Oct 30, 2021
Spookybutcosy artchallenge #5 Familiars
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Spookybutcosy artchallenge #5 Familiars
This week's Beast of the Week is the Clabbert! Did you know that a pustule on clabbert's head glows red when danger is near? So it can be used as a wizarding Intrusion Detection System! 🚨
So... Rio
(Newtina ❤️. Thanks @salamandereyess for the dialogue prompt. I switched the tense because writing that in the present would drive nails into my heart.)
Tina simpered at the picture of herself on crinkled newsprint. The clipping was there beside maps of places she’d never been and sketches of creatures she hadn’t seen before. Newt’s world was open to her now — maybe a little, maybe more.
She called into the case.
“In here, Tina.”
“Can I...”
“Come in. I want you to meet some new friends.”
She climbed in and followed the murmur of Newt’s voice. The conversations he had with creatures were uninhibited and endearing.
She found him sitting under a tree in a makeshift woodland holding a pair of Clabberts. Tina recognized the species because its ownership was highly regulated in America.
Their skin was smooth and mottled green. They clung to Newt with long arms and legs, webbed hands and feet. With curiosity and caution, they watched her approach.
“Clabberts,” she said, waggling her fingers at them.
Newt stared at her in pleasant surprise while the pair of creatures grinned widely, flashing her their razor sharp teeth.
“They’re siblings, too young yet to be on their own. The species originated in the southern states of America so they should adapt well to warm climates.”
“They can forewarn of danger.” Tina recalled the description in Newt’s book.
“Yes. When they sense danger, the pustule on their forehead turns scarlet and flashes. They may be useful where I’m headed.”
Tina knelt on the ground between his boots and rested her palms on his legs. “Hi, you,” she spoke softly.
He savored her touch, her nearness, her eyes on him. Everything felt new. “Hello.”
One of the Clabberts ventured from Newt’s arm and climbed onto Tina’s shoulder. “Well, hi to you too.” She was somewhat nervous.
“He likes you.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, for one, his forehead isn’t flashing scarlet. And if he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t touch you.” Newt grazed the back of her hand with his fingertips.
Pleasure flowed through her. She looked at him intently. “I’m going with you to Brazil.”
“I thought it was decided...”
“I’ve changed my mind about where I’ll be most useful.”
“But MACUSA...”
The young Clabberts grew bored with Newt and Tina’s attention no longer on them. They climbed the tree Newt was leaning against and engaged in a game of chase, swinging from branch to branch.
“I don’t trust MACUSA. Besides...” She tucked her fingers into the bend of his knees. “Don’t you think we’ve had enough distance between us?”
Memories loomed. He’d spent the 9 months prior trying to get to her and failing repeatedly, until he stopped playing by the rules. Now that he’d found her, he didn’t want to let go.
He leaned forward and caressed the length of her forearms. “I agree; this proximity right now is better.”
His mouth was inviting as he shaped the words.
“Last month I tried to forget you,” she confessed.
Newt didn’t know how to respond. His hands stilled on her arms. He held her like that and listened.
“Then every time I tried to forget about you, I saw you everywhere.”
“I saw you all the time in my dreams,” he admitted.
“What did you dream?”
“I had a recurring dream in which we were swimming with our coats on. They grew heavy and kept pulling us under.”
“Why didn’t we take them off?”
“I don’t know. We just kept struggling to tread water.”
“I dreamed about you too.”
“Tell me. That is, if you want to tell me.”
“It was usually some variation of me taking a No-Maj’s car and driving us off a cliff into the ocean.”
He chuckled, “Those dreams aren’t particularly romantic.”
“Sigmund Freud might disagree,” she smiled coyly, “My daydreams were more classically romantic. ...You were in those too.”
“Was I?” Newt cheeks flushed.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she said.
Tina’s body was warmer than he’d dreamed she would be. This closeness was wildly better than being apart.
“I still can’t stop thinking about you,” he said.
“So... Rio. We should probably avoid coats. Just in case.”
“And cars.”
“Actually, Jacob can drive.”
“At least somebody knows what they’re doing.”
Newt stroked along her arms in silence. He met her gaze without glancing away.
Tina’s breath fled up into the trees. “Mr. Scamander, I think you know what you’re doing infinitely better than you think you do.”
Fantastic Beasts - Clabbert
Clabbert (XX)
[an adult clabbert (C) Michael]
Something like a cross between a monkey and a frog, the clabbert is a tree-dwelling creature native to Central America and southern North America. It has smooth, hairless skin, which is a mottled green, and a long tail that can support its entire body weight. The head has short horns and a wide, grinning mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
The clabbert lives in large troops of twenty-five to fifty members, which split into smaller groups to forage. It primarily eats birds, rodents, and fish, but has been known to tackle larger prey, such as deer. Females can bear young every two to four years, and mating is not restricted to dominant males.
Of course, the clabbert’s most distinctive feature is the large pustule in the middle of its forehead, which turns scarlet and flashes when it senses danger. American wizards once kept clabberts in their gardens to give warning of approaching muggles, but the Magical Congress of the United States of America introduced fines in 1919 which have largely ended this practice.
#6 The Clabbert
Are you ready for the #trivia answer?
Which #FantasticBeast's glowing pustule is often mistaken for Christmas light by Muggles? The Clabbert, of course!
(#FANTASTICFanArt by www.facebook.com/maryquizeart)
Clabbert - For some reason all the clabberts I've seen are lanky, but frogs and orangutans are both pretty flabby, which isn't represented very much. Demiguise - Not sure where I got that invisibility idea from, but chances are it's probably from some other, much better, more successful, professional artist. Dugbog - Log dog. Fwooper - Not sure if it was always supposed to be a potoo, the illustration in the book wasn't that clear. Fire Crab - Okay, this one really get's to me for some reason. It's described as "turtle-like" but where does crab come into that??? So, I interpreted it as some sort of crab that's tortoise shaped, right?? Glumbumble - Just a big ol' parasitic bug. Gnome - I think when Rowling described the gnomes with big heads she meant that as in a reference to their red hats, but it'd make more sense if they actually had reddish fur. Horklump - Another one looked over in the book, only mentioned as a food source by other beasts despite the fact that it's a carnivorous fungus.