#It's just animal behaviour. It's just a regular thing for them to do

[cupcakesmoothie]

A child means like below 12 (but can presumably walk and talk and scream and might have parents) and a literal animal can be like a dog or cat or bird (that might attack you and/or have diseases)

[spotsupstuff]

List of things that sparked joy in my little Ancient culture enthusiast heart:

The moths in the Ancient Urban are essentially pigeons, including the fact some of them are tagged.

Finally a proper and canon confirmation that Ancients really did have pets, positive relationships with animals and weren't Only stuck in glass cubes on display like Moon implies once. It can also mean that they did research into animal behaviour, such as tracking migrating and such. From how biologists are in real life, we can assume they were even genuinely passionate & happy about these type of things.

All the pottery and plates in that workshop room,

A confirmation that they did have paper and used scrolls for writing stuff down,

alongside with the pearls that they, too, could perhaps freely read or one of those things on the shelf there might be a pearl reader, if it is more technologically based (CDs type information keeping)

I also wonder if those things there are books- with stone tablet pages or paper ones? digital things hidden in hardcovers?- or something else entirely. Do they maybe hold orders for earthenware?

The masks on the wall, they feel so real compared to the murals.

Are they of the same person or is it of the workers there or maybe a family? Some of them look similar to those in the murals.

While at the concept of family, they had creches, but it doesn't sound like it was an outright job in the sense that they seem to have been community-raised (I fuckin' knew it I can put down my tin hat now).

They had hard beds, similar to what used to be used in old china iirc, along with that pillow/headrest

This kinda thing. They were made out of porcelain to keep the head cool in the night, but I think some where out of wood too.

The bustling of the city.

The normalcy of people going about their day, talking, the vehicles zipping by (they had some kind of motor vehicles!!!!).

The architecture, in both the Ancient Urban and the Outer Rim (those roofs made the right side worth it to me, that's how much I love these bastards)

I find it very funny that what looks to me like a REALLY poor ass cable management seems like the height of decorative prowess to them. Also some insight into how the void ,,bath" actually looked like.

The toys... just the toys.

Alongside these dialogues

And the one about him remembering the halls he ran through- oh when I say that I adore the fact that this Echo is a kid stuck here, lonely and vulnerable with polite speech not plaguing it.

The original Echoes combined with the Iterators' distaste for the species as whole painted the Ancients as these heartless things lazer focused only on the Ascension, religion and rituals. There wasn't much space for thinking about them in a more human manner and I feel like most of the fandom did depict the Ancients only as the impression was given. Bunch of posh full of themselves suckups, uncaring much for one another or anything around them.

I get kinda annoyed when there's an insistance that some kind of sapient species has done only bad. With humans, too, I just about had it with the demonization, negativity and staggering blindness to the beauty and good we can and do create- in both fiction and reality. Same goes for these dumbasses.

Disko kid here begs to challenge that impression. He's lost and alone and kind of scared, stuck here not knowing how to move forward. He mourns the regularity and simplicity of his room, the nostalgia of shelves and toys, the golden sunrays sneaking in through the windows. He brings a certain humanity into the consideration of Ancients.

That maybe, only maybe.. they deserve to be mourned.

[vrystalius]

Upper moons vs

Human nature of petting everything and or copying noises

Imagine them watching their human stop to pet an animal based demon (like a demon cat) and copying their meows and noises

(The demon can’t do shit bc they’re there. Muzan silently glaring, Douma claiming the demon is a personal pet now, kokushibo doesn’t need to even be there, his scent is STRONK, Akaza silently chuckling.)

The Upper moons + Muzan’s reaction to you snuggling with a cat-demon

The Upper Moons + Muzan reacting to you being all cutesy with a cat-demon.

Pairing: Muzan, Kokushibo, Douma, Akaza x reader

Note: I imagined this cat-demon to be extremly disgusting and deformed. Some kind of weird horror creature XD I’m thinking about writing a fic about the hashira/upper moons get cursed and get cat ears of some kind. Also, this was fairly rushed. So sorry! <3

Muzan Kibutsuji

Muzan was experimenting with his blood and demon transformations, and what kind of different types of demons he can create. Just recently he made a cat-like demon. The behaviour of the creature was similar to that of a street cat. It had claws, patches of fur, cat-like ears and a short tail. It was even able to meow and purr, he noted. That thing is useless and hideous. Better to dispose of it before it causes any disturbances and annoyances.

He caught you snuggling up with this hideous demon while he was away to pick up his brand new suit. Muzan was not fond of the creature purring and laying its head on your lap while you were trying to teach it how to meow properly. Even glancing at the disgusting creature was enough to make Muzan feel a strange mix of disgust, disappointment and jealousy. Is he neglecting you to the point of you being willing to let this… thing… cuddle onto you? Also, why is this demon even daring to come this close to you?

Needless to say, disposing this waste of his blood was much sooner done than originally planned.

“Do not ever come too close to my experiments again unless either I am present or I allow you to.”

Kokushibo

Kokushibo always made sure to leave his scent on you at all times. Sometimes he’d give you one of his yukatas to wear or he might leave his scent by kissing your neck, marking your skin with hickeys.

This was a way to protect you from other demons approaching you and warning them of who is your protector whenever Kokushibo himself is not present.

Therefore, this cat-demon did not approach you. It smelled Upper Moon 1’s scent around you from across the halls of the infinity castle arc.

You never got to meet him.

Douma

He’s not fond of you interacting with other demons, especially the ones below Douma. What if they get too comfortable around you, hm? What then? He’d have to kill and eat them! He would never allow that!

This cat-demon was send to Douma by Lord Muzan to send out and search for the blue spider lily. He noticed pretty quickly how fond you became of this creature. You’re petting its fur, scratching behind the ears and even tried to imitate the meows its throwing at you.

Douma has a weird feeling in his stomach when watching you two. On one hand, you seem pretty happy with this weird pet cat demon. On the other hand, Douma could get you a regular kitty! That way, he doesn’t have to share you! Or if you want, Douma can meow for you. He just doesn’t really want you to be around this cat demon anymore! (Is he feeling jealous? He couldn’t possibly!)

“Dear lotus, how about you pet me instead, hmm? I can even meow for you if you like!”

Akaza

Who the hell is this damn demon? Why did this cat creature think it can just snuggle up onto you and act like you’re not already taken, huh? Can’t that thing notice Akaza’s smell on you? Oh it’s fucking infuriating him. He’s trying very hard to not slam the head of this freak against the floor until it dies and returns to the hellhole it came out of. The audacity to snuggle up on your lap and to act all innocent and stupid. Perhaps that demon creature is too stupid to realise that it’s utterly disgusting.

Yet, you welcomed it and scratched the fuzzy head of this demon, copying its odd meowing.

“Baby. Let it go.”

💠

My brain is getting fried right now by school work, so I might neglect asks for a little while to concentrate on my own works. I sometimes can’t fully concentrate or come up with good things for asks, so so sorry! I’ll work on them on the weekend and days where I feel more energised! <3

Anyways, make sure to EAT, SLEEP and DRINK enough!

Take care of yourselves <3

[rahuratna]

Synopsis: You teach Astarion a spell that allows him to speak to animals ... and unleash chaos. From building a bat army, to coaching spiders on how to have sex, there's certainly never a dull moment when it comes to your beloved.

[Astarion x Tav/Reader]

Genres: Romance, humour, fluff, crack.

Warnings: Sexual humour.

Dividers by: @saradika-graphics

"I've got to hand it to you, darling. You make conversing with common beasts look ever so engaging."

You glanced over at Astarion and smiled. He had volunteered to accompany you on today's hunt, probably to stretch his legs and enjoy the thrill of the chase.

As nonchalant as he always seemed, you'd noticed that he'd donned a rakish hunting cap over his curls and exchanged his regular clothing for a leather armour ensemble. Let it never be said that Astarion didn't get into the spirit of things.

Dusting off your knees, you rose to your feet.

"It's ... not always as simple as casting a spell. Each species has its own unique behaviour, traits and dialects. You've got to have a fair understanding of what makes them tick. Offend a squirrel and it may lead you to an owlbear cave instead of buried treasure."

He groaned and clicked his tongue.

"Sounds like a lot of work, if you ask me. I've only ever learned the spells and cantrips that get me out of tough spots."

Considering those words, you watched the small starling you'd recruited flit away through the treetops, ready to begin scouting your path ahead after the promise of some delectable insects.

You turned back to Astarion.

"Now that I think about it, I have heard tales of vampires being able to command beasts."

His expression soured and he waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh, that's plain old domination. All the beasts of the soil and air, at your command. Ravening wolves, infected with bloodlust, ready to tear out your enemies' throats."

Pausing, he shot you a quick look before turning away.

"It's nothing like what you do. You actually ... speak to them. Understand them. You don't try to control them, or treat them with ... cruelty."

Without waiting for your reply, he strode forward through the trees, in the wake of the starling. Staring after him, you felt a telltale surge of tenderness in your chest, the kind that you'd been feeling increasingly often in his presence.

Brow furrowing slightly, you hurried after him.

When you did manage to catch up, his equanimity seemed to be restored. Astarion's moods, once you knew him well enough, were positively mercurial.

He slowed down and walked at your side, touch occasionally grazing your wrist. You opened your mouth to speak, then closed it again.

After a few more minutes, you felt his little finger curl briefly around yours, giving a small tug.

"What's got you in such a brown study?"

You turned to him, expression serious.

"Well, I was thinking ... would you like me to teach you the spell for speaking to animals?"

He stopped dead, blinking in surprise.

"Well ... I certainly wouldn't mind. But what's this in aid of? You and Halsin have far more mastery over the skill than I do."

"It doesn't have to be for a specific purpose. Just for you to see what it feels like. You can practice on your own after I teach you the rudiments. And maybe ... then we can speak to animals together?"

You watched him, taking in his reaction.

Astarion was an exceptionally handsome man, there was no denying it. Every facial expression and gesture was an extension of his deadly charm and effortless magnetism.

It was when he looked at you like this, however, gaze trusting and guileless, hesitant, a fleeting radiance in his smile, that your heart raced and you knew, with certainty, that you'd made the right call.

"Hm. I suppose ... I'd like that. Yes. Who knows what I could achieve with a skill like that?"

His tone was flippant, cheerful, but you saw the way his eyes slid away from you, the way the tips of his ears twitched. He looked almost ... bashful.

You placed a handle gently on his arm before resuming your tracking of the starling.

"Good. I think you'd be quite talented at it."

Considering Astarion's usual attitude to such matters, you're surprised by how seriously he takes the matter of learning the simple spell.

He appears one evening at your tent, when most of your other companions have turned in for the night. It had been a fairly relaxed day, one focused on receiving deliveries of goods at camp and making sure that stores of valuable items and potions were replenished.

Astarion seats himself before you, hands placed on his knees, scarlet eyes alert and trained on you.

"Well, darling, here I am, at your disposal. It's time to don the robe of spellmaster and educate little old me."

You grinned back at him.

"Please don't let Gale hear you call me spellmaster."

"Why? It might do him a world of good."

"Right before he comes at me with a certified board exam to prove my credentials. Now, raise your hands. Like this. Perfect. I'll teach you the basic incantation first, then we'll focus on channeling the Weave."

He is a remarkably quick study. His eyes never leave your hands, your lips, your eyes, your gestures as you take him through the process. It's hard not to feel somewhat flustered by such rapt attention. You don't fancy yourself the best teacher, but you do try, for his sake.

When you feel that he's mastered the basics, you clap your hands together and rise.

"Right! It's time to put your skills to the test."

He arches an eyebrow.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Cast the spell on yourself."

He complies, eyes closing briefly, the thrum of magical power matching yours as you also speak the words and feel the slow shift in your mind. Astarion flexes his fingers, nodding slowly.

"I think I've managed it. So, where do we take the lesson from here?"

Instead of replying, you whistle loudly. Astarion sits bolt upright as the eager patter of paws approaches your tent. Scratch noses his way in, tail wagging furiously as he spots both you and Astrion waiting for him.

"Friend! And Fang Friend! Both here! What are you doing? Do you have something for Scratch? Are you doing magic like wizards?"

You watch in silent fondness as Astarion's eyes grow wider and he leans toward Scratch as if he cannot believe what he hears. His voice is low, hesitant.

"Scratch? I can ... hear you speak now. This feels ... rather odd."

The white-furred head whips in Astarion's direction and Scratch's tail stills for a minute.

"Fang Friend? You can hear me?"

Clearing his throat, Astarion seems to regain some of his composure. He offers Scratch a charming, if superior smile.

"Of course. I've just learned the appropriate spell, thanks to my sweet dove here. So, this is your voice. It does seem ... nice, I suppose."

"Oh, Fang Friend!"

Without further ado, Scratch launches himself at Astarion who lets out a decidedly undignified squawk at his actions.

"Wait! Stop at once! What do you think you're ... why are you slobbering all over ... excuse me!"

"Fang Friend learned to speak, just for me! For Scratch! Oh, great day! Happy day! Fang Friend is the best!"

"I certainly did not learn the spell just for you, you mangy little - "

Astarion pauses, one hand braced on Scratch's probing snout, as your laughter fills the tent. The dog instantly switches his attention to you, pouncing on you in delight.

"Thank you for teaching Fang Friend!"

"It's always a pleasure, Scratch."

Cradling his soft flank against you, you scrub at his belly, causing him to roll over in blissful abandon. Glancing up, you see Astarion watching you with that rare warmth, the kind that kindles his eyes to the soft hue of a sunrise over the sleeping forest.

Of course, it isn't long before Astarion's new knowledge starts to be employed in ... unique and innovative ways. You'd expected it, naturally, but he still manages to surprise, vex and amuse you at every turn.

One one such morning, you turn your tent and its contents upside down searching for your missing boot. Brow creasing in consternation (because you just knew it had been beside your bedroll the night before) you step outside, scanning the ground.

And spot Scratch, standing a few paces away, your boot clasped in his teeth. You frown, puzzled. He's never done that before.

"Scratch? May I have my boot back?"

Instead of complying with his usual obedience, he trots off, pausing at the edge of the clearing to ensure that you follow him. When he is certain that you're on his trail, he darts off into the trees.

Muttering under your breath, you push your feet into the spare pair of sandals you own, wondering what on earth had gotten into the canine.

You catch glimpses of him up ahead on the forest path, and he runs off each time you get close, leading you to something.

Eventually, you hear the rush of water up ahead. It must be the small waterfall where you sometimes go to bathe for a touch more privacy. Stepping out of the foliage, you stop dead in your tracks at the sight which awaits you.

Scratch has paused before the edge of the water, tail wagging happily now that he'd completed his task of luring you out here. Under Astarion's direction of course. That much is obvious.

Lying shirtless and seductively posed on his elbows, the vampire in question regards you with a coy smile from his vantage point on a rock. His pale skin glistens with water, the rivulets running tantalizingly over sculpted pectorals and the ridges of his taut abdomen.

"Oh, look who it is, Scratch. Our darling who'd been far too busy yesterday evening to spend time with us. Isn't it lovely that they're here?"

You pinch the bridge of your nose.

"Really, Astarion?"

He sits up, the razor-tipped smile exhibiting no remorse whatsoever.

"Well, you're here now, aren't you? Climb up here. The view is quite splendid."

"We have important things to accomplish today, you know."

"And Shadowheart won't be awake for another half hour. We both know that. Now hush and get up here."

Reluctantly, you clamber up beside him, Scratch following you, your boot still clutched safely between his jaws. Astarion insistently pats the rock surface where he wants you to sit, and you do, your side pressed against his rather damp one.

In spite of his provocative pose, you know that he simply wants companionship, the sweet affection only you can grant him. That much had been established during your conversation in camp, that night after encountering the drow merchant.

He turns to you, nose inches from your cheek, taking you in. You laugh and flush slightly under his intense scrutiny.

"Stop staring."

"I can't."

His voice is low, rough-edged with sincere affection. You turn your head and your lips slot perfectly against his. He draws you in, one arm curled around your waist, kissing you tenderly, softly.

The moment is broken when a furry head butts in between your forms and Scratch drops your boot into your lap.

"Fang Friend said you'd be happy, and you are!"

You lean across and pinch Astarion's side.

"Fang Friend had better watch himself. Abusing the power I've given him already is a risky business."

Surprisingly, Astarion didn't seem to mind Scratch's intrusion. His fingers drift down behind the dog's ears absently, his gaze taking in the waterfall, the sun over the treetops, you.

You decided that the little distraction was worth it, when he looked like this, like an ordinary man enjoying the morning air, the wind tousling his unruly curls, the corners of his eyes and mouth upturned in relaxed amusement.

Speaking with animals certainly had its merits.

The next time he makes use of his newfound power, it's obvious that he's been practicing without your knowledge in order to surprise you.

A convoy of Absolute cultists is making its way towards the main encampment, caravans laden with valuable supplies throwing up a cloud of dust from the road, heavily guarded on all sides.

Squinting out from your vantage point on a rise nearby, you bite your lip. You are heavily outnumbered, and the guards look like no slouches. Attacking head on would be out of the question.

Lae'zel shifts restlessly beside you, but she can clearly tell when strategy takes precedence over brawn. Astarion taps his fingers against the boulder you are crouched behind before a sly smile tugs at his lips.

He glances over at you and signals that he'd like to handle the distraction. You pause, uncertain, but he seems sure of himself, and Astarion never takes unnecessary risks in such perilous situations. Nodding, you watch as he slips into the shadows.

The caravan trundles along, undisturbed, until you begin to hear exclamations at the rear and front. Raising your head over the boulder for a quick look, you can make out many small, dark, darting shapes, pouring in a steady stream from the nearby trees.

They wheel, flap, buffet their wings against the faces of the guards who swing their weapons in wild arcs and hit nothing. Shadowheart turns to you, eyebrows raised.

"Those are bats."

Bats?

But wasn't that-

You had no further time to process that thought, because you'd spotted Astarion. The increasingly dense flock of generally nocturnal creatures had surrounded the entire caravan, preventing his passage from reaching the guards' attention. He cut the lines holding the wagons together, darting back out of sight as the heavy vehicles teetered and pitched backward, rolling down the hill towards the water below.

Shouts and desperate cries from the guards and merchants now reached your ears. They scrambled and tripped, swiping at the bats, trying to stop the passage of the errant wagons.

It was all in vain.

Astarion slipped away, into the shade of the trees once more, while Shadowheart readied the appropriate incantation. She focused, drawing on the weave, freezing the water just below the surface of the river so that the caravans would be submerged, but not so far down as to be unrecoverable.

As the team on the road below stamped, swore and made arrangements to call in assistance from the encampment to help them salavge the goods, bats streamed into the area behind the boulder where your party still remained hidden.

Dark wings took on a more corporeal form, and suddenly, Astarion was with you again. He smirked at your collective expressions.

Keeping your voice low, you hissed incredulously at him.

"How did you manage that? I thought ... that only - "

He completed your sentence, smug.

"That only full vampires could conjure animals like this? You'd be right, sweetheart. I haven't conjured any of these fine fellows."

Lae'zel was now looking supremely confused.

"But they're clearly following your lead, elf."

"Well, that's only because I've been getting to know them quite thoroughly over the past few weeks."

Now you were truly stumped.

"Getting ... to know them?"

"Why, yes! They inhabit a cave nearby. Granted, I've had to wade through my fair share of bat droppings, but it was certainly worth it."

He pointed to the bats that had perched on his shoulders and on the nearby branches.

"This is Balthazar, that's Bella and here's Brissinger. They were the first to approach me. And over here is Hilda, their second cousin, once removed. Here's Gerald, Jarvis and Phillip. They're triplets, would you believe. And this one is Laila. She's awfully shy, but she's partial to berries."

A silence followed this introduction. You coughed slightly.

"Astarion ... did you ... get to know each and every one of these bats? You befriended them?"

"But of course! Isn't that a lot better than commanding them to do what I want? We're all happy acquaintances and they'll help when we're in a pinch."

Shadowheart was staring at him a little less politely.

"And you keep telling me that I'm touched in the head."

Lae'zel snorted.

"Seems like you've found a work-around for vampire powers. Useful, if somewhat laborious."

She peered down towards the road, where the remaining Cultists were slowly trekking further away towards the encampment to obtain the help they'd been speaking about. The smaller guard that remained would be easily dealt with. She patted her sword and grinned.

"We can take them. Let's move."

As she descended the slope, Shadowheart following closely, you turned abruptly to Astarion, gripped him by the collar and pulled him into a swift kiss. One of the bats gave what was, unmistakably, a hoot.

Parting with him, you spied his pleased, if confused expression.

"What was that for, my sweet?"

"For being marvelous."

"Ha! Just wait until you see my bat cave."

After most battles, Astarion could generally be found at his tent, having cleaned up and tended his wounds. It was during these more relaxed evening hours that he would bring out his special spark lantern, burning brightly with a near-blue flame, to illuminate the repairs he effected to his clothes and armour.

Even though you'd assured him that you could afford to replace damaged items, he insisted on darning the torn edges of cloth, mending the split segments of leather, fixing metal plates into position. The activity seemed to provide him some means of relaxation.

When you sought him out, you certainly weren't expecting him to have company. And yet, there it was.

The sound of voices, engaged in what seemed to be a most riveting conversation.

"Well, how very rude of them!"

That was Astarion's voice. The reedy-sounding answer caused you some confusion. You didn't recognise the speaker. 

"Rude! Rude! Rude humans!"

"But you must have done something about it, surely?"

"Pecked holes in all her pumpkins, I did."

"You didn't! How wicked!"

A raucous laugh sounded from within his tent. You sidled closer, now infinitely curious. Astarion was speaking again, tone low and confidential.

"You know, I heard from Titchwittle that she doesn't even maintain the thatching on her roof. All kinds of vermin nesting in there."

"Ooh, he's right! He's right! We won't go near it! It's crawling with nasty things."

"I suspected so. I saw her haggling the life out of the vendors at the market, so one would think her husband's managed to save up enough by now to mend things, but there we go."

"Have you been on any roofs? Ingis said he saw you! Saw you! Sneaking at night!"

"Well, how very perceptive of him. As a matter of fact, we did raid an arms dealer last week. He must have seen me then."

"He did! Ingis did! Said your hair looked like a wet cat's fur in the rain, he did."

Astarion gasped, scandalized.

"He said what?"

"Wet cat! Wet cat!"

"Oh, I'll give Ingis a piece of my mind when I see him next. Who is he to judge? His feathers look as healthy as a zombie's scalp."

Unable to resist the burning curiosity, you pushed the flap of Astarion's tent aside.

There he was, surrounded by the paraphernalia of his sewing kit, the fluorescent light from the lamp illuminating his pale features and the ... companion he was clearly enjoying a fruitful gossip session with.

A raven.

It was perched on a nearby wooden stand, eyes bright and watchful. Astarion looked up at you as you entered, expression mildly outraged.

"Darling, did you hear that? Can you believe someone would call me anything other than beautiful?"

Perhaps, the most memorable occasion during which Astarion had put his animal speaking ability to use had been the time he'd attempted to tutor the spiders.

On the subject of how to have sex.

You'd returned from the city one evening, having purchased some supplies, expecting a hearty meal to sate your ravenous appetite.

What you found instead was a cooling cook pot and Gale hunched over in despair, begging Astarion to stop, please stop, for the love of all things good in the world and didn't he even care about Gale's appetite?

Hands on hips, aspect stern, Astarion was firmly ignoring the wizard's pleas. He rapped the stick he held against one palm.

"Gale, stop your whinging. Just look at them. Such poor form! No finesse, no stamina, a series of anaemic in-and-outs and they're done! How atrocious! This isn't acceptable."

"They're spiders, for the love of - "

"You there! That isn't how you hold your mate! Wrap your legs around her further. Yes, that's it. Now reach. Yesssss. You can do it. Put your back into it, fellow."

"Oh Gods, please, someone make it stop - "

"And you! Do you think I can't see exactly what you're doing? Keep your fangs away from him until he's done. Hells, control yourself. Bite off his head and his pedipalps won't reach your opening, I can tell you that."

Gale's haunted gaze met yours and he hurried over. You tried your best to control your features as he grabbed you by the elbows to steady himself.

"Can you ... do something about this? He's got these... spiders lined up over here doing mating drills."

Patting Gale's arm reassuringly, you made your way over to where Astarion was watching his eight-legged disciples with a critical eye.

He spotted you and beamed, walking over to plant a sweet, searing kiss on your lips. One the spiders couples, having witnessed this, promptly went into overdrive. Astarion tutted fondly at them before wrapping his arm around your waist and gesturing to the spiders arranged before you in ... various stages of copulation.

"I saw a few of them going at it in the woods and darling, I was appalled. No wonder their population is dwindling. Their courtship rituals and mating strategies are deplorable."

"I'm certainly not complaining," muttered Gale, who was busying himself with the stew again to blot out the sight of the writhing arachnids.

You nodded earnestly.

"Oh, I understand. Without balance, an ecosystem cannot function."

Behind you, Gale whipped around, ladle pointing at you accusingly.

"Gods, you're no better than he is."

Astarion took you by the hand and led you closer.

"And now, my sweet, it's time to lavish these ignorant souls with your own knowledge. Go on, tell this one here how it's done."

You knelt and observed the attempts of the much smaller male, scrambling to find purchase on his chosen mate's back. Shaking your head, you raised a hand.

"Now, listen here. Sometimes roles must be reversed during mating. Sometimes one partner must be dominant, and other times, they should switch. Try a new position, maybe with you behind and under, instead of on top. That way, your pedipalps can reach her better."

Astarion clapped his hands, expression positively ecstatic.

"Oh, did you hear that, students? That's my darling for you! Always so perceptive. They knows exactly how to undulate their sweet waist when they're being dominant too - "

Gale had well and truly had enough. He strode over to the two of you, energy crackling along one finger as he pointed it at you like a weapon.

"I'm going to count to three. And this class had better be dismissed by the time I'm done."

Astarion hurriedly scattered his ardent pupils, calling after them.

"Same time next week. But we'll meet in the forest. Wouldn't want any of you getting singed by a certain someone while you're in the throes -"

"Astarion."

"There. They're gone. Not a single trace of them, Gale."

Gallantly offering you his elbow, Astarion escorted you to your tent with an air of wounded dignity. As soon as Gale was out sight, you both collapsed, wheezing with laughter.

"Did you see his - "

"Oh hells, his face."

"And the way he looked when those two spiders really started going at it - "

"Shhhh, he's making stew. And I'm starving. Don't distract him any more!"

Astarion straightened and swayed a little from side to side, expression playfully miffed.

"My treasure, all that teaching has worked up an appetite in me too."

"Come here."

You wrapped your arms around him, cradling him against you. It had been a long day, and you hadn't been with him for most of it. You did miss him, even though you'd only been away for such a relatively short time.

Burying your nose into his shoulder, you spoke, voice slightly muffled.

"First bats, then ravens, and now spiders?"

"I'm a vampire, darling. I must cultivate a certain ... aesthetic."

He bit down gently on the side of your neck, fangs scraping across the surface of the skin.

"But before I drink my fill, you need to eat. As hungry as I am, I can hear your stomach rumbling loud and clear."

You leaned back and regarded him mischievously. 

"Not as hungry as some of your pupils, it seems."

"Oh, they're hungry enough to eat each other, my love. And not in the nice way, either."

The corner of his mouth curved as you laughed, that devastating smile now filled with a warmth that had been glaringly absent when you'd first known him.

How far you both had come, how much faith you'd placed in this blossoming love that somehow continued to raise its delicate head through the crushing weight of peril and conflict.

As with all his endeavours, Astarion had taken your gift and made it his own. Be it gregarious ravens, or lustful spiders, you knew that nature would answer Astarion's call.

How could it not?

It had watched him struggle, despair, overcome and flourish, and if your years in the wild had taught you anything, it was that nature rewarded its most glorious survivors.

[beenbaanbuun]

has yeosang nipped their lamb-dove? he's bitten hongjoong officially. has he bitten anyone else? i feel like if he did the reader would be like ur just a puppyyyyyyyyyy. and defend sangie to the matz like he just accidentally bit them its fine hes teething. all the excuses. i bet there would suddenly be chew toys for him too if so (and theyd be so clearly from the reader - all pastel and cute vs the monochrome of the matz!fam)

the biting was bad in the beginning especially. if either hongjoong or seonghwa got too close to him, he’d lunge for them and sink his teeth into whatever skin they had available. it was rare that he’d make them bleed since the bites were more of a warning than anything. it was only ever when they deigned to touch him that he bit hard enough to hurt. of course, over time as he learned the rules of the house a little better, the biting got less and less. hongjoong no longer had to pin him by the scruff of the neck for doing something so utterly disrespectful as smashing a priceless vase for the soul purpose of rebelling, and seonghwa’s regular hair ruffles just became something yeosang could live with.

but darling was somehow special. the fact that he knew he would be dead if he dared to hurt her had no real part in it, because he never felt the urge to hurt her. sure, when she pounced on his and used him as her personal teddy bear it pissed him off, but he never bit her. and all those hours that she spent sat next to him, fiddling with his fluffy tail really, really annoyed him, but again, biting was never an option. instead he’d pin her, flipping her over onto her back and holding her wrists above her head, all while growling threats that he did not intend to keep.

“fucking touch me again and i’ll rip your throat out, brat. damn what your precious ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ do to me in return.”

but then she just… giggles in his face and it stumps him. she’s not supposed to find his threats funny. she’s supposed to cower in fear, crying and begging for mercy. the fact that she’s looking at him like he’s the most precious creature in the world has him entirely stumped.

maybe that’s why he doesn’t want to hurt her, though. she doesn’t see him as a threat. she doesn’t flinch back from him when he turns his head too quick, and she doesn’t cower away from him like he’s some sort of dangerous animal. maybe he doesn’t want to be violent with her because she doesn’t treat him like he should be. over time, that treatment stops from seonghwa too, the flinching comes to a halt and so yeosang stops biting him too. with hongjoong, it never really ends, but as the both of them get closer, it just becomes part of their dynamic, something the two of them treat as a game.

the chew toys are definitely something that darling would do as a practical joke, same as hongjoong buying him dog treats and seonghwa threatening him with the spray bottle in his greenhouse if he ever steps out of line. yeosang doesn’t find it funny when she presents him with bone shaped object, just raising a brow at her as she struggles to stifle her giggles with her hand. he takes them anyway, just because he knows it’ll make her happy (damn his soft heart) and hides them away under his bed. no one has to know that sometimes he pulls one of the ugly pastel things out and chews on it like one might chew on the end of a pen. it’s a completely normal behaviour, he tells himself as he stashes the toys under his bed once he’s finished with them. the fact that he doesn’t want anyone to know is not because it’s weird or that he’s ashamed of it… definitely not…

[sunset-sprinkles]

Love next door is not a poorly written show. Lemme scream it , the writer had flaws in some scenes true. But the characters are not shallow please. It is actually a very well written show.

If you are siding with either Seukryu or Seunghyo after every scene it means that as a viewer you need more grasping skills.. cause clearly ep 9 and 10 were more than just pointing out who is right and who is wrong. Was she wrong? Maybe to some part and maybe not , was he wrong? Maybe to some part and maybe not . Was the ex wrong? Maybe to some part and maybe not .

We need to understand the dynamics of the characters , the reason the writer took 8 episodes to build that narrative right? Her illness is not a misfit plot- because that drives her reason of returning to Korea. She was rude yesterday, yes, but that's her idea of caring for her closed ones. Seunghyo was the first person whom she wanted to express, but he did ghost her at that time, but can you blame him? No . He should have been there as a friend but he saw her moving ahead in her life , he thought tangling to her is not the right thing to do- the timing was off, but that doesn't make him a wrong person. Similarly Seokryu expecting him to be there is not selfish.

Their reactions were animated, exaggerated, immature, ignorant and expressive. It's because he wanted to be part of her bad times . He had his own family trauma, but she was always his comfort, he wanted her to lean on him. He was shaken that she didn't trust him enough for that, she did have her reasons but he has his reasons too. As a viewer can't we see them completely as characters , characters who have been part of each other's life forever, their expectations and reactions might not follow regular lines and behaviours.

This drama deserves to be perceived well. It has a lot of depth- and gave the characters a lot of space to make mistakes, be confused, be miserable and still hold on to what they want. We are finally back to the happy side and thats what why the darkness was needed.

[paperlifted]

There will always be the softest of spots in my heart for 2003 Splinter, who managed to raise as stable a family as he did despite starting life as just a regular ol' street rat. Which isn't to say I don't like Splinters who were human first - that origin usually brings fun narrative hooks and baggage, and is also, obviously, more logical than “this random rat learned master-level ninjutsu through [checks notes] entirely unexplained powers of observation".

But who cares about logic! Because the emotional story of 2003 is so compelling! He was just a rat!! Assuming he had a rat’s natural lifespan, he was something like two years old when the change occurred, and suddenly he has this new, mature body and mature mind with two years’ of animal cognizance bouncing hazily around a space that’s now a hundred times too big for it, and at the same time there are these four strange creatures who have just imprinted on him like a quartet of mutant ducklings.

He doesn’t even know the turtles are intelligent at first. He does, perhaps, understand in retrospect what it was that Tang Shen felt when she looked at something small and hungry and knew she had the power to change its circumstances. What she felt when the creature came to trust her touch, to desire her company, to seek her comfort when hurt or afraid. The turtles, then, are… pets, yes? It is worth the small difficulties of finding them food and shelter to not be alone. Rats are social animals. He is otherwise so very alone.

Of course, he soon finds they can understand the words he has been speaking mostly for his own sake; they can think and learn and begin to speak back to him. They might be the only other creatures like him in the entire world, and it is a trembling relief, an overpowering fear. Their minds are growing, their needs are growing, and still they look to him with blind trust that he will provide for them without fail. He was just a rat, and then he was more; and now he needs to define what more will be.

I’ve seen folks who prefer versions where the turtles have a more openly familial relationship with Splinter (calling him father/dad more regularly, leaning less into the Stern Sensei behaviour), but I am very fond of it as it is because it’s so clearly something the five of them have built for themselves. What does a rat know of fatherhood? What does a rat know of kin? Yoshi never looked upon the rodent as anything more than an inherited pet, kept and cared for in memory of the one he had truly loved, but Splinter examines those memories and names him father because it’s the only model he has. What does a rat understand of family? The sharing of warmth and resources, and the awareness that there are forces who will take these things from you with cruel indifference and leave you lost and alone and starving.

What does a rat understand of grief? Too much, now.

They are children, and then they are his children, and then they are his sons because somewhere along the line he learns that these are the words for what he feels. And to them he is master and sensei because these are the words for The One Who Teaches and The One Who Protects and The One Who Provides. Perhaps he expects too much of them too soon, but there are no parenting lessons for a rat in a sewer and no one else for him to ask to share in his burdens and responsibilities. Perhaps it is unfair to press them all into a martial lifestyle, but the danger is too real and it’s one of the few skills he has mastered. Hierarchy and discipline are well-known to rats and ninja alike, and his children need structure, routine, defenses. It is the best pathway that he knows. He always does - he can only do - the best he knows.

One day his sons will bring home a human woman, and for the first time they will be truly seen and judged in their home: four brothers and their teacher-father-protector-guide. He is seventeen years old. There has been no one to knowingly teach him. He was just a rat, and then he was more, and through endless trial and error he has pulled together the scraps of his experiences and built a family and taught them love.

It counts for something, he hopes.

[ranticore]

Niche Kosa questions because last anon got me thinking: Have you thought about what particular hormone changes the Kings go through? You said they develop it naturally without magic, so I'm curious if it's "just" a testosterone increase or is there more going on. If the changes can be stopped at the beginning of the transformation, can a Harpy try again later in their lives or is that door closed forever? For other fantasy creatures, was there any transformation that was so fucked up that was incompatible with life? Or did the magic prevent that and only created "plausible" life forms (or immortal like Wyrms)?? And last weird question: I doubt they could NOW but at the beginning would they be able to reproduce with humans? or were they already way too far on genetic disparity after the curse for that to be a thing

ohoho

Hormone changes - once a regular harpy reaches a certain testosterone threshold they will turn into a king, and testosterone is responsible for their aggressive behaviour*. And yeh they can give it a shot multiple times, though the first try failing means that the hormonal threshold for turning into a king becomes higher, and continues to rise with subsequent failures. What this means is that a failed would-be king who stopped transforming before any outward physical changes were made would likely still behave in a relatively kinglike fashion. But the presence of a king already in the flock has a depressing effect upon the testosterone levels of other flock members (this is because being a king is energetically expensive and in an ideal scenario, kings are not necessary and no one should be a king, because their role is in defence and various social-only roles. A flock without a king is fine. A king without a flock is dead)

Fucked up transformations - yep lots of them. Many of the "blend a human with an animal" style transformations were dead on arrival and if not that, dead very shortly after. Hummingbird harpy was an example i gave before, where the body is sound enough but its energy requirements are just incompatible with being able to thrive longterm. Other stuff like insect transformations would be the 'completely incompatible' zone, and some, like most of the manticores, resulted in unnatural deaths, where the body functions but hey buddy you can't be doing that shit in this peaceful village so we're breaking out the torches and pitchforks now

Reproducing with humans - they tried. Many of the people punished to transform into monsters tried to slot back into their lives, where they were either rejected or cared for by their original families. Some formed enclaves and some (nobility for example) tried to sit on their thrones again as they were (this was permitted by the judges because noble blood is noble blood after all, but the serfs might not be so happy....). They could not reproduce with unaltered humans, however. This wasn't intentional in every case, it just happened that conception between a human and a bird-human blend won't work out.

[desired-fantasy-writings]

Mixture Of Headcanons - Maxime Le Mal

Requested by: Nobody

Warnings: Sexual headcanons below NSFW cut

Readers Gender: Gender Neutral

Fanfic Type: Headcanons

Fanfic Genre: SFW and NSFW

Word Count: 737

A/N: As I'm writing this, I feel a tad embarrassed and confused that somehow a badly written French cockroach villian man pulled me out of my 2-3 year writer's block. Wtf-

Anywaysss, onto the regular headcanons and some relationship headcanons, a mixture of things.... for this whimpy whiney shit (I say this lovingly.)

[Headcanons and some ramblings in the tags contain some spoilers. If you haven't watched DM4 yet feel free to swipe by this]

SFW

• Mans will not shut the fuck up about himself, how great he is and how everyone else fucking sucks and he's perfect in every way. VERY sassy, self absorbed, snobby, has anger problems (obvious), and secretly clingy. He thinks he's the shit. You'll just have to... "indulge him" by listening to every small thing he got bothered by that day. Every little thing can set him off. Cannot let grudges go.

• Obviously his thing is that he talks with his hands... a lot. It's one of many ways to tell what type of mood he's in at that moment. Frantic, heavy hand movements, and fingers twitching? He mad. Quick bursts of movement, doing quick little claps and finger tapping? For sure in a good mood.

• Maxime cannot hide his emotions, like at all. One of his weaknesses. He's VERY animated with his body language and voice.

• Many people will not agree with this one, so bare with me. From my own observation he has many traits and behaviours of someone who has a undiagnosed narcissistic disorder, or some other type of undiagnosed personality disorder. [This is just a headcanon of mine please don't jump me- 😭]

• By his fascination and obsession with bugs, I wouldn't be surprised if he was autistic or ADHD... or not, idk. He kinda act like me fr.

• I can imagine when he was still partly cockroach he wore gloves due to increased sensitivity, before the transformation he only wore them as a fashion choice. After AVL de-transformed him, they couldn't reverse everything. What was left was the antennas, some of his strength, and the heightened sensitivity - even afterward he still continues to wear gloves to prevent himself from overwhelming his senses.

• Seen many people theorise that Maxime feels phantom pain often and a great need to spread his non-existent wings and extra limbs after the de-transformation. It makes a lot of sense... It's quite interesting, as sad as it is...

• Fixing, fiddling, and tinkering with anything is one his ways to calm down, also could be considered a type of stim. Uses his cane for the same purpose. Maxime has to fiddle with something in his hands or he'll get absolutely fidgety and agitated with the extra amount of energy he has built up. Often wants someone to be by him as he tinkers and talks away.

• Has a fine taste in fashion (maybe not the giant ahs green coat he has.. but it find it cute.) The outfit he has at the end of the movie though? GAWDDDDDD where do I ever start? BLUEEE IS HIS COLOURRR. (Alsoooo I 100% believe his outfit was inspired by Balthazar Bratt, btw-)

NSFW below the cut! Don't read if it makes you uncomfy.

NSFW

• Soooo his voice... he's well aware people find accents a turn on, so uses it to his advantage when he sees fit ...And on his partner especially (let's just pretend Valentina isn't in the picture). Often when he wants their attention he slows his speech, making sure to drag out every word he says as he flirts with them, letting his French accent go on full force - seeing if he can get any reaction of them. As he does he impulsively switched between English and French. If his partner don't know a single bit of French.... Just for fun he'd speak so many dirty words to them in French, often leaving them confused trying to figure out what he just said to them. If they do speak French like he does, it's fair game. If he doesn't get a reaction out of his partner, he'll keep being persistent til they do, the man does NOT give up easy. (Being mean and teasing his partner is 100% his love language.)

(If his partner have a voice kink, and Maxime finds out, good luck never having a moment of silence ever again-)

• Maxime's kisses are so divine. IT'S not because he's french and that's the stereotype... But he certainly does live up to it. How he kisses his partner can determine how he's feeling in that moment, either wanting attention and love from them... or more, his kisses leaving them a gasp every time. There's never a dull moment, especially when he dips them out of nowhere to give them the best french kisses... Also best be careful, he bites. ;)

• I can see him being the type of man to not rush things, but make it so painfully saken slow for his partner til they break and can't stand it. He loves to be in control, and controlling when his partner can have what they desperately need for some sort of release... He thrives off of it. Torturing them and watching his partner squirm and beg is one of his greatest pleasures.

(If his partner "wrestles with him" and wins, which most of the time unlikely... Maxime's all theirs, their in control now. His partner can do whatever to him.... But careful, he likes to fight back.)

• Will make his partner suffer by making them watch him please himself, knowing how much his partner needs him and want to please him as they watch, struggling to stay put. He just smirks and chuckles the whole time, his accent tickling his partner's ears, adding even more to the torture and pleasure they'd feel later on.

• With how expressive he is, he does not hide it at all in the bedroom. From groans, moans, growls, whines - this man does everything. He feels no shame showing his partner how much they affect him. The look of amusement that covers his partner's features hearing him being so loud gets him even more turned on.

• Is very grabby. By the end of it his partner will be covered in scratches, bruises, hickies, and bite marks. Maxime is surprisingly stronger than he looks, easily pinning his partner down with his skinny frame. Can grip too hard sometimes. When this man gets horny.. HE'S horny.

• Maxime's antennas are extremely sensitive... According to him in DM4. I can imagine them being an extremely sensitive erectile zone if rubbed just right. Depending on his mood it can either go both ways - a wholesome cuddle session with his partner... Or they'll be in either of each other's lair for the rest of the day not leaving the bedroom.... His partner is in for an aggressive, loving ride. I can imagine his antennas twitching more too.

• Maxime is thicker than most. Has an average length just enough to be comfortable with, but his girth will definitely take some getting used to at first. It starts curved upward from the middle, has many veins and textures for his partner to experience.

• Is a very cleanzy man, trims himself quite nicely just enough to have lovely peach fuzz.

• If his eye twitches when he's angry..... Imagine it twitching as he gets close, ahahahah...

• Again, WILL NOT, shut up. Not a single moment will there ever be a silent moment. Talks SOO much shit, so much filth it can honestly get overwhelming with how much he is saying as he pounds into his partner. He's such a little shit as he does this. He knows exactly what to say to get them squirming, whimpering and their blood pumping.

• It's hard to understand him half the time - his English words getting mixed with his native tongue French. In the heat of the moment it's incredible to see, seeing him get so into the intimate moment between his partner that his words get all jumbled up because of them~

A/N: I have so many more ideas and theories for this french fella. I may or may not write more.... If the people demand for it... 👀👉👈 (Hold me accountable plz I'd hate to go into an writer's block again-) I'm pretty rusty from writing atm I'll probably rewrite this a bit later.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

There's a small moment in the Hunter x Hunter 2011 anime that I thought was pretty cute. It's close to the beginning, during the Hunter Exam, when they're looking for pigs in the forest. Gon slides down a hill, and Killua follows him, only for him to crash because Gon had stopped at the bottom of the hill. This scene!

It's one of those rare little bits added by an adaptation that really add to the characters - because yeah, this was not in the manga.

I find this anime is really good at adding little moments that either

are just cute or endearing

are fun extra interactions that show off the character dynamics more

actually highlight something about the characters in question

This one, I feel, does all three. First of all, I just love seeing Killua a bit more involved in their group before the eventual reveal of "he just wanted to be friends". It's really sweet.

But mostly, I think it's interesting that Killua assumed Gon was just messing around, when Gon was actually focusing his efforts on beating the challenge. Because, sure, Killua finds Gon somewhat intriguing, and he really wants to stick around him due to his desire for a friend - but Killua still sees himself as a class above pretty much everyone else there, and also as an assassin in a category so firmly removed from "regular kid".

So, Killua totally misreads Gon here. He assumes Gon is just doing a regular kid thing and attempts to mimic it so he can join in. It doesn't actually occur to him that Gon was tracking the pigs, or focusing on the task at hand.

It's a far cry from later on, where Killua and Gon are primarily a team effort - in sync, aware of the others' strengths, and taking each other quite seriously.

And part of it, of course, is that they just don't know each other very well at this point. But I think another thing is that Killua, during most of the Hunter Exam, is more invested in what Gon represents than who he is, necessarily.

His first friend represents rebellion against his family, childish enjoyment, and the desire for connection and understanding that he is not receiving. And even though, as time goes on, he grows more and more impressed with Gon, I really don't think it fully clicked that he wanted that friend he wished for to be specifically Gon until he was confronted by Illumi.

I also think Killua takes Gon a lot more seriously after the fight with Hanzo, and especially after Gon went all the way to the Zoldyck estate to save him. Before the Hanzo fight, Killua was outright irritated by Gon being ranked higher than him overall, and was even a little bitter at the beginning of the fight ("I could've dodged that easily" comes to mind).

By Heavens Arena, I feel they both have a much firmer grasp on, and appreciation for, who the other is as a person. Killua is more consciously aware of his investment in Gon as an individual rather than an abstract, and Gon is aware of Killua's crappy upbringing and is quick to be very supportive of him as he figures things out for himself.

During the Hunter Exam though, a lot of the interactions between them feel a lot like Killua is either mimicking or acting out "regular kid" behaviours, either because that's what he thinks Gon is already doing, or he wants to see if Gon will respond in kind.

Aaaaand... he does. :)

So, while they do not have what I feel is a true depth of bond here yet, the foundation is already being laid down for their powerful friendship - Gon and Killua both show an immediate willingness and enjoyment to go along with what the other wants to do and to try out what the other is good at, and they wind up having a whole lot of fun together right off the bat.

[nshi-ao3]

Some random headcanons for my take on Joker / Ren / Akira / Akiren / whatever you wanna call him for my fic:

- Probably ASD but he’s never been diagnosed and ain’t got time for all that. (I think just about everyone in the Phantom Thieves is neurodivergent to some degree haha. Especially Ren, Yusuke and Futaba.)

- Connected to the above — he’s a little fidgeter! Always fidgeting with something. Just look at his P5 animations!

- Probably non-binary, but again— ain’t got time for all that.

- Very much bisexual. Despite loving to tease and flirt with people for fun and sillies, he has zero experience actually having a romantic partner… At least before G’raha, but that didn’t get to go really go anywhere before the catboy voluntarily put himself in a coma, so uh… Does that count still?

- Generally (but not exclusively) attracted to older people lol.

- Ever since Sojiro taught him to make coffee and curry, he’s very eager to make food and drinks for other people. But outside of regularly downing his own coffee to keep himself awake, he doesn’t actually make stuff for himself very often. In fact, he eats way less then he should. (Morgana and Kawakami have canonically chastised him for this before, but he’s never done anything about it). Since arriving in Eorzea he’s been mostly, living off snacks Tataru gives him.

- His parents suck. They only got married because they’d been dating for a while and they guessed they’d reached an arbitrary milestone where they should tie the knot now…? And then they had a kid because that’s the next step? They’re very detached, and found the probation thing a big annoyance. Ren’s barely spoken to them since moving back to Tokyo, and they have no clue he’s missing.

- He’s really eager to make himself useful to other people. Really, really eager. Suspiciously eager. Seems worried that people will toss him out / ditch him if he’s not. Gee, wonder what gave him that idea.

- If you’re nice to him he’ll rapidly jump to ‘I’ll die for you’ levels of dedication. Also he’ll treasure anything other people give him, even junk. Just look at his shelf!

- Very good at reading other people’s emotions. Uncannily so.

- Starts to pick up other people’s quirks and habits a bit when he spends time with them. Doesn’t notice that he does it.

- Talks in his sleep (which he doesn’t to get enough of).

- He would be second only to Futaba in bad sleeping habits if Morgana didn’t make him go to bed on time. And boy is he proving that cat right lately…

- Was casually and kind of confusingly possibly romantically interested in Akechi before the start of the fic. Kept trying to reach out to him trying to get closer— platonically or otherwise— but Akechi insisted on being aloof. WELP.

- Thinks aether’s kind of tasty in a zappy, ‘in your brain’ kind of way. Wait does that make sense.

- Generally made an effort to try to keep his living space decently clean and tidy before he got Isekai’d, but now he’s too tired.

- Related to the above: Really needs to go through his inventory and throw out old crap (and so do I………)

- His hair grows pretty quickly if he leaves it alone.

- Thinks bugs are kind of icky, but he’ll learn to look past that for the Vath’s sake.

- Likes to doodle and do silly sketches. He and Ryuji were responsible for the beta Phantom Thieves logo before Yusuke did a better one.

- Very, very easily shifts his brain to different ‘paradigms’, so to speak. Attunes with jobstones super quickly, can merge his consciousness with that of Primals and dip into their minds / way of thinking. His behaviour changes accordingly when he semi-Primes or draws on the power of a Primal extra hard. (He did the same thing to a much lesser extent with the regular Personas he picked up. They were just a lot less… loud.)

- Kind of wants to gnaw on Estinien’s arm (residual Bahamut teething memories)

[catadvice]

My boyfriend and I have two cats we raised from kittens until now, they are 4 years old female 'S' and male 'O'. From the same litter too. My boyfriends brother moved in with us to get himself back on his feet and he brought his own 6 yr old female cat 'M'. M has been in her own room away from both S and O with the door shut for about a month. I successfully got O to eat on the other side of the door at the same time as M for a week, but not S. We put up a large piece of plexiglass so they could see eachother while they eat, and O was fine until he wasn't. We put all of their food upstairs so they would have to be around M, but they won't go upstairs. I picked up S and brought her upstairs to show her where the food is, and she saw M and got on edge. O came up the stairs and attacked S, and now O is being a bully to S for some reason. He now will lock eyes with S and go after her (he is bigger than her and they both have their claws). I plugged in a feliway upstairs to hopefully mitigate things, but what do I do? I want all three cats to get along ultimately, but why is the introduction of the third cat causing my original two to become enemies?

Obligatory "I'm not a vet, just a person on the internet with cats who really loves cats" but here's my thoughts on this situation!

O attacking S when you placed her upstairs in front of the plexiglass/room with M:

This might very well be a case of redirected aggression/displaced aggression, it's quite a common thing in cats where if a cat can't interact with a trigger that is causing him stress, he'll redirect that aggression to the nearest person/animal/thing. In this case it seems like M being a new addition to the house is still stressful to O but because he can't interact with her due to the plexiglass (a great thing you've implemented, by the way!), he's redirecting that aggression towards S instead.

On the attacks:

The first thing to do here is assess whether O being a bully to S is actually aggressive behaviour or more on the play side, cause a lot of times cats playing with each other can definitely look aggressive if you're not used to it.

So look out for the following in either O and S when the "bullying" is happening (remembering that the interaction can be differently interpreted by either cat, so it could be a situation in which one cat thinks they're playing while the other is actually being aggressive):

Are they making any noise? Cat play is usually very silent, if either cat is meowing, hissing, or screeching, that's usually a good indication that it's not play but aggression.

Are the tails puffed? Sometimes tails get puffed after a long play session, but if an attack starts and either of cats presents a puffed tail immediately, that's usually a sign the cat is scared and therefore it isn't regular playtime.

Are the cats taking turns? Is O always the chaser/aggressor, or does S also run after him, pester him to chase her and run away? Cats playing will very often take turns attacking each other in a "I chase you, now you chase me, I annoy you into chasing me, now you annoy me into attacking you". If O is always attacking and S always running away, it's probably aggression.

Assuming the answer to all these questions is that these interactions are not regular playtime between the two cats, and assuming that it only happens when M is also present (behing the plexiglass), here's my two suggestions for what to do:

Play Time: redirect the aggression into play time. Bring both cats upstairs and play with them with toys until they are too tired to play. You will however need someone in the room with M playing with her too. The goal is to get all the cats to associate being all together with good things (aka play time with humans) and to get them so absorbed in the play that they forget that there is an "intruder". Eventually you can open the door and play together with all three cats once they all are more at ease around her, but I recommend waiting for this step until they can all eat in sight of each other and the aggression from O stops.

Scent Swapping: the plexiglass is genuinely a great step, but it might be preventing the cats from smelling one another. Get them more used to each other's scents by swapping toys (bring O and S's toys into M's room and vice versa), or by swapping things that the cats spend a lot of time with, for example a blanket etc., and then swap back. In a pinch you can rub a towel on O and S, and one on M and then swap those. Eventually, swap places: being careful not to let them interact, being O and S into M's closed room and bring M to a room of the house that the two kitties usually spend a lot of time in, letting the sets of cats explore the place and sniff all the smells.

Also to note: if O's aggression on S continues, do these above steps individually for each cat instead of by grouping O and S together. For example, you can bring O upstairs and keep S downstairs, play with O while someone plays with M behind the door. After that session is over, repeat the step but with only S upstairs and O downstairs. Same thing for scent swapping. At the end of the day, even though O and S are siblings and good friends, they might take different lengths of time to acclimatise to the idea of a new cat.

I think that's all that I can think of! I really hope this was useful anon, and best of luck with integrating M into your kitty household!

[cagedcroww]

Hi hi hi! :D

m!LIs with an m!PC who likes being collared mayhaps?

ohohoh.

this is a fr comeback for me, i promise! again, please feel free to send prompts and art requests to my inbox so i have inspo to work with!!! (esp regarding my ocs hehe)

hcs below the cut, regular DOL tws apply:

LOW RAGE AVERY: He's more than pleased that you like being collared — after all, it's just another opportunity for him to claim ownership over you. Your collar would be delicate and beautiful, though surprisingly not as eye-catching as one would expect (there is no need to be gauche, after all). However, the fragility of the material doesn't actually stop him from choking you with it when things get down and dirty. If he needs to buy a replacement, he shall.

HIGH RAGE AVERY: You don't get the privilege of having a collar you can hide. You belong to Avery and he is going to make damn sure you remember this. The collar is welded shut around your neck and has his name proudly emblazoned across the front — that should teach you for your uppity behaviour (and if that doesn't help, the electrical shock built into the device certainly will). You've been a bad, bad boy, and Avery is not going to let you off the hook.

HIGH DOMINANCE ALEX: His farm is already filled with animals branded and leashed in one way or another, so he doesn't really raise an eyebrow at adding another to the collection. He makes sure your collar is hardy and leather, something capable of protecting your throat from the dangers of the moor and Remy's raids — it's nothing fancy, but it's practical and comfortable, which is what matters around the farm. He eventually starts picking up the habit of leading you around by the collar, using the thick iron ring of it to pull you in for a quick kiss, or tying you to a post to ensure that you don't wander off while he runs to do an errand. (Sometimes you wonder if he's just treating you like another farm dog, but if he is, there's no doubt that you're the favourite)

LOW DOM ALEX: He would never be the first one to bring it up, but he does seem more excited than you expected him to be when you first broach the topic. The transition to 24/7 wear would be slower with him, but he learns to justify it to himself in his head (and he always flushes a bright crimson when he catches sight of your collared neck in the middle of the workday). He adds a little bell to the front of your collar so he can always hear your approach, and when the two of you sneak behind a bale for some 'unwinding' during the middle of the day, that bell tinkles away, signaling to all within earshot exactly what it is that you two are doing.

BLACK WOLF: What is this? Packmate has the cruel restraints made by the humans around his neck? It doesn't matter how much you try to explain to him that you actually enjoy being collared — Black Wolf sees it as an insult to your freedom and dignity as a member of his pack. You are not one of those yipping little 'dogs' that the humans call pets, so he will be gnawing the collar off of you despite your protests (should you ever show up with one in front of him). Really, he will show you better ways the forest shows ownership and dominance.

EDEN: As a man of the woods, he recognizes the practical use of collars. It keeps the prey from running too far away when he's busy with his day, and he enjoys being able to pull them towards him should they be slightly resistant to the idea. The collars in his possession are obviously homemade, though they are surprisingly comfortable (if you ever go missing, you could rest easy knowing that the metal encasing your neck is tracking you wherever you go). But he would be rather happy to hear that you're still willing to wear the collar when he trusts you to go free — it becomes a declaration of loyalty and ownership between you two, and more often than not, you can find his hand reaching towards the crude metal contraption as though in awe that you continue to carry his gift around your neck.

GREAT HAWK: What is this x2? Spouse is pretty having something around neck!! The colours are bright and shiny and Great Hawk is certain that he chose the best and prettiest spouse to take home!!! Much like birds tagged in scientific surveys, it appears as though the collar makes you ten times more attractive to avians seeking a mate. Though the Great Hawk doesn't quite understand the purpose of wearing something around your neck, he seems fascinated and intrigued by its presence — always reaching out to preen around it as though maintaining its beauty. Maybe he would even attempt to build one of his own to present to you! But the loose loop of grasses and twigs woven together is best left unworn.

KYLAR: If he finds out you enjoy being collared, you may just wake up with a collar locked around your throat and no idea how it possibly could've gotten there (and how to get it off). He needs to know that you walk around the world under his ownership, he needs to know that everyone else in the world sees you and knows that you are his and his alone. If there are any suspicious stains on the fabric of the thing — please disregard them. The patches of dark red and off-white are best left not examine too closely. (You swear the thing seems to be getting dirtier every night? But surely you'd wake up if he was indeed sneaking into your room to 'decorate'..... right?)

SYDNEY THE FAITHFUL: He doesn't quite understand the purpose of wearing a collar (you aren't exactly a dog wandering the streets), but he sees some logic in locking away various parts of oneself for protection. Though he's intrigued by the way light catches on metal every time you crane your head and look around, something within him is too humiliated to actually speak to you about it, so he just spends his time stealing glances to your neck and the collar resting there. Sometimes, when his feverish mind thinks of you at night, all he wants to do is to tear it off of you the same way he wishes to tear off the cage locking away his own shame.

SYDNEY THE FALLEN: He finds a certain perverse joy in displaying your sinful lifestyle to the world. Be prepared to be flooded with different styles of collars to try out and flaunt (working at a sex shop has it's perks, after all). He enjoys adding little touches to each one, scrawling out a 'beloved <3' or 'Sydney's' in the inner band so that only you could see. Most of all, he enjoys teasing the sensitive skin of your neck around and underneath the collar, leaving behind hickeys that perfectly compliments the degeneracy of the collar itself.

ROBIN: Is a little nervous about the idea of collars. Ownership is not a foreign idea to him, and he knows that once people understand you could be owned, they will stop at nothing to make sure you are. But then again, he loves you and wants to make you happy, so he obliges when you ask him to click that padded leather ring around your neck. Eventually, he even grows to like it, tapping or pulling lightly at the fabric whenever he wants to get your attention. It's almost like a form of dress-up, he decides — and he certainly cannot fault someone for dressing up as something they very much are not.

WHITNEY: It doesn't matter if you like it or not, you're his bitch, so he's gonna make sure you know you're his bitch in whatever way he goddamn pleases. . . But on further consideration, a collar isn't a half-bad idea. Not that he'd actually consider a suggestion from the likes of you, of course. It only takes a visit to the sex shop and a few broken windows before he walks out with his bounty and clips it around your neck. It's way too tight and kind of hurts, but you know nothing is going to come of it if you complain. For the rest of the day, he ties a leash to it, randomly dragging you around and yanking the lead to watch you trip. But before he finally decides to leave, he beckons you closer to slightly loosen the pressure put on your neck. His touch is slightly more gentle now, the heat from his cigarette almost burning your skin as he peers at the collar from way too close a distance. This tenderness doesn't save you from him tying you to a stall in the boy's bathroom the next day, but it did exist for a mere moment nonetheless.

[thatoneautismwithgreenhair]

i forgot how much i love love love welcome home, and i've been reminded of a little personal au i made for welcome home

its definitely already been done, but i like it.

asylum au :] a lot more wholesome than it sounds

essentially if wally was a person in a cult that wanted everything to be happy, to be perfect, to be bright and kind and helpful. so their leader dictated someone will be made that way, into a living doll! and wally got chosen. eventually police blah blah. he's an adult, he's just short cause he was made into a puppet in his early teens, so his body couldn't exactly grow more felt. every person he sees, he sees them as a puppet too. he has very limited expression and movement, though he can move his eyelids a lot more than a regular person can, and he also gets a little frustrated because he doesn't have thumbs.

all the other neighbours are people within the asylum who work either specifically with wally, or are very frequently around him. and 'home' is more so a voice in his head, delusions of the cheerful god the cult leader used to talk about, hence why wally was made into a puppet cause people thought their god spoke to him.

i imagine most people are just nurses/therapists who work with him, but barnabys specifically a security guard who was assigned to wally because no he isn't dangerous (sorta) but he is very vulnerable to being hurt since patients are scared of him and animals think he's a big chew toy. poppys one of the asylums cooks, and since wallys well behaved and non-violent he often goes to the kitchens to cook with her and bake. howdys sort of 'enrichment' he sponsors the asylum and will buy things for patients, within reason, if they request it, and he finds wally charming so he spends a lot of time around him, he is trained ofc they wouldn't let him around patients if he wasn't. Eddie isn't a regular mailman, his job is to specifically deliver within the asylum, he gets paid extra for it, and thats how he met frank and ofc wally. i imagine wally was cloud gazing and eddie looked at him worried like ''who left a puppet out here'' and when wally moved and said hi to him he was very startled but wally doesn't take it personally. franks probably a teacher for the younger patients, and wally took a liking to him because he'd be in the yard and see frank caring for the various plants and asked about gardening. julie is definitely his like main worker, she's with him most of the time, she's a trained therapist, and she loves seeing drawings of how he sees her in his puppety head, she thinks she's adorable in them. not surprising sallys a drama teacher who uplifts everyones spirits with plays and stuff, and wally loves the plays but didn't think he'd get a pain part because of his voice and issues with expressions (cuz, yk, he can only rlly open and close his mouth and move his eyelids) but she gave him a main part and was very impressed with the lil flamboyant guy.

wally has a lot of upsetting feelings about the fact he knows he doesn't see the world how it truly is, and he doesn't look like anyone else, he thinks he's pretty and adorable but that alienation gets to him. he still sounds the same and acts the same, loves eye contact etc, but some days he can't get out of bed because his bodys in a lot of pain due to the lack of skin under his felt body and his bodys had to re-work itself (or surgeons from the cult did) so no blood seeps through the felt, so that sucks for him but he can usually deal with it with medication and distractions.

he's still same old wally though, personality and behaviour wise though.

if he ever did get violent, itd be on a day where his pain is worse so he's locked himself away in his room and hasn't taken his medication, or very late at night when no one else is actively interacting with him and maybe his meds are winding down. he'd just lay awake, and since the only distraction is the voice of 'home' in his head, he'd listen to it. do with that what you will ig

[johannestevans]

I’m so awed by your uncanny ability to critically analyze character and narrative. I wanted to ask- how did you hone that skill? Do you have a college degree?

I don't, in fact - like many Tumblr users I am a university drop out. I really started to struggle academically once I was about fourteen or fifteen, not because of lack of ability in terms of analysis and awareness or even desire to research, but because I really struggled with academic structure, discipline, and deadlines. I had to resit my A-levels to scrape in enough CAO points to get into NUIG, and then I ended up having to do some resits there as well before ultimately giving up after my second year because they changed my Film with Arts course out from under me, insisting I had to go and do a placement when previously it had been agreed I'd be able to pursue screenwriting modules in my third year.

I do still want to return to academia potentially at some point with a prescription for Vyanese or another ADHD med, as I think I'd be better able to cope with the structure then, but honestly, academia really punished out of me a lot of love I have for doing critical analysis, and has given me a lot of anxiety about pursuing a lot of essays I otherwise would write / have completed and published where other people can see them.

A lot of what I do really is just asking a lot of questions - why? how? when? - and trying to come up with answers for them. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

For me, the sort of character- and narrative-analysis I do was mostly something I did naturally as a very engaged child with fiction and television, and then was rewarded when I got online and was able to write up big bits of meta on Tumblr and in general online. I tend to notice a lot of details and enjoy interpreting them and stringing them together - it's the same way I write myself, so I get a lot of juice out of watching different shows or engaging with other texts - written fiction, radio shows, film, etc - and considering the different layers of interpretation.

In university and my A-levels, one of the regular set tasks was examining texts from a particular consideration of ideology, like thinking about how the author(s) are considering x topic, or from a feminist or Marxist perspective; what I do is generally consider character first, broader narrative second, and at the same time consider things like historical context, class, gender dynamics, and then how/why the work seems to have been made the way it has. When/if the writers' room has been changing, where you can see a budget change or a swap over in story direction, such as when a main producer has left, where they've lost their studio and had to change location, where the audience response / political backlash to an arc encouraged a change, where an actor has left, etc.

It makes me sound unbearable to be around - and it's not inaccurate to think that - but I'm also like this just in real life.

I do analyse other people's behaviours - friends and loved ones, strangers on the bus, animals, people on the news or the radio; I talk to interesting strangers; I eavesdrop eagerly when I hear interesting conversations in public; I walk off when I see a glimpse of something interesting and let myself explore; I search things that catch my eye. I ask a lot of questions and make a lot of inferences when I can't get the answers directly.

A lot of trauma survivors and people from high-risk backgrounds - the latter I'm particularly thinking of sex workers, sexual abuse survivors, and child athletes and actors because those are the most common in my social circle - learn very young to profile and analyse other people's behaviour around them as a way to look for and measure risk and to make an unpredictable world potentially a bit more predictable, especially a world wherein other people generally have more power than you do.

It sounds a bit cynical, but a lot of my enjoyment watching TV shows is pretty much an extension of that. I've just learned to extend what was, as a child, more of a trauma response, into something that gives me a lot of love and passion and excitement, and bolsters my interests.

Not sure if this is the explanation you wanted or expected, Anon, but hope it helps!

[random-mailbox]

Random-Mailbox's Favorite Sailor Moon Fics - Week 45 - Reviving Shitennou

This week’s post is about bringing Shitennou back into the fold of the team. I wish that had happened in the manga / anime and am a little disappointed we did not get that in Cosmos. BUT that is what fanfiction is for! (To help us collectively right the wrongs / misses in original materials).

We are exactly ONE week away from @usamamoweek2023! Are you excited? Because I am very excited and am trying to finish my own submissions for this year's prompts

@smquickies2023 prompts are out too - that event is taking place August 6-12 (and is open to any SM pairings).

As always, my apologies in advance for spoiling some of these for you (Fic Titles are linked to either FFN or AO3 entries).

Deal Breaker - ninashtia

Keeping his shitennou being alive and well as a secret from his princess is bound to backfire on Mamoru. But not in the way he had expected.

Reunion - bashfulglowfly

In this story we get to witness the aftermath of the Dark Kingdom arc, but in an AU where Usagi didn't fight alongside our senshi and Tuxedo Mask in Tokyo (she still participated but from halfway across the world).

Embrace the Chaos - @serpentinred

Ami is thrust into keeping secrets and weighing possibilities, when her supervisor introduces her to someone who looks suspiciously like Kunzite. I love the art that @smokingbomber did for this one!

all things that are dark - @fated-addiction

Although this is technically just the first chapter of a fic that will hopefully get finished one day, it could stand as a one-shot as well. It gives glimpses of post-Galaxia thoughts Usagi has as she readies for the future.

The Shitennou Return! A Trip to the Beach in Peril - @chuplayswithfire

Mamoru has been keeping a secret from Usagi, something that she takes in stride and decides that a beach-day together with the girls would be the best way to get everything out in the open and see how it could all work. This fic has art by @mochibuni!

all my friends are dead and they bloody haunt me - @smokingbomber

Usagi, noticing some strange behaviour from Mamoru, takes a peek at what he could be up to. And decides that she can help fix everything.

---

That's it for this week. Reminder - no post next week since it will be UsaMamo Week. We will return to regular posts on July 31st with "Tutoring"

Here are the links to the previous Tumblr posts in these series to explore more amazing works based on different themes - make sure to check them out if you haven't had a chance! (Click on title name to go to the post) - I will keep updating the list every week as new posts come up:

Week 1 - Groundhog Day

Week 2 - Established Relationships

Week 3 - Sex Positivity

Week 4 - Unfinished Stories

Week 5 - Darker Stories

Week 6 - Potions 🧪

Week 7 - Reveals

Week 8 - 👻Halloween🎃

Week 9 - Wrong Perceptions

Week 10 - Non-Senshi AU

Week 11 - In-Progress Fics

Week 12 - Mutual Pining

Week 13 - Enemies to Lovers

Week 14 - Slow Burn

Week 15 - Christmas Part 1 - Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Santa!

Week 16 - Christmas Part 2

Week 17 - New Years

Week 18 - High School AU

Week 19 - Slice of Life

Week 20 - Coffee shop AU

Week 21 - Huddle for Warmth

Week 22 - Friends to Lovers

Week 23 - ❤️Valentines Day❤️

Week 24 - Do a Grouch a Favour Day (or Cheer Up Fics)

Week 25 - Soulmate AU

Week 26 - Amnesia Fics (and resources)

Week 27 - 🍀St Patrick's Day🍀

Week 28 - Fix it Fics

Week 29 - Prompt: Mug

Week 30 - Flowers

Week 31 - Traditions

Week 32 - Dreams

Week 33 - Friends

Week 34 - Body-Swap

Week 35 - Medical Assistance

Week 36 - Sex Pollen

Week 37 - Psychometry

Week 38 - What If

Week 39 - Missing Scenes Part I

Week 40 - Green Jacket

Week 41 - Dr Chiba

Week 42 - Birthdays

Week 43 - Fluff

Week 44 - First Kiss