the very worst thing
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i have a bluesky now just in case that’s something y'all are into. same name over there.
personally, i’ve always hated how twitter is set up, micro-blogging makes my eye twitch. i need to lore dump about my weird little guys. but i have to Social Media for job and staying connected with other artists reasons.
every day i am closer to making my own dang website.
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for all the treats halloween provides, the biggest trick this year was being too busy and forgetful to burn this quarter’s fun money at the Shortbox Comic Fair.
comics by my favorite creators…comics by new cool artists…lost to me…the curse of timezones…
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Masked Ants are some of the only ants that produce silk, which is used for many things, but most notably, for mimicry. These ants build false “bodies” out of silk, debris, and clay throughout the year, and then most of the colony inhabits this creation to roam humanoid populated areas on fall nights when the weather permits. They’re mainly on the hunt for sugary substances to stock their winter larder, and locals in areas native to these creatures commonly leave out unwrapped sweets that are old, ruined, or simply not to the person’s taste. These people say that the generous offerings keep the ants out of their homes and surprisingly docile. Masked ants are also said to ward off mischievous nature spirits in folklore, so they’re seen as an unsettling but endearing sight every Halloween season.
Hannah Blanke suggested rejected candy monsters over on patreon, so ants be upon ye.
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a few halloween flavored ocean friends inspired by Trip Space-Parasite’s requests for an accursed shrimp and deep sea trick or treaters over on patreon.
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y'all thought I was done Halloween Posting? fools.
here are a couple of besties ready for a night out on the town. some people get accidentally turned into vampires at age 45 and panic. others quit their shitty jobs, make friends with a bat, and enter their bimbo era.
if/when your time comes, choose wisely.
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The 1st Headless Hauntings: The Successes
The ritual was very particular so it’s honestly incredibly impressive that it worked twice, but no one ever really talks about that fact because then people start to ask how many times it failed.
It didn’t matter much anyway. Once the young ladies (a disgraced maid and a lost traveler, no one “worth missing” in their former lives) properly settled into their Debirth, they both had a lot more…agency…than anyone expected.
Very particular that ritual. Very rough translation that’s missing important information like, “will the victim remember what we’ve done?” and, “does listening to us mean that they’ll obey or does it just mean they’ll hear what we’re saying?”
LOT of assumptions made there.
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The 2nd Headless Haunting: Alas
The whole Conjoined Thing made the boys assume that they’d always die together. It made biological sense. That’s how it was supposed to happen. And besides, the other alternative was incredibly terrifying in a nearly unthinkable way (even though they both agreed that it would make for an absolutely fabulous gothic horror stage play). So when they were carried out of the theater and rushed to the hospital, there was a strange sort of comfort blanketing all the pain and fear that at least they were together for whatever happened next.
Jeremiah died that night. Johnathan died five and a half years later.
Kind of.
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The 3rd Headless Haunting: Selkie and Kelpie
She’d have been way less angry if he’d done more than the bare minimum to get away with it.
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The 4th Headless Haunting: Wail Fall
Some souls sink.
Human bodies rarely make it into the depths without being dragged there by a ship or submarine. But some are Seen by the deep. They belong there. So they sink.
One day the dark will finally finish digesting her. It will turn her grief made flesh into a million heartbeats. It will convince her that she’s allowed to leave.
Until then she’ll roam the crushing blackness, a favored paramour of the sea’s teeth, leading those who also have souls made of whale bone down
to
the
bottom.
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The 5th Headless Haunting: Hand Rod
No one expected Rodney to come back to the studio after the accident. Some did, jokingly, wonder about how Lucy was taking it though. She was very level headed for a goose, but she was also sensitive, with a flair for the dramatic, and grief can really run a person (or puppet) through the wringer.
They made sure she was involved of course. She sat with the family at the funeral, noticeably quiet in her tiny gold trimmed black dress. His mother had requested her presence, even though some joyless news outlets found the whole thing a little silly. The people who actually knew Rodney didn’t care though. He was a silly guy! That silliness created Lucy, and Lucy and her friends had touched enough hearts over the years that everyone was starting to doubt if they’d ever get through the piles of heartfelt letters and art dropped off at the studio every day.
So. Anyway. No one expected Rodney to come back. And he didn’t.
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The 6th Headless Haunting: Dryad
It was easier to take the land with her out of the way. Money and threats didn’t work, and poisoning the dog just made her louder and more annoying than ever about the plan that they were passing off to any local official who asked as a “conspiracy theory”. So it was time to escalate. Send a few boys over one evening pretending to be lost hunters. Do it in the woods. Make it brutal enough that the rest of family FINALLY gives up, but give the cops they paid off leeway to lie and call it a bear attack.
1 stubborn 50 something year old woman living out in the boondocks alone. Light work.
The bodies started piling up before they even found her.
The trail cameras were mostly destroyed, but the ones that survived recorded lenticels shifting on tree trunks like bulging veins, and far off human screams playing in short strange bursts, like the sound itself was being chopped to pieces. By the time her ashes were scattered on the forest floor, the whole operation was in chaos.
If you love the woods like she does and you’re willing to share space with everything living and dead inside it, you’re welcome there. If not?
Get off her fucking property.
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7th Headless Haunting: The Invisible Woman
A ghost’s appearance can change over time depending on the emotional connection to their former lives. This change is involuntary and inconsistent. For some, their form shifts to mirror the cause of their death, or emphasizes some other lasting trauma. Others shift into a metaphorical representation of how they view themselves. But most just look like their living forms until time makes the details slip away. Because if there’s no one left to remember them properly, and they can’t really remember themselves, that can trigger a disconnection from their physical past. This disconnect causes the “sheet ghost” effect, as the soul loses the shape of its previous container.
It’s a sad thing, catching a glimpse of a soul losing their face. But that’s part of the cycle of life and death. Everything changes. Everything fades.
Sometimes that fading is even done on purpose.
Morgan doesn’t call herself Morgan anymore because she doesn’t want to metaphysically dox herself.
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It’s Time
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Wisteria Wizards ✨. no one asked for these, i just felt like doing some wizard character design.
here are two older wizards and their apprentices dressed up for some fall witch festival. the Wisteria sect of wizards are chill with witches. many of them grew up learning witchcraft instead of wizardry and/or escaped wizarding school to seek out alternative magic styles (and because wizard school sucks. magic is dangerous and if you start exhibiting Wizard Symptoms then you absolutely need a mentor and support system to help you through it but Jesus Christ. no school should have it’s own cemetery.)
Fun Facts:
first wizard’s parasol is actually a staff and a crystal ball that’s sort of “unfolded”. he’s a fan of corsets and his big naturals come from him being a rare dwarf with gigantism. He/Him unless he’s in dwarven company where she uses She/Her. personal gender male, cultural gender female.
second wizard uses a prosthetic hand for a wand. great wand, less great hand. using it as a hand can actually take more effort than using it as a wand because he has to think about any super fine movements unless he sets it to mirror his other hand. This isn’t the biggest problem because he rarely changes its position or uses it for complicated actions outside of spells. he was born with one arm and that’s what he’s used to. all of this is, of course, less important than the fact that he has a little dragon familiar named Yogurt that likes to be carried around like a sleepy stress ball. this is inconvenient but adorable.
third wizard? a bad bitch with great fashion. that’s all. yes that cloak is alive, what of it?
fourth wizard isn’t good enough at hiding his Symptoms yet but he’s trying his best.