#scolia

for their size and hairiness, scoliids are shy and slippery creatures that i don't even bother trying to photograph half the time i see them. luckily, i came across this Scolia hirta who had decided the weather was un-summerlike and went to sleep early, and let me get some shots despite some half-assed thrashing on his part. two things of note on his abdomen - on the very tip you can see long spines that characterize him as a male, while on the dorsum you can see a spooky halloween face

Preview:

When he reached the hallway, she was standing there, one eyebrow raised in silent question, clearly waiting for an explanation as to why he’d summoned her away from her cousin. And he would have been happy to give her one, except he was a little too busy staring to say anything at all. Staring at her, because she’d changed into her dress at some point since they’d parted, and she looked fantastic. He didn’t know a whole lot about fashion or dresses, but the one she was wearing was red and kind of slinky, and he whole-heartedly approved of everything about it. It wasn’t the kind of thing he’d seen her wear very often, and in that moment, he truly believed that was a terrible shame, because she was really wearing it well.

“Wow,” he said, as he reached her, “that is—you—I think—you’re, uh…” Trailing off, he shook his head, running his eyes over her as he searched for the right thing to say. “You look beautiful—I mean, you always look beautiful. I—” Meeting her eyes, he cleared his suddenly dry throat. “You look great.”

He wasn’t sure what kind of reaction to expect from her, was more focused on himself, embarrassed by how he’d stumbled over his own words. About as far from smooth as he could have done it, barring tripping over his own feet and face-planting right in front of her instead. It was more than a little gratifying to see her straighten up slightly, a hint of a pleased smile touching her lips and a slight flush coming to her cheeks. Apparently, his faltering attempt had been the right thing after all.

“Thank you.” Her smile morphed into a smirk, one corner of her mouth ticking up noticeably. “You look… the same as you did two hours ago.”

Grateful for the chance to get back to the comfortably familiar ground of teasing, he snorted, shook his head. “Why mess with perfection?”

title: let me break (the walls that surround me) category: teen wolf ship: malia/scott rating: mature (mostly due to violence) episodes: 1x12 - code breaker word count: 10,071 summary: Malia Tate’s life took a swan dive when her best friend Scott was bitten by a werewolf. Toss in her growing feelings for him, a lurky Derek Hale, a budding friendship with Allison, and an aggressive need to protect everyone she cares about, even at the cost of herself, and Malia has a tough road ahead of her. [season one rewrite - Malia was there from the beginning]

preview:

Jackson's gaze wandered back to the window. "Will she die?"

Malia stepped closer, peering down at Lydia's prone figure. "I don't know… If she lives, she'll turn."

His mouth twisted at that.

Malia scowled. "Please don't tell me you envy her for that. Look at her, Jackson." She waved a hand at the window. "Look at what happened tonight."

"I am." He turned a flat look on her. "Lydia was human and now she'll either die or evolve." His mouth twisted up in a sneer. "Where were you tonight? Huh? Watching out for Allison and McCall? As if they need it. McCall can protect himself and Allison has a whole hunter family to watch her back. But what about Lydia? What about us frail humans?"