#in my tummy's defense all I had to eat at work today were a dozen mini donuts

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 4, day 26, Keen gets better defined gauntlets and I finally put those Rheddig skeleton pictures I've been taking to use! :D Turns out that's not a helmet, it's a mask! Don't ask me how it stays on, I'm assuming like sticky tack or something (I'm joking, it's probably a combination of "the designers didn't think about that" and "who cares? It looks cool!" Both of which are more common design choices than you might think!)

Reference images under the cut, warning for skelebones

Poor bastard's neck fused with the stairs ): Probably not a pleasant way to go

Anyway, its a super interesting design, clearly meant to be intimidating! The eye-like designs are actually far above the eye socket, because they're not actually eyeholes! The eye holes are the two little slits you can see below the eye-shaped decorations. And yes, you can see out of those slits! It was a common design in certain styles of armor, because it afforded the eyes the most protection while still allowing some, albeit limited, vision. They're not wide enough to get an arrow through them (although you can still be blinded by the arrow splintering and piercing your eye), for example, but they are wide enough and sit close enough to the face that they don't obstruct much of your vision. These guys are probably foot soldiers, because even though you can still see out of those slits, they kind of fuck up the kind of distance viewing an archer or artilleryman would need. This particular design is more decorative than combat-practical, considering that massive blind spot in the center of their vision thanks to that beak, but it looks really cool and tells me something nifty about Rheddah's culture and priorities when it comes to combat.

Specifically, it tells me that Rheddah values intimidation as a valid battle tactic. Look at this thing! Look at how far up the eye motif is on the mask, and how hard to spot those slits are. First, it'd be fucking terrifying to see these fellows bearing down on you, armed with pikes. Or at least I assume the pikes I've seen lying around these guys are theirs, but they might belong to Sila's soldiers. Or it's the same design regardless of nation of origin; I mean why design two kinds of pole-arm weapons when one works just fine for your environmental story telling purposes? It's not like a very specific nerd is going to trawl through and photograph every tiny detail that she sees! That would be absurd!!!

...ahem, anyway. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah!

Without the rest of the Rheddig field uniform to go off of I have no way of knowing, but based entirely on these battle masks, I'm fairly sure Rheddah likes to use optical illusions to their advantage in battle as well. Because of where that eye motif is situated, their soldiers seem taller than they actually are, and in the heat of battle that split second of "wait those aren't eyes" can make or break a combat encounter. Something like this can fuck with perception just enough that your opponent will be slightly off in where they aim their attacks, and a well-trained soldier taking this into account can certainly use it to his advantage. There's also, like, someone's aiming for your eye? No they're not, my eyes are down here, asshole!

Oof, I had more to say about this than I thought I did, and I have more to say, but it's past my bedtime, I've had a stressful day, and I am the sleepy tireds, so I'm off to bed. Good night my loves! I shall return to gush about various designs in this game another day!

[trashytummiez]

Noodle Binge Blasts Off Again

I saw a post by @squidbiscuit that made me remember that Jessie and James canonically stuff themselves all the time.  Meaning I have to write something for that now. :3

“What a haul!  You’s two really outdid yerselves this time!” Meowth declared while eagerly rubbing his paws together.

James let out an excited and decidedly girlish squee of delight, complete with clenching his fists together and shaking with glee.  Jessie and Meowth rolled their eyes while James scratched the back of his blue-haired head and said, “Sorry, but, do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had noodles??”

It’s true, Team Rocket had been down on their luck, and that usually meant being down on food as well.  But today, the trio had a considerable haul of udon noodle takeout orders spread before them.  A lot of them too.

“Well, after a job like that, we deserve something nice for once!” Jessie insisted.  Her bare midriff emitted a hungry grumble.  Her cheeks heated up as she rubbed her hungry stomach with a scowl.  

James giggled while Meowth sniggered alongside him, until their own stomachs started growling right alongside hers.  Their laughing froze dead in their tracks.

“...P-Point taken,” James conceded.

“Ah, whad’ya say we stop yappin’ an’ start snackin’??” Meowth suggested.

“I’d say it’s dinner time!” Jessie shouted excitedly. 

She grabbed a box along with James and Meowth.  The humans grabbed their chopsticks and Meowth just took to slurping the contents straight from the box and into his mouth.  It didn’t matter.  All three were slurping away with glee after a few seconds.

Their faces all lit up at the same time.

Nothing put a smile on the faces of these often inept outlaws quite like a nice warm meal.  A lot of it at that.  Which was why they slurped those noodles in record time and went straight to work slurping the next box of noodles.  Jessie and Meowth groaned contently as the noodles, meat and broth all rushed down their gullets.  James continued humming and squealing girlishly through his bulging cheeks full of noodles.  He looked like a chipmunk storing nuts for winter until he gulped that mouthful of noodles down, which caused his throat to swell moments before all those noodles vanished down to his stomach.

Meowth being the smallest, his little stomach started getting rounder pretty early into their celebratory gorging.  After all, his tiny feline frame meant the least amount of room for food.  But James wasn’t far behind, getting a little more noticeably heavy in the middle.  Funny enough, it was Jessie who was eating the most in the shortest timeframe.  She was slurping down noodles faster than they could come, with her box pile steadily getting bigger and bigger with every passing minute.  

How that young red-haired woman could pack away so much was a mystery.  But her appetite was no secret.  This wasn’t the first time the trio had pigged out and it most assuredly wouldn’t be the last.  

The noodles continued vanishing down their gullets in what could be described as record setting time.  They were so lost in the moment that they weren’t even fully catching onto how full they were all getting.  Of course the taste of victory tended to get the better of them from time to time.  

All three continued swelling up with every box they slurped down.  Meowth had to lean back with his hind legs spread out just to give his round furry tummy some room.  James’ stomach was sticking out so much that his black undershirt barely contained it.  And Jessie’s bare belly was getting so big that it was squeezing down against her skirt and making her short top TR jacket tighter around her torso.

Eventually all three outlaws had finished their meals.  They were left sprawled in their seats with Meowth laying down atop the table while his bowling ball-sized belly stuck out for him to rub tenderly with his paws.  Jessie and James were sitting back in their chairs, contently rubbing their bloated bellies with a look that was both overstuffed yet satisfied.

“Unngh, I can’t believe we ate so much...” Jessie groaned, massaging her round belly slowly with one hand.

James whimpered and rubbed his own aching belly with both hands.  His face soured when his stomach gurgled heavily from how stuffed it was with noodles.  “Why must those blasted noodles taste so yummy...?”

Meowth burped and stroked his round furry stomach then said, “...Beats me, but my compliments t’the chef ‘cuz ya ain’t kiddin’...these noodles...?  Outta dis stinkin’ world...”  Meowth looked back at Jessie, noting that her belly was considerably bigger than James’.  “Jeez, ya look pregnant with half’uh dozen kits der!  How much more did’ja eat then us?”

Despite her fullness, Jessie managed a grin when she looked over how many more empty boxes she had by her side than James and Meowth.  

“What can I say?  No better place to put delicious food than right here, right?”  She gave her belly a few pats, making it slosh and bounce around from the pats.

With that last pat though, Jessie let out a burp so loud that it could’ve alerted any nearby authorities of their current hideout if anyone was outside of the building they were hiding out in.  Jessie’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth.

James giggled hysterically and regretting it shortly after when his laughter shook up his own belly and made it gurgle away.  But it was worth it.  Meowth sniggered again and said, “Dat’s one way t’complement the chef.  Would’a thought you was more ladylike den dat though, heh.”

“Oh shut up...” Jessie said defensively.

Meowth sniggered some more.  “Guess dat makes James ‘ere the girly one’uh the group, huh.”

James was still giggling, but then what Meowth said registered and he sputtered indignantly.  “Wah-hey!  I’m not some dainty-HIC!”

His complaining was cut off by a loud, high-pitched hiccup.  James blushed and covered his mouth, hiccuping again and blushing even harder.

Both Jessie and Meowth looked back at him and grinned.

“Yeah, okay, that’s fair.  He’s definitely the girly one of the group.”