#armored appendage family

[swordy-da-goat]

I love found family tropes

Oh hey look, a comic.

#ceruledge #ralts #pawniard #pokemon #myart #kirlia #gallade #bisharp #armored appendage family

[jpitha]

Here to Help

I was thinking about my Oxygen Breather's story and how much I liked the universe, so I took an old Flash Fiction Friday story and edited, fleshed it out and stuck it into the same universe.

I was sure this was the end.

We were on a cargo ship, doing a run to a station run by a local cartel - the captain knew it was a risky job, but we needed the money - when pirates had Flashed in, right next to us! They were incredibly reckless with their use of their FlashWarp drive. Their weapons shredded our defenses. We new we should surrender and the pirates might only take our cargo, but the captain - knowing who owned the cargo - made a run for it anyway. They fired a grapple and caught us before we could even think that we had gotten away.

When they boarded, there was a minor firefight. We were a cargo ship, but the captain kept up weapons training in between Flashes. Partly as something to do and partly to help repel boarders. It was futile though, we were completely outgunned. They killed the captain and the command deck officers immediately. They stole all our cargo and captured us. "For ransom" their translator modules said with a mechanical laugh.

We were all lead aboard the pirate ship in chains.

Not everyone was resigned to their fate. While in transit, two people conspired to try and overpower the guard who brought our food and steal their weapon. When they tried though, they were the ones overpowered. They were executed in front of us and from then on we received no food.

We had docked at a large station and I overheard one of the guards saying that we were going to be sold. I knew the life expectancy of slaves out here and decided that - one way or another - that was not going to be me. A demi cycle after we docked, they started feeding us again so we wouldn't look so scrawny for sale. At the second meal they had opened the door to give us our barely edible "food" and I saw the hall beyond. I ducked under out captor and ran as fast as I could.

Hearing their shouts, I didn't waste energy with a glance back.I just ran.

Sliding around a corner, I heard the crack of hull spalling as their energy weapon missed me. I dove headfirst out of their airlock and landed in a pile. Scrambling, I got back up on my feet and ran again. I was on a strange starbase, with no idea where I was, let alone even a way to call anyone for help. Not paying attention to where I was going, I ran full into this being.

Quickly apologizing and standing, I looked up at them, and then boggled. They were taller than me, and dense, and wore an armored pressure suit, polished to a glossy blue. I had no idea who they were; I had never seen anyone like them before. I was struck with how... shiny the suit was. It was almost wet. They must spend hours polishing it to get it looking like that. I knew enough that there were some sapients that couldn't breathe our manganese sulfur atmosphere, but I never had seen one in person. My frill shook with the realization that they were trapped in their suit. They were bipedal with an even number of appendages. Even though their suit I could see that they had surprisingly delicate fingers, made for high dexterity work.

They bent down, and as they did, their dark helmet cleared, revealing a bilaterally symmetrical face with two eyes and long red fur on the top of their head, piled behind the helmet. As they bent down their translator module clicked.

please speak so that the appropriate language family can be found and translated.

"Um. Help me? I don't know where I am, and people are after me. My ship was captured and we were all taken prisoner to be sold here as slaves."

After a moment passed - for the translator to work I assumed - the being's close set eyes went wide and they leaned back in surprise. I held up my arms, still shackled to reinforce my predicament.

Their translator was smooth and very natural sounding. They clearly had access to high technology. They could have been a storyteller with that voice! "Of course we'll help you. I hate slavers. Let's go rescue your friends." The translator really was excellent. I could hear the venom in their voice. They were not lying about hating slavers, that much I knew."

What?" The being in the blue suit made a gesture with their delicate fingers. Before I could blink 5 more of the black suited individuals appeared, all carrying massive rifles. They looked like slug throwers to me. I was sure slug throwers were illegal on all Coalition stations, but they either had an exception, or didn't care.

Wondering how much longer I had to live, I lead them back the way I came and they appeared at the umbilical to the pirate's ship.

In their clear, melodious voice the black suited leader called out: "Surrender yourselves slavers, and you will survive. Resist and perish."

At that, the pirates fired a single shot at the figure. It splashed off their helmet, and they didn't even flinch! Once again, the leader bent down and spoke to me.

"Wait here a moment please."

With no thought given to their own safety, not even crouching down, they strided into the slaver vessel. As ordered, I stayed back, listening to the sounds of battle. Immediately I heard the pirates attack. The sharp crack and wine of their rifles was countered with the tremendous noise the rifles that the black suited ones carried. Some were a report loud enough to be an explosion, and a few of them carried ones that chattered and roared almost continuously. After hardly any time at all the shouts and taunts from the pirates became screams and whimpers.

It felt like moments, but I guess a two or three millicycles passed and they came back out with all of my surviving crew behind them.

The blue suited leader came up to me. "There you go. They won't be bothering anyone anymore. Do you have a way to go home?"

I ruffled my frill in the negative.The leader looked back at her crew and made a gesture. Replies in the assent came back from them and they made some gestures on the pad attached to their arm.

"With the crew dead, and the ship captured as a legal Spoil of Battle - it was nice of them to fire first - I declare this ship to legally be yours now."

I stood dumbstruck. My frill waved up and down in surprise. Remembering my manners, I opened my mouth and said "T-thank you."

"You're welcome. We're happy we could help." And as they stood back up, I realized they were leaving. I had to know. "Wait! Who are you?"

They turned and cleared their helmet again. In their clear, musical voice the translator said "My Name is Miriam Elemii and these are-" she gestured "-Miriam's Marauders. We're a Human mercenary group.""Human?""Yup! Glad to meet you. Now, keep in touch, we'd love to hear how you're getting on, and if you ever need some help-" she handed me a card "-Give us a call."

As they walked away, my new crew came over to me, cheering and singing how proud they were of me and how pleased they would be to follow me from now on. I just stared and watched them walk away.

#The Oxygen Breathers #humans are space orcs #humans are deathworlders #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #humans are space capybaras #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians #jpitha

[thateldribitch]

Hellfire

You really shouldn’t come between a King and his family.

You don’t want to see what he’ll burn to keep it together.

---

Sooooo I feel like there’s going to be a gore warning for this one. It's not too bad, but hey--if you don't like blood, don't read this one.

Anyway, this was what I was listening to for this.

Casual reminder that all my Yandere Shots are on AO3 as well!

Yandere Wukong belongs to @lopsushi

---

Seeing Wukong in his full regalia is a truly splendid sight. The golden pauldrons, the tiger’s skin, the ragged feathers of phoenixes trailing behind him. It’s a sight many have been graced with, before their final moments. But even in the face of disrespect or culling any who stand in the way of his mate’s attention, he hasn’t worn the full ensemble in the longest time. This is a declaration of war. Macaque is quick to pick up on it, rushing down the hall even if he’s been loathe to leave their cub’s… body. The very thought adds more fuel to the fires of Wukong’s rage. “Wukong. Wukong, what are you doing—?!” 

“I’ll be back soon, Macaque.” Wukong murmurs. As he adjusts his gauntlets one more time, he  walks to his Sweet. Despite his harsh appearance, he softly nuzzles into his mate’s neck. It’s contrastingly tender to the burning blood red of his eyes. “...I will come back with him.”

His Starlight pauses. His fingers clutch at Wukong’s robes, digging into the cinches between his armor. He won’t look at Wukong. “...Promise me.”

“I swear by every spark of my love for you.” Wukong picks up Macaque’s hand, kissing each knuckle. But then that’s not enough. He presses kisses up his knuckles, the back of his hand, a path up to his darling’s lips. Macaque kisses him with a desperate ferocity. An unspoken message—come back to me. Wukong melts. Breathless, he presses his forehead to Macaque’s. “I will return.”

Then he drives his claws into his own heart—

---

—and the moment his heart stops, he pulls his staff from his ear. It’s a needle. A staff. A pillar that crashes into the cracked black earth of the Kingdom of Death. “Knock, knock,” Wukong’s grin stretches into a feral thing. Souls scream. A delayed shockwave makes earth spray up around the Monkey King. For a moment, there’s quiet…. And then the denizens of the Underworld surge forward to protect their home.

Demons of all shapes and sizes converge on him in a tidal wave. Wukong flicks a hand. His staff shrinks…. He won’t need it. In a surge of fire and thunder, Wukong runs into the crowd on all fours. A feral screech echoes out of his lips. With claw and fang, he tears. His teeth cleave through bones. His claws shred through eyes. He bursts through the living ocean of limbs and horns. Cracked earth drinks in the black blood of demons. Wukong’s eyes glow. The smart ones run. But Wukong is not in a mood for mercy. His staff surges into his hand, just as eager for blood as he is. A pillar crushes the remaining demons, flattening them into a field of twitching corpses.

Puffing out a single breath, he turns to the obsidian palace. He stalks through the field of dead demons, and crushes one’s skull beneath his foot. The gore spatters up his armor. “I am a reasonable man. I ask for little.” He walks up the steps of the Palace of Death. Slowly, his thumb drags across his cheek. He licks off the blood that paints the appendage. “The health of my mate. And now, my son.” Finally, he looks up at the somber line of Kings before him. “I really didn’t think you all would be so stupid.” Wukong patiently holds out his hand. “The Book with my son’s name and his soul, if you’d please.”

“Wukong. Do you really think you can defy the laws of nature?” One of the Kings manages to speak up. “This is madness.”

“This is love.” He smiles, softly. And then his face contorts into something horrific. “And you’re standing in the way of it.” With a single swipe of his staff, he blows a hole into the side of their palace. To their credit, the Kings barely flinch. “Do you really think I won’t upset the natural order for my family? When I erased the names of those who burned at the hands of a ‘benevolent’ god? When I put them under my protection, and I killed one deity for his audacity?” His face darkens like a sky before a hurricane. “Imagine what I’ll do to you if you don’t give me my son.”

The Rulers aren’t fools.

They give him the book…..

It’s an easy matter to flip through it. His experienced claws find MK’s name in record time, and as promised? He tears it from the undeserving pages. His eyes ignite with celestial fire. The room lights up as a beam of light bursts from his red eyes and consumes the sliver of paper…. By the time he’s done eviscerating the mere mention of his boy’s mortality, the Kings step forward again. He expects to see a soul, beside them. The lack of it, the grim faces—one King opens his mouth to speak.

His head is gone before he can even try.

The Underworld can rule with only nine kings. Wukong has bigger fish to fry. He blitzes out of the palace, crashing through the walls—they’re obstacles between him and his boy. Ornate obsidian, the flesh of innocents, the scales of demons mean nothing. His only desire is to find his boy. His boy. The staff is a needle. He shoves it in his ear. Does it bleed? Maybe. He doesn’t care. Where. Where is MK?

Wukong’s shape contorts. He’s a wolf, searching for a hint of that soft scent. An eagle, trying to spot chestnut brown hair. Through valleys of death and fields of ash and pits of fire… he searches. But no matter how hard he searches, he can’t find him. Why? Why?! Wukong collapses in the ash, feeling everything… vibrate. He’ll tear the world apart. He’ll rip every demon apart. If it means finding—a sound. A soft sob. Familiar, sad, scared. Wukong stumbles forward, scrambles to his feet, MK, MK—! “I can hear you!” Wukong screams out into the unending darkness. “MK. MK, I’m here!”

The sobs stop. The silence kills the Monkey King…. And then a light sparks. Weak. Timid. But he knows, he knows who it is. Carefully, he walks forward. With infinite tenderness, he cups his hands around the light. That bright glow is a sliver of sunshine glowing between the gaps in his fingers. His sunshine. His son. Wukong aches at the sight of the core of his son’s very being in such a fragile state. So cruel, to take him before his time. Wukong cradles the little bit of light to his chest, feeling everything… calm. His nerves. His everything. He’s alright. MK is alright.

Wukong closes his eyes, breathing a sigh of relief—

---

—and opens them, back in his home. He yanks his hand out of his chest. His own blood, luminous as gold, drips down his fingers. As he sits up, he feels hands clutching his side. He’s in his bed. Macaque is by his side. Poor thing. Must be… exhausted. Wukong is fine. He will have to be. Blearily, he glances around…. There…. There he is. Right next to him and Macaque, as he should be. MK’s form looks flushed with life, despite everything. Mac must be using his limited magic to preserve him. What a clever mate…. His movement must wake the dark-furred monkey. 

“...It’s been weeks….” Macaque’s voice cracks. His grip tightens on Wukong’s clothes. 

“...I’m so sorry, Love.” Wukong murmurs. Every part of him aches for those tired eyes. But he needs to finish this. Carefully, he shifts towards their boy. He cradles that light that he can only see with his golden vision, now. But he can see it trembling, struggling. It wants to go back to its body. He helps it get there, carefully holding that light over his boy’s chest.

Golden light pulses through MK. Slow, at first. Then more intensely. His whole body jerks as golden light fills his mouth, eyes. One last pulse… and MK opens his eyes. They’re not brown anymore…. And his fur looks tinged by a darker color, streaks of black the same hue as the Underworld. Like Macaque, he thinks deliriously. But Wukong will think more on it later. He’s alive. MK is alive. “Monkey… King….?”

“I’m here, Bud.” Wukong presses his forehead to MK’s.

#lego monkie kid #shadowpeach #dark shadowpeach #dad wukong #lmk #wukong #yandere #yandere wukong #yandere shadowpeach #mk #macaque #six eared macaque #i swear i'll write macaque and wukong again eventually lol

[o-craven-canto]

Parasitic crustaceans are wild.

[cw: photos of parasites inside host bodies]

Here is Linguatula serrata, which lives inside the nose of dogs and other Carnivorans. It belongs to group Pentastomida, which has so shed its arthropod appendages that it was long classified as its own independent phylum (attested in fossils all the way from the Cambrian Explosion!), until molecular analyses showed they were in fact strange crustaceans -- closest relatives of the relatively normal-looking fish lice (Branchiura).

And then there’s Pennellidae...

Do those horn-things look like crustaceans to you? And yet the family Pennellidae is fully part of Copepoda, the chief component of crustacean plankton. Its body is simply one elongated trunk and a tiny head biting onto the fish, with two long egg cords trailing behind.

Look at the cod worm (Lernaeocera branchialis), another Pennellidae, hanging from the gills of a fish:

It’s those two red things that look like slugs wearing a wig made of soy noodles. Here’s what it looks like on its own, extracted and preserved:

(source) The coiled strings are egg masses. The slug-like part is the copepod’s trunk. The thin branching thing at the bottom is its head, converted into a sort of root system that no longer does head-like things, but rather burrows into the fish host’s blood vessels to feed its eggs. Incidentally, this is just the female; the male still looks like a regular planktonic crustacean.

Now, regular barnacles (Cirripedia) are strange enough...

(source; picture them as shrimps lying on their back, with a digestive system that fell out of the body wall but is still contained by the outer shell, and feathery legs poking out to filter water)

... but parasitic barnacles of clade Rhizocephala go much further:

Here, on the left, is Sacculina carcini. No, not the crab; the yellow sac poking out of the crab’s belly. On the right, its relative Clistosaccus paguri shows what it might look like once extracted.

Sacculina carcini is fun. A larva looks much like any other crustacean planktonic larva, until it finds a suitable host. It stings the unfortunate crab in a vulnerable spot between armor plates, and effectively injects itself into the host, leaving its own shell outside, and transferring only soft tissues.

Once inside, it grows more like a fungus than an animal, turning into a root-like web that infests the crab’s entire body, down to its leg tips. Then it takes over not only the crab’s digestive system, leeching nutrients for its own eggs, but also its nervous system, effectively controlling it like a puppet.

When the parasite is mature, its egg sac starts bulging out of the crab’s body: that’s the yellow part you see in the photo. Male Sacculina stay larvae their whole life: they just mate with the female’s egg sac and then die. The parasite makes the crab take care of itself as if it was the crab’s own eggs. There’s no competition, since the host is sterilized; to leave more food for the parasite, it also stops molting and regenerating lost limbs. If the host is male, and therefore poorly suited to carrying egg sacs under its tail, Sacculina messes with its hormones and effectively turns it female.

Finally the eggs are released and the whole cycle starts again, with the only purpose of making more eggs whose purpose is making more eggs.

(all pictures from Wikipedia unless specified otherwise)

#biology #animals #fucked up #parasites #cw parasites #that alien god #life is an scp

[gazs-blue-hat]

Chapter 3 of my King Johnny MacTavish x Siren Reader!

Warnings: mild mentions of a brewing conflict. Political strife. (If I missed anything, please let me know)

AN: Dedicated once more to @sprout-fics who enables all my winding Johnny thoughts.

Word count: 2,170

The winter months had parted ways for spring a few weeks after Johnny had gone out on the water alone. The icicles on the castle had started to thaw, filling the air with the soft sounds of dripping water and the occasional crack of ice giving way. The people in the town below had started their springtime gardens, working the soil with their tools to plant seeds that would eventually grow to nourish their families come fall. The children had started running about outside once more, their squeals and laughter flowing like a joyous river through the valley.

Johnny wasn’t able to enjoy the spring. He wasn’t able to feel the warm sun on his face, or listen to the children that were playing. He wasn’t able to even watch the icicles dripping outside his windows. He was stuck sitting in some delegation meeting with his council. He sat restlessly in his chair, feeling the plush blue fabric under his fingers crease as he tightened his grip on the armrest. He wasn’t built for this! He wasn’t meant to sit in on political affairs like trade negotiations and which of his neighbors wanted more land or…

“Your highness? Are you feeling alright?” His spymaster had paused her briefing to look at him, eyebrows furrowed. He perked up, straightening his posture that had been distinctly unkingly. He cleared his throat and nodded, looking down at the map before him. He recognized the kingdoms before him, and he frowned as he saw the lines that had been drawn on the parchment.

The skirmishes in the south have been steadily growing more and more intense. That particular nation had always been hungry for conflict, and they above all else desired the small nation that Johnny had found himself king of. The spymaster had been giving him a report on the subtle events occurring in the courts to the South and he had spent it daydreaming.

“I’m alright Kate. Please continue.” He watched as Kate nodded and began to gesture once more at the map, speaking on the recent union between two families in the southern court. Johnny did his best to pay attention, even going so far as grabbing a piece of parchment to write notes on. He did well, at first, listing a few ideas he had to perhaps smooth things over. He knew that the southern lands were locked from the sea, perhaps he could open his ports and allow them to launch ships from his territories on the sea.

“What if we opened the river to them? Allowed their trade ships to exit there and to the ocean?” His statement caused the people gathered at the table to freeze and look at him. Kate straightened for a moment and looked down at the map, nodding to herself. His military officer, a man named John Price, shifted in his seat, his plate armor clicking softly as he puffed on the cigar in his mouth. “I don’t see why not. We have outposts on the rivers near the largest settlements. If anything happened, we’d know about it in minutes.” The gruff man looked at Johnny and nodded his approval.

Johnny smiled to himself, pleased that he had come up with a solution to a possible problem. He wasn’t not intelligent. He knew the seas as well as the fish themselves, and could maneuver a massive ship in the middle of a firefight. He could muster a crew so fearless that they were willing to face the coldest and most dangerous seas with him. He was intelligent, just not…politically intelligent.

Johnny picked up his pencil again, the tip dulling from the notes he had been scribbling. He picked up a knife and sharpened the tip, not really paying attention to what was being said until there was a quiet mention of her. He coughed and the tip of the knife slipped, catching against the callused end of his thumb. He cursed and shook the appendage, slipping a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing it to the wound. It was only then that he noticed all eyes were on him.

“Alright there Johnny?” His knight captain, the perpetually helmed giant of a man leaned forward, head tilting to the side as he inspected his king. Johnny nodded, grumbling under his breath. “I’m fine, I’m fine. What was that you were just mentioning?”

The tradmaster sighed and crossed his arms, looking a bit concerned but also irritated. “Ships, MacTavish! Ships. Smaller trading vessels belonging to the eastern kingdoms have been going missing! Shipments of luxury goods haven’t been making it to their destinations and the magisters wanted to know if the same thing was happening to us.” Johnny never liked that man, his face always twisted in a scowl.

“I would have assumed you would know about this already, seeing as you can’t tear your gaze away from the sea for ten bloody minutes.” Johnny turned and gently whacked his other advisor, Kyle Garrick, on the arm.

“Shut yer mouth! You know as well as I do the stories about the sea! If ye don't-“ Kyle interrupted him by waving away his comment, a smile on his face. “I know, I know. But it does draw into question a few things. Who’s out there hunting ships? It sure as hell isn’t us, and the most aggressive state is landlocked.” Kyle leaned back and looked at Kate, who shrugged and looked at Price, who then exhaled a plume of smoke and looked at the surgeon. The surgeon shrugged and looked over at Johnny who was doodling on the paper before him.

“Johnny? Are you paying attention?” The words of the surgeon snapped him out of his drawing and he looked up, blushing slightly. Price sighed softly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to get a grip on this obsession son. You haven’t been sleeping and your attention span is out the window.” Price sighed heavily and stood, chair groaning against the wooden floor as he pushed back.

“We can implement the shipping idea that his majesty gave us. That should buy us enough time to figure out more of a permanent solution to the conflict and the sinking ships.” Price’s words were strong in the chamber, spurring the others into action. Kate gathered the maps with the help of Kyle, the Knight Captain and the Surgeon snuffed the candles while Johnny stood and gathered his notes. As people filed out, Johnny nodded and mumbled his thanks for their patience and his assurance that he would be back to normal soon.

Soon it was just himself and Price sitting in the dimly lit room, a single candle illuminating their faces. Johnny rested his head in his hands, shaking it gently. “That was a shite meeting and you know it.” Price’s grumbling baritone echoed off the stone walls, filling Johnny with more shame than he already felt.

“Aye…I know. I just…” he looked up, a pleading expression on his face. “Can’t you do this? Take the crown and rule in my stead? I don’t mind abdication, in fact I’m all for it! I ju-“ Price cut him off by exhaling deeply, a cough settling in his chest.

“You know I can’t. You know the laws of the land, your birthright-“

“I dinnae care about that! I just want to see the sea again! I never wanted this life and you know it! You were with me on that fuckin’ ship! You know what happened and what I had to-“ Price slammed his hands down on the table, interrupting Johnny’s train of thought.

“It doesn’t bloody well matter what you wanted! You’re here now and no amount of bitching and moaning will get you anywhere!” Price stood, pushing in his chair and stalking over to the seated king. He leaned close to Johnny’s ear, his fingers plucking the cigar out of his mouth so he could speak unobstructed. “You need to get your head on straight Johnny, before someone comes up here and takes it from you.”

Price stood, gripped Johnny’s shoulder tightly and then exited the room, leaving Johnny alone with his thoughts. With a heavy sigh he reached into his pocket and pulled the pouch of scales from inside. He removed one and rubbed it between his fingers, feeling the tension leave his shoulders almost immediately. The scale seemed to glimmer from an internal light, something he was desperately missing in his life.

Johnny stood up himself, heading to the balcony that had been left open during the meeting. The salty sea breeze flowed into the room, tousling his hair and almost pulling him to the slickened stone. He stepped out into the cobbles, resting his forearms on the salted stones. The ocean was particularly boisterous today, acting almost playful as the wind pushed the waves into breaking over the rocky surf.

He thought back to what Price had said and he frowned. His old friend was right. He needed to let go of the past and start living in the present. He placed the small scale back in the pouch and sinched it closed. He then drew back his arm and tossed the bag as hard as he possibly could, watching it soar through the air like a bird set free from her cage. The bag arced beautifully through the air before landing in the surf, sinking like a stone.

Johnny sighed softly to himself and turned to head back inside when he felt something wet and heavy slap against the back of his head. He turned quickly, drawing his saber once more before looking down at the projectile. It was the pouch! The pouch full of scales had been returned to him.

With a scoff and a shake of his head, he launched it again, further than before and watched it sink below the waves. He kept his eye on the waves this time, watching a figure hoist the bag and then launch it back at him. He caught the projectile as it hit against his hand, water splashing across his face. The figure didn’t disappear beneath the waves, staying up and…coming closer.

The siren from before drew closer, her scales glimmering in the setting sunlight and form shimmering under the golden waves. She bared her teeth at him but didn’t hiss, treading water and staring up at him with her impossibly beautiful eyes. He dropped the pouch again, watching as she caught it. She opened the bag and looked at the scales inside. Johnny’s heart pounded like a war drum in his chest as she furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, emptying the bag of scales into the sea. Was she disappointed he kept them? Was she angry?

He felt a lump swell up in his throat as he watched her pluck a few loose scales from her tail and hips, placing the shiniest and largest ones in the bag. She gently closed the bag, pressing her teeth against the top to really be sure it was closed. She then angled herself so Johnny could see her magnificent tail. It was still a bit tattered but it had clearly been healing from the damage it had sustained in the storm. She set the bag on the flukes and then with a mighty shove, she flipped the bag into the air and into his awaiting hands.

When he looked back into the water, she had gone, but he had this new batch of scales to tide him over until he saw her next. His siren…

He returned to the drawing room, a new determination settling in his soul. He would be a good king. He had to be a good king. If not for his people, then for her. He’d protect her from conflict, he’d protect her from seeing warships in her oceans. He pushed the doors to the castle open exiting the room and causing a breeze to lift the notes he had taken into the air and over to the balcony.

The sea breeze ruffled the edges of said papers until they gracefully lifted up and fluttered over the side of the parapets. The twisted and turned in the air, being buffeted by gales of fated wind. The papers floated down and danced in the sky until they settled into the water and the awaiting hands of…you.

You, the siren who washed up on his beach during the storm of the century. You, who had gifted him riches and bared your teeth at his presence. You, who played catch with him and gifted him some of your scales. You looked down at what once had been notes on the meeting but now had become drawings of ships and strange figures distorted by what looked to be sketched water.

You turned it in your hands, the water ruining the paper and lifting the charcoal off the face of it. Before the sea could remove all trace or Johnny MacTavish from the paper, you caught a glimpse of yourself. He had sketched your face so clearly and you couldn’t help but bare your teeth in a smile.

Until next time, my Captain.

#johnny soap mactavish x reader #cod x reader #johnny soap mactavish #cod mw2 #John MacTavish

[catabibaz0n]

Pyrausta

(Moth man Homebrew race for D&D)

If your DM doesn’t allow you to use homebrew races, you can Re-skin an Owlin and simply use the flavor text as a inspiration for your moth man character!!!

Gentle Giants:

The Pyrausta people for all their size and frankly terrifying appearance are a calm and practical race. there are some exceptions to this rule, but for the most part they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them. On the flip-side when aggravated they will defend their homes, families, and friends, using any tactic to win. The loss of their homeland has made this displaced people fearsome when push comes to shove.

Watch your head swooping hazard:

Curious by nature they will sometimes swoop down to check out something, or someone that they find interesting, but unless provoked they are harmless and make a good story if you happen to see one flying at night.

Appearance:

The Pyrausta can appear very different from one another, though there are some traits that are relatively common between all individuals. Specifically most members have wings, either a moth like wing or a sale like wings made of two sections. Some individuals are born without wings and instead have an extra set of arms. And in rare cases some individuals will have vestigial wings and 4 functioning arms, or they will have functional wings WITH Semi functioning vestigial extra arms. (These vestigial appendages cannot use that appendages’ racial trait.)

(Arm Placement types)

All can have tails though not all individuals have them, coming in a variety of shapes and sizes! The most common tail being a bug like Thorax, a relatively short stubby prehensile tail, or a bird like tail with feathers.

All individuals have antennae like appendages upon their head, either near the top of the head close to the eyes, or on the side of head, much like ears; and some individuals even have horns that protrude from the forehead, either curved or straight.

Individuals come in many colors , often mimicking the patterns of owls and nocturnal moths. Their eyes can range from slim slits to perfectly round Plate like eyes, the colors ranging from red to white to black. All are without pupils and glow in the dark!

Ability score Increases:

+2, +1, to any ability of your choosing

Age:

They age slowly, reaching adulthood at 45, and can live up to 1000 years or more.

Alignment:

it can vary from individual to individual but most fall into the neutral alignment.

Size:

6 feet to 8 feet, you size is medium.

Average weight:

30 to 40kg’s (They are extremely Lightweight for better flight capabilities)

Speed:

40 feet.

Silent wings:

Advantage on stealth checks while flying. You have a flying speed that matches your walking speed. To use this you can’t be wearing heavy armor.

Many hands light work:

((( This only applies if you have chosen to forgo wings to have an extra set of arms.)))

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity, and the weight you can push/drag or lift. Your base climbing speed matches your base walking seed.

Talons:

Your talons are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Superior dark vision:

Your dark vision has a radius of 120 feet.

Sunlight sensitivity:

you have disadvantage on wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight when whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Moth heritage:

You must make a DC 10 wisdom saving through or fall under the effect of ‘Hypnotic pattern’ at dusk/night, Whenever you are within 30 feet of a Lamp/torch that is in line of sight. You become immune to the effect until a long rest if they succeed the DC 10 wisdom saving throw.

(((Hypnotic Pattern

…On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.)))

Languages:

They can speak and read-

-Common.

-Chitter (the moth language; it is a high and shrill sounding speech much like a screech owl)

-Sylvan.

Pyrausta names:

Pyrausta usually have three names, a use-name, a true name, and their family name. A true name is given to them at their birth by their parents and is known only to very close family members and to their chosen Partner. Surnames can either be taken from either side of a Partnership and is usually decided by which family is going to be the main home for the new member.

Use-name:

Marigold, orchid, Rosemary, Forget-me-not, Belladonna, Amaryllis, blossom, Asphodel, Cattail, Chrysanthemum… FLOWERS ALL THE FLOWERS.

True-name:

Jumelle, Nubivagant, Assoine, Phasma, Zumbador, Fuligo, Chirm, Disomus, Byss, Pheal, Vorago, Wolny…

Family name:

Tapetum, Toxicognath, …Family names always start with T.

Sub races:

The Unseelie have BIG shoulders with long arms that often almost reach the ground, and a neck that can retract into their main body much like an owl. A fluffy almost featureless face with sometimes a hard heart shaped eye and nose plate. They have blank round eyes. Taloned hands and feet, and a mouth that stretches far too wide with sharp pointy teeth.

Eyes in the dark:

Advantage on intimidation checks.

Ability score improvement: +1 to Strength.

The Seelie are more humanoid in appearance; tall, slim, and very fair, much like a classic fairy. They have clawed feet and hands, with what looks to be long hair but is actually soft almost feather like strands. Their bodies are often covered in a soft downy fuzz.

Glamour:

Advantage on persuasion and deception checks.

Ability score improvement: +1 to Charisma

Life Cycle:

Seelie and Unseelie can come from any type of Pyrausta. It is completely random and it is not something that can be predicted. Because of the long lifespan of the Pyrausta, children are not common.

Homeland:

A massive underground cave system with shafts leading up to the surface allowing light to enter into its depths, temperate rainforests growing in the dim light, water trickling down is the dark place the Pyrausta thrived…(look up the son doong caves in Vietnam; It has a very similar feel to this land.)

A century ago the homeland was invaded by a coven of Necromancers who raised an army of undead. The war was long and eventually the Pyrausta where worn down, and the Pyrausta were forced to abandon their homeland and flee…. scattering across the continent as refugees in a world not particularly well-made for them.

Random Info-

Pyrausta silk armor:

After the metamorphosis stage in the lifecycle of the Pyrausta, the chrysalis is saved and used to create clothing or armor. Silke Armor is extremely rare, as after the child emerges the chrysalis is often to damaged and cannot be salvaged to create armor. Silk armor is extremely highly valued by the Pyrausta, and a full set is a sign of a warrior’s or hunter’s prowess. They are passed down through families; some sets of armor are close to a millennium old.

Pyrausta Silk armor. (Wonderus item, very rare, requires attunement)

can come in a +1,+2,+3,

cost: 2,500gp. (+1) 3,500gp. (+2) 4,500gp, (+3) 5,500gp

armor class: 16+ DEX modifier

strength: -

stealth: -

weight: 8lb

while wearing this armor you stabilize whenever you are dying at the start of your turn.

The Government:

The governing body of the Pyrausta is a little bit different from a normal monarchy. The royal family does not consist of one family, but chosen elected officials that take on the titles of the monarchy. Often a Queen or a King will be appointed and spend several centuries as the leader, he or she will be reviewed every half century to see how they are proceeding with matters of state. If the monarch is a good leader, they will eventually retire and a new individual is selected for the position. NO NEPOTISM; It is strictly forbidden for multiple family members to hold any positions within the monarchy as a precaution against corruption.

Marriage:

Matching wrist jewelry that a couple will wear to signify that they are spoken for. These matching pieces of wrist jewelry are like Friendship bracelets in that they are designed to not be removed after they have been affixed to a person’s wrist. The cuff will start out as a plain matte metal and with each passing year after the wedding ceremony they add decoration and detail to it, describing their lives together.

Architecture and clothing:

art nouveau. Organic flowing lines in their architecture and their jewelry. Their clothing; they are often wearing very little when not armored, for a better range and freedom of movement.

The coven of necromancers ‘the tolling of the bell’:

There are 6 Heads to the Coven of Necromancers, one of which being their leader, a female Lich. Her five underlings act as extensions of her power, seeking out living souls for them to consume; they also mitigate some of the madness of their Lich Master. Mushroom zombies, zombie fungus galore!

Religion:

WE LOVE THE MOoOoOoON (the sun is a Deadly laser)

The moon is there god, who is Kind and Benevolent, Bringing in life, understanding, tranquility, and peace. The sun is the devil, something wicked and powerful, but always present and undefeatable, for without evil there is no good. The sun and moon are each other’s wives, and together they made the earth, and they are both kind, and brutal. The world is a mixture of both of their mothers…

#dungeons and dragons #d&d stuff #mothman #Homebrew race #d&d 5e #d&d

[young-justice-yo]

Blue Beetle trailer!!!

Okay. First off. I love how right from the trailer the movie is emphasizing family. Absolutely a core part of blue beetle!! There won't be any secret identity drama, and his family won't have to go through the pain of thinking he ran away or worse for a year. If the rest of the movie sucks, I'll be happy knowing his family loves him and will always be there for him.

I was worried about how the suit would look, mostly that it would be clunky and bulky, but I think they did a good job of having it look more like a suit vs armor. And those wings!! When they stopped right by the water they looked beautiful!!!! Overall, I think they did good making it look insectoid, especially khaji da's appendages. Also, scarab themself was so cute! Jaime holding scarab (before they leapt at his face) was adorable.

I'm really curious about the plot of the movie. I don't think it will be about the Reach. Maybe for a second movie, once we've established everything. So my best guess is La Dama as an antagonist, wanting the scarab, which would be fantastic. I would LOVE to see Paco and Brenda. Why aren't they in El Paso though. Rude.

Now the scarab!!!! One of the parts of blue beetle that makes them my favorite super hero is that it is the two of them! Not just Jaime and the scarab definitely not just a tool. So I really really really hope they give scarab a personality beyond AI assistant. I am hopeful with the joke of "nice choice" as Jaime spins around a sword.

I wonder how much Jaime vs Khaji Da there will be. What with the intense merge (horrifying I loved it!!!) and scarab dragging Jaime everywhere and suiting up in broad daylight causing property damage. But despite all this, I didn't get any horror movie vibes, like what the Venom movie thought it was trying to do. In fact, Jaime is explicitly told the scarab is designed to protect him. Khaji Da cut a bus in half to protect Jaime!! So maybe we'll get to their partnership faster than previous incarnations.

The blue beetle versions I've see have used Jaime's voice but a bit digitized for the scarab so a feminine voice will take some getting used to, but it's a cool change. I wonder how the voice will affect how current or new fans perceive khaki da. Currently, I use he/they for the scarab but I'd love to see more of she/her scarab.

On to Jaime! I like him a lot already! He has a loving, if over enthusiastic family. He is obviously going through it, but he's teasing his sister, having fun with a sword. Just from the trailer, I think they've done a great job at Jaime's easy going personality, as well as being someone who's willing to be a hero if it's for the people he loves.

Wow... I knew this day was coming and now it's here. The trailer may not be everything I hoped for, but nothing can be. It looks like a solid movie and I'll absolutely be seeing it when it comes out.

#blue beetle #blue beetle 2023 #jaime reyes #khaji da #trailer

[quirkwizard]

So I had an idea for a quirk that’s works like suneater’s quirk but instead of being able to make anything the user eats instead it only works with bugs. So the user can form various insect like traits, either by transforming their body such as forming a beatle horn on their head or their legs reshaping like grasshoppers, or they can grow extra appendages that they wouldn’t normally have such as growing dragonfly wings out of their back or spider legs forming from their ribs. I want more of a jack of all trades type ability with the power coming from the users knowledge of various insects so I was thinking of limiting it to one trait at a time and thus having a wider arsenal would be balanced by having each be weaker than if your committed to any one of these while still providing more utility and options to the user, but I wasn’t sure on some other drawbacks besides from maybe limiting the number of times the user can use the quirk via some sort of biological material need to generate the transformation so any weapons and armor would be made from organic materials so it limited the effectiveness, maybe it should also have injures from on the transformation still remains so the user can’t heal themselves by transforming a limb.

You have no idea how much my pedantic self is holding back the urge to point out that spiders aren't bugs.

I think that something like this could work, but it could use some adjustments. I think the biggest problem with the idea is how versatile bugs could be could make this very difficult to balance. There are so many different kinds of bugs in the world and a lot of them have some pretty extreme abilities, especially when you try to scale it up to a Quirk. Even if it's only limited to a single trait at a time, that's all you really need for most insects. Why bother using the rest of a grasshopper when all you need are it's legs? And having damage transfer over is pretty standard for transformations. I think there needs to be some redesigning of the concept. Honestly, if you wanted to do a jack of all trades, something like more specific like the scientific family of insects or arachnids would probably fit the same idea and be easier to balance. That way, there aren't as many bizarre or drastically varied traits. From there, maybe they need extensive knowledge on whatever it is they are trying to turn into and changing could have some dietary or environmental requirement, such as burning their calorie or sugar reserves or cold weather hampers their ability to change.

#My Hero Academia #Quirks #Quirk Reviews

[mythaura-blog]

Development Update - October 2022

Hi all! Koa here, wishing you a happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate it and bringing you a recap of what the team accomplished during the month of October 2022. We decided to post this update a day early to give everyone a final reminder about our rapidly retiring Early Access Companion.

Key points covered:

Staff Design Contest Winner

Quarter 2 (2022) Voting Results

Early Access Companion: Final Reminder

New Sponsor Items

Feature Spotlight: Gear & Apparel

Ko-fi Shop Restructure

Code Update

More info available under the cut!

Staff Contest Winner

With bragging rights and a choice of movie on the line, Koa has won the staff design contest with her sky-blue Ryu. Thank you to all who cast their vote in our fun internal contest.

Quarter 2 (2022) Voting Results

So far it’s looking like the following concepts will be selected for our 2nd Quarter’s items. While voting will remain open until October 31st 11:59pm PDT, there is a substantial enough lead on them that we feel pretty confident that these will be the final results.

Q2 Companion Winner: Wishing Tree Spirit

Q2 Glamour Winner: Skeleton Dragon

Solid Gold Skin (staff selected): Adult Hippogriff

If for some reason another concept makes a sudden comeback, we’ll make sure to update everyone on Discord and on Kofi.

Early Access Companion: Final Reminder

Mythaura’s Early Access Ko-fi Companion, the Pearlescent Shellsnake, will only be available to Gold, Silver, or Bronze Sponsors who have or had a Sponsorship active on or before 11:59pm PDT on Monday, October 31, 2022!

As a reminder, the Pearlescent Shellsnake will NOT be available for individual purchase in the Ko-fi Shop later on, so if you are interested in receiving 3 copies of this endangered critter please check out our Ko-fi Sponsor Levels to see what other rewards you can receive for your patronage.

New Sponsor Items

We have some fantastic new sponsored items to show everyone from our generous Ko-fi supporters. These items can be found while adventuring or purchased from shops. The rarity backgrounds shown in these previews are not final and are just for demonstrative purposes.

Ghostlight Feather - A soft, iridescent black feather coated in a thin sheen of oil. The plumage burns blue when ignited, the flame cool to the touch.

Mossy Heron Carving - A carving of a heron perched in a rushing river, modeled after the crest of an ancient familial House from Sleeping Waters. Its smoothed surface speaks to many centuries of passing between hands.

A big shoutout to Feet and GreenHeron for sponsoring these items.

Feature Spotlight: Gear & Apparel

In Mythaura, players will be able to dress their beasts with various wearable items. These will be categorized into two distinct types of items: Gear and Apparel. While they both change the way your beast appears, they serve very different functions in the game.

Gear...

belongs to one of six distinct slots. (head, body, front legs, rear legs, tail, & appendages)

is limited to one gear piece per slot.

has stats & abilities associated with it that augment your beast when battling in the Arena or exploring a Wild Area. Sets often have bonuses for wearing the entire set.

can be hidden for those who want the stats but don't like how a specific gear piece looks.

are for adults only and generally will be for all breeds, with exceptions for things like heritage armor sets.

can be crafted & improved at the Terragon’s forge or purchased from various NPCs or players, or earned as loot/rewards.

Apparel…

does not belong to or use up any slot.

is cosmetic only with no stats or modifiers associated with wearing them.

can have a generous amount equipped (actual limit TBD).

can be made for any number of breeds & ages. For example, only for young Dragons or for adult Kirins and Unicorns. Some may start limited for a single breed, and be expanded later into multiple bases.

is obtained by buying from various NPCs in-game, from other players, or earned as loot/rewards.

Ko-fi Shop Restructure

Now that the shop has matured and we have some orders under our belt, we will be restructuring the custom items in the shop.

Design a Skin is being removed from the shop.

All Custom Gear is being removed from the shop and replaced with Custom Apparel with some new pricing and features. When you sponsor an apparel item you will select a base (e.g. Adult Quetzal) that the apparel applies to. Visit the shop to see the updated prices and categories.

Companion Sponsorship! We are going to offer monsters in the shop. These will be tamable companions that can be battled in the Wild Areas or purchased from shops with in-game currency.

A note about recolors & multiple bases

We can offer recolors with an additional fee of $20 per recolor (up to 3 total recolors). We can also add additional bases at a rate of $20 per base. The intake form sent to you after sponsoring an item has been updated to allow for selecting these add-ons. These must be provided upfront, you cannot add more recolors or bases once the intake form is submitted. If you request any of these add-ons, we will reach out to you with instructions on how to pay for the additional work. Bulk pricing for those interested in apparel being made for every breed is available.

Sponsors will get 5 copies of each of their recolors.

Code Update

October was a huge month for one of our key features - the concept of battling your beasts with another player. Over 5,000 lines of code have been added this month, nearly all of it for battling!

We’ve begun the process of adding descriptive alt text to our items and implementing accessibility features. This will be an ongoing process, but our programmers are both well versed in ADA & WCAG 2.1 compliance and we want to make sure Mythaura will be an accessible game for all to enjoy.

Thank you!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the recap for our month of October! This was a busy month for our staff, and we are working on some very exciting features to show you in the coming months.

We’ll see you on December 1st with a recap of what we accomplish in November. Hopefully, we'll see you around the Mythaura Discord in the meantime!

#mythaura #petsite #virtual pet site #virtual pet sim #pet site #gamedev #game dev #virtual pets #virtual pet #development update #myth and legend #neopets #wolvden #lioden #long post #indie games #game development #rpg #rpgs #roleplay games

[raditzxsthighband]

Gemini Saga Eclipse

Chapter 42: Turn Of The Tide

"Saavoy is my older brother...well, was. But, he died a very long time ago. Unfortunately, he was slain without the chance to defend himself. He couldn't die a warrior's death, so he was unable to go onto the Great Warrior's Rest. I don't know, I suppose he's trapped in Infinite Hell."

"She's seeing ghosts?" Kannon whispered worriedly, her dainty hands covering her face as she agonized over the dangers of Launch being a medium.

"Yes. It's possible that our daughter has a rare power to communicate with the dead," Nappa suggested, though he had come to this conclusion shortly after Launch told him.

"Why didn't you tell me, Launch? Having ahmidsya is not something to be ashamed of." Raditz chuckled, his apprehension slowly seeming to melt away with his relief.

"Ah… amid-see-ya?"

"Yes, Raditz is right. What you have is a gift from the gods!" Nappa enthused, yet Launch and Kannon didn't feel quite as enthralled by the concept. They shared a frightened glance at each other, then the room went silent as the wind battered against the walls outside and raindrops pummeled the roof in powerful sheets.

"I- I'm not sure I want this. I don't know how I'm supposed to help Saavoy! I don't even know why he's asking me for help, what can I do?" Launch cried, dropping her tea cup on the floor, clutching her belly as she attempted to hold back her sobs. Kannon quickly moved to soothe her, as did Raditz, stroking her shoulders and shushing her tears.

Nappa sobered out of his happy spell and looked up at the ceiling in thought, attempting to find a deeper understanding of Launch's dilemma. His daughter was somehow able to tap into the realm of the dead, using a combination of her natural Saiyan telepathic ability and her Gemini mind powers, which had endless possibilities.

"Perhaps you're meant to help him. Since Saavoy's time was cut short before he could reach his true potential, he was not able to rest with the other Saiyan warriors. He must still have business in this world that he needs to finish." Nappa said in a moment of clarity, which stunned Raditz and Kannon.

Launch took a deep inhale and nodded, quelling her tears, though an acerbic taste was building in the back of her throat with Nappa's words.

"....Maybe this is a gift and not a curse. After all, if I can use it to help others, it must be a good thing. I promised to help Saavoy in whatever way I can," she whispered the last part to herself, suddenly feeling a lessening of her nausea.

"It could be dangerous for you–that's what I worry about. How do we know this spirit means well?" Raditz growled and Launch sighed as the reaction she had been dreading came true. She had avoided telling him the truth and with each encounter she had with Saavoy's specter, her anxiety grew.

Raditz moved away from his concerned family and pushed his fingers into his hair at the temples, rubbing his cranium where it felt like the tension was growing with each stressful part of this discussion. He had a strange feeling about it all, as if he too had seen something odd, but didn't understand what until now. During the battle with Vulcane, a mysterious Saiyan had arrived at the last minute to assist them in the Blutzkrieg Blast that killed their enemy and blew up Planet Neptune. Not only that, but when Launch had her miscarriage, he had seen an unfamiliar Saiyan in his mind.

"Stop! Stop!" He screamed, clutching his skull in pain. As Raditz struggled with the agony, a dark shadow flashed in his mind and loomed over him. Its facial features were hidden, yet the silhouette was a near perfect reflection of himself, with long, spiky hair and Saiyan armor making the shadow's outline sharp and jagged. He began to notice the blood and wounds covering the man, before a wagging tail caught his eye, the appendage moving before the full moon that was casting the mysterious Saiyan in shadow.

"Don't let us die."

Realization hit Raditz suddenly, and he fell to his knees, resting his head in Launch's lap as his back heaved with each deep breath he was taking. Noone dared to say anything, though Launch began stroking his mane in an attempt to soothe him. Kannon stood up and began gathering everyone's tea cups with a shaky hand, placing them on a tray before she hurried out of the room with tears in her eyes. Nappa soon followed after, and the younger couple was left alone to allow this situation to sink in beside the fire. Raditz turned his head so that his ear rested against her stomach and cupped her remaining free hand.

"I'm sorry for my reaction, I just…I can't believe this is truly happening to you. I never dared speak of it, but I think I too have seen Saavoy. Once, on the battlefield and the other time to save your life."

Launch nodded and continued to comb the tangles from his unruly spikes, scratching his widow's peak, which always made him purr. Raditz resisted the urge to purr like a big puma, growling instead. Launch let out a giggle and kept scratching until his growls turned into deep, rattling purrs that shook through his body. Though she had little answer to why her ancestor was communicating with them, she knew that Saavoy's presence was not meant to scare them, even if it came across as frightening at times. The essence of his spirit was full of warmth, though it was tortured and writhing with dark energies.

The flickering fire before them cast a dark shadow behind them, which moved along the wall and into a shadowy corner, enjoying the darkness and warmth along with the cuddling mates.

Read More ⏬️⏬️

#dbz #dragon ball z #raditz #fanfiction #launch #vegeta #launchitz #dragon ball #fic excerpt #fan fic #fic recs #fic writers #my fic #fic update #db #vegebul romance #vegeta x bulma #vegebul #vegebul fanfiction #au #romance #action

[thecreaturecodex]

Diplovertebron

Publicity still from The Monster of Piedras Blancas

[By the late 1950s, the Hays Production Code was weakening, and many movies not made by the big studios were released without code approval. This eventually lead to the MPAA and the movie rating system by the mid 1960s, but in the meantime, you had all manner of indie films experimenting with what they could get away with. Which is the major claim to fame of The Monster of Piedras Blancas. This is a Creature from the Black Lagoon ripoff featuring multiple decapitations and the female lead skinny dipping (although no nudity is actually caught on camera) while the monster sniffs her underwear. Pretty intense stuff for 1959! It’s those decapitations that are why I have my version slotted in at such a high CR. I wanted to have it at least have a chance to perform its signature move.

Incidentally, the name Diplovertebron is a real scientific name, for a very incomplete and possibly dubious genus of early tetrapod. The real animal was maybe half a meter long, not even remotely humanoid, and couldn’t pull the head off of even a single skinny-dipper. I can only imagine some screenwriter paging through a paleontology textbook until he spotted a name he thought sounded cool.]

Diplovertebron CR 11 NE Monstrous Humanoid This creature is humanoid, with a fleshy nose with barbels drooping over a fanged maw. It has ridges of armor plating along its back and arms. Its hands are oversized claws.

A diplovertebron is an aquatic humanoid with a protective carapace and lethal claws. They can smell blood at great distances, and may travel from afar in order to scavenge or prey upon whatever has spilled it. They require water in order to survive, but twin snorkel-like appendages grow from its head, allowing it to smell the air even while it is submerged. Once it finds prey, it attacks with stealth, hoping to make a kill quickly. They are noted for tearing the heads from their victims, as they seek fatty meals and humanoid brains are an excellent repast.

Diplovertebrons are family creatures, living in kin groups and assisting each other at hunting when possible. A lone diplovertebron is an unhappy one, and they may try to “make” a family by kidnapping people instead of killing them. A diplovertebron can speak Aquan, albeit without much articulation, and some of them find life in sahuagin colonies or among other evil aquatic intelligent creatures. They have very long lifespans, and may survive between 300 and 400 years if not slain by violence.

Diplovertebron CR 11 XP 12,800 NE Medium monstrous humanoid (aquatic) Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, keen scent, Perception +16 Defense AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural) hp 147 (14d10+70) Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +12 Defensive Abilities fortification (50%) Offense Speed 20 ft., swim 60 ft. Melee 2 claws +19 (1d8+7/19-20 plus vorpal critical), bite +19 (1d6+5) Special Attacks powerful blows (claws), sneak attack +2d6 Statistics Str 21, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 17, Cha 12 Base Atk +14; CMB +19; CMD 33 Feats Blind-fight, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Stealthy, Skills Climb +11, Escape Artist +8, Perception +16, Stealth +15, Survival +16, Swim +19; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +4 Stealth, +8 Survival Languages Aquan SQ water dependency Ecology Environment temperate aquatic and coastal Organization solitary, pair or family (3-6) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Keen Scent (Ex) A diplovertebron can detect creatures by scent in a 180 foot radius, and can smell freshly spilled blood up to a mile, in either air or water. Vorpal Critical (Ex) If a diplovertebron rolls a natural 20 on a claw attack and confirms the critical hit, the creature struck must succeed a DC 22 Fortitude save or be decapitated. This kills most living creatures instantly. This does not function if the target creature doesn’t have a head. The save DC is Strength based.

#diplovertebron #monster of piedras blancas #b movies #gore tw #it came from the silver screen

[swordy-da-goat]

Haha, I wonder what happened.

Orignal post here

#kingambit #myart #pokemon #pawniard #bisharp #armored appendage family

[ursamajorstory]

Captain Vaughn

[The Beginning] - [Part 2] - [Part 4]

Word Count - 3719

--

Ursa held his bag close to himself as he followed Lars through the ship’s halls. It was almost straight out of the sci-fi comics. He saw doors lining the halls with odd noises coming from the other side of them. Honestly, Ursa didn’t know how to feel about the situation he was stuck in. He was forcibly coming to grips with the fact he was actually on an alien spaceship. Some part of him wondered if this was just a dream he was having, and that he was still actually on the Flagship frozen in ice. But he doubted that. There was simply a difference in feeling between dream and reality. This was unfortunately very real.

“Alright, so we’re going to meet Captain Vaughn. You’ll want to be very careful around him. He’s very dangerous and you have to be absolutely respectful or else you’ll make both of us look bad,” Lars warned him, his little metal pincer-like legs tinking on the metal surface of hallway floors.

“Oh, really? What’s so bad about him?” Ursa questioned as they walked together.

“Well, he’s just a bit of an unpredictable man. He’s got these long pincers that can stab through even the toughest armors, he’s got these large claws that can crush someone as soft as you without a doubt, and his fangs are bloody huge! Rumor has it that he has an entire tank of poisons under the ship’s cargo for where he throws crew members that underperform. You know what, why don’t you just keep a five foot radius at all times from him. It’ll be for the best!” Lars explained simply, “He’s a dangerous one, Ursa. He’s from Telmun, you know!”

“I don’t know what that means,” Ursa glanced at Lars, “I think I should tell you upfront that I’m flat out not familiar with anything alien in the slightest. Like where I’m from, all of this is science fiction. We didn’t know there was other life in space other than what we saw on blurry pictures of Spes.”

“That explains why you lot chose to freeze yourselves. Needlessly risky to do that, you know. Look, the short version is that Telmun is a dangerous place, too. You should just avoid all routes that way because the entire planet is full of guys like Vaughn,” Lars’s sphere shook back and forth for a moment, “Do you know what a Dracorum is? He’s like one of those.”

“Dracorum? Like a vampire?” Ursa furrowed his brows as he pictured it in his mind.

“What’s a vampire?” Lars seemed just as confused as Ursa was about this before making an exasperated noise, “No. Dracorum! They suck the fluids right out of your body if you’re an organic! As for us robots, Vaughn is a jerk to us, too. You know, I’ve worked on this vessel for 10 rotations and I still don’t get the pay promotion of an organic? One time he pulled one of my appendages off because I miscalculated the time it’d take for us to travel from one system to the next?”

“I see…Well, I guess good thing I’m just a human, right?” Ursa tried to weigh the situation, “Did you have to fix yourself, then?”

“Yes, it was awful. Thankfully, now that I’ve got you, you’ll learn all the requirements of how to do mechanics and be a perfect assistant. I’ve decided this a bit ago, actually,” Lars spoke with confidence, walking ahead of Ursa.

“Assistant? Look, Lars, I thank you for saving me out there and unfreezing me, but I need to get myself to Spes. It’s where we were supposed to go,” Ursa tried to interject, “I don’t know anything about mechanics, anyways. I’m just a cleaning guy. That’s why I need my family’s stuff after all this.”

“And how do you plan to get to Spes without a ship, navigation, not even a flying permit? Yeah, you need me,” Lars turned his sphere to look at Ursa while he walked, almost giving what might have been a smug look. It was hard to be certain it was meant to be smug, his only form of emotional expression being a sort of lid that went up and down over the camera eye at the center of his sphere.

“Fine, fine, I get it. But, who knows, maybe I’ll butter up this Vaughn guy and he can get me to Spes,” Ursa grinned just as smugly, “I don’t think you know how good I am at convincing people that I have great ideas.”

“What?! Vaughn? You’re out of your mind,” Lars shook his sphere, “He helps no one but himself.”

“Well, first time for everything, right?” Ursa grinned as they finally seemed to come to a large set of doors.

“What? What does that mean? Is this another weird human thing?” Lars narrowed his eye, “Don’t say weird things like that in front of Vaughn.” Ursa couldn’t help laughing at that. Lars was such a weird little temperamental robot. It was kind of endearing to a degree for Ursa. 

The large doors slid open revealing it was like a large space deck like Ursa had seen on Star Battles and Star Voyage. He glanced around for a moment, observing the space as he glanced at computer screens, buttons, levers, and various aliens working back and forth. They were completely foreign in appearance to Ursa. If he had to rate them, they looked closer to the aliens he saw on Star Battles rather than how Star Voyage always had them somewhat humanoid. These aliens were drastically different from Ursa in appearance.

But his eyes stopped on one alien in particular who stood at the center of it all, the one Ursa had to assume was Vaughn. He was a tall alien, easily standing at nearly 7 feet tall. He was covered in scales that were a deep red that made him come across like a lizard of some form. He had two large horns that protruded upwards from his head and various spikes coming down his spine. Yellow eyes pierced their gaze right into Ursa as they stared him down from across the room. He had hands that had been clawed, the index finger having an especially larger claw than all the rest. His feet were also clawed, his legs bending back to further give this sort of lizard-like appearance. His tail swayed behind him for a moment as Vaughn seemed to be visually assessing Ursa. 

And then he smiled with a set of large, sharp teeth. “So, this is our precious cargo we picked up, hm?” Vaughn’s voice was a low, silky pitch. Despite the man being physically intimidating in appearance, his demeanor seemed to shift to come across more friendly, gesturing for Ursa to come up towards him.

“Yes, this is my cargo I salvaged,” Lars corrected Vaughn as he moved to stand between Ursa and Vaughn.

“Upload his data into the monitors, would you? I am quite curious about this rare little thing you’ve brought,” Vaughn was speaking to Lars, but didn’t exactly look at Lars at all. The whole time, Vaughn kept his gaze pierced onto Ursa.

Lars was quiet for a moment before glancing back at Ursa. After a moment further, Lars moved away, going up to one of the various screens in the room.

“What’s your name? What do we call you?” Vaughn stepped up towards Ursa, slowly closing in that 5 foot radius that Lars had warned Ursa about. It was getting close enough that Vaughn was able to easily extend his hand out, cupping Ursa’s face to turn it back and forth slightly.

“My name is Ursa Major. Like the constellation. I’m from Earth,” Ursa tried to explain shortly, unsure how to feel being examined so closely. Ursa was an average height man for Earth, so Vaughn towering him so easily was more intimidating than he was anticipating.

“‘Constellation’? What is that, if you do not mind me asking?” Vaughn questioned him, tilting his head a little, “I don’t think we have ‘Earth’ on our data ports, either.”

“Constellations… Uhm… It’s where we see the stars in the sky and we made pictures with them. My parents named me after one of them,” Ursa tried to explain with a bit of hesitation, trying his best to keep his composure. He gestured up to his forehead where his freckles had been, “I have these freckles and my parents thought they looked like the constellation.”

"Pictures out of stars? How unique…" Vaughn narrowed his gaze towards the freckles that Ursa had pointed out.

"Captain Vaughn, his data is on screen," Lars spoke up. "He still needs to go to the medical bay for official registration, though."

Vaughn stepped over towards the screen in question, observing it for a moment. "Organic in nature, yet a relic to time, I see…"

"I'm human, from Earth," Ursa spoke up, "We were supposed to be on route to a planet named Spes."

"And yet you're here," Vaughn noted, glancing at Ursa through the opaque screen, "You were frozen in time. We don't seem to have a planet registered on our systems named Spes. Tell me more about this mission of yours."

Ursa didn't know how to handle this. Lars made it sound like he was going to meet with a dangerous alien that was going to kill him. But Captain Vaughn seemed more curious than murderous. "We had to evacuate our home world. Earth was going to be destroyed by a massive meteor. It has this long Latin name I couldn't ever get right, but we just called it Mors. The guys at NASA -- this group of scientists from my world -- found a new planet that would be good for us. So that's where we were going."

"Interesting… And yet, unfortunately, we have no records of your species. Perhaps this is the confirmation of the end of your home world," Vaughn pressed a button on his screen, pulling up a window written in a language Ursa didn't understand.

"Yeah, I guess that's what it looks like…" Ursa glanced down at the floor for a moment, "But I do know that my people were also traveling similar to how I was traveling. I was on one ship of many. So they're probably all also on their own ships, traveling with frozen pods that are just sleeping."

"Ah, so you believe your species is still out there but simply asleep?" Vaughn stepped away from the monitor to approach Ursa again, "You all chose to freeze yourselves in space travel? Why? How old exactly are you?"

"Well, it was our only choice if we wanted to make sure us, specifically, got to get to Spes. I didn't have a lot of choice about it. To me, I'm 18 years old. But I guess on paper I'm apparently thousands of years old," Ursa shrugged a little, "It was our only option since we had to travel light-years away."

"According to the computer data I attempted to salvage, this species didn't have any jump technology. They were trying to travel light-years away on purely raw travel systems," Lars spoke up.

"I don't get what that means…" Ursa furrowed his brows, "Honestly, all of this is super foreign to me. When we were on Earth, the idea of aliens was just… science fiction, really. We had no idea any of you were out here. But maybe that's just what's changed over the last few thousand years, huh?"

"In simple terms, it would be like trying to walk the distance from one world to another. Except you were all attempting to do it across light-years of distance. You were all working on ancient technology, which makes sense given your circumstances," Vaughn explained for Ursa, "I see you're using the translation pieces. Turn that off, I want to hear your natural speech. Your extinct species gives me curiosity."

Ursa didn't like Vaughn calling humans extinct. He glanced at Lars for a moment who returned the look with a small nod. He nodded in return and pressed the buttons on the collar and ear piece. "This is English. Not everyone from my homeworld speaks it. I speak English and Spanish, though. Mi mamá habla español conmigo," Ursa spoke for Vaughn as requested. 

Lars started beeping at Vaughn and Ursa wondered if it was translation. However, Lars stopped to glance at Ursa, furrowing his eye at Ursa. "I don't understand the second part. Is that the second language you said?"

"Yeah, that was Spanish. The computer probably didn't have that in there. At home, they were weird about who speaks what," Ursa explained with a shrug.

Lars beeped to Vaughn who spoke in return to Lars. The language was nothing like he could describe at home. It didn't sound similar to any language he knew of. He had wondered if it would sound similar to a language he knew of at home, and yet it wasn’t anything close to that. It sounded like rumbles of noises that smoothed itself into different pitches of noises. 

“He said you can turn your devices back on, Ursa,” Lars glanced at him, nodding up and down to him.

Ursa nodded, pressing the buttons and listening to the slight buzz of the device in his ear. “So, uh, yeah, that’s my situation. I would really appreciate any help I can get since I’m really unfamiliar with the systems here.”

“It’s a very interesting situation, certainly,” Vaughn nodded as he moved to approach Ursa once more. He placed his hand on Ursa's shoulder, smiling down on him. "However, you will be a welcome crew member. I, personally, have a fascination with long extinct species. Lost knowledge we may never have known about otherwise is always valuable."

"Well, like I said, we're possibly not extinct. Just asleep," Ursa corrected him as a thought came to his head, "In fact, I kind of remember that there was a section of my kind deciding to make colonies on a planet near our own. After all these thousands of years, I'm sure they're thriving out there. It's on a planet called Mars?"

Vaughn and Ursa both looked to Lars, who simply shook his head. "We don't have a planet registered as Mars. But if I can restore the full starmap of your ship, we might be able to cross reference it to our own maps. I'm guessing you lot named planets on your own without registering the names to the federation and then went ahead and went extinct. I'm guessing if your Mars colonies are still going, it's under a different name given how long it's been," Lars explained as he looked at a monitor, "Probably why you mentioned a planet named Spes, but we don't have that planet on our systems."

"Oh, that's kinda hopeful. Yeah, maybe it's just all a bunch of alien names I was asleep for the renaming! Shoot, maybe even my species is registered but it's all just under different names!" Ursa smiled at the thought, hopeful that maybe humans were just called some new fancy name now. 

"Well, we don't know all that. Lars, get to work on cross referencing those starmaps. For now, Ursa, why don't you go to our medical bay to register your species. If it is the case that it's just a name confusion, your species should come up on our registry. And then… after that…" Vaughn pressed a claw to Ursa's chest, pressing his extended claw up and down his shirt. "I want to have a more private setting with you to discuss matters about your membership on my board."

Ursa stared down at the claw before looking up at Vaughn. His face slowly heated up and he didn’t know how to respond. In 1988, this was certainly something extremely taboo. But as Captain Vaughn was practically doing this in front of his entire crew, Ursa realized that the last few thousand years may have changed the mood a lot. Granted, that was a nice thought. But he was still quite flustered nonetheless.

“Uhm--Yeah, sure, uhm… Ok! Sure!” Ursa laughed nervously before nodding, “Yeah, I’ll be wherever you want me to go for this…private matter.”

“Great, I’ll see you then,” Vaughn stood back a bit to head for the monitors, “We will be headed for the Lixium system shortly. Try to be swift about this, yes?”

“Gotcha, I’ll be right on it,” Ursa nodded before beginning to move out of the main deck room.

“Oh! Let me show you the way to the medical bay,” Lars insisted as he quickly caught up to Ursa on his little legs.

Ursa nodded, allowing Lars to lead the way as they headed off together. Once they were back in the hallway with the door shut behind them, Lars and Ursa both seemed to slow down a bit in sync with each other. 

Ursa glanced at Lars for a moment before giving the robot a smug smile, “You know, I think that went really well. I don’t get why you are so scared of Captain Vaughn. He’s a nice guy, it seems.”

“Don’t count on it. He’s after something, I can tell. He’s not nice to others for no reason. You must have something he wants. Are you hiding something you aren’t telling me?” Lars questioned him as his eye narrowed.

“Well, from what I could gather, it seemed more like he was coming onto me. Uhm… In my home world, we were kind of weird about two guys getting really close and personal like that. Is that not the case around here?” Ursa decided to turn the questioning table around, “I’m not opposed to it! In fact, I mean… I’m pretty interested in what Captain Vaughn wants to talk about in private. But I just want to know what the mood is about this all.”

“I don’t think that should be your biggest worry. I’m more worried about why the Captain likes you to begin with. Captain Vaughn is still a dangerous guy. Just don’t trust him right away. Remember, it’s you and me who’s a team, not you and him,” Lars insisted this with a shake of his sphere.

“Well, I mean, we’re only a team because I’ve literally only met you and Captain Vaughn. I literally do not know anyone else on this ship and you happened to be the one to wake me up from ice,” Ursa clarified this with a gesture at Lars, “It’ll be alright, ok? I appreciate you being all concerned about me, but I can take care of myself, you know. I’m an adult.”

“I’m not organic like you, I do not have ‘concerns’ like that. I am just warning my assistant to not do something that is clearly deadly according to my calculations,” Lars insisted this with a stomp of one of his pincer legs. It didn’t feel all that believable to Ursa.

He couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Alright, sure, gatito,” Ursa snickered as he decided to tease Lars.

“‘Gatito’? What does that word mean?” Lars questioned him, “Your translation device was programmed with English being anticipated, but if you say things that aren’t English or a programmed language, it sounds gibberish to us.”

“It’s Spanish, but I’m not telling you what it means,” Ursa grinned at Lars, “I’m allowed to have things for myself.” Lars narrowed his eye before seeming to rolling it. They continued on together down the hallway. Ursa couldn’t help but laugh a little again, patting the top of Lars’s head as they walked together. 

They stopped at a door that had a symbol on it, Lars turning to look at Ursa. “Alright, you’ll go in there and one of the medical crew members will assist you. They’ll do a bunch of nonsense I’ve already done on you. But the difference is I did it so I can actually figure out you, they just want to register that you exist in the first place with the federation.”

“You mentioned the federation before. Who are they? Are they like… the government?” Ursa furrowed his brows, trying to think of how this equated in his sci-fi comics. “I am just unsure what the point of this is.”

“The point is to make you exist on system files. Generally speaking, a lot of species don’t have to do this because they’re already widely known throughout the systems. But you’re an extinct species who just sort of popped into our time. It is alarming. I mean, you don't even have any identification numbers! We don't even know if you emit any toxic gasses at will, any diseases we're all not ready for, or if you actually are supposed to be living in different conditions!" Lars lifted one of his pincers, gesturing vaguely at Ursa. "You're very weird."

"Well, I can assure you I don't release toxic gas. Though, as far as living conditions go, it is pretty cold on this ship for me. Really can't wait to just bundle up in my blankets later," Ursa shrugged, "I think the weirdest thing you guys might find out about my species is that we lose our baby teeth and grow a second set?"

Lars stared at him with his eye wide before quickly shaking his sphere, "What?! Your species is so weird. Just go in there and tell them this stuff. When you're done, just wait for me. I'll be back in a bit and then I'll guide you to the Captain's quarters."

"What about storage? I still need to get my stuff. And also, why do I gotta wait for you? Can't I find this on my own?" Ursa furrowed his brows before tapping his finger on the top of Lara's sphere, "Worried about an 'organic' like me getting lost? Are you actually concerned about me?"

"What?! No! Absolutely not!" Lars shook his sphere quickly with a noise of frustration, "I'm not worried about you! I'm not organic, I don't have feelings like that! I just know you've had your head frozen for who knows how long and you've got ice for brains!"

Lars started to quickly walk away from Ursa, "Find your own bloody storage, then!" 

Ursa smugly smiled to himself. That's what he hoped for. A bit of independence was what he craved more than anything.

#writing #scifi #science fiction #sci fi #aliens #robots #space #original writing #original content

[tinybriewrites]

Like A Drama - 8

One moment Red Hood was giving his rundown of patrol to the rest of the team, and the next, sparkling purple-blue liquid suddenly flooded into the Batcave. Jason could see most of his family sinking under the weight of their armors that they were quick to shed in response. Nightwing seemed to fare the best with his light suit. The liquid felt no different from water, but no one wanted to risk it containing any toxins. Visually, though, it felt like what would happen if a magical unicorn herd simultaneously bled out in a lake.

The liquid was rushing in quickly, already almost to the ceiling in under three minutes. Jason could see the rest of his family holding their breaths while trying to look for an escape. Dick was diving towards the exit to the manor, and the others were attempting to move elsewhere too, but the undercurrent was too strong and constantly pushing them upwards, much to the illogicality of the fluid.

The water level was only getting higher, but right as the liquid was about to push them against the ceiling, they felt themselves hit a soft surface instead. It was like moving through cotton.

Pop.

They phased through the ceiling and somehow ended up in the middle of a lake. On the banks, Jason could spot a large unmoving white mass. Swimming closer, he noticed that it was a herd of dead unicorns, as crazy as that was.

What the actual fuck?

"Where are we?" one of his siblings asked. Jason knew he shouldn't know the answer to this, but there was a niggling feeling that he did.

He looked around to see looming dark pine trees surrounding the lake, but Jason's instincts told them the trees were edible. And that they were sweet. The place was fucking with his goddamn mind.

Suddenly, a bell-like giggle rang through the air.

Jason looked up to see a blue-haired pixie in a lavender petal dress flying toward them. She had one glittering blue-green wing while the other was a translucent pale lilac.

"Hi, Jason, remember me?" she said airily.

"Who the fuck are you? Where did you bring us?" he fired off at the thumb-sized girl floating above them. His family was on guard, silently reaching for whatever weapons they had left as they emerged from the lake.

"Here's a present~" she tinkled, not paying Jason any mind despite her initial acknowledgment of the boy. At her words, three blue-purple petals, the same color as the mysterious liquid in the lake, floated towards the group.

Everyone was wary of what magic the fairy had brought, but in Jason's mind, a word suddenly appeared. Pixie-pop. He didn't know what that meant or how he knew that was what those petals were, but he just knew. With the same mysterious sixth sense this whole place was giving him. Like some sort of déjà vu, except he's never been here before. He was fucking sure he'd remember if he was. It was hard to forget the dead unicorns, cotton candy tree bark, and magic pixie that his mind just seemed to know.

One suddenly sped up and reached Dick before it disappeared into purple sparkles with a pop. Everyone waited with bated breath but nothing happened.

Another flew straight for Damian. He tried to dodge but it followed him as if on a tracker. He threw a birdarang at the petal, but the throwing weapon poofed into pastel blue feathers before it could make contact. The petal caught him while he was mid-air, and his entire body was enveloped in blue smoke. When the wind blew the remains away, Damian was gone.

Tweet-tweet.

Jason looked down to see a small, chubby robin. Damian, his mind supplied. It occurred to him absentmindedly that the blue smoke was the color of a robin's eggshell.

Tweet! Twee-tweet! TWEET!

The small bird tried to fly from the ground but kept falling from the unfamiliarity with his new appendages. With a huff, he circled around in search of the target of his ire, the goddamn pixie.

But she was gone.

Magically, as if they were all suggested to forget, the last petal slipped past them unseen to tap softly on Batman's lips, leaving white particles the taste of sugar in its wake.

All of a sudden, Bruce turned paler, his eyes more slitted and glowing against the dark surroundings. His canines lengthened, and his lips turned a deep, blood red.

Vampire, Jason knew.

Right after he thought that, out of nowhere, a pale purple-blue circle appeared below where they were standing, and they all promptly fell through it.

Landing in a crouch on sky blue grass, Jason observed his new surroundings. The sky was dark forest green. They were still in a forest, but compared to the light-hearted fairytale vibe of the previous woodland, this place had a doom and gloom rivaling Gotham's. It might have been the lack of proper sunlight, but all the shadows had a sinister look to them. Jason felt he should be more cautious.

TWEET!

The literal robin jumped angrily on the ground, hidden by the tall grass. Dick lifted him up on his palm, and Jason could see Damian's feathers all puffed out and ruffled. It was hilariously adorable for the stabby Robin of the crime capital. A sibling, Stephanie probably, stifled a laugh at the sight.

The dark forest kept giving Jason a sense of déjà vu, but he couldn't recall from where.

Whoosh. Thud. Whoosh. Thud.

Jason felt called to the sound and approached slowly. In the distance, he could see a lumberjack chopping wood with a... lightsaber?

"Fuck!" he said under his breath. "I know where we are."

Everyone turned to him, waiting for an answer.

"We're in a fever dream. My fever dream. Back when I was ten."

"What the hell, Jason?"

"Twee-twee-tweet! Tweet!"

"Dead unicorns? Really, Jay?"

"Enough," Bruce silenced the bickering children. "What's important is finding an escape path."

"Red Hood, any ideas on how to leave?"

"Portals. I think. Yeah. Probably. Shit, it's been more than a decade, I don't know."

"Tell us what you do remember, Hood," Tim said.

"Magic, sci-fi, this place is just one huge mess. The petals from earlier are pixie-pops, a harmless but permanent prank. I don't know what's up with Nightwing, but Robin and B likely won't turn back until we get out."

"Shit."

"Yeah, shit."

"Is there really no way to reverse the... pixie-pop?" Barbara asked.

Jason groaned, he could barely remember this place.

"A test!" it suddenly came back to him. "There's a test to turn time back, but I don't know how to find it. It randomly moves places every hour."

Out of nowhere, a pink sun was shining brightly against the grass green sky. There was no need for sunrise or sunset in this place; time was relative and random. Everything was meant to occur as a surprise.

A hiss escaped Bruce's lips as the pink rays reached him. His pale skin turned a bruise-like purple. His red lips turned black. Jason couldn't see it, but he knew underneath the cowl, Bruce's hair was dyed a bright bubble gum pink.

"Well, this is fucked up."

Prev  |  Next

@maribat-bdbwm​

#tinybriewrites #maribat #timari #timinette #fluff #crack #bio!dad bruce wayne #bdbwm #mlb x dc #mlb x batman #ml x dc #miraculous x dc #dc x mlb #dc x ml #vampire!bruce wayne

[cardinneverloses]

@tricoloredillusion

From an early age, Cardin knew the world he lived in was wholly unfair. Power was much more than just money and land, it wasn’t until his teen years when the truth was shown to him of the monsters that secretly lived among the populace in a bloody display of mangled appendages. So young to watch his parents be used as nothing more than food or common livestock.

It wasn’t always like this, there was a time when he lived thinking his life would have amounted to something. When he had a friend whom he played with on days where he could get away from the normal chores given to him by the family his parents were enslaved to. Those were the memories that had gotten him through the worst days. Days he expected not to wake the next morning, days he expected to be his last and days he was sure to be hunted down and slain.

Most of his past he had left behind, after being saved by a Vampire hunter and trained to defend himself he learned that the power scale that tipped to favor Vampires could be forced to even out. After his first kill, seeing the same fearful eyes in the monster that he’s seen in his own, he knew this was his calling.

Dawning light leather armor with metal padding to cover his vitals, a silver sword, crucifix and stake, he managed to conceal his identity with a hood and ragged scarf around the lower half of his face. It did little to ward off the blood of hunted Vamps, but the power he would gain was… Addictive. Being able to fight back against something so impossible for a normal human to fight, it was a drawback he learned to live with.

But no power could prepare him for what was to come, as confronting his next target, a very dangerous one due to her family name at that, was someone he thought lost so long ago. Standing before him, his sword drawn, facial features concealed, there was very little that could have held him back to state her name in his surprise

“Trivia…”

#Another body for the Vampyre; #tricoloredillusion #I hope this is good enough!

[aphroditesacolyte]

Meryl and Diosia

Ch 2. // Knight in Black Feathers // Read on AO3

Masterpost

Summary: Meryl seeks some alone time out at sea rather than by the shore, and finds that even then he is not safe.

Content warnings: Self esteem issues, implied murder, some crying/breaking down, potentially other unmarked things

~Approx word count: 3,500

================================================

Once more Meryl slipped away and spent the night roaming, enjoying the deep rich colour of blue that surrounded him, and the unobscured nectar of silver light sept into the water, too. Ordinary as it was, and as far away as he trailed from the shore (for although he could be foolish, he knew better than to go after someone who had both the capabilities, and likely the willingness to kill him) he still hadn’t found peace tonight. A little ways out, trudging along, was a massive, black creature that dipped its belly into the water, gliding along the surface in the way of a monster.

Despite how foreign it was, he recognized it well for what it was: a ship.

Those weren’t entirely unusual, however, for its existence he felt a sour distaste, as cruelly and wickedly as it could, it tucked along its scythe: a massive fishing net. Meryl knew very little of the human world, however, he knew one thing, humans weren’t allowed to fish here. It was an area protected from it, disallowed. Yet the black beast, to his dismay, chugged on—in his direction, as a matter of a fact. Yes, it kept moving, moving towards where his family and colony slept peacefully and with great vulnerability, and where fish colonies were rich and plentiful.

These humans were not welcome there, and he knew exactly how he’d deter them. He’d seen it done before, as these certainly weren’t an outlier in occurrences, but he’d never done it on his own. He’d only handled all the cut nets and lines and the disposal of them. His father said he was too weak to take care of it otherwise.

But he could do it. He could chase them away; from what he saw, there was only one net, and even if they had a spare, he could easily get that, too.

So, he headed back home on a mission for passive sabotage and slipped between weeds and coral until he came into the comfortable, caved out spot very close to his family’s sleeping quarters. As long as he was stealthy, he would be fine; They were all heavy sleepers.

Meryl wished he were a heavy sleeper, instead he wandered these unholy hours of the night, aimlessly.

Despite his train of thought he lingered not a moment longer than need-be to acclimate himself to his new goal, and he quickly rushed over to a compartment of carved stone within his den, sliding off its lid. He allowed for the thick slab to sink slowly to the ground before he searched inside.

His eyes happened upon his target quickly.

The gold colour was something opulent and appealing to the eye—most other merfolk wore bronze or silver or metal of other kinds, while his was special, made of rich and most valuable metal. It felt an irony to him, to be treated as if he were better, when he felt he was the only one of the colony worth less.

The metal shimmered and shined as he dared to pick them up, and gazed at the sharp, pointed ends. It was easy to tell from its condition it went entirely unused; it looked pristinely new. Its build (in his opinion) was strange, how there were so many parts that had to click and move to allow proper use of the hands. The armor hugged along the top of one’s fingers and closed together at the base, leaving the bottom edge of one’s appendages unprotected, but the way the claws curved would make it very difficult for someone to hurt his palm or other exposed parts of his hand.

Uncomfortably, he began to slip it on, and felt the ring (sized specifically to his wrist) click onto him like a bracelet or band with all of its suffocating, overbearing weight. He cringed as it bit onto each one of his fingers and fully locked into place. Instinctively, he flexed his hand and stared in a tinge of horror as it became something quite monstrous.

An involuntary shutter came to him as memories of the tool crept into his mind, images burned of how the water had turned itself to a deep, violent red. Under any circumstance but his, they were to kill. “To defend yourself” his father would insist, but he’d rather be killed than do something so grizzly to anyone. That sort of burning grief and guilt, regardless of whom he harmed, already haunted him. And though he’d only have to use it once—and it wouldn’t even be on anyone else—he couldn’t. It felt wrong, so each piece un-clicked and he cautiously, so slowly and fearfully, pulled it off and placed it back into the stone compartment it had come from before he heaved up the lid and pushed it back on. In favour of the murder weapon, he picked up a particularly sharp shell and set off. It would do the job of cutting rope just as well.

Soon enough he was getting close, and his pace died down in favor of motions more watchful, less prone to getting himself caught. High above him was the ship, and as he met eye-to-eye with the barnacles (the closest thing the creature would ever have to eyes) he grasped the shell carefully. His movement was calculated and hesitant as he pressed forward and found himself nearer and nearer to the boat, yet he couldn’t see any sort of lines or nets down yet.

Maybe they had taken it up?

His heart sank.

 If they had done that, it meant they already caught all the fish they wanted. It was quiet here, though. They hadn’t come across any of the good spots yet as far as he was aware, though he only found the ship recently. He wondered what made them so desperate to hunt on these waters.

His answer came in a terrifying way as he felt something push him forward, wrapping and encapsulating him entirely. He thrashed and panicked against the net as it yanked his weapon away from him—I should’ve been holding on tighter, he scolded himself in the midst of his struggling.

He pushed and swam against the net, but whatever hoisted it up was far stronger than he was.

How many humans were pulling this net?

 It only heightened his fear to realize he’d be in their grasp when it was clear these ones meant harm, if not to him then to his home, and frankly, to hurt his home was to hurt him either way. He fought mightily against it and regretted the fact he hadn’t taken the claws instead; those would be helpful right now. He couldn’t idiotically drop those.

He let out something between a whimper and a shout as he was jostled and tossed repeatedly. Tugged upwards and forced out of the water completely, every droplet began to run away from him and die below, bringing him morning for every bit of water that he lost.

The side of the ship was nothing of note, something he practically missed from the great haste he was taken up with, and even swifter afterwards, he had made it up to the deck to be flashed with violent light. His eyes squinted shut in discomfort and he covered his ears, mostly at the sound of human chatter, but there were plenty of heavy, foreign clatterings accompanying them.

Once he felt the light ease up, he opened his eyes, just in time to watch as a few humans grasped onto the net and shoved him down. He was pressed to a cold, strange floor that was dark and metallic. It reminded him of the feeling of the claws, and what he imagined they’d feel like when they were dry.

He tried to push himself up, but the net still wrapped around him tightly, like a snake eagerly coiling its prey. It did him no use, but he looked around anyways, somewhat frantic to understand how many humans he was with. He could only count about six. Six humans lifted him up with such ease?

One reached over to the net, and seemed to untangle it until another human spoke.

“What are you doing?” They asked the other human, angrily.

The questioning human was a tall and dark figure who loomed over almost the entirety of the human group. They must’ve been the important one, he thought.

The one that had grasped the net stared. “We’re letting him go, aren’t we? They aren’t legal to sell.”

The dark human looked at the helpful human with a grimace as its gaze now pounded down at Meryl. “And that’ll make it sell all the better. Put it away.”

“Dead or alive?” An obscure human asked, and his heart might’ve tasted a brief moment of death as it skipped a beat.

“Alive.” They said bluntly, and began to walk away before it turned back. “You,” they pointed to the helpful human who still clutched the net. He noticed the look of shock on the kind human’s face. “If you like it so much, put it away.”

“Yes sir.” This second human mumbled quietly, then looked back down to him.

He stared up with pleading eyes.

 Out of all the humans, this one seemed kind. He hoped dearly he could convince it to save him. Another human or two joined it, but rather than removing the net, they decidedly cut it and sealed it back up with some other material winding around it. It made the net feel like an even tighter space, so he spoke out helplessly against it.

“Please let me go.” He pleaded and squirmed, but the humans only seemed to gaze away, perhaps out of guilt, or maybe it truly was an apathy.

He begged and begged again, and no response was received.

 They tossed him onto something strange to secure him, then left him be. He was alone with all but one human as company; it was the helpful human who stared at him pitifully. He could see the gentle roundness and wrinkles of their face, and their white hair that flopped down like strings of seaweed. They looked sympathetic.

“I’m sorry.” They said quietly, compassionately, before they turned and walked away.

He appreciated the sympathy, he felt terribly ungrateful for it too, but… it wasn’t that helpful.

 Now he was entirely, completely alone and there wasn’t a prospect of escape anywhere, which left all the room for hopelessness to hollow him out and make its home inside of him. The true direness of his situation began to press into him mercilessly, an erratic beat in his chest and a twisting in his stomach. When he squirmed and thrashed, the feelings only seemed to heighten as the net gave no care to his desperation. He watched humans walk by carelessly, and his eyes began to water. To this he scolded himself: water is too important to waste right now, crying and struggling would probably just make him dry out quicker.

A long time went by, a few hours perhaps, and by then Meryl felt a little lightheaded. His body allowed for him to breath above water to a certain degree, but it functioned best beneath, where the gills along his neck outmatched by far the small pair of human-like lungs in his chest.

The world was dizzying and confusing, and distant noises such as the shouting of men and splashing of water were only vague in his mind.

One by one the crew seemed to disappear.

 He knew it was happening, but he had no idea why, and his brain was too blurry to muster a substitute answer for him or otherwise wonder. He let out a distressed whimper at his state. Was there going to be someone who came for him? This was painful and uncomfortable. He was vulnerable and dry and dizzy and all sorts of disorientated by tonight and now he wished he had just stayed home and tried to sleep like a normal mer. Why couldn’t he ever just be a normal mer?

Meryl’s body froze up as he heard the thudding of footsteps approaching, and suddenly the air powerfully whisked by him and made a WHOOSH sound, as if someone had just… flapped their wings.

“Oh my,” came a familiar voice, and Meryl scrambled to look around and place it. In the gross yellow, dystopian, and fake light Diosia looked much different. Scarier. “Why, they even left me a treat.” Diosia purred as he placed his hands down on the edge of whatever Meryl was on.

His narrowed eyes and a smug curve to his lips suggested something sinister, and in the light the yellow of his eyes looked saturated. Meryl was frightened and half-dazed, he couldn’t muster a reply if he wanted to.

Diosia chuckled as he leaned in and studied his condition. “You’re a rather unlucky thing, aren’t you?” He asked as he tugged at the net briefly before he rose back up and brought himself high.

Meryl weakly nodded, laying down and curled up as much as he could be. He’d reply to Diosia kindly if he could, he felt awful for not answering, but he felt truly terrible.

“You’re rather quiet tonight,” Diosia mused as he prowled about the table Meryl had been left on. “Something wrong in particular? Or was our first meeting merely an exception to your typical?”

Meryl realized maybe this was his chance.

“W-water.” He croaked out, so hoarse and faint one might’ve thought they imagined it.

“Ah, you’re thirsty? Very well then…”

Meryl tried to poke his head up as Diosia disappeared somewhere. His sight tried to follow the black of his wings, but those too disappeared behind a corner of the vessel. It was clear the siren misunderstood, but as long as he was brought his water, he’d be fine. He rested his head for a brief moment to be interrupted by the sound of Diosia returning.

THUD and Diosia stood on the surface with him too, a cup in his hand and a sly, plotting look on his face as he bent down to sit. He set himself down and even through the netting pulled Meryl close to his liking, using each strand as if it were a puppet’s string to adjust him to be forwards facing and back pressed against Diosia as his legs looped around Meryl.

Diosia grabbed his chin, which made the netting cut into him, and forced it to tilt upwards as he pressed the cup to his lips. Meryl hadn’t any sort of energy or power to resist, and regardless of whether or not he did, Diosia would have total power over him as long as he fancied. He obediently drank until Diosia pulled the cup away.

“Better?” He asked Meryl as he forced him to look over to him.

“I-in water.” Meryl murmured back.

With a sudden, great poise Diosia rose and let go of Meryl, and Meryl realized all the support he had provided, how heavily he had been leaning against Diosia. However, he was given hardly any time at all to register or think further as the heaving sensation of gravity tugged his whole body down and pressed him to the bottom of the net. His brain was given just enough time to understand that Diosia was flying before a little short of his entire body was dunked beneath the water and held there.

The sensation of relief was powerful—that was two things checked off. Escape the humans, breathe clearly. But a third problem had so kindly graced him now.

 Diosia had him entirely in his clutches—he was helpless still, just helpless to a different name. There would be no chances for running unless Diosia let him go, and why would he do that? He already noticed how the water pushed along, and with the view from above it was clear Diosia was carrying him along towards shore. With a revitalized breath and mind, he battled powerfully against this newly assigned fate.

No matter who it was for, he was NOT going to be dinner.

But by his odds it seemed he was, as now Diosia had scooped him back up out of the water, and they were soaring incredibly high while only going higher. Meryl watched in horror as the sight of water, of familiarity and safety, disappeared below them and was replaced with the rocky top of a cliff, whom encroached closer and closer until (with a surprising amount of gentleness) he was set down to become acquainted with the ground.

His breathing was heavy as he gazed about and tried to seek out the nearest body of water. He found the edge of the cliff taunted him with the prospect of all the water just below it, but that was mixed with jagged rocks, and he couldn’t out-swim Diosia even if he somehow managed to land safely and consciously.

His anxiety crashed down and forced a cave-in, and so he conceded to the fact he was trapped with Diosia, and now he could only cower and hope that Diosia may make it painless for him.

Speaking of him, he approached. Meryl scrambled away desperately and gasped with shock as even though he was already aware, it truly solidified an image of death in his mind.

He was lulled and forced to be tame by the sweet sound of song, and Diosia loomed over him for a moment.

“I will be back soon, little mer.” His wings began to spread as he took a few light steps away. “I’d advise staying still for both our sakes.”

And then again Diosia was gone. Meryl whimpered and clutched at the netting for some shred of comfort, cuddling into the sharp, unfriendly edges as if it were a blanket, for it was all he had, and maybe all he would until he was dead. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes and began to flow easily, and he couldn’t help but tremble. It’s not as though, this time, his crying inconvenienced anyone. It was a long time before something aside from his sharp, sobbing inhales could be heard.

“Meryl.” Came a soft voice, sweet and still harmonic.

He curled into himself more, and didn’t bother replying—which only made his crying worse as guilt sept into him from ignoring someone.

“Y-y-yeah?” He managed to chatter out.

He heard the gentle grating of something against the net, and glanced up to see how Diosia cut it away.

“Are you alright?”

Diosia’s expression was unreadable. It was nothing sympathetic, but nothing cruel or menacing either. He didn’t know Diosia well, but it felt strange, maybe out of character.

The question broke him.

“No!” He sobbed and collapsed into himself in the same way the net had fallen around him now.

Suddenly, he was lifted out of the coils of rope and into something gentle and warm. It wrapped around him entirely, and shielded him from anything but himself. He appreciated the gentle act of sympathy, especially right before he’d be gone, and so thanked him quietly.

Diosia did not sing nor speak. He only breathed, peacefully. Meryl cried a little more, and the emergence of a gentle voice broke him down further.

“I won’t hurt you, Meryl.”

He didn’t question it, he took every word as the truth it was intended to be perceived as, and wrapped his arms around Diosia tightly. “TH-th-thank you.” He whimpered and sniffled.

Diosia sang a few tender notes and calmed Meryl’s mind, chasing away every fear and anxiety that plagued him. Slowly, Diosia’s embrace retracted, and Meryl understood it was time to let go.

Diosia smiled in a way somewhat similar to what he had become accustomed to. “I’m merely repaying the favour. You saved me, and now I have done the same for you.” He leaned in, finally some of the menace returning as his smile grew. “I won’t owe you anything next time though, little mer.”

Meryl smiled warmly and sweetly in the way he always did. “You owed me nothing,” he spoke as calmly as he could, “but thank you. I won’t forget it.”

Diosia chuckled softly as he rose, and with ease scooped Meryl up in his arms to carry him back to shore. It all went too quickly for him, and before he knew it, he was being gently and insistently placed into the soft tempo of waves retracting over sand. By the time he was set down completely and had adjusted himself to turn around, Diosia was already disappearing again—a bleak, almost invisible figure in the night. He dipped his head beneath the relieving familiarity of the water, although he was tempted to simply gawk, and made his way back home as well.

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#original writing #original story #original characters #oc story #fantasy writing #romance writing #acolyte's stories: meryl and diosia #OC: Diosia #OC: Meryl