You think you have came up with a completely unique name but when you google it there's always that one guy from a random site who somehow managed to think of the exact same thing as you; even though what you thought of really isn't based on anything. Everytime.

As per tradition, I'm writing a new post since things have changed again.

A little while back, I went from C Falcon to Captain. I even had a name council and everything. I was much cooler back then. Now I am less cool, but still me.

So why the change to Cap? Well, if you look at the old post, that was the first name on the list. I've been going by Cap pretty much everywhere now. Captain was a good name, but that implies that I'm a leader, which I am not or at least have proved not to be.

I am, however, still here. I will be here, but my intentions have changed. I wrote about it in the last Neoblogs. I will be the same member I used to be, but without tags. I don't take that weight too well, even if it isn't the same as it might have been in the past. I don't deserve it.


So I'm just Cap. Cap can mean many things. It can be short for Captain (which is the intended use). It can be short for "Capacity" which is sort of an allusion to my relationship to my activity here. It can be a type of headwear which I have many of at my apartment. Did I mention I have 4 Utah Jazz caps? No? Well, I do!

Anyhow, I'll see you around the forums. I'm still pretty much everywhere.

Howdy!

So I haven't blogged for about 5 years and like most of my past posts I have ever made I cringe into a ball looking back over some of the drivel that I have spouted. So 5 years on I thought I would spout some more drivel for you. Farewell to those thats minds have already switched off and that have already engineered their daring escape by clicking on anything other than this post.

My working life has differed slightly since we last spoke as I ceased working for the Army 5 miles from my house 3 years ago and now work for the RAF 30 miles from my house. 25 miles may not sound like much of a difference but with early morning traffic it really is. What used to be a 10 minute drive to work is often taking over an hour and has been known to exceed 2 hours in bad traffic. Thank goodness I have a lot of music stored in my car to sing (badly) to or rap (passably) to on my way to work. I hopefully have a promotion in the pipeline by the end of the year so I can finally achieve my dream of moving into my own place whilst simultaneously being able to afford to survive at the same time. Ah the high life!
On the whole though my working situation has improved as I feel a hundred times more valued at my new job in High Wycombe than I did at my job in Arborfield. I even got a hundred pound bonus the other week which I suspect was due to me going on leave for two and a half weeks and my office wanting to dissuade me from doing that sort of thing again as they suddenly realised how much stuff doesn’t get done when I’m not there. So although the commute is a pain and my mileage now resembles a small country’s Defence Budget, it is more rewarding and there is much more potential to progress upwards. The only line I would draw is moving to High Wycombe itself as I don’t fancy living in a place thats main source of business growth is through handbrake repair and pothole-filling.

As I had previously mentioned I had recently been on leave as I travelled to Barcelona for a week on holiday at the end of September. This was a special holiday as it was the first time I had travelled abroad completely on my own, plus I stayed in Mataro which is a Spanish town a few miles down the coast from Barcelona, meaning that I was probably the only native English speaker for 20 miles. I had tried to learn some Spanish the previous year but I was hopelessly out of practice so resorted to blurting Spanish words, gesturing, pointing, using Google Translate and just generally acting like a thoughtless British tourist, which for some reason the Mataro residents did not warm to. Regardless of that I had a very enjoyable time, went into Barcelona a few days, saw Barcelona vs Girona at the Nou Camp, went to see Sagrada Familia and Casa Mila twice (Gaudi was an absolute genius!) and just generally touristed around the Catalan region. My tan is long gone sadly but I have some good memories despite not having a proper conversation with someone for at least 4 straight days of the holiday! It certainly cost enough anyway.

The reason I was holidaying alone was due to that I had ended my relationship of 6 years in around July 2017 and others weren’t able to afford/make it with me. I finally took the decision to end things with her following what I adjudged to be about Strike Six in our relationship where she has got too drunk and gone absolutely crazy at me for no reason and embarrassed everybody involved. The final nail was when she did this in front of my friends who saw for the first time that my shocking stories were not fabricated. Anyway I digress, I ended it at the start of July 17 and I have not heard from her since then, so nothing further to report there.

However, if you couple that life-changing event with the fact that my hero, Chester Bennington, committed suicide shortly after, sadly I spiralled downwards from there and found myself grappling with depression. I think I honestly found it to be a shock to the system in realising that I wasn’t 21 and pretty anymore and the girls weren’t all falling over themselves for me. Back when I was single when I was 21/22 life was a lot simpler and normally when I showed a girl I was interested in her then the feeling was mutual but now I am approaching 30, look much older and am still receding so much that it even affects anyone that stands too close behind me, things are very different. Most of the females here my age are either taken or stark raving mad and the younger ones are more interested in my little brother who is basically me but 6 years younger (and with a slightly less huge head the lucky rascal!).
So yes I have been basically bobbing up and down the last year and a half having a good few months every so often and then after having a setback I’ve gone straight back down again. It is probably coupled with some sort of early mid-life crisis as my age is really starting to become a worry for me. I haven’t been alone fortunately, a few casual things here and there. I also started a relationship with another girl that she then inexplicably ended after a couple of months despite being the one trying to make the relationship more serious and even wanting to meet my parents. I think this has led to me having trust issues when it comes to women and I’ve just been turned off getting into any more relationships, not that there’s any females that want a relationship with me at the moment anyway haha. Anyway, I’m trying to pull myself out of that but as those of you that have suffered from depression know, it’s not something that you can just flip a switch and cure. The best I can do is keep trying to progress in the world and give myself reasons to be positive. I re-joined the gym about 5 months ago and I’m quite pleased with the results of that, whether I can achieve the goal of bulking up so much that my head actually looks normal-sized by comparison remains to be seen!

I have been reduced to visiting Neoseeker on my phone and sometimes during very quiet periods at work. This is mainly down to a lack of time but also because my laptop at home messed itself up over a year ago and it has taken me until Tuesday of this week to order a new one. The delay is mainly down to me letting my Dad identify the laptop that was best value for money considering what I was after and it has taken a long time as my Dad has been very unwell with serious migraines for many months now and hasn’t been able to check for me. But my new laptop should arrive Friday so I might be able to contribute more from now on.

Finally I bring my apologies to the people of Loungin’, I have not posted in that forum since May 2017 since that thread on the Manchester bombings where I was called a victim-blamer for not just simply posting “RIP” like a sheep. It was at that point where people agreed with the general message I was making but chose to personally attack me that I really had had enough of that particular forum and the hypocrisy that flows through it. Just because I didn’t make lots of posts about how awful the attack was people assumed that I hadn’t paid my respects to the victims, or worse yet, that I thought the victims deserved it by association with evil western powers. Now I appreciate most were ignorant of this but I have a friend who lost one of their close friends at those bombings, so the insinuation from some members that I didn’t care about any of the victims was not only completely incorrect but also incredibly offensive to me.
I have received a few mentions from people in Loungin’ over the past year and a bit which has been nice and the fact that I was still somehow in the nominations for Funniest Member was very touching and my thanks go to whomever mentioned me. However I am not posting in that forum again. I’ve seen too many instances of senior members try to derail Loungin’ threads to suit their own agenda or try and make themselves look more knowledgeable. I want no truck with any of that. Funnily enough that Manchester Bombing thread was completely derailed well after I decided to stop posting in it but no one seemed to care then. Now I stick mainly to the Football Forum and forums of whichever games I’m playing, current ones being FIFA 19, Red Dead 2 and God of War.

Reading over this again I realise this post started as happy and chirpy but it has got steadily more negative. Oops! It wasn’t intentional! I didn’t mention that I’m still doing script-writing with my friend so I hope this sort of thing doesn’t come across in my scripts!
I hope you all are well and I wish you a wonderful Christmas holiday and New Year if we don’t speak before then.

I wish to explain myself and my relationship with the site going forward.


I would like to formally/informally request my demotion from Tabletop Games with this post. I will site why I am demoting, the future of my activity with that forum, and my relationship with this site as a whole.


First, my time at Tabletop was quite eventful. We had gone from being a fairly dead Miscellaneous Games forum to Tabletop Gaming with a new identity. Enthusiasm was high then. We had several games running and plenty of interest. I, with the help of Vast, cleaned up old threads and gave the forum a fresh look. The foundation looks pretty good so far. Time passed and enthusiasm dropped. I understand. People work. People get busy. I did too. The enthusiasm hasn't really returned, partly due to me not trying. That shouldn't have to happen. If people were interested in playing games, they can take the initiative themselves. I can understand my promotion at the time. I was very much ready to make games and create a fun atmosphere. It worked for a moment. Unlike other, better mods here, I don't inspire others. I'm an instrument rather than a conductor. It isn't the fault of the Super team I was placed in charge. No. I showed that I might have that potential, but I don't. I guess I should have understood that in my time at Food & Cooking too. It is almost the exact same story.

Moving to my second point, I will not leave Tabletop or Retro or Food & Cooking. I won't even leave the site. I just don't think I want to mod ever again. I am not your guy. I don't have the leadership skills required to be a good mod. I will continue on making games and trying my best to promote activity, but I believe I fail when I take on the next step in responsibility. Maybe I am being overly dramatic about what it means to be a mod, but shouldn't that be something that someone takes pride in being? Shouldn't I be doing my best for the forum instead of phoning in effort? I know the site as a whole isn't what it once was, but I still hold the idea of what mods of the past used to be. I would have already been demoted if I was modding back then with this sort of effort.

This moves to my final point which is my relationship with the site. There are some members I know who are doing a great job in shaping potential framework for the future of this site. I believe in them and want them to succeed. I think the overall direction of this site should echo their push. I know there are members who, once they ascertain this direction, will be able to continue the push. I am not one of those members. I am dead weight. A remnant of the past that cannot move forward. While there are other members like that here, they are more in the nostalgic camp while I'm just unable to keep up with the times in general. It isn't about pining for the past. It is just me unable to be a member of the future. Talking about this out loud to myself, I learned that I'm just not part of the community like I thought I was.

I will remain hopeful for the site. I will continue doing what I've been doing until I'm gone. As someone once said, and I paraphrase, I'm just a Rattata and I'm not even in the top percentage of Rattata.

Tagging the Super team to process this demotion request.

Gotenks Saku Avalith Chelskiman Mister MacPhisto

I'm a movie buff. I'm usually at the movies on my days off if there's something playing that interests me. And 2018 has been a pretty good year for films. Here are the 20 movies that I've enjoyed the most that were released in this year.

NOTE: I haven't seen Crazy Rich Asians, Chappaquiddick, Mission Impossible: Fallout, A Star is Born, Love: Simon, A Quiet Place, or Isle of Dogs. If I had, some of them might have made this list.

NOTE #2: I saw Teen Titans Go To the Movies and Tully. I genuinely hated them both.

Here we go.

20. Pacific Rim Uprising
I didn't see the first Pacific Rim, so the plot of this one kind of lost me. It was OK.

19. The House With a Clock in Its Walls
Jack Black is still hilarious, but this one was just...meh.

18. The Meg
Jaws on steroids. That's basically it.

17. Smallfoot
Saw this one with my younger cousin. It was better than I thought it was going to be.

16. Rampage
I'll see anything with The Rock in it. Besides that, it had a giant gorilla, a flying wolf, and...not much else. Still OK, though.

15. Venom
The plot was confusing, but I kinda enjoyed this one. Sue me.

14. Avengers: Infinity War
Points detracted for the downer ending.

13. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Enjoyed this one a lot less than The Last Jedi and Rogue One. Still head and shoulders better than the prequels, though.

12. Halloween
Nothing will ever beat the John Carpenter original, but this one was a darn good watch.

11. The Last Movie Star
I'm a fan of Burt Reynolds, and it was filmed in my home state of TN, so I had to see it. Pretty darn good, but I'll probably never watch it again.

10. Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Grew up on Mr. Rogers, and I hope Tom Hanks can do him justice in the upcoming movie.

9. Ant-Man and the Wasp
Again, points detracted for the ending.

8. Deadpool 2
Ryan Reynolds hasn't lost a beat as the Merc with the Mouth. Much prefer this version of him to a fuzzy yellow electric rat.

7. Bohemian Rhapsody
I'm a massive fan of rock music, and this film gives a very insightful look at the band Queen. The historical inaccuracies did irk me, but not enough to detract from really, really liking this movie.

6. Incredibles 2
Best animated film of the year.

5. First Man
Highly recommend this one if you're a space buff like me.

4. Christopher Robin
I grew up on Winnie-the-Pooh, and seeing all the characters come to life in a real-world setting was a very welcome shot to my childhood.

3. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
I also grew up on the Jurassic Park franchise as well. A very fitting sequel to Jurassic World.

2. Ready Player One
I read the book and absolutely loved it, and the movie didn't disappoint either. So much nostalgia crammed into 2 hours.

1. Black Panther
Just barely beats out RP1. My new favorite Marvel movie after Guardians of the Galaxy. Very fleshed-out characters and amazing scenery to boot.

With just over one month left in the year, can any films squeeze their way into my top 20? We'll see on New Year's Eve!

so uh. yeah things have happened

ive been engaged (not anymore)
i graduated college
i bought a new car
i was arrested once on drug charges like three years ago
and i had a baby boy about three months ago

i figured maybe it was time for an update

Australia, the land down under, has a reputation across the globe of being a land of isolation. The land of marsupials. Nowadays kangaroos, koalas, and wombats are famous icons but during the Pleistocene things were a little different. Back before the changes in climate and before human interferences there once was an apex predator that stalked the scrublands and woodlands; the marsupial lion. However, despite its name, this animal was not closely related to a lion at all as it was a member of the order Diprotodontia. The correct binomial name was in fact Thylacoleo carnifex.

Thylacoleo was the largest carnivorous mammal to ever roam Australia and among the largest predatory marsupials worldwide. Thylacoleo is estimated to have weighed anywhere from 250-350 lbs (130-160kg) making it comparable in size to female lions and tigers.
Thylacoleo was heavily robust and beared impressive forelimbs armed with retractable claws used to grapple prey and climb trees.
Although this marsupial's mouth is really what's jaw dropping. Pun intended. By analyzing Thylacoleo's dentition it is clear that this was a specialized carnivore. Thylacoleo packed some enlarged incisors on both top and bottom jaws, but they were sharp like canines. While the carnassial premolars were gigantic and blade-like. These carnassials that were placed above and below acted like scissors and were gruesomely efficient at shearing off chunks of flesh and cutting bone.
To wrap up this deadly package Thylacoleo’s bite was considerably strong...one of the strongest in its class. Combine that with the animal's specialized teeth and it was capable of tackling the largest Australian prey and killing them in only a couple of minutes. Being so specialized in slaughtering big game meant Thylacoleo wasn't efficient at hunting smaller game which may have contributed to its extinction once humans came along.

Being that this is a multiple of 10, I thought I'd give it a title.


I just turned 14 on this site not too long ago. I've seen a lot, but other have seen way more than I have. Remember when these Neoblogs were talking about my Neolife?

I guess I will touch upon things from the past this time around.


Currently, there's only 3 active members from my past on this site. One of them is only semi-active. I see a lot of hopes for others from the past to come back and I used to be in that boat too. I feel like wanting something is futile. I can tag my old friends until the cows come home, but at the end of the day there's plenty of you out there that make this site sort of home to me. There's plenty of you out there from the past too. I never met people like Kid Clutch or Vicarious until recently, but they seem like decent dudes.


I used only used to go to a handful of forums back in the day and really that was all I needed. Do I wish it was still like that? Eh. I kind of got used to being everywhere. It's made me more social here and while I know I'm no one's favorite user, I'm just glad I can be a part of something.


So, enough of the the despair. Hopes and dreams.

In the next year I hope to have more Neopoints and posts. I hope to continue playing games and making some of my own. There's IRP people I'd like to get to know better like orez, The Lost Soul, and SirLagsALot.

I can also hope to keep up game time in Tabletop. I would like to get back into talking about cooking in Food & Cooking. I want to have some money chatter in Careers & Finance. Maybe I set sights on Academia and talk about...smart stuff. Kind of hard when I'm Neoseeker's self proclaimed Site Moron.

Dreams. I told myself I would stop dreaming since things never come true and I'm the worst at trying. I guess I have one stupid dream that'll never happen because it is completely unnecessary and I doubt I could handle it and that's one day get a Cat spot for Special Interest. I guess dreaming can't hurt. It isn't reality.


I don't know why, but I feel like this video goes well with this post.



I wonder if that commercial was still running when I started this account?

It's been a bit but I'm back with a real Neo Blog.

Things have plateaued for me. Went though some bad days, but I haven't really wanted to quit here in a while. It's always been the same with me. Still think I'm doing a bad job in Tabletop, but I've been told I'm not. I guess I'll accept that. I'm trying not to think of things like I had been.

Played a mafia game in IRP since sword_of_omens was running a theme he really liked. Sword's a good buddy. I'd join his game for sure.

Got a new game brewing. It was going to be a mafia game and then it turned into a hybrid mafia game. Now it looks like a board game with mafia elements. It might just turn out to be too ambitious. I should really stick to a skeletal structure, but I have so many cool ideas that I wanna do them all.

Fun fact, I just tried to change my username to just Cap. It wouldn't let me. It said "Username already exists." I don't see it actually. What gives?

I wanna join this new mafia game, but I don't know how much time I'll have in the coming month. Work is kicking me in the teeth. I also don't know the theme very well. Australian Rock isn't in my wheelhouse. Uh...AC/DC. That's all I got.

I guess I didn't know Thundercats that well either, but I was intrigued by that at least. I kind of want to watch the show now that the game is over. Shout out to The Lost Soul for helping me out there.

That's it. I still kind of want to be just Cap. If it isn't in the cards, it isn't in the cards. Go vote for the Neo Awards thing.

So because it might help for some people to know, but i am currently working on a application that allows you to post and search for trades.

This forum allows the same off-course but let me explain.

By creating this application I want to allow people to search for people who seek a specific pokemon or even item.
Also posting what somebody is trading (pokemon/item/mystery code/etc) and making sure that searching works really well is a key point.

And when people decide they want to trade you are both placed in a realtime chat so you can communicate really quick.
When both players agree the trade is done ( capped at 60 minutes ) a rating will be asked so we can filter out people who didn't hold their end of the bargain.

If you have a question about this let me know :)

Behold, an extinct genus of fossil from the ancient Ediacaran Period; Dickinsonia! But what's so interesting about a ribbed oval? Well Dickinsonia is typically a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval that has stumped paleontologists for decades.

“What exactly is Dickinsonia's relationship to life?” is the question we all want answered. But the affinities of Dickinsonia are unknown...perhaps it was a jellyfish, lichen, sea anemone, coral, or mushroom? Or something else entirely… Scientists have even suggested that Dickinsonia is a part of an extinct kingdom that has been left behind in time. Scientist do know that Dickinsonia's growth rates are consistent with a bilaterian¹ association.
Dickinsonia may have spent most if not all of its life anchored to the bottom of the ocean, although it could've been mobile. If Dickinsonia did anchor itself to the sediment they could have done so similar to oysters, lichen, or fungus today. Dickinsonia fossils are imprints and casts within sandstone beds that range in size from a few millimeters in length upto 1.5 meters! And some of these fossils display extraordinary levels of preservation of its internal anatomy...possibly a tract that Dickinsonia used to digest food and then transporting that food across the body?

As of September 2018, the age old question I mentioned earlier in this article has taken one step closer to being answered. In northwestern Russia a new Dickinsonia fossil has been uncovered and the strong evidence of cholesterol molecules has swayed the argument towards Dickinsonia being a member to Kingdom Animalia! So please, let's give a warm welcome!

---

¹ Bilaterians — animals with bilateral symmetry, i.e., they have a head (anterior) and a tail (posterior) as well as a back (dorsal) and a belly (ventral); therefore they also have a left side and a right side.

Ok my little series needs a bit of reformatting. Instead, enjoy this short story from a series of books I’m working on! This series started off as a Final Fantasy fanfic series right here on this website (you can find it in the writing forum) and has evolved into its own creature over the years. The series is now called Soul Fall, and the first book will come (someday) soon! This is a first draft, so it is not the set piece, but enjoy:

Introduction

Eden. It was once said that our world was a paradise, where man and monster alike lived in harmony. The gods shined their blessings onto us and gave us the gift of magic, and, as man and monster became one, humankind gained wings, gills, legs to jump far and wide, and even the ability to transform into a beasts themselves. These human/monster half-breeds became known Tribals, and were a symbol of harmony. Then, one day, by the manipulation of a man with neither magic nor Tribal blood, a gruesome war broke out between the Tribes, annihilating them.

With the symbols that once kept that lofty balance between man and monster gone, the god’s have abandoned us. The monsters we once shared the streets with are now feral hunters of our kind, ravaging towns and settlements not protected by soldiers, and technology is rapidly replacing the magic that keeps us connected to our world’s spirit.

Wiill our world ever find salvation again?

“Legend at the Bar”

“Reports of monster attacks have increased over the last few months, due to the absence of military forces around the city. Troops are expected to return to their posts in the next few weeks, as the war enters its final days.”

The low volume of the television filled the silence of the bar as three men quietly sipped their drinks. Dim lights set a somber tone as the night sky bled darkness through the windows.

“You never notice just how nice it is to have soldiers wandering the streets until they’re gone,” one man utters over the news report.

The second man nods slowly. “No kidding. It made me real uncomfortable having fully armored men with swords and guns walking around like no big deal. But now I’m afraid my son won’t come home from school one day, taken by roaming monsters.”

“My son wants to join the military when he’s old enough. Training real hard with a sword, and learning magic too.” The third man says.

“What kind of magic?”

“Offensive magic. Has his heart set on becoming a Templar working for the castle.”

“Wonder how long magic and swords will be around, now that we have guns and technology.”

“Magic has so many more uses. We Ionians have fire magic to start fires, ice magic to freeze things, air magic for wind power, earth magic for construction, you name it, we can do it.”

“Oh I agree. But that other country has been pushing technology on the world real hard these days. Claims there’s nothing magic can do that technology can’t.” The first man sighs.

“Tykon?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha! Magically challenged fools. They hate us cause they ain’t us.”

The men let out a chuckle.

“Heard The Knights of the Round are made up of 20-somethings. Adopted as children, and blessed by the gods with power beyond even the Templars.”

“No kidding? Sure we can trust a bunch of kids with that sort of power?”

“His majesty seems to trust them. They’re his son’s personal guard.”

“We seen these kids in action yet?”

“Nope. I think they’re trying to keep them secret from the rest of the world. A trump card in case anyone gets too hostile with us.”

“I think they were deployed in the war, though. Seems like it ended pretty abruptly in our favor after a certain point, don’t you think?”

The other two men nod.

“What’s happening to this world?” The second man sighs. “Back when we were kids, no one was talking about war and toppling other countries. No one was trying to reign supreme and the world that their ideals are better.”

The first man shakes his head. “You all hear about that new religion that’s been surfacing lately? People say it’s a cult. Crazy fanatics. People disappearing, and such.”

Another patron of the bar, whose silence made him blend in with the bar, perks up.

“Probably some other stupid kids. The things they think of these days. They don’t even care that they’re harming people.” The second man says.

The man got up from his barstool and paid his tab.

“Was good seeing you guys, but I have to get going. Don’t want to keep the wife waiting.”

The other two men say their goodbyes as the man walks out of the bar. The silent patron stands up and quietly follows him out.

The man walks to his car and pulls his keys out. As reaches his hand to put the key in the lock, he is thrown against the car.

“You dare speak ill of our cause?” A voice hisses in the dark.

The man tries to yell, but the assailant’s hand covers his mouth.

“Our god will not suffer fools! May your soul nourish him! Take him!”

Low snarls come from the shadows as two large, four legged figures approach the two men. The man could vaguely make them out as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the outside. They had pure white skin, and large, rugged snouts lined with jagged fangs. They had two eyes on each side, each pure green.

The man tried to struggle, but the figure was stronger than him. He managed to pull the assailant’s hand down long enough to scream.

“Help! Help me!” He called to his friends in the bar.

The figure laughed.

“They can’t do shit for you! Now I’ll just have three souls to take instead of one.”

The large beasts crept forward. The man shut his eyes and prepared for his life to end.

What felt like an eternity went on before a high pitched zing pierced the silence of the night. The hand that covered his mouth was yanked off by a sudden and powerful force. The man slid down the side of his car and slowly opened his eyes.

The moon had come out, and before him was a young woman standing between him and the beasts; the man’s assailant seemingly tied up with a cord hanging from the woman’s wrist. At the end of the cord was a razor sharp looking blade.

“...the hell are these?” The woman utters to herself.

Bringing her pointer and middle fingers of her free hand up to ear, she seemingly begins to talk to the air, but closer observation revealed a communication link system.

“Corvus, you got eyes on me? Take a look at these ugly things.”

There was a brief silence before the woman responded.

“Look, I’m not gonna drag a dead dog-thing’s body back to the castle with me along with this jerk. Come out here and examine it yourself. Since when do you know about organic creatures anyway?”

The beasts begin to let out a loud, angry snarl.

“They’re mad, gotta go!”

One lunges at the young woman, its razor sharp fangs ready to rip her apart.

“Young lady, MOVE!” The man shouts. He shuts his eyes and tucks his head in, terrified of what was about to happen.

The young woman takes a deep breath, and with a swift roundhouse kick, smacks the beast down. The bladed-cord that was wrapped around the man quickly zipped back into her wrist gadget. With a quick punch, she knocks the assailant out.

“Stay there for a moment,” she smirks.

Cocking the gadget, she points it at the second beast.

“Come get some!”

The beast, seemingly taking the challenge, charges at the woman. With a burst of air, the gadget on her wrist shot the bladed-cord out with a blinding speed. Narrowly dodging it, the beast continues the charge.

The woman’s fingers twitch. As if it had a mind of its own, the cord made a u-turn and darted towards the beast again, shooting through the beast’s back, and going through its chest. It’s body came crashing to the ground, stiff and motionless.

Yanking her arm back, the cord quickly receded. She whirled around, and with more blinding speed, pulls out a knife, quickly parrying the second beast’s oncoming assault before kneeing it in its face, causing it to stagger. With a quick stab to the head, the beast slams to the ground.

The woman let out a few puffs of breath to relax. Putting her fingers to her ear again, she speaks to her comlink.

“Targets down. Suspect capture. Sylvia, I’ve never seen these creatures before. I doubt this is some freak incident with this guy taking control of them. What do you want to do?”

A few moments of silence fell as the woman listened to Sylvia.

“Understood, Dawn Leader. Vega out.”

The woman, identified as Vega, turned to the man.

“Are you alright, sir?”

The man, in shock that a young woman could take down such large beasts, nodded slowly as he stood up.

“Young lady, thank you. Are you with the military?”

Vega shook her head.

“No. I am Jasmine Vega of the Knights of the Round. I’ve come to this area after hearing about a series of disappearances in this part of town. Do you know anything about this?”

The man likewise shook his head.

“I never even knew about them. Does it have to do with him?”

He points to the unconscious young man.

“I’d say so. If you hear anything, please let me know. That will be all.”

Vega walks over to the man, and aims her wrist gadget at him. The man’s body jerks and he holds his hand out. Was she going to kill him?

“Hey! What are you -“

The cord shot out of the gadget, and, as if alive, wrapped itself around the man tightly.

“Don’t worry. A man like this is too valuable to execute. We have many, many, questions for him.”

She begins to walk away, dragging him behind her.

“This will be a bumpy ride. It’ll give you time to think about how much information you want to give us. Oh yeah...” She puts her fingers up to her ear again. “Corvus, come look at your mutant dogs. I’m sure we’ll want to get them in the database.”

The two other men from the bar walk up to the other man.

“Hey, you alright? When we got out here that girl was taking care of business.”

“Good thing, too. Look at those things...” one of them says looking down at the corpses of the strange beasts.

“No normal law enforcer or military person could have fought things like that the way she did. Was she a Templar?”

“No. She was a Knight of the Round.”

“A Knight of the Round!? What are they doing out here!?”

The man who had been attacked lets out a large sigh.

“I’m afraid to ask. I don’t think our streets are safe anymore. Something big is going down.”

A silence fell over the three men as they stared out towards where Vega had headed.

Ever since dinosaurs have first been discovered they have been viewed as slow, sluggish, and cold-blooded (ectothermic) lizards. However, over the past decades with the releases of Jurassic Park and BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs the public has been more opened to the idea of a warm-blooded (endothermic) dinosaur.

Yet even today, the question of whether or not dinosaurs were ectothermic or endothermic doesn't have an exactly clear cut answer. Reptiles in modern times are ectothermic while birds, the evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs, are endothermic. Small theropods like Velociraptor are known by scientists to have been covered in feathers for insulation purposes which is an indicator for an endothermic metabolism. Contrary to that, the fossil record and bone growth rates gathered from various Velociraptor individuals implies that these tiny theropods housed a more moderate metabolism.
This is where the term “mesothermic” comes into play. Animals with a mesothermic metabolism (a.k.a. mesotherms) are considered as intermediates between ectotherms and endotherms (bet they never taught you that in school). Certainly feathered predators like Velociraptor would be the best candidates for an endothermic dinosaur...but further evidence is required for a more definitive answer.

But, what about the non-avian dinosaurs? Y'know like Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus? Well that doesn't have a simple answer either. Although for larger and bulkier ectothermic animals a unique phenomenon called 'gigantothermy’ can occur. Gigantothermy is whenever an animal possesses so much outer layers of skin, fat, and muscle that it acts like a natural insulator thus granting the animal with a higher and much more consistent body temperature... similar to an endotherm. As stated above, more fossil evidence is needed for a better conclusion. Determining the metabolism for extinct creatures is no easy feat. Alot of different variables are included: respiratory, cardiovascular, climate, diet, size, growth rates, bone structure, lifestyle, and etc. must be considered.
Not to mention that dinosaurs lived on Earth for over 150,000,000 years and were increasingly diverse. So it is extremely possible that different groups of dinosaurs evolved different metabolisms and thermoregulation methods.

The debate rages on...

Lovedove won't stop asking me to come back onto Neoseeker, so here I am! And since I'm here, I may as well touch up on my writing skills by starting this blog, and what better way to start than with a new Final Fantasy fan theory series, "When They Were Summoned", a series where I take a character from the Final Fantasy series who has had canon crossover appearances with other games in the series and spin-offs and fit them together, creating a comprehensive timeline of the character's history in the franchise! Today we're gonna start with the easiest, yet one of the more interesting, set of Final Fantasy characters, the Warrior of Light and Garland! Look forward to it!

What's on my mind? Who's asking?