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cursedmystic · 10 months

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The canvas that drew you over was blank at first, void of any thought, logic or reasoning. An empty slate. However the longer you stare, the more it comes to life and the more you are drawn in...

What do you desire? That was what was being written before your eyes.

The message bled, swirling over the canvas, overtaking your gaze until it is darkness.

You are in its hands. That thing from a time immemorial. A thing so powerful in its nameless was, that mankind had to drain some of its power by giving it a name.

The Black Fog. A god in its own right. A monstrous being that was now causing untold death and destruction. You are practically helpless in its grasp. There is nothing you could do...

What do you desire....? It's a creeping voice, a resonating sentence that echoes sweetly and poisonously.

A bright light saves you, freeing you from the monster. Cutting it's sinking claws into your body, your very soul. Claiming you, but no more.

Rainbow feathers now curl around you as an ethereal light emanates and blasts the darkness away, like something out of mythology. You are living them now, becoming part of it. Chosen by the golden bird of eternal happiness....

What is it that you desire...?

You...have to give this up. At least for now. It was a good dream, but that's all it is. An illusion. A mockery of one of your wishes. Not even Yuri had ever gone as far as do this to you, despite her powers. Empower you, yes. Pep you up. But never do something like this.

The empty promises of someone who did not know you invading your mind is a gross feeling, and you toss it off at the same time you toss aside the canvas, not containing an image. It depicted you and Ho-Oh standing together against the darkness.

What is it you desire? I can give it to you.

The voice is enticing, but false. There are others around you still trapped in the thrall of whatever was behind these canvases.

--thescarletmansion

This place knows what haunts him. The art room opens and everyone scatters to investigate -- and what draws him is a canvas of deepest inky black, like a hole in the world a person could climb through.

It drags him in like a claw, like a tongue lolling out of an infinite, infernal maw. An eye the size of a building turns to look at him and he's caught in a waking nightmare all over again. None of his Pokemon can stand against this thing older than time that has seen fit to claim him.

He can feel the stinging nettles of Jellicent's limbs in the exposed skin of his arms and neck, where the jellyfish tries to pull him from the vision, and all it does is remind him of the poison that had seeped through Saffron City.

As the nightmare sets him to trembling, there is a different sensation of claws digging into his shoulders and then lashing through the shadows in a bright spark of golden light. The wings overhead are a brilliant red and green and flash an array of colors impossible anywhere else in nature.

It's the brightening dawn overtaking the endless night. It makes him weak in the knees to see it and he staggers, which takes the canvas off the wall before him.

The image is empty. It's just black paint smeared across the canvas, with no meaning behind it, and he throws it to the ground.

It is something he wants, desperately and without relief, but it's not something he can count on in this case. He just. . .can't.

Jellicent warbles, frightened, and he insists the Pokemon let go of him. It leaves rash-like marks across his forearms and his neck, which he tightens his scarf to cover even as numbness spreads through him.

He should wake the others.

#:'))#;; event: scarlet mansion #thescarletmansion

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pixoplanet · 2 years

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It's November 3rd, 🎐 World Jellyfish Day! On this day, we honor and celebrate those slimy invertebrates that have been living on this planet for at least 505 million years. In 2014, a group of enthusiastic marine biologists instituted this special day to express their admiration for the longevity and simplicity of these strange, yet beautiful creatures. The largest populations of Jellyfish live in the southern hemisphere. This day was chosen to be World Jellyfish Day as there it's now springtime, the season when Jellyfish begin to migrate to the northern hemisphere.

There are about 350 different Jellyfish species in existence around the globe. Despite its name, the Jellyfish isn’t really a fish – as an invertebrate, by definition, it doesn't have a backbone. In fact, a Jellyfish doesn’t have gills, bones, blood, a brain, or a heart, either. What it does have is water – it’s 95% water. It absorbs oxygen through its skin. A Jellyfish swims by contracting and relaxing the muscles around its body or “bell.” Its tentacles contain stingers, which it uses to protect itself from predators.

Jellyfish exhibit a wide range of vibrant colors, including pink, yellow, blue, and purple. Most are also luminescent, which makes them especially beautiful. The Flower Hat, Cannonball, Diplulmaris Antarctica, Lion’s Mane, Blue, Moon, Purple-Striped, White-Spotted, and Black Sea Nettle Jellyfish are among the most beautiful and most popular Jellyfish. The Lion’s Mane is also the largest, capable of reaching 40 meters in length.

If you see a Jellyfish in the sea, please leave it alone. It can eventually be food for a number of marine animals such as fish and turtles and until then can hide and protect small fish with its stinging tentacles. You definitely want to avoid the tentacles! I speak from experience. ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

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sisterspooky1013 · 2 years

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Waldron Island, Epilogue

Rated X | Read it here on AO3

The foreboding chill of late autumn whipped against his ears as he jogged up the front walk into her apartment building; they were in for a harsh winter. He felt a little bit nervous, which struck him as silly. Maybe it was the way she’d cooed “it’s a date” when he proposed picking her up at noon, or maybe it was that she’d called him a couple hours ago with a question about what she should wear, betraying just how much thought she was putting into this. He couldn't recall ever having the first date come after the sex, and perhaps that’s what had him nervous, too. It wasn’t as though they were working towards something here, like there was a goal in mind; he just wanted to make good on his promise to take her on a real date after the hell he’d put her through on Waldron.

Even if not for that promise, he just wanted to take her out, for no reason other than the pleasure of her company; one of the many of life’s simple pleasures they’d summarily denied themselves for more years than could be counted on one hand.

She answered in fitted, dark wash jeans and a black cable knit sweater with a deep V neckline. Nothing fancy, but it still inspired a broad smile as she turned to get her purse, revealing just how snugly the jeans fit over her ass.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she stood on tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek.

“You’ll see,” he replied good-naturedly, ushering her out the door with a hand on her lower back.

He stole glances at her across the cab of the car on the way to Baltimore, her profile framed by the deep yellow leaves still clinging to the trees lining the street. She looked different to him somehow, though he couldn’t say exactly what had changed.

I’ve been a bad, bad girl.

I’ve been careless with a delicate man.

And it’s a sad, sad world.

When a girl will break a boy, just because she can.

A spike of adrenaline hit him square in the chest and he reached out to switch the radio off with a level of urgency that made her cast him a quizzical look.

“I don’t like that song,” he offered lamely, and she pushed her bottom lip into a pout.

“That’s too bad. I love Fiona Apple,” she lamented.

Ninety minutes later, they parked near Pier Four on the Patapsco River and she smiled curiously as she spotted the National Aquarium across the street.

“Have you been?” he asked nervously, and she shook her head with that same sweet smile.

They walked the glass encased hallways of the aquarium side by side, but not touching, as they read placards and learned new facts that they could add to their combined encyclopedic knowledge of the world. His fingers itched to take her hand, or wrap around her tiny waist, but he resisted.

She stopped to admire a large orange-tinted jellyfish with a milky cluster of white tentacles encased within a border of thinner, corded ones.

“The Pacific sea nettle can measure up to thirty inches wide,” she read off the placard. “While painful, the venomous sting of the sea nettle isn’t typically deadly to humans.” She tilted her face up to watch the angelic creatures gliding effortlessly on the other side of the glass, her skin awash in blue. “They’re beautiful,” she remarked with awe.

“Beautiful and dangerous,” he quipped softly, “sounds like someone else I know.”

She shot him a surprised look, pink rising to her cheeks as she smiled bashfully.

Though they had spent a considerable amount of their free time in one another’s company since returning from Washington State, there had been no discussion regarding what it was, or what it meant, or what they wanted it to mean. Initially they were too anxious to be separated, and when the time came that they were confident that the nightmare was truly over, they simply preferred to continue sharing a bed most nights. He wanted to ask her so many questions: did she love him, and for how long, did she want to be with him, truly be with him, as much as he wanted to be with her? Too afraid to overwhelm her and scare her off, he tried to just enjoy it for as long as it might last.

Exiting to an open-air section of the aquarium, she shivered and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She didn’t pull away, just looked up at him gratefully as they approached a deep pool. Two otters darted in and out of the water, tossing toys to the bottom and diving down to retrieve them. Scully smiled in amusement at the furry creatures’ antics, one of them floating on its back with a toy resting on its belly.

“Don’t let these things fool you,” Mulder remarked, squeezing her shoulder, “they’re cute, but if you piss ‘em off, they’ll shred you to pieces.”

“Cute, but prone to violent outbursts,” she said playfully, giving him a sarcastic leer. “Sounds like someone I know.”

He dropped his jaw open in mock offense, then narrowed his eyes at her.

“You think I’m cute?” he asked rhetorically, and she rolled her eyes.

Dropping his arm, he moved to the informational placard and read it to her. “Native to the Northern Pacific, sea otters spend the majority of their life in the water. They are known to hold hands while sleeping to avoid drifting away from their mates.”

Scully sidled up next to him, her hand wrapping around his forearm before it slid down to nestle in his palm. He extended his fingers in invitation, and she threaded hers through them, finishing with a squeeze. He looked down at her and found a peaceful, open expression on her face, though her jaw chattered slightly from the chill. A flood of affection gripped at his chest, and she gave him a questioning look.

“I don’t want you to drift away,” he said softly, feeling raw and vulnerable.

She smiled, moving to re-enter the building and towing him along behind her.

“Then don’t let go of my hand.”

Tagging @today-in-fic

#the x files #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #x files fanfic #x files #case fic #case file

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crystalkleure · 3 years

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Hey everybody, meet Cecil. He is made entirely out of pun. As many puns as I could possibly cram into one guy.

Observe:

• There’s a team in Inazuma Eleven whose members’ names are all Marine Life Puns when said out loud with a Japanese accent. Big Waves is the Australian team from Ina11 GO Galaxy, comprised of people named things like Cole LaRuze [Kōru Rarūze] who is Coral [Kōraru], Marsha Ark [Māsha Āku] who is Shark [Shāku], Owen Easter [Ōwen Īsutā] who is an Oyster [Oisutā], etc., it’s so good. I stole the fuck out of that gimmick. So this is Cecil Ugura [Sisuru Ugura], who is a Sea Slug [Si Surugu]. [...I hope I romanized that right. Or at least got it close enough.]

• Slug Boy is based on a Glaucus atlanticus sea slug specifically. Everyone loves Glaucus atlanticus.

• He is Australian. This is both a further nod to the sakka team I snatched the name theme from, and also to the fact that G. atlanticus are found around the East coast of Australia. Also I just really like Australian accents.

• “Ugura” is the Japanese word for a group of thorny plants, which includes things like nettles and also cannabis. I liked the Prickly Connotations because G. atlanticus have all those pointy little stinging tentacle fingers and now I officially have an excuse to draw claws.

• The fringes on his hips are just rips in his jeans that he’s pulled a bunch of those white fluffy fibers through. His pockets actually still work fine, the holes are only in the denim. This is unnecessary trivia.

• He initially comes across as very relaxed and, one might say, almost sluggish, but he has a sharp eye and quick reflexes. The kind to shock you by casually recalling a huge number of tiny details that you would never have thought he’d even noticed in the first place, much less remembered. He doesn’t look like he’s paying attention, but he’s a good listener, and very observant.

• Very nice and easygoing until he’s not. He’s like 5’4’’ but can fuck up someone twice his size in a fight. He will casually step in if he sees somebody harming, or intending to harm, somebody else. He’s quick when you don’t expect him to be and he can take a lot of punishment without going down. Very sturdy, more like an immovable object than an unstoppable force. He’ll deliberately let someone land a blow or two on him if that’s what he has to do to get an opportunity to strike hard and fast at a weak spot, like their throat or solar plexus. This short, chill stoner can humiliate an angry gym bro in a fistfight.

• ^ That’s a joke on how G. atlanticus is sometimes called the Blue Angel Sea Slug vs. the Blue Dragon Sea Slug. People can’t decide on a common name for that thing because it’s little and it’s pretty and It’s A Fucking Slug, but it can fuck you up so hard if you touch it because it’s full of stingers it steals from the Portuguese Man ‘O Wars it eats. That’s its self-defense mechanism. It is small and squishy and very very pretty and it can sting you just as bad as a deadly bluebottle jellyfish.

• Another Contradicting Common Names joke: Part of the gradient in his hair is positioned to look like a halo. Specifically, it’s the black part.

• Has a Zippo lighter collection. He may be Sea Slug but he has a fascination with Fire and he will burn you. Because dragon. And also angel, actually -- aren’t those giant eyeball vortex things Perpetually On Fire?

• Slugs actually have sharp teeth! ...Sort of! The spikes are just rooted in the creatures’ tongues [radula] due to the lack of jawbone. Humans have jawbones though, so the sharp teeth can just be where teeth are supposed to be here.

#I put SO MUCH EFFORT into A Giant Joke and I had SO MUCH FUN. I am so proud of this slug you have no idea #CK's art #...I don't think I have an OC tag. Hm.#Anyway Happy Birthday Cecil 🎉 Feb. 12th is the day that I am posting this

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canayata · 5 years

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The World Is In The Midst Of A Mass Extinction, But Not Jellyfish — They’Re Thriving In Warm, Polluted Water

New Post has been published on https://www.apegeo.com/jellyfish-populations-grow-explosive-rates/

The World Is In The Midst Of A Mass Extinction, But Not Jellyfish — They’Re Thriving In Warm, Polluted Water

A growing body of evidence suggests the planet is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction.

Between 500,000 and 1 million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, according to a report from the United Nations. Pollution, habitat loss, warming oceans, and other consequences of climate change are driving animal populations down on an unprecedented scale.

But one group of creatures is bucking this ominous trend: jellyfish.

Jellyfish have roamed Earth’s oceans for 500 million years. The bell-shaped underwater denizens can be found all over the world; there are some 4,000 species of them, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

The world is in the midst of a mass extinction – the sixth time in the planet’s history that species are experiencing a major global collapse in numbers.

Up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades, according to a United Nations report.

Human activity is to blame: Habitats are being destroyed due to pollution, climate change, and deforestation.

But one group of animals is benefiting: jellyfish. Rising ocean temperatures and overfishing are enabling jellyfish populations to grow at explosive rates.

Over the past two decades, global populations of many jellyfish species have skyrocketed. Swarms of them, known as “jellyfish blooms,” have become more common worldwide, forcing beach closures, causing power outages, and killing other fish.

Recent research has revealed that the increases in jellyfish populations can be linked to human activity, too. As greenhouse gases trap heat on the planet, oceans are heating up – they absorb 93% of that excess heat. Unlike many marine species, jellies can thrive in warmer water with less oxygen. What’s more, their natural predators, like turtles and sharks, are being overfished by humans.

Here’s what to know about why jellyfish are thriving – and why their population explosion could be dangerous.

Jellies are 95% water. The creatures don’t have brains, stomachs, intestines, or lungs.

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Multiple moon jellies side by side. Flickr/brianandjaclyn

Instead, nutrients and oxygen slip through their gelatinous layers of see-through skin.

They move by rapidly contracting their mushroom-shaped bell to expel water, which propels them forward.

A black jellyfish floats in the water near San Diego, California. Port of San Diego

Trailing tentacles then brush against prey, immobilizing the jelly’s next meal with tiny venom-filled stingers. The tentacles move that prey up into the creature’s body cavity, where it gets digested.

Jellies are opportunistic feeders, meaning they’ll ingest just about anything: microscopic plankton, crustaceans, and fish larvae are all fair game.

A jellyfish floats in the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan. Marisa Vega Photographer/Getty Images

They’ll even consume other jellies, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

The absence of complex body parts allows jellies to adapt easily to changing ocean conditions.

Japanese Sea Nettles are seen at “The Jellies Experience” exhibition at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, March 30, 2012. Richard Green/Reuters

Jellies aren’t vulnerable to fluctuating temperature, acidity, and salinity like other marine species, according to JSTOR Daily.

In the last 100 years, average ocean surface temperatures have risen by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year was the hottest on record for the seas.

Vertigo3d/Getty Images

Warmer waters, in turn, mean less oxygen. This double whammy severely hurts many marine creatures, like coral, but not jellies. In mid-latitudes, in fact, higher water temperatures lead jelly embryos and larvae to develop more quickly, and the animals enjoy longer reproductive periods, according to Inside Climate News.

Jellies are already good at reproducing. A breeding female nettle, for example, can spawn 45,000 eggs per day, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Surprisingly, maritime shipping and undersea drilling industries also benefit jellyfish, since one of the creatures’ reproductive stages, the polyps stage, requires them to settle on a hard surface.

Alyssa Janco/Getty Images

Man-made structures like docks or oil rigs are easier for jellyfish polyps to attach to than sand or rocks on the ocean floor, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

What’s more, many polyps are also tolerant of low-oxygen conditions.

When inland rivers carry fertilizer run-off from agriculture to coastal waters, that can create competition-free buffets for jellies.

Krishan Lad / EyeEm / Getty Images

After high concentrations of fertilizer run-off enter the ocean, plankton and algae populations explode. This algal proliferation further depletes the oxygen in the water, causing what’s known as a “dead zone” in which marine life cannot survive.

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But some jellies can. These creatures happily feed on plankton, so dead zones offer them competition-free eating grounds.

The number of coastal dead zones has doubled every decade since the 1960s; there are now roughly 500, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

Overfishing is also fueling the global jellyfish proliferation.

A giant green turtle rests on a coral reef at a diving site near the island of Sipadan in Celebes Sea east of Borneo November 7, 2005. Reuters

Typically, jellyfish populations have been kept in check by marine predators like sea turtles and fish like tuna. But those populations have been dwindling due to overfishing: Every year for the past two decades, between 100 million and 120 million marine creatures have been removed from the ocean.

Fishing also removes jellies’ competition for food; anchovies and squid eat the same type of plankton as jellyfish, so the more those species get removed from the seas, the more plankton jellies can access, according to the Smithsonian Institute.

A 2012 study from the University of British Columbia concluded that “jellyﬁsh populations appear to be increasing in the majority of the world’s coastal ecosystems and seas.”

A jellyfish swims off the island of Salamina, Greece, August 23, 2018. Stelios Misinas/Reuters

The study definitively linked this increase to human activity.

Groups of jellies are called “blooms” or “outbreaks.”

In Palau, snorkelers can safely swim in a lake of golden jellyfish. Flickr/Richard Schneider

These blooms can cause a variety of problems.

For one, they prevent swimmers and beachgoers from entering the water. Some 150 million jellyfish stings occur annually worldwide.

Jayme Godwin / EyeEm / Getty Images

While not every jellyfish species has a sting that’s painful or even perceptible to people, some can be dangerous or even deadly.

Some types, like the Chironex fleckeri species of box jellyfish, can kill a human in 3 minutes.

~UserGI15667539/Getty Images

Box jelly venom targets the heart and nervous system, and packs such a punch that swimmers can drown or die of heart failure before reaching shore.

In January, nearly 4,000 people were stung in one weekend by blue bottle jellies that drifted ashore in Queensland, Australia.

A blue bottle jellyfish photographed near Brisbane, Australia. Kyle Hovey/Flickr

Then, in 2018, more than 1,000 people were stung over the course of one week after jellyfish blooms popped up offshore near Volusia County, Florida.

In large numbers, jellies can clog power-plant pipes and force them to shut down.

Alyssa Janco/Getty Images

On December 10, 1999, 40 million people living on the Philippine island of Luzon lost power after thousands of jellyfish were sucked into the cooling pipes of a local coal-fired power plant.

In 2011, jellyfish overwhelmed the cooling system at a coal power plant near Hadera, Israel.

Jellyfish fall from a filter into a container at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station in Israel, July 5, 2011. The power station uses seawater for cooling purposes and has to filter out and dispose of jellyfish on a daily basis. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Two years later, jellies also got sucked into the cooling pipes at one of Sweden’s nuclear reactors, forcing a shutdown.

Jellyfish swarms can also be deadly for other marine creatures.

alonsoleon9/Getty Images

In 2007, a mauve stinger jellyfish swarm 10 square miles in size killed 100,000 salmon in a fish farm off the coast of Ireland.

Overall, mounting evidence suggests, underwater ecosystem may be changing from one dominated by fish to one ruled by jellies. This is – in part – a situation of own making: A 2009 study noted that human-induced stresses, including overfishing, climate change, and habitat modification, “appear to be promoting jellyfish blooms to the detriment of other marine organisms.”

#Jellyfish #Mass Extinction #Midst #Polluted Water #Warm #World #Animals

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tasharii · 6 years

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Our Picture

Pairing: Bucky x Steve

A/N: This was inspired by a Write Your OTP challenge I saw a while ago. Couldn’t find it again when I looked, but I hope you like it!

Words: 3k

Warnings: Some language, mostly fluff and bickering

Summary: Public displays of affection have always been a no go. Especially after they started dating. And this is why.

***

Steve’s hand lightly brushed the back of his hand. Bucky couldn’t help but smile at the gentle touch against his knuckles. They were wearing the usual baseball caps, and civilian clothes. Steve even opted in for thick, black rimmed glasses, reminiscent to the ones Nat once put on him, making him almost look like a damned hipster. Despite being as inconspicuous as they possibly could, they had to be careful. So, smiling playfully, Bucky flicked Steve’s hand away and kept walking.

Amused, Steve cursed quietly, shook out the sting in his knuckles and followed behind him. The huge masses of water stretched out floor to ceiling took their breath away. It was a beautiful, and the sparkling fish, big and small, was amazing to see up close. Bucky paused, watching as a hammer head shark swam by, and nearly pressed his nose to the glass. The creature glided down in front of him only to twist to the side and head further up, its belly showing, till he had to crane his neck to keep watching.

Seeing another opportunity, Steve saddled up beside him, and ran his pinky down the side of his boyfriend’s hand. Bucky didn’t even look at him. Didn’t even react aside from curling his pinky around Steve’s in return. Steve smirked. It was becoming one of his favorite games to see what he could get away with to push at Bucky’s limits. Especially in public. Especially when they agreed not to.

“I thought we had to be careful.” Bucky mused, quietly. A little girl stood on his other side, chattering loudly to her mother about the octopus coasting along the bottom of the tank. He stayed facing the tank but tilted his head to watch her in the reflection of the glass. She was only about 5 and seemed to be reciting everything she knew about every creature she saw. With so much pride that he couldn’t help but smile. Just like her mother.

Softly, Steve squeezed Bucky’s finger, bringing his attention back. Then stepped a little closer so that their hands were blocked by their legs “No one’s paying attention. Sides, I doubt they’re expecting Captain America and his trusty side-kick to be going on a date at an aquarium.” He grinned a little more when he immediately felt Bucky’s disdain. When he double checked his friend’s expression, he was rewarded with exactly what he expected.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bucky shot him a scowl, squeezing a little too hard on Steve’s fingers “The Winter Soldier is no one’s damn side kick. Especially not a guy jumpin around in star-spangled tights.” He blew out a breath and tracked the movement of the octopus, as it started to eat on a poor little crab. Wasn’t much of a fight.

Trying to be offended, Steve snorted haughtily, barely managing to keep his voice down “I thought you liked the uniform.” This argument was almost as old as they were. Like singing along to a favorite song. It just kept getting better. He turned to the side to stare at Bucky’s profile, and brought his eyebrows together, pouting. His eyes were bright, accented by the fake glasses. The beautiful aquarium that they spent a ridiculous fee to get into, was now completely ignored in favor of winning this argument.

It was hard to keep a straight face when Captain America gave his puppy eyes. Bucky tilted his head and smiled under the brim of his Dodgers cap “Oh you know I love the uniform.” He gave into Steve then, lacing their fingers together and tugging him along. When Steve gave a satisfied hum, Bucky shoulder checked him playfully “Stop acting so damn proud of yourself.”

“Language.”

“Fuck you.”

A loud laugh echoed across the stone and glass hallway, and Bucky tried, but failed, to shush him as people started to stare. Quickly, Steve covered his mouth, but the fussier Bucky got, the more he couldn’t stop laughing. He rubbed at his watering eyes under the glasses, and shook his head, trying to apologize but his words were lost. Even his shoulders started to shake, and he couldn’t stand up straight.

They stopped in front of the jelly fish tank, and Steve leaned against the cool glass as he caught his breath. Bucky stood in front of him, rubbing at his forehead and grumbling to himself. A huge, swirling swarm of dark red jellyfish floated behind Steve. He turned his head to watch one go by and absently wondered how bad it would hurt to be stung by one. The standalone plaque just a hair away informed him that they were black nettle jellyfish. So probably a lot.

“God bless you don’t know what ‘under the radar’ means do you? Stupid.” Bucky subtly glanced around as he chastised Steve, who was ignoring him in favor of the jellies, “Pepper will kill us if we come out before she’s prepped the press.” There weren’t many people, or things, that Bucky found himself scared of. Having been considered nothing short of the Boogieman himself, there wasn’t much left to be afraid of.

Pepper Potts fell on that very short list. Right behind the Chair and losing his best guy.

Unperturbed, Steve faced Bucky with a mischievous little smile. The kind of smile that lit a fire in Bucky’s stomach, but also sent warning bells off in his head. “Sorry Buck.” Something in the way he said it, made it seem like he wasn’t sorry at all.

“What are you up to…” Suspicious, Bucky narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at the idiot in front of him. The dimple in his chin deepened cutely with his frown.

Steve’s smile grew, and even the glasses couldn’t hide his wicked intentions “Nothin.” He used Bucky’s hand to pull him forward. Then swiftly crossed through the rest of the deep-water exhibit and passed under the wide stone archway into the water mammals exhibit. With the polar bear, penguins, otters, and other such creatures. The aquarium was closing soon, so there were less people in this part of the display. Steve stepped to the side and shuffled back until his shoulders met the column of the archway cornering off there. A polar bear swam around a bit of the icy water to his left. It stopped to stare at them only for a second before going back to its business, much like the people going by.

Very few people walked down the wide hall, and most were sufficiently distracted. Steve pushed up the brim of his hat, letting a tuft of his blonde hair poke out, and situated Bucky to stand between his legs. The cool dampness of the rocky arch sunk through the fabric of his brown leather jacket. Even the glass against his arm was cold, but he smiled sweetly at the brunet.

“You worry too much.” Steve teased, taking Bucky’s other hand and bringing it up, lightly brushing the scarred knuckles against his lips. He peeked at Bucky from under his lashes, and the glasses brushed cold against his hand. The cool of the plastic, and heat of Steve’s mouth contrasted sinfully well.

With all his heart he tried to scowl, really truly did, but a small smile betrayed him, making Bucky’s face scrunch up “And you’re terrible.” He chuckled and shook his head, the tips of his hair curling, disheveled around his chin “Seriously awful. Just like a little punk I used to know. He was always gettin’ me into trouble.” He squeezed Steve’s other hand with his left, and rubbed his thumb against the blonde’s inner wrist, feeling his pulse.

“Really? Sounds like a great guy.” Steve played along, moving his arms so that Bucky’s hands were on his shoulders, then he wrapped his own around his slender waist. Bucky was forced to take a step closer, now fully between his legs. Penguins to their right splashed in and out of the water, squawking and carrying on. The noise echoed from speakers, across the tall ceilings and floors, making their voices less noticeable among the chaos.

“He was cute, but no one ever noticed how much of a shit he was.” Bucky smirked, and his flesh fingers rubbed the back of Steve’s neck, while his gloved thumb stroked his jaw. “Everyone thought I was the bad influence.” He shook his head “Couldn’t believe such a scrawny fish stick was actually the one charging where he didn’t belong.”

Steve’s mouth popped open, offended “Excuse me. This fish stick saved your ass.” He rubbed at Bucky’s hips under his shirt and pressed a little harder than necessary.

“Language.” Bucky chastised, and then he cut off Steve’s retort by pressing his thumb to his mouth. Leaned just a bit closer. Their noses almost touched. Slowly, he grinned in the best, possible wicked sort of way “Wouldn’t want America hearing their sweet innocent Captain talking dirty like that.” The words rolled sensually off his tongue, making Steve’s heart skip eight beats all at once.

Heat coiling in his stomach, Steve bit at Bucky’s metal thumb over the glove. His tongue brushed the material, and he spoke around the pressure on his bottom lip “Then they’d really hate to hear about the things you have my mouth doin’ half the time. You bad influence.”

The newly added pressure, and temperature nerves, curtsey of Tony Stark, sent chills up his arm and down his spine. Bucky’s lips nearly brushed Steve’s, his face flushing and eyes half-lidded “Now we both know, I couldn’t make you do anythin’ you didn’t already wanna do.” His gaze dropped down to Steve’s mouth, and he brushed his thumb to the side, leaving a slightly wet trail behind as he gripped Steve’s jaw harder. Hard enough to hurt if he was anyone else.

“You should really. Really shut up.” Steve muttered, and then tugged Bucky forward by his belt loops. Immediately, his mouth surged down to swipe the words out of the assassin’s mouth with his tongue. The softness of Bucky’s mouth took his breath away. Steve’s hands rucked up Buck’s shirt, so he could touch the hot skin of his lower back, and his tongue flicked against his lips. Tasted just inside the brunet’s mouth and sucked on his lower lip.

Kissing Bucky always felt contradictory. Even before their relationship, he knew Bucky well enough to know what he would taste like. When they were 15, Buck would have tasted like those smokes he bummed off the other workers at the docks. Or like the terrible, patchy vegetable stew their moms tried to throw together when Steve was sick. At 19 he would have tasted like the expensive oranges he brought home every time he won a boxing match. Maybe a little like copper from a busted lip.

Steve used to suck on the peeling of those oranges, trying to stop craving the real thing.

In the war he would have tasted like the smell of gunpowder. Like their rations and shitty coffee.

So tasting Bucky felt familiar cause he couldn’t remember a time before he dreamt about it. But kissing him always felt new. They’d probably shared a hundred first kisses now.

This was their first public kiss. The first kiss that they couldn’t keep themselves from. That broke past their will power and to throttle them with heat.

Bucky opened his mouth wide for Steve’s tongue, and danced his along it. His hands pressed against Steve’s neck, tilting his head so he could taste his mouth in return. Their chests were flush, and Steve’s hands ran up his back, under his jean jacket. The touch sent warmth down into Bucky’s belly where it spread like fire and fought with his precise self-control.

He pulled back just enough, so he could bite Steve’s bottom lip. Exactly in the right way to drive the blonde crazy, and then surged back in. His hand ran down the front of Steve’s too-tight white t-shirt. Then stopped his fingers right on the waist of his pants, dipping his ring finger just underneath to tease the patch of skin there. When Steve groaned, he smirked and pulled back to say something snarky, only to freeze.

There was a flash in his peripheral. It wasn’t from the penguins or the security camera in the corner of the ceiling.

Steve felt Bucky stiffen, and he frowned, eyes fluttering open to stare at him, confused “What’s wrong?” His fingers bunched in his lover’s shirt, rubbing a soothing circle against the tense muscle.

Bucky blinked, and then turned his head just in time to see a group of teenage girls quickly walking away. Further down the hall and then around the corner. They were giggling and whispering to each other. One kept looking back despite her friends trying to tug her along.

Steve followed Bucky’s line of sight, looking over his head with a frown “Did that person just take a picture of us?” He asked slowly, and a lot calmer than should be possibly. Reluctantly, he dropped his hands back down to just hold Bucky’s hips, subtly fixing the brunet’s clothes as he did so.

Bucky groaned and let his head fall against Steve’s chest, his hat dropping to the ground “Ya Steve. Ya… she just did.” Mournfully, he flopped his arms to his sides, only letting his forehead stay in contact.

“Should I try to get it back?” As soothingly as possible, Steve ran his fingers through his shaggy brown hair, petting him gently.

Immediately he shot back, practically growling in frustration, “Do you want to add ‘Harassing a Teenager’ to your list of fuckups today?”

Pouting, Steve stopped his petting and glared down at the crown of his head, “I’d be nice about it.”

“Cause a big hulking guy asking to see her phone wouldn’t be scary at all.” Bucky tilted his head up and let his chin press into Steve’s chest instead. He had to awkwardly slouch to make it work, but it was worth it to see the other man crane his head down to keep eye contact. It was a hilarious angle.

Hand still playing with Bucky’s hair, Steve raised his eyebrows, “Think they know who I am?”

“Probably.” Bucky finally sat up, dislodging himself, and scooped down to pick up his hat. He dusted it off against his pants, and put it back on with a huff.

“Then maybe she’d delete it cause Captain America told her to.” Slyly, the blonde grinned, and kicked off from the wall, following Bucky towards the exit, opposite of where the girls went.

“And give up those million-dollar pictures? Doubt it.” Bucky reached back as Steve caught up with him and threw his arm over Steve’s shoulders. Everything was fucked anyway. What did it matter now? Besides, this felt sweetly familiar, even if Steve was much bigger than he used to be.

Steve seemed to get the same idea. With way too much enthusiasm, he leaned over and kissed Bucky’s temple. The action made them stumble a little, and knocked his glasses askew on his face, “It’ll be alright. We’ve dealt with worse.” He grinned at Bucky’s scowl. Then laughed when the brunet reached up to fix his glasses for him, as if he was the greatest burden in the world.

And that was how Captain America became the national gay symbol of the world.

****

The paper slammed down in front of them on the desk with so much force that the coffee cup next to it jumped. Bucky grabbed at it, just managing to keep the steaming mug from spilling.

“Just one month. I asked for one damn month and you couldn’t even give me that. I swear to god all you Supers are just trying to give me a stroke!” Pepper’s voice zipped through Bucky’s skull just as terrifyingly as he imagined.

Both him and Steve sank back into their respective chairs. Hunkering down like children being scolded by their principal. Instead of meeting her piercing gaze, they studied the paper in front of them.

It was a front-page spread. Two very incriminating, no arguing what-your-seeing pictures. The first was of Bucky and Steve smiling at each other with Bucky’s hand on Steve’s jaw. Of course, naturally the second was them kissing. Not a sweet peck. A full-on, I’m-trying-to-fuck-your-mouth sort of kiss. Lewd. That was probably the right word.

In big bold letters on top of the pictures read: CAPTAIN AMERICA SWITCHES TEAMS

Pepper tapped at the paper, particularly the headline, that had Bucky cringing a little “This is the nicer version than most.” She sighed and slumped down in her chair “I’ve already got the team on damage control. No point in finding the photos. The web has them. But we’re promising interviews and writing up official statements. Figuring out the best way to spin the story properly.”

Bucky glanced over to Steve as he let Pepper’s voice become background noise. Air from the vent in the ceiling ruffled the dandelion fluff of his hair. His hands were in his lap, back straight, but his eyes were focused solely on the newspaper. Didn’t seem like he was absorbing much else. It took Bucky by surprise for a minute, until Steve looked at him. There was a fire there. And not the bad kind.

Steve reached forward and picked up the paper. Pepper was talking about a schedule, speeches, and interviews, but neither of them were listening anymore. The longer Bucky stared at the photo of them kissing, the more he understood the pressure of Steve’s fingers as they found his thigh.

It was kind of hot to have a picture of them kissing like that.

“Boys, this is kind of important.” Pepper cut through and snatched the paper from them. She dropped it back down on her desk. A curl of red hair fell out of her masterful bun, and her eyes flicked between them, looking for any comprehension at all.

“Yes mam.” Steve replied, wincing guilty, and flashing her his most charming grin. Still, his hand crept subtly to Bucky’s inner thigh, thumb rubbing delicious circles over his jeans. Bucky readjusted himself, leaning just a hair closer. Steve’s hand squeezed. Hard.

She merely sighed, picked up her coffee mug, taking a long sip. Of course, she knew when she had lost the room. Head in one hand as she gestured them out dismissively with her mug “Just be ready to go by 8 in the morning tomorrow.”

It took them all of five minutes to get back to their room and lock the door. They didn’t make it out again until exactly 8 the next morning.

#stucky #steve rogers #steven grant rogers #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes #steve rogers x bucky barnes #bucky barnes x steve rogers #fluff #romance #marvel #marvel universe #my otp #oneshot #tashariiwriting

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dailybrewedblog · 4 years

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10 Exceptional Jellyfish Species

Many think of jellyfish are some of the smallest animals found in the ocean, but they come in all different sizes. Around 2000 jellyfish types have been documented, but scientists estimate that there could still be over 300,000 species yet to be discovered. That’s a lot of jellies…

In no particular order, we have put together ten alien yet beautiful looking marine animals that will raise your eyebrows and make you think twice about what’s really out there in the big blue. If you love jellyfish so much, then you have to check out these jellyfish gift ideas!

Cauliflower Jellyfish

The cauliflower jelly is named because of the wart-like projections on its bell, which look like the vegetable. The species itself is so beautiful.

They are found in the mid-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific. In the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa, the cauliflower jelly is a marine species that can grow large, reaching 1.5 to 1.9 feet in diameters.

Like its vegetable name, it is something you will find on your dinner plates. Well, in China and Japan, anyway. The species is considered a delicacy and also is utilized for medicinal purposes.

Crystal Jellyfish

The crystal jellyfish lives in the waters off North America’s west coast, a species that is colorless and has about 150 delicate tentacles lining its glass-like bell.

This gorgeous jellyfish appears crystal clear in the sunlight. But the transparency covers a brighter side.

As per the Monterey Bay Aquarium, “Crystal jellies are luminescent jellies and glow brightly with glowing points around the margin of the umbrella. The components needed for bioluminescence include a Calcium++ activated photoprotein known as aequorin, which radiates a blue-green light, and an accessory green fluorescent protein (GFP), which receives energy from aequorin and re-radiates it as a green light. Scientists have made ‘green mice’ that glows green under blue light by inserting the GFP gene taken from the crystal jelly into the mice. The glowing protein is widely used as a natural highlighter that helps scientists find and study genes more quickly.”

White-spotted Jellyfish

White-spotted jellies are one of the species you don’t have to be afraid of. The mild venom isn’t an issue for humans. These filter feeders focused on minuscule zooplankton, and one of them can filter about 13,000 gallons of water a day for a meal.

The downside of this species is a swarm of white-spotted jellies can clear an area of zooplankton, leaving none for the fish and crustaceans that also are the meal for the microscopic critters. They are considered an invasive species found in areas such as the Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea; their voracious appetite poses an issue for native species from corals to shrimp.

Bloodybelly Comb Jellyfish

This species can win the contest for the coolest name. You need to see this one in action with the sparkling light show it puts on. Make sure to watch till the end when it opens up like a spaceship coming out of the space.

Though, the blood belly comb jelly isn’t related to jellyfish. They do not possess the large stinging tentacles and are not harmful to humans. But for in tentacles, they make up for in cilia, tiny hair-like projections they beat back and forth to help move it through the water. It is the movement of the cilia that does the colorful light show.

Despite looking like a showoff, the blood belly comb jelly’s red color makes it almost invisible in deep water where they’re found. Red looks black in more depths. The red belly can also help mask the bioluminescent glow of the prey the comb jelly eats, keeping it extra safe from predators’ attention.

Black Sea Nettle

Another red inhabitants of the deep are the black sea nettle. This species is a giant among jellyfish found in the deepwater of the Pacific in southern California. Its bell can reach up to 3 feet across, its arms can be about 20 feet in length, and its stinging tentacles can be about 25 feet in length.

Though it is enormous, the species is new to science but not well known. Part of this is because they’re tough to raise in captivity, and they aren’t often found in the wild. There have been some surface blooms of black sea nettles, with the giant invertebrate species found in large numbers. Other than the blooms, where black sea nettles are located and what they’re up to is still a bit of a mystery.

Flower Hat Jellyfish

This rare colorful, and odd species are endemic to the Western Pacific, the coast of Southern Japan, and also found in waters off of Brazil and Argentina. Rather than pushing their way through the ocean, flower hat jellyfish are often found near the ocean floor among seagrasses where catch preys like small fish.

They may look gorgeous, but you can’t get close to them. They pack a nasty sting. As per the Monterey Bay Aquarium, “Blooms of the flower hat jellies make swimming in waters off Argentina risky. The sting of this jelly is painful and leaves a bright rash. In Brazil, the flower hat jellies’ bloom interferes during shrimp fishing; the jellies clog their nets and drive shrimp away, probably to deeper water.”

Mediterranean/Fried Egg Jellyfish

Cotylorhiza tuberculata is commonly known as the Mediterranean jellyfish or the fried egg jellyfish. The jellyfish bell has a lighter ring surrounding it, and when seen from a certain angle, they look very much like favorite breakfast food.

The mouth-arms of this jellyfish are shortened and have longer projections with disk-like ends. The overall effect of all these makes it look dotted with purple and white stones. This species survives for only about six months, from summer to winter, and dies when the water cools down.

The species feeds on zooplankton, not on fish. Juvenile fish can hide inside the fried egg jellyfish’s tentacles for protection, and small species of crabs will hitch a ride on the bell.

Atolla Jellyfish

The Atolla jellyfish, also known as Coronate medusa, is a deep-sea jelly found worldwide. Like many species of animals living in the deep, it has bioluminescent abilities too. But unlike many of them that use bioluminescence to attract prey, this species uses it to keep from getting preyed. Whenever an Atolla jellyfish is attacked, it will make a series of flashes that spins like the police siren light. This attracts more predators, who hopefully will be more interested in the original attacker than the jellyfish, giving the jellyfish a chance to escape.

This strategy has given the species their nickname, the “alarm jellyfish.”

Narcomedusae

It’s Narcomedusae. This unusual looking species of jellyfish has two stomach pouches. To fill those pouches with a lot of prey, it will hold its long tentacles out in front of it while swimming. Scientists think this makes them a more effective ambush predator.

According to Creature Cast, “Some species of Narcomedusae (affectionately called narcos by the people who study them) can grow inside their own mother, who provides nourishment and a safe environment. The narco babies can then leave their mother, find another jellyfish of an entirely different species, attach to its flesh, and thrive on the nourishment and safe environment it provides.”

ANIMA is a unique marine life image bank based in Fremantle, Western Australia. You can also order a print of any artwork from the image bank. Visit the image bank

#Marine Life Image Bank #Jellyfish #Drawing #art work #Image Bank #paintings of coral reefs #sea nettle #Species

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considerably-confused · 8 months

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how i draw black stinging nettles 🤝 how i draw oyster mushrooms

#artists on tumblr #artwork #art problems #art jokes #digital artist #mushrooms #mushroom art #jellyfish art #jellyfish #black stinging nettle jellyfish

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adawneveryday · 5 years

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a child's love of sea jellies

I’ve never been fascinated by jellyfish before this past week. But over this past summer, my son has. It started with the jellies washing up on the beach. Just the bells without stingers that had gotten caught in a current that destined them to wind up at my son’s feet.

They were pretty, clear, gelatinous circles with slightly cloudy circles inside of them. Their edges rippled and reflected the white sun light.

I allowed him to touch them, but not prod them. I wanted him to know they were living things and while they were not a puppy or a kitten, he still should be gentle and respectful, which he is naturally, so he makes that lesson easy.

While my son roars and runs enthusiastically playing war with his soldiers, using everything from a pinecone to a stick to a stuffed bear as a weapon, he also turns easily tender.

“It’s a baby jelly. Don’t touch it. Let’s put it back in the water. Bye baby jelly. See you later,” he lisps and whispers in a sweet voice as I toss a stranded jelly back past the waves for him.

At the beach he buries his buckets of water and rescues one by one jellies he finds. He floats his rubber jellies that light up in the buckets with the real jellies and surrounds them protectively with his pirates. Before it gets late, he wants to return them all back to the water beyond the waves.

He counted the clear jellies going in, so we have to count them coming out, making sure all are out before we dump and clean the bucket in the waves.

Luckily we live near an aquarium that has jellies, moon jellies and Atlantic Sea Nettles. While he loves visiting every animal friend from the entrance, he is racing, naming the alligators, the turtles, the snakes, the frogs, the fish, and even the sting rays to get to the center of the aquarium that is very dark with columns of bubbling lights. In this magical center are round tanks where jellies pulse and drift in spotlights. The moon jellies are in blooms that tumble and turn endlessly. The seat nettles are in a convex tank on the wall and drift dragging long streams of stinging tentacles behind them in fleshy pink and cloudy white.

My son dashes from column to column, tank to tank, joining other families in their pictures and sitting on the ledge of a tank leaning against the glass staring up into the water.

“Wow, look at them. They are floating. Look at the stingers. Look. Whoa,” is says in a breathy way that conveys awe and adoration.

Only after he has done this, will he then go back through the aquarium to the beginning to see visit the rescue turtles and albino alligators and of course the slow, easy going sharks.

He says, “I want to be a diver and touch octopus. I want to go fishing. I want to catch a crab.”

We leave with a large, green, stuffed animal squid and a picture of him with a sea turtle swimming over his outstretched arms, with a glowing smile on his beaming face.

At home, his mind goes and goes as he measures out his imagined ocean on the tile floor of the kitchen. I imagine his mind and thoughts like blooms of tumbling jellyfish: dense, numerous, forever in motion. Our paper and crayon colored sea jellies, fish, crabs, and more all get laid out on sheets of seaweed and sand. Sheets full of black crayon scribbles are actually the midnight zone, the darkest part of the ocean. He puts only certain jellies, fish (like an angler fish with its lighting up lure) in this exclusive spot. This week the squid was allowed in the midnight zone after watching a show that showed the giant squid in a very dark ocean.

“You can’t see him! Close your eyes!” he declares, because in the dark you can’t see them until they light up and let you see them.

He is going into great depths himself. Following his interest unabated.

I have to find and play videos for him, saving them for repeat play.

“What’s his name?”

“Moon jelly.” I say.

“What’s his name?”

“Lion’s mane.” I say.

“What’s his name?”

“er, lets say cauliflower jelly...” I stumble.

“What’s his name?”

“Mangrove jelly. He can see up into the canopy of the mangrove trees!” I say, triumphantly remembering a factoid from our research.”

“That’s Aus-tailing fox jelly!”

“AU-STRAIL-AIN BOX, bah,bah, bah BOX Jelly.”

“bah, bah, buh FOX JELLY!”

“ok, fox jelly” I surrender this argument to him.

I learn about mesoglea, tentacles, bells, and cnidocytes. I learn about Eternity Jellies that escape death by reverting to an infant stage called a polyp. I learn about bioluminescence and green fluorescent protein (GFP).

There is no end to this trench of information, especially with over 2000 types of jellies to learn about. We have only drawn over 50 of them.

#seajellies #jellyfish #wrting #shortessay

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whylikemusic-blog · 7 years

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Chapter 1- Must It Be?

Disclaimer: I am by no means a great writer, and would never claim to be one. I have been writing short stories, however, and am now deciding to put them up here to be subjected to critique. I welcome any such critiques or comments, as I am looking to become better and move forward in this writing endeavor. The following is the first chapter rough draft of my most recent short story.

Nettle’s immobile face muscles kept their shape for a solid 15 minutes as she gazed blankly, eyes glazed, into the deep blue water that was interrupted occasionally by the passing jellyfish, its large head bobbing up and down, moving in no partiular direction. The aquarium featured many types of jellyfish. Moon jellies, blue blubber jellies, purple-striped jellies, and many nettles from various oceans and regions around the world. In a country that felt so closed off and uninviting towards other places, other worlds, this is one place where creatures could convalesce. They were brought here, to be together and, once a year, be looked at by Nettle.

It was the one trip she gave herself. She worked hard, and was constantly busy. She also did not have a lot of money, so she was unable to take trips or give herself a break. But, once a year, she would visit the aquarium, alone. She cherished this time. It gave her a rejuvenating sense of peace. The aquarium was almost always empty. Museums of any kind were rarely attended anymore. Most of them had closed. This was one of the few that were still around. Today, she saw several families with small children pass by her, however. The day her mother conceived her, she was stung by a jellyfish. Her father gently carried her out of the ocean and into the beach house, where they made love. And that was her beginning, and her name.

She watched the swirl of orange, black, white, cream and yellow as they gently and impassively crossed her field of vision. Chrysaora melansaster, the sign said. “Why couldn’t my parents have given me a more normal name”, she pondered. Nettle sounded prickly, irritating, conjuring images of stinging skin rashes. She did not want to be prickly or offensive. She wanted to be bright, comforting, and inviting. But this was the name given to her, and it was a part of her.

The feeling of the jelly’s movement stayed with her as she left the aquarium. She walked out the door, slowly, going nowhere in particular. Her limbs moved without intent, her gaze remained unfocused. She realized that she found her way back to her car, with no effort at all. It was as if she would have found her way back there, even without knowing where her car was. Her feet took her there, as if she was unconsciously dragged there. The air was heavy in the parking garage, almost stifling, making her limbs feel suddenly heavy. She looked up and saw a seagull perched up on one of the several prompters in the parking garage (prompters were required to be installed every 100 feet in any building). She quickly glanced at what it said. “Ecomomy is up 10% since yesterday,” it said. “That is great news,” Nettle thought. A quick thought ran past her brain. She thought it was a little odd that “economy” was spelled incorrectly. But the thought ran so quickly it didn’t stop long enough to take root. Instead, she directed her glance towards the seagull perched on the prompter. “What an odd place for a seagull to be,” she thought. Its head was sideways, with one eye looking directly at her. Its gaze made her uncomfortable, so she looked away. She decided to leave her car, and go back out. The cold, sharp air outside made her uneasy, but on she walked. She found herself looking out off the pier, into the water. Somehow she had wondered away from the hustle of the harbor, and she was alone. She suddenly realized how alarmingly quiet it was, both in her head, and out on the pier. It was night now, so the air was dark and blank. She realized a seagull, sitting on a pillar, was suspiciously eyeing her. Nettle quickly looked away, and then looked back. His specific, nervous gaze was still upon her. “I wonder if it is the same seagull that I saw in the parking garage”, Nettle thought. She walked towards him, hoping he would flap away. He kept his stare. She decided to stare directly back at him. After several long minutes, as if the bird decided this was the breaking point, he spoke. “You can not escape the inertia,” he said. The bird finally flapped away. Nettle stood there, mouth gaping open. She could not believe what had just happened. This was simply impossible- inconceivable! It was completely out of the context of what was possible in her world. Bewildered, and with a hurried stride, she walked back towards her car. She unlocked the door, pushed her shoulder back into the passenger seat, shut the door, and turned the car on.

She began to make her way home, her brain buzzing. Her face was distorted, the blank shape completely gone. “Was I hallucinating?” she wondered. “Perhaps someone was playing a practice joke on me. A kid was hiding behind a pillar, without my knowledge, and spoke when I was staring at the gull. He is probably laughing to himself, or telling his friends about the idiotic and gullible woman.” This is what must have happened, she decided. But then again- what did he mean by “you can’t escape the inertia?” That was an odd thing to say, for a gull or for anyone. Perhaps the prankster was trying to confuse her. Perhaps that was part of the joke. But the way he said it- it was almost like a challenge. Like the seagull wanted her to do something, but she did not yet know what that was.

When she got home, she mechanically stepped out of her car. Without thinking, she opened the door, put her keys in the dish, took off her coat, and said “honey, I’m home.” Nettle’s husband greeted her with a smile, gave her a kiss and walked away. She hung her coat on the rack, but decided to turn around and walk back outside. Her husband did not seem to notice.

Outside, she decided to look up at the sky again. She did not know what she was looking for, exactly. It was dark, except for some light pollution coming from streetlights and neighboring apartments. Because of this, it was hard to see many stars. But when she squinted, she could see something very subtle, very tiny. It was like a shadow, or a piece of dust on a lens of a camera. She blinked, then looked again. It seemed bigger this time. She decided that it was just for her, a small, personal gift from the sky. It looked like a black star. Suddenly, she realized it was pulsating. The black star expanded and shrank, like it was breathing. She began to shiver, realizing how extremely cold it was, and seemed to get colder every minute. There was a huge force pulling her, telling her to leave and go back inside, like a vacuum. But she wanted to stay out and look at the black star. Her curiosity was palpable, and she wanted to be strong enough to stand the cold. She grounded her feet, crossed her arms around her body, and kept watching the breathing black star. But the force was too much, and she could not stand the cold. Her legs trembled, and she found it hard to stand. She turned around, and quickly walked inside to her small, comfortable, warm apartment, where she as meant to be. She sat down on the couch next to her husband, and they stared ahead, their glances moving from the television to the prompter sitting above, and back again.

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