#and cats are literally INVASIVE species in most places

[somerabidraccoon]

What if... if the boys had fursonas tho... 

You guys ever think about... what animal they would have as their fursona... 

I dunno dude, I’m just really fixated on furries lately and IDK if  I should be concerned about that. 

[lesbiten]

ppl who neglect their cats and leave them outside will be like "we literally domesticated cats they used to be WILD and UNTAMED and so they should live outside!!!!!!" .....................what do you think domestication is all about like did you forget that before you finished the sentence or

[bonefall]

So sorry but please ignore my last ask, i somehow managed to send it before being finished! Finally worked up the courage to send in some clanmew translations of some of my ocs names :D

Pinefall -> Nyypfew Nyyp=pine needles few=falling Pine needles falling I couldn't find a word for the scots pine tree, but her name is supposed to invoke the image of falling pine needles anyways, so it works perfectly!

Oh weird, I guess Scotch Pine never ended up in the Lexicon! Oops! That's so strange because it's one of my favorite Clanmew words and native UK trees. It's just Bes.

Well, while I'm at it, lemmie get some words up for some pines, plus Lurchface's new prefix since we nuked larches from orbit <3

Pine = Kuh IMPORTANT: This word does not just refer to the 3 famous native conifers! This is any tree or bush that primarily bears needles! This is a generic term that includes plants like rosemary, yew, the detested sitka spruce, horsetail, and even firmoss!

Scotch Pine (pinus sylvestrus) = Bes Literally the most beautiful tree in the UK don't @ me. Has a sweeping, gorgeous red trunk, sprawling like an acacia, which grows best on poor soils. Pollen is EXTREMELY important as an HRT herb for Molly-to-Tom warriors. Pinestar's name is Bes-shai, for his gorgeous red coat.

Spruce (Picea sitchensis) = Gamnyyr There are few things more beautiful than a sitka spruce in its native range... THIS IS NOT ITS NATIVE RANGE. It is a BLIGHT. A CURSE. The moor-gobbler, the wildlife-starver. The animals of the UK HAVE NOT EVOLVED TO HANDLE THIS THING. It was the uncanny invader that replaced the SkyClan forest, an eerily quiet place in the old Forest only broken by the distant sound of human saws. It is also the plant that can be processed to create the incredibly dangerous, but useful pitch. There are many uses for this wood, as well, but Clan cats regard the tree with great suspicion. The fact that so few birds and animals are found around it give it a reputation for being cursed, in Clan culture.

Northern Firmoss (Huperzia selago) = Fiff Because of how this moss appears on disturbed habitats, particularly near Tallpines and other plantations, AND resembles a spruce sprig, it is seen as a sort of "herald" of coming invasives. Not that it, itself, is an enemy, but a warning. As such, it's often used in divination and warding rituals. For now, I'm updating the Lexicon entry for the Douglas Fir to this native plant. I am going to be doing a bit more research on pine plantations in the UK, so that I can better build out Clanmew around it. I know that since the 90s or so, the Forestry Commission makes sure that no plantations are one single species. I don't know what they tend to plant next to sitkas yet. Firkit has this as his prefix.

Lurch = Olch A major split in a tree, either between the trunk and a large branch, or two diverging segments. A safe area to perch in while climbing, or scouting.

[sepublic]

Now I want to elaborate on the Makuta of Odina as our big bad villain. The thing about Vamprah is that he’s a hunter, and one who has taken a vow of silence; He acts animalistic, all things considered, and wears the Mask of Hunger, which adds to his motif as a predator who feasts on prey. 

One of the earliest descriptions of Makuta was that of a “raging, kicking, screaming beast” and it’s a depiction that’s really stuck with me. Less of a person or god and more of a monster, an animalistic force of nature incomprehensible to the Matoran. 

When Makuta was first introduced, it was as the master of the Rahi, powerful and dangerous beasts that have been placed under his sway by masks he infected. This precedent was not forgotten later down the line, when 2003 established Rahi Control as one of Makuta’s powers, and it was eventually revealed that the Brotherhood of Makuta’s original purpose was to create Rahi for the Matoran Universe. 

So Makuta in this story is the apex predator, the leader of a pack; The most powerful beast in the land, for whom all others answer to. And an unnatural, ravaging monster with endless hunger, and a taste for sport. There’s a sadistic side to Makuta, who ravages ecosystems like an invasive species.

Humanity has a primordial fear of beasts lurking in the darkness, waiting to strike; Unseen with only our imaginations to fill in the gaps. So let’s incorporate that idea for the Makuta of Odina; A creature who brings darkness with it, enveloping the area in shadows for Makuta to hide in and strike unseen. Like Shelob from Lord of the Rings, and especially like...

You ever heard of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal? It’s a wonderful animated show, about a caveman and his T-rex surviving against some horrible odds in prehistoric times. My favorite episode is the The Night Feeder, and the titular beast is a cryptid that strikes only at night, in total darkness. It remains entirely unseen for the whole episode, so you can only see from its perspective, and glimpse the damage it inflicts on prey and environment alike.

We only get to see the Night Feeder’s dreaded true form in the last minute of the episode, for a few seconds. This is after our protagonists learn that its fear and weakness is fire; Fire which brings light, which allowed humanity’s ancestors to conquer the darkness and explore new horizons. The Night Feeder is beaten as it is seen and revealed, stripping it of the infinity of the unknown by making it quantifiable via comprehension.

I want to play with that idea; A thematically protean creature that can be anything, whatever its prey imagines, because it’s a Schrodinger’s Cat situation where if you can’t see it, who knows what it is? And thus so many options are on the table. Makuta is a monster of shadows, so the way to defeat it is with light; Light thematically reveals its true form, taking away both the shadows it uses to hide itself, but also taking away a lot of the mystique and fear Makuta employs. It is no longer a formless entity, you can see now that it’s limited to the physical form that is illuminated. Like Jean Jacket from Nope, seeing the beast is a form of victory over it.

And it’s neat that I bring up the idea of monsters and beasts that must be hunted, primordial times and whatnot. Because Vamprah’s domain in G1 is the very headquarters of the Dark Hunters... So what if we took that name literally in this adaptation? You’ve got this mercenary group, not exactly good guys, but our protagonists hired against an even greater threat. Makuta ravages livestock, it slaughters entire herds for no other reason than the fun of it, while eating something unknown from its prey that cannot be interacted with.

Enter our Dark Hunters; A group of trophy hunters, monster hunters, that kind of thing. They’ve conquered the most elusive and dangerous cryptids, but this is their greatest hunt yet. They learn the mistake of underestimating the Makuta; They think they’re the masters of the shadow? The Dark Hunters believe it’s their territory and camouflage from which to strike? Their greatest asset has now been turned against them by the Makuta. 

Our protagonists can be Dark Hunters with explicit ties to hunting and/or animals; Such as Airwatcher, Savage, Charger, etc. Tracker and his pet bull are must-haves, as is Primal, whose name and use of a simple spear feels VERY relevant given the influences I’m incorporating into Makuta here. The Hordika Dragons can be a pack of hunting dogs, feared and reputable, only to fall against the Makuta. 

There’s definitely the tension of Man VS Nature, Man trying to conquer the wilderness and its animals, taking trophies. Maybe Makuta is a punishment sent upon these Dark Hunters, who kill for sport, and now find themselves on the receiving end of a karmic beast who inflicts the same. It eats light, spreading the night and darkness across Odina, thereby spreading the Makuta’s territory. It can only strike in shadows, but when it does, it’s virtually unstoppable. Courage is tasty and Makuta knows its scent, devouring bravery to leave nothing left of its prey but terror in their souls as they are shredded.

While other Dark Hunters rely on fancy tools and machines that fail in the face of the supernatural power of Makuta, Primal (whom I shall refer to by the name Nuoka given by creator Peter Dolan), our main protagonist, prevails in his simpler toolset; He hearkens back to the ancient hunters of prehistoric times who fought like animals and thus better understood them. He can fight on Makuta’s level, by Makuta’s rules, and actually make it out alive. Firedracax is another hunter with a specific grudge against a species of pack predators, whose whole power is fire; This could thematically put him at odds against Makuta as another main protagonist.

There can be some discussions of industrialism vs nature, the idea that perhaps a society more removed from it isn’t necessarily better. Cities aren’t necessarily more ‘advanced’ than a nomadic society, after all. This ties into Nuoka as a former member of a tribe, who has his own defense against the prejudices of other Dark Hunters. Likewise, civilization may not be as divorced from nature as it likes to think; Society is still a part of nature and thus has a responsibility to it. 

Makuta is a challenge to human arrogance; Not literal human arrogance, these characters aren’t human. But you get what I mean. The shadows have birthed a dark creature, like the Grendel that Beowulf fought, or many other beasts sent by the gods and/or nature to punish humanity’s hubris. Makuta is the Scorpio to the Dark Hunters’ Orion. Maybe Makuta was once a hunter named Vamprah, who was cursed for his bloodlust with a form that reflected his heart, and even infects others with this transformation to create Rahi.

I like to think the Makuta of Odina resembles the Makuta Nui set from G1; A more animalistic take on Makuta that never showed up in the story but was nevertheless deemed canon. It looked bestial enough that for the Maze of Shadows game, the developers even declared it the set depiction of the Ash Bear! This can be Makuta’s true form, revealed in its final moments when light finally triumphs over its darkness, just as Nuoka manages to slay it. This beast spoken of around campfires is now just a campfire story.

I also want to consider incorporating the Rahkshi here as Makuta’s brood; Creatures who wield staffs resembling man catchers, which is a karmic reversal of man trapping beast. The Makuta Nui combiner takes some visual cues from the Rahkshi, since it’s made using pieces from Makuta; Himself resembling his ‘sons’ and vice-versa. So the Makuta of Odina can resemble a more animalistic, bestial Rahkshi, foregoing a tool for massive claws and fangs. Makuta’s visage takes cues from from the Avsa, Kraahkan, Makuta Nui, and Rahkshi.

In darkness, Makuta stalks and hunts its prey across multiple environments, apparently flying and swimming; Suggesting it DOES shapeshift, or maybe it just comes across that way in the confusion and chaos of the dark. Survivors disagree on what they saw of Makuta, who can say for sure? Other Rahi act as smaller bosses for our protagonists to build up through, and maybe reconsider their treatment of beasts, at least for Nuoka. When Makuta is slain, there’s definitely the implication that Nuoka has been motivated by his experiences to bring a change to how the Dark Hunters operate in irreverence to nature, and if necessary, stop them altogether.

[dekusleftsock]

As long as we're talking about mental health and the capacity for empathy, allow me to talk about animals. animals generally aren't nearly as kind as humans believe. Animals can have mental disorders too, they can also strangely be racist towards members of their own species. For instance, clear coated dolphins will often bully/attack spotted dolphins. I used to know a dog who only liked dogs of her own breed and would attack other dog breeds. Sometimes cats will only sit with cats who are their same coloring, refusing to cooperate with cats of other coloring. The general key with animals seems to be that the smarter they are, the more capacity they have for altruism and sadism. Many of the smartest animals are also simultaneously the most altruistic and sadistic. Elephants, dolphins and chimps are great examples of this. Dolphins will save other animals even though they don't get anything from it. They are also one of the only animals that have been known to torture members of their own species. Chimps are one of the only creatures that will freely let themselves go hungry to save someone they love, they are also one of the only creatures that are cunning enough to plan a murder of another chimp ahead of time. In other words, they'll lead that chimp away from the group to kill the other quietly where no one will interfere. Also, did you know animals can display traits of psychopathy? I genuinely didn't know that until recently. Other weird animal behaviors, lemurs and dolphins love getting high and will usually put time aside specifically for finding the materials to get themselves high. What I've learned from studying animals is that they are actually quite similar to humans, far more than most people like to think. In general when studying psychology, I've found that nurture is often a far stronger aspect than nature. Animals who are raised in captivity will often behave like humans or other species around them do. For instance, a parrot raised around dogs began acting like the dogs did.

This was entirely unnecessary, but I did warn you before that I have a million different topics sitting in my head at any given day XD.

Super interesting!

I actually have a parrot of my own, and with my research and special interest when I was younger on parrots (behdbdj shhh) they can self harm, become depressed, have ptsd, and so many other psychological disorders.

The thing with humans is that we like to disconnect ourselves from animals. When people colonized the Americas, they stopped a lot of indigenous people from foraging. This not only hurt these communities, but also they’re environment.

The reason for this is that we as people, are APART of the environment. We are predators much like any other species; when we murder and take away the predators in an environment (like foxes, wolves, etc) then it’s our responsibility to pick up the slack when we take away those animals.

My mom grows food in the city. She’s had an ongoing battle with squirrels over them destroying the food taht she’s been growing. Animal activists just don’t understand that, apart of being IN an environment is not just protecting the species that exist there. It’s also keeping the populations down that we create.

Squirrels in the city don’t have natural predators. Cats don’t hunt squirrels because they’re too fast. This creates a place where squirrels continue to breed, and even though they are native to North America and my area, they instead act like an invasive species.

No wonder we’re more connected to them than we think; we’re all from the same place as them. We are apart of the environment, that just means we have to fix the mistakes we’ve made and stop playing god when we aren’t.

Ntm the idea that humans should just, leave earth when people talk about climate change. That’s not possible. We know that. It’s literally just a way to be pessimistic about climate change when we need to take action and fix our mistakes.

It won’t just go away.

[pseudophan]

People who insist cats can't survive a few hours outside of the house are so fascinating to me. Do they not let their kids out either? Do they dare leave the house themselves? Like I get the "cats kill protected wild birds" argument but the "my cat will die if I take my eyes off them" is just. Not true at all for most places in the world

no literally 😭 i agree i totally get the invasive species argument even though i don't give a fuck but like the idea that letting your cat outside is animal abuse is absolutely fucking insane to me

[daandyli0n]

shadows and gold

summary: Nexus isn’t entirely sure how her life went downhill so fast. 

All she knows, and really cares about, is that her life is finally looking up again. 

And they hope that neither of Them are going to come and ruin it again.

(or, dsmp sona angst, anyone?)

here ya go, @northern-loner!

some things to note about nexus:

- she/her and they/them

- they’re around 13 in this fic, and turned 14 a few weeks later. currently, they’re 15.

- they’re 5’7”

- her species isn’t exactly…known, so to speak. she’s some sort of shadow creature that is Very distantly related to endermen (she can teleport, but only when she’s really, Really emotional (like, we’re talking she’d literally have to be terrified to teleport), and she can only teleport short distances, and, while she doesn’t get hurt much from water, it still feels very uncomfortable against her skin)

- nexus can basically melt into shadows and hide in them.

- golden blood. because Yes.

- they are the local cryptid

- nexus speaks some odd mixture of Enchantment Language and Enderspeak (the language itself is referred to Ancient Enderspeak). their vocal chords aren’t entirely made for speaking any other languages (except maybe Modern Enderspeak and Piglin), so while they can understand Common, they can’t speak it without extreme difficulty. they mostly just communicate through gestures and writing in a book.

- you know how i said earlier that water kinda hurts her but mostly just feels uncomfortable? guess how dream and punz usually tried to kill her. go ahead and guess.

- died and was revived about 4-5 times. at least 3 of those times involved water.

- their limbo is the exact opposite of tommy’s: bright, loud, and overall overstimulating for them.

- they joined around the manberg era

- nexus was raised from age 6 by an older woman in the woods. she has no memory prior to this.

- the woman’s name was mrs. beatrice. nexus will typically still refer to her as such despite the fact that she’s practically her mother.

- nexus is basically feral. sure, they can Act civilized, and are typically pretty good at that, but, especially after their time in the laboratory, they aren’t…perfect at acting “normal.” most people don’t mind, usually.

- nex is basically a Very Weird Cryptid Cat.

warnings: mentioned torture, mentioned human experimentation (technically not human, but y’know), body horror (would having gold blood + the wounds that would come with that, and also being a weird shadow cryptid and having that sort of anatomy count as body horror?), blood and wounds, child death/murder (remember, nexus is 13 in this), nexus has a breakdown/panic attack, mentioned kidnapping and home invasion, and some repetition in some places. if i missed any, let me know!

alright! time for the fic! this sure is a way to introduce a character-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She stumbled through the woods, simply hugging herself for warmth and comfort. Her t-shirt was horrifically ripped; the fact that she could even still wear it was a shock in itself. Her tail swatted around at everything behind her. Thank the Primes her paws made her steps quiet. She couldn’t take any chances. Not anymore.

She was free. Finally free.

They weren’t fully certain how any of this happened. One minute they were caring for their farm animals, enjoying their quiet life in the woods. The next? They were being dragged by two strange travelers(?) to some laboratory in the middle of nowhere.

They didn’t even do anything! They had simply opened the door and tried to ask the guys if they needed something: A break? Some food? Maybe some materials? 

Had..had she done something wrong…? Had she broken some unspoken social rule Players had, one that Mrs. Beatrice-her Mother-had forgotten to teach her? She had just wanted to help! What if they were tired?

Anyway, she barely remembered the events of the laboratory. It was all a blur. All she remembered was water, pain, fear, death, everything is just too bright, everything was just too much, too loud, too bright, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, make it stop, make it stop-

And then, in one of their frequent moments of panic, they were out. They disappeared into the shadows and spent the rest of their time hiding in the darkness. Apparently, the Masked Man-Dream, if Nex was remembering right-and the Guy in the White Hoodie-Punz, apparently-didn’t know that they could do that. 

Huh. She thought that they would’ve learned about that at some point during the experiments. She guessed not.

Eventually, the pair disappeared for several weeks. She decided to come out of hiding, deciding it was safe. It took her a little while to finally make her way out (hours? days? weeks?). So here she was:

Hungry. Alone. Defenseless. Afraid.

At some point, the woods ended and turned into a plains biome. They didn’t like this. Less trees meant less hiding spots. But they didn’t want to complain. They were tired. They just wanted to rest.

The place looked blown up as they walked around, looking for a place to finally just pass out. A bunch of creepers, maybe? There was also a bunch of random stuff around…a christmas tree, a mostly-burnt tent, some light posts…a bunch of bedrock spelling out…something. They didn’t really care too much at the moment. The oddest thing was a tall pillar with a crater directly underneath it. 

At this point, Nex was too tired to really keep searching. They finally collapsed in the crater. Okay, maybe they could rest for now…

_______________________________

They were awoken to the sound of the portal swirling. Someone was here.

She bolted up from her position. Someone was here.

Being careful to stay hidden, she stayed low but peaked from the crater. There was a voice. It…wasn’t one she recognized. A figure came into view. It was a sheep hybrid dressed in a pirate captain’s outfit.

It was odd. Nex had met only one sheep hybrid in their time here. And that was during their first few days. It was actually the reason why they chose to live so far from everyone…

…The Ram Man, who they had never gotten the name of, wasn’t very nice to them.

Maybe this hybrid was related to him?

But she didn’t get more time to really think about that, as the Sheep Pirate began sprinting towards the crater. Dashing into the shadows (and melting into them), Nex attempted to listen in on what the hybrid was saying.

They seemed to be talking about someone named Tommy and an exile. It…sounded like they were mourning? 

(The name sounded familiar. Wasn’t that the kid Dream kept bringing up? That was the one part of his conversations that Nexus had ever really heard him bring up constantly. All they really knew about this kid was that Dream really seemed to like bringing him up. Not that they really listened to what he was talking about. They were too tired for that.

Death sure took a lot of energy out of you…)

Eventually, the hybrid began to build some form of a memorial, supposedly for this “Tommy” guy. Nexus thought that now would probably be a good time for them to leave. They were intruding on something personal.

But, just as she tried to leave, the hybrid suddenly turned around and stared straight at her. And she froze. It was when they started trying to step towards her that she started to panic more.

Were they going to attack her? Had they also been looking for her? Were-were they going to drag her back there? She couldn’t go back! She couldn’t, she couldn’t, please no, please no, please no-

They nearly jumped out of their skin when the sheep hybrid lightly touched their arm. They were staring at Nex with concern, and upon seeing their panic simply muttered an apology, while they continued to check out their arm.

Nexus didn’t like looking at the scars that littered their body after…everything. And so, as a result, first aid wasn’t really a forethought. Besides, they really didn’t have anything to do first aid with. So, they had left the golden and shimmering wounds open and untreated.

Apparently, Sheep Pirate had found that concerning. Not that Nex could really blame them.

“Uh..are-are you okay? These look like-how are you not dead? How are these not infected?!” the Sheep Pirate asked.

The act of the Sheep Pirate grabbing onto some of the more open wounds made Nexus wince. She tried not to show too much discomfort as they (she?) kept poking around her other injuries.

“How-how did you even get here?” the Sheep Pirate questioned.

Nexus blinked up at her(?). “⟟-⟟'⋔ ⋏⍜⏁ ⏁⍜⍜ ⌇⎍⍀⟒ ⋔⊬⌇⟒⌰⎎...” (‘I-I'm not too sure myself...’).

Sheep Pirate just stared at them, having clearly not understood what they said. Oh right, not everyone understood Ancient Enderspeak. Made sense. 

“Uh…what’s your name…?”

“⋏⟒⌖⎍⌇” (‘Nexus’).

She sighed, pulling out an empty journal and handing it to Nexus. “Could you write it down for me?”

And so she did. She held up the page with her name (and a question) written out:

“Nexus. And what is yours?”

Sheep Pirate cleared her throat. “I’m Puffy. Nice to meet you.”

As she helped Nexus up, she muttered something about “getting them some medical attention” while dragging them towards the portal. Puffy dragged them back to the “main area” of the server and to a building (her house, maybe?). It was there the pirate tried to treat their wounds (apparently, the fact that none of the wounds were infected was a “miracle”), and by the end of it, they were practically covered in bandages. Puffy lent them a sweater, but said they could keep it. She even offered to help them find their house and their stuff. 

(Nex was honestly considering moving to be closer to here. They couldn’t stand being lonely anymore.)

But first the pair took a tour around the server. The place was pretty beautiful even if it was just covered in craters in multiple places. But that was fine. Nexus could handle that.

(And if the pair ran into the Eggpire in the middle of their tour, and Nexus was hiding behind Puffy? Well, they were already incredibly anxious to begin with, as well as injured. She didn’t pay much attention to it.

Nobody (except for one person) noticed that Nex kept staring one member from the Eggpire down.

And nobody really noticed that said person was also looking right back at them.

Puffy tried to ignore the fact that Nexus would hide behind her when Punz showed up.

She thought it was just because of the Eggpire.)

_______________________________________________

hope y’all enjoy this! poor nex, she really needs a break-

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Completion

I'll admit, one of the things that made City of Heroes tempting was the fact that you could win.

Like.

You could win the whole MMO.

The CoH: Homecoming servers have been releasing new material in the 12 years since it "died" but you've got a reasonably clear delineation between the "official" and "unofficial" stories.

There are mounds of generic quests you could literally have ChatGPT write and they'd come off about the same, [Recover] the [Sono-Ray] from the [Carnival of Shadows] and so on. But the better-written ones have been compiled in the Ouroboros Time Gate where you can do them as quest chains without so many time-wasting "go beat up 15 Trolls to get the word on the street about this crime" quests.

So I started doing that. I had Nekomusha, the cat ninja (Stalker archetype, Katanas/Agility power sets, teleportation and medicine power pools, and body mastery epic pool). It's kind of slow sometimes, but I really enjoy the rhythm of taking a breath between battles, letting Hide reset, and then starting my next fight with one of the two or three enemies already dead because I started the fight by assassinating them.

At this point I've gone through every quest below max level and about half the ones at max level. I hit three or four that are outright bugged, and won't mark as complete even if you do them (one of them you literally can't complete in the first place), and if I'm honest it was part of my motivation to stop playing for a bit. Knowing that there's a bug in the system that literally just stops the checklist from letting you check all the boxes - even if you did them - really saps the joy out of completing the checklist. And/or makes you admit that you were doing this to fill out a checklist? That has its own direction for sapping joy out of the experience.

The truth is that even as the newer content of CoH has improved their method of delivering content is very limited in the ways it could improve postmortem. The result of which is you generally won't be playing CoH for the story. It has good stories here and there, but a lot of them are beset by the basic problem of having to make assumptions about the main character's disposition in order to tell their story. Which...

Honestly there's some basic "If you're gonna call yourself a hero we're going to assume you adhere to certain things" you can get away with - FFXIV does this a lot - but once you're looking at City of Villains the assumptions they have to make about who you are, why you're a villain, what your deal is? They don't hold up. And there's nothing for this. Go ahead: Write a story that voices both my narcissistic mind-controller who's made herself a self-styled queen in her neighborhood, Royal Amethyst, and my invasive species of lizard from outer space that just wants to eat people now and then, Endolisi, properly. Do you write a schemer? Endolisi isn't a schemer. He's all action all the time, bay-bee. Do you write a love of violence? Royal Amethyst detests property damage, because she thinks of everything as her property.

There are a lot of ways to be villainous, and only people who have some kind of disorder that causes them to

a) call themselves villains AND b) lean into doing things they themselves define as evil

will bear all or even most of these villainous traits. It's a real pickle.

I'm still plugging away at those last twenty or so level 50 missions, but I'm trying to focus much more on just...enjoying the gameplay itself. That's what has held up the best (and/or been improved the most in the intervening years). The story is often barely worth the read, and the completion is literally impossible. But the game itself is still just...fun to engage with.

[theramseyloft]

Let’s take a moment to talk Shit.

You can tell a lot about the health of a pet by its poop.

Changes in its color or consistency are among the first warning signs that a pet may not be feeling well.

In birds, you will usually see changes in poop long before the changes in behavior that indicate illness, like irritability or lethargy.

When most people think of pigeon poop, This is what usually comes to mind:

Nasty white streaks

Or splatters

Or gross colored splats

Any place feral pigeons frequent.

But this is what poop from a healthy, well fed pigeon looks like:

A small, compact ball of the indigestible fiber left over from the hulls of the seeds they eat whole, with a tiny white cap of urate.

You can see the consistency from the others underneath it, where nesting straw has been mashed into them as Pippin has come and gone and arranged, and rearranged individual blades.

A reliably well fed and hydrated pigeon will usually leave stools that keep their round shape on impact with a texture slightly softer than well worked playdoh.

Pigeon poop can be sloppy after a big drink of water following a 6-12 hour period of having gone with out. 

The bowel movement after their first drink of water in the morning, for example, may make a sloppy mess, but in a healthy, well fed pigeon, the solid part will still be brown, and there will be more water than the white urate.

Look at this third picture again:

That wet mess of solids on mostly urate, with a mucus-y shine and slimy texture, is indicative of a heavy gut load of intestinal parasites. 

Not just most ferals, but most racing, performing, and exhibition pigeons (since there are often housed out doors) are infested with the nematode Capillaria, the round worm Strongyloides, or the protozoan Coccidia.

While usually sub-clinical, an active infection of Salmonella will turn the poop a distinctive sulfur yellow to lime green.

But poop is only pure white, 

Like those streaks and splatters most people associate with feral pigeons, when the birds have not had access to solid food in 12 hours or more.

Nearly all feral pigeons perpetually teeter on the brink of starvation, and it shows in their poop.

They are strict granivores, meaning that they can only digest seeds: the embryonic tissue of plants.

With cities being so carefully landscaped, often with the only plant life available being in the form of flower beds and trees, with grasses only in public parks and mowed too short to bloom and seed, the food they can actually digest is mighty hard for the average feral pigeon to find.

Barn ferals tend to be much more healthy for access to seed and animal feed.

But spilled garbage and the hand outs of the people that like them enough to feed them are literally all the food city ferals have access to.

Most of that is bread.

And while bread is made from grain, milling that grain and baking it into bread breaks it down, making it easier for a HUMAN to digest, but HARDER for a pigeon.

They like the taste of it, and eating some as an occasional treat won’t do a pet bird any harm, but that’s the VAST bulk of the food feral pigeons have access to.

It would be like a humans having to wander for miles every day to find food, but only being able to find potato chips, snack cakes, and the occasional slim jim.

That human would not have a long, or healthy life.

Now imagine that person ALSO had two different kinds of lice, mosquitos, and a parasitic fly sucking their blood from the outside, a painful cheesy growth in their throat that could block off their trachea or esophagus if it goes untreated long enough, two species of worms eating the nutrients they manage to find before their intestinal lining gets the chance to absorb it, and a protozoan eating their intestinal lining, with no hope of getting any of those things treated.

And you have a pretty accurate representation of what it’s like to be a feral pigeon living “free”.

I am all for wild animals living free in the environment for which they were adapted.

But pigeons are not wild life, and they were not adapted to cities.

ESPECIALLY not on the continent of North America.

The pigeons that were brought here as military messengers, meat, and entertainment had been domesticated for thousands of years already.

When homers were no longer faster and more reliable messengers than phone lines or radio waves, they were no longer profitable to keep, pigeons were released. This was common practice in the places they came from.

But in Europe, Africa, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, where Rock Doves are native, there WAS natural habitat for the exclusively cliff nesting birds to relocate to, as well as open lofts that would welcome the boon of free livestock. 

But there is nothing like their actual habitat: A high cliff near the sea, between desert and grass land, in north America. 

So, as lofts shut down and were (as they still are to this day by racers) habitually destroyed to discourage the birds no one would buy from returning, there was nowhere for the unwanted birds to go EXCEPT the tall, concrete buildings, and the metal structure under bridges and billboards.

The problem of feral pigeon mess, from the structural damage caused by the pure uric acid they excrete on an empty stomach to their potential as vectors for zoonotic disease is one of our own making.

That’s why I don’t re-abandon feral pigeons that come into rehab by releasing them.

I get them medical care. Heal their wounds, treat their infections, clean out their parasites...

And then I treat them like any good shelter would treat a stray dog:

I evaluate their temperament, and find them a permanent home where they can be well cared for and as happy as possible.

I fiercely love pigeons. 

And for the same reason that seeing mangy, thin stray dogs roam the street treated an invasive pest species; ignored at best and chased off or exterminated at worst, would horrify and haunt the average american...

My goals are to make hoards of feral pigeons a thing of the ignorant past by encouraging the development of shelters for them like we have for dogs, cats, parrots, and other exotic pets.

Wildlife, like Mourning Doves, should absolutely be returned to the wild if at all possible.

Urban wildlife, like raccoons, are natives that have willingly ventured into cities and found them a welcoming, supportive environment, for which that animal happened to be naturally well suited.

Invasive wildlife, like Collared Doves, happen to be well adapted to the new environment into which they were released. T hey can be a danger to natives, so culling is preferred over release in the event that they can’t be penned. But still being wild animals, being caged stresses them severely.

Pigeons fit NONE of these categories.

They are not wildlife.

They did not “invade” cities.

They were abandoned there the minute they ceased to be profitable, they had no where else to go, and we treat the mess like it’s their fault.

We have done pigeons a terrible disservice by having entirely forgotten that they are domestic livestock.

And any one that calls a pigeon in north America a “wind animal that should be free” perpetuates and encourages that abandonment of responsibility.

[ignisnocturnalia]

Ushdhsjdhei those Nokris hcs had me SWEATING they were so good! I’m not sure if you’re taking requests currently, but if you are, could we have some for Oryx please? At any rate, I hope you have a lovely day! 🥰

Oryx was on my personal list next, so this request lines up PERFECTLY 😏 I hope you've been having good days as well, my friend 😎

Oryx x Reader

Relationship

As the Taken King, congratulations, you are now the Taken Queen and most likely an ✨outlaw✨ to the city

Things might get a little dicey, since before you came along he viewed “loving” as killing the object of his affections repeatedly… (I have the anthologies, bro has killed his siblings like 3 times not even halfway through the book while gushing about how much he cares about them)

Takes you to the different planets he’s conquered, detailing their indiginous species before he had them annihilated whenever you ask about them (including war moons)

Tries to help you create your own throne world, and if you can’t or don’t want to, he shares his with you

Just the same as him, Hive kneel to you, and though unnecessary you receive a part of the upward stream of power acquired through their Sword Logic per Oryx’s command

Even though you might not understand the culture very well, your words will still carry hefty weight; be mindful of what you say, it could literally get a solar system erased

It’s highly unlikely, but on the rare occasion that you’d have a run in with one of his siblings he’s ready to challenge their doubts about you being his mate

Since you don’t use the power given to you and Oryx doesn’t restrict what you use it on, the fastest way for you to befriend his soldiers is by dangling favors just within reach; the Thralls act like cats to you in the absence of the King, and Wizards flock to you so you can see their accomplishments and be impressed by their work enough to give them a boost in their hierarchical climb

Oryx has, in fact, made a throne beside his for you and frequently invites you to help him study the Darkness; he thinks your cluelessness of the universe is cute, but he is determined to get you to understand what he means when he speaks of “The Final Shape”

You have your own fleet, no questions asked. If you’re going to be his Queen, he wants you to grow your influence across space so your name becomes known and feared as equally as his is

NSFW 👁👄👁

I have a supreme feeling, that as the “King of Shapes”, Oryx can totally shift between a female morph and a male morph especially since he used to be female

Pays close attention to what makes you squirm, can and will make you come through touching alone

Prefers being dominant, but will give you opportunities to feel like you’re in control

Don’t care how tall you are, size difference will exist and he digs it in the sack, bonus if he can see his outline on the skin of your stomach

His wings twitch and shudder a lot, and they’re quite sensitive to light touches, so if you can reach them  d o  i t 

He is very rough, prepare to lose your legs for ~1 week. If he’s feeling generous for whatever reason he will be a little more gentle, but it’s almost unnoticeable

Likes it when you try to scratch his chitin, and will be very vocal if you can actually cause any amount of damage

He is a big fan of overstimulation, as well as teasing, so you’re either going to be over the moon and unable to speak or begging for him to do something

A human’s flexibility has him totally enraptured, and every chance he gets he will put you into the most questionable, and sometimes uncomfortable, positions just to see the way your body will bend

You merked basically all of his children and annihilated quite a few of his high ranking soldiers; if that isn’t a testament to your strength and worthiness, what is? He thinks it’s extremely arousing, and biology be damned he will figure out a way to breed you so he can have his strongest heirs yet

Fluff

You both make certain auras with your powers, so if you’re ever at different places on his Dreadnaught you send waves of Light and Dark to each other; normal Hive are jarred by the Light you send out until they realize it’s just you and not a massive assault from Earth’s Guardians

When you two sit together, he makes a point of allowing you to rest your hand on top of his or interlock your fingers

Oryx leans over a lot whenever you want to give him a smooch, like damn,  you wanna give him back problems you tiny ass person?

While he definitely isn’t going to understand and will think it’s childish, he does let you decorate his horns occasionally (flowers, precious metals, etc)

Once you get used to it, he has you go with him to check on planets being conquered. Nothing boosts incentive better than having your King and Queen watching your progress! Even if the work is insufficient for his tastes, you can usually dampen punishments; some Hive regard it as human softness, but countless others will grovel at your feet in gratefulness later

You two spend freetime with sword dueling- if you don’t know how to properly fight, he’s more than eager to teach you

He postpones his invasions in the Sol system in regards to your feelings on the subject, but he always has an excuse ready to go; however, give him an inch and he will go a mile. If he’s under the impression that you don’t care enough or prioritize him over your race, he will push his work full force

While he prefers not to, he’ll basically never let you sleep or nap with him; he doesn’t need or want sleep in the same way that you do, so he thinks it’s a waste of time, and he only likes it because of your warmth

Should you try to dip into Hive magic, he will watch your growth with tremendous pride and help where he can, even sending in Wizards with similar talents to help cultivate your skills

Enjoys holding your shoulders and pressing your body close to his in more private moments because it makes him feel big even though you could totally cripple him in a 1v1

[tearlessrain]

Giant Masterlist of Cathar Facts (that I completely made up but nonetheless rigidly adhere to)

I am an unstoppable force and disney should have killed me when they had the chance (that chance was splash mountain when I was seven and as you can see I survived).

Under a break because it is way too long and covers really quite a lot, much of which I will probably never even need. But researching and writing this kind of thing is what I consider a fun afternoon so here we are.

General basic stuff

Cathar are basically felids evolved to fill a similar evolutionary niche to humans in the absence of any viable apelike species on their native planet, in the same way hyenas evolved to fill a niche normally occupied by canids. 

They are pursuit predators but not terribly efficient ones outside their home planet. In terms of both speed and strength they can outperform humans on average in the short term, but have noticeably less stamina especially when it comes to running or walking long distances. They greatly outmatch any quadrupedal felids for stamina, however. (Mandalorians are an invasive species)

They run hotter than humans, around 100-102F.

Though height varies quite a bit, cathar are taller on average than humans and build muscle easily, making them extremely formiddable opponents in hand-to-hand combat.

The average face/skull shape of cathar is largely based on assumptions that they evolved under weirdly similar conditions to humans evolving from early hominids, aka shortening of the face, larger cranium, smaller mouth, etc.

While they are obligate carnivores and do have elongated canines, their teeth are more even in size than wild felids, and while they do still have barbed tongues, the barbs are relatively small/soft and more similar to a housecat than anything of comparable size (aka they won’t literally take your skin off if they lick you).  They also have somewhat thinner skin than wild cats, though they are still more damage resistant than humans.

They do not have retractable claws because that’s not how fingers work, but they do have narrow, naturally pointed claws rather than humanlike fingernails. Many cathar choose to either dull them or file them down for convenience, but losing/damaging them, as per that one ambient dialogue on Dromund Kaas that I can never find when I need it, is extremely traumatic for them. 

They have tails because I want them to, used for both balance and communication. Cathar tails are approximately lion-like, thin with a coarse tuft at the end regardless of markings (ie. a cathar with stripes won’t have a tiger tail), with the tip the same shade or a few shades darker than the darkest part of their coats. occasionally those from colder regions will have longer fur over the whole tail, or look like they don’t have a tuft due to longer fur overall. 

Variation and a lot of bullshitting about genetics

Wookiepedia describes Cathar as “a planet of savannas and rough uplands” but I refuse to believe that all these habitable worlds are all one consistent climate/temperature across the whole globe. The weirdly ubiquitous infrastructure/cultural info I can kind of forgive since 90% of them were wiped out by Mandalorians and the rest left, and I’m charitably assuming there were a lot less than 7 billion cathar to begin with, so a lot of smaller or more isolated cultures across the planet were lost entirely. 

They have less sexual dimorphism than SWTOR implies, though females are a little smaller on average and tend to have shorter/finer manes that are closer to their base color. In terms of relative strength/mass the difference is minor and female cathar are still very capable of fucking you up (the conventional assumption in the Empire that females are weak/docile and males are too uncontrollable to enslave is not remotely true in either direction). 

Variation in fur/metabolism/ear and nose shape depends on which region/s of Cathar they come from (or their ancestors come from), but they don’t recognize different “races” the way humans do, particularly in the wake of the Battle of Cathar. 

On average, cathar originating closer to the equator have shorter, finer fur, larger and more tapered ears, a tendency toward slender, lanky builds, and coloration that leans more toward golds/reds and higher pigment density. whereas those closer to the poles are much stockier and can be extremely fluffy, sometimes with an undercoat, with paler colors and less vivid/extensive markings. None of the above is universally true and cathar didn’t necessarily always stay in the region where their ancestors come from (and thus sometimes you get people like Riska, who is all limbs but has fairly northern features and entirely too much fur)

Cathar mostly left their planet in groups, so in some parts of the galaxy you’ll run into whole colonies that originate mostly from one part of the planet and have distinct appearances/cultural idiosyncrasies from other colonies.

They mainly follow the same general rules that apply to most felids in terms of coloration/pattern.

Markings can be stripes, spots, or less commonly rosettes (definitely some version of Taqpep variants) and mostly lie along Blaschko’s Lines, though it’s more obvious on some individuals than others and it isn’t always perfectly precise. Even spotted individuals usually display some striping on the tail and around the eyes, though not always. 

“Default” coloration is black-based, with dark markings on a greyish or brownish base. 

Countershading falls pretty much along patterns you’d expect and usually lightens the chest/stomach, lower face, palms/soles, and inner thighs. Specific distribution and patterns vary quite a bit, and sometimes express in odd ways (hence whatever is going on with Khatte). Darkest points tend to be the tail tip, nose bridge, and mane.

Genetically solid cathar are incredibly uncommon; much more common are genes that affect the appearance/distribution of markings, sometimes rendering them almost invisible. Even ones who appear mostly solid (aka Khatte) usually still have some faint striping around the face and/or tail.

Khatte is basically some loose equivalent of ticked tabby, which mostly just looks like weird countershading but leaves some faint striping on his face and tail.

Jial-ro’s coloration is the result of a gene that suppresses all eumelanin production, and a sepia-like form of partial albinism. 

Riska has something similar, along with something that reduces the size/spread of spots.

Food 

They’re mainly carnivorous and have different nutritional requirements from humans (similar but not identical to those of a cat), which can be a problem in places like the military where standardized rations are the norm. In the Republic a cathar can usually put in a request for rations designed to accommodate carnivores (or supplements, failing that), though they might have some trouble on more isolated or undersupplied planets. The rare cathar in the Imperial military have to procure supplements out of pocket, though it’s technically possible to get reimbursed for it if they’re willing to wade through the bureaucracy.

Cathar are perfectly capable of eating raw meat with few to no ill effects, and have a subgenre of cuisine centered around it (and while they didn’t invent sushi, they have enthusiastically embraced the concept). They also have plenty of ways of cooking meat and readily adopt any new ones they come across. 

Their “natural” diet apart from meat mainly consists of fruit, root vegetables, and eggs, though the closer to the poles you get the less likely you are to encounter fruit in a dish. Cathar never cultivated grain and it holds no meaningful nutritional value for them, so bread, rice, and similar products simply do not appear in traditional cuisine. This does not stop some of them from eating grain products in small amounts, as they can still enjoy the taste, but it isn’t any healthier than processed sugar is to humans and they have a high rate of gluten intolerance as a species.

All cathar have a heightened and refined ability to detect savory/umami type flavors, but around 30-40% of cathar, and the vast majority of those from colder regions, have no taste receptors for sweetness at all. This has resulted in the cathar equivalent of the Cilantro Debate centering around desserts, even though they’re all perfectly aware that it’s genetic, and some who can’t taste sweetness still enjoy some desserts for the other flavors present. Those who do have sweet taste receptors are about as sensitive to it as humans, but it tends not to have the same addictive quality for them and a lot of them don’t like processed sugars in anything but small doses. They would appreciate a lightly sweet creme brulee but most of them would find soda absolutely disgusting.

Citrus is right out.

They suffer no more ill effects than humans from drinking alcohol, and due to generally having a fair amount of mass they can usually drink a lot of it.

Social minutiae

They use a fair amount of feline body language, particularly with others of their own species. While facial expressions play a part and they do smile, scowl, and generally express broad emotions, they have a reduced range of facial mobility compared to more humanoid species and no eyebrows to speak of, which leads to a lot of them having what humans perceive as resting bitchface. It also results in humans underestimating the range and depth of their emotions, and can be a problem in the medical field with human medics/doctors who haven’t been trained to work with less humanoid aliens and won’t necessarily recognize severe pain or distress.

Their ears are less articulated than a cat’s but still have some degree of mobility that serves more of a social function than a practical one. They also express a lot of emotion through their tails, to the point that it can be a detriment in some situations if they haven’t practiced consciously keeping control of it.

Bumping foreheads is a common way to express platonic/familial affection, or can be the equivalent of a chaste kiss between partners. They also squint and slow blink, though it doesn’t always translate clearly to other species.

They have a wider range of vocalization than humans; while their voices are often humanlike and they’re just as capable of articulate speech, they can also growl, purr, and make sounds outside human hearing range. Those raised among humans or near-humans tend to do this less, if at all, while cathar raised in more insular communities of their own kind can come off as very taciturn due to heavier reliance on nonverbal communication.

Sense of smell is much stronger and more refined than a human’s and plays a more significant role in how they perceive and navigate the galaxy. They can occasionally be mistaken for Force-sensitive by humans due to their knack for picking up on emotional distress or the presence of particular species/people by scent. This is more true with people they’re familiar with; they won’t pick out distinct members of the other species by default but will eventually be fairly reliable in identifying the scent of a friend or anyone else they spend a lot of time around.

The exception to the above is other cathar, who they can easily tell apart on an individual basis. They have scent glands around the jaw/neck that come into play for identification, conveying broad emotional states, in some situations can aid medical diagnoses, among other things. They also play a part in building connection and familiarity between friends, family, or romantic partners.

The ~horny section~

Cathar don’t really kiss the way humans do by default, but they can, and usually do so unless they’ve somehow had no contact with any near-human species at all. Their equivalent is gentle biting around the neck and jaw, which is another situations where the scent glands are relevant, and when aroused that whole area becomes an erogenous zone for the vast majority of cathar. 

Plenty of humans (particularly if they don’t encounter a lot of aliens day to day) will avoid kissing cathar anyway because they have sandpaper tongues and dry mouths and fangs, and it feels fucking weird if you aren’t prepared for that. 

They tend to be very bitey in general unless specifically asked not to. It only becomes a problem if the cathar in question is inexperienced with humanoids and hasn’t figured out how much bite force is acceptable for a species with thinner, more sensitive skin.

Their dicks are fairly humanoid in size and shape, though somewhat more conical at the head, but they do have a sheath rather than a foreskin. after maturity they don’t actually retract into the sheath more than about two inches when flaccid, and tend to be slightly less sensitive than the average human (same keritinization factor that affects circumcised humans). It also makes them more vulnerable to damage, but since it’s customary to wear pants on most civilized planets, that never really becomes a problem in the course of a normal day. The base of the shaft that’s usually covered has noticeably higher sensitivity. There are probably individual exceptions to most of the above.

Conventional understanding is that cathar don’t have barbs, which is true the vast majority of the time, though about 60% of them have some amount of vestigial non-keratinous bumps over their head that have no noticeable affect on anything aside from occasional increased sensitivity in that area. Rarely an individual might develop a few actual barbs at the onset of puberty, but they have no practical function and pose a risk of discomfort and injury, and can easily be removed via a fast and mostly painless medical procedure, so the number of adults who have them is close to zero.

Females do have (mild, easy to suppress if desired, and mainly not at all disruptive) heat cycles. Other cathar can generally tell by scent, but not to a distracting degree, and it’s considered rude and inappropriate to point it out with anyone but a close friend or partner. It should go without saying that males don’t have heat cycles, but I’ve gotten enough weird DMs about this to know that I need to say it. Unless said male is trans, and not on any sort of HRT, that’s not how that works. 

They kind of have breasts but unless actively nursing they’re barely noticeable if at all, especially under clothing. Cathar have much fewer hangups about going topless regardless of gender than certain human cultures do.

[felswritingfire]

Your know zebra like the big titty mad man but like low-key himbo and could suffocate me in his tiddys yes that one thanks

I KNOW WHO THIS IS AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME MY LIFE-

since you didn’t specify, I just went with some general stuff uwu

General Zebra 

Idk if they ever state this in the manga/anime but he’s a big fan of grilled stuff, especially BBQ??? WHOOOOOOO- His favorite condamate hands down

He’s very into fashion and I like to imagine that he influenced Sunny and his interest in it as well

His favorite item of clothing is his leather jacket

Once in a while he’ll stitch up his mouth, and he’ll just say it’s for the hell of it but he actually hopes that it chills people out when they’re around him because…. He gets insecure too

That’s not to say that he’s a really insecure dude, he’s actually quite comfortable with himself and actively does not give a shit about what other people think 

He’s also a chill when he’s with people that he really like, like, people who aren’t his brothers, but people who are similar to Komatsu in that they don’t have Gourmet Cells

Contrary to popular believe, he can be gentle when he wants be 

He can also be a chatter bug when he’s into the conversations, not in the sense that he talks a lot, he’s just an active participant in the conversation and is animated in his movements when he is talking

Boy talks with his hands when he’s a place that he can relax; otherwise he’s all puffed and stiff if he’s in a place where he doesn't know anyone

When he’s home alone, he usually wears a pair of name brand sweats and nothing else since he’s like a big ol’ lion and he’ll lounge around on his fucking ✨LEATHER COUCH✨

Though he loves to lounge, he’s also really into trying new food and will actively try new recipes- he actually knows how to make some good ass dishes- he just likes someone else cooking more

He’s really knowledgeable about animals- like, super knowledgeable; if he wanted and if he was determined enough, he could be a whole ass Zoologist, but naw, he’s just here for the food and adventure and honestly?? What a mood

But he had to know a lot since he landed in jail because he took out a whole bunch of invasive species that were fucking up the ecosystem- like, he isn’t stupid, and I will die on this hill

When he was a little baby man, he was really protective of his little brothers- what happened? They grew up and became a pain in his ass (he still watches out for them in his rough ways)

Starting friendship with Zebra is honestly the most rewarding yet nerve wracking thing because it’s like trying to befriend a giant ass beast that you can’t read at all- which you really can’t, because the man can be a stone wall when he wants

You have to be an honest person to even be considered his friend- he doesn’t put up with any lying or two faced bullshit, that’s just how Zebra is 

If you are his friend tho, he’ll always be willing to lend an ear to you if you need someone who’s willing to listen 

He might throw in some advice here and there too

He’ll also be there to comfort you if you need it; he’ll even pick you up and cradle you, placing your head in the crook of his neck as he leans back and pats your back while you cry into him 

He’s really soft on his friends and family

That doesn’t mean that he won’t tease the shit out of you

Truly, the truest form of lovingly bullying your friends

He’ll gruffly apologize if he goes too far BUT he very rarely does that because he’s got those magic ears of his so he can tell when you’re getting angry/sad, then he’ll start to steer the teasing somewhere else

Relationship with Zebra

Zebra is a gruff lover through and through, it’s just in his personality, but he’s a little sweeter to you than he is to anyone else

He’ll make sure that your taken care of and protected, especially if you’re his combo and he’s taking you with him on his adventures 

He’s very observant of your moods; he’s actually ridiculously in tune with you???? It’s kinda freaky how he can read you like an open book

He’s the literal definition of “Babe is on her period, so am I. UterUS!” Even if you don’t identify as a lady or have the ability to have a menstrual cycle- it’s still uterUS-

What I’m trying to get at is that he’s a mega Ride-or-die bitch 

Like, you have to do some atrocious shit to get him to fucking do a 180 on your ass- or just cheat on him, or lie to him (please don’t do either of those things, it takes so much for him to become attached to people, please, cherish him-)

He’ll be MEGA ANGY THEN

But not like his usual angry, like, where he gets pissed and goes on a rampage; this angry isn’t loud- his anger is full of sadness and betrayal and he wouldn’t say anything to you, he’d simply look at you with these eyes full of emotion and then turn and leave

But get fucked because the other three aren’t that chill and Komatsu may not punch the fuck out of you, but you really will wish he would because he’d talk to you like a disappointed mother and it is the worst feeling in the world- (also I will come for your kneecaps, bro, DON’T TEST ME)

ANYWAY, OFF OF THAT TOPIC-

You know how I mentioned that Zebra likes to cook? Fucking consider it a date, because he’ll actively add you into the kitchen with him, even if it’s just him cooking and you sitting there being cute while you chatter away 

His love language is sharing his food, so, if he offers you food- you take it and you cling to that knowledge that you’re really one of the most important people to him 

UM, HE WILL SIT YOU ON HIS LAP, DEADASS

You will never sit in a chair again if he’s there; it’s an easy way to say you’re taken and to keep you close, so he kinda lives for it 

He’ll flaunt you to his brothers with zero hesitation- he adores you and they have to put up with his roundabout way of showing it 

Toriko and Coco don’t really care- They’re all actually really happy for him in general- but, that doesn’t mean Toriko won’t still tease him about it (but he only does that once in a while because Toriko has to be in the mood to throw down because, of course, this is Zebra we’re talking about). Sunny on the other hand complains about it because, “oh MY GOD, THIS IS THE SIXTH TIME YOU’VE BROUGHT THEM UP- SHUT THE FUCK UP-”

Which usually instigates petty sibling arguments between them, which are actually really entertaining??? You gotta intervene at some point because Zebra will whole ass chuck Sunny into the sun if he doesn’t watch it

Very soft with cuddles???? He’s like a giant (deadly) cat who likes to bask in your presence

His favorite position to cuddle you is with his head on your chest so he can listen to your heart. There’s just something about knowing that your a tangible person who genuinely loves him and wants to actively be in his presence that gets him all types of mushy 

Can you say a protective boi??? Because he is very much a protective baby

If anyone tries to hurt you for any reason, they’re dead. In very gruesome way too- I wouldn’t put it past him to grab someone and tear them limb from limb if he really wanted to 

He’s also has a bit of a jealous streak, but he’s pretty quiet about it

BUT, that doesn’t mean that he’ll be opposed to looming behind you and glowering at the person (they have to have pretty big balls in the first place to even try and approach you tbh)- which usually does the trick pretty quick

Please smooch him on the forehead and tell him that you love him- it’s a genuine anxiety of his that you’re going to leave him one day for someone who isn’t, you know, seen as a real ass walking disaster on the news cast so you can pursue an actual normal life.

Sometimes he just need to hear you say you love him to put him at ease, and that’s the tea, sis

To make a long story fucking short, I love him and he’s a whole sweet tart- he’s just a little burnt around the edges- please, I love him, please-

[bittersweetbiscotti]

Wolf-Eared Guardian

Humans have relied on the Traveler for a long time, centuries even. It brought about a new Golden Age where we lived longer, traveled through space, and had excellent credit scores.

Naturally, that all comes crashing down.

Think about it, a giant goddess orb comes along and launches humanity to be the best they can be like overnight, comparatively. All world problems are solved... for the most part. The human race is thriving, and they thrive for a long time. And then all of that is all suddenly, violently, taken away. Survivors are forced to huddle in tiny enclaves as their world literally collapses all around them. Then the alien invasions begin: first the Fallen arrive, then the Cabal, then the fucking HIVE. Okay, looks like dead humans are resurrected by the Traveler to serve as heroes of humanity, yay... oh, wait, no, turns out these first Guardians are fucking assholes and become the Warlords who inflict even more chaos and destruction.

Desperate times. Very desperate times.

Which call for desperate measures.

So the surviving scientists huddle together in their secret scientific meetings. They can’t rely on the Traveler anymore. There are still many sentiments that relying on the Traveler was a mistake in the first place. And they can’t rely on the next risen human to not be an epic asshole, too. They have to do what they can with the humans who are living right now and keep them alive. Give the Lightless a chance to fend for themselves and survive, or die, on their own terms.

Here’s the thing about desperation. It’s thinking on panic-mode and panic is very, very shortsighted.

Recombinant DNA (or whatever inserting genes from one organism to another is called... DNA magic I guess) is not a new science. It goes all the back to pre-Golden Age, actually, when all the weebs evolved into geneticists or microbiologists or whathaveyou so they can finally bring catgirls into existence. And now, centuries later after a period of technological miracles that jumped our civilization forward by millennia, humanity has the sophisticated technology to make DNA magic much more plausible and less harmful to the subject. 

But so much damage has been done to these labs, and some of them are even located all the way the fuck over on other planets, and well, not a lot of ships available during the Dark Age. Not to mention Clovis Bray kinda hoarded all the best stuff for himself, jerkface. Access to this technology these days is difficult, and many parts have to be replaced with inferior ancient technology, or even alien technology stolen from the Fallen because it looks correct, because that’s all they have. There is no time for adequate testing. Subjects range from babies to adults. Some are volunteers. Some are voluntold. All for the good of human survival.

The purpose of DNA magic is to basically force humanity to a more evolved form because we don’t have time to sit around and wait for Nature to do it the ol’ fashioned way. They insert genes of various animals for desirable traits into human DNA: Enhanced speed and strength. Keener, sharper senses. Night vision! like we were meant to have but then cars were invented. Apex predators like wolves and big cats are the most common. Reptiles are also used. Even certain herbivores like red deer, bovine, rabbits. Eagles, owls, and corvids because why not give humans the power of flight? Some go full on chimera with several DNA strands from different species merged together because we’ve never seen this story before and it will definitely not end in absolute pain.

Some scientists don’t even stop with animals. Some of them try to experiment with the DNA of their enemies. Eliksni, Cabal, Hive. Why not go all way pushing against human limitations?

Remember when I said operating on panic-mode is an extremely short-sighted way to operate?

Yeah, so, many subjects die, actually, the very humans they were trying to keep alive in the first place. Most who survive become monsters who destroy their cages and the scientists and escape into the wild where Nature takes care of the rest. Very, very few actually fulfill those naive expectations that created them in the first place, and even then there are still problems. Eventually, during a later period of the Dark Age, the Iron Lords shut down the facilities, rescue the human subjects who haven’t succumbed to the experiments just yet, and mercy kill any who had.

Those are the stories, anyway. Maybe the reality is still much different. 

Some of those labs still exist to this day. Some of them have even relocated to other planets. Because there are many who still don’t want to rely on the Traveler or the Guardians for their survival. There are many Lightless determined to prove their own worth.

Desperate times.

**

This is just a silly fun thought I had and using the lore to justify it. Feel to use what’s written here for your own backstories if you want. This was totally not made to give Lyko wolf ears what?

[rjalker]

Feral and outdoor cats should be killed, period.

Because if we could trust people to adopt them and actually care for them in the first place, we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with.

If people could be trusted to be responsible for both their pets and the environment, we literally would not be having this discussion.

Feral and outdoor cats should be rounded up, and if they can be adopted out to actually responsible, non-abusive homes? Great!

But if they can’t be adopted out? Then they should be killed. Under no circumstances should they be released back outside.

All of my cats are rescued ferals except for Alex, who apparently was rescued from a hoarder.

I caught all of my cats using a cat carrier that I attached a broom handle to so I could close it when they went inside, and two cardboard boxes, some wire, newspaper, and string.

The very first thing we did after we caught them was to get them fixed and vaccinated and medicated for the inevitable parasites they were suffering from, including worms and fleas.

We’ve had them for five years now. They started off (except for Dani, who just fucking started purring like mad the moment I picked her up swaddled in towels so I could clean her eyes because we thought she was going to be afraid and then no she’s just the most adorable trusting friendly baby ever) skittish and afraid, and because we have treated them with nothing but kindness and patience, I now can barely get through the front door without them swarming me to say hello.

I was willing to put in the effort to get them off the street. I was patient enough to socialize them and willing and able to get them the medical care they needed.

Most people aren’t even willing to do step 1.

Most people are not willing to take care of a cat that hides from them the moment they enter the room, just because it’s the right thing to do.

Most people do not give a single real fuck about cats, their safety, their well-being, or the impact they have on the environment.

Feral and outdoor cats should be given a chance at a forever home, but that chance should not come at the expense of them continuing to suffer, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT SHOULD NOT COME AT THE EXPENSE OF THE ENVIRONMENT THEY ARE DESTROYING.

Because at the end of the day? It does not fucking matter that cats are domesticated animals that we view as pets. It does not matter that they can be socialized if no one is going to put in the effort. It doesn’t matter that it’s “not their fault they’re invasive”.

They are an invasive species, and the level of damage they are doing to the environment is completely unnacceptable.

And yes, this applies to you. I don’t care where you live. There is literally nowhere on this planet that domesticated cats are NOT an invasive species. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the US or Canada or Mexico or the UK or Australia or China. It does not fucking matter where you live. Cats are an invasive species, and they are destroying your environment.

And no fucking shit, sometimes cats get out by mistakes. Cats getting out by mistake, and their owners doing everything they can to find them again and bring them back inside, are not the problem. Because they are being responsible pet owners.

Feral and outdoor cats should be rounded up and killed, because if people were going to be responsible with them, they would have done so already, and we literally would not have this problem, and we wouldn’t need to have this conversation.

At the end of the day, cats are an invasive species, AND THE ENVIRONMENT MATTERS MORE THAN THEIR LIVES.

[fight-surrender]

Whumptober Day 23, 24: “Bleeding Out & Secret Injury”

Word count: 1610

Rating: T 

Simon

“Fuck a nine toed troll!” I curse as I brush the furry grey creature off my shoulder and impale it with my sword. I tend to quote Penny when I do something stupid. Letting this creature get the drop on me was definitely stupid. Particularly given that it’s just taken a chunk out of my arm.

The animal is dangling from the tip of my sword, speared like a particularly gristly hors d’oeuvre. I bring it in for a closer look. It’s almost cute, vaguely guinea pig like, with grey fur tipped in black. Large purple eyes, green whiskers.  Hell and horrors, it’s a polycythema vera.

Penny and Baz are going to kill me. Probably before this bite does.

They’re already angry that I took this job with the coven, rounding up invasive magickal species. Now I’ve gone and gotten myself bitten by one of the very species I was supposed to be hunting.  This is just spectacular.

I flick the creature to the ground and stab it again for good measure.

Baz and Penny said they saw a vera in America, trying to get into Shep’s truck when we were escaping that rogue gang of freakish magical rejects in the dead zone.  Somehow, one must have stowed away with us and now they’ve invaded England. Fortunately, the trolls rather think veras are delicious, so they keep the population in check. However, pockets tend to accumulate in the areas with fewer bridges. The Coven stepped in to help eradicate them and they asked me to help. I suppose that makes me a magickal pest control guy.

Veras aren’t particularly magickal. I think they can teleport for short distances, making them tricky to catch. They pack a nasty bite though. Their toxin does something to your spleen, making you bleed out internally, only your body keeps making more blood. So instead of passing out and dying like a normal person, you just sort of slowly fill up with blood til you like, explode or something. I haven’t really worked out the logistics.

Now I’ve been bitten.

I am not telling Penny and Baz.

Now that I’ve gotten my shit together (thank you new therapist) they have only recently stopped hovering over me. The last thing I need is them wringing their hands while I die a slow painful, possibly explosive death. I suppose I’ll say my goodbyes when things get bad and die alone in the woods, like a cat.

In the meantime, I imagine I should live my life to the fullest. Carpe diem and whatnot.

Baz:

Something is going on with Simon. He’s acting strange. Not necessarily in a bad way, it all just seems a bit…much. We’ve been out almost every day, a different activity. Yesterday, a leisurely tour of the British Museum, followed by curry and samosas in the park (he made me eat). He also made me return the books I stole all those years ago (I can’t believe he remembered that). Saturday was a visit to Ebb’s grave, deep in the wood. Last week we went to Paris, because he’s never been to France (he says the Watford sour cherry scones are still better than any French pastries).

It’s all been enjoyable; he’s been very attentive.

To me.

Loving, affectionate, present.

But it’s weird.

All of this significance. It feels a bit like a bucket list.

I’m trying to enjoy it, but I’ve been feeling off. Not myself. Like I can’t get warm and I can’t get full. I’m thirsty all the time, and nothing I do seems to be helping. I’ve eaten all the rats within a 20-kilometer radius and I’ve even resorted to buying blood from the local butchers. Nothing is helping.

I can’t get Lamb’s voice out of my head, telling me I was malnourished.

I refuse to follow that thought. I’m not—that.

But I’m also getting really tired. Like, exhausted. Like ‘it’s a struggle to get out of bed’ level tired.

I don’t know how much time I’ve got left.

 Simon:

The poison is kicking in. I’m so tired.

Exhausted. Like, I feel as if my arms and legs were lead weights- tired. Dead dog tired.

I’m not sure how much time I’ve got left.

I don’t have to think about that right now because I’m actually in bed. With Baz, and there’s no place I’d rather be.

I’m the big spoon, because I’m always the big spoon. With my arm across his chest I pull him closer and hike my leg across his thigh. I carefully brush his hair away from his ear so I can murmur, “fancy a lie in?”

“Absolutely yes,” Baz croaks, voice thick with sleep. He intertwines his fingers with mine.

We both doze off.

 Baz:

I wake before Simon. It’s an effort just to open my eyes.

I look at his arm, wrapped around my waist. His color is wrong, his once tawny skin is a vague mottled purple, how have I not noticed this?

 Simon:

I open my eyes and look at Baz’s shoulder in front of me. He’s so pale he’s almost transparent. He’s thinner, I can see the bones poking through his skin. How have I not noticed this?

Baz rolls over and fixes me with his thundercloud eyes. “What the fuck is going on, Snow?”

“Er—what do you mean?” I’m stammering, this isn’t how I’d planned this to go.

“You’ve been dragging me through this virtual bucket list lately, you’re acting weird and now you’re purple!”

“It’s not a bucket list.” It is a bucket list.

“Answer the question.” Baz is using his “don’t fuck with me” voice.

Time to come clean then. I pick at an imaginary string on the duvet. “I may have been bitten by a vera.”

Baz’s eyebrows go down and he looks like he’s going to finish me off himself. “What? When? When the fuck were you going to tell me?”

My plan suddenly feels very stupid. “Well, I was going to tell you, when I felt… you know, closer to death.”

“Closer. To. Death?” Baz’s voice cracks. He looks extra murderous.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want you to feel all sad and melancholy just because I was dying,” I reason.

Baz sighs and buries his head in my chest. “Simon, you splendid fucking moron.”

I think it might be safe to wrap my arms around his waist and pull him on top of me. I try it.

Baz raises his head and his fangs are popped. Not safe then. “Er—I’m not ready to die just yet, Baz.”

His hand goes to his mouth, I don’t think he realized his fangs were there. “Merlin, I’m a mess,” he says this giddily. “You’re a mess,” he’s laughing now. “We’re a mess squared,” he giggles, it’s a bit manic. He lays his head back on my chest.

I pat his back and smile awkwardly, I don’t laugh. I might blow.

Baz lifts his head again, wiping his eyes. “You see,” he stammers, “I have a problem.”

“OK…?” I offer.

He sits up a little, straddling me. He traces my scars with a long, pale finger. “I’m—starving.”

“Well, let’s order delivery then,” I grab his thighs to push him off so I can find my phone. He plants himself, hands to my chest and I can’t move. Vampire strength.

“No love, it’s not that,” he looks down, takes a breath then looks back at me. “I’m starving—of thirst. “The animal blood doesn’t seem to work anymore…” his voice trails off.

“Oh,” my mouth is hanging open, even though Baz has thoroughly trained me to close it.

“So here I am, the bloodthirsty vampire, dying of thirst,” he cracks up again, “with my half dragon boyfriend who is literally dying of excess blood.” He chortles and wipes his eyes again, “it’s like a goth Hallmark movie special. A match made in hell.”

He’s giggling, but he also looks a little sad.

“So,” I say, once he’s caught his breath. “Just so I have this straight,” I point at him, “you don’t have enough blood.” I point at myself, “and I’ve got too much of it?”

“Yes, that about sums it up,” Baz concedes.

Blimey, what are the odds?” I wonder.

“A million to one, I’d wager,” Baz sighs.

“Well, what are you waiting for, you barmy git? Come over here and bite me.”

“It’s not that simple, Snow.” Baz is frowning at me again.

“It bloody well is that simple, Baz,” I say feeling sparks of anger.

“What if I Turn you?” It’s almost a whisper.

“Shepherd said that most vampires don’t Turn people, and so what if you do? I’m going to die anyway if you don’t do anything.  At least this way, you’ll get a good meal out of it, and we can figure out the rest later. We’ve been through worse.”

Baz pushes my hair off my forehead, “we have been through worse.”

I reach up and pull Baz back down on top of me. He settles on my chest. We’re nose to nose. I run my thumbs along his cheekbones. “Now come on and bite me. You look like shit you know.”

“Thank you, Snow. You’re looking rough and weedy yourself.”

I kiss him then, even though that’s probably not a good idea, given the blood lust.

“Are you ready?” I ask.

“No.”

“Will you do it anyway?”

“Yes.”

“I love you, Baz.”

“I love you too, Simon.”

I close my eyes, and then, in a rush of warmth and cedar and bergamot, Baz bites my neck.

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #32

Brought to you by a marine biologist trying her best...

Fish I’ve Covered: Click Here

Sorry for the slightly late entry! It’s hard to settle on which of these freshwater fish I want to cover since I’m going in blind. I don’t know what makes these fish interesting until I do the research. And, boy is today’s fish seemingly boring af at first! It’s the Carp!

Had to cover this one at some point! Here’s the Holding Pond’s version of the Sea Bass and Black Bass, available all year round, all day and night under a pretty big glow, so you’ll think it’s a Koi or Catfish, when in reality, it’s just another f*?#ing carp. At least in my experience. And it’s kinda funny digging a little deeper into this fish and finding out why it’s so common. Here we go...another freshwater invasive!

The carp is yet another fish in Family Cyprinidae, just like yesterday’s Dace, and the goldfish, and the koi we’ve covered. In fact, if you put the koi and carp together, this guy kinda just looks like a drap koi, and at first I thought that was the point. I thought this could be the Amur Carp (Cyprinus rubrofuscus), the wild ancestor of the koi and ultimately what they turn back into once released into the wild after a few generations. It would have been very clever of ACNH to make this the Amur Carp, as if the wild, invasive koi population on your island were in the process of reverting back to their roots, explaining why the koi is rarer than this carp. But then...I should have put the two of them in the same entry. And there’s nothing really stopping this from being the Amur, except that it may make more sense, with how insanely common this fish is in the game, that it’s actually the Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio):

And honestly, up until recently, the amur carp was considered a subspecies of the common carp, so, for all intents and purposes, this ID could go either way, but I’m no authority in freshwater population shenanigans, so it’s up to you if you like my Amur Carp or Common Carp theory better.

Above, I mentioned that we have another invasive on our hands and we certainly do. The common carp is one of the most common fish in freshwater existence, being widespread throughout Eurasia naturally and having been in aquaculture since at least the ancient Romans were farming them. They are a very popular food fish around the world, growing big very fast and breeding so easily, you probably could get them to breed in a big enough puddle (jk, but also, not really). And wouldn’t you know it, just like all other animals we humans rely on, the common carp has been introduced and become an invasive species literally everywhere but the poles. And just like other domestic invasives, like goats and house cats, they’re a menace.

Sometimes it’s not enough for an alien species to become invasive, they need to do it THE BEST and get on the list of 100 Most Invasive Species. Common carp are the third most frequently introduced species in the world, getting subplanted into lakes for sport-fishing and consumption the world over. And it’d be one thing if they were just all over the place, but they also really destroy the habitats they are put into. They are large and fast-growing fish, feeding on anything that fits into their mouths and chasing native fish out of prime habitat. They also have a habit of digging up and uprooting aquatic plants, disturbing the sediment and destroying habitat for native fish and even waterfowl. This is the difference between alien and invasive species, because not every non-native is detrimental to the habitat they find themselves in. For the common carp, though, they are a textbook example of an invasion.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?