#it's also world orca day too

[geek-jpeg]

🦈Shark Awareness Day🦈

July 14th - Sharks, skates and rays belong to a subclass of fish called 'Elasmobranchii', being notable for their primarily cartilaginous skeletons and unique diversity. Sharks play a vital role in maintaining stable ocean environments; by removing sickly fish, and controlling overpopulation of either invasive or smaller predatory fish in certain ecosystems. Filter feeders and sand sifters are just as important, being a part of the ocean's clean-up crew and nutrient cyclists. Unfortunately, over one-third of these species are at risk or threatened with extinction due to climate change and misconceptions being spurred on by popular media over the years (Jaws, Shark Week, etc.). The loss of these animals would lead to a decline in ocean ecosystem health around the world.

[llamagoddessofficial]

What would happen if MC was a sea diver? Maybe she was exploring a ship reck and the siren boys bumped into them? How would they react?

Sans: He's much more calm, when she's a diver. There's something about her already being in his territory... rather than meeting her on land and wanting to drag her into the water, he meets her in the water, and needs to not give her any reasons to stop coming to the water. No need to be scary. Just take it slow.

They had a very tender moment at their first meeting. After first sighting one another, they spent a long few minutes just watching each other. In the same way that you wouldn't expect to see an actual orca while scuba diving in relatively shallow water, Mc wasn't expecting to see an orca siren. There was also an undeniable magic to the moment, staying still as possible and holding eye contact with a highly intelligent creature from an entirely different world to your own. When he did draw in, it was slow, mutual studying - she looked at every line and scar, he pretended to care about her equipment so she wouldn't be weirded out by him constantly staring deeply into her pretty eyes. The only physical contact they shared was a single brush of her hand against his (the only part of her not covered by wetsuit) before he left, cautious not to overstay his welcome and intimidate her.

He follows her around but rarely initiates contact. He enjoys 'playing'; showing her interesting things, retrieving lost items, introducing her to new and exciting wildlife and dive spots. He's going to get her to trust him. He just has to be patient.

Red: Y'know those videos of sharks coming right up to a diver for scritches? That's him. Unlike Sans' cautious and slow approach, Red was very Red, and upon spotting her just bulldozed right over to her. She tried to be a responsible diver and not interact at all with wildlife, staying on the seafloor and slowly backing away from him, but Red wasn't gonna let that happen - and what's she going to do, swim away? Cute. She can't outswim him. On their first meeting he squeezed any part of her he could reach before she could pull out of range again (arms, legs, hips,) tapped on her scuba mask, blew bubbles at her, and bit a chunk out of one of her dive buddy's flippers as a warning. He's brazenly flirting.

He 'behaves' when she gives him attention. At first she was genuinely intimidated, but now she treats him like an overenthusiastic large dog. Funnily enough he does genuinely like scritches, especially on the parts of him he can't easily get to, like on his tail and behind his main fin.

He and Sans usually manage to alternate what days they show up to see her, but when they do see each other they frequently get into scraps. Especially if one of them thinks the other is too close. Sans doesn't like Red's forwardness with her, and Red doesn't like a crazed lonely orca being anywhere near his fragile human, but both are unwilling to kill and reveal their bloodthirsty natures. They force themselves to get along... especially when sight of the two giants fighting immediately makes her evacuate the water.

Skull: He was probably living in a wreck she dove in. It's nice and dark, but spacious, and full of interesting trinkets he can collect. On their first encounter, Skull spent most of his time silently stalking Mc in the dark water. She didn't notice him until the very last second; you can imagine the shock and terror at shining a light into a shadowy corner and illuminating a massive grinning face.

She doesn't entirely know what he would've done to her, in the confinement of that wreck, if she hadn't shone the light into his face and startled him long enough to get the fuck out of there. But from that point on, no matter where she dives, if neither Red nor Sans show up Skull will always be there. He makes his aquarium counterpart proud by stealing her things. She doesn't understand why - he gives the items back eventually, so does he even really want them? Is he a kleptomaniac? Is this just a way to get her attention? Who knows. At least he doesn't eat her. He absolutely could; despite regularly diving in groups, nobody ever sees him coming until her kit is already missing.

[surrogate-fawn]

Im a fan of #7.

Nesting (Werewolf AU)

Prompt: "The baby feels so low" [Also inspired by @hush-writes-preg's "Spooky Season Day #3" prompt. He can consider this an early birthday gift as well!]

Characters: Fawn, Newt/Asher - Pre-Polly Relationship ((Newt is owned by @mittysins, and Asher is owned by @killer-orca-cosplay.))

Context: This takes place in a modern world where werewolves are common amidst human society. Fawn is a packless Beta who is about to give birth to her ex-mate's pup. Newt, an Omega, and Asher, an Alpha, are a mated pair who took Fawn into their home -- despite the fact they're expecting a pup of their own in a few months. The three have formed a close friendship, though Fawn still feels like an outsider. After all, she was human only a year ago.

Disclaimer: This fic contains lore for my, Mitty's, and Orca's werewolf AU -- be forewarned there will be worldbuilding mixed in with the kink stuff. If story-heavy kink is your kind of thing -- like it is for us three -- enjoy!

TW: A/B/O dynamics, but within the context of a werewolf society; mentions of past abuse, werewolf-related birth troubles.

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

Smoky whisps of incense scented the room with lavender. The shades were drawn over the windows to block the fading sun. Golden fairy lights twinkled in the gossamer curtains woven through the support beams of the nesting tent, the only dots of light in the dark room.

The nylon pop-up tent was specially designed for those who were nesting. It clung to the baseboard and covered the entire bed in a snug, arched shelter. It could be zipped or unzipped in sections to create windows and doors as needed, or it could be shut tight for total privacy. The interior of the tent was stuffed full of jumbo-sized Squishmallow plushies, three oversized duvet covers, and one very pregnant werewolf.

"How you doing, Mama?" the mop-haired Alpha sitting bedside asked.

Fawn's pointed ear flicked in the direction of his voice in acknowledgement before she opened her eyes. She lay curled around a giant fox pillow, the soft material supporting her belly as she lay dozing in the tent. She had opened a section of the tent by the headboard so she could leave the nest if she wanted, but at the moment she didn't feel safe anywhere else.

"I've been better," she said, her voice lagging with fatigue.

A dewy layer of sweat clung to her whole body. Her clothing was shed to the bedroom floor, save for a black tank top and pair of boyshorts. The air around her was temperate, but her body burned with a mild fever. Her muscles felt heavy and useless, tired from months of carrying her pregnancy whilst fighting the tremors of rejection sickness. The worst of it had passed over time; but here she was, still feeling the effects of breaking her pair bond almost ten months later.

Oh, and being in labor for the last nine hours was not helping the situation.

The soft click of the door handle caught their attention. The pair of cryptids lifted their heads to look as it opened, the hallway light reflecting green in the mirrors of their eyes.

Newt's familiar scent -- much stronger than his mate's -- overpowered the lavender as he entered the room. Fawn's sinuses tingled with the spicy-sweet aroma of his smell, comparable to sassafras, that indicated his pregnancy as much as the grapefruit-sized swell of his lower belly. Fawn still struggled to describe the scents that were new to her.

The Omega approached her nest and held out the glass of tap water he'd been sent to fetch. Fawn craned her neck and lapped from it, her mouth too parched to obey her command. Her tongue was longer than it had once been, able to bring water to her throat as easily as any straw. She didn't pause to wrap her lips around the edge of the glass until her thirst was mostly quenched.

"Jeez, don't drown," Newt chuckled as Fawn took the drink from his hand.

Asher, the Alpha, got up from his seat and offered it to his mate with a nod of his head.

Fawn gulped down the last of the water and came up panting for air. "Don't tell me what to do," she retorted with a tired, playful grin.

"Don't tell her what to do, babe," Asher said, unable to disguise the smirk on his face as he set the empty glass on the bedside table.

The three shared a brief, quiet laugh.

Fawn's eyelids drifted closed as the room settled back into silence. She shimmied herself deeper into her pile of softness, falling easily into a twilight sleep; at least, for a few more minutes.

A huff of air left Fawn's nose a split second before her brow creased in discomfort. "Ash, start it," she said, curling tighter around her pillow.

"Yes, ma'am." Asher fumbled to unlock his phone and started the timer on his stopwatch app. "Started."

Fawn filled her lungs with air with one long breath and released it as a drawn-out exhale. The contraction coiled itself around her hips and squeezed, growing tighter by the second. The pain grew like a stinging vine around her belly, her ribs, her back, even wrapping around her upper thighs.

With a low groan, Fawn rolled herself onto her back. Her legs fell open at a wider angle than normal -- a sign her hips were loosening in preparation for her large pup to come through. She continued her ritual of slow, deliberate breathing as the contraction continued to climb to its dreaded peak.

Newt leaned into the opening in the tent, enough for him to run a gentle hand over the clammy skin of Fawn's arm. He didn't say anything, but his touch brought her a sense of ease. Even knowing that Asher was in the room, even if she couldn't see him, made her feel better. They'd only known each other a month, but she couldn't imagine surviving labor without them.

Fawn flashed her fangs in a snarl as the contraction reached its apex, the part she dreaded each time. "Ugh!" she growled through her teeth, her head pressed back into the pillow.

Newt's eyes widened when Fawn hooked her hands beneath her knees, drawing her legs up on either side of her belly. "Are you pushing already?"

"She's what?!" Asher gasped in alarm, his face appearing over his mate's shoulder.

"No!" Fawn growled, hardly able to breathe enough to speak. "My legs are about to fuckin' dislocate!"

She could feel the pup pressing its way out, prying open the flesh of her cervix as her womb squeezed it down. The pressure sent stabbing waves of agony between her legs. Her birth canal opened a little more with each millimeter the pup dropped, and now it was putting unbearable pressure on the ball-socket joints of her pelvis.

Fawn grunted in relief as the contraction ebbed. She released her legs, draping them wide apart over her plushies. Thankfully, Newt and Asher's guest bed was queen-sized and allowed her plenty of space to spread out.

"It's done," she announced, so Asher could stop the timer.

"Ooh, getting close," Asher said. "That one was thirty-eight seconds."

Even that short burst of work sent drops of sweat rolling down Fawn's sides. She pulled her tank top over the curve of her belly and tucked the fabric under her swollen breasts. She caressed the sore underside of her bump in long, soothing circles. The skin around her womb was pulled smooth as glass from the weight of the pup inside. She could feel where its surface was gouged by deep, purple stretch marks. Her pup wriggled impatiently beneath her hands, as if able to sense her touch through the thinness of the skin.

"Call me crazy," she said, "but I'm hoping this baby takes its time. It might rip me apart if it tries to break the speed record."

Asher checked the recorded times in his phone. "You'll be fine, it doesn't look like they're in a hurry," he said. "Just stay relaxed and the pup will keep working its way down."

Fawn gave a thumbs-up. "Copy that, Sarge."

"So, guys, are we taking bets?" Newt asked, resting his upper torso inside the tent.

Fawn tilted her head to peer up at him from inside the canyon of her pillow plushie. "On what?"

"Boy or girl," Newt grinned. He propped his chin up on his hand and beamed down at the redheaded wolf woman. "Should we take bets?"

"You boys can if you want," Fawn said.

"Just you versus me, babe," Asher chuckled from somewhere else in the room. "Fawn already knows, that would be cheating."

"No, I don't," Fawn said, quiet and matter-of-fact. She turned her eyes to the little golden lights twinkling over her head. "I didn't know if a doctor would make me contact my mate, so I never went to one."

At the mention of him, the mating scar at the nape of Fawn's neck became hot. She grimaced, able to feel each small wound his teeth had left when he'd inflicted her with the curse of the wolves. It wasn't as strong of a reaction anymore; the pain had at one point been overwhelming.

When she'd taken that first step out of the apartment with the intention to never come back, the mark had burned so intensely she thought she could smell her flesh searing. She was lucky Todd hadn't been home, because he'd no doubt felt the same sensation on the back of his neck -- where he had forced her to mark him as her mate as well. Had he been home, Fawn wouldn't have made it out of the building before he'd realized what she was doing.

"Besides," Fawn added, "I have no idea if I should go to a doctor or a vet now." Her freckled face paled, and she looked back up at Newt. "Shit, is that offensive?"

Newt laughed and leaned in to rub his cheek against her forehead. "Nah."

Fawn smiled as he brushed against her, leaving a bit of his spicy-sweet scent on her skin. She was still adjusting to perceiving the world through scent as much as sight and touch, but she grew more comfortable with it each time the pair scented her. Scent was transforming into language the more she utilized it. Maybe she wasn't sure how to communicate with it, yet; but there was something about it she was starting to understand.

"We'll show you the ropes once you're over the rejection sickness," Asher said, leaning against the nightstand so he could peer into the nest. "So . . . this guy didn't explain any of our lifestyle to you?"

Fawn shook her head. "Not anything us hum-," she paused, pressing her lips into a thin line. "Not anything humans don't already know. Transformation and full moon stuff, basically. He had me sell my silver jewelry before he'd even kiss me. I didn't know werewolves were that sensitive to it."

The boys shared a concerned look.

"Um," Asher cleared his throat, "we aren't. Silver allergies are rare as hell. A few poor bastards had a fatal reaction hundreds of years ago, and humans assumed it was a rule for all of us."

"Good old stereotyping," Newt said.

The lines in Fawn's brow deepened. "That piece of dogshit," she muttered under her breath. "I sold my grandma's pendant for him!"

Goddammit! Why hadn't she thought twice about Todd suddenly needing to "borrow" that money?! Her mating scar throbbed, seeping heat like an open wound where their pair bond had once been. A fresh sweat dampened her brow.

Newt brushed a few stray curls from Fawn's eyes and tucked them behind the point of her ear. "Fuck him. He's a dick."

"Yeah, fuck him," Asher agreed with a frown. His ear twitched as his scowl deepened, knocking his glasses askew. "Alphas are supposed to protect our mates, not take advantage of them."

There was a brief pause. Asher took off his glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and added: "For what it's worth, Fawn . . . I'm sorry on his behalf."

"Me, too," Newt nodded. "Not as an Alpha, but as a wolf."

Fawn sighed and draped an arm over her eyes. "Thank you for that, boys. It helps . . . at least a little."

She felt like the world's biggest idiot.

When they'd met, she'd been seduced by Todd's hyper-masculine physique and charmed by his overly protective "doting". How special she'd felt, having an Alpha werewolf want her -- an average human woman -- as his mate. In hindsight, being an average human woman was exactly what made him want her. Easy prey.

How quickly she'd regretted her decision to let Todd put her in a mating press. After she'd endured the weeks it took for her anatomy to shift into that of his kind, Todd had convinced her they needed to breed as soon as possible. He wanted a large pack, as many pups as she could give him. It didn't take her long to realize they were the only reason he'd claimed her. Days after leaving him, she'd detected the strange smell of sassafras on her skin -- though she wouldn't know what that meant for two months.

The rejection sickness had masked any symptoms of a pregnancy. The effects were like that of withdrawal: fevers high enough to cause delirium, tremors, nausea, and full-body aches. She'd spent endless days and nights confined to the bed of a sleazy motel room. What carried her through was the knowledge that Todd was feeling just as shitty as she was. Yet, in her darkest moments, Fawn considered going back to him just to make it stop.

Then, her world changed when a fellow wolf woman at the drugstore offered congratulations based on her scent. This prompted her to buy a pregnancy test, and the thought of going back never crossed her mind again.

"Fellas?" Fawn asked, still blindfolding herself with her forearm. "Is a large pack, like . . . a status symbol for y'all or something?"

Asher shrugged. "Not as much as it used to be," he said. "It used to be a big deal in the past, like before we had the treaty with humans. That was because our packs needed the numbers for defense. But now? Not as much."

"Except maybe for those freakishly traditional families," Newt chimed in.

"Mmm," Fawn hummed in acknowledgement. She placed her other hand on the upper swell of her belly and gave it a thoughtful rub. "Well, this baby is mine. I'm not giving birth for the sake of some insecure asshole. This is my baby."

"Damn right it is," Newt grinned, his blue eyes glittering in the low light.

After a few seconds of silence, Fawn's limp-hanging hand curled into a fist. "Mmm, Ash . . . " Her voice trailed off into a chesty groan.

Newt looked over at his mate. "Ash, start it."

Asher pulled out his phone with a nod. "Starting."

Newt massaged Fawn's shoulder as she once again pulled back her legs. The pressure in her hips was immense, and the contraction was heaving the baby down with unholy force. Fawn pulled harder on her knees until she felt her pelvis widen, the bones drifting apart like tectonic plates.

"Breathe, Fawn," Newt gently reminded. "You're holding it."

Fawn hissed out her breath like a deflating tire. "God, it's coming down," she groaned. She shut her eyes and whined as the pup pressed harder against her cervix.

"Change position," Asher offered, bending down to see inside the nest. "Let gravity help you out."

Fawn released a high-pitched whimper. "My hips . . . my hips hurt."

"Here, hold on." Newt reached around Fawn and pulled out another of her oversized Squishmallows from the pile. He left his chair and climbed onto the bed, crawling through the opening of the tent with the plushie in-hand. "Sit up, love."

Fawn reluctantly let her legs fall. Her bones were lead. With Newt's help, she got to her knees and straddled herself atop the large pillow plushie so her hips could remain open.

"There, that's better!" Asher said, sitting on the edge of the mattress. His phone screen reflected in his lenses, revealing the contraction had lasted twenty seconds already.

Fawn bent forward onto all-fours, rhythmically dipping her hips into the pillow as the pain climbed higher than it had before. The Omega at her side dug the heel of his hand into her lower back, allowing Fawn to rock back against the counter-pressure. Her deep breathing wavered, each inhale growing shallower until the wolf woman was full-on panting.

"Calm down, you're doing fine," Newt lulled, ghosting his claws over her spine. "Deep breaths, like you were doing."

Sweat appeared in shining beads on Fawn's reddened face, dampening the frizzy curls around her temples. "I can't," she gasped. All four limbs trembled, fatigued muscles giving up the last of their strength. "I can't . . . I need to lie down."

Fawn sank chest-first into the fox plushie, arms unable to support her weight. Her tongue dipped in and out of her mouth as she failed to control of her breathing. Her fingers sank into the duvet, claws tearing holes in the fabric.

The end of the tent unzipped, creating an arch-shaped door that Asher climbed in through. While Newt continued to knead Fawn's back, Asher laid himself beside her.

"Hey, Mama, look at me," he crooned, his face appearing in the corner of her vision. When her hazel eyes met his, he said: "You are owning this! There's no need to get freaked out. You're too tough for labor to beat. Take a deep breath for us, alright?"

Fawn wet her lips and maintained eye contact with the Alpha while she drew in a big breath.

"Good!" Asher smiled, patting her shoulder. "Now let it out and make the next one even deeper. Show that pain who's boss!"

She obeyed, but mid-inhale she choked on air. With a canid yowl, Fawn pressed herself against the Alpha's body. Her hips ground against the pillow, as if it would cushion the force of her pelvis being forced apart.

"Ugh, gravity's helping too much!" Fawn moaned into Asher's shirt. "This pup is about to fall outta me!"

"That's a good thing!" Asher encouraged, draping his arm over her and motioning for his mate to lie down beside them. "You're making progress. The pup will be here before you know it!"

Fawn's hips finally settled as the contraction eased off, but she still felt unable to move. Her pelvis sat wide open, and the hefty weight of the pup was sinking deep inside it -- even without the contraction.

“Augh, fuck,” she moaned, the sound rumbling in her chest. “Fuck . . . the baby feels low. It feels so fucking low!"

"Ash?" Newt asked as he rearranged the pillows to better support the three of them. "Are you still timing?"

Asher caressed Fawn's thigh as she shifted to support her upper body against the mountain of Squishmallows Newt had piled up. Newt reclined on his side beside her, flashing her a bright smile -- his fangs always hung over his lower lip when he smiled.

"No, I think we're just feeling it out now," Asher said. He'd left his phone charging on the nightstand, just in case they needed it. "I think we're 'reaching a checkpoint' as it were."

Newt rolled his eyes. "Gamers."

Fawn snuggled into the pillow mountain, trying in vain to get comfortable. It wasn't as dramatic as what they showed on television, but Fawn knew exactly what the hot rush of fluid was as it soaked the pillow between her legs.

"Umm, hey . . ." She nudged the pillow aside, revealing ribbons of cloudy water running down her inner thighs. "I think it's time to lose the shorts."

Asher pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And checkpoint reached!"

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

For five hours, no one left that tent. The room grew darker as the evening gave way to the early morning hours of pre-dawn. The boys stayed at either side of the laboring wolf woman, holding her steady in positions that allowed her pup to ease down with gravity.

Between contractions, the three werewolves lay side-by-side in tranquil silence. The sweat on Fawn's brow would dry, her feverish body would cool, but the warmth of two other bodies prevented the chills from returning. That quiet peace would be broken when Fawn vocalized during a new contraction, signaling the boys to sit her up and widen her stance.

Fawn was growing restless, wanting to switch positions several times during every contraction: squatting against the headboard, kneeling against one guy or the other, or falling into a half-squat in a pile of her plush pillows. The longer the night wore on, the more fidgety the laboring mother became.

At around four in the morning, as the trio rested together beneath the fairy lights, Fawn suddenly spoke:

"Is the cradle ready?"

"Hmm?" Asher sat up and readjusted his glasses.

"Is the cradle ready?" Fawn repeated. There was a glint of urgency in her eyes, although her tone was soft and even.

The fold-out mesh bassinet was visible from inside the nest, placed against the opposite wall. The pup's first outfit was already laid out atop the blanket lining the mattress -- a cotton quilt with embroidered rubber duckies that Newt had donated from the stash he was buying for his own pup.

After a quick glance, Asher responded: "Yep, it's ready and waiting."

"Can you grab some extra blankets or something?" Fawn pleaded. She gradually drew her legs up until her heels touched the underside of her thighs. "Just anything that's soft."

Newt sat himself up and gave his mate a knowing look. "Babe? You think this is that 'final nesting' the baby books talked about?"

Asher's eyes widened. "Oh, crap. It might be."

"What?" Fawn asked. She suddenly realized she couldn't remember what either of the boys had just said -- she wasn't fully aware of what was going on around her. It was so, so hard to focus on anything other than the pounding pressure that had come to rest in the curve of her tailbone.

The mated pair gave each other a nod.

"Ash and I have been reading books about pups like crazy this month," Newt explained in a lighthearted tone. "'Final nesting' is just what your brain does right before the pup is ready to come out."

Asher grabbed the corner of the topmost duvet and rolled it towards them until it became a padded cushion. He carefully slid it beneath Fawn and said: "Yep, it's an instinct. Got to make sure the pup has a safe place to land, you know."

Now it was Fawn's turn to go wide-eyed. "Wait . . . wait, is it happening?" she gasped, her head shooting up off the pillows.

"Maybe," Newt said. "You'll know if it is." He placed a pillow over his torso to protect his belly and scooted behind Fawn to support her into a squat.

"And if it isn't, then we'll just wait some more," Asher concluded. "Don't try to bear down if you don't need to."

Fawn nodded, gulping down the dryness in her throat. She had no idea what to expect with the next contraction. If the monstrous pressure she was feeling hadn't triggered her body to push by then . . . oh, God above, what was about to happen to her?

"I don't . . . don't know if I'm ready for this," she muttered.

Newt leaned in and rubbed his cheek against the side of her neck. "You're as ready as you'll ever be," he said. He intertwined his clawed fingers with her own.

Fawn didn't feel the next contraction as pain, only as a familiar tightness wrapping around her womb. All other sensation was snuffed out . . . massacred . . . left bleeding in the streets! . . . by the wicked downward thrust of her pup moving through her effaced cervix. There was nothing holding that baby in her womb any longer, and it was not waiting another minute to leave.

"Oh, my God!" she screamed -- out of fear more so than pain. Her hips jerked back, trying to escape the demonic pressure burning inside.

Newt squeezed her hands -- his claws never marking her skin. "You feel it?"

"Yes!" Fawn cried, her body shuddering under the hellish urge to push.

"Go with it," Asher encouraged, placing his hand on her knee. "Let's meet your pup."

Fawn held her breath and gave a shallow, hesitant first push. She wasn't sure if she was using the correct muscles, but it felt . . . how could she describe it? . . . it felt like she was doing something. A few seconds of strain later, she let up with a sharp yelp. Yes, she'd been doing it right. That slight nudge had sent the pup rushing forward.

"It's moving . . ." was all she had time to say before her body demanded she continue her efforts -- and double them!

Those few millimeters of progress kicked her urge to push into overdrive. Fawn braced her weight against Newt, put chin to chest, and bore down with every ounce of force she could. The crown of the head pressed deeper against her innermost walls with a fiery, thorny tug. The sensation of her baby moving through her after so many passive hours of labor was startling -- yet beyond rewarding.

Had her eyes been open to see, Fawn would have observed Asher's tender smile as he watched primal focus harden her features.

"Just like that, Mama," Asher praised, again stroking her thigh. "Don't hold back, give it your all!"

Sweat trailed down her flushed skin. Unable to hold the push any longer, Fawn emptied her lungs with a harsh grunt.

"It's already hurting me," she growled through closed fangs. Her voice strained as, for just a few horrible seconds, she resisted the urge to push. "Goddamn, this is gonna suck!"

Newt laid his chin on Fawn's shoulder as she sank into another deep push. "Whatever you feel, don't fight it," he offered evenly. "Your body knows what it's doing, Fawn. Listen to what it's telling you to do."

Fawn's ears pressed back against her head as her hips dipped lower to the duvet. She felt a small trickle of fluid drip from her labia, but the flow stopped as soon as she stopped pushing. A groan escaped the back of her throat as the contraction eased off and she was able to relax.

"That was great," Newt praised, unlacing their fingers and letting Fawn have her hands back. "You got the hang of it right off the bat."

Fawn sighed and balled the duvet beneath them in her claws. Her chest rose and fell quickly, and her pulse hammered in her neck. Any sense of physical comfort was gone now, even between contractions. She knew there would be no peace for her until this pup was out and in her arms . . . but God only knew when that would happen. God only knew if that would happen! The pup was barely inside her birth canal and Fawn was already terrified that it was going to get stuck.

"What if . . . what if I can't get it out?" she panted. Her lower back was screaming, so she shifted her hips forward. It didn't help. "What do we do if I can't get it out?!"

"Hey, hey, don't think like that," Newt helped Fawn recline a bit further against him. He steadied her in his arms, his hands gently massaging the curves where her belly met her ribcage. "There's no doubt in our minds that you can do this!"

"And I'm down here if you need a little extra help," Asher said. He carefully took Fawn's leg and draped it over his lap, helping to open her hips now that she was in a more reclined position. "We won't let anything happen to you or your pup, Fawn. That's a promise."

"You're safe here," Newt said in a low, soothing tone. He continued to apply soft pressure to her sides and back, kneading over her sore body as if smoothing out a delicate fabric.

Fawn never doubted for a second that she was in loving hands. She dreaded to think where she would be right now if the pair hadn't opened their home to her. Without their kindness, chances were that she'd be delivering her baby in a motel bathroom or on top of a cot in a homeless shelter. These two had given her the ultimate gift: a warm, safe place to give birth. She owed her pup's life to them.

"I know," Fawn said, snuggling down further into the nest. "I don't want to be anywhere else right now."

Newt bent down and pressed a kiss to Fawn's hairline. "Keep listening to your body. Don't rush what it's trying to do."

Fawn nodded, puffing out a breath as she felt the next contraction roll up from her back to her belly. "Okay . . . let's go."

She took in a slow lungful of air, waited for the contraction to build in strength, and pushed.

Her loosened joints spread easily for the pup's skull as it squeezed its way down her passage. It became an endless pattern: Fawn would push, the head would squeeze down, and her pelvic bones would spread over its shape as it passed beneath them. She could feel the rhythm of the changes.

Push. Squeeze. Spread.

Rest.

Push. Squeeze. Spread. Spread.

Rest.

Push. Squeeze. Spread. Spread. Spre-OW!

OW! OW! Oh, fuck! Now it was so too big! Her hips were filled to the maximum, her canal stretched wide around a huge pair of shoulders as they slipped from her womb. She could feel her labia bulging from between her legs -- and oh, God, they ached! There was nothing but a layer of her skin holding the pup in, and it felt like a bubble of gum about to burst!

But she couldn't stop pushing. Not now, not when everything was raw and stretched and open and hurting so goddamn bad! Fawn curled her toes into the mattress and wailed as she threw herself harder into pushing. Her voice grew louder as she felt the inflamed skin between her legs starting to open.

"Good job, Mama! Here it comes!" Asher cried, his voice raised to be heard over Fawn's roar of effort.

Asher had his eyes glued to the pale, wet sac pressing out of Fawn each time her body strained. He'd read in their books that it was common for werewolf pups to be born with their membranes wrapped around them. That was fine, he just had to be prepared to remove it.

A tiny spurt of fluid leaked out from around the sac as the head began to stretch the skin of the perineum. The pup's size seemed to be keeping most of its sac unruptured, the fluid too pressurized to leave the birth canal. Asher furrowed his brow but said nothing.

Of course, Newt took notice of his mate's unease. He swallowed the unease in his chest, and scented Fawn's hair with his cheek again in the hopes it would distract her.

"Ash sees the head," he crooned. "Keep going, you're pushing like a pro!"

With renewed vigor, Fawn gave into her body's needs. Asher waited until a few centimeters of the solid white membrane stretched open Fawn's lips, then he placed his index finger against the bulging sac to gauge how much fluid was inside. He felt the semi-solid squish of the pup's head just beneath the film, but his finger pad felt the swish of water when he pressed down. That wasn't a very good sign, but Asher still felt confident that he could handle it.

"I'm going to help you out a little, okay?" Asher told Fawn, cupping his hand over the crowning pup. "Focus on pushing, and I'll help you open up. I'll go slow."

Newt once again sensed Asher's unease and made it his mission to protect Fawn from sensing it, too. "Pup's almost out, Fawn," he said as he gave her shoulders a brief hug. "It'll be out quicker with Ash helping you. Just take a deep breath and let yourself stretch."

"I'm trying," Fawn whimpered. "I'm trying."

As Fawn bore down against the pup, Asher ran his fingers against the sides of her lips. He nudged her skin open bit by bit around the sac, watching as it stretched from a small oval to a wide circle over the course of several minutes. Asher cringed as he saw the skin of her labia discolor from a raw red to an almost beet purple with the width of the head.

Fawn, meanwhile, had fallen completely taciturn. Aside from wolfish growls and whimpers, she made no efforts to express her pain verbally. Her focus had shifted solely to bearing through the ordeal, working with her body to bring it to a swift end.

"Keep going, we're almost there!" Asher cheered. He had his hands positioned at the apex of her inner thighs, supporting the tight skin as Fawn pushed the head to its widest point.

Fawn shuddered and let her head fall back on Newt's chest. Her mind was a mess of black static as the pup's shoulders ground against her pubic bone. She arched her spine as the pup ceased to move for one heart-stopping moment. Then, in a sudden lurch, the sac-covered head popped free into Asher's waiting hands.

"Awesome! Awesome, Fawn!" Newt cheered, peering over her shoulder as much as he could. He could see the white membrane resting in his mate's palm. "Babe, you got it?"

Asher nodded. "I've got it, don't worry."

Without drawing attention to it, Asher took the claw of his thumb and carefully -- oh-so-carefully -- punctured the membrane at the base of where he felt the pup's neck should be. A quiet sploosh filled the nesting tent as amniotic fluid rushed over Asher's hands. He hooked his claw inside the tear and slowly peeled the sac over the pup's head.

There wasn't much hair on the pup's head -- unusual, though not uncommon -- but that wasn't what Asher was looking for. He craned his neck at a painful angle until he could catch a glimpse of the pup's face. When he saw it, he paled. The features were predictably swollen, but the puffy lips were hanging open and dripping a thick yellowish mucus. Asher thanked the stars above that he and his partner had read up about whelping -- for he was able to recognize the tell-tale symptom of waterlogged lungs.

The mates locked eyes with each other and nothing else needed to be said or done. They both understood.

"This is it, love," Newt said, leaning in to help Fawn hold her legs apart. "This next contraction is going to be the one."

Fawn's jaw gaped like a suffocating fish, but finally her voice obeyed her command: "Is my baby okay?"

Oh, hell. She must've smelled the pheromones of their stress. Newt had been hoping she wouldn't understood what the scent of fear was, yet.

Newt smiled at her and brushed her sweat-plastered hair away from her eyes. "They're fine, they just need some extra help."

"When you push, I'll give them a little tug," Asher said. "It's going to hurt, but it'll be over before you know it."

Fawn squeezed her eyes shut. "Can't hurt any worse than this," she mumbled. "Just do it."

The boys were expecting the horrific scream Fawn released when Asher began guiding out the first shoulder, but it still made their sensitive ears ring.

"You're so strong, Fawn!" Newt said into her ear. He felt her legs trying to close against the pain, and he had to pause to pull them back apart. "I know it hurts, but you're handling it so well! We're so proud of you!"

Asher kept his focus locked on delivering the pup as fast and as safe as possible. One hand supported the pup's body while the other pulled down on the emerging shoulder.

"Come on, little guy," Asher muttered under his breath. "Come on, you can do it."

With an audible pop of Fawn's hip joints -- and another yowl from the wolf woman herself -- the pup's first shoulder slipped free. Asher wasted zero time in hooking his thumb under the tiny arm and continuing his steady, gentle tug.

A rather disgusting squelch accompanied the pup as it slid onto the duvet. The remains of the membrane bunched around its feet as Asher scooped it into his hands. The body was grey and limp, and all three heartbeats stalled.

"What's wrong?!" Fawn cried. "What's wrong with it?!" She reached for her baby on instinct, but Newt held her back.

"It's okay!" he said, adjusting himself to block her veiw of Asher and the baby. "It's okay, I swear! Asher's taking care of it."

Newt stroked her sweaty face with the back of his hand, doing anything he could think of to soothe her. It didn't stop the tears from flooding the exhausted mother's eyes.

Behind his mate's back, Asher brought the pup's face to his lips. His mouth easily covered the nose and mouth of the newborn, and he gently sucked the sour-tasting fluid out of its airway. Asher spit the gunk into his sleeve and repeated the action, rubbing his thumb against the baby's chest as he did.

It was a process that lasted less than twenty seconds, but to all three werewolves it felt like eternity. But eternity ended when the pup sucked in a deep, squeaking breath. The sound of its first cry was shrill, but to the trio it sounded like singing.

Asher couldn't help but start crying as the little body he'd resurrected wiggled to life in his hands. "Here he is!" he said, voice wavering with joyful tears.

Newt sat back immediately, allowing Fawn to see the baby alive and well in Asher's arms.

"Here's our boy!" Asher announced, laying the crying baby over his mother's heart.

Through the haze of her tears, Fawn looked over every detail of her little boy. She saw the layer of damp fuzz covering his skin, the points on his pink, folded-over ears, and the coating of protective skin over his miniscule claws. She thanked whatever power was out there for that last detail, because such tiny needles would've been horrible to feel coming out.

"Sweetheart," she told the baby, wrapping her arms around him, "don't make a habit outta scaring me like that."

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

"Is he already nursing again?" Newt asked as he placed the glass of water on the nightstand.

"He eats like a horse," Fawn chuckled, adjusting the nursing pillow under her baby. Jacob was the name she had settled on.

The sun was coming up now, filling her bedroom with a soft white light. Asher was on the floor, disassembling the nesting tent. It would be taken out again in a few months for Newt to use, but the Alpha was determined to Tetris the pieces correctly into their box.

Jacob was an aggressive nurser. Three hours old and this was his third time demanding his mother's milk. Newt and Asher insisted such an appetite was normal for a larger werewolf pup, but Fawn wasn't too thrilled to learn she was going to get even less sleep than she anticipated with a new baby.

Fawn quickly drained the glass of water. She wasn't sure if she would ever feel not-thirsty again. "So, Newt," she said, "I didn't scare you into wanting a C-section, did I?"

"Nah, not at all." Newt laid down on the bed beside Fawn, propping himself against the Squishmallow pile. "If you could get him out, I'm pretty sure I'll be okay."

Newt pet the thin strands of hair on Jacob's head. The newborn swiped a clumsy, mitten-covered fist over his head with a teeny-tiny growl. All three adults stopped and stared.

"Was that him?!" Asher asked from the floor.

"Yeah . . ." Newt said, withdrawing his hand. "He's very protective of his food."

Asher almost fell over laughing. "That's Alpha behavior if I've ever seen it!"

"How do you guys even determine that stuff?" Fawn asked. "Is it a sex thing?"

"Eh, a bit," Newt shrugged, "but it's also a personality thing." He tickled the folded tip of Jacob's soft ear, and got the same response as before.

"Ow!" Fawn jerked as her son bit down on her breast. "Stop annoying him, or I'm biting you, too!"

"Sorry," Newt chuckled.

"I can't thank you boys enough for this," Fawn said. "This werewolf shit is all sorts of weird for me, and . . . now I know for certain that Jacob wouldn't have been alright if you weren't with me."

"That's what packs do," Asher said, re-folding a segment of nylon tarp. "We look out for each other."

"Do we even . . . " Fawn stopped herself mid-sentence and looked away.

Newt grinned and touched his forehead to Fawn's temple. "I don't know. What do you think?"

Fawn grinned in return and rubbed her cheek against his hair, leaving her scent on his skin.

[relax-and-read-on]

Math San, I Gotta Ask For More Of That Primarch planet Swap AU, The Amount Of Imaginations That Is Going Through My Head Is Insane, But Headcanons are enough of you do not want to update, As I Am also Genuinely Interested In The Headcanons as well.

Hello hello!!! I am *slowly* going back into updating my blog again, so!

Primarch planetswap au: HC edition!

Lorgar (From Terra): actually quite close to his father and Malcador. Has the habit of walking into Malcador rooms and face planting on the old man bed to complain, after a hard day of not strangling the high lords.

Angron: On Inwit, he had the disastrous habit of running toward all the giant carnivorous monster. Due to his empath power, he ended with a monstrosity called "Land-Orca" that he treat like a dog as a pet.

Fulgrim of Nuceria: Sign language was actually the primary one in the slave pits, to communicate away from the guards. The system that Fulgrim and his sons use together is different from any other, and quite secretive. He actually started teaching it to Ferrus.

Alpharius Omegon on Chtonia: They were actually homeless, until emp showed up! They never wanted their full identity as two knows to other, as it could have compromise their secret statut of vigilante, fighting back the local gangs.

Magnus of Medusa: Think rocks are tasty, okay? He never quite got over his habit of eating sand, but now it's mostly crystal. Has an actual chart ranking the tastiest ones, and fucking LOVE how tasty fossil are.

Leman of Delivrance: Has yet to fully understand that has wolf dna, and as such fight a lot of his instinct. Insist on touching everyone he consider family, and check on the regular where everyone is, and if they are ok. Always eat last too.

Konrad on Maccrage: when he was a child and having really bad convulsion, his mother gave him a pet ferret (wich used to be common pets for Romans) as some kind of alert animal. Konrad doesn't deal well with food often, so his beloved lil friend (called Regulus) became the fattest, happiest noodle.

Ferrus of Caliban: He actually has a romantic side! He grew up hearing songs of knights and princess, and then ended up becoming a knight himself! And while incredibly chivalrous, the realm of the arts (outside a forge) stay incredibly foreign to him. He does love nowaday harlequin romance novels.

Horus on Nostramo: In spite of having created a rather criminal society, he made extreme effort to make it a true meritocracy. Any street urchin can become a mob enforcer under him... If they navigate properly the treacherous world of the mafia.

Sanguinius of Fenris: He actually is a supremely picky eater, and does not trust 95% of vegetables. He only ate meat until he was found by the Imperium, he's not a goat, why do they keep waving kale at him?!

Lion on Colchis: Fully, 100% aware that the chaos gods are real, and actively pray to them. He has his "religion of the Emperor" that he actually use as a facade, since it annoy Emp so much, he doesn't look into his "true" belief.

Perturabo on Chemos: has actually developed full AI again, but hide it HARD from Emp and the Mechanicus. He like his robots!! He think that they should have rights! Why can't the Imperium be less stupid about this... Vaguely in love with Rogal and his Cool Armours.

Jaghatai on Baal: Became quite the warlord, locally. Was especially curious of the use of radiation, and definitely made some horrible WMD back in the day. Currently falling in line with the Mechanicus, as every vehicules present on Baal was almost holly in their culture.

Rogal of Nocturne: Created some really, REALLY advanced fortification that can, somehow, follow the landscape change. Is pioneering the use of dragon scales mixed with special metals, creating something that might be stronger than ceramite. Does not understand why Perturabo is always hanging around.

Roboute on Barbarus: decided to fight necromancy with fire... Artillery fire, to be exact. He brought the industrial revolution to Barbarus, and has pretty intense plan for terraforming the planet. Hasn't stopped working in.... Approximately 50 years.

Mortarion of Prospero: Like in many of my hc, Morty is intersex. He's lucky to have landed on Prospero, where androgyny is a sign of beauty. He actually like cultivating that appearance, and if asked what his gender is, he usually just reply "mushroom".

Corvus of Chogoris: if it's me, then you bet Corvus is a transwoman lol. She wear traditional mongolian ceremonial outfit as a power move, because *no one* expect her to be able to move this easily in all those heavy clothes.

Vulkan of Olympia: VERY close to all 3 of his siblings! He was never a fighter there, and instead worked hard to promote a democratie and division of power. He still is in contact with all of them, especially Calliphone. She keep teasing him about his possible crush on a certain Oracle...

[junggunz]

♡⸝⸝nsfw alphabet: goo kim

cw: fem bodied reader + established relationship. an: for anon. thanks for requesting shawty. *punches a hole in the wall* I GOT THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THIS MAN.

A - Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Not gonna lie, Goo seems like he’d be terrible at aftercare if you didn’t make it clear what you expected of him prior to having sex. Doesn’t matter if you’re dating or not. You’d be laid out on the bed, exhausted, a mess of cum and saliva then he’s just like… “I kinda wanted another round. When will you be ready to go again?” and then when you tell him you’re not fucking him ever again if he doesn’t treat you right after sex, he’ll start to take aftercare more seriously.

B - Body Part (their favorite body part on themselves and their favorite body part on their partner)

Goo has way too much self confidence to pick one favorite part of him methinks. 

I also think besides the typical boobs/butt/hips/thigh areas that most of these men are into, Goo probably is just really obsessed with the feeling of your skin ??? Kinda weird… but so is he. 

C - Cum (anything related to 💦💦💦)

Goo’s top three favorite places in no particular order to cum are on your butt, on your chest or inside. Personally I feel like he has some strong swimmers which is why cumming inside is only a once in a while thing with you. 

ALSO out of the Lookism characters, Goo will be the one who actually bitches about it if you ask him to wear a condom if you’re not on another contraceptive. In his head, if both of you are clean and in a monogamous relationship, why should he have to wear a condom? Like… Vasco might have a breeding kink but he’ll wear condoms if you ask him to because he’s a sweetie and Samuel is the type to just fuck you in the ass if he knows you’re not on the pill- 

BUT GOO ??? A little shit. Probably says annoying things like ‘I’ll get a vasectomy after you give me a kid’. He’s probably stocked up on morning after pills specifically for you when he ‘forgets’ to pull out. 

D - Dirty Secret 

It’s not a secret that this man is obsessed with money. So it should be even less of a surprise when he tells you he wants to start an onlyfans or start doing x rated streams with you so he can get paid while fucking you. It’s the best of both worlds in his mind. 

E - Experience (how experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Goo has slut energy. He definitely has a lot of experience in the bedroom. 

F - Favorite Position

Goo is open to all sorts of positions but piledriver or jockey seem like the ones he never gets tired of. 

G - Goofy (are they more serious or playful in the moment?)

Can’t spell goofy without Goo- If Gun is like an orca, Goo is a dolphin; both unhinged creatures who “play” with their prey before consuming. The only difference is that dolphins have a friendlier look to them. So yeah…he’s playful in a menacing way.

H - Hair (how well groomed they are)

Goo saw Gun shaving completely bare down there one time and now he does it too. But Goo likes having no hair down there so you can always see how big his dick is. 

I - Intimacy (how romantic are they in the moment?)

Goo has a flair for being unpredictable. So of course, the bedroom department is no exception. Sex with him is like a box of chocolates; you’ll never know what you’re gonna get. He has days where he’s really intimate and soft, days where he fucks you like he hates you, and days where he does both. 

J - Jack Off (how frequently do they masturbate?)

Goo isn’t the type to masturbate because he’s horny; he does it when he gets bored and there’s nothing else that seems appealing to do. He more than likely takes pictures/videos for you while he does this because he knows you love getting videos of him nutting with the sound on. 

K - Kink

 I literally don’t care if canon said he’s more interested in money than women because I can’t even remember where that was stated. And even if you pointed out where it was said, I would just ignore it.

Goo is kinky, period. You could tell from the start that when he said he was kinky, he meant it and wasn’t just another fake dom who says he’s into kinky shit because he has a thing for choking. Like most healthy and functional relationships, it takes time for Goo to reveal his kinks to you in the bedroom. Sure, the two of you may have discussed them extensively prior to having sex but talking and actually doing are two different things. 

Anywho here are just a few kinks that I automatically associated with Goo.  

Roleplay/themed lingerie: it’s cringe but Goo gives me the vibe that he likes the sexy school uniforms the most. However he doesn’t care too much for student x teacher roleplay when you dress up like that; he’s more into acting out scenes where you’re some nerd who has to tutor a delinquent because it’s not too far off from his own days in school. Besides that, he likes bunny costumes, succubus lingerie, maid costumes, video game characters; you name it. He has the funds to splurge on some high quality lingerie for you whether it be costume themed or not. 

Cock worship: I mean…I don’t understand how or why you wouldn’t want to worship that dick- but yeah, Goo is a big fan of seeing you take your time feeling him up and paying extra attention to his dick. Probably slaps your tongue or face with it for fun.

Goo is definitely a switch. How often he switches between dom and sub is going to depend on you though. If you want to dom him, then know what you’re doing because he is a BRATTY sub. 

Exhibitionism: He wants to capitalize off of having sex with you; he has to be comfortable with people watching. 

 Cue trigger warning for knives: but uh..as a weapons enthusiast, he’d probably have a thing for using knife play; using them as a prop in the bedroom. He’s not gonna hurt you or anything with it because he prefers to have your skin be nice and free of scars caused by him. Goo is more into using knives as a spicier element of sensation play. So think of him just using it to lightly drag along your skin and just feel how cold the blade is. While roleplaying, if the scene calls for it, he’s probably going to cut your clothes off. 

L - Location (favorite places to do the deed)

*cue Janet Jackson’s ‘Any Time, Any Place.’* Goo is the least picky about where the two of you have sex. He’s so unapologetically him…why would he feel shame for wanting to fuck his partner whereever he pleases. 

M - Motivation (what turns them on and gets them going)

I think if Goo sees you just lounging around or minding your business, he has this compulsion to go bug you and a lot of times you’ll find yourself with his dick inside you.

N - NO (what turns them off or something they’re strongly against)

Goo is probably turned off by someone who doesn’t know how to stand their ground. Like, he’s adventurous and all sorts of wild in and out of the bedroom; he doesn’t expect you to do everything he wants to do so you should be at least able to tell him what you don’t like. 

O - Oral (preference for giving or receiving, skill level)

Goo is definitely a fan of the 69 position so he’s able to give and receive at the same time. He more than likely turns it into a game to see who can make who cum faster.

Like I said earlier, he has slut energy; he’s pretty skilled in this department. 

P - Pace

Much like intimacy, you never know if Goo is gonna fuck you slowly and passionately or if he’s gonna give it to you fast and rough. 

Q - Quickie (opinions on them/how often)

Surprisingly, Goo is not the biggest fan of quickies. He’ll indulge every now and then when he really wants to get his dick wet; but most cases, he doesn’t like being rushed or interrupted. 

R - Risk (do they like to experiment or take risks?)

Duh…to both risk taking and experimenting. Goo will only do whatever you feel comfortable with; mutual pleasure is important to him.

S - Stamina (how long do they last? How many rounds would they like to go for?)

Like a good majority of Lookism men, that physical endurance is no joke. How many rounds he goes for is always random. Sometimes the two of you will have one round that’s a max of fifteen minutes before he comes back an hour later wanting more. Other times he’ll fuck for hours on end. 

T - Toy (how do they feel about using them?)

Lookism’s number one toy enthusiast probably. More than likely is a shareholder for a sex toy company.

U - Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Big sadist energy over here just like Gun; except he’s actually playful when teasing you. Like…yes, he’s teasing you to the point of tears but you’re also just frustrated with how annoying he is. 

V - Volume (how loud they are and what sounds do they make?)

You can’t tell me that Goo doesn’t love to talk dirty and moan into your ear LIKE A WHORE. 

W - Wild Card

Goo is the wildcard. What do you mean- 

I say Goo has slut energy but like…it’s a joke. Kinda. It’s more accurate to say he has retired and reformed slut energy. He was wild and horny before, settling for any kind of sex but now, he has some particular interests that can’t be satiated by just anyone. Just because he’s kinky doesn’t mean sex is constantly on his mind.  

X - X-Ray (what’s in those pants?)

Goo knows his dick is not only big, it’s pretty. Which is exactly why he expects you to worship it. I think when he gets hard there’s one or two prominent veins on the underside that have him going feral if you touch them.

Y - Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Now… Goo might seem like some sort of sexual deviant and constantly trying to get it on but that’s not the case at all. Goo is more the type who spends a lot of time working hard so he can play harder. His sexual appetite is fairly normal. 

Z ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 -  (how quickly they fall asleep after.)   

This man is not going to bed after sex unless you’ve cracked the mystery on how to wear him out. (the secret to wearing him out is overstimulation but you have to be crafty with it)

summary: Goo is kinky but there’s an element of intimacy to it. You’ll definitely never be bored with him, even if you aren’t on the same level as adventurous as him. I feel like he definitely makes vanilla sex exciting with just his personality. 

bonus! [extra cautious trigger warning because Goo and reader imitate stepcest as a joke ??? I repeat, they are NOT step siblings. just making fun of the genre.] 

It was always a joke in your head. Whenever you saw it happen in porn, you thought it was the cheesiest thing but you always watched those types of videos with Goo because he got a kick out of it. You could only imagine how amusing he would find it if he was able to see that the fabric of your shirt had got caught on the lint trap of the dryer. 

And now you look like one of those actresses in the adult films you mocked, especially with the outfit choice you wore today; a short mini skirt and thigh high socks along with a very flimsy shirt. All you were trying to do was chase after your sock so it could be with its match. Not get your torso stuck in the drum of your home appliance. 

 “Hey, don’t put that one jacket in the wash. It needs to be dry cleaned-'' 

You hear Goo’s voice as he finally enters the laundry room. He had only come to check on you with the intention of making sure you knew which of his garments were okay to be machine washed but after seeing just the lower half of your body sticking out of the dryer with your knees pressing into the floor and spread the perfect amount, all thoughts about boring, old laundry were forgotten. “Is this your way of telling me you’re finally ready to launch our OnlyFans?” He asks, the smirk on his face so big it dripped into his tone of voice.

“No, my shirt is caught somewhere on the machine.” You whine, your voice echoing inside the metal dryer.

“Just rip your shirt if you wanna get out. Isn’t it from one of those cheap clothing shops in Gangseo?” He questions, striding over toward you and examining your current position. “I could buy you that entire store if I wanted to.”

“I can’t just rip it! This shirt has a lot of good memories.” You reason.

“I’ll let you out in a bit.” Goo says playfully as he’s already kneeling between your spread legs. You feel the fabric of his pants brush against the back of your thigh before he even lays a hand on you and you already knew where things were going.

“Goo, what the fuck?” You groan out in annoyance, your arms getting tired from supporting you for so long. “We can recreate this scene later when I’m not stuck for real.”

“Yeah, but you actually being stuck is what makes it so much better than those cheesy pornos.” He tells you in a dallying voice while his hands snakes up your thighs and under your skirt to yank down your panties.

Sighing softly, you know you’re defeated and that the quickest way to get out of this conundrum was to just play along with Goo’s antics.

“What are you doing, stepbro?” You ask, drawing out each of the syllables and speaking in the same airheaded voice that all adult film actresses put on for these stupid scenes.

Goo seems to freeze in place, remaining silent for a bit before he finally breaks into his harmonious laughter.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t keep going. It’s too funny.” He expresses between laughs, slapping the side of your thigh with one hand as he loses his shit over how ridiculous the scenario was.

“I told you it was stupid!” You quip back. “Are you gonna let me out now?”

 Taking a moment to calm down and shift into a different state of mind, his hands briefly leaving your body just so he could undo his pants.

“Oh, no way, princess. We’re still fucking first.” Goo chuckles darkly, shoving down his boxers and pants in one motion then hiking up the fabric of your skirt. His hands glide over the supple flesh of your ass; admiring how soft it feels under his palms before he grips your hips and pulls you onto his cock. “Just don’t ever call me ‘step bro’ again.” He sibilates, his head falling back as his length is greedily sucked in by your tight pussy. 

Goo wanted to make fun of you so badly for being as wet as you were without any prep but the feeling of those slick walls wrapping around him made it impossible to think about anything else.

“What’s wrong, stepbro? You feel like a pervert for fucking your step sister?” You giggle from inside of the dryer, biting back a moan as you feel Goo bullying his dick deeper inside you. 

“I told you to quit calling me that.” He growls, his fingers digging into the meat of your hips in a manner that’s meant to be menacing but it only makes you cackle.

“You wanted to fuck me while I’m stuck in the dryer and I’m just giving you the full experience.” You say in a saccharine voice, rolling your hips against Goo as he finally bottoms out inside of you and feeling the tip of his cock press into your sweet spot.  “I’m sooo sorry, step bro!”

Groaning in frustration, Goo’s hands leave your hips and reach for the back of your shirt, helping you slip the fabric off your body and successfully freeing you from the clutches of the evil dryer when he pulls you out. You’re kind of embarrassed by how easily he found a solution to getting you out; but that’s something he could make fun of you for later. You don’t even have to see the look on Goo’s face to know that there was an incoming sarcastic comment. 

“Pfft, you better make it up to me for helping you get out of there, step sis.” 

[morally-grey-girlbosses]

The top two characters will be eligible for entry into the bracket!

Teddy the Pomeranian is owned by the submitter's local dog cafe, and the image used was distributed on that company's public Instagram account for promotional purposes. Fira the cat is owned by @notblueferet, image used with permission. Mashed Potato the rabbit is owned by @boba-thot, image used with permission. Image used for White Gladys is an actual orca involved in the attacks believed to have been orchestrated by White Gladys, though it cannot be determined if it is the original herself. Penelope the Platypus lived and died in the 1940s-1950s and I was not able to find digitized photos of her. (If anyone has any, please send them to me.) A generic image of a platypus was used to represent her.

Propaganda under the cut.

Praying Mantis:

They murder their mates after fucking, then eat their heads. Slay. Girlboss. Morally gray. You understand.

Anglerfish:

Tapeworm:

this bitch lives inside of people for long periods of time, living off of them. aint that cool

Blobfish:

she got held by a generic white man but still stays strong, she deserves the world, Plus she lives at crushing depths in the sea and that's great too (the photo is what she looks like in her natural habitat)

Licherally just look at them. don’t tell me they wouldn’t destroy worlds on a whim

Betta:

I think that male bettas are pretty well known for being little murder gremlins at this point, but the females really deserve the title of morally ambiguous girlboss. Unlike the males, you can put multiple female bettas in a tank together and they usually won’t fight to the death immediately. And people usually assume that that means their tank is peaceful now. No, you put multiple female bettas in a tank and they are all just biding their time, ready to start the murderfest whenever they feel they’re strong enough. But they’re also really sweet to humans and if you set up the tank correctly and pay close enough attention to it then bettas sororities can work, so I think they deserve the title of morally ambiguous girlboss

Teddy:

Honestly she's beautiful, she loves belly rubs, she is plotting something. She's hbic. She's going to take over the world one day. She's sneaky but also has a love of pink chairs. She's an icon

White Gladys:

Miss Orca was harmed by boats and then plotted revenge by teaching other orcas how to attack boats and they all went on the sink yatchs <3

Penelope:

girl faked a pregnancy for extra food and ESCAPED THE PLATYPUS ENCLOSURE when the jig was up, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. girlboss behavior if i've ever seen it.

Fira:

You could say she is... Morally.. GREY (I'm sorry)

Mashed Potato:

She is sometimes so so sweet and honestly she's an absolute icon really but also she eats my curtains and that's kind of a dick move

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

hello! I just wanted to know your thoughts on orcas living in accredited facilities. are they thriving, or are they too smart to be 'locked up' as ARAs say? I've been debating myself on this for a while, and I wanted to ask someone ^^^

Are captive killer whales doomed and depressed? Was it right to end the breeding program?

Hi there! Thank you for being curious and asking these questions!

I can tell you that current welfare data of killer whales in accredited facilities does suggest positive welfare eg. demonstrating optimistic welfare states and demonstrating healthy social and reconciliation behaviours in Loro Parque orcas. (source) (source)

Unfortunately we just don't have a whole lot of welfare data for killer whales the same way we do for bottlenose dolphins. But that's sort of a generalised answer.

I want to address your questions specifically though.

Are orcas "too smart" for being in human care?

I'd say that the intelligence or the supposed hyper intelligence of cetaceans has been overblown and has been the source of contention since John Lilley came on the scene in the 60's making wild claims about hyper intelligent dolphins that speak their own language that still persist to this day (never mind the guy killed dolphins in his experimental brain scans and gave them LSD... the 60's were wild).

The people claiming orcas are too intelligent are people like Dr. Lori Marino - a neuroscientist who makes unsubstantiated claims about cetacean intelligence and draws conclusions about intelligence and cognition from brain scans. Can brain structure give you some data to make educated guesses on intelligence? Sure. But you can't then draw conclusions about welfare about animals you've never examined or done a welfare assessment of.

None of the people making these claims have done objective welfare assessments with access to health and veterinary records.

Lori, as well as other lobbyists like Naomi Rose and Ingrid Visser, have been called out by the scientific community more than once on publishing papers that make unsubstantiated claims about welfare.

My colleagues published this paper refuted their claims that orcas were being "damaged" by captivity (using human comparisons of prisoner of war camps despite human and killer whale brains being separated by millions of years of evolution) . But the media had already picked up the catchy, shocking paper that got published by a journal with no cetacean experience ( the Journal of Veterinary Behavior who also refused to retract the paper despite letters from cetacean welfare scientists)

There is unfortunately a huge problem of lobbyists who are lobbying governments to change laws on cetacean welfare who are using science to skew data for their personal beliefs. And they are absolutely shameless and will block any other scientists that try to refute them.

If anything, intelligence creates adaptability. There's a reason we have bottlenose dolphins in human care around the world but not harbor porpoises. Bottlenose dolphins are socially intelligent and more easily adapt to new environments and bond with human care takers. Orcas are similar, though environmental change has been reported to upset them a lot more. They are very socially intelligent, which makes them very interested in learning and being curious and bonding with human caretakers.

If captive orcas were truly so utterly broken the way they're depicted by media and these "studies" they would not be able to learn new behaviours, they would not eat and play and socialise and they would not engage with the trainers and guests.

See a whole playlist of SeaWorld orcas in their free time - it really helps you look beyond those 10 second "sad SeaWorld orca" videos (it's usually just Keet resting because that's what he prefers to do in his spare time)

Are orcas in accredited facilities "depressed" or suffering in any way?

Now when it comes down to actual welfare of orcas in accredited facilities - based on anecdotal and scientific evidence, statements from trainers I've talked to who work with the animals every day (no they're not getting paid any more than minimum wage and speak freely), what I've witnessed through many hours of observation ect.

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that these orcas are not abused, depressed, doomed or going insane. They have a robust enrichment program, get the best vet care in the world (I'm sure @orcinus-veterinarius can attest to that), are engaged and motivated to learn regardless of satiety (though they'll have their off days of course) and they have good stable social structures that rarely see any hyper aggression (but aggression is normal in social groups too).

Could it be better?

Absolutely. If it were up to me, they would have the Blue World project done and built, bigger habitats, more novel enrichment ideas to encourage hunting behaviour that's not just Big Ball TM (they love it and it's easy but we can do better), more autonomy of habitat eg. being able to turn on water jets when they want to.

And waterwork would still be a thing trainers can do - not for shows but for the unmatched relationship building and desensitisation that it gave these animals. It actually made them safer to be in the water with (look at Kamagowa Sea World orca waterwork and how blaise they are with their whales - those whales will allow any sort of nonsense and someone falling in their pool wouldn't worry me at all)

What about the breeding ban:

I understand why they stopped breeding to appease the public but unfortunately it has introduced other welfare problems. Female orcas cannot be on Regumate - birth control - for longer than a year or it'll destroy her body very quickly. So separation of females and males occurs. And that can be really stressful - especially for matriarchs like Katina who had to be separated from Makaio.

Breeding bans are not done with the welfare in mind. They're done as a sanctimonious "save the babies" effort to "protect" them from no actual documented suffering. While denying animals the natural and very instinctive behaviours of reproduction.

It's amazing how much a calf can enrich a pod. Everyone pitches in to babysit and watch out for them, to teach them how to play and how to learn. It's really sad that the orcas of SeaWorld have been denied that now and it'll be very sad to see them die off one by one until there's only one very lonely whale left.

Anyway I hope that answers some questions. Happy to answer any more you might have.

[stepswordsen]

【大海原 AU：暗黒星の冠】 イダ竜

【WATGBS AU: COTDS】 IdaTatsu

Idate and Tatsumiya 🖤🤍❤️💙

WATGBS AU: COTDS

WATGBS AU: COTDS is an Idate and IdaTatsu centric AU between me and my friends 💞 COTDS stands for Crown of the Dark Stars 👑💫 Its other name is Ankokusei no Kanmuri.

I just wanted to post some rough sketches/WIPs of my magical oarfish wife, and my homicidal oreo, my cat cot son 🤗 Magical oarfish MILF x Buff chaotic demon DILF.

I'm planning to give Tatsumiya matching Star and Moon earrings to match with Idate's Black Sun and Star ones...

Read more under the cut if you're interested in our IdaTatsu AU!

Our WATGBS AU is named Crown of the Dark Stars (暗黒星の冠, Ankokusei no Kanmuri) 💫👑 It's an AU with its own story, separate from the original WATGBS.

WATGBS AU: COTDS is an Idate and IdaTatsu centric AU between me and my friends 💞 COTDS stands for Crown of the Dark Stars 👑💫 Its other name is Ankokusei no Kanmuri.

WATGBS AU: COTDS, which stands for Crown of the Dark Stars, or Ankokusei no Kanmuri, is an Idate centric and IdaTatsu AU between me and my friends that's a complete revamp and rewrite of WATGBS.

WATGBS AU: COTDS is an AU between me and my friends! We all contribute to it whenever we have time to draw and write for it 😌🙏

Summary of WATGBS AU: COTDS would literally just be: (Yoinks characters and the settings, makes an original story)

It's just us writing our own stories and exploring our ideas with the characters, mainly focused on him and his dynamics with other charas. We made up our own lore and revamped the characters' writing and designs. It's just us playing with our revamped and rewritten blorbo OCs in our sandbox 💞

WATGBS AU: COTDS is centered around Idate, a chaotic evil demon orca man who originally wanted to unleash the apocalypse, but became too mellow after meeting Tatsumiya.

It's an Idate centric AU that heavily focuses on IdaTatsu (Idate/Tatsumiya), and the platonic familial dynamic between the orca brothers, Idate and his older twin brother, Takama. And it has a heavier emphasis on fantasy elements. And we have our own OCs we created for it too, like our IdaTatsu fankids 🤭

Idate: The Star Eater and Grand Demon

Idate (伊達 (イダテ)) is the evil protagonist of WATGBS AU: COTDS 🖤🤍💙 He is Tatsumiya's husband and Takama's younger twin brother.

Idate is the "Star Eater" and Lord of the Underworld. Idate drinks peoples' blood and eats their souls as nourishment. He and his older twin brothers are Demons. They're secretly Grand Demons (大魔王, Dai Maou), who have much more powerful magic than other Demons. They originally lived in Iceberg Isle, but Idate ends up convincing Takama to move to the Blue Sea Kingdom with him so he can live with Tatsumiya.

He's a chaotic evil demon orca and the evil protag of our AU, which makes him very fun for me to write! 🐬💞 I love writing for IdaTatsu and the others, and coming up with and adding onto each everyones' ideas whenever we discuss.

He's extremely chaotic and the world's most insufferable wifeguy /endearing that falls devastatingly in love with and eventually gets married to Tatsumiya. They feel drawn to each other, someone who's the complete opposite of the other, someone who represents what the other has never known, and tries to figure each other out.

Idate's character theme is "Void" 🖤

Idate eating and stealing souls also plays up to his whole void theme.

He's the Lord of Space and the Underworld, whose void world that contains the dead souls of all the people he ate for power.

Idate's powers represent the concept of "Void."

Idate can access a different dimension (the void between worlds), to create darkness and call it from within himself. Infinite darkness. An infinite void. Idate can create and access voids, and can call upon and manipulate darkness.

Idate's leitmotif is the Black Sun. His void is a black hole.

Idate can make makeshift weapons from dark energy. It's a black demon aura that can be controlled at will and slash into things.

Stardust is the source of all magic in the sea in our AU. Idate can make makeshift weapons from dark energy (black stardust).

Tatsumiya: The Dragon Flower and Grand Sorcerer of the Blue Sea

Tatsumiya (竜宮) is the Grand Sorcerer of the Blue Sea Kingdom 🤍❤️ She's the Lord of Creation, and Idate's wife. And also my wifey wife wife <3 🥰😘 She's a magical oarfish that serves the Blue Sea Kingdom's Princess, Lucinda, our Blue Sea Princess (BSP) OC. Her specialties are healing and star magic. 🌠

She's known as the Dragon Flower (龍花, Ryuuka) because her reputation with the sword spread across the Blue Sea. She has soul restoration and soothing properties with her powers to calm souls.

Tatsumiya is the Messenger/Aide to the Blue Sea Kingdom's Princess 💞 Her title is Grand Sorcerer (大魔導士, Dai-Madoushi). In our WATGBS AU, she took on the role after Meikai's disappearance.

Tatsumiya's leitmotif is the Moon.

As the complete opposite of Idate, her main powers are controlling flowing water, star magic (creation magic), and healing. Her royal duties as the Blue Sea's Messenger, are similar to a shrine maiden's.

Tatsumiya is so wifey to me 🤭

In WATGBS AU: COTDS, she is Idate's wife!

IdaTatsu: The Two Messengers, the Sun and the Moon

Tatsumiya is the Blue Sea Kingdom's Grand Sorcerer. Idate is one of the Grand Demons that came from elsewhere. The two Messengers of their opposing Gods.

Idate and Tatsumiya are opposites in terms of their powers, personalities, and roles. Both Idate and Tatsu are Messengers of their opposing "Gods" and queens. Our own OCs, Algol and Lucinda, are the Red Sea Princess (BSP) and Blue Sea Princess (BSP) respectively.

Tatsumiya, one of the brightest stars in the sea, and Idate the Star Eater 💞

WATGBS AU: COTDS' headcanon versions of the characters' designs

In our WATGBS AU's revamped versions of the charas (our headcanon designs), Idate is buff and has scars.

He wears blue eyeliner, and black sun and star earrings to match with Tatsumiya's red eyeliner and star and moon earrings 🌠☀️🌕

(I'll add Tatsu's earrings in the future!)

Idate wears blue eyeliner, which is the same as Tatsumiya's favourite colour, ultramarine blue (群青色, gunjyou iro) 💙

At first this was coincidental, I added it to his design cuz I thought he looked nice with eyeliner and so it'd have great visual contrast with Tatsu's design, but then I found out that Tatsu's favourite colour was ultramarine blue. So the colour I chose for Idate's eyeliner coincidentally, ended up being the same as Tatsu's fave colour…

Unintentional big brain play from me 😌

I want to give them matching couple eyeliner and earrings! Idate wears black sun and star earrings, and Tatsu wears moon and star ones ☀️🌙🌠

Ofc these are still WIPs, so I'm planning to add them eventually.

IdaTatsu are the Sun/Moon, Yin/Yang, Light/Darkness themed couple in our AU <3 The Black Sun and the Moon ☀️🖤🌙

IdaTatsu's leitmotifs have a lot of narrative significance in COTDS, which ties back to our AU's central themes 🙏 I've given a lot of focus to their relationship ☺️

Name Meanings

Idate (伊達) 伊達 = Meaning “elegance; gallantry; sophistication; showy; having style”, or “putting on airs; showing off”

I chose the kanji reading Idate (伊達) cuz both meanings fit him very well! 🖤🤗

Idate (伊達) is my headcanon kanji reading of Idate's name. Since I wanted to pick a reading with a fitting name meaning for him!

My son. My homicidal oreo… 🐬 Oreorcat

I'll eventually turn these WIPs into concept art reference sheets! Though I might format them differently.

Tatsumiya (竜宮) 竜宮 = Meaning “Dragon Palace”

It's an alternate reading of Ryuuguu 🐉🏯 The Undersea Dragon Palace from the story of Urashima Tarou in Japanese folklore.

It comes from 竜宮の使い (Ryuuguu no tsukai), a giant deep-sea oarfish, known as "The Messenger/Envoy of the Undersea God's Palace" which is exactly what Tatsumiya represents as a character!

I chose kanji readings of Idate and his older twin brother Takama's names, as well for our other OCs in WATGBS AU: COTDS, like our IdaTatsu fankids. I'm excited to show them in the future 🤗💞

[uravity-the-infinity-girl]

ways that hero society hurts pro heroes headcanons

does anyone wanna hear the shit i think that heroes go through and why i feel they’re victims? no? ok

firstly i headcanon hero society as having extremely fucked up beauty standards where heroes face the same sort of scrutiny for their bodies as celebrities do in our world, like if a female hero is too muscular there will be men complaining that she looks like a guy and if a male hero isn’t muscular enough he’s lazy etc

i bet you anything that it was not only the fact that media interferes with hero work that Aizawa chose to stay out of the spotlight i bet in some subconscious way he was afraid of the intense scrutiny that comes with being a hero

not only that but heteromorphic people are always chastised and rarely do well in hero ranking if they don’t appear attractive or fit within the public’s view of heroes, i’m thinking of gang orca for example who is ranked number 1 in looks the most like a villain like for someone who fights villains for a living and has probably been harmed by them first hand that’s bound to take some psychological toll. that moment always bothered me and i think it’s really unfair for heroes to be categorised like that when they’re dedicating their lives to try to be useful. you just know that people with quirks like shoji will find it harder to succeed no matter how great or compassionate a hero he is.

i know it’s common in fan fiction for Hawks to have to hide aspects of his quirk that are unappealing but let’s think about that with other heroes as well like Mirko, i imagine she’s grown up with agents and superiors telling her it’s annoying when her foot won’t stop thumping or weird how she eats carrots or Mic being told to keep it down constantly-i’m sure there are loads of heroes who are made to be ashamed of aspects of who they are and have to hide them in order to sell an image and be more profitable and likeable.

i also imagine that they’re all terrified of aging and that perpetual fear of losing their spotlight is probably a huge part of their psyche as from a young age they feel they have limited time to be successful like when hawks is talking about his prime calm tf down your life has barely started.

heroes are objectified so much by the commission being treated like weapons makes them feel like their bodies are what make them useful-just look at hawks’ reaction to losing his wings calling himself crippled and pathetic because he can’t be as efficiently used despite still being able to achieve so much with his intelligence, determination and physical skill alone. Mirko may not have the same self deprecating attitude towards her injuries however her dedication to continue fighting by whatever means she can is a testament to how heroes are taught to act with no thought for their own safety if they want to be useful. this is what makes AFO scary to the heroes, the fact they can lose their quirk and therefore their usefulness is terrifying. i like to imagine that many heroes felt or still feel about AFO as korra did about amon in s1 of lok.

furthermore heroes are expected to give their lives at the drop of a hat, mirko lives every day like it’s her last because for heroes their is no safety net or garuntee that they will survive they can’t just give up or protect themselves in the face of certain death or they literally wouldn’t be doing their job. you saw how disposable Lady nagant was to the president of the HPSC clearly they don’t have any care for the lives of even the heroes they work closest with. Mirko and Aizawa cut off their own limbs without blinking because they have to and they’ve been trained this way and it’s horrific how ready to die all of the heroes are without a second thought despite how young they are. arguably it’s admirable but if i learnt anything from she-ra it’s that they need to find a bit of self worth and need to be treated as people who’s lives and well being should be a priority rather than disposable weapons to be used with no regard to their safety.

and it’s fucking beautiful that All might chose to live, the man who has been through the most and given pretty much all there is to give. He’s given up his whole life, his bodily health, his self esteem, his friends, his image as a natural born hero and so much more just to protect people. All might was able to break the cycle of death be choosing to live rather than give his life up and Deku will break the cycle by choosing to save rather than defeat or kill.

i just think that being a hero is so exhausting and must take so much out of you, it’s important to remember how much they are victims of the system

[olderthannetfic]

wait i’d love to hear yr thoughts about tony hillerman bc i grew up in new mexico (and still live here lol) & always thought he was just like normal pulp mystery

--

Normal pulp mystery with ten thousand digressions to talk about clouds and rocks. Hahaha.

IDK, do we use "pulp" like this now? (Genuine question.) His mystery style was fairly standard for the cozy end of mystery publishing if we mean not hardboiled, not police procedural, etc. rather than the cozy mysteries that are actually cozy with their cat-themed bookstores and such.

When I was a kid, my mother was obsessed with one day moving to Santa Fe, so for holidays, instead of seeing family, we'd go there. She had another phase where she was convinced she'd move to Orcas Island one day where, again, we spent holidays up around Seattle repeatedly. In both cases, there were things that happened to be culturally big at the time and easy to find that were also connected to local indigenous stuff.

What makes Hillerman interesting is that, despite being a white guy, he focused a lot on the Navajo reservation. It probably doesn't seem like much of anything if you're from that part of the world, and there are certainly some inaccuracies in the books that he himself would talk about in subsequent forwards, but they were a highly accessible introduction for someone who'd otherwise have had no reason to know about anything like that. I don't think that's so true now with more media on the scene, but this was the 90s at the height of his popularity (and of the series actually being good).

The thing is, they are normal mysteries. That's what made them work: people who didn't have a reason to care about the setting or particular political struggles bought them because they bought mystery novels in general. And then there was some other stuff in there too, but mostly, they're just fun genre fiction. One thing they did that I can't recall any other 90s media with a thousandth the reach doing was depict Indigenous characters who don't know that much about other indigenous cultures. There are a couple of books where the Navajo leads have to deal with Hopi stuff, and it's very clear these are different people with different communities. That sounds so incredibly small and obvious, but these books were sold in airport bookstores all over the country to an audience that knew literally nothing.

As for the books themselves, I like all the contemplative noodling about the landscape and the sense of place. That's something I often like in a mystery novel, especially one set somewhere I don't live.

The characters are compelling aside from their romances, which are horrendous. (Leaphorn has a wife who is a nonentity until she dies between books of something stupid, and then she comes up endlessly as the love of his life. Chee is a moron who makes bad choices and forces us to hear about them at great length.)

There's a bunch of archaeology stuff in some of the books, and I was a kid obsessed with archaeology. Honestly, our understanding of, e.g., Ancestral Puebloans is way different than it was in the 70s when some of these books came out, but it was still interesting stuff.

The adaptations now... Robert Redford bought the rights an eon ago and has been trying to make fetch happen ever since. One of the attempts was a set of three tv movies for PBS's Mystery! They hired Chris Eyre and unfridged Leaphorn's wife. There's a lot more humor relative to Hillerman's often rather gloomy style. And I am weak to buddy cops, to age gap with obnoxiously over-enthusiastic younger parties, and to OT3s.

[pocket-jack]

If I don't get more Penguin and Shachi characterisation in OP, than just "they love ladies, they're childhood friends, they were bullies in their childhood, both are good swimmers, and Shachi apparently can spit so hard it may feel like a bullet", then I do my personal hc about their personality based on the orcas and penguins.

Shachi

•Shachi is the third strongest member of Heart Pirates (Law is on the first place and Bepo's on the second)

•Shachi adapts to the weather and a temperature really quick. Even tho he's from North Blue - the coldest sea in the world, he's dealing with hot islands like a champion.

•Shachi is a social butterfly. He finds friends anywhere anytime. He's a man who knows a guy who knows another guy who is also know a guy. Want to gather information? Shachi will find it. Wanna form an alliance with the local gang? No prob, Shachi played poker with one guy!

•Shachi's favorite food is salmon.

•Shachi was raised in matriarchy. His mother was pretty dominant woman, and she was the only person he was afraid of during his bully childhood. He's still loves her, but feels really guilty and scared to come back. He followed Law to become more than a mommy's boy, but he just became captain's boy instead.

•Shachi has good metabolism and get really upset on an empty stomach. He's pretty much a cook on the ship so he's fine (he's good at it and gets mad when people dislike his food).

•Shachi's pretty smart. He knows math and physic. His favorite school subject was mathematics. He was visiting school only for math, and he would ran off when it's was over. He also knows how to hunt.

•His family was pretty big, so he often felt himself unseen and unimportant. Heart Pirates is like his family to him, but he actually feels himself like an important part of it.

•Shachi is a little shit. He usually do pranks and get punished quite a lot for this.

•He's actually really protective over his friends and he's not afraid to pick a fight if someone seems hostile towards them. He picks a lot of fights which he can't win, so he usually ends up in medbay.

•In the real world Shachi would be Norwegian

Penguin

•Unlike Shachi Penguin can't deal with hot weather. But he has a great tolerance to a cold winter islands during its winter season. One day he safed his crewmates, by giving them his warm clothes and carrying them to the town on his back.

•He can hold his breath to 20 minutes. That's terrifying, but really useful.

•He came from the big tribal commune, but decided to follow Law to explore the sea world.

•He's a fan of the sea and especially it's undersea life. He's a sucker for penguins and his favorite fish are squids

•If Shachi is momma's boy, Penguin is a mom friend. He usually babysits people around him and that's one of the reasons why Shachi is his friend. In his childhood many could say that he was too mature for his age, but he allowed himself to be just a kid around Shachi. He also likes kids company a lot, many could say he would be a great father.

•He has a good sense of smell, being able to feel the thinnest of smells people have. It sometimes messes with his sleep, because smells can be nauseating sometimes.

•If Penguin existed in the real world he would be from New Zealand.

•Penguin has a really high eyesight. Law runned some tests and found out that his senses are pretty sharp. Hearing, smelling, eyesight, touch, and taste. The main reason why test's were needed is because he often experienced nausea because everything was just to much. That's exactly why he wears his hat (it helps to protects his eyes and ears) and sometimes he plugs his nose to not smell things and he looks ridiculous like that.

•Penguin loves to sing

•Penguin is this type of guy, who shaves his hair by the mood

•His love language is gift giving

•Penguin doesn't like sweets

•Penguin is pretty loyal to his close ones. He will die for them and will remain silent under any torture. One day he was injured really bad because of his loyalty. Heart Pirates got a really bad trauma after that, and many of them still checks on Peng, because there should be something more than "It was bad! I was scared! But I held like a man! I've told them nothing, captain! And i'm not crying, it's just blood got in my eyes!".

[chaifootsteps]

"I first met Tokitae (also known as Toki, Lolita and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut), a female orca who had been captured off the coast of Washington, in 1987. I was a biology graduate student at my first professional conference, and the scientific society hosting this event held the opening reception at the Seaquarium.

Toki was 20 feet long and 7,000 pounds, and should have been in the Salish Sea traveling 40 miles a day and diving 500 feet deep with her mother and siblings. Yet there we were, a few hundred marine mammal scientists who mostly did field research, watching this magnificent being perform silly tricks in a bathtub.

That’s not really an exaggeration in Toki’s case. Toki’s tank was the smallest enclosure in the world for her species. It was only 35 feet at its widest point and 80 feet long. It was 20 feet at its deepest; if Toki hung vertically in the water, her tail flukes touched bottom. Captured in 1970 when she was 4 or 5 years old, she lived in this tiny space for 53 years.

The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), administered by the US Department of Agriculture, has a ludicrous requirement for tank width — only twice the length of an average adult orca (or 48 feet). But Toki’s tank didn’t even meet that weak standard. For years, the USDA offered various excuses for not taking steps to revoke the exhibitor’s license. None of them made sense, as the tank was plainly not to code. Activists repeatedly tried to sue the USDA for failing to enforce the law, without success.

Toki’s was a strange, lonely life. Despite many campaigns to repatriate her to her family (the L pod in Puget Sound), years passed. The stadium around her slowly and literally crumbled.

The ‘Blackfish’ Effect,” named after the 2013 documentary that eventually reached tens of millions of people globally, has shifted the captive cetacean paradigm in the past decade. Businesses have severed ties with marine theme parks, and policymakers have passed laws ending the commercial display of orcas and other cetacean species. SeaWorld, the company that built its brand on Shamu, is phasing out orca display — no longer capturing, breeding or trading them.

And still Toki languished in the South Florida heat. The Seaquarium’s two owners during Toki’s first 52 years there were adamant that she would never leave the park and disdainfully dismissed talk of returning her to her family.

In March 2022, however, Toki’s outlook finally seemed brighter. The Seaquarium was sold to a company whose business model relied primarily on swim-with-dolphin encounters. An orca didn’t fit that model, and these owners were willing to let her go. Efforts could finally begin in earnest to return her home. The Lummi Tribe, who gave her the name Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and considered her a relative, had prepared detailed plans for a seaside sanctuary in the Salish Sea.

Then, last month, Toki died. The hope felt by so many that she would finally go home disappeared in an instant.

Captivity robs orcas of a true life in the deep open sea. It robs them of family, of purpose, of change and challenge. Captivity is tremendous monotony for these socially complex, wide-ranging, intelligent animals. We should not perpetuate that.

Zoos and aquariums long ago relegated dancing bears and tricycle-riding chimps to circuses, but still claim that cetacean shows — loud extravaganzas featuring leaping orcas and cavorting dolphins — are educational (they are not). The industry could and should invest in seaside sanctuaries — it’s a win-win choice, as the industry would be heroes and the animals’ welfare would improve.

Let Toki’s miserable, isolated life and sad death mean something for her fellow captives. These amazing beings should not have to die to finally be free."

Dr. Naomi Rose is senior scientist (marine mammal biology) for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C.

[soaps-mohawk]

Hi!!!

So, this is not a COD related question, but I was wondering if you've ever been to one of those national parks on the west coast? I know just because you live over there doesn't automatically mean you've been, but I was just wondering if maybe you have and what it's like. I've never been camping or hiking, but for some reason I've been really wanting to go lately.

Also, I hope you've been having a good day! Apparently today is world piano day lol

I've been to a handful of National Parks in my time. Not so much recently, but when I was younger. The one I've been to the most is Crater Lake. Beautiful place, definitely worth the trip every time. Idk I'm a geology person, so it's fascinating to me standing on the edge of what was once a giant super volcano and now is a lake. I've never taken a trip out onto the lake to Wizard Island though, so I feel like I need to go back again and do that.

I've seen Mount Rainier sooooo many times, but I've never actually been to the park itself. That's a goal of mine, though. I'd love to climb it someday too.

My 5th grade class went to the San Juan Islands and got to see all kinds of things while we were there. It's such a beautiful area and I'd love to go back. We didn't get to see any orcas when we went, so that's definitely something on the bucket list.

I've also been to the Redwoods National Park in Norhern Cali. Really beautiful, and the trees are stunningly huge. Pictures definitely don't do them justice on their size. We didn't do much in terms of exploring the forest since my grandparents were with us when we went, but we did a bit of driving through some areas.

I have this dream of being more outdoorsy but I'm such a homebody lol. I think it didn't help that I grew up with parents who believed vacations were for relaxing not exploring. They wanted to sit on the beach for five days and chill while I wanted to go explore and walk around museums and go hiking. I'd still love to do that stuff someday, though.

[felassan]

some quick'n'dirty thoughts on the new Codex entries:

[wild speculation] it feels like the Grand Necropolis is a game location we will visit (it also comes up quite a bit in the wider blogpost). and/or we'll have a Mortalitasi companion

I'd guess that the writer of this codex, and their friend that teases them, are the two characters that feature in the short story from Dragon Age Day last year, The Flame Eternal. Emmrich referring to Johanna? (Or just emmrich and someone else.. wouldn't really make sense for a nevarran to tease their nevarran friend about their own practises, on reflection). both that short and this new codex are by Sylvia, and the shade of cyan used to obscure the diary owner's name is similar to the cyan in the short story art. saying that, it's the same cyan as Skeleton Boi has, and seems to sometimes indicate necromancy & related magic generally speaking

I could've missed em, but I had a lil look and couldn't find the referenced writings of Genetivi's here or in the WoTs, so they must be among his many in-world writings that we the players haven't seen (it'd be so good to sit in an an in-world library and read and read and read..!!! literally the dream.). but if I missed them pls lmk :D

Vinsomer. the Last Court/Serault enthusiast in me wonders if the lecturer giving the talk on Vinsomer is Frederic of Serault, Professor of Draconology from the University of Orlais. Vinsomer can swim! makes sense, we meet one in DA:I on the Storm Coast and the lore says they prefer rocky coasts.

Thedas has orcas confirmed~ when an animal is dark dorsally and light ventrally, it's called countershading. it's a method of camouflage. in orcas this helps hide them from their prey. there's a squidlike creature on this version of the map, and the "big worms that burrow near the shore" remind me of thresher maws from ME. Thedas has giant bobbit worm type things on the beaches?? 😭 electric eels stun their prey by generating electricity, and it makes sense that a big creature that hunts in the sea would have a beak-like mouth like squid do. the biologist in me is pleased by these references and the thought that clearly went into this codex :D

what's attacking Vinsomer/her lair/her young and why is it a mystery? it's probably because I was thinking about the red lyrium skeleton guys again today just before the community update post came out (literally ten-fifteen mins or so before the blogpost aaaa), but the new Vinsomer codex reminds me of this excerpt [bottom one] for some reason: "From eyewitness reports, the adult dragons never ventured close to where the red lyrium grows, even though they could easily have done so. I can only conclude that the creatures instinctively understand that red lyrium poses a threat."

skskshfuehufh the double entendres in the Randy Dowager codex. Genetivi you rogue

and more generally speaking, this part of the blogpost:

The Hero of Ferelden. The Champion of Kirkwall. The Herald of Andraste. Each of them marked their legacy in the annals of history, but time marches forward and the age of these heroes cannot last forever. As a friend of ours once said, “it’s time for a new hero."

has me wondering for the 89898th time what the DA4 PC's title will be if any. the what of what??? :D I'm dyin. I wonder if time marching forward ties to the implied timeskip to 9:52, and it's exciting to know that there will be other upcoming community updates like this, with the next one being focused on Design. hope the next one contains some new Codex entries too! 👁

[2oosterr]

orcaprice sfw alphabet | wc: 3.5k

john price x ryan 'orca' murdoch

this was,,,, a lot lol. i keep trying to write little things for them but they always turn into 4k fics LMAO 😫😫 i just can't help myself........... anyway behold mama y papa <3

Affection (how affectionate are they? how do they show affection?)

orca isn't a very affectionate person to begin with, but she still prefers to keep things behind closed doors. she'll deny it to hell and back, but pretty much any kind of physical affection gets her very flustered very easily. she prefers to give price the affection she desires in subtler gestures, like linking her pinky with price's, or sitting close enough that their legs touch.

price is a more physical lover, he pulls orca into hugs and kisses her just to see her turn red, but he'll respect her wishes to keep most affection private. he shows his love for her in other ways that he knows she appreciates, like bringing her coffee in the mornings, or sitting down just to spend time with her.

Best friend (what would they be like as a best friend? how would the friendship start?)

orca is a difficult person to get along with. there's no way to manufacture a friendship with her; if she can tell you're intentionally trying to get on her good side – for example, by saying the 'right' things or forcing aspects of your personality – anything you try will have the exact opposite effect. earning her favour has to occur naturally, and by god she does not make it easy lol. but if you manage to somehow get past the walls around her heart, orca is a fiercely loyal person who is willing to do just about anything for the small circle she calls friends.

price is easier to become friends with, he's more willing to trust and more open to new people. despite this, it also takes a while for him to really consider someone a friend, and, unlike orca, for him there's a difference between trusting someone and being friends with them.

Cuddles (do they like to cuddle? how would they cuddle?)

orca loves to cuddle. she would never admit it, and she would deny it if anyone brought it up, but she would kill for a good cuddle – and price just so happens to be the best cuddler of all time, so it works out perfectly.

price loves physical affection, so he would never turn away an opportunity to have orca in his arms. laying wrapped up in each other, with no disturbances from the outside world – it's the best way to spend their free time together.

Domestic (do they want to settle down? how are they at cooking and cleaning?)

the idea of settling down has never been a possibility for orca. the life of a soldier is all she's ever known, the structure, stability, and sense of purpose this job brings her helps her to function and without that, she'd be lost. maybe one day, a lot later down the line, she might pass the mantle to someone else, but she would never be able to completely leave the company behind.

she didn’t have a normal childhood, and has been a soldier for basically all her life, so she never properly learned how to do a lot of domestic stuff like cooking. she tries her best, but she's just not good at it lol.

price, on the other hand, was very close with his mum growing, and learned how to maintain a home from a young age. despite joining the army as soon as he was legally able to, he still had a more normal youth compared to orca. he does most (all) of the cooking between them, and orca is content with simply watching him work. same as orca, settling down, or retiring, has also never been in the cards for him. his work is far too ingrained into who he is for him to be able to leave it behind.

Ending (if they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

in person. orca's never been afraid of other people's reactions, and that extends to breakups. that being said, she wouldn't get into a relationship with someone she didn't intend on spending her life with. the vulnerability, and with how long it takes her to open up to people, means that she takes her relationships – both platonic and romantic – incredibly seriously.

price would rather end things in person. to him, it's more respectful, and it's easier to communicate face to face rather than through a screen. he's had relationships in the past, and he always tried to end things as amicably as possible, for the sake of himself and his partners.

Fiance(e) (how do they feel about commitment? how quick would they want to get married?)

initially, the idea of commitment scared orca. she's been independent all her life, and never even considered marriage until she met price, so being held to that standard was just never appealing to her. when they eventually began their relationship, it surprised her how quickly she was thinking about being married and committed to him – which, in turn, scared her even more, since she'd never felt this way before.

price never thought he'd ever get married. a combination of his upbringing – watching his parents' marriage fall apart, and vowing to never become his father – and his job, of course, lead him to make peace with the fact that it wasn't going to happen for him.

from the moment he realised he was in love with orca, he knew she was the one. it took a long time to get there, to get past her walls, but once they finally reached a comfortable point in their relationship, the thought appeared in his mind like it had been there all along.

Gentle (how gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

orca is not gentle in the slightest. she's mean and blunt, and she cares very little for how her words and actions affect others – though her attitude does change once she becomes closer with people. she still couldn't be considered nice, but she does make an effort to treat the people she cares about with more respect than average and a slightly kinder touch.

price is incredibly gentle. he knows his own strength, and he's well aware that he's a big man, so he's always conscious of how he's treating others. he very rarely shouts, he chooses his words carefully, and when he is physical with people, he knows where to draw the line.

Hugs (do they like hugs? how often do they do it? what are their hugs like?)

same as cuddling, orca loves hugs. it's embarrassing, and she'd rather die than admit it, but there's nothing she craves more than an overly long bear hug; and price, of course, is more than happy to oblige. she might squeeze just a little too tight, and it may feel slightly clunky, but it's the thought that counts.

I love you (how fast do they say the l-word?)

it takes orca a long, long time to get to the point where she feels comfortable enough to tell price she loves him. she's always struggled with trusting new people, and it usually takes years for her to properly warm up to them, for fear of rejection or judgement. she'd never had a real relationship before price because of her trust issues, so despite knowing she loves him, she still finds it difficult to say it out loud.

price tells her the first moment he realises it. it's spur of the moment, and he tells her he doesn't expect her to say it back, but he needed her to know. life is short, and with their line of work he knows that any day could be their last, so he'd rather not waste time hiding his true feelings.

Jealousy (how jealous do they get? what do they do when they’re jealous?)

orca isn’t one to get jealous. she gets annoyed very easily, but actual jealousy is rare for her. she’s a naturally confident person, and it takes a lot to shake that – but if she were to ever get jealous, it would be over her looks. she doesn’t see herself as an attractive person, and if someone she believes is more attractive than her gets close to price, she could definitely react badly.

it would take a lot of self control, but orca wouldn’t lash out in anger over her jealousy. logically, she knows its irrational to get jealous over something so shallow, she knows price isn’t like that, but that though still doesn’t make her feel any better. she’d prefer to isolate herself until she can get over it so she doesn’t risk hurting price.

price is also extremely secure in their relationship because he’s well aware of how difficult it is to get close to orca. basically, he knows he doesn’t have any competition lol. sometimes though, he does feel the tiniest amount of jealousy over how close orca and eric are, but he never lets it get to him. he's aware of the bond they share, and considering how long they've been friends, he knows there's no need to worry.

Kisses (what are their kisses like? where do they like to kiss their partner? where do they like to be kissed?)

orca isn't accustomed to affection, and she has her own way of expressing her fondness for price, so kisses aren't really common for her. a peck on the cheek, or a soft press of her lips on his shoulder is the most she can manage without having a flustered meltdown.

price isn't nearly as easily effected, and he loves to gently take orca's head in his hand and press their lips together, just to watch her face turn red. he loves to kiss her cheek, mostly because it's too quick for her to properly react to, so he can get away with it in public lol.

Little ones (how are they around children?)

orca hates kids. can’t stand the little bastards. she’s definitely the type to pull faces at babies and laugh when a kid falls over in public, but she’ll more so go out of her way to avoid contact with them. she understands it’s not their fault that she resents them, but she can’t change her feelings towards them either.

price is neutral towards kids. he can talk to them and interact with them just fine, but he’s definitely not responsible enough to babysit them, and he knows for a fact that he doesn’t want any of his own.

Morning (how are mornings spent with them?)

mornings are the invention of the devil according to orca. she hates them, it takes her forever to wake up, and she forbids anyone from speaking to her for at least an hour after she's woken up. she's even crankier than usual, if that's even possible.

price is the only exception to this rule, which he's incredibly smug about. he doesn't struggle as much with mornings, he's able to get up and go fairly easily not matter how early it is.

Night (how are nights spent with them?)

orca is definitely more of a night owl, and prefers to stay up late after the sun goes down. it's more peaceful to her, and the less chance she'll be bothered by anyone else, the better. she loves the quiet and the darkness, and it gets a lot cooler at night, which she prefers.

price wants to stay up with her, and he tries his best, but most of the time he ends up falling asleep on her. whether they're watching a movie, just talking, or he's watching her work, there's a good sixty percent chance he's knocked out waiting for her to come to bed.

Open (when would they start revealing things about themselves? do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

they both take a while to fully open up, orca especially. as they gradually got closer, and she learned more about price, she got more and more comfortable talking about herself. the pace of their relationship is slow, but neither of them ever felt the need to rush or force things.

Patience (how easily angered are they?)

orca? extremely.

price is much, much calmer in comparison. it takes a lot to truly anger him, he prides himself on his patience and his ability to keep a level head in almost any situation. despite this, orca has a unique ability to get under his skin like nobody else. he doesn't take her jabs seriously anymore, but when they first met, the burning anger she was able to evoke in him was a shock to him.

Quizzes (how much would they remember about their partner? do they remember every little detail they mention in passing or do they kind of forget everything?)

both orca and price remember every tiny detail about the other without fail. orca mentioned her favourite colour in an offhand comment and price ingrained that into his memory. orca overheard price talking about his favourite food and asked (ordered) eric to help her learn to cook it. they're insufferable about each other.

Remember (what is their favourite moment in their relationship?)

orca's favourite memory is a slightly more solemn one. it was relatively early in their relationship, and she'd been struggling with a relapse for a few months. he walked in on her with a bottle of whiskey in her office late one night, about to pour herself a glass, and she'd expected him to look at her with disappointment, or even yell at her.

he didn't, though. he didn't even acknowledge the bottle, and instead sat down in a chair opposite her desk and started a petty argument about something or other. she unwittingly took the bait and argued back with him, which eventually transitioned into a more civilised conversation. they'd talked for hours, and eventually gone their separate ways to get some rest.

it wasn't until a few hours later, when she was laying awake in bed, that she realised what he'd done. he'd stayed up late with her, effortlessly distracted her because he knew she couldn't resist the temptation of yelling at him, and she hadn't even noticed when he'd lifted the bottle from her desk and taken it with him when he left. it was a confusing feeling, being on the receiving end of what she usually does to other people, but it made her a little misty-eyed the more she thought about it.

price's favourite memory is of when he proposed to orca. like most other things they do, it was spur of the moment, he'd planned to do it for a while before but couldn't find the right moment.

it happened while they were both on leave. he'd taken her with him back to his home in england, and was showing her around the small town he grew up in. they were walking along a path through the woods, and the sunlight was hitting everything just right, the box in his pocket was practically burning a hole through his leg.

before he could think too hard about it, he just got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. orca didn't notice at first, too engrossed in whatever she was talking about, but after a moment she realised that he was missing from her side. she'd turned around, expecting him to be tying his shoe or something, to find him gazing up at her with the most lovestruck look on his face.

she'd stared at him for a few seconds, wide-eyed and frozen with shock, before rushing back to where he was kneeling and throwing herself into his arms. they'd both ended up on the dusty ground, but neither of them cared about the dirt covering them, because her response was more than enough for price to slip the ring onto her finger.

orca finds the memory embarrassing, because she couldn't stop crying at the time, but any time price finds himself missing her too much when they're apart, he looks at his wedding band and remembers it fondly.

Security (how protective are they? how would they protect their partner? how would they like to be protected?)

both orca and price are incredibly similar in the way that they would do anything to protect the ones they love. there is no line to cross when it comes to each other, no action is too far. they both have a reputation for being ruthless, and they're more than willing to risk their lives for the other.

Try (how much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

both of them put a lot of thought into dates for each other. orca's ideas may be a little more on the strange side, since she's not well versed in relationships, and she's a little unconventional anyways, but they're just as heartfelt as the more regular dates that price plans.

as for gifts, orca buys him a box of cigars and a fridge magnet from every new place she goes, and price buys her anything fighter jet or killer whale related he sees.

Ugly (what would be some bad habits of theirs?)

for orca, it's her tendency to lash out at others when she's upset with them. she tries to control her temper, and she's doing a lot better than she used to, but sometimes she can't stop herself before she says something hurtful.

for price, it's how he overly blames himself when things go wrong. he takes too much accountability for things that aren't reasonably his fault, and often refuses to let anyone tell him otherwise. he overthinks, about what he could've done differently and what more could've happened, and it's difficult to pull him out of that mindset.

Vanity (how concerned are they with their looks?)

it would be a lie to say orca doesn’t care about how she looks. when she was younger, she was somewhat vain because she saw herself as conventionally attractive, but since she got the scar on her face her looks have become somewhat of an insecurity for her. over the years it has bothered her less and less, but she definitely doesn’t think of herself the same way anymore.

at the beginning of her relationship with price, she found it incredibly hard to believe him when he said he was attracted to her. she honestly thought he was fucking with her, because she couldn’t understand why he didn’t think she was ugly. this insecurity has cause some problems in their relationship, but they’ve worked past them and thanks to him, orca feels a lot better about her looks now.

price, though, cares very little about vanity. he's attractive, he knows that, he's been pursued by women since he was a fresh-faced corporal, but he never allowed it to go to his head. he takes pride his appearance of course, and does his best to make sure he always looks presentable, but it's not something that's overly important to him.

Whole (would they feel incomplete without their partner)

yes, for both of them, but not in a co-dependent way. they're both very secure people, and they've lived most of their lives without each other – along with the fact that they don't get all that much time together due to their jobs and living in different countries – but they definitely feel more at home when they're together.

Xtra (a random headcanon for them.)

orca loves arguing. she finds it exhilarating, the way it makes her pulse race and how she can pull a reaction out of whoever she’s arguing with. most of the time, she’s just picking fights for no reason other than to entertain herself. she’s great at pretending to care deeply about something for the sake of the argument lol – and paired with her incredibly serious image, it comes far too easily to her. it took price – and everyone else, for that matter – a long time to realise that she’s joking most of the time, but now he likes to join in when he can tell she’s not serious (he still struggles sometimes).

Yuck (what are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

orca doesn't like people who take life too seriously. she knows her reputation, and how she comes across, is incredibly serious and intimidating, but she's a lot more laid back than most people think. she also knows that her job is serious by nature, but she values the ability to find humour in bleak situations.

price doesn't like people who need their hand held through every little task. he values independence and intelligence, and he's had partners in the past who relied on him for far more than he was comfortable with.

Zzz (what is a sleep habits of theirs?)

orca hates mornings with a passion. she thinks that waking up at six am is a crime against humanity, and if she had it her way she'd never be up before ten. she sleeps lightly, not light enough to be constantly woken up, but when there's a loud noise or something similar she'll hear it. she also falls asleep incredibly quickly, basically as soon as her head hits the pillow she's out.

price has made his peace with getting up at six every morning, but deep down he loves getting to sleep in. his body still naturally wakes him up with the sun though, and no matter how much he tries to go back to sleep, it never happens. unlike orca, he doesn't usually wake up during the night – once he's out, he's out.

[pocketramblr]

You know, I'm sorry I didn't request some headcanon for an au hades/persephone with duo holders, can you accommodate this request? 🥺

Yes and can I admit my first thought was reccing The Orpheus Trial which has background duo holders but they're more Orpheus and Eurydice than Hades and Persephone soooo let's do that

1- Enji, Nana, AfO, Gang Orca, Pixiebob, and Second are gods who overthrew their titan prior generation together. As a result, they got to cast lots over who got what. Nana got the sky and winds, Orca the ocean and seas, Pixie the mountains and animals on them, AfO the earth and plants growing on it, Second the underworld and dead, and Enji got kinghood and humans.

Second doesn't really... Love his job, but he admits it's better than some of the other options, and Third (Death) is good enough company. Really his biggest problem is there's still so many people dying, he's swamped. He asks Third why, and Third explains that it's twofold- Enji forbids use of fire without his permission, and AfO is careless with food production on a good day and downright malicious on a bad.

2- Second decides to do something, and make a plan- but he can't leave the Underworld, and even Nana can't steal the fire and bring it down to earth. None of the six of them can intrude on each other's domain. But, Nana has a little brother- En was too young to fight in the war with the Titans, and thus didn't inherit anything from it. This means he's weaker, but he's also not barred from Enji's domain like the others. So he sneaks in, gets the fire from the hearth, and hides it under his clothes as he sneaks back. Unfortunately the smoke billowing from his clothes was still obvious the next day, and Enji demanded he be punished. Second stepped in, pointed out he ran Tartarus and could manage. Once Enji was gone Second promptly offered En a job, invisibility helm, and said he could invite his sister to visit anytime since it probably wasn't a good idea to let Enji see him for the next few centuries.

But still, this was only half the problem- AfO's food was the other.

3- Second scouted for a while to try and find leverage. He couldn't do anything about what grew above the surface, but technically he was king of all under the earth, which could include roots and tubers, and Pixie and Orca tried to supplement food with their animals. Still though, AfO could undo their work by tanking harvests, which he did. But one day, Second heard word that it was not just Nana who had a younger brother- so did AfO. Apparently the young god was sickly and weak, and AfO possessive of him, keeping him trapped away from view of the outside world and any other god- in a room on the ground floor, away from Nana and Second both, with no windows to let the sun or other see in. En said there wasn't even a fire in the room, so Enji couldn't know.

The only god that could go in was AfO- and death, of course.

4- because nothing can keep out death, and so Third went to see this sickly god. In the dark, he was thin and pale, his hair lacked luster or color. In the sun, Third knew the god would bloom, but here his hair only gained pigment in AfO's presence. Other than that, he was alone in the dark. No prayers, no sacrifices, no power at all. A dangerous position for a god to be in. Third quietly told Yoichi he was dying. Yoichi shrugged and said he wouldn't fight it. So Third led Yoichi down to the underworld, into Second's domain.

Second had initially only wanted to take Yoichi for leverage, to exchange back to AfO only when he swore to be more temperate in his domain. But at soon as Second saw Yoichi, he was struck in love as if by an arrow.

5- Second gave Yoichi a tour, and several welcoming gifts. As they walked, both the underworld and the god seemed to bloom. Yoichi's dull grey eyes sparked to life - not the rosey petal red his brother's presence forced out, but a shimmering green like a tourmaline gemstone. His hair grew lighter, but not like dried wheat chaff fading in the sun- this was a color strong as bone and pure as lime. And around them the dead seemed brighter, hopeful. The fields of asphodel don't just grow, they blossom, and the trees bear fruit. Yoichi curiously picks one and opens it up, marveling at how many smaller inside there are. Second grabs his hand and warns that eating the food means he'll be tied there forever. Yoichi points out he already is, on account of dying. Second says some mortals have brought back others from the dead, so it's not impossible, especially for a god. Yoichi says if his life is what he has to go back to, he'd rather stay dead, and enjoys the pomegranate.

Time passes, and Yoichi slowly starts leading as well- and taking notice of all the dying. Second sighs and admits it's because of AfO, but there's not much they can do- he was doing it even before Yoichi died, so. Yoichi thinks. Second eventually proposes, and Yoichi accepts. The morning of the day Yoichi is supposed to be coronated as king and full partners with his husband, he slips away to the entrance of the underworld, and calls his brother. AfO cannot cross the river, but Yoichi can, shouting across that as he has eaten food that is half his own power and half the underworld, he is bound to stay in the underworld at least half the year. But if his brother will agree to take better care of the mortals, ensure far fewer of the survive, then Yoichi will agree to return with him for the other half the year. AfO, desperate and grieving, accepts. Yoichi walks over the river, just as Second runs down to beg him to stop. Yoichi turns and says he has to be responsible for their people as Second does, and AfO whisks him away before either can say anymore or let him know that he'll be back in six months.

Second weeps and the river threatens to flood. Third has to drag him back and tell him that Yoichi will return in half a year. But indeed as Yoichi planned, fewer people die. He's taking care of the kingdom just as he said. It means less work for Second, which means he not as busy, which means he feels every painful lonely minute all the more.

+1- he waits by the river six months later, but Yoichi does not appear. Instead, Second finds that he can leave the underworld for once and head into AfO's domain - it's not intruding as AfO broke the deal first, attempting to once again lock up Yoichi. Second strolls into the house and breaks down the door easily, scooping a delighted Yoichi up in his arms. (Yoichi was going to just walk out the next day anyway, since he knew AfO couldn't stop him, but he thought Second would be more mad at him, not clearly still in love.) For the second time, Yoichi is carried off into the underworld to AfO's anger, but Yoichi just smiles as he returns home, and blushes a full color he hasn't been in months when Second shows the double throne that have been waiting for him - since the almost-coronation, Second couldn't bring himself to sit in it at all, just standing by the wall when conducting business there. But now he intends to crown Yoichi the moment they're through the doors, as he traded away half his freedom for eternity for the well-being of people under their care and clearly couldn't be a better choice.