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ayma-nidiot · 3 years

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“Don’t Speak Their Names” - Shrimpshipping fic Chapter 27

This chapter can be found here on AO3.

Chapter 27 - I Challenge My Fate

~07 November 2005~

“President Phuckdis! Reporting in, sir!” A Buster Blader saluted his general.

“Proceed, Captain.”

“Several enemies calling themselves ‘Earthbound Gods’ started attacking Joey and his friends. Apparently, Joey lost a duel, and last I checked, he was engaged in battle with a snake-like monster. There are now hundreds of enemy soldiers coming this way! It’s only a matter of time before-”

“Th-They’re here!” shouted a few guards who stood watch at the door. “Aaaaaaargh!”

“Hah!” Watda led the charge, showing no mercy in cutting down the guards. He aggressively attacked Joey and showed little interest in anything else. “How kind of you to show me where you lowlifes camp out! Now, give me Uru or else!”

“Never!” Joey swiped at Watda’s feet with his Salamandra sword, “summoned” from his Duel Disk.

“Oh?” Watda smirked as he jumped over the sword like a jump rope. “Why would you want to protect that ‘dung beetle…’ or whatever it is you called him?”

“Hahaha…” cackled a voice from behind Joey. “I wonder that, too. Well, no matter, since that will be your first and last mistake!”

“Weevil!” William growled at the half-shifted Weevil. “Dammit, he escaped!”

“What do you mean, ‘escaped?’” Joey wanted to know.

“William, you moron!” Phuckdis bopped his brother with the blunt end of his sword.

“Hey, Joey!” Weevil’s arms hardened, glowing blood-red. “Think fast!”

“Wh-What?” Joey darted around for the agile bug duelist. Before he could really process what was going on, Weevil found him first, stabbing his non-sword arm with a sharp spider arm. “Aaaah! You… You mosquito…”

“A mosquito, am I?” Weevil continued to assault Joey, who had to parry the attacks with a shaky arm. “Hah! A mosquito is but a caterpillar compared to the monster I’ve become, compliments of my fellow Earthbound Gods!”

“You’ve gone absolutely batshit, Weevil! Open your eyes, why don’t you!”

“Nah, how about no.” Weevil stabbed Joey’s sword hand so hard that the Salamandra sword went flying. “But I’ll gladly open a giant wound in your belly and let the maggots have at you. I’ll make you suffer for what you’ve done in the past…”

“G-Ggh…” Joey looked up at his former Battle City rival, knowing his life was as good as done.

“The only one who will be suffering here is you, Weevil! Amazoness Empress, get ‘im!” exclaimed a debilitated Mai.

“Ah…” All of the excitement of battle left Weevil in an instant, and he knelt to the ground in pain.

“Bind Weevil at once!” Phuckdis ordered. “And be quick about it!”

“Yes, sir!” Several Magician Girl monsters got to work right away.

“Mai…” Joey got up, hoping to help the woman he loved - that was until Watda got in his path.

“Going somewhere, Wheeler?” Watda slashed down a few Club members who got between him and Joey. “Not that it would do you any good, since your pretty little girlfriend is history!”

“Get off her, you thug!” Seeing Watda’s snake arms slither around Mai’s face pissed the hell out of Joey.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I want to hear her scream in agony after I take your life away!”

“Ggh…!” Joey tried to pick up the Salamandra. “Rex… Where the hell are… you…”

“Dammit, get out of our way!” Though the enemies Amber fought on the way to the Club meeting room were weak, their numbers were enough to overwhelm her.

“Need some help?” Rex asked before transforming himself, felling most of the enemies and weakening the rest.

“Papa! You shouldn’t be-” Amber would have scolded her mother if she hadn’t noticed what Rex’s transformation had done.

“Hehe!” Rex remained in rabbit form as he ran with Amber. “I might not be a strong monster, but I’ve got one heck of a special ability. Surprised?”

“Yeah, at the fact that your baby bump is still intact when you switch forms. Shapeshifter physiology is a weird thing, isn’t it?”

“It shouldn’t be for a girl genius like you.”

“Papa… I know the circumstances are grave, but I don’t want you to push yourself. Let your strong daughter do the fighting.”

Rex’s endurance barely held on long enough to reach the Tabletop Gaming Club’s meeting room. As soon as he turned back into a human, his ankles swelled badly, and held onto Amber as a crutch.

“I got you, Papa. Oh?” No sooner had Rex reverted forms when Amber saw a fight going on well inside their meeting room, in the health/recreation center.

Unlike Amber, Rex recognized Watda instantly - as well as the captive he held by the neck. “That’s the guy who captured me! And he’s got Joey! Ugh!” Rex strained to transform.

“Papa, are you nuts? That man is the Crimson Devil, the strongest of the Earthbound Gods! Even I’m not match for him! H-Hey, get back here!” Amber couldn’t stop her mother from running to Watda in human form.

“Hehehe…” Watda cackled as he raised Joey above the gathering crowd - most of whom were weak monsters that didn’t dare to raise a hand against Watda. “My Earthbound Gods have lost to your friends… It’s too bad that you really lucked out and ended up dueling me ! Although I have to commend your bravery, Mr. Wheeler. It’s too bad you’re not as smart or strong as you are reckless.”

“Joey!” As much as Mai wanted to rescue the man she loved, enemies restrained her. “No! Take me instead, please!”

“D-Damn… you… Watda…” Having lost against Watda himself, Phuckdis barely had the strength to crawl on the floor, let alone fight back.

“Y-You’ll never… have… Urk!” Joey howled in pain as Watda’s nails dug into his neck, drawing blood.

“You’re trying to protect the man who tried to steal your soul, and the one whom you call a ‘duelin’ disgrace?’ Hah!” Watda used his free hand to grab Joey’s head, with the intent to twist it off. “I’ll show you the consequences of being a nice guy, you bleeding-heart filth! You don’t even deserve the honour of final words!”

“And I’ll show you the consequences of messing with my friends!” Rex thundered as he quickly shifted and latched onto one of Watda’s arms.

“Wh-What? Yeowch!” Thanks to Rex’s special effect, Watda could feel his strength draining. “You damned rabbit! How did you escape?”

“Not gonna tell you! But you best think how you’re going to escape!”

“What do you- Argh!” Before Watda could even turn around, an arrow from Amber pierced his shoulder.

“You’re… gonna pay!” Amber continued to shoot a flurry of arrows, chasing Watda out of the building. “Wait! ...Dammit, he got away! Let me-”

From an all-fours position, Rex grabbed one of Amber’s ankles. “Amber, not now… Just look around you.”

“Papa…” Amber noticed that in this battle, many Club members have already died, the vast majority of them killed by Watda.

“At least we know who are enemies are now.”

“...Fine.” Amber turned back into a human and glanced at Joey. “Just so you know, I still hate you. I didn’t do what I did because I consider you a friend.”

“Hehe, I know you do. You just won’t admit it!” Joey’s tone turned serious when he looked down at Rex. “That was a bold thing you did, man. Not only are you super pregnant, but you got beat to a pulp for gods know how long. I’m… I’m sorry for all that I said about you in the past. I take it all back.”

“It’s cool, dude…” Rex decided he couldn’t move anymore, and leaned against a giant wooden table for rest.

“Ugh.” Amber instead turned her attention to her incapacitated allies, Phuckdis and William. “Guys, are you okay?”

“Barely…” Phuckdis managed to stand on his feet, and helped his brother stand up too. “More importantly, Lady Amber… We’ve finally done it. We can now complete our mission.”

“Oh?” Amber looked to the smaller crowd, gathered around… something.

“‘Lady’ Amber? Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard her called that before…” Rex couldn’t see what was going on, even though he wasn’t very far.

“...Stay where you are, Rex.” Amber didn’t allow Rex to move one more inch forward.

“Amber?” Rex’s heart broke a little when Amber called him by his name. “Let me see what’s the ruckus over there!”

“Oh, I will.” Amber gestured for her soldiers to move out of the way, and when they dispersed, Rex could see Weevil - bound at the ankles, weak, and completely void of emotion.

“Weevil! You’re okay…” Rex attempted to crawl over to where Weevil was, but the ankle pain held him back.

“Rex… I don’t think you realize what kind of enemies we’re up against.”

“I’ve learned enough when I was captured. They want Weevil to join them because he’s an almighty god. And who wouldn’t?”

“They don’t want him for just any reason… He’s an Earthbound God, destined to cause ruin.”

Rex remembered what Dip told him, but tried to deny it. “Th-That’s not true! I thought you knew better than anyone that he can use his powers for good!”

“For now, yes… But in time… In time…” Amber walked towards Weevil and stared him down. “Their minds will become so corrupt that they have no choice but to fulfill their destiny. And when they’re with their own kind, they’ll cause unspeakable destruction.”

“Amber, that’s nonsense!”

Amber’s body and voice shook. “After seeing this destruction myself, I can hardly call it nonsense! The Earthbound Gods are what ruined my future! It was them… They were the ones who…”

“You’re not serious…?” Rex hugged himself to stop trembling.

“I saw it with my own eyes! Weevil was the one who killed my baby brother… My boyfriend…” Amber looked at the members of the “Dweeb Patrol,” who were even more confused than Rex. “All of you… And… you, Rex. Weevil killed you right in front of me.”

“Oh… my gods…” Rex wanted to throw up just from hearing this awful story.

“This… has been my mission… all along…” Amber half-shifted and pointed her arrow at Weevil, who looked up at her without a gleam in his eyes.

“Amber!” Rex couldn’t stop crying. “Do you mean to tell me you were duping me this whole time? That all along, your only real goal was to kill Weevil?”

“That’s right. This overgrown spider is the only thing standing between our future and complete freedom!”

“Amber…” Rex cried. “I… I can’t believe what I’m hearing… No, I won’t believe it!”

“And now… I challenge my fate!” Amber’s arrow glowed brightly.

“Do it, Lady Amber.” Phuckdis ordered. “Your mother is already pregnant with your present self, so you can still live. And Francis… He never deserved to live in such a terrible future. Do this, and his soul will be appeased.”

“Haha…” Amber’s eyes hardened on Weevil. “I’m going to free everyone… I’m going to save the world! All I have to do is kill one bloody Earthbound God! And I’m going to do it in front of your very eyes, Rex!”

“Amber… Argh!” No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much Phuckdis and William pulled his legs, Rex crawled forward.

“Don’t you dare interfere in our mission, Rex!” Phuckdis threatened to stab Rex’s legs with his sword. “I don’t care if you’re pregnant! I won’t hesitate to hurt you!”

“Amber… I know you don’t want to do this. The bonds your father and I have forged with you over the past few months are real. They’re not something you want to end with a stupid, puny arrow. Even though you’re barely younger than us, Weevil and I really love you as our daughter. Isn’t there any room in your heart for the father who raised you? The father who taught you everything there is to know about insects and dueling? The father would would take all the pain and suffering in the world just to make you happy?”

“Shut… up…” Amber started to tear up.

“Amber… I want us to live and bond as a family. There’s got to be another way. Let’s put all this behind us and go on another mall trip, or walk in the park. But whatever you do… please, don’t do this.”

“Shut up, Rex! You’re just making it harder!” Amber’s aim at Weevil’s heart began to waver.

“But you can save him! We’ve done it before!”

“No. Look at him! He’s too far gone now... He doesn’t even remember who the fuck you are, Rex! This is the only way I can save the world - and Weevil’s soul. I… I don’t want to see this man suffer in the soulless shell that was once Weevil Underwood. I’d… rather… Sniff…”

“Rex… Weevil…” Even the normally-proud Joey, the Joey that once despised Rex and Weevil with everything he had, couldn’t help but shed tears of his own.

“Weevil…” Amber choked on her own breath, and she pulled her bowstring as far back as she could. “Sorry, not sorry.”

So were Amber’s final words as she tearfully let her arrow fly at Weevil full speed.

#yugioh #ygo #shrimpshipping #mpreg #fanfiction #this chapter legit made me cry #super obvious Fire Emblem Awakening references in this chapter hahaha

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inikavulpixelreviews · 5 years

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Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Bug Type

Oh boy, it is indeed TIME for the finale of all these type reviews. Covering my absolute favorite type of them all: Bug!

I had always had a loving fascination with insects and arthropods since I was a young child. I'd not be shy to let them crawl on me so long as they weren't outright menacing like a particularly dangerous spider or some variety of ant with some mean chompers. I was THAT KID that caught caterpillars, fed them until they became butterflies, and then let them go. The kid that tried (and sadly failed) to keep an ant farm. I only kill bugs in my house that are being particularly invasive (and even then I always feel awful doing it); the rest I just escort outside. I don't care what any “whoa kill it with FIRE!!!!” kinda commenter says, spiders are pretty much welcome to stay in my room.

How sad is it that as I see it, one of the perks of having an outdoors day-job is I regularly get to make friends with insects?

Point is, bugs are good. They're good for the environment, and important to Pokemon's history itself. The man credited with creating Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, cited the major inspiration for Pokemon being his childhood memories of collecting bugs. OF COURSE bug would get its own dedicated element in this sort of RPG! As well as being one of the more populated types in the series.

It's just sad that it's not exactly THE most meta type out there. It's weak to a lot of types that are bad to be weak to like Fire, Rock, and Flying, but don't have much in the way of resistances or type advantages. The one real perk they have resistance-wise is blocking Fighting. They're at least good against some types that are handy to have a counter to. Either way, I pretty much CAN'T go a whole playthrough without picking up a bug buddy. It's impossible.

It also comes to light to me that, when you look over the whole roster of buggies like this, it turns out not one Bug is really designed to be “gross” or unappealing outright. I mean, I guess shed cicada skin can be uncomfortably crusty to the touch, but other than that, hmm. Nah, the closest we get is “arthropod menace” and that's about it. How do was have a COCKROACH Pokemon in the series at this point and the type is more or less squeaky clean as ever?! I guess I kinda do appreciate that Gamefreak rather legitimately celebrates insects as some really neat and fascinating creatures. Bugs aren't gross, they're cool! Bugs aren't nasty, they're neat! It's heartwarming to know a series as big as Pokemon sees insects and arthropods in more or less the same light as I do. Heck, I'm sure you could credit the series to warming up PLENTY of other people to be less squeamish toward bugs. Or at the very least think twice before they go squashing one that's minding its own business.

...That said, I wouldn't say no to them making more gross-looking bugs.

Top 10 Favorite Bug Types:

HNNNGH. This is too difficult. I can't. I gotta highlight more.

The Other Top Favorites:

There. My heart is a little more at peace now.

The Bottom 10 Least Favorite Bug Types:

Okay Fine

The 10 Bug Types I Wish Were A Little Bit Better:

Because the only Bugs in the whole type that just outright aren't my jam are Volbeat and Illumise, and that's it. The rest have just a little tidbit or two that I'd change or do a slight redesigning outright to get em to be up to par with other Bugs. Additional mention to Mega Heracross just because I'd almost rather Mega Heracross was its own, unique Pokemon instead of an alternate form of Heracross.

The Cutest:

Gen 5 is so good with adorable Bugs oh my goodness.

The Coolest:

The Prettiest:

The Spookiest:

...See what I mean? There is a CRIMINAL lack of spooky bugs in the Bug type!

Weirdest/Most Unique:

Shuckle is still a mystery.

Most Inventive Use of the Type:

How many times have I gushed about Shedinja's design throughout this whole review series? It's hard to make “the fact that it's a Bug” a real inventive thing by itself since it's a rather matter-of fact state of being for monsters like this. But these bunch in particular REALLY take advantage of their bughood and really show the designers at Gamefreak did their homework or just in general had some really neat ideas. Araquanid being a reverse of a real-life diving bell spider, a mosquito that sucks blood to increase its FLEXING capabilities, a cockroach that is a self-grooming neat freak just like real cockroaches are. Escavalier and Accelgor lumped together because of their specific interaction reflecting a real-life interaction between a beetle and its snail prey; albeit the ending is a little bit happier for this snail than in real life. Kricketune is a sadly unsung little stroke of minor genius in how a violin beetle gets to actually BE a violinist that plays its own violin body. Kricketune's just overshadowed by its own memey cry, sadly.

The Buggiest of them All:

I'm always perfectly fine with stylized body types when it comes to bugs, but I can also take a moment to appreciate the Bug types that are convincingly insectoid. Plus y’know. It helps when the odd bug type has the correct number of legs.

BUG TYPE WISH LIST:

NOTE: These Type Wishlists were written out before any news on new Pokemon from Sword and Shield. The Pokemon revealed over time will not affect these wishlists. Just to present them unaltered despite spoilers and in the interest of getting the wishlist out there, and to see which items on said wishlists get fulfilled by Sword and Shield!

[Inhale]

A Grasshopper/Cricket:

Despite their english names, Kricketot and Kricketune aren't actually crickets, but are actually moreso designed after beetles. So we've still yet to have any true orthoptera species of insect in Pokemon yet!! And that is a CRIME because Grasshoppers and Crickets are criminally underrated just because they're fairly common insects. God I could comprise of list of just some neat orthoptera I like. You could even kill two birds with one stone here by having an inter-species evolutionary line where a cricket evolves into a grasshopper!

Termites:

I'm still bummed Durant's evolutionary path is painfully underwhelming compared to actual ants. Where's like, the Queens?! And big-headed Majors?!? Either an expansion of Durant's current forms or a new set of Termite-mons would be really nice!

A Fly:

How weird is it that we've still yet to get a common house fly?! We technically have Cutiefly, but I'd love to see a more traditional-looking house fly. Or any other number of fly species if you're feeling adventurous!

A More Traditional Mosquito:

Buzzwole is absolute gold and I don't at all mind it, but I'm still feeling a bit of an itch (hah) for a more traditional looking mosquito. My first shot at making a mosquito monster in the form of my own Fakemon was incorporating the aquatic larval form as a scuba-diver that eventually evolves into a water-drinking and squirting big mosquito. MAINLY because I didn't think Gamefreak would ever even slightly elude to blood if they ever made a mosquitomon, yet here we are.

A Wheel Bug/Assassin Bug in general:

I just point out Wheel Bugs because they're easily my favorite kind of assassin bug, distinguished by the big gear-shaped hump on their back. But I'd love any assassin bug, really. Just look at their goofy faces.

A Giraffe Weevil:

I'm sure tons of people have seen pictures of this thing around the internet. And if you still haven't there it is. You will lay your eyes on this stupid thing and you will immediately understand why we needed a Giraffe Weevil Pokemon like, four generations ago.

A Bombardier Beetle:

While it may not look like much of the surface, this beetle is packing a venomous spray that it ejects from its abdomen to ward off predators! We could always use more Bug/Fire types, so why not pick this thing up and a flame-spewing or actual-bomb-chucking beetle!

A Dragonhead Caterpillar:

There is an irritating lack of insectoid dragons in the Pokedex that are actually classified as insects. You passed up DRAGONflies multiple times, guys! So fine, I guess I gotta pull out a more obscure wish; one of these bad boys! The Dragonhead Caterpillar is easily one of the sickest looking caterpillars out there, and totally befitting a Bug/Dragon type as is! The one sad thing about this is, like the antlions, it's another case where something's larval stage is a lot more neat looking than its adult form; for A Dragonhead Caterpillar would eventually become one of these:

...Yeah, while the Plain Nawab is pretty, its significantly less impressive looking than its caterpillar form, huh? Still no reason you couldn't just elect to give us a draconian butterfly while you're also at it! I guess I wouldn't be TOO upset even if an official Pokemon version of this bug wound up with a more fun base stage than its final stage.

Any Wooly Caterpillar:

I don't care which one you pick, a big ol fuzzy caterpillar is something CRIMINALLY missing from Pokemon at the moment!!

A Devil's Flower Mantis:

Mantids are some of the micro-world's coolest monsters. It's a shame then that the three mantid monsters in Pokemon so far are 1. A lizard with some mantis parts on, 2. More of a lobster, and 3. Not actually a mantis. And that sadly the latter means orchid mantids are out. While I'd be overjoyed to see any new mantis Pokemon, I think a Devil's Flower Mantis would be my personal go-to for a new mantis. It's just so god dang WICKED looking!

This Mind-Controlled Snail:

Because this thing has to be demonstrated in gif form to really portray the oddity of what's going on here. Although, the description is on the gross side, so here's a fair warning to skip past if you're squeamish.

This particular species of parasitic flatworm preys on snails. When they're eaten up by these unsuspecting mollusks, they'll soon find themselves getting their brain taken over by the pulsating worms that wriggle inside the snail's now-bloated eyestalks precisely to make the snail more enticing to birds to eat. Not only that, but the parasite also hijacks the snail's brain. Snails normally prefer damp and dark areas where they're relatively well-hidden away from any predators. These parasites force the snail into bright and wide-open areas like the tops of bushes specifically to make it as easy a meal as possible. They multiply in the bird's stomach before beginning the cycle anew when the bird, ahem, “drops” them off.

Obviously there's a lot of parallels to draw here from this and Parasect. But heck to it if I'd say no to a new, freaky mind-controlled hypno-snail. It'd be such a cool effect on an ingame model to see their eyes pulsating in color. You could even go ahead and make it a candidate for our first Bug/Psychic type!

A Stick Bug:

It's not super pressing that one gets in. I just think stick bugs are neat.

A Black Widow:

I know we got Ariados, but something feels missing from the spider roster in that we don't have a traditional creepy crawly-type spider. A Black Widow is about the most stereotypically creepy spider out there, but I'd love to see it for its potential either way.

A Peacock Spider:

One more spider while we're on the subject of spiders. And offset a spooky spider with a cute one! There's all sorts of fun takes to have on a peacock spiders.

A Pelican Spider:

No hold up. Wait a second. One more spider because I had literally discovered this thing as I was writing this very list. Look at this thing. Look at this spider. What the hell. What the actual hell. What is happening. What. I want one now.

APPARENTLY this Pelican Spider is a species of spider that specifically evolved to eat other spiders. Its weirdly long “neck” and extended mandibles are designed to keep its prey at a long length away from itself so they the spiders it catches can't retaliate with their own bites. That's so neat. I could see how you can intemperate that into a gameplay sense; make it specialize in biting moves and have an ability that makes all biting moves no longer make contact. Maybe that's not HUGE but.

A Dobsonfly:

Again, no pressing reason I can think of other than dobsonfly are underrated, and getting a nice Pokemon to go with em would be cool.

Gah, there's probably a good billion or so I could continue to think up but I SUPPOSE it's gotta stop at some point.

“How on Earth did we wind up with some internet person talking about insects for about half an hour's worth of reading?”

ANYWAY, that's the final of the type reviews. Sword and Shield are just two weeks away, believe it or not. It’ll be a while before I’m back into the funk of making reviews. As I’ve said before, I’d like to take a month or two to really absorb all the new Pokemon they have on offer. For a brief little preview-opinion, the new Pokemon are overall pretty dang good so far. There’s already a couple I’ll be excited to talk about, but if preview event-goers are to be believed, there's’ apparently a TON of new Pokemon to look forward to.

ANYWAY Future-talk:

I dunno if I’ll do something in the meantime review-wise. I would go back to look at the recently discovered Beta Pokemon from Red and Green and Gold and Silver, but I feel like I’ve not got a ton to add to that conversation in particular. (Literally the only hot take I can really come up with is the Baby Vulpix is kinda lame)

I MIGHT look into doing character design reviews for some non-Pokemon properties. I felt like it was eventually gonna happen at some point, I’m just not sure about it happening YET given SwSh are so close and once I’m ready for those reviews I’d have to put the non-Pokemon project on hold. Tell me what sorta series y’all would like to hear my thoughts on for character design. My personal biggest candidates are looking at the creatures from the Pikmin series, the various boss characters from all the various Mega Man games, and looking over the Champions from League of Legends, as well as reviewing the monster cards of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Mega Man would probably be the easiest. Robot Masters don’t exactly require deep analysis to critique their designs. (Though that wouldn’t stop me from getting rambly.) It wouldn’t be until the X, Zero, ZX, and Battle Network/Starforce series that the designs get crazy detailed.

YGO and Pikmin would be easy too, the only issue would be figuring out a format for what order to do them in.

League would easily be the hardest to do. Cause being the completionist that I am, I would want to cover EVERYTHING. Old versions of the characters, NEW versions, as well as every single skin. The problem is figuring out an order to put it all in. The easiest would just to do iit in alphabetical order and cover the skins of each champ as we come across them. But I’d ideally like to do everything in chronological order. Start with the first 40 champions and then pan out to cover each one in order of release, skins included. It’s just really difficult to find a consistent timeline on League content, especially for skins. I dunno. That’d be something I’d have to look into.

Either way, no matter what I end up going with, I’ll see you next time!

[Archive]

#Pokemon #bug type #The Bug Type #Pokemon Reviews

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kevinscottgardens · 3 years

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25 au 31 octobre 2021

Monday, the olive harvest commenced. It was exhausting. After work, I went to my chiropractor, rushed home to take some friends of Mme. to Biot train station, then went by scooter into Antibes to meet Matthew for apéros, and was back home in time for the Quinta book club at 20.30.

Tuesday another day of olive harvesting and Happy and Happier were true to their nature. I really don’t like climbing in the trees here; they are very tall and I’m trying to hold on to the tree and the vibrating rakes at the same time; it’s all a bit much. I’ll keep trying...

Wednesday I went to the dentist to have my crown fitted. It turned out to be two appointments, two hours apart. My tooth was 3D printed in the office. I ended up taking the day off so I met friends for lunch. I had a nice chat with Susie in the evening.

Thursday I arrived to the atelier first so I unwrapped the air compressors (used for the vibrating rakes), Couli (aka Adam, aka Christian) and I filled the tanks with petrol and pulled out the rakes. Once H & H arrived we were told we wouldn’t be harvesting today because they went to the mill yesterday, and we wouldn’t be able to pick enough by tomorrow to take more. Monday is a holiday so any olives picked would need to wait until Tuesday to go the the mill...

Friday I headed to Milan to visit Cristina, Mattia and their son Argo. Cristina is a friend from high school. She was an AFS exchange student as I had been the previous summer. When the incoming students arrived our chapter hosted a meet and greet. So we’ve been friends over thirty years ! And I spotted this poster not far from her house.

Argo was a very good Italian teacher. He was teaching me the names of animals.

Cristina’s home was fully decked out in Halloween decorations. Sunday we all went out to a community Halloween event then Argo went trick-or-treating from shop to shop, as they do in Milan. It was quite interesting to see how differently this imported holiday has been adopted.

Cours de français hebdomadaire

la charité s'il-vous-plaît - trick or treat

une fête costumée - costume party

habillé - dressed up

le maquillage - make up

angoissant - scary

mignonne - cute

Quel beau déguisement. - What a great costume.

un fantôme - ghosts

un gobelin - goblins

citrouille d'Halloween - jack-o-lantern

Plant of the week

Gernaiaceae Pelargonium ionidiflorum (Eckl. & Zeyh.) F.Dietr.

(Photo from Married to Plants)

common name(s) - fairy cascades, celery-scented pelargonium, violet-flower pelargonium, path geranium synonym(s) - Geraniospermum ionidiflorum (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Kuntze; Ligularia ionidiflora Eckl. & Zeyh. conservation rating - none native to - South Africa location - Vivaio Ciancavare leaves - small, deeply-lobed, softly-hairy, celery-scented leaves flowers - red stems and narrow, rose-pink petals, and appear from mid-spring to mid-autumn fruit - the ovary consists of five mericarps - carpels (i.e. it is 5-locular), which on fertilisation elongate; the fruit is a schizocarp, a dry fruit form intermediate between dehiscent and indehiscent types, in which each carpel matures into a single-seeded unit habit - evergreen, small, woody shrublet, bushy, somewhat spreading plant, to 500mm in height and width habitat - among rocks in karoo or karroid vegetation which is typical of Eastern Cape Valley Bushveld; this habitat receives an annual rainfall of 300 to 750 mm per annum during summer; summer months in the area also experience very high temperatures and the winter months reach below 0ºC. pests - vine weevil, caterpillars, thrips disease - grey moulds when grown under glass hardiness - to -5ºC (H3) soil - well-drained sun - full sun propagation - softwood cuttings around 100mm to 150mm long pruning - deadhead regularly nomenclature - Gernaiaceae - from Johannes Burman (1707-1780, a Dutch physician and botanist who Linnaeus worked for in his youth, Burman first used the name to describe some South African Geraniums in 1738; Pelargonium - from the resemblance of the shape of the fruit to the beak of a stork, pelargos in Greek; ionidiflorum - derived from the Greek word, ion, which means violet colour, and the Latin word florum, meaning flower, and refers to the colour of the flower NB - ideal for any garden that has constant dry soils; plant will be well suited for an area that experiences temperature extremes between summer and winter; good in a container or hanging basket and is known to attract bees, butterflies and other insects

References :

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [7 Nov 21]

Married to Plants [online] http://www.marriedtoplants.com/reviews/pelargonium-ionidiflorum/ [7 Nov 21]

Pelargonium Page, The [online] http://www.pelargonium.si/genus.html [7 Nov 21]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:376381-1 [7 Nov 21]

Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/12396/pelargonium-ionidiflorum/details [7 Nov 21]

San Marcos Growers [online] https://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=4304 [7Nov 21]

SANBI [online] http://pza.sanbi.org/pelargonium-ionidiflorum [7 Nov 21]

World Flora Online [online] http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0001064267 [7 Nov 21]

SARS-CoVid-2 update (incidence rate per 100,000)

#Pelargonium ionidiflorum

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kariachi · 7 years

Text

@mellenabrave

A birthday for your birthday ^_^

Rory loved her dad, she did. He was weird, yes, but apparently that was an overarching dad thing so she couldn’t complain too much. He loved her, wanted to be involved in her life, which was more than she’d expected when she’d tracked him down. It was nice, he was nice, to her at least, and, yeah, she loved him despite everything.

Still had no idea why he’d insisted they go across the country just to visit a zoo on her birthday. After all, they did have those back home. The flight was unnecessary.

It was shaping up to be a fun couple of days though. They were staying at the most lavish hotel Rory had ever seen, with marble floors she could see herself in and staff that called her ‘Ma’am’. Breakfast that morning had been at a diner where she’d ended up with a plate the size of a pizza platter loaded down with anything and everything she could dream of. Her dad had actually eaten when prompted, no picking at his food and only consuming a quarter of it, no hovering Levins required. Lunch was promised at the zoo itself, and when they arrived her dad had specified tickets that apparently would let them onto or into all the zoo’s activities.

So far this had included the Wild Asia Monorail, which had been fun and shaded at they’d gotten to see everything from elephants and rhinos to tigers and deer and red pandas, and a camel ride, which Rory’d never gotten to do before, and hadn’t ever even considered doing before, but damnit if it hadn’t been fun looking down on everybody as the camel loped along their pen. Now she understood why Cooper, Manny, and both grown Levins tended to tease all the shorter people. The zoo even had a theater they’d stopped at. A ‘4-D’ theater, where they’d not only shown a 3-D film on animals of the African savannah, but pumped in sounds and caused movement in the seats to make you really feel like you were there. Even her dad had been practically bouncing on his heels when they left it.

The pair of them hand only just left the Butterfly House, set right beside the theater and across from the Mouse House she’d been forced to see first, when Rory’s dad pulled her close to his side, clapping a hand over her eyes.

“Dad?”

“Eyes closed, next one’s a surprise.” With a half-hearted huff she shut her eyes and let him lead the way. It wasn’t long before they reached what she had to assume was a line by the way they kept starting and stopping. It was long, and crowded from what she could hear and feel of people surrounding them, and she was relieved at the eventual sound of a door opening in front of them and the rush of cool air that came with it. The grin on her dad’s face was audible when he finally pulled his hand away.

“Happy birthday, Princess.”

Rory’s eyes just about fell out of her head.

Everything was bugs. It was a carousel and everything was bugs. The details and murals on the support structure? Insects of every type. There were no horses, only even more insects of a rideable size. Praying mantis, honeybee, ladybug, a chariot in the shape of a dungbeetle rolling his shitball, caterpillars of varying descriptions.

“They have weevils,” she eventually said, her voice small.

“Which ones are those?” Wordlessly, Rory pointed at one of the appropriate beetles as it went by. When she managed to turn her full attention back to her dad he was just watching her, grinning like he’d just won an Oscar, and the dam broke. She launched herself at him, latching on like a barnacle and burying her face into his shirt.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! This is the best!!” His arm tightened around her as he folded over her, laughing.

“I’d hoped you’d like it.”

#fanfic #present for mel #yes this is an actual thing that exists

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kevinscottgardens · 4 years

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18-31 May 2020

Last weekend was a bank holiday and time just flew. I made a second batch of croissants that were a bit more refined than my first attempt; practice make perfect and they are deliciously buttery. Monday was the first day I met up with people other than Ann and Kitty since lockdown. It was odd this social distancing thing. It will take a bit for me to adjust. I met Mary Ellen and her husband, Denis and Susie, at different times, in Richmond Park. I ended up spending most of my day there and seeing almost the entire park.

Institut français sent around a questionnaire asking when we would feel comfortable resuming in-class tuition and I said immediately. I’ve been slowly progressing through Duolingo’s levels, now I need to practice speaking.

I’m enjoying my running, though once I return to work I’ll only be running weekly, unless I can squeeze one in after work while the evenings are so light.

I was so busy this week: I finally walked to storage with the pile of books I read over the past few weeks; Wednesday I accompanied Ann to have her car get its MOT and then we visited her parents in their garden and took the dogs for a walk; I’m desperately trying to finish painting the bathroom - one more coat to go; Friday I met a few friends for a picnic in Richmond Park (Sonja, James, Elizabeth, Rob, Alessia and Paul) and had a work Zoom call to find out what’s happening. I imbibed an entire bottle of Sauvignon Blanc Friday afternoon in the park and enjoyed delicious food and the company of friends I hadn’t seen in months.

I will return to work Monday, 8 June, the same day the garden is going to open to the public. It will be great to be back in the garden and to see how the plants have enjoyed this break from the herds. I will try starting work earlier to avoid the evening rush home.

Yesterday was Ann’s birthday and Kitty has gone all out, including making a Fuller’s walnut cake right out of the Mitford novels. We drove down to Ann’s parents’ where one of her sisters and her family also joined us. It was a really nice afternoon of perfect weather, delicious food and good company. We finished with a walk with all the dogs.

We arrived home just in time to watch the launch of Space X from Cape Canaveral. I felt like I was eight years old again watching the Space Shuttle take off. I had a thin slice of cake, some tea and headed to bed. I was exhausted.

Plant of the week 24 May

Lamiaceae Phlomis italica L.

common name(s) - Balearic Island sage, wooly sage synonym(s) - Phlomis balearica Chodat; Phlomis rotundifolia Mill. conservation rating - Least Concern native to - Balearic islands location - garden at home leaves - evergreen, grey-green, woolly, oblong flowers - whorls, called verticillasters, of up to six 2-lipped lilac-pink flowers in the upper leaf axils in summer habit - upright, spreading evergreen shrub to 600mm tall habitat - present in grazed areas and rocky soils pests - leafhoppers disease - generally disease-free hardiness - to -10ºC (H4) soil - moist and well-drained sandy or loamy soil sun - sheltered, full sun propagation - seed at 13 to 18°C in spring, softwood cuttings in summer, division pruning - dead, damaged, diseased, keep under control by cutting back to about half its size in autumn to renew growth and maintain a bushy shape nomenclature - Lamiaceae - gullet, the name in Pliny refers to the gaping mouth of the corolla; Phlomis - flame, the hairy leaves were used as lamp wicks; italica - from Italy

References, bibliography:

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/103535317/103535327 [31 May 20]

Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-152268 [31 May 20]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:453921-1 [31 May 20]

Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/25155/Phlomis-italica/Details [31 May 20]

Shoot [online] https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/phlomis-italica [31 May 20]

Plant of the week 31 May

Ericaceae Rhododendron ponticum L.

common name(s) - common rhododendron synonym(s) - Anthodendron ponticum (L.) Rchb.; Azalea arborea L.; Azalea gandavensis K.Koch; Azalea lancifolia (Moench) Kuntze; Hymenanthes pontica (L.) H.F.Copel.; Rhododendron gandavense Rehder; Rhododendron myrtifolium Lodd. [Invalid] infraspecific taxa - Rhododendron ponticum subsp. baeticum (Boiss. & Reut.) Hand.-Mazz. conservation rating - none native to - Bulgaria, Caucasus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey location - Richmond Park leaves - tough, leathery, dark green, oval leaves flowers - terminal trusses of 10 to 15 purple, funnel-shaped flowers in spring habit - densely branched, evergreen, suckering shrub or small tree growing to 5m tall habitat - from sea level to over 2000m altitude, occurring in deciduous and evergreen forests pests - vine weevil, rhododendron leafhopper, pieris lacebug, scale insects, caterpillars, aphids disease - powdery mildews, rhododendron petal blight, rhododendron bud blast, silver leaf, honey fungus hardiness - to -20ºC (H6) soil - acidic, moist and well-drained sun - full sun to full shade propagation - seed, layering; often used as a rootstock, surviving when the grafted variety has died pruning - unhealthy, dead, diseased or damaged shoots nomenclature - Ericaceae - erica - Pliny’s version of an ancient Greek name used by Theophrastus; Rhododendron - rose-tree, an ancient Greek name used for Nerium oleander; ponticum - of the Black Sea’s southern area, Pontus or Pontica. NB - Fossil evidence shows it had a much wider range across most of southern and western Europe before the Late Glacial Maximum, or until about 20,000 years ago. It was noted by the botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort during his travels in the Near East in 1700–02, and so received its name from Linnaeus to identify the ancient kingdom on the south shores of the Black Sea, Pontus, in which it grew. At the other end of its range, in southern Spain, Linnaeus' friend and correspondent Clas Alströmer found it growing with oleander. It was introduced to Britain as an ornamental shrub in 1763, and later planted as cover for game birds. It is now considered to be an invasive species. Honey produced with pollen from the flowers of this plant can be quite poisonous, causing severe hypotension and bradycardia in humans if consumed in sufficient quantities, due to toxic diterpenes (grayanotoxins). In some parts of the world, including Nepal, a controlled dosage of the honey can be taken to induce hallucinations for spiritual or psychological purposes.

References, bibliography:

CABI [online] https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/47272#tosummaryOfInvasiveness [28 May 20]

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [28 May 20]

Plant List, The [online] http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2418394 [28 May 20]

Plants of the World [online] http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:333114-1 [28 May 20]

Royal Horticultural Society [online] https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/100610/i-Rhododendron-ponticum-i/Details [28 May 20]

Wikipedia [online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_ponticum [28 May 20]

SARS-CoVid-2 update

#Rhododendron ponticum #Phlomis italica

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