#horseshoe crab appreciation

[staff]

tumblr tuesday: horseshoe crab appreciation

Hi, yes, hello. This is a horseshoe crab appreciation post. Have some horseshoe crabs. Why? We just think they're neat. And so do you, apparently.

@its-a-beautful-day: 

@infinitebrians:

@arthur-bn​:

@xiphosuras:

@creaturebuilder:

@meeks-just-wants-to-scroll​:

@lil-tachyon​:

@watermelon-sheriff​:

@surferofrowdybliss:

@hoot-alex​:

@thisdastampdoesnotexist​:

#tumblr tuesday #horseshoe crab appreciation #technically not a crab #cw bugs #i guess? #long post #many legs

[toshipaalpagmailcom]

#tumblr tuesday #horseshoe crab appreciation #technically not a crab #cw bugs #i guess? #long post #many legs

[thessalian]

Sometimes I think Tumblr shows some of the best of humanity. Not everywhere, obviously - there are always assholes - but ... I mean, come on. Our daily lives demand that we be ... flat. Incurious, unmoved by anything but the need to survive. To those who run the world, we're cogs in a machine and the only time we should appreciate anything that isn't "I have a job so I won't starve this month" is when they want to sell us something, and we should appreciate that without question. It's the worst bits of Brave New World and the worst bits of 1984, all in one.

But here? Here we tell each other stories. We create art just because. We watch the wonders of the natural world through digital windows, and we are awed and fascinated and our brains are alive for a minute. The adorable, the desirable, the awe-inspiring, the sexy - they're what we decide they are, not what someone wants to sell us.

We teach each other. We entertain each other. We inspire each other. We cheer each other on. We remind people all over the world to take their meds, to hydrate, to hang in there because there is beauty in the world. We live in a world where there are adorable little octopi and baby horseshoe crabs and little frogs that sleep in flowers. We live in a world where someone in another country wants to teach us how to crochet, or cook, or do home improvement stuff. We have experts - qualified or not - in every field, willing to teach us what school systems won't.

Yeah, of course there are assholes. Unfortunately, there always are. But I read through your posts, all of you, and I see a world that doesn't just want me to work until I die. I see a world that wants me to live, and most of all to enjoy living. I honestly hope the weird and funny and beautiful things I fill my own queue with help you all do the same. Everyone deserves to remember that the world is more than work-eat-sleep.

So thank you for the beautiful art, and the awesome writing, and the flowers, and the "It's Gonna Be Okay" posts, and all the trivia (even the kangaroo penis thing). Thanks for reminding me how much bigger the world is than some people want us to realise.

#Thess on Tumblr and humanity in general

[ruerock]

horseshoe crab + seaslug adoptables! reblogs appreciated! each is $25! payment by paypal, dm me if you’re interested! available: all claimed, thank you!

#my adopts #adoptables #adopts

[rwby-is-the-best]

the existence of a scorpion faunus does imply the existence of a spider faunus and i appreciate that rwby confirmed this later with trifa! although they are both villain-aligned . we need friendly "dangerous gross" animal faunus to dispel the stereotype</3

now let's take it a step farther.

velvet worm faunus. horseshoe crab faunus. keep going. centipede faunus. ant faunus. wasp faunus, even. how would it feel knowing there's a grim based off the same animal whose antenna you share

#hehe #rwby #greenlight volume 10 #greenlight rwby volume 10 #rwby volume 4 #rwby v4 #rwby v4 rewatch

[salamispots]

Hello, I've seen some of your merfolk stuff, and tbh it, along with other similar artwork has inspired me to make better art of merfolk by incorporating more of the original fish aspect of the tail to look like it fits with the human half (rather than making it look like you just stuck a fish and human together lmao) and while I'm trying my best with it, (mainly practicing with sketches till I make a design I like enough to fully draw and color) I can't quite seem to get it right? Any tips or examples you can give? Or maybe some art tutorials you can link? I'm pretty much a beginner artist but would love to learn how to be better!

Even if not I appreciate just the inspiration you've been to me!

hello! :0 and oohh merm tips? usually for me kinda don't think about the tail and 'human' half as separate things but as one whole? some things I like to keep in mind when I'm researching or sketching things out:

-scales/patterns/fins are a nice way to make the merm feel more cohesive! :0 (like the koi and leopard seal merm below for patterns) or to blend the human/fish part together more if you're doing a more standard merm. I also like using the fins for 'hair' sometimes.

-silhouette of the fish/sea critter (like do you want your merm to be on the classic side or absolutely funky or somewhere in the middle haha) for the most part sharks/a lot of fish/mammal merms fall under the classic merm category for me and when I get to non-fish/fish that aren't the standard shape I tend to have the most fun with those.

top row is pretty normal (koi, sockeye salmon, leopard seal)

middle row (lobster, horseshoe crab, feather pen) they're still pretty humanoid but the silhouette itself is more like the creature they're based off of.

third row (hula skirt siphonophore, hatchet fish, gulper eel) they're still merms but they're not particularly humanoid haHA.

I like drawing merms that also look like their counterpart in silhouette? which doesn't necessarily mean things will match up; like with the gulper eel merm I didn't want to make a merm with a big mouth and came up with her having these funky basket arms that she could 'gulp' or scoop up fish.

here's another example of that when I was drawing an anglerfish merm; at first thought of having usual the whole merm as the anglerfish and then thought it'd be fun if the merm was just the luminescent lure part haha.

hmmm basically it helps if you can incorporate little things/details you notice to the human half? my brain's kinda bouncing around right now haha/all I can think of for now but hope that was helpful anon! :0

#incoming woRDS jkfgkhd #art ask #merfolk #saturday asks #art help #process #but yeah have fun and explore! :0 #also have fun drawing merms hehe #also unrelated but thanks to the peep who sent me that heads up

[sarahmackattack]

OH SHIT. It's COASTER time.

The Learn More About the Shore project is all about highlighting cool animals that live down the Jersey shore. Philadelphians go down the shore en masse every summer, and I want folks to really appreciate the wildlife they're vacationing alongside. The water down the shore is pretty murky, so people often think nothing lives there but crabs*, but we know that's not the case! We're going to be covering some classics like the horseshoe crab**, and some lesser known critters that are also super abundant like ctenophores and sea angels. The coasters will include a facts hotline for folks to dig deeper about the Jersey Shore ecosystem. You can play with it if you'd like by texting "SHORE" to 1-833-SCI-TEXT (aka 1-833-724-8398, but on most smart phones you can just enter the letters).

We hired 3 Philly artists to depict 3 different organisms.

Katie Mai painted us a horseshoe crab! She made a whole video about her process, which you can watch here! She even includes some horseshoe crab facts in the video!

Kelly Nichols made us a Sea Angel, a type of sea slug! I love the combination of styles in this graphic!

Tiff Urquhart made us a Ctenophore. I love how her illustration really captures the electric experience of looking at a ctenophore. She totally nailed it!

Each of these illustrations will be going into a coaster design made by @seanmartorana. With 3 different designs, my hope is that people drinking together will compare which animal they got and the facts that come along with each of the different designs.

I'm sending these designs to be printed this week, we should have them ready to distribute to bars in 2-3 weeks!

Want to support work like this and get updates on the stuff we're up to (like a huge mural project about the Delaware River??) join our Patreon! We are a super small operation and could use all the help we can get. We aren't funded by major grants, we're funded by people who think connecting everybody with science is important!

---------------------------------

* much like no tumblr, people love their crabs around here

** we don't eat horseshoe crabs

#we love crabs #down the shore #learn more about the shore #science communication #animal facts #sea angel #clione #horseshoe crab #invertebrates #ctenophore #marine biology #crabs

[ms-scarletwings]

Every Dredge Aberration (2023), Part 11

Twinned Eels

Encyclopedia #139

Aberrant form of longfin eel

Description:

Endlessly pulling away, but torn apart they would surely perish. Two spiteful siblings splitting at the seams.

Comment: A bond stronger than will alone, and yet so short lived. Another creation of the Deep unfit for life in the old world. One way or another, their wish will be realized soon. I wonder if it was intentional for how easily we could compare this visual to the a most famous relic from the Aztec civilization, the double headed serpent.

How to catch: The elusive longfin eel feeds at night, gathered in the thick of mangrove water.

Nightwing Catfish

Encyclopedia #140

Aberrant form of catfish

Description:

Hooked barbels seek out prey in the twisting mangroves. A once sluggish fish given haste upon crimson fins.

Comment: Alarmingly, there is not included mention of the catfish’s own venomous spines. With those bigger fins comes ample danger in handling this river monster.

How to catch: Exactly as the above eel, with the minor advantage of a suitable trawl net being able to bag catfish.

Effigy Crab

Encyclopedia #141

Aberrant form of horseshoe crab

Description:

Wisps of yellow light flicker within this ghastly shell, a screaming skull with a spinal tail.

Comment: I wish I could just dissect the little mutant to find out exactly what’s ticking inside that bone armor. Whether flesh, gem, or fluid, the whole animal will be needed as one of the pigments making up the Golden Treasure paint selection.

How to catch: Simply set crab pots about the Twisted Strand, specifically at water no deeper than 10 meters.

Mire Screecher

Encyclopedia #142

Aberrant form of giant mud crab

Description:

A lashing yellow tongue whips around a mouth of flattened teeth. Two humanlike eyeballs burst between dripping claws.

Comment: When a wise man once remarked that he had fought mud crabs more fearsome than you, perhaps he had been referring to these. Take one of them down to Little Marrow to complete the requirements for a beautiful new paint job.

How to catch: With enough space, these are probable to also turn up in the same pots as your horseshoe crabs, but their full depth range runs between 5 and 25 meters.

Ossified Searobin

Encyclopedia #143

Aberrant form of armormed searobin

Description:

Chittering mandibles scythe the air in front of this deep-dweller, its small body encased in a suit of thick bone.

Comment: The first abominable spawn of Devil’s Spine makes for a fine greeting to the volcanic region’s gritty underbelly. A similar boon as the bony wreckfish, but accepted in grace.

How to catch: Pack a rod, and or your net, and sail the shallows at Devil’s Spine. They spawn by daylight.

Infernal Eel

Encyclopedia #144

Aberrant form of cusk eel

Description:

Grown fat from countless corpses that rest in the deep. The harbinger of a sick mercy for lost souls.

Comment: There is nothing I can say to add on to the poetry of that description, but I appreciate that this eel wears a big smile.

How to catch: Get ready to take the heat. They can be hauled or trawled, but only with the proper heat-resistant equipment… oh, and only after dark.

#dredge game #aberrant fish #grotesque fish #fish horror #scarlet talks about things

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

trick or treat !! I dont talk much here, but I think your v cool & funky and I always love seeing your funky things :DD

Thank you friend! I appreciate your kind words. :)

Tell you what. On May 8th, you sent me an ask about horseshoe crabs, and I wanted to make a little comic about them like I've done with Magnapinnas and some other sea friends. I did the research, I have the sources down, I even got to finishing all the sketches and some lineart! But, for some reason I lost motivation midway through, I just wasn't very happy with how my art looked in the comic so production slowly fizzled out. Here's an unfinished page with a distribution map for all the species of horseshoe crab! Done by hand by yours truly.

Blue is Atlantic horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus, orange/yellow is trispine horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus, green is mangrove horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, and red is coastal horseshoe crab (called Indo-Pacific horseshoe crab here) Tachypleus gigas. Hope this suffices as a treat!

#trick or treat #rabbityfrogs

[yourfavoritehouseplant]

You work in an arachnids lab?? Thats so cool!! Can you tell me about the research you're working on or the study organisms you're working with??

Oh absolutely!!! I’m gonna try not to doxx myself any more then I probably already have on this account though, so sorry if some things are kinda vague. Also keep in mind I’m just an Undergrad hired on as part time help!!

Also this is going to be long oh no

We technically work with Chelicerates, the subphylum that contains arachnids! The lab has a focus on phylogenetics and development, so our projects usually alternate between:

- trying to more densely sample the genomes of underdocumented chelicerate groups to create more accurate phylogenetic trees (we get weird samples in the mail of like. Sea spiders and horseshoe crabs for this). I usually don’t help with this kinda stuff.

- Knocking down genes of chelicerates we keep in the lab to better understand their genetic development, and how that may have changed over evolutionary time. (Out of convenience, all of the guys we have are just arachnids lol). Eyes, chelicerae, and legs especially have been really popular targets for this. These are usually the projects I help with (peeling and fixing embryos, micro injections, that kinda stuff)

I also take care of the little guys we keep in the lab so!! Here’s some fellas:

We mostly use the European Harvestman (a daddy longlegs!!) called Phalangium opilio. They’re easy to keep, have fewer genome duplications than true spiders so their genes are easier to knock down, and if we run out we can collect them off the side of a wall somewhere. Unrelated, but it was recently discovered that these little dudes have been hiding four secret additional eyes from us!

(I am not joking about the collecting off the walls part. I get paid to do that all summer. This is a picture I took on one of those walls.)

For spider stuff we keep the Common House Spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. From what I understand they’re a pretty standard arachnid model.

These guys have tiny annoying embryos that suck to work on, so one of the grad students also tried to use tarantulas for a while. Apparently they suck as a model but we still have one as a lab pet.

Other past grad students have done work with pseudoscorpions, the sister group of scorpions. We have two species from two major orders:

For amblypigi we had Phrynus marginemaculatus. They move like freaky little crabs. They also kinda look like freaky little crabs. We don’t keep them anymore though :( I miss them.

For Uropygi we have the Giant Vinegaroon Mastigoproctus tohono. These little dudes are dumb as rocks and regularly miss crickets I’m trying to feed them at point-blank range. Fun fact but they get their name due to secreting acetic acid (vinegar) when they feel threatened!

Both pseudoscorpion models have what’s called antenniform legs, where their front walking legs are modified for sensory use. The genetic distinction between walking and antenniform legs during development have been a focus of a lot of research out of our lab.

We keep a much larger variety of model organisms than most other labs do, mostly because so many arachnid groups are super underrepresented in research. It’s something I really appreciate about working here. Anyway, that’s the end of this insane ramble, thanks so much for asking!!

#I LOVE TALKING ABOUT LAB WORK RAAAGH #Please look away if you don’t like spiders though #tw arachnophobia #tw arachnids #tw spiders #tw scorpions

[thatmooncake]

Oh my god horseshoe crab Moon is the most adorable and clever mer concept I've seen so far I love him so much you did an amazing job AAAAH!

Asdfkfs thank you so much, I appreciate the love for moonshoe crab! 💖💗💕

#fableasks #will there be more? maybe

[eldritch-araneae]

Sparkpulse: Arrow of Time, Part 1.

First | Next ->

Relationships: Bumblebee & Windblade, Bumblebee & Sari Sumdac, Bumblebee & Spike Witwicky, Bumblebee & Rubble.

Characters: Bumblebee, Windblade, Rubble, Sari Sumdac, Spike Witwicky, Quake, Unicron, Shazraella and many more!

Warnings: Major Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror, Animal Death in chapter 2.

Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff, Action, Science Fantasy, Slice of Life, Eldritch Horrors, Spacetime Shenanigans, Bittersweet yet Hopeful Ending.

Summary: The end of everything is approaching. The cosmos is contracting into the singularity and nothing can’t stop it - The Big Crunch. Only two of them remain, Bumblebee and Windblade. As they watch the space getting smaller, warmer, and brighter, they dive into the memory lane. They lived a long life, that was filled with joyous moments, horrible events, pits of despair and glimpses of hope. They've seen it all, but was this life fulfilling?

Note: This four-part story is a compilation of ideas that won’t go into Sparkpulse major story, but I want to explore them, anyway. I know it’s set after it and will have some spoilers, but eh, we all know that matters not destination, but a journey :3 I hope you’ll enjoy the story ~ Reblogs and comments are very appreciated~

The cosmos were once a big and cold place. The distances between stars used to be immense. Each civilization cried out into emptiness, asking ‘Is someone there?’. No one could answer and fully comprehend its scale and loneliness. Even after mastering the art of bending spacetime, the dark ocean of stars still gave a false impression that it was going to last forever.

Nothing stays static. If all motion in the Universe would cease, the arrow of time would fly forward with the speed of light, taking everything with it. Change after change, transforming existence little by little, until the behavior of the very quantum foam has altered.

Now galaxies, stars, and planets are getting closer to each other instead of drifting apart. It gets warmer and brighter as it shrinks. Soon, in a couple of million years, space will turn white, and even the hottest stars will boil away.

A black spaceship, shaped like a horseshoe crab, exits from the hyperspace jump. It’s old and worn. There are many patches and welds on the hull; the ship was repaired countless times. Despite this, it’s in good condition, thanks to the care of its pilots - Life Wardens on the mission.

“We’re here, Bumblebee. Is this the last sector?” asks the taller mech, sitting on the right side of the cockpit.

Her body is red, with bits of black, silver, gold, and white. The helm looks like a crown, while her large manta-ray wings rest on her shoulders, creating an illusion of a cloak. The body is supported by a synthetic plant, especially around her face. Left half is covered in rose-like blue flowers. The beast’s head is secured on her chest, decorated with golden antlers and blue fins. Her optic is lilac with light blue pupils.

The Universe knows her as the Camien Sea Dragon.

“Yep. I sense the last life forms left in the Universe. After we’re done, I think we should find a nice place to rest. What do you think, Windblade?” the smaller on the left mech replies.

His plating is yellow and black, with parts of silver, orange and blue. His optics are light blue. Like his companion, his wings are resting on his shoulders, forming a wing-cape in his root-mode. They are blue and insect-like with five digits. Just like her, his beast head is on his chest, and his body is also wrapped in synthetic plants in some places. But unlike her, he has four arms. His head is crowned with two little horns and a pair of antennae. His spark energy is keeping them both alive.

Like his Amica Endura, he’s also a dragon. The Eldritch Dragon is the most benevolent and terrifying being in the Universe.

“Sounds great!” Windblade says, looking out in the window with a gentle smile. “The Universe looks beautiful for its last moments. Many people would kill just to see so many galaxies up close with the naked eye.”

“Even if it’s deadly!” Bumblebee laughs. “I can’t blame them. I imagined the Big Crunch to go in many ways, but the real thing surpassed my expectations. Though one thing I didn’t expect is how the Well would react.”

“The song.” She nods, feeling its soft hum inside her spark. It beckons. Bumblebee rubs gently his chest and leans on the back of the seat, looking into the distance.

“It calls for every living being. Each spark must return to the Well before the Universe contracts into a singularity. No new lifeform would be born and I don’t see a point in creating life either. We are reaching the very end, and it’s time for everything to die.” Bumblebee says in a bittersweet tone. Still, a smile forms on his face. “Which isn’t as scary as I thought.”

“Well… almost. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be traveling from sector to sector and helping people to embrace death and pass away. Are you still planning to be the last one?”

“Yes, I wanna make sure everyone makes it to the Well before passing away myself… which is so weird how I can just do it easily!”

Windblade snorts. “Right, for Mister ‘Immortal Eldritch Beast’, it sure is perplexing!”

Bumblebee giggles in response. There is nothing else he can say to the absolute truth. ”Alright, let’s get going and finish this!”

This is what they’ve been doing for the last several million years. Searching for remaining people who are still alive and helping them move on. Death is a strange subject, some fear it, some welcome it. Some people hold on because they want to meet Life Wardens in person, and soon the reputation has spread around.

People would gather in the last cities, waiting for Life Wardens to come and throw the biggest party at the end of the Universe, celebrating life and death.

------

A few centuries have passed before the last living being died; only two Life Wardens remain. As they planned, they arrived at the center of the Universe. Surrounded by the colorful light of contracting spacetime, they found a crystallized asteroid orbiting around a black dwarf. They landed their spaceship, and protected by Bumblebee’s spark energy, stepped outside.

“So, only two of us left, huh?” Windblade says as she looks up. “Now the space feels really empty and it’s kinda sad.”

“Death is always a sad sight, even if it’s natural and necessary.” Bumblebee holds her hand gently. “Deep down, I knew I would live that long to see the end. Despite that, it’s such a weird feeling.”

“I never thought I’ll make it that far, but I did my best!” she says with pride.

“You did amazing, and I’m forever grateful! The Universe would be colder without you.” Bumblebee embraces her tightly. “Now I just wanna cuddle until we die.”

“There are, like, a few more million years left before everything collapses. This is going to be the longest cuddle in history!” she snorts.

“The entirety of space will start boiling before it. It’s pretty warm right now already.” He says as he places a finger under his chin, thinking. “Technically, I can protect us from the furnace and we can cuddle longer…”

“On the other hand, I’m not sure I wanna find out what it’ll feel like when we all get squished.” Windblade looks down at him skeptically, but the next second her face lights up. “Though this is also gonna be the tightest embrace in history! Two records in one!”

“Two records right at the end when no one can challenge them!” Bumblebee says, and both burst into laughter. But suddenly he realized another detail. “Wait, but everything will contract into the huge black hole and we’re gonna fall into it!”

“Oh… so we’re gonna feel like we’re cuddling forever after we cross the event horizon and our bodies will be stretched into spaghetti…”

“A timeless noodle cuddle stretching into infinity… now I’m hungry!”

Now Life Wardens are laughing harder. They hold on to each other, but even the low gravity of the asteroid didn’t help them stay upright. They fall onto the crystalline ground, still dying from laughter. After they stay in silence, until Bumblebee breaks the silence.

“Remember how we first met?”

“A mysterious voice from the other side of existence.” She smiles nostalgically. “It’s hard to forget, even after living so long.”

“And you brought me back. I was so scared back then, but it was the start of a new life. It was filled with so much good… and bad, but mostly good, I think.”

“What if we will go down memory lane?” her optics light up as she sits up. “We’ve seen it all, so it’ll be fun to remember old times and all the shenanigans we got ourselves into!”

“That’s a perfect thing to do before death! We need to find a comfortable place… back to the ship or?” Bumblebee sits up and looks around and points to the left. “Or this rock formation?”

“At the end of everything, even rocks are comfortable, I see.” Windblade snickers, making Bumblebee laugh again.

“Hey! I have pillows and blankets with me!” Bumblebee protests dramatically, making his amica laugh. He stands up and offers one of his four hands to Windblade to follow.

They spend almost an hour making a comfortable nest within the rock formation, with a splendid view of the sky. They settle down, cuddling into each other. Since Windblade is bigger, she engulfs him in a hug. Content with comfort and each other’s warmth, they drift into a slumber, waking up in Bumblebee’s mindscape.

The mindscape looks like an ocean, surrounded by floating sparks from a reflection of the Well above, and his memory cells. Windblade opens a door to her mindscape, mixing them together. Constellations and coral platforms appear, in addition to her memory cells.

“Shall we?” Windblade motions towards a memory cell. Bumblebee nods and both begin focusing on the earliest memories. Living such a long life makes it difficult. The processor has its limits, and most of their memories were archived as life goes on. They still can recall them, just the process takes a bit of time.

Memories about his creation and his purpose, the fall of Cybertron and his imprisonment, his friends and his loved dearly who perished tragically, and later Windblade saving him. Going to Earth, making new friends, making countless connections with many humans across the globe, fighting against the rich, and achieving equality, peace, and sustainability. Windblade and others encouraged him to return to his role once more, opening a new big chapter in life.

------

A memory shows pre-cybertformed Mars. The red barren desert scattering as far as eyes can see. A spaceship lands in Argyre Planitia. Doors open, and Bumblebee steps outside, followed by Windblade, Starscream, Optimus Prime, and a few more mechs. There are several humans, including Spike, Daniel, and Sari, following them in the spacesuits. Slamdance is taking a position with a good view and begins their reporting to the audience on Earth.

Bumblebee doesn’t pay attention much, though he’s not sure he wants to be recorded. He walks away for a few hundred meters, while the rest stay near the ship. He needs space to work with. A commlink activates, connecting him with his friends.

“How are you?” Sari asks, knowing he’s anxious. “I’m sure you got this!”

“I hope so. It’s been a long while since I did something like this.” He laughs awkwardly. Good thing he’s in the distance for everyone else to hear it. “Though it’s the first time I’m trying to reanimate a perished Planet Titan.”

“If something won’t work, we’ll just pause and figure this out.” Windblade says, reminding that failure is not an end.

“And Slamdance will keep entertaining everyone back on Earth.” Spike adds. “I gave them enough space material to work with.”

“You got this, Uncle!” Daniel cheers. “I’m sure this will go smoothly!”

“MAKE THIS ROCK MOVE, YOU HEAR ME?!” Starscream, once again living up to his name, yells across the distance off the commlink, making everyone flinch or jump in place. Poor Slamdance fell from the rock off the camera. Even a thin Martian atmosphere cannot save everyone from his vocal box. People on Earth gonna have a little surprise in five minutes.

Bumblebee laughs and turns back to see the group. Despite the commotion and the stream, he’s glad others came. It feels nice to not be alone. He turns back and closes his optics. He stands still, focusing on the task ahead, only the wind occasionally moving his wingcape and antennae.

He struggles to remember the procedure for a few minutes until he relaxes and starts humming. At first, he sounds normal, but then the hum becomes something entirely different. His voice goes higher and soon it morphs into an utterly alien waving sound that no creature is capable of replicating.

A huge spark, so big it can fit a human megalopolis inside, appears out of thin air and hovers above the Eldritch Dragon. It responds to him with the same frequency as he, making as if it’s communicating. Then he activates a golden interface, floating around him. He opens his optics to type several commands. He outstretches his right upper hand towards the huge spark while using the other three hands typing. Thin threads are shooting from the fingertips of the outstretched hand, slowly enveloping the spark like a shell.

Once finished, he activates the execution of the code he has just written, and a cell forms around the spark. It’s not complicated because Bumblebee prefers randomness to drive the evolution instead of controlling each course. Satisfied with the look of the cell, with a swift motion of the same right upper hand, he sends it down. It phases through the soil and disappears.

Bumblebee transforms into a dragon and takes off into the sky. It’s hard to fly in a thorough, thin atmosphere, but he quickly reaches the spaceship, which engines have been activated.

“Get inside!” Bumblebee shouts. “We must get out before the cell reaches the planet’s core!”

Without panic or hesitation, the group boards the ship immediately. It takes off and speeds towards space, leaving the red surface behind. Once they reach a safe distance, the ship stabilizes in Mars’ orbit. All looks are directed at the planet. Slamdance in the background explains to the viewers what is happening.

“Do you feel it?” Windblade asks.

“Yes. The cell rapidly descends to the core as I planned.” Bumblebee replies as his antennae flickers. No one said anything else, save for Slamdance chatter. Suddenly, a massive crack appears on Mars’ equator.

“Woah!” almost everyone on board exclaimed at the same time. The crack spreads swiftly, as viewers can only imagine the sheer magnitude of the marsquake it causes. Crust splits into different pieces and the planet slowly unfolds. The head and prolonged body with multiple libs are visible. Like a huge shrimp, but more eldritch looking. It opens its ten amber-colored eyes and looked directly at the ship. Everyone froze in awe, even Slamdance lost their words.

Bumblebee feels the titan staring into his spark, and feeling how words are forming at the back of his mind that only he can hear and understand.

‘Hello.’ They said.

Bumblebee’s optics widen, not expecting the contact so soon. He stares back at the titan before he focused deeply on his own spark to reply.

‘Hello and welcome to the world. Do you know where you are?’

The titan looks around, spotting the Sun in the distance. ‘Near a lonely yellow dwarf star. Can I stay? Or I have to travel?’

‘You can stay, that’s why I called you. To revive this planet.’

‘Was it a titan too? Did they die?’ they asked anxiously. Planet Titans are born plenty, but the majority die in planet formation. This happened to Mars and Venus. Out of three titans who arrived here, Earth is the only one who survived.

‘Yes… but this time it will be different. I’ll keep you alive as you transform.’

‘Ah, I’m grateful for your aid.’

Bumblebee turns to the group. “Everything is going according to plan. I’m going out.”

Once he exists in open space, he protects himself with his energy and flies to the titan, making him fully comprehend the size. Bumblebee is just a tiny speck compared to them.

‘Are you ready?’

‘Yes.’

As they form a new sphere, Bumblebee concentrates a huge amount of energy from his spark and directs it to the titan, making sure their spark won’t fail.

The more the process goes on, the more pain he’s feeling in his chest. This energy gives life, but his body cannot sustain such large quantities of coursing through. His spark is pulsing fast and arrhythmically, and the lack of air in space makes it harder as he can’t breathe to cool himself.

He’s on the brink of fainting.

Suddenly, his technorganic symbiotic plant pushes the excessive energy out of him in a form of black resin that evaporates into energy particles. There is so much resin it covers him entirely, but it keeps him from fainting during the important moment. He kept the energy going until the entire process was complete.

New Mars is formed, with new surface relief, water, a thicker atmosphere, and the most important - the magnetic field. There is a lot of work to be done to make this planet a perfect home for cybertronians, but the most important step has been done.

Bumblebee feels weak and disoriented, but satisfied. He glances down at the planet to see they’re alive and well. He would admire his work and talk to the titan, but this feat overloaded his body too much. Sensing Windblade coming for him, he allowed himself to slip into nothingness. He will sleep for three days after this and spend a few months recovering before he could repeat the same for Venus, making the new age for humans and cybertronians.

The Age of Solarians.

------

Bumblebee comes home after a long day of work. The world tree of Mars, growing in the middle of an ecological sanctuary which humans lovingly named Yggdrasil, is a perfect place for him and his family to live. He carefully examines the tree to make sure its growth is going nicely. Satisfied, he goes inside.

It looks like a large house interior on the inside, with many rooms and enough space for each person living here: he still shares his room with Windblade, while Sari has her own. Several guest rooms are connected by a wooden corridor. There is a kitchen on the left, and the bathrooms aren’t far behind. The main room is large. This is where they gather and chill in a huge pillow mound or throw parties.

Bumblebee senses a wave of frustration coming from below, from workshops. It was Sari, and he quickly went down to see if she needs help. She’s sitting by the table, tools are scattered while she’s fuming!

“Sari?” he cautiously called her as he walks over and kneels beside her. “What happened? Do you need help?”

Sari looks at him and bursts into caught. Now he’s picking up a mix of light frustration and amusement. After she caught a breath, she turns to him. “Okay, okay, listen!” she says as she holds her left palm in front of him. “Do you see anything strange?”

Bumblebee carefully inspects her hand. It looks normal, except… “Five fingers?”

“YES!” she throws her hands in the air, then she pinches the pinkie on her left hand, glaring at it. “I can’t BELIEVE I forgot this crucial detail when I was recreating this technorganic body! I lived all my life without this damn pinkie and I was fine. Now I can’t even use some of my tools because I literally have no space to place this damn finger! It’s in the way too much, argh!”

“Come here!” he opens his four arms and hugs her. She hugs him back, though she kept on complaining about how this tiny finger is just an absolute annoyance and bane of her existence. Bumblebee could offer her pats and sympathetic chuckles.

“I guess I have to get used to it.” Sari says with a soft sigh.

“That seems like the right choice. How’s your body, by the way? Anything strange?” Bumblebee asks, worrying about her since she swapped her organic body.

They both worked for decades to make it possible for humans to extend their lifespan this way. Sari wanted to do this so badly because she didn’t want to leave Bumblebee and Windblade because she would die of old age. He helped her with his vast knowledge of biology. Now she’s the first technorganic human in existence.

It makes him happy. He wonders if Spike would agree to this, too.

“I’m good so far! My spark seems comfortable in the new vessel. Good thing I immediately went with the idea to 99% replicate the original body and 1% is just minor cosmetic changes. Like elven ears!” she says while touching her long, pointed ears. People saying they just gonna start calling tecnorganic humans “elves” and she’s down for that.

“True, if it was too different, the spark would reject it.” He finds it hard to believe that the procedure went so smoothly. His countless simulations and calculations paid off. “I’m happy this worked out. Now you can stick with us way longer!”

They hugged tightly, feeling content.

------

Bumblebee sits in the main room at his working desk. It’s filled with countless datapads, some snacks, and hypercharged energon. He needs all the energy he needs to finish planning ecosystems on two planets: technorganic Venus and biometallic Mars.

The estimated amount of work is so immense that Bumblebee doesn’t feel confident. One thing is taking care of one planet. It was hard, but manageable. But two planets and also Earth under his watch…

This is too much!

He leans against the chair and slightly slides down, feeling disheartened. The plan itself is taking so much time, even divided into small pieces! It’s probably gonna take him several centuries to build up the ecosystem on both planets, but people need it now. Sure, they can wait, but perceived pressures are slowly breaking him. Bumblebee is trying to relax and gather his thoughts, but it doesn’t help much. He hugs himself with his lower arms while covering his face with uppers and sighs.

Windblade, with sitting on her shoulder Sari, enters the room, giggling about something. They see tired Bumblebee and immediately rushed to him. The VTOL jet carefully places her palm on his shoulder, making him look up at her.

“Bee, you don’t look well!” Sari frowns. “Windy, we gotta drag him to the pillows!”

This makes him laugh tiredly, appreciating Sari’s direct course of action.

Windblade looks at his cluttered table, then back to him. Without saying a word, she picks him in bridal style. Bumblebee grunts in protest, but he’s too tired to object vocally. She walks to the huge pillow mound in the room's corner. Every guest gets so perplexed upon seeing this in the main room, and the fact it moves to different corners every time the visit creates a lot of rumors. Bumblebee could clear this up, but those rumors are very entertaining so he and his friends decided to them going.

Windblade carefully puts down the eldritch dragon into fluffy pillows, then flops beside him. Immediately, Bumblebee feels relief. He never realized much tension he was holding for hours until now. He smiles for a bit, but this smile quickly fades upon remembering the impending doom.

“What’s wrong? Do you need help?” Windblade asks.

“I just don’t know how I am I gonna do this.” Bumblebee groans. “Three planets to take care of! Three!”

“You definitely need a hand!” Sari says, carefully leaning forward to him while keeping herself on Windblade’s shoulder. “And we won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I’m not sure how you can help. All this work is repetitive and requires my abilities.” Bumblebee sighs. “Even if I give you tasks that don’t involve this, there is still a massive load of work on my shoulders.”

Everyone went silent and thought about potential solutions. Bumblebee’s abilities are unique and cannot be replicated, but there has to be a way to make his work more efficient and less stressful.

“I wonder if we could figure out how to share this power?” Windblade asks. “All sparks in Collective Unconscious are connected to you.”

‘Yes! And those threads connecting sparks DO transfer information!” Sari claps her hands once as she realized. “That's how new cybertronians simulate your learning experience in the forging pods, right?”

Bumblebee’s optics widen. He never thought of this.

“That’s an idea! Hold on, I gonna try something!” He closed his optics and went completely still, diving into Collective Unconscious on the spot.

He looks around to find his friends sparks in proximity to his. He touches Windblade’s while placing another hand onto his spark. As Sari suggested, he can feel that the thread is a channel between them. He tried to send a small portion of his energy toward her. It took a few tries until a surge went through the channel into her spark. He let go to confirm that the energy keeps flowing. After this, he forced himself to awake.

Bumblebee is greeted with surprised faces. Windblade stares at him while Sari is somehow down on the pillows, shifting her gaze between the two. He immediately sees that jet’s lilac optics shining the icy blue in the pupil.

“Did it work?! How do you feel? Are you in pain?” he barrages her with questions.

“I felt a jolt through my entire body and it made him almost jump, and knock Sari down,” Windblade says while examining herself. “I don’t feel pain, but I feel bizarre. It’s warm, but it’s not affecting my core temperature.”

“Wow, that sounds neat!” Sari stands up and rapidly climbs Windblade to sit on her shoulder again. “Can you make those shiny projectiles that Bee makes?”

She was about to try this out before she was released she has no idea how. She looks at Bumblebee for help.

“Hmm… oh I know! Imagine you’re pulling the energy out of your spark. It’s fluid, so treat it like water.” He shows her an example, creating the ball of light in his palm. She takes a few tries before a ball of light forms in her hand, identical to his.

“I can’t believe this worked!” Bumblebee stares in awe. “I… I guess we could try this!”

“Woohooo!” Sari cheers, almost falling down again.” This is exciting! Good thing I passed Sumdac Systems to another person, so I can do other things. Like being a Life Warden and help with your responsibilities. And we can share your markings under your eyes to match.”

“And maybe we could expand a bit? An additional system with more people to help you monitor the ecosystems and conservation.” Windblade says, idly moving the ball of light between her hands.

Bumblebee thinks for a moment. On the one hand, he wants to decline because this job is what he was made for. But he knows how this ended. He never had a choice in this matter, but he can’t walk away from it. So, instead, he will do this on his own terms. With help. 

“I like this idea. Though I must be careful because I don’t want to inflict you the same chronic illness I have.”

“Sure, we’ll figure this out.” Windblade smiles. “That sounds nice, isn’t it?”

Bumblebee smiles back, and he thinks about it, the more he likes it. Not being alone on this duty would be so relieved and efficient.

Later in life, he’ll realize that this was one of the best decisions ever he made.

------

The sun is setting above Detroit. Bumblebee lay in alt-mode on the shore by lake Erie. Spike is resting by him in a wheelchair, between his neck and right upper paw. They've been chilling for a while, watching the sunset without saying a word. The human has grown very old, his brown hair has turned silver and his already weak knees cannot sustain him. The age of 154 is taking its toll on him, but Spike doesn’t mind.

Bumblebee feels uneasy. He feels the human’s spark is slowly losing its grip on this old body. He doesn’t have much time left…

“So, how is Sari doing?” Spike asks.

“She’s well, and her new body doesn’t cause major issues. There were a few things here and there that required tuning, but this project is a success.” Bumblebee says,says, with a little hope in his voice. “Soon any human can extend their lifespan if they desire.”

“That’s good to hear.”

They sit in silence again. Spike, not saying anything else, makes Bumblebee even more anxious. But he has to know. “Have you considered it?”

“I did, but I won’t,” Spike answered, making Bumblebee’s spark squeeze.

“Why?” he asks, trying hard to not be desperate. He doesn’t want Spike to leave.

“It’s just…” Spike pauses, searching for the right words. ”It’s scary. Not because of the procedure, but because I can’t imagine living forever. I’m okay with the time I was given, and I made the most of it.”

Bumblebee doesn’t understand. As someone who lived an enormously long life, this was strange to him. But he knows humans are like this, embracing mortality from birth and making sure the time they spend alive wouldn’t go to waste and benefit the future generation.

Though, knowing this doesn’t make him any less sad.

“I lived a long life thanks to modern medicine, and I’m grateful for it. I achieved what I wanted to achieve and now I’m content with things as they are. Besides, I don’t want to outlive Daniel, my grandchildren, and their children.” Spike glances up at the dragon with a kind expression. “I hope you’ll understand.”

Right, children too. Sari doesn’t have any, and she tied her life with cybertronians early on. She has no one to outlive after her father passed away.

“I see…” Bumblebee says quietly. It upsets him, but always wants the best for Spike and if he wishes to die naturally, then this is how it should be. “I accept it, then.”

“Thank you.” The human smiles in contentment.

-----

Two years later Spike was rushed to the hospital because of his health declining fast. Doctors couldn’t do much before he became unresponsive. They allowed his family to enter.

“Where’s uncle?” Daniel asks Windblade, who entered the building in her human holoform.

She glances up. “On the roof. He says he’ll go into Spike’s mindscape.”

“Is… is it safe? I mean, when dad dies, and he’s still in there?” he asks anxiously, imagining the worst scenario.

Windblade frowns at the possibility, but shakes her head. ”Bumblebee knows what he’s doing.”

On the roof, the dragon appears to be asleep, but his mind is elsewhere. Spike’s mindscape is filled with stars as always, though now it’s slowly falling apart. The human, floating in the middle, sees Bumblebee approaching and waves at him.

“Nice to see you here, but you better not stay for long. This place is going down fast.” He says with a calm voice, feeling relaxed despite anything.

“Yeah, this place has had better days.” Bumblebee chuckles.

Muffled sounds coming from the room in the waking world can be heard. Spike looks up and smiles. “Everyone came, I assume? That’s great! I had a good run, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Bumblebee smiles gently. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Awww, thanks!” Spike laughs.” So, what will happen to me?”

“Well, your spark will detach itself from your body and go to the Well. Then, from what I know, it will be cleansed of all information. All your memories will be erased before you’ll move to another life.”

“Ah… like all-all memories? I was kinda hoping to keep some so I could see you again.”

“Hmm… maybe you’ll keep some echoes of the past or feelings. After all, Windblade somehow found me. Twice!” Bumblebee says, not sure if he should hope or not. He noticed sounds disappeared and everything went black. “Already!?”

Spike, sparing his last second, hugs Bumblebee tightly. “Then I’ll find you again. No matter the cost!”

The dragon hugs back, feeling how the mindscape is pushing him out. “I’ll be waiting. Goodbye, Spike. Thank you for everything. I love you!”

“I love you too. Tell my family I love them.”

Before he could reply, Bumblebee was forced awake and felt Spike’s spark leaving this plane of existence. He was sitting there, feeling numb for a few minutes, before the realization and grief painfully pierced his soul. He sobs and wails as the world cease for him, not noticing a pair of arms embracing and holding him tight.

------

Several months after Spike’s death, Bumblebee struggles. The loss hit him harder than he thought, almost incapacitating him completely. He thought he was ready because he knew this was coming. But in the end, it still hurt as much as losing Starjump and Lightbright who died tragically.

“It was my fault.” He cries into his hands, curling into a ball in the bed.

“How can this be your fault? He died of old age!” Windblade tries to reason with him while holding him close.

“I should have convinced him!”

“It was his choice, not yours!” Windblade says, quickly realizing she sounded harsher than she was aiming for.” I mean, would he be happy if he agreed against his wishes?”

“No…” Bumblebee’s sobs harden. He cries his spark out for a few minutes before he could continue. “It hurts so much, and I can’t even bring myself to do anything. I’m so lost and empty, I keep running into things I know he would love — I can’t, I miss him!”

Windblade rests her chin on the top of his head. “I miss him too. We all miss him.”

Sari comes back from her ecological assignment. She could hear him crying at the entrance, so she immediately goes into their room. She climbs onto his shoulder to caress the back of his head.

They stay like this for a while. Bumblebee deeply appreciates the support, making this pain a bit more bearable. He glances at the corner where his little shrine is. A Cybertronian tradition to keep things that belonged to loved ones after they die. It has Starjump’s music box, Lighbright’s filigree lantern, and Spike’s cane, bringing him a small portion of comfort as well.

As long as the memory is alive, they will love on in his spark.

#transformers #maccadam #bumblebee #windblade #sparkpulse au #my fanfics #sparkpulse spoilers

[rubystims]

hihi!!!!!! i would appreciate it if u could make an isopod or horseshoe crab stimboard (whichever u like better) that would be cool and lovely yes :]

we decided on the horseshoe crab one, it's posted !! bun did this one, i hope you like it!! ( also, i made one for land isopods (woodlice) a bit back if you're interested!!)

#ruby talks #anon ask #request complete

[ghostlycroissantgardenpurse]

Have a nice day

[bramblethistles]

🍂 Welcome to the wood. 🍂

Hello! Our name is Autumn and we go by it/its, they/them, fern/ferns, and thon/thons for pronouns. We are a system that identifies collectively as otherkin & therian. Here is our blog dedicated to that very thing!

We have several kins/theriotypes. They are listed below:

European/Eurasian badger (Meles meles) -> connected to fern/ferns pronoun set and the name Bramble

Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus)

Common raven (Corvus corax) -> connected to it/its pronoun set and the name Wormwood

Autumn (the season) -> connected to it/its and thon/thons pronoun sets

Sea monsters/serpents

Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Vintage RVs (70s-90s-ish)

Conifers

We will mostly be reblogging things that resonate with our ’types but original posts are going to be made as well. We are not entirely familiar with the community yet, and don’t know how much we will interact, so patience and understanding is appreciated. Thank you for stopping by! ~🍂

#therian #otherkin

[xtruss]

A tri-spine horseshoe crab kicks up sediment along the muddy bottom of the Pangatalan Island Marine Protected Area in the Philippines. After a decade of restoration work to the islet’s bay, its green waters are rich with plankton and ready to welcome back bigger animals.

Dazzling Photos Show Horseshoe Crabs Thriving in Protected Area

In the Philippines, the tri-spine horseshoe crab has made a home and other species are returning too.

— By Amy McKeever | Photographs By Laurent Ballesta | Published:July 12, 2022 | Saturday 05 August, 2023

Horseshoe crabs are built to last. With spiky tails, shells shaped like combat helmets, and sharp pincers at the end of eight of their 10 legs, these ancient invertebrates have been scuttling along the ocean floor relatively unchanged for some 450 million years.

They managed to survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Surviving humans may prove more difficult. Like many marine animals, horseshoe crabs are overfished for food and bait, and coastal development has destroyed spawning sites. But they also are collected en masse for their blue blood, which contains a rare clotting agent critical for the development of safe vaccines. The blood may be lifesaving for humans, but its harvest often kills the animals—particularly in much of Asia, where they are drained of all their blood rather than just a portion of it.

A horseshoe crab hides an ecosystem within its shell. The hairlike objects along its body are hydroids—tiny, fuzzy invertebrates related to jellyfish—and there are at least eight shrimps clinging to the crab’s pincers. Horseshoe crabs are relatively unstudied; little is known about how they interact with other species.

A tank-like horseshoe crab pushes itself across Pangatalan’s reef, which has benefited from the planting of mangroves and creation of artificial reefs. Members of the class Merostomata—which means “legs attached to the mouth”—horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to crustaceans.

Tri-spine horseshoe crabs have lost more than half their population in the past 60 years. But on the Philippine islet of Pangatalan, the species is an unexpected symbol of resilience. For years the island’s 11 acres were degraded: trees cut down for timber, mangroves burned for charcoal, and coral reefs overfished with dynamite and cyanide. By 2011 these horseshoe crabs, about 15 inches long, were among the biggest creatures left.

Now a marine protected area, Pangatalan is starting to thrive again. Efforts to restore its reefs and plant thousands of trees have led many animals to return, including rare giant groupers that grow to some eight feet long.

This isn’t an alien landscape—it’s an extreme close-up of the topside of a horseshoe crab’s abdomen. The gills are on the underside, and the dashes and indentations mark where they attach to the exoskeleton. The dark points beneath are minute spines that may function as whiskers do on a cat.

“Be beautiful or be shocking”—these are typical tactics used to get people to care about nature, says photographer Laurent Ballesta. “I think there’s a third way,” he says. “Try to show the mysteries. When you are in front of something you don’t understand, you forget beauty.”

Horseshoe crabs may not be as charismatic as elephants or pandas, but perhaps they’ll inspire people to care more about wildlife. Appreciation for horseshoe crabs has grown thanks to their role in COVID-19 vaccine development. Conservationists hope that regard will translate to stronger habitat protections and wider adoption of a synthetic alternative to crab blood—saving horseshoe crabs just as they’ve helped save us.

Golden trevallies swim above a horseshoe crab, hoping to catch leftovers as it digs in the mud for clams and other prey. As bigger fish slowly return to the reef, horseshoe crabs may no longer rule the ecosystem. But they remain symbols of its resilience.

— Amy McKeever is a Senior Staff Writer. Laurent Ballesta, named Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2021, is also a Marine Biologist.

#Photographs #Horseshoe Crabs 🦀 #Protected Area #Pangatalan Island Marine Protected Area #Philippines 🇵🇭 #Tri-spine Horseshoe Crab #Amy McKeever #Laurent Ballesta #Ancient Invertebrates #Spiky Tails #Shells Shaped | Combat Helmets #450 Million Years Old Species #Asteroid ☄️ #Dinosaurs 🦕 #Lifesaving For Humans #Ecosystem #Hydroids #Jellyfish #Shrimps #Pincers #Pangatalan’s Reef 🪸 #Merostomata: Legs Attached to the Mouth #American: Limulus Polyphemus #Tri-spine: Tachypleus Tridentatus #Mangrove: Carcinoscorpius Rotundicauda #Indo-Pacific: Tachypleus Gigas #COVID-19 #Conservationists #Golden Trevallies #The National Geographic