#stink bug hunter
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isopodbrood ¡ 4 months ago
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couple pics of a four-banded stinkbug hunter that could be better. these babies move fast, burrow in sand, and as the name suggests, their main diet comprises of brown marmorated stink bugs.
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zz-kitty-zz ¡ 24 days ago
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ZZ, the best hunter ever... 🙄🤣
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oops-its-a-fanwork ¡ 2 years ago
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Borrowed the one piece pirate au from @mega-punani again, check 'm out! Part 2 of reader with different devil fruit abilities:
Reader with devil fruit: Communication fruit!
After eating the fruit, you have gained the ability to have some degree of communication with any other living being based on its intelligence/sentience, its needs and its ability to communicate. For example: you may communicate very simple concepts with plants (intelligence), like if they've gotten enough sunlight (the plant's needs), by touching or being near them, as plants don't communicate with body language or sound but with chemicals (their way of communicating). You can't ask a plant if they've seen a specific person though, because the plant can't see or hear, and likely wont recognize who walked past. A falcon, however, might be asked to look for someone with a certain description, and can communicate back with some details it's seen and the direction they're headed in, bc they're a hunter who uses sight to track prey!
Communicating with people is more like we're used to, but there's still some things to note. You can now communicate with anyone speaking any language, and you can hear the intention they speak with. The effect is not applicable to written text though, Cowabummer :( Additionally, you can't lie in languages you are not fluent in, since people will always hear the intention you're speaking with. You have adapted to this by being some definition of blunt, but since your intention can be felt when you speak, its rare for people to get mad at you for this: it always feels sincere, even if it would sound rough from someone else. However if you're mad at someone, its near impossible for them not to feel some of that spite.
On to the boys!
Lie detection? Is that supposed to intimidate you? Sorry Sans, but that's just your life. Your honesty is probably what got his attention in the first place, and even after learning the reason for it he still truly appreciates it. You talk and joke together all the time, and you're always bugging him about using his judgement on the flies and fish around the ship to see if it works. He tells you it wouldn't work because a fly doesn't need to lie. You agree but you pester him about it anyway. He's not a huge fan of you being able to detect his true feelings (how's your own power taste sucker!), but you always handle them with respect which he appreciates. In fact, being on the receiving end of something like this makes him a little bit more considerate towards the people he uses his judgement eye on. Mainly because you're right next to them giving him the stink eye, though.
Oh so refreshing, someone as genuine as Papyrus is like a breath of fresh air! He just says what he feels, and its usually positive too! You're a little less likely to become a blushing mess if he flirts with you while intending it platonically, but the amount of genuine positivity he showers you with may leave you flustered anyway. You help him out in the garden a lot, and he is very happy to have you tell him exactly what each plant needs. You both have, in the past, named some of the plants for fun. But you guys got attached... Now plants only get a name if they either live for a long time (like Patricia the grapevine) or if they can be named after the dish they will be used in (like Stir-Fry the cauliflower).
Blue often brings interesting plants and animals onto the ship to ask you what they're saying. It's usually something along the line of 'God help me I'm gonna get eaten by this big strong predator!-' but you can usually help ease the creature into relaxing. You both admire them for a bit and ask some questions, then put it back where you found it. ...Unless it says it wants to stay here, where it feels safe and protected. The both of you are softies, and Edge has had to chase both of you quite a few times in order to stop the ship from turning into the ark of Noah. Although the time you guys managed to sneak in a pair of ostriches and their young and hide them away for 2 days was admittedly quite impressive!
Stretch doesn't believe you when you say you can't lie. That would be awfully convenient wouldn't it? He won't fall for those kinds of lies, no matter how charming you are. And then Sans has to ruin it by saying you're not lying when you say that. That being said… Please stop giving him genuine compliments. He can feel how true they are to you and how is he supposed to respond to that?? He's gonna damage his banjo with how hard he grips it when you do that, give a guy a break! He kinda wishes he could make you feel his true intentions when he sings to you… Well, here's to trying right? At some point he might try to play and sing songs in different languages for you, just to see when you can or can't understand the lyrics. It's a fun little experiment for you both, and it makes him try way more different genres and cultural classics than before. It's a real win-win!
Hey another blunt person! Welcome to the club darlin'. Oh you didn't intend to be? That's still hilarious love. Red can really appreciate both someone who's very honest and clear, and someone he can tease. So whether you're a blunt hard worker who doesn't take shit, or a slightly bashful person who just can't lie even if they wanted to, this is a great deal for him. When he tells you you're cute he means it and he thrives of of your flustered reactions. He asks you to tell the rats to fuck off not chew on important stuff on the ship, and to tell Doomfanger to stop snitching on him to Edge when she catches him lazing about. Which leads to him being effectively extorted into giving her some of his dinner every day. Edge is gonna notice eventually anyway, either because he realizes she does it less, or because he notices her getting chubby.
I think that since Edge loves archeology, he might be interested in different cultures as well as their histories. That being said, you have some stories to tell him about different places you have visited and the stories people told, and the both of you ask locals about interesting historical events and myths from the area when you get the chance to. You even share a little notebook you write these down in, and you only occasionally doodle little drawings next to the texts. He loves tolerates them, and only nags about them when they bleed onto the next page. Speaking of which, Edge's nagging is incredibly endearing when you can feel how sweet his intentions are. There's no intimidation factor left to be honest. You make sure to treat him sweetly in response, resulting in a slightly confused, but pleased (and bright red) skeleton.
Razz thinks your skills could make communicating with the locals about the surrounding area much easier! Not that he wants to talk to anyone mind you, but he'll have you act as an interpreter for him when necessary. Not to mention you being able to talk to fish and other water creatures makes mapping underwater areas interesting option too! It's never been done before, which sounds like a challenge for someone magnificent~ ! Boasting aside, it truly is a genuinely good and helpful idea! Locating jagged rocks for boats to avoid could make areas much safer to navigate and could open up new trade routes for locals in rough territory. Not to mention locating sunken ships full of treasure sounds like a real adventure!
You can immediately pick up on it if Cash wants something for suspicious reasons, (and, more rarely, for non-suspicious reasons,) which makes you one of the very few people able to understand his reasoning and intentions pretty quickly (not as good as Razz, but pretty close in such a short time). This makes him... awkward, for a while. He can't even hide behind a mischievous mask with you when his intentions change from "bothering you because he's bored" to "bothering you because he wants your affection attention". He comes around after you insist on being around him and treating him kindly even after, well, everything, and it makes him especially soft on you. He's still a mischievous dork, of course, but he's very relaxed with you, to the point where you could even nap in the same room as him and not get pranked!! ...occasionally ;3
…oh no.... You're talking to the herbs in Paps' garden again. You do realize we're gonna eat that right?? Do you really want to become friends with it??? Bear actually isn't entirely wrong there: you can't join him when he's preparing fresh food, but luckily most fruits and veggies are not an entire plant, but only a part of one. You have also assured him that you have come to terms with the fact that something has to die in order for you to eat: that's just nature, you see it around you all the time. He actually really appreciates that sentiment more than you may have realized, given what he and Cinnamon went through. He may not tell you that, but you can feel the relief in his sigh. This also makes him feel more at ease creating vegetarian dishes just for you if you'd prefer them: you're not judging anyone on the ship for choosing otherwise.
Welcome to the extra senses club!! You and Cinnamon talk and relate a lot about the ways you perceive the world, and the way the world perceives the both of you. Actually, Cinnamon turns into a bit of a philosopher when you talk about yourself and about the life experiences of different creatures. You two have long conversations about the importance of intentions, the way different experiences can shape someones life and other such topics. These conversations are surprisingly positive for someone who has been through so much, but you suppose you couldn't expect anything less from a sweetheart like him. Don't tell him you think that though, for the moment you do (or give him any other kind of compliment) the conversation is cut short by him furiously trying to hide blushing face.
Snippets:
Sometimes the boys will have the interesting experience of finding you talking to the air below deck, only to find that you're actually talking to an insect or another little critter. Or to Doomfanger, since you two hang out a lot.
Edge and Razz are a little disappointed you cant actually speak a 100 different languages (cuz that'd be hot), however they would scream in delight if they found out you could talk to ancient creatures and mythical beings should you ever encounter them. What are they saying??? Secret knowledge about days long past, cities lost to the sea ages ago?? The answer to questions about the universe? The meaning of life itself-- "The weather is nice today isn't it?" "Yes, truly! This sun feels marvelous on my scales." "Oh they look amazing in this light, is that iridescence? That's so cool-"
You can actually get a free pass through certain sea monsters'/creatures' areas if you play your cards right (and if the boys don't immediately do something stupid). Perks of being able to talk to huge terrifying creatures! They tend to be of somewhat similar intelligence to humans/monsters, they just communicate differently.
Papyrus will sometimes help you and blue hide another creature on the ship, however Edge has implored him to tell him immediately if you guys have a creature and he's very conflicted about who to be loyal to… you guys just don't tell him unless you have to now, to save him the stress. (and to avoid Edges wrath)
Same thing for Cinnamon, except instead of it being a loyalty problem, he just can't lie to safe his life. If its a small animal however, he's your man. He's the only one actually allowed to keep a pet, since he actually takes care of them well and since they behave really well when they are with him. He'll keep the little critter with him until you guys can find them a good home on another island.
Sometimes, when you've talked to the sea dwellers of the area for a while while sailing through, they might help you out when you fall overboard. Everyone is very surprised when you fall overboard, only to be brought back up by a group of dolphins! You did promise them lunch for their little rescue though, so the rest of the day is spent fishing for them. Opinions on that are mixed.
You and Cash overhear someone telling the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and immediately decide to bother stretch about it. Surprisingly, he was bored and amused enough to go along with it, and it actually somewhat worked? With a combination of bargaining and convincing using your translation skills, you manage to recreate the scene with stretch playing his banjo (since he refused to use the flute Cash "grabbed" for him) and a row of dancing rats following behind. In the aftermath there's a lot of startled cries and laughing from the witnesses, but also an unexpected information network of rats, communicating through interpretive-rat-dance and banjo music when you're not around... What an interesting day!
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puffin-smoke ¡ 4 months ago
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Two days ago y'all saw Duarte at their lowest. Duarte trying to fix a mistake they had made years ago and being met with a brick wall. So let's see what got them here. Let's talk about:
Natalie Rollins and the Worst Mistake Duarte Ever Made
please ignore my theatrical ass, i'm very excited :DD
Duarte first met Natalie a month into their hunting career. They were bright eyed and bushy tailed, earning the nickname Lightningbug at every turn. She'd only done a few successful hunts, and for half-bloods that had bounties worth as much as dirt, but she was trying to claw her way to notoriety nonetheless. And for that she needed one big job.
She strolled into the inn where notices and bounties were posted one evening. She knew there'd be a notice up for a newly spotted electric eel half-blood, who had supposedly been electrocuting any hunters who got close. Perfect for Duarte. But when she got up to the notice board there was no poster in sight. She looked over to the barkeep, who was in charge of putting up the posters each day.
"Where the hell's that new eel poster? You not put it up yet?"
"Already taken, kid." They didn't look up from the glass they were polishing. They gestured vaguely towards a table on the far side of the room. "You still want it, take it up with her. She snagged it the moment I put it up."
Duarte followed his hand towards the table. That was where Natalie was sitting. Duarte swore and a few patrons gave her the stink eye.
Natalie was a well established hunter. She'd been in this game since she was eighteen and had built up a rapport with the other hunters over the years. So naturally she wasn't the biggest fan of Duarte. She tended to have that effect on people.
Undeterred, or maybe just a bit stupid, Duarte walked up to her and took a seat, grinning. She propped her boots up on the table. Just play it cool.
Natalie gave her one annoyed look over her drink and that was it. No other acknowledgement that she was there.
"So, Nat! How's your evening been?"
"Firstly, don't call me that. Second, just cut to the chase, I know why your here." She sighed and pushed Duarte's feet off the table. "And the answer is no. This is my bounty, fair and square."
Duarte drops the smile. "Oh come on, this is a big job- you can't handle this! "
Bad move. Duarte knew that. Natalie scoffed. "And you can?"
"Course I can!" She replies, entirely earnest. She was a damn good hunter, who just needed some good luck. She slowly leans towards Natalie,trying to inconspicuously snatch the poster and make a run for it. Natalie moves it away, unimpressed.
"Go find something else, Lightningbug."
"You know I hate being called that."
"Then leave."
And so she did, grumbling and swearing the whole time. But she'd be back. Duarte knew that Natalie liked to plan out her hunts in detail, and thus she'd be back on that table to flesh out her plan. Duarte still had a chance.
It'd be simple. Turn up the charm, befriend the hunter and snag the case. Easy. She could be charming. Probably. Maybe she could just bug her into handing it over.
So she shows up the next day, finding Natalie at that same table, nose deep in a book with sea creatures etched into the cover. Duarte pushes the book down so she can meet her eyes, and grins. Natalie looks back at her, unimpressed.
"You're back. Why am I not suprised?"
"I'm here to see if you've thought anymore about my offer?"
Natalie nearly laughs. "Your "offer" was you insulting me and trying to order me about. Not very convincing."
The conversation doesn't go anywhere from there and eventually Duarte leaves.
The next day is alot of the same. Natalie had a new book that was somehow thicker than the last volume, and Duarte once trying her hand at either annoying or persuading the hunter.
"...so, if you're so intent on doing this job, then why haven't you already?"
"I'm not about to get myself fried by going in half-cocked." She gestures to a diagram in her book. A detailed map of all of an electric eels organs and what they do, how the electricity is discharged, with several handwritten notes peppered around it. "Everything has a weakness. "
Duarte cocks her head, still not entirely sees the point. "Couldn't you figure out that by actually going to fight the damn thing?"
"I could also die. Not intent on doing that any time soon."
"Hm. Not what I would do."
"I'm sure."
After a few days of this, Duarte shows up early, and takes a seat before Natalie can get the chance. Natalie arrives a half hour later, her arms filled with parchment and a new book, this one a very uniform teal. She surveys Duarte critically.
"You're in my spot."
"There's room next to me, if you'd like."
Natalie for a moment looks as though she's assessing if she could throw a book hard enough to kill Duarte. Seeming to decide that would be too messy, she dumps her books on the table and takes a seat. "Fine. Don't touch my stuff."
Duarte nods and grins. Natalie spreads her papers across the table, each one of them with more detailed diagrams that Duarte didn't understand. Might as well find out. "What's all this for? Find the weakness yet?"
She'd meant it mildly mockingly, but Natalie didn't seem to take it that way. Or maybe she just ignored it. She ignored alot of things Duarte said. "It's the electricity that's tripping me up... it'll make it harder for me to grab them, and knives are out of the question."
Their mind whirrs. "What about blunt force? One knock to the back of the head, they'll be out like a light."
Natalie nods, as though conceding a point to her. "Could work. It's getting close that's the problem; this thing releases electrical impulses, so the half-blood'll probably do something similar."
"Hm. So what's the plan?"
For the first time, Natalie looked confused, but quickly set her features back, that stern, unreachable expression. "Well, I'm going to have to find some kind of insulator." Her eyes go back to scanning the parchment, the book. "It can't be wood- that's too clunky, this guy'll probably be slippery. I need to be fast."
Duarte noticed the emphasis on certain words. It was fine. It was a reminder. She was getting to mixed up in the fast pace of the conversation. It had been nice, a break from the hostility she treated most hunters with. Duarte swallows and snipes. "That'll be a first for you then. Sure you can handle it?"
"Oh fuck off." Natalie bats them in the chest, playfully yet spiteful. "If I couldn't handle it I would've given the job over to you, Lightningbug."
Duarte was half tempted to hit her back, but lowered her hand. "There's still time for that."
The hunter laughs. It's short, restrained, but tunic. "Still no."
Duarte sinks down into their seat, defeated. "Fine." A thought crosses her mind. A solution maybe. "Would leather work?"
Its a throwaway thought. Just her thinking out loud, fully prepared to be shot down. But Natalie doesn't. Her face, at times, is easy to read and this is one of them. Her eyes widen for a split second, the corner of her lips cinch. She's fascinated. Suprised. "Shit."
"Shit?"
The hunter stands. Thoughts flicker behind her eyes, a mile a minute. Duarte can't help but watch them. Natalie begins to collect her things, dumping them into her bag at random. "No- shit- that could work. That might work- how the hell didn't I think of that?"
Duarte smirked and set their hands behind her head, lounging as much as her chair would allow her. "That's just what happens when you work with the-"
She stopped mid sentence when she realised that Natalie was already gone. "Oh." She sits there for the next twenty minutes, feeling too embarrassed for her liking, shame colouring her cheeks. She was gone, off to plan and read diagrams that Duarte didn't understand. Duarte didn't want to look into why she felt so annoyed with herself.
The next night Duarte sat alone at the bar. She'd checked the notice board a dozen times by now, searching for something to peak her interest. Nothing. So she sat alone, barely touching her drink, planning her next move.
That was when she felt a tap on her back. "You gonna sit there moping all night? We've got a job to do."
Natalie?
Duarte spun in her seat, whirling around to face her, almost falling off her seat in the process. She scrambled to regain her composure, but nothing could hide the surprise in her eyes. "The hell are you doing here?"
The hunter squints at her as though it were obvious. "Getting you." She throws what initially looks like a rag to Duarte. But she looks a little closer and it's anything but. It's essentially leather overalls, stitched together roughly, as though done with shaking hands. There's a mask and matching gloves in the pockets. "Now come on, this is a two person job."
Duarte shouldn't be sitting there slack-jawed but she is. Natalie, mildly concerned now, pokes her. "You suddenly not want this? I can always go to someone else-"
That gets her to stand up. "No!" She yells a little too loud. She cringes at herself. "I mean, no. We're splitting the reward right?"
"There you are, Lightningbug." The hunter laughs again, once more tight and short. The note of a song cut short. She sighs. "And no need to get ahead of yourself."
And with that she leads Duarte out of the tavern, and the hunt is on.
The pair throw the majority of their weapons into a bush: Duarte's harpoon, Natalie's crossbow, the combined sum of their knives. Anything that had metal. Their only weaponry was a finely carved wooden stake and a thick wooden club. They donned the outfits and began to stalk through the swamp. The plan, which Natalie explained in unsparing detail, was for Duarte to come at the half-blood from the front and Natalie from behind. Easy.
It didn't take long for them to find the half-blood, perched at the edge of a brook. Gills flexed and twitched as the half-blood drunk, webbed fingers let them catch more water in hand. Scales ran across their skin, dark and glittering. Duarte took one deep breath. She looked to Natalie, who nodded and continued onwards.
With that, Duarte smiled underneath the mask. This was going to be fun.
To summarise, the hunt went off without a hitch. Duarte had been annoyed that she had to be bait at first, but it had only taken a moment for her to fully sink into the role. While she came at the half-blood from the front, Natalie snuck up from behind. One hit from the bat and the half-blood was out like a light.
Duarte would eventually look back on this night and want to vomit. But that's neither here nor there.
For a moment the pair of hunters stood in silence, the quiet only interrupted by laboured breathing. Duarte was the first to speak. She grinned.
"Told you that you needed me."
Natalie rolls her eyes. "Don't get cocky." She nods towards the unconscious body. "Now, grab their legs. Let's get 'em to the arena."
And they do. The half-blood is disposed of, the reward is split. This was when Duarte had planned to leave. To go back to ignoring Natalie, to their own self imposed isolation. This was exactly what she needed, the big job. A big enough notch on her belt to give her the notoriety she deserved. She could go back to normal.
But she doesn't. She finds Natalie at that table the next day. And the next. It was a game to Duarte. Life was always a game to her.
"What's the point of this again? I'm pretty sure we could take this bozo on in our sleep."
"Mhm, and I don't want that sleep to last forever. So shut up, I'm tryna read."
Trading snipes and taunts came easy to Duarte, and even easier with Natalie. It was comforting. Exhilarating. But above all it was fascinating to learn more about her hunter. She'd previously seemed so untouchable, so above it all. A personality hidden behind intelligent blue eyes. Slowly that gruffness was stripped away, and Duarte could finally see what was underneath. The sparkle in her eyes when she has an idea. The way her jaw sets when she's frustrated. The way her laugh is like a silver bell.
"Fucking hell- someday I'm not gonna be around to save you, y'know that?."
"Oh, thank the divines, I can die in peace."
It was all a game to Duarte. A wonderful, fascinating game.
The first time she kissed Natalie was a game as well. And it had been fun. She'd thought about it for so long. Looking into her eyes from up close. Losing herself in them. Running her hands through her hair.
A game. Only a game.
It was a cold day in December. The windows were coated with a thin layer of frost, painting the outside world blurry and cold. But it was warm inside, it was safe. Duarte was staying with Natalie, who was renting out a room in town from some kind old lady. The two had just caught wind of a particularly interesting bounty; a hawk half-blood who'd recently escaped the arena. Some idiot had upped it's dose of Malesycthe and it had gotten loose. Right now they were running wild through the swamps, lost, confused, deranged.
Thus the two had gone to work immediately, books and files all spread across their bed with both hunter's perched on either side, looking for an insight. A weakness.
The two had been joking around, shooting the shit as they always did. It was normal. Duarte called Natalie a bookworm, Natalie called her a regular one. They did this everyday.
"oh my god- shit, I could get used to this."
That wasn't. That wasn't normal, that scared Duarte.
Duarte laughed. "The hell do you mean?"
There was a smile on Natalie's lips. "Just... this. You and me."
Duarte knew what came next. Those next three words. She could hear them.
And for some reason it fucking terrified her. The warmth suddenly felt choking, the safety like an iron grip. She couldn't do this. Natalie kept talking, kept smiling. It was beautiful but it was unknown.
"I just... I think this is the best it's ever gonna get for me. I-"
Duarte stood. "I- I've got to go."
Natalie's face fell. Some of that steeliness returned to her eyes, as though to fight off the shock that invaded them. "What? Why, did something-"
Duarte couldn't let her finish the sentence. "No. I mean yes. I can't do this- I have to go."
With that she turned on her heel and ran, sprinted. She didn't look back. She exploded down the stairs, almost tripping over her own feet. Where was she going? She didn't know. Just away.
It just made it all feel so real, so vivid. This was just supposed to be a game, a way to have fun and unwind, to propel her career forwards. It was just a game.
She still has the wanted poster in her hands. She must have grabbed it on her way out. She examines the crude drawing of the half-blood, the feathered skin, the beady eyes. She shrugs. "Might as well."
So she heads out later that night, harpoon in hand. She stalks through the woods, mildly lost, until she hears it. The shriek of a hawk, shrill and grating. It echoes through the night, silencing the chirping crickets and the whispering trees. The noise gets closer and closer, a scream, a war cry.
Duarte is knocked to the ground, talons raking across her skin. Her head hits the ground with a crack, and blood begins to run down her neck. She clambers to her feet, her vision for a moment blurry, gripping the harpoon in her hands.
The figure standing before her is bigger than anything the poster could have depicted. Feathers are draped from its arms, dirt and blood ridden. Talons like knives, gleaming in the moonlight, shimmering in the darkness. Long and slender. Its eyes were wild, bloodshot, its pupils pinpricks.
Staring right at Duarte.
Crap.
For a moment the two circled each other, a stalemate. The half-blood's mouth was foaming, drool hanging from it's jagged teeth. It's fists clench, it shifts onto it's back legs, rearing up to pounce. To lunge. A voice cuts through the tension.
"Oh shit- Duarte, you fucking idiot-"
Natalie. She runs in from the woods, crossbow in hand. With shaking hands she loads a bolt into the bow, movements somehow still precise and sharp. She-
The half-blood turns from Duarte to Natalie and lunges. It throws her to the ground, knocking her crossbow across the grass, out of arms reach. She desperately tries to throw the beast off of her, kicking, slapping, biting, screaming. It's no use. It's frenzied eyes have no mercy in them.
A bloodcurdling scream rings out across the swamps. Blood is splattered across the grass, dying it a deep crimson. Blood flows from the wound in Natalie's throat like water. A choking noise replaces the scream.
All Duarte can do is stand there. Frozen. Watching.
The half-blood looks up from its meal and turns to Duarte for a split second. It's eyes a threat. A promise.
Duarte doesn't know much but she knows she doesn't want to be next. So she runs. She runs and runs until she's back in town and can regret it.
But her mind hides regret and shame with a blanket of embarrassment and fear. A mound of what ifs. Justifications for what happened, for what she did. Her mind was good at that, always doubling down and convincing her she was in the right.
Natalie survives the attack; she managed to grab one of her knives from her boot and force the half-blood off that way. She ran home, hand plastered against her neck, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding. By the time she got back to town, all she could do was collapse onto pavement into a pool of her own blood. Someone was kind enough to help her, and smart enough to know healing magic. So Natalie survived. She couldn't speak for six months, couldn't hunt for eight, but she survived.
Still Duarte never spoke to her again.
Something within her didn't see the point; everything had worked out in the end. Natalie was alive, the half-blood was dead, and Duarte was back to doing what they were good at. Rushing into hunts the moment she could. It was efficiency. She never got a chance to speak to Natalie, and it seemed she didn't want to be spoken to. Every time the pair's eyes met, Natalie looked away, something sad washing through her eyes. Maybe some of the embarrassment Duarte herself held.
Eventually she quit hunting for good and moved away. Duarte never saw her eyes again but dreamt of them constantly, an anchor in the wave of reasoning in her mind. A true north.
But it was just a game to Duarte Cardoza. One she would never change her strategy for.
-----
And that's it! That's why Natalie hates Duarte, and slapped her in the face. Same girl, same.
Here's the letter Duarte sent her, the one that she mentioned in the scenario post.
Dear To Natalie Rollins
I know this letter will probably come as a shock to you, and maybe an annoyance. But I need to talk to you.
I know I don't have the right to ask anything of you after how things ended and how I acted, but could we please talk? I need to know if you could ever forgive me for what I let happen. Please
From, Duarte Cardoza
She rewrote that letter twenty times.
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toasecretsanta ¡ 2 years ago
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The Winter Solstice
A/N: For @sierice [written by @sofia-not-sophie] and the prompt “Apollo’s relationship with the olympians.” I’m not sure how well this fills the prompt, but I’ve been sick and I haven’t written for a while so I’m glad to be back at it. I do think it’s an interesting slice of life type snippet with the Olympians though. Word count: 1057 Summary: A lot has changed since the last Winter Solstice council meeting Apollo attended. Most of that change being him.
“But he looks so cute like that.” Aphrodite whispered across the room, as if she had forgotten that Apollo could hear her.
“Well it’s unprofessional.” Dionysus huffed, “His punishment’s over. He should go back to looking normal, it’s only respectful to those of us still being punished.”
“Don’t you choose to look like that?” She asked.
Apollo rolled his eyes and went back to tuning his lyre. He was mortal sized and looked like Lester, which let him have the space to tuck his legs up and lounge on his throne. Lester’s skin had become more comfortable for him, at least when he was at either camp or was alone since become in a god again.
He was only wearing it in the throne room that day becasue whatever seasonal affective disorder sun gods get was at its worst. Luckily the part of him driving the sun could go curl up in bed after his shortest shift of the year listening to the new music his kids got him hooked onto the week before.
The rest of him was stuck at the meeting.
Dionysus was just putting on his usual stink, not that his little brother’s comments didn’t sting a little. Aphrodite’s cute comment was the best he would get in this form. She was pissed at him anyways because he hadn’t dated anyone in almost six months.
“Ignore him, you know D has been sober too long.” Artemis appeared, also human sized, across from him on the arm of his throne.
“You know I love you Artemis, but please get off my throne, you’re gonna stink it up with all your moon cooties.” He could feel her energy seeping into it and brushing up against his own in an uncomfortable way. He probably could have been nicer about it, but he was already feeling off from the solstice.
She hopped off the arm and went to her fifteen foot size. “Cooties aren’t real, brother.”
“I’m the god of medicine I could make them real.”
“That’d be fun, I’d definitely get more hunters that way.” She walked across the aisle to her throne and sat down.
Apollo strummed a chord on his lyre, the highest string was the tinniest bit sharp, the kind of thing Apollo was sure only he could hear, but it still bugged him. In the past he would usually tune with a wave of his hand, but ever since he had to painstakingly tune his ukulele every day as a mortal, he found comfort in the practice.
Hades stalked past followed by Demeter, they were arguing, as usual, “And you even cheated on her! She doesn’t deserved to be stuck down there with the likes of you and that son of yours.”
“Don’t talk about my son that way! And besides Persephone has grown quite fond of him, she’s planning a surprise birthday dinner for him next month.”
Demeter scowled.
“Nico’s actually a pretty nice kid Demeter.” Apollo said. Hades looked shocked, and a bit relieved.
“See even the sun and healing god, who am I most antithetical to likes my son.” Hades smirked and headed to his temporary seat.
“Oh. Apollo I didn’t see you there. Why are you mortal sized?” Demeter looked at him.
“More room in the chair.” Apollo shrugged, “And you shouldn’t pass judgement on demigod’s you’ve hardly even seen, let alone met. Although, I guess that would apply to your kids too. Meg’s still waiting on thirteen years of birthday presents.”
“Her birthday is not until next week. I planned on paying her a visit then, since it is not my busy season.” She frowned, as though she was considering going to harass Hades more, and then turned back to her throne.
Demeter had become much more wary of him since he returned, for good reason. He knew Meg probably wouldn’t talk to her even if she made an effort, but Meg also wanted to meet her. Apollo made a mental note to be with Meg on the whole day of her birthday, just in case he needed to tell Demeter to go home.
Apollo made an adjustment on his lyre and the chord rang out perfectly as he strummed it. He looked around the room to get a sense of when the meeting would start. Athena was calmly knitting, Artemis counting her arrows for what was probably the thousandth time, and Aphrodite was now sulking in her throne.
Apparently it was one of those years where both Hephaestus and Ares weren’t speaking to her since they looked like they were getting on better than normal. Ares was standing by Hephaestus’ throne and they were talking about something. Probably the world’s next new weapon of mass destruction, as if the mortals or demigods needed more of those.
Dionysus and Hermes were playing catch down at their end of the throne room. Only two years ago Apollo would have been a part of that game. The ball was almost the size of his current torso.
He could join the game, it wasn’t one of his bad routines as a god. The game helped him out of his darkest-day-of-the-year-induced slump. It had actually been a good way of bonding with his brothers. It was the twenty minutes of the year that at least a small part of Hermes wasn’t focused on messages in some way. The twenty minutes of the year Dionysus didn’t seem irritated with his punishment.
Sometimes they even got Artemis to join and she enjoyed showing off her trick shots.
A wave of air that smelled like rotting fish wafted over. If Poseidon had arrived, that meant Zeus’ fashionably late arrival, with Hera on his heels was soon.
Apollo should probably look more meeting presentable than a mortal sized teenager on a god sized throne.  He sighed and willed himself to be fifteen feet tall and to look like what the others expected Apollo to look like.
Dionysus had been right, his mortal look was unprofessional for a god.
Zeus appeared in a crack of thunder with Hera at his side and Apollo did his best not to flinch. He might not mind having human instincts still, but the Olympians surely would notice, and he’d rather if most of them didn’t.
“Alright settle down!” Zeus’ voice boomed, “Let us start this meeting.”
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artofjoshuaclarke ¡ 1 year ago
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KAIJUNE DAY 12: STEED
It came running
When Shade blasted the Krakenwulf we thought it lost. We were shocked to find the whimpering Krakenwulf shedding Black Ichor as it dragged itself across the fields, until all that was left was a gargantuan trail of ammonia stinking blood, bile, and ichor - ending with the unconscious form of our stalwart academy volunteer.
Shade collected the still shivering carcass of the Horde almost tenderly. Life sprouted everywhere the green liquid dripped from the hideous bug as the silent guardian floated away with its precious cargo.
We ourselves retreated to regroup. We had miscalculated severely. Clearly there was some plan that we had interrupted in some way, some plan that was somehow not impeded by the creation of the Genesis Engine, the deployment of our own Titans and the brutal combat we demanded of them. True despair was closer than it had ever been, Hunter Killer and Krakenwolf had been twin beacons of hope, they still lived but the Shade had torn through one of them, a display of terrifying power suggesting that there was a grand scheme at play. Could our own abominations hope to face the Thunderer? The Twisted Father itself?
And it was that that held our minds as we readied several other candidates, it mattered not what was happening, we would fight regardless. Then came the word that the Twisted Father had been sighted, we were terrified, but threads of burning hope flared, maybe a secondary gift, maybe we could capture it, force it to reveal more secrets.
The sound of gargantuan hoof-beats pulverizing the rubble of the shattered city was staccato thunder but it was not our mysterious benefactor that emerged. The Steed came forth, trumpeting bitter sorrow- and the Highway answered, two of the filthy abominations were incoming. We scrambled to ready the Hunter Killer and the Krakenwulf.
And then the bombardment began.
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horsebeast ¡ 1 year ago
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four-banded stink bug hunter wasp, Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
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jonnysinsectcatalogue ¡ 2 years ago
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Four-Banded Stinkbug Wasp - Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
Firstly, this Wasp now has a common name! When first posting about this insect years ago it didn’t have one, so I named it here as the “Four-Banded Black Sand Wasp” to make finding it easy. The name was a reference to its characteristic quad-striping on the abdomen, its classification as a Sand Wasp (of the Tribe Bembicini), with a “black sand” mention for added coolness since black sand is simply amazing. With a common name now given to this striped flower prowler, posts and tags have been changed to reflect the new name: Four-Banded Stinkbug Wasp. I’ve also seen it named as the Stink Bug Hunter Wasp, which clearly explains what exactly it does the Stinks Bugs that it finds, more on that below. Secondly, also mentioned in the previous post was that these insects likely found the oregano in the yard by chance and possibly burrow elsewhere due to activity from established Digger Wasps in the yard. Well, as the years have gone forward, they’ve returned every summer to inspect the oregano flowers for food. Whether or not these Wasps are establishing home in the yard remains to be seen, but looks like the descendants of the Wasps can find the oregano bushes quite easily. Hopefully these pictures give a better view on the features of this Wasp, especially with regards to the Wasp’s head. 
They’re genuinely not fond of looking directly at the camera, which is a shame given their large eyes (a necessity when hunting flying prey). Using those eyes, the females find Stink Bug nymphs, sting them and haul them to their burrow as provision for their young. As confirmed from pictures other bug hunters have taken of these insects, the prey items they carry tend to wide, which may task the Wasp of widening the entrance to its burrow in order to pull the prey underground. I imagine that must be the case with the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug! While Stink Bugs are considered their primary prey, I wonder how frequently similar looking insects are captured are prey as well (there’s talk of the Conifer Seed Bug, which is mistaken often for a Stink Bug since it too emits odor as a defense). Getting back to observations, all you’re likely to see immediately are the four bands that decorate the abdomen. If you’re sharp eyed while viewing these pictures, you’ll notice that the bands grow thinner and farther apart from connecting to the “spine” of the abdomen as you move closer to the tip of the abdomen. This examination means you’ve successfully identified B. quadrifasciatus! On occasion, males have been found with their elongated abdomens featuring 5 stripes! If you can positively identify your Wasp, knowing its a male means there’s no fear of being stung from the 5-striped specimen. It has to have defined bands though; a speck of color does not count!
Pictures were taken on July 12 and 21, 2020 with a Google Pixel 4.
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the-plant-man ¡ 8 months ago
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Before: "oh, a wasp.
After: oh, a Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus, four banded stink bug hunter wasp, that little fella is getting rid of the brown marmorated stink bugs, thanks!
one of my favorite things about using inaturalist is how it’s gotten me familiar with even the common, less “impressive” species. especially since spring is rolling around and I’m spending more time outside.
Like, before where I’d just say, “oh look, a butterfly!” now I can say “oh look, a mourning cloak!”
Instead of “a squirrel” it’s “a fox squirrel.” Instead of “a snail” it’s a “garden snail.” Instead of “a rabbit” it’s “a desert cottontail.” Instead of “a ladybug” it’s “an asian lady beetle, which is invasive.” Instead of “a lizard” it’s “a bluebelly, but they’re really called western fence lizards.”
It’s harder to take the little guys for granted when you know their names, y’know?
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arcanehackist ¡ 8 months ago
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Short story I wrote on r/nosleep I’m probably going to continue or draw the thing from it!
I’ve been hiking for as long as I could walk. My dad taught me what specific birds looked like, and then what they sounded like. Even now, there’s a shelf five feet high in my living room stocked with nature books. I knew the differences between local species of woodpeckers before I was eight.
I’ve been a wildlife researcher in Wyoming for… maybe seven years now? I’m a young guy, kind of baby faced, so I get odd looks a lot when I’m out with all the equipment. It’s rural here. Mostly livestock. Quiet, apart from when everyone drives up
to Cheyenne for the rodeo every year. I can’t go anymore, saw a horse break its leg during the “wild” horse race and I never really got over it.
Sorry, I… am kind of distracted. I had to fill up jerrycans for my truck the other day, and my mind is so all over the place even the station’s cashier noticed.
It feels really far away, what happened to me. Five days ago. I went into a private swathe of forest on the edge of a lake, all owned by some group of enterprising millionaires wanting to build some of those stupid cabins you see on TV with the marble counters despite the “rustic” goal. Distracted again. Anyway, I was out there because they found six dead elk within one week.
One week. This property is big, but it’s not *that* big. There are wolves in Yellowstone— not *here,* and they obviously wanted to know if there was some big fuckoff bear starting to kill for sport. Some of the rich hunters that rented weeks during the season would be angry, too, if bulls they’d been following on trail cams got eaten before they could be stuck up above the fireplace.
The first carcass they marked was 3/4 of a mile in. I’m an alright navigator, sometimes have trouble getting places but I’m good at following markers on my way out. I’m pretty visual. It was late morning, maybe ten. I wasn’t going to be an idiot and let it get dark.
The first body told me it wasn’t a bear. I didn’t know what my opinion really was yet, or if I ever had one. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an elk, or someone posing with a dead one, but they’re… big.
This one had an almost cartoonish impact imprint in the pine needles, like those craters asteroids leave in movies. Like it’d been tossed diagonally toward the ground really hard.
It was a cow, on her side, split from where her jawbone ended at her neck all the way down. Between both front legs, down her gut, stopping after her back legs. I noticed almost immediately when (what do you do? You know. Examine, poke it with a stick) I put my gloves on and took a closer look that whatever it was had almost cleaved her in half, maybe six inches to spare. The cut was *sharp*, I’ve never seen anything like it. Right through her sternum the smoothest I’d seen anything like that. With the shoulder-high gloves on I examined her internally, propping the upper of her front legs up. Her heart and her liver were missing.
It scared me. I think I was trying to rationalize it. I got there and saw her, no blood on the ground, with two missing organs, and guts all neatly in place like they’d been put back when…
Yeah. I just told myself it was poachers. When I got to the second carcass, a bull elk, it started to change my mind.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been around something decaying or had a mouse die in your house. It doesn’t take a lot of flesh to make something stink, you can empty your pool filter too close to the house and still smell the bugs.
*Neither* of them stunk. At all. At the bull I noticed what I hadn’t at the cow. There were *no flies.* His liver was missing like hers, and though I had trouble leveraging his leg up and got kind of frustrated I found his heart was missing too. The injuries were the same.
Dead, stone cold dead. I’ve been around a lot of animals that have died in some way or another. Nothing had ever *chilled* me to my goddamn bones like this did.
I was on the way to the third one when I was attacked. I never got to see the third one or the remaining three, because I ended up having to drive to the clinic after. I’m going to try to give this as much detail as I fucking can remember, because I swear I’m not crazy.
There were these two rocks with a hiking trail between, the path worn by both animals and people. The rocks went up maybe ten feet on either side, each about the width of how my truck is long with a couple feet between them and the path. I remember thinking I needed to try spikes for my boots because the pine needles this time of year got pretty slippery in places where they were thick.
I didn’t hear anything really notable. I crushed a pinecone under my boot, and then it was on me.
It looked like something I’d imagine would crawl out of a cave, in the body. Slim. Bipedal, but with digitigrade hind legs. It came out of nowhere, and it was so *quiet.*
You’re going to ask me how I even noticed all of that— and it’s because it jumped down from the rocks to land in front of me. I was almost out, and there was a lot of ground behind me to cover. One step back, and it pushed its back foot at me. Not all that fast, not a blow, just the way someone would reach for a handshake. It had hooves, and I smelled burnt hair.
I remember now those videos from that martial arts style where you can do “one inch punches” and… yeah.
It felt like a car hit me in the chest. Like I’d taken a hit from a bighorn ram. It crushed the breath out of me and I flew backward. The forest floor broke my fall, and by the time I gasped in air and focused it was staring me directly in the eyes.
Its skin wasn’t white. Not really. Translucent. I could see its veins and arteries, pulsing beneath, in the rhythm of a heartbeat pushing so *quickly.* It was maybe shock, maybe fear that kept me still with it down on all fours like that. I don’t think it was breathing. We were so close that I could see the blood vessels in its eyes.
It was larger than me, larger than an elk. Moose sized. As big as a fucking full-size van. Its head was a foot wide, maybe more, gaunt and shaped like a bison skull. The skin was stretched over it so tight it looked like it’d rip, its nostrils long slits that went maybe halfway up its head. The eyes that looked into mine were large, with no fleshy eyelid— and when it finally blinked two clear lids came in from the outer edges of its eyes. Its scleras, besides the blood vessels (red, like us) were so *white.* Everything’s got a little color in its eyes, but this was the whitest white I’d ever *seen*. There wasn’t an iris— and its pupil was just… clear. Like when they take a photo of the back of your eye at the eye doctor. It felt like I was seeing the inside of its skull and it—
Fuck. Sorry. I’m trying to be rational and not get all shivery and supernatural with it.
It just stared. I’d worked with dogs when I started my career with animals. It was instinct, maybe… wanting it to be done quick or trying to calm it like I’d talk to dogs with my body language. I tilted my head up and to the side, went limp, closed my eyes.
It felt like two hours before it moved. It probably was five minutes.
I opened my eyes when I heard it rustle, but didn’t move. It brought up its front foot arm I guess, stood up a little higher, and that’s when I understood.
It looked like it had fucking scythes on its hands. A palm shaped like ours, one finger joint, then these claws a foot long. three of them and a thumb that had no claw at all. I thought I almost knew it’d cut me in fucking half and I’d be gone, but it moved so *slow.* It brought that hand up, took one of its four fingers and dragged that claw down from my collarbone.
I was wearing a canvas coat, with a sweatshirt, and thermals underneath. It started to *split* me. I moved my head, like watching a car crash, as it sliced through all of my clothing and down into my skin like air. Not like butter, like *air.* it cut maybe a half-inch into me. Adrenaline is a fucking *drug,* I’ll tell you that. It stopped two inches below my belly button, and then it turned and started to walk away like nothing had happened at all.
Just moseying, as I sat up a little and started to really feel it. It’d turned away from me, stood up tall. The horns it had reminded me of five pronghorns spliced, not quite antlers, and now I saw it had floppy bald ears like a pig. I could see where every vertebrae in its body pushed up against the skin, the definition of every muscle like a shaved horse on every steroid. With its skin that clear, it almost blended and reflected the colors around it. I laid there and watched it go until I couldn’t see it anymore, toward the lake. I think I heard a boat motor.
I didn’t even care. When managed to get on my feet I fucking ran. There was paracord in my truck, and I put my jacket on backwards and tied it around me to put on *some* pressure while I drove to the tiny medical clinic. My brain gets a little spotty right before that.
Quiet town, nobody kicked by a horse today, so I got in and the doctor (Jen, I’ve known her since I moved here. Older lady) got to me immediately.
I remember that she took the jacket off and went kind of pale, looking at…
There wasn’t any blood. I could see my flesh split perfectly down the middle. In the mirror on the wall above the sink in the exam room I saw how *well* it was centered between the bumps of my collarbones.
She told me they’d bandage it, and I just basically sat there in some kind of shock and let them move me around. I don’t even remember the drive there, or home. It reminded me of autopsy cuts in TV shows with two less lines, and higher.
Jen’s an old soul. Her family’s been in this state longer than any I can think of. She’s thirty but greying at the temples. Down-to-earth. She’s sweet, and very logical, and is tired as hell of telling people bigfoot doesn’t live out here when they find out she’s a local and ask.
It terrified me when in that empty waiting room, escorting me out, she told me in a low voice that I’d better go out see the Joneses, because their livestock guardian dog had died. She had this look on her face when she said it, patting my back, and just said “Mhm. A bear.”
It reminded me of that tone someone uses when someone else says something they don’t believe. Patronizing. “Ohh, it was a bear. Sure.” just like that. I wanted to throw up.
I don’t know if she knew. I just left. I feel like I’m being pulled into something terrifying. I’ve been looking at apartments in Portland all night. I’ve been trying to draw the thing like I used to with animals back home but I just can’t get it *right.* I feel like Jen is trying to get me to look into this. I barely know her, but she looked at me like she knew everything about me.
Help I guess? What do I do?
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suckitsurveys ¡ 1 year ago
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Are you currently in love? I am.
Are you afraid of stink bugs? No.
What is the one room in your house you spend the most time in? The living room.
What do you think of your current president? I know I should be paying more attention but politics are just so mind-numbingly BORING to me. I don’t want to spend my time keeping up with it because it’s mostly just so depressing. I know enough to know that he’s doing at least somewhat better than Trump, but that isn’t really hard to do.
Is there one website you visit regularly, but would never admit to? Nah. Maybe certain fan fic pages hahahaha.
Do you own any pets? I have three kitties.
Would you rather have no legs or have no arms? I guessssss no legs.
Are you afraid of the dentist? I don’t like it.
Have you ever done anything illegal? Of course.
Do you like McDonald’s sweet tea? I’m not a fan of sweet tea. I like my tea as bitter as my soul.
Do documentaries bore you? Depends on the subject.
Are you usually happy or sad most of the time? I don’t know. I don’t feel one way more than the other honestly. I’m mostly content.
Does money make you happy? It does. Fuck capitalism but gimme all the monies thanks.
Have you ever had a storage locker? If so, what is/was stored in it? No.
How far away is the nearest capital city? 2 and a halfish hours. The capital of Wisconsin (Madison) is actually closer to Chicago than the capital of Illinois (Springfield).
What was the last movie trailer you watched? The last one I recall watching was Dumb Money, but I know there were some before Bottoms but I don’t remember which ones.
Are you expecting anything in the mail? No.
Have you ever broken any bones in your feet or hands? I broke my wrist if that counts as a hand bone.
Do you remember the first house you lived in? I do. We moved into the house my dad still owns when I was 5, but I remember the apartment we loved in before that.
Have you stayed up past 3 in the morning this week? Nope.
Is there anyone you know by the name of Frank? Yes.
Are you currently in a smoking environment? Nope.
Do you ever not speak to someone because you’re afraid you’ll annoy them? Eh, that’s on them, bro.
Have you ever known a guy who caused a lot of drama? Most men I know have caused drama in one way or another.
Is there anything you’re saving up for? Eh.
Have you ever punched someone and broke their nose? I’ve never punched anyone to begin with.
One word to describe your most recent ex? Irrelevant.
Do you like snow? When I don’t have to drive in it.
Can you tie balloons? I can.
When was the last time you were at a pet store? Last month.
Do you know anyone who is terrified of dogs? I don’t think so?
What’s your favorite horror movie? I’m not a huge horror movie fan.
What cover do you think is better than the original song? I’ve never met a cover of Chelsea Hotel #2 I didn’t like.
What’s a TV show you have gotten into recently? I’ve just been watching House Hunters lol.
What is a food you think is nasty that most people enjoy? I don’t know. I like a lot of “gross” foods.
Was the last person you hung out with single? Nope.
[TW: ABUSE] Have you ever been in an abusive relationship? Not really.
Do you like drinking diet sodas? Nope. If I’m gunna have soda at all I might as well go for it.
Who was the last person that cried in your presence? My niece.
What was the last thing someone gave you? Ummmm my sister made me a sandwich for our apple orchard trip if that counts lol.
Who is the person you often go to for venting? Here or Mark or Sarah.
Was the last person you kissed male or female? Male.
Who were you with the last time you went swimming? I was with Sarah. We went to a beach in Maine when I was out there visiting her.
Do you say “I love you” even when you don’t mean it? No.
Is it hard for you to be “just friends” with the opposite sex? Nah.
Do you prefer wheat or white bread? Wheat.
What’s your opinion on fast food? It’s fine in moderation.
Have you ever dated anyone while they were in jail? No.
If you’ve ever babysat, do you like it? I don’t mind watching my nieces from time to time.
Do you get a lot of spiders in your house? Yup. Basement living perks.
Name two of your favorite things as a child. Playing on the swings and Pokemon.
Do you own a pillow pet? I did.
Have either of your parents gone to jail? I imagine they were both arrested at some point. They were both hippies lol.
Do you have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)? I don’t think so.
Do you know a hoarder? My grandmother was.
Do you think homosexuality (anything besides heterosexual) is a choice? Absolutely not.
Do you have any interesting scar stories? Nah.
What’s a reasonable amount of time before two people get engaged? Whenever.
Do you hate the texture of meatballs? No, I actually love meatballs.
Do you get migraines? I do.
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horsebeast ¡ 1 year ago
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Four-banded stink bug hunter wasp, Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus
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dolicho-vespula ¡ 2 years ago
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four-banded stink bug wasp AKA stink bug hunter (Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus). The females bring true bugs such as stinkbugs to their burrows to feed their young.
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holylulusworld ¡ 2 years ago
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Her concubines - Kinktober 10
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Summary: The fairies are back. Fight the fairies.
Rating: lightly explicit
Pairing: Dean x Fairy Queen!Reader x Sam
Kink: Feather play
Square 23 filled for @spnkinkbingo​: Feather Play
Square 21 filled for @spnfluffbingo​: Enemies to lovers
Warnings: kidnapping, a little crackish, angry Dean, language, nakedness, kinda reverse harem, feather play, implied polyamory, light smut (unprotected), seduction, implied anal sex, implied threesome, I’ll label this lightly dub-con
A/N: I usually don’t describe my reader, but for the sake of this fic the fairy has long hair (I imagined she wears the crown and clothes on the pic in my header. The reader can be of any race.)
Words: 2,1 k
Kinktober 2022
2022 SPN KINK BINGO masterlist
2022 SPN FLUFF BINGO masterlist
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“Leave me the fuck alone, you fucking fly,” Dean swats a fly with his hand, grumbling as the flying insect just won’t leave him alone. “I won’t share my pie with you.”
The fly is not impressed. While Dean tries to eat his pie, it flies around the plate.
“Fucking stay away from my pie. This one is mine. Stop getting on my nerves,” Dean grasps the newspaper Sam bought to kill the fly.
“Dude, what are you doing?” Sam steps out of the shower and dries his hair with a towel. A towel hangs loosely around his hips as he watches his brother fight with the fly. 
“Nothing,” looking around the room Dean huffs as the fly finally leaves him alone. He happily sinks a fork into the pie.
“What? Get away from me,” while Dean eats his pie, Sam swats the fly with his hand. “Dean, did you forget to throw your leftovers away again? You are luring insects in.”
“Ah, the fly was bugging me the whole time. That sonofabitch even tried to get some of my pie. No way,” happily munching his pie, Dean chuckles as Sam still fights the fly. “You look like you’re having fun, Sammy.”
“That’s one annoying fly,” huffing Sam looks for a book to kill the fly. “I swear it tried to land on my chest more than once.”
“A pervy fly, huh?” Dean grins. “Maybe you stink?”
“Shut up, jerk.”
“Bitch!”
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“What the fuck? How did you get in here?” Dean yelps as the fly lands on his cock. He just tried to jerk off in the showers and now, he stares down at his cock, wondering how the fly got inside the shower. “You are a pervy fly. Get off my dick.”
“Dude, what’s wrong?” Sam calls from the hallways. “Did you hurt your back again?”
“It’s the fly again! It landed on my…uh…”
“It landed where?” Sam snickers. “On your ass? Maybe you stink!”
“You stink bitch! That pervy fly landed on my dick and refuses to leave me alone? It…uh…fuck! It starts to glow!!”
“It glows?” 
“OH, YOU’VE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME! SAMMY! IT’S A F—”
“Dean? It’s what?” Sam worriedly knocks at the door. “Dean. That’s not funny. What’s wrong?”
Sam opens the door, gun aimed to fight whoever attacks his brother. “DEAN? Dean where are you?” the room is empty. All that’s left of his brother is his watch lying on the floor. “Dean?”
The hunter runs his fingers through his shaggy hair and paces the room. “Dean. How? What?” and again, the fly starts flying around Sam’s head. He swats the fly with his hand. “Not the right time to get on my nerves.”
“You will make such a nice addition to my harem,” a soft voice purrs in his ear. Sam suddenly feels light-headed. The room starts to spin, and he ends up losing consciousness.
Just like his brother before him …
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“Sam…Sam…Sammy!” the younger brother jolts up. “You alright? Did that flying bitch hurt you?”
“What happened?” Sam rubs his eyes as his brother goes back to pacing back and forth. “Dean! Where are we?”
“The fly kidnapped us.”
Sam snorts.
“That’s not funny, Sam. It was the fly. I mean, it wasn’t a fly. That bitch started to glow and then I saw it…nipples.”
“Nipples?”
“Yes, nipples.”
Sam frowns. “Like that one time you got kidnapped by a fairy?”
“Exactly.”
“Wait. We got kidnapped by a little fairy. You know, with wings and pixie dust? All shiny and tiny.”
Dean gives his brother a bitch face. “She was tiny, but then…”
“Then what, Dean?” Sam cocks his head to look at his brother. 
“She turned into a woman, Sammy. A woman with wings and tits and…uh…then I lost consciousness…”
“Don’t tell me we ended up in fairytopia or something,” running one hand down his face Sam sighs deeply. “Maybe we got drunk and this is just a crazy dream.”
“Sammy, I’m telling you the fly turned into a fairy, and the fairy turned into a woman,” Dean says. “She wrapped me in her wings and then, I woke up here. Wearing nothing but a…”
Dean looks down at his body. 
“It’s called a tunic,” Sam laughs as his brother whispers that he’s not wearing underwear. 
“I feel naked!”
“I want my sweet boys to always be ready to satisfy my needs,” you finally step inside the room you gave to your newest additions to your harem. “You look beautiful.”
“I-“ Dean swallows thickly as he drinks your appearance in. You’re wearing a golden one-shoulder tunic. A large slit reveals your right leg and thigh. A golden crown made out of leaves from the forbidden garden tames your long locks.
“Sammy, she got black wings!”
Dean crosses his arms over his chest. He still feels naked and vulnerable without his clothes, weapons…and shoes.
“Black wings.”
Sam can only stare at you in awe. He didn’t get the chance to get a better look at the fairies they fought years ago.
“I knew you will make a great addition to my collection,” you step closer to run your fingertips over Dean’s arm. He slaps your hand away, grumbling under his breath.
“You will learn your place, hunter.”
“Miss…why did you bring us here?” Sam tries to get information, and not start a fight right away. “Where are we?”
“You are in my world now, hunter,” you coo in Sam’s ear. “I was looking for someone to keep me company. Two of my favorite concubines died last month. They wanted to go back to their world and…”
“You killed them,” Dean balls his hands into fists. “If you want a fight, come here bitch. I’m going to rip your wings out. You are a better fly.”
You are by Dean’s side with one beat of your wings to press your index finger to his lips.
“I would never hurt my beloved ones,” you whimper. “My beloved Arthur and Marcellus wanted to go back to their world. We spend a thousand years together. If humans stay in my world, they become immortal thanks to my powers.”
“I bet she killed them, Sammy,” you cup the back of Dean’s neck to force him to feel your strength. “Fuck, she ate too much spinach or pixie dust.” The hunter grunts as you press your lips to his plump ones.
“I didn’t harm my beloved ones. If you spent thousands of years here, it means you would have died a long time ago in your world. The moment they entered their world, they turned into dust…”
“And yet, you went onto a shopping spree to kidnap me and my brother, winged bitch,” you chuckle as Dean seems to be an untamable one.
“I will have so much fun turning you into my good boy,” he huffs as you lick over his mouth. “You will love being my servant, hunter. I know you can be good.”
“Miss, my brother is far from being a good boy and, we’d like to go. Uh-we are not the ones you want.”
“Sammy,” you glance at the younger brother while moving your hand to his brother’s crotch. “Your brother’s body has a different opinion.”
“We want to go.”
“Why? You can be immortal. There will be no pain, no death, no suffering,” you softly whisper in Dean’s ear. “Only pleasure and peace. You will eat the finest food, and wear clothes made by my best elves. Pleasuring me is an honor. Be thankful I chose you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
“I didn’t give you choice.”
“Bite me, winged bitch.”
“I’ll bite you!”
“Miss, did no one ever say no to you?” Sam tries to calm you and his brother.
“No. Every single man was honored to become my servant. You’ll be the same soon enough!”
“Like hell!” Dean grunts. “I won’t fuck a winged creature kidnapping me and my brother. Hot ass or not.”
“You will change your mind,” you press a soft kiss to Dean’s mouth. “I think you and your brother will soon become my favorites…”
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“Shit, it won’t break,” Dean slams the chair against the window once again. “Fuck’s sake. Why won’t it break.”
“I think it’s sealed by her powers or something.”
While his brother tries to break out of the prison he calls the spacious place you brought the hunters to, his brother is busy reading yet another book from one of the bookshelves.
“Sammy, stop reading. We need to get the fuck out of here! It’s been almost a week!”
“Two weeks,” Sam slams the book shut. “I don’t get it. She brought us here. Keeps us hostage but doesn’t harm us. We are well-fed. The room is warm and cozy. She even got us our favorite things…”
“I want to go home.”
“She let the other men go. Maybe she’ll let us go one day too,” Sam says.
“I want to go now, not in a thousand years to turn into dust, Sammy. Help me!”
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“You are a beautiful creature,” today you parted the brothers to get to know them better. Whiles Sam eagerly asked you questions and smiled as you gifted more books to him, his elder brother tried to attack you.
You had no other choice but to use your powers on him to keep Dean from hurting himself by attacking you. He struggles against your powers and curses your existence.
“I will kill you! Where is my brother?”
“He’s safe.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“You’ll be good now or you’ll regret it!”
“Bite me.”
You chuckle. Dean is no one you can break with violence or threats. 
“I will do something better,” you rip his tunic off his body, making him growls as you reveal his naked body to your prying eyes. “Just be good now, Dean.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not yet, Dean,” you lie next to him, just looking at the hunter. “I want you to accept your new life. Sam is on a good way.”
“If you harmed my brother, I’ll rip you apart,” Dean fights the invisible strings holding him to the bed as you carefully graze his chest with the tip of your wing.
He shudders.
“So much pain. So much responsibility. So much selflessness.”
“What are you doing?” he murmurs.
You move your wing over his body. Your feathers run all over his skin, tickle and caress him.
You can see it in his eyes and the way his body responds to your touch. Dean is used to pain. He’s not used to gentleness.
“I want to give you a new start, Dean. Become mine. You and your brother,” his eyes snap open as you run your feathers over his growing erection. “You deserve a better world. One that will protect you and make you happy.”
“I’m not going to become your sex slave,” he breathes out as you straddle his lap. “Fuck, don’t do this to me.”
“I won’t hurt you or your brother.”
Dean doesn’t fight you when you lift your hips to line his cock up with your weeping entrance, nor when you grip his wrists to pin them to the mattress.
“Just let it happen. Become mine,” you coo as you start to rock your hips. “I’m going to take good care of you and your brother.”
He just watches you move on top of him. Gasps and moans leave his lips as you lean over his body to rock your hips faster. “Fuck.”
“I know you want to come inside of me, Dean. Give me a strong heir for my kingdom. All the others failed,” he pushes up into you. “Yes, harder, my beloved one.”
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“Oh fuck, you’re a beast,” you giggle as, the younger brother is all over you again. Sam fell for you long before Dean even got the chance to feel your cunt around him. “Harder, Samuel.”
“You’re mine,” Sam has you pinned to one of the many bookshelves at your library. His large hands hold your ass in a tight grip as he fucks up into you. “Say it, my queen. Tell me that you only need me!”
“Y-you, only you and your brother,” he hums but moves one large hand around your throat.
“Not good enough. What do you say, Dean?”
“I’m not convinced that our little fairy only belongs to us,” Dean watches his brother wrap one arm around your waistline to give Dean the chance to get behind you. “What do you say? Do we want to have our way with her?”
“Y/N belongs to us. Only us.”
“I-I only belong to you. I swear…”
The tables turned months after you kidnapped the hunters. They accepted their new lives but wanted you to give yourself to them in return.
“Now, let’s see how well you can take both of us, little fairy,” Dean whispers in your ear as his cock pokes your tightest hole. “I bet you will make the cutest noises for us again…”
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onenicebugperday ¡ 3 years ago
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@dogsichub submitted: A new roommate moved onto my M. adansonii. As you can see, he's quite the accomplished trophy hunter.
Oh my goodness that first photo is SO GOOD. Such a precious little face. RIP, stink bug. So nice that you have a friend to protect your plants! Please tell them I love them.
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mindibindi ¡ 1 year ago
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[In case peeps can't get past the paywall:]
A stink of stagnation has hung heavy over the past few years of Doctor Who. Uninspiring stories, simplistic characterisation, declining ratings. An inescapable feeling that the Doctor’s best days have been and gone. But what is the past to a Time Lord? For three special episodes to mark the series’ 60th anniversary, the Doctor regenerated back into the modern era’s most popular incarnation, David Tennant. The revered Russell T Davies - who revived the show in 2005 - has also returned to steer it into a bold new collaboration with American streaming giant Disney+. And what a relief: it has been a long time since the series has felt so full of personality and life, so full of manic momentum. Comfortingly familiar yet also thrillingly new, this was a reminder of the show it used to be. “The Star Beast” didn’t reinvent the Doctor Who wheel, but it at least rolled like one. Inexplicably floating in the void of space, Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor (a new incarnation with an old face) broke the fourth wall to help viewers catch up. The Doctor, he told us, once knew a boisterous temp from Chiswick called Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) but was forced to wipe her memories of their adventures after she absorbed all of the knowledge of the Time Lords. If she remembers him, she will die. So of course the Tardis materialised right in front of her,  just before an alien spaceship crash landed in London. It was a blunt, abrupt beginning, but soon gave way to the electrifying chemistry of the Doctor and Donna’s reunion. The story was relatively frothy: a cute fluffy alien, the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), had crash landed on Earth, ostensibly on the run from bug-eyed hunters. Yet of course, in an inverse of E.T., it turned out that the “mad Paddington” was actually an evil dictator hell bent on the conquest of Earth. Tennant slipped back into the skin of the Doctor effortlessly. He is older now, a bit more grizzled, but he has lost none of that commanding charisma, dashing romanticism, and twinkle in his eye that made his Doctor a fan favourite. At his very best, Tennant makes every other Doctor feel like an imposter. Tate was also back in hilarious form. Now living without her memories of their adventures, Donna had settled down and started a family, but she had lost none of her no-nonsense edge. Her delivery of “there is a Martian in the shed!” was a particular delight. The beauty of Russell T Davies’s writing is how elegantly it blends the innate ludicrousness of Doctor Who with the grounded drama of everyday life. In 2005, it was Rose Tyler and her escape from daily life on a council estate. Here, we have Rose Noble, transgender daughter of Donna, portrayed by Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney. In a time when the lives of trans people in the UK have been reduced to a political football, it felt remarkable for an enormous show like Doctor Who to portray Rose suffering abuse in the street, or her family trying their best to adapt to her transition. These scenes felt natural and lived-in, rather than nakedly didactic. Even if the role that gender identity played in the plot (it was revealed that Donna’s Time Lord knowledge has been passed on to Rose, leading to her rejecting the gender binary) was clunky. But the marriage of Tennant’s charm, Tate’s comic chops and Davies’s talent for fizzy, witty, grounded scripts is a special kind of alchemy. This episode was symbolic of a show that needed to go backwards in time in order to move forward. Doctor Who is back … to the future.
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