#but i couldnt find the species at this guys table so i asked and he was like ''yeah here'' and they were Huge!!!

[skin-slave]

I got a tarantula!!!!! He's about 2-2.5" diagonally. He's a b. boehmei (Mexican Fireleg). And his name is Sprinkles. 🥰🕷️ I couldn't get any good pics in his little expo cup, but there are some shitty ones. lol (Plus a couple pics from the expo)

He lost a leg and just molted and got it kinda back, but since he's a little gimpy, I got a discount. The guy messed up the payment thing, so he gave me a T. albo too, but I honestly don't know if it's even alive.

Shout out to @skold bc I would literally still be terrified of spiders if it hadn't been for them!!! 😭

I did not expect to see dead specimens, but I'm glad I did. Made me feel more like I belonged.

The guy said that, for legal purposes, the little dicks are "pink frogs" 😂🤣

[dullgecko]

Fabian’s gonna freak the F out when Sklonda shows them Riz baby pics “What do you mean the ball was ever an actual infant!”

He then explains about how he thought goblins were born fully formed or grown like plants or something (sorry I can’t remember what u said exactly in the ask) and Sklonda seriously and with actual concern ask Fabian if he knows where babies come from and if his parents ever gave him ‘the talk’.

Also I was thinking about baby goblins being irresistibly cute and how not a lot of people having seen them; while as their instincts told them to sklonda and pok did keep Riz mostly safely hidden away as a baby but there were times they had to for whatever reason take him out and Riz even then was a curious little guy constantly poking his head out to see the world out of whatever bundle he was in unlike most shy goblin kits.

Goblins are normally notwell liked by other species so sklonda and pok were pretty sure a baby goblin would receive the same treatment.

To their surprise it was the opposite problem, everyone found baby Riz adorable and often overstepped boundaries and personal space, treating him more like an exotic pet than an actual baby.

This all accumulates one day day when a complete stranger goes to grab and hold Riz but before they can either/both sklonda and pok are hissing and growling calling the person a number goblin swear words as they’ve backed up a safe distance away while shielding an overwhelmed stressed out Riz.

Honestly it’s lucky the stranger was noticed before they could actually touch Riz, otherwise they would have learnt from personal experience how much damage a goblins teeth and claws can actually do.

Xx

"What the fuck, he was an actual infant at some point? I thought they were grown like plants." Fabian muttered, squinting his eye at the array of pictures Sklonda had pulled from the photo album. The statement earning an amused snort from Fig who was also sitting at the table perusing the stack, occasionally snapping photos of the cuter ones to add to her personal collection. The rest of their party had left to go procure some lunch, given that they seemed to be staying there for the whole day while Riz tried to sleep off his fever.

He'd picked one of the photos up to look at it closer, flipping it over to see the date on the back since Riz was clearly eating birthday cake in the photo and making a mental note of it for later. Riz tended to be very cagey with personal details about himself so all they'd managed to work out so far was the month of his birthday, now they could actually nail down a specific day.

He jumped slightly when Sklonda put a concerned hand on his arm after the comment, lowering her voice and patting it in a way that was entirely too sincere for his likeing.

"Aw honey, did.... has no one told you were babies come from? I mean, I know your mom is a bit uhhhh-" She waved a hand near her head to indicate the general vagueness that Halarial tended to exist in "-but i thought you would have found out by now. If you have any questions just let me know okay?"

Fabian sputtered, face going red as he sat up straighter in his chair. "What? No of course I know where babies come from. Evidently not goblin babies but you know... the rest."

He waved his hand towards the window before pushing his chair back and standing, heading over to his schoolbag to dig out a book he'd clearly borrowed from the library. "I asked Riz and he said he was never an infant, and i mean the book corroborated his story so i believed him."

Fabian flipped through a few pages, finding one titled GOBLIN in all capital letters and placing it down on the table. "See, there. It says so right there."

Fig leaned across the table to read what Fabian was pointing at, wincing and lifting up the book so she could read the title on the front page. "Dude this is a monster encyclopedia.... from like, fifty years ago."

"Well, i mean, i couldnt find anything else talking about goblin children. This is the only thing that even mentioned them." Fabian floundered, going even redder when Sklonda laughed as she read through the wildly incorrect information before shutting the book and handing it back.

"Oh honey no. They're made like any other baby, more or less, our anatomy is a little different than humanoids but its still the same process. If you're that curious i'm sure i have a pamphlet around here somewhere." Sklonda had to wipe a tear from her eye from laughing so hard "Though I can understand the confusion. You've probably never even seen a kit before. They're so small we try to keep them indoors or hidden out of sight in public because a random seagull could snatch them up. Or people. Gods Riz was so cute as a toddler people were constantly trying to pick him up."

"I mean we still pick him up all the time." Fig snickered, Fabian having sat back down in his chair with a huff and crossed his arms over his chest to pout.

"Yes I'm aware. It was worse when he was little though. Despite my efforts to keep him hidden he just wanted to run around and look at everything." She dug through the album, finding a picture of Riz perched on top of one of the wooden horses on a spring down at the local park. Pok hovering nervously behind him with his hands outstretched just in case he fell.

"We also used to take him to the library a lot but got banned when one of the other parents in the reading room tried to pick Riz up. Pok made a bit of a mess of the floor when he grabbed their wrist to stop them and we got banned."

[alexboehm55144]

Alex Final Wars 2: Dark Alex, Chapter 8 - The Korean Campaign

Hello everyone! Hopefully, 2019 is off to a good start for people! I'm debating whether or not I should put this story on AO3. What do you guys think? Should I do that? Let me know, but you guys are here for the story, so here you go!

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2 US allies, South Korea and Japan, were in close proximity to China, and because of that, they were being hit hard by Chinese forces. South Korea was taking slightly more punishment, as the only thing separating it and China was the country of North Korea, which unfortunately had already aligned itself with the Chinese. Luckily the typhoon was arriving in South Korea, with the objective of its crew being to relieve some of the pressure on the military forces in the area. As a sign of patriotism, a US flag had been painted on the side of the typhoon.

The ship landed in a secluded area where it could remain hidden, and Alex, Toothdee, Kion, and Jasiri disembarked.

“Ah, South Korea,” Alex said, taking a deep breath of air “home of D.va, and music groups with way too many members.”

The captain still found wonder in visiting a new place, even though he had done a lot of traveling in his life.

“I expected more destruction,” Kion said, “North Korea is always talked about as a rogue state and a hermit kingdom.”

“Intel from Jack & Skye indicates that they did launch missiles towards the United States, but they were taken down by our iron dome missile defense systems.” toothdee explained, “However we should be wary of the capacity for nuclear weapons the country possesses.”

“Those missiles may have contained nuclear warheads, and that worries me like you wouldn’t believe.” Alex hypothesized “I’m afraid that the weapons we have created may be our undoing.

“The US does possess more nukes than North Korea, so they could have decided not to use nuclear weapons. Although as Kion says, they are a fanatic rogue state, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they did launch nukes. We should probably treat those missiles like they do contain warheads.”

“Maybe China is holding them back, but let’s hope the situation doesn't escalate to the point where nuclear annihilation becomes a possibility. Otherwise, there is a chance....” the captain took a breath to calm his nerves. “A large portion of the world & billions of people, including us, will be obliterated.”

There was the honk of a horn and a soldier in a Jeep pulled up, ready to drive the team to a forward operating base.

“What’s the situation,” Alex said, as the team got into the vehicle and it drove off. They were nervous about having a rogue state with nuclear weapons out there in the middle of a war between superpowers. However, the group had to push through their worry, no matter how much it bothered them.

“North Koreans are pushing hard on the border, we’re barely managing to hold them back.” the soldier driving the team said. “Their technology isn’t the best, but they have blind fighting fury and give 100% in a firefight.”

“We need to protect the city of Seoul.” Toothdee said, checking her weapons “we can’t let the people there get hurt.”

“The City is gone.” the soldier said “the North Koreans wiped it completely off the map with artillery strikes. Thank god they didn’t use a nuke.”

“Did you managed to evacuate any civilians?!” Jasiri frantically asked.

“We got a lot of them out.... but there were still many left when the initial bombardment hit. Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower to run a full search and rescue operation.”

“Home team please respond,” Alex said, contacting the typhoon.

“It’s Judy, we read you.”

“Patch me through to a team-wide broadcast.”

There was a short pause while Judy completed this request.

“Attention all team members,” Alex said, “I need you to gather up medical equipment and emergency supplies and head into what's left of Seoul.”

“What’s left of Seoul?” Eris said

“Correct, the whole city is destroyed, and our army doesn’t have the manpower for a full search and rescue operation. You have to go into the city and rescue as many people as you can.”

There was a slight pause, Alex assumed it was disbelief from the whole city being wiped out.

“It will be done!”

“We’re on it!”

“Affirmative!”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Alex said, “I’ll send you the location of a US medical camp.”

The Jeep came out of the forest and the team was clearly able to see the wreckage of Seoul in the distance. Rubble was strewn about, and skyscrapers had huge chunks missing from them. The away team hopped their allies would find anyone trapped in the city. The team then pulled into a US firebase, while the sounds of gunfire and artillery explosions were heard clearly throughout the air.

“I feel bad for the animals in the demilitarized zone.” Alex said, “so many species that only exist there, just wiped off the map by this war.”

The group was directed inside the base, where an officer had a holographic table set up, displaying friendly troops in blue, and hostile troops in red.

Alex spotted a nearby technician and quickly went over to her.

“I need the location of the medical camp for a search and rescue operation.”

“Here, sending you the location now.” the technician said, typing away on a computer gauntlet that was embedded in the arm of her uniform.

Alex checked his own gauntlet and saw that he had received the location, before sending it to his allies and walking over to the officer at the table.

“We’re about to be overrun,” the officer said, “I’m gonna call a retreat.”

The ground shook as an artillery shell landed nearby

“No, we can push them back, we can drive them away and lessen the pressure on your forces,” Alex said, examining the holographic table.

“How can 4 operatives deal with dozens of Nork soldiers?”

“Do you have any heavy armor?”

“Yeah, outside, defending this place.”

“We might need to borrow those.”

The team was lead outside to a pair of tanks, and upon arrival, they traded places with the tank crews. Alex and Kion got in one tank, while Jasiri and Toothdee got in the other.

Alex would be driving the tank, while Kion would be the gunner. The lion was a little nervous about taking control of a tank for the first time in a real combat situation, but Alex calmed his fears.

“Don’t worry Kion, It’s just like a video game.”

The 2 tanks started up and began to move straight towards the North Korean positions.

“Alright,” Captain Boehm said “there are a couple of artillery guns shelling that firebase. Toothdee, Jasiri, you deal with them. Kion & I will take out an incoming convoy of enemy soldiers.”

“Roger that.”

“For the United States!” Alex yelled as a rallying cry.

Kion spotted a group of hostile soldiers and mowed them down with his machine gun, while Alex used the cannon to take out another group of soldiers. Jasiri and Toothdee also took down a few groups of soldiers, before the 2 tanks parted ways and headed to their secondary objectives.

“That convoy should be arriving any second,” Alex said, driving the tank down a dirt road. As if on cue, 3 enemy trucks appeared, heading towards the tank. Boehm opened fire with the cannon, destroying one truck and causing a second one to lose control and crash. The third truck tried to flee, but Kion opened fire into its back, killing all the soldiers inside.

But it was too early to celebrate, as a North Korean tank appeared heading up the road, and hit Alex and Kion’s tank with a cannon shot.

“Nork armor!”

Alex quickly fired at the tracks, immobilizing the tank, while Kion kept up suppressing fire on enemy infantry. Boehm circled the hostile tank, avoiding its main gun, before firing 2 more shots that caused the tank to explode.

“I didn’t expect that thing to go down so quickly,” Kion said, clearly confused. “But then again, That was a Soviet-era tank.”

“Stay sharp, there’s still infantry in the area.”

“Then let’s take care of them!”

000

Everyone else on the typhoon, save for Retsuko and Haida, had hopped into vehicles and raced into the destroyed city of Seoul.

JayJay was acting as the de facto leader, ordering everyone else to search buildings and making sure no time was wasted.

Jack, Skye, Nick, and Judy were using their smaller frames to get into areas the other team members couldn’t. Laval plugged orb of chi into his armor and powered up, using his increased strength to easily clear heavy debris. Eris was using her jet to hover and lift extremely heavy pieces of wreckage out of the way.

Once one of the team members located someone, they usually called for help, before getting the survivor out of the rubble, checking them for wounds, and getting them into one of the trucks they drove into the city.

With her enhanced hearing, JayJay heard crying from some nearby wreckage. Looking into the rubble, she found a young child with tears going down her face. It pained her immensely to see a child in a sorry state like this.

“Hello, sweetie.”

The child looked up at JayJay and stopped crying, before the wolf calmly extended a paw, and pulled the child up into the light.

“Come to me, are you ok?” The wolf said, checking the child for wounds. She noticed that the child clutched a small blue anthropomorphic wolf plushie.

“No wonder she calmed down after seeing me.” JayJay thought.

“Get down!” Someone yelled, prompting Jay to look up to see black streaks in the sky, indicating artillery shells headed for their position. Eris quickly flew out of the way to avoid being shot down, while JayJay grabbed the child and took cover under a large piece of concrete.

The wolf held the child close as explosions went off nearby. Once the bombardment had ceased, JayJay looked towards the position the artillery fire had come from and noticed many North Korean cannons

The wolf hoped the away team would take down that gun site soon before another bombardment tore through the decimated city.

000

Alex and Kion had received word of an artillery gun emplacement shelling the team in Seoul, and now they were racing to shut down those guns while eliminating any North Korean troops they saw.

So far the pair was doing great work, having taken out dozens of enemy troops. However, their luck took a turn for the worse when Alex spotted the black streaks of artillery shells tearing through the sky.

“Incoming!”

The shells rained down on the tank, throwing Alex and Kion around, but thankfully not breaching the hull of the tank. Alex tried desperately to get the tank moving once the bombardment had ceased, but the vehicle was unresponsive.

“Damnit! Tracks are damaged! She won’t go!”

Kion swore under his breath while Alex ushered him to get out of the tank, as a second bombardment would be incoming, and they couldn’t stay here.

The pair disembarked the tank before Alex spotted more black streaks heading for them.

“Run!”

Alex and Kion sprinted at top speed, while artillery shells rained down on their position, causing trees to fall and dirt to fly into the air.

In the chaos, Alex and Kion got separated, and the captain had to focus on sliding under crumbling trees and shielding his face from thrown up rocks. Once the bombardment stopped, Alex looked around for Kion but didn’t see him. However, he did see the North Korean artillery guns that were shelling Seoul.

It appeared that a US force had attacked this site recently and failed, as there were dead US soldiers everywhere, and even a US Humvee that still appeared to be in working condition. There was also a damaged artillery cannon that had been thrown over on its side.

Suddenly gunfire sounded throughout the air and the hostile soldiers went on high alert. Looking around, Alex spotted Kion, covered in cuts and burn marks, cutting down North Korean soldiers.

“No point in being quiet.” Alex thought, before engaging the enemy troops and taking cover behind the downed artillery gun.

2 heavily armored soldiers carrying LMGs began pinning Alex down, but he noticed that the artillery cannon he was hiding behind was still ready to fire, and the barrel was aimed right at the hostile soldiers pinning him down. Finding the firing mechanism, Alex activated the cannon and sent a shell right into the North Korean troops, wiping them out.

Spotting a cannon in an elevated position, The captain made a break for the gun, shooting the 2 hostile soldiers on guard, then taking control of the cannon, aiming, and firing at the enemies pinning Kion down. The lion ran from cover and joined his companion.

“Load another shell!” The captain yelled, to which Kion obliged.

Once the cannon was loaded again, Alex fired at a group of artillery guns, igniting the ammo crates and causing a chain reaction that destroyed the entire group of weapons and ammunition, as well as many enemy troops.

“Tank!” Kion yelled as the armored vehicle rolled into view. Alex fired upon the vehicle, blowing its turret off and rendering it useless.

Alex directed his fire to 2 more groups of artillery guns, turning them both into smoldering husks of metal. A North Korean helicopter appeared and opened fire with its door mounted gun. But after taking a shot from the cannon, the aircraft exploded and crashed to the ground.

A pair of US fighter jets streaked across the sky, gunning down a mass of infantry and dropping bombs.

“Another tank!” Kion yelled. Alex fired at another group of artillery guns near the tank, and the resulting blast managed to engulf and destroy the vehicle

Kion loaded the cannon again and Alex aimed downwards to fire another shot at the tank to make sure it was destroyed. However all of a sudden the captain was spun around and punched in the face by a North Korean soldier wearing an officer’s uniform. Kion was busy brawling with a heavily armored soldier, who was managing to land some pretty good punches on the lion. The commander kicked Alex over a sandbag barricade and he tumbled down a small dirt incline in front of the cannon.

The commander quickly hopped the barricade and drew his pistol. Alex jumped up and tried another melee strike, but the commander blocked the attack and headbutted Alex, forcing him back down to the ground. The North Korean commander lined up a killing shot before the artillery cannon fired.

Alex instinctively covered his face, but when he looked back at the commander, he saw the officer staring at his arm, or rather where it used to be, before falling to the ground.

Kion came out from behind the artillery cannon and gave a wave to Alex before the captain picked himself up off the ground and headed behind the cannon to see the knocked out heavy soldier.

“Open the breach.”

Kion followed suit and Alex tossed a thermite grenade in, before closing the cannon. The grenade began to melt the breach shut, destroying the gun, while the pair of heroes walked away.

Alex spotted the still operational Humvee from earlier, and the pair hopped inside.

“We did good work for the United States today.” the captain said while Kion started up the vehicle.

“All in a day's work of fighting for freedom.”

“Now let’s get to that medical camp, see how everyone’s doing.”

000

The city team had rescued dozens of civilians from the wreckage of Seoul and were now dropping off the injured at the nearby US medical camp. Jasiri and Toothdee had arrived and was helping the city team unload the wounded into a tent that was already full of soldiers and medics checking out survivors.

JayJay and Toothdee carried a man with a broken leg into the tent and handed him off to 2 awaiting medical personnel.

“That’s everyone,” Laval said, breathing a sigh of relief as the team grouped up. “Thank the legend beats we got to them. Feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest”

“Everyone is safe now, no ones in danger,” Jack said

“Hey!” Someone yelled “Let’s hear it for these guys saving all these people! Go, Heroes!”

Cheers broke through the tent, as emergency personnel and civilians alike clapped and yelled.

“You go, Heroes!”

“You saved my life, I’m forever in your debt.”

“No one else could have rescued as many people as you did.”

Alex and Kion arrived and headed into the main tent to be greeted by the cheering. Jasiri turned around and saw Kion, and quickly wrapped him in a hug upon seeing his burns and cuts. The hyena took out a wipe from her medical kit and began cleaning Kion’s face and wounds while staring into the lion’s eyes.

The assembled people started chanting.

“HEROES! HEROES! HEROES!”

“I take it you guys did well?” Alex said, giving a hi-five to Toothdee and JayJay.

“Yep, the North Koreans are on the retreat,” Toothdee said.

“And we rescued dozens of people!” JayJay added.

This victory had boosted the team’s morale and demonstrated their strength.

“Good work people,” Alex said, “we saved a lot of lives today.”

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Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you think I'm doing something wrong, or could be doing something better. Thank you for reading!