#how to trigger a biologist
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STOP IT THAT IS LITERALLY WHAT MY CELL CULTURES IN LAB ARE DOING EVERY GODDAMN DAY
if i was an animal and i knew i was being observed and researched i would do something super fucked up. but only once. never again. ruin their lives. keep them guessing.
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These Salamanders Steal Genes and Can Have up to Five Extra Sets of Chromosomes
Unisexual salamanders in the genus Ambystoma appear to be the only creatures in the world that reproduce the way they do. Researchers know how, but the why is still being figured out.
Katy Greenwald: These are all pond breeding salamanders. They are really abundant in the Great Lakes. They are gene thieves. They're stealing DNA from other species. It is known as kleptogenesis. They are usually just called the unisexual complex or the unisexual Ambystoma. They are not a species, actually, because they break all the rules of what a species should be able to do. They are a really unique lineage. As far as we know there is nothing else in the world that reproduces in this way. They are five or six million year old group of animals. As a biologist, you learn all these rules and intro bio and then you learn about these things that just break the rules. In the water, the males will produce sperm at offers, which are little sperm packets that they sort of put down on on leaves and sticks and things like that in the pond. And the females will pick those up internally in their cloaca and there's internal fertilization, and then they'll lay fertilized eggs, which will develop into larvae just like tadpoles do in frogs. And these unisex rules will be in the same ponds at the same time as these normal sexually reproducing species. And they will actually pick up the sperm at offers that are produced by the males of the other species that just triggers egg development. So their eggs are laid and they develop, but they don't actually include any of the males genetic material and they produce offspring that just have the same DNA as the mom. But a smaller proportion of the time they actually do add the males genomes, and so then the offspring come out with extra chromosomes. So they can have anywhere from two to five full sets of chromosomes from up to five different species. And these salamanders seem to have the benefits of asexuality in that they're all female. Their populations can grow really fast, but they have this mechanism to add additional genetic variation that they're able to grab from these species that they coexist with. If there's one thing that we learn from studying biodiversity, it's that there is amazing variation in nature. There are all kinds of species reproducing in all kinds of ways, using all kinds of different approaches. And I think that's something we could certainly learn from in human society, that valuing and celebrating that diversity is a great part of being a biologist...
via: https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/these-salamanders-steal-genes-and-can-have-up-to-five-extra-sets-of-chromosomes
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𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞.
𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐈𝐈. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐄.
pairing: coriolanus snow x toxic!fem!reader
summary: someone always throw a spanner in her works, to achieve her biggest dream —being coriolanus’ lover, wife and claiming power. luckily, y/n is not on the loser side when it comes to playing.
trigger warnings (overall): mastermind!reader, toxic!reader (for real, she’s doing nasty things), reader’s family is a bit fucked up, reader is obsessed with coriolanus snow, lying, swearing, blood, violence, killing people, hunger games stuff, i just love volumnia gaul, reader hates lucy gray and everybody who’s around coriolanus, mental health problems mentioned such as psychotism, domestic violence mentioned, drugs, mention of sexual fantasies.
trigger warnings (in this part): mastermind!reader, toxic!reader (for real, she’s doing nasty things), reader is obsessed with coriolanus snow, lying, swearing, drugs, mention of sexual fantasies, wet dreams, screaming out from anger, hate speech, hate-thoughts.
prologue. part 1.
her nose bleed.
looking into the mirror, everybody could wonder that it didn't break from the look on y/n’s face. nosebleeding happened a lot of the time with her, her brother, joked like “this is what happens when even your blood can’t stay near your thoughts.” well, only if he knew that sometimes, it was true.
standing up, blasting the vases and the dolls she had on her shelf with a scream, everything fell down to the floor, broken into pieces, some of it cutting up her foot. still screaming, crouching to the ground, tearing out the pages of the old plan, she split her stupidity into litter. her whole body shook as she drew out the white powder she got from festus, spreading some on the edge of her thumb, sniffing it up. waiting until the calming feeling crawled in her blood to his brain and every little corner of her body, she felt full for a moment. her whole body shook as she stood up, stepping over the shards and thorns of her vases, her dolls and her roses. stomping over a doll with black hair, sy/n sat back to the dressing table. swiping the mascara off her face, then her lipstick, with baggy eyes, smeared makeup, with the eyes of a madwoman, her lips like she just ate something raw, her blood mixing with black and red, she wanted to tear up that bitch.
but let’s not be so fast. let’s begin with the first things and signs, the signs that got y/n in this state.
to begin with the good news, clemensia finally got out of the picture. y/n began the day at volumnia gaul, as she wrote in y/n’s response letter that she should be there tomorrow morning, so she can begin as soon as it’s possible. wearing her best clothes, she stood at nine am before the doctor’s doors. drinking a tea with her, y/n only saw only now how intimidating she looked –one of her, the ice blue one, came from the devil itself.
“i’m not gonna lie miss y/l/n, but when i saw your application letter on my desk, i was surprised.���
“how so? i mean, dr. gaul, i knew only the best biologists and scientists work for you, and i wanted to be one of them.”
“really? oh, yeah, i remember about your assignment, dear. tell me, when you wrote those words and sentences, did you already think about working at the game?”
“i mean… dr. gaul, please don’t get it wrong, i’m not really interested in the outcome of the games. twenty three people die anyway, and it’s not the maker’s task to make the games more interesting. that task is for the marketing section. i only want to see how venom can be planted.”
“is the littlest, sweetest child of cyril y/l/n interested in venom?”
“venom can be useful in so many ways. it can heal, and it can make things more interesting. it can make a single dinner turn into a full-night drama.”
volumnia looked at y/n, then began to giggle. y/n never felt something like before; it crawled down into her veins, just like the drugs she used, scratching her brain, just like the day of the graduation.
“miss y/l/n, i’m sure you have some ideas. and it’s not only about mono– and dicotyledons. come with me, let me show you something.”
their heels clicked on the floor as the biologists looked at a big glass-cage in front them. at first she didn’t even realize what she saw, only a million scales crawling into each other, different metallic colors in every shade of the rainbow, never stopping, always slowly moving pressed to each other like shiny, long bowels. it was a glass cage, full of snakes. but what’s so special about it?
“they are venomous.” could dr. gaul read her mind? “it’s my newest invention. these snakes can poorly see or hear, but have better smell than any dog, and much more venom than any of their natural kindreds.” stepping closer, y/n placed her hand on the glass. only one knock, and they both could be dead at this very moment.
“it’s truly amazing, dr. gaul.” she answered.
as one of dr. gaul’s assistants led her around after her lunch –everybody wore white clothes, some of them had masks on their face–, in the early afternoon, coriolanus and clemensia came in. speaking of the devil, she was sitting at one of the tables in the big, white hall full of canned animals and organs, running through papers and listing the books she had to read as he stepped in. y/n completely forgot about the annoying girl beside her, thinking about their date, she sprayed a little perfume on herself when she saw them coming closer. at night, y/n had first so-called wet dream –she attended a sleepover at arachne’s house twice, and they were talking about these kinds of dreams, when girls dreamed about their ‘crush’. why call it ‘crush’ when you can call it lover? sooner or later, if you’re tenacious enough, they’re gonna be your lover. or was it just y/n? anyway, she knew what sex was and that it was good (although she never did it), but it was strange to wake up feeling hot like having a fever. feeling that her underwear was sticky, at first she thought that she had her period, but looking at it –nothing. she wasn’t a daydreamer, but when she thought back to the dream, reaching for coriolanus as he hovered ove her from above, holding his big hand, caging hers as he kept his other hand at the back of her neck, long fingers digging into the nape of her hair, stroking it with each jolt, burying his face into her neck, giving out grunts like an animal, moving his hips into hers while y/n held onto his broad, sculpted shoulders– it was a little bit weird that her mind wasn’t focused. she was… wandering. how weird!
“hey, y/n, you already here?” clemensia asked her, making her look up from the paper. stilted smile, wide eyes, looking like she was ready to get all the credit from coriolanus for herself… yeah, she’s still a certified, annoying bitch.
“hello, y/n.” corio said, making her look at him with a slight smile. just like she always did.
“hi to you too. yes, well, seems like dr. gaul isn’t a procrastinator. she’s really a professional.”
“aren’t you scared to work between stuff like this? these glasses are creeping me out…” clemensia muttered. these things are hiding in you too, honey. sadly, the brain is missing, maybe in you too.
“no, i’m not. it’s rather interesting, biology and science are the future.”
before they could speak any further, volumnia appeared.
“i see you two just found your little friend, already on the front.”
“yes, and we are so happy about it.” said clemensia, dr. gaul bidded y/n to go with them. of course you are happy, connections are everything. y/n couldn’t decide if clemensia really was this bootlicker by her nature, or that his father was in trouble.
“miss y/l/n already have seen my newest, beautiful babies, but i want you to see them too.”
“is there a point to a color?” clemensia asked as they stepped up on the stairs before y/n.
“there’s a point to everything, miss devcoat, or to nothing at all… which brings me to your proposal.” dr. gaul answered, leaning with one arm on the cage. “which one of you actually wrote it?”
looking at the snake cage, knowing the snakes had really good smelling affinitions, dr. gaul’s question… did she doubt it, too? sure there were cameras on the reception, and as coriolanus told her, he handed in the paper. did she doubt it? no. she knew that it was not her. after clemensia’s little speech, y/n slightly smirked, but when coriolanus looked back at her, she reassuringly smiled.
“...so miss devcoat, reach in it for us, won’t you? so we might all consider your inspired ideas. don’t worry, my little predators are perfectly docile with those who they know they can trust. so if they’re used to your scent, if you’ll handle their food, for example… or if they’ve inhaled the sweat of your palm on a page.”
the fear on clemensia’s face was satisfying. of course, y/n didn’t want her to die, she wasn’t a savage, but she needed to learn her lessons. and when she got bitten in a sudden moment, falling down… y/n almost couldn’t contain the honest smile on her face. coriolanus of course, was scared about what happened to her, and she tried to act like it, too.
“miss y/l/n read about them this morning, surely she can say something about what this was.” dr. gaul said, making coriolanus turn to her.
“i think that this is just the natural selection of humanity. i wouldn’t think that clemensia lied, but… these snakes proved it. by scent, of course, but judging and deciding is in every creature on this planet. they just went against it.”
“mr. snow, your dear friend sees it right. and god, your suggestions! i will recommend my team implement as many as possible tomorrow, spread it in front of my team.” however, coriolanus didn’t seem eased.
“will she die?”
“the pleasure in breaking ground in one’s research as one gets to find it out. you better keep miss dovecote’s faith between us. i don’t think her mother would be happy to learn how her daughter was caught in a sudden… flu.” coriolanus looked at y/n. she furrowed her eyebrows, but knew that dr. gaul wasn’t one to fuck with. but one was out from her list, if she goes with speed like that, she can bid her problems really soon goodbye.
eating lunch together again, coriolanus suddenly held her hand. although it made her excited, his face contained the same worry he had when he saw clemensia.
“y/n, you are one of her workers now. dr. gaul is… i have some precautions with her, did you see what she did with clemensia?”
y/n nodded, stroking his hand with her thumb.
“corio, dear, dr. gaul did that because she knew you were the one who wrote all those proposals and ideas. she just couldn’t stand the unfairness.”
“i know, but she could have done it in a more gentle way, couldn’t she?”
“she could, of course. dr. gaul just wanted her to learn a lesson, she was always on your back, coriolanus. i feel really sorry about her” no, of course i’m not. “, but you need to cut off the people who don't help you by their true being. i think casca highbottom’s goal was also this, for all of you to realize these things.” was it emotional and logical enough? she really hoped, and she eased up when coriolanus’ eyes lit up.
“you are right, y/n. i’m grateful to you for telling me the truth.”
“i’m never telling the truth, i am not a judge. or, only the times when it’s time. i’m just saying my thoughts as an outsider.”
“you may be an outsider by the games, but you’ll never be one in my life. thank you so much.”
“i’m always happy to hear your thoughts, corio.” enough from the bullshit, let’s get to the more important stuff. “by the way, the date… how am i supposed to dress? our chauffeur can drive us anywhere, i talked with my father and he can go with his administrative car, so…”
“i want to bring you to a little restaurant, where i ate with my family when i was a child. it’s not big, but i really hope you will like it. and you can wear anything you want, i’m not gonna be disappointed.”
y/n wanted to kiss him. so bad, to seal their whole life forever. despite that fact and her wants, she brushed one of her locks behind her ear.
“thank you, corio. i just want it to be perfect.”
after lunch, standing up, as y/n guided him out, he held her hand.
“what will you do for the rest of the day?” she asked coriolanus, hoping they can be together for more time than just a simple lunch. if the date goes well, and it will go well, will they have little, secret dates together? will he come for her family’s dinner? it was mandatory always in her family, and he didn’t need to be introduced, but still, it was tradition.
“i’m going to see if lucy gray is okay in the zoo. tomorrow we are planning on getting them food, would you go with me? the others will be there as well, and i’d like to introduce you to her.”
really? well, it can happen, only if the media isn’t there. but it will, because these actions are making history right now. and if y/n is on the side of coriolanus, it can help him. her family, mainly her father will make her a joke, but he was so cynical that it didn’t matter. and this way, she can check that lucy gray for herself.
“i’ll go with you, of course! it’s a wonderful idea.” she grabbed into his arms as they stepped out on the gates. she needed to go back of course, but she didn’t mind.
“thank you, y/n. after that, be there at the restaurant at seven in the evening.”
“i can’t wait for it, corio.” she smiled, looking up at him. brushing her hair, coriolanus bent down to kiss her cheek. it needed such a little move of her head to catch his lips, but she contained herself. today’s sacrifices are for tomorrow’s prizes. his lips were perfect, of course, including her dream from yesterday’s night, she held onto his arm to stroke it.
“then tomorrow, y/n. take care of yourself, okay?”
“just as always, please do the same, dear.” she muttered, making him smile. to kiss his lips, to dig her fingers into his hair, to lay into his arms as they watched that the majority of the votes called to him on the election of the presidency of panem… having dreams like this was the cause she didn’t get medicine through her veins.
well, maybe they needed it after the tv-show at night. laying on her bed as usual, smoking a cigarette while reading, thinking about the outfit she could wear tomorrow night, her sister knocked on her door.
“can i come in, y/n?” stubbing the butt of the cigarette, she stood up to open the door. as she laid back, morphia sat on her bed, putting her hand on her sister’s leg. “what’s up with you, little sister?”
“dr. gaul accepted my application, so i spent the day with her in her office. and you? how is the wedding?”
“well, i chose the taste of the cake yesterday, then spent the night with my old colleagues, the ones who i don’t invite to my wedding. it’s a shame, i know, but i only want my loved ones on my biggest, happiest day. and today, i spoke with timothé who said that the place by the hills is reserved, so we can have it to yourselves. it’s gonna be truly beautiful, isn’t it?”
“yes, it truly will be beautiful. do you want a cigarette?” y/n asked, showing her sister the package. morphia took one, y/n took out a new one and lit it for both of them. “are you sure that you love timothé? from what do you know you love him?”
morphia smiled, blowing out the smoke. it was strawberry flavored, her mother hated it. she only blew those skinny, bad tasting sticks. the only excuse was that sometimes she spiced up with some weed. although y/n didn’t like weed.
“well, i just know it. you have a strange feeling in your heart.” check. “a feeling you have with no one else, and that you feel like you want to be around him, always.” check. “and you would do anything, and i really mean anything for him, and to be with him.” check. “because this is love. why are you asking this?”
“i just… i think i love coriolanus, too. the way you love timothé.”
“so nothing new, little sister.” she giggled, making y/n roll her eyes. she trusted morphia, although her marriage was needed because the family got to guarantee and secure their ten percent income from the district. this way, they could see the papers. the only problem were the plinths, who opposed this, but her father’s hands reached too long to raise a voice against the deal. and y/n wanted sejanus to get out of the picture, and after that, without descendants, they could only hope they will have what they got now until their death.
“but there is news, morphy. coriolanus invited me on a date.” at her words, morphia covered her mouth, pulling up her eyebrows. holding y/n’s hand, morphia smiled at her.
“really, y/n? oh my, it’s so wonderful! invite him for the wedding, if you want, but know that he’s an appreciated guest.”
“i will, if he’ll have the time. but he’s at the games right now in his mind, i don’t want to disturb him.”
“if he loves you, you’ll always be in his mind, you know. but the deadline is in one month, so please, tell me till then.”
“i will, morphy. i will.” she ended her second cigarette, throwing it into the burgundy ashtray, her sister did the same.
“do you want to come down? this night is the game’s night, i heard that the tributes got thrown into the zoo.”
“i know, me and corio will go there tomorrow.”
“then he surely forgot to mention that… he went there, too.”
what? rising to sit on her bed, y/n was really, really surprised.
“how do you mean that?” she asked, trying to believe that her sister just babbled some shit together, but she seemed really certain about what she stated.
“the tributes got thrown into a cage in the zoo, and your coriolanus was there, too. the interview is gonna be on the telly tonight, might come down and watch with us?”
going down on the stairs with a buzz in her head, y/n saw that the show was already on. lucretius ‘lucky’ flickerman, a weathercaster who was now tapped to host the interviews from the 10th hunger games stood in front of the cameras.
“sit down, dear, sit down.” her mother pointed to the place beside her. y/n decided to knee on the pillow where her cat laid, getting persephone into her arms. minutes later, there he was. morphia didn’t joke, he seriously got into that fucking cage? what the fuck?
“is that your new lover, my sweet?” her father asked y/n, getting a giggle from her sister and her mother. “i can admit that he’s really ambitious about winning the prize.”
y/n didn’t say anything, listening to what he and lucy gray said. that fucking bitch had the audacity to smile and brag like she was the new star, but she wasn’t. she was just a poor, miserable wanderer who got into the games because she fucked around. how could a… thing like lucy gray hold onto a hand she held this afternoon, too? she wasn’t a princess or a noble or a singer or an actor to have a big mouth like this, to act like this.
and truly, it seems like she wanted to take away her lover. and it was something y/n could never accept, in any conditions, at any time, or in any situation. never.
“are you okay, y/n?” her mother asked. “your hand is shaking.”
brushing her hair, she looked at her mother, trying to nod with composed moves.
“everything’s fine, mommy. i just need to go upstairs to take a bath, and to take my medicine.”
and now, she was sitting at her dressing table. it wasn’t just unfair and rule-breaking how lucy gray played, but it was really, really degrading. her face burned in shame, and she wanted to claw down it all with her skin.
closing her eyes, she prayed for sanity. sanity to go through the next weeks, for sanity to handle situations well, for sanity for her plan. repeat after me, y/n. repeat after me, you stupid bitch.
i am y/n y/l/n, youngest member of the house y/l/n. we are noble, i am noble, and i deserve everything that i have now.
picking up the doll she stepped over only minutes ago, stroking its hair, it was just a plaything. all people were just playthings, playing. how could lucy gray be anything else?
i am beautiful, clever and nobody can ever drag me down. the people who hate me are only envious of my life, my body and my mind, but they’re all going to soil.
looking aside, the fireplace in her room was on. running her thumb through the doll’s porcelain face the last time, she threw it into the fire. long, skinny flames crawled up on the soft fabric of its dress, licking the wall as the fine china cracked. it was time to take a bath.
i love the life i have, and i will appreciate every single second of the life i will have when i achieve my goals. i have every tool i can use to win, and i will use them to be the woman i want to be. it’s not far away, and everyday is a chance to be closer to the woman i want to be.
“hortense, do you think a woman can make a man hers?” she asked from her maid as she sat in the hot water, hortense braid her hair to be curly for tomorrow, fasten it with silk ribbons.
“i think, miss y/l/n, that women have power. so probably, yes, but please, don’t make yourself hurt. your safety is the first.” hortense answered from behind her back, helping her wash her back. so probably, yes. if even a maid knew that, then why did lucy gray try to stand between her and coriolanus?
laying in her bed, ready to sleep, she stroked persephone’s fur.
“how could she do that, persy?” whispering in silence, only getting a meow back, y/n thought about the cage of the snakes dr. gaul showed her today. only a little crack, and everybody could die in unbearable pain, only under mere seconds. maybe she also had to be a cage full of snakes. only a crack on her mind she already had, and everybody could die into what she did.
maybe she was already.
a/n: thanks for the waiting babiez, i hope you liked this part too <3 also, wish me luck for my exams 😩
taglist: @champomiel @stelleduarte @diamondsbestie
(ask for taglist in comment, dm or here!!)
#coriolanus snow x reader#coriolanus snow imagine#coriolanus snow fanfiction#coriolanus snow icons#coriolanus x reader#coriolanus snow#coriolanus x you#hunger games x reader#hunger games imagine#hunger games fic#hunger games fanfiction
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book recommendation tag game!
rules: recommend as many books as you like. please include genre and some basic information on it (either your words or a copy+paste synopsis). feel free to include cover art, a personal review, trigger warnings, and anything else! just don’t spoil the book!
you don’t have to copy how i’ve done it; but feel free to!
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Genre: Science (Weird) Fiction & Horror.
Four armed and unnamed women—a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a military-trained surveyor—cross the border into Area X, an unspecified coastal location that has been closed to the public for three decades.
literally caused mental illness within me. i think i developed a new disorder. this book made me more trans and more autistic. this book made my desire to be non-human even stronger. i want to go to area X
This Is How You Lose the Time War el by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Genre: Science Fiction & (Sapphic) Romance.
As agents Red and Blue travel back and forth through time, altering the history of multiple universes on behalf of their warring empires, they leave each other secret messages—at first taunting, but gradually developing into flirtation then love.
they invented love. this is what love is. this is soulmates, this is made for each other, this is every single action i have made in my life was to bring me to you, it’s me and you against the world. it’s completely ruined me. i think it’s probably going to be unbeatable for best book ever made. also made my desire to be non-human even stronger
@magmethius @fagmage @hatsune @alistairstheirins
@gurathins @magicmissiled @heavenfelll @tiefbard
@azatas @arborstone @fields-of-rye @talizoraa
@kadefox @demonia @carlosoliveiraa @tunarath
@lusus--naturae @theoldwest @timothylawrence @vieille-femme-moisie
@full---ofstarlight @ottobooty @left4dead @covenscribe
@lovedu @astarionsdarling @wormskul @ratscrap @darkwehl
@andrwminward @ch3rrybomb @vanoefucks @charico
@prettyjellyfish @cavesallegory @rosenfey @velnat004
@panicbroadcast @jerichoes @mt07131 @censorship
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Blood, bones, and teeth erode
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎ ꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
Pairing: Chan X gn reader
Summary: After not being able to land a job in the field you want to pursue, it feels like it might be the end of everything and that's when your boyfriend finds you.
Genre: Comfort/hurt
Word Count: 2.5K
Trigger warning: Anxiety, depression, insecurities, implications of starvation, self-harm, and suicide.
A/N: I didn't mean to make two back-to-back Chan posts, but here we are. I had some free time and I finally wrote this request and I just think you should know that I cried a lot, so buckle your seatbelts. After this, there's another Chan request, but before that, I'm going to throw up a Minho one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy <3
_ _ _
When you’re a kid, the impossible seems possible. Full of life and optimism, the world is your oyster. When you announce you’re going to be an astronaut and fly to space, people smile and laugh. It’s one of those childish dreams that most adults understand will fade over time.
Working through the ranks, performing all the training to become an astronaut, it seems impossible in their heads. Too much work, too much time, and it turns into one of those dreams that fizzles out and turns into stardust. Blown just out of sight and out of mind, you reach in your back pocket for another dream, so you can try again.
Childhood is full of dreams like this. Race car drivers screeching around the track and leaving everyone in the dust. Professional football players that do a celebratory dance when they score the winning touchdown. Supermodels that travel the world and walk the runway. Marine biologists who live on boats and spend their time exploring and studying the life below water.
For you, your dreams didn’t really change much. You knew what you wanted to do and you had your sights on making dreams your reality. You planned on doing anything you could to reach your dreams and it never changed.
When you’re a kid, the adults leave out the grueling part of reality. Nobody wants to be responsible for crushing the innocence that comes with childhood. Not yet grown, kids don’t fully grasp the magnitude of everything they’re speaking about.
They don’t understand that becoming a good race car driver requires lots of practice races. Football players struggle with sore muscles and a body warped with bruises and aches. Supermodels obtain a certain image and no matter what, they’re supposed to carry that look, even if it means you’re unhappy, anything for the camera. As for marine biologists, a variety of science classes, no matter how boring, must be sat through.
Dreams are always possible, but it’s up to you to conquer them. They’re always evolving and changing and so are you. Another birthday, another year older, and another year full of experiences and opportunities that help you grow and learn.
You did everything you could to obtain the knowledge to grow your craft. Whether it was attending classes about it, gaining a degree in the field, or even networking and trying to find your people. You felt like you did everything right, but the answer always seemed to be no.
Every job application you jumped at, you were always turned away. When you managed to get an interview and truly thought you’d aced it, it always went the opposite of how you expected it to. The industry was hard to break into and you knew that, but you were burning with passion.
Your resume wasn’t the greatest and you wanted to improve it. By adding a portfolio along with it, you assumed that was the trick, but you had nothing to put there. No matter what you did, you couldn’t catch the eye of the management teams.
The journey started at the beginning of the year and now it had been months. You couldn’t remember how many interviews you attended. You always expected a call back, but it never happened. If you were lucky, sometimes someone was nice enough to reach out and reject you. Other times, you were left in a silent limbo. A constant wondering and waiting, but it never came to fruition.
You had a job, yeah, but it wasn’t in the industry you craved. It wasn’t the kind that lit a passion within you and made your heart quicken with excitement. You didn’t get a sense of inner fulfillment. In fact, every day you were faced with an influx of dread. As more and more time passed, it began to feel more and more pointless.
It was getting harder and harder to hide your irritation and sadness from your boyfriend. Lately, you had been turning away meals. Staying up late at night, you wanted to extend your me time. You did, but getting up in the mornings was like hell on earth now.
The bags began to become more and more prominent beneath your eyes. Once upon a time the small brown bags shifted into purple. You were emotionally and physically exhausted, but you’d never admit it.
To make it all worse, lately your thoughts had been spiraling out of control. The things you thought about and the direction your brain crept towards, you were sure Chan would lose his mind.
He loved you a lot and you appreciated it a ton. At least, you used to appreciate it. Your confidence levels had begun to droop lower and lower. Lately, even dating your boyfriend, seemed to feel pointless. He was a rich k-pop idol and you? Well, you were stuck at your miserable job. You were horrified at who you were morphing into, but you didn’t know how to stop it.
How do you stop the restless thoughts? The anxiety and worry that suffocated you every night? How did you stop running from your problems and letting them swallow you whole? Would it ever stop?
“Hey, it’s getting late. Why aren’t you in bed yet? You should be asleep, I thought you said you had work in the morning.”
You blinked, trying to focus on Chan’s words. Outside in the darkness, crickets chirped and you were left alone in the pitch black. The only thing saving you from blending in with the cloudless night was the faint porch light a few feet away.
Moths fluttered around it without a care in the world. Their fuzzy bodies lightly plunked against the glass shell covering the bulb. They were the only thing to keep you company this late at night.
“What are you doing out here?”
You shrugged at the words and let your gaze venture off into the darkness. Off in the distance, frogs croaked somewhere near a source of water. Nostalgia trickled through your veins, but it was faint. The sound reminded you of childhood, fresh cut grass, and the warmth radiating from the summer sun. Humidity snuffed out any small breeze from the air.
“I just needed a moment,” you finally uttered.
“Is this about the-”
“Please don’t say it. It’s already embarrassing not being called back by anyone. I don’t want you to say it outloud. I know, it's so much worse than expected. I don’t want to hear a pep talk from you right now. I love you so much, but maybe sometimes…” Your voice began to trail off as it softened. You sucked in a deep breath and went on. “Maybe dreams are meant to be just dreams.”
Someone jammed a needle into his heart. He physically felt his heart strings twist and then his heart popped. Slumped back into your chair, you looked utterly defeated. Your chin curled towards your chest and you were trying so hard to be strong, but he knew you were internally distraught.
“You and I both know that’s not true,” he whispered. “I want to tell you how much you mean to me and how much they’re all missing out on. However, if you don’t want to hear that right now, I’ll respect it. Whatever happens, please just don’t shut me out again.”
Again.
It was a piercing and heart-wrenching reminder that you had been down this road before. Insecurities and judgment clouded your vision. You became your own worst enemy and it spiraled out of control. No words could describe the utter hate and anguish you felt towards yourself.
You began to inflict damage to yourself. Pulling away from meals just to feel the aching pain of hunger. Forcing yourself to stay up late to finish work because you felt like you deserved it. Every little thing barrel rolled until you got to the point where you wanted to end it all.
You walked this path before and it was the exact path you were striding towards again. The missing meals, the staying up too late, and the scorching hot showers that burnt your skin. Pushing your vulnerable mentality to its limit as you scrolled through the social media posts of your favorite celebrities and idols; another fleeting reminder that they were doing so much better than you were.
It was so easy to lay down and rot. Fighting for your dreams was so difficult when they seemed so far away. Even worse, you hated to know that your boyfriend knew just how far you’d take this self-hatred and loathing. You hated that he viewed you like some glass paperweight, but it was true. You were free falling and you could shatter apart at any moment.
“Bang Chan?”
He reached out and slipped his hand into yours. Warm fingers curled around your palm and he gently squeezed your hand. “What is it?”
“It’s getting bad again.”
“Where you feel like you might-”
“Yes,” you cut him off. “It’s not even that I might. I feel like if things don’t turn around soon, I might just…” The words cut off in your throat. You hated feeling so vulnerable, but you loved him.
Maybe you said the words because you wanted to warn him that within the next few days, he might find your corpse. Your thoughts were growing darker and darker and darker. As selfish as some might see it, you just wanted it to stop. You wanted the world to go silent and you wanted inner peace.
There is no escaping when your biggest critic is your own brain. No matter what you do, your brain screams that it’s wrong. You’re trapped in a cage with your own worst enemy and there’s nothing you can do. It was so bad that the usual things weren’t helping.
You tried to watch tv, but you kept zoning out and replaying scenes from the past. The embarrassment and stress of previous conversations felt like drowning in a tsunami. You tried to read, but you couldn’t get through a page. Your brain would whisper between the words and soon you’d lose your place.
You loved music, but even your brain was stealing that away from you. You were attached to the sad and sappy stuff. It was how you felt right now, but listening to those songs made the sadness so much worse. It was like adding water to a grease fire; the flames of sadness rose higher and the smoke was suffocating.
“I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how to stop feeling like this. No matter what I do, it looms overhead like a shadow. I’m scared, I’m sad, and I’m terrified. I don’t know how to get my brain to shut up.”
The tears welled up in your eyes more. Your breathing was growing more uneven as you struggled to stop the sobs from falling from your lips. “I’m trying s-so hard, but-”
“Sweetheart, it’s okay, I understand.” Chan gently tugged your arm, a gesture for you to rise to your feet. You allowed him to and when you did, he pulled you into an embrace.
He pushed your head into his chest and your ear to his heartbeat. Your eyes slipped shut and you clung onto the sound of the steady wallop. One arm wrapped around your back and the other went to the back of your head.
“Sometimes we all feel a little lost and defeated. That doesn’t make you worth any less to me. No matter what your brain says, I still love you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what? For being upset and frustrated when things aren’t going your way? I understand what that’s like, honey. I’ve been there and I still find myself drifting back there sometimes.” His hand began to rub along the length of your spine.
“Life can be so hard sometimes, but you know what the most important part is?”
You didn’t respond. The lump in your throat was far too much. You were sure that you’d break down if you spoke right now. Your nostrils flared and your fingers dug into the lower fabric of his shirt.
“The most important part is that I’m right here. You’re allowed to fall apart and grieve. I’m not going anywhere and I’m here for you. You don’t have to allow yourself to drown in this alone. I know what it’s like to have your brain be against you, so listen to me.”
“You are one of the most amazing and loving people that I’ve ever met. You fight like hell to make your dreams come true when most people would have given up after a few weeks. There are people out there who are where you are and made something of themselves, even if they had to think outside the box.”
“Maybe you’re not where you want to be, but I have no issues with believing that you’ll get there. You’re stronger than most with a good head on your shoulders. You’re intelligent, talented, and you have a passion. Don’t let this be the end of your story, let it be the beginning.”
Caught off guard by his words, your eyes opened. It took you a few moments to let the words settle into your soul. You stared off into the darkness and let the words reply in your head.
“You don’t have to have everything figured out right now. You don’t have to be perfect. The most important thing is that you’re trying to get where you’re going.”
“Walt Disney was fired from a job and told he lacked imagination. Thomas Edison created the lightbulb after a teacher said he was too stupid to learn anything. Stephen King had a book rejected thirty times before he found someone who would take a chance and publish it.”
“My point is that you never know what kind of life is waiting for you. If you give up now, you’ll never see what’s on the other side of the rain clouds. Sometimes rainbows are just out of reach.”
He leaned forward and rested his chin on the top of your head. Your eyes slipped shut again and his arms wrapped around you tighter. The sounds of wildlife continued on in the background.
“Thank you,” you finally managed to get out. Your voice was hoarse and you still felt like crying. It was nice to be reminded that other people had failures before their dreams came true.
“Don’t mention it, sweetheart. I think you need some love, so I’m just gonna-” He shifted and pulled you on top of him as he sat in the chair you were in. Your ear remained pressed against his chest and his arms resumed their rightful places. “I’m going to hold you for a while, okay? I think you really need that.”
You couldn’t get the words to come out, but you wanted to say you loved him. You did. You loved all of him. You loved all of him and you’d never stop loving him. Giving up meant losing this; the warmth, the words, and the wildlife. As much as you struggled with it, you were still going to fight like hell to make your dreams come true.
After all, the inner child in you deserved it.
| ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ |
Taglist: @lina-linny @straykidsstanforeverandever @seungnishi @stellasays45
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the silent sea (p.sh)
pairing: siren!seonghwa x marine biologist!reader
preview: strange things have started happening around your boat. you've been out at sea alone for a few weeks, studying whales. but recently, things on your boat have started disappearing and animals have started dying. you can't shake the feeling that you're being watched by someone. or something.
tags/warnings: fem reader, monster cock seonghwa, scales everywhere (i mean everywhere), biting (he has sharp teeth and they do pierce your skin), belly bulge kink, degrading, sadomasochism, he eats a chunk of your leg (it's not fatal), unprotected penetration (wrap it before you tap it), creampie, impregnation
trigger warnings: blood, cannibalism(?), a whole lot of dead animals, it's pretty much not consented cause um siren song
wc: 2.1k
song recs for this fic: bye bye bye by wei, tank by nmixx
a/n: when i posted my yeosang siren fic forever ago, someone asked for a less violent version with seonghwa. so here it is. still slightly violent but you don't die this time <3 (please note that i made up some things about sirens to make the story better. there's a lot of variation in the story of sirens so please don't take my word for anything.)
you wake up to the waves crashing on the side of your boat just as you had for the past two weeks. when you got your marine biology degree, you didn’t realize how lonely you’d get at sea. you go to grab your binoculars and look out into the open sea, only to find that they’re missing. you search for a few minutes before deciding to just use your backup pair.
you hold the binoculars to your eyes and peer out into the never ending water. you see a few fish and the large shadow of one of the whales you’ve been following. it’s a beautiful female blue whale. tracking her size and interactions with other blue whales has been your task for the past few weeks.
you walk to the other side of the boat to see if you can spot your male blue whale. when you look through your binoculars, you see something floating in the water. you squint, trying to make out what it is. you’re horrified to find that the water around it is red and it’s clearly a dead animal.
you put on your full diving suit and get into the water, worried about what had happened. you tether yourself to your boat before swimming over. you come to find that it’s a dolphin. you roll it over to find strange bite marks. they’re much too small to fit any of its natural predators. the bites look more like the bite size of a human. you run your finger over one of them, finding that a couple of the teeth sink deeper than others, indicating sharper and longer teeth.
you leave the dolphin where it is, knowing that there’s other wildlife that will use it for nutrition. you climb back into your boat and detach from the rope you’d used to not float too far. you grab your journal to note down your findings.
the rest of your day is pretty typical. you spot your male blue whale later on in the day, monitoring his interactions with your female. nothing else seemed out of place but the incident with the dolphin never left your mind. what had killed it?
the next morning, you wake up, prepared for more research. when you walk to the side of the boat, you scream. 4 more dolphins have been killed overnight. the closest one smacks against your boat with every crash of waves. you use the net from your boat to catch it and bring it on board so you can examine it.
you find that this dolphin has the same bite marks as the one from yesterday. you assume the other 3 are in the same condition. horrified, you try to figure out what could be doing this. it can’t be a shark, their bites are much bigger than this one. it can’t be any of the fish because their bites are too small.
bewildered, you put the dead dolphin back in the water, leaving it for food as you had done with the previous one. you look out into the vast waters, wishing you could spot something else out of the ordinary that might explain all of this.
while you’re standing on the right side of the boat, you get a sudden chill that feels like you have eyes on you. you feel like you’re being watched with malintent. you turn around abruptly, only to find that there’s nothing there. you walk over to that side and lean over to see if there’s something hiding. nothing. unnerved, you go to note down the sudden death of these dolphins.
tonight, you decide not to sleep. you need to find out what is causing these animal deaths. what sort of monster is killing full grown adult dolphins with a bite so small? you keep a small flashlight on you and wander around the open space of your boat. you keep the light off so you don’t scare whatever is lurking in the sea. you’ll only turn it on if you hear something.
for a few dark hours, you hear nothing but the usual sounds of the ocean. crashing waves, whale songs and the wind. but then, you hear the flap of what sounds like a fin. you think for a moment that it might just be a fish, but the contact it makes with the water sounds too big to be a fish but too small to be a whale.
you rush to click on your flashlight and manage to catch a glimpse of an unusual tail-looking fin. it’s bright orange and highly bioluminescent. it doesn’t look like it belongs to any of the known animals of this ecosystem; at least not to the ones you know of. it appears a couple more times before disappearing. you can see it glowing under the water for a few meters before disappearing into the night completely.
the next morning, you hope and pray that no more animals have died since you went to bed. you stayed up as late as you could but you did need to sleep. unfortunately, your worst nightmare has appeared. one of your whales is dead. one of your huge blue whales has fallen victim to this unknown creature. this feels like it’s getting revenge on you for spotting it.
you scream and collapse to the floor, staring at your whale floating on the surface of the water. the water surrounding it is dark red. you can see that he’s missing chunks of blubber from his back and sides. “leave my animals alone!” you yell out into the vast sea, wishing that whatever was doing this would hear you.
you feel that same feeling of being watched again. the thing is listening to you. you can just feel it. “stop killing the animals, they never did anything to you! if you want my attention, just show yourself!” you yell again.
you hear the water splash before hearing and feeling something crash onto the floor of the boat. fear shoots up your spine, every part of you urging you not to turn around. are you really about to face the thing that’s been tormenting you and the ocean? yeah, you are.
you turn around and you’re faced with a beautiful man standing across the deck from you. his arms are crossed and his dark eyes pierce yours. you know that he was the one causing the feeling of being watched but there’s no way he could kill a whale. matter of fact, there’s no way he could be all the way out here without a ship.
“you’re really fucking annoying. all that screaming these past couple mornings has been piercing my ear drums,” he finally speaks. he tilts his head and smacks the side of it, forcing water out of his ears.
“are you what’s been eating the dolphins? and my whale?” you ask, getting up off the ground. you gesture to your very dead whale behind you. the man nods, shrugging. “i’m not really a fan of the taste of whale but i knew it would set you off, so i killed it,” he picks at his teeth as if he has food stuck in there. “your scream made it worth it.”
“what kind of sadistic fuck are you?” you stare at him, completely horrified at what he just said to you. he laughs at you. finding joy in your displeasure. “what, sea creatures can’t have a little fun anymore?” he walks closer to you, waving his hands in the air as if he’s offended.
“you don’t look like a sea creature,” you make a confused face at him. he doesn’t have gills or fins or anything that would really scream ‘sea creature.’ he rolls his eyes, rolling up his sleeves. he reveals bright orange scales that go all the way up his arms. they seem to match the color of the strange tail you saw last night. he grins with terrifyingly sharp teething, seemingly sensing that you’re putting the pieces together.
“what… what are you?” you say, subconsciously taking a step back to go back to a safer distance. “well, let’s list my features and see if you can figure it out with that stupid brain of yours,” he bares his teeth at you. “scales, mermaid-like tail and sharp teeth. take a guess little miss marine biologist.”
that’s impossible. what he’s describing is fictional. merely folklore. “siren,” you mutter, your voice barely above a whisper. he clasps his hands together in excitement. “ding ding ding! look at your feeble brain go,” his smile has sinister undertones and a new rush of fear surges through you.
“now, i’m here for one thing and one thing only,” he plops down onto the ground, crossing his legs. “see, sirens can only reproduce with a human, not other sirens. and you, being out here all alone, are the perfect candidate,” your face contorts into minor disgust. “no,” you retort.
“i think you’re misunderstanding. i’m not asking,” he says before he shakes his head at you. he opens his mouth and a beautiful song fills your ears. it is haunting and echo-y in your head. you feel yourself being drawn to him instantly. you’re unable to move at your own free will.
your legs carry you to him on their own accord. despite his mouth closing, the song continues to possess you. you halt in front of him, your body completely limp. you’re only being held up by the powers of his siren song.
he removes your clothes with an inhuman ferocity. your body is laid down on the ground, completely stripped. he hovers above you having removed his own clothes as well. you come to find that the orange scales cover his whole body. you strain your eyes to look further down his body and find your eyes meeting what was hiding under his pants. it’s basically the size of your forearm. you can already tell it’s gonna hurt.
he spreads your legs and gets between them, lining his length up with your hole. you want to fight and close your legs, but you’re completely immobilized. he shoves his whole member into you at full force. it hurts so much you see stars. the stretch is enough to make tears sting your eyes.
“shhh, good whores can take cock with no warm up,” he caresses your face with a gentleness you had yet to see from him. “you’re gonna be my good cum dump and do what i make you.” he lets you adjust for a few moments before pulling all the way out and slamming back in. screams beg to leave your throat but you’re unable to release them.
he pounds into you with animalistic speed. his only focus is on breeding you. that’s the only reason he’s been tormenting you. he’s using your body for continuing his own bloodline.
out of nowhere he pulls out of you, his high clearly creeping up on him. something in his demeanor changes as he leans down to one of your legs. without warning, he bites a chunk out of your thigh, chewing and swallowing it in front of you.
“need more stamina to fill you up like the good whore you are,” he says as he wipes your blood off his lips. he shoves back into you before leaning down and digging his teeth into your shoulder. he doesn’t rip any skin off but he leaves a few deep bites.
his hips stutter and his sharp nails dig into your hips. he pumps you full of his seed. it’s so much that it streams out of you as he continues to thrust into you. “gotta make sure you’re gonna get pregnant. otherwise i’ll have to follow you home for more than claiming my child,” he whispers in your ear.
he pulls out of you, cum spilling out from inside you and pooling under you. he puts his clothes back on and sighs, staring at you. “your pregnancy will be fast with a siren baby. maybe, 3 weeks? don’t go back to shore until after you give birth or i’ll gut you like i gutted that whale.” with that, he jumps back into the sea.
you lay there in shock of what just happened. you finally regain control of your limbs and you stand up. you grab tissues to clean yourself up. you put your clothes back on and sit on your bed, wondering how the hell you just lived through that.
before you know it, 3 weeks has passed and you give birth to a beautiful baby boy. he takes after his father with his orange scales. as promised, the siren returns to claim the child. “perfect,” he says, taking the child from you and heading for the water.
“wait!” you yell. he turns around, looking at you puzzled. “what’s your name? that’s the least you could tell me after i just had your kid.” he smiles at you and jumps into the water. you rush to the side of the boat and he pokes his head above the water.
“seonghwa.”
© lomlhwa 2023
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Loafeon (Grass/Fairy)
#??? - Eevee are uniquely adaptable Pokemon that are shaped by their diet, relationships, and environment. Grass/Fairy-type Eeveelutions, named Loafeon, have never been found far from human settlements and seem to exist solely alongside humankind. While there are several theories on the origin of these Pokemon, an anecdotal story persists as a common myth: There once was an Eevee that lived with a poor baker; without much other food to offer, the Eevee lived off of spare loaves from the baker. Over time, the unbalance nutrition of a bread diet was overcome by the natural adaptability of Eevee, with the apparent side effect of the spare carbohydrates producing an edible outer coat of bread. Though this tale does not explain how Loafeon have become relatively common, it is believed that feeding a beloved Eevee certain types of bread and pastries can trigger this evolution. Because Loafeon’s bread does not require dry heat like regularly produced baked goods, it is full of nutrients and healthy bacteria that are normally lost during the baking process. Similarly to shaving a Wooloo, a Loafeon’s bread can be safely harvested without harming the Pokemon. Rumor has it that pairing a Loafeon’s bread with a Daireon’s milk will boost the healthiness of both ingredients, though this has yet to be formally tested by Pokemon biologists.
This Loafeon was conceptualized and commissioned by @dannyundos.
Other dual-type Eeveelutions
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#pokemon#fakemon#in progress pokemon#dual type eevelutions#hybrid eeveelutions#hybrid eeveelution#dual type eeveelution#grass type#fairy type#commission#dannyundos#loafeon#named
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The Acolyte Brendok Re-write
I went ahead and reworked the entire Brendok storyline to flesh out and improve on character development. This rewrite ends up to the same outcomes but is set to be one long episode or two back to back if need be, with a much deeper focus on our star POV character:
This rewrite is very long (5.3k words) so I'm putting it under a cut. If anything is confusing let me know. Some scenes are not fleshed out at all as they're intended to be mostly the way they are in the show.
Thanks to my friends Paula and Vincent who helped craft this plot.
Torbin POV — He's our focal POV character for Jedi sections.
Instead of picking moss for 7 weeks they have been on a hyperspace survey, hopping from blighted world to blighted world, exactly what they expected to find. Torbin makes a deprecating joke about how excited he is to sample new rocks.
They drop out of hyperspace and discover the lush green world of Brendok.
Cockpit scene with the Jedi arguing loudly, strong emotions : excitement, confusion, lots of back and forth with words we and Torbin don't understand, and some of the conversation made all the more confusing by Kelnacca's shyriiwook.
The audience gets to be educated about vergence alongside padawan Torbin. But clearly the Jedi aren't sure this is what it is, and the vergence is made to be a very mythical and improbable thing. Sol argues it must be one, and Indara says he's being far too hasty.
> Establishing early the theme of Sol seeing what he wants to see in things and getting ahead of himself.
Torbin seems excited that they can finally report something significant and go home.
Kelnacca laughs and says something. Torbin is crestfallen and asks "Really?"
Sol, fixed on the world with poorly veiled enthusiasm, says "Of course, we can't pass up such an opportunity. We have all the tools we need as well."
Indara agrees and says they will land and take samples. When Torbin gives her a wounded look, she smiles and says this is definitely the last world on this mission before going home, but they can't not investigate.
They crash land or damage their ship in some way as they come down. They try to call for rescue and find their comms broken. They trigger their distress beacon and prepare to wait. Indara decides to deploy the team collecting samples and data to not waste their time, since they're here either way.
On that first night, Torbin has nightmares. We don't get in them but see him have tremors and kicking.
Montage of how tedious and boring the life is, collecting moss and not finding the clues they expect. They have a camp OUTSIDE their ship (like a campervan extending so they can process samples and cook on fire, etc.) Field biologist vibe, and the adult Jedi all give off that field tech nerd vibe enduring the elements to get stuff done.
Torbin (who is shown rubbing his forehead on occasion and blinking at his samples/at the horizon) is complaining a lot about the feeling that this is pointless, and Sol—who is very excited for the possibilities of a vergence—keeps trying to uplift and reassure him, getting in the way of Indara's training. They have a chat about it like in the show, making it clear that Sol is overstepping, despite it being in good spirits.
Torbin goes and has another nightmare, this time we're in it with him.
He's running through a forest, and spirit/demonic smoky figures are running around him, laughing, cackling. He's being hunted. The trees part before him, shining bright. He comes to a hard stop. When the brightness equalises, we see the vista before him is the coruscant skyline.
Cut to his face, teary-eyed, quivering smile of relief.
An arrow shoots through his throat. He goes to fall to the ground—next cut, the thing that actually hits the ground is an animal, shot there with an arrow by the witches.
(It's a scene transition to daytime in the real world)
Osha POV
Mae and Osha are there, being taught how to hunt. Mother Koril makes them rehearse their lessons on how to poison their arrow tips, and what poison is used for what season, establishing their mentor/student relationship and the future poison name-drop. The witches hunt as a group, and we see them using the smoke power to get ahead of an animal or away from danger. It is shown to be positive and useful.
Mae uses the Force to freeze one of the animals Osha is supposed to shoot and she takes exception to that. She starts an argument between them over how to hunt, saying Mae always does stuff like that and to stop. She wants to prove herself alone. Mae doesn't get it: they are always together so they should hunt together.
A scout crashes the end of the hunt by reporting the presence of intruders further in the forest. Koril is first curious and cautious, but the witch says they seem to be Jedi and Koril goes into panic mode and repatriates everybody home.
The girls bicker the whole way home and wonder what Jedi are like and how dangerous they really are, with the adults too busy hurrying to really mind them.
Their settlement is in a crater/mountain/old mine too, but many of the buildings are made out of local wood. Only the inner chambers and private quarters of the girls and mothers seem to be in the stone buildings. However, LOTS and LOTS of lush carpets and tapestries are everywhere within these areas. Despite the abandoned mine setting, things are warm and cushy. That will also be great fuel for fire later. It gives the witches a strong visual aesthetic. They clearly do a lot of crafts. Visual representations of the Thread abound, and lots of spirals and dot work.
It becomes very clear that the girls are the only children and treated as little princesses.
Koril goes to talk to Aniseya. She reveals the presence of Jedi on the world. Aniseya smiles at her and says 'I know.'
Start of an argument, Koril demanding, 'When were you going to tell me about this?'
Aniseya saying it's fine, she's just keeping an eye on them through the eyes of their weakest member (Torbin). They crashed down in a valley beyond the river and should pose no threat. There's only 4 of them and they seem to be scientists/researchers/academics.
Koril remains angry and says they can't afford to take any risk as the ritual is fast approaching and they can't miss this chance to tie the girls to the coven.
Aniseya has strong words then, challenging Koril over how much she thinks she cares for the girls and asserting she would never endanger them and only thinks about what's best for them.
Here is when the girls come running in, having changed, and Aniseya flips to good mom and feeds them treats. Insert some cute family time together. Here is a good moment to have Osha voice how scared she is of the coming ritual and further the bickering between the sisters. Osha can complain about how Mae got in the way of her hunt, that she won't let her do anything on her own and this isn't resolved when Aniseya interrupts the fight and makes them hold hands, just like in the show.
Torbin POV
It's morning and Sol and Torbin are eating rations in the sun, sitting on crates by the ship.
Sol gives a sheepish look over his shoulder to the ship's entrance, but approaches Torbin asking him if he's OK. He heard him scream early this morning.
Torbin breaks and confesses to his nightmares (and maybe headaches, triggered from Aniseya taking glances through his eyes). He's distraught and Indara approaches, annoyed, thinking that Sol is overstepping again. Kelnacca is on her heels. She arrives in time to hear Torbin say he thinks they're not alone on this planet. He's seen them. He sees them in his dreams. Adds something cryptic like "they live in the mountain".
This should be shot almost like a horror film moment.
The masters exchange looks, but can sense his unease and agree to go investigate. Sure enough, they find proof of habitation.
Torbin looks relieved at the news: it wasn't him losing it. But he's extremely aloof and clearly torn between going to confront these people and ask for hospitality + broker peace, vs. keeping clear of them since his dreams are so ominous. Anyway it's clearly not his call to make and they are very low on resources + have only a distress beacon and hope to send a message to the order.
Emphasise that the knights are more hopeful and open and consider themselves welcome anywhere in the galaxy, highlighting how unusual Torbin's anxiety seems. He looks like he's overreacting as far as the jedi know.
They bang on the door and after an awkward wait, a woman comes out and asks what they want.
They explain they crashed and have low food and no comms, and hope to trade and send out a message/confirm they're being picked up.
The woman frees the way and invites them in.
The vibes are off the entire time, but more in an awkward or uncertain way.
When they are allowed to step in and talk to the mothers, the witches at the door perform a small welcoming ritual, dabbing their foreheads with a dash of white paint. Something intrusive and unconventional. Indara and kelnacca care the least/are used to putting up with weird local stuff, while Sol seems a little put off or wary, and Torbin is outright uncomfortable with being touched.
They go inside, get to be shown around a bit. The witches are very standoffish. Kelnacca strikes off to inspect their craft and is curious about the spirals and chats to an artisan who speaks shyriiwook. Indara is focused on getting a message out. Aniseya insists on sending it themselves (to make sure they don't plot against them). Indara promises them safety though if they could help understand the planet it would be great.
Aniseya plays dumb about the vergence (IDK what you mean?) but says they can answer their questions. Sol starts asking, more and more questions about the planet and the witches (when they arrived, where they landed, was the mine operational when they arrived, etc) making them grow visibly uncomfortable, as it seems like he's asking to figure them out, rather than the planet.
Meanwhile Osha and Mae are spying on them. Mae insist on going back to their room as they were ordered to stay out of the way. Osha distracts her. She says look at the mighty scary jedi. They're not so bad. Sol is smiling as he asks his questions, Indara laughs politely with someone. Kelnacca is now trading food. They aren't that scary and also... There's a boy.
The girls fixate on Torbin, who looks tweaky and uneasy. They nudge each other, comment on his curls and wonder what he's like. Osha spots his lightsaber and points to it. She decides to go have a closer look. Mae insists it's not safe and that they should go back to their room.
Osha goes and pspspshhhs Torbin. He spots them and follows them to a more secluded area. He makes fast friends and shows off his lightsaber when asked. He looks much more at ease seeing kids around.
They start quizzing him with dozens of questions all at once. Mae and Osha have different interests (Osha asking about other kids and what life is like on Coruscant, Mae asking why he's carrying a weapon and can she see it, or something like this).
Torbin, who is clearly good with younger kids, answers them and starts reminiscing about what he left at home. The temple, his classes, his friends... he seems increasingly homesick. Osha asks how many other children there are and is shocked when she learns there's hundreds of them, living equally all together.
The chat goes in the direction of Torbin being the one asking questions and the girls guard is down. They tell him about the ritual they're about to take part in. Maybe he likens it to a knighting and they clarify they will become the leaders of their coven. Torbin asks how come they can become leaders if they're kids still learning. The girls don't really have an answer, but maybe Mae says it has to do with how good they are with "pulling on the Thread". They reveal they are FS that way (maybe pulling Torbin's saber out of his hand with a victorious smirk, which would make Torbin freeze in realisation).
They are then caught. Torbin is dragged away and the girls are forced back into the building. He is made to swear to not speak of the girls to anyone. He does. He gives his word.
The Jedi go back to their ship and very quickly Torbin says they are force users. This immediately clicks for the Jedi. "ah so that's why the vibes were so off. They're witches." sort of realisation.
When asked how he knew, Torbin hesitates but quickly reveals the girls' presence. He says they claimed they too can "pull on the thread", which the older jedi immediately understand to mean use the force.
Sol shows interest and curiosity and some concern. Only two children? Twins? And why are witches hiding them? Again we get to hear more about the Jedi's relationship with force cults via dialogue between Torbin and the masters. They explain to him why some force cults are seen more negatively, and he has only heard of nightsisters.
Torbin is asked for details and mentions what the girls said about being part of a ritual and becoming the coven leaders.
Sol continues to worry and the POV shifts to him.
In the morning he goes to spy on the witches, climbing the side of the walls.
At first he only sees normal life scenes, but then he follows a large group that makes its way to the pit to begin a ritual. They carry a very elderly witch. Then they head to fields set in terraces carved from the rock wall. There he witnesses with increasing distress a death ritual, in which the elderly witch, clearly at death's door but still alive, is levitated between chanting witches with black eyes. She dissipates into smoke.
We experience and see how incredibly wrong and disturbing this feels to Sol. Dune-style montage of his vision/sensation of this, to highlight that her passing into the force was not usual. This is not peaceful or light. Maybe he feels nauseous. Visible reaction.
But then the plants in the fields experience a mad growth spurt (close ups of sprouting seeds, things rotting faster, soil shivering with worms and insects, buds exploding into flowers and seed). Would go with whoompy and base heavy, oppressive soundtrack.
The witches come out of their trance delighted and go observe the results in the fields while Sol makes his shaky exit.
He goes back to Indara extremely concerned and insists on "rescuing" the girls. Torbin feels more guilty now that he spoke up at all. He just wants to leave and is against going to fetch the kids. Outvoted again. Indara accepts the risk seems great and they can use the Jedi looking for kids as an excuse to confront them about this.
Osha POV
The girls are still arguing as they prepare for the ritual. Talk with Aniseya. Very little needs to change. The ritual proceeds and is again interrupted. Make that ritual look a little spookier but remain visibly just as safe.
Torbin POV
We go back to the show's scene of a home invasion by the Jedi, interrupting the ritual for the girls. The girls are hidden but this time Indara says she knows there are children here. Koril glowers at Torbin who tries to make himself very small.
Dialogue remains similar. The girls are brought forward. Sol softens and mellows and clearly is smitten with them and tries to recruit them. Torbin blurts out the mark on Mae's forehead is new, which makes everyone tense up.
Indara insists the children be tested. Osha wants to. Koril argues. Sol argues. The camera pans to Torbin instead and their voices fade out to a hum. His face is twitching. Voices around him accuse him of lying, breaking his word, and being spineless. Intruder, child snatcher, etc. He breaks, blinks, and whispers "I'm sorry", and the moment the word is out, his eyes instantly go black.
Scene proceeds as in the show. The witches promise to bring the girls in the morning for their tests.
Sol is vindicated and extra worried due to the way they treated Torbin. Unlike in the show though, Indara cannot ask for council guidance. She sticks to the rules and says Sol can't be for real, the girls are too old, the witches too weird, they won't let them go. Torbin may add they're here with their mom and it's fine and to please leave it.
As they walk to their two speeders, the celestial bodies overhead separate (the opportunity has passed and the ritual cannot resume)
Osha POV
Chat with their mom about the test with the Jedi the next morning. Girls arguing. Mae says there's no point as they're part of the coven now. Osha saying she isn't. Aniseya tells her that of course she's part of them, even if the ritual wasn't fully completed. She tries to reassure her, says she must lie.
Osha whines and says she wants to show her progress and what Aniseya taught her. Aniseya explains that it would be dangerous and that the jedi have to know as little as possible about their true capabilities. Both girls ask why, as they still both think the Jedi were nice and don't seem like bad people.
Aniseya explains that the Jedi aren't bad as individual people and that maybe all of them here are very kind and good, but the order they belong to is enormous, wields power and controls it. It gets to decide who can use the Thread and in what way. Then she segways into a gentle and kid friendly explanation that many generations ago, their coven already had to flee a world to escape from the Jedi. She may say that they claim to be peaceful, but have gone to many wars against the Sith, and that you can't even call it a war when they wipe out a small coven.
The girls go to the ship and make their promise to lie.
We see Mae lie and tell worrisome things about becoming "one with all" to the masters like in the show.
Then Osha goes in. The same happens but she already knows about other kids and she simply asks what it was like for Sol and is shocked to hear they have babies too and that Sol was given pretty old at 4 yo.
Once she's done with the test she's now not failing, we get to see her try more things. The remote and saber, a little spar with Torbin with sabers on low settings, push-feather with Indara. She's exhilarated and bright eyed and admits she wants to become a jedi. We SEE her be happy with them and ask questions she likes the answers to.
Indara is looking quite displeased with this. Torbin is very uncomfortable standing in the doorway, and Sol is smiling brightly and encouraging Osha, clearly bonding with her through the test.
When Osha steps out Mae already knows she must have told them the truth because she stayed in the ship for so long.
We go back with the witches. Have same scene as in the show with osha deciding she wants to go, Aniseya promising to take her opinion into consideration, the witches being against it, and Aniseya choosing to let her go.
ASIDE :
The reason why the girls are so OP, must become leaders and the witches have no other kids (all relevant to the back and forth with Aniseya and should inform dialogue)
The coven uses group action. Most of the witches are fairly weak individually but can be powerful as a group working as one. The power of many. They rally behind powerful leaders. On their last world they were subject to attack, lost a lot of their children in particular, and their OP leader. Mother Aniseya/Koril were younger then, but the two next OP. They fled to Brendock in hiding, and discovering the vergence, Aniseya created the twins. Seeing their potential they were made as next leader. This would mean leading group rituals and protecting the Coven. They are only as powerful as their best witch, and Mae and Osha are like multipliers.
The witches don't make it sound like this is taboo, and more like Jedi would definitely take the girls away to study them and never return them. They can't afford this because of protection, they are not even done recovering from the damage of their last conflict.
Back to the story, with Mae furious. She is kicked out before Osha leaves the room. We now see her lock the doors and break the pad without anyone knowing, before she runs back into the building to get to Osha.
Torbin POV
The Jedi rescue finally arrives at the crash site. It's just one man in a small ship. He's here to give them a ride back. Torbin wants to go now, Sol wants to stay. The blood test ping right then.
The girls are suspicious to them immediately. Sol concludes they were born of the vergence. Indara suggests they might have been created from it, split somehow. She goes to use the new ship's comm to go as the council for guidance.
They are all in their camping area, half packed up. The new jedi is watching them argue while sipping on his soup, looking confused. Indara comes back out saying the Council said NO.
Osha is too old, and with her alone there's no proof they're the product of a vergence. They said they must come home, and will send another crew later on to mediate with the coven and investigate the matter.
Sol is distressed and says the girls are in danger. Mae is already marked. Osha outright said she wants to come. And if they bring back BOTH girls then the council will see they are a vergence and must be trained/studied. This is where he says he feels OSha is meant to be his padawan.
Indara goes to protest, but Sol runs for a speeder to say he can negotiate with the witches.
Indara yells for Torbin to follow him and stop him. (there's only two speeders and Torbin being lighter will be faster alone to catch up). She and Kelnacca run for the new ship telling the new guy that they'll be right back and please mind the camp. He looks very confused but resigned.
Torbin catches up to Sol outside the coven and begs him to stop. They can finally go home. They don't belong here. Sol ignores him and instructs him to shut off his mind so they don't get to him again and breaks in, Torbin on his heels.
Witches on high alert. Koril and Aniseya rush to the yard to confront the men.
Osha POV
Fight/argument with the girls in their room. They vent a lot of their usual criticism, push and pull over Osha's notebook, and in it Mae sees doodles of Torbin too (bit of a "turning Red" style acknowledgement that girls get crushes, but it also helps establish Osha as turned to other people and Mae perceiving this as a threat.
Now Mae mocks Osha for having known Torbin for barely a day and she's already boy-sick.
Osha rips the book from her hand and goes to hit her with it. Mae reacts by pushing her with the force out of reflex. Osha doesn't block (as she didn't with their earlier training which still can happen when they come home from the hunt). She sends Osha flying across the room, hitting her head. She passes out and doesn't see the lamp breaking on the carpet, igniting it.
Mae freezes, watching the carpet flare up. She tries to tamp it down, screaming Osha's name. She runs to her and tries to lift/drag/shake her but she's heavy and the fire is spreading. She rushes out screaming for help.
Torbin POV
The situation is heating up as Kelnacca and Indara arrive together. Sol has dropped the fact they should be taking both girls if they can and the witches are reacting like this is child snatching and straight up won't surrender Mae.
Indara tries to calm everyone. She's starting to make sense, and Aniseya goes to say something (maybe say she's OK to let Osha go), only for Mae's scream to be heard. She comes out screaming "Fire, fire!"
Sol yells "Osha!" Only for Mae to give him a weird look and say "Osha's trapped in the room!"
Sol blinks his surprise away. The witches turn on the jedi, many voices heard at once, asking what have you done!? Indara says "Nothing, we're all here, we just want to talk."
The witches fire back they are lying/they have a new jedi/he must be here.
Torbin whips out his lightsaber right as the witches begin firing at him.
All at the same moment or in very quick succession:
Koril goes for Indara and is deflected by Kelnacca
Aniseya goes to smoke rescue Mae, only for Sol to freak out at the sight of the smoke effect again and stab her. She still tells him "You could have taken Osha, she chose to go and I was going to let her".
Mae screams and rushes forward, falling over Aniseya. Indara leans over her and says they have to put down the fire, asking where Osha is.
Koril attacks Sol.
Kelnacca and Torbin block arrows while Indara picks Mae up and asks to show her the way.
Osha POV
Osha wakes up alone in a room in flames. To her, she was left for dead and left to burn. She makes her escape as in the show. She can't get to the door due to flames. We hear screams and explosions as the whole place flames up. She makes her way through the tunnels.
Jedi POV
Cut back to Mae and Indara, discovering the room is empty. Indara is calling out for Osha, tries to sense her, says she's not here. Mae has already spotted the open pipe and darts away.
Cut to the Koril vs. Sol fight and Torbin blocking arrows. Things proceed as in the show, with Koril disappearing to smoke and the witches taking over Kelnacca, except Indara stops her efforts to contain the fire and find Osha when she hears Torbin scream.
She winces in shared pain and rushes back out to see the end of the fight with Kelnacca. She intervenes again. This is way more visceral. We actively see depictions of her mental state. When the witches are cut off it's a thread snapping/strong sound design. Indara is shaken, mumbling an "oh no... I... I...' (clearly didn't intend to kill when she severed the bond)
There are still screams about the place as women try to escape the flames and smoke. Several explosions then.
Indara snaps at Sol "Find the girls!" before rushing to Torbin's side. Kelnacca is KO. Torbin is much more grievously injured. A sweating and visibly strained Indara takes a deep breath before trying to use force heal on him.
Sol POV
Sol, running inside to find the girls, stumbles on the witches all dead. Koril is WITH them, to highlight the fact she wasn't dissolving with the smoke effect, but teleporting, meaning Sol must have overreacted to this effect (and now he can guess what Aniseya most likely attempted and we know he knows).
He hears screams and follows them.
Instead of the girls being in a split gangway about to collapse just yelling each other's name, he finds Osha trapped outside the exit of her pipe system. She is still over the same drop, though it'd there is a lot more smoke that obscures the real depth of the shaft (and there's more coughing/strong impression things are burning all around).
Mae appears from the side and at a higher point (she's been tracing the path of the pipes trying to find where Osha would emerge and is getting to her now). She proceeds to move forward despite how dangerous the damage gangplank is, to try and reach Osha.
Sol yells for her to move back. He tries to find a clear pass, crying from the smoke in the air. Mae is saying she's sorry, she's also crying and saying "Mom's dead" to a horrified Osha who asks her "what did you do?!"
Mae says "The Jedi came for you!" as an accusation. "I didn't—" and then the ramp drops a bit, they both scream. Sol yells for them to hang on and gets closer.
Mae gets back up at the edge of the ramp and Osha grabs her hand and joins her. Their combined weight is too much. The ramp breaks and falls down over the pit. They hang on, screaming, and Sol grabs the entire ramp with the Force.
He's crying, blinking, straining. Mae is slipping, her grip on Osha loosening. She has one hand on the ramp and one on Osha's top.
Sol slips in the Force and the ramp falls. Mae and Osha are shaken loose, but Sol grabs Osha with the Force, letting Mae fall (She was behind Osha, grabbing the back of her shirt, so she doesn't really see what's happening in the moment).
Things proceed as in the show, with heavier smoke and fire and Osha being dragged away from Aniseya not just because Sol doesn't want her to see the wound but also because there's real urgency in leaving. They run past the main door, where we can maybe see collapsed bodies. Sol runs to the weird black pit, on the edge of the settlement, the only place still clear of smoke. The music distorts around it, ominous. He looks around, desperate, passed out Osha in his arms.
Light falls on him from above : the jedi ship, piloted by Indara.
Cut to the same scene as in the show with them in hyperspace, except they're not in their own ship but the much smaller rescue vessel. Kelnacca is passed out right next to Osha in a cramped room, and Torbin is sitting nearby, hugging himself, face swollen and eye shut by crusted blood. He's mumbling he's sorry again and again and Indara is actively soothing him/rubbing his back before the confrontation with Sol begins and she decides they have to cover this up.
Argument remains the same : Mae started a fire, everybody died, but we know the mom allowed Osha to be a Jedi, and she's the sole survivor. She also wanted to join, and though they can't exactly prove she was created by a vergence, they have blood samples and she can still be studied while she trains.
Osha screams and cries as Sol holds and hugs her. Camera cuts to Torbin. Pale faced, bloodied. He's finally still, his one good eye fixed dead ahead as we listen to Osha's wailing.
Indara places a hand over his shoulder and whispers, 'It'll be all right. We're going home.'
Cut to Mae POV
Close up of her face, stone grey. Flakes of ash fall on her and coat her as the camera pans out. She's on her back on a lower gangplank in the shaft. She wakes up coughing, confused.
She took a hard fall and is limping and hugging her arm, but she crawls to an exhaust port and emerges in the woods.
She's covered in soot and dried blood. Much, much dirtier than in the show. She turns back around : it's dawn, her coven is still burning/emitting a huge plume of smoke.
She looks around, the camera is far away, making her small and alone in the shot. She asks, in a trembling voice, "Oshie?"
Cut to black.
#star wars#sw#the acolyte#the acolyte star wars#osha aniseya#mae aniseya#torbin#master sol#master indara#kelnacca#mother aniseya#mother koril#witch coven#sw witches#jedi#this is a pro jedi post#I hope it emphasises how everyone acted on human errors and how perhaps the planet helped murky the waters#cultural differences also really should be prominent to increase dialogue confusion#brendok#acolyte rewrite#star wars rewrite#star wars meta#sw meta#long post
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general facts about this AU-Percy/Kwazii introduction post
Okay important distinction this is a future AU in which the events of the Percy Jackson series happened pretty much how they did in the books the only major difference is that on Cersei's Island, there was one pirate that instead of trying to kill them actually helped them Escape because he saw a kinship in Percy because he's a son of Neptune( this is Calico Jack) and Tartarus leaving both Percy and Annabeth with permanent damage, Percy losing his eye and Annabeth needing to walk with a cane because her ankle never healed properly, also Percy is the only double duty character everyone else is how they are in the show or how they are on the books no more combos just him
Okay, so this is an octonauts human Au that takes place in the Percy Jackson Universe, going to start with the obvious Percy is Kwazii due to being off and on America's Most Wanted since the age of 12 through 16 (even though all those charges were dropped and otherwise resolved) Percy need an alias to work with regular society without drawing too much-unwanted attention to himself, why he chose a pirate Alias in the 21st century nobody knows, it might have something to do with another son of Poseidon Calico Jack( the actual real-life pirate) kind of adopting him as a grandfatherly figure because he was the only pirate to not try to kill them on Cersey's Island, all of the monster stories that he tells are not real and he does not believe in the reason he tells them is because one he kind of wants to fuck with his crew and two the plan is to tell obviously fake monster stories so the crew no longer believes in monsters to keep them safe, he is one of three demigods on the crew the other two are tweak daughter of a Festus( if Apollo can have kids with guys a Festus can too) and peso son of apollo. Also for some reason peso actually believes in his obviously fake monster stories even though he has pulled him aside multiple times and told them hey no I am fucking with the crew, inkling also knows he's a son of Poseidon because he is a legacy of Neptune
He is also a shark biologist but he can't share his knowledge about sharks because he chose a pirate Alias. against everyone's wishes. inkling went out of his way to come up with an alias he was supposed to be Peter Johnson but no Percy said fuck that I'm going to be a pirate
Oh and the reason he wears an eye patch is not for Aesthetics he actually lost his eye in Tartarus, and this would be mentioned in Annabeth's post as well but she uses a cane because the events of Mark of Athena and House of Hades did long time damage to her ankle
Also, all of the Percy Jackson characters or how they look in the TV show, because one Leah is our Annabeth and two blonde hair Kwazii makes more sense than brunette Kwazii
Oh also before I forget in this Au he's 28
Another thing I forgot to mention the reason why he has Arachnophobia is spiders are a trigger for Tartarus because Arachne is the reason both he and Annabeth fell in
#percy jackson#octonauts#octonauts au#percy jackson au#kwazii#kwazii son of poseidon#kwazi son of poseidon au
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⭐ go on, give us the bizarre worldbuilding? (The kind of worldbuilding-theory where you take a crack trope and go, 'what kind of world would you need to end up with this' is always fascinating).
Oooo, bizzare worldbuilding!!!! Not sure how crack of a trope this is, but it was something that got cut from the current chapter to ATTEMPT to reduce the infodumping that Mirisse had going on! In short, that reproductive cycling/heats/ruts in this universe can be very influenced by climate and weather. Here was the original sentence that got cut:
… “And before we came to Valinor, seasons were more of a factor. Everything tends to be temperate here, but a temperature shift towards warmth—a distinct winter-to-spring trend—also tended to trigger reproduction.”
…I THEN lost the thread trying to figure out what seasons actually were, in absence and presence of the Trees and before the sun and moon. Are Varda’s Stars, in the early days, close/significant enough to provide seasonal warming through light energy? The sun is a star, after all, so if the stars were close enough, they could have some warming/seasonal effects. Is there leftover warmth being passed around from the Lamps? Is it all geothermal at this point? And in absence of the rotation of a globe, how does that work? And do the Trees have any climactic effects on Middle-Earth, even if the light isn’t visible? If the light of the trees has energy, it should at least impact wind patterns and heat diffusion.
And then I realized that if there weren’t dramatic seasons anywhere, that wouldn’t have an effect on the reproductive cycles of anything (elves, or, like, wildlife with a distinct breeding season as well) UNTIL the sun/moon were invented. I’m not the first to think of the death of the trees (in Valinor) and later birth of the sun (in Middle Earth) as potential mass extinction events, but I do think they significantly impacted if not outright devastated the flora and fauna. The world HAD to be changed by that.
And in this universe, what does a “spring babies” breeding season mean? Could there be nomadic elven cultures that travel north at certain times of year for resources only available closer to the Helcaraxe who then travel south and thereby trigger reproduction? (conception one year for birth around the same time the next? I think? I should look up elven gestation again.) Is it like circadian rhythm, where enough exposure to extremes for long enough can literally ‘break’ it? If elves live in temperate climates long enough then move to seasonal ones, are their bodies so calibrated to the most minute shift in temperature that the change leads to either very aggressive heat/rut cycles, or do things figuratively short-circuit and they can’t reproduce until they acclimate? Maybe elves in extremes (extreme cold like the north, warm like the desert, or extreme temperate climes like Valinor) are very regular with their cycles, and elves in places with seasonal variation are more variable.
(I stopped before going down a rabbit hole in which I looked up the reproductive habits of migratory birds and how climate change is currently impacting them!)
I didn’t really come to any conclusion at the end of this, but here it is! A director’s cut of my worldbuilding process for one particular element, really. Also, I am not a climate scientist, biologist, or a geologist or other earth scientist. All of this was off the top of my head, and will require more research before it makes it into the story as backstory for How Biologically Sponsored Horniness Could Work, Climactically Speaking.
Hope this wasn’t too much! Just what was on my mind for recent adventures in bizarre wordbuilding! Thank you so much for the ask!
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this is like. entirely factually wrong, right? I'm not insane???? I know cramping is triggered by hormones, but the hormones trigger contractions in the uterus causing cramps. The whole post included at comic about a trans woman experiencing period symptoms and stuff which... whatever. But I just wanna make sure I'm not losing it (also this is my burner account so sorry if the blog looks sketchy lol)
well first of all you can't get uterine cramps if you don't have a uterus. i actually don't get uterine cramps at all during my periods (don't feel too jealous, i have endometriosis so i get pain from my lower back down both legs to my feet) because cramping does not a period make. you can get abdominal cramps for lots of reasons. i get agonizing abdominal cramps regularly bc i have GI issues. they aren't period cramps if it's not a period. i'm not a biologist so i can't fully explain how periods work, but even my monthly withdrawal bleeding is not technically a true period, so why should we have to entertain whole ass males who think their stomach cramps are the same thing as shedding your uterine lining, it's ridiculous
#answered#basic biology my ass#notice how intellectually dishonest this person is too#''they get period cramps even if they don't get periods'' by their own logic trans identified males don't get periods#even if you wanna be generous and call the side effects of their estrogen on their male bodies '''period cramps'''#they have no menstrual cycle
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What did I do?
Part 2 to this
Trigger Warnings - Blood, gore, after death descriptions, mentioned death, threats
The squelching that was associated with your arrival had Obanai gripping the Cushion he was sitting on. It had been 2 weeks in protective custody and you had managed to visit him every day. He dared not to look up. He could see the bottom of your dirtied dress as he stared at the ground. You were sitting across from him, on the armchair that matched the couch he sat on. The blue fabric that was so close to the royal blue of the dress you wore, although it had been muddled and stained with crimson, the color of your woes.
“You know what you need to do, right?” You didn’t talk much. He stopped trying to ask you questions last week when you were too busy peeling your skin to answer him. He hummed a response, hoping it was enough to leave you satisfied. Enough for you to leave him alone. Let him continue on with his waiting game. He sat by the home phone, waiting for an information on you, on who did this to you, anything to give him answers and let him rest.
“Baby, look at me” although it had been weeks since he heard you call him that, and the blood on your lungs made it sound like you were drowning, his heart still jumped. He still felt that excitement of hearing the person he loves. He didn’t look up though. He couldn’t see the next stage of your decomposition. He was a biologist, not a forensic scientist. He didn’t want to know the stages of decomposition, let alone learn it from his wife. He shook his head and you let out a huff, that similar little puff of air you would use to tease him into giving you a kiss or pout about who knows what.
“You need to leave. Forget me and leave” He knew you would say that. It’s one of the few things you’ve been saying for weeks. Leave, go, get out of here, move on, save yourself. It was a pattern but he couldn’t catch on to that, not when you were here, giving him a chance to be in your presence, though you looked so much different and you sounded like a nightmare, you were still, you.
“I can’t”
“you can” He looked up at how cold your voice sounded, muddled and distorted but less lively. He instantly regretted being so weak. Your skin had begun slipping, exposing destroyed muscle and fat. Your dress was far beyond recognizable as your body released every single fluid in it. You looked unnatural, inhumane. You looked like a stranger and maybe that meant it wasn’t really you. Maybe it was time to leave and move on, but what happened to you? Who did this to you? Why?
“You know who” Your voice was quieter, more garbled than before. He knew, since he first found you in your shared home, draped over the table, you often wrote letters on. He knew the second he stepped in and felt the weight of the air. The Iguro’s coming to look for their long-lost treasure, the only son who was promised a bright future and a life with no worries. He had tried running, and it wasn’t far enough. You were a warning, the only he would receive.
#kny#kny hashira#kny scenarios#kny x y/n#kny x reader#kny x you#obanai x reader#obanai iguro#kny obanai#demon slayer obanai#demon slayer#hashira#serpent hashira#kimetsu no yaiba
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What are the humans like in wayward sparks? Are there any notable ones?
They're not necessarily as prominent in the story as they tend to be in any canon series that includes them, but they're definitely there. The bots spend the first arc just trying to survive on earth until they find a way home, and they have quite a few run ins with the locals. Most of which are relatively unhinged, many of which are not very friendly, because they crash in an itty bitty, rural new england mountain town called Ironwood, wayyyyy out in the sticks. Most residents aren't particularly afraid to fire at will when giant robot aliens decide to show up.
Least alien-friendly would be Rusty Williams, a local logger with one hell of a trigger finger for anyone and anything on his property he sees as a threat. Aliens, government agents asking a few too many questions, cops, whatever. All of them only get one warning.
Fortunately for the stranded Cybertronians, gunshots aren't really fatal or even particularly damaging long-term for giant robots that can put themselves back together if they sustain enough damage to fall to pieces. Unfortunately, they still do enough damage to tear through their outer armor layers and that tends to hurt like a bitch.
In the very least, there are plenty of humans around with their heads screwed on right that won't try to blast anything that looks at them funny. Like Rusty's Daughter, Crystal.
That said, Crystal is an elusive type. A middle schooler Going Through It, trying REALLY hard to be edgy so people stay away (hence the $2 Spirit Halloween horns headband), she'd really prefer to spend her free time hiding in the woods where nobody can perceive her. Thats been a little more difficult ever since a bunch of giant robots started stomping around out there and all they know about her is her dad is super cringe, so she's pretty scared of a bad first imprsssion.
She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to be friends with them (which she does lie about frequently because ew, genuine feelings), especially the Decepticons, because she thinks they're cooler, but she also knows her dad would flip his lid if he knew.
Also interested in approaching the Resident Aliens, is Marie Lambert.
Marie's only just recently moved into Ironwood. It's been a rocky transition to say the least. Her dad's a biologist, a real science-y type, and he moved out to the boonies to be closer to the wildlife. Marie's plenty used to being out in the sticks, camping trips with her dad were a regular occurrence before the move, but it's a little hard to get used to the new place when there aren't very many kids her age around. And the ones that are there aren't exactly very welcoming to flatlanders showing up taking over the place.
But in the very least, Marie makes ONE friend when she finds Crystal out in the woods. And a few more when they find what the adult residents of Ironwood have been telling them to stay the hell away from.
They don't approach them straightaway (mostly because their first encounter consists of watching Shockwave scare away Bumblebee, and Shockwave skulking off when he realizes he spooked the Autobot), but the next day at school they start Planning. They HAVE to know more about the robots, and they're willing to pool their resources and information to make that happen. They figure if there's two sides and they don't play nice with each other, it's easiest for one girl to pick one side and they tell each other whatever they can find out.
This begins several beautiful friendships
Marie chooses to gather info on the Autobots. Mostly because, well, they seem less scary and potentially friendlier. She tries the polite thing (which she's hoping will result in the least possible chance for things to go off the rails) and knocks right on their door. The bots aren't really sure how to respond to a very small, very shy alien critter that showed up right at their door to ask what they are and if she can hang out. Marie isn't sure if any of this was a good idea.
They turn out to be pretty welcoming, especially because organics that aren't actively shooting at them are a nice change of pace.
She gets especially close with Bumblebee. Hes comforting. Makes her feel like everything's going to be okay. She gets pretty anxious, and he's good at keeping her grounded. So far, anyway...
On Crystal's side, it's been... Well, it's been different.
The cons would not admit it on their deathbeds but good lord did Crystal scare the slag out of them when they first realized she was there. She snuck right on aboard their crashed ship and nobody noticed her for about 15 minutes.
After the initial scare, and a bunch of big bad giant robots scrambling around because there is a Tiny Squishy Critter in their Space and they do NOT know what to do about that, Crystal starts in trying to get answers. Answers most of the cons aren't particularly willing to give out (other than Shockwave, who is just very excited at the opportunity to make a new friend).
Megatron eventually deems her more or less harmless. She isn't really causing problems or hurting anyone, she doesn't appear to be hostile (other than hissing at Lugnut when he got too close), and he can't really fault the little gremlin for her curiosity. An ally in a foreign world can be very very valuable when you're stranded, so he lets her stay, "as long as she doesn't get in the way."
Marie and Crystal meet up at school during lunch to share notes. It gets confusing trying to keep track of everything when the two sides give conflicting information so often. The girls try to keep an open mind. Hard to remember things about someone you don't like, but they can't really figure out which version is true for any given story, but they're hoping if they spend enough time with their robot friends, they'll figure it out together.
Maybe they can even help the bots and the cons make up. It's just a silly fight, after all.
It's not like anyone's going to get hurt, right? They're all good people.
#if im depicting roughly-vermont its getting the weird vermont brand of xenophobia happening for accuracy#the hicks out here dont just dislike city slickers. they just straight up dont like anyone from out of state.#and they REALLY dont like canadians#flatlanders is the term for out of state folks btw. don't worry i am NOT out here making up racial slurs#maccadam#transformers#wayward sparks#fan au#Rusty is a fucking menace#Crystal is 100% going to experience the weird little girl to weird adult man pipeline#Marie is Cautious but she cannot resist the thrall of Making Friends with Cool Robots#god im sorry this took so long i had to draw a lot of things#oh and that last sentence is Super Ominous on purpose ;)#have fun thinking about those implicationssssssss
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Blown off course and washed away, wildlife hit by hurricanes (Washington Post)
Excerpt from this Washington Post story:
Hurricanes Helene and Milton blew long-winged sooty terns and high-flying frigatebirds hundreds of miles away from their ocean comfort zones into Indiana, Kentucky and other inland states.
Helene interrupted the migration of more than 100 million birds crossing over Alabama, and triggered floods that swept thousands of North Carolina’s 30-inch-long hellbender salamanders to their deaths.
And it is very likely that some of Florida’s beloved manatees have been stranded or trapped by the hurricanes and their aftermath.
It has been a wild ride for the wildlife in hurricane country.
As swaths of the southern United States recover from the aftermath of two hurricanes that left millions without power and killed hundreds of people, ecologists and biologists are working to understand the impact the devastating storms have had on wildlife.
A few animals have capitalized on the destruction. North Carolina’s black bears have been nosing through the open doors of shattered structures in search of groceries now suddenly available. Far more animals have been displaced or killed.
Falyn Owens, a North Carolina extension biologist, said that “the biggest impact from Hurricane [Helene] that we know of so far has been species that have been basically swept out of their natural habitat either by the water, for aquatic species, or by the air itself, especially for migratory birds.”
Just how great a toll the hurricanes took on birds migrating south to spend the winter months in the Caribbean, Mexico and South America is not yet known. The first and possibly strongest indication may be feathers washing up on beaches along the Gulf Coast.
Farnsworth estimates that 150 to 275 species were in the midst of migration during the hurricanes, including magnolia warblers, American redstarts, green herons, Baltimore orioles and Swainson’s thrushes.
In a pinch, many do the bird equivalent of pulling over at a Motel 6: They find a small hole in a tree or the convenient eaves of a three-bedroom Victorian and ride out the storm.
“A lot of birds do die,” Farnsworth said. “They get exhausted and fall or get pushed into the water. These small songbirds can occasionally land on the surface of the ocean, but when there’s a hurricane they do not do well.”
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By: Frederick R. Prete
Published: Feb 11, 2024
About the Author
Frederick Prete is a biopsychologist in the Dept. of Biology at Northeastern Illinois University. He teaches courses in neurobiology, and human and animal physiology. He has also served as an associate editor for the International Journal of Comparative Psychology. Prete writes about how people use and misuse biology to support their social and political points of view.
Other essays by Prete can be found on his Substack Everything Is Biology.
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The contemporary “debate” (if one can call it that) surrounding the biology of sex suffers from a lack of intellectual seriousness on one side. The arguments forwarded by those insisting on the non-binary nature of sex often demonstrate a rudimentary understanding of basic biology, or are so comically nonsensical that one wonders whether they’re even worth responding to. Academic biologists engaging with gender activists’ arguments for the so-called “sex spectrum” are like mathematicians engaging with numerologists (individuals who believe in a mystical relationship between numbers and coinciding events) or geologists debating Flat Earthers. However, given that sex pseudoscience has somehow taken over academia, serious scholars now find themselves compelled to engage with the absurd.
One such example is the bizarre suggestion that because some fish can literally change sex during their lifetime, then perhaps humans can too. This idea, while absurd on its face, is far from fringe. It has been given credence by popular science outlets like Scientific American, which highlighted the sex-changing abilities of clown fish “to emphasize the diversity of ways in which sexual beings move through the world.” Even the United Kingdom’s national library posted (and later deleted) a thread on X during Pride Month last year about the sex-changing abilities of the Māori wrasse, and Greenpeace made a similar move in 2021.
What relevance does LGBTQ+ Pride Month have to sex-changing fish unless there’s an intention to suggest that these examples illuminate the potential for sex changes in humans? But if activists insist on making such far-fetched comparisons, they should be challenged to follow their logic to its ultimate conclusion.
Let’s be honest, animals do a lot of weird things. They enslave other animals, eat their offspring, cannibalize their lovers, kill their newborn twin sisters, and devour their siblings in the womb. Do any of these activists want to justify slavery or embryonic cannibalism because animals do it? Probably not. But it’s equally silly to claim that we can derive grand lessons about human biology and sexual behavior from animals. Male octopuses, for instance, grab a packet of their own sperm with one of their tentacles, shove inside a female’s mantle cavity, and drop it next to her oviduct. This hardly seems like a behavior humans should try to emulate. Are there any objections? Why, then, would we think that fish sexual biology is a better model for us humans than that of octopuses?
What’s more, it frustrates me that those who continuously discuss sex changes in fish don’t get the fish-sex story straight in the first place. In reality, sex changes among the roughly 20 families and seven orders of teleost fish are driven by physiological and hormonal events that are triggered—depending on the species—by factors such as body size, perceived social status, or (in the monogamous clown fish Amphiprioninae) the disappearance of the large, breeding female. It’s also the case that those big, newly minted, dominant female clown fish are viciously aggressive to any fish they do not recognize as part of their group. So, if we’re taking our cues from clown fish, let’s not be hypocritical—let’s go all the way and demand that only extremely large, dominant, hyper-monogamous people who are particularly xenophobic should consider a sex change, and only after all the other females in the neighborhood have vanished. Does that sound reasonable? (I trust you realize I am being facetious here)
It should go without saying, but it appears that some still need a reminder: people are not fish. Fish live in the water. People live on land. When it comes to sex and reproduction, this makes all the difference in the world. In aquatic environments, you can simply release your gametes (eggs and sperm) into the water and let them drift around until they hook up. That’s because, in water, they won’t dry out and die. And neither will your embryos because they’ll be in the water, too. This is why so many fish can produce eggs or sperm at different times in their lives. It doesn’t take any specialized external organs to squirt gametes into the water, just a gonad for gamete production and an orifice for release.
However, the whole situation changes if you live on dry land. As mammals evolved for terrestrial life, they had to acquire adaptations—both structural and behavioral—to prevent their gametes and embryos from drying out. You can’t simply drop your sperms and eggs on the ground and hope for the best. So, male terrestrial animals evolved specialized external body parts for transferring sperm directly into females, who, in turn, have evolved body parts designed for receiving sperm and a chamber for nurturing the developing embryo until it is ready for life on dry land. Additionally—and equally important—both males and females evolved complementary neuromuscular behavioral patterns that allow them to court and mate successfully.
That’s why terrestrial mammals can’t change sex like some fish do. Such a transformation would require females to spontaneously sprout some kind of tube for internal sperm delivery, and males would need to somehow develop a complementary orifice. Moreover—and more importantly—both males and females would need to develop all the necessary internal parts and “plumbing” to make these external structures functional. It’s insufficient to merely alter the appearance of external structures, which can be done surgically (even on pets). A terrestrial animal transitioning from a female to a male would also require developing a complex duct system linking the gonads to the external tube, along with glands to secrete a carrying fluid and nutrients for the sperm (i.e., the Wolffian duct system, prostate, and bulbourethral glands). Going from male to female would involve developing some kind of organ to catch the eggs when they get released into the abdominal cavity, retain them until they encounter sperm, and then house the resulting embryo while it develops (these are derivatives of the Müllerian duct system).
Obviously, none of this could happen. When it comes to mammals, the die is cast prenatally. So, whatever fish do is their business and has absolutely nothing to do with terrestrial mammals. So, let’s drop the clown fish and Asian sheepshead wrasse analogies. Anybody who brings them up simply doesn’t understand evolutionary biology. It is futile to engage in discussions based on such analogies unless, of course, you’re one of those people who think that because some animals reproduce parthenogenically, humans should simply stop having sex altogether and hope for the best.
I want to make it clear that I have a deep understanding and empathy for those of us, including myself, who do not fit the popular stereotypes of any category or group. Throughout my life, I have received what seems to be an unrelenting stream of criticism for the fact that I was never (and still am not) perceived as representative of the norm (whatever that is). Consequently, I grew up defending those who were similarly targeted, and I believe that each of us should be continually mindful and accepting of the rich diversity of the human condition. Each of us should actively and consciously strive to be as compassionate, accepting, supportive, and inclusive as possible.
However, doing so does not require us to abandon reason, turn our backs on biology, or unhinge ourselves from reality.
#Frederick R. Prete#Frederick R Prete#people are not fish#sequential hermaphroditism#sex change#clownfish#human biology#human reproduction#evolutionary biology#reproduction#biology#biology lesson#gender ideology#queer theory#gender identity ideology#science#religion is a mental illness
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hi! so i don't have did, i'm a singlet(is that the word? I home that it is) and i'm trying to learn more about did, but i don't really know which sources i should believe and which are just ableist bullshit, so i thought that asking someone who actually has did might be a better option than just reading articles about it online.
(also, if i say anything that comes off as offensive, than i'm really sorry and it was not on purpose, i just don't really know that much about did and this community to know what stuff is offensive)
so i have a few questions about how living with did works, and i home that you could answer them? obviously you don't have to you if you don't feel comfortable with them or just generally don't want to answer them.
so
1. alters mean the personalities that you have/that you are? I will use it that way in the questions because I don't have a better word for that, sorry if i'm being really wrong about that
2. how many times daily do the alters change?
3. do you have any control over which alter is currently the one "in control"? (from what i've read on your blog you use the term "fronting" does that term mean basically being "in control"?)
4. is there, like, a main you, that is like... the owner of the body, and the others are more like, people who just decided to live in it with you, or are you all kind of the same person with the same body and you all are this person? (I hope that you understand what i mean)
5. is every alter an whole another person, or are you all kind of the same one person?
6. i've read that different alters might have different sexualities. if you are dating someone/if you were dating someone how does that work? do all the alters date that person or do just a few alters date that person? what if one alter is gay, the other is a lesbian, and another one is aromantic? does that not create a situation in which it's kind of impossible to date?
7. when alters change in who has the control how does it look? does it take a few minutes, or are all the alters ready to take the lead all the time and just waiting for their moment?
8. if one alter likes someone but amother alter hates that person how do you deal with that?
9. are there any schools that specialize in teaching systems?
10. how do u decide what you want to do in life? I mean, if one alter wants to be a movie directory, another a marine biologist and another a football player, then what do you do?
11. what is a cocon/co-con/co con? does it mean the stage that alters are in while their are not the ones in control?
Okay so there's a lot so it'll be under the cut
1) yes! Alters are a word used to describe different states of being, previously known as personalities. If I remember correctly the word comes from "Alternate" meant to refer to an alternate state of self (do not take that at face value, it's been a while since I looked into where terms come from)
2) that depends on the system! It can happen multiple times in a minute (that one isn't super regular but is annoying when it happens) and it's even possible that Alters don't switch for months at a time! It's entirely based on what the brain thinks the body needs
3) fronting is a word used to refer to who's in control of the body. And some systems may have more control, we ourselves have little to none over who fronts and when. We do know systems who have better control though. Usually though it's most common to not have a lot of control over who fronts and when. That's why occasionally you might here someone talk about "triggering an alter out" because certain things can be triggers that get alters to front
4) a "main us" would likely be considered the host if I understand you right. I feel like "deciding to live with you" is a fairly good way to explain it, though id say its more like beinf thrown into a car together and told to figure it out lol
5) we see every alter as their own person, but that can vary from system to system
6) we have a fair amount of alters with conflicting sexualities. (Lesbian, gay man, aromantic, etc.) for us a few of us might date someone, but not all of us would. Again though, this can be something that varies from system to system.
7) this is another thing that can vary from system to system. And honestly from switch to switch (switch; referring to alters changing who is in control of the body). Sometimes our switches can happen as fast as you could snap your figures, those ones tend to be very jarring and confusing. Sometimes our switches can take hours, and cause a lot of disassociation.
For us it's not really like alters are just "at the ready, waiting for their time to front" and often when we switch with someone who was expecting to switch in, they can get a bit annoyed
8) Constantine hated my (the host) partner for a long time and it was just something we had to communicate about. He's very tolerant of my partner now, which is good. But I don't expect him to like my partner, which is important to understand sometimes. Not every alter is going to like the same people, and as long as there's in system communication (and possibly communication with the person) that's okay
9) no schools that we're aware of
10) our personal rule is "Minor decisions are made by the host/whoever's fronting at the time)" and that can apply from what to eat to what clothes to buy. And "big decisions require discussion" so college and jobs, moving and such. We have to have long discussions (that would be faster if we didn't share a body lol) about what we want in life. It can be very difficult but it does help us feel like we all get a say. This can vary from system to system tho
11) co-con stands for "Co-concious" which just means that alter is aware of the front, while not actually fronting themselves. I like to describe it as them being in the back seat while I'm driving
And ofc, most of these will vary from system to system, and ppl can absolutely add on in the replies :)
#endos dni#osdd#pdid#did#did system#pdid system#osddid#actually did#traumagenic#actually dissociative
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