#but not really

[keochooo]

One of my personal favs

[quarterlifekitty]

Very directly inspired by this

141 as married!reader’s boyfriend

Setup: you’re a researcher and administrator working on base, often brushing with the 141. Your husband says he wants an open marriage. You’ve seen the way he eyes up the new hires at his office during company holiday parties. But he’s never been to one at your work. He doesn’t realize that your ring had been the only thing keeping the wolves at bay.

Johnny is the ones who leaves marks in every way. Hickeys, bites, bruises on your thighs and hips from how hard he holds onto you. Always comes up with an excuse to send you off wearing one of his things, smelling like his cologne. Maybe just a bit of a limp. Rips the lingerie you come with for an excuse to buy you some himself.

Gaz is the one giving you romantic gestures. Flowers sent to your house, special dinners for special occasions, sending you off with Tupperware featuring your favorite treats and a handwritten note signed with a heart. Remembers all of the dates that could ever be important to you. Plans things so far in advance— when your husband gets the Facebook notification for your birthday, it’s too late for a last minute date— Kyle made reservations for your favorite new place weeks ago.

John leaves his mark in the home. He’s the one your husband hates most of all— reminders of him everywhere. He’s the one who fixes things that your husband is too busy or too incompetent to attend to. Chipped veneer on your favorite cabinet, flickering lightbulbs in the bedroom, cracks in the front steps. Not to mention the beautiful, hand-restored vintage furniture he gifts you.

Simon is your errand buddy. It’s not unusual that your husband will come home and be met with a stony stare from the kitchen as Simon helps you put away the groceries after a long day out. Mundane little things that bored your husband to tears. Planning for dinner, going to the grocers and butchers, stopping to buy stamps, helping you pick out new pillows and placemats. Kisses you with tongue before leaving, knocking shoulders with your husband on the way out.

Nikolai… Nikolai doesn’t just take you out. He does getaways. Taking you to beautiful islands and stunning mountains to rest and relax and enjoy the culture. It’s been years since your husband took you to one of those tacky resorts packed with tourists— and it was for one of his friends destination weddings, so there was barely any time to enjoy the place. Nik knows people. He takes you to hot springs, snowy chalets, kampongs, country cottages, vineyards, cathedrals. If your husband is lucky, Nik will bring back a keychain for him.

[t0m0w0]

Hc Peter abuses the fact that he knows Tony stark, a billionaire, but not in the “give me a million dollars” or “haha I know Tony stark” way. More in a “get him to pay injured victims hospital bills” way like

Peter, as Spider-Man, after saving a civilian: QUESTION!! Do you have health insurance???

Injured civilian: uh no?

Spider-Man: dw that’s ok I’ll get Tony stark to pay your hospital bills then.

Injured civilian: HUH?!?!

And Tony just pays all of them cuz he can’t say no when Peter asks him to do something and Peter’s good at saving people so civilians rarely get seriously hurt, so Tony can afford to lose a couple thousand dollars every once in a while.

[lutheban]

The Solarians

An introduction by Anthropologist Bráss

The Solarians– "space-blobs" or "star-children" as they are popularly know- are a race of space-faring aliens from the λth planet orbiting ES-I+V+, "Hellio" or Sol star-system. They are a carbon based organic species who lives in extremely cold environments, with a thin, oxygen-rich atmosphere. They consist mostly of water and host a variety of essencial micro-biomes within their bodies to keep those working, along with constant controled-combustions that powers their organs and blood flow.

Despite all that, one of the most notable aspects of this species is their natural ability to sense light waves, and, subsequently, hear the stars and planets. Because of this ability, from the dawn of their history to present day, the Solarians have cataloged the void, around which they have build vast mythology- most evident in the planets of their own system, that are all named after gods.

By the time Savior-Grace left her home planet, solarians already had a space program much more advanced than ours, with about II+ billion stars mapped, having traveled to their natural satellite and sent data collectors into their closest planets and orbiters, and when the Star-Greeter begin their journey to our system only ∀V human years later, they had stablished settlements in both the Home-Counterpart and The Warrior-Protector, with plans for posts in orbit of The Thunder-Ruler

Due to time dilation, years have already passed on Earth by this point, so it is impossible to say what else they have; however, speaking with the crew from the Star-Greeter, they report that the "Save Stars" program became top priority when the Taumeba arrived on the planet.

In Solarian Mythology, our own star is part of a group of about VIV stars that represent a river or river deity.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Giant Emerald Pill-Millipede: this enormous millipede can curl its body into a sphere, and it's roughly the size of a tennis ball or a small orange

Zoosphaerium neptunus, commonly known as the giant emerald pill-millipede, is the world's largest species of pill-millipede, with females measuring up to 90mm long (roughly 3.5 inches). The size of its rolled-up body is often compared to a baseball, a tennis ball, or a small orange.

The males are roughly half that size, measuring only about 45mm (1.8 inches) long.

This species is found only in Madagascar, which is home to several other endemic species of giant pill-millipedes (order Sphaerotheriida). In the local Malagasy language, giant pill-millipedes are also known by the name "tainkintana," which means "shooting-star."

Pill-millipedes use conglobation as a defense mechanism, which means that they can curl their bodies into spheres, with their dorsal plates forming protective shields around the softer, more vulnerable parts of their bodies, just like pill-bugs or "roly-polies."

When their bodies are completely rolled-up, they look almost like gently polished chunks of malachite, emerald, or jade.

Giant emerald pill-millipedes have also been known to form large swarms that travel together as a group. This is the only species of giant pill-millipede that engages in any type of swarming behavior, and the purpose of that behavior is still unclear. The swarms often contain thousands of individuals, and almost all of them move in the same direction, even when there is little to no physical contact that would allow them to "herd" one another along.

Their swarming behavior also has some very peculiar features, as this article explains:

During swarming, Zoosphaerium neptunus individuals pay little attention to their surroundings; many specimens were observed walking straight into and drowning in small puddles. Some swarms even display ‘cliché lemming behaviour:' in Marojejy, a large part of a swarm walked into and drowned in a small river.

No single specimen was observed walking ‘against the current,' all specimens were moving in the same direction (southeast), even when not in contact with one another.

Of 273 randomly collected individuals, 105 were males, while 168 were females. The males were 8.3 - 14.1 mm wide (average width 10.4 mm). According to the inner horns of the posterior telopods, all males were sexually mature. The females were 9.95 - 15.4 mm wide (average width 11.4 mm). All females displayed non sclerotized vulvae and were sexually immature.

Some researchers argue that the swarming serves as a defense mechanism, providing a layer of protection (or at least some cryptic cover) against local predators, but the swarming behavior is still poorly understood.

I want to remind everyone that these animals belong in their own natural habitat -- they should not be trapped, bought, sold, traded, shipped, collected, or kept as pets. This particular species does not survive well in captivity, either, and the demand for "exotic" invertebrates is putting the wild populations in jeopardy. The previous article discusses those issues, too:

Another possible threat for Z. neptunus swarms are collections for the pet trade. There exists a large demand in Japan, Europe and North America for 'green -eyed monsters’ as pets. Giant pill -millipedes from Madagascar unfortunately have a very short survival time in terraria. The species is specialized on low-energy food (dead leaves), and adapted to the cool climates (<20°C) of the highlands. Specimens in terraria often starve to death quickly.

So I know that they're adorable and really, really fascinating...but let's just let them be their chunky, adorable little selves out in the wild where they belong.

Sources & More Info:

European Journal of Taxonomy: Seven New Giant Pill-Millipede Species and New Records of the Genus Zoosphaerium from Madagascar

Madagascar Conservation & Development: Swarming Behavior in the World's Largest Giant Pill-Millipede, Z. neptunus, and its Implication for Conservation Efforts

Bonn Zoological Bulletin Supplementum: The Giant Millipedes, Order Sphaerotheriida (an Annotated Species Catalogue) (PDF)

African Invertebrates: Madagascar's Living Giants: Discovery of Five New Species of Endemic Giant Pill-Millipedes from Madagascar (PDF)

[freenos]

Ok I'm back to being delusional! What if Melinoe eventually found a way to somewhat loosen the bindings of Arachne's curse, the way she did with her own. Like an Animorphs middle stage.

[pineconebastardart]

TMA Au where everything is the same except The Magnus Institute is a shopping mall and the archives are a Claire´s.