#piranhas

Пираньи, Санкт-Петербургский океанариум. Фотограф Липецких Владимир. Россия (Пушкино).Piranhas, St. Petersburg Oceanarium. Photographer Vladimir Lipetskikh. Russia (Pushkino).

Daily drawing 2025 day 347:

Summary:

Gangle pressed her hands to her cold cheeks, patting herself repeatedly as she shook her head, but the memories of last night came flooding back the moment she'd metaphorically turned the tap. After the Favorite Character Awards, she'd taken Zooble back to their room. They could barely stand on their own after thoroughly dousing themself in stupid sauce, so Gangle walked them back, just to make sure they didn't lose any of their pieces along the way or pass out in an inebriated haze on the hard tile floor. Plus, she couldn't help but feel a certain kind of way, supporting Zooble physically when they had been doing so much to support her in every other way possible. It was… nice, being someone Zooble could need. Someone they could count on. — The day after the gun adventure and the Favorite Character Awards, Gangle wonders if everything Zooble told her while under the influence of the stupid sauce was true. Afraid that, like with Ragatha, they'll claim they didn't mean any of it in the sober light of day… and maybe even more afraid of what it means if they did. Or that time where Jax pushed Gangle into a pool of piranhas.

We Tied Ourselves Together with Strips of Satin and Plastic Promises - Part 2

The second challenge for Tales of the Clandestine Shrine was called "The Road to Milk and Honey." The contestants were attached via a bungee cord to a slicked up, open-topped chute and covered in what was described to be some kind of cursed oil of slipperiness. The goal of this game was for one teammate to collect honey from a beehive or milk from a cow, then slide through the oil of slipperiness to pass the honey or milk jars to their partner, who would then slide to the opposite end of the chute, climb a pillar, then place the jar on an altar as an offering. The team who collected the most milk or honey at the end of three minutes would win a second pendant of undying, while second place would be granted another half pendant.

As with the first challenge, it didn't take long for the chaos to unfold. For one, all the cows turned out to actually be bulls and were thus unmilkable, while the bees were… incredibly aggressive and protective of their hive. As the honey and milk-retriever for the Putrid Pumas, Jax was almost immediately stung all over when he bullied his way into the hive to swipe a honey jar. Kinger was a bit more fortunate, avoiding getting stung because he was content to just sit and chat with the bees. So it wasn't a surprise that Pomni was the first to secure a golden jar and slid her way through the chute to meet Gangle in the middle.

Gangle held onto the honey tightly as she was bungeed back to her side of the chute, then wrapped her ribbons around the pillar to scale it. It was still difficult to get a good grip, being covered in this oil of slipperiness—which felt and smelled a lot like normal olive oil—but her flexible limbs still gave her advantage enough that she was the first to place a honey jar on top of the altar.

The Squeamish Snakes fell into a comfortable rhythm, an easy back and forth between them as they called out words of encouragement to each other. By the time Jax got a jar of honey, the real challenge became meeting Ragatha halfway in the chute, both of them struggling to stay in place with the bungee cords and oil working against them. They snapped at each other as they scrambled, eventually getting one jar of honey onto their pillar. However, at that point, Pomni and Gangle already had four jars, while Zooble and Kinger hadn't moved at all, both content to sit on their respective sides of the chute, so it was pretty clear the Putrid Pumas would come in second again. Jax stopped trying, sulking next to the bull while Ragatha pouted over him just giving up and not even making an effort to work with her.

At the end of the three minutes, Pomni and Gangle were granted their second pendant of undying. The two of them cheered, Pomni's competitive energy infectious as Gangle happily went along with it, soaking up the satisfying rush of victory that was usually unfamiliar for her. Neither of them felt Jax's cold stare, pinprick pupils honing in on their newfound camaraderie like he was trying to pick it apart. Like he could dissect it with a sharpened blade and peel back the artificial layers to prove that at their core there was still nothing there beyond their archetypes.