#~4:1 magnification

[photoncatcher]

Panasonic G5; 1/30; F/5.6; ISO 160; 200mm + 50mm reverse coupled ~4:1 magnification

Panasonic G5; 1/25; F/5.6; ISO 160; 200mm + 50mm reverse coupled ~4:1 magnification

I couldn't decide on one, so you get two instead

13/12/2023

[percreates]

Some sketches of an OC I made for a friend's minecraft smp- Benni, it/they, it comes with Lore (so so much lore)

There's SO many things I want to draw from the server and adventures that have been had, but I'm still figuring out how I plan to draw certain mobs and also fighting executive dysfunction so. Incoming eventually

Some earlier sketches before I actually had the idea to create Benni and just wanted to fuck around with armor concepts (hence the little notes), and then my detail list to refer to when actually drawing it

My first actual drawing of Benni, still my favorite even though the design in my head has changed a little

First (and only so far) attempt at finding a color scheme, definitely not sticking with this lol, I don't like the pants even though this is the closest I could get to my actual minecraft skin. I also just don't like how the pants look even though they look like the reference 🤣

Basically everything in this image gets changed afsfdgdggd

Another sketch figuring out an armor design, based on a moment in game

And then my most recent sketches, trying to figure out exactly how buggy to make them, because it's enderman-adjacent (it's a lengthy explanation. Like I said, Lore), and this is my concept for the endermen. Based vaguely on bullet ants, because I'll also use those as inspiration for my endermite and enderdragon designs

For some reason, despite being a very capable warrior and colonizer adventurer, Benni is perpetually confused in my sketches. I'm still getting the hang of drawing mandibles, and I thought that last enderman looked judgmental so I gave it a thought bubble afsfsgdg

Bug-like creature warning below the readmore

[nikox400x]

Kung Fu Panda 4-All the budget went to the animation (spoilers)

Hey all, its me, the guy who everyday make a tour around this site but almost never talk. How are ya?

Two days ago something arrived to the cinema's screens, something that me and everyone were waiting for since 2018, the fourth film and the begginig of the new kung fu panda triology.

You know? When I sat on that theather seat with my friends to see what Dreamworks had prepared for us, I told myself; "Maybe that post I made a while ago throwing shit at what seemed like Kfp 4 was going to be was a bit hard, I hope I can come out regretting what I said that time"

And as soon as the credits ended, it was clear to me, I dont regret a shit. Maybe it was a little exaggerated, compared to what a megamind fan would think about the terrible sequel they made, but still: the film is crappy and boring most of the time. But why?

I'm going to explain some points.

1- Po? Is that you?

I don't know you guys, but i don't think the panda we knew in the end of the third film is the same as this one. Seriously, he share more comparisons with the Po from the legend of awessonless than the one from the films, maybe its a personal thing but it feels that way. At least in the beggining of the film feel like that.

And I don't know what he was thinking about when he decided to follow a thief he doesn't know at all and who tried to steal in his own palace, and that suspiciously know who is the chameleon, whose were her plans, her past, where she lived, where exacly they had to pass through avoiding all the guard inside her home, why the others thiefs of the city hate her so much... With Po's experience with criminals this is like a chef throwing water on a pan with boiling oil, it's obvious what is going to happen.

2- Zheng- Female Nick Wilde but without charisma or half of his intelligence.

I knew it from the first moment I saw Zheng's desing, the people who know me can corroborate that; her facial expressions, her tone while she talk, her animal race, her position as thief, her final when she is part of the justice same as the protagonist... it's clearer than water I think.

Everyone could say this is forgivable if she's smart, but surprise, she's not. This character is just an absurd try of this company for """"conect with infant audience""""(I don't know in what sense, I supose for the cute design, idk). But the point is, the supposed objective of the hollywood companies is give the new generetions better things than we got at their age, but what I see is laziness for write a decent scrip only for take an advantage of a known IP and make easy money. Even the children have quality standars, this is not the dragon warrior and of course this is not kung fu panda.

And talking about the dragon warrior, having our deep and lovely Tigress with her magnific development or Tai Lung back from the spirit realm... why in the hell this character exists?! Oh yeah, for being trending topic in twitter for three days. Yay...

3- The furious five and Shifu, for us : our pretty boys, and for Dreamworks: living jokes.

What made Kung Fu Panda what it is, is not the fucking panda, it's them. They're the inspiration for Po, their allies, the royale representation of kung fu and the ones which everything started with.

Po's a comic relief, and his mission is show his development in part using his humor, but the humor in this film barely works because of the lazy script. Something that even the talented Jack Black himself can't fix, beacuse his only role there is dublin his character, unlike the rest of the residents of the Jade Palace except Dustin Hoffman.

Seth Rogen (Mantis) himself even said that he wasn't even contact by Dreamworks in the first place, only for make a scream in the credits, that's sad beacause he really wanted to see Mantis on the screen. And I know and I understand that the five are expensive, but cmon, they could just simply change the voice actors and offset it with a good script but that's not the case of course. Their role in the film is being a counter for Po's constant jokes, for not to saturate the spectator with jokes, now that's not in there anymore, thank you Dreamworks.

4-The chameleoooohhn and her "motivation".

I can't say much, basically because out of her design she's nonsense. She says that because of her size, she was reyected for being a kung fu warrior.

Yeah of course but only one little thing, what about Shifu? Viper, a warrior without tips? Mantis, literally a dawn insect? Master Oogway, a TURTLE? The masters goose? C'mon even there's a fucking master chicken! Don't talk shit chameleon!

Her importance for the plot? Its almost a lie, the others villains had links to important characters; Tai Lung (with his link to Shifu's past), Shen (with his link to Po's past) or Kai (with his link to Oogway's past), all of them related to important characters. And her? To zheng's past and present I guess? But again, anyone know this character. She's like a villain from a Disney show, you know the type of villain who say a lot of things but at the end, she don't support nothing to the lore.

And her personality is like a mix of all the previous villains, and this sounds good right? HAHAH nope. Do you remember when as a child you mixed all the plasticines of all the colors to create the final color and you ended up with a color similar to poop? well that's exacly how her personality feels like.

5- Po's dads; the only reason they're there is because they ran out of characters to make the film.

The tittle itself tell everything, they don't do anything for the script in all the film, and their objective could be done since the start.

The script of the film except for the final looks like a draft which they didn't know how to complete, everyone who watch it can see it perfecly. The animation, the music and the backgrounds are the only things notable here.

6- Tai Lung and the cheapness nostalgia.

Fan service is not necesarry bad, above all if is used in a good way, they sold us Tai Lung as a miracle but his importance for the plot feels just like a Stan Lee cameo, I like Tai Lung I can say that. But this is too weak, Shen and Kai are only characters in the background who don't do nothing except being defeated or make facial expressions (I don't even joke that Shen would show respect to Po considering what we saw in the second movie, and Kai wasn't supposed to be destroyed as a spirit, what the hell is he doing here again? *sign* I'll to stop trying to make sense of this).

By the way, anyone else think that the dragon warrior role is understimated? I mean Shifu obligated Po to transfers the role to another one just because yes, i mean he only has been the dragon warrior for less than 5 years and now they want to replace him with a random. Everything just for at the end, he choosed a thief with at least 30 crimes registred and who was a traitor during the 75% of the movie.

7- The """""""""humor"""""""", except they forgot the parts where I must to laugh.

Seeing nonsense hits only beacuse yes stopped of being funny a long time ago, and no, I don't want to talk about the bunnies of the portrait because I would get sick. I had to go to the cinema drunk to endure the filler that the movie had, no joke, it was the only way to laugh at those jokes.

So I think about applying the same method as in any movie with bad jokes, ignoring the jokes. I tried to do the same thing but with the pace that the film managed, such a thing was impossible, the pace of the movie seems to be made for Tiktoker children with attention deficit. From the chaos in the quarry until Po takes the bitc... uhg fox out of prison, only 10 fucking minutes pass, all of that for what? So that you feel like the baseless information and the nonsensical plot that they tell us is of any use? they could simply make a non-canonical short and that's it, but no, yes or they were going to tell us a story written by rotten old men who spend the entire day watching Tik Tok. It's not going to be that the child who sees this doesn't get bored, we know that much today's children don't have many neurons as they say, but even to make movies for them you have to have a certain talent.

In some point at the beguining Po make a joke about the ausence of the furious five saying that at least he had them in cardboard posters, and this would be a good joke. Only if the stupid film could be prove that the franquise can do something memorable without the furious five, but again, that's not the case.

Don't have any respect for this movie, look what it had with you. I understand that it is enjoyable because of the animation but it does not go beyond that line, it destroys important things about the canon and spoils its teaching about the need for change by treating it in a terrible way.

Coclusion: KFP 4 is just another Po's adventure as Shifu says, it won't tell nothing to you or make you feel different, it's a shame but after Megamind 2 I imagined something like this. It's a dark era for film, expecially the animated one so like Scar said; Be prepare, there're worse things waiting for us.

Do you want something with real quality? You don't even need kung fu panda 1,2 or 3, for make it easy to this film let's take this marvelous example; kung fu panda: secrets of the scroll (2016). You'll say; "An animated short, this is not like-" Shhh Just watch it, you won't regret it.

If you think I'm wrong in something, just rewatch the film. And if still you aren't agreed with me, well, I respect you and I'm happy you like it. I wish I could love it as you do, but that doesn't mean that the movie isn't bad, because if you watch it with your brain on or remembering the previous movies it's terrible.

. Me? I've to write a story, I love you all. Except you, Dreamworks, I'm mad with you, expecially when you do this at the same day as Akira Toriyama's death :(

[just--space]

Mars Saturn Conjunction : Fainter stars in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus are scattered near the plane of the ecliptic in this field of view. The two brightest ones at center aren't stars at all though, but the planets Mars and Saturn. Taken on the morning of April 4, the telescopic snapshot captured their tantalizing close conjunction in a predawn sky, the pair of planets separated by only about 1/3 of a degree. That's easily less than the apparent width of a Full Moon. Can you tell which planet is which? If you guessed Mars is the redder one , you'd be right. Above Mars, slightly fainter Saturn still shines with a paler yellowish tinge in reflected sunlight. Even at the low magnification, Saturn's largest and brightest moon Titan can be spotted hugging the planet very closely on the left. via NASA

[shadowron]

The Elf Mercenary, a better Elf Archetype for Shadowrun (1st Edition)

Art graciously provided by @skullchicken

First Edition Shadowrun had two mercenary archetypes in the core rulebook, the Merc and the Ork Mercenary, and one in Sprawl Sites, the Dwarf Mercenary. The latter also had two merc-ish archetypes, the Former Military Office (Low Grade) and Former Tribal Warrior, though both weren’t as good as the original.

In order to make an Elf Mercenary who doesn’t suck, there are two questions we need to keep in mind:

What makes a Mercenary different from a Street Samurai?

The shortest answer I can come up with is “Wired Reflexes”. Traditionally, Sams are wired down to the barest slivers of Essence remaining and have a mix of melee and ranged combat ability.

Mercs, on the other hand, are more lightly cybered ranged combat specialists – after all, they’re the ones who have Firearms and Gunnery.

“Ahem”

Fine, they’re the only ones with Firearms and Demolitions.

“Ahem”

Okay, put down the Fichettis – they’re the only ones with Gunnery and Demolitions. So ka?

They also, as stressed in the 2nd edition merc sourcebook Fields of Fire, more professional. They could have a SIN. They aren’t street trash. They have a contract.

What advantages does being an Elf bring to being a Mercenary?

Again, the short answer is: +1 Quickness, +2 Charisma, Low-light Eyes. You could lean into the Charisma bonus to add a party leader/Face element to the character (more of an officer type), while the Quickness boost and low-light vision both provide combat advantages.

Let’s assign priorities!

Priority 4: Race (Elf), natch Priority 3: Attributes (24) Priority 2: Tech (20,000 ¥) Priority 1: Skills (20) Priority 0: Magic (none)

When I first started this build, I had Attributes and Skills swapped – it really comes down to which of those two points above do you want to lean into more. Having the standard breadth of skills like the Merc but having mediocre Quickness and Rizz (that’s the kids these days call Charisma) takes some elven luster off.

Shown: Elven Luster

The Elf Mercenary fills the leader role quite easily with their social skills, with the long-range combat capability to support the rest of the team.

Attributes:

Body: 3 Quickness: 7 Strength: 3 Charisma: 6 Intelligence: 5 Willpower: 3 Essence: 4.55 Reaction: 6

Skills:

Etiquette (Corporate): 6 Firearms: 6 Negotiation: 6 Stealth: 2

Cyberware:

Headware Radio Smartgun Link Thermographic Vision (Retinal Modification)

Gear:

Armor Jacket Tres Chic Clothing Survival Kit Ranger Arms SM-3 w/Smargun Adapter, Magnification 3 Scope, 10 rounds each Explosive, Flechette, Gel Rounds Ruger Super Warhawk w/Smartgun Adapter, 30 normal rounds Walther Palm Pistol (Smartgun Variant), Concealable Holster, 10 normal rounds

Contacts:

Elven Decker Former Company man Merc

[jpitha]

Just a Little Further 8

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I shot 5 magazines thought the rifle and I realized my groupings were off. "FarReach, do you think it's me, or the weapon?" I asked, as I unloaded the last magazine and collected the brass.

"You seemed to be squeezing too hard. Maybe the stress?"

I nodded. It has been pretty stressful lately. "One more then." I said, and slotted a fresh magazine. More than two thousand years since their invention and chemically propelled, jacketed metal slugs are still our projectile weapons of choice. I know the K'laxi tend to prefer energy weapons and the Xenni favor tiny rockets, but give me a good old chemical reaction driving a bullet downrange any day. The K'laxi complain that they kick too hard, and the Xenni call them barbaric, but who am I to argue with results.

After taking a breath and slowing down, my accuracy did improve. As the shots rang out in the range I could see the spots on the target light up in a tight grouping. The center of the target was less important than all the shots being in a same spot. I ejected the magazine, slotted a new one, set the rifle for distance and tried the furthest target. This time, I used the magnification factor on the scope. Pushing the butt of the rifle hard against my shoulder so that my whole body could absorb the impact I put 8 rounds in a tight circle 4cm across more than 100 meters away. Good enough. I was back where I expected to be. I collected the brass, reloaded my magazines and took the rifle to the workbench. Carefully and methodically, I took it apart, cleaned and checked it, polished it and put it back together. All in all it took me about an hour, but I was going slow. It was almost Zen. When I finished, the gun smelled of oil and shone.

Lots of my friends were worried when they found out how skilled I am with guns, but really, it's not so bad. Like anything, skill comes with practice (and maybe a little bit of talent). This isn't the Bad Old Days, I don't keep weapons at home, I don't worry about people coming to take them or me being attacked. For me, the fun is in gaining the skill, seeing how accurate I can be, how fast I can be, how safe I can be. My favorite is my rifle, but I also know pistols, submachine guns and shotguns. Pistols are the hardest to keep skilled on. I'd have to shoot every single day just to stay as good as I am with a rifle. Pistols are incredibly inaccurate. I like submachine guns too, but really they're mostly noise and intimidation. Even the toughest Xenni warrior stops when a human is chattering away with a submachine gun.

I decided that when we left to meet the delegation on the Starbase that I'd take my rifle and my submachine gun. I'd keep them strapped to my back so as to reduce the intimidation factor. I wanted to say "We don't want to fight you, but also don't think you can push us around." I'm sure Vin'aren back home would call that "human to a fault." I smiled at the memory of them. I hope they were keeping our place clean.

Finished, I stood up and stretched. "FarReach, I'm bringing my rifle and my submachine gun to the airlock weapons locker, okay? I'm going to bring them when we disembark."

"Weapon movement registered, Melody, thanks for letting me know." We always report the movement of weapons aboard ship so that everyone knows where they are at all times. "Lunch is in about an hour. Captain Q'ari wants everyone to eat together before we dock."

"Thanks Far, I'll be there." I trott down the hall, my weapons slung along my back.

****

I have just enough time to stow my weapons, press my uniform and take a lightning quick shower before lunch. Sure, I'll be in my pressure suit for the meeting, but I'll know I'll be clean and sharp under it. When I get to the dining hall, Captain Q'ari is there already and she flicks an ear at my sharp uniform. "I want to look my best for our meeting." I say, only a little sheepishly as I take my sandwich and sit.

"No, it's a smart idea." Q'ari says. "Well done. Look good, feel good." We all eat. It's a light lunch in case we find something to eat - or are offered a meal - onboard.

After the meal, the Captain stands. "Okay everyone. If everyone here is friendly, you will all get an opportunity to disembark and explore, but for now, it's going to be me, Lieutenant Mullen, Commander Perinem and Lieutenant Adel." Me, Selem, Fer'resi and Omar. Makes sense. I can speak to them, Omar can give an idea about how friendly they look, Fer'resi can help with their language and Selem can be the face of the expedition. "Mullen will be the only one who is armed, and she shall have her weapons stowed while aboard unless absolutely necessary. We will not be the ones shooting first. This first meeting will be done in pressure suits with our helmets open. If the environment is conducive to us, further meetings can be done in our uniforms." She looked around. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Omar spoke up. "Why is Melody the only one who is coming out armed?"

Captain Q'ari's ears shrugged. "Because she frankly, is the best shot here, and we don't need anyone shooting anything accidentally. If we need to run, we run. Lieutenant Mullen will be mostly coming out armed to show that we are armed. We're not here to capture them, we don't need to go armed to the teeth."

Fer'resi spoke up "Will we attempt communications with them, or are we leaving that to the Lieutenant too?"

Captain Q'ari's ears flicked, a raised eyebrow. "If you think you can communicate with them without causing an incident, by all means. We know Lieutenant Mullen can speak their language - somehow - so she should probably do the majority of the talking. FarReach will be listening in, and you should be running recorders too so we can build a language model for the translators. Hopefully, on the next visit we can all speak to them at least a small amount." She clapped her hands. "Okay everyone. We're docking in an hour and disembarking sometime after that. Take it easy, but don't get complacent."

We all left the dining hall and I headed to the airlock where our pressure suits are kept. I decided to be extra methodical and cleaned and checked the suit before we needed to be ready. I wanted it to shine. Since it's a hard suit (mine is armored, everyone else uses a softer, more flexible suit normally) I'm able to take a little rotary polisher and apply some compound and really make it glow. When I'm done, it's not only clean and bright, but it's also smoother too. The blue of my armor looks deep enough to go fishing in. "Nicely done, Melody" FarReach remarks as I put the tools away. "You're sure to impress when you get out there."

I laughed, "Thanks FarReach, I hope so. I feel like there's going to be a lot of attention on me, so I want to look and feel my best. Do you think there's time for a coffee before we leave?"

"Just enough, Melody, if you go now."

I didn't have to be told twice. I headed over to the kitchenette and got out my coffee supplies. While I was working, Mei'la came by.

"Oh hi Mei!" I said brightly while I waited for the water to boil. "Did you have any trouble after we went to WEP?" Sometimes going to War Emergency Power can cause undue wear and tear on the reactors and it's a hassle to clean up afterwards. Better than dying though.

Her ears said no. "Not this time. It was the first time we went to WEP since the reactors were overhauled, so we had headroom to spare." She shook her head. "If we have to do it a lot though, I'm going to be busy. We can be down three reactors at a time, but any more than that and we have to turn off systems to keep within our power budget and we're limited to linking only when the batteries and capacitors are charged."

Starjumpers tend to have between 4 and 6 human made power reactors. I say "tend to" because they've been built for nearly a thousand years, so there isn't like, one singular type. Any really large ship that was originally designed to go between colony words at relativistic speeds is called a Starjumper. It's not like a class of ship.

Mei sees me thinking and comments. "FarReach is a newer Starjumper though, so it was relatively overbuilt. They have 6 reactors so we have gobs of power."

"Why so many?" I wondered out loud, hoping FarReach was listening.

"Mostly because when this Starjumper was built we were at war." FarReach answers. "I wasn't FarReach at the time this one was built, but looking through it, I can see the signs. It was built during the New Wellington/Parvati Colony War. It's massively overpowered so that it could fire the Stardrive and the laser batteries and the wormhole generator and support a crew.

"Wow" I said out loud. I remember reading about the war in school. Parvati and New Wellington got into an argument about trading rights with Earth and got into a war about it. Parvati launched a dozen multi-tonne lozenges of pure tungsten towards the colony at nearly 80% the speed of light. When they struck a couple of years later, it obliterated the colony. New Wellington is no more, and Parvati was a pariah for nearly a century. These days, many people from Meíhuā still have animosity towards people from Parvati. It's one of the reasons I don't usually announce I'm from Meíhuā. We're a small, more insular colony and I don't want people to judge me based on where I'm from.

Oops, I almost let the coffee over extract while I was daydreaming. I finished the pour and had just enough time to savor it before it was time to go suit up.

Over near the airlock, I got out my suit and started putting it on. I was the first one here, but as my suit took longer, that made sense. When I had my pants on, everyone else showed up and started suiting up.

Since a pressure suit is to vital to your survival, everyone makes sure everyone else has their suit on correctly and it's in good order. We all look over each other's suit and make sure the seals are clean, the environmental controls are active and working and that we have plenty of air. While we were suiting up Omar said "Melody, your suit practically shines! Did you polish it?"

"Actually, I did." I say proudly. "I ran the mini buffer over it with polishing compound. Like the Captain said, "look good, feel good." I grinned.

Captain Q'ari nodded as well before she put her helmet on. "The lieutenant is correct. Lieutenant Adel, you could take a lesson from her." Omar's suit was in fine order, but it was a little scuffed at the elbows and knees. Captain Q'ari's suit was spotless, as to be expected.

"Yeah yeah, I'll clean and polish it after we come back." He grumbled.

Suited up, I looked more bulky and intimidating than I was outside of the suit. It made me a few centimeters taller and broadened my shoulders but it still kept most of my form and - if I say so myself - I can pull it off. I looked good. I walked over to the weapons locker and touched the handle. It registered my biometrics and the door popped open. I took my rifle, checked to make sure it was safe and loaded and slung it behind my back. Then I reached in and took my submachine gun, did the same thing and strapped it to my waist. I dithered over taking extra magazines and deiced that was a little too much. The full magazine in the rifle and in the sub would have to be enough. Like the Captain said, I wasn't expecting to shoot anyone.

When I was finished with the weapons, everyone else was suited up. Captain Q'ari looked at all of us and said "Are we ready? Let's go make history." and walked over and cycled the airlock.

Part 9

[noncompliantcyborg]

Let's Talk Sea Slugs: Rostanga pulchara

Rostanga pulchara is a small species of dorid nudibranch commonly found grazing on the red sponges that give it its color.

The adult below was 16mm long and 8mm wide, but they can grow to as large as 33mm long (Jensen et al 2018).

Above - Adult Rostanga pulchara collected from Cattle Point Intertidal, San Juan Island by Babonis Lab, Summer 2022.

Above - Closeups of Rostanga pulchara. Left - mantle showing the texture and shape of the tubercles. Center - gills. Right - rhinophore.

Along with size and color, a defining characteristic of the nudibranch is its uniquely shaped rhinophores (Jensen et al 2018). One is pictured above on the right.

A good way to find them in the wild is to look for the sponges that they eat. Two of these species are the velvety Clathria pennata and the "volcano-shaped" Acarnus erithacus (Jensen et al 2018). Both sponges are encrusting and highly pigmented.

The pigments from the sponge not only color the adult nudibranchs, but also their eggs (Jensen et al 2018). This can be seen in the early embryos below.

Above - Rostanga pulchara embryos, 2-cell and 4-cell stages. Viewed on 6/21/2022 under 40x magnification. The center 2-cell embryo was 111 microns across.

A week and a half later, these embryos had developed close to the point of hatching.

Unhatched veliger larvae, with visible shell anViewed on 7/1/2022 under 40X magnification. The center embryo measured at 125 microns across.

These nudibranchs, like many others, have a larval form called veligers. These veligers have shells and big ciliated lobes.

Hatched veliger larvae. Viewed on 7/7/2022 under 40X magnification.

Hatched veliger larvae from the same clutch of original eggs. Viewed on 7/13/2022 under 20X magnification. The larvae on the right was measured as 194 microns across the veler lobes and 178 micros from the top of the shell down to where the veler lobes exit the shell.

Sources:

Personal lab notes and obervations.

Jensen et al. Beneath Pacific Tides. MolaMarine, 2018.

All photographs by JA Fields, do not repost without express written permission.

*If you appreciate the work I do, you can support me through sharing my work, tipping me, or buying my art prints or embroidery.*

[yairqq]

The rest of my microscope photos (part 2/2):

1: Human Skeletal yellow marrow- dyed with methylene blue

2-3: Non-Human sperm solution- I swear this was a preprepared sample that came sealed in a sampling box.

4: bundled and isolated DNA- Preprepared. A note is that what you see isn't the double helix structure, just an isolate that is 800x its size. Idk how.

5: Just a non-dyed piece of a succulent we had around. I'm not sure what is visible are cell walls because the magnification wasn't even that big.

6: Bee antena: Pre-prepared, only 40x.

I hope you enjoyed this. Have a good day!! :)

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 203 Trivia

Happy 4th of July from Dr. Xeno*!

(*Indirectly.)

Fluorite mines still exist in Japan, however they're far inland so the KoS can't make use of their boat routes for transport.

Fluorite is one of the first materials shown to fluoresce (=glow when light/EM radiation hits it), which is what the phenomenon was named after!

One of the major problems in improving telescope quality is getting rid of chromatic aberration, which can be improved by using lenses with a lower refractive index (such as those made of fluorite rather than glass). This bends the light less, leading to clearer magnification.

The rocket design is similar to cruise missiles, in that it uses a jet engine rather than a rocket engine. Cruise missiles will follow an almost direct path to their target, and have the ability to adjust direction at any point. Ballistic missiles cannot.

The blocky thing shown here could be a stylized vacuum column tape drive, a device for storing data on magnetic tape (the black ribbon in cassettes) to be used in computations.

One of these devices is the IBM 7090, which was used by NASA to control space flights in the 60s.

The map shows that the KoS may be aiming to land around Goa in India.

Assuming they don't stop, the journey via the Suez is >10 days, and >23 days via the Cape of Good Hope.

The Banana Canal seems to be how the villagers remember the name of the Panama Canal, which is odd because bananas only grow in the very south of Japan (if at all) so they're unlikely to have been familiar with them before reaching South America.

The Suez is a man-made canal that gets drained and cleared every 10 years so the boats can pass through unobstructed. The area has also been mostly desert for thousands of years. Sandstorms would soon fill it in, making it impassable.

What Ryusui is worried about here is probably similar to the Ever Given back in March, when winds ran it aground, blocking the whole canal. It had to be dug out to be freed, which the KoS can't do here. Turning around or backing up is also impossible if the canal is too narrow.

Kohaku is the only power/fighter team member here, and she's definitely making sure to represent the hot-heads! Getting revenge on a canal, trying to destroy things…

Chelsea's old banners made a comeback, which isn't surprising since fabric is tedious to make. Reuse is the basis of Senku's science after all!

But more importantly, how the H-E-L-L did it survive those 7 years when everyone was petrified?!

The dam shown looks more like a beaver dam or a deliberate structure than something that naturally got packed like that. The way it follows onto the land is a little odd to me as well… Something could be hiding underneath?

Senku always makes sure to number his rockets.

(I spent too long wondering if this was a pun, but the i-shi/stone pun is for 1-4, and "Dr. One" doesn't quite fit how "Dr. Stone" is pronounced…)

The rocket has two sets of controllers, one used by Senku on the ship and the other by Ryusui about half way to the dam. It's unlikely that this choice is due to range issues, as the cell phones worked 80 km apart and this is only 20 km.

It's probably so that Ryusui can pinpoint the landing while Senku takes care of the launch.

The coordination between them is impressive!

India has likely been chosen as Math City because of its long history of mathematics dating back over 3000 years, before Europe had made similar advances. They invented many important concepts, such as negative numbers, the idea of zero, and decimal points.

The other option for India being Math City is that it has many natural resources useful for making computers and other electronics, however I think we'll have to wait until future chapters to see why they chose it!

[ynx1]

Ten Types of Modesty حیا

Ibn-ul Qayyim (raḥimahullāh) mentioned in his book Madarij us Saalikeen Vol. 2 Pg. 267 “Al Hayaa’ (i.e. modesty) is categorized into ten types:

1. The modesty of Shame: This is similar to the modesty of Adam (Alaihis salam) when he fled in paradise after eating from the forbidden tree. Allah asked him “Are you fleeing form me O Adam because of your sin?” He said: “No my lord! Rather it is out of shame that I flee from you!”

2. The modesty that results in you realizing your shortcomings such as; the modesty of the angels, those who praise Allah day and night and never enervate. On the Day of Judgment they will say Subhanaka! (i.e. Glory be to You!) we did not worship You as You deserved to be worshiped.”

3. The modesty of Magnification: This modesty is a result of knowledge. The extent of knowledge the slave has of his Lord, will determine how modest or shy of Him he/she is.

4. The modesty of Generosity: This is similar to the modesty of the Prophet (Sallahu alaihi wa salam) with those people he invited to the walimah (i.e. marriage banquet) of Zaynab Bint Jahsh (Radiyallahu anha)and they stayed with him longer than necessary, so he stood up and walked away without saying to them “Leave!”.

5. The modesty of Embarrassment: This is similar to the modesty of Ali Ibn Talib (Radiyallahu anhu)when he was too embarrassed to ask the Prophet himself about the pre-seminal discharge he was experiencing, because he was married to his daughter.

6. The modesty of Low self-worth: This is similar to the modesty of the slave in front of his lord when he asks Him for his needs, knowing that he doesn’t deserve it. In a narration of Bani Israel Musa (Alaihis salam) said: “O lord, a need or desire of this life arises and I am too modest to ask You for it O lord!” So Allah responded to him by saying: “Ask me for what whatever you like, whether it is the salt for your dough or the fodder for your herd!” And it is possible that this is because of two things:

7. The modesty of Love: This is the modesty of the one who loves another, and when he thinks in his heart of the one he loves during his absence, his modesty for him is greater than what he feels for him in his presence and he doesn’t even know why. There is no doubt that the love of a person has a stronger and more magnificent authority over the individual than the authority of the one who conquers the body physically. And because of this, kings and elite authority wonder in amazement about creation and how they are conquered because of the love they have for someone greater than they are conquered by power and physical authority. We asked Sheikh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyah (Rahimahullah) about this issue, and I mentioned this to him and he just smiled and didn’t say anything.

8. The modesty of Servitude: This is the type of modesty that is mixed with love and fear while witnessing that there is no perfection in his worship or servitude to the One he worships. And the slave acknowledges that his Lord is greater and more opulent than what he is offering of worship, so his servitude to Allah causes him to be modest of Him, and there is no way around this.

9. The modesty of honor and dignity: The modesty of the noble and prestigious soul. if he does something that is beneath his caliber, either by exerting himself or doing some random act of good, he is modest despite what he has exerted of himself with a type of modesty that is honorable and dignified, and there are two reasons for this:

10. The modesty of an individual regarding himself: This is the modesty of the noble, honorable and dignified individual due to him being pleased with the fact that he has some shortcomings. He prostrates himself out of modesty as if he has two personalities. He is modest with one regarding the other and this is the most complete form of modesty. If the slave is modest regarding himself then he is more likely to be modest in front of others

[sariahsue]

Let Me Count the Ways

Chapter Six - The Stakeout

[Ch 1] [Ch 2] [Ch 3] [Ch 4] [Ch 5]

The next time Chat Noir saw Ladybug was two days later. She had left him an urgent message that they needed to change the location of their joint patrol starting point from the Arc de Triomphe to the Hôtel Ampère. He was a cat. He was flexible. And it didn't matter where they started, really.

The hotel stuck out above the surrounding buildings, and the roof was flat with a good view. When he arrived, he found Ladybug with a pair of binoculars and a blanket.

"Very important!" she said when he landed next to her. "There have been a lot of reports of white and black butterflies seen in this area. We need to do a stakeout to find one. Then we follow it to its source."

"Okay," he said, sitting down on her left. Ladybug was stretched out on her stomach on the blanket - black with green lining, he noted. (It had to be just a coincidence, right?) There was enough room for both of them, though he thought it was more professional to sit off to the side. "It's spring. There are a lot of butterflies right now. Are we sure they're akumas?"

"Absolutely." She peered through the binoculars. It would be disorienting trying to follow something so small through lenses that big. And they were so high up that trying to see without magnification probably wouldn't work. Plus, the angle was terrible. They were in the middle of the roof. Ladybug wouldn't be able to see the ground, which meant she wasn't really trying. She was looking at the clouds above the horizon. The sun was setting behind her, and the sky in the distance was going dark. This was a terrible time for a stakeout on top of everything else.

This raised a few flags for him. Ladybug's plans were usually more methodical and better, well, planned.

"Are you going to lie down or what?" she asked. "This is a stakeout. We have to keep a low profile."

So Chat Noir laid down next to Ladybug on the blanket, and kept a respectable, gentlemanly distance, which meant that he was on the very edge while she was in the middle.

"See anything?" she asked. She handed him the binoculars, but he didn't take them.

"No."

"Hm. We might have to wait a while, then. Do you mind?" She set the binoculars down and propped herself up on her elbows. She fiddled with the green fringe of the blanket.

"I don't mind."

"I made this myself. Do you like it?"

"Oh, uh." His eyes followed her fingers as they stroked the green. Each corner was adorned with a gold tassel, like a bell. "It's very nice."

"Thanks. I love the color scheme. It works well with a lot of designs."

Chat Noir took a shaky breath under the onslaught of knowledge. Ladybug could sew. She liked to design things. She possibly designed a blanket with his color scheme on purpose. She thought about designing and used him as inspiration? She made a lot of things based on his colors? She potentially liked his costume? And by extension, she liked how his costume looked on him and she thought he was attractive?

Given the circumstances, all he could reply was, "That's neat." And given the circumstances, he was proud he was able to get out that much. Even though he knew he sounded like an idiot.

Within a few minutes, Chat Noir realized that the blanket, though beautiful and well crafted and possibly recently made with him in mind, had a few drawbacks. It was thin, and the roof was metal. It wasn't the most comfortable to rest his elbows on.

"I'm cold," Ladybug announced cheerfully. "I guess I should have picked thicker material. Oh well!"

"Do you want to find somewhere else?" he asked. "There's probably plenty of places we could go."

"No, this spot is perfect. We're too high to be seen by anyone. If it's reported anywhere, everyone will hear about it, and Hawk Moth will hear about it, and then he'll know that we're onto him. Gotta keep this an absolute secret."

And she scooted closer to him, until there was enough fabric left over that she could pull it across both of them. "This works," she said.

Chat Noir vowed he would die before he suggested they move locations again. His elbows could suffer, because Ladybug was willingly snuggling him, from their shoulders to their hips all the way down - he shifted his legs ever so slightly, until he felt hers - all the way down to their toes.

He expected her to move after a few minutes, as the warmth of the blanket and their shared body heat thawed her out, but when she didn't move, he asked, "Are you still cold?"

"A little," she admitted.

Slowly, Chat Noir shifted his weight to his left elbow and laid his right arm across her back, nestling her into his side. It was because he was a good partner who wanted to keep her warm. Not because he had a raging crush on her.

He kept his movements light and gentle and stayed very still so she wouldn't complain, but a moment later, she pushed herself more tightly against him.

"Thank you," she said. "This is much better."

She must have been colder than she'd let on because normally she wouldn't have been so liberal with what she allowed him. But, and he couldn't help but voice the question, something wasn't quite right.

"Why isn't your suit protecting you from the cold like it normally does?"

"It's helping," she replied. "But my head and neck are still exposed, aren't they? Do you know how much heat you lose that way?"

Chat Noir shook his head.

"Almost 50%."

That made sense… no, it didn't [italics] make sense. It had never worked like that before, but then again, they were usually in life-or-death battles when they were suited up. Movement was plentiful and created a lot of heat. Maybe lying completely still made a difference.

Their breaths came out in white puffs as they lay there. Ladybug started holding her breath to create bigger puffs as they waited. Her lips were very pretty. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed (and he was sure it wasn't going to be the last). They were a perfect shade of pink, and they looked smooth, and were the perfect size. Both in relation to her face but also for kissing. The perfect combination.

And… she saw him staring at her mouth.

"Uh," he fumbled. "Your nose. It's cold. Because of the cold. So yeah, it makes sense that you're cold. Because it's cold, just like your nose says. Not– not that your nose is super noticeable or anything. Even if it's bright red with cold." He put his face down against his folded arms and tried not to die. Was it really better to pretend he was staring at her nose that entire time? That's such a weird thing to stare at. He should have owned up to thinking about kissing her. At least he could have played it off as a joke and not made it super awkward.

He was grateful when the sun went down a little while later to hide the burning blush that he was sure she could see. Unfortunately, the sun took the rest of the day's warmth with it. She'd picked the coldest day of April, and it was only going to get worse.

It wasn't any surprise to him when a minute later she announced that it was too dark to continue and asked if he wanted to go home.

"I can still see. Night vision," he weakly offered. He'd only lifted his gaze once since claiming he was staring at her nose, checked that she was still smirking at him, and quickly hid again. Some stakeout partner he was. He should make it up to her. "Do you want me to stay out here a little longer?"

"I don't mind keeping you company," she said. And she turned onto her side facing him, and rested her head on her arm.

Chat Noir kept his face resolutely buried in his arms, but now his blush wasn't from embarrassment. She was stretched out lazily next to him. If she shifted to the side, even a little, he'd be touching her stomach. It didn't help when her breath brushed his ear.

He popped his head up, staring intently at the buildings in front of him, trying to focus on counting the windows, and not how close she was.

"So how was your day?" she asked, unaware of his struggles.

"Fine." His voice cracked on the word, so he tried again. "It was fine."

"Just fine? I hope hanging out with me made it better than fine."

He nodded dumbly and contemplated scooting away. Or maybe just rolling to the edge of the building and then off it. So far she still hadn't realized anything was wrong, but it wasn't going to stay that way if he stayed weirdly silent.

"It's too bad we didn't see anything today," he finally said. "Stakeout was kind of a bust."

"I don't mind," she replied. "We can always try again another day. Besides," she said. "This was a nice break from our regular patrols. Don't you think?"

He scooted away from her a little bit, so he could lie down but not be right [italics] next to her. It helped.

"Chat?"

"Yes." He mirrored her position, on his side, head pillowed on his arm. "I like this." He kept his eyes firmly trained on her face while he mentally explored their positions, how their breaths intermingled, mapping how their knees touched. They were so close he could have counted her lashes.

"STAKEOUT IS OVER." Ladybug burst out of the blanket, and cold air came rushing back to him, slapping away the warm contentment he'd been enclosed in.

"Wha–"

She moved so quickly that he only caught the edge of her blushing face. "I'll see you next time!" She fumbled at her waist for the yoyo. "Bye!"

In an instant, Chat Noir was alone and confused on a rooftop, blanket still wrapped around his legs. Okay, he definitely didn't do anything that time to set her off, right? He wasn't staring at her lips (at least right before she left), and he didn't say anything, just that he agreed with her that it was nice. Untangling himself from the blanket, he rehashed the end of their conversation, but couldn't figure it out. No, he really hadn't done anything to make her uncomfortable this time that he could tell.

(He thought. He hoped.)

So what had it been?

He rolled up the blanket and, not knowing what else to do with it, took it home.

---

Tag list: @clawsout83 @trippingovermyfeet @tbehartoo

[theterribletenno]

HEILIGTUM, Lucifer's signature primary weapon.

A unique incarnon sniper rifle, Heiligtum boasts hitscan projectiles and extremely high accuracy while looking down its scope, along with very high per-shot damage all offset by recoil that kicks like a mule, slow firing speed, small magazine, and laughable accuracy when fired from the hip. Heiligtum's scope has two magnification levels which can be swapped between by pressing the alt-fire button while looking down the sights. Pressing the alt-fire button while not looking down sights will transform this weapon into its incarnon mode. The scope's default magnification level is 3x which includes a +30% bonus to headshot damage and its second magnification level is 5x which includes a +40% bonus to headshot damage. Headshots in normal mode build this weapon's incarnon meter which is consumed when firing in incarnon mode. Both modes use a semi-auto trigger. Normal mode shots deal mostly puncture, moderate impact, and low slash damage. Incarnon mode fires a one-meter wide beam with infinite punch-through which also triggers explosions with a 2 meter radius anywhere that the beam hits an enemy, object, or terrain. Both incarnon mode's beam and explosions deal pure radiation damage. Heiligtum has slightly above average crit and status, with 25% critical and status chance and a 2.5x critical multiplier.

EVOLUTION 1: Score 100 headshot kills with this weapon. Perk: Unlocks Incarnon mode.

EVOLUTION 2: Activate this weapon's Incarnon mode six times in missions. Perk 1: ALL-SEEING EYE: Adds a third scope level which increases magnification by 7x and headshot damage by 50%. Perk 2: GYROSCOPIC STABILIZER: Drastically reduces recoil and increases hipfire accuracy. Perk 3: BOLT ACTION: Reduces magazine size to 1 but greatly increases reload speed.

EVOLUTION 3: Score 50 multikills with this weapon's incarnon mode. Perk 1: POWER OVERWHELMING: Increases critical and status chance by +15% Perk 2: BLAST SHIELD: While looking down the scope this weapon generates an energy shield with a 1 meter radius in front of the user which deflects enemy attacks. Perk 3: TRICK SHOT: +100% damage while sliding or aim-gliding.

EVOLUTION 4: Kill a void angel with only this weapon equipped. Perk 1: BANE: Increases the effects of Bane mods on this weapon by +0.45x (reduced to +0.3x for Primed Bane mods). Perk 2: SYNERGY: Set Mods contribute double set bonus when equipped on this weapon. Cannot exceed maximum set bonus level. Perk 3: GORY SPECTACLE: Headshot kills cause enemies within 10 meters of the victim to become terrified.

EVOLUTION 5: Reach rank 30 and apply a forma to this weapon. Perk 1: QUANTUM EXPLOITATION: Incarnon mode gains +100% status chance and changes its damage type to match enemy weaknesses. Perk 2: HYPER BEAM: Incarnon mode beam width and blast radius are doubled, blast damage is increased by 50%. Perk 3: NO-SCOPE: Unscoped normal mode shots have a 50% chance to deal 1000% damage. Unscoped incarnon mode shots have +25% critical and status chance.

[dailyexo]

Kai - 220602 Instagram Stories

Translation: "Excited", "0.5 magnification", "The End"

Photo links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Credit: zkdlin.

[randomkposts]

Would a female mafia boss mello be more unhinged, crazy, cautious, warry, and have power over the fake ID industry? Like, she would have a lot of escape plans in case she's 'caught'

E:-Lmao like we haven't searched up how to get rid of bodies before.Bold to not assume Mello don't have at least one escape option

K:-I don't know if you can graduate whammies without having an escape option.Near went with Money, Mello broke out and pursued crime, and L committed identity theft. 

E:-Doesn't another DN world story implied a bunch of them go military at some point??

K:-I never read that

E:-And a lot of them are familiar with weapons. No doubt thanks to Roger and Watari. So there is another series of the books with a different version of how L dies. It talks about some other alphabet prodigies who have died in action or got killed.

K:-I wonder if it counts as more of An AU spinoff like hopes, or is a different world variant like birthright vs conquest?

E:-It is seeing their L died a different way compared to the manga/anime.

K:-So more like birthright vs conquest?

E:-Though I can still see Roger being hard to please grandparents. He doesn't like you but cares enough to make sure you stay alive.

K:-Except the divergent point is the Death Note was never dropped?

E:-Yeah Birthright vs Conquest

Or Pokemon Emerald/Sapphire/Ruby

No its always dropped. Just outcome is different how L dies or Lives.

In one case Watari died but L faked his death and made it back to Whammies.

K:-How do you successfully fake your death when someone has shinigami eyes?

E:-I got no freaking clue. Which feels inconsistent.Or was it Watari who lived and L died. Either way DN shrugs and goes "I dunno."

K:-Like the shinigami eyes are so broken, that I'm pretty sure even if L poured Acid in Misas eyes she could still see.

E:-Taking Justice being blind to a whole new level.

K:-Neither Mikami nor Soichiro showed signs of having trouble seeing with their glasses on, despite the fact the prescription would make what they saw blurry and distorted with their improved vision.

E:-Interesting#

K:-OK, maybe not quite, but Misa made the end deal at least twice. And so if L theoretically Blinded Misa she could make the eye deal again, as 

"Regardless of their original eyesight, those with the eyes gain a visual acuity of over 3.6 (about 72/20)."

Giving up half your life span can give you vision to rival eagle vision.OK, not quite. But like, 72/20 vision  is broken, and how do you fake your death to someone who can see your lifespan?

Maybe Watari lived?

But I still don't see how they could successfully fake your death.

I wonder what gaining shinigami eyes does to your cones and rods.OK well probably a lot to your cones. But I have to wonder if night vision improved too. 

The simplified form of 72/20 is 18/5 which is slightly lower then Eagles 20/5 vision. Eagles can see stuff like an ant crawling on the ground from the top of a ten story building.  

Eagles Retinas are deeply covered with cones enhancing their power to resolve fine details. They also have a deeper fovea then humans. "

Our fovea is a little shell or bowl, while in hawk or eagle it's a convex pit. Some investigators think this deep fovea allows their eyes to act like a telephoto lens, giving them extra magnification in the center of their field of view," 

Misa could have been big brother!

E:-Omg. Jesus imagine she did the eye deal thrice.

K:-Mello is already unhinged regardless of gender, as Mello left Whammies school of crime fighting for orphans and proceeded to take over the American mafia. Somehow... 

We the viewer, are never shown how. Just that he destroyed a mob boss not even Kira could find. Then successfully held it for anywhere from 1-3 years.   Whatever Mello did, would have had to have been crazy,  cautious, wary, and unhinged. 

He pulls a kidnapping to get his hands on a Death Note. And not only that, he kidnapping the person who he thought was Kira's sister to pull it off.

He blows up the warehouse to escape capture. 

He  tried to blackmail the president of the United States. 

Do we need to Amp up any of the mentioned qualities? Admitibly Female Mello is going to act more dangerously anyways, as what's unsafe for Male Mello, is even more unsafe for a female, but there's already nothing safe about a teenager running the American Mafia, so boy or girl, Mello is setting a reputation as someone not to cross, but the girl has to play even harder hardball, due to gender reasons. 

More escape plans? Maybe. If it suits as foil to Light. 

Personally  I like to think Matt is her forger, and one of the reasons Matt was brought. Forger Matt!

If I could somehow get the eye deal from a shinigami without running the risk that they would kill me if bored enough (not Ryuk) and I was asked if I would want the shinigami eye deal for half my life span, it would be a hard question for me to answer

If I could somehow get the eye deal from a shinigami without running the risk that they would kill me if bored enough (not Ryuk) and I was asked if I would want the shinigami eye deal for half my life span, it would be a hard question for me to answer. 

A vision  just below eagle.As usual, Misa and her abilities is overlooked in death note.Mello went to  kidnapping a Kira. It was Takada (who in the movie the last  made the eye deal).

E:-Jokingly I want to add in Wearing leather in what looks like the desert.Very underused of the eyes. How many times that girl is gonna sacrifice her life for Light 😭😭😭.

K:-All 9 of them.At least in canon

E:-He doesn't even have RIZZ.He ain't got the charm charm.

K:-The shinigami eyes as superior eyes should be used.I wonder what the above means for the bearers of eagle vision in AC.

[eruden-writes]

Strictly Pleasure - Part 12 PREVIEW

orc x human age gap paranormal romance 11 of ?

Summary: An awkward fresh-out-of-a-relationship woman and an orc that owns a sex store enter an adult theater together. She, intent on pushing her own boundaries. He, just looking to give her some sense of safety. Well, that and he wouldn’t complain about having a bit of fun himself.

After they inevitably get interrupted, Jek deals with the problem while Heidi flees. Resigned, he believes he’ll never see her again.

Thus begins Jek and Heidi’s sporadic interactions until, eventually, they find themselves fumbling around each other daily at the very place it started: Strictly Pleasure.

If you want to read the full chapter, you can find it on my Patreon now!

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

📚 Read on Tumblr

💋 Part 1 💋Part 2 💋Part 3💋Part 4 💋Part 5 💋 Part 6💋Part 7💋Part 8 💋 Part 9 💋 Part 10 💋 Part 11 💋 Part 12 (coming soon)

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Trying to wrangle her heart into a less excited pace, Heidi placed her phone aside. She hadn’t expected Jek to text her so quickly after she left and tried not to look too far into it. There had still been plenty of time for him to get his rocks off with someone else before the first text. Still, she couldn’t stop from feeling a little pleased.

“What are you grinning at?” Malachai eyed Heidi, the magnification of his glasses enhancing the critical nature of his expression.

“Nothing,” she answered as she turned to her son, her phone now abandoned at his bedside table. His pointed ears drooped a little as he sat partially upright in bed, a pillow behind his back. 

“Uh-huh. When I smile at my phone, you always presume I'm talking to a crush,” he groused, his lips scrunched up behind his tusks. 

At twelve, Malachai Harris was fast approaching Heidi’s height, though he remained a gangly, light green, skinny lad. A norm, she was told, due to orcs and half-orcs usually possessing a higher metabolism than humans. Which was likely another reason why he had overindulged in the candy. Puberty was also a culprit, she suspected. 

Eyeing her son in his pajamas - a ratty old t-shirt about one of his favorite shows and shorts that had, only a month prior, hung to his knees - Heidi made a mental reminder to buy him better fitting clothes yet again.

“Just because I ask about your crushes doesn't mean I’m teasing you,” she protested, her own lips mirroring the scrunched up distaste as her nose wrinkled. 

Malachai rolled his eyes at her retort, before his gaze settled on his mother fully. Something shifted in the air around him, an influx of guilt as his eyes flickered down to his hands in his lap. “How was the bar with Peri?”

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

If you want to read the full chapter, you can find it on my Patreon now!

[dragongirlsnout]

I installed the dashboard unfucker (the no flags version), and it's fine on the main dashboard, but when I go into specific tags, the posts are squished. I'm on chrome and used Tampermonkey. Thanks for the unfucking though!!

The tag page masonry-column layout normally has a skinnier layout than the regular dashboard layout, but if you either have a narrow screen or are using a screen magnification settings like I am, it might display 2 or even 1 column instead of the usual 4.