#murderbird

[tsyllaes]

MORDVOGEL.

I've now drawn all the creatures I've already stuck into Llayad, so now I'm up to the kind of fleshing them out part, creating more critters to throw into the narative when I need. One of those is another bird, because I've only got the flamingo and hummingbird so far. So I was thinking of a bird of prey, except I've already got the griffin filling that role, and why am I going to stick an eagle in the sky when I can soar a griffin through there? So next I was thinking maybe a flightless bird. Some sort of ostrich, moa, emu, cassowary type thing… and because I already had birds of prey on the mind… cassowaries are already evil murder birds… why not make it a proper, truly legit murder bird and make a flightless bird of prey? I google translated murder bird into German, because Llayad is the Barossa but make it Africa, and it spat out mordvogel and I was sold.

The mordvogel is, obviously, a terrifying creature. It has an eagle's beak, a velociraptor's hooked toe because why the shit not, all fused onto an emu's body that can run at 60kph and is one of the fastest creatures in Tsyllaes. They're territorial birds, solitary until the breeding season, when they pair up and raise their chicks as a pair. Both parents equally share the roles of sitting on the eggs/chicks and hunting as well as teaching the chicks to hunt. Once the chicks are grown enough to go out on their own, the parents separate with the female keeping the same territory while the male goes to find a new mate.

They hunt by sitting down in the grass of the savanna and scanning through the grass for a likely victim. They'll then launch off the ground and sprint after their quarry. When they catch up, they jump up on the prey's back and dig in with those massive claws and beak, ultimately aiming to claw the throat open and tear it to shreds like an eagle. Both extremely agile and with huge stamina reserves, the mordvogel can run at top speed for way longer than any of its potential prey animals. If it gets its sights set on you, you are stuffed. Just show it your neck and hope it gets it over with quickly.

[modofpitchpatch]

Murdie doing murdie things

[millassundries]

@hoverboardhoodlums

The rapping on the door came in an almost rhythmic tune, like a certain Christmas carol! after several more moments the same rapping continued! Of course on the other side of the door was none other then the---tall canine girl. Being just about 4' in height she was likely to be taller then most mobians. In her hands was a silver platter with a series of rice balls, and glass of some kind of juice, and a few small biscuits!

" HIIIIIIII! Would you like something to eat? I know when i first arrived to Avalice i was like---WOWIEE i'm so hungry! haha and the i was stuck in a sewer!? and by the time i got out i was starved! "

Takes a deep breath

" OH i'm Right i'm Milla! nice to meet you! "

[andr0nap]

DEATH RIDES A PALE WHITE HORSE THOMA 💀

[antimony-medusa]

Kills are 25% of total, and Quests go for 50%, which runs exactly counter to what the Federation/The Eye (not sure who was talking) said, and I love that on a meta level they're being LIED TO about the violence.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

If you're right with drabbles, here's a short one based off the third black cat post. I wrote it in notes so sorry if there's any errors.

When he opened his eyes, Damian still felt dizzy, his head whirring constantly. He was still struggling to get his bearings, when he felt the warmth behind him.

He was being held. His back was against someone's chest., The shifting sounds suggested leather. A white gloved hand was braced arpu dhim, keeping him upright.

Black Cat!

The older teenager seemed to have already noticed that he had woken up, and moved his hand to the top of his head, ruffling his hair.

"Hey there murderbird. Don't make too much noise, we're hiding."

Damian wanted to snap at him, but he was still firmly against Black Cat's chest, and the space they were in was too cramped to move.

Outside, there was the faint echo of gunshors, but no familar voices or grumbling was present. His family was safely away.

The gunshots faded completely then, and the area outside their hiding place was silent.

Damian could still feel Kitty's left arm secured across his midsection, while the other ruffled his hair a little bit. He blushed, twitching slightly.

"Hey, don't move yet," the older teen cautioned. "Your arm's in bad shape."

"I can take care of it back home," he answered stiffly.

Kitty made a tsking sound. "Don't be like that. Let's get you out of here so I can look at that, and then I'll let you go on your way alright?"

He couldn't say no to that.

To say that Danny was oblivious was an understatement. After all he didn't get the moniker of "Clueless" for nothing, but even he could see it now. Robin would not have taken that hit for anyone else. He would have let them tank the hit no matter what position they were in.

But when that concrete monstrosity came up behind Black Cat the bird and came to his rescue and gotten his arm broken and knocked out for his troubles. He and the batfam decided to retreat and regroup but were seperated in the ensuing chase.

He could take whatever these things were out with ease, but then he would have to come up with an explanation that would fool some of the greatest detectives in the world. Yeah, fat chance. He liked Gotham. He liked living with Meowm and Ellie and pouncing on the birds, even if he now knew Red would never return his feelings. He enjoyed chatting with Damian at the flowershop and letting him carry him around both in the masks and out. He loved the new life he had and he refused to risk it for anything.

For murderbird he'd hide. Anything to keep him safe.

[asknarashikari]

Renge: I'm more worried about that guy he's with. He looks like an angry hungry chicken...

…Ankh hears the description about him

Ankh proves her point by cawing angrily and going after her like a murderbird out for blood

[dreamcrow]

peering cautiously over the edges of my carefully-curated hedges and i can't BELIEVE i'm about to be canceled for ANOTHER not-even-actually-incest couple. y'all are giving me a complex! i'm starting to feel like i've gotta rustle up some ACTUAL badships somewhere. am i just a fake freak?? a poseur!!

[slowdrippingnoise]

*falls down a sinkhole* ourgh hatoful boyfriend -

[silvers-d-me]

Dating/Living with Marco the Phoenix: Birb Headcanon

-Expect this man to preen you. From absently nibbling split ends off of your hair to the full treatment of brushes, combs, ribbons, pomades.. Marco will pull you onto his lap and tend you.

-He will bring you shinies. Pretty rocks, shells, ribbons, bracelets of colorful stones, gold necklaces, earrings that sway and flash in light. Marco loves to bring you things and lay them out in a display for you to admire while he stands there proud. His chest may or may not be puffed out.

-Humming. So much humming. If you pay attention you'll notice the same melodies in given situations. There's his good morning hum, his looking for something hum, his getting ready for work hum, the melody he warbles in the shower, and your favorite, the hums and chirps when he wraps you in his arms or his wings. (When he uses his wings expect nibbles to your ears and pulling at your hair with the chirps.)

-Occasionally this man will make a whole-ass nest of of your shared bed. You notice that it happens when the Moby Dick sails into spring waters. Marco will round up every comfy pillow, blanket, bolster, and comforter the pair of you own + whatever he can steal from your crewmates. He'll carefully make a nice rounded comfy nest and pad it out with soft clothing until it meets his exacting tastes. Marco will absolutely expect you to appreciate this nest and sleep it in with him.

-Feeding you. For the most part Marco is able to control his urge to handfeed you meals. On those spring islands though expect the birdbrain to offer you morsels and tidbits every time you come within reach of food.

[headlesscucco]

Linktober 2022 Prompt 1 : Bird

MURDER BIRB!!!

*Clears throat*

I mean oh look a Loftwing!

Just recently started playing Skyward Sword on the switch with @snidgetwidgeon and as soon as I saw the Loftwings my brain went OMG SHOEBILL STORK! ITS A MURDER BIRB! ITS GONNA EAT ME!

Then I was informed they are friendly and we ride them…..

Yep, nope i’m still calling it a murder birb…it’s just biding it’s time, when I least expect it…I’m murder birb munchies.

This was my first attempt using polymer clay…I need more practice 😝

[sunderedandundone]

Possibly unpopular fan opinion, Dark Crystal (SkekSil and SkekTek edition)

I'm not gonna say SkekTek had it coming, because nobody has something like THAT coming, but SkekSil's reaction to SkekTek's tattling was not actually--that disproportionate. NOW HEAR ME OUT before you call me a supervillain apologist. ^^ Reason #1 is because NOBODY ACTUALLY NEEDED TO LOSE AN EYE, BECAUSE NOBODY HAD TO SNITCH ON ANYBODY THERE AT ALL.

It would, in fact, have been better for all concerned, except maybe SkekZok and SkekSo, if SkekTek had just kept their slightly-shimmery beak SHUT. They probably could both have gotten off scot-free, at least long enough for nobody to really care about it anymore -- especially after the war was already on (General -_- ) and even more especially after SkekSil and SkekTek were both witnessed as having provided the Skeksis with the Garthim. ...I mean, again, yes, 'better for all concerned' except SkekZok, but you can consider them the asterisk on pretty much all this. For one thing, is it EASY to transport and raise Peeper Beetles? Dear me, no!! You barely breathe on the larvae and they die! ;-)

And here's the nub of it. Nobody besides Tek and Sil knew they'd ever even had a chance to catch Rian. Noooooobody. (Well, except Gurjin, but I tackle him below. ^^ ) And none of the other Skeksis had succeeded in finding the little bugger, either. So they could have both 100% skated on that.

As for Mira's vial, it'd already been established--and grudgingly accepted by the Emperor--that it was 'a paltry amount' for the Scientist's study purposes. Nobody would have known that SkekTek hadn't just used it for exactly that! Because tragically, as much as the species' survival always depends on poor SkekTek, SkekSil sure seems to be the one and only Skeksis who ever bothers to help them or even check if things are going okay...and THEY sure as hell wouldn't have squealed. (Sorry So, but visiting to commit pet abuse and demand more production against scientific advice doesn't really count as responsible leaderly concern, much less benevolence. :-P ) So again--who'd have ever known? Why couldn't they both just skate and call it good?

Aha, you say: but Rian and Gurjin certainly knew the circumstances of the getaway, and what if it got told and dreamfasted it to Gelfling/Podlings/Arathim far and wide? Then, you further point out, Barbra Streisand effect might have kicked in, and things might have ended up even worse for both Skeksis in the final sum. That often happens with cover-ups.

***

[ETA: It did occur to me later that there is an in-between sequence to be managed (or not), which is what happened with Gurjin immediately after his capture. We know SkekSil had physical hands on the boy, so they had the most immediate control over that. Then the next time we see Gurjin is in the lab with SkekSil, the day after SkekTek's had their eye chewed out.

[So what most likely happened that Tek & Sil immediately locked Gurjin up, since that's the only alternative to letting him run too (which WOULD be one way to avoid having Gurjin there as living evidence of a cockup, but I don't think either birb would consider that a smart path to that goal ^^). Or I guess there's also murdering him right then and there, which TBH might have been the wise choice, but I can see reasons why they'd choose not to. In any case, they must have locked him up together, and then sometime very soon after that, Tek went totally off-message and ran blabbering to the throne.

[Now: it'd be really weird if Sil HADN'T at least sort-of brought up the subject of what the hell to say about Gurjin whilst they and Tek were locking him up. Or more likely, immediately after (you prooobably don't have this convo in front of the boy unless you're having it in Skeksis tongue)? If for no other reason, just for purposes of getting the two birbs' story to the other Skeksis straight and consistent.

[Not because Gurjin being manacled in a cell is a problem for anybody involved, mind you ::snerk!::...but because telling the truth about why Gurjin's in manacles, IF anyone bothers to ask, would mean revealing that Rian had gotten away. (Sadly, I PERSONALLY doubt anyone would ever have asked or even realized the boy was there, seeing how again, only SkekSil ever bothers to visit the lab. But this isn't something you leave to chance when you can easily work out an alibi in advance just in case, so SkekSil probably did.)

[And luckily, there are some damn easy alibis available. Chief of which is just shutting TF up and seeing if anyone even notices. If I were Sil, I'd also suggest that if by some wild hairy chance someone did notice and ask, Gurjin came to be in the lab the same way Mira did. I.e., 'sneaking somewhere he wasn't supposed to be' and thus volunteering as a lab subject. Should you want to hew a bit closer to truth for some dumbass reason, you could even claim you caught him looking for Rian. ...Though that might make someone else want to actually interrogate him, so best not. ^^

[Or hell, why don't we just say Tek decided he needed a subject for {insert technobabble here}, and snatched some random Gelfling to run tests on? Because seriously. Nobody cares if SkekTek gelfnaps someone as long as it was unobserved--any more than they cared about Tek snatching Mira in the first place! In fact, you can use the whole already-accepted Rian-as-killer narrative to cover Gurjin being dead, OR vanished OR in chains as a confessed accomplice--regardless of where Gurjin actually even is! How would the Gelfling find out different? In any case, that's the kind of story I'd cook up and TRY to sell to Tek, if I were Sil.

[Alas, however, it could well be that Tek was just too wary of using Sil's story or anything like it, because it probably mentioned only ONE birb name: their own. ^^ --And I mean sure, if you really sit down to work out all the eventualities, cooperating with Sil's plan does still sum out to being the rational best choice. Scientist. BUT even if Tek thought that through, which they probably didn't, all that logic would still be in conflict with another very rational principle (and Elemental Truth) of don't trust shit that Chamberlain proposes, especially if it gives them an obvious pass.

[So I think it's MOST likely that Sil suggested some alibi to Tek while they were locking Gurjin up--but either in such an indirect hinting way that Tek didn't catch it ::head shake::, or in a totally direct way that Tek just...understandably...didn't trust. So Tek nodded back something like 'yeah yeah, whatever birb,' aaaaand then ran straight to the throne to snitch. ::Hermione voice:: Like. An. Idiot. @_@]

***

So that's Gurjin sorted. But once again, there probably wouldn't even have been a need for that alibi, because once again, how would the Skeksis have ever found out? Because once again, again: the likelihood of anybody seeing Gurjin and realizing him to be anything more than a random lab subject is miniscule.

Now. There is a fair chance the Empire will eventually manage to seed some spies into the Resistance. And such spies could perhaps hear the tale of Rian's daring escape, and could maybe, conceivably report it back in. Sure, that could happen. Or it might not. Any canny imperial Gelfling/Podling spy might soon intuit that it's not exactly ideal for their own longevity to piss off any of the Lords against each other! (Seriously, if you're going to snitch on one Skeksis to another, dude, please make it to your closest Skeksis patron, who's not going to bring out that information to the rest of the court unless there's an actual need, because that's exactly the sort of stuff you quietly file away for blackmail contingencies. Besides...the odds of that patron not literally being the Chamberlain are kinda low?)

And even if the Emperor did eventually end up hearing about it all that way, it'd probably be so long after the fact that--despite how eagerly they admittedly jump on any chance to be sadistic--the rush of aggressive drive from the adrenaline, fear, etc over Rian's escape and that ONE vial is going to be much diluted. It'll be so extremely moot by that point. If anything disciplinary happens on account of this offense at all, the supposed 'cause' will really have become more of an excuse, somewhere more on the order of oh say, failing to talk with your mouth full at table. ^^

So yeah, there might still be torture, there might still be PTSD, but an actual maiming becomes way less likely as time goes on. So the longer it can be kept quiet, the better, Streisand effect in this case be damned.

(Really, that maiming was a boob-stupid call on So's part anyway...again, given how vital SkekTek's ability to churn always is to Skeksis...and is only explainable by the murderbirds' high-gear emotionality, poor impulse control, Darkness poisoning, and hair-trigger mob dynamics overwhelming their ever-more-senile intellects. Oh, also the fact that essence seems to be literally intoxicating, so they're going to be permanently pissed->hung over for like the next several trine.)

Now to be 'fair' to SkekTek, we have seen them make some strikingly bad social/survival decisions for a supergenius. Which is not out of line with their clearly being a social outcast, and thus probably rather rusty on any people skills they once had. And it sadly isn't remotely out of line with being a science genius either. :-/

Maybe most astonishingly, they are legit a terrible liar. By which I mean, not a liar at all. O_o Fact, they often get in trouble for speaking inconvenient truth, poor thing. But that's not a super good excuse for snitching from a logical standpoint, and definitely wouldn't be a good enough excuse from SkekSil's understandably invested POV.

Crystal's fire, even if one of those dead dodos suddenly remembered amid all the panic that they'd seen SkekTek put the vial in their cabinet without locking it up, and try to gin up some trouble over that, Tek could still quite truthfully protest that au contraire, they'd put a nice feisty locksnake right on it. But obviously, the filthy Gelfling got past it somehow. Or else...::gasp:: some other Skeksis snuck in and stole it!

Well, good heavens. Who could that have been? Well okay, some suspects ARE way more plausible than others [::koff::SkekSil::koff::]. But nobody can claim that any other Skeksis (except, of course, for Their Flawless Magnificence, the Emperor) wouldn't have just as good a motive or opportunity for the crime as SkekSil or SkekTek. The lab itself is clearly left unlocked all the time. Everyone potentially saw where the vial had been put. Everyone was hot for essence. At that point you're on a dice throw for who gets the blame.

SO.

Given alllllll of the above, why in everloving Thra did SkekTek rat on the Chamberlain, an unwise act in any weather? Reasoning shows it was most likely fully voluntary on their part. Most likely nobody would have ever asked them. So they actually ran and told the Emperor entirely on their own steam. O_O

Well, again in service of being 'fair' to Sciencebirb--it could possibly be that Tek wasn't really even thinking about punishment for anybody. Or okay, they must've realized there'd probably be punishment, or else they wouldn't have rushed to get to SkekSo first so they could blame SkekSil for all of it! But they might not have quite realized how severe the punishment could be, because they're (as already noted) weirdly on the naive side for a Skeksis. To them, the price [for Skeksil] to pay may not have seemed all that terrible compared to the need to report what the Scientist, in their distress, might sincerely have considered a high Emergency.

But...c'mon, SkekTek. You're supposed to be a genius here. You want that designation, you gotta live up to it. This is not that. And let's be real: you're definitely enough of a Skeksis that you sure as Grot weren't going to share the blame, were you? Chamberlain def wasn't in your good graces at that particular instant, were they? Nope. So the odds of there being NO personal vengefulness involved here--as with a lot of other odds around here--seem low. :-P And from most people's perspective, very much including SkekSil's, it's going to be kinda hard to buy that you had no idea how bad the penalty might get. Even if you weren't thinking about it, you SHOULD have been. The audience would certainly agree, having now observed the Emperor for more than 15 minutes.

So then, moving over to SkekSil's end of it now--in that moment when they were suddenly, no heads-up put on the spot, they really would have no rational choice but to conclude (very quickly indeed, but that's 100% in character and well within their own genius) that SkekTek just flat WANTED to see them suffer horribly. For no other reason but that they still had a mad on about that whole, now really rather meaningless kerfuffle!

I mean, what else would they realistically think??

The Chamberlain also wouldn't have been way out of line in seeing this as a singular betrayal, given how they'd freely and without even asking credit given Tek the idea for extracting essence in the first place and then advocated for people to give Tek's presentation a chance. Oh, and then there's the saving-the-Scientist's-very-life part of things too! Did we forget that? Where was the thank-you for that even? Honestly. THE INGRATITUDE.

...I mean yeah okay, granted, they also totally tried to steal the vial. But really? And besides, come on: Tek straight-up pulled a shiv on a fellow Lord (...okay, a scalpel) and threatened them with mutilation. And SkekSil hadn't snitched to anybody about that, had they?

And now it wasn't just a matter of paying Tek back for that betrayal. Or even for impressing on them the evidently needed wisdom of Don't narc on SkekSil, man--it ain't worth it! Because the dynamic duo were now in a position where either SkekSil or SkekTek was going to undergo something unspeakable. Period. There was no third option. There HAD been, Thradammit, but then the Scientist had to go and be a foot-shooting fool...AGAIN. And for what? Pure suns-cursed pettiness! Sheesh.

So from that standpoint, what could Sil really do anymore but lie like a cheap rug and turn it right around on SkekTek? They may even be correct that at that point, the Peeper Beetle was the least bad of all possible results for anyone--indeed, the Emperor explicitly declared that a more "permanent discipline" was required. So a maiming of some kind was obviously on the menu for somebody, no matter what.

And at that point, at least given my own HC opinions on Sil's character and motivation, they'd probably have been looking for the option that best preserved Tek's ability to work and work quickly. Not out of their great compassion ::pfft!:: but just out of the concern they alone seem to have had the common sense left to possess...that the Scientist's 'survival-level necessary' labor must succeed.

So like, very long story short, WTAF SkekTek? You could be plausibly be argued to have done that to your own self! Or rather, to have tried to do it to SkekSil only to have it boomerang, because SERIOUSLY WHAT ELSE DID YOU EXPECT.

I mean I DO still have to personally feel for birb, because I've certainly gotten my ass in trouble for failing to lie at a moment when it would have been smart ("Technically" IS SIMPLY NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO A LIE, my studious friend). I think I'm probably more of a Tek than a Sil, alas. And it's certainly true that once Sil decides something cruel is their best play they won't hesitate for a microsecond to go balls-out for it, so I have like a microsecond of genuine sympathy for Sil on their end of things and then, nah.

But still, dude, WTF. ^^

[horce-divorce]

so one crow behavior I haven't figured out yet is the Daily Screamening. the juveniles especially, I think? Like to sit in the tree and make noises like they're fucking dying. They're just like "graaaaa raaaaa raaaaa raaaaa waaaaaaaa blaaaaaaggg BAAAA AAAGHYHH AGGHHHH AGGHHHH!!!" and they do this for like. An hour each day. Sometimes in concert. It's not top volume it just sounds fucking awful lmao

However it seems like a homey/comfortable/I'm in my zone behavior to me, bc they do it close to the nest tree and only if nothing else is going on. The day the hawk was around they didn't do it, they just screamed loud all day and the alarm screech is VERY different from this little like. 'im dying but I'm rather comfortable about it' noise. silly fucking animals

[asknarashikari]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UfEjz5x-yqU

Give him a break those things are living dinosaurs that can rip you apart to pieces. Chickens are murderbirds, don't you forget it

[sharry-arry-odd]

I begin to worry for Liam. To wonder what happens to him after he sets the sharp parts of him about the soft parts of the prince. There are guards, after all, and they, too, have sharp things, weapons to wield that they'll never grow to love. I begin to teach Liam to escape. To mistrust humans the way prey mistrusts his shadow on the grass at dawn. The goshawk only blinks at me as if to say eh's known this all along, known it as well as I do. I smile and teach him anyway, because he must know that if he is to survive, he cannot return to me.

Murderbirds: Facts That Lead to My Choosing the Hawk, by Leah Ning

[pikachufriended]

@wishkill​

the hero of kalos was tired. her spirit was run ragged, her best friend gone and she felt she may never see him again. she sits with her yveltal, the creature barely taller than her. he had never grown larger, which was a relief... they watch the stars, silent as it often was between them. “sometimes... i wish... i wish things were the way they were before lysandre...”