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ask-hunterxhunter · 3 years ago

Note

Helloo royal Guards as yandere please

But without the presence of Meruem because I find it difficult for them to fall in love with Reader while serving the King.

Mmmh, Neferpitou with a Reader male because my headcanon is that she is a infertile female uhhh I dont know how to explain it but I think that in the ant castes there are infertile females that are workers

Yeah, as far as I know, that's how it is with ants... I'm not an expert, but I think the female workers are infertile and care for the queen. Their development depends on how much food they receive when they're larvae. If there is abundance, some larvae will be "princess ants" (fertile and will leave the colony to start their own once the time is right).

Hmm... The Chimera Ants, however, seem to work quite different. Besides the whole "Ant Giving Birth to an Anthro Lion" and what not, they didn't end up starving once the queen died (which I read happens because there are no more larvae and the ants need them to properly feed) and many of them left to try starting colonies of their own (even some of the males seemed to want that, not just females like Zanzan)...

Perhaps this is more like some species of wasp? I've read that the queen produces a pheromone that keeps the others infertile. Once she dies, they battle for dominance in order to become the next queen. With the Chimera, however, they left for new territories rather than stay and fight...

...

Is there an entomologist in the house?

Neferpitou

The royal guards, regardless of Meruem’s presence, are not exactly easy to deal with even in their normal state (and I don’t think this is simply because they are not humans). Take them to Yandere level and, well, let’s just say it is not a pretty picture…

Pitou is not someone whose interest is easily aroused (she is the kind that “knows several people but regards only a few of them as her actual friends”) and, in a sense, the opposite is also true: It’s not easy to lose such interest, either. With her in Yandere-mode, well, it’s basically impossible. Once you’ve realized what is going, taking the usual measures to try dealing with it (such as moving, contacting the police, so on), don’t waste any time hoping she will “move on” or “change targets” as some stalkers do. It's not in her nature (both due to her personality and instincts).

Not that you would certainly realize what is going on right away. It would depend on her mood and how she decides to deal with her feelings (and she can’t change this decision): She may just go for the straight, extreme actions or keep a convincing facade of normality for a while… Regardless of whether this “normality” is you trying to kill each other or being friends (or she at least living in peace among humans)...

In the “enemies” case, Pitou would not spend days brooding about having fallen for an enemy and trying to get rid of those feelings. She would just shrug the situation off and start to debate whether it’s best to kidnap you right away or try to court you. If she’s working with other Ants for whatever reason or they just happen to be in the area, she would make sure everyone knows you are not to be hurt (and may God have mercy on whoever doesn’t listen). Her attacks would still be convincing from your point of view while being harmless playing in Pitou’s mind. After all, she lets you escape with no injures!

The “convincing facade” is more regarding how deep (and unsettling) her feelings are. In both scenarios, she would confess soon and, being what/how she is, likely act on it. No matter how much you explain you’re not interested or what arguments you use, Pitou would just wave her tail, perhaps ask what you mean exactly in that “innocently curious” tone of hers and… Completely ignore what you just said.

Well, okay, maybe you need to remember she isn’t completely human, so you can’t demand that she behaves like one, right?

Oh, boy, are you making a mistake… Not being human doesn’t mean that Pitou doesn’t understand that there are limits.

She understands.

She just couldn’t care less.

Remember when she probed Pokkles’ brain with him still alive? When Gon and Killua saw her for the first time? This is nothing next to how she can be when she’s obsessed with you.

I mentioned she would act on her feelings, right? Here’s another thing: She is also likely to do so in the manner of an animal trying to attract a particular mate. And because we’re talking Yandere-mode, I don’t mean the “bird dancing” or “penguin offering a pebble”. Not even the “cat giving you a dead prey”…

If you’re friends/she’s living in the human society, there would be some restraint at first, to the point her insistence would seem innocent… Then she would either grow impatient and kidnap you, or things would escalate, giving you hints to the darkness of her feelings until you’re forced to accept that this friend is a threat to you. Maybe after returning home, you find a note in your bed in which Pitou wrote that she loves how soft your bed is, how your home’s security is lacking… And, by the way, that person seems to have a crush on you… Hmm… Should she break their hands or their legs? The playful tone of the note only makes it darker.

Somehow you know she is not kidding.

If you’re enemies, well, she has no reason to restrain herself from the start. Her interactions with you would become far darker even if she miiight not kidnap you right away (for whatever reason) especially since she wouldn’t waste time playing by human rules. Pitou would find a way to make a claim (pinning you down, rubbing herself against you like a cat, and even leaving a love bite/hickey on your neck are very much on the table) or say it loud and clear in battle when there are other humans around. This isn’t just for the other humans, but for you as well: You’re hers, now. There is no room for discussion.

Also, in this scenario, it’s not impossible that Pitou’s “love” started with her deciding to make you her pet. Collar and all.

It should be said that Pitou is a cat in almost every sense, so the tendency to “play with her food” is very much present... Yes, she sees you as a “mate” rather than “prey”, but your attempts to avoid/hide from her consist of an opportunity that is far too good to miss! You change address and, after a few days, start to relax… Only for her to leave a new “present” at your door! It’s both funny and cute how you thought something so simple would keep her away! Awww, you’re so adorable!

Again, it’s true that some of her actions (such as this) have no malice whatsoever behind them, but I repeat, don’t let yourself be fooled: She is very much aware that what she is doing is creepy and wrong and why. I’m repeating this because Pitou can be as charming and cute as a cat… And as devious and sadistic as any human.

While some yanderes give you time (perhaps hoping you’ll eventually come around or because chasing you is so much fun), Pitou is among those who won’t take long before deciding to “take you home”.

Pitou loves having you all to herself and will be very affectionate, especially when it’s just the two of you. Maybe this sounds a little cute on principle? Yeah, trust me, it is not. It’s terrifying! Even when you reject her and she caresses your head saying you’re cute, you can see the insanity in her eyes, mixed with a sick infatuation.

It doesn’t help that, at times, her being “affectionate” involves brushing your hair, cuddling and even bathing together. Not only this invasion of space can already be uncomfortable, something about how Pitou does it makes you feel too much like a pet, especially when she talks about how much she loves you, how lovely you are, and how she is never going to let you go. In this situation, and the way she speaks, those words make you feel cold.

You should have realized by now that there is no reasoning with her and this isn’t because she is not human. Pitou is likely to twist your arguments or make points that would frankly make you think she learned from Illumi or Hisoka (and she only does that because she thinks it’s funny, anyway).

As for Pitou, well, she can’t say she is happy that you’re uncomfortable, but she believes it’s just temporary and you’ll get used to your new life… Hey, humans capture animals all the time to put them in zoos or circus. She isn’t that bad in comparison, now, is she?

She’s easily the kind of yandere that responds to pleas for freedom by caressing your head and saying you’re cute. How could she possibly let you go? You’d run away! Besides, she can keep you well-fed and protected. You say such silly things, love!

That’s not to say Pitou doesn’t have a limit to how much rejection she can take or her patience. And this is a line you don’t want to cross. It’s hard to say if Pitou would get to the point of physical punishment, but this doesn’t mean she wouldn’t make use of other means.

Menthuthyoupi.

It’s not easy to catch the attention of any of the Royal Trio, each for their own reasons. In Youpi’s case, it’s partially because he doesn’t have any human DNA on him, so despite being able to communicate and all, he doesn’t usually pay that much attention to people. It’s almost like he’s an alien (or we are, in his view). Even in a scenario when he is living in peace with humans, he doesn’t have exactly a clear opinion about them. They just exist. Maybe a few of them are okay enough, but that’s it… And in a scenario when he is still fighting them, well, they are the enemy. It’s pretty simple.

Youpi is direct, both in personality and as a Chimera Ant (in that he follows his instincts without hesitation). As such, like Pitou, he wouldn’t avoid his feelings once he comes to understand them. It’s a little strange, yes, but he accepts the fact that he loves you and that’s it. That said, Youpi would be initially confused (especially if you’re an enemy. How on Earth did he develop this sort of feeling for someone he’s supposed to kill?), and he wouldn’t make a move until he is sure of what he is feeling and what he wants.

Sadly, because this isn’t him in a healthy state of mind, this doesn’t mean anything good for you. This isn’t a shy monster-boy finding a human he considers special. This isn’t even “enemies falling in love” or “dark romance”. This is an “already dangerous individual” developing an equally dangerous obsession.

At first, Youpi starts to stalk you (if you’re his enemy/if you’ve never spoken before) or try to find excuses to spend more time with you (if you’re on friendly terms) in this attempt to understand exactly what is going on with himself. During this time, his feelings for you become stronger along with his desire to know everything about you. He’s curious. He’s fascinated. He wants to see you more often. He wants to talk with you… He just wants to be near you…

It’s pretty disturbing because, despite his size, Youpi will find the means to stalk you without anyone realizing it, just like an animal hunting. You may notice a shadow here and now, feel a chill up your spine, but it won’t be enough to make the danger clear enough. If you two are enemies, there are chances you’ll realize that there is something is wrong, as he either avoids fighting you (no issues with anyone else, though) or that he doesn’t seem to be actively trying to hurt you as much as before… Despite this, you’ll never, ever imagine he is in love with you.

Well, disturbing as it may be, it sounds almost as harmless as he can be in this scenario, right?

Not the case. You can’t forget how obsession grows, how it affects a person, and that it gets to the point when merely stalking isn’t enough. There is no such thing as a harmless yandere/stalker. So even if Youpi, at first, is satisfied with merely watching you from afar and making sure you aren’t hurt, it starts to not be enough. He sees you with your friends, smiling at them, hugging them, laughing… And he starts to imagine how it would be to have you doing these things with him, to be the one who makes you smile, to be the one holding you… And he realizes he wants it.

He loves you. He wants you.

And there is no reason to not act on those feelings.

Regardless of the circumstances between you, he seems to take the rejection well (if you manage to control the shock, act calmly and explain your reasons for it). At first, he thinks about your points and may even understand them… Only to find out that he doesn’t care. He can’t forget you. He can’t let go of you… And honestly, he doesn’t really want to. That you don’t feel the same now doesn’t matter. Don’t some couples start not feeling the same for each other, only for those feelings to change later?

In the case of “peaceful existence”, it might be easier to get a glimpse of his instability than with the Neferpitou, but it doesn’t make much of a difference. Even the precautions people normally take in those situations would only work for a certain time… The myth of the animal that “will pursue its prey to the ends of the Earth once it has its scent” is true when it comes down to Youpi (literally even).

Now, while Youpi is less likely to resort to kidnapping (at least right away), he would still find ways to inject himself into your life, so even then, you can’t say you’re free. He may not go straight to threatening your loved ones (and it’s hard to predict if he would follow with it), but there are many other tactics that he could and would use.

And being less likely to kidnap you doesn’t mean he wouldn’t if he didn’t decide it is the better course of action. After all, no matter how strong you prove yourself to be, it doesn’t mean you’re invincible. It doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt. If he keeps you, he can’t make sure you’re safe.

Either way, there is no way to be free of him.

If he kidnapped you, Youpi wouldn’t go so far as to place you in an actual cage or chain you up, but he would find means to make sure you can’t leave.

He is easily the most patient of the trio, including with your rejections and attempts to escape. It doesn’t please him and nothing can convince him to let you go, but at least Youpi doesn’t get angry, condescending, or twist things around. In fact, it gets to the point when you can lose control and try hitting him that he wouldn’t even raise his voice. He would just hold your wrists (carefully) and try to calm you down…

Now, just because he isn’t human, it doesn’t mean Youpi is unable to understand that what he is doing is wrong and why you’re so unhappy. Hey, animals also don’t like to be taken from the place they consider their home like that. He can relate, he can understand. But his obsession is too great for him to let you go and, instead, he hopes that you’ll adapt with time.

Not having human genes and understanding even less about humans than Pitou and Pouf, in his desire to make you comfortable (and make you accept him), Youpi would likely try to learn what he can about humans (probably even asking for Pitou’s help).

For Youpi, your presence alone makes him feel good. While he wouldn’t force you into things that make you uncomfortable or excessively invade your personal space the way Pitou might, there would still be times when Youpi would want to show you some affection. Chances are, he would enjoy holding you close (especially because, next to him, you feel so small and cute) and nuzzling you, which is not only a common expression of affection among animals, but it also gives him an extra opportunity to enjoy your scent.

Youpi might be less cruel than most of yanderes, but this doesn’t mean much. At the end of the day, whether he has kidnapped you or not, the situation is still essentially the same. You’re being hurt either way…

Shaiapouf.

Even in his normal state of mind, for all his apparent calmness and self-control, it’s been showed several times that Pouf can be actually quite intense with his emotions, to the point they cloud his thoughts (and that’s a polite way to say it). Well, multiply that by a thousand and you’ll only scratch the surface of how he becomes as a Yandere.

Even if, by some miracle, this is a scenario where Pouf lives peacefully with humans it doesn’t mean he likes them. It’s more that he ��tolerates” and “accepts” their existence as an unpleasant fact and it’s very much unlikely he would have human friends (he would probably find a way to live with comfort and luxury while having as little contact as possible with them). In a sense, you can compare him to some yokais in Inuyasha… He doesn’t go out of his way to antagonize humans (and risk a fight), but he sure as hell doesn’t care for them.

Until you, that is.

Pouf will never be able to say when his feelings for you started to grow and it will take a long time for him to understand them. By the time this happens, well, he is way into “Obsession Land”. Once he can no longer deny what he feels and it hits him that he loves you, his first reaction is… Well, pretty much an emotional tantrum, followed by self-despise and intense fury. How could he ever fall for a human? Disgraceful! Terrible! How could he fall so low? He even tries to hate you for making him feel that way, only to realize he can’t.

This lasts for a while, with him trying to convince himself to bury those feelings, no matter what it takes. If you two are enemies, be prepared: Pouf may consider killing you as the only way to “get rid of this shame”. He soon realizes he can’t bear the idea of you being hurt, let alone by him (well, like this, I mean)… But at least you’re not having to deal with his obsession yet.

Sadly, it doesn’t mean this will last long enough for something to happen before things get out of control. Pouf can’t get you out of his mind, possibly deciding to “observe you” in order to “remind himself” that you’re just a human: Flawed, inferior, and unworthy. This evolves into stalking and has the opposite effect: He becomes more and more infatuated, as well as worried that you might get hurt. You’re so beautiful, so gentle… You should not be fighting! At all! Oh, you’re an angel. No wonder he fell for you! You’re perfect for him!

If this is the “peaceful scenario”, the course of events is still pretty similar, no matter how you’ve met. At first, wanting to get you out of his system, he may be cold whenever you meet and even a little nasty, but it won’t work. He will start to long for more of your presence and if he manages to spend time with you, to consider you only of the few (if not the only) human who is better than the rest of the masses.

Either way, once he accepts that he loves you, you’re screwed.

In the “enemy scenario”, Pouf may try once to convince you to come with him, speaking highly of you and how much he loves you… In his mind, it’s poetry. In reality? The words may be pretty, but the way he says them, the shine in his eyes, the way he insists to hold your hands between his… Well, it’s creepy. Pouf may accept you denying him for a while, but it won’t take long until he seizes the first chance he has to take you. He was just being polite, offering you the chance of doing so by choice (if he does that when you’re gravely injured in a battle, he will use that frequently to point out he saved you and how you need him to keep you safe).

In the “peaceful scenario”, again, it’s not that much a different course of events. Your attempts to make him understand you’re not interested are ignored and there is precious little that anyone can do to keep you safe and, yes, including the Hunter Organization. He would do everything to get you.

In his mind, he is not doing anything wrong. If anything, his actions are almost heroic and proof of his devotion to you.

When you wake up in an unknown location and start to freak out or try to escape, Pouf reacts as if this is just adorable, then going on about how he loves you and wants to keep you safe. And let me tell you, this isn’t a “flowery speech” or like his funny moments in the anime. At this moment you realize you’re in a lot of trouble and that the chances of Pouf ever letting you go are non-existent.

It's not easy to determine exactly how deep his delusion goes; if it’s only about the “perfect life” you two will share or if it includes you. It’s not impossible that Pouf isn’t really in love with you, but rather an idealized version of you. He may also believe that, deep down, you do love him and just need time to realize it.

Pouf is the “adoring” kind of Yandere. He would love to spoil you, care for you, and would want to lavish you with gifts. Perhaps you’d expect him to be the less dangerous of the trio, or at least the most manageable, right? You’re dead wrong. Pouf is actually the worst of them, maybe even on the list of the worst yanderes of all Hunter cast.

His personality also means Pouf doesn’t believe anyone is worthy of your attention and if there is anyone you like (or that he thinks you like), it’s just because they’re manipulative and toxic. It’s his sacred duty to keep you safe from such scum! Perhaps the better term for him, rather than “jealous”, would be “possessive”. As far as he is concerned, you have no need to get in contact with another human ever again.

You thought he hated Komugi? Trust me, that was nothing compared to this.

He would lock you in a room, which you’d only leave while accompanied by him (he can’t have you trying to run off, can he?). Actually… If that happens, you should be glad. This guy isn’t above placing bars along a corner of his chambers (they are certainly large enough), turning that area into your “room” (bed and all). It certainly would appeal to him, especially since it gives him more chance to watch you.

There are stories about how excessive love can be suffocating, the “The Chaser” episode from the “Twilight Zone”… Well, Pouf’s love wouldn’t follow this line. This would be just tiresome. His adoration is frightening, even for a Yandere. The way he’s so sweet to you is mixed with a certain darkness, not letting you forget you’re dealing with an unstable person.

He understands this is a time of adaptation for you and this change of life is a shock, but he wouldn’t be happy if you asked him to let you go every day. In the same sickly-sweet way of always, he will mix subtle (or not so subtle) threats with words of adoration. Maybe he should chain you up… Maybe you’re thinking about that person who (he believes) has a crush on you? Maybe he should make sure you never think of them again…

There is also the fact that Pouf is among the Yanderes who would have almost no respect for your personal space. For all his adoration of you, he can be quite manipulative and controlling: If he wants to hold you in his lap, brush your hair, have you sleeping next to him, dance with you, well… There is little point in fighting. You would have to choose your battles wisely and keep in mind that Pouf isn’t above tying you up if you “start to be difficult”. Some Yanderes are happy enough with having you with them and may have enough patience to “wait for you to love them back”… Well, with Pouf, it depends on his mood.

There would be times when his behavior is all “patient and loving” (more like he just smiles when you try to get away or lash out)… And times when he would basically “demand” that you love him. Not with words, though: You’d learn that there are times when it’s safer for you to act a little more loving towards him (within reason) rather than antagonize him.

#I'm sorry if this was too long #Got carried away #Now I'm wondering about how exactly the Chimera Ants work as a colony #Anyone has a theory?#hunterxhunter #hxh #headcanon #hxh headcanon #yandere #Royal Guards #chimera ants #shaiapouf #pouf #menthuthuyoupi #youpi #pitou #neferpitou #hxh yandere #Somehow I imagine Pouf would be like The Tragedy of Chateau Cepage

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sirthisisa-wendys · 3 years ago

Text

Epoch (Prologue & Part 1): Keizo Arashi x Fem!Reader

synopsis: it's the tale of two people, both with pasts they want to escape and futures they want to pursue - except... it's in space.

wc: 1.8k

tw: smut

masterlist 🪐 next part

Hávamál Verse 58 (Patricia Terry's translation - 1989):

"Get up early if you are after another man's life or money; a sleeping wolf will seldom make a kill, nor a warrior win lying down."

The day the Mazih came was the day the stars came down to scorch the soil.

Red-hot chunks of the statues of your gods and your people's leaders rained down from above, showering those who inhabited Genèse in fire and solid rock and decimating scores of those who could not escape the signs from the heavens.

And after the firestorm, thousands of ships crowded the skies, blocking the suns and rendering your people helpless without their warmth and glow.

That was the day your people learned the meaning of "fear."

It was in their vocabulary, but when the Mazih conquered the entire solar system without so much as batting an eye, it became their most potent emotion. And you, held in your mother's arms as the Mazih people enslaved your kinsmen, looked upon it all with wide eyes, taking in the tattoos, the uncommon hair, the way the people of that species stood proudly with their heads held high and fists even higher. You looked at the Mazih in curiosity as a child, not with an ounce of fear, as the others did.

But it would only last for so long.

The Mazih forced all of the survivors onto a terraformed satellite planet as they drained the earth of Genèse of its precious metals - iron ore, nickel, platinum, gold, and silver - then left the barren rock once it could no longer be inhabited.

Each of your people slowly became familiar with the new task they were given: being a mechanic for the Mazih ships that come to dock on Chrono Station. You watch from your new home as Genèse; it's a reminder to you of what the Mazih are capable of reminds the Mazih of their most successful expedition to date.

And no matter how hard anyone tries, they cannot figure out where these invaders came from, why they enslave scores of species, and - most importantly - where they're going next.

But as you grow up on what the Elders of Genèse call "this forsaken station," you become familiar with the comings and goings of the Mazih. You grow accustomed to their way of life - which they do not force upon you - and the godless way they conduct business. In school, you are taught about the Invasion and Great Exodus and then trained to hate the Mazih in your heart while having a smile on your face.

"Hate them in here," your teachers remind you, placing a hand over their chest. "Show it not here." And they cover their mouths. You follow the motions, covering your heart and then your mouth, but you don't feel a shred of hate.

Perhaps there's something wrong with you, but you feel a sentiment you were not taught. Of all the emotions you could carry, you seem to envy the Mazih the most.

And it is this, this jealousy, that drives you further and further away from your people.

_____________________________________________________________

Part 1

"--Zana..." Your back is pressed against an uncomfortable mattress that creaks as the white-haired man above you drives himself deep into you, kissing your neck and whispering his familiar words of comfort.

"You feel so good," he mutters, eyes closed off to the world as his thin fingers hold your legs apart. "Like feeling that cock inside of you, yeah?"

"Yeah," you echo back, lacing your fingers through his platinum strands. A few more moments pass by in near-silence; the only thing accompanying your mewls of pleasure is the sound of the bed squeaking.

"G-gonna... cum..." Izana's hips move faster, snapping against yours roughly. You know what comes next - because it's the part where things end - where Izana empties himself into you with a loud grunt, hands grasping your thighs with a firm grip that always leaves bruises. It's in these moments that you feel most exhilaration, the most useful to your lover, and when he pulls back, weak and all at once full of energy.

As Izana puts his clothes back on, you lean back on the cheap motel mattress, looking up at the ceiling.

"So..." you begin, lacing your fingers together as Izana uses a warm washcloth to wipe the insides of your thighs. "When do you think you'll get into the Commander Conservatory?"

"I sent in my application two days ago," Izana murmurs, tossing the washcloth in the bathroom sink. "They'll review this year's applicants next month, before the new year."

"Right." You sit up finally, adjusting your skirt below your waist and sitting on the side of the bed. For some reason, Izana seems a little removed today, even though the success of his application is imminent. "Everything okay?" you wonder, leaning forward to try and look him in the eyes. He hasn't looked you in the eye since you got in here, which is out of the ordinary. Izana always said he loved your eyes, which made you feel some sort of comfort in the brief rendezvous and embraces he showers you with.

"We should talk." A pang of fear hits you in your heart; for what reason, you don't know.

"What about?" Izana stands in the middle of the room, adjusting his sleeves before turning to you, finally looking you in the eye.

"I'm getting engaged next week."

You recoil sharply.

"En-engaged?"

"So, I'm sorry, but I can't continue this. I hope you understand." Then he leaves, opening the door without a second to spare you a goodbye.

You find yourself dragging through the streets of downtown, the artificial warmth not permitting you to feel the chill of such a callous dismissal.

Engaged.

You look up at the star-filled sky and frown. Izana, the only man you've ever loved, is now engaged.

Engaged!

The man you thought you'd end up with is now fully out of your grasp. No more mid-day dalliances while you could slip away from the house. No more motel meetups or back-station romps. No more passion or lust or whatever the fuck he felt.

You find yourself in front of one of the many bars in the city, its red letters blinking in the waning light of the fake sun. The Red Crystal Tavern is a place you're not supposed to be in, but no one there had ever had the guts to rat on you, especially since you were friends with the only bartender on staff. When you push open the rusty door, Mitsuya Takashi raises his hand to you, his red hair matching the neon red sign outside.

"Hey! If it isn't my favorite Chief Mechanic's daughter..." His ever-present companion, Hakkai Shiba, turns from his perch on a barstool to face you, beer foam around his top lip.

"Coming in for a drink?" he wonders innocently, but when you plop yourself on the barstool next to him, both men seem to see the distress on your face.

"Oh, no," Mitsuya begins, wiping down the counter.

"What'd that fucker do this time?"

"He said..." You sniff, tears suddenly coming to your eyes. "He said he's getting engaged next week."

"Engaged?" Hakkai blurts but then pipes down once he sees he caught some attention. "To who? He's not even a Commander yet."

"I don't know," you mutter, wiping your eyes. "And I don't care. I thought he really liked me." MItusya takes a glance at Hakkai and they exchange a silent discussion while you weep, trying to stop your tears with the backs of your hands.

"Well," Mitsuya murmurs gently, placing a hand on your arm. "He's worse off than he was before. I mean, you're the Chief Mechanic's daughter! Who would turn down such a beautiful woman like you?" Before you can reply, you hear the sound of an alarm ringing through the establishment.

"Unidentified object in Quadrant C airspace. Impact in two minutes. Stay calm and seek shelter."

"What the hell?" Hakkai shouts, knocking over his beer glass. "Two minutes?"

"We have to get out of here," Mitsuya grunts, tosing his towel aside. "Alright! Tavern's closed! Get to a shelter, stat!" The red-head hits a button under the bar and all of the windows are barred with metal shields. Everyone in the tavern, including you, rushes out of the building, running toward the nearest shelter across the street.

Silent chaos is erupting in the byways, with people all filing quickly toward the shelter of their choice. You take the chance to look up at the sky, and your breath is stolen at the sight of a large, ringed ship speeding through the air from the west. A trail of fire streaks across the sky behind it as it sails through the air at a rapid pace and the colors on the bottom instantly tell you what it is.

"A Commanding Fleet ship?" you exhale, but Hakkai drags you along, gripping your wrist harshly.

"Can't hang around while this gets ugly!" he yells, pulling you toward the shelter.

"Wait!" You yank your wrist away from Hakkai and chase the streaks of smoke from the ship, but for what reason, you have no idea.

There's a Commander on that ship, you reason as Hakkai screams your name. There's a Commander on that ship. With a crew. They'll need help.

"Y/n!" Hakkai shouts, chasing after you. But you can't hear him as the alarms sound, just a bit louder this time.

"Unidentified object in Quadrant C airspace. Impact in forty seconds. Stay calm and seek shelter immediately."

Your feet slap against the ground as you come to the edges of the city outskirts, passing by poorer civilians and homes that look nothing like yours.

"Unidentified object in Quadrant C airspace. Impact in twenty-two seconds. Stay calm and seek shelter immediately."

The ship continues its arc down to the ground, a loud 'wheeeeeeee' sound accompanying its descent.

That sounds like the left engine, your mind recalls, flipping through a book of common malfunctions due to warfare. It'll be a while before that spacecraft gets into--

"Unidentified object in Quadrant C airspace. Impact in ten seconds. Stay calm and seek shelter immedi..."

Just as you make it to a field of land where nothing seems to exist, you hear the loudest thunderclap you've ever been witness to and the sight of the ship crash-landing in the barren land almost knocks you off your feet.

The wind from the impact knocks you back into Hakkai and onto your backs, both of you falling against the rocks with little cushion to save you.

And it's there, as you stand shakily from the after-effects, that you see a bright spark of light ignite on the top of the ship. It takes you a minute to realize what it is, but when you do, you start running toward the ship once more.

"Fire!" you yell, waving your arms wildly. "There's a fire on your ship!"

#keizo arashi #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers smut #keizo arashi x reader #tokyorev smut #benkei x reader #benkei smut #keizo arashi smut #izana kurokawa #izana kurokawa x reader #benkei tokyo revengers

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mirbisduschoen · 4 years ago

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Random Space Orcs Idea

I've got this idea bouncing around my head Earth gets invaded by aliens, and someone goes off the deep end and becomes a serial killer specializing in said alien species I can't decide whether they should be a grieving father, a mental ward patient, or a Disney Imagineer suffering a psychotic break I kinda like all three at once Like

In the chaos of an alien invasion, one escaped mental ward patient goes mostly unnoticed. Said patient is a former Imagineer who lost his mind after his daughter died.

I imagine him wearing old, ink-stained office clothing with newer red (and green) stains, along with a vest made from a straightjacket with armholes torn in it, a necklace made of Disney merch, cracked made-in-China Mickey Mouse ears, and a plain white face mask with a smile painted on in green alien blood. He has a manic gleam in his eyes. His cracked glasses are askew and the pencil he keeps tucked behind his ear has a coating of green fluid on the pointy end.

Imagine aliens searching for their missing comrade. Said comrade has a tendency to get separated from his unit and lost, this is the 4th time this has happened, and they're planning to give him shit about it when they find him. They're searching through an abandoned...complex of some kind, they're not quite sure what it is. They idly speculate on the function of the place, and their leading theory is that it's a temple complex to worship some kind of rodent god. As they're honing in on where his comm unit says he should be, they round a corner and BOOM

K'Mnii is in front of them, lying dead on the ground. Bludgeoned to death with a wrench, with cartoon X's carved into all 3 of his eyes and "YOU'VE GOTTA BE THIS TALL TO DIE" painted on a nearby wall in his blood. They hear an unsettling voice from behind them.

(unhinged chuckling) (in low, unstable-sounding voice) "That's what you fucks get for messing with the House Of Mouse."

Only one of the search party makes it out alive.

The “House Of Mouse” gains a reputation as a human cult full of psychotic murderers, and is feared across the galaxy.

Years after the First Contact War was over, Disney execs are puzzled and concerned about the extreme negative reaction to attempts to sell their products and merch off-world.

It’s like:

"Why are they afraid? Maybe it's a cultural thing??" (makes some animated movies specifically for an alien audience) (still nothing) "(sobbing) JUST TELL US WHAT WE CAN DO TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF YOU! C’MON MAKE US RICH!"

"Oh no! The cult tries to steal money while murdering us too!"

(Credit to Spooky Serbian Samuel on the Space Orcs discord for helping to come up with this)

UPDATE

I wrote most of a sci-fi series of short stories based on this and posted it to Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/hfy/wiki/series/house_of_mouse

#humans are insane #especially if you drive them crazy #humans and aliens #humans are space orcs #that's what you get for fucking with the House Of Mouse #disney #no Disney Death for you #tw: mutilation #tw: corpse #but it's an invading alien so it's fine(?)#humans will fuck you up if you fuck with them #humans are space oddities #humans are space aussies #not to imply that aussies are serial killers #theyre just crazy #it's a small world after all #too small for two of us #aliens are freaked out by us #and who wouldn't be?

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longitudinalwaveme · 3 years ago

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Another Weird Flash/Rogues AU

Awhile ago on AAO3, I read a story with a basic premise of “What if the Kryptonians had left Krypton before it was destroyed, traveled to Earth, fallen under the leadership of Zod (or another group of evil Kryptonians) and enslaved the human race”? The story mainly focused on Bruce Wayne and Kal-El (the latter of whom quickly came to realize the wrongs that the Kryptonians were perpetrating), but, being a huge Flash nerd, I thought: What if I used that same basic idea, but focused on the Flash characters instead? This is the result.

This AU is comparatively very early in the timeline; Barry Allen is 20 years old, Wally is about five, etc.

-Barry Allen was about seven years old when the Central/Keystone area was taken over and its population enslaved. His mother, Nora, was sold away from him shortly thereafter. He and his father (and most of the familiar Flash characters) are owned by some unpleasant Kryptonian, as are most of the characters detailed below. (Superman fans who know the names of evil Kryptonians other than Zod, feel free to make suggestions.) In this universe, Barry’s rather timid and submissive overall. He’s very kind and wants to help people, but unlike Iris (whom he has a massive crush on), he’s not brave enough to stand up to the overseers.

-Nora Allen passed away a few years after the Kryptonian takeover, far away from her husband and son. After mourning for a few months, Henry Allen remarried to a widow named Martha Scudder, and adopted her son, Samuel Joseph Scudder, as a second son. Martha and Henry are devoted to both Barry and Sam.

-Sam Scudder-Allen is 16 years old, four years younger than his older brother. He was three years old when the Kryptonians arrived and was crippled at the age of seven when a heavy piece of farm machinery fell on his leg. He uses a crutch to walk and works as a tailor, since he’s not able to work in the fields. He is rather self-conscious about his “bum leg”, since it means that escaping slavery would be almost impossible for him. He’s also much more willing to stand up to the Kryptonians than his older brother currently is, mainly because he figures that, as a crippled slave, he really can’t get much worse off.

-Iris West, age 19, lives with her father, Ira (her mother died before the Kryptonians arrived), and her nephew, the five-year-old Wally West (both of his parents were sold away shortly after he was born). Fiery and rebellious; she’s been pushing boundaries ever since the Kryptonians arrived and is determined to learn how to read. She thinks Barry is very cute, but refuses to date him until he grows a spine. She won’t allow her children to grow up enslaved to a bunch of aliens.

-George “Digger” Harkness, age 17, was sold to the Central City area from Australia when he was 14 years old. His stepfather, Ian Harkness, hated him so much that he actually volunteered to have him sold away, and Digger found himself living and working alongside total strangers. He’s mouthy and stubborn, but is afraid enough of the Kryptonians that he’s not openly rebelllious.

-Evan McCulloch, age 6, was sold to the Central City area from Scotland only a few months ago. He’s terrified and misses Miss McCulloch badly. He’s also been semi-adopted by Henry and Martha Allen.

-Claudio and Marco Mardon, aged 18 and 17, respectively, and their parents, Paloma and Mattias, immigrated to the United States from Guatemala a few years before the Kryptonians conquered Central City. Surprisingly, the family was not separated and has remained together ever since. Marco, the younger of the two, is clumsy and awkward, but generally keeps his head down and doesn’t cause trouble. As a result, he, ironically enough, is actually the golden child in this reality. Claudio, with his passionate love of learning, rocks the boat too frequently and gets into trouble too often-he’s even taught himself how to read, something that humans aren’t allowed to do under Kryptonian rule. Paloma and Mattias have tried to dissuade him, but to no avail. Marco, on the other hand, greatly admires his older brother and wishes he had his courage, and the two are very close. The family speaks as much Spanish as it does English.

-Roscoe Dillon, age 16, lives and works in his Kryptonian owner’s estate alongside his mother, Rosa. (His father, Reginald, was sold off when Roscoe was nine.) He and Rosa are isolated from most of the other humans; as result, Roscoe has few friends. He’s also more than a little odd (thanks to being on the autism spectrum), but, fortunately for him, his love of routine and organization mean that no one can find fault with his work. He still loves tops and has created dozens of them to play with when he’s not required to work.

-Mick Rory, aged 22, is a soft-spoken gentle giant. His family was killed in the Kryptonian invasion, and he still mourns their loss, but otherwise his life hasn’t changed as much as most of the other humans’. Having grown up on a farm, he’s used to working in the fields and adjusted to the farm labor the Kryptonians required much more easily than did most others. He is friendly and helpful to everyone and has taken in a 7-year-old girl named Linda Park, whose parents were sold off.

-Giovanni Giuseppi, aged 10, lives with his mother, Helen. He and his family, used to a migrant lifestyle from their time in the circus, managed to evade the Kryptonians for quite some time, but, when the Kryptonians finally captured them, his father, Alessandro, was killed; being dropped from a high height. The six-year-old Giovanni, already terrified of heights, was traumatized by this event. He and his mother were then sold to the Central City area. Giovanni is terrified of Kryptonians; as a result, he never disobeys orders. Once lively and energetic, Giovanni is now rather timid and reserved-but he’s still incredibly intelligent.

-Joan Garrick is the widow of Jay Garrick, the Flash, who was murdered by Zod in order to prevent his speed from becoming a threat. She is determined to carry on his work by educating as many people as she can; in the hopes that this will enable them to escape and eventually overthrow the Kryptonians. She is very close to Iris and Claudio, and hopes to teach them everything she knows.

-Hartley Rathaway, age 9, lives with his parents, Rachel and Osgood Rathaway. When the Kryptonians first arrived in Central City, Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway struck a bargain with them; giving them all the knowledge they would need in order to take over the city with ease in exchange for being able to maintain their own wealth, freedom, and power. The Kryptonians used the information provided by the Rathaways to take over the Central/Keystone area...and then enslaved the wealthy couple along with the rest of the city’s populace anyway. Needless to say, Mr. and Mrs. Rathaway are not particularly well-liked by their fellow humans. Not at all accustomed to physical labor or powerlessness, they often get into trouble with the Kryptonian overseers, and aren’t likely to receive much help from any other humans. As a cruel joke, Rachel was allowed to keep her jewelery, and, when the Kryptonians hand out the yearly supply of clothing, they always receive the finest clothes...which are, of course, of no use at all for hard physical labor. Hartley is better-liked than his parents, but he’s deaf and mute, and, since no one had the time to teach him sign language, he struggles to communicate with anyone other than his parents. It also means that the Kryptonians use him for their own amusement, rather than having him work in the fields or in a trade; mocking the obvious inferiority of the human race that he represents. That being said, he has grown suprisingly close to Giovanni Giuseppi.

-Leonard and Lisa Snart, age 18 and 13, respectively, are unusual. Of all the humans of the Keystone/Central area, and perhaps the planet, they are the only ones who are not enslaved. When the Kryptonians arrived in the area, Leonard was 5 years old, and his sister was a newborn. His biological father, Larry Snart, was an abusive father and husband, and regularly beat both his wife and Leonard. One night, in a drunken rage, Larry accidentally killed his wife and was preparing to brutalize his son when several Kryptonians broke into the house. Larry attacked them and was promptly killed, but, fortuitously for Len and Lisa, Zor-El and Alura arrived on the scene and adopted the children as their own, in the hopes of saving them from the slavery they knew Zod and his allies had planned for humanity. To avoid raising suspicion, they claimed that they had adopted the children because of both children’s icy blue eyes, which strongly resembled the eyes of most Kryptonians. The children had the eyes of Rao; they said. They had been blessed with civility and intelligence that was unlike that of other humans; they deserved the chance to be raised as Kryptonians. The argument was broadly accepted, and so Lenonard and Lisa Snart became Len-El and Lisa (pronounced LYE-za) of the house of Jor-El. They were raised as Kryptonians, and, although Zor-El and Alura refused to own slaves and secretly helped many humans escape to freedom, they could not allow the children to spend time with members of their own species, lest it raise suspicion about their work. As a result, both Len-El and Lisa think of themselves as Kryptonian, and, since they are surrounded by Kryptonian children and taught by Kryptonian teachers at school, both of them firmly believe that humans need to be controlled by Kryptonians. Lisa thinks of other humans almost as cute pets, having never met another member of her species, but she is curious to learn more about them. Len-El despises the fact that he’s human. Thanks to his horrific experiences with his human father, Len-El believes that humans are cruel and barbaric, and he wants nothing to do with them. He wants to be Kryptonian, just like his loving parents. He and Lisa also have a little sister, Kara Zor-El, who is 7 years old. They adore Kara, and she adores them. They’re also both quite fond of their cousin, Kal-El (age 19).

#flash rogues #the flash #barry allen #iris allen #au #superman #supergirl #zor-el #alura zor el #general zod #dc comics #fanfic

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laurelnose · 4 years ago

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Very New to your blog and the posts are probably way old but I saw you do Witcher Biology (??) rants sometimes and Id love to hear your take, if you have one, on what monsters (namely "naturally occurring" ones like draconids and insectoids) contribute to the ecosystem if anything and whether or not they should be hunted into extinction. I was discussing it w/ a friend last night after dealing with Iocaste, the last silver basilisk, and now its smthn I'm Invested in

re monster ecosystems: I just figure theyve probably found a niche in the world by now and can eat anything smaller incl. humans but because theyve got no natural predators aside from eachother and arent hunted by anything but witchers , monsters are just breeding and eating and wldnt that damage the land? or have they made their own like, circle of life or whatever ? Ive little knowledge on the subject as a whole but the whole thing intrigues me

hi & extremely belated welcome, anon! my apologies for the length of time you’ve been waiting for this answer; I had to think carefully about how I wanted to respond to this ask, because: there’s a lot going on here. also, because I am a disaster, I ended up posting it to ao3 first while I was avoiding tumblr for a spell and then completely forgot to come back. oops. i’m sorry!! This one’s about 5000 words long, which is a lot for tumblr, so reading on AO3 may be preferable.

The two main thrusts of your first ask (how do monsters interact with the ecosystem and should they be eradicated from the Continent) are questions of invasion ecology, the study of non-native/invasive species and their effects on the environment. Monsters, having arrived on the Continent about 1200 years ago during the Conjunction of Spheres from entirely alien dimensions, are indeed technically non-native species!

However, invasion ecology is…somewhat controversial, to say the least—there are a lot of invasive species, who have a lot of different & complex impacts, and a lot of different ideas about what we might do about any of this, and it’s basically all arguing all the time, so I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to approach the topic. Not to mention that for reasons I couldn’t initially put my finger on, it seemed wrong to apply theories of invasion ecology to the Witcher monsters. We’ll get into it! There are also a couple of common misconceptions/oversimplifications of how ecology works in your second ask which I want to unpack. Hopefully I pulled this together into something that makes sense, and feel free to ask me for clarification!

Some important background facts:

Species have always been moving to and “invading” new places on their own; humans and globalization have accelerated this process into a Big Problem, as the sheer number of invasive species being introduced all over the globe strains ecosystems already under pressure, but “native ranges” are always shifting, sometimes more dramatically than you might expect. If you go far enough back in time, all species are “non-native”.

Because of this, the very definition of “invasive species” is hotly contested. This is why you’ll hear dozens of terms like introduced species, injurious species, naturalized species, non-native species, etc.; these all have slightly different connotations, but all refer to a species that did not originate in a particular location.

An introduced species is usually classified as “invasive” as opposed to “non-native” or “naturalized” if its presence significantly alters the ecosystem it invades; some people define this more narrowly as a species that causes harm to an ecosystem. “Harm” can take a lot of different forms, as every non-native species interacts differently with the ecosystem they were introduced to.

Aside from various potential impacts to human economic activity, most forms of ecological harm by introduced species involve the decline of native species, by a variety of mechanisms; invaders might eat natives, outcompete them for food, interbreed with them, carry novel pathogens, etc. Invasive species are primarily a threat to biodiversity.

Now, here’s my Hot Take:

The Conjunction of Spheres is analogous to real-life ecological cataclysms such as the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, and thus monsters are not invasive species.

The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event saw the extinction of 75% of all species on Earth after the Chicxulub asteroid hit, including the non-avian dinosaurs. The Earth has had several disasters like this, of varying severity—the Great Oxidation Event killed almost literally everything on Earth except for the cyanobacteria who caused it. These cataclysmic extinction events completely upended existing ecosystems, altering habitats beyond recognition and leaving swathes of niches emptied of life that the survivors could evolve to exploit.

The most recent Conjunction of Spheres on the Continent is supposed to have thrown everyone living on the planet at the time into chaos and darkness; it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the interpenetration of multiple spheres caused mass extinction of species living in the pre-Conjunction environment, similar to Chicxulub or the GOE!

But Socks, you might say, evolution works on a massive timescale! It took millions of years to fill the niches left open by Chicxulub, but it’s only been 1200 years since the Conjunction of Spheres! And you are absolutely right*, but the Conjunction of Spheres canonically came pre-loaded with new species. We actually have no proof that any of the animals we see originated on the Continent: if humans are a post-Conjunction phenomenon, why not also dogs? Why not bears? Who’s to say any of those were actually there before-hand? (The elves, I guess, but as they have not, actually, said so, there’s no proof!!)

* FTR, 1200 years is a shockingly short period of time to go from cataclysm that plunged the world into darkness and chaos to functioning medieval-era society considering how long it actually took humanity to build 13 century Europe (horses had been domesticated for at least 3000 years by that time), even if we’re not assuming that most of the ecosystem was destroyed, so, my timeline concerns here are minimal, lmfao. TIMELINE WHAT TIMELINE.

…and actually now that I think about it the three options for the origin of dogs are a) elves or dwarves domesticated them, b) humans brought dogs with them during the Conjunction, or c) dogs have existed for less than 1200 years, and I refuse to accept that dogs are practically a new invention in the witcherverse, wtf.

Anyways: we really have no idea which species are truly “native” to the Continent, or what the physical environment was like prior to the Conjunction. While monsters are not native to the Continent, monsters are also not invasive—there cannot be decline of pre-Conjunction biodiversity or harm to the pre-Conjunction ecosystem because there is no pre-Conjunction ecosystem anymore.

should monsters be hunted to extinction?

So, the thing is, I think we should try to eradicate invasive species from non-native ranges if we can; the biggest problem with that is feasibility, not morality. It’s much more difficult than one might think to eradicate an invasive species once it’s established, and we have to be very careful that the methods we choose don’t have other impacts, but invasive species are a huge threat to the biodiversity of Earth! If monsters are invasive species, then the answer is yes, they should be eradicated from the places they are not native to.

(Notably, on Earth this kind of eradication is not the same thing as extinction; it would be a local extinction, or extirpation, where the species is totally wiped out in the places it invaded but still exists in its native range. This does get way more complicated if the invasive is already extinct in its native range.)

However, I have just outlined a possibility that would make it plausible for monsters not to be invasive species. Let me also outline why I prefer this interpretation. Here is a book conversation between the sorcerer Dorregaray of Vole and Geralt:

“Our world is in equilibrium. The annihilation, the killing, of any creatures that inhabit this world upsets that equilibrium. And a lack of equilibrium brings closer extinction; extinction and the end of the world as we know it. … Every species has its own natural enemies, every one is the natural enemy of other species. That also includes humans. The extermination of the natural enemies of humans, which you dedicate yourself to, and which one can begin to observe, threatens the degeneration of the race.”

“Do you know what, sorcerer?” Geralt said, annoyed. “One day, take yourself to a mother whose child has been devoured by a basilisk, and tell her she ought to be glad, because thanks to that the human race has escaped degeneration. See what she says to you.”

–The Bounds of Reason, ch. 6

This is a, uh, incredibly unsubtle reference to a debate that has been ongoing for decades; Geralt’s stance here is one of the key arguments in opposition to wolf and bear reintroduction. What do we do about large predators that may pose a threat to humans? How do we balance preservation of the ecosystem with the safety of people who have to coexist with these predators?

I can’t fully agree with Geralt, because large predators are integral to the ecosystem, which I value for its own sake and because humans depend on healthy ecosystems. But I can’t fully agree with Dorregaray either, because Geralt is right: human life is valuable and worthy of protecting. This is an issue that India has been running into in the past ten years; as their tiger conservation efforts yield fruit, people become more likely to encounter tigers, and thus more likely to have a bad encounter with a tiger. It’s become a political struggle as rural people who have to actually live with the possibility of a tiger attack come into conflict with urban conservationists who just really want to preserve tigers (& in some incidents, some of those conservationists have been Western, which is a whole additional level of fuckery). The fact is, there isn’t a good answer to this yet! We certainly should not drive tigers, wolves, or any other large predator to extinction, but we also have to figure out a way to keep people safe. It’s something humanity still has to wrestle with.

Under this framing, which CDPR reinforced when they chose to have the Count di Salvaress defend Iocaste as an endangered species while making significant provisions to minimize the damage she could do to human life, there’s far too much baggage attached for me to say yes, monsters should be hunted into extinction. If you’re going to make monsters analogous to wolves, of course I do not think we should get rid of monsters entirely!

And frankly, Geralt doesn’t think so either, despite his hardline stance about monsters that eat humans. Sapkowski isn’t exactly an anti-conservationist; though Dorregaray is shown as out of touch in this passage, at another point the narrative sides with him calling Philippa out on exterminating a species of ermine for her fur collar, and it’s consistently put forth that Geralt’s best quality is that he doesn’t want to perform violence for the sake of it or destroy things without cause, and one of the representations of that is that he refuses to kill endangered species even at cost to himself:

“What should I say about you, who rejects a lucrative proposition every other day? You won’t kill hirikkas, because they’re an endangered species, or mecopterans, because they’re harmless, or night spirits, because they’re sweet, or dragons, because your code forbids it.”

–Eternal Flame, ch. 2

If monsters and other post-Conjunction creatures are invasive species, the nuance in this conversation is flattened, and Geralt’s refusal to kill mecopterans and hirikkas becomes a flaw rather than a virtue. Boring! I also think that one of the strongest themes in the witcherverse is the idea of all monsters being human ills; wraiths are manifestations of hatred, necrophages multiply because of human bloodshed, cursed ones are created out of malice, mages like Alzur and Idarran of Ulivo go out of their way to straight-up create monsters from scratch*, etc. Iocaste attacks humans and takes livestock because the traditional prey of the silver basilisk, roe deer, has been extirpated by human destruction of their habitat. The aeschna in Blood of Elves attacks humans because humans have altered and polluted the flow of the Pontar, hunting the aeschna’s previous food (seals) to extinction. The true monster is the actions of humans. Monsters that appeared unbidden from another dimension into a previously functional ecosystem to invade and cause problems undermines this theme; monsters that are integrated into the ecosystem and subject to the same social and ecological forces as other animals supports it.

* Idarran’s “idr” monsters from Season of Storms absolutely should be eradicated. Did the world not have enough man-eating arthropods, Idarran? Did you really have to mutate horrible new ones and release them in populated areas?? Mages are a scourge, lmfao

Additionally, one of the biggest reasons I felt like I couldn’t actually apply invasion ecology to monsters was that, whether you accept my Conjunction theory as sufficient biological justification for this or not, monsters just don’t really behave like invasive species. It’s hard to explain this because the setting is pretty brief about its ecological details, but aside from the fact that the narrative frames them like just part of the ecosystem of the world, there are never any details like “that type of flower doesn’t exist anymore because giant centipede tunneling destroyed the soil they needed to grow in.” When monsters are the aggressors, their victims are always humans, not the environment or other animals, and again monsters are themselves often treated as victims of human actions.

So I say monsters aren’t invasive species!

Which means that monsters are, regardless of their strange origins, now a part of the Continent’s ecosystem just as much as bears and wolves.

So let’s talk monster ecology.

what do monsters contribute to the ecosystem, if anything?

So, the phrase “contributing to the ecosystem” is actually super loaded, and I want to unpack that before we go anywhere else. Ecosystems are made up of organisms, and organisms interact with and impact ecosystems, but they don’t necessarily contribute to ecosystems! The implication of “contribute” is that it is possible for an organism to not contribute, and it follows from there that some organisms are not useful. This is functionally nonsensical, and also dangerous.

Conservationists talk a lot about “intrinsic value,” which in this context is the idea that we should want to keep species around just because their existence is valuable! Biodiversity is intrinsically valuable. This is important, firstly because I do believe that all species are intrinsically valuable, but also: ecosystems are so enormously complicated that we do not know the full extent of any species or individual organism’s impact, and we can’t predict what the consequences of removing any given species might be. Treating all species as intrinsically valuable is hedging our bets. All organisms affect the ecosystem, because it’s impossible for them not to, and while some species definitely have outsize impact, none of them are “not contributing,” and frankly even if some of them weren’t, it would be the absolute height of human arrogance for us to decide we could tell which ones were useless when we barely even know what most species eat. Mosquitoes are the base of the entire goddamn food chain, and you still get assholes claiming they don’t “contribute anything.” Of course, most people don’t really mean all of these implications when they use the phrase, but I don’t find it useful to talk about what species “contribute,” and avoid using that language if I can!

What I assume you mean by “what do monsters contribute” is a combination of “what roles might monsters play in the ecosystem” and “are monsters actively harmful to the ecosystem, i.e. do they cause loss of biodiversity?”

And this is difficult to answer! As I’ve said, I don’t think monsters are invasive species, and thus don’t harm the ecosystem, though we know that monsters can be harmful to humans. However, when it comes to the role they do play in the ecosystem, there isn’t enough in canon for me to do more than wildly speculate! Also, there are so so many of them, and the role of a hirikka is going to be wildly different from that of a draconid.

Just offhandedly, most of the big predatory monsters can be assumed to fill the same roles as Earth’s big predators, one of the big ones being overpopulation of prey species, which has ramifications throughout the ecosystem. Some of them are canonically ecosystem engineers, or animals that physically alter their environment (think beavers); for instance, shaelmaar and nekker tunneling. Additionally, the big insectoid colonies can’t be relying solely on naturally-occurring caves for their homes; they’ve gotta be constructing some stuff themselves. These tunnels can be repurposed as habitat for other organisms, from giant centipedes to sewant mushrooms. Necrophages, like corpse-eaters in our world, likely limit the spread of diseases from decomposing flesh (and really wouldn’t be as much of an issue if everyone would stop, you know, doing war and mass murder, lmfao). Arachasae use tree trunks and organic plant material to conceal themselves, which is likely contributing to plant reproduction in a few different ways—but the arachasae decorating essay is a different topic that I swear I will finish one day oh my god—

…anyways, feel free to ask about any specific monsters or niches if you’re curious, but if I tried to go into detail with every single potential niche/ecosystem service all of the monsters we know of might fill, we would be here all day!

Let’s talk about a couple specific things you brought up in your second ask.

> theyve probably found a niche in the world by now and can eat anything smaller incl. humans

I mean…maybe! That is, yeah, they’ve definitely settled into niches by now, but feeding is way more complicated and interesting than that.

For instance: orcas can eat basically whatever the fuck they want—orcas are fully capable of bringing down everything from fish to seals to gray whales to great white sharks. But they don’t. In the Pacific Northwest, the resident orca pods almost exclusively eat salmon, while the transient pods largely feed on seals. Orcas are kind of an extreme example, but this is something called resource partitioning and it’s a big part of how animals limit competition with one another and what enables lots of predators to coexist in one place!

We see a big fuck-off dragon thing and we assume that it’ll eat anything it can fit in its mouth, and definitely some predators work like that. But just because an animal is technically capable of eating something and deriving nutrition from it doesn’t mean that it will. Silver basilisks made roe deer the staple of their diet before the destruction of beech forests meant they had to turn to humans—which is a pretty specific dietary restriction when there should be multiple species of deer running around, not to mention everything else a draconid could be killing! And given how many types of draconid there are…I have to assume there’s some kind of resource partitioning going on to prevent them all from conflicting with each other! For instance, if basilisks prefer roe deer, maybe forktails prefer wild goats, while wyverns are mostly kleptoparasitic (stealing other predators’ kills).

And of course, not all monsters eat humans at all; harpies steal from and attack humans, so they’re a dangerous nuisance, but they don’t seem to eat them. And in the books Geralt mentions plenty of monsters which are totally harmless.

So yes, there are lots of things monsters could be eating, but it would strongly depend, and there’s a lot of interesting places one can take monster diets! Netflix decided their strigas only eat specific organs, leaving the rest of the body untouche, & I love that for her. More monsters that need a particular kind of nutrition that leads them to take only specific body parts from some kills!

> because theyve got no natural predators aside from each other and arent hunted by anything but witchers, monsters are just breeding and eating and wldnt that damage the land? or have they made their own like, circle of life or whatever ?

Absolutely—invasive species whose populations rapidly increase once they’re away from their natural predators cause the decline of native species, often by eating natives directly or competing with natives for resources. And in fact, even native species who become overpopulated can seriously damage the ecosystem (see: white-tailed deer in the United States, whose overpopulation has such negative ecological effects that some people argue we should classify them as invasive, even though they have definitely been here this whole time).

However, even if we grant that monsters are invasive, it’s a little more complicated than that for a few reasons!

Despite the apparent preponderance of them in the witcher games, most monsters are supposed to be strongly on the decline, like witchers themselves. Geralt’s profession is falling out of necessity; human development of the Continent is going to be the biggest suppressing factor in monster populations in the future. Monster overpopulation is just canonically not a problem in this universe! But even in the scenario where the Inevitable March Of Civilization isn’t threatening monster populations, there are a lot of factors that could and would limit monster populations.

(TL;DR for this next part: yeah I definitely think they’ve figured out their own little circle of life—the term you’re looking for is ecosystem equilibrium, btw!—& I’m going to take the next 1.2k to talk about how.)

For starters, predation is only one among many limiting factors that affect populations & prevent them from ballooning out of control:

food availability: If there’s not enough food, there’s not enough food! It also matters how adaptable the animal’s diet is—silver basilisks moved from deer to humans, but if the eucalyptus went extinct koalas would not switch to eating cycads.

illness and parasites: Some people argue these are more important than direct predation for limiting populations, and I am often inclined to agree. Basically, if a population becomes very dense, illness and parasites spread more quickly, creating a natural limiter on how many animals can live in any one place. The greater susceptibility of some individuals to illness or parasites also winnows down populations. Non-native species often escape a good portion of their native diseases by moving to a new range—however, given how fast bacteria and viruses evolve, 1,200 years is a pretty decent amount of time for new diseases to arise. Also, just going to drop a link to my treatise on monster parasites here. It’s gross, mind the warning at the start of the post.

mate availability: If only a certain percentage of the population is actually able to reproduce, that’ll eventually bring the total number down. RIP Iocaste’s boyfriend 😔

territory/shelter availability: Animals need a certain amount of space and certain types of spaces to survive, and space isn’t infinite! It again depends on how adaptable an animal is; rats find ways to thrive nearly everywhere, but pandas can only live where there’s bamboo. If there’s not enough space to hide from predators, reproduce safely, store food, and avoid adverse weather, the population again limits itself naturally.

natural disasters: Wildfires, drought, flooding, tsunamis, storms, etc. pick off significant portions of wildlife populations. Disasters are sporadic rather than directly linked to population like most of the other factors but these periodic blows to population and the other impacts of fire or flooding are often integral to the ecosystem (see especially: fire regimes and fire ecology.)

Now let’s talk predation & monsters! (Genuinely, I think predation is one of the most interesting things in ecology; people tend to simplify it down to things eat other things, which—yeah, but there’s so much more going on there!)

First, I wouldn’t underestimate the effects of monsters eating other monsters! Even if it’s rare for a draconid to snatch up a nekker and carry it off, the threat of a draconid doing so can have dramatic impacts; researchers found that just playing the sound of dog barks on a beach stopped raccoons from foraging for crabs for over a month after the barking stopped, leading to an increase in crab populations, even though no raccoons ever encountered a dog. This is called the ecosystem of fear (which as a term is metal as hell) and it theorizes that just the fear of predators can lead to chronic stress for prey animals, decreasing reproduction and making them more susceptible to disease. Maybe draconids in Toussaint eat only a few dozen nekkers a year, but that might cause thousands of nekkers to have fewer offspring or fall to disease. When it comes to ecosystems the direct effect is usually only a small part of the story!

Second, when we talk about a species not having natural predators, we’re usually talking about an animal that would have a predator back in its home range—lionfish, for instance, have plenty of predators in their natural range (the Indo-Pacific), but no natural predators in their invasive range (the Caribbean), so invasive lionfish, suddenly freed of a limiting factor, can run amok. However, a great white shark has, aside from orcas (who do not actually eat white sharks, they’re just assholes sometimes) and occasionally other white sharks, more or less no natural predators anywhere once it reaches maturity, and that’s fine! Lack of predation of great white sharks did not cause their populations to explode and consume the ocean. White sharks are limited by other factors.

So: it is possible that wherever draconids originated (and it’s entirely possible that “draconids” came from multiple different places, tbh) there was something bigger that preyed on them, but it’s not unreasonable to assume they were also apex predators in their previous dimension (I mean…look at them), and that adult draconids were never really preyed on by anything else! It isn’t necessarily an issue for there not to be predators of certain monsters on the Continent.

(Though, of course, we also shouldn’t forget that most apex predators are prey when they’re young—baby white sharks are snack-sized for a lot of fishes, and bear cubs and wolf pups are similarly vulnerable. Based on the size of the eggs you see in TW3 draconid nests, a basilisk is hatched around the size of a little dog, which is the perfect size for small, ballsy predators such as wolverines to sneak into a nest and snap them up—predators such as more wolverines or raptors like eagles and hawks might also come directly for the eggs.)

When it comes to smaller monsters such as nekkers, who likely weren’t apex predators in their original dimensions and would thus be subject to that lack of natural predators—there are usually specific reasons why prey species manage to avoid predation in their introduced range. Lionfish confound Caribbean predators because lionfish are covered with huge poisonous spines that Caribbean predators don’t know how to deal with.

Drowners, on the other hand, are basically just man-shaped fish; they don’t have any adaptations or defenses that would really stump a bear or a wolf. Again, bigger monsters are still probably checking the populations of smaller monsters no matter what, but there’s really no reason a bear couldn’t figure out how to eat a drowner! Unless a monster has a unique defense (e.g. scurver spines), is actively distasteful to eat (rotfiends, probably), or is just difficult to take down (nekkers in packs), most of the non-monster predators* on the Continent will have incorporated various monsters into their diet by now, or suppressed monster populations indirectly with the threat of predation or by competing with them for food. It has been over a thousand years, which is nothing evolutionarily but is still a decent period of time for mammals, who pass hunting techniques down to their babies, to figure out how to eat ghouls—especially if we’re considering that the Continent’s mammals may also be a result of the Conjunction and would thus have to have been just as adaptable as the monsters to establish themselves. And I’ve also actually talked before about how wolves specifically might be preying on necrophages!

* For reference, the non-monster predators are, considering the Continent is more or less Europe, most likely lynxes, brown bears/polar bears (in Skellige), wolverines, foxes, badgers, and a variety of large birds of prey.

So—yes, if monsters were truly overpopulating, then that would damage the ecosystem. However, canon tells us they are definitely not doing that, and there are also many factors that would prevent that from happening!

(Though I will say that some of the reasons white-tailed deer are overpopulated are that we got rid of cougars and wolves and human development creates a lot of extra habitat of the type that deer like. Given that we know many of draconids are for sure in significant danger of going extinct, and the trajectory that Europe’s wolf and bear populations followed in real life, it is possible that the Continent will have to contend with an overpopulation of some of the smaller monsters at some point as they continue to try to eradicate the larger predators, both monster and non-monsters—you think the drowner problem is bad now, wait until the bears are gone and city development has tripled the number of sewers. Yet another of those humans-make-monster-problems-worse things I am fond of in the Witcherverse!)

…whew. that was a lot of words. In conclusion: ecology is really cool & there’s a bunch of ways monsters can fit into it!!

#kaer morhen biology of monsters 101 #and a bit of #witcher book blogging #asks #anonymous

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violethowler · 3 years ago

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False Analogy - A(nother) Meta on the Galra Empire

A common theme I see in discussion of Voltron: Legendary Defender is people comparing the Galra Empire to the Fire Nation from Avatar: The Last Airbender, to the point where every ATLA AU I’ve ever found has cast the Galra and part-Galra characters as Firebenders.

It’s not as if the comparison is completely unexpected, given the potential for the production staff to take influence from their previous work. And there actually are one or two similarities. Both civilizations have spent a long period of time conquering the setting of their respective franchises and have all but taken over everywhere by the time their stories properly begin. The current rulers during each show are power-hungry tyrants who abuse their only sons.

But those are pretty much where the similarities end. And fans would do well to remember that the production staff having worked on ATLA does not obligate them to recreate Avatar Season 3’s look at civilian life in the Fire Nation in an outer space setting.

And the biggest things that separate the Galra from the Fire Nation are the motivation for their respective wars and the stability of their civilizations.

“The Avatar and the Fire Lord” established that Fire Lord Sozin began the war during a period of wealth and prosperity, with Sozin’s specific goal being to expand the Fire Nation’s power under the guise of “sharing their prosperity with the world.” The Fire Nation at the start of the war is experiencing a period of plenty, and none of the resources and materials seized in their conquest are shown to be used to benefit their civilian population back home in any way.

That’s why it’s easy for the Fire Nation to instantly stop the war after Aang defeats Ozai and Zuko becomes Fire Lord. While the situation with the colonies in the Earth Kingdom takes a while to resolve (see: the comics), stopping hostilities and military engagements abroad causes very little change to the lives of civilians in the homeland.

The Galra Empire, on the other hand, is an entirely different beast.

Season 1 of Voltron: Legendary Defender shows us through multiple examples that the Galra Empire uses Quintessence as the primary energy source of the empire. In the present day, quintessence is mined from planets and taken to processing facilities like the one seen in “Collection and Extraction”, where the Druids use what I assume to be a bastardized variation of Honerva’s alchemy to process the Quintessence into usable fuel.

Before the war began, the Galra’s main source of Quintessence was the Rift on Daibazaal, giving them access to an unlimited energy source. The rift staying open on Daibazaal was damaging the planet over time, and after Alfor destroyed the planet to close the rift, the Galra were abruptly cut off from their primary energy source, and a significant chunk (if not the entirety) of their population was now homeless.

The Galra people were scared and uncertain, and Zarkon gave them a convenient target to blame for their displacement when he declared war against Altea and the other planets of their solar system.

But once the system was securely under the empire’s control, the Galra still had to contend with the loss of their biggest stable energy source. The medic tending to Honerva during Lotor’s birth outright tells Zarkon in “Shadows” that their civilization cannot survive without a way to obtain more Quintessence.

This is what Ulaz was referring to when he says in “Shiro’s Escape” that “we thought expanding the Galra Empire would bring stability.” By conquering more planets, the empire gained access to new sources of Quintessence that would prevent the complete collapse of their civilization.

But as we see with the Balmera in Season 1, the planets the empire conquers are not unlimited sources of Quintessence. Eventually, the planets they harvest from will run dry, and they’ll need another source. Not only that, but the more planets they conquer, the larger their infrastructure becomes. This means that they now need even higher quantities of Quintessence to account for the increase in scale. Which leads to more planets being conquered, and the whole process repeating itself over and over again in an endless cycle.

Where the Fire Nation was stable enough that their government and infrastructure could keep going after a regime change, the Galra Empire for millennia has perpetually been one succession crisis away from collapsing into anarchy.

We see that happen in Season 7 because after Zarkon’s death and Lotor being left in the Rift, Haggar stopped giving a shit about the day to day running of the empire. Once she dismissed the Druids and they started going after the Blade of Marmora, the rest of the Empire was suddenly faced with having no way to process all the harvested quintessence into usable fuel, putting them right back where they started 10,000 years ago.

With no central leader, no stable energy source, and dwindling resources, the empire fell apart as warring factions fought each other for the Quintessence they had left, and innocent people on both free and conquered worlds were caught in the crossfire. This is what Lotor was talking about when he told Lance in “Omega Shield” that transitioning the empire toward peace wasn’t as easy as freeing planets until he could offer an alternative to the empire’s current methods of operation.

While stopping further invasions and working to transition conquered planets back to independent government after however many years under Galra rule so that the inhabitants could work with the empire on equal footing were things that could be accomplished relatively easily, the empire immediately shutting down their Quintessence mining and pulling out completely like the Fire Nation did with most of their younger colonies in the ATLA comics was not possible from a logistics standpoint.

Because that would leave the Galra with a dwindling stockpile of processed fuel and no way to refine the unprocessed Quintessence that’s already been harvested, putting them right back where they started 10,000 years ago.

Now course, actually going out and subjugating quintessence to fuel the Galra Empire’s need for quintessence was entirely unnecessary and peaceful means of obtaining Quintessence would have likely been worked out had Zarkon and Haggar stayed dead after the Rift (assuming the next emperor was someone who genuinely had the best interests of their people at heart and wasn’t a power hungry tyrant looking to take advantage of the chaos for their own gain).

But Lotor’s line “the universe can no longer doubt our strength” during his speech at the start of Season 3 shows how easily the Galra’s “victory or death” mentality can be twisted by survival-of-the-fittest rhetoric into a belief that the Galra have to earn their right to security and survival. This is something Lahn reinforces in “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”, when he says that Allura “never had to earn power.” With a convenient scapegoat and a narrative of betrayal, it makes sense that Galra civilization would so readily accept a philosophy that their survival hinged on taking from others to prevent the same thing from happening to them.

And unlike the Fire Nation, most of the Galra Empire’s population is involved in the war to one degree or another. Where civilians in the Fire Nation were comfortably isolated from the reality of the war by both distance and propaganda, Galra civilians did not have that luxury. With their entire home planet destroyed, non-military Galra would have been on the same ships as everyone else. Combine that with the fact that they were already demonstrably a warrior culture in the vein of the Mandalorians in Star Wars, and it’s no surprise that we don’t see very many Galra in non-military positions within the Empire.

Which isn’t to say that there aren’t any civilian Galra within the empire. “Space Mall” introduces notable examples in Varkon and Vrepit Sal, plus we see a few civilian Galra in Omega Shield. But from what we see the majority of the Galra population is connected to the empire’s military in some capacity.

If anything, most of the civilians we’ve seen within the empire’s territory have been non-Galra. The first flashback to Shiro’s time in the arena during “Return of The Gladiator” clearly shows a diverse array of sentient species sitting in the audience for the gladiator matches. Varkon is even the only indication that the otherwise mundane Space Mall is located in the empire’s territory. Even a glimpse of the so-called “labor planet” where the Omega Shield is based shows both Galra and non-Galra carrying supplies during Lotor’s speech.

This all communicates that due to strategic value, lack of viability for quintessence mining, resisting invasion successfully enough to be offered a treaty that annexes them into the empire on their terms, or some combination of the above, there are a not-insignificant number of planets within the Galra empire where the native inhabitants are on something close to equal footing with the Galra, despite Zarkon’s views about the superiority of his species. Despite the suffering and subjugation being inflicted on other worlds, these planets are able to live relatively peaceful, mundane lives away from the front lines of the empire’s conquests.

Which of course is why the Paladins were performing their shows at places like the Space Mall in “The Voltron Show!”. The planets that had already endured slavery and oppression like the Balmera, Puig, and Olkarion didn’t require much convincing to join forces with Voltron. It was the planets where people had largely been able to live mundane, safe lives that needed to be persuaded to cut ties with the empire and join the Coalition.

I understand why people enjoy the look at civilian life in the Fire Nation that we get during the first half of Avatar Book 3. Not only does it further reinforce that the Fire Nationals (yes, that is the canon term for people from the Fire Nation.) aren’t all maniacal monsters that enjoy burning and killing, but that kind of information is just fascinating to know from a worldbuilding perspective. Knowing what life in this universe is like for the average grunt or the people far from the front lines is prime fanfic fuel.

But people wanted so badly for Voltron to copy it that they missed the larger purpose of those elements from a story perspective.

From the very beginning, a major focus of Avatar was showing us the very real, painful realities of war in as much detail as they felt their target audience could handle. The whole point of seeing how people in the Fire Nation lived was to show us how the Fire Nation’s war effort was affecting people on the home front. We see the factories used to power their war machine poison rivers and harm communities. We see just how much propaganda that Fire Nation children are fed in school to indoctrinate them into thinking the war is justified and good.

Even leaving aside the completely different scenarios, the reason we don’t see similar episodes from Voltron is because Voltron was telling a completely different story.

That story, much like the titular robot, is ultimately about people overcoming their differences and uniting around a common, mutual goal. We see this theme repeated throughout the series time and time again. The Paladins learn to work as a team in order to combine the Lions into Voltron. The different rebel groups and freedom fighters from countless liberated planets come together to fight back against the tyranny of Zarkon’s rule. And our heroes learn to work with people they initially thought were their enemy to bring about a peaceful end to the empire’s conquest and expansion.

Narratively speaking, Avatar needed to show civilian life in the Fire Nation and how isolated its people were from the reality of the war as a contrast with how much Zuko’s experiences have chipped away at the lies he used to believe about the world outside his home.

But an in-depth look at Galra civilian life was never necessary with Voltron because that was never the kind of story that Voltron was telling or the kind of civilization that the empire was.

The Fire Nation was a prosperous country that waged war on the rest of the world out of a belief that their neighbors needed to be saved from themselves, whose population lived in relative comfort and isolated from the reality of their nation’s actions.

The Galra Empire was a civilization on the brink of collapse whose leaders directed their fear and need for security at outside targets in a never-ending fight for resources out of a belief that they had to earn their right to survive despite never truly achieving the stability and safety that they longed for under said leadership, and few of whose population had the luxury of avoiding the reality of the empire’s actions.

TL;DR: Despite their similarities, the Galra Empire is not just The Fire Nation Recycled In Space, and it’s unfair to both Voltron and Avatar for fans to act as if one not copying the other is inherently a bad thing.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #galra empire #fire nation

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tribbetherium · 4 years ago

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The Early Therocene: 30 million years post-establishment

Sealing the Deal: The Bayvers

The pondrats, a clade of aquatic hamsters, evolved 10 million years ago during the Late Rodentocene in a secluded environment: the Great Lakes of Nodera. But as the planet's tectonics slowly split Nodera in two, the Great Lakes were slowly opened up into the open sea: the Centralic Ocean.

Soon, descendants of the otter-like lutrons began to swim out to sea as they migrated out of the newly-formed Noderan Straits, and gained access to the ocean. There, they would evolve into the first of the truly marine hamster species: the pinniped-like bayvers, which soon would colonize the shallow seas and coastlines in the Early Therocene.

The bayvers adapted to a far more aquatic lifestyle, developing more flexible spines and fused flipper-like hind feet, granting them incredible agility in the water. This, however, came at the cost of terrestrial mobility, as the fusion of their hind limbs into their pelvis made them unable to shift underneath their bodies to bear weight and thus forcing them to ambulate on land with a clumsy, undulating motion similar to that of earless seals, but this was scarcely a handicap for the increasingly marine bayvers, who only came onto land to rest, breed and rear their young, and spent most of their time foraging in the water.

The bayvers would quickly evolve to exploit a wide array of food sources in the Centralic Ocean, with a majority of them, such as the common bayver (Phocamys vulgaris) being fast and agile hunters of small shrish, swimming crustaceans descended from krill that fill the niches of fish in the ocean and form large swarms in the open sea, which groups of bayvers cooperatively herd into tight balls that they can easily snatch prey from. Others, such as the banded seabadger (Phocameles marinus), became bottom feeders, specializing on the abundance of sea snails, crustaceans and bivalves on the sea floor, developing wide, blunt molars to easily crack open their hard shells. And one very unusual species, the hamatee (Sirenocricetus phytovora), took advantage of the massive forests of algae and kelp in the shallows, becoming predominantly herbivorous, though still consuming a significant amount of invertebrates such as clams.

As the bayvers became ever more specialized, they spread out into the coasts of Nodera, Westerna, and northern Ecatoria too, with some species even colonizing the beaches of Isla Genesis: the island from where all the hamsters first originated. And as they expanded their range, one species, the arctic bayver (Otariacricetus arcticus), would come to colonize the Northern Ice Cap, the floating sheet of ice in the ocean of the planet's northern pole, where arctic bayvers haul out onto ice floes in large groups that huddle tightly together to keep themselves warm.

But despite their aquatic adaptations, there was one problem hindering their complete colonization of the seas.

The oceans of this age were dominated by the shrish, and one particular family, the shrarks, were the reigning predators of the seas, using their jagged rostrums and one pair of modified front limbs for capturing prey, usually smaller species of shrish. They were massively successful throughout the Rodentocene, but the bayvers' invasion of their marine habitat proved both a boon and a bane to them. Many smaller species of shrarks would go extinct as they were suddenly preyed upon by the bayvers, or outcompeted by them in hunting small shrish, but one lineage of shrarks would find this sudden influx of a new species beneficial to them, and start setting their sights onto a new and very available quarry: the bayvers themselves.

Known as the megaprawn (Squalocaris brucei), this largest of the shrarks would grow to a length of nearly two meters, straddling the absolute upper limit a marine arthropod could grow and rivalling the giant Devonian sea scorpion of prehistoric Earth, Jaekelopterus. These monstrous giants would specialize upon hunting the aquatic bayvers when they foraged in the sea, using their powerful pseudo-mandibles to seize and impale their victims, pierce the lungs of their prey and drown them, before drawing them close to their mouths to let their true mandibles do the rest of the work. Their presence and constant predation of the bayvers would force them to remain partially land-bound, seeking refuge from these hunters of the deep on the safety of the beaches and shores, and, for a significant period of time, would prevent the evolution of purely aquatic hamsters, as natural selection still favored those that could escape onto land, even clumsily, when the megaprawns showed up for the feast.

Never before in the history of the planet of HP-02017 would the hamsters, domineering clade of the seeded world, would be so harshly challenged in their global conquest by another, accessory clade that dominated the biome that until recently was beyond their reach. But there was one factor that would eventually turn the tables once again: while the megaprawns were already at their upper limit in size due to constraints of their exoskeletons and their oxygen intake, the aquatic hamsters, lacking such limitations, would eventually outclass them in size within millions of years. And in the oceans, size is of utmost importance in staying high in the food chain: and as the shrarks and megaprawns would later discover as the Therocene went on, there was always a bigger fish-- or highly derived aquatic rodent.

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#speculative evolution #speculative biology #spec evo #speculative zoology #hamster's paradise

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multiverseforger · 4 years ago

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Born and raised in Greece by his single mother, Michael Morbius experienced an isolated childhood due to his rare blood condition, which contributed to his ugly and unpleasant-looking appearance. But despite his looks, he was an intellectually gifted young man who spent his time reading books and, in time, became a highly respected and Nobel Prize-winning biologist who specialized in the field of human and animal biology. While in New York, after escaping from his home country due to his pseudo-vampiric condition, he attempted to find a cure and to protect his fiancé Martine Bancroft, but he was attacked by the Lizard and defeated when Spider-Man and the Lizard teamed up against him to recover a sample of Morbius's blood in order to cure their own mutated physical conditions before he escaped. The truth behind his horrific condition is that, in order to cure himself of an unknown blood disease which was killing him, Morbius, using his past experience as an expert biochemist, had attempted to cure himself of the disease with an experimental treatment involving vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy. However, he instead became afflicted with a far worse disease called "pseudo-vampirism" that mimicked some of the powers and the bloodlust of supernatural vampirism. Morbius now had to drink blood in order to survive and had a strong aversion to light. His bones became hollow and he gained the ability to fly, as well as gaining superhuman strength, super-speed, and an accelerated healing factor. His appearance, already ugly, now became hideous—his upper canine teeth extended into fangs, his nose flattened to appear more like that of a bat's and his skin became chalk-white. He also gained the ability to turn others into similar "living vampires" like himself by biting them and drinking their blood, infecting them with the disease of pseudo-vampirism.[13] People whom Morbius infected with the disease of pseudo-vampirism did not truly die as a result and they could be cured through an antidote to pseudo-vampirism derived from Morbius's blood that Morbius and Martine had created, although that antidote would not work on Morbius himself. They also did not acquire his ability to fly or his healing factor and any mortal wound could kill them.[14] He later sought a cure for his condition, but battled Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and the original X-Men.[15]Morbius then encountered Barbara Clark and protected her from a demon named Nilrac, but unfortunately after that, Morbius killed her and drank her blood to satisfy his hunger, feeling a strong sense of guilt immediately afterward.[16]

Morbius later rescued Amanda Saint from a Satanic cult known as Demon-Fire and aided her in her quest to find her missing parents.[17] He caused John Jameson to again become the Man-Wolf. Alongside the Man-Wolf, he battled Spider-Man again in another attempt at a cure.[18] He then battled Reverend Daemond and encountered the Caretakers of Arcturus IV. At the same time, he visited both the Land Within, the home of the Cat People, and the planet Arcturus IV, the homeworld of the Caretakers. During this time, he first battled Blade the Vampire-Slayer.[19] He then first battled the Werewolf (Jack Russell)[20] He then first encountered rogue CIA agent Simon Stroud and battled the extra-dimensional demon known as Helleyes.[21] He and Stroud then battled a large group of other pseudo-vampires that had been created by Morbius, destroying them all. One of them, however, who had been taken into police custody, turned Martine into a pseudo-vampire before being destroyed by Morbius, but Morbius (who then turned on Martine and made her a pseudo-vampire again due to his bloodlust overcoming him) and Stroud cured Martine by using the antidote, after which Morbius fled.[14] He then encountered Alicia Twain, a desperate landowner, and tried to help her keep her land; however, she died at the hands of the men trying to steal her land despite Morbius's help, forcing Morbius to kill her murderers.[22] Next, he encountered an enigmatic woman named Morgana St. Clair in England, who aided him and seemed to know all about vampires. This led to Morbius batting - and destroying - the Brotherhood of Judas, another Satanic cult of which St. Clair was a member.[23] Alongside the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), the Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), and the Werewolf, he then encountered the Starseed.[24]Morbius then visited his old friend Ronson Slade, a scientist, again hoping to find a cure. Slade, however, had become a werewolf and Morbius was forced to kill him.[25]Morbius then first battled the Thing, then teamed up with him to battle the Living Eraser and escaped to Dimension Z.[26] He later returned to Earth and battled Spider-Man again, this time briefly controlled both physically and mentally by an extra-dimensional humanoid android called the Empathoid, which fed on emotions to survive. Spider-Man destroyed the Empathoid (after the android had left Morbius and possessed him) by causing it to overdose on emotions during an exposure to the crowd at a baseball game in a stadium where he and Morbius had taken their battle, after which both of them left due to the approach of the stadium guards. Morbius then fled and Spider-Man left the Empathoid's body with the Fantastic Four for safekeeping.[27]

He once again fought Spider-Man and tried to drink his radioactive blood, but then he was hit by a lightning bolt at the same time, which cured him of his pseudo-vampirism and made him human again (he still retained a thirst for blood, however).[28] While he was cured, he was charged with the crimes he had committed as a pseudo-vampire and was represented by Jennifer Walters, whose dual identity as the She-Hulk was not yet publicly known at the time. Morbius selflessly saved Walters' life and stabilized her erratic transformations into the She-Hulk with a serum that he had created to cure the remnants of his own transformation.[29] He eventually regained his pseudo-vampiric state and first met Doctor Strange.[30] Alongside Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, he battled Marie Laveau and witnessed the return of true vampires.[31] Morbius later battled Spider-Man in the New York sewers.[32]

The Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) and Johnny Blaze searched for Morbius to form the Nine (a.k.a. the Midnight Sons) and stop Lilith the Mother of All Demons and her children the Lilin from taking over the world. When they found Morbius, the pseudo-vampire believed that they would kill him, but the Ghost Rider and Blaze successfully captured him. Doctor Langford, who supposedly tried to heal Morbius's wounds, was actually trying to kill him and was working for Doctor Paine. He made an unknown mutagenic serum that would prove fatal to Morbius. Unknown to Doctor Langford, Fang, one of Lilith's children, was also trying to kill Morbius by adding his own demonic blood to the serum, which would also be fatal to Morbius. When Doctor Langford injected the serum to Morbius, it did not kill him, but instead it mutated him. Morbius's friend, Jacob, was trying to look inside of him and see what he could do about Morbius's condition. After Martine Bancroft, Morbius's ex-fiancé, found out that Langford was trying to kill him, Langford shot her and she bled to death. Morbius found out about this and was enraged to find his ex-fiancé dead. He later avenged the death of Martine by killing Langford and took the beaker which contained the serum.[33] The Ghost Rider and Blaze later found out about Morbius's acts of destruction. The Ghost Rider confronted him and would not tolerate Morbius drinking any more innocent blood. Morbius then vowed he would only drink the blood of the guilty. The Ghost Rider accepted the vow, but warned him not to stray from it. Morbius soon became part of the Midnight Sons.

Later, a new faction of vampires tried to destroy Morbius because he had been genetically manipulated to be the perfect weapon. The chest in which he was to be delivered was intercepted by the Kingpin, Blade and Spider-Man, and he attacked all three. Whatever unknown party manipulated him failed; he collapsed after one battle, possibly dying. With his last breath, he warned Spider-Man to beware of his employer, Senator Stuart Ward.[34]

It was later revealed that Morbius had signed the Superhuman Registration Act and was cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. in an effort to capture Blade.[35] He had also presumably survived his genetic manipulation, as Blade was able to distinguish him as the same Morbius who "took a bite out of [him]" in their previous encounter.[36]

Morbius was next seen as a member of A.R.M.O.R., held captive by the zombie Morbius from the Marvel Zombies universe of Earth-2149.[37] He survived the invasion, killing his zombie counterpart in the process.[38] Shortly after, he formed a new version of the Midnight Sons with Jennifer Kale, Daimon Hellstrom, Jack Russell, and the Man-Thing to contain a zombie outbreak on an isolated island, briefly running afoul of the Hood in the process.[39]

Morbius later helped the Man-Thing re-assemble a decapitated Punisher into a Frankensteinian monster called FrankenCastle.[40]

During The Gauntlet storyline, Morbius was behind the theft of a vial of Spider-Man's blood. Spider-Man, learning that Morbius was planning to use the blood samples to create a cure for Jack Russell, agreed to help Morbius out by giving him more of his blood to help with the cure.[41]

During the Origin of the Species storyline, Morbius was among the supervillains recruited by Doctor Octopus to secure some items for him.[42]

During the events of Spider-Island, it was revealed to the reader that Morbius was the mysterious Number Six working at Horizon Labs. He assisted, wearing a hazmat suit to conceal his identity, in preparing the cure to the spider-powers virus.[43] When Peter Parker tried to investigate the identity of "Number Six", he accidentally provoked Morbius—who had been using the cure to try to develop a basis for a cure for his own condition—into a frenzy, prompting the staff at Horizon to step up building security (making it harder for Peter to enter and exit the building as Spider-Man in the future) and also forcing Morbius to leave, where it was revealed that he had been working with the Lizard, presumably trying to find a cure for both of their conditions. It was also revealed that Morbius was a college friend of Max Modell.[44] Using DNA samples from the corpse of Billy Connors, Morbius was able to create a cure that would restore the Lizard to human form, but he failed to recognize that the Lizard had completely destroyed Curt Connors' human persona.[45] The Lizard was left alone in Morbius's lab, allowing him to release blood into the lab's air supply to provoke the injured Morbius into attacking the other Horizon scientists. This prompted Morbius to flee the lab, with Spider-Man in pursuit.[46] Morbius was captured by Spider-Man and locked up in a cell in the Raft.[47]

When Peter Parker (whose mind was now in Doctor Octopus's dying body) needed some supervillains to help capture Otto Octavius (whose mind was now in Spider-Man's body), Morbius offered to help, but was rejected.[48] Morbius eventually escaped from the Raft[49] and fled to Brownsville.[50]

After some time, he tried to stop some vampires in Barcelona, but got captured by them and locked in a coffin. The vampires wanted to mix their blood with that of Morbius, until he got unintentionally saved by Domino, Diamondback and the Outlaw. After telling them about the vampires' plan, they agree to help him kill King Morbius (a true vampire infected with Morbius's blood). Then after killing him, a vampire hunter tried to kill Morbius, but thanks to Domino, he escaped.[51]

Morbius was later rescued by Agent of Wakanda Wasp from Dracula's Disciples, with assistance from Agents Broo and Man-Wolf. He later informed the Wasp and Director Okoye on the Vampire Civil War

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night-rise · 5 years ago

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F.O.W.L’s PLAN

F.O.W.L... The fiendish organization for World larceny..

They live up to their reputation of being fiendish. A group of criminal masterminds with enough power, brains and resources to give people like Scrooge and Darkwing Duck a run for their money. They are a threat that have the capability to destroy the entire duck family.

Scary part is... that’s just what they’re doing this season..

Their sights are set on anyone connected to Scrooge McDuck and they have stepped out of the shadows to challenge them and destroy them once and for all...

But how?

What’s the plan? What plan can be great enough to challenge them? The Duck family have conquered shadow armies, an alien invasion and have defeated countless other villains.

This beautiful family is strong and is growing stronger with each new ally they meet. BOY’D is a freakin super robot now! And we have Lena! She’s already an army in one lol What could FOWL possibly do to match this families strength?

Well that’s what we’re here to find out! And I think I got something.. Something that very well could be the end of Scrooge and his family...

Hey guys! NightRise here with another head scratching theory that will have you up all night pondering

In my previous and first FOWL theory (which I would suggest you go read before reading this. It’s super short don’t worry lol) I talked about the connections between the Bounce serum and Fentons Energy Crystal. How they both could be related to a larger scheme because both are related to BOUNCING.

But how do these two things fit in with fitches journal? The thing that seems to be FOWLS main focus this season.

What’s the missing piece to this plan?

Well I’m here to kick start the many possibilities that is FOWLS plan and help you all see the connections. Maybe you’ll take something from this to help with your own theories.

Now I’m telling you right now that this theory is absolutely a stretch and has about a 50% chance of being accurate. For the obvious reasons being that we’re not even half way through the season yet and we still have so much more of FOWL left to see.

But because of the pieces that I found connecting so well together and the show going on a little hiatus (boo) I thought I’d go ahead and drop this off now.

It’ll be my final theory on this fiendish organization and I want to share it with you the good people so you have something during the break to think over and keep you up at night theorizing.

So with that VERY long introduction out of the way, lets rise into this:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the bounce serum and it’s capabilities. What FOWL was going to use it for and how they think it’ll help them rule the world.

But how exactly? How does bouncing help with that?

Black Heron said she wanted to use the serum to create super soldiers to cause mass destruction and chaos across the- ... (Why am I having Captain America flashbacks...?)

Anyway!

But the thing with that is from what I’ve seen the Bounce juice doesn’t really cause mass destruction when its consumed by a normal person. It just makes them bounce and invulnerable to fall damage. It didn’t create a shockwave of destruction or anything like that when they landed. So how is she going to cause destruction with it?

Bouncing is only good for escaping or surviving from high up places. How could it possibly destroy anything?

Well I got to thinking. What happens when we bounce in a second story house on the top floor? It creates a stomp. A loud BOOM!

Vibrations

And the higher we jump the greater that vibe is. So I got to thinking where would strong vibrations be the most effective and catastrophic?

UNDERGROUND!

Earthquakes!

According to an adorable red hatted nerd we know, Earthquakes are shifting plates that move.

But as also stated by another adorable duckling “who’s pushing the plates”

(Okay so you might already know where I’m going with this and like I stated previously this is what I meant by this theory being stretched and far fetched. But this was the ONLY connection I could make with this so please bear with me, you’re about to see the connections I PROMISE)

There are only one species I know that are capable of causing earthquakes with little to no effort..

The final piece that I think is in FOWLS plan is.......

The Terrafirmians!

I know, I KNOW it’s crazy. And some of you are probably already leaving but HEAR. ME. OUT. PLEASE. Let me SPEAK. Cause I’m about to explain why.

As usual I’ll try to keep it as brief as I can:

Terrafirmians, ancient rock like cretrues that live in a society deep underground. Not much different from the above ground civilization.

Their capability to move around the earth effortlessly is amazing. And they are incredibly strong. With little to no effort they were able to make a clean safe passage back to the surface for the Duck family in a matter of seconds. Their rock like exterior makes them almost impenetrable.

Honestly they would make the perfect soldiers for anybody.........

So why wouldn’t FOWL want them in their army? They certainly can find a use for them. One specific use in general:

To use the juice

The Bounce juice is an organic drink, so you can’t give it to an army of robots. And we’ve seen what happens when you give it to a normal person. Not much.

But the Terrafirmians with their already tough exterior (which was redesigned in this reboot series. From furry and plush to rocky and tough) would cause a lot of damage if they were bouncing around everywhere. Bouncing is how they operate. They bounce and crash into rocks. But instead of digging right through the earth they’ll bounce right off of it, creating vibrations.

That serum would be perfect for them. Perfect for FOWL. An impenetrable army that could cause so much destruction in an instant. It’s the perfect plan.

Think of the time gap between the two missions involving the bounce serum.

Why did Heron return after so much time had past?

For so many years she could’ve attempted to capture Beakley and get the serum information she needed. So many chances. Why wait? Why was FOWL so quiet for so long and then suddenly pick up where they left off DECADES ago?

What changed?

I’ll tell you what changed. The plan changed. The original idea they had for the serum.

When Heron was explaining the plan she didn’t really sound like she had all the pieces together. Just soldiers bouncing “here, there and everywhere”. It was messy and not well put together.

It sounded like a disorganized plan for an organization.

FOWLS original plan was incomplete and had too many errors. So it was unnecessary at the time. That’s why FOWL didn’t try to go after the juice the first time Heron failed to acquire it. They weren’t desperate. They didn’t need it then. They found it unnecessary.

So why is it now that they are trying to complete that mission? What makes now different from back then? Why is it now necessary to acquire the serum after all this time?

Because they found the final piece they needed.

The Terrafirmians

But wait! How are we even sure we’d see them ever again in this season? Well because we only saw 4-5 of them. There’s an entire civilization of these guys. Are we really not going to explore more of them? This season is all about Huey so why wouldn’t we go back to the first obstacle he faced in the series?

Think I’m crazy?

Remember what Bradford Buzzard said at the end of Double-O-Duck? “We’re going to take it from them. From right underneath McDucks nose” UNDERNEATH! That’s gotta be a clue.

Their FOWL base!! Its underground! They moved from a tower to an underground lair. WHY? The tower looked perfectly fine to me. It seemed to be working just fine. Why move underground? That’s another clue.

But how does Fitches journal (which was found UNDERGROUND) fit into all this? Well allow me to explain.

The Terrafirmians are a peaceful friendly tribe, that have no beef with surface dwellers. If they had a problem with them they would’ve showed up a long time ago. But they haven’t. It’s obvious they want peace.

This doesn’t fit in with FOWLS plan though. So they are looking for a way to change the Terrafirmians way of thinking. Take away their peaceful ideals. They want to corrupt them. Control them

Mind control.

They are looking for an artifact that helps with that. It’s become obvious that they are not looking to acquire every artifact in that journal.

If that was the case they would’ve been there to steal the Harp from the ducks or showed up after they left to take it. But they didn’t. Not a sign of them anywhere.

And they already have the third eye diamond. Found in their personal archives. (How that’s possible is full of theories that I will leave to someone else to work on lol)

But by the way it was presented in the episode Double-O-Duck, it didn’t seem like it was needed. Or important. Just a side project. Why?

Because they are after a SPECIFIC artifact. One that would help with controlling the Terrafirmians. That’s what Bradford meant by “The race is on”. The race to the final key they need. The final key like...

The Stone of What Was!

“STONE”. That’s already connected to the earth. There’s a chance this stone is with the Terrafirmians. Or it might be the case that this stone will help whoever has it find the hidden civilization that is the Terrafirmians.

Kinda strange they’re saving that one for last, don’t you think?

Could that be the final thing they need? Would that bring them total control? Who knows but it’s interesting that the creators of the series would save that adventure for last.

But wait, how does Fentons crystal fit into all of this? How would that help FOWL in anyway?

Well if my previous theory was correct, Gandra is already working on that solution.

See that’s the thing about theories everybody! When you do them, include everyone that applies to it!

Putting certain characters in scenarios that fit them. And that’s what I did with Gandra. Shes a scientist plus she has a connection with Fenton. Her and Fenton obviously are going to meet again. What else would she possibly work on?

She’s going to replicate Fentons experiment on a larger scale. Wrap the Terrafirmians in that same synthetic crystal, like clothing or Energy suits, to boost the power of their bounce.

The greater the bounce the greater the vibration.

FOWL is going to control an army of Terrafirmans, give them bounce juice and wrap them up in Fentons Synthetic crystal so they’ll be powerful enough to create INSTANT EARTHQUAKES!

But not in a city wide rage! Specific locations. FOWL said they don’t want to destroy the world. Just the Duck family. In fact they don’t want to destroy the world at all. But steal it from everybody else. What better way to do that then to have an army of earthquack making soldiers that can split up and target each individual family member and take them out unsuspectedly?

FOWL said it themselves they want to do things smarter. What’s smarter than an earthquake making army you can’t see coming that can take you out before you even know what’s going on? At anytime. ANYWHERE.

The very world itself would turn against the Duck family. It’ll be robbed from them!

They don’t call it “WORLD LARCENY” for nothing am I right?

Magica and Lunaris already tried taking the aggressive approach and failed. Now FOWL wants to do things more stealth like. In the shadows. Leaving no trail that will lead back to them. The charging head first method has failed multiple times so FOWL is trying something different.

Still think it’s crazy?

Well check this out:

What do you guys notice about this picture? For one thing it has every target that FOWL is after on it. But what else do you see? Where are they?

In the sky..

Now why would everybody meet up in the sky? Is it because maybe the ground is currently unsafe? Hmmmmmmmm?!

Brute force is not going to work this time. It’ll be a battle of intelligence. Lucky for us we have a duckling that can out brain all of FOWL

They might have an army

But we have a Huey...

I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome of this season. This hiatus WILL be the end of me I just know it lol but it gives us the fans plenty of time to figure this out. I’ll be looking forward to taking this journey with you all.

If I said it once this season I’ll say it again

BRING. IT. ON. F.O.W.L.

#ducktales #season 3 #ducktales 2017 #scrooge mcduck #f.o.w.l.#dt huey #huey duck #Terrafirmians #fowl #fenton crackshell #gandra dee

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inherbookishhead · 5 years ago

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Some of my headcanons for Tentoo x Rose (cause why not, it’s quarantine time and I need some softness in my life):

It’s the Doctor who drives the whole “making a home with Rose Tyler” initiative, where he surprises her one day with their weird shell-like three-storey house which looks like it came straight out of Dali’s paintings, with a glass roof, huge telescope, grunge interior and round things on the walls, of course. (Rose is flabbergasted by this gesture and thinks the Doctor has finally lost it, which gets him quite indignant because while he’s searching for the quickest way to be able to escape to the stars, he is also excited to settle in their own place. He finally bought a purple sofa, for heaven’s sake!)

In some quiet moments when the Doctor is growing the TARDIS in his lab in Big Ben, Rose likes to hug him tightly from behind, lay her hands on where both of his hearts would be and oversee what he is working on from behind his shoulder. He keeps a straight face and a running commentary on which part of the console he is working on now, although his heart rate goes up considerably and he makes sure to hold her hand when he needs to disentangle himself to reach for a tool, thus keeping her in place, and entangle himself back once he took what he needed.

As much as Rose has been the initiator of their relationship, it’s the Doctor that usually jumps her at every convenient occasion once his mind realises that a) he can touch her now without fear or guilt and b) she enjoys it quite a lot.

Usually Rose gets exactly 10 minutes of freedom in bed before the already sleeping Doctor seeks her out and starts his own alien invasion by throwing all his limbs at her and basically settling on top of Rose for the night with his nose squished firmly into the crook of her neck. She complains about him being heavy and way too hot, but then one night they happen to be apart and she can’t fall asleep with that weight missing. She stops complaining after that.

The Doctor likes to lay his head on Rose’s chest, close his eyes and nudge her hand to let her run her fingers through his hair or stroke his ear. Notwithstanding all the hugs and hand-holding he realises he’s never been touched and held quite like that before.

They still fight from time to time, because the Doctor is not only still rude but also has a whole arsenal of Donna’s snarky phrases, and Rose is just as stubborn.

They find a vortex manipulator and indulge in travelling through time on Earth to catch up on the alternative history and escape the boredom of ordinary life when it becomes too much for them.

They finally manage to grow their TARDIS, which Rose insists, should be a blue phone box and a blue phone box only, because if they travel somewhere, they are going to do it with style. (”You don’t see Spock changing Millenium Falcon on every trip, Doctor. It’s iconic!” “It’s Han Solo, Rose”)

They get their Little Trouble after ten years or so, which comes completely by (a very welcome) surprise, considering that they are still partly different species and Rose jumping dimensions has taken its toll on her body.

Little Trouble is soon promoted to a “Ms Captain” on the TARDIS because while she has her father’s brilliant mind, she also has her mother’s smile, which turns a said father into goo. She has an exclusive spot on his shoulders (because a good captain of the ship always needs to see what’s happening) and a unique privilege to style his hair in the meantime so that when they bump into slightly aggressive aliens once, the Doctor goes full Oncoming Storm on them only to hear Rose’s helpless cackling behind him. As it turns out having a raging timelord with five colourful little ponytails all over his head is not the most effective way to scare off creatures (but surely a good icebreaker to persuade them you are not a threat).

Little Trouble outlives her parents by a very long shot. She’s born “more like her father than her father himself”, having a set of two hearts from birth, which quite surprises the Doctor. She keeps on traveling the universe and helping those who are in need, just like her parents did. Her TARDIS is still the same apart from a child’s carving now firmly residing on one of its sides, which shows a woman with two unequal eyes and long eyelashes, a lanky man with exactly 5 spiky hairs and a striped suit, and a small girl with a disproportionate head and a giant smile between them, holding their hands.

I’m going to write about them, am I not? Goddamnit. I’m gonna.

#TenToo x Rose #Rose x Tentoo #tentoo #pete's world #rose tyler #dw headcanons #doctor who headcanon #post journey's end #10.5 #the doctor x rose #timepetals #rose and tentoo #Rose x The Doctor #doctor rose #tentoorose #doctor x rose #doctorrose #inherbookishqueue

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zerm1v0hg · 4 years ago

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Legendary Ghidorah’s backstory (Headcanon thoughts and musings)

Just my own made-up thoughts and ideas (which I’ve built up over months) about what I think the golden trio’s (Ichi, Ni and San’s) backstory before they came to Earth is or could be in KOTM.

Ghidorah’s powers are a lot more advanced than the kaiju who are native to Earth. I think on Ghidorah’s original homeworld, life including the planet’s kaiju are a lot older and more evolved than on Earth, and they’ve evolved to the point that some of them can escape their homeworld’s gravity and travel through the vacuum of space. This enabled the space-kaiju to travel to neighbouring planets and moons in their system and maybe even reach neighbouring star systems, and consume radiation sources and other minerals there. But since they weren’t confined to a single planet and maintaining that planet’s natural balance for their own survival anymore, the space-kaiju gradually lost sight of and interest in their original purpose, and instead started treated their homeworld (and any other territory that was within their reach and they wanted) like it was their property to do whatever they wanted with it. Kinda like how humanity’s ways have become ecologically unsustainable as we’ve technologically advanced.

A bit cliche to use the species-doth-protest-too-much trope like this, but I like to think Ghidorah is so far from home on Earth because it’s an outcast among the other space-kaiju on its homeworld. Maybe it tried to usurp territory from a space-kaiju for itself and lost; and either it fled into space rather than be killed by its opponent, or it was forced into exile by the other space-kaiju under threat of death, so it sought out a world beyond their reach where it wouldn’t have to worry about other space-kaiju.

Now my headcanon for why Ghidorah isn’t just an invasive species but a truly sadistic, ax-crazy piece work that enjoys killing things WAY too much to be natural. If Ghidorah travelled across space from its homeworld to Earth slower than the speed of light (and didn’t rely on opening wormholes or whatever to cut distance), then the journey must’ve taken a while, AND it must’ve been pretty slow and boring. My theory is that Ghidorah spent hundreds, thousands, millions of years straight travelling in space looking for a new world - and it was conscious through all of it. Yep, Ghidorah spent all that time wandering the universe without any social contact with other animals whatsoever, in a state of long-term sensory deprivation (the stars and other sights around it probably shifted at a snail’s pace, taking years before things looked any different - and that’s assuming Ghidorah didn’t spend time travelling through the dark space between galaxies), and it drove Ghidorah completely and utterly, psychotically, destroy-anything-it-sees nuts.

Now for whether or not Ghidorah wants to make Earth its own kingdom. Because of the writer and book-lover in me, I’d say Ghidorah does want to turn Earth into its own kingdom, but it’ll never be able to stick by it. After Ghidorah’s finished killing all the humans, animals and plants and then all the kaiju once it doesn’t need them anymore, sooner or later, it’ll get bored with Ghidorah-Earth, and it’ll abandon it and fly back into space so it can find another suitable world and then destroy and reshape that world into its kingdom - then it eventually gets bored with sticking to that world, ad infinitum.

Ghidorah’s species (or its lineage if biological diversity is different to the terms humanity classifies life by) has a pretty bizarre growth cycle: Ichi, Ni and San weren’t always conjoined, they were originally born separate of each-other, but as they matured, they fused into one functional body with three heads.

Who knows, maybe if Ghidorah spent millions of years travelling through space and went completely nuts, even the three of them can’t really remember where they came from anymore.

So, yeah, I thought these up over several months. I might include bits or all of them in future fanfictions of mine in FF.net if I write any more with Legendaryverse Ghidorah, but this is basically the reference sheet if I do.

#godzilla #monsterverse #king ghidorah #legendary ghidorah #ghidorah kotm #theonewhoismany #headcanon #origin #godzilla king of the monsters #godzilla kotm #kaiju

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rebuiltbionicle · 4 years ago

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OC: Onigmr

Onigmr is a member of the Dark Hunters, one of its earliest recruits, operating under the codename Troglodyte. Onigmr has a long history on underground living and fighting, and despite not being an elemental is heavily associated with Earth. As Troglodyte, Onigmr is part of a special Dark Hunter team called the Shadowed Talons, and represented the Earth element in that team.

Onigmr originated on the island of Silte, the homeland of the Whovok. He was built a few decades after the announcement that a member of each of the Prime Species would become a ruler of the universe. Pridak ruled the island at the time and ordered a surplus of new Whovok built to serve as labourers and soldiers in his army. Shortly after Onigmr’s creation, the island was conquered by Mantax. With significant pressure, Onigmr was made to join up with Mantax’s army.

The duration of Onigmr’s service would be spent fighting in the endless conflicts over the Southern Continent. The Barraki had figured that the key to the continent was sneak attacks via the unending Nui Caves, although this wouldn’t prove to be the case. Nonetheless, each deployed an army to those caves, and Onigmr would spend years in cramped darkness engaging the enemy in conditions where he could barely see. The conditions were intolerable, but he wasn’t allowed to withdraw, so he had to adapt. As time went, he adjusted to the darkness, and was able to hear the faintest echoes throughout the caverns.

Onigmr led the push throughout the Nui Caves, and was amongst the first to discover the strange civilisation of Matoran living beneath the Southern Continent. The Barraki’s desire to have the loyalty of as many settlements as possible mandated that these Matoran become part of their kingdom, and Onigmr found himself fighting to ensure these Matoran remained part of Mantax’s dominion. When the wars ended and the League of Six Kingdoms was established, Onigmr hoped to get out to the surface but was kept as part of the occupational army amongst these Matoran. He and the rest of the occupiers began mingling with the Matoran rather than just kettle them, and began learning more about them. They learned that these were Av-Matoran, and further learned about Karda Nui.

This information reached the Barraki, and the knowledge of the world that fed the world spearheaded their ambition to overthrow Mata Nui. They began gathering troops to swarm the Southern Continent, but were caught off guard by an attack by Toa and the Brotherhood of Makuta. The League of Six Kingdoms was decapitated and left to tear itself apart. Due to their remote location, the Nui Cave occupiers were not informed of this and continued to rule over the Matoran in the Barraki’s name. Lack of official communications began to get to them, and messengers were sent to the surface to figure out what was happening. None ever returned, and the governor elected to remain fortified in their settlement.

Despite the broadness of the caves, cabin fever drove the occupying army up the walls. Further, far more cautious efforts to get to the surface were made, and the a report of the situation brought back to them. The League was no more, and the governors reduced to lesser barraki fighting over a fragmenting empire. The Southern Continent had become a battleground by several lesser warlords whose factions were slowly devolving into roving bandit clans. The Nui Cave occupiers had no interest in staying in those caves if they had no orders to do so, and immediately marched for the surface, Onigmr with them.

The army emerged in the Southern Continent’s barrens and were quickly beset by rival ex-League armies. A guerrilla war continued for some time as they tried to find a safe place to emerge. The rival armies would attempt to flush them out of the caves, leading to further subterranean warfare, which Onigmr and his compatriots well excelled at. They overwhelmed opposition in the caves, but their numbers were dwindling. They took all maps of the caves they could and found the cave entrance closest to the coast and made a break for port cities. They caught the enemy armies by surprise, but their charge fell to pieces and was defeated.

Onigmr was one of the survivors taken captive. He was taken to the coastal cities and sold to lesser barraki gathering slaves. Onigmr spent many years being bandied about, being made to work for various lesser barraki and aristocrats. Often he would serve the slave traders themselves, maintaining the ships that ferried him place to place. After some time, he would be purchased by a wealthy Xian exile that had carved his own kingdom on the island of Ultati. Initially Onigmr spent many years there working on docks, loading and unloading ships exporting Ultati’s product. After an attempt escape, he was sentenced to harsher labour deep in the mines of Ultati.

Onigmr spent only a week working in the mines before he was able to cut loose his shackles and escape. Several smashed lightstones later, Onigmr was fighting in the same conditions he had experienced in the Nui Caves Campaign, conditions he excelled at. The mines the slaves had dug were vast and mazelike, which gave Onigmr a broad range of movement for a guerilla campaign against his slavers. After losing so many, the mines were abandoned and sealed over. They left a lot of mining equipment down there, letting Onigmr making his own way to the surface. Over several days he made his way to the Lord’s palace and attempted an assassination. It was a failure and Onigmr was forced back into the mines, but it became apparent that the island couldn’t cope with having a renegade lurking beneath it.

They spent a long while trying to rat him out, which only served to hone Onigmr’s skills in subterranean warfare. The next step in trying to kill him was to hire the recently formed Dark Hunters to do the job. Briefed on the situation and given maps of the tunnels, the Dark Hunters entered the mines in search of their quarry. There were several clashes. The Hunters were far better trained than the guards, taking Onigmr by surprise, but his experience in the tunnels gave him the advantage. The Hunters knew they were outmatched, and opted to narrow his playing field. Explosive charges were detonated and ancillary tunnels removed from the equation. This was nothing Onigmr hadn’t already faced, so he survived the cave-ins, but his network of caves was growing smaller. Eventually it came to a head-on clash, and after a full thirty-six hours straight of battle, Onigmr was too tired to continue.

The Dark Hunters received their pay, but they had secret orders; return Onigmr to Odina. There he was confronted by the Shadowed One and offered a position as one of their agents, an offer Onigmr was given no opportunity to refuse. After formal induction, he was given the codename Troglodyte. He specialised in underground assignments, and to compliment those skills was given a partner in the form of an Onu-Satorni, codenamed Burrower. Onigmr was given superior armour, a Noble Ruru to aid in the darkness, and weaponry imbued with Earth powers.

As time went on, Onigmr proved himself to be among the finest of the Dark Hunters. The Shadowed One took note as he began organising elite groups within the Dark Hunter organisation. One such group was the Shadowed Talons, a group meant not to take outside contracts but to enforce the will of the Shadowed One himself. The first group of the Shadowed Talons was created to directly counter the standard Toa team, and included members that had an affinity with each element. Onigmr’s experience in fighting in Onu-Wahis earned him a position as the Talon of Earth, despite his lack of actual Earth powers. He would lead his team throughout all underground operations, and was highly successful in his career.

The Shadowed Talons were the first Dark Hunters deployed to Metru Nui in what would become the Toa-Dark Hunter War. Their mission was simply to eradicate the Toa Mangai in the wake of the Dark Hunter’s failure to seize the Nui Stone from Toa Tuyet. They engaged the Toa in ambushed across the streets, and eventually forced them into barricading themselves into the coliseum. Onigmr was able to sneak inside by the Archive’s maintenance tunnels, and was able to verify Tuyet’s disappearance before being discovered and forced out. Though the Toa were still alive, they were effectively out of the way, allowing the rest of the Dark Hunters to occupy the city.

Toa Naho was able to escape and summon an army of Toa, setting off the Toa-Dark Hunter War in earnest. The Talons were often deployed against high profile Toa, but just as often fought as individual soldiers. Onigmr spent much of his time in the depths of the Archives, smashing up lightstones and striking from the shadows. He sabotaged pipelines and made leaks to the silver sea to force Toa into the depths to fix the damage. Eventually he withdrew along with the rest of the Dark Hunters after their ambush at the Canyon of Unending Whispers.

The Shadowed Talons continued serving the Shadowed One, taking revenge by assassinating Toa teams across the universe in the Toa Downfall. Onigmr challenged the Onu-Toa in their own domain, and emerged victorious. As relations fell apart with the Brotherhood of Makuta, the Talons were deployed to take out Brotherhood officers, and once even a Makuta. Successfully, no less. They were recalled to take part in the invasion of Xia, and were the Shadowed One’s primary enforcers on that island. After Teridax’s takeover of the universe, the Shadowed One sent his Talons to continue disrupting the universe as best they could. Ongimr was sent to the deepest places of the universe, to make it unsafe for any Makuta loyalist to dwell below ground. This was dangerous, as Makuta could easily trigger a cave-in, but Ongimr had long grown sensitive enough to hear them coming.

He and the rest of the Dark Hunters were later rallied to aid in the Great Evacuation. Though the combat involved none of his preferred caves, Rahkshi and Visorak were not exactly difficult to face. The universe fled through the Southern Lands onto the surface of the newly reformed Spherus Magna. There, though faced with the opportunity to start over in a strange new world, Onigmr remained loyal to the Shadowed One, and followed him in establishing a new kingdom.

...

Onigmr is a member of the Whovok species, and stands a little taller and a little broader than a Toa. They have no powers of their own, but has strength surpassing a Toa. His armour is predominantly black and grey, with blue highlights. From years of experience in the underground, Onigmr has grown accustomed to all the minutiae of subterranean warfare. He is desensitised to pressure and heat and his hearing is extra-sensitised to the faint vibrations in the rock that could indicate a cave-in. He can move with a great deal of stealth, silently moving through the darkness, and has a natural talent for navigation. His eyesight adjusted as best it could, though he has come to rely on a Kanohi Ruru.

During his service in with the Barraki, Onigmr only had a sword. After joining the Dark Hunters, he was given increasingly sophisticated gear as he proved his worth. His current and longstanding setup is as follows: A Noble Ruru, to see in the dark but not give off light by which he could be seen. Their armour has been upgraded with elasticity powers, allowing Onigmr to compress his body through crawlspaces he never would have fit before. His primary weapon is an extendable spear, as thrusting weapons are more suited for such tight quarters than swinging weapons. Finally, he has a drill imbued with elemental Earth powers, allowing it to manipulate the ground far better than just digging through it. Onigmr uses it for emergencies.

Onigmr has what can only be described as a badly resolved identity crisis. They were created expressly to provide labour for Pridak, and was pressed into military servitude with Mantax. He has known nothing else his entire life. Even when dreaming of being rotated out of the Nui Caves, Onigmr never thought of leaving Mantax’s army. As the underground army attempted to leave the Nui Caves, he had no thoughts for the future and intended to stay with his compatriots. As he revolted against his slavers, he was acting purely in a reactionary sense and was haunted by the idea of having to find something to do with himself once he left. The Shadowed One’s offer of employment was an easy choice (implied threats not withstanding) as Onigmr desires nothing more than the structure and purpose military service provides him. He was a noted loyalist to the Shadowed One, vehemently opposed to attempted overthrows like the Piraka’s, as he prefers the side of the Dark Hunters that was more like a kingdom than a mercenary force. The only contrary opinion that could ever be pulled out of him was that he wished the Shadowed One would cease the mercenary business and become a proper political power; Onigmr has been very pleased that the Shadowed One has taken this directly on Spherus Magna.

#bionicle #bionicle rebuilt #oc #dark hunters #shadowed talons

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claudia1829things · 4 years ago

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"MEN IN BLACK 3" (2012) Review

"MEN IN BLACK 3" (2012) Review After 2002's "MEN IN BLACK II", I never thought I would ever see another movie from the franchise based upon Lowell Cunningham's The Men in Black comic book series. Never. After all, it was not exactly a critical success and was barely a commercial hit. And yet . . . the team from the first two movies went ahead and created a third one for the franchise.

"MEN IN BLACK 3" picks up ten years after the last movie, “MEN IN BLACK II”. Boris the Animal, the last surviving member of the Boglodite species, escapes from the LunarMax prison on Earth's moon with the intention of seeking revenge against the MIB agent responsible for his arrest and loss of arm - Agent K. The latter discovers during a skirmish he and Agent J experience at a local Chinese restaurant that Boris has escaped. Unfortunately for Agent K, Boris arrives in Manhattan and seeks Jeffrey Price, the son of a fellow prisoner who had possession of a few time-jump mechanisms. Not much time passes before Agent K disappears from existence and Agent J is the only one who remembers his partner. Agent O, who is MIB's new Chief following Zed's passing, deduces from Agent J's statements that a fracture has occurred in the space-time continuum. The two realize Boris must have time-jumped to 1969 and killed K. And now an imminent Boglodite invasion threatens Earth, due to the absence of the protective ArcNet that K had installed in 1969. J acquires a similar time-jump mechanism from Price, jumps off the Chrysler Building in order to reach time-travel velocity, and arrives in July 1969, a day before Boris kills K. When I learned that Steven Spielberg, director Barry Sonnenfeld, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones planned to do a third MEN IN BLACK movie; I could only shake my head in disbelief. Mind you, I did not dislike the second film. But it seemed a disappointment in compare to the quality of 1997 original movie. But in the end, I could not say no to a MEN IN BLACK movie. And thank God I did go see it. Now, "MEN IN BLACK 3" was not perfect. There were a few aspects about Etan Cohen's screenplay that left me scratching my head. If Boris the Animal (oops! I mean Boris) had been imprisoned in the LunarMax prison for over 40 years, how on earth did Boris' girlfriend Lily, who helped him escape, learn about his existence in the first place? I am also a little confused about Agent J and Agent K's ages. According to 1997's "MEN IN BLACK", Agent k was a teenager in New Jersey when he experienced his first alien encounter before becoming a member of the Men in Black agency in 1961 or 1962. Yet, according to Cohen's script, Agent K was a Texas native born in 1940. As for Agent J, he was at least four years old in July 1969. Which makes him at least 46 or 47 years old in this story. I could have sworn he was at least three or four years younger. Oh well. However, by the time I became deeply engrossed in the story, I managed to forget these questionable aspects of "MEN IN BLACK 3". I believe that "MEN IN BLACK" is the funnier movie. I cannot deny this. However, I feel that "MEN IN BLACK 3" had the best plot of the three films. Time travel tends to be a hit-or-miss topic when it comes to the science-fiction genre. Aside from the questionable aspects of Agents K and J's ages, I feel that "MEN IN BLACK 3" provided a first-rate time travel story. One, Agent J proved to be the right character chosen for a time travel mission. Being over twenty years younger than his partner, he was the right person to see New York City and Cape Canaveral in 1969. Boris' reasons for time travel proved to be a heady mixture of personal vengeance and the successful completion of his original mission to kill a refugee alien named Griffin, who possessed the ArcNet, a satellite device that would prevent Boris' species, the Boglodites, from invading Earth and destroying mankind. Agent J's time travel adventures gave audiences two peaks into what it must have been like for an African-American in the 1960s New York - something that the TV series "MAD MEN" more or less failed to do after five seasons. Kudos to director Barry Sonnenfeld for keeping this fascinating tale hilarious, poignant and on track. Not only did "MEN IN BLACK 3" provided a first-rate time travel story, it also possessed some memorable scenes that I will never forget. My favorite scenes include the brief, yet bizarre memorial service for the recently dead Agent Zed; Agents K and J's skirmish with some truly bizarre agents at a Chinese restaurant that I would not recommend to humans; Agent J's initial time jump to 1969; J's hilarious elevator encounter with a bigot fearful of being in close proximity with a black man; Agent J and young Agent K's very funny and surprising meeting with "Andy Warhol" at the latter's factory; the two agents' meeting with Griffin at Shea Stadium; the meeting between old and young Boris in 1969; and Agent J's discovery at Cape Canaveral of the true reason behind K's strange behavior at the beginning of the story. But my favorite moment featured Agent J's discovery that Agent K's habit of ordering pie was even frustrating in the past. The production for "MEN IN BLACK 3" was also first-rate. Danny Elfman continued his outstanding work in providing a score similar to the franchise's signature theme. I found Bill Pope's photography to be rather sharp and colorful - especially the 1969 segments. Don Zimmerman did outstanding work as the film's editor. I was especially impressed by his work in the time jump sequence and the showdown between the MIB agents and Boris at Cape Canaveral. And both Mary E. Vogt's costume designs and Bo Welch's production designs perfectly recaptured the end of the 1960s. As for the performances . . . what can I say? The cast gave some truly outstanding performances in this film. Will Smith was absolutely marvelous as the time traveling Agent J. I thought he gave one of his best performances in a role that required him to be funny and poignant at the same time. I suspect that he more or less carried the movie on his shoulders. But he had fine support from a wonderful Tommy Lee Jones, who allowed audiences another peek into a personality who hid his emotions behind a stoic mask. I just never thought his emotions would be directed at Smith's Agent J. And I never thought Spielberg and Sonnenfeld would find someone who not only could perfectly portray a younger Agent K, but create a similar screen dynamic with Smith. And Josh Brolin proved to be the man who did the job. He was fantastic. Emma Thompson portrayed Agent O, the new leader of the Men in Black agency. And I adored her performance, especially the scene that required her to give a eulogy for Zed at his memorial . . . in an alien language. Alice Eve was charming as the younger Agent O. She and Brolin had a nice chemistry going as two MIB agents attracted to one another. What can I say about Michael Stuhlbarg's performance as the precognitive alien, Griffin? Oh God, he was so wonderful. He portrayed Griffin with a delicious mixture of wisdom and naivety. I wanted to gather him in my arms and squeeze him like a teddy bear. Someone once commented (or complained) that New Zealand comic Jemaine Clement as the movie's main villain, Boris the Animal, was not funny. Frankly, Clement was a lot more scary than funny. But he did have one scene that left me rolling in the aisles with laughter - namely Boris' encounter with his younger self in 1969. Even more important, Clement portrayed Boris as one scary and resourceful villain. What else can I say about "MEN IN BLACK 3"? Sure, it had a few glitches regarding the plot and the two main characters' ages. But thanks to Etan Cohen's script that featured an outstanding time travel story, outstanding performances from a cast led by Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin; the movie turned out to be a first-rate addition to the franchise and one of my favorite movies from the summer of 2012. Thank you Barry Sonnenfeld! You had not lost your touch.

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