#strangling fruit

[aldercaps]

Part one of my annihilation fanzine, "strangling fruit"! We had to make a zine for an assignment and I had so much fun collaging imagery to go with this monologue

[theminecraftbox]

got tagged by @lookinghalfacorpse but that rb chain was getting incredibly long so restarting here

WIP Tag Game

Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

Dream’s eyes glint, but after a flicker of consideration, he obeys. It's part of the regimen. Quackity’s training him not to fight back. It takes effort, sticks, carrots. Carrots that generally come in the form of fewer sticks. But one day, he’s gonna walk into this cell and he’s gonna give Dream one look and Dream’s gonna drop to his knees without a thought, without being told, without so much a gesture, and he’s gonna spill his guts and beg to be useful to Quackity’s empire. That’s the goal here, built-in obedience, a whipped dog.

tagging @swordfright @cgogs @dr3amofagame

[luntfontanne]

Xiaojing Yan, “Star Mountain II” & “Far from where you divined”

Star Mountain II (2017) star anise, metal pins, shadow, smell

Like many Chinese artists, Yan was introduced to visual art through Chinese ink painting – exploring popular motifs of clouds, rocks, mountains and water. Mountains are sacred spaces, regarded by some as a gateway between the mortal world and the heavenly realm. With Star Mountains, Yan reinterprets shanshui paintings and the legends associated with the deepest mountain wildernesses by utilizing an unconventional material – hundreds of dried star anise pods. These pods and their shadows suggest a landscape inhabited by the silhouettes of trees, creatures, or people. With its strong aroma, star anise is an ingredient widely used in Eastern cuisine. As with the imagery of Chinese ink paintings, the scent of star anise transports the artist back to her early experiences in China. The intangibility of the aroma and the ephemeral shadows of the star anise on the wall are key ingredients generating the atmospheric quality of this work – which is both here and there at the same time.

Far from where you divined (2017) Mycelium, cultivated lingzhi mushrooms, wood chips and wood

I’m fascinated with the way technological advancement gives humans the illusion of power over nature. Now I’m playing with a range of collaborations between the human element and the natural element by designing a controlled, human environment that, over time, gives way to an organic process. When I create my lingzhi sculptures, I first put woodchips and lingzhi spore mixtures into the mold I created. With the control of humidity, temperature and light, lingzhi mycelium starts to grow. Once the lingzhi mycelium had bound the wood chips into the mold’s shape, I removed the mold and put the bonded mixture into a small greenhouse to let it keep growing. After a few weeks, the body of the roots began to grow and created their own transformative sculpture. These new mushrooms, in turn, dropped more spores, thereby providing the delicate brown powder that now covers the sculptures. The beginning of this hybrid science/art/ idiosyncratic/secular experiment satisfies me. I am no longer in control… nature is. For me it’s important that each side of this equation has a chance to shine.

Similarly, multiple meanings grow out of this work. Deer, for example were often held in high esteem in China because they were believed to be skilled at finding sacred mushrooms in the wild. As a result, in many Chinese paintings deer are portrayed with lingzhi. The rabbit, called in Chinese the Jade Rabbit or the Moon Rabbit, is also a symbol of longevity. It is believed to live on the moon with the Moon Goddess who never grows old and who makes a mysterious elixir of immortality with a mortar and pestle.

I have experimented to produce sculptures that integrate the natural growth cycle of this mushroom and highlight its amazing properties, such as adaptation, self-organization, self-healing, and regeneration. While evoking traditional Chinese medicine, mythology and religion, the lingzhi mushroom, as an innovative green material, also speaks to the role of environmental sustainability in contemporary art production.

[aldercaps]

Obviously it's nice that people are enjoying my annihilation zine, but tumblrs image limit meant I had to do it in two parts and everyone reblogs PART ONE ONLY!! makes me mad because it means no-one sees my favourite page :((

So it gets its own post

Collaged nat geo magazines, ink on paper. Text by Jeff Vandermeer. Cover is paper recycled from grocery bags :^)

[theminecraftbox]

INTERMISSION: QUACKITY 🙏🕯️🃏

Quackity kept getting nervous in the beginning, would back off when Dream screamed a bit too loud or too panicked. He’d scramble back and make sure the ringing in his ears was just his thumping heart, that he wasn’t fucking killing the guy. Dream figured that out pretty quickly. He started screaming bloody murder all the time, and Quackity couldn’t encourage that shit anymore. There’s ways to deal with that, though a few of his nastier ideas had Sam yelling at him about shit like asphixiation, infection, we still need him to be able to TALK, Quackity! Turns out Sam was whining about nothing, because regen can grow back a tongue just fuckin’ fine. That's Sam's problem--or one of them, anyway. Lack of imagination. Sam doesn't understand anything that thinks in colors besides redstone. That's fine: the Warden can supply the raw materials (a cell, a prisoner, tools), and Quackity can give them the artist's touch, the driving vision. (Animus, Wilbur mused to him once. That's what it is. Animus.)

[theminecraftbox]

I've been rereading your fics and they're very good!!! do you have any teasers for strangling fruit or eldritch confessions?

I haven't had a ton of time to write lately but EC is due for an update very soon tm!

here is a little strangle fruit bit just for you:

No plan survives contact with the enemy, right? He carves an X, crude and deep, into Dream’s arm. He lights a cigarette, breathes smoke in Dream’s face, and offers it to him. “You’re O’s,” he says.

Dream accepts it hesitantly, holding it delicately between his fingers like it’s something poisonous.

“Too good for it? That what you do with a gift? They’re, like, imported, man.”

Dream gauges him, looking for something in his expression. Quackity makes sure all he sees is a bright, vicious smile, and tightens the grip on his wrist a little further.

Dream takes a drag—awkwardly, it’s obvious he’s never done this—he pulls a face, and breaks down coughing. He’s trying to cover his mouth. That’s the thing about Dream, when you break him down: the cracks get so fucking obvious.

Quackity laughs and thumps his back. “Yeah, you get it. Go on, make your move, pal.”

Dream’s lip curls. He scrubs his arm across his watering eyes, then he extinguishes the cigarette on his skin below the X with a sharp inhale. He doesn’t flinch. The effect is a little disappointing, if Quackity’s being perfectly honest.

[theminecraftbox]

fic: where lies the strangling fruit (12/?)

AO3

Summary: Days pass, and days pass, and days pass: Dream refuses to give up the book, and Quackity refuses to stop trying to get it. Sam finds himself wondering how far the Warden is willing to go.

A series of interludes in Pandora’s Vault. Mind the tags.

Chapter Twelve:

Sam’s pulse pounds in his ears as he escorts Quackity out.

His harsh breathing echoes against the confines of his mask, amplified to his own hearing alone, panting to an audience of one. It’s a sweaty echo chamber. But he appreciates the isolation, the privacy—it’s far better than the alternative. He wonders if Dream, now alone behind the insulating lava, would agree with him.

The Warden’s eyes follow the vague brushes of blood against blackstone where Quackity hasn’t bothered to properly towel off the cuffs of his pants. It’s not worth the fight to bring it up; Quackity’s only going to roll his eyes and point out, it’s barely anything, Sam, no one’s gonna fucking care, get the stick out of your ass.

He’s insisted on Quackity at least cleaning his shoes in the antechamber of the cell, and even that was enough of a struggle. Sam doesn’t have the time or the inclination to mop the whole damn prison every day.

[keep reading on AO3]

[theminecraftbox]

Post the last line you wrote and tag the same number of people as words. I was tagged by @dr3amofagame :)

Tagging @cgogs @hiding-in-the-vault and anyone else who wants to play!

“It’s stimulating,” says Dream, peering at him sidelong. “Or I got sick of the blood loss. I got bored. It took you awhile to get here. Pick one.”