#(i don’t like big mess’s version of insects)

[breadwasnthere]

I wish that Danny released his big mess version of running on a treadmill this remaster has me on a chokehold it makes me feel emotions I can’t describe

[fateisnotafactor]

Why not just throw part 2 here while I'm at it? Just throwing these on Tumblr as I write, I'll probably clean it up and throw it on AO3 when I get to it.

Continuation of whatever got into my head yesterday, <800 words. (Part 1)

Three days later Shouta and Hizashi are pulling up outside your apartment complex in their SUV. The vehicle is already weighed down with gear, but with a bit of Tetris, Shouta finds a place for your things. Your tent, backpack, sleeping bag are loaded into the back with everything else and Hizashi is already holding open the door and helping you into the back seat.

He doesn’t need to, but he buckles you into the seat, smoothing the strap across your chest as he murmurs a sleepy hello for the fifth time.

“He’s really not a morning person,” Shouta says, dragging the blond away from you and shoving him into the passenger seat. “Hope he didn’t cross any lines, he’s a bit of a cuddle bug,” he adds, smirking as even the mention of the word ‘bug’ causes a shiver to rush through his partner.

You don’t catch it though. You’re too busy rummaging through your bag to grab a quick granola bar to snack on. “You don’t mind if I eat in here, do you?” you ask, the wrapper already torn open, so used to your friend’s crumb-filled car, it didn’t even occur to you how spottless the vehicle was.

“Shou doesn’t mind, just don’t make a mess,” Hizashi says. He yawns loudly as he drops the back of his seat so that his head is just inches from your lap.

You jump a little at the sudden movement, but laugh when he breaks off a piece of your granola bar for himself sending a few crumbs raining down on him.

“As I recall, the only one who makes a mess in here is you.” Shouta gives Hizashi’s knee a squeeze.

Hizashi grins at his partner and reajusts his seat, a middle ground where he’s not leaning all the way back, but can still see you when you talk.

The drive to the trailhead passes quickly as you get to know the pair you realize you know next to nothing about. You learn about their students, a roudy batch of aspiring heroes, always getting into trouble. Shouta’s been pushing for a summer training program for years, get the kids outdoors to show them that not all hero work is done in the big city. There’s plenty of times when emergency rescues will send them out of the city, wildfires, landslides, floods.

Shouta could go on about his students for hours, but Hizashi is getting restless. Itchy. Scratching at his collar as the SUV takes you further into the mountains. The reminders of bug bites, poison ivy, and everything else he hates about the so-called “great” outdoors. He’ll take the climate-controlled studio at the radio station over this anyday.

You perk up as Shouta continues driving past the entrance you normally use. He catches the flash of worry in the rearview as he hums to himself, turning on the radio as he tunes in to a pre-recorded Put Your Hands Up Radio show. Hizashi can’t help but gush about every song that plays, from the date it was released, to trivia about the artist, to the particular version he chose and why. Practically a walking, talking encyclopedia about music, he holds you in rapt attention, hanging on every word.

Finally, Shouta reaches the pull off he was looking for, slowing as he turns up what looks to be an old logging road. The deep tracks tell you that someone still comes up here from time to time, though the fallen log about a mile and a half in appears to the signal the end of the road.

The doors unlock and you’re the first one out, taking in a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. Crisp with the scent of pine playing together with sweet notes of honeysuckle and the earthy dampness of moss. The trees aorund you are brimming with life; bird calls and the hum of insect life echos around you as you take in your surroundings. It feels like home.

Shouta is already lifting the hatch and sorting through the gear as Hizashi complains trying to scrape the mud off his no longer pristine hiking boots with a stick.

“Do we really have to hike anywhere? Isn’t this far enough? C’mon Shou, we’re miles from civilization already.”

“Suck it up,” Shouta orders, gruffly shoving a backpack into Hizashi’s chest.

You can’t help but laugh at the two of them. Shouta continues to sort through the back of the car, dividing the gear into piles. He’s clearly used to Hizashi’s over dramatic antics, paying no mind as the lanky blond cries out as he walks through a spider web.

---

Part 1 (SFW) Masterlist (And where I try to post my fics)

[charanchula]

Pick a Pet.

So! I have a 4x45x60cm (18x18x24″) bioactive terrarium awaiting a resident.

I was initially going to get dart frogs, but I just can’t stand handling the fruit flies anymore. I can’t do it. I CAN’T!

So now I’m turning to other options.

I already have a peacock day gecko, pacman frog, three stenodactylus sthenodactylus, and a number of tarantulas. I’ll be getting some mourning geckos as well once the small terrarium is finished.

I’m planning on getting a cuban false chameleon for a second terrarium I have; this is a guy I’ll be able to handle, if I want, so the other resident doesn’t need to be handleable.

Handling isn’t that important to me, I know a lot of reptiles don’t like it.

Likewise, I’m not interested in breeding. If it happens, it happens, otherwise I’m not bothered.

Diet wise, I already feed dubia roaches and crickets to my current animals, and I’ll be getting snails for my false chameleon, so I’m not too leery about feeder insects, except for fruit flies, who are the bane of my life. NO FRUIT FLIES.

Maintenance-wise, I’ll be setting up an automatic misting system, and the terrariums will be bioactive so they’ll have clean up crews for the majority of the mess.

Nominees are:

TOKAY GECKO

Pros: top of my list, unique looking, personality, feisty, easy to feed, not too expensive

Cons: defensive/aggressive, might be hard to wrangle, nocturnal ?

I’m probably going to go with this option. Tokay’s are notorious for being unhandleable, but  handleability isn’t on my list of requirements, so I don’t care. A nice contrast to the false chameleon?

MADAGASCAN DAY GECKO

Pros: cute as hell, large and attractive, pretty, personable, curious, diurnal, very easy to feed (powder foods), can be trained to climb onto your hand

Cons: already have a day gecko, a little more costly, not handleable because they can drop their tails but also SLOUGH OFF THEIR SKIN NO NO

If I had an extra terrarium I’d get one, but dudes, the skin. THE SKIN. I can’t take it, I’d never want to hurt an animal and I can’t stand the idea of accidentally causing this. Also very similar to my existing peacock gecko

CHAHOUA GECKO

Pros: easy care, basically a big version of a crested gecko, handleable, unusual and I think they’re pretty

Cons: SO expensive, on this list by a tenuous grasp because of that, not as drawn to them as the above two, EXPENSIVE, costs money, I’m poor and this gecko is expensive, did I mention expensive?

We’re talking £300 to £500 for a pair; they’re also hard to find NOT in a pair, for some reason.

RED-EYED TREE FROG

Pros: frog!, very pretty, unique, fun to have, doesn’t eat fruit flies, sweet, appeal of another frog

Cons: small in an enclosure (I can’t remember if you can keep a pair or trio together), hides, mid-pricey, I’m not as drawn to them as the top two geckos

Close to my original dart frog idea, but they don’t need to eat fruit flies. A classic amphibian, but I’m not sure I want another one. Would it be better to keep to geckos?

Looking forward to seeing your opinions!

POLL HERE

[until-the-brahmin-come-home]

Do you have a version of the Lone Wanderer? Feel free to infodump.

Aw, you guys are spoiling me :D

My lone wanderer is Samael Rafferty (and yes, they did change their first name to be edgy)

once again, the image was made from Bright’s Picrew Hell by @/Brightgoat. The horns here are an exaggeration - while they do start to grow horns after the water purifier, they’re pretty small.

Sam is...a lot. They’re standoffish and rude (2 CH), but they’ll help anyone who needs it. They mostly want to just be left alone, but they can’t not help people. They were a mechanic in the vault, and used this to get into places they shouldn’t with the excuse of needing to repair things. Their childhood in the vault is a bit of a haze, as they struggled with dysphoria, mental health issues, and a populace that they just did not get along with. Leaving the vault was the best thing that could have happened to them.

They’re difficult to get close to but extremely ride-or-die for the people they care about. They’re good with kids, animals, and robots, but pretty much everyone else is a no-go. They get the Almost Perfect perk towards the end of the game, which really messes with their head. They use melee weapons because they don’t like the distance guns create and how loud they are. Their main is a deathclaw gauntlet they’ve named Judgement, with 2:13 written on it (Referencing James 2:13, ”For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment”). They also wield swords sometimes. They’re a mutant psychic vampire cyborg and a big fan of body modification.

After the events of 3 they fuck around the capital wasteland for a bit, raising their two adoptive daughters (Marie from The Pitt and Raziel (an oc enclave psyker experiment). After the events of fnv, Sam starts getting weird dreams about a beacon of light in a desert to the west, and take the spaceship (along with their daughters, pets, robots, and supplies) over to the Mojave. There they meet the Courier, the two get along well, and Sam becomes one of their inner circle.

More miscellaneous stuff under the cut

-Tattoos include an ouroborous encircling a halved apple, a deathclaw, radroaches and other insects, a possum skull w/red poppies in the eyes, centipedes over their top surgery scars, alpha and omega symbol on the back of their hands, left knuckle tattoos of the alchemical symbols for water/fire/earth/air, right knuckle tattoos of swords/cups/wands/pentacles, card suits under their eyes, 21:6 on their wrist, scythe with the blade aligning with their lower ribs, along the spine descending are: radiation, biohazard, electricity/lightning strike, flame, broken test tube, skull and crossbones, exclamation point, left forearm has cracks like broken glass with eyes peering through while the right has thorny plants, spider behind their ear, golden spiral, various quest-related tattoos (ex. Ufo, tree, ant spiral), and more that i haven’t detailed out. They have very little uninked skin at this point lol

-Moira is one of the few people they actually like

-Traveled almost exclusively with Dogmeat. They hung out w Butch in Rivet City but didn’t really go anywhere with him. Not sure about Charon because his whole deal is deeply uncomfortable to me and I still haven’t figured out how to handle it, but they probably did travel together at some point. Fawkes is chill.

-They sacrifice themself in the water purifier because they have some suicidal tendencies and feel like they must do it because both of their parents died for this; they weren’t expecting to live past their twenties, even in the vault. They’re doing a lot better now.

-Never take a job without payment, but what they count as payment can vary wildly (they once dealt with some raiders in return for a kitten)(they name the kitten Fishbone)

-5’ 3”

-left handed ambidextrous, which makes using the pipboy annoying

-They’ve picked up a few mutations. As mentioned, they’ve got small horns growing from their forehead, and they have tapetum lucidum (the material in eyes responsible for glowing in the dark), plus their teeth are pointy.

-Raised in a vault + ex-catholic + autism + extremely scientific manner of looking at things + read a lot of very old books + mimicry = the weirdest manner of speaking you’ve ever heard.

-their flip lighter has a moth engraved on it

-at some point they hack an eyebot and name it Pluto

-Hoarder, tends to pick up anything not nailed down. Won’t steal from people who are really struggling or who they like. Tends to only keep the most intact or valuable objects of a certain type and will gift the rest to other people. What they do keep is carefully displayed in their home - it's very much like a museum.

-Horse is named Barbie, short for Harbinger, and was a gift from the Courier.

-They were in love w Amata but that...really didn’t work out

-I have a whole playlist for them but one of the songs I associate the most with them is Honey I'm Home by GHOST; I specifically prefer the Umbra cover, but both versions are good

[piraticoctopus]

Y’all wanna know how my train of thoughts work like 24/7? I had a big nerd mind expansion moment while trying to organize my Hollow Knight thoughts where I pulled out my entomology textbook because I was thinking about eusocial insect societies (ants, honey bees, termites)— and when I typed out a description of them in a way that pointed out how messed up it is when you give it morals (in short, I described them as producing a “self-sacrificing, unthinking, emotionless, will-lacking army”), I was like “woah, wait a minute, no mind to think”, and I realized I don't really know all that much about termites or how their societies/genetics differ from hymenopterans (ants, bees, and wasps), but I knew they DO have a king, so I looked into it more and then did a deep dive into reading scientific papers about caste determination and colony structure and then when I went to find a diagram of it—

*fucking x-files theme plays with a dramatic zoom-in*

TLDR; the Pale King’s basically a termite.

Supporting info and other interesting (to me!) facts about termites below the cut:

(Here’s the publication that diagram is from in case anyone wants to read about queen termite reproductive strategies lmao)

Termites are monogamous until one of the pair dies. Queens can produce new queens through parthenogenesis (making babies without a male, so 100% of their genes are from her, but they aren’t necessarily straight clones). So if she needs to she can make a bunch of younger versions of herself.

I googled ���are termites monogamous” for confirmation and forgot to specify Google Scholar and there is... so much going on here

Some reproductives are meant to leave the colony to start new ones, and thus have wings (and are called “alates”). Their wings are shimmery and very pretty and like twice the length of their bodies so all those headcanons where people give PK wings are valid.

Irrelevant to my point, but interesting: Unlike hymenopterans, in which males are haploid (only have one copy of each gene), termite males are diploid (have two copies, which is standard in most animals). Honey bees have some weird genetic fuckery because of that which results in the females (all diploid) of a colony sharing an average of 75% of their genes with each other (average full-sibling relatedness is 50%).

Also unlike ants and honey bees, the males don’t fuck off and die after mating. In those groups, the queen can mate once and then produce fertile eggs whenever she feels like it, but in termites the king sticks around and they just... constantly go at it, I guess. (Which, considering that being isolated and bound is enough to keep the WL from making more kids, maybe this one is a point in my favor.)

Workers and soldiers can be either male or female, unlike ants/bees where all workers are female, but are kept sterile via pheromones, so they’re functionally all kept neutral.

Some soldiers produce acids and will straight-up explode themselves during warfare, or use their massive heads to physically block tunnels from intruders, and commit numerous other acts that would violate the Geneva Conventions. Bugs have no morals and by our standards they’re all dirty little sinners running around committing war crimes.

I read something about mass burial pits, but couldn’t find more information on it other than that they exist??

Their architectural skills are incredible. The craftsmanship! You’ve got the classic “cathedral” style towers typically associated with termite mounds (largely constructed from shit, btw— maybe that’s why Ogrim is a fav), but some species apparently make “cartons” (papery nests) up on tree trunks.

Termites love wood. PK’s wife is a tree.

[mleelunsford]

Darkstalkers Redesign Thoughts Part 4 & 5

The final rounds! I was really getting worn and burnt out, so I don’t think a lot of these last ones were my best. Here are my thoughts anyway.

Part 4

Q. Bee: Q. Bee is the scariest Darkstalker for me. I hate insects to start off, if not a genuine phobia then very close. Secondly just the idea that the “humanoid” part of her is all a façade formed to lure people in creeps me out. I tried to make her body look more like it was formed organically rather than she’s wearing clothes, gave her some  extra limbs to be a bit more bug like. My favorite part is the pose though, the hand could either be seen as for her lower face searching, or for her “true” face, covering her mouth while she laughs.

 Lilith: Another difficult one! All of Lillith’s backstory is about her being Morrigan’s sealed off energy trying to return to her. Which is why she has matching outfits with Morrigan in the original. I wanted to reflect this by having her form an outfit that resembles the Morrigan redesign I did in shapes, but doesn’t quite get it right, and doesn’t look like real clothing someone would buy. With floating bits showing the whole thing as being formed mystically.

Huitzil: Originally Huitzil was based on Japanese  dogū figurines. My only idea was to bring back more of the detail and designs of those figurines to add a bit more flare. Also I read that the designs on some of them showed signs of being painted in vermillion, so I  added some of that coloring.

Bishamon: Two big things I changed here: I wanted to make him less like a solid blue man and more ghostly. Secondly I wanted to make the chest piece of the armor more of a face to pull him away from being another stomach mouthed monster like Lord Raptor. I referenced Samurai masked and Oni depictions. I saw some Samurai masks had mustaches and thought hat would be a way to make him stand out more. I also shadowed his “human” face a bit to pull focus from it. Making the armor’s face the one you are drawn to.

Part 5 

Demitri: I just wanted to give the boy some decent clothes. Who told him a skin tight body suit and a frilly jabot was suitable for every day life? Just gave him a fun layered suit and a Dracula trophy.

Jedah Domah: I’ve never liked how Jedah looks. Striking to be sure, and works great as a sprite, but in drawings I always thought he looked a little lackluster and a bit confusing. I tried to keep some basic shapes from his original look while making him a bit more intimidating (at least to me) and grim-reaper-like.

Pyron: Not much to do there with the battle-loving fire alien, but I suppose I realized I never liked his horns. I made some horn-like shapes formed by fire instead, and mostly kept him the same otherwise. There’s something charming about his original simplicity and I didn’t want to mess with it too much.

Marionette: Never a full character, just a mirror match style mode (like Shadow, who I neglected to redesign as he’s kind of just some sludge). I just tried to give her a more interesting cosutme, and made her look more like she is the puppet master than being a puppet herself. Also, not important, but a little behind the scenes thing: I have a big 20 inch Spider-Man action figure from the Toby McGuire movies, I used it as reference for how to draw the joints on Marionette here.

And that’s all! hope you enjoyed these. I thought about doing some Midnight Bliss versions down the line, but I need some rest from these now. Thanks for reading!

[mandalorewhore]

Two Steps Ahead

PART THREE OF HUNTER (formerly hunter and prey)

gif by @princessxkenobi

Rating: Explicit Content Warnings: SMUT, Fighting as Foreplay, Rough Sex, Penetrative Sex(PIV), Unprotected Sex, Dirty talk, Praise kink, Size kink, Big Dick Mando, Top Mando, Sub/Dom elements, Very slight Pain Kink, possible CNC elements although I didn’t write that I also want to warn anyone who doesn’t want to read about rough sex with physical fighting as foreplay Words: 6.9k AO3 LINK

Summary: Reader and Mando start tracking their first bounty together

A/N: i believe things are happening...interesting

***

 “I feel like you have a distinct advantage here.” A bead of sweat drips over your brow as you mop at your sweltering forehead in irritation. Your temple throbs as you press on it, pain shooting down your neck at the pressure.

       It’s so fucking humid here. You’re tracking one of Mando’s bail jumpers in the middle of a boggy swamp planet that you never caught the name of and you’ve been walking through the forest for at least 24 hours, only stopping for water and ration breaks. Based on the holo-map you’re currently staring at, this entire planet is one big swamp, with no escape from the damp, sticky environment.

 The thing barely makes sense, a jumble of colors and shapes that worsens your headache the longer you try to figure it out. You had borrowed a thin shirt from Mando before setting out, but it does little to protect you from the buzzing swarms of insects, while at the same time it reflects just enough heat to have you sweltering.

 Mando acts unbothered under all that padding and armor, trekking through the trees without any visible sign of struggle. You don’t understand how he can stay awake for so long without caf, yourself being covered in caf-patches to keep from passing out. It’s probably somewhat dangerous to have so much of the stimulant coursing through your veins, but oh well. If my heart gives out then at least I’ll escape the bugs.  

       “Footprints aren’t the only way to track a quarry.” He returns mildly, moving swiftly over tangled tree-roots to avoid the pools of murky water that litter the forest floor. You move with less grace behind him, trying to climb slippery wood and juggle the holo at the same time. The twisted trees of this planet seem to reach inward to point at the forest floor, giving you the impression of being trapped within their clutches. The eerie feeling isn’t helped by the distinct lack of light, odd lichen tendrils drape between branches to create a blanket that absorbs most natural light from the sky. A faint glow emanates from the tendrils, basking the forest with ghostly illumination. You scramble to the top of the particularly tall root he’s perched on then plop down to catch your breath.

       “No, it’s not the only way,” you pause to take a swig from your water skin, dabbing off the spilled drops from your chin with your sleeve, “but the footprints      you    track are apparently all glowy and red. I get to look with my naked eyes for shit like depressions in the ground, which is so fun considering the only paths here are solid wood.”

       Mando rolls his helmet on his shoulders, the effect similar to someone rolling their eyes. When he speaks it’s short and gruff, annoyed by your attitude. Which is… appropriate. The hours you’ve spent walking in this heat together is starting to snap both of your tempers. “Stop complaining.”

 He’s not wrong about the footprints. You’re mostly annoyed because of how useless you feel, more like you’re tagging along than assisting him on the hunt. Drawing your eyebrows together you try to come up with a plan. Most of those mercenary skills you talked up for Karga don’t apply here, this naturalistic setting is too messy and... wild. Unpredictable. You’re used to the structure that comes with starships and cities, places engineered and civilized.

 Tracking people isn’t very hard, you’ve done it plenty of times before. The only issue is that all of your practice came from environments where they left clear signs of direction, displaced gravel indicating a shoe-print, broken branches, a trail in sand. It also helps that your targets didn’t know they were being stalked. The only path here is over hard wooden tree roots, with nothing to indicate direction, not even moss grows over the foot trail for traveling feet to mark. You take in a deep breath and hold it for several seconds before letting out all your air in one huge swoop.

       “I’m sorry, “ you tell him sincerely, “I want to help you -and not just for a bigger cut. Is there anything I can do?” You truly do feel bad for snapping at him even if you know you’re right about his advantage. Just because you don’t have fancy thermal settings and footprint tracking doesn’t mean you’re useless. The Mandalorian settles his hands on his hips and surveys the area, looking for a task to assign you. His helmet tilts up and lingers on the trees, and you’re already two steps ahead before he can voice his idea.

       “I can climb,” you interject, standing up swiftly and moving. “Trees can’t be more slippery than a spacecraft.”

       He nods in acknowledgment. “Find something and your cut goes up by five percent.”

       “Ten percent.” You grin at him cheekily, wanting to tease him even if he won’t give it to you.

       “Eight, if you find somewhere to camp.”

       “Deal.” You return, already halfway to the widest tree you can reach without getting your feet wet. The trunk is covered in knots and twisted vines, ugly but providing fantastic handholds for your hands and feet. Grabbing hold of a sturdy looking ledge you begin your ascent.

 The climb is fairly easy even with the woods damp surface, and you reach the forest canopy with minimal effort. Carefully squirreling around the thin top-most branches you attempt to find a break-through point, the wood beneath you bowing a little from your weight.

 When you finally poke your head through and see the sky you gasp, taken aback by the sight. You hadn’t hung around in the cockpit during landing, instead choosing to pack the bags while Mando skillfully piloted his ship. The forest floor is all you’ve seen of the planet and apparently you’ve missed a lot.

       The sky here is beautiful, a color palette that is completely opposite from the dark, damp underbelly of the forest ground. Swirling aquamarine clouds float lazily in the sky, speckling the orange hued atmosphere above you. There are at least 6 pale moons lined up on the horizon from edge to edge, stars twinkling around each orb as if drawn to their orbit. You drink in the sight greedily, the ache in your head lessening in the natural light. This is      so     much better than the cold stark metal of space stations that you’re used to living on.

 It’s hard to tell the time based on the sky alone, the moons must be constantly present in the sky no matter the time of day and you can’t find a single sun. Maybe this planet lives off the light and heat from each moon, reflected from a distant star? The thought is lovely but you don’t think it’s possible. You file the image away for your daydreams then divert your eyes back to the thick forest, searching for anything useful to tell Mando.

       The line of trees is unbroken, a sea of dark green leaves and glowing lichen. An orange sky helps to warm up the pale glow from the lichen but it’s eeriness still sends a shiver through you. Everything on the horizon is of even height, betraying nothing within its depths. It isn’t ideal. You gnaw your lip anxiously, dreading to return to Mando without any information especially on your first hunt together. Eyes flitting around desperately, you try to analyze any possible breaks in the natural pattern of trees.

     Could that be a settlement there? You think, looking at a slightly thinner section of forest that might roughly be three miles away. You aren’t sure about the planet’s curvature and how flat the terrain is so you double check the holo, looking for the information.

 Something catches your eye as you’re pulling up the data, just substantial enough in your peripheral version that you stop what you’re doing. There is a mist rising from that thinned area, far enough away that you mistook it as some sort of lighting effect from the overwhelming color palette here. That has to be steam right? It’s too thick to be naturally occurring from the bog. There must be machinery over there. A settlement hopefully.

 You’re about to climb down when you pause, looking at the still lit holo with renewed curiosity. Something about the map visually paired with your clear view of the forest allows the pieces to fall in place. When you compare the shape of the map to the trees you’re finally able to make sense of what you previously thought was a topographical mess. A built pathway lies here, a body of water there. And clearings. Several clearings not too far from where you are now, the perfect size to settle down in. Hopefully they’re dry.

 Either the caf-patches are finally sending you into cardiac arrest or you’re manically happy to finally be of help to your hunting partner, but either way, you’re grinning so widely that your teeth clatter together.

 “Hey Mando! Guess what you owe me?” You shout down at the ground, beginning to descend. You’re so excited that you practically slide down the vines, jumping to the ground when you’re several feet high in the air, sore muscles creaking at the impact. The Mandalorian is sitting now, resting with his elbow propped on his knee while he waited for you to come back. There’s a soft pang in your chest and you wonder if he’s tired. You brush it off, feeling as though you’re just projecting, and instead grin widely at him in triumph. “7 percent increase for me!”

 He lifts his helmet and looks you up and down. “What did you find?”

 You reply chirpily, hands grasped behind your back and shit-eating grin still plastered on your face. “There is a settlement of some kind roughly three miles that way,” you point in the direction where you saw the steam, “and several clearings nearby suitable to camp in, if we don’t want to head in right away. Oh, also we aren’t on the actual path used by locals here, the asset must be making an effort to hide.”

 “That isn’t very smart of them,” Din observes, shaking his head at the concept. “Busy path hides more prints.”

 “Hm…” You take that in, wondering what other techniques a quarry may use to shake its hunter.

 It occurs to you that there is a lot you could learn from the Mandalorian, since so far hunting someone has been notably different from your mercenary missions. You’ll find a moment to ask questions later once you’re settled down for the night, wherever that’ll be. “Do you want to camp or find the maybe-settlement?”

 “We should camp,” he responds immediately, rising from his seated position and walking closer to you, “we don’t know what we’ll face there. You can choose the area, since you climbed the tree.”

 You pull up the holo-map again and zoom in on the different options, feeling far more energized now that you actually know what you’re doing. There are two spots that seem encouraging, both a short hike away from where you are now but removed enough to grant you some privacy. You’ll still need to set up a watch to prevent ambush or stray travelers from finding you but it’ll be easier if you make an effort to hide. One of the clearings seems to have a running water source, you hope it’s cleaner than the still-water you’re currently surrounded by. Maybe you can bathe there too.

 “Lets go here,” you pull up the coordinates for Mando, “that looks like a stream, right?”

 He leans into your body for a closer look, broad chest just brushing against you in a way that sends flutters through your tummy. You know he can zoom in with his visor, there is no reason he needs to be so close to you except for your benefit. He seems to enjoy messing with you like this, throwing you off with unexpected touches, looks, and gestures. It’s like a game he plays and you’d be far more annoyed by his teases if it wasn’t so exciting.

 “Looks good,” he rumbles low in his chest. “Fresh water would be nice.”

 Your heart quickens, but you tried to hide your reaction by teasing him back, tapping your fingers on his helm and stepping away. “I was hoping to clean myself up, actually…”

 Mando straightens up at this, visor locked on your face.

 “Lead the way.” He returns quietly, giving away nothing. Trying not to smile, you start off in the direction of the clearing, for once moving faster than your armored companion.

 Your goal isn’t very far, only about 3 miles north of your previous position and a mile adjacent to the settlement you’ll pay a visit to tomorrow. Large, fuzzy fronds of an alien fern droop down the sides of the hollow clearing, providing a barrier between the forest and empty space in between. The trees still tangle above the open area, blocking out part of the beautiful sky, save a few of the large moons, and old pieces of charcoal are ground into the sandy earth here, a sight that makes you a little anxious. This spot must be used by others, you’ll have to be more careful with setting up the watch than expected.

 The water source turns out to be a small spring set on the edge of a cliff at the far end of the clearing, a sizable waterfall cascading down the side and gathering in a crystalline pool. Skipping ahead of Mando to the edge of the pool you crouch and dip your fingers in the cool water, sighing in relief as it relieves some of the warmth in your overheated body.

 You’re unable to hear Mando’s approach - how he is so stealthy under 50 pounds of metal escapes you, but you feel him behind you. You smirk. Arching your back as you rise, you turn around slowly and begin to make eyes in his direction however, when you actually see what he's doing, you cringe at yourself in embarrassment. He’s not looking like you assumed, instead he is surveying the clearing skeptically, body-language imbued with disapproval. Your heart simultaneously sinks to your stomach and contracts in frustration. You thought you had finally done something right.

 “What? Is something wrong?” You ask him tightly, subtly shrinking in on yourself in disappointment. You try to hide this by fiddling idly with a stray thread on your tunic, stubbornly keeping your head lifted high despite wishing you could disappear. He doesn’t respond right away, instead turning and walking the length of the clearing then back, stopping just in front of you sharply. You meet his visor with your eyes, holding the look until you feel like you’re burning up in shame from the pressure of it.

 “It’s too… open,” he finally says, voice halting as he tries to find the correct words. “Anyone could walk into our camp.”

 “I figured we’d set up a watch. There’s only one entrance-”

 He interrupts you. “One ground entrance. Anyone can climb down from the trees.”

 “Maybe, but this planet isn’t supposed to be dangerous, is it? Practically abandoned,” You huff out, fists clenching at your sides as you argue with him. “Besides. It’s… pretty here.”

 The Mandalorian sighs, pinching the helmet just below the visor where his nose bridge would be. “Fine. I’ll take the first watch. No fire.”

 Nodding in response, you cross the clearing and set your bag down on a log, letting out a sigh in relief. That’s fine by you, you don’t need the extra warmth and the glowing lichen provides enough light to get by. You really did not want to hike again after moving for 24 hours straight. Mando mirrors your movements, leaning his rifle next to your pack before settling on the sandy earth. A loaded pause passes between you, earlier implications at the forefront of your minds.

 Letting out a shuddering breath you crouch down and pull your old tunic from your bag, slinging it over your shoulder before making your way back to the small pond. The water is completely clear, an inviting sight after the marshy puddles that made up the forest ground on your way here. You’re facing the water now but you’re still well aware of the man behind you, the intensity of his gaze burning even through the impassive visor. The invitation is clear. Take it off.  

 But you aren’t sure if you want to give him that yet. The exhaustion from today has wrung you dry, small bickerings between you and your work partner dampening the sweet mood leftover from Nevarro. Apologizing with sex isn’t really your thing. You’d rather stoke the mutual respect between you as allies instead of start up a pattern of fighting then making up.

 You crouch at the water's edge, peering into the depths for a moment before splashing your face with cold water, fresh scar throbbing as blood rushes to the surface of your face. The spare tunic you grabbed just brushes the surface of the water, sending ripples throughout your reflection. Curious, you lean over and observe the way the mirror-like pond breaks off into fragments, bits of you here and there mixing in with the moons that lay on russet sky.

     Like a painting. You think in awe, having only seen a couple of the artifacts in person. The richest target you were assigned to owned two pieces of art, real paintings on real paper, encased in transparisteel viewing cases before you smashed open the backing to wonder at them. You close your eyes and try to recall the texture of the paint before the rest of your memory catches up and sours the whole thing. The man's home had to be burned in order to erase evidence, his paintings too large to smuggle out of the city.

 When you open your eyes the pond has settled with your reflection only- you’re not alone.

 “Maker!” You jump at the sight of the Mandalorians gleaming helmet appearing in the reflection. “What the fuck, you sneak.”

 He just chuckles in response and offers you a hand, which you take firmly while rolling your eyes and standing. He leads you back to sit with him on the sandy earth, taking ration bars out of his pack- not yours, and breaking them evenly between you. The gesture is surprisingly tender and none too appreciated what with your stomach growling audibly at the bland meal. All at once, you are reminded by the spattering of caf-patches on your limbs, the jitteriness becoming more apparent now that you’re finally still. You’re shaking. Mando notices as well.

 “You may explode.” He remarks, prompting you to start pulling off the stimulant, crumpling each piece and setting them neatly in a pile at your knee.

 “Good, let me explode. You’re too bossy to work with.” You return with a smirk, hoping your sarcasm lands. He hums in response, pulling one of the patches off of your forearm and flicking it in your direction for you to catch.

 Tutting, you roll the patch into a ball and set it at the top of your pile. “Don’t leave a mess, this forest is ugly but at least it’s untouched,” you tell him firmly. Mando just nods.

 The ration bars are hardly a delicacy but you shove them in your mouth all the same, appreciating the engineering behind them. They are so calorie rich that a piece the size of your palm can keep you going for hours. However, your body can’t seem to relax despite the food lining your belly- perhaps you actually overdid the caf. You should be tired right now. Staying awake for more than a day isn’t exactly the average schedule but your knee bounces uncontrollably in a frantic pattern, stirring up puffs of sand between you and the warrior.

 “You need to tire.” Mando mutters, firmly placing a glove on your thigh and holding the limb down. “Stop that.”

 “Sorry,” you reply, trying to freeze yourself and sit as still as he does. Mando always exists so sagely, like a monk. Completely calm when he wants to be before exploding into action, no warm-up necessary. You wonder if he had some sort of meditation training to achieve that. Is that why he sits like that in the cockpit, his back rod straight like a statue? Weirdo.

 “Hey…” The palm at your thigh presses again and you suck in a sharp breath. You didn’t even realize you were twitching again. “Do I have to hold you down?” He growls.

 You gulp. “Tempting. But no.” Your words come out steadier than you feel. The caf becomes all too much in that moment so you lurch to your feet, his gleaming helmet following your body as it rises jerkily. You feel far too energetic, needing to get the energy out somehow so you can finally pass out. Your idea leaves your mouth before you can truly think it over.

 “Wanna fight?”

 “...What?” Mando sounds truly surprised even if his body betrays nothing.

 “You heard me,” you’re bouncing on the balls of your feet, swaying back and forth like a green sailor on the oceans of Mon Cala. “Let's practice our combat, I rarely get to do that.”

 He’s standing before you can blink causing you to jerk back, startled by his speed. The Mandalorian poses right in front of you, too close to not be a challenge with his weight settled on one leg breezily.

 “Okay. Hit me.”

     What a taunting mother fu-  You swing your left hand out as if aiming for the unarmored spot on his ribs, which he blocks with ease… leaving his throat open for your right fist to sharply jab.

 The bounty hunter doubles over, coughing and clutching his neck with one hand.

 “O-Oh shit! I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean, let me-” You scramble with lost movements, trying and failing to help him straighten upright. It leaves you awkwardly placing your palms on his back while the crown of his helmet presses into your belly. “I, um… Mando?”

 His arms wrap around your middle in a flash, pulling you tightly against his chest and throwing both your bodies to the ground. It happens so fast that you can’t even shriek before the air is knocked out of you, hitting the sand hard enough to throw it into the air around you. Gasping, you smack full force at the Mandalorian on top of you, his arms still crushing you against him while your legs lock straight together with his knees on either side. It’s sexy, but you’d really like to breathe. He lets up just barely.

 “Nice punch,” he rasps, throat clearly affected by the hit. “Don’t think I’ll hold back after that though.”

 “Don’t… want… you to…” You shoot back at him, sharp as you can manage while wheezing. Mandos visor raises ever so slowly and pins you, hidden eyes holding you down more effectively than his body. After a drawn out moment of this, your head spinning as you calculate your escape strategy, he crawls up your body to prop himself above you, locking your wrists in one large hand with the other presses against your chest, shoving your back into the earth. It is just enough pressure to squeeze some air out of your lungs and it is then when you know he isn’t kidding about not holding back.

 You’re so fucking happy that he isn’t letting you win.

 In other instances, you’d panic at the hopeless feeling of being trapped like this, by someone twice your size and clad in the galaxy’s most powerful steel. But the way he spars with you now, full force and not playing easy... it has implied respect for your skill. He knows you can fight and doesn’t spare you the opportunity to prove it.

 Only a second or two has passed since he fully immobilized you and you’re still locked in your flattened position. When he motions to stand, pulling your wrists as if to drag you, you know you must make your move now or it will be too late. The only spot he has open on his body right now is… well, right between his legs. The first thing a smaller fighter learns about combating larger foes is to fight dirty and there is no reason you should hold back if Mando isn’t. Your legs had been pinned tightly together before he moved to drag you but now there is just enough room to swing a knee up and hit him between the legs.

 Mando doesn’t wear a full codpiece but luckily for you, the padding on his groin isn’t enough to block your kick. A choked sound rips out of his throat and he falls to one knee, the fingers encircling your wrists loosening slightly while he struggles to fight his body’s natural pain response. You wrench one hand free and use it to grip his cowled neckline, planting your feet against his cuirass and swinging yourself into a hanging position before his grip tightens again. He's steady but you try to dig your feet in to throw him forward, hoping to twist around and land on his back with his face down. He totters for one frozen second, both your bodies on the precipice of falling but unfortunately, he manages to wrench himself backwards and land heavily on his back with you on top.

 You’re both gasping and groaning at the shock of hitting the ground so hard, and for one breathless moment all you do is stare heatedly at each other on the forest floor, eyes locking through his visor and somehow you know he is grinning.

 His smile mirrors on your face when you feel his hands rip at your clothes, wrenching the thin pants off of you down to your thighs forcefully enough to knock your legs together with a dull thud.

 “Did I not just kick you in the dick, Mando?” You laugh, working at his belt at the same time. He palms your ass through your underwear greedily, squeezing so hard that you know finger shaped bruises will blossom there.

 “You missed.”

 “Must’ve hurt either way…” You mutter, finally managing to reach under his thick layers and wrap your hand around his length, producing a low growl from the man beneath you. “Maybe, it's good I missed.”

 The only response you get is his hands pulling both your hands to lay on his chest plate then traveling back down your body to tug aside your underwear and grind you down onto his hips, rubbing your now bare slit against his bulge. You vaguely remember deciding against coming onto him as a form of apology, but for some reason, since he started first that all ceases to matter. It feels like a game you’ve begun to play with each other, playing with the tension between you and the Mandalorian until you find out what breaks your resolve. Maybe it started even before you entered this forest, perhaps back on Nevarro or even on the station.

 You can’t tell but you don’t want to question it either.

 A moan falls from your throat, your hands moving on their own volition to try and remove his belt entirely, or at least enough to pull his cock out. Mando’s glove flashes up again to circle your wrists, immobilizing them and harshly pinning you down with his vambrace lain across your back.

 “You yield?” He asks, voice dripping with a sickly triumph. A chill runs down your back and you feel as if he just dunked you into the pond.

 “W-What?”

 “You yield… I win?”

 “Wha- No!” You cry out indignantly, struggling against his iron grip. “I didn’t realize we were still sparring!”

 He laughs, fully bodied and dark with some emotion that swirls deep within your core, and you can’t put your finger on it exactly but you know you’ll have to do something before you’re swept up entirely. “Oh, but we are. What shall the winner gain?” He asks, so quietly that it is almost lost in the warped modulator, barely a question and more so a crackling of static.

 Fuck, you’re so wet.

 You lick your lips and shakily respond. “I am not one to give up, however-”

 “Then don’t. Keep fighting.”

 Oh, and you love what he implies. There is no reason to argue further and less time to act, so you immediately struggle hard with the upper half of your body, wrenching your wrists to try and distract him from the way your legs are free to swing into his ribs. But Mando doesn’t fall for your feint a second time. In fact, he seems to have expected it, his leg is more than prepared to hook around the back of your knees and hold you against his body, rolling to the side to throw you underneath him.

 You’re pinned on your back with nearly his full weight, unable to do more than weakly punch at what you can reach- unfortunately for you all you can reach is armor. Your cry of anger is cut short when Mando flips onto your front, your chest pressed roughly to the floor of the forest.

 The helmet appears over your shoulder, his ragged breathing right by your ear. “T-This okay? You want this?” You can’t find your words to respond with the way you're held so tightly against the earth, so you nod as best you can with one cheek pressed into the ground. Mando snarls something furiously, one hand leaving your back to fumble with his pants and pull his cock out, lining himself up at your soaking entrance and running the head through your folds.

 His helmet drops back down to your shoulder, the visor turning and burying itself into the line of your neck and you know that if he weren’t bound by his creed then he would be kissing dark bruises there.

  “You know this means I win,” he hisses, pressing his cock to breach your tight opening ever so slightly.

 “I-I know.” You whimper weakly.

 With that, he fully pushes himself into you and if you weren’t so wet you know his size would be unbearably painful. Instead, the stretch is pure bliss, a slow burning sensation that has a hint of sting to it, his dominance lending to complete submission and all you can do is lay there and take it. There is still the strain you grew to know from when he allowed you to use his body on Nevarro, but something about Mando topping you encourages you to open yourself for him with more ease.

 He quickly bottoms out then holds himself till, allowing you to adjust to his size. You’re writhing as much as possible under the way he crushes you to the floor, knees carving grooves in the soft sandy earth.

 “Fuck,” Mando grits, teeth clenched together so hard that you swear you can hear the grinding in his jaw. “You’re so fucking tight, fuck.”  

 The position is hard to maintain on the soft ground, his hands keep sliding ever so slightly on either side of you forcing him to adjust every few seconds. His patience breaks after the third time this happens, a growl crackling through the helmet as he settles his hands on your lower back and hoists his body up, knees planted on either side of your thighs, crushing them together with intense pressure on your clit. Your body is locked tight, pussy clenching harder around his cock when he rises into an upright position.

 You let out a genuine scream when he draws back then thrusts sharply into you, pain mixing with pleasure in a manner far more biting than on his ship, when he had let you take control entirely, never even doing so much as to thrust into you. It is almost too much for you but even while you struggle to take his cock, you don’t      dare    tell him to stop, nor do you want him to stop. You’re so blinded by the stretch that you don’t realize he is speaking until you miss several, distorted words.

 “Fuck, why did I wait, why did I wait? I should’ve fuck-fucked you back on the station, approached you in that hangar and made myself fucking clear-”    Each gritted word is accentuated by a mean thrust, his dick is so big that he has to shove himself inside of you rather than glide, breaking you open in a way that burns so sweetly. Your legs are held together, knees locked and straight, which doesn’t help how tight you are but you can’t budge at all to open yourself to Mando, his hands pressing down at your lower back so heavily that you’re short of breath.

 A garbled moan is forced out of you when Mando grinds his length into your pussy as deep as he can possibly reach, hips smashing against your ass while he pulses inside of you and for a second you think he's cumming. But no- he draws himself from your depths and starts to rut his cock between your cheeks, head resting on your upper back and hands by your head.

 A powerful hand wraps under your side and settles at your sternum, pulling you back against his cuirass and lifting so that you end up seated together, fitting against him without even an inch of space between your bodies. His hand lifts your hips, other appendage snaking around to position his cock back at your entrance before allowing gravity to do the work, your legs spreading to rest on either side of his thighs as you sink down on him to the hilt.

 Once settled, Mando starts to work you on his cock, lifting you like you weigh no more than a pebble then letting go. The head of his cock slams full force into your pussy with the weight of your entire body, each brutal pounding sending sparks of pleasure up your spine. Lungs free and no longer crushed to the floor, you’re unable to stay quiet, broken sobs and moans puffing from gritted teeth as he takes what he denied himself on his ship, the memory a thousand miles away as your processing center is fucked stupid.

 You can’t say how long this goes on for, maybe minutes, maybe hours, but the next thing you know is that your cheek is back on the sand, burning from the way it chaffs against the floor with each rhythmic thrust that claps against your thighs. You’re don’t even know if you’ve cum yet but it doesn’t matter, not with the way he is fucking the life out of you here in the wilderness. Mando is still talking, still uttering filth and praise through the helmet and all you can think about is how badly you want to hear his real voice speaking that way to you, you’re so close to asking him to take it off but you can’t find the words, you can’t think, you can’t-

 Abruptly, he grinds to a halt at the deepest point in your body then pulls himself free, pushing your shirt up lighting fast before cumming across your back with a choked exclamation. You’re both still for a second before your knees collapse, landing flat on your belly and gasping desperately. There is a shuffling noise behind you, accompanied with heavy breaths from the bounty hunter. It sounds like he’s rummaging through something then, yeah- your train of thought is confirmed when a wet cloth wipes his pleasure from your skin, gently trailing along your spine and ass.

 You reach behind you and hold his wrist, feeling the fluttering pulse there. “I’ll win next time…” You whisper, drawing his hand along the soreness on your bottom, the area he bruised, you suspect. He laughs- or pants you can’t really tell, but either way his touch becomes more gentle on your body, smoothing out the tense muscles and cleaning you up. Today's travels with the man have suddenly caught up to you and you might pass out right here, half clothed and dirty.

 “Come on, get up. Don’t sleep here.” Mando firmly states, helping you up and guiding you across the clearing after you pull your leggings up from where they gathered at your ankle. You’re trembling like a leaf, fragile in your spent state but glowing all the same. Mando sets you down on a log and brings you a canteen of water which you gulp down thankfully. He chuckles. “Wait up or I’ll have to drink from the spring.”

 That gives you pause, reminding you of something he said while you lay beneath him. You’re slightly nervous to ask but you do it anyway, warm and satisfied on your perch while he cares for you. “You.. When you were, um- fucking me. Well, you said something about how you shouldn’t have waited. Does that mean what I think it means?”

 He nods, “I noticed you for other reasons too, burc’ya.”

 “Maybe you should’ve fucked me back then.” Taking another gulp then handing the canteen back, you stretch then slide down to sit on the ground with him, back against the log. “You said that word before, ber-borshaw?”

 “Burc’ya.”He corrects,“It means friend in Mando’a.”

 “Oh.”You cheeks heat, feeling silly and rude for not recognizing the use of his people’s tongue, also noting that he used it to refer to you twice now, endearingly. It is an honor, one that makes you nervous. You feel like you should apologize, somehow. “Y-You speak Mando’a? I’ve never heard you use it before.”

 Mando settles against the log, leaning his broad shoulders to rest against the wood near your side. A few moments pass before he responds, “I chose to not use it around the others. Didn’t trust them.”

 “Oh, so you trust me?” You giggle, tapping the side of his helmet with your elbow. Questions burn within you and you may as well ask now, in the quiet afterglow of sex where everything is warm and slow. “Why didn’t you trust them if you started the company with Ran? How am I any different?”

 “You aren’t ruthless,” he surprises you by answering immediately, and you can’t decide whether you're insulted or not before he continues. “Ruthless and cruel is all that group ended up being, and it didn’t start out that way. We weren’t just mercenaries, we had a      code.    In the early days, attacking a slave ship would’ve been out of the question. Ran wasn’t always so full of greed.”

 Silence falls after he speaks, letting you mull over his explanation for a while while the waterfall rumbles in the background. Really, his perspective confuses you when you think back on your actions as a mercenary. Desperate to climb the ranks, to make a name for yourself, to earn credits and reputation. You suppose you conducted yourself with empathy, avoiding selection for hits that targeted innocent people if you could help it. You never had much choice in the area but it seems your actions spoke louder than realized. So much energy spent to avoid seeming weak and you never considered that your aversion doubled as strength.

 “Friend…” You whisper, not of your own accord. The word floats on your tongue, a specter within your vocabulary. In your adulthood you’ve had allies, you’ve had teammates, you’ve had acquaintances, but to have a friend… it terrifies you as much as it warms your heart. You considered yourself partnered professionally with the Mandalorian and didn’t      dare    to consider yourself lovers, no matter how much you privately hoped. But a friend is a luxury you didn’t hold close, mainly out of fear. You lost too many as a child. For a faceless man he manages to strike areas that are quite intimate.

 You decide that you’ll enjoy being his friend, a bit surprised that you aren’t too hurt by what is essentially a romantic rejection of the crush you held for so long. Probably because this is      real    , solid and built within reality instead of the silly fantasies you built prior.

     This is better than lovers, you tell yourself, the slight ache in your heart melting into the background of your desires, behind lock and key for another world.

 “I’ll take ‘friend’, Mando.” You grin, extending a hand to him cheekily. He stares for a second before taking it and shaking, helmet tilting in a respectful nod.

 His next words send an unexpected pang throughout your chest, taking all the careful walls you worked hard to set up and throwing them into a blazing inferno.

 “Let’s see where it goes.”

  Fuck.  

   ----------------

   Leather boots prance lightly through thick branches high in the trees, footfalls landing silently with all the grace of an athlete. Through the delicate glasses perched on the pursuers nose, a red glow blooms on the shadowy floor of the swamp, two sets of footprints lighting up to reveal a steady path made by the travelers. A musical giggle bubbles out of the darkly dressed woman as she pulls a small holo-watch from her bag and straps it onto her wrist, pale light mixing with her lavender skin, transforming it into a sickly grey.

 Xi’an claps a hand over her mouth to prevent her cackle from ringing through the trees as her plan takes form.

***

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[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

5/10/2022 DAB Chronological Transcription

Psalm 50, Psalm 53, Psalm 60, Psalm 75

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological, I'm China. Today is the 10th day of May, welcome. It is so great to be here with you guys today. Oh, it's been allergy season of for sure. I was like, I'm really just not affected this year. Like, praise God. I've really been taking care of my immune system and supporting my body and then I ended up getting mastitis a couple of weeks ago and then my immune system just got vulnerable and the allergies were like, let's get her. And so I'm like slowly feeling more and more human every day. But it just gets your voice, man. My husband, Ben, he was like, you sound awful. I was like, thank you. But if you've ever had allergies or like a head cold or sinus, anything not fun and it changes your voice. You know that you sound worse than what you feel and maybe that's not everyone's case, but thankfully that one's fine. But anyways, hopefully wherever you live, you're not being attacked by allergies. And if you are, I mean, you've healed in Jesus name, man. It's still not fun. But you know, what is fun, bouncing around in the Psalms. That is what we get to do today. I'm so excited about that. I just love reading the Psalms because there's just so much goodness and there's so much encouragement. There's so much just beautiful takeaways and truthfully, it's so comforting. Like that's what I always leave feeling is comforted and seen and like, wow, I'm not crazy for having this big emotion or wow, like someone else felt that too. And I feel not alone. And isn't that a beautiful, powerful feeling? So let's see what we are reading today. We are in Psalm 50, Psalm 53, Psalm 60, and Psalm 75. And we continue on with the New International Version for this week.

Commentary

Truly so much beauty and in today's reading of the Psalms. And I especially really love in the beginning in the Psalm 50 where we're reading God saying, I am your God, listen to me. I will speak. I am your God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings which are ever before me, which I think basically means like, hey, I'm not holding anything against you. If you messed up a piece of this up or I don't know if that's what exactly that means, but I bring no charges against you. It means I'm coming in peace. There's no weapons here. I'm genuinely coming in peace. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens. For every animal on the forest is mine and all the cattle and 1000 Hills I know every bird in the mountains and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world is mine and all that is in it. And that really just shows me that this is the Lord, he is clearly establishing who he is again and again and again and just reminding his people the Earth is the Lord and all that is in it. Right? And so he's breaking this down. And when you say that, when I say the words, the Earth is the Lord and all that is in it, it's like, yeah, that's cool. But then when you break down each scripture and you're saying, I know every bird in the mountains and the insects in the fields are mine, that kind of zooms into that phrase a little bit more like, yes, everything in the Lord in the Earth is the Lord. When you start thinking about every insect, every bird, every mountain, every Hill, every whatever, like, the Lord sees it and he knows it. One of my favorite scriptures has always been over the years believe is in the Gospels, where it just talks about, consider the birds in the air, then neither sow nor reap. And yet they're taken care of. What about the lilies? They're just springing up, basically meaning, like, do you think that those things aren't cared for by the Lord? Do you think that those things are just like on a rotating clock of being like, oh, it's time for the birds to be fed magically? Oh, now they're not hungry anymore because they're just magically taken care of. Like, oh, they're not robots. The Lord provides for them. And the lilies, the flowers, like the wildflowers they're cared for by the Lord. And it makes me think of such an interesting imagery. But we've been in the house that we're in now, Ben and I, for three years, and for the first year, we started to plant a garden, and our yard wasn't really established. So we were like, let's just plant the things that we want in pots. So I planted some tomato plants. And then at the end of the year after the harvest, I dumped the soil that was in one of the pots and the tomato plants in our front garden bed, like, in the front bed with other bushes and things that came with the house. And then last year, a tomato plant grew up out of the ground in the same place that I put I didn't plant anything there. Yes, whatever remaining of what I dumped in there grew, and it just blossomed next year. And it was so funny because we were like, did you plant tomatoes here? No. Did you plant tomatoes here? No, I didn't either. Well, then how did this get here? And then it was like, oh, right. Just without thinking, I guess, I accidentally planted tomatoes here, and they were taken care of, and they got the amount of sun that they needed, and they were watered by the rain because we didn't know that they were growing there. And we just kind of came out one day and we're like, oh, this isn't a weed. This literally has flowers and tomatoes are coming off of this. Like, this is incredible. And so that just again and again kind of reiterates that the Lord's taking care of things like that that aren't little, but to us, they're little. Why on Earth would we think that we aren't cared for by the Lord? And so that just kind of is like this ongoing conversation that I'm having with myself of like, oh, man, I feel like I got to take care of this or the Lord doesn't want to be bothered with this or I kind of got myself into the situation. I don't know if the Lord's going to be frustrated with me in this and ultimately just realizing, of course he cares if he cares about birds. I hate birds. I think birds are so gross. I think it's because I got attacked by a bird a couple of years ago. We were, like, on the beach or something, and I was terrified after that. But birds are gross, okay? They're just gross. And I'm like, if the Lord cares for you and you are taken care of and these flowers, they are being tended by the Lord and anything else, that's just the examples that we have in scripture, then why not? Why wouldn't the Lord take care of me? And so there's been this song that has been released for over a year now that it's kind of founded from that scripture that has been one of my favorites over a couple years, but also really just things of who the Lord is and when we forget it's, like, be reminded of who he is and that he is provider and that we truly are in lack of nothing? And when we remind ourselves of that and we come into that place of rest, it's so powerful, when you lay down our armor, and lay down the things that we are trying to make happen in our own strength, because we feel like God's not coming to our defense or he's not going to come take care of us,when we come out of alignment with that narrative and we step into the truth, so much changes. And so I just want to play this song, and let it wash over you? If that has been you and that you have struggled with or something that you can relate to, may you just find something in this song? That you can hold on to, that you remind yourself of who the Lord is, and let it just wash over you, and carry you into the next day, and the day after that. As often as you want to play it. But yeah, may you just be encouraged by it.

[jippy-kandi]

Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 10: The Steel-Solid Super Evolution (Review)

Thoughts on the tenth episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

This was a pretty steel-solid episode (see what I did there? XD;). I just like the kids interacting with each other!

Props again for the animation and direction of this series. So beautiful. And look at all the parallel scenes!

Reboot Yamato is really logical (though my nostalgic heart also misses anxious mess Yamato lol) and, frankly, would be right to distrust Ogremon’s information if we were to put this in “real world context”. However, this is a kids’ show . . . so of course Taichi is right to trust the once-enemy and believe in them, etc. XD;

The reboot’s version of the argumentative Taito dynamic begins! It was done really nicely, and I like that it affects the others, with Mimi saying she doesn’t like that kind of atmosphere - which makes Jou question whether to step in (he does in the OG!). Mimi pleads, but Joe doesn’t, because he’s more pathetic in this reboot. XD;

I liked Taichi’s character a lot more after this episode, though he is definitely a lot more responsible than OG Taichi. But I do miss OG Taichi’s “irresponsible” boyish charm, because it changes a bit of his dynamic with others (namely Sora . . . I liked their OG dynamic more). I’m still fine with the reboot’s version of him though, because I don’t expect a reboot to be an exact replica of the OG.

I see the reboot is still going for Agumon food humour to dissolve tension . . . which was fine for this episode, but I hope they don’t overdo it like tri. did. I got really tired of it there that I sigh in exasperation every time it’s done. XD;

The reboot's trio dynamic between Taichi, Yamato and Sora is essentially the same as the OG, and I’ve got no complaints, because I love it. Taichi is the natural leader, Yamato is his right-hand man, and Sora is right there observing them and giving her opinions as well. (And no doubt will keep them both in check!)

LOL at Mimi throwing Jou’s exam prep book into the miasma lake. XD; These two got some good character bits this episode. I also question how the Japanese completely overlooked Joumi and went for Koumi instead, lol. XD;

Taichi not having serious injuries from being attacked by MetalTyranomon would usually annoy me . . . but this is a kids’ show, so it doesn’t. :P Plus, I’d rather see Taichi riding Greymon than being off to the side shouting at him to attack, so . . .

But I don’t really feel like the build up to Greymon’s evolution to MetalGreymon was “enough”. Honestly, the weight they gave to Yamato looking over all of the other kids in episode 8 felt like more of an epic moment, and that was just a power-up for Garurumon! So . . . yeah, this super evolution fell a bit flat to me.

But the actual evolution was cool-looking, albeit very, very short. I assume because there’s not much of a difference between Greymon and MetalGreymon - but it’s still odd that a better evolution stage gets a shorter, less epic sequence than that of the Champion evolution.

LOL at the warning under the routes on Koushirou’s laptop: “Be careful about Big Digimon”

Taiorato leading the team: Sora suggests they split into two teams, and Taichi immediately asks Yamato for his opinion. It’s little things like this that I appreciate! Taichi respects him. :)

Yamato: “Besides, if something happens to one side, we can avoid being wiped out.” Step right up girls, this boy is real fun at parties. ;)

Voiceover narration for next week’s episode: “When Yamato risks his life for Sora and the others, a miraculous evolution occurs!” It just made me smile. XD;

And check out the extended preview for next week’s episode. Yamato storms past Sora, who is totally thinking, “I can’t believe this bish right now.” XD

Does anyone else “miss” Takeru? lol. Even Hikari has had more screentime, but Takeru is seriously getting shafted. For a purpose, yes, but I hope it’s for an even more epic “reveal” of Angemon defeating Devimon in the OG!

Anyway, below are EPISODE TITLES for the next four episodes of Digimon Adventure: 2020.

They contain spoilers, so if you don’t want to know the episode titles, this post ends here for you!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

The episode titles are:

Episode 11: The Wolf Standing Atop The Desert

Episode 12: Lillymon Blooms

Episode 13: Garudamon Of The Crimson Wings

Episode 14: The Kings Of The Insects Clash

And I’m sure we can all assume that Jou’s super evolution will be episode 15.

But let me just talk a bit about Sora and Yamato in episodes 11 and 13 (from the synopses that reveal too much, in my opinion). Exit now if you don’t want spoilers!

Sora and Yamato will have a disagreement and, depending on how the reboot handles it, I will either like it or hate it. Ooh, Sorato drama! :P

Yamato also ends up leaving Sora and Jou in next week’s episode, however, he seems to still be with them in episode 13 (or at least meets up with them again). So I guess it’s brief or gets resolved in episode 13?

Also, remember that OG Adventure’s episode 26 (when Birdramon evolves to Garudamon) was the actual start of the Sorato foreshadowing? Well, episode 13 is the equivalent episode in the reboot . . .

GET HYPE!!! XD

lol. Actually, seeing as they’ve just recently met, I doubt much can be done. But we’ll see. :D

[gemma-lemma]

Cloudy Days - JJ Maybank x Male OC

Chapter 2.3 – Redfield

Soon after, the friends were in the twinkie, on the way to Redfield lighthouse. Everything seemed to have returned to normal, but Parker could still see the shadow that lingered over JJ’s eyes clear as day.

He wasn’t paying any attention to how John B tried to explain to his friends how the lighthouse was the right answer, and just studied the Maybank boy’s face.

“Bro, you know how I process my sad feels?” JJ suddenly asked into the room. “Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that’s how I do it.”

Even though what JJ had just said was slightly gross, the others didn’t seem to pay his words any mind. Merely Parker raised a brow, and JJ just shrugged in response. They were in the back together with Pope, who was leaned forward between the two front seats to talk to Kiara and JB. JJ sat right behind him, while Parker was sprawled over the bench on the passenger side.

He raised his foot to nudge him in the side, but JJ slapped it away with a scowl. Parker took it as a challenge, and tried to nudge him again, but he just grabbed him by the ankle and held him still mid-air. Parker tried to wriggle his foot free, and almost would have been successful, but then JJ pressed it down on his thigh and got a secure hold on it like that.

Parker grinned at him, knowing the confident look in his eyes would confuse JJ.

“If it helps you believe, John B.” Kiara tried to reassure John B about the lighthouse in a soft voice.  

“Look, I- I don’t need a therapy session, okay?” John B defended. “I’m not trippin’ out.”

“It’s okay to trip, bro, but-“ JJ tried to calm him, but was cut off.

“Look, my dad’s missing, okay? Missing. You don’t know what it’s like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened.” John B said, and Parker looked out the window. Not, he did not know how it was if they were missing. Only if they died in front of your eyes. JJ squeezed his ankle and shot him a questioning look. He didn’t answer.

Pope and JJ suggested that Big John might have been kidnapped. Maybe he was in Vietnam, getting interrogated by the KGB, or even in Atlantis. Parker didn’t really pay attention to the conversation anymore. All he could see was the smile on his mother’s face when she closed her eyes for the last time, finally succumbing to her illness, and the blood dyeing Billy’s t-shirt dark red.

After what seemed like an endless ride, they arrived at the lighthouse, which, according to John B, was Big John’s favourite place.

The friends got out of the van, but Parker decided stay inside another few seconds, trying to regain his calm.

He jumped out just in time to hear Pope talking about variables and JJ yelling at him to shut up. It made Parker think about how his friend Alice had always suffered through the maths lessons at school as if she were being tortured. Nobody understood maths less than Alice, Parker was sure of it.

“Listen to me for a second, just listen!” John B interrupted JJ and looked at Parker. “Parker and Pope are gonna stay on lookout with JJ, alright? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ’s house.” He decided, and Kiara agreed.

Parker raised his brows at the retreating figures of his friends.

“Yeah, I’mma work on my merit scholarship essay, and I can’t be involved in a felony.” Pope ranted, snatched the ball JJ was playing with and kicked it around himself. He didn’t pay any mind to the incredulous look the Maybank boy shot him but was out of earshot soon enough.

Parker watched JJ a worriedly.

“How’re ya doin’?”

“Great, thanks.”

“Try again, I don’t believe you.”

“Why wouldn’t you believe me?” JJ snapped and glared at him. The second he saw the look in Parker’s eyes he knew that he had just given himself away.

“Because you just killed the rooster John B said you loved. Have you ever killed anything before?”

JJ scoffed. “Of course I have, don’t be stupid.”

“Insects don’t count.”

“Well, if you’re already all about going Dr. Phil on me, why don’t we ask you a few things too, then, huh? What was that, back at the Château? Since you arrived here you have been a literal wreck, and now you’re suddenly all gangster and bossy? You have too many loose ends, man!” JJ probably hadn’t even realized that he had backed Parker up against a tree until he hit it with his back. He didn’t back down, though.

“That’s how you wanna play this?” Parker laughed, realizing that JJ wouldn’t give him anything for free. “A truth for a truth, then. The first time I ever shot at someone with a gun, was to protect my friends. He would have hurt them, and I couldn’t let that happen, no matter how frightened I was. Same thing happened back at the Château. You guys were in danger, and I had to get my shit together and protect you.” He said with a dangerous smile. “That’s how things work where I come from. The law of the jungle allows no weakness.”

But JJ didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. “We were in danger also when the cops almost found us in the motel room. We were in danger when those guys shot at us or when they wrecked Ms. Lana’s hut. Where were your balls of steel then, huh?”

“Something happened, before I came here. Something bad, that really shook me. I’m still not over it, so don’t get surprised when I suddenly relapse. But today was a closer call than those before, and the situation reminded me specifically of back then, so I managed.”

“What happened?”

“Nuh-uh. That’s not how a truth for a truth works. It’s your turn, now. How are you?”

JJ started backing off, but Parker was faster. He grabbed him by the collar and spun them around, so that now JJ was pressed up against the tree. He struggled to get free at first, but then gave up and stared right into Parker’s eyes, challenging him. When he realized that Parker wouldn’t even accept the challenge, he sighed and averted his eyes again.

“I can’t really understand that I killed the rooster yet, I guess. It doesn’t feel like sadness, or remorse, it just feels bad, and I hate it. That was a living being – an animal that was dear to me. How can I not feel sorry for killing it?”  He said quietly, and Parker could hear the pain in his words. He softened his grip on JJ’s shoulders.

“The sorry will come later.” He explained softly. “But if that’s what you’re worried about, I can reassure you. This bad feeling that you’ve got? The one that seems to be eating away at your insides and making you sick to the stomach? That’s what you got for taking a life. It’s gonna feel bad for a while, and at some point remorse will crush you. Maybe you’re lucky and it won’t be that bad because it was just an animal, but it will still hurt. And then you have to feel the pain. It’s like in that John Green novel: pain demands to be felt. That’s the only way you can get over it.”

JJ nodded, deep in thought. Parker’s words seemed to soothe his raging mind a little, but he was still perturbed, so he added: “And if you ever need someone to talk to during that time, or someone to sit beside you while you work things out by yourself, I will be there for you.”

Again, JJ nodded, then his eyes widened as if suddenly realizing something. He looked back into Parker’s face and grabbed his wrists in an iron hold, securing them mercilessly ion his shoulders. “’Maybe you’re lucky and it won’t be that bad because it was just an animal’” He repeated Parker’s words and suddenly he knew that he had made a mistake. “What have you killed, Parker?”

As JJ had expected, Parker tried to rip free, but he wouldn’t let him. He stared at him urgently, waiting for an answer.

The sound of approaching sirens saved Parker from having to answer and they sprinted towards the twinkie. Pope jumped in the driver’s seat, and off they went towards JJ’s house.

 They hung out there a while, waiting, but when neither John B nor Kiara showed up Parker decided to drive the twinkie back to the Château. He had ignored any try from JJ’s side to pry any information out of him, not just yet ready to tell him about the men he’d killed to save himself or his friends.

When he parked the car, he was met by John B cleaning up his home and throwing pizza cartons away.

“Hey man, what happened? Weren’t we supposed to meet up at JJ’s?” He greeted, and immediately felt the sour mood his cousin sported.

“You want the long version or short?” He responded and proceeded to put empty glass bottles into a box.

“Medium rare.” Parker answered, just to mess a little. John B actually chuckled quietly. Bingo.

“I kissed Kiara. She pushed me away.” He began and went still, waiting for Parker’s reaction.

“Told you so.” Was all he said, not really surprised that his cousin had tried it after the conversation they’d had on the way to Ms. Lana’s house with JJ.

“I apologized, but she said it was okay.”

“I think nobody cares about you the way Kiara does. She’s doing her best to be a good friend and make it as easy on you as possible. I understand where your confusion is coming from, but I think you should try and take care of her a little better, too. Especially now that this misunderstanding is out of the way.”

John B shrugged in a way that said: You’re right, but I don’t really know what to say now. So he just proceeded with his story. “Then we were arrested because I hurt the lighthouse guy. Peterkin told me that she knew about the compass, I denied having it, Kiara’s dad got us out. I think he hates us. The square groupers chased me through the streets, Peterkin saved me, I gave her the compass, and Ward Cameron fired me because he found out about the scuba gear we took.”

Parker raised his eyebrows, trying to process what John B had just said. “Nice afternoon, man.”

“Yeah, right?”

Parker looked out to the scoop, suddenly remembering something.

“Is that damn turkey still in there?” He asked, and John B nodded.

“Should we bury it or burn it?” He asked, the question directed almost more to himself than to John, and watched him stack a lot of old stuff he recognized from his father’s office and from around the house on a pile.

“If you wanna burn it get it now, because I’m gonna burn all this junk here right now.” He said, taking out a box of matches.

Parker frowned. “You sure you wanna destroy all this?”

“Yeah, pretty.” John B lit the pile on fire and poured gasoline into the flames. They both watched at them in awe for a bit, but then Parker snapped out of it, grabbed an empty box and went to put the dead rooster inside.

“Rest in peace, or something.” He murmured, staring into the creepily open eyes of the animal. “I hope rooster heaven’s nicer than North Carolina.”

Then he closed the lid and crawled out of the scoop, just in time too see John B grab something from out of the fire and stomp on it to stop the flames.

“What the hell are you doing, man?”

But John didn’t answer, he just stared at the pin board he had just saved, as if it held the answers to all of his questions.

Then he looked up. “I think I know what Redfield means.”

[oc-mother]

Here is Sunev, Poison Ivy’s SugarGlider counterpart. 

Like Poison Ivy, he can control plants, and has some sentient plants as companions, as well as commits crimes with the plants. 

However, there isnt much else similar between him and Poison Ivy, or at least, nothing exactly the same. 

Apart from the obvious, where Poison Ivy is a female, and Sunev is a male, Sunev isnt as much of a “murder anyone who steps and kills a blade of grass”, as many versions of Poison Ivy seems to be written. 

If you pick a flower for your friend, I’m sure he wont mind, and if you put weed killer on weeds, he certainly wouldn't kill you for that. 

Mindlessly or intentionally doing horrendous things to the environment tho? (Dumping toxic waste into the river/water supply, you know the kinds, weirdos torching forests and stupidly causing forest fires... but in an evil way... not like a firefighter). Yeah, he’d definitely be mad at you.  

So, his story is this, in the beginning of his first appearance, he is shown as an aging old man, well in maybe 60s or 70s, maybe even early 80s. 

He moves into the city as the florist, and gives/sells very “special” plants to the younger people. Younger, meaning, adult, but young adult, and not children. You’ll see why soon. 

However, oddly enough, as his appearance progresses, he seems to be getting younger, and the people that he sells the flowers to, get sick. 

What is happening? 

Well, he is draining them of their youth, and is absorbing it, making him young again! Of course, this is not good for the victim. 

It turns them into human/plants, which Sunev then eats. (Not whole, if eating them directly, but like, well, they are made out of plant matter now, so he can like, just, like how one would prepare lettuce or something. If he wanted to digest someone whole, i guess he could do it in one of those giant pitcher plants or something, but that's not whats going on in the background specifically).

(Also note, that he doesn't always EAT the plant people, sometimes he just uses them as decoration. Its usually when he is snacking, that he eats them, not usually as a full meal.)

Yes, he is a plant man who eats other plants, just like how fish eat other fish all the time. He doesn't think its weird. 

The plants that he is giving them is doing the deed of draining the youth from the victims and then “importing” it into his body. 

The plant that seems to be growing out of him is actually a part of him, and is although basically an extension of himself, it has its own personality, meaning if it were acting all curious and messing with a victim, it wouldn't be him being weirdly touchy. 

(If anyone wants to do fan art of him, just a note to say, its face is that of a Venus flytrap, and its gullet is a pitcher plant).

He has Venus flytrap “spike” teeth, and his saliva, if given enough time, can digest through anything. Or, ALMOST anything, as i am sure there is something he can’t digest through...

In the background, well, I am not entirely sure of the story of what the big pitcher plants are doing to the victims inside, but i will figure it out as i am writing this episode. 

His name? Why is it so exotic?

Well, Sunev is Venus backwards, and a Venus flytrap is a kind of insect eating plant. Well, although technically an insect cannot be really called a meat, still, if you think about it, it could be called a carnivorous plant, so... 

Its a perfect plant name, as well as exotic sounding, just like how i see the Venus flytrap as an exotic plant, its a great fit!

Not only that, with his job as a florist? Perfect!

By the way, his eye color at the moment may show to be green, but i don't have a set eye color right now, so if anyone has any other better ideas for his eye color, let me know. 

Personality wise?

Disney’s Ursula, especially when she was fake flirting in Poor Unfortunate Souls, (but in his case, its less fake, and less to just prove a point), (and you can say that Kriggs is also slightly inspired off the same thing, but the main difference is that Kriggs only does it AT ALL with SugarGlider, and Sunev does it on a minor level pretty much with everyone. Its just exaggerated with SG).

Poison Ivy - obviously, but to a point

The Riddler - from The Batman specifically

Disney’s Cruella Deville - As, for some ironicness, he probably smokes that kind of cigar/cigarette... ironic.... not good for anyone... (He refuses to not have it in that fancy holder thing tho...)

A similarity between Poison Ivy and Sunev is that, they both use a form of pheromone to attract people. Of course, with Sunev, although it isn't UNCOMMON for him to use it, it isn't something that defines his character. 

He originally used it to attract customers to his shop, but after being found out and arrested for the fist time, he uses it like how Poison Ivy uses hers. 

Again, usually mostly for distractions or to get information out of people, and not for a genuine romantic relationship. At least not all the time. He is known to get lonely from the lack of human company and will force victims to stay with him, hence his whininess and clinginess during these phases. Like a child with a doll, but the doll is a living human. Definitely was a fussy child when he was a kid. 

Other character notes:

He is very whiney, like SUPER whiney. It is unknown if he does it to make his victims uncomfortable, like a conscious effort, or a subconscious thing that he has always had. It could even be a mix of both. 

Rather Nerdy, when it comes to plants, not video games. (Not that he doesn't like video games, but the video game nerd character is reserved for the Gamemaster)

He is a human, meaning not an alien, or alien experiment, or a plant that somehow got human intelligence. I will most likely not being wracking my brain trying to find an origin story for him however, as it probably wont be brought up, nor asked why he is doing what he is doing at any point, as it is sometimes made somewhat clear during his crimes anyway.

Very proud of this drawing by the way. 

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 29: Kirin, the Phantom Beast

Next up on the docket is a prime example of the fact that Elder Dragons don’t need to look like dragons. Here’s a Phantom Beast monster that, unlike the ones in Yu-Gi-Oh!, is actually threatening in battle (if you like that archetype please don’t kill me)! Also, I apologize for the first render I’m using; I tried to give it a black background, but its mane is pure white, so using the fill tool on the background would fill that in, too, and I didn’t want to mess around in Paint to prevent that from happening. Now that that’s out of the way, make way for Kirin!

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 1 [possibly; the image on the wiki didn’t say what game or gen this render is from])

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 4)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter World)

Appearance: Kirin is an interesting approach to unicorns in several ways. First off, it doesn’t have a lot of fur; the majority of its body is covered in scales. I believe that this was to help justify calling it an Elder Dragon, because even with the lore reason behind that classification, kids might question that status anyways. The second interesting thing about Kirin is the head; while the body is unmistakably equine, the head is more like that of a lion. Honestly, though, that’s only apparent to me on the MHW render, ‘cause apart from the forward-facing eyes, the head on the other renders still looks horse-like to me. The final aspect of Kirin’s design I want to call attention to is the fact that it’s freaking huge. According to the wiki, the biggest Kirin are 32.5 ft tall (at least I’m assuming they’re talking about height, not length), while the smallest are 12.2 ft, which are still taller than any living horse on record. Now, that being said, I’ve looked at images of Kirin on the wiki, and none of them look that big, even this one labelled “Giant Kirin”:

That’s still a really big horse, though, and I can’t expect the games to make every monster exactly the size they say it is. The final thing of note here is that Kirin are frequently crackling with electricity, giving them an aura of power that accentuates their other design elements. Overall, this is probably my second favorite monster design that I’ve seen and talked about, so it gets a 9/10.

Behavior: Kirin are capable of surviving in a variety of environments, from snowy mountains to swamps to an area in Monster Hunter World called the Coral Highlands (https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Coral_Highlands), which is literally like a coral reef on the ocean floor but above-water, which is something I didn’t know I needed until now that isn’t in Rise and now I’m sad. The Coral Highlands are also the only place where they were observed feeding, which revealed that despite their lion-like heads, they eat plants.

Kirin are known to be very unpredictable by monster standards, which is fitting, considering that they seem to embody thunderstorms. Sometimes they’re calm like a cloudy or clear sky, other times they’ll use their powers to wipe out an entire village. That last part’s just a legend, as far as we know, but it says something that people could find it believable. Unfortunately, Kirin are so rare that barely anything is known about them, which gives them an air of mystery while also making it very hard to rate this section. The fact that their behavior can’t reliably be anticipated, much like the way lightning strikes can’t be (unless you’re really tall, made of metal, or both), helps sell the idea that they are lightning incarnate, and the fact that they maintain an equine diet despite having a feline head is almost as weird as Diablos being herbivorous dragons, so combined with their mystique, I think I can give them a 6/10.

Abilities: As you’d expect, Kirin are really fast, bounding around the battlefield at a speed which makes it impossible to catch up with; the only way you’ll be able to hit one is if it comes to you, which it’ll likely only do to try to gore you on its horn. However, Kirin prefer to use their electrical abilities over physical attacks, so they’ll still try to keep some distance from you. The electricity they generate or build up on their fur strengthens their hide and makes them more resilient. But they don’t just generate lightning, they call it from the sky, and can even make it strike the spot you’re standing in, in which case your only option is to move the moment you see a white light around your feet. They can also make lightning strike several times in a small area around them to repel attackers, or call in down in a progressive line in front of them.

There are plenty of monsters in Monster Hunter that use electricity, but Kirin stand apart thanks to their ability to summon natural lightning bolts from above, even if there are no storm clouds in the sky for them to come from. This supernatural and effortless defiance of nature is why Kirin are Elder Dragons, and combined with their breakneck speed, it looks like it makes one heck of a fight. 8/10.

Equipment: Whoever made the Kirin weapons seemed to know exactly what I like, ‘cause I love so many of these design-wise, and it hurts that I can’t talk about all of them. Let’s start off with the Sword and Shield called the Kirin Bolt:

Okay, so this isn’t one of the weapons that I really like, but it’s still cool, so I’m showing it anyway. The “sword” might look like it’s more for stabbing than it is for slashing, but it’s meant to be more of a large dagger anyways. Seriously, its final upgrade is called “Thor’s Dagger.” Didn’t think Thor was a thing in the MH world, but there you go. I like how the dagger looks like it’s made out of Kirin horns (even though the colors don’t match), and the shield’s also cool ‘cause it uses Kirin scales. Don’t know where the spikes are from but whatever. Now, on to the weapons which are, in my opinion, the best-looking weapons from this series that I’ve seen yet, here’s a Switch Axe called Peal:

Unfortunately, this is the largest render on the wiki, and enlarging it makes it too blurry, but hopefully you can still see why I love this thing. The way the blue blade has a purple gradient, the blue spikes which seem to get progressively darker, the fact that they all work really nicely with the white body of the axe--everything here just works in the best possible way. I’m not planning on learning how to use the Switch Axe if I get Rise, but if Kirin was in that game, and I could make Peal? I’d probably try to learn SwAxe just so I could use it. But the weapon I am maining? Yeah, the Kirin version of it is awesome, too. Say hello to the Insect Glaive called Indigo Flash:

Don’t know why that render’s big when Peal’s isn’t, ‘cause I didn’t do this, but who cares!? Sure, there’s less blue on this than Peal had, but it still looks really cool! I really hope that the updates for Rise that they’re working on add Kirin to the game, ‘cause I need this in my life. As for the armor, it’s, well, weird. Even in MH games where there’s separate armor sets for Blademaster and Gunner, the Kirin armor is the same for both of those classes. Well, that’s less work for me, so let’s see the Kirin armor:

Zelda II: Adventure of Link called. It wants Horsehead back. Seriously, what is with this series and making helmets that are/look like they are made from the monster’s head, skull and all? Okay, the only real examples of that I can remember are this set and the Kelbi helmet, but it’s still gross. Also, aside from the pendants and the female set’s horn, there’s no blue here, which is disappointing. This armor doesn’t look bad, it’s just not great. But that just means that the Kirin’s equipment doesn’t get a perfect 10; it’s still getting a 9/10.

Final Thoughts and Tally: Kirin may not be as big and powerful as Lao-Shan Lung, but dang, if it isn’t the cooler Elder Dragon. The mystery, the speed, the lightning, and especially the looks and weapons all sell the idea that this is something more than a monster. I’m sad that it isn’t in Rise yet, but who knows? They just might bring it back one day. 8/10.

[takonei]

How would each of Beta AU cast interact with their V3 counterparts? [I have read the Kiyo one, so we can exclude that]

Oh boy, here we go.

(X means the V3 version, B!X means the Beta AU version.)

Shuichi Saihara

The two would get along well, although they don’t have much in common aside from anxiety

Shuichi is already in love with a musician so why not befriending another?

Overall protag solidarity.

Rantaro Amami

Rantaro would be a little suspicious of him at first, but after some time they would get along.

Platonic love solidarity!

B!Rantaro would have a lot of respect for him for trying so hard to find his sisters.

Miu Iruma

Since B!Miu is kinda flirty-ish, Miu would be a mess. B!Miu would stop that very quickly though.

B!Miu would try to act kinda like a big sister and help her with her confidence.

But the sex jokes would annoy her a tad too much.

Kaito Momota

B!Kaito was not prepared for this level of bro-ness and motivation. They would be very good bros. Not as good bros as B!Miu/B!Kaito or Kaito/Shuichi but still.

Kaito would try at first to train him but problems come in very quickly.

He would still have a lot of respect for working so hard for his goal with a missing leg.

Kaede Akamatsu

Creative arts wlw solidarity!

The two would get along very well! Although Kaede would try to boost B!Kaede’s confidence a little.

B!Kaede would be very inspired to write while listening to Kaede’s music.

Maki Harukawa

“There’s a strange vibe coming from this version of me and I don’t like it.”

Maki would probably get bored rather quickly and not really care about tailor work, to B!Maki’s dismay.

At least B!Maki wasn’t really annoying to her.

Tenko Chabashira

Of course the other Tenko would be a fighter. That’s what defines her!

The two would spar regularly, no rules. Tenko would win more often since Neo-Aïkido is a bit more aggressive, though.

But those two would be good friends!

Kokichi Ouma

B!Kokichi would run away immediately and get chased by an enraged supreme leader. But B!Kokichi is faster so he gets away easily.

Kokichi would probably not believe B!Kokichi’s talent is real at first but quickly realizes it’s real when he keeps tripping down for no reason.

A very bad relationship overall.

Himiko Yumeno

“We’re gonna be the best of friends!!” "Nyeh... There’s an astronaut for you somewhere else. Leave me alone.”

B!Himiko would lowkey believe she is a real mage, though.

Himiko wouldn’t be able to keep up with her bursts of energy. But overall they could be friends.

Korekiyo Shinguji

“There’s something wrong with this man. I can feel it.”

Therapy time. He doesn’t have a choice.

Kiyo would find B!Kiyo interesting, though. Therapy is looking at humanity from another angle. Not only discovering humanity but healing it.

Tsumugi Shirogane

“What animes are you into? It’s so interesting to see another version of myself! Are you up to cosplays?” “What”

B!Tsumugi would be annoyed very easily and would just leave to study.

Kinda cold relationship.

Ryoma Hoshi

B!Ryoma wouldn’t exactly care about Ryoma killing an entire mafia as revenge. He wasn’t exactly better.

They could get along since B!Ryoma doesn’t feel like pressuring people for no reason.

Although I feel like Ryoma would have mixed feelings about him being an active soldier.

Kirumi Tojo

There is 1 imposter among us

B!Kirumi wouldn’t care much about Kirumi as long as she minds her own business.

Kirumi would be very suspicious of her and eventually try to find out who she is, somehow. Not that B!Kirumi is going to let her, though.

Angie Yonaga

“Atua- “NO.”

They could have bonded better if Angie wasn’t so obsessed with Atua while B!Angie despises him (although they don’t represent the same person)

Overall mixed feelings on both parts, but some respect for the other’s creative skills.

Gonta Gokuhara

Animal lovers!

Gonta would be a bit sad B!Gonta doesn’t care as much about insects as other animals since they are mostly bigger animals’ lunch.

But B!Gonta would be impressed by the other’s ‘gentlemanliness’. He was nice but Gonta was really something else.

K1-B0

"You must be the ultimate robot as well!” “... Is being a robot a talent?”

B!K1-B0 would feel a little awkward since unlike K1-B0 he doesn’t have that many features and is pretty much just here

A pretty neutral relationship.

[ettawritesnstudies]

Designing Laoche Creatures

[image description: a very messy page of my sketchbook with a few different designs in a combination of mechanical and colored pencil, with notes scribbled all over the place. from in a clockwise direction from the top of the page.. a small winged blue creature sitting on top of a strawberry, a rabbit with wings and antlers, a spider walking through a forest, only it’s towering above the trees for scale, a tree completely covered in fungis and vines, a life cycle diagram for a fairy, and a green lizard that’s covered in thorns and has a frill around it’s face to look like a flower.]

I’ve been busy making some creature designs for the world of Laoche! We don’t get to see many critters in Storge because it’s based in a city and the plot focuses on the political/interpersonal aspects, but Laoche involves a lot of world-hopping travel and a lot more wild lands which means I get to go *crazy* coming up with fun creatures!

This page is a mess but I wanted to explain what some of these are:

Poison dart dragons (fun sized! They rarely get bigger than a strawberry.) These guys glow like fireflies, come in tons of really bright colors, and generally look adorable, but they can control their fire to burn if needed, and they secrete some of the strongest poisions known to man so they’re not to be trifled with.

We’ve got winged jackalopes because why not! (i really ought to do something with foxes. or squirrels)

you know sea spiders? Those big ones that walk along the sea floor? put them land, make them taller than the pine trees. the only way you can tell the legs aren’t just thin trees are because they don’t have proper roots.

fungi and plants are EVERY bit as weird as they are in our world. if you don’t know how weird fungi are and how trees communicate, then my friend let me tell you the out of doors is about to get really interesting for you. obviously though, they glow, because magic

lizards but camo - they’re green and spiky and they’ve got frills that look like flowers

Fairies have a life cycle of an insect - you never see adult fairies caring for babies because the babies are off being caterpillars. They’re very flighty and there’s as many different version of them as there are insects, (A LOT). 

They often live in and around “butterfly bushes” - the flowers turn into butterfly mimics and fly away to plant their speeds elsewhere (not pictured)

we’ve got sea-serpents, but they’re GIANT Hagfish. you’ll never see them, being bottom creatures, and they don’t wreck vessels, but they do trap them in slime until people start jumping ship. (also not pictured)

more to come but that’s what I’ve got for now and I had a lot of fun with it!

[ranger-njoyc]

3 Days Til Cottage Cheese

Day 13:

Theme: Journal (pt. 3)

Description: The Official Travel Log and Records of Seth Michael Sorenson, Over The Years

Details: So basically, there are only a few entries, and it should be extremely easy to figure out where on the timeline each of these entries are from. I only did books 1-2 for this one. I’m not sure I like this format, but this is just how I picture Seth’s journal to be structured.

---

The Official Travel Log of Seth Michael Sorenson

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The Most Boring Exciting Summer in the World

I will be staying at Stan and Ruth Sorenson’s(grandparents, temporary guardians) house for seventeen(17) days while Marla and Scott Sorenson(parental figures) are on a seventeen(17) day long cruise.

Notes and Observations:

Interesting garden, lots of insects.

Stay in the yard? boRING!

Dale is pretty cool. Maybe one of these days he’ll let me come into the barn with him.

Speaking of the barn, what the heck would even need a space that big?

Lena is nice. Expert drawer, baker, cleaner, gardener, you name it. She seems to be good at everything.

Goldilocks is a cool chicken. Nice. I’ve always wanted a pet.

At the poolside today, the insects flocked around Kendra’s mirror. When we flipped the mirror over, they flipped it back around again. I’ve never seen anything like that before. What is happening?

WHAT THE FRICK IS AN OLD LADY DOING, LIVING IN A SHED ON GRANDPA’S PROPERTY???!!!!!????? She says grandpa knows she’s here… Can I tell him? I mean, but then he would know I went into the woods.

Hidden lake in the middle of the forest…? I need to show Kendra this.

Grandpa found out we snuck into the woods, I guess, but at least Kendra managed to get us a reduced punishment!

HOLY S fairies are reallllllll!

I’m gonna try to catch one

Awesome! Caught one.

Well… this is embarrassing. But I suppose I have to write it down for accuracy: I accidentally turned the fairy into an imp, which is a fallen fairy, and then the others took retribution and turned me into a mutant walrus.

Midsummer's eve is coming up soon, that should be exciting! Who knows what kind of cool creatures I’ll be able to see out the window!

i messed up

Okay, now that this is all over, I have to explain what I’ve been lacking the time to write down: So basically, short version, I opened the window which got everyone captured(besides Kendra and I), which led us to free Muriel, the witch who lives in the shack. Grandma Sorenson got turned back into a human, because she was Goldilocks(!?!?!) and then we went to save everyone. We all got caught, ‘cept my sister, and she visited the Fairy Queen and summoned a huge fairy army that stopped Muriel from releasing the demon Bahumat.

So, haha, yeah. Crazy summer, huh?

PS remember to bring a whole lot of batteries next time I visit!

---

Errol Fisk and the Kobold                                                        

Errol Fisk(allyenemy) is a friend enemy of Fablehaven. He was  !NOT  sent by Grandpa Sorenson’s(grandparent) friend, Coulter Dixon(unknown), to help Kendra(sister) get rid of the Kobold(posing as Casey Hancock) in her school.

Notes and Observations:

I don’t know, something seems a little strange with this whole scenario. I’m sure Errol will help us figure it out.

Going to steal a statue tonight. Hopefully it will help Kendra with her kobold problem.

Got the statute, got rid of the kobold. Statue bit me. Ugh.

I might go help Errol with another mission that would help the Knights of Dawn.

ABORT MISSION ABORT ABORT

---

Back at Fablehaven

I am staying at Fablehaven(magical preserve) with Stan and Ruth Sorenson(grandparents, caretakers, temporary guardians), Dale Burgess, and guests Vanessa Santoro(animal specialist), Tanugatoa Dufu(potions master), and Coulter Dixon(artifact collector) for an unknown(?) amount of time. 

Notes and Observations:

Vanessa is cool. I want to drive like that all the time.

Oh my gosh, why do I always screw up! Now I’ve got some demon trying to eat me…

So Kendra is fairykind. Cool, cool. The Sphinx is a cool guy. He sets me a little on edge, but I suppose he is quite interesting and helpful in a mysterious kinda way.

Ahhh, Tanu is awesome! His potions are so cool, I can’t wait to learn from him!

Coulter. He’s an interesting fellow. I like him, though. He never sugar-coats things, he just bluntly states everything. It would be kind of funny, if anything he had said was a joke…

Finally got to meet Warren today. He’s Dale’s brother, and he has been stuck in a catatonic state for several years. No one knows why. I feel really bad for Dale.

Someone is a traitor? But??? Everyone is so nice??? (Well, maybe ‘nice’ isn’t the right word). Everyone seems so loyal and devoted. It’s hard to imagine that one of them might possibly be working against us.

Coulter’s acting kinda weird…

OH MY GOD! You’ll never believe what has happened since the last time I wrote! I got eaten!!! In the cocoon thingie that Coulter had, I was eaten by a demon and pooped out! How exciting is that! Anyways, there was a lot that has happened. Let me write out a quick recap:

I went to Patton Burgess’s old manor and then from there headed to the cabin that Warren lived in.

I rendezvoused with Kendra, and then we went through the brownie doors, into the house. We talked briefly with Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson about our next course of action.

I went off to remove the nail from the revenant's neck, thus bringing Warren out of his coma.

Warren and Kendra went into the inverted tower and retrieved the artifact, and I missed out on seeing a huge flying panther!!

[panfishonthefly]

Fly Tying Friday - The Brood X Cicada

If you are a fly fisher, the Brood X Cicada should have crossed your radar by now. The Brood X bug is one of the largest and most widely distributed groups of periodical cicadas. They are scheduled to emerge this spring after spending 17 years underground. Living 17 years underground makes them the longest living insect on earth, though much of that time is spent in a form of suspended animation. I recently read a statistic that there could be upwards of 1.5 million cicadas emerging per acre in some areas putting brood population in the trillions! This massive emergence provides a feast for creatures large and small (including fish) and one hell of a mess for homeowners to clean up if they are unfortunate enough to find a concentration of these insects living under their property. Despite the feeding frenzy that is about to occur, the sheer number of insects that are about to invade our world will ensure enough of them successfully breed to repeat the cycle 17 years from now.

Once these giant bugs begin to emerge, we can expect them to be around for 4-6 weeks. Any trout angler will tell you when many insects suddenly appear in the form of a hatch; it can bring on some great fishing. If that insect finding its way onto the water's surface is two inches long, it can be some exciting fishing indeed. That being the case, if you live in one of the regions listed below, you should have a cicada pattern or two in your box.

Delaware

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Kentucky

Maryland

Michigan

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Tennessee

Virginia

West Virginia

I have experimented with several different patterns to try and imitate this big bug, and I have settled on an easy-to-tie design to fill most of the spots in my cicada box. Some weeks back, I featured Jack Harford's House Fly in a Fly tying Friday post. This chunky foam fly seemed like an excellent platform to try and build a brood x cicada. The two-layered foam pattern would allow me to highlight the black and orange colors of the Brood X Cicada, and the multiple layers of foam would give the fly a good splat when it lands on the surface of the water. This splat is an essential feature of the fly when imitating an insect like a cicada.

Rather than repeat the tying steps here, I will refer you back to the original blog post to find step-by-step instructions for tying this pattern, or you can check out the video below.

To tie my cicada version of the house fly, I made a few changes to the original pattern. The first change was the hook; as this fly is tied to imitate an insect that can reach two inches in length, a larger hook had to be used. I chose a size 12 bass bug hook (bass bug hooks don't follow the standard sizing criteria). The larger hook was the perfect platform to build this big bug. I have tied some cicada on even larger hooks that I intend to use solely for bass, but the #12 bass bug hook is small enough to hook large bluegill yet large enough to effectively imitate the insec, and catching monster panfish on these big bugs is a goal I have set for myself this year. I also added eyes to this pattern as the bright orange eyes of the natural insect are such a prominent feature. Their large wings are also an important feature. While the spent insect is likely to lay on the water with its wings spread out to the side, casting a fly with a two-inch wing sticking out on each side is likely to be problematic on a 4wt fly rod. I opted for a swept-back wing profile with a lot of sparkle to imitate the light reflected by the insects' large transparent wings.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Size 12 Bass Bug Hook

Thread: 6/0 Semperfli Classic Waxed Thread (Fl. Orange and Black)

Body: Black and orange 2mm Foam

Legs: Black and orange silicon or round rubber legs

Wing: Semperfli Semperflash or other suitable flashy material

Eyes: Orange ball headpins cut to length, inserted, and glued into the foam head