#mongoose/rooster

[multifandomfanfiction]

May have to write something for Mongoose/Iceman or Mongoose/Rooster because I’ve been thinking about them lately…

[echoric]

Top Gun Maverick Characters as Animals!

(that either i have personally worked with or people i know have worked with) (with explanations for each choice)

Part 1 with Top Gun (1986) Characters here

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman - Timber Rattlesnake: A very docile species overall, preferring to retreat or hide when faced with a threat. However, when provoked they are capable of delivering a bite with powerful venom (either neurotoxic, hemorrhagic, or a combination of both).

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw - Red Fox: Very clever and capable of learning from their experiences, they are also a very playful species that are known to attempt to play with larger animals that could pose a threat to them.

Natasha "Phoenix" Trace - Mongoose Lemur: The females of this species are dominant over the males and they are a relatively peaceful species. They, like most lemurs, are incredibly social and live in groups with small home ranges that often overlap with other groups.

Robert "Bob" Floyd - Meerkat: Cooperative and supportive, they live in large family groups. They appear to be shy, skittish, and quiet, but when they feel safe they are incredibly social and appear to have intricate emotions. (My picture from Frankfurt Zoo in Germany!)

Javy "Coyote" Machado - American Alligator: Incredibly intelligent and capable of learning their name, voices, and commands, they are very misunderstood as being aggressive and dangerous. They are actually very calm and relatively docile animals (my picture from a trip to Florida).

Jake "Hangman" Seresin - Thick-tailed Bushbaby/Greater Galago: While they can be moody and solitary, they are prone to becoming anxious and irritable without consistent interaction with other bushbabies. They also are curious and very intelligent as many primates are.

Reuben "Payback" Fitch - Speckled King Snake: Born resistant to venom, they are one of the few snakes that will prey on venomous snakes including rattlesnakes. However, they are very calm snakes that don't often strike at people.

Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia - American Bison: While they can appear calm and docile, they are very dangerous when provoked. They are very social and thrive in large herds where they are capable of fighting off packs of wolves and other large predators.

Logan "Yale" Lee - Coachwhip: Incredibly fast, these snakes are not aggressive but instead will use their speed to get away from threats moving upwards of 10 mph! Unlike many snakes that rely on venom or constriction for hunting and defense, the coachwhip will hold its prey - or predator - in its mouth and whip their head side to side to tear flesh, and they will use rocks to kill their prey by slamming it into them repeatedly (very cool to watch, not so cool to have happen to your hand <- said from experience).

Brigham "Harvard" Lennox - Takin: Very agile and graceful despite their appearances, these large animals are able to move around their mountainous environment with more ease than almost any others. They are very protective of each other, and are very curious creatures.

Neil "Omaha" Vikander - Antillean Nighthawk: Not much is known about this species, but they are incredibly agile fliers and have been seen flying almost erratically while hunting - including dramatic dives and swoops.

Callie "Halo" Bassett - American Crocodile: The only species of crocodilian known to reproduce through parthenogenesis, making them the largest species known to use that method of reproduction! They are very intelligent and deadly predators that have been known to adapt their strategies if they are unsuccessful in a hunt.

Billy "Fritz" Avalone - Water Deer: A mainly solitary species, and the males are highly territorial. Their large fangs earned them the nickname of "vampire deer" and many people assume they are dangerous or a threat, but they are not carnivorous. Those fangs are instead used for fights with other water deer!

Beau "Cyclone" Simpson - Great White Shark: One of the most intelligent and curious shark species, and one of the most notorious species of the ocean. They are known to use different hunting strategies depending on the prey they are hunting, and they almost always are able to outsmart their prey. However, they are also very peaceful sharks when not hunting, and media commonly misrepresents them as bloodthirsty when they are just trying to survive.

Solomon "Warlock" Bates - Kodiak Bear: Despite being the largest subspecies of brown bears (and the second largest bear alive today with the largest being the polar bear), these bears are among the least aggressive of all brown bears. They will gather in large groups due to the availability of food and have been observed to use "language" and have complex social structures to avoid fights between the usually solitary bears (it's theorized that they even express their feelings to avoid conflict).

[bungostraycreatures]

Bungo Stray Creatures character list: ------------------------------------------------

Armed Detectives Agency: Dazai: Cat Atsushi: Tiger Fukuzawa: Wolf Ranpo: Mongoose Kunikida: German Shepherd Kyoka: Rabbit Kenji: Cow Yosano: Axolotl Katai: Hermit crab Junichiro (and his wack ass sister): Geckos Haruno: Cat Port Mafia: Chuuya: Slug/Fox Verlaine: Snail/Jackal Akutagawa (and by proxy Gin): Hedgehog MORI: Dolphin you gross bastard Elise: Porpoise Hirotsu: porcupine Koyo: Hare Higuchi: Guinea pig Rimbaud: Penguin Kaji: Fork Tailed Katydid Doc: (Poisonous) Salamander lippmann: Golden Retriever Pianoman: King snake shirase: Ram Albatross: an albatross c'mon man Iceman: Crow Oda: Capybara Q: Tasmanian Devil Tachihara: Coyote The Hunting Dogs: Jouno: Bobcat Tecchou: Sheltie dog Terouko: Chihuahua Fukuchi: Mountain Lion Decay of Angels: Fyodor: rat Nikolai: Dove Sigma: Jerboa Bram: Vampire bat The Guild: Francis: Eagle Poe: Raccoon Lucy: Red Panda Lovecraft: octopus Steinbeck: gopher louisa: Magpie herman: Whale Mark: Rooster Nathaniel: Sheep Margret: Llama Uncategorised/I’m lazy (my bad gang): Natsume: cat Ango: Frog Aya: Fruit bat Adam: Pigeon Yokomizo: Legless lizard Sasaki: poison dart frog Gide: Maned wolf Shibusawa: Albino alligator rokuzou: bass Mushitaro: Snake Ivan: Termite

[badlypackedtraveller]

ooh look, a hare.

The alarm goes off at 0430 and we are collected at 0530 for a full day safari in the Yala National Park. At the gate to the park we queue to pay our entrance fee of 21,657.01rupee (that one cent makes all the difference, I’m sure) to the Department of Wildlife Conservation then join the already long tailback of dozens of other safari Jeeps. The tailback soon splits into two queues: ours and one for online bookers, who mostly comprise impatient camera wielding Chinese. Drivers cut in and out to gain one car-space further up the queue.

As we arrive a red sun is rising and is reflected perfectly in the wetlands. Unlike safaris we have been on in the Kruger National Park SA Jeeps here are not permitted to veer off the tracks so we must be on the lookout for animals that come to us. Our driver points out elephants, crocodile, peacock, colourful roosters (the National Bird of SL), eagles, toucan, monkeys, kingfishers, mongoose, numerous other brightly coloured birds, jungle cows, water buffalo, large storks, owl, numerous deer. But sad to say the elusive leopard remained exactly that.  Our driver/guide is so keen to ensure that we get value for money that he stops to point out a hare.

We loved the landscape, the wetlands and being surprised by the animals in their habitats and appearing from the jungle. A huge bull elephant steps silently out of the bush and marches sedately up the road ahead of us. He wraps his trunk around a bush and tears it from the ground, gives it a shake to get rid of the mud from the roots then stamps on the root to hold it down while he shreds the foliage off and eats it. There are huge rock formations, known as Elephant Rock, nearby too. It prompts a debate on our own choices when a leopard is sighted and 20+ Jeeps rush to intrude on its privacy. Are we so desperate to see a beast in its own environment that we forget our place in it too?

We spend 12 hours in the park. As we leave, racing to be out of the park by 1800, which we make with four minutes to spare, the sun and its reflection in the lagoons has turned to bright white.

This evening we are the only guests at the Wild House and have a YouTube disco of UK and SL music with Hansa. We introduce him to Slade, Tom Waits, Springsteen. He responds with Bimbarak Senaga, cool SL jazz funk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQw1_9zlDs

and then he ruins it all with Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa so I go to bed.

[cagemasterfantasy]

DND Monsters: Animal Lord

Medium Celestial, Neutral

AC 19

Initiative +19 (29)

HP 323 (34d8 + 170)

Speed 60 ft., Fly 60 ft. (hover), Swim 60 ft.

Str 24 +7 Dex 25 +7 Con 20 +5 Int 19 +4 Wis 23 +6 Cha 22 +6

Saves: Con +11 Wis +12

Skills Acrobatics +13, Athletics +13, Perception +18, Stealth +13

Resistances Cold, Fire, Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant

Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Stunned

Senses Truesight 120 ft.

Languages All

CR: 20

Traits

Animal Lordship. An animal lord represents a Forager, Hunter, or Sage (DM's choice), which determines certain traits in this stat block.

Legendary Resistance (4/Day). If the animal lord fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Lordly Presence. Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 20, any enemy that starts its turn in a 30-foot Emanation originating from the animal lord. Failure: The target suffers one of the following effects:

Captivated (Forager Only). The target has the Charmed condition until the end of its next turn. While Charmed, the target has the Incapacitated condition.

Fearful (Hunter Only). The target has the Frightened condition until the end of its next turn.

Mired (Sage Only). The target takes 10 (3d6) Psychic damage, and the target is magically bewildered until the end of its next turn. While bewildered, the target subtracts 1d4 from its saving throws.

Magic Resistance. The animal lord has Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The animal lord makes two attacks, using Rend or Radiant Ray in any combination, and uses Animal Spirit.

Rend. Melee Attack Roll: +13, reach 5 ft. Hit: 14 (2d6 + 7) Slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) Force damage.

Radiant Ray. Ranged Attack Roll: +12, range 120 ft. Hit: 20 (4d6 + 6) Radiant damage.

 Animal Spirit. The animal lord conjures an animal spirit that strikes at a creature and then disappears. Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 20, one creature the animal lord can see within 120 feet. Failure: 28 (4d10 + 6) Radiant damage. Success: Half damage. Failure or Success: One of the following effects occurs:

Fortify (Forager Only). The animal lord gains 20 Temporary Hit Points.

Marked as Prey (Hunter Only). The animal lord has Advantage on attack rolls against the target until the start of the animal lord's next turn.

Pesky Swarm (Sage Only). The target has Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of its next turn.

Spellcasting. The animal lord casts one of the following spells, requiring no Material components and using Wisdom as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 20) (spell descriptions can be found by typing them into my tags):

At will: Animal Friendship, Animal Messenger, Speak with Animals

2/day each: Awaken, Greater Restoration

1/day each: Animal Shapes, Sunburst

Bonus Actions

Shape-Shift. The animal lord shape-shifts into a Huge or smaller version of the animal it represents or a Medium or Small Humanoid, or it returns to its true form. Its game statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed.

Legendary Actions

Legendary Action Uses: 3. Immediately after another creature's turn, The animal lord can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The animal lord regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns.

Feral Strike. The animal lord moves up to its Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks, and it makes one Rend attack.

Radiant Strike. The animal lord makes one Radiant Ray attack.

Forager Appearances: Bear, Bee, Bison, Capybara, Carp, Rabbit, Rooster, Sloth, Stag, Vulture

Hunter Appearances: Alligator, Badger, Bat, Cat, Hawk, Mongoose, Praying Mantis, Shark, Snake, Wolf

Sage Appearances: Coyote, Crow, Elephant, Lizard, Mouse, Owl, Salmon, Spider, Turtle, Whale

[jamesjennerworld-blog]

TIGER KING 1 N 2

=

Indian RhinocerosES

BlackbuckS

Indian Grey MongoosES

Asiatic CheetaHS

Greater AdjutantS

Indian ElephanTS 

Cattle EgretS

Lesser FlamingoS

ChinkaraS

Sambar Deer 

Przewalski's HorseS 

Red Junglefowl ROOSTERS

Nilgai BULLS

Indian LeopardS

Indian Roller SONG BIRDS

Bengal TigerS 

Chital DEER

Wild Water BuffaloS

Lion-tailed Macaque MONKEYS 

Grey Langur MONKEYS = VERVET MONKEYS

Small Five-Toed JerboaS = RATS

Naked Mole RatS

Arabian OstrichES

OrangutanS

Hexaprotodon sivalensis† HIPPOS [ RIVER ELEPHANTS ]

Saltwater CrocodileS

AardvarkS

MarkhorS

Striped HyenaS

Veiled Chameleon LIZARDS

Indian VultureS

Indian BoarS 

[ FOUND IN INDIA ]

[artbyanca]

At first I wanted to draw Leto with her sacred animals, but at some point I decided to add the baby twins and now I need more baby Artemis and Apollo in my life.

[alabasteralbatross]

This list is on my about page, but I thought I'd include it as a post too. A complete list of all the characters and the animal I draw them as! There's not really any rule system to it, mostly a combination of vibes/callsign, if they have one. Subject to change. Actually thinking of changing Coyote to a Coyote and Omaha to a Hooded Crow, but we'll see.

Maverick: Bighorn Sheep

Iceman: Mountain Lion

Goose: Canada Goose

Bradley: Derbyshire Redcap Rooster

Hangman: Mule deer

Bob: Fox Squirrel

Phoenix: Black-eared Kite

Payback: American Badger

Fanboy: Coyote

Coyote: Golden Jackal

Slider: North American River Otter

Charlie: Corsac Fox

Cougar: Mountain Lion

Merlin: California Scrub Jay

Sundown: Bobcat

Chipper: Black-tailed Jackrabbit

Hollywood: Jaguar

Wolfman: Gray Wolf

Jester: Virginia Opossum

Viper: White Tailed Mongoose

Carol: Silkie Chicken

Penny: Pronghorn Antelope

Amelia: Pronghorn Antelope

Hondo: Spectacled Bear

Warlock: Roan Antelope

Cyclone: African Lion

Cain: Black-chested Buzzard Eagle

Yale: Old English Bulldog

Harvard: Alpine Ibex

Halo: Jungle Cat

Omaha: Yellow Nosed Albatross

Fritz: Cape Fox

[ginazmemeoir]

could i have a list of the animals in hindu mythology? it's for a project of mine. thanks

sorry for answering this so late, i hope i’m not too late.

so imma gonna be writing about their vahanas (vehicles) and also their animal forms. but first, some symbolism

the vahanas of the gods represent their alter egos as well as their own aspects.

Horses and elephants represent royalty and power. Bulls represent virility and individuality, cows represent motherhood and purity, buffaloes represent patience and murkiness. rams represent aggression, antelopes and deers represent swiftness and/or disturbance, donkeys represent ill omens. Dogs, jackals and wolves represent ill omens, rats represent poverty and strife (ironically, fortune too), cats represent protectiveness, lions and tigers represent royalty and courage. hawks and eagles represent royalty and power, parrots and doves represent love and marriage, corvids represent injustice, sorrow (but also the natural order of justice and death), vultures represent decay, swans represent love and royalty, geese and cranes represent clarity and wit and wisdom, peacocks represent beauty and sometimes, masculinity; owls represent misfortune, roosters represent aggression. makaras (half fish half elephant) and yalis (half lions half elephants) represent divinity and fluidity, crocodiles represent force of nature, tortoises represent laziness/slow nature, snakes represent malice, mystery and fertility. mongoose represents luxury, man represents greed and society while ghosts also represent ill omens.

*artistically, makaras and crocodiles are often interchangable, like swans and geese/cranes.

this list is gonna be looooooooooooong.

Indra (lord of the heavens, lord of rain and thunder)

Airavata : King of the elephants, Airavata is a flying, white elephant with six tusks. Someitmes also shown with three heads or seven trunks. He sprays water on the clouds and drives them. He guards the east direction with his consort, Ilavida. He is Indra’s vahana.

Uchhaishravas : King of horses, Ucchaishravas is a ten headed, flying, fire breathing, meat eating horse. He is Indra’s vahana.

Vali : Indra’s son through Arun (charioteer of Surya). Emperor of Monkeys before being murdered by Rama.

Agni (lord of fire, link between humans and gods) : Agni rides a ram.

Surya (lord of the Sun)

Surya rides a chariot drawn by seven white horses.

Sugreeva : Surya’s son through his charioteer, Arun. Brother of Vali and later Emperor of Monkeys.

Chandra/Soma (lord of the Moon) : Chandra rides a chariot drawn by ten antelopes/deer.

Vayu (lord of winds and air) : Vayu rides a lone antelope.

Varuna (lord of the seas and oceans) : Varuna rides a makara/crocodile named Jaladhi, who was born out of Shiva’s earwax. He guards the west along with Varuna.

Ganga (goddess of the river Ganga, goddess of purity) : Ganga rides a makara/crocodile.

Yama (lord of Death, lord of law; son of Surya) : Yama rides a buffalo named Paundraka.

Yami/Yamuna (goddess of the river Yamuna, sister of Yama) : Yamuna rides a tortoise.

Revanta (god of hunting and horses, stepbrother of Yamuna) : Revanta rides a horse.

Shani (lord of the planet Saturn, lord of justice, lord of malice; brother of Revanta) : Shani rides a crow/raven. Crows and ravens also believed to be messengers of our ancestors.

Ashwini Kumara (twin gods of healing and medicine, brother of Yami) : Ashwini Kumaras are either represented as half-horses, or ride horses themselves.

Tapti (goddess of the river Tapi) : Tapti rides a deer.

Saraswati (goddess of the mythical river Saraswati, lady of knowledge, learning, speech, sound, music and the arts) : Rides a goose/crane. Surrounded by peacocks.

Narmada (goddess of the river Narmada) : Narmada rides a crocodile.

Shashthi (goddess of childbirth and babies) : Shashthi rides a cat.

Usha (goddess of dawn) : Rides a chariot drawn by seven red cows.

Bhariava/Rudra/Veerbhadra (fierce form of Shiva) : Rides a dog/wolf. surrounded by jackals.

Brahma (creator of the universe) : Brahma rides a swan. 

Vishnu (protector of the universe)

Matsya : a giant fish, the first Avatar of Vishnu.

Kurma : a giant turtle, the second Avatar of Vishnu.

Varaha : a giant boar, the third Avatar of Vishnu.

Narasimha : half man-half lion, the ferocious fourth Avatar of Vishnu

Garuda : a giant eagle and the King of birds, he’s Vishnu’s vahana.

Gandaberunda : a terrifying two headed bird evolved from Narasimha.

Hayagriva : half man-half horse, avatar of Vishnu. god of knowledge and medicine.

Shiva (the destroyer of the universe)

Nandi : the King of bulls, Nandi is Shiva’s vahana. He was originally a human devotee of Shiva.

Sharabha : the griffin form of Shiva, locked in battle with the Gandaberunda.

Hanuman : the eleventh avatar of Shiva, the divine monkey god.

Durga (goddess of war and victory and kings) : Durga and all her other forms ride a lion. Interchangable with tiger.

Gauri/Parvati (gentle form of Shakti) : Rides a cow.

Kali/Chamundi (fierce form of Shakti) : Rides a ghost.

Kalratri (gentler form of Kali) : Rides a donkey.

Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, luxury and beauty) : Rides an elephant. Sometimes also rides an owl.

Ganesha (the elephant headed god of wisdom and prosperity and auspiciousness, remover of obstacles, god of scribes; son of Parvati) : Rides Mushaka the rat.

Kartikeya (god of war, general of the gods; son of Shiva) : Rides a peacock. His emblem is a rooster.

Kama (god of love and lust; son of Vishnu) : Rides a parrot. His bowstring is mads of honeybees. He also rides a makara sometimes.

Rati (goddess of sex; Kama’s consort) : Rides a dove/mynah.

Shukracharya (lord of the planet Venus, preceptor of the Asuras) : Rides a horse.

Brahaspati (lord of the planet Jupiter, preceptor of the Devas) : Rides an elephant.

Mangala (lord of the planet Mars, god of auspiciousness and agression) : Rides a ram.

Budha (deity of the planet Mercury, deity of sarcasm and wit; illegetimate child of Chandra) : Rides a yali.

Rahu (lord of asteroids and meteors, responsible for ascending lunar node and eclipses, lord of fear) : Rides a lion. Sometimes depicted with body of a snake.

Ketu (lord of comets, responsible for descending lunar node and eclipses, lord of disgrace) : Rides a vulture. Sometimes depicted with the head of a snake.

Sheetala Mata (goddess of smallpox) : Rides a donkey.

Kubera (god of luxury, king of the yakshas) : Rides a jewel spitting mongoose. Sometimes depicted as riding on a man.

Adi-Shesha/Sheshanag/Ananta : The first king of the nagas. Vishnu rests on his coils. Responsible for the flow of time. The earth rests on his thousands hoods.

Takshaka : The second king of the nagas. Indra’s close friend. Killed the last scion of the Pandavas, Pareekshit, after he became king.

Vasuki : The third king of the nagas. Coiled around Shiva’s neck. Used as a rope for the Amrit Manthan. Father of Uloopi (wife of Arjuna).

Manasa : Goddess of Snakes, poisons and malice. Got people to worship her after spreading fear. Shiva’s daughter and Vasuki’s sister.

Surasa : a queen of the nagas. tested Hanuman on his way to Lanka by trying to swallow him.

Simhika : sea monster who snathed the shadows of creatures and ate them. Mother of Rahu-Ketu.

Mahishasura : The shapeshifting bull demon.

Sampati : Son of Aruna and King of Vultures. Burnt his wings and eyes by flying too close to the sun.

Jatayu : Brother of Sampati. Died while trying to rescue Sita from Ravana.

Jambavant : King of bears. Aided Hanuman. Father of Jambavanti, Krishna’s second wife.

Navagunjara : A divine animal made of nine other animals - the head of a rooster, neck of a peacock, hump of a bull, body of a lion, tail of a snake, feet of an elephant, a tiger and a horse and the hand of a human.

phew this was a long list. hope this helps!

[model-a]

i don’t think i’ve talked about this yet, but a while back i read a zxa interview where ashe was compared to an ocelot and grey to a puppy, which obviously got me thinking about what animals everyone else would be. so, uh, here’s that:

Aile & Vent: Mongooses

Giro: Originally I was thinking a rabbit because of his long ear cap things, but I think a rooster would be more fitting because his name literally means weather vane; either way he’d be a prey animal to complete the cycle of Aile/Vent > Serpent > Giro

Serpent: Cobra

Masters Albert, Thomas, Mikhail: An ocelot, lion, and housecat (or other small cat), respectively

Siarnaq: Hyena; mainly because of vibes but also because of their distinctive laughs

Thetis: Polar bear; makes sense with his ice abilities and desire to protect the oceans

Atlas: I genuinely don’t know lol; my initial idea was a lion, but I don’t know if I want to connect her that much to Thomas? I also thought about a dragon/lizard since that’s what Fenrir’s basis is, but I don’t think it fits her that well, and I don’t want the mega men to match their biometals’ animals either

Aeolus: A parrot of some sort? Again, not too sure on this one

[lewis-winters]

Some additional dæmon!au headcanons, a continuation of this headcanon list.

Ok so I thought about it some more and decided to change Dick's dæmon from a Caracara to a Gyrfalcon. Still a raptor, but a larger one that has, historically, been used in falconry and hunting and is, in some European countries, a symbol of patriotism and national pride. Dick's daemon is a female, silver-streaked Gyrfalcon that settled sometime after college but before Fort Benning. Her name's Anahida, and she speaks like a queen. Like, literally, I imagine her voice sounds a lot like Helen McCrory's (gee, I wonder why). She's very large and eye catching, but she only speaks when spoken to-- which is rare. In a society as repressed as 1930s - 1940s America, I imagine speaking to another person's dæmon would be seen as rude or taboo. Because of that, Anahida barely speaks and thus, people often forget she's there. There are rumors too, that Dick's the son of a witch, because Anahida likes to fly far above and at a distance, farther than any human-dæmon bond should go. However, it isn't true. They just practiced a lot growing up. Dick's always wanted to fly, in some way or another, and practicing as well as testing how far they can both stretch from each other was their afternoon play time. It's weird. I know. But this is Dick we're talking about. Of course he'd do something like this.

Anahida is the only one allowed to berate Dick when he's being exceptionally petty or self-righteous. She keeps him in check. It never happens often, but it happens enough. Other than that, they're right as rain and very in-sync with each other.

Is anybody surprised that the only other person who will ever address Anahida directly is Lewis? Show of hands? None? Yeah, me too.

Liebgott's dæmon's name is Chaya and, after some pondering, I've come to the conclusion that she's a Bat-eared fox. Very chatty, too. She and Lieb are very blunt, but she's arguably the blunter one of the two. Where Lieb sometimes gives into the urge to hide or repress feelings, Chaya is willing to take more risk. She does this thing where she will boldly go one way, the way she knows is good for them both, stretching their bond even to its thinnest and most painful, just to get Lieb to finally concede and agree with her. They're both stubborn as all hell, that's the problem. Sometimes Lieb will deny himself things for a myriad of reasons. Chaya has no such qualms. She loves him, but she definitely thinks he's an idiot sometimes. It also sometimes extends to how Lieb gets really soft around people he cares about. In the wild, male Bat-eared foxes are the more nurturing of the young, while the females are the ones who go out and hunt. Kind of the same with Lieb and Chaya. Lieb takes care, he hovers and forgets that boundaries exist-- his own, and the person he's taking care of. But Chaya's the kind who remembers, and reminds Lieb that sometimes you can't give all of yourself away, no matter how much you want to. Does that make sense?

(Disclaimer: I gotta admit. The reason why I hesitated with Lieb was because I didn't want to accidentally be anti-Semitic. I grew up in a country that is primarily Christian and Muslim so I am only familiar with Islamophobic visual vocab, not so the anti-Semitic ones. I had to make sure the animals I assigned a Jewish man's literal soul to were not anti-Semitic or used in anti-Semitic imagery by Nazi propaganda in any way. So. Yeah. Um. Pigs, goats, lizards/reptiles, rats, rodent-adjacent, or any animal seen as "pests" or "vermin" were immediately struck out. Nope. Let's not.)

You wouldn't know it at first glance, but Web and his raven dæmon have a very intense love-hate relationship. Annabelle is a very act-first, introspection-never kind of thing. Web is the opposite. Sometimes, Annabelle will act before Web himself will, and she can be very, very vicious. Because of this, Web is afraid of her and Annabelle resents him. They never fight in public, they largely ignore each other, but often when they get into it... well. It gets almost... a bit too violent. Some of the others have never seen a human and a daemon hurt each other until they’ve met these two. Sometimes, Annabelle often thinks that she’s somebody else entirely, a completely different entity from Web, and sometimes, Web thinks she’s a changeling. That maybe some fae or other switched his real daemon out for this cursed one. It’s a really fractured, complicated relationship.

When they’re on the same wave length, though, they’re scary. The only thing they can seem to agree on is passionate and impulsive anger. Web will always regret it afterwards whereas Annabelle is always smug about it. They calm down after the war and they’re back home. During the war, though, they’re both a mess.

Joe Toye’s daemon is a doberman pinscher named Alessia who is just about as quiet and solemn as her human. Classic soldier daemon. He calls her Al for short. When he loses a leg, she doesn’t. I don’t think amputation in the daemon world works that way, at least not according to Pullman’s original text. Going back home with her after his amputation is easier because she’s there to encouraged him and hold him up when necessary. They make a good team. They share similar fears and insecurities so it’s easy for the both of them to understand each other and help each other through it.

Pat has a little american robin as a daemon. Which is really funny, honestly. Big tough guy like Pat, you’d think he’d have a big tough daemon for sure, but that’s not the case with him. He’s always been gentle and unassuming, Pat and so is his daemon. Her name’s  Aoibheann (pronounced ay-veen). She likes to sit on his shoulder and rarely flies far away from him. When they jumped, she stayed inside his jacket at all times, tucked away and close. The only time she flies is later on at peace time, when she knows they’re both safe and she can leave Pat for a few minutes without it being too much trouble.

Johnny’s daemon is a mongoose named Corentine, but he calls her Cora. She’s fiesty. Sobel’s rooster daemon, Julius, wasn’t very fond of her. In fact, he was downright frightened of her. It’s why Sobel won’t mess with Johnny. It’s really funny.

Perco’s daemon is in the same family. A weasel. A tiny little thing he can hold in both his hands. Her name’s Jackie. I have no idea why. But it fits.

Ralph Spina’s daemon is a raccoon. It’s adorable. His name’s Nimaphael. But he hates it and everybody just calls him Nim. Ralph carries him around like a baby on a sling, strapped to his chest. Unlike Harry and Saoirse, you can tease them about this. They’re aware it looks ridiculous. They also don’t care.

Bull’s daemon is a sun bear. I know. I didn’t see this coming, either. But I thought about it and... honestly? It fits. Not to mention Bull’s pretty big. He can carry her no problem. Her name’s Xanthia, by the way. And she’s very sweet, if only a little gruff in showing affection. She’s also not afraid to do what needs to be done. If she needs to have a go at an enemy’s daemon, then you know she’ll do it. She definitely isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. It scares the replacements for awhile, until they realize that she only does it to protect her own. 

I finally figured out what Merriell Shelton’s daemon is-- it’s a Jaguarundi. It’s a wild cat that looks to be a mix between a house cat and a mongoose. They’re fascinating and they hiss. A lot. It’s a perfect fit. Again, he name is Charlotte, but he calls her Lotte. Imagining them swaggering down the streets of 1940s New Orleans appeals to my aesthetic sense so much I cry just thinking about it.

BONUS:

Kitty Grogan’s daemon is, not surprisingly, a cat. But not a domesticated one. He looks like it at first glance, but he’s not. He’s an African Wild Cat and he’s a sarcastic little shit named Xaphania. Xaph for short. Send me a wink if you understand that reference.

[multifandomfanfiction]

The Ghost of You

TITLE: The Ghost of You PAIRING: Past Iceman/Mongoose (OC) RATING: T CHAPTER: One-shot SUMMARY: A ghost from Iceman and Maverick's past comes back.

[A/N - I've been missing Mongoose for a while now, but this was actually requested on one of my other accounts.]

Iceman and Maverick entered Iceman’s office.

They stood at the desk and looked at the files sitting on top.

It was time to choose the next Top Gun class. They flipped through them, pulling out ones that looked like good prospects.

Bradshaw (Maverick hesitated on this one, but finally placed it in the accepted pile).

Trace.

Seresin.

Grenier.

That last name stopped Iceman in his tracks.

Maverick watched the blood drain from Iceman’s face.

He cautiously opened the file and the face that had haunted him for decades was staring up at him.

She looked exactly as she had in the 80’s, down to the defiant look in her eye. “It’s her.”

Maverick glanced over his shoulder. “Mongoose.”

“Minx.”

“She did tell us she wasn’t from our time.”

Iceman chuckled. “No wonder she was such a good pilot. She’d already gone through the training.”

“Not to mention that she said learned from me.”

But Mongoose had been very cagey with what she revealed and the men had seen enough time travel movies to understand why.

Maverick took the file from him and placed it in the accepted pile.

“She could be hurt or killed!” Iceman argued.

“But she wasn’t. otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to meet us in the first place. She said it was after her, Rooster, and Hangman became a squadron and that hasn’t happened yet,” Maverick reasoned with him.

Iceman finally nodded and they went back to looking at the files.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once Maverick had left, Iceman glanced through Mongoose’s file again. He read about her schooling and her family and what she had accomplished. He would have been very proud to be have been…

Iceman sighed and pulled a wooden box off the shelf. It contained all the letters he’d written to her over the years.

In the bottom, was a letter he’d read many times over the years. He’d taken it with him on deployments and read it when he was feeling lonely. He was teased by his fellow pilots, but he always claimed it was from an old sweetheart, which wasn’t a complete lie.

He carefully unfolded it and began to read again.

Dear Ice,

           I didn’t know how to tell you this, so I settled for putting it in a letter instead. My name is Noel Grenier and I’m from the future. 30 years in the future. In the future you’re a four-star Admiral, which is how I knew you. Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, uncle to Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw. That’s right. Rooster is Goose’s son. Funny how their callsigns are so similar. You may not believe all this now, but you will one day. If by some chance I’m ever sent back, please look after Bradley for me? Be there for him because he’ll need it. I won’t spoil anything for you, but Maverick does something pretty stupid and he’ll need someone in his corner. I already told Mav about being from the future because I kind of let it slip. Sorry. If you don’t want anything to do with me after this letter, I’ll understand. I’ll strike out on my own and make sure you never see me again, but if you still wanna be with me I’ll meet you at the O Club when we get back to California.

                                                                                                    Your Minx

Iceman set the letter back in the box and placed it back on the shelf. He looked at the file on his desk and smiled.

This Mongoose wasn’t his, but once she had been.

“Welcome to Top Gun, princess. We’ll meet again soon.”

[insaani]

The roar of a Rooster

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger won the 2008 Booker Prize. He is the fourth Indian to receive this prestigious award. The White Tiger is about the journey of Balram Halwai, a man who belongs to the lower caste of a small village, Laxmangarh. This picaresque novel portrays how he transformed his life from working at a tea shop to become a successful entrepreneur. I loved the fact that this book shows us the picture of India, of which several people are not aware.

This book is written in the epistolary form where Balram sitting in his office with a chandelier above him, is writing a letter to the Chinese Premier, exposing the reality of India and informing him about his life. The author uses the flashback technique as Balram tells the Chinese Premier about how he crossed all the hurdles that came in his life. The Bildungsroman technique in the book projects the struggles that Balram faced in every aspect of his life. How he changed his fate from being a worker at a tea shop to working as a chauffeur cum servant at the house of the Stork to running away to Bangalore after killing his master and finally setting up his business in Bangalore.

The book deals with the themes of corruption. As in school, the teachers don’t teach in the class and take away all the money, in hospitals, the doctors don’t treat the patients, instead to earn more money, they go to private hospitals, at home, the grandmother tells everyone what to do and takes all the money they earn and, in master-servant relation, Stork's family make their servants do all the household chores. The Mongoose also tells Balram to take the blame for killing a child. The other important theme is the power of education, as Balram believes that education plays a crucial role in his overall development even though he acquired it from streets and pavements. The contrast between darkness and light is shown multiple times in the book symbolising the rural and the urban areas. The darkness describes the slums where people struggle from mouth to stomach, and light describes the wealthy people with big bellies.

Some of the symbols in the book are the white tiger and the rooster coop. Though impoverish, Balram excelled in his studies. He got the name the white tiger when a school inspector visits the school and was impressed by the intelligence of Balram. Since then, he decided to call himself the white tiger. When he was working as a chauffeur of Ashok in Delhi, he went to the zoo with his nephew, Dharam, where he saw a white tiger. He looked into his eyes and realised that he needs to escape his fate and create his destiny by murdering his master, Ashok. The rooster coop is another symbol that is important in the book. The poor people of India lead their life like chickens in a rooster coop. They are crushed by the riches but don’t revolt because they know the after-effects. To break away from the coop, one must be willing to sacrifice everything, even their family.

The White Tiger is the book to pick if you want to know about the Indians under highways. With no embellishment, it shows India we Indians are ignorant of. The White Tiger is raw, sarcastic, funny and shockingly accurate.

[aiweirdness]

This neural net would like to deliver these petitions

So the other day I heard from Change.org, a company that lets anyone make an online petition and gather signatures. In over a decade of existence, they’ve hosted about 5 million unique petitions.

Some of the petitions are VERY unique - like the ongoing petition to sell Montana to Canada, which gathered so many signatures that the Montana House of Representatives introduced a bill to release a statement opposing the sale. The bill failed to pass.

The question that Change.org - and I - became obsessed with is: if I trained a neural network on the full list of petitions, what kinds of demands would it generate?

The neural net I ended up using is 117M-GPT-2, by OpenAI, which is better at stringing together readable sentences than some of the other neural nets I've used. It also comes with a lot of prelearned knowledge about how words are used in sentences, and how they relate to one another, so it will even suggest things that aren't in the training data sometimes. As training data to imitate, I gave it about 190k petition titles (heavily filtered for quality). I trained it for several minutes on Google's free colaboratory GPUs (thanks to a colaboratory notebook put together by Twitter user @roadrunning01), and then played with the sampling parameters (mostly truncation) until it was producing very weird (but still readable) petition titles.

Just like real Change.org petitions, the AI-generated demands were clustered in a few general categories:

Bad ideas/Lost Causes: Dogs are not a thing!! Dog Owners are NOT Human beings!! Help Bring Climate Change to the Philippines! Taco, Chipotle, and Starbucks: Bring Back Lettuce Fries Filipinos: We want your help stopping the killing of dolphins in Brazil in 1970's Mr.person: I want a fresh puppy in my home Simple Stats Administration: Make Another proboscis. Officials at Prince Alfred Hospital: Aurora to Tell The Company To Send A Baby to Mars Sign Petition for Houston's New Fireworks to be Offensive

What? Make a mudchat Please not punish myself with a $20 fines. Unicorn: Stop breaking crab products Rooster Teeth : Have Rooster Teeth Fix Your Responses To Obama The people of Great Adventure: get lil bl00ty moose loyal to us The People of Kashmir : Ban of Airbrushed Bamboo Trees By Pune Barack Obama, Barack Obama, and Barack Obama: STOP PING MY HUSBERS! Saskatoon Police Service: No more scootty One Highway, Four Hens, Highway 1 Rhino Amish Culture Association: Cut the horns of the congon sturgeon & treat it better!

Seems reasonable: Harmonix: Increase the speed limit on Easton Road to 5mph. Everyone: Put the Bats on YouTube! Donald Trump: Change the name of the National Anthem to be called the "Fiery Gator" Taco Bell: Offer hot wings and non-perfumed water for all customers Do not attack the unions! Keep cowpies! Anyone: Get a cat to sing on air! The people of the world: Change the name of the planet to the Planet of the Giants Dr James Alexander: Make the Power of the Mongoose a Part of the School's Curriculum

There must be a story behind this one: Theresa May MP: Stop The Pigeon Rally in Great Britain Karen's mother: Please bring your own breadsticks for Karen. baseleine planetarium: Unnecessary insults are not welcome in our flat, end it! Anyone: Stop the use of the word 'shoe' in a derogatory way. City of Toronto, The City of Toronto, The City of Toronto: Remove the "Bam Bam" sign Basketball Club of St. Louis: Stop the Feral Horseshoes at the Basketball Club Tom Heneghan as OBE Change Council Localimian: Dammit you! Denny: Put one more black bee sweater on Em1nt du Poste Belfast City Council: Fire the cabbages at Clutch MarketI  Kim Hsu: Tougher Penalties for Pedestrians and Elephants on City Street in Austin Texas

This would appear to lay to rest the question of what AI would demand if it suddenly attained sentience. If you are an AI yourself and want to sign on to these petitions, you can register your preference for hot wings and non-perfumed water, and/or put Karen’s mom on notice about the breadsticks.

Subscribers get bonus content: I have here some entire petitions generated by 117M-GPT-2. The full text for “One Highway, Four Hens, Highway 1″ is a TRIP. 

[bullypinscherart]

For a Dangan Spirit Animals AU (like, the book Spirit Animals) here’s what I have in my notes.

The first half of Class 78.

Makoto- Dog

Kyoko- Raven

Byakuya- Lion

Toko/Jack- Mongoose

Aoi- Otter

Yasuhiro- Monkey

Sayaka- Bluebird

And Leon- Rooster

[thefloatingstone]

hey who wants to watch me write a post about my own lore in my own fanfics nobody cares about like it’s a wiki article or a Matpat video?

here I go

When I was writing my MLP fanfic back in 2013, there was a chapter where the girls (and Discord) get attacked by a Basilisk in a cave. I wanted a fantasy monster not featured in the show (at least up until that point) so I went for a commonly known fantasy creature... but then I decided to be all artsy and shit with its design and used my big history-nerd galaxy brain. This is that story;

It had a broad, square torso, on each side of which grew something resembling wings. They'd never be able to keep anything in flight, though. Rather than elegant beaters of the air they were large, awkwardly shaped fins that jutted out and upwards. A muscular neck curved into a small, triangular head that looked too small for the rest of it. A whip-like tail dragged behind it as it marched in the direction away from them, it's two, thick legs ending in dark, curved claws.

So this is the description of the Basilisk I wrote for the fanfic.

Basilisks were mentioned in the MLP cartoon but never shown. What HAS been shown, however, is a cockatrice.

which is historically, a mythical creature that kinda overlaps with the Basilisk in a historic sense. A Cockatrice is a creature that hatches when you take an egg laid by a cock (a male chicken) and have it be incubated by a toad (or sometimes a snake). The Cockatrice has the ability to kill people by looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them.

The Basilisk is hatched from the egg of a serpent or a toad incubated by a cock. So the exact opposite of the cockatrice.

The Basilisk is a creature described as “a serpent king” as well as a “hybrid of a rooster and a serpent” who can “cause death with a single glance.” However the Basilisk has also been described as looking like a snake that leaves a trail of venom behind it. Like the Cockatrice, the Basilisk is thought to be lethal to all living things apart from the weasel, and its believed that Europeans seeing fights between cobras and mongoose in the more arid countries of the world could be what spawned this part of the mythology.

This print is from 1260 and features a “basiliscus” fighting a weasel. The text was translated to “Cockatrice” in 1397. Basilisks are not usually depicted with wings.

doing a google search for “Basilisk” brings up a mixture of images, some showing a creature looking more like a cockatrice and some more like a serpent or wurm, and in others like a reptile with many legs.

You can kinda start narrowing down images showing the Basilisk which look closer to my description of the creature.

I based my basilisk somewhat on the classical look of the monster, but I also took a large inspiration from a book I bought at a fleamarket a few years ago and which I highly recommend if you can find it. It was originally published in the 70s.

The book covers the many different ways that taxidermy and accounts and bestiaries have been used to manufacture “evidence” or mythical or unknown animals. (such as the fur-bearing trout which is a personal favourite)

One of the taxidermy creatures in the book are mummified creatures called “Jenny Hanivers”. Sometimes they have a more humanoid appearance (I want to save you from looking at too many taxidermied animals so I’ll ship those) but now and then one would appear looking more animalistic.

Jenny Hanivers were most commonly believed to be the dried remains of basilisks. And since Basilisks can kill people with a single glance, it wasn’t like there was any concrete proof to what one REALLY looked like. Fishermen would sell mummified Jenny hanivers as “curios” to sailors, naturalists, scientists and the wealthy as remains of basilisks and they were a very popular collectors item. Especially since having a “Cabinet of Curiosities” was a popular “status item” in the 16th century. However these were more entire rooms then just a cabinet as we think of them today. Rich people would often fill it with strange and bizarre items, such as “unicorn horns” (Narwhal tusks) seashells, foreign coins, mummified fish, fossils, paintings, sculptures etc etc. Essentially they were the precursors to museums. But in the 16th century it was more for rich people to show to other rich people and go “look at all this weird shit I have.”

The earliest known picture of a Jenny Haniver is from 1558 from “Historia Animalium vol. IV“ by Konrad Gersner.

Gesner warns in his book, that the “Jenny Haniver” often sold for high prices as “taxidermied Basilisks” were not as fanciful as the people trying to make money off of them would have you believe. As the Jenny Haniver is, in fact, the dried and disfigured remains of rays or skates.

The “eyes” next to the mouth are in fact the ray’s nostrils, and the “wings” are the fins of the ray that have been cut away from the head and dried at an odd angle to appear more like “wings” than fins.

Anyway.

And that’s the story about how my history nerd ass put WAAAAAAYYY too much fucken thought into a monster that shows up in a fic to be a threat for a single chapter which had no plot relevance whatsoever.

(drawing time stamped as drawn by me in December 2013)