#tos ambusher

[moopsloops]

Mafibusher enemies to lovers in 2025 someone euthanize me

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Reptilia - Squamata

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our second order of reptiles is Squamata, commonly called “lizards” and “snakes” (though snakes are in fact a suborder of lizards). This is a highly diverse order, containing the families… *deep breath*… Dibamidae (“blind skinks”), Diplodactylidae (diplodactylid geckos), Pygopodidae (“snake-lizards”), Carphodactylidae (“southern padless geckos”), Eublepharidae (“eyelid geckos”), Sphaerodactylidae (sphaerodactylid geckos), Phyllodactylidae (phyllodactylid geckos), Gekkonidae (“common geckos”), Scincidae (“skinks”), Xantusiidae (“night lizards”), Gerrhosauridae (“plated lizards”), Cordylidae (“girdled lizards”), Gymnophthalmidae (“spectacled lizards”), Teiidae (“whiptails” and “tegus”), Alopoglossidae (“teids” and “largescale lizards”), Lacertidae (“wall lizards”), Rhineuridae (“Florida Worm Lizard”), Bipedidae (“Mexican Mole Lizard”, “Four-toed Worm Lizard”, and “Three-toed Worm Lizard”), Blanidae (also “worm lizards”), Cadeidae (“Cuban keel-headed worm lizards”), Trogonophidae (“Palearctic worm lizards”), Amphisbaenidae (“worm lizards”), Shinisauridae (“Chinese Crocodile Lizard”), Lanthanotidae (“Earless Monitor Lizard”), Varanidae (“monitor lizards”), Helodermatidae (“beaded lizards”), Xenosauridae (“knob-scaled lizards”), Diploglossidae (“galliwasps”), Anniellidae (“American legless lizards”), Anguidae (“glass lizards” and “alligator lizards”), Chamaeleonidae (“chameleons”), Agamidae (“agamas” or “dragon lizards”), Leiocephalidae (“curlytail lizards”), Iguanidae (“iguanas” and “chuckwallas”), Hoplocercidae (“woodlizards” and “dwarf iguanas”), Crotaphytidae (“collared lizards”), Corytophanidae (“casquehead lizards”), Tropiduridae (“Neotropical ground lizards”), Phrynosomatidae (phrynosomatid lizards), Dactyloidae (“anoles”), Polychrotidae (“bush anoles”), Liolaemidae (liolaemid lizards), Leiosauridae (leiosaurid lizards), Opluridae (“Malagasy iguanas”), Leptotyphlopidae (“slender blind snakes”), Gerrhopilidae (“Indo-Malayan blindsnakes”), Xenotyphlopidae (“Malagasy blind snakes”), Typhlopidae (typhlopid blindsnakes), Anomalepididae (“primitive blind snakes”), Aniliidae (“American Pipe Snake”), Tropidophiidae (“dwarf boas”), Uropeltidae (“shield-tail snakes”), Anomochilidae (“dwarf pipesnakes”), Cylindrophiidae (“Asian pipesnakes”), Xenopeltidae (“sunbeam snakes”), Loxocemidae (“Mexican Python”), Pythonidae (pythons), Boidae (“boas”), Xenophidiidae (“spinejaw snakes”), Bolyeriidae (“Round Island boas”), Acrochordidae (“wart snakes”), Xenodermidae (“odd-scaled snakes”, “Borneo Red Snake”, “Dragon Snake”, and kin), Pareidae (“slug and snail-eating snakes”), Viperidae (vipers), Homalopsidae (“Indo-Australian water snakes”), Colubridae (colubrid snakes), Lamprophiidae (“house snakes”), and Elapidae (elapid snakes).

As this order is so diverse it would be hard to summarize their anatomy and behavior in one paragraph. Squamates have 4 legs ancestrally, but many groups have secondarily lost one pair or all of their legs. Some of these groups retain vestigial hind limbs beneath their skin. They can be herbivorous or carnivorous, lay eggs or give live birth, be terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal, semi-aquatic, or fully aquatic. Some utilize a flattened body or flaps of skin to glide. Some lack teeth, some have one or more teeth, and some have teeth designed for injecting venom. Venom, used in hunting and sometimes defense, evolved early in ambush predators of the clades Caenophidia, Anguimorpha, and Iguania, before the three groups split. It can be delivered via specialized fangs or saliva. Squamates “smell” via chemoreception, taking in scent particles on their tongue and transferring them to the Jacobson’s organ on the roof of their mouth, which then sends the information to the brain. Thus, when a squamate flicks its tongue in and out of its mouth, it is “taste-smelling” the air.

Squamata and Rhynchocephalia form the superorder Lepidosauria, which is the sister group to Archosauria, the clade that contains crocodilians and birds. As rhynchocephalians first appeared in the Early Triassic, the lineage leading to squamates must have also existed at the time. The oldest known squamate ancestor is Megachirella, which existed in the Middle Triassic. The oldest unambiguous fossils of squamates date to the Middle Jurassic, with the first appearance of many modern groups during this period.

Propaganda under the cut:

Many groups, such as the blind skinks and blind snakes, have greatly reduced eyes covered by a scale. These eyes can only sense light and dark. They have little need for eyes though, as they burrow underground and utilize their sense of smell and hearing to perceive the world.

Male squamates have hemipenes (two penises linked together), which are usually held inverted within their bodies, and are everted for reproduction via erectile tissue like a mammalian penis. Only one is used at a time, and some evidence indicates that males alternate use between copulations. Stay tuned for more Penis Facts™.

Snakes, the most recent suborder of lizards, are thought to have evolved from burrowing lizards during the Cretaceous Period. One of the most basal known snakes, Najash rionegrina, was a two-legged burrowing snake from the Late Cretaceous. However, snakes are not the only lizards to have lost their legs, and many other families seem to be following in their footsteps… or lack thereof.

The smallest squamate, and the smallest known reptile, is the Jaragua Sphaero (Sphaerodactylus ariasae), also known as the Jaragua Dwarf Gecko. The Jaragua Sphaero measures 14–18 mm (0.55–0.71 in) from the snout to the base of the tail and can fit on a US quarter. It has an average weight of 0.13 g.

Meanwhile, the longest squamate is the Reticulated Python (Malayopython reticulatus), which can grow up to 6.5 m (21.4 ft), and weigh up to 75��kg (165 lb). This upper range is rare, however. It is surpassed in weight by the Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) which can weigh up to 80 kg (176 lb), the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) which can weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb), and the Burmese Python (Python bivittatus) with a record weight of 182.8 kg (403 lb) in one captive individual.

The largest squamates in history were the mosasaurs, a clade of lizards within the suborder Anguimorpha, which also includes the beaded lizards, legless lizards, monitor lizards, and others. These fully aquatic lizards were adapted for a life at sea, and ranged from the 1 m (3.3 ft) long Dallasaurus turneri, to the 12 meter (39 ft) long apex predator Mosasaurus hoffmannii.

Though they survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, many squamate species are now endangered due to habitat loss, hunting, the pet trade, invasive species, and other anthropogenic causes. Because of this, some squamate species have recently become extinct. Breeding programs exist in many zoos, both to retain reservoir populations and to boost populations in the wild through releases. Unfortunately, not every species is charismatic, and it can be hard to get the public invested and involved in squamate conservation.

[maximumzombiecreator]

I've read all the stuff you've written about the megadungeon and some of Alexandrian's posts on it, and I think the stuff about wandering monsters and restocking rooms is absolute gold. Do you have any advice on designing dungeon crawl puzzles and traps, or maybe an example of your favorites or go-tos? Everything I find is either the classic "anything can be a puzzle" non-answer or kinda lackluster. I've had some success looking at the Book of Traps supplement for 3.5e d&d, but it feels like advice for puzzle design is a bit thin on the ground.

I'll talk about traps first, then puzzles.

My favourite traps are situation traps. When the party triggers a situation trap, there's no immediate threat to their lives, there's no damage, but the triggering of the trap somehow fundamentally changes the situation and makes it more dangerous. In my big megadungeon post I mentioned an example of one of these: the party triggered a trap that rotated a room, dumping them in a new wing of the dungeon and triggering a long, terrified escape. I love traps like this because a lot of the best and most fun dungeon gameplay happens when the party is pushed to their limits and put in desperate positions. But smart play mostly means trying to avoid those situations. Traps like these create more opportunities for those types of moments.

Probably the simplest situation trap is the classic portcullis trap. The party is walking down a hallway and steps on a trapped floor panel or trips a tripwire or whatever, dropping a portcullis in the middle of the hall. But it doesn't drop in front of the triggerer, it drops a short distance behind, likely splitting the party on opposite sides. You can combine this with an ambush for a good time, but even without it, in a system where lifting a portcullis is non-trivial this becomes a whole situation.

Another one of these I've really enjoyed using is showing the party an extremely deadly monster, something they'd struggle to fight even in the best of circumstances, behind a magic barrier or something where it can't get to them. Later, deeper in the dungeon, they trigger a trap that they can hear cause the magical barrier to drop. No immediate threat, but suddenly the rest of the delve becomes incredibly tense.

The basic structure of a situation trap is that the trigger should fundamentally change the circumstances in a way that is notably more dangerous, but not imminent. The fun for the players is that it immediately becomes a problem for them to start working on. I tend to design these by thinking of fucked up situations and then trying to come up with a mechanical pretense to trigger them. Generally, if I can't think of how I would handle the new situation, it's too harsh, but if I think the players would knowingly trigger it, it's not harsh enough. Also don't invest too much energy into designing these, or you'll be tempted to try to hard to get the players to trigger them. Teleportation and portcullis traps are such classic examples of this in part because they're very low effort to design, so if the players thwart them, no worries.

The second big category of traps I enjoy are set piece traps. These are the big, dramatic traps that pose an imminent threat but are more complex than saving throw vs damage. The room is slowly filling with sand, the statue is rotating and shooting lasers out of its eyes, the floor is slowly turning upside down over a deadly pit, etc.

I think these are fairly easy to design. You have some kind of peril, which is easy to brainstorm (tip: think of things that kill people) in some configuration that is imminently but not instantly lethal. And then you let the players interact with it to try to stop it. I would usually try to make sure you can think of at least a couple of ways to interact with it, but as long as you are clear on what the actual mechanism is, these will usually suggest themselves. Block the sand spouts, cover the statue's eyes, jam the motor rotating the floor, etc.

One thing that I do value doing with these traps is telegraphing them. If the statue is going to rotate and shoot lasers, I'll describe groove marks along the wall, and perhaps with investigation the players will determine that they were burned into the wall. Reckless players can be surprised by these, but cautious players should usually have a sense when they're about to trigger a big trap and what. Usually I'll describe the mechanisms for these as sufficiently complex and deeply built into the construction that they can't be disabled by a basic thieving skills check, but if they can describe a way around the trigger, I'll certainly let them roll for it.

My last big category of traps is simple traps, the ones with a basic trigger (a trapped floor panel, opening a drawer, walking through a beam of light) and a basic effect (a pit opens, a poison needle shoots out, the room gets fireballed) that you get a saving throw against. I still think these are okay, but I think using them effectively depends on how you're using them. Any time I'm using a simple trap, the question I am asking is, what is this accomplishing?

Sometimes they're just there for verisimilitude. In a standard dungeon game setting, sometimes it just feels like "obviously this guy would have a trap on this drawer." In these cases, the trap is there to be found and disabled. I'm not expecting it to trigger. This can give me leave to make the trap really nasty. I'm a big fan of petrification traps in dungeons for example (getting back to where you left the statue of Morningwood the Elf with a Stone to Flesh scroll is a great little sidequest.) But the trap is nasty so the thief can feel good for disabling it. On the rare chance someone gets hit by one of these, it should always provoke a reaction of, "Ugh, yes, obviously that was trapped and I should have anticipated that." Not surprise.

The second way I tend to use these is as setting. The existence of these traps tends to say something about the location and it's denizens. The traps associated with Tucker's Kobolds are great examples of these. Pit traps that can support the weight of a kobold but not a human, trip wires above a kobold's height, trapped hallways that kobolds can avoid via tiny crawlspaces, these speak to the defenses of the kobolds and the way they make the space their own. When deploying traps this way, they're often not meant to be a challenge on their own. If the party is passing through a kobold warren without kobolds, they likely won't trigger any traps, and once they've described how they're proceeding (using poles etc.) I probably wouldn't even roll, I'd just assume they handle them competently. But during a fight these become an active component. And before a fight, they foreshadow the locations' inhabitants. Designing for this use case basically starts by thinking about how the dungeon inhabitants would fortify their space against their enemies and the mechanizing it in a handful of simple ways. Usually it's a good starting point to think of what traps the trap-makers could ignore. What's unique about them? Are they unusually small or large, can they fly, are they immune to poison or fire, etc.

The third way is to set tone, and in this approach I use these very sparingly. Sometimes you want to establish the dungeon as a place that hates you, a place that you should not be, and traps can be a great way to do that. But bogging the game down to a constant crawl of extreme caution isn't desirable. Throwing a handful of simple traps (some of them already triggered and expended, as set dressing) can establish this tone and reward caution without being too disruptive to play. And besides, if I really want to establish a dangerous tone, set piece traps are often more fun for this.

I've covered loosely how I come up with all of these, but in terms of extant examples, there are a few good sources I know. OSR blogs used to have a ton of these, some of which are still around. I won't link any specific ones for... OSR reasons... but if you search for OSR traps you'll find examples. Pathfinder 2e's hazards are also good for these, I especially enjoy their complex traps for set piece traps, and they tend to be conceptually pretty easy to port to other games. I wish more of them were available on AoN. I get the full list from foundry and there's some real winners in there. If Paizo published a full on Bestiary-type book of these I would buy it in a heartbeat.

This has gotten long, so I think I will cover puzzles separately in a reblog of this once I get a chance to write my thoughts down.

[foli-vora]

Congratulations on your follower milestone! That is amazing! 💖

May I please request a Rick Flag fic with “The first time you smiled it felt like the universe aligned.” and I would love for you to rip my heart out (since that is an option 😊)

Thanks and I am so excited to read all of these upcoming fics!

My sweet angel, thank you for your never ending support and love, and thank you for the request! I'm sorry for the major delay getting this done, but I hope you enjoy me ripping your heart out and squishing it under my slipper 💖

hear me

rick flag x suicidesquadf!reader

word count: 1k warnings: ANGST SUPREME. sad ending. swearing, blood, bullet wounds, death, sad sad sad. rick is cheesy & sad. SAD. ANGST. genuinely teared up writing this bye.

They lied. Everyone who had toed that line between life and death, they fucking lied. There was no bittersweet flash of memories before your eyes. You didn’t have a lot, but shit—there’s gotta be something worth showing you, worth reliving, before you close your eyes forever.

The minutes pass, you feel the growing chill along your limbs from the steady flow of blood from the various bullet holes in your torso, and still—nothing. Not a goddamn thing. 

Just Rick.

Rick bolting across the sand with your name falling from his lips. You can’t hear it, there’s a distinct shrill ringing in your ears that seems to be drowning out the chaos around you, but you see the movement of his mouth, the strain of his throat as he yells.

He comes to land on his knees next to you, a shower of cool sandy grains flicking up and dusting your black tac shirt. It glistens under the light of explosions and gunfire, and you briefly wonder in morbid curiosity how much of your blood stains the beach beneath you.

“Jesus. Oh, oh darlin’—”

You hear him then, his broken and strained mutter cutting through the surrounding ambush.

“Hey Colonel,” you rasp with a barely there smile, a sticky hot trail of liquid leaking from the edge of your lips, “how’s it lookin’?”

Those pretty doe eyes dart over the destruction of your body, his hands ghosting over your wounds in what feels like hesitation, anxiety. Which ones can be smothered with a cheap and easy dressing? What one needs the most pressure applied?

Going by the rate your body seems to be numbing, cooling in the breezy night air, they’re all pretty shit. At least there's no pain. Shock, adrenaline - whatever the fuck it is, you're thankful for it.

“Fine,” he mutters, rough gloved hands instead coming to rest on your cheeks, thumbs brushing away the coarse sand and half dried blood splatters covering your skin, “you’re gonna be just fine.”

“Damn,” you breathe heavily, brows briefly coming together, “I never thought I’d hear you lie to me. None of that shit. No, no.... you gotta make it something good, Colonel.”

Confusion pinches his pretty face through the pain, and you give another strained smile.

“The last words I’ll ever hear—make ‘em… they gotta be good.”

“Don’t talk like that, you hear me? You’ll be fine. Backup’s comin’. They’re comin’, and we’ll get you patched up, and you’ll be right to back to bein’ a pain in my ass, okay?”

Oh, sweet soldier.

No.

It doesn't work like that.

They don’t send help for people like you. Suicide Squad, remember? It’s in the name. You knew what you were signing up for. He knew what you were signing up for. This is it. You’re just another classified file thrown through the shredder at the end of the day.

You blink tiredly up at him, “No one’s coming, Flag.”

He shakes his head in firm denial, strong jaw rolling in an effort to remain cool and collected.

“No, they... they have to.” 

“Somethin’ good, Flag,” you remind him quietly, a heaviness now seemingly coming to rest along your limbs.

Is this it? Can’t you just have one more minute? One more minute of him crowding your vision? You don’t need a last minute life montage, not when he’s here, not when he’s carefully dragging you further into his warm embrace.

Please, just a little longer in his arms.

“Okay… okay. The—the first time you smiled, it felt like the universe aligned.”

“Oh, fuck me,” you splutter with a sudden roll of remaining energy, chest heaving and lungs screaming as you choke on a weak chuckle, “that’s a… a new low, even for… f’your s-soft self.”

“Thought you’d like that,” he drawls quietly with a grin.

It’s brief, tainted with agony stricken tears, and falls from his face the second it stretches his lips. No, sweet soldier. Smile. It’s okay.

Maybe… maybe this is why your life isn’t flashing before your eyes. It’s because it’s here—he’s here. You didn’t really have anything before this, before the Squad, before Rick. You were merely a shell of a person in your cell, angry with the unfair world and the hand you’d been dealt from childhood, but when he came along?

He gave you a chance, saw something in you no one had before. He provided you with the Squad, with friends. He got you out of your cell and into the fresh air with a new outlook. He trained you, laughed with you, ate with you in the crappy mess hall despite the frowns from his co-workers.

He saw you.

He saw you for everything you were, not for what people thought you to be.

“Think you’re the… the closest thing I’ve e-ever felt to love, Colonel. Thank you.”

It’s a decent goodbye, you decide with the final beat of your heart, slackening in relief and embracing the call of the abyss with a leftover curl still tugging at your lips. Better than you’d been led to believe you deserved, better than what Waller threatened you with.

You got a good ending.

He feels the weight of you in his arms, sees how unnaturally still your chest has fallen and how your eyes seem to stare just past his shoulder. It shakes him to the core. His heart beats at the base of his throat and he can’t help but call out to you one more time, despite knowing you’d never answer.

“Darlin’?”

You can’t be gone—not yet.

You can’t be gone, because you didn’t get to hear him say it back. He needs to say it, he needs you to hear it. He murmurs those three little words over and over, breathing them into your skin wherever he can reach, willing you to stay just long enough to hear them, long enough to know you were loved.

You need to know you’re loved.

Bile builds in his throat at the thought, but he has to leave you behind; alone, broken and bled out on the sandy beach for a sweep team to deal with later. He wonders as he runs through the dense jungle, but he’ll never know if you did manage to hear his broken, tear filled I love you’s.

He hopes with everything in him that you did.

[indignantlemur]

Hello, I've been reading up on folklore and cryptids alot as of late. What kinds of criptids do you think andorians would have come up with and would you be willing to talk about a few? I can imagine an older member of the clan trying to prevent the youth from doing some more dangerous stunts around the clan hearth similarly to how parents would around the campfire at night.

Hey there!

That's a good question! Andorian cryptids aren't something I've put too much thought into just yet, but I have a few ideas I'm happy to share! Andorian folklore and mythology describes a few cryptids, mostly of the legendary one-of-a-kind variety.

A great example of an Andorian cryptid would be the Fog Spirits.

Purportedly birthed by the Fog Mother, a figure of legend sometimes thought to have been an Aenar woman, the Fog Spirits (often simply called Spirits) are ravenous, ghoulish creatures cursed to suffer eternal hunger and deprivation. According to legend, the Spirits of Andoria are responsible for the majority of misfortunes that can befall one on the planet's surface, particularly when dense fog covers the frozen sea-ice.

Most Andorians don't believe the Spirits are real, of course, but even the true believers aren't in a hurry to take foolish risks trying to prove anything one way or the other.

Another cryptid of Andorian-origin is the Iridescent Veeg.

Mundane veeg are a carnivorous, predatory species native to Andoria, insectoid in nature and possessing a shockingly effective ability to camouflage themselves for ambush attacks using mirror cells embedded in their chitin. The only signs they give of their presence are the tell-tale yellow flash of an iridescent chitin plate found on their thorax, a low-frequency trill, and the occasional six-toed claw mark found upon the ceiling. A veeg can and will hunt and eat full-grown Andorians, and anything else it can get its claws on.

The Iridescent Veeg, however, is much smaller and nearly entirely translucent, almost wraith-like, with an eery, oil-spill like shine across its body where an ordinary veeg would be nigh-invisible. It is carnivorous and opportunistic, as all veeg are, but lacks the size and strength to take down larger prey; accordingly, it prefers the softer meats of foolish children caught unawares, having wandered too far from home. While the Iridescent Veeg has been 'sighted' many times, no evidence of its existence has ever been confirmed.

And a third cryptid for you, is the Creeping Mock-Vithi.

The vithi plant is a common sight on Andoria, particularly round the coastal cities. It's a flowering vine, sporting wickedly curved thorns and large, fleshy flowers which are commonly consumed with a sweet syrup (or honey, on Earth.)

The Creeping Mock-Vithi, however, is not a plant at all. Reported to be a an eerily intelligent organism which only resembles a vithi plant, it is (as most things on Andoria are) carnivorous, with a curious predilection for the slow and inebriated, whose sluggish movements are most easily snared by the creature's vine-like appendages. Nearly indistinguishable from the genuine plants themselves, the Creeping Mock-Vithi is given away by a single pair of beady black eyes amongst the tangles of thorns and petals.

Many a dock worker has stumbled home far later than usual, claiming that they were set upon by this creature after having an ale after work. Few provide any credible evidence.

Hope you enjoyed the read! <3

[hogwartstoalexandria]

Funny how I assumed going into TOS with only AOS knowledge of anything Star Trek, that Spock would be my favorite character. He seemed to fit the archetypes I tend to gravitate towards, smart, misunderstood/isolated and, now that I know more, he's even got the family trauma!

Suffice to say I did not anticipate Captain Jimothy Tiberius Kirk to bat his eyelashes at me with his stack of books on legs past, and his concerned, responsible, often bonkers Captaincy present. Suffice to say, I did not expect to be ambushed by the most golden retriever character I have ever loved. His loyalty and honor and passion and cleverness and poker face in the line of duty versus his puppy face, heart eyes with the people he loves?

Did not expect this one bit.

[rjzimmerman]

Some of the finalists for the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" award. The contest is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. In a separate post, I embedded a photo by the photographer Francisco Negroni of a volcano erupting in Chile with unreal atmospheric effects (colors and clouds). I'm including just a few of the finalist photos in this post.

"Annoying Neighbour" by Bence Máté. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

A European roller performs acrobatics in an attempt to drive a little owl out of its breeding territory. A brilliant blue European roller in Hungary’s Kiskunság National Park appears frozen upside-down in mid-air, performing dramatic dives and rolls true to its name. The bird’s mating display consists of similar airborne acrobatics. The species has only a short mating season, and the male bird intends to take advantage of it—he “makes a sport of annoying other birds that stray into its breeding area,” according to a statement accompanying the shot. He might ambush the other creature and chase it down at a high speed. Hungarian photographer Bence Máté spent 27 days watching from a hide before capturing this shot.

"Curious Connection" by Nora Milligan. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

A chimpanzee climbs a tree in Gabon and stares into the camera lens, making eye contact with the photographer. The call of a chimp rang out through Gabon’s Loango National Park. While on a guided trek through the forest, American photographer Nora Milligan and her group paused, listening. A family of chimpanzees, known to researchers as the Rekambo group, emerged from the brush and started to climb the nearby trees. “This particular chimp paused, his curiosity piqued, and sat still long enough to observe me in return. I knew we had made a true connection when he craned his neck forward and widened his eyes to get a better look at me,” Milligan writes on Instagram. “I hope my image can play some small part to inspire others to seek this same connection and care for all living beings on Earth.”

"Snuffling Sengi" by Piotr Naskrecki. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

A four-toed sengi forages in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique.

At dawn and dusk, the rarely seen four-toed sengi emerges to feast on insects. The elusive species, seen here in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, might look like a rodent—but it’s actually more closely related to elephants. Its other name, the four-toed elephant shrew, refers to its trunk-like snout. Because sengis are skittish, Polish photographer Piotr Naskrecki didn’t want to scare them away—so, rather than lying on the ground to capture this shot, he set up a remote camera. For this method, he had to somewhat anticipate where and when the mammals would forage.

"Wolf Pack" by Arvind Ramamurthy. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

Five wolf cubs pause amid play to look at the camera as they frolic near farms in India.  Not far from farming fields in Bhigwan, India, a pack of five wolves pauses amid play, each one staring into the camera. Indian photographer Arvind Ramamurthy captured the shot, which he calls a “unique natural history moment,” in a video posted to Instagram. But it also tells a larger story, he adds. “As their native habitat of grasslands are depleting, more and more wolves are moving into agricultural spaces,” Ramamurthy says in the video. “And that brings them into direct conflict with us humans.”

"Fallen from the Sky" by Carlo D’Aurizio. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

Dead insects float in a stream in Italy, creating a somber mosaic of color and stilled wings. When Italian photographer Carlo D'Aurizio came upon this stream in Italy’s Majella National Park, he expected to see butterflies and dragonflies fluttering around the water. Instead, he found insect bodies floating, with no explanation as to what had happened to them. It was a summer morning, but the weather hadn’t been hot enough to cause a mass die-off. The reason for this “sad collage” remains a mystery, but it created a still life trapped in the water’s surface tension.

"Unsold" by Jose Fragozo. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

A rescue operation in eastern Africa retrieved this cheetah cub from the illegal wildlife trade. Cheetahs get roped into the illegal wildlife trade in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, often when farmers capture and sell them, claiming the animals had been a threat to their business, according to a statement. Not all cubs sell, however, and some are killed, since their parts, especially bones, are valuable in Asian markets, such as for bone soup.Photographer Jose Fragozo of Portugal captured this shot during a rescue operation, which began after authorities got an anonymous tip. This cheetah cub had been taken from the wild and transported via camel to the northern coast of Somaliland. Though the young cat began chirping for its mother, the rescue was ultimately successful, acquiring this cub and bringing it to a safe place. “An important part of Wildlife Photographer of the Year is highlighting powerful and sometimes challenging stories about the natural world, as well as the effects of human impact on the planet,” the Wildlife Photographer of the Year account writes on Instagram. “We hope that by creating more awareness of the challenges faced by wildlife globally, we can inspire change and create advocates for our natural world.”

"Aspen Shadows" by Devon Pradhuman. Description from Smithsonian Magazine:

Gray wolves amble through Yellowstone National Park in the snow, framed behind a group of aspen trees. Four grey wolves walk single file through a snowy Yellowstone National Park, dotting a nearly barren landscape. In this composition, the mammals are joined only by a grouping of aspen trees, leafless against the winter ground. American photographer Devon Pradhuman watched from a distance as the wolves approached the trees, followed the rest of the tree line and disappeared over a hillside on the hunt for their next meal.

[iwritewhump]

"Stop it! You're going to kill them!" + blood spattered walls + ambush + villain's house

day twenty-five of whumptember

1027 words

warnings: descriptive talking about a run over animal, murder, blood, knife, becoming paralyzed (?), I think that's it, but let me know ig

a/n: ok yes i saw something that will scar me for ever but i write to process shit so here's this please be safe reading it <2

~

Villain unlocks the door to his shitty apartment and hauls a battered Supervillain inside. He drops her on the couch and collapses onto it next to her. Light filters into the room through the curtains and Villain closes his eyes, taking in the moment of silence. Just in this moment, it was easy to forget the beating they’d just taken from Hero. 

Supervillain sniffles and takes his hand in hers, “You’re too good for me.” 

She cups his face with her other hand and a tear rolls down her cheek. Villain smiles and leans against her. He inhales deeply and curls up next to her. 

“No, I’m not.” 

He lays his head on her lap and stares up at her. She smiles down at him and runs a thumb over his forehead and starts carding her fingers through his hair. Sighing, she leans her head back to stare at the ceiling. 

The door gets kicked in and Hero runs into the apartment. Villain shoots up, instinctively standing in front of Supervillain. Hero scoffs and grabs fistfulls of his shirt and rips him out of the way. 

“What are you doing?!” Supervillain shouts. She raises her arms to protect her face and pulls her legs onto the couch to shield her chest. 

Villain pushes himself up from the ground and shoves Hero away from her. He pulls Supervillain to her feet and shouts, “Go!” 

Hero regains her composure quickly and blocks her way, “I don’t think so.” 

She grabs a handful of Supervillain’s hair and pulls her down. She collapses onto the floor. While Supervillain struggles to get back up, Hero shoves Villain against the wall. The entire apartment rattles, sending hanging pictures to the floor. 

“You…” Hero spits, pulling a dagger out from under her belt. Villain flinches, turning his face to the wall, “Can stay right here until I have time to deal with you.” 

She uses the dagger to staple Villain to the wall, sticking it right next to his neck. He pulls away from it, stretching his collar. The blade shines in the light from the window and it’s everything Villain can do to keep from touching it. 

He watches as Hero stalks up to Supervillain, hand held high above her head. She brings her hand down and thumps Supervillain’s chest. 

Supervillain wails as her bones crack under Hero’s fist and she writhes on the ground. 

Hero lands another blow, this time bringing her elbow down on her throat and Supervillain wheezes. Her hands fly up to her throat and she rolls onto her side, curling into a ball. Hero rolls her eyes and scoffs. 

Villain pulls away from the wall but the knife stays buried in his shirt and the wall, he shouts, “Stop it!” 

Hero kicks Supervillain’s back, her steel-toed boots breaking skin and sending blood spraying onto the walls. Supervillain howls in pain and unfolds. She rolls over onto her back and holds her hands above her face, “Please…spare me.” 

Villain thrashes against the knife, his shirt tears and he rushes Hero, “You’re going to kill her!” 

His arms wrap around her back and he pulls her backward. Hero shrieks and lurches forward, bending over and Villain goes flying forward. He feels something snap and tears spring into his eyes. He can’t move.

Hero exhales sharply and blows a strand of hair out of her face. She stands in front of Villain, waiting for him to get up. But she sees it on his face that he can’t. She smirks cruelly and angles herself so he can see Supervillain’s face. She rips the dagger out of the wall and plunges it into Supervillain’s chest. 

Supervillain gasps and all the muscles in her body go limp. Hero rolls her onto her side and makes sure Villain can see her. 

“Now,” she says, standing over Villain. “What to do about you?” 

She puts her boot on Villain’s chest and steps down. He wheezes under her, blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth.

“Please,” he coughs. “Don’t do this…” 

Hero pulls her foot off of him and squats next to him. Her hands are crossed on her knees and she leans over him. 

“You know…I once saw a cat get hit by a car. Just…ran over. But it didn’t die right away. It spasmed for minutes before. And I…watched. Its body sprung up from the road, maybe a foot in the air and it painted the street with its blood. Someone ran over to help, but all they managed to do was terrify this wild-this feral-cat. It tried to run away. And all I could think was ‘why the hell do you think you can do anything to help that thing?’ I mean, we all saw the car speed past, we heard its bones crunch under the tires. How could anyone…save it?” Hero pulls her dagger out of its sheath on her belt and holds it over Villain’s chest. “The best way someone could have hurt that cat was to kill it quickly. And we couldn’t even give it that mercy.” 

Villain’s chest spasms, a pathetic attempt at coughing, “What’s your point?” 

“I guess I wasn’t too clear. You’re the cat, Supervillain was the car.” She tilts her head and frowns. “But there’s nobody trying to save you. I’ll kill you quickly though, you don’t have to worry about that.” 

Villain closes his eyes and waits. He waits for the searing hot that comes with the dagger sinking into his chest, he waits for the warm blood to spill out of his chest and flow onto the ground, and the shocking cold when all the blood has been spilt. 

Hero chuckles softly and falls forward, propping herself up on his chest. 

Villain slowly opens his eyes and his brows knit together. Hero’s laugh builds until she falls over. The knife clatters onto the ground and she rolls from side to side. 

“Oh,” She says, taking a deep breath. “I get it now. The saving. It…” she lays next to Villain and bumps their heads together. “It makes sense now.” 

She sighs heavily and takes Villain’s hand in hers. He can’t pull away.

[jjkeremika]

secret

description: erens been gone for three years but sometimes he’ll ask to see mikasa

pairing: eremika, eren x mikasa (aot,snk)

smut: yeah

Mikasa crossed her legs once she felt the vibration travel up her thigh. She knew who the message was from and what it said; everyone who could’ve messaged her was in the meeting room apart from one person.

The one on the run.

He’d disappeared years ago, becoming search priority number one like usual, then dropping to priority zero not before long. Declared public enemy number one. Humanity’s last hope renamed to humanity’s downfall.

She knew what the text message would hold. An address. A remote site within the walls, hidden away from daylight and watchful eyes.

She walked out of the building with Jean and Armin, the guilt gnawing at her insides like a hungry animal. She knew she shouldn’t hold onto this information, this meeting place with the world’s enemy. She knew she should hand it over, tell them to plan an ambush and capture him before it’s too late. Turn away when they scroll upwards and see the onslaught of previous rendezvous locations. Start running when the questions are directed towards her.

Jean asked what her plans for the night were. Mikasa felt burdened when she lied about volunteering in the far districts and had to rush away.

She knew she should’ve pulled out the communication device and exposed the message. Exposed the numerous messages over the years, heavy on one side with addresses and little else, no times or requests or questions or hellos or goodbyes. Only weighted expectations.

Ones she filled every time.

It’s not like other soldiers don’t do something similar, she tried to reason with herself. Blow off the steam somehow. She’s humanity’s second strongest soldier, she needs some kind of outlet right? She can’t be the best if she’s bogged down all the damn time. She’s doing humanity a favor, really.

Sure, maybe not the best person to do it with, but it’s not like they really discuss anything.

Mikasa arrived at the building first, having walked for the past thirty minutes to avoid drawing attention to her ODM gear.

She recognized the building; they’ve met here before. She walked around the building to the side door and knocked—silent, expected. She entered—unlocked, expected.

It was a small standard room, rented out like a back-alley inn for quick money. Hush payments, no questions asked. It worked for Eren’s situation.

She removed the ODM gear and carefully placed it on the chair, breathing deeply at the relief of lifted weight. If only the chains that shackled her to this situation had been lifted too. She’d have felt so light.

She stared out the window watching the sun set below the wall when the door opened, the sound echoing through the otherwise silent room.

“Sorry I’m late,” he apologized insincerely, closing the door behind him and immediately facing her. She felt a weight drop in her stomach at the sound of his voice. Rougher than before, like he didn’t use it anymore.

He toed his shoes off at the door and started to walk over, confident strides defining each step towards her, leaving little space between. He smirked at her smugly, all knowing.

“And for not texting in a while.” He said it like he was late home for dinner one night, an unplanned one-off event where the dutiful husband should’ve told his loyal wife about the delay; like it was a rare scenario for their daily lives.

She hated this internal tug towards him, the feeling that if she let go she’d fall right into his arms, right into this dream of a perfect house life, a normal life for their very abnormal messed up lives. Resistance was all she had, but he made that fantasy so damn enticing.

Eren stopped before her, holding his arms out. “Did you miss me?”

The weight that had dropped had now dissipated like electricity in her pelvis, sparking something, like a live wire in a puddle of gasoline.

Mikasa turned around and crossed her arms, making abrupt eye contact with herself in the mirror. She had her reasons for dissatisfaction, his leaving with little explanation only to then spontaneously be overwhelmed with a fervent desire to see and feel her being one. He couldn’t just show up whenever he felt like it, ask for her then leave before dawn, only to do it again weeks later without question.

Well… he could, and he does. But she won’t let it be easy and immediate.

Eren stepped up behind her, a pitiful pout on his lips, and rested his chin against her shoulder. “I bet you did.” He wrapped his arms around her own. “I bet you missed my arms around you,” he said into her neck, smirking because he could feel the goosebumps rising on the skin in response, could feel her tightening the muscles in her forearms and back and neck in response.

His pupils glimpsed at hers through the mirror from the awkward position against her neck. “Missed my hands on you.” One hand traced up her arm, caressing up her shoulder down her sternum to her naval. She closed her eyes and felt each point of connection between them like the tip of a live wire, lighting up a body map with strikes of lightning and sucking air out of her lungs.

“Missed my fingers touching you.” Eren’s mouth was just behind Mikasa’s ear, and one hand dropped to her back hip bone, rubbing circles at the skin between her shirt and her pants, just above her butt, moving lower with each cycle. “Missed my fingers inside you.”

She involuntarily gasped and Eren smiled widely, arrogantly. She could feel it against the fine hairs on the back of her neck. He pressed his front against her and took the opportunity to cup her breast firmly. She relaxed back into him, mouth agape, an airless gasp escaping her lungs.

“You wish,” she muttered, wanting to hear him say how badly he missed that too. She eyed him through the mirror, trying to maintain strength but knowing he elicited weakness.

He moved the hand from her hip to just below her naval right above her pelvis, fingers just curling to where her heart was pumping blood. “You’re right,” he whispered against her neck and lowered his hand and curled his fingers inward, dropping it to the gap between her legs, “I do.” He tightened his grasp on her boob. “I do so badly.”

A light ahh escaped her mouth as Eren pressed his fingers up between her legs into the fabric. He started rubbing lightly, and her hips involuntarily moved with the friction. He pressed his hips forward into her back and ass. “Can’t you feel how desperate I am for you?”

She could feel his hard cock underneath the coarse fabric as he pressed himself deeper into her. “I’ve missed you so bad.” She released a huffy breath as his finger rubbed against the right spot. She loved when he needed her, when he was so very desperate for her, and he knew it. “I want you so bad.” But she wasn’t ready to stop teasing him yet, she couldn’t. He hadn’t done enough to deserve it yet.

Mikasa softly reluctantly cried out as Eren removed his hands from her crotch. He forcibly turned her around, then steadied her with his fingers firmly dug into her hips. Her hands collected on his broad chest, solid and firm and soft under her touch.

Eren immediately started sloppily kissing up and down her neck, a clash of teeth and tongue and saliva and it should be gross but its sending millions of tingles to all the right places. She bared her neck out for him, giving him more room, more access, to make her feel even more. That’s all that was on her mind: more more more.

“Tell me, Mikasa…” The way he said her name, like each syllable was equally important, like it was hot honey dripping from a hot spoon into the most delicious cup of hot tea—it caused bubbling sensations to travel down her spine, an ease to settle in her stomach that made her feel at home. “Tell me you want me.”

One hand sat firmly at her hip while the other struggled to undo the zipper. The whisper against her neck sent a shiver throughout her body, sent heat to her cheeks and made her knees weaken slightly.

“Eren,” she responded lamely, breathlessly. His name tasted foreign on her tongue, but they both knew it will re-adapt to her mouth the more she says it, dance on her tongue better the longer the night goes on.

He lifted his head up, peeled his lips off her skin and made eye contact, fighting the urge to pin her between the mirror and himself.

The look in his eyes… dark yet innocent, heavy and burdened yet in love. The games and resistance before felt so trivial now.

“Mikasa…” He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, letting the warm palm of his hand caress her cheek, leaving a trail of hot pink skin from the touch. Her name was a melody leaving his lips, soothing all past injuries, slowly becoming more quiet and unplayed the longer he’s away.

She ignored the frown lines and heavy bags under his eyes, hoping that at least for tonight, she can give him the very best remedy.

One hand rose from his chest and firmly settled into his hair, grabbing the long dark brown strands and intertwining her fingers. Mikasa’s other hand slipped under the fabric of his shirt and climbed up the ridges of his abs to his chest, letting it rest above his heart.

Both of Eren’s hands had found themselves around her waist and pulled her in, effectively closing the distance between their bodies. His hard erection pressed against her front, his nose burrowing into her neck.

“Please,” he whispered into her skin, his humid breath condensating immediately. He started to press soft kisses to the exposed flesh. “I need my princess.”

Usually she hated the term and she absolutely despised when the regiment tossed it around like a synonym for weakling, but there was something in the way Eren said it, a level of softness and neediness that set the word apart from others, set her above the rest. Being his princess meant being something different entirely. Not being needed, but certainly never not wanted.

The moan she released was half in response to the pet name and half in response to his lips connecting to the softest spot of her neck, just above the dip between the collarbones.

The grip on his hair tightened and her breath sped up as Eren’s hands frantically tugged at the buttons on her shirt, unbuttoning half before ripping the rest off in lazy frustration.

His mouth immediately made its way down her chest, pressing kisses with salivary remnants all over the exposed skin of her breasts. He let his tongue and lips roam all over the soft bouncy flesh as his hands roamed her torso. She bent her back to accentuate her chest on his tongue.

“Take this stupid thing off,” she ordered quickly, tugging on the shirt he always wore.

Eren pulled away and did as he was told as Mikasa’s hands scattered to her back as she struggled to unclasp the bra that kept her chest so tightly caged in. The bra was off and on the floor by the time Eren had pulled his shirt over his head, and his eyes were locked onto her breasts not a second later.

Eren groaned at the sight; her chest was always his favorite. Voluptuous and bouncy and forgiving. He started to palm his hard-on through the rough fabric of his pants.

Mikasa cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Getting needy, huh?” she asked redundantly. She started to slowly sink to her knees, raising her hands to Eren’s knees and caressing up to his hips. Mikasa glanced up at Eren once her head was just in front of the erection he was palming. “Nuh-uh,” she tisked, shaking her hand. She grabbed his wrist and moved it away from the tented fabric. “No touching.”

She quickly undid the pants button and both of them were pulling down the fabric together until his red cock popped out, eager to taste the air.

Mikasa licked her lips and used her thumb to wipe some of the spit away, making eye contact with Eren the entire time, whose eyes were heavy and hooded with desire. He looked down at her and subconsciously pushed his hips out, silently begging for her to take him all in her mouth already.

Well she got the hint, and after gently rubbing her hand up and down the shaft briefly, she brought her lips to the tip and wrapped her lips around it.

She hollowed out her cheeks and sucked rhythmically, changing the length she covered with her lips and alternating the position of her tongue. Eren bit his lip so hard blood could’ve come out. Mikasa looked up at him like she’d suck that too.

His hands were clasped in her hair and his mouth was parted as his hips chased her lips. The ghost of the wet contact stayed on the skin and sent soft rolls of pleasure up his body, building up the desire for more. He chased after her mouth, hoping to shove all of his cock down the wet warmth of her throat.

Tears formed in the edges of her eyes as his cock pushed against the back of her throat. She continued to suck and tug and lick at the sensitive skin, letting the myriad of noises and praises he released act as cheers and encores. His voice carried her name so thickly when she sucked him off, like he was choking on it the same way she choked on him.

She continued to suck on his cock when the vein throbbed and he released his load into her mouth. “So good with your mouth,” he mumbled to himself as she swallowed cleanly, smirking at the whiny whimper he released when he came. “So, so good.”

Eren roughly yanked on Mikasa’s hair to pull her to her feet, signaling for her to stand in front of him again. Once she stood up, he forced her backwards until she was trapped between the mirror and him.

He pulled down roughly on her hair with one hand and let the other hand drop to her hip. Her mouth was open in shock as a surprised gasp slipped out. “God how I’ve missed that mouth,” he muttered more to himself and dropped his hand from her hip even lower to her crotch.

He kissed her as soon as she made eye contact, then curled his fingers upright and in between her legs. Eren altered the weight of the fingers against her crotch and rubbed carefully, feeling himself grow hard as his tongue slid against hers while his fingers searched through fabric for her clit.

He lifted his hand slightly and slipped it between the waistband of the pants and her bare skin, quickly adjusting to the skin contact and finding a new rhythm.

Mikasa bent her knees slightly to increase the pressure. Her mouth was open and short bursts of air puffed out as his fingers played with her clit and moist lips.

Eren tucked his hand down awkwardly and started to curl two fingers towards her clit. He tugged on her hair at the moment he pressed against her clit to elicit out breathless gasps and more drops of fluid, causing his fingers to start making a squelching noise with each movement.

He yanked on her hair again, causing her chin to lift up and her mouth to open wider with a loud “Ah!” He pulled his fingers out of her waistband and lifted them to her mouth, putting three inside. She closed her mouth obediently around them and started sucking, her mouth puckering at the sour taste of herself.

Eren’s pupils were so dilated his eyes were dark as he watched her suck on his fingers, evoking a series of dick twitches that reminded him just how hard he was, just how badly he needed her to get off.

“Take your pants off,” he ordered simultaneously, watching Mikasa suck on his fingers with dilated pupils. She sucked on his fingers just as diligently as she sucked on his cock and started unbuttoning and unzipping her own pants, shaking the fabric from her thighs and stepping out of them easily.

Before she knew it her naked body was pressed against the cold mirror again. The hand clasped in her hair had moved to her lower back, holding her close to his body, where she could feel the new erection growing eagerly.

Eren replaced the fingers in her mouth with his tongue. She kissed him headily, like somehow she could make up for lost time, while his licked-up fingers made the trail back to her now exposed cunt. Without warning he slipped two fingers inside, shoving his tongue deeper down her throat when she gasped, preventing her from making any form of noise. The only noise being the sound of fluid displaced with each push in and pull out of his fingers.

Mikasa let her knees collapse slightly as she let herself be pinned between the mirror and Eren’s body. She practically sat on his fingers as he shoved them in and out of her, the noise more loud and obscene than the sound of their tongues smacking together, than the sound of the mirror rocking against the wall as Mikasa’s body recoiled with each pulse of his fingers.

She tilted her head back to break the kiss, short of gasping for air as her head became light, as her mind blanked with nothing but the thought of Eren Eren Eren.

He was already breathing heavily from having come once, and now he was breathing heavily to make up for whenever his breath stopped, whenever he silenced his lungs so he could clearly hear the gasps and whines fall from her free lips.

But she was still far too quiet for his liking.

The squelch squelch squelch sounds increased in frequency and amplitude as Eren sped up the movement of his fingers, letting his hand soak up and prune with the discharge, coaxing out various moans from her that only sucked the air out of his lungs more.

Mikasa loudly squealed out as Eren blindly jabbed inside her vagina, poking and curling his fingers inside around the spot that made her scream. Desperate to hear how loud she could be.

“St-, Eren, wait! Stop!” she cried out, struggling to find his wrist to pull his fingers out. He paused, leaving his fingers inside, curling the tips ever so slightly, relishing the touch of her smooth velvet insides against the rough fingertips.

She gasped when she finally found his wrist and pulled ever so slightly on it, signaling for him to pull out and step away. He did, and the absence was felt immediately. The emptiness inside she was so familiar with that would sit until their next meeting.

He took a step back from her to let her collect her composure. As soon as she was solid on two legs again, her hand reached back out for Eren’s hard cock. “Fuck me,” she pleaded, eyes wanting, “please. Fuck me with this,” she roughly squeezed his cock, smirking when Eren’s eyes squeezed shut and his face twisted in pleasant surprise, “until I can’t walk anymore. Until I can’t even stand.”

[apilgrimpassingby]

Post-Apocalyptic Magical Britain - First Post

(Tagging @arcenciel-par-une-larme, @merthwyn, @kaleb-is-definitely-sane and @narulanth, who I've discussed this idea with).

The exact backstory of how magic comes back and how the different states form is something I haven't decided yet, but I have more-or-less hashed out the different states and where they are; their territory is based around this map of the historic counties.

Also, this post is massive, hence the "keep reading".

Annwn

Territory: Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire

Language: Welsh Faerie-Tongue

Capital: Caer Siddi

Leader: Gwyn ap Nudd

The kingdom of y tylwyth teg (Welsh faeries, literally "the fair family") upon earth, led by their king, Gwyn ap Nudd. Towns are largely abandoned and have been reduced to forests of oak, beech and ash, with the tylwyth teg living beneath lakes and inside barrows and emerging at dusk and disappearing at dawn - to humans travelling by day, the whole land has an eerie quality. Annwn is largely set apart from the wars of its endlessly-feuding neighbours, Cymru and Wales, with the fair folk taking part in their own lives, but during winter, ap Nudd leads sky-borne raids of his spectral white hounds, the Cwn Annwn, targeting both of them and sometimes ranging elsewhere.

Clan Bean

Territory: southern Ayrshire

Language: Scots

Capital: Bennane Head Cave

Leader: Sawney Bean

One of the many folklore figures brought to life was Sawney Bean, the leader of a clan of cave-dwelling cannibal bandits born of incest; while Scotland was collapsing, he and his children assembled a host of outlaws and ne'er-do-wells, and with them he became the ruler of a substantial territory. As loathsome as he and his clan are, they have become adept at using the woods and moors to lay ambushes against invaders, and thus they control the land - but only this land, as their attempts at open-field battle outside their terrain have always been miserable failures. Their settlements are largely caves or clusters of lean-tos, they have little economic activity beside foraging, hunting and robbing travellers foolish enough to pass through the area and they recognise no law but "Old Sawney".

Clan MacLeod

Territory: Isle of Skye, Isle of Lewis

Language: Scots Gaelic

Capital: Dunvegan Castle

Leader: Norman MacLeod

When magic returned, the leaders of Clan MacLeod used the last wish of the Fairy Flag to summon a faerie host to their side, and they promptly allied with them, allowing them to take over the two islands they live on. Today, their political system is well-established: human daughters marry elfin princes and fae princesses become the wives of Adam's sons, and the faerie hills are left undisturbed (save for a payment of food for aid in war) in exchange for the faeries leaving humans alone. The chieftain of Clan MacLeod governs the islands according to clan law codes and his own will, while the people dwell in villages and make their living by keeping sheep, growing oats and catching fish (the society has a broadly 18th-century level of technology). They frequently raid their neighbours (who will be covered later on) and prevail through fae magic.

Cymru

Territory: Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire

Language: Welsh

Capital: Dinas Emrys

Leader: Owain Glyndwr

When Owain Glyndwr, the great magic-wielding rebel prince of Wales, arose with magic, he went to Cardiff and proposed that he be instated as king and use the Cyfraith Hywel as their laws (complete with slavery, no inheritance for women and no citizenship for immigrants until the fourth generation); the people there were equally outraged and amused. He instead went to the mountains with his followers, an increasingly large band of Welsh-speaking fanatics, and set up his own castle atop Dinas Emrys, the mountain of Myrddin (better known to the English as Merlin). From there, he wages constant war against Wales with both his troops, his tactical ingenuity and his magical powers (he can control the weather and become invisible) while governing as he promised over a population of village-dwelling sheep farmers with a Late Medieval level of technology (Dinas Emrys has grown into a town of some size and sophistication under him).

East Anglia

Territory: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Huntingdonshire, southern Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk

Language: English

Capital: Norwich

Leader: Tom Hickathrift

With the return of magic, the ancient ecologies came back, and the fens were revived, drowning much of the region. Three centres of civilisation (for a certain definition; all are of an Early Modern technological level) persist - Walsingham, where Our Lady's presence wards off supernatural horrors, Cambridge, where much of the town has holed up inside the university, and chiefly Norwich, where Hickathrift leads a band of monster slayers, with Hereward the Wake as his second-in-command. And there are many monsters to slay - Lantern Men (ghosts who lead travellers in the marshes astray), the Shug Monkey (a half-dog, half-monkey creature in southern Cambridgeshire), child-eating mermaids in pools, and above all, Black Shuck, the dread hellhound who appears in thunderstorms to maim and kill. Outside the three towns, most settlements are fishing and herding villages, in a High Medieval or lower technological state due to their isolation and living in terror of the demons of the swamp.

Elphame

Territory: Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire

Language: Scots

Capital: Mid Gleniron

Leader: The Fairy Queen

The territory of the faeries in the Scottish Lowlands, given to them by William Wallace in exchange for her aid in the war against the democratic government of Scotland. They now inhabit its hills and barrows, emerging by night in the land that (since Wallace's Scotland took them all) is nearly devoid of humans to dance atop the moors; humans who do trespass there find themselves imprisoned and enslaved in Faerie-Land. It retains warm relations with Scotland, but every other nation dreads interacting with them for reasons that should be clear.

Highland

Territory: Argyllshire, Cromartyshire, Inverness-shire, northern Perthshire, Ross-shire, Sutherland

Language: Scottish Gaelic

Capital: Schiehallion

Leader: The Cailleach

This land has been taken by the Cailleach, the Gaelic goddess of winter, and it shows. The entire landscape is an austere snow-blanketed pine forest where wolves howl, deer and boar cavort and eagles make their nests, with only a few human settlements (most of them post-apocalyptic farmsteads) amidst the huge numbers of fae folk, kelpies, sluagh and so on, who all pay fealty to her in her court at Schiehallion. She endeavours to spread her territory, and has several times made war against Scotland for that end, but has thus far been rebuffed - her greatest enemy currently, however, is the Nordøjar, who have established a colony in the Highlands which they must constantly struggle to maintain.

Isle of Man

Territory: Isle of Man

Language: Manx, English

Capital: Peel Castle

Leader: Manannan

In times of trouble and the rise of magic, the sea god Manannan returned to the island, protecting it with his mists as he did in ancient times. The island, however, came to have a different folkloric denizen - Sir Francis Drake, who betrayed the English Crown in order to serve King Arthur and had his loyalty to Britain (and his heart) destroyed by being rebuffed by Arthur. Now, he is a pirate, and uses Manannan's mists to hide his crew (and that of other Manx privateers) while they retreat from the ships and coastal villages they raid. Hence, the Isle of Man is now full of nests of pirates (with 16th-17th century technology and clothes) sharing and selling what they have taken - food, clothes, livestock, valuables, human captives - in the midst of a countryside thick with glashtyns, bugganes and other such monsters.

Kernow

Territory: Cornwall

Language: Cornish, Briton

Capital: Tintagel Castle

Leader: Sir Lancelot, Sir Mertraut/Mordred

When King Arthur was revived with his wife, Lancelot and Mertraut (the latter better known by his French name, Mordred) still lusted after Gwenhwyfar (again, better known by her French name, Guinevere), which boiled over when Arthur offered Lancelot anything for his victory against the United Kingdom, and Lancelot asked for Gwenhwyfar. Thus, Lancelot and Mertraut rebelled, leading an army of spriggans, giants, mermaids, giant black cats and so on alongside Cornish humans, and with Lancelot going to his foster mother, the Lady of the Lake, in Dozmary Pool, receiving a sword of the grade of Excalibur. They are perpetually at war with Arthur and his kingdom of Logres, but have had little success; Lancelot and Mertraut quarrel with each other frequently, and are delaying the question of who will receive Gwenhwyfar if they win. The two are equally divided in ruling their land in non-military matters, which (in the few surviving human settlements) has a High Medieval technological level and an economy built on fishing and sheep-herding.

Kingdom of England

Territory: Leicestershire, northern and central Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland

Language: English

Capital: Kenilworth Castle

Leader: Queen Gloriana

The remnants of England, this land - Elizabethan in aesthetics and technology, and with an agrarian economy and several substantial towns, the greatest of which is Leicester - is ruled by Gloriana, the deified ever-virgin spirit of Queen Elizabeth I. The rest of the land is governed feudally, with territory being given out to her subordinates, such as Francis Walsingham and Robert Dudley (with the notable exception of Sir Francis Drake, who decided that Arthur commanded a higher loyalty than Gloriana. She is the primary force preventing the Republic of York from conquering territory further south, but still finds time to feud with Mercia to the west (both are of the opinion there is room for only one queen in the Midlands) and broker deals with the United Kingdom in the hope of obtaining royal treasures from the Tower of London (a futile attempt, as the Tower of London is blocked off from mortal visitation due to the density of ghosts). The greatest thorn in her side, however, is Robin Hood, the de facto leader of northern Nottinghamshire who continues to rob from the rich to give to the poor.

Kingdom of Scotland

Territory: northern Ayrshire, Buteshire, Clackmannanshire, Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Lanarkshire, Midlothian, Peeblesshire, southwestern Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Selkirkshire, Stirlingshire, West Lothian

Language: Scots

Capital: Edinburgh

Leader: William Wallace

When William Wallace returned and led the army that secured Scottish independence, he expected to be given the crown in return; he was not, and so civil war broke out. After agreeing to give away land in exchange for alliances, he ousted the democratic faction from Scotland and installed himself as king. The land now has a High Medieval technology level, a vassalage-based political system where lairds and earls swear loyalty to Wallace in exchange for being given land (including Michael Scot, who has been pledged his birth county of Selkirkshire in perpetuity), and an economy based on farming oats and sheep. The land is perennially in one war or another, usually with the Cailleach to the north or the Reavers to the south.

Logres

Territory: Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Language: Briton

Capital: Camelot

Leader: Arthur

One of the first signs of the return of magic was Arthur arising from Glastonbury Abbey with a small number of loyal knights, and quickly defeating the United Kingdom (notwithstanding the schism detailed above). Thus, he has developed a High Medieval kingdom in the West Country, where the peasants (the people have adapted to this lifestyle under Arthur's wise and benevolent leadership) grow wheat and keep cattle and sheep, in exchange for defence by the knights in their castles - or that would be the case, if the knights were not perpetually at war with Kernow. In addition, they have also at times made war with Mercia, due to being modern representatives of the Saxons Arthur hated, but upon discovering them to be Christian he is largely at peace with them.

Mercia

Territory: Derbyshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire

Language: Old English

Capital: Coventry

Leader: Lady Godiva

This territory is inhabited by pre-Conquest Englishmen, and has all the appropriate trappings - people live in longhouses, have an agrarian economy and an Early Medieval level of technology, speak Old English and practice Christianity in small stone churches. Their leader, Lady Godiva, has cultivated good relations with both Wales and Cymru, becoming skilled at playing them off against each other so they do not trouble her, has historically fought with (but is now allied with) Logres and now has her main enemies in the Kingdom of England and the Republic of York, both of which her trained bands of warriors fight vigorously.

Nordøjar

Territory: Caithness, Orkneys, Shetlands

Language: Norn

Capital: Kirkavå

Leader: Assipattle

The Northern Isles (or Nordøjar, as they are now known) are the islands off the tip of Scotland, united in a federation by the hero Assipattle, who from his seat in Kirkwall (as it used to be known) persuaded the inhabitants of the isles to renounce Christianity and become Norse, raiding the seas in longships as they plough the land while living in longhouses (their main economic activities aside from raiding are peat digging, fishing and sheep-herding). Their usual targets are various areas around Scotland, although they have ranged further south on occasion, and frequently sell their wares on the Isle of Man. They are opposed by the Kingdom of Scotland and the Republic of Aberdeen, but are nonetheless largely able to raid due to their maritime skill and Assipattle's host of creatures such as trows, the wulver and the dread nuckelavee. However, their greatest enemy is the Cailleach, whose forces they constantly struggle against as they seek to maintain their Caithness colony.

Reaver Lands

Territory: Berwickshire, Cumberland, Northumberland, Roxburghshire

Language: English, Scots

Capital: Liddesdale

Leader: None

The Border is a wasteland of tree-bare hills, populated chiefly by sheep, ponies and raiding parties both human and otherworldly. On the human side are the Border Reavers, the pony-riding bandit clans who live in turf cabins and stone towers and ride over the hills to steal the livestock of or take revenge on some other clan. On the otherworldly side is the Fairy Rade, the hosts of faerie archers mounted on white horses with harnesses jingling with bells, who come hunting through the night. Mediating between the two is Thomas the Rhymer, the faerie-gifted poet-prophet who knows the ways of both sides. Only fools or the desperate travel through this land; everyone else who can uses boats around the region. While it has no true leader or capital, Liddesdale is the centre of the region and the most common point of gathering.

Republic of Aberdeen

Territory: Aberdeenshire, Angus, Banffshire, Fife, Kinross-shire, Kincardineshire, Morayshire, southeastern Perthshire

Language: Scots, English

Capital: Aberdeen

Leader: Martha Seward (no, that's not a folklore character, yes, that's intentional - you'll see why)

The territory controlled by the democratic faction, ousted from Edinburgh by William Wallace's troops. The economy here is largely industrial - or rather, attempting to be industrial, seeing as even steam power is increasingly failing. Many cities (in which the majority of people live) are derelict, and while the nation still professes democracy, the "emergency government" has now held power for nearly ten years. The nation's chief ally is the United Kingdom (hence the perception of them as traitors by Scottish nationalists, who hence sided with Wallace), another relict modern democracy, but which can help them little against the attacks of the Cailleach and Assipattle's raiders - however, those same attacks mean that the Kingdom of Scotland rarely has time to attack them.

Republic of York

Territory: Cheshire, Durham, Lancashire without the exclave, Westmorland, Yorkshire

Language: English

Capital: York

Leader: Mother Shipton

One of the larger and more successful states to come out of the collapse, the Republic of York has been given power by a few factors - Mother Shipton's prophetic gifts giving them the ability to make excellent political decisions, a relatively undamaged economy (technology has regressed to "just" the 19th century, and the aesthetics, culture and economy of the society are largely Victorian) and a large base of land and population. Thus, they annexed much of northern England, but have been running out of steam for a few reasons - a long and fruitless war in the Reaver Lands, their technology slowly breaking down, and a crushing defeat delivered to them by the Kingdom of England. However, they remain powerful, and hence are unperturbed by possessing few allies; they need little other than themselves.

United Kingdom

Territory: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex

Language: English

Capital: London

Leader: Winston Churchill

The remnant of the old United Kingdom, whose failure to adapt to magic and the end of modern technology meant they kept experiencing defeat after defeat and a steady loss of territory, reducing them to the southeast corner of England, until their leaders realised that the Second World War was now English folklore. Thus, they summoned an avatar of Winston Churchill to lead them, and now make their tanks, guns and planes work by magic. They have hence been able to win victories - a naval operation in Essex and an overland operation in the New Forest (which at the time was a de facto independent territory ruled by Yernagate and populated mainly by pixies) have had promising results, and an attack on Logres is in the works. The price for the average citizen, however, is steep - to summon the spirit of the Blitz, people live on rationed food in air raid shelters and bombed-out houses and Winston Churchill is king in all but name.

Wales

Territory: Brecknockshire, Glamorgan, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire

Language: English, Welsh

Capital: Cardiff

Leader: Joseph Morgan (also not a folklore figure; that's important)

The last true democracy and one of the last modern societies in Britain, Wales is a largely urban and industrial society (although their cities and industry are rapidly crumbling), struggling mightily against Cymru and Annwn - however, with the aid of Davies Sirevan and Jack of Kent, their resistance is successful.

[saltminerising]

when it comes to multi account banxiety i find it very amusing how people will blame staff because they didn't read the TOS. is the punishment for multiaccounting pretty extreme? yea. i myself get anxious from time to time about an account i made nearly ten years ago and forgot about before rediscovering flight rising. i never funneled or interacted btwn the accounts so my activity is indistinguishable from some other random person signing up and then abandoning the game, but still, the fearmongering gets to me sometimes.

even as someone who unintentionally broke these rules, i do think it's funny that when you're making your account you click a checkbox that says "i've read and agreed to the terms of service," with one of those terms being that you're only allowed one account and you'll be banned for multiaccounting ... and then some people will claim to be completely blindsided by staff's punishment for multiaccounting. again, i think the punishment for multis is pretty unfair and i myself would be very upset if i ended up being caught, but ... you, me, and every other flight rising player agreed staff could do this when we signed up. it's not staff's fault that i initially didn't read the TOS but clicked the box anyway :shruggie: i wish they would be more lenient about multiaccounting because it breaks my heart to see people lose their dragons over something stupid they did years ago, but ... intentions don't change the fact that we all told staff when signing up that they're allowed to close our accounts for multi-ing.

i haven't been on this blog in a bit but i've gleaned that there was a recent multi ban wave (?) and i've seen a bit of the usual fearmongering about how staff ambushes innocent people with multi allegations and unfairly closes their accounts and this and that and .... yeah, false bans happen and they're terrible, but consider that many people who knowingly broke the rules have an incentive to lie about why their accounts were closed. take it easy and try not to be so worried when half of what you hear is specifically crafted to make you upset and anxious about things that didn't happen. in the end staff has a right to do what we told them they could do when we signed up, regardless of if you actually read the TOS, and unless you self-report i sincerely doubt an alt you made when you were 13 and abandoned after two days will ever get found out.

[ravensofcedar]

Edit: Expanded version now on Ao3! 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48503002

Posting my NSFW thread fic from Twitter on Tumblr as well. I’m not sure how many of these I’m gonna do on Twitter, because the formatting drives me insane ;^; Once Ao3 gets back up and running, I plan on adding/refining this to post there as well, but for now, here’s some trans!Ghost giving Soap head and humping his leg after the ‘Alone’ mission.

How Ghost found himself here - on his knees in front of Soap, mask rucked up, fabric scrunched under the hard teeth of its skull plate - was less of a surprise, and more of a calculated misstep.

Graves’ betrayal, their escape through Las Almas, the relief when they hit the open road outside the city… It was all a blur, the passage of time a mere suggestion to their addled minds. 

Always be prepared for anything. 

Easy to say, but even this was another level for Ghost.

He’d grown hardened to ambushes. A knife to the throat only meant a quick readjustment, nothing more. Missions gone sideways were the norm for operatives like him. 

But, to be blindsided like that… Ghost wished he’d been more aware. He must have missed the signs.

All that training, experience, and the hardening of heart and exterior, all seemed for naught. All a means to keep himself, and those under his command, safe. 

Until now. 

Ghost didn’t break. 

Ghost wasn’t able to break. 

But Simon could…

Simon was a man unable to fight the sway of a pretty set of crystal blue eyes that widened and glimmered in the dancing lights of an explosion. 

Simon couldn’t discern between tamped down affections and playful banter that toed the line of professionalism between comrades.

Simon was a weak fool when it came to Johnny. 

Layer by layer, ice was chipped away from his frosty exterior. Every joke, every mischievous smile and little taps to his arm… It made Simon melt.

So when Soap’s eyes fell on him, wide, full of relief and clouded by the sharp sting of pain in the thick of battle, Ghost knew Simon was done for. 

So maybe, just for a few moments, they could help each other forget

Forget that they were being hunted. 

Forget that Soap was only remaining upright from stims and pain killers. 

Forget that Ghost was making the most unprofessional decision of his military career, all because of him… 

But what was the point of worrying about that now?

Just a moment to feel alive. 

That’s all they needed. 

Just a gasp of life in the dusty darkness, surrounded by bloody gauze and discarded gear. 

All to feel something other than pain and panic and the questions that 

would 

not 

stop.

Hidden behind the stacked crates inside Alejandro’s safehouse, Ghost murmured around the cock that had made its home in his throat.

He stared up at Soap, brows pitched toward each other, eyelids heavy over dewy eyes. His jaw stretched as he took a deep breath and swallowed Soap down. Throat tight around his sergeant’s cock, Ghost moaned and smashed the tip of his nose into the gasping man’s pubic hair.

The mask’s teeth pressed into Soap’s flesh, a sharp reminder that Ghost could still bite, if he so pleased. 

Soap’s legs twitched, pulling toward his body as his fingers sunk into Ghost’s mask and tugged. 

“Fuck!” Soap hissed in an attempt to keep his voice low. “Ghost…”

Just hearing his name on Soap’s lips had Simon spinning. Ghost nuzzled into Soap’s crotch and inhaled deeply, eyes fluttering closed as he swallowed again, throat bobbing thick around his cock.

Ghost squeezed Soap’s thighs and listened to the harsh, stilted breaths coming from his own lungs as nose met lower belly with each eager bob of his head. Saliva dribbled down his chin in an obscene trail.

Slow, thick strings down his throat, accentuating his desperate gulps to keep his airway clear.

Soap was patched up and just starting to feel the effects of the painkillers Ghost had stabbed him with. Had to administer them in order to get that bullet out of Soap’s shoulder. It wasn’t ideal to mix it with the stims but the pain would have been unbearable.

Maybe they shouldn’t be doing this right now, both filthy and damp from rain and blood, coated in sweat, Soap not in his right mind. 

Ghost wondered if he should have waited. Let their heads clear instead of jumping each other the first second they got.

But Simon couldn’t help himself. Already straddled over Soap’s legs to keep him still as Ghost fished out the bullet in his shoulder, it was nothing for Simon to sink to his knees and unzip the strained fly of Soap’s jeans.

Adrenaline could do that to you. Make you think you needed to fuck the nearest, convenient hole after almost dying multiple times in the course of a couple hours. An understandable reaction, that Simon was more than willing to assist with.

Ghost screamed at him not to do it. That this was one of the worst decisions Simon could make, all for a pretty face, backed by unashamed capability and beaming personality. But he went for it with a gusto that could put the most experienced of sex workers to shame.

Lips latched firm around Soap’s cock, Ghost frantically undid the straps of his harness from his hips, yanked down his own zipper, and tugged his jeans down just enough to expose himself.

The warm strand of slick that clung to his briefs snapped as he manhandled Soap’s leg between his thighs.

Soap moaned and gripped tighter at his mask as Ghost tightened his thighs around Soap’s calf and rooted his cunt to the rough material of his jeans.

Desperate for pleasure of his own, Ghost inhaled sharply as he dragged his cock along the hard plane of Johnny’s shin, his slit catching on the fabric and adding that much needed friction he so needed.

Ghost mewled around Johnny’s cock and sucked his lower lip against his teeth. His eyelashes fluttered as he stared up at Soap, pupils blown and hips working furiously on the denim scuffing against the folds of his cunt. Ghost pressed harder, chasing the sensation.

Fuck… He could get off just like this, rutting against Soap’s leg like a bitch in heat. His arousal coated Soap’s jeans, easing the friction to a lovely glide against his cunt.

The angle wasn’t good enough. Ghost had to slouch too far to get his own pleasure. Clutching the back of Soap’s leg, Ghost lifted it into the air and whined when he split against Soap’s shin.

Taking the hint, Soap bounced his leg up higher and smirked when Ghost hissed and ground back against the pressure. Soap planted his foot against another crate, giving Ghost the perfect ledge to rest his weight on and grind into it.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! 

Simon shuddered around Soap and didn’t take his eyes off the sergeant.

 Squinted now, complete adoration in the deep, brown depths. 

He was drifting, getting lost in the motions until all he knew was Johnny and the way he looked at him. 

The way he touched him.

Hands so gentle against his jaw, guiding him through the motions, fingertips just reaching under the folds of his mask. Not enough to lift it, but enough to feel the jawline beneath and the scars that littered Ghost’s face.

Thumbs traced the raised ridges of the mask’s cheekbones, as if Soap were stroking Ghost’s face instead. 

Wanted to feel those callused pads against his skin instead. 

Should rip off the mask. Let Soap see… 

No, no, this was stupid enough already!

Ghost’s lips were getting raw, rubbed against his teeth, stretched so tight around Soap’s cock. 

“Ghost, ‘m gettin’ close…” Soap warned, his hips raising and muscles coiling with his confession. 

Ghost moaned, low in his chest, and nodded with more enthusiasm than he expected.

His eyes rolled back and clenched closed as he felt Soap stiffen against his tongue, pulsing with each pump of his orgasm. Most shot straight down his throat, every jump of Soap’s cock warm and inviting against Ghost’s lips.

Ghost couldn’t hold back the surprised gag as Soap pulled out of his throat and shuddered when more of his cum dribbled down Ghost’s lower lip and over his chin. 

“Sorry…” Soap apologized, voice a soft whisper.

Ghost said nothing. Instead, he shoved his face against Soap’s thigh and arched his back as he rutted against Soap’s leg. His tongue darted out to lick up the remnants on his lips.

Spurred on by the display, Soap swiped his thumb over Ghost’s chin and pushed the last drops into his Lieutenant's parted mouth. Ghost took it with greed and sucked his skin clean.

Muffling his own whimpers, Ghost held his breath and grabbed the underside of Soap’s leg. He pushed it against his cunt and humped against the slick denim with no shame. 

The whispered praise was nearly lost on Ghost, simply adding to his mindless chasing of pleasure.

Tighter, cunt twitching with need, empty and aching, yet filled with the delicious friction. He wrapped his arm around Soap’s thigh and held it tight, muscles a vice that strained against his jacket.

And then it all spilled over, in a wound up thread, bound too tight, breaking with the sharp snap of Ghost’s hips, cunt crushed so hard against Soap’s shin Ghost thought he might bruise the poor soldier.

Just as his body had arched to a painful bow, it relaxed, dropping to Soap’s supporting leg as they panted together in the dank silence. 

Ghost hummed at the touch of Soap’s fingertips on the back of his head. Simply stroking, with no ulterior motives.

“Steamin’ Jesus, Lt…” he breathed, eyes blitzed out and distant. Drugs, endorphins, adrenaline. Must have been a hell of an orgasm… 

Ghost drew in a shuddering breath and stumbled to his feet. Quickly, he dragged all his gear back in place and nodded.

Clarity in the scummy setting of their afterglow. 

“Right… Get some rest, Johnny…” 

Before Soap could respond, Ghost did what he was best at, and slipped away in silence.

Outside the safehouse, Ghost leaned back against the door and covered his mouth with his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut, tilted his head back, and sighed, long and hard. 

“Fuckin’ hell, Simon… What the fuck is wrong with you?”

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺🇺🇦🚨 OVERNIGHT UPDATE ON THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR DAY 618

In the Kherson direction:

A Russian recognizance unit inside Krynky was destroyed as a result of Ukrainian ambush and shelling, destroying roughly 10 soldiers as they exited the village on its southwestern outskirts.

Russian Forces were heavily shelling the Krynky area using TOS Flamethrower systems.

On the second Ukrainian foothold south of Prydniprovske, Russian Forces were bombing and shelling the forward Ukrainian positions using FPV Drones in the hope of preventing the development of the foothold in this area.

In the Zaporizhzhia direction:

Ukrainian Forces launched offensive operations to the southeast of Robotyne using armored personnel carriers and judging by the video evidence, were destroyed.

Meanwhile, Russian Forces were heavily bombing Ukrainians positions west of Verbove using FPV drones on the forward positions of Ukrainian Forces in this region, no changes in territory.

Russian Forces launched strikes against the accumulation of Ukrainian ammunition in the fortified positions in the fields southeast of Novodanylivka, resulting in a significant explosion, suggesting an ammunition depot was in fact destroyed. Secondary explosions were recorded.

In the Novomykhailivka area:

Russian Forces continued bombing and shelling Ukrainian positions in the central part of Novomykhailivka using FAB500 bombs. This story has been on repeat all week.

In the Avdiivka direction:

Video evidence suggests Ukrainian Forces have a significantly vast underground network of tunnels in the northern Avdiivka area, not unlike the tunnel network Russian Forces used to destroy Ukrainian positions to the south of the city recently.

In the Bakhmut Direction:

North of Bakhmut, to the west of Yahidne, Russian Forces were heavily using FPV Drones to hammer the forward positions of Ukrainian Forces in the fields following the rail lines where Russian Forces developed their positions here, taking a small strip of territory in recent days.

Keep in mind that with the breakout of conflict in the occupied Palestine area and the difficulty of American authorities to produce ammunition, funding and equipment to continue Ukrainian resistance, ammunition and equipment is severely lacking for Ukrainian Forces, mostly forcing their forces to depend on commercial FPV drones to provide cover for their forces and to defend territory from Russian operations.

The result has been largely standstill for Ukrainian Forces and we only see the development of positions where ammunition has not yet run dry, such as by the footholds in the Kherson direction.

As a result, American authorities are pressuring the Zelensky regime to consider a negotiated settlement or ceasefire, however so far Ukrainian authorities have rejected the suggestion and Russian authorities have made it clear a ceasefire is out of the questions due to a lack of trust by Russian leaders in the intentions of American authorities, believing a ceasefire would just mean the rearming and reconstitution of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[supereffectivemoonblast]

After taking the afternoon off to recover from the ordeal at the Life Dome, Aerith, Ramiel, and Brucey visit the Silken Squall the next day. At the edge of Ank'Harel, twin rope bridges lead up to the floating city, wooden decks built on top of a magically solidified cloud as foundation. A variety of tents, wooden lean-tos, sheds, and the occasional metal structure litter a three tiered settlement that looks more like a carnival than a town. And the majority of performers and craftsmen are Air Genasi.

The trio arrive on the lowest deck of the squall and get breakfast from a stall. Nearby, they spot an automaton trying to sell pamphlets, and when it has moments alone, attempting to practice juggling. Aerith approaches and teaches the robot what she knows, and it is very impressed. It introduces itself as Bell, and explains the stamp book game her friend Guston is offering. The group like Bell, but assume Guston might be a scammer, so tell the robot they'll come by again later.

The Silken Squall - Linda Lithén

They visit a dedicated Jewellery store called Argent Light, and browse some wares, then visit a Winery called Barrel of Clouds, where an older Air Genasi named Turb tells them about a vermin problem. Shiny things and food have gone missing over the last couple weeks, and he suspects a nest of rats he's recently discovered in his cellar. Aerith and her allies offer to clear out the rats and he'll pay them.

They spot the rats immediately, but while they're slaying them, a volley of arrows appears from somewhere and starts a fire from one of the alcohol barrels. After dealing with the rats, they find a hole in the wall of the cellar leading into a tunnel dug through the cloud supporting the city.

Aerith scouts ahead and notices a variety of traps laid out to trip them up. Soon, she catches a pair of Kobolds, who answer their questions with violence. Ramiel and Brucey back up Aerith and they have soon found and defeated four Kobolds hiding behind Barrels or in the walls of the cloud tunnel. They leave one alive, named Plop, and intimidate it into leading them towards the Kobold leading this infestation.

Plop leads them through the tunnel, finding several piles of treasure, some more traps, and a few more Kobolds, which they all slay in front of Plop's eyes. Eventually they push through into the basement of an armory shop, and are ambushed by a group of Kobolds who had poorly fitted themselves out with weapons and armour too big for them. They are slightly more challenged by this group, but Aerith, Ramiel, and Brucey exterminate the Kobolds.

One of the Kobolds had a sack with all the stuff it had stolen, and they find jewels, potions, gold etc, and even a tattered copy of the Stamp Book. The trio assume this is the stolen goods Turb mentioned.

They take two Kobolds they had kept alive and bound back up with them, and Turb advises they should alert the Wyvernwinds, the de facto leaders of the Silken Squall. Caelus and Aurora Wyvernwind thank the party for their help, and give them a writ they can use as a Gift Card to pay for some of the goods on the Squall.

A little battered, but otherwise still excited by the markets, the group start to equate themselves with more of the shops on the squall. They first go to Kotter the blacksmith, and tell him why his basement was barred shut. They also buy some armour from him.

Next they revisit the jewel shop, and visit a bookstore, and a potion store, returning some of items they found in the Kobold's stash. They also collect some Stamps from these shops, having to get to know each merchant before guessing which stamp is theirs. At the potion store, they also get a request from the store owner's assistant to brave the caves around the city to find a precious stone called Ank'Harel Lapus.

Next session, the trio will visit more stores, get more stamps, and search for the Ank'Harel Lapus, with promise of quite the reward.

[baronaliswritingcorner]

TOS Replay Stray Thoughts #5

-“You’re as devious as you look.”

Feast, Raine/Sheena faithful. Feast on that line. Mmm.

-“Ahh! Help me, please!”

...screams a local priest as he leisurely strolls away from Clara. The limitations of TOS's graphics engine provides some unintentional comedy, although I say that knowing full well the dev team were gritting their teeth.

-Kinda prefer Sheena joining after your first trip to the Asgard ranch rather than in Luin – aside from the latter feeling too abrupt, it's simply better storytelling given that a) she's repaid her debt by saving the Chosen's group and b) she's had a night to digest the horrible truth surrounding Exspheres. Don't know if she'd stay quiet about her objective until after the Tower of Mana, but still.

-“These are all Exspheres? Incredible…”

Lloyd, you sweet summer child.

-What’s with Botta suddenly stopping in the middle of their escape? I think it's meant to telegraph the Desian ambush, but it's poorly choreographed and nothing makes any sense, lol

"Wow, Lloyd -- isn't this usually the other way around?"

Y'know, usually lines like this run the risk of trivializing serious scenes, but as evidenced by Lloyd's comeback it does highlight Genis's immaturity -- much as he relies on his education to compensate. (That, and it is funny.)

-"Ah, I see some of you know me."

...does Kvar know of Kratos's true identity/purpose? He sorta and sorta doesn't step around it.

-Love how the overworld Desians just slow-walk towards you. “Oh, hey, yeah…you…get back here…or whateves…

-boy they really couldn't telegraph that kratos reveal enough huh

(I mean, I guess you could argue this with his first scene as well, but his flailing mouth at discovering Lloyd's survival is one of my favorite little touches. Shame they removed that in the PS2 port.)

-So, Exsphere manufacturing -- how...does it work? Kvar says they're initially dormant and feed off human life, but where exactly do they come from? The Toize Valley Mine? We know Cruxis/Desians can travel between the worlds at will, so that tracks, but the Presea/Tabatha sidequest where they "listen to the voice of the Exspheres" throws a monkey wrench into that explanation. (And, of course, doesn't make any sense -- they obviously wouldn't have absorbed anyone beneath the earth.)

Doesn't help we just witnessed a whole line-up of people instantly turn into shipping containers, either. I'm sure console limitations played a part there, but it certainly makes things more confusing.

-On that note, how do you take off Exspheres? Be it Key Crests or skin implants, that sounds pretty, uh, tough. And painful. Ick, it hurts just thinking about it!

-By the way, we know who Lloyd and Genis’s Exspheres were, but did you ever stop to think about the others? Now that's some fun headcanon material – just imagine the poor sap in Raine’s Exsphere going “aw geez, look at this weirdo” when she goes into Ruin Mode.

-Picking "No!" during the Exsphere campfire scene is essential -- really, I'm a sucker for Lloyd's speeches/monologues and everything from him spending the night wrestling over the ethics of using his mother's life to both help Colette and end the cycle of Exspheres to Kratos stopping by to give a cryptic pep talk to "I'm sure my mother wanted to live longer than she did" gets me every time.

-“There was someone who escaped from the ranch. He may know another way in.”

We knew Luin hid people from the ranch, but Raine's line here makes it sound like it was just Pietro.

-The "Desian Curse" is interesting -- there's the commonfolk interpretation of their degrading health, for one, but there's more unsettling implications there with prisoners' dependency on Desian treatments, experiments and whatnot. Ghastly.

...of course, there's the question of this only occurring in Asgard escapees, but you know Kvar and his cruelty.

-ew look at Sheena’s jiggle physics

-Using this magic orb to push a boulder to cover a hidden entrance seems a little…convoluted??? how did Pietro do this. why was even a thing.

-….so what was Kvar doing with the Mana Cannon, anyway? More on that later.

-Kvar, now there’s a villain. Kinda wish he had more screentime ala Rodyle/Pronyma, but what's there is deliciously cruel. A shame the blurry Gamecube textures can't capture the unnatural black of his thin eyes, so he just looks squinty. Maybe he needs glasses.

-Dat Lloyd/Kratos team-up. Dat Colette trying to hide her non-existent (or not-so-non-existent?) pain. Dat Lloyd confessing everything. Goooooood stuff.

-Ever notice how many 3D RPGs just have the characters sleep on the beds as opposed to beneath the covers? For all of Tales of Symphonia's graphical shortcomings, Colette in that Asgard scene is surprising deviation from the norm there. -aw geez I missed the third Kratos training scene! Ugh. Welp, YouTube time.

"But even if I get to be your age, I don't think I'll be as calm as you."

"Ah, I'm not sure about that."

Does Lloyd ever look back on these conversations and just go "...oh."

[jcmarchi]

Defenders of Ukraine Showed How They Use Czech Howitzers DANA - Technology Org

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Defenders of Ukraine Showed How They Use Czech Howitzers DANA - Technology Org

Artillery is still a very important part of modern warfare. Especially self-propelled howitzers that can quickly react to the movement of enemy forces. The defenders of Ukraine showed how they successfully attacked a column of Russian armoured vehicles with Czech self-propelled howitzers DANA.

DANA howitzer in Ukraine. Ukraine got a large number of these howitzers in 2022. Image credit: АрміяInform via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)

A short video showing the actions of the defenders of Ukraine was released by the Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Pavlyuk. He did not reveal where the operation took place or when the video was taken but it involved the 21st and 56th Mechanised Brigades of Ukraine.

“Enemy infantry, TOS-1A Solntsepyok, a tank and a BMP with soldiers were destroyed,” Pavlyuk wrote. The TOS-1A is a multiple launch rocket system, sometimes called a heavy flamethrower due to its thermobaric rounds. It is a particularly hated weapon by the Ukrainians and the most expensive weapon mentioned by Pavlyuk.

This attack was carried out by drones and Czech howitzers DANA. If you want to be precise, the DANA is not a Czech, but a Czechoslovakian howitzer, which is reflected in its 152.4 mm calibre, typical of Eastern Bloc countries. However, Ukraine received these howitzers from the Czech Republic, which is one of Ukraine’s strongest military supporters.

The DANA howitzer was created around 1976 and entered service in 1981. It is a large artillery piece mounted on a Tatra 8×8 chassis. Weighing around 30 tonnes, this weapon is said to be capable of reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h and performs very well off-road. This is important because howitzers like the DANA are often on a quick-fire mission and retreat so that the enemy can’t calculate their location using counter-battery radars. DANA howitzers usually participate in shoot-and-scoot operations.

DANA’s internal ammunition compartment holds 60 rounds. More can be delivered using other machines. This howitzer destroys targets at a distance of up to 20 km and its rate of fire is 2-5 shots per minute. In addition to the main gun, the DANA also has a 12.7 mm machine gun, mainly needed for self-defence in case it is ambushed while on the move from one position to another. The crew of the DANA howitzer consists of 5 soldiers.

In 2021, a modernized version of DANA M2 with improved fire control and communication systems was introduced. DANA actually became the basis of several modern self-propelled howitzers. For example, the 155 mm Zuzana and DITA are close relatives of the DANA howitzer. Ukraine is still waiting for its DITAs, but soon it will be operating pretty much all versions of DANA.

The DANA is a quick and reliable howitzer. It can deliver quick blows to the advancing Russian forces and then retreat. Ukraine will need more of these kinds of weapons in the near future and it’s good to know that they are coming.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: Tech.wp.pl, Wikipedia