#african grey eyes

[tiktokparrot]

Do African grey parrots have good eyesight?

Jump into the vibrant world of African grey parrot vision! Discover their stunning eyesight abilities and colorful perception. Explore their secret world of color, ultraviolet light and more!

[tysonfurybattlepass]

if i had a nickel for every muscular scarred up lion woman oc of mine that people wanna bang, i’d have 2 nickels

[annapolisrose]

eye contact

[kariachi]

Sometimes I remember that I gave Mike and Servantis both parrot daemons and the fact both forms fit so well for such different but also similar reasons pleases me more than you know.

[ladysparklefarts]

African Grey parrot would work so well. They are mean and there was one at a local pet shop on the town where I live that had a habit of either biting or stealing people sunglasses, sometimes both if you were one of the unlucky few that bird hated for absolutely no reason.

Quick tip for Star Wars modern au writers! If you're not sure how to use him in your story, write Grievous as Dooku's weird pet gecko for which Obi-Wan holds an immeasurable amount of contempt. Anakin just thought he'd be bigger.

[allieebobo]

College Tennis: Origin Story

Demo | Characters | Dev log | Ko-fi

Tennis/Sports x Slice-of-life x College x Found-family x Coming-of-age x Coz

Experience the ups-and-downs of life as a freshman on the Cargill University varsity tennis team amongst a colorful cast of characters.

Compete in nail-biting singles and doubles matches, forge lifelong friendships, pursue budding romances and make a name for yourself, both on and off the tennis court.

Will the once-great Cargill Coyotes succeed in reclaiming the NCAA Div I championship title for the first time since the 90s? Will you come into your own as a promising young tennis star, primed for the professional leagues? Most importantly, how much are you willing to sacrifice in pursuit of these dreams?

Full character customisation

Customise your gender, height, build, personality, physical appearance, languages spoken, tennis style, dominant hand, and more!

Strike a balance between: tennis, keeping up a rich social life, and maintaining your grades

Nail-biting tennis matches

Every match is different! Play matches throughout the fall and spring seasons, leading up to the NCAO championships—that is, if you make the Cargill team.

Intricate tennis game mechanics: Factors such as your condition/energy, preparation for the match, opponent's play style, doubles partner chemistry, as well as your choices at key junctures of the match etc. will affect the outcome of the match!

Craft your own distinctive playing style and make a name for yourself on the tennis court

Hone your strength, agility, finesse, serve-and-volley skill, and endurance over the course of the game!

Romance four possible characters

Rayyan Afiq, the gruff, hot-headed no. 1 seed

Guillaume/Geneviève Lavigne, the sardonic international student on your floor

Tobin Harris, the warm, unflappable team captain

Sam O'Connelly, your nerdy and spirited high-school best friend

And forge lifelong friendships with many more...

Rayyan Afiq The rival

Gender: Follows the gender of your team Age: 20 Nationality/Ethnicity: Egyptian-American

Student information: Junior, Anthropology major Player information: Vice-captain, No. 1 position, Aggressive Baseliner

Appearance: 5′6 (f) or 5′10 (m). Lean, athletic build. Dark, wavy curls, and thick sweeping eyebrows over piercing dark-olive eyes. Tawny, honey-brown skin.

Description: Surly, intense, and proud. Ambitious and driven to excellence in everything they do. Willing to give up almost anything for their tennis career. Has a soft-spot for cats. Loves organising things, has a plan for everything, and dislikes surprises.

Tobin Harris The captain

Gender: Follows the gender of your team Age: 20 Nationality/Ethnicity: African-American

Student information: Junior, History major Player information: Captain, No. 2 position, All-court player

Appearance: 5′9 (f) or 6′1 (m). Tall, solid build. Short black hair, warm, brown eyes and a calm, assured demeanour. Dark bronze skin. A smile that lights up the room.

Description: Kind, laid-back, selfless, and sociable. Goes out of their way to make everyone feel welcome, but has a tendency to stuff down their own emotions in the process. Surprisingly private and cautious when it comes to their own desires/wishes. Gentle to a fault, steadfast and unflappable. If not playing tennis, probably can be found cooking, hanging out with friends, or going to the library.

Geneviève/Guillaume Lavigne The exchange student

Gender: Gender selectable (f/m) Age: 20 Nationality/Ethnicity: Half French (father's side), half French-Canadian (mother's side)

Student information: Third year exchange student, Political science bachelor’s degree. Hall-mate.

Appearance: 5′6 (f) or 5′11 (m). Toned, supple build. Dark, tousled hair with fair skin. Smoky grey eyes, with a smattering of freckles. Permanent half-smile.

Description: Rarely excited or enthusiastic, always armed with a dry remark. Slightly cynical, but softer than they look. Very intelligent, though they don't often let on what they're actually thinking or feeling. Rich (and intensely private) inner world.

Sam O'Connelly The childhood best friend

Gender: Gender selectable (f/m) Age: 18, Freshman Nationality/ethnicity: American

Student information: Freshman, Undecided major. Player information: No. 6 position for the UCLA Bruins

Appearance: 5′4 (f) or 5′8 (m). Trim build, with a small frame. Curly russet hair that often sticks out in all directions. Mischievous light blue eyes and an infectious smile.

Description: Excitable, with a chaotic positivity that radiates from them like sunshine. Fun-loving and scattered, and nerdy. Competent tennis player, but too often distracted by other hobbies and interests. Somehow manages to survive on a diet of Cheetos and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

More character descriptions here, face-claims here.

[frank-zhang-praetor]

ooc post

I want to talk about the fact that people are saying that Leah is the only Annabeth. No, she is not. Book!Annabeth and Musical!Annabeth exist. It's racist to imply that Annabeth is only African American. No she is not she also has blonde hair and grey eyes. In Haz's words "Racist can be towards anyone". pls be respectful to everyone's opinion regardless or whether you like it or not.

[franabz]

★Random 141 headcanons

Ghost is on the aroace spectrum, only having sexual feelings towards someone under very specific circumstances or a very strong bond. He's probably only had one or two "partners" in his life, both spanning throughout grade school. He also has commitment issues due to the amount of people he has lost in his line of work.

Ghost is a very good listener, despite popular belief. You give him a good story or gossip and you best believe he is sat down directly beside you, his eyes never leaving yours between small invested nods or subtle reactions behind his balaclava-concealed face.

Ghost is a picky eater, though after having been in the military for years now it has significantly gotten better. Well, anything is better than those god forsaken MRE packs, anyway. He still has certain foods he will scrunch his face and glare at behind his mask, but still eat; though begrudgingly.

Price is definitely a gift giver. Randomly showing up one day in front of your barracks to present you a little trinket that he claimed reminded him of you.

Price is always checking up on his fellow soldiers, making sure they are taking care of themselves and not neglecting their own needs. He knows how many soldiers tend to neglect their mental health first hand.

Price had a massive sweet tooth. He claims to hate anything sweet and says chocolate tastes like "dog shite", but the second he's along with some good pastries or sweets, you bet your ass they're gone by the time you get back. He somehow never gets caught.

Soap is a huge adrenaline junkie. You ever going to a theme park? He's already begging on his hands and knees to go with you, practically dragging you by the arm onto every single roller coaster and giddy with adrenaline the entire time in the line. He has definitely been on the slingshot ride more than once.

Soap has definitely slipped the Scotland national anthem into your playlists more times than once, silently wheezing to himself as he watches you go about your day, only to suddenly stop everything you were doing to slowly turn to look at him, knowing exactly who did it.

Soap gives the best hugs. You having a rough day and just need some alone time? Well too bad, he's already halfway to your barracks just to pull you into his arms in a huge bear hug (bonus points if you're shorter and he can lift you). Somehow always seems to lighten someone's day no matter how upset they are.

Gaz takes up photography on his free time. He even invested in a fancy expensive camera to take logs and photos of places he's been, food he's eaten, scenery, and friends. His personal favorite is a picture of Soap in a bar piss-drunk while mid way singing his heart out to whatever was on the karaoke machine, his arm slung around Ghost's shoulder to support himself and a half empty scotch on-hand.

Gaz can play piano, and very well at that. It is one of those hidden talents that nobody would have suspected from him until it actually happened. The group is strolling around a plaza during their off days between missions, finding a stray piano and watching in shock as Gaz suddenly hops into the seat and gives the rest of the group a knowing look, before completely taking the show away. "The hell'd you learn t'do that, Sergeant?" Price practically choked on his cigar.

Gaz has a roommate back at home, as well as a pet... parrot? An African Grey to be exact. He is always eager to get back home to his beloved bird and roommate, one of which practically became family to him at this point. He doesn't talk about his personal life much, hence why the rest of 141 was so surprised to hear he had a roommate. The one day he invited 141 to his apartment after a mission just to hang out gave them quite the surprise when they heard two unfamiliar voices; one from his roommate, and one from the bird. Definitely scared Soap more than once.

[murfeelee]

Birds Steal Their Look Pt1a: African Birds

I was inspired by this thread started by tenderanarchist here to turn my TS3 sims into avian fashionistas.

African Birds: African Grey Parrot, Bee-Eater, Blackbird, Guinea Fowl, Knob-Billed Duck, Knysna Turaco.

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS

I combed through the entire thread and Google, looking for more examples; and when I ran out I picked extra birds to keep going.

Next up: Australian Birds!

CC CREDITS

- (GENERAL): Avatar eyes & dots @csitaly, Indogene skin @niobecremisi, Mermaid & Sea Skins @niobecremisi, Nose masks (X X X X X X) | Feather patterns in beta by me

- African Grey Parrot: Hat by EA, Top at the Store (X), Pants & shoes by EA

- Bee-Eater: Sherlock Outfit by Misty (SFS backup), Eyeshadows at Mamyrocker & TSR | BG3 hair in gamma by me

- Blackbird: Hat from IP EP, Blouse by Blinksims, Pants & shoes by EA, Shades at TSR

- Guinea Fowl: Hair by Kitty, Dress by Meronin at TSR, Boots by Simannova (SFS backup) | jacket ACC in gamma by me

- Knob-Billed Duck: Hair, Duck bill ACC by M1ssduo, Reindeer nose ACC by Yuu, Freckles (X X), Dress at the Store (X), Shoes by EA | shawl in beta by me

- Knysna Turaco: Eyelashes at TSR, Eyeliner (SFS backup), Costume Makeup ITF EP, Hair at the Store (X), Top by EA (IDER), Pants by EA (IDER), Boots at the Store (X)

[crazycatsiren]

Here's the thing, folks.

I've personally discussed this with the black people in my life, and not all of them are magic workers.

And they've told me how they feel about this whole white magic versus black magic thing, which is that the concept is racist, colorist, and antiblack.

As a woman of color, I agree with them, because I've seen with my own eyes, how the terms white magic and black magic have been used, in media, in real life, and in online spiritual spaces.

It's a fact that no small number of white people (white Christians as well as other white spiritual circles) have long treated African diasporic practices such as Voodoo, Hoodoo, Santería, etc. as dark and evil, and therefore called them black (bad) magic. And to portray themselves as the opposite, white witches among the modern witchcraft movements would literally call themselves "white witches" who practice white (good) magic, almost as a means of counteracting the "black magic", aka the bad magic of those people of color.

It's white supremacy, plain and simple. Just stop with the white/black/grey magic baloney. It's costs nothing.

[vegaly-art]

Morgan and Seer (Desmond "Des") my beloveds. <3 <3 <3 - Morgan's Korean/American, though has little interaction with the rest of his family anymore, just for their own safety. Once he truly became aware of what his powers entailed and was registered as a Seer Obscura he was forced to distance himself from them, and now does a lot of work for DUMP and the Department generally. He often prefers dark, and stark colours. Black, white, and greys mostly litter his wardrobe, with maybe a bit of brown and such too. He just likes being very simple with his colour pallet, and black suits him really well :). It's mostly dressy too. But he tries not to wear anything too dramatic. Not much jewelry, not much cool stuff, etc. He does not want to draw attention, that's the whole point. And he loves the nighttime. Late-night walks or smokes, watching the city go by on the latest bus, or walking home in the dark. It brings him a lot of peace... darkness brings him peace in general. - Desmond (They/Them) is African American, and quite... soft. Emotionally, and in dress. They're just a gentle, kind of anxious soul, who really wants to do good but is overwhelmed by their abilities almost constantly... it's tragic... and they have a lot of awkward tendancies like picking at their nails or playing with the hem of their outfits. They also get cold pretty easily so tend to wear heavier fabrics year round. It's not so bad that they wear heavy jackets in summer but a thicker cotton shirt or turtleneck around that time would not be out of the ordinary. Also they have a slight lazy eye. And both they and Morgan have the same teal fleck in their eyes that Blake did, but again only when using their powers.

[thatneoncrisis]

oh ur tlt characters of colour post is very good. i do have some thoughts, especially as a maori woman who is still living in aotearoa. and rlly like if we didn’t have the nona art, i’d say that there’s so many mixed maori people. i know so many “white” maoris, that it’s who you are, not what you look like (insert the cup of tea metaphor). having said that, i wouldn’t be shocked if harrow being a necromancer is why she’s such a. grey colour. but really i merely wouldn’t take the covers at their art (see rf kuang’s recent ‘i didn’t have the courage to say no about my cover art’). the one thing i wish i could say to fan artists however is stop drawing harrow and gideon like they’re black. we have such different facial features to ppl of african descent. holy fuck. embrace round shapes and softness. embrace warm shaded skin tones and look at actual maori actors (this isn’t specific to you. just this has become me complaining now). i much prefer seeing darker g+h but the amount of like. the person who is drawing harrowhark has never seen anyone maori is unreal (yes, i know a maori and black person can exist, and they do— but statistically, unlikely, considering how heavily polynesian these books are).

however to stress again. not abt ur tlt art. i think it’s super cute. ur nona is adorable.

im gonna post this without much commentary bc youre more of an authority on this than me. i Will make the side comment that when i read tazs comment about harrow and gideon being mixed maori i specifically thought of harrow as maori and indian which is why i draw her and nona with darker skin. when people here mixed they just kind of default to half white and i think thats kinda dumb but its whatever. and obviously it doesnt matter if youre white passing youre still maori, but just going off the text it feels weird how like. tentative taz is about just Saying that they are brown

and yeah in general id say in a lot of fan spaces people will hear a character has dark skin and default to just drawing a black person, it happens with jeannemary, the second and g1deon/pyrrha a lot pertaining to these books but like. we look different! someone whos tongan or samoan doesnt look black! there are differences you can make more substantial in the way you draw their eyes and brows and the color of their lips and skintone.

and actually i got some of my nona art reposted on reddit and one of the comments launching this big argument was "why did op make her african" and it really bugged me. not all africans are black, not all dark skinned people are black, not all black people are darkskinned, you Only said that bc i made her dark brown its so stupid

but ultimately this is only advice someone will take to heart if they Want to learn so its like whatever

[supernatural-dreamer]

The Unnatural and Unexpected (Embry Call x Black!Reader) Pt. 2

A/N: Hey everyone! It’s almost twilight season and as a commitment to myself and to you, I will (attempt) to post every Sunday from now until Halloween! You’ve all responded and I have decided to turn this into a multiple part series! I’m playing a little loose with the blood singer/ mating vampire rules as a fun experiment..  Leave a comment AND follow if you’d like to be tagged going forward. As always like, comment and follow. Let me know what you think!   

This is set during Eclipse around newborn battle. This is tailored for a African American/Black female reader specifically, however all are welcome to read..

~Lauren

*All gifs credited to original owner*

—

Pt. 1

Masterlist

—

Imagine being Embry’s imprint and tagging along with the wolves to their newborn training session. However, you’re always in for an unexpected surprise when you’re around Bella..

__

Never were you the adrenaline junkie type. If your two feet were not able to stay on the ground, you did not participate. 

But damn. You would be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy the experience, just a little.

Curse your newfound curiosity.

  Or maybe, being in Jasper’s arms is what made it more enjoyable.

  What the hell? You barely know this pale-ass dude.

  It is when your hair stops moving that you start to tune back into your surroundings. Clinging to Jasper akin to a koala bear, eyes still shut, you meekly ask, 

  “Are we there yet?” 

  “I stopped moving a few minutes ago.”  Crap. 

   Popping one eye open, you see the Cullen house directly in front of you. Looking up at him, you notice he is looking down at you, slightly smirking. Coughing,  you signal him to put down. He does, gently and you stand in silence for a moment. 

  “You alright? I know reaching high speeds like that can affect humans pretty bad.” No shit sherlock.

   “I’m fine. Thank you for the, um, ride.” You shuffle your feet while studying your now slightly-dirty shoes.

  Then you suddenly remember the potentially dangerous situation you’re in-the anxiety slowly kicking back in. Jasper checks his surroundings, then gestures for you to move up the front porch steps. 

  “My pleasure. Let’s get you inside. After you.”

–

   Jasper Whitlock was a pale, ex-confederate, undead, man of few words. He has seen mostly wars and death in his human and afterlife. Peace and normalcy was a foreign concept to him, until he ran into Carlisle. He never would have chosen this life for himself, but then again, he never knew his current life was even possible until was in it.

  You, on the other hand, were the complete opposite of him. 

  From the day he saw you, he couldn’t get you out of his head. At first, it was pure curiosity. You were one of the few interesting humans he had met in his time that actually presented a mental challenge for him. 

  Although he couldn’t directly read minds like his brother, Jasper could easily deduce what people were thinking based on their feelings–enhanced by his empath abilities, no doubt. When it came to you, however, he could not sense a thing. If he could put a color to every emotion he sensed, yours would always be grey- neutral. 

  Educated guesses were always made on his part, but you still managed to catch him off guard and did something different. A literal wild card. 

  The day you were partnered with him on some random school project, he began to notice your intelligence and convictions. He was impressed at your ability to keep Bella’s dangerous moves in check while keeping your personal boundaries. It reminded him of some of the people in his past he had lost long ago. It was then, you had gained his respect. 

  Slowly, Bella started bringing you around their house more often. At the time, it was mostly a cover for him and his siblings to investigate newborn activity, especially after one broke into your house. When he was around, outside of class, Jasper kept his distance, mostly for your comfort level.

   Then, he noticed Bella’s or any human’s scent did not affect him as much anymore when you were around. After a few times, he realized something peculiar: you were the only human that didn’t stir his bloodlust, either. 

  Miraculously, you actually had seemed to quell it. 

    It was when Alice and his family confronted him on the possibility of you being his blood singer, he considered that he might have felt something more than just friendly admiration for you.  Carlisle let him know only blood singers have this much of an affect on vampires like this. 

  But Jasper wasn’t having any of it.

    At first, he denied it, immensely. Although he was intrigued by you, you didn’t seem to have the exact same affect on him the way Bella did with Edward. He had and was more than content with Alice. 

   He especially didn’t think it was possible when he found out Embry had imprinted on you. He had abandoned the idea entirely. There’s no way a shifter, let alone their imprint, would have any involvement with the vampires. They were sworn enemies after all.

   So, he did the only thing he could do- kept his distance. The last thing that needed to happen was the pot to be stirred at a time where their alliances were critical. Besides, you seemed happy with Embry. Unlike his brother’s situation, he didn’t want to turn your whole life upside-down for a silly school yard crush—

  And that was that for him.

   Until Alice told him for the first time that she saw you in his future the day they trained with the wolves. In what capacity, she didn’t know. What was certain was that you were going to be involved with the Cullen’s for the foreseeable future, whether anyone wanted or not. She also knew Jasper well enough to know that you meant something to him. 

   She didn’t have to be a clairvoyant to know that. 

   Regardless, you could not make any decisions until he actually told you. The women were right that it wasn’t fair of him to keep everything to himself, especially when that meant putting you in more danger. Blood singer or otherwise, he couldn’t subject anyone he cared about to that. Not on his watch.

  It was at that moment, he realized he had feelings for you—though he hated to admit it. 

  As you sat in the massive kitchen, the silence became deafening. You could tell he was deep in thought about something and, at first, you thought it was from today’s events. 

   Until he looked at you the way he did today. 

   He was keeping something from you and you were determined to find out what it is.

    Penny for your thoughts? You’ve been quiet the whole way over.” Breaking the silence, you take a sip from your glass of  water. 

  “Well we were running over 70 miles an hour.” You had to keep from facepalming yourself. 

    “Are you hungry? We have some leftovers from the other day still in the fridge.” He starts to cross the kitchen. You were starving and those leftovers did sound good at the moment, but you were persistent.

    “Yes, but you still didn’t answer my question.”

   “Just still on guard and keeping an eye out for any newborns is all.” And the lie detector test determined that was BS. 

   He starts to open the containers when you stop him, placing your hand over his. 

   “Jasper what aren’t you telling me? If it’s something about the newborns, you could tell me. At this point, nothing you can tell me will shock me too much.” He sighs. 

   “Not even if I told you that you are my bloodsinger.” Cue the glass in your hand dropping to the floor. 

   You and your big ass mouth. You did the only thing you could do at a time like this:

   Freak the hell out.

   “Wait a damn minute. How can that be? You already have Alice!” 

    “Yes, but it’s possible for a vampire to have multiple blood singers in their time as we live well—forever. It’s sort of rare but it happens.” Smartass. 

    “Okay, let’s say I buy that. But I’m also a shifter’s imprint.  How the hell can I also be a vampire’s bloodsinger? Isn’t that like impossible?” 

   “Honestly, I don’t really know. No one really does. Carlisle guesses that the imprint bond could have altered the usual signs of a singer. ”  

   “How come Alice didn’t see it sooner?”

    “Maybe you being an imprint blocked her from seeing your future. Or you could have the same neutralizing affect on her abilities as you do mine. Who knows? What we do know is that she saw you in my future, and as complicated as it sounds, you affect me as Alice did before she was turned. Unfortunately, she’s never wrong.” 

   At this point, you’re pacing back and forth, trying so hard not to lose your shit completely.

   “What am I going to do? What happens now?” What about Embry? 

     It would be just your damn luck as you are just starting to somewhat feel content about your bond with Embry, you now have a tie to not one-- but two creatures of the supernatural. 

     “Hey, hey, hey, he stops you, gently gripping your forearms and turning  you around to face him. You didn’t even hear him come behind you. Damn vampire stealth.

    “Let me stop you right there. This will be whatever you want it to be-or lack thereof. Although I can’t lie and say I don’t have feelings for you, I will not push or force anything. Just like anything else, we take it day by day. We will figure it out. I will be right beside you, only if you want me to be, (yn).” He pushes a coily strand behind your ear as you look up at him. 

   This time you actually get a good look at Jasper. His blonde hair was a bit messy, but framed his sculpted face perfectly. Against his porcelain skin, his eyes almost glowed. You noticed they were a little more gold than usual, most likely from his recent hunt.

  Now by this point, two things were going through your head:

  Good god. This man was fine.  

  You were in some deep shit.

   A deep, guttural growl snaps you from your trance. Whipping your head around, you see the large, glass pane door, wide open and a familiar native boy standing in front of it. And he is livid. 

–And the pile just got a whole lot deeper. 

__

Tags:

@zoexme

[bomberqueen17]

the gay dolphins are too powerful

yesterday i was facing the facts that i do need to actually work out the technical mcguffins in this novel. like, i have some vague notion that there's a problem with the radio network because of solar flares and our heroes are going to... somehow... fix it. idk.

plot and worldbuilding wittering behind the cut

this was the main plot in the solarpunk mammoths novel too, and i had a vague notion that a problem on such a global scale as that would need to like. it would need to be solved by more than one person. and so my nebulous notion is that possibly several sets of characters could work on it in these loosely-connected novels where really i'm just exploring different ecosystems.

idk i just-- y'all know about the Turkey City Lexicon right? I got it as a hand-out in college creative writing class and of course it reshaped my brain, but. one of the Tropes To Beware they've got is the Cozy Catastrophe, which is startlingly prevalent and once you see it you can't unsee-- "the world is ending! all of humanity will die! unless... Jeff and Suzy, you're our only hope!" and our two everyman protagonists somehow are the only resources the entire world can muster and honestly the entire world seems to consist of one American city block with about three hundred people in it at most. Hm.

so i was like yah this catastrophe is way too cozy.

meanwhile i forget how it came up but @sonnetsandsinging, helpfully spitballing, said something about space whales and i was like

OMG in a world with genetically-engineered mammoths with radio collars that translate their brain waves to allow them to speak in human language it is ABSURD that they are the only species of animal that has been given this treatment

so like. what other animals do we try to talk to all the time besides elephants?

DOLPHINS

so now this world has genetically-engineered dolphins with brainwaves-to-speech dorsal fin attachments. like duh of course it does. i can't believe I hadn't thought of that.

there should be other animals too but i can't decide which ones, currently taking submissions. What Else Should Slightly-Disconcertingly Speak.

(My criteria: should be an animal intelligent enough to have successful communication with humans already, something relatively long-lived, something that couldn't use sign language or other methods already. My concept, which is not scientific really, is that it's been well-studied that while many animals have complex communication systems, humans are the only ones whose brains are structured specifically for language, so the Magic Fictional Science here is that they've had that ability genetically-engineered in, but of course the physical production of human-intelligible language is beyond the physical structure of most animals, hence the brainwave-interface collars. which btw could also be used on profoundly disabled humans, and that might be a plot point at some point; i do have some disabled characters in this story. I know I researched those like, communication board things that nonverbal humans can use and I settled on Magical Radio-Networked Interfaces that speak out loud instead for the simple expedient of streamlining things because like how is a mammoth going to carry a communication board around that it can like get out and point at. how is a dolphin going to carry anything. so, this is just where I ended up.)

(I was thinking parrots but then parrots wouldn't need the collar because they can actually make human-speech noises on their own. so that's a fun variation. maybe in this world african grey parrots actually just talk.)

Anyway back when I first started the solarpunk mammoths novel I researched Asian elephants a lot and studied their social structures and read up on their physical abilities etc., so in between trying to find out how radio waves and semiconductors work (i get the radio waves thing & think i have my mcguffin sorted out but semiconductors made my eyes glaze over and then begin weeping so i gave up) (also supercapacitors i don't understand u sorry bye) (do i know any electronics engineers who want to explain this in normal languages? shit i do know a chemical engineer maybe she knows. heck) ... ok i wandered away from this post to text her and then forgot i was making it. i did not get a lot of sleep last night the amphetamines are not being kind this go-round but i must continue the experiment. uhhhhh where was i

GAY DOLPHINS

too powerful

Yeah so I started researching dolphins, because if I'm going to have named-and-speaking dolphin characters, I need to know a little bit about how they work.

Now I have a slight head-start on this, just as I did on mammoths. Mammoths, I've been obsessed with since I was a toddler. But dolphins. For a while I used to go to SCA camping events and there was this guy who used to be a Navy diver and then worked for Sea World and he. well he was really good at telling stories, was his deal. And he had Seen Some Shit, and some of that shit was about interacting with dolphins. And the thing about dolphins is that. Well, they're violent little chaos gremlins, and just in the course of going about their normal lives, one of the things they do to interact with the world is, well. they have sex with things.

when they do this to people it is generally not a positive experience for the person. but. so i knew that going in. and most of the information on the internet about dolphins is really like. earnest and loving and whatever, which is great. but the thing is that dolphins are chaos gremlins who will fuck anything they can't eat, eat anything they can't fuck, or sometimes do both to the same unfortunate object if it proves to be possible.

what i'm saying is, these are going to be really entertaining characters to work with. because elephants, conversely, do not have recreational sex. they do a lot of things, but they just don't really do that. so dolphins are like. inverse-elephants, culturally.

Elephants also tend to have a strong matriarch, strong bonds between females, and then the males tend to be largely solitary, but will congregate more loosely, often around an older male who will teach them manners. (A well-mannered bull is MUCH more likely to be allowed to mate with desirable females, who have little patience with male foibles.)

Dolphins have looser gender roles; on the whole, the females tend to loosely congregate, and pregnant females usually go back to their mother's pod to birth and raise young, not dissimilar to elephants, but the males--

male dolphins very, very frequently will pair-bond. Two males of similar age-- adult males have very little to do with juveniles of either sex, generally-- will pair-bond and will be inseparable for the rest of their lives. If one of them dies, the other will mourn-- mourning behavior is well-documented in dolphins-- and then will seek to pair off with another adult male, because male dolphins prefer to work in pairs, for survival and companionship. (Dolphin "pods" are also more loosely-organized than elephant herds; dolphins will have a couple of core companions, but then will freely associate and disassociate with other individuals and groups over short periods of time without much fuss, depending on the situation.)

The pair-bonded males are the ones who in the wild do the behavior you see in shows, where they do like synchronized jumps and very-close fast-precise swimming and such, which in the wild are apparently courtship or threat displays-- i.e. "look how tight we are, you can't fight us" or, alternately, "isn't that hot" because

yes that's often how they court females. The pair will corral a desirable female and herd her away from other dolphins so they can both mate with her, and keep her from mating with anybody else.

(other females have been observed collaborating to free a corralled female who did not want this to happen, so it's not quite as rapey as it sounds. though, i mean. dolphins. what can you do.)

anyway dolphin threesomes are canon. but that derailed the rest of my night and i was unable to concentrate on anything else because the gay-- I should say really bisexual dolphins are too powerful.

so anyway i wrote a test scene with a dolphin character, and i had my main character take his wife and baby down to the jetty to introduce them to his dolphin pals, and a bonded male pair he'd known for years showed up and immediately tried to steal the wife, and then expressed shock that he didn't have his male best friend with him, because in their experience breeding was THEE most important time to have your buddy with you. He explains that his buddy is off on a long-term work assignment, and they're like hmph next time you breed you MUST include him, it is so much easier trust us. and the wife is like hmmmmm!

henceforth i will refer to m/m/f threesomes as "dolphin style" you're welcome

[fizzyxcustard]

Drawing of Tui, my African Grey. Drawn and coloured with Derwent graphite pencils, white Polychromo pencil, and red Prismacolor pencil. Some highlights and sparkle in eye used with white Uniball gel pen. Drawn on Strathmore toned grey pad.