#quite a lot of it in fact

[breath-of-eternity]

Almost Forgot To Post This

Fire rippled over Melusine and burned away most of the skin from her front—she’d had worse, yes, but not in a while. Pain blotted out everything else, but she focused on the ground underneath her, the pebbles showering down on her, and rose above it.

If Agni were here, this never would have—

Wow, way to make the lack of skin the more appealing misery. At least the physical pain began to fade, but the more she was aware, the less she liked. Her hands had been twisted behind her and shackled in metal, which would take Resh about five seconds to undo. She tried to lift her head and find the other Knight, but her body was numb, ice water freezing her veins. It wasn’t the first time she’d been paralyzed, though it never lingered in her muscles like this before. She wriggled her fingers and they twitched.

“This one’s coming around,” a voice said.

White shapes danced in her vision, the color slowly bleeding back into them. A sharp point punctured her back, high up, near her neck, and there went the color. What the fuck were they doing to her?

Something like sleep washed over her and she fought it, though she couldn’t do more than that, except maybe berate herself for how stupid she was to allow them to defeat her. Many bodies floated around her during the battle, most in the midst of escape, and she had focused her energies on the ones who were steady in their approach. Clearly she had missed one and he nailed her with the poison. The next thing was aware of was Resh radiating magic, darkness, a shower of soil dusting her face. The explosion had probably killed her again, she wasn’t sure. Damn it, she had never seen anything like that before…

No, wait. The Forge before the volcanic eruption. The explosions there had been similar. Fuck, she kept forgetting the technology she was fighting.

Her eyes twitched open, and this time the world was a faded gray. Long, dark hair tickled her face, and she had to assume Ereshkigal was draped over her, as benumbed as Melusine. Her arms twitched, crawling down her leg to the knife in her boot. A needle pierced her shoulder and the world began to swim.

“No one can survive that much,” came a voice, different from the last one, higher and tighter.

“They can, trust me.”

Then she couldn’t hold on any longer, she slipped into a pool of icy cold water, her element, she could sink to the bottom and had no fear of death, except this was no water under her domain.

You do need to fear death, she reminded herself. You aren’t supposed to, but they took Agni from you. There is much for you to fear. This is the first time in a long time you’ve had to deal with it, but deal with it you will. You have no choice. You are the Waters Of Life. Now wake up.

#knights of eternity #original fiction #fantasy fiction #fiction #writers on tumblr #writeblr #fantasy #high fantasy #epic fantasy #tw: violence #tw: gore #tw: blood #tw: death #quite a lot of it in fact

[coffee-in-veins]

Day 28: Witch’s brew

an entry for darkest prompts promptober 2022  

previous days: 1, 2, 3,  4, 5, 6,  7,  8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

now available on ao3 too

Witch NOUN - a woman thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick.

* * *

Don't care for the critics My words are like physics A force that they can't stop They just don't get it, I think they forget I'm not done till I'm on top I know I was born for this I know I was born for this

-- Born For This by The Score

A man in a robe claimed communication with the divine and a man in glasses claimed to teach her the intricacies of nature, and they both insisted that all women are witches and most of all those who show defiance of their role. It’s the Light’s will and in the woman’s sacred part to be fertile and make increase, preached the first in a smoke-filled box stinking of tallow and unwashed bodies of other citizens. It is only natural to reduce them to their reproductive role, for this was the natural way of things, argued the latter, hinting that she had no business staying in the halls of learning despite – or maybe precisely because of – her scandalous theories.

To her, in the end, they both were full of hollow words and nothing else of worth. Just irritating buzzing at the outskirts of her brilliant mind.

She couldn’t forget the only time she was one-upped, though. The pain and the wailing of her professor Celsus never stopped haunting her nights, yet with enough dedication and the right type of concoctions that, too, was a struggle she overcame with time and dedication.

Witches of the old were covered in dirt and mud, hunched and vile, mutated by the word of mouth just as much if not more as they were by their craft. They had no idea what they were doing, repeating whatever worked once in the past, mindlessly, traditionally. But she was not one of those. She was the witch of the newcome era, the era of science and education, completely opposite from those repulsive misconceptions – yet hated and shunned just as much.

Currently busy with her research, she was in the clean atrium, sterile as the dilapidated room would allow her, with bad miasma firmly chained and at bay by the incense with her most potent, perfected blend of fume-destroying substances. Freshly sharpened scalpels lined on her right in the tray of purifying solutions, and the table in front of her was covered in water-tight skins so that not a drop of potentially infectious substances would remain there after she was done.

This was her domain, her “kingdom come” of brightly lit lamps and the stench of rubbing alcohol so potent it was felt even through the smell of warding herbs in the beak of her trusty mask. She was a general leading her assault of knowledge and scientific approach against what feeble minds had called “the unfathomable” – because to her, it was merely “yet uncharted”.

Paracelsus gazed upon bits and pieces presented to her by the bloodsucker hunters, the vast shimmering planes of glistening wings and fleshy tubes of cut-off proboscis, ripped-out needle-like fangs and barbarically butchered organs, black orbs of eyes and dark-glass bottles.

A repulsive heap of flesh which already started to decompose and potentially dangerous trash to a passer-by.

A treasure trove of possibilities that held keys to their salvation, to someone of her intelligence.

The Heiress lowered herself to the concerns of her hired goons for once and called forth those she deemed most capable of solving the Crimson Curse issue that encroached on her lands after some unfortunate villager stumbled upon the entrance to the once-grandiose Court. Paracelsus was an obvious choice – along with a few other, less noteworthy candidates. Despite the wounds she obtained during expeditions, her mind was even sharper than back at the Academy.

She was tasked with the impossible, yet again, but unlike the last time, that single failure that still haunted her troubled dreams, she had the experience to back her bold claims and dozens of successful (and one not so successful…) expeditions to the cursed Estate to know what she was supposedly dealing with. Thus, she cut and she carved and she sliced and she divided tissues, determined to reach this new frontier, forfeiting sleep and sustenance in her single-minded pursuit. To her left, another table was laden with distillation setups, vats and vials of previous batches deemed passable enough to keep and record the results.

It wasn’t a proper woman’s work they said.

It wasn’t the divine plan for her, they said.

It wasn’t the natural order of things, they said.

She must have been a witch, they said.

And indeed, she was seen as one. She was the witch of the new era, and it mattered not if she used the ladle of the previous noteworthy herbalist of this Estate in her current research. A useful tool was a useful tool regardless of personal history, and the notable non-corrosive properties of the cutlery proved most valuable when dealing with the infected blood and the blood of the infected. The bubbling of round-bottomed flasks and the clanking of scalpels were her chants, the tables of reagents and reaction times were her Black book, and the oozing flesh and cursed teeth were her herbs. Once proficient at tests on the blood-soaked battlegrounds, now her battles were held on reagent-drenched autopsy tables as well as constantly updated chemical composition tables.

Because Paracelsus was going to brew her own batch of “Blood”, cracking the recipe of the cursed brew and opening Hamlet’s very own madness-tinted vintners, or kill every bloodsucker in the vicinity for ingredients while trying to achieve that.

Either way, what a glorious day to be considered a witch by barbarians.

#cw: brief descriptions of period-appropriate scientific/medical practices #cw mysogyny #quite a lot of it in fact #it just occured to me that in DD2 backstory Para is the only girl in her class #makes one think how much of conflict was her arrogance #and how much was because she was *gasp* a woman #dd promptober 2022 #darkest dungeon #dd plague doctor #dd paracelsus #crimson curse #fanfic #The bloodied journal page || my writing #The tapestries of words || my ao3

[eyeballsoup7310]

“We need more morally grey female characters” we absolutely do but some of y’all can’t even handle Vanessa afton

#her worst trait is that she’s a cop and I can completely accept trashing her for that #but some of you guys are. wild #just talking #five nights at freddy’s #fnaf movie spoilers #fnaf movie #fnaf #vanessa afton #edit: okay clarification— disliking her is fine I can’t stop you from having that opinion and I won’t. try to #I’m more so hung up on the fact that a lot of people dislike Vanessa for one reason but love. say. Mike for the same exact reason #anywhoozie. folks who dislike Vanessa. have yall met clay burke yet #also fuck cops. quit your job girl it isn’t even plot relevant

[rudeguacamole]

POV: You're having a tea party with the King of Hearts.

This was meant to be posted on Valentines, but me forgor 💀 Anywayzz, I hope y'all had a wonderful Valentines!! q(≧▽≦q) 💘💘

Royal! AU made by @neonross!!

Close up!↴

#fun fact #this drawing has a lot of hearts #like— a lot #wh fanart #welcome home au #welcome home fanart #wally welcome home #wh royalty au #wally darling #valentines 2024 #valentines day #my fanart #fanart #my drawing #my digital art #digital drawing #my artwork #I am TOOTALLY normal for this silly guy #Yep. So normal #Listening to Bewitched by Laufey while drawing this was quite helpful #ngl #welcome home

[nyancrimew]

you little FUCKER made me famous

#that's not REALLY what happened #but also i owe quite a lot to the fact i became a meme on top of just creating a massive news story #bingle #maia arson crimew

[lucky-fydraws]

I like drawing Kuro. He's just a little guy :)

+ another one I like a little less under read more

And I'll use this read more to also remind everyone here that reblogs are better than likes. Support artists! Reblog their art! This doesn't just apply to me! Go through your likes and reblog the art you liked!

As always, image description is in ALT.

#dungeon meshi #kuro #traditional art #furry #kobold #anthro #I had a lot of fun with these. I hope it shines through :) #the original painting is actually quite large and is high resolution #but the website I use to host images doesn't allow files over 7Mo aha #fun fact: I drew these in front of a mirror. An alternative to live drawing with a model LOL #I recommend it. It's quite fun (and because the positions aren't always comfortable it forces you to be quick!)

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

okay so i finally finished it... allow me to present a comprehensive, chronological compilation of miles and alex singing *THAT* moment in standing next to me for the whole eycte tour 🌟

this video took me the better part of two months to make, and cost me a not insignificant part of my sanity (related: i may never want to hear this song again), so yeah... i hope you enjoy 😅

#also feel free to tell me which performance you think is the most insane #i mean #they're all pretty insane #but some of them??? #fucking HELL 🫠 #it's really quite an insight seeing the way it all unfolds chronologically too #in fact #it only makes it even more insane #btw there are almost certainly mistakes or typos in the video that i didn't catch #i apologise in advance #making videos for youtube is not something i have a lot of practice in 🙈 #(it was WAAAAAAY too long for tumblr which. idk. really says it all doesn't it 🤦‍♀️) #milex #the last shadow puppets #tlsp #miles kane #alex turner #arctic monkeys #milex vid #lulu posts #Youtube

[add1ctedt0you]

The Untamed - Episode 19

Throughout the night, he [Jiang Cheng] had somehow managed to sleep a couple of times. The first reason was that, having been too tired from crying himself weak, he couldn't help from passing out. The second reason was that he still had the hope that this might be a nightmare. He couldn't wait to wake up after some rest and open his eyes to find himself lying inside of his room back in Lotus Pier. His father would be wiping his sword in the main hall. His mother would be angry again and complaining, scolding Wei Wuxian who winked in a funny way. His sister would be in the kitchen, thinking as hard as she could about what to make today. His shidi would be refusing to do their morning lessons properly and jumping around.

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Chapter 59, Poisons- Part Four

#This crappy gifset is born to show that the 'look how different cql!jc is from mean novel!jc' advertisement is exaggerated lol #look there! jc always yearns for his family! Like. While cql!jc dreams of his family in a 'better light' #Novel!jc dreams of his real crappy family lol. which is understandable when you think that #Novel!jc is a bit sadder lmao. he probably got hugged 5 times by his father while cql!jc at least seven times #The fact is that novel!jc doesn't have a lot of scenes in particular in the present but he is mentioned a lot in an unflattering way #because novel!wwx has jc brainrot #but he's bitter and resentful so his thoughts are quite mean lol #I've read so many 'I don't want to read the novel because I fear I won't like jc' #My point is that approaching the novel you shouldn't worry about jc lol #jiang cheng #*mgifs #Uh. Tbc. Both dreams are set after lotus pier's fall #Also. Another thing to understand novel!jc is to remember that he grows up with novel!wwx who doesn't like when people - in particular men- #cry in front of him #This is not to say there aren't differences obv. But tbh the propaganda is exaggerated #Anyway. In every canon jc is not having a good day

[wolves-in-the-world]

the thing about eliot spencer as a character, right. the thing about him.

(and as always your mileage may vary on my analyses so if we disagree that's cool actually)

is that he is in fact a somewhat emotionally constipated idiot who is occasionally sensitive about his perceived masculinity and gets defensive about emotional intimacy around other men (largely hardison, who's much more comfortable expressing affection and embracing a softer kind of masculinity), but eliot displays enough emotional awareness and sensitivity and respect for women etc etc that anyone who's been subjected to that era of television will put on rose-tinted glasses without even looking twice.

(and he is, don't get me wrong, incredibly emotionally aware for a professionally punchy guy with enough trauma to sink the titanic. it still startles me to see.)

on top of which we have the layers and the accessories and the excellent hair with the secret braids and the way he barely has an ego and he's good with kids and protective of his team without taking it too far, and some of us never stood a fucking chance.

#eliot #eliot spencer #orig #further discussion in further tags #I'm being perhaps a little critical and there are other ways to read eg the fragile masculinity moments #but I Do think they were intended this way and largely come across this way #I'm quite happy playing with a fanon eliot who's better at this shit is the thing? it feels faithful enough to the original. #but this is something I'm chewing over in a rewatch and it's interesting so far #the fact that he pretty consistently respects women doesn't stop him from treating men and women differently y'know? #the fact that his bantering with hardison expresses affection and gets quite soft over time #doesn't stop him from pushing hardison away on a semi-regular basis. often physically. #the fact that the fandom unanimously decided he's an utter gentleman in matters of dating #doesn't quite negate the time he physically stopped aimee from getting away when he wanted to talk to her #though that's one I might disregard because it's so early and I think they hadn't quite figured out the characters then #and it was admittedly a brief moment followed by very consensual happenings #perhaps. honestly. eliot may be reflecting the attitudes of the show here. #which were very progressive for the time and are still startling on several fronts now but also showing definite signs of age #arguably fanon eliot (as I understand him) is eliot adjusted for inflation. as it were. #there's a lot going on here I'm having a normal amount of thoughts about it I'm. stopping now

[gaymakima]

fanon Jaune Arc is the most insufferable dudebro stand-in I've ever seen. he's the definition of mid. you could replace him with any bland isekai protagonist or harem protagonist in fics and there'd be no difference. if you go into any other character tag there's a 90% chance there'll be multiple posts of characters talking to each other about how cool jaune is. if you go into ao3 and do the same you'll be bombarded with jaune harem fics that all start to melt together after you've scrolled through 40 of them. he's so far removed from canon jaune. that's not my boy. my boy does not have rizz or game (except for that one time with pyrrha bc she's INTO his failboy persona). he is a soaking wet dog who was born in a cardboard box. i will kill fanon jaune with my own bare hands and then give canon jaune a blanket. can you tell ive been looking through character tags and going on a block exodus.

#my post #rwde #ig?? more like 'fandom rude' #its not even jaune hate. i like canon jaune. quite a lot in fact #but fanon jaune.... #even then he's not even that bad he's just EVERYWHERE #and like guys at that point just make an OC #for blog purposes #rwby

[cerise-on-top]

Hello!! How would tf141 react to a very sassy reader? Like sassing them out for no reason what so ever?

Hey! Like this, I think!

TF141 with a Sassy Reader

Price: He can appreciate some good sass, as long as it’s appropriate. God knows how often he’s been sassed by one of his soldiers, especially Gaz, so he doesn’t mind it, to some degree. You can sass him if you want, he’ll sass you back if he can think of a comeback that’s fitting. However, if you sass him for the sake of being mean to him instead of trying to get a good chuckle out of something, or maybe making a situation less dire, then he won’t be as appreciative of it. Don’t get me wrong, Price could shout at you if he really wanted to, but he’d much rather make you feel some guilt and remorse for inappropriate behavior. Although it’s fairly rare that happens, it will happen if you get on his nerves too much. Will then ask you if you think what you said was really appropriate in such a situation. You can then apologize still and all will be good as long as you keep your mouth shut. Once he’s calmed down, you can crack a joke at his expense again. Again, he’s used to such things as a captain, but keep it professional and stay polite, for the most part, and you won’t have a problem with him.

Gaz: He sasses you right back. He’s not particularly afraid of authority as long as they’re up for some good natured fun. So it really doesn’t matter if you’re above or below him rank wise. As soon as you open your mouth and some sass leaves it, he’ll immediately have thought of something to say in retaliation. I wouldn’t be surprised if you small sass battles could go on for a while. It’s a game to him, the first person that doesn’t know how to respond anymore simply loses, end of story. Will slightly mock you if you did lose, though. After all, you use such big words, and then you lose to him of all people? Surely, you can do better. It’s not impossible to out-sass Gaz, but he always has something stupid to say if he can, so it would take a while before you could properly beat him at his own game. He doesn’t give up easily either. Even as the conversation is about to be over, if he can think of something to say he’ll just say it. Sort of ends up looking forward to talking with you, sometimes he just needs to be a little shit who runs his mouth without any consequences. Sassing Price sometimes brings consequences with it, but not with you. With you he’ll be as lightheartedly mean as he can be.

Ghost: He’s been shit talked so much, he doesn’t really care anymore. He’s a scary and intimidating guy, so naturally people have something to say about him. However, most of them usually don’t have the courage to say anything like it to his face. So yeah, he would be a bit surprised if someone actually did sass him for a bit. Would go quiet for a moment, processing that someone just said something mean to him. When he wants to be, even Ghost can be a bit sassy himself, though in his case he usually just ends up sounding mean more so than anything else. Will “sass” you back when he can. It’s a bit intimidating from someone like him, especially since his sass borders on threatening, but you can be sure he won’t go through with it. He just really wants to see how far he can push this entire thing and what he needs to do in order for you to stop running your mouth and cower in fear as well. That never comes, however, so he ends up sassing/threatening you a bit as well. I could see you becoming buddies over this, it’s really rare for someone to talk to him like that. It makes him smile when you can think of an especially good comeback. Might sass someone alongside you, if they really deserve it.

Soap: He definitely has some fun with you. Although he can be quite sassy himself as well when he wants to be, he usually just hops on the jokes of other people. Sees you sassing him as some kind of challenge, so you can be certain he’ll challenge you right back. After all, if you can run your mouth then surely you can prove yourself as well, right? It’s all a competition in his eyes and he’s somewhat of a sore loser. Though, if you really are all talk and there’s nothing behind what you’re saying, then he’ll get Gaz involved as well, thinking that, because his buddy is very sassy himself, there will be some fun sassing going on. He’s usually right, but he still stands by what he said: You should be able to prove yourself after everything you have to say. Soap doesn’t take too kindly to being sassed for no reason whatsoever. He will take you up on what you said and will have you do it better than he does. If you are better than him, fine. You get to run your mouth as much as you want, he can’t really complain then. However, if you end up being worse at something than he is then he’s earned every right to sass you to hell and back instead. It’s all fair in his eyes. If you improve you get to sass him again, but good luck.

#cod #cod x reader #john price #john price x reader #price x reader #kyle gaz garrick #kyle gaz garrick x reader #gaz x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x reader #john soap mactavish #john soap mactavish x reader #soap x reader #I don't really have much to say today either #except I made a new blog #after much consideration I finally caved and made a new one #I made it because I got another peculiar request #plus writing is the only thing that's fun as of right now #even if my rules still apply. still a bit annoyed at the fact that quite a lot of people don't read them #it's mostly just the character limit but come on. you can still read my rules you know? it won't kill you #I'm thinking of genuinely just not writing requests where it goes bove the character limit #if you can't be bothered to read my rules then I can't be bothered to write your request #obviously this isn't for this request but I've gotten quite a few just disregarding my rules and it's starting to piss me off quite badly

[cinnamon-flame]

Concept for a lynx piñata cause I love Viva Piñata and I love lynxes and I think those two things should go together.

I also love moths so totally self indulgent drawing of the lynx and a mothdrop

#fun fact I actually dislike licorice #but no other candy went so well with lynx so it stayed #(I did look at the wikipedia list of candy and woah there's a lot of different types of candy) #I'm actually quite proud of the design (especially the sour one look at it it's so funky!!!!) #designing in the style of viva piñata was a fun challenge #the brainstorming was great too #but for some reason I got stuck with the rendered painting of the piñata house and three months had to pass until I could come back #the funny thing is that my art style changed a bit between those two last drawings #and I drew like 50 drawings inbetween them counting by the stuff in my folder #anyways this is for me and for you fellow viva piñata fans #maybe I'll draw more of this guy since I like their design a lot #I actually doubt we would get a lynx piñata if another game came out since there are at least 3 kitty piñatas #but that's exactly why I'm drawing this #viva piñata #viva pinata #vp mothdrop #vp #mothdrop #lynx #cinnamon's doodles

[kittenmoth]

Gotta love the awkward lanky lizard phase amirite

#kittenmoth arts #atla #atla centaur au #atla zuko #atla azula #atla fanart #awkward “horns arent quite right” phase too #Zuko's grow a lot slower than Azula's do #both get kinda wild in adulthood tho #you can lookit the Jetko art for an example of how Zuko's get #I have yet to draw Azula in full stupidly pointy horn glory #Azula is VERY SHARP in every way #fun fact the golden flakes of scales are from their Mom #that's like the only thing they got from her other than their faces in this AU #cause she's not a dragon

[stillflight]

I know we've all been hurt and I do understand where misanthropy comes from but I can't help but respect a species that will travel for hours and gather in open spaces to witness a rare astronomical event and start howling like coyotes when it happens just because it's cool

#like. yes I know. other species also appreciate beauty. other species also react with delight to special occasions. but I don't think that #that is a reason not to appreciate humans. I don't think humans are Special and Exceptional. #I think they're quite a bit like a lot of other animals and guess what. I love animals #thoughts #listen a species that would think to invent music and literature and track when eclipses happen just to throw a party is alright in my book #no one is better than anyone else for a fact they cannot change or control‚ including species

[columboscreens]

#columbo #season 5 #a case of immunity #uh. well actually your majesty it's. quite a lot like our tv shows #identical in fact

[faelingdraws]

a PSA about the chatlog iterators and how you can use them in fanon content

#rain world #rainworld #rw downpour #rain world downpour #rainworld downpour #rainworld iterator #chatlog iterators #epoch of clouds #wandering omen #pleading intellect #secluded instinct #gazing stars #faeling draws #have gotten a lot of questions about my chatlog iterators. i figured it was time to sit down and make an easy referenceable post #eoc and wo are my lesbian babies and theyve been that way since i made them #many of the chatlogs have been changed over time by the other writers but WO and EOC's original logs were more reflective of how i see them #honestly DP is noncanon to them as OCs because of the fact the logs were changed by other writers lol #so much of the logs were edited over the years that none of the iterators are super reflective of how i first wrote them #plus some new logs were written in the time i was not working on MSC which used the iterators #anyway i never clicked quite as hard with the others #i am okay with them being used pretty freely #their designs on the wiki are just remakes of the designs i made for an applebread stream in 2018 #i'll definitely art dump all my EOC and WO brainrot on this tumblr later