#but I was right on the centipedes and millipedes stuff

[yougyattabekidding]

Mavado’s enemy ? What is this toxic yaoi? Enemies but they’re secretly banging each other? MAVADO X TAKEDA?? MavKeda… (Pics from @iscreamFGC on twtr btw)

HOW DO YOU FUCK UP THIS BADLY NRS MILLIPEDES DONT BITE CENTIPEDES DO YOU FUCKING DIPSHITS IDGAF IF IT SOUNDS COOL IT WILL FOREVER BOTHER ME

[littlewigglers]

Do you plan on getting any non millipede friends

I do! I’d love to get some more isopods and raise some beetles from larva again. I’d also LOVE to get back into fish keeping my faves are bettas, shrimps, corydoras and kuhli loaches! Maybe a snake or gecko further down the line? But those are what I know the least about and would be most hesitant to get as I want any creatures I get to have the best care I can give them.

I’d say the only creatures on my never list are spiders, roaches, centipede, anything else that moves overly fast or has a bad bite/is venomous/poisonous. Probably turtles too just due to their life spans.

But millipedes and isopods are what I’m able to keep right now as I’d have to get some new tanks for anything else, as well as all the research I’d need to do to be comfortable keeping them.

Oh also I do have two cats I just don’t post about them here, and I plan to possibly get a third next year but we’ll see :3

[kamichungus22]

Okay so, I have arachnophobia (which is the fear of spiders if any of you don't know) and so I obviously have a developed hatred for them. Just to clarify, I'm okay with smaller ones but any that are bigger than my pinky nail, just no.

And so right here I shall show my reasons to hating and fearing them :D

1) why the 8 legs???? I know millipedes and centipedes have many more legs, but atleast they're not as noticeable! Like the one defining thing all will point out about a spider will be their legs!

2) they are too fast for my comfort. As a pretty slow person in general, and that they have 8 legs, it's a pretty poor reason. But if I have to start calling spiders 'Cotton Eye Joe' coz I'm always like "where did they come from?! WHERE DID THEY GO?!" when they're around, just no.

3) they have been found in way too many of my stuff! They have been found in my dressing gown, my secondary school blazer, crawling into my pillow case after falling from the ceiling corner, and just in my sight! I'm now paranoid and have had nightmares of finding them in even more of my stuff.

4) they are everywhere. That's it. The fact that they are everywhere (except Antarctica) just makes me uncomfortable. You know what, next ticket to Antarctica, I'll blooming take it!

5) the fact that they could grow to as big as my hand, depending on the species of course, but still! If them being bigger than my pinky nail makes me uncomfortable, then them being bigger than my hand? Ha. NO!

6) there is a species of them, THAT HAS WINGS!!! IM SORRY WHAT?! And I don't mean the Daddy Long Legs with their little wings and lanky legs, I mean a species as big as my palm, that have w i n g s!

7) and finally, as if mental damage by them wasn't enough, no, they're physically damaging too as there are species that have POISON and VENOM in their bites!!!!! No. No No No No No.

There are my reasonings, I'm pretty sure there are more but these are the ones I can think of from the top of my head.

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

My day so far: Smoke and centipedes.

I’d kept waking up smelling smoke.

I wasn’t panicked since I know there is a wildfire about 30 miles away. None of the sites that talk about smoke have ever had warnings for here, but since we are so rural they never do. There is actually an air quality monitor in my town, but it already had a three hour or so delay in reporting. I noticed that the particle measure turned part off this morning when it hit 111. Of course it did. But telling me what it was three hours ago doesn’t really help much in planning what to expect.

Since the wildfire started I’ve had days where I had bad breathing days, sometimes actually smelling the distant smoke, but this was different. This was right in my bedroom with my (admittedly on it’s last legs) air purifier by the bed. My dreams kept being interrupted by me consciously thinking about that smoke.

Then I got up and it wasn’t so bad. I even started to wonder if I had imagined it until I opened the door to the back porch. OMG! The smell of smoke was choking. If I hadn’t known about the wildfire I’d have been rushing around in a panic to see what was on fire.

Back I went to do the morning stuff. Getting my coffee on there was a centipede in the coffee pot. The I went back to make my bed and a HUGE centipede came out from under my pillow! I mean this sucker, centipede or millipede, was about the biggest I’ve seen in my entire life, and it had been in bed with me. I’m not particularly squeamish about critters, and if I had found it on a log I’d have happily taken pics of it, but geez…in my bed!

I felt slightly icked out.

Anyway, outside there is smoke and drizzle. I HAVE to go out for the animals, but my fragile lungs are already unhappy. Going out to just quickly feed the animals could only be put off so long, but I started having a breathing attack. There is more I really need to do out there, even just for the animals, but I just can’t breathe!

Guess I will just finish off this centipede flavored coffee while I brace myself for a lack of oxygen!

[aggressive-positivity-network]

I just need anything with the mercs and bugs. Like just arthropods in general. Please just the boys and some bugs, please 🥺

Mercs & Creepy Crawlies

Headcanons

Medic:

“Bug? Vhere?”

He is interested in all living creatures, so of course he would have no qualms with insects. Of course, he would prefer mammals, but whatever.

His favorite to study? Cockroaches!

He likes to use them as mini-science projects. When he gets bored or burnt out, he usually takes to the “Roach-Mobile,” using electronic signals to move the cockroach every which way.

He’s also a big fan of scorpions, millipedes, and the occasional revived fossil.

It’s one of the few things he likes about living in the desert.

Lately, though, since he’s become more and more exhausted, he usually hangs out in his butterfly room. That always seems to relax him.

Heavy:

Heavy usually doesn’t notice insects unless there’s a scorpion in his boot or a fly on his sandwich.

However, he unfortunately has a very rare allergy to ladybugs.

It usually doesn’t flare up unless they go to a campground or a park where there are a lot of ladybugs.

He sneezes something awful.

And when Heavy sneezes, you definitely notice.

It hasn’t gotten very bad over the years, especially because of the arid air around the base.

But one time they had a ladybug infestation after a shipment for Medic went wrong. Until Engineer exterminated them, Heavy was sick as a dog. He even swelled up a bit and ran a low-grade fever.

“Lady is little, but make big man feel sick...”

Any occasional ladybug in the base is practically killed on sight.

Demo:

Since he lived in Scotland, the only bug he is familiar with are worms, so he doesn’t really have much to say about the others.

Except, of course, leeches.

He is deathly afraid of them.

When he was young, he was attacked by a leech swarm in a lake, and he lost a lot of blood. He even had to go to the hospital.

Ever since then, he gets sick even looking at a leech.

Medic is thrilled. He has a nice, healthy, slightly obsessive interest in phobias.

The doctor likes to tease him whenever possible, and will always offer leeches as an option when Demo gets injured.

One time, he even held up one for Demo to see.

Demo proceeded to scream, throw a grenade in Medic’s direction, and run like the devil in the opposite direction. He didn’t even take out the pin, just threw the whole, inactivated explosive.

Medic laughed and put it back in the tank, but hasn’t done it since...he already spends enough on the lab as it is.

Soldier:

He has and takes care of a pet scorpion in his Sniper Square.

Their name is Roman.

They literally have a bow on their tail made out of an old t-shirt.

Soldier feeds Roman insects, small frogs, and other meaty things - he even gave them beef jerky once.

He is pretty much immune to scorpion poison because Roman has stung him so many times.

Other than that, Soldier is pretty chill with every other bug.

Sometimes he’ll just be at the table.

Playing with a brown recluse.

Or even a black widow.

Like man, do you have any self-preservation instincts?

Sniper:

Bugs make his job a lot harder, especially centipedes and Soldier’s pet scorpion.

Sniper’ll be aiming for a shot, then he’ll feel a bunch of legs crawling on him.

Sometimes it’s sweat.

Sometimes bug.

He thinks dragonflies are pretty cool, though.

If one lands on the muzzle of his gun, he won’t take the shot. He considers it bad luck to startle a dragonfly.

Sniper isn’t afraid of any insects - I mean, come on, he lived in Australia - but he doesn’t like most of them because of how small, quick, and usually poisonous they are.

Just dragonflies.

In fact, he secretly likes collecting dragonfly stuff along with apricot stuff.

Pyro once got him a scented sticker with a dragonfly on a peach for Smissmas, and he almost went insane over it. He has stuck it on the wall of the Sniper Square, right next to the slit he shoots out of.

Pyro:

There aren’t many day bugs that Pyro likes.

Miss Pauling doesn’t them keep any, so what’s even the point?

However, fireflies are a different story.

Pyro catches massive amounts of them every night and uses them as a night light until morning.

Engie is in the process of making small “fire-bots” so that the firefly population doesn’t go extinct.

The only other bug Pyro is interested in is butterflies. He spends a lot of time in Medic’s butterfly room as a result.

His favorite is watching them come out of their chrysalis. He’ll just sit in the butterfly nursery and stare at them at they come out.

Pyro is very gentle with them, so Medic trusts her to go fetch all the new butterflies and set them free.

It’s their favorite job ever.

Engineer:

GRASSHOPPERS!

No, I’m serious, he is obsessed with grasshoppers.

When he is feeling burnt out, he can and will build as many tiny, robotic grasshoppers as necessary to feel better.

Sometimes he sets them loose and watches them hop around.

Any merc can walk in and see Engineer cross-legged on the floor, staring at an endless sea of robo-hoppers.

“Should I come back later?”

“Yeah.”

He thought about making robo-birds to catch them, but then thought about how he’d have to make robo-cats to catch the birds, and robo-dogs to catch the cats...he got so overwhelmed that he just put the grasshoppers away and took a well-deserved nap.

Scout:

Messes around with pretty much anything that isn’t poisonous

He was actually once dared to eat worms, succeeded, and then proceeded to eat a few worms whenever he could find them.

??????

Medic thinks it’s because of a vitamin deficiency, but no one really knows for sure.

Scout was also always covered in mosquito bites.

He refused to put on bug spray because of the smell and the fact he can’t stand still long enough for it to be applied.

Finally, out of sheer frustration of Scout’s whining about itching all the time, Engineer “came across” a dog tag necklace that suddenly took care of the bug problem.

Scout wore it proudly, and he hasn’t had a bug bite since.

Medic owes Engineer several favors for that one.

Spy:

He will not tolerate bugs.

He doesn’t like cockroaches, flies, scorpions, ladybugs, butterflies, or mosquitos.

But Spy has a special burning passion for spiders.

He will not visibly freak out, of course - he has too much pride for that.

However, he will take the magazine from under his arm and slam it down on the spider, instantly killing it.

He cracked a wooden table after seeing a black widow.

Medic has tried exposure therapy, but Spy has managed to kill every single one of his specimens.

But hey, it’s free pest control, so no one else is complaining.

I wonder if I should add Ms. Pauling in the future...what do you guys think?

@leepogo

[scolopendress-tag]

ok no but i actually love it when you go on tangents about bugs bc i can tell you're really passionate about them n i love learning about stuf so can you just use this ask to share you fav centipede facts/stuff about your centipedes?

THANK YOU 🥺🥺🥺

And you wanna know my favorite centipede fact because I love this one. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but whatever I need to say this.

So centipedes right? They're venomous. We don't know much about their venom so it's a bit of a cool thing to study. For example we know it's incredibly unique because it targets it's victims in a way unlike any other animals on the planet by blocking potassium ion channels (the KCNQ family specifically), which is why pain medicine such as morphine doesn't work on centipede bites but Retigabine (a type of seizure medication) does.

Well, a study in 2018 is what identified the responsible component- the KCNQ channel blocking peptide that fucks with multiple major bodily systems at the same time, those being the cardiovascular, muscular, nervous, and respiratory systems. This peptide is largely why centipedes can take down things significantly larger than themselves, like rats, mice, reptiles, birds and bats (yes, giant centipedes like s. gigantea hunt bats), making them incredibly efficient predators.

This peptide would go on to be named SsTx, for short, anyways. The full proper name? Spooky toxin. They named it spooky toxin. I cannot stress this enough, that the powerful peptide in centipede venom, is spooky toxin.

And here's the link to the paper, if you don't believe me.

And the Wikipedia article too, for fun.

When I first learned this I shit you not I was laughing so hard I practically pissed myself.

Aside from that though centipede venom is just really neat in general, because like I said, it's very unique- and venom from a single pede can contain 500+ different components. Sadly centipedes in general are gravely under researched so we don't know everything about their venom yet, but it shows promise for the development of some neat medicines that could help a lot of people. If only scientists b would pay more attention to them....

And as a note!

DON'T LET THE VENOM TALK SCARE YOU!!!CENTIPEDES ARE NOT DEADLY AND ONLY A FEW SPECIES ARE DANGEROUS AT ALL.... These animals evolved to hunt invertebrates and tiny vertebrates and that's where their venom specializes. The main symptom of bites in humans is mainly just pain of which only ever gets to bad levels in some scolopendromorphs (and only to agonizing extremes in some sp. of scolopendra. dO NOT FUCK WITH S. DEHAANI OR S. SUBSPINIPES.).

For the most part if you're in the US you'll mostly just see house, stone, and soil centipedes, all of which are harmless and the bites of which are of no concern-- at most house centipedes hurt a little. Stone and soil centipedes don't tend to recognize humans as threats and their forcipules tend to be too small to pierce skin anyways (and if it did it's like an ant bite pain wise, if you even feel it.). We do have scolopendromorphs in the continental US, the two of note for concern being scolopendra polymorpha and scolopendra heros. Polymorpha hurt but not a whole lot, but damn they can make you swell. Heros on the other hand are quite painful, and you should avoid getting your hands near them (but again, they're not dangerous, it just hurts- so don't panic if you've been tagged. You'll be fine.).

If you are in Hawaii however!- DO. NOT. MESS. WITH. SCOLOPENDRA SUBSPINIPES. YOU WILL REGRET IT. THIS US NOT AN ANIMAL YOU WANT TO BE BITTEN BY.

This ended up just being a venom ramble but SsTx my beloved. Other cool facts include that myriapods (the group centipedes belong to alongside millipedes and such) were among the first animals to walk the land alongside arachnids. These bad boys predate dinosaurs BABEY. ALSO centipedes exist in islands off the antarctic too, which is dope as hell! Truly everywhere! From beaches to jungles and deserts to the Arctic Circle! Adaptable little dudes.

Ahh I've got so much more too but this is already so long. Maybe I'll add it in a reblog soon.

Also uhhh if you want a pede identified or are curious about the centipedes in your area (anywhere in the world) I will definitely love to help you with that too literally any excuse to yell about these animals I WILL take.

(Also my pedes are doing just fine, my dehaani is actually surfaced more and more lately and I'm so happy I get to see her so often 🥺 I'm also getting new pedes soon too!)

[kedreeva]

Ohhh!! Oh, yes, they probably aren’t the most interesting or best for pets, but there are TONS of insects and other arthropods that people keep as pets, and a lot of them are super interesting!! And since most of them live in glass enclosures, like a closed aquarium, a lot of them are actually really easy to keep in tight spaces like apartments, it’s just a matter of picking the right one for your situation and tastes.

Things like Orchid mantis:

Or millipedes:

or walking sticks: 

Isopods:

Rhinoceros beetles: 

Blue death feigning beetles: 

Plus obviously a ton more kinds, and more complicated things like centipedes and tarantulas and scorpions and raising butterflies and stuff.

I mean the list is nearly endless, people love bugs and if they can figure out how to keep them alive and get them to breed in captivity, they will do it. The bigger problem is usually acquisition, but most of them can be shipped pretty far, so it’s just a matter of finding someone after you know what you want.

[tex-studmister]

Charthur for the ship asks

heyy sorry this took so long but thank you for the ask!!

i apologize now if this seems incoherent bcus im bad at writing and it is also 5am-

also sorry if the organization of this seems off I changed it to help me be able to write it better!

Charthur:

Gives nose/forehead kisses:

Both of them do both tbh, but Charles will do more forehead kisses than nose kisses and I see Arthur doing a decently equal ratio of the two.

Gets jealous the most:

I’m gonna say Charles on this one. Neither of them really get jealous per se, and it’s an extremely rare occasion if they do, but I feel Arthur would just kind of get. Sad? rather than jealous while Charles is more “hmmmMMMM” kind of? Bad explanation sjdghks 

I definitely wanna see the conversation about Charles Chateney to Charles sgjlsdjklf

Takes care of on sick days:

So I’m gonna go with AU style of Arthur has TB but like. it didn’t get the chance to get That Bad (bcus one can live with TB but arthur just got rly fucked over by guarma and R*) and so they are living on a homestead. its mainly arthur but im doing both bcus i adore sickfics and there isnt enough of charles getting sick and arthur taking care of him

so arthur is more likely to be down with something bcus charles never wants to see it worsen. Arthur is decently okay at hiding he’s sick, but once Charles is even slightly suspicious it’s all over, arthur is dragged to bed and is Not Allowed To Work 

arthur complains about the mother-henning but he secretly is flattered that charles cares enough to spend this much of his time on him, HIM of all people. He is of course embarrassed but this is a No Self-deprecation Zone, and charles assures him that he is important to him, he’d much rather be here, making sure he’s okay than doing anything else.

On the other hand, Charles is a lot better at hiding his illnesses. Arthur has gotten good at figuring out he’s sick, but Charles is particularly good at avoiding arthur if he can tell he’s Suspecting. Of course, it eventually comes to a head whether it be Charles’s condition worsening to where he can’t ignore it or Arthur finding him and returning the favor for when he was ill. 

Charles is the worst patient EVER, even worse than arthur. He’s constantly wanting to do things, get up go places, arthur feels like he has to tie him to the bed to get him to rest. If he isn’t trying to escape or go do something, that’s when arthur knows its Not Good and probably should look into finding a doctor

i adore sickfics and it shows sjdkgsldkg

Drags the other person out into the water on beach day:

I’m gonna casually change beach to lake bcus i dont see them ever going to a beach skjdglk

I’m gonna say charles bcus i can see arthur fishing (i love fishing in game dont @ me) and while charles can fish, he doesn’t prefer it so he does something else, but eventually pulls arthur into the water especially if it’s been a hot day. with permission of course, unless arthur was being cheeky earlier. Then it’s payback time sjdgds

Brings the other lunch at work:

Charles, bcus im projecting onto arthur by giving him my inability to tell when im hungry after a certain point dfjdfgjlk

Tries to start role-playing in bed:

hmmm,,,,,, i actually dont know on this one?? i think itd be a standoff on who would come out and say it to the other. I’m gonna say charles just bcus arthur may just be too embarrassed

Embarrassingly drunk dancer:

both of them they are a right Mess when they’re drunk together but they love each other and theyre just so affectionate with each other and dance and jsut,,,,have fun

arthur tried dipping charles when they were both drunk and they just both fell over HDJSLKG

Firmly believes in couples costumes:

I don’t think either of them would FIRMLY believe but I think for certain ones they may just be “heh we should do that” 

Breaks the expensive gift rule during Christmas:

Arthur, definitely. my arthur maxed out the camp in chapter TWO you really think he’ll abide by that rule?? tbh it may be an add-up cost tho if he’s making something for charles, just needs materials or a professionals touch on certain stuff

Makes the other eat breakfast:

Charles because,,,,arthur just straight up cooked meat over a fire and ate it off the knife no spices nothing,,how,, and tbh i love the idea of arthur liking baking more than cooking

Remembers anniversaries:

They both do bcus theyre SENTIMENTAL and SOFT

Brings up having kids first:

Arthur. Eventually I image arthur told charles about Eliza and Isaac, so kids are a bit of a touchy subject for him I think? I feel like Charles would respect that and wait for arthur to say something or at least wait for him to sort his feelings out bcus arthur clearly wants a kid, but hes,,,,just not ready to say it aloud yet.

Kills the bugs:

Both of them, but Arthur won’t touch spiders. Meanwhile, centipedes/millipedes are a No for charles

First to define them as a couple:

I’m dumb and confused on this one does this mean who first calls them a couple? im gonna go with that

you bet ur ass its Dad AKA Hosea he knows his son he has EYES 

hell he knew it before arthur did tbh, ribbing him gently after the hunting trip, while arthur, who Still Doesn’t Realize is just ????? what

hosea subtly gave charles info on what arthur likes and where he is if charles is looking for him, mentions arthur may be wanting to avoid camp go take him hunting will you? 

Who hides their guilty pleasures longer:

Arthur, this dude barely talks about anything that he encounters outside of camp and barely thinks of himself first as someone who should Get Good Things 

Snorts while laughing:

Charles has the snort laugh dont @ me

arthur has the more wheezing laugh and theyre both CUTE

[ericmhe]

A Story Rough Draft

“Peripheral” - working title

“Yes, I work at home, but I'm still working, you know,” Greg explained to his sister, trying to avoid having her kids dropped off on him again.

No one seemed to respect the basic premise, least of all his own family and it was kind of driving him crazy.

“Hang on, sounds like the mail's here.”

“See, you can just go get the mail as soon as it shows up. Why can't you look after your nephew and niece?”

“Because walking out to the mailbox is only a couple of minutes, and kids take hours of attention?”

“Come on, it would save me so much in babysitters.”

“And it could cost me my job,” he muttered as he opened the mailbox. Unfortunately, having to hold the phone up by clamping it between his face and shoulder meant it was right up against his mouth, and she actually heard what was meant to be an exasperated comment to himself.

He was enduring the aggrieved reaction as he walked back and flipped through the mail when it happened.

It was just in the corner of his eye, blurry and indistinct. Some kind of insect, or whatever centipedes would count as, at least a foot long. It sported far too many legs writhing about randomly, bizarrely asymmetrical with some limbs just far too long. He shouted as he jumped up, dropping his phone onto the concrete porch.

But the horrible writhing creature had vanished. It was just a harmless branch of a ground shrub, dried and browned. He felt his face get hot as he looked around, but fortunately none of the neighbors were out and he probably wasn't seen. He picked up the stick and threw it in the yard. Then he picked up the phone and tried to apologize.

Things were normal for a while, going from day to day taking care of his cat and dog, Sam and Fred. The names were an aborted joke he feared might be a little too nerdy. Working from the computer and fielding the odd phone call filled most of the day's work hours. Then one night, while he was brushing his teeth, a vague blurry reflection slid in the corner of his vision. A long body that looked covered in spikes. Wiggling antennae, and way too many legs for reason. He fought the reaction to jump away, but kept his body still, and only moved his eyes, trying to bring it into focus.

A ball of fuzz this time, some carpet threads and pet hair that had escaped the vacuum in a big unsightly clump. He threw it away and wondered what kind of mental disorder could be responsible for a recurring hallucination. He spent some time trying to search for hallucination symptoms on the internet with little luck. He fought the impulse for a bit but eventually took to forums and question websites trying to figure out if anyone else had similar experiences.

“What, some kind of bug? Like a spider?” some anonymous poster with a string of numbers asked on his thread.

“Try something more like 'Hell's most hardcore centipede' if you want a mental image.” he replied with a huff he knew full well no one would see online..

His work suffered the next couple of days from all the time inquiring online to no avail. Maybe he'd have to figure out a way to talk to someone in the mental health field. Get some drugs at least, provided it was affordable.

The third time, he was working. He tensed and drew his feet up into his chair. He would not acknowledge it. He would not. Would not. Bugs had too many limbs to start with, but the thing he could but couldn't quite see in the reflection of his monitor shamed even the most nightmarish millipede. Unlike a millipede's strange gait this thing had no sense of rhythmic motion, just flailing asymmetrical chaos.

Sweating, he forced himself to stare ahead and keep typing, ignoring the thing that seemed to be beside him. The reflection grew more frantic. His head began to ache, making reading his own writing impossible. He shut his eyes and kept typing. The headache grew worse, pulsing, with a steady drumbeat. His skin crawled, as if those writhing legs were just about to touch him. He couldn't stand any more; something was about to break... Fred barked his annoying high pitched yap.

His eyes flew open, but the flailing monstrosity reflected beside him was still there. He spun around in his chair. This time there wasn't even anything there to fool his eyes. The dog was indeed barking at nothing, just the wall behind him. Fred was lovable but dumb, he wasn't even pointed at where the bug thing had been.

“How are you going to protect anyone if you can't even tell where to bark?”

A few more incidents let him figure out some patterns. Ignoring it brought pain, and no medication he tried dulled it any, it only went away with time. Nothing seemed to change his condition, not changing his hours or diet or sleeping schedule. However it felt crazy to keep spinning around to try and catch glimpse of a nightmare bug that vanished in an instant. More likely it was never there at all, so why should he keep stopping his work for it? Maybe it was only for a few seconds, but damn it he didn't want to give in on principal.

Then again maybe he was just going crazy.

Then one day a political volunteer rung his doorbell to convince Greg to vote for a favored candidate in the upcoming primary. Greg wasn't really listening. surprised to find himself jealous of the man's eyebrows though they were partially hidden by his glasses and the glint catching on the reflection. His own eyebrows were balding, and this guy’s looked straight model worthy. He let the man talk at him for a while, guessing that most people would be prone to closing the door on his face and he hadn't seen anyone face to face himself for a while. In a way it was nice to be talked to, even about a topic he found boring. Now if there was a way to trade eyebrows, he'd vote for whoever this guy wanted.

He was trying to distract himself with these thoughts from the antics in his peripheral vision. He didn’t want to appear crazy. However when the operative looked up from his pamphlet, he shouted in surprise and threw his clipboard at the wall next to Greg's door.

“What the hell?!”

Greg, shocked, turned to look. Of course nothing was there. “What did you see?” he asked, heart pounding.

The man’s excellent eyebrows had disappeared into his hair. “Sorry. I thought,” but he trailed off.

“Was it something like a centipede?” Greg pressed.

But the man was still staring at the wall, looking confused and flushed. “Um. I should get going, quotas and stuff. Don’t forget to vote,” he called over his shoulder as he hurried down the stairs.

Greg at first felt exultant, and then terrified. It wasn't just in his head! So what the hell was it? He started to go back in and noticed the clipboard, picked it up and turned around to yell at the guy only to find he was already exiting the driveway in his car. Oh well, he'd hang on to it for a while in case he came back for it. He had other things to worry about. He suddenly remembered the thing disappearing when Sam hopped on the desk – at first he hadn't thought much of it, but maybe that meant being observed by anything would dispel its presence.

He resolved to find out and went to the store, bought some cameras, and got the largest storage he could afford and set them up around the house. They caught the thing on tape, sort of. Only in the spots out of the camera's focus did the thing appear, looking just as hazy and indistinct as did in his own vision. He even showed the footage around and everyone confirmed they saw something, but usually gave him a bit of grief for trying to hide a bad special effect and prank people.

It was real, a hundred percent confirmed, but it either would not or could not be captured as a clear image. It could only show up as an unclear one, in the field of view that was out of focus. If he just got a ton more cameras and covered his house with them so no spot in it was out of focus then it couldn't get to him. The venture would very expensive and time consuming. Power would be an issue, for now he would try setting up only in whatever room he was using that moment. He'd focus on his work room since he spent the most time there and had the most episodes, only the bathroom came close.

A couple of days went by and it seemed to have worked. No more creepy crawly nightmares scampering about on the edges of vision. There weren't any headaches yet, but they had been somewhat infrequent most of the time. It'd be a while longer before he was sure he'd thwarted them. The bug showed up alone sometimes, but the headache never happened without the bug so there must be some kind of connection. There were still unknowns, but he felt confident he had won. He set back to work hoping to make up for lost time. He pushed it so long he found himself falling asleep at his desk. He'd have to get up before he really dozed off. Just one more...

He knew he had to be somewhere to do something. The sensation was vague but compelling, driving him to a brisk walk. He rounded the corner around a building and was caught in the flash of a camera. The flash of light wasn't just disorientating because of the momentary vision impact but it actually burned. He jumped back around the corner, stunned by the burned flesh peeling away. He ran back in a hurry and took an alley, away from the crowds.

He came out alright and scanned the people in the street for any cameras. He ran along, wincing away from any flash of light he saw. He tried going down a back alley and nearly walked into a giant burning eyeball. Feeling vaguely disappointed in himself on some creative level he backed away, barely aware of his skin peeling away in a terrible burn.

Finally he was at his destination, but there was a line of people holding cameras making him pause. How could he get around that? Some of them were taking pictures of something, whatever it was it wasn't important, but it was forcing him to keep a distance. Even so the flashes of light were causing blisters here and there, deepening wounds and exposing bone as he tried to find a way around.

No good the whole area was blocked entirely. He decided to try risking it, but as he approached the whole crowd seemed to pivot towards him and start snapping pictures. He backed away trailing smoke and flakes of blackened skin. He finally realized he didn't feel the pain that he should. So, a dream then... what was so important though? It wasn't like any dream he'd ever had.

Greg's vision was blurry as his eyes opened and light from the monitor made him want to close them again. He'd fallen asleep in his computer desk in spite of himself. Well, his back was going to be out of it for the rest of the day. It might almost be a welcome distraction from the headache he had.

Headache?

When he first tried to open his eyes he found the action strangely difficult but with some effort he forced them to open and immediately saw his computer's monitor in sleep mode. In the 'black mirror' of the powered down computer screen he could see himself and … something else. Strangely none of his normal surroundings were reflected in the monitor, just a strange cluster of shapes that seemed to make no sense. It was like an escher painting come to life but worse somehow, the effort to focus on any one group of shapes only resulting in his gaze sliding away from it. He tried to turn away from it but found his neck wouldn't respond. Probably stiff from his nap. He could hear Fred whining and scratching at the door. He'd hardly noticed the noise before, it seemed to be drowned out by something whirling through his own thoughts. Wasn't that supposed to go the other way around?

He tried to use his feet to spin the chair but they wouldn't listen. Now he was getting worried. Still, the bizarre thing or things in the monitor couldn't be helping his headache. He tried pushing backwards, pleased to find that it worked but wondering why he couldn't move to the sides.

A wave of pain and nausea hit him with such force he wanted to reel, double over, physically react in some way, but for some reason he seemed to be stuck staring at the reflection in the monitor.

This felt far worse than it had ever been before.

Another wave, at least as strong as the first.

It felt like his head might split open as he struggled against the urge to vomit.

He looked around as much as his nearly immobile head would allow but saw no sign of the bug apparition.

Another wave hit. They seemed to keep getting stronger. Or his resistance was weakening. Maybe both.

He fell back as he started to stand up. What was happening? No bug to be seen, but this headache was something horrible. Why couldn't he turn? They areas around his eyes and ears started to feel wet. He intended to look around for something to dab at the area, or to find the bug, but his head stayed looking forward. 'How many marketers would pay blood sacrifices to claim such a captive audience? He wondered trying to take his mind off the pain and nausea with a quip to himself.

Another wave.

This time he actually seemed to slide from the chair some, but his head craned to keep the reflection of the monitor in sight. He struggled to push himself back up. He thought about the dreams, and crazy as it was... he went back to the desk and flipped one camera down, letting it record nothing but desk and dark.

Yet another wave and he started to slide from the chair again, nearly slamming his chin into his keyboard's resting spot.

He pushed himself back up shaking the whole while. He tried to reach for the monitor but his hands wouldn't reach that way. He could grab just about anything else though, so since he couldn't turn to look for the other camera, he settled for taking things from his desk and throwing them in the general direction he knew it was. Books, his coin tray, some old CDs. He was about to sadly start with his mouse and keyboard when he finally heard a clatter that sounded right.

The next wave of pain came instantly afterwards.

He hit his head on the desk, but the pain of that was lost in what was already happening. He shuffled backwards, leaning into his rolling chair, throwing the last few things on his desk behind him. Nothing happened. He made his way back as quickly as he could force himself until he hit the wall.

Another wave and his vision was going blurry. He couldn't even see himself in the monitor any more. The strange shapes were the only thing to be seen as they shifted around in mind-bending bizarre patterns.

The wet feeling increased and his back spasmed. He flailed against the wall wildly for a moment until he managed to get a hold of himself enough to push himself up. The last camera went down after a long moment of scrambling wildly trying to grab at his shelf and nearly immediately he saw the tangle of buggy limbs that had been haunting him.

It was the easiest thing in the world to turn and find nothing. He looked back at the monitor through the corner of his eye and only saw a normal monitor reflecting a faint gleam of light. He laughed.

How was it possible? The grotesque bug monster too horrific to look upon directly was the good guy of the scenario? Something worse constantly behind him...

He needed to get rid of the cameras after all. He really hoped he could find all the receipts...

One weekend when his sister brought her kids over they came running to their mother screaming and sobbing. They were unintelligible and confused their mother.

He knelt down to talk to them and asked, “was it a bug?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don't worry about it. It only looks scary.”

“Um...” the kids radiated uncertainty.

“Worry about what it's warning you about,” he smiled devilishly as his sister glared daggers at him.

“What is it?”

“You know how some people befriend crows? They give them food and the crows share shiny things? It's like they're friends, even if the crows are never pets. The bug creature is like that, I don't know what it gets from me, but it's always watching out for me. Us now I guess. So don't worry about it. I try to wave back sometimes, I like to think it likes it. I mean, it's waving at me all the time.”

His sister sighed, “I guess it's a good thing I didn't get you to start watching them after all.”

[rnainframe]

🖊+ the burden of choosing an oc yourself 😔

you monster!!!

I’m gonna go on a mini tangent abouttt... ocs of mine that are bug hybrids! So it’s not gonna be multiple paragraphs on each, just lil blurbs, but... I wanna talk about my buggy kids

Danger “Dan” Skairp: Emperor Scorpion. He’s Irish (I don’t remember why I just felt like making him Irish when I made him) and extremely nervous about people knowing he’s not human, so he’s constantly bundled up in big, baggy clothes. He’s a big boy but also a shy boy.

Tetra Myrm: Antlion. She’s Greek (same here) and very outgoing and bold. Her and Dan are dating! She’s unashamed of her bug bits unlike her boyfriend, so she tends to show off her wings and extra arms. These two are both from a desert area in Gaia. 

Libeller: Dragonfly/bombardier beetle. So the Gaia version of him is obviously not some kind of superhero, but he DOES have pyrokinesis. He’s a rare case of someone being a hybrid of more than one animal with human. He’s a punkish fighty boy. Probably in a city area. also he’s German

Ryan Taylor: Black Widow. A trans tailor (pun on his name) that’s really into fashion and stuff. He’s mainly seen with his best bud Xander, who uses psychic powers to keep him under control due to being not the most stable guy mentally. But he’s a cool dude! Lives in Willow Falls. he’s just generic gaian roots-wise

Summer Delson: Amazonian Giant Centipede. I’m retconning him to being Brazilian right now. Right now. He’s very protective of his adoptive sister, Dory, who’s a cat hybrid, and he also lives in Willow Falls. He’s kind of stern and overbearing, but he really cares. english roots?

Pendragon: The same centipede, but also a bit of Giant Fire Millipede. He’s unique compared to the others, being a hybrid of bug and Daliko (Gaian elf) instead of human. He doesn’t understand human anatomy at all, so his offers to help with medical situations tends to end in disaster as his curiosity gets the better of him. He Will Break Your Bones Just To See How They Move. alien roots!

Mel Beason: Bumblebee. She’s a very peppy but naive gal who likes to buzz around with her pals Dan and Tetra. She’s an absolute sweetie and a ray of sunshine and she loves her pals with all her heart.

Casper Michelin: Praying Mantis. He’s also a cyborg (of his own design)! He’s very, very unstable, but he tries his best to stay lucid. He loves caring for nonsentient bugs and making little robots based on them, and his favorites are... drumroll please... mantids! Obviously! His body can shift into a more primal mantis shape thanks to the robotic stuff whenever he’s wanting to be spooky or just wants to f e e d because oh no this boy likes eating people.

[themjinterviews-blog]

48. Put your hands in the air and say hell yeah. Captain Jack! Johnny Depp!

What motivates you to do what you do? Sheer necessity, usually.

What was the weather like the last time you went out? Hot. It’s Arizona so it’s probably near 100 + sunny.

Do you go for walks often? I’m pretty lazy and try to avoid it. You sorta gotta trick me into walking, like take me to a big shopping mall or something so I inadvertently walk around it whilst shopping.

What color shirt are you wearing? Gray.

What is your favorite type of youtube video to watch? I don’t really watch any. I just use it to occasionally look up songs or to record snippets of stuff to remix songs.

Do you need any new clothes right now? I got plenty.

What’s the next project you are excited to start? I’m working on a nonsensical Adult Coloring Book featuring animals committing crimes.

Do you collect anything? If so, what? Used to collect rocks and Pokémon cards. I suppose in a sense I collect all sorts of art/office supplies.

^and if not, what would you like to collect? Nothing really.

What was the last disappointing thing that happened to you? I don’t know. Suppose work being closed for renovation for 2 weeks kinda sucks because I sort of need cash.

What is something God has healed you of? I don’t really do the whole God/Religion rigamarole... Chances are if we are healed of something, there is a psychological, sociological biological or generally rational explanation.

Have you ever experienced a miracle? Like, a phenomenal coincidence? I think as much as I hate to be a downer, there's probably a lot to do with our perceptions of events

What was the last thing you ate? Lucky Charms.

Do you ever eat food that’s intended for kids? Well, Lucky Charms. I also love pizza rolls and chicken nuggets. But I’m not eating Gerber Peas&Carrot baby foods or anything crazy like that.

What was the last stupid thing you did? Define “stupid”? Most things I do are probably stupid to others but perfectly acceptable to me.

Do you get embarrassed easily? Sometimes.

Are you wearing pants or shorts right now? I never wear shorts.

What are your top three names you like for a daughter? Elliot (this is also my pick for a boy name), Tara, Hazel.

Would you ever film a vlog of yourself giving birth? Ew. Fuck no. Honestly, adopting/fostering sounds way more my style anyway. To be totally frank, pregnancy sounds gross and being unable to take my adderall sounds awful. I’d gain like, a million pounds.

Do you like getting caught in the rain? It’s usually a refreshing break from the heat out here.

Do you think your hair looks best straight, wavy, or curly? Messy, or in a side-pony.

What was the last craft project you completed?: Coloring books for my friends’ kid.

Name 3 youtubers you would like to meet in person: I don’t know any.

Has anyone ever spread an untrue rumor about you? Sociopath ex. Not sure he actually said them aloud to people other than myself, but I was constantly being accused of weird stuff I absolutely did not do.

What’s one rumor you’ve heard about yourself, and is it true? N/A. No idea. Not aware of any relevant or applicable rumors. I literally just keep to myself and do crafts.

What color are your nails painted currently? Not painted.

Do you use a pill box? Jesus, I’m not 80.

List 3 people you know who were loving and then turned cold: it’s kind of generic to assume either of those things as permanent traits. But probably most flings or whatever. It always feels cold when one party loses interest.

Have you filmed a youtube video today? Never filmed one in my life.

Do you leave the house when you’re on your period? Um yes. Life doesn’t stop just because I have cramps.

^If not, why not? -

Have you ever felt threatened for your life? Yeah. Sociopath ex would get overtly paranoid and mistake harmless or unrelated things I did or said to be conspiracies against him. And occasionally my imaginary betrayals would lead to violent words or actions. Like, a bundle of index cards with Carrabba’s menu items and their ingredients, word for word, from the Carrabba’s menu, was somehow coded plots to who the fuck knows to have him killed. Irrational stuff like that.

What are you behind on? Student loans. And when I say behind, I really mean that I actively chose not to pay them.

Do you get enough sleep each night? No because night is my time to be productive, uninterrupted and without bothering anyone. I hate having to stop my thoughts just because other people are making noise or trying to converse with me.

Which did you like better: high school or college? Absolutely college.

Which year of your life stands out to you as the most significant so far? Probably last year or two.

…and why? Big personal transitions and revelations in my life philosophy.

What was the last store you shopped at? Walmart, most likely.

Do you have a favorite pharmacist? I used to back in NY. Her name was Evie. She wished a customer Happy Thanksgiving on Valentine’s Day accidentally once and it cracked me up and we had a running joke about it.

Do you have a favorite cashier at the grocery store? I don’t shop frequently enough and I switch up stores when I do.

What was the last thing you ordered at Starbucks? Probably a toffee nut Frappuccino.

What’s something you discovered recently?

What makes you more creative? Emotional turbulence, certain drugs.

What’s the last magical thing you experienced? Um…Magical? The herd of unicorns crossing the I-10.

What is the theme of your bedroom? None. We are staying in a spare room at a friend’s. But we're actually moving this week because being micromanaged and constantly scrutinized was getting old.

Have you ever lived in a dorm? Yes, for a few years

Who is someone whom you admire, and why? I guess the lady at work, Amanda. She’s like 64 and works open-close every day, and still has a great attitude.

When was the last time you stepped outside of your comfort zone? I don’t know. I test the waters every once in awhile.

Where would you like to travel to next? Nowhere crazy. Just back to New York for the Renaissance Faire.

If you could win three dream vacations to anywhere, where would you go? Portugal—New Zealand—Ireland.

Would you rather ride a camel or an elephant? Camel. They’re fuzzy.

Are you a free spirit? I don’t know what that even constitutes. I think outside the box and I question social conformity and other preset patterns of thought. But I don’t know that has much to do with my spirit.

Do you want to lose weight? I think I’m okay for now.

Which insects scare you, if any? They don’t scare me, they just creep me out …spiders, centipedes, millipedes, roaches…ugh.

Do you think it’s silly to be afraid of a tiny insect? It’s not like I think they’re going to murk me with a sawed off shot gun. I know they’re harmless and therefor not technically scary…but they’re still creepy and unsettling somehow.

Have you ever experienced paranoia? To some degree.

Have you ever hallucinated? Indeed.

Were you raised religious? We were raised Roman Catholic. Didn’t stick.

Have you ever been abused? Psychologically, emotionally, physically and sexually. #sociopathic ex.

Do you think the cops should do more about bullying? I think cops have enough shit to worry about as is and don’t know how effective extensive police interference would even be. I think the anti-bullying message is stronger when conveyed by people closer to kids like teachers, parents, siblings or a celebrity figure they idolize.

Is there a coffee shop you like better than Starbucks? I like them all about the same.

If you could afford to get your hair professionally done, what would you get? Probably dye and highlights. Definite trim of my bangs.

If you had a lot of money, do you think you would use it wisely? Absolutely not. I have little to no money now and I don’t even use *that* wisely.

Do you know any rich people who are very irresponsible? I don’t know many people to begin with.

List five careers that you’d like to have: Lawyer (like A.D.A. Barba!)...Graphic Designer...Psychologist...Self-Help writer...and oddly wouldn't mind being a waitress still.

List five far-out things that you’d like to do before you die: I genuinely do not have a bucket list. If I stumble upon something that seems cool, I do it. Making unrealistic lists won't help my quality of life very much.

Do you dream big? Quite the opposite. I sort of just fly by the seat of my pants. Weird expression. Can’t recall ever having very fixated dreams or visions for myself.

What was your first imaginary friend’s name? N/A

What was the name of the first pet that you loved? Comet. <3

What was the first work uniform that you had to wear? Waitress uniform of sorts. I wanna say it was white button down and black pants.

Do you like to go barefoot? Usually. On some surfaces it’s intolerable and I hate the texture, though.

Do you like the same colors now that you did as a kid? Pretty much.

Do you have a blog? You’re on it, buddy. This is a survey blog.

Do you have a youtube channel? What would I even post videos about?? I assure you, I do nothing that the general public would find entertaining.

[teerest-blog]

uhh i added a trigger tag list

 i’ll put it in this post too for maximum visibility. Please like if you read hhhhh

Either tag the thing or use "Teere don't look" as a catchall

Bold = Important

Italics = semi important, i'll get extreme anxiety but i'll manage

normal = shit squicks me and i'd prefer not to see it

- - -

thinspo/fitspo/any eating disorder stuff (this prompted me to create this list)

domestic abuse

centipedes/millipedes

child abuse

- - -

suicidal and depressive shit (i'm trying to distance myself from that stuff rn)

(songs that have traumatic memories attached to them)

spin my head right round

hey soul sister

any song from the moomins

- - -

Jimmy neutron

Courage the cowardly dog

[ohheyidothat]

Stuff I’m learning in my Bugs 101 college class

Insects are the only flying invertebrate?? No that can’t be right. Birds and bats are vertebrate, so what else flies? Dragonflies, butterflies, mosquitoes…insects only??? I swear something else could fly?? OH IM THINKING OF PTEROSAURS OKAY. Well. They’re also vertebrates. But does something ELSE fly? Flies—but they’re insects. Cicada, insect. Bee, insect. Really?? Only insects fly besides vertebrates???? Any flying invertebrate is 100% an insect?? Weird. Very weird.

Insects are hexopods, but not all hexopods are insects

Hexapods seem to be to be more closely related to crabs than they are Myriapods (milli/centipedes) or Cherlicerata (spiders, scorpions, etc). Hexapods might have evolved from a crab-like ancestor.

Pill bugs/ rolly pollys are crustaceans! Not millipedes. Or insects. They’re funky lil land crab things (except some live in water).

[a-tad-bit-peculiar]

What are your fav aus?-secret Santa

THERES THIS ONE AU THAT I HONESTLY WANNA MAKE CONTENT FOR SO BAD

Okokok so it’s my au right

And it’s called “Miss Peregrine’s daycare for rowdy and disobedient children.”

Miss P’s like around 18 or 19 and she has this job at a daycare. It’s really small, so all of the kids sit and play in one room together. Everyone else is also aged down, with Olive and Claire being the youngest at 2.

And oh my god these fucking kids.

Okay so here’s all of the ages right:

Jacob: 11Emma: 10Millard: 9Hugh: 8Fiona: 8Bronwyn: 8Enoch: 5Horace: 6Olive: 2 Claire: 2

THESE KIDS WILL DRIVE MISS P TO HER GRAVE.

Jacob’s the most well behaved out of the bunch, aside from Bronwyn. He just kinda sits and draws until it’s time to leave.

Emma is always wanting to set something on fire. She thinks it’s pretty. Miss P has to lock all of fire-related gadgets and gizmos up extra tight because Emma’ll enlist the help of Millard or Bronwyn to help her get into shit.

Millard’s very smart for his age. He can usually be seen reading books a few years above his grade level. This being said, his intelligence is not always a blessing. He knows how to pick locks, thus helping Emma get to all of the lighters and matches and things she shouldn’t be getting into. Also he like really hates wearing clothes? If Miss P’s back is turned he’ll take his shirt off and she practically has to wrestle it back onto him.

(Gross warning) Hugh is allergic to pollen, yet he wants to eat bugs. Yes, you heard me. Eat bugs. One time he nearly died because he ate like four bees and almost choked on one. He can usually be seen scouring windowsills for dead bugs to stuff into his face. In total, he’s eaten 70 bumblebees, 75 honeybees, 124 spiders, 8 ½ centipedes, 4 millipedes, 102 flies, 46 ladybugs, and 10,347 ants. And those are just the ones Miss Peregrine’s seen him eat at daycare. But oddly enough, he seems to love the class’ pet tarantula, and wants to hold her and pet her and feed her 24/7

(Gross warning) Fiona’s very quiet. She hasn’t spoken really at all for the entire time she’s been at daycare. But she’s absolutely infatuated with Hugh, and usually tags along with him on his bug hunts. But her main problem is that she refuses to bathe, have he hair brushed, use napkins, brush her teeth, or anything else partaking to cleanliness. One time, Miss P saw a dead lizard fall out of her hair, which was immediately stolen and pocketed by Enoch. She’s also seen Fiona eat dirt to re-dirty herself after being made to brush her teeth.

Bronwyn’s the most perfect little angel…but she’s quite clumsy. She has to use a close-able sippy cup for whatever she may be drinking, because without it she’ll knock it over and spill everywhere. She’s fallen and scraped herself more times than Miss P can count. Bronwyn is also very shy, and will hide behind Miss P if anyone she doesn’t know has to enter the daycare for whatever reason. But besides that, she’s quite strong for her age, and is very protective of Olive and Claire.

(Gross warning) Enoch is creepily obsessed with the notion of death. He seems to have a radar that helps him find dead things, and roots for the main characters to die during story time. One instance being the time he found and delivered a dead crow to Miss Peregrine. “I been named ‘im Gerold,” he had said. Miss P nearly threw up. Enoch’s also an endless void when it comes to food. He’s never satisfied. He eats very messily too, and often chases a screaming Horace around with his sticky little fingers.

Horace is extremely whiny and wants everything to be perfect. He’s very spoiled and isn’t used to being told no. Honestly he’ll cry if he gets anything on his clothes. He doesn’t sleep very soundly either, and is prone to having nightmares. He also has this uncanny ability to predict things before they happen. One day Miss P overheard him whispering to himself: “Oh no, Enoch’s not going to be very happy. I must tell Miss P to get band-aids.” Ten minutes later, Enoch falls and scrapes his hands and knees. Since then, Miss Peregrine has never once doubted Horace’s instincts.

Olive climbs like a goddamn koala. She’s always finding new places to hide and to climb to. It’s super tiring for Miss P to have to get her down from on top of shelves/cupboards/basically anything 24/7.

Claire has…a biting problem. She’s more spoiled than Horace, and will kick and scream and pout and BITE if she doesn’t get her way. Miss P refuses to go near that little mouth. Those chompers draw BLOOD. The only person Claire refuses to bite is Bronwyn.

[beyondplusultra]

andrew for the ask meme please!

francesca is dis u >.>

ask meme they’re referring to is this Full Name: Andrew KeystoneGender and Sexuality: cis-male/heteroflexiblePronouns: he/him Ethnicity/Species: HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: Los Angeles, CA; not exactly sure when? But he’s definitely an Aries. He’s in his early 20s.Guilty Pleasures: he’s a phantom thief. so. his guilty pleasure is breaking into places and stealing things, i suppose. he keeps all the stuff he steals in some super secret vault.  Phobias: I don’t think he has a phobia, but he’s unnerved by things that have too many legs and walk a certain way. you know how centipede and millipede legs move? yeah, Andrew no likeyWhat They Would Be (in)Famous For: as mentioned above, he’s a phantom thief who calls himself Masquerade. outside of that life though, he’s just your typical rich boy. not bruce wayne status rich, but rich enough that he can hold an unforgettable party. too bad he doesn’t have a lot of friends.What They Would Get Arrested For: He finds your lack of faith disturbing. Masquerade would never, ever get arrested, he’s too good for that… right?OC You Ship Them With: oh boy. look. listen. i made this OC with a friend. in her head, he’s straight as an arrow. in my head, though. in my head… one day i will voice these thoughts. OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Conan is too nice to kill people, but the thought has definitely crossed his mind more than once, especially when Andrew “forgets” to throw out the trash again or leaves leftovers in the microwave.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: superhero anything. he’s definitely big on Marvel/DC, with a slight inclination towards the latter.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: when the bad guy decides to cooperate with the good guys because of an even badder guy, and then gets a redemption arc.Talents and/or Powers: he’s talented at bullshitting his way through things. im not even kidding. if that was a superpower that would be andrew’s. he prefers to call it improvising.Why Someone Might Love Them: As Masquerade, he’s devilish and charming, but even as just Andrew, that’s his default setting. he’s always down to have fun and making jokes and willing to laugh at himself… Why Someone Might Hate Them: …but the funny thing is, a lot of people actually don’t like him just out of association with his father (who is a CEO of some major corporation that is extremely successful but a lot of people don’t like, or something like that - i haven’t fleshed out exactly why). plus he tries a little too hard to get people to like him and he just comes across as obnoxious.How They Change: after he meets Conan and the rest of the crew, he finally finds a place where he belongs; they’re all outcasts of society, and now they’re a family. he becomes like a big brother to the 3 younger boys. he finds a goal in life besides just rebelling against his dad.Why You Love Them: i’m so ATTACHED to this guy. he’s one of my earlier OCs; i was still back in high school when he came to be, and ever since then it’s just been non stop development. Andrew is just so much fun. he’s the guy you can count on to make a dumb joke when stuff is getting too tense, but he’s also the same person who will throw himself under the bus to make sure his friends don’t get in trouble. Andrew is bae.

[amorremanet]

Lucy for the oc meme if you're still doing it :)

oc profiles meme!

*facepalms @ me* I apparently really suck at remembering to fill in my placeholders before clicking post because I get too excited about clicking “post,” this is the second time that’s happened

Full Name: Lucia Raven Murphy.

Lucy is one of my kids who got stuck having a Significant Name in universe, because unfortunately for her, her parents liked significant names. (Not quite as much as Sebastian’s entire family, but… it’s kinda hard to top them without getting into, “James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna” territory.)

Anyway. Lucy’s parents picked, “Lucia” for Saint Lucia of Syracuse, one of the early Christian female martyrs who went, “Mmm, pass” at the non-Christian dude she was betrothed to because of Jesus reasons and wound up getting killed for it, who is traditionally invoked against blindness and eye disease, but also against, “spiritual blindness” because the Catholic Church loves playing on concepts like that — one of the things I remember from Sunday school basically went, “Saint Lucy lost her sight but it gave her better insight into spiritual matters because of Jesus.”

One of Saint Lucia’s other claims to fame is that Dante invoked her throughout the Divine Comedy, and she was one of the saints in Heaven whom Beatrice went to in search of help to go save Dante’s self-insert from himself. This reference was 500% intentional, on the part of Lucy’s Mom.

And the in-universe significance of, “Raven” is that it was one of her Grandmothers’ middle names, but the meta significance is that I meant to use Mystique’s given name as a placeholder until I found a different middle name for Lucy, but then I really liked how, “Lucia Raven Murphy” rolled off the tongue and had to make up an in-character reason for it because Lucy’s parents were big on significantly significant names.

They named her big brother Damian Alexander Murphy, after one of his grandfathers (Grandpa Alex is one of Damian’s least favorite family members) and the Saint Damian of the brother pair, Saints Cosmas and Damian, the Holy Unmercernaries, who are traditionally invoked by physicians, pharmacists, surgeons, apothecaries, and veterinarians, and for protection against pestilence and plague.

Damian has still not lived down the fact that he got the, “we want our kid to go to medical school” name, but Lucy is the one who actually wanted that, herself. (Not that she wound up going down the med school track, but she did consider it very seriously and for a couple years before deciding that she liked the sound of public health advocacy better.)

Gender and Sexuality: Cis girl. // Lesbian.

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers.

Species/Race & Ethnicity: Human (mutant). // White, and if you ask her, she will claim to have no idea what her background is beyond, “I don’t know? White?”

She does this specifically because it annoys her parents and the one uncle who happens to be a priest. Lucy knows damn well that her family is mostly Irish.

Birthplace and Birthdate: November 21st, 1992. // Baltimore, MD.

Guilty Pleasures: Lucy would tell you that she doesn’t have guilty pleasures because, as part of her project of giving the Catholic church a massive, “Fuck you” for a laundry list of reasons, she does not believe in guilty pleasures. Sadly, and unfortunately for her, the Catholic guilt is not actually that easy to shake, and Lucy definitely has guilty pleasures.

Just, for her, they’re usually guilty pleasures because she feels like she’s supposed to be, “above” this or “better than” this, or she’s not supposed to like these things because she’s an adult now, right? And these are kid stuff things, so she shouldn’t be liking them anymore.

For an incomplete list: the High School Musical movies.

Scooby Doo cartoons. All of them. Even the ones that heavily feature Scrappy Doo. Even A Pup Named Scooby Doo.

Carnival games. Lucy knows damn well that they’re rigged, but they get her almost every time, because dkffjfh, she’s REALLY going to get it this time, okay.

Similarly: skill cranes.

You know the episode of Spongebob where Squidward gets obsessed with playing the skill crane and ends up giving Mr. Krabs everything he has, in exchange for more quarters, so he can play the skill crane, and drives himself into the ground with it?

Yeah, that’s why Lucy isn’t allowed to play skill cranes

Because there is precedent that suggests that she could all too easily end up doing essentially that

The old Gameboy Color that she used to steal from Damian, because it was technically his and it was more fun to play with his than to play with her own, because she got to feel like she was super-sneaky and cool (and because it made her big brother actually pay attention to her, even if it was to go, “brat, that is MY Gameboy, you have your own”).

She still has her own old Gameboy, too, but it’s more fun to play with Damian’s.

Either way, some of her favorite games on it are:

the first and second gen Pokémon games

(because she was the right age to be part of the target audience for Gold/Silver/Crystal, but she also wanted to take Damian’s copies of Red/Blue/Yellow, for the same reason why she took his Gameboy).

The Pokémon TCG for Gameboy thing.

Tetris (which usually involves a lot of yelling wordlessly, but vaguely in tune with the theme music).

Frogger.

Link’s Awakening DX, and the Oracle games.

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.

Centipede and Millipede, and Space Invaders (the old arcade games that are older than Lucy, put on a Gameboy cartridge because why not).

The Powerpuff Girls trio of games.

and Super Mario Land.

In addition to the whole, “this is kid stuff for children and I’m supposed to be an adult“ thing, Lucy sometimes feels guilty about her Gameboy because when she gets really overwhelmed by ALL THE THINGS, she wants to be doing something, but if she can’t handle doing actual, real-world somethings now, she’ll go zone out with her Gameboy for a while, which will feel better to her than doing nothing…

…right up until she starts berating herself for being okay enough to fight Whitney’s Miltank or get through a few levels of Tetris, but not enough to do something for real

And it’s not a guilty pleasure at all (most of the time), but if the Gameboy coping strategy doesn’t work, then Lucy becomes the person who goes jogging when she’s upset, except for when it kinda stops being, “jogging” and starts being, “running until she feels like she’s going to pass out because she might”

Phobias: Not being good enough (this is one of the big ones for her, and there isn’t really an answer to, “good enough for what or whom, exactly?” because there will be either thousands of answers all at once, or none whatsoever because Lucy is fixated on the general, overall sentiment right now).

Not living life to the fullest or achieving her full potential or doing everything that she wants to do in life

Her Dad — but to be more specific: she’s afraid of letting him down (and kind of hates that she’s afraid of letting him down, because she knows that he’s a homophobic douchebag who may not have been an outright abusive father but certainly has not been exemplary, either, and she knows that she’d probably be better off if she stopped caring what he thought, and she’s kinda tried, but it’s been rough going and she’s gotten a whole lot of nothing for it);

she’s afraid of both what might happen if he finds out that she’s a lesbian, and of the possibility that he might die without knowing, which would mean that she never gets the chance to confront him about it and fight that dragon ever again — and on the off-chance that he didn’t just cut her out of his life (since, sadly, we are talking about a guy for whom, “well, at least he doesn’t believe in reparative therapy anymore”), then she’d end up missing out on the time they could’ve had without that secret hanging over everything;

and she’s afraid of what her Dad means to her and of what it might mean that she can find him reprehensible on several counts, and acknowledge the chance that he could very well turn on his own daughter and erase her from his life, or his conscious daily life anyway, and yet, she does still love him and care what he thinks and want to not let him down

and extraterrestrial life — but not in that she fears an invasion, exactly? Lucy would probably actually welcome an invasion by extraterrestrial aliens, because then she’d be right and they’d be out there for real, and that would be cool…… but in the big picture sense where she doesn’t really deal with it every day but when it does crop up, it derails whatever else she’s doing very easily? She’s afraid of the possibility that aliens are real, but they just don’t want anything to do with humans

Were that the case, Lucy supposes that she could see why and all…… but it would still suck, and think about how much we’d all be missing out on with the aliens, all because we just had to be a bunch of shit-sticks to each other

What They Would Be Famous For: This answer is starting to feel a little bit repetitive, but…… I mean. Lucy’s going to be part of a team of heroes who get together because they just want to do some real good in the world and help people, but then stumble into fighting a shadowy cabal of neo-fascist super-villains (most of whom have their own shiny cool mutant superpowers, though some of them do not and get treated as if they’re, like…… pets, more than people and full team members).

If that hadn’t happened, though, Lucy probably wouldn’t get famous and she’d be okay with that. But if she did get famous without superpowers, it’d probably be due to rabble-rousing in Washington, D.C., or being particularly loud and obnoxious in order to draw people’s attention onto the public health crises and causes that she would’ve thrown herself behind.

She probably would’ve wound up making a lot of enemies, in that way, or at least getting on the bad sides of several people — and to be fair, she’s going to end up on the bad sides of a few choice douchebags anyway — but if she’d stayed on the public health advocacy track instead of the superhero track, she would’ve definitely had a Leslie Knope moment of saying something like, “What I hear, when I’m being yelled at, is people caring loudly at me.”

What They Would Get Arrested For: Breaking and entering, trespassing, unlawful surveillance, assault maybe — basically, a lot of shit that most vigilante superheroes should be getting arrested for (and that Lucy only won’t be getting arrested for because she has a team of people who care about her enough to go, “Sweetie, no. You don’t have your license yet. If you really care about the work and the helping, and not just about running headlong into doing ALL THE THINGS because you’re bored? Then you won’t risk getting arrested just to go out there right now, unlicensed”)

OCs You Ship Them With: Lucy has Sara Grace, her girlfriend, and I don’t know if they’re going to be endgame or not, but if they’re not, then it’s going to be because they’re 22 and 23, and just getting out into the world after going to college, so growing up happens, and it’s not fun, but…… Sometimes, people can love each other and still not work out best for themselves and each other in a romantic relationship (which is pretty much Seb/Todd in a nutshell, too, right down to them having first met each other in college).

But the Lucy/Sara Grace relationship, if it doesn’t go all the way to endgame, is not going to be broken up because one of them died, because that’s rubbish and I’d rather not because it’s more fun for me to write about people who love each other trying to work through difficult times, and maybe coming out of them not loving each other romantically anymore, but without the whole, “bury your lesbians” thing because

I mean

Are we done with that trope, or are we done with that trope

Anyway. If not Sara Grace, then I’ve also been shipping Lucy with Layla, Antoinette (which would be really complicated, in a potentially bad way, because she’s kind of with the villains, for all she’s one of the ones who could be redeemed or at least brought around to work for the non-villainous side, since Annie mostly got dragged into this because of her family… but still), Helena (which would also be complicated, but mostly by virtue of Helena being one of the All-Stars — and no, she’s not one of the big movers and shakers on that team, but she’s still on the team of superheroes who have a reality show and that does tend to complicate things)

aaaaand a little bit with Allison, though that one is more like, “Lucy had a crush on Allison for a while, but pursuing any kind of romantic relationship would’ve been awkward, because first, Allison was one of her big brother’s best friends, and then, Allison was Damian’s girlfriend, and now, Allison and Damian are engaged, soooo…”

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Conrad will probably try, on the grounds that he, “wants to believe in her potential, but then suffers through watching her squander it” (which is his way of saying, “ugh why don’t you just want to give up on doing good things or helping people and come be a super-powered neo-fascist, uggggggggh”), but I already know that he’s not allowed to win that one because I’ve got other plans for both him and Lucy.

And, as with most of the people on the main team, Senator Huntington will want Lucy dead, but he isn’t going to go after her himself. He will send people after her, sure, but he hasn’t done his own dirty work since about 1984, and he has no intentions of starting it up again now.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Science-fiction. All the science-fiction (and probably an ensuing round of, “but do the aliens believe in me” and, “what if aliens ARE real but we haven’t found them because they think we’re a bunch of fuck ups and no one else in the universe wants anything to do with us”).

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliches: Protagonist-centered morality.

Edgy mcedgelord grimdark antiheroes who are all like, “rawr, I am so doing what needs to be done and therefore I am morally justified in acting like a douchebag and doing all of these skeevy-ass things and raaaawr, fuck you that’s why, I think I’m the goddamn Batman, but like all of the stories where Bruce Wayne is at his worst, or maybe like that run in the 90’s where Jean-Paul Valley got to be Batman because Bruce was busy having a broken spine, thanks to Bane.”

Lucy is just kind of averse to people acting like edgy mcedgelords in general

She has been for a long time, like. When Damian was in his early to mid teens, and Lucy was about five to nine, she was right there, getting on her cranky goth trash edgy mcedgelord big brother’s case and being all, “Yeah right, blah blah blah, the darkness in the depth of your soul truly knows no bounds, that’s totally why you turned into a big dumb puddle of mush because Allison’s new cat likes you. Calm down, edgelord.”

There’s a reason why she got, “if i were a drink i’d be a cherry vanilla coke / if you were a drink what would you be / everyone’s like, ‘bleach’ or ‘sewage’ please calm down edgelords” on the textpost meme

And that reason is that Lucy doesn’t have much patience for it when people start acting like edgelords

This can be sort of hypocritical of her, sometimes, but not that often, and if she’s going to have an edgy mcedgelord moment, she’ll usually preface it by going, “At the risk of sounding like I’m trying too hard to be edgy…” or similar

Torture being not only condoned but treated as if it’s actually effective at doing anything but causing pain and traumatizing people into telling you what you want to hear, whether it’s true or not — just…… don’t go there.

Do not try to justify torture to Lucy.

Because she’s done her homework and she knows that it doesn’t actually work, so anyone who engages in torture is just violating human rights and civil liberties for no freaking reason, and excuse you but no. She does not believe that the only way to uphold and protect your ideals and values is to violate them in one of the worst ways that you can possibly violate them.

She may not actually argue her case very well in the heat of the moment, because she is very passionate about this and about how Torture Is Straight-Up Wrong, Period, End of Discussion, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, and it’s really easy for Lucy to lose track of a logical argument when she’s wound up

But she will, however, tap into pathos pretty well and make an argument that makes people feel bad for even thinking of supporting torture, because for having such a problem with her Catholic upbringing over the entire thing of Catholic guilt? Lucy is pretty good at sending someone on a guilt-trip

While she will acquiesce that he is not a trope, Lucy can’t stand Deadpool. She doesn’t think he’s funny, she doesn’t think that he’s saying anything particularly insightful or constructive or fun, and if you’re going to be a satire of your genre that doesn’t contribute to the discussion but rather mocks the discussion and makes fun of literally everyone having it, then the least you could do is be enjoyable in your pointlessness.

Lucy is annoyed by hipsters, poststructuralism, dada, and Deadpool, who is, to her, the worst possible conflagration of the other three things on that list, except dressed in red spandex and annoying the shit out of her.

(This is really only relevant because: 1. I’m watching Deadpool right now, and 2. at least two of her teammates think Deadpool is cool and fun, and she is judging you so hard right now, Petebastian. Why are you like this. Why.)

And Lucy says that she hates forced love triangles in stories that did not need to have love triangles — she would point at The Hunger Games series as an example — but the reality is less that she objects to the love triangles, and more that she’s just not a fan of the two boys involved, but if the love triangle were between three girls (like, Johanna/Katniss/Madge, in this example), then she’d be all over it.

Talents and/or Powers: Well, non-superpower talents first. Lucy is a go-getter and while her rousing speeches have room to get better (because, y’know… she’s 23, and has more time to learn about the art of the rousing speech), she’s getting good at giving rousing speeches. She’s almost always ready, willing, and eager to get out in the world and try absolutely everything.

If you have her on your team for a competition like, “who can sell the most raffle tickets,” then you stand a good chance of winning, because she has dedication, enthusiasm, and persistence, plus a few of the Gifts of Gab (they aren’t really her strongest suit, but she is pretty good at them).

She’s also good at scavenger hunts, for a few reasons, one of which is the way that she’s totally cool with trying to scale the side of a building, or going and digging around in a muddy field on her hands and knees, or going and bothering strangers at the mall to pose for some ridiculous selfie with her, and so on — like, whatever weird scavenger hunt shit you can throw at her (or weird shit in non-scavenger hunt contexts), Lucy is here for it because that sounds fun and heck yes, she’d love to do it

She does have a problem of needing to learn better from the past and from previous mistakes (whether they’re hers or other people’s), but the flip-side of that problem is that Lucy doesn’t usually let setbacks get her down. She should let them get her down just a little bit more, so that she can learn from them a bit better, but…… well.

When people are yelling at her, she hears them caring loudly at her, and when things go wrong, Lucy will do her damnedest to find some way to turn this messy situation into something useful and constructive, and and then drag it into the realm of Good Things, kicking and screaming if necessary. Also, she’s 23 and she’s learning, and despite having some real world and real life experiences, she’s still naive about a lot of things, so… yeah. She’s learning.

And now for the superpowers

Lucy’s most notable power is hemokinesis — which is the term that I’m using because, “blood-bending” doesn’t really work outside the world of ATLA, where it actually makes sense as a term, but that’s the gist of it.

The ATLA conception of blood-bending is also inaccurate for Lucy because their blood-bending works by having the water-benders manipulate the water in someone’s blood, which is a really neat concept, but as Lucy learns more about how to control her powers, she’s going to learn that she has control over more than just the water in someone’s blood

For example: one of the applications of her hemokinesis that she’s going to rely on a lot is manipulating platelets in order to make smaller wounds scab over quicker. (In the case of larger wounds, she’s going to have to learn how to simulate the outer walls of ruptured blood vessels by directing blood-flow in certain directions, and then how to stimulate the body’s regeneration of the different kinds of blood cells.)

(The latter power is going to make her go, “!!!!!!!” when she learns that she can do it because OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. SHE NEEDS SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE ALLOWED TO DONATE BLOOD AND WILLING TO LET HER DO THIS, COME ON, WE NEED TO GO TO THE RED CROSS RIGHT NOW AND DONATE ALL THE BLOOD, BLOOD BANKS ARE PERPETUALLY IN NEED AND LUCY CAN USE HER POWERS TO GENERATE BLOOD SO COME ON YOU GUYS, SERIOUSLY. SEB, PETE, YOUR TATTOOS AND PIERCINGS ARE OLD ENOUGH TO NOT BE AN ISSUE SO CAN YOU JUST LIE AND PLEASE PRETEND YOU DON’T HAVE SEX WITH GUYS, AND SEB PRETEND THAT YOU’VE BEEN CLEAN FOR AT LEAST A YEAR, FOR THE SAKE OF THIS, IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.)

(strictly speaking, both of them would do so, since neither of them has hepatitis or HIV, and they agree that this is important… but Lucy’s argument would work better on Seb before he learns that he’s a mutant.

Once he learns that, though, he would need to be sat down and given a thorough powerpoint presentation about how… yes, he has a healing factor, and yes, he would definitely be dead if he didn’t have it, with everything he’s ever done to himself, but it doesn’t actually mean that he’s secretly harboring hepatitis and/or HIV and just not feeling it because of his healing factor. If his tests come up clean, then he’s clean.

And… nb: they’d be having this conversation before the FDA changes the lifetime ban on giving blood for MSM, to, “you must abstain from having sex with other men for a year or you can’t donate blood.”

Seb, however, would still have to lie about the intravenous drug use, since…… yeah, he much preferred getting high without using a needle, because despite having multiple tattoos, he’s really easy to squick with needles — like he’s fainted a few times while watching other people shoot up because needles freak him out — but easily squicked by needles or not, Seb has used IV drugs that were not prescribed by a doctor, much less monitored by one, and he’d need to lie about that.

But Pete would only need to lie about the sex with other guys, and he thinks lying about his sex life in order to donate blood is okay, given that he knows he doesn’t have hepatitis or HIV.)

(This whole thing is just going to get a lot worse when Lucy learns how to regenerate plasma. Just.

She cares so much about this particular application of her powers and YOU GUYS SHE KNOWS THAT IT’S IMPORTANT TO WORK ON TAKING DOWN THE FASCIST MUTANTS BUT CAN WE PLEASE GO DONATE BLOOD COME ON IT’S IMPORTANT.)

Anywho. Some other uses of hemokinesis are going to scare Lucy a lot more, because, for example, she can use this power to heal…… but she could also create a blood clot and give someone a heart attack or stroke, and if she isn’t in control of it, she could do that without necessarily meaning to (e.g., if it happens as a panic response to being attacked by someone else)

And, uh. While it’s kind of cool to be able to generate the blood enough to make a sword, then make it dense, hard, and sharp enough to actually function as one? It’s also… kinda gross? And unless Lucy gets injured and gets her blood from there, her options are ““borrowing”” someone else’s blood — which she’d rather not do because what the fuck, that blood isn’t hers to go turning into a sword just because she can — or self-harming, which?

Even granted that she could get away with just pricking her finger or something, uh.

That’s pretty scary for Lucy, and more so because her girlfriend has dealt with self-harm before and it’s just?? Lucy isn’t sure if her belief in the greater good and getting shit done to benefit everyone would be enough to get her through self-harming in the name of creating a blood weapon when this could end up hurting Sara Grace

If she had no other options that would work, Lucy would probably do it, but…… seriously. Creating a blood weapon is going to be one something she’s only going to pull out if the other options have been exhausted and she’s basically down to, “surrender,” “die,” or, “make the damn blood weapon.”

Tangentially related to her hemokinesis, Lucy is eventually going to be able to tap into different uses of osteokinesis (or bone manipulation).

If she weren’t so excited about science and medicine, she might not make the connection on her own, but… blood is generated in bone marrow (which is why, if you get a bone marrow transplant, your body will generate blood that looks like it belongs to someone else, genetically).

Lucy’s going to have a lot on her mind for a while that’s more immediately pressing and that keeps her from fully making this connection — and getting into manipulating bones and bone marrow in more ways than, “generate ALL THE BLOOD for the Red Cross!!!” and so on, Lucy is going to have a harder time learning to control these powers and making them do what she wants

—but she will get a handle on her osteokinesis eventually, and be able to use it to heal broken bones (and several other things, but healing broken bones will probably be one of her preferred uses because…… no, seriously, a lot of the other uses of bone manipulation are going to freak her out kind of a lot).

(And at the risk of sounding like she’s trying too hard to be edgy, but? Holy shit, why did she have to get a bunch of edgelord powers like she’s just languishing outside a fucking Hot Topic, dressed all in black and complaining about all the goddamn conformists like how dare they listen to Beyoncé and Britney Spears instead of “Wake Me Up Inside” or Korn or whatever the fuck goth kids listen to, UGH.)

(Josie: “……Actually? It’s called, ‘Bring Me To Life.’”

Lucy: “………Huh?”

Josie: “The song that has, ‘wake me up inside’ as part of its chorus. Its actual title is, ‘Bring Me To Life,’ and…… eh? It isn’t not-Goth, but you would find quite a few Goth kids who’d rather not be associated with it because it was too big a hit when it first came out and they feel like this makes it a conformist song.”

Lucy: “…………Okay, question. Did I ask for a lesson about how you used to be a goth kid fairy princess back when you were in high school or whatever?”

Josie: “Okay, that song came out well after I’d finished high school, but who’s counting—”

Lucy: “Or did I ask for someone to please listen to me vent about how my powers are such freaking edgelord trash and it’s annoying?”

Josie: “……Neither, technically. You didn’t ask, you just kind of started venting.”

Lucy: “……*folds arms over her chest and just gives Josie an incredibly unimpressed face*”

Josie: “……I’m sorry. You were venting. Please, go on. I’m listening.”

Lucy: “Nah, I’m gonna go vent to Pete instead, he doesn’t correct me about songs I don’t care about when I’m mid-vent.”

………and then, about two hours later, Margot had to stop Pete and Lucy from going to stake out the nearest Hot Topic because…… no, you two. No. There is nothing untoward happening at Hot Topic.

Margot generally agrees with the grievances that you both have with Hot Topic, but there is not actually anything criminal going on at Hot Topic; you’re both just looking for something to be happening so you can justify wasting time on what is essentially a glorified game of you two hanging around outside Hot Topic, people-watching, and making pointlessly judgmental comments about the people who work or shop there.

Which Margot isn’t actually against, most of the time or in principle — except she is against it when you’re calling it work and wasting time that you’re really supposed to be spending on following up on leads about real supervillain problems.)

Other miscellaneous powers that Lucy has: a healing factor (it’s nigh impossible to find a mutant who doesn’t have one, and hers isn’t as intense as Seb’s, but that’s just because his has been through worse shit and it’s gotten a lot tougher as a result because environment and experiences have an important role in shaping if, how, and/or when the mutations that are coded in someone’s genes fully manifest and what the full extents of these manifestations will end up being)

Heightened senses (which is going to help contribute to Lucy finally finding out that she’s on the autistic spectrum, because the sensory overwhelm Hell is going to finally outstrip her ability to cope with things and make herself seem more or less neurotypical)

Increased stamina (which her healing factor helps with, yeah, but they are technically separate)

Super-strength (……ish. Like, she does end up with enhanced strength, yes, but the things is, she also ends up supplementing it with two things:

1. working out and strength training — and asking Seb to teach her how to fight because he knows how, and he didn’t learn it in any organized martial arts or boxing or whatever blah blah blah, he learned it from an actual need to defend himself and others, which means that he knows how to fight effectively, and come on come on come on, it’s not like Lucy’s asking him to start a Fight Club with her, she just wants to be a good superhero, pleeeeease?;

and 2. temporarily increasing the density and weight of her own blood to make her punches hit harder — which is a very specific way of supplementing her enhanced strength that doesn’t actually translate to most uses of it that don’t involve hitting things, and it may not hurt her as quickly and obviously as, say, trying to punch someone when you don’t know the right way to make a fist, don’t have your knuckles taped and/or can’t prep yourself for the pain that will come if you don’t have your knuckles taped, etc.

…but a couple hours after she does this, Lucy will have to deal side-effects as her blood tries to shift back to its normal density, and as her body tries to catch up with that, and all of it will suck)

And (in Sara Grace’s words), “a super-mutant refusal to give up in the face of things that are terrifying and difficult and might make other people run screaming” and, “the most super-mutant cutest little nose-wrinkle ever in all of the history of the entire planet ever”

Why Someone Might Love Them: …it’s late and I’m tired, so fair warning, we’re getting into, “this is where the crappy answers start up” territory right now but with that being said:

Lucy is enthusiastic, and completely earnest about it. Like, she has some semblance of tact, but it’s really difficult for Lucy to fake being enthused about something when she isn’t, so when she’s all excited and eager and everything? It’s for real, and it can be contagious, because she just believes so much in how cool it is to care about stuff and give them your all and fight for what you believe in and so on, and her energy and enthusiasm rub off on other people

(Which, admittedly, some people don’t like very much, but other people do, so.)

She may not be perfect, but she does always try to be a better person. This is hindered most by how slow she is to learn from past mistakes, and by her eagerness to keep plowing forward and to get up, dust herself up, and get back in the fray as soon as possible — but she’s the member of the main cast who is most likely to give a, “You know, I learned something today!” type of speech about how they can all take the most recent odd miscellaneous misadventures and turn them into practical self-improvement and being better people for real

(One problem that she needs to work on here is that she’s a definite Gryffindor, and she has that Gryffindor tendency to sometimes steamroll over people because she’s made a decision about what the Greater Good is or what’s best for everyone — and to Lucy’s credit, she can be stopped if you’re patient with her and go, “No. Here is what you’re doing, now stop”… but, still. She’s trying to work on the whole steamroller problem, but…… it’s a process for her.)

(Also, she’s not exactly a Pollyanna, but Lucy does believe in trying to find the bright side and the potentially useful aspects of everything, even if it kills her, so she can kinda seem like it, sometimes.)

For all she puts up a front as much as most of the rest of my characters — and Lucy’s front generally tends to be a version of herself that is more competent than she necessarily feels and definitely more self-assured than she feels at any given moment — Lucy is also more comfortable with being genuine and real with people, without it having to be that she’s breaking character or slipping up or something.

Like, her front isn’t one she uses to try and push people away or keep them from seeing her vulnerabilities; she uses it to try and convince people that she’s okay, and she’s got this, and you should take her seriously because she knows what she’s doing and she’s got this and if you don’t believe her, just watch

(Who listens to “Uptown Funk” when she needs a pep talk? Uh, yeah, that would be Lucy.)

So, she’s not one of my characters who’s going to go to ridiculous lengths to try and keep her true self from coming out — aside from: 1. trying to minimize some of her vulnerable spots. specifically the ones that make her; and 2. the balancing act she has with being half-closeted, but that’s not based on trying to push people away; it’s about being genuinely terrified of what her parents would do to her if she came out to them

—and when she wants to get to know someone, then she she’s more comfortable sharing parts of herself with them than most of her teammates

And she’s dedicated. Like, really, really dedicated. She tires not to expect the same level of dedication from other people… but Lucy herself won’t feel good about her efforts on something ‘til she’s given it 5,010% percent of what she has to offer and then tried to give more

Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can be overwhelming to deal with, even when she doesn’t mean to be. Her dedication can be exhausting to deal with, and she sometimes doesn’t really get that seriously, Lucy: it’s okay to chill out a little bit and not try to go charging headlong into absolutely everything. She often doesn’t get that she’s being a steamroller until someone points it out to her, and while she is genuinely sorry for that (most of the time), the whole thing where she doesn’t learn from her mistakes very easily is kind of a problem.

And, on the (usually) less understandable end, some people find her earnestness off-putting, and genuine belief in always doing the best that you can, trying to be the best that you can be, and trying to do the most good in the world that you can possibly do.

Sometimes, this is understandable, because Lucy can do this without being as sensitive as she could be about everything that’s going on in any given situation — most likely because she thinks that she’s right and hasn’t stopped to consider the other perspectives in play right now — and is being a giant, runaway steamroller with no brakes and a lead foot on the gas pedal.

Other times, though, people have gone after her earnestness and her attempts to be a good person, and a hero in her own right, because they’re being cynical dicks and going, “ugh, you are so naive and it’s annoying, stop it”

How They Change: Probably the biggest things that Lucy’s going to deal with as part of her character growth are: 1. learning how to learn from her mistakes, or other people’s mistakes, or the past in general because she really needs a better balance between her, “YEAH LET’S GO FUTURE YAY LET’S WORK FOR THE FUTURE IT’S ALL GOING TO BE SO MUCH COOLER THERE, I DO NOT WANT TO BE CHAINED TO THE PAST BECAUSE IT SUCKED, YAY FOR THE FUTURE” positive view of and approach to life, and the truth at the heart of, “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”;

and 2. her naivete is going to get kicked in the teeth. It’s not as clear-cut as, “the naivete is completely wrong and all of the cynical dicks in her life have been right all along” — it’s more the case that everyone involved in this discussion is being too extreme and/or too absolutist about something in how they approach life, they all have some fair and valid points (some of them more than others), and they all have places where they’re really in need of some changes to better themselves and to do better by the other people in their lives

—but Lucy is still really naive about some pretty important shit, and her naivete is going to get kicked in the teeth, and then her commitment to positivity and finding the bright side of things or a way to make them useful and so on? Yeah, that’s all going to be tested. A lot.

A big part of her development is going to be about finding a balance between her ideals and commitment to trying to be a positive force in the universe, and needing to pay better attention to the practical details and actual reality of what’s going on around her and what she’s sticking her superpowered bunny nose into.

Also, she’s going to learn that she’s on the autistic spectrum and have to deal with that, and like.

Mutant superpowers? She didn’t expect those, but she has thought about what she might do in this kind of situation because she’s grown up in a world where mutants with superpowers are real and fairly well-known and so it’s entirely plausible that she or someone she knows could turn out to be a mutant, so there are some aspects of this that Lucy hasn’t really prepared herself for and wouldn’t have seen coming and so on and so forth, and it’s not like the adjustment will be that easy for her, but it won’t take long to find a groove to settle into

But she really didn’t see being on the autistic spectrum coming and she consequentially has no idea what to make of it when it comes to her awareness

Why You Love Them: 3:11 AM crappy answer time, but… because Lucy is, in a lot of ways, kind of a mess — not as much as some of her teammates, but to be fair here, among the main team and with the exception of Sara Grace, they’re all 7 to 12 years older than Lucy is, so they’ve had more time to get themselves into a ton of shit and make themselves into different kinds of human disasters — but she’s trying and so freaking help her, she’s going to do it all with a positive attitude and a mind to help create good changes in the world wherever and whenever she can. And I admire that dedication in her