Tumgik
#they didnt have to go extinct
puppyeared · 1 month
Text
i have to say its a strange experience taking classes on branding and marketing while being vehemently anticapitalist and scorning the economic system
36 notes · View notes
hermajestytak · 5 months
Text
I find it interesting how a lot of Zim fanfiction paints the Meekrob as an evil species that poor Tenn has to be rescued from, usually by Zim and/or Skoodge
When like
The Meekrob are being invaded by a greedy Empire, I think they have every right to defend themselves and throw hands with the universe's biggest oppressors while they're at it
28 notes · View notes
spearxwind · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'M FINALLY DONE... AFTER 4 DAYS OF INTENSE HYPERFOCUS
I'm finding it hard to properly express myself on this but just know I very well poured my heart and soul into this piece. This is genuinely my most beloved thing I've ever done, I hope you all enjoy it too
This is also the third time I redraw this (i usually did it every 2 years), with the oldest version being just under 7 years old now. You can check it out too if you like [2019] x [2017] x [2015]
And, on the off chance you don't know who these guys are though, they're the main cast from my webcomic!
569 notes · View notes
redysetdare · 7 months
Text
I think i would like sci-fi a lot more if more stories took the evolution route to it. so many sci-fi stories focus so much on the technology side and "Let's go to space! let's see capitalist hell!" and like, yeahh those have their purpose and place in sci-fi. But personally i love when sci-fi gets speculative with biology. How will the earth change? what animals developed from changed ecosystems - which animals evolved and which ones went extinct? I want people to take the science part of science fiction and explore biology and ecology and how the planet and animals change with the world. I"m tired of it only focusing on technology and robots and being more cyber fantasy.
20 notes · View notes
Text
I dont want to get too off topic on this blog but since this is a somewhat big platform I want to talk about whats going on as we are facing the climate crisis head on.
Thousands of scientists all over the world are currently on protest in tears. No media is bringing this up. We should be seeing news about NASA scientists being arrested for asking to be heard but instead it is silent. Scientists say we have 3 years left to stop everything, we have the answers, but our governments arent listening. That we need to stop all new projects. Over 110,000+ new fossil fuel projects have been signed off in 2022. That should be concerning. Oil, gas and coal need to be stopped if we want a chance at survival and it needs to be talked about. We have 3 years, we have answers, we have alternatives and we need to government to act now. Theres a man on hunger strike just so the government will read the latest IPCC report. Just to look at a scientific document. They cant even do that.
A woman from Just Stop Oil was one of the only interviews in media ive seen as of recent, where she was mocked for her clothes and not given the chance to truly speak on the science as she was interrupted to be told her ego is too big. It was a copy and paste situation to the interview from the movie Dont Look Up. This response of mockery over a genuine concern for humanity should terrify all of us.
Despite Bidens word, he has signed off more new oil, gas and coal works.
Did you know that Congo just sold more oil blocks in their rainforest and river.
Maximum temperatures in India and Pakistan have been continuously over 40 degrees Celsius (104°F) for almost two weeks. Thats 10 celsius more than average.
The arctic passed over 30 degrees celsius this past month. Both sides of the earths ice experiencing heat waves. The arctic is bubbling METHANE.
And so so so so much more from flooding, new oil sign offs, etc.
If you are in a country thats just about to start elections, please look into parties that will do their part for the climate crisis. If you are not signed to vote, enrol asap. If youre in Australia, like me, you can enrol here by TODAY. (And maybe look into our third party system and what the greens have to offer? But i didnt tell you that..)
Look into protest groups like the Extinction Rebellion and see what protests are hapening nearby and what you can do to help. This is quite literally life or death for humanity and we cant risk ignoring it and letting it be ignored. We have to educate ourselves on whats going on, get mad and fight it. Because media is refusing to let us know of the doom were facing if our government continues to support oil, gas and coal the way they are. This isnt to make you feel doom, but encourage you to act to prevent doom.
11K notes · View notes
Text
*it's literally just. an assumption. based on "we know she's possessing golden freddy in the logbook" and "andrew in fazbear frights maaaaybe parallel???" and yet the entire fanbase is like "this is canon tho. angry little girls are epic" (which. true, but)
EDIT: on the mike one meant to say "three weeks for body to skeletize" so how the hell is this man still walkin. does he have just some super sweet glue and is a walkin skeleton or
268 notes · View notes
floydsglasses · 18 days
Text
𝘼 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝘼 𝙔𝙚𝙡𝙡 - Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (A Quiet Place AU)
Tumblr media
Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x AFAB OC/ Valerie
SUMMARY: Society has fallen to ruin's where silence is key to survival in a world where most humans have been killed by blind but noise-sensitive creatures. Two unlikely survivors come across each and agree to stick together.
Tag's: Mention of blood/wounds, post apocalyptic setting, use of ASL, Alien creatures. Stranger's to Lover's, Angst, Swearing, Fluff, inacurate first aid, No Use of Y/N A/N: First Story on tumblr, I hope that I did this right and hopefully I didnt mess thing's up too much
WORD COUNT: 7,731
⏁⏁⏁
SOUND. What once was so common is now almost extinct as the human race. The birds no longer flew in the sky, car alarms didn't blast loudly with a touch of a button, soft chatter’s from conversation now replaced with howling of the wind. Everything before was so simple, it was so easy, she didn't have to worry about the sound of leaves crunching under her feet, closing a door too hard, letting out a breath too hard. Now one wrong move in this world, a person’s life is gone in less than a whisper.
Her hand’s trailed over the isles of abandoned goods, she used to love going to the supermarket, seeing people and having a nice conversation with the cashier, kind smile’s.
Now a trip into town is so dreaded, the world is so quiet and it’s almost insufferable to her. Though she would much rather prefer the silence of the world then the harsh darkness of death from the predator's who now ruled the world.
She looks down at her grocery list, written on the back of the brochure for a navel bar, The Hard Deck. Before day 1 of the end of the world, she worked at a cafeteria in a nursing home, after rough day’s she would sometime’s sit at the bar with a bottle of beer. At the moment she much preferred the sound of the man she could catch glimpses of the few night’s playing 60’s tune’s on the piano. She assumed anyone she once knew is gone now.
She slide’s the can of food into her messenger bag, making sure not to stock up too much on the cans, learning the hard way that too much noise will attract the monsters.
Her bare feet smack the ground of the white tiled floor as she turned onto the next aisle.
Food rations were running low for her, and it didn't help that nowhere was safe enough for her. Walking around a desolate San Diego without shoe’s also wasn't ideal. Pain killers, she thought .
A few weeks ago she tripped on the sidewalk, skidding her knee and thigh, not something she would recommend handling without pain killers.
The snap of glass pulls her out of her thought’s. The hair on her arm stood to attention as her heart pounded in her rib cage, eye’s widened fearfully. Her hand grazed her knife holster, gripping the ebony handle. She had never handled a weapon for the purpose of hurting another human, not before this new world began.
Her breath shake’s as she lightly step’s around the corner. Unsheathing the blade from her waist. Monster’s were not the only threat in the world, the people, rumors at least swirled of groups of people calling themselve’s Bandits ruled parts of the city. She had not ventured that far, she was hell bent on finding somewhere away from the city, anywhere that was safe.
She huffed, swinging her blade as she rounded the aisle corner. She panted, her head darting in each direction. All that remained were leaves blown in from the broken front door, a few item’s laid on the ground.
She shook her head. Paranoia much. She rolled her eye’s, putting her knife back into its holster. You know you are totally crazy. Her bare feet turned on the edge to go back to her original isle.
Her arm’s smack into a metal stand, it began to fall to the floor. She gasped quickly trying to stop its descent. Its pamphlet’s crashed with metallic bang. Her eyes widened in horror as her heart raced, blood drained from her face.
Oh God, she panicked. Roar’s in the distance began to cry out at the sound. She stood frozen in fear, panting as she desperately fought against her sense telling to hide.
She let out a gasp as she was brought to the floor. She expected to be met with darkness, her eye’s closed tight awaiting the pain from the sharp talon’s of the creature’s that ruled the quiet world.
Shhh. A voice whispered next to her ear, their hot breath sending shivers down her spine. Her heart pounded. Her back was held closely to something..someone.
Her arm’s radiated with warmth, mostly from fear. Could the stranger be holding her back so they can save their own skin, or did they have something else in mind.
No time can pass in her mind as clicking began to fill the supermarket. Footsteps heavy on the tile, a hissing sound filled the air. The stranger behind her shuddered at the sound’s, the two of them both equally fearful.
Click Click.
They sounded. The dark silhouette casted on the ceiling above them on the white bar’s. The stranger’s hand clamped over her mouth as her panting grew erratic, she stood still not daring to move, even with the tight grip around her body from the stranger.
The click’s began to get closer to them, the footsteps heavier with each step. Their dark gray skin tight as their gorilla like movement helps them traipse across the tile. Their flower-like head’s turn slowly in each direction. She guessed they were looking for any sound.
She gulped as she held her breath, restricting her air. Hoping it will limit any sound she may be making, even with the help of the person holding her. She was sure that she was louder then what she may be stopping.
On her spine, a light thump was against her back. Rhythmically repeating at a rapid pace, similar to her own.
The creature’s head twitched with each click from its mouth, searching for her. Its heavy footsteps thudded against the ground as it walked on all fours.
A single tear trailed down her cheek, the heat from the stranger’s hand made the pool of sweat on her forehead fall. With a final twitch of its head, it let out an inhuman, ear piercing roar. A swift move the monster ran out of the supermarket.
A sigh of relief left her lip’s. The calloused hand left her mouth, her shoulders relaxed briefly. Her eyes widened, she reached for the holster that held her knife. A tight grip on wrist stopped her. From the size of his hand, she could tell he was a man, one who worked with his hand’s from the vein’s that popped.
He held on tightly onto her wrist as he got to his feet. Her heartbeat had not stopped racing, adrenaline pumped through her veins. She snapped her head, she had been ready to throw insult’s in, her head at least.
She looked the man up and down. His dirty blonde hair, messy and short. His dark brown eyes scanned her, maybe he saw her as a threat. Though he clearly had a chance of overpowering her. Above his chapped lips laid a thin line of facial hair, she wondered how long it took him to grow it.
He released her hand, putting his hand’s up in surrender. “Who are you?” She signed to him frantically, he blinked at her panicked state. He shook his head.
“I'm not gonna hurt you.” He reassured her she scrunched her nose up.
“Did you follow me?” She signed slowly. He shook his head.
“I was here before you.” The man stated in sign. “Bullshit!” She signed, her brows furrowed in anger.
“I swear.” He swore. In their silent world, she was thankful that she had taken the time prior to learning ASL. She wouldn't have thought it would be useful in a post apocalyptic setting.
Her shoulders relaxed, her jaw remained clinched. “Listen, to me please.” He pleaded with her, she crossed her arms.
He bent down on his knees leaning over grabbing a blue and yellow pamphlet, the world's map of San Diego written in a white font.
He began to carefully unfold it, placing objects on the corner to keep it straightened out. He looks up at her. “Marker?” He signed.
She furrowed her brow, she shook her head no. “What are you doing?” She signed to the stranger.
“Showing you something.” He signed, he looked around at the old store, smirking. He lightly stepped across the tiled floor.
She noted the duct tape on his boot’s, tear’s and rip’s in the leather in each curve, she supposed he had placed the tape to absorb the sound, she hadnt even thought about it.
Beginning to make mark’s on the map, taking pauses to think. His lip’s formed a thin line, he looked at her.
“You see that?” He signed, she shook her head.
“The Circle’s?” She signed to him, even in sign language he could detect the sarcasm she laid on. He gesture’s with two finger’s for her to get down to his level. She bends down to her knees, getting a closer look.
“You see it now?” He signed, she shook her head. He gently grabbed her hand, using his index finger pointing to the center. A green and beige island in the ocean, half a mile from the North Island docks. Her brows furrowed.
“What is that?” She signed. He blinked. “Island, not far from the bay, safe.” He says in sign language, she shook her head.
“Nowhere is safe.” She says.
“You don't know that.” He says, he motioned in frustration. “And you do?” She pointed out.
“Come with me.” He signed, she shook her head at his offer. “No, I don't know you.” She says.
“So..we can help each other.” He tells her, she shook her head in disbelief.
“I don't need your help.” She reassured him, she had gotten pretty far into the two year’s they have been in the apocalypse. His jaw dropped slack.
“You sure?” He challenged, and she nodded her head.
“Look, I can see you don't trust me.” He signed, she shrugged in agreement.
“But If you want to not live in fear of making a noise.” He paused with his hand’s up, he breathed out quietly. Her heart skipped a beat, looking at the brown eye’s of the stranger.
“Then come with me and see if it’s true.” He says.
She crossed her arms over her chest. She eyed the broken object’s on each side of the isle’s. The man in front of her offered her safety, and it had been so long since she last talked with another human being. He had saved her from being alien bait.
“Okay.” She signed to him. He breathed in relief at agreeance.
“One condition.” She state’s, he nodded his head.
“If it turns out to be fake.” She start’s. His gaze on her softened.
“We go our separate ways.” She sign’s, he nods his head.
“Deal.” He signed. The both of them got to their feet, he shuffled, folding up the map and stuffing it away. She lightly picked up her fallen backpack, she still needed supplies.
His brown eyes watched her. Before the alien had crashed in he had caught glimpses of her through the broken shelves. Her hair tucked into a beanie, a windbreaker jacket and jeans, no shoes though. Her own survival tactic he guessed, she seemed focused on her objective of getting what she needed.
“What’s your name?” He ask’s her, she gulps hesitating. She lifts up her hand’s and begin’s to sign out her name.
“Valerie.” She mouthed to him. He smirked. “You?” She asks back.
He runs a hand through his hair, he raises up his hands, slowly signing out the letter’s of his name. “Bradley.”
⏁⏁⏁
THE NEXT FEW days the two survivors had grown close, well as close as two people can when they are only using sign language to communicate.He would fumble on his signing that she would have to guess what he had said.
Her legs ached on each side, they had been making their way out of the inner city, following the highway to the marina. If car’s didn't risk the chance of them being caught their trip would take twenty minutes, now it would be a three day trip on foot, not including them avoiding the creature’s.
Valerie sighed, the morning sun of december shined on the two of them. The sun was high enough she could guess it was eleven in the morning. Bradley and her would both take turns with a large machete, it was heavy in her hand’s that most of the time he was the one welding it.
She feel’s a tap on her shoulder, she turned her head at him. “Are you hungry?” Bradley signed, she shook her head. “No.” She signed.
“I have a fruit cocktail, if you do get hungry.” He signs, her lip’s forming a thin line, smiling softly at his chivalry. She brushed a piece of her hair from her face, the bitter air whipping at her cheeks.
“Thank you.” Valerie say’s. She had grown tired of their small talk;most conversations that had gotten out of one another were about if they were okay, how far they were from their location, and where they should stop to rest.
Not that she didn't appreciate his worry for her, they had to rely on each other if they wanted to make sure they would see the next sunrise. She crossed her arms in her windbreaker, the two walked past run down car’s. Nature had started to reclaim her own, the highway’s covered in greenage and rust set into the metal of the high rise.
“Hey.” She stops him, he turns to look at her, keeping the same pace. “What?” He wondered.
“Before this.” She start’s off, looking away thinking of a question to break the ice. “What did you do, your job?” She ask’s. He runs fingers through his blonde hair in though.
He point’s to the sky, using two finger’s to trace along the white cloud’s. She furrowed her brow trying to understand him. “You..worked in the sky?” She signed.
“A pilot?” Valerie signs, he nods his head. He point’s up again, using two finger’s as a gun.He shot in the sky, she thinks, her eye’s widening as she understands him now.
“Top..gun.” She signed slowly.
“Yeah, and you?” He ask’s, she shakes her head. His job was definitely more eventful than hers. She cleaned table’s, served plates out to elderly people, and sometimes she would deliver to room’s.
“I worked in a cafeteria.” She signed to him. “Kind of boring.” She tells him, he shook his head.
“That’s not boring, that's simple.” Bradley reassured her, she shook her head. “You got to fly in the sky..All I did was serve soup.” Valerie says to him
“I would have loved that.” He tells her. “There were times I just wanted thing’s to be slow.” He admitted to her, she furrowed her brow at his admittance.
“Why did you join then?” Valerie wondered. He sighed, her eye’s drifting down at the grass growing through the cracking line’s of the highway. He gulped as they continued to walk on.
“I just had to.” He says. She nodded her head, she guessed it was a story she had to hear by mouth, which she was sure she would never hear.
“Long story short?” She signed to him, he shrugged his shoulders. “How far are we?” Valerie wonder’s.
“We passed about two, maybe three gas stations.” He tells her, she scoff’s, she hadn't taken the time to note the landmark’s, only keeping in mind how long it will take to get to their destination.
“They all look the same.” She says.
“Everything does.” Bradley remark’s, his movement’s in his hands are slower. She noted that his signing was slower than hers, she guessed he wasn't as fluent or quick in ASL like she is.
“How far from the marina do you think we are?” Valerie asked him, his brow’s furrowed, he looked around at the street signs. He pulls the map from his bag, placing it lightly on a rundown car hood, bringing the red sharpie marking off on it.
“We were at Amo’s street and now we are on 163.” He signed to her. She stands close to him looking down at the map. He had taken the time to mark off on each site they passed.
“Okay and how much further?” She wonder’s. His brown eye’s look at the map. “Fourteen miles .” He guessed
“Seriously?” She ask’s, she dropped her hand’s at her side in frustration. ”I think you are pulling my boob.” She joke’s, he furrowed his brow at her signing, got to teach him some thing’s.
“It's only been a few day’s.” He point’s out, she rolled her eye’s. A few day’s in this world was a lifetime with how long it takes to travel.
“Feel’s longer.” She remarked.
“You can still get leave.” He reminds her, she sighed. He was right, she didn't have to stick with him, they could part way’s now and hope for the best.
Though it was nice to have someone to care about, knowing that when she woke up that someone was going to be waiting for her. In the world before she had thrown herself into her work, claiming it was her mistress. She hadn't given herself time for relationships, and frankly they never gave time to her either. No need to waste her energy in a world that seemed so bleak.
“We’ve gotten this far.” Valerie reminds him.
“We finish what we have started.” She signs to him. Her eye’s hardened with determination, he smirked at her ambition.
“If we keep walking we should get close enough to the bay area.” He summarized. “What about sleeping?” She asked him, his shoulder’s slump, as if to let out a sigh.
He put his hand in a salute looking at the skyline in front of them. Building’s once filled the sky high reflecting from the glass now covered in vine’s, some had crashed down. Slashed from the claw’s and talon’s of the sound seeking creature’s. She often wondered how it must have felt to watch from above seeing everyone going about their lives. They must have looked like ant’s compared to them.
“There.” He point’s
“You wanna go there?” Valerie asked him, he nodded his head.
“That’s far.” She mouthed to him, he furrowed his brow’s
“So is the marina.” He signs, he point’s to the top of the building. “If we get high enough we can see how far we are.” He tells her. Her heart thumped as it raced
“Can't we just go to a motel?” She wonder’s, he shook his head confused. “Thought you wanted to see how far we are?” He ask’s, she gulped.
“Just the height is intimidating.” Valerie tell’s him. He smirked amused at her fear. “The world has ended and you are afraid of heights?” He signed to her, she rolled her eyes.
“No, I'm afraid of a creature climbing a high rise to kill me.” She state’s.
“I won't let that happen.” He promised her, his signing in the end being wrong. She shook her head.
“Give me your hand.” She orders. He furrowed his brow. She guides his hands, moving them in the right motion’s, mouthing what they are. “That’s how you do it.” Valeria corrects him.
“Thank’s.” He signs. She smiled softly, she swung her backpack up further. “Come on.” She usher’s him, her heart pounding looking at the sun peaking through the two towers.
⏁⏁⏁
SHE HAD DECLARED it she hated height’s. Even more than before she climbed the eighteen floor’s of the forty one floors of the Pacific Gate. She had always wondered what it must have been like to stay in the extractive type hotels. She had grown up in Virginia, in a rural town mile’s from the urban city, she had come to Calafornia chasing a dream that sadly fell through.
Her fingers grazed the chipped paint on the wall, the pearl white had turned brown from the age and vine’s had grown in the hall’s into the room’s. They had luckily found a room that wasn't terribly covered in the reclaimed nature. Bradley had insisted that they stay close to each other, both taking a watch.
Though they doubted that anyone or anything would find them up there, unless they made a sound. He kept to himself mostly, she wondered before the end of the world had he been a social person, like her. She could see from his choice in wardrobe, a Hawaiian shirt underneath his black jacket that he certainly had a taste. His tan skin almost kissed by the sun herself, had he gotten it from all their walking, maybe he had it before the world went quiet.
Her feet step on the ripped up dark blue carpet. The sun had set on the city and the moon had shone over the window’s of the balcony. A warm orange glow lit the room from her lantern. He laid on the bed, white ear bed’s in each of his ears, plugged into an old IPod nano. His brown eyes focused on the world outside.
She stands next to the white unmade sheet’s. A buffalo plaid blanket laid on top, she had insisted that she take the couch on the other side. She had noticed he had been limping up the step’s, knowing that the fancy hotel probably had a mattress that would make him feel better. He refused, if she could she would have let out a frustrated yell.
She tap’s his shoulder, he shuddered at the touch from her, he snapped his head in surprise. His finger’s grazing the knife holster on his leg.
“Sorry.” He signed.
She shook her hand. “It's Okay.” Valerie take’s the seat spot next to him, keeping a distance between the both of them.
“How did you get that?” She asks, pointing at the old technology, he smirked looking down at the blue case, a smiley face sticker on the back that slowly chipped away.
“It’s mine.” He states, she nodded her head.
“It still works?” She asks curious, she hadn't used one in years, preferring streaming from her phone.
His pink chapped lips formed a thin line. “Yeah, all my music from college.” He tells her, his signing is still slow.
“Anything good?” Valerie wonder’s, he shrugged his shoulders. He handed it to her to look at, she held up the screen, beginning to scroll with the control’s, clicking with each movement of her thumb. His music taste ranged from almost every decade up until 2012. She was almost surprised with the variety of choices’ he had at the tip of his fingers’, she looked down sadly, she hadn't heard music in what felt like an eternity, she can't even recall the last thing she had listened to on day one of their new world order.
She stops scrolling. Her eyes widened at the song, Jerry Lee Lewis’s, Great Balls of Fire. A soft smile creased her cheek’s. Lonely nights in the bar were less lonely when everyone around her began to sing the sixtie’s jaunty tune. She brought her hand to her mouth.
His brows furrowed at her reaction. “What?” He signed. She shook her head.
“Nothing, it's just.” She stops looking down again, her thumb grazing the play button. “There was a guy at this bar.” He perked up, his brows furrowed.
“He played this on the piano.” She recall’s, smiling softly. His eyes widened, his lip’s parting as his thoughts raced.
“Yeah every saturday..guess he is gone now.” Valerie signed sadly, she brushed back a piece of her hair.
Bradley had finally realized something. In the store, he saw her through the broken isles and fallen objects. He could have swore it was his mind finally playing tricks on him, until he caught a glimpse of her face.
There were night’s he would go into the Hard Deck. She would sit in the same spot each night, order the same drink, she always seemed to have her mind on anything but where she was. He had been curious who she was, why was she always in her head. He did plan to talk to her, only any time he got the courage to talk to her, she would get up and leave before he could get a chance to speak.
He pulls one of the white ear buds out of his ear, handing it to her. She looked down at his hand, taking it from him, placing it in her ear, pressing the play button. She flinches at the sudden piano playing. He chuckled quietly.
She rolled her eyes playfully. She began bobbing her head slowly, trying not to move her head too much. The two of them doing different motion’s to the music, if she was alone she would be all over the place, dancing on the mattress belting her lung’s out. He bites his lips, closing his eyes, thinking of better times.
Valerie mouthed the lyrics, leaning her head back at the chorus. She shakes her shoulders leaning into him trying to get him to join in with her. Bradley smirked at her happiness, the two of them tried everything to bond. Seeing the other experiencing something other than fear made his heart flutter.
He begin’s tap with his finger’s the note’s of the piano. Recalling the filling of the key’s under his finger’s, each movement a phantom at his tip’s. Valerie hold’s her fist as a mock microphone as she mouthed the final lyrics.
An inhuman screech fills the air echoing off the city. Her heart raced, wiping her head to look at the balcony. She shook her head. Figure’s she thinks’. The world outside was still as bleak as ever. Her smile fell as she glanced down.
“I’ll take my first watch.” She signed to him. His brow’s furrowed. Her shoulders tensed as she stood to attention, pulling her jacket closer. She turns on her heels to walk.
“Wait”. she hears a faint whisper escape’s his lip’s. He reached out, taking her hand in his calloused one. Their eyes locked as his face softened.
“Stay.” He pleads
She gazed at him. He had before insisted that they stay in separate rooms so the other had the chance of escaping while the other could too. Now here he begged for her to not leave him alone. Was he really scared this time, did he need that comfort of knowing in the room he wasn't alone.
“Of course.” Valerie signed. He gulped, running his hand through his unkempt honey curls. He laid back down. Placing his headphones back in his ear, leaving one out one for her to hear the music he played.
Bradley stayed awake for as long as he could, fighting hard against the sleepiness in his body, losing in the end. Soft snoring escaping his lip’s. Valerie formed a soft grin at his peacefulness, the both had seen so much, so many things lost and so many stolen from each of them.
She leaned over him, pulling a navy blue blanket over his chest. He turns in sleep, not waking. Hopefully he dreamed, anywhere that wasn't there must be better. Her eyes grew heavier and heavier as she stared at the quiet city. She wiped away the feeling from her eye’s.
Desperately battling against her own body clock, she groaned softly, wiping her cheek’s. Just shut your eye’s for a moment, the last word’s she thinks before her head hits the pillow and the world becomes dark.
⏁⏁⏁
SHE SCRIBBLED THE WORD on the notepad. The two had grown bored on their adventure to the marina.  Valerie had been sneaking around the Pacific gate, and found a white board for Bradley to use to communicate.  Thinking it would make their communicating easier, as his ASL was slow, and now she could properly tease him. 
“A.” He signed, she smirked, shaking her head. They had started playing the game hangman in to past time, they weren't far from the marina, having woken up late didn't help the ground they would have to make up. 
He rolled his eyes as she drew another body part to the stick figure. She licked her lips as she waited for another guess. She had won the last five round’s of the game and him once, to be fair she didn't blame him for not being good at guessing games when there wasn't anyone to give hints verbally. 
“C.” He guessed, she nodded her head writing the letter on the white board. He pumped his fist, the machete in the other, his turn as her hands were preoccupied with the marker. 
“I hate this.” He signs, she smirks at him.  “You just suck.” She teased him, he pulls out a tiny notepad, writing down in big letters. He holds it up to her. 
“You have a lot of sass for a girl with no shoe’s.” It read, her eyes widened at the comeback. She uses her hoodie sleeve wiping off a bit of their game writing. 
“And who’s idea was that mustache?”She wondered. His lip’s parted agape. “You love it.” He signs, she shakes her head. “Fuck off no I dont.” She write’s down. He holds up his own notepad. 
“Everyone loves it, baby.” His read’s, she rolled her eye’s. “Not me.” She gesture’s. He scoffs silently. 
“Wanna find out why?” He challenged her, licking his chapped lips. She looked at the hair above his lip, his facial hair being a stand out to the rest of his features, other than his well built physique. His blonde hair is curly on the top and shaved on the neck, unkempt yet somehow it still made him look even more handsome. 
“No thanks.” She smiled softly.  She looks down at her whiteboard, wiping it off again. “Keep guessing.” She urged him. 
He runs his hand through his curl’s. “P” He sign’s. She looks at him disappointed, adding another limb to the stick man.
“That’s two arm’s.” Valerie point’s out. He shook his head. His step’s halt as he look’s up. “What?” She ask’s, her eye’s scan his sight seeing what he stopped for. Her heart stop’s in her throat as it began to race. 
Hundreds of boat’s laid out in front of them on the waterfront, docked in their areas. Some fell prey to nature while some still remained. 
Her breath shaked, she looked to the man next to her. Tears filled both their eyes, they had finally made it after so many long hours of walking, and dodging alien’s they reached their destination. 
“Come on.” Valerie urged him. 
She turned on her heels quickly scurrying to the stairs that lead down to the docks. He followed closely behind her as the both of them desperately raced for the nearest boat’s. Her feet pound against the wood as she stop panting looking around at their option for travel. 
“Which one?” She asked him. He put his hand on hips trying to catch his breath. 
“Anything with a cabin.” He writes on his notepad, she nods her head. 
She walked around each boat, checking each for a key. She doubted that any of them would be filled with gasoline, much less run. For the most part they were almost all sailboat’s, and small yachts. She had never been on a boat, well one as big as the one’s parked in the water. She had gone fishing before with her uncles in the past, though she knows a small boat wouldn't get them to the island they needed something better. 
The wood creaked as she stepped back down again.  Valerie walk’s back around to the other dock, he stood with his arms crossed irritated. 
“That bad.” She joke’s. 
“I'll check again.” She tells him. He shrugged. “Be my guest.” He signed to her. The dock creaked again as with the heavy step of her foot. She gasps as a sharp pain in his felt in her thigh. She snapped her head looking down, a long black stick stuck out of her, piercing through pant leg. 
A scream of anguish left her mouth as hot fire pain ran up and down her leg. She collapsed onto the dock groaning loudly, her eyes widened as her hot tears welled.
Bradley ran to her side, putting his hand over her mouth, muffling her scream. Valerie cried as she tried to pull the arrow out.
“Don't do that.” He whispered to her. She whimpered, leaning her head back. 
He grunt’s as a cold metal graze’s his neck. Her eyes widened as another man behind him held a knife to the blonde’s throat. Two men dressed in ragged clothes, walk slowly behind him and stand above her, her heart racing in fear. Bradley slowly get’s to his feet, lifting his hand’s up in surrender. The man nod’s his head at the two men. The grab Valerie under her arm’s bringing her to her feet, she groaned quietly. A woman walks around, forcing a bandana around her mouth silencing her, she walks around. 
Her cold eye’s analyzing both of them. No one dared to speak, she slowly paced around them. She removes a rope from around her waist, standing behind Bradley. She smirked, shooting dagger’s at Valerie. She grunt’s wrapping the rope around his neck, pulling it tightly. He gasped for air pulling at the rope that cut into his neck. He groaned as the man behind him forced him to turn around, beginning to drag him across the wooden dock. 
Valerie grunted against the two men’s arm’s, her heart raced as she watched him struggle, clawing at his captor.  The woman from before circle’s her, looking the restrained girl up and down, vulture to its prey.  She point’s with her knife at the end of the dock. 
She pant’s in fear, gritting her teeth. Her eye’s went to his kicking leg’s, a black leather strap on his leg laid a metallic flicker of the sun. Her brows furrowed as she understood what to do. She stomps on the wood. 
The woman in front of her raised her brow’s at her action. Bradley looked at her, she stomped again, gesturing to her leg. He grunted twisting around trying to slow the man behind him, he strained as he grunt’s pulling him closer to the water. Valerie stomp’s her foot again, slapping thigh again. 
His brown eyes darted to his own leg. The black leather sheath with his initials in the working laid his brown bowie handled knife. He reached with one hand, the other fighting the rope at his throat. His finger’s link through the hole in the handle, pulling it out. 
Valerie met the eye of the woman leader. She smirked as her confusion grew. She grit’s through her teeth, extending her leg kicking the woman in the face, she stumbled back falling over onto the dock. She huffed, grabbing the handle in her holster, unsheathing her blade plunging it into the man behind her groin. 
The man hollered out in pain. His scream echoing off the city. Screech and roar’s sound alert at the sudden disruption of their perfect world. The man with the rope looked up with wide eyes, his distraction end’s as a sharp cut is felt to his stomach. 
He released the rope. Bradley got to his feet, he grunted as he balled his fist and swung it into the man’s face. Valerie grabbed one of the men by their shoulders, plunging her blade into his chest, he groaned in agony. 
Shoving him away from her. Blood rushed through her ear’s as the creature’s cry’s began to get closer to them all. Valrie grunted limping, holding her thigh, crimson brown leaking through her jean’s onto the wood. She gritted her teeth trying to move as fast as her injury would let her get.  Behind her she could hear the clicking of the alien, as well as its talon slicing through a body. 
Bradley pulled the man against the dock post, pulling the rope tight as he fought against him.  
“Fuck you.” He whispered into the man’s ear, he jammed the knife into the killer's gut. He let out a cry of agony, the creature’s hollers cutting in with his. 
Valerie ducked out of the way, her head slamming hard into the wood. The former pilot dove into the water as the man was tackled into the bay water. 
Her vision blurred as she looked to the sky above. She gasped for breath, panting as hot flashes ran through her body. The world around faded in and out, eventually turning dark.
⏁⏁⏁
HER BODY ACHED. Never in her life had she felt this tired, each side of her felt like they were under rushing water, slowing her with fatigue and aches. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings, the room around her rock back and forth, small and walled with dark oak. She groaned looking down at her leg. 
The arrow was gone, the pain lingered. Her pant leg was cut open, a part of her maroon brief’s visible. A white bandage wrapped around her thigh, a bit of blood stained brown on her leg. She pant’s as she looked all around her, she didn't recognize where she was at all. “Valerie, it's okay.” A deep voice spoke clearly, her heart skipped a beat. She whipped her head, he got to her side sitting on an ottoman close to the wall. His blonde hair dripped with water, though the rest of his clothes remained dry. 
She stuttered for a moment. “I got the arrow out but I had to dig around the tip.” Bradley inform’s her, crossing his hands over his lap. 
“You bled a lot, and you kept waking up each time I tried to remove it.” He says to her. The glow from the bedside lamp illuminated his features onto the oak of the room.  His brown eyes meet her widened one’s, he furrowed his brow. 
“Are you okay, what’s wrong?” He asked in concern. She shook her head.
“Nothing, it's just.” She gulp’s. 
“I haven't heard you speak before.” She admits, his gaze softened on her.  There were moments she could catch glimpses of his voice when he mouthed words, it was much deeper then what she had thought it was. 
“Where are we?” Valerie asks him. He gulps, clearing his throat.
“Couple mile’s out from the bay, the creature drowned itself so it didn't follow us.” He reassures her, she nods her head. 
“How far from the island are we?” She wonder’s, he shrugged his shoulders as though.
“About five miles, give or take.” He inform’s her, she listens hearing the sound of water slushing around, she was on a boat. 
“They can't swim, and it’s raining right now, so it’s safe to talk.” He tells her. She groans as she holds her thigh sitting up. He gets to her side. “Hey Hey take it easy.” He soothed her. 
“I'm fine.” Valerie state’s, he shakes his head.  “You were shot with an arrow and lost a lot of blood.” He reminds her. 
“You said you were a fighter pilot, not a nurse.” She teased with a weak laugh. He rolled his eyes at her comments.  “Gonna take a lot more than an arrowhead to take me out.” She tells him. 
“Clearly.” He chuckled. “Listen, what happened back there.” She start’s, he holds up his hand for her to stop. “Dont..its okay, its over.” 
“No, I'm sorry.” Valerie say’s softly, shaking her head. His brows furrowed in confusion at her guilt.  “We didn't know they were there, it's fine.” He assured her. 
“No I meant I should have done more, I should have swallowed my pain and killed him.” She ranted, biting her lip as she thought about all of it. 
“It’s not your fault, none of that was your fault.” Bradley says to her. “They were gonna kill you.” Valerie stammer’s out, she wiped her eye’s. “And you saved me.” He reminded her, and she shook her head. 
“You did, I wouldn't have remembered my knife if you hadn't been there.” Bradley admit’s. He stands up, sitting on the gray sheets of the bed she laid on. His plaid shirt unbuttoned, underneath he wore a black shirt.  
“They would have drowned me, and killed you.” He tells her.
“Valerie you saved me, you did.” He declares strongly. He glanced down at her bare thigh. Shiver ran down her body as goosebumps painted her arms. Her heart skipped a beat. 
“Should probably change your bandage.” He whispered, rubbing the back of his neck. He cleared his throat. He stands up walking out of the cabin room.  A breath of relief left her lips. she hadn't realized it.  She missed human’s, conversation, touching, feeling, and experiencing. She joked before that she ghosted through everything, living only to work. Now she lived to survive, that wasn't living. 
He came back into the room with first aid supplies. He sat down in front of her on the floor, and began to unwrap the bandage from her leg. His fingertip’s grazed her thigh, her heart pounded in her ear’s loudly. “You're staring.” He mumbled. She cleared her throat leaning back on her hand’s.
“Sorry..uh just talk to me.please.” She pleaded with him, chuckling nervously. “Um..what was your word on the highway?” Bradley wonder’s, she scoffs. “Sore loser.” She grumbled, shaking her head. He rolled his eye’s as he soaked a cotton ball with alcohol. 
“It was cowboy.” Valerie tell’s him.  “What!?” He exclaimed, she chuckled, shaking her head. “See what I mean.” She teased him. She hissed through her teeth as hot pain stung her, she grit her teeth sitting up, gripping his arms. 
“Fuck motherfuc-agh.” The women swore holding him tightly. His brown eyes looked her up and down. 
“Little warning would have been nice.” Valerie mutter’s. 
“Sorry.” He breathed out. She shook her head letting go of his arms.
“Can I ask you something?” Valerie wonder’s, he nods his head. 
“Yeah sure.” Bradley say’s, he brings cold wet cloth, wiping away the dried blood that dye’s the white red. She glanced at his lips watching as he worked around the wound. She could see the outline of the arrowhead and where he had to cut around her thigh. 
“Did you ever visited the Hard Deck?” Valerie asked calmly. He licked his lips looking up from his spot on the floor.
“You said you were a pilot, and that was the popular spot for them.” She recall’s. 
“Did you ever go?” She repeats’. “I did.” He answers, she smirks. He place’s a white gauze on the wound, soaking up the blood, placing more around it. 
“So you must have seen me at some point right?” Valerie smiled softly. He bit his lip as heat arose to his cheek.  
“I did.” He says softly. Her heart pounded, the blonde stared up at her from the floor. His eyes glancing between the wound on her leg, his finger’s working delicately to not hurt her, and her face. 
His breath hot on the bare part of her skin, his focus didn't deter him from how close the two were getting. More than they have been since they began their journey. “Did you ever try to talk to me?” She wondered. He wrapped the bandage around her leg tightly.
“I wanted to, you always left before I could.” Bradley admit’s. Her breath hitched at his confession. 
“I saw you every Saturday, you alway ordered the same thing.” His brown eyes glanced at her.
“Pale Ale, with a garnish.” He recall’s, her dropped slightly agape. 
“And you always looked like you had so much on your mind.” His voice vibrated. Her brows furrowed as she began to rerun scenes from the world before. Every Saturday. She thought. It couldn't be him, could it. “I never got the confidence though, kind of mad at myself on that one.” He chuckled weakly, he shook his head. Her thoughts raced as she played everything back, she only caught glimpses from behind, his sunglasses always his eyes from her, and the crowd’s of civilians and armed forces. 
He turned around. “It was you wasn't it?” Valerie say’s, she sits up with her hand in her lap. His heart pounded, he 
“Great balls of Fire, every saturday…the piano.” She lists,their eyes not daring to look away. 
“Was that you?” She asks softly. He smiled warmly. His hand’s stopped wrapping, he taped it sealing her wound off. Her hand’s hold his on her bare thigh.
"Yes." He anwserd, he looked down at the floor. "That was me." He says.
She smiled, caressing his cheek, making him look her in the eye. The gap between the two of them began to get smaller As his hand slowly trailed to her waist. She holds the back of his neck pulling him in, inhaling deeply as their lips begin to move in sync.
His finger grazes across her skin, the warmth of them contrasting with her cold body. He leaned forward, hooking his hand under knee .
Her back pushed into the grey comforter, the both of them keeping the rhythm of lips . She wrapped her bare leg around his waist, while her other hand played with the hem of his plaid shirt.
She pulled away as sharp pain shot through her body. Valerie held her leg groaning in pain.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, his hot breath on her face. She smiled, their foreheads touching. "It's okay…should take it slow." She says softly.
"Not really my style." Bradley teases her, she could feel him smirk.
"Me neither." She agreed. Valerie untangled herself from, he pulled himself away from her. His blonde hair messy from her fingers.
"You should get some rest, I'll see how far we are." He tell's her. He adjusted his pant leg as he turned around. She smirked at her effect.
"You know if this isn't a rumor, then we won't have to worry about that." Valerie teased him. He bit his lip, turning around to face her.
"Are you good on that promise?" Bradley challenged her. She smirked looking him up and down.
" I might be." She smirked. He shook his head as his cheeks became hot. His brown eyes gazed on the injured girl.
"Get some rest." He says walking out of the cabin room. She sighed leaning her head back against the pillow. Groaning loudly as she closed her eyes as the ache in body remained. The boat slowly rocked her back to sleep.
A/N: AND THAT IS ALL SHE WROTE, God i hope this dosent flop because if it does I have to go down with. Anyway's, your favorite smart mouth guy is next.
Tagged: @cowboysandpilots @bobfloydssunnies @sugarcoated-lame @sorchathered @fairyheart @senawashere @swiftsgirlfriend @
63 notes · View notes
fruit-salad-ship · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
She's returned from Hisui, some mons find her out in the field in the same spot where she was taken, unconcious and hurt badly, but alive, Val in her arms even in her state. Theyre rushed to the labs, and despite brutal injury, should be fine. Val's put in the ICU, the staff do not leave her alone, if anything were to happen to that pokemon Peach would lose it.
The professor herself is taken home, dosed to the hilt with pain meds, and put in bed after being cleaned up a little, checked out. Some broken ribs, fractures in the hands, a knuckle completly shattered, the healing mons come to her, repair what they can, but theres not a lot to be done about broken bones, those just take time.
Grey cannot explain the clothes, the scars that she never had, healed and seemingly old now, nor the changes in her physical apperance, hairs longer than it was that morning, she's somehow bigger? the notable white streak in the hair??? Only thing she's got on her is a half filled notebook tucked away in a pocket, small but hers, full of scribbles, sketches, mons long extinct in some cases, unusual variants, some kid he's never seen, Val, scenery. Plum in particular thumbs through it for a long while, unaware that this woman had any artistic skill, but it had to be her right? Thats her hand writing... some of it in Ancient Hisuian????? A pretty dead language these days. She said she was from Sinnoh but didnt expect this level of knowedge from her.
Takes 13 hours for her to wake up, the longest 13 hours theyve sat through, neither able to sleep, pacing around the house. When she's finally awake, totally buzzed from painkillers, nothing feels real, its out of body, touching stuff is abstract, the feeling is all wrong, heads fuzzy, she hit the deck pretty hard during the battle with Arcaeus, body went through a lot, she recalls falling for a long time, the impact should have broken her back, cracked her head, but here she is. She must be dead, this is a dream, being back home again like this is not new, she's had this dream so many times since leaving.
It is Val, waking in the ICU and demanding Booker comes to see her immediatly that is the turning point. Since peach left, she'd used taste to ground herself, when dreams felt too real, when reality felt off, taste stays the same. There when youre awake, gone if youre in a dream, or even an illusion. Val tells the Teddiursa to get some potent tasting berry and force feed Peach, only then will she realise this is the real timeline she was suppost to be in. Bob ambles in and sits with Val for the rest of her rest, old friends.
Once Peach realises she's home, truly, her thoughts immediatly go to her partner, and despite dizzy head and a body full of breaks and bruises, she gets on her feet, staggers her way to the labs, finds her partner, in just a bad a way as she is. The two sit together and say nothing, they dont need to. She waits until Val wakes up again, in and out of rest, petting bob as he dozes close. They've gone through hell and back, and now, with her partner, she makes the joke, the one she's sat on the whole time, recalling their original weekend holiday plans.
"Maybe we'll get to go camping now." knowing neither want to be anywhere but curled up at home right now. They fought god and came out alive, fuck camping.
Days pass recovering, neither well, but alive, repairing, it takes time. And in that time, Peach tells her loved ones everything, every lie, every hidden secret, all out on the table, Val even shares some memories with Grey and Plum, who have both a million questions, and new found deep understanding for her personlaity and behaviours now. She is sorry, painfully so, and sees she's made a lifetime of mistakes, too afraid to lose what she'd gained, the good in her life something she was not willing to risk, but in being secretive, she was putting them in danger. If they left now, she would understand, theyre free to do whatever they need to. Grey looks at Plum, a moment passing, before the pair get up. Peach thinks to leave, accepting it, but they wrap her up in their arms and squeeze as much as her damaged body can take.
They're sad for her, she has not had it easy by any means, but after being handed that shitshow of a childhood, Peach made something good of her life, and that takes real strength.
696 notes · View notes
Note
Sending a headcannon and I got carried away:
Our Dragon-Parented Dragonslayers needed to learn modern Fioran (or whatever languages Earthland X777 had) after arriving in the future and Natsu's the one with the biggest grasp of it.
---
These kids were from 400 years in the past when there was a huge dragon-feud going on. If Nirvana and Dragnof are any indication, multiple civilizations fell during that time and with it the loss of several languages. Whatever language they had been taught (which was likely at least one form of dragonic at the time...because dragon parents), it's probably considered extinct in X777.
But thing is I think Natsu may have been the only one to get lessons on how to read and write Fioran.
Gajeel? He got stuck in Phantom Lord, which (to put it nicely) had a sink-or-swim philosophy towards it's members. He probably picked up on a bit on his own, but likely also struggles reading job assignments and won't let anyone know he is (side headcannon: our favorite linguist Levy helped him out once she found out he was struggling).
Wendy? The kid who first got adopted by a runaway prince from another dimension and then by a 400 year old ghost? I don't think either of them know Fioran themselves, much less could teach it. On the bright side, she probably also knows ancient Nirvit.
The Two Sabergoofs? Same case as Gajeel. Rogue's hit with a double whammy since he supposedly hung around Phantom Lord before getting yeeted to Sabertooth's guildmaster. Though this probably leads to a few complications once Sting is guildmaster and has to start filling out paperwork.
So much to everyone's surprise, out of all of them Natsu - who got seven-years worth of supportive family at the orphan daycare - is the one who can read/write in modern language best.
It's not a unique headcannon by any means but one of my favorites. Thoughts?
Y'see this is what im talkin bout, some good ol' analysis stuff.
I had a post aaaaagggeeees ago (if i find it back i may link it) bout like a crack situation where the team got forced to speak their first languages and natsu n wendy got stuck speaking their og ancient fioran languages and no one could understand wtf they were saying (and they couldnt understand each other neither bcus i had it that they were speakin different dialects of ancient fioran but details.). But i am gettin off track.
I always hc that most of the slayers didnt end up in Fiore when they got shot to the future, itd be kinda boring if they all ended up on the same continent. So Gajeel for me landed in Bosco so he learnt Boscan first as his modern language before he made his way to fiore to learn the language there by osmosis. I think Gajeel as a character especially to me with his spying skills and generally personality is super discerning with his desire to know information. So i think he's largely self taught with everything when he was on his own and knows 2 languages fully- Boscan and Fioran- but his fioran is weaker especially when it comes onto the writing part. And he vaguely knows phrases and terms from a bunch of diff languages.
Wendy landed closer to the border of Fiore and Seven before mystogan picked her up. I'd like to think that the language in Edolas and Earthland is largely the same orally (but it'd have a whole different written language) so he managed to teach her how to speak modern fioran but write in modern edolas. Which was a weird disconnect when the team found out down the line lmao. When he left her with cait shelter she picked up that additional language (which is a purely oral language) and is probs the only person left in modern fiore who can speak it (Levy loves her for it)
Sting got yote to Caelum before somehow making his way over to Minstrel then Fiore, he speaks a weird combo package of slangs from all 3 and he's not fully fluent in all of em (fioran is his best) and sometimes when he can't remember a word in one he'll supplement it with a word from another. He's ironically better at the written languages with them than speakin em.
Rogue met Sting in Minstrel briefly (didnt stick around with each other and then ran into each other again in fiore) but Rogue never picked up on Minstrel's language easily so he only picked up on fioran when he eventually made his way over. He knows brief smatterings and terms from other languages from his time hanging out with phantom lord but is only fluent in just the one.
Natsu's the only sucker who landed squarely in Fiore and was picked up by Makarov who had him fluent enough in speaking modern fiore before he got him back to the guild. He didn't get around to starting him with writing so that was a task for the others to teach and get him up to speed (to varying success. His handwriting sucks ass). I also like to think he hung around a decent amount with Levy when he was younger (he liked listening when she read her stories aloud) so he has a weird mixed bag of being able to read and understand a whole bunch of random language bits despite not actively trying to learn em.
Ok byyyyeeeeeeeeeee
37 notes · View notes
precambrianhottopic · 13 days
Text
OWEN'S NEXT TOP BEASTIE
friends. romans. mutuals. the time has come for a new favorite animal. the giant isopod's time draws to a close and it's time for a new champion. because i am both incredibly bored and incredibly autistic, there is only one was to do this.
BEHOLD
Tumblr media
THE BRACKET!
i have a strange obsession with running tournaments and im making it everyone else's problem! 64 animals, divided up into birds, fish, mammals, and everything else that i didnt have enough of to get a whole side of the bracket to itself (there is also an extinct wild card that will be decided shortly before the miscellaneous bracket). all of these creatures are ones that i personally enjoy, and they're seeded based on personal preference, so i have no idea what the results are going to end up looking like.
why am i doing this instead of just picking the one i like best or, better yet, not doing this at all? because it's fun. dipshit.
if there's a certain animal you feel deserves the world that you want to send in propaganda for, here is a form for that!
with the exception of the wild card poll, which will run for a day, each round will be open for a week. after the polls close, tournament standings will be updated and the next round will begin. see under the cut for a full schedule + higher resolution brackets:
tues. 3/26/24- wild card round 1
wed. 3/27/24- wild card round 2
thurs. 3/28/24- wild card results
fri. 3/29: birds, fish, mammals, and miscellaneous round 1
fri. 4/5: round 1 results. birds round 2 releases
sat. 4/6: fish round 2 releases
sun. 4/7: mammals round 2 releases
mon. 4/8: misc. round 2 releases
fri. 4/12: birds round 2 results, birds round 3 (semifinal) releases.
sat. 4/13: fish round 2 results, fish round 3 releases.
sun. 4/14: mammals round 2 results, mammals round 3 releases.
mon. 4/15: misc round 2 results, misc round 3 releases
fri. 4/19: birds round 3 results, BIRDS FINAL
sat. 4/20: fish round 3 results, FISH FINAL
sun. 4/21: mammals round 3 results, MAMMALS FINAL
mon. 4/22: misc round 3 results, MISCELLANEOUS FINAL
fri. 4/26: birds final results
sat. 4/27: fish final results
sun. 4/28: mammals final results
mon. 4/29: misc results
fri. 5/3: SEMIFINALS (bird vs fish, mammal vs miscellaneous)
fri. 5/10: semifinals results
sun. 5/12: FINAL ROUND
sun 5/19: FINAL RESULTS
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
34 notes · View notes
headspace-hotel · 1 year
Note
Personally as someone who experiences much more daily suffering than the average person I am deeply uncomfortable with the mere idea of "eliminating suffering" because it treats "positive" experiences like love and joy and happiness as more meaningful. In my experience this is done pretty much exclusively to the detriment of people like me.
Because by acting like suffering inherently decreases the value of someone's life you are implying that lives like mine aren't worth living. And maybe it's just me but I take offense to that! Sure my life isn't perfect and there are a lot of things I wish I didnt have to deal with but this life is mine and I'll be damned if I let other people tell me it's not good enough!
Humans weren't designed to exclusively experience pleasant things. Suffering is part of being alive! And I would not trade that for anything!
Ultimately its a facet of toxic positivity, and it makes me very very nervous. Because the people who are suffering the most always seem to be the ones thrown to the wayside for fancy little hypothetical "innovations" like this. Getting rid of suffering is quite likely impossible but that doesn't mean the people backing the idea won't just put on some horse blinders and pretend they don't see the people who would prove it didn't work.
I was about 12 years old the first time somebody told me I was too depressed to be around and it was catastrophic for my mental health. I just don't think that applying that on a worldwide scale is exactly revolutionary ya know?
The ultimate manifestation of this idea is in anti-natalism (people who think it's actively bad and wrong to have children) and people who believe in this idea are often actively pro-eugenics and just...anti-human.
"eliminate suffering" inevitably ends up at calling for extinction of all life, or at least extinction of human life, and there are people out there who think we should go extinct!...and I think we need to be firmer about calling this extremist and harmful, instead of treating it as a philosophical position to be considered seriously
like, even if voluntary human extinction just involved humans choosing not to reproduce, it's still going to fuck you up to go around looking at other humans and believing that it's bad that they're alive. yes, "existence is bad" I guess is one of the basic possible options to come to when asking questions about life and meaning, and I see how people start feeling like there is a "pro-natalist agenda" or some shit because it's something we don't really talk about.
but...believing that a universal genocide would be a good thing isn't that different from believing a genocide of one specific group would be a good thing.
And "no one should reproduce" is not really any better than "everyone should reproduce," because both violate the basic principle that other people reproducing is none of your damn business.
I am generally really uncomfortable with how so many environmentalism and climate change mitigation proposals focus on human population growth as a main cause of climate change.
There's no real evidential basis for the numbers that get cited as the ideal population for Earth, like supposedly 2-4 billion is the max the Earth can support if everyone lives a "comfortable middle class lifestyle"—What The Fuck Does That Mean? Where does it come from? Is it something we actually need or want? The vast majority of humans on Earth aren't living a "middle class lifestyle."
I want to see breakdowns of complex simulations explaining how much biomass the Earth can actually support, instead of arbitrary bullshit like that.
But from everything I've read, producing enough food for the world population is not even remotely a problem. Capitalism is the problem. Huge companies controlling the food supply and keeping the countries that produce food in poverty is the problem. Technological solutions are important but they will not fix the current problems, just like Eli Whitney's cotton gin didn't eliminate slavery.
Everyone assumes that the system is working as efficiently as it possibly can to meet the material needs of people, and that is so terribly wrong.
Anyway much of that was off topic but yeah, I'm not a fan of this line of thought and where it leads
215 notes · View notes
quitealotofsodapop · 3 months
Note
Been thinking of the Stone Egg Au, specifically the Slow Boiled one, and wondering how the hell Guanyin would not have known about Stone Monkey incubation since she's literally a goddess of childbirth. Then ot hit me... what if Guanyin did know but didn't know Wukong was a Stone Monkey!?
Think about it. Her only experience with Wukong before he got a mountain dropped on his head were rumors and complaints of a Monkey demon wrecking her sister's party. The Heavenly Court most certainly did not know Wukong was one of the rarest and most powerful celestial species in existence (I just remembered the Stone Monkeys all have the title of Celestial Primates too, meaning Wukong technically isn't even a demon lol), otherwise they probably wouldn't have made him a Biwawen. That'd be like finding the Loch Ness Monster and treating Nessie like a common anole. Utterly ridiculous.
And while Guanyin can sense the youthful teenage soul in Wukong, that doesn't necessarily mean she'd have knowledge of his species, and Stone Monkeys look an awful lot like bigger Macaque Monkey Demons. And Guanyin would have no reason to look deeper than that because Stone Monkeys are thought to be extinct by then. So it's actually really believable she didnt know about the pregnancy because she thought that he's just a regular monkey demon be aysevshe only met him after the fact and only had what other said to go off of.
And most of the others just don't have a clue what Wukong is.
Guanyin and the rest of Heaven just assumed Wukong was a funky little macaque-monkey demon. Whats more is that the Bodhisattva (atleast this incarnation) was born long after the species was assumed extinct across the solar system.
Gold Star of Venus probably had his suspicions when he very briefly saw either Wukong and/or Macaque (he would have immediately clocked Mac as a Stone Monkey *if* the shadow monkey hadn't been hiding his ears with glamour) in the Jade Palace, but its like pointing at a weird bird and saying its a T-Rex - you want all the facts first. And The Celestial Primate stuff is Buddha-classified knowledge it seems.
Alternatively, Guanyin *sensed* a life forming within Wukong when they finally met under the mountain, and she had a brief moment of relief thinking; "Oh thank buddha, I managed to spare an expectant parent from Heavens wrath." - cus she really doesn't have a timeframe for when the "conception" of the Egg occurred. Or if the Buddha and/or Gold Star told them about Stone Eggs later on, Guanyin had no idea that the Buddha's punishment would help begin the Stone Egg-creation process - they'd feel mega-guilty for it.
Or maybe she thought Wukong and Mac did conjugal visits before they broke up who knows XD
35 notes · View notes
tacagen · 3 months
Text
rating thawne's deaths on a 10 point scale
snapped neck: 6/10. ok. not good, not bad, well-deserved, timeless, impactful. i love the way thawne is still complaining about that one though.
flashpoint: 9/10. imagine becoming a living paradox and proceeding to rant about how your speedster nemesis cant hurt you now (very normal way to put it btw.) only to be pierced by a fucking sword. dumb and classic, all good here.
the button: 100/10 THE DUMBEST DEATH OF THEM ALL AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. also a classic, imagine being told multiple times that youre going to die and fucking carry on like youre the Smartest here and nothing could ever happen to you and actually ima adopt you barry. thawne's character at its finest.
running scared: 8/10. not bad. ironic last words and 'on my life i swear' about the promise he intended to break all along. once again, dead because he couldnt shut the fuck up and look around him. iris, my beautiful tired of thawne's shit queen, I STAN.
the flash cw season 1: 5/10. dont remember it much asides from being totally pointless as it has 0 effect on thawne's existence further and our beloved Genius of Time Travel, who can Calculate Every Single Timeline Consequence To His Actions revealing his fucking name to his ancestor and bullying him into murder by suicide.
legends of tomorrow season 2: 10/10. love this one. top 10 reverse-flash moments. my dude got together like 15 other versions of himself for each to do practically fucking nothing other than to group pose and die. an honorable mention: poor black flash who got called a monster just for trying to do his timeline protection job and who endured all of thawne's shit only for it to turn out completely pointless as well. then again if you think about it, everything that happens in cw is pointless.
the flash cw season 6: 2/10. does that even count as a death. makes zero fucking sense. 2 points only for thawne being a total loser and resembling negaduck's 'crisis on infinite darkwings' death.
suicude squad: hell to pay: 10/10. i gave this 10 points already just for his last words 'fuck my life'. again, DOESNT KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP WHICH GETS HIM KILLED. thawne believing in the afterlife in the first place feels out of character to me though.
finish line: 0/10. it was very hard to waste a character like that without even realising it AFTER WRITING HIM WITH SUCH A DEEP UNDERSTANDING BEFORE but you've done it, williamson ⭐
legends of tomorrow season 7: 7/10. very balanced death, little bit of thawne having zero fucking braincells, little bit of meaning. not even complaining about the concept, silly little domesticated rat doing his silly little job of preserving the timeline. i approve.
jurassic league: 10/10. first i suggest we just stop and think for a moment about the fact that we got a DINOSAUR THAWNE in a list of deaths. second THIS PREHISTORIC DUMPLING GOT FUCKING EATEN. third insert an extinction pun. perfect understanding of thawne being a fucking joke of a character and meme potential.
flashpoint beyond: 12/10. did NOTHING in the plot. meant NOTHING for the plot. just spawned as a corpse and looked pretty in the morgue (10 points already purely for The Page) and i respect that. 1 more point for the button encore and another to martha wayne. thank you for your service queen, we'll never forget your impact on this one.
knight terrors: the flash: 8/10. this mf lasted exactly 3 pages. neat but a bit sad if you think about it. not only got killed unprovokedly but his prescious museum he just tried to protect got damaged as well. didnt even get to finish neither the tour or his point about barry not being able to wake up (again, only tried to help in a way by that?). also i like the way he's once again a creation of barry's subconsciousness acting suspiciously fruity.
25 notes · View notes
preg-lix · 6 months
Text
Beast in the Tower Part 1
My father was ever determined to make my life difficult. I knew from a very young age that gender didnt apply to me normally, and most everyone was fine with it. I called myself a boy since I learned to speak. My father, however, wanted me to keep up appearances, what with him being a King of the Realm. Do whatever I wanted in private, but he still wanted me to attend balls in extravagant gowns and let princes of foreign lands politely court me. Even as a child I refused. I even shredded all of my dresses as a kid.
Now grown and with a full knighthood I earned through battle and war, I thought maybe my father had gotten over this desire for me to blend in with society. After all, I had brothers aplenty to inherit and sisters aplenty to be married off for political gain. I had gained praise from elder knights at my skills with a sword and scholars at my skills of wit. My brother, who stood to inherit the kingdom, assured me with pride that he would gladly keep me as a knight of honor and general to his army in his courts.
Our father, unfortunately, had different plans. His quiet dismissal of my life was not the silent approval I had thought it was. It was plotting. Our world was full of strange non-human races, but so few actually crossed paths with us. The Fair Folk kept to the old forests too overgrown for human population, and the races that preferred darkness kept to the northland and caves and mountains.
The Beast who lived in the East Castle was none of them. No one knew who or what it was. Some said a long-extinct draconian persevered there, others a demon of shadow and darkness. My great-grandfather had tried to conquer those lands to no avail. It was a constant, silent threat to our kingdom, and my father had just sold me to him like a common brothel whore.
It came out that the Beast King sent word to our kingdom: a terrible riddle and an offer of peace. He wanted the wisest scholar, the swiftest sword hand, and a princess of the realm to take as his bride. My father thought himself coy in sending me alone to fulfill all three roles. It was a cheap move as well, unwilling to send three court attendees when he could send one.
The only reason I agreed to go was because of the guilt trip he hit me with. What of my sisters? None of them could survive a brutal life at the hands of a beastly king. I was a battle tested warrior who could hold my own. If not I, then one of my delicate sisters would have had to go.
So I lamented my new life into the unknown the whole carriage ride to the tower. My father's right-hand, a man I considered another parent, rode behind me quietly. He had tried so hard to convince me to ride with my things in the carriage, but I refused to not have my horse in my new home. It also gave me an excuse to not wear the rediculous wedding costume the handmaidens tried to shove me in. I earned the right to my knight's armor and be damned if the outlandish mockery of a wedding would take it from me.
As we rode up to the castle I was struck by how beautiful it was. From the tales I expected a dark, crumbling thing that had seen better centuries. Instead it was a delightful dark blue shade that twinkled with veins of gold through the dark rock. It was well intact and had a calm tone to it. The surrounding towns were all surprisingly nice, well funded areas that had little to no squalor and cheerful residents. The closer we got to the castle, though, the fewer people we saw. Once we were let inside the castle gates, I saw but a scant handful of people, so unlike the bustling courts I grew up in.
A well dressed man, maybe a few years younger than my chaperone, had white streaks in his hair and a well trimmed beard. He eyed me warily as I dismounted from my horse. "You are the sword hand, I presume?"
I swallowed the tightness in my chest down and tried to speak with as strong a voice as I could muster. "I am. I am also the scholar and... and the bride."
To his credit, the man didnt flinch at my admission. He stared at me with piercing eyes for a very long moment before nodding and waving me forward. "His Majesty will need to hear of this. I presume you wish to clean up after a hard days ride. A maid will show you to your rooms."
Calem, my father's spokesperson, urged me to wear a dress yet again. He meant well, I knew, but I couldnt bring myself to do it. He was as outraged as I that my father had easily agreed to sell me like chattel, but there was nothing he could do except advise me in my marriage contract.
I ended up in the most flair-bearing outfit I owned. Royal jewels marking me as a member of the royal family hung from my neck, but they laid upon a silk green shirt instead of the nonsense they sent me with. Even if I had been willing to submit to the dresses, I would never have worn the great fluffy pink monstrosity my mother thought would look lovely on me.
In the main hall, decorated with flowers and strands of shimmery crystals for the wedding, the same man stood and introduced himself as his own King's speaker. I was surprised the king wasnt there yet, not even negotiating in his own castle. The man, Baron he called himself, informed me gently that the King would not even attend his own wedding.
Instead, I was drilled to prove my worth in the other two roles requested of our kingdom. I battled with a sword and recited old history texts and offered battle strategy that surprised everyone with my moves. Whatever test I was being put through was apparently satisfactory, because before the sun went down I was signing my marriage contract with clammy hands.
Calem bid me goodbye, and left me alone to meet my Beastly husband. Baron led me back to a room I assumed to be mine and promised me the King would negotiate the "details" of our marriage at a later moment. He encouraged me to rest, but I ended up crying into my pillow for hours. Long after dark I fell asleep in a strange castle with no husband and no monster in sight.
That is, until, late at night when the moon was high. Large, clawed hands grabbed me by the ankle and startled me awake.
32 notes · View notes
definitelynotshouting · 6 months
Note
okay hello hi here to shout again because I have ROTATING the hunger lore for DAYS
ECOSYSTEMSSSSS!!! LETS GOOOO!!! did I do well in biology? No!!! I did not :D but ecosystems I know bby!!! MOONS AND STARS ABOVE I love the way it's all connected to like this huge ecosystem and the Watchers being almost gone, the Seekers being completely gone, and rhe Listeners relatively new!! Like?? That's so extremely clever and fascinating to me, and I love the way things are out of balance now bc!!! Yea!!! That's how ecosystems be!!
And also!!! It opens all these new thoughts!!! Like, I can't remember exactly if you said WHY the Watchers decided to take Grian, but if you didn't then like!!!! It opens up these possibilities of the Watchers trying to build back their population, which opens even MORE doors like "are they trying this with other players or was Grian the first/last?" And "would building their population out of Players actually help if Player-Watchers are different?" LIKE IM MEANT TO BE DOING SCHOOLWORK BUT I AM ROTATING
(and also. Love the way Grian became a Watcher. Can't remember if you specified the why (will go back and look) or if you're keeping it secret for now, but!! I love considering the ways populations adapt and survive to great loss and near extinction. It's very different from my own lore (living weapon Grian. Watchers took him to be a soldier bc Watchers and Listeners can't harm each other) so it's so fun to just think about and!!! Yeah!!! That's all I got!!!
Once again :D love your au <3 love your world building and your writing!! Was going to just send the one ask, but I cannot stop rotating your au!!! :D
-Wren
AAAAAA thank you so much!!!! :D im really pleased that everyone likes the ecosystem stuff-- ive been kinda noodling on it for a while because ecosystems are just so neat to me and it made a lot of sense to develop one when i decided Watchers were parasitic in this verse!!!!
I think ive only mentioned this offhand once or twice, but youve absolutely nailed the entire reason the Watchers took Grian-- they're trying to rebuild their population. Grian was essentially the beginning of an experiment to see if this was a suitable way to do that!!!
Actually lemme dive into that real fast, because i dont think i actually have before, at least not publicly. Something to note about Watcher life cycles is that they take comparatively a LONG time. Specifically, Watcher larvae take around a year to incubate within their hosts, and then once they "hatch" (altho "emerge" might be a better word for it) the juveniles take far longer to grow up and teach. And because these things are basically made out of wet tissue paper, theyve got a pretty high mortality rate.
So to get around that, and to try and get around the fact that juveniles often die because they dont know how to feed properly yet and often overextend themselves, why not try and copy the memory code of something fully grown and sentient and just... transfer it to a larva, so its easier to teach?? I feel like it kinda highlights the desperation the Watchers are feeling, that they'd go for this kind of wild experimentation, but it did technically work!!!
They just uh. Didnt account for the insane trauma that would cause, because to them Players are typically just viewed as food sources. Very orange and blue morality, in terms of their value systems compared to Players'.
Grian demonstrated to them that while its possible to rebuild this way on a technical level, its not actually feasible socially speaking. Grian ran from them because of the trauma they inflicted, and that sorta defeats the purpose of Watcherificating a Player so they can add to the community's population 💀💀💀💀 so yeah i'd say Grian is probably both the first and last experiment of his kind, if only because its just not reasonable to continue if your new Watchers are going to escape containment and flee to the ends of the universe every single time you make one /lh
I really love your concept with Watcher!Grian being a weapon, thats INSANELY neat holy shit!!!! Im feeling Things™ about that, i would absolutely love to hear more if you decide you want to tell me!!! It sounds like youve got some really cool symbolism in your lore, and i live for that shit >:]
Skdnwjfnmej anyway theres my own insane ramble to match your deeply flattering compliments, seriously thank you im so astonished people love this stuff so much, it makes me very very happy to know other people are spinning my concepts around in their heads :D feel free to send as many asks as you want!! I always love chatting with people :]
43 notes · View notes
cult-of-the-eye · 3 months
Note
👀
Fandom mix up
Which avatars do you think the pjo characters would be? Which gods would the tma characters be the children/kin of?
JSHSHAJJANANAKAKAK HERE WE GO
Eye, web, lonely, dark, extinction, buried, slaughter, flesh, spiral, hunt, stranger, end, vast, corruption
Percy Jackson
His whole thing is excess loyalty right? And then you got dark Percy from house of Hades (hoh) and everything so we've definitely got a lot to go on
Hmm this one's a bit difficult cause he doesn't fit neatly into any of them I think
My first thought was the vast cause of the ocean and like by the end of hoo, he is so powerful that its almost unfathomable like the ocean and the vast, to the point where even he only just understands the extent of his power, like what happened in hoh
The excess loyalty could fit into that as well cause loyalty is something he hedges all his bets on, it's the one sort of indefinitely huge thing that rules his way of looking at things - like the ocean
But I'm not sure, if anyone has any better ideas please say so
Annabeth Chase
Girl's hubristic
I guess my first thought would be the web cause obviously she's strategic, she makes plans, she manipulates
But she is terrified of spiders so that wouldn't quite work
I'm not sure where hubris would fit in
I guess it could be the eye, cause with it you're desperate to gain all the knowledge, witness and understand EVERYTHING and therefore would be threatened if that ever failed - if you didnt know everything or if someone didn't believe in your all-knowingness
Which is also a huge part of her character - being underestimated because of the way she looks and speaks and how she both uses that to her advantage and hates the way it happens
I think that works quite well and I think unfortunately she'd be a fantastic Archivist
Grover
Is wonderful and I love him but I guess he'd be the extinction
Listen his whole thing about getting demigods safely to camp? How he's there when they think their world is about to end? When their world literally ends if he doesn't get them there safely? How he has to go through this over and over again, experiencing mini extinction level events every single year
And then you've got the whole pan thinks humans are destroying the world thing and how maybe he'd destroy humans to keep the world safe (I can't really remember that storyline and may have just imagined it so I'm not sure where it would fit exactly lol)
Jason
Jason's the stranger I think
He doesn't know who he is when he's first introduced, he has to spend a couple books remembering who he is and then he struggles with his identity as a son of Jupiter, praetor, leader etc
I think he's been forced to play a role that wasn't him and the essence of the stranger is just that - being forced to reckon with someone who you might've recognised once but certainly don't anymore
Piper
She is immediately web
Her whole thing is manipulation with her charmspeak, forcing people to do her bidding
A huge part of the web is loss of free will and that's exactly her thing - creating a situation in which a person has no choice but to act the way she wants them to
Nico
Boy oh boy
I want to say the end but now I think about it maybe the lonely
He had his sister ripped away from him, the only other person who's experienced the same insane things that he has, he's always seen himself as the lone wolf, different from the rest, the only gay one, the unrequited crush on Percy and how he admitted it to someone who didn't understand, the fact that he was trapped in the underworld alone for so long in that vase or whatever
I feel like at some point he accepted his life of solitude and the fact that no one would miss him or even try to understand or choose him first which definitely encapsulates the lonely
Reyna
The hunt I guess
She's constantly hunting for something more - like validation as the praetor, from Jason, revenge from her tragic backstory, she's constantly striving to be better and work harder
plus she actually joins the hunters of Artemis so that works itself out
Hazel
Im gonna say maybe the corruption
Cause her whole deal with hecate and her getting to grips with the daughter of death god is giving there is something deeply intrinsically wrong with me but I will embrace it and feed it and join the wondrous thrumming in my veins kinda vibes, like finding a family and comfort in the wrongness and both feeding it and feeding off of it
Frank
Gonna be honest with you, can't really remember his character
In my defence I read these books years ago
Oh wait he's the son of Ares who has the wood that he needs to keep safe cause if it burns down then he dies right
Ok well that's giving the end - once that flame touches the wood he's gone, he's living in fear of the one event that will end him, the end that could slowly creep up on him or be a sudden death
Leo
Hot stuff
Oh yeah this has got to be the desolation/extinction right
With his whole burning down his mum's factory and then going from orphanage to orphanage or something
Like I feel like he's constantly ending things just so he can be the one to leave first so he doesn't get abandoned, he's got his barrier up and he's never pulling it down
I'm not sure about this one actually maybe I just thought FIRE and therefore desolation
Anyway you guys can fight me in the tags or whatever I'm tired and want to sleep
24 notes · View notes