#i’m going to go look at smaller fossils now

[angsthology]

“im just excited, is all” — or an alt title: roo vs. the australian allegations

who is roo, really? why is roo?

a/n a short one cause if im being honest theres just one tiny explanation and... yeah

or, yknow, alt alt title: daniel’s detective era

THE KANGAROO(KIE) VS. THE WORLD

“WOOOO!! I’M NEVER GONNA DIE!” she yelled into the radio, at this point not even shocking her engineer anymore.

“sure, kid.” he chuckled. “congratulations, again, i’ll see you out.”

as soon as she parked her car, the girl quickly jumped out of her seat and stand on the nose of her car, jumping repeatedly with both her feet going up and down excitedly. it ends with a last hard jump off the car and her hands up in the air, yelling on the top of her lungs.

when suddenly — to everyone’s dismay — she started shuffling. well, attempted, shuffling.

daniel, who had the pleasure of sharing the podium with her and was there to witness it first hand, could not help but unknowingly let his hand fly to his mouth to muffle his laughter. man, he just took off his balaclava, he thought.

then, just his luck, the girl stopped mid-shuffle and looked towards his way and waved at him excitedly before running towards the australian and attacking him in a bear-hug.

of course, the man expected the hug, what he didn’t expect was how strong it was going to be.

he let out a muffled “oof” as soon as she collided with him. daniel did not think he has ever gotten a hug this tight. let alone receiving it from a girl almost half his size.

“congratulations!” she could not get bored of hearing that. making her hug him tighter, “okay, oh, lord, i can’t breathe. please.”

“oh—hehe, sorry.” she immediately let go of the man and ran off—well, more hopped off—to get herself weighed.

the older man could not help but chuckle watching her hop away.

again, really?

the girl could never not get bored of all the demeaning questions that seemed to only be targeted towards her.

unfortunately for them, she was not having it that day.

so here she was, berating a man who was like generations behind her — and everyone else — with the rest of the grid listening, watching in amusement.

they always enjoy watching her absolutely destroying male fossils that walked the paddock. it was free entertainment.

her manager didn’t even stop her anymore — well, he did, usually when he knows she’ll say something completely unhinged and not for viewers ears — he just watches with a proud smile like the rest of the drivers until she eventually runs out of breath, all the while also stealing it from the opposite person.

and now it’s about five minutes later and the room was silent, really soaking in her words.

as usual, daniel was the one to break the silence — his tone doing its best to relief the tension that clouded the room.

“remind me not to piss you off.”

sebastian found his voice when he looked towards daniel, “i really admire her agression.”

“i try.”

the mclaren driver was minding his own business when suddenly he felt someone plop down on the seat next to him.

said person didn’t say anything, they just stared at him blankly for a good few seconds. in return, daniel had the expression equivalent of a question mark.

until eventually he felt a little creeped out, “what do you want?”

her response was… weirder.

“what do you want?”

“…what?”

suddenly, out of nowhere, the twenty-two-year-old pulls out a fanny pack from the side. and when she opened it, they were both met with all kinds of candy.

daniel raised his eyebrows at the girl.

“this stays between us.”

it did, but also no, she had previously already approached alex, mick, lando, and yuki, doing the exact same thing.

“…okay?” he then removed the confused expression on his face to one of curiosity of what’s inside the pack, “you got any haribo?”

“everyone, everyone, everyone!”

the girl hopped over to the group of men, dragging a slightly smaller one with her.

“yes, yes, yes!” replied george.

she the shoved the brunette girl in her arms to the front, holding her by both her forearms from the back.

“i want you all to meet daisy-mae!”

a strings of ‘hi’s and ‘hello’s along with ‘nice to meet you’s were exchanged.

the young driver then noticed a certain australian missing.

“hey where’s dan— DANNY!” she jumped when she saw said man approaching. as usual, she excitedly hopped her way over to him.

he chuckled, “hey, roo.”

at that, she stopped mid-way and looked at him confused, “who?”

“you.”

“huh.”

“you’re like a ‘lil kangaroo, y’know?”

still confused, she was brought out of a daze when she heard loud sounds of agreement from behind her.

“that’s what she is!”

“aw, that’s cute, our little kangaroo…”

“LITTLE?!”

taglist; @treehouse-mouse @disneyprincemuke @yansbolobao @leilanixx @judespoisons @vellicora

hope this didnt disappoint </3

[treefory]

Triffany’s dig

1017 words

The river beside Snaxburg ran calmly as the slowly rising sun's light lit its water. Triffany leaned on the fence that separated her from the river. The town was only starting to wake, Chandlo ran laps around town, Wiggle played her banjo, and Filbo lit the campfire.

Triffany stood back up on her feet and fixed the collar to her vest. She made her way over to the research tent. Floofty stood on their side of the tent fiddling with their equipment

“Mornin’ Floofty!” She called out

Floofty turned to face Their colleague “ah, good morning professor Lottablog.” They brushed some dust off of one of their specimen jars. “I presume you are here to speak of our plans for today?”

“You betcha! I found some old fossilized bones in the scorched gorge that ya might find interestin’!” She reached down under her work table and pulled out her bag. “Wanna get out there before it gets to hot.”

“And while we are there, I’d love to investigate the shy weeny worms you informed me of.” They pulled out the briefcase from under their work station. “I hypothesize it’s odd flavor is due to a chemical reaction and could be extracted and transformed into a form of medicine.”

Triffany rolled her scrolls and placed them neatly in her bag. Shovels, pickaxes, brushes, and water, while smaller tools were put into her vest pockets. She zipped up the bag and hoisted it onto her back.

Floofty clipped their briefcase shut and gently lifted it off the ground. Triffany adjusted her hat while Floofty fixed their goggles, and with that they were off to the scorched gorge.

— — —

Sweat dripped off of Triffany’s nose as she gently chipped away at the ground in her excavation site. She leaned up and wiped away the sweat that covered her face, she then took off her hat and fanned herself with it. “Oh goodness, it has to be noon by now.” She let out a sigh “and no sign of what these bones are!”

She gently picked up a ribblepede-like bone in her paws, careful to not break the ancient bone. Its shape was exactly like a rib bone but for some reason it was in the stomachs of the skeletons. But it couldn’t be a ribblepede, they don’t really have bones.

She tucked the mystery bone in one of her vest pockets and walked over to her workbench where her bag sat and pulled out a bottle of water. Sure the water was warm but I was still refreshing. “Well ya don’t always find something new everyday. Maybe it’s an extinct animal that used to roam the desert thousands of years ago! But why are only its ribs preserved?” She tapped her chin “ya know, they might have only eaten the ribs, bones n’ all! Maybe they buried the rest of what this was somewhere else. Maybe in the ancient burial grounds?”

She pulled another water bottle from her bag, “might as well bring Floofty a water while I’m at it!” She gathered all her tools in her bag and threw it onto her back. She stepped out of the shade of her excavation site and quickly made her way over to where Floofty was while narrowly avoiding the gaze of roaming spuddys and scorpenyos. When she got to the entrance, she got on her knees and crawled her way in.

a shy weenie worm saw her make her way in and wiggled its way into a corner. Floofty sat all the Way at the back of the cave. Their breifecase sat open next to them as they worked On a shy weenie worm.

“Hiya Floofty,” Triffany said as she walked over to her colleague, water bottle in paw “Brought ya some water! How’s ya research goin’?”

Floofty looked up from the shy weenie worm they were working on with a tweezer in their paw. It’s sesame seeded bun sat on a cloth with some of its seeds in a small bag next to it. All the other parts of the the worm like it’s tomatoes, onions, and other toppings were in their own respective bags, including the mustard.

“Mmm, thank you professor Lottablog, my research in going just fine.” They said with a small smile. They took the bottle and took a quick swig. “I hypothesize that the odd flavor originates from a specific topping and in order to determine which one it is, I must separate them.”

“Ohhh well ain’t that interesting! Ya know, after you're done with that, do you mind running a dna test on this here bone?” She said as she pulled out the rib bone and showed it to Floofty

They inspected the bone and tried handing it back to Triffany “Professor Lottablog, I suspect that it’s just a ribblepede rib.”

“but it’s not!” She gently pushed the rib back to Floofty “Ribblepede bones are to soft to fossilize, so it’s something else.”

“Oh, well then” they gently place the bone in the cloth, away from everything else. “I’ll be sure to run a test as soon as I get back to the research tent.”

“Thaks a bunch Floofty! While I’m here i’ll be diggn’ out the bones. that’s okay, yah?”

Floofty nodded, “You're permitted to do as you please as long as it doesn’t interfere with my studies.”

“Oh thanks Floofty! I’ll just be over here, just tell me when you're ready to go.”

— — —

A cool afternoon breeze ran through Triffany’s fur as the two made their way back over to the research tent. Floofty opened their briefcase and pulled out the rib bone. “I’ll begin the dna testing process on the rib you provided me. I’ll be complete later today or at the latest tomorrow.” Floofty said as they readied their dna tester

“Thanks Floofty!” Triffany bent down to put her bag under her table “don’t forget to call me over when it’s done, I can’t wait…” when she looked up she noticed a spiky green figure standing over her.

“Oh, wambus must have moved his cactus over here while I was gone again.”

[ironwoman18]

Rather Be - Part 4

Chapter 4: A day out

I think I’m beginning to realize

That every day is yawn-colored,

Changing like the scenes of a movie

By the time I figure out the trick

I’m at odds with the sky above

It was Saturday morning in the Forger's home. Loid was making breakfast while Yor was helping cutting ingredients. Bond and Anya were playing in the living room.

Yor smiled as she was watching them “we should do something today. We had a busy week and it could be fun to go out as family”

“I like that idea” said Loid smiling at her “what do you have in mind?”

Yor thought for a second and smiled “I heard today there would be a new exhibition at the museum, with fossils and recreation of old animals, maybe Anya would like it”

Loid smiled “sounds like a great idea, then we can have a picnic afterwards” he said putting the food on each plate.

“I love that idea” said Yor smiling big and took the plates and glasses to the table then put the rest of the things on the table including the food and they called Anya.

“Anya we thought it would be fun to go to the science museum today and then have a picnic. What do you think?” Ask Loid after eating.

The little girl's eyes sparkled with excitement and nodded “I love it daddy!!”

Loid and Yor laughed softly then he added “ok go get ready while I pack some leftovers I have in the fridge”

Both girls went to their bedrooms and got dressed. Anya picked a light blue summer dress with white sport shoes while Yor picked a blue summer dress with black sport shoes and she put on a hat letting her hair loose.

Then Loid went to get dressed too. He decided to match with his wife and daughter and put on a blue shirt with light brown pants and black shoes, he added a hat.

“Can Bond go too daddy?” Asked Anya.

“No, the museum doesn't accept pets inside and I can't leave him in the car or outside under the summer sun. So maybe after we arrive we can have a long walk” Loid said, rubbing his head softly. The dog barked in agreement so Loid left his bowls full with food and water.

The family left and Loid drove them there. They had fun listening to the latest songs on the radio and when they arrived, Loid parked the car and let everyone get out.

Then they walked to the museum and after pay the ticket they walked in. The animals and dinosaur fossils amazed Anya and she asked lots of questions.

Yor read the information that was out of reach for her and Loid explained others thanks to his multiple missions in museums of this kind or faking to be an expert in animals.

They were having a good time until they reached the section about the history of Ostalia, including the war.

There was, as you could expect, their side of the story and how they attacked Westalia because they made the first move, which was a lie.

There were old uniforms of the soldiers which trigger memories in Loid's mind which came from [Redacted] childhood, how he lost his parents and friends in combat, how he had to join the army then WISE to make sure peace finally became a reality.

Yor could notice how his beautiful and kind blue eyes got darker and filled with anger, she could tell something was off with him. He stopped to talk which was another hint of his discomfort.

Anya without reading his mind she could tell he wasn't alright. When she read it, she knew and got sad that her daddy was so upset by this part of the museum.

I closed up my heart and turned the key

That’s how I’ve been living until now

Then our melodies overlapped.

They looked at each other and Yor without a second thought held his right hand interlocking their fingers for a more firm grip, measuring her strength, of course, while Anya held his left hand.

This somehow brought him back from this dark place. He looked at Yor and Anya in shock, like a deer hit by the light of the sun was lowering, close to the twilight.

Even if it’s smaller than any other light in the city

I wanted a guiding light that I could find, no matter what.

“W-what?” He asked, a little confused.

“You were gone in your thoughts and we got worried” he looked at Yor and smiled kindly.

“Thank you...” He looked at Anya too and smiled at her “you are my way home, always...”

Yor was about to let his hand go but his grip tightened up a little he looked at her shaking his head, Yor understood and held his hand as well as Anya while they continued to watch the museum.

They could hear people saying how cute that family was, walking together like that. Which made them blush a little but continued doing until they walked out of that section.

The rest of the sections were lighter because it was about worldwide history so he released their hands to let them walk around as they pleased.

In the end there was a photo booth with a beautiful poster behind so the family paid for a photo then left to have their picnic.

At the park Yor found the right spot under a tree and they put a blanket on the ground, sat down and ate sandwiches with the leftovers, cheese and ketchup and mustard, Loid packed juice for them too.

Placing a ribbon on each of the scenes my eyes picked out

I continue on my way home, collecting them like souvenirs

The seasons greeted me and I even picked up a few tears

How should I begin to describe this way home you’ve given me?

After eating the couple stayed under the tree while Anya played with some kids. Loid looked at his wife with kind eyes “you touched me today”

“I...” Said a red faced Yor “I did it without thinking, just felt like you need it”

“I did... And I'm not upset or anything. I think it's an improvement for us as a married couple because we need to show more closeness. I don't want to force you because you always seemed uncomfortable and kicked me or punched me so... I hope this incident made you feel better around me”

“As I said, it was out of thought. You looked so out of character and my body reacted” she said looking at him “but I know we need to get relaxed with each other so I will do my best”

“Good” he closed his eyes and smiled kindly but this time it wasn't fake, Twilight was actually smiling at her. He felt at home with those two and he was glad that they brought him back from his dark thoughts.

I'm Walking, I'm walking onward… hurrying sometimes, on this road to you

I'm Running, I'm running onward… ah, maybe I should walk after all, on this road to you.

He had a tough life before he met them, he hardened his heart to not feel, he built this persona with no feelings so he could manage the losses of this life but with Operation Strix, with Yor and Anya, those walls are being destroyed, one by one.

Today he was vulnerable, his past came back to him but they became his anchor and in the process destroyed his insecurities.

Hopefully this operation will bring peace at once and he can't stop lying to those beautiful persons that, without knowing, are destroying Twilight and turning him into a Loid Forger.

After that the family returned home. Anya was asleep so Yor offered to walk Bond while Loid stayed at home. He accepted after that drained out experience he had at the museum and lay down on the sofa.

It seems things are how they’re meant to be

Every day just passes me by

I searched for proof that you were there

And the melody connected us.

While Yor and Bond were out Anya woke up a little, walked to the sofa and laid there next to Loid, like their first week together after her kidnap.

But this time he didn't wake up alarmed, he continued to sleep until Yor arrived and see them like this and smiled in awe by the scene in front of her.

OOooOOooOO

Hope you enjoyed this one. Because I certainly did. I wanted to write a moment where Yor finally touch him without sending him to the afterlife and back.

And the only way is in a situation where there's no other option. The parts in italic are parts of Souvenir, the song of the second opening of the show.

According to some sources on the internet, this one was written with Loid’s POV and after reading it, it became clear to me that it was accurate.

[kooldewd123]

one of the smaller leaked details from the teraleak about plza got me thinking about what i'd like to see in terms of shiny hunting mechanics, and i ended up going down a rabbit hole and ranking the games by how much i enjoy shiny hunting in them (roughly ordered within tiers):

reasonings beneath the break, i've got a LOT of thoughts to infodump:

SM/USUM: sos chaining is my absolute favorite shiny hunting method. there's a really fun element of preparation to it that i think most other methods lack - researching your target pokemon, looking for any recoil or status move that may be an issue, figuring out how to plan around it, etc. it's a fun planning game that can easily make individual hunts much more memorable than simply “wow this one was so quick/long” when you see your plans come to fruition. usum improved it even further with some small mechanical tweaks, plus an expanded dex to hunt through. also in usum is the ultra warp ride. the wormhole shinies are honestly so easy that their allure wears off super quick, but the actual minigame attached to them is pretty fun. that said, the real star of the uwr are the legendaries and ultra beasts, all available through soft resetting. i love soft resetting for mostly the same reasons as sos chaining: you've got one chance to catch this legendary, so you better go in with a solid game plan and make it count once you finally see those sparkles. or if you want a different sort of challenge, you can always go for one of the gift pokemon instead: poipole, type:null, and ash cap pikachu. no battle required, but no shiny charm, either, with the added clout value that their shinies haven’t been available since. alola was my gateway to shiny hunting, but even trying to account for nostalgia, i still think it has some of the most engaging hunts to this day.

XY: i feel like kalos is really overlooked nowadays when it comes to shiny hunting, but it’s one of my absolute favorites. friend safari is always one of the first things that comes to mind whenever i think about shiny hunting. it’s a really cool community-driven shiny hunting experience. i spent so much time just exchanging friend codes to find the shines i needed, and i was always able to find a thriving friend safari community all the way up through swsh’s lifespan until i finally caught every possible shiny i could from it (i wonder how they’re doing now that the 3ds servers are shut down?). this is also the best region for fossil resets - most of the fossil are readily available in large quantities, so you can stock up as much as you'd like and revive them all at once to see if any surprises pop out at you. between friend safari, fossil resets, and horde hunting, xy has a lot of good mindless shiny hunts. a lot of the time, shiny hunting is just something for me to do with my hands while i’m bored, and xy excels at that. oh yeah, there’s also pokeradar in this one, too. i could never quite figure out how to work it.

SWSH: swsh gets massive bonus points for being the only game where masuda hunting is actually fun tbh. the fact that zl can be used as a replacement for the a button means that you can just gather up eggs one-handed at the route 5 nursery, then you can use the 3d camera in the wild area to easily spin in circles to hatch them without even needing to return to a pc box every five minutes like before. as for the rest of the shiny stuff in this game… the intended shiny hunting method is laughably pointless and dynamax adventures, while a neat concept, are only fun if you actually have friends to play it with. otherwise, you’re stuck dealing with either braindead npcs or even more braindead randoms. like i said before, i love planning out big hunts, but in dynamax adventures, so much of it is out of your control that it’s just completely unfun to me (at least we got the regis and swords of justice huntable through run aways. those are some really fun hunts as a consolation prize). honestly, i’m definitely placing these games several spots higher than they probably should be, but sword is possibly my most played game ever due to the sheer amount of masuda breeding i’ve done in it, so that has to count for something.

GSC: okay i know these are a curveball compared to everything else on the list. when these games came to the 3ds virtual console, i did some rby glitching to get a shiny ditto into them and honestly? probably my second favorite game in terms of breeding after swsh. because shininess is determined by ivs in these games, a shiny ditto parent gives every child a flat 1/64 shiny rate, balanced by the fact that the oval charm and flame body don’t exist yet. what you end up with is a situation where you get eggs much more slowly, but with hunt times still comparable to modern-day masuda hunting, and i personally found something about this arrangement really satisfying. every egg has so much more build-up to it, and so despite the slower pace, it somehow still felt more consistently exciting than perhaps any other shiny hunting method. crystal has some additional shiny fun with the odd egg if you feel like doing a bit of save manipulation with it (plus obligatory shiny celebi comment).

PLA: i know this is a very niche and odd opinion to have, but pla handles loading pokemon into the overworld better than any other game with overworld pokemon. the format of having distinct separate regions that you can load and unload at will, with pokemon (even those not yet spawned) being preset at the moment of loading and persisting until being forcibly unloaded, is something that i truly hope carries forward into future entries. it creates a world that feels much more natural, and yet is also highly exploitable on a gameplay level. resetting the regions until you find an outbreak, and then traveling to that outbreak to search for shinies, is a compelling gameplay loop that implements very video game-y elements in a way that i particularly enjoy. the differentiation between mass outbreaks and massive mass outbreaks also adds a fun trade-off into the mix: do you target a specific pokemon at lower odds or do you go for a grab bag of random pokemon at higher odds? i do have one big complaint, however, and it’s gonna sound kinda insane. it is nearly impossible to actually fail a shiny in this game. they persist through saves, they don’t respawn when you run, they even give off a distinct jingle when they’re in your vicinity. if there is a shiny near you, you are gonna find it, and you are probably gonna catch it. and personally… i don’t really care for this arrangement. the risk of failure is an integral part of shiny hunting. making it too safe makes the accomplishment feel a bit more hollow to me. i wish there was a way to disable the shiny sound. i feel like if they weren’t so blatantly telegraphed and were still a bit harder to find in the first place, it would balance out the safety nets the game gives you somewhat.

LGPE: i feel like i’ve come to appreciate lgpe a lot more as time has gone on. the catch combo system is a nice simple numbers game - just keep catching the same pokemon and shiny odds go up. simple, elegant, satisfying. the big drawback is the fact that the motion controls are uuuhh. less than ideal. but it’s easy enough to build a combo back up that it doesn’t usually feel like too big of a setback if something goes wrong. also the fact that you can use the in-game trading mechanics to hunt the alola variants is pretty nifty! i should get back in and try one of those hunts sometime.

BDSP: after not being able to get into pokeradar hunting in xy or the original dp, i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable i found it in bdsp. it has a really good sense of risk and reward as you try to map out the safest path you can, which makes it super gratifying when your skills and luck are good enough to bring your chain all the way up to 40. honestly, the fact that the shiny charm doesn’t work in this game is a complete nonissue for me, because the pokeradar doesn’t even need it. of course, this game also has the added fun of not shiny locking anything except some tie-in bonuses. you can shiny hunt any legendary from the first four generations, and you can even go for the sinnoh mythicals as well (the event to get their items is over now, but i believe it’s still possible to glitch your way to them anyway).

SV: sparkling sandwiches are probably the shiny hunting mechanic i’m most split on. once again, there’s a really good strategic element to it that i enjoy: trying to figure out where on the map you can locate your target pokemon with as little type overlap in the surrounding area as possible, and then once you’ve begun your hunt, finding the best path to spawn them in as quickly as possible. on the other hand, however, probably my biggest hot take of sv is that the sandwiches bump the shiny rate up way too high. in my first shiny hunting excursion of the game, i found five shinies in the span of two sandwiches, and as a whole, that’s been more the norm than an exception. most shiny hunts in this game are over so quickly that i don’t feel all that rewarded for accomplishing them. the process of acquiring herba mystica is a good bottleneck keeping it from spiraling entirely out of control, but it feels so distinct from the actual shiny hunting process that it doesn’t help alleviate those feelings for me.

ORAS: i don’t hate shiny hunting in oras or anything, but i don’t think it does anything exceptionally well, either. horde hunting is just as fun as it is in xy, although it’s fairly easy to exhaust the catalogue of huntable pokemon in both games. soft resetting legendaries is here, although for some of them, they require lengthy trips to the encounter point each time and you’re better off sticking with usum or even bdsp instead if you wanna hunt them. the standout is dexnav - frankly, i’ve warmed up to it a lot over the years, but i think it’s still the roughest chaining mechanic. the search function is simple to understand, and the mirage spots and hidden pokemon inject a bunch of new encounters to hunt for. that said, i think the sneaking aspect of it never feels quite right with a 3ds circle pad, and having to constantly swap between battles and sneaking means that it’s hard to stay in a groove. i don’t mind dexnav, but it’s rarely my first choice.

[hogmilked]

would you ever buy a [insert car that other people think is cringe but you think is neat]

(yes this is an open invitation to ramble about cars)

KISSING YOU ON THE MOUTH BESTIE

ok ok so yes i am going to go ramble but i’ll keep it relatively short

HERE ARE MY TOP FIVE DOGSHIT CARS I LOVE SO SO MUCH

5. Pontiac Aztek

any time you look up the ugliest cars ever made this will come up on the list and that’s fair because it is ugly as hell BUT i LOVE IT so much it came with a goddamn built in TENT. it was built on a minivan platform so this bitch could haul so much while not being overwhelmingly big. she may be ugly but she has the RANGE honey. and one person’s ugly is another’s quirky. pontiac aztek my beloved one of the only cars made after 1990 i genuinely want

4. Ford Pinto

OK OK HEAR ME OUT LISTEN. YES THIS CAR KILLED PEOPLE. YES EVERY FOR EXEC SHOULD GO TO HELL FOR KNOWING THAT AND NOT RECALLING IT FOR YEARS. BUT. they did eventually fix that pesky little exploding issue and what was left was a capable, fun, gorgeous little economy car, and models with the gas tank issue addressed have proven to be relatively reliable for 40 year old american economy cars

3. 2000s MOPAR

yeah this was a dogshit era for dodge/chrysler/jeep but i’m so deeply enamored by all these dramatically failed experiments. the dodge caliber, dodge magnum, chrysler pt cruiser, plymouth prowler, SO many bad cars that kinda bang. to me. they all have the energy of those fossil pokemon from sword and shield that clearly want nothing more than death but you can’t help but love their cheap, plastic, dogshit charm

2. Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet

Ok so technically i don’t want one per se although that’s more because i hate almost all cars made after 2000, but this thing got so much hate and like i get it but i fucking love convertible suvs and i think there should be more. yes i know the bronco and wrangler exist rn but i need more with barbie energy like this. chop the top off a rav4 and maybe i’ll consider a car payment. i won’t but like maybe

1. MALAISE ERA BABYYYYYY

Here’s some more specifics about the malaise era but this is the era of cars i’m probably the most autistic about lmao, american cars from the mid 70s to the early 80s. tldr during this time the government was cracking down on efficiency and fuel consumption so american car manufacturers had to start figuring out how to make their giant gas guzzling giants of the road more economical. on top of that imports from japan were getting popular, which were smaller, cheaper, and easier to drive. america however was stupid and full of cocaine so they kept making giant cars but just made them cheaper and less powerful. this didn’t mean smaller engines mind you, it just meant they choked the existing giant engines and made them weaker. so the cars from this era are still huge and clunky but now with more plastic and less horsepower while still weighing the same, which means they all drive like fucking trucks, even the smaller ones. eventually manufacturers either figured out how to make economy cars (though they still weren’t as efficient as japanese ones) but for a chunk of time in the late 70s american cars were ugly, underpowered, and kinda cheap. and i LOVE them. i love the brown on brown on brown, love the tackiness, love the underpowered v8 engines. malaise era my beloved ❤️❤️

[victorluvsalice]

Well, let’s move up to floor two -- after a quick close-up of Victor’s cauldron and Smiler’s Tetris-frogs display (Frogtris?), that is. Up there we have:

-->More rugs, as promised! Smiler’s party room got a nice complement of rugs (actually, three of those are one item from the Toddler Stuff pack! The trio came in so many fun colors I had to use them; the fourth rug is one I was gonna put in their room before I found one with a swatch I liked better); the upstairs landing got TWO colorful rugs; and both bedrooms got under-the-desk rugs. Rugs everywhere!

-->More pet stuff as well -- cat tree in the corner there, another litter box outside the two bathrooms, and a trio of pet beds -- two in Victor and Alice’s room, one just outside Smiler’s bedroom (I was gonna put it inside, but rearranging everything in there made it so it didn’t fit).

-->Smiler’s former party room is now Victor’s seance room! Complete with bat wallpaper and the bat-winged ceiling fan from @the-crypt-o-club‘s 2020 Simblreen pack, Creepy Creations (also the source of Smiler’s yellow-and-black striped suit!) I initially wasn’t sure what to put in it besides the seance table itself, but then I figured it could be used as a display for some of the magical items Victor’s picked up -- hence the spare broom on the wall, and all those familiar orbs he isn’t using in the curio. Also put Alice’s collected crystals in here, and the bizarre idol for safekeeping. Still felt like the room needed a bit more purpose to it, though, so I threw in a rocking chair and a meditation stool. *shrug* It’s a bit slapdash at the moment, but it does the job!

-->As stated previously, I redid all the bathrooms! Mostly because I was looking at the furnishings already in there and realizing a couple of them were listed as “Uncomfortable.” Now that won’t do! So both now have better toilets; proper counter sinks with soap dishes and toothbrush cups; and nicer mirrors and a bit of Plumbella’s artwork. I also gave Victor and Alice’s bathroom a nicer shower, and Smiler a nicer tub. It’s basically all just nicer, okay?

-->Moved around some paintings and collectibles and suchlike -- all of Victor’s little statues are now on the shelf he built in Granite Falls (painted white), and their collection of fossils on Smiler’s suitcase shelves (also from Cepzid’s “Arcade Stuff) -- Victor recently got a raptor claw. :D

-->Victor and Alice’s room got a touch of a makeover, with me using all the slots on their new Ivybell desk to put in some more decorations. Like a nice snowglobe, the Dragon Dragonfly Victor caught in Granite Falls, and A DIGITALISTIC SKETCHPAD BECAUSE I KEEP MEANING TO GIVE VICTOR ONE. *sigh* I have so many things I keep meaning to do with this lot and I just FORGET. . .

-->Speaking of which, Smiler’s room got a BIG makeover, mostly because I went “hey, yeah, wasn’t I going to have them do videos online?” and started looking to see if I could fit the video production station in there. Turns out I could! And that led to them getting a desk upgrade in the other corner, and rearranging all their collectibles a bit (including putting the space rock and Hoppy the MySim in their room), and getting a new smaller dresser, and -- a lot happened here to fit in the new video station! But it’s here, and Smiler is ready to make video content.

And that’s basically all the most important stuff! Like I said, things may still change in the house, but I’m pretty happy with this for now. :) Next time, we catch up with the actual SIMS again as they get used to the new digs and start making some animal friends!

[mswayambhu-blog]

Memoirs of COP29: Baku

It has been an event of sorts, for some it was a beacon of hope, while for some it was an utter failure. While people and representatives are free to make their own opinion, but every coin has two sides. In Jain philosophy there’s a concept of “Syatwad” that advocates that there could be seven different perspectives of looking at anything in this world and all of them could be correct simultaneously. Thus, everyone can have their opinion and in spite of they being ironical or event appearing to be opposite, they all can be correct and we should have the courage to accept and appreciate other’s opinions as well. We also had mixed experience during the event, but compared to COP28: Dubai, this was relatively a low-key affair. Smaller venue, lesser crowd, higher security, high restrictions, much more compact and lesser participation. But we ended up achieving much more. Starting from media interview to presentation in both the zones (Blue & Green), Exploring the third zone (innovation zone), participating in side events, interaction with academia, and corporates as well as country representatives from across the globe.

Day-1

The US elections were on top of the mind for the opening speech, with Trump’s “drill baby drill” phrase being used to create ripples in the Climate Action fraternity.

But, frankly speaking, that’s just politics. The most consistent feature of the president-elect is his unpredictability. If he realises that he’s going wrong, he doesn’t mind taking a U-turn.

Moreover, promising money to COP, and funding two conflicts to create war, is anyways no better for the environment anyways.

So, the hope is still on, rest all is speculation. As we said earlier, COP needs a “path & pace correction”, moving from “emission focus” to “sequestration focus”!

The sooner they realize it, the better it is for the world.

Day -2

I understand that the post is delayed. I’m literally posting on end of Day 3, but as the engagement grows, it’ll be tough to post on the same day. It’s a happening event, the visitors get divided into Blue Zone, Green Zone and side events.

The security arrangements are much tougher than COP28, even for the Green Zone, which is usually open to all public. In Dubai, even with out an invite, you could get the pass right at the gate of Green Zone, but it isn’t the same at Baku. Even if you have the invite and a confirmation number, you can’t enter the green zone, till your passport details are not shared with the registration desk.

So, what happens to those who are unable to join in? The side events come to rescue their travel. On 12th November, 2024, we’ve had the following side events –

Achieving transformative climate action through gender responsive, rights-based economic approaches

Transition Away from Fossil Fuels: Technology & Market - Based instruments for Net-Zero Actions

Innovations to maximize tropical forests’ contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation

What can Migrants and Displaced Persons bring to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage?

Decarbonization beyond the value chain: navigating between carbon credits and climate contributions

Climate Science: key take aways in 2024

A message from the Frozen World – the Global Impact of a Changing Cryosphere

Carbon Dioxide Removal: Considerations for Responsible Deployment on Land and Ocean

Towards real, people-led, gender just solutions

Raising the ambition of urban climate action through multilevel governance

Designing for Quality and Equity in Clean Cooking Carbon Projects

Sovereign Wealth Impact: Powering Finance for the SDGs

New Horizons in Methane-Emissions Abatement

Fostering Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Small Island States and Beyond

New Forest Economies: Subnational Government Strategies, REDD+, & Local Engagement

Leveraging blended finance: catalyzing sustainable investments for global impact

Making Climate Finance Work for Climate Action in Agriculture and Food Security

Now tell me, with so many events happenings, you meet hundreds of people, who are all sustainability professionals belonging to the same tribe. So, would you call it day utilized or wasted? So, the bottom line is, when you go with positive bent of mind, you can actually take advantage of the hurdles as well and make it and asset for yourself. That’s a learning from Day-2 of Baku.

Day -3 Very exciting day today, full of meetings, symposiums and focused discussions.

Key reports of the Standing Committee on Finance for COP29

Driving Gender-just Energy Transition through Financing and Capacity Building in the Global South

Trade and investment policies to advance climate ambition and sustainable development

Scaling up Nature Finance and Enterprise in the Amazon Basin and Beyond

Artificial Intelligence solutions to enable rapid scale up of Renewable Energy

Transformational Adaptation

Supporting Indigenous-Peoples led solutions to climate change and loss and damage

Ensuring Integrity in the Voluntary Carbon Market

Open access activity data and digital tools to help countries and other stakeholders meet their ETF

Unlocking the potential for financing methane mitigation from solid waste for the NDCs and beyond

Innovation Ecosystems for Climate Action: Digital Technologies, Industrial Solutions, and Governance

Scaling up climate action in fragile states: what are the hurdles and how to overcome them?

Innovative Pathways for Emission Reduction: Perspectives from NGOs, Government and Private Sector

Tackling Corruption: A Missing Piece in the Climate Finance Agenda

Fully funded, fair, fast, and feminist phase-out of fossil fuels in the United States

Recognizing Net Zero Ambition and Accelerating Progress

The teething troubles have been sorted out. Met some wonderful people doing great work in the environment sector from carbon capture to waste management to governance to finance. This is a platform to showcase the good work, unfortunately all people working on ground are not able to afford taking a stall here, because they’re working for saving the planet, and not making money.

Government and intergovernmental discussions happen in the Blue Zone, at least these people working on ground should get a place in the Green Zone. Or maybe create a White Zone from COP30, so that these wonderful works could be showcased and replicated across the globe. We’ve maximized the foot prints of pollution, now is the time to globalize the footprints of restoration too.

Met some good corporates from Azerbaijan, Saudi ad UAE, all keen to diversify towards NbS, which was a good surprise. In fact, even an industrial training institute was affirmative to add a course on NbS to their curriculum, which was quite unexpected. Met a few Environment Ministers from African Union too, who were keen on restoration of natural resources.

Day -4 A very happening day, full of professional, emotional, physical and mental roller-coaster rides.

The day started with a wonderful session on “Cooling the heat: Enhancing Energy Efficiency of Refrigeration and Cooling Sector”, followed by another session on “Drive climate ambition and finance”, then came a session on "Climate Finance for Fast Action", then came " Climate Technologies: Impact Stories", another on "Invest in Soil Health". Some sessions were happening parallelly too, fortunately we had a team of three. Side-by-side were also reaching out to MoEFCC to help us get through the Blue Zone badge for our session with Towards Healthy, Inclusive and Sustainable Food Systems: Agroecology, Soil Health, and Healthy Diets, organized by Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), CIFOR-ICRAF, Agroecology Coalition, Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network (YARN), The Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty (TIP).

Also met a power company from Romania and explained our perspective of green energy, and how to make large scale solar plants and age-old hydro-power dam reservoirs more sustainable. After which we had to rush to Climate Action Innovation Hub for specialized events focused upon —Sustainable Innovation Forum 2024, Hydrogen Transition Summit and Agri-Food Systems Summit at Baku Mariott Boulevard.

The next hop was COP29 Flagship Friday Evening Event - Climate Finance & Innovation: Adaptation & Resilience, held at Ganjlik Plaza, 95 Ataturk Avenue, Baku, which was yet another experience. Wonderful people, great deliberations, interesting discussions and serious business propositions. It was organized by AIM (not Atal Innovation Mission) but Azerbaijan Innovation Markaz, something like Startup India, back home.

Finally, the business day was over after this. Had dinner at Nizami street and concluded the day.

Day -5

The day started with Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) hosted event, the second Edition of CEEW Leaders’ Dialogue, on the sidelines of COP29, held at Hyatt Regency, Baku.

The dialogue hosted thought-provoking conversations with domain experts including Dr Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, CEEW, who deliberated on Accelerating the low-carbon drive of Bharat towards Viksit Bharat, followed by an elaborate panel discussion on Trillions for billions: Setting financing for development back on track. The second panel discussed upon the subject of “One size does not fit all: Crafting bespoke national energy transition plans”. Later we had deliberation on Water matters: Valuing sustainable and resilient water infrastructure, moderate by Nitin Bassi, Senior Programme Lead – Sustainable Water, CEEW, after which we had to rush back to green zone for a presentation.

At the green zone, we had an opportunity to interact with the teams of “Viveka Company Creation Program”, “Innovation and Digital Development Agency” of Azerbaijan (an initiative of Azerbaijan Innovation Center or the Azerbaijan Innovation Markazi, inaugurated on 2nd October, 2024 to boost up the startup ecosystem in the country) and a lot of sustainability startups being nurtured by Viveka, because “Viveka Company Creation Program” is a unique program for startups that want to advance from the early stage to the MVP, i.e. the minimum viable product stage. These startups were primarily from Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan.

The startups included precision agriculture domain to Water treatment, oil sludge treatment, irrigation with AI integration and many other sustainability domain technologies.

[cass-c-wayne]

we are so small compared to them. when did we start to become small? humans are slowly but surely getting taller over time. just something to think about

...babs why

[cinamun]

Hey friends! The good sis @therichantsim​ requested a house tour of where our good Sim Maude has been stashing all of her souvenirs and collections from her travels so here is a small look inside an even smaller house in Glimmerbrook.

Follow me!

Maude displays all of her rare collectables in her outdoor dining space.  Maude is a conscientious and moral collector!  All the rare finds you see are duplicates, meaning she’s already found another rare version and sent them back to the museum in Selvadorada (don’t steal folks)!

The top pic we see her recently completed shell collection, along with some frogs and her righteous skull collection - between both pics are all of the Omiscan Relics and Treasures she found so far.  As for Collections:

Omiscan Artifacts: 12/16

Omiscan Treasures: 12/13

Needless to say, she’ll be back to the jungle! In the bottom pic  you see 3 MySims that she found in Oasis Springs, these are the rarest in her collection.  She’s at 19/20 and I’m sure she’ll find the last one soon.  To the right is her lifeguard gear, during round one her first and only part time job was a lifeguard.  Ahh the memories! 

Okay so!

Bugs, bugs, BUGS! Maude loves all of her little insect friends.  What she loves most about this space is that every dinner is a new story to tell about a treasure, a shell, the table and chairs she made, the bugs she caught.  If you want a good meal AND a good adventure story, go to Maude’s!  

Insect Collection: 13/21 - looks like a lot, but she’ll be back to Granite Falls at some point!

Crystal Collection: 14/20 - Again, Maude is only displaying the most rare (seen in the top pic on the right).  This is a collection she’d LOVE to complete because, vibes.

In the corner of the bottom pic is a cute chair and a hanging plant she made for her knitting corner.

Almost forgot!

Luiz, AKA Latin Lover, wants to collect ALL the treasures so while in Sulani, this is what they got, they’re not done yet though:

Sulani Buried Treasure: 9/18

Let’s see that kitchen!!

Maude is close to finishing out the fish collection!

Fish Collection: 19/22

But she loves to fish and prefers them mounted, grilled, sashimi or nigiri.

Finishing out the main level is her workspace which we’ve seen a lot of, full of little trinkets she’s either made or found from her travels.  Then a small walkway where the ladder to the rooftop is and a very unassuming bathroom.  She’s peed in bushes, she doesn’t need much (although its nice to have a permanent shower now).  She picked out the tiles which are, or course, Mount Komorebi.

Finally the roof, which we’ve seen a lot of.  Maude will never NOT have a campfire.  When Bob, Yuusuke or Julia are over, their up here roasting marshmallows until Maude goes to sleep.  As for the top pic, she has her entire fossil collection on display and chose this corner for meditation and yoga because the view is *chef’s kiss*.  She really has to pee and clean that solar panel over in the corner, sorry Maude.

She’s neat so... priorities I guess.  Anyway, to the left here is her workstation.  While she’s not making many candles anymore, she likes to be able to replace the candles on her dining table should the need arise.  Her archeology table brings in the bucks when the museum asks her to authenticate artifacts but, again, these are things she needs to do outside given her outdoorsy lifestyle!

I hope you enjoyed this super long post as much as I have!  Maude is very proud of all of her bits and bobbles she’s collected since she began her travels!

[forever-rogue]

I got a whole 4 hours of sleep today and have to pull a 12 hour shift. So I apologize if it doesn’t make sense, I am new to the Bucky fandom!

I like the idea of his grumpy, refusing to let anyone in, be slowly ground down by reader, but teeters back and forth until reader is in some sort of trouble. Then the flood gates of vulnerability open because he was worried about them. I mean he hasn’t been with anyone since the 40s right? Would he still know how to navigate caring about someone in that way? I don’t know. It was something that has been buzzing around in my head for a week.

Pairing: Bucky x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: langauge, vague description of sex (minors dni!)

BUCKY MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

You’d started out as neighbors - nothing more and nothing less. 

Neighbors turned into causal acquaintances, fueled by your constant baking and copious amounts of goodies. Casual acquaintances turned into friends that would spend an occasional evening watching television together. Friends quickly turned into best friends that became utterly inseparable....with the occasional hook-up. You were hesitant to call it friends with benefits because that just sounded so crass. It was more like best friends with the occasional stress relief.

Stress relief. Sure that worked.

None that you wouldn’t have minded more of course. But you weren’t about to make a move on James Buchanan Barnes and ask him out on a date. No, you knew your place and his. He was physically akin to a god, mixed in with a bit of fuck boy, and yet...you loved him. You’d fallen hard and fast for the man that had gone from a mere stranger to a welcome and comfortable part of your life. But you’d never tell him that. 

No, nope, hell no. Bucky surely didn’t reciprocate your feelings and you’d never been the type to make a move first. 

Besides that...Bucky didn’t exactly strike you as a relationship type of guy. You’d seen him here and there with a girl or two, but it wasn’t anything serious. And since the two of you had started hooking up, you’d never noticed anyone else. And you hadn’t been with anyone else either. It was akin to a non-exclusive exclusive not-really-a-relationship relationship. Neither of you pushed it any further - you both accepted dates here and there but they never amounted to anything. Wonder why?

Unbeknownst to you, it wasn’t that Bucky didn’t want a relationship - he did. He did very much with you. But he just...there was something about being a one hundred and six year-old man that just left him confused and worried. He hadn’t exactly had the opportunity to date much and now that he had the time it reminded him of just how different things were. Dating was this weird confused jumble, but you were a clear and obvious bright spot. He had his doubts that you’d ever want anything more from him. He knew what he was - a mostly stable old man with a body that people seemed to enjoy. He made the most of that - it didn’t seem like people were interested in getting to know him much these days. 

But you did - you always did. And, gods, he’d fallen hard for you - the kind of love that makes your stomach churn and heart feel like bursting and steals your breath away no matter how long it’s been. But what the fuck would you want with him? He’s a fossil with a boatload of mental trauma and even more sass and attitude.

You deserved the world and he only had himself to give. Of course, he was enough - way more than enough - but he didn't believe that. 

There had been numerous occasions when you'd tried to be honest, to confess your true feelings, but you'd always managed to fall short. Every time you got close, something came up. And after the last girl you'd seen him with, you vowed to take your secret to the grave. 

You had come close though - so close - especially the last time you'd hooked up.

»»————-　♡　————-««

You were under Bucky, both of you naked and panting as you quickly approached your highs. He was buried deep inside you, head dropped to the juncture of your neck and shoulder, nipping and biting at the delicate skin. 

Your legs were wrapped around his waist in order to hold him close. One of your hands was laced together with his while the other was wrapped around his neck. There was something so perfectly harmonious about how you always were together. 

His name fell from your lips like a prayer, James, James, James as he kept going. It was the only time you called him anything but Bucky. As your vision had grown hazy and you felt that familiar warm start to blood your veins, you’d let your true feelings slip. It was so easy, so effortless and in the moment it just...happened.

I love you. 

The declaration hung in the air as you felt your walls clamp around him and he reached his own eyes. That’s when you’d realized what you’d done. This time it was an entirely different sensation radiating throughout your bones - terror. Utter terror.

But if Bucky had heard your three little words he made no mention of them. Relief washed over you as you came to the conclusion that he was just as wrapped up in his own blissful haze that he simply hadn’t heard you. You were safe this time - but you’d have to be extra cautious from here on out.

Oh, but Bucky had heard you. Loudly and clearly. He chose to ignore your words because he was positive that he hadn’t heard you incorrectly. Surely you hadn’t meant to say that - and more importantly, it was a mistake. As much as he loved hearing those words from your pretty lips, he knew it was either an accident or a figment of his imagination. 

You both pretended that nothing had happened. 

»»————-　♡　————-««

Bucky rolled his eyes lightly as he watched his phone light up with a call from Sam. He was half tempted to ignore it but decided to answer anyway; he was bored and the call might lead to something to do. You’d normally be hanging out with him on a Friday night, but his calls and texts had gone unanswered.

“Hey man,” Bucky picked up the call and walked into the kitchen to grab a beer, “what’s up?”

“You need to get to the hospital,” Sam was speaking so quickly that it all came out in a single slew of words as Bucky’s brows knitted together.

“I know I don’t have a lot going on this Friday night, but I think I’m okay,” he snorted as he opened the bottle and took a swig.

“No, no, no,” Sam interrupted by almost whispering your name, “there’s been an accident. She was hurt and taken to the ER. I was on the phone with her when it happened - just come. Now.”

Bucky didn’t even wait for Sam to finish before he dropped the beer and ran out the door. His whole body felt like it was growing numb and the only thing on his mind was you. You couldn't be hurt...you just couldn’t. Bucky couldn’t imagine any sort of reality in which you weren’t there. 

»»————-　♡　————-««

As soon as he ran into the hospital, seeking out the emergency room, he was asking about you. He looked probably just as crazy as he felt as he was nervously directed to your room. He almost jogged down the hall and into your small space. Sam stood at the end of your bed, looking down at you with a concerned expression.

“What the hell happened?” Bucky could barely bring himself to look at you as you laid on the small bed, looking so helpless and fragile. You were sleeping, sedated from lots of heavy drugs, but hooked up to several beeping machines. Your arm was in a cast already, bruises and contusions and cuts littered every bit of your skin that he could see. His heart plummeted into his stomach. 

“She was crossing the street and got hit by a car that didn’t slow down enough in time,” Sam’s heavy was heavy as he rubbed at his tired, “I heard it all happen, Buck. It was terrible - but she’s strong. She’s going to be okay. No internal damage, luckily, but she’s going to be in a lot of pain for a while. The arm’s broken.”

“Jesus,” Bucky sighed as Sam nodded.

“I called her parents and they’ll be here soon. She’s just sleeping but hopefully will wake up soon.”

“Okay,” Bucky took a hesitant step closer.

“She asked for you,” Sam hadn’t been sure if he should have confessed that little part or not, “when they were bringing her in. Kept repeating your name. You should just tell her, you know. She’s obvious she feels the same. Don’t be idiots.”

“Thanks,” Bucky rolled his eyes dramatically as the two men shared a quick laugh before Sam hugged him, “I’ll stay here if you want to go. You’ve done a lot already. Thank you for calling me.”

“I got you man,” Sam gave him a half smile, “call me if you need anything at all...or if anything happens.”

“Goodbye.”

As soon as his friend left, Bucky came over to you, his fingers grazing the side of the small, horrid looking bed. He was going to help you however you needed it for however long it would take till you were better and out of pain. If he had the choice, he wouldn’t ever leave your side again.

This whole time he’d been so dumb, so silly. He should have just told you how he left - a long time ago and gotten over himself. A heavy sigh escaped him as you pulled up the uncomfortable plastic chair and took a seat next to you.

He gently, ever so delicately reached for the hand that was in the cast and held it in his. It almost made him laugh with how much smaller your hand was than his. They fit perfectly together.

He watched the steady rise and fall of your chest as you slept, wondering when you’d wake up. He hoped soon - so he could finally tell you all of those unspoken words. 

»»————-　♡　————-««

“James?” a croaky, dry voice met his ears as his tired eyes snapped open. He blinked a few times to adjust his vision before focusing on you. You were looking back at him with a tired, sleepy little smile on your features. You looked beautiful, so damn beautiful, despite the blues and purples painting your skin, “what are you doing here?”

He must have fallen asleep at some point during the night. He was still holding your hand. He beamed back at you, “hi pretty girl. Sam called me and told me what happened. I came right over.”

“I’m anything but pretty right now,” you laughed lightly but quickly grimaced at the pain, “how long have you been here?”

“Since yesterday evening,” he confessed quickly, “I didn’t want to leave - wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh Bucky,” there was that saccharine little smile on your face. The same one he loved so much, “you didn’t have to. I...I really fucked up movie night, huh?”

“I’m in love with you.”

He finally got those damn words out before he could change his mind or think too much about it. Your face immediately lit up with a grin as you searched his cerulean eyes. 

“Do you mean it?” you asked softly as he nodded, feeling a blush creep into his cheeks.

“Of course.”

“I love you too, Bucky,” you replied, giving his hand a tight squeeze, “I’m in love with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” he whispered as he leaned closer to you, “because I’m not going anywhere, pretty girl. Not now, not ever.”

“I don’t want you to, Bucky,” you promised, “I want you with me always.”

“That sounds perfect to me.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

Marvel Taglist (add yourself to a taglist here!)(strike-through means I couldn’t tag you)

@qhbr2013  @greeneyedblondie44  @april-showers-and-flowers  @softboiipascal @im-an-adult-ish  @patzammit  @niki-xie  @xxlovingfandomsxx  @startrekkingaroundasgard  @welcometothepedroverse  @actual-spawn-of-satan  @punkerthanpascal  @lazybeeches @someday-when-you-leave-me @justgivemethekeys @salome-c @rosiefridayrogersunday  @neptunesglow  @artsymaddie @haildoodles @amneris21 @star017 @irepostthingsiwanttoseelater @its–fandom–darling @ayamenimthiriel @alyispunk @djarinbarnes @edencherries @ashamed23 @sunsetskywalkerr  @nikkixostan @spookispunk @cable-kenobi @hrtsgetbrkn @ironicfoxes @iilwjbb @cc13723things @thenormreedus @gooddaykate

[grub-xd]

The Cryptid Specter of Amity Park

Summary:

AU where the Ghost Zone and Human World are not dependent on each other.

In a tragic alternate future, the Ghost Zone is destroyed. Phantom is alone and suffers the fate of being forgotten and fading into myth. He remains in Amity after the events of the Ghost Zone but gains a new reputation.

Drawing included (at the bottom of the fic). 

Link: AO3

Amity Park, once a smaller city, had grown to become one of the leading energy fuel exporters of the 21st century. During the late 2020s, the nations of the world had to come together to find a new way to generate electricity, as fossil fuels became scarcer and made the climate crisis worse, most of these nations invested into green energy. The town of Amity Park had decided to investigate whether it could harness a different type of green energy, ectoplasm, as a solution to these crises. By 2035, the Fentons, in collaboration with Axiom labs, discovered a way to harness ectoplasm and convert it into electricity. It provided the cleanest energy along with the highest energy yield output than any other fuel source, and the mines were relatively inexpensive to establish. With this success, many nations began investing in their own ectoplasm mines with makeshift portals using Amity Park's technology, while phasing out most other sources of fuel due to its incredible abundance and efficiency, but there was a hidden cost.

By the mid 2050s, most of the world's nations were mining their own ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone. At first, this wasn't a problem. Both humans and ghosts thought the supply was infinite, or would at least regenerate at a rate high enough to never cause an issue. Unfortunately, by the time ghosts started noticing that there were negative impacts from the mines extracting too much ectoplasm in the 2080s, humans were dependent on ectoplasm for energy to continue life, just as they had been dependent on fossil fuels.

Efforts to end ectoplasm mining failed. The detrimental effects of the lack of ectoplasm became evident in the 2090s and by the first decade of the 22nd century, ghosts who depended on the abundance of ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone to maintain their existence had faded. Ghosts who had been stronger in the Ghost Zone than on Earth no longer were, and the rebound effects from the scarcity of ectoplasm made the Infinite Realms hostile. It was no longer worth it. Those who had not fallen to the increasingly hostile environment of the Ghost Zone eventually left, in search of a place to settle on Earth. Many found their own niche places, but no ghost societies ever recovered. Most who fled simply remained as lone individuals, searching for a place to belong and fulfill their obsessions. The Observants disbanded. Clockwork faded from his form, though still maintained a somewhat ethereal presence. The monarchy collapsed. The Ghost Zone was a shell of its former self.

As king, Phantom stayed as long as he could, but even he was forced out too. Amity Park may have been the source of all of this mining and his family had a hand in his home's destruction, but this place still meant something to him. This was what he knew. The people he loved and cared for once lived here. All he has left of them now are in his memory. He didn't want to leave where these memories had been made, so he stayed. Phantom would wander about the town, observing all that had changed. His parent's house, Casper High, downtown, the Nasty Burger, the forest, among other things.

Centuries passed. Humanity was able to use older sources of energy to supply themselves before all the ectoplasm ran out. When it did, most ghosts on Earth had faded. Phantom remained for some reason. He never found Vlad nor Ellie. He's not sure if they are still around anymore. He's looked ever since he left the Ghost Zone but never turned up with anything. Hope of ever finding them left Phantom too. During the passing of that time, Phantom faded from the legend he was in Amity Park into myth. His story about defeating Pariah Dark and saving the town were forgotten. Records that showed his good (and bad) deeds, old newspapers and such, were lost to history.

As with many myths, the kids of the future Amity Park would grow interested in the myth surrounding Phantom. He had earned the name "The Cryptid Specter," as no one could ever get a true look at him before he would notice them and suddenly fade himself out of sight. Most never chased the lost legend. Some kids however would occasionally hear about this myth and attempt to find him. Most of the rumors suggested that he could be found near a specific spot in Amity Park's forest, near its edge where it meets the plain, at night, when the stars were at their fullest.

At that spot, Danny, that was my old name, right? he would think to himself, would hover and gaze at the stars, wondering why he had to be alone and pondering how he could have saved the Ghost Zone from the fate it had suffered. This spot didn't have much meaning to him per say, but it was peaceful and it could bring him a sense of calm that he could find nowhere else. It gave him the strength to just be able to consider these questions.

Why? Why must I travel eternity alone? It's been how many years? 300? Or was it 600? Time blends together more as more of it passes. It's funny, despite forgetting my own name, I can remember Sam and Tucker, Jazz, Clockwork, Vlad, my Parents... heck, I even Mr. Lancer! I guess that shows where my focus was, with others, more often than even my own self. He can't handle it; he breaks and falls to the ground, near a rock.

Finally vocalizing his pain, accompanied by his tears, "I blew it! I really blew it! I failed to protect the Ghost Zone and all of those ghosts. I wish I could have done something different! Something that would have prevented all of this! Something where I wouldn't be left with this fate! Left to suffer alone, in my old home town, but is completely hollowed! All of those who I cared about have moved on! Why can't I!? Why does it have to be this way!?" He collapses completely and falls on the nearby rock, letting the sobs go to hopefully expunge his pain. As Phantom lied there, a stick snapped. Its echo muted his sorrows and drew his attention back towards the dark forest. He heard a couple kids whispering and asking if they could see "The Cryptid" anywhere, and that they had heard the cries coming from this direction. They may have heard him but they are not going to see him tonight. They can't... I'm not ready yet, he thinks to himself as he quickly fades from sight.

[oh-boy-me]

I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon!  Sorry it took literally a year to answer this!  If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes.  This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post.  Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

--

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks.  I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast.  It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though.  Small-ish.  I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!!  When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park.  He.  He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks.  We’re talking blacklist-level banned.  He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again.  However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right?  There’s no way this is the same guy.  Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned?  When asked, he only gave a curious hum.  “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes.  He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day.  He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge.  There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run.  They fail the mission.  Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless.  They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon!  Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group.  Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story?  He does.  He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins.  Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.  He wants out.  Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over.  Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror.  Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly?  Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on.  Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge.  Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides.  Mammon and Simeon do not.  Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke.  They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph.  Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up.  The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009).  Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry.  Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together.  Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun.  Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though.  Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary.  Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you.  They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good.  Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though.  Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line.  Barbatos abandons him.  He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable.  Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos.  Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation.  He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show.  He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise.  The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others.  I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show?  Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day.  Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too.  They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks.  Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants.  China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada?  Huh.  Canada.  There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there.  He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC.  That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while.  They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears.  Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them.  Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring.  He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick.  He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC.  No demons allowed, thank you very much.  He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for.  The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time.  This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit.  Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one.  MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves.  And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder.  So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but.  RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know.  It really does make them think, like.  Grandma found the VR games at Christmas!  The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so.  RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy.  If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast.  Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy.  What is Lucifer busy with?  Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.  Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph.  He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince.  Other groups see that family and follow suit.  Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee.  The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks.  (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail.  You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it.  Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot.  But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times.  Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

[kaygee-doodles]

Dark Waters pt3

I have no idea where the rest of this came from so quickly, it just kind of dumped out of my head. So, uh. Have fun.

Final tumblr-only installment of this before I set it up on A03. For more information on the mighty skele-squid, go check out @uhhbananafrappe

“Rule one of diving,” your instructor said, pulling out the display equipment and setting it on the table, “is never dive alone.”

“Oh come on, my partner won't dive with me because her girlfriend doesn't want her hanging out on the beach with other girls, how else am I supposed to write my thesis?!” you argued.

“Second rule: always pay attention to your surroundings,” the teacher continued, ignoring you.

“Look, I'm not saying an abyssal sea monster is smarter than me, but that particular abyssal sea monster is way smarter than me, how-”

“The third rule,” the instructor was talking over you now, the room blurring around him, “is: Don't. Forget. To breathe.”

You twitched, obediently sucking in a breath as things sluggishly clicked back into place around you. Nausea rolled over you as you turned your head, the world seeming to follow a full two seconds behind. Nitrogen Narcosis, the very thing you were trying to avoid. Nausea, disorientation, hallucinations... It was inevitable, you supposed, when a giant mersquid decided to drag you down into the depths. Speaking of...

The depths were awfully dry. Not overly dry. Not bone-dry. Not even normal dry. But you certainly weren't underwater anymore. Mostly.

Okay. Status check. All your gear was still on, though your respirator obviously wasn't in your mouth anymore and your stolen flipper was still stolen. Wherever you were, it was pretty dark, and very blurry. Wait. You broke the suction on your goggles with a wet 'slorp' noise, letting it fall to your chest. That was better. Wiggling your fingers and toes, you checked for any obvious damage (well, any more damage than you came in with) as you looked around properly. You took it slow, not wanting to aggravate your headache or drown yourself by falling off of...a ledge, maybe?

You were in some sort of cave, set up on a partially submerged shelf. The area was dark, but not as dark as you originally thought, light filtering in from below and bouncing up into the damp cavern.

Which...wasn't how light was supposed to work.

You pressed your goggles to your face and laid down, carefully peering down into the water.

Holy shit.

It was like the 'Part of Your World' bit from the Little Mermaid, only more...more.

It was like a dragons' hoard. beautiful purple and white shells overflowing from rusted out chests, actual ye olde treasure style chests, all lined up on stone ledges like the one you sat on. Gold, actual gold, though golden 'whats' you couldn't tell, though the bigger pieces sat on their own, places of pride, perhaps, on top of the smaller jewelry. You were pretty sure there were some diving watches in there too. Bits of luminescent coral, opalized fossils...you were pretty sure you saw a sword. A lot of it couldn't be picked out, everything jumbled together.

Or maybe that was your vision. You retreated back to the middle of 'your' ledge. At least you knew where you were now, in more ways than one.

You were in an ancient volcanic vent, part of a series of underwater caves that lay on the outskirts of the ship graveyard. Officially, they were forbidden to explorers. Hundreds of divers had gone missing in these caverns. And now you knew why.

This was a den.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #543

WOW look who it is. Long story short my mom got a new charger for her old fossil of a laptop, and I am very proud of it for working semi-decently?? So here’s a survey after two whole honkin’ months!

Do you think you look good with red hair? Dude I loved having red hair. What is your favorite middle name for a girl? I mean that depends on the first name and to some extent the last. What color was the last scarf you wore? I don't wear them unless I go out in the very rare snow and Mom makes me, lmao. That hasn't happened in so many years that I don't remember the scarf. When was the last time you took a selfie? Wow, it's been a very long time. Months. Do you enjoy getting caught in the rain? I really don't, I don't enjoy feeling wet unless I'm like, swimming. How many of your grandparents are still alive? None. Who is your favorite music artist at the moment? My favorite artist of all time is Ozzy of course, but I'm going through a MASSIVE Rammstein phase right now; they've been a "favorite" for years, but I've been exploring more of their discography and learning about them personally and they are My Dads... except the bassist. I have a new husband. Are you allergic to any foods, and if so, what? No. I do have a violent heartburn response to bananas if I haven't taken my prescription antacid, though. Which insect annoys you the most? Gnats. How many proms have you been to? I went to two: my then-boyfriend's senior as well as my senior. Do you prefer hard rock music or soft rock? Hard, but I enjoy both. Did you ever own a Furby? I did for whatever fuckin reason. Were you a bigger fan of Backstreet Boys or *N Sync? Backstreet Boys, def. I liked both, though. Have you ever had sex on the beach? God no, that sounds horrible, even if it was a private beach. I do noooot like sand. Where does your best friend live? My best friend is my boyfriend, and he lives like 30 minutes from me. Where did you last hang out? I haven't "hung out" anywhere in over a week, when I visited Girt's house for the first time. I wanna go backkkk. Why did you get a MySpace? Probably because my friends were, idr. Would you ever get back together with any of your ex’s if they asked you? Nope, bye. Do you remember the first time you ever went into the ocean? I don't. Have you ever stolen from your parents? No, because I'm not my uncle. (: If you owned a dalmation, what would you name him/her? I do know if it was a female, it would be Perdita from the movie. Idk about male tho. What country music star should be honored in the Hall of Fame? I don't like or listen to country music, idk. Would you eat cat food for $500? Shit, maybe. I'd try because that's a decent amount of money that you can't just scoff at. Have you ever had an ultrasound? Yes, on my liver when I was a teenager. I can't remember why I had to get it, but I know everything was fine. Where do you want to be at a year from now? It'd be nice if I've lost weight and regained some leg strength, as well as be stable on working medications. Less importantly but what would be nice would be if Girt and I are talking about moving in together or already are. Do you like pickles? I fucking LOVE pickles and have been craving them lately. Where do you work? I don't. Unless I build my own business of some sort, I just like... don't see me ever being able to handle a proper job for so many reasons. Idk what I'm doing in the "earn money to live" department, y'all. Have you ever thought you could do a better job at being president? God no. You’re in line at Taco Bell, what’s your order? I pretty much always get the cheese quesadilla and fiesta potatoes. Sometimes I'll swap the latter out for those little cinnamon bite things. Is your handwriting large, tiny, or pretty normal? I think it's a normal size, if not a bit smaller. Are you currently listening to a song? Remember that a Rammstein thing I mentioned lmao well I'm listening to "Sex" right now and just real talk it's going on a certain playlist lmfao LOOK it's a fun song What are you doing tomorrow? I don't really know. I would like to see my boyfriend because he has been SWAMPED with work and other responsibilities and it's been awhile, but I think he has work tomorrow? Maybe? God I can never keep track of his schedule. Can others make you cry easily? It is more than "easy." You barely have to do anything at all lmao. Whose house did you last go to? My older sister's. I helped Mom watch the kids. How has the past week been? It's literally been one of the most hectic but also hopefully emotionally developmental weeks of my life. I enacted a split from my best friend, which was majorly goddamn hard, but for my own good, and I feel I've been learning things about myself and taking steps towards bettering me and my life. When did you first get your period? I don't remember other than it was a normal age. Have you ever eaten a Big Mac? No, I've actually never wanted to. I don't like lettuce on my burgers. Are you engaged right now? No. Name the last video game you’ve played. Girt and I recently beat the remake of Shadow of the Colossus! I was so proud of him, he beat the final colossus with no hints. :') Do you believe in sex before marriage? For most relationships, I personally think it's smarter to... y'know, find out if you're sexually compatible with someone if that's important to you before deciding to tie the knot. But do what you're comfortable with. Have you ever smoked marijuana? No. If it was legal though, I'd honestly consider it for when my anxiety flares up. I don't want to smoke anything, cigs or weed, but if it was only an occasional thing to calm the fuck down, I'd do weed. Who are you currently living with? My mom and pets. Do you feel like you need to lose weight? This isn't an "I feel like I should" thing, I literally need to. I'm not your go-to visual of an example of this, but I am by definition obese and completely, totally serious, I wish it on fuckin NOBODY. It. Sucks. Actual. Ass. Are you close with your cousins? No. Are you good at rapping? I've never tried, but there is zero way. I stutter too much. How often do you go to church? By this point in my life, I would rather get decked in the goddamn face than sit through an actual sermon. Do you feel like you’re judged for your looks? Oh, absolutely. Do taking tests make you nervous? Not really, at least not usually. Can you say the alphabet in more than one language? In German, yes. Fun fact, "y" doesn't exist in native German words, and in an instance where the letter is referenced, it is pronounced like "oopsilon" over yonder. What do you want out of life? I just want to be happy and feel like I made a positive difference. Oh, and have fun. Where’s the last fast food place you’ve eaten at? McDonald's. Do you like Wendy’s frosties? They're nothing special, but yeah I like 'em. They always take too long to be drinkable through a straw, though, with how thick they are. How long of a drive are you from California? Dude California is the LITERAL polar opposite of the country lmao, it would take days to drive there. Do you ever get carsick? No. How long can you go without sleeping? Once or possibly twice, I've gone around three days with zero sleep, and I wasn't even tired when I finally said "okay I need sleep" for my health. This occasion along with a few others actually make me wonder if I have bipolar 1 instead of 2, because that right there sounds like mania. Do you groom your eyebrows? Not really anymore. What was the last thing you took a picture of? Omg, when I was watching the kids with Mom, Ryder was being REALLY cute with Emerson, hugging and lifting her, and he let me take a picture of them. Emerson even smiled at the camera with her big brother. :') Does the weather affect your mood? If so, in what ways? It does, actually; dark and dreary days tend to lend to my depression. Hot weather also just makes me generally miserable if I don't have AC. What is your favorite thing to go shopping for? I live to window shop for ball pythons on Morph Market. *sobs* Are you part of the LGBTQIA+ community? As a pansexual, yes. Are you scared of growing older? Yes, with how immensely weak my body *already* is. Would you ever consider adopting or fostering children? No. People are fan-fucking-tastic for doing it, like so much respect to 'em, but it's not for me. Would you consider yourself to be petty? Not at all, genuinely. Can you roll your tongue? Not well at all, no. Sometimes when I've been alone lately tho I've kinda been practicing in order to speak German more appropriately lmao. I downloaded a German-learning app yesterday actually and have started it, because I regret not having become fully fluent in the language faaaaar too frequently. Even if I never reach my goal of visiting Germany, it'll be a personal victory for me, an accomplishment to remember. You are more likely to stop wearing something because? It gets too tight. Do you speak a second language? bitch i'm GONNA How many books do you have out in the public areas of your house? I don't think any, actually. Do you like fried chicken? I HATE fried chicken. What was the very first social media site you signed up for? MySpace. Can you see yourself marrying your current partner? (if you have a partner) That's the goal. Are you the type of person who knows exactly what they want in life? Eek, no. What was the last thing you felt nostalgic about? I guess old friendships. That happens a lot. What’s something you’ve done that sounds too crazy to be true? I've lost count of how many times I've been admitted to psych hospitals, but I know it's a number that would make people think i'm actually clinically fucking insane. Are there any flowers planted outside your house? No, just some small bushes. What’s the weirdest decoration you’ve seen in someone else’s home? *shrug* Did you have your own bathroom when you were growing up? No. Does anyone in your family smoke? My dad does. How far are you into the book you’re currently reading? I'm rather early in. Have you ever had a pet escape and run away? No indoor animals, but growing up, we had a cat infestation outside, and they would sometimes just vanish. Usually the males, but that is completely normal for mature, unfixed toms. Please fix your pets and keep them inside. Do any of your exes know each other? I'll go with everyone who has had the "boyfriend/girlfriend" title. Jason and Juan knew each other and did not get along. Jason and Girt also met at least once when we all hung out at my place, and Sara has met Girt once, again when we hung at my place. What’s an opinion you find impossible to take seriously? I still haven't decided to this day if the "birds are fake" conspiracy is an actual belief some people have or just a joke. God, I hope it's a joke. What was the very first election you voted in? This previous one. Do you know how to make omelettes? No. Do you feel positive and optimistic about your future? Man idk. Who’d you last see in a tux? Probably the groom or groomsmen at the wedding I shot years ago, idk. Have you ever sexted? No, it's not for me. Out of everyone you know, who was the most heart? My mama. Who’s the bravest person you know? ^ Do you ever make up retarded words with your friends? How about we don't abuse the word "retarded." But I know what you mean and in which case, no. It's really, really weird, it's actually some strange pet peeve of mine when people completely make up random words and actually apply them as if they truly mean something, unless they're defining things set in a fantasy universe that actually need identification. I don't know if that made any sense whatsoever, but it makes me cringe idk. Have you ever dated someone who was real sportsy? No. What profession do you admire the most? Probably those that risk their lives for others, like firemen. And surgeons. Have you ever made a fake profile, for any reason? Nope. Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? Yes, actually, in college. Do you have anything planned for the summer? Mom, Nicole, and I might visit one of Mom's brother's family in New York for like a week, but there are some concerns about me being able to physically handle what we have planned. Like this isn't just in my head, my mother, sister, and uncle have talked about it and it's been decided I'm probably going to have to stay with a nearby aunt while they're out on the river on a boat. Do you walk fast or slow? Slow. Once upon a time I was a fast walker. What would you do if you found a small, lost child? Stay with them and first try to find their parents, and if that's not successful, call the cops. Whose arms do you feel the safest in? My boyfriend's. What was the last meal you ate? Mom made some sausage and eggs this morning, but I couldn't eat much. I just don't have an appetite, but I needed food. Have you memorized your social security number? It's funny, I know it sometimes. I know the last six digits, but for some reason usually not the first part. It comes to me sometimes, though. What’s the last food you ate that was stale?Ugh, a bagel. It was SO dry that I couldn't even finish it. Would you ever consider moving back to your hometown? Well, it depends where. It's not a "good" city, but I mean I don't know every little nook and cranny of it. It's a very small town though, so. Describe your laugh: I sound like a fucking hyena. How did you meet the last person you kissed? We were both in the band of our high school. Have you ever snuck someone into your house before? No. Is there something your significant other does that bothers you completely? No. When was the last time you changed your bed sheets? Very recently, after I recovered from my cold. Mom taught us to always do that after being sick. Do you think Manwich is amazing or completely gross? I think it's really good, I just hate how messy it can be. When was the last time someone kissed you on the cheek? Wow I'm not sure. Girt normally goes for the forehead instead of cheek with that kind of kiss, but I mean maybe it was still him? What are two instruments you’d like to learn to play? Violin and either electric guitar or piano. Would you rather eat grape or strawberry jelly or jam? Grape. Have you ever had a pregnancy scare before? No. Would you ever think about getting your nose pierced? I'm getting it re-pierced at some point. Has anyone of the opposite sex ever hit you before? No, let's keep it that way. What’s your favorite gaming system? PS2 had the best games. When was the last time you thought someone was completely pathetic? Hm... I can't say I'm sure. If you have your ears pierced, when did you get them pierced? The lobes, I don't remember. My tragus was pierced as a teen, but the hole closed when I had to take the ring out at the psych hospital; I honestly can't recall how l ong ago I got it redone. it's been a while. Have you ever had a significant other who hit you? No, good luck seeing me tolerate that. Has anyone ever called you stubborn? Oh god yes. What is the meanest thing someone called you? A martyr, and not in the "I'd die for my beliefs" way. I've never forgotten it, probably never will. It came from Jason's friend who barely fucking knew me. Have you ever been paid to build something for someone? No. Are you a decent singer? No, I can't hold a note. Would you rather wear hoodies or jackets? Hoodies, for sure. When was the last time you were asked on a date? I have zero fuckin clue lmao. I don't think Girt and I have been on a "real" date yet, surprisingly. It doesn't really bother me though, chilling at each other's houses is more comfortable and I always feel absolutely horrendous if he pays for ANYTHING for me. Who is the one person you trust the most? My mom or Girt, I don't know who to pick. I'm full aware Mom has lied to me in the past, meanwhile Girt has always been immensely truthful. I dunno, one of 'em. Who is your favorite comedian? I don't think I have one, really. Do you own any exercise machines? No, but Mom seems very intent on getting a nice treadmill once the inheritance is finally fucking sorted. She and I both know my legs are going, and it feels like that's my last hope. Where was the last place you went? A clinic that offers walk-in service because I have a sinus infection from the greatest depths of Hell. Was prescribed some stuff to start taking tonight.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

What Do Botanists Do On Saturday?

by Sarah C. Williams

Here in the section of Botany we’ve adapted in some strange ways, just like plants do, to the changes of the past year and a half. Let’s learn about the off days of some of our Super Scientists in the Section of Botany!

Mason Heberling, Assistant Curator of Botany

Collecting specimens has become a focus as more time was able to be spent in the field when we weren’t allowed to be at the museum. As our new Botany Hall entrance video shows, Assistant Curator of Botany, Mason Heberling and Collections Manager Bonnie Isaac collect plant specimens on a pretty regular basis. They also snag iNaturalist observations for these plants, taking photos that show what the plant and habitat looked before being picked and pressed.

Mason studies forest understory plants, in particular, introduced species and wildflowers in our changing environment. Mason has a bunch of fun projects going on this summer, ranging from coordinating seed collections of an uncommon native grass to send to Germany for a large greenhouse study to working with a team of students to study the effects of climate change and introduced shrubs on our forest wildflowers.

In addition to work in the field, the herbarium has been a busy place this summer too! Mason has been working with Alyssa McCormick, an undergraduate research intern from Chatham University, to examine stomata (the pores on leaves for air exchange for plants to “breathe”) and leaf nutrients in everyone’s favorite plant – poison ivy!  Poison ivy has been previously shown to grow bigger and cause nastier skin rashes with increasing carbon dioxide in our air due to fossil fuel emissions. Alyssa is using specimens collected as long ago as the 1800s to examine long term changes in poison ivy.

Mason, where can we find you on a Saturday?

“This summer has been a lot of going to various places around western PA like Presque Isle or Idlewild to get out and enjoy the fresh air with my family. I can also be found most Saturdays around the house doing chores!”

Bonnie Isaac, Collection Manager

Bonnie, one of CMNH’s TikTok celebrities, and All-Star in the Mid-Atlantic plant world, has spent a lot of the past year doing fieldwork. Her PA Wild Resource Grant involved looking at most of the populations for 10 Pennsylvania rare species. She and husband Joe Isaac spent many days on the road and a few in the bog! You can see some of her videos about these unique Pennsylvania finds on Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Tiktok account: @carnegiemnh.

She diligently keeps track of various data points from latitude and longitude and elevation, to flower color, size, and associated species within a habitat. In addition to trying to make sure the plant names in our database are correct, she has also been busy georeferencing some of our specimens so that we can see on a map where each one was collected.

Bonnie, where can we find you on a Saturday?

“On most Saturdays I am either home taking care of my many chickens or getting some exercise in one of my kayaks with my spousal unit, Joe. I sometime even take a fishing pole for a ride or see how many different kinds of plants I can find on a hike. As long as I can get outside with Joe, I’m happy.”

Cynthia Pagesh, Herbarium Assistant

Specimens make their way home to the museum, where we assure they’re bone dry, flat as a pancake, and have been frozen twice to get rid of any pests. They then find their way into the nimble hands of Cynthia Pagesh, our resident plant mounter. Cynthia has luckily been able to do some mounting both onsite and at home over this past year, really honing her craft. She uses Elmer’s glue, dental and sculpture tools, linen tape, and a paintbrush akin to a magic wand: transforming roots, stems, flowers, and fruits into scientific and artistic renderings on an 11.5x16.5” archival herbarium sheet.

Mounting can be very detailed and challenging: wrangling a dry and brittle rare plant you want to salvage every detail from, or an oversized leaf ‘how-will-this-all-fit?’ ordeal, or finessing a delicate petal that glue is especially heavy on. Bulky bits, crumbly bits, spiky no nos: Cyn handles them all. Her work is just as much an art as it is a science. When she’s not making masterpieces, she’s probably doing something with plants.

Cyn, where can we find you on a Saturday?

“You can find me on Saturdays helping prune young trees in my community, collecting wildflower seeds or in my kitchen making preserves or homemade pasta noodles.  I volunteer in vegetable, herb and flower gardens.  I have a pollinator garden at home and raise Monarch caterpillars.  I tag and release them to migrate south.

There are lots of Community Science projects for people of all ages: ask someone to help you find one related to a subject you have an interest in.  I have an interest in pollinators including bees.  I participate in a Community Science Project every Summer that counts types of bees on certain plants when they bloom.”

Iliana DiNicola

After another stint in the freezer for bugs-be-gone, it’s everyone’s favorite day: Picture Day! Each plant: sturdy and mounted, all data logged and super official, makes their way to the imaging station to spend some time under the bright lights. Since 2018, students, interns, and volunteers have lovingly held these plants’ hands as they get their close ups. We take high definition photos using a specially made lightbox and special software.

While this is part of a limited project, called the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis, we are still hard at work going into our last year of the time we were given. This past schoolyear and summer, former Pitt student, Iliana DiNicola was taking pictures for us on the regular while also interning with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. She just graduated and I’m excited to hear what she does on her Saturdays in the future.

Iliana, where can we find you on a Saturday?

“I just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Environmental Studies, and I am now on the lookout for any jobs related to the environment back in my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. I am interested in working with anything from sustainability, to policy or political work, or maybe even something more related to ecology and outdoor work.

On a Saturday, I am definitely helping clean my house since I am a semi-clean freak, I love to go hiking if the weather isn't too hot, enjoy drawing and working on any art projects, or work on my future hydroponics garden.

As somebody who interned for Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, I highly recommend participating in any camps or activities the conservancy has to offer. It was super fun learning more about Pittsburgh's history and ecology and getting to teach kids about these topics, alongside participating in fun outdoor activities.”

Sarah Williams, Curatorial Assistant

Next up, Sarah Williams, the Curatorial Assistant in the Section of Botany, is overseeing the digitization project, morphing the photos from raw camera files into smaller files for sharing and detailed files for archival storing using Adobe Lightroom. She takes the images from the newly photographed specimens and makes sure they get uploaded onto the Mid-Atlantic Herbaria Consortium’s website to be shared far and wide across the world.

There is also a lot she does in sorting, filing, and taking care of the specimens as well. She does a bunch of scheduling, hiring, and training of work study students, interns, and volunteers. We consider her a jack of all trades.

Sarah, where can we find you on a Saturday?

“Most weekends I work with a local catering company called Black Radish Kitchen. I usually end up serving delicious vegetable and farm focused meals at least one day a week, commonly Saturdays because they’re prime for celebrations. The re-start up since the pandemic has been cautious, and I’m excited to be amongst people and help them to make mouthwatering memories again. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for over a decade and the skills I’ve learned doing it as well as the friends I’ve made are matchless. It has a big piece of my heart.

I also moved into a new house this year about five minutes from my mom, so if I’m not running to say hi to her and ‘borrow’ some groceries, I’m doing laundry, dusting and yardwork… but only after I sleep in, eat some delicious breakfast with my partner, and hang out with our two cats, Santi and Gil.”

We hope you enjoyed getting to know us here in the Section of Botany, look forward to updates and more introductions in the future as we continue to host volunteers, federal work-study students, and interns on their journeys to learn even more about the plant kingdom.

Sarah Williams is Curatorial Assistant in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[theoriginalladya]

Dinosaur Brain

I have the most amazing friends, I swear!

The following ficlet evolved out of conversations about Rhys Shepard and Grunt and dinosaurs ... and then it had to have some commissioned ART, too!  Fabulous art by @thepixelagora​ who somehow managed to take my incoherent ramblings about this and turn it into the absolutely most perfect picture of events!!!!  Thank you so much for lending me your talents!!  

There is more to this story, but it wasn’t quite working how I wanted, so the rest will come later.  In the meantime, have the madness that started it all!!!

The story can also be found on AO3 here.

~~~

Rhys drops into an empty seat and starts eating immediately, his focus less on the food and more on the datapad in his hand. Across from him, a chair squeaks and shadows flicker in his peripheral vision.  Still, he pays little heed to the disruption until…

“You going all dinosaur brain?”

He would prefer to flat out ignore the question, but there are times that’s worse than responding to it.  Rhys doesn’t bother to look up from the pad.  “Not this again.”

Kaidan’s chuckle of amusement drifts across the table. “What?”

“You know what.”

Kaidan leans over and stabs a piece of Rhys’ meal, retreating quickly.  He chews with a thoughtful look in his eye, then swallows.  “Tell me honestly, when have you never been thinking about them?”

“What’s a dinosaur?”

The table wobbles as Grunt slams his tray down and sits next to Rhys.  This time, it’s Kaidan who is taken aback and Rhys whose interest perks up.  “You want to know what dinosaurs are?”

“Here we go,” Kaidan mutters, rolling his eyes and reaching for his coffee.

Rhys ignores him and turns to face Grunt. “O’Keer never imprinted them on you?”

Grunt shakes his massive head back and forth. “What are they?”

Rhys peeks over at Kaidan, his blue eyes sparkling with delight.  “Translated from the Latin, the word means ‘terrible lizard,’” he explains.  “They are creatures that lived millions of years ago on Earth.”  He grabs his datapad, pointedly ignoring the sputter of choked laughter from Kaidan, and scrolls to the end of the device before passing it over to Grunt.  “This is a Triceratops.  About eight meters long and three meters tall.  They are known for having three horns on their head; one long one above each eye and a smaller one over its nose, as well as a large frill made out of bone.”

Grunt examines the picture on the datapad then glances back over at Rhys.  “Looks like a mighty warrior,” he concludes with a sage nod.

Rhys grins.  “Actually, they weren’t the fighters.  Not unless they were attacked, of course.” He takes back the datapad and sets it aside.  “The real fighters were the Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

“You know,” Kaidan muses as he sits back in his seat, “I’m going to tell Wrex you’re calling him a tyrant again.”

“Oh, shut up!” Rhys hisses over at him.  He spends the next several minutes explaining about the two different dinosaurs to Grunt before he reaches into his pocket and nabs the Deinonychus claw he always carries with him.  “This is from a much smaller dinosaur, similar to the Velociraptor, called Deinonychus.  I found this on our family’s ranch when I was a kid.”  

Grunt takes the claw and squints at it, holding it up to the light and tilting his head.  “Doesn’t look very dangerous.”

Rhys chuckles.  Pushing his chair back, he stands and lifts a hand to about chest level, just above his elbow.  “They were only this tall when adults,” he explains.  “A smaller version of the Velociraptor, if you will, but older.  They were also very bird-like.”

“You know, Shepard,” Garrus comments from down the table, “if you keep making references like that, I’m going to start taking it personally.”

Kaidan almost spits out his coffee.  Rhys just grins as he retakes his seat.  

Grunt, however, stares at the datapad.  “So, what did you do with them?”

Kaidan starts to laugh uncontrollably.  Rhys kicks his leg beneath the table.  “We didn’t do anything to them.  They died out over time, long before humans were around.  We’ve spent centuries searching for their bones, fossilized in the earth.”  

The krogan sets the datapad down.  “Too bad.  I would have liked to go up against one of them.”

 ~

 A week later, while on duty in the CIC with his attention focused on planets, minerals, and potential prothean ruins, Grunt comes thundering his way through. “Shepard!”

Caught in the middle of running a scan, Rhys cannot give the krogan his full attention, and calls back over his shoulder, “Yes?”

Grunt makes some sort of disgruntled sound. “Shepard, what’s a ‘shark?’”

With his fingers flying over the haptic keyboard, Rhys’ reply comes automatically.  “Water dinosaur.”  A heartbeat passes, and he thinks about what he said before turning around to find the krogan standing there, a piece of paper in his hand.  It is an image of a Great White shark.

Kaidan is just exiting the cockpit and happens by during the conversation.  Giving Rhys a bemused look, he replies, “Really?”

Rhys shrugs back at him, but Grunt grins, a spark of delight in his eyes, and turns back toward the lift, chuckling in his usual, deep, rumbly manner.  It’s quite adorable, even if it does leave both men scratching their heads.

 ~

 Late in the Collector mission

Stops at the Citadel are opportunities Rhys never ignores.  This time around, however, he isn’t tracking down prothean specialists at the university or the archives, but shopping.  He returns to the Normandy a few hours before required, not surprised to find the CIC nearly empty as he walks through, bags in hand.  What does surprise him, however, is when the lift doors open and Kaidan steps out.  The other man sizes up the current situation and his hand shoots back out to hold the doors open for Rhys.  “What are those?” he asks, nodding at the bags Rhys carries.

Hopping inside, Rhys shrugs.  “Books.”  

Kaidan chuckles.  “Obviously.”  He reaches into a bag and tugs one free.

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Rhys clarifies.  “On dinosaurs.”

The switch from amusement to… well, whatever the look in his eyes is now – half bemusement, half irritation? – is instantaneous.  Kaidan drops the book back into the bag without looking at it and slams his hand on the buttons.  “You need a fucking lab, I swear.”

Rhys chuckles.  “I tried, but Mordin won’t share.”  He’s the first one through the doors when the lift stops outside of Kaidan’s cabin.  The new arrangement works out better than expected, at least until this topic comes up in discussion.  “Besides, these aren’t for me.”

“No?”  Kaidan swipes his hand over the door’s interface.  “Who?”

“Grunt.”

Almost as if he’s listening in to their conversation, a soft, “Hehehehehe,” whispers through the walls of the ship as they enter the room.  

 ~

 2186, Citadel, during the Reaper War

While Kaidan heads off to do Spectre things, Rhys makes his way to Huerta Memorial Hospital.  After the incident on Mars and his time spent there, the desire to visit isn’t exactly thrumming inside of him, but Grunt is now a patient there, and it’s more important to check on how the krogan is doing.  Wrex’s assurances that Grunt is fine aside, Rhys decides to check in on him anyway, just to be sure.  Kaidan promises to meet up with him as soon as his responsibilities are taken care of, hopefully in time to visit the krogan as well.  

Entering the critical care ward, Rhys notices not much has changed in the weeks since his departure.  In many ways, it reminds him of the rest of the Presidium at the moment; hiding the true nature of what is happening in the Galaxy outside of the Serpent Nebula behind common, everyday things like Blasto movies, home redecoration conventions, and the latest varren races.  Nothing like sticking their collective heads in the sand.

Rhys enters to find Grunt sitting up in bed.  There are makings of a few scars – two across his face, another on his upper left arm, and one more across the broad expanse of his chest – but he appears greatly improved since receiving his injuries on Utukku.  As Rhys enters, Grunt slowly turns his bandaged head in his direction.  His voice is on the weak side, but there is an urgency to it that confuses Rhys at first.  “Shepard.”

Rhys takes that as permission to enter, removing his cowboy hat in the process.  “Hey, Grunt. How’re you doing?”

Grunt ignores the question.  “Shepard, what’s a kakliosaur?”

Startled, it takes Rhys a minute to digest the full question.  In the space between, he pulls over a chair and takes a seat.  “It’s… a krogan dinosaur, I guess,” he replies after a time. “Remember the Triceratops? Akin to that, I guess you could say.”

An added spark of life brightens the krogan’s blue eyes.  “Krogan had dinosaurs?”

Rhys chuckles but nods.  “I would point out that krogan are dinosaurs, but yeah. They had creatures very similar to Earth’s dinosaurs.”

Lying back, Grunt’s eyes close, but he manages a small laugh as he drifts back off to sleep.  “Hehehehehe.”  Rhys takes his leave a few minutes later.

After catching up with one another, Rhys and Kaidan reboard the Normandy.  Halfway through the CIC, Rhys announces, “We have a mission.”

They’re just passing Traynor’s station and she hands Kaidan several datapads.  Absently, he replies, “I know.”

Rhys sighs.  “A new one, I mean.”

That, apparently, is enough to catch the man’s attention, and he glances up.  “What?”

Using his chin to point to the galaxy map, Rhys continues, “We need to go to the Phoenix System.  It’s… important.”

Kaidan frowns.  “What the hell are you talking about?”

A grin slips across Rhys’ face.  He can’t help it.  “We are going dinosaur hunting.  Krogan dinosaur hunting, to be specific.”

The blank look in Kaidan’s eyes as he blinks owlishly at him makes it clear he has no idea what Rhys is talking about.  Either that or he thinks Rhys has lost his mind. Maybe both.  “Check your messages.”

There is a hint of apprehension in his steps as Kaidan walks over to his terminal and retrieves them.  “Shit!”

Rhys tips his hat just a bit and turns toward the elevator.  “See? Told you.  Anyway, let me know when we get there.  I know the director of the museum.”

He’s just stepped onto the lift and pressed the button for the cabin when Kaidan calls over, “Have I mentioned you’re a menace?”

Rhys’ grin widens and he winks at him.  “Not this week…”