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the-artist-grimm · 5 days ago

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Im sorry if you already answered something similar but does the twins ever reunite with Forneus in your au? If so how does it exactly work out, does Narinder, Anthea, and Forneus share custody?

Crimson Angel AU - The Situation between Forneus and the Twins

(Anon, @gerroacarnival and @xquaserh Putting all these asks in 1 cause oh boy this is a COMPLICATED question to answer oof. I wanna preface this that while I love Forneus just going by the characters personalities/themes of this AU the reunion is not as fairy-tale happy as it is in game)

Anyway-the boys do reunite with her technically, but not in the way Forneus dreamt. Reunions are good in theory, the long lost children reunite with their ‘real’ family, hug their mother, go ‘home’ with her, start life anew, but life isn’t so simple, now is it? It’s never that easy, not when one side clings to the memory of three day old infants and a reunion she'd dreamt of for so long it just became her expectation, and the other side has no memory and complex feelings on the whole matter with this slight feeling that perhaps while their mother loves the idea of them, she doesn't actually love them.

It's messy, complicated, and no matter what, will NEVER be the reunion Forneus wanted. The second they left her embrace, she lost the chance to be the mother she'd wanted to be for them, yet never realize till too late what else died with them.

(Putting this under the cut cause it's longgggg. The Twins and Forneus's story has so little in-game text that it's become this favorite thing of mine to interpret/expand)

The Two Parents

Forneus did and didn’t have a choice to give the boys up. When Shamura appeared, the newborn, extremely premature kits were already doomed to die, so the choice to either let them pass naturally or to allow War to take them as gifts with a potential of reunion was an either damned if she did or damned if she didn’t, situation. And in her grief and desperation, she chose the option that gave the potential for hope. She gave the twins to Shamura, accepted the golden skull, and waited. Waited for her babies to come home, waited as a mother who never really ever had a chance to be a mother-one who works off feelings but no experience.

Meanwhile when it came to Aym and Baal, Narinder never told them who their parent(s) were. How could he, when he himself had no certainty as to who they were? Though his 7th Vessel, Forneus, had left service specifically because of pregnancy, he had no means of tracking how much time had passed since when they first arrived (it could've been a century since for all he knew), nor any means to confirm without doubt that the black, newborn kittens were hers even once his next vessel gave him the date-he couldn't ask them to investigate something so personal and unrelated to their cause.

Their box held only their bodies, a spider-silk cloth which was their burial shroud, and a note penned in Shamura’s hand. ‘A Gift’ that’s all the note said. No names, no clues, no nothing. While Narinder had suspicions, he could not in good conscious tell the boys of a potential mother out of risk of being wrong-of getting their hopes up for a heroic parent only to be proved that it wasn’t her, or worse, told heroic tales just to learn they were abandoned all along. Vessel 7 was heroic yes, had a sense of justice yes, but during her service her luck had made her grow arrogant, had transformed flirting into a game of hearts and people into a way to get the upper hand-for all he knew, if they were hers, they could've all along been her means of trying to easily get out of vesselship. He just didn't know.

And thus Narinder raised them from there. He tried to use the title of ‘Master’ as a barrier in hopes that, if they did have a family awaiting them, he wouldn't take their place, (it was also out of guilt for being the reason they were trapped) but he also couldn't bring himself to fully shut them out either. The moment their dead bodies healed in the gate and they started to mewl for attention his unbeating heart bled for them, and he just couldn't deny them love because he knew how much it hurt to be without.

The Twins

As centuries passed Aym and Baal were content with Narinder as their 'Master'. He who told them stories of his time above, who taught them how to fight, who fashioned them clothes from whatever scraps of cloth he would get vessels to send-he was all they had and knew. When they felt the time to sleep it was in his paws they curled up, when they got hurt training or got bored it was from he they received comfort and attention. It was his magic which allowed them to age against the Gateway's stasis, it was he who saw their eyes open, watched as they learned to speak and walk.

But that’s not to say neither did think of whoever was left behind from time to time. Baal tried to keep hope that he and his brother were taken-stolen by the Bishops, with whatever parents they’d had having desperately tried to keep War away. Aym, meanwhile, only felt anger, bitterness and resentment, for who lets two three day old kits be taken and sacrificed? Narinder himself simply tried to keep neutral on the subject, not wanting to feed into either side in hopes that'd avoid a heartbreak or the smooth transition to their 'real' kin.

The Lamb

When the Lamb appears and starts to befriend them, it's then the boys suddenly find themselves feeling the same sense of security and comfort Narinder gives them towards Anthea. As the lamb brings them toys and books catered to their interests, teaches them to read, uses the crown to show them the world above and encourage their boundless curiosities. As nights suddenly see the lamb visit in their nightgown book and quilt in hand, letting the twins snuggle into their sides as the three are cradled against Narinder's chest while reading a book, and the boys fall asleep to a heartbeat for the first time. Narinder had always been stability and security, Anthea became tenderness and warmth.

Anthea teaches them what a 'Father' is as well, and the boys realize that's what their master actually is-he's their dad and tentatively start testing calling him as such, and while it's not until just before Silk Cradle they realize it (yet don't call them Baba yet) Anthea's long on their way to feeling like a parent too.

Which then begs the question…what of the parent(s) left behind?

First Contact

Baal still wants to meet them, he's always been curious and just wants to know who they are, while Aym is still angry and wants nothing to do with them. They got a parent in their master, and Anthea's their friend and practically a parent too, so why bother with the ones who abandoned them? Narinder overhears the boys debate over it more and more, and as Anchordeep’s door opens, Narinder hesitantly asks the Lamb for a favor.

He’d heard rumors of a shopkeep she-cat who wore a golden skull, and Anthea had been the first to confirm that cat's name was Forneus. He’d never asked a vessel to do such a thing before, mainly out of not feeling close enough to ever ask such a personal, unrelated to the Bishops, task, but he wants to give the boys closure, and Anthea would happily do anything to help the kits. And thus they're sent out, and in a bit of a side quest work their way to getting Forneus to sit down and just...talk.

She explains her side of what happened, how the boys were born too soon, how she had really no choice, breaks down, and as the cats had been listening in and Aym who's now uncertain feels bad, and he requests Narinder for permission to speak.

“Save your tears for when we meet” is what he says, and that’s all that’s said through the crown.

For Aym it’s an olive branch-he’s sorta gotten an answer as to why he and his brother were sacrificed, though he's not entirely sure how to feel since well...she still gave them up, but she looks sorry so... Baal's eager and happy to hear that they were cared about but is a little disappointed at realizing that she didn't really hesitate despite the situation, but regardless, both are willing to give her a chance. They want to get to know her, and then they'll decide how they feel after that.

They, do not, see her as a proper 'Mother'. Just someone who shares their blood who they want to meet. To then Narinder's still Dad-he's still the one who makes them feel secure.

Meanwhile for Forneus it’s proof that she’ll get what was promised. Her boys are not only alive, but they’re children-they’re still children, so she'll now get what she wanted and more. They'll reunite and she'll then take her children home to travel by her side-she’ll get to raise her dear little babies just as she’d planned, and while it took so long it's going to be perfect.

She's dreamt of the boys seeing and running into her oncoming embrace crying. That they'll love her instantly and had already because she's their mother so of course that's how they'll feel. How could they not? Children ALWAYS love their parents.

The Lamb promises to help her meet them once they’re free, and every visit after, Forneus tries to get the boys to talk again-offers gifts for the lamb to bring to the Gateway, rambles on about all the things they'll do together while the Lamb browses her shop. And...well they're things, at least. Most of the toys she offers are either baby toys or things that just don't interest the boys, and some of her plans are...plans. They're elaborate-taking them to X mountain, to X landmark, traveling here and there and everywhere. Big and grand and...and never mentioning their Dad or Anthea being there.

Baal thinks it's sweet how excited she is while Aym is getting more and more unsure-but even Baal eventually admits that she's a little...loud. Forneus is loud-she's energetic and eager and while he and Aym can be too, seeing it from a stranger about them is...weird. She keeps calling herself their Mama , and calling them Zamir and Delshad despite being told otherwise because apparently those were their names (a fact not even Shamura had been given. Narinder had to name the boys himself). She keeps talking about those three days they were with her, and it kinda feels like she loves the babies she gave up and not them.

Anthea tries to tell her about them, but she usually doesn't realzie since she's busy talking to her babies and not them, it's as if the lamb isn't even there. The boys can't even try to think of trying to talk-she never leaves an opening for them to try. Eventually the boys ask Narinder to mute the crown during the Lamb's shop visits the more uncomfortable it gets.

It's like going to a family reunion and being brought to your great Aunt who last saw you as an infant at your christening. She insists on kissing your face and hugging you tight and going oh how big you've grown sweetiepie and this and that and...and you put up with it because she's family but...well she's a stranger despite the shared blood. She doesn't actually know the you of now-and you don't know her.

Reunion

When the final Bishop falls is when Forneus suddenly finds herself left in the dark. For 6 months she sees hide nor hair of the Lamb, and gradually gets worried because where are her sons? The Bishops are dead, why hasn't she been given back her babies?

(The Lamb had been avoiding her cart during crusades out of both grief and guilt-Aym's dying word of calling them 'Baba'...it broke something in them, made them realize just how much the boys had meant. They had a shattered heart and endless guilt, and having to face Forneus and explain she'd never meet her sons? It'd been too much as a grieving parent themself)

The twins were revived after 4 months but Anthea only finally approached Forneus after 6, and she was too relived to finally hear she could meet them to bother asking what'd happened. Anthea invited her to come to the cult that weekend, and Forneus happily accepted, not even noticing the tiredness in the Lamb's eyes nor the uncertainty in their tone. Even on the day she arrived at the cult, she didn't mind the lamb, not even as Anthea gave her a final warning.

"There was trouble setting them free…they’re wary, skittish, they’ve been through a lot... I know you’re excited but please be gentle when you speak to them, be calm and keep your distance please they’re so easy to startle."

Meanwhile the boys waited at the temple with Narinder, who, for the hundredth time, asked if they were certain they were ready for this. Though it'd been 2 months, the toll of dying so traumatically via turning to ash, of being trapped in the gateway, the trauma of resurrection, the fear of being alone without their parents because that's what he and Anthea were to them, Narinder had wanted them to wait as did Anthea. The boys could hardly sleep without at least one of them there with them in bed, were just starting to be ok interacting with other people, could only handle the touch of a select few and even then sometimes would just break down into panic attacks out of seemingly nowhere. They weren't ok, but the boys had insisted. This woman who claimed to love them had been kept in the dark for so long, they felt bad and wanted to try.

They felt guilty for not being ok. Even as Narinder and Anthea repeatedly and gently reminded them that it was alright-that their feelings were valid, that they could take all the time they needed and they'd be right there to support them, the boys had insisted and they just couldn't deny them their choice.

But once Forneus arrived no one got the chance to even properly introduce the boys to her-she just saw them, ran towards them for the reunion she dreamt up, swept them into her arms, and next thing she knew she had two yowling, struggling kits trying to break from her hold. In her excitement and in not listening to Anthea's warnings she'd done the worst thing anyone could've done-she was louder, bigger, stronger, scarier than them, and as the kids managed to shock her into dropping them suddenly Baal was hyperventilating, and Aym was working himself into a panic attack. And Narinder and Anthea, having two months practice in calming them like this, and having long been the twin's safe people, immediately fell into place. Narinder got Baal, Anthea got Aym, and Forneus could only watch.

Could only watch as Baal started gasping for Dad as Narinder tried to get him to breathe, as Aym started sobbing for Baba and practically tried to bury himself in their embrace, as her babies looked at her in fear and clung to someone else.

And then all she can feel is anger. She'd waited 300 years-those boys were hers. Why are they clinging to someone else?

From there it just becomes a mess, she gets into a very loud, very heated argument with Narinder especially for 'stealing' her sons which just scares the boys more, and in a very poor move tries to just grab one of them which prompts Anthea to use a show of godly power and threaten her to get out of the Cult which she does since a crowd has also formed (the Cult was ALL aware of the twin's poor mental state, and they'd all grown very protective of the community's first children despite having to keep their distance because by gods those kids deserved more than what fate had given them).

Forneus leaves angry, and Narinder and Anthea now got two kits who had been tentatively healing temporarily back at square one, and who are now gonna start having nightmares of a stranger taking them away on top of preexisting ones.

I wanna note that Forneus isn't a bad person. She isn't, but she's also not used to things not going her way. As a vessel she was 'Lady Luck', she who rarely died, who always had the upper hand, who would pop curse shots at the Goddess of Famine for fun and be the heartbreaker of her own cult able to flirt and tease and talk her way to whatever she wished. She's kind and cheerful and charismatic sure and she genuinely does want to help people and do the right thing, but there's still this...ignorance, arrogance-that she doesn't even realize is there.

Like how above in Starfall Part 1 she VERY casually mentions how she 'knows what it's like missing her own twins' and 'how 'hard' it must be for Anthea to have nothing of their family to remember them by', but the thing is...she doesn't know. She's so hooked on this idea that she WILL get her boys back that she completely has just ignored the grief that comes with loss entirely this whole time. The way she misses her sons is NOTHING like how Anthea misses their brothers-she misses them like a relative you haven't seen in awhile but will see soon. Anthea misses their brothers because they're DEAD and they know that they will NEVER see the two again, especially now. Like Forneus has not considered how she's lost a LOT of moments with her children. They're still kids yeah but they're not returning to her as blank slates-though physically and mentally 11 they've been with Narinder for over 300 years, that's a lot of time to be without her. She loves them, but kinda more-so the sons she thought she'd get back.

Thus when you've been envisioning this 'perfect' reunion the entire time only for it to not go your way...it's a hard pill to swallow. She gets disappointed/angry understandably-anyone would, but instead of stepping back and realizing she can't fault the boy's feelings she takes it out of the ones who 'took' her place instead, which then turns her into this loud scary bad-guy to the boys.

And Aym and Baal aren't to blame in this situation, like they're kids, and like with my 'great aunt who last saw you as a baby' analogy, it's not their fault they don't immediately love her. She's a stranger-one whom, the more she tried to force interactions via the crown during their imprisonment, seemed to have little interest in them personally and more in whatever children she assumed she'd be getting back. And after that disaster of a first meeting? They don't want anything to do with her she scared them that much.

As for Narinder and Anthea they both feel awful because they understand why Forneus is angry, she only gave them up because she was promised a chance for reunion (though she ignored the CHANCE part of that), but in the same breath Aym and Baal are their sons and they'll take their side first over anyone else's. And the thing is there's nothing that could've been done on their part to prevent this really either.

Anthea telling Forneus the twins had died? Anger, grief, then upon their revival a fierce insistence for the boys to NEVER go near the Lamb or Narinder again, which the twins would've been just as terrified and against.

Narinder not showing care to the kits for those 300 years? They would've gotten attached to him anyway since he was literally all they had, though they might've turned out worse emotionally because of neglect

Telling the boys to wait longer to meet Forneus? She likely would've just shown up on her own within another month anyway since by that point Anthea had just freed Heket from Purgatory and word was starting to get around about the new God of Death so this would've happened but worse.

The only way Forneus could've had the reunion she'd wanted would have been if Narinder never forced the twins to start aging against the stasis. But then there would be two 300+ year old infants, which is a whole other can of worms.

Notes/Explaination

Again I love Forneus in-game she's so adorable and my one of my favorite NPCs to visit, but I also like making imperfect characters, especially parents and their relationships with their children. And while I love the idea of her being this wonderful, sweet, amazing mother, I also like the idea of her being really flawed about it to.

Crimson Angel is about learning to communicate with your loved ones, and in this case, it needs to be her looking at things from the twins view and realizing that if they don't want her in their lives, she has to accept that. She needs to realize that she's not entitled to their love just because she gave birth to them. She also has to let go of the sons she gave up that day-those three day old infants who were perfect little blank slates, and get to know the boys they became without her. She has to realize someone else took her place in their hearts, and realize that if she wants to join them, she HAS to let the boys come to her, and that she has to work on THEIR terms.

She cannot try and force a love if she wants a chance for it at all, and must swallow her pride and listen to others who know the boys better-Anthea and Narinder, alongside the boys themselves.

She'll get a relationship with the boys eventually, but it's not going to be the one she hoped for. She's gotta work on herself first and realize her flaws, maybe get some practice with handling children via unintentionally adopting a certain fan-favorite grave spider kid after finding him all alone, and just...wait. Narinder and Anthea are the twin's primary parents, and while Forneus does eventually get to a place where they're comfortable with her, it's never going to be on the same level, and they all just gotta contend with that.

Boarders are by @/lambouillet

#I love tragic stories can't you tell? Also stories that explorer the relationship between parents and kids-cause a lot of times kids agency #in the relationship is often ignored/taken for granted-they shouldn't be expected to love someone because of blood alone #*beats characters emotions to a pulp* it's for character development I swear!#crimson angel au #cotl #ask #cotl shamura #cotl narinder #cotl aym #cotl baal #crimson angel au lore #cotl forneus #cult of the lamb #my writing

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ttrpg-smash-pass-vs · 10 months ago

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I've been gathering all the elligible creatures for next tournament, double checking my work. And I hit the retriever.

AND THIS FUCKING THING.

This thing stopped me for hours. Because they keep changing what it IS. Because look at it, cool spider robot, right? oh, and it knows languages, that means it's either a mindless automaton (fine because it's like a toy) or it's an intelligent creature, right? Wrong? Turns out it's NEAR mindless. Red flag, especially given it has 3 int. Usually sentient creatures don't go below 5, so it's likely either a smart automaton like your phone or animal, right? Well turns out it's made from an imprisoned bebelith that had most of its intelligence removed. MOST? Is it animal level or not, because that's down to the usual animal range but it apparently still understands language. Does it even matter, does being made from an imprisoned spirit that follows orders mean it couldn't consent anyways? I made an argument for that with golems, and we know that spirits imprisoned spirits cannot fight even if they want to as long as the vessel's durable metal. But then you look at the MPMM, this new book we're going into. and hey look, they removed the "imprisoned bebelith" part that's been in every description for decades. But it is gone because it's not true anymore, or is it gone because the MPMM shortened nearly every description? Some PLAYER RACES got reduced to 3 sentences, so is that no longer canon, or is it just not included in this summarized version of it because they assume you know from Tome of Foes?

ultimately, sorry, not including it in next tournament. 14 foot spider droid with paralysis and restraint powers would've done numbers. But I am really unsure if this is sentient and if it could consent even if it was (since the ritual seems to override its free will). And I can't in good conscious include an option unless I'm confident it can consent. I'll take "I can't think of a scenario in which it would want to, but it technically could." but not "incapable of consent."

#not tournament #This sort of thing is why I have spend so fucking long on constructs.#because it could “my smartphone” intelligence (safe) “ ”actually an animal“ (unsafe) ”Artificial Intelligence“ (safe)#or “sentient but functions controlled entirely against thier will” (physically unable to consent and therefore unsafe)#furthermore #we have confirmation that Volo and Mordenkainen are supposed to be the ones giving us this info #AND that they're unreliable narrators. so even lore they change might not be changed #they might just be thier opinions? Why must I be cursed with knowledge! Worse #unreliable knowledge!

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roguestorm · 1 year ago

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How To Start Reading Marvel Comics

Okay, so let's say you're a fan of the Marvel movies or games or you just saw Spider-Verse and you want to know how to start reading comics. Hi, welcome! This is one method of getting into comics; it is not the only one. We're going to be heavily relying on digital comics for this one, so if you prefer reading on paper, this might not be for you.

Step One: Pick a Character

This should be easy! Pick a character whose comics you want to read. It doesn't have to be your favorite character of all time; it just needs to be a character you're interested in getting to know a little better. A character is going to work better for this particular method than a team will, although there are plenty of team reading guides if you really want them.

Let's say, for the sake of example, that you just watched the Moon Knight Disney+ series and you want to read some stuff about Moon Knight.

Step Two: Find a Reading List

The very technically advanced way to do this is to Google "[Character] Reading List" or "[Character] Recommended Reading." For Moon Knight, Marvel has an official one that pops up right away.

The official ones are good places to start, but IMO, the best ones are usually from tumblr or Reddit. Comic fans can be very intense, but we also know more about the material than anyone, including Marvel. :) Here's one for Moon Knight.)

Step Three: Understanding the Reading List

Comic names are formatted one of two ways. You might see someone say Moon Knight (vol 7) or Moon Knight (2014). These refer to the same series of comics. They mean that the title of the series is Moon Knight, that it is the 7th series published under that title, and that it started publication in 2014. Moon Knight (vol 1) is Moon Knight (1980), because it's the first run of comics called Moon Knight and it started publication in 1980.

So, how do you know? That's where the wiki comes in. marvel.fandom.com is my best friend. So, when you type "Moon Knight vol 7" into the search bar, it brings up this page. See how it says (2014-2015) at the top? That's how you know that Moon Knight (vol 7) is Moon Knight (2014).

Step Four: Accessing Comics

Now we have to get the comics. We have a number of options:

For digital comics:

Buying digital comics. You can do this on Amazon or Marvel.com. However, this gets expensive real fast - for example, Moon Knight (1980) has 38 issues, and each of those costs $1.99. That's almost $80, just for volume 1.

Marvel Unlimited subscription. This is not a bad deal TBH. It's $10 a month, and they have quite an extensive catalogue. The only problem is that the site takes forever to load and is not easily searchable. Usually, I'll type into Google the name of the exact comic I want to access (e.g. "Moon Knight (1980) #1") and then click on the marvel.com link that comes up.

Piracy. This is the easiest and cheapest option, and thus the most popular. I'm not going to link any sites, but ask a friend or Google and you'll find one easily enough.

Physical comics are also an option, but they are more complicated. Groups of issues are collected in trade paperback collections, but finding which collections contain which issues can be a bit more of a hassle. And then buying those collections can get pricey very quickly.

If you like physical comics and have a public library card, I'd recommend checking out what they have on their shelves. On a Marvel comic, you want to look at the back cover, usually in the lower right-hand corner, and it will tell you which issues are in the comic (e.g. "Collects Moon Knight (2014) #1-6"). You might find some things that were on your reading list, or you might find some comics you'd never have read otherwise. A lot of public libraries (at least in the US) have a larger comic book collection than you'd expect.

Step Five: Have Fun and Be Yourself!

The most important thing to remember is that you are supposed to be having fun. There might be some frustration if you're not used to reading visual media (I know I wasn't), but it should overall be fun. If a comic feels like a slog, you don't have to read it! Maybe you and the person who made the reading list just have different taste. Try a different comic. Try a different character.

Also, remember that it's okay to be confused. You might be jumping around a little bit and so you might not know everything that's going on. This is kind of the perpetual state of reading comics. If you want to double-check the wiki or ask your friendly neighborhood comics blogger, that's totally fine.

#me making this guide after not reading comics for a month #like look i DO know how to read comics. i just don't do it!#also i feel like this is a deeply condescending and narcissistic guide but like. what/ever.

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thygoddessouijathicc · 1 year ago

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Bishop Edibility Tierlist; A very deeply serious essay about which bishop would taste the best if you had to eat one of them for any reason

Aight, 88% of you voted in favour of this being released, so this is on you. This blood is on YOUR hands. Just remember that as you read this.

So you all remember that essay I did about how the bishops all had some kinda trauma or different reactions to purgatory and shit and how that was such a serious thing analyzing dialogue and reactions and stuff-?

Well there are TWO wolves inside of me, and one of them writes serious researched essays, it’s time you meet the other.

To preface this, this essay is entirely a joke please don’t take any word of this seriously.

To start with, technically anything is edible if you try hard enough, sometimes only once but I digress, however some things are more appetizing than others.

For this essay we will be taking evidence from canon in some cases on things you can eat, but assuming that this only means these things are more appetizing in this world, not that anything you can’t feast upon very specifically in the game is somehow inedible. Meat is meat.

Also Narinder will be referred to as a bishop because he was one.

Ok let’s start our list.

At the absolute bottom of the edibility tierlist is Narinder. Narinder is a cat. While technically cats are indeed edible by the laws of meat is meat, cats hold a special place in the hearts of many including myself.

But to be honest the real reason that Narinder holds this spot is meat quantity and quality of him specifically. Narinder, holds very little meat. Sure he has a head, but his arms are skeletal and it’s safe to assume possibly a lot of the rest of his body tis also but frail bone. Possibly what is not could also be rotten if he’s that kind of god of death that qualifies as a corpse. And while meat is meat, Narinder not only has very little, but what he does have may be poor quality. This cements him in the shameful bottom spot.

He’s also a-

Moving on, next, quite regrettably, is Leshy. Leshy is a major jump in quality from Narinder.

We don’t know much about bushworms or their anatomy but what we do know, is Leshy is dummy thicc, this means he has a large quantity of meat.

Unfortunately Leshy is also a worm which isn’t exactly the most appetizing creature to put in your gaping maw so that docks him a few points.

However the true reason he cannot be higher is that depending on your read of his anatomy, Leshy could qualify as a salad, and EWWWWW VEGITALS!!! 🤢🤮🤮

Moving on to the “would eat again category” we start with Heket.

Now it should not be news to anyone that frogs are edible, especially to French people. But I don’t believe in French people, they aren’t real. Anyway as I’m saying, you can eat frogs to your hearts content!

There are sanitation issues with Anura apparently being super gross which docks some points but overall, Heket is a solid option.

Now we’ve reached “ok hear me out” territory with Shamura.

Spiders are a major food source in cult of the lamb. Which is a bit questionable for a few reasons, including that there are multiple spider characters and Webber exists but also small spiders on the ground which seem to be a separate species which raises a lot of questions possibly best gone unanswered.

What really matters is what you can do with the small spiders you find around, you can chase them down and when you catch them, they drop meat. My friends have told me that this means I’m just taking meat they are holding, after all you can get berries if the spider has taken them.

What I say to this is: but the idea of lamb running around at night and picking up whole large spiders off the ground and feeding them to their followers is fucking hilarious, and also they always drop the same meat and never berries unless they have picked them up. You’d think if I’m just taking what they have and they will eat berries as well as meat, that I’d get berries more often. Nay, only when picked up from my farms.

This leads to the only possible conclusion being that people in the cult of the lamb universe feed often on spiders, that’s right, Helob eating followers is VENGEANCE.

So, we have established spiders are very edible in cult of the lamb, and you know what Shamura is? A giant fucking spider. They are edible, I rest my case.

Now let’s move on to first place oh boy who is it, probably who you should have expected, Kallamar.

His name sounds like Calamari to start with and not only can you eat squids in real life, you can in the game (similar weird separate species thing with spiders only in this case it’s more definitive that you can very much eat the squids themselves.)

Kallamar would also likely cry if you proclaimed your desire to consume him, misery not only makes meat better but his tears could be seasoning!

Not even to mention the fact that after beating him, it would be a moment of victoriousness and pure vindictive nature, to proceed to eat Kallamar, and vindictive nature is something I most definitely do not lack as I cuss out bishops every time I see the statues after I beat them.

Squids also don’t have many bones so unlike the others who you’d have to spend an extensive time processing before eating, Kallamar would be easy and his bones make up very little of his composition.

In conclusion, why did you read this whole essay it’s not even that funny.

And those of you who voted to have this released. Are you happy?

Are you not entertained!?

#cult of the lamb shamura #cult of the lamb kallamar #cult of the lamb heket #cult of the lamb narinder #cult of the lamb leshy #cult of the lamb #COTL #cotl heket #cotl narinder #cotl leshy #cotl shamura #cotl kallamar #bishop shamura #bishop heket #bishop leshy #bishop kallamar #bishop narinder

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im-the-j-in-anthony-j-crowley · 9 months ago

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Good omens is very much about choosing your own side rather than the two proposed sides. Heaven/hell

Having defined this, I offer you the following opportunity:

If you were one of the angels that existed at the beginning of the story, do you think you would have remained in heaven, or would you have fallen?

I know that technically as humans we're not on either side, but technically the angels don't seem to be on either side either, so I'm curious

If you want to read my long attempt to find out where I think I am, it's below

And if anyone wants to comment more on their decision in comments, reblogs, I'd love to read

I want to say demon so badly, I mean, I love chaos, and I have a tendency to want to make situations worse. I'm annoying to no end if you allow me to be. I have the aesthetic, black clothes, 8 rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, all very rocker style

But I don't see a reason why they decided to expel me from heaven except... To ask questions? To challenge authority? That's what I'm inclined to do. Say the plan they're making is flawed? People usually don't like it when I say something is wrong (even though I say it with the intention that we can look for a way to improve it)

I feel like the only option is if Crowley really did go out just for asking questions, because that would mean it could be because of this.

I've been making friends with every living thing in the world, I have been obsessed with ethics and learning to identify abusive situations in order to fight them, I love to look for the "best way for all the people involved in something" (Clarification, I am not at all saying that I am excellent at this. I'm just trying to be) when there's a spider in my house I try to get it out the window, unless it looks poisonous. There are poisonous spiders here, but I don't know how to identify them, the preventive measure is to kill any spider that looks like the vague description I have of those poisonous ones

Wait, why am I talking about spiders? Fuck it, I'll choose demon simply because if I were an angel I'd spend all my miracles keeping those damn clothes spotless

Every time I wear clothes that aren't black, I manage to get them dirty within 10 minutes

Which is very rare, because I assure you, THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN WHEN I WEAR BLACK CLOTHING

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 #This question has been haunting me all along and I'm surprised I haven't read anything about it in my time here #“My time here” = Two months?#Jay and... Jay what are you doing?

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ikranwings · 2 years ago

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WHATS MEANT TO BE

Chapter one: first meeting

Song for the book:

youtube

Navi is in blue

Authors note: I hope you guys enjoy! I haven’t written anything like this in years and I’m really worried about it. please enjoy and I hope you guys like it ❤️❤️

After I post this I have to head to bed it’s like 5:30 am but I had to get this out

I feel like the first chapters short but it will def get longer.

Warnings: mild swearing, talk of wounds?

Dedication: I don’t normally do a dedication but for the first chapter I am! I just want to take the time to thank @milknhonies . For hyping me up in the comments when all I did was tease the hell out of everyone looking forward to this XD. I appreciate you and I thank you so much for encouraging me ❤️

Miles had flown off in defeat after his war with the Sullys and metkyina clan. The mans own son wouldn't even join him after saving his life. As much as he tried to deny the kid as his own he couldn't. Sure Spider had come from the human version of himself so he wasn't technically his own blood so to speak. However he still felt some sort of responsibility towards him, his only family he technically had left had chosen to leave him and return back to the Sullys. His only choice now was to retreat on his Ikran. Even in his injured state the man knew sticking around here was not the safest option.

His plan was to head back to the base of operations, heal up and hope they would send him back out there to finish the job.Would the general blame everything on him? Revenge was the reason he was created, revenge was the only meaning he had in his life now. Surely there wasn't anything else that could be out there for the man now could there? They had to let him continue this mission, there was nothing else out there for him at least that’s what he thought.

Miles was tired, exhausted from the fight that had ensued not long ago. The man needed to rest, after inhaling all that water and nearly drowning amongst other injuries he needed to relax. Pushing himself further would only cause harm to himself in the long run especially if he were to lose consciousness while flying his Ikran back. There was only one choice he could make at this point, he had to land and make camp for the night and hope he was well enough to make flight early on the next morning. Landing and regrouping his thoughts was the smart thing to do, revenge wouldn't be possible if he was dead that was for damn sure.

Landing was the last thing he remembered. Sliding himself off of his Ikran after separating the bond and splaying himself flat on his back on a grassy plain. An open area he had briefly scanned before landing. It looked clear prior so he was almost positive he wouldn't be disturbed while he rested for a few minutes before he was to set up camp. He was only going to close his eyes for a few minutes, just a few minutes in order to hopefully replenish some energy. All he needed was a few minutes…

—---------

The next moment his eyes snapped open, what felt like minutes had actually been hours and a strange Navi woman was kneeling beside him,was she trying to cause harm? Or was she assessing his injuries? No, he wouldn't take that chance. Not this time around that was for sure. In an instant he had forced himself up and shoved her over, using what little strength he had in him to pin the woman before him down to the ground. Making it impossible for her to move as he used his legs to pin her own, there was no telling if she was going to thrash against him and he wanted to cover all basis. Especially since he didn't want to be kicked or knocked upside the head, Miles was sick of being knocked around for one day. Still the woman below him struggled trying to pull herself free from his grasp.

“ Lonu vrrtep! (Let go of me! Now demon!) She hissed still trying to shove him off despite the fact he had a hold of both of her wrists. She spoke a language he didn't understand or rather barely did as his son had begun teaching him prior and never finished. Still he wished he learned more than he had for moments just like this one. “ What do you want huh?! Come out to kill me have you? Well it won't be easy!“ Intimidation Was his tactic, that sort of thing always seem to work when he was trying to scare someone off. The Navi woman below him merrily hissed in return still trying to find some form of leverage in order to shove miles off of her.

“ off! Now! “ English? The navi woman before him could speak english? Sure he knew many could from the school The Rda had provided for them all those years ago, but that was just for the forest Na’vi. At least thats what it had been to his knowledge at the time, there was a possibility of more he had no clue of. His human self never bothered to take in that sort of information however. Found it pointless to teach these people that sort of thing as they never listened to reason. Always in the way of the end goal, trying to protect some stupid and meaningless tree in his opinion.

The distraction gave the Na’vi female the chance to take the upper hand away from Miles. His grip on her had loosened and given her the chance to pull an arm free and shove him forward with enough force that had him plopping back into a sitting position. Hands set behind him in order to keep himself from going all the way down.

“ Skxawng, you are hurt.. I was helping. “ the woman was pointing to his face, dried blood under his nose, a cut along his cheek and a smaller one on his forehead. She was only trying to clean him up as she had found him there laying on the ground seemingly unconscious. His Ikran had been nowhere in sit only some giant horse like creature he hadn't bothered to learn about in his past life or even present. The Na’vi woman had come across him and immediately attempted to help him out. Not something he was use to and still something he was skeptical about.

Miles arms seemed to falter in support, despite his burst of energy when pinning her down he was still weaker than what he would have liked to be. His little outburst had taken alot out of him and the woman before him seemed to notice that. Slowly she stood from her place on the ground, ensuring the man before her could still see her as she moved. Being able to see the person trying to help you at all times definitely would help her case. Stepping back to her pa'l(direhorse) she reached a hand into a pack she had situated on the back of the creature. Retrieving a small bowl, a handmade cantinee of sorts, a small cloth? and something Miles couldn't quite make out wrapped up in a small pouch.

Sitting beside him once again she laid her belongings on the ground in front of them. Carefully she poured some of the water into the small bowl, intent on wiping away the blood from under his nose and around his cuts in order to assess what she needed to do. Dipping the rag into the small bowl she attempted to press it to his face only for her arm to be swatted away instantly by the injured man’s hand. Really he was just making it difficult for her to help him out. Really his behavior was comparable to a child throwing a tantrum for absolutely no reason aside from the fact that they didn't want to follow what an adult was trying to teach them or help them.

Rolling her eyes proceeded to try again, dipping the cloth once more before squeezing the excess water out of it before pressing it just under the man's nose in order to wipe away the blood. It was working until… Smack. Miles had once again swatted her hand away in frustration.

“ Stop that! “ She hissed immediately smacking his arm in return, if he wasn't going to listen she would act with the same attitude he was giving her. “ You are no baby.. Do not act like one… I am helping, not hurting.“ instead of trying again she sat there, arms crossed with damp cloth still in hand waiting for him to just give in. The Navi woman wasn’t going to give him any other option aside from that. He was going to accept her help and it was just something Miles was going to have to deal with. “ alright fine damn it! “ A low growl slipped past his lips, had he been in perfect condition he would have shoved the woman away and taken off. “ Why are you so damn insistent anyway helping a damn stranger.. not real smart I’d say. “ Perhaps he could use this to his advantage in some way. Only time would tell really.

At first the Navi woman was quiet, mulling over the question or rather statement he had presented her with. In her heart she had a reason, albeit a very personal reason but a big one nonetheless. “ no one left behind. '' Uncrossing her arms she proceeded to gently press the damp cloth to his face, this time with no resistance “ if you wanted to do harm you had chances. “She had spoken up once more while slowly pressing the damp cloth around each cut upon his face until the areas were mainly free of the dried blood that had caked itself there during whatever journey he may have had. Fresh blood trickled down from the gash along his face which led her to assume that it had been deeper than the one on his forehead.

A huff left Miles as he rolled his eyes, he didn't like how right she was about the situation he was in and yet there was still nothing he could do about that, “ Youre just lucky, most don't speak to me that way and live. '' Miles tried to seem threatening in some way, he had a reputation to keep up after all. Not that the woman before him knew exactly who he was or what he had done. Intimidation clearly didn't work as she rolled her eyes at him only moving to dump out the small bowl of water in order to refill it. She then opened the pouch that had previously been set on the ground before them to reveal some sort of powder. Only taking some of it out and placing it in the small bowl along with a small amount of water in order to mix it together into a salve. Making just enough to cover the cuts he had on his face and to stop what little bleeding he may have.

“ This will keep it clean and help to heal, no infection. “ She didn't really give him a chance to say no as her fingers had dipped into the bowl to collect the substance and run it along his cheek and forehead where it was needed. The second this strange substance touched his skin he recoiled, the stinging sensation was not something he expected.

“ Oh and it will hurt a bit… “ Her warning came after the fact and he was not too happy about that. Really it just annoyed the absolute hell out of the man and yet the woman before him had a smile on her face, “ The hell was that for?! “ he practically roared, she should not find this amusing because he sure as hell didn't.

“ Tam tam( there there ) , That was for your threats. “ If he was going to be a pain in the ass about her helping him then the least she could do was give him a taste of his own medicine so to speak. The navi woman smiled once more, wiping away any excess of the substance that wasn’t adherent to any of his wounds. If it wasn't clear to her before it certainly was now. The man before her was completely alone and on his own, in need of a home or at the very least a place to be for a little while.

Miles rolled his eyes, did this woman really not warn him just out of sheer spite? Was she using this as her own form of payback since all he’s done from the moment he opened his eyes was snap and swat at her as if she where a fly on the wall? This woman had absolutely no fear of him and for some reason it thoroughly shocked the man. Not that he would admit that to her or anyone in the moment however it did get him thinking. Quaritch was but a small part to the RDA not many would know of him or his face. Or rather his human face that is. Even now this Navi woman before him didn’t know who he was aside from The very clear fact she had more than likely realized that he was different. An avatar built by the sky people for some reason or another.If he really wanted to he could sell it as if he had defected from the humans and run off seeking shelter. Find his way into a clan and learn their ways before using said information to bring it back to the general. Perhaps even use what he could get against the sullys and finally claim the one thing he had set out to do since he had woken up.

“ That’s my bad.. I’ve been on edge since I left the sky people… You got a name? “ Of corse she had a name, what an absolutely foolish question for him to ask. “ hm.. Tst-xo? “ Miles tried to use what little knowledge he remembered from his son, from the kid he had ride along with him from nearly the very beginning. Spider was his name and in all truth he wished he listened to him more. Wished he took in more knowledge of this language so he wouldn’t be so god awful at it as he was now.

The woman before him merely shook her head, his pronunciation was absolutely horrible to say the least. It would definitely need some work if he where to try and speak full coherent sentences. The running he spoke of was something she had chalked his injuries up to be from. Had he fled and gotten hurt in thr process of it all? There was really no way for her to know the truth in his words. “ it’s Tstxo.. “ The woman before him was quick to correct him, couldn’t have him going around saying the wrong thing after all. “.. Yes I have a name… Tilor‘atan te säsilpey Oare’yuey‘ite. “

Miles looked bewildered, it was entirely a mouthful and even he wasn’t sure he could say it all at once. How the fuck did they go around with these long ass names and not mess anything up in the process. It was beyond him, surely they had to go by nicknames or something. There has to be something else he could say instead, “ You got a nickname I could call you instead huh? “

“ You can call me Tilor… shorter, easier for you. “ she nodded in confirmation only. It was clear to her this man, this dreamwalker before her didn’t know the language all to well. Really he didn’t know a thing at all aside from what she assumed to be a few broken words. Still she watched him smile now that he had a simpler name to call her.

“ well then Tilor… I’m Miles. “

Taglist

@drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed

@peachymemoriess

@blossom618

@bitchykittenconnoisseur

@mrs-sullys-blog

#avatar 2 #avatar #avatar quaritch #avatar: the way of water #avatar the way of water #miles quaritch #navi quaritch #jake sully #miles quaritch smut #ikran #recom miles quaritch #miles quaritch x oc #miles quaritch fic #navi miles quaritch #colonel miles quaritch #What is meant to be #Tilor #Youtube

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cakerybakery · 1 month ago

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Adamsapple harvest 2024 short and horny, day 4 sweaters

“No.” Adam was standing his ground.

Lucifer wrapped himself around Adam’s arm, “common, my little spider, it’ll be hot.”

“No!”

Pie wrapped around his other arm and gave him big pleading eyes like Lucifer’s.

“No!”

“Just one ball of yarn.”

“NO!” Shook them both off, “you are not sticking a ball of yarn in my ass and knitting a sweater from it. To start, that takes like a month. To finish, I said no!”

“Oh come on, I do it to Pie all the time.”

“Pie is a sentient clone blob made out of the inside of a pumpkin. He can take any shape he wants! The object doesn’t matter when you stick it in him!” Adam paused in his rant. “Wait, what do you mean you do it to Pie all the time? You gave me a sweater last week! Is that why it smells like pumpkin??”

Lucifer and Pie shared a familiar look.

“No!” Adam backed up and into their arms as Lucifer teleported them behind him.

They pressed on the spot between his wings and Adam moaned, automatically bending over in their arms and spreading his legs.

“Say yes and you can even suck on a cock while it happens.”

He whimpered. This wasn’t fair. They knew he had trouble saying no while he was horny and that his wings were sensitive. “Fine.”

Pie and Lucifer high-fived before he was picked up by Lucifer.

“Let’s get you all lubed up.”

He was stripped and positioned across an ottoman when they ran into a technical issue.

“Okay, thinking more about it, lube is probably not a good idea. It would make knitting difficult. And while I’ve definitely stuck bigger things in your ass, nothing has had to spin before. Not like this anyways.” Lucifer sat beside him on one side and Pie on the other.

“That’s certainly an option, Pie.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Where the fuck did you learn about that?”

“Okay. I’m turning the safe search filters back on.”

Adam was a little afraid of what the fuck Pie could be suggesting and looked over his shoulder as his lovers.

Pie was making a jerk off motion with one hand and then shoved his fingers into where an imaginary dick would be.

“I love the enthusiasm, but I don’t think we should stick knitting needles there.”

“Please fucking don’t!” Adam agreed.

Pie just grinned Lucifer’s devilish grin, he gave himself a third arm and covered Adam’s eyes.

Adam grumbled, “you two could at least let me see what you’re talking about so I know what’s coming.”

“Yeah. I think that’s doable… we could take turns.”

“So that part attaches there? Oh so it would spin freely then?”

“Yeah we just have to move the arm chairs and put Adam in the middle. Okay. We got it sorted, Adam. Good to go.”

He felt slick fingers spreading him and groaned. Something hard and ridged soon followed. Some sort of plug.

“There, how’s that?”

Adam clinched, “not bad. Kind of heavy. The hell did you do?” He looked over his shoulder.

There on the end of whatever they put inside of him was a couple of balls of yarn.

Pie was already dragging one of the armchairs around to the other side of the ottoman. He bubbled excitedly.

Sometimes it was hard for Adam to believe this same horny bastard once had to be coaxed by Lucifer to come out of hiding. Especially as Pie had Adam open his mouth so that it could be filled with cock. He sucked lightly on it, he was being used as a cock warmer today it seemed.

Adam jumped as someone tugged suddenly on the plug. Not pulling it out completely, just sort of fucking him with it. One hand on his ass to hold him still, while another pulled the contraption out slightly, just enough to spread him wide, then back in. A third hand slowly and teasingly jerked him off even as he heard the sound of needles clicking together.

He couldn’t see much. Not with his face in Pie’s gelatinous crotch. Dating a pair of shape shifters meant unless he was looking, sometimes he couldn’t tell who was doing what to him.

They stayed like that until Adam was desperate. Until he was moaning for more. He just needed someone to fuck something. Cum down his throat, his ass, jerk him off to completion. Just something other than the teasing.

“Might be time for a break.” Lucifer’s cherry voice citing through the fog of desperation Adam found himself in.

The plug was pulled out of him and he was instantly filled with cock. The one in his mouth surged and he was about to grumble about them always spit roasting him when Pie pulled out. He gasped as he felt Pie’s dick nudging its way into his ass next to Lucifer’s.

“Oh god.” He moaned. He spread so easily these days but it always felt so good.

A pair of hands stroked his dick as another fondled his balls. He tried to hold back but they had been teasing him for so long. All it took was one of them rubbing him the right way and he came down the side of the ottoman.

“You two will be the death of me.”

“Death by dick. I can think of worse fates.” Lucifer teased. Someone had hands on his back and was rubbing his sensitive spots. “Don’t pass out yet, dear. There’s so much more knitting to go.”

They pulled out, but he wasn’t empty for long. Their blasted contraption was put back in and he was left to be teased again by many wandering hands as the two of them switched seats.

“Now be a good boy, and open that mouth back up so I can fill it.”

#adamsapple #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin hotel lucifer #adam x lucifer #adamsapple harvest

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dirtytransmasc · 2 years ago

Note

Is Spider human body dying? If that’s the case then mama Neytrir and the rest of the fam would then feel like getting the boy an avatar is there only option to save him. And when it’s finally made they befo wouldn’t wast time to get him into the avatar body. But image when he wakes up and he’s just really out of it( he’s kinda just a little bit drunk at first). While everyone is crying for joy and Neytiri just takes him into her arms while Jake holds his hands while moving his hair out of his face, while everyone else is just either crying for joy for just partying.

meanwhile Spiders just like: o m g IM BLUE AND TALL.

(I apologize in advance, I got really technical and drawn out, cause autism or something, lol)

spiders body was left too weak and damaged after such a traumatic injury (they tend to use bigger guns with bigger bullets on the na'vi, so it was a lot for such a tiny body), the amount of blood loss, and the after effects of such an injury (infection, organ function complications, etc.). there was little chance he would wake up and his body, more specifically his mind, didn't take well to being in a coma. some people can 'fade' as a result of being in a coma, and more specifically, being locked in an unconscious body out of their control. this can cause both mental and physical shutdown, which would be devastating to watch, as little can be done for it besides putting him on more and more forms of life support. (don't mind me, I hyperfixated on medicine for years, I know too much)

so the rush to make spider an avatar would be kinda hectic because they're trying to beat the ever-ticking countdown before spider has shut down past the point that he could be placed into an avatar safely, let alone, pass through the eye of Eywa. aside from getting eh actual materials to make an avatar, there's the grow time itself; assuming it takes 3-5 years (they say 3 years ship time 5 years earth time, I'm not physics smart, I don't know what that means) to grow an avatar to around 20ish years old, it would take 2 or 3 to grow one around spider's age. that's 2 or 3 year they barely have, let alone the time to gether materials.

so to say that the sully's are an emotional wreck is an understatement. neytiri has to face that fact this could all be for nothing. the danger her family pus themselves through, raiding the RDA, moving materials, tracking labs and transits; the time, effort, and supplies taken from the scientists that still remained on their side; the stress she was putting herself and her kids through. it could all be for nothing, she may still lose her child, her baby.

jake, and subsequently neteyam and lo'ak putting themselves through hell on raids, all while stressing about their child. having to pick between being out in the field or being home; being in the field gives them a better chance of bring home the materials they need, but they have to give up what might be the last little bit of time they have with their son/brother. stay home, and they guarantee his demise. no father nor brother should ever have to make that choice.

kiri and tuk have to watch both their brother and mother fade away, withering. they know that if he does die, they won't just be losing him, they'll be losing her as well.

all in all, its a rough time, for all of them. years knowing spider is stuck just beyond a hazy wall out of their reach, knowing that they might have been too late from the start, watching all the little moving parts come together and praying that it all ends well.

and finally, by the grace of Eywa, the avatar is complete; its young, they didn't want to risk pushing spider any farther, so its only 13/14ish but its more then enough for them, and they assume spider won't be too miffed about it.

the transfer was stressful, his brain activity was good, but max and norm are not the best when it comes to whispering, so they all get a nice loud and clear message that there's still a chance for it all to go wrong in a split second. they watch with bitten lips and trembling hands grasping to one another (they use the avatar pods the first time round, cause y'know, taking a person in a coma, underwater, to use the spirit tree... not the best idea, especially when you don't know exactly what's gonna happen). but as soon as the machine starts going and no one's voice gets particularly anxious as they bark instructions and information at one another, it feels like the weight it lifting off their shoulders, and when the sounds stop and the na'vi body on the other side of the glass window starts shifting its like they can all breath again, they have their boy back, their baby.

then its only a matter of keeping neytiri back long enough for the science pukes to do what they need to, which is completely unsuccessful. then theirs a chorus of moaning and groaning from the kids as neytiri and jake are allowed to be with spider as he wakes up and they're not ("it's just a safety concern" max, probably. "well you can stick your 'safety concern' up my a-" tuk, probably, she's a big girl now).

its definitly a lot on spider, he's been stuck in his own head for like, 4 or 5 years, now he's in a whole new, blue, body. he comes into the world hearing his mother's cries and feeling his dads hands practically holding him together. its nice, even if he has no idea what's happening.

neytiri pets at his hair and lets her fingers run over his features, kissing his forehead and holding onto his hand as he started to weakly wiggle his fingers; reminding jake of his first time waking up. jake was too busy feeling his sons unaided breath going in and out of his chest where his palm rested, feeling a heart beating stronger than it had in years, watching his eyes flutter as he adjusted to the light. such little things felt like blessings.

eventually spiders able to figure everything out enough to just let a breathy little "oh shit" out, earning a laugh from his dad. he hears his mom smack him, laughs a little himself, he missed this. then that hits him, it must have been a long time since... since he almost died, his family's probably been waiting on him for a while, his mama's been waiting for him.

he's clumsy like a newborn baby, but he turns to where he's pretty sure his mom is sitting, curling into her as she wraps him in her arms. she missed this, feeling him move under her arms, not lying against her still and lifeless. this was nice, this was good, this was right.

and after a while of laying against his mama he hears movement, and talking, so much talking. he's barely even awake but he knows that all his siblings have gathered around him. his dad's attempt to fend them from smothering him fail; he's got tuk in his lap, kiri wrapped around his shoulders, both of his brothers were close by, lo'ak at the end of the bed, neteyam at the head with his hand in spider's hair.

he feels loved and it feels fucking fantastic, he's been getting bits and pieces of his family's affections over eywa only knows how long, so to be touched and loved on and talked to, it feels great. he soaked it all up, letting it bring him fully into his body.

as his sight and hearing clear up he finally gets a good look at his family; neteyam is all grown up and a carbon copy of their mama, lo'ak looked just like jake too, tuk was almost all grown up, he missed so much of her childhood, and kiri looked like grace, full of piss and vinegar yet so beautiful, one with the great mother and nature and him, his heart. his siblings had changed so much, in all fairness he had too, but he felt like he had been robbed of so much, they had been robbed of him.

he looked to his parents, the white strands in his mother's hair, tattling on the stress she was trying to hide with her bright smiles. jakes eyes were tired, his face held more lines in it, and his shoulders sagged.

they'd been through enough, him, his family, his people, so he was going to take this new body and new chance at life with stride and pray that eywa would be good to them.

"I'm fucking blue motherfuckers," he announced, finally pulling himself up to sit, getting his brothers all riled up and a tired shake of the head from kiri.

"yeah your fucking blue, now relax before you upset norm and max, mama might kill them if they try and take away visitation rights." kiri scolds, gently of course.

he mocked a yeah yeah, attempting to flick his tail at her, with no avail.

"hey dad, is this what it felt like when you first used your avatar? all mushy and weird." he turns to look at jake, completely and blissfully unaware of the bomb he's about to drop on jake.

"yeah kiddo, but you break it in a bit and it feels normal," he looked... happy, but sad.

dad

oh, fuck... thats the first time jake had heard him say that since that day.

"wanna take it for a spin kid? with your mama's permission of course..." his eyes anxiously scanned his mates face, clearly trying to distract both of them from the mental trip they just went on.

he felt his mom wrap around him tighter, hissing a bit before relenting, "10 minutes jake, or so help me," the threat rumbled low in her core, she would have her baby returned to her in 10 minutes or the only person who could protect jake was Eywa herself.

"got it, come on kid, up on your feet," jake ordered in that stupid fake military voice he'd used since they were kids, holding out a hand, pulling spider to his brand new feet with ease.

his siblings jumped up to follow, kiri and tuk dragging their mother along, and for the first time ever, he went outside and breathed the air of his people without a mask or pain, he could trot along with his siblings, and his senses were razor sharp.

his mother stayed close, keeping a hand in his hair, guiding him with her tail as if he truly was a newborn. her smiles was worth it though, bright and relieved as she watched her children and mate finally finding peace. his siblings dancing around him, lo'ak and tuk in particular while neteyam and kiri watch on feigning disappointment.

he could get used to this, he will get used to this.

#I almost wrote this whole thing and then my computer died and I want to scream #but anywho #spider socorro #miles socorro #miles spider socorro #spider te suli tsyeyk'itan #neytiri #jake sully #sully kids #sully family #kiri sully #tuk sully #neteyam sully #lo'ak sully #avatar the way of water #avatar 2

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dailycharacteroption · 3 months ago

Text

Book Review: Pathfinder 1E Core Rule Book

And so we begin something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: Book Reviews!

In this special, I’ll be taking a look through various Pathfinder and Starfinder books that I own and generally talk about Their content, their artwork, and other things that offer pros and cons about them.

And what better way to start than with the Pathfinder core rulebook!

Ah yes, the storied ancient times of 2008. I had just graduated high school and was getting into community college. Before that point, Pathfinder had already been writing adventures for 3.5 D&D as a strange and controversial ploy to tap into the market of RPG gamers that had rejected 4th Ed. However, they had no intention of stopping there, starting with their Core Rulebook, which took the info in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide of D&D 3.5 and revised it in preparation for the launch of their very own system and products.

What was tricky about this was that some things, such as summoning spells, had to be designed for a book that was technically not out yet: the Pathfinder Bestiary, so the writers had to figure out what monsters were going to be in the Bestiary but not be shared with the Monster Manual counterpart (which is why the 3.5 PHB has all the different sizes of giant spider/centipede/scorpion on them whereas Pathfinder did not, for example).

All in all, this was the effective launch of a new product off the bones of an old one, which really hadn’t been done to this scale before, pushing the limits of what was outlined by the OGL. It was rare, fun, and exciting times, and nobody can claim that Paizo didn’t succeed in that regard.

But let’s get down to it with the actual content of the book!

Now, it’s going to be literally impossible to list the content of the book without comparing it to the D&D work it was based on, so I’m not going to even try there, but first off, compiling the Player’s Handbook and DMG into one book was a good move on Paizo’s part, for while it made for a hefty volume, it was still less expensive to prospective GMs than the PHB/DMG/MM combo of D&D.

Inside, the actual content works hard to refine the formula of 3.5, developing a design philosophy that rewards the player for sticking with things instead of punishing them for diversifying. Favored classes are now picked by the player on start with no restrictions, and said favored classes reward you with bonuses rather than reducing skill points.

Speaking of which, skill ranks are no longer super costly for going outside your class skills, and while you get numerically less, they reward much more, giving bonuses for the class skills as well. Furthermore, the skills themselves are consolidated, with several being merged into one skill (such as Spot, Listen, and Search all being Perception now)

Furthermore, Classes had all been refined as well. Pathfinder introduced new versions of old abilities, such as making certain class abilities available for a number or rounds per day instead of daily uses of variable value that then run out, such as barbarian rages and bardic performances. Meanwhile, clerics gained the vastly superior channel energy, and if they actually wanted turning/rebuking undead in their arsenal, there were feats for it, and the system for doing so was simplified compared to the frankly absurd original system. And then there were quality of life tweaks like giving druids, paladins, and rangers options for not having animal companions (and making companions much more clear-cut), barbarian rage powers, rogue talents, and the like, and of course, giving sorcerers bloodlines to really help diversify them. (Not to mention giving sorcerers and wizards better hit dice so they don’t keep dying at first level.)

Meanwhile, while feats remain a core part of the system, they made little tweaks to old favorites and added important new options, including something as simple as “have another rogue talent” or “have more rage rounds per day”.

And spells! The spells in the Core Rulebook are pretty much all lifted from the PHB, but their design aesthetic was shifted, with save or die spells dealing massive damage instead of instant death (protecting player characters and monsters alike), while the polymorphing spells were much more balanced: adding set abilities at certain levels instead of just letting you become anything and potentially break the game with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Monster Manual, alongside other quality additions.

And moving on from the player-centric options, the GM stuff is somewhat stripped-down, but still very important, ranging from advice about how to build encounters to NPCs as well as general environmental rules and the like, all very fun and important stuff.

Throughout the book, the art also really helps convey the aesthetics and vibe of the world of Pathfinder, with not just primary Pathfinder artist Wayne Reynolds, but a dozen or so other artists as well. Additionally, the art helped bring to life the example “iconic” characters that became the stand-in representation of typical members of each class. Admittedly, a lot of this art is borrowed from the 3.5 books that came before it, but we’ll forgive that. It was their first book of an entirely new system, and that borrowed art was pretty dang good.

Additionally, each chapter sports an opening with a few paragraphs describing the scene of the chapter splash art, which really conveyed that the iconic heroes depicted therein were, you know, characters with personality, not just example art. Which I feel is an important thing when trying to depict a game where players are meant to bring their own characters to life. (I should note that Seltyiel, the iconic eldritch knight, and later magus, was the only one of the prestige classes to be considered a true iconic with his own lore, while the others were only just character art. Probably because he was specifically F. Wes Schneider’s baby).

Overall, the core rulebook has a lot going for it. It took everything we already knew from 3.5 and refined it to be less forcing players to build their characters in certain ways via punishment, and more rewarding them for choosing to build their characters a certain way, while also balancing and changing assumptions about certain feats, spells, magic items, and even the underpinning of how XP was awarded and NPCs were built. Not to mention all the effort to make it seem like the underpinning of a living world through the art and descriptions (name one thing about Pelor in D&D other than his domain list and the fact he’s a neutral good sun god. I dare you).

Now, that isn’t to say that it’s all peachy keen, though. In their efforts to make the core book mostly setting neutral, the core book fails to give more than a few paragraphs about the planes, which is fair, they were still hashing out their cosmology at the time. Additionally, a lot of the book’s novelty at the time was based on the changes that it had made to various otherwise familiar things. Some of that impact is lost if Pathfinder is the first RPG you pick up, and for all it’s simplifications, Pathfinder remains a very crunchy game with a lot of moving parts (I still get new players that struggle parsing the fact that “natural armor” is an entirely separate bonus and not a specific type of armor bonus), all of which can make it much more intimidating to get into compared to 5e (i.e., the one thing that 5e has over either edition of Pathfinder.)

And I think that will do for today. If there is any final thoughts I have, it’s that for it’s humble beginnings as a new system which was little more than a revision of an older one, the core rulebook was, and remains, an important lynchpin of the system (the core book being important? Shocking.), but as we do more of these reviews, we’ll also see how other books shaped the system and the lore. Look forward to more this week and in the future!

#pathfinder #book review #core rule book

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sinsiriuslyemo · 7 months ago

Note

For the #100 NSFW/Smut Dialogue Prompts, could you please do number 52 with Doctor Zachary Smith from the 1998 version of Lost In Space?

Thank you in advance

2060

When you agreed to allow Dr Zachary Smith onto the SS Phalanx, you had no idea what you were getting yourself into.

After the return of the Robinsons, Major West and Jupiter II, the United World Governments had ordered the production of ten exploratory ships to begin charting more of the galaxy in deep space. The idea was that it would help ensure safe travels for any future expeditions using warp speed. A few months later, you were the youngest woman in UWG history to be named Captain of a midsize exploratory ship: the SS Phalanx — arguably the best day of your life — until your commanding officer informed you that Dr Zachary Smith would be joining your crew as the ship’s doctor. At first you thought he might be joking, but it didn’t take long to realize that he was far from joking. Apparently the traitor doctor had negotiated a plea — save his life from the infectious spider bite on his back, and he would forever be in debt to the UWG. Of course, he was a liar, manipulator and opportunist. There was no way he could be trusted on a fighter ship nor could he be trusted to even run a lab on-planet. The only other options were to either send him to Lastrites, a prison planet where most criminals were abandoned, or to assign him a post on an exploratory ship, a low stakes assignment where he would have little to nonexistent opportunity for sabotage.

The initial decision was to send him to Lastrites, but apparently Professor Robinson had talked the higher ups out of it. Something about him being manipulative and intelligent enough to gather support among the other prisoners, build or hijack a vessel and attack Alpha Prime. The smarter decision was to keep the doctor under close watch.

You had reluctantly agreed, while inside you were fuming. You’d worked your entire life — busted your ass in basic training — to be assigned Captain of one of the new exploratory ships, and yet you were being made to play fucking babysitter?! What was worse was that Dr Smith was arrogant, selfish and one of the most obnoxious men you’d ever met. Not even his good looks made dealing with him on any level worth it.

Regardless, you had been given a direct order from your superior, there was no choice in the matter.

“Entering sector 12b, Captain,” your navigator announced.

“We’ve been charting new galaxies for two months,” your pilot groaned to himself.

“Well, that’s part of our job, Stevenson. The whole point of exploratory ships isn’t just to discover new planets, it’s also to map out more of the galaxy and make space travel more efficient so that what happened to Jupiter II doesn’t happen again,” you replied, shifting to a more comfortable position in your chair.

“With all due respect, maybe having the guy who caused that incident on our ship isn’t the best way to do that, Sir,” Stevenson replied.

“Not my call. As far as the UWG is concerned, Dr Smith is far too dangerous to be left to his own devices on a prison planet.”

“So they put him on our crew?” your security officer asked.

“Well, that’s why we have you, Callister,” you answered, smirking over at her. “Unlike the robot on Jupiter II, you have no operating systems which can be tampered with.”

“Sometimes I wonder if he even has morals at all,” Stevenson mused as his fingers busied themselves logging their traveled distance. “I mean, apparently the kid said he did technically save him once while they were stranded on Priplanus but was it out of moral instinct or did he do that because he knew it was in his best interest?”

“Who knows,” your navigator replied, pushing the button on the console that took panoramic photographs of the surrounding stars and constellations. “Maybe when they sucked the spiders out of him, they managed to suck the evil out too.”

“I wouldn't be so sure,” Stevenson mumbled.

“Captain, I’m getting a transmission from an unknown planet in the Zeta Centauri system,” Callister said, turning to look at you with her eyes lit up. “It says, ‘Is anyone out there?’”

You grinned as a bubble of excitement fluttered in your belly, and pressed the com button that would allow you to address the entire ship at once, telling them to prepare all stations for first contact.

This was it — the reason you enlisted in the Universal World Governments to begin with. Ever since you were a child, you had dreamed about getting to go out into space and explore new worlds, and now it was finally happening. There was just one last thing you needed to take care of before joining the landing party in the shutter hangar.

You turned to your first officer sitting in the chair beside yours. “Take the com? I need to have a chat with our doctor and make sure he knows what's expected of him.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Standing, you left the bridge and made your way down to the med bay, where you expected to find Dr Smith.

You had done your best to maintain a professional niceness with him at first despite the fact that you didn’t trust him as far as you could throw him, something he seemed to pick up on no matter how well you tried to hide it. In spite of being given a second chance of sorts, his bitterness at being ‘demoted’ and assigned to an exploratory ship was palpable and he never missed an opportunity to suggest he was better than his station. If you were being honest, he was likely right, but that hadn’t been enough to simply forget the damage he’d caused. He was lucky to be alive, let alone the head Doctor on any vessel.

As you turned a corner, the med bay doors slid open when you approached. You walked to the office in the corner of the room and found Dr Smith sitting at his desk, seemingly in the middle of paperwork.

“Doctor, I’m not sure if you heard the announcement, but we need all hands prepping stations for first contact. You’ll be a member of the landing par —”

“Yes, yes, I heard you,” he replied, waving a dismissive hand without once looking up at you.

“And yet, your team hasn’t begun to prep the med bay.”

“You’re blaming me for their incompetence?” he asked, finally looking at you.

“As their commanding officer, it’s your job to —”

“I know what my job is, Captain.”

You arched a brow at him. “Do you? Because it seems for the last year that you’ve been on this crew your time has been consumed with sulking like a spoiled child who had his candy taken from him.” You took a step closer to his desk until the edge was barely pressed into the legs of your trousers. “May I remind you, Doctor, that the United World Governments would’ve been in their right to send you to Lastrites for what you did on Jupiter II. As far as I’m concerned, you’re only here due to their willingness to have mercy.” You put a little more bass in your voice. “Now get up and instruct your team to prepare for first contact. I expect you to be in the shuttle hangar in five minutes.”

The corner of his lips curled into an amused smirk as he looked you over. “Very well, Captain.”

Turning on your heel, you left his office and went back to the bridge. “Callister, have you had a response yet?”

“Nothing yet, Captain. It appears the message has been on a running loop for the last twenty years. Harold was able to pinpoint where the signal was broadcasting from.”

Nodding, you reclaimed your chair and gave the order to your pilot to proceed to your destination.

The planet was a solid tan with slightly darker veins weaving all around it. There didn’t appear to be any form of life at all at first glance, something your chief scientist confirmed. After first double checking with your chief scientist that the planet had breathable air and gravity, you collected your first officer, second officer, and chief of security, leaving your chief engineer in command until you got back. As the four of you made your way to the shuttle hangar, your first officer leaned toward you.

“Everything go okay with Smith?”

You let out a sigh. “It’s incredible how he acts as if he didn’t try to assassinate an entire family and cause their ship to be stranded on a barren planet. If it weren’t for that little boy vouching for him, he’d be rotting away on Lastrites.”

“So it went smoothly,” she teased.

“If by ‘smoothly’ you mean I ripped him a new asshole and walked out; yeah, it went smoothly.”

Walking into the hangar, you were pleased to see Dr Smith already waiting there with his gear. He tipped his head at you and your first officer. “Captain. Commander.”

“Doctor,” you replied, walking past him into the shuttle. Once the five of you were buckled in, you took the shuttle down to the surface of the nearly barren planet.

“Might I ask why we’re even bothering to come down here when there is seemingly nothing to see?” Dr Smith asked.

“Oh come on, Zac,” your first officer said playfully. “I thought you’d like getting off the ship for a bit.”

“My name is Zachary, thank you very much,” he muttered to himself.

“Harold says there’s a small area of plants growing here,” you said, checking your portable navigation device. “Besides, we already know someone was here once. It’d be good to try to find out what happened.” You turned to look at him. “Any ideas, Doctor?”

Smith held your gaze for a moment before he looked around at the vast desert-like surface around them. “Well, assuming there was in fact life here, and not just someone that was stranded, my guess would be a lack of rain over a prolonged period, possibly coupled with a lack of other resources. No rain led to severe water shortages, which would lead to drought, crop failures and, of course, economic collapse. They might have been able to survive for sometime, but without the storms and rains, life would cease to exist.”

“But Harold said there was plant life here. How can that be if there’s been no rain?” your second officer asked as you held up your navigation device, turning in place to find which direction the small patch of plant life was.

“Maybe they had water reserves that they thought would last until they got help?”

“I imagine so, though it certainly would have run out before the plant life that is apparently growing here,” Smith replied.

“It’s this way,” you said, pocketing your device. “Keep your eyes open. I doubt we’ll find much that we wouldn’t have seen on the scanner, but you never know.”

The five of you began to walk through the dry, sandy desert until you came to a massive hill. Without much fanfare, you began to climb, your crew following behind, all except one.

“I think I’ll just wait for you down here then!” Smith called out, one hand over his eyebrows to shield the sun above.

“No, you won’t,” you replied, looking back down at him. “Start climbing or we’ll be taking one less person back onto the Phalanx.”

Smith grimaced, stepping forward and pausing for a moment before he too began to climb up the sand hill. You waited for him as the rest of your party continued their journey up, glaring at him as he reached you.

“We could’ve gone around,” he complained, passing you with great effort.

“And it would’ve taken us longer,” you answered. “Look at it this way; at least you’re getting in some exercise.”

He scoffed exhaustedly, grunting as he pulled himself up the hill. “I can think of much better things to be doing for cardio than this, Captain.”

You didn’t respond, only glancing up at him as you continued your climb behind him while trying not to look at his ass. For as much as you couldn’t stand Dr Smith in many ways, you could admit he was an attractive man. In fact, it was only when he opened his mouth and spoke that your attraction to him dimmed. Still, you weren’t about to give him any sort of upperhand by telling him that you thought he was handsome.

By the time you reached the top, you were all sweating profusely, each of you taking long gulps from your respective water cans as you took in the view. There was sandy terrain and other sand hills for miles, except for one vibrant green patch not far from where you were. It was a relief to not have to encounter anymore sand hills to reach it, and the five of you set off toward it, having to slide down on your bottoms after the hill became too steep.

“Well, I’ve got my workout in for the day,” Callister said with heavy breaths as you all reached the bottom.

“How is this even possible?” your first officer asked, taking a few steps towards the greenery.

There were some plants that normally grew in the desert; Prickly Pears, Desert Willows, Pindo Palms and others, but some were trees and plants that weren’t in any registry — likely plants that were native to the planet. But without water?

“As I said, these plants might have very well begun to grow after the society was eradicated. It’s possible this planet has seen some rain in the past few years, though clearly not enough to replenish the entire planet quite yet,” Dr Smith said, wiping beads of sweat from the back of his neck with a handkerchief. “It’s quite extraordinary actually. Most plants, without a water source, will die within a week, some after a few months. In this environment, I would expect the latter. The root will survive for quite a while afterward, but it will decompose over time. These clearly didn’t despite the dry heat and no rain for who knows how long — at least a decade though quite possibly longer. I’d like to take some samples back with us for testing.”

You nodded to him, reaching for your earpiece. “Harold, there’s nothing here. Just a bunch of plants and trees. Can you check for thermal signatures below the surface? I wonder if some people tried to go underground, away from the heat when it became too much.”

“Certainly, Captain.” you heard over your com.

Dr Smith was beginning to gather samples of all the plants, going from one to the other. He was approaching a smaller plant with what appeared to be bright yellow six-petal flowers, and went to cut one off but the stem wouldn’t give beneath the sheer blades. He tried again and again, with no luck. Finally, apparently fed up with trying, he instead took hold of the plant’s base and ripped it from the soil, blinking several times as the dirt beneath kicked up slightly. Sneezing twice, he gave a sniff and pulled out a sealant from his bag, wrapping it around the root, which had come out in his efforts.

Callister and your second officer were checking the perimeter of the green patch for any sources of water or indication of recent rain while your first officer took samples of the sand to take back to the ship.

“Captain, it appears you’re correct. About forty-seven feet South West from your current position, there are two distinct thermal signatures.”

“Can you tell if they’re human?”

“Negative. I would advise you to proceed with caution.”

“Copy that,” you answered, feeling a pair of eyes on you. When you looked up, Dr Smith was staring back at you, his gaze slowly lowering over your frame, as if he was taking you in. “You alright there, Doc?” you asked, slightly dipping your head to bring his eyes back to yours, all while ignoring the shiver that was trickling down your spine.

Smith cleared his throat, nodding curtly. “Just fine, Captain. Thank you.” He took a deep breath before he gestured to his backpack. “I’d like to get these back to the ship as soon as possible, so could we hurry it along?”

Rolling your eyes as Callister and Briggs came back, you nodded to them. “Anything?”

“Nothing that we could see,” Briggs answered. “Though there were some damp patches of ground on the North side of the greenery. It looks like a drying puddle, but no water left. Must’ve rained a few days ago, maybe a week.”

“It’s like the planet wiped out existing life to make way for new life,” your first officer mused, almost to herself.

“You say that like the planet is sentient,” you replied with a smirk.

“Well, no, obviously it’s not, but… it’s just interesting.”

“Harold said there are two thermal signatures less than fifty feet from here to the South West.”

“Human?” Callister asked.

“Unclear. But if there are people down there, we should bring them back to the Phalanx with us. Maybe we can give them some supplies or just drop them off at the next habitable planet. Callister, you mind taking the front?” you asked, earning a nod of affirmation from her. “Great, Briggs, you and Halster fall in behind us, and Doc?” You looked to find Dr Smith staring at your body again with what you could swear was a lustful look in his eyes. “Dr Smith,” you said again more firmly.

His eyes snapped up to yours in shock.

“You’ll walk between me and Halster, copy?”

He swallowed, nodding once.

“Alright, let’s move.”

The sun seemed to be getting closer to the planet, making the air drier and hotter than even the hottest summer you’d experienced back on Alpha Prime. Your skin was beginning to become pink with the beginnings of a sunburn, and for a moment you hoped the Dr had managed to find some aloe that you could use once you got back to the shuttle. Drinking from your water can, you couldn’t help but feel Smith’s eyes on you as the five of you trekked through the sandy expanse of the desert planet until your navigation device began to beep.

“It should be here,” you mumbled, looking around at the ground, but seeing nothing that stood out. Kicking some sand aside, you started to look for a latch, a lever, anything really to indicate an underground structure of some kind.

“Captain,” Callister whisper-yelled, waving you over and pointing down at the ground once you looked up at her.

Taking out your gun, you set it to stun and pointed it to the latch that was peeking out from beneath the sand. Slowly, Callister turned the handle, unlocking the latch with a thunderous snap, and carefully tugged it open.

“This is Captain YFN of the SS Phalanx! Is there anyone down there?” you called out.

“We’re here!”

The distant voice was accompanied by scurrying footsteps that grew in volume as they got closer to the opening. Your trigger finger relaxed, hands lowering slightly as a skinny man dressed in what looked like a burlap sack appeared beneath the open latch.

“Are either of you hurt?” you asked.

“My partner — she’s unconscious! Please!” he answered.

Glancing at Callister, you nodded once and looked back at the man. “Come on up, my security officer will go and get her.”

You could feel a pair of eyes behind you, staring so hard that it felt as though flames were licking every inch of your skin, even beneath your clothes. Looking over your shoulder, you found Dr Smith, his face and neck glistening with sweat as he appeared to undress you with his eyes. Heat bloomed on your cheeks, a shiver crackling down your frame as his stare met yours and held it.

Your first officer and the man were talking but their words were muffled by the intense staring contest you and the doctor were engaged in. It wasn’t until one of them touched your shoulder that you tore your eyes away from Dr Smith’s and looked to see Callister climbing up the ladder with an unconscious woman on her back. Your first officer and the man helped pull her out so that your security chief could climb out.

“She’s breathing, but her pulse is weak,” Callister said as she closed the hatch back up.

“Let’s get her back to the ship,” you replied.

It was another thirty minutes before you were finally back on the Phalanx, and it seemed Dr Smith was slowly going back to his normal, obnoxious self as he and Callister moved the unconscious woman to sick bay, while you and your first officer spoke with the man. Azile was his name, he had apparently been a scientist on the planet you and your party had just left.

He and his partner Dr. Shay had anticipated the drought just weeks before the last rainfall. According to him, they had tried to warn people, but their government refused to heed their warnings. They had built an underground shelter and put out a distress signal, hoping to reach someone before their civilization died of exposure and dehydration, but had heard nothing until the Phalanx answered their call.

“I was sure we would be dead in a matter of weeks if not days,” he said as a nurse checked him over. “We got little rain just last month, and it helped us stay alive a while longer than we would have, but by then everything else had died.”

“There was an area not far from where your bunker was. Plant life is beginning to grow back, but it’ll be years before it gets big enough to rebuild any form of civilization,” you said.

Azile’s eyes lowered, the corners of his lips drooping. “I expect you are correct.”

Glancing at your first officer, you said, “You’re welcome to both stay aboard the Phalanx. We can take you to the nearest UGW station, where they can help you get settled elsewhere.”

Azile cut his eyes to you. “You mean leave Copulas?”

“Is that the name of your planet?”

“Yes! And we cannot leave. It is our home —”

“I understand it may be difficult to —”

“I beg your pardon, Captain, but it is not so simple,” Azile said. “Unless you can take us somewhere where Flaming Blooms grow, we cannot survive anywhere but Copulas.”

“Flaming Blooms?” you asked, wondering if that was the name of the plant that Dr Smith had taken from the plant area of the planet.

“Yes. They grow year round, and are an essential part of our ecosystem. Dr Shay is more knowledgeable of the science behind it than I am, but I do know that without it to permeate the atmosphere, we will die.”

“What is it?” your first officer asked.

“Bright yellow Turnera Diffusa.”

Your first officer gave you a sideways glance, prompting you to clarify, “Flowers. Dr Smith collected a sample of one.”

“It keeps our air safe to breathe. It is also what allows us to procreate year round,” Azile replied.

“Captain?”

Looking over your shoulder, you looked back at Dr Smith, who looked more like his usual self.

“Dr Shay is awake,” he said. “She’s asking for Azile.”

“I’m all finished here,” the nurse said. “He’s cleared to go.”

Nodding to the nurse, you gave Azile a tight smile. “We can take you to see her.”

After leaving Azile with Dr Shay, you turned to your first officer and Dr Smith.

“What do you think? We can’t just leave them here, right?”

“Not now anyway,” your first officer replied. “There’s no telling how long it’ll take for the planet to become habitable again. They could be in that bunker for years.”

You turned to Dr Smith as if to ask for his input.

“It may be possible to leave them with something that could accelerate the plant-growth,” he said, his eyes lingering for a moment on the two rescued scientists. “I’d like to perform some tests on the samples I brought back first.”

“They said that the flower you brought back keeps their air breathable,” you replied. “Start there.”

“Perhaps you can leave the science to myself and the other scientists, Captain,” he snarked.

“Good to see you back to your usual charming self, Doctor,” you quipped back.

The corner of his lips twitched, as though he’d had an urge to smile but stopped himself. Without another word, he turned and left in the direction of his lab.

You had contacted the UWG immediately after returning to the bridge, explaining the situation and informing them that you would be remaining in orbit for a few hours while the two Copulians recovered enough to return to their planet. You were authorized to leave them with enough supplies to accelerate the plant growth and begin rebuilding their ecosystem. Just as you were wondering how they would be able to rebuild their society, Harold informed you of three other heat signatures detected below the planet’s surface. In the end, six more Copulians had been rescued.

It had only been an hour since you’d left Dr Smith to his testing when his voice sounded in your ear piece.

“Captain.”

“Everything alright, Doctor?”

“I’ve found something that you may want to have a look at,” he answered.

“Copy that,” you said, looking at your first officer.

“Go ahead, I’ve got the bridge,” she said with a nod.

Nodding back, you stood and began to make your way to the lab, where you found Dr Smith leaned over the plant that Azile had identified as a Flaming Bloom. He glanced up at you, looking you over before returning his attention to the flower in front of him.

“The other plant life seem to be nutrients, likely what they ate when the planet was fully functioning. This one, however, as you… so eloquently put, indeed is what allows the inhabitants to breathe the air.”

“How is it that we were able to breathe even though there was so little of it?” you asked.

“I wondered the same thing, and so I ordered some blood samples and scans from our visitors and ran some tests. It seems that though their biological make-up is similar to our own, they differ in one area greatly. Their lungs have a sort of additional glan, which I believe stores the particles that emit from this particular flower. If they spend too much time without it, their lungs would collapse.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

He arched a brow up at you. “While their lungs have the ability to filter and store the particles from this flower, our lungs do not have the gland necessary to do the same. If we breathe too much of it, it enters directly into our bloodstream and triggers a response from the central nervous system, specifically the hypothalamus.”

“English, please.”

“The hormone control center,” he replied. “It governs desires, lubrication, and arousal.”

Your brows shot up above your eyes. That certainly explained why Dr Smith had been looking at you the way he had back on the planet. “Azile mentioned something about it being how they’re able to procreate.”

“Fascinating,” he mumbled to himself. “I wonder if any of them would be willing to stay and provide additional data for me to study.”

“You mean become your lab rat?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn't put it so crudely, Captain. I’m sure the UWG would be delighted to know more about this new species as much as I would.”

“Maybe you could ask them if they’ve done any research themselves then,” you replied. “I’m sure they don’t differ very much from humans in that regard.”

His upper lip curled briefly into a snarl that was gone before it even fully formed. “I suppose that would suffice. In the meantime,” he turned back to the flower and began to try and remove the bud, “I can continue to run tests on this sample to determine what else it may be —”

A small poof of pollen floated into the air as the bulb was removed, wafting under his nose and causing him to sneeze several times. He screwed his eyes shut and quickly shook his head before he moved it onto a petri dish.

“What else it may be capable of,” he said, sniffling once.

“Alright then,” you answered, a slight dizzy spell coming over you as the pollen particles drifted toward where you were standing. You took a breath to steady yourself just before a shiver ran over your frame, heat building beneath your collar.

Your mind kept telling you to go back to the bridge, but your feet would not cooperate, keeping you planted in place as the heat beneath your collar spread to your chest. Your nipples hardened under your uniform as Dr Smith turned to face you with that look in his eyes again.

“What is it?” you asked as a tingle began to bloom inside you. Your heart pounded in your ears, drowning out much of anything happening outside the lab, and air thickened around you.

“Captain,” he said breathlessly, taking a few cautious steps toward you. “It seems as though I’ve… inhaled the pollen. Perhaps it’s best that you return to the bridge for the time being.”

“I can’t.”

“You…”

“I think I may have breathed some in, too,” you replied, your voice nearly unrecognizable.

As much as you had managed to ignore your attraction to him before, now it was all you could see. The contrast between the brightness of his eyes and the darkness of his closely cropped hair, and the way his goatee framed his lips made you still. As he took another couple of steps toward you, your heart quickened, a flutter of what must have been butterfly’s wings blooming in your belly. Despite your attempts to avoid doing so, your eyes lowered to drink him in, pausing when they fell below his belt at the bulge that was forming there.

“I insist that you go back to the bridge,” he said, his voice a bit more husky than before. His eyes still lingered on your body as he continued to move toward you, and he slowly licked his lips as he came to stand toe to toe with you, swallowing thickly. “Immediately, before I… Well, I’m just not entirely sure that I’m able to control myself at the moment.”

Your chest was visibly rising and falling with every deep breath that you took. “I’m not sure it’s the best idea for me to be around other crew members while under the influence of this…” His scent suddenly overpowered your sensibilities, drawing you closer to him until your chest and his were but a hair's breadth apart. “How do we fix this, Doctor?”

His gaze flickered down to your lips, the pulse in his neck throbbing visibly. “Well, considering that these particles are what allow the Copulians to procreate, I might hypothesize that coitus would remedy the effects.”

“So if we were to fuck, we’d be back to normal,” you replied, the heat beneath your collar slowly beginning to cool.

“That or… we simply wait until our bodies burn it off. For you that may be only a few moments. I, unfortunately, inhaled quite a bit more than I did while we were rescuing the Copulians. It may therefore remain in my system for a longer period.”

You could feel the overwhelming lust leaving your system, still a small amount lingered, stoking the fire in the pit of your stomach that burned hotter with every moment that passed. You realized that although you always pretended otherwise, your attraction for the doctor was beginning to seep through, clouding the annoyance you harbored for him. His eyes really were breathtaking. If he hadn’t been such an arrogant prick, you might’ve slept with him a long time ago.

“Well, I can’t exactly leave you in this state,” you said, the butterfly wings in your belly still fluttering insistently. It might’ve been the pollen particles that had broken through your stubbornness, but now that your attraction to him had tasted oxygen, it refused to be put back into a box.

“Well then… perhaps… won’t you help me? Please?” His hands were balled into fists and seemed to be resisting the urge he had to touch you.

As the corner of your lips curled up on one side, you broke the touch barrier, winding your arms around his neck and bringing him flush against you and your lips pressed to his. He moaned into your kiss, his large hands holding you to him by the waist as he tilted his head and pushed you up against the wall behind you. You could feel his erection pressed hard against your hip and arched your lower back to push back against it while your hands busied themselves with unzipping the front of his jacket.

“There’s no bed in the lab,” he mumbled against your lips.

“Who cares? Just fuck me, Doc,” you answered, pushing his jacket off his shoulders and tugging on his shirt next.

He seemed just as desperate to rid you of your clothes and a few flurried moments later, you were both topless, with your pants down to your knees. His head dipped to encase a hard nipple in his mouth, one hand massaging the other between two fingers. Groaning, you arched toward him, one hand holding his head to your chest while the other slowly reached between you to wrap your hand around his erection.

Turning you to face the wall, he reached between your legs and groaned against your neck when he felt your slippery folds.

“Fuck!” he hissed against your neck.

“Yes, Doctor,” you groaned, rocking back against his hot erection. “Please.”

You whimpered when his fingers left you, gasping loudly when you felt the head of his cock sliding through your slit, looking for your entrance. Mewling when he pressed against it, you held your breath as he pushed into you, moaning in an exhale as he slid fully inside. He groaned when his hips met your ass, leaning against you until his lips brushed over your ear.

“Call me Zachary,” he whispered.

“Oh Zachary,” you sighed as he pulled back slowly before pushing back in.

He groaned in your ear, his hips building up to a steady pace while his hands moved to grab your hips, pulling you to him. His hips clapped against your ass, growing louder and louder as his thrusts became more insistent, demanding. This wasn’t about exploring the undeniable attraction between the two of you, this was about getting off, as quickly as possible.

The thought made your muscles tighten around him as a tingle swelled between your legs. You moaned helplessly, the side of your face slowly leaning against the wall in front of you as your eyes closed and your hips arched back. The cold, solid surface on your cheek did little to cool your burning skin, and sent a shiver down to your nipples. Fingers curling against the wall, you scratched against the surface as your breaths fell in time with each snap of his hips. His thick cock stimulated every inch of your tunnel, exciting the various nerve endings and driving you toward an orgasm quicker than you anticipated. Your walls pulsing around him again, you whined as he sunk all the way inside you, pressing forward until your hips moved toward the wall. You tried to spread your feet further apart, but your pants — still around knees — wouldn’t allow it, making the ache in your pussy build more.

“Captain, you feel so good,” he purred in your ear, earning another moan from you.

“Y/N,” you replied weakly, tilting your head toward his. “You need to hurry, I have to get back to the bridge.”

He groaned in his throat as his hands slid up your ribcage to massage your breasts. “I would love nothing more than to take my sweet time with you, Y/N.”

He gently pinched and twisted your nipples as he nibbled on your earlobe, his hips grinding against your ass.

“Later,” you answered, trying to rock your hips back against him.

Grunting in your ear, he moved his hands back to your waist, using his leverage to move you hard and fast on him. The new pace sparked more nerve endings inside you, quickly building you up toward the edge as a firm, staccato clap joined the sounds of heavy breathing and throaty moans. Flattening your hands on the wall, you tried to keep yourself in place, hoping that in doing so it would allow for his thrusts to hit you harder and send you over the edge. The tingles that had spread to your clit finally reached its peak, and you held your breath in anticipation.

One of his hands left your waist and found your hardened nub, rubbing tight circles over it. You gasped, your muscles throbbing with the orgasm that washed over you.

“Oh yes, Y/N!” he groaned, quickening his pace and following you into release.

He thrust through his orgasm, continuing to stimulate both of you as your tunnel milked his cock. With one final push all the way to the hilt, he panted against your ear, his fingers still on your clit while his erection kept his spend inside you. Your pussy still hugged him, as if trying to squeeze every last drop out of him. If it had been up to you, you would’ve stayed exactly as you were, pressed against each other with his long, thick cock deep inside you for much longer. But after a few blissful moments of riding the aftershocks of release, reality began to set back in. Your muscles squeezed him defiantly at the thought of you needing to get back to work.

Opening your eyes, you savored the feeling of him filling you completely a bit longer before whispering, “I should get back to the bridge.”

He nodded against your shoulder, his heavy breaths warm against your skin as his finger grazed your clit one last time, earning a gasp. His cock slowly retreated, making you whimper at the loss as your muscles engaged, trying to keep his release inside you while you bent slightly to pull your pants back up. Turning toward him as you both got redressed, you stared at each other, still catching your respective breaths. Where before, the sight of him annoyed you to no end, now you wanted nothing more than to spend the next several hours mapping the span of his body, of which you’d only seen so much of.

“Obviously, you’re not to breathe a word of this to anyone, Doctor,” you said, trying to regain some semblance of authority.

The smirk that appeared on his lips didn’t help. “Of course, Captain.”

“And use a mask if you’re going to continue running tests on that flower,” you added, tugging at the hem of your jacket after you’d zipped it up.

“Yes, certainly,” he replied with a single nod.

You turned to leave the lab when he stopped you with a hand on your elbow.

“Um…”

Turning back to face him, he stepped up to you and pulled you into a firm kiss, humming against your lips before he pulled his head back to look at you.

“Permission to visit your quarters this evening, Captain?”

You arched a brow though it did little hide the lust in your eyes. Swallowing thickly, you gave a curt nod and cleared your throat. “That would be fine if you prefer to give me the latest update on your testing, Doct—”

“Oh come off it, Y/N,” he interrupted gently, the backs of his fingers sliding against your cheek affectionately. “I know you felt what I felt just then. I want you again without having the need to rush.” His fingers grazed down your neck, his eyes following the movements before coming back to look into yours. There was a warmth in them that you never imagined you would see in Dr Zachary Smith, and yet there it was, gentle and sincere.

Not knowing what to say, you rocked forward and kissed him, humming against his lips when he cradled your face in both hands and kissed you back. Reluctantly pulling away, you silently nodded.

You took a small step back, breaking your contact. “I’ll see you tonight then.”

“Yes, Captain,” he answered, one corner of his lips slightly curled up.

You turned and left the lab, running a hand through your hair as you made your way back to the bridge. When you were back sitting in the Captain's chair was when you felt the evidence of what had just happened dripping onto the seat of your panties, and you smiled to yourself.

*request from this NSFW prompt list

#lost in space #dr zachary smith #gary oldman #fanfic #there are some elements from the orville universe #i had way too much fun writing this #thank you the request!

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