfied with. The rest of this place I like to keep constantly changing, but not here.”
Remus walked to the end of the dock. He calmly set his bag down, then yanked off his fishnet top, holding it in his hand. Logan watched his hands undo the button of his shorts, then watched Remus toss his shorts onto the dock, revealing the bright green speedo he wore, leaving nothing up to the imagination. Remus raised his arms out like Christ on the cross, looking up at the full moon. Then he tilted backwards, gracefully falling off the dock, and landing in the water with a loud splash.
Logan slowly walked to the end of the dock. He knelt, knees pressed against wet wood. Even through the glowing waves and the dark water he could see Remus’ back, his legs, pale skin disappearing quickly underwater. 
Logan’s hands clasped the indigo fabric of his tie. Then they drifted down. He sat down, cross legged, staring down at the water. Slowly, he took one shoe off, setting it carefully behind him. Then the other. He pulled off his socks and placed them in his shoes. Then his pants, leaving him in boxers, his shirt, and his tie. He took off his glasses.
His hands clasped his tie again. He gazed at the water, dark as the night around him except for the beautiful waves and the occasional glimpse of Remus’ skin. Then he raised his head, staring out into the distance. He could see for miles. Empty, dark ocean, with no land in sight. Slowly, he loosened the knot. His hands shook. 
Remus wouldn’t care. He wouldn’t care if he took off his tie. He wouldn’t see him as less. He would see him as Logic, as Logan. Nothing less. 
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of cold, salty air. pulled off his tie, setting it with the rest of his clothing. Before he could lose his nerve he yanked his shirt off, threw it haphazardly in the pile of clothing, and ran to the end of the dock. He jumped. Time seemed to slow as he rushed through the air, flying to the water—
He landed with a loud, graceless splash. The water around him lit up like fireworks. Surprisingly, the water felt warm compared to the bite of the wind. Logan couldn’t tell where Remus was, he just knew he was underwater with him now. Logan kicked and paddled until he reached the surface, gasping for breath. A sharp laugh escaped him. His heart pounded in his chest— he could feel it beating, even though he knew he didn’t need one to function. The waves rushed over him, bright as all the stars. 
Logan treaded water in place, then let himself tilt back, until he floated on his back. Waves gently rocked him, and he let them. What had he been so scared of? He laughed again, much quieter, listening to the waves rush to shore. 
Next to him, he heard Remus surface, taking a deep breath.
“You good?” Remus asked. Logan turned his head a little, looking at Remus. His hair was soaked, plastered to his forehead.
“Perfectly fine,” Logan responded, “and you?”
Remus didn’t answer, just smiled and sunk into the water. The wind blew cold over his skin, sending a shudder up his spine. Remus had to be swimming under him, collecting the mussels he’d use for the paella. Logan couldn’t help but wait for the time they’d be able to spend in the kitchen, knees bumping, or the time they’d spend collecting saffron, the sun shining on violet flowers in a golden gleam. 
Logan breathed out slowly. There was something with Remus that made all his thoughts become portraits. Cohesive, yes, but coated in a loveliness that never used to be there. It might have to do with the imagination. It might not. 
The waves beneath him swelled, then gently ebbed out. Remus surfaced again, treading water as easily as breathing. He’d changed his fishnet top into a net, which was full of mussels and what looked like clams, maybe? Logan couldn’t tell. 
Remus gingerly grabbed Logan’s arm. The waves under them swelled. 
“Let’s go back up onto the dock,” Remus whispered.
Logan nodded. Within the blink of the eye, they both appeared on the dock, both of them soaking wet. Remus shook his head like a dog, water flying everywhere. Logan raised his hand to keep the water from hitting him, even though he was already absolutely soaked. Remus set the bag of shellfish on the dock with a clatter. 
He calmly took one out of the net, and Logan realized they were oysters, not clams. Remus grabbed his bag, unzipping one of the pockets and pulling out a knife. He held the oyster carefully, curved side flat against his palm, and wiggled his knife into the hinge between the shells. Remus’ hands were surprisingly steady, even as the knife slipped between the shells and the oyster popped open. He scraped the knife against the inside of the shell, freeing up the meat, then knocked the oyster back like a shot.
Silently, he offered Logan the knife. Their fingers brushed as Logan took the hilt of the knife, grabbing an oyster from the net. He mimicked Remus’ movements, trying to slip the knife between the two shells. Remus chuckled, and grabbed the hand that held the knife. 
“You have to press harder,” he said, “you can’t finesse your way into the shell, you have to put some oomf behind it. If you don’t, it’ll never ever open up.”
Logan swallowed. He felt oddly lightheaded as Remus guided the knife between the shells of the oyster, helping him push the knife into the space between the shell, easing the hinges apart with the flat of the blade. The shell slipped into the cup of his fingers, just so, supported by the weight of Remus's hands over his, thumb pushing against his, twisting the hinge open with a pop.
"See?" Remus was grinning, that ever-present expression of glee, and Logan tore his eyes from it to the movement of hands again, guiding the knife under the oyster to lift the flat shell off. 
"These would be good for the garden," Logan blurted out. Remus looked up, just as attentive as he'd always been, and the words caught in his throat for a second. "For- for the soil, oyster shells, when ground into powder, have been shown to improve soil pH and nutrient status, strengthening cell walls due to an increase in calcium, overall resulting in healthier produce.”
Remus tilted his head. Logan’s face flushed.
“...I know you employ an extraordinary method of growing and cultivating, and therefore have no need for this knowledge, but tossing them aside or simply letting them disappear seemed.. unnecessary."
"I think you need to stop worrying about what I need to know, and start asking what else I'd want to hear,” Remus said with a grin, “But it is flattering that you think it's extraordinary. Now why don’t you try the oyster?”
Logan stared at the meat of the oyster.
“I just… drink it?”
“Like a shot, yeah.”
Logan slowly brought the oyster to his mouth. Slowly, he tilted his head back, opening his mouth.
The taste made his eyes go wide. The meat of the oyster was plump against his tongue, but it tasted like coppery brine. He swallowed it without chewing, since he hadn’t noticed Remus’ jaw moving. The coppery taste lingered on his tongue. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of fresh, ocean air.
“Why don’t you stay here?” Remus suddenly asked. Logan’s eyes shot wide open. He had another oyster in his hands, wriggling his knife between the shells.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Remus looked down at the oyster, face surprisingly blank and unreadable.
“You spend all day in your room except for when you come out and cook with me. I have a feeling that I almost wasn’t able to get you out of your room today. So why don’t you just stay here? I can make you a castle or a cottage for you to study in, and you won’t have to worry about the others bothering you. And you’ll be able to come here whenever you want. So what do you say. Will you stay?”
Logan stared down at his hands. He could. He could say yes, and watch Remus make him a place to stay, a place that was truly his. No worries of anyone walking in and seeing him disheveled, just himself and Remus.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t say yes. I’m needed with the rest of the sides, and Virgil may see my leaving as betrayal, or a sign of untrustworthiness. I need to keep them on my side. I need them to trust me, to listen to me.”
Remus still was fixated on the oyster. The knife slipped between the two shells, and it popped open. Remus’ brows rose.
“I still think you’d enjoy it here more than you would crammed in your little room all the time. And I don’t know how to tell you in a way that’ll make you listen, but they need you more than you think they do. You are all of Thomas’ cleverness and wit. Where would he be without you? Creativity is nothing without knowledge— whether its working with or against knowledge.”
Logan shook his head. Remus slowly reached for Logan’s hand. Logan let him take it, pull his fingers open, and press something into his palm. It felt like a pebble. Logan felt his hands ball into fists.
“Roman seems to mostly work against me, but at least Thomas heeds his words. I really can’t stay here. I…. I should honestly go. It’s late.”
Logan awkwardly stood, fists still clenched. Remus looked up at him with wide eyes, brows furrowed.
“Are you sure?”
Logan opened his mouth, but no words came out. A part of him still wanted to stay, to sit with Remus at the dock and watch the glowing waves, to eat oysters with him. He closed his mouth and nodded. Remus sighed.
“Alright. I’ll teleport you and your clothes back to your room. Just… you’re welcome back whenever you want. Don’t be a stranger, Logan.”
Logan smiled. He wanted to say something, but the next thing he knew the world vanished around him. Then it reappeared, and he saw the door to his room. There was a bowl of spaghetti in front of it. It had long grown cold, but Logan picked it up anyways, and stepped into his room.
He set the bowl of spaghetti on his desk, and haphazardly tossed his clothes on the floor. He felt soaked to the bone, and started to shiver a little, even though he knew he couldn’t feel cold, couldn’t feel pain, couldn’t feel the cocktail of conflicting emotions inside of him. With a sigh, he sat in his office chair. His hands, still curled into fists, shook slightly. What had Remus given him? Slowly, he relaxed his fingers. 
Resting in his palm was a round, black pearl. 
Logan stared at the black pearl in his palm. A million different thoughts rushed through his head, most of them strange and illogical. He could go back to the pier and watch the luminescent waves, or help Remus grind the oyster shells down into fertilizer. And they would eat oysters together until they had enough pearls to make a necklace, a necklace he’d wear wherever he went.
Then what? 
Then Logan would wear the necklace, and someone would ask where he got it from.
This was for the best for Thomas’ stability. It had to be.
Logan let his head flop against the headrest of his office chair, and shut his eyes, hoping sleep would take him.
He never let go of the pearl.
724 notes · View notes
swordandquill · 3 years
Text
Leverage Writing Prompt #31
Title: Future Tides
Fandom: Leverage
Summary: Nate has been keeping a secret from the team, but an inopportune explosion forces him to reveal it.
This is a prompt fill for @leverage-writing-prompts. I actually submitted this prompt back in July, but only got around to finishing it now.
In honor of the beautiful (and also occasionally creepy) mer-May art I still have circulating on my dash: Parker (or Nate) is secretly a merperson. When a job goes wrong, they’re forced to reveal their secret.
@rinahale did a really fun fill for it already with Mer-Parker.
You can go here to read this on AO3 instead.
Author’s notes: The merrow are Irish merfolk who require a magical cap to move between land and sea.
Bone and Sickle podcast by Al Ridenour did a really great episode on the Kraken (Ep 65: The Kraken & Other Marvels of the Northern Sea). In its earliest renditions, the Kraken was a sea serpent. It was only later that it became associated with first giant octopi, then the giant squid.
*************
Nate knew as soon as the explosion knocked Eliot over the railing of the pier that he only had one option. Eliot was strong swimmer, but not stronger than the turbulent currents under the pier, particularly if he was unconscious. Nate hadn’t been able to tell in the split second it had taken to register him going over.
Even as he was yelling for the rest of the team to get off the burning structure, he was shucking off his shoes and jumping over the railings. He hoped they listened. The rickety structure was going to collapse, with or without another explosion. Getting to Eliot before he got bashed into the pylons was going to be enough of a challenge without having to worry about the rest of the team ending up in the water.
By the time Nate hit the water, his fingernails had hardened into claws, and he used them to tear the rest of his clothes off so he could finish the change. There was something euphoric about settling into his other form. He hadn’t changed since before Sam was born, and it was like finally allowing himself to scratch an itch that had been burning its way through his skin.
There wasn’t time to think about that though. Nate blinked his second eyelid closed, and the murky water sharpened into black and white, the fire above reflecting through the water in bright, washed-out streaks. He had to fight the chaotic currents rushing under the pier to stay still long enough to spot Eliot.
He had already been swept under the pier, probably already been driven into the pylons at least once, and was limp in the water. Nate flicked his tail and pushed into the current, using it to reach Eliot before he could be driven into the pylons again, but he wasn’t able to get them clear of the pier before the next surge. The best he could do was curl around Eliot and turn them so his back hit the pylon instead of Eliot. He was going to be bruised, but it was better than Eliot hitting again.
He pushed hard across the current and surfaced a good four meters from the pier. Eliot started coughing as soon as they broke the surface. The shear relief of it left Nate drifting for a moment, Eliot’s head tipped back against his shoulder and the rip tide pulling them out. There was blood fanning across Eliot’s face from a cut at his temple, and he wasn’t quite conscious, but he was breathing, and for now, that was enough.
Nate cut across the rip to escape it, then brought them into shore, doing his best to keep Eliot’s head above water, although there was no doubt he had breathed in more water by the time they reached the shore.
Changing back was not as easy or simple as the change to had been, but Nate had known it wouldn’t be, known he couldn’t deny his body something it had been craving for so long, then expect it to just let go of it so quickly again. It meant he had to drag Eliot up onto the beach with a tail, which was less than ideal and required more arm strength than he was used to using in either form, but he managed it.
He turned Eliot on his side in the sand as he continued to cough up water. Part of him wanted to leave him here for the team to find and make a break for it before they saw. Eliot was unlikely to remember anything, and Nate was sure he could make something up that would appease them. Then nothing would have to change.  
Eliot’s eyes fluttered open, and he shifted fitfully, his whole body shaking with cold and shock.
“Just lie still,” Nate brushed the wet hair from his face with a webbed hand, “you’re alright.”
Eliot blinked up at him, and Nate waited for the reaction, but Eliot just gave an unsurprised “oh” before another coughing fit had him curling back into himself.
Nate let out a sigh and rubbed his back. He couldn’t wait to hear what “distinctive” thing about him had tipped Eliot off to what he was.
Someone yelled his name, and he looked up to see three silhouettes, framed against the light of the burning pier and racing towards them. It was a relief to see them, but Nate couldn’t help the unease as they got closer.
Parker reached them first, too focused on Eliot to pay much attention to Nate. She dropped down in the sand next to them, grabbing Eliot’s shoulder and shaking him in the Parker version of gentleness. Eliot batted at her weakly, but curled closer to her none-the-less. It wasn’t until Nate brushed her hand away when she tried to poke Eliot that she finally looked up at him.
Nate braced himself for fear, or disgust, or any number of negative reactions, but her face lit up like she’d just received a bag of non-sequentially numbered bills.
“You have cool teeth!” she told him brightly.
Nate’s world snapped back into place and all the unease drained out of him.
“Thank you, Parker,” he said drolly, just managing to not run his tongue over the points of his teeth.
“Oh my,” Sophie stopped short as she reached them, and Hardison almost ran into her.
“What is it?” the hacker demanded anxiously, “is Eliot…”
Hardison trailed off, mouth open and eyes wide at the sight of Nate’s tail.
“Nate’s a mermaid,” Parker announced gleefully.
“Do I look like a maid to you?” Nate groused.
“Maybe if you had a feather duster,” Sophie was giving him a look that said they would be having a long, unpleasant conversation later, “and a frilly little French smock.”
“Mermaids are real?” Hardison sputtered.
“Merrow,” Eliot corrected hazily, then curled into another coughing fit.
Nate was never going to hear the end of this from any of them. The fast-approaching sirens were almost a relief.
“Get him out of here,” Nate helped Parker to sit Eliot up, “don’t let him tell you he doesn’t need a hospital. He’s got water in his lungs.”
Hardison ducked down and helped Parker get Eliot to his feet. He swayed unsteadily, and the two were quick to get his arms around their shoulders and take his weight.
“What about you?” Sophie gestured towards his tail.
“Changing back takes longer,” Nate made a shooing motion, “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“You promise?” Parker demanded, refusing to be dragged in the direction Hardison was trying to usher both her and Eliot, “not like the little mermaid; you won’t turn into sea foam for loving humans?”
“No, not like that,” Nate assured her with an eyeroll, “hurry up and get out of here so I can too.”
“But you promise,” Parker refused to budge, “you’ll catch up later. You won’t disappear.”
“I promise,” Nate snapped, “go already.”
Parker grinned and turned back to help Hardison with Eliot.
“Don’t think I won’t send a trawler after you if I have to,” Sophie threatened, then turned to follow the rest of the team in the direction of the waiting van.
Nate didn’t doubt she would, and that they would find him, but he didn’t have any intention of making them do that. For now though, he pushed back into the water and let the waves carry him back out towards the open sea.
**********
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were a mermaid,” Hardison hissed, voice low in a futile attempt to not wake Eliot.
“Merrow,” Eliot mumbled groggily.
Futile because Eliot wasn’t sleeping. Exhausted, still feeling chilly if the truly ridiculous number of blankets piled on him were any indication, and a bit out of it from a not insignificant head injury, but not asleep, at least not at the moment.
“You know, I googled that,” Hardison groused, “just because Nate wears stupid hats all the time doesn’t mean he’s some kind of Irish shape-shifting sea creature.”
Sophie snorted indelicately.
“That’s not…” Eliot started to protest, only to be cut off by Parker, which was probably for the best given how soar his throat sounded.
“You can’t have your hat back,” Parker pulled Nate’s hat down farther on her head; she must have picked it up after he dropped it at the pier, “just in case.”
Eliot moved restlessly in his hospital bed, and Nate, sitting on the edge of it, dropped his hand down to pat the hitter’s wrist. He left his hand there, fingers resting lightly against Eliot’s pulse point.
“You can keep the hat, Parker,” Nate said easily, “it looks good on you.”
Parker beamed at him from the foot of Eliot’s bed.
“It’s a con anyway,” Nate continued dismissively, “someone made it up centuries ago to trick fishermen and it stuck.”
“You really are a merrow,” Hardison deflated, as if the reality of it had finally sunk in.
“Yes, Nate,” Sophie sat back in the uncomfortable hospital chair regally, looking for all the world like a queen reigning over her court, “do tell us about being a mythical sea creature.”
Parker leaned forward like a child eager for a bedtime story.
“Well…”
Nate was interrupted by Eliot reaching up with his free hand to try to pull his oxygen cannulas off. Again. Nate caught his hand and lowered it back down to rest on his chest.
“Leave that be for now,” Nate gave his hand a pat.
“I don’t want it,” Eliot shifted, movements agitated and unsure, as if he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do, “we should get out of here. It isn’t safe.”
“I’ve got it all taken care of, man,” Hardison reassured him patiently, “we’re safe.”
“Security’s not…” Eliot started to protest.
“We’re security,” Nate let his hand fall back to Eliot’s wrist and left it there, “we’ll check in with the doctor this afternoon and reassess, alright?”
Eliot grumbled, but settled down again.
There was very little chance of Eliot being released before tomorrow. He was responding well to oxygen, and the CT had looked good, but he had been unconscious underwater, and that wasn’t something any of them wanted to take lightly. He was having trouble focusing and keeping track of what was going on around him, and it wasn’t because of the relatively mild pain meds he had been given.
Better to keep him where he could get the care he needed, at least while they could. Nate wasn’t kidding about reassessing. If the situation changed, and they needed to go to ground, they had other resources they could tap into to make sure Eliot still got taken care of. For now, though, this was best.
“Nate,” Parker was looking at him intently, “Sophie said I should pick something besides money that I want for my birthday.”
Nate turned to face her, resigned to whatever was coming.
“I like gold and gems too,” Parker grinned, “shipwrecks have lots of gold and gems.”
Nate gave a long-suffering sigh, and pointedly ignored Sophie suppressing a snicker.
“It wouldn’t even be like stealing,” Parker pressed, “it’s not like anyone really owns it anymore.”
“There are plenty of countries that would disagree with you on that,” Nate said dryly.
“Only if they know we have it,” Parker shrugged, “so can we go diving for treasure for my birthday?”
“You have to commit to a date for your birthday first, sweetheart,” Sophie pointed out, “also, if we’re diving for treasure, there is the platinum reserves Spain dumped into the ocean in the 16th century. Probably not enough to make the expense of an actual expedition worth it, but if you could just swim to it…”
“No,” Nate said firmly, “absolutely not. We are not treasure hunters.”
“But we could be,” Hardison smiled impishly, “we do need alternative revenues streams after all.”
“Not Spain,” Eliot murmured sleepily, “’s guarded.”
“By what? A kraken?” Hardison scoffed, then paused, “wait, there isn’t a kraken, is there?”
“No,” Nate said firmly at the same time that Eliot said “yes.”
He glared at the hitter, who gave him a tired, shit-eating grin.
“It’s not a cephalopod,” Eliot looked far too pleased with the way Hardison started to sputter.
Nate pinched the bridge of his nose. At this rate, they were never going to get Hardison near the water again.
“You’re making that up,” Hardison balked, “there aren’t sea monsters.”
“How would you know?” Eliot countered, “you don’t even swim.”
Hardison opened his mouth to deny the accusation, but Nate interrupted him.
“What I want to know, is how you knew what I was,” he gave Eliot a curious look.
It would be good for him to know what had tipped Eliot off so he could fix it. The fewer people that could tell what he was, the better. Maggie had known, had seen him change once before they were married, but he hadn’t wanted to split his life between two worlds. He had chosen the land, still chose the land. That remained where the things that mattered to him were.
“You bled all over me when you were shot,” Eliot said, “your blood is different than human blood. It’s distinctive.”
Not something he could do anything about then, although it was interesting to him that Eliot hadn’t bothered to say anything about it sooner. As with all the random and far-reaching knowledge Eliot had, Nate was caught between wanting to know how he knew and feeling it was probably best not to ask.
“That’s just nasty,” Hardison grumbled.
“So we’ll go to South American, and Hardison and I will track down the shipwreck sites,” Parker continued as if she had never been interrupted, “you can search the shipwrecks, and Eliot can help me update my dive certification.”
“Whatever you want, darling,” Eliot yawned.
“Do I get a say in this?” Nate asked.
“Probably not,” Sophie looked thoroughly amused.
“It will be like a family vacation,” Parker grinned, clearly excited by the idea, “you and Sophie keep saying I’m supposed to try normal people things that I haven’t done before.”
Nate knew a lost cause when he heard one. He sat back and listened to Hardison and Parker plan, keeping half an eye on Eliot as he finally drifted off to sleep.  Sophie alternated between encouraging the pair with much too much enthusiasm and giving Nate thoughtful side glances. He was grateful she didn’t push for more information. Not yet anyway.
He had told Maggie before he had proposed to her. It had seemed unfair not to. And Sam… Sam had been so young. Nate was never sure he really believed it was more than a fairy story. Maybe if he had lived longer… gotten to be older… who knew what could have happened, what potential had never been unlocked. It hurt to think about, made him want to reach for a bottle and try to forget all the things his son should have been, should have had.
Eliot reached for the cannulas in his sleep, and Nate caught his hand, bringing it back down to his side and holding onto it.
Nate had a future here. Different from the one he had so badly wanted, shaped by different tides, full of unexplored depths and currents, but still good. He was learning to live with that, slow though the process was. It wasn’t the catastrophe he had always thought it would be, having them find out.
If the trade-off for this new future was the occasional treasure hunt, Nate could live with that.
*********
Parker continued to be non-committal about choosing a birthday, but there was a lovely 16th century gold and ruby pendent necklace tucked under the tree for her at Christmas.
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adultswim2021 · 2 years
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Squidbillies #3: “School Days, Fool Days” | October 31, 2005 – 12:00AM | S01E03
Squidbillies continues it's streak of being “sorta okay”. The show is still introducing itself to the masses with episodes that remind you of important character dynamics: Early is still learning to be a father to his son, and failing. The watchful eye of the Sheriff looms over Early's attempts, because if he doesn't do a good job he could go back to prison. I called this show “surprisingly serialized” but really what it's doing is what most sitcoms do in their first season; reintroducing the characters over and over again while paying enough lip-service to continuity as to not alienate those who've been and stayed on board. This one is about Early putting Rusty through school and opting to home school him in order to get some government cash.
The episode starts off with Early sending Rusty into a metal cage as part of a cockfight, with a party-hat affixed to his face like a beak, looking like a cruel, frankly racist mockery of a rooster. Rusty thinks he's playing soccer. The wanton cruelty that Early shows his own son is simply part of the series' humor. Rusty is nearly killed by the vicious bird, but luckily the Sheriff shows up in time to put an end to things. The rest of the episode becomes a series of gags where Early home-schools Rusty, teaching him various things, but in rude/wrong-headed ways.
The weird thing about this show is that it's remarkably unmemorable. I sorta like it in theory, and I believe the basic ingredients of this show could make for a funny episode. I just haven't seen it yet. There are a couple bits I admire but nothing that's made me laugh out loud. The unmemorable aspect of the show comes into play as I watch these season one episodes; I know I saw the pilot beforehand, but I'm not so sure I watched these actual episodes. And yet they all seem vaguely familiar to me. Like, maybe I DID watch this entire season and was just so unimpressed by it that none of it left an impression. I did own the DVD set. Maybe I threw them on dutifully and let them wash over me, justifying my purchase despite the fact that I got nothing out of them. Look! I'm using this superfluous thing I bought! Aren't I responsible with my money? My time, on the other hand...
MAIL BAG:
Sorry I forgot about the MAIL BAG, everyone. Yesterday’s post took forever for me to complete. It was so long. This person is referring to my write-up for Signals:
I am a fool. Let's be real here. But I still read your blog every morning during breakfast and it gives me something to do. We can be fools TOGETHER. Anyways, yeah I definitely love 12 oz. Mouse, so it's refreshing to see someone give proper respect to the show - most people I know fuckin hated it.
I do respect it, and I will defend to the death it’s right to exist.
adult swim tripling down on difficult "take it or leave it" kinda shows with squidbillies, 12 oz and perfect hair forever (even if squids is the most obviously accessible of the three), in a way i don't think they ever really did again. adult swim, feeling it's oats. cherish these moments, young lazzo,
Add Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil to that list, baby! And keep a watchful eye out for MINORITEAM, coming soon, unfortunately.
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tumbleranch-dorm · 4 years
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“You never heard of yodeling before? fufu I see.....no it’s nothing really Prefect”
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TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Name: Ferdrick Y’Oddel
Japanese: フレデリック・ヨーデル
Romanji: Furederikku Yōderu
Other Name:
Ferd (himself)
Boss (Eb)
Sir (Clinton)
Roi de Yodel (Rook)
Rank 3 Narcissistic Player (Idia)
Squid (Floyd)
Yawneler (Leona)
Voiced by Akira Ishida
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Birthday: March 15
Starsign: Pisces
Height: 184 cm
Eye Color: Pesto Green
Hair Color: Tabasco Red
Homeland: Town of Iron Pistol
Family: Father, Mother, Cole (distant relative)
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PROFESSIONAL STATUS
Dorm: Tumbleranch
School Year: Third
Class: 3-A Student no. 09
Occupation: Student and Dorm Leader
Club: Light Music Club
Best Subject: Music
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FUN FACTS
Dominant Hand: Left
Favorite Food: Scrambled Egg
Least Favorite Food: Canned Beans
Dislikes: Anyone dislike his talent
Hobby: Composing Lyrics, Guitar/Ukelele
Talents: Yodeling
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UNIQUE MAGIC “Yodeling is ART”
Controlling the minds of mages, even creatures with his hypnotic yodeling. This effect will temporary give a distorted colorful eyes once whom heard him yodel. Anyone couldn’t resist the power of his vibrant tune and obediently do what the user’s command and chances are might lose the memory during the hypnotic trance in the aftermath.....unless it was all just a dream.
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PERSONAL INFORMATION
Ferdrick is what the dorm needs for a leader to take over Tumbleranch. Truly industrious and sharp-witted yet confident and narcissistic with very much proud of himself possessing these kinds of traits. There are times he can be annoyingly too prideful having the tendency to flaunt others by his gentleman looks with his smooth talking especially likes to showing off he has the most beautiful yodeling voice than any yodeler’s out there. He does also sing but he prefers to yodel a lot. Very confident of his potential he wouldn't care less what others think about his talent, he's very self-assured of his potential and wouldn't mind demonstrating if they insistently asked also wouldn't mind to butt heads with anyone or dorm leaders if they asked for a challenge from him. He would immediately accept it to prove that he can do better than anyone else
Ferdrick is also a legend fanatic, deeply respected but more adored the dorm’s legend “Vainglorious and Notorious Outlaw” Ferdrick has a lot of knowledge about the legend’s stories thanks to research and ancient books pretty much loves to tell tales about it with anyone of those who haven’t heard of him especially to first years
Being as egoistic as he is but Ferdrick's words and actions are truly friendly & gentle at times. He wouldn’t mind to lend a helping hands of his peers, juniors, or friends when the situations are in a pinch but rather done it behind the scenes and little do they know he does care and worries of his dorm mates welfare and show a bit of softness even though when everyone is a bunch of rebelled children. Although for TR (tumbleranch) students, they seem to have mixed feelings towards their dorm head. They have respected him taking the huge responsibility of taking care in good hands while trying to discipline them before doing anything dangerous and do promise he’d make the dorm a better place for a new coming of students to feel at ease and enjoy the life here as shown how much work he’d put through for a leader
Well.....that wouldn’t be wicked for him to do. Don’t get him wrong, he’s not the type of person who’d want himself to be involved in danger like all of Tumbleranch would, and besides he’s honestly would never become one of them. Not entirely fond with rebels but he’s kind enough not to spoil everyone’s crazy fun time, permitting them to do unnecessary things just as much as they want but not too far (people stated him to be called “Boss” of the organization because Ferd does act like one) meanwhile students were frightened by him because of his fury & sadistic nature. His speeches will change to violent containing hurtful or insensitive remarks, subconsciously murmurs with a head full clouded of harsh punishments and using his favorite weapon to threaten others off with just a smile but usually, he’d chose to smack the heads of those who disobeyed, anger, or upset him, that’s all. Not to mention he’d be more infuriating if anyone say YODEL SUCKS in front of him. With hardheadedness around, he thought of being the leader would likely take over the herd but didn't expect this to turn out frustrating and troublesome to deal with than he ever imagine
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BACKGROUND
Born in a political family. He’s the only child living with his parents growing up in high-class society. Being pampered and groomed by maids and butlers everyday and his personality were different from before mainly he used to be so obedient towards his parents. His father is the mayor from his hometown “Town of Iron Pistol” while his mother is a sophisticated noblewoman from a noble family. Most of Ferd’s relatives, his father side, were well known and respectable politicians working part as the supreme democratic parties. His father wanted his son’s future to follow his footsteps as taking the position of deputy mayor and soon after, being as mayor once he grown to be a fine adult, one day. So during his childhood, both his parents decided to take Ferd in homeschooling and hired finest tutors giving him much proper educations of along with magic training living up to his life with no distractions in playing outside, nor with children, and nor meaningless children activities but books and learning mannerism then soon to realize Ferd felt nothing but bored and dissatisfied what his parent’s contribute to him. Few months later, the family went traveling for business and that time, Ferd happened to listen to country music for the first time by visiting to a concert. Young Ferd was contented by the music dreaming himself to be the famous country celebrity someday. Playing music and yodeling his heart out which is his first time feeling the excitement more passionate about it however none of his were parents approved of it. They thought it’s just a children’s fantasy and doubt their son’s dream becoming a country singer will ever come true and besides, they did the trouble raising him to be a successful son and it was right of them for their son to be one of the public parties just like their family. His dad was upset about Ferd and wouldn’t support his son’s dream by using his force to take away his instruments also forbids him to yodel. Despite the cruel punishment, Ferd had already made up his mind of pursuing his passionate dream, proving he can and will become a country celebrity. Time goes by, his relationship with his family are a bit complicated and constantly argue each other. Starting his college year at NRC, he decided to fake his own background. Lying to everyone believing he was an ordinary orphan who happened to got adopted by a loving and supportive family raised up to be hardworking, intelligent, and passionate boy he was and used that to hide his spoiled rich life behind. None of people of NRC even his dorm members know he’s a noble
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OTHER FACTS
He’s twisted version of Alameda Slim the Cattle Rustler
Ferdrick & Cole are actually distant relatives
Likes to listen country music related
His hobby is composing lyrics and plays guitar or Ukelele often during his kill time that’s why he nailed his yodeling performance so effortlessly and rather play solo
Ferd wasn’t fond or more like having hard time handling bovines/cows. It’s not just he’s scared of them but it’s because he learned from his legend was defeated by unusual cows so he doesn’t trust them at all
Floyd calls him Squid because he sees Ferdrick & Azul similar because their appearance are slightly alike (long-sided hair but Ferd’s longer, wearing glasses and hat, both have their canes, act like mafia bosses) Both of them hates to admit
He has a cane that can turned into a branding iron and usually fights with that
He’s good at gun firing and sword fighting
He’s slow at counting moneys
Made a promise to his favorite Idol that he’ll become a country star as them someday from ong time ago
Had a bad relationship with his parents and doesn’t want to talk about
Y’Odell wasn’t actually his surname. He never wants to reveal the real surname to anyone
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mineclair · 4 years
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When you get sorted into Slytherin on Pottermore
 You probably know that some of Slytherin’s most renowned members include Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange. But did you know Merlin himself was a Slytherin, or that according to legend, the ribbon of a First Class Order of Merlin is green to reflect his Hogwarts house? 
 Congratulations! I’m Prefect Gemma Farley, and I’m delighted to welcome you to SLYTHERIN HOUSE. Our emblem is the serpent, the wisest of creatures; our house colours are emerald green and silver, and our common room lies behind a concealed entrance down in the dungeons. As you’ll see, its windows look out into the depths of the Hogwarts lake. We often see the giant squid swooshing by – and sometimes more interesting creatures. We like to feel that our hangout has the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck. Now, there are a few things you should know about Slytherin – and a few you should forget. Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent. Here’s a little-known fact that the other three houses don’t bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth? I didn’t think so. But that’s enough about what we’re not. Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin. We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you’ve got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case. But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood. For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite. Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. All right, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room whom you might not think are destined for anything special. Well, keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there’s something great about them, and don’t you forget it. And talking of people who aren’t destined for greatness, I haven’t mentioned the Gryffindors. Now, a lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represent two sides of the same coin. Personally, I think Gryffindors are nothing more than wannabe Slytherins. Mind you, some people say that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor prized the same kinds of students, so perhaps we are more similar than we like to think. But that doesn’t mean that we cosy up with Gryffindors. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them. A few more things you might need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he’ll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don’t ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn’t like it. The password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries. Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m sure you’ll like our dormitories. We sleep in ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins cover the walls, and silver lanterns hang from the ceilings. You’ll sleep well; it’s very soothing, listening to the lake water lapping against the windows at night.
 “Or perhaps in Slytherin, You’ll make your real friends, Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends.” - The Sorting Hat
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