#and trying to feed her bug meat

[nanomooselet]

Episode Four: Hungry!

Full disclosure, it took me a while to warm up to Wolfwood.

I hadn't read the manga or watched the older adaptation. Didn’t know anything about him except his ridiculous gun and that he was a priest (hence the ridiculous gun, because anime). I couldn't figure out why he was present in the narrative, except... because he was in the manga and older adaption. It seemed a little indulgent; I wanted more time with Meryl. He wasn’t even a priest. Obviously Nick has plenty of homoerotic tension with Vash, but all due respect and sympathy to Vash/Wolfwood shippers, m/m pairings have always left me cold (to be fair, pairings generally do that irrespective of gender. Desire unfulfilled is more my speed).

Sad to say that I still don't ship Vash/Wolfwood, but I did definitely come to understand why people do and why they like the guy. Though am I the only one baffled that Vash gets cast as the virginal princess so often? After this look?

Whew. No wonder Wolfwood looks like he got hit with a two-by-four. Ahem.

This is a very necessary episode that feels maybe too "necessary", like they realised they needed to introduce everything it introduces and didn't leave enough time to integrate it all naturally. It's too tight, and Stampede is already a show so tight it squeaks. Still, I think blowing Wolfwood's cover before the day was out was, if not the only right decision, not a wrong one. Almost immediately this guy comes across as sketchy, half from that he's barely trying to act like he's not (which absolutely sends me; he really hates his job) and half that he's just... an awkward dude, angry and obviously hurt in a way he won’t admit to. And while we know there's more to Vash than his façade, it's hard to tell just how smart he really is, how perceptive, because this is Vash. Meryl is the type to show off her knowledge, because she's young and eager to prove herself. Vash is a creature of endless masks and insurmountable walls. He refuses to, as he sees it, burden anyone else with his thoughts.

So we do exactly what Zazie does in this episode: show Vash something wounded and vulnerable because he'd tear off his own skin if it would make things easier for someone else. Except instead Wolfwood is the one who feels a little too exposed, of course. It's so funny to me how obviously he didn't expect this? And how frustrated when he realises he'll have to drag this self-sacrificial lunatic all the way to July alive without becoming attached. I honestly think he failed in that latter part before they even got shot out of the Worm. Vash is just so loving, and so loveable.

Also, the Worm guys (as I mentally call them) might be my favourite minor characters next to Rosa and her offsiders. They're a hilarious audience to the madness. I’m glad they got so many dinners in one go.

And Zazie - what a great character, one I genuinely think is an improvement over prior incarnations rather than just being different from them. Nail game on point, entirely free of fucks given, and a sterling addition to the cast. I'll talk more about our buggy friend later, and I have more to say about Wolfwood besides that hitting him with the trailer forced me to pause the video until I stopped cackling.

Finally, the closing scene chills me in hindsight for a number of reasons, but what gets me the most is that it's a bookend. At the episode's start, Vash refused to eat. Wolfwood had to convince him to. And it's not that he can't use his Gate, it's that he's decided to keep it closed, so something will have to make him decide to lay bare his power once more.

And somehow, I can't imagine Knives asking nicely.

[tiajk]

Being their sibling headcannons (Monster trio)

Characters included; Luffy, Zoro, & Sanji

Warnings; sibling love, fluff gn! reader

A/n; My sister just left to go back to college miss her already

masterlist

MONKEY D. LUFFY

Sibling realtionship; Twins

— He honestly needs a sibling to be there for him he has the crew yes but you being there is just different like his missing piece (not romantic)

— He will steal your food but if you try to steal his he’ll throw a big fit talking about how you have so much food already

— Garp was sick of both of you growing up you both relented going into the marines so he couldn’t stand it

— He gives his hat to you all the time you guys sorta share it but he has it most of the time

— The crew get tired of both of you sometimes sanji has to feed two overly eating people and he never catches a break

— he would protect you without a doubt

— you guys 100% have the same brain cell you hold it most of the time luffy rents it sometimes

— your his favorite out of all you guys siblings and ace and sabo know that

— he tries to steal your food and it turns into a whole rumble for some meat (nothing less of luffy)

— when he has nightmares he will go to ur room and ask you to hold him because he just wants his twin to be by him

— he doesn’t say i love you ask much as you think but he does say it in his sleep sometimes when you guys are around each other

— doesn’t care if you flirt with guys or girls or any person but will be mad if they take you away from him when he wants to spend sibling time together

​Ronoroa Zoro

Sibling dynamic; Big sibling little brother

— You would have to watch him all the time growing up because he would always go picking fight nd shit

— he doesn’t want to admit it but he wants you to tell him how proud you are of him and his strength

— def the little brother to hate when you give him affection but he loves it but will never admit it out loud

— doesn’t care what your doing but when it’s nap time he will leave his swords with you and get mad but get mad when he’s sleeping and you take the swords and put them to the side

— he doesn’t say i love you only says it when your seriously about to die (don’t tease him abt it he was actually worried)

— if you wear something that’s too revealing in his eyes he will 100% go “i’m telling mom that your wearing that” (bro what mom robin?) (it is robin)

— he’s always asking you for money like it’s worst that nami

— he’ll point his finger in your face and be like “i’m not touching you your face it touching me”

— doesn’t like when ur dating someone he’ll stalk you for sure if ur dating sanji he gets pissy but as long as your happy he’s happy

— he’ll protect you in battle if you need it and other way around but makes fun of you if you need his help in a unserious fight ofc

— do not show this man your outfits if you want his opinion he will just be like it looks the same

— he forces you to workout with him whether you want to or not

(he’s so fine me and u could eat him)

Vinsmoke Sanji

relationship dynamic: big brother little sibling

(i know his backstory but i haven’t got that far so we’re js gonna act like it’s you two for rn)

— when you guys were on the rock with zeff he gave you majority of the food

— makes you his personal taste tester for anything gives you stuff before the ladies

— he doesn’t like when people try to date you because he just wants you to be treated right if you date zoro he’ll be mad but he knows zoro will do anything to protect you

— he likes when you guys cook together it’s a personal connection for both of you

— type of brother to say he’s gonna kill a bug but makes you kill it

— he gives you his money but the second you mention it he won’t give you anymore (he does)

— he loves hugging you that’s all he does he just wants you to know how much he loves you

— says i love you almost everyday he wants to make sure you know your self worth

— if y’all got them same curly brows and you wear urs with pride your gonna make him do the same

— zeff makes sanji promises he’ll take care of you

— try’s to stop smoking for you but always go back to his ways you make jokes all the time about it

— if you wanna sneak out he’ll cover you but then make you do something in return for it

[jaebeomsbitch]

All I Want Is You (R.R.)

Summary: Roman learning to heal through the pain and eventually realizing he’s capable of so much more than just being a Roy. He learns to love and laugh and eventually gets married! 

Warning: Mentions of Logan's death, Roman's insecurity, and one mentions of his eating disorder. GN! Reader except literally one line just hinting.

A/N: I had this idea of calling Roman "Roro" and it turned into this. I just love him so much, he deserves the world.

Nicknames had been spilling from your mouth all day, you loved to annoy Roman. Calling him any and everything, “Pookie, honey, Romey bear,” especially in front of board members. You loved to rile him up, he’d sometimes lash out but for the most part he’d play it up. Following you around calling you equally embarrassing nicknames, it had become a game of sorts. Trying to see who could embarrass the other worse.

You’d have a sickening display of affection as you feed him an hors d’oeuvre at some company party.  Whispering how “sweet your love bug was for you,” Gerri would clear her throat asking to pull Roman aside. They’d talk in hushed tones as he sighs and comes back to you. Muttering a half-assed apology but he has something urgent to take care of. You usher him away, knowing he’s here on business and not to entertain you even though he promised you’d have his undivided attention. 

You muck around taking a champagne glass joining Willa and Connor in a conversation about cryogenics. You pretend you’re interested, nodding your head as you tip your head back gulping the alcohol. It was going to be a long night.

You drink a couple more glasses before leaving them, walking toward a window to watch the view. You couldn’t even remember where you were. Roman had told you to pack a bag and an hour later you were shoved into a private plane. He was too busy talking logistics to inform you of where you were going or what you were doing. 

Cousin Greg tries to make conversation, asking some absurd question you’d probably see in a “how to make friends” blog. You relent because watching Greg squirm is entertaining. You answer asking him an equally absurd question, watching as he juggles the question in his head as he stumbles over his words. Your gaze unlike most people doesn’t move from his face, you like the way it makes people nervous. He gives you a non-answer mostly just stuttering noises as his eyes dart around the room for an escape. His eyes landed on Tom before excusing himself. 

You can’t help but chuckle, Roman walks up to you. What the fuck was that all about? Was Greg trying to put the moves on you? He laughs but a piece of himself feels uneasy. He never likes the feeling of falling which is why he never allows himself to feel it. He’s always surrounded himself with faux relationships, ones he could pull around the room as arm candy to appease his father. Not that he was ever happy with Roman’s endeavors or conquests.

But you were different. You had this ability to pull him apart like a lobster at dinner. You broke him limb from limb, throwing the pieces of shell in the garbage as you exposed the soft tender meat of his heart. He’s panicked, panicked that you can be ripped away from his hands like his favorite toy. Panicked that he’ll have to watch his dad stomp on the piece of plastic destroying you into a million little pieces. He doesn’t think he’d recover if you left so he stays cowering in the back of his cage. 

Slowly you unravel Roman, even when he asks stupid questions. You let him win on most occasions, you want seafood for dinner but he wants steak? Steak it is. Something about being with you is everything he’s ever wanted and not just because you let him win. You made him feel something he’d never was allowed to.

His father never had high hopes for Roman’s partner. However he didn’t feel any particular way about you. Didn’t say some mean comment, didn’t embarrass you in private, he watches you with a scrutinizing gaze but you don’t buckle. You had nothing to hide because to the Roys you were just another fling. 

To Roman however you were everything. You were the reason he wanted to wake up in the morning, you were the reason he stopped counting calories as he joined you in a midnight ice cream snack. Laughing as he smears ice cream across your face because you called him your “precious little prince.” He tells you to fuck off, rolling his eyes as his ears turn red. Blood rushing up his face at all your praises. He was so unused to it, unused to the feeling of someone being proud of him. 

You were never shy with Roman, always showing him off. Calling him your trophy husband as you twirl him around. Slapping his ass on the airplane, joking that his was better than yours.You show him off with pride to your parents, after you’d mentioned they were at the same restaurant as you were. He noticed their judging gazes, recognizing his face from the newspaper but you beamed. Holding his hand tight, teeth on full display as you press yourself into him, cheek resting on his shoulder as your parents say something you’re not paying attention to. 

Roman doesn’t know how to act, he’d never made it to this stage. Most people weren’t willing to accept someone with sexual trauma, always leaving him because he was too emotionally scarred. They’d always give him the line that they weren’t fulfilled but you were always willing to wait. So he nods, cracking an occasional joke until you’re waving goodbye on the sidewalk and you follow him into the Escalade. 

You help him through the after effects of a panic attack. He’d never done that, never really cared what people thought of him unless he could benefit in some way. So teary eyes, that he tries to pretend is caused by the window cracked open, he asks how that was. He looks away afraid of what you might say, afraid that you might end it right there because your parents hate him. 

“Roro, I could give a flying fuck what they think. All I want is you, okay?” You try to reassure, reaching for his hand. He blinks away the tears, silently nodding. Someone wanted him? Even when he’s wholly broken, even when he can’t fulfill every boyfriend duty, even when he has to abandon you at boring parties? He’s afraid of the feeling in his chest, it feels like he just jumped off the balcony of his penthouse, free falling, waiting to hit the ground. He shoves away the feeling of doubt and plays those words over and over again in his head, a small smile forming as he stares at the city passing by. 

He lets himself grow attached to the silly nicknames, attached to the feel of your skin under his hand, the feeling of his fingers running through your hair, the way you massage his scalp, the way you hold him in bed. Your sleepy eyes blinking at him as you whisper a new nickname before cuddling into his chest. 

He liked the domesticity of you in his apartment, he’d usually feel disgusted only ever liking the feeling of being alone. But somewhere he grows accustomed to the way you leave your shoes at the entrance, seeing your toothbrush next to his, and even though he complains, the way you take half of his closet. He liked seeing your clothes together, promising he’d either upgrade the closet to fit both your needs fully or buy a new penthouse. He wanted you to have a say in the building, he was ready to let go of his “bachelor” pad, wanting you in every trace of the new home. Wanting you to be in the fiber of the new apartment so even if you left he could never forget what you shared. 

Soon enough the Roys lump you in with Roman like you’d always belonged. You were practically married without the certificate, Logan would give Roman shit about it. Telling him you were a fine piece of ass and that he should lock you down before you realized the mistake you made. 

In all of Roman’s sureness the doubt creeps in but you’re there through his fathers death. You’re there to console him and let him cry. You let him be vulnerable in a way he was never allowed, never judging, just reassuring. You’re there when Gojo buys Waystar. You’re there to enjoy him even when he’s lost. When he realizes that all his sacrifices were for nothing and that his entire being was bullshit. 

“But you’re not bullshit to me,” you whisper. Forehead leaning on his back as you hug his abdomen. He lets himself be held, no quip on his lips as he leans into your hold.

“Roman… it’s just you and me forever and always,” you finalize. You knew in your heart it was always Roman. You were two broken puzzle pieces that somehow fit together and in your brokenness you made each other better. In your time together he transformed into the phoenix you knew he was. He opened his eyes to the abuse he endured and refused to continue the cycle. 

You spent almost a year on a self healing journey, traveling the world together now that he had stopped nipping at your hand. He let you pull him out of the cage and he was free, completely free. He was fearless to love, you both relished in your time together even though his smart mouth got ahead of him sometimes. You find ways to be intimate figuring each other out. You live in the ups and downs of the relationship. Realizing that he never needed to be in a loveless marriage like his parents. 

He proposes unsurprisingly to everyone. The Roys finally have something to look forward to in the life of mundane nothingness. They Pat him on the back for ‘finally not being an idiot and making the right decision.’ He surprisingly offers to take your name, says he’s ready to shed the Roy name and try out a new skin. Kendall calls him a cuck for even suggesting it, that was his legacy after all. They might not have the company but they’d always have the name and blood. You knew Roman wasn’t serious, knew that calling you a Roy would elate his little heart so you deny him. 

The word fiancé is always at the tip of his tongue, he loves the word. Loves that he’s finally able to say it. When you become his wife he becomes unbearable but you’re the same. Going to restaurants and talking about the “ole ball and chain” making him late when in fact, it was him fixing his hair that made you late. Nonetheless you whip your hand around showing off your wedding ring set at everyone that glances at you, holding your head high as you walk with him. Roman was yours and you were his and somewhere you forgot where he ends and you begin. 

—side story—

You notice the way his eyes light up when you call him ‘Roro’ because no one has ever called him that, so it was special to you.  Also because he remembers the day in the Escalade when you didn’t outright but basically admitted your love for him. His siblings take to jokingly calling you Scooby Doo because he was 

“Roro Roy” to you. It starts after you ask him to pass the salt, “Roro, pass me that please.” The Roy siblings turn to look at you and Roman. They were used to your nickname antics, sometimes jumping in with their nasty names but this was new. Seeing Roman beat red as you kiss his temple, unaware of Shiv and Kendall’s knowing smiles. Connor looking at Roman with a small smile before turning back to Willa.

“Roro raggy, Roro shit the bed” Kendall would joke in a fake accent, that just sounds horrible. The table laughs, including you.

Roman quips back something stupid but you were happy. Happy that you had a nickname and that you were a part of their lives. That Roman gets to be an uncle to Shiv’s little boy. 

[kedreeva]

I work in a whole foods supply store, and one of our customers is a lovely old lady who lives out on a rural property, way beyond the city limits.

A pair of peacocks have nested and made babies at the edge of her land (two clutches so far this year), and she has taken it upon herself to feed them, so she comes to us to buy food - seeds, chopped nuts and dried fruits.

I know she means well, but she says the babies now come to her door to 'beg' for food, which means they're habituating, so I feel like she's doing them more harm than good.

If you knew of someone doing this, would you leave them to it, or try to dissuade them? Also, is the food I described above actually okay for peacocks?

She says the peahen is a bright, beautiful, unblemished white, which I thought was quite rare? She is going to bring me photos on her next visit...

Unless you're in India, they're not habituating because they're not wild animals, they're feral domestics. If they're hanging around and being fed, congrats, she's got free range peafowl. It's free birds!

As for the mix, I would cut out the nuts. Fruits are fine but they don't really like citrus and they shouldn't have avocado. Fresh fruits are better than dried, dried concentrates the sugars and doesn't provide any hydration. If she'll listen to you, tell her you have a friend that breeds peafowl and that they suggested better treats would be live mealworms or superworms, dubia roaches, farm-raised hornworms, or mouse pinkies. They also like fish (at least feeder fish, but possibly also larger fish they can pick apart) and meats. They can be given veggies, but they don't rip things apart the way chickens do their beaks are not as able to tear into hard things, so veggies should be chopped small. They will happily rip up greens or melons that are cut open though. Banana too! They love banana and berries.

Black oil sunflower seed and safflower are good seeds, limit corn intake. No beans allowed except refried ones. Planting clover in her yard will be a good source of nutrient-rich greens (and good for bees!).

But honestly, a good high-protein dry chow with some water added fresh to it will provide a lot of benefit, just as much attention, and probably be cheaper since you can get 50lb for like $20. I use Belstra 28% turkey starter crumble from a local feed mill. It may not look as interesting but my birds get a LOT of varied treats and chow mash is one they'll eat every day without any hesitation, and leave nothing behind. The only other treats that is true for are bugs and farmer's helper golden egg nugget treats. Even peanuts they have turned their noses up at a couple of times.

As for the white color, it's not that rare. A lot of people don't like to keep them because they get dirty easily and because colored birds often HATE them. Hens often won't mate with them if they can see other males, and males often attack or attempt to chase off white hens. In the wild, a white animal draws attention and opens the flock to predation.

[trans-queen-administrator]

Can't sleep, just gonna summarize an old fanfic idea that I never wrote but I'm still fond of and I had a lot planned. Simurgh attacks instead of Leviathan, the entire fic takes place in the quarantine zone.

It was gonna be sort of shuffling around points of view to show all the people affected, but the main character would be Lisa who would second trigger after Coil's base collapsed and killed Dinah, which led to Taylor blaming herself and attempting suicide. Her new power would essentially take away her ability to analyze anything but people, but now she can tell pretty much everything about someone and figure out how to get them to do what she wants. She manages to save Taylor after the attempt and slowly nurses her back to health, and because she's incredibly shaken she absolutely never talks to Taylor without controlling the entire conversation with her power to have it go how she wants. Extremely overprotective, obsessed, and manipulative, which leads to Taylor being overly dependent on Lisa.

Labyrinth is also having a terrible terrible time! She was already having a bad day, and the Simurgh's song pushed her over the brink to just have no control over her powers. While they attempt to calm her down so they can get out of the city with her, Elle accidentally kills Faultline and Newter, and has a fun little mental breakdown over it. Gregor eventually calms her down and comforts her, but with the guilt over killing two of her closest friends she's constantly having worse days than she ever has, with her power's altering of space expanding to a range similar to the size of Taylor's bug control. Entire swaths of the city, unusable when she's there, while Gregor just keeps trying to help her get better because he's a lovely person.

The PRT tries to use some of Bakuda's bombs on the Simurgh when the fight starts going to shit. A direct hit turns one of her wings to glass, and it fell off her to the ground. She dodged the next bomb, telekinetically tossing it aside and boosting its trajectory with some tinkertech to send it flying out of the city. Thanks to the Simurgh, the bomb lands directly on and instantly kills the Butcher all the way over in Boston, which lets Bakuda instantly break out of the transport and make her way back to Brockton Bay for revenge (and also for the tail end of the Simurgh fight, she drives her off), even more insane and murderous than before.

The Travelers are understandably having a bit of a terrible time dealing with all this. Noelle went apeshit and forced her way out of the base, which is what led to it collapsing and killing Dinah (and Jess, who is too sane for all this), and she began touching all the capes she could find to get clones to fight the Simurgh with. She makes everything worse, although the fight was already going poorly, and now that the fight is over there's still dozens of evil clones running around locked inside the dome with everyone else. The quarantine zone is being much more tightly patrolled since the Butcher and a ton of clones are in there, so the Travelers are forced to stay there for now. Luke leaves the group pretty early, he was looking for an excuse to do that in canon anyway. They do need massive amounts of meat for Noelle, and the butchers and supermarkets run out quick, so Krouse persuades Noelle to start eating people he kills for her. I wasn't sure if he would hide the source or if Noelle would know and still get convinced to eat it, but either way it would be a bucket of fun. Mars finally musters up the will to leave the group after that, which leads Noelle to get even more deranged.

Pretty much, the two major forces in the city are Echidna and the Teeth, and they create enough chaos that people not on either side can't really just get by peacefully. Labyrinth, Gregor, Lisa, Taylor, and a few others all band together in a third group thats just trying to survive and support each other. Taylor insisted they try to help feed other people trapped in the zone and Lisa talked her into believing that was a dumb idea.

Parian stuck around in the city to try and help get her family out, and is now trapped in the increasingly violent zone when she really doesn't want to fight. Unfortunately for her, she's forced into the Teeth, who figure out she can do some wacky stuff with skin. Bakuda takes an interest in her when she realizes telekinesis plus bombs is pretty fun, occasionally threatening to die in front of her to always be in Sabah's mind. Eventually Sabah escapes the Teeth and joins Tattletale's crew, where she swears off any and all violence no matter what. Mars is also there doing the same thing, they're both just sick of capes and all it entails. They want to be normal and happy and not deal with their friends eating people or being forced to flay others. Eventually this buds into a romantic relationship, and they find genuine comfort and love in each other even with such a horrible environment. Sabah teaches Mars how to sew, and Mars teaches her how to dance, and neither of them thought they really loved those activities anymore, but when either of them watch their girlfriend learn and smile and love those things it feels like their passion for the arts has just been completely renewed. They're happy together.

So then Bakuda comes after Sabah to get her back and Mars incinerates the Butcher by accident while trying to protect her girlfriend. Woooo.

Clockblocker was trapped under some rubble he froze so it wouldn't crush him, unable to escape and forced to stay there as the song droned and his power lasted the full 10 minutes. He swore he'd rather die than let the Simurgh twist him, but he kept freezing the rubble for almost an hour until someone else trapped in the city saved him. Riddled with guilt and self loathing, he wants to be mean to Taylor but she's just kinda pathetic with how much Lisa wrapped her around her thumb so it falls flat.

Theo is getting groceries when the sirens go off and Purity just fucking leaves him behind, same trigger and power as canon. Rip bozo.

There would be a giant showdown between Butcher Sundancer and Echidna. They were best friends and both of them have been twisted by something inside them into beasts who are trying to tear each other apart. At this point with all the fighting like half the city is rubble, and Tattletale + friends are caught in the crossfire of clones and bombs and fire and are desperately trying to get out. Noelle doesn't have perfect control of her clones, and eventually one lands a lucky shot and kills Marissa. Now Echidna is the Butcher, woooo.

She gives up having reason, she's just on a rampage now. She attacks Lisa's group, and they escape but she gets Taylor inside her, eventually Lisa coordinates an attack where Ballistic launches the glassified Simurgh wing at Noelle, Theo grows a bunch of hands out of it inside her to lock it in, and Clockblocker freezes it so she cant escape without dying. I think I just liked the symbolism of it being the Simurgh's wing and I completely forgot that she can teleport now. Whoops. Doesn't matter.

Noelle escapes, and is fucking them up. All is lost, but Scion appears and stops her because like, that's what he does. He completely atomizes her. Nothing but golden light left. Even the people inside are gone, including Taylor.

Lisa loses it and goes on a five minute power-assisted rant where she verbally eviscerates Scion, says she hopes it still hurts that he's alone, says he's worthless, just destroys the little bastard in a grief induced rage. She doesn't even care that her power told her he'll kill everything one day if left alone, she just wants to take out this rage on him. Scion kills himself after 5 minutes of Lisa tearing into him, its implied this was the Simurgh's end goal or whatever, Lisa saved the universe and she doesn't give a shit, Taylor is gone.

So she does the logical thing and kidnaps Taylor's Echidna clone, ties her to a chair, and warps her mind with constant conversation with the end goal of getting her Taylor back. Her power tells her the entire time that this isn't Taylor, it's someone who looks like her but can only hate, and she doesn't give up. I think it works out for her, Contessa owes her a favor now and helps her out with getting Taylor back from something that was never her. This shit was bleak and needed a happy ending. There were even more plotlines I never touched on, I had plans for everyone who made it out of the city too, but this is long so I'm just gonna post now.

[kagoutiss]

is sheik interested in parasites at all? he doesn't seem like he is. does ganon ever try to show her parasites up close

so ganon keeps a lot of weird critters in the fortress, and while sheik is probably initially squicked out by many of them, he also has this passing scientific interest in everything he encounters even if they’re frightening/nasty/dangerous, etc. so sheik doesn’t exactly like parasites in the way that ganon does, but she’s osmosed a lot of information about them and it’s just part of her mental encyclopedia at this point. that said, yes ganondorf is constantly making her look at the freakiest things to ever live, he’ll make her look at petri dishes with extremely dangerous amoeba in them and be like ‘they love to eat brain :^3’ and shes like ‘is that what happened to you’

sheik genuinely does enjoy learning about various weird creatures (still the same kid who used to go in the castle courtyard on rainy days and grab frogs and toads with her bare hands to identify them, and try to raise tadpoles and dig for worms and chase bugs and stuff), but she can have a tendency to view those creatures in terms of their scientific value more than as a living, breathing thing at times. and there is also a big part of sheik that was raised to view certain organisms as inherently grotesque and evil; parasites fall more under that category, alongside monsters. so his eventual interest in them would be genuine, but not nearly as affectionate as ganondorf’s is. if sheik ever opted to keep things like parasites or deku babas for research purposes, you probably wouldn’t find her fawning over them and scratching them under the chin and hand-feeding them scraps of meat like ganondorf does lol

[sapphire-strikes]

▪︎Some LEGO Monkie Kid Headcanons Pt. 2!▪︎

Ayoooo~ Part 2 finally! Decided to write some more headcanons to warm myself up after another massive break. These headcanons have all been pretty general so far, but I will absolutely be adding some reader-insert elements eventually since they are kinda meant to tie into my Ao3 series.

Part 1 Part 2

~

• You know that common anxiety a lot of people struggle with where you worry that all of your friends secretly hate you? Well, MK's thought process works completely opposite of that.

• He's so genuinely earnest in how much he cares for his friends that it comes full circle, and it's hard for him not to believe that they feel the same way. (And luckily, in his case, they absolutely do.)

• It does play some into how oblivious he can be though, because a lot of times, he will not pick up on it if someone is mad at him unless blatantly told. Basically, as long as you're sharing a space relatively peacefully with him, he automatically assumes that everything's okay and you're on good terms.

• I think that explains his relationship with Red Son and the Demon Bull Family pretty well.

• What's that, Red Son? This ceasefire is just a temporary truce until Demon Bull Family's next opportunity to rise to power? Too bad. The SECOND they stopped actively acting as antagonists and worked together, MK began considering them friends. Want to change his mind? Gonna have to start trying to kill him again. Otherwise, get used to the sleepovers, noodles and beach parties.

• Mei is absolutely the type of person to ~grip~, smack, hang off of, or cling to the person closest to her when she starts laughing. MK does this as well to a lesser agree, but it amplifies when Mei's around and they happen to be standing next to each other, just because they feed off eachothers energy so much. The two often end up in absolute hysterics when they're together and something funny happens, leaving them clinging to eachother mirthfully, OR to whoever has the misfortune of standing in between them when they begin cracking up.

• I like to think that Macaque and Wukong both hold primarily vegetarian diets, y'know, on account of them both being monkeys.

• There's a part in JTTW where Wukong and the rest of the pilgrams are trying to bring the emperor of a kingdom called "Crow-Cock" back to life. Wukong goes up to heaven and extorts some soul-restoring exlier from Lao tzu, but even after giving it to the emperor's corspe, one of them has to "breath life back into him" as the final step. Zhu Bajie actually volunteers but Tripitaka stops him, saying that among the three disciples (Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing), Wukong was the only one of them with "pure breath", having sustained himself in nothing but fruits and nuts his whole life.

• Technically, I have seen one part from the book referenced where Wukong supposedly implies that he has eaten human before, so either I'm not there yet, I missed it or I don't remember it, and if true, it would be a direct contradiction to the moment mentioned above. So that's where the headcanon part of this comes in, and I'm gonna run with the idea that in that particular instance, he was joking.

• For Wukong, his diet is just a preference. It's mentioned at least once in JTTW that he's not a fan of cooked food, and eating raw meat doesn't appeal to him in the slightest.

• Macaque, on the other hand, can't stand the taste of meat. Cooked or raw, to him, it tastes like blood either way. Secretly wishes he could stomach it just because, being a monkey, he subconsciously views eating meat as predatory behavior and has always been a little baffled by that fact that humans are consistently meat-eaters despite their docile, unintimidating nature.• Macaque also, however, doesn't dislike cooked in the way that Wukong does. He's actually a big fan of tofu in almost any form.

• Oh, but yes, they do both eat bugs.

• All the monkeys, and I mean ALL of the monkeys on FFM, retire to water-curtain cave at night. The little guys like to sleep with their king, so there will be hundreds of them sleeping scattered about the inside of Wukong's shack and around the surrounding cavern. Anyone spending the night will inevitably find themselves completely surrounded by morning.

• After the events of season 4, Macaque actually returns to Flower Fruit Mountain to live. He and Wukong still aren't on good terms, but it's a big island, so they never have to see each other.

•According to Macaque, Wukong can call himself it's king all he wants, but it was his home before he and Wukong were friends, and now that things are mostly peaceful, it will go back for being his home for a long time afterwards.

• He has his own little hideout in an underground cavern on the other side of the mountain. The little monkeys actually come in to visit him all the time, but he has them sworn to secrecy so that none of them tell Wukong exactly where he lives. He doesn't care that Wukong knows he's back, but he'd rather not give him the means to drop in if he ever felt like it.

[ruthlesslistener]

Alright, I rediscovered that snippet that anon was asking about with Herrah tending to a gravid Pale King (as a twist on the common interpretation of the Deepnest Deal- in this one, Herrah is trans), and I added a bit more polish. It's still kind of rough, but eh, that's why its a snippet.

TW for mentions of breeding seasons, dysphoria around childbearing (Herrah), and hints to past child death (also Herrah). There's also some observations of weight gain (PK), but it's due to hormone shifts and a healthier feeding schedule, so it's depicted in a positive light.

Faint movement along the edges of the nest, blankets shifting without giving any indication of the wyrm within. Then, muffled slightly by the sheets, came a deep, rattling hiss, the high-toned snarl buzzing uncomfortably over the low, nearly inaudible undertones. It was a sound unlike the cry of any bug or beast, strong enough to vibrate the weaving below her, strong enough to force her to a standstill in her own home. 

She'd bred this. She’d pinned this monster down against her bed and she’d bred him until they both knew that her seed would take, that he would grow heavy with her child. She knew, under the mire of instinct, that the creature under the blankets did not currently desire any harm to her. She knew that the person possessing such a death-rattle was likely still half asleep and territorial because of it, and would spent the next hour after eating curled up in a mortified ball with his tailfin flipped over his head, all because he’d dared to act like the animal he was inside a den of beasts. 

Still, it took her a bit longer than she’d like to unstick her claws from the floor and walk forward, humming a low warning tone to let him know she was coming. The hissing stopped, likely in recognition of her voice, and yet the muzzle that peeped out from under the thick cover layers was curled in a clear grimace of disapproval, wicked sharp fangs gleaming with the soft glow of the kingslight. Still wild, still just as ready to tear her to bits, though the growling was beginning to peter out into a low, irritated buzz. 

"I brought dinner," she said softly, and held up the dirtcarver to the nest; she did not want to speak too loudly, for she knew that his headaches had grown worse, despite him pretending otherwise. For an apex, immortal predator, he was awfully fond of hiding his discomfort. "Fresh as it can get without still trying to bite my claws off. Come, eat."

The muzzle withdrew, then reappeared on the other side of the nest, along with the entire rest of the Pale King. His jaws were clamped shut, head angled in the perfect picture of bruised dignity, but she could see the way that the faint film of his third eyelid flicked up over his eyes, the slight bristling hunch to his shoulders that indicated he felt unwell as he slipped off of the bed, murmuring a near-intelligible word of thanks. She watched him closely as he meandered to the table, keeping an eye out for any dizziness, but he remained steady even as he curled up onto his favorite chair, pressing his frontmost fists to his eyes in a display of weakness that she doubted he would have shown her three weeks earlier. Sharing a heat and the fears of what was to come next took some fangs out of the jaws of hatred she’d held for him before, and despite his stance as a literal deity, the holier-than-thou arrogance in his voice had greatly diminished the longer they shared a den. 

She plopped the dirtcarver down before him, catching the way his fangs flexed at its scent, then set about preparing her own relatively modest meal of roasted mushrooms, salted meats, and sweet tea with honey. By now, she knew better than to stare him down as he dug into his meal, but her nerves wouldn't let her do otherwise, anticipation and worry knotting up in her gut even as his neckplates began to undergo their warning puff, the spines on the back of each plate going from a low ridge on the back of his neck to a formidable hook. It was partially instinct that drove her, yes- but there was some lingering paranoia from before her widowhood that demanded she watch closely as he ate, to ensure that he got what he needed to feed both him and the eggs. Her old mate-

Well. At least they didn't have to worry much about morning sickness. He had begrudgingly admitted to some nausea, after Midwife had threatened him with the various dangers of not being upfront with her while gravid, but his body did not seem to be willing to give up on whatever nutrients that were available to him. Indeed, he had grown notably stockier since he had come to her in the midst of his heat, body and tail filled out more in muscle and fat. She did not know if he had been underweight before, or if it was common for all egg-bearing wyrms to be so bulky (well, she supposed that he had told her that the closest approximation for 'female' in a wyrm's language was 'largest deathbringer', which gave her some idea of the answer to that, she supposed), but she knew for certain that he hadn't been wasting any of the meat she'd been feeding him. His tail alone had nearly doubled in width, going from a wiry whip of scales to something that looked like it could punch a hole in her wall with little effort, and though he rarely let her touch her outside of mandatory examinations, she knew that the swelling around his broodpouch wasn’t because of the eggs, as he was far too squishy for that to be the case. It was just fat- fat, and a little bit of muscle, put there by a steady diet of dirtcarver and garpede larvae as well as the apparent physical exertion required for building a nest. She’d certainly gotten a taste of his strength when she’d had to drag him out from behind the scrollshelf, and he had sunk his claws into the wall to prevent her from pulling him away from what his mind had apparently decided was the perfect spot to hide their young. He’d spent the next day and a half nursing his injured pride, while she’d slapped some fresh silk over the tears and set about gathering newer, heavier blankets to pile on him to prevent a recurrence. 

(She also knew that his mate was quite pleased with the transformation, though she wasn't quite sure if it was because of his healthier bulk, or the fact that he was currently carrying her young. The White Lady, she knew, had been aching to breed her husband for centuries, a casual fact that she had mentioned over tea, and she did not seem to care about the fact that she wasn't the one who had left him in such a state, as long as she got frequent updates about his health.)

(Herrah herself found this most agreeable, and yet part of her envied the casualness and ease of the Pale Gods. To them, the conception of a child was as easy as breathing, rather than the nightmarish war that she had struggled with for years. Granted, the Pale King was far touchier about the subject than his wife, but there was still a dismissiveness to the whole bargain that had only started to fade quite recently, as if he had thought of himself as merely renting out his body instead of cultivating new life within himself. It was only now that the headaches had started that some of that detachment had started to disperse, as if the reality of the situation was only now starting to sink in.)

(She could relate. This whole political mess was something she still almost couldn’t believe was happening, were it not for the wyrm in her bed and the return of her desperate, aching desire to be a mother. And the end of his smarmy griping abou tit.) 

Speaking of which. "How's your headache? I've got some brews with painkiller properties that Midwife claims to be safe enough for now, if it starts to be too much. I can make it a concentrated slurry or put it in a tea, if you’d like"

He raised his head from the belly of the dirtcarver, mandibles dripping blue, and fixed her with a gaze that could either translate to a tired, hostile glare, or a stare of wary relief. From what she was starting to know of him, it was likely to be the latter, though he had recently started to get irritable enough for it to be the former. "I am fine. I have experienced worse, and this phase does not seem to be permanent. I will sleep it off soon enough."

That was the answer she expected, but not one that she was hoping for. She let out a tired sigh, crossing her foreclaws together, and leaned closer to him, keeping her voice low and calm. The tips of his wings rose slightly, but he did not snap at her, like he would have before they forged their alliance. "There's a difference between bearing a pain you cannot alleviate and forcing yourself through something unnecessary, Wyrm. For the sake of our clutch, I would prefer their father to not be dealing with anything that might obscure his reading of their health. Nor do I want to report to his wife that he has been suffering needlessly, when we have solutions to that suffering readily available."

A slow blink, alien membranes clouding those pure black eyes before they were fixed upon her again, revealing nothing. Though his face remained impassive, she caught the slight shifting of his robe, the way his lower arms wrapped protectively around his abdomen. He was not far enough along to show yet, not really, but it had her heart racing with giddy glee all the same- it was real, it was real, she was to be a mother and it was real. "I have tolerated far worse, and sense that it is only a symptom of my...condition. I do not see the benefit of treating a pain that holds no danger to the body, much less when it will fade away given enough time."

"You're missing the point, Wyrm. The point is that neither of us want you to suffer." She sighed, took a sip of tea, and pointed at him over the table with one skewered mushroom. His expression had changed, now to one of slight disbelief; reading him was so much easier now, with him dwelling within her den. "We may have been enemies once, but we are allies now, and you are currently in the process of building my children. You're still insufferable, yes, but I don't enjoy watching you shuffle around my home squinting miserably because your hormones are going on a rampage. Nor do I want to lose my hand to you snapping at me, especially since I have told you many times before that only I am authorized to enter these rooms while you are gravid. Even Midwife must get past me to get to you, and she is more of an expert on this than either of us combined. Don't make an ass of yourself when you don't need to, and don't make me get the White Lady."

Now the surprise had faded to chagrin. He picked up his own cup of tea and took a long, deep drink, looking everywhere in the den but directly at her. There was still a piece of dirtcarver intestine clinging to his mandibles, somewhat ruining the aura of nobility that he was likely trying his damned best to give off."...I shall consider it."

She sighed in response, but decided to take whatever little victory she could get. Just a few more months before he was due to lay, and then she’d be free to kick him out of the den to focus on her eggs. She would be a mother again, weaving the silk for their first cloaks while she waited for them to pip out of their eggsack. It had been so long, and yet her body knew exactly what to do, phantom instincts urging her forth even though she had been born lacking the ability to carry them herself. 

She could only hope that these would last longer than the first.

[stampy-offical]

Hells little darling au pt 1 random fact.

The first overlord alyx met that was alastor and his friends was Vellette

It ended with a conversation that none of the older generation understood

Stampy had only been truly mad once. His true demon form was rather big and changed with cracks and creaking steam noise. He left a trail of Boiling wax acidic ink and various chemicals across a street. It ended with blood.

Rosie was the reason stampy became a cannibal. He ate her meat pie found out what it was and considered cannibalism if a good enough friend cooks it. He got more comfortable with it when he got friendly with the gang.

Stampys factories make glass and paper products. The one in his office makes trinkets along with metal machine components. His warehouses store anything for a price. The fight rings however are invite only. There's 3 rules.

No outside weapons. Everyone involved will be sent to the ring with you to fight the one the fighters call 'Bull' Bull is the top fighter.

No attacking the staff. They will shoot. They have angel guns.

No informing the Vees or Zesteail about the locations. Zesteail keeps trying to make an acid pit or getting lava around the stage. The vees always make it a production and if he has to deal with ONE MORE VOXTECH ATTEMPT AT BUYING HIM OUT HE WILL PERSONALLY FEED YOU TO ALASTOR

Vox and Carmella had both tried to buy his company. Differences are Carmella settled for a partnership. Vox tried to cheat him and can't take a no.

Stampy has a friendship with the Carmines due to his businesses. Before you ask. No Zesteail dosent see him as an ally. He's just a supplier who gives him good products. (He always orders ceramic or glass goods. Stampy knows its not for his home.)

Stampy is the only one who saw Bull fight and survive. Everyone else died or never knew he existed.

Stampy has picked up wood carving and stone mansion. He's doing a rather good job of multiple products.

Like every overlord he had been summoned at least once to the living world. Unlike the others it was his full body. He never told anyone. The most the overlords think humans can summon are alastors shadow. Stampy meanwhile is filing paperwork about how to show that not all the overlords like blood or hearts as sacrifice.

Stampy's hometown was wiped off the map by a fire and a epidemic. He was blamed for both due to a coincidence of him being a violent youth and people disliking him. (The fire was a chain reaction of a lightning bolt hitting the town church. The epidemics was a nearby river full of bugs.)

Charlie used him as a success story as she accidentally found out through Husk (he's at the hotel cause Angel told him it'd be good for business. Stampys here for Alyx and the younger sinners [I'm an old violent son of a bitch. You kids are here cause of some flying dick who thinks giving kids cancer and food shortage is a good way to have people like him then got his son nailed to a board like a c*** father. Basically. I deserve to be here.]) Because he was an orphaned pickpocket with no last name and only called stampy cause he had a habit to rob post offices.

[naamahdarling]

Do any of your blorbos have a favourite meal? Or a favourite category of food?

I HIGHLY recommend giving your OCs (or ascribing to canon characters) relationships to food, as that also touches on relationships to family and culture, and even themselves.

Every single one of mine has pretty defined tastes.

Gowan (Blorbo Prime at the moment) has really broad tastes since he grew up poor, eating a lot of things wealthier people would think are pretty gross. His catastrophic rise to fame as a music star did not refine his palate. Maybe he hates certain things, but he always eats what's in front of him without a single complaint. His homeworld's cuisine is honestly pretty bland, but he still has affection for it, and he loves the more complex flavors of his boyfriend's homeworld's cuisine. He also likes the kinds of things you tend to find as street food. He will absolutely patronize the nastiest-looking hole in the wall places you have ever seen because they have one incredible dish.

Kell is a chef/baker and when he retires from adventuring, opens his own food cart in his fun island pirate setting. He doesn't need the profits, his considerable adventurer's fortune is hidden under a huge slab under a huge anvil he uses as a side table in his living room, so he just uses the profits to feed folks who need it. He likes sweet and savory meat dishes, sweet breads and rolls, cooks-in-dish things like paella, and nice hearty stew, and he dislikes almost nothing if it's prepared well.

Ariel likes classic Southern soul food, junk food, huge burritos, and his mom's incredible cooking (Iranian cuisine). Mage and demon hunter, moonlights (daylights?) at Penguin Hut, an ice cream shop. He's kind of just a big kid at heart, his tastes are basic, more expensive or experimental food is largely lost on him. He will eat all your garden tomatoes.

Boogie (Bougainvillea) is just a shop cat at Penguin Hut, but she's in a kids' talking cat game, so she's basically a person. She eats bugs and likes kibble, she likes the crunch, and is grossed out by warm-blooded prey because she wasn't raised by other cats who ate it. She has a french fry compulsion and loves ice cream -- Ariel has trouble keeping her out of the ice cream shop's coolers. She is a little bit gluttonous, and correspondingly round, but her many adventures and her daily run to the shop keep her very healthy.

There's more, but that's a lot. But yeah, get into food with your settings and characters. It says a lot about them and how they move through the world. It also introduced you to new concepts to try out!

[higurehige]

hi hello. been 5000 years since I have been tagged in much. uwu thank you @spadefish in return i slaaap uuuuh @duskdragonxiii @etakeh @vampiremasochist annnd @ponyacci (chose 2 of these based on activity feed but still important non-the-less! I hope you guys are all well even if we are but strangers in this wide blue world. Obvs feel free to ignore if you want to)

1. Are you named after anyone? A country singer. Course no one really thinks of her when they hear my name.

2. When was the last time you cried? Hrmmmm. Iunno probably 2 months ago over cirque du freak book series. I cry over books a lot.

3. Do you have kids? I am the kid. Do the 9 cats in my house count? On a serious note - no and I don't plan to. I have far too many problems and raising a kid would just wind up with me placing at least HALF of those problems on them. No. This curse ends with me. I don't think I'd even feel comfortable helping raise someone elses kid if we were in a relationship.

4. What sports do you play/have you played? I picked up archery recently! That's cool. I don't go as often as I should bc it's a bit expensive...but...yea! Archerys cool. Working on learning both recurve and compound. recurve for funsies and compound for hunting. (I just want an excuse to go sit out in the woods for hours on end doing fuck all and maybe, possibly bringing home some meat too)

5. Do you use sarcasm? Not often. I'm pretty blunt and no matter how hard I try to control myself I end up sounding like that one guy from guardians of the galaxy "Nothing goes over my head. I would catch it"

6. What is the first thing you notice about people? -shrug- Their face? I guess? Or whatever color they're wearing. Maybe their shoes. Idk...I'm terrible at facial recognition so I go ape trying to compensate for this.

7. What's your eye color? Green

8. Scary movies or happy endings? (both good but probably horror lean)

9. Any talents? Depends what you count as a talent. Born with? Insane observational skills? Uh I can eat actual rotten and moldy food and not get sick? Uuuuuuh. Hmmm....I can dilate my pupils at will? I can bend my legs freaky directions but not freaky enough to look like a contortionist. naturally good with animals I guess? Idk, nothing to write home about.

10. Where were you born? South Haven Michigan

11. What are your hobbies? Reading, drawing, writing (lol to both of these), gardening (i live in an apartment so I cant really do like...vegetable gardening but, I got plants! =3), studying various animals (and bugs), studying plants, photography, I come and go out of other hobbies, honestly. Adhd moments of "wow that looks cool" doing it once and never again....I'm trying, chief.

12. Do you have any pets? Avery (black cat), Diva and squeakers (twin solid gray cats), Baguatte (orange boi), Tiny man (gray stripy fella), Shaggy (not really MY cat, he's just some stray but....-sigh- he is sleeping in my house rn so I GUESS. (brother to Tiny man I think. very similar appearances). then there's weasle and skunk. (also cats) Do the assassin bugs i just bought for my garden count as pets? bc I have assassin bugs in my plants now =3

13. How tall are you? 5'4 ish and built like a brick.

14. Favorite subject in school? Didn't have a good time in school, so I hated all of it. Excelled at English and reading classes.

15. Dream job? Biology field. I want to get paid to study animal/insect behaviors and write papers on them. As it is I am just doing this shit for free lol

[freerangeranger]

Hey. Sending this to you on here instead of by text because the Union can technically access texts made during work hours, and this is none of their business.

I’m sorry I got so defensive about the donphan feeding thing. People are often super judgey about mightyena, and I definitely get my back up if I feel like someone is trying to villainize them for displaying natural behaviours. I got distracted by my emotional reaction and ended up missing the actual criticism you were giving me. I still think it’s important to post about how mightyena hunt and scavenge, but I’ll try to make it clearer that these posts are intended as informational, and that these behaviours are enrichment (or rehabilitation, in Macaroon’s case), and should be treated as a way to show respect for the life and death cycle that sustains these ecosystems and not done for sport or amusement. I’ll also tag them with ‘cw prey drive enrichment’ so that they’re easy to avoid.

I’m also sorry about flying completely off the handle when you implied I was being disrespectful. I’m pretty consistently read that way, and it’s a bit of a soft spot for me. I grew up in a tree and spent more time with bugs than I did with humans, so I’m really bad at behaving politely. I often get read as this uncaring jackass, which really bothers me because I care A LOT. I still shouldn’t have let myself react so strongly, but just so you know I do respect that donphan, and I respect you, and I respect all the moving parts that keep our little world together.

The rest of it I really have no explanation for. I was reactive, and flippant, and just a total immature jerk. I obviously still need to work on some emotional regulation techniques or something. You’re a good ranger, and I hope you’ll be able to put up with me at least long enough to go get that Gonzap lady. Seems like you’re probably the best ally I could ask for in that fight.

Cheers,

-@paldean-ranger-brandy

stop being reasonable and civil i want to stay mad at you.

...

FINE I admit that I did not handle that like an adult either. Victoria and I are not friends by any means and I have major issues with her as a person - maybe this is a conflict of interests but i kind of want her arrested as much as I want to save the phanphy...

I agree with the sentiment of wasted potential even in death bc that is the natural order of things but... it bothers me that a creature has to be useful even in death. Idk im just sentimental like that. Feeding Pokemon meat or carcasses as enrichment isn't wrong either. I would be a hypocrite if i said that cause all of my bug types are carnivores.

I don't think you are disrespectful to the people and pokemon that matter - and I don't think you were lying that you care deeply about your region and the forest you work in. I'm experiencing a lil bit of culture shock if im being honest. People here are much... looser with their manners than I was expecting.

...

I think you are an excellent ranger who can do a lot for good. I'll do the best I can to help you complete the mission.

Sorry.

[thedarksidesoffice]

Loveletter had been unable to stay and puppyguard Pixel out of fear for much longer. She had to still go out and get food for the both of them... At this rate, the meals were just going to pixel anyway, sonce Loveletter just feeds on it's affection.

Even when she had left for the datastream to gather fresh code, she had left a small, rosey pink beatle to linger in the upper corner of Pixels room- She doesn't trust just Xavier to watch the damn kid by himself.

Regardless, she moved forward like a spider, creeping and crawling through the different links between devices to find some straggler, weaker viruses to detain. She didn't expect that she would be out for very long at least, since there's always a plethora of bugs spawning every day. She just prefers something a little more leveled up for her tastes.... Loveletter had to sift through a bunch of parasitic things that probably had only just manifested in the datastream- Food for less advanced viruses, thats all they are. If theyre lucky, out of the hundreds of little guys that are in this swirling vortex of nasty code, one or two might make it to the next stage.

She had searched for a while before she had crept up on something new. Something a bit more substantial, more digital meat on its bones. It showed itself off as a monochrome little thing, kind of staticy. Shes not sure if Pixel would enjoy the texture of something with static in its code, but once she breaks it down to its core components she can just seperate that for her little LoveBug.

Loveletter could see that it seemed injured, by how it moved. It was a bit animalistic, probably not entirely sentient yet- Its a good catch. She decided to not waste her time, and lunged into frame- The shapeshifter sent forward her hand, striking with a long pink tendril of flickering code.

It should of been over. Loveletter has never encountered a middle tier that could survive an attack properly aimed for the core.

It should of been.

Unfortunately for her, in Loveletter's eager attempt to grab the food and get back to her young, the woman's clouded mindset had made it so she had not noticed the more than abnormally large shadow underneath such a small creature. Out from this shadow, upon plunging into its core, had merely pestered it- Woke it up.

The shadow twisted and turned, churning out a large, slimlike mass that grew upward. It added onto the small creature that Loveletter had thought she was attacking, and began to slop onto it to show off its true stature.

A large, lanky figure with stark white hair and a plastered smile stood about a foot overtop of the other, it's static laced skin flickering off of its body as it stabilized.

"Y○ure a l○ng way fr○m h○me, Aren't y○u?"

Loveletter felt the hair prickle on her neck. Shit. Shit shit shit shit.

This wasn't a middle tier. This was the same advancement as herself, and she had accidentally stumbled into a newly formed domain. She wouldn't know how strong this thing is before seeing an attack though, and... shes not sure she wants to stick around and find out.

That appearance chilled her to the bone. Instead of fleeing, or maybe even trying to kill it first... That striking resemblance of one she used to know has frozen her in place, an made her want to try to reason with it.

"I d♡nt me4n any trouble- I... I haven't gone out this f4r fr0m my home dev1ce- I wasn't aw4re there was a d0main here, I will just be leav1n-"

SHINK.

She was stopped in her tracks, spluttering on her words as a sharp blade of sorts had pierced through her guts like butter, the black gunk that was her blood beginning to spill from an open wound right through her torso.

"Leave? Why w○uld I want y○u t○ leave? It w○uld be such a wasted ○pp○rtunity t○ finally get an evenly matched fight."

Loveletter stumbled back, clutching for the weapon deep in her stomach- When she had pulled out a round, sharpened disk like a frisby... Ornamented with a smiley face. As she looked up, she saw the figure had equiped a long, bent piece of metal out to it's side. A... a crowbar..?

Shit... this guy wasn't as talkative as someone like Rex or something. If she's not careful here, she could become the food. How did she not see him throw that disk..?

She decided that this wasn't a fight that she had to win. Pride or honor be damned, she wasnt about that. Survival has always been her number one driving force.

So she scattered. She allowed her body's pixels to fall apart, scattering into thousands of little beetles, and then sent the swarm racing back home. During the short chase, the man threw those disks, sent up firewalls, took out clusters of those creatures- But it couldn't take out all of them, and thats what counted.

Loveletter made it back home, but not in one piece.

[ivykim]

PARTY PARTY YEAH!!

masterlist // wattpad

summary: it was finally the last day to their trip to danyang and of course, what better way to end it then with a party. though, the party was a little special.

ivy’s outfit: classy ivy | pyjamas | let’s go home

NOTE: episode 6 to so so fun! // italics are them speaking in english.

— going on a trip turns out to be...SO SO FUN!

"sorry i'm a little late. I had some work to take care of." heeseung says.

they were roleplaying since it certainly looks like some company or team dinner. just like ones in kdramas.

sunghoon joins them shortly after changing into his outfit. jay brings out the meat to grill and sunghoon greets him.

"manager jjong." sunghoon says.

"chief park, how have you been?" jay says.

"you wore a tie that stands out for this team dinner." heeseung pretends to drunkenly say. they laughed.

"where is our CEO? lady ivy?" heeseung slurs.

just then, ivy walks down the stairs (since she changed upstairs). it catches the boys attention and when ivy emerges from the foil curtains...their jaws dropped.

ivy was rocking a spectacular long black satin dress. the slit appearing every step she takes. she had brought a small blanket to cover up for when she settled on the ground.

"sorry to keep you guys waiting." ivy says.

"no no, it's okay." jake says.

"close your mouth, hyung." ni-ki says. jay pats the seat next to him.

"our CEO needs to seat here. after all, i am her secretary." jay says. ivy snorts.

"alright then secretary park, feed me a piece of meat."

"at your service." jay feeds her a piece of meat and ivy happily eats it after settling down. jay helps to make sure her dress was covered by the blanket.

ENHYPEN enjoys their little feast.

"this is not the party we were hoping for." jake mentions.

though it wasn't what they hoped for to happen so far, they still enjoyed the food. jay comes back with 2 more servings of rib eye.

"honestly, i'm so full right now." ni-ki says.

"no, this is so you don't stumble in the river later on. eat more." sunghoon says.

"i want to hurry up and fish." ni-ki pouts.

"it would be legendary if you caught something."

"but can you really fish at night though. there are a lot of bugs out there." ivy mentions.

"if we catch something, will you reward us?" jake asks.

"you always want a reward huh?" ivy says.

"well it's from you, sooo...yes." jake smirks. ivy playfully rolls her eyes.

"concentrate on grilling, jaeyun." ivy says. jake chuckles.

"let's try the meat that cheif sim grilled." heeseung says.

"oh, suddenly i am promoted to chief?"

"hey, that means you just got a pay raise." ivy says.

"not bad. i keep getting promoted the more heeseung hyung speaks."

just after they settled eating and enjoying, they ended up starting up their engine. it was time for the real party.

"guys let's go!" heeseung shouts.

"let's GOOO." jungwon yells. sunghoon and jay join in too.

— [at this point, this song is SO SO FUN's OST]

and so ENHYPEN sang. ivy watches the boys in horror. she covers her mouth in shock at their energy.

"i am still not used to seeing them like this." ivy tells the camera. jungwon grabs onto ivy's hand and pulls her.

"noona, dance!!" jungwon excitedly say.

"well, i'm kinda limited by my outfit." jungwon laughs, he twirls her arm and places his hand on her waist.

"you look pretty, noona." ivy blushes. she smacks jungwon's arm.

"yang jungwon, you flirt."

— [song: soju hanjan by im changjung]

the sound of ballad reaches their ears as they settled down after dancing and yelling.

"i don't know this song-" ni-ki grabs the mic from jay. "how do you know this song?"

— the song was released in 2003 [NI-KI is born in 2005]

"even i don't know this song. ni-ki yah, are you perhaps really chulsoo instead?" ivy asks. sunoo and sunghoon laughed.

"noona, you sound drunk." sunoo mentions. ivy turns to look at sunoo.

"maybe i am drunk on sleep. i'm tired." ivy lays her head on jungwon's shoulder. she listens to jungwon's singing and shuts her eyes. jungwon holds ivy's hands. he plays with her fingers whilst singing.

"how about we hype this up again?" jay suggests.

"let's sing 'anyhow song' again." ni-ki says.

and so they sang 'anyhow song'. ivy goes to the bathroom. when she comes back, the boys pointed at her.

"it was wrong that i'd thought you'd always be my girl~"

"i don't need what has changed. now when i see you I don't feel anything." he points to ivy. "when your gaze always fell on me, the way you were."

ni-ki sings to ivy, "i miss everything about you."

"everytime i saw you, i felt my heart flutter~" sunghoon holds onto ivy's hands.

"i just threw myself onto you!" the boys sing and dance. ivy giggles whilst shaking her head.

"ENGENEs don't be fooled, this song is for you guys. it's not me." ivy tells the camera.

— [ENHYPEN and their love for IVY]

just when you think it was over. it wasn't it was just starting.

"it hurts too much to just send you away like this!" heeseung sings.

"don't stop!"

that was when the real partying started. each of them did their own headbanging and ivy just watches them.

"oh, i'm so dizzy." jake says.

ivy was even more shocked when she noticed heeseung and ni-ki going full out.

"yah, are you guys not getting dizzy?" she asks worriedly. they simply said no and continued.

jay starts playing the air guitar passionately.

and of course finally, the time that enhypen had always dreaded for...doing the dishes.

"let's leave noona out of this, she was already feeling sick just now." ni-ki mentions.

"sorry but there is no exception. one must do rock, paper, scissors and loser has to do the dishes." jay says.

"i'm fine, ni-ki. i'll do the dishes if i have to."

"if noona has to do the dishes, i'll replace her." jungwon pitches in.

"won, thank you but you don't have to."

"nope, i insist." jungwon says.

"well...since you insisted...ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SHOOT!"

they held their hands out. thankfully sunghoon held out scissors so they could play once more.

but unfortunately, jake and sunoo loses. ivy was shocked she even won.

"noona won her first rock paper scissors!!" jungwon mentions.

"YOU ARE MY DESTINY!!" jay yells.

"well in that case...GOODBYE EVERYONE I'LL GO TO SLEEP NOW!" ivy points to the stairs.

"wait, let's have one person do the dishes. the other will help to clean up outside." jake suggests.

"oh jake, you are playing a dangerous game-"

sunoo lost.

and so his journey of cleaning the dishes starts. ivy goes to change into her pyjamas. she goes to the kitchen and grabs the soaped up dishes before rinsing it down and letting it to dry.

"noona-"

"it's okay sunoo, there were a lot of dishes and those boys just want to fish. i'll help rinse and dry them. you can soak them."

sunoo pouts, "noona..." ivy pokes sunoo's cheeks.

"anything for my sunshine."

and so ivy and sunoo did the dishes. they could hear heeseung singing in the background.

"we'll bring back tomorrow's breakfast!" jake says.

"if you can." ivy mentions.

"not with that attitude, love." jake shouts as he leaves. ivy shakes her head.

while the four boys went fishing, jay, sunoo, jungwon and ivy stayed back. ivy and sunoo were done with the dishes and so they shared the ice cream tub. sunoo happily brings out the tub to eat.

jay comes back from changing his clothes. he pecks ivy's forehead.

"enjoy the ice cream." ivy says.

"you should eat it after you shower though. it would be better."

jungwon enters the living room, "yoi."

"yoi." ivy replies, "weren't you going to see the bunnies?"

"nope, not yet. heeseung hyung wanted to come along but he is still fishing." jungwon settles next ivy. ivy feeds him a spoonful of ice cream.

"honestly, this place is really nice."

"it's sad that we have to go home tomorrow though."

"let's live here instead when we grow old." ivy suggests. jay nods.

while the camera cuts to the 4 boys fishing, ivy and jay laid on the couch. ivy shows jay some little funny things and he laughs.

"babe?" ivy says. jay hums. "if we were to get married, would you want kids?"

"where is this coming from?"

"well..." ivy shoves a video of a cute baby at jay. "look at her. isn't she adorable?"

"ah, is this what they call 'baby fever'. does my vivi want to get-"

"oh? the camera." sunoo says.

"what? did the camera just move?"

"i don't think so? i just i guess heard things." sunoo says. just then, the camera moves again. he gasps. jungwon comes up to it and places his face directly in front of the camera.

"reminds me of I-LAND." jungwon mentions. sunoo hums.

"it does."

the 4 four boys came back from fishing, unable to catch anything. moreover, ni-ki was soaking wet and it was cold. it was best if he went in to dry up and change clothes.

"oh no, what happened?" ivy inspects ni-ki.

"he fell." jake mentions. ivy pouts.

"go change, you get cold easily. wouldn't want you to get sick. oh, i made hot chocolate."

the boys gasp.

"is that why you asked us to get hot chocolate powder?"

"yeah. anyways, enjoy. the staff already grabbed their share. they deserve it after working hard the whole day. you guys too."

"aww noona, you're are too sweet." jake makes kissy faces. ivy playfully rolls her eyes.

"drink up and go sleep. it's been a long day." ivy says. jay grabs her hand.

"let's sleep." ivy pats jay's head.

"alright, come on."

and so ENHYPEN went to sleep. ivy laid with jay on the bed, they cuddled to sleep.

[the final morning of their trip is here]

ivy was already fresh out of bed. earlier than both jay and sunghoon, she was in the kitchen grabbing a small bite of jam and bread. she enters the maknae line bedroom and spots jake and sunoo.

"what are you doing, jakey?"

"mmm, tired. the camera moves and i didn't even wash up yet."

the camera turns to show ivy. she waves.

"go wash up then."

"nooooo."

in the end, jake still washes up.

"hi babe." sunghoon wraps his arms around ivy.

"hi hoonie." ivy turns around to face him. sunghoon leans in to kiss her but ivy turns her head.

"cameras are here."

"you didn't kiss me goodnight." sunghoon pouts.

"aww look at you. fine, just one-" sunghoon pecks her lips. ivy blushes.

"i love you." sunghoon says.

"love you too."

after the sweet moment, ENHYPEN diligently pack their things before they left the accommodation.

— [Q: the trip is over...]

"ah, really. it was sooo fun. we did so much in the 3 days. it was not only healing but also filled with excitement. we did a lot of fun things that i never thought i'd try like paragliding." ivy says.

"jay also played a huge role during this trip since some of us can't cook so I have to thank him for the meals he provided us with for the 3 days." ivy makes a huge heart. "i love you, jongseong."

— [to ENGENE]

"life is hard and we face many challenges throughout our lifetime so i hope whenever you're stressed...you can take a step back and possibly take a break for a bit. enjoy life, go on a trip with family or friends."

EPILOGUE

— [Q: what did you do the most during the trip?]

"sleep. nag a lot to the members to make sure they cleaned up." ivy thinks for a second. "ah and fishing. jungwon said this in his interview but they are still fishing as i'm still doing my interview."

ivy points to boys. the camera pans to the boys who weren't giving up just yet.

"oh? i felt a nibble!" sunghoon yells out.

"park sunghoon!!"

"yeah?" sunghoon yells out.

"i'll take you fishing next time!!"

"really? this is a promise!!"

"yes!!"

ivy turns to the camera, "don't worry ENGENEs, i'll make sure the boys can actually get a fish if we go on a fishing trip."

[SO SO FUN was so so fun!]

END

[overmorrowpine]

HEY. YOU. WITH THE FACE. tell me about wasps please

HEY. THANK YOU

so!! where i live there are yellowjackets, bald faced hornets, european paper wasps, golden digger wasps, and mud daubers! (i checked this doesn't doxx me lol)

and!! you can see differences and similarities in their behavior!! like, hive wasps i've seen foraging (never seen digger wasps or mud daubers foraging) look like a dog trying to pick up a scent but tiny, they hover about three or four inches off what they're foraging on and move up and down

but the paper wasps and baldies have different ways of hunting flies, for instance! i've seen them both in the chicken yard, and baldies land on chicken poop and wait for flies to come near, while the paper wasps hover!

all these hive wasps eat sweet things like honey as adults, and the meat they steal (if yellowjackets) or the bugs they hunt (if not) go to their babies. if you're brave enough, you can put a drop of honey on your fingertip and they'll come lick it off with their little tongues

bald faced hornet nests, like other yellowjackets (did i say already they're not true hornets but actually yellowjackets? idk but now i did) are covered in that paper coating, envelope, and in cavities, while european paper wasps nest under eaves and have no envelope covering

golden digger wasps nest in soft, sandy soil, and if you notice a hole about the width of your finger do NOT stick it down the hole that is where they keep their Babies they will see it as a Threat and Sting You

(i don't remember where mud daubers nest)

they all love fennel, and i've seen just So Many mud daubers on our alyssum, and they like yellow

in size rating of these wasps i'd order them, from littlest to biggest:

mud daubers (they are all connector piece even though they're long), yellowjackets, european paper wasps, bald faced hornets, golden digger wasps

assume the hive wasp queens move one ranking up in size, i once saw an inch-long bald faced hornet queen (she's still in the house we think actually she's trying to hibernate under a cabinet instead of a log, i want to take her out and put her with some fallen leaves under the birch tree next to our house)

they recognize faces (or, i think, scents), and make friends with people and then look at the people for how to react to other people

(there's an anecdote somewhere earlier in my wasp tag about this)

if yellowjackets come bother you when you're eating outside, have a space where you set aside little bits of hamburger or smth that they can go to instead 'cause they don't wanna fight you for your food they just want feed their babies

the way you tell apart yellowjackets and european paper wasps without seeing their nest is that the paper wasps are skinnier and longer and generally just a bit bigger, they dangle their hind legs when they fly, and have orange antennae and legs (yellowjackets have black antennae and legs, and their hind legs are tucked when they fly)

and gonna end this off with an anecdote of my own: the day before yesterday, i was hanging out outside with my sibling, and saw a very still european paper wasp drone (he was too little to be a worker and definitely too little to be a queen) on the empty shoe rack out there, but then he moved and started cleaning his little face, and i put out my finger for him to climb on and he tilted his head at it like a dog and climbed onto my finger, then he walked down my finger and sat in my palm for a little bit and continued cleaning his face and i could see him breathing and then eventually he decided he had things to do and flew off

[wibble-wobbegong]

RM Renfield and Victor Creel

Okay, this is a mini Dracula parallel post because this doesn’t really fit in with the bigger analysis but it’s way too on the nose to ignore. For those who don’t know, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was on the board of inspired movies for S4. The parallels between this movie and the show are absolutely NUTS

For starters, RM Renfield was once a solicitor in the firm of Hawkins and Thomkins. He’s now a patient in an insane asylum as he’s ended up dedicating himself to his Master who has promised him immortality; Dracula. Dracula never fulfills this promise of immortality, rather eventually killing him after he warns Mina to run from Dracula due to it being an act of betrayal against his Master. It’s hard to ignore the narrative parallels between Victor and Renfield here, considering that Victor moves his family to Hawkins and later ends up in an insane asylum himself. Textually, it’s more interpretive but Victor does have a strong wish to join his family, specifically saying, “I tried to join them,” which strongly indicates Henry’s presence in his life as his saying to those he declares as victims is to ask them to join him. Dracula teases Renfield with the possibility of immortality and it seems possible that Henry teased Victor with the chance to see his family again.

Both Renfield and Victor perform acts that bring them closer to being a true victim of their respective demon. Renfield lives on a diet of live animals, primarily bugs, because Dracula and those he turns into vampires too live on a diet of live creatures. Victor tries to carve out his own eyes in an attempt to recreate the results of one of Vecna’s curse victims, who’s eyes are lost.

What I find to be really, really interesting is this conversation Renfield has with his warden Jack Seward.

“You see, it’s life that I ingest. Gives life back to me.”

“A fly gives you life?”

“Certainly. But you might as well ask a man to eat molecules with a pair of chopsticks than to interest me in a lesser carnivore.”

“I shall have to invent a new classification of lunatic for you. What about spiders? Spiders eat the flies.”

“Yes, spiders eat them.”

“What about sparrows?”

“Oh, yes. Did you say sparrows?”

“Something larger perhaps?”

“Oh, yes. A kitten. I beg you. A little sleek… a playful kitten, something I can teach, something I can feed. No one would refuse me a kitten.”

“Wouldn’t you prefer a cat?”

“Oh, yes. Yes. A big cat. My salvation depends on it.”

“Your salvation?”

“Yes. I need lives. I need lives for the Master.”

“Master? What Master?”

“The Master will come. And he has promised to make me immortal.”

I mean, come on. Flies, spiders, big cats? It’s literally describing the shit that the show is showing us to a T.

The fly is the victim of spiders. The flies represent victims, and we know of two characters who match the description of the flea from Mr. Clarke’s metaphor; Henry and Will. Fleas and flies are both under the same class, so it’s not a stretch by any means. The spiders eat these flies: Virginia and Henry are both spiders. Virginia is a spider as we see from Henry showing her spiders in the bathtub (those visions are only holding up a mirror). Henry functions as a spider through the Mind Flayer. These are literally in the show, but it goes bigger.

If we’re following these connections, then there’s a third layer between Henry’s spider and Henry himself; the sparrow. Sparrows eat the spiders. The most likely candidates for these sparrows are Brenner and Owens, seeing as Brenner seemed to be above Virginia considering that she was trying to take Henry to him and he later covered up her death. Owens experiments on Henry’s spider in S2, discovers ways in which it can be damaged through the hive mind. It’s also implied that the shadow which was in control of the meat monster was removed and somehow ended up in the hands of the Russians, which shouldn’t have been possible since Owens’ team was there before they would’ve had time to do such a thing. It seems that Owens is still experimenting with the shadow, somehow, through or with the Russians.

Yet, even though there is another layer, Henry still sits above them all. Henry is the cat; the wild cat the officers claim are killing those animals in 1959; the silver cat that feeds. Henry eats the sparrows. Or, in this sense, he serves as the highest predator. As Henry himself states, Brenner is just a man, but he is more than that. He’s the ultimate predator.

What I really love about this conversation, is that the big cat isn’t being described as a predator at all! Not because Henry isn’t a predator, but because this only reinforces that Victor is meant to be paralleling this guy. Renfield wants a cat he can teach and feed, something to take care of. In fact, doing so would appease his Master. Henry’s relationship with his father is one very much so based on neglect and ignorance, which is why he considers him naive and stupid, but for some reason it seems that Henry may be continuing to visit his father. Honestly, I think this could be implying that Victor does wish to have Henry back or that he wants the chance to raise his child right. It would appease his Master, who would then grant him the ability to join his family. Henry may be using Victor’s want for Alice and Virginia to make himself a father who cares. Of course, Victor is doing this because he misses Alice and Virginia, but he can ‘join them’ if he appeases Henry, who wanted to be cared for by his father.

This stuff doesn’t really fit in with the larger picture that Dracula paints, but i think it’s a neat little nod to the hierarchy of predation and Henry’s longing for a father who cared (though he also takes this chance to punish Victor by dancing this opportunity in front of him and never giving it to him. It’s also a form of revenge i think).