#((gwen when encountering any makai species: ‘i HATE the way you sound 🫡’

[retelling-of-ragnarok]

☾ ʜᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ ☽ — Heartbeat

❖ despite what you may be thinking, this isn’t about gwen’s heartbeat. their hearing is unreal, even if its not nearly as good as their eyesight. so even if its faint, they can hear the different times of beats and swishing sounds from person to person. so this is how each species’ heartbeat blood circulation sounds to them.

❖ Half-Breeds (Human + ____)

↳ It of course differentiates depending on what each individual is mixed with, but. The sound isn’t unpleasant, but it isn’t pleasant either. Their blood flow definitely rings of death— Gwen is definitely able to tell that their heart was once able to beat. It could be best described as a soft whistle.

❖ Vampire

↳ Extremely unpleasant. It makes them dizzy, and physically hurts to listen to. Since their heart has never beat before, the blood doesn’t circulate the same way— judging solely on sounds at least. It sounds like rough, loud, gushing water— Paired with a high pitched screeching noise.

❖ Vibora

↳ Not that bad, actually; though not something they would actively listen to. Like the previous, their hearts have never beat before. So it doesn’t have the same uniform wavelengths that humans do. Instead it sounds a lot like rattling, or even rocks that are skipping. Sounds of stones skipping across rivers in short bursts. Some even sound similar to a rattlesnake; moments of like shaking before going still.

❖ Alder

↳ Honestly, it’s pretty silent. Calming, but in a way that’s unsettling. Since they’re so in tune with their own bodies, the Alder have managed control over their own blood flow— Making it as steady as can be. It reminds Gwen of rocking waves; the sound of the tides rolling into the shoreline.

❖ Wolf

↳ Shredding. Ripping, shredding, and rough. The complete opposite to the previous— A Wolf’s blood reminds Gwen of crashing waves, the loud smacking of bodies hitting the water. Definitely one of the wort ones to listen to.

❖ Founder

↳ Rippling!!! It’d make sense for the Ancestor race’s bloodflow to sound like a soft drop, then ripple. Sort of a like a small point, that sets everything in motion. It certainly isn’t unpleasant, but it’s also a sound that Gwen has yet to hear before; so it’d be quite intriguing.

❖ Ghoul

↳ A lot like water droplets, but more aggressive. Almost like a bird aggressively pecking at a small pond, or body of water— And the flow feels a lot faster than the other races. Another comparison could be a track star— Taking a heavy lap across a wet track.

❖ Human

↳ Bumpy, but steady bumps. It flows up, then down, as their heart does the job it needs to do. It’s a grounding sound, as blood flows efficiently to every part of their body. It’s like a less annoying heart monitor, as their hearts thrum soft beats.

❖ ‘Special’ Humans

↳ Basically people like Gwen’s family. Anyone who’s technically a human but thanks to things like interspecies breeding, experimentation, or some weird quirk at birth, have differences and modifications. They each have their own, unique sounds— But remind Gwen of fast paced waves; as if someone were dancing on the water. The steady flow of a human’s heartbeat and blood flow are still presence; just more… lively.

❖ Extra fact: It’s why Gwen, whilst not being super passionate about music like Shu, opts to keep headphones in when they’re in crowded areas. Since while the sound is really faint, and might as well be silent, the music helps them refocus their brain, since they subconsciously latch onto any sound thats near them.

It doesn’t hinder their senses or abilities in any way. And sometimes they’ll have in their earbuds yet have no music playing through them; its just a muffler, so their ears don’t hyperfocus on something it doesn’t need to. Their eyes already take in the world with too much detail, they shouldn’t let their ears do that too 😟