#IMAGE SOURCE: MATS

[thatsrightice]

F-14 FUN FACT OF THE DAY #45

The F-14 Tomcat had 40 miles of electrical wiring, described by an electrician with over a decades experience of working on the Tomcat as being “old and brittle” with a tendency to “break and snap."

#obviously maybe not exactly 40 miles but that’s what the guy said #FFFOTD #F-14 FUN FACT OF THE DAY #F-14 TOMCAT #WHY IS TUMBLR PUTTING TWO POUND SYMBOLS IN EVERY TAG AFTER I POST IT #TOP GUN #ELECTRICAL #f 14 tomcat has ✨issues✨ #why did this one flop????? #edit: added pic #IMAGE SOURCE: MATS

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: giant tube worms

You voted that I would talk about a worm and so I shall discuss the mighty giant tube worms. But first, we need to define what a tube worm is. This is another "no such thing as a fish" situation because there are actually a lot of different things we call tube worms. Turns out the "noodle in a tube" body plan is a pretty successful one. The worms I'm discussing today are members of Siboglinidae, a family of annelids (segmented worms) that was formerly classified as two different phyla until genetic evidence came in. I will primarily be talking about two species: Riftia pachyptila and Lamellibrachia luymesi, who have both adapted to distinct extreme environments in similar ways.

(Image ID: multiple patches of Riftia pachyptila growing from rock at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The worms are housed in long, white tubes, some stained yellow. Emerging from the tubes are respiratory organs covered in what appears to be red fur. End ID)

All members of Siboglinidae share a basic body plan consisting of a worm body inside of a mineral tube (side not, I think I will be including an orc or ogre named Sibog in my D&D campaign). The tube is composed of chitin and minerals and is secreted through glands along the body of the worm as it grows from larva to adult. The tube provides the worm within with protection from predators and environmental hazards while also providing support, allowing the worm to lift itself up into the water rather than remain on the substrate. The tube either connects to a solid object or is rooted in the sediment with extensions called roots. The roots are composed of the same material as the tube and can be considerably longer than the rest of the worm, though they are so fragile it is hard to study them. Since the worms often live in large congregations, their roots can twist together is massive mats called ropes. The inside of the tube is where you get into the squishy worm parts. The body of the worm is divided into four regions. The first of these regions I found many alternate names for while researching including cephalic lobe and branchial plume. I'm going to simplify and call it the plume because this segment is composed of one to 200 tentacles that are covered with feathery filaments that can make it look like the plume of a quill pen. The feathery portions of the plume are usually red because they are highly vascularized and filled with blood, similar to a fish's gils. The plume is used for respiration, taking in dissolved oxygen and (depending on the species) other dissolved gasses from the water. In most species, the plume is the only part of the body that extends from the tube. When in the presence of threats, the plume can withdraw into the tube, which can then be close with a structure called the obtraculum, similarly to the operculum found in many other invertebrates like snails. The second body region is the vestimentum. It has a winged shape and is composed of multiple bands of muscle. The vestimentum also contains the heart, a simple brain, and genital pores that release gametes. The third body region, which makes up most of the body, is the trunk. The trunk is the wormiest part of the worm and contains the gonads, the coelom (main body cavity), and the trophosome, which I will come back to later. The last body region is the opistosome, which connects the animal to the tube and is used to store and (maybe) excrete waste.

(Image ID: the tubeworm Lamellicrachia satsuma removed from its tube to show its anatomy. It has a plume made up of multiple feathery white tentacles, the vestimentum is a thick white section with flared tips, the trunk is long, brown, and wormlike, and ends with the yellowish opistosome. The body regions are labeled as "op" for opistosome, "tr" for trunk, "ves" for vestimentum, and "ten" for the plume. End ID. Source)

You'll notice that I didn't mention a digestive tract above. That's because these worms don't have one. Instead of a digestive tract, they have a trophosome, an organ composed of highly spongy tissue vascularized by two main blood vessels. Housed within the trophosome is a colony of bacteria that exists in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with the worm. The worm provides the bacteria with a place to live and protection from predators while the bacteria provide the worm with all of its nutrition. The bacteria are all chemoautotrophs, gaining all their nutrition from chemical reactions using chemicals in their environment without needing to intake nutrients. In particular, they use oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide provided to them by the worm. The worm also provides other elements including nitrogen and phosphorus that the bacteria need. I'm going to be honest with you, I tried to comprehend the chemical reactions involved but it's been a long time since I took chemistry and I was never that good anyway so it's over my head. The short version is that the bacteria produces nutrients and chemicals (primarily carbohydrates and ATP) that it shares with the worm. Waste products are also sent into the worm's bloodstream and are sequestered at the opistosome.

(Image ID: a scientific diagram of the internal anatomy of Riftia pachyptila. Of note is the section showing the trophosome, illustrating it as several yellow, spongy cells filled with bacteria and fed by a capillary. End ID. Source)

The most famous of the tube worms is Riftia pachyptila, which you will recognize if you have ever seen a documentary about the deep sea. They're the ones that look like giant tubes of lipstick. These are the most studied of the Siboglinids and live around hydrothermal vents in the deep pacific ocean. Hydrothermal vents are places on the seafloor where water underground is heated by geothermal activity in the Earth's mantle and then released into the water column, often carrying with it chemicals from deeper in the planet. These vents are hotspots of biodiversity in the deep sea and are hypothesized to play a major role in the origin of life. These ecosystems are among the only ones on the planet where the primary source of energy is not sunlight via photosynthesizing organisms. Instead, chemosynthetic bacteria forms the base of the trophic web, generating energy from the heat and chemicals released by the vents. Riftia requires vents which release sulfur into the water and blanket vents with the right conditions all throughout the Pacific. The lifestyle clearly works for them as they have the fastest grown rate of any marine animal. They can go from a larva to a sexually mature adult of 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) long in 2 years. These worms can reach 3 meters in length (9.75 ft) long, but only get to about 4 cm (1.5 in) in diameter within the tube. When reproducing, males will release blobs of stuck-together sperm called spermatozeugmata that collectively swim towards female worms, entering the tube and seeking out the female's oviduct. The female then releases fertilized larvae into the water. These larvae usually spend a few days in the water column before settling down on the substrate and beginning growth into an adult. However, the larvae have been known to reach newly-formed hot vents up to 200 kilometers away from their parent's vents. We don't know how the larvae find new sites to colonize or how long they can remain in the initial, motile state before succumbing to starvation as the larvae do not have digestive tracts and do not develop their internal bacterial colony until they settle down on the substrate. Once the larva does settle down, it develops its internal colony by intaking bacteria from the water using the plume. Riftia are some of the first organisms to colonize a new vent and play a major role in building that vent's ecosystem. Genetic tests show low genetic diversity amongst and between all colonies, which may be a result of how fast they colonize new vents and the fact that if a vent goes dormant or dies, all of the local worms will die with it.

(Image ID: a cluster of Rifita tubeworms, most of whom have their red, feathery plumes exposed. Some tubes do not have exposed plumes, indicating that either the worm has retracted into the tube or the worm has died. Several crabs are crawling on the tubes. End ID)

The other giant tube worm species I'm spotlighting is Lamellibrachia luymesi. These aren't as flamboyant as Riftia, but can get nearly as large (up to 3 meters) and also play a very important role in their ecosystems, though they are less studied. While Riftia likes it hot, Lamellibrachia is more chill. They live at cold seeps, places in the ocean where hydrogen sulfide and hydrocarbons like methane and oil seep out of the sea floor. Like Riftia, these worms depend entirely on an internal bacterial colony for their nutrition. Oxygen is intaken through the plume, but these worms can't get hydrogen sulfide the same way due to the different conditions. Instead, they absorb the sulfide through their roots. While the hot and cold worms absorb their hydrogen sulfide differently, they both have an adaptation to deal with it: specialized hemoglobin. Most forms of hemoglobin can't carry oxygen in the presence of hydrogen sulfide, which is a problem because that's the whole point of hemoglobin. The tube worms, who need to transport hydrogen sulfide, have specialized hemoglobin that seems to use zinc ions to allow for oxygen to bind to it anyway. The cold seep tube worms also excrete their waste products through the roots, returning it to the sediment. The intake of hydrogen sulfide and sequestering of the wast product in the roots and sediment lets the tube worms play an important role in the cold seep ecosystem. Them intaking the sulfide protects organisms who can't handle it as well and sequestering waste products also keeps it away from organisms who could be harmed by the chemicals in it. Hot vents are inherently unstable places. They are formed primarily in places where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, exposing the planet's mantle. This exposed spot will eventually cool down and the hot vent will die off. Because of this, hot vent ecosystems grow fast and die young. Cold seeps by contrast are extremely stable and long-lasting. Lamellibrachia luymesi grow very slowly and can live for over 250 years. There's no need to hurry when your food comes out of the ground and won't be going anywhere for a very, very long time.

(Image ID: a colony of Lamellibrachia luymesi. Their tubes are more visibly segmented than those of Rifita, with the top of each segment being noticably wider than the base of the next. The tubes are a pale blue, but switch to white at 2 - 9 segments below the top. Many tubes have brown algae growing on them. The exposed plumes are short, red, and feathery. End ID)

#wet beast wednesday #tube worms #giant tube worms #Lamellibrachia luymesi #Riftia pachyptila #worm #wormblr #hydrothermal vents #cold seeps #marine biology #marine life #annelids #chemosynthesis #zoology #ecology #biology #long post #image described

[infinitegalahad]

AMERICAN PROMETHEUS AND HIS ATHENA - CHAPTER 5

Pairing: J. Robert Oppenheimer x Female Identifying! Reader Summary: You and Robert, of course, were a couple. A serious one at that; no more games, judgment, hiding, and dancing around the idea. But it came with its many hardships. Word Count: 6.0k Warnings: LOTS. Please read. Infidelity, messy relationships, minor blood loss, loss of child, cursing, and minor sexism (not from Oppie). Please read and heed with caution. Notes: THAT HAT. OMG. MY HUSBAND IS LOOKING SO FINE THERE. oops sorry for being horny on the writing account, next topic! folks, buckle up, this is a lot! not only is the longest chapter, but its got a lottttt of drama happening. we're talking infidelity, marriage proposals, trinity, kitty being a bad bitch, edward teller in sunscreen, my drunk writing, groves being an ass hole and most importantly; TWO sex scenes. apparently, y'all loved my smut, and i appreciate your compliments! there's one more scene to come *insert winky face* mwahahha. i also know i said this is ten chapters, but this story is nearing it's ending, so there's one more real chapter. I'm going to try concluding the story within the week. I've been packing for school and I've got a long drive on Thursday. I'm done with most of my packing, so I will try to release the final chapter tomorrow. the epilogue will be much shorter. this has been one hecka of a ride, and the next chapter will most likely be a lot of drama. once again, your support has been amazing, thank you all for everything! <3 Taglist: @forgottenpeakywriter @queenshelbyy @chloriine36 @kodzuvk Taglist | Masterlist

It was five in the morning, and yet it didn’t feel close to it. The sky was pitch black with not a star to be soon. The only light of the source came from the dim light bulbs and the headlights of the cars that surrounded you. You lay on your stomach beneath an uncomfortable mat with your hand edging the corners of the binoculars you held, the other hand reaching for the pain of sunglasses to block the light that would hopefully come from the test bomb. 

Two years. Two years of potential hard work gone to nothing.

Awaiting the announcement of the detention, you laid and, in an attempt to hide your anxiety, thought about how the hell you ended up in the middle of New Mexico, working on some secret project for the government, and what it took to get you to be a small part in the Manhattan Project. 

You and Robert, of course, were a couple. A serious one at that; no more games, judgment, hiding, and dancing around the idea. But it came with its many hardships. 

The first straw was Kitty. 

She was much older, and from what you heard, extremely intimidating. While you respected and honored her, you also wanted to avoid her, as you felt that she did not like you at all. Robert had told her he was in a relationship with a “young” woman, emphasizing “young”, and Kitty read him the riot act. Robert thought she was overreacting, but you sympathized and understood. All you wanted was to be respectful, and honestly, avoid her at all costs. 

But of course, that didn’t happen. After one of your Friday sessions, which ended in Robert and you making love, you slept at this house and stayed until Sunday most times. You even had your own toothbrush and brush, using the feminine bathing products and flowery perfumes that Robert had gifted you. Hatomi had noticed and always said you smelled good. She had been having a possible affair with your French Literature teacher, but that was a story for another time. 

That one morning, you woke up with Robert’s arm on your waist, and a child staring directly at you. You identified him as Peter, as he was the spitting image of Robert, minus the parts that very much looked like Kitty. Blinking rapidly, you thought it was some bad dream, but the broken truck and bright, sad blue stare made you realize that Kitty was here with her and Robert’s children. 

You and Kitty didn’t take long to meet, with her being dressed and you being butt naked. 

Both of you had to smack Robert awake, who was appalled at the situation. There stood his children in front of a girl who was closer in age to them than their father and a very pissed-off mother. Naturally, this needed a very long conversation. 

Kitty glared at you while sitting on the couch with Robert’s shirt on. She, like Robert, smoked a cigarette; her cold eyes burning into your skin. Robert reached over to grab your hand, which you slapped away. 

“So you’re his student?”

You gulped and looked down, nodding. 

“And you’re getting your bachelor’s degree in what? The arts?”

“Maybe a Bachelor’s in both the arts and science, ma’am.”

She blows a puff of smoke into your face, making it feel very directed. As she gets up to get a drink, she eyes you and turns to Robert. 

“At least she’s smart.” 

As much as you really want to leave, Robert insists you stay too well, impress Kitty, and show her you can cook, provide, and care for him. It infuriates you, and as much as you look at the door, you force yourself to stay. You don’t have any clothes there, so you’re forced to wear Robert’s white oxford shorts and bottom lingerie shorts while working around Kitty. She blatantly asked if you had anything besides Robert’s clothes to wear, and you said no. She sighed. 

As Robert plays with his children, Kitty and you decide to make dinner, together. She wants to make Robert’s favorite, which you know by heart; chicken, boiled potatoes, and peas. You tell her, at least advise her, that Robert now likes his potatoes mashed and his chicken with pomegranate seeds on it. Kitty holds a large knife, and you swear that she looks like she wants to stab you with it. 

“Where do you get them from?” She coldly asks as she pours milk into the bowl to stir the potatoes. 

You look up from sauteeing the chicken with garlic and respond, “Get?”

“The Pomegranate.”

“Oh, his garden,” Your face begins to grow red, “He didn’t know he had pomegranate’s in his garden–”

“Until you told him,” Kitty interrupts. 

She stops cutting, and you stop mixing the chicken. There’s a shared silence between the two of you; filled with thousands of questions. 

You scratch behind your ear and sigh, gathering yourself before you respond. 

“Yes. He likes them a lot. I noticed Toni likes them, too. However, I shouldn’t–”

“You care.”

‘What?”

“You care about him a lot. I can see that,” Kitty goes on about. Once she’s done mixing the potatoes, she goes to the sink to clean the mixer. You can swear you hear sniffle. 

“There’s no other reason why you would be using him, y/n. I can’t think of one because there’s none. You’re troubled, yet good. You may be young and naive, but you care about Robert. You take care of him, and I, well–”

Kitty can’t finish her sentence. She drops the mixer and tries to hide her contained sobs and hunching over the sink, but you notice. You walk over to try and comfort her, but Robert’s not far. His voice echoes along with the laughter of two children. Hearing this, Kitty pulls herself together and sniffles. She walks past you with red eyes. You want to ask, but you don’t.

You learn, through numerous sources, that Kitty did not hate you, nor was jealous. She, according to one person, adored you. You found that hard to believe, but every time you sent the children gifts,s he made sure to write you an apology note. 

However, while you made room for Kitty, you utterly refused to make room for Jean Tatlock. 

At that point in your relationship, you and Robert had been going on relatively strong. He’s your boyfriend, and your Friday meetings had extended to more weekly meetings, so with stays at his house. Some people know you are an item; some are disgusted, and some are happy. None of this bothers you and Robert as you continue to be a happy couple; until it’s not happy. 

First, it’s the regrets. After each time you’d fuck, Robert would go on about how horrible of a man he is and how he can’t keep doing this. You do some further digging, and with some integration, learn that he’s not teaching next year. He’s off to some “secret location,” and within the mixture of his regret of “poisoning you”, he recommends that you two should simply stop and just leave each other. 

Of course, this breaks your heart. Hatomi, and your other friends, are horribly worried about. Your lab partner in your chemistry class, George, can see that your eyes are red and asks if you are okay. You respond that you are, having a feeling that something else is going on with Robert. 

At your next Friday meeting, you arrive early, but you don’t water the flowers, and you know why you don’t want to ever water them again. Robert comes to the door, ten minutes late, and when he opens it, you can see his collar is flipped up and his hair is a mess. As he takes a breath, you push past him and run up the stairs. You already see the pair of kitten heels by the door, and as Robert pleads for you to wait, you don’t. Once you turn the all too familiar corner to his bedroom, you hear a soft curse. It’s a woman’s voice.

Turning into his bedroom further proves your worst nightmare; another woman. Let alone, your own fucking psychiatrist; Jean Tatlock.

In your sessions with Jean, she’s been breaking more code of conduct, talking about the new man she's seeing, saying she’s having “one heck of an affair”. Based on her descriptions of him, from the lineage and nicknames, you put the pieces together, and all of them lead back to her and Robert. 

“Y/n,” Jean calmly pleads. She covers herself with a blanket as she gets out of bed, “Stop. Wait. We want to talk-”

The words “we” make your eyes swell with tears. Spinning on your heel, you beeline towards the stairs, but bump into the person you least want to see; Robert. He puts his hands on his arms, but you violently shrug and push his chest away. 

“Get away from me–” You hiss. As you back up, you sense Jean behind you and scream the same thing at her, “--Back, both of you. 

“Y/n,” Robert gently calls your voice, holding out his hands, “I’ve been meaning to tell you-”

“Tell me fucking what?” You bark at him. You point your finger back to Jean, “Robert, honestly, out of all people, my fucking psychologist? The one who describes my medications? The person I tell everything too besides you? The one I saw today just two hours ago for my weekly session?”

Jean is sobbing behind you. You like her, but yet, don’t feel bad. She’s much older than you; she should know better. 

“I had no idea–”

You scoff and let out a fake laugh, “Idea? Sure,” You look back at Jean, whose mascara is running down her face, “Don’t cry; you knew. You’re smarter than you look, you knew. You know my background, and you would go out of your way to do this? And now? We all fucking know. Robert, now we all know you were cheating on your little pure virgin girlfriend with her fucking psychologists, whom I considered to be one of my friends.” Looking at Jean, you say that last sentence, ensuring she understands you are no longer her client, let alone her friend. 

Walking down the stairs, Robert grabs your arm and forces you to stop walking. You refuse to look back, but you can hear his breathing, which makes you scrunch your firsts. 

“Y/n, I understand your anger. This is far beyond wrong. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. I think it’s best that you take the time to finish your education and, if I recommend, mingle with others your age,” Robert explains with a condescending tone, which makes your blood boil.

“I can no longer carry the guilt on my shoulders. I used you for too long, and now it’s catching up with me. I’m sorry to do this to you, y/n, but I-”

You violently throw your arm back, shaking Robert’s hold on you. Through Robert’s breathing and Jean’s sobs, you storm down the stairs. Your face feels hot, and so does your body, but you ignore it as you stumble out of the house. Ignoring the calls of your name from Robert and Jean, you run out of Robert’s house and down the hill. Once you are away, you finally let go and let the hot tears run down your cheeks. Finally, the devastation and pain hit you like a bullet. When you’re not around any trace of Robert or Berkeley or any of it, you let out a screaming sob of frustration, anger, and sadness. 

It takes you a short while to recover. 

You no longer like to associate Robert with his name. Once again, he’s reduced to Dr.Oppenheimer; your terrifying physics professor with endless icy eyes and a tendency to smoke, not the man who took your virginity and showered you with expensive gifts that you refused to throw out. The relationship between you two has been severed and erased with your function serving as professor and student. Your meetings stop, at the end of the Semester, Robert gives you an A with an E for exceptional effort. Your parents receive your report card, and out of all your grades, are most fond of your Physics report. Dr.Oppenheimer writes that you are an active participant whom he had the pleasure of working with personally in the term. As they read out his comment, your memory flashes back to it all; the dinners, the music, the fire, the terms of endearment, and the whole lot of it. 

Your mother, through a puff of smoke, remarks that he seems like an amazing man. Forcing a smile, you agree. 

Once you return after the Holiday break, nothing much has changed in Berkeley. You’re still alone yet doing well academically, Hatomi’s on the verge of ruining a marriage, and you and Robert have not spoken, according to your calendar, in over two months. 

And then you meet George. 

George is your lab partner in Physics. You have known him since your orientation at Berkeley, from the forced events to the lackluster parties. He’s always had an interest in you, and has made it clear from day one; from wanting to be your lab partner to even asking Hatomi if you preferred chocolates over flowers. When you two would sit down together, he would always initiate small talk and ask how your day is going. You’d respond and spark up small conversations about your lives. 

Into the first week of December, George asked after class if you wanted to go see Citizen Kane with him. He bought two tickets, and offered to buy you anything you wanted, but understood if you were busy since in his words, you seemed even busy on Friday afternoons. 

You knew Robert was watching. You quickly glanced up and saw him at his desk, smoking as he pretended to observe tests when really, he was observing the interaction between the two of you. 

“I’m actually no longer busy at all on Fridays,” You loudly say as you want the words to echo and burn into Robert, “And yes, I’d love to go to the movies with you.”

“I’ll pick you up at Stern?”

“I’ll be waiting.” 

George arrived an hour before and took you out for an early dinner. You knew that he loved to read like you, but you also learned he was fluent in three languages and was overall extremely educated. He made sure to ask what you enjoyed, telling you to talk about your favorite books, movies, or anything that you loved. You had told him to read the first few chapters of Citizen Kane to familiarize yourself with the movie. George went red and said he had done the same, offering that if they enjoyed the movie, they could see together and talk about the plot. 

The movie was good, and in addition to the soda and popcorn he bought you, he also took you back to his dorm and fucked you like there was no tomorrow. As he humped into you, you clawed at his back and looked up at the cycling. Everytime you close your eyes, you see and think of Robert. You forced George to look at you throughout the sec and kissed him patiently to void all thought of Robert. 

There was no doubt that Robert was bothered by you and George’s interactions. You made it not so obvious that you were George’s girlfriend, while George did; from the hushed whispers and small touches he’d give you in class. While George would be doing such small things, Robert would be intensely staring from a distance with straghinted fingers and furrowed eyebrows. At one point, he changed lab partners in an attempt to keep you and George apart. You still worked together on every single lab, and to Robert’s dismay, aced every single one. 

In the beginning, you remember Robert leaving flowers in your cubby during Labs since you’d always arrive about ten minutes early. He’d tuck them into the pocket of your lab jacket. Without fail, and everytime, you threw each flower out. Eventually all together, you stopped showing up on time and made sure to show with George. 

Robert soon began to disappear from your thoughts and life. For the remainder of the year, you only spoke to him in class and nowhere else with cold, curt interactions. George had replaced Robert in all, shape, way, and form. It was strange to go with George since he was your age, and not in your former case, your thirty five year old Physics professor who cheated on you with your friend and phys-

But that was all in the past. 

Two years had gone by. Robert was the thought of the past now and you kept yourself busy between obtaining a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Literature and Physics, all while maintaining a very serious relationship with George. You spent most summers with him on Nantucket sailing or collecting seashells. Sometimes, you’d think about the “what ifs'' of Robert taking you to New Mexico on a horseback adventure. That had once been a reality, but now would forever remain a fantasy. George reminded you that yes, there were good men in the world. You both had your many issues and ups and downs, but both of you agreed that infidelity was never on your list. 

Eventually, each cycle completes itself for everything. During the fall of your Junior year at Berkeley, George proposes to you on a weekend trip up to Napa. He’s smiling the whole way through, and says he doesn’t want to wait any longer and heads straight to the courthouse to wed. 

You want to say yes, you really do, but you can’t. No matter how many times you say you love him, you know that you love him as a confidant, but not a lover. 

Rejecting his proposal, that ends every tie with George. Things are sour for a week, but Hatomi helps moderate a conversation between you two. George sobs, which in return, makes you cry. You apologize to him, and tell him he deserves better; telling him that if he sees a pretty girl, he should take her to the movies and buy her what she wants. George smiles and thanks you for loving him, hugging you, and wishing you the best of luck in your future endeavors. He writes you a letter, but you refuse to open it and leave inside of your copy of Citizen Kane, shoving it into your bookcase for it to gather dust. 

 After you and George are finished, there’s no time to grieve as you were being dragged into another situation. What seems like any other ordinary walk to your metaphysics class results with you alone in an office space with an intimidating general. He did not introduce himself, but you gathered his name as Major Groves. He held a thick file on you, questioning your life and digging into every little detail. He pressured you on your two brothers and roommates, who happened to be associated with the Communist party, asking if you had any association. You held your hands up and was nothing but honest; saying that while Hatomi still went to your meetings, your brothers had stopped talking about the idea once both of them married and had their own families. 

Still, Groves persisted and became aggressive, accusing that your friends and you were some type of danger to democracy. Communism isn't your thing ever, but you had respected it. Many people you surround yourself with were either former communist or still into it, not that it bothers you. You thought of Robert; whom never associated, but you knew he gave money. 

Which was strange. With your thought of Robert, you heard a silent shut. Groves sighed and you looked, and to your horror and saving grace, it was Robert. 

“Thank god you’re here,” Groves let out a huff as he leaned against the desk. 

“Major Groves,” Robert nodded his head as he took off his porkpie hat. He stood away from you, but beside your chair, “Is there any issue with Miss Y/n?”

Groves, still looking gruff, pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Well yes, and no. You see, I find it alarming that she has both family and friends in association with the Communist party. I also understand her, uhm,” Groves hesitated to say it out loud, “Former relations, according to you. It raises suspicious since well, she is both in association with a communist, many of whom who are female in which he know where that ends, and slept wi-”

You were about to walk out, not wanting to be dragged into whatever mess this way, but Robert’s calm voice echoed and immediately shut up Groves. 

“General, on the defense of Miss Y/n, I can assure that her ideologies and gender are mennail to the subject of the meetings. As for our past relations, there are of the past. I ask that you not criticize or grill her without my presence,” Robert’s voice commanded. He looked at you and back at Groves, clearing his throat. 

Your heart skipped a beat as you shifted in your head, clasping your hands together. Robert looked at you, and you returned his gaze, quietly thanking him. 

Once Robert entered, Groves' interrogation stopped and he got what he pulled out of class. In his words, something “big” and “important” was occurring in an undisclosed location in New Mexico. You pieced together that a weapon of destruction was being built, since Groves brought up in your profile that your skills in Physics primarily resize in the nuclear and quantum mechanics, as described by the physics course taken at your time in Berkeley. You had even taken time out of your academic schedule and did research as a job with some of your professors. All of your Physics teachers concluded that you were extremely qualified and knowledgeable in Physics, and in one of them, being Robert.

Robert had gone on about your time in his class, saying that you were one of his brightest students, whom he had given recommendation should be part of said project. He said he was willing to talk with Berkeley to configure a way for you to leave and graduate on time to come and work on his location. Major Groves said with Robert’s recommendation, he would be pleased to approve your security clearance. Groevs also mentioned that he would give you time to figure out things with you, and also implying, Robert. 

Groves had excused himself, leaving you and Robert alone. It had been two years since you two had been alone together, let alone really conversed. You still sit at the desk and look down, not wanting to look at Robert now, admiring your manicured nails in hopes that you wouldn’t chew off the nail polish. 

“Thank you, by the way,” You muttered, “You didn’t have to.”

Some things never change, and you look up to see Robert, elearning against the desk as he looks at you, smoking out of a pipe. 

“But I did. Not that I ever minded doing so.” 

The tension never left, and both of you know it. Bouncing your leg, you lean forward and gather the courage to look at Robert. 

“Why? Am I allowed to know why the hell I’m being dragged into this?” 

“Y/n, you know I can’t say why. I can say that it is important, as you would say, in the grand scheme of the universe,” Robert explained, “We are small pieces, and this project is a much larger force. A force that can end all wars.”

Confusion still infects you. Some of this makes sense, while other parts do not. You think hard back to the past and Robert’s say on the war and weapons, trying to gather your thoughts on the situation Robert has dragged you into. 

“The Germans are out of the war, that’s all I can truly think of,” You mentioned. Once we see Robert lean, your body compels you to lean forward as well, “Is this weapon of mass discussion?” 

Robert looked uncomfortable by that saying. He shifts uncomfortably and stands from his desk, slowly making his way over to you. You want to protest and tell him to not, but you gravitate towards his presence. His hair is a little more gray, and he is still cold, but as handsome as ever. 

“Call it what you want, but possibly. It’s a weapon to end all wars, ideally, the conflict in the Pacific,” Robert alluded to. You forgot how close he came to his desk. He puts his hands on the edge of the desk and you lean back, looking down. Your cheeks when red, reminding you of your younger days with Robert. Robert’s fingers anxiously curl over the wooden desk top as you let out a soft sigh, containing a noise you did not want to be heard by anyone else. 

“There’s something else,” You blurted, “You want me for something else.”

It’s radio silent for a second. Robert’s fingers shift, and you heavily sigh. 

“Robert–”

“I want you for your intelligence,” Robert says as a confession. His hands spread against the desk. As much as you try to control yourself, you can’t. Your hands uncurl from your grasp and cover his, grasping them. 

“I also wanted you.” 

With that, Robert asked to kiss you, and you didn’t even say yes as you jumped from your chair and crashed your lips into his. Nearly falling back, he grabbed you and dragged you to the ground, refusing to let go of your body and lips. It’s desperate and messy, evident that the two of you missed each other's presence. Robert asks to remove your clothes, and you let him do so. Once removing your panties and stockings, he sticks his hard dick into you and fucks you like there is no tomorrow. He covers your mouth as you cry tears of happiness and sadness, sobbing his name. Once he finishes inside of you, you hug him and sob your eyes out. Roberts holds you and says he won’t let go. 

Both of you know you have a lot of shit to work through. He had Jean and you had George. Robert knows he’s fucked up, but he still loves you,a nd as much as you don’t want to admit it, you love him as much as he loves you. The whole reason you turned down George was because you still loved Robert. It wasn’t easy for you to forget , and with Robert, he clearly didn’t. 

He promised to fix things if you came to Los Alamos with him.

And you did. 

You managed to graduate from Berkeley a year early. Groves said that he would write to your family that you were involved in a top secret Government project, promising that he would try to cover your back as much as possible. Once you were out of this project your family would question you, but it wasn’t important. After all, Robert was right; you were small things in the grand scheme of it all. 

Los Alamos is hot, cold, and isolating. You are severely depressed, but you are able to manage that with your work and Robert. The work on the bomb is no easy task; it’s full of pressure, arguments, and disagreements. You feel intimidated, surrounded by much older men, whom you feel have more power than you do, despite knowing that you are just as capable as they are. With this stress, Robert is your reliever. Every night, the two of you switch, finding a way to comfort one another in these depressing times. 

 Now, you live full time with Robert. Nothing is perfect, but the two of you talk and make things work in the best way possible. 

You tell him about George and how you turned down his proposal. Robert coldly laughs, saying that you deserved a good man, and that you should have accepted. You said you couldn't because you loved him,a dn as much as Robert thinks you are lying, he loves the honesty that comes from you. It proves to him that when he fucked you, that you were always going to be his. He tells you that he’s cut things off with Jean, promising on his knees that he won’t ever respond to her calls ever again. You force him to promise you or else you’ll leave him. Robert looks like he’s going to sob when you said that, and he repeatedly insists that he will never do such a thing to you ever again. 

You snap back to reality when they make an announcement that they will test the bomb in three minutes. The men around you anxiously chatter as they prepare for an explosion. You put on your sunglasses and look around you. You catch Edward Teller, basking in his sun chair with a face smothered in sunscreen and sunglasses. He looks down at you, and you look away into the dark night, anticipating the explosion. Your heart skips a beat, and to pass the time, you sink back into your racing thoughts. 

In Between this drama, time passes in Los Alamos. Between the bomb being congested and your relationship with Robert being rebuilt, you fall sick. You’re nauseous, vomiting in the morning and sometimes the day, your period stops, constipation, backaches, you feel like you’re dying. You’re able to hide this from everyone but Robert, who assumes what he thinks it is. One trip to the infirmary confirms that you’re two months pregnant, bordering three. 

Initially, you're shocked, but thinking back to the classroom, it all makes sense. 

You’re ecstatic, despite being extremely sick. You take time off from your job, and Robert makes sure to tell everyone that you have come down. I'll have a bug and will return within a couple of months. The only people who know about the pregnancy are you, Robert, and the doctor. Robert makes sure to keep the mater private. 

Like you, Robert is thrilled at the concept of you having a child. You’re rather young and nervous, but Robert promises to take care of you and your child. No longer can you do things on your own without Robert swooping in; whether that be cooking, cleaning, or even reaching for medicine. 

The two of you lay in bed with your feet entangled. Robert caresses your stomach as he has done before, softly going over the small bump forming in your stomach. 

“I thought I had been putting on weight,” You bluntly admitted, rolling your shoulders back. 

“And even if you were, I would love you the same as I loved you before,” Robert plants a kiss into your hair, gently patting your stomach, “You look as beautiful as ever, love. Even with our child, you’re still so tiny. You’re just as I remembered you-”, His hands grab yours as he interlocks your digits, “-in that classroom at Berkeley. You shook your leg and your skirt rode up. As you bit your lip, I looked, and I fell. I feel hard, y/n. I love you.” 

You smile to yourself and close your eyes, squeezing his hand. 

“I love you too, Robert.”

“59 seconds until the drop!” A voice booms over the loudspeaker. Anxiety, nerves, and excitement fills the crowd of Sciences, including yourself. You put a hand on your stomach, feeling the flatness. Sometimes, you can still feel that bump. It’s been a long time, but she’s still there, haunting you. 

You lose the baby at seven months, and remember there being so much blood and tears. Every night after losing the child, you cried yourself to sleep and apologized to Robert. Robert held you and comforted you at that time. He kissed you and held you close, saying that all was well as long as you were him.

You violently sobbed, thinking back to your days of reading Greek myths  at his rental house on Shasta. Just as Hades had given Persephone the seeds for her to say, Robert had impregnated to you and brought you to his desert exile. And like Persephone, you stayed. 

Just as tears were beginning to form in your eyes, a light dried the tears right out of your eyes. 

At 5:29:45 AM local time, the stillness was shattered by an imperceptible click, triggering the activation sequence of the Trinity bomb.

A brilliant, searing light erupted on the horizon with a radiance unparalleled by any natural phenomenon. The desert floor was instantaneously transformed into a blinding white sea of light, casting stark shadows of the nearby objects. The intensity of the light seemed to defy the boundaries of the human eye, as if a new sun had temporarily usurped the heavens.

A seething ball of fire engulfed the desert in those milliseconds, swelling with ferocious energy. A towering column of smoke and dust spiraled upward, its outline illuminated by the incandescent glow. The ball of fire and the mushroom-shaped cloud of debris swelled and merged into a surreal symphony of colors – brilliant whites, fiery oranges, and deep reds – like a celestial painter's brush strokes across the sky.

Trinity’s detonation unleashed a symphony of destruction that resonated not just across the desert but through history itself. The ground quaked with a seismic force, as though the Earth itself trembled at the unimaginable power harnessed by humanity's newfound knowledge. A resounding shockwave rippled through the air, shattering windows miles away and rattling the bones of those who stood witness.

The sound that followed was a peculiar and haunting one – a low, rumbling roar that bore no resemblance to the traditional thunder or even the roar of an aircraft engine. It was as if the very air had been torn apart and reconstituted into a sound that could only be described as the collective gasp of nature itself, a primordial cry at witnessing its own mastery being tested and defied.

The visual and auditory onslaught seemed to defy the boundaries of perception, leaving spectators both in awe and in terror. The Trinity test had successfully harnessed the fundamental forces of the universe and turned them into a weapon of unimaginable devastation. In the wake of that blinding light and resounding sound, a sense of profound unease settled upon those who bore witness – an understanding that the world had irrevocably changed, and humanity had ventured into a new and uncertain frontier, where the implications of our newfound power were as profound as they were perilous.

The cheers are loud and violent. People are thrilled that those two years of hard work have paid off. They're dancing, drinking, celebrating, and you feel happy, even partaking in such matters. 

When the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, the celebrations truly ensue. The excitement from the test early explodes with raw joy. Everyone knows that the ear is coming to an end as they drink, sing, dance, cheer, and cry. Emotions flood as people celebrate, and you partake in them for a while. As you do, you look for Robert but he’s nowhere to be found. You search within the crowd but you can't identify his pork pie hat or pipe. 

Fleeing from the celebrations, you flee to Roberts office. His secretary isn’t there, so you make this way to your office. You find him standing by the window, simply looking at the crowd. As they move, he stands perfectly still. His hat is thrown on the ground and his pipe is thrown on his desk. 

“Robert?” You sing-song his name, quietly walking over, “Oppie?” 

There’s no response. He’s not acting happy, nor does he look at it. He looks devastated. 

His eyes are watery, and you can immediately feel the guilt on his shoulders. 

There’s no need for words as you walk over and crash into Robert. His arms wrap around you and with that, he quietly cries into your shoulder, sinking with you into the carpeted ground. 

#carrie writes #cillian murphy #cillian murphy x reader #cillian murphy fanfiction #cillian murphy imagine #oppenheimer x reader #robert j oppenheimer x reader #j robert oppenheimer #j robert oppenheimer x reader #robert j oppenheimer #oppenheimer

[lichenaday]

Cetraria nigricans 

Blackened Iceland lichen

This foliose-fruticose lichen forms mats and rounded tufts made up of narrow, channeled, ciliate-margined lobes. The upper surface is olive to dark brown to black-brown in color, and becomes darker when exposed to sunlight. The lower surface is paler brown, with inconspicuous pseudocyphellae. It produces marginal apothecia which have spiny margins and convex, red-brown discs. C. nigricans grows on soil and rock in exposed, arctic-alpine regions.

images: source | source | source

info: source | source

#lichen #lichens #lichenology #lichenologist #mycology #ecology #biology #fungi #fungus #symbiosis #symbiotic organisms #algae #life science #environmental science #natural science #nature #the natural world #beautiful nature #weird nature #Cetraria nigricans #Cetraria #trypo #trypophobia #i'm lichen it #lichen a day #daily lichen post #lichen subscribe

[adventuringblind]

Oscar Piastri Ghoulverse HC's

Oscar won the poll I put out, so now I am subjecting you to all the ideas that have been rolling around my head. I'll do a whole fic, eventually, but to give you an idea, I present you with this!

Specific scenarios are always welcome, and my inbox is open to questions!! If you want to make a request, it's an option on my request form, which you can find HERE!

I'm super excited to share this, and feedback is always appreciated! What do y'all want to see more of?

GORE, VIOLENCE, AND NSFW CONTENT BELOW THE CUT!!

IMAGES NOT MINE

Appearance

A trait amongst all ghouls is dark eyes. Docile, unhungry ghouls have iris' but they are hard to make out if you aren't staring at them from at least four inches away. Oscar's are golden, and you can't change my mind.

See images for horn and tail references

His tail, although it has sharp ends, is olldly soft to the touch. It's nice to cuddle with and be wrapped in. Soft tails are prone to getting matted, but Oscar hates anything to do with combs. It's a struggle to get him to his tail groomed.

Ghoul horns can range in neutral colors and shades. Oscar's are black. Some horns are scaley, where others are more bone like. Oscar's horns are bone material and shed away the out layers ever so often. Oscar's are ridged, but the flat surfaces are smooth.

Similar to Max's due to the Ao3 fic. I just haven't been able to picture him any other way.

All ghouls get pointed ears and sharp, elongated canines. Oscar has a wickedly sharp set of teeth that he takes pride in.

Abilities

Reminder that all ghouls have really strong senses and are incredibly strong.

Oscar's abilities lie in smell. He's in the select group of ghouls that can pick out individual scents and discover emotions with his nose.

It smells different for each ghoul.

Like sexual frustration smells like a he snorted a sour patch kid and sadness smells like bleach.

That being said, he reads people like an open book.

Heaven forbid you lie to this man... he will know.

The good thing is that he knows when someone you dislike is approaching and can warn you.

Mannerisms

His tail has a mind of its own and betrays his inner emotions that he doesn't show on his face.

Oscar will say he's fine and doesn't need affection, but his tail will refuse to let his partner go.

It you watch carefully enough, it will play charades to reveal what Oscar is truly thinking about.

He's doesn't like to hunt. He'd rather find food sources through morgues or ghouls that do hunt.

However, he's also not afraid of it if it's truly necessary. Especially if it's for his partner.

The tribe the drivers have created usually switches off on who is tasked with finding food. Some get it through trainers that are trying to help them, some have deals with hospitals and morgues, and other prefer to vigilante style that shit.

Oscar does all three. It usually depends on where they are and who he can get in touch with, if anyone. If he can't, then he'll opt to hunt. But that's a worst-case scenario.

He always goes for the throat and the chest. Something about eating a heart is alluring to him, and his tail makes it easy to get to them.

As a romantic partner

POSSESIVE

He is not afraid to admit that he likes people knowing that his partner is claimed.

Furthermore, it's a protective instinct. Oscar knows the dangers that are out there regardless of what species his mate is.

He'd prefer not to have a dead lover, thank you very much!

It doesn't help that ghouls are rather territorial of what's theirs. Oscar behaves, but you can FEEL him growling at people he doesn't want to get too close or he wants to get away.

To the outside world, he's perfectly smiley, and nobody would ever know. In private, he's attached. He just needs to he near you and smell that you are okay and he'll be fine.

Prefers to stay in with the tribe to do anything fun. It's easier when he gets to look like himself.

The most patient of people.

If his partner is a ghoul but hates the eating human dilemma, then he'll try to make it as normal as he can.

If they are fine eating but not gathering, say no more because Oscar will take care of it.

Because he can smell emotions, he is very attentive. He knows you're sick before you even do. He knows every emotion you're feeling and exactly how to respond.

He's a romantic at heart and wants his lover to feel safe and valued. He's willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Sex!

Yes, sex with ghouls is it's own ordeal

They've got feral animalistic instincts.... tell me they aren't good at it

Humans are also naturally drawn to ghouls

Easily seduced

Which is good considering ghouls have these lovely phases where they get riled up with pent up energy and emotions from pretending to be human all the time.

It depends on the ghoul how often this happens.

Oscar's is, at the very least, going to explode twice a year.

He saves it all up and just loses it at some point.

That being said, he's had consistent sex but typically, it's set up by one of the older tribe members until he learns to do it himself.

Also, it should be noted that these phases are all sorts of intense emotions and not just sexual.

Oscar is doubly clingy and possessive and WILL NOT let his partner leave him if he can help it.

Good luck getting away until he's calmed down.

His tail makes a very good rope to hold a partner where he wants them.

If his partner is a ghoul, then you can expect intertwined tails all the time, including any kind of making love.

Biting... this is a thing for most ghouls, but I felt I should mention it. Oscar bites a lot. Especially a human mate because the amount of trust that would take is ridiculous. He'd never break that and wants to show that through his actions.

Plus... you taste like the most delicious god damn meal ever, and all he has to do is lick you to be satisfied.

If you try to feign arousal, he'll lose his shit. Don't lie to him about it because he'll spend hours figuring you out and leaving you a mess in the process.

Oscar is experimental, and let's be real here... the quiet and most unassuming of people are often the kinkiest beings.

He is open to everything as long as he's not actually eating you, and it's SANITARY. Maybe he'll draw blood from a human partner and bite down on the mating bite he's already put there, but he's not insane... he's not going to rip you open in any kind of dangerous fashion.

Unless his partner is a ghoul because that brings in new factors. If his partner likes hunting then they'd do it together and have probably fucked high on adrenaline and covered in blood. He will also pay special attention to a ghoul partners' horns since they are so sensitive. As in... he'll lick them. Maybe he'll use them as guides.

Giving him head? Best believe he's gripping his partners horns instead of their hair.

Depending on the mood, he will either growl or purr during sex. There is no in-between. Oscar is patent and always tame, but when his emotions do breakthrough, then it's an extreme. This is no different.

We're on the dom Oscar agenda for this blog, btw... (if you haven't noticed already).

He can and will man handle you if he's in a mood and you're not cooperating.

You can't really tease him because he'll just give it back worse later on when you're alone. You can certainly try, though! All you have to do is bite him on the clavicle (mating mark spot) and it'll drive him insane.

Why? Because he's possesive and love when the feeling is reciprocated.

#ghoulverse #oscarpiastri.ghoulverse #x reader #f1 fic #formula 1 #fanficion #f1 fanfic #racing #oscar piastri fanfic #oscar piastri f1 #oscar piastri imagine #oscar piastri #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri x y/n #oscar piastri x you #op81 #op81 x reader #op81 imagine #op81 x you #mclaren formula 1 #mclaren racing #mclaren #oscar pastry #McLaren oscar piastri #f1 #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 x you #oscar #piastri

[depressedraisin]

okay so i don't really have a point to make over here but i've been thinking about this a lot lately so here we go: ever notice how alex tends to use a lot of dance-related words as metaphors for sex but almost always undercuts the image of elegance/beauty that might evoke using interesting juxtapositions and wordplay??

in piledriver waltz (submarine ep, 2010; also reprised for suck it and see, 2011) he writes "i heard the piledriver waltz// it woke me up this morning". now 'piledriver waltz' here refers to someone having sex (atleast the contributors at genius think so and so do i). turner uses the word waltz- an intimate ballroom dance between two partners- but adds piledriver- which is, as wikipedia tells me, "a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat". so you see, the refined, elegant, romantic connotations of waltz is contrasted with the image of rough ruthlessness that piledriver brings.

(ALSO also did you notice? a wrestling reference? all the way back in 2010 👀 now idk if it's a regular vocab words or specific to wrestling-lingo only back in uk, but my studied-english-as-first-language-in-school-but-not-native speaker ass did have to google what the hell that means)

another such oxymoron-esque treatment of metaphors for sex we see in everything you've come to expect (everything you've come to expect, 2016). the line, one of my absolute favourite things turner and kane have ever written, goes "dirtbag ballet by the bins down the alley // as i walk through the chalet of the shadow of death". 'dirtbag ballet' again refers to sex here, this time the illicit kind, the kind that takes place in shadowy corners and dingy alleys. 'ballet' is another term that we will immediately associate with elegance and graceful moves but the use of 'dirt bag' by it's side brings a sense of crassness, almost vulgar quality to it. that term immediately paints a very stark picture of wild clandestine passion that illicit affairs carries probably. the song talks about that a lot.

(PS: an applause for the impeccable internal rhyme in those lines tho. *chef's kiss*)

the last example that stands out to me is from four stars out of five (tranquility base hotel and casino, 2018) where the line goes "hokey cokey with the opposite sex." (someone mentioned it around here today and that's what sparked this post. EDIT: it's @homoirrealis https://www.tumblr.com/lalaballa1977/717488374837084160?source=share) now there's no clever oxymoron-metaphor situation here, but the choice of that specific dance to talk about sex (straight sex, as the songwriter so kindly points out) is very interesting to me. hokey cokey as we know is a campfire dance that originated with brit folk dances and tunes. it's so funny because whenever i hear that line it immediately takes me back to kindergarten and a bunch of us kids standing in a circle, singing the rhyme and learning the dance. therefore in my mind atleast, hokey cokey evokes images of practiced, monotonous movements of hand and feet, no fluidity, no elegance. also the communal aspect of it. what if we read it as something you are made to participate in because you are a part in a group, because a number of pairs of eyes are on you. a question worth pondering perhaps.

and all this referring to sex?

also the song goes on to entice you to escape to this swanky hotel-casino-taqueria up on the moon and get far, far away from shit that you have done and regret and want to forget. then why is this hokey cokey with the opposite sex also one of those things the narrator might want to forget?

Hmmmmm questions worth pondering, innit?

#im overthinking YET AGAIN #lyric theory. #suck it and see #submarine ep #everything you've come to expect #tranquility base hotel and casino #arctic monkeys #the last shadow puppets #alex turner

[soosuke]

* like a good neighbor ｡

- character(s): midoriya izuku x gn!reader. - word count: 1.1k+ - additional tag(s): pro hero deku, kind of a meet cute? - warning(s): very brief violence mention; deku breaks into your apartment.

A piercing scream drives a knife through Izuku’s slumber.

His body moves faster than his mind, jolting to life despite the sleepy stupor that clouds his brain. He nearly trips as he struggles to untangle his limbs from his bedsheets, already stumbling into his living room before the mental gears begin to turn, and he realizes he doesn’t even know where he is going.

Another shriek, this one longer and more desperate, answers his question, and Izuku feels a strike of terror when he realizes that the sound is coming from the adjacent wall.

It’s you.

The two of you haven’t even formally met, haven’t even laid eyes on each other, but he has noticed the way that the previously vacant unit next to his apartment has been thrumming with life for the past couple of days.

The whir of your blender in the morning, the liveliness of late night tv shows, the one-sided conversation of a phone call, all muffled signs from the other side of his wall that his space is a little less lonelier than before.  

He had intentions to introduce himself days ago, when he initially noticed the new welcome mat that had been laid in front of the apartment door. It is a pretty pastel with a greeting on it and, still adjusting the sleeves of his hero suit, he had briefly pondered what its owner looked like as he departed to his agency.

Now, standing in front of that same doormat under these circumstances, its cuteness seems almost foreboding.

One of his hands curls around the doorknob, and he barely gives himself enough time to brace himself for what may lie beyond your front door.

Snapshots of broken glass, limp bodies, and carpet stained maroon all cycle through his mind, and they produce a newfound franticness that pushes him forward.

Your door is locked, of course, but all it takes is another agonized little sob from within the depths of your apartment for him to nearly send it flying off of its hinges.

A single streak of light is pouring from the hallway, the only light source in the otherwise pitch black apartment. If your floor plan is the same as his, then it looks like the light is coming from the bathroom.

Without any doors or walls to mute it, he can hear the sound of you uneven, panicked breathing. He advances towards the lit room in a few quick strides.

You are curled on top of the bathroom counter, hugging your knees and trembling. Your face is stitched with panic, your eyes wild and brimming when they jump up to meet his gaze.

You shrink back at the sight of him, your bottom nearly slipping into the bowl of the sink, and he raises his hands in innocence before you start, rightfully, shouting over the stranger that just broke into your apartment.

“I’m here to help!” He blurts out all at once, his hands hovering outward, as if he is trying to soothe a skittish stray. “I’m– I’m Deku. I just, I heard screaming and–” 

A flicker of movement in his peripheral vision makes any explanation die in his throat. You must notice it too, because you slip into another round of hysterics, shrieking as you try to curl even more in on yourself at the sight. 

A tiny, dark blur is skittering across the bathroom floor, acting just as frantic as you are.

When his eyes focus on what it is, Midoriya nearly laughs with relief.

A mouse.

A mouse.

---

“There! All taken care off!” He calls out as he pads through your apartment, back to the bathroom where he left you. He is humming, swiping his hands together, nearly giddy with relief.  All of those haunting images of abductions and hostages and bloodthirsty villains had culminated into being something smaller than his palm.

Reemerging in the doorway, he finds that you’re still frozen on the sink, eyes scanning the floor like you’re waiting for another pest to materialize out of the bone-white tile.

When you lift your head to the sound of his footsteps, he feels his heart stutter.

You’re cute.

Really cute.

It’s a grossly inappropriate thought, given that he had just broken into your home and you’re clearly, obviously, still distressed, but the realization rips through him all the same.

A beat of silence passes, and he belatedly realizes that you are waiting for him to say something – to provide an update on the fiasco.

“The mouse is gone,” Midoriya assures you, giving you his best Hero Smile and offering a hand. “I got it out of the building.”

When your hand slips into his, he briefly marvels at how impossibly soft it is. He tries not to look at the flash of upper thigh that you unknowingly expose as you uncoil your legs and ease off of the sink, your pajama shorts hitching at the movement.

“You’re Deku,” you breathe. Your eyes are still as wide as they were when he first found you, shuttering open and closed like you can’t believe what you’re seeing. “Really Deku…”

Oh. Maybe that’s why you’re still so frazzled.

He nods, his smile easing into something more modest. “And, um, you must be my new neighbor, right?”

“I… I am?”  

Your voice trails off as the gears in your fear-raddled mind begin to turn. He watches as your face goes completely blank for a moment, before you’re springing right back into that frenzied panic from a few minutes ago.

You snatch your hand away from him like you’ve been burned.                      

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

You’re bowing, your upper body jerking down so suddenly that he thinks you might give yourself whiplash.

“I—I didn’t know! I didn’t mean to wake you. You probably– No, you definitely need your rest, and here I am, screaming like a lunatic over something so trivial. I just– I’m just–”

You take a breath, composing yourself and fixing your posture to look up at him again. “I really don’t like mice.”

The way you say it, your voice a shaky squeak as your eyes screw shut in mortification, he has stifle his laughter for a second time.

--

By the time the two of you leave your bathroom, it is nearly daybreak, the sky brightening at the edge. 

You sheepishly offer to make Midoriya a cup of coffee as a meager form of compensation his troubles (your words, not his).

Seeing the way you peer up at him after asking, trying not to look too hopeful, he wonders how anyone could ever deny you anything.

From a barstool, he watches as you anxiously flitter about your kitchen, retrieving cups and spoons and an assortment of creamers for the two of you to choose from. He tries to focus on the cityscape rousing itself to life just outside of your window or the rest of your apartment, instead of how cute you look fussing over his coffee.

He was right about your floor plans being the same, but everything in your unit is still sparse, the walls mostly bare and moving boxes occupying a few corners. You have lit a candle - a lilacy vanilla scent - and its little flame is coating the place in a soft, intimate glow. Somehow, empty as it is, your apartment feels homey in a way that his own unit doesn’t.

As you set a steaming All Might-print mug in front of him, he is pulled into an easy illusion of domestic bliss.

He wonders if you have a boyfriend.

He startles himself with the thought, so desperate to admonish his traitorous mind that he downs a mouthful of the coffee while it is still scalding, effectively torching what feels like every single one of his taste buds and every nerve ending in his esophagus.

He has to blink back the pained tears that start springing in his vision, his knuckles turning white as they curl around the coffee mug as he tries not to cry out in pain.

“Does that, um, happen a lot?”

It takes him a moment to realize that you’ve spoken to him, and an even longer moment to realize that you’re talking about the mouse.

“Ah, not usually,” he says, clearing his throat, and his response seems to soothe you a bit. “I’ve never seen one in the building before tonight, actually.”

You look affronted that the mouse picked your apartment to infiltrate out of all of the ones in the building, pouting in a way that Midoriya finds absolutely adorable.

You lean on the opposite side of the kitchen island, drumming your fingers along the side of your mug. You smile despite yourself, a little upwards quirk of your lips that has Midoriya’s heart skipping a beat. He realizes that this is his first time seeing you smile.

“Well, thank you for being my exterminator, Deku,” you say. “You’re my hero.” 

Watching the way your eyes gleam with admiration, he selfishly, stupidly, and only half-jokingly hopes that your apartment has a recurring pest problem.

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #deku x reader #mine

[unsanctioned-if]

Snippet #3

As promised, here's a small snippet from chapter 1. Please note that it's not completely edited and that wording and content might change in the final draft.

There are three different flavor-text options here depending on the background you've chosen for your MC at the beginning. These are going to pop up a lot throughout chapter one. I decided to include all three of them in this excerpt to give a small look at how they differ from one another.

Aristocrat = A noble upbringing in the capital.

Nomad = A childhood spent with a community that moves from place to place.

Scavenger = The MC was the only child in a ragtag group who search for discarded items to sell.

Enjoy!

“You must be famished,” Cirern stated, not bothering to phrase his words as an inquiry. “Allow me.”

With one swift motion, he gave a quick and quiet snap of his fingers. You waited silently, expecting something to happen. Seconds passed, but the man did not stir again. Though hunger gnawed at your stomach, rendering you tired and weak, you couldn’t help but to wonder whether he was somehow testing you.

You didn’t take note of the faint whirring at first. It wasn’t until it grew into a discernible noise that you turned your head to the side, perplexedly regarding your surroundings. Unable to hold yourself back, you let out a gasp as your eyes found the source of the odd, intrusive sound.

A figure had appeared by one of the room’s openings, though it was no being of flesh and bone. Matted gold clad the figure, reminiscent of armour rather than skin. Cogwheels turned inside of its exposed chest, methodically and cooperatively. The face resembled that of a human, but where a person would have eyes, two hallowed holes stared back. A straight nose and curved, metallic lips completed the face, but you weren’t certain whether the attempt at making it pass as something humanoid made the sight more or less unnerving.

Aristocrat: You knew of these creations, though you had never laid eyes on one other than the drawings included in books. "Automatons" they were called, artificial life created from clockwork, originally hailing from Ciralor to the south.

Scavenger: You had witnessed these types of creations in the past, though never one made in the image of a person and never one that hadn’t long since stopped operating. Scraps of metal here and there, most commonly. If your memory served you correctly, they originated from Ciralor to the south.

Nomad: You swallowed, mesmerized by – or struck with fear of – the strange creature.

“An automaton,” said the man to you in an explanatory fashion. “A machine built to serve mortal men. It will cause us no harm.”

The automaton’s movements were stale and jerking, lacking the natural grace that organic beings possessed. Yet it advanced across the room, towards you, without noticeable difficulty."

#unsanctioned #interactive fiction #if #writing #excerpt #snippet

[alphynix]

Strange Symmetries #01

Most animals are bilaterally symmetric, having body plans with mirrored left and right sides – which also allows them to have a defined head end, rear end, top side, and underside.

It's not entirely clear what evolutionary advantage this type of symmetry gave to the first bilaterians, which would have been been small "simple" worm-like animals living sometime during the Ediacaran Period between 600 and 560 million years ago. The current generally accepted explanation is that it probably allowed for better active locomotion – clustering sense organs at the head end and directing body movement more efficiently towards food sources and away from threats.

However, this sort of symmetry is never completely perfect. Internal structures like organs are often arranged nonsymmetrically, and the realities of genetics, physical development, and environmental influences always result in external small deviations.

Zebra From The Back by Lynn Greyling | CC0 Public Domain

…But not every bilaterian has stayed roughly symmetrical.

Over the last half-billion years or so some bilaterians have abandoned their roughly-mirror-image body plans in favor of something distinctly wonkier. Asymmetry has evolved multiple times in various different lineages, and so every weekday this month we'll be looking at some examples.

And we might as well start way back near the beginning:

———

Strange Symmetries #01: Almost Bilateral

Living in the Ediacaran between about 567 and 550 million years ago, the proarticulatans were flattened rounded organisms with two rows of soft "quilted" rib-like segments (known as isomers) and sometimes a larger fused "head" section at the front. The left and right isomers weren't perfectly mirrored, instead being offset from each other in a glide reflection pattern – but the presence of a clear central body axis suggests these animals may have had some sort of relation to the earliest bilaterians, possibly even being a very early stem group that was experimenting with a not-quite-totally-bilateral body plan.

Discovered in what is now northwest Russia, and dating to around 555 million years ago, Vendia sokolovi was a small proarticulatan measuring about 1.1cm long (0.4"). It had a rather small number of isomers compared to some of its relatives, only 7 per side, and seems to have had a simple digestive tract that branched into each isomer.

(The superficial resemblance to trilobites was coincidental – while we might not be entirely sure what these things were, we do at least know they weren't closely related to early arthropods.)

Very little overall is known about these animals' lifestyles. Trace fossils suggest they were able to move around, feeding on microbial mats on the seafloor, and they may also have been able to firmly stick themselves onto the spots they were currently grazing.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Twitter | Patreon

#science illustration #strange symmetries #paleontology #paleoart #palaeoblr #vendia #proarticulata #ediacaran #bilateria #maybe #art #asymmetry #glide reflection

[dreamchaserguild]

We recently backed a project on Kickstarter and I wanted to ramble about that.

(This is not paid promotion and I have no association with the team making this project. This is just me gushing about something I think is cool.)

I grew up playing Heroscape. This game was my childhood. If you don't know what Heroscape is, here you go:

It was a simple tactical minis tabletop battle game where you make a team of different heroes with their own unique abilities. But what really sold this game was the landscape you could build yourself.

I used to have a table that sat out on our front porch that was filled with Herocape stuff as I constructed and deconstructed and reconstructed my maps.

And I didn't just have the starter set you see above. (Above is actually several starter sets. You don't get quite that many pieces from one box. I'm guessing it's three starter sets since there are six ruins, and Heroscape only came with two.) No. I had the ice set, the volcano set, the castle set, a Marvel set. The second starter set with swampy environment.

Heroscape was an amazing part of my childhood. Then Hasbro let it die.

They tried to revive it in the form of Arena of the Planeswalkers, a knock-off with a flat cardboard battlefield. But it got cancelled after two expansions. They're going to try again, but I have no faith that they'll stick with the Heroscape revival.

Which brings us to SOURCE.

SOURCE is a hex system made by indie-developers who themselves were Heroscape fans and inspired by Heroscape. Rather than connecting at the sides like Heroscape, the SOURCE tiles are held together by edges as you can see here. (I sure hope they don't mind me lifting the images from their kickstarter.)

A disadvantage to this is that you lose some of the modularity in being able to build in any shape you want. The advantage though is that it allows for terrain to easily be added and removed throughout gameplay.

(They're also working on special grip mats for those who just really want to build in any shape they want without being confined to shapes of the edges.)

And in my opinion, the detail looks way better than Heroscape ever did. Just compare the lava tiles above to Heroscape's:

There's no contest.

The SOURCE hexes aren't just the same thing in different colors. They're actual works of art.

And I'm not saying this to put Heroscape down. Like I said, it was my childhood and was fantastic for its time.

The game on the Kickstarter, Timestrike, is very similar to Heroscape. But with so much more stacked onto Heroscape's foundation.

Characters have move, range, attack and defense like Heroscape. You have the six-sided dice where three sides are swords and two are shields. Only now there is a special lucky sword and a lucky shield. These aren't relevant for most characters, but some characters will have abilities where they'll gain some bonus on lucky rolls.

If that's not enough, there's also a Contest mechanic where you can push another player's figure. This is great if someone is on a ledge and you want to cause them fall damage, or if you just want to steal the high ground from them to increase your attack.

You can also mine materials, build roads with the materials you mined, and go fishing for buffs. (Literally. You can stand near water and try to fish. If you succeed, you take a card from the fishing deck.)

There are wild monsters you can try to tame. There are even large figures you can mount and ride. See this guy:

That's a base on his back for you to place a smaller miniature on and ride him around!

The game is centered around not just beating each other, but also fighting a boss called a Sentience with space for three figures on its back.

(Note: the Gorilla Brute is not part of this first set, and will likely come with a future expansion.)

The sentience takes full advantage of the destructible terrain, leveling any space he lands on.

And they're tossing in solo and co-op rules for people who don't want to fight each other and just want to fight the boss alone, or to team up to fight the boss.

Oh! And it comes with STACKABLE WALLS!

That's a small thing, but it's a cool thing. (Okay, this is technically a stretch goal for $200,000 that they haven't put on the official Kickstarter, but $200K feels likely to me.)

The creators also seem genuinely committed to making this a reality and keeping it going for a long time, with talk of several expansions in the pipeline, introducing more playable characters, more rideable Brutes, and more bosses which will each have their own abilities and their own solo/co-op modes.

And possibly boats.

That's a picture of a prototype boat that can fit three figures and will NOT be included in this Kickstarter. But it is planned for a future expansion.

I don't know if the boats will come to fruition. I don't know if they'll look like that when they are released or if they'll look completely different by then since that would be a long way off.

But I appreciate knowing that there are plans to make this a long-term investment. I'm not worried that the creators will give up on SOURCE and Timestrike like Hasbro did Heroscape and Arena of the Planeswalkers.

And it's not just Timestrike. The SOURCE terrain can be purchased on its own and the SOURCE system is intended to be used for a variety of games by different creators. And it's already naturally compatible with Heroscape, Arena of the Planeswalkers, Battletech and other hex-based games.

I am incredibly excited and hopeful for the future of this project!

Here's the Kickstarter for anyone who wants to see more of this.

And here's a video review going over the Timestrike rules and how it plays:

#tabletop games #tabletop wargaming #heroscape #arena of the planewalkers #battletech #wargames #tabletop gaming #hasbro #wargaming #games #gaming #board games #tabletop #board game #timestrike #source #source system #game #miniature #miniatures #Ghost post #Youtube

[felassan]

Now in the BioWare Gear Store: Dragon Age Lyrium Idol Record Slip Mat

Item description:

"DO YOU HEAR THAT HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL SOUND? Do you hear that hauntingly beautiful sound? It could be the song of red lyrium rushing through every fiber of your being. Or it might just be your favorite record spinning over the Dragon Age Lyrium Idol Record Slip Mat. This felt mat adds gorgeous artwork to your turntable, improves your listening experience by dampening vibrations, and helps DJs spin records more easily by reducing friction. Featuring the lyrium idol as seen in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf promo artwork."

[source]

((Looks like the background map that they chose for the item shots is the Thedas map that came with Tevinter Nights. I’m also 👁️ at the golden-leaved foliage and the cracks shown in this image with the idol. those trees have been showing up now and again in DA:D promo art & concept art - associated with stuff/places like Arlathan Forest, the Veil Jumpers, yknow, like that Fade-y/magic-y locale with floating rocks etc [examples], and in the Golden/Black City and the big dragon’s wings on the vinyl album cover art. the cracks remind me of stuff like this and the crumbling effect in the new DA:D logo.))

---

You can get 20% off in the BioWare Gear Store until April 12th using my latest discount code BWAPRILFOOL. After that date check back here for a new code. alternatively, you can use my tracking link.

✧d(•̀ v•̀ )~~♪

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #dragon age: the missing #dragon age: the missing spoilers #👁️ i am LOOKING #do you hear that hauntingly beautiful sound.. the veil is thin here.. can you feel it on your skin? tingling?

[the-alakazam-attraction]

OKAY HEAR ME OUT

So, I have a theory about Undertale & Deltarune...

So... Basically, Deltarune is a prequel to Undertale

NOW BEFORE YOU SCROLL PAST HEAR ME OUT

So, I have no "hard" evidence or proof (Wait no! Don't go!) BUT, it would kind of make sense from how Undertale was even made.

So, yeah, Undertale was made first, but Toby said (through various sources that, to be blunt, I'm too lazy to find) that it was made as a "test to see if one person [with some help with art and stuff] could even make a full game" and he did! He made Undertale!

HOWEVER!!!

It was not his final project. It was, as he said, a test.

And Deltarune is the game he actually wants to make.

But why do I think Undertale is a "sequel" to Deltarune?

Well... The most prominent example (and well known queen killer and sexyman) is Sans.

AND NO THIS ISN'T "Sans is all powerful and all knowing and the lord of Undertale and its fanbase blah blah blah" Like i've occasional seen people say similar crap cause "Oh its THAT god damn overly popular"

But the line in particular I'm referring to is when he says "I gave up trying to go back a long time ago"

Plus the Q & A with Papyrus where Sans very deliberately cuts it short when Papyrus is talking about "where they're from before Snowdin"

And I know every facet of Sans has been discussed to death, but why do I think that line he's referring to Deltarune? Or perhaps more accurately Hometown?

Well... It's a simple line said by Toriel in the Ruins in Undertale.

"It may come as a surprise to you but... I've always wanted to be a teacher! Well... That may not be that surprising..."

AND THAT RIGHT THERE

Is another part of why I think Undertale is a "sequel" or at the very least some kind of spinoff to Deltarune.

Because in Deltarune she IS a teacher.

So... It's been a while since I played Undertale (i'm actually playing it right now which is why I suddenly had the urge to write this all out lol) but I'm certain that if you go through Undertale you can see some parallels to Deltarune.

But I'm calling it right now.

Deltarune is a prequel.

That could also explain why Deltarune (originally) only had one ending. That ending (some-fucking-how) leading to the creation of Undertale and it's world.

Hell, maybe Undertale is after the roaring or whatever... Cause in Deltarune the main bosses and such talk about "reforging the world" and maybe that's because of Kris. Maybe Kris successfully reforged the world in their own image. With their parents (Toriel and Asgore) becoming the rulers of Monsters, and (this one is mostly speculation but-) Kris' hate for humans led to the banishment of Monsterkind, and it kind of line's up strangely well...

And maybe a lot of things don't line up, sure, but Deltarune isn't even fully out yet.

I'm calling it right now. Deltarune is a prequel and Undertale is Kris' reforging of the world through darkness and darkworld fountains or something.

I SWEAR TO GOD IF I'M RIGHT I'M GONNA BE FUCKING ECSTATIC XD

(Also sans is 100% Ness /j)

BUT HEY! THAT'S JUST A THEORY!

A GAME THEORY!!!!

Rest in peace mat pat (i know he's not dead, but in internet terms he might as well be lol)

#from the showhost #undertale #deltarune #undertale theory #deltarune theory

[markantonys]

pulling together some of the s2 images we have so far! there's a LOT of stuff in the two teaser reels, so i'm focusing mostly on the shots from those that i can connect to the new promo images (which are especially helpful since we know what episodes they came from). sorry for the long post, i tried to do a read more but then for everything under the read more the images just displayed one by one instead of 2 or 3 in a row the way i'd formatted them and it looked bad.

first, rand. predicting that some of the first things we'll see from him is dream torment by ishamael (likely the source of the wheel shot) and meeting lanfear while alone and vulnerable:

then he'll go to cairhien and meet up with moiraine and lan, and have his lord arc (and get a fancy outfit):

then duel turak at falme in 1x08 (likely after receiving sword lessons from lan, which could be the Lan Shirtless With Sword shots we have several of):

i think these scenes with moiraine (and lan) are from the early episodes where she still has her s1 outfit and hair:

then she gets a fancy new outfit for cairhien (potentially the crying-in-the-bath scene), which could be where the beach scenes take place - but cairhien is landlocked (though it IS on a river), so maybe she keeps this outfit for the rest of the season and these beach scenes are at falme? i will say that i'm pretty confident the daylight beach scene is the same outfit as the cairhien promo pic, but not confident that the evening beach scene is the same outfit.

on to perrin's plotline. we have several shots (i've just included one) from a scene of his party encountering the seanchan in daytime and being made to kneel. loial is still free here.

loial appears to be getting captured here at night, and there's also shots of perrin's party fighting seanchan at night. the same scene?

we know loial is in seanchan captivity by 2x05, so all the above scenes must happen during or before that episode.

aviendha fights a whitecloak at night, which we've been thinking is the adaptation of the book scene where perrin frees an aiel from a cage (there IS a cage just behind avi here), and thus perrin & co would also be involved in this scene. could be the same nighttime fight scene as above, a three-way fight between perrin & co, whitecloaks, and seanchan? or it could just as easily be a different scene - if so, i'd guess in the second half of the season after loial has been captured and as perrin gets closer to falme.

we do know that the seanchan and whitecloaks will clash in falme, and in a market-y location that looks somewhat similar to the promo pic of perrin and aviendha:

overall, it seems like whitecloaks, seanchan, and aiel will all be heavily involved in perrin's plotline, which is great setup since all those groups are significant parts of his storyline at various points in the future.

from what we know so far, the girls' portion of the white tower plotline seems pretty straightforward and similar to TGH. egwene has novice kitchen duty in 2x01, then later prepares for a journey (with liandrin i'd imagine) and is made damane.

nynaeve takes the accepted test in 2x03 (side note: i'm extremely skeptical that portal stones and the flicker scene will make it and imo they should be cut even though they're cool, so i think the "what might be" episode title is for this episode, referring to the alternate life/lives nynaeve sees in her test, and perhaps rand can still see some alternate lives in his ishamael-tormented dreams). at some point she trains in the sword with warders, probably because she wants to be able to protect herself while being blocked. do we think that brown belt indicates she's an accepted, or is that still a novice outfit and this scene is set before her test?

the picture of elayne could be investigating in a basement while black ajah hunting? i also thought maybe the ways en route to falme, but it doesn't really look like the s1 ways.

mat's storyline is trickier to figure out because we have very limited shots of him so far. we know that in 2x01, he is crying in a room. from descriptions of the scene shown at cons, we know he is imprisoned by liandrin at some point in s2. seems likely enough that the below image is him in captivity, although it's also possible he could be at an inn or something there (feeling guilty for abandoning his friends) and gets captured later in the episode.

the only other images we have of him are these two of him wearing his exact same outfit from season 1 and the crying-in-a-room scene and standing against a generic background:

falme seems the most likely option - the stonework on image 1 looks similar to the stonework in the perrin & aviendha picture, and the arch in image 2 could be a falme arch like what we see in the perrin & aviendha and seanchan vs. whitecloaks picture. alternately, picture 2 could be tar valon since i think there were some white stone arches in the streets of that city too. if it is tar valon, it could be either a) early in 2x01 and we see his capture onscreen, rather than the episode opening with him already in captivity, or b) after he gets out of liandrin's clutches.

how will he get out of liandrin's clutches? maybe he breaks out on his own, or maybe siuan gets wind of what's going on and intervenes to make liandrin let him go - this could also serve as an event to strengthen siuan's suspicions of black ajah in the tower, leading to her creation of the wondergirls task force.

i will end the post here since i hit the 30 image limit haha

#yes i did feel very pepe silvia meme as i compiled this post #wot #wot on prime #wot book spoilers #wot show spoilers #the wheel of time #long post

[lichenaday]

Thalloidima diffractum

This squamulose (scale-like) lichen can be found growing in the cracks of steep, calcareous rock in southern Eurasia. It grows in powdery, white-gray, orbicular scales that are scattered when young, and grows closer together and more compact over time. It produces round, rimmed, black apothecia often dusted with the same pruina that covers the thallus surface. Even though T. diffractum has a green algal photobiont, it can often be found growing on cyanobacterial mats or cyanolichens. Why? IDK, he just likes those guys, I guess.

images: source | source

info: source

#lichen #lichens #lichenology #lichenologist #mycology #ecology #biology #fungi #fungus #symbiosis #symbiotic organisms #green algae #botany #bryology #Thalloidima diffractum #Thalloidima #life science #environmental science #natural science #nature #naturalist #beautiful nature #weird nature #trypo #trypophobia #I'm lichen it #lichen a day #daily lichen post #lichen subscribe

[localplaguenurse]

Pantalone Appearance Headcanons

Or, they’re sort of appearance headcanons? Combination appearnce and self care headcanons. Think of this as a sort of part two of my health headcanons, it’s just an extension of how his childhood/health have affected his day to day life. Brief mention of lice and mentioned/implied self esteem issues.

Pantalone’s body is on the softer side. It just clings onto fat and refuses to let it go. No, he’s not fat or chubby by any means, he’s actually rather svelte, it’s just that he doesn’t have a lot of muscle definition because childhood starvation ate away at his muscle mass and threw his metabolism out of whack.

His skin appears porcelain pure when he’s in public, in both colouration and even texture, but if you get close to him or catch him in private, you’ll see it’s just makeup. He has some imperfections in his skin, from getting kicked around all his life, childhood and even adulthood acne, and a bit of aging. His skin is also a little more sickly in complexion on some days, and he’s got rather prominent eye bags. Some days they’re lighter, other days it looks like he’s been hit in the face, so he usually covers up with makeup.

Which as an aside, I think he would enjoy makeup regardless, but most of the time it’s a coverup rather than anything actually fun.

Has a very thorough morning and evening self care routine, has a wide variety of lotions, ointments, oils, face scrubs, body scrubs, face masks, soaps, cleansers, it is insane. (Eat your heart out, Lush.)

Because he was very poor, he was unable to adequately take care of his teeth among other things. One of the first things he did once he started making money was get dental work done. I have such a strong mental image in my head of younger Pantalone on opening day for the Northland Bank with braces on. 

Since then, he’s gone through several retainers and currently has a metal wire fitted behind his teeth (Thank you Machiko for your contribution). He also takes dental hygiene very seriously with brushing, flossing, mouth wash, etc..

Because of all this dental business, the ever smiling banker is actually very careful about how he smiles. He rarely ever smiles with his teeth due to his experiences with braces. They made him look younger than he really was, almost juvenile, and as such it made it difficult to be taken seriously because why would anyone listen to some crazy kid ranting about economics?

The only time you will see him smile with his teeth is if he is with someone he trusts, or someone has told a really, really funny joke.

He cares so much about his hair. He has all manner of shampoos, conditioners, oils, brushes, combs, accessories, and has put so much thought into how he chooses to style his luscious locks.

During his time in poverty, it was not uncommon for him to go for extended periods of time without washing or brushing his hair, which resulted in it being a tangled, matted mess when it was long. Even if he did have a brush on hand, it was just easier, faster, and less painful to cut it all off than try and untangle it. 

Having long hair, to Pantalone, is a source of pride and comfort to him, as he can not only keep it from getting that bad again, but if he ever gets it cut, it’s because he wants to get it cut. Not because it’s too messy to fix, or too dirty, or full of lice, but because he is actively choosing of his own free will to have shorter hair.

He’s also been dyeing it black. He actually has more grey in his hair than he wishes to admit or show, so he regularly dyes it black save for one lock of grey hair. He thinks it makes him look distinguished and handsome. It does.

This whole thought process came to me because I was wondering if Pantalone would have had any sort of cosmetic surgery, and I think no. Not unless there just happened to be a cosmetic side effect. He’s naturally a very pretty man once you get him cleaned up and cared for, and he doesn’t want to be slowed down by recovery periods if they’re not even necessary.

(That doesn’t include gender affirming operations if you subscribe to the trans Pantalone agenda, which I do on occasion because as a transmasc enby he gives me the worst genderlust imaginable. Gender affirming surgeries are so much more than merely cosmetic, they’re life changing and even life saving.)

Pantalone carries himself with an abundance of confidence and pride in his appearance. He knows he is handsome, he takes great care to maintain his image, and he knows when and how to use it.

Still, when you spend so long trying to get to where you are, especially in regards to your appearance, there are things you cannot shake off so easily. Things people probably won’t even notice or care about if they do, but if you can see it, then so can everyone else. That’s why Pantalone goes to such lengths to appear the way he does, because people eat with their eyes first, and if they don’t like what they see, then they won’t bother. 

#pantalone #genshin impact #genshin pantalone #pantalone headcanons

[proton-wobbler]

Loser's Bracket, Poll 4

Image Sources: Parrot (Lev Frid); Astrapia (Frédéric PELSY); Owl (Mat Gilfedder); Capuchinbird (Dubi Shapiro)

#hipster bird losers bracket #i was really hoping all the bald birds would sort into one #and I guess I got a 50% bald bracket #polls #bald parrot #ribbon tailed astrapia #powerful owl #capuchinbird #also like #I'm not gonna be angry if capuchinbird loses again #but I am still reeling over the fact they lost the first round