#and you get some really interesting genetic results

[toadifylackoffantasy]

Adopt a Pistache - Thomas Pistache

Thomas Pistache is the youngest brother of 4 and an unplanned surprise baby, the result from a steamy night of rekindling when his parents were 45. He's very, very normal and average - or at least should be, compared to his family:

His grandmother was an orphan born werewolf and selfmade witch and master alchemist, his mother is a zombie-loving evil witch gone good with a confused moral compass, his father has an even more confused moral compass and is a corrupt politician gone thief, his older brother 20 years his senior who he barely knows is a buff werewolf and astronaut, his second-oldest brother a great historian and was his mother's favourite and consolation after getting a werewolf and massively spoiled, and his youngest older brother - and the only one whom he had a good relationship with - a literal golden boy and wizard, until all what was left of him was a pile of ashes.

His by that point elderly mother refocused on her youngest, who always felt like an outsider in his curious family, just being a chubby, sweet, normal human boy. A feeling that grew into wanting to truly become his own unique self, and not care about what others think. He started exploring everything that seemed intriguing, becoming a daring, avant-garde, eccentric young man with a wide array of interests, knowledge and definitely not merely "the normal one" he feared he would always be. And, just like his mom, he has an uncanny interest in the dead...But for a good purpose: trying to get rid of those lingering souls.

Mediafire / Simfileshare

TOU:

Do not claim as your own

He is not a randomly made sim, he has history & a background, and I'd prefer if you keep his genetics, traits etc the same.

Traits:

Avant-Garde

Brave

Eccentric

Good

Slob

Faves:

Black

Epic

Fruit parfait

LTW: Paranormal profiteer

CC used:

Might use Jonha's bodysliders

My default replacements

Accessory Turtleneck by @aroundthesims

Eyebrows are...Complicated. I tried to give him other eyebrows, but I really like these on him! It is complicated because I have a ton of eyebrows that are included in the Colorlash mod by @virtual-hugs that I use, many of which aren't available elsewhere anymore AFAIK. Either way, his eyebrows are called "Brow_NeatMale" and included with colorlash. Maybe they work without the mod, idk. Or just give him other eyebrows.

One of the Tamo eyebags by @imamiii

One of these face highlights by @smallsimmer

Moood N87 by @poisonfireleafs

Yes, he's totally unfit. Born chubbier actually but he liked to autonomously do cardio in his teens

Some extra pictures of this eccentric goofball:

@sims-simseverywhere

[sea-lanterns]

this came to me in a dream

empress, holding her newborn: i wonder whos baby this is

baby: *opens its eyes* 💿 ^ 💿

empress: congrats navia

NOT THE HOLOGRAPHIC SPARKLY EYES 😭

But ykw, this is so true. Navia’s eyes are so sparkly and pretty, you could say that she’s “got that James Dean, daydream, look in her eye…”

And her children with the Empress would inherit these beautiful eyes too! Actually, now that I think about it…a lot of the genshin women have super unique eyes. Like, I can just imagine:

Shenhe’s baby: 🌈^🌈

Furina’s baby: ⚪️^🔵

Candace’s baby: 🔵^🟡

Arlecchino’s baby: ❌^❌

Hu Tao’s baby: 🌸^🌸

[gimmick-blog-bracket]

Now for the final round!

@hellsitegenetics

I love them

I didn't know I needed to know that the weed-smoking girlfriends post was genetically a wolf, but I did, and I do. Also puts great stuff on my dash.

it’s so fun to be scrolling unhinged posts and then boom. an organism!

so many moths‼ also, unexpected comedy with some of the matches

perfect blend of silly and informative, and makes for an excellent punchline at the end of a long post. puts creatures on my dash. literally what more could you ask for

It's a really unique blog concept and a lot of times the results are pretty funny. It's great when the sequence matches the post content too!

Creatures 👍

Finds beautiful creatures out of the mess of the hellsite

Offers finality AND gives us a creechur.

I love them. English speakers talk like moths

If this blog wins, they could run the text of the winning announcement, and determine the post's genus and species!

They're also very good about tagging the type of creature depicted in the results, so as long as you mute tags of creatures you don't want to see, it's a very fun time seeing iconic legacy posts (and new submissions) being reduced down to a string of letters and assigned a random species of fish or moth or something!

uhh it’s cool

BLAST

There are so many weird bugs in the world

Yippee!!

If, as Haldane said, God has an inordinate fondness for beetles, then surely this blog proves that Tumblr has an inordinate fondness for moths.

Top tier blog as a geneticist, I love seeing obscure organisms and MOTH

Admin got rate limited after trying to blast the bee movie

the knowledge of biology to pull this off (i have taken one biology class in my life) and also the work to find all the strings honestly deserves quite a bit of praise

This gimmick blog has it all: science, pictures of animals, interaction with the text of other peoples' posts, interesting information, and a unique and fun premise. As a biologist, I'm rooting for hellsitegenetics to reach the end and take the tournament, because it is truly a standout among gimmick blogs.

If they win, perhaps this blog too shall become a cool organism :3

@hasgavlebockenburneddownyet

What's more happy holiday cheer than cheering on the destruction of a giant straw goat?

The birds may have won 2023, but I believe in humanity's capability for arson for 2024 <3

a vote for me is a vote for arson! This message was approved by hasgavlebockenburneddownyet

gavle is SUCH a public service and holiday feature

what's more tumblr than comical destruction and holidays?

sometimes you just gotta vote with your matchsticks

Bringing a cultural staple to tumblr since 2021

Arson is so much more fun

It would be really funny and ironic if it survives the tournament

you have no idea how much joy watching the chronicling of the gavlebocken brings me every year

hasgavlebockenburneddownyet provides an essential public service

always love seeing a bit of Swedish history on my dash 'Swedish bamboo season'

the goat account is peak gimmick blog

If I don't get to beat the goat then nobody does. -pointless-achievements

Never ask Tumblr to choose between lies and arson! The winner threatens by nature to rip apart the very fabric of our DNA!

goat statues made out of straw are exciting and interesting

I wanna see things burn

the goat is an essential part of tumblr culture and the goat blog is a sacred keeper of the tumblr high holidays

watching to see if the big straw goat has burned down each year is a true delight, something I never knew existed until tumblr and the blog dedicated to it

the incredibly focused nature of @/hasgavlebockenburneddownyet is what makes their gimmick superior.

Please guys bite gavlebocken

Look, I'm Danish. I was put on this earth to annoy the Swedes and vice versa, but even I voted for @/hasgavlebockenburneddownyet

gavlebocken is also such a fun name and this blog informed be about its existence, so for that I am grateful

hasgavlebockenburneddownyet is providing a vital service! Every year, people rely on their updates regarding the fate of our most beloved Yule Goat! How could they NOT deserve the win!?

sacred anti-corporate arson

a vote for gävlebocken is a vote for anarchy!

pls vote for them they're the funniest gimmick keeping track on the funniest phenomena in recent human history, like when i look at their acc i think to myself this is what tumblr was created for

the goat is the GOAT

HASGAVLEBOCKENBURNEDDOWNYET DESERVES TO WIN, I have them on post alert for a REASON

the holiday season wouldn't be the same without them

they do important reporting. Do you look at the news and be like 'the reporters aren't doing work they're just telling you whats happening.' Have some respect for the goat news

let the weird burnt sacrificial ritual of it all appeal to you

nothing makes my December more interesting, arson should win

doesn't barge in on other peoples posts which is always a good thing in my books. not a fan when obnoxious gimmick blogs turn a decent post into a garbled mess

[artbyblastweave]

So with superhero origins, what's basically always been the case is that the writers exploit whichever area of cutting-edge science is currently in the zeitgeist, banking heavily that the audience will be unlikely to understand the actual effective limits of the science under discussion. In the pulp era many of the protocapes are getting whatever "power" they have from souped-up training regimens, healthy living, "Eastern Wisdom," whatever. In the thirties and forties it trends chemical- they're taking "miracle pills" or inhaling weird vapors or whatever, its steroids, they're on steroids, or possibly meth. In the sixties, in the atomic age, its particles, its radiation, its rays. Eventually, you know, it's pretty well understood that radiation can't do that either, so they migrate over to genetic engineering, cybernetics, nanobots. Every cape and their brother was some kind of cyborg or lab experiment in the 90s. These days it's quantum this, string-theory that, dimensional wonkery, cats in boxes. In 20 or 30 years we'll have a better sense of what all of that actually means in practice (likely not much) and then it'll be something else.

I've observed that Dr. Strange and other magical characters are actually basically immune to this treadmill, because they're magic- that's already post-modern and fluid and squishy and immune to the expectation of real-world scientific rigor. They're vulnerable to changing cultural perceptions of magic, the Strange of the 60s isn't interchangeable with the Strange from the 2010s, but it's not as drastic a shift. From the other direction Green Lantern is also kind of resistant to the treadmill because the lantern tech is, and always has been, ludicrously advanced and totally divorced from any real-world techno-logic- It's Clarke's third law shit. Flash was forcibly made immune to the treadmill through the introduction of The Speed Force into the mythos- it's not a chemical accident, it's a higher fundamental power, it's just how this universe is metaphysically structured, now stop asking questions.

In due time I suspect that all superheroic origins will converge on one of these. Unfalsifiable magic, unfalsifiable alien toys, unfalsifiable higher unifying forces. Or else they'll fall into the gaping maw of the secret fourth thing that lurks beneath and intersects with all three of these- that you got powers instead of radiation poisoning from that accident because we're in a story, the thing happened instead of not happening because it was more interesting, because "narrative" is a force as real, if not realer, than gravity. Of course it goes without saying that you need to be really, really good at writing to pull off the secret fourth thing. Start fucking around with the secret fourth thing and the result is either going to be genuinely transcendent metafiction or something so self-absorbed and tautological that it disappears up its own ass.

[thebibliosphere]

did you start getting migraines as a result of getting covid or was it something else? i follow shannonbarry on instagram (writer and aspiring actress!!!) and she has some really interesting writing about dealing with migraine stuff

Oh no, I got my first migraine at age 11 when my period kicked in. I’ve had them ever since.

They’ve gotten worse over the last five to six years but that’s more to do with my genetic disorders.

Covid will for real fuck up your migraines though. I know so many people who went from mild to moderate migraines every blue moon to intractable daily pain after their Covid infection. Which is why I’m still masking up in public because fuck that.

[moon1833]

HAIKYUU! BOYFRIEND HEADCANNONS

Karasuno Edition

DAICHI

Classmates to lovers!

Secretly super nervous around you before you started dating.

The entire team knew he liked you before you did.

Hinata and Nishinoya would bordline harass you to come to practices and games.

Which resulted in Daichi yelling at them frequently.

Of course you came to the games though (you find him leading the time as really attractive too).

Ends up asking you out after you come to a match that they won (Suga pressured him).

He’s extremely chivalrous, insists on meeting your parents and opens every door for you.

Doesn’t make any moves on the first date because he doesn’t want to give you the wrong impression. (He really wanted to kiss you though).

You kiss him on the cheek after he drops you off.

Catches him completely by surprise.

You have your first kiss right before a game.

He was nervous, and you came to cheer him on.

You called him over to where you were sitting and kissed him.

“Good luck!” You called out as he was leaving, not missing how red his face was.

Tanaka and Noya were loosing their shit.

As a couple, you’re the team parents.

You always tired to help out with his caption duties, you knew it was stressful for him sometimes.

Leads to the team loving you.

Serious good cop/bad cop relationship.

You get Tanaka, Nishinoya and Hinata out of trouble whenever they do something stupid.

He loves you too much so he lets it slide (he can’t say no to you).

SUGAWARA

Love at first sight! (He fell first)

Brain turned to complete mush the first time he saw you.

Was sure he’d never see you again but he didn’t go up to you.

You ended up being Kageyama’s older sibling.

He still was too scared to make any moves.

You noticed him when Karasuno played Seijoh (season 1).

You approached him to tell him he played well, and told your brother he could learn a lot from him. (He blushed).

Kageyama is oblivious to his upperclassmen’s feelings. (Everyone else picked up on it the moment you started talking to him).

You thought him being on the bench but still making an effort to be the loudest person cheering on his team was really attractive.

You started picking up Kageyama from practices after school (you really just wanted to talk to Suga).

You thought you were being obvious about your feelings but the Kageyama facial expression™ is genetic.

His pining was becoming too much for the team to the point where Tanaka thought you were already dating.

Eventually gets to Kageyama.

He’s a little upset that he was the last person to figure it out (that Hinata beat him to it) but besides that he doesn’t care at all.

He thinks it’ll benefit his volleyball career, too, so it’s a win-win for him.

Flat out tells you Sugawara has feelings for you.

Part of you already knew, but you were elated.

Asked him to walk you home one day when there wasn’t practice.

“So, my brother tells me someone on your team had a little crush on me.” You loved seeing him get flustered.

He’s upset because he was in the middle of organizing the perfect way of confessing to you.

You end up at a cafe a little while later talking.

Tanaka and Noya were not so secretly spying on you both. (They took a picture of you guys with the flash on).

You thought it was funny.

Suga wanted to explode.

He walks you home, and you kiss him gently before walking into your house.

Kageyama was grouchy the whole night. (He’ll come around).

Kept PDA very light whenever you were around people.

However he’s super touchy in private.

Like he needs to be in contact with you to some degree at all times.

Always laying on you during movies and falling asleep half way through them.

Stopped having Suga over so much because whenever you did Kageyama would come into your room to talk about volleyball. (And he doesn’t knock)

ASAHI

Opposites attract!

You took interest in him first (he didn’t think someone as pretty as you wouldn’t be intimidated by him).

(You weren’t).

Started with you asking him for help in class.

You were pretty outgoing and spoke to everyone so he was surprised you went out of your way to talk to him.

He’s a complete mess around you.

You thought it was sweet.

You’re making every move if you want anything to happen (but you knew that).

Nearly died when you showed up to one of his games.

Nearly did again when you were gushing about how incredible he played.

Actually died when you asked if you could wear his jersey to the next game.

Died again when you did, the jersey being much too big for you. Seeing you in his clothes distracted him almost the entire time.

You end up telling him you like him one morning nonchalantly in the hallway when he was walking to class with you.

Wasn’t sure if he imagined it with how quick you said it.

“You do know I like you, right?”

“U-uh what?”

He’s nervous around you for months, barely initiating anything until he’s sure he won’t make you uncomfortable by accident.

Likes to lay on your chest while you braid his hair.

Still blushes from casual PDA. (He’s always pleasantly surprised you want to show off your relationship)

You pick fights with anyone who gossips about him being an intimidating guy.

“It’s not him you have to worry about, it’s me. So why don’t you say that to my face.”

He’s desperately trying to defuse the situation, but he loves how you defend him.

NISHINOYA

Childhood friends to lovers!

You’ve known him your whole life, but moved away for a few years in middle school.

You moved back in your second year of high school, reuniting with Noya.

He was different, but exactly the same.

You were adamant to not catch feelings, but you couldn’t help it.

The moment you were in his life again, he stopped obsessing over other girls. He didn’t realize it right away, but he knew he didn’t want you to think he didn’t prioritize you.

Forced you to come to every practice so he could walk you home.

Lines of friendship and something more kept getting blurred.

Randomly grabbing your hand when he’s excited.

Possessive, he gets sad if you don’t pay attention to him for a long time.

Genuinely fights off other guys.

He still doesn’t realize he likes you until Tanaka points it out.

Immediately confesses to you.

Dating him wasn’t much different than being his best friend, only now you were more affectionate.

Constantly napping together.

Brags about you to everyone.

Carries a photo book of you because he couldn’t decide on one picture for his wallet.

TANAKA

Matchmaker gone wrong!

Originally was attempting to set him up with Kiyoko (your best friend), but she wasn’t interested.

You two started getting closer even after you told him you didn’t think their plan was going to work.

Was starting to feel like he was only befriending you to get closer to Kiyoko, but he made a lot of effort to hang out with you.

Realized he was catching feelings for you when he would start to look for you in the crowd after each point he scored.

Did a 180 and went to Kiyoko for advice.

You were a little worried when they started getting closer, but your best friend insisted she had no romantic feelings for him.

Ends up confessing to you after a game. (Kiyoko’s idea).

He kinda screams it at you.

You thought it was cute, you kissed him to shut him up.

Parades you around to the team.

He’s protective, but when guys tell him he did a good job scoring you, he’ll just rant about how lucky he is.

He’s obsessed.

Like, genuinely obsessed with you. He proposed at your graduation. You told him ask you again in five years.

He does.

You say yes.

KAGEYAMA

Enemies to friends to lovers!

You both played volleyball in middle school, and you won “Player of the year” over him.

Rivalry started from there.

The girls team practiced in the same gym as the boys did so you were always trying to outdo each other.

When you’d play each other for practice matches you both would play exceptionally dirty.

Ended up at Karasuno because you got injured.

Became a manager for the boys team since the girls team wasn’t as serious and didn’t have a manager.

Had a small fight on both of your first days because he refused to work as a team.

You two could not get along so for the sake of keeping your job as a manager you just ignored him usually.

One game, a few members of the other team had made a few comments about you.

Conveniently, one of Kageyama’s serves in warmups nailed the guy in the face.

Was the first time he made you laugh.

Thought about it for a week.

Tried to make amends with you by showing he was sorry (he couldn’t say it).

Would ask you for tips on how to connect with his team as well as his form.

Admitted he thought you were a better player than him one night, you told him you most likely wouldn’t be able to play again.

Asked him to play for you, placing your hand on top of his.

He almost kissed you that night but he didn’t know how to and panicked.

You wanted him to.

Ended up tutoring him and Hinata, he started going to you for individual help.

Was worried you’d think he’s stupid.

You thought his focused face was adorable.

You were obviously in your feelings for him, but he was adamant that you wouldn’t like someone who struggles showing his emotions so much.

He didn’t think he’d be good enough for you and that you deserved better.

However, the idea of you with anyone else made him so unbearably mad he started putting effort into becoming what you need.

He struggled, but all you cared about was the effort.

Extremely flustered whenever you showed any kind of appreciation towards him.

Like he completely freezes up if you even hug him.

He warms up to physical affection quickly, he loved it from you, he just didn’t know how to return it.

Always falling asleep on top of you on bus rides.

He snores. Not loudly they’re more like sleeping sounds, but you tell him he snores.

Clingy in private.

Loves holding you but loves being held just as much. (He’ll never admit that, though).

YAMAGUCHI

Best friend’s sibling/secret relationship!

Yamaguchi had a crush on you the second he saw you for the first time when he was over at Tsukishima’s house.

He was sleeping over for the first time, and you were heading to the kitchen for a 1am snack while he was leaving the bathroom.

He knew Tsukishima had a sibling, but he had no idea what you looked like. He had no idea you were that beautiful.

You invited him to the kitchen with you for some food, he obliged because he wanted to talk to you.

You knew he was quiet so you did most of the talking, asking him questions.

“Your freckles are really cute, I wish I had freckles.”

No one had told him that before.

He remembered that for months.

Tsukishima knew something was up right away, but he didn’t say anything to Yamaguchi.

He was more worried about you, so he told you to “leave his friends alone”.

You didn’t

You saw Yamaguchi in school occasionally, always going out of your way to say hi (when Tsukishima wasn’t there).

After beating Shiratorizawa, you texted him congratulations.

You both kept texting from there, then calling.

You started asking him for help with homework, claiming your brother was unhelpful (you knew the work).

You started meeting up at the library, both of you mutually deciding not to tell Tsukishima.

After a few weeks of longing stares and lingering touches, you caved.

He was explaining a math problem to you, you were practically shoulder to shoulder, and he looked so adorable trying to dumb down the equation.

You weren’t thinking, leaning in and placing a gentle kiss to his lips.

You pulled back, apologizing, but Yamaguchi had a shy smile on his face.

“Can you do that again?”

Kept it a secret, only meeting at his house. (His mother understood)

Tsukishima found out after walking in on you both making out while Yamaguchi was sleeping over.

“Do you want ice cream?”

He did not care.

Only told you to stay away from his friends because he didn’t think you liked Yamaguchi.

He trusted you both to be respectful and if things did end to keep it civil.

His only wish was he did not want to hear a thing about you from Yamaguchi.

He loves to cuddle with you.

He’ll initiate a lot more physical affection when you’re by yourselves, but in public he gets too nervous.

Doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable ever.

Also not huge on PDA.

Loves giving you forehead kisses.

Akiteru saw Yamaguchi with a hickey before he knew you were dating and congratulated him.

Akiteru did not know you were dating for months.

That wasn’t intentionally, everyone just forgot to tell him.

Tsukishima gave a legendary best man speech at your wedding.

TSUKISHIMA

Enemies to lovers!

The first day you met Tsukishima, you thought he was annoying and needed to be put in his place.

So, you did.

Any insult he said (whether it was directed at you or not) was retorted by you in seconds.

He didn’t expect that from you (it intoxicated him).

Being friends with Yamaguchi, you were almost always around.

He called you a pest.

You called him a loser.

And so on.

LOTS of tension.

Both of you always glaring (staring) at each other to the point all your friends think you’re together in some shape, way or form.

Both of you could not get the other out of each other’s head.

Both of you think it’s because the other is just so annoying.

Until Tsukishima has a dream about kissing you.

Now that’s all he can think about.

He starts ignoring you because he’s mad at his own feelings and he’s starting to feel like he has no self control around you.

You notice it immediately, he no longer picked on you or teased you at all.

Instead of being relieved like you thought you should be, you’re rather sad.

About a week goes by, and eventually your mutual friends are sick of all the sulking you’re both doing.

Force you to talk to each other.

Ends up in a shouting match.

You call him a coward, and it strikes something in him.

Mid rant, he cuts you off by kissing you.

You kiss him back, finish your argument and go back to kissing him.

“Go out with me?” He mumbles against your lips.

“How chivalrous of you.”

The arguing doesn’t stop now that you’re together, it just leads to other things.

Surprisingly, Tsukishima is extremely emotionally mature when it comes to you.

He doesn’t want to loose you.

You’re his soft spot.

Like it’s so obvious and he almost wants everyone to know it. (He’d never admit it)

Not very possessive unless you’re uncomfortable.

No one was surprised when you got together.

Neither of you are huge on PDA.

Maximum affection you’ll show in public is hand holding.

He uses you as a human armrest occasionally.

“Hates” when you steal his clothes (he leaves them out for you.

You get along well with Akiteru, he loves you.

He’s out like a light if you play with his hair.

Holds you like a stuffed animal to sleep (he can’t sleep any other way).

Surprisingly soft.

Doesn’t say “I love you” for a while, but he does things to show it before he does.

HINATA

Sunshine x sunshine protector!

You grew up as Hinata’s #1 fan.

Helped him with his volleyball skills in middle school and so on.

You were always be his side and it was the same with him.

You’ll tease him of course, but anyone who underestimated him or was insulting him had to deal with you.

Tanaka and Noya call you “Hinata’s girlfriend” (they just think that and no one corrected them).

Started dating by accident.

Hanging out as friends was turning into something else.

Constant hand holding as well as hugs.

Were each other’s first kiss because he “wanted to know what it felt like”.

Kept kissing after that.

Eventually he just starts introducing you as his girlfriend.

“Shoyo, you just told them I’m your girlfriend.”

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“You never asked me to be your girlfriend.”

“Oh my god I forgot.”

Chaos everywhere you go.

He’s your best friend and your boyfriend.

He’s always getting you things.

Invites you to every game (you were going either way).

[identifying-cat-phenotypes]

hihihi!! i LOVE LOVE LOVE cat genetics. where did you learn all you know about phenotypes?

hmm a lot of places! also, dont think i dont know who you are LMAOO jellyfish haii

my first foray into the world of cat genetics was probably this kitten generator on perchance! I just messed around with it for a while, trying to get my cat as a result, but eventually started actually experimenting with it! it is still incomplete, if anyone visits it, but its a good place to get the very basic foundations down.

i'd also suggest whatcoloristhatcat and felinefractus for their thoughts and cat genetics work! They do good stuff, and I've learned a lot from their thoughts on various cats, cat breeding as a whole, and some fun trivia! Good blogs, highly recommend them both!

Another resource I, and plenty of others, recommend is Sparrow's Garden! I don't really have much else to say on it, it's just a good resource.

I do suggest Messybeast for some basic stuff, but not as a resource for EVERYTHING they do on their site. It's good for basics and corrections, but you should not use this site as your only source. Research more about what they talk about, and don't take everything at face value.

and lastly, this simple overview of it all! the series by little hungry warrior on youtube! it was more of a refresher for me, but the present the information in such a way that stuck. It's a good way to get into the most basic and common cat genetics you'd see in your day-to-day life.

AGAIN, WE (me and Jay) ARE HOBBYISTS! I do not make 100% accurate claims sometimes! I learn from others, and my own research! please correct me when i make a mistake, and that includes information about resources I link! <3

signed, mod robin! hbu, mod jay?

Hi! I’m a lot newer into cat genetics than robin, but my first real foray into cat genetics was a series of images called ‘families for the warrior cats fan who doesn’t want to learn genetics’, about 2 years ago. it was really simplistic and doesn’t go into stuff like silver, smoke and rufousing, so it’s probably not the most helpful thing. (oh hey, i know this person! they help work on a silly Warriors redux i read! its good, check it out if you're a warrior cats fan! -robin)

HOWEVER. the most helpful thing for me (that actually got me interested in genetics) was the clangen mod genemod. It’s super helpful for looking at how genotypes affect phenotypes, and what each phenotype looks like without any influencing factors.

mod robin has pretty much covered everything else i might have linked though; but i’m seconding little hungry warriors youtube series! helpful to learn both the basics and the more complex stuff in a very digestible format !

🫡 - mod jay

[fan-clan-fun]

Cat genetics/appearance resources

I like to periodically look around and see what resources are available, both for casual warriors writers, and the ones with more experience with genetics wanting to try and make their family trees make sense, and those who just want to see more cat pictures to make fun and interesting OCs. So here is a list of some really cool things to look at!

To start with, we have @sparrowminder's always excellent website. Where you can get an explanation of a lot of the basic stuff to build off of. Sparrow also has a lot of cool resources that aren't on the website yet, including an amazing chart of cat eye colors. Sparrow's Garden contains the best public calculator that I know of for kittens that would result from certain pairings.

There is always the quintessential Messybeast. Though I would take some things with a grain of salt, as they may be outdated. Still, it is the starting place for many, and continue numerous links to articles that could have some use.

I also came across a very useful website called Feliformias. A resource which has visuals for almost all the colors (it seems to be missing a few, primarily all the bengal patterns).

Of course, there are also a variety of Tumblr blogs to check out!

@catcolors is an inactive, but still very useful source of pictures for a variety of colors

@amber-tortoiseshell is very knowledgeable with cat genetics, and does a lot of discussions about cats and identifying their phenotype

@felinefractious has a blog that is just absolutely full to the brim with pictures of cats, sourced from breeders and labeled by color and breed.

And I've reblogged a few other resources before, images that can be found on my blog, but I will link them here:

Garden-of-Willow's Color study

Slug's cute little color guide

Cedar seed's incredible guide

If anyone else has some good resources, link them in replies or reblogs!

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! Thanks for all your hard work.

I have a character who lives through a war and experiences a traumatic head/facial injury that leaves him with asymmetrical features. Before discovering this blog, I wrote him as being a little insecure about it even years later (the main story takes place long after that), but have since retconned that as I realized writing it that way was the result of ingrained disfiguresmia, which I don’t want to perpetuate. As it currently stands, he does not have any particular feelings about his appearance itself/the visible remnants of the injury, nor is he treated differently for it. It’s just a thing, and not the focus of his character. Recently, however, as I was working on more of his background, I realized he ended up bearing a strong resemblance to one of his parents, who harmed him quite badly as a child.

So, my question is this: While nobody would be happy to experience a traumatic injury, would it be in bad taste for him to eventually end up being pleased that he no longer looks so much like his parent? Not that the genetic resemblance has somehow disappeared as a result of an injury, but rather that when he looks in the mirror, he sees himself instead of someone who hurt him?

I want to be careful to portray facial difference respectfully. I thought that maybe associating the visible result of something traumatic (cranio-facial injury) with gaining a stronger sense of identity (in a positive way) might be alright. But I wanted to check, because I don’t want to go too far the opposite direction and romanticize it.

(I’m using this emoji combination so I can find my ask later:🪞💙💥)

Hey!

My original note when drafting this was "This is genuinely a rare and interesting take on a character's feelings after getting a facial difference and it goes hard as fuck", which is a Way to say that I like it.

I don't think it's in bad taste at all, it's more of a breath of fresh air with interesting characterization mixed in. Has the character's backstory influencing his feelings on a current event. I get to mildly see myself in this kind of experience as I'm also glad to no longer be told I look really similar to a family member since my partial paralysis got more obvious. Cool as hell.

I really love that you figured out something positive that makes sense for your character to take out of an acquired facial difference. I mean, this is what people do in real life; try to find positives. It looks like your character managed to do that and that's awesome.

I wouldn't consider this romanticization at all, but even if it slightly was then I think we can have a bit of it as a treat after decades of hearing how looking different makes us fundamentally worse. It's not like you're doing some inspiration porn shtick about how an acquired disability suddenly made him into a saint who no longer has a single mean thought in his head.

If this worries you though, try to keep in mind the negative symptoms that he almost surely has - does he have nerve damage, migraines, problems with speaking, fear of loud noises? These things don't go away if you feel positive about something, though it might make it easier to mentally deal with. Show the parts he's more glad about, and the ones that make his life more difficult, days that are better and days that kinda suck. Make him struggle in areas of life unrelated to his disability, and have joys that are unrelated to it too. The usual advice.

This was probably my favorite synopsis of a character with a facial difference I read in a long time, so thank you for sending this. I'd love to see more characters as carefully thought out as this one.

mod Sasza

[crossdreamers]

A guide to chromosomal variations

Over at Instagram Melly the Science Geek has published a mind blowing video about how chromosome decide (or do not the decide) the sex of a person.

The world is a a very complicated place, indeed.

And at this point we have not even begun to talk about gender identity.

The Science Vet on XX, XY and all the other variations

Melly's video reminds us of the very popular twitter thread made by the Science Vet back in 2018.

We take the liberty of republishing that thread here:

So. Hi new people! Apparently, we're gonna talk about sex. Like physical sex! Because... there's some confusion.

First, sex defined: We're talking physical sex here, not gender. Body parts, hormones, and genetics (and more).

BLUF: BIOLOGICAL sex is a spectrum

Ok, everyone's super familiar with the XX/XY dichotomy, right? Yeah, what we all learned in like... 4th grade? And that's great, it gives you a starting point. But it's... well it's only the very starting point.

The IDEA is, XX is girl, XY is boy, right?

Welllll... that's not totally right. There are XY people, who have ovaries! And give birth! AH! And XX people who have male bodies and functional sperm! Double AH!

These are usually written off as "abnormalities" and indeed, some cases have medical issues. But many don't (like the XY woman giving birth). And this is really only the very very tip of the iceberg of "wait, that doesn't fit into our M or F box unless we make it bigger"

There's a WHOLE HOST of things that can cause all sorts of "weird" things to happen, ranging from genetic (XXY, XYY, Y, X, XX with translocation, XY with deletion) to hormonal (Androgen Insensitivity, Estradiol failure), and disruptors like dioxins

So, you're a scientist, and you want to research stuff, right? Which means you have to categorize stuff. Without categories, data is hard! So you take allll these people, including the "weird" ones and you plot them on a graph. Logical!

You use all the differences there are, different genetics, different responses to hormones, different effectiveness in signalling pathways, different sizes in Aanteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) (yeah that's a thing) and give everything numbers, add them up.

You get what's called a bimodal distribution (mostly, we'll get to that later) Which looks like this. Those two big peaks are what we call "male" and "female" (even conveniently colored pink for boys and blue for girls - we are using victorian gender colors right?)

/8

Now, when you're trying to look at data, we often group stuff. When we do that with a plot like this, it's called a "histogram." Basically we're breaking down a curved line into discrete "bins." Like this (image stolen from the web).

/9

Traditionally, we've used REALLY BIG bins for this when talking about sex. Basically you either group everything vaguely near a peak into the peak, or you just pretend there's nothing else but the biggest peaks. This makes it super easy, because 2 is simple to do data with.

However, as we've gotten to know more and more about signaling and brains and hormones and started to pay more attention to the outliers where standard stuff just didn't seem to work, we discovered that this isn't a great model to use.

Now I'm not talking feelings here. I'm talking about data. As you start to look at anything interesting, like say the effects of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-dioxin on animals, you start to realize that a 2 bin model doesn't predict your results well.

At first you say, "Well it was just weird." So you redo it, and it still doesn't work. So you look at your model and you say, "Well ok, what if the model's wrong?"

But the model sort of... almost predicts a lot of things, and it worked for years, so...

Some enterprising soul says, "Hey, remember that histogram where we said we'll just model using the peaks?" And everyone goes, "Uh, yeah?" And they say, "What if we... USED that data?" And everyone groans, because complicated data is hard.

But someone sits down and does the work, and lo, wow the model starts to work again. Where TCDD was "randomly" turning some boys into girls but then some girls into boys, now you can see there's a subgroup of what you'd called "female" that responds like the "male"

What's important here is that you haven't MISLABELED males as females. These are functional "females" who can do all the usual "female" things like gestate babies. But they respond to this one endocrine disruptor in a "male" way.

So you add another two categories, call them "Male2" and "Female2" and go on, happy that your model works! You've got 4 sexes now, but you don't really have to tell anyone that, right?

Exceeeept then you remember you've got those XY people that gestate babies. So you add "Intersex1" And then the XX people with penes... and ovaries? Ok, "Intersex2" because all these groups respond differently with signalling and brains when you get into the weeds

And the more you look, the more we LEARN, the more we're able to separate out those fine differences. Depending on what we're doing, we may not care. If a doc is giving you aspirin, it probably isn't a big deal.

But if they're using a steroid on you? Or treating dioxin poisoning? THAT SHIT COULD BE IMPORTANT. It's like saying, "the light's off so the power must not be flowing." It really matters if the light's off because the bulb blew.

If we go back to that histogram plot, we can keep breaking down your biological sex into smaller and smaller differences in brain areas, hormone levels, signalling differences, genetic variances. There's nothing stopping us from binning EVERY INDIVIDUAL into their own bin.

Technically, this wouldn't be "infinite sexes" but 7.4 billion sexes is functionally close for our brains. Now, our medicine isn't advanced enough for THAT level of detail to make any difference. BUT IT MIGHT BE in the future. Individualized medicine!

The thing to remember is that this isn't "new." We're not 'inventing sexes' here. Sex has ALWAYS been this curve. We were just using REALLY BIG bins. And now we're realizing that that's not representative of biology, it's inhibiting understanding of medicine and biology

In case anyone's curious, this isn't ideology. This is because I had to figure out why my data didn't match the prediction. Those rats I mentioned? Yeah, my lab. And lab rats are a really pure genetic monoculture, and they STILL don't fit the two peak model well.

So, since it's come up, an addendum!

Yes, we looked at other things we could do to make our data fit the existing model, that's how science works! The ONLY way the data fit was if we let "sex" be more than just those two narrow peaks.

Models purpose in science is to predict. If they don't predict correctly, first we check if we've measured the data correctly, and repeat the experiment a couple more times. If it still doesn't fit, we have to look at the model.

Intersex! Because I didn't specifically mention this.

"Intersex" is a grouping bin used for a lot of the "middle ground" of the spectrum between the "male" and "female" peaks. Any situation where easily assigning the person to one of those two peaks is challenging.

Intersex! Because I didn't specifically mention this above.

"Intersex" is a term used to collectively speak of the "middle ground" of biology where people can't easily be binned into those two big "male" and "female" peaks. It can include a large range of biology

It is worth noting that I never talk about transgender in this thread. Intersex is not the same as transgender. You can be one without the other, or be both.

For people who think this is just "outliers"

Current estimates are that the intersex population is at least 2%. We know that's low because there are a lot of "invisibly intersex" people. That means AT LEAST 150 million people in the world.

I apologize for the failure to use the word "intersex" higher up in the discussion. Many people in the middle ground (including the XY person who can carry a child, for example) use this term. I cannot go back and edit the thread, and apologize for my overly clinical description. 

Part of the purpose of the thread, which may have failed, was to point out that "intersex" is not a condition, it is not a disease. It's natural with a bimodal distribution. Science not only supports this, it suggests that ignoring intersex people makes your conclusions wrong 

References at the end of this page.

[aeithalian]

Rick. Buddy. Amigo. Explain something to me. Real quick, I promise.

[The Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero, Chapter 4]

Good genetic package, Rick/Apollo? Are you sure about that?

Listen.

Estelle's physical description *clap* makes *clap* no *clap* sense. Why on earth does one of the only fully human characters in this series have to have unique and weird physical traits? Also, it makes no sense in the larger scope of Rick's writing style to have chosen this unless he had some sort of larger intention behind it. Not to mention the theories by fans haven't really done much to fully flesh out any perceivable reason as to why this might be:

Poseidon blessed Sally when she was pregnant - By far, this is the most believable to me, but it's still eh, because this feels very weird and I don't get the vibes from Poseidon that he would have done so to the extent that it shows up in Estelle's physical traits. Also if that were true, it doesn't make sense for Rick to just fully drop it in the story without the intention to flesh it out further, because to my knowledge he doesn't have plans for another novel that takes place after ToA.

Paul isn't Estelle's father - Firstly, this is out of character for Sally, and this doesn't fully justify why Estelle has Percy's eyes. PLUS, salt-and-pepper hair still wouldn't be natural for a newborn

Paul is Poseidon in disguise - This explains her traits the best, but Paul's character is so much more satisfying if this isn't true. It's also total bullshit.

Enter me. I have a theory. Yay. But first, we must discuss.

Firstly, I want to talk about her eyes. Going back to the theories, and based on my fair amount of knowledge of genetics (clarification: I write this as I procrastinate studying for my final genetics exam), the eyes are mostly interesting because Apollo specifies that they are immediately similar Percy's. The thing about eye genetics, though, is that they are what we consider to be 'complex traits', meaning that they are influenced by the interactions of multiple genes from both parents. What I mean to point out here is that Sally could definitely have the genes to produce two children with 'sea-green' eyes, considering her canonical eye color is blue. We don't know what Paul's eye color is, which makes my job a whole lot easier because I can assume that it doesn't directly contradict the possibility that Sally just has really strong eye genes (?). ALSO, who's to say that Poseidon didn't just change his eye color to match Percy's when he was born? Ah, yes, the perks of having a shapeshifting dad who seemingly loves you and your eye color a lot (but is still absentee, WHOOPS).

But what I actually found the most interesting about Estelle was her hair color. More specifically, the fact that Apollo says he's never seen an infant with that color hair. And we know Apollo is somewhat of an unreliable narrator (although this rarely affects his descriptions of people other than himself, and has also mostly evolved into a more honest narration since the end of book 3), but I believe we're supposed to trust this dude who just so happens to have been alive for over four millennia. Based on Apollo's previous descriptions of his own powers (see his conversations with Percy in TTC, when he pulls a Mufasa and basically admits to seeing everything the light touches), we know that Apollo knows and has seen a lot of stuff. So, how is this the first time he's seemingly witnessed this type of hair mutation?

I did some research, as one does. To me, it seems as if Estelle has what's called Griscelli syndrome, which is a type of rare autosomal genetic mutation that typically results in phenotypic hypopigmentation of the skin and hair. (It can also result in neurological disorders and immunodeficiency, based on the type, but I digress.) It's also pretty rare, considering both parents have to be carriers, and even then the child still has a one in four chance of being affected. Current statistics from the NIH say that Griscelli syndrome currently presents in less than 1000 Americans, and is rapidly fatal in 1-4 years without aggressive treatment.

That sad note aside, it's weird to me that the way Rick wrote Estelle's physical description makes it seem as if Apollo had never seen anything similar. I feel like a god of both medicine and knowledge would probably be a bit more up to speed with rare genetic disorders, especially because he's so old. The only explanations are that Apollo, in his mortal state, can't make a diagnosis, OR what he's seeing isn't actually something he can diagnose.

FURTHERMORE, from the same chapter, Apollo says something that muddies the waters even further:

It doesn't make sense that Apollo thinks that Zeus would take such an interest in Estelle. Her nature alone doesn't make me think that the king of the gods would take a sudden interest in a literal newborn, regardless of how much Apollo loves her (and honestly, I don't blame him).

What I think? Rick pulled the strings just tight enough that he has a very interesting plot point to go off of if he ever decides to pick up the pen again and write a new book.

What I think? Estelle doesn't have Griscelli syndrome, she is in much more danger than anyone realizes, and Apollo's subconscious put this together from the second he saw her.

Actually, let's rewind. I'm in the process of writing a fic (stay tuned!) and I had a random thought: do the Greeks have an apocalypse story? You know, like Ragnarök in the Norse mythos, and the Revelation stories in the Bible.

The answer? They don't. I guess that's what you get when the Greco-Roman gods are fully immortal and literally can't be killed.

That didn't stop the rabbit hole, though, and what I found was actually very interesting and I couldn't believe what I was reading.

I give you: Hesiod. More specifically, his poem Works and Days. More more specifically, his 'ages of man'. More more more specifically, the iron age.

For context, Hesiod was an ancient Greek poet who lived in the 8th century BC, and was walking right along with Homer in terms of fame at the time. The poem Works and Days is actually more of a really long Facebook post where he complains about anything and everything, especially in his section on the ages of man.

In summary, Hesiod wrote about what he perceived to be the five stages of human life since the creation of mankind by Zeus' hand:

gold: perfect in every way, pious, and blessed by the gods

silver: real bitches, the ugly middle child, so Zeus killed them

bronze: were so violent they wiped each other out

heroic: golden child, contained the heroes of the Greek mythos

iron: middle-aged men still living in their mom's basement

Hesiod wrote his poem during what he perceived to be the Iron age (it's really just him complaining about being born in the wrong generation), but he ends up listing a lot of qualities: 'everyone works too hard, the gods hate us, nobody respects family values anymore', blah blah blah.

I know what you're thinking: Tia, what does this have to do with an apocalypse?

Well, dear reader, bear with me. You see, every time Zeus didn't like an age of mankind, or it became too violent, or it generally wasn't pious enough, Zeus wouldn't hesitate to destroy that race and start over. Basically, an apocalypse.

So, you may ask a new question: what is the criteria for Zeus to destroy the Iron age? And, assuming that this is the age we're currently in, what would it take for Zeus to destroy everything our beloved Riordanverse characters know and love?

My friend, that is where Estelle comes in. Yes, a baby.

Take this excerpt regarding the Iron age:

"And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth."

I think you see where I'm going with this.

My theory? Estelle, in her unique position as a bridge between not just the mortals and the demigods (eg. her relationship with Percy), but also the mortals and the gods (eg. her great impression on Apollo), is a living, breathing prophecy. A prophecy that the end is nigh for this current age of mankind.

Furthermore, I also think that Apollo made this connection, somewhere in the back of his mind, the very second he realized that her hair was entirely unique. According to Hesiod (who Apollo also mentions later in the book, so we know he knows who Hesiod is), the day that babies are born with gray hair (or, salt-and-pepper for the sake of the theory) is the second Zeus basically get the go-ahead to commit genocide.

This also brilliantly explains why Apollo suddenly, and seemingly without reason, makes to keep Estelle's existence a secret from Zeus, because he knows that it might be the easiest way to get everyone he knows and loves killed by his own father for "the greater good" as I'm sure Zeus will put it. Plus, in his mortal state, Rick didn't have to explain why Apollo did what he did, since Apollo's been having memory issues since the beginning of the series: why would he remember one line from a poem written almost three thousand years ago?

Frankly, Zeus doesn't care about mortals: the only reason he really cares about anyone is if they have enough power to threaten his own, or if they have some sort of power he can benefit from. This, certainly, falls under the category of the latter. Wouldn't you want a chance to remake humanity into the perfect image that it used to be? You would, if you hadn't gone through a five book long grow-a-conscience speedrun like our lovely Apollo over here.

Fortunately for Rick, this is such an outrageous theory that if it never comes to fruition, I won't be surprised. If he ever writes something similar, though, know I called it first.

EDIT: here's the fic i mentioned i was (am) writing

EDIT: a masterlist of my other metas

[turbulentscrawl]

Luchino Diruse General HCs

The time has finally come. I have a LOT to say about Luchino. This covers both his survivor and hunter forms, and it might be a bit jumbled because I had so many thoughts to try and organize.

-The exact subject of the Professor’s research is left in the air, but given his focus on venom and poisons, and the necessity of testing them on animals, I’m guessing he worked in toxicology. He likely helped to develop antidotes and other products from the substances he and his colleagues studied—and taught students about these subjects in the university laboratory—as well as had a general interest in reptile biology and genetics.

-While Luchino was a bit too open to self-testing during his venom and toxicology research, he did not willingly take the mutated reptile’s venom. The information provided for Luchino doesn’t specifically say that the venom was forced on him…but Luchino’s experiment report from his first manor game describes him as “Vigilant” and as having a “moderate thirst for knowledge.” He was also the only one to survive, due to his curiosity and his respect for potential danger. Because of these, I find it unlikely that he would let a mysterious, mutating reptile bite him. When he self-tested venom before, it’s said he always had antidotes/antivenoms within reach. This just isn’t a risk he’d take. Additionally, Luchino went missing from the labs where this happened, and Dr. Thompson was never mentioned again, so I think it’s likely there was some sort of struggle immediately after Luchino was bitten. For that, a fight had to have been warranted.

-Eli describes Luchino as cautious, dignified, courteous, and “kinder and more friendly than expected.” You all know I talk about it any time I can, but I state once again that Luchino is a gentleman to most if not all people. His vigilance mentioned earlier makes his intuition rather good, so he can fairly reliably tell good people apart from the bad, and uses that to keep himself a safe distance from trouble. He’s also very open-minded and sees atypical traits and behaviors as interesting more than anything else. He feels secure in his judgement of people, which allows his curiosity for all things to flourish.

-But he’s also obsessed with his work. Sometimes that makes him willing to cut corners. (Once again, self-testing with venom.) Which is how he got himself in his current predicament in the first place. He had some concerns about the intentions of Dr. Thompson asking for his help…but his curiosity for this new and strange reptile overpowered his concerns.

-Luchino is a man of indulgence (indicated both by some of the prior hcs, and his S-tier skin wherein he is Dionysus, a god of pleasure and madness.) He sees no sense in being ashamed of desiring sensual, carnal, or dangerous things. Luscious food, rich wine, mind-blowing sex. He also indulges his thirst for knowledge with hands-on experimentation. But indulgence implies a choice, self-control. Indulgence means giving in to something you typically deny yourself. This is where he and Evil Reptilian really diverge.

-So E.R. is very much still Luchino, personality-wise…but his new, more animalistic nature has made him entirely beholden to impulse. He’s still rather gentlemanly, and still a man-beast of science, but he’s more reactive to aggression/challenges and gives into his desires almost indiscriminately. And several of those desires are very much based in his newfound carnivorousness; he’s one of the most vicious hunters because his instinct screams at him to chase and kill anything that runs.

-The two do get along…but Luchino and he strongly disagree on how good the end results of his biological changes are. E.R. considers all of his changes to be positive; he’s faster, stronger, and still smart as a whip—he’s far more capable, overall. Meanwhile Luchino can look at his Hunter self and see exactly how much of his self-restraint is gone. Luchino thinks the biggest thing separating man from animals is free will, and you can’t truly have that if you’re a slave to your impulses.

-Luchino’s COA skin has what I’m pretty sure is an explosive strapped to his chest, which indicates to me that he’d rather go out in a blaze of glory than lose himself entirely. And as a lot of the A/S tier skins share something with their core character, I assume this trait is the same for regular Luchino. Some people theorize that he’s unbothered by his changes, but I don’t think that’s entirely true. As much as he’s intrigued and excited about the scientific implications of the changes he’s undergone, Luchino DOES NOT want to become a mindless animal, to lose himself entirely. He’d rather die and take his mind and all its knowledge with him than let it waste away.

-He’s a more dominant sort of person, but he’s secure in it and his masculinity, so he’s not overbearing or pushy. Rather, Luchino passively presents as something of a natural leader (if not a slightly removed one) because of his level-headed judgement and work ethic. So people tend to look to him for direction. If they don’t, and if he doesn’t like the person who is leading, he’s fine just stepping away and doing his own thing. He’s always the dominant partner in his romantic entanglements and enjoys taking on a provider role.

-He’s not as reclusive as Alva or Luca, but he is less outwardly social than others. He blends in well with most crowds and paces the amount he speaks when in conversation with others. He’s one of those who prompts others to talk more with thoughtful questions—sometimes just to listen to someone he cares for talk more, and sometimes to subtly get information out of someone.

-Despite a few “mad scientist” tendencies, Luchino isn’t usually hyper focused to the point of damaging his health. He’s typically good about sticking to a regular sleep schedule, stays relatively active, and eats healthy. He’s in good shape despite having a career that keeps you at a desk a lot.

-Supposedly, Luchino played a hand in the “failure” of Dr. Thompson’s “matchmaking” business, and this is what made the man want revenge on him. Luchino expresses concern for this, implying that he doesn’t know for sure if he caused it, but feels bad if he did. As such, I’m under the impression that Luchino was just making some negative commentary about the idea of a “matchmaking service” to their colleagues. Luchino seems to have been likeable and respected, so word got around about his opinion on the matter and the business (likely already struggling) tanked.

[seafoamreadings]

week of may 26th, 2024

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: although mars gets entangled with ceres in a less than optimal way this week, otherwise the transits are quite friendly for you. they encourage you to be friendly too. if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all, but if you can, then go out and be seen and have a good time. just be sure not to neglect your needs.

taurus: distinctly airier vibe may not be your preferred speed but it's actually good for your money and resources as long as you can exercise self control. mercury reaches the last degrees of your sign, makes a hyper-technological-futuristic meetup with uranus, and then next week joins your 2nd house pileup for great results in all manner of exchanges.

gemini: even if you don't consider yourself much a fan of the limelight you're nonetheless set up to sparkle this week. literal glitter is auspicious. but not all that glitters is gold; if something seems too good to be true or overly superficial, it's ok to pass it over.

cancerians: like it or not, even if you remain unaware of it, you're doing soul and shadow work this week. but especially later in the week if you can tap into jupiter trine pluto you become a veritable magician. all the tools you need are at your disposal.

leo: quite possibly you feel a bit flat or dimmed out this week. but gemini activity brightens up your social circles. seek support from your friends and network. if that's not very forthcoming it's a good sign to fortify those circles.

virgo: mars squares ceres and then mercury trines it this week, challenging your health or how you care for your body as well as pushing you to communicate these types of needs with the people who matter to you. you may need help from spirit guides more than from human beings, though, and you may also have your ailments put somewhat more in the spotlight than you might prefer. in the end, it's for the best, one way or another, no matter how to the contrary it seems in the moment.

libra: this week sees you thriving, on the condition that you build from your past mistakes or wisdom and head into the future boldly and equipped with experiential knowledge. blindly fumbling onward does not do justice to your keen skills of discernment.

scorpio: there is certainly some magic in things that superficially seem frivolous. are they really? enjoy small things and watch them grow into big and important things. meanwhile, build a safe haven out of your home for yourself - and maybe for a new pet, as such friendship is auspicious for you now. if not, you can certainly at least care for the local spirits of nature, right?

sagittarius: your relationships remain a central focus. commitment may seem to materialize in places you thought you never wanted it to. meanwhile you get a lot of financial support through your relationships, or a lover turns out to be such a valuable resource you'll wonder how you managed without them.

capricorn: of course ceres is still hanging out in your sign and even in retrograde is a fruitful blessing. she is challenged by mars this week so do not overdo anything. do what you must and stop, and then only do what's pleasurable and lights you up. she's also augmented by mercury at around the same time, so good conversations are a rich source of spiritual nutrition.

aquarius: your position in your daily life is strengthened throughout the week but probably not in any way that seems particularly vigorous, and even less so if you're not intentionally having a good time. even if times are hard, you have to be focusing on even the tiniest positives.

pisces: if you're interested in healing generational trauma/curses/genetic illnesses/etc, this is a good time to do it with the benefics, the sun, and soon mercury all on your side. if that's not an issue, work to resolve any conflicts with roommates or your family of origin, your landlord, the structure of your home itself.

[elbiotipo]

Watched Strange Aeon's video essay on A/B/O dynamics and it touched on some really interesting tidbits on world building. Idk how much you know about it or if you have any thoughts on Omegaverse?

If not, basically how life/society would be with essentially extra sexes: cis men who could give birth, cis women who can knock up other uterus havers, how the world would cater for this stuff. V interesting 🤔

I know little about omegaverse, but I don't really find it that creative or engaging. Then again, I'm not the target audience.

However, without getting into specifics, I do appreciate when a erotic scenario gets into the worldbuilding and implications that such an scenario would mean, or when certain elements of worldbuilding have erotic undertones.

It's all in personal taste though, what one finds subtle eroticism others will call shoehorned fetishes and so forth. But what I really appreciate, even in a neutral sense, is when you design cultures, especially non-human cultures, and they have different approaches to everything. Making your non-human characters just be humans with tails is boring. They should have different ways of eating, of clothing, of living their life, of organizing society of perceiving the world, and yes, of doing it too.

In biology, we of course had to learn a lot about this. The very basics of sexual reproduction and sex (in the act and the definition) aren't that variable after all in animals if you look at the big picture. Creatures as diverse as arthropods, mollusks and chordates all present concepts such as mating, courtship, sexual selection, parental care and more. It's not unreasonable to expect many different cultures or beings to share some things in common (That's how you make some kind of romances work) There are lots of differences in the specific though, this is where the good bits of speculative evolution/biology lie, and I sometimes think that using human terms (for example, monogamy/polygamy or sexual/gender identities) is often a poor attempt to understand them (an attempt is made at least). It's interesting to study this kind of stuff and try to remove our anthropocentrism, but also, we find parallels and things we share.

In fact, when talking about humans, we have created so many ways to organize our sexual and romantic relationships, and our sexual and gender identities. I can imagine other beings capable of abstract thought and social organization would do the same, and what to me is more ironic, some ways will result familiar to us! I believe that when we're talking about sexes, the act of sex, and families at its broadest strokes, we would find things in common to talk about. The ability to concieve about such things lead to kinds of sexual and gender expression and family organization, at least in our own case that we know about.

But that's talking about animals in our own Earth. Then we get to the stranger things. The haplo-diplont life cycle in plants, with two entire different kind of beings involved in reproduction. Asexual reproduction is common in animals but it often takes the channels of sexual reproduction, the idea of reproduction by budding or separation and the concept of "genets" is something stranger. I don't even know what goes on with fungi.

There have been lots of science fiction and fantasy authors that explore this (I can't remember anyone specific right now) but I believe many take it as singular strange cases, when in a fantasy or science fiction world with many kinds of non-human cultures, we should expect this to be the norm. When you study biology, you learn everything is different and there are always exceptions, except we also share everything and there are always similarities.

[plum-pitt]

X-Men Origins Rewrite

Ok I guess this is a follow up to this post i made not too long ago abt rewriting this shit, the brainworms rlly got to me here so you’re getting a follow up sooner than expected lol

Before I actually do any rewriting though I wanted to lay out the big changes I’d be making and why, mainly for myself as a guide and to organize my thoughts both about the original film’s issues and how these changes could potentially solve them, but also to allow anyone else with some ideas for possible changes to add their own thoughts or suggestions by engaging with the post.

As for what kind of final product you could possibly expect these ideas to result in, i haven’t quite decided if I want to just do an in depth outline for the story with my proposed changes or do like a full length fic novelization. It’ll probably depend on how motivated I still feel about the exercise by the time I’m finished and happy with the cleaned up outline, but I digress. Lets just go ahead and get into the changes I want to make:

Proposed Changes:

First off, I’m removing Blob and Gambit from this cut. I like both of the characters and think it’s cool they tried to include them but the cast is crammed enough as it is and those two serve very little narrative purpose that can’t be shifted to others just as easily.

Second, I’m adding Silverfox to Team X and letting that serve as the meeting point for her and Logan, it gives the audience more time to get to know her and come to care for her and Logan’s relationship, while also harkening back to the comics where she was also a part of the weapon x program. Also I know this isn’t a real film but let it be known that if it were i’d actually hire a Native American actress to portray her, i’m still shitty they whitewashed her.

Third, I’m removing the third act “Silverfox wasn’t really dead” twist. I really shouldn’t have to explain why, that shit was dumb and completely unnecessary, not to mention introducing a shit ton of plot holes with that whack ass mutant ability they pull from thin air. In my version she’s human(as far as we know) and when she dies she dies for real, full stop.

Fourth, we are GETTING a biblically accurate Deadpool. They did my bro dirty and I refuse to compromise on this. His role will be larger to compensate for his big ass personality and the fact that i’m affectively letting him take up Gambit’s role from the original in addition to what he already had. Also I just think he bounces off of Logan really well and could serve as a really interesting parallel with having such similar trauma and very different ways of responding to it and seeing the world. Like just imagine D&W if they accidentally traumabonded over their similar origin stories.

Fifth, I’m making Victor our stand in for the films Weapon XI! He doesnt get adamantium or new powers like Wade, only the dehumanizing psychological torture present in the original Weapon X comic. I think it works great for his spiraling arc, gives me a chance to squeeze a faithful weapon X adaptation in here without upending the entire film’s structure, and helps to better position his character on a trajectory towards his more feral appearance in X1 where he doesn’t seem to fully recognize Logan.

Sixth, I’d like to include Dr. Cornelius as the head scientist in Weapon X. My current concept is that he’s in charge of all the unethical mutant capturing and experimenting, working under Stryker’s supervision but still an outsider to the government, being sent in by Stryker’s most significant source of funding for his program in Nathaniel Essex. I know this has zero basis in canon I just think it sounds cool and makes sense for Sinister to have hands in a program aiming to create perfect mutant soldiers, as someone using mutants DNA to create a genetically perfect race of superhumans and become the ultimate life form. (Sinister would not play a large role, more of a looming presence pulling strings and fucking people over)

To get more overarching here, I wanted to hone in on the dynamics and themes present in the original that i thought had the most potential for further development. Victor’s spiral to madness and eventual complete loss of self under Stryker, Logan learning to let go of Victor’s influence and the violence that he let define his life only for both to drag him back after Silverfox’s demise. Really digging into that nature vs nurture shit, and adding more mutant politics (and their accompanying metaphors for the struggles of marginalized people) cuz honestly i feel like it’s absence in the original is very noticeable, and ties in really well with Logan’s arc of self acceptance and learning to see himself as more than the violent nature of his mutation.

Stuff I Still Want Changed:

Ok so here’s where I’m throwing my hat out for suggestions, because there are still a couple minor things present in the movie that i’m just not a fan of or don’t really know what to do with. The difference is, with these I can’t really think of tweaks that could fix/improve them. So if yall have any ideas on what I can do about these, or maybe some completely unrelated changes that you just think could improve the rewrite, please let me know.

One, not really sure what to do with Zero, he’s around for a lot of the movie but didn’t really stand out much to me. I just don’t know a lot about the character or what his deal is in the comics to find something cool to do with him. I’m going back and forth on if his role is ultimately necessary?? Does Stryker really need another henchman? Or should I use the space he occupies to hone in more on Victor and Logan’s rivalry? Idk i’m still on the fence so tell me what yall think.

Two, god I just fucking hate those memory wiping adamantium bullets. It’s such a stupid plot device that makes no sense conceptually and was clearly just thrown in as an afterthought at the last second like the writers forgot they needed to erase his memory by the end. That’s not to mention the fact that the bullets’ function was retconned later in Logan. Genuinely though I cannot find another way to go about fucking up Logan’s head without basically upending the structure of this movie in its entirety so any ideas on how to solve this dilemma are appreciated.

[afreakingdork]

Soft Spot - Chapter 20

RotTMNT Donatello x Reader

He just can't let go in this week's chapter art by @garbagemilkshake

Rated: Explicit

Warnings/Tags: Romance, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Married Life, Aged-Up Mutant Ninja Turtles, Villain Donatello (TMNT), Love, POV Second Person, Babies, Pregnancy, AFAB reader, Vaginal Sex, Rough Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Creampie, Breeding Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Fertility Issues, Pregnant Sex, Pregnancy Kink, Reader-Insert, Cunnilingus, Fellatio, Cum Eating, Turtle Noises (TMNT), I have a Biology Degree and I’m Using it, Menstruation, There WILL NOT be any Miscarriages

Synopsis: First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes the next step about as smooth as the others arrived. The baby-oriented sequel to Weak Spot.

Also available on Ao3

First 💜 Previous

LAST WARNING FOR THE 🍋 UNDER THE CUT. MINORS DNI!

“And that’s…” Dr. Kuro swiped her ultrasound wand to the side. “All good!”

“Yeah?” You tried to keep your hands neutral at your sides.

Donnie was right behind you with his eyes still trained on the screen.

“Yep! I’m not seeing any signs of known conditions. We’ve got great development all around. Four fingers, four toes which is fun!”

You flicked Donnie a glance that he had enough wherewithal to catch.

“This is usually the part where I ask you if you want to know the sex…” Dr. Kuro wiped her wand and then the residual gel off your bump.

You and your partner both snapped to attention.

“I might have some difficulty, but I can assure you, there is no danger.” She went on. 

She paused then and you checked back with your husband. In all your care and preparation, your baby’s sex had been the furthest thing from your mind. You had been so concerned with getting to the child part that you had left out the particulars. All your future visions included a nondescript baby because you weren’t even sure what exactly would look like. Your bundle was shrouded in that way, though you guessed its little fingers and toes had just come into vision.  

Donnie reached down to brush your arm and his look translated that it mattered little to him. 

You were more interested in whatever issue there might be, safe or not. “You can tell us.” 

“Both of you?” Dr. Kuro gave Donnie a sly glance. 

“Yes.” Donnie droned out with some offense that he’d be the fussy one. 

“Alright.” She shook as if to get herself in the right headspace. “Let’s start by saying we work effectively in this office. We have an accuracy record of 99% when determining gender.” 

You both watched on. 

“Don’t you two go ruining it.” She teased. 

“Doctor…” You chastised. 

Dr. Kuro tittered before addressing Donnie. “I understand you have a cloaca?” 

“Yes.” Your husband spoke evenly.

She nodded. “Which makes this tricky… All known animals that lay eggs have a cloaca. You… do not.” Her brows exaggerated. “But you are growing part of an egg…”

You sort of saw where she was going. 

“Now the genetics passed down lean in favor of human genitalia. It’s still difficult to know if that’s what I’m looking at since… We are dealing with some level of impossibility. 

Donnie squeezed your arm. 

“You’re…” You tried. “... saying it either looks like a girl or they might have a cloaca…?” 

“Exactly.” She smiled and it curved out her soft cheeks. “See? Not dangerous!”

Your lips pursed absently and you checked with Donnie.

He seemed similarly at a loss on the topic.

“Except to my good record.” She preened. 

You chuckled and reached to catch your spouse. “It doesn’t really matter.”

He switched grip to grab your hand and brought it to his lips.

“Very good.” Dr. Kuro stood to move some machinery. “I’m beyond pleased with the results. Happy and healthy. That’s all I want for you all.”

“Yeah…” You sat up with help from your mate. “This… I’m way happier now! I was so terrified after  missing this scan, but… it’s all good. I feel like I need to keep saying it for it to be real.”

Donnie helped bring your shirt down and you didn’t miss how he lightly grazed your belly.

You felt warm to his touch and it reminded you of something. “The weather’s been pretty warm, but I feel like I’ve been running hotter.”

“That’s to be expected.” Dr. Kuro chirped. “The placenta looks great, as does the blood flow in your uterus. You’re pumping out a bunch of the stuff to grow your grapefruit! Yes, the little one is up to the size of a grapefruit now. They’re really going to start pushing on your bladder.”

“Great…” Your gaze dulled.

“Hot flashes, swelling, and stretching. You’ve got extra blood, water retention, and a heck of a lot of growing happening. Stay hydrated, keep moving, and keep up your lotion routine. Rub it in real good! That will help!”

You nodded and saw flashes of Donnie helping to rub you down.

His hand was still hovering close to your stomach and you pressed him there.

He tried to break the immediate churr that rolled out of him.

A smile played on your doctor’s lips. “Alright then! We’re all good. I’ve got another picture for your baby book and I’ll see you next week!”

“We’ll see you.” You all moved in separate ways around the room until you parted to check out.

The process was a casual one by now and you were soon heading down an elevator to the ground floor.

The moment the doors closed and you were alone in the box, Donnie caught your chin and pulled you into a searing kiss.

Your lashes fluttered down to a close and an encouraging hum stuck in your throat.

“I love you.” He husked and broke from your lips to line kisses down your cheek.

“Y-you too, but what…?”

He nipped at your pulse and must have felt it flutter.

“Donnie…”

There was a ding announcing the floor and you expected him to disengage, but he didn’t. Instead, he shifted position around you so he could be curled into your side with one firm hand held flat to your stomach.

The door opened on an unsuspecting pair of women, who startled.

You felt the tug to follow their eyes which led to your mate’s icy stare.

“S-sorry!” You squeaked out. “We’ll get out of your way!”

You broke free from Donnie before he could stop you and caught his hand in a backswing. You tugged him along and felt him try to throw menace at the people who were clearly going up to Dr. Kuro’s office themselves. You made it all the way outside where Donnie wove behind you like a serpent. People took wide arcs to get out of your way and you just knew he was glaring them all down.

You steered him into the first inlet and turned on him. “What are you doing?!”

He immediately softened at the sight of you, annoyed or not.

“You missed your heat, didn’t you?” You patted his cheeks.

“I did.”

“Then what’s this? Hot and heavy in the elevator and then, what was that? You’re being all possessive.”

He looked down to your lips and thought upon them.

You dipped down so he would have to look you in the eye.

“The first is a simple explanation: blood flow.”

You moved your hands along his jaw until your thumbs pressed into his cheeks.

“Rich and thick with it.” His eyes lost focus in euphoria before they returned for clinical attention. “You smell incredible. Different notes than ovulation, but as enticing. You've been flush with that scent the last few weeks, but the exam.”

“I’ve been too stressed and we haven’t done it in…”

You had to think. 

“I don’t… now how long?” You admitted, surprising yourself. 

“I’m not left wanting.”

“You’re not hard up?” Your smile turned a little sly.

“Obviously not.” He churred as he drew closer.

“You just like the smell?”

“I haven’t intercepted.” His brow cocked with his point.

That was true.

He’d been nothing but supportive while your emotions were up and down with worry.

The only way he was ever intrusive was in touching your bump, but that never seemed sexual to you.

In fact.

You looked down your body and found his hand sneakily set against your abdomen.

It had become so commonplace that you hadn’t even realized he’d done it.

The burbling warmth seemed to flow from his palm.

You felt secure even just tucked in with him on an otherwise busy street.

“See…?” He spoke heat across your cheek and into your ear. “You called for me.”

The little hairs on the back of your neck perked up.

You supposed you were feeling warm in all its senses.

The one now was something a little new.

It had something to do with a strength of bond and maybe the specific cocktail of chemicals flowing through your brain, but you could easily see yourself giving over to his hands.

The ones that held you.

Supported you.

“The possessiveness…?” You whispered to him.

He was kissing behind your ear. “Unsure. Instinct?”

“Do softshells do that?”

He shook his head once before he paused. “Territorial.”

You hummed and tucked your hands into his sides.

He wriggled to be better in your hold. “Your physical reactions have slowed.”

“You think you’re getting protective because of that? Because I’m at some unknown risk the bigger I get?”

“Not enough data.” His lips trailed your neck. “Wanna take you home.”

You tried not to melt against him. “We can’t.”

“Let’s cancel.” He removed himself just to send you his heated plea.

You almost gave in and had to dart your gaze away. “No… No, S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s new look is ready. You’ve both worked hard on it. He’s waiting.”

“He’ll continue to operate…” Donnie churred to encourage you.

You caught the hinge between his carapace and plastron and pushed. “No, we promised.”

Donnie pushed his churr as far as it would go.

The excitement bubbled up where his hand rubbed gently against your belly. “Don, stop…”

His question grew.

“No.” You took a breath to solidify your decision. “No. We gotta meet Shelly. It’s important. We’re testing it in public to make sure it works.”

Your mate swallowed to tuck away his displeasure and gave you a little space. “Alright.”

“Yeah?” You checked in with him.

He gave one nod that read to you as honest and you stroked down his sides in thanks.

This time he writhed into a shudder. “Darling, please.”

“I won’t make it harder.” You released, moved to take a step, and offered him your hand.

It pulled your belly from his grip and he dodged your appendage to grab that instead.

“We can’t walk like this.” You told him dryly.

“We could…” He seemed to be searching for a way.

“No. C’mon.” You grabbed his hand yourself and moved to lead.  

Donnie wasn’t left behind and quickly fell in a little too close. You kept a certain angle away from him so he wouldn’t try to fondle your torso. For that, he sulked a little as it also took your bump from his vision, but you were able to get far enough down the road and a few turns until you got to the restaurant you were meeting S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.

“Okay…” You searched for your son. “He said-”

Your mouth hung open and it felt a little like your breath had been taken away.

Standing beside the door and looking at a phone in his hand was a near identical version of your husband, only human. It was a sight you hadn’t seen since all the way back to your honeymoon. Donnie’s distaste for the cloaking brooch had been obvious, but there was advantage. One of which was a human butt was better suited for long plane rides. Since you hadn’t exactly taken one of those since, you hadn’t seen much in the way of that hyde of your husband until now. A slightly shorter version of what seemed like said man squinted at his screen. It brought on a new sense of déjà vu. It was you, you found as you got closer. It was the you that had looked at your skin in the mirror this morning when you got ready.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. had your eyes.

You didn’t have enough of Donnie and openly groped for him.

He happily offered himself.

You caught his sweater with both hands. “You…! He…!”

“I believe he was clear once.” Donnie murmured distilled affection. “He ran calculations to take after both parents.”

Your eyes felt enormous as you turned them on your mate.

Whatever fervor he had for you fell off at your watery state. “My heart…”

“I’m okay. Happy. So happy. I’m going to-!” You moved to rush your son, but hadn’t looked where you were going in your excitement.

A random man had manifested by your side and, as you saw him, he disappeared just as fast.

You blinked as your foot came down into the empty space and you heard a yelp.

“P-put me d-down!! What?!”

You found the man squawking and your mate holding him up by the scruff of his shirt.

Donnie looked like he had just kept himself from outright flinging the man away.

“I’m sorry, sir!” You patted your husband to soothe him. “I’m just… Uh…”

You pivoted your hips to accentuate your bump.

He glanced at it and Donnie with some confusion as he was put back on the ground.

“That’s…! Congratulations, but watch where you’re going!”

“I will. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, my shirt’s sorry…” He grumbled and tried to check his collar as he moved away.

“You would have killed him.” You told Donnie as soon as the man was out of earshot.

“I didn’t.” Donnie was on clear edge.

“Didn’t what?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s voice sounded in your ear.

“You rascal!” You jumped him.

“Ah! Mom! Wait!”

The moment you threw your arms around his neck, his human image pixelated around your form.

“Oops! You told me about this…” You pulled away.

Donnie’s hand appeared on your back. “An illusion.”

“He looks human because of the light construction. You confirmed what you remembered. “Sort of like the holograms.”

“Yeah!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. bobbed. “It’s like a video feed that’s being projected onto my bipedal form. It gets tricky in the gaps so my clothes are real!”

He gestured to his svelte waist where his shirt swung side to side around his usual casing. 

“I’ve been thinking of it like a second skin.” He looked over his limbs. “LIke I’m wearing a costume or a suit, and ah! It’s so cool! I look like I have skin! Real skin! There’s little skin imperfections. You know? From the skin!”

He was buzzing and you smiled on.

“But yeah, it’s a thin digital layer that clings to me.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. demonstrated touching his own forearm and, after he passed straight through to his metal casing, there was the faintest amount of digital fuzz from the image being disrupted. “We got real close on the hands though. I had to swap out some new five finger ones for the illusion, but I want to hold my sibling’s hand! I can pick them up! In public! No one will think I’m some scary robot abducting a child! I can hold things against my chest because of the clothes so that won’t look off at all.”

“I didn’t know you’d be human…” You told him, almost not wanting to interrupt.

“I’m glad dad kept it a surprise.” He gleamed a row of pearly whites.

The way his smile pinched his cheeks reminded you of yourself and you were overcome again.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. blinked rapidly and there was a faint fuchsia hue to his eyes. “Is that good? A good cry?”

He checked with Donnie who gave an approving nod.

“You look like me!” You choked out.

“Aww…” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. encouraged you and placed a hand on your shoulder. “You hungry? My treat! Ah! I can say that! I’m gonna totally order! I technically already did! I got a bagel this morning after the guy suggested one; it was crazy-!”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. went on with his story and how he had walked the city to get here. Besides almost running into a half dozen people, he had enjoyed a level of anonymity that he had never experienced before. While he went on with his conversation, you were as present as you could be amongst how distracting he was.

Besides small likenesses, it was like S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. had also somehow downloaded your mannerisms. You saw ghosts of yourself as he moved certain ways and each time it shot through your very being. He was already yours, but he was also currently a view of your future. The hue of your baby’s skin wasn’t something that could be picked up on an ultrasound, so in your mind S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. represented what they could look like.

The only thing you knew for sure were the fingers, the toes, and that they had a carapace, after all.

A cloaking brooch might be useful for that latter but whether your child used one was going to be a long and changing discussion. You had a feeling they might go through phases and you had already reserved a stone for them. It was technically Donnie’s, but he cared little for the thing and was ready to retrofit the armband into whatever form would be requested.

That unknown shape of jewelry also represented your child. S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s form was one option, but there were any number of variables. You had no idea how much they were going to look like you or Donnie. All you knew is they would be someone totally new and you couldn’t wait to meet them.

You must have ordered at some point because food came out.

You ate and it tasted wonderful.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. was forking pieces into his mouth without chewing.

Donnie scolded him about finer details.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. argued he was getting used to having a cavity for food to go.

That was something else he had installed to help enforce the human illusion. Without gesticulation, his fixed jaw had apparently made the human speech movements appear uncanny. He still didn’t need it because of his speaker, but it opened up a new possibility. Instead of politely excusing meals, he was given a small cache down his throat so he could pretend to eat as well. 

They went back and forth and you found yourself sentimental. This moment here was special. There was another version of this that would occur again in the future, but it had an additional participant. You were nostalgic for something that hadn’t even happened yet.

You had a baby right in front of you and you had one growing inside. You were awash with warmth that translated inside and out. You drank water in hopes of cooling it, but it only seemed to go straight to your eyes. 

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. smiled at you.

It was like he knew.

You sent him one back and refused to loose tears.

“My love…?” Donnie scooted his chair closer.

“I’m okay.” You told him and didn’t miss how he got his arm around you.

His hand landed right on your belly.

“I’m just so happy…” You tried not to laugh the tears out.

“Hey dad, we need to adjust emotes. I’ll need a cry function.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. studied you.

You jarred with a little frown. “I don’t cry that much…”

“Emotes?” Donnie looked on with disdain.

“Maybe you didn’t cry much before, but lately…” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. gave you a sly eye before turning on his father. “Emote is a thing. It’s a verb!”

“You did not use it as such.” Donnie eyed him. 

“Okay, it’s a gaming thing, but it means the same! It doesn’t matter! I need more!” 

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. sent you a weary expression he shifted right back to an excited face.

“But I don’t have a tear animation.”

“Shelly, it’s the hormones…” You argued.

“Then what’s dad’s excuse?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. stuck out his tongue and seemed excited for it.

“I did not program that!” Donnie hissed and held you closer. “You’re projecting a live feed! You tamper with projections fine alone!

“I want it to look real.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. whined. “You know what the real stuff looks like!” 

“Have we been crying that much?” You checked with Donnie.

He shared a raw look with you.

“I don’t want to pull from movies or whatever! That’s acting! Babies learn emotions by observation and emulation. If I can’t emulate good enough then how  can I be a good role model!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. huffed.

Donnie rubbed your stomach like it gave him strength. “You have our archival footage.”

“Someone thinks it’s creepy.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. pouted and sulked far down into his seat with his arms crossed even though it made them fizzle.

Donnie looked at you.

You had to think where that came from. “Oh, Coral said that.”

“It’s not fair.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. huffed.

“You were listening in.” You told him.

“By design.” Donnie looked between the pair of you with equal reproach.

“I only want to use the footage if I have to!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. complained.

“Don’t let Coral make you feel bad. She’s just like that.” You urged him.

“Tell me you continue to monitor.” Donnie glowered across the table and was close to pulling you into his lap.

“Stop. Possessive.” You squirmed against him.

“Yeah, yeah.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. turned his head.

“And you wish to be a role model.” Donnie bit back.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. shot upright. “I will be!”

“Your attitude.” Donnie spat.

“You’re really going to try to raise another kid to blindly obey you?”

“Don’t you dare-!”

“Will you chip them too!?”

Donnie reared.

With a screech of your chair legs against the floor, all sound ceased around you.

You threw your napkin down in your chair for the sake of it and tossed a finger into Donnie’s face. “Stubborn! Welcome to the rest of your life! Kids push back! You will not keep fighting like this when it happens!”

You rounded his seat and he tried to spin around to chase you, but got caught up in your abandoned chair.

“And you!” you stormed up to S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. in the same manner. “You’re the same way! Both of you! Resorting to low blows! I don’t want either of you passing that down! And this chip thing? It’s a tracker, right?! How long ago was it?”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. was torn and looked wounded. “Ten… years ago…?”

“Why are you still trying to make him feel bad for it? Does it help!? Do you honestly think he’s going to do that?! To you? To anyone else?!”

He grew more distressed.

“You said you didn’t need to forgive him or his penance or whatever. I know you know how scared he is about treating anyone else like he treated you.”

Fresh tears dotted his eyes.

“Shelly…” You hugged him. 

He clung to you. 

“It’s a bad time to say those tears you just made do look authentic.”  

“I didn’t even make them on purpose.” He whined.

“I don’t want you to change, but I do want you to think a little about what you say. You’re right. The baby is going to want to emulate you. Do you want them to act like that?”

You pulled away to check on him and fat tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Your instinct was to wipe them, but you knew they weren’t real. 

The emotions there were. 

You held his shoulders firmly. “I love you, you know that, right?”

He nodded and sniffled.

“And standing up made me have to pee so…” You looked at Donnie.

Your mate was painted with regret for what had occurred and gave you a small nod that you were okay to go.

He would take care of this.

You gave him a small bow of your head to defer to him before you headed to the restroom.

You could hear S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. round the table and there were equal apologies shared as the two began to discuss.

They were ready, you knew as you located the bathroom door.

They would always be a pair and they would always be like this to a point.

You chose the cleanest stall.

They were growing more mindful already.

Big changes came with growing pains.

You knew that well and tapped your stomach.

Despite the aches, everyone was eager for the adjustment.

To make room in their lives.

It was evident in what you all did.

You wiped up and went to wash your hands.

As you bump almost touched the edge of the sink, you saw yourself helping a small child learn to wash their hands.

Exiting the bathroom with them chattering about how they did it in near unintelligible speech.

Going back to the table where Donnie and S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. had had a similar, albeit much quieter tiff.

How they made up faster each time and the frequency had dropped to nothing.

The joy on a child’s face as they shared how good they had done with their brother.

Sitting down with Donnie.

Him covertly leaning into you to tell you that all was well.

You looking over him with approval and wanting more.

Another baby.

This moment to happen again anew with another addition.

Nostalgia for things that hadn’t quite happened.

That flush feeling was back and you felt like you were glowing.

The you in the mirror agreed.

You looked pretty standing in this semi-posh bathroom. Donnie hadn’t mentioned your looks, but he always thought you were a vision. He liked your current smell and not your radiance. You watched your fingers come up and touch your pert cheeks. The blood flow connected there and you turned to exit.

It was a short trip back to the table where S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. and Donnie were in their respective seats and discussing something.

“You need to put seat belts in the car.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. leveled with a hand to the table.

Donnie glanced at you. “Adjustable ones for children.”

“For everyone!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. hawed.

This wasn’t a topic you expected and you shared that with Donnie.

“He has thoughts of baby proofing.” Your mate looked up with a bitter expression.

“I agree with the seat belt thing.” You spoke immediately.

Donnie chuffed his offense.

“It’s scary!” You told S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.

“I want one for car rides.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. agreed.

“And exactly where are you going?” Donnie turned dull eyes on his son since you had abandoned him.

“Road trips.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. smirked. “Informational ones to national parks and monuments.”

The idea of experiential learning hit Donnie deep in his pleasure centers and his wide gaze slammed right into the table.

“We’ll do yearly ones for summer breaks!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. told you.

“Between school years.” You took your seat.

“How many pee breaks do you think you’ll need then?” He chided.

You shot him a warning glance.

He gave a grin of all teeth.

“I’ll torture you with all the gross details. Want to hear about my pelvic floor?” You tested.

“Kegels?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. blew a raspberry and lit up for his ability to do so.

You approved with a tip of your chin.

He tittered in his seat.

Donnie crept closer to you.

“Okay, that brings up a good question though! What do I find gross…?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. wondered aloud.

Your husband had been dealt his own idealized future and you bet he was coming to share his joy with you.

“I mean I don’t care for your fluids…” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. went on.

Donnie was so hunched that his chin pressed your shoulder.

“Hi.” You whispered to him.

“But I understand the mechanism of waste so that’s not super nasty…” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. continued.

“Hey.” Donnie murmured with his head down.

You searched your bond and found him withholding his emotion.

“Yeah, no, poop and stuff. That’s whatever.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. decided. 

You nudged Donnie’s head.

“What’s gross!?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. grumbled.

Donnie looked up at you.

“I know I’ve said something was gross before!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. complained.

His gaze was molten and that heat shot not just through to your belly, but down between your legs.

“I said it as a joke, but sometimes jokes are like… ya know…? Real!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. laughed to himself.

“I want a full car.” Donnie spoke in a voice only for you.

It thundered in your ears.

Your stomach flipped and it surely jostled your baby.

Your cheeks boiled on contact and, for one shy moment, you thought he had heard your thoughts in the bathroom.

He of all men existed to fulfill that desire.

“Oh, right.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s voice was caustic and broke through to both of you. “How could I forget?”

You and Donnie looked and your cheeks nearly touched.

“Sex and all that icky stuff that goes with it. That’s what’s gross.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s mouth hung open and his tongue lolled out.

You turned away to your own horror.

You felt like a teenager too embarrassed to confront your misdeeds.

“Is a sibling worth what you two had to do to make it!?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. whined.

Donnie’s hand was on your bump again.

The contact kept your heart rate up and you returned to the table to find S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. making eye contact with someone off to the side.

“Yeah, I don’t know, but I’ve lost my appetite!” He snickered to himself. “Always wanted to say that.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. waved.

You saw a waiter move in time.

“Check please!” Your son leaned back in his chair.

You almost wanted to apologize, but you decided you had no reason to.

Donnie kissed your shoulder before lifting his head. “I’ll add seat belts.”

His arm scalded your back.

“Score!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. bounced forward. “I wrote some safety code for the auto pilot too.”

His hip barely touched yours.

“Add it.”

You moved so your legs were flush.

“Without review?” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s head tilted curiously.

Donnie’s boot tapped your shoe.

“I’ve agreed to your addition. If further measures fall in line.” Donnie slipped into his rehearsed stoicism.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s eyes darted and it was obvious he was thinking of what else he could reprogram.

The server finally arrived with your bill and your son paid the tab. He had a card chip in his palm, much to the waiter’s minor horror, and you were soon out the door. You stayed close to Donnie as you weren’t past your filthy thoughts. They persevered in numbers of children you wanted to have and you felt all the worse for having them when your son had just voiced his displeasure with the method to make them.

“Have fun.” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. told you in a hug despite his flickering image.

He knew and you were more mortified. “We’ll see you soon.”

“Yup!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. released you and tackled Donnie who was waiting by the curb.

They shared a few lines that were basically pre-recorded before S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. waved the pair of you off to walk the city.

“Remind me to check CCTV footage regarding his misdeeds.” Donnie watched after his son.

You saw the car pull up and obviously lied. “Sure.”

He came around to appraise you with lowered lids.

You got the door for him. “After you.”

The wanting leaked in your voice, but your mate didn’t obviously react.

His head lowered because it had to and he got into the vehicle.

You followed in after him and waited for the moment he’d pounce.

He didn’t.

He sat starched. You bet it was the seat belts and tried to resign yourself. The car took off and you closed your eyes. You didn’t necessarily will the horniness away, but you meant to contend with it.

Until Donnie’s hand landed on your bump.

You looked at his hand and then him, but he was sitting the same way. This was his version of protection for the time being. You let him focus on that and returned to where he was touching you. It was an agonizingly short journey for those fingers to go lower. He could easily both palm where he wanted and tuck into your waistband. His long digits might not make it inside at this angle, but he could absolutely rub a pertinent sensitive nub that currently ached for him.

Excess blood flow, you thought in a daze.

It was making you especially sensitive and the thought of a copped feel wasn’t enough. You wanted to see his head between your legs as he licked up. You would watch his beak appear slick with your juices and feel his tongue quirk between your folds. He swirled and sucked exactly how you always wanted him to and you would shove him down to put him back into his place of service.

You squirmed in your seat and felt how soaked you were.

It had to have been just in the short time since you got back from the bathroom, but you were a little too distracted for humiliation.

The car was still driving and you were at least ten more minutes away from your destination. It would be agony to wait all that time and still have another distance to contend with to get to your front door. You could request Donnie carry you to the apartment, but it felt impossible when you hadn’t even asked him to finger you yet. He must have smelled your desire on the way into the car and you bet it fogged up the cabin now. Still, he sat with good posture beside you and you reached up to hold his hand to your bump.

His fingers were twitchy beneath yours. His skin was soft and you stroked it for the sake of it. It conjured memories of where it could easily slip inside you and you sucked your bottom lip. You could pull his fingers up and suck those instead, but his grip on you was one you didn’t dare move.

You finally looked at him. The vision of him appeared in a blink and he was staring ahead as if he were reading. The thought occurred to you that he might be watching something, but a tip of your head found his glasses empty. They sat in their static hues which meant he was lost in his thoughts. You weren’t exactly sure what they were, but their prolonged nature made you wonder if they were anxious.

You reached for him through your wedding band with a question.

He responded with only affection.

It was incongruent with his visage and so you sent more.

He blinked for what seemed like the first time in a while before he did his own turn.

His gaze was inky black.

A look so dark and thick that you almost couldn’t believe you hadn’t put together he was having the same thoughts. You’d fondled each other in the car before, so you had just assumed that if that was his intention he would have acted on it. He had no issue with the public after his stunt in the elevator, so that meant it had to be the safety concerns with the car holding him back.

“Almost home.” You told him in something that was close to a supplication.

“Will we make it?” His voice was gravel.

“Is it that bad if we don’t?”

His eyes closed and he gave a desperate churr.

“Talk to me.”

“Gonna sink into your heat.”

Your heart skipped a beat.

“Need to hold you.” His fingers flexed on your tummy.

“Yeah?”

“Take you from behind, support that weight.” His other hand flinched at his side. “The weight of my kid. Our kid.”

He tipped his head back to openly moan.

You got caught on an involuntary whine at the sound.

“Bend you over, fuck you until your legs give out. Keep your ass up so I can keep plowing it. Over and over.” He snarled softly.

“Bite me.”

“Mark you.” He glanced at you.

“Hard. Don’t be gentle. The protectiveness, it’s hot in a way, but I’m not fragile. Please.”

He nodded. “Pretty bruises.”

They’d last until your next OBGYN appointment and you had an abysmal thought about how Dr. Kuro would react to those.

“Not your bump.”

“No. Of course.”

He swallowed relief.

“Anywhere else…?”

“Back. Lower. Beside the spine.”

“Why there?”

“My eyes only.”

There were a few of those so you didn’t really care and squeezed his hand.

“Throat. Shoulders. Arms. Between your breasts.”

“A lot…”

“A lot.” He confirmed.

The car pulled up to a curb and you missed the handle as your palms were sweaty. You caught it on the second try and almost tumbled out of the vehicle. Donnie helped stabilize you and you got safely onto the curb. He followed and slammed the door shut before ushering you into the building. He was sheltering you with the bulk of his form and his hand to your stomach.

You could walk like this, an absent thought said.

“Take me.” You told him as soon as you hit the lobby.

He took great care in bending forward. It was an honor-bound bow and one of his arms swept outward. It came for a secure tuck behind your legs and the other moved to your back. In a fluid motion, you were lifted up into a bundle in his arms and your bump sat safely in the middle. He gave it one longing look before he leapt once for the stairwell, twice for the landings, and then twice more for your floor and the hall.

The handle was flicked open more than properly turned.

It swung open to your apartment and you were set onto your feet for a moment only to be slid on skidding sneakers right through the threshold. Only partially disoriented as he kept your weight stable, the last thing you heard was a click of the door closing before he got into your pants.

A single snap undid them and they dropped to the floor. He made quick work of his the same way and encouraged you to arch. You bent your spine for him to offer your ass and he took one hip in a crushing force. The pressure felt satisfying and his other came around in a contrasting caress to your bump. You felt him squat around you before his dick lined up behind the quirk of your ass and he expertly sank in.

You were wet and split without near enough leverage to push back on the cock you craved.

Donnie spun you around so you had the door and you slammed your hands against it. He worked for a few thrusts to get properly seated before he bit straight through your top. The bra strap snapped through his incisors and he renewed your mating mark in one bubbling pant. That rich blood that oozed through all of you percolated there and he set a harsh tempo.

You saw flecks dance in the corners of your vision. Your sensitivity was way higher than you imagined it should be even with the desire. He wasn’t quite at a right angle to be hitting your g-spot, but it felt as if he could have been. Pleasure pulsed around his cock and further inside to all your walls. Every inch of you garnered that responsiveness and you babbled out.

“There! No! There! Ah! Donnie! Fuck! Harder! Yes!”

He kicked your legs further apart for access and you felt his knees bend to accommodate. You clawed into the wood of the door and he unhinged his jaw to churr straight into your ear. The sound traveled through your thick veins and down to where the pounding summoned it. Heat ran track through your limbs and the dampness from your wound seeped out in a trickle for more.

Your shirt was torn off and he made good on the bruises. He started just as he said with your lower back and his thumb. He pressed straight through the muscle until it popped vessels through the chords and you came right then from the pain.

He stopped and you milked his cock with little weepy noises.

You didn’t exactly leave your body so there was nowhere to return to, but when the shrouds of clarity opened up you were similarly confused.

“More…?” You asked.

His thumb was still buried into your back. “Yeah?”

“A lot more.” You nodded and rolled your hips the best you could.

You were a vice on him as he switched hands. One was clearly longing to support your baby and helped distribute the boiling heat of his palm while the other came up around your esophagus. He could get nearly the whole of your neck in his hand and he squeezed enough that your tongue lolled out. Your oxygen stayed a steady flow, but the little flexes pressed your jugular. The skips in that intense flow made your head spin and you couldn’t exactly pinpoint if you came then or he spiked the falling action of your last orgasm.

He released with a drop off your neck and onto your shoulder and was clearly reluctant to abandon your bump, but did so momentarily to catch both your shoulders. He steered you in that way, a hand on each trapezius, and used it as a handle to fuck up into you. He must have almost been sitting for the angle he achieved and it sent him to your depths. Your baby was in there; the one he made possible and you cried out his possession as his nails sank into your weeping mating mark.

He lightly tore the flesh from you and you dropped your center of gravity on him which sent him to the floor. His feet now out, you were skewered on his cock and he released to spin you. You came face to face where you wore twin crazed expressions and you offered up your chest for his next bruise. He came forward with eyes that never left yours and showed you a bit of teeth as his mouth opened. He latched right onto your sternum and sucked a clean row of hickeys there.

You took over bouncing on his member in the meantime, but couldn’t garner that same intensity. Your pussy ached for punishment and you switched to a roll for the sake of it. He scrubbed you out with his glans and it was more fingers trying to hold your uterus. He was incessant in that way and he released you with a pop and string of saliva that dripped down for an icy cold sliver across your belly.

He watched it with dark intent before he raised up to view you.

You shared a look of love and you got a tender kiss before you were flipped over.

He got you on your hands and knees without ever pulling out and then wrapped himself around you. He was the safety belt, one that would let nothing happen to your growing child, and his plastron carved out more of your back. You would bleed lines of him, permanently stained, just as your insides were forever prepared for him. You’d be ready whenever it was safe again after birth, to take his potent seed a second time.

And maybe a third.

Would a fourth be too much?

Five seemed like a nice number.

You came the moment his cock reached the vicinity of your g-spot and it tore through you with the same ferocity. In your current position, you let your ferality out and opened up to what that sounded like. It was a guttural howl of sorts that came deep from within the basin of your chest. It didn’t spook your mate, but you could tell your winding tightness forced him to pause and carry you through it.

When you could make human noises again it was you panting, “What the fuck is going on?”

He shook his head against your back. “Hormones. Blood. In fact…”

He awkwardly shifted his arms like someone trying to drive with their elbows. He managed with his reach to keep part of his limbs to your bump and freed up his hands to cup both of your breasts in tandem. You felt sparks fly off your chest and a pain far worse than any wound he had inflicted so far exploded when his palms grazed your nipples.

You must have screamed with a new tenor because he flinched away. “Bad?”

“Bad! Too much! How’s that too much!?”

“Sensitive.” He churred and went right back to cradling your hanging stomach.

“Deeper!” You bounced your ass and he obliged. “Take that pain away!” 

He would do so straight to the floor, you decided, as your arms tingled.

Soon.

The blood was necessary elsewhere.

His teeth found your vertebrae and you cried out.

Another orgasm loomed and you welcomed it.

Not quite delirium, you felt your mate bite you and you saw the aftermath of the marks.

They’d look just as gorgeous in your next reflection.

With all that blood, they’d bloom in time.

Through stages of purple you hadn’t decided on yet.

Ones you wouldn’t.

Ones for the future.

Ones for growing now.

You yearned for both.

💜 NEXT 💜

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