#a pillbug story

[smashpages]

Out this week: A Pillbug Story (Black Panel Press, $19.99): 

Allison Conway combines humor and terror in the story of Millie the pillbug, who tries to enjoy her summer and figure out where she fits in during her very short lifespan.

See what other comics and graphic novels will arrive in comic shops this week.

[smellslikebot]

some ppl online complain about raccoons and rodents busting into their compost bins to steal food scraps, but my open pile is undisturbed a day after adding crab shells and pumpkin so i must be doing something right... Hohoho......

[blackblooms]

irredeamable development retrospective. Part 1: shadow and light This is gonna be pretty messy since what came before or after gets all tangled up when you go back this far, but the earliest project that can be identified in the file is a game about controlling a specter where you could take control of all kind of people or creatures and use their unique attacks and movement ability to navigate the world.

We got humans, cats, snake, ants, succubus, and my beloved mitons, a race of giant rolly polly pillbugs.

Aniway, the story eventually developped into being about a rivalry between two specters sibling. Nox and solaria. They also each came with a unique appearance for each race they could control. Through, i sadly never did make their mitons form...

The idea behind the game was that each chapter, you would awaken as one of the two and try to usurp and destroy whatever the other had built in your absence. Nox eras were more focused on primal cults of fear and darkness while Solaria would make grand empires to worship her. There was a back and forth between the two but time and technology would progress with each era. All i got left when it comes to how the world would have been laid out is this line map that shows the general ways the area connects and the ideas of how certain locations could change depending on the era.

There were also plans to introduce a new antagonist later on with Cain, a new, much more powerful specter that forces the sibling to make a truce. His backstory was that he used to have a similar rivalry with his brother able, but eventually ended up destroying him and is now deeply sad and alone.

So how far did it go? The game pretty much didn't get out of the conceptual phase. Got around to code the possession mechanics and a few of the races' movesets, but that's about it. Anyway, you`re free to get inspired by or even steal anything here. I have way more ideas than i can actually use and everything in these old projects has either been abandoned or altered so much that it's now something completely different. See you next time for the next chapter of our retrospective. Capitalism, IN SPACE!

[jinniebit]

Honestly can't believe it has already passed 1000 days since I've decided to stan these 8 dorks haha My experience as a stay has been nothing but incredible even tho I thought I was "too old" to stan a new group (clearly I was wrong)

So to celebrate this I've decided to open my gif requests but with a twist hehe I want you guys to tell me the moment or just the era (if you don't have an specific moment) you became a stay and I will make a gifset for you ^^

Can't wait to know more of your stay stories hehe

And last but definitely not least a special mention under the cut to those who made my stay life even better! Love you guys <33

@chanstopher 🔹 @soonhoonsol 🔹 @hanjesungs 🔹 @seo-changbinnies 🔹 @bangzchan 🔹 @yonglixx 🔹 @xuseokgyu 🔹 @agibbangs 🔹 @chanrizard 🔹 @hyunchanz 🔹 @babycatlix 🔹 @hyunjinz 🔹 @ambivartence 🔹 @wooobinz 🔹 @jinhyun 🔹 @cherry-heartss 🔹 @hanjisungz 🔹 @skz-films 🔹 @juiceofmoons 🔹 @snug-gyu 🔹 @ughbehavior 🔹 @winterfloral 🔹 @yenah-on-top 🔹 @yang-innie 🔹 @missyedits 🔹 @lee-minhoe 🔹 @minhosblr 🔹 @lovenee 🔹 @strayklds 🔹 @oiminho 🔹 @quokki 🔹 @brightermorepls 🔹 @minchanz 🔹 @changbeens 🔹 @hongamon 🔹 @boba-skz 🔹 @leenope 🔹 @thnx4thefish 🔹 @happysmilebtr 🔹 @pillbug-hanjis 🔹 @lixence 🔹 @woodziecup 🔹 @ggthydrangea 🔹 @haenglixie 🔹 @yangjeongin 🔹 @wahgifs 🔹 @wisteriya 🔹 @noonaracha

[stagbells]

From: @pollyannam3

To: @nochromity

Note: "Noch, I have been buzzing since the day I found out I would get to write for you. You are one of my best friends in the world and getting to make this for you has been the highlight of the month for me. I hope you like all of my headcanons and that I did your pairings justice!! I love you so much, my friend! You are so very very dear to me, I can't imagine a better friend! 

You light up my life and always make me feel loved and safe <333"

Link to written work: (Here)

“You should not run so far, you know not how quick we can follow. Other things can be faster, and if you’re foolhardy I can’t guarantee your safety.”

This voice was not heeded, as Quirrel excitedly waved for them to follow. Nailmaster Oro was following, but was being easily outpaced by the pillbug. 

“Oro, my love, my nettle, you need to see this immediately. Small jabs like that can wait!”

He crossed under a natural arch in the Kingdom’s edge, pausing under the shade to let his companion catch up. 

“I say that not for myself.” Oro finally caught up to Quirrel, and they both turned and heard, “HEY DON’T STOP-” 

From the distance, Tiso crossed the expanse, albeit with a staggering limp supported by a simple cane. It helped immensely with his balance, since he was missing an arm now. 

It took him a moment but he finally caught up with his partners, despite the wobbliness.

Oro regarded Tiso with his usual blank look, but said with a concern in his voice, “Really, take up my father on the physical therapy advice.” 

Tiso responded by playfully jabbing Oro with the end of his cane, “I got it!”

“You won’t win this fight. You’re practically out of breath.” “Try me!”

Quirrel grabbed Tiso by the shoulder and Oro by the neck of his cloak, gently pulling their humorous spat apart. “We’re here for a reason, dears.” 

Tiso and Oro huffed, and gave Quirrel their attention. “I found this place while hunting, and thought you both would adore this view for a pleasant outing. I figure after your surgery and your visit with your brothers, you could both use just. A day to sit.” He gestured at both of his dears, who nodded. They were both going through big things. 

Healing from wounds physical and emotional. 

Quirrel waved again, and they followed him through the arch and across the last bit of the path. 

They came across a cavern, extending to what felt like infinity off the edge of the cliff. The buzz of aspids was near, but far enough away to not worry. All they could hear was the chug of Boofly wings. 

“So your plan for us is to sit, do nothing, and watch booflies be brainless?” Tiso gestured his fingers to the view, flabbergasted.

Quirrel sat down, kicking his feet off the edge of the cliff. “It is a wonderful view. You could talk, if you like. You like hearing that voice of yours.”

“...You got me there.” Tiso moved to sit next to Quirrel, Oro following to help him. Without a word, the large bug gently sat Tiso down so his torso wouldn’t be aggravated. 

Tiso looked up at him, a look of silent thanks.

Oro looked down, a look of silent gratitude to be needed. He stood there. For a hot second. 

“Oro, you may sit too, nettle dear.” 

“Oh…Oh, correct.” Oro plopped down, crossing his legs above the cliff instead of risking them below.

They all sat, and the quiet set in. The only noises were the ambience of the bugs below, Tiso stretching and his back cracking, or Quirrel taking the old cracked glasses off of his head to give them a squeaky clean on the cloak Oro had given him. The little squeak, squeak, squeak combined with him putting them back on the top of his head made Tiso ask, “Do you even need those?” 

“Ah, no, they aren’t my prescription, anyways.”

“Then why do you have them…?”

“They belonged to an old dear friend of mine, is all. Passed long ago.”

Tiso hummed, thinking about his shield, hung up at their lovely little home. “That’s nice of you, what of you, big guy?” Tiso looked at Oro, wondering if he related to such a story.

“Do not call me “big guy” or I will go back to calling you “Runt”, Tiso.”

Tiso waved his arm down, “Hey, I’m just playing.”

“Find out if I am.”

Tiso gave Oro a little shove, “Do you have any cool keepsakes or what?”

Oro flicked his hand, making Quirrel chuckle at their antics. Always entertaining, the two of them.

“Not many. None of importance.” Oro put his hands in his lap, fiddling with two of his fingers. Feeling the cracked shell underneath, trying to think if he wanted to share.

“Ah, I see, You revel in being boring at times.” Tiso spoke, so blunt Oro could almost mistake his partner’s voice for his brother’s. 

“Hey-” Quirrel gave him a gentle smack with the back of his palm to Tiso’s shoulder. “Ow-” Tiso said, despite having little to  no feeling on that side of his body. 

Oro put a hand on the side of his head, fiddling with his mask as he thought.  He didn’t know if he wanted to share: but they both shared things like this often. At least knowledge of their existence. 

“I have a moth wing-feather. Old books from my father. Pots that held childhood meals, things like that.”

That made both Quirrel and Tiso pipe up. “What was that?” Quirrel asked, inquisitive but with an air of lightness.

Oro grew confused, “Books from my father?”

“Where’d you get a moth feather???” Tiso blurted, making Oro regret his words. He reached up and pulled down his bandanna, to almost try and cover his eyes. 

“Ah that, a loathsomely boring story, you’ll find it ridiculous and odd. I should not share.”

Tiso, in a tizzy, tried to stand in fiery passion for his answer.

“You can’t not share! You’re telling me our beloved broody spark of a nailmaster got close enough to a moth to get a FEATHER and refuses to tell us how?? Like-”

Quirrel put a hand on Tiso’s shoulder, and pulled him back to sit before he fell in an awkward way for his injuries. “We did not pry for your precious story. We will not pry for Oro’s. Is that alright, my nettle?”

Oro nodded, and Tiso could only pout and attempt to cross his arms by just wrapping the one around his body, tucking his hand under his small stump.

“Let us set our own pace, and be calm with one another. The last thing we need is an argument and for one of you to get thrown off this edge to the spikes below.” Quirrel ran his hand over his headscarf and adjusted it, giving both of them a look, “If you cause that fight, I will not leap to the rescue and injure my back.” Quirrel scolded, mostly Tiso, who just coughed and mumbled under his breath about just being curious. They went back to a slightly tense silence. 

Oro closed his eyes and went into his thoughts. Quirrel pulled up a leg and let out a small sigh of relief. 

Tiso rubbed his residual arm, and looked at the booflies.

He wished they could just go catch one, eat, and then go home to amend the awkwardness. 

The gusts of wind from the Fool’s falling grave was getting a bit cold. If there was anything he hated more than his partners being upset, it was the cold with his injuries. 

It made the ant begin to shiver, the naturally coldest of the three of them. He then felt a heavy warmth come over him, and saw Oro quietly putting half of his cloak around Tiso. 

Tiso looked up at him, and gave him a small smile. Oro just kept looking down, as if what he was doing was unconscious. Quirrel saw them move into a small cuddle, and scooted closer to join. It was calming, the protection against the winds on top of the buzzing below.

It felt…safe. They should all just sit, and be safe, despite their quarrel. 

The thrill of sparring and hunting was top tier in Tiso’s heart, but he could see it in Oro and Quirrel’s postures. This was better.

Oro felt Tiso melt closer to him, and in turn Quirrel pressed more into Tiso. A line of falling into comfort. A comfort that he has no idea how he could get used to it like this. Not again, at least. 

Not since he was young.

Not since…

Since he was…

…Safe.

He held onto Quirrel with one hand, and adjusted Tiso’s poor posture with the other, moving to fully shield them. He bent his head close to Tiso, and whispered.

“The feather was from an old friend.”

Tiso looked up at him with wide eyes, but a claw booped him gently. “Shh.” Oro said, gesturing to Quirrel who was, hilariously, already dozing in the warmth.

“Oh…” Tiso adjusted himself, and let Quirrel settle down into his lap as Oro held the two of them close.

The quiet turned back to comfortable, as the chug of boofly wings and the buzz of bees lulled it into being. 

Oro looked over his partners, and reveled in that. 

He knew where that feather was, a keepsake of the past. 

Of a Past love. A love that was so short lived but so dear. He hoped to keep blue headscarfs and canes that fold into nails away from the keepsakes. He wanted them to keep where they were for now.

He wanted them both there. In his arms, despite any grumbling or huffing that usually comes with cuddles, he loved every moment of it.

He wonders how he earned it, as Tiso dozes too. He keeps him upright for his poor back.

The isolated nailmaster, sitting on the edge of the world. 

The crushed gladiator, sleeping on the edge of the world.

The retired scholar, resting on the edge of the world.

To ever find warmth, and comfort, and love, and light, and everything in between.

Sticking together, no matter how hard life throws them down, they’ll never be thrown away.

They would grow beyond the edge, and break the boundaries. One precious moment at a time. 

After, a short nap, of course. As they doze, bees and booflies circling curiously about, they know it can't be long before they’re bothered. 

It’s no mind.

The edge of the world’s change would wait for them.

[lilcreaturethingfromthewoods]

Psycho pass is a very deep, well-told story about justice, society and the importance that lies in the choices we make for ourselves. The best fight scene is a tiny robotic pillbug fending off a swarm of evil wasp drones

[spybrarian]

Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @storyspinner91 a while back but I was in Australia!

Who'd like to play? I've tagged a few people in the questions themselves, but maybe also... @onlyshestandsthere, @expensivefate, @jayenator565, @commanderbuffy @geek-and-nina if you like?

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

19, which feels *wild*! 19!!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

221,606

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Willow! Just Willow, these days. Tanthamore have my heart.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

one night at the start of the end of the world - my Shattered Sea one shot, tender tender Tanthamore, and there's only one bed, and it's the birthplace of pillbug Kit, and the fic where I worked out how much I liked writing them looking after each other. I'm glad this one is other people's favourite, too.

more than just survival - my multichapter canon story about Jade as she grows up, from when she was a kid in Tir Asleen to what happens after they return from the quest. Also a 5+1 (five times Kit made Jade blush and the one time Jade got her back).

The Pieces - kinkverse modern au short stories, a collaboration with @acre-of-wheat and @swashbucklery. I've written The Spider, The Mile High Club, The Maintenance and The Holes.

kiss me, kill me - my Bone Reaver Jade au, Jade busts into Tir Asleen to kidnap the princess and ends up getting got herself, in so many ways.

I scream at your chest for as long as I must - a post canon one shot, just after they return from the quest. Jade grieves for Ballantyne and Kit learns how to walk with her though her grief.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I like to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

I don't know - I can tell you my darkest premises (probably the very canon divergent the cellar door is an open throat aka the barbed wire, Kit Jade and Elora in a dungeon au) but even the ending of that one finishes with a glimmer of hope.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

Huh, I think with most of my fics I tend to go for hopeful endings over happy ones. I think my most *satisfying*, hopeful ending I wrote was Samaras (an Architect of Catastrophe story) that I wrote as a present for @wigster07. I'm really, really pleased with that one. It's about rebuilding after tragedy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

I haven't, and am very grateful for that.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

Do I ever?! What kind? What *kind*?! The gay kind. Aside from the aforementioned kinkverse, I've also got a canon based smut series (my kissing fics!) called There's not a step we can take that does not bring us closer where Kit and Jade are inventing all the different ways they love being together.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? and 11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope and nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Also nope - although Juliette made [Podfic of] one night at the start of the end of the world where she read this fic GORGEOUSLY! It's there for download if you want to listen.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

I've collaborated! I haven't done a true co-writing thing for this fandom but, there's the kinkverse series in which I'm in deep cohorts with Acre and J, the singing cowboy fic I wrote into J's (cowboy) take me away (tanthamore rdr2 au). I love them both - they push me in new directions, and the feedback loop of inspiration is an utter joy.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Tanthamore, hands down

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? 

I plan on finishing them all. Yes even Wyrm Jade/I'll be the sweetest thing to ever scare you, yes I know it's been a hot minute. I do have genuine plans to finish.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

Coming up with phrases/images that people remember, that's probably the part I get a kick out of the most. I think my pacing and character and words in general are all pretty good, but writing callbacks to earlier in the story, or getting the foreshadowing right, are two of my favourite things to play with.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I get repetitive - mostly I manage to catch this in edits, but ho boy do I know how to say the same thing over and over.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

I'm not fluent in anything other than English so I haven't used dialogue in other languages in any of my fics - unless you count the Ancient Angoran in 'kiss me kill me'.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Dragonball Z, an epic written by hand in double spaced lines over several exercise books ;)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

I'm really proud of 'one night' and 'more than just survival' but there is a special place in my heart for Let's take a knife and cut the world in two and its follow up there is light somewhere (it may not be much light but it beats the darkness) - my Exorcist Jade/possessed Kit au. The strange not-canon, not-modern, some-mix-of-the-two world that I made for that one is my *favourite*.

[trans-queen-administrator]

Worm Fanfic Recs

No rankings at play here, just my favorite fics that I think other are really good. There are fics I like that aren't listed because I have a bad memory, but everything here is something I really really enjoyed. I have biases obviously, this isn't objective.

The Fics

Our Private Crises - A nailbiting murder mystery with unique and well done POVs from a different character each chapter. The mystery and reveal at the end were stellar, and it got me attached to characters I never thought I'd care for. 29k words. Complete.

It's Cold Out There Every Day - Missy is trapped in a time loop on her birthday. Genuinely stellar characterization, it has the best Missy and Aisha I've ever read and its such a creative and well executed premise. 41k words. Complete.

Tilt - Unpowered homeless girl Taylor fakes a thinker power to get in the Wards and secure housing. She's even more self destructive and self deprecating than in canon. 10/10 characterization for a slew of POV characters including Taylor, every ward but especially Sophia, Rachel, Lisa, and a ton of other characters. Despite not going through all of what canon Taylor went through, this fic nails her character better than pretty much any others. 220k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Tear Apart, Stitch Together - Taylor triggers with Shatterbird's power and kills thousands. Short and sweet, everything that's there is great and it wraps up well I think. 13k words. Complete

Memories of a Simurgh Victim - The Simurgh attacks Brockton Bay. Has two storylines, one following Taylor and one following Amy and Vicky. Among the most fucked up things this fandom has to offer, a terrifying showcase of the Simurgh and her power. 62k words. Taylor's story is incomplete but the Amy and Victoria story is done.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Pleasures - Cherish altpower Taylor tries to consensually fix Amy's incest fetish. A trainwreck I can't look away from, the worlds first psychological horror romcom. It's so fucked up and so amazingly funny, and has good well written characters. I don't like Pillbug and I'm not a big fan of altpowers, but this fic is still one of my favorites because it's so damn compelling so definitely check it out if you actually like either of those things. 211k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Roots - The Slaughterhouse Nine attack a small town with a roster of OC capes, but something is very off about the place. POV shifts every chapter, and the OCs are interesting and unique. The S9 are also wonderfully characterized here, I've never had a fic make me sad for Crawler of all people. 67k words at time of posting. Ongoing. Criminally underrated.

Roma Fade - Ciara and Fortuna both try to grow past who they were as capes and find themselves as people in a small town post Gold Morning, having found common ground posing as moms to a recovering Taylor. I'm sure fake dating would never end in real attraction, that would be absurd. Incredibly gay, incredible characterization for everyone, the best post-GM fic around in my opinion. 87k words at time of posting. Ongoing but currently on hiatus.

Case - Lisa and the Simurgh start a detective agency. It's just great humor and a lovely story and wonderful despite being short and deceased. 14k words. Dead.

Silence is not Consent - Taylor intervenes and saves Victoria from Amy and gives her a place to stay, Victoria massively struggles dealing with what happened. Amazing characterization, Victoria's POV is unique and incredibly well done, and her seeing Taylor from an outside perspective is interesting. Be warned that this is a very heavy fic emotionally, but it's really fucking good. 212k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

A Word - Altpower Taylor is obsessed with writing a story. I don''t know how to describe this fic honestly it's hard to do justice, but it has perhaps the best conclusion to Gold Morning I've seen in a fanfic. 11k words. Complete.

Scarab - A fantasy AU where powers are thought to be magic, and the Faerie Queen takes an interest in Taylor. Filled to the brim with creativity and passion, this fic is teeming with fresh ideas and interesting depictions of canon characters. The worldbuilding is great as well, no other fic on this list has a map, so this is clearly a cut above the rest. 139k words at time of posting. Updating consistently.

Swallowtail - Ok I lied this one has a map too. Taylor with an incredibly interesting stranger power joins Faultline's crew. There is a truly astounding amount of AU elements and alternate powers for canon characters, it feels like a new world while still being recognizable and distinctly Worm. Has a large amount of alternate POVs and the first arc can be rough, but it's creative and amazing. 360k words. Ongoing but currently on haitus.

Soliloquy - Ex-Slaughterhouse 9 Taylor is in prison, bitter at the world and herself and especially her clone who saved the multiverse. A heavy fic about someone slowly recovering and becoming a better person when they're convinced it can't be done. Made me cry. 71k words. Complete.

TWNY - Post-GM Taylor finds herself in the world of RWBY with a pair of moth antennae. Multiple POVs, all very interesting despite me knowing nothing of RWBY. Probably the best characterization of Taylor in any post-GM crossover fic, she's heartbreaking in the recent arc, and it feels like the fic has barely scratched the surface of what it'll eventually cover. Also it's very gay. 136k words. Ongoing.

The Great Escape - Eidolon is struggling after his reputation is destroyed and Cauldron is revealed, and then the Birdcage opens. Amazing use of seldom seen characters, great POV with Eidolon, well done and interesting fights, has String Theory. 107k words. Ongoing but currently on haitus.

Happiness Is Inevitable - NSFW. The only damn erotic mind control Simurgh smut in the fandom somehow. Besides the porn (which is a lot of the fic, who woulda thunk it) the story itself is actually pretty interesting and has a lot of creative parts, and it has better characterization than most fics. 29k words. Ongoing?

Oneshots

Break me so that I can be whole - This accursed fandom is tragically bereft of QA / Taylor fics, but this one shot is great, love an eldritch take on shards. Probably fucked up but I'm not actually a good judge of that so be warned. 1.8k words.

Book Worm - Dragon helps teach Taylor how to read and speak and understand language post-GM. Bittersweet and lovely. 2.5k words.

Defiant Didn't Dox Saint For Nothing! - Taylor goes back in time and the first thing she does is kill Saint because he sucks. Cracky but I like it, fun little oneshot. 1.6k words.

Ruling Ash - Glory Girl flees Brockton Bay during the Slaughterhouse Nine and ends up living with Damsel of Distress. Cute, and Starsong before Ward is very interesting. 2.8k words.

My Sunshine - Leviathan goes worse and Brockton Bay is destroyed. Taylor and Victoria survive. Very somber, but well executed. 3.4k words.

Cherry on Top - A character study of Cherie Vasil, showing how she went from running away from Heartbreaker to joining the Nine. Extremely well written, absolutely incredible depiction of her character. It depicts abuse and actions typical of Heartbreaker and Cherie, so be careful reading. It's a lot emotionally. 12.7k words.

Devil in a New Dress - NSFW. Shatterbird / Reader, I'm not explaining myself on this one. Neat Shatterbird characterization, hot, pretty fucked up so be warned. 1.7k words.

[blimbo-buddy]

a serious idea building off the more humorous "do bugs have weed" i wonder if they could use certain mildly poisonous plants or mushrooms to recreationally get high....some bug cultures would prob be super open and encouraging of this while others would hate it and see it as distasteful, theres also the possibility of bug substances not having the same or as strong of an effect on one species as they do others. im overthinking this anyways! food for thought

You know I might actually consider that. I thought about it for a minute and worried about realism but then I remembered this is a story where the bugs can talk, have societies, form religions, forge weapons, etc. The realism was lost from the moment of the story's conception

Some bugs, due to their small size/mass, can either only ingest recreational mushrooms with a strict limit or straight up not eat it at all due to it being extremely dangerous to them. Bigger bugs can easily ingest a larger amount of it through most forms, although it's typically through eating it

Mosquitoes, Flies, Fireflies, Worker Ants, Workers Bees: Can't ingest psychedelics without risk of extreme health issues, going comatose or in some severe cases, death

Worker Wasps, Earthworm, Ant Queens, Moths, Butterflies, Bee Queens, Pillbugs, Slugs, Wasp Queens, Hammerhead Worms, Smaller beetle/spider species: Can ingest psychedelics decently enough but only up to a certain point if they go past their limit, they're likely to become incredibly sick

Cockroaches, Dragonflies, Spiders, Cicadas, Beetles: Can handle psychedelics incredibly well compared to the other bugs. It rarely poses a threat to them

You are right though in that some bug kingdoms don't view these psychedelics very well (Usually more common in bugs that cannot ingest psychedelics), a great example of this is the Ant Colonies

Both from a safety standpoint and also cultural/societal standpoint

Ant culture puts a great amount of pride and effort into their work, what they can do for their colony and more importantly, for their Queen

An ant who is both sick and high from consuming psychedelics is seen in a bad light, in some extreme cases, the ant will be killed off

I'd have to look in a bit more with different kinds of fungus in california that are psychedelics. I should note that everything I just said, also applies to bugs and the effects that cannabis has on them, not just psychedelics

[hottakehoulihan]

End of the Rope

Characters behave recognizably canonically: Yes. Not abandoned incomplete: Complete Engaging (Funny/cool/thoughtful/feels): Cool/thoughtful/feels. Do I recommend it: Yes. Curbstomp, Cuddles, Crack, Cyoot, Concept?: All of the above? Mostly concept and curbstomp.

Premise: Pillbug. Things are bleak for Taylor. Her trigger finds her joining the Wards in desperation because she needs money to keep Danny alive. Things went very wrong. She visits Emma in the hospital whenever she can. Sophia's legally not supposed to interact with Taylor but does and bureaucracy bullshit makes this hard to fix. Taylor's power is strange, mostly lending an unpredictable boost to the capabilities of other capes and leaving Taylor wheezing and faint or comatose. ...but she can't stop. She needs the money.

There are hints, however, that Taylor's trauma and her power are very different and much stronger than anyone knows. Don't let the grim beginning deter you; the ride is worth going on. Spoilers ahead:

(Some of those aforementioned hints are that the writing is intentionally not chronological; we get snippets from the future and flashbacks from the past.)

First, before I spoil things? I feel like this had a satisfactory beginning, middle, and end, and the end isn't misery-porn. I've seen this fic described as "Hurts so good" and I would not use those words but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

Spoilers are coming; maybe stop with the above.

...

I'll natter a bit to leave space and then dive in.

This is the penultimate spoiler warning.

This is a rewrite/update/repair of the story that was once, apparently, a snippet thread. And now it's whole. I've put the artist as "Slider214" because I think that's who the author is, but there are hints that either the author went by a different name (TemporalKnight is who I thought but no that is an extra chapters thing) before, or the original author was someone else (AnothVortex), or the original effort was somewhat collaborative.

Anyway. I suspect that [snip] Slider/Slider214/TemporalKnight are all one person who did the bulk of the writing and rewrite/concatenation/repair. Thanks be to them all.

Our woobie Taylor is known by the capename "Braid" at the beginning of this story

spoiler warning final. Stop already.

And then by Isis later. Because she's insanely strong. Either her shard had the function of cannibalizing other shards and harvesting their energy or she's got a meta-function, but she's essentially a shard-based vampire who can eat your soul and/or power and use that power to get stronger or to reanimate Old Yeller.

I read this on SB and ignored the chatter/side stories because they're disruptive and I'm not good at swapping 'voice' when dealing with an author change, but I see the story's on AO3 too and I see that the side-stories (mostly by other authors but those other authors are names I think I remember fondly) are there and conveniently collected at the end so I'll read it there next time.

Because I'll be rereading this.

I wanted more, but it wrapped up quite nicely and ended where the author intended so I don't get to complain. : )

I want more like this.

Strong endorsement from me.

[kyliafanfiction]

If you were going to extend your most recent oneshot, do you have any thoughts on how capturing Taylor and Lisa, and whatever they wind up doing as part of their new status quo, would affect Amy's development? (Potentially in a pillbug way?)

(For future readers, this is in reference to my fic 'A Mile In My Sister's Shoes', wherein a power-swapper swaps Amy and Vicky's powers for a week... a day before the bank robbery. This leads to, among other things, Tattletale and Taylor getting arrested in the aftermath of the robbery and also Amy outing herself as Gay to Victoria)

Lisa would probably fold on Coil (who would no doubt have a backup or two to cover his ass on this, so he's probably fine, if potentially out a secret base and some burner phones and stuff) and get moved to another city.

Taylor probably gets drafted into the Wards and Piggot trades some favors with Brandish to make Amy regrow Taylor's punched out teeth. Armsmaster probably gets demoted a month early for his shennanigans (namely, not telling anyone about his conversation with the bug girl, etc). This isn't too much of a stretch, IMO, because he did get demoted in canon anyway, so one assumes he was already on thin ice. Maybe.

After that - Sophia Shennanigans probably need to get resolved somehow, but Taylor may not have the leverage to force any issue. On the other hand, once Sophia was outed for her sins in canon, she was sent to juvie, so... hard to say. Let's assume she's out at some point. What role she plays in Amy's story is really open. On the one hand, obviously both would have had a very bad first impression (what with Amy knocking her out, breaking her face and punching out teeth, and Taylor using black widows to threaten civilians, with her rather absurd 'undercover plan). I suspect they'd have bad interactions at first, which probably leaves them bad for good - Taylor tends to let first impressions decide things for her, a lot, though not always.

Maybe they end up managing to get along after a suitable crisis or two, and Victoria might get super eager about bug modifications Amy could do for Taylor (I suspect if anyone pulls Taylor into a friendly orbit of Amy, it's Victoria, being the power nerd extrovert that she is) and that leads to some teamup? Which, if they team up long enough or during a crisis, could lead to them building some bridges. It's a big if, but it's not impossible.

(Though the fact that both Amy and Vicky have a pretty black/white view of the world at this point could see them never really be friendly with Taylor no matter what)

If they can end up building bridges, then maybe, given time, maybe Pillbug happens. But it would be a pretty slow-burn prospect.

If I were to continue this oneshot, for a change of pace, I'd probably go with Levi attacks Miami, though I would not hold myself accountable to Wildbow's little quasi-fanfic about what if Levi had attacked Miami (or I might have Levi attack somewhere else entirely) which probably stops S9 from attacking the Bay which keeps things street level for longer.

Coil does his Coiling, E88 does their E88ing, Bakuda has her bomb scheme go off after the bank robbery, and Lung still presumably escapes, etc, so something like that all still happens. Fossberg of course doesn't happen, and Coil's whole scheme will need reworking, but Thomas Calvert's mother presumably didn't raise a quitter, so he'll try something eventually. And he does still have Dinah.

[sonia-kate]

Speculations and theories after 16th episode of King-Ohger

A new episode and a new theory! Or rather expanding on previous ones. Or even more accurately, in my case, adding new ingredients to the soup of ideas and speculations

So in the latest episode of King-Ohger (16th) we learned that the culprit behind the Wrath of Gods was actually identified and they are being held captive by the previous Supreme Judge (or whatever Rita's title is). The whole thing involved the Queen to fake her death and guard the cultprit for 15 years, while her husband takes the blame for killing her and spends said 15 years in prison and they leave the responsibility of ruling Gokkan to a 10-year-old Rita. They went with all those measures, because apparently, the crime committed cannot be judged by law (or sth like that). Well, causing a world-wide disaster and slaughtering lots of people seems like something that would easily get you a life sentence or even a death penalty, without going through all of that trouble, which means that this case can't possibly be that simple. Not only the guilt can't be clearly stated, but also, the case itself requires secrecy

Now, we've been given various glipses of information about the Wrath of Gods throughout the episodes, but during narration Jerami mentioned some interesting detail. He said that after the fated event, all the countries became dependant on Shugoddom. Now that we think about what we've got so far, it all makes sense. Rita and Himeno were just little children, N'kosopa was just a ruin at the time, used as a scrap heap of Shugoddom (as Yanma said). Meanwhile, Racules would be around 16 years old at the time and prepared to rule all his life, so it feels natural that he would take the lead in the world after the Wrath. The only exception being Kaguragi and Toufu. Kaguragi was in similar age as Racules and since he managed to lead a rebellion against the previous ruler, he clearly has leadership skills. But then, what is the very next thing that happens between Toufu and Shugoddom? Kaguragi secures help for Toufu in form of Demi-Shugods from Shugoddom in exchange for his own sister! Now, the only ruler that could potentially rival with Racules has become his puppet! Seems a little too convenient, doesn't it?

Let's go back to Shugoddom for a moment. So far, other kingdoms had rather clear themes. N'kosopa creates technology, Ishabana's domain are medicine and art, Toufu is all about agriculture and providing food and Gokkan is essentially an international prison colony, but Shugoddom was quite puzzling for the fanbase as to what does it do exactly? Sure, we've known it's the first kingdom or that it's aesthetic theme are gears and so on, but until recently we couldn't exactly figure out what could they provide to the other kingdoms. Now we know that Shugoddom's primary export goods are their Demi-shugods, like the snails and spiders traded for Suzume, those flying little TVs or pillbug taxi. This brings us back to the Wrath of the Gods, as Himeno mentioned that Shugoddom didn't send their demi-shugods to help them. And, of course, there is that gigantic swarm of cicadas

One can already see where this is going. Yes, indeed. I suspect that King Red killed with poison in Ishabana! (They're all even colour coded, anyway...) Previous king of Shugoddom and Gira and Racules' father, despite not showing up in the show so far at all nor being discussed by the characters, already has his name - Corsus Hastie - revealed back from the times when the show was just starting. Now that we know that not all previous kings are dead and could show up in the show, this could point to the relevance of the character to the story.

Before we'll go to his potential motives of let's go through means. As we know, Shugoddom produces demishugods, so if anyone could produce the swarm of cicadas, someone important in Shugoddom would be the best bet (unless it's some ancient army that layed dormant for years or sth). But he'd also need GodScorpion's venom. As we know, Sasorine's soul was in Gokkan, but the Shugod itself was called by Gira in Shugoddom. In episode 13 or so, Himeno wants Gira to communicate with Scopi, but he's unable to reach it in Ishabana, and he only hears the Greater Shugods underneath Shugoddom. This suggests that GodScorpion has been lying underneath Shugoddom the whole time and if so, even without the soul, King Corsus didn't have very far from the Shugod if he wanted to gather the venom for his purposes. The problematic would be actually going underground and knowing that GodScorpion is there in the first place. That's where the Bugnarok comes in! We saw them store the Greater Guardian Deities at their HQ and Gira sensing them under Shugoddom. Also, when Jerami emerges out of Bugnarok hiding place, he makes his first appearance in Shugoddom. This suggests that Bugnarok's main base lies right under Shugoddom (unless they have more than one and/or network of tunnels leading to every kingdom, but at least them sitting under Shugoddom is confirmed). That makes any potential cooperation between Shugoddom and Bugnarok far more convenient

But if he really was the one behind the Wrath of Gods, what would his reasons be? Of course, he could have simply wanted to seize the other kingdoms, but if his motive was simply conquest, then his conviction would be rather simple as well, wouldn't it? Unless the reason would be sth like not wanting for a conflict to break out between the kingdoms, but that's rather doubtful, imo. Far more probable, imo, would be if he had some good intentions behind his actions, but it still wouldn't justify, even slightly, what he bought upon the world, because whatever he was aiming at, sacrificing some people to make it better for others is completely unjust, as the other group could have lived just fine as they were and thus the improvement would have been just a whim and not a necessity. But what if it was? What if he sacrificed one group of people to save another one? Here we'd have a typical trolley problem

If, let's say, Bugnarok managed to plant giant cacoons (like the ones in episode 10) under every major city of Shugoddom and threaten to blow them up, destroying the whole kingdom? For example, of course. We already know that Bugnarok waited 2000 years not because they were dormant or anything like that, but because they were following Jerami's prophecy. Nothing prevents them from preparing for the foretold year. As we know, their hideout is right under Shugoddom so they could have prepared it without a problem and going to the King to blackmail him would be just a short trip as well. Add to that any of the variants of "Bugnarok meddles within Shugoddom court" theories and the king would find himself backed into a corner

Now, I don't know how would they possibly solve a threat like this in the show nor why wouldn't Bugnarok just do it with all of the kingdoms, but regardless of what the threat is exactly, it can't be really judged in an indisputable matter. As a king of Shugoddom, his duty would require him to save his people, even if it means dirtying his hands, as Kaguragi would say. On the other hand, he killed many other people to achieve that and it can't just go unpunished. What's more, revealing the threat will not only cause a mass panic among the population and may provoke the Bugnarok to fullfill the threat. Even if they don't if the king returns, they might just force him to do another horrible thing

With the king gone, the judgement remains unresolved and Bugnarok is left with no one to further blackmail. Well, except Racules who would become the new king. The question is, why wouldn't they blackmail him back at the time? Ah, yes, the prophecy that foretold Bugnarok's return 15 later. But then, why would Corsus have to disappear? Or maybe the disappearance wasn't something he planned, but was caught by the Gokkan crew? That being said, Racules being left with the country to govern, surrounded by Bugnarok spies would be hard enough, so having to also take care of his younger brother who could be used as another way to blackmail him would be exhausting

Here into play comes Gira's kidnapping. The reason why his very existance was erased, being that the information of his kidnapping would bring dishonour to the royal family always sounded like a bullshit excuse. If the situation described above would take place, though, Gira disappearing from the castle would not only ensure Gira's safety and lighten Racules' burden, it would leave Racules as the only remaining member of the royal family that would be available to Bugnarok. If Bugnarok tried to put a usurper on the throne, they wouldn't have as much support or devotion from the population like the rightful heir to the throne. What's more, power shift could raise people's suspicions and have them speculate on the reasons behind the power shift, risking Bugnarok to be revealed 15 years prematurely. To the equation we should add OhgerCalibur ZERO and King-Ohger ZERO. Those can only be used by someone with the genes of a Hastie family. Racules being the last of his family would make him untouchable to Bugnarok, if they want to make use of KingOhger ZERO

Bugnarok's involvement in Wrath of Gods is rather clear when we see Kamejim being dead-set on eliminating Shiron as soon as he left the prison. Shiron knows far too much and thus should be eliminated. If even he knows as little as who the culprit was, if it truly was Corsus Hastie, it would point everyone towards Shugoddom and could expose Bugnarok's machinations within the kingdom. Then why wouldn't Bugnarok kill him earlier, throughout those 15 years? Could be that they didn't want to draw attention to him, but if he spilled the beans they would be exposed and wouldn't be able to stop him on time. I guess it is possible that prison in Gokkan is just too well-secured to get in there. Sure, we saw Bugnarok break into the castle in episode 5, but it's possible that the cells are extra durant, as to prevent prisoners from digging their way out, and this way making it impossible for Bugnarok to reach

Why bring this up now? Well, if we remember the duel between Hastie brothers, Racules' demand regarding Gira's defeat was for him to be locked up in Gokkan. What's more, Racules thanked Kaguragi for his cooperation with capturing Gira, because if the matter didn't have international nature, Rita wouldn't take care of it. One could question whether Kaguragi was supposed to bring Gira back to Racules and decided to hand him over to Rita on his own accord, but Racules' reaction and the fact that Rita is seen investigating the case even before Gira was finally captured by Kaguragi suggests otherwise. If Shiron remained safely in his cell throughout 15 years, this suggests that so would Gira, yet not only Rita refused to put Gira into a safe cell in Gokkan, she also revealed to everyone Gira's identity as Racules' younger brother, putting both of them in even greater danger than before. No wonder that usually calm Racules lost his cool at that very moment

There are other things about Racules and Shugoddom that are yet to be covered. For example, his alliance with Bugnarok. If Bugnarok infiltrated Shugoddom, why make such a fuss about it? First of all, it's very possible that the infiltrating operation was Kamejim's doing and the meeting was supposed to have Desnarak involved. Another thing would be, that right now Racules' cooperation with Bugnarok is clear to everyone and no one is very surprised because they know that the peace negotiations took place. If they hadn't happen, it could make everyone question how did Shugoddom even manage to contact Bugnarok let alone to convince them to join forces. What's more, in current situation, it's very easy to shift the blame for the invasion on Jerami. After all, it's his silly idea of getting humans and Bugnarok to coexist that led to the disaster, didn't it? And he was the one who introduced Racules and Desnarak to each other! Because, of course, there is no evidence that the two had ever interacted between that very moment, isn't it?

Another yet unsolved mystery of Shugoddom and the Hastie family is GodKuwagata, it remaining dormant for years and Gira waking it up as well as Gira's ability to talk to Shugods. First of all, since we know that Shugoddom is filled with demishugods, can Gira talk to them too, can he only talk to guardian deities or maybe he'd be able to but the demi-shugods just don't talk much? Another thing is, since Shogoddom is literally State of Shugods (Shugod; -dom), could it be possible that whole Hastie family has that ability? After all, Racules still remains an enigma and he keeps his cards hidden, given above specultions, even from his closest coworkers. Maybe the ability to talk to shugods is related to the very same part of their genes that provides them with the red marks on their right temple and allows them to operate KingOhger ZERO?

But back to Kuwagon. When Gira manages to awaken it, Racules reacts by saying that it's impossible. He isn't shown to be accompanied by anyone, so we can assume that wasn't part of his act to keep Gira's identity hidden. This, together with the fact that GodKuwagata has been dormant for many years, suggests that Racules was genuinely surprised and didn't have an idea of what has happened. Again, if the theory above would turn out to be correct, it would mean that Racules has known about Bugnarok in Shogoddom's royal court, about Wrath of the Gods and circumstances of Gira's kidnapping. He's always seemed like he knows much more than other kings. He also seemed to recognize Jerami when he first appeared and Jerami's mention of history before the Great War seemed to mapke him realise something, but awakaning of Kuwagon seemed to be a surprise even for him. Again, Bugnarok weren't dormant themselves, they only waited 2000 years to reemerge because of Jerami's prophecy and thus they were able to still act and make their moves and preparations during that time. Imo, it's not impossible that the Bugnarok moles have been residing in Shugoddom for centuries. Maybe they were even the ones behind God Kuwagata going dormant or the fact that it's the only Guardian Deity without its soul being located within its cockpit

Another thing to speculate on is Suzume, she's been in Caucasus Kabuto Castle for 15 years already. I'm very curious on what did she learn over that time and what her relationship with Racules really is. Could she be in on the whole thing as well? Maybe they somehow cooperate together under Bugnarok's noses? It's worthto mention, that it's most likely thanks to her why Kaguragi decided to surrender Toufu to Racules and seeing what is about to happen in N'kosopa next week, I wouldn't be surprised if it was deliberate action to spare Toufu the same fate

What comes to mind are also flashbacks of Racules and Yanma working together in the past, contrasted with Yanma being now the one who opposes Racules the most. Coincidentally, he is the one that wasn't appointed as the ruler right after the events of the Wrath of Gods and he is the one who broke off from under Racules' leadership over the Quintet Alliance. Could Racules have done something to set Yanma against him? I mean, he sure had to, but did he do it on purpose? After all, (again, according to speculations above) the Wrath of Gods was specifically engineered to have all the other kingdoms to fall under Shogoddom's influence, that was by now in Bugnarok's grip. We remember how easy it was for Kaguragi to manipulate others in episode 4 as long as he ticked the correct boxes. Yanma and his drive to always emerge on top, as well as circumstances of his raise to power would make him the perfect target to sabotage the Alliance, if such necessity would occure. And if Alliance being led by Racules was orchestrated by the Bugnarok themselves, then it makes it quite possible that Racules purposefully discouraged Yanma towards himself, to sabotage Bugnarok's efforts. (Or maybe Yanma is on it as well? Though I doubt it)

That being said, I love all the little pieces we've been getting throughout the show and how such a complex intrigue is forming right in front of our eyes! I can't wait to see next episode and to finally see Racules back in action and working with Bugnarok, nonetheless. Many people already pointed out that Racules' evil mannerism from the preview resemble Gira's. Of course, that brings back suspicion that the two brothers used to play the exact same way as Gira did with kids in the orphanage, just with Racules playing the role of the Evil King, instead. I can't wait for more to be revealed and to see how the events unfold and what will the upcoming episodes bring to the table

Summary (speculations, not confirmed, major points)

Bugnarok has infiltrated Shugoddam's royal court over 15 years ago

Corsus Hastie, previous king of Shugoddom and Racules and Gira's father, is the culprit behind events of the Wrath of the Gods

He was forced to do so by the Bugnarok that infiltrated his kingdom and that's why judging his crime is such a difficult matter

Gira was taken from the royal court and erased from records for his own safety

Racules is in on everything: Bugnarok infiltrators, Wrath of the Gods etc.

Racules tried to imprison Gira in Gokkan to keep him safe like Shiron

Racules is forced to cooperate with Bugnark just like his father was

[glampirebat]

15 questions for 15 friends

Tagged by @daggertongue 🖤

☆

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?: For years people have joked I'm a Cenobite, but my namesake is Zenobia queen of Palmyra. Sin for my friends.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?: As I type, I have dreadfully watery eyes and the disposition to weep at a gentle spring breeze.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?: Lol, no <3.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?: I was a baseball shortstop and Soccer goaltender, but haven't seriously played either in years.

DO YOU USE SARCASM?: I would *never*.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?: Hair and Jewelry, how one chooses to ornament themselves. We're born with bodies to sculpt as best we can, and the ways we choose to portray ourselves speak volumes over the things we happen to be born with.

WHAT'S YOUR EYE COLOUR?: Hazel, speckled green with a ring of dark blue.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?: Scary Movies. There's beauty in the vile and disgusting and few forms of media are so willing to wallow in that beauty quiet like horror. I'm a gorehound baby.

ANY TALENTS?: Jewelry making, earrings and the occasional pendant mostly, but I adore any charm with a good story to it and it's components.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?: Ponce, Puerto Rico. I miss the sounds of the ocean now that I live inland.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?: I clean bones and produce and collect taxidermy of various kinds, pinned bugs, stuffed beasts, the occasional owl pellet, fur coat, or chicken foot. When I have the time to lose myself to it, I dabble in the esoteric and arcane.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?: I'd rather pet sit then have a pet of my own. It feels cruel to me to keep something living just for my entertainment, but I was offered a terrarium filled with speckled pillbugs and I must admit they have my heart already.

HOW TALL ARE YOU?: A looming 6'2".

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?: History, the immense weight of civilization and thousands and thousands of years of art and common causes and the strange neuroses that brought us here today have a stranglehold on me. Everything is connected by a spiderweb of causes and effects that are nearly impossible to fully grasp the intricate pattern of. War history was sooo lame tho.

DREAM JOB?: Entomologist, I adore insects and insect conservation, but the pesticide industry depresses me and I fear any bug bio degree I seek out will end up funneling me into a pest control career.

☆

Tagging: @omgniatheapricot, @franmadaraki, @hound-of-novitiate, @basi1isks, @gnarlybite, @razorslices , @destroyalldinosaurs , @catghoulz , @smizey , @philosaint , @transvampania , @aenysanus , @androgynous-barbie , @toxicgothsyndrome , @rarecandy

[authorcoledipalo]

I've been wanting to talk about the rock creatures!

Here are some of the ideas that I drew for example. These creatures work off the power of the crystals that draw energy from the light around them and dig themselves out of the ground in the shape of animals! They exist to fight back against those who want to take the power of the crystals and can grow anywhere, out of any stone, and they take on the most effective form for that area. The color of the crystal usually tells you where it's from, as some places have more of one color energy than others, but you can usually find them anywhere.

Some of the other rock animals include: The rock rat, tiny little guy made out of pebbles and stones that scurry away from those who try to harvest them. The rock rat king, this monster is made from boulders and often many other rock rats that have joined to help it, often ending up being multicolored with its crystals. The rock Pillbug, this one isn't as small as it's real life counterpart, the Pillbug is a massive boulder that can destroy anything in its path by rolling over it. And finally the Rhino, this one has a massive crystal growing on it's head where the rhino's horn would be. It's very aggressive and has been captured to be used in an arena at some point in later stories...

These creatures are inspired by both Horizon Zero Dawn's mechanical creatures and beautiful rock formations that I've witnessed. What are some other creatures you think deserve to be made into rock form?

@honeybewrites

[faulty-heat-vents]

//Narrative communication established. [ASSIST: COURSE-CORRECT]> RE-ESTABLISHING NARRATIVE TRACE. [your story will continue|it is by grace alone you persist]

No blackouts or double-edged words on the way back. All Ashton has as company during his walk is the mech-shop’s cacophony- so natural that his mind doesn’t even spare it the resources. Instead, it burrows in on itself like a pillbug, looping over and over the visions he saw during his nightmares.

He was right- that gore-painted chassis in space was a Monarch. He hadn’t guessed it was his- or rather, a previous Ashton’s. He also hadn’t guessed about its destruction method.

The dream before was a freeze-frame, looking in. Looking out and seeing a laser shear through reality and pierce your cockpit… he never thought he’d remember it. 

Did he think about remembering it at all? Had the concept of that death ever crossed his mind before he saw it?

He can’t remember.

Thermie’s voice cuts through his mind-haze just as sharply as the Unraveller-

 //[THERMALLY_CHALLENGED]:

Movement suggests Pilot has awakened. Welcome back. You have [0] reply-less messages. You have [ERROR: MISSING VALUE.] unread messages.

You have [2] unopened parcels, both of which contain pastries from Omninet denizens. Both have been cleared by Biohazard and Forensics for consumption, and are located inside of your cold-storage locker.

//CORRESPONDENCE: ASHTON-212:

thanks thermie. omw rn

The message is brief, tapped out on the inside of his bracer while walking. Eyes down, mind drifting. 

His path leads him to the armory. Wrong place.

Wait, Ashton thinks to himself. Indigo told me to investigate my weapons. I left that auto rifle down here. Wonder if…

Sure enough, it was- one GMS T-1 automatic assault rifle, freshly-printed and unattended at the testing tables. Waiting.

Up close, the weapon is massive- easily weighing as much as Ashton himself. Each panel along its side is brutal and simplistic, printed with universal compatibility in mind. Ash slides the breech open with considerable -yet necessary- force, exposing its vacant firing and magwell chambers. 

I shouldn’t be doing this without my armor. Command would skin me alive…

He looks up to the empty range around him-

But one little firing test shouldn’t hurt. It’s a GMS rifle- damn things are perfect out of the box, right?

With a determined chirp, he gets to work- first finding a spare Main mount dummy, then hoisting the weapon onto it and buckling it down. As is typical for its make and model, the gun satisfyingly clicks right into place. 

Whatever-above, bless GMS.

Interfacing with GMS tech is as simple as installing it- a single robust cord with interchangeable male prongs, socketed directly into the firing control of its attached machine. Ashton threads the cable to the testing terminal and begins the booting sequence, quickly jumping up to correct the rifle’s aim downrange before the internals spin up. 

A deep breath, then-

>DISENGAGE SAFETY? Y/N >Y [enter] >AUTOMATIC TARGETING SYSTEMS INITIALIZING. PLEASE WAIT.

…Wait, automatic targeting? That’s not stock sta-

BRRRT

The rifle kicks to life, sending its mount dummy reeling backwards. A volley of rounds sprays from its muzzle like a severed artery. The air reeks of accelerant and burning metal as the assembly twitches in animalistic death-throes.

“SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIT SHI-”

Ashton lunges from his command post, tackling the wild gun to the ground and yanking its connection cable from the receiver. Horrifically, the weapon keeps firing- exhausting all energy inside of its artificial body to maintain the stream of lead. Ashton flips his pack-ax out of its holster and hacks wildly at the assembly’s vital organs, trying in vain to shut it down. 

Time slows. 

A flash crests the edge of his vision- then weaves its way right in front of his face.

For a single breath, one lone bullet hovers directly between his eyes. In the next, it finds itself buried in the faceplate of the target dummy downrange.

The rifle spits out a burst of ammunition before running dry. It clicks, clicks, clicks- over and over before Ashton drives the axe inside its receiver with both hands, finally dealing a killing blow to the plasteel monstrosity.

----

Ashton can barely hear over the ringing in his unprotected ears. He most certainly doesn’t hear the thudding of boots coming his way, nor the voices of Security yelling at each other. He barely registers the hands on his shoulders before they hoist him aloft.

Commander Oracle storms into the room, diadem and third eye flashing neon green as they scan Ashton’s recent memories.

“CADET G-212, STAND DOWN!” they roar.

“Bit hard to do with these tanks grabbing me by the scruff, Oracle!”

“That’s Commander Oracle to you right now. What in the Sham Hells were you THINKING, Cadet?! Unsanctioned, unprotected firing of an uninspected firearm, alone?!”

Ashton squirms in the Security officers’ grip, to no avail. “I was just checking to see if it was printed right!”

“Like HELL you were- and breaking every protocol in the book while you were at it!” 

Oracle kicks the broken weapon with their boot, sending a thud echoing through the range… tailed by a squelch.

Everyone freezes, then slowly trails their collective heads down. The left guard’s hand shakes and falls from Ash’s arm, leaving him to dangle from the other over the growing puddle.

Leaking from the mangled corpse of the T-1 automatic assault rifle is blood- red, quickly-coagulating blood. The weapon’s exposed, fleshy insides cough up more intermittently as its witnesses stand frozen in horror and disgust.

“It- it wasn’t like that when I killed it,” Ashton stutters. His voice hitches as he tries to hold back his nausea.

The guard to his left breaks their resolve much easier, turning away to be sick. Ashton looks to Oracle, whose face has taken a similar shade of pale green to their dimmed diadem. They swallow back their own unease and get back in character-

“Security, restrict this range. I’m contacting Biohazard and Forensics as we speak. G-212, you’re going to answer my questions with utmost honesty and brevity. No word-dancing. Out, now.”

“Yes, Commander Oracle.”

----

“Then you guys showed up, and now we’re here.”

Ashton crouches beside Oracle, poking at the now-very-dead-and-toasty “gun” with a screwdriver. Oracle places a hand on their chin in thought, then speaks-

“Ashton. You know how this looks.”

“I know, I know.” Ash tosses the screwdriver back into its home pail of tools. “A1 did the same damn thing with that Gorgon.”

“No. You talk like an NHP, pass out, see yourself dying over and over again, and then book it towards your gun filled with flesh. If the rest of the Administration saw this, I’d be fired- and you’d be fired upon.”

Ashton makes a face. “What do you suggest we do, then?”

“...”

“Ori?”

“Field it.”

Ashton wheels on a paw with surprise, jaw wide agape. No words manage to form- just shocked squeaks.

Oracle continues- “You heard me, Cadet. Patch this thing up. See if it works. It did pretty damn good here.”

“What the fuck do you mean?! It went ballistic and shot everywhe-”

“Look.” 

Oracle raises a finger and points at the target downrange. A pair of clean holes are punched through its head and heart, no marks anywhere else. No marks on the walls either. 100% accuracy.

“Take this slag to Ciryn and nurse it back. I’ll talk Biohazard into letting it go. If everything goes to shit on the field, it’s on your head again. Last chance.”

“I… thank you, Oracle.”

“Commander Oracle,” they correct again. “And don’t thank me. I’m sending you into the next deployment with this fucking thing on your mech. Spend that gratitude on safety precautions.”

Not much else to say. Oracle whistles and spins two fingers in the air, motioning for everyone to move out.

Ashton stays behind, seated next to the charred remains of the smartgun. 

Maybe it’s the dim lights of the range. Maybe it’s Oracle’s diadem reflecting the hangar above. Maybe it’s lingering embers.

Or maybe the optic winks at him.

[beemovieerotica]

i need you to know in middle school i was obsessed with pillbugs. people called me the pillbug queen and made up stories in history class about me turning into a giant 50 ft pillpug and asked my how my pilbug army was. one guy hated me and killed a pillbug to upset me. i was thriving off the infamy and wanted attention even if it was bad so when the anti bullying assembly came around the principal was handing out the mic to anyone with questions or comments. i derailed and informed the entire school that pillbugs can lay up to 600 eggs at once. i had to switch schools because i moved across town and after all that i was glad i never had to be the pillbug queen ever again. anyways year after that i got an autism diagnosis (second or third time!)

I LOVE YOU ANON