#i would never survive in an area with actually dangerous wildlife

[thedisablednaturalist]

Not me picking up a guy who secretes cyanide oops

I put my hand near him and allowed him to crawl on his own so he didn't get spooked and use his poison attack

Very pretty, but do not pick these guys up without gloves!!!

Apheloria virginiensis

Yellow and black flat millipede

[pandorafallz]

Some things were never meant to leave Earth…. or be known about. Let alone being introduced to a whole new world, new life and a species called the Na'vi that probably didn't understand that there were worst things that came from Earth than Humans with technology. - Jake knows the Earth was a harsh place, well aware of the dangers it had and the monsters it had as well. No one cared, nothing would matter and….so what. If they thought of him of nothing, then why not take himself, his avatar and his friend and fuck off into the wilderness of pandora. If he can screw over the RDA and its resident parasites, then bonus points. Grace isn't thrilled.

Chapter 24 snippet

“I’ve got Mansk currently acting as Head of the base until I decide who runs the base. Walker is his head of security until then as well. I’ve got a few men in places but… We’ll need a lot more to fill out the ranks.” He wasn’t thrilled given he wanted Mansk back with his team here but...he was making do.

Selfridge exhaled deeply, rolling his head back. “How many more?”

“A hundred or so more.”

“A hundred!” Selfridge exclaimed, “That…too many! And I’ve seen the number count, you don’t need that many people.”

“I will. Once arrests have been made.”

“Arrests?”

“Next page,” Quaritch nodded to the report Selfridge was slacking on. He waited a few moments, as the guy skim-read through, tapping to the next page then pulled a face.

“You gotta be kidding me…”

“All evidence that we could get shows that…Mercer created the TAP program about seventeen years ago with Cortez. It became actuality a year later. Kidnapping Na’vi children and committing full-out genocide of a Na’vi clan and chemically contaminating the area with toxins to destroy the bodies and evidence. They wiped the TAP-1 Facility but we couldn’t find the back-up saves; someone got to it hours before we did. Someone did leave us enough to work with. Now, I’m not here to preach to the Na’vi and you know that normally, I couldn’t care less given how far away from me they are” Quaritch started, “but…the Frontier West SecOps committed war crimes, an uncalled for genocide attack and poses a huge threat to the safety of those bases. I’ll round up anyone alive that was part of the slaughter. That’s twenty-seven men and women still alive out of the fifty that were listed, six returned back to earth over the last few years, and the rest were killed by animals, wildlife and stupidity.”

[egg-emperor]

If it weren't for Sonic rescuing them, do you think that the cute lil animals that Eggman traps in robots as battery slaves, would eventually perish due to their life forces being drained dry(or starvation/dehydration whichever comes first)?

You know that's exactly what I was getting at a little bit fhjhksfnkjfgndsg It's just way too easy to take discussion of this to dark places and it makes sense because it is a lot more messed up for Eggman to do in the first place than meets the eye to a lot of people! Thank you for encouraging me to talk about it lol, I want to but I'm never sure if anyone else does, so I appreciate it.

The robots aren't known to be built with anything that could actually help keep the animals alive in there, there aren't apparent ways for them to eat or drink while trapped and it would increase the chances of them being able to find an escape, so it wouldn't be ideal. He wouldn't care to tend to them to keep them alive and the robots are mass produced, so it would be too many anyway.

And he just has them built and then sends them out to fight, not caring if they're in danger or destroyed. They're also at high risk of other things going wrong while in there and getting hurt if their robot shells are destroyed, which he doesn't appear to care to consider. So they're just lucky that Sonic is gentle as he can be when it comes to breaking the robots shells open to free them.

And there's the possibility that it could drain them of all their energy until they've got nothing left and perish that way, if Sonic didn't save them in time or dehydration and starvation don't get to them first. They're nothing but tools and batteries to Eggman and batteries have a time limit and eventually run out. And just like batteries, he can easily replace them when they do.

He only acknowledges their condition when they aren't up to his standards before using them like in Lost World, as they need to be decent for their lives to work efficiently as batteries in the first place. But he even tossed animals he was going to use in the intro, so he's willing to let them fall to their doom even when they were fine too, as there are tons more he can use.

So yeah once they're inside the robots with enough energy to use up, he wouldn't care about what happens to them as long as they can work and help his robots function for a while, for as long as they need to when Sonic enters and leaves the area. And they can just be replaced with more after when their time is up from whatever come to them, if they don't end up being freed.

Once they're caught, their lives are in Eggman's hands and he uses up every last bit of energy and they'll hopefully serve well for as long as they can survive if they aren't freed and that's it. He has no respect for wildlife and animals just like he doesn't for the rest of nature and the environment. Doesn't matter what it all becomes, as long as they can be useful and there's still a world to rule.

[ms-scarletwings]

Extremely important to increase awareness that often large herbivores are even MORE dangerous to you than the majority of carnivores. We don’t have natural predators anymore. We actually look very inherently intimidating and unnerving to most animals because of our body language and build. There are incredibly few species, few and far between, that may opportunistically try and see if we are a potential food source, usually desperate and exotic predators our most vulnerable are severely unlikely to ever encounter.

If something that eats meat is attacking you, incredible odds are that it is defending itself, its resources, or its young against you as a last resort. If they come out of a fight with a disabling injury, they are practically already dead. Their ability to fight starvation is so determined on keeping themselves in fit shape. They might not be able to go without food long enough for a broken leg to heal or at all if their sight is damaged enough. Even if they are trying to test out if you are good prey, most predators will somewhat reliably give up the attempt as soon as you can prove you are more more trouble than you are worth the calories spent trying to subdue.

To prey animals, you are the predator they have to dissuade or terminate in order to save their own lives if they have decided you are threatening them. The options they have to survive you in their mind are fight or flight. And if they did not evolve to primarily flee, watch out. Any scuffle they start with you they have started with the full expectation that either you or them may not make it out alive. Megafauna like moose are literally evolved to stomp opportunistic wolves to death (why they attack sled dogs) and beat grizzly bears back just to earn another day of browsing greenery. Hippos are 3,000 pounds of fresh meat surrounded by half a dozen infamous large predators. Do the math and it will be obvious why they are the most aggressive beasts in Africa. Why they have to be to stay alive.

The nutshell at the end of the day, and what I think is a much more bumper sticker worthy piece of wildlife advice we all would love to beam into the heads of average people is this:

If it does not fear humans, humans SHOULD fear it.

Any entirely wild animal that doesn’t react to your presence by trying to leave the area is not something laymen should want to interact with. Ever ever. If it is approaching you, back away. If it is holding its ground, back away. If it is in fact trying to get away from you, ffs, don’t chase after and corner it. Not adhering to this one idea I really really feel is the number one reason preventable wild animal attacks happen at all. We need less of whatever everybody calls the Disney princess mentality and more immediate suspicion when animals don’t treat you like they treat any other unpredictable predator. Because when it comes to something like foxes or skunks, this is literally a potential red flag for rabies. When it comes to black bears, you might be about to become a victim of some idiot who’s been feeding them. And when it comes to moose, and it’s too late to get away from them, you need to be ready to respect some very hard boundaries, put the animal down, or play dead and pray to whatever higher authority may or may not be.

There is a ton to enjoy about wildlife, and it is unironically really majestic and wonderous and all that jazz. This is never meant as encouragement to lose that awe and wonder for the world, only as another reminder that it serves everyone in the long run when you channel that into loving and respecting the wild for what it actually is. 

If there was one animal literacy thing I could change with a wave of a wand, it would be increasing people's understanding of how dangerous megafauna are. I think that in the US (and probably other Western countries too), we're so removed from wildlife and even large domesticated animals that people really have no perspective on how much a big animal can fuck you up. Even if they're "gentle."

This is a discussion going on on Twitter, too, the last few days: there was a thing where an Iditarod musher shot a moose to protect their team, and a lot of people are confused as to why that needed to happen. Apparently this moose had been hanging around the course for quite a while and was becoming quite dangerous to the sled dog teams. Moose are territorial and not to be fucked with. Everyone from Alaska or areas with moose are like "yup, that's just reality."

Same thing with the bison birth I watched last year. Folk really thought the staff should be in the habitat on the ground with the bison herd, helping with the birth. Sure, that's what we do with cows if we have to, but... bison are definitely not cows and, again, will squish you.

People tend to get it more with the predators. Few people will argue that a cougar or an alligator or a bear isn't dangerous. I think people kinda go both ways on wild pigs / boars depending on their experience. But herbivores or things that don't look traditionally pointy... it just kinda doesn't click.

Any large animal is probably stronger than you think and more likely to hurt you than you realize. Be it a dolphin, an elk, a sea lion, or even an emperor penguin... just don't go near them, buds.

[lizard-shifter-noms]

Still Subject To Change Chapter 4

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Hello! sorry for not uploading last week but i was away on vacation and i couldnt bring my PC which has all my writing.

but heres chapter 4!

i wish all of you a wonderfull weekend and have fun reading!

asks /anon are still on btw so feel free to ask whatever

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It had been two days now since we escaped from Maringand and Arthur had almost completely healed aside from a slightly crooked nose.

He also had kept his word about not telling Rikaad about how he actually escaped, which I was glad about.

We had gotten a lot closer to the mountain in the time we had walked even if i still thought that if i carried all of them it would have been faster but so far the only one that had never actually willingly climbed into my hands was Rikaad, and he made no sign of ever wanting to do that.

It was fine that he didn’t, 

I just wish walking after them didn't feel so awfully slow.

It did make sense that i was able to walk a lot faster than they were seeing as my legs were taller than them, 

none of the humans even reached up to my knees.

At the very least we were now very close to the mountains and I could see Wyrmhurst mountain in front of me, only a few minutes walk away and I realized for the first time how steep it actually was.

I marveled at the fact that something Steeper as a barn roof didn't just collapse in itself, which also presented the question how the fuck anyone was supposed to climb this thing.

The narrow woods surrounding us weren't any help either as I got stuck more and more often in the branches as the trees got bigger the farther we traveled and Rikaad had to patch my shirt twice now. 

In short, this sucked, a lot.

We probably would have to go around it a bit to see if there were any less dangerous places to climb.

But maybe we got lucky and the first place we found was at least somewhat climbable.

Expecting either more Forest or just a wall of stone,  I was surprised that we suddenly emerged in a little clearing that had a big Oaktree stump that went up to be over my head,

and surprisingly an askew hut that had been directly embedded into the cliffside of the mountain.

Judging by the smoke coming out of one of the three chimneys it was even inhabited. 

“Who the fuck would live out here of all things?”

Arthur had apparently seen the smoke too, and I did have to give him right on this. 

This was out in a Forest that was widely regarded as dangerous and deadly as proven by the fact that I had to fight off at least three more manticores in the two days we had traveled.

At least most of the Wildlife left us alone due to my size but it was still annoying, and mosquitoes did not care how big I was so they were the major annoyance anyway.

But it was still strange why someone would live out here of all places.

“No idea maybe they got banished or something,  i think we should just leave it alone”

I really didn't want to mess with someone that had survived out here, human sized no less as indicated by the hut.

If someone could survive out here they probably had a lot of skill and I wanted to keep my hide intact a bit longer.

I didn't want to walk backwards in case one of the humans was right behind me so instead I turned my head around to scout the area, Rikaad doing the same, trying to figure out where to go to not intrude in this place.

Suddenly I heard an unknown voice from somewhere above me and I looked around to locate it.

“What do we have here? Humans? This far out and traveling with an Ardua no less, how strange”

I could not find where the voice was coming from, it sounded like it was above me somewhere between two big trees and I hoped that I was still the only giant here.

I didn't know if I could fend off an actual one and I'd rather not test that.

And what the hell was the voice even talking about? The human comment made sense but the rest not so much.

Feeling Robin hide behind my leg I decided to respond to the voice and see if it was hostile or not.

“Who are you? What do you mean by that? And where are you? I don't like talking to disembodied voices”

The other two humans had also shifted to stand closer to me, likely not wanting to suddenly find themselves face to face with a possibly hostile being.

“You can call me Oakley, and I'm right here, you have to look up to the tree young Ardua, i'm right in front of you on one of the branches”

Hearing the voice who introduced itself as Oakley say that they were in the tree in front of me, I tried my best to actually find them, 

but I couldn't make out anything.

It seemed even the others couldn't see anything either judging by Robin's reaction.

“I can't see anything? Are you sure that you are there?  Or are you messing with us?”

“Look again”

This time I could actually make something out, but only because it was moving, having blended in perfectly before due to standing absolutely still.

The figure that showed itself was wearing a dark green patterned cloak that hid most of their other features.

But I could make out the Pointiest ears I had ever seen poking out from between hair that had the color of oak bark, 

and strangely bent legs with weird birdlike feet that had two of their toes bent backwards to grip the branch the figure was sitting on better.

After a second I could also make out a sort of tail swaying behind them that was split into two at the last part showing that their skin was the color of Stripped oak wood.

If they had not moved I would never have been able to tell that they were there.

My brain decided to toss any possible answer I could have given away at the sight of this…man? But luckily Rikaad had an idea how to respond.

“Alright that's very impressive, are you the one that lives here? If so we are sorry to intrude we do not mean to and will leave as soon as we figure out the direction we need to go in”

Oakley cocked his head to the side and I noticed his eyes were a piercing shade of yellow, like those of a hawk and I couldn't help but feel uneasy looking into them.

“Where are you going? I might know the way, and you are welcome to stay for a bit especially since it's been forever that i have talked to someone who didn't throw stuff at me”

He was right, he lived here after all and knew the area better than us so just asking might be the easiest way and the invitation didn't sound too bad either, it was going to be dark soon.

But we did not know this guy, he could be dangerous and thus far we hadn't even seen what the entirety of him looked like.

I noticed that his gaze had suddenly fallen onto the cursed bracelet on my arm and was watching it intensely with his striking yellow eyes.

“Ohh you found it! I've been looking everywhere for this trinket after someone stole it a few years ago!”

He suddenly pushed the cloak behind him and swooped out of the tree and I could see that he did not have arms, instead there was a pair of leathery batlike wings in the same color as his skin flapping to keep him in the air.

Having something akin to a giant bat suddenly swan diving to my face I instinctively put my arms up to shield myself.

For a moment nothing happened but suddenly I could feel the bracelet being stripped away, but no pain, it seemed that he had managed to get it off somehow without hurting me.

“HEY! WHAT THE HELL”

He had flown to sit on the tall stump, the bracelet was held in his tail by wrapping it around the trinket and he perched there like a content Magpie.

It took a few more seconds for his words to register in my brain but before I could say anything the others had already responded, with Arthur shouting loudly.

“YOU MEAN THAT'S YOURS?”

And Robin making a worried face while Rikaad seemed to calculate the best way to not fuck things up.

But Arthur had a point, if it was his he could probably fix the curse!

I had expected to shrink as soon as the bracelet was off but that wasn't the case apparently.

I Wasn't sure if he actually knew how to lift the curse, But asking if he could help wouldn't hurt.

“If that is yours” I pointed at the trinket  “can you fix this curse then?”

He seemed confused at my question so I decided to elaborate.

“This thing turned me into a giant and i would like to be normal again”

For a moment he seemed to actually listen before I heard a strange chattering sound and it took me a few seconds to realize that it was him laughing.

“HEKHEKHEKHEK, that's not a curse! It works as intended! It's not my fault you don't know how to use it! Which is weird, seeing as you are Ardua you should know.”

I understood exactly nothing of what he had just said, what did he mean this wasn't a curse? He had called me an Ardua twice now, whatever that meant, and why should I know how to use it? I've never seen such a thing before this month.

Apparently Robin agreed with my thinking as he asked.

“What's an Ardua? And what do you mean it's not a curse?”

I had no idea what that word meant, but if it was just another word for Bastard I would punch something, preferably Oakley.

Oakley however just stared at me with an incredulous expression,  like he couldn't believe that I had absolutely zero idea what he was talking about.

“You ARE Ardua how do you not know? If you weren't the bracelet would have killed you the moment you put it on your arm”

Well that was not reassuring at all,  and I still had no idea what he was talking about aside from apparently being a specific race of elf? Well half elf.

The others looked at me weirdly and I grimaced at them, as if I Had any idea what was going on! I didn’t understand jackshit either.

The birdlike man once again cocked his head to the side and then walked over the top of the stump where he stood sidewards like gravity didn't really affect him.

Weird fucker but i wanted answers so i was at least going to listen for now.

“Since apparently I know nothing about this, could you maybe explain it? Im sick of not knowing what the fuck is going on with me right now”

He turned his head weirdly and winked me closer.

I very reluctantly got slowly closer glancing back at my fellow travelers who also looked a bit mistrusting, a tiny bit curious but still wary.

“Hold out your hand i'm going to put the bracelet back and show you”

I wasn't sure whether i trusted him or not but so far he hadn't hurt any of us and he seemed to know something about it so it might be my chance to go back to normal.

“Wait just one second”

Ignoring his confused gaze I scratched all over the area where the Trinket had been as I wasn't able to do that for some time now and it had started to get annoying.

Slowly holding my arm out he put the Bracelet back over my wrist where it once again shrank until it fit perfectly against my skin.

For a few seconds nothing happened then Oakley swiped his tail over the gems and I suddenly had the feeling of falling forward.

Trying to catch myself I put my hands out in front of me just as I landed on the grass, but something was wrong.

Somehow I did not feel bipedal anymore, and looking back to my human companions I could see various stages of shock and disbelief on their faces.

There was silence for a few seconds before Robin shouted with gleaming eyes.

“KITTY!”

What.

Looking down on myself I could see paws where my hands should be, and even worse was that they were covered in green fur and looking at my back showed that there was even more fur on my new now quadrupedal form with a tail swishing behind it.

What. The. Fuck.

There even were some plants growing on my fur covered back which made even less sense.

“Oakley what did you do??? Turn me back! This isn't normal”

The man in question just stared at me with a huge grin on his face and started flapping around me like an oversized bat.

“Come on, just because you didn't know anything about it doesn't mean it's not normal, but i'm not really surprised you know nothing about it i had believed the Ardua to be extinct”

I could see out of the corner of my eye that Rikaad had sent Arthur and Robin to get a bit away and was now aiming his crossbow at the flying form of Oakley.

However with the way he was flying it was impossible to get a clear shot, at least not without also hitting me.

“I don't care! I just want things to go back to normal! Give me my human form back!”

Did I REALLY want things to go back to normal? After all, the time I had been a giant I had been the least lonely since basically forever.

But i still preferred having hands as the lack of them made it difficult to catch the flying fucker and swiping with paws just wasn't working well.

So not being able to use my hands I instead snapped at him with my teeth missing him barely and causing him to cackle again.

“HEKHEKHEKHEK see? You already fit your new form! Let's see if you can catch me!”

He was now flying even faster around me and acting like an annoying bat so I snapped at him again, making my teeth clack against each other.

“rrrRRRRRrrrrr get down here you fucker!”

He was flying higher so I tried to jump but missed again,  temporarily forgetting about the humans I had come with as I tried to get Oakley out of the sky.

Surprisingly the four legged form wasn't that hard to control and I could move just as well as when I had been a half human half elf.

At some point Oakley landed on the tree stump and stood sideways on the wood like gravity did not bother him at all, two of his toes bent back to grip the bark.

He kept out of reach from Rikaads crossbow too, smart fucker.

“Look, you are the only one that thinks this is funny but I hate it! Can you please turn me back? This sucks and i miss having thumbs”

Oakley stopped grinning and walked down sidewards the length of the stump reminding me of how crabs moved.

This guy just got weirder and weirder but at least he seemed done with his bullshit for now as he moved near the bracelet again.

For the first time I could really see him up close and noticed that his wings had three fingers on top with only two being long and having a membrane for flying as well as that his knees were bent with what seemed to be an elongated ankle.

He Swiped his tail over the bracelet and I had once again the feeling of falling, but only this time I really did fall, on my face.

Due to being a four legged creature before I fell face first into the dirt, but now I was human sized again.

Finally! I was back to normal! And looking up at Oakley he had cocked his head again, probably wondering why I was still lying on the floor.

“I gotta teach you how to use that thing, this is just stupid how come you don't know anything about it?”

Oakleys weird energetic behavior was gone for a moment but before I could respond anything I was yanked off the ground into a hug, startling me badly as I wasn't used to interacting with something my size anymore.

My brain froze up for a moment before I registered a red mop of messy hair next to my face burying into my shoulder.

The one that had yanked me into a hug was Robin and I hugged back after a few seconds, still a bit out of the loop.

I was touching someone my own size! This was awesome!

And Robin interacting with me like this meant that we were friends, right?

I hadn't really allowed myself to consider the three humans as friends before, I had been a Giant after all and as such couldn't go near any city ever again.

Being back at human size i noticed that Everything looked weird now,  like it was too big as i had gotten used to everything being smaller than me but i couldn't complain.

I was back to normal after what felt like the longest week and a half or so of my life and I was able to actually do mundane stuff again!

Someone patted my back and tried to yank both me and Robin into a standing position and I had to let go to avoid falling over again.

Looking directly and face to face into Arthur's eyes was weird, and awkward considering what had happened three days before so I turned around to talk to Robin only to see Rikaad.

He was taller than me now.

And I had definitely been right in being scared of him. 

He was rather buff, not overtly so that it would restrict his range of motion but I was sure he could throw me pretty far.

Also looking up at someone was strange and seeing those icy gray eyes up close did not make it better as they seemed even more intimidating now.

“Are you alright? That was… weird, especially that green creature you turned into for a bit”

At least Rikaad was friendly even now but I agreed that it was weird.

“I'm fine, really it's just weird being small again everything seems… bigger”

It was a lame answer, I knew that but my mind was still reeling with the fact that I was back to normal so I didn't care if my answers made sense.

“How did you turn into that green thing? I've never seen such a thing before”

Arthur had a point, apparently this weird bracelet could do more than turn me into a giant and Oakley knew how, I probably should ask him how and besides, it was his anyway and I should give it back.

“Can you turn into the green kitty again? It looked soft”

I looked at Robin confusedly, why would he call that green beast i had temporarily become a kitty?.

“What on that green thing looked like a cat to you???”

“It had paws and a fuzzy tail, also your ears flicked funnily”

That wasn't really enough reason to call it a ‘kitty’ though, but as long as he wasn't scared of it I wouldn't correct him.

And it was probably time to give the trinket back to Oakley, he'd be glad to have it back, after all it had been stolen for long enough that the corpse of the thief had rotted to the bones.

“I should probably give this back to Oakley now, it's his after all”

I tapped the metal accessoire to show what I meant. 

Rikaad leaned over, ending up sort of looming over us and I tried not to be bothered by the fact that I wasn't the tallest anymore.

“He did mention that it belongs to him, so i Believe returning it to its rightful owner is the best thing to do”

I nodded at them and turned to walk over to Oakley who was once again standing Sidewards on the stump.

This man did not care for Gravity huh.

Ignoring that he seemed to take offense to the existence of gravity,  I went over to him again to return the trinket to its owner.

Glancing back for a second the few meters I had already walked,  I saw Arthur ruffling Robin's ginger locks and Rikaad smiling at them.

I wondered if I could have such things too? I was back to normal now, but my normal still contained the fact that I was a Bastard and not wanted in any of the Kingdoms.

Ignoring those thoughts for now I held the arm with the Bracelet out to Oakley, I still didn't know how to get it off myself after all and needed his help to get it off my wrist.

He reached for it but then seemed to have a different idea.

“Keep it”

I was baffled, he'd just give me an enchanted…whatever…Bracelet?

But he said that it was his. 

Why would he give it to me now? A Bastard of all things.

Apparently my stare showed my confusion as he smiled at me.

“I cant use it, if i where to put it on i would die from incompatible magics, also it doesn't fit over my wings,  and i really don't know how i would even wear it so giving it to the only one i've ever seen that actually CAN use it is the best decision here”

I stared numbly at the weird… Fae? Whatever he was he seemed to be an alright guy if a bit of an annoyance at times.

But I did need to know how to use it, even if it was an awesome gift it would be useless if I didn't know how it worked.

“Thank you! But uhh, how do I use it? You moved too fast to see what you did so can you show me?”

He stood up straighter adding at least an inch to his height and tilted his head to the left before nodding.

“Ah yes it would be smart if you actually knew how to use it, after all it won't be of much help if you don't”

He walked a few steps away from the stump, probably to avoid damaging it should I grow and I followed suit, glancing behind me for a second.

The Humans were talking among themselves but repeatedly looking over at me, probably out of concern and I gave them a thumbs up to signify that all was well before turning back to Oakley.

“So, first off that's not a curse but rather a genetically tied Enchantment for Beings that are called Ardua, and you can only use it if you are a descendant from one of the original otherwise you just die”

“So I could have died back then??? Why would anyone design it like this???”

He shrugged.

“Defense mechanism is my best guess but i'm not all knowing, so let's continue”

I nodded numbly,  A defense mechanism did make sense so he was probably right.

“I have never seen an Ardua in person before, only drawings in various scriptures some of which were as detailed as having entire biological sketches but that's not important, well unless you need a doctor because your organs are kinda nonsense to humans”

Well I was very aware of that.

“I get what you mean i know my anatomy is kinda fucked, besides i cant go to any human doctor anyway they'd kill me”

He looked a bit concerned but continued anyway.

“That's horrible but moving on to the matter at hand, to change between form you should take a good look at the embedded gems”

Holding my arm up to my face to inspect the gems closer,

The only thing I could see for now were the five inlaid green gems. 

I didn't even know what type of gemstone they were let alone how they would help me shift into a giant or that green thing Oakley had called an Ardua.

The five gems were spaced rather evenly with three forming a single line down between the ornaments from top to bottom and two more stuck between even more of the big ornament to the sides.

I didn't really see what I was supposed to do, press them like buttons?

Trying that didn't work so I looked back at Oakley for help.

“You have to turn the gems, like a gear and the direction decides what form you are going to take”

He put his hands on the magic trinket and slowly turned the darkest green gem at the top of the three row counterclockwise.

Before I could react I had grown back into a Giant at about the same speed he had turned the Gem.

“YO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”

Looking behind me I could see my human companions looking confused and Arthur had apparently been the one that shouted as his hands were still half raised to form a speaker over his mouth.

“I'm fine! Oakley is showing me how this thing works, don't worry!”

I waved the arm with the bracelet to show what I meant.

They seemed to calm down a bit at that and went back to listen to whatever Robin was Rambling about, frequently turning to check on me.

Turning my attention back to Oakley i Bent down so he could reach the Bracelet again.

“Try turning it in the opposite direction as long as it's the same gem you are fine”

Taking his advice I slowly turned the dark green gem in a clockwise rotation until I couldn't turn it any further,  and after about a second shrank again to my normal height.

“Oh this is actually pretty awesome! How do I turn into the green thing?”

A huge smile had plastered onto Oakleys face and I could see two sharp fangs poking out, even longer and sharper than mine.

“You turn the other one, the one at the bottom, it works just like the top one”

That made sense, but what function did the other gems have?

“What do the other gems do? Don't tell me this thing has MORE forms to turn into”

“No it doesn't have more forms than that, the two gems on the sides are for stabilization if i read correctly and the Rhombus shaped one should be the one that draws in power from the environment so it is usable”

Man, this guy knew a lot about this even if he had said that he'd never seen one in person. 

Deciding not to question it for my own sanity I tested the Ardua form out again by turning the lighter green gem on the bottom.

After a second I was back in the Four legged form of the Green beast that Robin had called a Kitty.

The form itself wasn't so bad actually, i felt like i suddenly had more muscles, probably to support the Quadrupedal form.

Now that I had a bit more time to inspect this form,  I gave myself a lookover.

I had sturdy legs that were like everything else covered in thick green fur, paws that had sharp looking white claws and i knew i had to be careful with those as well as a fuzzy tail with a tuft of lighter green fur at the end and for whatever reason there were literal plants growing on my back.

The plants were mainly Daisies and Dandelions but had a few violets and lots of other plants strewn in,  most of which I recognized as edible or at least not poisonous.

“Why do i have-”

“ it's earth element magic so in not surprised about the plants, It's even funnier when you realize that it lets you photosynthesize like one too”

“Photo-what?" 

The word seemed familiar, Like Id heard it before, Then it clicked.

"Wait, you mean because I'm like a plant I don't need to eat? That would explain why i never felt hungry”

He nodded, affirming my thoughts and I had to admit never having to eat was absolutely great! I wouldn't have to steal food ever again!

“Just remember to drink enough, don't want you drying out do we?”

I nodded as things made a lot more sense now where before that was only confusion.

And now I knew how to use it!

That was awesome! It meant that I could switch between forms whenever I wanted! I could-

I still couldn't go back to Kamerasca.

It was only logical really, I was still a bastard and being able to turn into a green monster wouldn't help to show that I was as much of a person as everyone else there.

I doubted that the three humans I had befriended could do anything about it as they weren't even full Guards yet.

“Oi what's got you down so suddenly?”

Oakley had apparently sensed that something was wrong as he tilted his head again reminding me of a bird.

“I just remembered that I can't really go back to…. any Kingdom really, I'm still an unwanted bastard and they would probably kill me on sight if not worse, but i don't want to roam the woods like some mindless beast either”

Oakley wasn't human either so he would probably understand, After all, he lived all the way out here on the mountain.

“Ah I see, yeah humans do that, they don't understand something and immediately stamp it as a bad thing that has to get rid off,  i've seen it countless times so if that's the problem you could live here? Some company would be nice”

I looked around the clearing that he lived in, it was a nice place and he had an actual house so I wouldn't have to sleep in a cave or something and it was protected by the woods and mountainside, 

a good place really.

But I couldn't leave the humans to go back on their own, what if more beasts appeared? So far the manticores hadn't been that hard to get rid off, i had just kicked them across the map but they were smaller than most monsters so defending themselves was going to be a challenge.

Oakleys offer was good, very good even but I had promised to get them back so I would do that. 

I could still come back here later after I had brought them to Kamerasca.

Making my mind up I turned back to Oakley and twisted the gem to turn back into the smallest form which was a bit difficult given that I now had an extremely short thumb that was half covered in fur.

“Can I come back later? I do want to take your offer, i really do, but i promised to bring them back to Kamerasca and i still plan on doing that”

He nodded and tilted his head back into a normal position shuffling his wings a bit closer to his body.

“Keeping promises is important so of course you can come back later! This isn't a one time offer i'm not an asshole so take your time,  i'll still be here even in a week or two, no need to rush”

I was relieved to hear that, but we still didn't really know what direction we had to go in to get to Kamerasca.

“Say, do you know the way? To Kamerasca i mean we got kinda lost”

He nodded and rummaged for a second in his green patterned cloak before taking out a round metal object.

“Here this will help, you just have to go south south east then you should find it and to get back to me just go north north west”

He Handed me the metal thing and I could see that it was an extremely well made compass in an expensive looking hull that seemed to be made out of actual steel.

“I- Thats- Thank you! That's really useful! But it looks very expensive, Are you sure you want to give that to me?  You already gave me the bracelet”

He nodded and fished out at least three more of the compass out of his cloak, all held together by a thin but sturdy rope.

“I have lots of em, giving one out isn't gonna do anything to me, now you should probably get on the move i'm sure you can cover some ground until it's dark, it's only midday after all”

He was right, we had spent the majority of the morning here and still had plenty of time to cover some distance.

Walking back to the Humans I saw that Robin had once again made about a dozen flower crowns and planted some on the head of Arthur and was About to put one on Rikaad’s head.

Rikaad bowed his head in front of the smaller boy who then slowly put the flowers on his head.

It kind of looked like a coronation and  had to smile, it was kinda funny that Rikaad just let Robin do whatever.

Suddenly Robin's head whipped around and a huge smile plastered onto his face as he saw me.

“Donovan! Do you want a flower crown too?”

He held one up that was made of lots of daisies and I nodded.

“Sure! You are good at making them”

He carefully put it on my head and it fit perfectly.

“Oakely showed me how to use the bracelet and gave me a compass so we could find Kamerasca”

I held up the metal object for them to see and I could see Arthur face light up at the prospect of getting home soon, while Rikaad was as professional as ever even with the flowers on his head.

“That is very good news, i say we pack our belongings and start moving”

Rikaad had already put his small bag over his shoulder and tossed Arthur his as i was now unable to put it in my pockets as a human sized being.

Oh wait, I could fix that, but I probably should ask first to avoid scaring them half to death by suddenly shifting.

“I could go Giant again and carry those? Oakley let me have the Bracelet so i can shift whenever”

At the mention that I was now able to switch forms whenever I wanted Robin's eyes lit up and he bounced a bit on his feet.

“Can you turn back into the green kitty? It looked so cool!”

All of us gave him a weird look and he pouted before grabbing some more of his flower crowns.

“Maybe later, i don't have pockets in that form”

Going a few steps back I turned the gem and grew back to about thirty feet tall give or take as I had nothing to actually measure myself with.

“Ayo what the hell, this is really weird”

“Arthur you literally have seen this before if anyone should freak out about this it would more likely be me”

Rikaad was right, he'd never actually seen me shift before whereas Arthur and Robin have as they were there when I first grew into a giant.

Robin seemed completely unbothered by it, just smiling and holding his multitude of flower crowns.

Speaking of flower crowns, the one he gave me had stayed on my head till now but was still normal sized so when I moved my head a bit it slid down my front where I managed to catch it.

It was way too small now to properly wear but I probably could put it on a finger.

The only finger it fit on was my pinky finger but I put it there nonetheless even if it would probably fall off soon.

Picking up the bags and stuffing them in my pockets, I took out the compass again only to realize that it was too small to properly read now.

One of the smaller men would have to direct us then,  but I pondered who I should give it to.

Probably Rikaad, he seemed the most responsible of the three and I was sure he wouldn't end up accidentally destroying it.

So bending down again I held my hand out to him, presenting the comically small looking item to him.

“I can't read it, it's too small right now can you lead with it? Oakley said we had to go south south east to get to Kamerasca”

He carefully took it and held it up to his face, determining which way to go.

“I will try my best as a navigator, for now we have to go back into the woods across the clearing”

He started walking in the direction he had pointed at a few seconds ago and all of us followed him.

As we went past the stump Oakley was still standing there waving.

“Safe journey! I know the woods can be a pain in the ass sometimes!”

He was grinning hugely and suddenly Robin went up to him with his dozens of flower crowns in hand and put one on his head,  This one contained some daisies and violets but also some nice yellow buttercups before he ran up to me.

Oakley looked confused for a second and touched the crown, going a bit cross eyed from trying to look at his own head but went back to smiling immediately, showing off his fangs.

“Thank you! What pretty blossoms! I wish you well, little human!”

I could swear that his tail was subtly wagging behind his cloak but chose not to comment on it,  and everyone else just said their version of bye and waved.

We crossed the threshold of the trees and I turned around one last time waving at the weird nonhuman.

“See you Donovan! I will try to find the scriptures about Ardua so when you come back I can tell you more!”

He spread his wings and flew up into the air and out of sight towards his little hut where he disappeared inside.

“What did he mean by that? Do you have to come back to return the compass?”

Robin looked up at me confusedly, right, I hadn't told them that I was going back here once I brought them to Kamerasca.

“Oh right, since going back to… any Kingdom really,  is a bad idea as i’ll just be killed im going to come back here after i bring you guys to Kamerasca”

He suddenly had a downcast expression and looked at me with sad, pleading eyes and i felt a pang as i realized yes this is my friend,  and i was going to have to leave him for my own safety.

I knew it was for the best but I couldn't help it, the feeling of loneliness would be back even when living with Oakley i knew something would be missing.

“Do you have to? Maybe we can convince the guards that a giant would be great for the troops? Or just have you protect something? Like a field or-”

“Robin you know that's not going to work, the King would lynch us all”

I looked to Rikaad who had spoken, his face stoic and focused on the path forward.

“I don't know what exactly the kings problem is with fae folk that he hates them that much,  but i do know that just because some Guard apprentices want to convince them that what they believed to be dangerous for their entire lives won’t make them change their minds”

He was of course right, but I did wonder what could lead to someone hating on an entire species this badly.

I would never know, and I would also never have to see him, which I was glad for as I didn't want to be scrutinized by such a hateful mind.

“Soooo we just go home after all this and then what? Go back to normal? I don't really think i can do that after this weird misadventure”

Arthur had a point, what WOULD i do once this was over? Live with Oakley sure, but what would I do? Just sleep? 

I couldn't really steal there as the only one around would be Oakley and he'd know who it was.

“I don't know, but for now getting you back to Kamerasca is the best option, the woods are no place for humans”

The slowly healing and scarring over wounds from the manticore on Arthur's side proved that on its own already,  but combined with the fact that they didn't even know what plants were safe to eat and which ones would kill them it was a recipe for disaster.

I was very aware that only my presence as a Giant kept some of the smaller creatures away so I would make sure to stay big to protect the smaller humans.

The short conversation had left us all in a slightly bitter mood as we all realized our collective time together was coming to an end soon.

After about half an hour someone did break the silence.

“I think we should look for a place to camp overnight”

It was once again Rikaad breaking the silence with the suggestion of doing something completely reasonable, so we did just that and ended up setting the camp under some trees.

Putting some logs into a heap for a fire after I scared off some other weird creature that looked like someone had crossed a badger with a squirrel I made sure to stay close to the others in case there were more.

As the sky grew darker and no more creatures appeared I layed on my side, as close to the humans- no, my friends as I dared.

It was weird, actually considering someone as a friend after being so long alone but i couldn't say that i hated it.

Still, feeling Robin sleepily snuggle up to me as the night grew a bit colder I knew that I'd miss being with people.

I still was going to go to Oakley after this was over but he was a weird hermit and i only went because he was looking for more information on Ardua and i didn't want to be completely alone in the wilderness, Any company was better than none.

Falling asleep next to the smaller body of Robin i was sure Rikaad and Arthur could handle the first shift watching,  switching between sizes had made me more exhausted than I had initially realized and walking hadn't helped that at all.

I knew if something was the matter they'd wake me up or just shout loudly, besides both of them could hold their own pretty well, especially Rikaad.

I slept until about midnight, a deep dreamless sleep that was interrupted by Rikaad poking at my elbow, it was now my turn to take watch.

The silence of the night was weird, nobody spoke and was even trying to be extra quiet as the other two went to sleep, 

leaving me and a Quietly complaining Robin in the pale moonlight.

It was colder now, not as cold as those first few nights but still a bit chilly and I guessed it was because of the missing sunlight that would have warmed the earth at day.

Just sitting there in the silence of the night was weirdly calm, 

and even a bit relaxing.

Feeling something slump against my leg I looked down to see that Robin had fallen back asleep and was using me as an oversized pillow.

I debated whether or not to wake him up but ultimately decided against it.

If he was this tired i would let him sleep, besides I could keep watch over the camp myself.

After about two hours it was starting to get really boring, so to keep me from falling asleep I decided to mess with the Bracelet.

Gently moving Robin to lie on the Floor i went a few steps away to avoid waking anyone or accidentally destroying parts of the camp.

I wondered that since turning the gems once around themselves was what let me shift what would happen if I only turned them halfway.

Would I just shift anyway? Or stay as I was? Only one way to find out.

Hesitantly and slowly I turned the bottom gem about halfway before I stopped.

For about a second nothing happened, then I felt my muscles and bones shifting again.

But not as much as they would have to turn fully into the Ardua.

Inspecting myself I saw that the only things that had changed were that my nails had grown into claws and I had the lion esque tail swaying behind me.

A twitching motion out of the corner of my eye also told me that my ears had grown longer and were covered in greenish fuzz, and I wondered what my face looked like now.

Sadly I did not have a mirror but I could feel that my fangs had grown a  tiny bit and were poking over my bottom lip.

It was kinda funny and I wondered what else I could do.

So I went to turn it again only to find that I couldn't turn it further than it was.

Oh fuck.

I really hoped I hadn't just somehow managed to break the thing.

Frantically trying to turn either of the gems fully did not work and I had to accept that I was now stuck in this weird half form of beast and man.

Of course leave it to me to break it on the day I learned how to use it.

At least I still had opposable thumbs even if I was sure that the entirety of my hair had a greenish tint now.

Panicking was not gonna help me, and I was sure I had at least another two hours to figure out how to fix this.

Trying again and again to turn either of the gems in the direction they were supposed to just proved that they were stuck very thoroughly.

I even tried turning the other gems that did not really have anything to do with the two main gems, hell I ended up pressing them like buttons too hoping that would somehow fix it.

In the end it was all futile and I was still stuck being a fuzzy half man half beast.

Since fixing it didn't work even if i had tried for over an hour to revert back to normal  realized it would be day soon and the others would see that i had fucked up.

For a brief moment I wondered if I could keep it a secret but the fact that my ears were now even longer and fuzzy as well as the tail would give it away immediately so that was not an option.

I wondered how exactly I should tell them that I was now stuck as a giant, again.

I bet Arthur would either laugh or hate it, maybe both, and Robin would love the fuzzy tail.

I couldn't predict how Rikaad would react though and I kinda dreaded telling him, he was still the one i knew the least about, and he was the scariest too.

At the end just telling the truth was probably the best option but I would put it off until someone asked, maybe I got lucky and no one would question it more than to point out that I had a tail now.

And after that I could go back to Oakley and ask him for help.

I just hoped he wouldn't get angry about it but from the short amount of time i had known him it was more likely that he would cackle at me and then fix it.

Glancing over the sleeping forms of the humans I felt myself grow a bit sad again but shoved the feeling away. 

I could be sad when I was alone again and on my way to Oakley’s home.

Well my home also in the near future, which was weird to think about so i didn't.

Tossing some more logs into the fire and sitting back down next to it I stared at the moon.

It was strangely peaceful, aside from that weird creature from before nothing else had tried to come close, probably afraid of the giant that guarded the smaller humans.

It would now only be one or two hours until sunrise and I could see that my breath came out as small puffs again, indicating that it had once again gotten colder over the course of the night.

I tossed a few more pieces of wood into the gently crackling fire to make sure the others wouldn't be cold.

Then I went back to just staring at the surroundings, 

keeping an eye out for everything that might dare come close and tossing wood on the fire when I saw it got smaller.

As the sun finally began to rise and I felt the first sunbeams hit our camp Rikaad got up, startling me with how he could just awaken at this exact time while everyone else would have continued sleeping.

Seemingly not a trace of tiredness on his face he looked at me and did a double take seemingly confused at my new appearance.

Apparently deciding that whatever I did with the bracelet was my problem he left to go wake up Arthur.

Following his lead I went over to Robin and gently nudged him with a finger.

“Robin? Wake up, it's morning time to move”

He rolled over and mumbled something I couldn't understand, if it even was words at all and not just displeased sounds at having to get up.

Trying again to wake him up I rolled him over onto his back telling him again to get up.

“Sun is out, get up we have to go”

He finally blinked owlishly at me before noticing my ears and clumsily getting up.

“Why are your ears like that? Wait, are they fluffy? Can I touch them? Ohh you got the cat tail too!”

As expected he was overjoyed at my new traits and I bent down to let him touch one of my fuzzy ears.

“Fine, just don't yank it or you can carry your stuff yourself”

He nodded and carefully went to touch the fuzz on my half shifted ears with gleaming eyes.

“So soft! It's like the coat of a lamb!”

I had to admit that seeing him so happy about something so mundane made me smile, and having tiny hands gently massage my ears felt weirdly nice, not that I'd ever tell anyone that.

Though we still had to continue traveling, 

I cautiously stood back up much to the dismay of Robin who then opted to try and get my tail in his grip.

Ignoring his attempts for now and holding the appendage just out of his reach, I went to put all of their stuff that they didn't really need for now in my pockets.

Looking over to where the other two humans were standing I saw them checking the compass to make sure we were still headed in the right direction.

At our approach they both turned to us and I could see Arthur's brain stopping to work for a few seconds as he noticed my new features before his expression turned into an amused smile as he saw Robin attempting to grab my tail.

Speaking of that, 

I stopped holding the appendage out of his reach so he could finally grasp at it which sent a weird sensation across my nervous system. 

My brain told me that it was a ghost sensation of something not actually there even though it was.

Yeah this would take some getting used to.

Ignoring Robin as he climbed onto the topside of my tail holding onto it like a baby opossum as I let it rest on the forest floor. 

Looking at Rikaad who had stopped staring at the compass, 

I offered my hand palms up to take their bags if they wanted.

Both of the smaller men handed me their luggage with a small thanks and I stashed it in my pockets to keep my hands free.

“We should keep going, just standing around won't get us any closer to home”

So, following Rikaad we went towards South south east, past places i hadn't seen before.

We traveled for about two more days but something just felt…off.

The closer we got the colder it seemed to get, so much so that it had started snowing overnight again.

And it seemed that I wasn't the only one that had started to worry about it.

“You are SURE that we are going in the right direction? Because i don't think it should fucking snow during Spring!”

Yep, the colder environment had made Arthur a bit more Snarky, 

or at least exaggerated his use of curse words.

“Well yeah, we are going in the direction Oakley told me I don't know why the weather is so weird, maybe it wasn't really the start of spring and instead just a few weirdly warm weeks?”

Nobody looked really convinced at my words and i kinda wished that those Fucks from Maringand hadn't taken the Boarpelt Robin had used to keep warm those first few nights.

At least I still had my handkerchief, even if the roughly woven fabric wasn't exactly thick it was insulating enough to trap at least some warmth.

That and two people fit under it so sharing warmth was also an option even if most of the time Robin was the only one using it.

For Arthur it was Probably pride that kept him from taking the offer to share, as for Rikaad… well I didn't know but it did not seem like he needed it.

Aside from myself the cold affected him the least so he was probably fine, even if it still got colder and colder the closer we got to our destination.

It had gotten to the point where the snow didn't melt anymore even during the day and I let Robin use my Handkerchief as a sort of warm cape wrapped around him.

At least the fuzzy tail had an actual use now as a windshield and source of warmth even if I didn't dare bring it too close to the campfires we made.

Randomly going up in flames was not how I wanted to die.

And so far i had been lucky that no one asked why i was in this weird half form as i still hadn't managed to turn either of the gems fully and remained stuck in this weird form.

On the plus side at least having fuzzy ears prevented them from freezing off my head as icicles.

“How far do you think it is now? Oh maybe you could hold me above the trees again and then I'll see it?”

While Robin's idea wasn't bad I was worried that the now harsher winds would blow him out of my hands.

“I'm not sure, what if you fall? The winds have gotten stronger those last few days and i'd rather not have you break your neck from falling”

He nodded and curled back under the cloth while trying to snuggle closer to my chest for warmth, seemingly not disappointed much.

“Hey, can any of you try to find dry firewood?  Most of it what i found was soaked through from snow”

Looking over I saw that Rikaad was right, the clearing we had stopped had sparse vegetation, with only some sad looking leafless shrubs between the widely spaced tree trunks.

So I went to try and find some Wood to feed the meager flickering embers that Arthur was desperately trying to keep lit.

In the end i did not find much, especially not dry stuff but putting the wet wood next to the fire might make it dry till it was used,  at least I hoped so.

Well not much I could do about it aside from trying to be a good windshield to the humans that had gotten more and more quiet the colder it got.

It really seemed that the weather was putting everyone's mood down a bit, I had also gotten a bit quieter even if the cold didn't really do anything to me.

Best to settle down overnight, my turn to take watch was soon enough.

Curling around Robin on the floor next to the fire I tried to shield them the best I could from the frigid winds until I had to get up again.

Using my own arm as a pillow I fell into a light sleep feeling Robin cozy up to my torso, 

probably an attempt at staying out of the wind completely.

My rest wasn't exactly good as the wind kept blowing strands of my hair into my face.

I probably needed a haircut but I hadn't seen a mirror in ages. 

I didn't even know what I looked like exactly at this point but I didn't really care about such things too much anyway, I'd chop it if it got too long and that's it.

At some point I was woken up from my rather restless sleep by Rikaad who told me that it was my turn to watch now.

As I got up I could see that he settled as close to the pitifully flickering fire as he could and went to go sleep himself.

Positioning myself so that I blocked as much of the wind as I could,  I checked that Robin was still wrapped in the cloth I gave him and gently tried to pull him closer to me so he could rest without the wind on his tiny frame.

Over time the Fire got smaller and smaller despite my best efforts at keeping it lit, but there just was not enough wood so at some point it was just a bunch of sadly flickering embers and a heap of ash.

I couldn't really just get more wood either as everything was soaked and would just extinguish the last embers completely.

I was worried, i knew it was very cold even if it didn't affect me somehow, But the smaller humans were prone to the cold.

Maybe just keeping them in my hands would work? They were warmer than the ground at least and kept the wind out.

Reaching over I picked Robin up, he was cold, very cold.

So cold in fact that he wasn't even shivering anymore and turning him over onto his back showed a pale face with dark blue lips.

Panic settled in my chest as I carefully held my finger onto his chest hoping for anything to show he was alive.

For a few agonizingly slow seconds I thought he was dead, 

but then I felt the chest move, he was still breathing, what a relief!

But if he was this cold then the others would be as well, 

and I had to do SOMETHING to keep them from freezing to death in this bizzare weather.

A small puff of warm air left my lips and I realized I was warm, inside at least, so with a wince I knew what I had to do.

I just hoped I would be able to fit all of them, and that they wouldn't freak out too badly.

Best to get on with it to avoid having them freeze to death.

At least deciding who was first was easy as Robin was the coldest out of the three as he had slept closer to me than to the fire.

So gently lifting him up I carefully set him into my mouth while Picking up Arthur in an attempt to warm him in my hands a little.

I was glad that they had put all of their stuff away before going to sleep as swallowing a sword was not on my to do list and could probably kill me from the inside.

Robin felt like a piece of ice on my tongue and I shuddered, had I really not noticed how cold they had gotten?

Pushing past the uncomfortable coldness of the small human in my mouth I swallowed.

It was awful, the frigid body seemed to drag forever in my throat and I worried he'd actually get stuck, frozen to my flesh.

Swallowing again put things in motion once more and he traveled past my collarbone still way too slow for my liking and Arthur was still an ice block in my hands.

Without waiting for Robin to get all the way down I put Arthur in my mouth to at least offer some warmth in the meantime.

After a few more seconds I felt the frozen form of Robin enter my pouch and I immediately swallowed Arthur, 

and kept swallowing until he was past my collarbone too.

Standing up and intending to get Rikaad to warmth too, I went over to where he was sleeping right next to the sadly glimmering heap of ash that had once been a fire, hesitating only for a moment as I felt Arthur join Robin in my pouch.

Putting one hand over my middle where the small humans were now slowly warming up as a now rather heavy weight I went and reached for Rikaad only to be met with a sword slashing at my fingers.

“YOWCH”

Yanking my now bleeding fingers back I looked to where Rikaad had been just a few seconds before only to find that he was gone.

Oh fuck.

He had probably seen what I did, or at least heard it but he didn't know that it was safe so he must be assuming the worst.

I could feel bad about it later,  for now I had to find him and get him out of the cold.

Where was he? He'd freeze out in the snow!

Looking around I saw a bunch of footprints in the snow leading away from the camp and out into the part of the forest that had a bit more vegetation.

Following him in there was going to be a nightmare, 

especially with how the wind disrupted the footprints causing them to disappear after a few minutes.

Ignoring my bleeding fingers I went after him still keeping my uninjured hand on my middle.

The small humans were still out of it and I could feel one of them sleepily moving, probably Robin.

Since they were alright for now I focused on following the footprints through the forest.

I really hoped I could find him before he succumbed to the cold. 

Explaining to the other two why their friend froze to death was not going to be something I wanted to do.

The one thing the cold was good for was that it stopped my fingers from hurting too much.

The slowly dripping blood felt weirdly hot against my icy skin and I took a second to actually examine them.

They had a clean looking cut over the topside of my pointer, middle and ring finger as well as a tiny barely bleeding scratch on the side of my thumb.

I was fairly certain that if they had been any closer Rikaad would have cut them off, he kept his sword meticulously sharp after all.

Since there was no real damage to my nerves and I wasn't bleeding to death I went back to following Rikaads trail through a particularly unpleasant part of the underbush.

He was fast I had to give him that, and somehow very good at maneuvering through all of the obstacles that the forest had.

I couldn't see him anymore through the denser foliage and at this point was just running after the dents his shoes had made in the snow.

It felt like I was hunting a fox, 

and at some point I thought I had seen him but it was just a fallen log covered in snow that had a vague human shape.

And dragging the smaller humans along in my pouch gave it a weird tugging sensation everytime i took a step and I didn't know what to make of the sensation.

It wasn't awful but I didn't like it either.

Feeling something move in my pouch I stopped running for a moment, worried that the two i had put there would freak out.

I couldn't even tell who was moving in there but I hoped it was Robin and not Arthur.

Arthur would probably punch whatever he could even if he didn't really freak out just to spite me, and out of indignity too but it was not something I was keen on.

The movement stilled for a second but I could tell that whoever it was was awake now,  the weight was holding itself instead of being flopped over.

Then the small form tensed.

“What the fuck? Oh no Oh no… wait… DONOVAN WHAT THE HELL?”

My Luck really was down for today as this was clearly Arthur,

Not only did I recognize his voice but he also managed to kick my liver which was really unpleasant and I hoped he'd never do that again.

“Calm down i'll explain, just give me a second”

Chasing after Rikaad had made me sweat and i was panting a bit,

He was uncannily good at this and I wasn't sure how long I had been following him now but it was getting light out again, probably the sunrise. 

“Dude your heart is going a mile a minute what the fuck happend?

And why is Robin in here too? Where's Rikaad?”

At least he asked some smart questions this time and I could answer most of them as well as ask if Robin was okay.

“The short answer is that you all almost froze to death and there was nothing to keep the fire going, 

Also is Robin okay? 

He was really cold and for a second i thought he'd died”

I could feel him moving at my words, 

likely to check up on Robin and after a few seconds of unusual shifting that sent a weird sensation down my spine the weight of both of them settled a bit more comfortably against my insides.

“Robin is alright! Sleeping like a rock though and drooling on me, not like everything else isn't covered in it already but you didn't answer where Rikaad is, don't tell me he froze”

And there was the part i had dreaded, how the fuck could i explain this without sending Arthur into a fit? He'd kick my organs to pulp.

“Well…uh he kinda… saw me eat you guys and then bolted? He did slash my fingers and he probably hates me now”

Instead of kicking or punching me like I had expected he just slumped even more against the front wall.

“You are an unlucky Bastard you know that? Where did he go? 

He can't just vanish right? Im sure if you can show him that both of us are fine he wont stab you to death”

I really hoped Arthur was right, 

but for now I had no way of knowing until I found him.

And finding him was the problem, 

i had absolutely no idea where he was in this stupid snowstorm.

And the other Problem was that the weight in my pouch was distracting as fuck making it so that concentrating on anything else was hell.

I NEEDED to find a solution, or preferably Rikaad.

For now I would just have to power through, 

I could complain at a later point.

Walking forward again I scanned my surroundings looking for anything that might signify where the Human had gone.

Putting my hand back over the small forms in my pouch made Arthur flinch but he did not say anything and I could tell he was on edge.

“Are YOU okay? You're weirdly quiet but i can tell you're tense”

All of his movement stopped like he had been caught stealing.

“I’m- im fine, when I woke up I thought for a second that everything that had happened since the…Tower…  was just a weird dream so uh, Adrenaline is a bitch i guess?”

He had started fidgeting as he spoke and i felt guilt seep into my heart,

Why did I even think someone would walk away from something like that okay?? Just because Robin was fine didn't mean everyone else would be.

WAS Robin even okay after that? He never said anything about it, 

but if he didn't want to talk I wouldn't pry.

I could feel that Arthur was tense again beneath my hand and layers of flesh with Robin lying half on top of him like a ragdoll.

I tried to think of anything to say, to reassure him somehow but I already told him that it was safe and how it was safe too, 

So what else could I do?

I lifted my hand a bit and softly pressed in on them while I walked, 

still looking for any clue as to where Rikaad had gone.

I could feel Arthur tense even more at the sudden shift of contact, 

still as uneasy as before.

Slowly i pressed my fingers in again this time more deliberately,

I gently put my fingers to the place where I could feel the smaller man's shoulders and pressed down so he could feel it.

he immediately flinched away from the wall like he'd been burned.

Okay I just startled him, Let’s try that again.

I gently set my hand back where it had been before and repeated the action. 

The human flinched and went completely stiff. 

I steadily started rubbing circles, up between the shoulders, 

slowly down the back and up again.

Over time I could feel his muscles loosening up again from staying tense for so long and he gave a defeated sigh.

“All of this is my fault, and DON'T say it isn't! 

I'm the one that ran after you into the woods! 

and if it wasn't for me the King wouldn’t have stuck us in that stupid tower! I'm the reason we're in this mess altogether!”

Before i could retort anything to this absolutely idiotic assesment another voice interrupted.

“Why would you be at fault for those Guards throwing us in prison?”

Robin had woken up, probably due to Arthur talking rather loudly.

And as soon as Arthur realized what he had said out loud in front of the younger boy he was back to being tense again.

“Ah Robin you're awake! That's good! Uhh how are you? 

You were pretty cold, wait, do you know where we are?”

I could tell that Arthur was nervous and he probably did not want to admit his royal heritage to anyone else.

But I was also curious if Robin realized where he was and if I should say anything lest it would freak him out.

“Im okay, and i do know where we are i remember this from last time”

At his last few words he ran a hand along the walls of the pouch making me shudder.

“LAST TIME? Donovan? What's he talking about?”

“I can talk for myself! You could just ask me!”

I could barely follow the conversation as they had started squabbling for space and all the movement was VERY distracting but not exactly unpleasant.

I had to put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from letting out a delighted hum, I REALLY did not want to scare them, especially not while they were in there.

But due to me being distracted I missed most of what they were saying but at least they were moving a little less now.

“Donovan you did what? What the fuck! You can't just eat someone cuz they are annoying you! What the hell man!”

Ah Robin told him about what happened the first time then, Fuck.

“I- ugh can we talk about that some other time? I STILL need to find Rikaad and having you two in there is distracting as fuck! And it's worse the more you move so can you calm down please?”

I received a kick from Arthur at my request but both of them stopped squabbling about.

“For the record fuck you, but you are right i don't know how long a person can last in this cold so you better find him soon”

I relaxed a bit more at Arthur's words going back to looking for the still missing Rikaad.

“Arthur you didn't answer my question, why would you be at fault for the tower thing?”

At Robin's question Arthur tensed up again, his brain seemingly struggling to catch up for a few seconds.

“Oh uhh well- you see- i uhh- Donovan you see anything yet?”

He was really trying to avoid talking about his bloodline huh?

Well that wasn't really my problem but I decided to still answer him.

“I see Snow, lots of it and uhh-”

There really wasn't a lot but i had walked near a low cliffside somehow,

It was only about twice as tall as me with lots of overhangs and-

“A cave! There's a cave! Maybe Rikaad went in there?”

I started walking faster towards the cave, even if i didn't know what i would do if i found Rikaad yet getting out of the stupid wind was already a huge plus.

Ducking down into the small opening, well small to me at least,

I saw nothing but darkness after a few meters but there seemed to be a soft glow coming from deeper inside.

A fire? Was Rikaad taking shelter here? At the moment I was really glad that the two in my pouch had at least stopped arguing, though I could tell that Robin was pouting.

“You guys hang on for a sec ill try to squeeze into the cave”

Going on all fours i heard a,

“Don't get stuck”

From Arthur but i was sure the cave was big enough to fit me,

It was only the entrance that was a bit smaller.

Feeling the weight of the small humans slide and shift to the ‘front’ wall was extremely weird and I bit back another hum.

Basically going on all fours a few meters into the cave it got dark,

Not only from the clouds outside but also because my own body was blocking the light from coming in through the entrance.

Going towards the glow took me around a bend in the stone that continued until the exit was to my left instead of behind me.

A few more steps led me into a bigger chamber that was absolutely overgrown with moss, glowing moss.

I was kinda disappointed that i didn't find a pre built fire pit but that did not mean Rikaad wasn't here, 

it was warmer here than outside and there even was a tiny pond with some dead shrubbery around it.

“Rikaad? Are you here? Hello?”

No answer, but I didn't really expect one.

I started searching everything in here, which included me having to bend down and stand back up multiple times, a task that proved to be very distracting by the two currently contained inside my pouch sliding around all the time and trying to brace themselves whenever it happened.

In short it did not help at all.

The cave was warmer, by a lot actually as the little puffs that had escaped my lips out in the snow had vanished completely so maybe i could get them out?

I would have an easier time searching if they didn't distract me all the time.

I still wasn't sure if it was warm enough but there was enough dead shrubbery and wood to keep a nicely sized fire going for at least a day.

Gathering as much of it as I could I set it in a pile near the little pond that upon closer inspection actually contained warm water.

Very weird, I had heard of geothermal springs before but this one wasn't hot enough to be one, 

maybe it was overflow from an actual underground geysir?

Whatever the case may be i had more important things to do,

Like telling the idiots in my gut that I had to get them out as they were too distracting for me.

Lightly prodding my abdomen to get their attention I waited a few seconds so I was sure they were listening and not still arguing about Arthur not telling Robin stuff.

“Guys? No Rikaad in here but the cave is warm, there's even enough wood to set up camp.

If I let you out, do you think you can handle lighting a fire?”

There was some more shifting and I really tried to ignore the thrill that went up my spine before I heard Arthur again.

“I guess so, why do you mean? You're gonna let us out now? Like right now?”

I nodded before remembering that neither of them could actually see me.

“Yeah having you two in there is distracting as fuck and i need to focus if i wanna find Rikaad, just uhh try not come out at the same time? You'd split me open or something”

There was even more shifting as the two seemed to try and swap places before I got an answer, this time from Robin.

“You sure we should come out? What if it's still too cold? And shouldn't someone stay with you in case you find Rikaad?”

I was pretty sure that the cave was warm enough, and I was also sure that even if it was just one person in there it would still be too distracting.

“Yeah i think it would be best if i went after him alone, i really can't concentrate like this, now whoevers first brace yourself”

Not waiting for an answer I tensed my abdominal muscles, 

slowly bringing a tense little form up my esophagus while whoever stayed behind for now got really squished by the walls of my pouch to the point I was able to make out the individual limbs.

I tried not to dwell on that too much and instead focus on the little body that had just reentered my mouth.

Opening my lips I plucked the small poem of Arthur out who looked not pleased at all.

“For the record, this sucks now let me down and gimme my stuff so i can make a fire”

I carefully set the man down on the moss and rummaged for his stuff in my pockets before giving it to him.

He immediately set on to make a fire, 

pointedly not looking in my direction.

Well I still had to get Robin out who was currently lazily flopped down in the middle of my pouch, Arthur probably did not want to see that.

“Robin? Imma get you out now so uhh prepare yourself?”

I could feel some more shifting and heard Robin let out a small

“Okay i'm ready”

Before I tensed my muscles again, 

sending the living lump back up my throat.

As he reached my mouth I leaned forward and gently slid him out onto my palm.

He blearily looked up at me and I noticed that he looked very tired.

Before I could set him down properly he flopped onto my palm like it was an oversized bed, clinging to my thumb and letting out a weird sound.

“Mrrf”

It kind of sounded like a sleepy cat but I had no time for this right now.

I needed to find Rikaad, preferably before he froze so I set Robin down next to the pond even though he tried not to let go of my fingers and when that didn't work attempted to cling to the still broken bracelet.

I gently pried him off and stood back up while he face planted into the moss.

“I'll be right back, Rikaad can't just vanish into thin air so i have to be able to find him”

“Good luck! And if you come back without him i will burn your pants”

Arthur's attempt at encouragement was a bit weird but it was better than an insult, i didn't put it past him to actually set my pants on fire though.

Walking back out into the snow wasn't pleasant, the wind kept blowing little ice fragments in my eyes and it was hard to see anything at all,

making me stumble over some rocks that were strewn in between the greenery.

This had grown into a proper snowstorm while I was in the cave making finding Rikaad even more urgent.

The worst thing was that i could not use my eyesight to find anything and the snow actually stung my skin making me actually wish that i had the thick fur coat of the Ardua form right now.

But the bracelet was still jammed and in a storm like this it was impossible to even try to fix it.

So I had to suck it up for now and just continue onwards.

Since the storm only had brought more snow it was absolutely impossible and I hoped that Rikaad hadn't already frozen to death.

I wasn't exactly sure how long a human could last in a storm like this with no shelter, so I did something I hadn't done since my mother died.

I decided to pray, while the God Amesimos had NEVER done me any favors I decided that this wasn't for me, It was to find Rikaad alive.

Chanting over and over in my head, please be alive please be alive

While I trudged through the icy environment.

At some point I stopped dead in my tracks, I was very sure I had heard a noise coming from behind one of those Rocks that were scattered about.

I Hoped that I had found Rikaad and not some random animal, 

so I went slowly around the boulder to the side that was more shielded from the wind only to find some footprints leading away from me around the rock.

He was avoiding me by going around the stone and keeping out of my sight, 

He really was a smart man and while I could just jump over the boulder to grab him I was sure that if I actually tried that I'd have my fingers sliced off for good this time.

So around the rock it was then.

Circling it and following the footsteps only brought me back to my starting point, Rikaad always somehow a few steps ahead.

Well my footsteps were a lot louder than his on the crunchy snow so he did have an advantage, 

and I was honestly surprised he had not started huddling in the sheltered area for warmth.

But I knew that nobody would ever see him like that, he was a prideful individual.

And a frozen one if I didn't get him soon, so instead of lunging over the boulder I climbed on top of it only to see a Human silhouette dart away from it across the snowy ground.

Jumping down from the boulder with a loud boom I immediately went after him, if i lost sight of him now i probably wouldn't be able to find him again.

Bolting across the ground I tried my best to follow him even if there were a ton of obstacles in the way as Rikaad apparently insisted on taking the most cluttered route he could.

“RIKAAD WAIT! YOU'RE GOING TO FREEZE!”

I received no response but he actually seemed to run a bit faster now and I had to double my efforts to not lose sight of him.

On the plus side, 

running like this was probably going to warm him up a bit, and he couldn't run forever either so I was bound to catch up at some point.

If i didn't run full force into a tree first.

There were so many things in the way, including rocks, 

trees and some shrubbery.

The only lucky thing about this was that none of the plants seemed to have thorns but the branches whipping my face were bad enough already.

At some point while running after the surprisingly fast human I breached into a clearing that had a steep hill in the middle.

Maybe now I would finally have some luck.

Rikaad was trying to run up the steep hill but with his shorter legs and the snow slipping out from under him he wasn't making a lot of progress.

I sprinted as close as I dared to Rikaad, trying my best to ignore how the cold winds stung at the various cuts from the tree branches.

I slowed down on the last few meters, I did NOT want to trample the smaller man after I had finally caught up to him.

He still had his back to me but I learned from last time that if I tried to grab him he'd slash at my fingers with his sword.

So instead I tried to get in front of him.

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NEXT / PREVIOUS / OVERSIGHT

[tofautisawa]

if you dont mind, please elaborate about your feelings on tlg! i agree about it being not so great when it came to being ""educational"". trying to make tamaa look like the bad guy for tricking animals when...thats what drongos do to survive, even if he became "good" and helped the guard with his talents at the end, and using rockhopper penguins when african penguins are yknow...actually in africa and VERY underrated compared to rockhoppers when it comes to childrens shows never sat right with me (among other things)

The episode where Tamaa made his debut is honestly another episode that got under my gears when it came to that. I honestly enjoyed Tamaa as a character and I love his design- despite that he is modeled after a Racket- Tailed Drongo which is an ASIAN species. But I am not sure if I can't even properly criticize that anymore thanks to season 3 introducing areas just a few days walk away from The Pridelands where you can meet Red Pandas, Grey Foxes and Asian Monkeys who speak Japanese. Like lol- could you imagine a polar bear just showing up in the pridelands in the original films?

Back to the Tamaa episode- they could have easily just changed it where Tamaa used his vocal talents to play pranks instead and tried to pass it off as "It's just a joke!" but ultimately he goes too far and leads a herd into danger and now has to use his vocal talents to fix the situation and that could easily get across the message of "Use your talents to help others and do good" that they wanted. But instead they HAD to drop something that real life drongos do and state that it's bad because "MUH CIRCLE OF LYFE". I am sure it's because Tamaa was technically stealing the food but that whole argument falls apart when you have FUCKING. BUNGA. taking food from the nest of a MOTHER HAMERKOP WITH A GODDAMN NEWBORN and it's played for laughs in the episode Ono and the Egg. How in the hell are you gonna have multiple episodes that state that taking from others is wrong to the point of shaming an entire species for it and then have Bunga take food from a mother's nest and have it played for laughs??? I swear to god, Bunga's existence cause a lot of the morals they try to teach fall flat. OH! Did I also mention that the episode Ono and The Egg came right after the episode The Traveling Baboon Show- a episode that teaches that stealing is wrong? >w>

As for the Penguins-- I just in general don't know why they completely ditched the whole African wildlife thing to start shoving in Asian, North American, etc. species. It wasn't like there wasn't still plenty of African Species to work with. African Wild Dogs, Caracals, African Civets, Bat Eared Foxes, the list goes on. Heck, I wasn't even aware at first that African Penguins existed- it would have been neat to see them explored in the show but whatever I suppose.

[shtern-and-art]

"Skeppy will probably cry" "Bad will probably cry". Bish, screw, that I am crying!!!

This whole thing was bloody gorgeous and I wasn't expecting that ending. I had no clue what ending to expect but that was definitely better than any I could have hoped for. Forest spirit to soulmate your honour!

I was terrified that you were gonna leave it at the point where he loses the spirit and becomes mortal again. If you had I would be actively sobbing!!!! And oh my god, the art!!! I still can't get over how wonderful your style is.

Imma ask fun things because if I don't I'll sit in a puddle of emotion all night:

What's the first tech thing Bad will buy and how annoying will he be about it? Poor Skeppy trying to answer 101 questions about something he doesn't really use XD.

Is no one concerned that the odd couple from a town they never name has a pet wolf??

Do they immediately go over to a different town or do they wander for a while. Find hidden creeks and befriend bears?

Does Bad still have a connection to nature and animals, like are creatures naturally more trusting of him?

Do they ever visit the og town again?

Does Skeppy still cause absolute chaos in other towns or has he learnt his lesson and only causes minor trouble now?

Does Bad ever try and study again? If he did what would he study and would Skeppy try to study as well?

Does Skeppy steal? I dunno, he just give off the vibe of a naughty lil trickster who'll pocket something if the owner refuses to sell it him.

Immediately after leaving the forest what the first 'argument' they have (not including the car one)?

Would they ever ride horse? If yes, how terrified would Skeppy be?

Skeppy falls outta tree. I don't know why but my mind keeps telling me that this man has great balance until he climbs trees. They are his mortal enemy and Bad finds this both hilarious and terrifying because he is going to hurt himself.

I had waaaaay more questions than I intended to have. My bad '^_^ but this story was way too much fun to read and you are entirely to blame for making it so engaging!

Make sure to take care of yourself and do stretches after and during drawing. You don't wanna hurt yourself <3

AaaaI’m so glad you liked it! :D And, dang, man, I cried while writing that part too :D

And I promised a nice ending for the main story, I did, and this one also makes the most sense narratively! For the story I wanted to tell, at least. Bad can’t really become human again, he’s changed to much. He can only move on, and do something with what he is, and has. And he did! :D That’s really nice and inspiring, this story will always have a place in my heart, heheh <3

Being a guardian spirit connected to a person and all, Bad may be not as strong as before, but he can’t die unless Skeppy dies first. And Skeppy can do that, but he’s pretty sturdy, and his lifespan operates on a whole other scale than human ones. And Bad knowing Skeppy’s real name balances it all out, makes them equal in the power and influence they have over each other.

So hellyeah, soulmates for the win :DDD

I’ll answer all questions under the cut, and this close up from one of the pages!

1) What's the first tech thing Bad will buy and how annoying will he be about it?

Probably a pager! Because it’s a more feasible thing to get than a wholeass computer Bad actually wanted :D An it means Skeppy will have to get one too, and that Bad will be having the time of his life texting him and everyone he can get a number from, even if they’re still in the room with him.

Poor Skeppy indeed, he can learn to appreciate the pagers, and later phones, too, and computers, but he really has 0 idea on how it all works and why Bad is so fascinated by it all.

2) Rat and regular people

Oh, she can shapeshift, just like Bad! If they’re out with people around, she takes form of a puppy, and Bad can pass her off as a weird mix breed rescue doggo.

3) Do they immediately go over to a different town or do they wander for a while?

Oh, since they have no end destination in mind, they can ride around for a bit, go visit some cool places and roadside attractions. Sadly, Skeppy is probably not spiritually or morally ready to full on befriend wild bears yet, and they do need money for gas and snacks. So, at some point they will have to stop somewhere and find work – at least for a bit, to save up. Life’s gonna be a bit complicated with all that, until Skeppy figures out his treasure-finding abilities :DD

4) Bad and nature and animals

He is definitely still in tune with all wildlife! Even more – Bad could become a proper guardian spirit for Skeppy in part because, in a way, Skeppy himself is part of the nature.

So yeah, Bad can understand animals (and plants) and communicate with them; they’re just more free to not take his shit, and Bad’s emotions do not “possess” them unless he makes an effort to do so.

He doesn’t like doing it, tho.

5) Do they ever visit the og town again?

Hm, I think they will completely forget about it for a while, until, like, 30+ years later they will be going somewhere, and find themselves around those parts. And they try to not appear too often in the areas they’ve spent a lot of time in already (they can be pretty recognizable, and also barely show signs of aging). But it’s been a long time, and the town’s really different now… So they make a stop, and spend a day there. They walk the unfamiliar streets between the new buildings, check out the popular hiking trail, the advertisements for hot springs and winter activities. The old cinema is still there, and is hosting an all-night marathon of classic horror movies of the last century.

Bad and Skeppy leave the town after sunset – the day was nice, but they have nothing more to do there. They ride through the forest on a well paved road, with radio playing something barely above the whisper. And in the dark of hot summer night, Bad can see the white stag running between the trees alongside their car. Shadows dance over the shimmering light of it’s fur.

Somewhere after the towns border, the stag disappears back in the forest. But the air in the car stays light and fresh, saving the smell of old pines and dry leaves all though the night.

6) Skeppy and chaos

Well, after the whole mess in the main story, Skeppy definitely learned some lessons, especially about not being a dick :D

But the thing is – he can’t really help the fact that things tend to stir up around him a lot. He naturally brings in chaos into everything, because he is, in part, a personification, or an outlet for it in the world. And so, to feel, well and good, and himself Skeppy gotta do stuff that disrupts balance, and creates some mayhem. And in gave him a lot of trouble in early life, but in the course of the main story he learned that he can chose were he lets that chaos to take hold, learned what can come of that chaos, apart from utter misery.

Like, where it can help dismantle something destructive, and where – bring in the more positive change, that was already brewing, possible, but is stagnant for some reason.

Soooo, I can’t say Skeppy causes only minor chaos in his life, but he sure learns even more about not being a dick :DDDD

7) The studying

I think Bad will want to get a higher education at some point, because he wanted to, and because it’s already new millennia and all that. Bet he’ll go for something very technical and/or literature. Maybe he’ll start by piking up some classes in small time colleges, when they stop in one place for a while, and later get into an online program, because why not.

Skeppy is not a college guy at all. He’ll listen to Bad talk about it, read textbooks if he wants to, can research stuff, buuut going to classes and doing homework is definitely not his thing.

8) Stealing

Well, you’re right, Skeppy can and will steal stuff out of spite! And will be scolded by Bad for it, and will not feel (that) sorry about it. But real stealer between them will be Bad himself :D

It’s just… he has the corvid tendencies, and a hoard (a box) of sentimental mementos from different people and events, and the thrill of stealing something small and harmless is very exciting. Bad is very proud of his little collection. Skeppy finds it very adorable, a bit hypocritical, and kinda creepy. Like, that pretty box he gifted Bad at some point is now full of stuff like:

- pressed flower from the clearing they had a picnic at on their anniversary

- the button the waitress lost that one day the storm caused a black out in the whole town

- some small animal bones

- couple pretty rocks Bad stole from Skeppy’s pockets

- penny that was once glued to the ground

- a handful of teeth people (and not people) lost in fights with Bad

- pen from some fancy hotel

- rainbow dash keychain that belonged to a child

- the list goes on

9) Argument

Oh, that same day they’ll fight over whether they should stay at the really crappy and suspicious looking motel, or go sleep in a perfectly fine forest near the road. Ironically, Bad wanted to try out the motel (because, yay, first time spending the night back in civilization), and Skeppy was the one insisting on sleeping in nature (because the motel looks like it could give you 10 diseases if you even stand near it, and sleeping in the forest is kind of nice, and means they can cuddle).

10) Horses

The guys will probably ride them at some point. Well, Bad will ride, and Skeppy will sit on his horse and hope it knows what to do and where to go, because trying to make this giant thing do something seems dangerous. If they’ll have to actually go somewhere fast, Skeppy will not survive that day, his butt (and legs) will be dead for days to come.

And riding with Bad on one horse may sound romantic and nice, but all romance dies when the gallop starts.

F.

11) Skeppy and climbing

Skeppy is more down to earth kind of guy, more of a “rocks and caves” kind of creature, real-life lizard person or something. Up on the trees and in the air – not really his element, yeah. But it doesn’t mean that Skeppy will accept this fact easy. The embarrassment of never managing to safely make it down a tree is too strong, he just has to do it all over again, and again. And again. Because, clearly, he was distracted this time. And the time before that Bad was teasing him, and it “disrupted his flow”. And, really, maybe these trees here just do not like Skeppy much, and make him slip a lot. Yeah.

So, more often than not, if Skeppy climbs a tree, he will not stop climbing it until he falls, or the tree ends. Bad had to take him off high branches couple times, forcefully, because, of course, Skeppy was sitting there for 2 hours just to properly enjoy the sunset. He can climb down at any point, he just Choses not to. The view is amazing. The bark is literally part of his skin now, not because he holds on tight, no, he’s just Than Much one with the nature )<

---

Don’t apologize for the questions! It’s always so fun to answer them, and it makes me think more about stuff I may have skipped, or didn’t think about before. It’s really nice :3c

Again, thank you for the ask, and for being here for this story! <3

(And I’ll try setting timers for rest breaks while I draw, mb that will help)

---

In The Dark - masterpost

[renthony]

Random memories from growing up on a farm:

* One time on Easter, my grandfather put Easter eggs in the egg collectors beneath the quail hens. I found 'em when I did my chores and thought it was the literal coolest thing ever.

* When I was really little, we had a flock of peahens. They used to chase me around the yard. They're perfectly lovely creatures, and I would never wish harm on an animal, but those fuckers are mean.

* I used to help my mom round up live quail to be either sold or butchered, and the best way to do this is to set up a cage with a big funnel made of chicken wire. If you're my mother, you then send your five year old to the other end of the pen and have them run full-tilt toward the birds, scaring the birds directly into the funnel. Literally, one of my regular chores was "running at birds."

* My grandfather came home with an emu once and I still have no fucking idea where he got it. He kept it as a pet until finally rehoming it with an actual wildlife rehabber. Please do not ever do this yourself; that was EXTREMELY not cool of him and also possibly illegal. Absolutely dangerous as hell. Makes a great party story, though.

* One time my mom went outside and found a cow in the yard. We never owned cows. Turns out it escaped from a pasture down the road and just kinda...wandered into our yard looking for good grazing area.

* The same thing happened at my uncle's house, except it was a really pissed-off bull and it scared the absolute fuck out of me and my cousins. We had to stay in the house all day until the farmer managed to come get it, because he was one of those rich assholes who owned a farm but lived in the city.

* My grandfather dug a huge fishpond on the property and stocked it with stuff, so he and I could go fishing whenever we wanted. It was small enough that we never actually kept and ate the fish, to keep from decimating the population, but it got used to teach all the kids in the family how to go fishin' properly.

* We did, however, use the pond to raise crawfish. My uncle paid me 10 cents for every one I brought him.

* Before the fish pond got made, I actually learned how to fish in a weird little ditch river on the side of a back road. One time my mom got caught fishing there without a license, because this little backwater ditch that joined up with a stream was SO WELL KNOWN for having decent game fish that the game wardens would, like...stake it out. That's where I caught my first fish, on the Barbie-themed fishing pole my uncle got me.

* One time that same uncle went deep-sea fishing and accidentally caught a juvenile shark, which unfortunately didn't survive. I have no goddamn clue why he decided to bring it to the farm, but he did, and there are pictures somewhere of me holding it. As with the emu, don't do this. Leave the sharks where you find them, please.

* I literally grew up running around in the woods, and to this day I'm better at spotting snakes than most people, on account of snakes are fucking everywhere down here.

[macgyvermedical]

For the Last Time- Nerve Agents are NOT the Only Chemical Weapons: a “Golden Lancehead, Etc...” Science Review

So this one is probably going to be shorter than other ones I’ve done for this show, but having conveniently just refreshed my hospital decon team certification, taken a cumulative exam in EHS, and watched this episode (I’m a tad behind), I needed to do some talking on it.

Awl - X-Ray + Penny - Duct Tape + Jack - CD + Hoagie Foil - Guts + Fuel + Hope - Wilderness + Training + Survival - Father + Bride + Betrayal - Lidar + Rogues + Duty - Nightmares - Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - Friends + Enemies + Border - Mason + Cable + Choices - Bitter Harvest - Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck - Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac -

To recap, after Oversight’s death from cancer (season 5 has an absolutely wild timeline so far), Mac seeks out the help of former classmate Frankie to help him develop a new treatment modality based on the venom of a very rare, critically endangered lancehead viper. The venom is extremely dangerous, and can also, it turns out, be chemically altered to become a very potent nerve agent. Frankie unknowingly provides the information to create the nerve agent to the episode’s bad guy, and the race is on to stop the agent from being released into an airport and poisoning a bunch of people.

Intro to the Golden Lancehead

Since the episode centers around the Golden Lancehead Viper, we should probably start by talking about what they are:

Bozer described the Golden Lancehead as “One of the rarest and deadliest snakes in the world. Found only on one island off the coast of Sao Paulo, the Brazilian Government has made it illegal to transport or own.” Then, quoting a nature documentary: “The golden lancehead’s venom targets the nervous system of it’s prey with pinpoint accuracy- causing blood blisters, intestinal bleeding, tissue necrosis, hemmorrhage...” 

Golden Lanceheads are a real type of snake that really do only live on a tiny island off the coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They are 28-inch-long, cream and yellow snakes with a lance-shaped head and a diamond-like pattern of scales.

The island, called Queimada Grande, is uninhabited and travel there is forbidden, an order enforced by the Brazilian Navy. This is both to protect the viper, which is listed as critically endangered, and to protect the humans- given the remoteness of the island and the danger posed by the wildlife, it would be very dangerous for rescuers to come find you if you became injured or were bitten by any of the multiple venomous creatures that live there.

In the episode, Mac and Frankie travel to a pet shop in Sao Paulo to collect a sample of the venom from an illegally acquired snake. In real life, there is a lucrative black market for the species, which can fetch up to $30,000 per snake, meaning Mac paying $20,000 for a sample of venom would not have been necessarily unheard-of.

The pet shop owner tells them that the person who ventured to the island died from a bite, describing it as (paraphrased) “his face swelled, blood poured from everywhere, and even though they cut off his arm to try to save him at the hospital, he died anyway.”

Due in all likelihood to the fact that the island is uninhabited and forbidden, there has never actually been an official documented bite in a human from this species (though unofficial reports suggest it can indeed be deadly). Chemical analysis of the venom indicates it is likely the most potent and fastest-acting venom of it’s genus, though it is likely a lot more effective at killing birds and large insects than mammals given its primary choice of prey.

Bites from other vipers in its genus run a mortality rate of between 3% (with medical care) and 7% (without medical care). Most of their venoms are made of many different sugar-like molecules called glycans which disrupt proteins in animal cells, often killing the cells. Lancehead venom is similarly cytotoxic, causing the death of cells in tissue and blood and disruption of normal blood clotting, causing severe bleeding. Symptoms include pain and extreme swelling of the area around the bite, followed by tissue death and symptoms of nausea, dizziness, headache, and sweating. Shortly after that, there is a disruption in blood clotting, causing severe bleeding throughout the body. This severe bleeding, along with kidney failure and bleeding into the brain, is typically what causes death in those 3-7% of cases. Occasionally amputation is attempted as part of treatment, but it is usually due to the extreme amount of tissue death that occurs surrounding the bite, not necessarily to stop the spread of the venom as alleged in the episode.

So basically, Bozer and his nature documentary are largely correct in where the Golden Lancehead lives, its legal restrictions, and the symptoms resulting from envenomation by lancehead vipers. The only thing that is not accurate is the neurotoxicity part- lancehead venom is hemotoxic (blood toxic) and cytotoxic (toxic to cells and tissues), but there is no indication that it causes any kind of neurotoxicity (brain toxic).

Cancer Treatment from Snake Venoms

In the episode, Mac describes the research he and Frankie are undertaking as “The therapy uses toxins extracted from snake venom, which billions of years of evolution have taught it to attack the weakest cells in a creature’s body to target cancerous tumors.”

One of the great things about snake venoms (and honestly animal venoms) is that they are not single toxins. A single snake’s venom has nearly a hundred different bioactive proteins, enzymes, glycans, and other chemicals. One of the great things is because so many of these toxins are bioactive in some way, venoms give pharmacologists a pallette of various bioactive substances already in existence that they can test and use to create drugs.

Several chemicals we use as drugs were originally discovered in snake venom. For example, enalapril (a blood pressure lowering medicine), eptifibatide (a blood thinner), hemocoagulase (a clotting agent), and ximelagatran (a blood thinner), were all discovered originally as components in snake venom. Some studies into king cobra and saw scaled viper venom has shown possible anti-cancer properties (in the form of drugs that prevent tumors from growing, prevent blood vessels from growing in cancer cells, and prevent cancer cells from spreading throughout the body), though none of these have been developed into therapeutic drugs.

Since there are literally hundreds of bioactive chemicals, enzymes, and proteins in snake venom, it’s definitely not impossible that someone could choose to do this research, and definitely not impossible that someone would be able to find something useful in treating cancer or any other disease. In fact, since the venom is so cytotoxic, there is a possibility that there is a compound in it that has a preference for certain cancer cells. The problems with what Mac says are mainly:

1. that as far as we know, nothing in venom would selectively choose cancer cells based on their “weakness”- generally drugs that do target cancer cells target the fact that they have mutated in a certain way that lets certain chemicals find them or that they are fast-dividing cells (similar to hair or skin cells) and fast-disrupted cells get killed first if a chemical disrupts cell division.

2. Snakes have only been around for 143million years, and venomous creatures have only been around for 170million years. Even one billion years is a LOT longer than that. Mac could have said hundreds of millions and it would still have been technically correct at least grammatically.

Chemical Weapons from Snake Venom:

So what about chemical weapons?

I mean, sure, if you consider that there are hundreds of chemicals in any snake venom, at least one of them is probably going to meet at least some of the criteria for a good chemical weapon. Whether or not that chemical weapon would count as a “Nerve Agent” is kind of up to the substance itself.

Chemical weapons are weapons that fall into one of the following categories:

Nerve Agents- these are things like VX, Sarin, Tabun, and other agents that attack the system that breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Without that system, too much acetylcholine builds up, causing constricted pupils, twitching, excessive saliva and mucous, eye pain, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, seizures, and death if not treated promptly.

Blood Agents- these are things like phosgene, arsine, and cyanide that disrupt the blood’s ability to transport oxygen through the body. These cause symptoms like difficulty breathing, dizziness, headache, increased heart rate and respiratory rate, nausea and vomiting, and eventually seizures and death.

Blister Agents- These are things like lewisite and mustard gas that cause severe irritation to skin, eyes, mucous membranes, and lungs. These cause symptoms of pain, redness and large blisters on skin, difficulty breathing and swelling/blisters in the lungs and airway, loss of vision, fever, and nausea/vomiting. Death either occurs due to swelling and blisters in the airway or infection.

Choking Agents- These are things like phosgene and chlorine that irritate eyes and airways. They cause symptoms of watering eyes, coughing, chest tightness, and nausea/vomiting. They eventually cause severe pulmonary edema which can cause death.

Incapacitating Agents- These are agents like LSD, BZ, and fentanyl which are not necessarily designed to kill their targets, but leave them unable to respond to an attack either by making them less conscious (BZ, fentanyl) or by causing severe hallucinations and delusions that prevent them from being able to carry out their normal duties (BZ, LSD).

While there are many neurotoxic snake venoms that are known to have chemicals that interact with acetylcholine (causing paralysis, respiratory failure, and seizures), as far as I was able to find, the lancehead viper genus is not one of them. In fact, despite what Bozer said, there’s not a lot of neurotoxicity at all in the Golden Lancehead Viper’s venom- it’s primarily hemotoxic and cytotoxic.

So, basically, while it might be possible to make a nerve agent out of certain types of venom (though why would you, exactly? We’ve got tons of nerve agents, we know a lot about them, and they’re not exactly hard to create in a lab.) it would be more likely that you’d be in the market to find a new blood agent, blister agent, or even a choking or incapacitating agent if you were using Golden Lancehead Viper venom to discover it.

Just seems like a lot of work when you could get potentially a lot more useful venom legally and less dangerously.

But the more I think about it, I think the writers chose the snake due to it’s difficulty to acquire and it’s mystery, the chemical agent due to it’s well-known-ness, and fudged things so they worked together in the story.

But Now, the Real Question:

Could snake venoms eat through metal using acid, and would ionizing radiation change that? 

“Here’s another fun fact- when a Golden Lancehead attacks, it’s venom reacts with the iron in the red blood cells of it’s prey, creating an acidic byproduct strong enough to eat flesh and corrode metal.” -Mac

Certain snake venoms actually do become more acidic or more alkaline in their victim’s bodies, and in the presence of certain metal ions. However, as far as I was able to tell, the most acidic a venom would normally become was about a pH of 4 (somewhere between soda and coffee) and the most alkaline was about 9 (somewhere around baking soda). So not really capable of “eating flesh” (though enzymatic activity could digest proteins in the victims’ tissues) and it would take a lot longer than the episode showed to cause the corrosion necessary to dissolve a lock.

That’s not to say that a specially designed and purified chemical weapon created from a compound in snake venom would be different than the og snake venom, but the likelihood that ionizing radiation would change it so drastically would be a real bummer for a terrorist, since uncontrolled releases of your weapons are definitely not ideal.

Conclusion:

Overall, there was definitely some real passable science in here, but some of the dialogue choices were so poor that it made it difficult to respect. But generally decent science, even if the “cooler” stuff wouldn’t necessarily have worked.

[thewildwaffle]

The Gardener - Part 3

Continuing from this story     Part 4

How the human had managed to land this hunk of junk without getting themselves killed was some stroke of dumb luck. That was clear the moment Nipti pulled the drat thing into the shop. It was even more clear as he crouched into it to look at the ship’s meager engines. He’d had to teach himself the basics of small engines and different machines he used around the various gardens. However, that didn’t mean he was any sort of expert, especially when it came to something as big as a ship’s engines. That being said, even he could tell that the ship was going to need parts. A lot of them. “What is this- uhg, is this being held together with tape?!?” That was not up to any code he knew of. In fact, the more he saw of this ship the more he realized it was less of a ship and more of one giant collection of safety, engineering, design, and who knows what else protocol violations! This was hopeless. At least, for Nipti. He was a gardener after all, not a mechanic! Not to mention he still had his chores to do today. He sighed as he straightened his back and stretched. Well, might as well head back to the green garden. Make sure the human hadn’t gotten into anything too dangerous. They may be from the same planet as many of his specimens, but that didn’t mean they were completely immune to their dangers. And also, maybe he could get them to help out with his chores there if their offer to do so was genuine. Nipti carefully retreated from the trash scrap the human called a ship and started up the hoverbike. When Nipti arrived back at the Green Gardens, he didn’t see the human. He watched the raspberries, waiting to see moving branches or signs of their presence. The leafy plants only moved gently with the wind. Where had they gone? As Nipti parked the hoverbike, he noticed the pails the human had retrieved from the supply shack. They were filled with red, purple, and golden yellow fruits. Well, nearly full. The human must have eaten about half of one of the buckets. Or maybe they just had finished picking and put the bucket with the others. Nipti looked up and around again for where the human had gone, now a little worried. They said the raspberries were fine for them to eat, he hoped they hadn’t been overestimating their ability to process the xylitol in them. Maybe they were sick and had to lie down. But where?

“Marley?” Nipti called out. He kept telling himself that the human was fine. They were from Earth, they knew these plants potentially as well or even better than he did. He wasn’t sure why he felt so worried. He decided it must just be that he really, really didn’t want to deal with a sick or injured human in his gardens. That was definitely a good reason after all. “Marley?!” “Over here!” he could just make out their voice farther back in the foliage to his right. He gave a small sigh of relief, then shaking his head, donned his protective gear, and headed toward the sound of the human’s voice. He wondered if maybe they had found something else edible. That might be nice. Until their ship was fixed or a replacement procured, it was looking like they’d be here a while and he wasn’t quite sure what humans ate. Raspberries were one thing, but surely they needed more to their diet than that. As Nipti carefully pushed aside bushes and plants that he noted looked like they were in desperate need of trimming, he twisted his way into where he had heard Marley’s voice. As the human came into view, he stopped dead in his tracks. His plants. They were torn out of the ground, their scraggly, branching roots spreading out every which way except down in the dirt where they belonged. Plant after plant in the clearing looked like they’d been ripped up, bunched together, and thrown down. It was like something out of a horror story. “My plants!” Nipti cried, rushing forward and grabbing the human as they tried to pry up another specimen. “What have you done?! Why would you do this to my plants?!” Surprised, Marley released the plant they’d been pulling at and fell back onto Nipti who in turn fell back and landed on a pile of pulled vegetation. “Dude, what the heck? What was that for?” Marley rolled off of Nipti and pushed themselves back up onto their knees. “What was that- what do you think that was for?!” Nipti gestured at the carnage around him. He frowned down at the small crushed bunch of flowers his plants had started sprouting. Such a waste! Such a tragedy! Perhaps he could replant some of them, it might not be too late for some. “What, do you mean the weeds?” Marley’s eyebrows lifted at different angles as they looked between their mess and Nipti’s devastated expression. “I thought you’d be happy. You have quite an infestation of garlic mustard, you know.” “Infestation?! I planted these! What do you think you’re doing by ruining my garden like this?” Marley frowned and stared at him for a moment. “You mean you meant to plant these? Like, on purpose?” “Of course I did! You know I get plenty of tourists who come through my gardens and step on things here or pull a plant there, but never, in all my time, have I ever had someone go as far in their destruction as you, you monster!” The human looked hurt, and perhaps a bit unsure of themselves for a moment. They looked around the clearing again and their eyebrows squinted together. “Nipti, I’m sorry about angering you. I was trying to help.” Before Nipti could cut in, Marley held up a hand to silence him. “I do have one question though. Or actually two. First, how many of these did you plant?” Nipti frowned. What? What did that matter? He looked down at the crushed plants beneath him again. Then around the clearing where there were more piles all around, and more still that hadn’t yet been picked. “A little more than half a dozen or so.” Marley nodded. “Second question. How long ago did you plant them?” Nipti turned his attention from the numerous plants around him to Marley. The realization was starting to dawn on him, but it was slow coming so far. “About two and a half solar cycles ago.” Marley nodded as if that was that. Nipti, still not quite understanding what the human was getting at and still not quite ready to let go of his anger and shock, stood back up. “What does that matter? You still had no right to ruin my gardens as you did.” Marley’s eyes did a small spin in their sockets as they too got to their feet. “This garlic mustard propagated this much in that short amount of time. I’m saving your garden. I know a noxious weed when I see one.” Nipti’s retort stopped in his throat. What? “Noxious weed? What do you mean?” Marley gestured to their surroundings. “Noxious weeds. They’re what happens when a plant that’s taken out of their native environment and put into a new one where they turn invasive and can cause damage or even kill native plants or wildlife that compete for resources. They can destroy ecosystems if left unchecked.” Nipti frowned as Marley bent down to grab one of the plants by the roots. “Garlic mustard can choke out undergrowth and releases toxins into the soil that kill vital networks of fungi that other plants and trees need.” Marley ripped off a handful of triangular leaves. “They’re edible though, so I guess there’s that.” Nipti nodded slowly as he took it all in. “Noxious weeds,” he repeated quietly. “But if they’re that bad, then why do they not completely overrun all of Earth?” Marley arched their back in a stretch and leaned on a nearby shovel. “Well, they try. The places they’re native to have the right conditions where they’re naturally kept in check. Outside those conditions, they put their survival mechanisms to use and overwhelm ecosystems that aren’t adapted to deal with their tactics. People try to fight them and cut ‘em back, but sometimes it becomes a bit of an uphill battle.” Nipti silently gasped. Battle? Were the humans really at war with the plants from their own planet? He looked around at the clearing they stood in. Well, he supposed it did kind of look like a battlefield of sorts right now. Marley looked around as well and exhaled. “I don’t think they’ve done too much damage yet though. We’ll have to keep an eye around the area though. Garlic mustard seeds spread on the wind, but I don’t know how many of these have gone to seed just yet.” They walked to another patch of garlic mustard, pausing at the large pile they fell in earlier. “Do you have a place to put these? Like a bag or something? I can eat some, they’re still pretty young, the bigger ones I’ll have to cook the cyanide out.” “Cook the cyanide out?!” “Yeah, I can add them to a stir fry or make a sauce or whatever out of those. We just need to get them out of here.” Nipti sized up the number of large piles of pulled plants. This was a lot to take in. First, his garden was torn up, then he was told that the plants growing there were trying to kill his other plants, and now he has to figure out a way to clean all this up and prevent some plant infestation? He had done so much research when selecting specimens for his garden, what soils were necessary, watering information, light, humidity, pollination needs, on and on and on. He looked into everything he’d need to make sure every plant in his garden could thrive. He just never realized that some plants would go on to thrive at the cost of killing off other plants. He provided everything they needed, after all, there was no need for that. But the plants didn’t know that. They were created on Earth, a known category three death world. Survival of the fittest was hardwired into their DNA, and no luxurious life in his or anyone’s garden was going to change all that. “I’ll go get some bags and wagons to carry these,” he turned and headed back in the direction of the hoverbike. “Oh, before you go, real quick,” Marley called out. Nipti turned. “Did you happen to notice anything… odd about my ship when you were looking it over?” Odd? Nipti wondered. Odd was the least to worry about with that ship. “In my honest opinion,” he responded, “your ship is a piece of junk and you’d be better off selling it for scrap and parts. If there are any working parts left that is.” Marley made a low noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a whine. “That bad, huh?” “I’ve never seen anything so malfunctioned before in my life.” The human’s shoulders dropped. They looked so sad, like a fledgling kuipik that’s forgotten where its den was. Nipti sighed. “If you really have it in to fix the drag blast thing, you’re gonna need a complete overhaul. Those do not come cheap, nor am I anywhere near qualified or capable of doing anything more than a tune-up. You'd have to hire a mechanic. And a good one at that.” “How much are we talking?” “Almost as much as it would cost to buy a ship that size new.” “Ouch.” Marley closed their eyes and tilted their head back up to the sky. After a silent moment, they nodded and began pacing. “Okay, okay. I’ll figure that out. In any case, I’m going to need money, and lots of it then. More than what I’ve got now, that’s for sure.” They stopped. They stared at the pulled plants around them. Nipti didn’t have much experience with humans and their wildly varied expression, but even he could see that Marley was thinking hard. After a few tiks, they nodded. “Nipti? You said you have a lot of tourists pop in, right?” “I do. They can be a real pain in my tail most of the time.” “I don’t suppose those tourists would mind a bite to eat while they peruse the gardens.” Nipti narrowed his eyes. Marley continued “And if they didn’t bring a snack, or if they wanted to sample some exotic foods while visiting exotic plants, made by what may be to them an exotic alien, they might be willing to pay some real tourist-trap level prices.” “I don’t know if I like where this is going.” “It’s just an idea,” Marley stopped pacing. “Like you said, fixing my ship isn’t going to be cheap. I know you love your gardens and having a human literally fall from the sky suddenly be your problem wasn’t part of your plans, but I’m willing to help you with your plants and dealing with tourists, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get my ship fixed. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone?” “I’m going to assume that’s an Earth idiom.” “Yes it is.” Nipti sighed. Putting his head in his hands, he slid his slender fingers over his nasal ridge. “Okay. That may be a good idea,” he conceded, “but as of right now, it’s just an idea that needs a lot of thinking through and careful planning.” Marley’s face split into a toothy expression, the corners of their mouth turned upwards. They raised their hand up in a fist, except their opposable fifth digit was extended upwards. He stared at them. They stared back. “I’ll go get those bags then,” Nipti once again turned back toward the hoverbike. Thankfully, he had left it in the sun to recharge. He had already made more back and forth trips from his workshop and quarters to the Green Garden today alone than he had any time in recent memory. And by the looks of all the garlic mustard he would now need to transport, he would be making a few more before the day was done.

Part 4

[pixelchaos00]

Tradoshan Squad

Log: 1, Day: 1

The Base

(Author's Note: Thanks to @clonewarsreturns for helping me develop my characters and beta reading the story. My first language isn't English so I apologise for any kind of mistakes.)

„Get set and don’t let your guard down. This is going to be a high qualified mission, which is why General Unduli and I have chosen you here. This is more important than any mission before and needs to be perfectly executed. We mustn’t make any mistakes. This whole battle is sitting on our shoulders to win. So, don’t lag behind. Understood?”

Commander Gree’s words were loud and clear. The booming voices of identical men rang through the ship’s hull, each of them ready to fulfil their role. The hum of the bomber ship was an already familiar background noise. The Clones in 41st Battalion’s green stood ready to be deployed. Their mission wasn’t an easy one, since their input in the battle would turn the tides around in favour of the Republic’s grand army if they succeeded. They were supposed to land behind enemy lines and slowly work their way to the centre. The main base of the CIS was their mission’s objective. It had been a pain in the ass for the Republic since the beginning, providing the droids with never ending backup and maintenance. The Clone army suffered great losses, troops dying in major numbers with only little support and even less supplies. Commander Gree was leading the assault together with some of his best men, which he chose himself. Quiet whispers ensured after the commander’s speech, giving the troops one last time to talk before the true battle began.

“I’ve always wanted to blow one of those clanker facilities up. The five-o-first always make it look so easy.”

Some chuckles escaped the other men that were checking their gear.

“Not everything can be solved with explosions”, groaned one of them.

“Then you have never met Bootleg.”

“I have met Bootleg and I regret it.”

More chuckles.

“Aw, come on Checkpoint, I’m not that bad.”

“No, you are worse. Do you know how many times I had to patch you up in the medical bay because of your shenanigans?”

“That would be eleven times only last month and those were all unrelated to battles”, announced another Clone, squishing his locks under his helmet.

“Actually, Dropkick, it was twelve times but since he literally came half an hour later in again after leaving the medical bay, they wrote it down as eleven.”, corrected another Clone who was checking his backpack.

“As always, you have my back, Backup.”

“To be fair,” said Bootleg, crossing his arms. “My methods are working.”

“I do remember when you used an explosion to fight another explosion and it worked!”

This made the others in the transporter laugh but it was silenced by the pilot’s announcement. They would soon land and arrive at their destination. Lips were pressed into thin lines and helmets got strapped on. It was time.

The ship touched down on the soft surface, avoiding the large plants and fungi that took in most of the view. Not only were the turquoise and orange flowers taking up most of the space of the planet but they also blocked many free areas. Landing was a whole lot harder. Still, the skilled pilot of the 41st wasn’t so easily shaken. The ship doors slid open, allowing the troops to peek at the planet’s fauna, while the pilot’s eyes were scanning the ground for an open space. Gree scrunched his nose at the planet they were supposed to be stationed on. While he enjoyed learning about new planets and its life, he had a distaste for this particular jungle planet. It took too many men already, leaving the troops weak and open for attacks. The wildlife here was so different compared to anywhere else they had been. It was merciless. Gree read the reports about the beasts roaming through the thick leaves. Their terrifying screeches could be heard echoing in the night and on bad days in the day near their camps. Razor sharp teeth and equally dangerous blades, that were supposed to be the creature’s spindly legs, were haunting the dreams of many brothers. Acklays. Acklays and many other creatures called the bushes and thicket their home.

Gree felt the transporter land. The doors in front of him glided open, revealing the planet’s surface. The troops jumped off the ship and their feet hit the muddy jungle ground. The pilot closed the doors again and wished them all good luck before taking off into the air again. They needed to keep the ships out of the enemies’ radar. Gree gave the men a last salute. He turned to his team and called for attention. The troops were quickly divided up into their separate squads and positions.

“Alright, men! This is it. You know the goal of this mission is to blow up the enemy’s main base. If we don’t succeed, then nobody will and this fight will be over for all of us. Is that clear?”

The troops saluted, agreeing in unison. “Sir, yessir!”

Gree nodded, holding up a holomap of their target. The base was easy to spot and their positions were marked with green dots.

“As you can clearly see, the base lies straight ahead of us. Team Alpha will attack from the south side and sneak inside to turn off the alarm. Team Beta enters the base through the westside. One of the reactors will be located there. Team Gamma, you will enter the base through the east side.”

“Contact each other when you have arrived at your location. Set the detonators and leave this place. You only have a small time frame to leave this place before the bombs are ignited and the whole place blows up.”

“In the meantime, Team Alpha will take care of all the alarm and camera footage, giving you a free pass through the base. I’ll be joining Team Alpha for this mission and support them. The other teams will work on their own.”

“Contact each other as little as possible so they won’t pick up our signals. And the most important information for this mission; Do not, at any circumstances, get their attention. Do not engage in any firefight unless absolutely necessary.”

The Clones looked at each other and nodded, understanding the importance of the mission. They saluted Commander Gree before separating into their three distinct teams. Alpha was already ahead together with Gree. Beta was equally ready, heading straight for the jungle in the west side, led by their squad leader Corry. Checkup was bringing Gamma in position in the east.

Carefully they warded through the dirt and mud that kept sticking to their shin amor. The 41st color scheme helped them blend in with their environment and kept them hidden from unwelcome eyes. Despite the cover and camouflage, they had to be careful. Their white was still sticking out and the native creatures of this planet won’t fall for their trick. Not to mention the fungi and plants or diseases that couldn’t be fooled by their training and attacked on a different basis. For now, staying low and moving carefully was their best way to reach the base.

Checkpoint glanced back at his team only to witness Clickbait, in time, pushing a huge leaf out of his way and being smacked right back in the face with it. Backup stifled his snickering, holding his hand in front of his helmet, where his mouth was supposed to be. Clickbait huffed at the plant, ducking under it.

“I would rather be in the air.” mumbled Clickbait. It wasn’t that he had no training on the ground or that he disliked it, he just felt better in the air and away from all the ground obstacles.

Bootleg kept an eye out for patrols, blaster close against his chest. “Missing your jetpack already, huh?”

“’Course! I wanna fly”

“Well, right now you were called for this mission “, reminded Dropkick his brother, nudging Clickbait’s side. “Because we are supposed to be the top men who could -positively win- this mission.”

“Very funny, Drop. I know that. I just really want to activate my jetpack and go aloft, above all the fauna and away from the mud.”

Backup, who was a bit smaller than the others joined the conversation. “I understand that you would rather do something else. I miss the workshop, too but you need to get your head out of the clouds while we are still on the mission.”

“Betrayed by my own brother!”, gasped Clickbait. He looped his arm around Backup's shoulders and pulled him into a headlock. The support trooper started to whine, struggling under his brother’s grip.

“No, no head noogies!”, protested Backup, squirming around to try and pull his helmeted-head free.

“Quit fooling around and shut it, Click.”, warned Checkpoint in a low voice, reminding them that they were still on a mission.

“Yeah, ‘Bait. Quit fooling around”, repeated Dropkick in a mocking tone. The others snickered but settled back into their positions again.

Sometimes Checkup wondered if he was working with cadets. They were good at what they were doing but they weren’t exactly acting like it. The leader of the Gamma squad shook his head in defeat, quietly accepting of the team’s incompetence. Not that he was any different. His plans weren’t any less crazy or daring. He himself has a good count of stupid stunts he pulled off and survived, but at least he was more subtle about it. Or so he thought.

That’s when the beige color scheme of the droid base came into view. It’s bulky and edgy form sticking out between the natural fauna of twisting plants and colorful flowers that reached up toward the sky to get a glimpse of more sunlight than it’s competing greens.

Just as planned, Team Alpha was doing it’s job to turn off the alarm while Team Beta and Gamma went their separate ways to infiltrate the base from the opposite side.

Checkpoint peered out of his cover, looking both ways before rolling out into the open. Confirming one last time that his team would be safe to follow he gave them the ‘ok’. Soon enough Dropkick, Bootleg, Clickbait and Backup emerged from their positions. They followed their squad leader to the beige wall and settled down against it. By now Team Alpha should have disabled the alarm and cameras, making it easy for the rest to enter. Checkpoint moved up to a small panel in the wall and removed it. Soon the whole squad had squeezed itself into the small vent, snaking their way into the facility.

Checkpoint watched the droid patrol walk past them through the vent grid. Waiting for the right moment he signalled his team to get ready with a short hand gesture. The droids passed them and Checkpoint lifted the cover up to slide out of their hiding and into the hall. Soon four more troops followed him, sticking close to the wall. Backup reached into his backpack and pulled out a small device, similar to a holopad. He turned it on and a small dot started to light up in the upper right corner.

“This way”, pointed Backup. “The reactor is on our right side and should be easily accessible.”

The others nodded, letting Backup, their youngest batch mate, take the lead. He would know where to go with his fancy little devices. He would always tinker around on new things, show them their updated new weapons with greater firepower and attached mechanics. Not that they always know what they are for but they were never dismissive of his ideas. Backup was just their little brain when it came to weapons and electronics. He would sit all sleep-cycle long in the workshop, inventing tons of new gadgets. The Kaminoans never truly understood his potential, probably because of his mutation. They dismissed whatever he found out. It was a surprise for all of them that Backup was allowed to go with them in one team. His brother’s weren’t bothered by his blonde roots or heterochromia.

Backup followed the instructions of his datapad and walked straight ahead in the hall. He knew where to go but his attention was mainly focused on the screen in his hands. That’s when suddenly a hand gripped his arm and pulled him to the side, inside another room. Surprised, he looked up and met eye to eye with another brother, Clickbait. Backup tilted his head in confusion but Clickbait held a finger in front of his helmet. Staying quiet he could finally hear it. Steps. Heavy metal feet walking in sync down the hallway they just were in. That was a close call if it weren’t for Clickbait’s hyperawareness.

He had many qualities being a jet trooper. One of them was his awareness of his surroundings at all times. It came in handy whenever he was flying or on stealth missions like this one. He would hear or see things before others. It gives the Clones an advantage over their enemy, however Clickbait’s sensitivity to sound, touch and sight also make him vulnerable. His helmet has been modified by Backup. It filters out alarm sirens; Instead of the ear-piercing blaring, there would be a specific beeping, which he would recognize. His visor was darker than others, absorbing bright light to shield his eyes. Things like this help Clickbait to stay focused and perform his tasks just as well as others, however some things can’t be filtered out. He still gets distracted in briefings because something caught his eyes or he heard a particular strange sound. Usually a brother would update him individually on the plans for the mission. That way Clickbait would always be up to date.

Team Gamma left the room after the area was clear. Clickbait confirmed there were no more patrols outside. Rounding a corner, they could see the hall had changed from a narrow way to a much larger space, indicating they were in the main hall. There was a door at the end of the hall and a smaller path that led up on the right side. There were two rooms on the left and in the middle of the hall was a corridor leading to the right. There, this is where the reactor is supposed to be.

“The reactor room is around this corner”, explained Backup. “After entering we will contact team Alpha and Beta to inform them of our progress. Bootleg will attach the detonators and we will book it from here in no time.”

“Sounds good to me. I can’t wait to blow this damn thing up already.”

“Of course, you would say that, Bootleg. Let’s just get this over with and meet back with the other teams.”

Dropkick had a point. They headed for the door and with Backup by their side the door slid open in no time. In front of them opened up a huge, purple, illuminated room. Their target was in the middle, surrounded by empty consoles. No droids just as expected.

Checkpoint pulled his comm. link out and contacted the other two team leaders. Gree immediately picked up with Corry soon following.

“Team Alpha here. What’s your status?”

“Checkpoint from Team Gamma speaks. We infiltrated the base and am standing in front of the target. Asking for permission to attach detonators.”

“Team Beta is almost ready. We are picking the lock to the reactor room at this moment. We soon should be through.”

“Copy that. We will wait for Team Beta.”

Corry looked at his team as they tried to hack the door open. His team was good at what they did but this was a battle between time and sync. They had to leave the base all together so they could blow up the reactors at the same time. It would be futile if one team didn’t make it out in time. Sticking to the plan's time limit was important. That’s when the door hissed open and revealed the same empty room.

“Team Beta is set and ready to go.” explained Corry, keeping a lookout for droids.

Gree gave the others the a-ok and Team Gamma went straight to work.

“Finally!” gasped Bootleg, setting the timer. “I can’t wait to see the kids in action. It will be spectacular for sure.”

Dropkick rolled his eyes in amusement, enjoying the antics of his brothers. Bootleg always had an interest and knack for bombs and other explosives. While he would usually disable them for the Republic, he would rather like to build his own kids. He tried his hands on all kinds of explosions from small droid poppers to heavy artillery. The thrill with bombs always kept him interested and he would try new ways to disable or build new explosions. It got so far that Kaminoans perked up and listened in on his idea. That’s how they managed to make their droid poppers more powerful, giving them a bigger radius. Bootleg was still proud of that achievement. That’s probably why the Kaminoans aren’t as nosy about his almost daily medbay visits. He can’t stop trying out new things or test reckless ideas, which result in many absurd injuries. It’s said that the medics keep an extra file about his record. Checkpoint never agrees or disagrees about the theories, leading to some wild assumptions.

Bootleg set the timer for the detonator and gave his brothers a thumbs up. They were done and ready to leave this dump. The team gathered their belongings and headed for the door. It slid open with a loud hiss, a blaster barrel greeting the clones. Kriff! The new patrol was here and they weren’t exactly happy to see the uninvited guests.

“Clones!”, yelled one of the robotic voices in shock. “Blast ‘em!”, commanded another one, pointing his three fingered hand at the clones. Sithspit, Gree told them not to engage in a fire fight and leave immediately after the detonators were set because of the time limit.

A blaster clatter on the durasteel floor, pulling everyone’s attention to it. All eyes fell on Dropkick’s abandoned weapon. Another loud thud was heard and this time the droid's head was clean cut off. It met its fate fizzling and sparking. Confused by the unusual kill the droids stepped back in fear.

“What happened?”

“How can this be? B1-2222 suddenly went offline.”

That’s when another droid went down, a Clone without a blaster or blade standing above its body. That was Dropkick’s speciality; Hand to hand combat with a special liking for dropkicks. He always liked to watch the instructors show them new movements that he could use, memorizing the best ways to defeat specific kinds of opponents. B1 Droids were simplier to defeat than the heavily armoured super battle droids or sneaky and flexible commando droids. Magma Guards were a real challenge but not undefeatable with the right footwork, training and knowledge. Still, he would always prefer to take his opponents out with a dropkick. They were his favourite way to fight, leading to Dropkick abandoning his blaster more than once in favour of his hands and legs.

He threw one of the B1 droids over his shoulder, crushing another one’s neck in the same movement. He took the arm of a nearby standing witness and pulled him into the mess, switching places. Dropkick beheaded his opponent with a kick higher than most people’s standards and ended the fight with a dropkick to the chest. In just a hot second he took down a patrol of five droids.

“Let’s move it!” Dropkick was right. Backup tossed his brother his gun and team Gamma was on their way back again. The bomb would go off soon, taking this whole facility with it and turning the tables for the better for the Republic. Checkpoint glanced back while leading his men back out and grunted.

“Dropkick, you really overdid it this time.”

The clone shrugged mid run, believing he did a good job at destroying those droids. “It did the job, didn’t it? Commander Gree told us not to use our weapons unless absolutely necessary. I had everything under control.”

The medic rolled his eyes, looking down at Dropkick’s exposed right leg. “You lost your leg armor with that last kick!”

Dropkick could only shrug. “This won’t bite me in the butt later on.”

Checkpoint could only shake his head at his brother and kept running. If they were lucky, they would not only survive that mission but get back without a scratch. Hopefully the other teams had as much luck as them.

They dashed down the last corridor, rounding the corner and jumping each inside the vent. Crawling back outside, they each let out a whoop of excitement! Checkpoint took his comm. link to contact the others about their success but could only reach Corry’s team.

“We did it, we are done!”, reported the medic in an excited voice that indicated a mission with no casualties. Corry smiled ear to ear, looking back at his own full team, knowing all his men made it out as well.

“Congrats! Same for us, vod!”

“Thanks.” Checkpoint felt his heart race looking at the fauna of Felucia. A second later the picture turned blurry and the cold blackness welcomed Checkpoint’s consciousness as it slipped out of his grasp.

That’s when Team Alpha joined the conversation. Lense took the role of talking because Commander Gree was busy counting the seconds for the detonators.

“This is Team Alpha. We made it out in one piece with no casualties and minor injuries.”

Lense could hear the brothers from the other teams excitedly cheer for the successful mission, letting him instantly know that they were in the same good mood as the team he was in. He looked back at the base as the detonators went off. The ground was shaking and bird-like creatures looked for safety in the air. The facility itself was swallowed in the explosion’s blast, leaving nothing but rubble and droid parts back. Lense and Gree shared a meaningful look, knowing their mission was done. Without further ado the teams went their separate paths back to meet up at the splitting point. Team Beta arrived first with Corry smiling and happily chatting away at his brothers. Soon after them Team Alpha followed. Gree went up to Corry and affectionately patted his shoulder in good spirit, praising him and his team. That was until he noticed something crucial.

Team Gamma was missing.

Gree quirked an eyebrow at Corry and his team, looking back at his own. “Have any of you seen Team Gamma? They should be here already.” Corry only shrugged, taking a look around and noting that their third party did not come back to the meeting point. Did they goof around and ended up coming later?

Commander Gree told Lense to contact them just to be clear. The trooper nodded, immediately getting to work. Corry tilted his head in confusion. The other troops ceased their chatter at the sudden shift in the mood, looking around them. After a few more clicks Gree started to pace impatiently in a circle.

“Team Gamma, come in. Team Gamma.”

Commander Gree spun on his heel to face Lense, who desperately tried to contact the obviously missing team.

“What are they doing? We are supposed to meet here. Their detonator went off just like it should have. What is taking them so long?”, asked Gree himself more than the others. Team Gamma wasn’t the kind of team to just mysteriously cut all comms. Not that any team would do that since it would affect the other brothers in a negative way.

“Were they still inside the base when everything exploded?”, asked Lense, hoping for a response.

“No, can’t be. We had contact right before everything blew up.”, explained Corry in a thoughtful tone.

“That’s it I’m going to look for those slackers myself.”

“But sir, they aren’t picking up- “

“What do you mean they aren’t picking up? Call each of them. At least one has to hear their comm. link!”, commanded Gree anxiously.

“No, sir. What I meant is, that they aren’t picking up, there is only static; In fact, I can’t even locate their comm. links.”

“What?” breathed Gree in disbelief.

“We are doing our best, sir but it seems they have…” The trooper painfully paused. “vanished.”

Gree’s eyes widened as the truth finally hit him. Something bad happened.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Favored ones, Part 1. (Joel Miller x Fem!reader)

Description: When you spend every evening with someone who's deeply under your skin, a certain relationship can be developed. So it's crushing for Joel when Y/N suddenly disappears. But there's way more to the relationship that one would've guessed.

A/N: I love me a knife dad, sis.

A/N 2: This is just a chapter that will introduce you to the series and by the time, we will lay into deeper layers; as always, lmao. Also a subtle Far Cry 5 reference. Very subtle, you might not even catch it.

Warnings: Surviving the cordyceps apocalypse, enduring and surviving, an attack of some sort, will explain later.

Word count: 2.6 K

Tagging: @missdictatorme @xxgoldenhour @nemodoren

Also - if you would like to get tagged, don't be shy babe, just tell me.

If you like this story, please, more parts can be found here! :): H E R E

Around December 2038:

What was the worst part of the outbreak?

One would've thought it would be those who were infected by cordyceps. Some would answer that the worst thing which happened was the moment when the government broke completely down and when the society had crumbled to shit. Other people would tell you that the scariest thing for them to overcome was the cruelty of other people, them forming gangs, stealing from others, killing others to survive. Cannibalism, chaos.

But for one man it was the memories that took a hold on him. He was still scared of the nightmares that were crawling through his brain and subconsciousness. It was a dream that was playing in a fucking loop.

He saw his very own child, his little baby girl and angel shining through his darkness, his daughter Sarah being shot over and over and over again. It happened a thousand times till that very day and even if Joel found a way to endure and survive, he was still visiting the past in his mind.

It was over twenty-five years ago and yet he remembered every last detail of that night. Joel never felt such a painful loss in his entire life.

He found new people who he learned to love as the time passed, even if it wasn't exactly easiest to move on, he found new purposes and things he could do, but there was only one Sarah. No-one could replace her.

But to be fair, even if the twenty-five years of surviving took a hold on him, his physique and mental health, his experience was priceless. Nothing could be better than being taught by a professional.

So when he and Ellie settled down in Jackson County five years ago, he earned the people's trust when he decided to help them out with practical training. He was a master smuggler and survivor after all.

Sometimes, he got a bunch of kiddos in a class to teach them how to shoot with bow and gun in self-defense, other times they had a biology class and Joel taught them how to properly hunt an animal and how to cut its throat.

When Joel was in a really good mood, he was playing some old tunes on his guitar to them. But that happened truly rarely. Rather never than often.

As time passed, Joel could say who's in his group only to annoy him because he was such an old asshole and who is there to actually listen to what he was saying.

There were two small boys, twins, around the age of thirteen who loved fauna and flora. There was a sixteen-year-old girl who was willing to take guitar lessons. And then there was a girl, rather a woman, just a few years older than Ellie, who loved to learn how to shoot with a bow.

There was no other person so similar to Ellie, a girl who he practically adopted. That girl, her name was Y/N and she was born in Jackson County, was fiery and witty, quick with her responses and pretty tough cookie on the outside.

Even if Joel would not address the situation properly, the others began to notice - trips to the woods with Joel to hunt, practically everyday personal training from Joel to shoot with a bow. People began to spread the news quickly, it spread like a wildfire. The other day, there were jokes when you slowly approached your study session with the other ones from your town.

"Well if it ain't the miss I will get into your pants, huh?" - Jesse, your longtime friend joked while he prepared a saddle on his horse's back.

"Smelling nice, looking fucking fresh and I'm ready to take a hike." - You looked at your horse, a white one with one big black dot on near its left eye and you gave him a carrot so it could chew something. You called it Sadie and you knew that animal since you were a small kid. - "There was some hot water left yesterday around two a.m.. The best shower of the year."

"Hike on a horse?" - Dina, another of your friends, added and rose her eyebrows as she watched you. - "You still don't have a clue hikes work, do you?"

"Well, nobody said I'm the smartest, but in conclusion, fuck all of you." - You said with your head held high. Typical you - not having some valid arguments, so you cursed them out. - "Thanks for having a conversation with me, I very much appreciate it."

"Oh, snowy morning, three jackasses and some cursing in the air. I feel like I'm home." - The last member of your group joined. Ellie had her denim jacket with wool inside, her hair was in a bun and she looked like she hasn't slept an hour that night.

You whistled and sooner than you could stop yourself, your brain began to make connections and conclusions. Dina wasn't looking exactly fresh as well, so they have been together. Jesse was looking like a panther just ready to strike and kill his prey, so he and Dina had broken up once again.

Holy shit. If your calculations were right, it meant that...

"Don't tell me that you two are fucking." - You shouted with laughter, pointing at both of them. Ellie's eyes widened, Dina panicked and it all happened in the one exact same moment. - "Holy motherfucking shit, guys. I know that you're into licking holes, girls, but this was way sooner than we expected. You talked about it like... Yesterday. Nice. Good job!"

"Y/N, language." - You heard the voice of your mentor who you began to recognize amongst everyone else talking to you silently. It was Joel, looking like a bag of hot trash and smelling like local whiskey. - "We have children here. Alright?"

"I'm sorry. It just took me by a surprise. Not gonna happen again, I swear." - You looked down on your lumberjack shoes and smiled innocently.

It was hard to get under your skin - but Joel was deeply under it. He had grown to your brain over the last few months. It was one of the few adults you listened to willingly.

"Holy moly." - Jesse took advantage of that situation when Joel was out of the range to hear your bickering. - "Look how tamed she is for that old man. Never seen her like that. Wanna get a pat on the back of your head from Ellie's old man for being such a good girl?"

"Keep telling that to yourself, country boy." - You bickered back and hopped into the saddle, smoothing your horse's neckline. - "You never gonna get a single touch on all of this. This is VIP stuff." - You pointed at yourself and made your horse gallop to the gate.

The twins were sitting on one horse, ironically called the Rabbit, there was also a few other kids from the neighborhood. But today was different - while Joel took the other kids to teach them how to survive in the freezing cold temperatures while the trio will be guarding them against any wildlife or infected attack, you will hunt on your own.

The first time Joel had actually let that happen - you were out to near cities to find some things that may come handy in groups on daily, scheduled bases, but to hunt on your own in the toughest winter? Never happened to you before.

"So, just as we agreed?" - You looked down on Joel who's back were turn to you and smiled. You had a winter coat on, so your face with reddened cheeks and nose was barely visible. But even though, Joel came to your horse and caressed its side while looking you in the eyes.

"Yeah, just as we agreed. Stay in the area of the mapped roads and be back on time. No unexpected things today, I beg you." - Joel spoke silently, which made you smile wider.

"How many times we've been into the woods, big guy? I know those places like the back of my hand. I will be okay and I will behave well, I promise." - You winked at him and when nobody was paying attention, the tips of your fingers subtly brushed against his hand. It was just a second, small moment, almost invisible to most of the people around you.

You secretly lived for that - the big secret you held, the anticipation about what will happen when you'll be at home that night tickling every nerve in your body, the danger of anybody finding out. 

But you just looked in front of your horse as Joel stepped further away.

"I would say you behave. Safety first. You see something you can't shoot with a bow or kill with a knife, you run. Won't you be cold out there?" - Joel caught your stare one last time and you laughed a little. You were cold as shit even now, but because of your pride and anticipation, you would not say it out loud.

"Wouldn't you wanna know, old man?" - Then you rose up the sleeve to show him your watch. - "Got my timer set and bow steady, time to go. See you somewhere around Whitetail, Joel."

And with that, you rode out of the city's gates, slowly and steady through the pretty deep snow. And so, it was happening - your first-time real hunting session. Without Ellie, Jesse, Dina, the elders or Joel. Only you and the forest.

---

You could feel that you're one with nature around you. The snow was cracking under your weight as you slowly walked from tree to tree. Your body felt tensed up and the tips of the fingers tapped and brushed the bow and arrow in your hands.

At those moments, the world felt quiet and peaceful. Only the innocent white color was surrounding you, sometimes disrupted with brown or green, those were the trees. A few brackens were moving silently as the snow was falling on it.

You stepped forward again and looked around you, slowly exhaling out. You didn't want the mist out of your lips to cover your surroundings so you learned how to breathe slowly. That was of the things that Joel was teaching you since spring.

There were no misty breaths in March or April, but it definitely occurred in November and December. You needed to be careful with breathing. And shaky, cold fingers - that was when you needed gloves with cut off fingertips, so you could use at least the big portion of your fingers.

Just like that, you caught a glimpse of a rabbit running two to three feet away from you, not minding you at all. You dropped lower on your knees and you felt as the snow slowly froze them down. Your eyes carefully watched the movements of the rabbit.

If you get really lucky, you might even find it's lair. Ah shit, three to six rabbits on your first hunt? That would be a fucking jackpot. And you would prove yourself in Joel's eyes. So you decided to follow that small, furry animal with small steps and subtle movements.

You didn't even make rushed motions with your feet to keep the quietest you were capable of. But the rabbit only seemed to be running around and gathering some old, yellow grass. But then it got into a fast pace, but you knew that nothing is lost.

Just follow its footprints. That was actually the easiest technique when you hunt, Joel repeated countless times.

The following of the rabbit's trail took you almost half an hour before you stood in front of its lair.

Holy motherfucking shit. You actually made it. A lair of rabbits just in front of you. You heard them inside of it, moving and crawling, sniffing and making slow subtle movements. Just as you were taught to do it - stick your hands inside the lair and caught one of these little fuck's ears and drag them out and slice them.

But stand in front of the hole they could escape with. They would be too afraid to come out of it. Just like that, you had four dead rabbits in your hand. You walked with them to Sadie, smiling wickedly. Four fucking rabbits. Who would have thought?

But when you were too occupied with pinning the rabbits into the horse's back, you caught a glimpse of something interesting behind it. You saw a human being, probably a man, walking behind the tree.

"Hey, are you from Jackson County?" - You asked in a sharp voice. If it would've been someone you knew, they wouldn't be creeping up behind your back like that. So you controlled the knife you had behind your belt and furrowed your look in the direction where you saw them for the last time.

There were a lot of trees there, so you could probably catch some glimpses, but nothing was for sure. So you prepared your bow in the case of need. It wasn't Runners or Clickers, they even bother to sneak around. They would've attack immediately. The forest was unusually unsettling and quiet.

"Why don't you just come here and talk to me?" - You asked unsurely again. You played with the bow and looked around. - "Can you stop fucking with me and just come out?"

When you were almost about to snap, you froze when your ears caught another sound coming from behind your back. This was a fucking trap. And you caught the bait perfectly. You were so dumb.

Immediately, you jumped on Sadie's back and made her turn around so you could go back on the road as soon as possible.

But such terrible things can happen in a few seconds. Before you could even breath out, you felt as Sadie's legs lost the balance and as the horse crumbled down. Your legs fell from the saddle and the animal's body fell on yours for a second, but you couldn't breathe nonetheless. Both of you were falling from a hill - and it was a pretty bad fall.

When you laid in the ice-cold snow and tried to catch a breath, you realized your leg hurts too much. It was an immersive pain that made you scream out loud. It was broken.

And the guys who've been hunting you down were just slicing Sadie's throat.

---

"It's late. She should've been here an hour ago." - Jesse said to Deena. They've separated - Joel took he kids back inside and Ellie went to search for you in the area you talked about with Joel. Jesse and Deena stayed at Whitetail to wait if you don't come there.

"Come on. You know her. Maybe she found some good hunting spot?" - Dina said with a smile. Yeah. That was all you. Just to forget about time. There was probably nothing wrong with you. - "I bet she's just fine."

Just as she said that Jesse saw a glimpse of Ellie in the background. She was running as fast as she could and she was clearly scared for her dear life.

"I-I found Sadie, her horse." - Ellie stuttered, looking at both of them.

"Why didn't you bring him back? We could look into her logbook." - Jesse answered and Dina shook her head. - "She only wrote notes to her logbook when she was back in the town. She did write only when she was scheduled to go out. It wouldn't help at all."

"Dead. That horse is dead with an arrow in its knee and sliced throat. I do have any idea where she is." - And with that, they knew that they have to search for you immediately.

[egg-emperor]

Lmao at the people claiming eggman never killed anybody. I'm sure he killed countless amounts of people during his schemes. He's never shied away from murder or threatening it. In fact he happily threatened to kill a cute little fox boy. He'll kill anything with a pulse as long as it benefits himself in anyway

Yeah there's no way that people haven't ever died as a result of his schemes. You can't be responsible for an entire city flooding while the people were clearly right there, blow up an island while acknowledging people were on it "before anyone has a chance to know what hit them", break the entire planet apart, and bomb, burn, destroy countless other places and have every person and animal magically survive it or leap out the way and escape in time, that's total bullshit lol. Eggman has also carelessly acknowledged the collateral damage of his actions.

He broke the planet apart with no warning and there's no way it didn't kill anyone. He tried to blow up Station Square and it was eventually flooded as he initially intended thanks to him- and people were obviously in the city and he didn't give a damn, evidently when he's on the way to detonate the missile himself and says "I'll take the whole city with me". He also blew up an island knowing people were on it, threatened to destroy an entire country, attacked tons of clearly populated places, and literally contemplated genocide. So the actual intent has been there too.

And of course he's always trying to kill Sonic and friends too and makes it very obvious with his threats to kill them, announcements of their death/burial/funeral, sometimes he even outright demands for them to die, and he obviously intends to do much more than to just nonfatally wound them when he's blatantly violently aggressive and out for blood in battle and trying to crush, shoot, blow up, and burn his enemies etc, with voice lines of dialogue of him literally threatening and demanding his enemies to die lol

And you have a couple of the greatest prime examples of him saying that "killing Tails will be [his] pleasure" despite also vocally acknowledging that he's "just a kid" like a real sick bastard, and when he tried to blow Sonic up in the capsule he celebrated when he thought he was really dead and nothing but floating chunks in space. He cheerfully says "So long, friend" before throwing him out his ship in space down to earth and says "I should've known you'd still be alive", so he expected and wanted him to die then too. There's also just every other time ever that he's tried to fight Sonic and co lol

He absolutely wants them dead and would celebrate it just like he did there. He literally expresses enjoyment in killing them even! So when the intent to kill is there in many cases, the acknowledgement of collateral damage is there in others, and he's responsible for countless actions that have resulted in mass destruction in heavily populated areas including the entire planet at once, how would nobody have ever died at all? Literally nothing is stopping him from being lethal, not even himself as he wants that. And Sonic and friends have many times not been able to save people from destruction he causes.

Eggman won't just happen to end up getting a lot of people killed and know this but not care, he'll also intend for it and even enjoy it in some cases. He'll also do whatever it takes to get what he wants and has no known limits with how far he'll go to do it, as long as the world he wants to rule remains but even then, he's still willing to cause mass destruction, break it apart, and says damage isn't a big deal as long as there's enough left to conquer. That's why it's so easy for him to target Sonic and co who are kids, random innocent people, wildlife, and more with no remorse.

Anyway I adore the horrible murderous bastard and there's no fuckin way nobody has ever died from a guy as dangerous and willing to kill as he is lol 💜🥚

[trainthief]

eyo, i’m from alaska and i 110% agree w you re: hunting. ppl from outside/ppl from urban areas in general, ppl who don’t encounter wildlife and don’t live in nature, pretty much never understand the mentality, morality, and environmental impacts of hunting. of course it needs to be regulated, but the virulent hatred (white) city environmentalists have toward it is totally unfounded. hunting is often good, ESPECIALLY non commercial hunting.

NOBODY REBLOG THIS BECAUSE THE DUMB FUCKING TAKES ID RECIEVE WOULD BE BRUTAL 

Anyway, you’re fine, I’m totally with you! I feel like when people from urban and suburban areas who have no real experience with or knowledge of actual hunting and hunting practices come to their own conclusions about their personal morality on the subject they aren’t necessarily reaching the wrong answer for them, and for the experiences they have had. But the dangerous thing to do is to apply this as universal without an understanding of how entirely different other people’s experiences can be. People who don’t encounter it regularly tend to think of hunters as being people somewhere on an Elmer Fudd-to-Duck Dynasty spectrum, who against the pleas of local environmentalists insist on going out and driving species to near extinction. It’s nothing like that, as you know, and in fact most of the wildlife biologists and ecologists that I know are also avid hunters. Population control is genuinely vital to the continued survival of not only whichever single species is in question at the moment, but also to the survival of every other species that lives in the animal’s delicate ecosystem. And hunters tend to be more actively involved in the preservation of wildlife and wild lands than any other group. Hunting is never opened on animals to which hunting would pose a serious population risk, only a certain amount of tags are sold every year for each species (the cost of which is returned to preservation efforts for the species), and hunters tend to pride themselves on making use of as much of the meat of the animal as possible. It’s a much more conscientious, environmentally-friendly, and clean way of getting a meal than almost anything you can buy from the grocery store. And most hunters are very aware of and actively respectful of the laws and regulations of the land they are hunting because they have a vested interest in the continued survival of the animals they hunt as a whole. There’s also a whole series of rules among hunters that aren’t legally necessary, but are generally agreed on as being the moral and sportsmanlike way to treat another living being. As with any type of people, there are hunters that are great people and there are hunters that are terrible people, but either way the practice itself is a positive one for the ecosystem it takes place in..... Poachers, on the other hand, can rot in hell. 

[the-dragon-central]

Hey everyone, @astrid-foreverythingelse here! So this drabble is actually for a request we received on our AO3 account (hence no ask to answer) but we still wanted to be able to share it with you in case it was something you guys were interested in.  Hope you enjoy!

~~~~~

Modern AU Hiccup and Astrid take Zephyr and Nuffink to the Berk Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and Sanctuary for "Bring Your Kid To Work Day". They introduce them to their most well-known inhabitants; Toothless, a black jaguar and Luna, an albino leopard, Stormfly, a Newfoundland white wolf/Florida black wolf hybrid, Hookfang, a tigon (a hybrid born from a tiger and a lioness), Meatlug, a Syrian Brown Bear, Barf and Belch, a two-headed King cobra, Cloudjumper, a great gray owl, (Strix nebulosa lapponica), Skullcrusher, a northern white rhino, Grump, a Bornean sun bear, Windshear, an Iberian lynx, and Sharpshot, a vervet monkey and the sanctuary's mascot.

I absolutely loved the challenge this prompt was so thank you so much for submitting it, and I hope its at least somewhat like what you had in mind! It's quite a long one so it's coming in at least 3 parts. Enjoy, Parts 2 and 3 to come soon!

Wild Life

“Alright, now do we remember all the rules?”  Astrid looked down at her two children vibrating in place with excitement.

Her husband chuckled behind her.  “I don’t think they’re listening anymore.”

“This isn’t funny, Hiccup.  Some of these animals can be very dangerous.”

“I’m aware, but we aren’t seeing those animals today.”

“Guys, I’m serious.  Animals aren’t always predictable, especially when they’re hurt like these animals are, so we have to be careful today.  Understood?”

The children nodded fervently, bouncing in place.  Astrid sighed, knowing it was a losing battle, and simply opened the door to the Berk Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and Sanctuary, gesturing her children into the large welcoming center.  Light poured in from the glass ceiling as the children spun slowly in awe, soaking up every bit of information their little brains could handle.

Suddenly, a Vervet monkey jumped down from his perch above the door and onto Hiccup’s shoulder.  He scratched the monkey’s cheek as the kids ran over to meet him.

“Daddy, is that Sharpshot?” Zephyr asked excitedly.

“Yes it is!  Our first resident and very own mascot!” Hiccup confirmed, kneeling down so the kids could get a better look.  “We found him when he was just a little baby. We think he was abandoned because he had two broken legs and a broken arm.  He might have fallen from a tree and his parents couldn’t find him.”

“That’s sad,” Nuffink said, puckering his lower lip as he reached out to the little monkey.  His forlorn expression didn’t last long, though, as Sharpshot immediately ran down Hiccup’s arm and onto Nuffink’s shoulder.

“It is sad,” Astrid jumped in, “But since we’ve had him for almost as long as he’s been alive, he loves being around humans.  He’s very quiet and gentle, so that’s why he’s our mascot.”

Hiccup stood up as Nuffink and Zephyr played with Sharpshot, jokingly bumping into his wife.  “Still think they won’t want to join the family business?” Hiccup smirked.

Astrid rolled her eyes and smiled.  “I never said they wouldn’t. They have far too much of you in them.”

“Oh, sure,” Hiccup added sarcastically.  “Alright, heathens, do you want to meet more animals or is this little guy all you wanted to see?”

“MORE!” the children screamed in unison.

“Then let’s get moving!”

~~~~~

Astrid and Hiccup couldn’t get enough of the wide-eyed wonder rolling off of their children in the backseat of the doorless Jeep as they drove to check on the first two animals, Sharpshot jumping between Nuffink and Zephyr’s laps and Hiccup and Astrid’s shoulders.  Astrid tried yet again to warn the children of the wild nature of these animals and how they weren’t all necessarily as playful as Sharpshot, but the warning seemed to fall on deaf ears. She knew they were listening from their distant nods, but they were also much more intrigued by the rehabilitation center flying by around them.

“Hey there, Snotlout!” Hiccup said, pulling up to the first fenced-in area.

Snotlout spun around at the sound of his name, eyes falling on the Haddocks.  “Hey Hiccup, Astrid,” he said, walking up to lean against the fence. “I should’ve known you’d be the ones to actually take part in Bring Your Kids To Work Day.”

“Hi Snotlout!” Nuffink cried from the backseat.

“Hey, Nuff!  Have you ever seen a tigon before?”

“What’s a tigon?” Zephyr asked.

Snotlout didn’t answer; he only smiled and turned his back. He took a deep breath and bellowed, “Hookfang!  Lunch time!”

Zephyr and Nuffink looked around curiously as Hiccup and Astrid smiled at each other.  The air was still, disturbed only by a gentle breeze rustling the leaves in the nearby trees.

Suddenly, a roar broke through the calm as a big cat bounded out of the tall grass towards the unconcerned Snotlout within the enclosure.  Zephyr and Nuffink screamed as the man was tackled by the animal.

Astrid laughed.  “It’s okay! Look!”

The fearful, wide-eyed pair frantically looked back to see the animal simply licking Snotlout’s face.  He laughed as he playfully pushed the big cat off of him. “Alright, alright, come on, Hookie, get off!”

Snotlout wiped off his face as he stood and looked back to the kids.  “Zephyr, Nuffink, meet Hookfang the Tigon.”

This time they truly paid attention to the big cat now rubbing his head against Snotlout’s stomach.  He wasn’t very large as compared to a lion or other “big cats” of the wild, but he was quite muscular.  His belly was covered in white fur and the rest of his body orange, with faint black stripes peppered across his back.

Well, most of his back.

“What happened to him?”  Zephyr asked quietly, eyes fixed on the large patches of exposed skin.

Snotlout pursed his lips.  “Well, do you know where tigons are from?”

Nuffink jumped up, eager to answer the question, but stopped when he couldn’t think of one.

Zephyr pondered for a moment.  “Um...”

“Exactly,” Snotlout interrupted.  “They’re not an animal that happens naturally in the wild.  Tigers and lions don’t live on the same continent. So tigons and ligers, you can only find them in captivity.”

“Oh,” Zephyr said.

“This guy,” Snotlout continued, scratching behind Hookfang’s ears, “had another owner.  This guy was an exotic animal enthusiast. He had all kinds of animals on this big property hidden back in some woods, and not all of them legal.”  He paused for a moment to reach for the lid of a cooler. “Back, Hookfang!”

The tigon obeyed, turning his back and walking away towards the tall grass.  Snotlout pulled out a large steak of meat and hurled it towards Hookfang, who lunged at and grabbed the meat before disappearing back into the grass.

Snotlout walked back to the fence, continuing his story.  “There was a big fire, no one is really sure how it started.  They think it might have been something in the barn that caught, but by the time anyone found it, the entire property was up in flames.  Including the enclosures. Most of the animals had died by the time anyone got back to the property, and the owner, too. The few that did survive the fire ended up dying because their burns were so bad.  Hookfang was the only one that made it.”

Zephyr gasped quietly, and Hiccup turned around to see tears in not only her eyes, but Nuffink’s as well.  Even Sharpshot was sitting solemnly still in Zephyr’s lap.

“It took a lot of surgeries and skin grafts and medicine, but Hookfang pulled through.  And his skin is strong and healthy now. He won’t be able to grow fur back in the places where the worst burns were, but he doesn’t seem to mind.  We can’t release him into the wild because he’s never lived in the wild before, so he’ll live here for the rest of his life unless we can find somewhere better for him.”  Snotlout smiled at Zephyr’s sigh of relief. “He’s really happy here, I promise.”

“Alright, we’ve got a lot more animals to see,” Astrid interjected.  “Thank you, Snotlout.”

“Thank you!” the kids said in unison.

Snotlout saluted the family as they took off towards the next healing animal.

~~~~~

“Is that a polar bear?!” Zephyr cried.

“Not quite, Zeph,” Fishlegs corrected.  “She’s actually a Syrian Brown Bear; see how she’s more of a gray color and has some darker brown patches on her back?  She’s a lot smaller than a polar bear would be, too. Her name is Meatlug. Go on! Go up to the enclosure and meet her!”

Nuffink’s eyes grew wide and sparkly.  “Really?!”

“Sure!” Fishlegs encouraged.  “She’s and older bear, but she’s very playful.  She fell down a cliff when she was young and suffered some brain damage.  Physically, she’s one of our healthiest residents. Mentally, she’s still just a cub.”

“Is that why she’s still here?” Zephyr asked, running up to the enclosure.

“Yepp.  At first we were afraid she just wouldn’t grow, but she did.  Now we’re just worried that she’s too young mentally to defend herself.”  Meatlug curiously watched the children bouncing excitedly on the opposite side of the fence as Fishlegs made his way inside the enclosure.  “Come here, girl, it’s okay!”

Meatlug slowly approached Fishlegs, eyes on the children.  When she was about three feet away from her caretaker, she froze and tilted her head.

“What is it, girl?” Fishlegs asked.  “Don’t tell me you’re going to be shy now!”

Meatlug turned to Fishlegs and sniffed his direction.  She paused for a moment before standing up on her hind legs, tongue hanging out of her mouth, and bouncing over to him.  Fishlegs laughed delightedly as he embraced her and scratched her neck.

“Come on, you silly bear!” he said, leading her over to fence where the children patiently stood.

Back in the Jeep, Hiccup sat with an arm around Astrid and his other hand scratching Sharpshot’s head.  Astrid laid her head on Hiccup’s shoulder as they watched their children playing with the bear, both convinced the pair will end up in veterinarian school when they grow older.

Suddenly, they heard talons on the roof of the Jeep, making the three of them jump.

“Cloudjumper?” Astrid wondered aloud, jumping out of the Jeep.  Hiccup did the same, pulling Sharpshot up on his shoulder.

Sure enough, the Great Gray Owl was perched on roof.

“That’s odd,” Astrid mused.  “He only ever perches up there when we aren’t in it.”

“Unless-”

“Hoo-hoo!  Hoo-hoo!”

Astrid and Hiccup shared a worried look.  Hiccup spun around. “Zephyr! Nuffink! Come on, we need to go!”

“Aw, but Dad!” Nuffink started.  “Can’t we just-”

“Now, guys!”

Zephyr and Nuffink heard the worried urgency in their father’s voice now as they saw their parents scramble into the Jeep.  They ran back as they watched the owl take off and fly down the road. The two were barely in their seats before Hiccup took off after the owl.

“Who’s that?”  Zephyr asked.

“Cloudjumper,” Astrid explained.  “He’s actually not a resident here anymore, he just sort of hangs around.  He had a broken wing that we fixed a while back, but after we released him, he managed to find his way here again.  We can’t really get him to leave.”

“So why are we following him?” Nuffink asked.

“Well, we figured out after a while of him being back that he doesn’t interact much with the animals.  He just sort of... Hangs back, and watches. He never makes a sound, never bothers anyone. But if any of our animals are in trouble, he finds a staff member and pretty much harasses them until they follow.  It’s the only time he approaches any other animal or human, and the only time he ever makes a sound.”

“Awesome,” Nuffink whispered.

“That’s one way to put it,” Astrid agreed, smiling back at her son.

“Who’s in trouble?” Zephyr asked.

“By the looks of the path were taking, probably Windshear,” Astrid thought aloud.

“Isn’t Heather here today?  I thought she went out to see her this morning,” Hiccup said.

“Maybe she needs help,” Astrid offered.

“Who’s Windshear?” Zephyr asked.

“She’s a young Iberian lynx.  After she left her mother, she wasn’t able to thrive.  Since lynxes are endangered, we took her in, in the hopes that we’d be able to release her back.  She hasn’t really taken to anyone except Heather, though.”

“Which is what worries me,” Hiccup added.  “If Heather can’t wrangle her in, I don’t think anyone can.”

Cloudjumper did in fact lead them to Windshear’s enclosure, confirmed when the owl landed on a tree within it.  “Stay here, guys,” Hiccup ordered his children as he and Astrid stepped out of the Jeep. Nuffink and Zephyr nervously watched as their parents carefully entered the enclosure.

“Windshear!” Astrid called.  “Heather?”

“Everybody alright in here?” Hiccup asked.

No response was given, making Hiccup and Astrid more nervous.

“Do you think we should drive through and look for them?”  Hiccup quietly asked Astrid.

“I don’t know.  We don’t have doors on the Jeep, I don’t want her to jump out and grab the kids.”

“I don’t either, but these enclosures are huge.  We can’t exactly walk it and look for them.”

Astrid gave her husband a displeased look; she was not looking for his sarcasm right now.  “Maybe we should just walkie Control, they’ll know where Heather is. If she’s here, we’ll send for someone to help her.  If not-”

“WINDSHEAR, NO!”

At the sound of Heather’s voice, much closer than either of them expected it to be, Hiccup immediately took off.  Astrid spun around to the kids and cried, “Stay in the Jeep, do not go anywhere, we’ll be right back!”  She sprinted after Hiccup before they could respond.

They burst through a line of shrubs and found Heather standing off with the lynx.  She spun around for only a moment to see who it was that entered the clearing. “Astrid, Hiccup, stay back!  I’ve got this!”

Astrid took in the sight of Windshear, ready to pounce.  “Are you sure?” she asked warily.

“Yes!”

“What can we do?” Hiccup asked, ignoring her words.

“Get back behind the shrubs!  I don’t want her to feel like we’re ganging up on her, she’s just scared.”

Hiccup and Astrid hesitantly obeyed, slowly backing into the shrubs to watch in case Heather needed help.

“Hey, Windshear,” Heather cooed.  “It’s alright, girl, it’s just me.  You’re okay...”

Hiccup and Astrid held their breath as Heather slowly approached Windshear.  She may still be smaller than she should be from her low weight, but that only made her more vicious.  Her ears twitched slightly at Heather’s soothing voice, prompting Heather to continue. “That’s right, it’s just me, girl.  I just want to get a good look at you, make sure you’re okay.”

Windshear relaxed her stance slightly, laying on the ground as she watched Heather.

“That’s my good girl, Windshear.  Come here, it’s okay.” Heather slowly lowered herself to the ground now, sitting in the grass and giving Windshear the chance to close the distance.

Windshear didn’t move for a moment, carefully watching Heather’s every move.  Heather remained perfectly still, holding an outstretched hand in her direction.  Eventually, Windshear slowly slinked towards Heather, sniffing the air and listening intently.  Astrid grabbed Hiccup’s arm as the lynx slowly leaned in to sniff Heather’s fingers, desperately praying that she wouldn’t take a bite.

But instead, Windshear licked Heather’s fingers and rubbed her head against her hand, stepping into Heather’s lap and curling up comfortably.

Hiccup and Astrid both breathed a sigh of relief, catching Windshear’s attention.

Heather chuckled.  “It’s okay, girl, they won’t hurt you,” she said, petting the lynx’s head.

Hiccup and Astrid slowly stood.  “Are you alright?” Hiccup asked.

“Yeah, we’re all good now,” Heather said with a smile.  “I can take it from here. Thanks, guys.” Windshear stiffened as Hiccup and Astrid straightened, lazer eyes locked on the pair.  Heather’s smile faded as she observed her defensive stance over Heather. “Though I will politely ask you to slowly get out so she doesn’t freak out again.”

[natural-selections]

I see lots of angry and scared folks out there. Misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories have joined the viral spread of this pandemic, so I feel it's important we all take a moment to ground ourselves a little.

I feel your frustration over the situation is entirely justified - the government (ours and most of the planet) is just bumbling through this situation.

The cause isn't nefarious though - it's short-sightedness. For decades the world's medical and scientific communities have been sounding a red alert about us stirring the perfect recipe for a pandemic - mass global transportation and extremely close contact to wildlife.

What did politicians do? Shrug it off. Hell, the US ventilator stockpile wasn't even being maintained and thousands deteriorated.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/us/politics/coronavirus-ventilators.html

Disaster opportunists will find ways to profit off of any natural disaster - they always have and they always will. It doesn't matter whether it's hurricane reconstruction or pandemic supply production, or jerks buying all of the sanitizer at your grocery store and selling them on eBay. As much as you and I agree it's shady, it's nothing new and it's not going to change any time soon.

There is no secret plan here, in fact the truth is far more terrifying... there was no plan at all.

Everyone knows that there's no way any country can survive a long shutdown, but they also know that a temporary shutdown is the ONLY option for reducing overload at hospitals, reducing transmission rates and most importantly minimizing a massive death toll. Believe me, mass graves worth of people can't help the brainpower and economic power of any country!

MANY leaders are doing their best, but normally they get to make their errors and come up with plans behind closed doors. In this situation, everyone's watching. We don't have weeks for think-tank analysis - the nation is demanding (and legitimately requiring) solutions TODAY.

Mistakes will be made but great decisions will also be made. They are only humans and, perhaps most human of all, ones that didn't bother to plan for dangers that lay ahead.

If you are taking the time and putting in the effort to social distance, reducing your risk of catching/spreading the illness, or putting on a brave face and going out into the uncertain world to do your unavoidable/essential/important jobs - YOU ARE A HERO.

The hyperbolic cliché "you can save the world" is thrown around by every charity and humanitarian organization needing your help, but one of the strangest weaknesses of this virus is that YOU CAN ACTUALLY SAVE THE WORLD.

Literally, your actions as an individual person have never had so much impact on the world around you.

One contagious person (with or without symptoms) can honestly lead to thousands or even tens of thousands of new infections due to the power of exponential growth. One human could prolong the shutdown of a city or country, costing countless people their jobs, pushing more businesses into bankruptcy, further damaging the economic future of our country and LITERALLY killing people.

Or one person (with or without symptoms) can do their best to stay strong in a frightening period of uncertainty. They can avoid unnecessary contact with others, instead choosing to be social online and via phone. They can avoid riding on the transit or going to busy areas/essential businesses unless absolutely critical. They can take a deep breath before posting a controversial and questionable claim they found on YouTube or Facebook and verify the data through multiple credible sources.

Which person do you want to be? Do you want to live with your head down in fear and denial? Or do you want to rise up and become the HERO your childhood self always dreamed you would be?

I already know the answer and, from my heart to yours, I am proud to be friends with so many heroes. I can't thank you enough for saving the world.