#ah. maxilla. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coffee-in-veins · 2 years

Text

Day 10: Monster

i hope we’re back on track

an entry for darkest prompts promptober 2022

previous days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

now available on ao3 too

Monster NOUN - an inhumanly cruel or wicked person; a congenitally malformed or mutant animal or plant.

* * *

Politely speaking, Hamlet had always been considered a farther frontier of the civilized world. In simpler words, it meant it was a rotting dump, crowned with the festering corpse of the once-imposing Estate. And while Dismas had been to other backwater villages during his volatile brigand youth, he was yet to see the level of hopeless abandon that seeped from this godforsaken land.

But through more spilled blood than his body ever had, years of hardships and oceans of drank booze, the highwayman learned to consider this dump his own. Yeah, it was stinky and muddy, and amidst the unfathomable horrors but fuck, he had a pillow here! A room to call his own and furnish however he saw fit - well, at least by half. There were even some people who didn't plan to murder him on sight - only occasionally. Impending doom aside, the place clearly wasn't too bad.

Just as clearly as the fact that the rogue sure had his priorities straight.

So what had changed? Why was it oh so weird to walk the streets now?

Dismas took a lungful of air, sifting through different smells, and blinked slowly - left eye first, then the right one, then - just to be sure that he didn't miss anything - he also moved the trichobothria to check airborne vibrations. But no. The day was as slow as always, everything was greyed out and flattened per usual, with currant smidges of pulsating melodies here and there. Oddly, the smidges moved out of their way to get away from him, especially so if he paused to pay them any attention. Dismas wrinkled his nose and moved mandibles and maxillae in irritation - thankfully, they were underneath the neckerchief, much like his wings were underneath the cloak he was given in the Sanatorium, so he wasn't breaching the quarantine. On a technicality. Very generous technicality, if Paracelsus was to be believed.

Still, moving amidst so many alluring pulsations was taxing, and soon enough he paused, confused and lost as to what he was originally doing. With a sigh that his proboscis made sound like a whistle, Dismas stopped in the middle of a street, rattling the soothing rhythm with his claws against the "Blood" vials' glass. Where was he going?

Why...?

"Fight me!"

The yelp made him blink again and turn to the burnt garnet smidge. Was this what he was supposed to do?

"Fight me! The spirits will me to kill monsters, and I'll obey! AH-KLORAAAA !" the roar repeated, and he was hit on the shoulder with what felt like a stick. Hidden by the cloth, chitin made the weapon bounce off harmlessly, but now the smidge got Dismas' full attention. They were fighting monsters...?

...the scent of burned frankincense and seared flesh. Litanies carved out of pained screams. Hot metal against his splitting, inferior claws as he frantically ripped armour turned deathtrap by the roaring flames. The smell of garlic and burned paper, and mercurial salve singeing his flaking off skin. Vestal's morose whisper: "He won't make it".

They were fighting monsters, indeed. Sometimes, monsters looked like wine-red smidges with delicious pulsation in their veins and chanted prayers. But their prayers were wrong, their verses were not the same, and their target was sacrilegious.

With a faint scrape of claws against the cobblestone, Dismas lunged.

It was easy. Frighteningly so. Wings were incredible for bursts of speed, and claws added traction. He was fed and rested, which made him capable of movements others could barely track. If he missed with talons, he had mandibles, maxillae and proboscis. If they ran, he could sense their red through the walls to run them down.

Dismas was exceptionally good at hunting monsters as of late.

His lunge threw the smidge off her feet and smashed them both into the nearest wall, growling and hissing. Since he hated being on the shorter end during brawls, the rogue unhinged strained added joints of his hind legs and fluttered his wings in a maddening whine, trying to look taller and bulkier than he actually was. Now to rip out the jugular...

"Enough, you old roach!"

He recognized that reverberating voice. Pinning the squirming smidge down with one hand and a secondary pair of legs for good measure, Dismas turned to the crimson, clear silhouette of the jester. The highwayman let out a demanding buzz, squinting his eyes angrily, all four of them.

He was merely fighting monsters! Weren't this what they were hired to do?

If only he remembered who hired them. But that probably wasn't too important. There were always enough monsters here... wherever this "here" happened to be.

Sarmenti sighed, his sole surviving wing twitching in exasperation.

"You have better things to do than being lost here," he explained slowly as if Dismas was one of the slow-ass smidges. The rogue huffed another questioning buzz at him.

"Well, for example, your holy nuisance regained consciousness."

Those words made the highwayman freeze.

...he knew they were wrong as he ran through the twisted corridors of the Estate, cradling the broken, burnt body. As he crashed into the walls and ripped his claws to shave off seconds from their path, racing against the death itself, he could hear the faint heartbeat, scarlet and precious.

Forgetting the almost defeated monster, Dismas leapt into running, sprinting through cursing mahogany and fleeing currant, using wings at first, but they habitually hid underneath the shirt as he slammed into the corridor leading to the medical wards. It took him a few more suffocating gulps of air to remember that - fuck, he was supposed to have a face! - and pull mandibles and maxillae closer to the sides of the face to make them protrude less. Flattening the sensilla was next, and with an irritated cuss, he started biting and ripping the armoured chitin off his claws, returning them to being fingers - fleshy, human and soft. Thankfully, his skin healed swiftly recently.

Barefoot and not remembering why exactly he was like that (and not exactly caring, frankly) Dismas stepped into the tiny ward, making extra effort to ensure that the smiling squint of his eyes was prominent above the neckerchief. And when the highwayman finally could take the bandaged, burned hand into his rapidly mending fingers, his heart gave a painful throb.

"Hey there, tin man."

They were hunting monsters.

And he sure as hell won't become one.

#dd promptober 2022 #darkest dungeon #dismas #reynauld mentioned #sarmenti briefly #reymas implied #cw bugs #cw body horror #crimson curse #i couldn't resist the prompt was fitting too well #fanfic #The bloodied journal page || my writing #The tapestries of words || my ao3 #dd highwayman

11 notes · View notes

everplaythisgame · 2 years

Audio

MR. MAXILLA: OKAY CHILDREN! Do any of you see any potential warning signs?

CEREBELLE: Not that I can see?

IRIS: ...Yeah, it’s wayyyy too far up to tell.

PUPIL: LOOKS PRETTY THOUGH.

MR. MAXILLA: AH. OKAY. I will just...b-be over here, then...~

Mr Maxilla staggers down to a corner of the watchtower, laying his long, screwy body down. He appears to be exhausted. Pupil runs to his side, leaving just Cerebelle and Iris to talk amongst themselves.

When Iris makes sure that Maxilla is preoccupied with Pupil, they begin a conversation with Cerebelle.

IRIS: Hey, Cerebelle. Does this guy seem kinda...fishy to you?

154 notes · View notes

ranvieranvieranvier · 2 years

Note

ok wait let's not get ahead of ourselves... maybe there's something nearby that could be used instead?

Mr. Maxilla pulls off his chain.

MR. MAXILLA: M-maybe this’ll do the trick?

RANVIER: THATS WAY MORE RATIONAL BY THE WAY ARE YOU THE SHLUBBY GUY I READ YOUR COMICS IS IT STILL GOING

MR. MAXILLA: Shlubby? Yes! Yes, that I am. But, I-I’m afraid that it’s been out of publication for… a good while.

MR. MAXILLA: It’s just…

MR. MAXILLA: Been so hard ever since it happened. I just lost all motivation. I can barely even look at my own hand gripping a pencil anymore without…

MR. MAXILLA: Ah, sorry. I’m sure you’re not concerned with it. Let’s just get on with the game.

82 notes · View notes

mothwithteeth · 3 years

Text

oh wait shit i do have a college ford thing

i'm not proofreading this one either <3

The words on the book in front of you are blurring and you’ve read the same three sentences at least 6 times. You snap the book closed, startling Ford, who’s snuggled up next to you with his own textbook his lap. You let out a deep sigh and get up to stretch. Since it's just you and Ford for the night, and the dorm is hotter than hell, you’re both in your underwear. You see his eyes just barely over the textbook he’s trying to hide behind and give him a cheeky grin. He closes his own textbook, stretching his arms. “Well, you seem to be done studying. Want to go grab a bite and try to get back to it later?” Ford asks.

“Oh, I’m not done studying yet.” You smirk, and the look on Ford’s face is one of confusion and a little apprehension. Nothing good comes from that look.

You enjoy the look on Ford’s face before you get back on the bed, pushing Ford until he’s laying flat on his back. “What does this have to do with studying?” His face is red.

“Shush I have to concentrate,” you chide him. He tries to sit up, but you put on hand on his chest. “Hold still!” Ford sighs, but lays back down. It’s better to just let you wear yourself out.

“What are you doing?” He asks as you crawl backwards to the foot of the bed, near his ankles.

“Studying. I have an anatomy exam on Thursday,” you wink, before ducking down to kiss his ankle. “Tarsals.” You move up, kissing his shin, “Tibia.”

You hear Ford’s breath quicken above you, but you’ve only just started. You kiss his calf, tilting your head to the side, “Fibula.” You’re crawling up the side of him, trailing kisses along him. “Patella,” a kiss to the kneecap, “Femur,” a kiss to the thigh. You reach his pubic bone, and consciously skip it. Can’t let things get too interesting. You probably couldn’t get near it anyway, there’s, ah, something in the way.

Ford is gripping the sheets when you kiss his waist, just at the elastic of his boxers on the right side of him, “Ilium.” You kiss the middle of his stomach “We’ll pretend I’m near your vertebrae, okay?” You look up, his eyes are hazy and he’s breathing heavy. He nods when he realizes you won’t continue until he responds, but words aren’t coming. Perfect.

You can feel the tension in his muscles under your fingertips and lips. Ford’s trying so hard to be still, to be good, lest you stop. You keep going, kissing his side, eliciting a gasp and a shiver. You’re not sure if it's because you tickled him or he’s getting more excited. “Ribs.” You take his hand in yours, holding it palm up. You kiss each finger, one at a time, “phalanges.” You kiss his palm, “metatarsals.” A quick nip to the inside of his wrist, followed by a soft kiss. Ford groans under your ministrations, “tarsals.” You keep kissing up the inside of his arm, “ulna,” and a kiss to the outside of his arm, turned over in your hands “and radius.” You kiss his bicep, relishing the chance to feel it under your lips, “humerus.”

You straddle Ford’s hips and he tries to grind into you, but you rise up just enough to where he can’t get the friction he’s desperate for. You have to finish studying, after all. He lets out a whine, and you scold him, “Shush. I’m trying to study,” and you lean down to kiss his lips. “Now let me finish,” you whisper into his ear, earning you another whine. He stills his hips, and you continue.

You kiss the center of Ford’s chest “sternum,” and his shoulder, “scapula.” You kiss his collarbones, first one, then the other “clavicle.” He’s getting more impatient. You kiss his neck, then bite gently, “cervical vertebrae.” you’re practically in his ear, your voice low and breathy. You can feel how badly he wants to touch you, but he’s being an excellent model. You kiss the underside of his jaw, “mandible,” and his cheek, “maxilla.” One more to go. You make sure to lean on Ford as much as possible to kiss his forehead, “cranium.” He’s panting under you, desperate for you to touch him.

“I think I’m ready for my exam now! Let’s go eat!” you jump up off of him and go to your closet to grab your clothes, but you’re stopped by a strong arm around your middle. You’re dragged back to the bed, rolled quickly under Ford. “Where do you think you’re going?” He growls in your ear. You must have really gotten under his skin; he never takes control like this.

You feel a hand inching down your stomach, under the band of your panties. He slips a finger just barely into you. “I’m not the only one worked up here. And you were just going to leave me like this?” Ford teases. You let out a high moan in response as his finger finds your clit, circling it slowly. You lurch up into him, wrapping your arms tight around him, stifling your cries into his neck. He slips two fingers into you, stretching you out. Neither of you have the patience to do much more than that.

Ford reaches under the bed to grab a box of condoms, pulls one out, and has it on in record time. He doesn’t even take off your panties or his boxers. He pushes your underwear to the side and sinks into you. Too slowly, you’re stretched out around his thick cock as he bottoms out. It only takes a moment for you to adjust and tell him to move, and he complies, still too slow. His thrusts are slow but deep, driving in to the hilt on every stroke, and it's making you crazy.

You’re whining and trying to thrust your hips to get more, faster, anything. Ford’s patience slips, and he picks up the pace, and you reply with a scream of his name. Hopefully the windows aren’t open. As it is the people on your floor are going to be less than pleased with you, but you’re too lost in the sensation to muffle yourself.

Soon Ford is thrusting into you at a breakneck pace, wearing you and himself out. When he lowers his hand to play with your clit, you’re tossed over the edge into a mind numbing orgasm. You can’t even scream, there’s too much and it's prevented you from doing anything other than clinging to Ford for dear life. Your orgasm pushes Ford into his own. Your heat clenching down on him, your heavy breathing in his ear, the scratches on his back, it's all too much, and his orgasm hits him like a train. This is easily the best sex he’s ever had, and the same goes for you.

As you both come down, panting and sweating, Ford rolls off of you. It’s still too hot for too much of that, but he still holds you relatively close. “That’s, uh, one way to get a lesson to stick, ha.” You look over to Ford and make unexpected eye contact. He looks deep in thought. “Everything okay?” you ask.

“That was, without a doubt, the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he says, not taking his eyes off yours. You avert your eyes first, turning what must be a spectacular shade of red.

“I try,” you give him a grin. “For real though, let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

#ford pines x reader #no one is allowed to call me a nerd

76 notes · View notes

dorkylittleweirdo · 4 years

Text

the lesbian himbo solidarity post

okay so. basically this dude named max was in my anatomy class and we sat next to each other for the whole year so we had No Choice but to vibe

so he’s a Large football jock and i’m smol. we were both seniors tho and there were only three seniors in that class so we bonded over that. so he looks,, really scary tbh. like. ya know. the Exact type of person who would bully you and call you slurs. so i was like “oh god oh god oh god” every class bc i was like “this is it, this is the day i Die by his hand”

the first time we really vibed was when i came from culinary one friday bc i had culinary right before anatomy. and i had Cookies. a lot of them. and i had them in a little brown paper bag sitting right in the corner of my desk just bc like why not. cue max rolling up to class, throwing his stuff down and coming up Right Next To Me and Intensely eyeing the bag before going “hey jc, whatcha got there”. and i went “...cookies from my culinary class” and he just “👀👀” so i go “do you,, do you want one?”. g r a b s the bag while yelling “HELL YEAH” and really excitedly just eats a cookie and i just go “you can,, you can just take the bag if you want”. he obviously took the bag. we were Bros from that day on

i was Notorious for being the Class Nerd bc i loved anatomy and i had over 100% in the class. he was Not as into anatomy and just wanted to vibe and i feel that bc i had a class like that too, so i just gave him my notes and warm up answers to copy bc i’m Like That. we had like,, a system in place, so he would tell jokes or just say random shit and i’d kinda laugh and vibe while taking notes

one time i was kinda tired and staring off into space and he rolled up to class and goes “jcccc why are you saaaad :((” and i was like “i,, i’m not???” and he was like super confident that i was Going Through It and was like “you can’t lie to me, i already saw that sad face” i’m like “you mean my Normal Face???”. but so while i was taking notes that day, he leaned over and drew a lil happy face on my packet, so i looked over and smiled at him. aND NOT EVEN A MINUTE LATER, he leans back over and turns it into a dick. and i go “b r o i gotta turn this shit in i’m gonna get in trouble?????” and he Panicked on my behalf, Stood Up in his seat, Y E L L S to the teacher “SIR, I DREW A M A L E G E N I T A L I A ON JC’S NOTES, IT’S NOT HER FAULT”. teacher just Looks over at us, blinks, goes back to his lecture. my face is Red, max turns to me, w i n k s, and goes “i gochu”

so my group Abandoned Me one day for a lab bc neither of them were there and i rolled up to the teacher like “k i’ll be Stabbing A Brain alone today” and my teacher’s like “but??? you need to Poke A Brain With A Group” and i go “but i have None Friends and my group mates aren’t here”. so max heard this whole interaction go down and is like “jc i Cannot Believe, you’re gonna group with us”. drags me over to some other people who sit near us that i anxiously vibe with, who had apparently been struggling to stab the labels into the brain for like seven minutes before i rolled up. max goes “okay guys jc’s in our group”. everyone’s hype. i labeled it, filled out the sheet, let everyone copy it, and all of us vibed for like half an hour

he was struggling to label to bones in the body for our warm up. two minutes in he goes “damn i know like,, four of these. jc how many do you know”, looks over at my worksheet, his eyes pop out of his damn skull. “JC ARE YOU FUCKIN SERIOUS”. holds up my worksheet that’s completely filled out, points aggressively at it while looking at our teacher, “ARE YOU SEEIN THIS SHIT???”

straight up asked if i was a mom one time bc he said i give off “mom vibes”. his response to me not wanting kids was “really??? i want like six”. appreciated me saying “oh, well i want a career” a little too much bc he couldn’t stop laughing

a regular occurrence was me finishing a worksheet really fast and standing to turn it in, then max going “sit your ass back down, i needa see that” followed by “bro i appreciate you actually letting me copy your shit but Please write neater”. his handwriting was worse than mine and he could read my writing but he likes to Complain

another Regular Occurrence was me finishing a test in about five minutes followed by him yelling “JC ARE YOU F U C K I N G KIDDING ME”

i’d bring food from culinary a lot and he’d just go “👀” and i would just give it to him and he’d be so excited and go “jc you’re the best” while proceeding to shove a cupcake down his face or whatever else it was i brought while M O A N I N G

he asked me one time why i’m so nervous around him, and he was probably expecting me to say some shit like “oh nooo i’m not i’m just Shy tm” but i Instantly responded with “bc you look like you’re gonna call me a slur in the 7/11″ and he was so genuinely upset and he goes “noooo jc D: i’m not a baseball boy” and i Died

some dude smacked him on the back of his head and he goes “OW MY-” looks at me, “hey jc, what’s the back of the head called again?” and i go “the occipital” and he’s like “great, thanks”, turns around again to the other dude, “MY O C C I P I T A L”

“jc have you ever been depressed” “max i have depression” “sick, you should listen to this band”

he slowly tried to put something on my desk and i was still adjusting to “okay not everyone is gonna hit me” and thought he was trying to do like a fistbump or something. and he goes “oh no i wasn’t-” and i’m like “oKaY yEaH iT’S fiNe”, he puts whatever lil eraser on my desk then goes “NO NO, GIVE ME SOME JC” and fistbumped me but it still Haunts Me bc he Was Not Trying To Do That

“i’m gonna go as a cop for halloween” “...okay max” “all i have to do is wear a wifebeater shirt” “i-” “because. because ya know. cops beat their wives”

asked what kind of music i listen to once, and i went “uh,, it depends” he goes “what are you listening to now??” aND I HAD TO GO “um,, bruises and bitemarks” and he screeched bc whatever he was expecting from the shy quiet girl who sits next to him, it was Not That

so i wasn’t sure how to like,, come out but i have a bunch of gay pins on my backpack so i didn’t know if he knew or not. but then one time he just starts asking the people around him if they would kiss/date someone of the same gender. so i go “i mean,, yeah” and he goes “wait really” and i was Scared tm bc oh god here it comes. i go “yeah” he goes “full gay or like bi” and i was like “full,, full gay. i’m a lesbian” and he’s like “BROOOO THAT’S SICK :D” and he was so genuinely excited that i like girls

ever since he found out that i’m a lesbian, he would move his desk reeeeaaally close to mine to show me pictures of girls and be like “hey hey what do you think of her”, trying to invite me to parties so he could set me up with someone, attempting to be my wingman

he constantly shoved one of his earbuds into my ear so i could bop to his music with him. set his phone on my desk a few times so i could choose something and i go “oh no, i have garbage taste in music” and he goes “well i don’t, that’s why you’re choosing from my playlist” and i just Sat there like “wow okay but also that’s valid”. he shockingly had a few songs on there that i listen to, so we vibed to those. he listened to my playlists a couple times and he’d be like “most of these are either depressing, horny, or gay, and that sums you up pretty well” and i was Offended but he’s right

“hey jc, what’s the bone that sounds like my name” “...maxilla???” “fuck yeah, there’s a bone named after me”

asked me if i ever had a girlfriend before and i was like “n o :((((” and he’s like “on god bro, you gonna get you some pussy”

every time he’d see me out of class, he point at me and wave really aggressively and be like “HI JC :D” and i’d kinda wave back really shyly while watching him tell whoever he was with that we were bros. after a couple times, i asked him next class why he waved at me and he’s like “why wouldn’t i??” and i go “um. bc you’re pretty popular and well liked and nobody knows i exist and i’m pretty uncool????” and he deadass is like “J C NOO YOU’RE REALLY COOL WYM PEOPLE LIKE YOU” and that’s how i found out that people actually knew me bc a bunch of the football guys i talked to in anatomy would point me out when they saw me bc they liked vibing with me so that was A Time. made sense why random people would like,, nod at me while walking by

i brought cookies for my teachers and friends on valentine’s day and i gave max a couple and i was like “hey i’m giving these to all my friends so like here” and he just “jc you consider us friends???” and i thought he was gonna laugh at me and i just went “ah,,, yeah” and he was So Excited

#theres probably more tbh #i just dont remember rn #anatomy class #high school #school #school stories #we stan a himbo #lgbt #lesbian himbo solidarity #lesbian #himbo

243 notes · View notes

jurassicsunsets · 4 years

Text

Choanae: Evolution

If you’ve read about anatomy, you’re likely to have encountered diagrams like this:

(Image: The skull of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph Massospondylus, with labels pointing to the holes of the skull: Supratemporal fenestra, lateral temporal fenestra, mandibular fenestra, orbit, antorbital fenestra, external naris. [Source])

One thing that always struck me as peculiar about these diagrams is that they say “naris” instead of “nostril”, since they pretty much mean the same thing. Another thing that always struck me as peculiar as that they say “external” nostril. What, as if there’s an internal nostril?

There is. Welcome to the world of the choana.

(Image: The skull of a cat in bottom view, showing the choanae (circled in dashed lines) at the back of the mouth, behind the palatine and below the vomer.)

The World of the Choana

The choanae (pronounced koh-ahn-ay, singular choanae/koh-ahn-ah) are openings at the other end of the nasal passage that connect the nostrils to the mouth. They’re what allows you to breath when your mouth is closed, unless you can’t do that, which is okay and I have trouble with it too.

From Whence Came the Choana?

The choanae evolved first not as internal nostrils, but as posterior nostrils.

(Image: A diagram of the skull of Onychodus, a type of lobe-finned fish that lived in Australia during the Devonian (about 375 million years ago). Labels point out the anterior (front) and posterior (rear) nostril - both are on the outside. Modified from Long (2001).)

(Image: A photo of a living trout, showing the anterior and posterior nostrils. [Source])

In most fish – including those today! – there are two pairs of nostrils on each side: the anterior and posterior nostril, and both are on the outside of the skull. Water flows in through the anterior nostril, over the olfactory/smell sensors, and then back out the posterior nostril.

In the line that led towards modern tetrapods, however, something changed. Some of the earliest tetrapodomorphs (that is, everything closer related to tetrapods than to lungfish) started to move the posterior nostril lower. Why? I’m not entirely sure, but it may have something to do with improving the sense of smell. (These early tetrapodomorphs had not yet really begun to explore land.)

But in modern tetrapods, the choana is inside the mouth. In order for it to have moved from the outside to the inside, it had to cross the toothline. Is this right? Is this possible? This was a huge source of debate, and no fossils were showing up to prove it right or wrong. All fossils either had external posterior nostrils, or fully formed choanae.

This leads us to the discovery of, in my view, one of the most amazing transitional fossils ever found. Meet Kenichthys.

(Image: Reconstruction of the skull of Kenichthys. The posterior nostril is located riiiight at the edge of the mouth. Image from Zhu et al (2004).)

Take a closer look at that snout!

(Image: A closer look at that snout. Upper image shows a side view, and lower image shows a bottom view. I’ll explain exactly what’s going on here in the next paragraph.)

It turns out that the posterior nostril of Kenichthys is actually in line with the teeth! There is a line of teeth on the premaxilla, and a line of teeth on the maxilla, and then there’s a space in between the two bones. And that space is the posterior nostril! It’s an amazing, one-in-a-million transitional fossil that captures the stage in between the posterior nostril and the interior nostril.

Brief aside: The Choana Pretender

Before we go on, there’s something I should bring up. Modern lungfish – the closest relatives of tetrapods – also have choanae, and for a long time it was thought that this was something that evolved in their common ancestor. However, fossil lungfish and tetrapodomorphs both show that their ancestor had posterior nostrils, and each group evolved choanae independently.

Next week we’ll be looking at choanae in living tetrapods, which I’ll link here, unless I decide not to, in which case I won’t.

#palaeoblr #paleontology #palaeontology #anatomy #evolution #choanae #fish

908 notes · View notes

szlachtas · 4 years

Note

☝ + First successful Viss project

Ah – What a pleasant memory

Lots of false starts, back then. I wanted to go big, but I didn’t have much direction. I was hesitant to practice out-there ideas on myself. I had discovered, quite by accident, how the discipline could take someone apart, and I wasn’t confident I could put myself back together. So, I started with animals

She was some feral dog, originally. Obviously, I’m not a vet, but I knew dental surgery. Took weeks of planning. I was looking at bite strength capacity. Studied crocodiles, jaguars, bears. I started with the teeth and then went on to restructure the mandible, maxilla, the muscle and tendon anchoring. Capped the teeth with steel like I would have done a filling. She could bite into stone and through tree trunks by the time I was done. Shear limbs like they were nothing. I was so proud

First time that werewolf showed up he broke her in half...I still apply the techniques I developed there on my warform

#ask #biomechanicaltomato #((Thank you!!

4 notes · View notes

splodey-painter · 6 years

Text

More AH alien stuff because I'm being self indulgent at this point.

Alien!Ryan's jaw can actually split at the chin and open up like the maxillae on an insect to manipulate food. But he doesn't do it a lot because "hoLY FUCK RYAN!"(Queue Gavin having nightmares for a bit because he Was Not Ready and Ryan inverbaly apologising by giving some dreamless sleep advice)

He uses a glamour/perception filter (doctor who anyone?) pretty much all the time to hide the inhuman parts of his mouth and to make the inside look human when he's talking to anyone who is unaware of what Ryan is (he once forgot to do this in an interview and didn't get the job because he scared the interviewer enough to not get a call back from them)

#alien!ryan #achievement hunter #alien au #i haven't introduced how i want this au to be but right now its just me being excited about making the boys as aliens

1 note · View note

gettinziggywithit · 7 years

Text

Safe and Sound: Chapter 2

Dipping into memories isn’t always the best thing to do...

You blinked your eyes several times, trying to rid the blinding white light from your vision. An array of emotions came over as you struggled to find out where you were. The whiteness eventually darkened and a room came into view. It was a small bedroom with a single bed and bookshelf with little else. A small figure sat at a desk and was scribbling quickly before being startled as the door opened with a bang. A tall figure that you couldn’t make out came up to the small form and dropped something onto the table.

“Take care of it, do not let it dust. He’s your responsibility now.”

The tall figure left and the small one poked at the bundle that was on the desk. It wriggled around and made pitiful noises before the blanket like material was pulled back. You couldn’t see what it was, but the single “NYAH!” cry it made had your eyes widening in realization. The small one picked up the bundle and gently stood from the desk and turned, a very young sans stood beside the bed holding what looked like an infant Papyrus. Holy. Shit.

You’d never thought you’d see a truly happy Papyrus. The Papyrus you knew was 45% pissyness, 45% arrogance, and maybe 10% cheerful. Most of that last 10% was usually when he was happy about something HE accomplished. There wasn’t much that you could say that made him happy, the only thing you won him over was your baking. He strived to be a culinary master, but baking was probably the thing he was the worst at. Not that he’d accept it though. So, you’d continue to help his stubborn ass even as he blew yet another cake up in the oven.

This version of Papyrus was so foreign to you, but then again this sans was just as foreign. The little infant skeleton continued to make small, happy “NYAH!” noises while his bones rattled about as sans looked on in awe and confusion. Finally he held the bundle close and hugged it tight and you could see a smile appearing on sans’ face as the scene beginning to fade away. A faint whisper was heard before it went black, “welcome ta the world, bro”

Another scene came into view like an old home movie. It was outside, the snow falling lightly and the sound of crunching footsteps through the snow was heard. “B-but sans! T-They shouldn’t treat y-you like that!” A slightly older sans and papyrus bundled from the snow came into view and shuffled down the snowy path. Sans was holding a hand to side of his skull and looked scuffed and torn up from what looked like a fight. “It’s nothin’, Paps. Monsters like that don’t have any business talkin’ shit about stuff they don’t know about.”

The small Papyrus shuffled a bit, he was surprisingly very cute, again something you would never say to him in real life, but the sight of what looked like a teeny six year old Papyrus in a dark heavy jacket and black beanie was too good, too pure. Sans was dressed in a dark hoodie, red scarf and dark pants. You gasped as he removed his hood and then his hand as a large crack decorated the side of his skull. Now you knew where that scar came from that he occasionally rubbed at when anxious. Sans turned and knelt down to Papyrus’ height and unwrapped his scarf to then wrap it around his trembling frame. “Ya gotta take care of yourself, Paps. It’s...it’s an unfriendly world out there. Got no time for love and nice shit...no one’s worth it in this place anyhow.”

Papyrus looked down at the scarf that had to be wound around more than once because it was so long, “D-does that mean you don’t l-love me?” Red tears started to pool in the child’s eye sockets and sans was quick to wipe them away. He sighed and pulled him into a hug, “don’t know how much love I have left, Paps, but I promise it’s all for ya. No matter what, I’ll be there for ya.” Papyrus sniffled and rubbed what remained of his tears being giving a smile that was all sharp teeth.

“Nyah! I love you too, sans! Now, let’s go home! It’s absolutely freezing!” Sans stood and brushed the snow off his pants, “Ya, ‘snow’ kidding. I say a couple of hours in front of the fire is sure to get us ice and warm” Papyrus brows furrowed, “SANS. NO MORE PUNS!” Ah, there was the shrill, loud voice you were used to. Papyrus being capable of a normal speaking tone was yet another surprise to you, but the softer side of sans blew your mind. You knew that behind closed doors, the skeleton brothers were capable of showing each other affection when they thought no one was looking.

The two skeletons walked off in the distance and the image faded away. So far, you didn’t see anything that could be causing the nightmares. If anything, you were just learning a bit more about the brothers in general. A sharp screech abruptly shook you from your thoughts as a new memory came into being and you gasped as the large maw of some gigantic monster skull was wide open, a bright beam of energy emanating from it and causing destruction of a large group of trees. “C’mon, Paps, ya ain’t gonna be Royal Guard material if ya can’t keep up!” The gigantic skull moved and you saw a struggling Papyrus grimacing in the snow. He was dressed in shoddy armor with the ever present red scarf and held two bone constructs, one ending in a sharp point and the other shaped like a large club. He shook the snow off and arched his shoulders, the bones shifting and popping loudly.

Sans was feet away, left eye blazing red as he shot another energy beam and volley of attacks at his brother. Papyrus quickly darted to the side and rolled, avoiding the beam of energy while using the bones as a shield. “C’MON, PAPS, UNDYNE’S NOT GONNA GO EASY ON YA. IF THERE’S A THREAT YA GOTTA FIGHT BACK. THERE WILL BE NO MERCY.” Sans sent another wave and you could see the turmoil on his face as he continued to push his brother. Obviously making Papyrus do this was taking a toll on the older brother. Papyrus continued to watch and make mental notes of sans’ attack pattern. It was like a puzzle, and he was so close to finding the solution when- Sans blipped out of existence and Papyrus stood on guard, circling around, listening for the slightest sound.

“Gotcha.”

“NYAHHHHHHHH!” Papyrus whipped around with the bone club and slammed it down, nailing sans square in the mouth, and sending him flying back. Papyrus dropped the constructs and screamed into the night sky, “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND I WILL BE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. NYAH HAH HAH!” Chest heaving, Papyrus slowly came down from his high and looked around. Sans was lying in the snow, unmoving. “SANS!” He immediately dropped the tough guy act and ran to his brother, turning him over. He gasped at the damage he caused and checked his HP. Sans was in the low decimals and Papyrus quickly picked him up and ran away, back to the house.

“Damn, bro, really did a number on me, didn’t ya?” Sans was staring at himself in the mirror, his conjured tongue flicking over the missing tooth and his fingers grazing the large crack that ran up his maxilla. Papyrus was wringing his hands as he sat at the kitchen table, “I wish you wouldn’t push me so hard...I don’t...I don’t like what I do to you.” Sans placed the mirror on the table and grabbed on his hands, “You can succeed, Paps. You can be a member of the Royal Guard, but things aren’t what they used ta be. It’s kill or be killed, being nice won’t get ya anywhere.” The red eyelights in Papyrus’ eyes dimmed as he sulked. “Hey, c’mon Paps, lemme get ya some of that lasagna shit ya like to make so much. Ya deserve it for knockin’ me around.”

Papyrus smiled and got up from the table, presumably to go dress. Meanwhile, sans’ smile faltered and he shuddered as red tears fell from his sockets. The pain was nearly unbearable, but he had to go through with it. For his brother. “Coming, sans?” He sucked in a deep breath and wiped the tears away before maintaining the smiling facade and joining his brother at the door. Sans watched as Papyrus wrapped the familiar scarf around his neck and pulled the dark, spiked leather jacket on as he steeled his expression. Sans watched as his sweet little brother disappeared and the fierce adult that he was becoming took over. He watched him walk confidently out into the snow and for some reason, he felt himself dust a little inside as he followed.

You wiped away your own tears. You had an inkling that life in the Underground was no easy walk in the park, but the fact that one had to literally remove any happiness, any ‘nice’ emotion in order to survive was horrible. She mourned the sweet child that Papyrus once was, the love sans had for his brother that was slowly fading away due to the harshness of the world they lived in.

A series of memories came in rapid succession then, Papyrus finally joining the Royal Guard after a lengthy battle with Undyne, he earned a scar over his left eye socket from her claws, but she admitted he was one of the greater foes that had toppled her in combat. Another memory came with pain as what looked like a crazed yellow dinosaur smiled deviously at sans from above, “You’re finished...now pay up and get out before I feed your bones to the experiments…” Sans now bore the golden tooth that she was so used to seeing. She saw him staring at Papyrus from afar as he continued to progress with the guard, his personality hardening every day till he wanted nothing but power and popularity.

Sans, day by day, was wearing down. He was distraught at what his brother had become and that he in part had a hand in it. He struggled with himself to realize this was how it needed to be if they were going to survive, but eventually he started slowly wasting away, wondering if they would ever be free of the Underground or if he’d ever see his sweet brother again. Memories sweeped by of him sleeping at sentry stations only to be caught by Papyrus who would scream about wasted potential. Over time, Papyrus felt his brother no longer had respect for anything and forced sans to call him, ‘Boss’ until the day he saw improvement. You could see the strained love between the two and through the memories that Papyrus still loved his brother very much, but was unable to fully show it.

The memories slowed down like the end of a flip book and as the last memory arrived, a child appeared.

#my writing #Undertrash #Underfell #uf sans #uf papyrus #sans x reader #Chapter 2 #i feel like papyrus always starts off a cinnabun #the situations around him are what shape him #and Underfell is mean to Paps

4 notes · View notes

ellieptical · 7 years

Text

Getting a little self-indulgent

I often see that post going round about women being misdiagnosed because Drs don’t listen to them or think they’re being hysterical and I add bits to it but I kinda just want to talk about my experience here. This is going to be kinda graphic and teeth related.

So when I was 7 I’d had some headaches/toothache for a little bit but not really done or said much about it and then one day my top gum started leaking pus and blood. A lot. Mum took me to an emergency dentist who said I had an infection and gave me some antibiotics. A few weeks, maybe even only a week later it happened again, a lot. So mum took me to the dentist who said it looked like some sort of cyst or something in the gum area, but sent me to the hospital to check. X-Ray or two later and it was diagnosed as a cyst in my upper maxilla with an adult tooth that had grown up instead of down and was pressing on the nerves around my eye .The orthodontist shortly before slipping and sending the anaesthetic needle through the front of my lip rather than into my gum used this exact phrase to a 7 year old “if we don’t remove it you’ll go blind” so I had it removed through a Caldwell-Luc operation (don’t google this when eating or about to have one), they removed some jaw bone and removed the cyst and tooth. Boom all fixed.

At 13 I wanted straight teeth, so I went to the orthodontist who took an x-ray and told me I couldn’t have a brace (I already had a retainer) because there was a gap in my jaw bone and I’d have to have a bone graft from my hip. So I declined this. I wanted straight teeth but not that much, this will very much come back to bite me in the arse later.

I felt lethargic, unwell, sore, headachey, nauseous, tired, angry, achey, tight in the jaw for a while, through uni, and early work days. It got worse and worse, my jaw started to get stuck so i couldn’t open it, my neck would start burning, I’d feel like my shoulders were on fire, I’d feel so impossibly exhausted. I started going for tests it was not: thyroid, cancer, a tumour on my adrenal gland, kidneys, diabetes, ME, CFS, Fibromyalgia, hypoglycaemia. Ferritin stores result came back very low. Took iron tablets, this didn’t fix it. Was referred to Maxillo-facial (henceforth macsfacs) who deemed it to be temporomandibular joint disorder. The consultant who diagnosed me also had TMJ and said on a bad flare up he’d rather get booted in the balls. Well that pain level seemed to tally with the pain I was feeling. So I took the tablets and hoped I’d learn to live with it. I did not. The pain got worse, I missed days and days of work. I would have attacks of pain for no reason, nothing would trigger them, or there’d be a draft at work and all of a sudden I’d lose three days due to pain so bad I couldn’t speak. I’d forget how words worked, I told someone I liked their sheep - I meant shoes. I’d start trembling, and lose feeling in my hands and feet, I start slurring my words, I’d pass out. Then I’d be mostly fine, sore and achey but fine really. But I kept going back to my doctor, and off for the next round of tests. I finally went to see macfacs and I saw an old, white male consultant, who sat in front of me as I cried hysterically and explained to him that the pain was so bad that I was going to step in front of a bus because it was intolerable and I will never forget what he said to me “well, I think you’re probably exaggerating, it’s not that painful or you wouldn’t be able to do half the things you do” I sort of gold-fished, and he said he was standing by the junior consultants diagnoses of TMJ and that I’d “get used to it eventually”. A few months later I was sitting outside my BSL course when I had one of my fits, I couldn’t feel my feet, I couldn’t say anything, I couldn’t ask for help. I was terrified. It passed, I was exhausted but I got through the class. I walked home.

I called my mum at 2am the next morning, screaming down the phone that I was dying and didn’t know what I was doing, I kept asking her for help but gave her no instructions or anything, largely because I didn’t know I’d called her and left a voicemail on her machine. I think somehow texted my housemate with just the word ‘help’. She came bounding upstairs and helped. She tried asking me questions but I was out of it, I was just screaming, and she called my Mum who was already panicked trying to get a taxi after being woken up by her only child screaming into her answerphone that she was dying. I guess my dad was in respite at this point I don’t know. Eventually my housemate called an ambulance and they did the usual questions and determined I was probably having a stroke. Spoiler alert: I was not. The ambulance came, and the little man on the bike, and the slightly smaller ambulance - it felt unnecessary for 4 people to come out but they did and it cost me not a penny BECAUSE THE NHS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!!, and they took me downstairs whilst I flailed about and reassured my other housemate whom I worked with that I’d be ‘in tomorrow just a bit late’. I don’t really remember too much except a) gas and air is fucking incredible! b) i kept telling my mum and the man with the bleeding face next to me that I’d left my keys at home and I wasn’t wearing a bra. I eventually got seen and by this point the pain was subsiding and I kept apologising profusely but the A+E doctor pointed out that I’d experienced pain severe enough that a dispatcher and 4 paramedics (one of whom really thought I should have been admitted for a brain scan not put through A+E but it was 3 am so...) thought I was having a stroke. Not to worry but here were some lovely drugs.

A few weeks later I saw my doctor again who this time thought it might be ME as nothing else was tying in but wanted to just rule out anything neurological so referred me to another Dr who as I described things listened and then sent me for a different scan. I got a referral through to ENT because it turned out there was a piece of bone in my face that shouldn’t be there. Basically the boney part of the cyst from when I was 7, they’d only removed the soft tissue. So I had an operation and they removed that. Some of the pain stopped. I didn’t have the same issues but it still didn’t feel right. I ended up seeing a locum as my doctor was off with their own medical issues. I kept saying it feels like there’s some swelling in my face and so I got two courses of antibiotics because eventually they referred me back. Another scan. Then an appointment out of nowhere with macfacs.

Turns out macfacs has done a lot of reshuffling because everyone is new and when I mention the old guy they all go ‘ah yeah, he’s gone now’ with the strong implication that he was a cunt - possibly my inference but whatever. Turns out I had a tumour in my face. It’s benign in almost all cases, mine included thank god, but it’s rare 3% of the population get it, and almost always men, and it’s aggressive it’s main deal is that it recurs. I had one when I was 7, in 2012 and in 2015. It gets into bone and takes over. It’s why after my first operation my bone didn’t heal and I have a hole in my jawbone now. Like I said... shoulda got that brace! They’d have seen what was going on then. So I had another operation at Xmas in 2015. I had the bone inside my upper maxilla, removed and sanded down, the nerves scraped or removed, and painted with essentially embalming fluid, I lost a tooth because the fluid touched it. It was a joint op between ENT and macfacs. I have to go back every year for 10 years and there’s something lurking but it seems to be just the weird shape I’ve healed into but I’m not taking it for granted. I still get some pain and flare ups because my bone is still regrowing. I can’t feel my top left lip at all or a lot of my cheek either. I have a permanently damaged shoulder because of hunching with the pain. I know now because they told me that I had trigeminal neuralgia as a symptom of this tumour, which it’s rare that it would have a tumour as an underlying cause but I did. It can flare up from eating, from the wind on your face or from nothing at all. I explained to person after person what I was feeling and it took so long to get a diagnosis and a fix. The only reason I got it was because of my Doctor who listened and persisted. She’s a female doctor. There are three other female medical professionals in this story. The paramedic who thought I should have a brain scan, the A+E doctor who told me my pain was valid and the neurologist who listened and thought to send me for a different type of scan. They all listened to what I was saying, or slurring. My doctor kept trying, she didn’t abandon me, she really did everything she could. Including handing me copious amounts of tissues whilst I hysterically sobbed at her. So many of the male doctors I saw and see regularly now are lovely and so kind but I had to fight to get them to listen, they had to be shown evidence before they’d believe me.

I am so grateful that this whole debacle was on the NHS it didn’t impact me financially, I was able to work, I am very aware of the privileges I have but it’s only now as I start to feel fully better (well, the iron is still an issue), and have a friend experiencing migraines so look up things for her that I start to realise how much shit I went through and how angry I am that something that should have been solved when I was 13 was only solved when I was 29. If you know something isn’t right with your body keep persisting, get someone to come in with you - preferably a man, change doctors if you have to and you have that luxury, ask for a second opinion.

And finally, if one more person says ‘oh it’s like having a wisdom tooth out’ I am going to fucking put pressure on their trigeminal nerve!!!!

#about me #needed to vent #dentistry #doctors #god bless the nhs #illness #pain

0 notes