#One day I was thinking ‘what kind of animal is a velvet worm?’

[rataltouille]

BONFIRE, BONFIRE!: A COLLECTION OF FLASH FICTION + POETRY

so i’ve decided to compile all twenty [these will be split into two so that the post isn’t super long] of the writing pieces i’ve done for my random celebration into one post so that it’s easier to read / access share!! you can also find it here, all put into one work, on wattpad, because i feel nostalgic about that website and decided to just post it!!

NOTE: i know that this shouldn't need to be said, but these 20 pieces belong to me so please don’t copy/repurpose it for your writing!! i plan on using these somewhere in my own writing and either way they’re stuff i’ve written so don’t use them!!

1. cooking + destructive + purple from @andiwriteunderthemoon [also i kind of cheated with this prompt and asked my sis @dreamscanbenightmarestoo for ideas and so the base idea’s from her!!]

I didn’t mean to set my house on fire, alright?

Let me set the scene: I’m sitting in my room, watching the infomercials that blur together, and suddenly there’s a bright purple flash on the glitching screen: /grapes/. They’re shiny, plump, and oh? A recipe for fine wine? Don’t mind if I do. So I pop into my kitchen and cut the grapes, dice them up, finally using the knife after years of not cooking— /mother, are you proud of me now?/— and stick the soft, luminescent fluid into a glass bottle. Following each step of the recipe.

The recipe didn’t mention an explosion.

Destruction rained around my house like a meteor shower. The bubbles from the fluid, frisking up at contact with metal, swam across my shoes and into the living room. It touched the TV, which still flashed the recipe, which I was still cursing at. And then, you know, it burnt up. The couch scorched first, I think. So that was fun. I later realised that I’d used my reserve of petroleum, which I’d put in my kitchen cabinet, instead of vinegar. I think I’ve got to move back in with my mother again.

2. running + quiet + sky blue from @kryskakikomi [i have no idea what this is i drafted this in a fever dream state]

Summer crawled up his skin like a worm. He was seated at his dining table, crosswording his way through the sticky morning, when it struck him that the humidity was new. He’d been caught in summer before, of course, but this year was different. His parents had whisked away to their hometown, and he still didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to go. He loved their home— he could have been running on beach sand and waves could have cruised over his feet, and his face would reflect sky blue under palm trees. Instead he sat doodling and scratching at cement walls in a quiet that nagged at his ears, grappling his flesh like a fishing hook, reeling him in. Boredom, him sister told him, before she also left for someone’s home. What would you know? he whispered once the door latched from the outside. Maybe /she’d/ like to sit on the same wooden chair, all the pink paint worn out, and scratch out squares of empty text until the pen poked through the other hand. He scoffed. At least he knew the number of scars on the wood; he could hold that over her when his parents returned.

3. hallucinate + hazy + violet from @chloeswords [i wanted to write something dreamy and ethereal but everytime i look at your url i’m reminded of church mud and indirectly my religious trauma so here we are 🤡]

We hold the book in our arms and chant for God. We don’t know what he looks like. They say that he’s sharp, never pixelating or blurring or showing through, like a hazy image would. No, children, our family says, he will come clothed in gold and velvet— the colour a deep and rich crimson, or chartreuse. And of course, he weaves a violet into his hair. Because he is just that humble. Just that gentle. Loving.

We’ve almost understood now. Pray, clasp our palms together into a transient equinox, and pray. Maybe he will shine down on us. Maybe we will speak so loud and chant so long that our lips will chap. Maybe we’ll simply hallucinate him to salve our bones. Our family says, he will bless you. And so he will.

4. halcyon + pluviophile + beige from anon [i was yearning for cats i am a cat person i love cats]

I remember my life before I moved to London,

Those halcyon days that I spent scooping up cat litter and brushing warm fur,

Being a mother to beige and white and black little felines.

They keep better company than humans.

Now I’m a self-proclaimed businesswoman, artist, influencer, pluviophile,

Even when I’ve barely stepped foot outside during the rain,

[But it needs to be said that when it rains in London, it pours].

I think I’d like to open a cat cafe;

I’m rich enough to pull it off.

5. sing + vulnerable + olive green from @occiidens [this was actually super fun to write because it’s a break from the typically unhinged stories i gravitate towards]

You watch from the highest hill of your town, hand wrapped around the serrated wood of a red oak tree. The bark pokes into your flesh, drawing blood that shouldn’t have been taken from you. You scowl. Just another thing that lives to cause you pain.

Three storeys down is a young man, short and smiling and lovely. He has dark skin and darker hair, walking with the stride of a deer, and he’s smiling; the joy reflects onto your face, even though you can’t hear him. He wears a cotton shirt, the olive green stark against the fire-blue sky. You call out, sing his name, three times in a row.

When he finally looks up, squinting as you silhouette under the sun, the smile widens. A wave. You’re suddenly overcome with embarrassment. Your palm digs into the bark until the wound is freshly dug again, the skin supple and vulnerable. You want to wave, but your hands would look so awkward, and the blood wouldn't help. So you turn on your heel and run— why are you so awkward?— and the grass around you is brighter. This is now a tomorrow issue, you conclude. You’re still smiling.

6. dislocate + ostentatious + blood red from @oasis-of-you [this got really unhinged really fast. TW: body horror]

If you take a turn at Finn Avenue,

Rogue your way down a blood red river,

[It’s not actual blood, do not worry. The colour’s a pigment and it’s saturated enough to give you the texture, the touch, the taste of blood, but I repeat, it isn’t true blood. You might think that it’s ostentatious of us to make you cross a river like that, but you’ll understand why.]

And if can stick your fingers inside the fluid,

You’ll find a bone.

Don’t pull it out fully! Only observe.

[This is a real bone, most likely animal. We may be ominous, but we don’t hurt humans. Not yet.]

So what do you do now? You want passage into a better world.

You came here because you saw the brochure, the flyer,

Radiant Idyll, home for love, but you also saw the jutting anatomy that leads to the city. The pictures were rather clear.

Why do you look so surprised? We’ve put this on the brochure— don’t you ever read the fine print?— to avoid this exact situation. That you would cross a body, a skeleton, pooled over in a fluid that we don’t name, but it’s probably alive.

It’s watching you right now.

So what do you do now?

Hurry up, unhinge your arm, dislocate the elbow, drop it into the blood, forgive me, false blood, and pay for your passage.

Oh! Excellent; that’s record time. We do hope you enjoy your stay!

1. @noteaboy [i’ve interpreted your url as ”note, a boy”]

There’s an orange tree. It’s spring, and there’s an orange tree, and it brims with fruit and citrus perfume. Point your lens flare downwards, and note, a boy. A young man, perhaps, because he combs his hair, uptight and firm, and he wears a tie. A long suit. He doesn’t look up, because his hand holds a book. /He/ holds the book, not the hands— tenderness doesn’t translate through anatomy, I’ve taught you this before. He’s waiting for someone. There’s only the rustle of leaves. He drops the book onto the lap of the tree, crushing the apple that had fallen down. Orange, not apple. Take note better. You only have one chance to get this right.

2. @eatingjupiter [your url is so beautiful omg]

The goddess had said this before she died: you need to watch over him. He needs your sentry to survive. The goddess’ words weren’t heeded. Little baby Jupiter tottered on lava as him parents small-talked with their kingdom. Well, it must have been small talk, because nothing seemed to happen afterwards other than his mother’s face collapsing in agony, anger, annoyance. He knew not to touch them then. He’d fly off into the sun one day, but if his hands were but and charred, he wouldn’t survive even a third of the journey.

The prophecy was simple: the firstborn to the kingdom will metamorph into a celestial, purify themselves so that only stardust remains. Live in the sky forever. The astrologers were baffled; you don’t just become a star. They should have heeded the goddess.

Jupiter was sixteen when he expanded and collapsed all at once. He still lives, they say, and the astrologers /were/ right, in a way: people just don’t become stars. They become almost empty space. Nobody knows if his hands were burnt when they left earth’s orbit forever.

3. @laughtracksonata [your name gave me slight horror vibes idk why!!]

Hahaha. The Horror Movie (don’t ask me for a name, I’m not good with those), with its cymbal crashing and plastic sounds, it’s so loud and scary that it hurts, father. Please turn it off.

Father doesn't listen. I shiver on the couch. The screen flickers like radio static and reflects off our wide eyes. What kind of a home is this anyway? I don’t want to fucking listen to a laugh track or a horror VHS tape or watch the bass crescendo as the serial killer jumpscares the watcher. I don’t think that having hour pupils glued to the same blood-splattered movie, with the same recording looping in his eardrums will help him. He laughs along, sometimes. It’s scary. Father needs a new hobby.

PART TWO COMING SOON!!

anyway this got REALLY long so i’m posting the third prompt group, the one based on songs, as a second part in some time. i hope you enjoy this, and PLEASE do boost!! i spent a lot of time writing these pieces and am pretty proud of them :’)

general taglist: @lovingyou-is @guulabjamuns @andiwriteunderthemoon @coffeeandcalligraphy @melonmilk @silentlylostwriter @charles-joseph-writes @eklavvya @eowynandfaramir @bitterwitchwrites @laughtracksonata @whatwordsdidnttouch @indeliblewrites @thenataliawrites @summersguilt @illimani-gibberish @sarahkelsiwrites @writing-in-delirium @shaelinwrites @sienna-writes @chewingthescenery @jennawritesstories @chloeswords @aelenko @keira-is-writing @cherylinanika @infinitely-empty-pages @jmtwrites @august-iswriting @freedelusionbanana @beetleblue88 @mistercaleb @iwannawritepls @hanwatchingmovies @mortallynuttyqueen @idratherliveinnarnia @maisulli @thegreyboywrites @ahowlinwolf @ravens-and-rivers @oasis-of-you @yanittawrites @chazza-writes-sometimes @skyfirewrites @lovebenders @treybriggsthewriter @themidnxghtwriter @ash-karter @queen-devasena @a-procrastination-addict @gaymityblight @beyondthebracken @madmaxst26 @adielwrites @moonpixxel @hollow-knight-dnd @keep-looking-here @overlap @ashleygarciawrites @ryns-ramblings​ @wordsbynathan @novaemlynlewis​ @sophiewritingstuff​ @howdy-writes​ @occiidens​ @nsanelyawkward​ @viawrites-andacts​

[theramseyloft]

The importance of keeping Med x Supplement interactions straight

In December, The Ramsey Loft had to close.

Initially, the decision was made when the Komorner Tumbler pair, Danica and Vito, ended up stranded in Atlanta for five days as the USPS was crushed by over twice the volume of mail sent this holiday season, due to the Pandemic keeping every one from going to see their families in person.

We were planning to remain open to people close enough to pick up a bird in person.

But I noticed that Velvet, while recovering from going dangerously light on Chiffon, was pooping mostly watery liquid.

I livestreamed the fecal test for my Patreon Patrons, one of whom is a veterinary parasitologist.

We found no oocysts, but adult Coccidia Trophozoites while screen sharing the view from my microscope.

I keep meds on hand to treat a number of parasites, including Coccidia, Trichomonas, and both the common worm species; Capillaria and Strongyloides.

I keep two meds on hand for coccidia. Aviocox (Sulpha dometoxine + Trimethoprim), which should be given over a week, and Corid (amprolium) which should be given for 3 weeks to 30days.

So we quarantined for the month of December, while we treated for parasites.

My Aviocox had run out, so all I had was the corid. (I usually use both because coccidia immune to one usually aren’t to the other, and there is no dangerous or disruptive interplay between the two)

I remembered corid have a reaction of some kind with Calcium.

Some antibiotics (Baytril, Doxycyclene, and Tetricyclene, for common examples) are neutralized by calcium, so while treating with those antibiotics, calcium needs to be removed so that the antibiotic can function at full potency and clear out the pathogen effectively.

My general habit, when I am aware that there is an interaction with calcium, but can’t remember what it is, is to assume that calcium will interfere and remove it.

Some of you may have wondered why Reo looks like this

At seven weeks old.

He, and both of his parents, for that matter, are paying still for my terrible mistake.

Corid kills coccidia by replacing thiamin (Vitamin B1) which is required by coccidia for normal growth and reproduction. When coccidia ingest CORID, they experience thiamin deficiency and starve from malnutrition.

Vitamin B1 plays a vital role in the distribution and absorption of Calcium.

Corid does not replicate that function.

So animals on it need extra supplementation with calcium.

I was so certain of my mistaken memory of the interaction between Amprolium calcium that it took me a week to ask the literal biochemists among my Patrons to help me double check.

(ADHD is a bitch, and medical texts can be hell to get hold of, God bless those Patrons for volunteering their time)

They had only been with out their calcium supplements for a week...

But Calcium is SO much more vital to physical function and development than we tend to think it is!

Most of us know that bones are build from calcium carbonate.

But what far fewer people know is that calcium has a hand in regulating every aspect of our neurological function.

Reo was with out calcium supplements, fed poorly by calcium deficient parents concentrating on the bigger first hatch for the first week of their life; the most crucial point in their structural development post-hatching.

As you can see, he looks shockingly, gut wrenchingly similar to Ankhou;

when he first arived.

5 week old Reo is still fuller fleshed, better feathered, and less sad than 5 week old Ankhou was.

5 week old Dio is very behind compared to what he should have been

Here is his Mother, Dodger, at 5 weeks old, for reference.

Dio and Reo’s structural development was delayed.

Dodger and Alex, who were calcium deficient while feeding two ravenous peeps, both suffered neurological effects.

Under duress, their legs give out from under them and they are not capable of standing.

If isolated for about ten minutes immediately following such a crash, things reset and they can stand back up and resume normal function.

If they are not immediately removed from the stressful situation (I have gone out to feed the flock and found Dodger collapsed under a dogpile of amorous cocks who had mistaken the “I don’t feel good” hunch for the desperately amorous “Tread me” crouch, for example), their legs will remain useless, and their wings will follow, leaving them to struggle to move limp limbs.

This can take hours to half a day for them to recover from, even over a month since calcium treatment started.

They are both in right now because Dodger collapsed from the duress of being restrained for her Paratyphoid booster vaccine, and Alex collapsed days later from Indica and Pookie deciding that the nest Alex had shared with Dodger belonged to them now that she was gone and relentlessly challenging him for it.

While it is possible they may recover eventually, Alex and Dodger have paid and are still paying dearly for my mistake.

So I am sharing this experience in as full detail as I am able to prevent any one else from inadvertently repeating it.

Always double check drug and supplement interactions, whether or not you are in doubt, regardless of your experience!

You will, with out exception, either be reassured that your memory was correct, or prevented from causing accidental harm.

[il-papa-patata]

Writhing Tendrils

I don’t write smut all that often but occasionally plotbunnies hit me. This originally existed for my OC, but I figured a reader insert had more broad appeal.

Copia/Sister of Sin, sweet but not shy Copia, established relationship, tentacles, multiple orgasms

18+

“Copia?”

You press your ear against the door. Inside, Copia speaks lowly, his words soft but edged with something.

You knock again, to no answer.

You open the door.

What you're met with is-

Well, Copia kneels on the ground, his back away from the door. The low, blue light of late-evening casts along him, and it's why for a moment you don't notice the appendages, black like shadows, that curl around him, swaying like tall grass in a breeze.

“Copia?” you say again. This time he looks up.

His eyes widen, and he falls away from you, shifting away as the tendrils reach for you lazily.

“Cara mia,” he whispers hoarsely, “D-don't-”

“Copia,” you ask, taking a tentative step forward, “What is this?”

He stares up at you.

After a moment, a long one that stretches, he murmurs, “It's part of... communing with this particular demon.”

“It's not hurting you?” You reach a hand, and a few of the tendrils reach for it before Copia gathers them into his arms.

“Nn, no but-” he stutters, “I don't know how it's going to react to you. I don't- It could hurt you, bella mia.”

You stare at your cardinal, your friend – slim but comfortably so, holding back these tendrils that look – well, some of them are more like octopus arms, others blunt like fungi, but all of them are deep, deep black, like velvet.

You turn to go, nodding gently. There were some things in his work that needed space, and you get that. But-

Well, at the door, you turn. You turn and look at Copia, who trembles, letting them back down again, the tendrils undulating around him like a breathing flower.

You...

have had a very specific fantasy for a long time.

This was probably the chance.

You come over to him again, resting a hand on his shoulder. He jumps, but the tendrils already wind like vines up to your hand, twining like fingers between yours. A few of them bump and drag against your legs.

“Cara,” he begs, looking up at you and trying to pull them away, “Please.”

“I've had this fantasy,” you murmur, “Of the kind of thing that appendages like this could do.”

Copia's eyebrows raise. “You- no, you're not-”

You shrug, feeling heat flush into your cheeks, taking one of the tendrils in your hand. You stroke it gently until its pointed tip slips from your fingers. Both the tendril and Copia shiver.

“You- want to fuck me like this.”

“Yes.” You shrug again, reaching to gently brush your fingers against his sideburn. A few more of the tendrils wind down below your skirt, along your ankles and up your calves. Even that is nice, sending a rush of arousal into your stomach.

“No,” he says, pulling the tendrils away with bare hands, gathering them again. It's like watching him try to corral snakes, the way they writhe away from him, displeased by their master. “I- I don't know what these might do. I don't-”

You hum, letting some of them wind around your hand, up your arm. They have an odd texture – not slimy, but warm and slick. It reminds you of warm glass, maybe, or smooth, polished stone. Like a rock found at the seaside.

“Cara mia,” he begs, gathering them all up once more, pinned against his chest, “please. I don't want to hurt you, I don't have full control over them, I don't know what-”

You gently brush your fingers over his lips. It's not the most intimate thing you've done with him by a long shot, but you can't touch him like this most of the time. It hushes him immediately.

“Copia,” you whisper, “You won't hurt me.”

“You don't know that.”

“I do know that.” You kneel there beside him, coaxing a few of the tendrils out, letting them writhe along your arms, a few curious ones coming to your face, slipping along your cheeks and lips and nose. It feels funny. “I want this, Copia. And if I get hurt, I'm sure I'll heal.” You look up at him as one tendrils slides along the sensitive part of your neck. “I trust you.”

He swallows.

“I-” he says, “Let me... I need to know how much I can control.”

“Okay,” you murmur.

His demeanor – shifts. Slowly.

It's gentle, nearly imperceptible, but his shoulders square. His back straightens. A look of calm washes over his face – unpainted since this morning. It had been a long day already.

Slowly, the tendrils come away from where they crowded your knees, your hands, your face. They still wriggle, looping in the air and pressing against Copia, but they're no longer touching you.

You watch them. It's like watching a flower bloom, or the great waves of the ocean, this sort of undulating pulse among them. And Copia, your sweet Copia, concentrates on that motion, conducting it with his hand.

“I think there would be a lot of control in trying to undress me,” you offer.

A little smirk comes to his face. His eyes are still closed, but he looks like he might scold you any second.

But the tendrils slowly reach for you again. This time just a few, most of them climbing along Copia's arms and legs. You raise up to your knees, letting the tendrils come easier.

There's one, wrapping slowly around your hips. It feels strong, but not unbreakable. You feel held, but not restricted, not the way you might have expected. Another worms around your waist.

It undoes the closure on your skirt. Snakes under the waistband to press it away from your legs. When it brushes against your inner thigh, you shudder a gasp.

Copia's eyes snap open, and he watches your expression closely. The tendrils writhe, but they move no further.

“It's not painful,” you murmur, “You're not hurting me.”

He- nods, after a moment.

The tendrils are joined by a few more. These ones come around your back, undoing the buttons of your blouse. You might be surprised they're so agile, but there's a few of them and you guess they act like fingers, working in tandem. The firmness of them is quite nice along your waist – like a warm embrace.

The way the work through the gaps between buttons certainly is strange. Like they want to touch. You're not sure how much of it is their own will, their own blind search for sensation, or Copia's will.

“Can you feel this?” you ask, placing your hand on a few that wormed under your blouse, the material coming looser as the others unbutton steadily.

“Yes,” he sucks through his teeth, “I can feel all of it.”

You guide one away from your body, letting it dip between your fingers. The tendrils still around you pull your blouse off, carrying it away and laying it on the ground.

He watches you. You watch him. Slowly, you bring the one between your fingers up to your lips. And you kiss it.

The other tendrils squeeze. Not unpleasant.

Copia furrows his brows.

You take the tip of the thing into our mouth, running your tongue over it.

Copia shudders, and so do the rest of the tendrils, a few leaping to your body to join the others that now constrict around your hips and waist and chest, roving your body. The one in your mouth lurches, scraping against the back of your tongue and almost making you gag.

He pulls it out of your mouth, panting. His brows are pulled down low- “Don't,” he hisses.

“Sorry,” you murmur, a heat in your cheeks.

“You have no idea how-” he breathes, heavily, “How good this feels. I can feel so much of you. I want- so much of you.”

“You have me,” you murmur, entranced at the color that dusts his cheeks.

“No,” he says, crawling closer, looking up at you with eyes now glinting with an animal light, “I want all of you. Every inch of you soaked in me. Till you forget anyone- anything else exists, cara mia, just me.”

“I-” You reach for him, smoothing his hair away from where it's fallen loose. You don't touch him like this much. “I'm not bothered by that.”

He- shudders, a few of the tendrils pulling away while others move closer.

“I don't want to hurt you,” he keens, resting his hands on your thighs.

“I want this, Copia,” you insist, leaning in to kiss his face gently. You really, really want this.

He hums, casting his eyes down. A few of the tendrils still slip into your tights, worming under your panties and under the band of your bra.

“I'm scared,” he says, lacing your fingers together, “Of wanting you so much it disgusts you.”

You touch a few of the tendrils that wind around you now. They pause, and shrink back towards Copia.

“If it happens,” you murmur, kissing him again, “Then I'll tell you. But Copia,” you say, pulling away to look him in the eye, “I've, uh, never been this turned on before, you growling in my ear like that. Saying such... possessive things.”

He swallows.

“Frankly,” you continue, “I didn't... know you wanted me. Like that.”

He shudders. “I want you so much,” he murmurs, “Every one of these is all my want for you. They're all screaming to touch you, touch your flesh, hold you close, they all want to feel the skin of the Cardinal's lover, to feel your skin. I told them how good it feels. How soft and pliable. All the warmth. They all want you as much as I do.”

“Copia,” You murmur, stripping off your tights and your underwear. His eyes follow you as your rise to fully strip, tossing your clothes with the others.

“Is this okay?” he asks, once more, the animal melting away for a moment, replaced by your sweet, considerate friend.

You place his hands between your legs.

You're so wet. You can feel it, the kind of wetness you usually get with a couple toys and knowing exactly where to press the vibrators.

He must feel it too, the way he swallows, licking his lips.

“What do you-” he swallows, “Want me to do?”

“Eat me out?” you suggest, and he nods.

The floor is comfortable enough with the rug, but still, even like this, Copia gathers pillows and a towel from the bed. You don't miss how sadly the tendrils come away from you, coming along with him as he moves. They're not attached to him, but fade into mist near his body.

The daylight is fading, so Copia turns on the bedside lamp – a quiet light but nothing too bright.

“You want to see me?” you tease, except that he nods dumbly and you feel a heat rise to your face at the honesty.

When he returns, the tendrils leap to your legs, like they missed you. Copia places the pillows behind your head and the towel under your hips. It seems like he's concentrating hard on stilling the tendrils, but with little success.

He lays down flat between your legs. The tendrils reach more, along your knees, thighs – up across your belly to your breasts, a few experimentally squeezing against them.

He's always good at oral. He starts gentle – the tentative tip of his tongue flicking buzzy pleasure into your clit, just enough to have you squirm, the tentacles roving your skin. Some touch, others constrict – the ones along your knees pull them open a little more, even though Copia's own arms hold your thighs still against his shoulders.

He presses his tongue closer, a little more insistent, more with the flat of his tongue. You're adrift in all the way he – they – touch you, the simple hold of his hands on your thighs, the writhing warmth that strokes your belly, your waist, your breasts. Squeezing and touching. One tentacle flicks lazily at your nipple, but is replaced by Copia's hand, reaching to gently pinch it until it's stiff.

You moan, reaching for his hair, to press him closer, his nose pressed full against your bush. You can feel a little smile on his lips, the way they press against you, and it makes you laugh, carding fingers through his hair until he slips a finger inside you.

“Fuck,” he murmurs against you, dragging his tongue through your folds, “You're so wet.”

“Because of you,” you moan, as he adds another finger almost immediately.

It's odd. The tendrils shouldn't feel like him, but they do. The feeling of wet stone isn't so far from his calloused hands stroking eager paths along your body, the way they have a hundred nights before. That they're all his desire for you feels true too -- they all touch you the way he would touch you, only there are so so many more of them.

He sucks on your clit, curling his fingers against that particular spot you love – the tentacles hold your bucking legs in place, so the only thing you can do is tremble, grinding against him.

More tendrils come around you, around your waist, your shoulders – one rests over your neck but doesn't squeeze, just sits like a polite necklace, stroking along your windpipe. Two thread around your thighs and hold you steady as you rock against Copia's agile tongue.

“Fuck,” Copia says, reaching a fumbling hand under himself, sucking and licking and thrusting his fingers into you.

You've done the post-ritual orgies before. Ghouls and Sisters a plenty. Many crowding around you, touching you, fucking you.

This is different. This is one man with many limbs and a singular focus.

You gasp, moaning and trembling along with the curling thrusts of his fingers, the synchronous drags of his tongue. You try to find any relief you can from the building, peaking pleasure – but no, the tendril holds you in place, holds you open, keeps squeezing and stroking until your voice cuts out and you tug hard enough on Copia's thick hair you worry you'll rip it out.

He keeps licking as you come down, his fingers still inside you, thrusting weakly, until you wiggle against his tongue to tell him it was enough.

He comes up to his knees, leaning over you and kissing you messily.

“Fuck,” he curses, “Fuck, cara mia-”

He nestles between your legs, rutting against your wet, post-orgasm cunt. He's hard, leaking precum, the familiar length and heft of it so good there, so good against your sensitive clit.

But you're more awake than he is, and an idea comes to you.

You place a hand on his chest.

And push him up.

He goes willingly, of course. He rises up onto his hands even though it looks like the thing he wants to do least, the tendrils squirming and writhing against your skin desperately, his breathing hard.

You push him until he's sitting back on his heels, cock jutting from his trousers.

“Strip, please,” you breathe, your fingers lazily stroking your over-sensitive clit.

He's lucky he's not in his cassock. You think trying to do 33 buttons might drive him crazy, trying to get at you. His shirt comes off with blinding speed, and then his trousers are pried off – they're so tight it takes a bit of ungainly wiggling, but it makes you laugh, watching the tendrils flail along with his movements

“So mean,” he whines, as he fumbles with the laces of his boots, and you laugh. He takes plenty of time to ogle as you touch yourself, blindly unlacing his boots to finally shuck the whole assortment of clothes off.

He's so eager that feel almost bad when you put your hand on his chest again.

He whines.

“Show me how in control you are,” you giggle, coaxing a few of the tendrils closer. “Just them. See if they can make me come again.”

He groans, but he listens. Sits back.

The tendrils wrap around you again. The same places – around your thighs and hips and waist, snaking up around your breasts to cup them, replacing your hands where they stroke your skin – but there are a few new ones too. A couple that press against you, that stroke your clit with a kind of lazy lapping, one that sneaks down the cleft of your ass, one of the blunt-ended ones that presses against your pussy.

Copia's a pretty red, watching with his mismatched eyes. You hadn't noticed before, but the tendrils are slick now, leaving behind paths of wet that cool and dry quickly against your skin.

You press the two tentacles closer, urging them forward. Both plunge into you with a suddenness that makes you gasp, voice shuddering. The one that holds your hip, the one that pressed itself against the cleft of your ass, is nicely tapered, and the stretch is nice, especially when the two find a rhythm.

“Ah,” he says, hands clenched by his side, eyes lost in pleasure.

Each tendril slicks and writhes along you, pressing and touching and caressing. It all feels like him. You groan, wanting his hands on you, but it's better to have him watching, eyes full of lust as he – but not really him – fucks you mercilessly.

Another blunt-ended one presses itself sweetly against your lips. You level him a look – he shrugs, almost an apology – but you take it into your mouth gently, letting it slide across your tongue, filling your mouth.

It's absolutely filthy. These things pulsing and writhing along your skin, filled up with him – they even smelled like him, a heady dark scent like leather. His poor cock drips onto the carpet, him leaning forward and watching this show like he might taste it if he got close. For all the pleasure it was giving you, it must be doubly worse for him, and the thought makes you giggle, running your tongue over the tendril's blunt head.

You wriggle your hips, the movement causing a bright vibrant shock of pleasure to run up your spine, meltingly sudden, your pussy twitching around the tendrils, your breath coming short around the tendril in your mouth. So good.  

When you look-

He's just come too, his stomach spattering with seed, some dripping onto the carpet. But he only leans forward more, the tendrils insistent. He's still hard, and if he even softened for a moment, you can't quite see.

They fuck you deeper, squeeze harder. The blunt one inside you presses deep, hitting the edge of you over and over, no stopping. It's so much sensation. You come again, the pressure precise on your clit, in your mouth. The feeling of being completely filled by him never got old, never less arousing.

He's come closer. Closer. The tendrils work in marvelous chaotic tandem, but it's his hand on your thigh that really does it for you, the blunt ended tendril pulling from your mouth with a line of spit, Copia barely waiting until he kisses you, his soft tongue against your lips.

“Satanus,” he moans, fumbling for his cock, for your clit, for something. His hands find your waist, your breasts – his teeth settle along your neck and bite, hard enough it's going to leave marks, angry purple marks. You find it a bit hard to care, as you shiver again from another orgasm, the blunt-ended and the tapered tendrils pressing into you with no less force or direction.

He – and this is remarkable, even in the midst of all this, where you're sure every nerve of his is on fire, where he's drooling, where he'd certainly prefer to just bowl you over and fuck you like an animal – leans you back, gently, onto the pillows. The blunt-ended tendril pulls out – it leaves behind some of that wetness, the quick-drying wetness – but Copia slips back in, shuddering when he's fully sheathed.

You gasp too, pulling him closer. The tendrils are good but nothing compares to the sweet feeling of your lover's skin, of his cock that knows your body. You're attuned to one another, and it makes it so good.

You hook a leg behind his, pulling his mouth to yours. His face is still wet from before, but you're used to the taste of yourself. His hands rove where the tendrils don't cover, don't stroke at your skin.

Fuck.

It's amazing – you feel another orgasm building, the inside of you slick and fucked-out but ready again for it. There's so much.

He comes too, filling you – but there's not stopping for either of you. You didn't expect to like it so much, getting fucked though his cum like this, but you really, really do. You'd be afraid, but there was no worry about Copia – something about his body meant there wasn't a risk to it.

But you're not really thinking about that. You can't think about much other than how good it feels, the burn of arousal as he snaps his hips against you again, totally uneven. He's pressed against you, rutting like an animal, tongue laving lazily over your skin, no coordination but raw uneven thrusts, fucking where no other name would do for it.

The tendrils writhe slowly, exhaustedly- until-

He comes again, and so do you.

It's good, but in the way an ice pack after a fever might. It's a relief, something burning finally extinguished. Water on a bonfire.

You breathe.

The tendrils fall away – melting into the ground, into something like dried ink. Their absence feels lonely, but Copia is still inside you, breathing and looking like he wants nothing more than to fall asleep with his face pressed to your chest. It's a good replacement.

He raises his head though, blinking like he's drunk.

“You're not hurt, are you?” He blurts, sloppily.

You laugh, smoothing a bit of hair behind his ear.

“No,” you giggle, pulling him close again. Gently kissing his cheek. “That was good.”

He smiles, sweetly. You understand why you like him so much.

“Don't, uh,” he giggles, “Don't think I could do this all the time.”

“No,” you agree, feeling the ache, knowing your lower back would seize tomorrow, “S'a little intense.”

“It felt like there were forty of me. And they were all touching you. And it was-”

Copia nuzzles closer into your chest, slipping his eyes closed and finally pulling out. “I don't think I've ever wanted anything more? If it was just you and I together like that- forever? An infinite tessellation of mia cara?”

You laugh, certainly feeling messy but not worried when you feel his cum drip out of you.

“Like holy wine? But way better?” he continues, speaking the words into your cleavage, pressing his fingers back into you to really get all of him out.

It's so sensitive, but he goes gently, just two fingers and a little bit of pressure.

“Ah-! Was it good for you-” he asks, in a sudden panic.

“Yes,” you say, smiling and lacing your arms around his neck, “It was somehow even better than I imagined.”

He flushes, and smiles shyly. “Well, I'm certainly glad.”

“After this,” you hum, watching him clean the both of you off gently, fold away the towel he laid under your hips, “I think we should have dinner.”

“What were you thinking?” he hums, tossing the towel away and helping you up to sitting.

“Calamari?” You joke, and he giggles as he hands you your clothing again.

[yetremains]

“...”

“Well damn, alright.” Yang downed the rest of her tea quickly, before gasping for a breath as she shoved her cup away.

“Lightning round, lets go!”

chocolate: when was your first kiss?

“It was in my young teen years, 15 I think. I’d been dating that individual for a couple weeks before they abruptly decided to kiss me then and there. We’d been dancing around the subject for a while. It wasn’t spicy or romantic, merely spur of the moment. Was sweet though. The year after that we had broke up and remained friends for a while until we lost contact.”

french vanilla: how old are you?

“You shouldn’t ask someone their age when they been through shit. Too god damn old is the best answer if you must know. I’m older than 28, trust me. Don’t let looks fool you. But hey, I’m getting even older come December 25th!”

cotton candy: three places you want to travel to?

“Do places long gone count? Can I say Home? Nah probably not. So three places let’s see... Japan, China, Romania. The actual places not whatever anything makes them out to be.”

strawberry: a language you wish you could speak?

“I know a damn lot of languages actually. Sometimes it’s hard to think of the right words to say because of this, knowing so many. It’s one reason I’m so odd with my way of speaking. However, I would not mind learning some dead languages. If that doesn’t count, then... Persian?”

coffee: favorite cosmetic brands?

“Ah hell. I mean, I’m not much of a cosmetic expert here. I work with whatever I really need for a music show or for just every day. I could say L’Oreal because I’m worth it joke but that seems in bad taste. If I was using cosmetics just for the enjoyment or to look special, I just try and get whatever works for me.”

mint chocolate chip: indoors or outdoors?

“Answered this one~!”

cookie dough: do you play any instruments?

“Plenty. I’ve decided to learn a few different ones so I can mix together my own music needs of demands arise for it. But I really enjoy stringed instruments or wind instruments. I carry a small harmonica or Ryūteki in my packs.”

rocky road: favorite songs at the moment?

“Not easy to give an answer for, I’ve got a really broad taste. But I’m thinking something with a heavier beat at the moment-”

butter pecan: favorite songs for life?

“Oh come on this makes it harder. As I said, broad taste. I can find enjoyment in many kinds of music and lyrics. Can’t exactly answer a favorite song for life here.”

cheesecake: what’s your zodiac sign?

“Which zodiac are we talking here? There are a lot out there. But the first one into my head is Capricorn. I am on the 25th of December.”

toasted coconut: the beach or the pool?

“As nice as the ocean can be, fuck the ocean. I’ll enjoy the coast line just fine but you won’t catch me swimming that far out in it. There is damn good reason why I don’t like the ocean much anymore. I’ll relax in a pool or a lake or river, thank you.”

chocolate chip: what’s your most popular post?

“Good question. I’ve made a few social media posts that exploded. But that’s probably not fair considering the music I do. I think my most popular is from years ago when I spray painted a statue of a certain someone to look like a baboon.”

bubblegum: books or movies?

“Both! Why choose? I enjoy both quite a bit. and besides, Books can always be there no matter what. And can hold so much valuable information depending what you are reading.”

pistachio: manga or anime?

“... Both again? But I prefer novels. This is more a guilty pleasure.”

salted caramel: favorite movies?

“I can’t remember the last movie I watched, if I’m honest, let alone a favorite movie.”

birthday cake: favorite books?

“Hmmm. Hard one. I enjoy the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe? There is Shōgun. The Mark of Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Bram Stoker Dracula... There’s several.”

moose tracks: favorites for manga?

“Not exactly applicable, I don’t remember the name of any I like when I was young.”

orange sherbet: favorites for anime?

“The same as above. Wow I am old... I should really get in touch with these things again.”

peanut butter: favorite academic subject?

“Hah, I loved science and history. A damn lot really. I’ve used both to really help my self along and it’s come in handy. My need for knowledge had me spend a lot of time researching.”

black raspberry: do you have any pets?

“I’ve not had any pets since I was a rookie. Never had the time to truly care for one, and now with a hectic life, I’m not gonna do that to an animal.”

mango: when and why did you start your blog?

“Suppose just to exist and have something to do between pit stops.”

mocha: ideal weather conditions?

“It is torn between two for me. A nice warm day, clear, maybe with a gentle breeze. Some clouds above, and calm. That’s the ideal outing day... But, I suppose due to my birthday, I can enjoy a soft snow coming down,some snow on the ground, watching through a window with tea in hand while bundled up and warm. Much prefer clear day though.”

black cherry: four words that describe you?

“Now that’s just not fair. Let me think... Loyal, Determined, Caring, Protective.”

neapolitan: things that stress you out?

“Being reminded of my failings and those I’ve lost... the people I’ve hurt... Thinking about friends I wish I was closer too but too fearful to be that close. Hm. I can also be stressed out by far too much stimulation for my brain at once that it can spin my gears way too quickly.”

raspberry truffle: favorite kind of music?

“Again, broad tastes. But depending on my mood or feelings, it changes what my favorite kind of music can be. But I will always enjoy something gentle and calming.”

chocolate marshmallow: favorite brands of candy?

“I’ve always been partial to chocolates, or cream items.”

toffee: a card game that you’re good at?

“Ever hear of a game called Egyptian Rat Race? Also known as Egyptian Rat Screw, dunno why of course. I learned this game when I was a kid. 52 card deck, deal to each player until the deck is entirely used and everyone has a pile face down. Starting to the left of the dealer players pull the top card off their pile and place it face-up in the middle. If the card played is a number card, the next player puts down a card, too. This continues around the table until somebody puts down a face card or an Ace. When a face card or an ace is played, the next person in the sequence must play another face card or an ace in order for play to continue.If the next person in the sequence does not play a face card or an ace within their allotted chance, the person who played the last face card or an ace wins the round and the whole pile goes to them. The winner begins the next round of play.“

lemon custard: do you eat breakfast?

“Uh... Admittedly not often. With my metabolism problem I absolutely should, considering the demanding needs. I just can’t always bring my self to do so, the will for it isn’t there. I do snack though.”

dark chocolate: turn ons?

“Ooohh boy... Now this one has me turning a bit red here. I mean there is biting and tight holds, the usual stuff. But... I’m not gonna list a lot here, a turn on can be blindfolding me if I trust my partner enough.”

fudge: turn offs?

“Being an asshole, for one.”

peach: how do you relax?

“A nice cup of tea, maybe some soft music, and let my mind unwind a little. That’s if I’m alone. Otherwise a gentle conversation with a friend about small things... Once upon a time long ago I would have said long hugs or cuddling. Not an option these days.”

praline: a popular book you haven’t read yet?

“I’ve not read The Golden Compass, that has been on my to do list.”

superman: do you like sweaters?

“Weird how this one is with sweaters... but yeah I can enjoy sweaters in the right weather. They can be soft and warm, comfy. Great for cold days.”

cherry: do you drink tea or coffee?

“I drink both actually. But if I have the option for a good tea I’m going to take it without hesitation. Yet the spark of energy from Coffee can’t be denied.”

dulce de leche: an instrument you wish you could play?

“Without a doubt, Taisho-goto. Have you seen one of those? It’s so intricate and amazing, and can sound wonderful. It can be used to play all sorts of things. Fascinates me that the item was half inspired by a typewriter.”

blackberry: have you ever laughed so hard you cried?

“Oh a few times actually. It’s been a good long while now since I’ve gone that far, but it’s come close. But once upon a time this has happened!”

ginger: a new feature you wish tumblr could have?

“To Become A Functioning Website.”

blueberry lemon: favorite blogs?

“Now that’s just kissing and telling...” (( I’d also have to tag and dont wanna spam. ))

almond: favorite mean girls quote?

“Oddly specific, but... Variations of ‘One time she punched me in the face. It was awesome.’. “

butterscotch: what color are your nails right now?

“Uh, natural and colorless? I’ve not painted my nails in a while.”

cinnamon: have you ever been confessed to?

“I have yes.”

blue moon: have you ever had a crush on someone?

“Again, yes. We’re not gonna go into this can of worms.”

cappuccino crunch: do you take naps?

“Sometimes. There comes the occasion when one does get exhausted and needs a damn nap.”

mint: the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

“Get way too flustered and accidentally admit I liked someone.”

brownie batter: do you like sushi?

“Completely! You say we’re going to get Sushi and you have my full attention.”

key lime: where do you want to be right now?

“Home unfortunately.”

red velvet: do you wear prescription glasses?

“Nope! I’m thankful for that, but one day I have no doubt that’s going to change.”

green tea: favorite flavors of ice cream?

“Mochi green tea, chocolate chip mint, red bean, Strawberry shortcake... Gelato raspberry or orange cream.”

[until-we-fall-in-love]

creature-song: part two

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader, light Steve Rogers x Reader, light Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers, light Wanda Maximoff x Bucky Barnes

Summary: You should turn away. But you let it happen, let it happen because some dark, most trapped part of you wants to. A piece of you that you have chained like an animal, a mongrel bitch, and tried to let die. It paces inside you now, hungry and waiting and ready.

1600s America AU, Witch!AU, Possessed!Bucky, Gothic, Horror

Warnings: Smut, gore, violence, demons, possession, sacrilegious themes. This is 18+ as most of my works are.

If you are under 18 you should not be reading this!

A/N: hey guys! here is the second and last part to this fic! pls enjoy and let me know what you think!!

Here is Part One

***

You are born anew, suddenly coltish on newly powerful legs. You are flushed with color, your hair shining and eyes that can simmer into ember orange and serpent yellow. You are different from Wanda; she reveres you with new respect in equal measures that she treats you like a new, bratty princess that needs to be guided and taught and scolded. 

She says she serves you, becomes so protective that you can hardly leave her sight. If anyone dares utter your name with anything but respect, they are falling ill with oozing boils and welts. She is merciless, possessive. She makes your head spin. She teaches you the ways of the witch, forces your chin up higher and calls you Dark One, Hidden One, Princess of Night, Queen of Beasts. 

You do not know when the demon speaks for Bucky or when Bucky speaks for the demon. He becomes even more protective, aggravated. You feel powerful, feel free and wild and savage. 

You’re no longer freezing and shivering.

You crawl into Bucky’s lap and sink down upon him, even when he is clear-eyed and gentler with you. You let him take you on your stomach like a snake when his eyes are blackened with the demon. He becomes yours. You become his.

Wanda teaches you magic, teaches you around a flickering flame before she lays you out and makes you hers, too. 

More bodies appear, dripping in velvet red and a lovely shade of pink. You grow apathetic. Wanda is cursing too many.

Rumors spread like wildfire. It’s easy to target the pariahs of the village, even more so when you three have become the monsters they’ve always wanted you to be. But at least you claim it now, at least it is yours and you love it, you love your power and the rabid wolf in you that has been released in all it’s feral glory. 

Wanda is accused of witchcraft, followed quickly by you. Your neighbors gawk and stare and whisper behind their ugly hands that you wish to see crushed with stone or cut cleanly off. How many times can you break a finger bone? 

But you and Wanda turn wide, girlish eyes on them. You pretend to be sweet, huddle together the way they think females should cower. 

Steve defends you both, scolds them for daring to think so. Your golden boy, your lion-hearted man.if he notices the change in you, he cannot speak it loud, perhaps for fear of making it true. 

So good, so gracious and kind. A Godly man, if it weren’t for the bent part of him. You can feel it now, in his thoughts that you worm into. In the way his eyes linger on Bucky’s form. On yours and Wanda’s. 

You don’t know how to tell him that there is something twisted inside him, too, that you can’t wait to devour him. So you lick your lips as lioness, she wolf, sharp-toothed fox, and wait for him to come to you.

***

The days are brief; darkness cradles the world at a tender hour. You and Wanda thrive in it, wander out to the woods with a candle, and roll around upon the forest floor together. She strips you bare, plays too close to the edge of town because she likes the thrill of being caught. You laugh and moan and grab at each other, sink teeth into vulnerable skin and shake and shiver like the final leaves upon the spindly, reaching trees. 

And from the edges, someone watches. Eyes, impossibly blue and shining in milky starlight.

Steve crouches low, hiding in the shadows like some perverse and unsettled man. He shouldn’t, but he follows you and Wanda out into the darkness. He suspects something, in the pit of his stomach, suspects something awful and he follows in hopes of being proved wrong. He hopes it’s innocent. So he watches with wide eyes and a trembling heart as you both lose your wool dresses and shawls and underthings. He shouldn’t look, God, oh God, he knows he shouldn’t watch this—

But something inside him begs him to stay. His heart is in his throat, palms suddenly clammy and cold. He can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. The dim candlelight is made into a small bonfire and your bare, twisting bodies are illuminated for him. 

He watches as your lips fall down to Wanda’s chest, makes her laughs turns into gasps as she pulls at your hair that unravels over your shoulders and back. Wanda forces you down, sinks into your lap and hooks a leg of yours over hers, fits you two together by your cores until both your hips move in tandem.

He watches you kiss the way lovers do, with a vicious tenderness, with a searing sort of love. He’s jealous, he realizes stupidly, unable to even breathe as he watches you both raptly.

His fingers dig into the bark of a tree, scratching the way you do at Wanda’s shoulders. He swallows thickly at the noises you make, knows this is sin. Knows this is damnation. 

He should forsake you both. He should never look upon either of you again and go back home to say a thousand burning prayers.

But he’s shaking by the time you’re both finished, his cheeks flushed and eyes shining. He is hungry, he realizes, near desperate. 

You’re witches, he thinks, you’re something evil and corrupted and twisted. He should tell a minister, he should try to make you both repent on bent knees and your eyes cast downward, the fan of your lashes against your warm and soft cheeks—

When he finally tears himself away with a half growl of frustration, his trousers are constricting, too tight and damning evidence. He aches in the most inner parts of him.

You and Wanda giggle, your laughs carrying on the twisting, cold wind that pushes at Steve as he storms away. As if you both know how he longs, as if the wind knows, too. 

***

Your nights are fever dreams of hands and warm, slick mouths. Fingers between lips and legs, hands wrapped tight around your throat, your breasts, your legs. Bathed in blood or arousal or mercury moonlight. You lose count of the bodies as you grow stronger each day, able to move things with your mind. Or curse and strike someone down. You float through daylight, warm even as snow begins to fall and everyone and everything withers away into death.

You and Wanda are accused of witchcraft. They tear through the village looking for you two and when they find you both, Wanda pushes you behind her, bares her teeth and growls into the cold air so it curls upwards like smoke, like a dragon. 

They near with their sludge faces and greedy, grabbing hands. They curse you as witches and suddenly seize you both with their frigid fingers that pull and prod at your soft skin. 

“Don’t touch her!” Wanda snarls like a wild thing and you latch tight to her wrist, her hand, before you are being pulled away.

Others grab at Wanda and they try to separate you two. Wanda thrashes, her eyes flooding with red when you shriek in pain as others start twisting your arms, trying to wrench you away from her. It feels as if you’re being torn apart, stitching to be ripped and unwoven. You feel suddenly feral, twisting and turning to try and slip free.

“Let her go!” Wanda says again and there is a ringing to her voice, a power that surges. Her nails dig into your skin and you hold as tightly as you can as arms wrap around your middle and lift you clear off the ground. They pull at you, vicious and unforgiving.

You fight with all you have, yell and snarl, throw yourself towards Wanda but they tear you both apart kicking and screaming.

You don’t realize when you start sobbing through clenched teeth, but you do. As if they’re torturing or killing you, as if they’ve ripped out your heart. They drag you through the streets like an animal and you want to kill them all, you want to paint everything in their blood. You want to watch Bucky dismember them, you want to dance on their grave and pin Wanda to the cold stone to feel her body against yours.

The men tear at your clothes because they can, because they’re greedy and you scream. Wanda hears you, and there is a sudden pulse from her, a shriek, before some of the men around her are thrown backwards from her. She fights harder, but is overtaken again. 

They haul you both to a cold and darkened prison. They throw you in separate cages, though connected. Wanda and you push against the bars to touch and speak with each other. She strokes your wet cheeks, tries to soothe you. 

“I won’t let them near you,” She murmurs, “I won't let them touch you again. I’ll kill them before I let them.” She tells you with heat, her red eyes shining with tears as she holds your face through the hateful, metal bars that are rusted and rough. 

When they return, they demand to check you both for devil’s marks, witch’s marks. One man nears you with outstretched hands and Wanda seethes, hisses through her teeth and jerks her head slightly to the left—

The man’s neck snaps in the same direction,  cracks sickly, and he falls dead at your feet. You can sense his soul now departing. You grow chilled, the veil between your world and the next shimmering before your eyes. 

You skitter back and away, into Wanda’s hands and arms as she hushes you. Her nose drips scarlet blood now, eyes fever bright in the darkness. The men stare in fear and repulsion, horror in their faces and you stare back at them with the same repulsion and terror. 

They shouldn’t touch you, shouldn’t grab at you. Who are they to try and twist you and cage you both? All they’d done was cage you— your whole, smothered life. All they’d done was made you hate who you are and what you’d become or hadn’t become. They’d tried to make you grey and slack faced and cold and unfeeling. They tried to make you housewife and child of God and mother of many sons.

Your minister says you were born in sin.

So what was the point, then? You had railed, had searched and begged and prayed for answers and received none. Be quiet, they’d wanted, be silent and still and look beautiful and serene but not so beautiful that you should tempt the men and you—

You hadn’t breathed until Wanda had shown you the ways of a new life. You’d been so free with her, with Bucky. With Steve.

“We will be free once more.” Wanda promises in your ear and it slithers down between your shoulder blades and settles in the notches of your spine as you peer at the men in the darkness with their open, grasping hands. 

***

A trial is had. 

They want to hang you both for your crimes. 

Steve defends you, swears as witness and under God that he’s only ever seen you both be angels. And if there has been discretion, he is certain your souls can be saved.

Why are they so close? It’s unnatural, is it not? 

Not for two orphans, Steve says, not for two girls who only have each other.

People say that Miss Maximoff has killed with a look because someone touched the other.

Impossible, Steve counters. She is frightened, he presses, she is protective. They are all each other has.

Shouldn’t they have found husbands by now? 

They’ve no mother to guide them. Take pity on them, he says, they are lost and searching.

Does our scripture not say to take in the weary and lost? Steve cries, face honest, as he says;

They have done no wrong. 

He lies through his teeth for you both, the twisted part of him growing like a gnarled tree root, spreading deep into him. 

And when he visits your cells, you rush towards the bars to touch him, to thank him. 

Wanda is there, too, trying to press through the bars to you and him. 

“Oh, Steve,” You whisper, your fingers reaching through the bars to touch his face, his pale hair. You brush over his cheeks as he gazes at you.

“You shouldn’t defend us.” You tell him, “They’ll hang you, too, if you’re not careful.”

“I won’t let them hang you.” Steve says as if he could move mountains and there is your Greek hero; going up against immeasurable odds. “You won’t.” He promises like Wanda, “I’ll set you free.”

The words are pressed into your jaw, just below your ear. You become aware of all that he’s willing to do for you both and you pull back to stare at him slightly, at all of him.

“Do not lie the way you did to the jury and the judge.” You hiss to him, nails skimming his face now.

“I-I didn’t—“

“I know you saw us in the woods that day.” You tell him lowly, your voice coaxing and soft and breathy. “I know you saw us sin.” You tell him as your own eyes suddenly shimmer into the orange of a liquid sunset.

Steve swallows harshly, cheeks aflame.

You grab at the back of his neck, pulling him close so that your lips brush his between the jagged bars. 

“I know that you liked watching. And that you love me and Wanda and Bucky too much to be scared.” You nudge your nose to his cheek and sigh as if you are in love, “You’re so loyal, Steve.”

He stammers, “W-what does Bucky—“

But he knows the answer and you kiss him lightly upon the lips before he departs.

Your sweet sighs and coaxing fingers have him singing with heat, knowing that no matter how he tried, he wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way than this. Sin or not, you awaken something inside his chest, a bird finally taking flight and he won’t lose that. He can’t. Just like he can’t lose Bucky or Wanda, either. 

Bring all that you have, he thinks of the church and the minister and the town, and I will plant myself like a tree between them, and stand there forever more. 

Little does he know, they will thoroughly test that; they’ll bring axes and fire and sing and dance with ugly faces and feet when he goes up as a pyre for you and Wanda to be staked upon.

***

The room smells of sick when Steve enters; it is damp and dark and sweltering for November. Bucky twists in the sheets of bed, a fire roaring and snapping gently in the fireplace. He is sweaty and shining and red in the face. He looks pale, though, stricken and weak and the heavy bags beneath his eyes seem as if they’ve gained even more weight. 

Bucky grew ill early into the morning and has only gotten worse since. He’s thrown up black bile again, Steve can see it in the bucket beside his thin, lumpy bed. 

Bucky’s eyes are shining when they fall on Steve and he reaches out to him like he is a boy again, sick and in bed and begging for his mother. Steve goes to sit beside him, 

“There’s something horrible in me, Steve.” Bucky rasps, “I’m trying to get it out. You have to help me.” 

Steve shakes his head, places his palm upon Bucky’s forehead, “It’s just a fever.” He says dismissively and Bucky grabs his wrist, holds his hand to his clammy and hot face. He presses his forehead into Steve’s palm, squeezes his eyes shut.

“Steve,” He says, low and desperate, his voice ragged, “Steve, it’s not just a fever.” 

And then Bucky’s body seizes, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he goes straight and tight as an arrow, ready to be shot. Steve’s eyes widen, concern flooding him as Bucky’s body seizes sharply.

“Bucky,” He hisses, just as Bucky begins shaking violently, body twisting. Steve tries to hold him still, but his tremors grow too strong, too brutal and hysterical. “Buck!”

Steve grapples for his shoulders, to hold him down hard against the bed, leaning down and using all his strength and weight to try and pin him down. He fears he’ll hurt himself, fears the worst—

Bucky’s hand- the false, metal one- shoots out to grab Steve around the back of his neck and when his eyes snap open, they are blazing, coal black. 

Black as night. A starless sky.

Steve’s heart jumps as if it might leap from the nest between his ribs. 

“Oh, Stevie,” He says in a higher, breathy voice, “You’re so loyal, Steve.” He says in the same way that you had and Steve tries to lurch away, suddenly shocked and frightened.

But Bucky holds tighter, unnatural strength in that metal limb that keeps Steve from bolting to the other side of the room. Steve’s breaths grow ragged, his chest rising and falling quickly, fluttering in a way that he is not familiar with. 

“You lied for them in front of the court. Swore to your God that you’d never seen them sin.” Bucky says in a slithering, inky voice. It reverberates inside of Steve’s mind, sinks down his throat and into his chest and core—

“But you saw them.” He says slowly, “You saw the way they touched and rolled around on the ground like animals in heat.”

Steve is shaking, breathing hard through his nose.

“And you liked it,” Bucky growls, his voice infinite and pushing at him, “You thought about it. You think of their naked bodies—“

“Bucky—“ Steve tries to stop him, before his heart falls out through his stomach.

“Not quite,” the black-eyed creature hums lowly, twisting slightly beneath Steve’s hands so that their chests may touch. “But I am a catalyst for his desires. I set him free. I set them free.” He tilts his head at an odd angle, a serpent about to strike, “And I can set you free, too.”

“No.” Steve tries to jerk away again but the grip on him is bruising, inhuman. 

He leans towards him, “I know how you look at him.” He hisses through teeth that seem sharper, too close to his vulnerable neck, “I know how he looks at you.” 

“I don’t—“

He jerks Steve closer, so their lips almost brush. “Don’t deny yourself,” He breathes and this time, it seems like Bucky, the voice rough and soft and pulling at tendons in Steve’s soul. “You can have him. And them.” And Bucky finally releases him, strokes the back of his neck like a lover, twists his hands in the blond of his hair.

Steve longs to relax into it, to settle into Bucky’s bones. But—

Bucky sags against the bed, eyes rolling again, until they flutter back into the blue that Steve knows in the depths of his person. Like the blue of early evening, of stone and winter.

Steve shifts off of him, hands going to his face, his neck, “Are you okay?”

Bucky pales, suddenly twists out of Steve’s grasp and spews black blood and bile into the bucket beside the bed. He wretches, whole body shuddering and seizing. 

And Steve runs his broad palm along his flank, brushes hair from his face the way a parent would, the way a lover would.

When he’s finished spilling his guts and blood into the bucket- black rust and gore, he wipes his mouth, turns back into the bed and tries to hide from Steve.

“You’re right, it’s not just a fever.” Steve says dryly and allows the room to fall into stiff, unforgiving silence. 

After a moment, after the silence becomes overbearing for him, a weight upon his shoulders and throat, as if it wants him to feel the weight of his sins, Bucky speaks;

“I did horrible things.” 

His voice is shredded and somber as he waits for Steve, so golden and bright and good, to leave him in horror.

“It wasn’t you.” Steve hushes, touches his neck.

Bucky goes still as stone.

“Yes, it was.” Bucky squeezes out, “I was present. I let Wanda lead her to me like a lamb to slaughter.” His eyes flutter up to Steve as he breathes, “I took her. Not the demon. I woke to her in my arms, desperate and soft, and I—“ 

Steve can’t breathe.

“I was the first to take her.” He releases the truth like a wind that suddenly rushes forth, a dam broken. His voice breaks, too, “She was so sweet, Steve—“

Steve inhales sharply, settles back, surprised and unsure. His mind whirls, body flushing with heat and something it shouldn’t. Guilt then, for anything other than repulsion. He shouldn’t be curious, shouldn’t want to hear Bucky’s rough, low voice tell him about what you two did when the moon was high and the only witness. He shouldn’t want to know, he shouldn’t think of you and Wanda and you soft, curving bodies; your desperate groans and hungry, seeking lips. 

He shouldn’t think about the way his chest had touched Bucky’s, how his heart had beaten a new tune. A damned song. He exhales harshly, and bitterly, wishes he knew how sweet you were, too.

Bucky is sick for three days and three nights as he tries to purge the demon from him, the soldier of a devil. His eyes will roll into winter black and spew vile, twisting words, or soft, enchanting words. Steve doesn’t leave his side, holds his shaking body when the blue returns. He feeds him and undresses him only to redress him. He bloodlets, cuts a mark to let sizzling blood rush out of Bucky in hopes of purging him. The demon tests Steve, purrs about his desires or hisses his sins. But it’s Bucky’s earnest face, his eyes that water and soften on Steve when they return blue, that really devour all of Steve’s resolve.

Especially when Bucky hides in the crook of his neck, shuddering breaths against his shoulder, holding fast and tight to him as if Steve is the very last thing keeping him tethered to this realm. He holds him when his body seizes, holds him until he doesn’t know what sin is or isn’t anymore. 

***

You and Wanda are to be hanged the following day at dawn. 

The court has decided so and when Steve had disappeared for several days, there is no man to defend you. There is no one their pale, blurry faces will listen to besides Steve. Besides, when someone tries to take you from Wanda again, they seize up and are twisted into a strange angle. 

Their bones break like brittle branches under Wanda’s power. She crushes their skull with nothing but her mind; it bursts like a berry and splatters against you both. Against all the grey, slack faces that persecute you. Wanda grows feral and fearsome, she grows anxious and possessive of you. 

And now, you both wait for your deaths. She holds you through the bars as best as she can, stroking your hair. She is strangely calm now, soothed with you near and safe for now. 

Perhaps you should be more fearful; fearful of death, of what may come after for all your sins. 

But you can only settle further into Wanda and wonder who decided it was a sin to love her. To love being touched and to live simple and wild and free. You’d die with your soul spread wide, like a flock of crows, in the least. 

Perhaps, you are also calm because you do not feel death upon you. He is not near you or Wanda. The rats do not scuttle towards you, the insects do not linger. No ravens to caw. 

So you both wait. 

Wait until there is a thump and rushed footsteps against the stones of the prison. You tense, half expecting someone to burst forth and drag you both from your cells kicking and screaming. You worry you were wrong, you worry that you know nothing about death or when he lurks--

Gold light of flame spills forth from the darkness, bursting forth from the corner.

It is Steve who rounds the corner, holding a lantern with a burning flame at its center. Bucky follows after. You and Wanda shift up, your eyes narrowing slightly upon the two. For a terrifying moment you wonder if they’ve been caught, too. Will they swing beside you and Wanda? 

But no-- no, Steve lifts the flaming lantern to see you both. You scuttle away from the light like a creature born of the shadows. 

“Hurry,” Steve says, handing Bucky the jangling keys. “We don’t have much time.” 

Bucky works quickly as you stare in slight astonishment on him, now without the demon that had been clinging to him for so long. However, something remains, something tormented inside of him that will never rest easy. 

When the metal creaks open, you lurch forward, towards Steve. “You’re freeing us?” 

“I promised I would.” Steve responds, honest and simple. 

“What do we do now?” You ask, staring up into his face. 

“We run.” He says with a slight, wry smile at his lips. You want to taste it, you think. You want to tackle him, to crawl into his arms and show you how grateful you are for him. 

“And then?” You breathe.

“I don’t know,” He says, peering into golden, dancing flame of the lantern, but there’s hope traced on the edges. As if maybe there could be something peaceful after all of this, as if maybe you all deserved more than the fires of hell.

But there is no time to talk, there is nothing to be done except become fugitives, spirits stealing away in the night. You walk lightly, Wanda’s small hand in yours, pulling you along the way she always has. You cling to the back of Bucky’s shirt, sometimes he eases you and Wanda in front of him, touches your shoulders and your backs to know that you’re real and still his. 

Steve guides, the lantern in his hand swinging, trying to banish the darkness with the light. He wades into the forest, where he doesn’t know, with his burning flame a bloom against the night. 

The light is obvious, though, and there is a commotion when you are all spotted. 

Shouts, curses, declarations are shouted at you. They ready weapons, ready their hounds, and set them loose upon the four of you. The ugly, open mouths of the towns people try to devour you all. They shout and sway, as if they are possessed with their need to kill you all. 

“Go!” Steve shouts, pushing you and Wanda onward with a rough hand, the light swinging in the darkness like a beacon. 

“Drop the lantern.” You suddenly say, your eyes sparking in the flames with the idea, “Drop the lantern and run!” 

He opens his mouth to question you, to force you onward. But you jolt forward, grab the lantern and knock it from his grasp. It falls from his hands, shatters upon the earth and the flame eagerly leaps out onto the dry, dead grass of the forest. 

Steve jumps out of the way as the smoke begins to curl.

“Let it burn.” You say, grabbing his forearm, trying to pull him along. It takes Bucky shoving at him, before Steve relents and you all take off into the forest like wolves, like foxes being hunted for sport.

The flame grows tall and quick, burning bright and hot against the black, bruised sky. The stars glimmer gold, shine down upon you all as you crash through the forest. The townspeople shout and shriek with the rising flames. 

Wanda laughs suddenly, bright and sharp and wicked and you can’t help but feel a smile creep upon your lips, too. You don’t look back as the fire hungrily eats at the grey bleakness of the town, burns it with blood red and furious orange and rust and the diamond-blue and bright part of the flame that glows like the moon. The town smolders in red now and your lungs burn as you run further from all its atrocities. 

You don’t stop running until the sun peeks through the trees, glowing of gold and robin’s egg blue. You look out at the clearing of a meadow, at the lake that shimmers under the sun, all peach and pearl and honey with the light. 

Your feet are weary, your head heavy and foggy, but Wanda is pressing into your side and Bucky is at your back and you are clinging to Steve’s shirt as you look out at the world.

And finally, you think, with smoke in the distance behind you, the wake of all your destruction, that this new world is filled with color and light you have been hungry for your entire, unforgiving life.  

[majingojira]

Jurassic Park - Expanded With Modern Knowledge

I’ve posted a few times now on how to redo Jurassic Park/Jurassic World in terms of Fauna Diversity and other factors.  So you can say with this post I’m “Back on my Bullshit.” 

Let’s dive right in, shall we?  We’ll see some repeats, but others not so much. We’ll go about it via different exhibits: The Primary Tour, The Aviary, the Aquarium, The “Fossil Zoo”, The Feeder Animals, and the WIlds. 

 The Wilds

There are indeed wild animals in Jurassic Park.  In the book, part of the whole thing as the re-creation of an extinct ecosystem.  The island Isla Nublar is based on, Cocos Island, is extremely isolated and secluded.  Outside of feral animals ( pigs, deer, goats, cats, and rats), there is very little land life.  Arthropods (Primarily ants, butterflies, millipedes, centipedes, spiders, and isopods) and 2 species of lizards - an Anole and a Gecko.  That’s about it.  Other sources say there are other reptiles on the island, but I have yet to find any details beyond that. 

Though there are a LOT of birds.  90 species, mostly seabirds using it or the offshore rocks as breeding sites.  Endemic birds include a Cuckoo (The Cocos Cuckoo, which is a glorious name a had to share), a finch, and a flycatcher.  Most other birds are found elsewhere inland or offshore. 

The books add 4 animals to the wilds: frogs, leeches, large tarantulas, and opossum. It acknowledges feral rats, but little else.  I’d include them, easily.  Several varieties of Opossum, because they are an archetypical “Ancient” mammal.  The Common and Virginia Opossum, the Water Opossum, and 2 types of Mouse Opossum are all native to Costa Rica and could easily island-hop to Nublar beforehand, or be introduced for a “Night Safari” element. 

Me?  There are 3 birds I’d bring focus to. The Bronzed Cowbird, the Cattle Tyrant, and Yellow-Headed Caracara. All of them follow large animals (or at least, things Capybara sized or bigger) and eat insects disturbed by the larger animals, or that try to feed on the larger animals.  All are native to Costa Rica and its surroundings, so with the influx of large herbivores, they are bound to come over.  Further, smaller herons and egrets would also take advantage of the larger animal movement disturbing prey.  

South America also has its own dung beetles, and I bet a few of them could be called over to all the free food.  Most deal with monkey poo, but I doubt they’d ignore the bounties available.  InGen may bring in their own to handle the elephant-sized spore, but there will be dung beetles. Lots of them. 

Other Costa Rican fauna I’d include as background elements (that could feasibly be on Isla Nublar AND fit the prehistoric aesthetic) include shrews, Central American Agouti, Northern Tamandua,  Nine-Banded Armadillo, Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth, Hoffmann’s Two-Toed Sloth, and Central American Dwarf Squirrel.  

But we also know that InGen released animals into the park that were ‘prehistoric’ to make the whole area support the dinosaurs in some way.  This included a (grossly misplaced and oversized) dragonfly/griffinfly. 

So, in a more realistic version, what would they do release into the wilds of Isla Nublar? 

Tinamous.  As I’ve said before, they can easily be in enclosures with larger animals.  They’ve been in their current form for about 10 million years, and they resemble ancestral ground birds (the kind that survived the KT Boundary) extremely well. 

Capybara.  Docile as hell and gets along with everything, as well as attracting the tick-eating birds mentioned above, these animals can chill with the best of them.  Plus the genus dates back 3.6 million years, with the subfamily going back about twice that far.  They are a bit longer than the largest known Mesozoic mammal (Repenomammus (90cm, 13kg)), growing to 1.3m and 68kg.  

The Feeder/Support Animals

In the novel, there are made mention of fish being stocked that the Tyrannosaurs feed on. The Arapaima is about the only fish for that environment (and easily obtainable) that could fit the bill. They also use goats as feeder animals, and in the movie, they use cattle to feed the raptors. 

In my take, the carnivorous animals would primarily be fed with fish and poultry.  Some smaller ones may warrant mice or rats, but fish would work much better overall.  So, Chicken, Turkey, Arapaima, Fathead Minnows, Tilapia, Poecilia, and so on. Given what we currently know about Tyrannosaurs, 6 Turkey a day would be enough to keep it fed (T. rex may need about  40k calories a day to function, and one turkey can provide about 7k calories).  Or 5 Arapaima (fish provide 82 calories per 100 grams, and arapaima can get up to 200kg, even assuming 100kg, that’s 8,200 calories per fish).  

Goats have about 1 calorie per gram, so a goat weighing 40kg (not out of the ordinary as breeds range from 20 to 140kg, but it would be an overall large goat) would meet the dietary needs of a Tyrannosaur.  I’ve already mentioned the cowbirds, but they are pretty important for overall animal health.  Because I’m sure there are ticks since the deer got on the island. 

The Fossil Zoo

Here are “Living Fossils” and things reverse-engineered from existing animals to be more akin to their prehistoric brethren.  As well as their mammalian De-Extinctions.  Because some would be rather easy. 

Some of the ‘wid’ animals would have an example or two in this more “proper’ zoo environment: Capybara, Agouti, Nine-Banded Armadillo, Tamandua, Sloth, Opossums.  

Other mammals of note in this section would be Treeshrews, an Aardvark, Greater Mouse Deer, Black and Rufous Elephant Shrews, A Tapir, Chacoan Peccary, Solenodon, A Giant Anteater, Platypus, Short-Beaked Echidna, and Long Beaked Echidna.  

The Platypus and Long Beaked Echidna may be modified to be larger (2ft long, and 4ft long) to match fossil ancestors.  

It would also be home to 3 de-extinct Mammals.  Quagga, Thylacine, and Gigantopithecus.  The first is easy, the second could get additional funding, the third... Because it’s Cool. 

But with any de-extinction, there come problems.  This is Jurassic Park after all.

Quagga is easy to tame but can be high strung at times.  It does not react well to the smell of predatory dinosaurs. 

Thylacines ... have a very nasty hunting technique of BITING OFF FACES. They aren’t bloodthirsty or anything, even taking turns to feed in an orderly fashion, but their hunting technique is rather mean. 

Gigantopithecus are 3m tall, 500kgs, and STILL able to climb rather well.  it looks like an Orangutang trying to play Gorilla, but with only minimum sexual dimorphism in terms of size (males are still bigger) and it’s working out very well.  Like orangutans, they are natural cage breakers.  They also have very strong jaws and large canines.  They will bite when angered, and if it wants to, it is strong enough to wreck several people in a charge.    

Capybara, Mouse Deer, Tapir, Peccary, Giant Anteater, and the de-extinct trio would have outdoor enclosures, naturally. 

Most of the reptiles would be in the aquatic section, but there are 4 that would be here. 

Tuatara (Modified for tropical environments), the Aldabra Giant Tortoise (possibly grown to “Testudo atlas”/Megalochelys atlas sizes -- almost 7ft across and weighting 4000kg), Quinkana, and Megalania. 

Why? Because Quinkana is a cool crocodilian land predator, and Komodo Dragons are basically island dwarf versions of Megalania.  Quinkana is 6m long (so it’s Q. fortirostrum rather than any of the other species), and Megalania 7m long.  

Once again, we have the unexpected from the de-extinct animals.  

Megalania has two things that were discovered recently in its descendants.  First, it is venomous.  The venom lowers blood pressure in the victim.  So, combined with its horrible bite, the victim will more readily bleed out. The other factor is they retain the Komodo Dragon’s ability to have virgin births.  So, despite being female, they can generate MALE offspring asexually.  

I think, narratively, it would be more fun for this to be the source of the breeding dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.  

Despite being a crocodile, Quinkana is very active and mobile.  It’s also a decent digger.  So it makes a mess of the initial enclosure.  

There are a few birds in the fossil house, both the subject of De-extinction efforts. The Dodo and Upland Moa.  Both have some accessible DNA, and modifying birds' eggs is not too far fetched given what they've already done. 

The last section of the Fossil House can be called the “Carboniferous Swamp” as it’s a re-creation (as best they can do) of that environment.  Here are many amphibians, some with a proper prehistoric pedigree: Greater Siren, Midwife Toad, New Zealand Primitive Frog, Aquatic Caecilians, and Giant Chinese Salamanders.  The latter of which naturally can be up to 6ft long.  JP scientists ensure that they get big with modifications, and have gotten a few 2m monsters loafing around the “Fossil Zoo.”  Basically, as many “Living Fossils” as they can cram together. 

But the real prize here is the insects.  There are a few ‘standard’ ancient insects, and some velvet worms on display.  But the prize is the 4 ‘recreated’ insects.  InGen’s versions of Pulmonoscorpius, Meganeura, Arthropleura, and Manoblatta.  A 70cm scorpion, a Griffon-fly with a 65cm wingspread that was also 70cm long, a millipede 1m long, a 40cm cockroach, and a 1m Centipede.  

Yes, a 1m Centipede.  Narratively, we WANT things to go south, and well, there’s an episode of Lost Tapes which really has fun with giant Centipedes. 

And once again, the Chaos Effect rears its head. Of course, they are breeding despite their best efforts.  But it’s more than that. 

The Pulmonoscorpius they have is derived from an emperor scorpion.  This means it can burrow better than they expected, and while the venom of the base animal is not dangerous, the dosage in their Pulmonoscorpius makes it so.  Paralyzing adults.  In the weak or young, it can lead to coma and death.  Also, it’s more aggressive than the base species.  

The Griffonfly is the most active among them and can use its wingbeats to breathe more effectively.  It spends most of its time growing as a nymph, and a short portion of its life as a flying adult. To hold it, you need a falconer’s glove. 

The Millipede Arthropleura is armored as heck.  Far more than they expected.  And it gnaws like a rodent. 

The Centipede Arthropleura is a monster. It’s fearless and willing to attack people, with venom enough to greatly harm a person (killing the small and weak).  Multiple bites can be fatal.  They also act as carrion eaters.  

And the roach?  It’s an omnivorous scavenger.  If hungry enough, they will gnaw on people who are sleeping near them.   

The Aquarium (and Other Water-Ways)

There’s a lot of aquatic “Prehistoric” animals to draw on without genetic engineering.  Considered “Fluff” by the park, they nevertheless flesh things out. 

There are native fish in the waterways, mostly killifish.  Ingen brings in (and modifies) Bichir, Paddlefish, Sturgeon, Lungfish (South American and Queensland), Gar (Tropical and Alligator Gar), Coelocanth, Bowfin, Arapaima, and Silver Arowana.  Several of these are prized gamefish, so of course, Jurassic Park has a pond to fish for them. 

The aquarium also includes Amphibians: Greater Siren, Midwife Toads, New Zealong Primitive Frogs, Purple Frog, Hula Painted Frog, and another Giant Salamander. 

Aquatic reptiles are where things get more interesting.  There’s are tanks for sea turtles (Olive Ridley’s Sea Turtle), Pig Nosed Turtles, an Alligator Snapping Turtle, and (of course) American Alligators.  

Now we get to the cloned animals.  First, the aquatic crocodile Metriorhynchus. Also, Titanoboa (They call it Gigantophis, but it’s Titanboa).  Nothosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, and Mosasaurus round out the menagerie.  

So, how do they go wrong? 

Well, half of these animals give live birth, so the standard cloning technique didn’t work until they made an artificial womb. Titanoboa is misidentified and almost fully aquatic.  

Metriorhynchus will ‘nibble’ larger prey.  Bite off chunks of something swimming by, darting in and out.  They may or may not kill people this way, but it will maim and ‘disarm’ them.  

Nothosaurus have very dextrous hands, making the seal-reptiles natural cage breakers. They are also great climbers, so they speculate that the animals lived in rocky environments. 

Ichthyosaurs look like dolphins, but they are not.  More skittish than dangerous. 

They thought Plesiosaurus was able to haul itself onto land, but it is not.  

Mosasaurus... It is a mosasaur.  A second roar of jaws to manipulate prey it captures is pretty badass enough. And it can swallow a person whole with little effort. 

Among the dinosaurs, we have the Great Auk, the Original Penguin.  Another recently extinct bird.  Another bird in the Aquarium is the Common Loon, but by comparison, it is a minor addition.

The Great Auk is an exceedingly brave bird.  It will not run readily, preferring to peck and bite when confronted.  Why it’s so brave is not evident, but it is, and won’t take ‘no’ lying down. 

The jewel of the dinosaurs in the aquarium is the Halszkaraptor-- the diving duck raptor. Because, really, how could I not?  This one is weird enough on its own. 

The Aviary

When I first put this together, I made an effort to keep the Pterosaurs small. I’m going to make some exceptions to that for Jurassic Park fun. 

Modern Birds brought into parts of the aviary (because it has parts) are Tinamous, Seriema, California Condor, Magpie Goose, Mousebirds, Bearded Reedling, Broad-Billed Spaayoa, and Hoatzin.

Cloned birds include the Carolina Parakeet and Passenger Pigeon.  These two have large open enclosures because they require a LOT of animals in their group to be comfortable. So already, there are over a hundred of each of these animals. 

Avian Dinosaurs in the park include Archaeopteryx, Microraptor (which they call Tetraptertyx),, and Ambopteryx.  

Archeopteryx is a glider capable of downward flaps, but no upstrokes.  A generalist with the coloration and overall habits of a solitary crow. 

Microraptor is a better flying and climber than Archeopteryx with its four wings and wider grip, it doesn’t seem to mind people and will use them as perches -- which can be dangerous when their claws go in the wrong place. 

Ambopteryx is the largest winged Scansauropteryx.  An omnivore, this bat-winged beasty is just over a foot long and vomits caustic, foul-smelling stomach contents onto attackers when it is angry.  So, really, it’s a “Dragon.”  

Ceredactylus was the main Pterosaur in the Aviary in the book, and I’ll keep them around too. Complete with territorial nature. 

Other Pterosaurs in the Aviary include Pteranodon, Quetzalcoatlus, Sordes, Anurognathus, and Dimorphodon.  

Unlike the films, this remembers that Pterosaurs use their heads for grasping prey and have no eagle talons. 

Pteranodon is more gregarious, an albatross scaled up.

Quetzalcoatlus is just... well, your basic Giant Azdarhkid pterosaur. It will totally spear a person and eat them. But it spends a lot of the time on the ground, so it keeps the enclosure size small ... for a Giraffe sized animal.  And yes, it will eat people if it can.  

Sordes is an eater of insects and amphibians.  When disturbed, they will swarm around an attacker, pecking and biting to drive them off. This can lead to some unfortunate accidents. 

Anurognathus is basically a pterosaur owl and insect eater.  They have the same unnerving effect as owls.  Their defensive cries and glowing red eyes are terror inducing among humans, easily generating panic. 

Dimorphodon gallops along the ground most of the time, flying only for short distances.  Insects and small animals make up the bulk of their diet.  If it’s small and fast-moving, they will try and take a bite.  That includes fingers.  Or whole hands.  

The Park

Now we come to the dinosaurs.  There are 3 main groups of them in the park: Minifauna, Fauna, and Megafauna. The Difference comes down to weight.  Megafauna is reserved for animals over a ton.  Fauna is for animals above 20kg (or 50lbs). Minifauna is for animals below 20kg on average. 

The park comes with 21 examples of Megafauna, 10 examples of Fauna, and 10 examples of Minifauna.

In the Megafauna, many of them are prone to being ... chaotic. 

Apatosaurs are the second biggest animal in the park by weight (15 tonnes).  Their necks are lined with spines they use for defense and in contests with each other.  They also have a line of raised spines along their backs, which become quite wicked at the tip of their tail.  Lashes with their tail, done to other herd members in dominance points, or against what annoys them, can be very dangerous.  But not as dangerous as when they rear up and try to smash things with their feet or neck. It’s also a low feeder/grazer, vacuuming up food as it moves its head side to side.  

Camarasaurus (C. lentus) are the heaviest animals in the park (20 tonnes), and are mid-range browsers.  They are docile, but their large nasal cavity proves very enticing to Avian Flu, which it acts as a carrier for, but doesn’t really suffer from. 

Spinosaurus is a big land pelican/Waddling Penguin/Crocodile thing. Big claws and jaws are nasty enough on their own with its semi-aquatic nature making it versatile, it still is goofier than it has any right to be.  Which masks its danger. 

Saltosaurus is a sauropod hippo with armored scutes along its back.  That’s pretty darn weird enough.  It’s as heavy as an elephant, and a browser as well, but not to the height of some other animals...

Tyrannosaurus hunts in packs like wolves, so they had to make a group of them as “Sisters” to prevent self-destructive behavior.  So there are 4 “Sisters” that the park knows of.   With all we know about T. rex, there’s not much more to ‘enhance’ it other than letting it be as smart as a modern alligator, or house cat.  Yes, they are comparable.  Eagle-Eyed, nose better than a bloodhound, and with powerful jaws, it is an apex predator for a reason. 

Triceratops has small quills along its torso and back like a porcupine to defend itself in addition to armor plaiting.   They prefer to travel in small groups and fights for dominance can occur if the group gets larger than 5 or 10 individuals.

Deinocheirus is r one of those dinosaurs “This is too weird for the 80s to handle” we now know of.  When riled, its arms are very dangerous weapons. And it will bite, even if only to toss away smaller attackers. Eating fish and plants, this animal has an impressive bluff display, and confidence to back it up. 

Theirizinosaurus is very weird, and worse, has the personality of a goose or swan.  Very confident, will rush down what it thinks are threats, and those claws make it very dangerous. 

Omeisaurus uses its clubbed tail to establish a pecking order (or “smashing order”) in the herd. 

Euhelopus is one of the few true browsing sauropods, really resembling a Giraffe in posture or a small Brachiosaurus/Giraffatita.   Like a Giraffe, it can kick with a LOT of force.  Enough to decapitate a man from brute force alone.  It’s the smallest of the long-neck Brachiosaurus, which is why it was targeted for cloning.  

Ankylosaurus is a goat.  It eats damn near anything.  Primarily eating leaves, it also adores fruit, and will go after large insects when it can.  Or swarms of them it just licks up after breaking open a nest.  They are proficient diggers as well, they like to sleep in burrows they build. It’s also very well camouflaged, so you can trip over it and it will likely take a swipe at you for your mistake. 

Edmontosaurus may be considered a ‘simple’ dinosaur from the bones, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, not by a longshot. See that picture? That’s an Edmontosaur! 

Stegosaurus is an extremely stupid ninja.  It moves quietly for its size, can wiggle and turn its plates red when angry as a distraction, and fold its whole body into a U shape to better strike enemies with its thagomizer.  And it is not afraid of groin shots. 

Styracosaurus is all about intimidation.  When confronted, it will mock charge, holler, stamp, and make a fuss. But if you stand up to it, it will back off, or even run away. 

Amargasaurus uses its neck spines defensively while grazing.  When threatened, they roll their heads under their chests, sticking out their spikes, and charge.  They do this with minimal provocation. They also lash their tails around wickedly.  

Parasaurolophus is LOUD.  Constant maintenance is needed on the paddock as they can rattle apart their paddock locks if they are not checked regularly.  It also gets the attention of certain predators regularly.  Insulation has so far proved ineffective.

Gigantoraptor is pretty damn weird all on its own. An omnivorous oviraptorosaur over 12ft tall at the hip, feathered and fearsome.  It uses its feathery arms (as well as a displaying throat pouch to communicate with members of its species. 

Allosaurus, the lion of the Jurassic.  They behave similarly to crocodiles, but more actively.  Which means they hunt semi-cooperatively.  Because of their primarily slashing jaw setup and strong necks, they prefer to bleed large items to death rather than quickly kill them.  They can still swallow a man whole (as long as they aren’t too big).  

Plateosaurus is a large, primitive planteater.  It walks on its hind legs, despite its size and descendants.  When threatened, it rears up and tries to claw attackers who get to close like an irate Ant Eater.  And those claws are very mean. They rake trees with their claws as a demonstration of power in the herd. 

Borealpelta digs ruts for themselves to sleep in at night.  This means only their armor bits show up.  They usually use the same one when they can, but it still damages enclosures.

Carnotaurus is a Cheetahs.  Extremely long-legged runners at high speed, and at long distance.  They can also swallow a man whole by stretching their jaws out. Also, its tiny arms are used for flappy dance displays. 

Now we come to the Fauna, which are small enough to get inside buildings and still be a visible threat to humans on occasion. 

Ceratosaurus is basically a bipedal crocodile, scutes and all.  The nasal horn is flat and largely for display.  They prefer swampy environments and eating aquatic animals. The thick hides of these animals make darting almost impossible, and mildly resistant to small arms fire. 

Pachycephalosaurus have dynamic skulls, the younger ones being spikier than the adults.  And they will butt EVERYTHING that annoys them even slightly.  Worse still, they are omnivores. They decrease the amount of meat in their diet as they age, but they won’t turn it down. 

Dilophosaurus has the frill and venom of the novel/movies, but the frill is made of feathers rather than skin and is lost in adults, which can be up to 3m/10ft tall.  

“Velociraptor”, or really, Dakotaraptor, is as smart as a crow, which means minor tool use.  Juveniles can fly short distances to escape an attack.  They are less like wolves and more like lions in how they hunt, climbing in trees to assist in their ambushes.  Think of them as ground-eagle-panthers with crow intelligence. 

Protoceratops make burrows to live in.  They sleep for short periods throughout the day and night, at seemingly random intervals.  

Struthiomimus’ fully developed wings are colorful, large, and help it maneuver at speeds up to 50mph (80kph).  They also help it intimidate others -- their claws also packing a bit of a punch. Primarily herbivorous, they are also very vocal animals.  Almost obnoxiously so.  

Dryosaurus is the dinosaur equivalent of a deer or large gazelle, living in small groups in forested areas.  Because of this, and an extremely skittish nature, they are hard to spot in their enclosures.  Sure, they are ON the tour, but the runaway when the cars come by.  It makes care for them difficult as well. 

“Troodon” is really Stenonychosaurus. Omnivorous, the focus on rodents and other small animals. They also feed on more fruit, seeds, nuts, and other high energy plants more regularly than InGen thought.  They are the best cage breakers in the park, being the smartest animals there (yes, smarter than the raptors).  They are also guide-animals.  They will guide larger predators, like tyrannosaurs to food sources they can’t access, but that the other animal can.  Similar to Crows and Wolves.  

“Oviraptor”, really Anzu,  is a large oviraptorid.  Herbivorous with occasional meanderings into carnivory, it’s main gimmick is its voice.  It’s a Lyrebird. It can vocally mimic anything its herd before and incorporate it into display songs. It can also use this to manipulate other dinosaurs, be it attract small animals to eat, bring ‘help’ for itself, or scare away potential threats.  So, imagine a scene.  A group of humans is hunting for other survivors, they hear someone crying “Help! Help!” and occasionally screaming.  They rush to aid and find this tall animal here.  Their guard lowered in confusion as another predator sneaks up behind them and takes them down. 

“Parkosaurus” is actually Oryctodromeus.  A burrower like Protoceratops, they are more communal in their nesting.  It’s rather unsettling to see animals as big as a medium-sized dog pop-up out of the ground like prairie dogs. 

Microfaunae are Coyote or smaller animals that can still be dangerous, but not so often or as directly.  

Coelophysis is the “Emu” of the park. They are inquisitive, but also not very bright.  They are also opportunistic.  Which can be hilarious, but also dangerous, because you are made of meat.  And they see no qualms with biting someone and running away again and again.  In groups. 

Psittacosaurus rattles its tail feathers as a means of simple communication.  They also bite with a lot of force when agitated, enough to take off a hand. 

Dromaeosaurus is a small raptor (or rather, typical, medium-sized one), but one more heavily built to take down prey larger than itself.  This one will hook onto a person and bite away, ripping out chunks.  Given they are about the size of a turkey, several of them can do that to a person.  

Vespersaurus is an opportunistic omnivorous desert dweller that runs along sand primarily, using its single grounded toe to get better traction and movement. Its kick has TWO large raptor-like claws on it, making it extra nasty. 

Limusaurus is another Noasaurid, a strange group of dinosaurs related to Ceratosaurus.  This one changes its diet as it ages.  As hatchlings and juveniles are omnivorous, eating plants, insects, and small animals.  As they become adults, they switch to an entirely herbivorous lifestyle.  This confused the hell out of InGen first time through. 

Nanosaurus (a.k.a. Othnelia/Othneliasaurus) is a tiny ornithopod that fills in the same role as a Thompson’s Gazelle.  Small, grazing, and skittish.  They like being in large herds for protection.  

Panphagia is an omnivorous ancient sauropod relative and the oldest species of dinosaur in Jurassic Park.  A consummate opportunist, its hands make it a pretty decent cage breaker.   And it really will eat anything, almost as much as the Ankylosaurs or goats, but more carnivorous.  

Procompsognathus is a chicken-sized carnivore that eats small animals as well as scavenges for food. It is also venomous, operating in groups to take down injured animals larger than itself.  

Compsognathus, by contrast, is a housecat in terms of personality.  An expert killer of small things, but can easily cozy up to humans.  Considered “Petting Zoo” material, if not for their teeth and claws.  

Shuvuuia is one of those animals that scientists even today don’t really know how it works and is also one of the smallest nonavian dinosaurs.  It uses its claws to break open rotting wood and picks off insects very quickly. Because it eats a lot of poisonous insects and acid-filled ants.  And it converts that into pure stink. Yeah, it’s an anteater-skunk dinosaur.   Final Thoughts I could probably have shaved things down to 10-15 of the movies/books, but I wanted to fill things out not just for variety, but for a proper park.   I’ll probably revisit this for a later post...

[verminfang]

cocoroaches, butteflies, spiders, beetles, worms (if you feel like doing more: milipedes, isopods, ants, dragonflies, flies and bees)

God this is tough. Not gonna answer the if you feel like part because it makes it even harder and also answering asks on mobile cut that part of the ask off.

In descending order:

5. Butterflies: I enjoy them, they look good, they have fun symbology in various places and you can get some out there dudes but by in large they're mostly quite similar to each other and often a let down from whatever truly wild type of Caterpillar they metamorphosed from.

Cockroaches: something that would be higher on literally any other list but the competition is so so steep. I love cockroaches. Aesthetically they're great even if you don't get into the colorful varieties. They share a common ancestor with mantises which is truly wild but not as wild as Termites actually being an offshoot of the same family as cockroaches (blattodea). Virtually all roaches are social and cooperate and there's even recordings of a kind of depression among them from lonlineness. They're just cute little dudes with a pretty unfair reputation for un-cleanliness.

Beetles: Again every time I have to put one above the other is painful. Beetles are great. There are so many different types of beetle. Compare the 4,000 species of mammal described to there being over 350,000 beetle species described and even more being found. Beetles can get so wild. Bombardier beetles, gravedigger beetles etc but I also have a lot of fondness for the classic. Love a stag beetle, perpetual star's of beetle wrestling. And beetle imagery ala Khepri is also something I always enjoy seeing.

Spiders: Spiders, man what is there to day that hasn't been said. I think spiders are one of the animals that are so cool that they've transcended the arthropod stigma when you talk about liking them. Trapdoor spiders, adorable jumping spiders, Darwin bark spiders with insane web strength, there's spiders that wrap their prey up so much the pressure kills them. They're great and they look cool. Symbology spiders are sick as hell too, again no explanation needed we know all about it.

Worms: (insert worm joke) Annelids rock. There's thousands of amazing extremely weird species you'd be shocked to see. And because hey whose gonna come at me I'm also gonna count this question towards bugs that are referred to as worms but aren't technically like the Velvet Worm, a personal favourite, because no one was gonna send me and ask with Onychophora as something to rank. Also symbology wise I fucking love worms there's so much to do there. One of my favourite dnd characters warlock patron acted similar to a tape worm, consumed corpses like one of the main symbolic role of worms and was named for a line in the conqueror worm. There's more layers and those layers are all worm.

[renaer-is-allegedly-hot]

session 11 notes (i’ll fix them one day but i’m agro this was tea hate this)

Two minute one shot while dom pees

Adam has a floaty tube

Asyna can't turn into a hippo

Giant seahorse

Jane austen

Elizabethh and darcy my hands are shaking

Dom has 4e books

Dom was pretty out of it last session

It's afternoon

Dom is toasty

In jacob's other campaign a goat bit off his penis so the goat's name is richard byter

"at first the goat was reluctant"

"what a goat"

Last week on dragon heist

We were meandering through the city

"one of you met with an old friend, briefly"

Zoo time

Aerana knows where the zoo is in the sea ward

Raised brick gate w high walls; on top are intricate metal railing spiked stuff

Entrance is v wide, not too many people going in bc it's raining a lot

Maybe

Apparently the weather is super important and I still don't know why the weather is so important

It is currently raining

Pouring

Ticket booth in the front

Gold piece per person

Botanic repository

We walk up to the booth covering ourselves w the hoods we have

Velvet rope line but we just navigate through it like in shrek

Adam goes first

Walks in and see smiling figure, human male middle-aged, heavyset, festive outfit, "thank you for visiting - oH how's it going?!" it's volo

He's doing research for his newest obok

Hi jacob's dad

Jacob's gonna go fishing

Volo under impression he would be one of zoological experts but no

"recommendations?"

They brought monsters in from the isle of chault

Points us off to the exhibit to go

Originally zoo was not a zoo as we think of but like throwing them in a pit and being like look at them think httyd

Now it's closer to what we'd consider a modern day zoo

Lots of foliage

It's a big zoo

Like the San diego zoo

Or disneyland

Dom talks abt his brother's haircut

We can run through it

Can asyna just sprint

Aerana and asyna r gonna run

Adam cel and theo r gonna not run

Most of the zoo taken up by exhibits devoted to the island

Looking in the entryway a lot of ppl r carrying pamphlets n papers and speaking in foreign tongues like tourists or smth ig

Adam casts disguise self to make him look as fancy as everyone else

Has feathered cloak

Three major pathways

Chault exhibits for weird stuff r left

Marine stuff and some chault r forward

To the right r monsters from the interior continent

Adam cel and theo (?) go to the right

Most ppl r in pairs

A lot of biologist-type ppl; ppl who look like they're used to handling animals

First real exhibit on the right is a human woman inside the exhibit throwing down pieces of meat to lions

Is asyna a moon druid ? Yes

How did the human woman get there ? But she doesn’t notice

"does this zoo have dippin dots" - lillian 2020

Perception check, 15

There r ppl selling stuff, sees dejected gnome sitting under a pedal cart w a dingy umbrella and he's grumpy n angry

Adam walks over to him

Selling diff snacks n refreshments

He's mostly selling a fizzle pop

Strawberry flavor, blueberry, butterfly flavor

"are ur fizzle pops made w organic butterflies ? Bc I'm kinda on a diet rn"

Adam says it's disgusting

"I'll have a blueberry thank you"

Cel is gonna try the butterfly one

It's sweet; doesn't taste like blood but does taste almost nutty

So like what I would think pistachio tastes like

Fun size popsicle

Theo gets strawberry

They go to the next exhibit

A really vertical exhibit

 Oneshot

Cel is gonna try and ride seahorse asyna but rolls a nat 1 for acrobatics and then a nat 1 for dex save

Smashes head on rim of the pool, bleeding out and unconscious

Healing words from adam

Climbs out of the pool

The water is now red

Three children on the other side of the pool

One of them gets really excited and pees when adam tells them that there's a chemical that turns pool water red

Asyna left the pool when the kid peed

Asyna leads everyone over to the hospital

Adam is gonna try and healing words fix cel

Cel is back to full health

One of the kids is crying scared when she finds out the water is blood

Theo is gonna go get the kids ?

Ok back to the zoo

There's a hippo exhibit

We go check it out

On the way there run into different typical zoo stuff

Apes

Monkeys

The younger ppl r around these exhibits

A lot of closed sections bc of weather like "don't worry next winter this animal will be back"

Alligators

Ringtails that r lemurs ringtail lemurs

Birds

Carefully curated trees that r uber high

Hawks and giant eagles

Oops my phone froze

Tap on the glass to say hi to the what now

Theo wants it to come say hi to her

Animal handling check, 10

Can't attract their attention but

The hippos

Asyna has speak with animals LMAO

Basically can't talk to worms

No more tapeworm talk :/

"Theo says hi . This is theo"

"everybody gangsta until they find out jacob thinks barney is a hippo" - dom 2020

Colombian drug lord one time built private zoos and the hippos broke out but now there's a hippo problem in colombia

Pablo escovar

Speak with animals is ten minutes

We're also probably fighting later

We're gonna talk to the hippos

Theo waves

One of them paddles over and tries to sniff

"hm . Can you eat it ?"

"pleaes don't"

 I just remembered seaweed is not a plant it's an algae

This hippo does not have a name

Calls sister sister

"ask about juicy hippo gossip" - adam

"no but if I did I would share it"

Originally zoo was place for research

Anything else to ask hippos before we check out rare animals ?

The hippo floats away and we say bye

To the chault exhibits

Getting late but there r a lot more researchers

First exhibit has a lot of strange, unfamiliar trees

Monkeys w really big fluffy sideburns clustering around overhanging branches bc it's raining

Some of them r taking leaves and using them to keep the rain off

One of the monkeys hops off the branch

The sideburns actually extend into wings and it goes to another branch

"it's like the wizard of oz"

"adam what's the wizard of oz"

Flying monkeys

Adam walks over to a researcher and asks the most must-see

Woman who is probably from chault bc wearing strange woven beret w branches n stuff

Alien to anything they've seen

"I would point you in the direction of the behemoths"

"what are behemoths"

Adam rolls nature check

9, he doesn't know what a behemoth is

She is from chault

Behemoths r considered friends there

Asyna and aerana know where chault is

Everyone else just knows chault is v far away, almost like a nightmare story told to children

Described as a hellscape

"I'd sooner go to chault than-"

Asyna and aerana know chault is a massive island to the sw of the sword coast, home to v tropical, intensely humid climate w lots of rain + some invasions in the past but now things r opening up

We're gonna check out the behemoths

From a distance, this exhibit much larger than others, much more heavily excavated

Not so much walls as railing looking into a deep cavern

All manner of plant life brought in to accommodate the creatures

Huge lizard of some kind

Huge size category

Irl a horse is large

Humans and dwarves are medium

Exhibit says it's a macetail behemoth

Ground trembles w each step of the behemoth

Slow, ponderous

Gigantic armored lizard w tough plating on its back and spikes on the sides of its head w bony, protective coverings all over it

Massive swinging tail protruding bone swinging back and forth as it walks

Looks like that one dinosaur

We would call it an ankylosaurus

Things that go over my head : see description bullet points before this

Tail end of speak with animals

Asyna can turn into dinosaurs

"you look really cool do you have a name"

One of them looks up but doesn't really respond

Doesn't answer

Look for velociraptors

Gonna look at all the exhibits

Spirehorn behemoths

Faces almost look like shields

Triceratops

Alien to us tho

I can't believe that like as dom's explaining these everyone else can like ,, imagine it

Like that's crazy they see pictures inside their heads

Feathered behemoths

Occasionally jump around

Claws and walk around on two legs

Bloodspike behemoth

Stegosaurus, baby and two parents

Asyna can turn into a deinonychus

We have enough time for one more exhibit

We see a creature alone in its pen save for two researchers dropping treats in front of it, other has a pickaxe and is tapping the ground and scooping smth up trailing the creature and brushing it into a bin

Creature reflects rainbow of colors ? I think

Huge snail, has three eyestalks but they kind of droop down and have heavy spikes off each individual one

Cel reads description

Flail snail?

It's a big boi

Described not as a beast but as something that comes from a realm of earth

As it moves it excretes glass

Generally docile but if prodded r really dangerous bc the things it has r more weapons than eyes

Adam asks if it's a petting exhibit

The flail snail is just as slow as a regular snail

"that is the most disgusting magic resistance I've ever seen in my entire life" - jacob 2020

Everything starting to shut down

We realize we should probs skedaddle

Time to find loser boy

Rain has not stopped but has kinda calmed down

Heading straight to the wig shop

Lamps in the trades ward r lit

Brighter than what we've seen recently

Adam peers into the shop

Perception check

6, tries to get water off the window, looks empty

Theo's gonna pick the lock

25, it's a simple lock and theo gets it open easily

Shop is empty

Somewhat eerie for those without darkvision bc the mannequins

Cel will go and investigate the back room, door is locked

Theo tries opening again

23, opens easily

Immediately smells weird powder

A lot of the perfumes for preserving dyes n stuff kept back here

Cel makes a perception check

16

V organized, neat and tidy

Manhole cover in the back

Sewer system v advanced in waterdeep but also means there's a lot of it

A lot of ppl will build over sewer openings bc cheaper real estate

"sewer access authorized city officials only"

Adam rolls nat20 for boxes

Looking for anything necromancy related, licking things, doing all manners of investigation

Feels a small leather sack, pulls it out, kinda heavy

Opens it up, sees coins that are kind of heavier and thicker; not silver, 5 platinum pieces

Platinum is 10 gp each

Could take the platinums

Scry the money and sack

There are cupboards at the front desk

Necromancy considered suspicious, looked down upon

"ah . It's like watching anime ." - jacob 2020

"no, it's not like watching anime" - dom 2020

The art itself is not a crime but the things that occur in tandem w it r usually crimes

Discussing what to do in character

Cel insight check, 16

Earlier dom mentioned we're aware many ppl in waterdeep use the sewers to traverse unseen in the city; kinda suss the building was built on top of a sewer

Adam is borrowing aerana's warhammer

Adam hits the floor, leaves big dent and a v loud sound

Cel makes strength check w advantage w crowbar

Rolls a 12, can't get it open

Can sort of shift it up

Adam smashes a jar over the floor

Dex check, 5

Cloud of neon yellow sprays out like a cloud of dust and smoke, just the color

Covered in bright yellow dye

Theo tries lockpicking

23, lock is more difficult and takes a little longer, but eventually it opens

Once it's opened, the chains undo themselves and snake out on their own accord

It's just a dark hole

Can see a short drop that leads to a staircase

Adam holds lantern

Cel's just gonna go w adam at the front, pitch dark

Darkvision lets us see to some extent; everything is in grayscale

Lantern beam does help us see a little

Asyna closer to front as well

Leads to a room, 10' x 20'

Descending down short flight of stairs, room totally bare save for a barred door that u can see out of, also locked

Hear faintly some water

Theo rolls 23 for lockpicking

Door opens

Adam investigating room for secret door, tunnel, anything

Investigation check, 10 and 5 for investigation checks

Look around but room is barren

Nothing stashed anywhere, nothing to indicate a secret door or anything

Adam and cel step out, to immediate right extends for 10ish feet before merging into wall

Directly in front is water and like a sewer river flowing to the right

"are there any rats" "make a perception check" "nat 1"

To left, passage curves so hard to see but for at least 40 or so feet the pathway continues

Adam rolls another 5 for investigation check

We eventually get to a small stone bridge

I FORGOT I RESEARCHED THE SEWER SYSTEMS idk if I should bring it up I brought it up

A 15 intelligence check

Waterdeep's sewers are a subject of fascination for the city

You know the passageway like the one ur in often has arteries or iron doors set in them leading to different areas

Also know sometimes due to poor planning or smth some areas without walkways also have access tunnels

There's a bridge ? Nasty water under it

Over the bridge we go

Cel rolls a 22, plenty of damp areas around ,, no light in the passage, walking for a minute or so and w each step just hear a wet squelching noise; we're leaving behind wet, muddy footprints

No sign of recent mud in front of us

10 minutes go by and every once in a while pass side arteries w more sewage flowing in

This part seems relatively well planned

Can only go straight ? No other curvature in the path

Traveling south

"I'm gonna try and get that rat" - adam 2020

Adam picks up the rat for sleight of hand check

22

"you're able to grab up that rat pretty good" - dom 2020

Adam holds rat out to asyna and tells her to do her thing

"hey buddy"

"uh you have to cast your spell first"

"hey pal how's it going"

"let me go"

"uh we'll let you go if you answer some of our questions"

"don't even"

"no he's saying don't eat him"

"my friend here holding you is gonna take a big chomp of you if you don't answer our questions"

"have you seen anyone"

"don't know"

"I open my mouth"

"I kind of want to squeak" - marguerite 2020

Rat points north

Adam wants a piece of string to tie onto the rat like a leash

Adam is starting to feel short of breath after 10 minutes of walking

"that's either from the powder . Or the key"

Adam doesn't feel indigestion right now just that it's difficult to get air

Adam tries to tie a leash to the rat

Dex check

Nat1

Rat runs away

We go back the way we came, another 10 minutes, we pass three of those stone bridges

Cel investigation checks the dead end again, adam will give bardic inspiration

"Open sesame" - song

18, nothing there

It's a maze, we'll try naya

Adam takes out sack of platinum

Naya appears, looks around and shudders and bounds away

Following the deer

Naya is guiding back to where we originally where

Moving south again

Looks at passage back again passage then vanishes

Naya was standing on one of the bridges

First artery

It's a passage

We gotta wade through the sewer

Aerana readies weapon

Wading through, halflings get disgusting smth in their boots

Passage goes 20 ft before turning on a diagonal, turn onto passageway then it extends v far into distance

"adam's adding to the sewage right now probably" - jacob 2020

Adam's feeling lightheaded

Cel makes medicine check on adam

Rolls a 6, don't know what's wrong bud

Adam rolls around in the sewer water to get the powder off ??

I guess he is

Adam makes a constitution save, a 3

OH? OH NO

The yellow stuff is off but adam is smeared in shit

Did I make a good or bad decision

We keep going but adam feels better like fine like nothing's wrong

Oh no adam's gonna die it's like hypothermia where u feel super hot at first then u die

Passageway stretches on for awhile until coming across a rusty ironed door raised so that we'd have to step up to access it

Aerana makes perception check on the door, 20 not a nat

Hears people shouting and what appears to be a cat

Can't tell if the shouting is bad or not

Theo wrings out cape

Go up to the door, realize there's no lock; the entire lock has fallen out bc the door is so rusty

Adam checks door for traps, 12 investigation

Does not appear to be trapped, looks p old

Adam is in middle, cel towards back, aerana at front

About 25' ahead is a wider chamber and a door set into the wall, the areas are lit

We already walked through the rusty door

Massive screeching sound that came from the door when u opened it

Gotta b stealthy

Door to the right is unlocked

Adam opens the door open, looks like a storage room w different crates and sacks; bland

Some water barrels, adam pours it on himself; the rest of us also do it

Moving into room adjacent to passageway; triangle things in the wall has arrow stuff to make it easier to fire from but the room looks abandoned

Deeper in we go

Don't go that far but hit a wider room extending out 40'

Center of the room; at one point looks like there was a wall covering the room but has since collapsed; several ppl looking at us

Far corner opposite to us is an old halfling man in dark robes, clutching wound at chest, long gray braid down back staring at us as if he heard we were coming

In front of him are two smiling skeletons

It's the necromancer

The skeletons r also looking at us

They appear to be guarding him

In front of skeletons are three kenku looking at us

Bingbong is not one of the kenku

"I can explain" - adam

"we came down here and I was covered in shit and" adam casts pyrotechnics centered in between skeletons and kenku

Initiative

Aerana, 19

Cel, 17

Asyna, 15

Adam, 15

Theo, 9

Aerana

Holds attack, if kenku move within 5 ft of her she'll attack

Cel

Skeletons have bows and shortswords

Kenkus have shortswords

Will hold an action if attacked

Skeletons

Appear to b human skeletons, medium size

Lash out at kenku

One kenku able to parry away an attack, other skeleton slashes another kenku

Asyna

Attacks kenku closest to her, the one not hit

15, "what are you attacking with" "iiiiiiiii don't knowwwwwwwwwww"

Asyna turns into ape

Runs up to terrified kenku

Swings both times but it gets out of the way and hisses like a cat

Adam

Casts pyrotechnics on kenku

One passes, one fails

Failed one is blinded for next turn

Cutting words on the kenku by asyna

Kenku

Blind

Tries to escape, skeleton misses and kenku staggers away and starts feeling way along wall and runs into room west of where we are

Other one

Makes attack on skeleton, half of ribcage slashed but it's still standing

Other other one

Tries to attack ape, misses

Halfling

Stands up, tries to flee

Theo

Hits kenku that tried to get asyna, 5 damage

Has sneak attack, deals 12 damage

Arrow shot into neck, still alive but not for long

Aerana

13 damage to other kenku

"how do you want to do this"

Kenku drops dead

Skeleton turns smiling to aerana

Cel

15 to hit, 6 damage, dead

"how do you want to do this"

Pulls arrow back as far as she can "and I don't know if it's bingbong, but I'm gonna pretend it's bingbong and shoot it right through his eye socket"

"I want to keep bingbong as a pet" - jacob 2020

"kenku are sentient beings, that would be slavery" - dom 2020

Looking around we see the bodies of three other kenku and remains of two other skeletons

The skeletons attack aerana

One hits, 3 damage

Asyna

Goes into the room to follow the halfling and the kenku

Some kind of exit around

The blinded kenku is in here

Can reach halfling or kenku

Marguerite wants to hug the halfling

Athletics check to do it

21

Old man screams but asyna can hold him, unable to escape

Kenku still feeling around on the floor

Adam

Follows asyna

Gonna cast sleep

Kenku falls asleep

Yells over at the halfling

"can you call off your skeletons please"

Halfling

Loser boy's turn

I don't remember how to spell losser unless it's losser

Tries to escape asyna's grasp

"he does not escape your grasp"

Asyna rolls another athletics check

17, he does not escape

Theo

14 to hit, 16 damage

"how do you want to do this"

Arrow to the skull just goes really far in and the skull falls off as do misc bones

Aerana

Misses hit

Tries to thrust forward w sword but it drops and contracts, sword slipping through ribcage

Cel

19 to hit

8 damage, hits shoulder and arm falls off

Skeleton

Misses

Asyna

Waddles the halfling over to adam

Gives him a little squeeze

Adam

baned halfling

And cutting words

No cutting words nvm

Halfling

Asyna rolls a 25

Can't squirm out

"unhand me there are more of them there are more kenku"

Theo

"ok. Bye bye skeleton boy"

22 to hit

12 damage

"how do you want to do this"

Hits him in the smile; teeth knocked out and all of it collapses like a xylophone type noise as the bones hit the floor

Out of combat

Aerana ties up sleeping kenku

Adam casts charm person

Cel is gonna loot

Investigation check, 7

10 gold combined on the kenku; takes

Halfling is charmed to consider adam a dear old friend

Says he just finished work on his new purse; his fanny pack (basically)

Not sure we recognize the material

Adam says he knows who sent the kenku

"you have the stone"

"they stole it from me"

Says he randomly found a nice stone from a rat

Adam puts his hand on loser boy's shoulder and asks if he wants to work from home

Trying to convince loser boy to come with us

Declines

The purse is made out of elf skin

Bc it's supple

Adam trying to get a magical weapon out of loser boy

Has a potion that protects from necromancers

Persuasion check, 24

Goes into side closet

Damage resist potion

Aerana kills him

Wow are you ?? Desensitized ?? Are you desensitized or does it help not being able to see anything ever

Adam rummages through loser boy's desk

Investigation check, 15

False bottom to one of the desk drawers w 100 gold inside

Cel investigation checks loser boy, 13

Finds a little wand w a skull tip

Adam is gonna look at the purse

This bag is a faint gold

Adam shakes the kenku awake, wisdom 13 saving throw

Fails

Charm person

Making dog noises

"you want to take us to your friends"

"I don't know where they are"

"then let's just go back to your base"

"get back to base ? No one knows where that is"

Adam introduces himself, mentions bingbong

Gets theo and cel's names, mimics sound of a hammer hitting metal when asked his name

His name is bonk now

Asks asyna's name, asyna is still an ape

Big hairy git

Aerana says she'll trade information for her name

Adam swings warhammer into ground to threaten kinda

Adam makes 12 insight check

We don't recognize any of the voices he uses

Asks if we live in a hole

Asks if the house is nice

Copies adam's voice for the house boom

Adam asks if he knows about the puppet

"couldn't tell you if I knew"

Nat20 adam runs insight check across entire conversation

He's lying abt not knowing where his friends are

I DFJGSLGJS THAT'S WHAT I WAS SAYING ABT US STILL GIVING UP INFORMATION ASFKJAFD

Adam asks him why he was lying

Hear a voice we've never heard before

But this one in particular is bizarre and warped as if it's through some filter

"do you know what happens when you lie to me"

Adam

Anyone w passive perception over 9 hears a bottle break and a door slam in one of the rooms to the south

Cel hits his brain basically

Some of you starting to piece together that smth strange is happening

Pattering of footsteps from room to the south

Session over for the night

[fourthlinefic]

@sidgenophotochallenge

Ngl, this is kind of a weird one.

The glove had been on the seat when Sid entered the carriage compartment, lying there as if it were waiting for someone. It was black leather, soft and buttery and clearly well cared for. The sharp animal smell of the leather was mellowed with the scent of pine and something dark and smokey, what Sid thought must be the cologne of the lost glove's owner. It was lined with cream coloured cashmere, perfect for keeping out the November chill, and in the spot that would fall just over the pulse, were the letters 'E.M.’ monogrammed in dark blue thread.

Sid had brought a book with him to read on the train ride from Montréal to Toronto, but he found his imagination was captured far more successfully by the lone glove in his hand. He found Hemingway dull, anyway, had only picked up his latest novel because one of his writer friends had insisted. But this glove...

It belonged to a man, of that much Sid was certain. Unless there was a young woman out there with unusually large hands, which Sid supposed was not beyond the realm of possibility. An Amazonian perhaps, and Sid allowed himself a moment to imagine what that would look like, a warrior goddess crammed into a second class compartment. Her sword and bow would have to go in the overhead rack. She had probably bought the gloves because she couldn't stand the Canadian winter, coming from the Mediterranean and all.

Except, most likely, the glove belonged to a man. But what sort of man?

Sid turned the glove so that he could get another look at the monogram. It was professionally done, neat and crisp, but the letters themselves were simple, block capitals. No frills or embellishments. A man with not a lot of money to spare then, spending it where he could on one or two luxuries. Sid knew that he would much prefer a new set of notebooks and fountain pen to a pair of monogrammed gloves, but they were charming in their own way.

Ernest Miller. Maybe that's what it stood for. Sid pursed his lips, trying to picture what an Ernest Miller looked like. A mousy man, in his late thirties, probably starting to bald. He would be going soft around his middle, which caused him great distress, not least because he only had one good suit, which he wore to his job at a bank somewhere, and couldn't afford another. He probably let his boss shout at him too much, and went home to a wife too polite to tell him that she thought their marriage boring. He was not the sort of man who wore gloves like these, and Sid decided that he didn't like him all that much anyway.

Emmett Montgomery. Now there was an interesting name. A viscount perhaps, elegant and cultured, yet fallen on hard times after the war. He had come to Canada for a fresh start, carting with him trunks full of books, and of velvet, silk and brocade, and it would all be smothered in sickly sweet perfume to hide the smell of rot. That was the problem the peerage, Sid thought. They seemed interesting until you actually peeled back the gold gilt, and underneath it all, it was just worm infested wood.

Elliot Morgan. That was a name you could trust. He’d be tall, broad shouldered, but with kind eyes. A straightforward sort of man, with an easy laugh, but a stubborn streak a mile wide. The sort of man who, if it were possible, Sid might want to take home to his mother one day. He laughed ruefully to himself at that, shaking his head to dismiss the fantasy before it got too out of hand. Nothing to be gained from going down that road.

He pulled the Hemingway from his satchel with a sigh. The man's prose might bore Sid to tears, but it at least beat pining over an imaginary man.

Night had fallen by the time the train pulled into Toronto, later than Sid had been planning. The station lamps were already lit, and the people moving through the steam coming off the trains looked like ghosts in the dim light. Sid pulled his suitcase down from the overhead, and, after a moment's hesitation, he slipped the glove into the pocket of his greatcoat. He would hand it in at the ticket office and hope it got back to its original owner.

He made his way quickly through the station - he had missed the earlier connecting train halfway between Montréal and Toronto, and he didnt want to keep Taylor waiting so late at night. The taxi rank was probably heaving with people by now, but if he got there fast enough he might at least find himself in the middle of the crush, and not right at the back. He was in such a hurry that he didn't notice the shadow looming out of the haze until he had collided head first with it. He bounced off the shadow’s shoulder, and he was so tired that he probably would have fallen had the shadow not caught him.

“Okay there?” the man (for it was actually a man) asked him. He was taller than Sid, and he had to look up to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, should look where I’m walk.”

“No, you’re fine. I mean, I’m fine. It’s fine.” Sid finished with an embarrassed little laugh. There was warm concern in the man’s eyes that felt just a little too personal, and Sid couldn’t help but feel like he’d seen him somewhere before. “I...have we met? I feel like I know you.”

The man gave him a quick up and down look, a slow smile on his face that made Sid feel warm right down to his toes. He couldn’t help looking back, at the man’s clean shaven face, his full lower lip. Those huge hands that had steadied him were warm, even through Sid’s coat. It was completely inappropriate for so public a place as Union Station, and Sid shrank into his coat collar, not wanting to be caught out by a careless stranger.  “Think I would remember if we had.” said the man, and his deep voice, combined with that lilting accent, meant that the words came out practically as a purr.

“My mistake, then,” said Sid. There didn’t seem much more to say, but the two of them stood there for a second, as if waiting for something else to happen. Sid couldn’t say what. A handshake? A hug? A kiss? All horribly inappropriate. He needed to break the tension, crackling between them like static. “Well-” he started, just as the man started to speak. They laughed the awkward laughter of people not quite sure what the hell they’re doing, before the man gestured to Sid to continue. “I uh...suppose you’ll be wanting to catch your train.”

“Oh, yes.” the man said, as if it had completely slipped his mind. “Of course! Yes, best to go, don’t want to miss.”

Sid nodded, stepped aside so the man could get past. As they moved away from each other, Sid caught a sudden whiff of pine and woodsmoke. It took a few more steps for him to remember where he recognised that scent, and by the time he spun round to call after him, the other man had vanished into the steam and smoke as abruptly as he had emerged. Sid stood there for a second, trying to shake the feeling that something about that encounter should have gone different somehow. And then the station clock chimed eleven, and he remembered that he had somewhere to be.

The taxi rank wasn’t as busy as he had thought it would be, and in good enough time he was outside Taylor’s door. Taylor must have been watching for him, because he didn’t have to knock, the door opening as he got to the top step. She was already dressed for bed, her dark blonde hair wrapped in her curling papers, her face scrubbed clean.

“We’ve already eaten, I’m afraid,” she said after she had greeted him with a hug, taking his hat and hanging it on the rack for him. “Tristan’s got to be at the press early tomorrow, and Lydia was getting cranky.”

“That’s fine, I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“We did save you a plate, but it’ll need reheating. Beef stew, if you want it. Were the trains awful?”

Sid moved into the kitchen, and sank into one of the white washed chairs that he had gifted the Jarry’s on their wedding day. Taylor lit the stove. “They were fine.”

“Really?” she said with a frown. Trust his sister to know when something was up. “You just seem a little shaken. And you’re two hours later than you said.”

“Yes, really. I just-” Sid paused, thinking of that lone glove still in his coat pocket. “I just missed a connection.”

[prehisstamdo1981-blog]

I'm not as knowledgeable about long beloved scents and LEs as most here, but I feel like I heard about Strawberries Crave Waterfalls for ages. It sounded fascinating, and I finally grabbed one in a swap last year. I was so excited to get it but it smells like strawberry air fresher to me. I been in therapy for years to help get me through. But going through these things has allowed me to focus on coming back into alignment with my true self and to have the space to build meaningful and healthy relationships. When forced to be alone, taking the time to fundamentally reevaluate one whole world is an awesome opportunity for conscious change. Sex work in Australia is mired in a confusing tangle of laws from completely legal in NSW to utterly illegal in South Australia. Most of my clients I would see more than once and some I been seeing some for close to a decade. To increase red tape alarm Fleur who said she would effectively become an outlaw.. It drives me crazy how people like James have 14m subs, but people like Raw Beauty Kristi have only 500k or so. She's literally so talented and sweet. People knock KL a lot, but at least she 공주출장마사지 gives shoutouts weekly to smaller channels. Again, real estate is my job, so for me it easy. And also something I keep super confidential. So don even ask. It all leads to the feeling that he isn balanced, that he might not be 100% right in the head. And then he lashes out. His outfit is disheveled with frayed ends, his mask is battered. His response was throwing the plate at my directing, missing me and hitting a woman face. It was just chaos from there, the woman that was hit was bleeding from her nose all over herself and the table cloth, the two men were yelling at me and the waiter. Luckily for me the next doors club has pretty beefy bouncers, one of them was in the same unit as me in the army, so they rushed in and helped calming things down.. I think what's appealing about the I'm meme tints are the finish and the packaging. And maybe it's also how it was named. A cashmere tint sounds so intriguing! But I realized it's probably like most other velvet tint products and I have the 3CE velvet lip tints and soft matte lip lacquers to dupe the finish AND colour. We should wonder about their history, their creativity, their values, and their beliefs. We should be curious about how influential they could be to the people in their lives and how much positive change they could bring to our world. As we look into their eyes, we should see the depth and breadth of character that lies beneath instead of making premature conclusions about them based on their appearance.. There's nothing wrong with having no credit. It makes some things harder, but keeps you from spending money you don't have. If you don't have it, don't spend it anyway. He is the god of love who is often the symbol of both Valentine's Day and Sweetheart's Day. Eros fell in love with a mortal by the name of Psyche. Unfortunately Aphrodite was jealous of Psyche because of her extreme beauty. In the end, humans are the ones who categorized life on Earth, so there's going to be some gray area no matter how you try to separate things.Obviously I didn't provide a list of conditions for my "line," but in addition to flees from negative stimuli I would also add that the organism has some kind of processing area which then sends a reaction out to flee.Consciousness is also pretty gray, because how can you decide what is conscious as you go up in complexity.Are oysters conscious? Worms? Fruit flies?Bees? Shrimp?I definitely don't have the answers either and 공주출장마사지 it's also something I've though about! But in the end, if someone is concerned about the ethics of consuming sentient beings and is doing what they can to avoid it, I'm happy. 4 points submitted 11 months agoI don have time to search for sources at the moment, and I not here to tell you what is healthy and what isn I just wanted to recommend you to get this info from objective sources. So I recommend you to look at sources that don seek to promote either veganism or animal agriculture.

[spacegate]

Velvet Worm Care

Helllo friends! A anon requested a Velvet worm care sheet, and I have researched! SO NOW IT’S TIME.

(source)

First off, what are velvet worms? They are from the order Euonychophora with two family groups. Peripatidae, which live in tropical regions around and above the equator, and Peripatopsidae live south of the Equator. Their true eyes are little teeny dots, and they rely on those front legs to touch things so they can get around and find prey! The ‘velvet’ appearance is a special water proof skin! They are one of the few invertebrates that give birth to live young, and can live around 5 to 7 years if cared for right. Some species, like Euperipatoides, live in a societal structure like a wolf pack, where close family hunt and live together. There can be as much as 15 individuals in a ‘pack’ They are a very old species, and have been around for 500 million years!!!

Velvet worms are adorable, but they are also quite vicious hunters! At night, they emerge and feel around for prey, which are other insects and invertebrates. Once they find suitable prey, they spray them with a sticky glue that prevents the prey from escaping. Once subdued, the velvet worm makes a small slice somewhere on the prey, and pump them full of digestive venom and then slurp up the liquefied insides. NO WORRIES, they can’t hurt humans. They don’t like to waste precious calories and energy going after something that isn’t prey. 

Now then! What do they need for proper care? 

Humidity and Heat

Velvet worms prefer cooler temperatures around the 60-75°F / 15-23 °C. A basement would be an example of a perfect place to keep these guys.  Some owners even keep them in a fridge! They need an extremely high humidity, because unlike other invertebrates, they cannot close their breathing holes, so they dry out super fast. I would say at LEAST 80% humidity at all times. DO NOT USE TAP WATER. Most people use pure rainwater to mist the tank, you could also use river water or spring water. Be careful about spring water, because some of it is just bottled tap water. These are a sensitive species and can die if exposed to chemicals and heavy metals.

Substrate

Velvet worms enjoy mosses, because they retain moisture. So some cocoa fiber/dirt mix with some sphagnum moss covering the dirt should do the trick. They hide during the day, so provide them hiding places, like a little cave or a hollow log to hide in. They may even make their own hiding place in the dirt. The more damp and dark hiding places, the better. The substrate should be moist, but it doesn’t need to be sopping wet. Even though Velvet worms are waterproof, they don’t enjoy sitting around in standing water.

Activity

Velvet worms are nocturnal, so don’t expect to see them out during the day time. They can be seen at night, looking for food. I recommend a red light-bulb so you can watch them without bothering them too much. They mostly just chug along and are an easy going species. They can be handled, but make sure you wash your hands and remove any trace of lotions or toxins. They don’t bite people and think of us as really, really weird branches, so there is nothing to fear from them. For the most part, it’s best to let them be unless you are feeding them or checking up on them. Too much stress is never good for any animal, and constantly disturbing their rest during the day could lead to illness and death. Put your tank in a dark and less trafficked part of your house so they can rest well.

Food

Velvet worms are incredible voracious predators! They will eat just about any kind of invertebrate, so it doesn’t matter too much what you give them. Just make sure they are small enough that the velvet worm doesn’t get injured trying to subdue their prey. Crickets and grubs/worms are an excellent choice, but they will also dine on roaches and locusts. Velvet worms are careful about going after prey, because it takes a lot of energy and calories to produce the glue they use for hunting. To help them out, you could probably gut load your prey items before offering them to your worm. Most invertebrate prey items have less nutritional value compared to wild prey, so gut loading will help them out and give them a little extra nutrients.

So that’s what I have found out about caring for Velvet worms! Remember, there are several different species of velvet worm, so feel free to check them all out! Some come in rather beautiful colors and can be a really cool pet to care for. For example, look how stoked Coyote Peterson was when his camera crew found a red velvet worm. These animals deserve to be admired for their otherworldly beauty and  uniqueness. 

(source)

[kaifukugawa]

All the ice cream

chocolate: when was your first kiss?

October 26th, 2015! The day my boy and I started dating!

french vanilla: how old are you?

18!

cotton candy: three places you want to travel to?

That I haven’t been before? Japan, Oregon, and uhhhhh Alaska.

strawberry: a language you wish you could speak?

I wish I had continued with Latin tbh. Also uhhh Spanish bc im mexican and Japanese.

coffee: favorite cosmetic brands?

Anything cheap that works!

mint chocolate chip: indoors or outdoors?

Depends on the day! In general, I’d have to say outdoors though

cookie dough: do you play any instruments?

Yep! I dabble in a lot of things including piano, violin, ukulele, etc etc

rocky road: favorite songs at the moment?

I’m lovin this mashup rn!

butter pecan: favorite songs for life?

Take on Me by a-ha

cheesecake: what’s your zodiac sign?

Taurus for astrological and dragon for chinese

toasted coconut: the beach or the pool?

Aaaa it depends. For swimming, the pool. For exploring and collecting seashells, the beach.

chocolate chip: what’s your most popular post?

HDFGDSYGEQYHE probably that one rly shitty edit from Bleach and it’s Uryu going out to get groceries,,,,,

bubblegum: books or movies?

In general, books. I do love me a good movie though

pistachio: manga or anime?

HmmMmMmm anime. I usually only read manga if I already know that I like the concept.

salted caramel: favorite movies?

Pacific Rim

birthday cake: favorite books?

I like PJO and I used to really love warrior cats

moose tracks: favorites for manga?

Alice in the kingdom of hearts was p good. Also Another.

orange sherbet: favorites for anime?

Wolf’s Rain and InuYasha!

peanut butter: favorite academic subject?

History!

black raspberry: do you have any pets?

Yep! One snake, a basenji bully mix, and a chihuahua

mango: when and why did you start your blog?

I think in like....2012 or 2013? It was the cool new thing haha

mocha: ideal weather conditions?

Bright and temperate or rainy

black cherry: four words that describe you?

Small, vengeful, nervous, clingy

neapolitan: things that stress you out?

Loud noises, touching, form fitting/exposing clothing, expectations

raspberry truffle: favorite kind of music?

I like everything actually! Just....not country

chocolate marshmallow: favorite brands of candy?

I like butterfinger but I can’t eat it anymore sooooo...gummy worms

toffee: a card game that you’re good at?

Slap jack, Jack sparrow, Speed, and BS

lemon custard: do you eat breakfast?

Nothing if I can, but if I have to, usually cereal

dark chocolate: turn ons?

Dominance, praise, neck touching, pinning, uihhhhh a lot of shit tbh but only when my datemate does it

fudge: turn offs?

Not much if you’re the right person. Not listening I guess?

peach: how do you relax?

Lay on the couch and read

praline: a popular book you haven’t read yet?

That one with uhhhh....the prince and the slave dude? The Captive Prince?

superman: do you like sweaters?

SLAMS THAT MF LIKE BUTTON

cherry: do you drink tea or coffee?

Neither! Tea is gross and coffee gives me panic attacks

dulce de leche: an instrument you wish you could play?

Guitar and bass but my hands are too tiny ;w;

blackberry: have you ever laughed so hard you cried?

Yes!

ginger: a new feature you wish tumblr could have?

....an interface that actually....works....

blueberry lemon: favorite blogs?

I rly love @climbdraws rn!

almond: favorite mean girls quote?

I actually don’t like that movie haha, it stressed me out too much.

butterscotch: what color are your nails right now?

Plain bc of my work

cinnamon: have you ever been confessed to?

yes

blue moon: have you ever had a crush on someone?

yep!

cappuccino crunch: do you take naps?

every time I can

mint: the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

OH GOD A LOT,,,,,, you’ll have to be more specific

brownie batter: do you like sushi?

ich no

key lime: where do you want to be right now?

with my boy,,,,

red velvet: do you wear prescription glasses?

ye!

green tea: favorite flavors of ice cream?

mint choccy chip >:3c

[cruorvolt]

Week 35.

A couple of important announcements before we move on to the main topic.

First, I now have a Patreon, so if you like what you see here and what to help me make more of it, throw me a buck, every bit helps and patrons will be duly rewarded with early access, high resolution images, WiP shots and more. Please reblog to help me spread it, I really need some exposure for this!

Next, I also created a Twitter account after a friend nudged me to, follow me there @cruor_volt.

Lastly, adjacent to Patreon, I can really use all the money I can get, and if you’re looking for art to commission, hit me up.

You can find all the relevant links in my description, since Tumblr nulls post visibility if I include them here.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Arthropods are fascinating creatures, so diverse in shapes and colours, yet all drawing from a common template!

1. Beginning with arachnids, because why not. A little so-so with spiders, better with scorpions and ticks and fairly satisfied with camel spiders, they are the best.

2. I kind of like the look of cockroaches, mischievous. Some bugs and beetles follow, what a variety of form, I could dedicate a whole week to them alone and still cover but a fraction. And lastly, butterflies are just awful, “ugly” doesn’t begin describe it, but moths are cute, I like moths.

3. Ants, you look at some of them and know this is an asshole ant and that one is a good ant. I think I knew already too much about dragonflies, so they were a breeze, maybe some day I will expand on that. And stick-bugs go the ugly room to join butterflies, terrifying “faces”.

4. Mantis, bees and bumblebees – all top tier insects. And then there are top tier scumbags – wasps.

5. Moving on to briefly cover Crustaceans. I've had crayfish and freshwater shrimp as pets, they make good spectacle. Coconut crabs are nuts, fantastic animal.

6. Centipedes and Julida are among my favourites, one is a perfect killing machine, with a look to match, the other – arthropods’ version of “live to chew” animals like cows or goats, but cuter. And velvet worms just to close it off with something weird.

7. The cockroach in chief returns!

[vegandoughnut]

PART 3: Meow You've Done It

"Oh hey!" Says Anekke with a bright grin. "Welcome to Furistas Cat Cafe!". Kitt could feel the wave of fake hit her like a bullet. Anekke must be having a really bad day to be masking so hard. The Special Guest walks in with their premade ID tag, looking like a vampire with their shocking paleness, long jet black wavy hair, cat skull sweater under a faux fur jacket, black skinny jeans and hightop boots. It was the lead singer of Kitt's favorite band back in high school.

She felt her entire body start to tremble. Star struck? Kitt? Noooo. But it was happening.

"Here's the catering box you ordered, um, Gary Nygard"

"Thanks a lot wow it's ready fast" he says, his manner much friendlier than his stage persona, something only fans who watch the band's interviews would know.

"Kitt" Anekke calls. Kitt snaps out of her stupor and walks up to Gary Nygard. Pradeep pauses mid smoothie-blend to glare.

"Hey welcome, let's see your tag, oh, yes, we've got a cat you'll love. Sandra, she's a silly one"

"Perfect" says Gary Nygard, with an approving hand gesture. Kitt tries her best to hide her nerves as she guides the goth daddy himself to the big velvet high back chair near the window towards the middle of the cafe. It was a nice private spot that also gives one the view of the whole cafe. Kitt picks up Sandra, a very fuzzy Siamese mix, and hands her over to Gary Nygard who immediately dotes on her, scruffing her fuzzy fur and smiling. It was bizarre to see an otherwise spooky dude melt like butter when handed a cat.

"Sorry" Kitt mutters after realizing she was standing there in front of him for too long.

"Oh don't apologize darling. It's all good fun" he says, before sitting in the chair and reclining with the cat. He shrugs out of his jacket, the sleeves of his sweater oversized and cozy.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Yes actually" he says, looking up directly at her, his icy grey eyes lined with kohl. He was even prettier in real life. Kitt felt like melted caramel. Then he glances back at the chalkboard menu on the wall. "Hmmm.... well" he deliberates, stroking his chin. "Start me off with the Fall Special. I wouldn't mind a few extra chocolate bits and raisins on top. I've never had pumpkin ice cream before. America is full of surprises"

Kitt realizes she lost the ability to speak, nods frantically then darts over to the bar.

"Is it just me, or is it just getting worse and worse in here?" Says Pradeep.

"You feeling okay Pradeep?" Kitt asks.

"Better than ever" he says sarcastically. "What does he want?" He asks.

"Guess!" Kitt says.

"Our Fall Special. That black licorice waffle with the pumpkin ice cream, chocolate chips and raisins on top. The stereotypically halloween themed entrée, right?" Pradeep replies with a smirk.

Kitt bites her lip and resists a huge grin. She gets behind the counter to help.

"Who's watching the cats?" Asks Harper, immediately.

"Carl" says Kitt, more roughly than she intended. "The sooner his plate is ready the better"

A stream of customers enter. Some, the ones in dark clothes and sporting Tumblr hair cuts, are pretending not to glance over at Gary Nygard. Their faces look curious or desperate, but show no signs of recognition. Kitt notices this and chuckles to herself.

"Dweebs" she says under her breath, as she closes the lid on the black liquid batter in the waffle maker.

Stephen walks onto the cafe floor in his slacks, tucked shirt, suspenders and newsboy cap, his authority easily palpable in the room. Someone turns up the calm jazzy music on the speaker.

"Ah, finally, some crowd control" Anekke mutters to Kitt.

"It's about time" says Kitt.

"Maybe I should sneakily stay for a whole shift. I need the money. Maybe Stephen forgot I was supposed to go home. Maybe today will be worth it. I want to see how this sh*tstorm unfolds" Anekke says, preparing a smoothie for a guest. She blows some of her blond bangs off her forehead like a kid in a movie. Humbert hands a guest their smoothie and salad.

In moments, Kitt has the Fall Special order in her hands on a grey, cat-head-shaped ceramic plate, and brings it over to Gary Nygard. She carefully sets it on the dark chest table next to his chair, moving the copy of Emily The Strange there out of the way.

"Such attention to detail" says Gary Nygard.

He swipes his card as fast a mouse on the clerk tablet. Kitt avoids looking at the screen.

"Thank you, sweetheart" he says, his characteristic Scandinavian accent and deep voice rumbling through Kitt. A chill sets into her bones, setting off a contrasting fiery feeling. She returns to taking orders from seated customers while Carl greets incoming guests and gets more and more red in the face trying to keep up with the name tags and the cats running around.

Stephen is locked in an animated but quiet conversation with someone near the door.

Carl sighs heavily with relief after seating and cat-pairing the last guest to walk in. He watches Stephen speak with an unknown man by the door. Uh oh. What's going on?

He steps over the Kitt.

"Hey, uh... Keisha"

"Who in the hell is Keisha?"

"Sorry, K-"

"I'm Kitt. You okay Carl?" Kitt asks, eyeing him as though he had just sprouted a worm. She tucks a loose burgundy dreadlock behind her ear from which an Egyptian cat goddess earring dangled. What was that one called again?

"Um. Do you think I'm doing okay? I mean, I see Stephen talking over there. Who is that guy he's talking to? Just kind of self conscious...."

"You're doing great actually. And I don't know who that guy is. Probably some company person or licensor. I don't know. Could be someone from inspection. In any case, you should greet our Special Guest every few minutes" Kitt says, tugging the sleeves of her dark grey cardigan to cover her hands so that only her long delicate fingers stick out. Carl snap's out of zeroing in on her metallic copper manicure.

"Okay, um, weird question. Don't freak out--" he begins, feeling his face redden with every passing second. He scratches at his small beard. A nervous habit.

"Please, nothing HR worthy okay?" Says Kitt, loosening the scarf around her neck as though it had just gotten warmer in the cafe. "What is it?"

"Do you happen to know if there are.... like....sanitary napkins...."

Kitt's eyes widen with shock, her whole face looks taken aback before dissolving into a gentle expression of understanding.

"You know I would've never known--- I" she shakes her head, scattering her locks. "I'll be right back"

Carl watches her walk to the back of the cafe and down the stairs to the storage and lockers. He gets back to tending to the cats as the jazzy music plays over the speakers, the music slightly unclenching the knot that formed in his stomach. He wondered if lowkey outing himself to Kitt was a good idea.

At the counter, Pradeep dries a washed ceramic mug using an organic cotton kitchen towel.

"Did you see that?" He asks Anekke.

"What? Carl talking to Kitt? Are you jealous?" She replies, rolling her eyes.

"Jealous? That guy's about as interesting as a thumb tack"

"Weird analogy but I guess it works. Did you get that one from Carl too?"

"Enough with that name, you two. It's making the tea cold" Humbert cuts in, appearing next to them like a sneaking gnome. He wiggles his eyebrows, winks and grins. Pradeep and Anekke paste on twitchy, disingenuous smiles quickly before Humbert can make things anymore awkward and creepy.

TBC

[silverfronds]

do you have a crush on anyone? no

what’s your favorite candy? kit kats, crunch bar, symphony bar/chocolate with toffee, take 5, butterfinger, sea salt milk chocolate!! Also gummy bears/worms

favorite love song? this is an impossible question so I'll just list the one I'm really into right now, thank you - dido. I love you always forever by donna lewis also bangs

what was your first kiss like? meh...I was in a closet and it was just weird

what was your last kiss like? I will copy your answer here because it was also just a peck with a friend

sexual/romantic orientation? lesbian

do you prefer poems or love letters? a well written poem can take your breath away however few are well written, so letters

favorite fanfic trope? mutual pining..............

have you ever been in love? no

favorite milkshake flavor? chocolate I guess, I don't drink milkshakes like ever. I love orange juliuses though

dinner dates or brunch dates? dinner because breakfast/brunch food sucks and going out in the day time......I don't think so. Real vampire hours

favorite flowers? calla lilies and other lily varieties, orchids

favorite perfume/cologne? victoria's secret love spell

favorite candle scent? granny's spice cake lol. Also yankee candle midsummer's night

what’s your ideal first date? honestly like...I'm such a homebody that the person needs to be okay with not going out pretty much ever like for REAL lol so at their apartment, getting takeout, talking on the couch I guess

favorite love story? you know what the handmaiden is valid. I might have to say titanic though........ Also I love cinderella stories like ella enchanted and ever after for some reason

what’s the most attractive thing a person could wear? sheer black tights

chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet? chocolate but red velvet is right behind with an axe ready to chop

snow, rain, or sun? from a having to drive in it standpoint, sun. If I'm home, snow

sweetest romantic memory? lol

favorite dating sim (and favorite character)? I have rarely played a good dating sim :/ like you know how I hate my wife liara, didn't LOVE dream daddy..... Sad

fictional crushes? obviously,,, elgra but I love so many cartoon/tv women like I can't even begin

what’s your dream wedding like? still kind of think of that cave wedding I used to want haha but more than likely just in someone's yard or something when it's cool, very small, chinese food catering!!!

what makes you blush? having attention called to me

do you believe in love at first sight? no

do you believe in soulmates? I go back and forth which seems like a copout answer but I'm being honest

denim jackets, leather jackets, or bomber jackets? None I hate jackets

what’s your sign? cancer

are you single? yes

do you prefer to charm, or be charmed? be charmed

guitar or piano? whomst cares but I guess piano

favorite romcom (or any romantic movie)? you really said moulin rouge..... But yeah I guess titanic even though it's not a comedy

do you fall in love easily? no

valentine’s decorations: yay or nay? I like decorations but I'm also lazy so like yay if someone else puts them up BUT Valentine's day decorations are kind of lame except teddy bears and other stuffed animals and candy based designs

would you prefer to propose or be proposed to? what’s your dream proposal? Be proposed to and I don't have an idea in mind other than 100% private and I like aquariums and planetariums

cloud gazing or star gazing? star gazing

do you like to dance? yes

what’s your OTP? Naivera and elgra /devil emoji

kittens or puppies? KITTENS

coffee, hot chocolate, or tea? hot chocolate or coffee, it depends what creamers are available

favorite soda? cherry coke

do you prefer gazing wistfully out the window or lying dramatically over the sofa? gazing

favorite ABBA song? here's where I admit I basically only know dancing queen and mama mia so uh dancing queen

fuck/marry/kill? fuck naivera marry elgra kill yvaine

favorite pajamas? basically the same as you, capris or stretch pants and a big shirt

favorite liquor? for taste HONESTLY...seagram's escapes and I have no clue what alcohol that even is. Oh actually you know what, hard cider

do you think about love a lot? also agree...fictionally

a walk in the park or a walk on the beach? Beach but only at night when it's kind of cool, and private

hand kisses or nose kisses? hand

what’s your dreamhouse? Absolute wildest dream house would have an in-ground pool or indoor pool and library or one of those little in-home theaters and high ceilings and no neighbors

[drferox]

20 questions with Dr Ferox #2

 Greetings Vetlings! Ready for a second round of 20 questions (and answers) as I work through my inbox? If you’re not sitting comfortably, doing so now would be a good idea. these are in no particular order. If you’ve asked on anonymous, see if you’ve been answered below.

@sckoviaaccords​ asked: My cat had bladder stones, the dissolvable kind with medicine and proper food fortunately, but she got in the habit of peeing everywhere because it hurt her. The stones are gone, but she's still peeing inside, when she used to use the doggy door. My mom keeps saying that we'll have to get rid of her if she keeps peeing on the carpet. How do I stop her from doing this?             

First make sure the stones are actually gone, and that there are no crystals remaining, or residual pain. Contact your vet about this. Cats may avoid where they used to toilet if they have associated that place with pain. Then consider using litter trays inside, especially if there is a particular spot the cat is already frequently urinating. Different cats may prefer different styles of litter tray, or different types of litter, so use one she prefers (offer her two, then stick with the one she chooses). If she will use a litter tray inside, you can then slowly move it a foot or so each week closer to a more appropriate location. As a cheap trick you can also put down tin foil (aluminium foil) where she is urinating. You can also make decoy food plated by gluing some dry food to a paper plate, adding some loose food and leaving them where the cat is urinating. Most cats only urinate where they can get food, but this may only deflect her to another inappropriate location on its own.

@in-a-drought-lioness asked: What kind of bladder stones are there? I've heard there are up to 6 different types? I answered the last question tax but I think there was an old one about pokemon? I would say you remind me of Tauros, because in the latest game they seem to be protector pokemon and you are a protector of animals.

There can be several different types, and it’s not impossible to get a mix of two. the most common ones are struvite and calcium oxalate. Urate, cystine, calcium phosphate, sillicate or drug residue stones/crystals (looking at you trimethoprim sulphonamides!) can also occur, but are less common. 

@rarmeowz​ asked: Do lungworms cause any long term damage in cats? My cat was a stray, and when we took her in she had lungworms. She was quickly and successfully treated and has been worm free for over a year, but I'd like to know if there's anything I should look out for, or if her lungs could be potentially damaged somehow

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus is the species usually referred to as cat lungworm, though other parasitic worm species exist which live in the lung. They don’t seem to cause long term damage in my experience, though incompletely treated infections can predispose to chronic bronchitis. Affected cats often have an elevated eosinophil count on hematology. This parasite is not always detected with faecal flotation, you often need a Baermann technique.  

@thehollowedangel​ said: Hi! I love your blog and was wondering if you had any other veterinary blogs to recommend? Thank you, hope your doing well!

Confession. I don’t actually...follow...any...veterinary blogs. They are just too reminiscent of work and don’t let my brain switch off and relax. i pop in on some sometimes when I’m in the mood, but don’t want unexpected random rants or clinical pictures popping up on my feed and forcing me to think. I do try to relax in my downtime

One place I do recommend checking out though is Dean Scott’s FunnyVet.com as the cartoons are funny, but very accurate.

Anonymous asked: Do you find that any dog sports are more dangerous to dogs than others? Thank you for the wonderful blog, since I'm curious, do you play D&D currently?

Not particularly if you’re talking about endangering their life. Anything that involved jumping or sudden turns if you’re talking about injuries. But in perspective, more dogs tear their cruciate ligaments around the home than they do at an event. Racing greyhounds are an entirely different topic.

And unfortunately no, I’m not playing D&D at the moment. But I am being involved in a sci-fi podcast.

@mygearsarestartingtotremble​ asked: I started getting curious about heartworm in Australia and if you guys had it and you do! Which surprised me. How big is preventive care in your hospital?             

Why would it surprise you? Lots of things try to kill things down here, and we most certainly have the mosquitoes! Prevention is very big in more northern states, but down here it’s not as big. There is even one local clinic who actively claims other vets that push heartworm prevention are ripping you off! I always advise people that prevention is so easy, and while the risks may be low locally, the consequences of infection can be catastrophic. I suspect it will be more common here with climate change, the disease already seems to be moving south.

Understandably Anonymous asked: (cw: animal death, uh... taxidermy?) When my cat dies, I think I want to keep his pelt (in the least creepy way possible - of course I would get a professional to do it). Is this Too Weird to talk to a vet about, and I should make some vague noises about taking the body home to bury if we ever have to put him down, or are the odds high that my vet has Seen Everything and won't be fazed by That Weirdo Who Wants to Skin Their Cat? I don't anticipate this being relevant soon, he's only 11ish.            

That is certainly a weird one, but not that extra weird. I don’t know whether your vet would be fazed with this knowledge at all, but you are certainly within your rights to take a deceased pet home, usually for burial. Most vets will shave a patch of fur on a leg for catheter placement or intravenous access though, you might have to address this if you’re not okay with that.

@vantastrophe asked: Anything cool happen to you this week? :) Hope you have a good day!             

I had a public holiday last Monday and discovered red velvet ice cream. That’s pretty cool.

@lapras-defense-squad asked: Hello Dr. Ferox :) I was wondering if you could please provide some advice on how to approach vet clinics in order to get a volunteer position. I am an undergraduate with no clinic experience, so I am really nervous about calling. Would asking for a volunteer position immediately (after submitting a resume and cover letter though) be too ambitious? Should I ask to shadow first? Thank you!            

I suspect things work a little differently where you are, but generally in Australia we have students for work experience, which is unpaid. There’s a relevant post here. Asking to shadow before asking for a volunteer position is probably prudent.

Anonymous asked: Have you done anything on harpy or half-human/half-bird biology?

No I have not. I don’t know when I might either, that will depend on my Patreon supporters asking or voting for it.

@a-floral-ghost asked: Is it true that when a dog or cat has an upset stomach it'll eat grass? Or is that just a weird myth

It’s half true. Some dogs and cats will eat grass just because it’s there, at a chewable height, or because they investigate the world with their mouths. Some will chew grass when they feel nauseous. It’s not so much a matter of eating grass makes them vomit, but more they felt like vomiting anyway so ate grass.

Anonymous asked: Could I ask you about cats that have shorter limbs? More specifically, the issues that you commonly see in cat breeds that have shorter limbs (those munchkins cats) and those that "naturally" have a larger torso to limb length ratio". (Question tax: Came for animal facts. Stayed for Sass and "WTH does that happen in Aussie?!") Thanks for taking the time to answer~

I’m not sure what you mean by the ‘natural’ cats, but I’ve written about Munchkin cats here.

Anonymous asked: In your hospital (is a vet's office called a hospital) have you encountered any amazing dog rescues and recoveries? They're just so heartwarming to see

Not much from the dog rescues here, but I was involved with more in Tasmania. My favorite animal sanctuary is Big Ears, and I heartily recommend everyone check them out.

@gram-stained-paws asked: In what dilution do you use salty water for wound flushing?

In the clinic I use sterile saline. For at home I tell people to use a teaspoon of salt to a cup of water (ideally pre-boiled). It’s easy for them to remember that way.

@bi-furiosa said: Hi! I wanted to recommend, if you haven't already seen it, a channel on YouTube called VetRanch. They're a charity of sorts that pull unwanted dogs in need of medical attention from local shelters, help rehabilitate them, and then work to get then adopted. They video the full process, including surgeries. They also frequently feature animals with demodex, and since that's what you're favorite parasite is, I thought you might be interested. Love your blog, and your patience with asks!

I’m sure that will appeal to a lot of people, but it doesn’t appeal to me at all. It’s work, and I get enough of it at work. I don’t need to be watching more veterinary cases, exposed to the compassion fatigue that’s likely to generate, and assess or critique everything that’s done or said. It’s just not going to be relaxing, but that you for thinking of me.

Another Anonymous asked: Okay! You're a vet so you obviously talk about living animals a lot, but if you could chose one extinct species to bring back, which one would it be??

I would have to say thylacine. They’re pretty special to me, unlikely to be a threat to humans, and only went extinct recently so their habitat would probably still support them if they were to be released. It’s also entirely our fault they went extinct, so I feel it’s only fair if we were to bring them back.

Anonymous asked: Kind of a stupid question but is it possible for a lizard to be warm blooded? Also, what is the difference between red and blue blood and can a mammal evolve with blue blood?

Warm and cold blooded are a bit of a misnomer. Ectothermic animals, like reptiles, are dependent on external heat to maintain their body temperature. They can get quite warm! It’s certainly possible for a lizard to evolve endothermic capabilities, if that’s what you’re asking.

The difference between red or blue blood is the metal ion in the oxygen carrying molecule. Mammals have haemoglobin which contains iron, producing the red color. Some insects and molluscs have haemocyanin which contains copper, causing the blue-green color. Haemocyanin is not present in mammals, and if a mammal-like creature did evolve it, I would question whether it truly was a mammal.

Anonymous asked: One of my rats is rather fat, and also blind. This is a problem, because it seems she doesnt use the enrichment i have for the rats as much (especially the wheel) maybe because she is blind? All the rats get is a constantly full bowl of oxbow rat food and occasional treats of plain cheerios and very rarely (maybe once a month) chickpeas. I give two of my rats other, higher calorie treats because they are so active they have problems being too skinny. Is there anything i can do to help my fatrat?

I really don’t see a huge number of rats to be able to offer you advice. If she’s blind she may not be able to use enrichment objects that require movement, but may still be able to enjoy enrichment objects with different textures or smells to explore. There’s bound to be better ratty folks to ask than me though.

@und1ne-prince asked: What/which is your favorite dog and cat breeds?

There are lots of dogs I like, including greyhounds, JRTs, Dobermans, and Swedish Valhunds. For cats it’s the humble moggy.

The last Anonymous said: Wait, what? There are people who think vets should work free? Why? It should be obvious that you're practicing actual medicine, not just randomly pulling diagnoses and treatments out of your ass.

Ah, but they say that if we really cared about animals we’d treat them for free.