#field bred lab

[bones-n-bookles]

I also acquired a new hunting dog book and atlas book!

Game Dog: The Hunter's Retriever for Upland Birds and Waterfowl, by Richard A. Walter's. Originally published 1983, second edition published 1995

Goode's World Atlas, from Rand McNally, edited by Edward B. Espenshade Jr and John C. Hudson, with senior consultant Joel L. Morrison. Originally published 1922, 19th edition published 1995

[zooophagous]

I'm curious if you'd be willing to elaborate about what kind of behaviours/ attitude in labs and lab mixes your not a fan of, I've only really interacted with labs and lab mixes second hand so I'm honestly not all that familiar with their quirks (and while my family used to sometimes get gun dog super mutts we actually haven't had one since I was born so I'm not particularly familiar with their quirks I'm more familiar with herding breed and sight hound quirks)

I will preface this by saying different bloodlines of lab are better than others. A labrador bred for service dog work will be a different beast than a field bred hunting labrador. A well bred stable labrador is a joy.

Most labs I've met, and that exist around here, are not stable lol. They're largely field bred and expected to work, and as long as they can return a duck to hand and not savage livestock or other dogs, they're considered good enough to keep breeding.

These high energy dogs are then often kenneled when not working and go sort of insane. They're a friendly breed with no stranger danger but that backfires because they become TOO happy to see you.

So what that means is you can walk into any given home that has one and be immediately assaulted by 80 to 100 lbs of labrador that will merrily pummel the shit out of you with its big stupid paws because it loves you so much that it simply has to beat you to death and lick the inside of your mouth.

It never learned anything useful beyond get the duck so its owners attempts to get it off of you are fruitless because they can't control it verbally or physically (dog is stronger than them) and to top it off labs usually smell bad so even if you aren't phsyically bruised from them you're covered in footprints and bad dog smell.

They bark and they're loud about it. They're incapable of knowing their own strengths, and many of them have PICA and will consume inappropriate items like socks, wood chips or rocks and break their teeth or worse require surgery.

The people raising them seem to have very little interest in making a nice normal dog with a good off switch and instead have created a dog that's friendly and good at fetch but is the most obnoxious brain dead idiot on the planet who doesn't even know he's being an asshole when he runs over you.

I've just been annoyed to death by too many untrained labradors that the entire breed has been poisoned to me. I've met exactly one labrador I thought was a nice calm normal family dog. So far I haven't found her equal. I'd almost prefer a dog that doesn't want to be touched to a dog like that.

[cerastes]

So I was thinking about Sesa's whole "I know how to make weapons that don't require arts great equalizer" thing and maybe he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Rhine Lab or Columbia for all that matter. I was wondering if you had thoughts on what a potential interaction between him and Dorothy would be? Cause both talented engineers, but with Dorothy seeming to forget implications of things, what effect wooing Sesa being scared of the implications have on Dorothy.

Sesa wouldn't be a danger even if he was in Rhine Lab because Sesa himself is fully aware of the dangers of such a paradigm shifting breakthrough: I had a zealous anon (that went unpublished) some months back when I first talked about Sesa basically calling Sesa a coward, because his breakthrough in being able to produce firearms that don't require Arts knowledge or skill could be used to arm the masses and shift the power balance between the people(tm) and bigger entities like the Ursus Empire.

So obviously that's one hundred percent not feasible in the slightest for a lot of reasons, so I didn't answer that because it felt less "let's talk about Arknights" and more "why is this game not fulfilling the wishes for a social revolution we all want right now", and I include myself in that "we", it's just, it's not that simple, and Dorothy's Vision puts that in perspective, making the Sesa Conversation relevant again:

Dorothy has the skill and the intent, but lacks the worldly experience, thus she was not able to see the full consequences and ramifications of her actions, right? But there's another important factor in what made Dorothy's Vision, the Hub, possible: The endless money that Rhine Labs has, as well as their infrastructure that allows for these sorts of experiments to occur in the first place. Dorothy can have all the brains and prowess she wants, she could not have achieved the Hub by herself, or even just with her section, she needed the funding, infrastructure, and support not just from Ferdinand and Rhine Lab, but also from Loken Williams. We'll come back to this in a second.

The difference between Sesa and Dorothy is that Sesa, being far more worldly and perceptive to just how hellish Terra truly is, and that such hellish world has bred some truly evil, greedy people, is immediately aware that, were his and his brother's breakthrough of non-Arts reliant firearms to become mainstream, it would only result in far more oppression and a far more unfair playing field, not an equalizer of power.

Because to manufacture weapons and materiel, you still need funds, personnel, resources, and infrastructure. The discovery of non-Arts firearms would benefit, short term, black markets and smaller outfits. Let's remember that Sesa and his brother weren't small time, they had their own laboratory and hideout. They had more than most smaller outfits and gangs. In the long term, though, once the know-how of firearm production becomes more mainstream? Who do you think will have the edge, small time gangs or the Ursus Empire with its absolutely immense territory, endless resources, and infinite personnel? End of the day, it would be the giants like Ursus, Yan, Victoria that would just get far, far more powerful, not the small revolutionary guys and gals we'd be rooting for.

Sesa is aware of this, and that's what takes us back to the previous point: Sesa gets that his knowledge would drown the world in fire for the benefit of the Big Guys, not the everyman, simply because of a matter of logistics. For every one okay rifle a gang makes, the Ursus Empire is probably going to be making hundreds of artillery cannons and thousands of better rifles.

As for an interaction between Sesa and Dorothy, I think he'd be unequivocally mad initially, but then would understand that Dorothy truly means well, and they could definitely relate to one another, although I'm not sure Dorothy would accept Sesa too easily: Dorothy was pushed into her path by her family's untimely death and lives for her research, Sesa killed his own brother for the greater good, and tries to keep his research drowned in obscurity forever. That’d be real interesting to scope.

Just two Oppenheimers in a room, 5 feet away because they are not willing to drown in their scholarly curiosity.

[vitanmortis]

the worst part about round 7 is that I can't even claim it was out of left field, I knew damn well Till was not winning that one. Who decided to put the discount baby against the lab bred one. Who thought this was a good idea.

[denofbloodandlove]

The Chosen

This is from an anon request.  This was actually hard for me to write since I dropped all pronouns.  The gender neutral aspect was the main focus that surrounded the story. The reader can decide if Cris should be male/female or some androgynous figure.  I hope you enjoy.

They first landed on Earth in the year known as 2095. Now simply noted as the Barren Times.  Barren because the human population had dwindled. War, murder, disease, famine; mankind had all but killed themselves.  They were killing themselves.  That was until They arrived, giants in their own rights, they dwarfed humans.  Their words were guttural, primitive, wild.  As were their bodies. Neither male nor female; they just were.  Humankind, beings as they were fought, lashed out and declined even more.  Humans brought war and destroyed themselves down to mere thousands.  Scorched their Earth.  

Powerless and declined in numbers the few remaining surrendered to the aliens.  It took mere months for the last remaining residents of Earth to be over-powered; taken and soon changed.  Used. Bred.  The century changed and ushered in a new way of being, a new century of humans.  

-2195-

Cris waited in the que to begin a new life; a new chapter.  Cris had finally matured, gotten to the right age for Passage.  That’s what They called it ‘Passage’.  Once a human matured, they entered the lines to learn where they would be placed.  Cris fingered the device that sat nestled against the ear.  They all had one; given to them at birth.  The cold metal device was melded to the skull the minute they came out of the birth canal.  The was for the Aliens, now named Elohim, meaning God.  They were Cris’ gods, everyones.  They gave and they took, the delegated.  They were law.

Cris tapped the device once, turning it on the Elohims presence.  When the gods spoke, they listen.  But they were not taking to Cris yet.  Only to the other humans.  The Passage was a place where humans waited to be processed, tagged, and sent away.  

“Ager” The translator whispered into Cris’ brain, detailing the new life on the one at the que next.  The fields were the lands, Ager, these lands lay south where fresh fruits of the new Earth were harvested by hand, not machines.

“Bayit” or house meant slaughter. Not of the human species, they were too valuable for meat.  But the houses were for the remaining animals of Barren, Cows, horses, giraffes, elephants; creatures that survived and thanks to Elohims survived, expanded and slaughtered for meat.  

“Laborem” Resource were labs to find and discover old minerals, life, water, anything left behind from the Barren. Most humans were resources now and because of that, the Earth thrived.  

Elohims spoke, humans obeyed; Earth thrived. The gods took and humans gave. That was the role, they way.  

“Bahar”.  Chosen.  This one word, spoken into the crowd, silenced every being in the que for Passage and all eyes turned to Cris.  Chatter died down as Cris was recognized as The Chosen, as the one meant to be one with Elohim.  Theirs until death.  No human really knew what it was, but they knew that the Bahar were taken away. Never to work in the Ager or Bayit, never to be a laborem.  

The device in Cris’ ear spoke: “Chosen follow your god”.  Cris immediately obeys, head held high, but eyes cast down as Cris’ body moves.  Energy thrums through skin as humans fall away, replaced by halls.  Cris is being taken into Bayith – the heart of house.

The walls are black but Elohim sigils glow, sparkling reds and purples, greens, and blues. They grow brighter as Cris passes, then dull with every step.  The sigils lightening the way for the Chosen.  

“Strip, lay” The god says, and Cris removes the garment- a loose brown/yellow garment that hid the human body, laying on the soft white cushion, Cris eyes dart around.  A soft voice in Cris’ ears tell Cris to move limbs; legs spread and arms out and above the head.  Cris’ legs spread widely, opening the unused body of a freshly matured human. Lifting arms Cris lay them above the head, forcing the lower spine to arch off the cushion.

“The Chosen will accept the gifts.  The Chosen will be restrained, cleaned, trained, and then gifted, The Chosen will take and give back until death.  The Chosen will begin the New Passage.”  Cris listened and watched.  Three glimmering straps lifted themselves from under the cushion.  One above the head wrapped itself around the wrists and hands, the other two wrapped around the calves down to ankles, then feet, ensuring no movement is allowed.  

Cris eyes closed as droplets of liquid beat against the exposed skin, burning away any dirt or macrobacteria that tainted the body.  When the liquid ceases, a thick fog descends, drying clean skin, leaving the body covered in goose-flesh.  Everything feels swollen, plumped as the fog shifts, as if the fog is its own entity. Cris’ nipples stiffen to hard peaks. The skin is over-sensitized, so much so a brush from the fog sends Cris moaning loudly.  

The flesh between the thighs feels engorged and what Cris can only imagine as ready.  The translator chimes again: “The Chosen is to be trained, prepared.  The Chosen will accept the preparation.  Despite any protestations, The Chosen will accept. The Elohim has Chosen.  Preparation begins.”

The fog that lingered is sucked from the room quickly.  Leaving behind a sweet smell, Cris feels heavy.  The heart that beats in Cris’ chest flutters, anxiety and anticipation mix in an aphrodisiac like cocktail. Cris’ hands move, grinding against one another as a pressure builds within the core.  Cris body seems to explode within itself with a need that is foreign.  Moisture and juices pool at the apex of Cris thighs. Lungs fill rapidly with air as desire pumps through every vein.  A low moan escapes, a protest at the emptiness that Cris suddenly feels.

A whirring interrupts Cris heavily desire filled brain, and like the straps, a new device lifts from beneath the white cushion.  It is long, large, and cylindrical.  Along the sides are tiny circles, each long column of circles is bisected by a deep line. The cylindrical tube opens slowly like a flower, each petal rising outward, revealing a thick liquid deep inside, then the tube closes and moves.  The robotic arm rotating and adjusting itself to be level with the untouched flesh between Cris’ legs.   The liquid that Cris had glimpsed begins to ooze from the multitude of tiny circles and at the opening at the tip, then it thrust inside of Cris virgin flesh.

Cris’ body reacts instantly in pain, the spine arches off the cushion and limbs fight for control against the constricting restraints.  The large device pulls back then plummets in again.  Cris’ hole is suddenly stretched wide as the thick tube pushes deeper. The circles abrading tender flesh. The ooze coats Cris’ body, allowing the device to slide deeper, spreading and stretching in agonizing and pleasurable pain. Faster the machine pumps in and out, getting deeper with every mechanical pump.   Cris screams and moans mix with the mechanical whirring of the back-and-forth motion. As the machine pumps into Cris’ belly a new pain within erupts.  The tube begins to open inside Cris, each segment moving, rasping against the insides of Cris body. Moving organs, stretching, and filling.  Cris eyes widen as the skin on the belly undulates, Cris can see the thing inside move as it opens and pushes then pulls back as it fucks the body, then a thick rush of liquid fills every crevice of Cris’ abdomen.

“The Chosen will now be gifted.” The translator whispers, The tube inside Cris abdomen closes, like a flower closing for the night and pulls free from the used hole, that same slime like liquid drips out of Cris body, splattering on the floor in thick globs.  As the machine disappears under the cushion a side door opens, allowing a giant figure into the room.  Cris’ body is on fire, eyes widen as the hulking creature makes its entrance. The Elohim stands between Cris’ legs. Its upper body is massive, thick. Its head is connected simply to the body, no neck supports the head just thick muscles.  Its lower body has hundreds of thick tentacles, each one with hundreds of tiny crude suckers all circular in shape.  The larger suckers start at the base, near the body and taper off into smaller, thicker ones towards the end.  Low guttural sounds fill the air as Elohim speaks.  

“The Chosen will bare the gift, taken and bred until death.”  The Elohim lifts its thickest tentacle that lay directly in the middle of its body and rams it into Cris prepped and abused body.  Cris body surges forward as a grunt is forced out of lungs, the tentacle stretched the hole it pumps into.  Wider and wider until the thick base is pumping inside of Cris’s belly.  The belly expands with every heavy thrust, up and down it moves.  Cris screams and pants are cut off by another tentacle that fills the mouth.  Forcing its way down the throat; Cris can feel the tiny circles; suckers oozing slime on the tongue; making the passage down the throat easier.  The tentacle stretches the jaw wide, pushing and pulling, fucking the mouth then the tight muscles of the throat.  Cris gurgles as the thick slime coats the lips and drips down Cris face.  The hole between Cris legs is gaped wide and painful as the tentacle pulls out then rushes back in.  This movement happens over and over, leaving Cris’ body unable to fully adjust.  Thick globes of slime rushes out of Cris’ body then gets pushed back in as the appendage forces its way back in.

Cris’ body is ravaged for hours, gaped, swollen, abused, organs moved and pushed to allow its girth inside Cris’s body cavity.  The tentacle down the throat stops and begins to pump thick knots down the throat.   The tentacle inside Cris’ body and like the machine begins to split open, widening and stretching skin.  Giant knots begin to move intermittently down the thick appendage, bursting through to fill Cris body one after the other, widening the cavity.  Dumping thick coagulated sperm right inside of Cris body.  With one final thrust; one giant clot like knot pumps into Cris sealing the gaping hole.  The two tentacles slide out of Cris.  The one in the mouth leaving a trail of thick slimy cum sliding down Cris’ face.

“The Chosen has been gifted.  The Chosen will rest, fed and Elohim will gift again.”

The Elohim leaves, the air is heavy with the scent of wet flesh, cum and blood.  The straps that bound Cris lift, allowing movement to limb.  Cris adjusts the body around the giant bulge that is now Cris belly. The movements are restricted and tight as Cris tries to curl on the side, one hand flutters and rests on the cum filled belly, eyes close and Cris drifts off to a deep sleep privy only to The chosen.  

[grison-in-space]

okay no actually what is the hardy weinburg expected ratio of labrador colors if we pretend purely random mating and no humans making color choices? i.e., how common should chocolate labs be under Hardy Weinburg?

I found a study (open access, even!) that lists the allele frequencies of Labs in three separate populations (UK show, n=104; US field, n=175; US show, n=92) and also pools them in one pan-Lab sample (n=371) for easy analysis. awesome. (okay so I have to scrape those numbers out of the supplementals, but shh.) that study puts the ratio of the e allele at 0.60 overall: 0.46 for UK show, 0.61 for US field, and 0.75 (!) for US show). excellent.

okay, and apparently there are three synonymous b alleles that can create liver in labs at TYRP1, but they all act exactly the same. so. uh, that's something. for simplicity, let's calculate the allele frequency for B instead...

obviously not all dogs genotyped at all locations, so the ns and allele frequencies for the TYRP1 locus at B for black are... UK show 0.64 (n = 107), US field 0.49 (n = 177), US show 0.83 (!) (n = 92)... with a total sample of 376 dogs here and a combined allele frequency of 0.61 B alleles. we can translate that to say all the non-black alleles (so the remaining fraction needed to make 100% of all the alleles) shakes out with these numbers for the pan-b allele we really care about:

UK show: 0.36

US field: 0.51

US show: 0.17

overall: 0.39

since the formula for the overall proportion of chocolate dogs would be p(bb) * p(B_) (probability of two copies of b = liver AND probability of at least one copy of E for not-yellow)...

easier to score this as p(b allele)^2 (which is the HW phenotypic relationship) and 1-p(y)^2 for the probability of NOT being yellow...

so that would come out with ratios of chocolate phenotypes such within each subpopulation:

UK show: (0.36^2) * (1-0.46^2) = 10.2% of all labs chocolate

US field: (0.51^2) * (1-0.61^2) = 16.3 % of all labs chocolate

US show: (0.17^2) * (1-0.75^2) = 1.3% of all labs chocolate

overall: (0.39^2) * (1-0.60^2) = 9.7 % of all labs chocolate

now I suspect very much that this is NOT the case because of chocolate lab breeders and of course you can selectively breed for anything forever. but this is probably why in many circles chocolate dogs have a reputation for not being "good" dogs: purpose bred lab communities tend not to have them pop up too much and . and especially this is probably driven by how much you give a shit about "yellow chocolates" bc the US show circuit is apparently AGGRESSIVELY trying to minimize the odds there, given that the US show circuit seems to be going in very heavily on yellows.

fuck this paper is awesome actually, it has some really interesting conclusions about breed ancestry and rare allelic variants that indicate deeper relationships. fuckin love that.

[pawsitivevibe]

I've been seeing a rise in popularity of sporting breeds (retrievers, pointers, spaniels, etc) in agility of late, and I think that's great. This all is probably a regional thing, as I imagine different breeds are more or less popular in different places, but this is what it's like for my area.

For agility, we see a lot of "phases" of breed or type popularity. Border Collies and Aussies are pretty much always popular, but other breeds fluctuate. For a few years, around when I first started, it seemed like EVERYONE was getting Shelties. The last few years, sport mixes like Border Paps and Border Whippets have been "the thing." And handlers have started preferring then smaller and smaller (Borderstaffywhippaps anyone?). Recently I've noticed a lot of German Short-Haired Pointers specifically, but also more Goldens and Labs and spaniels. I think this is great, as I personally think these breeds are generally a lot "easier" to live with for a lot of people than a Border Collie. And I personally know several people with herding breeds who probably would have been happier with Labs or spaniels. Like, they love their dogs, but uhhh ... Maybe the herdy behaviours aren't the best fit for them, and their dogs are "problem dogs" these days. I just think some handlers shouldn't necessarily jump to "I'll get a sport-line Australian Shepherd or a farm-bred Border Collie for my next agility dog!" I'd like to see more people say "you know what would be good for me? A Lab! They'll do well in agility too!" or "I want a small agility dog ... But let's get a Cocker Spaniel instead of a Sheltie."

Anyway. I know several people doing awesome stuff in agility with Labs specifically. I've had several Labs in my Hoopers classes lately (some of them happened to be the ones who are amazing in agility). I adore them. Labs are so cool! So many people - me included, once upon a time - think they're boring. But gosh the work ethic! The commitment! The food drive! The tankiness! We love. Hoping more people see these Labs doing awesome and get more agility Labs.

Spaniels I find are coming along a bit slower. But! Have seen more Springers coming into sports. More and more Cavaliers. Some Field Spaniels. I suspect we might be seeing a little boom in Wockers the next few years. Personally I intend to show off how great my English Cocker is at agility to push people along to spaniels lol.

Anyway ... Any trends in breed popularity you find interesting in your dog agility community?

[beansnpeets]

People can scream all day long about how show line labs are so much lower drive and energy than field bred, but considering how much go-go-go Sprocket does have I just don't buy it. She doesn't have a ton of endurance, just because we haven't worked on it, but she's otherwise very driven and ready to Do Stuff at all times. She also takes very little time to recover. After our 6km hike, she was exhausted, but by the next morning she was harassing me to do stuff with her. She definitely does have a super great off-switch, too, but she lets me know when she needs me to give her something to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure a field bred lab would have more energy than she does, but the way people talk about it, it's like they think show line labs just lay around all day and don't do anything at all when mine would love to be doing 6km hikes every single day.

[cloudbattrolls]

Arrival

Etuuya Vannyn | Present Night | Kaningård Cavern

This drabble is followed by Aftermath.

Tuuya stared at the printed notice without really taking it in, their soft hands holding it limply. Their bright green eyes were blank, almost unseeing, their body still. They barely moved within their skin, worms leaden with shock and helplessness.

Hello Matron Superior Vannyn,

We are pleased to inform you that you will be receiving and maintaining Miss Ardoat Lentya as a full matron in Kaningård when she arrives on -

The rest blurred before them.

All that mattered was the name.

The name, and the red trident crisply embossed into the stationary the notice had been typed on.

“Ardie…” they whispered, as if saying her nickname with apology could undo the suffering they’d inflicted on the jade.

The worm swarm shook their head. No use staring at the wall and being miserable; they had to tell the others. She supposedly arrived tomorrow night; no doubt the empire hoped to catch them unawares.

Well, thought Tuuya as they grabbed their silver cane and rose to their feet, stuffing the notice in their sylladex as they walked out of their room, they were going to have to try a little harder than that.

As they walked, they took out their phone, texting all their immediate subordinates; the coordinators in charge of the lab, the kitchen, the young mother grub, the egg incubation room, and so on.

I want things spick and span! Don’t spare the sponges.

A true statement. Also a code to clean up and conceal any suspicious activities, shuffle any mutant grubs and wrigglers to the hidden containment areas or evacuation tunnels, disguise any jades who might be not entirely legal themselves, and purge all their message logs and call histories.

A clumsy job, and the absence of such things would certainly draw attention if investigated, but fortunately, they had an excuse for that.

Viruses could be so unfortunate, Tuuya would comment. Remarkable how this one managed to get even into a cavern system, wouldn’t you know it? Perhaps someone was a little too careless on an online gaming site…or, goodness, pirating movies! The sheer cheek, they’d say, shaking their head in imagined abashment.

Admit to a lesser crime, apparently embarrassed, to conceal a greater one.

Then they made a call, speaking a few sentences before hanging up

“Selene. Take Chroma for a field trip. There’s sandwiches in the fridge.”

Another code. He knew what to do, how long to stay away, to not communicate with them beyond this message until he got the all-clear. 

Then they called Uunive.

“Ardie’s coming.” They said lightly, as if the very name was not a heavy weight between the pair of them. “You know how she is.”

Again, they hung up quickly. 

Only the worm swarm and their daughter did in fact, know how she was. Or how she’d been, once, kept in this very cavern…

They made it where they’d been intending to go. Curse their slower pace, but they knocked on the door, and opened it to see a dear, familiar frown.

“You have to evacuate.” They said quietly to Ailene. “An imperial agent is on her way. One placed here permanently. You know where to go.”

Their human daughter nodded, the large moths she bred fluttering around her as she immediately went to grab necessities in preparation.

Tuuya noticed, as they left her, some beetles in the hall. Hardly unusual; Uunive had her own swarm of them she communed with. But as these scuttled out of sight, Tuuya noted they were not the same species; similar, but their carapaces were silvery gray.

Unease prickled through the worm swarm, and it took restraint to not start tying their insides in knots. No, surely if the empire was already here they’d be getting their doors broken down by drones this very moment. Or else it would have already happened.

Still. There was something about them…

But they weren’t swarm-white, and there no others besides themself, Gallen, Inshii, and Helixe.

Helixe…

Tuuya cursed themself in Svenska. How could they be so stupid! Their pupa needed them -

No. They forced themself to stop. Helixe would be fine. They had taught it about evacuations, it had learned just like the other at-risk wrigglers…

But they still ached to think of their youngest in other hands, no matter how capable those hands were.

Stress turned to hunger, as it always did. Tuuya sighed, impatient with their own body as ever when appetite struck while they were trying to get things done.

But there was no denying it. They made their way to the nearest fridge in a common room, bereft of other people as they heard distinct activity signaling their orders were being followed.

Ears flicking, they downed a gallon or so of chilled blood in quick gulps. Tuuya preferred it warm, but this was no time to be picky; they needed to stay focused. 

Right. Yes. Time to warn Crimew and Florah against visiting. They texted both of their children at once, wishing they had time to send personalized messages to each, but the basic code would have to do.

At least Melina was safe, totally unknown here as she was. Their quadrants were away; Jaskir never visited, Kamala and Vrayan were busy, and Channi rarely left his hive’s grounds to begin with.

They sent all four a warning to not contact them for the moment, again wishing they had time to personalize it to each one, but no, quick was the word when all their quads were mutants.

Tuuya sat down heavily on a chair near the fridge, propping their cane against it before stretching out their limbs and trying to make sure they de-tensed from gripping their bones so tightly.

Just a minute’s rest, then they’d -

Their phone chirped with a cheerful tone, a red trident flashing on the display.

They felt an eerie calm form from the pit of their anxiety. Yes. They had figured the empire had lied in the notice, hoping to make them think they had more time than they did…

…but this was still quite soon.

Ardie, they thought. You deserve to hate me, to punish me for what I did to you. But it’s not just me at risk here; it’s so many others who do not deserve what the empire would do to them.

The drinker hauled themself up, cane in hand, and strode as fast as they could to the nearest elevator to take them to Kaningård’s top floor.

Where all visitors were received.

The doors opened with a pleasant ding not long after they’d gotten in, and they gripped their cane tightly as they exited, a pleasant closed-mouth smile on their face. Wouldn’t do to show off their needle-like dentition right now.

She looked over to them, expression pleasant, her choppy chin-length hair so much more gray than when they’d last seen her. Her face had lines it had not shown before. Yet she looked as calm and relaxed as they weren’t, if intrigued and perhaps a little baffled to see them.

It was all normal. Sickeningly normal. 

“Tuuya…?”

Ardoat said in a questioning, almost amused voice.

“Is that you?” She added.

They blinked, then remembered how she had last seen them and chuckled despite their tension.

“Yes, I’m rather bigger than I used to be.” They said with humor, for Ardie had only seen them skinny and with fully black hair. That was three sweeps ago.

Three sweeps that they had, if unintentionally, abandoned her.

“Been through a few knocks.” They remarked, lifting their cane briefly. “But I’m still here, and I…I am sorry.” They said, sagging a bit.

Her face was peaceful. Unsettlingly so.

“It’s fine, Tuuya.” She said. 

Her tone was patient. Encouraging.

“Show me what you’ve done with my old home and we’ll call it even.” She added with a light laugh as she walked over to the elevator. They dutifully followed. 

“I admit - I got here early because I was so excited. But I should still get right to the incubation room; reports to write, you know how it is.”

They nodded.

“Of course. I’m sure you’ve picked up new brooding techniques we could use.”

She waves a hand. “You know I won’t be able to say until I examine the whole facility and see what needs to be done.” She said crisply.

Tuuya twisted up inside, dozens of worms gripping their ribcage; this was what she should have been doing for the hundred-plus sweeps they’d held her captive here.

Instead Ardie’s knowledge had only been good for tutoring Uunive, kept in a light fog so she wouldn’t leave - wouldn’t remember she’d seen worms or a limeblood, wouldn’t tell the empire.

Camouflage for a monster. A tutor for their child.

That was all she’d been for such a long time.

Because they’d put a worm in her head. Controlled her. 

All to keep themself safe.

Tuuya led her to the incubation room, praying the trolls there were ready.

They prayed they were ready.

For they had no idea how to send her away without arousing suspicion. They were trapped.

No harm could come to Ardie without the blame being laid on their head, her blood - literal or metaphorical - on their hands.

Their hunger rose again, but Tuuya had no trouble quashing it.

Guilt easily filled them up instead.

[kavehaskblog]

I can't sleep and I just saw the dog breed anon and I'm laughing because Cavalier King Cocker Spaniel is not a breed. It's Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Also there's the implication that Labs and Goldens are trained as service dogs and therapy dogs because they're not intelligent. Which I know the dog breed anon probably meant it in a way of like, "poodles are so smart but can be stubborn, so they use these other breeds more because they're dumb" but it first reads as "poodles are too smart to be good working dogs" Which is hilarious to me because poodles literally ARE working dogs. They're originally bred to retrieve fowl from water, very similar to a Lab's original purpose, except Labs are built for freezing temperatures. (Unless you're looking at field line Labs, those are specifically bred for retrieving fowl on land.) I have two Labs myself and they're fantastic, but I can see why poodle fits you more than a Lab. (Side note, my boy is about to graduate as a therapy dog, and prior to this worked as a service dog for me, as well as doing several different sports. My younger girl is working on several different sports and will be taking his place as my service dog. They're goofy dogs but SO smart and ready to work when you give them a job.)

Hi yes I do dog stuff it's 4 AM and I can't sleep please enjoy my ramblings

I just read this back I am so sorry

Interesting commentary !!

[thicctails]

Spectral Sister

Writing a lil practise blurb for my Speaking Shadows rewrite. It's not canon (at least, not yet) and is mostly just a fun exercise for me. Feel free to read but without prior knowledge of the AU it ain't gonna make much sense.

Crosshair stood ramrod straight as he stood near the entrance of the prison room, his eyes fixed on the girl that sat silent and unmoving behind the same quietly humming force field that had held him and his brothers not long ago. She stared right back, her brown eyes, usually soft and curious, were now cold and sharp as they stayed locked on his own.

He blinked.

She did not.

She hadn't since he'd put her in there.

It made his skin crawl, a sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach the longer he looked at her, yet he was unable to tear his eyes away. This did not feel like the same little girl that had followed behind them like a lost massiff pup, more like some strange creature trying to pretend to be human.

Crosshair swallowed imperceptibly, mentally chastising himself. He was a fully grown man, and a highly trained soldier to boot. Omega was a child, injured, restrained and locked behind an electrified wall of energy. There was absolutely nothing here for him to be afraid of.

The feeling in his gut did not change.

He did not know how long he'd continued to stare at his prisoner before the door slid open, the slender forms of Nala Se and Lama Su stepped into the room, followed closely by Vice Admiral Rampart. Part of Crosshair, the part that hadn't quite been robbed of all its individuality, bristled at the man's presence, knowing full well what the other man thought of him.

Shoving the insubordinate thoughts away, Crosshair refocused his attention, tilting his head just the tiniest amount to better listen as Lama Su began to speak.

"CT-9904, is the prisoner in stable condition?" the Prime Minister asked.

"Yes, sir." Crosshair replied, biting back the venom that threatened to spill into his voice at the use of his number, "She has a few minor injuries, but nothing that requires any attention at the moment."

"I'm shocked. I figured that clones would be completely inept at keeping a child alive, especially defects like Clone Force 99." Rampart sneered, and Crosshair tightened his grip on his Firepuncher to keep himself from acting impulsively. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Omega twitch.

"Clone Force 99 are formidable soldiers, so while they were not bred for childcare, it should not being so surprising that they managed to keep Omega mostly unharmed." Nala Se rebutted.

"Mostly unharmed will be more than sufficient for our purposes." Lama Su said, stopping any potential argument in its tracks, "CT-9904, retrieve the prisoner and bring her to the main lab. We'll extract the genetic material we need, then terminate her. She'd be little more than a resource drain alive at this point."

Nala Se's face scrunched with barely hidden dismay, and Crosshair's feet felt like they were weighed down by concrete as he obeyed the order he'd been given. Part of him had been almost certain that if she was going to be handed back over to her warden, or perhaps given to Crosshair himself to train to serve the Empire. The kid could hardly be blamed for running in the beginning, and she certainly hadn't done anything worthy of execution in his mind. This seemed like a waste of a perfectly good soldier.

'What am I doing?' the little voice that he fought every second of every day to repress began to speak once more, 'This is wrong!'

He punched in the code to the door, watching as the buzzing light disappeared. He strode forward, leaning down to grab the kid's arm.

Omega turned towards him for the first time since he'd captured her on the backwater planet, and he froze in place.

Her eyes had gone from a mild brown to a stark, piercing white. The lights above flickered, the flashes of darkness revealing that they were glowing with an unnatural, eerie light. His breath caught in his throat as the temperature suddenly plummeted, the hairs on the back of his neck raising in instinctive alarm.

"Ba'slanar, verd'ika." a voice, entirely wrong for the mouth it was coming out of, sliced through the uneasy silence that had befallen the room. Blinding pain suddenly erupted in Crosshair's mind, the agony forcing him to one knee.

"What the hell?" Rampart hissed through his teeth, fear leaking into his tone.

Omega moved faster than Crosshair's mind could follow, her restraints snapping under some unseen force. Her hand raised, and as the lights above exploded into fragments of hot glass and all but the clones screamed in terror, something flew into it, the object appearing as if from thin air. For a moment, the cell was completely shrouded in darkness.

Then, with an unnatural crack of energy, the white outline of a blade appeared, flickering and snapping as if it were made of concentrated lightning. There was a slight breeze, as if something had just moved at a tremendous speed past the fallen clone trooper.

Through the ringing of his ears, Crosshair just barely heard the first agonised scream.

[ncisfranchise-source]

At 364 appearances and counting, actor Brian Dietzen has been involved in more than a third of all the episodes in NCIS’ family of shows on CBS. But in a week that welcomed the franchise's 1,000th entry, Dietzen tells Entertainment Weekly that one episode in particular stands out.

“That's one of my tops,” Dietzen says. “That's probably my favorite one.”

The hour of TV in question is “Keep Going,” the season 14 episode that finds Dietzen’s lovable medical examiner Jimmy Palmer out on a ledge — literally — trying to rescue a man threatening to jump. 

But it’s not only the Palmer focus that makes this episode memorable for the former Illinois resident; it’s also what was happening at the same time in the Midwest.

“While we were shooting that episode, I got to watch my beloved Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908,” Dietzen recalls.

The majority of Dietzen’s work in "Keep Going" takes place up against the side of a building, which made it tough for him to follow the action on the field during breaks in filming. Luckily for him, the NCIS crew is full of fellow Cubs fans who gave assists from the ground.

“Chad Erickson is one of our camera guys, and I’d look down between takes. He was like a first-base coach giving me signs on what the score was and what the count was. And then I’d rush home and try to watch the last few innings,” Dietzen says. “It was one of the best weeks.”

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the episode Dietzen was filming during the Cubs’ 2016 victory run ended up being one of the most highly rated of the long-running series, coming in at No. 3 overall with a 9.2 audience rating on IMDb.com.

“Keep Going” is a rare out-of-lab episode for Dietzen’s character, whose kindness and compassion is on full display as he tries to talk a despondent man down from the ledge.

“We’ve got a couple of those episodes over the course of the series, where either Abby or Jimmy or Ducky or Kasie — the lab-coat folks down in the basement — find their way out into the field, and those fish-out-of-water tales are always very entertaining,” Dietzen says. “It's a wonderful thing as an actor.”

The episode was written by Scott Williams, Dietzen’s future collaborator on the three episodes the pair went on to write together. 

“It really turned into just a two-man play out there on the ledge,” Dietzen says. “All the characters were there to support Jimmy, and I think people love seeing that, seeing everyone come together to save one of their own. That was a special one for me, for sure.”

However, Dietzen’s 14-year-old son, one of two children he shares with his wife, Kelly, doesn’t feel quite the same way about his father’s big episode now that he’s started watching NCIS from the beginning.

“He came up to me a couple of weeks ago, and he goes, ‘Dad, I found it, I found my favorite episode of NCIS,’” Dietzen says. “And I'm thinking it's got to be something that's, you know, centered around his dad, right? And he just goes, ‘Probie.’” But Dietzen can’t fault his son for loving the season 3 outing that focuses on Sean Murray’s character, Timothy McGee. “It’s such a good episode! And Sean is so good in it,” Dietzen says. “I was like, ‘Dude, you're right. That's a fantastic episode.’”

When he shared the news with Murray, the two had a similar thought: “Isn’t it wild that our kids now are watching the show? My son didn't exist when the show started, and neither did Sean’s kids.”

One thing that Dietzen’s L.A. born-and-bred children aren’t missing out on is the Wrigley Field experience that their dad grew up with... sort of. On one family trip to the friendly confines, Deitzen recalls a tap on the shoulder from the people in the row behind him with an offer to share the baked goods they'd brought from home.

“My daughter looked at me and my wife as we're taking the cupcakes, and she was like, ‘What are you doing?’” Dietzen says with a laugh. “It’s like, ‘Honey, this is the Midwest. It’s not Los Angeles. People just are really nice here. They'll bring cupcakes to the Cubs games.'"

[badgirlcovention]

Ok, so thanks to a little comic I saw and sent to one of my friends, we got carried away making a Pokémon AU for the Owl House. I would like to note right now that I stopped actively keeping up with Pokémon around Gen 3 and I only own 1 game. I asked my brother for input on the "main teams" since he used to be more competitive. Now, mind you, this idea was initially for my RP blog, so I've only done teams for my active muses but I've decided to maybe do some little drabbles and such. As such, teams for further characters will be coming later. And the teams aren't in any particular order, they're just in random order atm.

And now we're onto the teams! Under a cut to keep things tidy.

Luz: a young trainer from Gravesfield who is attempting to gather more field research to supplement her already adventurous tutor, Professor Eda.

Amity: a young trainer from Bonesborough, studying under Professor Lilith. She's under immense pressure from her mother to become a famous Pokémon trainer.

Lilith: A professor specializing in Pokémon history. She is primarily stationary, residing in her lab and continuing her research to expand understanding of Pokémon and the history of their development. She is especially fond of ancient Pokémon.

Eda: A professor struck with wanderlust, eager to see and experience Pokémon in their natural habitats. She checks in with her sister often and the pair have a healthy rivalry with one another.

Hunter: a young member of Team Runa, a team that creates high tech Poké Balls that actually transfer the Pokémon in them to Team Runa. His uncle runs the team but Hunter starts doubting their goals after he meets Luz.

Boscha: a tempestuous young trainer that considers herself friends with Amity. She's driven by a competitive streak and a desire to be better than other trainers. And while she can be brash and even rude to other people, she does care for her Pokémon.

Skara: a cheerful trainer that's friends with Boscha and, by extension, Amity. While not as aggressive as Boscha, Skara's talent lies in her strategic mind and knowing her team better than anything else.

Emira: Amity's older sister and, while she is in the competitive scene, Emira would really love to become a Pokémon nurse. She is regularly paired off with her twin, Edric, and they do have matching Pokémon (Emira has a Minun, Edric a Plusle). However, Emira would like to have her own individuality.

Alador: An engineer that specializes in creating security tech. He starts to dabble in technology that archives Pokémon DNA and abilities thanks to Odalia's encouragement.

Odalia: The CEO of the security company that her and Alador created. Odalia's Pokémon are just as well-bred and strong as she is and she holds her Pokémon to a very high standard.

[vanmarkham]

next time i run into my neighbors im gonna be weird and ask if they show dogs lmao

they have four purebreds that look to me like well bred showlines lol (esp the lab, it’s real easy to spot a bench lab vs field line or backyard bred)

[adventures-on-foster-island]

Camera!

Professor AU - Ellisa never met Dusk

December 10th, 2016

New Patient: a farm breed Torchic

Reason for visit: wound on neck

Breeder's comments: she keeps getting picked on by the other Torchic and Combusken. Thinking of culling.

Treatment plan: wound was cleaned and stitched, an initial dose of antibiotic was administered. A consultation with the breeder about options led to them leaving the Pokémon in my care.

January 22nd, 2017

First round of children came by to get their first partners. They were so excited they shook as they used a Pokéball for the first time. I hope they listened about taking care of their partners, and that they have a safe journey.

February 19th, 2017

The shear quantity of Luvdisc that have gone through this lab in the last five days is unimaginable. Wild caught, farm raised, show breed, and those poor souls who were mass bred for the holiday. I have been able to take in a lot of data, however I do hope this doesn't happen every year...

March??, 2017

Some days I wish I had the power to strip someone's trainer license. Alas, I am forced to fill out mountains of paperwork, documenting each infraction, in hopes that one day it will amount to enough to ban this person from keeping a Pokémon.

You flip through dozens pages, filled with these little notes, documenting Ellisa’s first year as a Professor. The last page is torn out, however the one before it has one final thought from the Professor.

November 26th, 2017

How I miss the days of being in the field. I used to make a difference, helping Pokémon when they needed me most. Now I sit in this sterile, white room, staring at a computer screen, waiting for someone to bring the problem to me. This is not the life I dreamed of.

[mantisgodsdomain]

Saw this and thought of Marigold.

https://www.tumblr.com/apuff/724225345127071744/that-poor-insurance-salesman-had-no-idea-what-was?source=share

Anyway, here’s a related question, how does Marigold choose her victims?

We've kinda outlined this before, we think, but it's a mix of convenience, cover, and what she needs to test. Marigold's test subjects tend to be more or less grabbed off the street, or recruited via job posting, if she has the spare change and someone to route it through. Standard, experimental transmutation tends to be quick and messy - the idea of most of these transmutations is to work with properties of new formulas and iron out any kinks before actually putting them up on the market, and ironing out the issues that lead to transmutation failure is part of the point, here.

Initial trials will spread a wide net, and then further trials will narrow down the issue - going for individuals within a specific range of species, for example, until all the quirks are worked out. The alchemical properties of an individual tend to vary, even within a species, so it can be very valuable to figure out if something failed because of the ingredients, or simply because of the nature of who you're trying to transform.

Complicating all this, of course, is cover - you can't just grab people off the street without drawing attention, and trying not to draw attention is something that Marigold's had to practice quite a bit. Visible people with access to resources and people who care about them spur man hunts - but bugs who are already likely to disappear are easy to simply grab.

Bugs with high-risk jobs or bugs who have already been "disappeared" for her are easy demographics to go after, though the latter is usually only something she runs into on jobs. If an adventurer goes off to Snakemouth Den and never returns, and a few days later a monster turns up gnawing on the handle of their weapon, it's pretty obvious what happened.

Besides that, a handful of antiquated laws in the Termite Kingdom make it fairly easy to pick up discarded arena fodder with a go-between. The downside of this, of course, is that it's expensive, and hirebugs aren't always entirely trustworthy - and bugs bred for the arena are generally divorced enough from your average awakened bug that the data isn't too useful for field use. Lab moths are still useful for rough drafts of formulas, before they've gotten far enough along to use on actual bugs.

For jobs, it's both easier and harder - when you're being hired to turn one thing into another, you really only need to test one species, and matching a reliable transformation with whatever properties the client wants means that you can tailor-make the formula, minimizing the chance of failure to near-nonexistence.

That said, it isn't always perfect - though clothes are a rare enough luxury in Bugaria that it doesn't turn up often, having something in the way of a transmutation can easily lead to undesirable results - if your chest's swelling to twice the size, you do not want any armor restricting it.

Prosthetics, surgically imbedded aids, and other such things can easily cause failure, especially if there's enough charmcraft in them to interact with the transforming enchantment. Tinkering with the base enchantment can negate most of the negative side effects, but the big trouble comes when a client doesn't consider it enough of a point to mention - full physical description is a necessity, especially on jobs where she won't be physically present to watch the transmutation.

With some spells, any garments or implanted aids can be twisted with the spell, but this tends to be both a bit difficult and unreliable - if something absolutely must be used in a transmutation, it's far easier to simply turn the object integrated into a charm, allowing for the fusion and the transmutation into a single step rather than adding the fiddly work of grabbing an object external to the charm's actual subject.

We might be getting a bit off-topic by now but - yeah, it's either whoever she's hired to transmute, whoever's convenient, or whoever's convenient within a certain demographic.