#crabs are just big water spiders

[ajthinks]

Inktober Day 10

This is from the official daily Inktober 2022 prompt list that I have, once again, repurposed for my own writing uses.

Inktober Day 10: Crabby

Rin stared at the square slate. He frowned and cocked his head, as if the new angle would help him read the Common script. Finally he flicked his gaze over to Charli and raised an eyebrow. “Kreb?”

“Crab,” she corrected. “You know…” She wiggled her fingers over the table.

Rin studied her hands, eyes squinting in consideration, before he glanced back up. “No, I don’t.”

She sighed, but attempted an explanation. “It’s like…a watery…what’s the word?” She snapped her fingers several times, frowning up at the rafters of the Dockside pub.

Rin waited patiently. If there was one thing he’d learned it was that you either waited for the proper translation or made due with wrong information.

“You know…aranee?” Charli finished lamely.

Rin frowned. Aranee… “That’s…” No, he couldn’t have that right. “Bug?”

“No! Well– Sort of? They’re not the same. It’s–”

The waiter arrived, setting a covered metal dish on their table. She whisked away they’re slates and lifted the lid before vanishing.

Charli salivated.

Rin gasped and jerked back.

A giant, orange spider stared at him from its boiling bath.

[revelboo]

hello! Do you plan to continue that mer!megatron fic?

Sure! I got a bit distracted, but then I’m very easily distracted. By everything. All the time

Seek and Destroy Pt 2

Mer!Megatron x Reader

Playing the flashlight back and forth in front of you as you walk in the dark, the sand is shockingly cold and damp under your feet even though it had been almost too hot during the day. Watching the ghostly, pale shapes of tiny crabs dart spider-quick with the hush of the tide flirting higher and higher, it’s peaceful. Bending to pick up a little shell the late afternoon storms had tossed up on the beach, you turn it over and slip it into the bag at your hip.

And move on. Hunting bigger shells to sell to the tourists that stop by to watch you paint. Sometimes they only buy a shell, but sometimes they’ll buy one of your paintings and you need the money. Shivering as the wind shifts and sea spray mists your skin, there’s something freeing about standing here in the dark, no people, it almost feels like an alien world. Just the hush of the night and the sound of the waves. Going down on a knee when you find a hold some kid dug, you gasp in pain and hear a sound out in the dark, a deep, growling thrum that steals your breath. You think of whale song even though, honestly, it’s nothing like that. Nothing like anything you’ve ever heard. Standing up as your ankle throbs, you play your flashlight over the sand and there’s something there. A massive shape, bigger than you lying on the sand. A beached dolphin or shark? Do they make noises like that? You’re almost positive they don’t as you head further up the beach, moving parallel to the mystery animal. There’s a tail, fins. But they’re not quite right. What are you looking at? Flesh or interlapping metal?

And you nearly drop the flashlight when you see the arm, wickedly clawed fingers with thin webbing between them dug into the sand. Everything about this thing is wrong. Monstrous. Skin crawling, you play the light higher trying to figure out what you’re looking at and its eyes reflect the light like an animal’s eye-shine when they open. Right before it flings itself at you, sharp teeth snapping and you fall again with a cry. Heart racing, you shove yourself further up the beach, flashlight on the thing as it thrashes, big tail lifting and thumping in the ocean. Like it’s trying to throw itself back into the water, and it can’t, and the light catches on a pattern. It takes your brain a minute to understand what you’re seeing. That this nightmare thing is tangled in a fishing net. That it’s bleeding and hurt. Maybe dying.

Hissing a warning as the two legged monster, blinds him, making his eyes burn, he tries to shove himself closer to the sea. The fight had cost him, he’d made them bleed. But so had he and he’d been too hurt to fight the currents, the ocean itself betraying him. Dragging and tossing him when a storm had roared through above. Had been driven into one of the nets the land monsters use to hunt, clawing and fighting to get free had only made it worse. Managing to tear the net free and pulling it along with him, bleeding and too weak. Becoming prey instead of predator.

Clawing at the sand, trying to shove himself back into the ocean, he’s too weak. Knows he’s going to die here when the sun comes up and wonders if you’ll watch. It’s almost funny, one of the soft skinned monsters holding vigil over him. He’s laughing, a rasping, miserable coughing as you linger. Why is your face so eerily like one of his own? Always wondered about that. Hears you make your funny, chirping sounds, looking around. Nothing about you hinting that you’re a deadly predator, too soft and weak. His claws could sink deep and split you open if you came close enough. And to his surprise you do.

Reaching into the bag at your hip and pulling out something that you flip open and he bares his fangs in threat when he sees the blade. Just because he’s soon dead, doesn’t mean he’ll let you cut him up for trophies. Tail thumping in the surf, he snarls and growls threats as you ease down, your strange legs folding unsettlingly. A little hand up chirping as you reach for the netting and he snaps at you, not even coming close, but you yank that tiny hand back, eyes wide. Shakily warbling at him you gesture and reach again. Are you that stupid?

Rumbling as you hook a finger in the netting, whole body tense, you watch him. Still chirping at him, tone soothing even though he can taste the acrid stink of your fear, and your soft, alien noises are coaxing. And you quickly hook the tip of the knife in the netting and yank, sawing. Cutting him loose? Stunned, he goes still watching you saw at the net. Trying so hard to not touch him. Terrified and determined. Trying to help?

You’ve lost your mind. You must have as you frantically hack at the netting, trying not to touch this monster’s strangely luminous blood and those reflective red eyes stare at you with predatory interest. Don’t even know why you’re freeing this thing. It really is a monster, humanoid torso, piscine lower body. A nightmare fuel mermaid with horrifying teeth. A nervous laugh bubbles out of you as you keep cutting and the thing moves. Lunges.

Back hitting the sand as its weight drives the air from your lungs, those sharp teeth inches away from your face. “Don’t, please,” You’re babbling incoherently, pleading as its breath fans your cheek and neck. Hear it making a low, chuffing thrum that’s more felt than heard as its teeth graze your neck. Expecting pain, bracing for it. Strong fingers wrap around your wrist and squeeze until you feel the bones shift, until you gasp in pain and drop the knife. And he’s pulling your hand to him as you fight, breath coming in frightened rasps, feeling his warm tongue slide against your palm to make you realize you cut yourself when he knocked you down. Those red eyes staring you down as your heart races and he makes that low, tonal rumble of noise, lip curling slightly. Before shoving away from you, clawing inelegantly for the ocean and throwing himself in as you tremble and stare while he disappears. Because no one’s going to believe you.

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[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Fossil Friday: Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Who's ready to take a more in depth look at our favorite giant sea scorpion? Jaekelopterus rhenaniae was a beast of an animal. It lived during the early Devonian Period from  419.62 to 393.47 Ma in Germany. It was discovered by Otto Jaekel, a German paleontologist, in 1914. However, he thought it was a species of Pterygotus, another type of eurypterid.

It wasn't until 1964 when British paleontologist, Charles D. Waterson, decided that it was distinct enough to have its own genus that he erected the name Jaekelopterus to honor the original discoverer. (Incidentally, he died little over a year at 99 years old. Good long life.)

It was found in the Klerf Formation which was siltstone and sandstone deposited in an estuary or deltaic system. This means that Jaekelopterus lived in brackish water (somehow, that's more terrifying than just living in the ocean).

The type specimen is actually only known from isolated remains of its chelicera, modified mouthparts that are either fangs or pincers (in this case, pincers). This means it is in the subphylum Chelicerata within the phylum Arthropoda.

It's closest living relatives are the arachnids meaning spiders, scorpions, ticks and relatives.

Within the eurypterid clade, Jaekelopterus was part of the smaller clade Pterygotioidea. This clade had all of the largest eurypterids.

So how did Jaekelopterus and it's cousins get so big? Typically, factors such as respiration, moulting, locomotion and the exoskeleton have a huge impact on how big an arthropod can get. Other than the robust chelicera, most of the preserved body segments are thin and unmineralized. This suggests that these animals had very lightweight bodies.

Jaekelopterus had compound eyes like many other arthropods (not real scorpions though. They actually have a pupil.) They had had visual acuity as suggested by the low interommatidial angle ( the angle between the optical axes of adjacent lenses) and many lenses in their eyes. They also had stereoscopic vision like most predators. Structurally, their eyes were almost identical to horseshoe crabs (a slightly more distant relative).

The enlarged chelicerae were well adapted for puncturing and grasping prey just like with extant crustaceans and scorpions. In fact, some Devonian fish fossils from Utah show puncture wounds likely caused by the smaller Jaekelopterus howelli.

Jaekelopterus was like agile, possessing high maneuverability. The hydromechnics of it's paddles suggest it was capable of hovering, forward locomotion and quick turns.

Tune in Monday to learn about the native metal Gold. Fossilize you later!

[onenicebugperday]

Hiii Onenicebug!!

I'm a really big fan of insects, but I live in a city! I used to live near the woods with all kinds of cute bugs, but now it's difficult to find much beyond the occasional silly grasshopper or trash-loving fly. The only thing interesting we get is cicadas in the summer! I dunno what else there is here in northern Texas..

This is all to say that I really appreciate your blog! I love being able to see silly bugs!! I'd also like to ask, do you have any bug finding tips? I'm certain where I live isn't completely devoid of cute creatures, so they gotta be hiding somewhere! If you ever go bug hunting, where do you search? :))))

Hello :) Certainly you can find bugs in cities, though it can be more difficult obviously and you're not going to find the diversity you might outside of the city.

Some places to look, though - during the day on sides of buildings, often the side facing the sun, and around window sills. These are especially good places to look for jumping spiders, but also some true bugs and beetles will congregate there to warm themselves. Look at the same places at night rather than during the day and you'll see different friends, often orbweavers and moths if there's a bright light on the building. Any lights around entrances or patios or balconies will attract friends. Hanging a white sheet outside and shining a bright light on it can attract all sorts of dudes if you want to get that into it. Different lights attract bugs better, so that's something you'd need to look into first.

Look in landscaping around buildings, especially if there's mulch or rocks or lots of plants. If you can do it without getting in trouble or causing any damage, lifting landscape rocks or edging bricks that line walkways will almost certainly reveal some critters - mostly isopods, snails, slugs, millipedes, and centipedes, but sometimes wolf spiders or other cool fellas. Obviously just be very careful when replacing the rocks so you don't squish anyone. Digging around in mulch or leaf litter is a good way to find the same pals.

In landscaped areas around buildings with flowers or in small city parks, check the tops of flowers and all over the stems and on the undersides of leaves during the day - but be thorough, take your time and look very closely, you'd be surprised who's hiding in and around flowers that aren't immediately noticeable. This is almost always how I find things like crab spiders and ambush bugs, but of course you'll also find all kinds of flower beetles and plant-feeding true bugs. Seed bugs, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, froghoppers/spittlebugs, etc can all be found on flowering plants, or mantises if you're lucky. The taller/denser/weedier the area is, the more pals you'll likely find, assuming it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides.

In addition to the friends crawling on those plants, you'll likely find some pollinators flying around them. Bees and wasps and butterflies of course, but also lots of different flies - especially hover flies and long-legged flies, which are small but super pretty up close and fun to watch.

On trees pretty much anywhere, look all over the bark of the trunk, especially underneath any pieces of bark that are lifting, or on/under any fallen branches.

And of course water attracts all kinds of bugs, either to live in, drink from, or hunt near. Runoff ditches on the sides of roads are often full of all kinds of different bugs, but it may be difficult to get close enough without getting your feet wet. Stagnant water will tend to have different bugs than fast-moving water does, so check out both if you can. Sitting near the water and just looking into it is a good way to spot lil friends creeping around in the muck on the bottom or skating around the surface. If your city has a lake or a river, docks and piers are a great spot to find spiders, especially at night, and of course during the day dragonflies and damselflies will be near water, too.

Hopefully that was somewhat helpful! That was just a brief overview of some of the easier places to look, but if you're observant enough, you'll find friends literally all over the place.

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Adventurer's Bible Monsters Part 3

Insecta, Arthropoda, Crustacea, Slime, Cephalopoda, Shellfish, Serpentes, Spirit, and Undead

Treasure Insects

Treasure Insects are between .011 and .014 Laios's tall before mimicry.

The treasure insect's size is "before mimicry". That means they don't necessarily look like coins and jewels by default. The treasure insects Kabru's party found were mixed with actual coins and jewels. Maybe they naturally come in certain colors and sizes but can reshape themselves.

Maybe they're actually cave-dwelling insects and they disguise themselves as various minerals poking out of the cave walls. And their preferred prey is crustaceans or other creatures that like to hide among the rocks or use them as protection. Like, a small hermit crab hides under a rock that has a treasure insect in it, then the insect paralyzes it, and eats the crab.

Succubus

Succubi are between .38 and .43 Laios's tall before mimicry.

Succubi in their natural state are REALLY short. They're shorter than a half-foot. I know the true answer is "It's magic. Don't worry about it", but I'd like to know how they manage to transform into larger creatures. Do they inflate their body size or can they fuse together to perform mimicry? The Marcille succubus transformed in front of Laios to become GIGA HEPTA-HEAD MARCILLE so they can likely shift forms freely. Meanwhile, the knight succubus was on a horse and dismounted it later, meaning the horse was a separate entity.

I read a comment on a video about metamorphosis that rewrote how I think about the stages of an insect's life. The comment argued that the larval form is the true form for most insects because they spend most of their lives in that state. In most cases, insects become adults exclusively to mate and then die shortly after.

I feel like this is true of the succubi as well. The larvae are their true selves and the adults exist solely to care for them. The adults have no sense of self-preservation and were willing to jump off a cliff to save one of the larvae. Their body structure seems to also be 100% devoted to producing milk for the larvae to the point their bodies basically turn into milk bags after feeding.

I would guess their life cycle is mostly chilling in whatever water source they were born in while being protected and fed by the older succubi. Then closer to the end of their lives, they take on their adult forms, mate, and spend the rest of their lives obsessively protecting whatever pool their offspring are in.

Huge Spider

Huge Spiders are 1.35 Laios's tall.

This entry was added in the Complete Edition. I don't have a translation of the text.

This species is called an Ariadne and is distinguished by the maze-like pattern on its abdomen. Each ariadne has a different pattern. Ariadne was a character in Greek myth who was in charge of the labyrinth the minotaur was kept in.

The ariadne spiders lay out web traps and chase prey into them. They sort of act as the builders of a labyrinth and the monster in it. And their silk is strong enough that the Canaries use it as armor.

Mimic

Mimics are between .24 and .38 Laios's tall.

Mimics first appeared in the chapter 0 oneshot and they are an excellent demonstration of Kui's ability to reimagine traditional monsters. Instead of giving us something that somehow knows how to imitate a treasure chest, which also requires to contrivance of treasure chests just lying around a dungeon, it's a creature that likes to live in them and attacks anyone who tries to open it.

Mimics combine the shell-wearing behaviour of hermit crabs with the size of coconut crabs (which are a species of hermit crab that grows too big to wear shells). One cute behaviour hermit crabs engage in is they will line up with each other to exchange shells when they start growing too big. Mimics are strong enough to move in whatever container they have so who's to say they don't also do something like that?

Their natural environment might also be whatever a treasure insect's is since treasure insects hunt mimics. Maybe mimics can build shells out of rocks if they can't find something big enough for them?

Huge Scorpion

Huge scorpions are between .24 and .38 Laios's tall.

Not much to say about this one. It was the third monster ever shown in the story and there was no particular fanfare around it. It's a giant scorpion that acts like a normal scorpion but big. I wonder if they also glow in the dark when under UV light.

Green Slime

Their height varies by specimen. This one is roughly .27 Laios's tall.

Honestly, I expected them to be blue.

Their taxonomic class is "slime". I think they would be distantly related to slugs or clams. They're not amorphous goo. They're invertebrate with an entire organ system surrounded by a layer of digestive fluids.

The slimes we've seen are large enough to engulf a person's head and suffocate them. If they manage to kill someone, do they eat just whatever they were able to wrap themselves around, or do they try to eat the entire body over time?

And the bible says the slimes that live in other animals' digestive tracts are symbiotes. So they probably assist the animals with digestion in exchange for a small portion of the meal.

Giant Kraken

Giant Krakens are between 3.78 and 4.32 Laios's tall.

Laios said the giant kraken they fought was several times bigger than normal. I can't tell if the scale for this one is a normal giant kraken or the giant giant kraken they encountered.

During the kraken chapter, I was gushing about all the fine squid details about it. Giant krakens have serrated suction cups, they take the same form when using jet-propulsion, their chromatophores stop working when they die, and they use spermatophores for reproduction. Another thing I learned since that chapter is real-world giant squids have ammonium chloride in their flesh to keep them buoyant, and that would make giant squid flesh horribly bitter just like the kraken was.

The Adventurer's Bible doesn't comment on the parasite the party found in the kraken.

Doppelganger

Doppelgangers are 1.35 Laios's tall.

A new entry in the Complete Edition.

Nothing in the bible implies they can read minds so I'm going to assume the doppelgangers that transformed into Marcille's parents managed to do so with the lion's help.

Otherwise, they seem to use mimicry to sneak into groups and they kill the person they're mimicking to cover their tracks.

If seeing their reflection causes them to change back, then that probably means they have to keep a constant mental image of what they want to look like and seeing their reflection gets in the way. Their disguise can't be 100% perfect and if they see their reflection, any imperfections in their disguise overwrites the mental image they have. And this creates a feedback loop where their disguise doesn't match perfectly to their mental image and the reflection keeps overwriting their mental image until the disguise completely falls apart.

If two doppelgangers in disguise were to look at each other, would they recognize each other as doppelgangers or might they potentially react the same if they saw a reflection?

Living Armor

Living Armors are between .92 and 1.14 Laios's tall.

This was the first time in the main story Kui got to really show off her creative interpretation of monsters. They're a colony of shellfish working together to move a body around.

MMT1 and MMT14 collectively imply Living Armor can reproduce sexually and asexually. The full body is probably created through asexual reproduction, but new colonies are made through sexual reproduction. Kensuke was willing to abandon Laios to save itself and I assume colonies will willingly abandon parts of themselves if necessary and produce new members later. If each member of the colony is a clone of each other, there's less incentive for the individual to survive if it means saving the colony.

I still want to know if there is some chicken-and-egg scenario with Living Armors and man-made armors. Did Living Armors look human-shaped and humans were inspired by them or did humans make armor and Living Armors decided to start mimicking their designs?

Basilisk

Basilisks are between .54 and.65 Laios's tall.

As someone who has raised chickens, I am completely biased when I say this is the cutest monster in the story.

I think the whole "which one is the tail?" discussion comes from an incorrect train of thought. If severing the snake from the chicken causes both of them to die, then that means they both contain vital functions to the basilisk's survival. It's likely an incomplete diagram to begin, but the organ diagram in MMT1 points out the snake has a set of lungs and the chicken has the full digestive tract.

The two heads likely take turns controlling the body. If one had dominance, then it wouldn't be possible to freeze it by getting both heads to try attacking two different targets. The chicken half is in charge when the basilisk is aggressively attacking and pursuing a target, while the snake watches its back and checks for potential predators. The snake might be more nocturnal though and it controls the body while the chicken half is asleep.

Cockatrice

Cockatrices are between 2.7 and 3.24 Laios's tall.

The non-snake part looks more like a raptor to me and I'm going to call it that.

When the party fought the cockatrice, there was a brief moment that I think demonstrates what I was talking about with the heads taking turns to control the body. When it was chasing them, the raptor half was in charge of the body. But when the party locked themselves into a building, the snake half seemed to take over since it could detect where they were. While the snake investigated the door, the raptor head started a lookout.

And what is even the point of petrifying their opponent. Petrification doesn't activate immediately and it wears off, so there's no immediate use that regular toxic venom wouldn't be able to provide. Does the raptor like to destroy the statue and then eat the stone pieces for its gizzard? Actually, the party encountered a cockatrice in a cave in MMT14 so maybe it does like to eat rocks.

Undine

Undine size varies by specimen. The one in the image is roughly .54 Laios's tall.

An undine is a colony of water spirits. It attacks by shooting water jetstreams. The water used in the jetstream reformed into the undine and it even rebuilt itself after exploding. So the water spirits launch themselves to attack and you need to destroy all of them to fully kill the undine. However, the spirits aren't necessarily all in agreement. The undine's mood shifts with the collective mood of the spirits that make it up.

What if the entire lake were a giant undine and Marcille just angered a small subset that happened to get hit with boiling water? I'm admittedly coming up with a crazy hypothetical, but who's to say that the entire dungeon isn't just loaded with various elemental spirits and things like undines are just their way of sending a strongly-worded notice that they disapprove of an adventurer's behaviour?

There are also wind, earth, and fire spirits called sylph, gnome, and salamander respectively. Aside from Holm using a gnome spirit to protect him from Falin, we never saw them in action. Undines and gnomes are at least tangible, but I don't know how the party would go about fighting a sylph or a salamander. Senshi would probably turn them into a magic air fryer.

Ghost

Ghost size varies. The pictured ghosts were roughly .81 Laios's tall.

Aside from the chapter introducing them, we never see any of the effects of their possession in action. There's a flashback where Falin exorcises a ghoul but the party never encounters one. The zombie Kabru's party killed in chapter 10 was probably a ghoul though.

Over the course of the story, ghosts go from hostile entities, to benign, to helpful. Some ghosts even tried to help with Laios's coronation and attended the feast.

Using them to make sorbet is one of the most insane things that happened during the story and I'm so glad it got brought up so much.

Skeleton

Skeletons are between .54 and 1.03 Laios's tall.

Skeletons never appear in the story (unless we want to count Falin's skeleton, but that one wasn't possessed by a ghost). The only mention of them is one sentence in chapter 8 where Laios said he heard a skeleton walking around.

The bible explains that skeletons are ghouls whose flesh has rotted away. Eventually, even the bones will fall apart and the ghost possessing them will be forced out.

The minimum size of a skeleton is shorter than Chilchuck, so there are either half-foot skeletons or child skeletons roaming about.

The english translation has an error in it. Skeletons are named "ghost" in it.

Dullahan

Dullahans are between 1.08 and 1.19 Laios's tall.

Just like in the main story, there's nothing explaining what this guy is. Its description is mostly an adaptation of actual dullahan myths.

I feel like the dullahan might be something outside the normal understanding of the world. It's the only monster that's been able to approach and enter what should be a safe resting place. And it was the only thing not trying to escape when the dungeon started to collapse.

A lot of the stranger things about this world can be explained away as either magic or the actions of a demon. I kind of want there to be something that defies even those explanations.

back

[stinkypeanutbutter]

silly headcanons pt 2‼️

here we go. . Yay

Whenever they go out, Ashlyn had to wear like a TON of sunscreen because she’s pale af (same)

Scratch what I said last time, Aiden actually likes spiders, but is scared of grasshoppers. Why? Because they keep jumping on him and towards him because they don’t mind their stupid business and are so big for no reason. Ashlyn agrees with this statement

Aiden is so scared of failing his parents, as they seem to have high expectations with him and he’s worried that whatever he does may not be good enough or doesn’t fit their criteria, even if his parents try and reassure him it’s fine to mess up something, referring to his past

Aiden and Taylor totally listen to vocaloid

Beach time? Ashlyn is hiding in the shade on her phone, occasionally going out to swim. . But goes back because the water is freakishly cold. Ben is making sand castles (with or without that little cousin I forgot her name) Logan is collecting shells and cool objects for the sand castle and observation purposes (nerd) Taylor and Tyler are splashing eachother and seeing who can swim faster (Tyler refuses to play but does anyway for her) And Aiden is catching sand crabs, swimming, and climbing the rocky areas to find creatures or lost items to show everyone else.

birthdays? Aiden buys the best gifts cause he rich and seems to know everyone the most because he’s intrusive. Ashlyn buys pretty good ones as well becuase of her hearing everything everywhere. Logan isn’t the best and struggles but pulls through well in the end. Ben makes his own birthday gifts from scratch like a pro!! Taylor and Tyler team up, and usually do well (especially with secret Santa)

Aiden never actually went trick or treating before (bozo) because of his constant traveling, so the most he could and would ever do is buy candy the night of and watch something alone. The buds got together for a day and all went trick or treating for Aidens sake and he loved it. (He scared many kids that day because he went as a clown lmao)

Aiden does graffiti art les go!!!! (Got in trouble once)

Aiden ALMOST went to jail, but it was just some old lady complaining about how he looked because he kept smiling at her and thought he was being cocky (he was)

Ben listens to metal (you just take a headphone from him and you hear screaming and a heavy instrumental 💀)

both Ashlyn and Ben also listen to orchestral music, Taylor occasionally because it appeases her mind.

Horror movies? Ben dos NOT like them, but watches for the others sake. Logan feels the same way, and covers his face anytime a jumpscare is coming up (fails each time, ends up seeing every jumpscare and screams, jumps into the arms of the nearest person) Ashlyn doesn’t get scared easily with them, but only when she can’t tell if one’s gonna happen or not. Tyler likes them, but doesn’t admit to being scared at times. Taylor and Aiden love them, actually talking about what parts they liked and what they could have done better on.

since people are doing these, here:

Bi Ashlyn, considers herself a girl, but also as nothing sometimes (idk the word)

Pan Aiden, doesn’t care who you are, just be able to tolerate him.

Tyler is a homophobic homosexual

Logan is bi, no major preferences.

Ben is a straight and ace

Taylor is ace and demi romantic

love how most people seemed to agree with Taylor and Ben being ace

Ashlyn and Taylor have girls nights sometimes, usually with Taylor taking a ton of photos and Ashlyn getting bombarded with questions from Aiden and Tyler (mostly Aiden)

TW!! SH

When it came to Aiden being a alone in his room and him moving around a lot, it was hard for him to feel anything besides loneliness, so he took to SH for a while, mostly on his upper thighs because he felt no one would see them as easily. Even now he starts it up again when he’s super upset and had really no way to get his frustration out, didn’t help with the constant mask he put up. He feels better, but every now and then his emotions slip and he starts it up again, going further without realizing. He wears a strong foundation to at least cover some of them up, but someone noticed. Who? That’s up for you to decide.

ok good bye thanks for reading!!11!! 😹🌝🤺

[fbwzoo]

Animal projects!! I have a bunch now, between some Black Friday shopping & some necessary updates.

Most urgent is the crabs - I tried the slow way to get rid of the moths infesting the tank, it hasn't worked, and now there's spiders too. All of that is overwhelming me & I've been procrastinating on even just feeding the crabs, which is not good. So I bit the bullet yesterday & moved all of the above ground crabs into my 40g, then vacuumed out the toppers & the top of the substrate.

Gonna wait a couple days & look for any crabs appearing & see if more moths pop up. Planning to measure the toppers, get some plexiglass & try to make removable background sections that go in on strong magnets. The tank was due for a makeover anyway tbh, the current backgrounds have been really picked apart & torn up by the crabs in over 4 years. So I'm removing them and some other stuff that's been infested & hopefully that'll help get rid of them.

Next is Charis - I've been meaning to do a number of updates to her viv. I want to add more climbing stuff for her, the top foot or so of her viv is pretty empty & she loves her sky hide. I want to try to bolt her big branches to the walls so I can clear up a bit of floor space to put a bigger water dish in. And I have some planters to add to the walls, with some new plants coming this week. I'm hoping more soil & plants + bigger water dish might help with maintaining humidity.

And finally, we're replacing the cat tree with a few different things to fulfill the same functions of climbing, scratching, food station, & beds. I got a 4ft dresser to replace the plastic drawer tower that Phoebe keeps trying to knock over. Their food will go on top of that. I got a hammock & another wall platform bed to expand the cat wall above where the tree is now. Aaaaand we're going to build a 3ft tall concrete form scratching post climber to go next to the dresser! It'll be weighted with concrete at the bottom, covered in high quality sisal fabric, and a platform at the top for perching & to jump to the dresser.

I'm very excited to fix up some of the "easier" pets & to give the cats a better scratching post.

[evolutionsvoid]

As I have gone on before, the coast can be just as dangerous as any murky bog or treacherous jungle, and that includes your pristine sunny beaches. I mean, it shouldn't be any surprise, seeing that the ocean is right there, and everyone accepts the fact that that is home to many a peril. But I guess when your only exposure to this specific biome is drawings on pamphlets from resorts or stories of romance set during a tropical vacation, people can get the wrong idea. Make no mistake, blood can and will spill on these sands. Being smart and observant of your surroundings is how you ensure it isn't yours. The beach is no sanctuary, it is just another ecosystem. Running to its shores can indeed protect you from aquatic predators, as we all know when someone yells "shark," but don't forget that not everything that lives in the ocean stays in it. Some things can live on both land and sea, and pursue through either of them. They can breathe water, they can breathe air. And one particular species can breathe something far more deadly...

If there is one name to worry most about when it comes to coastal regions, it should be this one: the Ushi-oni. Massive crustaceans that lurk between both worlds, spending its life in the depths and also on dry land. Identifying one will never be a problem, because when you see one emerging from the surface, your instincts will tell you to RUN. While I may not respond in this manner, I imagine many people tend to freak out when a huge black horned crab comes crawling out of the ocean. Appearance-wise, most people equate them to spiders, with a large abdomen and creepy crawly legs, but they are actually crustaceans. Though it looks like they only have six legs, they actually possess ten. The six spiked limbs are how they move, while another pair up front is modified into pincers. The last pair are reduced and in the back, used only for carrying eggs during the breeding season. While some see spider, others see a bull, and that is due to their large "horns." Ushi-oni possess impressive curved spikes upon their head, which when combined with their bulky size and black coloration, causes people to compare them to oxen. What purpose they serve, we can't really say. They can't really charge and gore people with them, as they don't move that fast. Rather, we believe that they prevent other giant beasts of the sea from chomping down on their heads. And perhaps it is used to advertise the individual's health and strength when it comes to finding a mate.

The big thing (ha) about Ushi-oni is their size. It is hard to give an average of what size they come in, as all ones encountered tend to vary quite a bit. There are some who, indeed, are as big as a full grown oxen. That size is seen a lot when one is found settled on the coast, but we know that this is not full grown. Rather, it appears these are the younger ones, who have recently matured and have come to land to try and set up a nest for the coming mating season. At other times, people have witnessed specimens as big as a hut, and these feel more like a full on adult. However, we believe that Ushi-oni do not stop growing once they reach a certain age, they just keep going. Stories tell of ones big as a house, emerging from the abyss and raining terror upon the coastal villages. Many are thankful that it appears that the older an Ushi-oni gets, the more time it spends in the deeper regions of the ocean. This is probably due to their fertility decreasing after passing their prime years, and thus don't come up as often to nest. This is good, because the rare instances where one of these ancient ones ascends to dry land usually result in a whole lot of death and destruction.

Typically, I am not one for fearmongering, or labeling species as "monsters." I will stick with that here, as I usually do, because the Ushi-oni is still an animal at the end of the day. However, I can clearly see the impacts they can have on the world around them, and there is no denying why they are feared. They are not "monsters," but they are very dangerous, so much so that I do my best to stay as far away as I can when it comes to observation. Ushi-oni are big, bulky and...powerful (Eucella, what is a word for "strong" that starts with b? I am blanking here). Their bodies are armored with thick plates of chitin, and beefy (aw dang it, that's the one) muscles power their limbs to make them deadly weapons. Their legs end in sharp points, which can totally skewer things they step on. That tends to be a favorite tactic of theirs when walking the shallows, using their limbs for a bit of spear fishing. Their front pincers may be small and mostly used to handle food for their monstrous maws, but do know they are very strong. They can tear you easily into nice little chunks, and a simple pinch can take off an arm. With such strength, and a shell that can ward off swords and arrows, you can see why they are a force to be reckoned with. But you haven't seen everything yet, because that isn't even their most deadly trait.

What makes Ushi-oni so feared and deadly is because their main weapon isn't brute strength (oh now I am busting out the strong b words) or their great mass: it is poison. Lots and lots of poison. Ushi-oni generate a toxic fluid in their bodies that they use for both offense and defense. From their maw and the vents running down their bodies can spew forth a terrible miasma. When under the sea, it mixes directly with the surrounding waters and turns a zone around it into pure death. When on land, it erupts from their bodies in plumes, releasing clouds of noxious poison. This toxin attacks the respiratory system, becoming corrosive when coming in contact with mucous membranes and other sensitive tissues. The throat and lungs tend to get hit the hardest, eventually damaging them so that the victim can no longer breath or drowns in their own boiling bodily fluids. Since it hits the respiratory system, it causes a lot of coughing and spitting up of fluids. This has led to the early belief that Ushi-oni spread disease, as people saw the coughing and wheezing of burning throats as symptoms of illness. Ushi-oni spew this poison from their maws to envelope prey in a deadly cloud. If they breathe in enough, they will die, but slowly. In most cases, the Ushi-oni will finish targets off before the nastier effects can set in, more so using the poison to slow them down. In scenarios where there is a lot of animals in the area, they will cover the whole place with poison and wait for all the morsels to eventually drop dead. Then they may feast on the corpses left behind.

It should be noted that this poison gas is also used for ridding its body of parasites, as it seems that is the main use of the side orifices. By hosing down their hide with this toxin, they can kill off critters clinging to their shell. It is used for warding off predators too, but clearly there comes a point where few beasts of the sea are willing to deal with such nasty titans.

While they possess a deadly weapon and savage strength, the Ushi-oni is not a foe to every living thing. In fact, these massive crabs appear to actually form a symbiosis with another coastal creature: the Nure-onna. Indeed, these nasty serpents seem to get along with these poison spewing crabs, and one of the reasons is because they appear to be resistant to the gas. How they developed this, we have no clue, but they certainly take advantage of this perk. Their partnership was probably born from Nure-onna diving into the noxious clouds to nab dying prey for themselves, resulting in these serpents following Ushi-oni about for a free meal. Eventually they wound up in the nests of the Ushi-oni, who set them up in coastal caves and holes bored into rock faces. Here is where egg-carrying Ushi-oni will deposit their unborn young, to keep them safe from the myriad of aquatic predators who would gobble them up. However, there are a few critters on the surface who could target these eggs too, so there is still a threat. The Ushi-oni can certainly use its gas to ward them off, but it can't watch its eggs constantly. A big creature like that needs food, and it must leave its cave from time to time to fetch a meal.

Here is where the Nure-onna come in, as they are more than happy to babysit if it means getting on the Ushi-oni's good side. They will watch over these eggs and devour any predators or parasites that may try their luck. This is especially helpful, because the crab's large size makes it a bit difficult dealing with small fast targets. The serpents cover that weakness, and take out foes who may evade the stabbing legs and grabbing claws. As a reward, they get a share of the food the Ushi-oni brings back home, a safe place to sleep and protection from predators. The Nure-onna also take advantage of their huge friend by playing as bait for their typical enemies. They leave themselves out in the open, lure a predator into a chase and then lead it right into the deadly maw of the Ushi-oni. Pretty clever! So keep that in mind if you ever find yourself hunting Nure-onna and one seems oddly cowardly. It isn't because you are a big scary hunter, it is more that it is testing you to see if you are dumb enough to give chase. Follow it, and you will find who the real big scary hunter is...

Needless to say, the Ushi-oni are a reviled species and are labeled as a major threat for these coastal regions. Those that setup shop out on wild beaches far from towns are left alone, with people more than happy to keep a very wide berth. But when one settles near coastal villages, it is a major problem. They greatly reduce local populations of food species, and can easily kill people. In fact, Ushi-oni are a species that see humans as prey, and won't hesitate to feed when they see them. Even if they weren't actively targeting sunbathers, their deadly gas clouds are capable of riding the winds and causing damage down wind. People standing in the wrong place at the wrong time can receive a nasty dose of poison. In diluted forms, it isn't deadly, but it will scorch your lungs and leave you coughing and wheezing for a very long time. Some folk never fully recover, scarred for life by its toxins. They kill a lot of animals and eat a lot too, so things are never pretty when they come to shore. Unfortunately, getting rid of them isn't all that easy.

With armored hide, most weapons do little against them. You need to target an opening in their shell, particularly their vents. However, that is where the poison comes out. So not only do you have to locate a weak point, you have to do so while dealing with a whole cloud of death surrounding it. Even if you get good masks and ways to filter out the toxins, it is still one big angry crab. Claws and spiky legs can tear through armor and skewer you like a chunk of meat. Their great bulk can straight up crush you beneath their bodies, so you won't find safety under them. Ushi-oni have been slain before, but often not without a few fatalities. And once they are dead, there isn't much to be gained. Their bits are steeped in poison, and their meat is inedible. While their shells could be cleaned and used, locals do not like that idea. They find Ushi-oni to be evil, vile creatures, and bearing their parts and visage will only bring forth curses. Part of me feels like this was born from people trying to use their chitin as armor, but didn't properly clean it and wound up getting exposed to traces of the poison. Their deteriorating health no doubt made others think they were stricken by something wicked for carrying such a horrid symbol.

On top of all that, keep in mind that the ones we typically see are the younger ones. Out there in the deep, there are massive Ushi-oni toiling in the muck and darkness. Their age makes them slow to return to shore, but when they do, it is practically a natural disaster. The emergence of an ancient Ushi-oni results in evacuations and miles of land being declared off limits. It gets to a point where they don't even send hunters or warriors to kill it, as it is a fool's errand. They merely wait for them to hatch their young and return to the depths. But Ushi-oni are hungry creatures, and they will scour the land for food. Though many people flee, not everyone can escape their toxic aura and ravenous gullet.

This has led to Ushi-oni being deemed a "dragon-level threat," essentially a species that is powerful and dangerous enough that it is akin to a great dragon burning down entire villages. While it certainly does a good job showing how deadly these creatures can be, you probably won't be surprised to hear that this irks me. "Dragon" is already a word that has practically lost all meaning to me, and now we are using them to measure threat levels? What kind of dragon we talking here? When you say "dragon-level threat" do you mean like a Sulfrik or Codrille, or is it more like a "Venom Dragon?" Mossy Sleepers have had people attempt to label them "Moss Dragons," so are they on the scale? Is an Ushi-oni as dangerous as a sleeping pile of moss and branches? Could be, because they are a "dragon-level threat!" It's nonsense, I tell you! Pure nonsense! Why don't we start calling Ushi-oni "Crab Dragons?!" It breathes deadly stuff, is dangerous and is big! So surely it be a dragon! You know what, yeah, why not!? How about I cash in on this stupid naming scheme and pioneer the name of "Crab Dragon!?" Get my name all over the papers and books! It's brilliant! What else can I name a dragon?! Oh, "Amber Eaters" are now "Amber Dragons!" And I get paid every time someone says it! I can do that! I have that power! That is my breath weapon! OH, THAT'S IT! I'M A DRAGON! A CHLORA DRAGON! THAT MEANS I AM A DRAGON-LEVEL THREAT! OH THE POWER! THE POWER! RAAAAAAAWR! HERE COMES THE CHLORA DRAGON!

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian (and DRAGON)

Okay, Chlora, looks like we need to have a sit down and little chat. Just want to check in to make sure everything is alright and that all this studying and working isn't causing you too much stress. When you have the time, please swing by my place because I would really like to know: what this is!?

Eucella Raviida

Editor & Therapist (apparently)

-----------------------------------

"Ushi-oni"

Was torn on what to make this beast: spider or crustacean. I know either option would have been fine, but crustacean won out in the end.

[doodleing-throught-the-galaxy]

Random biology/taxonomy facts for anyone who cares to listen to my sleep deprived and monster fuelled brain’s random thought through my university lecture (that’s called Diversity of life ->a very cute name to say taxonomy 🙄)

There’s a kind of centipede called House Centipede(in my native it’s called fly killing spider centipede 🤣)bizzare little thing that’s is native to my country they are funny, they are mostly harmless but they have fangs and produce venom(not at all affecting somthing big like us) but still they can bite but only if you are a bitch to them soo they only nyom nyom bad people

There are skolopendras a kind of millipede that live in the tropic regions that can grow up to the length of your fore arm about max 30cm and they still have fangs and venom and they live in caves or theire openings couse they hunt for bats. Yes bats. Oh and did I mention all of the centi-and millipede species(Myrapoda) are carnivorse they hunt and theese big fuckers who can grow up to this large are terrifying,oh and they only “just” this big because of the Oxygen level in the atmosphere, if it would be higher they could grow bigger .

CRABS ARE FUCKING WEIRD

Have you ever heard about a Atlantic horseshoe crab yeah you maybe have, they are living fossils blah balh balh and weird but guess what they are not crabs. They are fucking Spider or closer to them then actual crabs

And guess who are actually closer to crabs or even come from them …… insect Fucking INSECTS as my professor said :

Insects are traitor crabs cause they choosed to leave the water and fully live on the surface

[crayon-consiousness]

Real life animal facts for your next DnD creature encounter:

Eels are able to slither over shore rocks and land just like snakes. Crabs are able to jump Spiders are fast, at any size... Poison dart frog species get their poison from their diet of bugs, so in fantasy settings consider giving your froggies a few too many hallucinogenic ant treats, or even acidic bombardier beetles. Mussels love forming around brine pools due to the natural dead creatures within the pool, that eventually degrade and get swept towards their mouths by ocean flow. If a body of water has been deadly for a long time, consider adding Mussels or other such Mollusks around the edge. Cats, big and small, attempt to mimic the sounds of other creatures they wish to hunt, in DnD some may be a bit too good for the player's liking...

Mimics Mimic. That is the only rule. Every creature on earth has some stimuli that will confuse it, and there are many animals, predator and prey, that use it to their advantage. Your players confusing stimuli is Dice Rolls. The Nothic is a great example of this confusion before your players detect one. Most animals have a danger call or sense when something like a predator is nearby. There is no reason that goblins, kobolds, Kenkus, Aarakocras, and other such animal-ish races would not have one in their language as well. The same applies to druids, lycanthropes, and certain players with spiritual connections.

Make sure your druid with a deer headdress doesn't get mixed up in deer territory during mating season, lest they have to clash antlers with the stag that angrily huffed at them from the woods line.

Have fun~

[thetinylittlespider]

GTWAC 15! LORE!!!!!!!!

BEFORE WE START! A LIL' DISCLAIMER!

Okay, so...Life got hard, not gonna lie. Phone is busted so that's another thing. And I don't think I'll ever finish #GTWAC before the month ends as I planned. (15 minutes as I'm typing this)

So, did I failed the speedrun I self-imposed myself with? Yes, Yes I did. And I'd like to end it with a self indulgent thingy. Besides, I will do some prompts from GTWAC at one point because I can fit them in my stories. Uvu

Did I had fun? Of frickin course I did! I've seen some new cool faces I wish to talk to one day (Whenever I get the courage and dont act like a coward, or if you want to hit my dms go ahead give me heart attack I would love to meet new friends quq)

And all in all, I liked to see how everyone joined these activities and had their own fun with it, thanks again to @entomolog-t for having this marvelous idea to give writers this month full of spotlights! and...Without further words from me....We go into some lore I guess!

Insert lore here: (From my main and only story atm)

KU-M9's inconvenient "skin condition.": He can not fluster like normal people do, and his "jumping spider" and "crab spider" genetics do something about it. When in a condition worth of fluster, his entire skin changes to a mess of random colors and pretty patterns, in an attempt of being attractive to the one he could feel love for, this ability of course...is yet to be seen, and completely involuntary.

The boy is carnivorous: As I have stated in one ask...The boy is designed for hunting and killing, his fangs are fully functional and he needs raw meat to survive and keep a sane mental state, no matter how much he refuses to it.

Caffeine is bad for him: An advance metabolism makes him immune to most shapes and forms of alcoholic beverages, but caffeine just shuts down most of his body and mental functions, getting him drunk! Even a few grains of the substance in a glass of water can cause severe impact on his body. Effects he rather forget the next morning.

World of Wonders: The world the story is being set in, is really...really small. Just the size of a big city with a small area of forest and limited sea. Surrounded by a shield of energy that prevents ANYONE from leaving or entering. In here, you can find to the most advanced technology to the weirdest of magic, is like every single living being here was pulled off from a different place. Is not always you can see a doctor with mechanical enhacements perform a ritual of healing and make it work thanks to a local benevolent spirit...yes, that stuff happens here! But dont be afraid! The great leader makes sure nobody doubts the status quo of things! UvU

[leo-and-jay-dreamers-duo]

Leo’s prophetic crab dream

Date: September 26 2023, 4:30AM-5:58AM

In this dream I’m in my room, trying to get ready for bed, but critters keep getting in the way.

First my dogs kept jumping on my bed, then there was a moth under my pillow, then a opossum in my roof.

When I got all of that taken care of I was about to turn my light off when I notice a small lanky crab sitting on my desk.

I try and take a picture of it with my laptop but it got me with its little crab claw. it startled me awake

When I woke up I went to the bathroom, and got some water.

And I thought to myself, still half asleep mind you, “man, there was just too many creatures in my room in that dream. I’m glad my real room doesn’t have so many critters to worry about”

But when I got back in bed, I turned around and saw a BIG flipping spider struggling to climb my wall.

I’m was so tired, it’s was five in the morning and I had just had a prophetic dream about creatures keeping me up so I just stared at it. For like ten minutes. And insulted it’s climbing abilities.

I didn’t try and catch it like I would normally do, because I didn’t want to get gotten like in the dream, so I just left it there and went to bed.

[vargamornight]

just had a dream where eddie diaz from 9-1-1 abc approached me to ask if i know how to make an offering to the gods to power a magic spell and i said “oh yeah it’s super easy. you literally just have to kill something and say ‘i offer this to the gods’. here i’ll show you” and led him outside to where an anthill had been. (there had also, previously, been a hole where a bunch of kittens were hiding.)

unfortunately my dad had JUST killed all the ants, because i had asked him to earlier, because it was a lot of ants and they were getting in the house. so i was like “damn. okay well i promise it doesn’t even have to be anything big, it can be an ant or a spider or” and he cut me off to point at a fucking tarantula hawk the size of a loaf of bread which was wrestling with some sort of giant crab and said “that?” and i said “i guess but maybe don’t fuck with that”

and then he left to find some bug or whatever to power his spell and i was like fucking hold on. hold on. i could have been using real magic this entire time? and then i remembered that i also knew you could put spells into things, like jewelry. like enchantment. so i was like okay. fuckin okay. so i grabbed two rings i had laying around (the only realistic part of the dream. i love rings and always have a bunch of them even if i don’t wear them. i’ve been this way since i can remember. i collect rings.)

one of them was a silver band with an oval shaped piece of black glass in the setting, and i decided that would be my ring of spell storing. the other was a gold band with a pyramid shaped piece of green glass, and i decided that one would be my ring of healing. obviously.

well i already knew the enchantment for healing so i went and found a leafcutter ant and squashed it while offering it to the gods and now i had a ring that would passively heal me in small amounts (it would have been stronger if the sacrifice was bigger). then i went to go find some kind of offensive spells to put in my black glass ring because i didn’t know any

and i found/was attacked by a. well i don’t know what it was. i think i actually completely made this thing up. but it was car sized and it had a scorpion-like tail but also two pincers that clamped above its head which looked like a fully inflated yellow balloon. and the pincers could create electricity between them, and then the tail would snap forward and send the lightning arcing towards whatever it was facing. but the lightning grew vertically instead of horizontally, so dream-me decided that, combined with the pincers, meant this thing had evolved to fight small, agile, flying creatures who could zip downwards or upwards quickly, but not side to side. so i stayed low to the ground, dodged sideways, and stayed on its side whenever i could. i killed the thing with a sharp stick by poking lots of holes into it, and offering it to the gods. i got a VERY strong chain lightning spell out of it

and then i had to go to volleyball practice run by someone who absolutely did not know how volleyball was played. which was interrupted by a black cat wandering onto the court, and the clueless lady trying to lead volleyball was whining about it, and i didn’t like her and didn’t want to play with her so i leaned down and picked the cat up and told everybody i’d get it out of there. the cat was incredibly soft and snuggled into my arms without complaint, so i figured he was not a stray even though he didn’t have a collar. we walked around the place but eventually i was like “what’s more important, an owner irresponsible enough to let their cat outside without a collar, or the fact that i could be doing real actual magic right now?”

so i returned to my hero’s adventure, but now i had a cat. i went back to my house and momentarily considered seeing if he would get along with the hole-kittens, but i forgot they weren’t there anymore, so i just plopped him in the house and left him a bowl of water. for some reason i did not think he would get hungry. maybe we had mice along with the ants and the dream just didn’t feel like telling me.

anyway so then i set out to begin my adventure for realsies because chain lightning is a really good spell and i could already heal myself a little bit. but i decided i needed one more spell before i went, so i found an alligator (??) in a pond and it swerved to attack me. for dream logic reasons, i was not using chain lightning, but an axe i found on the ground. and every time i dodged the alligator’s bite attack, i swung at its head and said “i offer this to the gods!” except i kept missing, or not doing enough damage. after three swings, the alligator used a projectile attack (!!) and i dodged that, going “what the fuck i didn’t know they could do that,” then swung the axe down on top of its head, finally killing it and offering it to the gods.

apparently the offering was in exchange for a traveling companion because the next thing i knew, there was a… presence. i never saw it, but it would talk with me and ask me questions. it seemed to know a little about the area but not much about magic, and certainly nothing about The Adventurers’ Path down which we now walked, hand in intangible hand. basically it was a real life/video game collision, and the presence was from real life and i knew it was a video game. so i tried to explain game logic, the basics of questing, and so on, but it was really a learn-as-you-go situation.

before we left the alligator’s final resting place, i told the presence it should arm itself, but i don’t think it did. i found a shotgun, but i hate shotguns, but i took it anyway and put it in one of my belt loops. then i found a quiver of arrows, but no bow. and i kept the axe. so i figured two and a half weapons really isn’t bad for just a little swamp area, and we headed into the nearby neighborhood, whose streets were abandoned.

we decided to investigate by knocking on doors. nobody answered, obviously, so i started trying door knobs to see if any of the houses were unlocked. (video game logic says it’s totally okay to loot houses if there’s nobody in there.) and i found one that was unlocked so we went inside. we called out to see if anyone was home, but got no response. the lights didn’t work, and the windows were covered so the whole house was dark even during the day. i obviously found this suspicious and was thinking vampires, so i pulled out one of the arrows from the quiver as a very skinny wooden stake, just in case.

we checked the bedroom, and found what appeared to be a child sleeping. the presence seemed uncomfortable so i told it it could go check the kitchen, and it happily left. i could see that the child on the bed was breathing, so i walked up to the side of the bed to try and wake him up, but he woke up snarling and reached for my throat, strangling me.

then i got a quest pop up notification that said “The Fae of Smithson Downs” which i guess was the neighborhood i was in or something. so i was like fuck it’s not even a vampire! and i couldn’t call out to the presence for help due to the strangling, so i dropped the arrow and held up my hands and managed to get out “thought you were vampire” and the fae child dropped me with a scoff and said he was offended that i would confuse him with such creatures.

and then i woke up cause my neck hurt. which was probably why the dream decided to strangle me.

[doubleddenden]

Regional specific pokemon (types and order not yet decided, can change on a whim)

huge list under cut. Just a list, no names either, just mainly ideas for me to reference later

Main Dex: Gulrimi? Sorigul? I'm thinking Sorigul as the Tauraro rename. Anyway, the region is the Gulf Coast of the USA, ranging from MS, Louisiana, a small portion of Texas, Alabama, and Florida. The dex is meant to be representative of the culture of my area while taking into account personal favorites AND other animals commonly found here. A LOT are found in my own yard, actually. The main outliers are the starters, which are to be a bit weird as they are both aliens from outer space and aliens from the region itself. The map itself would be based on the gulf coast tastes but upside down and with various exagerations, reimaginings, or redesigns, and you'd be able to go to a gym of each and every type- only requiring 2 mandatory gyms to beat (your first being Normal and your last being mixed). Story is a mixture of a gym challenge, stopping the evil team, aliens, temples, and other mysteries. You and your best friend are ordinary kids about to graduate from school, and you both promised each other years ago that one of you would become the champion to put your home town on the map. What should have been a fun adventure through several sub regions turns into a series of conspiracies as you work to uncover a plot from an evil team seeking to retake the region after failing to establish their regime years ago and after their "champion" lost, aliens invading, the re-emergence of long lost temples and ruins, portals opening to strange places, and drama, drama, drama. From farm kid to the hope of the world, can you save the home and friends you love dearly?

Names and types not decided yet, but the ideas are here.

Grass

Grass steel

Grass steel- probably rhinoceros beetle

Fire

Fire

Fire fairy- either a flaming bat or a leopard frog with a cheetah's body plan

Water

Water

Water dragon- either a blue sea dragon and sea bunny combo or some sort of crab. Unsure yet

Wasp baby

Wasp nest

Red wasp

Dirt dobber wasp

Yellow jacket wasp

Bird

Bird

Bird

Chihuahua (3 variants)

Raccoon

Raccoon 2

Psychic cat ringtail

Psychic cat 2

Psychic cat 3

Cotton mouth

Cotton mouth 2

Cotton mouth 3

Possum (plus schooling form)

Box turtle

Box turtle

Box turtle

Pup

Ice pup

Electric pup

Fighting pup

Shrimp

Crayfish

Lobster

Dragon baby

Steel dragon

Fighting dragon

Ghost dragon

Lab puppy

Water lab

Goldie puppy

Fire golden retriever

Crane bird

Teacup pig

Pink Pig

Fairy flying domesticated pig

Mud pig

Wild boar

Deer

Deer 2

Deer 3

Catfish

Tiger shark

Brahma bull 1

Bull 2

Mule

Chick in an egg

Chicken fire flying

Chicken fighting flying

Chicken dark flying

Beagle

Fire ant 1

Fire ant 2

Spider lily 1

Spider lily 2

Fire rock fossil 1

Fossil 2

Triceratops fossil 1

2

Sky whale fossil

Fire dragon 1

Fire dragon 2

Fire dragon 3

Wood waifu 1

2

3

Rv tortoise

Garden snake

Field mouse

Field rat

Chipmunk

Bulldog 1 mascot

2

Eagle 1 mecha mascot

2

Black bear 1 mascot

Black bear 2

Tiger 1 mecha mascot

2

Elephant 1 mecha mascot

2

Wolf mecha 1 mascot

2

Gator 1 mascot

Gator 2

Dolphin 1 mascot

Orca 2

Bobcat 1

Cougar 2a mascot

Panther 2b mascot

Blue gaucus 1 or crab guy 1

2

3

Moth

Moth 2

Fire fly

Fire fly 2

Frog

Bull frog 2

Cow ant 1

Cow ant 2

Horse fly 1

Horse fly 2

Wolf spider 1

Wolf spider 2

Wolf spider 3

Bees and swarming form

Worm

Worm 2

Alaskam bull worm 3

Porcupine 1

Porc2

Duckling 1

Duck 2 a flying water

Duck 2 b dark water

Rattle snake

Hamster

Atv 3 wheel

Atv 4 wheel bull

Sax monster

Drum monster

Fox fighter 1 evolves via armor section

Mail carrier bug

Forest Dino 1

2

3 with mushrooms

Mosquito 1

2

3

Drill 1

2

3

Pika clone

Rabbit

Jackelope 2

Flying jackelope 3

Armadillo 1

2

Rocket bird

Electric steel cyber guy

2

3

Alien monster pseudo legendary 1

2

3

Ghost dark pseudo legendary 1

2

3

Rougarou of the bayou

Big foot

River mermaid

Drakameha

Calistaris

Titanigon

Dragon mom

Regional Variants, convergents, and cross Gen evos

Rookidee

Corvisquire

Corvilich rock flying

Growlithe water

Arcanine water ice

Phanby fire ground

Donphan

Monster truck elephant

Hoothoot ice flying

Noctowl ice psychic

Mudbray

Mudsdale grass dark

Ponyta fairy flying

Rapidash

Regional eevee

Ghost

Poison

Steel

Dragon

Bug

Normal

Pichu

Pikachu

Raichu dark

Fossil lapras convergent 1

2

Ground steel chikorita

Bayleef

Meganium

Electric psychic cyndaquil

Quilava

Typhlosion

Fighting ice totodile

Croconaw

Feraligatr

Fire ground bulbasaur

Ivysaur

Venusaur

Water poison charmander

Charmeleon

Charizard (Geyzard)

Grass squirtle 1

Wartortle

Fairy blastoise

Rock treeko

Grovyle

Rock ice sceptile stego

Poison torchic

Combusken

Poison flying blaziken

Ghost mudkip

Marshtomp

Swampert

Dragon snivy

Dragon flying Servine

Serperior

Ice ghost tepig

Pignite

Emboar

Fighting oshawott

Fighting steel Dewott

Samurott

Rowlet

Dartrix

Decidueye

Shared Heracross and Pinsir pre evo

Heracross

Pinsir (armor evo shared)

Dratini

Dragonair

Dragon/Fairy Dragonite

Yanma bug flying

Yanmega bug steel

Meowth rock

Persian rock cougar

Evo rock

Scyther bug dragon

Incyzor bug rock

Lazor bug electric

Magikarp ghost

Gyarados ghost/rock

Cyclizar pre evo

Cyclizar

Cyclizar MODERN motorcycle evo, Dragon/Steel, black harley

Varoom

Revavroom

Tractor Revavroom evo

Whimpod fire/bug

Golisopod fire/bug

dark fighting Mankey

primeape

regional fighting ralts

kirlia

regional female exclusive fighting steel evo

Tauros, Miltank, and Bouffalant preevo

Tauros

Miltank

Bouffalant

Ghost Steel Riolu

Lucario

Fire Electric Zorua

Zoroark

Sunkern

Sunflora

Sunflora evolution Grass/Fire

Salandit ice/electric

Male Salandit exclusive evo

Fairy Flying Zubat

Golbat

Globat cross regional evo

Returning non special Pokemon- as in non armor evolving, non regional variant, and non cross gen evolving of any kind in the main story.

Deerling

Sawsbuck

Spoink

Grumpig

Swinub

Piloswine

Mamoswine

Pidgey

Pidgeotto

Pidgeot

Orthworm

LeChonk

Oinkologne

Aron

Lairon

Aggron

Shroomish

Breloom

Paras

Parasect

Foongus

Amoongus

Morelull

Shiinotic

Blipbug

Dottler

Orbeetle

Ledyba

Ledian

Poliwag

Poliwhirl

Poliwrath

Politoed

Tympole

Palpitoad

Seismitoad

Croagunk

Toxicroak

Tadbulb

Bellibolt

Mareep

Flaafy

Ampharos

Wooloo

Dubwool

Cottonee

Whimsicott

Vullaby

Mandibuzz

Rufflet

Braviary

Ekans

Arbok

Seviper

Wurmple

Silcoon

Beautifly

Cascoon

Dustox

Caterpie

Metapod

Butterfree

Weedle

Kakuna

Beedril

Trubbish

Garbodor

Grimer

Muk

Koffing

Weezing

Feebas

Milotic

Wooper

Quagsire

Chewtle

Drednaw

Lotad

Lombre

Ludicolo

Mantyke

Mantine

Finizen

Palafin

Ghastly

Haunter

Gengar

Shellos

Gastrodon

Goomy

Sliggo (hisuian)

Goodra (hisuian, it just works somehow)

Phantump

Trevenent

Pumpkaboo

Gourgeist

Lilipup

Herdier

Stoutland

Houndour

Houndoom

Eelektrike

Manectric

Rockruff

Lycanroc

Glameow

Purrugly

Skitty

Delcatty

Murkrow

Honchkrow

Misdreavus

Mismagius

Flabebe

Floette

Florges

Cleffa

Clefairy

Clefable

Igglybuff

Jigglypuff

Wigglytuff

Bunneary

Lopunny

Bunnelby

Diggersby

Drillbur

Excadrill

Barboach

Whiscash

Basculine

Basculegion

Staryu

Starmie

Bidoof

Bibarel

Rattata

Ratticate

Sentret

Furret

Applin

Flapple

Appletun

Dipplin

Hydrapple

Stantler

Wyrdeer

Woobat

Swoobat

Farfetch'd

Armor evos- This region's gimmick. Pokemon can be given a fragment of armor to soft "evolve" into a new form that any of the line can access, and it can be undone to go back to the older form. While Armor Evolved, no EXP is gained until disengaged, and the states are basically redistributed from the BST of either its current evolved form or the next in line. While Armor Evolved, the Pokemon can learn moves based on the new types gained via TM or what it would have learned via that level (can be relearned). When disengaged, the moves are forgotten. Based on Armor Digivolving in case it's not obvious. Example: Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu can all evolve into the same Armor Evolutions. If Pichu, it has Pikachu's BST, if Pikachu, Raichu's. Raichu's remains the same. With the exception of the COSMIC armors, which is a story locked armor, all the armors have the same BST as their strongest forms. It's not quite Mega or regular evolving so much as it is a new form.

Grass/bug Hercules beetle

Steel/bug rhino armor knight

Grass/COSMIC golden armor

Fire/Poison bipedal cheetah frog with a horn

Fairy/poison frog mage

Fire/COSMIC golden armor

Water/ice

Dragon/ice

Water/COSMIC

Rolycoly fire rock train snake

Shared Heracross and Pinsir armor evolution, bug/steel

Corvimage grass/flying

Pikachu armor 1: Denkichu Electric/Steel

Armor 2: flying jetpack robo guy, electric flying

Armor 3: gorochu, electric/dragon

Kirin horse, Fairy Fire

Kelpy horse Grass Water

Fighting centaur

Armored dragonair evo, dragon

Ice fighting fox

Fire fighting fox

Mewtwo armor 1 psychic/dark

Mewtwo 2 psychic/steel- Both only found after finding a hidden Rocket base in the middle of nowhere.

Dlc: Parts 1 and 2 can be completed in any order, but you should do all of part 1 in one sitting and 2 in another, and both can be completed before the main story, although it is reccomended you do both after. 3 can only be unlocked after beating the main story and both prior DLC's, and the final part after all the above. During each part, it is reccomended that you start with a new team- in part 3, it is mandatory. You should pick a starter and catch a team as if you're exploring a new region, although they will be sort of a "diet" region equivalent like Kitakami or Blueberry Academy.

Pt 1: Japanese abroad: a region loosely based on a reimagined areas maybe already represented in the games, such as Shibuya, Tokyo, Kyoto, and various shrines, forests, rivers, and even a beach. Can be reached as soon as you earn your 8th badge. Meant to be a summer abroad type program where you're being shown artificial armors and investigating traces of alien presences. You're given tickets to come with your rival and his girlfriend after they received one too many. Starters are 2 stage callbacks to the supposed concepts of the Kanto starters- similar in a way to how Unova did Golem/Gigalith, Sawk and Throh/Hitmonchan/lee, etc. Each area will have its own sizeable dex of new and old Pokemon. Below will simply be the newer ones.

Tree frog 1

2

Fire lizard 1

2

Sea turtle 1

2

Robo dog 1

2

3

Ancient Shiba line 1

2

3

Kaiju pseudo legendary dino 1

2

3

Kaiju moth pseudo legendary 1

2

3

Rotom drone

Cleffa ghost psychic

Clefairy ghost psychic

Clefable ghost psychic

Ghastly Fairy electric

Haunter Fairy electric

Gengar Fairy electric

Solar eclipse wolf legendary

Lunar eclipse orochi legendary

Chishio (evolution mythical)

Armor for og Meganium line- Grass/rock stego

Typhlosion- wolf-like fire/fairy

Flying mecha gator serpent for feraligatr line water/steel

Tyranitar armor evo

Hydreigon armor evo

Volcarona armor evo

DLC 2: Bahamas based area off the north east coast of the region. Meant to be a summer getaway for you to relax and unwind, but things get trippy when ships and people go missing in the night, and the stories and sightings of some sort of monster deeper in the sea attracts attention. Aliens, perhaps. The area is also just a taste and not representative of the full potential of a fully fledged Bahamas based region. Starters are based on common animals one could find on a Beach or ocean based region, and indicative of its soon to be full regional status. more will be added eventually, dex will be a mix of land animals with the abundant sea life or otherwise.

Grass beach pig

2

3

flashy fire bird

2

3

water slug

2

3

normal iguana

Flamigo

Flamigo evo

lion fish convergent shinx

lion fish evo luxio

lion fish evo luxray poison/dark

chatot

chatot evo

literal parrot fish psychic/grass

2

3

Rock Krabby

Rock Kingler

Lilzuli lapras pre evo

Regional Lapras water/Psychic

Elgyem

Beeheeyem

HR Giger ALIENS inspired evo Psychic/Dark

regional carvanha water/dragon

regional sharpedo

cross convergent species garchomp/SHARchomp water/dragon

ghost ship sea dragon dlc legendary

convergent luxray line armor evo

convergent garchomp/sharpedo line armor evo

DLC 3: Legends: Yesterday Interference The bad guy you once fought and beat at this point decides that if he can't conquer the region in THIS era, he'll simply do it in the past with the help of his ancestor. You follow him to Sorigul roughly 200 years in the past with the help of a strange Celebi, in the midst of the war that almost tore the region apart long ago. Starters are Chespin, Fuecoco, and Sobble, based on how the southern US had a large hand from France and Spain in being colonized as well as Britain. All three receive new evolutions after their base forms.

Chespin

new evo 1

Grass/rock Pangolin 2

Fuecoco

new evo 1

Fire/fairy butterfly gator 2

Sobble

new evo 1

fixed giant cool water lizard guy 2

Munchlax

Snorlax ice

Dodolo

regional Doduo

Regional Dodrio

Woobat

Swoobat

Swoobat psychic/dark evo

Durant

Durant evolution swarm

Heatmor

Heatmor flaming spikes evo

Clauncher

Klawitzer

Klawitzer cannon armada evo

Regional Remoraid

Regional Octillery, both based on old weapons

Phantump

Trevenent

Haunted forest with eyes glaring evolution

Murkrow

Honchkrow

Convergent Gmax Corviknight style evolution to Honchkrow, summons a horde of crows around it

Teddiursa regional

Ursaring

Headless horse duo a

Headless horse duo b

Pumpkin headed Calyrex convergent legendary (can merge with one of the two)

Pascagoula River Monster

Piasa bird

Alien convergent Xerneas, the nightmare and darkness of nature

Alien convergent Yveltal, the mercy of death for the deathless

Alien convergent Zygarde, sends drones across the land to take it over

Forbidden alien dragon, created on the spot with DNA from the above

Tribal Celebi

Paradox Celebi Past

Paradox Celebi Future

Armor form Chespin line, becomes gigantic echidna with cannon spikes

Armor form Fuecoco line, becomes gallopping armored gator

Armor form Sobble line, becomes armored sea serpent

Armored COSMIC Alien Dragon

Final Story: Only unlocked after completing everything else.

World Turtle Mythical the size of the moon crashing down

[mostlygibberish]

I liked the part with the crab mechs.

Just as I suspected, there really wasn't anything justifying this sequel, let alone the five they have planned or whatever. 

The core premise of this movie is that in order to protect their village from the humans they have to go live with the ocean people, but that makes no damn sense at all. The whole reason their village was attacked in the first place was because it's on top of a big mineral deposit, which hasn't changed. 

They just abandoned their people to be slaughtered and simultaneously endangered a whole new group of people by bringing their fight to them. The worst part is that this ends with them realising they have to go back and fight, so it was a pointless diversion even within the text. Clearly this was only made because James Cameron is a freak for underwater filming and scenes where people are trying to escape flooding ships. 

The plot was paper thin for a movie that dragged on for three full hours and there were too many characters that didn't actually matter. How many goddamn kids did they have? And why were they constantly calling each other "bro"? Don't even get me started on how annoying Spider (Jack Champion) was.

They kept introducing things like the new general in charge of the humans (Edie Falco), Kiri (Sigourney Weaver playing a teenager for some reason) having Aquaman powers, the outcast space whale, and the whole ambergris-cures-aging thing, and then just not doing anything with them. I get that they're setting up the numerous sequels, but if nothing actually happens in your movie then why would I want to watch the next one?

Remarkably dull. Some neat looking mechs and submarines are not enough to make a movie good.

[laurelnose]

well, actually, it’s even weirder than that, because like, all of that is true, those are some of the selective pressures driving this specific example of convergent evolution. but 1) "shorten abdomen, lengthen legs" is not actually what carcinisation is and 2) carcinisation is not even a phenomenon of crustaceans. it's just one fucking clade in the decapods. i'll come back to that.

wrt what carcinisation is: most crustaceans are pelagic, swiming in open water, where shrimp and shrimp-adjacent shapes are king and are never gonna carcinise. in these circumstances, the "typical" crustacean body of Basically A Shrimp is plenty mobile. The pelagic shrimp bauplan only becomes a mobility issue for demersal or ground-associated species.

compare: Melicertus canaliculatus and Pandalus borealis, respectively a dendrobranchiate prawn and a caridean (true) shrimp, which both primarily locomote by swimming. Note long, powerful pleon (the entire abdominal section including the tail fan).

In contrast, the reef-associated species Gnathophyllum americanum, Heptacarpus palpator, and Stenopus hispidus all have shortened abdomens (although leg length is variable). Similarly to spiders, they're overall shorter and they concentrate their legs into the middle segments in front of their squat pleons. Just like crabs, they can move forwards and sideways, and they're way better at "backwards" than crabs are. They also retain the uropod escape response (tail goes flick, shrimp goes elsewhere) to get places in a hurry, something crabs have lost. If you're an inflexible arthropod and you want a demersal body plan that allows for movement along multiple vectors, be a shrimp!

If we're talking "spiderization" (arachnidization?), then most of the demersal shrimp qualify. But these are not crabs. This isn't carcinisation.

What carcinisation is (Keiler, J., Wirkner, C. S., & Richter, S. (2017). One hundred years of carcinization – the evolution of the crab-like habitus in Anomura (Arthropoda: Crustacea). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 121(1), 200–222. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blw031):

Be flatter and wider than you are long. While not strictly necessary, your wide carapace may extend over your legs like an umbrella, and will almost always shade the coxal joint. The demersal shrimp are agile but deliciously weak-armored. You are going to be a tank.

More than simply shrinking your pleon, you must flatten it, and fold it underneath, minimizing or destroying its ability to be used as a paddle for swimming. You don't need to swim: you're a rock with scissors.

what's really fucking weird about carcinisation: most of the crustaceans aren't doing it.

for those not up on crustacean taxonomy, there are like, twelveish big groups in Crustacea, the most popular being Eumalacostraca, which is most of the main guys people think of when you say “crustacean.” there are thirteen extant orders in Eumalacostraca. the only relevant one is Decapoda, which contains prawns, other prawns, slipper lobsters, regular lobsters, not lobsters, true shrimp, boxer shrimp, burrowing shrimp, burrowing shrimp two electric boogaloo, guys with four pinchers, and our two Main Characters, Brachyura and Anomura, which form a clade together called Meiura. the decapods are collectively a very diverse and successful clade!

and of all those different groups, those last two are the ONLY ONES which make crabs. Brachyura is the True Crab infraorder: they figured the body plan out in the early Jurassic and took off. there are ~14,000 living decapod species and 7,000 of them are brachyurans. they are the ur-example of carcinisation.*

* the only earlier example I know of is Cyclida, formerly Cycloidea, which 1) is incertae sedis and 2) has been extinct since roughly the time Brachyura showed up.

Anomura is Brachyura’s weird younger sister; they diverged from Brachyura in the late Triassic, when they started doing weird shit. namely they turned into hermit crabs, which are bizarre because unlike basically all other crustacean groups, the hermit crabs are skimping on the calcium. they've got soft squishy pleons! this is cheaper growth-wise, but requires them to find environmental armor to make up for it. they also did some other weird shit like mole crabs and squat lobsters.

every single group that evolved the crab shape after Brachyura is from Anomura.

every single one! all of them! the king crabs, the porcelain crabs, the hairy stone crab, the coconut crab—all anomurans. there are true crabs and then there are anomuran crabs and NOBODY ELSE is doing crabs. None of the other crustacean groups make crabs. None of the other decapod groups make crabs. it’s JUST FUCKING ANOMURA. they’re still doing it, too; king crabs came out of the hermit crabs only recently, in the Cenozoic. It's not clear exactly what the common ancestor of Anomura looked like—because they split from Brachyura, it's possible they originally looked like crabs, lost the crab shape, and secondarily re-evolved it. it might have been a bit like a frog crab, which are quite primitive. there's some good evidence that, whatever its ancestors looked like while they were still counted as part of Brachyura, the ancestral anomuran was a "symmetrical" hermit crab like Pylochelidae, which have a soft pleon but are not "handed" and have no abdominal curl. (These guys armor with hollow wood, tusk shells, sponges, and bamboo instead of snail shells.)

and it turns out that the hassle of locating and maintaining all that environmental armor is annoying enough that the anomurans have, four separate times, changed their minds and decided that tucking their soft parts underneath and returning to the tanky Crab strategy is a better option. six times, if you count the two separate times they went from the squishy symmetrical hermit body plan above to squat lobsters, which are sometimes considered an example of "partial" carcinisation.

↑ happiest medium

so carcinisation is not about convergent evolution as a general phenomenon. I would hesitate to even analogize it to phenomena like the strong evolutionary trend of teleosts towards skeletal fusion; most examples like that are really big trends, across broad clades, you know? carcinisation is One Weird Thing that Meiura is doing. and boy is it fucking weird

every time someone says “animals keep evolving into crabs” i’m like. head in my hands. no they fucking DON’T. carcinisation isn’t an animals thing. it’s a crustacean thing. it’s literally JUST CRUSTACEA