#all of the plants can either be found in the game or are native to north america

[floweryomi]

I have findally hopefully pretty much finalized this pair of RDR2 tattoos that I want to get

[horizon-series-details]

The potion mechanic is a mechanic that was actually slightly changed between Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. While there are some major changes, most notably the amount that can be held at a time, and the variety of potions between both games, what I wanted to talk about was the means of obtaining potions to deal with elemental afflictions.

In Zero Dawn, the player has to use plants to make potions that boost Aloy’s resistance to certain elements. For example, in order we have the Corruption Glaze Root, the Freeze Rime Root, and the Fire Kiln Root. (Not pictured is the Shock Wax Root.)

This is the Corruption Glaze Root. It’s used to make antidotes, which are potions to help resist corruption damage. This plant is commonly found close to the water.

This is the Freeze Rime Root. It’s used to make resist freeze potions. This plant can be found commonly in Carja territories and snowy areas.

This is the Fire Kiln Root. It’s used to make resist fire potions. It’s often found in warmer regions.

What’s interesting is that these plants do not show up in Forbidden West. This particular branch of the potion mechanic seems to have been replaced by the Cleanse potion, which is used to clear all elemental status effects. I can understand the Corruption Glaze Root not being needed, as the west has to deal with the Blight, not Corruption. However I have the feeling that the most likely options are that either the plants just aren’t native to that region, or that the developers knew having this mechanic this fleshed out may be a little too complex alongside other mechanics that use plants in a similar manner.

[ironwoman359]

A Thief's Gamble - Ch. 10

...Has a Silver Lining

Prev: Ch.9 Every Cloud... || Next: Ch.11 Misdirection Fic Masterpost

Fic Summary: Brynjolf is certain that the only way the Thieves Guild will return to its glory days is by bringing in new, talented members. Unfortunately, Mercer doesn't agree, and it's not like Brynjolf's latest attempts at recruiting have gone well. But when he meets a stranger in the marketplace one morning, he's willing to take the risk and bring her on board....only time will tell if his gamble pays off.

Chapter Summary: Brynjolf finds Ariene in Falkreath, and after helping her out of a jam, the two prepare to storm the bandit camp at Pinewatch to retrieve a stolen silver mold for their client Endon.

Content: Brynjolf POV, Thieves Guild quest spoilers, game typical violence.

Ships: Brynjolf x Dragonborn OC (slowburn)

Word Count: 4,203

Check the reblogs for a link to read on AO3!

— — — 

Brynjolf swore he could feel time slowing as all eyes in the inn landed on him. The few other patrons didn’t bother to hide their stares as they watched the growing drama unfold, and the Legate he’d confronted was glaring at him with enough ferocity to kill a sabre cat. Even Ariene was staring, though she let her shock show on her face for only a moment.

“Now brother,”  she said loudly, catching on to Brynjolf’s ruse immediately. “There's no need to cause a scene. Legate Skulnar and I were simply having a…disagreement.” 

Legate Skulnar looked back and forth between the two, skepticism written plainly on his face. 

“Brother?” he asked, shrugging Brynjolf’s hand off his shoulder with a snarl. “I don’t see much resemblance between the two of you, kinsman.” 

Brynjolf silently cursed the fact that Ariene’s features were so distinctly imperial before giving the Legate his best eyebrow raise. 

“Half-brother, if you must know. My father took an imperial wife after my own ma died; not that it’s any of your business, sir.” 

Legate Skulnar didn’t look convinced, and Ariene stepped forward deftly, standing so that she was next to Brynjolf and no longer backed into the corner. 

“I tried to explain to the Legate that I was here on business, but he wouldn’t listen,” she said. “Insisted I was some kind of runaway from the legion. As if ‘Ariene’ isn’t one of the most common Imperial names of the last decade.” 

Brynjolf had no idea if that was true or not, but he supposed that if he didn’t, then Skulnar might not either. 

“The legion?” he repeated with a laugh. “Ari’s ma is in the timber business. Why else would we come to this little splinter of a city? Certainly not for the hospitality.” 

The Legate was still clearly suspicious, but Brynjolf saw the moment that he realized that his catch had slipped away. The gaze of the other patrons had turned from Brynjolf to Skulnar, and while he could arrest the both of them right there, it definitely wouldn’t do him any favors with the locals. Falkreath’s allegiances did technically lie with the empire, but this was due more to the Jarl’s personal greed than the consensus of the citizens, and Brynjolf would be willing to bet that keeping up a good image for the Legion was one of the Legate’s top priorities. 

“Fine,” Skulnar eventually growled. “You can move along. But I’ll be keeping my eye on the two of you while you’re here, is that understood?” 

“Yes sir,” Brynjolf drawled, his tone anything but respectful, and Skulnar glared.

“Stop antagonizing him, brother,” Ariene said, taking his arm. “Come, let me tell you about the spot I found in the woods. It’s a perfect place to plant our next business venture.” 

She led him to a tiny room off the side of the bar, motioning for him to shut the door behind him. As soon as they were alone, she dropped his arm and put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Brother?” she repeated, and Brynjolf shrugged. 

“I wanted to distract him from who you are. Passing you off as a Skyrim native seemed the best bet, considering the circumstances.”  

“I suppose since it worked, I can’t complain too much…” Ariene trailed off, her expression changing as she gave Brynjolf a once over. “By the Nine, Bryn, what happened to you?” 

It was then that Brynjolf remembered that his clothes were still torn and muddy, that his hair was a stringy mess falling into his eyes, and that there were still traces of the makeshift blood on his face. He'd probably looked like a madman, stalking up to a Legate and challenging him right there in the inn.  

“Oh, right,” he said, wiping a few flecks of the red-stained mud from his cheek. “This is nothing, I just had to pull one over on some bandits camping out in Helgen. No actual fighting was done.” 

Ariene sighed, then sat on the edge of her bed, gesturing for Brynjolf to sit in the room’s only chair. 

Brynjolf sat, frowning at her. 

“Are you alright, lass?” 

“I’m fine,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “It’s just been a long few weeks. Gulum-Ei is a stubborn son of a bitch, and traveling in the Reach right now is a nightmare. Those ‘Forsworn’ are around just about every other hill. Then there’s this nonsense with the Markarth job, and to top it all off that Legate out there’s been on my ass for the past three days. I was certain I was going to have to have a mysterious ‘accident’ in the woods and disappear to get away from him.” 

“Now that sounds time consuming,” Brynjolf said. “I’m glad I showed up when I did so we could avoid it.” His tone was light, playful, but Ariene wouldn’t look directly at him as she spoke. 

“I wasn’t sure you’d make it,” she admitted in a quiet voice. “I worried that the message would arrive too late, or that you wouldn’t understand the code, or…” 

She trailed off, but Brynjolf heard the unspoken doubt loud and clear. 

I wasn’t sure you’d even come.

“One of the Guild’s best and brightest calls in for backup?” She looked up at him and he smiled at her, causing a faint blush to rise to her cheeks. “Of course I came, lass. And your code was perfect. The little clue about the First of Frostfall was a neat trick.”  

“Thank you,” she said, then cleared her throat. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have bothered to encode it at all, but Skulnar was already suspicious of me, and I was worried he’d confiscate the letter from the courier.” 

“I wouldn’t have put it past him,” Brynjolf agreed. “But you didn’t even mention him in your note. Which means that what you need help with has nothing to do with the Legion, and everything to do with bandits and this silversmith job. Tell me about it.” 

Ariene nodded, and just like that, she was all business, every trace of worry and doubt vanishing from her in an instant. 

“I went to Markarth to meet the client, Endon. I was expecting some kind of job targeting a competitor of his, or perhaps a robbery to bring some extra cash flow to his business. But no.” She shook her head ruefully. “He wants us to raid a bandit camp to retrieve a stolen item.” 

Brynjolf raised an eyebrow. 

“Isn’t that a job for the Jarl’s guards? Or even the Companions?” he asked, and Ariene sighed. 

“Apparently, all official channels are too busy with the civil war and Forsworn attacks. I guess he heard that the Guild was returning to power and figured ‘who better to steal back something that was stolen?’ Their camp is at the base of the mountain range just northeast of here.”

“You’ve staked the place out?” Brynjolf asked, and Ariene nodded. 

“This is the problem: it’s not a normal camp. There’s this old woodcutter’s hut in the forest, and I’m convinced it’s bigger than it seems. I’ve seen more men go in and out over the past three days than should be able to fit comfortably inside.”

“Maybe it’s connected to some kind of cave system,” Brynjolf mused, and Ariene nodded again.

“My thoughts exactly. But if that’s true, I have no way of knowing how many opponents I’m dealing with until I’m already inside. That’s why I wrote to you for help…though I was prepared to attempt the raid alone if I got no response in a few days.”

“Well, I’m glad I made it before you tried something like that,” Brynjolf repeated. “So when do you want to make your move? Tonight?” 

“Tomorrow,” Ariene replied. “I think we both could use some sleep. Besides, the best time to hit them would probably be midmorning. From what I can tell, that’s when most of them come out to do…whatever it is bandits do during the day. Pillage, and so on.” 

“Sounds like a plan, lass,” Brynjolf said, getting to his feet. “Now, what kind of drink do they serve here?” 

They ordered a small meal, and since talking about business in the open areas of the inn seemed a foolhardy choice, they spent the rest of the evening having a mostly improvised conversation about their imaginary family members back in Riften.

As they talked, Brynjolf noticed the tension slowly bleeding out of Ariene’s shoulders, and he found himself relaxing as well, for what he realized was the first time in weeks. It was fun, sitting by the fire with a drink in his hand and making up stories about how Cousin Joric had fallen into the breeding pool at the Riften Fishery and thus was sentenced to a week of floor scrubbing. Being on a con again– even one as simple as pretending to be a family of timber workers– was energizing, and he couldn’t help but smile as he and Ariene shared a block of cheese and traded tales. 

Despite his long day, Brynjolf found sleep that night to be elusive. Lying in one of the inn’s creaky beds and staring at the ceiling, he could feel the anticipation rising in his chest. Tomorrow, they would head into the woods to face down an entire encampment of bloodthirsty bandits. And this time, he probably couldn’t trick his way out of dealing with them.  

— — — 

The next morning, Ariene led the way through the woods to where the bandits had made their base. Brynjolf realized he’d never actually seen her out in the field besides that first job in the marketplace, and was impressed by how silently the lass moved through the dense underbrush of the old forests of Falkreath. He typically associated thieves with back alleys and city streets, but he supposed that Ariene’s history as a mercenary in her father’s crew had garnered her plenty of experience with the wilderness. 

It didn’t take them long to reach what on the outside looked like a perfectly convincing woodcutter’s hut, and they crouched down in the bushes across the road to watch the door. Sure enough, clusters of bandits began exiting the hut, a few at a time spread out across the morning. About half of those who left headed up the road to the east, while the other half took the road west, and Brynjolf could picture them meeting up with their fellows and staging traps for unsuspecting travelers. 

“Alright, lass,” he said in a low voice once it had been a good half hour since anyone left the cabin. “How do you want to handle this?” 

“If there really is a secret passageway, then they’ve probably left at least one man left inside to guard it,” Ariene replied. “It’s what I’d do. I say we go in through the front here, take the guard by surprise if we can, and figure out our next move from there.” 

Brynjolf nodded, and once they were sure there was no one else on the road to see them, they both rose to their feet and made their way to the cottage door. Ariene’s picks made quick work of the lock, and she looked up at Brynjolf, a question in her eyes. 

He nodded to her and she pulled the door open by a hair, allowing Brynjolf to peer inside. He quickly scanned the interior, noting a cluttered workbench, a low burning fire in the hearth, and a wooden railing in the corner that indicated stairs.

“You were right, lass,” he whispered. “There is a basement. Up top here looks all clear for now.” 

“Take point,” she whispered back, sliding her picks into her pocket and pulling her bow off her shoulder. “I’ll cover you from behind.”

Brynjolf nodded, and the two of them slipped into the house. They approached the stairs, and Brynjolf crouched low, peering down into the basement through the gap in the floor. 

There was a single man sitting at a table with his back to them, an open bottle of wine in his hand. Brynjolf slowly descended the stairs, wincing as the wood boards creaked beneath his feet, but the man did not stir. As soon as his feet were on the stone floor, Ariene called out in a clear voice: 

“If you scream, you’re a dead man.” 

The bandit whirled around, his hand moving to an axe he wore on his belt, but he froze when he saw the tip of Ariene’s arrow pointed at his heart. 

“What do you want?” he asked, and Brynjolf smiled. 

“Just to have a chat, lad, maybe a look around. You see, we’re looking for some particular merchandise.” 

“Endon’s stolen mold,” Ariene added. 

“Endon's mold?” the man repeated. He offered a nervous smile. “I'm afraid you have the wrong place, my friends. You'll find no silversmiths here. I assure you, I have nothing of value. I'm nothing but a poor woodcutter just trying to make ends meet." 

Brynjolf glanced at Ariene, who had a triumphant glint in her eye. 

“I never said it was a silver mold,” she said, and the man licked his lips. 

“Oh? Well uh, Endon is a silversmith in Markarth, so I just assumed…”

“Look, lad,” Brynjolf interrupted. “We’d like to avoid a fight just as much as you would. If you just tell us where the mold is, we can all be on our way, no harm no foul.” 

The man bit his lip, eyes flitting between the two thieves. 

“We can make it worth your while,” Ariene said, and Brynjolf nodded, pulling out his coin pouch and giving it a shake. 

“I see…” the man said slowly, his gaze fixed on the purse. After a moment, he nodded to himself and got to his feet.

“Well, I can't say exactly where the mold is, but something does spring to mind,” he said casually. “It seems there's this strange button on the wall opposite the fireplace in my house. Always wondered what it was for.” 

Brynjolf glanced at Ariene, and she gave a single nod of her head. 

“Fair enough,” Brynjolf said, and tossed the coin to the bandit. The man caught it deftly and nodded to them.

“Thank you kindly, friends. Think I'm going to head out now. Take a long vacation from woodcutting, you know? Good luck.” 

He edged past Ariene, who kept her bow trained on him as he climbed back up the stairs, only lowering it once he had left the cottage and closed the door behind him. 

“Well, so much for finding it in the house,” she muttered when the man was gone. 

“When has the Guild ever had that kind of luck?” Brynjolf pointed out, and Ariene snorted. 

“Good point. After you, then,” she added, gesturing towards the button. 

Brynjolf pressed it, and the bookshelf against the wall swung open, revealing a tunnel leading down deeper into the earth.

“So there is a cave back here. I wonder if they dug this out, or if it was here naturally?” Ariene mused as they made their way down the tunnel. 

Brynjolf opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when he rounded a corner and found the end of the tunnel opening out into a large open room. 

“I don’t know, but that doesn’t look like any rock formations I’ve ever seen,” he said, pointing at a scaffolding rig that blocked their view of most of the cave. 

“Get down,” Ariene whispered, and Brynjolf immediately dropped to one knee, his hand moving to his daggers. 

A second later, he saw the bandit. 

Through gaps in the old wooden boards, he could just make out a rope bridge connecting the outcropping of rock they were standing on to another part of the cave system, and standing on that bridge with his arms folded was a burly looking man in iron armor. He was positioned so that he’d see whoever came walking out of the tunnel, but he hadn’t startled at the sight of them, so it was just possible that they were hidden from his sight where they were crouching. 

“Let me by,” Ariene breathed, and Brynjolf nodded, letting the lass slip past him. 

She crept forward into the cave, angling herself so that the makeshift wooden wall was between her and the bandit’s line of sight. She scanned the room, a frown creasing her forehead as she did so. Brynjolf raised an eyebrow as she made her way back to him, and she shot him a grim look. 

“There’s no way around him that he wouldn’t notice and raise the alarm,” she murmured. “But I think he’s the only one on guard in this chamber.” 

“Your call, lass,” Brynjolf whispered. “However you want to handle this, I’ll follow your lead.” 

Ariene didn’t say anything for several seconds, and Brynjolf almost wondered if she hadn’t heard him, but then she met his eyes, her gaze hard. 

“I’d draw your weapon if I were you.” 

Brynjolf immediately pulled his daggers free from their sheaths as Ariene turned back towards the bandit. She lifted her bow and pulled back the string, aiming her shot through a gap in the scaffolding. She took a breath in, and on the exhale, let the arrow fly. 

The arrow struck the bandit square in the neck, and he fell back immediately with a gurgled cry. Ariene started to straighten, then cursed and ducked back down, drawing another arrow as a confused call echoed in the room. 

“Rogjar? Are you alright?”

A moment later, a bandit rounded the corner, and on seeing the body on the bridge, he gave a cry of alarm, drawing a sword from his belt. Another bandit joined him in an instant, his own weapon drawn and his eyes hard. They both ignored their fallen comrade and headed across the bridge, right for where Brynjolf and Ariene were hiding. 

Ariene let her second arrow loose, and it caught the bigger of the two bandits on the shoulder. The man staggered, then grunted and shifted his grip on his warhammer. Brynjolf had just enough time to think “Well that’s not a good sign” before a third arrow shot by and caught the first bandit in the thigh, causing him to stumble forward. 

Ariene shot one more arrow, but it missed both targets, and then the larger of the two bandits was on the pair of them, swinging his warhammer towards their heads. Brynjolf rolled forward, slashing out at the man’s legs with his daggers. The thug gave a cry of both pain and surprise as the blades sliced into his flesh; no doubt he was used to people trying to move away from his wide, slow swings, not towards them.  

Brynjolf spun quickly, jabbing one dagger into the back of the man’s neck before he could turn around. The bandit fell forward, and Brynjolf slammed the hilt of his dagger on the top of the man’s skull, just to be safe. He turned back towards the other bandit, just in time to see Ariene strike him across the face with the arm of her bow, knocking him to the ground. She drew her own blade and followed him down, pressing her knee against his chest and slitting his throat before he had a chance to recover. 

She looked up at him, panting slightly, and he nodded to her.

“Alright, Ariene?”

“Fine,” she said, getting to her feet with a grunt and wiping the blood off her blade. “You?” 

Brynjolf turned back to his fallen foe and pulled his dagger out of the man’s back. 

“Right as rain, lass.” 

The two spared a few minutes to roll the bandits’ bodies off the bridge and hide them among the boxes and crates in the pit below. The cavern was far too vast for the bandits to have dug themselves, and Brynjolf spotted a few old burial urns and nordic weapons shoved up against the wall in one corner. 

“Looks like our marks here found an ancient burial ground and converted it into a hideout,” he said conversationally as he rolled one of the corpses behind a pillar and out of sight. 

“And they’re making good use of it, too,” Ariene said. “Look at this.” 

Brynjolf looked to where she was pointing. Crates and barrels full of produce, cured meats, clothing, and other simple goods were stacked along one wall. Beside the crates were entire wagons in various stages of being broken apart, and there, in a shallow pit just off to the side, was a pile of khajiit corpses. 

“They’re not just hassling random travelers or raiding villages,” Ariene said quietly. “They’re attacking whole trade caravans. My guess is they overtake them on the road and force them to unload their goods in here, then kill them so they can’t report on their location.” 

Brynjolf shook his head at the brutality. 

“It’s a damn shame. And Khajiit traders are some of our best customers.” He paused, a fraction of a conversation floating back to his mind. “Tonilia mentioned that there’d been delays along the southwest routes.”

“Looks like we found the culprits,” Ariene said as she stashed a bandit’s body behind one of the carts. “Or some of them, anyway.” 

“I’m no lover of law and order, but I’m amazed that the hold guards were too busy to deal with this,” Brynjolf mused. “I understand not wanting to track down one man’s missing shipment, but these are entire caravans disappearing.”

“Well, I’m sure if they were nord caravans then the local authorities could find it in themselves to spare the resources,” Ariene said, a touch of bitterness in her voice. Brynjolf grimaced.

“Aye…you’re probably right, lass,” he said. “Good thing we’re here to pick up the slack then, eh?”

Ariene smiled briefly, then straightened and drew her bow again.

“At any rate, I don’t see the mold with these crates; I’d wager the more valuable cargo is stashed deeper in the cave. Let’s move further in and see what we can find.” 

The two made their way back up to the upper level and followed the tunnels through the old burial chambers. In one of the large chambers, a makeshift bar had been set up with a few tables and chairs, though the room was thankfully deserted as they passed through. They found more evidence that the ancient nords had used the caves as a burial ground, with more funeral urns, looted crypts, and carved stone doors around every corner. 

True to Ariene’s prediction, most of the bandits were out raiding, leaving the cave system mostly empty. There were a few stragglers here and there, but with the element of surprise on their side, she and Brynjolf had little trouble in dispatching them. Upon entering yet another wide open room set with a few tables and chairs, Ariene turned to Brynjolf and smiled sheepishly. 

“I almost feel bad for dragging you all the way out here now, it seems I would have been able to manage this on my own after all.” 

“Perhaps,” Brynjolf said, picking up a letter from the table and scanning it with little interest. “But between you and me, lass, even if we don’t draw our blades again for the rest of the day, I’m still glad I came. Just because you can handle a job like this on your own doesn’t mean you should have to without backup. Besides, the Guild’s been terribly dull the last few weeks; it’s nice to get out and about for once.” 

They followed another narrow tunnel out of the room, and found themselves in a small chamber with a wooden door blocking their way. Ariene walked up and tested the handle experimentally, then stowed her bow on her back and pulled out her picks. 

“Locked,” she said as she began fiddling with the lock, and Brynjolf snorted. ‘

“Never would have guessed,” he quipped, and Ariene rolled her eyes. 

There was a beat of silence, then Ariene frowned. 

“Odd,” she murmured. “Bryn, give this a try, would you?” 

Brynjolf sheathed his daggers and knelt beside her, taking the picks in his hands. He wasn’t as good at lockpicking as Vex, but he was still pretty damn good at it, so he was surprised when, after a minute or so of trying, one of the picks broke inside the lock. 

“Shit,” Brynjolf swore quietly as he pulled the broken pieces out. 

“This lock is far too strong for a random door in a bandit hole,” Ariene said as Brynjolf pulled out his own pair of picks. “What could be hidden back here?”

“Take a wild guess,” said a gruff voice. 

Brynjolf turned, only to find himself on the wrong end of a very sharp looking sword. He looked up to see a bandit woman in plate armor with war paint in harsh lines across her face glaring down at them. Ariene cursed and reached for her bow, but the woman shook her head and stepped closer, pointing her sword mere inches from Brynjolf’s neck. Ariene froze, and a sneer spread across the woman’s face. 

“Now then,” she said, looking back and forth between the two of them. “What am I going to do with you?”

— — — 

AN: Honestly I love that we've wound up on an entire side quest barely related to the main focus of the story, it feels very on brand for a skyrim story (also I'll talk any excuse to keep having these two dance around each other. :3 )

Prev: Ch.9 Every Cloud... || Next: Ch.11 Fic Masterpost

[sci-simulacrumb]

Hi, everyone!

I was wandering around today when I noticed the strange bark on a few trees along the vehicle tour trail. Most trees I know have dark, thick bark with pretty deep cracks running through its singular trunk, but these trees had multiple trunks that were nearly pale and smooth all over. Any bark I could peel off was very thin, like paper.

I also saw how thin the branches got, some of them even bowing under the weight of their own clusters of flowers. I think one of these trees may be older than the others, though, because it stretched really tall and its branches were a lot sturdier before getting scraggly at the ends.

I wanted to ask Galen to borrow a book on plants, but they weren’t home today. I didn’t want to walk all the way to the library, so I just borrowed a book Galen was supposed to return over two years ago. They won’t even know it’s gone.

The trees are in the genus Lagerstroemia, and are commonly called “crepe-myrtles” or “crape myrtles”. Technically, they are classified as shrubs. Their rounded crown of trunks make a pretty cozy sitting space if you can fit inside, which explains why some birds use them as habitats. I think I just found the perfect spot for the next game of Hide-and-Go-Seek!

Fun fact: these trees aren’t native to North America. They’re actually from eastern Asia, but are very commonly used as ornamental plants in hot, sunny places in North America. Apparently, a way to increase the number of flowers and branches in time for the summer bloom is to pinch new growth in the Spring. The ones we have on the reserve are either pink or red, but other trees’ colors can be lavender, white, and purple.  

Turns out, the fruit from these flowers are dark maroon buds that appear in the dead of winter. Humans can’t eat them, but lots of birds can. Even though they aren’t native, they’ve become a huge staple in the diets of native birds like finches, cardinals, juncos, and sparrows. The American goldfinches, in particular, have been observed to really like the seeds the most.

That’s really cool! Maybe, in a few months, I’ll set up my own observations. I wonder which birds I could see eating the seeds!

But first, I should decide if I want to bring this book back to the proper library or to Galen's stash.

---Fellowh

[josephpatrickroop]

An Overview of Wetlands Conservation in the United States

Ducks Unlimited (DU) is a national leader in the conservation and restoration of wetlands and other environments critical to the survival of North American waterfowl. The restoration and management of these habitats are beneficial to humans and other wildlife, as well as to waterfowl.

“Waterfowl” is a term used to describe large game birds associated with aquatic environments, such as ducks and geese. A wetland, meanwhile, is a type of terrain characterized by water covering the soil or near the surface, either all year long or during specific, recurring periods of the year. Wetlands are unique environments in that they support both terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal life, including waterfowl.

Wetlands and waterfowl face a diversity of threats. Many different human activities have degraded wetlands throughout the United States and beyond. Various industries and organizations have engaged in operations that involve changing water quality, adjusting flow rates, and removing large volumes. Other activities result in an influx of pollutants to the water and soil. Peat mining and the grazing of domestic cattle have also resulted in considerable loss of wetlands. These and other activities have displaced native species and introduced non-native species to North American wetlands, further compromising overall wetland integrity.

The United States has experienced significant wetlands loss over time. During the 17th century, the land area that would become the contiguous 48 states supported in excess of 220 million acres of wetlands. The loss of wetlands has been extensive since then, including nearly 17 million acres since the mid-1950s and over 2 million acres of vegetated wetlands in less than four decades. An estimated 100 million wetland acres remain in the 48 contiguous states. During the last 15 years, the continental duck breeding population has dropped 31 percent, down to 31 million.

There are several reasons to take action and support local wetlands conservation efforts. In addition to providing food and shelter to thousands of plant and animal species, these environments offer valuable flood protection to humans. Coastal and tidal wetlands are important guards against shoreline erosion. Numerous natural products have been derived from materials native to wetlands, to say nothing of the recreational activities and aesthetic beauty associated with wetland environments.

Individuals can take several steps to strengthen wetland conservation, restoration, and management efforts. Fortunately, nearly three-quarters of America's wetlands are located on private land, allowing landowners to make significant changes and take protective action. As individuals, families, and businesses begin conserving and restoring privately owned wetlands, they can begin supporting local and regional efforts.

In addition to contributing time and money to local government initiatives designed to protect and restore wetlands, conservationists can start purchasing federal duck stamps at the post office. Sales from these stamps support the acquisition and management of wetlands throughout the United States. The federal government has also established the Clean Water Act Section 404, which supports applications for wetland regulatory program development.

Of course, individuals can support wetlands integrity by refraining from harmful behavior, such as altering wetlands as part of a construction project or using harmful fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides in the area. It can be helpful to establish buffer zones adjacent to wetlands so individuals know where the environment starts.

DU has played a major role in wetlands conservation since the organization’s founding in 1937. Information about DU conservation and sustainability efforts, including the 2023 annual report, can be found at www.ducks.org.

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #226

Brought to you by a marine biologist getting back on her feet...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

I know I've been gone for a while - it's not because of the new Pokemon game, although it helped. I'm back to finish up what I started. So, today, let's start with a blank slate - the white versions of the guppy, the freshwater angelfish, and the koi. [Long post warning because pictures!!!]

Specifically, these fish are the White Tuxedo Guppy, the White Butterfly Koi, and the White Angelfish. All three appeared once in AC Pocket Camp for its Fishing Tourney #27. The theme was "weddings" and occurred in June of 2020, so explains why they're all white.

We've already covered the taxonomy and delved deeper into these species elsewhere in the series. They are here -> Guppy, Koi, and Angelfish. For review, all three of these fish are freshwater species, native to different river systems, and all are species humans like to keep ornamentally. Likewise, these white versions represent specially bred specimens that not only feature a strange white coloring, but also different fin lengths and shapes. This is especially true for the butterfly koi, specifically known for its long, graceful fins.

But I want to take a "minute" to talk about pigments in the animal kingdom and then the certain genetic anomalies that fuck it up. So lets talk about pigment - what is it and what does it do? To sum it up very quickly, biological pigments, or biochromes, are molecules produced within specialized cells that absorb and reflect certain wavelengths of light, aka, they give animal skin, eyes, fur, etc. color. These colors assist animals in their daily lives, by providing camouflage for animals so that their prey or their predators don't see them coming or going, respectively. Other animals display color to communicate, either to attract a mate or tell a rival to back off. Pigments can even protect the skin from UV radiation (as is the function of melanin in human skin). This is all grade school science class stuff, but it's really important to ecology. Color and color patterns can tell you so much about how an animal lives its life, even without observation. But like all living functions, pigment can get messed up, too, and in a lot of ways.

By Stephenkniatt at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain

Perhaps the most famous pigment disorder is albinism. This disorder is characterized by an absence of pigmentation, turning the animal white (in plants, albinism is from the absence of chlorophyll). The term albinism has many incomplete definitions, however, we typically recognize it as a lack of melanin, which results in an all-white body and red eyes. It is especially apparent in mammals, where melanin is the only pigment we make! This disorder comes with a lot of drawbacks for any animal - an all-white body means they've lost the functions of their species' coloration, they have poor vision and eye development, hearing disorders, and, in some studies, the disorder is found to be "semi-lethal", generally reducing the life span. Fortunately, I don't think the ACPC wedding fish have this condition.

By The original uploader was Dawson at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 2.5,

I think our fish for today are Leucistic, in that they have a loss of much of their pigments, but not all. For the fish and for the snake above, pigment is absent in the scales, but the eyes are just fine. Leucism is often mistaken for albinism. The big difference between them is the severity and the pigments lost - albinism is a total lack of melanin, but leucism affects all the types of pigments found in the animal kingdom and at different intensities, and therefore can appear "partial", as seen in piebald individuals. And yes, all sorts of albinism and leucism are specifically bred for in the pet trade.

Erythrism is when an individual is strangely more red than usual. I don't have a lot to say about this one but to look it up on Google "erythristic animals" and see how utterly magical they look. Pink bugs are a guarantee.

Then there's Melanism, the exact opposite of albinism/leucism - it is the increased production of melanin, making an animal's skin, etc. very very dark, or completely black. Sometimes melanism gets out of hand and also dyes the inside of the animal black, as is the case with Ayem Cemani breed of chicken. Also worth a Google search: "melanistic animals". Enjoy.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

[bard-owl]

Modern Hunter Gatherer Techniques

In addition to any crops, livestock, or stockpiles at a long term homestead or retreat you would likely need to supplement your food for protein and calories to some extent. Either due to shortages or as a buffer against future ones. Maybe you're just sick of eggs for the moment so you decide to try something else and pickle the fresh eggs for later. This means leaving your main area to forage for additional food. If things have fallen apart for larger society this will mean people have gotten a lot more desperate and dangerous. If you have a group they can likely only spare a few people from the daily routine for this task. So safety and efficiency are paramount. Here are some thoughts on increasing your success.

First and foremost ALL of us have new things to learn. Tree stands, stalking, driven hunts, calling, tracking, none of us knows everything. Everyone is a student until they die, be a good one.

Archery is invaluable. Ammunition is a consumable while arrows are reusable. If a weapon is lost or damaged a bow is easier to replace than a firearm. A bow hunter or two with side arms backed up by a hunter with a long gun is probably ideal for most hardwoods.

Vary your firearms. Shotguns are incredibly versatile for hunting but the ammo is bulky and uses a lot of resources to reload. Straight wall cartridges lack range but are far more forgiving to handload/reload than bottleneck cartridges. However those longer range rifles provide a capability not found in the others. Seasons and migrating game dictate that there is no one-gun solution. Rotate tools as needed.

Traps, especially live traps are the most efficient way to catch small game. Fish traps are especially useful in this scenario as they are quite discreet once set. Birds, hogs, just about everything has been trapped over time and compiling a binder of different types and designs for future use is a good idea. I personally do not consider snares and leg hold traps as ethical, please research any tool you intend to use.

New battery, solar, and micro hydro technologies continue to advance and many electronics can be used without a power or cell grid. Game cameras to monitor animal populations, short wave radios for communications, repeaters increase range for both. Specialized lights for tracking wounded game or IDing tree'd game at night. Hunters have been very creative in the last hundred years and many tools exist.

Food plots help everyone. If you plant native or naturalized edible plants I'm the woods it feeds game and promotes biodiversity. You can even just put wood in damp, dark areas and cultivate nontoxic mushrooms for later. Just be careful but to introduce invasive species or diseases.

Positive identification is not a luxury, it is a necessity. You do not want to kill or maim something that wasn't your intended target. You don't want to eat or serve a mushroom, or berry, etc that's poisonous. Also learn the signs of disease in plants and animals.

Fruit that has fallen from bushes and trees is likely already rotting, and even if it isn't you need to take the same precautions as with ground vegetables.

Learn how your equipment works, learn what it needs to keep working. In addition to maintenance, you may find that making your own arrows, fishing tackle, or ammunition can be a rewarding hobby.

[batteryrose]

im late but ASK GAME TIME!! 1, 9, 21, 28, 36

Hey Mo I love you!! And that's a lot of numbers!!! Fine I'll answer them

Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

Wouldn't mind rewriting and bettering Tragedy Farce if only I have THE GODDAMN TIME

You also have to kill the perfectionist in you sometimes. I'd rather move on and make some other funky stuff

Thoughts on cliffhangers.

What about cliffhangers. I can be tricked into thinking bad stories are good if they have a good cliffhangers in every chapter or something....... So I'd say they're pretty important. You gotta make people keep reading somehow! I'm pretty bad at it myself though.

Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

I can't really. There is some intuition in shorter ones though. Usually those one shots with only one scene that I like writing will end up around 2k words. Somehow that's just how long all of them would be without me even checking the word count. And it would be enough, too. Crazy

As for my longer fics, they always end up double the amount of what I predicted lol

Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I think to write often you have to be amongst writers. Have some writer friends like this, who tags you in.. Asks games.

Seriously though, it seems to work best. Reading all your friends works and throwing your own out there to be read. It's a rhythmic cycle. There's nothing else more motivating. As for writing longer fics, I have a habit of not talking/sharing wips about it to anyone until it's finished. I probably should! You probably should. You can probably get better ideas from other people. You might also catch mistakes early. Either way, Use People.

What else... Mmmmmoh I usually continue reading a book first before I start writing because then the words flows out easier. But that might just be because I'm not a native english speaker. Get the english brain going. I think it'll work for everyone though.

When I'm so lazy and stubborn to write anything, I'll use an alarm to do those 25 min writing sprints. This I rarely do. It's only for my long fics that I procrastinate on horribly. It sort of works tho and after some days I'd start writing on my own without needing the alarm.

One other thing too maybe: draft on phone and edit on computer! Especially porn!! Cannot for the love of me ever do that on computer

How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

I like to reference things in titles basically. I'm not creative. If I'm stumped then I'll just steal some other people's titles. The Tragedy Farce one, for example, is a title of a philosophy book written by Slavoj Zizek, which is also referencing Marx's quote about Napoleon that says: "history repeats, first as tragedy then as Farce" or something like that (I think he was specifically talking about Napoleon III). 'Less than Nothing' is also a zizek book title, while also being something Leon himself said once. It's great.

Some other titles that reference things:

Sleipnir is a horse in nordic mythology who is ridden by Odin, who has eight legs, like the,,, eight princes of Rhodolite. So "Sleipnir's Second Limb" just means Chevalier. Through the pov character's view, he is seen as some sort of a God.

I know Nothing about norse mythology. I believe I was searching for just about any horse god out there to reference. I think this one is perfect.

"If the mountain won't come to Mochammad," and "God Between Us and All Harm" are both people sayings that I found by googling. I'm most proud of the Muhammad one. It fits PERFECTLY with Adam's dumb predicament there. As for the second one, it just sounds visceral with the content of the fic.

'Symptoms of Rosette Disease' is just some words. Honestly thinking of changing it. Rosette disease itself is a fascinating plant disease, that's why I used it. And it's supposed to mean the underlying prejudice and inequality that exists in Rhodolite, the kingdom of roses, or something. I'm Trying to be profound here

'The Skies Have Been Empty' is also a good one... It's just Wellington noticing that over the centuries the stars have been less visible (because of light pollution babyyyyyyyyyyyy) and since stars was how people find their way in the past, he now has lost his way in life, Something Something

That's all I have to say about titles. I just woke up.

[miraculous-trinity-leo]

Tᕼᗴ ᑕᕼᗩOTIᑕ ᗩᑎᘜᗴᒪ

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

Chapter 3: Au Revoir Gotham My True Home

•—–—–·†·–—–—•

Marinette explained what happened and that she didn't mean to cause trouble, she didn't know why the bats were looking for her (author to audience... it's because she looks like one of his bat kids gone rouge.) When she asked how they knew the Bat was looking for her, she found out that Selina was actually dating the Bat... So Marinette was very surprised at that, her family talked about it and a few days after her birthday she'll be going to Paris, France with Selina to be with a family friend of hers. Marinette was now really thinking she was cursed, but she made sure to take it in stride and spend as much time with her friends and family as possible.

"Doan wawhry suguh, we'll make sure tuh visit as much as possible, yuh can even visit us durin' summuh and wintuh break." - Harley held back the tears as she hugged Marinette, Bud, Lou, Ivy, Selina, Ed and even Frank joined in on it.

……… ………

Marinette was out with her friends still not sure how to tell them, she started with the obvious.

"Sooo... tomorrow I turn 10... the double digits." - Marinette

"Soon you'll be one of us!" - Garfield gave Marinette a side hug with a big smile, god he made it harder to tell them

"So what do you want to do? We can celebrate, tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that, heck we can celebrate for the whole week while we're at it!" - Garfield

Rachel noticed the sad smile Marinette had as Garfield continued talking.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" - Rachel's words stoped Garfield in his tracks, he then looked at a slightly teary Marinette, and he felt a slight tinge of pain in his chest.

"I- um, I'm moving this Saturday... I'm sorry I really don't want to, but- *hic* I-" - Marinette was cut off by Garfield giving her a hug, he rubbed small circles on her back as she let out a few sobs. Rachel patting her shoulder to try and comfort her.

After they were like that for a few minutes, they decided to get ice cream

……… ……… ………

"I'm sorry." - Marinette eating her chocolate chip ice cream

"It's not your fault Mari, besides, we can officially say we have a pen pal in Paris." - Garfield with his chocolate mint ice cream trying to lighten the mood, managed to get a chuckle out of Marinette.

"We can still video call, or text you. And your parents said you can visit on summer and winter break." - Rachel just starting her strawberry ice cream

"But what if I need a friend to talk to when I can't sleep? Or if I need a movie buddy? Or gaming buddy?" - Marinette

"There are online multiplayer games we can play you know." - Rachel

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll make friends over there really quickly, I mean you already know a few other languages, including French, so there isn't any communication problems." - Garfield

"I wish you guys could come with me..." - Marinette almost done with her ice cream

"... Didn't you say you always wanted a hamster, maybe one that's unique, like a the rare Green Gotham Hamster?" - Garfield with a mischievous grin

"Selina's family friends own a bakery, so no pets allowed. Sorry Rare Green Gotham Hamster, I'm afraid you're staying native to Gotham." - Marinette said patting his shoulder.

"Wait they own a bakery?! As in you can be on a sugar high 24/7?! Take me with you!!" - Garfield

……… ……… ………

Soon it was time for them to go home, when Marinette got home, she continued packing what she would need, making sure that her Siren plushies where safely secure, and then went to eat dinner.

The next day she made sure to get up early, Garfield and Rachel knew where she lived, and wanted to make sure everything was ready for them, setting up the games they would play into the night, and the movies they would watch after that.

She then went to the Gardens to greet her Mom and the plants, doing the usual routine of checking all the plants, complimenting and watering them. During which a sleepy Harley walked over giving Ivy and Marinette a morning kiss before going to make her coffee.

At breakfast she didn't see her Aunt yet, she assumed she was robbing someone rich again.

……… Over to Catwoman ………

"Come ta mama." - Catwoman mumbled as she used her claws to cut the glass surrounding an old elegant purple sapphire that belonged to one of Gotham's founding fathers' wives.

……… Back to Marinette ………

About an hour after breakfast Garfield and Rachel came over, holding Marinettes' rapped presents, they started the day off with trivia games, which they called the MIQ (which can mean either Marinette Isley-Quinzel or in this case Memory Intelligence Quiz) which Marinette and Rachel came to a tie followed by Ivy, then Harley, and Garfield. They then moved on to board games, Marinette decided to play The Game of Life rather than Monopoly (because lets be honest, who has ever finished that game in the time of a signle day? An extreme speedrunner... maybe.) while the adults got the cake ready. Surprisingly Garfield won, he got the acting career, a sports car, a nice old fashioned mid modern house, a wife, and 3 kids... Marinette got the fashion designer career, got a motorcycle, and a small, but nice victorian house, a husband, and one kid... and Rachel got the scientist career (because science is just simplified mortal magic), a delorean car (and even said "Since science is magic I can make it fly, so technically, I don't need roads where I'm going."), a modern cabin in the woods, single (she didn't want a significant other to interrupt her magic science) and got a pet bird.

Once Selina and Ed came over, they began the party, playing games like DDR, Ultimate Mecha Strike 2, and Racing games.

When it came time for Marinette to blow out her candles, she wished that everything would be okay, and that she will be able to come back to Gotham permanently, and blew them out.

She then got to open her presents, she started with Harley's, and got a custom baseball bat that was a dark steel blue, with a light grey handle grip, and it had the words "Quinn For Da Win" on it, putting a smile on her face, when she opened Ivy's gift she got seeds of her favorite flowers to plant over in Paris. She then opened her Uncle Ed's gift, which was a small watch that had special A.I., it had a cover over the inside screen that would flip open to reveal another screen. The cover was silver with a blue question mark, and when it opened, it showed the time, and the location you where in, it could also act as a GPS, and a phone (it could even play music AND had an incredible battery life span). She then moved on to her Aunt Selina's gift, finding a small purple sapphire in the shape of a cat paw, surrounded in silver. She then opened Rachel's gift, it was a travel mug that said "Coffee lives in my veins." (Marinette started drinking coffee recently) which made Marinette laugh, and then she got to Garfield's gift. When she opened it, she found a handmade charm bracelet, it had animals that she really liked around it, and there was one that was a small tiger, with it's eyes and nose having a light green peridot stone, to represent the first day they met. She put the bracelet on her right rist and thanked Garfield for it, and gave everyone a big hug.

She spent the rest of the day playing with her friends, having a wonderful time, and getting a massive sugar rush from all the cake they had. When it came time for dinner they were running low on energy, but were back to normal after Harley snuck some coffee into their food... The only thoughts that went through Garfield and Rachel's minds where "That's why Mari drinks this stuff..."

After dinner they played all kinds of video games, and ended it by watching Back To The Future. They fell asleep some time after 2am.

……… ……… …….

The next morning they all had breakfast and then spent the day playing parkour tag over roofs and playing I spy games. And at the end of the day Marinette gave her friends a big hug, before heading back home. She spent her time with her moms, Uncle, and Frank, playing more boardgames and discussing what she should do to make friends...

"Just be yawhself, we love yuh fawh who yuh are, and I'm sure everyone in Paris will love yuh too... if dey doan, den dey most likely have a massive defective reject of a brain." - Was Harley's opinion

"Riddle the f-ck out of their brain, if they can solve all of them, and like you for you, then they are worthy." - Which was Ed's opinion

"Use a chemical based compound from the magnolia flower, combined with three tulip petals, one rose petal, and pollen from a lilac to create a befriending potion." - Ivy's words made everyone silent before Ed spoke up

"... Harley if you're being mind controlled blink." - Ed deadpaned, which had Marinette cackling

"I'm not bein' mind controlled, also yuh nawhmally say ‘blink once or twice’ not just ‘blink’ I could blink at any random interval and yuh woun't know what tuh tink, and here I thoughtcha were a genius." - Harley with her head on Ivy's lap as Marinette starts wheezing.

"I think y'all broke her." - Frank just pointed to Marinette as she was still cackling and wheezing while in the fetal position.

That's when Selina walked in...

"What the hell did you guys do to Kitten?!" - Selina dropping the bags she got from some high end shop, and after they made sure Marinette was still alive they continued their game... and Marinette may have actually written the list of ingredients for that position, but only as a last resort. When it was time for them to sleep Marinette spent the night with her moms, like she use to when she was 4.

She got up early to make sure everything was ready, she had her sketch book in her backpack, as well as some pencils, ear buds, snacks and a picture of her with her family and friends. She decided to wear her new watch and charm bracelet as she finished checking her bag, she then went into the garden to say goodbye to all the plants, and to give Bud, Lou and Frank one last goodbye. She had about 3 hours before her and her Aunt were to head to the airport, and she spent that time with her moms, almost never leaving their side.

……… ……… …….

As the plane took off she looked out the airplane window, saying goodbye to Gotham, until her next visit home....

•—–·★·–—•

Chapter 3 complete, also just in case I didn't describe her B-day gifts good enough, here's what they look like (꒪꒳꒪)

Hope you're all having an amazing day, staying safe and rockin' all positive vibes,!BUG-OUT! 💮🐞💮

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜Tag List〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

1st Place★: @jumpingjoy82

2nd Place★: @myazael

3rd Place★: @solangelo252

@fandom-trapped-03, @zorua-adorable, @blueblossombliss, @thefangirlwholiterallydies, @woe-is-me0, @lady-bee-fechin, @jayjayspixiepop, @kashlyn, @toodaloo-kangaroo, @buginetye, @our-preciousss , @vroomtaka, @alessialeone6997

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Gold/Silver Beta Pokemon: The April 2020 Leak

Look, 2020 was a rough year. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that the April 2020 Gold/Silver source code leak flew almost entirely under my radar. If you Google about it, you’re find it’s very rare for news outlets to cover it. This is probably because many folks are hesitant to cover leaks. Also, the US was warming up to a truly awful pandemic around that point, not to mention other civil unrest, so it’s no surprise some people were a tad distracted. 

But the fact is, another leak turned up in April of last year, following a recent trend of huge Nintendo leaks. And this one was a doozy. I’ve only truly realized its full extent in the past few days. As such, I’d like to do a post that covers some of the new information. In particular, I’m focusing on beta pokemon that were cut or heavily reworked.

Now, back in 2018, the Spaceworld ‘97 Pokemon Gold/Silver Demo was leaked online. I made a post about some of my favorites. So, from this leak, we already knew of a while slew of beta pokemon. However, as it turns out, there were still more new faces to find-- and a lot of them! I list 45 new beta pokemon here, in fact!

In the April 2020 leak, several sprite sets were found as internal files, each at different phases of game production. The sprite sets were dated May 6, 1998, June 13, 1999, June 21, 1999, and September 17, 1999. The August 17, 1999 Spaceworld ‘99 Demo build was also found, so we have information on that as well.

Essentially, if you want to see this information at The Cutting Room Floor, then head to this page for the sprites discovered as internal backups/sprite banks. Head to this page for the Spaceworld ‘99 demo information page. And, if you need a refresher for the older leak, you can go to this page for the Spaceworld ‘97 demo build.

For this post, we will focus on the May 6, ‘98 set of sprites, which contain the vast majority of new faces. So, without further ado, onward to the pokemon!

(#300) Kokopelli Pokemon/Celebi

(May 6, ‘98)       (Spaceworld ‘99 Demo)

This first pair of sprites looks very much like Kokopelli, a fertility deity of some Native American cultures. This deity can be seen in ancient Native American petroglyphs, as a humpbacked flute player with feathers on the head. Surprisingly, we find that Celebi in the Spaceworld ‘99 Demo seems to be an updated version of this design, making Celebi’s design origins much different than expected. However, its fertility diety inspiration is still somewhat apparant in the modern Celebi, as a creature that causes plant life to flourish.

(#301) Eel Pokemon

While the sprite files did not reveal a name or other data, this eel’s sprites were numbered right beside the Gurotesu (Grotess) and Ikari (Anchorage) sprites, suggesting it once was the start of their evolution chain. 

(#304) Fire Fox Pokemon

This little fellow is a fox that seems to have a fiery tail. It’s possible this fire fox was inspired by kitsune (just as Vulpix/Ninetails were) and that it was later redesigned as Fennekin. 

(#305 - 308) Snow Bunny Evolution Line

These four pokemon seem to belong to the same evolutionary line. The second one seems to based on the Yuki Usagi, a ‘Snow Bunny.’ In Japan, these cute little critters are made in the snow (using leaves for the ears). They also sometimes make these Yuki Usagi as little marshmallow or mochi treats. So this pokemon line could be inspired by either of these. Considering the leaves and the snow, I would guess these would have been Grass/Ice. 

(#309) Elephant Pokemon

You might wonder if this chonky boy-- looking tough with horns on his head and back-- was an early version of Donphan, but Donphan and Phanpy were present in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo. Indeed, this elephant and Phanpy/Donphan both exist in the same set of sprites from May ‘98, so it was simply a case of two types of elephants. This pokemon also calls to mind a glimpse of a cut beta pokemon we saw from Generation 1 (from ‘Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Made Pokémon’):

Same fierce eyes, at any rate! Alas, these both never saw the light of day. However, it’s possible this elephant was reworked into Piloswine, which is not in the May ‘98 collection but does appear in the June 13 ‘99 collection (although Swinub is absent). While Piloswine and Swinub are more akin to wild boars, there is also some relation to mammoths (an inspiration more heavily leaned on with Mammoswine in later games). Then again, there’s another pokemon you’ll see a little further down this list that might have inspired Piloswine instead.

(#311) Natu/Xatu Mid-Evolution

What is clearly a mid-evolution (its file number sits between the two). Has a peacock-like tail. Honestly, I think this works really good as a mid-evolution, and I don’t know why it was cut. I want to name it “Watu.”

(#313) Drunk Kiwi Pokemon

This one is just hilarious to look at. It appears to probably be a kiwi-bird? A very crazy-eyed, loopy one. I can see why this one was cut. The goofy, simple design kind of looks like a knockoff cartoon character for children. 

(#314) Scorpion Pokemon

A pretty badass-looking scorpion, although a rather basic design. I dig the funky head, though. It seems like it has a single, beady eye and is rather menacing. This pokemon may have been later reworked into Gligar, a pokemon that first appears after this sprite set, in the June 13 ‘99 group:

Admittedly this is rather different from the Gligar we know, but it is an early design.

Or, who knows-- maybe this little fellah was later reworked into Skorupi. (If so, it’s a shame, as I don’t dig the weird accordian-like design of its limbs and its evolution.)

(#315) Quail Pokemon

A pudgey little quail pokemon. Doesn’t seem related to the kiwi pokemon. It’s a very cute little thing, and has lots of potential to evolve into something interesting, but it seems they scrapped it pretty quickly.

(#316) Music Note Bird Pokemon

Although these sprites are numbered right after the quail, and they are both birds, the designs are very different, so they seem unrelated. It seems the beta pokemon were simply blessed with a lot of birds. This little bird is in the shape of a clef, giving this bird a musical theme. It seems very likely it was later reworked into Chatot, a bird with a music-note shaped head and metronome tail.

(#319) Boar Pokemon

A cute, grumpy little boar with antlers. Probably what eventually led to Piloswine found in the June 13 ‘99 group. A bit of a shame, in my mind, as I kind of prefer this design.

(#325) Spikey Dog Pokemon

The curious thing is that this dog looks very similar to “Pudi,” a pokemon we saw in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, which was intended to be a pre-evolution of Growlithe. But Pudi is also in this same collection of sprites!

Perhaps they were toying with the idea of re-designing Pudi (and had already scrapped a bunch of baby pokemon) and just hadn’t bothered to remove the old Pudi yet. It’s hard to say. Ultimately, these both were scrapped, but at least we still have Subbull/Granbull.

(#331) Yūrei Ghost Pokemon

This little ghost has two things that are common in Japanese folklore: the hitaikakushi (the white cloth headband it wears) and the two little balls of fire called hitodama. It is unknown why this ghost pokemon was scrapped, but perhaps they thought the little fellow wouldn’t translate well overseas? 

(#344) Viking Ship Pokemon

Look at this beauty! A pokemon based off some sort of Viking ship. I absolutely adore this one. It’s creative and charming. I hope to see it in the future.

(#349) Wooly Dog Pokemon

This canine-like creature is fluffy as all out. Honestly I think it’s a tad odd, with how tangled and disheveled its fur looks. I can’t help but compare it to the early desings of the three Legendary Beasts, since they also are very canine-like:

These three designs are present in this same May 6, 98′ sprite collection as the representations of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Were they possibly playing with a different design idea for the Legendary Beasts? Perhaps Suicune. The Wooly Dog is just such an imposing sprite, that I can’t help but wonder. All pure speculation, of course. 

(#350) Rabbit Pokemon

This rabbit has a rather intense look about him, and it makes me curious what the ideas were behind it. TCRF suggests it’s a possible pikachu clone.

(#351) Snake Pokemon

This cute little worm or snake seems to be wearing a feather headdress, suggesting its design may also be Native American inspired, like the Natu line. On the other hand, this could be inspired by Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent deity in Aztec culture. I would have loved to see this little guy’s evolutions.

(#352) Scarecrow Bird

A bird with a hat that kind of looks like a scarecrow. Honestly, it’s a super-cute idea.

(#353) Gargoyle Pokemon

This crouching beastie sort of looks like a gargoyle with a long, sharp tail. I can’t quite tell if those bits on the side are little wings or just a part of its legs. It would be interesting to see this creature standing in a different position-- I feel like that would give us a better understanding of what it looks like. Interestingly, there are striking similarities with Aerodactyl:

I wonder why they are so similar?

(#354 - 356) Manbō Evolution Family

The first of these three fishies was someone we already met in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo-- it was named ‘Manbō 1.′ In the demo, it evolved into  Ikari (Anchorage) and then Gurotesu (Grotess). It seems it’s now been split off from those and given a new evolution family here. While I find that neat, and I quite like the expressions on these fish, they are admittedly a little bland. 

(#360) Flying Squirrel(?) Pokemon

TCRF guesses this is a flying squirrel, and it seems to be wearing a sheathed sword. Not sure about the headgear it’s sporting. Is that a ninja star? 

(#364) Early Cyndaquil

So, this May 6, ‘98 collection is really exciting. The original Gold/Silver fire starter line we saw in Spaceworld ‘97 (Honooguma’s line) is still present in this collection (as is the water-type ‘Cruz’ line and Chikorita’s line). So, what we have here seems to be an early Cyndaquil before they decided to turn it into a fire type and make it the fire starter! In fact, those spikes might even be icicles (like Alolan Sandslash), for all we know. If so, Cyndaquil’s typing pulled a 180.

(#377) Early Furret?

Possibly an early Furret. Looks pretty awkward, not gonna lie; I’m glad it was probably refined into modern Furret, with more body definition between the head and tail.

(#378) Stork Pokemon

It’s a stork, based on the myth of where babies come from. A cute idea, although its curly ‘hair’ looks a little funny to me. 

(#380) Squid Pokemon

A squid with drills for its mantle and arms. Since that’s kinda Beedrill’s thing, I’m glad they scrapped the idea. The backsprite lacks drills so it’s probably from a different design stage. 

(#382 - 383) Early Burmy/Pineco

Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim is based off the bagworm. Bagworms are grubs that use silk and lots of bits of leaves, bark and other objects to create a camouflaged cocoon. When they turn into adults, some species of female bagworms just look like their larval stage, while the males turn into winged moths. That is why Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim have their unique evolution situation. Clearly, these two beta pokemon are playing around with the bagworm idea. They probably went on to inspire both Pineco (another pokemon based on bagworms!) and the Burmy line in gen 4.

(#386) Koala Pokemon

It’s so cool to see they were thinking about a koala pokemon this early. We would not finally get one until gen 7′s Komala.

(#387) Tanuki Pokemon

A Tanuki that is carrying campfire kindling on his back, but the kindling has caught fire. Apparently based on the Kachi-Kachi Yama folktale, which is a surprisingly violent story, but I suppose folktales often are. Who knows why it was cut, but Sentret is the closest thing we have to a tanuki pokemon for now.

(#392) Megaphone(?) Bird Pokemon

Yet another bird pokemon! There sure were a lot of beta birds. This one appears to have a megaphone-shaped beak. Or, possibly, its head is shaped like a gas mask (the strange eyes seem  to support this idea). Honestly I really dig the look of this one.

(#397) Frog Pokemon

It’s tough to tell but it has a small horn on its head. It has a long tongue and is probably shouting “ribbithhhhhh!” It’s cute, but a little plain.

(#400) Tiny Hippo Pokemon

Look at this little weirdo. I think it’s a tiny hippo? With a mohawk and a big grin and wild eyes. It doesn’t really seem to have a head, its mouth/eyes/ears are just stuck directly to a body. Looks pretty awkward, probably needed some polish. No idea what they were going for with it, but it’s interesting.

(#401) Skeleton Pokemon

A very spooky, bipedal, living skeleton beast. It has a long snout and sharp teeth, almost like a crocodile or a dinosaur-like creature. Its head and shoulders have bony spikes and the front of its snout has markings that seem to be a nasal cavity. Very detailed. It also reminds me of Missingno, as some Missingno used the fossil skeletons as their front sprites. I would have loved to have this pokemon, and it’s a real shame they didn’t use it.

(#402) Rodent Pokemon

A mouse or bunny with gigantic, spotted ears and no arms. Those are some serious ears; it almost looks like it could fly with them. 

(#403) Fly Pokemon

A bug-type!! It has a huge, creepy face, curly antenna and wings strangely really close to its head. I love it?? But it’s a bug, so of course I do.

(#404) Plant Pokemon

The Snow Bunny was likely part grass-type, but other than that, this is our first grass beta! It has one eye, a spikey head, and almost foot-like roots. I love how grumpy it looks. There’s a possibility it was a pre-evolution for Sunflora, before they had created the idea of Sunkern (which is not present in this collection).

(#405) Ant Pokemon

Another bug!! This one looks a lot like a winged ant. (Those do exist-- usually a temporary thing for mating flights) It’s possibly related to the fly pokemon above, sporting very similar wings. However, it doesn’t really seem like an evolution.

(#406) Dinosaur Pokemon

A little dinosaur-like pokemon, looking up at you. It’s unclear if that’s a tough, bony skull, or if it’s maybe a hat. The clubbed tail makes me wonder if it’s related to #415 below, but it’s probably unlikely. However, it is pretty likely that this later became Cranidos.

(#407) Early Cherrim

This clearly was a design that was picked up later, in gen 4, to create Cherubi/Cherrim’s sunshine form. I am glad the design was improved, because the lips on this one scare me.

(#412) Early Dunsparce

Dunsparce looking quite different. No wings, no drill tail, with a much more typical snake-like face. 

(#415) Dinosaur Pokemon

It looks like an aquatic version of an Ankylosaurus or something similar. It’s possible it’s related to the Viking Ship pokemon (as a pre-evo), but there’s no way to know. I quite like it, though.

(#416) Flying Fish Pokemon

This magnificent beast, this miracle of creation, is surely my favorite beta pokemon of all time. Revel in its glory. You may not like it, but this is the ideal pokemon body. What a perfect way to round off our collection of betas.

[gladerwolfstarkimagines]

Imagine impressing Wing and Wei with your metal bending and them developing a rivalry over you. 

You and Korra were walking around Zafou and you kept edging back to the metal bending arena, not so subtly trying to watch the metal bending game Wing and Wei were playing. Korra smirked noticing and stopped so you could watch properly, she knew you’d wanted to come to the metal bending city since you were a kid. Wing and Wei noticed they had an audience and smirked showing off a little. You supposed they had lots of girls turn up to watch them play but you were only interested in the metal bending...mostly.  “Hey Korra wanna join?” one of the twins called and Korra smiled awkwardly. “I’d love to but I can’t metal bend...y/n can though” she said gesturing to you. “Why don't you give it a try?" Korra asked and you saw the twins frown "she can mental bend? We thought she was your cousin or something?". You always got this, you didn’t look like an earth bender and to be fair you hadn’t lived much of an earth bender life. You mother and home were in the southern water tribe but thanks to your earth nation father who loved to travel and fell in love with your mother you were born the first and only earth bender of the southern water tribe. Seeing as there were no earth bending teachers around when Korra’s earth bending teacher came to teach her they let you train with her and you became fast friends. Despite inheriting your dad’s bending abilities that was all you got from the earth nation, you’d taken after your mother looks wise and so looked like a native water tribesman and always got suprised reactions when you'd bend earth instead of water. Just like Wing and Wei’s reaction. "Her names y/n and no she's from the southern water tribe but she's an earth bender" Korra called back protectively. "And i can metal bend too" you added embarassed Korra was doing all the talking for you. You could tell from their expressions they weren’t fully convinced and so hopped onto the court to show them. "Probably better than you" you added confidently and saw that light a competative spark in them. "Let’s see" one of the twins, Wing you thought, smirked. "We'll go easy on you at first" the other one smiled patronisingly and you raised an eyebrow. He sent the disk at you and you side stepped it rather than using bending. The other twin sent another at you and you dodged that one easily because of how slow they were sending them. “We thought you were a metal bender, what are you scared?” Wing called and you locked eyes with him. He launched another disk your way and you slammed it back at him. It crashed into the wall beside Wing’s head and crumpled apart. Both of them stared at you shocked how aggresive you suddenly were. "Woop go y/n" Korra called and you saw the boys narrow their eyes. "Okay so you can metal bend" Wing called and you smirked "you’re observant". He narrowed his eyes and launched another disk at you, faster this time but you batted it away just as easily. Then Wei launched some attacks and you deflected them right back at him making him duck. Wing sent more at you, sending multiple disks at you to try and overwhelm you but you didn’t even break stance as you hit them aside. You could tell Wing was getting more frustrated than his brother, he was glancing to the sides of the court where a crowd of his family and your friends had gathered to watch. You figured he was embarassed to be losing at a game he’d invented and smirked, you weren’t done with these twins yet. It was Wei’s turn to attack you and you were fixed on him when straight after Wei had sent his first disk Wing sent some at you too. They sped towards you and you panicked slightly trying to comprehend the disks flying at you from two different locations. You took out Wei’s disk first then Wing’s but Wing kept sending more. Wei smirked and joined in, it was now two on one. You heard Bolin cry out that wasn’t fair but you only concentrated harder, only Korra could beat you at earth bending and you weren’t going to add more names to that list. You planted your feet and refused to give up your position. You bent one of the disks on it’s return and caught Wei’s leg ruining his balance. You smirked and with a flick of your wrist reversed the disk’s direction making it crash into Wei’s back sending him sprawling onto his stomach, flat on the floor. Wing stood infront of him and now it was one on one. Disks flew back and forth and your posture slipped in the effort to beat him, you wanted to win so badly. Finally Wing made a mistake and let his guard down his defense sloppy. You slammed a disk into Wing's chest and he fell backwards over Wei. "Wooo hooooo" Bolin screamed "that’s how we earth bend in republic city...metal bend...well you know what i mean". You smiled as even Wei and Wing’s family clapped and you walked over to the twins. "Hey good fight are you okay?" you asked and offered a hand to help them up. Wei took your help but Wing didn’t "who taught you to metal bend like that?". "Some crazy lady i meet visiting some relatives in a swamp" you shrugged honestly and Wing snorted "fine don’t tell us" and barged past you. You stared after him concerned and Wei chuckled. "Don’t worry he's just a sore loser" Wei smiled at you "you were great by the way, the best i’ve ever seen". You smiled "thanks". “You should’ve visited Zafou earlier” Wei grinned “metal benders are rare and you seem to be a pretty special one”. You blushed but smirked “you’re not bad either” and Wei smirk grew. 

You friends soon seperated you from the twins but that didn’t mean your interest hadn’t been peaked by them. That night Suyin planned a large feast and you were pleased to see you’d been sat between the twins. You noticed Wing shifted away from you as you sat down but Wei positivly beamed at you. You chatted with the more social of the metal being twins, who was flirting pretty shamelessly, when Wing stood up abruptly and stormed from the room. Suyin followed and you frowned. You tried getting back on with dinner but couldn’t help but wonder if Wing’s bad mood was because of you. Now your adrenaline had died down you wondered if you’d been too intense in the match. Maybe you’d injured or offended him in some way, you had hit him pretty hard in your rush to win and you always got pretty heated with the trash talk. As soon as Suyin re-entered you leant over to her "Is Wing okay?" You asked “I noticed he seemed tense, I didn’t injure him did I?”. Suyin smiled "no you didn’t injure him, atleast not physically, Wing’s fine". "He’s just been sulking in his room all day" Huan called and your gaze shot to him. Wei hit him over the head and Suyin touched your arm "it’s okay y/n it’s not your fault, Wing’s just always had trouble losing". You nodded thoughtfully “I get that, I’m very competative too”. “Thats an under statement” Korra commented making everyone laugh. "You’re like Wing in that way then” she smiled “don’t worry he’ll get over it I promise”. You nodded but still couldn’t concentrate on your meal.

You excused yourself to go to the bathroom and went down the coridoor you knew Suyin had said was her familie’s quarters. The room doors were helpfully marked with the name of the sibling who owned them and you stopped outside Wing’s. You knocked and heard a muffled call. You pushed the door open and caught Wing mid reply “Wei I swear to.. ow you" he said spotting you and going quiet. You raised your hands in a peace offering “hi, i just wanted to check why you left dinner, i hope it wasn’t because of me". Wing dropped his eyes "you know it is". You frowned "but why? Can’t a girl be better than you?". "No it’s not because you’re a girl". "Then what is it?" You asked. “I just don’t like to lose okay, metal bendings always been the thing i’m best at, even better than Wei though he won’t admit it and the fact someone who hadn’t even played the game before could take me on like that...” he trailed off “you caught me off guard, looking at you I didn’t think you’d be that good...not that I’ve been looking at you a lot” he babbled and you smirked. “Well if it makes you feel better we can always have a rematch?” you asked “now you know how, and i’m quoting you here, good i am”. Wing smiled “yeah that’d be good, wanna go right now?” he asked jumping up and you frowned. “I think your mom’s put a lot of effort into the meal your missing” you replied “plus i’m hardly dressed for it” you said glancing down at the dress Asami had gotten you into. “Ow yeah...” Wing nodded “well tomorrow then? Me and Wei train in the mornings, you could join us?”. “Deal” you agreed and Wing smiled at you brightly. Someone coughed from the doorway making you jump and you turned to see Wei. “So this is where you got to” Wei commented and you blushed to be found sneaking around his home “yeah I came to find Wing”. “and we made up" Wing jumped in and Wei smiled "that’s good..." glancing between the two of you. "It’s true" you nodded "Wing invited me to train with you guys tomorrow if that’s okay with you?". Wei nodded "that’s fine with me" he smiled leaning against the door frame "maybe you can teach us some of those moves from today". "I’ll try" you nodded "not sure how quick you’ll pick them up though". Wei grinned "still in fighting talk mode i see". Wei went to come further into the room when Wing moved suddenly "we should go back to dinner". You looked at him and he turned to you "i’ll come back with you, lets go". You nodded and Wing gestured for you to go before him "ladies first". You smiled at him and headed towards the door. When you reached Wei he extended his arm to you making you smirk. “I know where the dining room is Wei” you told him and Wei smiled “I know but I could escort you there? I mean you are our guest, it’s only polite”. "Sure because grabbing a girl you just met today is so polite" Wing replied appearing on your other side. You smirked at Wing’s comment but took Wei’s arm as they jointly led you back to the dining room. “Wing” Su smiled “I see y/n managed to convince you to come back”. “Yeah she did” Wing blushed and Wei smirked “she can work magic apparently as well as metal bending”. The others laughed and Wing hit Wei’s arm.

Suyin watched as her sons bickered both of them blatantly showing off infront of you while you chatted to Korra not even aware of their show. “I think your sons are going to kill each other in competition” Lin commented and Suyin smirked. “No they’re brothers, they’ll behave maturely and....” she trailed off as Wing flicked a pea at Wei behind your back for cutting him off from talking to you. “They’re going to fight like it’s war” Lin commented and Su sighed “i’m sure they’ll work it out” but Wing and Wei did seem pretty invested in you. You managed to get their attention good and fully in the 24 hours you’d been here, god only knows what would happen in the coming days. “She doesn’t have a twin does she? A sister perhaps?” Suyin asked and Lin smirked “nope! Only child”. Su sighed as her boys watched as you left the room with Korra utterly transfixed. “Yeah this is going to get messy I hope they don’t come on too strong”. “That girls been the avatar’s sparing partner for years, trust me she can handle your boys, if I was you i’d worry for them” Lin smirked. 

[kisathemistress]

New headcannon:

Revonnahganders love milk & meat, and are almost as viciously obsessed with it, as Albedo is when near an unguarded plate of chili fries.

Rook grew up on a very strict diet of Amber Ogia based foods, which is the only plant Revonnahganders can get all of their needed nutrients from on their planet, as before he was born his village vowed to become 100% vegan. Most Revonnahgander tribes and other communities on Revonnah are hunters, Rook's home village is one of the few exceptions to the lifestyle and preferred farming & gathering for survival.

The Plumbers only got in proper contact with communities like Rook's, because other Revonnahgander communities are too violent/primitive/xenophobic and just see the Plumbers as easy prey to hunt. The Muroids evolved to combat Revonnahgander hunters, by developing tough hides and foul tasting fluids being released upon death to keep from being targeted. Revonnah lacks a diverse ecosystem as most wild game had been hunted and the planet was heading towards a great famine in some areas, that is why Amber Ogia farming settlements were starting to appear and Muroids have become such a prevalent pest.

When Rook first tried a meat based dish, he almost went fearl and gave into his natural hunting instinct his species evolved. The Plumbers had to restrain him at the academy for nearly 3 Earth months, before he regain enough sense to stop acting on instinctive behaviours. When he transferred to Earth before meeting Ben, he had the nickname "Mouser" because he'd regularly catch rodents to satisfy his cravings and get embarrassingly called out on the behaviour by his superiors, which kept him in line. He was ecstatic to learn he could easily satisfy his cravings for meat through meat ball subs on Earth once he was allowed to roam freely.

He drank Earth cow milk which his body converted into a substance that acts close to how alcohol affects humans. After a bender that lasted three Earth weeks and ended with one of his stomachs being pumped twice, he had to attend an Addiction Anonymous program directed towards aliens that become addicted to foreign substances not found native to their home planet. By the end of the program he learned to control himself somewhat when drinking milk or having anything with dairy in it.

Ben finds it funny how Rook gets whenever he's "drunk" on milk, so he regularly tries to convince Rook to have a milkshake or "Milk Smoothie", whenever they are at Mr. Smoothies. He doesn't know Rook had to go to AA or that Revonnahganders have strong prey drives after being exposed to food containing meat. Rook never explained this to Ben either, since he still wants to indulge his natural behaviours without getting in trouble or shamed by a superior.

[delimeful]

the end of being alone (3)

Ch 1 | Ch 2 |

warning: mentions of fear, crocodiles, discussion of teeth

-

Logan found himself grateful that he’d made arrangements to postpone their other jobs for a bit, because it looked as though they’d be staying firmly on this planet’s surface for a while.

There had been all of one attempt to bring Virgil aboard the Mindscape, and it had resulted in a significant amount of crying from both the child and Patton. Whatever circumstances had led the Human to this planet, it had left them deeply fearful of any sort of spacefaring vessel.

… This did not annul Logan’s suspicions about smuggling, though he was careful not to say as much in front of Virgil. The child was keen, and any time the fact that they were a Human was mentioned, they withdrew and began displaying body language that Logan believed indicated a desire to flee. Checking that exits were still there, putting space between themself and any of the Mindscape’s crew, anxious tics, and so forth.

Needless to say, they avoided the topic.

However, to Logan’s surprise, the child didn’t seem at all adverse to basic questions about themself. Understanding their responses was rare, of course, but the kid was picking up on Common with a shocking quickness, and Roman had turned out to be rather talented at interpreting their gestures when they didn’t have the right words.

The data that Logan had collected from these inquiries was both strange and intriguing. He’d carefully woven a mental list of it all.

1. Virgil seemed to identify by he/him, though whether that was an actual gender preference or simply a child wanting to be called the same pronouns as the three of them was up for debate. Either way, Logan seriously doubted that there was any way to convey the nebulous concept of gender through a language barrier, so he let the matter lie.

2. After eating too fast, Virgil would convulse slightly in a semi-rhythmic pattern for a short period. He didn’t seem alarmed or pained by this, only slightly irritated when it would interrupt him mid-sentence. The condition of ‘hiccups’ was thankfully temporary, since it made Roman quite jumpy. For their tiny, squeaking nature, Patton had called them ‘hicchirps’, which was ridiculous, but Virgil seemed to enjoy any and all wordplay that made it through his grasp of the language, so Logan stowed his complaints.

3. Virgil was terrified of the locals. Despite being plainly evident, this observation didn’t make sense at first, seeing as the nearby town consisted primarily of native Hiiynal and a few offplanet transfers, none of which could be described as particularly dangerous or violent. After a few days of gentle questioning and no reprimands for not answering, Virgil finally told them that the locals would ‘chase monsters far away’ and so he couldn’t risk getting near. Questioning was temporarily halted in favor of showing the Human the art of shadow symmetry, for purely scientific reasons, of course. 

(Supposition: Human children enjoyed movement games.)

4. While the synthetic meat from the ration kits was accepted by Virgil, he showed a surprising preference for sweeter food items, such as fruit and sugar crystals. Seeing as Humans were rumored to be obligate carnivores or even raw flesh-eaters, this was a strange discrepancy. Virgil had even eaten some of the leafy vegetables Logan had brought, face pinched up in disgust but insisting that eating ‘greens’ would make one tall. It was unclear to Logan what color had to do with nutrients or growth. He was also slightly alarmed at the implication of Virgil being short for his age.

5. Virgil seemed, for all intents and purposes, fixated on Roman.

The latest data point was a work in progress. Logan hadn’t mentioned it to Roman himself, because the Cravon was already fairly worked up over everything the Human did as it was. Nobody seemed sure if this jumpiness was because of the Human child, or on behalf of it.

Still, it was present in little ways. For example, even as he answered Logan’s latest series of questions, his gaze would occasionally flicker up from his hands to Roman, who sat at the mouth of the little cave, carefully peeling more fruit. It wasn’t about the food; Patton had taken it upon himself to make sure the child knew he only had to ask to get something to eat. No, this  ‘almost-staring’ was a frequent occurrence, no matter what Roman preoccupied himself with.

“You were saying you met… Susan… when another predator was attacking it?”

Virgil nodded, hurriedly looking back to his hands. “It was a big bite monster, and Susan was loud crying, so I did, uh,” he lifted his arms up, hands spread wide, “this, and I was loud at it until it ran away. Like raccoons back on Dirt.”

Dirt was apparently Virgil’s name for his home. Logan hadn’t heard of ‘raccoons’ before. He decided not to get sidetracked. “I’d estimate the creature you saw was a Lifel. They are the natural predators of Humlilts.”

“Natural?” Virgil mimicked.

“It means ‘of nature’,” Logan attempted to clarify, gesturing around them. “In the wild.”

Virgil only grew more confused with the wide, encompassing gesture. “Sky? Was not flying.”

Logan glanced at Roman, checking that he was still preoccupied. Patton was back at the ship, contacting a friend for advice. There seemed no better opportunity if he wanted to avoid overwhelming Virgil.

“Virgil, would you like to try something new?” he asked, carefully neutral. It wouldn’t do to put any pressure on the child.

The Human squinted at him slightly, quick to use his most common phrase. “Will it hurt?”

“It will not hurt,” Logan replied, ignoring the tightening in his core with careful practice. It always felt so wrong, that a mere pupa would be so familiar with hurt. “I will always tell you if something might hurt.”

“Mmm.” The Human hummed, the way he always did when they told him such things. Like he wasn’t sure if he could believe it. “What’s it?”

“What is it,” Logan corrected automatically. “It is something I can do, to show you new words. Want to try a little bit, first?” That was the phrase they used for new foods, but it applied well enough to mindsharing.

Virgil clenched and unclenched his hands for a moment longer before nodding, going a little tense like he expected something unpleasant. Logan held a hand out to him, waiting until he’d reached out in return to start sharing.

Small, simple flashes of images and sensations. Quiet forests, shallow oceans, clean air. Plants, bugs, animals, humanoids, living and dying and living again. Nature.

Virgil had pinched his eyes closed immediately at the start of the low-level telepathy, and Logan only had a moment to worry that maybe it had hurt him in some manner.

Then, there was a feeling of recognition. Without a moment to spare, Virgil had grasped the nature of the Vidi and was projecting his own thoughts. Walking on a crunchy leaf-covered trail with other Human young, a winged insect emerging from a cocoon, the crack of thunder and heavy rain on a windowsill. Nature.

“Wow!” Virgil whispered, imprint thoughts flickering like flames, too quick for Logan to really see. “You see into heads!”

Logan pulled back slightly, offering a bit of content-smug in return to the Human’s awe. “That is one way of framing it, yes. So, you understand what I mean, about the Lifel being a natural predator?”

“Carnivore,” Virgil mumbled, and then offered image-thoughts of several creatures that Logan could only assume were from the deathworlder’s home planet. He watched with morbid curiosity as Virgil remembered a clip from a screen, displaying large ungulates with twisting horns crossing a river, and then being dragged underwater by a dark, writhing shape.

“That’s a crocodile,” Virgil told him, his eyes still closed tight in concentration. “They’ve got big teeth and they do death rolls. They look like alligators, but I know they aren’t because gators live in Florida.”

“Florida?” Logan asked. He wondered if perhaps ‘gators’ were kept in captivity for species preservation. Or perhaps they were too dangerous left in the wild?

Virgil showed him a memory of a long, reptilian form with a narrow, tooth-filled jaw. It was wading steadily through a swimming pool, not paying any mind to Virgil, who was sitting with his legs dipped in the pool, watching in fascination. “I lived there!”

“Oh,” Logan managed, his ears going numb with fear at the idea of a child being so near a creature like that. “So it would seem.”

The Human patted him carefully, a gesture of comfort. “It’s okay. The bad guys didn’t take any gators or crocodiles from Dirt. Just people.”

Virgil’s words trailed off, a sense of melancholy overwhelming him. Rather than find out more about the Human’s past, Logan felt an unreasonably strong urge to stop that sadness. “Could you perhaps tell me more about these… ‘crocodiles’? You seem to be quite informed on them.”

“I had a book about them,” Virgil managed, slowly dragging his thoughts away from his abduction. “Did you know some crocodiles have a… a ‘biting force’ of five thousand pounds?”

He had lapsed into English, the sentence sounding well-recited, but Logan still got the general idea of what he meant, and a strong image of a picture book, covered in writing he couldn’t read but still understood. If Logan was right about the measurement conversions, the fact was terrifying.

“That’s very interesting,” he mused, because terrifying and interesting often went hand in hand. “Are there any other predators that can bite like that?”

Virgil scrunched his face up in thought. “Maybe sharks. Oh, but for sure a T. Rex!”

Logan saw a very concerning glimpse of a large fish with too many teeth before Virgil’s mind switched to a cartoon depiction of a larger creature with also too many teeth. He was beginning to see a trend in deathworlder species. “I… see.”

“They’re all dead, though,” Virgil told him sadly, projecting a memory of a huge display of bones. He then seemed to perk up, glancing over at Roman again. “Except for in space!”

Logan narrowly avoided laughing out loud, covering his throat before the vibrating chirps could get far. So, this was the truth behind the Human’s interest!

“Roman is not a ‘dinosaur’,” he clarified, once he felt composed enough to do so. “In fact, I believe he rarely even eats meat.”

Virgil squinted at him. “Are you sure? Maybe he’s a secret dinosaur.”

Logan wiggled his fingers thoughtfully. “I suppose we’ll just have to check.”

---

“Roman, would you come here for a moment?”  

Roman looked up from his task, immediately suspicious. Logan sounded strangely amused, like he was on the brink of laughing at him. That was never a good sign.

Still, the Human was looking over at him with those wide, strange eyes, and he wasn’t about to run away. He got to his feet, leaving his pile of dana peels behind as he crossed the cave floor. “What is it, dear esteemed companion who would never take advantage of me?”

“I need you to show us your teeth,” Logan said, very much not being a dear esteemed companion who would never take advantage of him. Roman resisted the urge to hang his head in resignation. He should have expected this. The Ulgorii was shameless when it came to exploiting his friends for science.

“How about absolutely not?” he replied, because there were actually limits to his tolerance for shenanigans, and one of those limits was threat-displaying at a baby Human.

“Hold on, look,” Logan said, and then bared his own ridged teeth with a click.

The Human did his small grimace-smile back, entirely unphased. They both looked to him expectantly. Roman felt as though he was being ganged up on.

“Um,” Virgil said, painfully tentative, “please?”  

Roman felt extremely ganged up on.

He squatted, tail keeping him perfectly balanced, and pulled at the corner of his mouth to show some of his teeth.

“Woah,” Virgil breathed.

“See how the back teeth are narrow but dull? They’re designed to crack bones and get to the marrow at the center,” Logan narrated, like the nerd he was. “Roman doesn’t have the small incisors or sharp molars required for proper full-time carnivores.”

Roman almost reminded his crewmate to use small words, but Virgil seemed to get the idea, leaning uncomfortably close to stare. He then opened his own mouth, like he was planning to take a bite out of something, displaying a shocking number of tiny little bone-teeth crammed inside. Some of them were uncomfortably sharp.

Rather than attack anyone, though, Virgil touched his own teeth, carefully inspecting the shape of them. Roman resisted the urge to get him to sanitize his hands. Kits would be kits, he supposed.

Logan was patiently watching as Virgil pointed to each tooth in turn, and he obligingly recited the name of each type of tooth for the kit. His two lower arms took frantic notes on Human jaw structure, probably to prepare more elaborate meal plans better suited to a deathworlder diet. The kid soaked every bit of information in like a sponge.

Finally, after a long moment of thought, he announced, “My ‘lower canine’ is going to fall out in close time!”

“Soon,” Logan offered, always quick to interpret the Human’s occasional nonsense Common. “'My lower canine is going to fall out soon.'” And then, after a moment’s pause. “Wait, it’s going to what?”

And then, because Roman’s day needed more nightmare fuel, the kit bared his tiny fangs at them and poked one with his tongue, revealing that it did indeed seem to be sickeningly loose. In fact, Roman could see a few other gaps in the curved row of teeth, some with little bits of bone peeking out.

“Stars above,” Roman said, feeling a little faint. Logan was already interrogating a very confused Virgil on whether or not losing teeth was indicative of an illness or not.

“They’re just my little teeth,” Virgil told them, seemingly unconcerned with holes in his mouth. “I get big ones later.”

“There are plenty of species that have milk teeth, but to have their adult set not fully-formed by the time the milk teeth are ready to fall out…,” Logan quickly devolved into muttering, hands flicking.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Roman asked despite himself, eyeing the kit just in case he was going to burst into tears all of the sudden. Roman himself had lost one or two front teeth before his next set had fully formed, and each time it had felt like biting on hot metal.

“Nuh-uh.” Virgil seemed to have moved from confused to amused, still not entirely sure what the fuss was all about. “Not unless I,” he mimed pulling on the tooth, and Roman made a click-click-click of parental don’t-do-that chiding before he’d even fully registered the alarm he’d felt at the motion.

Virgil clicked back at him curiously, sounding exactly like a tiny version of an exasperated parent. Roman tucked his face against his shoulder, unsure if he should laugh or despair.

This Human was really going to be the death of him.

[dweetwise]

survivors as roommates hcs

just some silly little headcanons i wrote between fics <3

Dwight is a huge pushover. Late on rent? Dwight has you covered. Ate his food? “Haha, it’s fine, you were probably more hungry anyway and it’s not like I need to eat today—”. He’s a little messy but mostly keeps to himself, unless you befriend him, in which case he’s clingy af. Constantly asks to hang out and isn’t the best at understanding social cues.

Meg is a whirlwind, leaving stuff in her wake wherever she goes. She leaves for morning runs at like 4 am and showers weird hours of the day. She’s also really assertive, going “You don’t mind if I borrow this, do you? Ok cool!” and sprinting off before you can even reply.

Claudette keeps to herself. Hope you don’t mind the 6281 plants that start in her bedroom and slowly spread to cover every available surface of the apartment. Sometimes she leaves weird science projects in the fridge that you do not want to accidentally drink unless you want to be poisoned by some obscure plant.

Jake just wants to be alone. He’s a hermit, never having people over and shutting himself into his room if you do. He can go days without showering, so hope you don’t mind his stink or the constant weed smell.

Nea will throw impromptu parties and leaves her shit laying around. Empty spray paint cans are now a permanent part of your décor, since no matter how many you throw out, more always appear. She has a habit of adopting stray cats and you’re not even sure how many are in the apartment at this point.

Laurie is the most perfect roommate anyone could ask for. She usually just keeps to herself and reads books or something, but will almost always join you in watching a movie or cooking or whatever, if you ask. She’s also very neat and will clean up after you, even if she scolds you for it. Sometimes she’s a little too responsible and doesn’t know how to let loose, so you won’t be throwing any wild parties with her around.

Ace on the other hand, is… well. A wild card. He doesn’t have a sleep schedule, stumbling home at varying hours in the middle of the night from god-knows-where. Will bring home random hook-ups. Will beg you to lend rent money when he’s gambled away his share. Will make you cover for him when the police comes knocking. 0/10 worst roommate wouldn’t recommend, the only thing he’s good for is a laugh and knowing the best parties.

Bill smokes inside. He also snores. Loudly. Usually falls asleep with the tv blaring, so hope you have earplugs. There’s also the war flashbacks, which… yeah you should probably not ask him about that.

Feng will play games all night, screaming at her teammates over Discord. Again, earplugs are a must, or alternatively you can join her in game and be screamed at. She lives on energy drinks and you’re not 100% sure she even sleeps.

David is kind of unpredictable. He’s punched at least two dents in the wall after losing at Mario Kart. Has a boxing bag in his room that he loudly beats up. If you have friends over, he’s going to do shirtless push-ups right in front of them. He sleeps naked and sometimes forgets to put on clothes so you’ll be getting an eyeful whether you like it or not.

Quentin is a great roommate… except when he’s asleep, because he sleepwalks and has night terrors. When he’s awake he’s super chill, picking up after himself and letting you do your thing, occasionally asking to hang out but not minding if you say no.

Tapp will complain about the slightest bit of noise, and you’d better not be doing any drugs or underage drinking. Is the most punctual with paying rent and utility bills, and you can bet he’s always in bed by 9 pm.

Kate is tidy, but her music doesn’t have an off button. Sometimes her inspiration hits in the middle of the night, and while she tries to be quiet, she gets carried away and always ends up singing at full volume. Will also insist on throwing huge bbq parties no matter the season.

Adam is a very nice roommate. His biggest sin is being a little forgetful and sometimes leaving wet laundry in the machine until it starts to smell. He works long hours and isn’t home a lot, but still somehow manages to do his share of the housework.

Jeff tries his best not to make a mess with his art but the paint splatters are inevitable. He comes with a dog and the entire apartment is now filled with both the puppy’s and Jeff’s long hairs. Surprisingly, the death metal isn’t an issue in the slightest because he always listens to music with headphones.

Jane listens to podcasts on speaker. Is a little bit of a mom, often cooking extras so you can have some later, and even occasionally washing your laundry. Her guilty pleasure is watching corny telenovelas and you can bet your ass she’s yelling at the tv in her native tongue.

Ash is just loud. He talks to himself, laughs at shitty sitcoms and brings home random hookups to have obnoxiously loud sex. Sometimes leaves his prosthetic in odd places especially when he’s been drinking. You’ve found it in the freezer at least twice.

Nancy is mostly really neat and organized. Sometimes, she leaves research papers strewn around and you do not want to touch them or, heaven forbid, throw them away lest you want to face her wrath.

Steve is messy and a little spoiled. His room is pure chaos, and occasionally sweaty socks and basketball shorts make their way to the shared living space. The apartment always smells faintly of hairspray.

Yui constantly has her gang over, and they’re nice enough but it gets a little annoying. Constant motor oil smell from when she’s been tinkering with a bike part. Once, she even brought the entire bike indoors and you got into a fight when she tried to get rid of the couch to make room for it.

Zarina has photography and film equipment laying around the entire apartment, especially when she’s working on a project. She’s a great cook and the kitchen smells like exotic spice 24/7, so depending on your tastes that’s either the best or worst thing ever.

Cheryl means well but is a disaster. If she tries to cook, the kitchen looks like a hurricane and smells burnt, and you’ve found the laundry machine overflowing with foam more times than you can remember. You might need to parent her until she learns the ropes.

Felix is neat but doesn’t know how to relax. He’ll often pull all-nighters and passive-aggressively complain if you disturb him. Miniature buildings will appear on every available surface, especially when nearing a deadline.

[the-river-person]

Random Character Observations

I was thinking about Asgore’s weapon today. First off is the question of whether its a pitchfork or a trident. Funnily enough, snooping into the game’s code reveals that its actually called a spear (spr_asgore_swipe_spear.sprite.gmx) in the sprite files. At first I was inclined to write that off because clearly it wasn’t a spear. But after a bit of research I realized I was incorrect. Part of a Trident’s definition is that it is a three pronged spear. Okay so its a trident right? Well maybe. Tridents are commonly identified by having barbs on the end of the prongs, rather like those you see in Posideon’s trident. And a trident is was initially used as a fishing spear, that’s what the barbs are for, to help keep hold of the fish you stabbed and are trying to pull back out of the water. Another common attribute is that tridents often have a “curve of third order”. (Math is not my strongest suit, but from what I can gather it has to do with the curving of the prongs outward in three different directions and then a fourth opposite one made by the handle.) So Asgore’s weapon has the curve for certain and is identified in the code as a spear, but it doesn’t have the barbs on the end of the prongs. It does, however, have the association of a fishing spear. Since Asgore trained Undyne in fighting and she is a fish based monster. Others have suggested that his weapon is a pitchfork, and I want to look into that as well. Pitchforks are agricultural tools. Often they can have three prongs, but they can have more depending on the specific job you wish to do. Three pronged pitchforks are most commonly used for picking up bales of hay and straw. Of course some even go as far as to pull in the symbolic connection to the Devil. Because he too had a pitchfork, right? Wrong. This idea is not native to Christianity at all and comes from Greek Myth. Hades, the God of the Underworld, bears a Bident. The use of this tool was different for several cultures. Ancient Egyptians used a form of it as another fishing tool (only unlike the trident it was tied with either a line or feathers to find it and thrown), the Romans used it as another agricultural tool. But the Greeks used it in the form of bronze weapons, and a symbol of Hades (but only in the Renaissance! The Greeks happily depicted both Posideon and Hades as having three pronged weapons). The idea was that Zeus had a lightning bolt which was basically a single prong. Then Hades had the Bident with two, and Posideon the Trident with three. (”dent” comes from Latin root “dentis” meaning teeth.) Early Christian Writers often identified Hell as being the Classic Underworld, comparing and analyzing the characters found in both, such as the monsters that run the Underworld being depicted as Christian Demons. This sort of thing appeared and evolved through literature and artwork well through the medieval period and onward. But somewhere along the way the bident was exchanged for a different farming implement (because though the Greeks used it as a weapon, the lingering Roman influence was still very strong). The Pitchfork. This is what became cemented as the item the Devil wields, however many many modern depictions have him bearing a trident with barbs and curved prongs (tines) instead. Since Asgore is depicted as the Main Antagonist for most of the game, possesses fire magic, and is the ruler of an underground kingdom... the symbolic connection to the devil is definitely there. And even the agricultural connection for a pitchfork is there as Asgore is known for his gardening and love for plants and growing things. But its important to note that the Trident is used in the modern day as another agricultural tool (specifically a decorticator) and historically was used as a weapon in Ancient Rome. So which is it? Based on the evidence, his weapon is useless as a fishing tool. He does use the stab motion necessary, but it wouldn’t bring the fish back up. Yet it wouldn’t be much use as a pitchfork either because of the curved tines and the space between those tines, it would be a very clumsy gardening tool. Trident however also has the definition as being a Scepter (staff or wand held by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia). Since he’s the King, a scepter would be fitting. And it also has a little flower on it, which goes with most of Asgore’s characterizations. It is this, and Toby’s sprite name of it being a spear, that makes me choose Trident over Pitchfork. However this trident is a summoned weapon, made of magic in a similar manner to Undyne’s spears or the Skeleton Bros’ bone attacks. There’s evidence in the game that though such magical items can be conjured and vanished in battle, they can also remain for a significant if unspecified amount of time afterward (Papyrus’ bone attacks are kept in a box in his room after your fight. They do not seem to vanish). Also we can guess that magical weapons of this sort are fairly consistent in shape and design when summoned. It could be a specific technique, handed down, or it could be something that grows and changes with the Monster over time (which could explain the little flower on the weapon). I was going to talk about the actual fighting tactics he goes into with this trident and historical trident fighting styles, but I’ve run out of time. So that might be a post for tonight. Hope you enjoyed this character lore dive anyway.

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #179

Brought to you by a marine biologist and the definitive mother fish...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

When we think of parental care in the animal kingdom, we often think of mammals. That makes sense, after all, since mammals are literally named after the mammary glands, the glands that secrete milk for their babies to feed and grow from, either for a few days, to years. I mean, it probably also has to do with the fact that we, as humans, are mammals. But what if I told you mammals aren't the only ones that feed their babies from their own body? Discus fish do something similar!

The Discus in AC Pocket Camp were introduced in January 2020 (the *before* times) and just haven't been seen again. And honestly? That's okay. Considering how incredibly beautiful Discus are irl, these icons just don't do them justice.

Discus are in Family Cichlidae, the cichlids, a very diverse group of freshwater fish that also include the freshwater Angelfish that are a staple in the AC mainline games. Cichlids can be found in Africa, the Americas, and a little more rarely in Asia and are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates, even out-numbering the Cyprinids (the carps that AC seems to love so much). Within this family, Discus belong to the Genus Symphysodon, of which there are three species. Two of those species are common in the pet trade - Symphysodon aequifasciatus and Symphysodon discus, so we'll assume these guys are them. The taxonomy's a little out of whack, so that's the best we can do for now. Either way, all discus fish are native to South America, they are peaceful fish, love hanging out in huge schools, and they also take care of their babies, as is the cichlid way.

By Patrick Farrelly - from en.wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Blue_Discus.JPG, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1801200

Now, Discus take baby-care one step further than most other cichlids. Like mammals, they will offer their growing brood skin secretions to feed them for the first four weeks of life. Not only that, but both parents take care of the babies during this time. After that, the parents will swim away to wean their babies off the secretion and onto more adult foods, like algae, other plant material, and tiny invertebrates.

And there you have it! Fascinating stuff, no?