#fossil fish plate

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Ray Tooth Plate Myliobatis sp Aquia Formation Palaeocene Maryland USA Genuine

Fossil Ray – Myliobatis sp. (Eagle Ray Tooth Plate)

Geological Period: Late Palaeocene (Thanetian Stage)

Age: Approximately 59 to 56 million years ago

Formation: Aquia Formation

Locality: Wades Bay, Charles County, Maryland, USA

This listing features a genuine tooth plate from Myliobatis sp., a genus of eagle ray that once inhabited the warm, shallow seas of what is now the Atlantic Coastal Plain of North America. This fossil comes from the Aquia Formation, a well-known Late Palaeocene marine deposit exposed along the Potomac River and its tributaries.

The Myliobatis tooth plate is characterised by its flat, pavement-like structure, composed of interlocking teeth adapted for crushing hard-shelled prey such as mollusks and crustaceans. These rays were part of the elasmobranch lineage, related to modern rays and sharks, and played an important ecological role in Palaeocene marine ecosystems.

The Aquia Formation, dating to the Thanetian stage of the Palaeocene, consists of glauconitic sands and silts deposited in a shallow marine environment. Fossils from this formation include a rich variety of shark teeth, ray dentition, bony fish, and marine reptiles.

Actual Specimen Pictured: The item you see is the exact fossil you will receive.

Scale: 1cm cube included in the image for accurate sizing. Please refer to the photo.

Condition: Naturally preserved and stable; some wear consistent with aquatic fossilisation processes.

Excellent for:

Fossil collectors and marine palaeontology enthusiasts

Educational and teaching collections

Natural history exhibits

Thoughtful gifts for lovers of ancient sea life

All of our Fossils are 100% Genuine Specimens & come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

We carefully select each specimen based on authenticity, scientific interest, and visual appeal.

[transparentfossil]

plate of 8 fossil fish specimens -Knightia eocena- Ypresian Wyoming USA

[alphynix]

Osteostracans were an ancient group of jawless fish, closely related to early jawed vertebrates, whose fossils are known from the mid-Silurian to the late Devonian of what is now North America, Europe, and Asia.

They were heavily armored, with bony head shields and rows of large scales covering their bodies. While their flattened shapes and upward-facing eyes have resulted in them traditionally being interpreted as mud-grubbing bottom-dwellers, their paddle-shaped pectoral fins, dorsal fins, and strong tails indicate they were also quite good swimmers – and their diverse hydrodynamic head shield shapes suggest they probably had a much wider range of ecologies than previously thought.

Although many osteostracans had large flaring spines on the sides of their heads, or long snout-like spikes at the front, Tauraspis rara here was unique in having two long front-facing horn-like projections.

Around 7.5cm long (~3"), it lived in brackish and freshwater environments in what is now northern Siberia during the early Devonian, about 410-407 million years ago. Like other osteostracans it had a small keyhole-shaped "nostril" opening, and large patches of sensory organs known as "cephalic fields" on the sides and top of its head shield.

The fields were covered with a mosaic of small bony plates, and their exact function is still a mystery – but they may have been involved in sensing vibrations in the water, or possibly even been electric organs.

Similarly, what Tauraspis used its unusual pair of "horns" for is also unknown.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Ferrón, Humberto G., et al. "Computational fluid dynamics suggests ecological diversification among stem-gnathostomes." Current Biology 30.23 (2020): 4808-4813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.031

Janvier, Philippe. Early vertebrates. Oxford University Press, 1996. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294830957_Early_vertebrates

King, Benedict, Yuzhi Hu, and John A. Long. "Electroreception in early vertebrates: survey, evidence and new information." Palaeontology 61.3 (2018): 325-358. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12346

Mark-Kurik, Elga, and Philippe Janvier. "Early Devonian osteostracans from Severnaya Zemlya, Russia." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15.3 (1995): 449-462. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1995.10011241

Wikipedia contributors. “Osteostraci” Wikipedia, 25 Jan. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteostraci

[credus99-blog]

Atterran Terrestrial Catfish (also known as whisker fish) are a lineage of non-teleost fish that have successfully transitioned to terrestrial life, like the ancestors of tetrapods on Earth and Atterra.

Like Earth, the oldest currently known catfish fossils date back to the late cretaceous period of Atterra, which, according to Old World archives, was found in the western continent. While the original fossil was lost during The Fall, the surviving data indicates that the fossil was from a species of armored catfish with similar morphological adaptations to modern-day armored catfish. Atterran biologists theorize catfish evolved between 100-110mya at the beginning of the late Cretaceous period or near the end of the middle Cretaceous period. Unlike the terrestrial teleost fish lineages, the ancestors of the terrestrial catfish did not develop within the hollows of Atterra but instead on the evolved deserts of the surface. These basal catfish would move between bodies of water across the desert sands, like the armored catfish of Brazil, to find food and reproduce. Whenever these fish could not find a suitable body of water, they would hunker down in the mud and hibernate until the wet season arrived, bringing more pools for the fish to inhabit.

Over time, during the late cretaceous, as the desert slowly began to become drier and the catfish had to traverse farther and farther to find suitable pools of water, the catfish's branchial tissue behind their gills slowly became more robust. Taking up larger portions of the body behind the head as the gills began to become smaller from less time spent in water. At the same time, the skin of the ancestral terrestrial catfish became thicker and more resistant to water loss, allowing the catfish to spend more time traversing the dunes in search of water or cool places to hide. Eventually, the armor plating of the ancestor's body became less rigid and sparser, allowing the catfish more flexibility as it raffled across the desert, leading the fish to incorporate its tail into its locomotion and utilize it as a powerful springboard to hop forward. As the catfish's gait and locomotion improved, the brachial tissue moved down into the fish's chest cavity to form primitive lungs. The gill arches began to ossify into the ear and hyoid bones to aid the fish in detecting predators and swallowing food. Alongside the new ear bones, the gill cover slowly became less ossified and flexible to turn into external ears.

Terrestrial catfish are believed to have survived the end cretaceous extinction event on Atterra by being generalists that would eat anything they could fit in their mouths and being just armored enough to ward off many potential would-be predators. Like their ancestors, terrestrial catfish still possess mobile venomous dorsal and pectoral spines to ward off predators should their armored hide prove not enough to deter would-be predators. The stings of terrestrial catfish are excruciating and often cause redness and severe swelling around the area of the sting. In some species, tissue necrosis may also occur, making them a dangerous prey item many predators approach with caution when hunting.

[drhoz]

#2829 - Psephophorus terryprachetti - Pterry's Giant Pturtle

A very large, extinct, leatherback turtle from the Eocene, named after beloved author Terry Pratchett. He was pleased about this, saying that anybody that wasn't delighted about getting a species named after them was clearly a Pod being from the Planet Zog.

The first fossils from the genus were discovered by German Paleontologist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1846, but all he had were the dermal plates (not that different from the fossil above, really). That's probably why even by 1879, they still weren't clear on what it actually was - British paleotologist Harry Govier Seeley thought they resembled the armour of an armadillo.

The Pturtle was discovered in New Zealand in the 1990s. It would have been 2.5m long, in life.

Sadly, there's only one Dermochelyid turtle left in the world - the Leatherback Dermochelys coriacea, which is critically endangered in some areas. Leatherbacks are unique compared to other modern sea turtles because they lack a bony shell; instead, its carapace is covered by oily flesh and flexible, leathery skin. They're also the deepest-diving and fastest reptiles in the world, swimming down to over 1200m depth, at speeds of up to 35kph. Their constant activity and internal adaptations lets them run at a surprisingly high internal temperature - 18C above the surrounding water.

The biggest threat to leatherback survival is, unfortunately, humanity - hatchlings can be confused by artificial light and head inland instead of towards the water, older turtles are easily caught in fishing nets, and they can confuse plastic bags floating in the water for the jellyfish that form the bulk of their diet.

Otago Museum, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Chondrichthyes - Chimaeriformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our last order in Chondrichthyes is Chimaeriformes, commonly known as “Chimaeras”, and informally known as “ghost sharks”, “spookfish”, “rabbitfish”, or “rat fish” (not to be confused with the Actinopterygiian “rattails”.) Historically a much more diverse and abundant group, they now only comprise the living families Callorhinchidae (“plough-nosed chimaeras” or “elephantfish”), Chimaeridae (“short-nosed chimaeras”), and Rhinochimaeridae (“long-nosed chimaeras”).

Chimaeras are soft-bodied, with bulky heads and long, tapered tails. Their pectoral fins are large enough to generate lift at a relaxed forward momentum, similar to a kite, giving the chimaera the appearance of "flying" through the water. Their gill arches are condensed into a pouch-like bundle covered by an operculum with a single gill-opening in front of the pectoral fins, similar in appearance to Actinopterygiians. They lack spiracles. There are two dorsal fins: a large triangular first dorsal fin and a low rectangular or depressed second dorsal fin. For defense, some chimaeras have a venomous spine on the front edge of the dorsal fin. In many species, the bulbous snout is modified into an elongated sensory organ, capable of electroreception to find prey. Instead of many sharp, consistently-replaced teeth, chimaeras have just six large, permanent tooth-plates, which grow continuously throughout their entire life. These tooth-plates are arranged in three pairs, with one pair at the tip of the lower jaws and two pairs along the upper jaws. They together form a protruding, beak-like crushing and grinding mechanism, comparable to the incisor teeth of rodents and lagomorphs. Most living species are native to the deep sea, with some species inhabiting depths exceeding 2,000 m (6,600 ft) deep, though the few exceptions include the shallower-dwelling plough-nosed chimaeras (genus Callorhinchus) (image 2), the Rabbit Fish (Chimaera monstrosa), and the Spotted Ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) (image 3).

Chimaeras have separate anal and urogenital openings, rather than a single cloaca. Like sharks and rays, male chimaeras utilize claspers for internal fertilization of females, but unlike sharks and rays, also have retractable sexual appendages known as tentacula to assist in mating. The frontal tentaculum, a bulbous rod which extends out of the forehead, is used to clutch the females' pectoral fins during mating. The prepelvic tentacula are serrated hooked plates normally hidden in pouches in front of the pelvic fins, and they anchor the male to the female. Their claspers are fused together by a cartilaginous sheathe before splitting into a pair of flattened lobes at their tip. Females lay their eggs within spindle-shaped, leathery egg cases which they deposit on the sea floor.

As the most ancient of the Chondrichthyans, Chimaeriformes are truly deserving of the moniker “living fossil”. They have been around since the Early Carboniferous, with the earliest known fossil species being Protochimaera, and split off from the sharks and rays during the Devonian. Modern chimaeras are known from the Early Jurassic, but fossil egg cases from the Late Triassic resembling those of rhinochimaerids and callorhinchids indicate that they had a global distribution earlier than this. Modern chimaeras reached their highest ecological diversity during the Middle Cretaceous. Recent studies indicate that chimaeras were likely a shallow-water group for most of their existence, and only fled to deeper waters in the aftermath of the K-Pg extinction event, adapting to the deep sea to survive.

Propaganda under the cut:

Some chimaera venom can cause pain, necrosis, hallucinations, and localized paralysis in humans. It is not deadly to humans, but has been known to kill Harbor Seals that injested Spotted Ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei).

Spotted Ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) have large, emerald green eyes, which are able to reflect light, similar to the eyes of a cat.

Chimaera teeth are unique among vertebrates, due to their mode of mineralization. Most of each plate is formed by relatively soft osteodentin, but the active edges are supplemented by a unique hypermineralized tissue called pleromin, rather than enamel. Pleromin is an extremely hard enamel-like tissue, arranged into sheets or beaded rods, but it is deposited by mesenchyme-derived cells similar to those that form bone. In addition, pleromin's hardness is due to the mineral whitlockite, which crystalizes within the teeth as the animal matures.

The Australian Ghostshark (Callorhinchus milii) is very popular with fish-and-chips restaurants in New Zealand and is sold as 'flake' or 'whitefish' in Australia.

The Striped Rabbitfish (Hydrolagus matallanasi) can see in total darkness and sense electromagnetic radiation (outside of the visible spectrum) emitted by other marine creatures due to exposed nerves on the sides of its body.

Some species of chimaerids are known to segregate by sex, with females congregating at greater depths than males.

Despite their deep sea habitat and reclusive nature, some chimaera species are still threatened by bycatch due to deep sea trawling for demersal shrimp and prawns. Even when released, most chimaeras do not survive the process of being quickly pulled up from the pressurized deep sea to shallower water.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: hagfish

After taking last week off for mental exhaustion I have returned! And what better way to mark my return than with a shitload (or perhaps a highway load) of slime? Today I'm returning to the agnathan trenches to dredge up one of two living groups of jawless fish. I covered lampreys before, so now it's hagfish time. These ooey gooey critters are both fascinating and kinda gross. Now get ready, because it's time for slime.

(Image: a hagfish in profile. It is a long, brown, eel-like animal with a fin encircling the tail and a small head with no visible eyes or mouth. End ID)

Hagfish, also known as slime eels, are approximately 76 members of the class Myxini. In addition to the living species, hagfish have been preserved in the fossil record, letting us track their evolution through history. Hagfish are one of two living groups of agnathans, commonly known as jawless fish, with the other being the lampreys. As the name suggests, jawless fish are vertebrates without hinged jaws. Way back when bones were the cool new thing in town, agnathans represented the entirety of the vertebrates and were extremely diverse, but the evolution of jawed fish resulted in them getting largely outcompeted, leading to all lineages but the hagfish and lampreys going extinct. Genetic studies indicate that hagfish and lampreys are more closely related to each other than either group is to any other vertebrate. Because they are the only jawless fish left, hagfish and lampreys are of interest to scientists studying the evolution of vertebrates.

(Image: a hagfish coiled up, under orange light. The head is visible, featuring small sensory barbels and a large hole that resembles a mouth but is actually the nostril. End ID)

Hagfish are eel-shaped animals that range in length from a few centimeters to over a meter in the largest species, Eptatretus goliath. They have no scales, flattened tails that bear the only fin, and simple, eyeless heads. The heads bear sensory barbels, a single nostril, and the mouth. The mouth has two pairs of rasping plates that normally sit within the mouth, but can be everted to face outwards. The plates can grab food and pull it into the mouth to be swallowed. Hagfish do not have true eyes, but they do have eyespots that can sense light and dark. Interestingly, their fossil ancestors did appear to have fully-developed eyes that reduced in complexity until the present state. Likewise, ancestral hagfish had a true vertebral column made of cartilage, but modern hagfish only have remnants of their ancestor's vertebrae. Hagfish skin is very loosely connected to the internal body, only attached along the spine and slime glands. This makes the skin very flexible and harder for predators to grab. A third of the blood is contained between the skin and body and is pumped around with the heart as well as a few additional pumps that act as auxiliary hearts. Hagfish have some of the lowest blood pressure of any vertebrate and the highest blood volume to body mass ration of any chordate. Hagfish are also the only vertebrates that do not osmoregulate, meaning they cannot regulate the amount of salt in their bodies. Changes in salinity, especially moving to a lower salinity environment, are very dangerous to hagfish. Hagfish skeletons barely qualify, consisting of only a skull, notochord, and fin rays, all made of cartilage. The gills are internal. Water enters through the mouth and is forced over 5-16 internal gill pouches, then ejected through pores in the side of the body.

(Image: a closeup of a hagfish head with the rasping plates everted. The plates are mounted on pink tissue around the pharynx. there are two plates on either side of the pharyx which look like rows of small, sharp teeth. End ID)

That's all well and good, but you're here because of the slime. The hagfish's main defense is to create lots and lots of slippery slime. The slime helps them slip away from predators. If a fish tries to eat a hagfish, the slime can clog up its gills, forcing the fish to either release the hagfish or suffocate. A common factoid is that a single hagfish can turn a 5-gallon bucket of water into slime in seconds. To produce the slime, the hagfish releases threads made of special proteins into the water from glands on its skin. These proteins react with seawater to create a matrix of trapped water held together by filaments similar to keratin. The slime matrix can expand 10,000 times its original size in 0.4 seconds of exposure to seawater. The slime is quite durable and resistant to breaking and dissolving in water. After sliming, hagfish have been seen wrapping their bodies into an overhand knot and running themselves through the loop to scrape the slime off of themselves. Its possible that the slime also impairs the hagfish's ability to use it's gills and it needs to do the know to get the slime off and breathe again.

(Image: a person reaching into a holding tank full of hagfish and pulling out an armload of thick, viscous, white slime. End ID)

(Video: a hagfish in the wild demonstrating its knotting behavior. This one is going in the opposite direction usually seen: tail-to-head instead of head-to-tail. End ID)

Hagfish are found in most of the oceans, with range varying based on species. They are benthic animals that rarely swim far above the seafloor. Some species dig burrows to shelter in while others will shelter under rocks and other structures to avoid predators. While lying on the sediment, some hagfish species will coil up while others will lie straight. Hagfish are carnivorous and feed with a combination of hunting and scavenging. A large portion of the hagfish diet consists of polychaete worms and other known prey species include small crustaceans and echinoderms. Some species have been known to hunt burrowing fish, possibly by clogging up the burrows with slime to suffocate the prey. If you've seen a documentary about deep-sea fish you probably know about hagfish scavenging. Using their large nostril and sensitive sense of smell, hagfish can sense carcasses from long distances and are often some of the first scavengers to arrive at a new body. They use their rasping plates to pull bits of meat off of the carcass. A similar behavior to the slime-cleaning knots is seen when scavenging, but in reverse, going from tail to head instead of the other way around. This grants the hagfish additional mechanical advantage, allowing it to rip off larger chunks of food. Hagfish will burrow into larger corpses, possibly to get access to a food source with less competition than the outside of the body. Hagfish act as part of the deep ocean's cleaning crew, consuming corpses before they can decay and release potentially harmful chemicals into the water or act as sources of disease. Unlike any other living chordate, the food a hagfish swallows is encased in a permeable membrane during digestion. Hagfish can also absorbed dissolved nutrients through their skin. Hagfish have a very slow metabolism and ones in captivity have been observed going for up to 7 months between meals.

(Image: several hagfish feeing on the body of a fish. The hagfish have their heads on the fish's body and one hagfish is entering the fish's mouth. End ID)

Hagfish reproduction is still something of an enigma as so many of them live in the deep sea, making it difficult to observe them reproducing. It has been observed that females seem to outnumber males, with the exact ration varying depending on species. In some species, the sex ratio is almost even, while in others, there are 7 females to each male. however, it should be noted that females mature sexually faster than males and it has been suggested that this is responsible for the apparent skewed ratio. Hagfish eggs have tufts at the end that cause them to get stuck to each other like velcro. It has been suggested that eggs are laid in clusters possibly in burrows, beneath rocks, or protected with slime. Some species seem to have a mating season and seasonally migrate. Hagfish have only a single ovary or testicle (the latter of which has been described as unusually small by scientists and bullies in the deep-sea locker room) and they have no specialized reproductive tract. Instead, gametes are released into the main body cavity and must find their way to the anus to leave the body. Hagfish embryology is poorly understood, though it has been reported from studies of Eptatretus stoutii (Pacific hagfish) that the eggs can take up to 11 months to hatch. Hagfish have no larval stage, unlike lampreys and bony fish.

(Image: a group of 9 hagfish eggs in a plastic tub. The eggs are ovoid and dark yellow, with tufts of fibers at each end. End ID)

The conservation status and needs of most hagfish species is hard to discern because of the depths they inhabit. Threats to them include bycatch, as hagfish are often caught during deep-sea dredges. It is alos possible the chemical pollutants may be passed to hagfish through scavenging. There is a commercial fishery for hagfish, which is largest off of the west coast of the Americas. Hagfish are eaten as a delicacy in Korea and less commonly eaten in Japan. Most of the hagfish fishery goes to Korean food markets. Hagfish skin is also values as a durable leather and often marketed as "eel leather" or "yuppie skin". Study of the slime and the highly durable threads that produce it indicates they could be used to create very strong materials, similarly to spider silk. Research is currently being undertaken to find uses for hagfish slime and threads.

Once again, these cards show up in my posts (Image the Weird n' Wild Creatures card for hagfish, featuring an exaggerated drawing on a hagfish. End ID)

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Fossil Friday: The Time When Fish Ruled the Earth

The Silurian Period could be called the time when fished ruled the Earth. Fish rapidly diversified throughout the period. There are two main groupings of fish that evolved: jawless and jawed.

Jawless fish first appeared in the Late Ordovician: Astraspida and Arandaspida. Astraspids are small, armored jawless fishes characterized by a dermal ornamentation of large, star-shaped tubercles of fine-tubuled dentine ("astraspidine"), covered with a thick, glassy cap of enameloid. They are represented by a single genus Astraspis.

Arandaspids are another small, armored fish with a flat rather than oval-shaped dorsal shield. These are represented by several genera of which Sacabambaspis is the most well-known. Check out my post on Sacabambaspis.

In the Silurian, several new groups of jawless fish appeared including thelodonts, heterostracans, osteostracans, and anaspids. Thelodonts were some of the first fish with scales rather than plates of armor. They first appeared in the Ordovician but they flourished in the Silurian. They lacked an ossified skeleton and the scales were either poorly attached or not attached to each other at all which makes finding a complete one incredibly difficult. The scales were small, 0.5-1.5mm, and didn’t overlap. They were teardrop-shaped and pointed on one end giving them there name “nipple tooth” They were ridiculously common in their habitats and globally distributed making them useful biostratigraphic markers.

Heterostracans also appeared in the Ordovician and radiated rapidly in the Silurian. Consisting of around 300 species, their head shields differed greatly from one another. Most had two plates which formed the dorsal shield and one large ventral shield with a series of scales arranged along the sides. The scales are composed of three layers of dentine and aspidine (an acellular bony tissue unique to them and thelodonts). The middle layer was honeycombed with tiny holes called cancella. One distinguishing characteristic was their single exhalant opening into which the gills open.

Anaspids were small armor less jawless fish. In fact, the name means “shield less ones”. They are covered in small, weakly mineralized scales and a row of large scutes running down the back. A major synapomorphy is the large tri-radiate spine behind the gill openings.

Osteostracans were the first group of fish with paired fins. They are often called ostracoderms, they were similar to lampreys in possessing two pairs of semicircular canals in the inner ear (as opposed to three in jawed vertebrates). These fish are the sister group to jawed fishes.

The jawed fishes first appeared in the Silurian Period. Four major groups radiated during this time: placoderms, acanthodians, cartilaginous fishes and bony fishes. Placoderms were mostly predatory armored fishes similar to the jawless ones. They were some of he earliest jawed fish and were the first ones to develop pelvic fins, the second set of paired fins. Some species have been found to be viviparous.

Acanthodians were small fishes with slender bodies. Th paired fins were modified to long spines earning then the nickname “spiny sharks”. Unlike most sharks, acanthodians lacked teeth. Many even moved to freshwater.

Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fishesmay have evolved from acanthodians. This group consists of modern sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras.

Finally, the first Osteichthyes or bony fishes appeared in the Silurian Period. Unlike all the other fish, they have an endoskeleton made of bone tissue.

Thanks for coming to today’s lesson and tune in Monday to learn about the climate of the Silurian Period. Have a good weekend and fossilize you later!

[caviarbruecke]

Sturgeon

Sturgeon (from Old English styrġa ultimately from Proto-Indo-European  is the common name for the 28 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early Jurassic period, some 174 to 201 million years ago. They are one of two living families of the Acipenseriformes alongside paddlefish (Polyodontidae). The family is grouped into four genera: Acipenser (which is paraphyletic, containing many distantly related sturgeon species), Huso, Scaphirhynchus, and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. Two species (A. naccarii and A. dabryanus) may be extinct in the wild, and one (P. fedtschenkoi) may be entirely extinct. Sturgeons are native to subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America. A Maastrichtian-age fossil found in Morocco shows that they also once lived in Africa.

Sturgeons are long-lived, late-maturing fishes with distinctive characteristics, such as a heterocercal caudal fin similar to those of sharks, and an elongated, spindle-like body that is smooth-skinned, scaleless, and armored with five lateral rows of bony plates called scutes. Several species can grow quite large, typically ranging 2–3.5 m (7–12 ft) in length. The largest sturgeon on record was a beluga female captured in the Volga Delta in 1827, measuring 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in) long and weighing 1,571 kg (3,463 lb). Most sturgeons are anadromous bottom-feeders, migrating upstream to spawn but spending most of their lives feeding in river deltas and estuaries. Some species inhabit freshwater environments exclusively, while others primarily inhabit marine environments near coastal areas, and are known to venture into open ocean.

[fatkish]

Hi hun!

If you’re still doing requests could I ask for a Dabi x reader fluff hcs?

Like she’s got adhd and autism and is kinda goth (this is self indulgent lol). By kinda goth I mean she loves the music, culture and has some eery home decor like fossils and skulls etc but doesn’t necessarily look the part (most of the time).

If you have any questions please lmk!!

Thank youuu xx

Dabi x ADHD and Autistic Goth reader

Reader runs a small cafe and bakery. The reader creates bento boxes that you can buy for relatively cheap but taste really good and are made with nutritional ingredients. Some heroes, office workers, first responders and other people who don’t really have the time to make food or stop for lunch often order ahead and pick up food to go.

Reader lives in an apartment above their cafe and has a few employees who are either college students, high schoolers, people with disabilities or any other person who has a relatively small work window and needs money. Their employees are all highly respectful of them.

The cafe is open from 5:00 am to 9:00 pm. The reader spend most of the hours doing the cooking and making bentos, budgeting, paying bills and other tasks that are done behind the scenes. The reader has a quirk that allows them to heal people via food (kinda like the mom from Encanto)

The cafe has a very quiet and calm atmosphere and is very popular among the anti-social groups and those who have sensitivities to crowds and stuff. The decor is very soft-core/comfort and homey styled

The booths have partitions that can completely close with tatami mats and pillows, there are steps leading into the booth area where you remove your shoes and put slippers on. The tables with chairs are in the front of the cafe and the floors are mostly hard wood.

Those who work full time are often quirkless employees who need a stable job and a kind and understanding workplace environment

You met Dabi one night when an employee found him collapsed outback by the dumpsters during closing. When they told you about him, you had them help you move him to your upstairs apartment where you treated what you could of his burns and began preparing food for him

When Dabi woke up to a dark gothic room with Victorian antique furniture that looked like a vampire owned it, he had no idea what he was in for. Expecting some grungy punk ass emo person, he nearly got mental whiplash when you walked in, wearing some cute soft clothes with a smile on your face holding a plate of cutesy food

I picture the reader having a personality kinda like Mitsuri from Demon Slayer. Your cheerful and loving albeit kinda ditzy personality was not what Dabi expected.

“Oh goodie, you’re awake, I was so super worried about you when my employees found you. You looked so hurt and sad, my heart nearly broke just thinking about how much pain you must be in. Oh, here, I made you plenty of food so eat up! I already changed your bandages earlier so just rest, call me if you need anything, I’ll be just around the corner in the living room<3”

You left before Dabi could even get a word in. He looked down at the plates on the tray in his lap that you placed. Seeing all the cute food and your personality made him think you’re either a roommate or you’re some psycho killer with a split personality. But he was hungry so he ate the food.

While he ate, Dabi noticed his burns healing and even his scars disappearing slowly but surely until it stopped. When you came back to check on him and clean up his dishes, he asked about it. You told him your quirk lets you heal people by having them ingest the food make.

After collecting his dishes you asked if there was or is anything he doesn’t like or is allergic to. He told you he hates fish and that he prefers his food cold. You gave him a soft towel for him to shower with and told him where the bathroom was. After that you asked for his clothing size and went shopping for clothes for him

After bringing the clothes for him to his room you left them there. After he took a shower he saw the clothes but didn’t see his clothes/villain getup anywhere. He left the room and entered the living room and asked where his clothes were

You where watching Molang on Netflix and eating tangulu (I hope I spelled that right, it’s cut up fruit on a stick that coated in a layer of melted sugar giving it a hard candy like coating)

You turn to him and after being asked you tell him that you’re washing his clothes and then you’re going to repair them. You offer him some tangulu to which he surprisingly accepts and sits down and you both decide to watch a creature feature movie. You both enjoy seeing the asshole people get eaten by monsters

“Yeah! Get munched, asshole! Oh, sorry, I kinda tend to get caught up in the moment when watch these movies”

“It’s fine doll face”

Dabi chuckles quietly seeing you get so excited about things. He notices how you’re easily distracted but is still wondering why you haven’t said anything about him or why you aren’t seemingly afraid of him, so he asks

“Alright, be real with me for a minute, why the hell ain’t ‘cha afraid ‘a me huh? I mean, I’m covered in nasty burns and yet yer here makin’ me food, takin’ care ‘a me and shit, so what’s up?”

“Hm? Oh, well, just because you look different doesn’t mean anything, everyone hits rough patches somewhere or at some point in their life. I think it’s horrible to kick someone while they’re already having a rough time. You’ve clearly been having a rough time so it’s only right for me to help you out, that’s what people are supposed to do. People should be kind to others no matter what, I might not know you, but everyone deserves to be treated with kindness.”

“Ya’ know, that kinda thinkin’ is probably gonna get ‘cha killed sweetheart. How do you know I’m not gonna kill ya’ ‘er somethin’? I could hurt ‘cha and yer just sittin’ here?”

“I don’t think you’re going to hurt me. I think you’re a good person who’s just going through a rough patch. I’m not gonna ask what you’re going through but just know that my door is always open for you.”

You smile at him and he just sits there dumbfounded. He gives up and eventually you guys go to bed.

Over the next few days you continue to make him food and wait for it to cool down before serving him. He eventually tells you his name is Dabi. You guys get along rather well

When he leaves you tell him to make sure to come back and you even hand him a wrapped up bento. He waves you off and leaves through the back but takes the bento with him

When he meets back up with the league at their hideout he opens the bento to see a bunch of cutesy things. Toga and Twice both notice it and bring it to the attention of the others

Twice is jealous that Dabi has someone who makes him food. Toga wants to meet you and (stab) befriend you. Compress is delighted by the creativity and how well plated the food is. Kurogiri wants to exchange recipes and learn a thing or two from you. Spinner couldn’t care less and Tomura is just frustrated but makes fun of Dabi

Dabi will never admit it, but he loves that you take care of him and he makes sure that you’re safe and that other villains and heroes don’t bother you

(I hope you enjoyed this. The pictures aren’t mine I found them on Pinterest)

[uk-fossils]

Aetobatus irregularis Fossil Ray Plate | Lower Eocene | Bracklesham Bay Sussex UK | Authentic Fossil with COA | Alice Purnell Collection

Aetobatus irregularis Fossil Ray Plate | Lower Eocene | Bracklesham Bay, Sussex, UK

Step back in time to the Lower Eocene Epoch with this exquisite Aetobatus irregularis Fossil Ray Plate, a testament to ancient marine ecosystems that thrived around 56 to 47.8 million years ago. Discovered in the fossil-rich strata of Bracklesham Bay, Sussex, UK, this rare specimen is part of the prestigious Alice Purnell Collection, one of the largest fossil collections globally.

Geology & Fossil Information:

Species: Aetobatus irregularis (Eagle Ray)

Fossil Type: Ray Plate

Geological Period: Lower Eocene (Ypresian Stage, ~56 - 47.8 million years ago)

Location Found: Bracklesham Bay, Sussex, United Kingdom

The Aetobatus irregularis is a member of the eagle ray family, known for its distinctive, flat body and broad dental plates adapted for crushing hard-shelled prey such as mollusks and crustaceans. This fossilized ray plate showcases the complex dentition that highlights the evolutionary sophistication of this ancient species.

Key Features:

100% Genuine Fossil Specimen

Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

From the prestigious Alice Purnell Collection

Actual specimen shown – Scale rule squares/cube = 1cm (full sizing available in the photo)

This fossil is perfect for collectors, educators, and enthusiasts of paleontology and natural history. The provided photograph depicts the exact specimen you will receive, ensuring complete transparency and authenticity.

Secure this rare Eocene fossil today and own a remarkable piece of prehistoric marine life!

[i-should-have-studied]

Mod 2 General Topics

Types of Fins

Fins are thin, broad folds of integument internally supported by fin rays, they aid in locomotion in various ways depending on the type of fins.

There are 2 kinds of adult fish fins: unpaired median and paired lateral.

Unpaired median fins include 1-2 dorsal fins along the mid-dorsal line, a ventral anal fin behind the anus/cloaca and a caudal fin around the tip of the tail.

Paired lateral fins include pectoral fins anteriorly and pelvic fins posteriorly. Pelvic fins are called thoracic when located below the pectoral fins and abdominal when located just above the anus. Absent in some.

Under unpaired fins there are many types of caudal fins. Caudal fins are well developed in most fish because of its important contribution to forward propulsion during swimming. The 3 main types are: diphycercal, heterocercal, and homocercal.

Diphycercal Fins:

The most primitive, not exhibited by many living fish.

Vertebral column extends straight back to the tip of the tail, dividing the fin symmetrically and equally into the dorsal and ventral lobes.

Occurs in cyclostomes, primitive sharks, and lungfish.

Presence of diphycercal tail in developed fish is due to secondary modifications.

Heterocercal Fins:

Intermediate type.

The caudal fin is strongly asymmetrical.

Vertebral column bends upwards and reaches up to the tip of the more prominent dorsal lobe.

Characteristic in bottom feeders with a ventral mouth, the stroked of the large dorsal lobe directs the fish downwards.

Occurs in modern sharks.

The opposite, a large ventral lobe, is found in flying fish to propel them upwards. This type of fin is called hypocercal.

Homocercal Fins:

The most advanced type and the most common.

Characteristic of most higher bony fishes.

Externally symmetrical but internally asymmetrical.

The original dorsal lobe or epichordal is suppressed, the original ventral love is developed into a single or 2 symmetrical lobes.

Characteristic of fishes with a terminal mouth, its strokes force the fish straight forward.

Types of Scales

There are 5 types of dermal scales: Cosmoid, Placoid, Ganoid, Cycloid, and Ctenoid.

1. Cosmoid Scales:

Does not occur in living fish, only fossilized fishes.

2. Placoid Scales:

Characteristic of sharks.

Each scale has a backwardly directed spine arising from a round or rhomboidal basal plate embedded in dermis.

Spine is enamel-like and basal plate is of dentine-like bony material.

A pulp cavity inside the spine opens through basal plate.

Placoid scales are closely set together in skin; giving a sandpaper like texture.

3. Ganoid Scales:

Thick, rhomboidal, or diamond shaped plates closely fitted side by side. Tile like, provide a bony armor to the fish, might overlap in some.

Characteristic of holosteans.

4. Cycloid Scales:

Thin, flexible. translucent plates. Circular in outline and thicker in the center.

Marked with several concentric lines of growth which can be used to determine age.

They overlap each other, each scale is embedded in a small pocket of dermis.

Found in lung fishes, carp, cod, etc.

5. Ctenoid Scales:

Similar to cycloid scales in form, structure, and arrangement.

But is more firmly attached, their free hind parts with are not overlapped, bear numerous small comb-like teeth or spines.

Characteristic of modern higher teleosteans like perch and sunfish.

There are some intermediate types of scales found in between cycloid and ctenoid, and some fish like flounder have both.

Neoteny and Paedogenesis

Neoteny refers to the retention of a larval or embryonic trait in the adult body. For example the retention of larval gills in adult salamanders.

Paedogenesis refers to the development of gonads and or production of young by an immature larval animal. Examples are scattered in several groups or animals such as gall fly, liver fluke, and salamanders.

Neoteny emphasizes the retention of larval traits in the adult body while paedogenesis stresses the development of adult like gonads in the larval body.

The best example of neoteny and paedogenesis is ambystomata. Normally they live through an aquatic larval stage and transform into an air-breathing terrestrial adult. However, under certain circumstances, the larvae does not undergo metamorphosis, retains it's gills and aquatic nature, but becomes sexually mature. This sexually mature larval stage with external gills is called an axolotl.

For a while axolotls were thought to be an entirely separate genus, Siredon.

Environmental factors affect metamorphosis in many ways. Abundance of food, cold temp., and insufficient iodine may cause failure of metamorphosis and paedogenesis. This is known because drying of swamps, lack of food, and rise in temp induce axolotls to metamorphose. When treated with thyroxine or TSH, they lose their gills and become adults.

There are 3 types of neoteny, partial, intermediate and total.

Partial neoteny is then metamorphosis is delayed due to temporary ecological or physiological changes, seen in tadpoles over winter.

Intermediate neoteny is when the organism is sexually reproductive and can undergo metamorphosis under the correct conditions, seen in axolotl.

Total neoteny is when they remain larval throughout. Even after treatment of thyroxine, they fail to metamorphose. Seen in Siren.

Parental Care in Amphibians

Parental care is the act of looking after the eggs or young until they are independent enough to defend from predators.

Amphibians exhibit various types of parental care in two broad groups: Protection by nests, nurseries, or shelters and direct caring by parents.

Protection by nests, nurseries, or shelters:

1. Selection of site: Many amphibians lay their eggs in protected moist microhabitats. Some frogs and toads lay eggs on land near water. Many tree frogs lay their eggs on leave and branched overhanding water by gluing their eggs, they fall into water free of predators when hatched. Some tree frogs deposit eggs in water that accumulates in epiphytic tropical plants, free from aquatic predators.

2. Defending eggs or territories: Male green Rana frogs maintain territories and attack small intruders to protect the eggs. Both male and female Mantophryne frogs guard the eggs. The male actually sits over and holds the gelatinous envelope containing 17 eggs.

3. Direct Development: In some frogs such as Hyla, the eggs hatch directly into little frogs, thus avoiding the chance of larval mortality. In the red backed salamander, the hatchlings are miniature adults.

4. Foam Nests: Many amphibians convert copious mucous secretion into nests for young. Japanese tree frogs dig a hole or tunnel into which eggs are left in a frothy mass to avoid desiccation. During rain, the hatching tadpoles are washed down the slopping tunnel into pond or river water for further development. Some frogs lay eggs in nests of foam floating on water. The female emits a huge amount of mucus that she can beats into foam with her hindlegs to lay eggs in. When tadpoles hatch they drop from foam into water.

5. Mud nests: Brazilian tree frog, Hyla, the male frog digs little holes in the mud of shallow water for the female frog to lay eggs in. The nest is 30cm in diameter and 5-8cm deep. Tadpoles hatch within this safe place and develop until they are large enough to defend themselves.

6. Tree nests: The South American Tree frog, Phyllomedusa, lays eggs in a folded leaf nest with margins glued together with cloacal secretions. The tadpoles when formed fall straight into water below.

7. Gelatinous bags: Salamandrella, a small aquatic salamander, deposits 50-60 small eggs in a gelatinous bag which is fastened to aquatic plants.

Direct Carrying By Parent

1. Coiling around eggs: In certain caecilians like Ichthyophis, the female lays large eggs in burrows in damp soil and carefully guards them by coiling her body around them until they hatch.

2. Transferring tadpoles to water: Some species of small frogs in tropical Africa and South America deposit their eggs on ground. Once the tadpoles hatch, they fasten themselves to the back of one of the parents with their sucker like mouth so they can be transported to water.

3. Eggs glued to body: Many amphibians carry the eggs glued to their body. In the Sri Lankan tree frog, the eggs are glued to the belly of the female. In the European midwife toad, Alytes, the mall entangles the eggs around his hindlegs so he can carry them with him until they are ready to hatch. When the time comes they release the tadpoles into the nearest water body.

4. Eggs in back pouches: In a group of tree frogs called marsupial frogs, the female carries the eggs on her back. Either in an open oval depression, a closed pouch, or individual pockets. The eggs develop into miniature frogs before leaving their mother's back.

5. Organs as brooding pouches: Males of the terrestrial South American Darwin's frog, Rhinoderma, pushes at least 2 fertilized eggs into his large vocal sacs. There they undergo complete development to emerge out as fully formed froglets.

6. Viviparity: Some anurans are ovoviviparous. They reatain eggs in the oviducts and the female gives birth to living young. For example African toads give birth to little frogs.

[fallingstarnovel]

Chapter Ten

Evan couldn’t see anything. He was falling through darkness, though the sound of air rushing past him told him the hole he was falling through was very narrow. It felt like he was falling down a deep, dark well, but he had no idea if there was water at the bottom.

The sense of panic was indescribable. His thoughts were an incoherent jumble of adrenaline and fear - a mixture of I’m gonna die and it’s going to hurt and god damn it, I really shouldn’t have bothered studying.

But then he kept falling. And he kept falling. What had been an ordinary, understandable fear of hitting the bottom at full speed, now morphed into a brand new kind of fear. This was getting really, really deep below the surface. Scary deep. Mining for scarce minerals kind of deep. The kind of deep where the cold, hard earth started getting warm again.

If he survived the fall… nobody was coming for him. How could they? This was so far down, there wouldn’t be any phone signal, and nobody even knew where he was, even without the added complication of being deeper than most fossil remains.

Falling for so long did weird things to Evan’s body. He felt dizzy and nauseous, and his muscles were starting to strain. But mostly, he felt stupid. Really stupid.

Why did he ever agree to come here? What was the point? Was that weird old priest even a priest? Or just a serial killer who liked dropping young men into boreholes?

And then, without much warning, Evan hit the bottom.

It was painful, sure. His entire body went from terminal velocity to no longer falling in less than three seconds. It felt like his whole body had been given whiplash. At first his brain was only white static, and then sparks of pain flared up over his whole body.

He was pretty sure he had bitten his tongue and possibly dislocated a shoulder, and now he was tangled up in a weird position and couldn’t move. It felt like he had somehow been tied up with hundreds of tiny abrasive ropes.

It took a moment for his vision to clear, and even then, he found himself scrunching up his face and groaning from the pain.

When he opened his eyes, he realised that was because he had landed in a net. He was still bobbing around, swaying from the force of his landing, and each jostling movement was agony. He really hoped nothing was broken, but his knee was killing him right now.

Through dim red light, he thought he could see the floor beneath him getting closer and then further away again as he bounced in the air, like a baby in really fucked up cradle.

Groaning and hissing through his teeth, Evan tried to look around to see where he had ended up, but it was incredibly dark down here. Was he in an old mineshaft?

“Help,” he yelled out uncertainly.

His voice echoed in the darkness. And then - with the hiss of a match being struck, a dim orange light flickered on in the distance. Evan perked up. Maybe someone here could help him.

“Hey, help me!”

Footsteps shuffled closer. Someone was coming closer and raising an old lantern as they went. As the light grew brighter, Evan could see details picked out in shadow against the glow.

The figure was bundled up in layers of thick cloth, and their feet were scraping against the floor with oddly hollow noises. They raised the lantern high, and Evan found himself looking directly down into their face as they accidentally lit themselves up by accident.

The thing looking up at him had large flat eyes like two dinner plates, filmy and soft like some kind of awful deep sea fish. Its jaw was huge, but it still couldn’t seem to contain the forest of thin, sharp teeth, which poked out of its gormless mouth in every direction.

Evan shrieked.

“Shut up,” said the thing, though it struggled not to lisp through its mouthful of toothpicks. “I hates the screamers. Where’s the docket then? They hands it to you before you got dropped?”

Evan was so taken aback that he had stopped shrieking. He stared in a mixture of horror and bafflement. “Docket?”

As if on cue, something whistled past him and landed on the floor with a bang, narrowly missing the creature. It swore, jumping back and shaking its fist up at the shaft Evan just fell through.

“Unprofessional really,” it muttered as it picked up the item - a little cloth bag. Evan strained to watch as it pulled out a piece of paper and read it. “That thing hit me, and I’d be going up there myself to suck their eyeballs out their sockets, believe you me… huh… now what the hell…?”

As it read the paper, the thing’s eyes were scrunching up in an approximation of a frown, before they suddenly bulged out of its face entirely like two inflated balloons.

“Just tell me what’s going on,” Evan begged, overcoming his sense of fear in an effort to… to do something.

The thing tore the letter up and then started eating it, shredding it with its many teeth. “We’re all fucked,” it said, choking slightly on the paper. “You, me, those two idiots up there. Fucked. Drawn. Quartered. Dead, no matter how you look at it.”

It shuffled over to some corner of the darkness. There was a creak, and then the net suddenly dropped the rest of the way to the floor. Evan yelped and felt his arm take most of the impact. Ouch, that wasn’t good.

“Get me out of this net,” he yelled. “I think my knee is broken!”

The thing ignored him. When it came closer, Evan realised it was about three times his size - something that wasn’t so apparent when he was hanging over it. It grabbed the net he was tangled in, and then hauled it over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“The sooner I gets you out my hands,” it was muttering, “the sooner I can start running. Fuck the payment! What good is payment if I’m made of mincemeat? Oi, stop wiggling back there!”

Evan had been desperately trying to find the opening of the net so he could climb out and escape. Unfortunately, this thing had a tight grip on the opening, and didn’t even seem to notice when Evan tried to bite its fingers.

All Evan could do was wince and try to breathe through the pain as he was carried through more damp darkness on this thing’s back for an uncomfortable amount of time. His knee was throbbing, and there was a telltale cold pain coming from the side of his arm which suggested half the skin was scraped up.

He really didn’t know what to do. What was the protocol for cases like this? He never thought he’d need to know what to do if he got kidnapped, especially not by… demons.

Because this surely was a demon. And this place was surely…

The cold, dank tunnel started lightening, a dim red glow picking out details in the uneven stone flooring. The light grew stronger, and heat flooded the tunnel, and then all of a sudden they were out and into a much bigger space. Evan saw that the demon was taking a narrow path etched into the side of a cliff, and below him, there was a vast ravine. Deeper than anything he had ever seen, wider than a city, a great gash of jagged rocks and glowing, steaming floes of magma. And it was hot - so hot he was sweating. Hot like an oven, and stinking of sulphur.

“This is hell,” he said in shock. The demon ignored him.

Strangely, Evan didn’t feel all that surprised. When he was younger, he spent a lot of time imagining this moment. Yes, he thought he would be dead before then, and he had expected more of a formal admittance - someone with a clipboard, a great queue of sinners, not unlike a customer service kiosk really - but everything else felt so familiar.

So this was how it felt to go to hell. Evan slumped in the net in resigned despair.

Evan, you heard the reverend, didn’t you? Bad, evil boys don’t go to heaven. They burn and burn forever…

The toothy demon walked for a good long time down the narrow rock paths. The pain was slowly fading, but Evan was starting to get cramps all over. He started wondering when the hellfire and torture would start.

That was how it was, right? You got sent down to hell, and then they tortured you for eternity with all kinds of inventive and horrible methods. Maybe it had already started - this first part was bad enough.

They started slowing down. Evan tried to peer over the demon’s shoulder to see if he could get a good look at his next horrible awful method of torture, but it was impossible with all the netting in the way.

The demon suddenly grabbed the net and held it out in front of himself. Evan looked down - and groaned. There was a long slope beneath him, stretching down into a thick smoke, steep and smooth.

“If you survive this,” the demon said, flat eyes narrowing, “tell him I didn’t have no part in this. Tell him it was them two up there. I’m washing my hands of this.”

Evan felt his grip on the net loosen, and the bottom of his stomach dropped out. “Wait, wait, wait, wait-!”

The demon dropped him, and then turned and started walking away.

A moment of weightlessness - and then a tooth-crunching impact against the gravel slope. The bag rolled a little, Evan’s face was pressed into the ground for a horrible moment of dry friction, and then the bag settled so he was on his back.

He didn’t move. Maybe, if he didn’t move, the bag wouldn’t slide down the slope.

The net shuddered one centimetre down the slope.

“No, no,” he breathed.

Another moment of complete stillness. And then - a stone gave way.

The net started sliding. Evan swore as it picked up speed, losing his breath when his back and tailbone hit against a few small stones, his elbows getting scraped by the holes in the net.

Sure, if this was a sack on a slide at the fair, this would be fun. Evan would have enjoyed this a lot more if there wasn’t the added danger of being grated like cheese by the holes in the netting. Thankfully, it mostly seemed to protect him from friction.

It definitely didn’t protect him from the dust being kicked up by his rapid slide down the scree.

He had to try and keep his lips closed to stop breathing in the ashy, acrid dust. It bloomed around him, blinding him.

Then, he hit the fog clinging to the sides of the slope, and it all got worse. The air was hot and dry and painful to breath.

All he could do was try and tuck his arms into his sides and wait for the end of the slope.

The ground was becoming more bumpy - the net kept hitting things, bigger and bigger each time. Something snagged, and Evan was thrown forward suddenly as something caught on the net.

“Ow!”

He yelped, almost choked out by the ropes - and then he heard something tear.

With a disorienting, painful tumble, he rolled out of the net, suddenly freed by the snag. He found himself rolling on his side over and over, uncontrollable and unstoppable. It was like when he rolled down grassy hills as a kid, except now he was too old and too big and getting extremely nauseous from spinning so much.

When he slammed into something soft and came to an abrupt stop, there wasn’t much he could do. He could only find the strength to roll onto his back, and stare up at the malevolent smoke clouds parting around the trail he left down the slope.

Everything hurt.

“How am I not dead,” he said, half-coughing up ash while he said it.

Finally, when he’d caught his breath back, Evan turned his head to see what stopped him.

Huh. Weird. It was a battered leather sofa. It had clearly rolled down the slope too, scraped up and dusty, springs and torn foam spilling everywhere. What was that doing in hell?

When he gingerly sat up, he could see more random junk scattered around the slope. Here, it wasn’t so steep - things came to a stop here, just like he did. He saw old computers, some with big cathode screens, and dented hubcaps, and plastic bags turned brown by the dust, and piles of old clothes, and a lawn chair, and - a dead dog. He looked away from that sad grey little pile of fur with a grimace, thankful he didn’t land on that instead.

Slowly, Evan pulled himself to his feet. He was grateful he could stand at all. His knee and now his ankle were aching like hell, but he was feeling pretty good for a guy who just got fly-tipped into the depths of the underworld. Twice.

The ground felt very unsteady and loose under his feet. He half-walked, half-slid down the slope a little further. Everywhere he looked, even more rubbish piled up. Some of it even seemed curated - piles of hubcaps, or big collections of plastic bottles. This was a rubbish heap, he realised. Like a landfill, maybe.

“Dickhead,” he muttered, wishing the demon who threw him down here would trip over his own feet and fall in lava.

It was dusty down here, a bowl filled with dry smoke, and visibility was poor. Ash clouds hung low in the air, making every breath feel gritty and taste like burned plastic. Bigger things started looming out the gloom - whole cars, a shopping trolley, a lawnmower - and then Evan saw a lurking figure.

He froze, and ducked behind a wrecked fridge.

The figure was human-shaped, nothing too weird, but hard to tell from just a shadow in the dust. It was trudging through the litter, swaying back and forth, head tucked down.

Evan got a little closer, trying to be quiet, but the figure didn’t notice the crunch of gravel or his loud breath.

It was… a woman. In a tattered dress that might have been yellow once, now torn up and frayed. She was examining the ground intently, hands loose, arms flopping to the ground.

But - most importantly - she didn’t look like any kind of demon.

“Hey!” Evan said, coming closer. “Excuse me, miss, I’m sorry to bother you…”

The lady ignored him. She slowly turned, looking this way and that. Evan swallowed his words, suddenly overcome with white hot fear.

When she turned her head, he could see that she was missing half the skin on her face, and a good chunk of her jaw.

No living human being was supposed to look like that. Horrified, paralysed with it, Evan couldn’t look away from the flash of old, dust-pale gore.

He’d never seen exposed bone before. Had never seen a dead body that wasn’t sterilised and done up for a funeral. And this woman - this woman was either incredibly unwell, or she was dead. There was no way she could be alive with a face like that. He could see her tongue flapping - he had to stop looking or he would throw up.

There was a shuffle across the way, and Evan span to see another human figure walking slowly through the dust. It was also hunched down, examining the ground as it slowly picked its way through the trash.

He couldn’t move. What if they got closer? What if it was like the zombie movies he didn’t like, and they scented his blood and tried to eat him? Even if they weren’t violent, he didn’t want to get near anything like that - every inch of him knew it felt wrong - something bad, something to avoid at all costs.

His paralysis snapped when he heard something scuff a stone behind him. Blindly, blankly, he wove through the piles of rubbish, eyes wide and watering with fear and dust, heart pounding, more scared than he’d ever been since he left home.

There were more scattered around. Some were men, some were women, faces drooping, eyes staring blank, flesh putrefying and mouths hanging open. Some were so decayed it was hard to tell, brown remains of hair scraped over bony heads, black fingers grabbing at random items in the piles.

Evan didn’t look too long. He just kept making his way down, wondering when the sloping field of rubbish would come to an end.

And then, through the dust in the air, he saw a few weak beams of light. Yellow and flickering, but there. Anything was better than the interminable grey of the slope, the hazy half light filtering through the smoke.

A squat house, made of wood and corrugated iron, appeared from the dust. It had a porch around it, and out on the deck, a set of bent iron chairs and a table.

Sitting in a chair was some kind of old man - no, a demon, pig-nosed and with old bat wings shot full of holes until they absolutely couldn’t fly anymore.

Behind them, a corpse dressed in a dusty black suit balanced a bottle of something brown on a tea tray.

“Mm?”

The demon in the chair perked up at the sound of Evan’s footsteps coming closer.

“Found something good? Bring it here.”

Evan froze, unsure whether to come closer or keep running. So far, he hadn’t met any demon that didn’t try to immediately murder him.

“Gormless thing,” the demon said, not too unkindly, “I’ll be more specific. Walk up the stairs and give me the thing you have.”

When Evan still didn’t move, the demon seemed more interested. It tilted its head, large bat ears flicking away dust, and then sniffed loudly.

“Eh, wait a moment, wait a moment… is this a new body? Doesn’t smell rotten, smells very fresh… did you fall down the slope, little deadling? Want to come work for me? It’s an easy job for a corpse, easier than the wars. Hogger will look after you.”

Did this demon think Evan was a dead body that fell down the slope? He didn’t seem at all surprised that a supposedly dead body could walk around - was this normal down here?

Thinking fast, Evan decided pretending to be dead was probably a good idea for now. He remembered what Ruth told him - that demons wanted human souls. But dead people didn’t have souls, did they?

He shuffled a bit, imitating the clumsy stiff walk he saw the other bodies do. He probably looked like a corpse too - his body was coated in ash and dust, grey and frayed from the fall. The scrapes on his face and arms were bleeding, but the blood turned black where it mixed with the dust.

“Come here, come here, let Hogger poke you,” the demon said, and Evan got a little closer. He shuffled to the edge of the deck, keeping a wide berth.

Hogger smiled, and pulled out a cane from beside his chair. Quick as a flash, he hit Evan’s right arm, first his shoulder then his fore arm.

“Still soft,” he marvelled. “You’re either not long dead, or someone took great care to preserve you. Any missing limbs?”

More hitting from the cane, this time on Evan’s other arms and his thighs. The demon - Hogger - whistled, an uncanny noise from his nose. His eyes were tiny black beads, each as small as a pea, and Evan suddenly wondered if this demon could see very well.

“All intact. Very well cared for indeed. Definitely not a warlord’s grunt. Don’t tell me a noble tossed you down here… what did you do, add too many sugars to her tea?” Hogger laughed loud and gross, coughing up spit, and then hit Evan with the cane again. Evan was struggling not to make any noise.

“You can understand simple commands, yes or no? Jump.”

At first Evan didn’t understand. Hogger huffed, displeased.

Making a split decision, he jumped. Hogger whistled again, evidently pleased.

“Perfect. Alright, Jeeves, you’re relegated to kindling again. Tarrah a bit, go away.”

The corpse in the black suit turned and walked away, going around the back of the house and presumably off to gather kindling or whatever Hogger meant. Evan suddenly regretted being so good at acting. He realised that he was supposed to replace Jeeves.

“Stand beside me,” Hogger said, “do everything I say, and keep my cider topped up. That’s a good deadling.”

✨⭐️✨⭐️✨⭐️✨

Previous Chapter | Contents | Next Chapter

[jaybug-jabbers]

Gen 3 Beta Pokemon 'Dex - Page 4

Continuing the beta dex! You can see the previous page here.

Name: Togepyon [トゲピョン]

My Notes: Looks like a cross between a durian and a jerboa. Might have been a Pikachu clone.

Name: Zuruuzu [ズルーズ]

Evolution: Evolves into Archaeon

My Notes: It's beta Scraggy! Once again showing that Pokemon keeps its shelved ideas for a long time and keeps open the possibility of returning to them, because a couple generations later, they finally made Scraggy a reality.

Name: Archaeon [アーケオン]

Type: Rock/Flying

Category: Archeopteryx

Height/Weight: 4'3'', 77.2 lbs

Pokedex Entries:

The scales on its arms have come to resemble wings. It jumps like a glider. A living fossil from the dinosaur age.

--

The feathers on its scales are very sharp and hard, acting as weapons that are strong enough to cut iron. They move in a flock of about 10 individuals

Additional Gamefreak Notes:

Its scales have formed into wings. It cannot fly long distances, only glide. The wings made of scales are hard and sharp enough to slice through metal plates. It has not changed its appearance since the age of dinosaurs, making it a living fossil. It moves in groups, led by a leader.

Evolution: Evolves from Zuruuzu

My Notes: Reworked into Grovyle. (This helps explain Grovyle's unique appearance, which always struck me as being unusually good for a mid-evo and being rather different from the base form and final evolution.) It's also likely this pokemon later inspired Archen/Archeops, which is based on Archaeopteryx just like this pokemon and has the same typing, and is 'a living fossil from the dinosaur age.'

Name: Aidog [エイドッグ]

My Notes: Appears to be a St. Bernard dog, which is often associated with the fact they have been used to perform rescue work. (In cartoons, they are depicted as wearing little barrels of alcohol around their necks, which was believed to help people who are freezing to death) The name may be a combination of 'Aide' and 'dog.' There seems to be a saddle on this dog, so it's likely the lore would include letting rescued people ride to safety.

Name: Weathery [ウェザリィ]

My Notes: The name and design suggest this was possibly related to Castform-- perhaps a planned evolution that was scrapped.

Name: Tinkii [ティンキー]

My Notes: May be a flying fish, with 'arms' that look like airplane wings and a generally airplane-shaped body.

Name: Snowrora [スノーロラ]

My Notes: Name seems to be a combo of 'snow' and 'aurora'. We had to wait until gen 5 for a polar bear pokemon, Cubchoo and Beartic. Beta Cubchoo and Beartic were also quadrupedal, in fact.

Name: Yakkoko [ヤッココ]

My Notes: Unexpectedly, it seems Flygon was originally part of a line based soley on dragonflies, rather than antlions. The other two parts of this line present after Yakkoko are beta Vibrava and beta Flygon:

As such, Yakkoko is apparently based on the IRL dragonfly larva, which is an aquatic species.

Beta Flygon's official name etymology confirms it was based on a dragonly (not to mention its Category which is just 'Dragonfly'), and its original typing was Bug/Dragon, finally validating what we have always known, that Flygon should have been Bug/Dragon. (Beta Flygon was later changed to Bug/Flying because Gamefreak are cowards)

Pokedex entries for beta Flygon:

Lives deep in forests. Despite its large size, it is agile and skillfully flies between trees and branches.

--

Capable of absorbing oxygen on its own, allowing for underwater activities. Aquatic life in ponds is its main prey

And the additional notes on Flygon:

It can live underwater. It absorbs air from the water through its tail. It swims by twisting its body. It inhabits forests. Its green body serves as camouflage. It flies by flapping its wings rapidly.

It's an interesting choice to be sure, since real dragonflies cannot swim, and instead prey on flying insects. It seems they wanted the adult form to have characteristics of the IRL larval dragonfly, because larvae do indeed have their gills in their tails, and hunt aquatic prey. The feathery shapes on Yakkoko's tail in fact are probably based on the feathery shape of larval damselfly's gills on their tails.

Yakkoko was eventually scrapped in favor of adopting an Antlion family instead. Antlion larvae are pudgy little creatures with massive jaws, and they dig little pits in the sand and wait in the bottom for an ant to fall in so they can feed on them. The adult Antlions look very similar to dragonflies, so the switch was not a difficult one to make. While some fans may complain about how radically different Trapinch looks from Flygon, there is good reason for it, because in nature, the larval stage of insects often look radically different from the adult forms.

Name: Heppii [ヘッピー]

My Notes: Appears to be a pink-and-brown skunk, with green eyes, green little feeties and a pink 'bib.'

Name: Supanku [スパンク]

My Notes: Probably meant to be the evolution of Heppii. I am unsure what the headpiece is meant to be. HRP notes that it's possible these two skunks may have been merged with the Skitty/Delcatty ideas.

Name: Basyamo [バシャーモ]

Type: Flying/Fire

Category: Cockfight [とうけい ]

Height/Weight: 6'7'', 114.6 lbs

Pokedex Entries:

It has large wings capable of creating gales of up to 30 meters per second. There's a legend that it blew away clouds to bring sunlight to people.

--

With the flap of its wings, it creates scorching hot winds that burn vegetation to a crisp. It can barely see in dark places. Every few years, its entire body is engulfed in flames, and it grows new feathers. Even in defeat, it never gives up and possesses an indomitable spirit.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: Every few years, all of its feathers burn away, and new ones grow in their place. When it flaps its wings, it generates a hot wind with a speed of 30 meters per second, so intense that vegetation is scorched black in an instant. It is night-blind, meaning it can barely see in dark places. It has incredible determination. Even against an opponent it cannot defeat, it bravely faces them without hesitation. (There also are the names 'Basyamo' and 'Fiyoko' next to each other in the GF notes, which is the beta name for Torchic.)

Evolution: The GF notes do not explicitly state that Basyamo evolves from Fiyoko but their names were together in the notes, so it was probably being considered even at this stage

My Notes: This is beta Blaziken, back when the flaming chicken could actually fly. (And yes, real chickens can fly, despite many people believing they can't) There is a critique from the pokemon survey notes that seems to be someone complaining it looks too much like a Delibird evolution, which seems pretty silly to me, but I guess the spikey white head does have some similarities.

Name: Hakkeyou [ハッケヨー]

My Notes: A pre-evolution to Makuhita. Goes along with beta Makuhita and beta Hariyama:

Both Hakkeyou and Makuhita were criticized as appearing 'too human.' However, while Hakkeyou was cut, Makuhita's redesign didn't really make it look less human (in my opinion, at least), so it's unknown if this is the reason the pre-evo was cut. A note on Hakkeyou also says that 'sumo might be too controversial in Korea,' but finalized Makuhita/Hariyama are still clearly inspired by sumo themes; thus the pokemon survey criticisms do not automatically mean a pokemon will be changed as a result.

Name: Unknown

My Notes: These sprites were found in the sprite scratchpads, and were based on some spooky concept art that was also revealed in the teraleak:

These pokemon fascinate me. I have no idea what typing they would be. I'm guessing Dark/something, but I'm at a loss to offer a secondary typing. Its body seems to be made up of a delicate crystal lattice structure, with a glowy, nebulous light within. The limbs and tail gradually fading into nothingness seems very much intentional and the sprites reflect this lack of full back limbs. Perhaps Dark/Ghost would make the most sense, although I almost want to invent a whole new typing just for these dogs (Dark/Light type).

[mixotrophics]

time layers

tree rings tree-time / dendrochronology. Look at a cut log, look at its rings. growth in trees occurs near the bark, while the deeper-in core layers are preserved rings of past growth.

The seasons / environment affect the growth rate of the tree , creating generally a visual difference between spring / summer+autumn ring growth in temperate regions, hence 1 ring = 1 seasonal cycle. Generally, spring is associated with less-dense, rapid growth, while summer (sometimes into autumn) growth is denser.

width of rings can also be used more finely, wider rings = more growth that year, so probably better conditions... overlapping ring-dates between trees can lead to a long, multi-tree chronology for the area.

.

ice cores layers are built by annual snow, compacted into ice underneath the layers forming above. Ice traps atmosphere , how we can know the rough % oxygen/carbon dioxide/etc of past atmosphere circumstances. Heat doesn't flow well through ice, so even past temperatures can be trapped in large sheets.

dust and marine salt-ions can be trapped within, giving further depth to past ecologies.

.

lake cores mud at the bottom of the lake builds up in undisturbed layers, trapping things that land in the lake and sink.

Trapped pollen can be observed under a microscope & can identify what plant it is from, helping the understanding of how plants spread ; such techniques have been used to find out when some crops were domesticated & cultivated (1).

.

sedimentary & metamorphic rocks an iconic time-layering. sediment builds up in layers, compresses under the weight of the layers above and becomes stone. Traps things in there, and they may become coal, fossils, etc. Other things are trapped: the ripples in sediment formed by waves, so that we may know past sand-beaches.

with enough time, these layers become distorted by geological processes, becoming Wiggly (should they move downwards), getting turned non-horizontal, getting weathered (should they be exposed to air/water/etc), so on.

.

scutes scutes: plates of a tortoise/turtle's carapace. They grow more quickly in warm seasons than cold ones, forming a ring much like a tree's, even mirroring that same seasonality. elderly animals may have worn-down scutes so particularly-old animals are difficult to age exactly (2).

.

otoliths inner-ear-bones. in fish, the large otoliths also form rings with age, so fish-ages can be counted. Again, they are seasonal, growing faster in the summer and slower in the winter.

.

stromatolites bacterial fossils / fortresses. on the sea-floor, bacteria can grow into a mat, which is sticky... sand and such gets stuck, forming a layer, and the bacteria then migrates to the top of that layer. repeat. sometimes, more than sediment is stuck : microfossils, for example (3).

stromatolites used to be commonplace, but they do not form without enough of a bacterial mat: in modern times, the mat struggles to form under grazing pressure from things such as snails, shrimp, and so on. Modern stromatolites -- their mats formed of different bacteria than the ancient ones -- can be found in places too harsh for their predators to inhabit.

.

baleen whale baleen, the filter-teeth they have, grows in a sturdy sheet. The filter-bristles are formed by the rubbing of baleen-on-baleen, breaking the sheet's ends apart. To compensate for continual wear, the baleen grows.

hormones, which can indicate stress, pregnancy, etc , and isotopes, which indicate different water conditions and therefore different locations / food, are stored in the baleen (4). while the growth/wearing means it is not a complete record of a whale's life, it is still an invaluable and rich slice.

.

sources:

Åkesson, C. M., McMichael, C. N. H., Bush, M. B., Late-Holocene maize cultivation, fire, and forest change at Lake Ayauch, Amazonian Ecuador, Sage Journal

Attenborough, D., Life in Cold Blood

Microbal Mats

Holland, J. S., A whale's baleen bristles reveal the story of its life, Smithsonian Magazine

.

if you know others, feel free to add :]

[xxwitchylanexx]

From the Keys to Your Heart

Rebirth Retold Chapter 6

The parade in Junon isn't until the end of the week so maybe a little side quest to Crow's Nest to kill the time.

This is my longest chapter yet, and you should reread chapter 7 cause the beginning has changed a bit to fit in this new chapter. Thanks everyone for reading! Feel free to comment and let me know what you liked, and if you feel like this fits our Cloud <3

Masterlist

Chapter 7

Side quest spoilers

*~*

Under Junon didn’t exactly embrace your group with open arms, but you’d take what you could get especially since the members were labeled as eco-terrorists. The mayor, a hardened woman from years being crushed under Shinra’s boot, turned a blind eye and pointed you in the direction of a cozy inn in the heart of the fishing town. You had your reservations: the glint in her stare were practically made of dollar signs, and how she sat at the entrance like she was waiting for them, not to mention the bounty on your companions heads could drastically increase the quality of life for her residents. But who were you to turn down her hospitality when the prospect of a real bed outweigh your reservations.

You were eager to walk along the uneven cement pathways, the stone was so worn down from decades of traffic that the path was nearly just gravel now, as you imagined what these houses, warehouses, and businesses looked like before they deteriorated to the crumbling patchwork structures they were now. The town was probably charming, maybe gentle, before Shinra installed gaudy support structures and the big steel plate above their heads, what once gave hope for a city metropolis now sucked the life and sunlight from the very heart of the under city. You could almost see it in your mind, cute vintage houses made of the finest dark wood, with olive shutters on the windows. Aesthetically pleasing open verandas that connected right to a shopkeeper’s house so they could run their mom n’ pop shop right outside their homes. An intricately designed harbor that really gave the town its spirit with top of the line boats to fish, after all Junon was known for its fishing.

Now those darling houses were patched with driftwood and corrugated tin, most houses had spiderweb cracks in more than half of the windows, and the shutters were long since abandoned. The shops were still open but the owners eyes were hollow and shaky on their feet, too weary from the day to day fight to keep breathing. The docks were in shambles, the planks throughout its entirety had more holes than wood and what was patched was half assed with whatever material they had on hand, but the most devastating aspect of Under Junon was the ships and the sea. Each vessel was anchored on the shore under Shinra’s order. The nets were moth eaten and moss grew along the sides where the boat met the water. The sea was polluted and greenish yellow particles floated within it, the air was smoggy and thick. Without their boats you assumed the people were going hungry. What once was a bustling port town was now the slums 2.0. Meanwhile Shinra turned a blind eye, the only ones hearing the townsfolk’s protests were the foot soldiers who operated the elevator.

You sat in the town square on the circular benches near the anchor they immortalized when they first founded Junon, it was the very first anchor they dropped on their first deep sea fishing voyage, that's what the plaque says anyway. Your inquiring eyes moved over to the colossal skeletal fossil of the towns greatest rival, The Terror of the Deep. Its maw hung open and its empty sockets bore into your own. Funny how their symbol of liberation, now foreshadowed their impending doom.

The sun had set beyond the horizon an hour or two ago. The others split apart to gather any potential info on where the guys in robes were going next or any details on the big event that Shinra was preparing for at the end of this week. You heard whispers, but nothing solid. However one thing seemed pretty clear from a rumor that everyone seemed to be repeating. Rufus Shinra was coming to town, and where the president goes the Turks follow.

A shrill scream pierced through the evening chill, and panic followed. “Help! Priscilla is in trouble!” You seen Cloud dart out of the inn, a hand firmly wrapped around the hilt of his sword. The others soon joined him in a circle, hovering over the narrow stone stairway that led to the docks. Please…. just don’t get involved… Your inner voice pleaded. Your head wasn’t in the game. Aerith’s teasing and Gabe’s implications weighed you down significantly. Your body was sore and tired from falling down a mine, sleeping on a rough rocky terrain, and riding chocoback for a whole day. Overall your head was foggy and sluggish, your edge was dulled and your instincts lagged behind.

But of course they were going to help, they always did, and despite every muscle in your body begging for relief, you hauled yourself off of the bench to follow them into danger.

*~* Who would’ve thought you’d save two people from drowning within two days, and why on this floating rock through space does no one else know CPR? You groaned, your shoulders slumping with the breath that left your body, as you stalked back up the stairs from the utter disaster of battle. You reeked of fish, and brine. Your clothes were wet from the slimy terror splashing in and out of the too warm sea. Your back ached from bending so far back that you almost fell over, all to avoid being smacked by a fish tail. You only wished you’d stabbed the overgrown goldfish harder. The only thing reigning in your fiery temper was the free room, all to yourself, with a shower and a laundry facility.

The inn was one of the only buildings that still held a calming warmth. You traced the pattern of the sage green wallpaper with a fingertip as you passed through the halls, taking time to admire the paintings of sea creatures cased in handcrafted golden frames.

You ascended the staircase to the next floor and rounded the corner at the top, walking right past a door that was left ajar thinking nothing of it before stopping in your tracks just past the frame as Cloud’s voice filtered past the doorway. His words were dry, almost emotionless, but if not for that underlying sadness you would’ve thought nothing of it and carried on.

“Was that another test?” You braced your weight alongside the wall, your palm brushing against the ridges and dips along the surface.

“What? No!” Tifa sputtered, her voice high and defensive, before heaving in defeat. “Why try to deny it. I guess it was. I’m sorry.” Your pulse quickened as the room remained silent the only thing to be heard was the rush of blood in your ears. You didn’t need to be inside to feel the thick tension that built between the two much like the twisting nausea that crawled inside your stomach. >Just how close are they?

Cloud huffed. “We’ll find time to talk, just the two of us. Figure things out.” Your nostrils flared, your esophagus began to burn as the bile worked its way up. This was none of your business.

Your feet carried you swiftly away from there, much like a mouse running from a cat, past the next door and stopped in front of the room designated to you. Your vision tunneled and your surrounding grew hazy as his voice replayed ‘just the two of us’ in your head. Your eyes stared blankly at the 203 on the doorplate. You could faintly hear your name being called, but you were unsure if it was real or just the quiet yearning of your heart that you were struggling to accept.

You closed your eyes and propped your head against the door, inhaling deeply to calm your rapid heart beat, and turned the handle of the door and slipped into the comfort of the rooms closed walls. Your lungs expanded freely without the eyes of your friends around, as you sagged against the door frame. It's none of your business. You reminded yourself as you tilted your head towards the ceiling letting your eyelids slide close.

You slowly peeled your eyes open to look around. This room was similar to the rest of the inn as far as wall style went, only this one was a rich red instead of earthy green. A queen bed, all done up in blankets of cream and tan, was pushed right up to the right side of the room. It was well lit with a square fixture on the ceiling overhead and a few table lamps. A round rug covered the wood and provided a layer of insulation from the cold creaking floor.

With a strangled groan you pushed yourself off the door and shrugged off your equipment, leaving it to fall haphazardly to the floor. Every muscle in your body burned as you lumbered over to the bed, your clumsy feet catching on the rug a few too many times. But every moment of pain was worth the relief you felt as your face nuzzled into the plush mattress and warmth flooded you as you buried yourself under the blankets.

Regardless of the pure exhaustion that plagued you, sleep had continued to evade you. Your head swam with the event of the day and thanks to Aerith’s little accusation yesterday you came to the conclusion this horrendous feeling must be jealousy, though if you admitted it you’d have to accept the fear and anger that’s welling inside you too. Gods you angry. Not at her, or Cloud, or Tifa, but yourself. How the hell did this happen? You don’t do feelings, and you certainly didn’t do romance. Seduction and infatuation, sure, but never love. It was a liability, a weakness, one could exploit if they wished. So where did it all go wrong?

It didn’t help that his room was right next to yours. Only the thin drywall between your two headboards separated you, and his thumped against the plaster rhythmically, his raspy grunts muffling through to keep your rapid thoughts circling the thought of him. Were those reps he was counting? Leave it to him to have a nightly workout.

You sighed, and mentally imagined as the conflicting emotions, the jealousy, the wishful thinking, the ghost of possible feelings, all the warmth and comfort, and pushed them all into a tiny metal chest at the deepest and darkest place that house all the other memories you kept locked away. You can’t be jealous because you don't care. You just needed to keep your distance and in a couple weeks you’ll be at the saucer and can put this whole fiasco to bed. A tiny murmur of sadness shined from the useless organ in your chest, which you quickly stamped down too. This will pass. After all you’ve gotten rather good at separating your mind from pain. You don't see how this was any different.

Once you did finally achieve the sweet release of unconsciousness you were submerged into the hideous atrocities of your childhood. Usually your subconscious could identify when you were reliving one, and change the course of the dream world, but after all of the challenges today- and yesterday- brought, your body and mind were just to exhausted. Your collective presence was pulled down into the sedation of lethargy.

It started back in the saucer. You had just won the last race, beating out the slimy asshole Chuck, and now you stood in the glamorous stables, a brush in hand and a treat in the other. It felt as if your head, or eyes, was vibrating as you ran the brush through your silver chocobo’s feathers. You heard sniffling, but kept your eyes on your bird. The last thing you wanted was to catch his attention. “No…please, stop…” Your pulse spiked, and blood ran white hot with fury. You set your brush down calmly, and assured the bird in front of you that everything would be okay.

But when you turned around to beat the shit out of the guy, you were suddenly clawing desperately at the gritty ground. Adrenaline flooded your brain as pure desperation clutched at your chest and constricted your airways. No… not here… Not again… Footsteps dug into the gravel and the ground under you vibrated. A group of men circled around you, four at least. The one closest to you gripped your ankle hard enough that it would bruise and began to drag you back into their makeshift circle. Tears fell rapidly, and your nose ran like crazy. You tried to focus on the taste of your own tears to distance yourself from the burning pain in your fingers as your nails cracked against the tiny pebbles and pieces of cement as you clawed at anything to get away.

You found that escaping was futile, so changed gears trying to kick frantically to open a chance to escape, all you needed was an ounce leverage. A small part of you just wanted to stop. Your lungs burned. Your fingers were bleeding. Your vision blurred. Your ears rang. Why fight it? There was no hope. You will die here.

A sick sadistic cackle seeped through the static. His gravelly voice, like an old muffler that rusted through where it should’ve connected to the carburetor, told the others to stop. You couldn’t make out his words, your consciousness was distorted like you were being held just beneath the surface of water, but his tone sparked fear in every fiber of your being. And like a match the embers of your resolve caught flame and blazed brightly once again. You kicked and screamed and scratched and even bit, as the other men shuffled around trying to grab whatever they could get their hands around to hold you down, but the moment you heard the clicking and shuffling of a belt coming undone you crumbled.

Your eyes filled with tears that refused to fall. Your mouth felt dry and your own cries, pleas, and begging sounded funny to your own ears. You searched for anyone, anything that might help. You knew hope was lost when your frantic gaze landed on the nosy middle aged woman in the window across the street. She held her silk curtains open with her fan, her cold impenetrable chocolate eyes watching you like it was the best entertainment she’d seen that night with no intent or sense of urgency to help.

Darkness pressed in on you until everything faded to nothing. Whether it be that you didn’t remember exactly what happened or if it was just so horrible that even your unconscious mind didn’t want to relive it, you would never know, but when you came to everything was red. No matter how many times you’ve relived this nightmare it always returns here. Your vision was streaked in crimson, bodies lay in piles around you. Some were intact, others were heavily injured, the rest were in pieces scattered around you. All of them in pools of their collected blood. Their eyes wide, still, and lifeless. Their expressions frozen as if they were screaming for their lives that never reached your cotton filled ears.

You caught an image of yourself in the rippling reflection in the puddle around your bare feet. You looked like an emissary of Odin himself. S/c skin smeared with blood, and every fiber of your awkwardly torn clothes soaked as well, and dripping down the planes of your thighs. Your sunken eyes were hollow, and lifeless beyond the flicker of wrath held within. Sobs convulsed through your tiny malnourished body and the rusted knife shook violently in your hand. A scream pierced your ear drums and everything began to shake violently. Pressure began to build and squeezed and—

You shot up from the mattress like you were struck with magic, gasping for a clear breath and clawing at the clothes that clung to your form. Loud knocking rattled the door, and a voice you weren’t entirely familiar with yelled at you from the other side. Your thoughts were far away when you stumbled to the door. You took a deep breath and collection your carefully collected facade before pulling the wretched door open. The ninja girl that you saved yesterday smiled widely at you, her lips moving a mile a minute but nothing reached your ears. You weren’t sure if you should consider her a bad omen or a breath of fresh air.

She barely gave you enough time to fix your hair and put your boots on before she herded you into Cloud’s room for weird introductions and strategy planning. Only to find out that the mayor did, in fact, rat you out. You couldn’t find it you to be angry with her though.

An engine roared to life just outside the inn, as Yuffie escaped out the rattling window. The obnoxious revving made your ears ring again and your head throb behind your eye. You’ve met some weird people while traveling with the gang but you never would’ve guessed Cloud had a biker stalker, and surprise surprise hes another soldier. You’ve been awake for all of an hour, and you were so weary you nearly said your goodbyes and parted there. If it wasn’t for that small masochistic part of you that was comforted by the chaos you would’ve been on the first chocobo home.

Once you all regrouped you discussed what you should do now. Shinra wouldn’t arrive until the end of the week when the parade was scheduled to begin. You had three days to kill, and it didn’t seem like a smart move to go topside until the day of. Barret and Cloud didn’t exactly blend into a crowd. So Barret sought out the mayor with a bone to pick as you kept to the back. You just felt so out of place. You didn’t belong with these people. Every piece of you just fought to stay upwards under the immense pressure.

Though here you were, listening as the mayor explained why she did it. She even gave him a portion of their bounty in exchange for the trouble, and the argument stopped there. She pulled her dry brown hair back into a tighter pony before returning her gloved hand to her hip. “Well, since you clearly didn’t have anything better to do, think I could out source you to work?” The mayor, Rhonda, spoke. Barrett nudged Cloud’s shoulder before shuffling in front of him. “The remainder of your bounty- I need it delivered to someone. I’ve already got a porter picked out too.” She whistled and a gray whippet dog came running before sitting back on his haunches at her feet. “This here’s Salmon. Since he’ll be the one making the drop, it’s your job to get him there safe.”

“Doesn’t seem like too much if a hassle, but… who exactly is this money for?” Barret rasped, crossing his arms over his chest.

“My son. Haven’t seen him in a spell, not since he left town… and never looked back. This gil is me washing my hands of him.” She mimicked hand washing to accentuate her point. “He’s a grown man. Can’t be clingin’ to his mom’s skirts- or her pocket book.”

“We’ll take the job, for a price.” Cloud said as he shifted his weight.

“Much obliged. Once you make it to the Crows nest, find Toby. He’ll make sure you get the reward. But if I find a single hair outta place on Sam, you won’t live to enjoy it. You keep my boy safe.” She said with a finger pointed at his chest. You scoffed, you hardly doubt that she would last a minute against Cloud, let alone you.

*~*

You decided that Barret was just a man made up of intense contradictions. He was loud, brash, quick to jump the gun, yet could be incredibly gentle, and cautious. He was as stubborn as he was loud and nearly six feet and four inches of hulking muscle. A walking intimidation, yet the first to go to bat for his people. His face, while moderately attractive, was made of sharp lines, and a strong jaw. His glare struck in many through the dark lenses of his shades, and his resting bitch face had people running for the hills. Not to mention the gargantuan canon grafted to his arm. He was both a fierce, loving, and protective father, and the paragon of terrorism- something Shinra monopolized on that.

So the scene unfolding just before you really struck a chord in you. You were never intimated by him personally, you had nerves of steel and skills to back you up, but to see all that muscle, all that bark, hunched over this white and grey mutt scratching behind an ear and cooing his promises to keep him safe with puckered lips like he was speaking to an actual child really dispelled all illusions of his tough guy persona.

“Don’t you worry. Any monster that wants to getcha is gonna have to go through me.” He gave one more scratch under the dogs chin then straightened out to his full height. Salmon, the dog, turned on his heels and scurried down the beaten and barren path that led away from the rotting stench of the sea town. You followed along at the back like a captured spy now held hostage.

There was no joy right now, your circumstances and inner mockery only intensified the emptiness that lingered, but you tried your hardest to focus on the changing terrain, the rocky footpaths slowly fading into something a little more green. There wasn’t much of point you discovered as the back of Tifa’s head beckoned your scrutiny. Every swish of her perfect brown hair ticked like a bomb under your skin just waiting for the clock to hit zero. Her motherly nature shined brightly and lessened Aerith’s concerns, and in that moment you wished you were more like her. Tifa could easily validate someone’s feelings while providing a soothing direction. You actually envied her ability to connect with people, something you struggled with, and it occurred to you that this may have been the first time you’ve ever viewed someone as competition, and the notion left you uncomfortable especially since you truly did enjoy Tifa’s company.

There was still hours of hiking left, and you didn’t want to stare daggers at her back for the remainder of it, so you picked up your pace and slipped between the two of them until you took up a place between the guys at the front. Out of sight out of mind, right? Thankfully for you, Barret was loud enough to drown them out, although being up here came with it’s own challenges. You tried to subdue the rapid thoughts that created the lingering weight that plagued your body, and resisted the deep seeded temptation to sneak a peak at the blonde man to your right. You kept telling yourself that this new stubborn obsession stemmed from curiosity, that’s why, no matter how many times you swiped away the words that formed behind your eyelids, the question always circled back to the forefront of your mind. Was Cloud and Tifa an item? A wistful sigh slipped past your bow shaped lips. You didn’t need to see him to know his eyes were on you, searching for a reason for your distress.

You saw his mouth open to say something out of your peripheral, but before he had a chance to voice his concern Barret was barking out a question, and his heavy gaze finally moved on both giving you a sense of relief and longing. “Hey, Cloud! Remind me, how old were you when you left home?” Fortunately, or maybe not, Barret’s inquiry also piqued your curiosity. You certainly didn’t need to know anymore about him, but the topic was a good distraction from the chaos brewing in your head.

“Fourteen.” He answered simply, his attention returning to the trail in front of you. “No, wait, it was spring so thirteen.”

Barret sucked his teeth a moment in thought. “Suppose that’s usual for small town boys like you. What’d your mom have to say?” As if you didn’t have enough problems rattling inside your skull, as the word mom hit your ears your heart squeezed painfully in your chest. You didn’t think about mothers a whole lot, specifically cause you didn’t really have one. Though now that you were thinking about it, it was hard not to wonder what his mother was like. She must have been a strong woman to have raised such a stubborn man. What would you have been like if your own mother had survived?

“Not much.” The words left his lips so casually as he shrugged. “Didn’t try to stop me- like you said nothing unusual about it. But…”

“But?” Barret badgered.

“Two-thousand gil. She offered me that. ‘Make a fresh start’.” You looked to your shoes to hide the yearning look on your face.

“Guess mom’s are the same, all over.” You scoffed inwardly. Yeah, if only that was true. The mother-like figure you had to endure was a far cry from a good role model. She hadn’t even provided the basic safety and shelter, at least not for free. In her eyes you were just a cash cow, and the debt you racked up just living with her was enough to keep you there forever if not for Sam.

“I turned the money down though. Didn’t need it. I was planning to enlist straight away.” You raised your head to sneak a glance at him for the first time since yesterday. The slant of his mouth inched upwards, a ghost of a smile, like he was recalling the memory. You wonder, did she worry about him? Was she sad to see him go? Was she lonely? It might be sick to wish someone to be sad, but for his sake you did. What kind of mother would she be if his absence didn’t bother her?

“But you still can’t help settin’ your price at two grand. Sentimental ain’t cha?” Barret wiggled his eyebrows at him, Cloud’s lack of response answered his question.

About two hours in your party approached the coast line, and your inner turmoil seemed to mellow out like the slow crashing waves against the rocky shoreline. You held your hand above your eyes as a make shift visor as you looked up at the scorching high noon sun. Something course rubbed along your calf had you casting your stormy e/c eyes down to the source. Red’s large golden eyes, albeit spotted with burning circles that swam as your eyes readjusted, peered up at you as his fur brushed lightly against your skin.

“Are you alright?” He asked, the timbre of his voice so smooth it did put your heart at ease, maybe a litter bittersweet but it was something nonetheless.

“Yeah.” You lowered a hand to ruffle the fur on his head. “I appreciate your concern, but I'm okay. I didn’t get much sleep.” Your gaze wavered from Red to Barret briefly as Barret belted on a “Okay, hear me out.” which usually meant trouble for the rest of you.

“What?” Cloud snapped, his patience for the hulking man nearly spent already. You cocked an eyebrow at Red as you gave him a toothy grin. You angled your head towards the men hoping that Red caught your drift. You sincerely enjoyed the banter and nitpicking between the two.

“Ya know how some parents stop their kids from leavin’ the nest? Claimin’ ‘it’s too soon’ or ‘they’re not ready’” Barret ranted waving his arms here and there to make a point. “Any excuse to keep them at home.”

“What about it?” The crease between Cloud’s eyes returned and his frown deepened.

“Loads of parents’re like that, but I told myself I’d be different.” His big meaty palm thumped at his chest right above his heart. “I’d never keep my little girl from flyin’! I don’t wanna clip her wings! I want ‘er to soar!” Both arms raised through the air, flapping childishly like a bird. Cloud scoffed with an exaggerated eye roll, the barely noticeable smirk not going unnoticed. Barret swirled around to get into his space. “I hear you scoffin’. You think I can’t do it?! You think I’ll keep er all to myself!”

Cloud stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms, his baby blues amusedly gazing over the hulking man. “Oh yeah.” You snickered.

“And that’s what scares me!” Barret erupted, his arms falling heavily to his sides. The two of them moving their feet once again. “As much as I wanna let ‘er fly, I dunno if I’ll be able to let go when the time comes! Maybe I’ll panic- get in her way, hold her down, all to keep her safe! Oh, Marlene! I wish you could be my baby girl forever!” You stared wide eyed at his hysterics. You couldn’t believe what you were looking at. Is he crying? You shot a look at Red to see if he was seeing this shit too. He heaved a heavy sigh, and shaking his head. He wasn’t nearly as entertained as you.

Soon the coast line faded and the path led you higher up hills, and up a rocky cliff past an old decaying boat, an old weather worn flag still lamely adorned the mast. The crumbling brittle ferns were replaced with lush leafy plants and full swaying trees the farther you got from Junon. It wasn't until you passed one of Chadley’s information towers that the gravel path ended and you came across patches of little yellow flowers. Each patch bloomed with different shades of yellow; some light like the sun, others deeper like the hues in Red’s eyes and your favorites were pale and light like the color of a Woodland chocobo or the spikes of his wild hair.

“Oh my sweet baby girl!” His cries took you by surprise, but the tears streaming down his cheeks really left you dumbfounded. This can’t be the same guy who blew up a reactor. It just can’t.

“What now?” Cloud snapped, his steady loss of patience over the day coming to it’s end.

“Your daddy… your silly daddy… he’s gonna…” Barret’s sobs were briefly interrupted as he sniffled wetly between deep shaky breaths. “He’s gonna fail you! Oh, I can’t let you go! I just can’t!”

“Barret, get your shit together!” Cloud snarled. “Marlene’s barely out of diapers. You got time!”

“Right, right. I’m just getting worked up over nothing! Yeah! She won’t be leaving me for awhile!” His sentence started a bit crestfallen before perking up towards the end.

That seemingly was the end of the conversation, but then a few minutes later as you were passing one of the beaten down chocobo rest stops you seen a wicked smirk form on Cloud’s face from the corner of your eye. “Then again…” He trailed off in a mocking tone. You couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Barret chastised him with a stern ‘Hey’ then the two of them turned to look at you as you doubled over in hysterics. It just caught you so off guard. You hadn’t seen Cloud really joke around, but this fucker was turning out to be a mischievous little shit just like Aerith.

You straightened up and took a deep breath to compose yourself. You reached out and pushed against Cloud’s arm with a wide smile on your face. “You’re such an ass!” His smile faltered as the light force made him take a step back before it changed into something more gentle, more intimate, and you quickly turned to Barret. He stood there frozen and quiet which you didn’t actually think was possible. The girls giggled along behind you, Aerith giving you a pat on the back and then you started moving again. “I wouldn’t worry Barret. After all you clearly know what’s best for her.”

“You mean it?” he asked. You nodded.

“Just look at now. You left her behind to keep her safe, even though I’m sure you’re missing her.”

“You’re right!”

“Also…” you snuck a glance over at Cloud before finishing your train of thought, “Just like Cloud’s mom when she offered him money, you can let her fly and still be the air under her wings. Support is everything.” You heard him sniffle again and you rolled your eyes. Gods he was so unexpectedly emotional. His steps thundered loud against the ground was your only warning to the crushing hug he enveloped you in.

He wrapped his arm around you from behind and squeezed you to his body, picking you up off your feet in the process. You squirmed in his embrace, kicking your feet trying to free yourself before you submitted to your fate. The girls came to your rescue, and tried to pull you free, each pulling on an arm. Aerith even tried to tickle him to get him to release you. When he finally set you down your eyes caught Cloud’s again. The gentle smile, and softened eyes made your chest warm and fluttery. You swallowed it down, and chalked it out to be lingering exhaustion, and stretched out your now sore back.

Salmon started barking from up ahead, and your hand dropped to the hilt along your back out of habit. You couldn’t see anything, but your ears trained on a rhythmic flapping sound, and the hairs on your arm stood up. “There!” You yelled. The others looked up and seen the giant winged fiends. Sandstorm Drakes. “Take cover!” You ducked behind a giant red tank as one of them cast aerora, and you cursed under your breath. You peeked over the metal tank as Cloud grabbed your arm and pulled you back down to cover. Heavy winds soared above you as your chest heaved with adrenaline.

“You okay?” He asked looking no worse for wear.

“Yeah.” You let the quiet settle you as you thought out a plan. You weren’t bad at aerial fighting, but in this instance you didn’t have any long range weapons. You could jump, but you doubted you get a good enough range to land any hits. If you could time it right to use the tank for height you should be able to reach. Cloud shifted besides you and another idea formed in your head as you registered the sound of his sword clanking against the metal tank. You did have materia. You gaze flicked to his, and a sly grin spread across your face. “I can give you an opening.” You could hear Barret screaming at the flying creatures as he shot at them and chime like music of Aerith’s magic hitting its mark. The screeching of the drakes continuously got louder and louder along with the increase pressure of the wind whipping around the battlefield ringing in your ears.

He gave a curt nod before jumping back out there. You creeped around the side of the tank and clutched at the bangle around your wrist concentrating on the green materia slotted into one of the chambers. The orb began to glow before you released the spell and aerora was cast on the closest drake. Its wings beat heavily against the current, but its protective aura faltered and disappeared. You jumped into the fray and scurried behind Aerith’s shield clutching your bangle as you prepared another spell.

A sharp cry pierced the sky as one fell to the ground with an echoing thump as Cloud pierced it in a upward arc. Your second spell landed much like the first however as it’s shield flickered out it became enraged and locked its eyes on Cloud’s falling form. It began to swoop and before you could fully think it through you raced across the land and jumped. Of course you wouldn’t reach its height on your own but as Cloud descended he held his blade flat on its side. As you gained height you planted your feet firmly onto the blade and pushed upwards giving yourself more momentum to gain altitude.

You pulled your sword free from its scabbard and angled back. As soon as the you were in range you plunged the sword into its chest. It’s screech pierced your ears and made them ring painfully the proximity disorienting you for a moment. You firmly brought one foot to its chest and kicked with all your strength to free your sword the movement adding an extra distance between you and the carcass. As fell you realized the fiend was following the same path down only a few feet beside you and there was no way to change direction or move out of the way before it crushed you. You sheathed the sword, the weapon only to cause more harm if you were land on it, and turned you body so you would land sideways. The impact will painful, but you’ll be able to roll away before the drake’s crushing weight would flatten you like a pancake.

Here it comes. You thought as you tucked your arms in before your body met the unforgiving ground. You bit your lip to contain the scream that died in your throat as your arm took the brunt of the impact. You rolled three times before coming to a halt.

You flopped your head back for a second to just process the pain shooting through your body, a warm heat radiating from your forearm. You took a few shaky breathes as the intensity faded. Nothing that a simple cure spell wouldn’t heal. You propped yourself back on the uninjured elbow to make sure everyone else was okay. Aerith dusted of the bottom of her dress, Tifa was messing with the straps of gloves, Barret was adding extra bullets to one of the fiends, Red sat back licking a paw, and Cloud was faced away from you slotting his sword back onto his back. Looks like no one else is hurt.

As the fiends broke down and return to the lifestream in ribbons of twirling luminescent greens you tuned in to the way the Planet welcomed them home. You always wondered why humans didn’t return to the planet the same way. Souls, yes, but the bodies are usually sent out to sea or buried, sometimes even cremated. You weren’t sure if other people could feel it the way you do, but it felt different when the two species returned. Fiends are warm and accepting of the change as if that was what they were born to do. Humans felt more complex, though it could be because you were the one to send them ‘home’. Some fought it, other times the strands felt empty or sad, or extremely angry, but no matter the emotion the lifestream was there to accept them, leaving their empty husks behind. You could only hope that people who leave this life to cross to the next, who died of natural causes, went more peacefully.

Does Aerith feel them too? It was a valid question. As a Cetra you imagined she could feel the lifestream better than you. Could she hear them?

The hand that was outstretched towards you came into focus as you blinked yourself back to reality. “You good?” Cloud asked as you took his gloved hand in your own.

As he pulled you to your feet a sharp pain blazed across your forearm. You bit the inside of your cheek to keep from reacting though his blue eyes flicked down to the offending appendage. You huffed as you regained your footing cocking your good arm on your hip to mask the throbbing. Damn thing is probably broken. “Why does everyone keep asking me that today?”

“That wasn't an answer.” He shot back as he scratched at the back of his neck.

You huffed and poked his forehead with a finger. Your eyes narrowing as you studied him. “You’re to observant.” You spoke low and smooth, then retreated from where you wished to be.

Salmon barked down the road and if the windmills, and tattered fences were anything to go by you were close to Crow’s Nest.

*~*

Cloud followed after Toby into the wooden walls of Crow’s Nest and down the rocky trail that led into the fortress. Toby rambled on and on though it all went in one ear and out his other, you consumed every little thing that raced through his head right now. He’d taken his eyes off you for a second as seven of you entered and in that second you were gone, and if he was being honest he wasn’t sure if he’d find you again.

Walking in he couldn’t help but notice the sturdy structure, safety was always his top priority. It was smart that they used the rough rocky mountain as part of their defense, he’ll give them that, but they needed a much gate and guard system. Then there was these sand bags piled up along the left wall, and he could only hope they weren’t there to hold up the wall— it wouldn’t surprise him though.

At the bottom Tifa and Aerith also broke off the main group to take a look around, and with some luck one of them would run into you. The gravel under his feet turned to smooth stone, albeit uneven, as he descended into the heart of the town. He paused to scan his surroundings, that’s what his excuse was anyway, but really he was searching for you. He relented before climbing up the stairs to the bar after Toby, Barret and Red close behind him.

He caught the gist of what Toby wanted. Fiends at the lighthouse, and Kyrie causing more trouble. He huffed and rolled his eyes, a hand landing on his hip in irritation. With Red’s nose and his annoyance directed at the wannabe merc they decided they should probably deal with this. They could set out in the morning, take care of it, then make their way back to Junon in time for the big event.

He didn’t spend another minute taking about it though, he was already down the stairs and looking for their lodging for the night. With that injury he thought that’d be the best place to start his search.

When that came up empty, checked out the cliffs that overlooked the sea. More often that not he’d run into you- on purpose, but he’d never admit that- on your own away from their make shift camp for the night basking in the quiet of nature. He liked to think it was the privacy you craved, much like himself, though when you were asked you said you just felt more relaxed under the open sky. But, now as he stared out and the sunset over the cliff side you were nowhere in sight.

He seen the flow of the skirt of Aerith’s dress before he heard her. “Looking for Y/n?” He turned to see her better at the pier just up the staircase next to him. Both of her hands were clasped behind her back as she swayed along with the wind, the wood creaking beneath her feet as she moved.

He didn’t hesitate, or grow embarrassed, this time. “Have you seen her?”

She skipped down the steps her smile growing in diameter as she stepped up to him. She opened her mouth to tease him, he was sure of it, before her brows wrinkled and a frown replaced her smile. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her since we came in.”

“Right.” He nodded and mumbled a quick ‘Thanks’ before stalking off, with just a bit more gusto, to resume his search.

You’ve been acting strange since last night- no-before that. Whatever Gabe said to you was the beginning. You distanced yourself from everyone leading your chocobo behind the rest of them. You masked it with a charming smile and deflected questions, but he noticed. He always notices. The light didn’t reach your eyes as you joked around, and you didn’t even try to scold Barret for being obnoxious. He seen the way your movements were sluggish, how you stumbled on your feet as you hacked at the Terror of the Deep. He waved it off as exhaustion, so much has happened in just two days. Even he was wearing down. He hoped a good nights sleep was all you needed.

But you looked worse than just exhausted as you slumped over the door in the inn. All worry and doubt he felt from his conversation with Tifa disappeared when he seen you. You looked so defeated. The door the only thing keeping you on your feet as you stared vacantly at it. His chest tightened and he stumbled closer. He didn’t know what to do. Comforting people wasn’t exactly his specialty though when called out to you that seemed to help. His heart dropped to his stomach when you just shrugged him off and slipped inside your room leaving him to stare where you were just moments before. He warred with him self for a moment between knocking on your door or leaving you be, ultimately he turning back to his down and going inside with a slump in his shoulders. Had you even noticed that he called out to you?

He couldn’t sleep of course, not that he ever did anymore. Even the tiniest of sounds were enough to have him stirring, but last night he was filled with a restless energy. Every time he closed his eyes your crestfallen expression appeared. He tossed and turned for upwards of an hour before giving up, settling on some sit ups until his muscles ached and his eyelids drooped.

When the first rays of sunlight filtered in through his window everyone was herded into the room, and that’s when he started to think he’d done something wrong. You lingered in the back, you didn't offer any suggestions, you wouldn’t look in his direction at all. Every time he checked on you you had that same far off look glued onto your pretty face. He couldn’t think of anything he did to upset you, unless he creeped you out in the mines- and honestly he wouldn’t blame you. The timing just didn’t make sense though. You got along fine until you left the ranch. He spent most of the day agonizing over how to mend the situation, and frustrated that he was too awkward to know what to say.

Then out of nowhere you brightened up again, your laugh as breathtaking as the radiant smile on your face. Pride swelled in his chest and a heat rushed to his cheeks. He made you laugh. His heart still throbbed when he thought about the way your hand felt so warm against his upper arm as you pushed him playfully. He didn’t think you’d been listening to Barret’s nonsense either, yet there you comparing the knucklehead to his mom.

He really thought that would be the end of whatever was going on with you, but now he thinks he may have overstepped. He was just going to tell you your fighting was good as always or maybe something less lame when he held out his hand to help you up. But he saw it. Your lips pushed together in a thin line, your eyes slid shut, and if it weren't for his enhanced senses he would’ve missed the sharp breath that you sucked in. His eyes flicked down to your arm. Your arm tensed creating an unnatural shift of bone underneath the skin. He just stared dumbly at it. “Why does everyone keep asking me that today?” Playful tone and a clever deflection once again. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed the issue. You clearly were hiding it from everyone, which made him irrationally angry. What you said next worried him. With a finger pressed to his forehead your whispered words cut sharply into him, “You’re too observant.” Your eyes cold and hardened, but he swears there was an underlying fear beneath the icy exterior and then he realized maybe you two weren’t that different.

You built this solid wall around yourself to keep everyone a safe distance around you never being aloud to cross the distance. You can’t get hurt if you never let anyone in but in reality you just cage yourself in. He did the same, only he used his broody nature and impassive strength. Until the plate fell he was able to do a job with no concern for the client, keeping a barrier between their problems and his feelings, now with this journey being so entwined with Sephiroth it was hard not care. Maybe that’s why he feels drawn to you. For the first time he wants be the one to reinforce your strengths. He was determined to reach you even if he had to break the damn doors down himself.

His hand threaded behind his neck up to scratch at his nape as he went re-climbed the steps to the bar taking two stairs at a time. He stalled at the top as a familiar remedy. The gentle and harmonious hum echoed through the open frame leading into the unfinished bar.

Melancholy and nostalgia filled him and constricted his chest like a vice. He ambled slowly to the wooden framing and settled himself against the smooth stone to watch the scene unfolding before him. He had expected Tifa to be the one playing this old song. Instead there you were. Sat straight on the black wooden bench your fingers gracefully pressing against the old piano keys creating the melody song he heard growing up in Nibelheim. The song took him back to his childhood bedroom listening intently to the girl, Tifa, next door practicing it at all hours of the day. You were the only one consuming his thoughts now, and what a vision you were. Your e/c irises were hidden behind closed eyelids. The smooth planes of your face looked relaxed, but dejected. His awestruck stare followed down the slope of your perfect button nose, and over the bow shape lines of your down-turned lips The low lighting from the lights strung above the both of your heads emphasized the highlight in your hair swayed back and forth around your bare shoulders in time with the glide of your fingers as you recalled each note meticulously from memory.

He glanced quickly around the bar finding nothing but empty seats around round tables. His legs brought him closer to you out of their own volition as if the very thought of you beckoned him closer. “Where’d you learn that?”

Your fingers faltered on the keys, and your body lurched in fear, a tiny squeak escaping your lips. Cute. “Son of a-” You took in a deep breath to calm yourself before the full weight of your glare was on him. “You’re the only one that has ever snuck up on me! Stop it!”

He laughed, the noise sounding odd to his own ears. “Sorry.” He scratched at his nape once again as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He propped Hardedge against the wall then closed the distance between you. He felt silly for lowering himself onto the narrow bench so slowly but he wanted to make sure you had no objections. The bench had just enough room to sit comfortably apart, but with a newfound sense of courage he slid closer to you, feigning ignorance to the available space, so the sides of your arms rest against one another. His pulse pounded in his ears and his hands grew clammy as they rested on his knees.

“I was at a ranch near Nibelheim. The owner’s daughter taught me the song.” You looked up at him with curious orbs. “You grew up in Nibelheim, right?” He nodded his head. “Tifa, too?”

His throat clenched at your inquiry. Nibelheim wasn’t something he usually talked about, the mere memories enough to dredge up a rapid river of intense emotions. Fear, hatred, devastation. He often found it to be a topic of great discomfort. It could've been the song that eased the wounds or possibly all the discussion of his mother this morning, but for the first time in a long time he wasn’t so hesitant to talk about home. “Yeah.”

You looked back down at your fingers that hovered over the keys. “You guys must’ve been close.” You mumbled.

He shrugged, “Not really.” He was hyper focused on the way your arm brushed against his as he readjusted. “I was… I’ve always been… like this.” Awkward, and unsociable. He wanted to say.

He hadn’t realized the difference in your height before now as he towered a head and half above you. His soft gaze falling down to your lips. It was enough that he’d have to lean down to—

“But, you guys seem really close now.” You peered back up at him through the loose strands of hair framing your face. He quickly turned his head to stare at the wall to hide the heat that was spreading under his skin.

“I guess…” His relationship with Tifa seemed to be rocky as of late, but he couldn’t deny she was important to him. “She’s like a sister.” His answered lamely as he turned his attention to the keys before him.

“Really?” The inclination of your voice pulled his eyes back to your own, the warm hue soothing the wave of anxious jitters he was experiencing. “I would’ve pegged you guys to be more than that.” You bumped the ball of your shoulder against his bicep.

“What? It’s not like that.” He quickly huffed. His reaction pulled another musical laugh from you, something he was slowly becoming addicted to he feared.

“If you say so.” You teased.

The tension in your body practically dissolved with his answer, and the sparkle in your eyes that he’d grown accustom to returned casting the once dull and emptiness back to the recesses from which they came. He relaxed and exhaled the bout of nerves that plagued him before he settled into the comfortable silence. You returned to playing the Nibelheim lullaby, the warmth of your arm rubbing against his taking precedence at the fore front of his mind, when he remembered why he was worried about you in the first place. He observed your facial expression at first looking for any signs of discomfort and when he saw none he moved his attention to the offending appendage. His frown deepened as he looked for any unnatural shift beneath your skin. It appeared to be fine. There was no bruising or swelling. Your movement was clean and precise. You must have snuck off to mend it in privacy, but even with healing materia it must be sore. “How’s your arm?”

Your e/c orbs narrowed slightly, your nostrils flaring as you exhaled sharply. He was actually beginning to like this side of you. You’ve been level headed and witty the entire time, along with being a good conversationalist and polite when speaking to anyone. So to see your temper flare and an attitude when this didn’t go your way was almost refreshing to him. Perhaps something was fundamentally wrong with him, or maybe a part of him took pleasure that he was the only one to see it. “Nothing materia couldn’t fix.”

He itched to press the issue further to see more of your fiery personality, but her erred on the side of caution. Your answer was satisfactory so he supposed he could drop it. He peeled his eyes from you, now slightly embarrassed he’d been staring for so long, and looked down to the keys on the old instrument. He let his own fingers slide over the naturals and pressing onto each note softly creating a different song he’d learned in Midgar. Your fingers slide off and landed in your lap. He could feel the way you gawked at him the weight of it nearly burning holes into the side of his head. He felt heat rush to the tips of his ears as you propped yourself up on an elbow to watch him.

“So Mr. Soldier, when on Gaia did you have the time to learn piano? Or was that part of your training too?”

He realized he never actually told anyone this, and the thought of sharing it with you made him feel exposed. Yet he wanted to share this piece of himself with you. “I got homesick… when i enlisted. I had a lot of time on my hands before I climbed the ranks.” Your bought your hands back to the ivory notes pressing down on a few to play a complementary part the song. The two of you sat together of upwards of an hour side by side playing a few different melodies you’d learned over the course of your travels.

You movements stilled and fingers hovered above the keyboard. You turned around, your back now facing the piano, and looked above to the sky through the holes in the ceiling. He too let the music die there and angled towards you. As you admired the sky he shamelessly stared at you. His chest tightening as his eyes trailed over the slope of your nose and glazing over the smooth strands of hair illuminated by the twinkling lights and rays of moonlight.

Your irises moved down to meet his own as a smile graced your lips. “Thank you.” You voice sounding smaller in comparison under the stars. “I feel lighter now.” His brows scrunched minutely as he briefly pondered your words. He didn’t have to chance to linger on the statement, though, your soft warm hand inched towards his. You gently laced your fingers through his and giving his a small squeeze before pulling away and standing up. With one more pat to his shoulder you walked towards the entrance. “Good night, soldier boy.”

He gazed up and the night sky hoping to find what you found so intoxicated by the moon, and he caught himself smiling. He didn’t know if your growing relationship was romantic or not, but he decided that he wasn’t going to shy away from it like he did with almost everyone. No, if he wanted to be the air under your wings then he too would bare his soul to you.