#genes and blood dont work like that!

[owlf45]

romance me with mosquito facts

mosquitoes, when in a condensed enough space, sound like gentle rain.

i work with a specific mosquito species, called the aedes agypti, which carries diseases like dengue virus, west niles virus, and yellow fever. the males are generally smaller than the females, though emerge into adults sooner. you can tell the difference between males and females by the fluffy antennas of the males.

gay mosquitoes everywhere.

mosquitoes tend to be social, if stupid creatures. if you stick two mosquitoes alone in a cage, they probably wont chill (and wont mate). it's just not their style. this is especially frustrating when trying to set up specific genetic crosses.

although i never met them, there used to be a researcher at the lab who did the most batshit stuff. we keep our mosquitoes in mesh cages, so they can't escape but they can feed through the mesh (so we don't have to reach in and out of the cages and potentially let some loose). this old researcher used to grab the morning newspaper, roll up his pants, collapse in a chair and settle his calves over the mesh cages for literal thousands of mosquitoes to feed from him. for hours. i want to meet this man so bad.

mosquitoes are stupid and annoying and prone to killing themselves akin to a goldfish constantly getting stuck in a filter. but strangely enough, you grow to love them. they are simultaneously fragile and durable, easily discernible and difficult to hunt. you can tear their hind legs off and put them through shock a few times and they'll be fine, but a single finger will smush them (quite inconveniently, when you know that bitch could've moved!).

directly after bloodfeeding a female mosquito, if you kill her—often by clapping her directly between your hands (female mosquitoes are the only ones to bloodfeed)—the blood will still be warm.

although i dont screen larvae for traits as often as I used to (I tend to do more database/mosquito caretaking work now), certain gene-linked traits can be found physically in the larvae and pupae stages—sometimes they glow bright blue/green under fluorescent lighting, for example.

like I said though, i mostly work with caretaking. i do the bloodfeeding, i replace their food and water, and i make sure they're in good health and can lay eggs on a proper surface. the mosquitoes under my care live for about a month and a half, though if they're still alive by the time we need to hatch the next generation, we simply fridge them and kill them off. put mosquitoes in the fridge for a few minutes and they'll go to sleep. put them in for a few hours, and they'll usually die— we keep them in for 24 hours to make sure, though.

mosquitoes are difficult to contain. compared to other biochemistry departments, you have tiny creatures that are mobile and can fly, and can't always be seen by the average person unless they're specifically looking for it. I've worked in microbiology labs before, but if there was contamination, it was solely on the researcher. contamination from a loose mosquito is hard to track. this is all to say that I work in a bunker—double doors, minimal vents, no windows.

mosquitoes are the deadliest animals in the world. mosquitoes kill over a million people a year (hence my research). i sit in the back of the bunker sometimes, in the side warm room where we keep our cages of mosquitoes, hundreds of different genetically modified lines in progress at a time, and I have blood on my palms— blood that I fed to my subjects before I squashed them because they escaped from their cages, and I think about the fact that for over 200 lines of this species, I grow them from eggs to adults to death and hatch their offspring again and again and again. i think of lovecraftian horror and I hear gentle rain and remember images of war that keep me up late at night, and I wonder what's the point, for a few numbers in my bank account, and then another mosquito has gotten loose and lands on my arm and doesn't bite me, because it's already full; because i already fed it; because it's just looking for a small, dark place to rest in the folds of my jacket.

mosquitoes love to hide on black surfaces.

[nocandnc]

i dont know if you've answered a question like this already, but what would your different kaiju no 8 ships react to learning they are going to be parents?

This hasn't come up before, so thanks for the interesting Ask! How would my Kn8 ships react to being parents, huh... let's see... I'll cover OkoHoshi, KafMina, AkarIharu... KikoReno is growing on me, and heck, let's throw in NaruRin too!!

Okonogi x Hoshina

I feel like neither of them would fully plan to have kids, but it'd probably happen eventually. Maybe there's some prompting from Hoshina's family regarding legacy and such that gets the gears turning, but in the end I think it's something like... an accident they didn't try very hard to avoid ^^;;;

I think Hoshina would be really happy at first - thrilled even, to have a kid or two he could pour love into and support in a way his family never did. But once reality sinks in he panics because what if he dies and leaves them all alone? What if he's more like his dad then he knows and gives them crippling self-worth issues?? He's both overjoyed and terrified.

Okonogi would be a little more ambivalent overall. Becoming a parent had never been on her bingo card... but neither was her relationship with Soshiro and that happened somehow, so she might as well keep rolling with it. The more she thinks on it, the more she likes the idea of having a little one around - even if they'll outgrow her sooner rather than later. Hoshina's glad that she's so calm about it all because he sure isn't.

No. 10 expresses interest in teaming up with the combined sum of their genes once Hoshina bites it. Okonogi explains over and over that there's no guarantee they'll be interested in kaiju slaying at all, but the sentient weapon remains optimistic.

Kafka x Mina

They strike me as wanting to start a family together, but whether they can actually make one or not is another matter. While Kafka is firmly a kaiju through-and-through, it seems like his human form is a near perfect mimic right down to the DNA (which is why he was never flagged by standard blood/urine tests) so it MIGHT be possible... but I rather like to headcanon Kafka as sterile.

So, I think they'd adopt instead!! Maybe it's a fully planned process, both so excited to expand their household - or maybe it's a spur of the moment decision after rescuing some orphaned kids during a kaiju attack and saying hey, why not come live with us? Either way, I think they'd feel really good about it. They're both nervous about how Kafka's kaiju form might go over, but by this point No. 8 would have gained a reputation as the friendly neighborhood Kaiju who's beloved by all... or so they hope.

Akari x Iharu

Out of everyone, this is the couple that really, really, really wants to have kids. Like trying at every opportunity, visiting the doctor for tips and tricks to improve their odds, the works. Iharu is stoked to be an awesome dad and Akari, with her sweet and caring nature, really can't wait to be a mom. They talk about it a lot while dating and are in full agreement on starting two or three years after marriage - maybe once Iharu receives a promotion or two and Akari finds confidence in more of a field medic role to suit her strengths. Iharu cries the first time Akari announces she's pregnant, and the second, and the third...

Kikoru x Reno

While the notion of having a family is something that appeals to them in the back of their minds, they're both a little hesitant on really going for it. Reno would be a very responsible dad of course, if a bit high-strung. Kikoru isn't interested in kids initially, but as she grows older she thinks more and more on how her mom was awesome, and wouldn't it be something if she could be an awesome mom to a kid of her own - only this time no one dies, and she can raise them up with love alongside Reno...

But! But... Kikoru is such a powerful asset in battle that she worries about the ripple effect it could have. What if the baby got hurt inside her? Would wearing No. 4 have ill effects? Who would cover for her time off during emergencies once she's too far along? What about the potential toll on her body...?

With these concerns in mind, I actually think having a surrogate carry the baby for her would be a pretty viable option. Hakua might volunteer, but I think Akari would ultimately do the honors after breezing through a child or two of her own. And Iharu would be completely on board with how tight he and Reno are. Reno wouldn't quite know how to feel at first, but after much discussion the plan goes forward.

Whether it's a boy or a girl, I think they'd name the child Hikaru~

Narumi x Rin

How do I put this... I think they'd be racing each other to the grocery store pharmacy for some Plan B >.> Narumi gets a vasectomy after their first broken condom scare.

They're both so focused and proud of their careers in the JAKDF, I can't see either of them wanting kids at all. Narumi is good with kids of course, but he strikes me as more of a big brother or uncle type... never a dad. He is likened to Isao who did become a father... but lsao wasn't exactly winning any Dad of the Year awards, so it's hard to say. Rin also feels so much like a cool aunt to me - I'd really like her to stick to her guns even when everyone around her is having kids. Maybe things would change over time, but for now I think they're not interested in the slightest. It's also just nice to have a couple that's happy being child-free, choosing to focus on work and each other instead! Everyone deserves to be happy as they see fit ^^

All that said, I do think they'd donate generously to various orphanages and relief funds for families affected by kaiju attacks given Narumi's background. They want to help, they just don't want to be parents.

Aaah, that was a lot!! I hope folks enjoy my little thoughts, but also, feel free to enjoy your own ideas if mine don't fit your viewpoint!! I'm just rambling as I like ^^;;;

[herbologyprofessor]

my collected thoughts on the magic system of harry potter and what I would change to make it better.

i think that the harry potter magic system sucks!!

i mean, im sure this isnt a hot take but like...how is it that students at hogwarts school of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY graduate knowing how to use maybe a handfull of spells in combat? and they're the same spells that all the aurors and all the older members of the order and all the death eaters and even voldemort use?

and im especially talking about how weak it makes people who are supposed to be really powerful and dangerous seem. including the titular character Harry Potter himself. Harry uses spells in a unique way, dont get me wrong, but to me its all just so boring.

and im not saying it doesnt have to work like other fantasy stories, but if the main mechanism behind magic in harry potter is that you are either born with it or not, you dont need a wand but its exponentially more challenging without one (unless you have a unique skillset or education), intention matters, and there are spells that can grant magical abilities to objects. there is so much more possibility than just expelliarmus and expecto patronum. There has to be, or else why tf would hogwarts take 7 years of schooling to graduate from?

so here are some of my headcanons:

families have bloodline abilities

so, in the case of wizarding britan, there are families that want to stay pure such as the sacred 28 (or is it 27 i cant remember), and pure as in their blood and bloodline must stay pure (going so far as to marry your cousins, e.g. Orion and Walburga Black). If this is the case, and they wan't to preserve their magical bloodline so bad, they'd have to have something more than just "magic" to preserve.

I feel like its almost there in canon but falls short of being fully realized. I think of it kinda like how it works in naruto. Theres those who have a bloodline ability and then those that dont. You dont have to have one to be powerful, if you have one it dosent mean you will be powerful automatically.

The black family seems to carry the gene for metamorphmagus, but i wouldnt consder this a bloodline ability and think of it more like a random mutation passed on to teddy, which could occur in any magical person, (theres also the possibility that this was a more common ability in the black family but because of the lack of genetic diversity and inbreeding it was lost until Andromeda had Remadora with Ted, who was not pureblood. I think abilities have to do with the energy of magic that is either created or inherited, not so much genetics. Therefore, families dont pass on the same exact ability but something that is novel or slightly different from person to person.

The Lupins, for example, could be Beast Speakers. Maybe, a long time ago in the Lupin familiy, they kept wolves or something (explaining the surname which would have had something to do with occupation) and they learned from them how to speak with animals?Lyall, who canonically worked in the Department for the Control and Regulation of Dark Creatures, can speak to dark creatures, even werewolves who are transformed. Remus can speak to domesticated animals like cats and dogs, fancy mice, toads, etc. Remus is like Hogwarts' unofficial vet tech, and if you like atyd Remus, this fits in nicely as he specialized in Care of Magical Creatures.

The Potters, canonically, are linked to the Peverell family. The invisibility cloak has been passed down through generations and is still being passed down to Harry's children. I think a common headcanon, and one that i truly love, is that they use Death Magic. But, thats assuming the potters are the exact same family as the Peverells, which they are not. I think, in going along with the Peverell brothers creating the deathly hallows (using advanced death magic), the potters have a Sorcerer's Craft ability. What was the Potter family's source of new money? Fleamont's invention, Sleekeazey's. I know its a "potion", but what if its just like...coconut oil imbued with magical enchantments that make your hair perfect. James could have played a major hand in the creation of the Marauder's Map, an Extremely powerful magical object made to do the impossible task of mapping Hogwarts. And he did this in school. at like 14-15. Harry doesn't do anything that has to do with magic item creation, that I can remember (i haven't read the books in years), however he also had no connection to his family and likely wouldn't be able to learn without another Potter teaching him. BUT! Harry Potter is the master of death, meaning he can use all 3 of the deathly hallows without being corrupted, maybe this could be a side effect of how his Sorcerer's Craft manifests itself.

side tangent, but the reason I think this is an ability even though others have been known to make magical objects, is because the potters are able to do it very creatively, and early on in their lives. They are involved in every aspect of item creation, and they can enchant things in a way no other wizard could replicate, meaning their objects could not be mass produced without their explicit involvement. Maybe Sleekeasy's stops working so well once Fleamont dies, hence why Hermione says its too much hassle to use every day.

The Blacks, you might think, would be something to do with offensive, powerful, and deadly magic. While, yes, this is something that some members of the black family are gifted in, it is not their bloodline ability. I think that the Blacks are Seers. It's no coincidence their families long standing tradition of astrological names are prophetical for their lives. Walburga Black, for example, has the power of Augery. She asks the universe questions and receives omens as answers. She saw a black dog when asking the universe to tell her about her newborn son, hence the name Sirius. For Regulus, well, she saw water. Not knowing what to make of it, she refused to let Regulus near it for his entire childhood. Regulus, as an empath, has the ability of psychometry. The ability to gain information from an object by touching it, including humans ( he cant read minds, but can tell what someone has experienced in their life). This comes in great handiness when he goes to destroy the locket. Sirius, I believe, would have a mastery over tarot cards or oracle cards. He can glean deadly accurate readings, and has a keen ability to interpret meanings unknown to even the most practiced tarot readers. He has a special deck, one that his uncle Alphard gave to him when he found out Sirius could read tarot from Walburga (who, at the time, was very pleased with her Heir's ability). This comes with an emotional expense to Sirius, though, and at times, gives him answers he doesnt want to hear. The girls loved it though, and asked him to teach them. He tried but couldn't explain how he did it, since it's innate to his bloodline. Of course, you could obviously imagine this adding to the piles of angst surrounding the war, as Sirius had to have seen signs that his loved ones would die, making him think he could outsmart fate by changing the secret keeper...

I think this is getting too long, but I'm already thinking about part 2 because I have alot of thoughts about this...especially things that anyone could learn not just inheritied abilities.

[mummer]

Do you have any asoiaf fic recs? I love your work, but it’s literally the only good asoiaf fic I can find

omg thank you…. uhhh i am extremely not the right person to ask this question because i read like two fics per year especially with icefire because i feel like my enjoyment/interpretation of it is. Deeply singular lol. plus 90% of the content is like What if daenerys was a yoga instructor and jon rode a motorcycle. ummm you need to read life and honor though even though it’s ABANDONED…. dont worry about it being unfinished it’s good enough that it doesnt matter. it’s so fun it’s unreal. also you mourn but your blood is flowing by gene my friend gene. true and beautiful

[br1ghtestlight]

"hello burger lady!! tiny people. BOB."

THE SLOW HEAD TURN WHILE FISCHOEDER IS STARING AT THEM LMAOO he's such a freak. what is he doing

aww linda put a smiley face on the check thats so cute. "nooo i enjoyed it :)"

A BROTHERHOOD?? BLOOD OATH? love how louise hears this and immediately stands up she's like hello. hello im interested. PLEASE let me into your blood oath club mr fischoder

babalon like the ancient uhh. thing.

ooooh :0

(also my dad used to call my mom babalon among MANY other creative insults when they were married and this immediately brought that memory back to me. but he said it like babble-on like she was babbling. sorry idk why i wanted to share that)

"and the other members already picked all of the best chefs in town soo im asking you" i literally dont believe fischoeder lmao he definitely just wanted bob to come along as his personal chef and couldn't come up w/ a better excuse like. come on

"a billion dollars" "nope." "a million dollars" "no...." "a billion dollars :D" "she just said that"

i know bob is holding onto fischoeder's back bcuz he cant see but also its like. kinda intimate?? like?

also love bob's new jacket. these are the kinda things you only notice when you've watched WAAYY too many bob's burgers episodes but its a nice jacket :) the blue color suits him. and it has a hood

personally i would be a little more concerned that mr fischoeder only has one eye and it is NOT looking in the direction of the dangerous sharp cliff theyre walking beside. i know he's driven bob in his boat before but he's SOO BLIND WHY ARE YOU WILLINGLY GETTING IN A BOAT WITH HIM <- saying this as someone who doesn't really have vision in one eye or depth perception. i wouldnt give in a boat with myself driving either

"it was actually kinda fun to come up with!! i-i hope you like it :)" bob is so sweet im gonna cry. he's so excited about cooking SOMEONE LET HIM RANT ABOUT HIS SPECIAL INTEREST RIGHT NOW. he's in autism heaven

NOT THE TIKTOK MENTION 😭😭

recognize some of these guys from the gingerbread house episode which was another horrible experience for bob lmao

"can i keep hiiim? 🥺" what is his PROBLEM

WAS HE WORKING THE OMLETTE STATION AT YOUR LAST SEX PARTY??? <- brand new sentence

also this 100% confirms to me that fischoeder has had sex with every old ass man on this camping trip bcuz NO WAY he's getting rich old woman pussy im sorry. i do think he's bisexual but his sex parties are male-exclusive. he fucked those old men

not looking forward to whatever is going to happen to bob in this episode.

I ALWAYS FORGET FISCHOEDER IS LIKE A HARDCORE DRUG ADDICT remember that time he did mushrooms in s13 That would explain some things. that weren't already explained by the alcoholism

bob is surprisingly chill considering the circumstances and the fact that he's getting less than a thousand dollars of restaurant equipment out of this. i know he trusts fischoeder (for some reason i dont entirely understand) but being blindfolded and taken to a secret island with a bunch of rich old men and having NO CELL SIGNAL and everybody is drugged as hell.... he doesn't even know where he is..... GIRL RUN‼️‼️

also there's only one bed in fischoeder's tent which means there's either a seperate camping section for the chefs (unlikely) he expects bob to sleep outside in the storm (very likely) or bob and fischoeder are going to have to share a bed 👀👀 i know its probably not going to be addressed but i need somebody to write And There Was Only One Bed bob x fischoeder fanfic about this episode immediately. like that needs to happen

bob realizing that the chances of him dying on this camping trip are quickly reaching eighty or ninety percent ooh he's COOKED

"Don't wear brown and black. Never look into someone's eyes..." "Bring your own fork. And briefcase." "Of course. Everyone knows that." "And leave one of your shoes as a gift." "But you have to hide it..." gene and louise are SOO silly i love them so much. they play off each other so well its like a constant improv class

this subplot is Trying To Teach Tina Social Skills meanwhile gene and louise don't have them either they just dont give a fuck about learning them. well louise knows them she just disregards them. gene doesn't know ANYTHING

HAHAHA BOB REALIZING THEYRE LEAVING HIM THERE TO DIE. ITS NEVER BEEN MORE OVER love him not even acknowledging their crazy fire drug-induced dancing he's so used to this bullshit. bob should get a week off after this MINIMUM but we all know he loves cooking too much for that

NOT MR FISCHOEDERS GAY ASS HIP SHAKE?????????

mfw im the only sober person at a crazy drug party full of rich people on an island during a deadly storm and its only Tuesday. 😐

UH OH IS THE CORRECT RESPONSE. BOB REALIZES HES SO FUCKED

aww its kinda cute he's making sure that fischoeder is taken care of too and packing up all their things. dad instincts

at a certain point u kinda have to call him calvin dude. like you're WELL past "mr fischoeder" territory in this situation <- is also calling him mr fischoeder in this review

"shh he's hunting us" is probably NOT what bob wanted to hear

there's something about this that is sooo.....

in defense of bob he has almost died or been killed with fischoeder SEVERAL times before this episode including in the movie. its like a male bonding thing for them at this point

"and i invented a new way to tie a tie" I KNEW I WASNT CRAZY FOR THINKING THAT LOUISES TIE WAS TIED WRONG IN THAT SCREENSHOT i love that i picked up on that and felt the need to point it out. having never worn a tie before in my life (not to my knowledge at least)

this is literally what it feels like when ur autistic and trying to understand neurotypical social conventions. tina is trying SO HARD she's such a sweet girl :( its okay baby girl i understand i get it

THE BITEY GUY HAS A NAME BOB

am i allowed to say that bob with wet hair is kinda 👀👀🔥

why'd he kiss him like that ??

he's suuuch a sweetie in his oversized jacket <3

"No, no. Plants don't like sweet drinks!" "Just hard liquor?"

"dad is missing a WILD night" *hard cut to bob tied up and being used as a human sacrifice for cannibalism*

WHAT WAS RHAT. WHY DID CALVIN LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT. YES IM USING HIS LEGAL FIRST NAME BCUZ WTF WAS THAT GAY ASS GUILTY LOOK?? HES NEVER BEEN GUILTY BEFORE he care so much about bob im gonna throw up. what the hell

HE LIIIKES HIM 😭 HE FELT GUILTY BCUZ HE LOVES AND CARES ABOUT BOB THIS IS SO FUCKED UP 😭😭💕

he probably also feels guilty that this is like the sixth time he's gotten bob into a near death situation. like at a certain point it starts to feel personal yknow

*howling* "god. i hate when he does that"

straight up on the verge of a meltdown. i dont even blame him tbh

bob isnt WRONG but also we are talking about a crazy drugged up cannibal who thinks he's a wild animal so maybe we could leave saving him until tomorrow morning? like idk i feel like he wouldnt exactly fit on their dingy. and even if he did what if he bites

"and you do have to come for ice cream!! it wont be any fun without you" okay thats kinda cute. this episode definitely kept up to pace with the insane homoerotic relationship between bob and fischoeder and im happy about that. almost gave us the tiniest hint into what fischoeder really feels/thinks about bob which. yeah

VERY UNHINGED EPISODE BUT REALLY FUN AND CUTE?? everything between bob and fischoeder was so. soo. yknow. and the subplot was funny and cute too :) very sweet little episode i always love when they go off on adventures like w/ teddy in sea me now. and of course their (many many) near death experiences together thats truly what its all about baby!!! really enjoyed this episode it was exactly the right amount of unhinged and funny

[koiyan-hades-kid-with-a-system]

What Koiyan thinks of campers and vise versa (Cannon Campers) Interview Style

Percy Jackson:

uncle cousin????

he often begs me to make blue food because store bought blue food dont hit the same

tries to do sass offs with kacia but she has disney hades genes so he loses them quite frequently

quite tired of his dumb ass getting into trouble but as he is the protagonist, what am i supposed to do????

i dont interact with him much but hes a good kid

His Thoughts:

Niece cousin??????? the family tree is a circle at this point-

Best. Savory. Blue. Food. Ever.

Why cant their alters let me win a sass off just once 😭

She has contemplated putting a child backpack harness on me because of the shit I do

Whenever someone fronts they look so gods damn cool bc of the main host body and the physical changes are kinda hybrid like are so cool

Annabeth Chase:

shes a nice kid

often too analytical and blunt tho-

one time she said in the most eloquent way possible that i looked like shit and i stayed in my room the whole day bc of that

love you tho girl you the best at keeping this camp together

Her Thoughts:

Koiyan has been at this camp the longest out of all of the campers so she knows some things.

Her alters are pleasant beings.

She’s a bit sensitive, but I think it’s a good trait of hers to get all of her emotions out because of the trauma that caused them to have DID in the first place.

Somehow she can read even though she has the most godly blood out of all of us.

She’s an enigma.

Grover Underwood:

goat boi!!!!

one of my fave saytrs bc the others are creeps to me

sweet boi but he is often weary of me and tries to get out of situations with me in it and it makes me sad :(

His thoughts:

Scariest person I have met.

Their alters are sometimes unhinged and Klee most definitely scares me-

Once, I saw them transform into their headspace self and the crow feathers turned into SWORDS.

HER FEATHERS ARE ACTUALLY SWORDS

SHE CAN SNEEZE AND A FEATHER CAN SHOOT OUT AND TRANSFORM AND KILL SOMEONE.

Cool and scary at the same time so I kinda don’t want them to kill me

Luke Castellen:

Traitor.

but before then, he was a good kid

i mean he had the right idea, wrong execution

he comforted me during the time when i was really feeling down because of a prosecutor doing something.

i just wished he went down the right path

His Thoughts:

I kinda miss them.

Shes a nice kid and her alters are sweethearts, well as sweet as they can be.

The prosecutors are a piece of work though.

Wait what do you mean she has new alters?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BILL IS BACK???

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHES NOT FULLY FRONTING ANYMORE?????

Clarrise La Rue:

the fact that i relate to her is scary

we both have negligent dads and we both want them to acknowledge us and be proud of us.

and temper

we both have a temper

Her Thoughts:

Her brother got my dad on his side, respectable.

I don’t know them that well but I have seen her being belittled and mocked for her DID, which she cant control.

I will fight to make her safe because mocking someone for their mental state is not ok.

Niccolò (Nico) di Angelo:

baby brother!!!!!!!!

he is way to self destructive sometimes tho

hes one of dads favorites but i have no hard feelings about it

She’s lying. Shes crying about the fact she will never have the same fatherly love as her siblings do. -Macaque

sometimes i wish he could not look at me with contempt because i was the one that got reincarnated and not bianca

His Thoughts:

I love her but shes annoying

Tried to force me into force me into those slutty outfits and they had to restrain me to do so

I don’t know why she got a reincarnation system

Sometimes I want to find her torch of life and extinguish it for good when she gets too ‘mother-y’ and annoying

I wanna give her light to Bianca

Thats a bit too harsh but I do love her, just, not much

Wait, what do you mean she can hear this?

Wait Koiyan no- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it-

Percy: I’ll go comfort her if Cory isn’t already doing that yet.

Zagreus: I’ll book another family therapy session again.

Will Solace:

my soon to be brother in law!

me and him have fun talking through our kazoos and trying to understand what we’re saying

we kazooified so many musicals-

His Thoughts:

Kazoo buddy!!!!!

She gave me my hell cat!

She’s amazing and so cool!

I wish Nico could see that in her though…

[certifieduruihater]

the karai and leo ship/dynamic is...so weird to talk about. first of all majority of the fandom just shuts down the discussion with INCEST which...i get it? but at the same time i also see why it wouldnt cross people's minds? im ngl when i watched the show as a kid, incest really didnt cross my mind for a number of reasons. 1. how the mutagen works is kinda finicky and not really well explained. so does being mutated by a donor's dna make you related to that donor? like when snakeweed was mutated by the plants, is he related to the plants now? when bradford was mutated, is he related to his dog? like karai is splinter's daughter, and the turtles are related to splinter because they were mutated with splinter's dna ..is that how that works? supposing the turtles do have splinter's dna embedded in them now which allows for their mutation and human-like features, idk if that's what the show was going for, because splinter's dna can't explain everything. like how do the turtles have such different eye colors then? how does leo have dark blue eyes while raph has nickelodeon slime green eyes? where were the genes for those? shen and yoshi (in human form) both had brown eyes. they could be carrying a recessive gene ig but still. or did they always have that eye color in turtle form? but those are exceedingly rare colors, and when they were children the turtles just had black stare-into-your-soul-eyes?? actually is it even confirmed that they were mutated from splinter's dna? or from someone else like the pet shop workers? idk?? i just never really thought about it too deeply (and i suspect you're not really meant to), and the show never really pushed it. and the distinction of the turtles being biologically related to splinter or not just never really mattered to me, because either way, it's clear that splinter views them as his kids. splinter and the turtle's relationship is a great depiction of family, regardless of whether they share blood. and honestly, i don't think any of the writers would have pushed leo and karai if it was actually incest. stuff like this is why incest never really crossed my mind on a technical level.

and 2. do karai and leo actually see each other as siblings? when its revealed that she's splinter's daughter leo sees her as part of the clan, sure. idk about karai. but do they actually see each other as siblings, or is this something the fandom just made up? i just remember their dynamic being really vague honestly. leo was super devoted to helping karai and finding her, treating her as one of the clan and devoted to helping her return. then there was this one line by leo to donnie that was something along the lines of he should know what its like because of april, which COULD have romantic connotations, or it could just be referencing the supposedly super strong bond the show likes to pretend april and donnie have. you also have instances where karai and leo dont actually seem romantically interested in each other, at least not anymore. i think leo even jokes to karai about it at some point, and KARAI is the one to look awkward, which to me signals that leo's over any sort of attraction he may have had. regardless, its not really clear if they explicitly see each other as siblings or if they feel something romantic.

side note: to all people rewriting the series to have raph and donnie clown on leo for falling for his "sister," you guys know that THEY were the ones actively joking about and thus perpetuating a romance between those two? they were the ones being weird about it! i know people are just using raph and donnie as author inserts to laugh at leo but it just doesnt work here.

MIKEY calls her sis (even this could be chalked up to his general use of language), but idk if raph or donnie ever really warm up to karai, let alone see her as their sister. and when people call them all siblings it really just feels like the fandom is squeezing these characters together, locking them in a room, and telling them to play nice. like wouldnt their dynamic be a lot more complicated than that? on the turtles side, this girl whos been trying to kill them, who they thought was the daughter of their enemy, is now suddenly their sister? talk about jarring. i can see mikey accepting it pretty easily bc he's mikey, but raph and donnie? i feel like it would take them longer to warm up to her, let alone get to a "sibling" level. slapping the sibling label onto karai feels like youre disregarding a lot of complicated emotions that would need to be worked out first. and honestly, even if they do work things out im still not sure theyd get to the sibling level. and there's nothing wrong with that, imo. this is not even talking about karai herself, who would also probably have A LOT of complicated feelings about being the daughter of the man she was raised to hate and being a part of his clan. add the "sibling" part onto that? oh boy. i feel like it would make karai distant and reluctant to get involved if they seriously started considering her a sister.

honestly what seems more likely to me is that the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. karai says to leo, just because i like you doesnt mean ill go easy on you. does she clarify what kind of like? of course not! maybe there were writers with different agendas or whatever, but either way you're left with karai and leo's dynamic just being really ambiguous and not really clearly addressed.

even if they're not related by blood/DNA, whatever, i know this is still a touchy subject for people because they believe that saying they dont see each other as siblings invalidates situations like step siblings, adoption, etc. but this is where i personally draw the line between fiction and reality. i think for this instance, fiction cant be a 1:1 representation of reality. this is a unique situation in itself. (i also dont think that this ship/dynamic is worth getting that heated about, nor is it worth putting much energy into honestly. it was not very fleshed out imo. my point is if you're looking for found family rep i dont think you should be looking at karai's relationship with the hamato clan. it's not the best example imo 😅 and if you're looking for a good ship with leo...idk this aint it chief.)

yeah i dont ship them. not because its incest, but because i just dont think theyd make good partners for one another. karai...girls got issues she needs to work out. i dont think shes very reliable, and she seems like the type to actively run away from responsibility. im not really too into karai's character as a whole, but thats a topic for another day. this may sound cliche, but i just dont think karai is the influence that leo needs. yeah she'll influence him sure...in the wrong ways. and i think leo would very quickly turn into karai's manic pixie dream boy who devotes himself to fixing all of karais problems which...i dont think he needs. dudes got enough on his plate.

personally, ill choose to believe that on both ends, what they felt for each other was nothing more than passing curiosity. MAYBE fleeting attraction, and that's a hard maybe, or at least it very quickly went away, because i remember the scene where karai was up in leo's space, and leo did not look into it all 😭 anyway leo felt undermined by his brothers, was tired of being responsible, and out popped karai looking for a good time. karai is karai. they were both distractions for each other initially. and leo chooses to believe in the good of people, so he kept talking to her. and then they found out she was splinter's daughter, blah blah blah you know the rest

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Hi! Love your LAOFT verse! Was recently rereading and found myself wondering- why did Eirwen take Thomas? I know that fairies stealing babies is a Thing, but what specifically did she have in mind?

okay SO

lets talk about names (i'll get there i promise). fae have Names, a name that inscribes their Being, because fae are born one thing and live a very long time. change is slow, and a significant change to them is rare and a very big deal. A fae also cannot change their basic nature - they can grow and learn, but they cant remove the foundation. a fae born of spring breeze will always be a spring breeze, tho it may grow into a fiercer or calmer one

humans are not like this. humans dont live long compared to fae, and can change their basic nature on their own whims. a human can simply decide one day to bear a new name, be a new person, some of them even calling the previous one "dead" - a fact which fae find alternately impressive and petrifying

now. lets talk about children (PROMISE)

you may have heard me talk about how fae/human "hybrid" children are, in most folklore, usually not actually hybrid. a child of both human and fae blood may grow up into a full fae or a full human, and its less dependent on genes and more dependent on environment. a child raised in the magic of the fairy realm will typically be fae, and a children raised among mortals will be human

here's where things get hinky

there are many folkloric reasons for changeling swaps, but in Eirwen's case it was this - she did not want a Seelie child, even an exceptionally powerful one (tho she believes even a powerful Seelie is inherently inferior). outright infanticide would not have been particularly looked down on, but then she's out all the work she put in to having a child in the first place

so, she doesn't want a seelie - she cant make him unseelie. but she can swap him for a human child.

thomas isnt a hybrid, he's completely human - but humans are inherently malleable. she couldn't have made him completely fae, but if she had him long enough, "human" would become less and less accurate. she could have come very close, and she could have molded him into whatever kind of creature she wanted, not constrained by him being unchangeably Seelie.

how she would have gone about doing this, well. it wouldnt have been pretty, that's for sure

[mushroom-for-art]

Some designs I knocked up a while ago for a sort of mewthree/mew cloning project where people tried again to clone mew but do better and make something useable, introducing Mewtebra from mew and vertebra cause most changes are spine related (Concept design sketches not free to use or take inspo from as the concepts belong to somebody else officially to use)

First design would've been the perfect result the second neck acting as a second spine perfectly running down and connecting to the tail that was essentially a second brain so to speak filled with neurons the second neck connection creating a speedy highway between the brain points creating a more intelligent psychically talented pokemon with faster reaction times, theyre likely smaller than mewtwo bigger than mew and much quicker learning wise so they'd wise up and flee.

Second design just missed the mark second neck/spine failing to connect properly so they dont have that same intellect highway and have slower reaction times and third would have slower reactions still lacking the second brain tail and came out more mewish the second neck helps with power

Final design was an okay but how to perfect the perfect design and I think they're implied to be Arceus gened up cause hoop/rings like around arceus? That or Giratina with the almost body armor aesthetic also just loops they're fun and more powerful to me XD I dont think there was much intelligent thought process behind it other than hoooopps and rings and curves of ??? second neck/armor,, excitement? XD

Found my actual design notes from the time these sketches are more than a month old omg "Design idea from work lmao, mewthree/Adjusted mewtwo or something, notes mentioning the eye shape, articulated fingers and toes debating the ankle toe, thin mew tail to thick two bulb that has a lotta nerves/potentially acts as a second brain with the second neck being a full on second external spine/spinal tube to get thicks from the extra brain to the main brain and back quickly with biological tubes for higher efficentcy blood nutrience transfer ect, ears rather than horns and not sure if keeping chestplate, just wanted to try and make a new two variant this is probably more mew leaning and not a true mewthree tbh theyd probably take this and then bulk it tf up to make a mewthree

Might try and sit and design another since this one definitely feels more start with mew genes look at Mewtwo to decide what went wrong adjust mew genes so they're more mewish and smaller still just as intelligent tho if not more so with the near enough second brain, I imagine swaying their tail gently up and down helps stimulate neurons and such stimulate the big thinky/powers, probably means they can't use their tail as a weapon or they have to be very careful if is reinforced but I think severing the tail would severely disable one of them, course the issue with this one is they'll probably be much too smart and while not as outright violent as a mewtwo having more mewish whimsy their powers are still just as strong as a mewtwo so they're gonna wise on quickly and dip, scientists just don't know how to make lab creations that obey them like they used to lmao XD"

[xaviers-student-union]

Your parents are accepting? [For Molly]

Mhm! I grew up in a pretty loving community. My parents worked really, really hard to try and find a replacement for Drinking Blood, that would be Kosher. And, they would cut out any friends that so much as even implied that I was something to be ashamed of.

I'm an NYC Native, so my parents were able to get in contact with the X-Men [ My dad literally would stake out active crime scenes.] To find out if there was a place for Mutants to go, because they were worried about my safety.

And that's how they found out about Xaviers. I dont see them much anymore? Since they had to move to Chicago for my papa's work, but they fly out for special occasions to see me. My other siblings are all human, since we all had different surrogates. [ Note: just in case anyone is worried rhat they purposefully avoided my birth-mother who had the X gene, I'm the youngest in our family. ]

My birth-mother was also supportive! She requested to be able to see me, which is unusual for surrogacy but-, and she was like an auntie to me. Unfortunately, she passed away last year. But, she loved me up until the day she died.

I can't say I've never faced discrimination. Yeah, my parents close friends were supportive, or at least kept their mouths shut about me, but my siblings friends weren't always the...kindest. I'm actually not on speaking terms with one of my brothers, and low-contact with one of my sisters, because. Well, they both have less than stellar views on Mutants. And public school was a nightmare.

But...I love my family and wouldn't change them for the world. - M.🦇

[crustaceanchauffeur]

WHATS GOOD MY HOWLBEASTS? Stayin' fresh and 'live?

Comin' at you live from the warren its Oftcas here to tell you about ways to deal with that mad legendary fluid, your wierd ass blood.

If youre lucky like me your blood already kinda looks like some other bloods, if that build sounds like yours heres my reccy weccy stats for that shit. If you ain't so lucky these strats still get your survivability cranked, yall just gotta play way more safe. Playstyles go as follows:

Pick the blood that looks most like yours in common lighting, interiors can have plenty of different colors so I can't give you any tips of the spear for which to pick, just get youself all up in the fammils on how light works to make shit look wierd. If you can get a pure green red or blue light and use it in a dark place you can see just how distortando that shit really makes your bulbs.

If you're between two castes like yours truly I recc havin' a sign for both nutcreatured away so you can hotswap on the fly if the shaders go hard on your hue.

Now that you have your signs, make sure you wear as little of that color as possible. If you ever catch a stray fightin your ops you dont want some lameo's stray gander passin' right on over and noticing your pallet aint quite right.

Your's mutie has some blood right up in there next to gold and ollie so I avoid th shit around having those colors up on my exterior just in case my drippy fit gets mixed with my drippy guts.

Next ups another strat straight up necessary if you wanna survive a gamestate where your bloods on the outside and your ops are on the seeing side. I keep several packs of Ollie B to the L O Dee on me like I'm a rainbow slurper with no time for a meal. I keep them pouches tucked up on in my 'fit so if my precious HP starts drainin, i can free them juices and mix them with my own. its pretty fuckin nasty but its convinced some peeps without an infinitesimal doubtecimal that I'm an ice cold purrbeast with not a single gene away from the empires truth.

Some sweet spots to hang for your illusion 100 techs is right on under them prong supports where they connect with your stem. If you get caught in a sitch just crush that pack like a cushion of woopie and get a flowin'. The less movement you need to get mixing paints the better.

I recommend lussy blood, cause that shit ain't drawing 'tention to yourself by spawn camping the caverns or straight up hive invading. Plus if you're like me, you'll need some metaphorical grub to get on up in your meta-literal tums so you don't fill that in game chat with 'poor fool died of starvin.' Them white fur juices wont fool a drone but it will fool a gander.

If you're working sole-ly on lusii and lusii accessories i got some real craftin' recipes and life hacks for you.

Meal acidifiers and yellowwaste pouches work great as a natural inventory slot for your fluids, treat them right and they wont ever file for divvy with your hail dolorosa blood strats.

If you're a little big for your britches and just being on the 'ternias breaks the big H I C's way of things, nab that outer layer. Most trolls see a hulkin' white shape slinkin' around and think Lusus, not one dripped out massive mutie hottie. Youre gonna wanna dry that shit, treat it like leather on the inside and clean it good and it'll be ready for a cloaking.

All these gaming techs go for you offspecs with a hue like no other, you all just gotta play even safer like a game on hard core.

Hivehold mutie freak on the D Low, tune in same place same time next yonder to hear my live guide get 'dated to the up. Oftcas out.

[danepopfrippery]

All of it so good! I spotted the freddie writers i think broken up in a few credits (theyre freelance so makes sense). Clearly death threats worked…dont learn from that.

If somehow ur reading and dont get spoilers coming well they are so its on u at this point. Random thoughts below

*Loved Derek’s fashion choices! Also his lil bat jazz hands flourish srsly a+.

*Nandor…incorrectly…thinking its Guillermo’s bday and throwing him a dinner and buying him a gift was very sweet…despite being book ended between insults about never turning him and Nandor not seeming too worried if he died

*my sis and i clocked right away how he wouldnt let guillermo sit next to him at guillermos special fake bday dinner. Nandor u ho. U make him reas u bedtime stories AND brush ur hair but wont sir next to him cuz horny? I refuse to believe any other reason

*WHERE IS THE HELL HOUND?! I MUST HAVE THE HELL HOUND! And i will be angrier than freddie ep if hes gone.

*is it weird Guillermo went to you…gene and the sire for turning advice after learning its forbidden? Also im choosing to believe this is a new superstition cuz they didnt seem arsed by it

*rip neighbor dude. Ppl are right its plot holey look its still the freddie writers in there ok?!

*sooo much bad turning in these two eps it was srsly keystone cops style and i was laughing my ass off despite being like derek irl

*nadja u bitch. Making nadjita dance and show her pussy is MEAN! You drunken slut. I dis enjoy taint that can write checks tho

*another plothole: it always seemed nandor was as shit at laszlo as hypnosis and i always took it of all 3 he was the worst (nadja the best). Animal control anyone? Well now he gets to be a pig amongst guinea pigs he’ll brag of this forever

*’cuz his brains fucked’ had me rolling. Also laszlo u liar u hypnotized him when trying to kiss him got u nowhere

*i was off my face w drug blood was also a good line

*colin didnt do much here but his waiter job and greek bit were great

*i am glad despite pussy showing nadjita has more movement finally

*laszlo has no god damned right to look that tasty

*the shit and fart jokes were mostly flat. I was waiting for laszlo to say he thought guillermo was hitting on him or something. That said seems we get jealous nandor next week and thats all i want

*poor guide, poor sean. Mikey u cunt

*the quebecois thing delighted my sis who studied there (france ppl hate ice right? But $8 wine is primo so u know)

*poor guillermo. Hes clearly a slayer vamp hybrid and very sad about it. Cant wait to see Nandor learn this. Also u will never convince me he could kill guillermo. Other than his eyes watering Guillermo has beat his ass like a rented mule twice now. Cheating or not (i say not)

*seems death threats also made note of make nandor better cuz hes followed a hippy self help book. Its kinda sweet cuz thats where his minimal kindness to guillermo comes from. I dont believe he ever through benji a bday dinner let alone convinced the others to come along

*colin seems aware hes been out of the job game for awhile but makes no indication if he knows why. Laszlo treats him basically same as always and vice versa

[lifeinthegladhouse]

the unfortunate news was given that my dad's chemo probably isn't working so he "might" have to do 30 day "isolation chemo" (?) which sounds horrible and scary. I want to visit him then if so... I don't want him to be alone for 30 days. I'm terrified he will be abusive to me.

when my mother died, she couldn't hurt me, even though I was terrified to see her. seeing her helpless body waste away from cancer was traumatizing but also released any fear I ever had of her, even though the memory of her abuse will always live in me.

my dad was not abusive like she was but sometimes i think he is worse for ever enabling her to be around me, ever choosing to "raise" a kid with her, comparatively, she had much less choice in her actions than he did.

i dont know what it means or if it will help. i didnt think these chemo rounds would help... i never thought my dad would get better... but hearing the advancing news doesn't help.

especially after watching someone's long term dying lead to hospice and then death and how irreverently it was handled, in this household (my partner's grandmother).

my dad will lose whatever hair he has left and im sure will look unrecognizable in a way.

whatever anger or apathy i have to combat my sense of obligation that shouldnt even really exist... i feel for him. im scared for him. i dont want him to suffer, and i dont know if it's worth going through.

i dont want to sway his decision, im positive he will die from this either way. i dont want to lose time with him, but ive already lost time. he's had 30 years to fix this and he hasnt...

i dont know if i can physically handle the grief of seeing him this way.

he always sounds livelier over the phone than he is, but... he didn't watch his parents die this way.

i will lose both of my parents to horrible forms of cancer (i mean, they're all horrible). at least Gene froze to death and it shocked everyone and he didn't suffer.

we've been iced in for a week here in p0rtland, and i got money back that i "owed" to unemployment when gene died. it felt like, after 3 years, he was helping me,... of all times to get the money back now... itll help me move out of my in laws... but a horrible thought happened... what if it's because my dad is going to go sooner than we thought?

i cant decide, anyways, and ocd is a bitch.

my back is killing me from days of making music and trying to learn mixing and mastering and animation and editing just for the fuck of it to stay sane, entirely diy.

today i cant focus, anymore... im listening to david bowie and crying alone and listening to my stupid in laws talking in the kitchen. i cant mourn here because this is a house of narcissism and enabling. hell, someone DIED in THEIR family and THEY wont/cant even mourn.

if my dad doesnt take the chemo, he will continue to failingly rely on his weekly (or more) blood transfusions. and eventually, he will die. maybe he will choose that to spare himself, and in a way, i almost wish he would, but i cant say i really wish that, ... i wish he was a better father, i wish he didnt have cancer even if he is 73, i dont wish him a sudden death bc itd be jarring but a long way is almost worse. i dont know what i want. i wish he couldve ever cared for me so that i could care for him. but what happened is he didnt care for me, and i care, but i cant care FOR him. i cant fix this. i cant love or unlove or hurt or unhurt it away.

when he dies i will not have any family left.

and then some part of me will be released from this burden of grieving a family that was always "dead" to me, but now, permanently, which will just feel fucked up.

ive spent 3 years grieving mom and gene. then i will grieve him too. when will it fucking end

in spite of this i have to work hard to perservere bc its what gene would want. its what my dad would want even tho fuck what he wants. its what *i* would want if i was diagnosed with cancer tomorrow myself or in 40 years. im terrified.

im tired.

im so goddamn tired

[moss-selfship]

sorry if this is a weird question but with your two newest fos i noticed they have the same last name and look similar so wouldnt your poly ship be incest? im proship so i dont really care im curious.

Alright so im going to have to give an explanation on troll reproduction because the question "is this incest?" when it comes to homestuck trolls is a complicated question and im going to explain it because you seem like you dont know homestuck. i cant believe im about to talk about troll reproduction in the year 2023 fucking hell. ALRIGHT SO! Here is the official excerpt about troll reproduction from the homestuck comic

Doing a small tangent to explain troll relationships. trolls have 4 quadrants considered romantic. Im only going to focus on the two listed Matesprit - the closest to human romance, represented by a red heart and its all lovey and stuff. humans get this one easy and Kismesis - Think of like a Arch-Rivalry so intense it turns into a sexual relationship. like the pinnacle of enemies/lovers setup. basically tumblr's favorite set up of enemies so against each other it becomes a relationship. a Troll will mix genetic material with each partner and the two buckets (one for matesprit one for kismesis) are brought to a being known as a mother grub. See, Trolls are almost Insect like in how they reproduce. The robotic drones of the pailing season gather all the combined genetic material and its brought to this mother grub

which is a giant human/troll faced grub that combines ALL the genetic materials presented into and i quote "One incestuous Slurry". Now you may ask "well why combine them at all if they end up all mixed together??" well like it says, Dominant Genes rise forward and recessive genes end up falling to the wayside and less trolls will be created with these genes. ESPECIALLY strong matesprits and Kismesis Genes will be the strongest and most show up. So while all the genetic material is used each set of trolls is different combinations of those same genetic materials and all show various traits from the strength of the specific genes in them. Another thing is blood color (yes trolls all have different colored blood, its called the hemospectrum) Basically, specific blood colors have stronger genes for specific traits. An example i will use is nepeta and meulin, both of them have the olive colored blood. Olive blood trolls often share more feline traits than other trolls, some olive bloods show way more feline traits than others (which could possibly be a sign of the strength of the other genes mixed in them). Something of note is because of this one of the trolls talking with a human is confused and doesnt know what incest is and when explained it, still doesnt get it because of how troll anatomy and reproduction works. it ISNT a concept in their culture because all trolls are related if you look at it through a human lenses. Another part is that Nepeta and meulin are linked in the way they are both Each Others Ancester/descendant (which seems to be a troll that shows most similar genetic combinations to them originally and is almost a clone of them) you may ask why they have the same last name, that is because trolls exist with a symbol system. See, troll babies (which are just grabs with baby troll faces on them, yes horrifying i know) are given out to specific sentient animals known as Lusus. These lusus are who give them the Symbol and each lusus has a VAST collection of symbols they use to give a troll grub their last name. Each lusus is genetically designed to choose specific blood colors. So in the case of nepeta and meulin, they were raised by feline like lusus who ONLY choose olive bloods. (this genetic predisposition is likely due to how similar the lusus is to the troll trait wise. ex being nepeta and meulin being raised by feline lusus is best BECAUSE they have feline traits themselves) "how can they be both each others Ancestors AND descendants?" i hear you ask, its alternate universe/time travel stuff dont worry about it (ive read this shit like 3 times and i still dont fully get it). so they are Each others Ancestor/Descendant/Clone in a way after THIS LONG ASS POST TLDR - it both is and isnt incest because all trolls are genetically related and two olive bloods of the same symbol is the same as two trolls that were of different blood colors. but trolls do not have the concept of incest due to their biology and reproduction cycles and trying to understand it feels like im writing a fucking thesis paper.

[glowstone23b]

UAGSHDHFK ITS SO FUNNY U SHOULD MENTION TOOTHLESS FROM HTTYD BECAUSE WHEN I WAS DESIGNING A CONCEPT FOR SAGE’S WINGS (which im still in the process of making) HE WAS MY FIRST REFERENCE :’’’) I LOVE NIGHT FURIES

but also to answer some of those previous elytra questions because they have been on my mind . i’ll sort of just be quoting them audvdhfj ive been thinking about them all day

“What if the elytra (after having been fully fused, I guess, but early users apply too) runs out of durability?”

— okay so pre-fusing the elytra is sort of. brittle. not fully but like regular durability you get in normal minecraft; it wears down after a while and this is because of a couple factors

1.) still adjusting to the host, hasn’t gotten the proper intake of blood and nutrients in its wings to fully sustain itself for the while yet so it’s trying to run off what it currently has (which tends to be very little resulting in them damaging over time if not fixed)

2.) it doesn’t wear down post fusion because the mutations and genes mixing in with the host lets it sort of stabilize by itself and become a part of the host entirely; once the “magical” properties of it are slowly simmering and is replaced with blood, skin, bacteria, etc (on that note the tendrils inside the host’s shoulder blades etc also sort of melt and become new veins/paths for blood circulation to take) (dont ask me how that works uhhh magic and minecraft stuff idk)

“Are the wings something you yourself can feel once they’ve fused with you, or is it more like… a neurological thing, where the elytra just know what you’re thinking?”

— OKAY when the tendrils slip in you’ll feel some generous amount of discomfort but pulling them out hurts more than letting them sink in

— new elytra users need a small bit of time to adjust to the wings and get a grasp on how they feel. its sort of different for everyone but at first it feels like a very strange version of pins and needles- you can move the wings around but it feels weird.

— although yeah the parasitic-ish parts of the elytra kind of do. connect with your brain (DIY lobotomy /j) in order to both A.) get the brain to move the wings around and B.) to do all the increased reaction time and instincts shabang (these stay permanently after fusion)

“Could you feel them as an extension to your body? If they get hurt, would you be able to feel it as if it were your arm or something, or would it be numb?”

- new elytra users get a numb sort of sensation when the elytra gets damaged via an arrow or something

- older (fused) elytra users get the similar sensation to the webbing of your fingers being sliced or punctured (owie)

- also at first they do feel like weird body extensions before eventually adjusting and them becoming literal body parts aisnfwidhfjfk

“If you run out of durability on fused elytras, is that something you could ever fix?”

— yes actually!! healing potions + usually phantom membrane is an efficient way of patching up deep wounds— depending on the type of wing it might just require a lot of healing potions and bandages, but eh its different for every user

— although if a massive chunk of those wings is like torn off then oooh. ouchie thats like having ur arm torn off. yeah that probably wont heal

^ — however . you can get fixes where they attach like a leather-like wing and hollow light silver(?) rods onto where the bones end to make a makeshift wing repair (leather is typically dyeable and able to be decorated)

bonita drawing ik . but you get the idea !!!!

“Would you be able to get a new pair if you hadn’t been fused yet?”

— YEAH

— if you get the new pair from another person who used it previously the process of the wings shifting to suit you better will take a while longer and vice versa

“Would you have to try to cut off your old elytra to replace it if you *were* fused?”

— yes

— not a pleasant experience but if you hate ur wings so bad then yes you could probably slice them off (i wonder what you would do with them afterwards?? Whats to do with sliced human-sized wings? … wall decoration?? Could you cook and eat them maybe?)

“could you potentially *pick* how your elytra form to look on you?”

— kkkkkkind of? the elytra by default looks like a weird mix of dragon and beetle wings all in one. good flight but also not infinitely durable like mentioned

— the shape of the wings, however, changes to fit the user from what the elytra can gather from their brain

(for example, Sage’s wings are based off night furies and peregrine falcons — fast speedy creatures due to Sage’s own history of enjoying fast speeds/being thrown or spun around and also from the lack of any fear of heights/falling)

(in fact actually enjoying those things) (yk how some kids ask to be thrown into lakes because they enjoy the sensation. yeah thats her)

“Like, if you tried to repair your elytra using a combination of some standard repair materials (phantom membranes, occasionally scales) as well as some other thing (like parrot feathers, for instance), could you possibly get the elytra to take on a form you’d prefer?”

— this is sort of tricky to answer because like. the elytra chooses what form of wings suits you best.

— mutations, though? Like having the elytra change from the dragon-beetle-ish look to having feathers and bright colours? That’s still achievable!! Theres even the possibility to mix and match different biological materials from the desired creatures however if you add in too many the elytra might like. kill you by accident or something (im talking more than like 5 or 7) (usually people opt to have only one or two main repair materials) (3 is teetering on the edge slightly i imagine because of like. neurological effects with all the mutations both physically behaviourally and mentally etc etc)

this also kind of raises the question of “how do you get bug wings” and i’ll be honest w u i have no idea. I imagine there’d be *some* strange way to achieve it? go ham many methods for elytra repairing

( mini rant of sage vv)

(Her way of flying is very similar to toothless in the first two movies. shes sleek and elegant in that cat-like fashion but she also does dive bombs and spins and rolls and is overall extremely confident, nigh cocky with how she flies. a lot of control too!! ,,,, most of the time has definitely crash landed several times) (not to mention speed,,,,, in certain situations when she picks up enough velocity you can hear a whistle coming from the air being sliced by her wings . no idea how to explain but you get the idea)

ALSO THE PHANON TAG IS ALR !! she/her pronouns for me but idrc if you use they/them ajdbfjk

Apologies for the late response, I wanted to make some quick doodles for this at the least!!! It's so fascinating to me! A sidenote before I forget-- what do you think about rocket-propelled elytra flight? Would that be possible at all, or do we pretend canon isn't there for it? It's very silly to think of, but I don't think it'd be very safe, lol.

Here's a rough gif of how I think it might work! (emphasis on might). The 'elytra' (used to refer to the parasite in this sense) feels like a bug to me... like a palm-sized ladybug, sort of. Just the right size to fit on the small of your back pretty easily. Once you set it there, it'll like... pinch/hurt a bit as it sets in its initial veins & whatnot to connect to you, but it just chills there otherwise. I feel like for pre-fused elytras, trying to take one off would feel kinda like a tick? Gross, but hey

I also use "elytra" in the literal sense-- the hard, chitinous sheaths that cover bug wings-- here, so I could draw it in my head. I think that wouldn't be very comfortable to sit back on, to be honest, if you were in a high-backed chair or something. Anyways, like bug wings they'd unfold and the blood that goes through them would fill them up to full size like you said! It'd likely happen in a matter of seconds for long-time users, but take up to a couple minutes for first-timers.

I've also got a couple post-fusion drawings here, under the cut bc it's kinda veiny and a little gross, so if you're averted to that thing, look away!

Again, bonita drawing, but just to get it out of my head. The main "body" of the elytra would start to stretch down your back to get further up along your spine, where all the good veins are! Eventually, the body of it would be more vestigial than anything, because it no longer needs it to look for a host (do you think elytras in end cities would be able to wander freely before fusing to someone? Kinda funny to think of someone just getting like. hit in the face by a stray elytra buzzing around).

I do have this as bug in my head, because my brain loves making sense of things, so it's struggling to figure out how other wing types would work. I know it's magical, so whatever goes, but hmm... maybe the customization just comes after fusing, when the elytra doesn't need to expend the extra energy on needing to find a new host, and can instead divert it to making different, sturdier wings...?

I like the makeshift wing repair with lightweight metals or leather and whatnot, it'd be neat to explore that! Just like toothless :). Color & style customization, too! Do you think anybody gets wing jewelry or piercings just to show off? Like irl vultures with wing tags?

"(i wonder what you would do with them afterwards?? Whats to do with sliced human-sized wings? … wall decoration?? Could you cook and eat them maybe?)" -- I mean, if we're in a world with human-sized wings, there's most likely a market for them! I wouldn't be surprised if long-term elytra users were hunted for sport if they had a particularly unique wing type... Wall decoration, for sure, I think hunters would enjoy them! Also good for food in dire situations, as human meat is probably a lot more gamey than any other available source. Feathers or membranes would also be valued for use in repairing of other elytras, in clothing, ceremonial stuff, etc. Kinda neat!

Tell Sage I love her and her flying skills are unmatched. She's crashed before? Didn't see it. She rules

If any of this is coherent, congrats! If not, poke me so I can explain it! Most of my posts will be one long rant and not really read over again for mistakes or anything so godspeed, buddy! Overall I like your thoughts on the matter you rule!!!! Gives my brain more things to rotate :)

[mountain-lion-gremlin]

Hello I have a question, how do you know if you're a shifter if you haven't p shifted yet???

Hello! I've heard this once or twice before, I'll try answer the best I can.

Everyone's experience is different first and foremost, so things that would seem like they are indicators aren't for others, and vice versa. Personally for me, I haven't p-shifted yet, and shifting is just a label some people like to use. It isnt a requirement to p-shift to call yourself a shifter.

For me, I have seen many signs that I am a shifter. Fur, shapeshifting in dreams and feeling it in real life, attempting p-shifting and getting symptoms. Many people think that to be a shifter, you HAVE to p-shift. And I get it, there's a concern of people not wanting fakers around, so having only people who have p-shifted keeps everyone who is fake out once and for all.

I dont really see it that way, I just really see a group of people anxiously waiting to do something without actually trying to do so. It's sort of this idea that it will just happen to you, which is pretty far from the truth. (Respect to people though who are apart of this idea, I mean no hate but that's what I see. Please do not send hate or spread the idea that people who are apart of this are a cult.)

If you want something in life, barely anyone just has it fall in their lap. Most of us will spend months or even years practicing before it happens, it all just depends on how much you practice and dedication you have to p-shifting.

Most people know simply because they have another side of them, and it just feels right to them. A lot of shifting has to do with intuition (that gut feeling) and analysis of yourself and your other side.

Many have m-shifted and just knew, or others have been working for years to finally get to the point of starting to p-shift, like I have!

There's also a few ideas surrounding how people know, and p-shifting itself. Some people have p-shifted in the past but they hid it from themselves, causing this sort of "memory gap" to where this event happened. They subconsciously tuned it out for survival or because they panicked about it. (P-shifting can be traumatizing for some)

There's another idea that shapeshifting is genetic, so you can look at your family tree or it's in your dna. Some people say native blood and shapeshifting have a correlation too. But, no one has actually found this "shifter gene", and it's pretty hard to use your family tree to understand if you are a shifter. And plus, there's not a lick of native american in my blood, and I'm a shifter. (On the bright side though, legends of shapeshifting are in almost every culture, so it's almost impossible to narrow down how or why we are shifters. There's also the question of why we can shift in the first place, and even I dont know.)

Thank you anon for the ask! I hope this helped a bit, and if you have any other questions my inbox is always open.

Good evenings beneath the moon to you.