#you'll see that no one actually knows for certain what species this guy actually is
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Submitted for classification by anonymous.
"Venezuelan Poodle Moth ^_^"
Photo by Dr. Arthur Anker, retrieved from Snopes.
#venezuelan poodle moth#poodle moth#moth#insect#arthropod#submission#this is an interesting one#because if you read the attached snopes article and look it up on wikipedia#you'll see that no one actually knows for certain what species this guy actually is
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Dungeon Meshi Chapter 10
Hey it's that guy!
Dungeon Meshi says "Drink water".
The first half of this chapter shows us what an ordinary adventuring party would do to prepare for a trip through the dungeon. Specifically, the issue of food supply gets brought up. The half-foot brings up how one week's rations are heavy so that would mean longer treks are going to be more exhausting on account of them having to carry more supplies. They also might not have room for other goods because they have to make room for food. And there is the risk like in chapter 1 that they can just be lost.
For a moment, I thought bringing a wagon might help, but I don't think that would fit in a dungeon.
Is this what everyone thinks happened?
Last chapter, kobolds were mentioned and we were given an image of one. So we already have the info needed to figure that one dog party member is a kobold. Still, Chilchuck and Laios's speculations about who Senshi would trade with in a dungeon makes me think that having a kobold party member is unusual.
Their miscellaneous discussions about the dungeon is for us. Something about the dungeon has been changing lately. I can't comment on the dungeon layout changing, but maybe the monster thing is because of the red dragon roaming about or maybe it's because adventurers are overkilling the monster populations and other monsters are trying to move in on the emptier areas.
And then they get wiped by bugs. This kinda reminds me of that one party from chapter 3, the one that got wiped by plants. This instance isn't being played for comedy this time. We're following an ordinary party's experience through the dungeon and it ends with them getting killed. Laios's party doing so well is not normal.
Adventurers can turn into zombies, huh? So if the corpse retrievers don't find you, you'll just rise as a zombie? I don't know the full details about how resurrection works, but I'm getting the feeling that if you're left alone for long enough, the dungeon just takes your body and soul and turns them into spirits and zombies. Is the magician some sort of lich and the entire premise was just a trap to lure people in so it could harvest souls?
The box of treasure insects was on a zombie. So that was probably some poor adventurer who fell for their deceptions just like the last party did. Or maybe it was someone from before the golden kingdom was taken over by the magician. It's outfit had the poofy shoulder pads you'd see on a stereotypical noble's outfit.
Did Laios's sword react to the treasure insects specifically because they're treasure insects or because it realized there was danger that the others didn't notice? If it's the former, then there are implications. Like, maybe treasure insects prey on Living Armor or certain ones like the pearl centipede can parasitize a Living Armor colony and take it over.
I love the little detail that a few locks of Marcille's hair braid popped loose when she saw the pearl centipede.
And she realized exactly what was going to happen when Senshi started sorting them.
I've never eaten bugs before, but I'm willing to try. I bet crickets taste pretty good if you fry them. I don't think I'd like centipedes though.
Mimicry in nature is wild. There are so many different types. And mimicry of other species is particularly crazy. I went looking into what type of mimicry treasure insects might employ and I learned about emsleyan mimicry in the process. It's where a dangerous animal mimics a slightly less dangerous animal. The goal is that if an animal is deadly to the point any potential predator is likely to die in an encounter with it, the animal doesn't actually benefit from its warning signs because nothing will get the chance to survive and learn that its dangerous. So it mimics something that is not nearly as dangerous and benefits from potential predators learning to not mess with the less dangerous animal.
An example I found of emsleyan mimicry is coral snakes. They are some of the most toxic snakes in the world and there's another species called a king snake which uses the same color patterns. Originally, it was thought that King snakes mimicked coral snakes. But it turns out there's another species of snake called the false coral snake that also has the same color patterns but is not as deadly as the coral snake. So one hypothesis is the false coral snake had the color pattern first and coral and king snakes are both mimicking it.
Anyway, the mimicry type that seems most similar to what treasure insects are doing is called wicklerian or aggressive mimicry. Parasites using this method attempt to mimic something their target host would find appealing. Usually, the parasite would mimic prey, but in this case they're mimicking coins and jewelry.
The end of the chapter reveals that some of the items were actual coins and jewels so maybe treasure insects can actively change their appearance to mimic specific types of coins and jewelry.
The anatomy of most of the insects are easy to figure out with a little creative thought, but the ring one is way out there.
The tiara being a giant nest is pretty cool. Are the treasure insects all living communally with each other and build and guard the tiara together?
Jam? How does that work?
Look at Marcille being so brave.
Senshi was about to tell Chilchuck that the inedible pile was actual jewels, but Chilchuck threw them away before he got the chance.
Laios named his sword "Sword boy".
back
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Name: Walking Shell
Debut: Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Hello! This is not a pencil. I know it looks very much like one. Please try to keep pencil thoughts to yourself until the reception after the post, where we WILL be serving tiny hot dogs. If you didn't think this looked like a pencil before, I'm sorry that now you'll only be able to see a pencil. But this is a missile! Shell, like a bombshell! Get it? Yeah! Ok.
It is a very cute and lovable missile, too! This is what Mario does to us. It makes it normal for missiles and bombs and bullets to be cute. This missile even has a skull-style emblem of the Bad Guy on its back... but it has legs! It is Walking Shell, after all! And that's not even the best and most precious part...
It has a DOGHOUSE!!! What the heck! This missile is literally an animal. Someone makes little houses for these missiles to sleep in. I think they are beloved! Even if they are just sort of like guard dogs, being Enemies stationed at certain points, I love to see such in-universe appreciation for a dawdling deathtrap.
When a Walking Shell senses Rayman (I think it should have the ability to Smell), it becomes a Running Shell, and really books it with those funny little legs it has! And with every footstep a lovely tock-tock-tock sound. They're gonna getcha! Gonna getcha! Until they get tuckered out. They stop running and just stand there, bobbing up and down, like they're panting!
I'm sure you're familiar with the classic All Animals Are Dogs trope, where regardless of species, an animal in a piece of media acts like a dog instead of its actual species (unless it's a cat, I guess). And boy, does that get tiring. I love dogs! But they are the only animals that act like dogs, because they are the animals that are dogs!
Anyway, Walking Shell acts like a dog, but THIS is a missile with two legs and no other features whatsoever! It's such a novel thing to act like a dog! A real innovation in the Thing That Acts Like A Dog department! With its two legs and pointed front, I would think if anything it would act like a chicken, and "peck" the ground as an idle animation, or something. But don't worry, farmheads! Look!
After it gets tired, Rayman can mount the Walking Shell, and it will rear up and neigh like a horse! Real dogs do not become horses. Yes, I do know many animal facts, why do you ask? Walking Shell will then cheese it and run over any terrain at high speeds! Sadly, the goal of these sections is to guide it into a wall so that it will explode on impact and destroy the wall. And that's so sad!!!
Yeah, this is a missile, it's destined to explode, but they also made a point of portraying it as an animal, a creature, one that can even be befriended. It's almost like if the Yoshi Dismount Jump was necessary to end every level where Yoshi was found. I think Rayman should adopt a Walking Shell, and walk it on a leash, and literally just let it be a dog. But be careful it doesn't bump into anything too hard!
Welcome to TOY CORNER. Toys are an important part of Walking Shell's history! Rayman is, obviously, a nightmare to design toys of. You could have strings to represent his floaty hands and feet, but then he doesn't look like Rayman, he looks like Ol' Strings Fer Arms Raym'n, who is not real! So, they had to get creative. And it worked, I think! In toy form, Rayman is always accompanied by some kind of prop that his hands and feet can be directly attached to. It may limit play possibilities, but it's better than the alternative, which is nothing. I hope you are getting excited reading this tangent on a post about Rayman's funny steed...!
Here it is! Walking Shell McDonald's Toy, for you to enjoy! The legs are sort of sticking straight out, but it is still unmistakably our friend. The exhaust pipe can be turned to make it go forward and occasionally turn in circles!
Gee. What a great concept. They get to put Rayman's hands and feet somewhere secure, and we get to know there are Walking Shell toys out there! It would be great if they did this again.
Wow! They did this again! This time in plush form! Walking Shell is truly just a creature so nice you gotta make a toy of it twice. This plush fascinated me for a few reasons. First, it's from Rayman 3, and Walking Shell is only in the GBA version of that game, which is absolutely not the Main version, and yet it gets toy spotlight again (this is a good thing). Second, it is directly modeled after the McDonald's toy, with the legs in the exact same position. I am intrigued by this, like, translating a McDonald's toy into a more "real" toy, if that makes sense.
Would you let Walking Shell sniff your hand? Be careful!
#walking shell#rayman 2 the great escape#rayman 2#rayman#rayman enemies#rayman allies#not mario#funky friday#mod chikako
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Azul, Riddle, Idia probably write some really cute love letters they will never send, and literally any other dorm leader probably has a journal on how beautiful you looked today, what you ate, what you wore, just squealing and thrashing their legs about as they wrote their daily log.
Now imagine a girls boys sleepover with all of them together just fangirling, meanwhile in ramshakle a seperate sleepover is held with Floyd, Ace, Deuce, Jack, Epel, Sebek, maybe Ortho and Rook.
They just complain about their housewardens, how annoying they are and such (except Sebek 💀) and doing sleepover things.
Epel just going feral over snacks, eating so many marshmallows, fries from mostro lounge leftovers, cream filled pastries from Trey, and sandwiches you made, Vil would never let him eat any at all, he monched on those treats like a starved man.
"Woah easy there little guy." Ace said concerned.
"SHUT YER MOUTH I AIN'T LIL!!" Epel yelled with his mouth full.
"ACE YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH EATING MY EGG SANDWICH THAT PREFECT MADE FOR ME?" Deuce who just realized Ace was eating his sandwich.
"Relax Deuce I can make some more... Ace apologize to Deuce." Prefect said to stop the argument.
"It's not my fault loosey Deucy is so timid!" Ace snorted.
"YOU ASKIN' FOR A FIGHT?" Deuce's delinquent persona comes back.
"That much is to be expected from lowly humans. Us fae are the superior specie. Bla bla bla...." Sebek huffs.
"Eeeeeeh Croccy, surely you didn't forget about me, I am far diffy from humans y'know." Floyd questions.
"Guys that's enough." Jack sighs.
"Thank you Jack." Prefect finally being able to rest.
The real chaos starts after 8pm when Jack falls asleep...
Idia watching from his monitor just sighs as he looks behind him seeing those housewardens mutually fangirling, until a certain fae decided to remark about how prefect fancies him best, another wave of chaos begins.... Tonight is gonna be a long night....
Aaaa yes!! Azul's love letters are always written in standard letter format, complete with his swirling penmanship and closed with a pretty wax seal of Octavinelle's crest. He even sprays some of his cologne on the envelope or letter so that you'll be reminded of him even more when you open the letter. Now if only he could actually send these letters...
Riddle is so confident in his lexicon, yet he struggles to coherently piece together everything he wants to say, which means he's had to restart a dozen letters until he perfects the one he wants to send (which never gets sent). He's designed a few love letters that are actually crossword puzzles, though he's not sure if you'd enjoy solving them like he does and so he never sends those either.
Idia tries to write a love letter without any gamer lingo or internet slang and fails horribly, so he just resolves to write a love letter in binary because it feels cooler than normie love letters. He doesn't have the courage to send it to you, but there was one time Ortho took notice of this and forwarded it to you and Idia wanted to shrivel and die. Luckily, you didn't understand the message; you even came to him asking for a translation. He tells you it's just a bunch of nonsense; a binary keyboard smash, if you will.
The idea of the Housewardens having a sleepover, but all they gossip about you is so fun to think about. I guarantee they’re all ready to fight each other because some are bragging and boasting about how close they are with you while others are going on about how they know you best. They act like obsessed fans when they discuss how cute you were that one time you fell asleep in class or how you’re simply so sweet when you greet them in the halls.
And a sleepover with the first years and Floyd… so chaotic omg. A recipe for silliness. I can imagine Ortho just innocently confesses how much Idia likes you while the others are all like, “Oh, is that so? :) tell us more.” Poor Idia… Ortho’s exposing Idia’s love for you. Omg and Rook being there. He probably shows everyone all of the candid photos he’s taken of you on his phone and they’re all salivating over them like they’re the only meals in the world.
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What kind of training or exercise do you guys do?
"It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I don't really do anything specific for training, eheheh..."
"Nicky does try dragging us into her workouts, but that works about as well as you'd expect."
"You dying on the floor?"
"... If you'd like to call it that, I suppose. It's... not inaccurate, to say the least...
"I do lift weights regularly now, though, seeing that my power does require a bit of physical strength."
"As far as I know, Paulina trains, like actually trains. Probably because her power is so...."
"Complicated?"
"Yeah... I wouldn't want her power if I were me."
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"Oh, exercises? Well, besides the training I already do, I end up... reading a lot. Botany, mostly. Knowing what plant species I'll be dealing with in certain places does help, and anyway, it helps with my ecology major and my work with Green Mice, so win-win!
"Hot take, but if anyone would not be needing any training besides like, gliding, it'd be Colette. Her power is basically the Fus Ro Dah from Skyrim! You don't need training to punt something five meters away from you, let's be real!"
"N-Nicky I don't know what that means..."
"Don't worry about it, you'll be fiiiinnneeee!"
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"My power's very flashy and destructive so uh, I don't really have a lot of places to practice in tiny Whale Island. One thing I do try is uh, fine motor control with my fire? Shooting fire in beams instead of in blasts like you'd expect with flashy fire powers? Mostly wind up training in the garage, but stuff gets really hot really quickly in there."
"You should be careful doing that, Pam. You never know if someone will walk in on you at the wrong time."
"Yeah, that's why I deactivate the suit once things get hot enough for me to have to open the garage doors."
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"Besides Nicky, I think I'm the one training with my suit the most often. Usually for about a couple minutes each day because any longer than ten minutes gives me a headache. It's... not an easy power to work with."
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This had a long time coming actually, I'm surprised I never did this earlier.
VOLIDENS
An open species
These guys were something I made a while back in which some of my friends have even made characters out of! But now I wanna try and spread it around to see if people I don't know would like to give it a try!
This also counts as an info dump post loll
These are the original reference and info sheets for Volidens that I made a few years back. Thankfully, they still hold up!
But of course, I came up with a lot more ideas after this, so next is a list I made of a bunch of other Voliden facts I made after these info sheets were created
Voliden Anatomy
A Voliden's irises and pupils are the same color so it's hard to tell they actually have pupils. This is unless some signs of blindness start showing. First signs of blindness is loss of color in the irises. If color is lost in the pupils, that's full blindness. (Of course, this can also just happen in one eye or one fully blind and one half, ect.) When a Voliden's eye(s) starts losing sight, It's glow also dims with it's color. If a Voliden is completely blind, its eyes will no longer be seen in darkness.
The reason why a Voliden's hair is black and so thick, is to help with heat regulation! Due to Volidens having such scrawny structures (meaning less places for blood flow) and metal limbs/bones, it can be very easy for them to get cold. And so not only does the volume of the hair help regulate the temperature around the head, but the color helps too, since black is known to absorb heat! Volidens are pretty heat resistant. So even on really hot days, they'd be fine! (Think of it as like a middle ground of cold and warm blooded.)
Inside a Voliden's hands and legs is a certain thin bone mechanism that vibrates within the flesh inside their metal appendages. This is to simulate blood flow in said appendages due to not being connected to the heart. This also helps with heat regulation within the more cold sensitive parts of a Voliden's body.
A Voliden's neck is very strange to say the least. Despite looking very fragile due to it's thin shape, it is surprisingly flexible. A Voliden is even able to turn its head around 180°! Most of the time you'll see a Voliden with their neck stretched outwards when they're body is upright. But in a position such as laying down, their head can retract pretty far to where their neck becomes around the same length as an outstretched human neck. This is possible due to smaller bones that are found in the middle of a Voliden's neck vertebra that allows them to stretch their neck out and retract it back whenever.
It has been mentioned before that Volidens lack of a digestive system. But that now begs the question, what gives them energy, if not food? And my answer to that is warmth and sunlight! Volidens are very outgoing and will spend the majority of their time outside. This is to absorb as much sunlight as possible to keep their energy up.
Despite belief from those not of the Voliden race, When a Voliden's hands dissapear, they arent really just gone. They're just using the same cloaking ability that Volidens have. The hands seem to have a much higher skill at blending in with their surroundings than the rest of a Voliden's body.
The metal that makes up a Voliden's appendages and bones are a specific kind that cannot be found inside the earth. Making this metal it's very own kind that only exists as part of a Voliden's body, having different variants of varying shades. The metal is most similar to steel or iron, but more sturdy. And of course, over time, Volidens have evolved to better avoid rusting.
Volidens are known to have specific colors that make up parts of their body. That being eyes, blood, flesh, tears, and any other bodily fluid is connected to usually one color. But in specific cases when a Voliden has a condition like Heterochromia, this will cause any of those other of those listed parts of the Voliden's body to have two different colors aswell! Causing body fluids to have the two colors forming swirly patterns within it but never mixing with eachother, and flesh being speckled with the two colors.
Speaking of the different fluids that make up a Voliden's body, they are very different compared to most races and species. All of it mostly being made of strange microscopic crystals being another mineral that only comes from a Voliden's body. This can sometimes cause some Volidens to have bodily fluids that take on strange and more crystalized shapes when shed from their body. Although this doesn't stand true for all Volidens of course. However, Voliden blood has it's own strange feature. Voliden blood is bioluminescent which causes it to glow when it leaves a Voliden's body. Voliden blood also has a higher temperature than normal blood.This seems to not affect them very much however, for it's just natural to them. Most likely another heat resistant feature of theirs.
Voliden Behavior
Due to Voliden's bodies being mostly made of metal an all that (their hands legs and bones), they're very weak to the cold. So when winter is close to coming around anywhere a Voliden may live, they will begin to conserve their energy and make themselves a good source of warmth to hibernate. Once they have, they'll sleep until the weather is warm again!
Volidens are very affectionate in nature. They of course are very docile, normally. But they can also be very affectionate towards others whether it be another Voliden or another race, it doesnt matter.
As a matter of fact, before the Elemental Era, the Volidens' main form of greeting was hugs! (Or at least what could be considered hugs because of the lack of arms)
Volidens can be very emotionally vulnerable though. Especially younger ones. They can carry or share emotions from another nearby, sometimes just by looking at them. This goes for any emotion too, including anger. It's not all that easy to get a Voliden angry. But if you have the misfortune of doing so, you should probably run. This also goes for physical altercations, for these CAN happen if you anger a Voliden just enough to where they can't stand you anymore.
A special ability that all Volidens have, is this certain type of cloaking magic. When a Voliden is surrounded by a consistent environment of some kind for a while, they'll gain the ability to blend in with that environment, basically becoming invisible to anyone else who may be around! It is also possible for a Voliden to gain more than one type of environment that they can blend in to.
Volidens have a physical way of conveying their happiness or contentment that is similar to how some creatures purr. They can make a specific sound with their voice box that sends a vibration through their chest, making a sound similar (but not identical) to a cat's purr. This can not only be calming to a Voliden that is doing this, but also others who are making physical contact with them. This also helps with warmth aswell.
Voliden Culture/Traditions
In Voldaria Valley, theres a certain tradition that's held for hibernation. The Relic Tower has a large bell at it's top that is set to ring when winter begins and when winter ends. Volidens have to be careful during this time though, and making sure that their source of heat keeps going until the end of Winter, or else then may meet with a grim fate... This only stands for Volidens of Voldaria Valley however. (Volidens elsewhere put trust in their senses for hibernation.)
The Voliden tradition for weddings are somewhat different from elsewhere. That being, the physical symbol of marriage. Instead of a ring they get handed a bell the put around their neck or just anywhere they can, and the bell makes a certain noise (A specific key/tone when it rings) so if the couple ever lost each other they can find each back by listening to the bell.
And that's pretty much it! But if you have any further questions, dont be afraid to send asks my way! It took a lot for me to actually consider making a full post about these guys, but I figured theres no loss from doing so. So if you decide to make a Voliden for yourself, don't be afraid to @ me! I'd love to see what tumblr can make from these silly fellas!
Lastly is examples of Voliden characters! I'll put these under the cut so this post doesnt get too long on the surface.
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This article is too good to be lost in the destroyed formatting of the Cracked archive, so I'm reposting it here. source: https://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html
The Monkeysphere
September 30, 2007 Jason Pargin
"One death is a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic."
-Kevin Federline
What do monkeys have to do with war, oppression, crime, racism and even e-mail spam? You'll see that all of the random ass-headed cruelty of the world will suddenly make perfect sense once we go Inside the Monkeysphere.
"What the Hell is the Monkeysphere?"
First, picture a monkey. A monkey dressed like a little pirate, if that helps you. We'll call him Slappy.
Imagine you have Slappy as a pet. Imagine a personality for him. Maybe you and he have little pirate monkey adventures and maybe even join up to fight crime. Think how sad you'd be if Slappy died.
Now, imagine you get four more monkeys. We'll call them Tito, Bubbles, Marcel and ShitTosser. Imagine personalities for each of them now. Maybe one is aggressive, one is affectionate, one is quiet, the other just throws shit all the time. But they're all your personal monkey friends.
Now imagine a hundred monkeys.
Not so easy now, is it? So how many monkeys would you have to own before you couldn't remember their names? At what point, in your mind, do your beloved pets become just a faceless sea of monkey? Even though each one is every bit the monkey Slappy was, there's a certain point where you will no longer really care if one of them dies.
So how many monkeys would it take before you stopped caring?
That's not a rhetorical question. We actually know the number.
"So this whole thing is your crusade against monkey overpopulation? I'll have my monkey castrated this very day!"
Uh, no. It'll become clear in a moment.
You see, monkey experts performed a monkey study a while back, and discovered that the size of the monkey's monkey brain determined the size of the monkey groups the monkeys formed. The bigger the brain, the bigger the little societies they built.
They cut up so many monkey brains, in fact, that they found they could actually take a brain they had never seen before and from it they could accurately predict what size tribes that species of creature formed.
Most monkeys operate in troupes of 50 or so. But somebody slipped them a slightly larger brain and they estimated the ideal group or society for this particular animal was about 150.
That brain, of course, was human. Probably from a homeless man they snatched off the streets.
"So that's the big news? That humans are God's big-budget sequel to the monkey? Who didn't know that?"
It goes much, much deeper than that. Let's try an example.
Famous news talking guy Tim Russert tells a charming story about his father, in his book Big Russ and Me (the title referring to his on-and-off romance with actor Russell Crowe). Russert's dad used to take half an hour to carefully box up any broken glass before taking it to the trash. Why? Because "The trash guy might cut his hands."
That this was such an unusual thing to do illustrates my monkey point. None of us spend much time worrying about the garbage man's welfare even though he performs a crucial role in not forcing us to live in a cave carved from a mountain of our own filth. We don't usually consider his safety or comfort at all and if we do, it's not in the same way we would worry over our best friend or wife or girlfriend or even our dog.
People toss half-full bottles of drain cleaner right into the barrel, without a second thought of what would happen if the trash man got it splattered into his eyes. Why? Because the trash guy exists outside the Monkeysphere.
"There's that word again..."
The Monkeysphere is the group of people who each of us, using our monkeyish brains, are able to conceptualize as people. If the monkey scientists are monkey right, it's physically impossible for this to be a number much larger than 150.
Most of us do not have room in our Monkeysphere for our friendly neighborhood sanitation worker. So, we don't think of him as a person. We think of him as The Thing That Makes The Trash Go Away.
And even if you happen to know and like your particular garbage man, at one point or another we all have limits to our sphere of monkey concern. It's the way our brains are built. We each have a certain circle of people who we think of as people, usually our own friends and family and neighbors, and then maybe some classmates or coworkers or church or suicide cult.
Those who exist outside that core group of a few dozen people are not people to us. They're sort of one-dimensional bit characters.
Remember the first time, as a kid, you met one of your school teachers outside the classroom? Maybe you saw old Miss Puckerson at Taco Bell eating refried beans through a straw, or saw your principal walking out of a dildo shop. Do you remember that surreal feeling you had when you saw these people actually had lives outside the classroom?
I mean, they're not people. They're teachers.
"So? What difference does all this make?"
Oh, not much. It's just the one single reason society doesn't work.
It's like this: which would upset you more, your best friend dying, or a dozen kids across town getting killed because their bus collided with a truck hauling killer bees? Which would hit you harder, your Mom dying, or seeing on the news that 15,000 people died in an earthquake in Iran?
They're all humans and they are all equally dead. But the closer to our Monkeysphere they are, the more it means to us. Just as your death won't mean anything to the Chinese or, for that matter, hardly anyone else more than 100 feet or so from where you're sitting right now.
"Why should I feel bad for them? I don't even know those people!"
Exactly. This is so ingrained that to even suggest you should feel their deaths as deeply as that of your best friend sounds a little ridiculous. We are hard-wired to have a drastic double standard for the people inside our Monkeysphere versus the 99.999% of the world's population who are on the outside.
Think about this the next time you get really pissed off in traffic, when you start throwing finger gestures and wedging your head out of the window to scream, "LEARN TO FUCKING DRIVE, FUCKER!!" Try to imagine acting like that in a smaller group. Like if you're standing in an elevator with two friends and a coworker, and the friend goes to hit a button and accidentally punches the wrong one. Would you lean over, your mouth two inches from her ear, and scream "LEARN TO OPERATE THE FUCKING ELEVATOR BUTTONS, SHITCAMEL!!"
They'd think you'd gone insane. We all go a little insane, though, when we get in a group larger than the Monkeysphere. That's why you get that weird feeling of anonymous invincibility when you're sitting in a large crowd, screaming curses at a football player you'd never dare say to his face.
"Well, I'm nice to strangers. Have you considered that maybe you're just an asshole?"
Sure, you probably don't go out of your way to be mean to strangers. You don't go out of your way to be mean to stray dogs, either.
The problem is that eventually, the needs of you or those within your Monkeysphere will require screwing someone outside it (even if that need is just venting some tension and anger via exaggerated insults). This is why most of us wouldn't dream of stealing money from the pocket of the old lady next door, but don't mind stealing cable, adding a shady exemption on our tax return, or quietly celebrating when they forget to charge us for something at the restaurant.
You may have a list of rationalizations long enough to circle the Earth, but the truth is that in our monkey brains the old woman next door is a human being while the cable company is a big, cold, faceless machine. That the company is, in reality, nothing but a group of people every bit as human as the old lady, or that some kind old ladies actually work there and would lose their jobs if enough cable were stolen, rarely occurs to us.
That's one of the ingenious things about the big-time religions, by the way. The old religious writers knew it was easier to put the screws to a stranger, so they taught us to get a personal idea of a God in our heads who says, "No matter who you hurt, you're really hurting me. Also, I can crush you like a grape." You must admit that if they weren't writing words inspired by the Almighty, they at least understood the Monkeysphere.
It's everywhere. Once you grasp the concept, you can see examples all around you. You'll walk the streets in a daze, like Roddy Piper after putting on his X-ray sunglasses in They Live.
But wait, because this gets much bigger and much, much stranger...
"So you're going to tell us that this Monkeysphere thing runs the whole world? Also, They Live sucked."
Go flip on the radio. Listen to the conservative talk about "The Government" as if it were some huge, lurking dragon ready to eat you and your paycheck whole. Never mind that the government is made up of people and that all of that money they take goes into the pockets of human beings. Talk radio's Rush Limbaugh is known to tip 50% at restaurants, but flies into a broadcast tirade if even half that dollar amount is deducted from his paycheck by "The Government." That's despite the fact that the money helps that very same single mom he had no problem tipping in her capacity as a waitress.
Now click over to a liberal show now, listen to them describe "Multinational Corporations" in the same diabolical terms, an evil black force that belches smoke and poisons water and enslaves humanity. Isn't it strange how, say, a lone man who carves and sells children's toys in his basement is a sweetheart who just loves bringing joy at Christmas, but a big-time toy corporation (which brings toys to millions of kids at Christmas) is an inhuman soul-grinding greed machine? Strangely enough, if the kindly lone toy making guy made enough toys and hired enough people and expanded to enough shops, we'd eventually stop seeing it as a toy-making shop and start seeing it as the fiery Orc factories of Mordor.
And if you've just thought, "Well, those talk show hosts are just a bunch of egomaniacal blowhards anyway," you've just done it again, turned real humans into two-word cartoon characters. It's no surprise, you do it with pretty much all six billion human beings outside the Monkeysphere.
"So I'm supposed to suddenly start worrying about six billion strangers? That's not even possible!"
That's right, it isn't possible. That's the point.
What is hard to understand is that it's also impossible for them to care about you.
That's why they don't mind stealing your stereo or vandalizing your house or cutting your wages or raising your taxes or bombing your office building or choking your computer with spam advertising diet and penis drugs they know don't work. You're outside their Monkeysphere. In their mind, you're just a vague shape with a pocket full of money for the taking.
Think of Osama Bin Laden. Did you just picture a camouflaged man hiding in a cave, drawing up suicide missions? Or are you thinking of a man who gets hungry and has a favorite food and who had a childhood crush on a girl and who has athlete's foot and chronic headaches and wakes up in the morning with a boner and loves volleyball?
Something in you, just now, probably was offended by that. You think there's an effort to build sympathy for the murderous fuck. Isn't it strange how simply knowing random human facts about him immediately tugs at your sympathy strings? He comes closer to your Monkeysphere, he takes on dimension.
Now, the cold truth is this Bin Laden is just as desperately in need of a bullet to the skull as the raving four-color caricature on some redneck's T-shirt. The key to understanding people like him, though, is realizing that we are the caricature on his T-shirt.
"So you're using monkeys to claim that we're all a bunch of Osama Bin Ladens?"
Sort of.
Listen to any 16 year-old kid with his first job, going on and on about how the boss is screwing him and the government is screwing him even more ("What's FICA?!?!" he screams as he looks at his first paycheck).
Then watch that same kid at work, as he drops a hamburger patty on the floor, picks it up, and slaps in on a bun and serves it to a customer.
In that one dropped burger he has everything he needs to understand those black-hearted politicians and corporate bosses. They see him in the exact same way he sees the customers lined up at the burger counter. Which is, just barely.
In both cases, for the guy making the burger and the guy running Exxon, getting through the workweek and collecting the paycheck are all that matters. No thought is given to the real human unhappiness being spread by doing it shittily (ever gotten so sick from food poisoning you thought your stomach lining was going to fly out of your mouth?) That many customers or employees just can't fit inside the Monkeysphere.
The kid will protest that he shouldn't have to care for the customers for minimum wage, but the truth is if a man doesn't feel sympathy for his fellow man at $6.00 an hour, he won't feel anything more at $600,000 a year.
Or, to look at it the other way, if we're allowed to be indifferent and even resentful to the masses for $6.00 an hour, just think of how angry some Pakistani man is allowed to be when he's making the equivalent of six dollars a week.
"You've used the word 'monkey' more than 50 times, but the same principle hardly applies. Humans have been to the moon. Let's see the monkeys do that."
It doesn't matter. It's just an issue of degree.
There's a reason why legendary monkeytician Charles Darwin and his assistant, Jeje (pronounced "heyhey") Santiago deduced that humans and chimps were evolutionary cousins. As sophisticated as we are (compare our advanced sewage treatment plants to the chimps' primitive technique of hurling the feces with their bare hands), the inescapable truth is we are just as limited by our mental hardware.
The primary difference is that monkeys are happy to stay in small groups and rarely interact with others outside their monkey gang. This is why they rarely go to war, though when they do it is widely thought to be hilarious. Humans, however, require cars and oil and quality manufactured goods by the fine folks at 3M and Japanese video games and worldwide internets and, most importantly, governments. All of these things take groups larger than 150 people to maintain effectively. Thus, we routinely find ourselves functioning in bunches larger than our primate brains are able to cope with.
This is where the problems begin. Like a fragile naked human pyramid, we are simultaneously supporting and resenting each other. We bitch out loud about our soul-sucking job as an anonymous face on an assembly line, while at the exact same time riding in a car that only an assembly line could have produced. It's a constant contradiction that has left us pissed off and joining informal wrestling clubs in basements.
This is why I think it was with a great burden of sadness that Darwin turned to his assistant and lamented, "Jeje, we're the monkeys."
"Oh, no you didn't."
If you think about it, our entire society has evolved around the limitations of the Monkeysphere. There is a reason why all of the really phat-ass nations with the biggest SUV's with the shiniest 22-inch rims all have some kind of representative democracy (where you vote for people to do the governing for you) and all of them are, to some degree, capitalist (where people actually get to buy property and keep some of what they earn).
A representative democracy allows a small group of people to make all of the decisions, while letting us common people feel like we're doing something by going to a polling place every couple of years and pulling a lever that, in reality, has about the same effect as the darkness knob on your toaster. We can simultaneously feel like we're in charge while being contained enough that we can't cause any real monkey mayhem once we fly into one of our screeching, arm-flapping monkey frenzies ("A woman showed her boob at the Super Bowl! We want a boob and football ban immediately!")
Conversely, some people in the distant past naively thought they could sit all of the millions of monkeys down and say, "Okay, everybody go pick the bananas, then bring them here, and we'll distribute them with a complex formula determining banana need! Now go gather bananas for the good of society!" For the monkeys it was a confused, comical, tree-humping disaster.
Later, a far more realistic man sat the monkeys down and said, "You want bananas? Each of you go get your own. I'm taking a nap." That man, of course, was German philosopher Hans Capitalism.
As long as everybody gets their own bananas and shares with the few in their Monkeysphere, the system will thrive even though nobody is even trying to make the system thrive. This is perhaps how Ayn Rand would have put it, had she not been such a hateful bitch.
Then, some time in the Third Century, French philosopher Pierre "Frenchy" LaFrench invented racism.
This was a way of simplifying the too-complex-for-monkeys world by imagining all people of a certain race as being the same person, thinking they all have the same attitudes and mannerisms and tastes in food and clothes and music. It sort of works, as long as we think of that person as being a good person ("Those Asians are so hard-working and precise and well-mannered!") but when we start seeing them as being one, giant, gaping asshole (the French, ironically) our monkey happiness again breaks down.
It's not all the French's fault. The truth is, all of these monkey management schemes only go so far. For instance, today one in four Americans has some kind of mental illness, usually depression. One in four. Watch a basketball game. The odds are at least two of those people on the floor are mentally ill. Look around your house; if everybody else there seems okay, it's you.
Is it any surprise? You turn on the news and see a whole special on the Obesity Epidemic. You've had this worry laid on your shoulders about millions of other people eating too much. What exactly are you supposed to do about the eating habits of 80 million people you don't even know? You've taken on the pork-laden burden of all these people outside the Monkeysphere and you now carry that useless weight of worry like, you know, some kind of animal on your back.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do about all this?"
First, train yourself to get suspicious every time you see simplicity. Any claim that the root of a problem is simple should be treated the same as a claim that the root of a problem is Bigfoot. Simplicity and Bigfoot are found in the real world with about the same frequency.
So reject binary thinking of "good vs. bad" or "us vs. them." Know problems cannot be solved with clever slogans and over-simplified step-by-step programs.
You can do that by following these simple steps. We like to call this plan the T.R.Y. plan:
First, TOTAL MORON. That is, accept the fact THAT YOU ARE ONE. We all are.
That really annoying person you know, the one who's always spouting bullshit, the person who always thinks they're right? Well, the odds are that for somebody else, you're that person. So take the amount you think you know, reduce it by 99.999%, and then you'll have an idea of how much you actually know regarding things outside your Monkeysphere.
Second, UNDERSTAND that there are no Supermonkeys. Just monkeys. Those guys on TV you see, giving the inspirational seminars, teaching you how to reach your potential and become rich and successful like them? You know how they made their money? By giving seminars. For the most part, the only thing they do well is convince others they do everything well.
No, the universal moron principal established in No. 1 above applies here, too. Don't pretend politicians are somehow supposed to be immune to all the backhanded fuckery we all do in our daily lives and don't laugh and point when the preacher gets caught on video snorting cocaine off a prostitute's ass. A good exercise is to picture your hero--whoever it is--passed out on his lawn, naked from the waist down. The odds are it's happened at some point. Even Gandhi may have had hotel rooms and dead hookers in his past.
And don't even think about ignoring advice from a moral teacher just because the source enjoys the ol' Colombian Nose Candy from time to time. We're all members of varying species of hypocrite (or did you tell them at the job interview that you once called in sick to spend a day leveling up on World of Warcraft?) Don't use your heroes' vices as an excuse to let yours run wild.
And finally, DON'T LET ANYBODY simplify it for you. The world cannot be made simple. Anyone who tries to paint a picture of the world in basic comic book colors is most likely trying to use you as a pawn.
So just remember: T-R-Y. Go forth and do likewise, gents. Copies of our book are available in the lobby.
David Wong is the editor of Cracked.com and the author of the dong-filled horror novel John Dies at the End.
#monkeysphere#david wong#jason pargin#dunbar's number#empathy#division#propaganda#cracked#cracked.com#monkey
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#i know i am always on here saying that things are just degeneration theory but this is literally just degeneration theory. lol
so in general when you find yourself thinking that like, conditions of modernity are going to cause or have already caused alarming biological degradation of the human species, that is a p good red flag moment for you to pause and ask yourself, "is this eugenics? am i doing degeneration theory?" in this case we can see some obvious huge leaps: the implicit assumption that there was some 'before' time with universally better "posturing", the assumption that "posturing" now is one singular trend in a negative direction. the anthropological record will not bear these out lol. the idea of any singular posture of modernity with no regard for like, what job a person has, what life style they can afford, &c is pretty silly on its face.
on top of that, let's just say for argument's sake that overnight everyone does actually adopt some new posture universally. the idea you'll see threatening new changes to the human species anatomically is still p alarmist (indicative of a discourse of human evolution borrowing heavily from stock breeding studies) & also tacitly implies that there was ever some settled, sanctified version of the human species that needs to be preserved or defended; in truth biological entities are always malleable, species are always in flux and changing, &c.
this kind of argument is compelling to a certain strain of reactionary thought bc it expresses in biologised terms a broader social anxiety about 'modern' (define that LOL) social norms and forms being weaker, corrupting, overly cossetted, &c. you can see this linkage very easily in something like orthotropics ('mewing') (fear that modern 'soft food diets' are causing poor jaw development) or various 'paleo life style' trends (diets, workout regimens) or like, the guy i used to live next door to who sold special chairs and desks designed to force you to sit funny because he thought modern ways of sitting were causing spine malformation and were to blame for chronic illness and the prevalence of cvd in the global north in the wake of the epidemiological transition. it's rly nothing new, it's just degeneracy all over again: fears that biological change could spell doom for the species, meaning whatever social changes you personally dislike or are suspicious of can be condemned on biological / health-invoking grounds, and presented as a threat to the human species that must urgently be corrected and controlled. welcome to biopolitics babey.
whaddya think the impact of 'bad posturing' and musculoskeletal issues will do to society anatomically? i mean, it is scaling pretty fast and speculative biology seems less and less theoretical, lol
fortunately, none of that is true so you dont have to worry about it
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You may have seen "Aliens tired of humans" trope BuUut prepare for the complete opposite "A human tired of aliens", I had this idea about a human who keeps moving out but everytime they get to a city/town a different species of aliens keep appearing(Yautjas, xenomorphs, anodites, etc) so when they get to Jasper they think they have a break from intergalactic bussines, after being discovered the bots bring them to the base and reader is Not Amused™️ actually they have a digital album dedicated to their intergalactic friends reader shows them said album and bots are like"you are friends? with like three solar systems?? W ha t???" Reactions from TFP Wheeljack, Op and Ratchet(platonic) pls
this request was super fun to think about!! i don't think i did it nearly as much justice as i wanted to, but hopefully you'll still be happy with it - ty for the prompt :)) warnings: none word count: 351 (GN reader)
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Wheeljack:
Was more than confused when you didn’t react like most humans would have
“You in shock, Tiny?”
You stare back at the robot towering over you and sigh, “No, just tired.”
When you tell him that you’ve seen tons of aliens in your short time, he’s not sure if he should be more surprised at how you managed to get yourself into that much trouble, or simply at the fact that you’ve accepted aliens popping up at your doorstep
After getting to know eachother a bit you swap stories about all the different interactions you’ve had
The guy has travelled across space, he’s seen his share of alien species
Watching you swipe through all the different pictures you’ve taken, he’ll lean forward every now and then to squint and point, “Hey, I think I’ve seen one of those before!”
Optimus:
At first he thought the reason you weren’t freaking out was because you already knew the Decepticons, so he was cautious
Once you explained, he just felt bad for you – albeit very surprised
Would love if you told him stories about all the different kinds of alien species you’ve met, he’s had little to no interactions with other species’
If he has spare time, he’ll sometimes ask to see pictures of them - or listen to you ramble about certain interactions in the background of his work at the base
Ratchet:
Doesn’t believe you
He scoffs at your response, waving his servo, “That’s highly unlikely, you’re just obsessed with those cheap human conspiracy shows.”
Glances at your photos and rolls his optics, “Those are clearly manipulated.”
However he does a double take when you pull up videos which are, very clearly, not edited
“Believe me now? Or do you need me to drag them down from space?” You snark.
That shut him up pretty quick
He prodded you with questions now and then about what kinds of creatures you’ve met out of simple curiosity
Generally has a similar reaction as Optimus, although his interest isn’t anywhere near as strong – he’s content knowing just a few simple bits of info rather than your whole life’s story
#lowkey rlly fun to write#transformers#transformers x reader#tf x reader#optimus x reader#optimus prime x reader#transformers optimus x reader#transformers fanfiction#tfp x reader#tfp optimus x reader#tfp fanfiction#tfp ratchet x reader#transformers ratchet x reader#tfp wheeljack x reader#transformers wheeljack x reader#ratchet x reader#wheeljack x reader
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strystks info + rules! + Master post/info dump/designs sprites
god that's a fucking mouthfull...
what are strystks???
they are an open species!! you can make one without my permission, I just need to be pinged and credited for the species themselves!
info on their habitat: imagine a planet full of nothing but oceans and trees, no land. whatsoever, the closest you'll get is semi shallow water.
their nights are a bit longer than days, and their days are pretty warm! ((not super hot though, imagine beach day warm))
they truley don't have a sleep schedule, just whenever they want really.
certain tree clusters do have "sleep hours" where everyone in the cluster at least has to lay down in their leaf beds/be quiet. literal quiet hours.
idk what else to write so here's some sprites!!!
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first one, is the sea-scaled strystks.
they're incredibly common, seeing as they're essentially living fossils. strystks had a similar evolutionary pattern to most vertebrae on earth, they started off in the water, and climbed their way up. literally, they climbed trees.
the sea-scalers are usually the lower classes, they have a lot of issues being out of the water, but they can climb trees.
they have gills, fins, webbed hands and feet, their scales are somewhat slimy, and they almost always smell like fresh fish. they can shoot through the water like a torpedo with their strong tail and back legs.
these guys grow a sort of seaweed/kelp that their species eats. they also farm fish like the little dudes in Luca lol, speaking of, their feathers are more like kept strands than feathers. so they kinda look like the Luca dudes hair.
they eat seaweed and fish, their teeth are shaped in a way they can easily catch fish.
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secondly, a tree-glider.
they can't actually glide, they're just called this because of how gracefully they can fling themselves from tree to tree.
these guys evolution wise are pretty new. they're only here cause strystks have already spent almost a million years in the trees.
they're incredibly rare, so if you wanna make one keep that in mind!
they have what the sea-scalers. lack, long claws keen for climbing trees, tails that can wrap around almost anything, patterns on their hands to let them stick to wood like a gecko, and more upper body muscle/muscle in general. they're STRONG. most tree-gliders dislike water.
they eat mostly fruits and whatever other animal lives in the tree with them. their teeth are like a baboons.
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finally we got good ol'classic strystks
the middle ground of the two, and the most powerful.
they lost their gills, but still have their smooth scales and swimming muscles, but they also have the claws and strength to climb trees.
they unlike tree-gliders love water, they swim often, and they're the most technically advanced of the three.
truley there isn't much to say about these.
they're just strystks!
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How advanced are they?:
tech wise, not much. they just have enough tech to play sburb.
their "tech" is organic like trolls/all tomorrows ((if you know you know))
it's usually algae/plants
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here's a chart showing where on the class system certain colours fall.
while the strystks aren't as dystopian as alternia, they still have racial segregation
a class system based on colours.
it's been shifted a lot throughout the species run, but at the moment it's this!
in clusters full of different colours, they have this system in place! and it's quite upsetting for lower classes in areas where higher classes recently moved in. It basically makes it so the lower classes have to serve the higher classes, they are stronger and more ideal mates, so they have no choice truley. And as I stated, some places are dystopian. this is what creates those places.
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that's about it for now!
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[ Roark ] Thanks a bunch! I look forward to later :D
The young foreman finds himself a little extra giddy for the remainder of ( one of ) his jobs, a normal energy that comes from his interests, shared among his fellow rock pals and scientists alike. What a beautiful community is was, to be able to take all of their passions for history and the unknown and to turn it into scientific marvels..
Ah, right. He's got tasks to do before he needs to head back to the gym. More specifically, he needs to look over the submission for the gym battle scheduled itself to align with what team to pick...
The battle Cynthia sneaks into is that of a rookie fresh from Jubilife, eager to take on Roark as his first gym battle—a Shinx on the opposing side of the field growls at the Cranidos on Roark's side, the fossil shuddering under the intensity of static crackling in intimidation. Roark himself nods approvingly, happy to see a young trainer actually utilize status effects rather than rush immediately headlong into trying to take down Cranidos. "There you go, making sure Cranidos here can't hit Shinx with his full strength by giving him a good spook!" he calls, happy with the battle thus far as a learning exercise.
The young fossils Roark raises find much of their exposure to battling and different species of 'mons through these matches with young, aspiring trainers. His intent is two-fold and his strategy in battle relies solely upon the 'mons themselves. After all, the restoration process did not create carbon copies upon carbon copies! This Cranidos was more agile, so despite this Shinx's feline reflexes, the little dinosaur could match up if given an ample opportunity.
There was, of course, Roark's knowledge gained from a certain partner in crime of all things pantscat, but that was besides the point. His focus is momentarily captured by the sudden awe coming from the other youngsters in the stands, schoolmates and friends of this young challenger, and Roark can tell in his peripheral that the two-toned figure is Cynthia herself, likely done with her evaluations that don't require his personal testimony. Roark doesn't mind in the slightest, as nothing needed to be a secret with her—another facet that proved the tight bond Sinnoh's champion would have with the gym leaders of the region. Unspoken trust simply goes miles.
He smiles some. Now, now, he can't just lose an entry level battle with his boss in the room, now can he?
"Alright, Cranidos, hit 'em with a mud slap!" The fossil cries in confidence, and he rushes up slap some of the dirt and dust to disorient the poor Shinx. "Follow up with earth power!" Ah, so that's the workaround for a highly offensive adversary. If Cranidos' physical attack was on par with his special, did it make much of a difference what he chose, then? The poor feline endures the super-effective hit to no avail, eventually flopped right over and the match is finally declared in the gym leader's favor. "Good job, buddy!" Roark beams, like a proud father, as Cranidos runs circles in excitement before being picked up and cradled like a Swanna in one arm. Eventually, he comes to give the young student a strong, friendly handshake after Shinx is returned. "You did really well under the pressure! You'll be even better next time, I'm sure of it—C'mon, let's get your team all healed up, yeah?"
Now he can give Cynthia a proper, excited wave to let her know she's free to come with. After all, she had a nice shiny somewhere on her person, and he's been daydreaming about! Luckily, challengers don't often stick around after the fact. He's just a little bit of a busy bee. "I passed, right? Ehehe—" What a goofy guy. Somehow, battles seemed to keep him energized rather than exhaust him.
—When the kids finally leave, Cynthia has his full attention rather instantly, tuscan positively sparkling with curiosity. "So—to the museum, right? Unless there's anything else here in particular to discuss...?" Maybe he's a little impatient. It's for science. It's fine. It's so normal.
@rockheadcd // monthly check-in continued from here!!
[sms: Cynthia] Excellent, I'll see you later this afternoon. Best of luck in your battles today.
[sms: Cynthia] The Amber will be our little secret until you can see it for yourself, of course. Restoration isn't out of the question, but I'll let you be the judge of that once you look it over.
[sms: Cynthia] This specimen requires an expert's appreciation, after all.
And with those parting texts fired off, Cynthia officially sets the rest of her travel day into motion: a quick stop at the Resort Area villa to clean up, followed by a long-overdue visit to Sinnoh's industrious mining town. (With the fossil securely wrapped and stored in her jet-black carrying bag, the champion can't help but feel excited for later--Roark's enthusiasm is certainly contagious!)
---
The Oreburgh Gym Leader is in the thick of battle with an upstart challenger when Cynthia casually sweeps into the craggy establishment, a smile already on her lips as she takes in the action. Despite the League limiting the levels of his Gym-sanctioned team, Roark's penchant for battling is on full display, as always. (That Cranidos can pack a serious punch...)
The young trainers sitting in the arena's humble stands try their best to play it cool, but--the champion is visiting here, oh my gosh--many fail to hide their starstruck expressions. Cynthia offers all of them a courteous wave and nod before making her usual check-in rounds, scanning the Gym's dusty perimeter and peeking into Roark's...cluttered office.
By the time she's done with her quick evaluation, the Gym battle is reaching its conclusion as well. Cynthia takes a seat with the rest of the audience, watching with rapt, invested attention as the match reaches its climax. Even now, this battle--and the intensity and skill informing it--makes her veins thrum with electricity, her fingers instinctively twitching towards her own Pokemon belt. God.
This feeling, this thrill...it never gets old.
#avacynthia#🗻 ━ 𝗂'𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝖼𝗈𝖺𝗅 𝗆𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗋'𝗌 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝖾 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗍𝗁! / roark ic.#hiiiii. >:) the rock mento illness simply cannot be contained. or the battle illness.
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Im sorry it’s not that sexy I’m afraid 😂. I work at Panda Express, so unless you find fried rice with orange chicken sexy with a side of Karen customers sexy then this will be great! 😂
Anyhow, all jokes aside, I have had my fair shares of bad days as I know many people have so I’m certain some people will relate to this. These kind of days suck so much. (Especially if you’re as sensitive as I am). I’ve had one guy ask if I spoke English cause I couldn’t hear him very well, seen my co workers get yelled and sworn at a few times, one lady actually did make me cry once “Oh! Don’t cry! It’s ok!” (Maybe don’t resort to yelling in my face then???), etc etc there’s more but that would be long 😅
My request is really just how the papas and copia would comfort their s/o coming home from one of those shitty days and just feeling like utter crap; maybe a little teary eyed ~Dorky anon
(I do wish people would be more kind and patient. I just don’t see the point in getting angry when most of the time it’s not necessary. We’re all just trying to make it through the day. Just so everyone knows, the customer is not always right. Bad work days happen, but by the end of the night they don’t matter anymore)
you're right that is super not sexy but bitch i FEEL you. im a waitress and while i have no problem with yelling back at shit head customers who don't know how to act, it can still totally ruin your day. im sorry people are so mean to you come live in canada where you'll never see another panda express again (i wont lie orange chicken is sexy tho does it match Karen's spray tan???) anyways on with my job:
Papa II: Would personally seek out anyone who was mean to you. all you have to do is give them a rough description and he'll make a few phone calls. you're never sure how but the next day at work the same customer will come in and apologize and suddenly become the nicest person youve ever met. or you never see them again and your pretty sure no one else will either. Absolutely no one will ever harm II's partner without consequence, and he's not above kidnapping family members to get an apology out of them. this man will defend you to the ends of the Earth.
Papa III: Similarly to his older brother he would be angry at the mere thought of someone slighting you, but he probably wouldn't go as far in the name of revenge. He would let you rant and scream to him about how awful customers are, like, as a species, and make you dinner to make up for it. And remind you that he's been telling you to quit your job for months now because he'll take care of you, why make yourself so miserable, blah blah blah. But you insist on doing your own thing, and because he thinks your delusional he plays along, because thats what you do with crazy people. He loves you all the same. Would also offer to give cheer-up head.
Cardinal Copia: I really want to say he would get so upset you would have to comfort him and promise you're okay, but if I'm being honest, I think he would be a little hard about it. His entire career everyone has been shitty to him, not thought he was good enough, not think he would ever be able to give what they needed from him: he would talk about this until you cooled off and realized one white lady with a shitty haircut isnt the end of the world, and that much worse things can happen. Not exactly the type of comforting everyone wants, but if you let him talk long enough he might have something good to say, and you'll forget all about your own terrible day.
- Rosie (also one time this absolutely insane huge buff 6'7 guy yelled at our 15 year old host until she cried and my 5'5 ass got so heated I almost made him cry and it felt really good. if you want ill come yell at customers for you)
#im not doing papa i until someone protests because if you self ship w that man youre absolutely fucking insane#hes basically dust#but if you want me to write him i will#im just pretty sure everyone skips over him to get to the Good Stuff anyways#ghost#ghost hc#ghost bc#the band ghost#ghost band#papa iii#papa ii#cardinal copia#rosie
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I decided to make playlists for Cathala and Tarinne plus explanations for why I chose each song because I entered one of those ADHD fugue states and if I didn't finish this task I would die
Anyway here are the two links (they're youtube playlists because I don't have spotify. I would obviously recommend using an adblocker if you're just gonna watch on youtube) and the explanations for each song are below the cut :) Each playlist is about an hour long.
For Tarinne’s:
1. Foggy Nights: I consider this her theme so putting it first as a sort of intro only makes sense.
2. Here’s a Health to the Company: I think this works as an example of her general disposition. She’s a people person, and always a fan of singing these sorts of songs in taverns, on ships, or what have you. It also kind of feels like a sendoff to soldiers, which I imagine symbolizes her joining the Sentinel Army and quickly thereafter fighting in the Third War.
3. Wartime Prayers: Somewhat self-explanatory, this is symbolizing her seeing war for the first time, but I also included it because the last line transitions SO WELL into the next song.
4. The Hollow: This song is an intro to an album I've never heard so I don't know the context, but I really love it because it sounds like someone praying to their deity and like I mean c'mon. Elune. Tarinne's praying to Elune to guide her through the war. Do I need to elabo-
5. Wave Walker: KILL DEATH MAIM AHAHAHAHA
6. Isil Elun’falo: Just a super rad fan-made night elf song that's basically "wow we sure do love Elune" said in twenty different ways for four and a half minutes. But it ROCKS and I LOVE it.
7. Chewing Cotton Wool: This song is about losing a loved one (I did have to check but yeah that's what it is) and I use it to symbolize Tarinne losing her mom during the war. The last line, which includes the song's title, I especially like. It's referring to how morticians (apparently) put cotton gauze in a corpse's throat and mouth to keep body fluids in and make the face look more natural. So there's a fun fact for you.
8. See U Soon (Song for Dad): Just a short lofi piece to rest a bit, and it was also chosen because the title's in reference to Tarinne growing closer to her dad after losing her mom. She still visits him at his leathers and furs shop in Stormwind fairly often, especially after dangerous adventures. She just wants to make sure he knows she's alright ;-;
9. No Lullaby: Right back into it with a song that I use to represent Tarinne's general feeling of not being able to go home because it's not there anymore. She's felt like this since the end of the Third War, but it's especially strong since the whole Teldrassil thing. But I like the ending, "who said you're on your own," because it contrasts the repeating of "alone" in the rest of the song. And it's kinda like "hey, listen, you're not the only one who feels like she can't go home." I mean that's probably how basically every single night elf feels right now skxnks
10. The Moss: This song juxtaposes classic fairy tales with scientific facts about the world and I love it to BITS. I'm using it here to represent both Tarinne's love for storytelling but also her sort of... part-time historian/archaeologist/conservator career.
11. Rasputin: I just associate this song with her for some reason and this was the best place to put it.
12. Electric Feel: Moving on to focus more on Tarinne's relationship with Cathala now. This is an extremely great and somewhat 😏 song that I also included because the electricity theme is appropriate because Cathala has lightning powers and y'know it's from Tarinne's perspective or whatever.
13. Bedroom Hymns: You know why this is here.
14. Movement: I can't talk about love songs without talking about Hozier, okay. This is just a nice, slower song to relax a bit with.
15. Never Let Me Go: I have an entire goddamn music video in my head with Cathala and Tarinne for this song and it’s very dramatic and emotional and I had to include this song or I’d die. Basically just listen to near the end of this song when she's repeating the title over and over, and imagine the two of them seeing each other at opposite ends of a battlefield after the dust settles and they rush towards each other and fall to their knees holding on as tightly as they can because they got separated early on and each thought the other was dead. Then you'll know how I feel when I listen to this song.
16. Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control: First of all I love the title, and second of all there's a big section in the middle (1:49 to 2:47) that I like to interpret as the two of them grappling with the fact that they're not really quite sure who or what they're fighting for anymore. Their people, yeah, but there's so many alliances and semi-permanent enemies and only-on-every-other-thursday-enemies all intertwined and the world is just so very confusing and they're trying to make the best of it. Elf school didn’t include international, interracial politics in its curriculum. It did however include how to properly plant trees, and AP calculus (this is a joke).
17. In Dreams: I like to imagine this song is something the two of them would say to each other, as a way of saying “even when everything we know is gone, even when the world ends, I will still be by your side. And if I’m not, don’t fear, for I will find you.” It makes a nice note to end on :)
For Cathala’s:
1. muse: Just a nice lofi intro to get us into things :) I don't see this song as her theme, like I do with Tarinne and the first song in her playlist, but I like it quite a bit. I don't actually really have a theme for Cathala yet, I'm currently going with a version of Way of the Monk from WoW's OST but I'm still looking for something better.
2. Frogs Singing: I included this because it's about just appreciating nature, which works because night elf and also mindfulness and meditation is a whole thing.
3. Tongues: This is a song about feeling distant from your peers which is like Cathala's whole existence! She's this weird mix of two cultures and ultimately she feels out of place regardless of where she is or who she's with. Also the theme with not understanding what people are saying works because the poor woman had to learn Pandaren from scratch and that shit ain't easy. I think blizz said somewhere probably that Common is just a language that EVERYONE knows inherently because Video Game but that's bullshit in my opinion. I'll allow spells that let you understand foreign languages to an extent (Comprehend Languages from D&D lets you understand the LITERAL meaning only, which I like), but every culture and species in the universe knowing Common is silly if you think about it for more than two seconds.
4. Kung Fu Fighting: I'm legally required to include this song. Also I prefer the Kung Fu Panda version, I'm sorry.
5. Harder Better Faster Stronger: I vicariously experience having a great work ethic through Cathala and that's why this song is here because she has 999 Determination and does Too Many push-ups every day or something idk. I was gonna say "every morning" but I have a headcanon that elves only need to sleep every couple of days (sort of a nod to "elves don't need to sleep at all" from D&D, and to explain why NIGHT elves are active at all hours of the day) so that doesn't work.
6. What's Up Danger: This song is Cathala's whole Vibe. Almost zero threat assessment skills in this woman's brain. If it can be punched, she will punch it.
7. Eye for an Eye: Fairly self-explanatory, it's a song about wanting revenge so... yeah. Checked that box. It was this or The Vengeful One by Disturbed but ultimately The Vengeful One's religious symbolism probably makes it fit better as a Tyrande theme lol ("I'm the hand of god, I'm the dark messiah." Did you mean: the Night Warrior)
8. Survivor: Cathala's survived a lot of shit and this could kinda be her making fun of herself for it because "Gods, man! Don't I deserve a break!"
9. Ashes: Really the reason I include this song is the last chunk (2:42 to the end) because holy shit. Listen, if I was gonna include a song with fire motifs, it was gonna be a somber one like this.
10. Into the West: This can kinda represent Cathala just trying to fucking breathe and recover from Teldrassil. Also works because I dunno it has stuff to do with the elves in LotR, I haven't seen those movies in a while. It sounds nice and is melancholy so I included it.
11. Like Real People Do: Cathala loves Tarinne a lot you guys have I ever menti-
12. Into the Wild: Tarinne changed Cathala's world for the better and she's super fucking grateful she has her by her side. Kinda goes without saying but you know.
13. Chasing the Moon: I have a vague music video in my head for this of them falling in love and it's very cute so there's that. Also it's in this specific spot because hey she may be deeply traumatized but she's still got a fair number of things/people in her life that make her happy so :)
14. Follow My Girl: I've got a theme going in my head that while Tarinne is fairly certain of her place in the world, Cathala is still trying to find hers. She outlived all her connections on Pandaria because Elf Lifespans(tm) and the only members of her family still alive are distant relatives she never knew very well.
15. Wish That You Were Here: This works both to represent Cathala on Pandaria feeling super homesick, and for more recently after Teldrassil. Either way, it's a message to her parents and sister.
16. Mr. Fear: She does her damnedest to hide it but she's absolutely terrified something like Teldrassil's gonna happen again! That fear drives her to do everything in her power to protect who and what she can. As long as they're not Forsaken, cause she's still got her biases, that compassion even extends across faction lines. She never really got the whole Alliance/Horde thing anyway. Innocent people shouldn't have to die, regardless of who or what they are.
17. Ordinary Day: Not to get super out there but I think this song works as symbolizing Cathala really trying to hold on to her faith in Elune, but ultimately feeling pretty abandoned. I mean she can clearly see Elune's influence everywhere. But Elune sure ain't doing Cathala any favors as far as she can tell! It also ends the whole playlist on maybe a bit of an uncertain/open-ended note, because this "losing faith" aspect is a new thing with her and will definitely be something she continues to struggle with for a while. On a related note, I should say Tarinne is still very much devout but she gets what Cathala's feeling and doesn't force anything on her, and vice versa. And Cathala wouldn't become atheist, the night elves aren't monotheistic and she still worships all the other deities, it's just specifically Elune she's a little :/ on.
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Of Secrets and Dragons
Dimivain hell? Yes please. This is basically a AU a friend andni came up with. It's based off of the idea that the goddess gifted certain family lines the ability to turn into dragons should all of Fodlan ever need protection. So, we have Beast/Dragon Form Claude, Edelgard and Dimitri. Hope you guys enjoy.
"It is said that on the Goddess's last visit here with normal man, she gifted three bloodlines a very unique ability. It was almost as if it was a parting gift. She gifted three of these Bloodlines the blood of dragons. At first, none of them understood why or what the purpose was. It was until they had children of their own did they understand. With the blood of different dragons running through their vines, their children could take the form of that particular species.
"One could take the form of a mighty Forest Wyvern. Swift as the wind, agile like no other. Its said a single drop of the blood of its blood on farm lands could rejuvenate the soil, bringing about plentiful crops or bringing plant life back to a area that has been long dead. This particular form now runs in the viens of the Riegan bloodline of the Leicester Alliance. Currently its said that the next Sovereign Duke; Claude Von Riegan now wields the ability to turn into this deadly, but elegant, life giving creature."
"The next, a hulking dragon that screamed power and Pride. This large winged creature is said to wield fire itself, being able to envelop itself in it's own flames to create light or even a form of protection. Its said this dragon can bring the end of harsh, ever lasting winters while being able to being pleasant summer days. This form of dragon is said to belong to the Imperial Princess; Edelgard von Hresvelg."
"And finally, There was the final dragon. This one, Flightless, wingless. But that alone did not mean it wasnt as strong and dangerous. This dragon, a drake, was a four legged dragon. A well muscled body, but somehow lean and quick. Powerful and struck a cold fear in those who stood in it's way. Its said this beast could bring about bitter cold and blizzards to fields when enraged. Or bountiful rain to areas who were suffering from a smoldering drought. As of now, it was said that this dragon form ran in the vines of the Blaiddyd family of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. However, as of now, its said that the crown Prince; Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd does not have this dragon form. Many suspect this form was lost long before the rule of Lambert, the previous King of the Holy Kingdom."
There was a long pause of silence in the Blue Lion class room as they sat there, listening to the rare and seemingly odd lecture of the day they were getting from Lady Rhea herself. She rarely ever left the first floor and she definitely wasnt one to teach a class. She was the Archbishop after all, she typically had far more important things to do verses actually teach a class. But they had been expecting this to happen. The Golden Deer house and the Black Eagle House had already received this same lecture from her. None of them knew why they were suddenly receiving this lesson or why she was even talking about it. Yes, strange things had been happening around the Monastery as of late, but in a way, some of the students were starting to think that maybe Rhea was in a way letting the house leaders know that maybe it was time to start using their dragon forms to send a message.
But as the Archbishop had stated, Dimitri was the only one out of the three who couldn't take the dragon form he was supposed to be able to take. Or at least that's what many believed. The class gave Rhea their thanks for her lesson she had given before watching her depart, once she was gone it was painfully obvious bow they all relaxed and sighed. Some, namely Sylvain, had slumped forward onto the dark wood desk, Felix to his left pinching the bridge of his nose. "Man, talk about throwing more of the churches issues onto the future King, Emperor and Sovereign Duke." Sylvain said, sitting back up and looking over at their future King who was looking down at the notes he had sitting in front of him. He was sure the blonde didnt actually write down anything important, but he did have to make it seem like he was Intrested in the topic. "Hey, dont look so worried your Highness." The redhead tried to reassure.
It was clear that he was nervous, on edge now. Dimitri was easy to read more or less when he got like this. Especially when it concerned that dragon of his. There was a reason why it slowly started to disappear in the family line. And that was because his family's particular form was high aggressive even if the king amdnor queen wasnt by nature. So, in reality only all of the Blue Lions knew why the Blaiddyd family had started using that form less and less as time passed. Sylvain huffed when he noticed that his words didnt seem to quite reach his blonde haired loved one. He stood up, walking over and kneeled down next to where the Prince was sitting. He reached up, his palm slid up the others cheek and his fingers tangled into the blonde colored locks, gently tugging. This got the younger male's attention, he turned his head to look at the red head, but frowned when Sylvain didnt remove his hand, only tugged again.
"Must you?" Dimitri asked, though it came out more like a whine verses a question. Sylvain only smiled, keeping his hand tangled in the golden locks, gently rubbing where he had tugged on the other's hair. "I'm fine, I just dont believe that its necessary for any of us to use those forms. Lady Rhea failed to mention those forms are used for emergency cases only. In which I mean the fate of all of Fódlan is at risk. Not because some people are questioning the Church." He himself wasnt a holy man, despite what his own kingdom was called. Never really believed in the goddess, much less took part in praying to her or any such things. His father was much the same way. Maybe that's why he turned out as he did. Not that he wasnt saying that the goddess didnt exist, he just didnt see a need to worship her so damn much. Especially when so many people have died thinking she would give them mercy and save them only for it to turn out otherwise. He sighed heavily, leaning into Sylvain's larger hand. "I'll need to speak with Edelgard and Claude about this when we all have some spare time."
"Work, work, work. That's all it is with you." Sylvain teased as he stood up, removing his hand from Dimitri's hair and sitting on the end of the table, soon enough the rest of the blue Lions soon gathered around their prince at the table he was sitting at. "But on a serious note, are you going to warn them about this? Or are you going to tell them?"
"They dont need to know," Felix interjected with his usual sharp tone, his arms crossed over his chest. "There had never been a need for them to know so I dont see a reason for them to know now. It's not like all of Fódlan is on the verge of collapse. I say leave them be. Dont go doing something stupid that you'll regret. I'm sure the other house leaders are smart enough to know what Rhea is getting at."
Same typical Felix. Sylvain could only sigh as he shook his head. But his younger friend did have a point. Edelgard and Claude were smart, they probably already put two and two together to figure out that the Archbishop was in a way, pressuring them into taking those forms when the church asked them to. Sylvain couldnt help but feel glad that Dimitri's family had started using that uncontrollable form of theirs less and less. Hell, he was sure not even Lord Rodrigue recalled how that dragon form of the Blaiddyd family looked like. Still, it was a bit of a bad thing that the family had no control over the dragon form. No one could ever really figure out why, many assumed maybe the goddess made it that way for a reason. But what reason could that be? Either way, it was a mystery and would probably remain that way for a while. The red head only was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Dimitri lay his head on his thigh.
A small smile graced his features, especially when Felix, even if it was out of character for him, reached out to place a comforting hand on his back. They cared for him, he was their friend after all and they had sworn to keep him safe after the Tragedy of Duscur and after the Rebellion. Dimitri had no control over himself when that rebellion took place west of their kingdom. It had been a forced transformation and no one who was there spoke of it to anyone else out of respect for the late King and for the respect and love they had for their Prince. "Its okay, things will work out." Sylvain assured him as he ran his fingers through the Blonde's hair gently. "Like you said, those forms are for when Fódlan is on the brink of collapse right? And yeah sure there have been a few strange things here and there but nothing to suggest Fódlan is in that much trouble or need of help."
"As much as I loath to agree with him," Felix started, pulling his hand back and crossing his arms over his chest. He easily ignored the shouted and offended shout of 'hey!' From his red headed friend. "He has a point, Boar. Right now things are fine. So realx." Despite his harsh tone and the glare on his face, anyone who knew Felix well enough knew he was saying it truly to help Dimitri relax and calm down. Felix raised a brow when the blonde turned his head to look up at him. With Dimitri laying his head on their older friend's thigh, one could tell he was tried. The prince was allowing himself to look Vulnerable, and Felix felt his blood boil at the mere idea of anyone else from the other houses walking in and seeing him like this. "Get up, goddess forbid anyone else sees you looking this pathetic." He snapped.
"Felix," Sylvain scolded lightly, keeping his hand on the back of Dimitri's head. There wasn't any actual pressure there keeping the Prince's head down, but it was Sylvain letting him know that he didnt have to move despite Felix's words. He could never really actually put heat behind his words when it came to Felix or Dimitri. He supposed they were his soft spots, he could never scold Ingrid because well she never really acted out of line. Unless it was with Dedue but the Duscur man handled that well on his own.
"Your too soft with him. Hes a boar, a beast, an animal. He doesnt need to be coddled." He snapped again, glaring at the older male. Honestly he knew Sylvain coddle him and Dimitri a lot, he was just like that even when they were kids. But they weren't kids anymore. Dimitri would be king soon, and with it a whole kingdom full of problems he would need to learn how to handle. Neither he or Sylvain would always be there, there would be times where he wouldn't see either of them for months. Sylvain couldnt keep coddling him like this, making the empty and stupid promise he would always be there at his side. "Get up and come spar with me. And try to control yourself I can already feel a cold chill in the air and we're in the middle of summer."
"Ah, My Apologies I didnt realize-"
"Of course you didnt. Just shut up and let's go."
Sylvain sighed heavily, he was disappointed that the Prince lifted his head from his lap but he knew there wasnt talking him out of it. At least sparring with Felix would keep his mind from thinking about the lecture they just got from Rhea. Though Felix had been right, even he could feel the slight bite of cold in the air, Dimitri always seemed to have trouble controlling his own abilities aside from his strength. It made sense that this was the reason why he shoved down whatever he was feeling when it came to the Duscur Tragedy and the Rebellion as well. Both incidents always caused Dimitri to have a flurry of different emotions and with thaoe emotions came harsh and sudden blizzards. Faerghus had experienced it once already, the Monastery did not need to. Still, there had to be more to Rhea's lecture. A few incidents couldnt cause something like this to come about, right? No it wouldnt make much sense. There was more that she knew that she wasnt telling the students. But that didnt mean that the Professors didnt know. Which meant their Professor knew as well, a soft hum escaped the red head as he thought about this. Could he and would he be able to get any information out of him? If nothing else, their professor was tight lipped about certain things if not just completely unaware.
"Sylvain, are you alright?" It was Mercedes's soft, gentle, and caring tone that brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, of course! Just thinking is all. Ah but it warms my heart to know that such a beautiful-"
"Sylvain," came Ingrid's warning, effectively cutting him off from one of his usual tangents.
Sylvain for his part only laughed, rubbing the back of his neck before allowing himself to listen to the chatter of his group of friends. He supposed things would he fine, maybe everyone was just over thinking things.
That would turn out to not be the case five years later.
When Edelgard declared war, when their Professor went missing and when they received news of Dimitri's execution it was like the world came crashing down all around them and there was nothing they could do to stop it. No matter how hard they had tried. He didnt think there was much rhyme or reason to return to the Monastery like they had all promised to do, after all, their king dead, their professor probably also dead. What reason would they have to go back? Still, he gathered Ingrid and Felix up, making the long and dangerous trip to what was once a second home to them all. However what gave the red head a sliver of hope was the striking cold in the air, the frozen bodies, the snow and ice that covered parts of the walls and land.
When they finally found him with their professor, this Dimitri was nothing like the one from so many years ago. This Dimitri was cold, harsh, bloodthirsty and thought only of killing Edelgard. For a long while, Sylvain didnt think there would be much hope for him. Whatever darkness that had a hold of him had finally been able to drag him down into its depths and it was like Dimitri wasnt even trying to fight it. Whenever they went, the harsh, biting cold followed. Wherever they went, snow fell, the battles the fought enemy soldiers ended up with icicle spears through them, other begging for mercy as Dimitri held their head in his hand. Quick and painless death was a rare thing from Dimitri. Sylvain had little to no hope of ever seeing the soft, gentle and shy Dimitri he once knew again. Felix had even tried to get through to him. But even that didnt seem to work. It took Rodrigue's death and nearly his own for Dimitri to finally snap out of it.
When he did, he gave them all such a heartfelt apology. Swearing he would make it up to them And atone for his mistakes, things had started going a lot better after that. The cold that followed their army faded away, Dimitri would actually show up to the war council and even training as well. He would even join them to eat dinner together. Though there were times when he would still distance himself from the group. At first Sylvain didnt understand why, but when he found him late one evening, patrolling the Monastery grounds in the Dragon form he had no control over previously. He felt a swell of pride and joy for their future king he couldn't stop himself from walking up to him. He looked...stunning in this form. He stood taller then a horse, his scales a beautiful mix and light and dark blue. Black colored Horns that grew up and slightly back from his head. In this form Sylvain could see the scars that littered his body, and it was countless, some overlapping each other, some small, others large. Though if he had to pick out which one was the worse one in his opinion-
It would be the one that took his eye. Not that Sylvain was bothered by the horrible scarring, not in the least bit. They all had their fair share of scars thanks to this war and even past battles. But when he saw the scars that just seemed to over take Dimitri's body, he couldn't help but feel his blood boil. Only because he knew a good amount of those scars were caused by his time imprisoned in the Capital under the pretenses that he had murdered his uncle. His eye had been lost during his escape from what Dimitri had implied. He never went into much detail about that day. No one could blame him. As Sylvain stood there next to the hulking creature that was his friend, he could tell Dimitri was tense. It was sad, seeing him so tense and always seeing to be walking on eggshells around not only him, but everyone. As if fearful of doing or saying the wrong thing. Dimitri used to be so confident, or at least he came off as confident. These days he doubted himself a lot, making it hard for him to see that he was indeed making the right decision. Even as Sylvain reached up and held the other's face between his hands.
It was odd, the feeling of cold scals under his hands. Considering he had only ever had been in his human form. Both remained silent, Sylvain gently holding Dimitri's head in his hands, thumbs stoking along his jawline. The touch seemed to have calmed him down, considering his remaining eye was closed in content, deep rumbles coming from him which he supposed were the dragon version of a purr. If that was even possible. The red head pushed that thought aside, there was a time and place for such joking things, right now wasnt the time nor the place. Right now, he was enjoying this moment of peace.
"Look at you. Never once did I think I would ever get to see you like this." Sylvain mumbled, pressing his head to the other's head. He shivered at how cold the other felt in this form but goddess it felt so pleasant. "Honestly it suits you. But I'd like to see you now. If that's okay?" Had he asked this from the blonde so many hours ago, he would have been met with a snarling growl and a harsh 'no'. But right now the got a soft, long exhale of breath before he pulled his head away from his gloved and armored hands. He watched as the King shifted from that dragon form back into the human form he had grown accustomed to seeing. Like this, Sylvain felt much better seeing. He looked more vulnerable, more...him. which in a way made sense, in his dragon form it was hard to tell how he was feeling, there was always an air of being on edge and ready for anything like that. Or at least that had been how Hilda explained it whenever Claude was in his Wyvern form. Sylvain smiled, reaching up to cup the other's face between his hands. Dimitri's flinch did not go unnoticed, but he kept his movements slow and steady, making sure to not startle the other so much.
It broke his heart every single time he saw Dimitri flinch away from what would be a friendly touch. It was sading to see how a simple pat on the shoulder or back was like the best type of touch hes ever gotten. How long had he gone only knowing harmful and malicious touch? Had it been since the death of his uncle? Since his imprisonment? Goddess only knew. Sylvain smiled when Dimitri leaned into his hands, his remaining eye closed. He noticed though how his hands seemed to hover awkwardly, like he didnt know what to do with them, as if he feared to touch anyone. "Its okay," he assured the King. He felt Dimitri stiffen for a moment before his reached up, placing his hands over Sylvain's. It took a long time for them to reach this point, before Dimitri wouldnt even allow anyone to touch him. Not even Sylvain who had never once ever dreamed of hurting him. But goddess it felt good to be at this point, there was a feeling of shock that washed over him when he felt the blonde lean against him, so much so that his head was resting against the crook of his shoulder and neck. "There you are, it's good to see you."
Dimitri hummed softly, the blonde moving his arms to wrap them around the other, pulling him close. He missed this, he missed Sylvain. He didnt think something like this would ever be possible. Especially after everything he had done, the lives he had taken so mercilessly. He wouldn't have blamed the older male if he had decided to never stand by him ever again. He wouldn't have blamed him if he had sided with the Empire and told the secret that yes, he did indeed have a dragon form. But he didnt do that, no Sylvain stayed by him, had tried time and time again to snap him our of his own madness. Even when he threatened them all, Sylvain never once held it against him. He didn't quite understand why he didn't, why he had been so forgiving of his horrendous behavior, but he was. Dimitri these days knew it was best not to question the good things that were given to him even if he found himself tempted to question it constantly. "Why are you not in bed? We have a long March ahead of us tomorrow, you should be resting." Dimitri didn't need to see the other rolling his eyes at his words he could practically feel it.
"And let you wander about like a guard dog alone when you need just as much rest as the rest of us? No way, come on, Dima. Let's get you to bed." Dimitri chuckled, leave it to Sylvain to pull something like this. He didnt fight the other when he pulled away, slipping his hand Into his own and leading him back to their old dormitories. Dimitri couldn't recall ever actually stepping foot into his old room, and now that he might he felt himself grow extremely nervous. Sylvain must have noticed because as they walked and arrived at the second floor of the dorms, he bypassed the King's room entirely and entered his own. Obviously since coming back the red head took the time to clean the room out, make more suitable for him now verses back when they were young, innocent and still had delusional ideas about how they would change the world for the better. How foolish had Dimitri been back then. At least Sylvain had always been a bit more cynical then him, knew the world wasnt always as good as it seemed. Not everyone had good in them like Dimitri wished to believe. By the time Dimitri turned back into the world around him, the red head had already gotten out of his own armor and had gotten his entire chest plate off. "How often does that happen?"
For a moment, Dimitri found himself lost and unsure of what Sylvain was speaking of, but it came to him rather quickly. The zoning out, the disassociation as Mercedes called it. Compared to just a few weeks ago, it didnt happen as often as it used to, but it would still occur from time to time. On those days it was like he was watching the day pass through someone else's eyes. He found himself forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep. Basic human function became extremely hard to do, this often lead to someone needing to be with him at all times for the rest of that day or for however long the disassociative episode lasted. "More often then I would like to admit." It wasn't a good answer, not good news by any means, but was a truthful response. He watched as Sylvain nodded, working on removing the dark colored armor he insisted on wearing. Even when Gilbert gave him the Blaiddyd armor he refused to put it on just yet.
Sylvain nodded, there was a glint of sadness and guilt in his eyes. As the blonde's friend and the oldest of their group of four he had failed when it came to looking out for all three of them. He ended up being someone Ingrid had to constantly trail behind to make sure he stayed out of trouble. Even Dimitri would pull him aside and scold him. Felix didnt even try but sure as hell made it known he wasnt happy with his behavior. At the end, they all only did that for one reason only; to make sure nothing bad happend to him. Because in their minds, loosing him would be just as bad as losing Glenn. It was touching to know he meant that much to them. But it was also sad to see that the trauma of losing Glenn had affected them all so much they felt as if they needed to do more then necessary to make sure he was going to be just fine. When he finally managed to get he other out of the armor and in clothing much more comfortable to be in, he guided the king to lay down flag on his stomach. He could tell the younger male was tense, worried about what he was planning. "Relax, its okay. Your safe here." There was more meaning to his words. Dimitri wasnt only physically safe here, his secrets, his doubts, his fears all of it was safe here. Sylvain was never one to go around speaking of the insecurities and tightly guarded secrets others trusted him with. "The empire still doesnt know about your dragon form, I'm going to assume none of the others know as well if only because they think you cant control it." He watched as the blonde turned his head to side, somewhat looking at him with his remaining eye. "I think we should keep it that way for a while. A sort of...ace in the hole."
"Would it not be better to reveal it sooner rather than later?" Sylvain could see where that would be the best idea, but he also knew that having something like that as a secret and only using it as a last ditch effort would serve them as an advantage. Plus if Edelgard caught wind that he did have a dragon form after all, she would know exactly how to kill him, it wouldnt he a problem for her. It would give her the necessary time to figure it out if she didnt know.
"The less the Empire knows about us in general, the better, Dima." The red head said simply as he gently started to massage the others back and shoulders. The king was tense, wincing whenever his hands seemed to press and knead into a particularly sore and tender spot. Dimitri didnt seem to have a response for what he said, after all he did have a point. The less Edelgard knew, the easier it would be for them all to do what they needed to do in order to stop her. "But for now, let's worry more about how tightly wound your muscles are. It's no wonder you're always stiff like a statue."
If nothing else, it was always easier to be in Sylvain's company compared to the company of anyone else. That is not to say that Dimitri didnt care for the others, because by the goddess he did. He would tear down all of Fódlan if it meant he could keep them all safe and alive. But with Sylvain, with this flamboyant, smooth talking red head, it was different. Perhaps it was due to the fact that with him, doing anything had always been easier. He ould always be more emotional around him, physical touch wasnt as a much a fear as it had been with anyone else. Sylvain even encouraged it, often times locking their arms together, throwing his arm over his shoulders and dragging to wherever he pleased or even always putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. On rare occasions, a friendly but gentle pat on the head as well. Dimitri would refuse to admit to anyone that those pats on the head had been his favorite. Maybe that's why letting him do this, rub out the tension in his body was so easy for him, letting the other's gentle hands run up and down his back, carefully kneading. When the older male hit a particularly sore spot, the one eyed male hissed, arching away from his touch. Dimitri could name every single spot on his body that was far more tender and tense then anywhere else. It was how hebhad been living for the past five years since his escape from Fhirdiad.
"Shh, shh. Easy I know hurts right now but it will get better." Sylvain was quick to comfort, quick to lighten his touch on that spot just under and along his left shoulder blade. He had a feeling he knew what brought the tension on in the muscles in this particular area. If nothing else, Dimitri was a master with a Lance, but he wasnt thebobly one who had exceptional skill in the use of this type of particular weapon. He had encounter plenty of other Lance users and he had used Areadbhar many times in battle. Often times, he watched his King push himself far past limits he knew better then to cross. But did so anyway, which lead to torn muscles, and soreness in his shoulders more often than not. And if seemed like this time would be a case of exactly that. It felt like hours had passed before Sylvain seemed to have finally gotten the muscles in Dimitri's back to relax. When he moved to lay next to the king he paused and smiled at the sight of the king peacefully asleep.
When had he even drifted off? He wasnt sure, but he was happy to see that the man still trusted him enough to even fall asleep around him. As he laid there, watching the man in slumber, is when he started to notice small things, such as that even covered in warm, fur blankets, Dimitri's skin was cold to the touch. If one looked closely enough when he was awake, one could see the faint Cerulean glow his eye had. Even his teeth seemed sharper as well, all attributes and traits that he got as he got older thanks to the dragon form that ran through his family's blood. For now, the others didnt need to know about his control over his beast form, not yet. It could be a secret between him and his king. For now, Dimitri could rest.
For tomorrow, it was back to war, back into the fighting.
#dimivain#fe3h fanfic#fe3h dimitri#fe3h sylvain#fe16#Ice Drake Dimitri#Forest Wyvern Claude#Fire Dragon Edelgard#Beast/Dragon Form AU#Sylvain x Dimitri#sylvain jose gautier#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd
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"Evil? Do I consider myself such? No, no. Tell me, do you call the rahi evil for the death they bring? The beings they consume? No, because it is their nature to do such. It is the same with me, despite my... form I am not one of you, but at the same time I am. I have my own nature, one different from yours. Perhaps it may seem cruel to those also with sentience but to me it is beauty, art, something I must complete. Now then, enough talk! I can already see the beautiful masterpiece you'll make.~"
-Cryptid to an (idiotic) matoran reporter that had managed to track him down for a review. Said matoran was later found dead, turned into another of Crypid's pieces of 'art', the recording was luckily left intact.
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Cryptid came into being from the first and last test of a matorans attempted recreation of the mask of creation in metru-nui, despite having only vague knowledge of its powers and creation.
Perhaps if the Matoran’d had a better understanding Cryptid may have never come into creation.
The Matoran had believed the mask to have the ability to build anything the user thought of as long as there were near enough materials, even if they weren't visible. Who knows, maybe they were correct and they just weren't strong enough to control it, perhaps they built the mask wrong. But until it is truly discovered what Artahkas mask can do, it will never be known, and either way it is much too late to fix that Matoran's mistake.
During the first, and soon after last, test of the masks abilities the Matoran had been visiting a damaged parts dump, attempted to create something small, a tool or perhaps just a small figurine, whatever it was they chose the mask chose differently. Unleashing a burst of creation-based energy, utterly draining the mask before becoming trapped within the ensuing energy storm. It was quickly ripped from the matorans face, becoming the epicentre of the storm, before beginning to form a body around itself, a twisted and broken form, and once the storm was finished, and the being dropped to the ground, it was soon recognized as a form that exuded danger when it's eyes of dark red, and dripping with an ichor like liquid turned to stare at the matoran, a twisted smile, that would stay for the eons and more of its existence, soon grown across its face.
That matoran became the first of many of Cryptid's pieces of ‘art’ as he calls them.
Not too long after the time of his creation, perhaps a year or two, he was attacked by a horde of Vahki who had finally managed to track him down from his discovered ‘art’ pieces. During the end of chase he ended up having his back injured before he fell off a large cliff, ending up on his back somewhere in the depths of Metru-Nui's outskirts, bresulting in it fully breaking. His Vahki pursuers, believing him to be dead and if not, at least removed from Metru-Nui, returned to the inner-cities, leaving Cryptid to slowly heal until he could move enough to be able to design a crude back harness.
He later replaced it with a much better and more high tech one,designed to inject certain chemicals and such to even better increase its benefits. He returned to the city, stealing a ship and leaving to find a new island to create ‘art on, of course he didn't leave before creating a few more pieces of his 'art' around the island.
His second major injury occured at a much later date, resulting in the loss of his right arm.
During a fight with one of his more powerful opponents, during his more inexperienced years, he ended up losing his right arm before he could end his oppoenents life. His opponent was a Toa of some sorts, somehow managing to set off an explosion near Cryptid after suffering a fatal injury, ripping Cryptids arm off, embedding the metal into his shoulder that he built the prosthetic into, and ending his own life.
His flesh later healed over it to enough to make it much more difficult to remove for anybody, Cryptid included.
Species: Artificial mask construct/bionicle
Gender: Male
Age: …. Yeah, I still have no clue how to figure this out when it comes to bionicle's! XD
Personality: While Cryptid is a ‘normal’ bionicle he is, in part, a sentient, and long powerless, mask and it’s shown throughout his personality, from his twisted love of creating, despite his lack of power, ‘art’, ranging from just simple, if but disturbing, statues and carvings to his preferred more ‘organic’ pieces, be they created from ‘gathered resources’ or his own, to his love of ‘artful’ dancing and posing, even despite the disturbing quality both usually retained they, along with his other art, manage to capture a sense of awe and disturbing ‘beauty’ in their designs
He's manic, gleeful at best and downright crazed at worst.He enjoys making his ‘art’, and has a tendency to burst into song, especially whilst doing so. All of which tend to scare others, or at least make them extremely nervous for fear of their lives. He's not exactly evil but he doesn't feel the same way as others, and doesn't see what he does as evil. While he has realized that most others have a different view than him, he really doesn't care, they're not him, and so what if the majority of sentient beings have differing opinions to his, why should he care? They don't control him.
Fighting style: In truth he fights with basically anything he can get his hands on, be that from stealing an opponents weapon to useing random objects scattered across the ground.
if he has nothing at hand he'll just use his own claws, strength, and flexibility, all skills that have taken down many an opponent.
Abilities and powers: Due to his 'accidental' creation, and what his body was created from, some parts of himself do not work properly, such as his nervous system.
Oh sure, it works enough for him to be able to move properly and all that but he can't feel anything, only highly dulled versions of whatever sensation he should be feeling, and pain is even more so. It allows for him to push his body to limits he never should’ve been able to reach, and to personally ‘modify’ his body and indulge in certain ‘habits’ of his at any given time.
His own body's healing ability is a very useful factor in all of this too, while it is only slightly faster than most without some healing item/mask it allows for his body to adaptively heal, continued injury forcing his body to heal in ways to attempt to avoid said injuries and due to his ‘habits’ he has greatly adapted his body to better work with him. He has managed to force nearly all of his joints, from neck to knee to rotate and turn at any ‘realistic’ angle (directions it could already move, back, forward, side-to-side, etc). Allowing for him to create even more disturbing poses, dances and movements.
But as a counter to these benefits his body suffers multiple problems from its uncontrolled creation. The two biggest problems he suffers, and has created solutions for, are certain restrictions to his healing ability and a very dangerous internal one.
If his body takes a large enough amount of damage, focused on one area, he can not fully heal it, as shown with his back.
While he can remove the harness, and move without itm he will be greatly weakened while it is removed, being forced to slow down and be more careful with his movements to keep from aggravating his injuries. He can only keep it removed for a finite amount of time before his back starts to give out again.
As for his internals, once again due to his unnatural creation, a very important internal function of his body doesn't fully work, I.e. His internal blood/protodermis flow, luckily (for him) he managed to discover and fix it in time, installing a tubing system to artificially pump his blood/protodermis throughout him. The tubes are easily his biggest weakness, while he can survive for about a week with minimally increasing detrimental effects it is still highly dangerous to do such. The tubes and mechanics themselves are difficult to replace and he is highly protective of the tubes, going out of his way to keep them from being damaged.
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So yeah, any of you guys ever just build something to vent some stress, not planning to really make anything, just sticking stuff together and somehow you actually make something? Yeah that's how Cryptid was made.
I mean I did have plans at that point to use his torso for a while, which I actually found partially built in a box of random parts I bought, well only the torso bit which had the chest armour, tube (without the black piece and angled technic bars), black claw and a slightly different neck connection but with the same head, but never got around to it until now and I definitely didn't plan on this! But I gotta say I do like him.
In fact, I will truthfully state Cryptid is quite literally one of my top favourite MOC’s.
No idea why, he just seems to click in a way that I just can’t help but like him for some reason
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