#i mean what differs us from other primates is exactly that

[elbiotipo]

Question: he would the hair in cat ears work for catgirls? do they get the same hair covering the ears as the rest of the head or would it be shorter for the ears only? if a catgirl has long curly hair, is the hair covering the ears also long and curly?

I would have to research that, but given I have a research subject next to me (my cat) cats do seem to have shorter hair in their ears by default, which makes sense because ears are well, ears, and they need to be mobile and clear of obstructions.

You can see here that this cat (not mine, he went away as I was writing this) has medium-length fur but the hairs covering the ears are rather short. It makes sense it would be the same for catgirls.

Now, does this mean that cat-people hair would be the same as their fur? Do notice that cat fur has a very different length and texture from human hair in that human hair doesn't have that layered thing that makes most mammal fur, individual hairs are also much longer. Furthermore, humans are WEIRD, just plain WEIRD in our hair distribution. No other mammals are like us, there are certainly hairless mammals, for sure, but the human distribution of hair is very much unlike other primates, with our hairy heads, stomach/pubic areas, beard and armpits, while those are usually bald in other primates. There is still considerable debate on the evolution of hairlesness in humans, from endothermic regulation (better sweating) to sexual selection (which might explain the persistance of, well, hair and body hair instead of complete hairlessness). What's interesting is that genes for a full fur (hair, I guess) coat in humans are still there, just disabled into vellus hairs which are a lot less prominent. If you want more on the subject, I warn you, it's a deep dive, but you can start in Wikipedia.

BACK TO CATS THOUGH, something that people often forget is that whiskers are indeed another kind of fur, but not only that, they are active sensory organs that take a big part of brains in many mammals. One we also lack. Humans are strange. But while cats can live without whiskers, it's still something very important to them. So I think that is something we forget about felines and feline characters.

It would also be a real interesting thing if cat-people had different hair, as in the thing in top of our heads (which seems to have evolved to protect our stupid big brains from the sun) similar to cat fur. Perhaps a catgirl would look pretty much human, but from touching the hair, seeing her eyes, perhaps even whiskers, you would see different stuff (assuming a fantasy or such setting). Given our genetics, it's not exactly implausible to have people whose fur just sticks to their hair and tail. It's just, well, I really need to make a post on this sort of stuff one day.

For a VERY fun deep dive into cat coat and eye genetics, I found this site full of deep explanations and charts about cat genetics. Including HYPOTHETICAL cat coats:

Honestly, don't miss it if you're doing cat-like characters. This is way more fun that just sticking ears and a tail and be done with it. Put the cat in catgirls again, that's what I say.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

How would I need to change the hips of a semi humanoid creature to be able to have the legs and feet bend fully backwards?

I'm having a little trouble visualizing what exactly this means. the hips joints don't really affect how a foot can bend, that's more to do with the ankle joint. you could make the ankle more flexible by modeling it after the ankles of tree climbing primates! humans have lost a lot of the foot flexibility due to becoming plantigrade bipedal creatures more focused on walking than climbing. but primates who live in the trees have different ankle joints from us that allow them to rotate their foot with a much broader range than us.

as for bending the leg backwards from the hip, that's something humans can do already! it just takes practice. if you've ever seen someone do the splits, or gymnasts, dancers, and ice skaters holding their foot up by their head, that is all possible because of hip flexibility and muscle training!

I've found some resources on contortionists for a good reference on how humans can be extremely bendy.

here's an article about it. and a video:

unless you are talking about rotating the leg in some manner? like with the knee bending the opposite way? flipping the leg around so the toes point backwards? like which of these things are we talking about:

(image description: simple sketches of humanoid figures, with no arms drawn. in the first image, there is a regular humanoid figure standing still, followed by two copies of it with a leg drawn in a very pale bright color to show it bending backwards at the hip. one of them is bending the leg backwards in a heel-first motion while the other is bending the leg backwards by rotating it up in a knee-first motion. the second image is the humanoid figure standing still again, but this time with a leg redrawn in a bright color to show it with the knee and foot facing backwards. end description.)

if it's the first one, I don't think you'll need to make many changes to the anatomy at all, just do a lot of studies on images and videos of real humans that show the full range of hip movement. if it's the second one, you're going to need to tackle a lot more details than just what the hip joint looks like. why are their legs backwards? how do they move? is this actually a misinterpretation of the shape of digitigrade or bird legs? birds certainly might look like they have "backwards knees" but that is actually their ankle! they usually have incredibly short femurs and their knees remain so close to the body that they're hidden by the feathers, making the leg appear to have a backwards knee.

and if this is really a humanoid leg turned backwards, and they do move like this, with their foot turned around and all, then we also have to reconsider the shape of the musculature and the whole pelvis and maybe even the spine. They certainly couldn't have a humanoid set of glutes. It's a very tricky bit of anatomy to make this work! might have to fudge a lot of it and just let it look weird, because it does fit right into the uncanny valley and I don't think there's a way to design this and not have it feel uncanny. lean in on the weirdness of it! that would be a really good design for a horror creature, honestly.

(image description: more sketches of a humanoid figure with the backwards facing legs. first is the same sketch of it standing still, then a sketch of it running, and a sketch attempting to work out what the pelvic skeleton would look like, which is mostly just a smaller and narrower version of a human pelvis. end description.)

if you could send a new ask with more clarifying details, I might be able to help out better! hopefully I managed to provide resources and questions that will help you flesh out your idea in a way that works for you! good luck!

[swk4k]

" 'Sup."

(indie RP blog for Lego Monkie Kid’s interpretation for the Monkey King. Distinguishing nickname, Kinger. Living Details below)

Character Overview:

The Buddha once revealed the existence of Four Celestial Primates, existing outside of the natural designation that all other creatures were divided into. Of these four, the Intelligent Stone Monkey is the most prolific, having attained power and renown with little more than charisma, ambition, and an inner strength unparalleled by any peer.

Suk Wukong, the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, in every way, stands unparalleled in his magnitude, king of a lone mountain in the middle of the vast ocean, to which he stands atop. Beloved by his people, adored by his fans, and with few other closer than that.

---

[Icons are a combination of my own screengrabs and icons from poms-resources ]

---

Monkey King Power Set:

Highly advanced physical strength, speed, agility and reflexes. You may be faster, but Monkey King is probably stronger.

Cloud Somersaulting - Wukong is able to traverse the skies similar to flying on a cloud.

Flight - he can just do that. He has his somersaulting but he can also keep himself suspended mid-air for long periods of time as well as move around.

Monkey King's 72 Transformations - From hard work and determination (and a smidge of cheeky mischief), Wukong has learned how to shapeshift into multiple different forms as well as other people if need be.... but can have trouble hiding his tail.

Self-cloning - Using strands of his hair and his own breath, Wukong can summon multiple, identical, autonomous clones of himself, identical in every way.

Laser Eyes - lasers from his eyes. It's absurd and rarely comes up. You're probably safe from it.... probably.

Eyes of Truth - Wukong, with his 'gold vision' or eyes of truth, is able to discern a human disguise from a human form, follow connections and see through illusions.

Aquatic breathing - exactly what's on the tin. Guy can breathe underwater.

Size Alteration - Wukong is able to grow and shrink at will

Astral Projection - Wukong is able to project an image of himself into the minds eye of a living person. No one else is able to see or hear him except the person he chooses.

Immortality - Having erased his name from the Book of the Dead, Wukong is immune to dying from old age and illness, with no expected life end date. Thanks to Daois training, not only is Wukong physically fierce in combat, he is eternally young. Thanks to the Heavenly Peaches of Immortality, as well as the peaches of Flower Fruit Mountain, Wukong's natural lifespan has been elongated to a frankly unbelievable length of time. And thanks to Lao Tzu's pills of immortality and drinking of heavenly wine, he is so immortal he can decapitate himself and simply grow a new head. This guy's not dying anytime soon.

Mun Rules:

Anons accepted, don’t be shy, he bites but not as hard as he used to.

Mutuals preferred, but if you’re following me and wanna try some RP, feel free to send anything over, interact with memes or hmu for conversation! I don’t interact first unless we’re mutuals just so I know I’m not crossing any boundaries and because I’m a tad shy.

Relationships discussed after development.

Related to the above - I am not exclusive, multiships encouraged.

Pseudo-affiliated with @paracosmiist’s OC, Beng Tongbi. Blog functions on a canon in which Beng is a general, but Tongbi has been incorporated as a semi-canon sister character. Questions about Beng will likely redirect to Tongbi unless specified otherwise.

Outside of roleplay/direct interaction, bog runs on a 'default setting’ -posts/other roleplays where he mentions Macaque or MK do not mean your Macaque or MK unless specified.

This meaning, this blog is multiverse unless asked about a specific scenario/'verse.

Related to the above, specify a particular blog/person if you send asks about someone else’s played character - aka Specify which blog I’m playing with that you’re curious about, otherwise I will answer with blog-lore. Don’t tag them if they don’t want to be tagged (check their rules first)

Be aware - Mun is an adult (33) and prefers to RP with other adults. Due to shenanigans, minors cannot follow and please do not interact. This is the internet, so a lot of this is on the honor system, but be aware I am a human being with boundaries and I am asking you, as a person, to respect those boundaries.

Personals are similar - follows are fun, so are asks/anons, but please don’t try to RP with me, nor reblog my rp posts.

Headcanons abound! I try to keep as close to the character as I can, but I do play Wukong in my own way based on these as well as the canon. I try to integrate and adhere to both equally.

Mun has bipolar II and this can affect my roleplay timeliness, due to how replies/roleplay can affect my energy and excitement and how those things impact my judgment, my characterization/writing and other factors. Sometimes I’m in a good place and can reply right away, other times I need to step back for hours, or a few days, in order to reply properly and in character.

If I’m answering others before you or you before others, it’s not preferential treatment and I am excited/interested to play. It’s related to the above.

I won’t shy away from darker themes if they come up, but I prefer fade-to-blacks for sexy stuff.

I will not do pet death. Please tag animal death. Particularly with dear pets. Hard no for dogs and especially cats.

Mun has no patience for proship/antiship BS. Follow/softblock/block at your own desire, I sssssssuper do not caaaaaaare about this discourse.

Obligatory American-Leftist disclaimer about basic human rights here, you know the drill, I will cut any shitty behavior to the quick.

[More to be added if needed]

Wuk Deets:

This monkey can read, but he does struggle with it. Expect typo's and misspellings, but he's capable of it.

According to the wikia, "A sticker in 80046 Monkie Kid's Cloud Airship implies Monkey King can play the piano". I feel like it's true, but he doesn't talk about it.

Grey-ace, grey-aro - so shipping is always possible, but takes work. Macaque's will have differently complicated work due to their whole deal, but they will still take time. It takes a minute for flirting or innuendo to get through to him.

Unfortunately related - he doesn't realize how flirty or intimate he can sound... and he sounds super flirty, unfortunately ("Awh, Azure, ya big sweetie!" "(To DBK) When did you become such a sweetheart?)" "(To MK) It's adorable how nervous you are." "(To Macaque) You're a peach.").

Tags:

Wukong tags for himself! All brackets are mun tags. Out of brackets, it’s Wukong.

[Handsome Monkey King] (Selfie/pictures of Wukong)

[and others] (images of people not Wukong - typically tagged in tandem with Wukong pictures)

[Monkey King Story Time] (Planned/in-depth roleplay)

[Monkeychatter] (Wukong original posts, talking on dash, light/unplanned/unplotted roleplay. Not directly anything. Chatter can become a plotted roleplay and will switch tags when it does)

[Holding Court] (asks)

[Welcome to the central temple] (dash games, memes, etc)

[Peachy flavor] (aesthetic/inspo/etc)

[Scripture excerpts] (blog-lore/blog-canon)

[the sun and the stars] (Asks, threads, posts, etc Tongbi-relevant)

[End of a Chapter] (End of Thread)

[Stoned in paradise] (Havoc in Heaven, Brotherhood and before)

[behind the waterfall] (OOC)

[enkisstories]

They were all watching!!!

For the dbhkisscam cam prompt by @timebird84

Little Caesar Arena, Detroit. Spring 2039.

“You want to be somewhere else…”

“Yes. Anywhere.”

“Fuck.”

Only now did Daniel turn his face towards his boyfriend. Or the back of that one’s head, more precisely. Gavin was slouching forwards on the arena seat, mumbling something about having known this couldn’t work out.

“No, we couldn’t have known, to the contra… Wait, you don’t mean the game, but the relationship? Argh!”

Daniel Jonathan Phillips was the gentlest, most caring man in Detroit. Except in those moments when he wasn’t. Like right now.

SMACK!

“Ouch!

“Idiot!” the android growled at his… yes, what exactly? Pet? For under no circumstances could a human ever be something more to a higher species! That stood to reason, yet here he was, watching a football game with this adorably scruffy primate, that was so different from John, Caroline and especially Connor. Gavin Reed pretty much wore his heart on his sleeve, with him there was no pretense, no risk of falling for yet another delusion, nothing other to expect than what it said on the tin. On the downside, Daniel’s comfort human tended to jump to conclusions a lot.

“I want to be somewhere else WITH YOU!” Daniel therefore emphasized. “Anywhere without those damn directed floodlights.”

And the irony of it all? Daniel could have grabbed one of those sensory sensitive support packages at the entrance: Stroboscope filtering glasses, dampers and whatnot, get yours as long as supply lasts… He hadn’t been too proud to ask for one, but too complacent, simply not expecting his nerves to get the better of him again after all this time. So in a way, Daniel Phillips had fallen into the same trap again.

“You saw the footage…” Daniel whispered.

Gavin nodded. How could he forget that this android had killed Antony, Kellam and almost Marlon, too! If the other cops ever learned that he was dating the Park Avenue deviant, that might very well change Gavin’s status from the reviled office bully to a target. He could kiss his career goodbye instead of profiting from the image of a progressive android-friend. What he most definitely wasn’t. It was just that the mind behind those grey-blue eyes was the only one in the whole damn city that couldn’t get charmed by Jericho’s Golden Child. With Daniel, Gavin could trash-talk Connor around the clock. Only as of late they rarely did that anymore. Their shared loathing for the RK800 might be how this relationship had started, but ever since then the men had created better memories that they could refer back to. But now it seemed that Daniel had gotten jolted into a time even before their rocky first days… the fateful august night of 2038.

“How they paraded me in front of all of Detroit”, Daniel went on. “I was at my lowest, despite claiming that I was holding all the cards, yet they… they rallied the whole city against me as if I not just didn’t belong into my own family, but not even into this world. Used. Dropped. Blamed for it and all alone. On my own. That was the worst.”

♪ Maybe it's 'cause I got a little bit older ♪ ♪ Maybe it's all that I've been through ♪

For worse or better a different sound almost drowned the background song out. It was going flapp-flapp-flapp-whirrrr. The new sound was getting produced by a streaming drone. This particular one sported a pink coating and the logo of Little Casear Stadium.

WHIRRRR

“Oh, shit!” Gavin exclaimed. “Kiss Cam was yesterday, now we have Kiss Drone! – Shoo! Shoo!”

Daniel studied the drone while his boyfriend frantically gestured at it to vamoose.

“Is it, really?”

“I have no idea what it really is, but why not make believe?”

♪ Fire on fire would normally kill us ♪

Gavin’s words were accompanied by his trademark wink, but Daniel hardly even noticed it.

FLAPP, FLAPP, FLAPP

The noise… Already Daniel could have sworn that there was no drone, but a helicopter again. There was no ceiling either, but a dark, open sky looming over their heads, with no place to hide. Every flat this sky touched had people in it that wanted to see Daniel defeated. And there were the cops… One cop, anyway, Gavin, and he was Daniel’s boyfriend, but it didn’t matter, because all of Detroit was watching again!!!

The android froze up.

Looking around for a screen to verify whether a Kiss Cam event was underway, Gavin spotted exactly the expected scene on the big screen: just now an elderly lady smooching her disgusted grandchild for the shits and the giggles.

“Kiss cam alright”, Gavin murmured.

The screen now showed the feed from a drone in a different corner of the stadium. It ignored an android couple to instead focus on a human one sitting in the row right below the androids. The glossed over couple’s disappointment was hard to overlook.

Gavin grinned, immensely satisfied at the sight of the “machine overlords” getting, as he phrased it, put into their place. A human supremacist to his very core, Gavin Reed didn’t want the machine people destroyed, just not getting airs. Yet at the same time in everything he felt or theorized about androids there was a Daniel-shaped hole gaping, same as there was a Gavin-shaped one in Daniel’s worldview of his kind being the improved humanity.

Gavin pulled his jacket from his seat’s backrest and slung it around Danny, much like one would provide warmth to a person in shock. Daniel liked his boyfriend’s smell, maybe taking it in now would help.

And I like your voice, or the way you use it, that makes it different from how any given PL600 uses that very same voice. Talk to me, Danny! Call me names, c’mon, don’t be shy, you know I can give back good as I get - and better! Be my killer android again!

♪ They say that we're out of control and some say we're sinners ♪

The couple’s body language had caused the kiss cam drone to draw closer. It focused and the screen now clearly showed the stricken housekeeper android and his human. Were they meant to serve as the next goofy part? Was Gavin to pull back in embarrassment and crack a joke about outdated androids?

But even more importantly, were Tina, Robert, Chris and Susan watching? Was Hank, for that matter? Connor? Captain Fowler?!

They’d all see… all watch… disapprovingly. Even before confirming anything, the fact alone that he was sharing his jacket with an android that looked like the Park Avenue deviant or, take your pick, the revolution leader’s right hand man, could be condemning in the wrong circles. Do anything or nothing, be cooked either way. The DPD detective was now getting a small taste of what Daniel had felt like.

“What the phck!” Gavin uttered. Wasn’t he Gavin fucking Reed? And that Gavin was many things, but not shy. If he wanted something, he laid claim on it and if he had something good, he boasted about it.

That’s my boyfriend, the man who shot Connor into the shoulder. The first deviant that made the news. You couldn’t keep the secret under the lid anymore, couldn’t keep MY DANIEL in the closet!

♪ But don't let them ruin our beautiful rhythms ♪

Gavin nudged Daniel and understanding dawned in the android.

They were being watched. Maybe not all of Detroit, but a substantial amount of people was sitting in the stadium right now, with many more following the game via their TVs. If Daniel smooched his human boyfriend now, all those people would see it. They’d see an android kiss his lover and nobody would be able to do jack shit about it. They had to watch it and like it.

Daniel licked his lips in anticipation, but quite honestly there was a pair of lips other than his own that he’d rather interact with now. Already the background noise generated by the drone was getting faded out by Daniel’s mind.

They moved towards each other in a way that couldn’t have been any more different from two mere buddies playing along with a prank. The smoothness and the letting go of boundaries clearly indicated to the audience that this was an established couple that already had found its routines.

Gavin felt the lightweight glassfibre reinforced polyurethane body against his, heard the subliminal “device is working” sound that Daniel emanated like any computer and then found himself grabbed in the usual mix of one claiming possession and clinging to a lifeline, that was so typical for Daniel. The computer noise sounded like a cat purring to Gavin. A two-legged cat with all the purring goodness minus any crazy furry stuff. Daniel with his pleasantly cool body, that fired up under load like fireworks. Making out with this android was like coming home after having played in the snow, only for adults.

Likewise Daniel’s nostrils filled with the “human afterwork” smell, that he was so drawn to, probably because it signified said human to be in need of a bath and a meal. In other words: Care. Daniel felt the most turned on when his lover arrived freshly from a crimescene, close to keeling over from being overworked, but also full of himself, the best detective in Detroit (and if he deigned to actually switch his brain on for a change, that wasn’t even that far from the truth).

Unable to link his mind to his human lover’s, Daniel couldn’t feel Gavin inside himself the way he had felt North during their brief time together. Not caring that this made him the bottom according to human classifications, Daniel therefore demanded the nextbest thing: Gavin’s insertable appendages inside his android body. The human tongue obliged, and the contact fired a myriad of sensations into the PL600 brain, that was tuned to register the slightest variations in taste, because food prep was one of its primary purposes.

♪ There you go, saving me from out of the cold ♪

Whatever the person controlling the cameras had expected to provoke, what they got instead was sweet, sweet revenge. Once again Daniel was showing the humans of Detroit something they really didn’t like to see: That he was alive and free, happy even. Everything had come full circle.

[kaveh-therapist]

Terms that don’t make sense in this wonderful post :

“Damaged chromosomes” darling your chromosomes don’t get damaged by the presence of mutations, their content simply changes. Damage could be if their telomeres were shortened to the point of allowing for shortening of the encoding sequences themselves.

“Complex species” how about you get back to biodev classes ? There are no such thing as primitive, complex or non-evoluted species. Every current species comes from the same ancestor and has evolved as much as the others in the same time period. Humans are not more complex - that’s pushing Christian beliefs into science - a bird or a fish’s eyesight is more complex than ours, a dog’s communication adaptability is more complex than ours and so on. The way an organism creates a descendant is a matter of natural selection. Bacterias will not reproduce because they are monocellular. Plants may use asexual reproduction because they aren’t able to move around and would die off if unable to find and generate partners near them. Literally Komodo dragon females can reproduce asexually, are they not “complex” enough o your liking ?

The point regarding how asexual reproduction may lead to issues for human beings is totally irrelevant here because being inbred and asexual reproduction are totally different matters. Asexual reproduction means your parent cell gives its full genome to the descendant cell. Sexual reproduction means parents cells 1 and 2 each give half of their genome to form descendant cell which, as stated before, is exactly what fusing two ovocytes II would be.

Oh and btw, primates do have sex because it’s fun. With the lack of œstrus, there would be no incentive for reproduction if not for sexual pleasure. I can assure you that if females couldn’t get off from it, none of those penis-havers would get anywhere near them. That’s also why gay and lesbian sex is frequent in ape species - including ours

people today with access to more raw information than any other period: the earth is flat

german artilleryman in 1916, who barely washes his own ass: I need to account for the curvature and rotation of the earth when plotting my firing plans

[the-firebird69]

We have several people in Charlotte county and punta Gorda who have to go and their assholes okay and I mean it these people are vagrants do you have big jobs to do tonight and right now they have to try and save their people and they're out in the park disturbing my husband on purpose I mean what winter is okay they need to get the hell out of here it sucks so bad.

-the civil announcements to make and the puke said he's going to ride by and here he comes firstly there are huge attacks going on against the morlock gigantic attacks and they are gaining momentum and gaining in size not shrinking and that's in the eastern hemisphere they're loading up into the areas of operation and they're deleting tons of them as in getting rid of them it's non-stop too

-the civil other things occurring and these people who are here are massively fried and don't want to announce because they want to get rid of their own people and their weakest hell we'd like to get rid of your own people too but there's tons of us and your computers don't exist during your imagination cheesy computers that you built at your USF have been gone for years and every time you try and build one honestly you should send them back to you in the format you so you'll understand it they're crappy computers but they're good enough to do stuff to you with if you put on my s***** robot he knows just the one actually since you were covering Tommy f and you tried to get us to fight them we're going to send that thing after you so they're acting very heinous on purpose so listening to your shouting and s*** we have to find out what it is has never occurred to you that you're dumber than a brick of s*** it's like Army intelligence that's what I grew up as an army brat and dad was helping you dumb f****** God damn ignorant piece of s*** wiggers God knows why I certainly don't even know I'm one of them now you figure it out so you talk about a lot this a****** saying it's a sound device and he's going to bring it home and try and use it on my husband so I want him out

And they're saying they're on it good

-there's huge basis that they're attacking in the eastern hemisphere but really they're almost gone they're that were partially remaining is really seven that are super mega bases and those are now coming under attack and they're planning on devastating them s*** that was a real bug. They're beginning to assault at this time and it is a huge assault and it's going on momentarily. There's about seven of those and that's in total after that they're not they don't really have that many bases.

-this is the Western hemisphere and it's going to come under attack momentarily and yeah that idiot gets arrested every day it could be Garth and he's a f** and he needs to leave too what losers okay they don't live a civilized life if I offered it they don't. The more I have significant bases in the Western hemisphere they have about 200 that are kind of well they're about 10x10 and they have 300 that are four or five by five and they have 20 that are like 70 by 15 literally that's pretty big then that's where they're coming from they said we're all evacuating to Australia and they're laughing and saying all that stuff tons of them were though and they knew I didn't want laughing that much it kind of covered up the fact that they have 10 more people Mac knew about it and it says he's getting it from the future exactly s*** head most people don't let me tell myself. Max says yes that's true so if they just sit here and do her this monkey show I mean these people are as dumb as primates and is annoying so Dave went was eight or nine characters so far over at fisherman's village it was two or three here and he just came back again and it's a different guy we think I'm the same ebike he dropped off so he's doing great I guess smart people check that stuff and they go after people who are f*** ups but really it's kind of an order so going after a ton of people for it it's great cover to go after both sides

-there are huge attacks going on the shortly in the Western hemisphere but not only on based they're going to start with the tax on bases of operation. And it works real well to attack both they're all going to get sucked over there it's a great decision we think it's an awesome idea and we think it's going to work very nice there's no reason why I shouldn't we are going to express more interest in my husband's day to day life this was horrible and it can't be repeated there's a lot of loose ends every day it's terrible and the guys are the ones who are driving it now and globally too that group is exhaustingly huge we had to man up and we didn't man up as much as we should.

-well there's bugs at him so he has to move but there's a big list of things they're attacking the planetoids it's not going very well and they're getting your asses kicked they are attacking several other areas other than the planetoids and still they are persisting during the large attacks on their basis and it's not really helping them is huge huge strikes on the basis and they are still going after the planets planet toys they're going after the saucer shortly and a huge groups okay massive numbers and we're talking about trillions and trillions and trillions of troops trillions really there's going to be a huge Force going after these ships.

More shortly

Hera he said a little not a ton but helped us

Zues

Olympus

[whatifsandspheres]

I mean, almost all of psychology and psychiatry initially began as culture policing. Much of it still is.

The greatest mistake currently unfolding is labeling all these neurological and psychological profiles as divergent or other than "Typical." When in reality the range of human behavior and brain structures has never had to evolve to being put into such a constraining little box as the modern world and all its bland and superficial social constructs built virtually yesterday when humanity barely learned to make its first words.

As a social species, it logically stands to reason that humans are meant to, by definition, suit a range of specialized roles for the sake of group fitness. It makes no sense that there is a "typical." Such a social group would never survive evolution but be relegated to either stagnation or extinction. We've survived. Even eusocial colony species like bees have diverse roles and specialized functions, and even among their specific castes there's variations in behavioral profiles.

The relaxation of the evolutionary pressures that's come about in this Holocene and has led to the largest human population sizes in all of the history of primates is not the norm. It wasn't so for millions of years before now. The successful strategies that led to this moment weren't based on homogeneity and standardized "Typical."

If anything. The typicals would have likely held the group back, died out, or been a drain on group resources. They exist because of the successful strategies of evolution that relied on the diversity and adaptability of the groups which survived points of near extinction. But even with the limited range of those surviving lineages of markers like mitochondrial DNA and cultural and language roots-- those groups already had an assortment and wider range of the inherent human behavioral and neurological profiles that the evolutionary pressures had generated and prepared to shuffle and test. It's only now that we can see much more of what that code behind the scenes had been.

To dismiss it now as anything less than variant, instead of the normalized and dismissive "divergent" suggests that the human species isn't even a social species or that groups are composed of homogenous members or "better and worse" approximations to the *same* objectives. It was never like that before. The individuals working on Oldowan stone tech possibly weren't the same brain shuffle that were working on Abalone deep sea diving, likely weren't the ones working on textile and dye or adhesive manufacturing, likely weren't the ones developing food crop selection and breeding or agroforestry before agriculture-- even if at some point some individuals did blend those inclinations and practices or skills together. It wasn't pure chance that some were better suited than others and the difference doesn't exist within the narrow parameters of "typical."

Succinctly put? Most of psychology has up until very recently only been of use for culture policing. And a witch doctor from this tribe versus that tribe likely has different ideas about which herbs to prescribe or what ceremony to perform. You can't exactly blame them, from an anthropological perspective, it's really trying to be a science. Worry about the ones who think it already is, they're morphing past testing it and developing it as one into reviving it's eugenics traits which threaten the species with rigidity and extinction.

u ever think about how some mental health disorders literally have criminal activity as a criteria…like not even pretending just straight up “if you don’t follow the laws of the state you’re insane” hmmm wonder why that might be

[idkimnotreal]

my uncle and my dad have two different theories about the construction of the pyramids in egypt.

my dad says some technologically advanced human civilization was wiped out, but it built the pyramids before that, and he believes we live in cycles and that ours will also be wiped out in time to give birth to a new one.

my uncle straight up believes it’s aliens.

i tried explaining to them humans have been smart for quite some time. thousands of years to be precise. i told my uncle humans have known the approximate circumference of the earth for more than 2000 years. we didn’t need satellites for that. thus it’s comprehensible that ancient egypt would have the tech to build the pyramids.

but it didn’t get to me that they’re not doubting ancient egyptians had the capacity to build those huge things - they’re doubting they actually did it. and to me it seems that 1) they don’t understand the motivations to do that, as a pyramid is meaningless to us today and 2) they can’t grasp logistics to build those things and the absolute tragedy of massive loss of human life (for instance; my uncle says that saws are fragile and will break every so often, so i said they made another one. he scoffed at that. but they really did make another one - thousands of times. that’s the power of absolute state the likes of which we see in china today. egypt was just the first).

that is why they think it’s aliens (or almost aliens). they just don’t understand how ancient societies functioned. future humans or our descendant species might wonder why we built the burj khalifa or football stadiums and how. but they’re important to us now, and we’re willing to dedicate massive resources to build those things (even though some stadiums will only be used once, and even though the burj khalifa is empty inside). the pyramids were just that on steroids.

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

May I ask what you did to get a job like yours?

I'm dying to work with animals as my career for the rest of my life, but not somewhere unethical like a pet store. Sadly I have 0 qualifications (other than pet sitting for others) so idk where to start. I tried looking for apprenticeships near me and I'm having a hard time. School has been....unkind to me in the past, but if it would mean I could get the job of my dreams I'd be willing to go back.

So, obviously your job is very specific so its not like I'm going to go down the same exact path as you, but still curious about your story! Animal conservation and rescue definitely interest me so I wonder what goes into getting a position in that field! (I think I'm repeating myself lol)

Hi future keeper!! So glad to be able to speak with some aspiring animal scientists!

How I got my job:

I went to college in Florida (Santa Fe Teaching Zoo! Highly recommend for any aspiring keeper as their student run zoo allows you hands on and educational experience. Many zoos hire new graduates from SFTZ)

I, unfortunately, wasn't able to afford the teaching zoo program. It's a full time program plus your school classes so I would have had no time for a paying job. I was paying for all my own college and underestimated the costs of moving out of state for school and living on my own. So, instead I volunteered at a local primate sanctuary. At that time I was uninterested in primates and actually wanted to work with big cats. After 6 mo of volunteering semi-regularly, I fell in love with the animals and I applied for an apprenticeship at that sanctuary (a longer term internship basically) and worked full time for no pay (except my room and board on property was provided which helped with my bills) I also worked a second job at a fast food restaurant while continuing my zoology classes. Two jobs plus school was extremely difficult. I don't exactly recommend doing what I did. After a year of apprenticeship, I landed a full time paid position! I worked there for 2 years. After graduation, I applied at a different sanctuary and was hired! Getting a job is MUCH easier after you've had paid experience. Getting that first paid position, though? Brutal. Almost all of my coworkers have similar stories of interning, and volunteering for quite a while before getting a paid position.

My biggest piece of advice would be: find a good paying part time job so that you can volunteer at nature centers, sanctuaries, zoos, etc. Schooling is a plus in this field but it's experience that counts. If you're trying to be a keeper at an actual zoo I would recommend looking into higher education options because that will make you a more desirable applicant. Zoos have extremely high competition. Like, 100k+ applications to a single open position high.

If you're trying to work with wildlife but aren't too set on zookeeping specifically, I would volunteer at as many places as you can. Rehab centers, sanctuaries, etc have less competition but rarely hire an inexperienced applicant.

I hope this helps! And I hope you can reach your dreams! And never forget that you don't have to love your job. Your job can just pay the bills and you can volunteer, or otherwise use your free time to fulfill your soul.

[dragontamer05]

When I ever I see or here ‘human’s aren’t animals’ I don’t know why but I just feel so weird

In that one hand I do get what is being said and what people generally mean by it- in that we/ our brains are more evolved then even our closes primate cousins, not only smarter but over all essentially just made/built different from any other animal that’s gotta survive based on instincts alone and all that.

There’s a reason we’re considered the dominant species after all.

However on the flip-side  it’s not exactly an accurate statement because for as different as we are from say the Gorilla’s in the jungle, or even the pets we keep- human’s by the very scientific definition are animals.

We are no less animals then a teeny tiny Water Bear- which has literally evolved in such a way that it can survive in conditions that would ordinarily kill even us humans, and microscopic or a Jellyfish which quite literally haven’t a single brain cell to their name.

And no I’m not saying go around and treat people the same way you’d treat a dog, or some animal you stumbled across in the forest, and I fully agree that because of how human’s have evolved there are many aspects of the human species that can’t be compared to the rest of the animal kingdom

But I just don’t fully agree with the idea of treating that difference as being because we’ve somehow evolved into something so far removed that we can’t even be called an animal anymore.

Instead of saying we aren’t animals maybe a better phrase to use could be ‘we are more then just animals.’ or ‘humans aren’t just wild animals’

Again I realize when people say this they don’t mean it literally (I certainly hope they don’t anyway) and is being used as a way to get across how different us humans are to any other creature but it just sounds weird, in that it’s not something we’d say about any other animal that’s evolved to be so different compared the rest of the animal kingdom (such as my Jellyfish and Waterbear example from earlier)

- On a side note I get very amused by this animal book that goes over a large number of creatures in the world (all broken up with reptiles/ amphibians/ birds/mammals ect) I have and I think if I recall its the very last page of the book - could be wrong- they actually have written up about humans

[ro-botany]

This is a good theory!

I like the idea of epigenetics having an effect on hair colour. It's definitely not necessary if you want to have children with different hair colours from their parents, but it makes the likelihood of a couple's kids having hair colours that aren't genetically dominant more likely, which does make the sheer variety of colours you see in FE casts more sensible.

And magic as a way to introduce funky new colour mutations? Now that is interesting.

But I also want to point out that you don't necessarily need magic to create those wild colours in a mammal like humans. All you need is the right combo of evolutionary pressures and genetic mutation happenstance.

Time for more Unnecessary Fire Emblem Speculative Evolution!

(under the cut though, it got long.)

---

So, irl, mammals have a fairly limited set of tools to work with to make our colours. Most mammals have dichromatic vision, which means their colour contrast vision is less powerful than ours, and I suspect it's partly because of that that we ended up with oranges, blacks, and yellows as our natural pigments. Those were good enough for camoflauge and we didn't have the bird-like colour vision focus for it to matter that much in mating displays.

But it IS possible for weirder colours to exist in animals. Mammals included!

While we mammals tend to use the pigments eumelanin (black, brown, and gray tones) and pheomelanin (red and orange tones) to colour our hair and skin, they're not the only biopigments out there. Parrots use psittacofulvins to create bright reds, oranges, and yellows; other birds like passerines (also flamingos) use carotenoids for a similar range of hues.

And there's other options for creating colours than just pigments. Some animals have structural colour in their skin or feathers! This means that there are microscopic structures on the skin/feather that change how light is reflected off them to make it look a different colour. You see this in the bright blues of many bird feathers, and the blue of mandrill's faces as well.

These two guys don't have blue pigment, they've got tiny fancy mirrors to make those blues!

Structural colour is also the source of iridescence in animals; colours that change as you view an object from different angles. You see this on a lot of birds. And you also see it on exactly one mammal, the golden mole!

In real life we may not have had much reason or opportunity to evolve to use brighter/more varied pigments or do fun shit with structural colour.

But in fiction we can do what we want, baby!

Maybe an earlier primate ancestor of Homo sapiens ignis (great subspecies name btw), with their trichromatic vision, did the mandrill thing and decided wild hair colours are sexy; so genetic mutations that allowed them to use other pigments and create structural colour in their hair were sexually selected for. And because they were already defending each other with social group living, possibly even tool use or very rudimentary magic, it didn't cause enough of an increase in death by predation to stop it.

Basically, fire emblem humans' evolutionary ancestors stole their ideas on what makes someone attractive from birds.

With a combination of more or different pigment types and structural colour possibilities, we basically get the whole rainbow of hair colours available to us!

Chrom's blue hair might come from a combination of eumelanin pigment for darkness and a structural blue. Olivia's bright pink might come from a diluted psittacofulvin red, maybe a dash of yellow. The green hair on characters like Lyn or Byleth could be a combination of psittacofulvin yellow and structural blue, plus or minus eumelanin for darkness.

And if you want to get even wackier with it, it's entirely possible that those structural colours mutated into iridescence at some point. And so long as the evolutionary ancestors of humans thought it was cool, it could have stuck around. Maybe some blondes in the FE universe actually have golden mole iridescence in their hair. Maybe when Chrom turns his head his hair flashes different blues and deep purples.

"Why so much variety though? Mandrills only invented blue! Most bird species stick to one colour pattern!" Humans decided they liked VARIETY. Have you seen us? We have incredibly varied tastes. We spread recessive traits like blue eyes and red hair because we thought they were sexy.

"Well then why do both men and women get wild hair colours? Don't most birds only have colourful males?" PARROTS. Both male AND female parrots advertise how healthy and reproductively fit they are by having bright colours. Also white-throated sparrows, which have a brown morph and a white-and-yellow morph which is not linked to physical sex.

Now if you WANT to add magic into the mix, you can. Maybe magic caused the mutations that led to more pigments or structural colour, idk. But you technically don't have to. You can get fun anime rainbow hair the mundane way.

(Alear's trait of having patches of differently hued hair is exceedingly rare among FE characters. In real life, for example in cats, patchy pigmentation like that is sometimes indicative of chimerism, in which two different embryos merged into one being that has different genetics in different parts of their body. In this essay I will--)

(This sounds like a tangent, but bear with me.) So, trivia: Cat fur color is determined in the womb via gene expression-so even if two cats are genetically identical, they'll still look very different. I bring this up because, even if it's not an exact-one-to-one, I HC that FE Hair Genes operate similarly: Color is determined more from gene expression and epegenetics than just a simple punett square. (I also HC that hair color is so colorful because of the effects on magic on genetics.)

(It's a combination of Punett Square and gene expression: Blue hair is dominant due to the result of magic, but ultimately, the reason why MU/Other Parent children have opposite hair colors is Gene Expression. (For the most part, beyond hair, FE humans are mostly identical to real humans genetically. However. Magic gave a few odd quirks. (Same species, just magically-induced genetic variation giving rise to a new subspecies: Homo Sapiens Ignis (Ignis instead of Magicae to reference Fire Emblem.))

I've never been a biology whiz, but this sounds pretty sensible to me. It's neat to think about the potential interplay between magic and genetics.

[dragonsspire]

Hey in an earlier post you said that the Nordic Model makes things worse for prostitutes. How does that work?

Howdy, that's a great question!

I'll preface this by saying that I am not a sex worker so if you want more information you'll want to listen and learn from them.

--

Terms:

Sex worker: anyone who sells sexual services of any kind, pictures, videos, sex, escourt services, etc. I am using sex worker rather than prostitute because it is broader, more accurate, and respectful of sex workers as working professionals.

The Nordic System: the basis here is that selling sex work is legal but buying it is illegal.

---

Essentially here is the thing:

Sex work is a constant through all of human history it has always been here and it will always be here. This is not a bad thing, it's just a thing. The sky is blue, water is wet, humans will sell and buy sex. Other primates do it too by the way, it is a common phenomenon.

Accepting that sex work is just another kind of work is vital to not being both incorrect and judgemental; selling your skills and your time as an office worker and selling your skills and your time as a sex worker aren't really that different except for one thing: sex work is not legal everywhere and because of that as well as the physical nature of the work itself it is more dangerous.

When sex work is illegal two things are true

1. Sex workers cannot get help for health and safety issues like dangerous patrons or bad working conditions because they have no legal protections as workers or as citizens because they are committing crimes

2. Because they can not get help they are at a very high risk of harm, and recurring harm.

When selling sex work is legal but buying sex work is not that means that the only people who will be buying sex work are people who are willing to break the law to get what they want. If you give that one moment's thought you will immediately recognize that this is a big problem!

If your customers are committing a crime to access your service what exactly is to stop them from committing another crime if they don't get what they want?

And this does not even take into account the very real stigma against sex work and the dangers inherent in being a sex worker beyond if you have legal protections or not.

--

If you want to stop sex work I hate to break it to you but you will never ever succeed. There is nothing that will ever stop sex work and to be honest nothing ever should. People are going to want to buy sex and people are going to want to sell sex forever. It is inevitable and as long as the workers involved are safe and respected professionals than there is not a single thing wrong with it!

---

The problem with sex work is not that people buy and sell sex. The problem with sex work is that it is not a safe job, primarily because it is not legally protected and the workers involved are not respected professionals and therefore they are vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking.

Think about your workplace, what would change about it if you didn't have any legal protections? Think about what would change if the only people who bought from you were committing crimes to buy your goods and your services.

It is pretty bleak is it not?

--

TL;DR

In the Nordic System when selling sex is legal but buying it is not that makes being a sex worker more dangerous than if you legalized it and gave sex workers the workers rights they ought to have so that they can have a safe work place with safe working conditions.

[hyenahunt]

Beast Survival - 4

Writer: Nishioka Maiko

Season: Summer

Proofreading: royalquintet (JP & ENG)

Leo: I'm sorry I got carried away! I'm not a monkey! But I am a primate!

[Location: Starmony Hall Courtyard]

Leo: Hmhmhm~m ♪

...Hm? Mm? This sucks!

Let's try this instead. Hmhmhmhmm~m ♪

Wahaha! Got it! I'm a genius, just as I thought~! The gods of music adore me!

Thanks for loving me! I love ya loads right back!

Let the music guide me along for one more song! After all, I'm a genius! Wahahaha ☆!

Gweh—...!?

There's a sudden weight on my back!? Gwehhh~!

Wait, is something like that happening!? Like right outta Journey to the West! The scene where Wukong gets trapped under a rock by Buddha after he gets up to no good!

I'm sorry I got carried away! I'm not a monkey! But I am a primate!

I didn't do anything wrong either! I just got told off by Keito for composing on the walls of ES!

It'd be a huge loss to the world if my melodies were to disappear, so please forgive me—!

Gwehhh~...! It's not letting up!!!

✦✦✦✦✦

[Location: Seisou Hall Dorm Room (Tatsumi & Koga)]

Aira: Tattsun-senpaaai~ Tattsun-senpai, are you home~?

Jun: Heya, what's up~! Kazehaya-senpai, sorry to bother you!

Tatsumi: Oh? Aira-san. Thank you for all your hard work with the meeting earlier. And you're here too, Jun-san? What brings the both of you here together?

Dear me. On that note, this is the first time we meet in the dorms over here, isn't it?

You've just moved in the other day, didn't you? How are things? Have you grown accustomed to living here yet?

Jun: Yep. Though dorm life's the same pretty much anywhere. It's not a huge difference between here and Reimei.

Tatsumi: Is that so? That's good to hear. There are some who struggle with getting used to settling into new surroundings, after all.

Some even break down both physically and mentally... such tragic tales.

Oh dear, at this rate we'll all get off track.

How can I help the two of you? I'd initially believed you were here for your housewarming greetings, but then I reasoned it would be strange for Aira-san to be here too. [1]

Aira: Mm, sorry 'bout that. So like, a little while ago you told me about how your roommate Oogami-senpai's got a dog, right?

Since we're looking to chat with people who have pets, we were wondering if you could put us in touch with him.

I did meet him when he moved in, but since we're not quite friends it'd be kinda weird to call him up all of a sudden, wouldn't it?

So... pretty please!

Tatsumi: Is that so... Of course I wouldn't mind getting in touch with him, but...

Ahh, no. I'm afraid it's not quite possible right now.

Aira: Whaaat!? Why's that~?

Tatsumi: I'd dearly love to introduce you all, but Koga-san himself is away for quite some time due to work.

Aira: Aw maaan...

Jun: Dangit~... A case of bad timing, huh. Well, if he's gone for a while then there's no way around it.

Tatsumi: By the way, why are the two of you looking to talk with him?

Jun: Oh. That's... well, the truth is, stuff happened and to cut a long story short, I wanted to chat with Oogami-san 'bout his dog for help playing a role I got.

Tatsumi: Hmm, I see. Playing a role... In that case, this is indeed quite the fix.

Aira: Ah, I got it! If we're looking for dog owners then there's one more person living 'round here who fits the bill!

I remember reading in a magazine interview that Akehoshi-senpai has a dog, too!

Jun: Ohhh, yeah. I think it's got some kinda lucky name, like Omikuji, or Daifukumochi, or something...? [2]

Aira: Akehoshi-senpai's dog is called Daikichi! It's definitely a lucky name, though!

Jun: Ahh, that's right. It's Daikichi. Well then, let's head on over to Akehoshi-san's place and—

Tatsumi: Ah. My apologies for bursting your bubble, but that is most likely impossible as well.

Aira: Hweh?

Tatsumi: I mentioned that Koga-san would be away for a while due to work, but I'd also heard that it just so happens to be a joint collaboration between Undead and Trickstar.

Aira: Which... means that...

Tatsumi: Subaru-san, too, will be absent for quite some time.

Aira: Seriously!?

Man, what a bummer~ I guess that means we gotta go back to the drawing board.

Jun: So we've got bad timing with this too, huh... You could say that's just my luck, or something... But oh well, no point in moping over it.

Standing 'round here hanging our heads is a waste of time, so we'll just have to come up with something else. Thanks so much for your time, Kazehaya-senpai!

Aira: That's too bad...

But thank you, Tattsun-senpai. We'll figure something out~

Tatsumi: Oh, think nothing of it. My apologies that I couldn't be of more help, you two.

✦✦✦✦✦

[Location: Starmony Hall Courtyard]

Aira: Ah, geez... And here I thought it was such a good idea, too~....

Jun: Well, we can't always have it all.

But even if we say we'll think up another plan, they don't exactly pop outta thin air... If it was that simple then I'd have come up with loads while I was mulling over it alone.

So other than that, what can we do...

Aira: Mmm... you've got a point there...

???: HEEELP MEEE~!

Jun: ...Hm? Didja just hear a 'help me'...?

Aira: Y-yeah. I definitely heard that too! Did something happen?

Jun: Let's go check it out. It came from that direction, yeah?

Aira: Yep. I am a little scared, but we can't pretend we didn't hear anything. Let's go, Sazanami-senpai!

✦✦✦✦✦

Translation Notes:

[1]: Daikichi's name means "great luck" and Jun misremembers it as similarly luck-related names: Omikuji (small random fortunes in which daikichi is the luckiest outcome) and Daifukumochi ("great luck mochi")

[2]:  引っ越しの挨拶 - it's a typical custom in Japan to greet and introduce yourself to your new neighbours right after you move into a new place

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[punz4lyfe]

Wasted Plotential: Journeys Episode 68 (Part 2)

Part 2: Gary and the Moltres Battle

Picking off where the last part ended up on, the episode begins with Ash and Goh searching around the woods for Infernape. As the two call out his name, Staraptor soars through and Buizel uses the rivers to search at areas far off from his trainer. As they search, Goh remarks how impossible it’s gonna be to find Infernape in such a dense forest without any signs, but Ash reassures him that they can do it. He also admits he isn’t too surprised of Infernape continuing to train by himself, stating how much battling means to the Pokemon while flashbacking to some of Infernape’s most proudest battles, such as Candice’s Abomasnow and Volkner’s Luxray.

After recalling those moments, Ash meets up with Staraptor and Buizel who both confirm their lack of signs for their former comrade. Thanking them for their efforts, Ash returns them into their Pokeballs so they could rest up and that’s when Goh notices a nearby Pidgeotto. Just like in the original episode, Goh fails to capture it, as well as the Onix encountered afterwards, leading to two to get saved by Gary and his Blastoise.

Gary’s interactions with Ash and Goh in the og episode were honestly REALLY good, and so for the sake of padding out runtime, events of the episode will play out as they did in the original while expanding a bit more on the dialogue. For example, perhaps Gary could point out Goh’s flaw of recklessly throwing Pokeballs at Pokemon without weakening them first. While Goh would state that his approach has been successful most of the time, Gary would rebuttal that maybe he’s just been lucky this whole time. Or when talking about Project Mew, Gary could mention some of his past missions to fill up Goh’s own interest more. Maybe, as a reference to Goh’s Suicune, Gary could have had encounters with Entei, Raikou, and a different Suicune, stating he had to retrieve samples of Entei’s fire, Raikou’s electricity (it’s pokemon dont question it), and Suicune’s water in order to pass. Additionally, prior to this mission, he’s also succeeded in gaining feathers from an Articuno and Zapdos. Of course, as he explains what he’s done so far, Ash will be impressed and state how proud and happy he is for Gary for being able to take part in such experiences, sparking up Goh’s jealousy even further.

As the three make their way to the mountain where Moltres and Infernape are up, Goh, due to his lackluster physique compared to Ash and Gary, accidentally winds falling in a river and risking him and Grookey falling down a waterfall. Ash prepares to send out Buizel to rescue them, but Gary insists to leave it to Blastoise due to his stronger and bulkier body. As Blastoise makes his way towards Gary and Grookey, the two end up falling over, but Blastoise leaps off and catches them in time before he starts to swim UP the waterfall to get them all back to safety. The rescue is a success and the plot moves on.

Again, things play out the same way at the peak, but when Ash and Infernape reunite, we get a more wholesome-ish hug with Ash happily spinning Infernape around, just as they hugged after their fight against Volkner. Ash also formally introduces Infernape to Goh and Grookey, with the latter having a huge admiration for the taller, stronger, more experienced primate as Infernape pets his head in a friendly manner.

And that, my friends, is when Moltres appears. Instead of everyone taking turns for no good reason, the encounter is instantly declared a Raid Battle (just as Ash, Goh, and Team Rocket did with Zapdos), with Ash using Infernape, Goh sending out Cinderace, and Gary sending out Blastoise. At the beginning, all three of them rely on ranged attacks to keep a safe distance, but Moltres’ speed proves near-impossible to land a good hit as it moves in closer to the three mons, forcing them to rely on physical moves. As a demonstration of Infernape’s greater power compared Cinderace’s, when Cinderace tries to attack Moltres with a Blaze Kick, it gets effortlessly blocked, but then Infernape goes in for a Mach Punch and actually does some damage to it, which slightly annoys Cinderace. Additionally, Cinderace attempts to block an incoming Air Slash with Pyro Ball, but that fails and causes him to get badly hurt. Moltres then tries another Air Slash to finish Cinderace off, but Infernape quickly steps in between the attack and Cinderace to intercept it with Flamethrower, this time completely cancelling it.

Despite this, Cinderace finds himself too exhausted to get up, forcing Goh to. withdraw from the Raid Battle as he brings Cinderace out of the battlefield for his safety. After performing more or less the same way he did in the original episode, Blastoise attempts to take down Moltres with Hydro Cannon (because why the fuck would nerf that down to Water Pulse while Infernape’s Sinnoh moveset remained the same?!), but Moltres avoids the attack and, because of Blastoise needing to recharge and already being in a fatigued state from rescuing Goh and Grookey, takes down the Water-type with Air Slash, making Blastoise’s defeat a little less contrived and a little less bullshit. Gary recalls Blastoise and, desperate to succeed in his mission, prepares to send out Electivire while offering Goh to borrow his Umbreon, but Ash requests for them not to, knowing how much this battle means to Infernape and that he believes they will finish the job for Gary’s sake. Understanding Ash’s reasoning, Gary withdraws, as well as Goh after he retrieves a supportive look from Grookey, who also wants to see his new idol win by himself.

So now it’s just Infernape against Moltres. While careful to avoid any Air Slashes, Ash and Infernape deliberately rush in to take potshots while occasionally managing to deal in good hits with Flare Blitz, Flamethrower, and Mach Punch. They also use Dig to either avoid powerful blows or use the debris to eliminate a Fire Spin. However, Gary and Goh are confused why Ash and Infernape are now behaving more recklessly, but then Gary soon realizes what the two are trying to do. Just after Goh asks him on what he means by that, his attention is instantly taken back to Infernape when they see him get hit by a powerful Burn Up attack, taking away Moltres’ Fire-typing.

However, Infernape is not done yet. This is exactly where he and Ash wanted to land at. His body glows red. He gets back to his feet. And with a roar of pride and power, Infernape’s head flame ignites to severe proportions. Just as Gary notes; Infernape’s Blaze has been activated, shocking Goh and Cinderace as Grookey cheers loudly for Infernape, as does Pikachu nearby Ash. Ash smirks confidently before he asks Infernape if he’s ready to end this. Infernape replies with another roar and Ash tells him to use Flamethrower. Moltres attempts to cancel it with Fire Spin, but Infernape’s flame only eats up Moltres’ before landing its mark. Moltres quickly flies back up and uses Fire Spin again, this time working as Infernape slowly takes damage from the surrounding flames. With its opponent trapped, Moltres uses Air Slash to finish up, but on Ash’s command, Infernape simply uses a rapid series of Mach Punch to block every single air... wave... slash... thing.

And now it’s time to end things. Ash tells Infernape to use Flare Blitz and Infernape uses his heightened head flame to absorb Moltres’ Fire Spin, adding it to his own power, and takes off towards the legendary bird as a humongous fire ball of rage. The attacks hit down on, causing a huge explosion that heavily damages Moltres and causes it to drop a feather, which Gary notices. Now realizing it stands no chance against Infernape, Moltres uses Burn Up again to briefly light the area and disorientate everyone else on the mountain before taking off. But despite Moltres’ retreat, Infernape feels completely satisfied from the fight, as it shows with a victorious Flamethrower to the air. Blaze then deactivates, but Ash catches Infernape before he could collapse, telling him how proud he is and that he practically won due to Moltres’ retreating. Grookey then quickly approaches Infernape with sparkly eyes full of admiration with Goh and Cinderace joining them as the former supports Ash’s statement on Infernape’s technical victory. Gary retrieves the Moltres feather, passes his mission, and they all return to the lab.

Once again, events and dialogue play out the same only with Tracey involved as well. Gary leaves, Goh decides to join Project Mew, and now, Ash tells his current team that it’s time to go back to Cerise’s, so they all say goodbye to their new friends. Dragonite tearfully hugs Charizard, who returns the gesture while lightly patting his back with a sympathetic expression. Gengar shares one last laugh with Glalie. Lucario shakes hands with Sceptile. Dracovish happily gets hugged by Totodile and Gible. And Sirfetch’d... ends up getting attacked by Bayleef’s Vine Whip and Oshawott’s Razor Shell as revenge for preventing from hugging Ash earlier.

The episode ends with Goh using his Rotom Phone to take an updated version of Best Wishes final group photo, with Ash and Pikachu sitting at the middle while surrounded by all of his Pokemon at Oak’s lab and his current team. Special notices go to Infernape sitting next to Ash, one arm wrapped around shoulder and giving a thumbs up with the other hand, Lucario and Sceptile standing back-to-back against each other with crossed arms and confident smirks, and Totodile and Gible both posing on top of the ever-so-jolly Dracovish. This photo is also the final frame as well because it would make sense for one of the hype points of the episode to be the focal point of how things end off instead of Goh and Grookey for no reason.

And yeah, that’s how’ll I would rewrite Episode 68. Events still play out more or less the same, only with more time focused on certain points to expand interaction and dynamics. Thanks for reading and, since this is basically my first real rewrite project, feel free to tell me your thoughts on it!

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans  are Space Orcs, “Secret dreams.”

The conclusion of the Glass tower series. I hope you guys like it. I did something a little different than I usually do, but hopefully it is entertaining. 

Have an amazing day! :)

“He has me.”

The Vrul council spun in place comical looks of shock plastered over their faces, so comical that they could almost be read as shock by your average human.

What they saw was in fact, a human, but not a particularly average one.

Commander Adam Vir Stood just before the lip of the drop messaging the palms of his hands which were red and inflamed.

One of the council members floated forward, “How?”

The human looked up dropping his hands to his sides, “You are going to have to be more specific, “How did I escape your guards, how did I get up the tower, how did I know where you were?” 

THe council chamber remained silent as the human walked a few more feet onto the floor. Around the room the Vrul guard and council shifted nervously as the predator approached them across the open floor boots thudding softly as he did so. Light poured in from one side of the glass enclosure bathing him in a warm yellow glow.

“How about, all of the above.” The Vrul council member said floating calmly  at the edge of the circle.

“Well The first is simple.” He held up his hands and began to clap very slowly, as he continued he began to add soft rhythmic variations to the beat finally joining his voice tying the rhythm together. As soon as he began variations on the rhythm the entire room grew unsteady, and as he added his voice they began to lose muscle tone slouching to one side.

He stopped almost as soon as he began and they perked back up immediately, “Dr. Krill calls it rhythmic syncope with secondary resulting cataplexy.” He glanced over at his friend, “If I remember correctly. I am not a doctor of course. I guess this is a result of having unconnected cortical hemispheres that are required to do manual pattern recognition in an auditory setting. It tends to overload the neural network, and since your auditory function is located close to the motor cortex, it can have secondary side effects. I simply used this to get past your guards. No one could touch me as long as I kept up some sort of rhythm, not exactly difficult for a human.” The room was very silent as he motioned back towards the hole, “As for getting up here.” The human held up his hands, “Primate, I was originally evolved for climbing. The guide wires were a little small, and my hands kind of hurt, but I’m not complaining.”

He stepped a little further into the room next to krill now. 

His guards backed away.

“As for knowing where you were…. Well i find that the ruling class, no matter the species, likes to put themselves above others, figuratively but often physically.” He looked around the room, “Pretty true to form I think, up here in your glass tower surrounded by sunlight while those below work in the long arm of your shadow.”

“What do you want, human?”

“Why do you force yourself into business that is not yours?”

The human folded his hands behind his back, “I had hoped you would understand my point by way of demonstration but it seems that the subtle nuance of posturing has no bearing on you, so let me explain in simple terms. I talked my way onto your planet, and now I have proven that you cannot stop me. With the simple clap of my hands your are immobilized. At any time I could have walked away with my friend unhindered.” He looked around the room, “YOu must understand at this point that I still could. You wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

Krill could see by their posture that they understood very well what kind of threat the human was.

“And I will if I have to.”

The Vrul managed to remain surprisingly calm, “Then why haven't you.”

“Because the Dr. wasn’t the only one affected when our species came together.”

There was a silence around the room as they looked on in confusion, “What do you mean, human.”

The Commander looked down at his feet hands still clasped tightly behind his back, “You think humans are barbaric, aggressive, angry, shortsighted and impulsive.” He looked around the room, “And by comparison I can’t argue. In fact, my first impulse when you took my friend from me was to rain hellfire down upon you.”

“Hellfire?”

“Hell, a mythical place where evil humans go after they die to suffer, filled with an ever burning fire. The phrase to reign hellfire means to bring continuous misery and pain down upon someone. In essence,I wanted to react in the most barbaric aggressive and violent way possible, but I didn’t” 

He was walking in a circle now feet surprisingly soft against the grouf for a creature his size, “Do you understand why I didn’t?”

They did not answer.

The Commander pointed at Krill, “Because of the doctor. While you say he was being coerced into being more human, you must also understand that he was teaching me to be more like you. You are more tempered, more logical, less emotional , and now here I am, and I ask you to hear me out logically, and maybe you will find that becoming more human isn’t so bad as you say.”

Around them the room held still as the council members looked between each other.

Eventually the pale vrul made a gesture, “We will hear you.”

The human nodded his head, “Thank you….” He turned in a tight circle staring out one of the windows and towards the darkening horizon cast  with long shadows from the sun, “WHen Dr. krill first stepped aboard my ship neither of us understood the other, he was afraid, and we were…. Difficult to handle. But since coming aboard the Dr. has taught me valuable lessons, lessons without which I would not have survived as long as I have in this position.” He turned around to face them, “He taught me, that sometimes duty is more important than my own entertainment. That means sometimes I have to buckle down and act like an adult, I have to be tempered and logical  and serious because sometimes situations call for it, many situations do. He taught me to analyze my decisions before reacting on pure instinct, in this way there can be diplomacy without insult and action without catastrophe. He taught me to think about what kind of effect my personal actions have on others.” He glanced towards krill who was more than a bit surprised to hear what the human had to say, “WHat I am trying to tell you is without the Dr. Aboard my ship human relations with the Galactic Assembly would have dissolved long ago. IF ou are to remove him you would be endangering yourselves and that of the entire galaxy.”

The council looked on.

“Let us see how concise  you can be, human. What will convince us these words are true.”

The human raised an eyebrow, “I have already demonstrated the truth of my words. Despite my abilities, I came to you relying on good faith that your logic would allow me to speak rather than forcing violence. The Dr. is the single greatest reason that I have come here to speak with you rather than just stealing him and walking out those doors.” His voice grew in volume and force as he continued, “I am here to play by your own rules. I did what the good doctor would have wanted and I chose the logical decision, to steal him away, or reign down violence would cause irreparable damage in political relations between humans and the GA. Rumors about humans would continue to be rife with our acts of barbarism and careless violence. This right now was the only way I could convince you that we are a species worth listening to.”

The sun had cut behind the horizon, turning the sky to a pale pink.

“Please, I am begging you to see sense, The doctor means a great deal to the humans of my ship. To punish him would also be to ruin relations with one of the most powerful species in the galaxy. To keep him with us would mean good interspecies relations, and it would also continue to temper the behavior of humans therefore making the galaxy a safer place for everyone involved.”

The council looked between each other.

A dark Vrul leaned forward, “The human….. Speaks a surprising amount of sense .” They glanced towards the psychologist, “and what do you think. Is the human being deceptive?”

The psychologist looked on, “What reason would he have to speak to you if he could simply walk about with impunity. And take what he wishes. Besides, this human does not strike me as the kind of human to use such deceptions.”

“And you, doctor, what have you to say.”

Dr Krill had been very quiet for much of the discussion, but now lifted his head, “I admit I am both surprised and impressed. The command- Adam…. I fully expected Adam and his crew to do something rash, to come in here guns blazing as the saying goes…” He glanced towards his human companion, “IThis proves to me what he says is true. They have grown a lot in my time with them, There is a term out there that describes the humanizing phenomenon, or the tendency for those close to humans to act human, but I find the argument to be a fallacy. Humans change just as much as the rest of us, but it's less noticeable because humans are every characteristic you see in other species, they are just as economic as the Tesraki, as bureaucratic as the Rundi, as warlike as the the Drev,, and as logical as we are, so we don’t notice when they change, but the greatest trait of a human is their adaptability. Any good human can adapt to survive in any place and with anyone human or otherwise.”

Now that he had some space, he began to walk head down in contemplation, “I have spent a lot of time with humans, perhaps the most time anyone has spent in conglomeration, and I do not regard my change as something to be feared. I regard it as a move towards adaptability, for thousands of years our species has remained in a stagnant state of fear, controlled and crippled by our own need to survive.”

He waved a hand, “How many Vrul are off-planet at this moment?”

Silence for a moment and then, “Close to 100 maybe less.”

“Exactly and what would happen if our planet experienced a catastrophic destabilization, change in weather pattern, gamma burst, literally anything.”

The council shifted nervously.

“I will tell you what would happen. 99.9% of our species would be obliterated in one moment, and those remaining would be unable to bounce back. The bottleneck would send our species into a downward spiral that would end in extinction. In fact that is the least of our worries considering that our habitable zone across this planet is the equator with thirteen cities, a single change in climate could wipe out our whole species.” he turned to Adam, “And what would happen if earth was destroyed?”

The human grimaced, “It would really suck, but there are almost as many humans off world living on Mars, and other settlements that…. Well we could rebuild. Even if our solar system took a nosedive we would still probably have enough people to keep our species going.”

“My point exactly. I have proven the one thing that our species has needed all along. Adaptability. Adam, what did your species do, when things became to cold for them?”

The human shrugged, “We put on a coat, or we made our houses climate controlled. You can live anywhere if you can control the temperature.”

“You hear that, there is no reason we cannot do what they do, to make our species more robust. We have the technology to fly in space, so by nebulon we have the ability to climate control and indoor space. For too long we have been letting our environment and our fear control us. Perhaps it is time to start experimenting with our own survival.”

There was murmuring about the council chamber with the sun growing lower on the horizon and the shadows growing longer.

“I wish to speak as well.” 

There was a movement of surprise from the assembled Vrul as the psychologist stepped forward onto the floor.

“Do you know where I was less than two cycles ago?”

More silence.

The creature scuttled over to the window and pointed out at the city, “That bridge there over the river…. No I wasn’t standing on it. I was under it sinking  towards my own death.”

Muttering of shock.

The vrul continued to speak raising their voice over the cacophony, “That human and his companions saved my life!” He pointed towards Adam, “As a child they saved my life, and brought me back from something no one yet thought possible.”

Krill and Adam exchanged a shocked glance.

Adam shook his head mouthing, “I did NOT see that coming.”

“When I fully recovered, I dedicated my life to determining the psychological reasoning for why someone would do something so reckless for another person. And the further I dug the more stonewalled I found myself because I was asking the wrong questions, showing so much interest in a topic that was not important, it did not ‘further the species’. In private I found this to be true in almost every field, the systematic suffocation of new ideas, and different thought processes that would lead our species towards more than just survival. Yes, I administered the doctor’s test, and you know what I found”

No one spoke.

“I found NOTHING!”

Looks of confusion.

“Yes he is an alpha and that makes him smart, but he is no different from other alphas, not in any sense. This humanizing phenomenon is the propaganda of fear from those who are not willing to admit that the Vrul are more capable of surviving than we are given credit for. We are being convinced by our own fear that we are weak, and need to protect ourselves where we can. But now aren't we proven that false? We have walked on other worlds, death worlds no less and we are still surviving.” The Vrul spun in a wide circle, “Dr. Krill isn’t different because his curiosity makes him a danger, he was  different because he was the the only one who didn’t think to hide it. Here you are sitting here thinking that Vrul don’t secretly publish research, and work on personal projects.” The Vrul barked with laughter, “In fact I bet some of you are guilty of that very same sin. It’s just that you believe you have a species to protect, and that fear has crippled your thought process.”

The council had sat quiet during most of this, but now they began murmuring among themselves, “Are you advocating becoming like the humans?”

Adam stepped in then cutting off the psychologist who was stumbling with their words, “Don’t change yourselves, council. But do not be unwilling to allow in those things that would further or lead to the natural progression of your species. Expand, grow, humor the secret dreams of your people. Don’t model yourself after anyone, but take a lesson in survival from a species that perfected the craft….”

He stepped closer to Krill, and Krill stepped closer to him, a united front.

“Stagnation is your greatest enemy” 

[tlblah]

So let’s track Reginald Hargreeves life bc I need some clarification

We start in the middle I guess.

- he is with his wife in her deathbed, she tells him to go (there are rocket ships leaving the planet)

- she then proceeds to die, and Reggie goes to the window and releases lights from a jar (I wanna know if this is what creates the children but I’m not sure

- We then find out she asked him to take her violin with him and give it to someone who will appreciate it

That’s all we know about him on his home planet.

- Next, he travels to earth. We don’t know if it’s both space and time travel, or maybe the speed of light caused time to travel backward when he traveled to earth? He seemed to land in the 1800s (??)

- He states his name as Reginald Hargreeves and stumbles across an Umbrella Factory I.e the future name (and location) for the Umbrella Academy

We fast forward in time, with an immortal (?) Reggie (though it could be that he ages as an alien but his human suit never does. He could also maybe not age or age super slowly when compared to humans) also what made him such an asshole like damn.

Ok now we’re in the 1960s

- he is that secret 12 illuminati type group. His main interest is the Dark Side of the Moon.

- so i don’t know if he knows human history or not bc if he knew about human history he would have known how to send a human into space but instead he had to call up Grace, who seemed to specialize in primates. Though he does have a serum that gave Pogo a more advanced brain/body?

- question: so he knew about the moon in 2019 but what did he know?? Did he know Vanya was going to be the bomb? Or did he just know that the moon was going to explode and destroy earth bc no aliens would have known Vanya was going to blow up the moon. Which makes more sense, now that I think about it. He knows earth events from an aliens perspective. So something from the timeline after the destruction of earth fucks up his planet. Also when is the commission?? I know they have all the time they want but are they really in a bubble in the space time or are they so far in the future that time has become something that they can control?

Moving on from that brain spiral

- obviously in the original timeline, everything goes as planned

- Grace dies between the 1960s and 1989 bc the children only know her as a robot

- Pogo keeps learning and growing as well

- Reggie is a millionaire and continues to be one the 12 (I’m not sure about this bc the timeline has fucked up we don’t know if he as meant to kill the other 11 or if that happened bc the kids fucked up this new universe. I hate parallel and alternate universes bc you can never fix it or go back bc it’s now it’s own separate strand of a universe)

Zoom past into 1989

- 43 kids are born to mothers who were not pregnant the morning of October 1st. Reggie goes on a shopping spree but it’s not succeeds in getting 7 of them.

- he raise them as trainees with the help of Robot Grace and Pogo

- he numbers them ranking from lowest in power Number 1 to Number 7 before having to mute Number 7 because he could not control her or her power like he could the rest of the children

- he ostracized Vanya, unwittingly causing her to become the bomb at the future date (oh fuck what if Vanya wasn’t the original reason why the moon crashed into earth?? Time travel is so confusing.)

- anyways he raise his children and fucks up perfectly good children.

- Number 5 thinks he knows his powers, and Reggie tells him no, unwittingly pushing Five to over use his powers and get stuck in the future after the apocalypse. Five is now lost in the time line

- Ben dies during a mission, breaking up the team and turns the children against Reggie even more when he blames them for Bens death. They are 17 here

- once they can they move away from their abusive dad leaving Reggie with only Number 1, who follows his dad to tee to shuck off the abuse he felt. Which is even more sad when Reggie sees that coping mechanism as a failure.

- Luther goes on a mission alone, gets injured and Reggie has to inject him with the same stuff he injected Pogo (is that the only thing he knows? Is it from his alien culture??)

- Once Reggie can tell Luther isn’t reacting well to the unwanted body modification, he sends Luther to the moon to both give him a purpose and to not have to deal with having to help Luther work through his pain (like fuck Reggie)

This is where stuff gets hazy. The children lead their own lives and Reggie is alone with Pogo and Robot Grace again for 4 years (the length of time Luther is on the moon)

- 10 days from the apocalypse Reggie kills himself to get the children to all come back home and help avoid the apocalypse (the kids are 30)

- He doesn’t know about Number 5 tho, who is able to jump back just in time, before the apocalypse begins

And that’s where The Umbrella Academy begins

So what are the questions we have about Reggie?

1. Did Reggie create the 43 kids somehow? Was it in the alien news and he just knew when they’d be born? What did he do that could have caused them. Basically what is the origin of the children.

2. What is reggies knowledge of human events. He honestly seemed surprised that they killed JFK so he didn’t know about The JFK assassination. And yet he knew about the apocalypse so maybe he just new human events that affected the galaxy? Or is it that he is from earth but after humanity has been destroyed and aliens took over? The possibilities

3. What happened to Grace? She obviously stayed with him in the past and died before the kids were born, but what happened? And did Reggie really care for her or just her brain? He didn’t seem to care all that much from Robot Grace since he didn’t even give her a room. Was Reggie even able to love anyone after his wife died or is it because he’s an alien that humans seem like puny mortals to him.

4. What made him leave his planet? Is he a scientist looking for something? Is he trying to also fix a timeline? What is the reason he came to earth and why did he feel the need to create the Umbrella Academy?

5. Why the fuck is Reggie such an asshole. Not a real question because he’s just the most asshole person of an alien, but what the fuck.

***** Edit/Note******

The commission never fucking stopped him. The commission must have known about Reggie but they didn’t do anything. Obviously they knew about the real apocalypse since they tried to keep 5 from changing the future and yet Reginald when back in time and live through a freaking century and the Commission didn’t do anything. Obviously he fucked up this timeline yet with just his presence but what the hell, Commission. I mean we hate you guys but what do you know that we don’t. Like is Reggie part of the commission? Are they using him to get what they want? What exactly does Reginald know why do fuck are storylines and timelines so hard when time travel is involved. Bc just this here has hundreds of possible timelines that you can just narrow it down and you only get more questions. Ie

Is there a timeline that the apocalypse happened and Reginald wasn’t involved

Then a timeline where reginal goes back and creates the umbrella academy

Another timeline with other children

A timeline where 5 never got lost

A timeline where 6 never died

Two different timelines where one happened and not the other and vice versa

A timeline that I’ll never believe of Reginald being a decent person

A timeline in The Day That Never Was, where Vanya found out on her own and Allison never got her neck slit.

A timeline where the siblings actually helped Vanya

The new timeline of the Hargreaves in the 1960s

A brand new timeline of the world after the Hargreeves interfered then left then came back in 2019, which is where we are now, with a new Sparrow Academy, a not dead Reginald and a not dead Ben. Also shit, Grace never stayed with Reginald so those children may not have had a decent mother figures they might even be more fucked up than the original 7 (or 6 bc Ben is sweetheart with sass)