#did you know there are blue centipedes? now you do

[bloodshotgun]

babe, you're so weird and unusual, what's your deal

[moonlightazriel]

Grown /// Aemond X F!Reader

Summary: You've been around the Targaryen family ever since you were a kid, as your father was their business partner, you were always fond of the second Targaryen son, but he was never nice to you, until he see you again years later.

Warnings: Smut and some cursing words.

Word Count: 2,3K

Notes: I love Grown by Little Mix and i love Aemond, why don't use both on a fanfiction?

Main Masterlist

The Targaryens were charming people to be around, something about them was so enticing, that people would do anything to be near them, striking a deal with Viserys? That was the best thing that could happen to a company. So when her father walked through the double glass doors, saying they were partners with the Targaryens now, even at a young age, she knew it meant a good thing for them.

Alicent was immediately happy to have some company for Helaena, as her daughter has always been a little shy and people tend not to include her much. Y/N was also happy to make a new friend, Hel was just a year older than her, but that didn’t stop a friendship from blossoming between the two. Helaena grew even more fond of the other younger girl, when she appeared one day, gifting her a shirt with matching centipedes on it.

So Y/N has been around them ever since she can remember, and as she grew older, her feelings for a certain second-born son started to naturally grow too. She didn’t know what it meant at first but whenever Aemond was around her, she would get so shy, her cheeks flushed red and she would stumble on her words, he thought it was cute, but Y/N was and it would ever be his sister’s best friend.

Whenever she tried to do a nice thing for him, he would politely thank her and run away from her. This made her sad but she always dismissed it as being the way he was. Things took a drastic turn when an accident in school between him and another boy left him scarred for the rest of his life, she didn’t mind the scar on his face, nor the missing eye, she just wanted to be by his side, let him know that she was there for him, no matter what.

It was in one of these attempts to cheer him up, in the gardens of the Red Keep, the age-old estate belonging to House Targaryen, that he shattered her heart. She had excused herself from Helaena’s side and found him by a tree, reading in the sun. The sunlight made his silky white hair glow even brighter.

“Is this a nice book?” She shyly asked, fidgeting with her hands behind her back. His blue eye looked at her, and the bored expression he wore when he looked at her made her shiver, a hole in the pit of her stomach as he watched her, looking her up and down.

“Ahm.” It was the only answer he mumbled to her, if she could go back in time, she would’ve dragged her 15-year-old self away and never looked back. 

“I don’t think I have read this one yet.” She cheerfully said, trying to make the conversation less awkward, Aemond sighed and had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes at her. His face contorted into a smirk, his pink tongue wetting his lips before he spoke the words that broke her heart.

"Can you stop following me around? I don’t want you around me, go get lost somewhere, this is never going to happen." The words stung deep within her, her heart splitting in half as Aemond Targaryen got up and turned his back to her, walking away, she didn't understand why he didn't like her when all she did was be nice to him.

Her chest hurt as he ripped her heart out and stomped on it, She only noticed the tears when her mother found her, standing still in the same place in the gardens, the sun making her tears shine the same way they made him glow moments before. Her mother looked at her worried, asking what was wrong, she just mumbled that she wanted to go home.

⋆˙⟡☾𖤓☽ ⟡˙⋆

The warm breeze of King’s Landing welcomed her. She took a deep breath, she had missed her city, her home, and everything about this place. 4 years ago she had left this place, not wanting to be around Aemond Targaryen anymore, at that time, her parents thought it was a great opportunity to send her to a prestigious private school in Winterfell, the north was a nice place, she made really good friends there, the only person of her old life she ever kept in touch was Hel, who would often visit her in Winterfell or meet her at her family’s vacation home in Dorne. 

She spotted the silver hair in the distance, a sunglass hanging on the tip of her nose, and a summer dress filled with sunflowers, that was so Helaena that she almost cried at the sight, rushing to her best friend’s open arms. 

“Can’t believe you’re here,” Hel whispered with her face buried in Y/N’s neck. “You’re here to stay, right?” Her eyes were glassy with tears.

“We made a promise that we would go to the same college one day, didn’t we?” She poked Helaena’s belly and she laughed. Hel was a year ahead in college, and as they made their way to Helaena’s convertible, they talked about how college has been for her, and how Y/n was feeling, the Targaryen knew that her brother had fucked up and that being back must’ve been hard for her, which Y/N just shook her head and reassured her that she was fine.

“Since you’re fine, Aeg is throwing a party in his frat house tonight, do you want to come?” Hel looked at her from the top of her glasses, her puppy dog eyes shining in expectancy. Y/N just nodded, turning the volume of the music and screaming the lyrics with the blonde. 

⋆˙⟡☾𖤓☽ ⟡˙⋆

“You will come, now get up and get ready.” Aegon groaned, pulling his arm and making him stand. Aemond sighed.

“Why would I want to go to your stupid frat party?” Aegon had a glint of mischief in his eyes, something that told Aemond things would go really wild tonight.

“This time is special, I just know you wouldn't want to miss it. Now c’mon.” He ushered Aemond towards the bathroom.

15 minutes later Aemond finished spraying the cologne on his body, he was wearing black skinny jeans, some old Valyrian band t-shirt, and his jean jacket. His hair was in a half ponytail behind his back, and his signature eyepatch was in place as he waited for his Uber, if he was going to go out, why not drink a little? And unlike Aegon who loved to drive while he was drunk, and had crushed at least two cars, he enjoyed his safety and always ordered someone to pick him up whenever he was going to drink.

⋆˙⟡☾𖤓☽ ⟡˙⋆

The party was crowded, as they always were, Aegon was all about going big or going home. He was sipping on some cheap drink, his hands clutched on the red plastic cup, eyeing the crowd, when he spotted another silver head among them, Helaena was walking inside, looking around, she saw him, nodding her head in his direction, her eyes a little wide. She turned her head back, whispering to someone and walking away from him. 

He scoffed in annoyance, Helaena would never ignore him, was she mad at him? He got up, sipping the rest of his drink as he followed after her, he found her in the kitchen, pouring some drink into two different cups.

“Are you avoiding me?” He asked and his sister turned her head to him, ready to give him some lame excuse and go away. She wanted to avoid being near him for the sake of her best friend, she didn’t even know he was going to be here. All her efforts were down the drain when she spotted Y/N walking towards them, she was fixing the hem of her dress, not paying attention when she stopped behind Aemond.

“If next time the line is that big, I’ll pee on the bushes outside.” Y/N looked up, smiling openly at Helaena, who looked even paler than she already was. Aemond went completely still, his head turned to the side, that voice was weirdly familiar. Her hair was a bit smaller than he remembered, and she had definitely grown up, her features didn’t have the softness of the early teen years, her features were a little bit sharper now. She was wearing a tight, mini black dress, with long sleeves and a slit on the left thigh, her soft skin exposed for him, lace adorned the edges of her dress, and she was wearing combat boots, making her look slightly taller than he remembered.

“You’re back.” He said, more to convince himself than anything else. She finally noticed him, her smile faltering as she took him in, just as handsome as he had ever been, Her breath got caught in her throat and she felt like a little girl again, stealing glances at him whenever she could and blushing when he caught her staring. 

She didn’t say a thing before turning her back and swaying her hips away from him, Helaena following right after with the two cups in her hands. All those years ago, he had mistaken her affection for pure pity for what happened to him, as she saw the whole thing happen firsthand. He knew he was a dick to her back then, but ever since he learned that she was moving away and he wouldn’t have a chance to apologize, he regretted his actions, every fucking day.

He, however, wouldn’t miss the chance now, so he waited for his cue, keeping a close eye on her and Helaena all night, when they split, Y/N went upstairs, he followed after her, spotting her entering the bathroom, he rushed, putting his hand in between the door to keep her from closing it.

“What the fuck Aemond?” She angrily replied.

“I need to talk to you.” He pleaded and she sighed, annoyed.

“If you didn’t notice, it’s not a good time.” She gestured around, but he didn't move. “Alright, wait for me here and we’ll find somewhere to talk, just let me pee, please.” He smiled at her, noticing how her cheeks reddened and she closed the door. 

⋆˙⟡☾𖤓☽ ⟡˙⋆

“So?” She said, standing close to the locked door, they had managed to find an empty room and he had dragged her straight in. 

“I wanted to apologize.” He said, and she looked at him surprised. “I should’ve never treated you the way I did, I felt like an idiot for all those years.” She blinked, a couple of tears filling her eyes.

“I liked you, back then, but I never wanted anything more than to be your friend, but you didn’t even allow me that, did you?” He knew she had all the right to be angry at him, but he wasn’t going to give up.

“I know I wronged you, there isn’t a day that I wasn’t reminded of that, you tried to give me your heart and I was a fool to refuse.” He spoke honestly.

“You didn’t even know I existed, didn't even recognized me as a person, so cut the crap, cuz I know that you would do the same again if you had the chance.” He walked closer to her, so close that their chest was touching, and his hand cupped her cheek.

“If I could go back in time, I would punch myself for being an idiot and let you walk away from me.” He said, his head leaning so close to her, his smell so intoxicating that she closed the gap, capturing his soft lips in a searing kiss. His hand roamed around her frame, squeezing her ass. 

Aemond gave her an impulse, making her jump on his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist as he walked backward, sitting on the bed while she straddled him. They made out until they were gasping for air. As she took a deep breath, his lips kissed the skin on her collarbone, leaving some purple marks as he went on. 

She moved her hips on the growing bulge in his pants, breathing heavily when he pulled her dress down, springing her breasts free and taking one into his mouth while he palmed the other. As her body slightly got up and her hands found the buttons of his pants he stopped his ministrations, looking at her with a half-open eye. 

“Are you sure?” He forced himself to ask, afraid he had forced her to do it.

“Positive, sir.” He liked how she spoke, her voice slow and impatient. He nodded and she kept opening his pants, freeing his cock and pushing her panties to the side before she sunk on top of him, taking him in her soaking cunt.

They both moaned with relief, one of his hands found her hips, guiding her movements while hers grabbed the band of his patch, pushing it up, revealing the beautiful sapphire placed there. Aemond held her still for a second.

“It was never pity, it was all out of love.” She whispered, looking at him in the eyes, before kissing the extension of his scar. He almost sobbed, pushing her hips to resume her movements. She bounced on his cock as he sucked her neck, hands clutched to his hair. He slid one hand in between them, playing with her bundle of nerves, nearing her orgasm, she moaned loudly, the music outside muffling her sound. 

The knot in her belly grew until she couldn’t bear it anymore, coming with a cry of his name, feeling the bliss as he came right after, filling her to the brim until his seed was leaking from her and straight back to him.

“I’m on the pill.” She warned, her red face looking adorable, he took her in his hands, kissing her on the lips once again. “What do we do now?” Her big eyes met his.

“We clean up, go downstairs cuz Helaena must be freaking out, then we tell her that we’re together, how about that?” She looked at him.

“Sounds great to me.” She answered, kissing him again. 

[quarantineddreamer]

Yours to Hold

For Fluffbruary Day 13 (Choice)

To be perfectly honest: my brain is still not quite with it these days. But, I'm holding out hope that the fog will clear at some point soon (plz) and in the meantime here's a little one-shot I managed! Hope it's enjoyable 💜 (Click above to read on AO3 or see below the cut)

It had been months since Scarif. Most of it he had spent recovering from his injuries. All of it, he had spent wondering why he could face death more easily than he could face life, face her and all she represented. Hope. Happiness. Home.   He had come outside to think, hoping the bracing cold might clear his head and deliver an answer. He knew how he felt about her, knew what he wanted. What he was searching for was the courage to try–to choose a future that extended beyond the next mission; something permanent and lasting and full of possibilities. Something not for the Rebellion, but for himself. Something to be shared…

Of all the planets Cassian had been sent to during his time with the Rebellion, Hoth was by far his least favorite.

Maybe it was because it was frigid as hell.

Or maybe it was because the loose snow sliding beneath his foot had a tendency to remind him of sand…

Or because sometimes, when a storm blew in, the horizon disappeared, a blinding white, returning him to the awful edge of oblivion; a planet devoured before his very eyes…

Already, dark clouds were beginning to encroach upon the brief glimpse of blue sky he had managed to snatch. By his estimate he had maybe fifteen minutes left in the fresh air before he would need to retreat back into the gloom of Echo Base. He dreaded the thought, his head aching in memory of the harsh halogen lighting, chest tightening as he pictured the maze of tight, winding tunnels leading to crowded and too-small ‘rooms’.

Sure, on Yavin 4 he had been forced to check his bed every night in case a poisonous Yavinian centipede had wandered in, but it had also offered places to turn to when he sought solitude–jungle trees that he could lean against instead of the frozen rock wall at his back now.

At best, Hoth could offer him a barely habitable tundra to wander onto that–conditions permitting–would host him for maybe thirty minutes before the threat of frostbite drove him back into the Rebellion’s cramped quarters. 

“Cassian?”

Even through the harsh whispers of the rising wind he recognized her voice–three, barely audible syllables and suddenly the icy air didn’t seem quite so cutting. 

Jyn marched towards him, head ducked low against the wind, arms crossed over her chest, hands clutching her elbows in a tight self-embrace. A gray hat covered her head and a scarf to match was wrapped around her neck, the end of it tucked into the parka she wore–standard-issue blue, and seemingly at least a size too large–the sleeves hanging well-past her hands. 

She stopped when she reached him and peered up at him, cheeks turned scarlet from the burning cold, loose strands of hair blowing across her face and over her brilliant green eyes. 

He’d come out here to be alone. To think. And yet, suddenly all the thoughts in his head seemed out of reach, as did any semblance of speech. 

“What are you doing out here?” she asked incredulously. 

Cassian cleared his throat and gestured upwards. “You just missed it.”

“Missed what? I didn’t know there were any new arrivals scheduled today…”

He shook his head. “No, not a ship. Sky.”

Jyn tilted her head back, eyeing the infinity above them skeptically. “Pretty sure it’s still there, Cass,” she commented. 

“Clear sky,” Cassian elaborated. “Blue sky. Remember that?”

“I’ve heard of it,” she laughed, and the sound was meant for his ears (as all sounds are), but somehow it wasn’t something he heard so much as felt–winding its way through him, leaving warmth and energy in its wake, before settling somewhere against his heart. 

“Cass? Hello?”

“Sorry.” Cassian blinked, snow from his eyelashes melting against his cheeks and blurring his vision. “What did you say?”

Jyn rolled her eyes. “I asked if it was worth it, but I think I have my answer. The cold’s clearly gone to your brain.” She turned her back to the wall and leaned against it beside him, looking at him expectantly. 

It wasn’t the cold making him so addle-minded, Cassian knew it wasn’t that. No, it was something far more daunting, far more potent, and definitely not as easily shaken.

Jyn looked away from him, out onto the increasingly hazy landscape. “Were you really just out here to look at the sky?” she asked quietly.

She knew the truth, or at least part of it. She always did. He didn’t know how, but she did, the same way he knew he didn’t have to answer her–that she didn’t expect him to. His silence would say enough.

“It’s suffocating in there,” she murmured. “Not enough light, not enough air.”

“Too many people,” he added quietly.

She nodded. “Too many,” she agreed. “But out here it’s…”

“Quiet. Gives you a chance to think.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Sometimes.”

She peered at him from beneath frost-covered lashes. Lips quirked in a pensive, knowing smile. “What about today?”

Today? Today his eyes had been drawn to Jyn the moment she entered the mess hall; had followed her every step with a sort of dizzying wonder that was at once exhilarating and terrifying. Today Chirrut, sitting beside him, had nudged him pointedly and asked, ‘What are you waiting for, Captain?’

But there wasn’t a single answer, there was an entire swarm of doubts that continued to plague him. 

It had been months since Scarif. Most of it he had spent recovering from his injuries. All of it, he had spent wondering why he could face death more easily than he could face life, face her and all she represented. Hope. Happiness. Home.  

He had come outside to think, hoping the bracing cold might clear his head and deliver an answer. He knew how he felt about her, knew what he wanted. What he was searching for was the courage to try–to choose a future that extended beyond the next mission; something permanent and lasting and full of possibilities. Something not for the Rebellion, but for himself. Something to be shared…

“Today, it was a good thing,” he said at last. It was a good thing because having Jyn in his thoughts, even if they were anxious ones, was still having Jyn there, with him–a sudden, strange, and unexpected source of strength and light. 

She pushed herself off the rock wall and stepped in front of him, so close he could see the individual hairs that were caught up in her eyelashes, fixed in place by her hat and the wind. “Tell me about them,” she said. “The good thoughts.”

Waking up in the infirmary to find her there, resting at his bedside, arms folded beneath her head… 

Hearing her laugh for the first time, a proper laugh as he and K2 bickered over something inane; he’d forgotten the fight the moment he heard the sound, caught himself automatically smiling in response… 

Her surprising patience during his recovery, tempering his own frustrations; the way she’d always been there to sit with him in silence after a particularly trying day… 

A quiet corner of the galaxy, somewhere verdant and warm and free of war; Jyn standing beside him,  always beside him…

Instead of answering, he found himself pinning the fingertips of one of his gloves between his back and the rock and tugging his hand free. His breath caught in his chest as he slowly reached towards her face, gently sweeping a finger over the surface of her forehead, sliding the hair away from her eyes. 

He should have dropped his hand after that, should have pulled away, but instead, his palm moved instinctively to cup her cheek, the softness of her skin serving in stark contrast to the bite of the air around it. 

Jyn stared at him, something unreadable in her eyes as she searched his face. “Your fingers are cold,” she said softly, even as she slowly removed her own gloves and reached for his hands, tugged his remaining glove away. “Let me warm them up…”

Time seemed to slow down as she folded her hands over his own, squeezing lightly, before bringing his fingers to her open mouth and breathing onto them, the warmth of her seeping into the chilled surface of his skin, setting fire to his stuttering heart. 

“Jyn…” he murmured, but anything he might have thought to say to her stuck in his throat, forgotten and useless. 

He leaned closer, till the breath that had been warming his hands was ghosting across his lips instead. And for a moment, that was all there was, just the sound and feel of their breathing: a whispered question so powerful, it blocked even the howl and bite of the rising storm. 

Their eyes locked and held, the beginning notes of a song hanging in the air between them…

Cassian answered the call, tilting forward to press an eager kiss to Jyn’s lips. 

A pleased hum buzzed against his mouth, matching the pull of her forming smile. She released his hands and leaned her weight against him as she rose to her toes, reaching to wind her fingers around his neck and into his hair.

He wrapped his arms around her, tightened the embrace, a wild melody tearing through him like thunder through spring air, full of promise. 

When they parted, they did so slowly, scattering short kisses across cheeks and noses, and unable to resist one last deep, lingering kiss, before finally leaning away, just enough to clearly see each other’s faces. 

The smug grin Jyn was giving him forced a soft laugh from Cassian. “What’s this look about?” he asked. 

“Took you long enough,” she said softly as she stepped backwards, dragging the start of a trail in the deepening snow. “Now come on, you’ve been out here long enough–and I’ve got some ideas on how we can get warm.”

The plummeting temperatures didn’t seem capable of reaching him–not with the shadow of their kiss persisting on his lips–but Cassian didn’t bother to resist. 

Jyn tugged gently on his arm, and he gladly followed

[starheirxero]

WOE, HORRORS BE UPON YE !!! Sun has the worst time ever but he's fineee he's doing great (lie)

Summary:

Sun had never doubted his lord.

When a god is as perfect as Lord Eclipse is, there is no reason to question his motives or words. To be his servant—his saint, his one true follower—is an honor like no other. Sun thought there wasn't a single thing he wouldn't do to make his lord happy.

Yet, today is Lord Eclipse's day of worship. He asks something of Sun as He places a knife in his hands, and for once, Sun hesitates.

Warnings: Religious conflict, crisis of faith, power imbalance, fear, threats of violence, coerced into murder(murder doesn't happen on-screen), angst, and hurt no comfort

Word count: 1,428

Sun had never doubted his lord. Not truly, at least.

While he doesn’t remember his childhood—or his teenage life, or his early adult life, or really anything before he met Him—Sun knows that he has adored and worshiped his lord from the very start. Their first meeting was so long ago now, several decades at least, but Sun remembers how he was graced with His presence when he needed it most.

Sun doesn't remember many details before He arrived, but he remembers crying and people and the earth shaking below him. He remembers holding onto something—or someone?—as echoed sounds of yelling and murmurs sounded around him. Someone with a blue and white color scheme was beside him one moment, then, there was nothing. A pitch black expanse that Sun could feel was unending. Finally, there was a bright light.

And then there was Him.

In all His beauty, in all His glory, in all His perfection. Glowing, good, holy. A god. He looked down at Sun like he was something more than a mortal who's body trembled at the very sight of him.

“Rest now, my Sun,” Lord Eclipse said. “The soul is willing but the body is weak. Push much further and there won't be much left of you to serve me."

So, Sun did. At least, he assumes he did, because his vision blacked out as soon as He finished speaking. When he woke, the world was peaceful under the lord's command and Sun eagerly served Him however he needed. Thus, Sun has faithfully worshiped and served his lord for many, many years. Inklings of doubt are inevitable, but he knew better than to think Lord Eclipse was anything less than perfect, so they were squandered quickly.

Sun had never once hesitated to obey.

Yet, now, he falters.

Lord Eclipse holds Sun’s hands—his unworthy, mortal hands—in one pair of His own, another pair gently placing a blade in Sun’s palms.

“I know that you know what day it is, Sun” Lord Eclipse’s centipede-like body curls around him in a way that is normally comforting and familiar, but now it feels constricting and claustrophobic. "So, please, indulge me on my day of worship, won't you?"

"Are... you sure this is what you want to ask of me, sir?" Sun meets his lord's one brilliant white pupil and lets out a nervous laugh. "I, uhm, think this may be out of my skillset! There's other people in the kingdom that can do this better than I," He excuses, trying to pull his hands away from the dagger.

Lord Eclipse squints down at Sun, His body curling a little tighter around the bot and effectively stopping his efforts to drop the knife. Sunlight pours in from stained glass windows behind Him and crown His silhouette with a golden light, leaving Sun entirely in His shadow. "There isn't," He says simply. "Who else would be better to entrust with this than my own servant? Truly, who do you think?"

Sun pauses. He looks to the side.

He doesn't know. He really, honestly does not know who else Lord Eclipse could burden this task with. Bloodmoon is long gone, Monty is inactive, but Sun is still here. He doesn't even really know if his Lord talks to anyone else anymore, so really, he is the only reasonable choice here.

But he doesn't want to be.

"You could always ask one of your other followers, the town is-"

"Sun." More of Lord Eclipse's hands start to grab onto the servant, forcing his head to tilt up and maintain eye contact. "What has gotten into you? Where is this behavior coming from? I expected enthusiastic agreement from my one, true saint. Why do you stall?"

Sun doesn't know.

"I just know I'm inexperienced with handling blades, my lord, and I only wish for someone to fulfill your task in the best way possible," is the lie that slips between his teeth.

"Yet, I've seen you handle blades quite well in many other situations." Lord Eclipse inches His face closer to Sun's. His eye squints, upturned in a way that suggests a smile if He had a mouth. "Nervous to take a life, are you?"

Sun hates the way his voice gets stuck in his throat. "Of course not. I'm never nervous to obey your command."

"Then take the blade and go."

"I shouldn't, my lord, I—"

"You should, Sun, just listen to me—"

"There's others out there—"

"There is no one else who can—"

"I don't want to!!"

The throne room falls silent. Sun realizes his mistake too late. Lord Eclipse leans back, but Sun knows it is not a mercy. He opens his mouth to apologize—to pray, to beg—but a hand wraps around Sun's mouth before anything more than a staticky breath can escape. He can hear the metal skittering of his lord's body behind him and he wants nothing more than to squeeze his eyes shut until it's all over, but he knows better than that.

"You don't want to?" Lord Eclipse repeats with an incredulous laugh. "Oh, poor Sunny, he doesn't want to! I'm sorry, have you forgotten who you've devoted yourself to, servant?"

Sun's hands are maneuvered by the god's many other, forcing him to grip the handle of the dagger with an aching force.

"Me," He hisses. "You are devoted to me; the god you worship is me."

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Be quiet!" Lord Eclipse shouts and Sun's mouth shuts with an audible click.

His hands are tightening all around Sun's body, clogging his vents and cutting off his power and digging into his casing and Sun feels sick he feels horrible horrible horrible—

"I am going to make a very simple choice for you, Sun," Lord Eclipse drawls. "You are going to take this," He squeezes His hands around Sun's and he barely restrains a pained yelp. "and you are going to spill the blood of the lady down at the lake."

"Her?!" Sun blurts, shaking his head with such force that it his earrings nearly hit his face. "She's done nothing wrong! She's been a devout follower for decades, she spent years making that stained glass window for you! She—"

"She's been testing my patience is what she's been doing, Sun!" Lord Eclipse shouts over Sun. "And you're doing much of the same, now, aren't you?"

Sun falls silent. Keeping eye contact is a physically painful task at this point, but he knows he isn't allowed to look away. He can only hope that the fear thrumming through his circuits isn't as obvious in his face. Lord Eclipse merely huffs.

Untangling His multitude of limbs from Sun, He turns Sun around so that he's facing the door. He holds onto the servant's shoulders as He mutters into his ear, "Go, Sun. If you fail me, I will know. If her blood is not on this knife when you return, I will make your punishment long and agonizing. That is a promise."

And just like that, Lord Eclipse releases Sun from his hold to skitter away someplace out of view. The servant stands still, rooted in place as he waits for the sound of his lord's body to finally be quite enough to deem safe.

Sun's joints let out a long hiss as he untenses his body. He looks down at his hands, both still tightly clasped around the handle of the dagger, and lets out a pathetic whimper.

He does not want to do this. He does not want to be this kind of servant.

But those are the thoughts of the dissenters, aren't they? Unwillingness to wholly devote oneself to even the most extreme tasks is a sign of false loyalty and Sun is very truthful with his loyalty. The symbols of the eclipse that he burned into the back of his hands is enough proof.

So, he will do as he's told. He will kill the lady by the lake—that kind, wonderful lady who had never once spoken lowly of Sun and used to make him meals when the castle doors were still open—and he will bring his lord the proof.

He is doing this because he chooses to.

(He is doing this because he has no real choice.)

He is doing this because he loves his god.

(He is doing this because he can't hide from Him.)

He is doing this because he is a loyal servant.

(He is doing this because he has never been more afraid.)

Notes:

sun: wow i sure do love having a completely normal and healthy amount of devotion to my lord (he says, actively wearing himself down to be more compliant so he won't risk being hurt by the one person in his life that (unfortunately) never leaves)

[avrilsboy]

ty for the tag @ventiswampwater <3

the NO-SKIP albums: a tag game 🎶💖

rules: share the albums that you can listen to nonstop. those lightning in a bottle-albums that scratch ur brain just right. every single track, an absolute banger. u could not skip one if u tried. no notes. stunning, show-stopping, immaculate. ur no-skip albums. 🔎 bonus & optional (but imo, v fun) rules:1) add a track rec for us to listen to! AND2) share ur favorite line(s) from that track! 👀

tagging mutuals i know n love and some i don't know so well!! @sophelstien, @thrillbandit, @wretchedbitch, @crumb, @blujaydisc, @apricotdeer, @mysteriouskin, @loveguts & anyone else who wants to (pleeease tag me if u do, i love new tunes <3)

🎧 album info/track recs/my favorite lines under the cut!! ↓↓↓

❌ under my skin / avril lavigne (2004)

track rec: forgotten ↳ gotta get away / there's no point in thinking about yesterday / it's too late now, it won't ever be the same

💙 fallen / evanescence (2003)

track rec: whisper ↳ fallen angels at my feet / whispered voices at my ear / death before my eyes / lying next to me i fear / she beckons me, shall i give in? / upon my end, shall i begin / forsaking all i've fallen for?

🪞 twin fantasy / car seat headrest (2018)

track rec: famous prophets (stars) ↳ these teenage hands will never touch yours again / but i remember you / you had a body / you had hands and arms and legs and et cetera

🪄 magic trix / xenia rubinos (2013)

track rec: help ↳ i, i didn't want it to end up this way / i, i was just trying to do good for myself and my two kids / i, i didn't want it to end up this way / i'm just another perfect product of family

🔼 alive 2007 / daft punk (2007)

track rec: prime time of your life / brainwasher / rollin' and scratchin' / alive ↳ [this is mostly an instrumental, but i will use this spot to say that this is probably the reigning no-skip album on this list <3]

🐶 juno / remi wolf (2021)

track rec: quiet on set ↳ ain't got no time for the frenemies / eating my ass like the human centipede / whoa, hold your horses, back it up / what's better than two girls, two cups / what's better than a two-buck good nut / what's better than fries and a chicken lunch / hey guys, should i postmates chuck-e-cheese? / wait, ain't no chuck-e-cheese in los feliz

🔴 i know i'm funny haha / faye webster (2021)

track rec: a dream with a baseball player ↳ i saw you last night in my dream / that's still the closest you and i have been / that's kind of sad, don't you think? / i think so / how did i fall in love with someone i don't know?

🌷 songs / adrianne lenker (2020)

track rec: zombie girl ↳ sleep paralysis, i sworn i could've felt you there / and i almost could've kissed your hair / but the emptiness withdrew me / from any kind of wishful prayer

🔥 tell me more about evil / margot & the nuclear so and so's (2014)

track rec: attention / bleary-eye-d blue ↳ my gut's on fire / it burns hotter now too / since i changed my zip code / it's been killing me / but everything's fine / please stop screaming so loud / we've been sewn together / we've been stitched up sound

[morkofday]

get to know me 🌻

got tagged by zey @thasorns a long time ago ♥ thank you and sorry for taking a while! i think now is a good time to do this tho bc am avoiding things haha

-

do you make your bed? - every morning. obsessively. i think i might've forgotten to make it only once or twice in my whole life haha

what's your favourite number? - 3 (tho i don't really have a favourite)

what is your job? - currently studying so no job. was working at a gas station last year part-time and did my internship at the children's literature institution last fall tho

If you could go back to school would you? - really depends tbh. i am still in school, technically, but if i had to go back to primary school – which i consider the most school a school can be – then not really. not even if i miss some of the ppl from there

can you parallel park? - in theory yes. i have a driver's license so i should know how to parallel park lol but if you told me to do it rn? probably no

a job you had that would surprise people? - uuh i've only ever had odd summer jobs but i worked in parks for a couple of summers and then "worked" as the lights technician at a smaller theater a couple of years ago which i considered personally really random

do you think aliens are real? - might as well be

can you drive a manual car? - yeah. in theory. learned to drive manual but i never really got the hang of it...

what's your guilty pleasure? - umm. idk? can't really say.

tattoos? - nope. but would love to get one of those watercolor flowers or something like that

favourite colour? - (pastel) purple and baby blue

favourite type of music? - anything really but i listen to a lot of indie, usually slower songs. melancholic, deep, dark. it's quite a change compared to how i used to listen to a lot of house and dubstep/nightstep at some point :'D

do you like puzzles? - absolutely adore them. i do not know anything better tbh but i rarely have time or space for those bc i now only want to do the big ones

any phobias? - not really but i freak out over centipedes

favourite childhood sport? - basketball. and badminton! tho i still adore that

do you talk to yourself? - quite often yeah. mostly without even noticing and sometimes it feels embarrassing if i realize that someone heard me hhhh

what movie(s) do you adore? - rurouni kenshin, the whole series. the yin-yang master: dream of eternity. the handmaiden. brokeback mountain. dew the movie. fast & furious movies. pirates of the caribbean (og trilogy). am probably forgetting a huge amount but these are the ones i've watched several times

coffee or tea? - tea. i cannot stand coffee

first thing you wanted to be growing up - i think it was either a vet or a police officer

-

tagging: @hils79 @jimmysea @icouldhyperfixatehim @i-got-the-feels @ongsasun @ongsasuns @moonkhao @chinzhilla ♥

[epickiya722]

For the ask: Bubble Girl!

1: Sexuality headcanon

Pansexual, I see her as pansexual.

2: OTP

I have thought of her and Sirius as a couple before, think they would be cute. Discussing their quirky, nutty bosses.

3: BROTP

I am sure her and Manual would get along well. She's bubbles, he's water. I don't know why, but I want them as besties.

I also like how she is with Centipeder, they have a nice relationship there.

4: NOTP

I haven't seen any ship with her yet... but I'll probably see one that icks me out later.

5: First headcanon that pops into my head

She's definitely the type to go into a store and smell every single candle there is. Which makes sense because her quirk requires her to know smells.

The image though tickles me.

"Um, miss? What are you doing?"

"Mind your business. Research purposes for my quirk, don't worry about it."

"..."

(I smell a fic idea...)

6: Favorite line from this character

I sadly do not have one here... okay her laugh, I thought it's both funny and cute. (Nighteye did her so dirty though.)

7: One way in which I relate to this character

I, too, am a woman with blue hair. Not currently, but I have had blue hair before and thinking about dying it again.

8: Thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

I could not wear her costume... now, if the top stopped below her boobs and the shorts were buttoned, I would.

9: Cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Cinnamon roll, there's not much too her, but she is a cinnamon roll to me.

Send Me a Character...

[squash1]

incorrect trc quotes as things my friends and family have actually said

blue: “was that man you hate at lunch today?” ronan: “mallory is now 88, and i have to say, he looks 88.”

matthew (with pink eye): “ok. i’m going to my death bed now.” declan: “can you take those paper towels upstairs?” matthew: “i’m not going upstairs.” declan: “oh. well where’s your death bed? just so i can find you.”

henry: “do you think i have adhd?” blue: “i think you have bad taste sometimes…”

matthew: “i asked declan to get me sour patch kids and he immediately said no but maybe there’s still a chance.”

ronan: “what about fucking VENN, he's just sitting there and he's like, ‘what if i make TWO circles?’”

jordan: “hennessy, why would you send me a text saying ‘what is the weather now?’ we’re in the same place. it’s sunny.”

declan: “i don’t like emojis. i don’t trust them.”

ronan: “i have a cuticle question.” blue: “i didn’t even know that you knew that you had cuticles.”

gansey: "give me an example of what could possibly be ‘good murder.’" ronan: "self defense." adam: "h1tler.”

gansey: “did you see the article about the sentient robot?” henry: “did it have 100 legs?” gansey: “that’s a centipede.”

adam: “i used to give funerals to flowers that died.”

blue: “two days ago i woke up 5 minutes before i had therapy and i cut off a little chunk of hair by my ear just for fun.”

maura: “i had a dream about a blind man who was like a murderer.” blue: “what did he do?” maura: “he killed people with a gun.”

ronan: "i’m not going to let anyone else have any of this, because then they'll get too selfish.”

henry: “god, you send just a couple núdės and suddenly everyone’s asking!”

declan: "what time does the boston aquarium open?" siri: "i don't have any matching locations." declan: "what time does the NEW ENGLAND aquarium open?" siri: "i don't have any matching locations." declan: "what time. does the GOD. DAMN. AQUARIUM open." siri: "i found two aquariums near you.”

ronan: “ahhhh. i’m so glad i’m not british.”

[airyairyaucontraire]

Congratulations are in order, for I have finally bested the big flying ice centipede in the Wind Temple. It took me ages to work up the nerve to go back there after it kicked my ass so hard on like my second day playing the game, and what made the difference was the Dusk Bow, which if you don’t know about it is really neat but somewhat inconvenient to get because it requires lots of stamina, whether from food or increasing your wheel by solving shrines.

If you fire yourself out the top of the Lookout Landing tower and glide over to the floating castle (this is where the stamina goes), then land on the tallest pointy spire (the bell tower), you can find the Dusk Bow wedged into a crack in the spire. I do not know how it got there, but there it is and you can take it. It’s got 30 attack power which is nothing to sniff at, and it “forcefully fires long-range arrows,” so this is sort of TOTK’s equivalent of that Golden Bow you could pick up in Gerudo Town.

If you then clamber down into the bell tower, you can use Ultrahand to grab the big bell and push it back and forth (I did this just because I wanted to see if it would ring) and it will indeed ring and reveal a Korok, so that’s nice.

If you then parachute down through the middle of the tower to the throne room/Sanctum, you can find some Royal Guard weapons on the ledges at the sides of the room - look for a big broken statue of a horse and you can find a bundle of ten arrows near its head, then round behind the base of the statue a bow and a couple of swords. Then go round to the other side of the room at the same level and you can find a matching shield and spear.

They’re just lying in the open which means they respawn with the Blood Moon and you can go and collect them each time (same goes for the Dusk Bow). They all have good attack power (the bow is 50!) and you can reach all of them without having to encounter any monsters. If you didn’t know about that, now you do.

Oh! And if you want Endura Carrots for stamina meals, Satori Mountain is still the best place to go. There are three, I think, growing at the base of the pink blossom tree next to the pool near the top. A little bit further down the mountain, near the location of the old shrine from BOTW, there’s a ledge where two Blue Moblins hang out. You can either fight them and take their horns for reinforcing weapons, or wait for night-time when they go to sleep, then just go down there and sneak around in a stealthy crouch pulling up more carrots. I think like five or six grow there reliably.

These are my little routines that I like to do after each Blood Moon. I also like to go to the apple orchard on Satori (and the new shrine is conveniently right next to it) because you can get a whole lot of wood and apples that are easy to sell for pocket money, but it’s not the jolly explosive fun it was in the olden days when we had magic blue bombs. I miss those so much. You have to use up a couple of axes just to fell all the trees and there are two or three Evermeans that you have to chop plus a little bitch of an Octorok to find. I suppose I could climb all the trees and pick all the apples but oh God how tedious.

Anyone knowing of a quick’n’easy method for harvesting the Satori orchard in TOTK is encouraged to let me know.

[slugbrain-thoughts]

i have a new oc that i need you to revise before it gets to complex:

name: seeker

purposed?: slightly, they are lightly changed to make a small electric shock at the cost of a pip

other powers and quirks?: slows down and jumps worse the less pips it has rep is also slightly buffed and you can make a zapper if you hold eat and atack at the same time while holding a rock , you can kill echos and void worms

to end your journy you must kill all echos and one worm

ending: you see as the world gains a chance to redeem itself as the cycles slow down and the world warms up once more, you know they will never stop but at least you have a safer world now. even if it is temporery

what think?

i need construcive critasizam

It’s incredibly good. It’s sounds extremely cool, and I love the idea of a rodent managing to kill a deity.

I also love the electricity part! I want to see it give centipedes a taste of their own medicine.

For critiques and additions? Well it’s already very good, but I think it could be better if the character matched its campaign a little more.

Like if it was based around electricity, it could be named “the charger” or the “voltaic” and has a campaign where it goes around a dying iterator and powers their superstructure back to life by charging their stuff with it’s electricity.

The iterator it helps could aid in warming the environment around it back up through steam and generating warmth, assuming that it takes place around Saint’s time.

If it was based around killing echoes and the void worm, there are alot of things you could do with it, and i don’t have any ideas for a campaign like that, but I would recommend making the design and abilities of the slugcat in it more karma-like.

Here’s a small sketch I did of a concept for the electric cat, I couldn’t decide between making it segmented like a centipede, or blue and black like the rarefaction cells and electric spears, so I went with both:

It’s just a sketch so it may not look the best, but I think it conveys what I had in mind.

[flecks-of-stardust]

Bug Color Vision: A Non-Human Angle Towards Color

Welcome to today’s episode of Why Did I Put So Much Effort Into This?! Featuring: bug color vision! I’ve been forking the idea around for a while now, and I figured I should share it with Tumblr in case others are interested as well.

Note that a lot of this information was worked and written with Hollow Knight in mind since it was pooled for my Hollow Knight fic. However, I think this information applies generally to anyone who may be writing fictional bug people. Also note that a lot of the information here is somewhat extrapolated; a lot of the insect (not even *bug! Specifically insect!) color vision research I found focused on honeybees, which are obviously not all there is to insects. I personally try to blend anthropomorphic aspects, ie human-like traits, into my worldbuilding as much as possible and as seamlessly as I can, and that plays into what I say here too. But without further ado:

*bug = anything people would normally consider a bug. This includes insects, arachnids, some crustaceans (namely isopods), and myriapods (centipedes and millipedes), so most arthropods. This post mostly concerns insects, but there will be limited mention on arachnid, specifically spider, color vision, and some speculation about crustacean color vision.

Human Color Vision Refresher

What most people know of color vision is heavily based in human color vision, which is unsurprising. We can’t reliably guess how non-human creatures perceive the world in color, and what we do know are estimates based on the structural mechanisms they use to perceive it. This post will be no different, and on top of that, we would get nowhere if you do not understand how human color vision works. For anyone needing a refresher, or perhaps anyone who never learned this to begin with, here’s a quick summary of it.

Human eyes have many photoreceptors, which are light sensing cells that send signals to the brain. We have two types of photoreceptors: cones and rods. (Rods are used in non-color vision, so we’re not discussing those in this post.) In most humans, there are three types of cones that are stimulated by blue light, green light, and red light respectively. When any of these cone cells are stimulated, they send an electrical signal to the brain, which processes them into a visual, colorized picture.

One thing to note that color vision can only exist if there are at least two different types of cones. Colorblindness, or rather color deficiency, in humans results from one or more of the three cone types not sending signals to the brain. If two of the cone types do not function, this person would have monochromatic vision. This is because you need at least two different types of inputs to compare for color vision to be possible. The more cone types, the more comparisons can be made, and the more colors you can theoretically see. The converse is true as well; with only one cone type, the inputs can only be compared to the lack of light, so there is no color.

The color ‘output’ also depends on the degree of stimulation. Each cone type is most sensitive to a certain wavelength of light. Our blue cones are, as implied, most sensitive to blue light, meaning that they are the most stimulated and send the strongest signal when they detect blue light. However, they are still stimulated by violet light, just not as much as they are by blue light. Through comparing this degree of stimulation in one cone type with that of the other cone types, we can perceive a massive range of colors.

We call this maximum range of colors that we can see the visible light spectrum, which runs from violet light, where the wavelengths are short (around 400 nm), to red light, where the wavelengths are long (around 750 nm). Though, clearly, this is what is visible to humans. Many animals, particularly insects, have a different ‘visible spectrum’ of light. This depends on the type of cones they have. As mentioned before, humans have blue, green, and red cones, meaning our color vision is roughly R-G-B based. This is generally not true for bugs.

Bug Color Vision

For many insects, red light is invisible. Lots of bugs have a green cone, but its sensitivity does not stretch into the part of the light spectrum that we would consider red. They may be able to see yellow, and hesitantly a bit of orange, but deep scarlets and maroons are totally invisible to them. However, they can see into the other end of the spectrum, what we call ultraviolet light. In fact, a lot of insects have a cone that is most sensitive to UV light. To put it in perspective a little, UV light is invisible to humans, but is very visible to many insects, so much so that some flowers have UV absorbing pigments that are used to guide pollinators like honeybees!

Putting this slightly differently, we can consider the visible light spectrum for bugs to be comparatively shifted towards shorter wavelengths. To them, ultraviolet light would just be violet, and red would be infragreen. The coloration of many things would be shifted; red isn’t visible, but UV and the lack of UV is, color mixing and color ratios would shift, etc. Their world should look pretty different from ours, even beyond considering the very likely possibility that bugs don’t process colors like humans do.

On top of that, many bugs are actually dichromatic. Spiders, lots of beetles, and from what I’ve been able to find, many bugs in general have a UV cone and a green cone. To compare it to humans, when someone has a nonfunctional cone type, they are dichromatic and see a more limited range of colors. Assuming bugs process color similarly—and they may well do so if they’re anthropomorphic bugs!—would mean that many bugs are relatively color deficient. They still have color vision, and they can detect UV light and green light perfectly fine, but the number of shades they can distinguish and tell apart may be limited.

In comparison, honeybees are trichromatic like humans, but they have UV cones, blue cones, and green cones, making their vision G-B-UV based. This allows them to see many more shades of colors than their fellow bugs, which is very useful when they are as visual and as prolific of a pollinator as they are. A good number of diurnal insects are also trichromatic as well, and it’s fairly easy to see why.

How This Is Relevant

So what is this useful for? When writing anthro bugs, taking the colors they’re able to see (and those that they can’t see) can create a good many interesting scenarios. It can also have implications on how their societies work. For example, our artificial lights don’t actually produce white light! (Unless you use LEDs, but LEDs use different technology.) They are generally quite yellow; we only think they’re white because our brains color correct them. For bugs, this sort of lighting isn’t going to be particularly helpful, since they’re not very sensitive to yellow light. It would be a pretty dull glow for them, and they’d need a greener light if they wanted to have more illumination. Except green light has a shorter wavelength than yellow light does, and shorter wavelengths typically have more energy. (This is why UV light is considered damaging! Wear sunscreen and protect your eyes, folks.) Technologically, this can be a great deal more challenging to handle. This lack of artificial lighting can impact anthro bug societies in a variety of ways; activity past sundown would be very difficult!

You can also play around with the basal aspects of your worldbuilding. If you want your anthro bugs to be more analogous to human experiences, you can make all your bugs trichromatic. This gives you more room to explore dichromacy in a largely trichromatic society, and also makes it easier for you to describe colors. Trichromacy is also helpful evolutionarily; being able to see more colors means you’re more likely to tell the difference between food and potential predators, and you might find mates more easily. But of course, that comes with a metabolic payoff, and lots of predators get by just fine with only two types of cones. Cats seem perfectly content on exterminating the local bird population with their two cone types, so your bugs will be just fine if you go that route.

In the context of Hollow Knight? Hornet’s no longer our beloved red cloaked spiderwyrm. Though some species of spiders can see red in limited quantities, and most of those being diurnal spiders at that, spiders do not have cones that can detect red light. They literally cannot see the color that Hornet is wearing. It would just look black to them. So she would be wearing a very different color, most likely. The areas of Hallownest would potentially be a lot more vibrant as well, considering the potential for UV pigments that we can’t see being visible to its buggy inhabitants. It also has some rather sinister implications if you remember that bugs cannot see orange. What’s worse than fighting a plague? A plague that you physically cannot see.

Color Mixing Beyond Wavelengths

Of course, biology is never simple. Even human color vision isn’t just the wavelengths of light and the stimulations of our cone cells with nothing else. The existence of magenta as a color that we can perceive more than proves otherwise.

If you look at the human visible spectrum of light, you’ll generally see the classic rainbow of colors plastered over their respective wavelengths. Red at the long wavelength end, then orange, yellow, green, blue, and finally violet at the short wavelength end. But magenta is not on this spectrum. This is because magenta is not an actual wavelength of light.

So what, pray tell, is it? It’s the result of our blue cones and red cones being stimulated, but not our green cones. When two types of cones are stimulated simultaneously, our brains tend to take all the inputs and average them out. So according to that, blue + green = cyan, green + red = yellow, and any shade within a specific color just looks that color. But following this logic, blue + red = green, which is obviously not correct. Evolutionarily, it is advantageous to be able to tell when something is green, like a plant, an unripe fruit, or maybe something poisonous, and when something is magenta. So our brains made up a new color for it.

Something similar can be said of white light, which is also not on the human visible spectrum of light. You’ve likely seen pictures of white light entering a prism and coming out as a rainbow. This is an indirect way of representing that white light is simply all wavelengths of light that the human eye can detect. In other words, if the light your eyes detects stimulates all three of your cone types, you perceive the object as white.

This all may sound sort of obvious, but remember that generally speaking, bugs cannot see red and can see UV. This means that things that look white to us may not look white to them. Lots of otherwise white insects have UV patterning, and again, some flowers have UV pigments that we cannot see that are obvious to bugs. So a white flower for us may actually be more like cyan for a honeybee, and something that is yellow to us may just look green to them.

And, on top of that, recall that honeybees have three cone types as well. Theoretically, if there is some pigment that reflects UV light and green light but not blue light, honeybees should also perceive a type of ‘magenta,’ assuming their brains process these inputs similarly to human brains. This opens up an even bigger range of potential colors that bugs can see, and you can really do anything with the concept. No one really knows what bug color vision looks like, and certainly not a theoretical bug magenta, so go wild with the idea.

Tetrachromacy: Butterflies, The ‘Anomalies’

Trichromacy isn’t the maximum number of cone types you can have. Again, in theory, the more cone types you have, the more comparisons you can make, and the more colors you can see, provided that you use all of said cones for color vision. Some species of butterflies come rather close to this, and here is a handy graph to represent it:

[image description: an infographic showing the sensitivity of different opsins in three different species of butterflies and in mantis shrimp. All three graphs for the butterflies are a mess of colored lines; all of them have at least 8 discrete lines, each of which shows the varying sensitivity to different wavelengths of light. The peaks for all three graphs, particularly for the graph labeled B, overlap in such a way that it is hard to distinguish the peaks of each line. Notably, however, all three graphs for the butterflies have lines corresponding to UV light, blue light, green light, and red light.

The mantis shrimp sensitivity graph is also a mess of lines and peaks, but they have a much more uniform distribution, with each line rising, peaking, and falling in roughly the same shape. There are 11 different lines on this graph, all of which have peaks that are easy to identify. As a whole, however, the graphs look like a colorful mess. end image description]

Oh, did I say handy? I meant messy. Some species of butterflies (and of course the famed mantis shrimp, which we will be ignoring for now) have an absolute motherlode of cone types. The swallowtail butterflies (top left, labeled A) have 8, but I believe some had up to 12 or 13? Either way, that is a lot of cone types. The one unifying factor in all three graphs for the butterflies, however, is that all of them have cones for UV light, blue light, green light, and red light.

While these graphs look spectacular, not all of these cones are used in color vision. Scientists aren’t too sure what they are used for; one hypothesis is that some may be used to detect sudden shifts in light intensity, which can mean a predator is flying above. However, they are fairly certain that their UV, blue, green, and red cones are used for color vision. This makes these butterflies tetrachromats with R-G-B-UV based vision, and they are able to see an enormous range of colors. Research on butterflies has also found that they are almost as good as humans are at distinguishing between shades of color too, so they can actually see far more colors than we do! (Mantis shrimp, unfortunately, are not nearly as good at color differentiation as either butterflies or humans. Presumably they just process color vision differently. No secret shrimp colors to be found, sadly.)

Not only does this mean butterflies have access to a wider range of colors that are actual wavelengths of light, it also means they have way more potential color mixing opportunities. It’s entirely possible that they can see a color that is the combination of just red and UV, or green and UV, or UV, green, and red. And really, blue, green, and red but not UV wouldn’t look white to them, because white results from all of the cone types being stimulated.

I do have to note that not all butterfly species have this number of cone types. Some are simply trichromatic, like honeybees. But for writing purposes, it could be pretty interesting to make butterflies the tetrachromats. They are able to see many things that other bugs cannot, which would either inspire awe or fear in them. It’s also possible that art made by butterflies is more highly sought after, because the tiny details they’re able to add and see clearly make their art multitudes more vivid than art created by other bugs. (Butterfly Lurien writers~) And these are just possible implications I could think of off the top of my head. The possibilities are quite literally endless.

I didn’t do nearly as much research on this, but it seems some species of dragonflies are also tetrachromats! Really, you can designate certain species of bugs to be tetrachromatic or dichromatic or what have you, without even necessarily adhering to real life biology. But even what’s found in real life and extrapolating it for anthropomorphic bugs can be really interesting.

Non-Insect Color Vision

I’ve mentioned arachnids briefly above, but there isn’t much more to say beyond reiterating that most spiders, and likely most arachnids, have G-UV based vision. This varies a little depending on behavior; nocturnal bugs, not just arachnids, tend to have weaker color vision, but are more likely to use UV light to navigate. And considering that the spiders in Hollow Knight live in underground cave systems, it’s not too far a leap to assume they evolved from a nocturnal species of spider.

On the other hand, crustaceans tend to have B-UV based vision. Lots of crustaceans are water dwelling, and water is not an easy medium for light to penetrate. The deeper into water you go, the less light reaches you, and red light is one of the first wavelengths to go. As you go further down, the longer wavelengths become more and more sparse because they have less energy in them. They simply don’t have enough energy to keep going, but blue light and UV light, with their shorter wavelengths, keep going just fine. This is why crustaceans have B-UV based vision, if they are dichromatic at all.

As for terrestrial crustaceans, particularly isopods as per popular fanon about Quirrel? It varies. Pillbugs are actually nearly blind, having only weak light sensing eyes that do not detect color. But they typically live in damp, dark places, and have little need for vision to begin with. Hermit crabs are dichromatic, possibly with G-B based vision. Of course for anthropomorphic crustaceans, your word as writer is law, but it’s possible that they are generally dichromatic compared to other bugs. I’m not too clear on when crustaceans re-evolved to be terrestrial, but that can be one argument you can make for them being dichromatic. They simply haven’t been terrestrial for long enough for a novel trichromatic gene to pop up. Though, to be fair, it’s more likely for traits to be lost rather than gained, and it can also just be that: it’s unlikely that terrestrial crustaceans independently evolved trichromacy.

Admittedly, I haven’t done research on myriapod vision at all. I don’t know what their eyes are like, but once again, in a world of anthro bugs, your word as writer is law. You can go as biology focused as you want. Regardless, I do hope this post is interesting and has made some of you reconsider your worldbuilding, and above all else, happy writing!

[unexpectedstormy]

Chapter 1: For the Want of a Breath - A Sky Asthma fic

Here it is, folks, the Sky Asthma fic I’ve been hinting at for a few weeks. It started off as a Whumptober Day 5 fic but quickly grew too large and became its own fic. I have a bunch of chapters written and will be posting them over the next few weeks.

(( @skyloftian-nutcase  and @squigglywindy I know you guys expressed  interested in this one.))

Read it here or on AO3: For the Want of a Breath

*** Chapter 1: Secret Weakness ***

Sky hoped it wouldn’t come to this.

He sat on his bedroll at the edge of the camp, back facing the other heroes, some still asleep, others pretending to be, and a few were absent completely. It was early morning, just before the sun rose, and the world was bathed in a pale purplish light. The chilly air wrapped its tendrils around Sky, seeping through the gaps in the blanket draping over his shoulders.

He stared at the bottle in his hand, filled only one-third with blue potion. It was normally enough to last him about five days, but with the way things had progressed—how long could he make it last? How long did he need it to last? Normally, when he got this low, he’d start rationing it out, one dose every other day until he could get back to Skyloft; but his symptoms, they’d been building over the last week or so, although he hadn’t noticed it until yesterday afternoon. And now he was to the point where it felt like there was an invisible remlit sitting on his chest—

“You’re up early,” Warriors voice addressed him in hushed tones so as not to wake the others. Sky dropped the bottle in the gap between his crossed legs and he twisted around to look up at Wars with deliberately half-lidded eyes and a sleepy yawn. Clean-shaven, freshly dressed, and carrying his bathing items, Wars had apparently returned from washing up at the lake’s edge.

Despite his projected sleepy countenance, Sky’s heart raced with guilt and anxiety. What could he say in reply that wouldn’t be suspicious? He hummed and blinked slowly while his mind raced with potential responses, settling on one after a few seconds.

“Had a nightmare,” he murmured. Truth was, sure, he’d woken up gasping for breath, but it wasn’t from a nightmare. It was from his asthma. Sitting up for a few minutes had already calmed his breathing and settled the desperate suffocating feeling in his chest, but he knew, he wouldn’t be able to lay down and sleep again.

“What was it about? If you don’t mind me asking?” Wars asked, kneeling down to put his stuff away in his bag.

“Uhh... I can’t remember much now,” Sky said looking away as if distracted and he made something up on the fly. “Giant flying centipedes I think?”

“Ooh,” Warriors grimaced. “I can imagine that’d be disturbing. All of those legs on your skin—” He shivered and closed his bag. Sky listened closely as Wars stood up, carefully picked his way through the rest of the sleeping heroes, and thumped down on a log by the fire. The way the grunted quietly as he sat made Sky wonder if his legs or back were hurting him again. Still facing away, and slightly afraid to look, Sky wondered how visible the front of him was to Wars and if he could pick up the bottle again or if it needed to stay hidden between his legs.

“Well, if you’re up… do you want some tea?” Warriors asked.

“Hmm. That would be nice.” Sky answered and yawned, for effect. He dared to steal a longing glance at the potion hidden away underneath the fabric of his pantlegs and the blanket he now hugged tighter around himself. There was a sound of a ladle in the pot and moments later, Warriors stood beside him holding out the tin mug of tea.

“Be careful. It’s hot.”

“I will,” Sky said. As Warriors turned back and returned to his seat, Sky took the opportunity to surreptitiously pour a little of the potion into his mug and restowed it back in its secret pocket in his bag as quickly as he could. He hoped the heat of the tea wouldn’t break down the medicine’s potency.

Sky turned so that he was facing Warriors and the rest of the camp, and out of habit, started a mental headcount. He and Warriors were the only ones in camp who were upright. Hyrule slept soundly curled up against Legend’s side, who lay on his back reading a book. Wind stirred, venturing to raise his head with rosy cheeks and red eyes and looked at Sky and Wars before dropping his head back down and burying his face in Wolfie’s fur. That left… Four, Wild, Time, and Twilight not present.

“Where are the others?” Sky asked. He inhaled deeply and quietly as he could to offset the building stale-air feeling in his lungs.

“The Old Man’s getting dressed, Twilight went for a patrol or something, Four said he needed some alone time and wandered off that way, and Wild’s… well…” Warriors looked sidelong at the lake down the hill from their camp. “While I was down there, I found all of his clothes on a rock on the shoreline. I heard some splashing coming from somewhere, so I can only assume that he’s swimming. Maybe catching fish. So be careful if you go down to the lake. There’s no telling what you’ll see.”

Heh. Business as usual then. The early birds were awake and the sleepyheads still down for the count. Except for himself of course. Sky hoped no one would question too hard when they saw him up before half the Chain. But even if they did, his excuse would hold. No one in their crew was exempt from having nightmares, not even Sky.

Sky sipped the tea. The intensity of the sudden acidity and bitterness exploded on his tongue. He quickly pulled away the mug from his lips and squinted at the dark brew. Why was this so strong? Who made the tea? He took another sip, and it was just as strong as the first, with the slightest hint of blue potion. If he hadn’t poured the potion in there, he would have dumped half of the tea out and added water to weaken it, but that wasn’t an option now. He was just going to have to suffer through the tea and hope it wouldn’t upset his stomach. Sky took another sip and tried not to grimace.

He should have known this was coming.

It had been a few months since he’d had an asthma flare up, and he was well overdue for another. He thought back to all the signs he’d ignored over the previous week or two: the inexplicable urge to yawn more than usual, even if he wasn’t tired, the need to inhale deeply and sigh without an obvious cause, that feeling in his chest at the bottom of a breath that there wasn’t quite enough air there, getting unusually out of breath when climbing slopes… He’d dismissed these early symptoms rationalizing that he was just tired from that battle yesterday, or it was because they were at a lower altitude than he was used to or it was just allergies or a minor cold.

But it wasn’t, was it?

Sky hated his asthma. It was his embarrassing weakness. He was a hero! He defeated Demise! And yet, he sometimes had trouble with the most basic task of being alive: breathing!

He’d mostly kept it on the down-low from his fellow heroes. He usually tried to hide it when he took his medicine in the morning, but now and then he’d been caught. He’d mention offhand how it helped him breath better at lower elevations but he never went into detail. One time, Legend had pried and Sky admitted to having asthma, but the only thing that came from it was that Legend made him promise to speak up if it got bad, and he also told Time. But other than that, no one knew.

It was better that way.

Better to keep his weakness a secret, better that he didn’t slow the others down, better that they didn’t have to pick up the slack for him or cover for him. And as long as Sky did everything right—taking his medicine and avoiding his triggers—his asthma wouldn’t be a problem.

Probably.

The Goddess had so far been mindful and considerate of Sky’s little… liability. In the past, when he’d run low or run out of blue potion, she would supply a portal that would take them back to Skyloft, allowing Sky to restock. Once, after he’d completely run out, she’d even sent a portal just for him. At the time, he was separate from the others, scouting out a ruined village, when the portal appeared. Passing through it, he found himself at home. He was graciously given an hour or two to restock his supplies and meet up with Zelda, before another portal appeared to return him to where he’d left from.

It had been quite a while since they’d been back to Skyloft and Sky was itching to return. Any day now, he expected a portal would appear and take all of them—or even just him—back to Skyloft. He just had to bear with it and trust Hylia. She’d always taken care of her Chosen One in the past, and he knew she would take care of him in the future too.

That being said… he couldn’t help but worry. Just a little bit.

“You’re looking… pensive,” Warriors ventured. “Rupee for your thoughts?” Sky looked up from his mug.

“Oh what? You’re talking to me?” Sky stammered. “Oh, uh, I uh—” Sky stumbled over his words, but he was saved by their elder reentering the camp.

“Rise and shine, boys,” Time said.

“Noooooo!” Wind groaned. “I want sleeeeeep.” Wolfie nuzzled his hair and licked his face. Wind hid his face with his blanket and whined again. Wolfie made a little noise, pawed at the blanket and then nipped the edge and pulled it out of Wind’s hands.

“Wolfieeeeee!!!” Wind tried to pull the blanket back but Wolfie crawled forward on top of Wind and started licking his face. Wind giggled and pushed away Wolfie’s snout. “Fine! I’m awake! Go bother someone else!” Wolfie stopped licking and huffed a puff of air in Wind’s face before he stepped off and ambled over to Hyrule and Legend.

“Hey guys! I got fish!” Wild said cheerfully as he approached the camp. He carried a spear impaled with nine fish as he trotted up the slope, stark naked. Sky and several other Links looked up only to immediately avert their eyes with giggles or groans.

“Oh, geez!” Warriors exclaimed. “Wild! You forgot something!”

“Ahh!” Wild squealed, looking down. “Sorry! Be back soon!” He scurried away back down the slope.

Sky looked away with a grin he tried to suppress. He was hit with a pang a happiness and he relished the moment—him and all of his brothers all together and all safe and happy on this lovely morning on this grand adventure they were on…

He’d hate to lose it.

[rainbowxocs]

why do you even need to know half of this…

Name: Kaguya Tsukino (かぐや 月の) only my friends can call me by “Kaguya”..

Other Names: “Kami” (神) God is also acceptable for you English readers.

Special Titles: Kami of the Moonlight.

Nicknames: Moon Bunny.

Chronological Age: 431

Age: 26.

Pronouns: He/Him (In English.)

I Pronoun: Soregashi (某) (An archaic neutral pronoun, gives off extreme neutrality, as if the person doesn’t want you to know who they are.)

Sexuality: Demisexual, Demiromantic, Gay.

Gender: Trans Guy.

Species: Kami. obviously.

Disorders: Anxiety, Autism, Major Depressive Disorder, Bulima, Contamination OCD, AVPD, Compulsive Lying, CPTSD.

Religion: Atheist. you shouldn’t trust gods.

Job: Owner of the Maid/Cat Cafe.

Lives in: Okutama, Japan, 2024.

Languages: Japanese + Most Languages.

Height: 6ft

Ethnicity: Lunarian, Japanese.

Accent: Completely Monotone.

Animal Form: Barn Owl, Rabbit. hoot. or whatever.

Powers: Was Born Powerless. Can however do human magic, can hear other peoples thoughts, and has divination. it’s awful.. I feel cursed sometimes..

Alignment: Neutral.

Text Color: Blue.

Main Hobbies: Entomology, Reading, Resin Art, Bug Pinning, Origami, Bonsai, Crochet, DND, Trinket Collecting, Shogi.

I only eat specific things.. I’m incredibly picky..

Favorite Drink: Sakura Tea, Pu’er Tea, L’Original Marie Antoinette Tea, Strawberry Shortcake Tea.

Favorite Fruit: Peaches.

Favorite Snacks: Apples and Peanut Butter, Ants on a Log, Broccoli, Honey.

Favorite Foods: Chicken Noodle Soup, Animal Sushi, Rice and Nori.

Favorite Candy: Gummy Bears, KitKats, Lollipops, Matcha Pocky, Jelly Beans, 3D Gummies.

Favorite Desserts: Jello, Mooncakes, Astronaut Icecream, Gourmet Marshmallows.

Weapon: Kunai.

Favorite Flower: Orchids

Scent: Orchids.

Awareness: VERY Aware. (Effect: Negative.)

Birthday: January 1st 1592 (Leo, Dragon, AB.)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Facts: i dislike this whole biography thing.

Special Interests: Entomology, Fairytales, Paintings.

Stims: Tends to stim with fabric or his clothing. But also has a pair of dice he stims with.

Comfort Objects: His collection of rabbit plushies, his jacket, His dice, His sailor moon collection, His Ear Defenders.

Stimboard: LINK

Moodboard: LINK

Fashionboard: LINK

Family: Tsukuyomi, Nayotake (Parents) they abandoned me. So.. not really family..

Friends: Uru (BFF), Damian.

Romance: None.

Enemies:

Are. I despise that woman.

Hwan. I think that Hwan has the IQ of a rock. And that’s an insult to rocks.

Pets:

Rolo (ロロ) (Pug) my baby.

also my babies.

Hichew (ハイチュウ)(Emperor Scorpion)

Whopper (うぉっぺっ) (Blue Tarantula)

Skittle (スキットルズ) (Rainbow Stag Beetle)

Taiki (タイキ) (Giant African Snail)

Twizzler (ツウィズラーズ)(Giant Millipede)

Hershey (ハーシー)(Giant Centipede)

Konpieto (こんぴえと) (Leaf Insect)

Candy Cane (キャンディケイン) (Stick Insect)

Poifull (ぽいふーー)(European Mantis)

Pocky (ポッキー)(Ghost Mantis)

Ramune (ラムネ)(Orchid Mantis)

The Honey Hive (Bees)

The Hissing Bandits (Hissing Cockroaches)

The Earth Kingdom (Honey Ants)

The Fire Nation (Fire Ants)

The Water Tribe (Yellow Crazy Ants)

The Air Nomads (Black Carpenter Ants)

Brief Personality: Kaguya is a very monotone person. He has a tendency to push people away from him by making himself as boring and unapproachable as possible. But in reality he’s just really awkward. He is the type of person who much rather stay at home with a bunch of books than go outside and hang out with his friends.

Brief Backstory: Kaguya was born without a name, somewhere on the moon. His parents kicked him off the moon and he plummeted down to earth. He was found by a local orphanage due to his crying.

He never really knew why his parents abandoned him.. But he did know that humans weren’t much better.. His peers would bully him for most of his life due to him not being like them.

He lost himself in fairytales, reading every book he could. He thought if he lost himself in the stories and his role as a god, everything would be alright.

However, now Kaguya is very standoffish. Not even giving people the privilege of speaking his real name. Instead wanting to be referred too as “Kami” or “God”.. He is a bit of an odd ball..

Many people have hurt Kaguya over the years, causing him to retreat further and further into his shell. However lately a few cracks have been shown.

[faintingheroine]

Fritz Eichenberg’s illustration

It is interesting that Heathcliff examines his son and his wife like Lintons examined him when he was a child. But the racial attitude is reversed.

“Oh, my dear Mary, look here! Don’t be afraid, it is but a boy—yet the villain scowls so plainly in his face; would it not be a kindness to the country to hang him at once, before he shows his nature in acts as well as features?” He pulled me under the chandelier, and Mrs. Linton placed her spectacles on her nose and raised her hands in horror. The cowardly children crept nearer also, Isabella lisping “Frightful thing! Put him in the cellar, papa. He’s exactly like the son of the fortune-teller that stole my tame pheasant. Isn’t he, Edgar?”

‘While they examined me, Cathy came round; she heard the last speech, and laughed. Edgar Linton, after an inquisitive stare, collected sufficient wit to recognise her. They see us at church, you know, though we seldom meet them elsewhere. “That’s Miss Earnshaw?” he whispered to his mother, “and look how Skulker has bitten her—how her foot bleeds!”

“Miss Earnshaw? Nonsense!” cried the dame; “Miss Earnshaw scouring the country with a gipsy! And yet, my dear, the child is in mourning—surely it is—and she may be lamed for life!”

“What culpable carelessness in her brother!” exclaimed Mr. Linton, turning from me to Catherine. “I’ve understood from Shielders”’ (that was the curate, sir) “that he lets her grow up in absolute heathenism. But who is this? Where did she pick up this companion? Oho! I declare he is that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his journey to Liverpool—a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway.”

“A wicked boy, at all events,” remarked the old lady, “and quite unfit for a decent house! Did you notice his language, Linton? I’m shocked that my children should have heard it.””

(Chapter 6)

“‘I think you belie her,’ said Heathcliff, twisting his chair to face them. ‘She wishes to be out of my society now, at any rate!’

And he stared hard at the object of discourse, as one might do at a strange repulsive animal: a centipede from the Indies, for instance, which curiosity leads one to examine in spite of the aversion it raises. The poor thing couldn’t bear that; she grew white and red in rapid succession”.

(Chapter 10)

“Hallo, Nelly!’ said Mr. Heathcliff, when he saw me. ‘I feared I should have to come down and fetch my property myself. You’ve brought it, have you? Let us see what we can make of it.’

He got up and strode to the door: Hareton and Joseph followed in gaping curiosity. Poor Linton ran a frightened eye over the faces of the three.

‘Sure-ly,’ said Joseph after a grave inspection, ‘he’s swopped wi’ ye, Maister, an’ yon’s his lass!’

Heathcliff, having stared his son into an ague of confusion, uttered a scornful laugh.

‘God! what a beauty! what a lovely, charming thing!’ he exclaimed. ‘Hav’n’t they reared it on snails and sour milk, Nelly? Oh, damn my soul! but that’s worse than I expected—and the devil knows I was not sanguine!’

I bid the trembling and bewildered child get down, and enter. He did not thoroughly comprehend the meaning of his father’s speech, or whether it were intended for him: indeed, he was not yet certain that the grim, sneering stranger was his father. But he clung to me with growing trepidation; and on Mr. Heathcliff’s taking a seat and bidding him ‘come hither’, he hid his face on my shoulder and wept.

‘Tut, tut!’ said Heathcliff, stretching out a hand and dragging him roughly between his knees, and then holding up his head by the chin. ‘None of that nonsense! We’re not going to hurt thee, Linton—isn’t that thy name? Thou art thy mother’s child, entirely! Where is my share in thee, puling chicken?’

He took off the boy’s cap and pushed back his thick flaxen curls, felt his slender arms and his small fingers; during which examination Linton ceased crying, and lifted his great blue eyes to inspect the inspector.

‘Do you know me?’ asked Heathcliff, having satisfied himself that the limbs were all equally frail and feeble.

‘No,’ said Linton, with a gaze of vacant fear.

‘You’ve heard of me, I daresay?’

‘No,’ he replied again.

‘No! What a shame of your mother, never to waken your filial regard for me! You are my son, then, I’ll tell you; and your mother was a wicked slut to leave you in ignorance of the sort of father you possessed. Now, don’t wince, and colour up! Though it is something to see you have not white blood. Be a good lad; and I’ll do for you. Nelly, if you be tired you may sit down; if not, get home again. I guess you’ll report what you hear and see to the cipher at the Grange; and this thing won’t be settled while you linger about it.’”

(Chapter 20)

Peter Forster’s illustration

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Alexandra's Evolution Chapter Seven: Fare-Dodging Creepy-Crawly - Part One

Fandom: Primeval Wordcount: 4.7k Warnings: Insects, injury, hospitals

Stephen goes Underground to find Nick, and is bitten by the same creature that killed the pest-controller. Alex goes with Stephen to the hospital while the others try to find a way to save his life.

Read on AO3 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

--------------------------------------------

A shouting match is about to break out at Arsenal Underground Station. Alex Hart is standing at the top of the defunct escalators still holding Leek’s map and tracing the lines of the tunnels with her finger. She’s already poked one hole in it. Abby Maitland is raking her hands through her hair, carefully enunciating Stephen and Nick’s names into her microphone even though she’s getting nothing back but static. Her voice is the undercurrent to Oliver Leek’s thorough dressing down of Alex,

“Over the last few weeks I’ve watched you do some stupid, irresponsible things to try and get the professor’s way, but this is beyond the pale.”

“You hire us, then you don’t let us do anything to actually make a difference, you just send in guns, we’re trying to help.” Alex is still staring down at the map. Abby is edging closer to her, watching Leek out of the corner of her eye between glances at her phone to check for updates from Connor. She’s still trying her headset. She’s still not getting anything. Leek isn’t about to let Alex have the last word.

“That’s the thing with heroic gestures. Succeed, and you look wonderful. Fail, and all you do is leave everyone a bloody great mess for me to clean up! Well congratulations Alex, you might just have condemned half your team to death.”

“You weren’t going to do anything-”

“So you and your uncle took it upon yourselves to solve the problem for me? You thought you could handle this? There is protocol set in place for these occasions-”

“What protocol, leaving Nick down there to get killed by a fucking centipede?” Alex snaps back, her eyes moving from the map to Oliver so quickly they may well be clicking into a preset position, “And you thought we’d just accept that, did you?” Leek moves into Alex’s personal space, voice falling dangerously low,

“I thought you were capable of doing the job I personally stuck my neck out for you to get, all three of you. I - idiotically I see now and considering your history I should have changed my mind earlier - thought the three of you could do as you were told.”

“You didn’t do your research very well.” Alex does not make any effort to lower her own voice. She’s entered a staring contest with Oliver Leek. She does this with Nick when they butt heads. She’s never tried this with Leek.

“Connor!” Abby’s voice, light and hopeful, soars above the sharply pointed words being passed between Leek and Alex.

Connor has arrived, reliable laptop bag slung over his shoulder. He’s wearing the blue shirt again, the slivers of it they can see making it easy for Abby and Alex to track him weaving around the soldiers. He’s wearing a hat again. Alex doesn’t quite understand the hats, but now really isn’t the time to ask. Abby takes hold of Alex’s arm and pulls her away from Leek in Connor’s direction. The three of them invade the patio tables of a café across the road from the station so Connor can set up his laptop and trawl through his database.

“What do we know?” he asks the moment his laptop wheezes to life. Alex spreads the map across the free space of the table.

“Over-oxygenation, we think Carboniferous. There are spiders with scorpion features but they’re not the issue.” Alex answers while redrawing her lines on the map with a pen that had fallen out of Connor’s bag.

“The only other creature we’ve seen is this centipede, a huge centipede, I…” Abby hesitates, glancing at Alex, “Could that be what’s attacking people?” she asks. Abby leans over Connor’s shoulder to watch him navigate through his website.

“Okay, Carboniferous, so it’s probably an Arthropleura. That’s a centipede on steroids, basically, longer than any of us are tall. It’s more or less blind…good sense of smell and touch,” he feels more and more like Rd-D2 when he looks up and finds both Abby and Alex staring at him, “I mean, this thing is pretty big and scary looking, but it’s more or less timid. It’s the kind of bug that’d stick to the kitchen at parties.”

“The description matches but the temperament is way off.” Abby replies.

“It ate dead wood and leaves.” Connor points out. Abby frowns,

“So it’s not poisonous?” 

“No way.”

“What killed the pest controller then?” Alex asks, “Not the spiders, not this artho-whatsit-”

“Someone’s dead?” As Connor’s concern spikes, the pulse in Alex’s neck stops jumping. Maybe the creature that had killed the pest controller has already gone back home. She hopes that’s the case, doesn’t particularly fancy crawling around miles of London Underground looking for a bug. Or more accurately, being left on the surface while the others crawl around miles of London Underground looking for a bug. Abby starts to explain the pest controller. Alex doesn’t hear the explanation. There’s a commotion at the station entrance, the soldiers Leek had sent down after Stephen stamping their way up and off the escalators with shouts of medic, stretcher, ambulance. Medic. Stretcher. Ambulance.

Alex’s backside has hardly touched the hard plastic of the chair before she’s sprung towards the train station again. Abby and Connor turn, confused, and then there’s a clatter as Connor knocks over his chair in his attempt to get up as quickly as possible.

Nick. Nick’s there, he’s fine. Stephen’s not. He’s there. He’s not fine. Nick’s got most of his weight, Nick’s the one propelling him forward. Stephen seems to be trying to walk but his feet aren’t cooperating. Nick’s managed to pull one of Stephen’s arms around his neck to support him. Alex trips, manages to turn that trip into a dive to duck under Stephen’s other arm. Her bag hits the bone of her hip, but the sharp starburst of pain that fires is far more dull than usual. The band in her hair snaps. A second ambulance had turned up at the station once Ricky had arrived at hospital, and it’s towards this vehicle that Alex and Nick push Stephen.

“Paramedic!” Alex has never heard Leek shout before, “Ryan, report!” He asks for Tom Ryan, but it’s Nick that answers.

“He’s been bitten by the creature, the centipede-”

“Arthropleura.” Alex supplies.

“-same wound, same symptoms as the pest controller,” Ryan, having jogged forward when Nick had taken control of the report, helps them get Stephen down and onto the stretcher that’s been wheeled out. Stephen’s shaking, and he’s looking up at the sky but he doesn’t seem to be seeing. Nick takes hold of his chin, gentle as he turns Stephen’s face towards him, “That poison’s going to destroy his nervous system.”

“Tell them about Helen.” Stephen’s voice. Hoarse, forced, taking a huge amount of effort. There’s blood trickling down his neck, coming from a puncture wound in the flesh that connects his neck and his shoulder. Alex’s hand goes to his throat, looking for a pulse.

“Helen?” Alex and Leek repeat the name at the same time.

“He hallucinated her.” Is all Nick says in answer, resolutely turning away from Leek. The stretcher is rolled away, out of their reach. Alex’s hand comes away red. She stares at it until Nick’s fingers enter her peripheral vision and take hold of her wrist. He’s pulling his sleeve over his own hand, wiping the blood from her palm. “Get that off,” he mutters, not particularly addressing her, “You have to go with him. Alexandra,” her first name in its entirety pulls her attention, “They won’t take me, they’ll only take family. You have to go.”

“Niamh.” There’s a clamour of voices, Abby, Connor, soldiers. Stephen saying her mother’s name.

“He means you.” Nick says. He lets go of Alex’s wrist, and that’s her cue. She inhales quickly, deeply, through her nose and turns to the stretcher. She can feel her heartbeat at the base of her skull. Her clean hand moves to rest on Stephen’s forehead. Temperature. He’s sweating buckets. His blood is still stuck in the lines of her palm.

“Not Niamh, Steve. Naimhan Stevens.” That had been a joke between them, he had told her. Stephen chokes out a laugh, repeats the phrase.

“You look like my sister-in-law.” Stephen tells her. Alex swallows hard before she replies,

“I know. What do you feel, Stephen?”

“Like I’m dying,” he answers. She clicks her tongue. Through laboured breathing, Stephen smiles, “Invoking Nonna?”

“We’re moving,” A paramedic announces, grabbing hold of the handles of the stretcher and pulling, “Are you coming?”

“Yes. Yes.” Alex replies. She gathers her hair as if to tie it, then remembers the bobble had broken. She accepts the hand the other paramedic is holding out to help her up into the ambulance. When she looks out the doors, in the split-second before it slams shut after the stretcher, she sees Nick. Hands firmly balled in pockets, shoulders set. Face blank. Bad news. Abby and Connor each hover over a shoulder, Connor with a hand clamped on top of his hat. Abby’s hand has creeped up onto Nick’s shoulder and is gripping it so hard her knuckles are white. Nick turns and marches away as the door closes. Alex leans over and lifts Stephen’s wrist to take one of the hair ties he still wears - a habit from his mid-nineties-long-hair phase he still hasn’t lost - and makes an attempt to tie her hair back but strands stick to her bloody palm.

The paramedic is moving quickly, strategically, peeling the black jumpsuit off the top half of Stephen’s body and then cutting his t-shirt away from around his shoulder.

“Do you know this man?” The paramedic asks, blindly reaching for a pack of antibacterial wipes and passing them back to Alex, “Wipe that blood off before you touch anything. Tell me what you know.”

“He’s Stephen James Hart, born thirteen-oh-three-nineteen-seventy-three. He has no allergies, no current illness and is on no medication-” Alex rattles the information off, trying to answer all the most likely questions as quickly and concisely as possible.

“Smoking, alcohol, drugs?”

“No, not since last week, and no. Blood type O-negative. Uh…” she’s not sure what else she can say.

“That’s good information to have, thank you. Who are you?”

“Alexandra Louise Hart, I’m his niece. Also O-negative.”

“What happened?”

“Two people have been patients in your hospital in the last twenty-four hours suffering from insect bites. The first was a pest controller who died a few hours ago, and the second was a soldier who simply had an allergic reaction. Stephen has been bitten by the same thing that bit the pest controller.”

“By what, exactly?”

“An insect.”

“An insect?”

“That’s all I know.” It feels like a lie, the words sit heavy and sour on her tongue even though she’s telling the truth. She can’t explain it. She’s not sure if she’d be arrested or sectioned if she tried. 

“Are you hurt?”

“No. No, I’m fine.” Alex answers. She tries pulling her hair together again, and succeeds this time. The lack of hair in her eyes, invisible strands trailing across her cheeks, helps a little. Stephen’s croaking under the oxygen mask, trying to pull at the belts that are across his body to stop him from rolling off the stretcher.

“We’ve got to keep him calm, Alexandra.” The paramedic tells her. Alex shifts to kneel on the floor with her knees apart to steady herself as the ambulance swerves round a corner.

“Steve. Stephen,” her hand finds his forehead again, checking the temperature with the back of her knuckles before moving her hand to his cheek and then taking it away in favour of pulling his hands away from the straps, “Stephen, you’re in an ambulance. I’m here. It’s okay.”

“Bloody well isn’t.” She can just about decipher his words through the oxygen mask.

“We can pretend,” Alex replies, “We can pretend.”

“Bright.” Stephen says. Alex shades his eyes with her hand, using the other to anchor herself to the stretcher that’s secured to the floor.

“Night-night.” Alex growls in the voice Stephen used to use for her teddy bear when she was still in primary school. He chokes a laugh.

“Keep him talking, keep him awake.” The paramedic tells her.

“Do you feel nauseous?” Alex asks. Her uncle grunts an affirmative response. “Can you see alright?” A negative reply. Again, “Bright. Blur.” Alex does her best to cover his eyes. Then, “Nick.”

“He’s back at the station, he’s okay. Everyone’s okay. You just had to be the drama queen. Leek’s steaming, says we were playing at being heroes.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“That he hadn’t done enough research.”

“Good girl.” He laughs again.

“We’re almost there,” the paramedic tells them, Alex switches her attention to her, “You’re doing well.” Alex nods. When she looks back to Stephen she lifts her hand away from his eyes to check on him. His eyes are closed.

“Stephen? Stephen?” her hand finds his uninjured shoulder. She doesn’t dare move it for fear of hurting him.

“Keep him awake!” the paramedic calls, shaking Stephen’s leg, “Stephen? Mr Hart? Can you hear me?” the ambulance turns and, unprepared, Alex loses her balance. 

***

Alex slumps in the hard orange chair she’s been provided with. Hospital chairs only ever seem to come in orange or lime green. The doctor, surname Lewis, had done her best to treat the pest controller and has been given Stephen’s case. A call from Leek had given access to the pest controller’s records from his stay in the same room she and Stephen are in now. She can track Stephen’s symptoms by it, and she knows what’s going to happen next. Alex swallows hard and leans forward to put the clipboard down on Stephen’s shins. He’s unresponsive, convulsing. Stripped to the waist so the bite is easily accessible, oxygen mask securely fastened. His heartbeat is erratic but it’s there, trackable on the same screen that’s displaying his blood pressure. The bleeding has slowed with his heartbeat, but he’s lost more blood than the pest controller because the centipede had bitten him in a different place, so a blood bag has been hooked up to an IV stand.

She sits back and crosses her legs, covering them with the red blanket she’s been provided with. She’s always run cold. That she knows she inherited from Stephen’s side of the family. Doctor Lewis is sitting at a desk in the next room, a nurse comparing notes with her. When she catches Alex’s eye, Alex holds her hand by her ear and makes the sign for phone. Lewis nods, holds up five fingers, and taps the nurse's shoulder so he follows her out of the room. Alex dials Nick. He answers on the first ring.

How is he?

“Not dead. Yet. But dying. He’s dying, Nick,” Alex’s chest is tight in a way she’s never felt before, “He’s fitting, they’ve got an oxygen mask on him and they’ve started a blood transfusion.”

Did they learn anything from the pest controller that can help us? 

“Only that they have no treatments here that’ll touch him. They gave us one option, antivenom.”

Say again? Antivenom?

“An antivenom would give him a chance, but they’d need a sample of the actual venom in the first place to find out if they had anything that would counteract it, he doesn’t have enough time for them to trial-and-error.”

A pure sample of venom?

“What, you know how to milk centipedes?” Alex’s laugh is hiccupy.

I have an idea. 

“Nick?”

You stay there. Keep an eye on him, alright? Can he hear you?

“He’s not responding, but they’re pretty sure he can.”

Tell him I love him.

“I will.”

I’ll call you later. He’s about to hang up, she knows it, he isn’t one for formal goodbyes, she has to dive in now-

“Nick?”

What?”

“He didn’t hallucinate Helen, did he,” It’s a statement, not a question, “When he was responsive he was totally lucid.” There’s a pause, she can hear the background noise of the others fading with Nick’s decisive footfalls.

No. No, he didn’t, an irritated sigh crackles over the line, Helen’s alive. Helen’s alive. Helen’s alive and Stephen’s dying. It’s backwards. I wasn’t sure, that’s why I didn’t say anything, but she gave Stephen a message.

“A message?”

She wants to meet. On the other side of the anomaly.

“Nick-”

I’m not doing it. Not now.

“Good,” there’s no reply, “I’ll call if there’s any changes, okay?”

Alex plugs her earbuds into her iPod to avoid the happy-go-lucky song on the radio and leans forward. She links her hand with Stephen’s shaking one and whispers Nick’s message to him. Just talks to him. Helen’s alive that’s fucking insa- 

She gives him the other earbud so he can listen to David Bowie with her. She keeps whispering, mouthing the lyrics and waiting for the doctor to come back.

Alex doesn’t hear the footsteps that approach the room, then stop, but she does hear when something hits the door, like whoever it is hasn’t put the brakes on hard enough and their foot kept going when their brain stopped. Thinking it’s the doctor, she pulls her earbud out, cutting a verse short, and moves towards the door with the blanket tight around her shoulders. She can’t see anyone through the meshed glass of the window, so she opens the door. Looks to the left. The right. There’s no one in sight. Alex shrugs and goes back to her post, trying to sit in a slightly different position so her legs won’t go numb. Her phone jangles, not the McFly song but the standard text-alert sound.

Still on?

Oh. Reality. She’s due in Cambridge in two hours. She’s not going to be in Cambridge in two hours. She’s still going to be at the hospital, Stephen halfway through a blood transfusion. Living? Dying, still? Can she lie? How would she lie? ‘Hi, was measuring wind speed to calculate the frequency of spatial-temporal rips in the atmosphere, lost track of time,’ perhaps. Or maybe, ‘I know this is the third time I’ve postponed this date but I have a really good reason, I just can’t tell you or you get arrested and I never get to see you again.’ 

She settles for, In hospital. S in accident. Am ok. Using a single thumb to type, she punches out as few letters as possible so she can keep a hand on Stephen. She watches the screen, waiting. Reading and re-reading her message until the reply pops into existence,

Which hospital?

After answering this she sends texts to Nick. Then Connor. Ryan. Abby. Asking for updates. She chews on a fingernail for something to do until Doctor Lewis comes back.

“Are we any closer on you telling me what really happened?” She asks with one well-plucked eyebrow arched.

“No. It wouldn’t help.” Alex replies, making sure she makes eye contact with the doctor to convey her seriousness.

“Elaborate?”

“I can’t.” Alex shrugs. It’s out of her hands.

“What are you, MI5?” The doctor asks with a quiet chuckle. Alex shrugs again. “Alright,” she relents, “Now that he’s somewhat stable, is there anyone we should inform? Next of kin, wife, kids?”

“I’m all the family there is,” Alex answers, “And his partner’s still at the station trying to get a venom sample for you. He was there when it happened.”

“I understand. I’m afraid there isn’t much we can do until then. Keep his oxygen levels up. Make sure the bleeding doesn’t start again,” at Doctor Lewis’ signal, the nurse moves forward and begins the process of changing the shoulder bandage that has gone from the colour of white wine to red, moscato to merlot. Stephen twitches, though Alex can’t be sure if it’s from pain or from the sensation of the cloth peeling away from the open wound. Alex wraps her fingers around his thumb. In that moment, she’s a child. Knee-high. Doctor Lewis checks her watch, the glass face flashing in the sun as it turns, “If he follows the symptomatic path of the pest-controller, the convulsions will get worse, and sooner rather than later. It will be unpleasant and upsetting. You don’t have to stay in this room, even in the hospital, if you are unable to do so.”

“I’m staying.”

“He will be strapped to the bed to prevent causing himself harm.” Doctor Lewis adds. Alex’s mind’s eye creates the image without permission. She repeats her earlier statement. Doctor Lewis nods once, curtly, and moves around the bed to hover over the nurse working on Stephen’s shoulder. Stephen’s hand squeezes, most likely involuntarily, instinctively, but Alex squeezes back. She doesn’t know if he can feel it, separate the feeling from what’s happening to his shoulder, his neck. His head twitches, pushing back into the pillow. Alex mumbles quiet comforts in Italian, rising from her chair a little. She'd be in his eyeline if he could see. It doesn’t matter where she is, he can’t open his eyes to see her, but she feels more present watching his eyelids move. A leg kicks hard. Alex’s free hand clamps down on the corresponding knee.

“I understand, but if I thought I was dying I don’t think I’d want to be left alone.”

“Of course,” Doctor Lewis nods, “We’ll be here. Should we expect anyone else?”

“If a Professor Nick Cutter arrives, he’s the one with the venom sample.”

“We’ll let the front desk know, they’ll let him straight through.”

“A Juke McCall might turn up, he can come through.” Alex adds, her phone jangling again in her hand. Doctor Lewis nods again, glancing at her nurse to make sure he has also heard, 

“I will tell you that while speaking to Oliver Leek on the phone we were told to allow certain people in if they arrive, including a James Lester?”

“That sounds about right,” Alex lifts a necklace to her mouth and pushes the wedding rings strung on it between her back teeth, “That’s fine.” Not that she could stop them. 

***

Nick arrives first. Before Leek. Connor and Abby were stopped at the front desk, but Nick just kept going as soon as he heard the room number. He first pauses - briefly - to hand Doctor Lewis the venom sample and tell her next to nothing. The second time he pauses is to greet Alex, ruffling her hair as though he’s petting a dog, asking if she’s alright and waiting for her reply before he goes to Stephen. Alex wraps the wire of her earbuds around her fingers so Nick doesn’t get clotheslined by it. He’s careful here. Presses the back of his hand to Stephen’s forehead instead of kissing him. Takes his pulse at the wrist, not under the jaw. Sits opposite Alex and waits.

“You’re not going to make it to Cambridge in time.” Nick doesn’t look at Alex when he says it. With a glance at the door he takes Stephen’s hand. Alex leans back and lifts her feet to set them on the metal frame of the bed.

“He’s coming here. Swinging by your house to get him some overnight stuff.” Alex replies.

“He knows where the key is?”

“Yeah.” Nick’s eyebrows lift, then lower. Then he nods. He’s wearing his approval face. “What’re we going to do?” she asks. Nick lets himself look at her. She’s blinking rapidly.

“We…we’ve done what we can. You stick with me, you’ll be fine. Whatever happens. Alex? Whatever happens. We’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. She told us to get her a sample of the venom, we got her a sample of the venom.”

“How did you do it?”

“I got the centipede to bite me. Connor found something to wrap my arm in that the mandibles couldn’t get through, sellotaped a freezer bag to it.”

“Thank god for zip-seals, I guess.”

“Ah, don’t bother with him, just thank me.” Nick quips, and his wee smile is back. Alex laughs, just a little. Doors swing open in the distance, letting the sound of Connor and Abby bickering into the corridor.

“No, Connor, this one.”

“She said thirty two, it’s that way.”

“No, she said twenty two.”

“She said twenty six.” Alex calls. A shock of white-blonde hair peeks through the door, and the rubber soles of Connor’s shoes squeak as he brakes.

“How’s he doing?” Abby asks, her voice losing its edges as though she’ll wake Stephen up if she talks any louder.

“If they find an anti-venom that can counteract the arthropleura venom, and if it takes, it could be two hours before it has enough of an effect for him to regain consciousness.” Nick explains.

“If it takes?” Connor echoes.

“It’s a fifty-fifty chance. They could cancel each other out or attack his system together,” Alex elaborates, “Came pretty close to the second option the last time he got a snake bite ‘cause we didn’t know what had done it.” 

Leek enters the room, sliding smooth shoes over linoleum flooring with minimal sound. He must have trained himself to walk like this so he can be as close to Lester as a suit jacket without their supervisor serving him a restraining order. He picks up the clipboard detailing the pest-controller’s time at the hospital that Alex had abandoned.

“They’re running tests now to see if they have a polyvalent antivenom that could work, and a secretary is phoning round the nearest clinics and hospitals to check their antivenom supplies.” Leek’s talking quietly too. What is it about hospitals that make people lower their noise levels to library settings? Tucking the clipboard under his arm, Leek reaches forward to the bottle of hand sanitiser that’s attached to the bed. Alex had only just gotten the sting of it out of her nose.

“This shouldn’t have happened. We should have been able to assess the situation so we knew what the real danger was. Ricky, your soldier, would have died if none of us had been there. Stephen might still die because we didn’t have access. This shouldn’t have happened.” Nick’s voice isn’t at library settings. He knows the hospital doesn’t care. He knows there’s no one around to file noise complaints. A pair of nurses at Doctor Lewis’ desk, trying to watch the conversation without being obvious. They’ll be more confused than ever. Leek hesitates, looking from Stephen to Nick. It had taken him a while to twig what the connection between them was, and now he knows that makes going against either of them that much more complicated.

“You’re due your two-month review soon. I will set up that meeting with Lester and you can discuss this with him then. I agree that going guns-first is not working for you.”

“Because we won’t let you kill the creatures.” Abby points out. Leek doesn’t deign to reply. His phone rings, and he chooses to answer that instead, leaving the room altogether. Abby scoffs, disbelieving, “Look, I know it’s hurt people, but it’s not like it was hunting them. It was scared.”

“Abby, we understand. Stephen would understand. They’re wild animals in unknown environments.” Nick assures her. Abby shoogles her shoulders and asks the nurses where she can get a chair for herself and Connor. Alex pushes her music back into her ears, keeping the volume low enough that she can hear the steady beep of the heart monitor. She sticks the rings in her mouth again, and her foot bounces against the floor. Nick leans forward, elbows on his knees, turning a bead bracelet that Stephen had bought him in Budapest over and over between his fingers. 

Doctor Lewis wheels a trolley into the room twenty minutes, twenty hours, fifteen seconds later, set with instruments and syringes and gloves. Abby pulls Connor out by the elbow. Nick doesn’t move a muscle. She talks them through the process. She gives them the statistics. She gives Alex a fresh clipboard with a form that she as next of kin has to fill out to give consent on Stephen’s behalf. To risk his life, to save his life. She reads it out as she writes with the attached pen. Doctor Lewis gives them the option to leave again. They refuse. She preps the antivenom. She makes no promises.

[thunder-jolt]

Every Incorrect Quote/”Based on Vine” with my Go Nagai Linkers; Sayaka, Mirai, Qiao, Rosita, and Hyeong...

Qiao: WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BULLSHIT?! EXCITEMINT MY ASS!

-------

Sayaka: Are you hungry right now?

Rosita: Not at all.

Sayaka: REALLY?! I’m SO hungry!

Rosita: Then you should probably eat. (I’m sure there’s a restaurant nearby...)

-------

*Just Dance by Lady Gaga plays, Mirai Asuka drives in, and lowers the music’s volume*

Mirai: It’s Britney, bitch.

-------

Qiao: WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Hyeong: I, shaved my eyebrows.

Qiao: WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!

Hyeong: I don’t know.

-------

Sayaka: Violets are blue, Roses are red-

Hyeong: *sees Enma-Kun’s death* YO, HOLY SHIT HE DEAD!

-------

Mirai: Photobombing is so 2014, stop it YA STUPID, FUCKING DINOSAUR!

-------

Sayaka: Story time! *introduces the Go Nagai Linkers* Only one of them can strike the mightiest of poses.

Mirai: *tries her best to pose*

Rosita: *poses like a female sports star*

Hyeong: *does a split*

Sayaka: Oh shi-

-------

Rosita: I DON’T WHAT YOU’RE ON- *Hyeong burns an evil corporation’s building, full of people inside* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! YOU BETTER STOP! STOP!

Hyeong: Woah!

Rosita: BITCH STOP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!

-------

Sayaka: I love you!

80s Devilman chibi: I rove rou!

Sayaka: I love you!

80s Devilman chibi: I ROVE ROU!

Sayaka: I love you!

80s Devilman chibi: I ROVE ROOUUU!

-------

Hyeong: Hey, you sell crack here?

Mirai: Hm. I wish, but no.

Hyeong: Oh.

-------

Some girl: So is this gonna be a thing? Me and you?

Hyeong: Uhhhh...

Some girl:

Hyeong: Uhhhh...

Some girl:

Hyeong: MY DICK FELL OFF!

-------

Mirai: You wanna make out?

Sayaka: No. (Not right now...)

Mirai: *internally crying* Me neither, I wanna go to sleep. *snores*

-------

Rosita: Hi, welcome to Chili’s.

-------

Devilman, roasting Shadius: His hair? WACK! His jewelry? WACK! His foot stance? WACK! The way that he talks? WACK! The way that he doesn’t like to smile? WACK! Me? I’M TIGHT AS FU-

--- --- ---

Rosita: Every kiss starts with K!

Ryo Asuka: Actually, every kiss starts with consent.

Rosita: Go back to your linker, Mirai. *sprays water*

Ryo Asuka: God damn it-

--- --- ---

Hyeong: Hey girls, and Qiao! I’M HOME!

Rosita: Oh how ni- OH GOD!

Qiao: What in?

Mirai: Oh fu-

Sayaka: Eheheh... Uh, Hyeong? Who or what’s that you got there?

Hyeong: *sipping a boba while holding a leash that holds a giant-ass centipede* A boba! And I got Jo-Jo-Joey!

Rosita, Sayaka, Mirai, and Qiao: *unsure* Uh-huh...

---------

Ryo Asuka, seeing it all go down in Singapore and seeing Shadius: I’m disgusted. I revolted. I dedicate my entire life to our lord and savior: Go Nagai, AND THIS IS THE STUFF WE GET?!

Qiao: I just had a burst of energy and I think it's my body's last "hooray" before it completely shuts down...

====

Rosita: They're right there.

Mirai: What the fuck is this?

Rosita: Watch your profanity...

Mirai: (replaces Mirai's voice for Ryo's dub voice from the 80s Devilman dub) I don't give a shit.

====

Rosita: *walking* *turns her head* Hazzzt!

One of Hyeong's Yokai (in this case; a Kappa): *sitting on a stack of boxes*

Qiao: Is- Is it real?

====

Hyeong: *to Mirai, in an argument* WHAT THE FUCK IS UP, MIRAI?! NO, SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE!? STEP THE FUCK UP, MIRAI!

====

Sayaka: How do I start this darned thing?

*Devilman No Uta plays*

Mirai: Man Sayaka, I've been having a bad day- Oh my god, it's our song! IT'S OUR SONG!

Sayaka: *screeches demonically*

====

Rosita: Hyeong, get out of the tank.

Hyeong: You ain't my mummy.

Rosita: Get out of the fricking tank, I am your mum. (Mum-figure I may add.)

Hyeong: You ain't my mum.

Rosita: I'm your mum, get out of the ta-

Hyeong: I'M IN A TANK, AND YOU AIN'T!

(this continues before Mirai decides to take the "ordering people out of things" business)

====

Hyeong: *narrating, as a tanuki walks in* You got this, Tanny, make him wait for it... Boom.

====

Sayaka: Mother-trucker, dude! That hurt like a buttcheek on a stick.

Qiao: Watch your profanity.

====

Qiao: Rose, they following me, Rose! THEY'RE FOLLOWING ME!

Rosita: OH, OH WHO'S FOLLOWING YOU?!

Qiao: *points to Hyeong's moth yokai* The moths!

Rosita: THE MOTHS?!

====

Hyeong: Woah- WOAH! HAHA! HURRICANE KATRINA! More like Hurricane Tortilla~

====

Mirai: *beating up a Despairus (Despairiuses is plural, right?)* HATE THIS THIS DAMN ASS BITCH DESPAIR! FUCK THEM! *continues beating it up*

====

Mirai: *opens up gift, to see it's an empty book* It's an empty book. Thanks...

====

Hyeong: *seeing Sayaka's demon form, amazed* HELL FUCKIN' YEAH!

====

Hyeong: OH MY GAAAAAAAAWD! A TORNADO IS FORMIN'! BYE!

Hyeong's Yokai: *demonic screeching* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Hyeong: But we're going shopping!

Hyeong and her Yokai: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

====

Qiao: When I say "slavery", you all say "sorry", SLAVERY!

His classmates: Sorry.

Qiao: *internally* It's okay.

====

Mirai: *slides across the ice to the reader/self-insert* Good evening.

====

Hyeong: I have an idea, imagine this but-

Rosita: WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCK!

Hyeong: OH MY GAWD! A SNAKE!

The rest of the Go Nagai Linkers: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

====

Hyeong: Back at it again at Krispy Kreme. *does a backflip, breaks sign*

====

Rosita: Who wants to get crazy for NEW YEARS!?

The Linkers: YEEAAAAAAAAAAH!

Sayaka: *breaks glass bowl full of ornaments* YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

====

Rosita: Welcome to my kitchen... We have bananas and avocadoes...

====

Hyeong: The cheese OF TRUTH! *whaps cheese on newspaper* Immigrants cause cancer...

====

Qiao: Toss me my keys.

Sayaka: *throws printer* *printer shatters*

Qiao: I said my keys.

Sayaka: I thought you said printer!

Qiao: Why the fuck would I say printer?

====

Qiao: *narrating about the 80s Devilman chibi* Even the chibis are one of the most dangerous creatures in the world, so I built this cage to keep them secure so there's no possible- *80s Devilman chibi escapes* Oh my god-

====

Mirai: This demon child is definitely on crack right now...

Hyeong: *ball bounces on her head* Yas! *ball bounces on her head again* YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

====

Sayaka: Look it. Look it! It's frickin' bats! I love Halloween.

====

Hyeong: MIRAI!

Mirai: *stares deeply into someone's soul* *dabs*

Hyeong: OOOOOOOOOHHHHH!

====

Sayaka: Wait, oh yeah, wait a minute, Mr. Postman.

Qiao: Yeeeeeee...

====

Hyeong: Heheh, what're you doing?

Sayaka: Dancing.

Hyeong: There's no music playing.

Sayaka:

====

Hyeong: *about to prank the 80s Devilman chibi* Hey, I shoved that ball down my pants.

80s Devilman chibi: *drops ball in fear*

====

Mirai: We all die, either kill yourself or get killed. *dances* Whatchu gonna do? *dances* Whatchu gonna do?

====

Sayaka: *Akira Fudo through Sayaka* Honestly, I don't remember, I was probably fucked up. Yeah, I was crazy back then... Ehehehehh...

====

Hyeong: Get to Del Taco! They got a new thing called "Fre Sha Vacado" FRE SHA VA-!

====

Meanwhile, the links...

Cutie Honey: Enma-Kun, your speech is so good!

Enma-Kun: OHIDIDN'TEVENREALYTRYTHATMUCH,IT'SJUSTALLIMPROVEAND-

Devilman: OH MY GOD, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TAKE THE FRICKING COMPLIMENT, AAAAAAAAA----

====

Kouji Kabuto: Yo, Enma! You want some? *passes an empty can*

Enma-Kun: This bitch empty! YEET! *throws can*

====

Devilman: I wanna see my lil boy!

Sayaka: *holds the 80s Devilman chibi* Here he comes!

Devilman: I wanna see my lil boy!

====

Rosita or Cutie Honey: Let me see what you have!

Hyeong or Enma-Kun: A KNIFE!

Rosita or Cutie Honey: NO!

====

80s Devilman chibi: Who-Ah... Whuah?

Devilman: What does that say, Devi-bi?

80s Devilman chibi: Whuah?

Devilman: NO!

80s Devilman chibi: Whuah?

====

Kouji and Devilman: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Kouji: That’ll be the last time-

Devilman: NO! DON’T LET GO!

Kouji: I’M DYING! I’M DYING-

Kouji and Devilman: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

====

Devilman: So bored...

Enma-Kun: I wish Kouji’s here...

Kouji: HEY GUYS!

Devilman and Enma-Kun: KOUJI!

====

Mirai or Ryo: You’re all going to hell. Good bye~

====

Sayaka: *to Devilman* You are my DAAAD~!

Chorus: You’re my dad! Boogie-woogie!

====

Hyeong: Hey, how much money do you have?

Sayaka: Oh, like 69 cents...

Hyeong: Oh! You know what that means?

Sayaka: *cries* I don’t have enough money for teriyaki chicken...

====

Rosita: Um Hyeong, would you read number 23 for the class?

Hyeong: Nah, I can not.

Hyeong: What up? I’m Hyeong, I’m 16, and I never fucking learned how to read.

====

Mirai: Psycho Jenny, Psycho Jenny... PSYCHO JENNY! Oh my fucking god, she fucking dead...

====

Mirai: *to a Despairus* GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING MONEY! *throws Despairus so hard to a wall*

====

Hyeong: All I wanted to tell you all is that school’s not important; be who you wanted to be. If you wanted to be a dog, RUFF! Y’know?

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

May make two more Linkers that aren’t Go Nagai-related, but all and all, here!

@sundove88 and @shonenlinkage