#southern hawker
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Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: vol. 2 - Insects. Written by Dr. Bernhard Grzimek. 1984.
Internet Archive
1.) Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea)
2.) Orthetrum sp.
3.) Broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa)
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Southern hawker/blågrön mosaikslända (male). Sätraskogen nature reserve in Stockholm, Sweden (August 30, 2013).
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Southern Hawker Side View
Side view of a southern hawker dragonfly, perched on a hawthorn branch at RSPB Fowlmere.
#aeshna cyanea#cambridgeshire#canon#canonuk#dragonflies#dragonfly#fowlmere#insect#insects#invertebrate#invertebrates#minibeast#minibeasts#nature#nature reserve#outdoors#rspb#rspb fowlmere#southern hawker#summer#wildlife
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southern hawker dragonfly, sidobre, france, 2021
definitely my favourite photos I have ever taken. such a cooperative little guy. so beautiful
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07/10/2023-Winnall Moors
Photos taken in this set: 1. One of a few ripe Red Admirals seen including enjoying ivy which was a pleasure, a wonderful butterfly which has had an amazing year. 2. Red maple leaves which looked beautiful. 3, 4, 9 and 10. Gorgeous views in the rich morning October sunlight, it was so good to be here not on a lunch break walk with time walk around to every part of the reserve at varying paces and really take in this beautiful and wild spot and see a lot. 5. A dazzling Common Darter during some amazing time by the pond which the tenth photo shows which is a dragonfly haven, it was great to see this species with female egg laying with male adjoined post mating too with this individual staying still on the wood for ages I believe. At this spot I enjoyed chatting to a couple and I believe their grandson about them and other dragons and the little boy was full of energy. He asked if I'd seen a bear (sadly extinct here) which I of course replied no, but he said he wasn't giving up and as they walked off I reminded him of that. A passion for and connection to nature I was thrilled to see in a young person. 6. The resplendent colours of a Peacock butterfly on some of the few bits of hemp agrimony still in flower, another top butterfly I enjoyed a lot today, there were seas of hemp agrimony seed heads by the reeds which was great to see. 7. Nice hedge woundwort. 8. A cheery Long-tailed Tit one I enjoyed seeing today.
The other two dragonfly species seen at the pond were Migrant and Southern Hawker, for perhaps my first time seeing them side by side which was interesting for comparison. I got smashing views of the former on the wider walk too. Speckled Wood and Small White were other good butterflies to see with possibly Green Longhorn moth, Harlequin ladybird, pretty hoverflies and white-lipped snail enjoyed too. I saw a nice variety of great birds including Snipe flying over at the start, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Meadow Pipit, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, exhilarating Sparrowhawk views and regal Red Kite flying high in the blue sky. I really enjoyed hearing birds here today too with the eerie call of Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker alarm call, the trickling tune of Wren and smashing Cetti's Warbler heard loudly great birds I heard but didn't see, and Blue Tit heard well too. Other key plants seen here were special Michaelmas daisies, comfrey the flower of Winnall Moors for me, white deadnettle, shining water forget-me-not a key one seen, herb-Robert, buttercup, meadow crane's-bill, bramble flower, hogweed and I believe wild carrot seed heads, guelder rose berries and hawthorn berries.
#photography#common darter#migrant hawker#southern hawker#buzzard#red kite#sparrowhawk#cetti's warbler#snipe#winnall moors#2023#winchester#hampshire#europe#england#uk#world#nature#happy#outdoors#weekend#evening#great tit#long-tailed tit#flowers#birdwatching#earth#bramble flower#walking#walk
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A Living Flash of Light
A Living Flash of Light
On a bright, clear morning the slow-witted naturalist has a chance at a half-decent photograph because the temperature is dropping.
Southern Hawker at Rutland Water last week.
As the year progresses, the remaining dragonflies are slowing up, getting up later, flying less frenetically and sitting around more — low in a bush in the morning sun, trying to warm up.
The only other chance is very…
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Cheating at Pai Sho Outtake: Crew Interrogation
Opened up Cheating at Pai Sho and this alternate version was just chilling in my notes. I ended up using the “Sokka goes out drinking with the crew” version instead, but behold, the crew messing with Zhao’s men:
* * *
Sokka was entirely unclear on whether the crew didn't notice him under his newly replaced guard helmet, or just didn't care.
"Look sharp, Ensign Other One," a fellow creepily anonymous skull-mask-guard said, giving Sokka an elbow nudge to the chest plate, and firmly putting an end to the did they know or just not care question. "Hostiles incoming."
"What do we do?"
"Mess with them." The guard lifted his faceplate. Hawker Genji winked at him, then let it drop.
Heavy boots stomped up the loading ramp, mere minutes after Zuko and the resupply party had left.
"Attention on deck!" one of the newly arrived armored-but-not-wearing-helmets guys bellowed. None of the crew had any particular reaction to this bellowing, probably because it was a few decibels below what they were used to. The man's lips twisted down. "The port commander has ordered a mission debriefing. You will assemble all crew—"
"Yes," Genji said, and the same time a woman next to him was saying "Agni blight it," and handing over a handful of coins.
The port inspector snapped his head towards them. "What was that, crewmen?"
"Nothing, sir,” said Genji. “Just won a bet. Thanks, by the way."
"Nothing, sir,” said the woman. “Just lost a bet. Thanks, by the way."
A third crewmember snickered, and stifled it as soon as the dock officer whipped around to glare. And suddenly Sokka realized why everyone on the Wani had put on their own helmets: near-complete anonymity.
So began the messing with.
%%%
The crew was, basically, locked in the mess hall. Except for the people who the port officer had hauled off to speak with one-by-one; they, presumably, were being released into the Wani wilds elsewhere, to minimize the getting-their-stories-straight thing.
"Do it," Genji urged Sokka on. "I'll give you a silver if you do."
"He's low-balling you, kid," Assistant-to-the-Doctor-and-Occasional-Pikeswoman Satomi advised.
"What even is a silver worth?" Sokka asked, having grown up in a region largely decoupled from the greater world economy. "I need a baseline for how much this is worth to you."
"A silver is worth about five kilos of rice if they don't know you're from the Wani," Satomi said. "Half that if they do. Hold out for a gold from him, at least. That's ten silvers, or an hour with a really good hooker."
"Sssh," Helmsman Kyo shushed, in a manner most shushily. "I can't hear what they're saying." He had his ear pressed to a metal pipe that connected to another pipe that ran to the room the port officer was doing his interrogations in. "Wait no, I got it. Okay, so we're up to The Avatar appeared before Prince Zuko in a column of light which vanished into the sky, leaving behind the last living airbender. The airbender lives on our roof and helped us fight off the Southern Savages that attacked us from the sky on their snow-white beast. It sounds like they're—yeah, they're finished! Next up!"
The uninterrogated remainder of the crew all assumed their sullen stances, and waited for the the port officers to drag the next of them off. Satomi was picked, and went with some literal dragging of heels. "Oh no, not me."
The Wani crew, as it turned out, tried very hard to be consistent in their ridiculously over-the-top rewrites of the truth.
"We don't get battle stories to brag about," they'd explained to Sokka. "But we do get Avatar Hunt ones."
Kyo pressed his ear to the pipe again, and continued his narration. "Okay. Good, good—she laid out the basics again. And she's adding—oh wow, this is great—'Together with our new airbender, we brought the light of Agni to the frozen heathens, and converted them to our cause. Now they worship graven images of Fire Lord Ozai and leave offerings at the rusted ruins of our ships—'
Sokka. Knew what he had to do.
%%%
"Sit," the port inspector ordered.
Sokka sat.
"Your fleet commander demands an explanation for this wasteful expenditure of resources to the south," the man snarled. "Tell me the truth of it. Start from when your ship departed this port the last time."
"Well, I'm not going to be able to help you with that," Sokka said. "You see, I was out minding my own business on my culturally inferior ice shelf when the light of Agni shown upon my world. Also, Avatar something-something? I forget what they told me to say. Anyway, long story short, I'm a converted Southern Savage. Hail Fire Lord Zuko's Dad!"
It might just be the sleep deprivation, but the guy's expression was hilarious.
%%%
"How did you all get written up for insubordination?" Zuko shouted. "I was gone for less than two hours! You're not even in the navy!"
"Yeah," the Water Tribe peasant said. "That officer guy got really angry when he thought I was giving him a fake name. Then he heard them calling me 'new guy' and just wrote up Pikesman Kazuto. Sorry, Kazuto."
"He… what?" Kazuto, who was carrying the last sack of rice aboard, paused long enough to look befuddled.
The teenager shrugged; his armor clattered and creaked even worse than Jee's. "What can I say? Just because I'm not part of the navy doesn't mean I'm not part of this crew."
There was. There was so much cheering and backslapping. Zuko had left for less than two hours, and now his crew liked a Water Tribe barbarian more than their prince.
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Off the southern shores of Singapore where waves whisper ancient tales, you can find Kusu Island. In the Hokkien dialect, kusu means "tortoise" or "turtle." True to its name, this island is adorned with many tortoise statues and home to a legendary tortoise tale.
The most prominent mythology revolves around a giant turtle and his generosity. During the ninth lunar month, two sailors found themselves shipwrecked and in distress on the rough seas. Thankfully, a benevolent turtle spotted the men and turned itself into an island where they could take refuge. Honored and grateful for the creature’s help, the sailors returned the following year to make offerings. Since then, Kusu Island has transformed into a place of worship.
The ancient pilgrimage continues today as thousands of devotees pilgrimage to Kusu Island to worship at the Da Bo Gong (Tua Pek King) Temple on the ninth lunar month. The island hosts a Chinese temple, three Malay shrines (Keramats), and a tortoise sanctuary. One of Singapore’s famous cultural heritages, the hawker center, is also on the island and only open during festivities and pilgrimages.
Originally 1.2 hectares, the island grew to 8.5 hectares through landfill and reclamation in 1975. During British colonization, the island once served as a burial site for newly arrived immigrants who died in quarantine on St John’s and Lazarus islands.
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Dowding System
Britain's integrated air defence system in the Second World War (1939-45), known as the Dowding System after the air chief marshal of that name, included code-breakers, radar stations, observers, searchlights, barrage balloons, anti-aircraft guns, and fighter planes. Working together through a combined operations centre, these various elements ensured that the German Air Force could be better tracked and intercepted, and so, the Dowding System helped win the Battle of Britain.
Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding (1882-1970), commander-in-chief of RAF Fighter Command, had been determined to improve Britain's air defences in the interwar years, starting with the idea for a design competition for new fighter planes, the winners being the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. In 1936, Dowding was appointed head of the RAF's Fighter Command. The position meant that Dowding controlled the operation of fighter planes, Anti-Aircraft Command (which operated flak guns and searchlights), Balloon Command (which handled anti-aircraft barrage balloons), a thousand units of early warning volunteer observers, and over 50 radar stations, a new technology Dowding had supported the development of. All of these elements would combine into what became popularly known as the Dowding System of air defence, which permitted the early detection and reception of enemy aircraft flying over Britain.
Integrated Defence
Britain's integrated air defence system (IADS) was created on 1 May 1936 after German aggression in Europe first became evident with the reoccupation of the Rhineland in March that year. The idea of pooling resources for air defence went back to the First World War (1914-18) when Germany had bombed Britain using such aircraft as Zeppelin airships. The Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) had lapsed in the 1920s but was now revived and expanded. The Dowding System eventually consisted of seven parts:
the fighter plane squadrons of RAF Fighter Command
the anti-aircraft artillery of Anti-Aircraft Command
the searchlights of the Royal Engineers
the lookouts of the Royal Observer Corps
static barrage balloons to deter air attacks on important sites
static and mobile radar stations
Ultra military intelligence
The first IADS covered southern England, the north and west of England, and Scotland. Volunteers of the Observer Corps scanned the skies for enemy planes and reported sightings by telephone to a local reporting centre, which in turn contacted the Operations Centre Head Quarters. Spotters at the sites with AA artillery and searchlight units did the same. With Britain's airspace divided into a massive grid, plotters at HQ could track home and enemy aircraft, making updates every five minutes. This was all well and good, but there were two fundamental weaknesses in the system. The first was that enemy aircraft would only be spotted as they approached the coast where the Observer Corps was positioned. The second was that in cloudy weather or at night, enemy planes would be able to enter Britain's air space unobserved. These problems now seemed very important to solve quickly. Britain had declared war on Germany in September 1939 following the latter's invasion of Poland. By 1940, Germany had marched through the Low Countries, British forces had abandoned the Continent in the Dunkirk evacuation, and France had fallen. A German invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion) looked imminent, and it would surely be preceded by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) attacking Britain's airfields and strategically important industries as it tried to gain air superiority. Fortunately for Britain, technology came to the rescue with a new and highly secret 'weapon' that proved decisive in the coming air battle, the Battle of Britain, officially dated as 10 July to 31 October 1940 by the Air Ministry.
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Black Dahlia for Florrick?
thank you for the prompt and opportunity to drop Florrick Lore TM!
Florrick (& Shadowheart & Nocturne & ?Viconia?), Black Dahlia - a lie
A half-elf with black hair and a long scar across her cheek. A tiefling with purple hair and short horns. Both fifteen or so, similar in height and build, clean and tidy, dressed in similar nondescript clothing—so nondescript that it could only be deliberate.
Manip Florrick doesn't deviate from her assigned post at the southern gate of Bloomridge Park, but she watches carefully from afar, cataloging the information she'll need to fill out the report form. She needn't look up the law reference; she knows the Baldurian Penal Code nearly by heart. Article Eight, Crimes Against Persons, Section Twenty-One, Petty Theft and/or Pickpocketing, Sub-section Four, Offenses by Minors With or Without Prior Offenses.
But the pair—furtive, anxious—pass by the picknickers, the passed-out drunks, and the hawkers, seemingly relieved just to stroll the sunny walkways and dip their feet in the pond, if only for a short while before they disappear, again, through the gap in the northern fence.
No harm done, and so Florrick pays them no further mind until an hour or so later, when a woman approaches and asks if she'd seen a young half-elf with black hair and a long scar, and a tiefling with purple hair and short horns.
There's something off about her—something in her eyes, dark and empty, as if sucking the light out of the very sky above them.
And then there's something nagging at the corner of Florrick's mind, needling, prodding, seeking.
"My apologies, ma'am," Florrick replies evenly, slamming the iron of her mind shut, washing over in relief as the invading sensation withers and dies. "I'm afraid I've seen no such children today."
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Vintage Misery: Part One
This has been a patreon exclusive for a year now, and I've been just dying to share it. This story takes place in the 90s, set in a southern college town that has secrets hidden to keep the genteel atmosphere. The kindly locals almost seem to smile too much, and anyone from outside is looked at with odd glances. (Features horror elements.)
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I’ve learned a few things from car salesmen, televangelists, and other hawkers - how to razzle-dazzle to sell something that many don’t believe exists. For most, what I sell is a form of entertainment - movie franchises, late-night television hosted by busty goths. But it's all too real for me, having inherited my family’s knowledge and a touch of my mother’s gifts.
Much like a traveling salesman, I try to hit up well-to-do neighborhoods. But college towns are also a boon for my business, especially when sororities and fraternities are involved. They usually reside in old houses, children of old money. Old money means new money for me. But it's the old houses that usually hook me - the older the better, and the more columns on the porch, the better. Especially in the south. I love taking business to the old south.
The houses are usually remnants of plantations, and there’s enough history to build off of to scare some idiot kids into making their parents pay for my expertise. Pretending to be a fortune teller and medium and performing for parties is how I started. After that, I would usually have repeat customers come asking for more. And then, bit by bit, the hauntings started.
One party I went to recently was supposed to be a bg break. One of the girls in the sorority was the daughter of a notoriously superstitious beauty tycoon, known to do business deals under the strict guidance of her horoscope and the placement of celestial bodies. She used crystals, tea readings, and all sorts of new-age bullshit to run her business and family. And her daughter was within my grasp.
I pretended to read the young woman as her sisters watched expectantly, with big eyes surrounded by too much eyeshadow. I sometimes think how I could have been one of them, had my parents not dragged me across the globe. But that was me being bitter. “And you, young lady,” I said to one of the girls, “you are currently dealing with unrequited love.”
The girl looked scared, and then near tears. “How did…”
I tilted my head as a cool breeze stirred my hair. “It’s for one of the professors.”
“I knew it,” another girl said as smugly as possible.
The lovestruck girl shook her head at me. “Can I make it work?”
I feel the cold breeze against my ear. “No. He’s your fucking professor, and he’s either gonna use you and lose you, or keep you on the side until he loses everything in the ensuing scandal. Get over it. Besides, there’s a boy in Delta house who has your picture in his wallet.”
The girl, through tears, sniffled and looked at me hopefully. “Who?”
The breeze went through my hair. “Something Buchanen.”
“Max?” The smug girl said.
I checked my wristwatch. “Oh, dear, look at the time ladies.” I tapped my watch face. “Time’s up for me.” I stood and blew out the candles, then turned on the lights.
Smug girl jumped up. “Wait! What did you say about Max having her picture?”
“It’s in your room,” I scoff. “Go and look for yourself if you don’t believe me. Now if you want me to stay longer, you’re going to have to pay more.” A chill ran down my spine. “And buy me some burritos for dinner.”
Smug girl ran to her room to search for the wallet. I left with my money, and descended the front stairs of the old place. It was dark already, and the streetlamps were casting shadows.
“You should have stayed!” The cold wind hit the back of my head.
“What for?” I snapped. “I can get you burritos, Neil. There was a Mexican joint down the block from here.”
“But that one girl had a stash!” The wind materialized beside me, looking like a wrung-out stoner.
“You’re dead. You can’t get high anymore.”
“But I can remember,” Niel whined. “Just by the smell, the smoke…”
I shook my head. “You died stoned. Of course you remember.” Neil was my best friend. I met him ages ago during one of my parents' many paranormal studies, the victim of a ritualistic sacrifice, lured into a trap with food, pot, and a promise for his poetry to be published. His ghost had haunted the site for ages looking for his promised gifts. I promised him everything except the publishing, which by then he had given up on.
“Whoa.” Neil grabbed my arm. “What is that?”
A troop of girls passed by us - beautiful, almost too beautiful, with creamy pale skin, impeccable clothes, radiant hair. As they walked by, another chill ran up my spine. Behind them trailed another girl on forearm crutches. She was just as beautiful as the rest, even more so with her wounded bird atmosphere.
“What on earth were those?” Neil whispered.
“They’re called women, Neil,” I scoffed and continued walking along. The chill from those girls wasn’t new. I was alway anxious around pretty people, but for some reason I couldn’t shake the feeling even as we walked away.
I took Neil to the Mexican place and ordered him the burrito of his dreams. As long as I supplied him with his favorite food, he stuck to our deal. I suppose I scared the waitress when I recited Neil’s order to her. The burrito he craved would have been monstrous even for the likes of bigfoot or a tyrannosaurus rex. When I first met Neil, I equated him with my favorite teddy bear - short, husky, hairy, and wearing a denim jacket. He was all too happy to leave the site of his death, and it was lucky for him I had a droplet of my mother’s abilities so I could free him.
The takeout order was extremely heavy, most of it from the weight from Neil’s burrito. As we went back to the motel I was staying at, we passed a phone booth. “Wait a second.” I told Neil. “I should call home.”
“Oh, come on! Can’t you call at the motel?” Neil whined.
I entered the phone booth, slid in the quarters and dialed. The phone rang four times before the answering machine kicked in, and I heard my dad’s voice before the beep. “Hey, it’s me. Just giving my weekly update that I’m alive,” I sighed. “Guess you’re still out, or at the museum. Anyways, it’s me. Your daughter. Alive.” I hung up the phone, and as I stepped out of the booth I saw giant globs of beans, beef, lettuce, sour cream spill out onto the sidewalk. “For the love of God, Neil!” I snapped.
He was holding the burrito, practically unhinging his jaw to bite into it even as it went right through him to splatter on the ground. “You’re just wasting it!” I snatched the bag from the ground, not realizing he’d taken it from the shelf in the phone booth while I wasn’t watching. “That was a fucking twenty-dollar burrito!”
The last bit of burrito hit the ground, sending sour cream and beef juice to splatter over my feet and ankles. I glared at Niel, and he just licked his fingers. I rolled my eyes and moved along. No sense in arguing about it now.
The motel smelled like cigarette smoke and bleach, but it wasn’t the worst one I had ever stayed in. The yellow walls, orange bedding and brown carpet made me feel like I was in a sepia-toned picture. “When should I go back?” Neil asked.
“In a couple of days,” I huffed. I sat down at the sticky little table by the window so I could eat my food. “Let them stew for a few days and get comfortable again. Then you can go back and do your business.”
Neil sat down on the bed. “I feel so bad picking on girls, though. I much prefer scaring guys.”
I opened my takeout box. “Well, one of those girls can get us good connections with her very rich, very superstitious mother. We might be able to stop this nonsense and live the high life.” I stopped mid-bite when I grasped my own wording. “No, you won’t be able to get high.”
Neil pouted, then floated away through the wall. After I ate, I climbed into bed and lay staring at the ceiling. There was a huge water stain there. How long had it been there? Was it a sign of pipe damage? A shoddy roof? I thought about these things until I fell asleep, to keep other thoughts from invading my mind.
I woke to the sound of someone pounding on the door. I sat up and caught a glimpse of Niel’s ass before he pulled himself back through the door. “It’s the cops!”
I huffed and got up to answer the door. “What are you doing?” Neil snapped.
“What are you afraid of? We don’t have anything.” I opened the door, but kept the chain latched. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Ma’am, were you at Alpha Sigma Alpha house last night?” the cop outside asked me.
“Good morning to you, too,” I grumbled. “What is this pertaining to, officer?”
The officer was stone-faced, and obviously not in the mood for anything other than being obeyed. “Please answer the question, ma’am.”
“Yes, I was. Now what is this about?”
“Please step outside, ma’am.”
I looked back at Neil, who had hidden under the bed, and rolled my eyes. There went my chance for explaining myself with a haunting. “Not until you tell me why I should.”
“We need to take you in for questioning,” the officer replied, stony as ever.
I furrowed my brow. “Questioning? For what?”
“So we can get your testimony of last night’s events.”
A chill went down my spine. This wasn’t good. Either those sorority girls turned on each other, or I somehow passed by a murderer on the way to the restaurant and didn’t know it. “Can I get changed at least? Maybe a coffee?” I huffed.
“I’ll be waiting here.”
I closed the door and started getting dressed. “Come out, Neil. You have to go with me.”
“I ain’t going nowhere in no cop car.”
“You’re dead, Neil,” I snapped at him. “Besides, you owe me for wasting that burrito last night.”
“You can’t use that against me.”
I threw on my jacket and glared at him. “You know I will, so don’t fight it!” I opened the door and stepped outside. “Okay, I’m ready.”
The cop looked over my shoulder into the room. “Are you in there with someone? I thought I heard a male voice.”
“It’s next door.” I closed the door behind me. “The guy in there has been pacing and mumbling all night.” Crap, this cop might be sensitive. He heard Neil, but I didn’t think he could see him.
The cop looked me over. His badge read Mercy. “What’s your name?”
“I’ll tell you when I’m questioned, Officer Mercy.” I followed him to his car. It wasn’t my first ride in a cop car. I leaned close to the cage that separated the front from the back. “Am I allowed to request a coffee, Officer Mercy? You did wake me up rather rudely.”
“We have coffee at the station,” he said sternly.
“You play the part really well. Let me guess, it’s a family thing. Father a cop? Brother a cop?” I waited for Neil to climb into the front seat. “Your mother’s a cop, too. But she retired, right? To raise a house full of boys.”
Mercy twitched and looked at me in the rearview mirror. “What are you talking about?”
“She ran the house like a bootcamp, right? Is that why you have trouble with constipation? You’re still stressed about it?”
At the stop sign he braked hard and turned around in his seat to look at me. “What are you talking about?”
There was a bottle of constipation pills in the glove compartment, along with a note from a doctor suggesting he take time off for stress. There were also a lot of pictures in Officer Mercy’s wallet. Sentimental, despite the bitterness of his upbringing.
“Coffee first? Or do you not understand what your last name means, Mercy?”
Officer Mercy gave me the eye before turning back around in his seat. “You really are psychic,” he muttered.
“Oh, so you do get it?” I leaned back in the seat while Neil came back to join me. “What happened last night? Did someone die?”
Mercy was quiet, but in the mirror I saw his tense brow and the look of fear in his young eyes. I knew that look, unfortunately.
“How bad was it, Mercy?”
“Ma’am, I won’t talk about it here. You’re being brought in for questioning.”
“That bad, huh?” I murmured. “Was it your first time seeing…”
“Ma’am!” he snapped.
I stopped, knowing I might be making his stress-induced constipation worse. I sighed, crossing my arms against my chest. Once we arrived at the station, I was led to a room where I saw some of the girls from last night. They looked awful, frightened, and I felt for them, whatever they had to witness last night. I was taken to the back and made to sit in a very cold, dimly-lit box with a two-way mirror.
“How do you take your coffee?” Mercy asked.
“With enough cream to make it beige,” I answered.
Mercy furrowed his brow at me.
“It’s not the worst thing you’re going to deal with today, Officer,” I scoffed. “I’ll behave, promise.” He left and I sat, knowing I’d be kept waiting a while. I learned that from my parents, who’d done it before during their studies.
Another cop came in, bigger and more like a pitbull than baby-faced Mercy with his thin mustache coming in. “You are Alice Young, correct?” he said in a chain-smoker wheeze.
“I prefer Al, but yeah. Can you tell me why I’m here? Officer Mercy was chintzy on the details, as well as the coffee he promised me.” I leaned back in my chair, waiting for Neil to return.
Officer Pitbull tossed some pictures onto the table. I recognized them as Smug Girl and Hot-For-Teacher Girl. “Did you speak to these young ladies last night?”
“Yes. This one hired me.” I pointed to Hot-For-Teacher.
The officer placed his elbows on the table and one of his chins on his knuckles. “Can you explain why?”
I looked away from the picture, still waiting for Neil. I hoped I could hesitate long enough. “What were you told?”
Office Pitbull was obviously there to intimidate me, but I had seen much worse than him. “It doesn’t matter. I need to know what you were doing at that house last night.”
“I was hired for a job. The girls were having a party and I was brought in to perform as a medium for entertainment. I performed, then I left and got food at Habanero.” I met his gaze. “Why am I here, officer?”
The door opened and Mercy came in with my coffee. He looked white as a sheet, but he quietly placed my coffee before me on the table. I took a drink as Neil whispered to me, having followed Mercy in. “Thank you, Mercy. This is perfect.” I sat the cup down. “The girls were killed? I’m sorry.”
“You told her?” Pitbull snapped at Mercy.
I shook my head. “They were found in their beds, doors locked, windows open.” I looked directly into Pitbull’s eyes. “No blood, but…”
He slammed his palms down on the table. “You stop your voodoo priestess horseshit this instant! I won’t have it in my building!”
“It’s real…” Mercy started but quieted himself and went back to his uptight stony demeanor from before.
“They said you were hired as a psychic,” Pitbull spat.
I nodded. “I was.”
Pitbull thought he had me there. “And yet you couldn’t predict they were going to be murdered? Or did you not warn them?”
I glared at him. “What do you think?”
He slammed both palms down. “You could be an accessory!”
“I was there, yes, I admit it. But all I did was tell them things they already knew. I can only tell things about people when I’m near them. I can’t tell the future. My abilities lie elsewhere.”
“Yes, I saw your card.” The officer slid it out from the same folder he took the pictures from. “Exorcisms and ghost removal. What sort of bullshit are you trying to sell?”
“Is this about me, or are you going to do anything about those poor girls?” I pressed my finger into the picture. “I’m not at fault here, officer. I’ll tell you what I saw last night, but I had nothing to do with this. I was just in the house as a guest, a party act.”
Office Pitbull glared at me with his lip curled.
“I passed a group of young women as I walked down the street. One had forearm crutches. It was late and dark, and I didn’t really see many people out and about. Even the restaurant I went to was empty aside from a few drunks at the bar.”
“Those girls must be the Harvey sisters,” Mercy said.
Officer Pitbull glared at him. “You’ll have to give me a full statement of what happened last night. Everything from the moment you arrived to the time you left.”
This guy wasn’t going to let me off easy. He probably thought I committed the murders, just because I was a stranger claiming I had powers. He probably thought I was crazy, and for him that was enough to label anyone guilty. I gave my statement from top to bottom as best I could. Then I was allowed to leave, but since Officer Mercy brought me here I had to walk myself back to the hotel.
“This is bad, Al,” Neil shivered.
“We did nothing wrong. What’s bad about this?” I huffed.
“No,” he shook his head. “Those girls, how they died… It’s bad, Al. Really bad.”
I stopped to look him in the eye. “What happened? You only said the bare minimum in the police station.”
Neil’s eyes were bloodshot and dilated. That was usual for him, but there was something new to them, a fresh look of fear. “They were ripped apart.”
“But you said there was no blood,” I huffed.
“There wasn’t!” Neil shook his head wildly. “It was like they’d been… partially eaten.”
A stone sank heavily into my gut. “Oh.”
Neil looked distressed. “I’ve seen some things, but I ain’t ever seen anything like that, Al. Those pictures… those poor girls.”
“Well, there goes my big payday,” I scoffed.
“Is that all you care about?” Neil snapped.
“Look, we’re lucky this is all that this has to do with us. We’ll get out of here and that’ll be the end of it. I’m sorry you had to see that, but there was nothing we could have done. Nothing we can do now. These aren't ghosts, obviously.” I huffed and shoved my hands into my pockets, continuing the walk back to the motel.
Once there I began packing, which wasn’t hard. The bus wasn’t leaving until that evening, so I stayed in the motel the rest of the day. Then, just as I stepped out of the motel office, I saw the girl with forearm crutches outside. She was very petite and lovely. Her long hair was tied back into a sleek braid, and she was wearing a plaid skirt with a matching jacket. She reminded me of a doll. “I’m glad I caught you!” she said breathlessly. “You’re the psychic from the Alpha Sigma Alpha house, right?”
“Not anymore,” I huffed. This girl was so pretty it was almost criminal. My hands were getting sweaty just looking at her.
“Please, I need your help.” She came closer to me. “It’s about what happened last night at the house.”
I walked away from her. “I’m sorry, but I don’t…”
“I saw something last night, and no one will believe me! Please, you have to help. If anyone will believe me, it's you.”
I stopped in my tracks, but only because Neil had grabbed hold of me.
“My name is Beth,” the girl said softly. “I can pay you for your help.”
Neil forced me to turn around. “What did you see?”
“It climbed up through the window last night. I saw it when I was coming back from class,” she said. “It looked like a demon.”
“Last night?” I frowned. “You had classes that late?”
“There are night courses I have to take,” Beth replied. “I even drew what I saw.” She took a piece of paper from her jacket and handed it to me. I unfolded the paper and inside I saw a contorted, long-limbed figure. The mouth was opened, stretched wide and filled with jagged long teeth.
“It reminded me of that movie, the old one,” Beth said, breathless. “The tall man with the hunched shoulders, bald head and pointed ears and teeth.”
“Nosferatu,” I grimaced. “Vampires aren’t real.”
“But I saw it!” Beth argued. “Please, you have to believe me. You’re the only one who can possibly help us.”
I looked back at the picture. “This won’t be cheap.”
Beth shook her head. “I don’t care. I need you.”
I folded the picture and stuck it into my own pocket. “Let’s talk, then.”
--------------------
I just wanted to get out of this town. If Officer Pitbull had any say in the matter, I was the primary suspect in a double homicide, and this held the possibility of him unearthing a slurry of unsavory facts about my family. Facts he could use to connect me to the murder of these two girls, or at least provide character evidence indicating my likely guilt.
Beth took me to a twenty-four hour diner so we could talk. It was quiet, filled with exhausted university students, a few truck drivers, and the two waitresses on shift. I ordered coffee and waffles, but only because Beth was paying. My bus had already left, I would have to wait another day to leave.
“There’s not much on her I can read,” Neil sat beside Beth at the booth, going through her pockets and small bag. “Just some loose cash and a student ID.”
I was looking at my coffee while he spoke. Beth could see the creature going into the window last night, but not Neil. It seemed strange.
“I know who you are,” Beth finally said. Her songbird voice was warbly and timid. “I’ve read the books your parents have written.”
I swallowed hard, pressing my tongue against my teeth. “Is that why I’m here, then? You’re a fan of my parents?”
Beth shook her head. “No, I’m genuinely asking for your help. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this creature around campus. And you might know something about it. Your parents have been all over. The Wakefield house, the Seamstress murders…”
I set down the coffee mug a bit too hard on the table. “I know what my parents have done. That was them. Not me.”
Beth’s eyes widened. “But your card says you perform exorcisms and paranormal investigations, just like they do.”
“Go back to what you said before,” I said. “You’ve seen the creature around campus before? Why have you not told anyone?”
“I’ve tried, but my sisters call me crazy. But your parents’ books claim that all sorts of phenomena can occur. I suspect this could be some sort of demon, or even a poltergeist.”
I shake my head. “Demons aren’t so subtle, and poltergeists don’t let themselves get seen. Is this the only strange thing you’ve ever seen? Or has this happened to you before?”
Beth shook her head. “Not that I could recall. Have you seen anything like this?”
I was seven years old when I experienced my first real paranormal phenomenon. My parents were good about keeping me away from their work, and the museum they kept close to the house. My mom talked about a lockbox or something too, but I never knew what that was. Fed up with my parents’ constant reticence and absence, I snuck into their museum, where I was never allowed to go, a treasure trove of artifacts and trophies from their past jobs. I was clutching my teddy bear, the one that I would later equate Neil with. Next thing I knew my dad was dragging me out, my mom was screaming inside, and I didn’t see that teddy bear again until years later, when I discovered it locked into a glass box like a fire extinguisher. I didn’t remember what transpired in the museum, but afterwards it became apparent to my parents I had a gift - I was able to attract ghosts in a way they hadn’t seen before.
I sighed, pushing my plate aside as Neil looked at it hungrily. “I missed my bus for this. I need something more concrete to go off of. Your friends were murdered, and I know you’re shaken. But I don’t deal with murder in the present tense. I deal with the aftereffects, the residual anger so powerful it lingers for centuries. I’m not quite sure what you’re asking me to do, or even to look for.”
Beth stared at me, frustrated almost to tears. “But what about this creature?”
“Call animal control. Wrap yourselves in garlic, hang crosses over every opening in the house. Call a priest, but don’t call me.”
I tried to stand up, but Beth used one of her crutches to hit me in the leg. “Could you tell if something was there if you went to the house?” she asked.
“Maybe, but it’s a crime scene. And the top dog in charge already resents me. I don’t exactly want to give him ammo.” I had already been inside that house, and there was nothing there. I didn’t need to go back to know that.
“I can get you in. No one will be there tonight. There wasn’t even anyone there when I came to get you.” Beth sounded so hopeful. Perhaps if I gave in and went with her, I could convince her there was nothing and leave it at that. Whatever got to those girls wasn’t a ghost, because I’d never heard of a ghost rending flesh like that.
“Fine,” I sighed. “But this will cost you extra.”
Beth nodded, so determined to see this to the end. “That’s fine with me.”
She took me back to the campus, which had been partially closed down. The girls in the sorority house had all gone home by now, and the area around the sorority itself had been cordoned off with police tape. Leading the way on her crutches, Beth guided me to the back of the house. All the doors should have been locked, but the back door opened with relative ease. “I’ll stay here and keep watch,” Beth said. “Be safe, okay?”
I nodded and went inside. As Beth closed the door behind me, I waited for Neil to materialize. “There’s nothing,” he said.
“Nothing at all?” I asked. “Did you check their rooms?”
Neil shook his head. “I wouldn’t dare go in there.”
“You’re a ghost, Neil,” I scoffed. I stepped from the kitchen into the foyer. I had been here before, but everything felt so different. I took a deep breath, smelling the air for any sort of changes. I was starting up the stairs when Neil grabbed me and held me back. I huffed. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t think you should go up there. It could be dangerous.” Neil’s bloodshot eyes stared into me. “Please.”
“There are no ghosts here.” I yanked my arm back and continued to walk up. “So stop acting like a…” The stair under me opened up. I can’t say exactly how it happened, but it almost felt like it was pulled out from under my feet. I grabbed hold just before I plummeted, and dangled there in the darkness before my grip completely failed me. I plunged through the darkness before I fell into water.
“Al!” Neil screamed from above.
I panicked. Unable to find anything solid, I splashed and kicked wildly. I screamed for help, hoping Beth could hear me. My voice echoed off something, so there must have been walls nearby, at least. “Neil!” I cried out.
His hand clasped around mine, pulling me above water and guiding me to something solid. I heaved myself out of the water, gasping for breath and shuddering all over. I reached into my pocket, praying that my lighter still worked. “Are you okay?” Neil asked.
The lighter sparked and squeaked as I tried to get it to light. “No, I’m not fucking okay.” It sparked to life, and the tiny flame cast a small circle of light around me. I stood up on a patch of bare earth. “What the fuck is this?”
“The basement?” Neil chirped.
I shook my head. “There’s no way. A cistern under an old house? Does that make sense?”
“It’s cold down here,” Neil whispered.
“How would you…” A chill cut through my body, and I wished it was because I was soaking wet. I stretched out my arm, moving closer to the edge of the water. I could see things on the surface, floating near the bank. “Are those…” Something clung to the small patch of land that I was on. The water lapped against it, rocking it gently against the dirt. It looked like tattered clothes and rope.
“This isn’t good, Al,” Neil whimpered. “We need to find a way out.”
“Yeah, no shit.” I moved back again. “I need something to light. I can’t keep this lit forever.” I felt across the dirt. “You start looking for a way out.”
“Are you sure you want to be left alone?” Neil asked.
“What else do I have going for me? Just go.” I kept looking, hoping to find something to illuminate better than a solitary lighter. Eventually I found what looked like an old flashlight, and by some miracle it still worked. I turned it on, shining the light over the water. That’s when I saw it. I switched the light off and held my breath.
“Al, I think I found something!”
“Show me.” My voice cracked.
“It’s over this way.” Neil touched me. “Did you find a flashlight?”
“Neil,” I swallowed hard. “It’s bad. It’s really bad.”
“Well, sure. That’s a given.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s worse than that.” I closed my eyes, turned on the flashlight, and shone it out over the lake. Neil screamed, and I turned it off again. I didn’t need to open my eyes to see the skeletons, the bodies, draped over the patches of earth against the stone walls.
“What the fuck is that? What the fuck? What is…” Niel was beginning to panic. After all, this looked vaguely similar to the mass grave he was left in.
I grabbed him. “The exit, Neil! We need to get out!”
“It’s a murder house! What is happening?” Neil was still babbling as he tried to come to grips with what he saw.
“That’s why we need to go!” I yanked Niel hard, hopefully snapping him back into his senses. He ran, pulling me along behind him. I had to move through the water, stepping on things that felt like bones, but we eventually made it to a door. There was a grate covering it, but the grate buckled easily when force was applied. I stepped out onto the marshy wetlands behind the campus, under an overpass where I could hear cars driving by.
I took deep breaths as I looked around, shaking all over. “Okay.” I breathed. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Neil snapped. “What was that in there?”
“I don’t know.” I started walking around with my fists clenched. “But we’re leaving, that’s for damn sure. I don’t care if Beth begs me to stay. I’m not going back.”
“Are you not going to tell anyone?” Neil quickly ran up beside me.
“No, of course not! I’m not telling anybody about a mass grave! Not until I’m a thousand miles away and can leave an anonymous tip at some phone booth in New York.” I trudged through the sludge until we reached dry land, and it took me a moment to realize we’d wound up in someone’s backyard. “I just want to get out of here.” I started walking across the lawn, hoping it was too late in the evening for anyone to notice me. “Get my fucking things and go.”
The back door of the nearby house opened. Light flooded my vision, and the sound of a gun cocking deafened me. “Don’t move!”
I stood still, quickly throwing my arms up into the air.
“Ms. Young?”
I squinted through the light until I could focus. There was a young man on the porch wearing a shirt and boxer shorts. “Mercy?”
He lowered his gun and stared at me in confusion. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“That’s my question.”
“You’re soaked.” He lowered his gun to his side and waved at me. “Come in.”
I shook my head. “No. I really should go. I need to go.” I turned to continue making my getaway when I tripped over a hose hidden in the grass and fell face-first into a rock.
Needless to say, I was pulled inside by Officer Mercy, who gave me ice for my black eye and even offered me dry clothes. Then he sat down at the table across from me. “I’m sorry about what happened at the station today. I didn’t think Gradings would go off like that on you.”
Seeing him like this, he didn't seem like a police officer, just some baby-faced guy. “I’m sure he’s perfectly nice when coeds haven’t been brutally murdered.”
Mercy shook his head. “No.”
I sighed. “I see.”
“Tell him,” Neil hissed.
I shooed him away like I was swatting a fly. “Is this the first murder around here?” I asked. “I mean, like… gruesome as it is.”
“We’ve dealt with a lot of missing persons reports,” Mercy said. “But nothing like this.” His eyes drifted away into nothing as he rubbed his hand over his jaw and mouth.
I furrowed my brow. “Missing persons?”
“It’s a college town. Kids run away, join cults, bands, lovers, you name it. Most of them turn up, or we’re told they got home.” He shrugged. “I mean, I heard stories that before the college was built here, there were some shady businesses around. But that’s just rumors.”
I lifted the ice bag away from my face. “What kind of shady business?”
“Oh man, that looks bad.” Mercy stood up and approached me. “You’ll probably have a shiner in the morning. I’ll get you some aspirin.”
I scowled. “I’m not going to stay. I really should be going.”
Mercy made me hold the ice back over my eye. “Look, the buses don't run again until the morning, so you might as well stay the night. Whatever you were doing out there, it can wait too, can’t it?”
“Some cop,” I huffed.
“I don’t think you’re guilty. I felt bad even waking you up this morning, but Gradings was dead-set on it. Especially when he found your card on one of the… the girls.” He couldn’t even bring himself to say ‘corpses’.
“You’ve probably had a bad day too,” I muttered. “You saw right?”
Mercy’s skin grew pale and clammy.
“Look, take it from an old hat, there was nothing you could have done. But you can work hard to see that it doesn’t happen again.” I took the ice away from my eye again. “I’ll sleep on your couch.”
“Why don’t you tell him?” Neil snapped at me.
Mercy gave me a curious look. “Old hat?”
I stood up from the kitchen table. “I deal with ghosts, remember? I see death in a different way, but it’s still death.”
That seemed to be enough for Mercy. “Oh, right.” He led me into the living room. “If you need another blanket, just ask.”
I saw an open book on the recliner, along with half a beer. “Can’t sleep?”
Mercy avoided the question by pretending he didn’t hear me. He turned off the light then the one in the kitchen. “You need to tell him,” Neil snapped at me.
“How the fuck do I tell him?” I scoffed. “I told you, I’ll give an anonymous tip once I’m out of here. There’s no sense in putting myself into this drama.”
“You were literally dumped into the middle of it, Al!” Neil hissed. “Something is going on! Those poor girls could be part of it. You could have been, too! The stair didn’t just give way for no reason.”
I put an old throw pillow over my face to try and drown Niel out. “This has nothing to do with ghosts!” I snapped.
Neil threw the pillow across the room. “You’re an idiot,” he snarled into my ear.
I lay there, staring out into the shadows. Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw the bodies in the flashlight beam. I had to stay awake to keep that image out of my head.
I got up as soon as there was light out, and when I did I noticed Mercy sitting in his kitchen, already in uniform and with my dry clothes laid out on the table. “You’re awake.” he said simply.
“So are you.” I took my clothes. “I’ll go change and get out of your hair.”
“How’s your eye?” he asked.
I touched my face. “Sore. How does it look?”
A slight smile appeared on Mercy’s lips, and he looked almost handsome. “Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Did you use my phone last night?”
I clenched my fist around my clothes. Mercy had done this at the hotel, too. “No. Why do you ask?”
“Because I thought I heard you talking to someone last night.” He shrugged. “Sorry. Must have been a figment of my imagination.”
“Yeah, there wasn’t any talking.” I went and changed, folding up the things I’d slept in and laying them aside. I looked back into the mirror and saw Neil standing behind me. “You really almost got me in trouble.”
“I did?” He laughed. “You and I must remember yesterday very differently.”
“Shut up,” I hissed. I left the bathroom quickly, exited the house, crossed the street and kept going. I could see signs for the campus in the distance. Once I got there, I’d be able to find my way back to the bus station, but that Beth girl had my stuff. I needed to find her first.
I turned back around to see Mercy getting into his patrol car, and I went back across the street and leaned over into his window. “Those Harvey girls,” I started. “Do you know where they are?”
“The Harvey girls?” Mercy asked, taking off his sunglasses. “I think they said they were staying somewhere off campus. But they’ve probably left with everyone else.”
“Just tell me where they are, please.”
Mercy motioned to the car door, a slight smile on his face. “Get in and I can take you there.”
I sighed and hopped in. He drove in silence for a while, seeming to want to say something. “How did you know…” Mercy hesitated.
“About your… medical condition?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just did.”
Neil scoffed from the back seat.
“It’s pretty amazing. Being able to see things like that about people.” Mercy said. “I wish I knew stuff like that sometimes, without having to speak.” I noticed the way he was rubbing his fingers along the steering wheel, like he was trying to comfort himself.
“It’s not amazing,” I sighed. “It’s a problem.”
He nodded. “I see.” He started slowing down. “This should be it.”
The house was old, and looked like it should have been part of the campus. I stepped out of the car and looked up at the windows, which were all closed and shuttered.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Mercy asked.
Then I saw my bag, sitting on a chair on the porch. I went up and grabbed it, putting it over my shoulder, then noticed there was a note and a key under the bag. “I don’t know what happened to you last night. But if you come inside you can wait until your bus has to leave. I can take you to the station and pay you for the trouble. - Beth”.
I wanted to leave and wait at the station. But I felt I owed an explanation to Beth, or at least to let her know I was alive. I shook my head at Mercy. “No, just go. Get to work.”
I used the key to open the front door, finding the house dark and quiet. “At least it’s not a death lake,” Neil whispered.
“Shut up. Everyone must still be asleep.” I walked inside, hearing the click-clack of the grandfather clock by the stairs. There was a sitting room just to the right of the entrance, and I sank into a chair, feeling drowsy.
“Should I go and look around?” Neil asked.
“No. Just stay put,” I grumbled. I went through my bag to make sure everything was there. Luckily, it all was. I stood up just to look outside and make sure Officer Mercy had driven off.
“Oh, good, you’re here.” I turned around, and there was Beth standing there.
I stepped away from the windows. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“I was actually just making my way to bed,” she chuckled. “I was up a bit too late doing schoolwork, and then I thought I heard you come in.”
“Go to sleep,” I said. “I can rest here on the sofa.”
Beth then tilted her head. “You look awful. What happened to you last night?” She approached me and stood very close, and one hand left her crutch and took hold of mine.
“I was…” My voice cracked. “It’s hard to explain. I was trying to find your creature, and I got a bit sidetracked.”
“Liar,” Neil grumbled.
She smiled at me. “Why don’t you take a shower, and then you can get some rest before you have to go. I’ll even get a bed made up for you.”
I felt drowsier than before, and I let her lead me away. As I walked down the hallway, I saw one of the other girls through an open door. She was standing by her bed, but when I walked by her head turned. It seemed to twist much farther than it should be able, and her eyes looked red. But I was exhausted. I probably wasn’t thinking right.
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Alfred, Alexia, and the Dragonfly
The infamous video of Alfred and Alexia torturing a dragonfly and feeding it to the ants can be found twice on Rockfort Island. The first time, you see it in the room with the Lugers and then again in Alfred’s office as the startup of his PC. Of course, it has a deeply person meaning to Alfred. We know about his obsession with his sister, and Alexia is in there as well. Maybe the video is the only one with her or the last one that was taken before her cryogenic sleep. It makes sense that Alfred would hold dear something like this. But is it just about Alexia, or is there more to it? After all, we even have to watch it twice.
The twins do not talk the entire time and barely interact during the video. The only noteworthy interaction happens during the last scene, in which Alfred and Alexia share a knowing gaze. The way they look at each other makes it clear that there is more to the whole scene than what meets the eye. It had a deeper meaning, which only they could understand. A secret they share with each other. Words are not necessary.
When I first played Code Veronica X, I assumed the video mainly existed to show the cruel and twisted nature of the twins, while it also foreshadowed what Alfred would become. But after replaying the game last year, I changed my opinion. The video isn’t about Alfred and Alexia’s general cruelty or torturing of defenseless creatures. The content represents something more personal to them - their revenge on Alexander.
It was never said when the video was recorded, but the twins aren’t small children anymore. Based only on their appearance, I would estimate them to be between 10 and 12 years old. Now, considering the content of the video, I think it was recorded after Alfred discovered the truth about their origin and after they came up with a revenge plan as the earliest possible date. However, it is more likely that they had already executed their plan some time before.
Let’s take a closer look. First of all, the visual language. The ants symbolize Alfred and Alexia. Alexia sees herself as an ant queen and refers to Alfred as a soldier ant. The dragonfly is Alexander. It is more obvious for Alexia’s third form, but Alexander’s mutated form resembles a dragonfly too. He has three appendages on his back, similarly arranged like three of four wings of a dragonfly. Additionally, these appendages are long and thin, like insect legs. In Darkside Chronicles, he even uses them to move around. Also, Alexander’s real legs are bound together with the rug, which makes his lower body look vaguely like the elongated abdomen of the insect. The belts even give it a segmented appearance.
The last similarity isn’t related to the real animal but to an item. To activate the self-destruct system, you have to assemble a dragonfly key. On the underside of this key is a prominent red jewel in the middle of its thorax, similar to Alexander’s exposed heart.
The dragonfly in the video is rather large. It has a blue abdomen with black markings and a yellow thorax. I tried to find out what dragonfly species we see there and found three possible candidates. One is the green hawker (Aeshna viridis), another is the southern migrant hawker (Aeshna affinis), and the last one is the emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator). (I’m not a dragonfly expert, though. Maybe there are other ones that fit better.)
The abdomens of the green hawker and southern migrant hawker are also blue, the thorax is yellowish-green, and they have black markings on their bodies. The emperor dragonfly has an apple-green thorax rather than a yellow one, but it would fit the other criteria. Other dragonfly species with a similar color palette have either more black markings, differently colored spots on the abdomen, a different body shape, or are too small. In all three cases, only the males have this coloration. The females are green or yellowish green instead of blue. Selecting a male dragonfly specifically could be another reference to Alexander. As for the emperor dragonfly and the southern migrant hawker, contrary to the green hawker, they also inhabit Great Britain, which delivers another connection to Alexander. And while Alexander is, of course, only an earl, not an emperor, an emperor dragonfly could still refer in a wider sense to his peer status.
From left to right: green hawker (male), southern migrant hawker (male), emperor dragonfly (male).
The general events of the video reflect what happened to Alexander. Only Alfred interacts with the dragonfly. He was also the one who initiated the revenge plot after discovering the truth about himself and Alexia, as well as the one who suffered subjectively more under his father. Alexia stays passive the whole time and only watches her brother, while in real life, she is the one who has carried out the experiments, not Alfred. However, even if she does not join her brother here, Alexia still contributes by providing an instrument to execute the allegorical revenge - her ants (and the virus in reality).
Instead of simply killing the insect, Alfred rips out its wings, making it incapable of flying away. Like the dragonfly, Alexander was still alive when he met his fate. The twins tranquilized their father before Alexia injected him with the virus, which caused his transformation. Afterward, Alexander’s confinement continued, and he was chained for years in agony, probably awaiting his death if he was still capable of having coherent thoughts.
The dragonfly’s death is not in vain. Feeding the insect to the ants serves a purpose. The ants can feast on it, and the colony can grow. Alexander’s life wasn’t wasted either. Alexia directed Alfred’s revenge plans from simply killing their father to using him for research purposes. Their “useless father” could contribute for once to Alexia’s research and the Ashford family. Even though the experiment was a failure, Alexia was still able to use the data she required from it for her benefit.
Why all the effort with the cryptic symbolism? Alexander was a terrible father. Probably not intentional, but this isn’t an excuse. He took the childhood of the twins for the sake of his own ambitions. He used Alexia to fulfill what he could not achieve and disregarded Alfred for not being as intelligent as his sister. Finding out that they were the result of a genetic experiment was the final straw, especially for Alfred. Their father then got what he deserved, according to them. Alfred hated Alexander with a passion. It must have been a great feeling to get rid of him, and to celebrate it, he (maybe Alexia too) wanted a keepsake. Direct photos or videos of their father were out of the question. Alfred even wrote in his diary that they have to be careful so that Harman (their butler) doesn’t discover what has happened to Alexander. The dragonfly video works well. It is cryptic enough that no one could understand its meaning without more background knowledge. People who see it randomly would assume it is a disturbing and slightly eerie home video. Alfred and Alexia, on the other hand, know exactly what it is about. It’s so important to Alfred because it does not only show Alexia but also their victory over Alexander. The insects are nothing more than involuntary actors. The real dragonfly and what is happening to it is secondary. The symbolic meaning behind the dragonfly’s death struggle holds significance.
Some notes as a closure that didn’t fit in the rest of the text: What makes the video so creepy, except for the circumstances you find it in, is the twins’ acting. Without them and out of context, the dragonfly video wouldn’t even be that unsettling if you consider some facts. The video was recorded in the Antarctic base. Dragonflies do not inhabit Antarctica. This means the dragonfly was bred there. The twins did not randomly catch it for the purpose of torture. What’s the purpose of breeding dragonflies? I assume it’s for (virus) research. We know that Umbrella performed experiments on other invertebrates. So, if dragonflies are bred in the lab anyway, why not use some as a protein source for the ants as well? More common insects for feeding ants would be mealworms and meal beetles, house crickets, flies and fly larvae, roaches, and plant lice, though. Also, dragonflies are predators and attack everything they can overpower, including other dragonflies. And unlike ants, they can fly. It makes sense to remove the wings first to prevent it from flying away or attacking the ants. Sure, ripping out its wings and not killing it first is still cruel, but at least the ants will take care of this soon.
#resident evil#alfred ashford#alexia ashford#alexander ashford#ashford twins#🩸🌙#meta#re meta#uploading this video was the most bug-ridden thing i’ve ever encountered on tumblr#at least so far
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Photo
The amazing transformation of a Southern hawker/blågrön mosaikslända. Notice the empty shell on the first picture. Värmland, Sweden (July 2, 2023).
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Southern Hawker
A southern hawker dragonfly perched on a hawthorn branch, at RSPB Fowlmere.
#aeshna cyanea#cambridgeshire#canon#canonuk#dragonflies#dragonfly#fowlmere#insect#insects#invertebrate#invertebrates#minibeast#minibeasts#nature#nature reserve#outdoors#rspb#rspb fowlmere#southern hawker#summer#wildlife
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17th September 2023: Blackwater and Bolton's Bench in the New Forest
Pictures taken in this set are of: 1. Mushroom at Blackwater. 2 and 5. Views on the great walk at Blackwater. 3. Hawthorn berries laden with raindrops, always a nice intense scene. 4. Water mint which was nice to see. 6. Enigmatic devil's fingers at Bolton's Bench, it was a pleasure to see this bright otherworldly fungus reaching across the grass like the sea creature that gives it its other name (octopus stinkhorn). I've seen them at this very spot in two previous years but never this early in a year, I feel thrilled to see my first big name fungi of the autumn with a few around at varying stages. 7. Another amazing and rare fungus that we'd seen here before, distinctive poronia punctata aka nail fungi, I'd only seen this minute one once before again in this very spot so I was thrilled to see this on some suppressed manure, their habitat. These were both exciting to see. 8. A view at Bolton's Bench. 9. Cotoneaster leaves there. 10. Viburnum in the garden when home.
As the rain cleared on the Blackwater walk we saw a handful of Southern Hawkers, astonishing to watch this bulky dragonfly parade over the path. Common Darter, Speckled Wood and Small White butterflies, hornet and my first ever rhododendron leafhopper on the leaf of this plant (we saw bits of flowering on other plants too) which was fascinating to learn about a pretty insect were other insect highlights. Chaffinch and Woodpigeon were nice birds to see at Blackwater. It was also great to see New Forest Ponies and we got magical views of Fallow Deers near and crossing the path, iconic New Forest imagery. Thistle, rose hips, blackthorn sloes and lichen were also nice to see here. At Bolton's Bench I enjoyed seeing bright Willow Warblers in and around a tree with singing Robin and Blue Tit in too, we quickly saw a warbler either Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff at Blackwater and heard Blue Tit and saw Robin well there too. I liked seeing Blackbird at both. A crow fest of Carrion Crow and Magpie including one of each having a mini scuffle and a fair few of the characteristic Rooks of the area including flying over which was a nice moody scene were other bird highlights at Bolton's Bench. Cross-leaved heath, tormentil, hawksbeard and blackberries were other plant highlights at both with gorse and sheep's sorrel seen at Bolton's Bench. Wasps were nice to see too. Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Collared Dove and other flowers in the garden like sedum were good to see at home today.
#photography#devil's fingers#poronia punctata#southern hawker#robin#willow warbler#blackbird#blue tit#england#new forest#uk#world#happy#flowers#rhododendron leafhopper#water mint#2023#walking#walk#earth#tormentil#sunday#weekend#outdoors#birdwatching#insects#europe#september#autumn#fungi
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🐝Send in a number + Character and I'll draw them in an outfit or as a creature based on that insect🦋
Allotopus Beetle
Apollo Butterfly
Assassin Bug
Atlas Moth
Bald-Faced Hornet
Banded Darter
Banded Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle
Bhutan Glory Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Bullet Ant
Bumblebee
Butterfly Dragonfly
Cabbage Butterfly
Cattlehearts Swallowtail
Common Batwing
Common Bluebottle Butterfly
Common Brimstone
Common Rose Swallowtail
Conehead Mantis
Cream-Spot Tiger Moth
Creobroter
Cuckoo Wasp
Death's-Head Hawkmoth
Devil's Flower Mantis
Differential Grasshopper
Drain Fly
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Eighteen-Spotted Ladybird
Elephant Hawkmoth
Elephant Mosquito
Emerald Bee
Emperor Dragonfly
European Hornet
European Mantis
Eyed Ladybug
Fire Ant
Five-Spotted Hawkmoth
Fork-Horned Stag Beetle
Fourteen-Spotted Ladybird
Ghost Mantis
Giant Leopard Moth
Giant Long-Legged Katydid
Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect
Glasswing Butterfly
Goliath Beetle
Golden-Ringed Dragonfly
Great Black Wasp
Green Grasshopper
Green June Beetle
Green Snaketail
Green Stag Beetle
Halyzia Sedecimguttata (aka orange ladybird)
Hercules Beetle
Honey Bee
Housefly
Hummingbird Clearwing
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Impatiens Hawkmoth
Jerusalem Cricket
Jewel Beetle
Lime Hawkmoth
Long-Legged Fly
Luna Moth
Monarch Butterfly
Mosaic Darner
Mud Dauber
Oleander Hawkmoth
Orchid Mantis
Painted Lady Butterfly
Paper Wasp
Peacock Butterfly
Pharaoh Ant
Picasso Bug
Pipevine Swallowtail
Poplar Hawkmoth
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing
Question Mark Butterfly
Red Admiral
Rosy Maple Moth
Ruddy Darter
Scorpion Fly
Silverfish
Small Tortoiseshell
Snakefly
Southern Hawker
Southern Flannel Moth
Spicebush Swallowtail
Spiny Leaf Insect
Sunset Moth
Tailed Jay Butterfly
Tarantula Hawk
Thorn Bug
Tiger Mosquito
Twentytwo-Spot Ladybird
Ulysses Butterfly
White-Lined Sphinx
White Witch Moth
Yellow Jacket
Zebra Swallowtail
#drawing prompt#art prompt#oc prompt#creature prompt#monster prompt#clothing prompt#bug#art challenge#insect
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