sprinter, spitter, and stalker dragons. if you stand close enough you can see that their entire body is enclosed in a gel capsule with the exception of any horns that fire burning projectiles. the capsule is like a pressure suit that maintains a very aerodynamic shape, smoothing over any wrinkles in the skin (even extensive scarring). it is renewed daily via excretion from glands in the skin and becomes harder to break during the high speed flight regime. generally speaking faster dragons and those that fly at very high altitudes will have thicker coatings. the gel is a gas exchange surface at high speed, rapidly absorbing oxygen and passing it to the skin. dragons are primarily fish-eaters and hunt by skimming or diving (though highly derived or high-ranking dragons usually get their food delivered to their nests). all dragons have split mandibles but these do not open up sideways, they simply allow for the retractile beaks to slide in and out while skim-fishing, reducing the need to open the mouth. small alterations in the aerodynamic profile could seriously impact their flight, and opening the jaws is a very big alteration.
The RDS is back! We're open for business in our new building, ready to receive your parcels and ship your packages.
As a way to celebrate our return, we'd like help from you in putting the finishing touches on our postal office by designing a roof sign and/or deciding on a color for the building!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Through the month of May, you can participate in both the following activities:
🪧 ROOF SIGN
The RDS wants a roof topper for their new building! It should be something distinctive, eye-catching, and clearly postal-related. Inspiration might include the Malanya "roof" on the stables, or the Hudson sign!
🖌️ BUILDING COLOR
What should the new paint on the new building be??
Go ahead and color in the building how you think it should be painted!
⭐ As submissions are received, they'll be posted/reblogged. You can submit as an ask, a reblog, your own post, or whatever is easiest for you (as long as we can find it!). At the end of the month, we'll do a review of all the beautiful signs, decorations, and paint jobs.
Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get to work!
synopsis: “and it reminds me that it’s not so bad.” when raccoon cities new rookie they have leon doing rounds and he meets someone he finds…interesting.
-> or where you meet someone you never believed you would.
word count: 1k
warnings/tags: umm just fluff and its like non zombies au!
a/n: this is inspired by the veil manga GRAHH I LOVE IT SM
THE LOW CLOUDS WERE GREY. Docilely they sat still inside a frame. From the beginning to the end, the cold envelops this town. The owner of a pair of orbs innocent of the world walks, and the sound painted on a young man of sliver color.
"damn thing was left open again" Leon sighed as he sat on the brick ground. Leon had been working in Raccoon cities police force as a rookie. Sure it was hard just starting out as a transfer but he genuinely enjoyed the job so he endured. Although recently these kids who would run around leaving man holes open just to trip people to 'rob' them. Well as scary as twelve year old's can be. If people gave them anything it was more out of pity.
You had been walking around, only hearing the clacking of your white cane. You had been blind since you were 8 and you didn't really remember what things looked like before losing your vision but it didn't exactly bother you anymore. You were on the hunt for a job ever since you came to this city. This was the first time you were living by yourself and you didn't want to admit it but you were struggling to move completely into this city. Like looking for a job...
"Ouch!" Leon yelped as something hard smacked against his arm, multiple times before stopping. "Oh no...I'm so sorry!!" You quickly pull away your cane from where it was. "God I'm really sorry." This is exactly why you hated using a cane because things like this happen more often then you'd like to admit. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?" You felt the embarrassment rise in your face now. Although something you were starting to find strange was the fact that the person your just hit isn't saying much.
You could tell that they had gotten up from the grunt you heard. "Uh I'm fine...what about you, miss?" Even though Leon had been assaulted by this cane he still kept his professionalism. "Phew yes I'm alright but I heard your voice from below now I hear it coming from above...so I suppose you are pretty tall." You responded but sort of thought out loud.
Suddenly the group fore mentioned kids showed up spouting stuff about putting his hands up and 'patting' him down. "You guys I don't have anything on me today." Leon played along with a slight smirk. As the kids took something from Leon's pocket and scurried off. "Be careful on the street!" To you this interaction seemed like something a bit genuine until you heard he smile in his voice.
"Hm so are you maybe a policeman?" This question from something the young bandits said when they 'robbed' him, calling him copper. "Yeah…you could stay that-" He laughed, taking off his hat handing it to you. Taking it and feeling it to see that he was telling the truth about the cop thing. "That's my credentials"
You laughed that the man in front of you, taking out your little book of things that held your address and cards. "Here are mine." You just hear the flipping of the book but him just mutter something about you coming a long way which made you hum in response.
“Do you need help getting home?” Leon asked, politely well as he tried to be. This made you laugh a bit. “I think I can make it but you could help me with something else?” You proposed.
A hum was heard from Leon realizing you can’t see his nod. “I’m look for the police station, you see i’m looking for a job.” This caught him a bit off guard since he knew they were not in need of anyone at the station but he could still take her.
“Yeah I can miss.” He smiled as he stuck out his elbow so you could place your hand there so he could guide you. And with that the two newly made acquaintances made their way to the station unknowing what was to come and what relation would develop.
v.tired this is the best i got for now but you voted plane dragons and here's some plane dragons
This time instead of drawing a selection of metamorphosed biotypes, i'd think some more about the metamorphosis process, deep underground in the aquifer beneath the airbase. the larva is formed from the stolons at the end of the matriarch's tail. when the stolon is mature it breaks off and swims away. genetically, it is not a clone of the matriarch, but rather a clone of the matriarch's One Child formed of sexual reproduction, which lives at the tip of the tail (before the chain of stolons, which grow from it). Permanently attached to the matriarch, the Child is little more than a zygote for its entire life.
the clone larva swims away and feeds on the rich microplankton communities of the birth pool. it will continually grow until it reaches the manka life stage, which is about as big and complex as a clone larva will get before it metamorphoses. at this stage it is starting to form more complex memories and thoughts. the body is roughly a metre long and mostly translucent, with the dragon's cartilage-like skeleton visible through the white flesh. it uses the aerial organ on its forehead to locate more advanced prey, small swimming animals which can be tracked in the pitch blackness by the electromagnetic waves they produce.
manka are summoned to the metamorphosing pools by mature hive caretakers who use their own aerial organs to produce an attractive signal. the manka are sorted here into the chambers which will transform them into their adult biotypes. pictured is a newly-metamorphosed spitter dragon, after its months-long transformation from aquatic manka to aerial dragon. having to adapt to the action of gravity on your body is usually the first trial of any dragon, though the more highly derived biotypes cannot walk so are supported by hive-mates to the airbase. the dragon's wings require several days in an area of high airflow to dry and stiffen, though they remain flexible unless pressurised for fixed wing flight.
if manka somehow don't make it to be metamorphosed, they will live on in the aquifer until the matriarch eats them. old manka don't survive metamorphosis and cannot reproduce or materially aid the colony.
