#Bugventures

[bugs-and-grass]

Long Day, Long Night

CW: Implied Emotional Manipulation, Misgendering, Parental Abuse

Midnight. Not a rare time for Kyle to see. His days often ended closer to 1-2 AM even on a good day. But today, Kyle had effectively done... next to nothing. Slept for several hours, even. The missed day of his medication was hell on his body and it showed. At least he had a few fun things to do. Low energy games. Watching video essays. Possibly a combination.

Mama perked up the moment he stood to move to his office setup. A reasonably good gaming PC setup for his income. Good enough to play some of the higher end games that came out as of late. Not like its owner was in the mood for those focus-intensive experiences anyway. He'd taken his night medication and just needed to pass the time before it kicked in. Just a few puzzles, and--

BRRRZZZZZT!

A pause. His Poryphone was ringing. But... he didn't expect a call. Not so late, and not from anyone he recognized. The number was from another region entirely.

BRRRZZZZZT!

Normally he'd block unknown numbers. Normally. But... something was off. Normally the caller ID would tag any suspicious numbers. But it was... just a normal number. From Unova, but still. It could have been a wrong number.

BRRRZZZZZT!

He'd give it a chance. Worst case scenario, it'd just be a quick misunderstanding to pass over. No big deal.

BRRRZZZ-- Beep! Kyle tapped to pick up the line and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

As the call began, Chitters hopped her way up next to her trainer and under his free hand with a trill. But contrary to her expectations? He didn't start petting.

His eyes went wide. Fist clenched. Something was suddenly wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Wh-- YOU!?" Kyle's voice cracked as he yelled in shock, waking the other Pokemon as he did. "How the hell did you get this number?"

Lychee bounced her way up onto the desk next to Kyle's hand. Silvie was... confused. Why was human being loud? Was something wrong? Mama knew. Mama knew something was wrong.

"You-- No, don't talk over me. Don't talk--" Another voice was barely audible on the other side of the call. A woman's voice. Stern. Angry. Demanding. Chitters crawled up Kyle's sleeve as Lychee attempted to grab at his hand. It pulled up to pet at the Bounsweet's head.

"What? No. No, I--" The voice was interrupting. Incessant.

"Please, can you just let me-- MOM." His voice raised, both in volume and pitch. Any voice training was out the window in the moment. Mama pawed at Kyle's side to try and pull his attention back away. Something was wrong. She couldn't let her human deal with it. Not alone, at least. Chitters was on the same page, prodding at Kyle's cheek with a foreleg. An act that just garnered a scritch from his free hand. No further attention.

"Mom, you're not-- No. NO. Mom, I am NOT a little girl! I'm not a GIRL! You do NOT get to call me your DAUGHTER after everything." His voice raised further, attempting to break through the ramblings on the other end of the line. Lychee attempted to press her head against Kyle's arm, but he turned in his seat away from her as she did so. Simple bad timing.

"No, I-- I don't have the energy for-- Mom. MOM." The Flareon now in front of Kyle put her paws up onto his lap. Silvie padded her way to her mama's side and squeaked out a little confused mewl. She didn't know what was going on.

"CAN YOU LET ME GET TWO FUCKING WORDS IN!? I-- NO!" The Pokemon in the room furthered their attempts to get their owner's attention. To pull him away from the emotional threat. None of which worked, at least not fully.

"THAT'S NOT MY FUCKING NAME ANYMORE AND YOU KNOW IT! IT'S KYLE. K-Y-L-E. I AM A BOY. I HAVEN'T GONE BY THE NAME YOU GAVE ME IN FIVE YEARS NOW!" His voice was in a full shout now. Tears began running down his cheeks. Whatever was going on in this conversation, it was hitting him hard. Silvie backed away in fear. Mama noticed and fled to comfort her. The emotion in the room was nothing but tense.

"NO. FUCK OFF. You are getting NOTHING from me. You are NOT getting Dad's number. You are NOT going to call this number again. And if you come ANYWHERE near me, I-- NO. SHUT UP. SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'M DONE. I'M FUCKING DONE WITH YOU. YOU'VE DONE NOTHING BUT TRY TO GET BACK IN BED WITH DAD FOR THE PAST YEAR AND YOU REFUSE TO FUCKING CHANGE. I'm done. I'M FUCKING DONE." Even Chitters had jumped off at this point. Her owner's mood had gone sour far faster than anyone could think. The voice on the line only got a couple more words in before being interrupted again.

"NO YOU ARE FUCKING NOT. YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY POWER OVER ME OR DAD ANYMORE. You are NOT to call this number again. FUCK. OFF. LEAVE THE BOTH OF US ALONE." A shrieked expletive sounded from the phone before Kyle hung up. His hands shook. His heart raced. This was the last fucking thing he needed.

And in a moment of weakness, a moment of lack of control, he threw the phone into the mountain of plushies on his bed. A Vibrava plush fell off to the side from the impact. He stood up from his office chair, stepped over... and faceplanted into bed. The flump of impact knocked another couple plushies loose.

A sob escaped his throat.

With the anger turning to grief, all of the Pokemon in the room approached once more. An attempt to comfort their trainer. Their friend. Mama brought Silvie onto the bed by his arm. Chitters nestled into his hair. Lychee sat by his face to give off her pleasant smells. Mama pulled herself up into bed and warmed up against Kyle's back.

More sobs left Kyle's throat as he clutched Lychee in his arms.

Not a single word was spoken the rest of the night. Only the sounds of a family of Pokemon worried for their trainer. Trying to help their friend feel better. Feel safe.

This was going to be a long night.

[talkingontheinternet]

It's a bugventure

[csolarstorm]

Bugs I saw in my fuschias, Part 3 (the lost bugventures)

Aphids. The one on the left is my picture. These weird flaky shed skins were all over my plants a few weeks ago just like the internet pic on the right, but now only a few of the skins are left. The closest match is...cannibis aphids! This makes a lot of sense considering we already have cannabis worms. Something in our yard is attracting all these cannibis bugs! Weird.

Even though my fuschias got two final blooms in, they both fell off. Between being repotted, the heat, and the aphids, the plant decided to ditch the flowers to save energy. Apparently the plant can just shed its own wants...especially fuschas. They are finicky.

I almost tried putting this organic pesticide called Neem Oil on the fuschias (gotta keep the plant healthy) but the risks were ridiculous. Not only did the label say that it wasn't safe for people or pets, but it specifically said that it might be bad for fuschias. So I'm looking for a different organic pesticide.

Anyway, turns out the spiders, baby mantis, and ladybug larva were all helping out the whole time by eating up all those yummy aphids. Maybe that's what the ladybug larva is doing below. They don't eat plants, so this one is likely eating something hard to see:

[bugs-and-grass]

"...Ow..."

Pain. Soreness all over. A dull ache throughout the entire body. Kyle had dealt with this kind of soreness before, sure. He'd been sick in the past, nearly bedbound. But... this was different. Something felt off. Despite how sore he felt, he almost felt... lighter? Like a ton of weight was lifted from him that he didn't even realize he was carrying. It takes a solid couple minutes of waking back up to realize anything further, though.

Right when Chitters entered view.

Bigger than he remembered. Much bigger. But... she hadn't evolved? Whatever happened, it was weird. All he could remember was putting on the mask, turning the tightening grommet, and... waking up in the middle of the night. What happened? Kyle reached for his phone, only to be greeted by not a hand, but a... claw? Wait. That wasn't right. Finally, he thought to look himself over. A self-examination revealed not a bit of exposed flesh, instead every inch of his body being covered in a chitinous exoskeleton. Black and shiny.

As panic started to set in, Kyle scrambles to his feet. What the hell was going on? What HAPPENED!? He attempted to speak, but was only interrupted by an oddly familiar voice from in front of himself.

"...Hey, you okay bigfriend?"

The voice... He understood it. But it wasn't speaking a language he knew. He looked back up from his hands to look at the source of the voice. It... it was Chitters. His years-long companion. Before speaking again, he looked around for his phone again. Awkward to interact with what with the new clawed hands and no thumbs, but there was enough manual dexterity left to hold the relatively huge device upright. A few taps and his suspicions were confirmed as the camera app opened.

The mask wasn't just modeled after a Lokix. It turned him INTO a Lokix. There was no doubting it, he was a bug now. Oddly enough though? The face of the Lokix wasn't nearly as menacing as the ones he'd seen online. The eyes were angled outwards rather than inwards into a scowl, and the mouth-like seam was more rounded than angular. He touched his face. He felt the texture of wood. The way his new claws tapped against it. It looked like a Lokix face, but physical inspection revealed it wasn't permanently attached. He could feel a seam around the edge of the mask.

Without a thought, the claws of his forelegs dug behind the mask. Heavy resistance followed as he tugged. Pulled. Wrenched the mask away from himself. The strap was still holding it on, but the mask began to slip upwards with the effort.

..............

"...Ow..."

Pain. Soreness all over. A dull ache throughout the entire body. Just like what Kyle had just awoken from before. A few blinks were needed to refocus his eyes, but as he did, a wave of relief washed over him. He was human again. Back to normal. He flexed his hands, felt as each individual finger curled and straightened again. A quick examination, followed by the phone camera being turned on again... Yep. He was back to normal. The Lokix Mask sat in front of him, with his Joltik companion on top. A relieved tear left Kyle's eye as he picked up his little friend and have her an affectionate smooch.

He was NOT ready for that mask.

Not tonight.

[eightkittens-rp]

*gasps, grabbing his paw*

Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah!! YEAH! Let's go on a bugventure! A BEETLEQUEST!

*Excited knocking on den door*

POOOOOOOUNCE!! POUNCIEEEEE! HELLOOOOOOO!!

@eightkittens-rp

MEEE!!! YOU?!??!! HELLO!!! :D :D :D :D