#mammals returning to the scene

[mainalias]

polar bears are considered marine mammals by animal biologists, so if you count that it’s 6.

i don’t know that much about it, but their evolution has occurred incredibly quickly. they only split off from brown bears 150 000 years ago and the two species can still interbreed.

why can't manatees bounce around on land like seals

a simple reason!

THERE IS NO BOUNCE IN THIS THING. it's just bones. open bones.

seal and sea lion skeleton for comparison:

LESS BONES!! MORE BOUNCE

[montereybayaquarium]

Remembering Rosa the sea otter

Hello Aquarium family. It’s with great sadness that we share that our beloved sea otter Rosa passed away today. At 24 years old, Rosa was the oldest resident otter at the Aquarium and one of our most experienced surrogate moms, having raised 15 stranded sea otter pups in her time with us. 

While Rosa spent the last few months behind the scenes getting extra special care from our staff, she was the matriarch of the Sea Otters exhibit. Beloved and cherished by millions of visitors and fans of the live Sea Otter Cam, she was instantly recognizable thanks to her blonde head (eclipsed only by Ivy as our most grizzled of kelp grizzlies) and her signature head-all-the-way-back swimming style.

“Rosa was one of our most playful sea otters, and even at 24 years old, she would still be seen frolicking and wrestling with the younger otters when she instigated it,” said Melanie Oerter, curator of mammals. “Rosa was usually found sleeping against the window while on exhibit with her chin tucked tight into her chest and her tail swishing back and forth.”

After being found stranded as a four-week-old pup in September 1999, Rosa became part of the Aquarium family before our sea otter surrogacy program even took shape. Our Sea Otter Program staff raised her by hand for nearly seven months before releasing her to the wild. 

Rosa eventually returned to the Aquarium once again in March 2002 when she didn’t take to life outside of human care, and she immediately became a fixture in the formative years of our sea otter surrogacy program as a caring adoptive mother for rescued pups destined for wild release.

She was a delight to work with, though she certainly had her expectations of our staff according to the many Sea Otter Mammalogists who trained (were trained by?) Rosa over the years. 

"Rosa was an incredibly smart otter! Generally calm and patient with the staff. However, she could be defiant at times and there would be no convincing her to do something she did not want to do," said Oerter. "She would often just look at us or swim away. I believe she was the one who was really training us all of these years. I certainly learned a lot from working with such an incredible otter. It has been a privilege and to say we will miss her is understated."

Rosa relaxed into retirement from surrogacy in 2019, acting as a companion and cornerstone in the ever-changing raft of otters in our care. 

Wild female sea otters live between 15 and 20 years, and reaching the age of 24 is a testament to the exceptional care Rosa received throughout her life from our Veterinary and Animal Care teams. In recent years, she began showing signs of age-related health concerns.  In the last few weeks, her health had been deteriorating. After an exam, the veterinary and animal care teams made the difficult choice to humanely euthanize Rosa because those health conditions were compromising her quality of life. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her caretakers.

Rosa’s legacy lives on both at the Aquarium with our other resident sea otters Kit, Selka, Ivy, and Ruby, and in the wild, where sea otter pups she raised continue to raise pups of their own, contributing to the recovery of their species and their ecosystems along the California coast. 

Rosa was an inspiration to millions as a charismatic ambassador for her threatened species while playing a leading role in the story of sea otter recovery from near-extinction during the fur trade. Rosa will be greatly missed by all of us who got to know her over the years.

To celebrate Rosa’s long life, please feel free to share photos and stories of your encounters with Rosa at the Aquarium in the comment section on this post, in her memory and for the staff and volunteers grieving her loss. Thank you all for being such a big part of Rosa’s life. 🦦♥️

[writers-potion]

When to use "M" Sounds

for cozy, happpy family scenes

when the MC returns home from a great adventure

longing for home and loved ones

describe a maternal, strong but gentle character

when the POV character feel melancholy

"M" sound words for homely, welcoming vibes:

comfort, mild, merciful, mollycoddling, mulled, mellow, warmth, amiable, embrace, home, comfort, ambience, meal, mother, mum, mammal, maternal, madonna, moon, mare, womb

"M" sound words for a sense of sadness:

morose, misery, mouldy, mourn, melancholy, moody, doom, glum

Other thematically unrelated words:

mean, mush, meek, humble, arm, harm, market, mirth, merry, mask, mantle, mill, mouse, amble, ample, amber

e.g. the character looks forward to a wamr meal at home rather than a hot supper in his house. He sits in an armchair with a mug of mulled wine rather than on the couch with a cup of hot spiced wine.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[aquariumpacific]

This morning we released a rescued green sea turtle!

The sea turtle was rescued near Avila Beach, California, on December 11, 2023, by The Marine Mammal Center’s San Luis Obispo Operations based in Morro Bay, California. The Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay transferred the rescued sea turtle to the Aquarium with authorization from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries office for a medical evaluation, surgery, and care because of the Aquarium’s expertise in treating and releasing stranded and injured sea turtles.

When the sea turtle arrived at the Aquarium on December 11, 2023, it had an injured flipper and was in need of medical care and rehabilitation. The Aquarium’s veterinary and animal husbandry staff performed surgery on the sea turtle’s injured front flipper and had been caring for the sea turtle behind the scenes as it recovered. The animal is a subadult and is estimated to be between three and five years old.

“It was an incredible moment, watching the turtle make its way from the sand into the ocean and swim away. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to help it recover and return to the wild,” said Dr. Adams, Aquarium of the Pacific veterinarian.

The turtle is fitted with a microchip ID and also a microsatellite tag that was provided and applied by Upwell Turtles. If all goes according to plan, we should receive location updates in about 3 weeks. Stay tuned!

[lilacxquartz]

TO SAVE A BROKEN SOUL • suguru geto x cursed spirit fem!reader

ao3 • masterlist • mdni < previous chapter • next chapter >>

summary: saved by someone who claims to want to help you, your life quickly takes a turn for the worse.

trigger warnings: uncomfortable scenes, dehumanising and objectifying language, violence

Chapter 2. Sinner

Willingly returning back to the temple felt strange for you, especially when facing the curious glance from the girl before again, with another pair of eyes cautiously leaning in from around a corner to look at you.

The girl with darker hair stepped forward towards the monk you kept firmly glued to the side of. Her voice sounded so soft and gentle despite the words that came out of her lips, “Are you going to eat the monster, Geto-sama?”

You paled for a moment.

What could that posstibly mean…?

The man before you stopped for a moment, as if considering the situation and how to calm the two young girls while keeping your presence on the down low. “Not this one,” he replied at last, sensing the girl’s fear towards seeing you, “this one will be working with me personally.”

You felt comfort settle as you didn’t seem to be headed down such a strange route, but at the same time, you still didn’t quite understand what exactly you were brought in for. So far, as you understood it, the two girls could not only see you but didn’t fear you within his company.

This little detail unsettled you.

You weren’t afraid of many things, but this predicament you had found yourself in didn’t sit quite right with you.

And as he led you further away from the outer section of the temple, you couldn’t help but wonder what this strange person truly had in store for you. Working together? You thought you were just helping him satisfy a curiosity. Unless he was being purposefully vague to keep you on the edge. Whatever it was, you didn’t fully trust his intentions.

“Come,” he spoke once again, opening a slotted wooden door, “you’re going to bathe.”

You cautiously padded towards the room, spotting a small square bathtub with no curtain to hide being. The floor was made from bamboo and the window, although concealed by wrapping leaves around the outside of the exterior, still looked outside.

“Can I do it privately?” you asked, settling into the idea. You didn’t need to wash yourself as a cursed spirit, there was very little point in doing so. You didn’t perspire like humans did, and dirt therefore didn’t cling to your skin the same way. The rain that fell washed anything resistant away and due to not being alive in the same way that mammals were, you didn’t smell.

However, you could entertain it to keep your life.

Something told you that he wasn’t going to let you get further than this if you didn’t bathe, at least.

The man, who you had by now determined was referred to as Geto, tilted his head to the side in what appeared to be confusion. His long, cascading black hair hung in the air as his brows furrowed. “You’re a cursed spirit, aren’t you? Why are you being shy?”

“I’m not being shy,” you replied, attempting to stand your ground. You weren’t totally oblivious, knowing exactly what sort of form you had. It was feminine and through your feedings in the past, you understood that the anatomy wasn’t too far off either. “I am wary though,” you admitted, “you should understand why.”

He nodded, although his gaze didn’t wander away. “Sure, you’re a pretty face,” he considered, “but you’re also just a cursed spirit, so anything that I might do to you or not doesn’t actually matter, does it?”

“Is that why you brought me here?” you attempted to call out, trying to find the reason behind his words.

He shrugged. “I’m not being rude. I’m laying out a fact. Cursed spirits can’t feel anything.”

You tried to challenge his claim however, your words carrying some spite as you spoke, “But I might. Not every single one is evil without cause.”

“They all taste the same to me regardless,” he said, leaning back against the wall, his eyes trained on the steaming tub, “like rancid gasoline.”

There he went again, reminding you that you weren’t the only one who had the capacity to feed. You didn’t like that he had reduced your life to just a flavour that he didn’t like in his mouth. It felt demoralising, bleak and hopeless. Perhaps not too unlike how humans felt right before meeting their end.

You couldn’t quite shake the unsettling thought that now coursed through your body, understanding that while he took you in for some sort of strange hidden purpose, that he was going to very likely treat you poorly because of what you were. In his eyes, you were likely disposable because your life didn’t hold the same sort of weight that a human life did, for example.

Yet he emitted some sort of aura that made him call to you—making you drop your guard around him.

Some sort of cursed technique, maybe?

In a resigned sigh, you didn’t prod at the subject for any longer, deciding to get this whole thing over with and despite the lingering discomfort you felt from his eyes settling over your now exposed body, you pressed on, washing yourself under his hungry gaze.

He stared at you with such devotion, almost. His eyes practically worshipping you the longer that he stared. This was shaken off quickly though, his thoughts reminding him of your true nature. How horrid you truly were.

A disgusting sight.

An even more bitter taste.

You weren’t anything special, maybe even below human in his eyes.

Even despite the looks he gave you and the things your body made him feel. The way your curves sloped, the way that water rolled off of your skin—no, this wasn’t right. You weren’t right.

You were simply below him.

~~~

The next morning, he led you someplace else, guiding you off to another location. You didn’t in particular like it there either, finding that the stares of the people he acquainted with were nothing short of hateful.

Pulling you off to an airy room with a small stage, he explained your divine purpose to you with concerning detail.

“My role is to… deceive people?” you asked, not quite understanding, “Most people can’t see me, though.”

Suguru tilted his head at you, his voice dripping with a sarcastic tone, “That’s the whole point,” he smiled, glancing at one of the attending members, “I would like to be perceived as a higher power to those unsuspecting and unaware. Maybe even a deity amongst simple monkeys.”

You frowned in response for two reasons in mind. First, you didn’t want to be around humans for an extended amount of time for obvious excuses and second, for his own stated desire. Just who was this man actually and why did he seem so much worse than you?

He had the audacity to call you disgusting and yet, he spoke of himself so highly.

…Why did he have to bring you here?

“You see,” he continued, “people’s beliefs can be fragile, but that’s why in religions, miracles must happen and also… punishments.”

Just before taking you here, he did brief you on earlier with a threat to ensure your compliance. You understood fully why you felt confused around this man now and it was likely due to his cursed technique. The same reason humans feel strangely at peace before death, was likely what you felt when it felt like he was close to using it. A false salvation, a doomed hope if not only a means to an untimely end.

“You have other cursed spirits for this sort of job, don’t you?” you pressed with that information still fresh in your mind, hoping he would give you a better answer than the meaningless ones he had been giving you so far.

“True, I have my… collection,” he mused, crossing his arms in consideration, “but they act more as tools rather than helpers. I can command them to fight, to feed, to… kill, but they can’t perform miracles. That’s where you come in.”

Holding onto a sceptical tone you continued to prod, “And how could I possibly accomplish that?”

Suguru smiled at your linear way of thinking. He supposed that you couldn’t help it. “Do something positive, no matter how small. Or do something terrible, no matter how evil. These fools will interpret even the smallest act as a sign from something greater.”

You exhaled deeply, continuing to feel trapped. He was revealing his intentions to you as though you were just another one of his tamed spirits, yet you were free. Being so often around humans wasn’t something you wanted to be doing, finding the situation almost agitating.

“For example,” Suguru continued, his eyes catching onto a random man that stood in a small crowd nearby. “What do you pray for?”

The man hesitated from the sudden question, but answered the question anyway, “Wealth…?”

Clicking his tongue disapprovingly, Suguru scoffed, “Such a selfish desire, but let’s see if it’s granted shall we?” he dramatically gestured, his sights pointed at you but you didn’t know what exactly this meant. He brought you here with very little context and zero guidance.

Returning to you, he quietly reminded you in a very flat tone that he could either exorcise you or you could, you know, feed, right on the man that he had just spoken to. That he didn’t deserve this wish anyway, because if you couldn’t understand—being what you are—that selfish wishes like that aren’t worthy of miracles but punishments instead.

“I know you’re barely holding back,” he whispered, trying to tempt you, “think of just how good it’ll finally feel to give in, to not worry about consequences.”

And just like a cornered animal with a desperate desire to carry on living, you gave into instinct once again.

You couldn’t even help it.

Acting out of desperation, you reluctantly moved forward as an opportunity to sate your burning hunger had been so freely presented to you. Oh, how tempting it was to give in, to bite into flesh, to drink such thick red blood as though it was red wine—you felt so drunk, intoxicated even—as you chewed against disfigured flesh, but then, you heard it.

Screams. A lot of them. Gasps and shudders and an atmosphere of boiling dread; a feeling that both continued to intoxicate you while sickening you at the same time.

Albeit reluctantly, you pulled away from your feral stupor while still grinding against bloodied flesh, licking the blood that dried quickly over your lips. You couldn’t help but feel a wave of disgust roll over you as you backed away, with wide eyes as you surrendered to a lapse of something you didn’t want to become just yet.

(As long as you remained aware, you could remain in control. As long as you didn’t give into your instincts, you could still be you. That’s all it took. Yet, he sought to take it away from you under the false impression of becoming a god.)

In your heavily heaving state, swallowing the last bit of meat, you watched on as the man who took you in, who stared hungrily at you the same way you did at flesh, that claimed to be disgusted by you all at the same time—approach and ask someone else, repeating the same sort of question to them and snorting, hearing a finally acceptable answer.

“Good, that’s a good answer,” he praised, even if his tone did carry a hint of disgust, his eyes blank when talking to what seemed to be just regular people. “Why, it even appears that there might just be a miracle in store for you later on, but first, let’s get this… mess cleaned up.”

Gesturing for someone to come and clean up the unfortunate aftermath, he finally led you away. It wasn’t like he was completely oblivious to what you could potentially become, but that’s why the punishments would be just as rare as the miracles.

After all, if such things were a little too frequent, then what meaning could they possibly have?

~~~

this is part 2 of lilac’s bite sized yandere nightmares

[adobe-outdesign]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Thoughts/Liveblog Thing

Just caught this at the theater for a grand total of five whole dollars, so I thought I'd do some quick opinions while it's fresh.

Non-spoiler opinion: It was Okay(TM), but the movies were considerably stronger as a trilogy. It's worth seeing one (1) time if you're a KFP fan (and really, who isn't), but I wouldn't bother paying full price for it or anything

SPOILERS FOR ALL 4 MOVIES UNDER THE CUT:

A list of things that slap:

The animation is stunning and fast-paced. Really loved the use of Chinese-style paint brush strokes to accentuate the action

Also I'll talk about the 5 later but I also really liked the animation change when describing where they are—all KFP movies have at least one animation shift and I'm glad this one kept up with it

Some of the fight scenes were super good, I liked the one that uses the tilting bar on a cliff in particular

(side note: the Missing Link did something similar, just on a ship. Go watch the Missing Link)

The Chameleon served straight cunt the entire time she was on screen and I kind of loved (almost) everything about her. Character design was incredible, voice was perfect, palace design was amazing, abilities were sick

Also the way she rides up chilling in a golden tree branch of all things? Fellas, we have no choice but to stan

Also I just appreciate the choice to both do a female villain for a change and to get a reptile in here after having only mammals and one (1) bird as villains previously

Speaking of character design there were a few really good ones in there, like a pangolin that moves Sonic the Hedgehog-style, a cool looking female boar, and a bunch of Komodo dragon henchmen. Good stuff

The jokes were a very mixed bag for me, some hit and some didn't. I will say that Zhen just going "that's great for you" in response to Shifu stating he's a red panda got me for some reason

If anyone hurts Po's gay dads I'm killing everyone in this room and then myself

Jack Black's cover of Baby One (1) More Time is unironically better than the original

A list of things that Do Not Slap:

Pacing/Plot:

This movie lacked a color scheme? KFP 1 was blue (also some gold), KFP 2 was red, KFP 3 was green. These colors weren't subtle either, there are entire scenes in each movie drenched in these colors and it was really obviously missing here

The whole first half the movie feels really breathless and too fast-paced. Apparently it was a studio mandate to have it not go over an hour and a half which is A) stupid and B) hurts the pacing

As much as I love Po's two gay dads we REALLY should not have been wasting time on their journey when the runtime is so tight

Also them tagging along felt off? Mr. Ping was worried sick about Po in KFP 2 but he doesn't tag alone because obviously he needs to let his son have his space. It's more in-character with Li Shan but it doesn't come across like he's talking Mr. Ping into it or something

In general there are so many plot points in this movie that feel under-developed. You could've made an entire movie out of the previous villains returning, Zhen and the Chameleon's relationship (see below), etc.

Po's Character:

People not knowing Po is the dragon warrior is weird, I'm pretty sure he would've been more well known than that

The entire thing with Po needing to give up his role as the Dragon Warrior doesn't really make sense? The Dragon Warrior is literally a made-up title. There's no need to have a Dragon Warrior because there is no such thing technically, it's why Oogway denied Tai Lung the title and then waited years and years to give it to Po. Like it's not a role that needs to be passed down, that's missing the entire point of the Everything

Also Po's only been like Dragon Warrior for a few years? I don't think we're ever given a time scale but it wasn't that long

The jokes about Shifu and Po having trouble with inner peace/mediating feels off given that was the entire plot of the second movie

It felt like Po regressed a bit character wise. He acts like he has no idea how to be a teacher in this movie but he already was a teacher by the end of the third, that was the entire point??

Also he seemed like he was more gullible in this movie but I could be wrong

Why is Po so impressed with Juniper city. He literally spent most of KFP 2 in Gongmen hello?? I think(?) Juniper is bigger but he shouldn't be acting like he has no idea what a city is

Zhen/Chameleon:

Zhen's character design doesn't match anything else, which is weird because most of the new characters in this film keep the distinct style in some form or another

Her wanted poster shows her with the bold markings KFP is known for and it looks SO much better

The plot twist with Zhen working for the villain was so obvious I did not realize it was supposed to be a twist at first

Also, the entire thing with Zhen was entirely unneeded? The Chameleon could've just just stood up and announced her plan to take over and Po would've shown up on her doorstep with the staff

I guess the idea is that Po needed to hand over the staff willingly for it to work? But if that's the case the Chameleon could've just impersonated Tigress or something and gotten it that way in like 1/3 of the time

Originally she was supposed to have kidnapped Shifu which would've been a much better plot point as it would've given Po extra motivation

The other problem with treating Zhen as a plot twist is that it hampers the relationship she has with the Chameleon effectively being her mom, which is FASCINATING. They had some really interesting chemistry together (the whole "stand up straight" thing as one example) and I could've seen it as a Mother Gospel from Tangled kind of deal, but we barely get any interaction between the two and it's like AAAAAAA

Fanfic writers fix this shit. I believe in you

I'll have to chew on it more but my pacing thought would actually be to start with Po finding out about the Chameleon's "take over everything" plan very early due to Shifu's kidnapping. He breaks into the lair like at the 1/3 mark or earlier and he meets Zhen inside which then leads into why she's doing what she's doing and the mother angle, etc etc blah blah

The Chameleon needed to just straight-up murder someone, comically shoving them down the stairs isn't good enough. I know stairs are Po's greatest enemy but I don't think that applies to everyone

Shen was allowed to stab someone on-screen so I think the Chameleon should be a allowed to strangle someone or something. as a treat

If violence was the concern just keep it off-screen like Master Rhino's death in KFP 2

The shapeshifter turning into a giant monster trope is overrated and I'm glad it was just used briefly here and not even for her defeat

Also the Chameleon's thing with her being rejected from Kung Fu because she's too small makes no sense b/c Mantis, which I'm pretty sure everyone's pointed out already. She does say "lowly" I think but was she ever poor? Could make a very interested parallel to Zhen if that was the case but it was never brought up again

I've heard some argue body image parallels w/ Po in KFP 1 but if that was the intent it's not explored, like, at all, which is a shame because it could've been an interesting angle

Also If they wanted a better excuse related to body image just say she was too frail instead of too small. I haven't owned chameleons but I've heard from people who have that they are very frail and very hard to keep alive, which would be a much better reason to turn her away

Cameos:

Yes I'm devoting an entire section to five second cameos don't judge me

I have mixed feelings on the Five not being present (save for the end cameos). On the one hand they are sorely missed but on the other hand they would've just made the plot bloat even worse

Lack of speaking was also bothersome. Part of me is glad they weren't recast with cheaper VAs because it's disrespectful to interchange them, but on the other hand that might've been better than just not having them speak and not paying anyone anyway

Tai Lung had all the best lines and was also the best used out of all the cameos, even if it would've been nice to have him on screen for longer. Also if they stuck with Shifu being kidnapped those two could've had some much-needed dialogue

Side note, while I don't think it contradicts anything from KFP 3 the spirit world having only kung fu masters in it feels off? It makes it seem so small and limited

Kai being there is weird. He's like. dead dead. Deader than dead. I guess you could argue that you can't kill something that's already dead but there's nothing even acknowledging this

Trying to take Shen's kung fu is really weird because the entire point of the fight with Master Rhino in KFP 2 is that he is not? a master?? like he's GOOD but he's not amazing, like if a master is like a 10/10 he's like an 8/10.

"The Chameleon has the powers of all my old nemesises!" WHAT'S SHEN'S POWER EXACTLY. HIS ONLY POWERS ARE GUN AND MOMMY/DADDY ISSUES

She does summon him way later than Tai Lung and Kai so maybe she was just camp spawning every single person she could think of regardless of skill level? she also uses his wings at one point so maybe she just wanted those, I don't think(?) there were other birds summoned

Though speaking of which she claimed she was using his wings but very clearly wasn't? not only were they black but they were raggedy and lacked the five longer feathers on the tips

Also Shen's model was super off, it looked way too fluffy and like an entire row of eyespots were missing from the edge of the train (which might have been a clipping error? unsure) it's been said the new models were made out of glue and popsical sticks and I believe it

Tai Lung has a habit of just like Grabbing anyone that's smaller than him and it amuses me

It's honestly really weird that everyone would just agree to go back into the spirit world willingly?

Like I think it works for Tai Lung because he's a noble person who just goes into a disassociative state and commits atrocities. Like I think he'd be willing to accept his death

Also it checks out for Shen because he killed himself and given his "dead belong in the past" mentality I can't imagine him wanting to stick around, he'd probably think it was unnatural

But Kai?? Kai was FURIOUS at being dragged back into the spirit world at the end of 3, like hell he'd just go quietly

Also I can see Tai Lung maybe respecting Po enough to bow to him but everyone else is pushing it unless they have therapists in the spirit world. Po offered Shen some nice advice at the end of KFP 2 and his response was to kill himself on the spot, I don't think him or Kai would be bowing

All of them were definitely in the middle of a mahjong match and were experiencing the equivalent of being woken up in the middle of a nap so they were just going along with things

Chameleon: I'm going to steal your kung fu

Everyone:

Misc:

I did like some of the more subtle callbacks. Stuff like Po seeing his reflection in the blade the way Shifu did or the "I can't even beat you to the stairs" scene were nice and not overly overt or in-your-face

If Po actively refers to himself as the "Kung Fu Panda" one more time I'm going to end it all

anyway that was not supposed to be a 12 page essay but it's too late now, goodbye

[fishiscat]

Hedgehogs - Riddle Rosehearts

GN Reader

Summary: Riddle pinning for the Reader and getting jealous over a hedgehog.

Word count: 773

Note: First fan fic I've ever written let's see how I do! (unedited)

Riddle never thought a day would come when he would find himself to be jealous of an animal, after all, who would even stoop down so low to find themselves that desperate and pathetic, and over an animal of all things!

But right now, just in this quiet moment, how couldn't he?

The afternoon sun filtered down in a warm glow against your skin and the breeze carried the smell of roses from Heartslabyuls garden, it was something fairytale-like, while it was just you and him alone together and sitting peacefully upon a picnic blanket as small brightly colored mammals wiggled their way around the both of you.

Earlier in the day he had asked you if after classes you'd join him in caring for his dorm's beloved hedgehogs, originally thinking the experience would be a soft joyful one of two things he happens to be quite fond of coming together.

But right now he couldn't say that that situation played out as he originally thought.

All your attention was pulled from him once your eyes were on the hedgehogs, instantly you were giggling and smiling to yourself about how small and sweet they were. Furthermore, There was a particularly small red hedgehog that seemed just as joyful as you were about the new company, which only caused you to fall further for the small mammal's charms.

Riddle felt a squeezing pull in his chest and found himself wishing that you would pay more attention to him and not the hedgehogs that you had originally come to see.

Closing his eyes and looking down while taking a deep breath Riddle worked to calm his own childish jealousy and avoid ruining a lovely hangout.

When he had opened his eyes back up to look at you he paused at a tender scene in front of him. You had the small red hedgehog resting in the palm of your hands and while so sweety giggling at the small thing as you lifted it until you could meet its eyes.

Riddle felt the squeezing feeling in his chest return but with the addition of a noticeable warmth this time.

Swallowing deeply he continued to observe your acting rather closely.

He watched how you ever so gently hold the hedgehog and bring it in closer towards your lips so you could coo out words of praises of love and babble excitedly about its appearance, how your eyes had become lidded and soft yet you could still see how they were filled with fondness and adoration, how soft laughs and giggles spilled from your lips alongside with a small yet heartfelt smile and how just so lovingly your cheeks darkened with a blush that spread easily over your checks and towards the bridge of your nose, you looked absolutely lovely and it was all due to some small mammal. Some small mammal that currently had all your attention and was being granted such a pleasure to be looked upon so lovingly by you.

Riddle would rather die than tell anyone that at that moment he deeply wished that he were in the place of that small red hedgehog. He could almost feel it, to the one who solely holds your loving gaze, to have your warm hand hold his face tenderly with such care and love, to have himself be pulled in close towards your lips so that sweet words could be whispered for just for him.

Shaking his head at himself Riddle can feel his body further heating up with embarrassment due to his quite shameful and undeniably pathetic thoughts, just before Riddle can open his mouth to excuse himself to calm down elsewhere you open yours to speak.

"You know Riddle, this hedgehog color matches your hair, it almost makes me think of a little hedgehog version of you, isn't that cute?"

While speaking you moved your face closer to place your nose against the hedgehogs and let out a soft laugh as the two of your noses rubbed together.

Riddle lets out a small gasp at your words not quite expecting the sudden comparison, recovering quickly Riddle furrows his brows together as the heat in his chest now makes its way to his face and takes display across his cheeks, Riddle then moves closer to your side, he had finally captured your attention and with that, he steadily meets your gaze and starts to lean in even closer, to the point your noses are barely an inch apart and in a soft yet somewhat commanding voice he asks-

"If you see us as that similar, then why do you not give us the same treatment, Perfect?"

[scarfgirl]

shit posting phone dump , (aka weird worm stuff found on my phone ) 1) I was convinced for about a month that I had read a fanfic where skitter fell off /was pushed off the ferry by bullies and possibly drowned but instead gained control of seabourne mammals like killer whales and swam around the bay as a weird case 53 who looked like a whale was trying to eat a giant awkward girl ...it was later in life that I realized that during one of the times I was on medication I had somehow meshed worm and free willy together ....it even had a scene with her battling /hunted by the merchants on a giant steampunk tug boat armed with giant searchlights and harpoons ....sigh I really wish this existed 2) where I drew my original design for crawler (I love doodling on my tiny phone screen then returning home and using that as a starting basis for my actual drawing

[striderthefrog]

Scavenger’s Reign, Body Horror, and Returning to Nature.

(Spoilers for all of scavengers reign season 1)

This will be my first of a few deep dives/analysis into scavengers reign.

SR is a masterfully done sci-fi series that explores many different types of fear, one of these fears is body disfiguration/mutilation.

The entire world is out to get our protagonists and many things seek to use them for energy or food. Early on we see that the planet is far different from earth, with many of its inhabitants having developed extremely unique defense/reproductive methods.

We see bodies that have long been overgrown with various plants and fungi, taken over completely, these people’s insides are no longer their own they now belong to these organisms, they have become food.

Early on we see Hollow, a parasitic creature with physic powers, paralyze kamen. It paralyzes him in a trance and then puts a black sludge into him. In an off-putting scene we see him forced to ingest it. Eventually hollow will ingest him and insert an umbilical cord like appendage into him, he is connected to the creature and his body is being sustained by it.

At one point we see Sam get pricked by a plant like entity. This entity creates a zombie like clone of him. We see this same entity create a copy of a mammal like creature and watch that clone bulge out and explode into an acidic substance.

This plant pricking Sam spreads some sort of poison up his arm, sickening him and disfiguring his arm for a time. We see Ursula’s horrified face when she sees how the poison has affected him.

He gets cured from the poison by a seemingly helpful old woman however we quickly realize that all is not as it seems and she has been completely taken over by a parasitic monstrosity. This creature uses its controlled hosts to transform their bodies to be able to produce more of these heart like things. Once planted into a victim they spread vein like appendages throughout their host, they change their body in such a Way that they can produce and cough up these same seeds.

It’s rooted in Sam’s body and keeping him alive, it controls his mood and influences his behavior. Causing him to think everything is ok when in reality he’s no longer fully in control of his decisions. He eventually rips it out of himself, and without it he dies.

Throughout the series the planet seeks to engulf people into its ecosystem, they are food here, they are a means to reproduce and nothing more. Their bodies don’t belong to them as far as the life forms are concerned here.

The planets forces the former crew of the Demeter to realize that their bodies can be completely taken over. They have to fight to maintain their autonomy.

Even the ship the crew came on has been over grown by plants.

The last example I will look at is Levi. Levi has some sort of spore/fungal like entity take root in them. Azi is deeply disturbed by this at first, trying to remove the fungal infection. Only in this case Levi eventually is able to become one with this spore, and they become something even more then they started out as, capable of feeling and pain.

Scavengers reign forces us to come to terms that ultimately our bodies will return to the ground. Nature will reclaim its own. In the end the crew had to learn to live along side the planet after being stuck there, and not fight it. They became part of the ecosystem.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The problem, [Frans Vera] explains, is that we have forgotten about the megafauna that would have been roaming our landscape before we arrived on the scene: large herbivorous mammals like the aurochs (the wild ox), tarpan (the original wild horse of Europe), wisent (the European bison), elk (known in North America as moose), European beaver and the omnivorous wild boar. All, according to fossil bone records, re-colonized the lowlands of Central and Western Europe along with red deer and roe deer about 2,000 years after the end of the last ice age – around 12,000 years ago. Trees, on the other hand – according to the pollen records – appear only between 9,000 and 1,500 years ago. So, oak, lime, ash, elm, field maple, beech and hornbeam – the key species of what is claimed to have been the primordial closed-canopy deciduous forest of Europe – arrived at least 3,000 years after the large herbivores. This is a very different picture to the one that has rooted in our mythology. It flies in the face of the received wisdom that closed-canopy forest is the natural habitat of these large animals. It also suggests – another heresy – that large herbivores played a part in, or at least did not prevent, the generation of trees in our landscape.

Isabella Tree, Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm

[zootopiathingz]

My prediction for Zootopia 2

So as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, there’s an interesting Wildehopps dynamic where Judy is more case-focused while Nick prioritizes safety, which I can maybe see being used for conflict in the next movie. (Cuz if there’s going to be conflict, it needs to be done right for development and not just for the sake of having characters argue…please take notes, Disney)

I imagine the movie starting out with the two of them working flawlessly. They know just how to take down criminals together without exchanging a word. Then one day they’re given a simple interrogation case that quickly escalates and long story short Judy ends up getting hurt. Nick rushes to help her, and she urges him to go after the criminal. He hesitates, but he doesn’t relent and ends up taking her to a first aid kit, frantically bandages her wound, then pursues the criminal along with backup. But by then it’s too late, the culprit is nowhere to be found. At first Judy’s a little frustrated, but she can’t be too mad at him for saving her. Chief Bogo, however, will be furious, and while he is sympathetic about the specific situation they were in, there’s still a dangerous mastermind on the loose. (And then there’s some kind of lecture about balancing work and safety of your partner, etc etc)

Throughout the movie there’s a sort of back-and-forth between “which is more important”, as well as some budding romance because yes. And then at some point the two are forcibly separated by The Bad Guys™️ and are forced to find a way back to each other. However these mammals have done their research. They didn’t just choose two random cops to kidnap for fun. They know who Judy and Nick are and plan to use their dependency on each other against them. For the sake of evil plot and angst the Bad People demand that Judy tell them some Important Information about whatever and when she refuses, they pull the old “if you don’t give us what we want you can say goodbye to your partner”. Naturally Judy’s intimidated by the threat, but she knows they’re just saying it to get in her head. Never let them see that they get to you, after all.

It isn’t until The Big Fight when she finds out they were not bluffing, as when she refuses again one of them ends up attacking Nick right in front of her. She frantically rushes to his side, trying not to panic as she hears the cruel words of their captors; “We warned you. It’s sad, isn’t it? Having to choose between our missions and the ones we love most? We fail either way. That’s why you’re better off working alone”

Then some kind of trap is activated in the room, with limited time until it sets off, and the Bad Bitches escape leaving the two to die tragically. Judy tries to push Nick up, but his injuries are more fatal than they appeared. He can’t move, he knows this. He urges Judy to leave while she can, to stop the criminals and return home safely. And it’s at this point Judy finally understands his point of view. If the roles were reversed he would be carrying her to safety, regardless of the matter at hand. She can’t leave him. She won’t leave him. So she helplessly begins dragging him with all her strength, forcing back tears as there’s a tiny voice in the back of her mind telling her it’s pointless and that they’ll never make it out alive together. (Insert some kind of dramatic “I can’t leave you! I love you!” scene here or something)

Somehow they’d make it out obviously, and they’d have some kind of heart-to-heart moment while he’s getting treated for his injuries. Ultimately they decide that no matter what happens from that point that they’ll put their fears aside and work together to take down the Big Bad, because that’s what they’ve always done.

[foone]

OK so you know what's a good horror trope? The reveal of the previously invisible/camouflaged interloper. We've all got this instinct from back when we were little mammals living in a jungle full of tigers, where being watched is a bad thing. We want to know who can see us, because they might be seeing us and planning to pounce. So the idea that someone has secretly been watching us and we never knew? Obviously scary, in a very primal way.

There's plenty of examples. Most "Invisible Guy" movies, that clothesline scene from The Conjuring, the pool monster from Are You Afraid of the Dark becoming visible when they dump dye in the pool... But I'm gonna give a detailed example from the most unlikely of horror sources... Star Trek: The Next Generation!

So in season 4, the episode Identity Crisis focuses on Geordi. He meets up with an old friend, who he had served with on another ship, prior to coming to the Enterprise. She, Geordi, and three other people had gone on a mission to investigate a spooky colony where everyone had disappeared. They found nothing, and returned with no answers.

But now, many years later, it's getting weirder. Two of the other guys have apparently gone mad and fled back to the Spooky Colony, and the episode opens with the third guy dying on his way to the Spooky Colony. Everyone else on the mission to the Spooky Colony those years ago has either returned & vanished, or died trying to. So it's not looking good for Geordi and his friend, Leijten. They do some investigating, don't find much, and Leijten starts falling ill. She's in sick bay, apparently turning into an alien, and Geordi decides to go visit the video footage of that mission they went on all these years ago (since it's the future, this is fancy 3D video that he's looking at in a fully immersice holodeck environment).

He's watching it, and sees nothing weird. Except at the last moment, when they go to turn off the camera, there's a shadow. An odd shadow. He asks the computer to alter the footage, deleting characters and their shadows from the video, and one by one the shadows vanish... Except this one. He asks the computer to assume it's being cast by a person about his size, and where would that person be if it was?

And a humanoid figure appears into the footage.

Someone had been standing there along with those 5 visible people, all those years ago. They were being watched. And they never knew.

And this is just one of my favorite spooks! It's such a good innate fear. Something is there and it can see you but you can't see it.

(As for the episode? Geordi has been feeling sicker and sicker the whole time he's doing this footage investigation. He ends up turning invisible and running out, and transporting himself down to the planet. We see as he transports that he's turned all blue and translucent. Down on the planet, Leijten beams down, feeling better. Dr. Crusher cured her parasite. Apparently this planet is full of some kind of microorganism that infects you, lays dormant for years, then makes you come back and turn into a spooky invisible guy. That's what happened to their crewmates, that's what happened to the whole colony, and it's happening to Geordi. She's able to talk him down, since he's only recently transformed and she knows what it's like, and he's cured. Everyone else, the colony and the former crewmates? They're gone for good. They're not human anymore, and haven't been for a long time.)

[ariel-seagull-wings]

NOW UPON A TIME

@jazzymarie1006 @thealmightyemprex @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @piterelizabethdevries @amalthea9 @professorlehnsherr-almashy @jessicasland @shelleythesapphic

(My second Ororo x Logan fanfic, a Fairy Tale in the Savage Land)

~oOoOo~

Now upon a time . . . 

Having been said and said and said . . . 

Here is a story! 

Story it is . . . 

There was once a Land Before Time , warm and tropical, while surrounded by the cold and snowing mountains of Antarctica : it was known as the Savage Land, and there humans lived, alongside dinosaurs, birds and mammals that had become extinct in the rest of the Earth .

In the Savage Land , little yellow flowers were blooming, flowing with nectar meant to be transformed into honey by the bees.

The Fall People harvested that honey, which would be shared among many in a night of dance and feast, celebrating the land’s fertility and the blossoms turning into fruit.

For this celebration, a group of people that came from the outside world, and were frequent allies of the Savage Land people in their times of plight, were invited:

Ororo Munroe the Storm , James Logan Howlett the Wolverine , Kurt Wagner the Nightcrawler , Sean Cassidy the Banshee , Alison Blaire the Dazzler, Henry ‘Hank’ Philip McCoy the Beast and Piotr Rasputin the Colossus .

Alongside the warrior Ka-Zar and his wife Shanna , this group of visitors, with the exception of Ororo who joined Nereel of the Fall People in her shack to get adorned for the celebrations, were sitting on the floor circling a warming fire dug in the soil and surrounded by rocks, eating roasted antelopes and boars with their hands, over leaves of banana trees as their plates, sharing a drink of honey wine from inside a gourd that was passed between the hands of the people sitting.

Then, from Nereel’s shack, accompanied by several women, gracefully walked Ororo , dressed in a skirt made with just five transparent scarves. 

Positioning herself in the middle of the circle of people sitting on the floor, Ororo began to dance in a way so beautiful that it seemed like the wind itself, awakening a hallucinating perfume. 

She danced for hours and the more she danced, the more she aroused everyone’s attention and admiration… especially from Logan, who seemed to be intoxicated, entranced and surrendered. 

Ororo stopped, making her traveling companions wonder if she had grown tired, but in reality she was pausing to receive a beautiful gift from the basket Nereel carried in her hands: a snake, with skin of the seven colors of the rainbow.

As soon as she catched the snake, Ororo continued the dance, only more slowly: the way she moved her belly and her hips, accompanying the movements of her eyes made you think that the snake and the wind rider had become one with the snake in her hands.

At this moment, Logan felt bold: he crawled to come closer to the beautiful dancer, and asked her:

“If I kissed the mouth of the snake, would you give me a kiss in the mouth? ”

The Storm didn’t say a word: instead, she answered by bringing the face of the snake closer to the Wolverine . And grinning, showing no hesitance, he kissed the mouth of the snake.

His friends opened their jaws, shocked with the scene in the front of them. 

Ka-Zar and Shanna simply smiled, admiring what they were seeing.

Ororo put the snake to rest over her shoulders, and walked to the side, in the direction of a basket, full of the yellow flowers dripping with golden honey, which catched with her hands.

Then, she returned to the center of the circle and approached Logan, and with her fingertips, smeared his mouth with honey: 

“Drink the honey, my friend. ”

Before taking his face between her hands to kiss him.

When the two kissed, Nereel blew a buffalo horn: this was a call for everyone sitting and watching to rise up on their feet and dance around the two passionate friends.

Ka-Zar and Shanna led the surprised guests from the outside world, in a hand joined dance of people that moved through the center of the festivities like a giant snake.

~oOoOo~

The fire was over. The light was brought by the stars and the fireflies.

And into a tent away from the shacks, holding hands, entered the Storm and the Wolverine .

The two undressed away from any adorns, and sitting over a storm mat held each other in a tight embrace.

Ororo whispered into Logan’s ear:

“And so as we dream of the world, the world dreams of us.”

And he answered, whispering into her ear while caressing her long hair:

“And this day is the dream of the world.”

And so, love was made.

 ~oOoOo~

Long tale, narrow way,

I've finished, so now say your say.

(*Last lines of dialogue between Ororo and Logan were said by a saurian priest during the wedding of a Fall People woman with a saurian in Ka-Zar (Vol. 4) #1)

[empressofthesunwriter]

Cosmic Phantoms

What do you get if you put a sassy Half-Ghost, a bubbly Magical Ghostly Girl, a strongwilled Goth and a skirt-chasing Tech-Nerd together?

Well, the greatest Ghost Hunting Team on Earth!

Join Danny, Julia, Sam and Tucker on their crazy adventures.

Puberty is a joke against the forces they are up to!

We can all agree that Sam blackmailing Danny and Tucker with a picture of them hugging was homophobic, so I changed it up.

And with that, please read and comment!

Two of a Kind

(*)

Night has fallen over Amity Park and at the harbour ghosts roam the scene.

Who are these ghosts you might ask?

Well, the local half-ghosts Danny Phantom and Julie Cosmos are hunting any ghosts who came out of Fenton's Ghost Portal to return them to their world.

Currently, they follow after a portly ghost in overalls.

Phantom punches him through a warehouse, but the ghost phases through a wall and crashes into a pile of boxes.

The Halfa's also phases through the wall, and the three turn visible.

"Beware! I am the Box Ghost!" shouts the Ghost, gesturing at the boxes around him. "I have power over all containers, cardboard and square."

"Okay, can we get this over with? We've got a test to study for.", says Phantom annoyed.

"Study? There will be no time to study--", Box Ghost's hand begin to glow green and he raises boxes into the air "--when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of...", he reads off a shipping label" "Elliot Kravitz of Arlington Heights, Illinois!"

He turns to Phantom and Cosmos, his eyes and the floating boxes glowing green, and sends the boxes and their contents flying at them. Unimpressed both teens turn intangible and the contents hit the wall behind him.

"We don't have time for this!", reminds Cosmos with crossed arms.

"Hey Tucker, let's go!", calls Phantom their backup.

Tucker and Sam kick down the door and jump into the room.

He is carrying a Fenton Thermos and she a biology textbook.

The Techic-Lover opens the Fenton Thermos and activates it.

"Good night everybody!"

Phantom grabs the Box Ghost, throwing him into the beam of the thermos. He screams and gets sucked in.

Smug Tucker caps the thermos.

"Perimeter secure."

"Perimeter secure?", repeats Sam. "What are you, a Navy Seal?"

Phantom and Cosmos land beside their friends as Phantom gives his answer: "Seals: aquatic mammals that bark. They're canines, right?"

Sam checks the biology book.

"Wrong. That's zero for twenty-one."

"Seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals.", answers now Cosmos.

"Right. That's twenty-one out of twenty-one."

"I'm no teacher, but I'm guessing that's an 'F' for Danny and an 'A' for Julie.", mussed Tucker while spinning the thermos on a finger.

"Come on, you guys.", bemoans Phantom. "If you're gonna be superheroes sidekicks, you're gonna have to be a little more focused. You, Sam, are supposed to be helping me study for the test tomorrow. You Tucker you're supposed to be helping me catch these ghosts so I have time to study! And you Julie as my partner have to help me fight this ghost and not show off how smart you are!"

"I'm not showing off.", says Cosmos annoyed, her arms crossed. "We just had this unit in my Gynamsium before I moved her. Sorry that I still remember it."

Phantom makes a face and signs.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just frustrated."

Tucker, who still spins the thermos on one finger laughs: "Relax, buddy, they're all right here."

Of course, at this moment, the thermos falls off of Tucker's finger and onto the ground.

The word "RELEASE" appears on its side screen and the cap bursts off to release multiple ghosts in business suits, who phase out of the building. The Box Ghost is also released and flies into the air.

"Ha ha! I am the Box Ghost! You cannot hold me within the confines of a-", he laughs and mimics the shape of the thermos with his hands. "-cylindrical container."

With that, he phases also out of the building.

"That's weird.", mumbles Tucker checking his PDA. "According to my schedule, we should be done catching ghosts by now."

This earns him twin looks of annoyance from Phantom and Cosmos.

None of them wiser that a certain ghost, who hunts rare ghosts, set his eyes on them.

(*)

Our quartet are in the school library, just got their tests back.

Sam, Tucker and Julia all did good but...

"I got a D?!", cries Danny desperately. "All this ghost hunting is taking away from my study time."

"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses.", jokes Tucker.

Julia, who is sitting at a computer with Sam, turns around and hisses: "Be nice Tucker!", before she looks at what Sam is researching.

"I can't get a D in biology. My parents will kill me.", says Danny.

"Not if you pull your grade up by doing an extra credit biology assignment...", tells Sam showing him the website Julia and she were looking. "On this magnificent creature."

"A purple-back gorilla?", reads Danny a-loud.

"Yep. Extremely rare. Only two left, both male. After this, they're gone forever. Which is why you are going to prove he deserves to be set free.", proclaims Sam excitedly.

"Sam, honey, this is not going to turn into you changing the menu and we had to fight the Lunch Lady Ghost.", reminds Julia.

"Exactly. I don't have time for extra credit...or your agendas.", agrees Danny.

"Actually, you do.", disagrees Tucker. "You just have to learn how to manage it better. I decided to become your time manager. It's the least I can do after Sam made me let all those ghosts out."

For that, the girls give him the evil eye.

He was the one who let this ghost lose!

Danny signs: " I don't know."

"It'll be my job to keep track of your schedule so you can do your schoolwork and catch all those ghosts that Sam let loose."

Sam and Julia glare harder at Tucker.

"Remember what happened when I let you manage the thermos?", asks Danny.

"And I've already scheduled 'Remember: not to let Tucker handle the thermos.'"

"I suppose we could have a trial period."

"See? I've also scheduled some zoo time so we can check out that gorilla. Let's go."

So the quartet leaves the library to go there.

It's actually quite nice from the zoo that they can watch Sampson from an observation tower.

Only there is one problem.

It's boring as hell!

"There he is: Sampson. So gifted, so...majestic.", says Sam in awe, while watching the gorilla through binoculars.

The other three lean bored and tired on a desk.

"Sam, we've been watching the gorilla scratch his butt for, um, how long?", wonder Danny.

"Six hours.", answers Tucker yawning.

"How time flies when you scratch your butt majestically.", adds Julia, also yawing.

"It's only a matter of time before Danny finds out something about Sampson nobody's ever learned!", tells Sam. "You should go and try to communicate with him."

The Goth turn around only to frown at a sleeping Danny on the floor.

"Ugh, great. Tucker, you're his manager, can you--"

She stops as she sees Tucker curled up asleep next to Danny.

"Julie, please help."

No chance, the red-haired girl, is beside Tucker, also sleeping.

Then Danny and Tucker turn to each other, cuddling, while Julia spoons Tucker. All three start to suck their thumbs like babies.

"I'll do it. But first...", grins Sam mischely and takes a Polaroid Picture of the three. "Sucking thumbs makes any yearbook funny."

With that Sam leaves them to watch Sampson up closer and the three sleep like babies.

Well, till they hear a gorilla pounding hard at the wall next to them.

It wakes the three up, who scream and, realizing they're still holding each other and sucking their thumbs, let go and scream again.

They then see Sampson and scream once again.

"Gorilla! Loose!", shouts Tucker.

"I got him! I'm going ghost!"

Danny turns into Phantom picking Sampson up by the arms and phasing him through the wall outside into the air and back in his cage.

The others joined him there.

"Danny, I meant to tell you, there was a gho--"

Phantom doesn't let Sam speak to the end.

"I wonder who let the gorilla go...Sam?"

"Yeah. Wait 'til we tell everybody at school you let out a four-hundred-pound gorilla.", adds Tucker grinning.

Unimpressed Sam holds up the Polaroid Picture she made earlier.

Julia blushed, while Phantom and Tucker agreed they would say nothing.

Sam smiles in triumph.

(*)

The next day our quartet goes to Danny's home.

They find his parents and Jazz talking to a woman in a business suit and tape recorder.

As Maddie sees how tired Danny looks she tutts gently: "Danny, look at you! I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research."

"Mom, come on. We're just a bunch of kids. In the zoo. At night. Alone."

Everyone stares at him.

Way to make it sound suspicious.

"We'll be in my room."

The four teens go up.

They reach Danny's bedroom door and Tucker tells him: "Here we go, Danny. Home in time for some well-deserved rest."

His PDA beeps and he checks it.

"But keep it quick, because you've got thirteen minutes."

Suddenly Danny's ghost sense goes off and Julia's necklace burns.

He opens his bedroom door and Skulker, the ghost who hunts ghosts, turns visible in the doorway.

"Hello, Ghost Children."

Skulker traps the two halfa's in a net and pulls them into Danny's room, the door slamming shut behind him.

They can hear how their friends yell for them, while this imposante metal ghost stands before them.

"The human ghost children in their natural habitat.", musses Skulker.

"Who are you?", asks Danny.

"I am Skulker.  A collector of things rare and unique. And you, Ghost Children, are that and more."

The metal ghost laughs and stomps on a model rocket.

"Hey, my rocket! I built that!", yells Danny.

"Pity, though. I'd hoped you two would put up more of a fight."

"Oh, don't worry.", says Julia as she and Danny transform and phase through the net. "We will!"

Together they punch Skulker so that he crashes into a wall.

The bigger ghost growls.

A wild and chaotic fight breaks out between the three since they are in a room and Cosmos and Phantom don't want to destroy Phantom's room.

Skulker has less worry and just attacks them with his weapons and Phantom furniture.

At one point Skulker throws even Phantom's computer at them, till Phantom remember it's his sister.

The metal ghost managed to slam them both through the ground, into the kitchen, landing on the kitchen table and destroying it.

Both Phantom and Cosmos hurt and feel dizzy.

Skulker jumps down through the ceiling in front of them.

"Come, Ghost Boy and Ghost Girl. Time to see your new home."

He grabs Phantom and Cosmos and phases them through the floor into the lab, the teens yelling along the way.

When they are in the lab Skulker holds Cosmos under one arm and Phantom by his throat.

"What are you doing?", demands Phantom to know.

"Bringing you back to my world, where I can put you two on display."

"What?!", shout the two Halfa's shocked.

The Ghost-Ghosthunter presses a button on his wrist that turns on the nearby Ghost Portal.

"Ha! At last.", laughs Skukler in triumph, walking with his prey towards the portal. "Time to put you in your cage."

"Noooo!"., yells Phantom, while Cosmos cries: "Please not!"

Out of nowhere, Sam slides between Skulker and the portal, holding her arms out to block him.

"No is right, Danny and Julie. Cages are wrong. How do you think Sampson feels being in a cage?"

"But--", stutters Skulker surprised.

"He's a beautiful animal and deserves to roam free!"

"I..."

"Should be ashamed."

Phantom takes advantage of Skulker being distracted and kicks him across the room freeing Cosmos from his grip.

Skulker goes flying towards Tucker, who yells and runs out of the way before the ghost lands.

As he sits up, Skulker sees Tucker's dropped PDA next to the fallen Tucker and picks it up.

"That technology: so sleek, so...advanced.", says the ghost in aww. Then looks at the old control panel on his wrist, then back at PDA. "Hmm, I wonder..."

He yanks the busted, outdated control panel off of his armour and drops it on the floor, then replaces its slot with the PDA.

The PDA begins to spark and the dangling wires wave around.

"Hey, I got three more payments on that!", whines Tucker.

Unimpressed Skulker smacks Tucker away with his hand and looks back at his wrist.

"Marvelous."

The dangling wires connect to the PDA, causing Skulker to glow.

Cosmos and Phantom fly at him, but Skulker fires new ecto-blasters from his wrists back at them.

Both hit the wall, their arms and legs bound by ectoplasm.

"Way to go, Tucker. You just made the bad guy more bad!", scolds Sam him.

"How was I supposed to know my PDA was ghost-compatible?", he shoots back.

Skulker stands before the captured Halfa's.

"Say goodbye to this world, children."

Points his wrist at them.

Suddenly the PDA beeps and he looks at it.

"What?", Skulker wondered and read aloud: "Fly to the library? Get a book on the eating habits of purple-back gorillas?"

His jetpack pops out and turns on, blasting him towards the ceiling.

"No, stop. The hunt is not over!"

He phases through the ceiling and invisibly passes up through the living room.

At the same moment, the ectoplasmic binds on Phantom and Cosmos disappear.

"What happened?", asks Sam, helping her two friends up.

"Who cares? At least I got a minute to relax and figure this out.", says Phantom.

That's when they hear how Phantom's mom knocks on his bedroom door and calls for him.

Like a rocket, he phases back into his room.

Cosmos detransforms and she and Sam look after Tucker.

Luckily the hit from SKulker didn't hurt him.

A wonder!

(*)

Nerveoulsy Danny and Julia look around as they step up the stairs to Casper High, Tucker and Sam of course with them.

"Any sign of him?", asks Danny into the round.

"Nope.", tells Tucker and checks his new PDA. "He hasn't bothered you and Julie for...thirty-eight minutes. Maybe he's hunting somebody else now."

"That would be a dream come true.", mumbles Julia.

"How many of those things do you have?", refers Sam to Tucker PDA.

"Just two. Good thing I beamed all your info in here and backed it up. Global thinking, Danny: the sign of a quality time manager."

The PDA beeps and reads "GO TO CLASS!" Tucker pushes Danny into the school.

"Come on, you're late."

The others follow after him.

After their English hour with Mr. Lancer, they walk up together to Danny's locker.

As students leave the hallway, Danny opens his locker.

A series of glowing chains jump out of it and wrap around Danny's and Julia's torso and arms.

Tucker and Sam shout for their best friends.

Skulker materializes out of a blue mist in front of the Halfa's.

"I have you now, children."

He readies his blaster at them but gets interrupted again by the PDA.

"What? "Go to the newsstand and purchase a magazine with an article about purple-back gorillas?""

Skulker's jetpack activates and he flies up, crashing through the school's ceiling.

The chains on Danny and Julia dissipate.

Curious Tucker checks his PDA.

"Hmm, I have the same thing on mine."

"I think we'll blow that one off.", says Dann, with Julia nodding along.

At Lunch, they sit on the bleachers on the football field.

Only Danny nor Julia can eat.

"Julie, Danny, eat something.", says Sam.

"I can't eat now.", answered Danny, looking around. "He could be anywhere."

"I'm with Danny, I am way too nervous to eat.", agrees Julia.

"Hey, this food was scheduled to be eaten.", musses Tucker and opens Danny's milk carton.

Two glowing blue orbs pop out of it and wrap themselves around Danny's and Julia's heads.

They yell.

"Danny! Julie!", yell also Sam and Tucker.

Skulker steps on the bleachers.

"Now, boy and girl, once more, I, Skulker, shall--" His PDA beeps and he reads aloud: ""Take photos of gorilla?""

His jetpack activates and he flies away.

The restraints on Danny and Julia disappear.

"Well, at least he's regular.", points Sam out.

"Yeah, almost like a schedule.", realizes Danny. "What's the next thing you have scheduled for me, Tucker?"

"Gym. Why?"

"Oh I think Danny has a hunch!", grins Julia, seeing the mischievous smile on her friend's face.

Indeed he had a hunch, which he proved with the gym hour.

When Skulker put Tucker's PDA into his technology, he became bound to Danny's schedule.

He has to go where Danny was going to go next.

It was time they hunted now the hunter!

(*)

Skulker was watching Sampson in his habitat through his binoculars from a tree.

Annoyed he put them down.

"Where are they? According to this infernal device--" The PDA playing the game Pong. "--which I cannot reprogram-- the ghost boy and with him the ghost girl was supposed to be here an hour ago."

The ghost jumps down and frustrated yells at Sampson: "You were supposed to be the bait, you stupid animal."

"Sampson" turns around to reveal Sam and Tucker holding up a fake Sampson suit.

"Sampson's not stupid!", correct Sam angry.

"He's also not here.", tells Tucker, holding his PDA and a STylus in his hands. "Can I take a message?"

"You two! You'll pay for this!", promises Skukler, aiming multiple weapons at them.

Sam throws off the Sampson suit, while Tucker chirps: "Oh, I don't think so..."

Tucker presses "SEND" on his PDA.

Skulker's PDA beeps and he checks it.

"Time for push-ups." What?!"

He tries to resist as his body automatically starts doing push-ups.

"Stop! Stop! I can't...stop!"

Phantom and Cosmos fly into the cage.

"We can help with that.", they choruse together.

They fly at Skulker and punch him into the wall of the habitat.

Phantom then punches him five more times, while Cosmos shoots her silver ectoplasm blast at him as pieces of metal fly off Skulker's suit. Skulker dodges another punch and blast before he aims an eco-blaster on his shoulder at the Halfa's.

"Ah-ah-ah. 10:11, polish armor.", tuts Tucker and sends the command.

Skulker's blaster turns into a buffer and he starts screaming as it polishes his face.

"Stop fooling around, Tucker.", scolds Sam.

"Power him down already.", says Phantom.

"Now, please!", adds Cosmos.

"Relax.", answers Tucker, waving his PDA around. "Everything's totally under--"An arrow hits the PDA and pins it to the tree. "--control? Aw, man! I had four more payments on this one!"

The arrow came from Skulker's bow.

"Tucker, you're fired.", tells Phantom annoyed.

"Very well.", begins Skulker, putting the bow away. "I planned on simply capturing you and letting you two live the rest of your lives in a cage. But now, I will rest your pelt at the foot of my bed, boy and you girl, your pelt will decorate my trophy room."

Cosmos makes a disgusted face, while Sam speaks out her thoughts: "Okay, that's just gross."

"Well, Ghost Boy and Ghost Girl any last words?"

"Danny?", whisper-shoutes Cosmos.

"Just this.", says Phantom patting his head, covering his eyes repeatedly and pounding his chest with fists.

All stare at him.

The most Skulker.

"What are you doing?"

Phantom is now kneeling and scratching his butt.

"Calling a friend."

Sampson suddenly flies in and crashes into Skulker.

"You learned his language?", says Sam surprised.

"Well, sure. All he does is this.", explains Phantom, still scratching his butt.

The purple-back gorilla continuously hits Skulker and rips his armor apart, as Phantom, Cosmos, Sam, and Tucker both cheer him on and wince at the hits.

Sampson then throws Skulker, whose arm has been ripped off, down on the ground.

"But I still don't understand why a ghost needed a high-tech battle suit," Tucker said, wondering what everyone had been thinking.

It didn't make sense.

Only it did, as Sampson continued to demolish the suit.

Skulker's head armour was thrown, and Phantom caught it.

Two small green legs kicked out from inside the head.

"Let me go! I am the Skulker! The Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!", yells a squeaky voice.

Phantom pulls on the legs to reveal Skulker's true form: a tiny green blob with a face and limbs.

The quartet is shocked.

"I am the greatest hunter in all of Ghost World. You will all fear me.", continues the little blob to yell.

"Naww.", gushes Cosmos. "He would be cute if he didn't want our pelts!"

This makes Phantom snort.

"Thermos, please."

Cosmos holds the thermos out and activates it and Phantom drops Skulker into its beam.

"You haven't seen the last of me! I shall capture you all. You shall all be mine. Mine, do you hear?!"

Elegant Cosmos closes the thermos.

"Maybe in your next life, shortie."

"Julie, he is already dead."

"Oh yeah, true Sam."

Phantom and Cosmos detransform.

"Let's go home, guys.", says Danny.

"But you didn't get anything you could use for your report. You're still gonna get a D.", reminds Sam.

Danny kneels down to pick up Skulker's PDA.

"Ah, that's okay. We stopped the bad guy, saved the gorilla. If that's all I got done, then that's-- "

He trails off as he sees Sampson stepping closer to him.

Danny turns to look up at him but is shocked at what he sees.

 "Oh my gosh!"

(*)

"Brooding genius Daniel Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do. He got close enough to this rare purple-back gorilla to realize Sampson was actually a Delilah.", read Mr. Lancer the next day aloud the article about Danny in the Genius Magazine to the whole class. Stupidify he turns to Danny. "Nobody at that zoo ever bothered to see if it was a boy or a girl?"

"That's weird, huh?", agrees Danny. "Well, maybe they were respecting her privacy."

"Well, Fenton, I have to admit I'm impressed. Wanted to get your grade up so bad, you risked getting mauled by a gorilla."

Mr. Lancer puts his new grade on his desk.

Danny can't believe it.

"A C?! I almost get killed by a gho--rilla, and all I get is a C?!"

"Life's a big mystery, isn't it, Fenton?"

The school bell rings and their classmates walk out.

Before Mr. Lancer leaves he advises Danny: "Next time you want to get your grade up, try the library."

His friends step to a frustrated Danny.

"Well, it's better than a D, right?", tries Sam to cheer him up.

Julia nods along.

"And at least you can say you were on a genius magazine cover. Lancer was just salty because he wasn't."

"Yeah, thanks.", signs Danny still frustrated. "Oh man, if only I had something I could take this out on!"

Suddenly the quartet heard the Box Ghost yelling at a box of files in the back of the classroom.

"I am the Box Ghost! And once I empty you of your useless papers, your marvellous squareness shall be mine!", laughs the portly ghost evilly.

"Hello, misplaced aggression.", grins Danny as he goes ghost.

"I will leave this to you!", smiles Julia.

Tucker checks his newest PDA.

"You've got five minutes."

"Which is four more than I'll need. "

With that his three friends look on with smiles as Phantom kicks the Box Ghost behind, all the while the ghost screaming beware.

(*)

I hope you liked how I solved the picture problem. ^^

Thanks for reading and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!

[dansnaturepictures]

Ten of my favourite photos I took in October 2024 and month summary

The photos are of; fly agaric at Matley Wood in the New Forest, shaggy scalycaps at Lakeside Country Park, Kingfisher at Blashford Lakes, Speckled Wood, Migrant Hawker, Mottled shieldbugs and view at Lakeside, autumn leaves in Winchester and Michaelmas daisies and New Forest Pony at Lymington.

October was a fantastic month of fungi for me. In the peak season I treasured seeing many spectacular, gorgeous and fascinating species including fly agaric, devil's fingers, amethyst deceiver, yellow stagshorn, shaggy scalycap, candlesnuff fungi, bleeding fairy helmet, eyelash fungi, parasol, turkey tail, earthballs, panthercap, false death cap, sulphur tuft and waxcaps. It has also been nice to see slime mould including red raspberry slime mould at a few places and lichen and moss.

I had a brilliant birdwatching month too with some special species seen heading well into autumn. Key species seen were a fair few Kingfishers, Water Rail, Great White Egret, Greenshank, Avocet, Lapwing, Jack Snipe, Sanderling, Common Gull, Pochard, Gadwall, Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveler, Teal, Goosander, Brent Geese, Egyptian Geese, Little Grebe, Marsh Harriers, Siskin, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, lots of Jays seen in their active time of year, notable Ravens at Lakeside and home, Dunnock, Blackcap at Lakeside, Cetti's Warbler, Wren and Long-tailed Tit. Turnstones and Ringed Plover seen well, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coots and Greylag Geese at Lakeside, Jackdaw and Magpie seen a lot, Red Kite in Winchester, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Chaffinch, Grey Wagtail seen well and Pied Wagtail were also great to see. Glorious scenes came this month with the return of the Redwings a key bird of the autumn and winter, I was elated to see a Hen Harrier and I was thrilled to see the Winchester Peregrines and Lakeside Great Crested Grebes including their chicks a lot.

There were some nice butterflies to see still with lots of Speckled Woods especially at Lakeside, Red Admiral and Peacock and I was amazed to see a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in Winchester as well as other moths. Dragonflies and damselflies continued to shine this month with so many splendid views of Migrant Hawkers and Southern Hawker and Common Darters too. My first Willow Emerald Damselfly of the year was special to see at Fishlake Meadows. Other insects I enjoyed seeing this month were Mottled shieldbugs and other shieldbugs, wasps and hornets. It was good to see lots of spiders this month too including Long-bodied Cellar spider at home and snails and slugs. In terms of mammals I enjoyed seeing the also active Grey Squirrels a few times, Roe and Fallow Deers and New Forest Ponies.

Key flowers seen this month included Michaelmas daisies, forget-me-not, comfrey, lots of oxtongue, dandelion, tormentil, bell heather, common mallow, white deadnettle, stinging nettle, daisy, water mint, vervain, viper's-bugloss, horseweed, common and ivy-leaved toadflax, hogweed, yarrow, hedge woundwort, ragwort, gorse, dock, herb-Robert and wood avens which brought some wonderful colour as it quietened down for flowers. Wild carrot, teasel, hemp agrimony and spear thistle were among pretty seed heads enjoyed this month with cleavers enjoyed too. There was also a great display of berries this month again with rose hips, hawthorn berries, guelder rose berries, dogwood berries, nightshade berries and snowberries creating vibrant scenes.

And of course this month the splendour of autumn's colour was captivating and wholesome to observe. I also enjoyed taking in many great other vistas this month including coast, reedbed and general wetland, rivers and New Forest heaths and woodland. There were some special sky scenes observed this month too. Have a great November all.

[ladyelysandra]

Pomegranates and Tea Leaves

Such a beautiful title! <3

After Helen and Nikola leave the archaeological excavations in Egypt, Nikola returns to Cairo where he’s heard rumours of an interesting discovery at the recently established university. Helen, meanwhile, gets lured away by an old contact of hers - the promise of as of yet undiscovered sand-dwelling abnormals only hinted at in folktales is more than enough to rouse her interest. Nikola meets up with her at her contact’s country home a couple of days later, pulling up in an open motorcar in front of a whitewashed, well-kept house with a luxurious green garden. There he finds Helen, indeed studying some kind of little mammal playing on the ground as she sits in the shade of an old tree. Clad in a white dress and hat, with a sketchbook on her knees and a forgotten cup of tea next to a bowl of pomegranate seeds on a little table next to her, the scene looks like a painting he wants to spend hours looking at. But then she turns, and smiles, and each and every thought of silent contemplation instantly flees his mind.

... something like that maybe? :)