#even Unknowingly.

[ratcandy]

speculating nosk biology things with my now minimal understanding of basic entomology because. I dunno. I can (aka I started thinking about it late a few nights ago and now can't stop thinking about it)

This is HEAVILY based on preconceived headcanons of mine so if you're wondering "where did that idea come from" it came from that time I wrote a zote fanfiction about it. Anyway

A LOT of this is just me rambling and throwing out ideas to see what sticks. And explaining entomology concepts. 'Cause this is also doubling as me studying for my prin. of entomology exam on Monday. So if anything I'm saying here is blatantly wrong,,,, I am running off of what I have been told in class and mixing it altogether in a pot, so I mean. I dunno!!! I am jus saying shit. There's a LOT I'm left to learn and I'm jus running with what little i know so far </3

what I'm saying is. more experienced entomologists pleas be nice to me if u see this sdhgKSJDGH I AM a baby .

anyway REALLY long post below, be warned; as well as REAL BUG PICTURES

So Basically. In my already established nosk headcanons, I had considered nosks as sexually dimorphic (males and females are physically very different from one another). I had it that males were wingless and developed raptorial front limbs whereas females developed wings in place of those limbs.

And this type of dimorphism - where one sex has wings and the other doesn't - does occur in actual insects (which we're assuming nosks are for this, since they're hexapods at the very least). It's just not too common, and usually the other way around. The only example I can think of rn are embioptera/embiidina, or webspinners; females stay wingless and live in expansive web galleries while males are winged for the purposes of going out to find mates.

(image link)

And that's Usually how it goes if one sex has wings. Usually it's the male that develops wings (or both do, but the female can shed them, such as with termites), and that's due to how different sexes have contrasting optimal reproductive strategies (Females produce less gametes and they take more energy to produce, whereas males have a lot more and therefore can have a low investment in individual gametes. Male insects then - for the most part - want to reproduce as much as possible, whereas females are more "choosy" and go after quality males)

Now the thing about biology as a whole is that there's always exceptions to the rule. Nothing is the end-all-be-all and especially not with Bugs. Some insects do it the other way around, where the males are "choosy" while the females compete for them (see: Mormon crickets). There are ALWAYS exceptions!!! So with nosks, let's say the female develops wings and the males do not. What does that suggest for them?

It's kinda suggesting that the females are going to have to be the ones in charge of dispersal. She'll probably have to leave her nest, find a mate elsewhere, before starting her own colony - sorta like queen bumblebees do. Kinda. A little bit. It would make sense if the male nosks are like drones, anyway; usually unable to care for themselves that well and existing to reproduce and then die.

The thing is, and this is my own oopsie since I was young and didn't know all that much, in my previously established lore, all the mate selection is pretty much going on within one nest. It functioned a lot like a pack of mammals as opposed to a nest/hive of bugs. Because if it was functioning like a bug hive, erm. Well everyone in there would be related. So. I can Make Shit Up/Mesh Stuff Together to avoid that, though - there are Things that happen with bugs that can be messed with to better explain some of this. Potentially.

Firstly I gotta talk about a type of polygyny. Specifically resource defense polygyny. This is where a male insect finds a resource that females will need, be it food, shelter, or whatever, and will sit and guard it for when females come around. That male will mate with any female that comes for "his" resource. And there's another called female defense polygyny, wherein a male will gather up a bunch of females and defend the whole lot of them for himself.

SO. What if we (sort of) combined these with sociality in insects, as well as the idea of sexual role reversal? What if for nosks, the nest is the resource? A female will find the resource and guard it, perhaps having her own daughters to begin the inklings of a colony, and then just grabbing any male that comes by and dragging him into the colony. If she can get males to mate with her or her daughters, it potentially could help inclusive fitness (wherein cooperating with relatives increases one's own genetics being passed down, therefore increasing fitness). This would then explain why females are still considered somewhat matriarchal in nosk structures; the female starts the colony, allows the males to have shelter in her nest, and it's up to her/her daughters who gets mates. Eventually, then, one, a few, or all of the females of a given nest would leave to start their own colonies elsewhere, while some of the males would scatter to hopefully find their own mates.

Because I'm assuming it would work like bumblebees, where once the new queen leaves, the old hive dies off. Or maybe not. Maybe some females stay behind with some males, and it just keeps perpetuating as more males stumble across it and the females drag them in.

And/or maybe nosks have their own royal jelly type thing that dictates who the next colony-founding nosks will be. Not necessarily queens, as the daughters are also having mates, but Nest Founders.

The sociality would come in with overlapping generations (the Nest Founder, her daughters, her daughters' offspring) and kiiiind of reproductive division of labor? Not really though. Both sexes contribute to hunting/providing for the den, at least according to my old headcanons, so. Erm. Well honestly even that is weird. Maybe the males have to prove they're worthy enough to stay in the nest offered by the females by bringing in food? Or maybe that's how they prove quality? Uncertain. My train of thought fell off with this one shdgKJDHG

(For COGR purposes, That would explain why Mama chose zot's dad tho. If he's bringing in food consistently, he's proving quality of some kind, even if he's otherwise Just Some Guy)

Definitely no cooperative brood care, though. These guys are still awful to each other. Which is a whole other thing. I don't know if any social insect species are openly hostile with their nestmates unless something is wrong with said nestmate (such as disease/parasitism)?? Maybe nosks are just way too into that whole 'quality' thing to the point of ruthlessness. Maybe female nosk gametes are even more expensive/limited than most, and that's why they're Like That. More cost, more to lose. I dunno. (Though that would be another thing pretty fitting with cogr stuff,,, weak baby = wasted gamete, and if those are super limited, that's a huge yikes)

Ok now I'm really losing track of what I was talking about. I dunno how much of this is even making sense at this point. I should study for ento exam like a normal person and yet here I am . just saying shit about a fictional insect that can morph its entire appearance at will. Which is decidedly not a thing irl bugs can do . that I know of.

Like mimicry yes of course. But this is Advanced mimicry. I can literally only think of those spiders that mimic ants rn and. well it's not like the spider puts on an ant costume while hunting and then looks like any other spider normally. no they just look like this

(image link)

At the same time as all this we gotta remember that nosks, at least in my headcanons, are like. At least a little bit sapient, be that the Pale King's influence or not; so there's that added element. Societal structure is a thing they have, as well as empathy (something they deny/often do not show) and maybe some loose culture. So like. There are complications here, obviously, but again I Am Just Saying Shit.

anyway. um. Yeah. If I think of more things maybe I will make another post like this. I don't know I'm just saying shit

[bluerosefox]

Protecting Family

Hmmm

I'm on a Danny is Dick's child kick rn so I'm making more.

But lets add in some Ghost King Danny!, Dad to a deaged Ellie and Dan! And toddler Mar'i Grayson.

Danny was conceived during Dick's amnesia year when he was Ric and the woman couldn't find him to tell him (or maybe the Owls caught wind of the pregnancy and took her) and he ended up somehow (hmmm maybe a meddling time keeper?) with the Fentons.

Danny grows as a Fenton, he knows he was adopted btw, then becomes Phantom, protects Amity, becomes the Ghost King and things seem to be going okay between Amity Parkers and the Infinite Realms since they took care of the GIW problem, AND has been a good doting teen dad to his deaged 'cousins/clones' turned kids.

Danny was going to go pick his kids up from daycare one day when CHAOS happens. Just as he wrangles Ellie onto his shoulders, cause she wants to be tall today, and about to take Dan's hand cause he's and I quote "A big boy and not a baby like Ellie, Dad!" he suddenly feels the tug of his family being in danger.

Thing is, its a blood related danger. Meaning someone blood related to him was in grave danger, and by the emotions he can feel, its someone young, way younger than him.

Problem.

The only people Danny knows with his blood in their veins and are young enough for the feeling are with him.

So who?

But due to Danny being a protector spirit AND knowing the feeling is from someone as young as his own kids, Danny decides to use his Ghost King Powers to summon said person from the danger to him.

Danny opens his free arms out just as a tiny toddler with black hair like his own but with bright green eyes, even the sclera were green, in a ruined party dress drops from the sky from the summoning circle that had opened above him.

Danny stares at the terrified child, whose hands are tied by rope and was crying, and takes notes of certain traits she had that he saw every time in the mirror or on his own kids, same eye shape and cheekbones. He can tell his ghost core has claimed her as family but not as his kid though.

No the connection that formed was almost like his connection with Jazz but a bit stronger.

This kid, was his sister. His blood related one.

-Meanwhile-

Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing, and his family were freaking the fuck out.

Dick was already panicked when his daughter Mar'i had gotten kidnapped just a few hours ago by the Joker.

Now he was feeling pure dread when his daughter, who was about to be killed, was suddenly pulled into a strange glowing circle at the last minute and disappeared into thin air.

[lilybug-02]

Fear both ways.

Bug Fact: Approximately 1-3% of all known insects and arachnids are actually harmful to humans, our plants, and our animals.

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Volume 2 Masterpost

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I animated two different versions. I wasn't able to import the first one (left) correctly because I animated it on Rough Animator, so I just decided to animate it again on Procreate (right). It turned out much easier to do the second time.

[kelpermoosee]

My friend labeled this “toxic aromantic yaoi” and I couldn’t agree more

[aucrowne]

11.11 🌸

Pocky Day! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

⬅ Windbreaker Silly little sketches ➡

[shalom-iamcominghome]

"Antisemitism is a meaningless phrase!" to you. To me, it is still a word that defines a hatred and scorn of jews.

If it surprises you so much that jew hatred is an ancient and worldwide bigotry that you stop believing in the meaning of calling it out... That says something, but it says nothing about the words we use to describe jew hatred.

[mxtxfanatic]

I almost wanna say that Hua Cheng’s title is a misnomer in the same way Wei Wuxian’s is in the title of mdzs. The people who do not know and absolutely do not like him consider him as the “blood rain” that’s reaching for the flower, but Hua Cheng in the event that earns him that name isn’t the rain, he’s the umbrella. He’s always been the umbrella shielding the flower, just as the blood rain has always been the corruption of the heavens and earth trying to stain the flower with their filth. (And just in case this needs to be said, obviously Xie Lian is the flower 🤗)

[phoenixcatch7]

Okay so I saw this post about dark percy (really him reaching his Limit and fighting full strength with everything he had) and I was imagining the potential fallout of that. Pretty bad, as you can guess.

The thing is a lot of percys strongest moments happen out of view of the olympians, especially in hoo. The hurricane atop the glacier in alaska, the poison scene in tartarus, bending the depression river and the one in the palace of nyx.

Stuff like the St Helens eruption got him washed up on an inescapable island literally removed from reality until calypso gave him the OK, the achillies curse he got tricked into losing by hera. Smaller moments, the minotaur, fighting ares, the stolen pirate ship, walking on water vs hyperion, freshwater sources, him knowing both Latin and Greek, they're more easily brushed off or at least mostly due to cunning, sword skills and sheer luck and grit.

But basically the olympians don't actually know the full extent of percys strength and divine power. They have hints - percy standing on the throne, winning against ares, his many victories - but what they aren't willing to brush aside in the heat of (an important) battle there have been pretty strong consequences for.

Heck, just look at Frank, he's no prodigy with weapons, he's polite and respectful, but his distant relation to two olympians letting him inherit shapeshifting earned him direct divine meddling and his life force tied to a hunk of half toasted firewood. Man is a honey bear with lactose intolerance and he was punished with a mythical death curse for being too strong.

If Percy's true strength came out, he would risk losing everything. His freedom, most certainly. If he wasn't straight up executed he might wind up in a Greek myth style imprisonment, the way of atlas, prometheus, calypso, or something like the myriad of ways Greek heroes met their end. Good scenario he survives a dozen curses and gets on with life with a dozen new disabilities, best case scenario he's stripped of every inch of divine power and dropped back to the mortal world, not even clear sighted. Total separation from the Greeks and Romans. Oh, annabeth would marry him either way, and his friends would hardly abandon him despite the gods wishes, but they'd hardly be able to see him, and no long range contact without the ability to IM him or vice versa.

All of that to say Percy is hiding his true strength from the gods themselves - maybe not consciously, and it's not even power he particularly wants - but if they ever find out?

It's game over.

But why is he so strong? I don't know. What I do know is that the half bloods of the books are so much stronger than the ones of myth. Used to be that divine blood would get you divine favour and a great fate whether you liked it or not. Maybe some cunning and bow skills. A spot of spell casting if you were really lucky. Achillies got his curse after he was born, Perseus had a dozen magic artifacts, orpheus had something going on but hercules is to my knowledge an outlier. Now? Everyone in camp has some special power. Flight, fire, necromancy, hypnotism, dream walking etc. However it's happening, half bloods are slowly but surely getting a lot, lot stronger every century that passes. Meta? I mean I guess. But.

What no one has done before is something that their godly parent couldn't.

Except.

Except Percy.

Except Percy, in tartarus, at his mental, emotional and physical limit, controlling poison with his mind, overpowering the goddess of poison in her home, making misery choke on misery. Feeling something in his chest crack. Doing something poseidon could not, and doing it better than the person who could.

Down there, hidden away from the gods, he evolved. For that brief moment, he did something, was something new.

And that was how the gods overthrew the titans.

And that's why they must never find out.

[wilsonsmcgillsweatshirt]

I will never recover from the knowledge that thymoma generally has a very high survival rate, and in most cases that it becomes fatal, the patient has unknowingly lived with the cancer for years. There's a chance that Wilson was sick for half the series and didn't even know it.

[katzenklavierr]

I don't want to bother OP by commenting on their post with something irrelevant, but I've seen this post around the past week or so that's listing various grievances with unfair teachers but it keeps killing me because the first anecdote is literally a bit from episode 2 of RvB

[adrift-in-thyme]

I swear this little dude doesn’t mean to be rude. It’s like Sky said, he just doesn’t THINK sometimes

Image credit @/linkeduniverse

[bloogers-boogers]

Shame

[electrozeistyking]

Girl I have news, there is a new analog horror based around murder drones and it’s from the same person that made the man in the suit, trailer just released

NO FUCKING SHIT- UNKNOWINGLY IS MAKING A FUCKING WHAT?

i am uh. i am ripping my laptop in half today. /extremely positive.

[currant-owo]

Awkward meetings

Pretty much the same things happen as in canon, but Danny almost constantly bumps into Ra's in his time travel (where dc and dp can exist together or as separate/parallel alternate universes). After an indeterminate number of meetings, the contents of which I won't reveal, both came to an unspoken agreement to ignore each other no matter what.

Remarkably, the order of encounters for Ra's and Danny is chronologically confusing, as is their timeline relative to each other. How strong. No one knows at what segment of their meetings the other is. It's so damn confusing that Ra's and Danny keep logs of meetings, in a futile attempt to sort this shit out one day without potentially destabilizing the current time stream, the Flash's bullshit is more than enough, thanks.

And out of a desire to avoid all this headache, they most often just walk by and report their subjective meeting number. On rare occasions, they warn each other about how their next meeting might go, or simply ask the other to remind them of something.

Their awkward meetings/attempts to avoid prolonged interaction will look quite funny from the outside.

It seemed that the League always had its own "Cryptid". At truly random intervals (day, week, month, years), the same child quickly appeared in front of the Demon Head and just as quickly disappeared. Most often they exchanged some numbers, less often he uttered some phrases. Neither of them will even look at the other, eager to leave as soon as possible (the longer they are around, the higher the chance that something unpleasant will happen, strange, but together they often attract any kind of trouble from an earthquake to level threats end of the world).

[the-lark-ascending69]

Sick of "Robin wouldn't date her best friend's ex". Get ready for "haha Steve i'm fucking your ex"

[strawberriederror]

🪺 Another post bc I don’t really like jumbling up so many pictures at once if they’re not able to be in a specific organization

Esp: Otro post pq me da cosa no tenerlos en una orden especifica 💔