#do grey parrots talk

[flicks-random-stuff]

The prince of all cosmos is like a kitten and a bunny and a small parrot all at once to me. Small lovely animal

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Opinions on owning pet parrots? I'm doing a degree in animal welfare and have pretty much come to the conclusion that the smaller species are fine if you can provide what they need but the larger birds like the greys, outside of being rescues, shouldn't be pets at all.

Okaaaaaaaay so time to make everyone mad at me again I guess

parrots have been human companion animals for longer than Judaism has been around, so, I don't think we can just say "it's wrong" and force everyone to stop doing a thing that's been done for that long. Like, this isn't a human randomly taking home a tiger, this is a long going process with many species of parrots now being near-domesticated in the strictest sense of the term

Parrot ownership is in fact ancient in many "tropical" areas and the idea that it's a new thing is... white supremacy! what a shock!

in the United States (I am not talking about other countries, just my own), literally no companion parrots are wild caught anymore. They're bred. Bred as companions. If we were to outlaw larger parrot ownership, many birds would be without a home, and that's morally reprehensible

in fact, the kind of backlash against parrot ownership that's risen up in the past decade has directly led to a shelter crisis. most shelters are overfilled and overstressed, which is a *lot* worse for the birds in many cases than home ownership

parrots are pets that have extraordinarily high care needs. They are not good pets for everyone. but no pet is! Every single companion animal has its pluses and downsides, and many of them have many more downsides than pluses. Doesn't mean they shouldn't have a home.

There are some people who are actually able to take care of companion parrots, adequately, in their homes. First of all, we've learned a lot in the past few decades. Second of all, there are lifestyles that work well with even larger parrots and their needs.

So, while the number of human beings on this planet who can adequately take care of large parrots is extremely small, it is not zero. Which means if someone thinks they can take care of a bird well, and has the space and resources and time, then they should be allowed to, if that's what they wish

Because birds in the USA are bred as companions, the vast majority of said parrots would be unhappy in any situation that doesn't involve close contact with humans. Admittedly, all my parrots are "small" (whatever that means), but I know for a fact that if you took them away from our home they would be significantly worse off, because they're bonded to us. That's how this whole flocking thing works

Also, our most recent rescues, who had been stuck in a shelter for 15 years, are definitely happier now getting more individual attention and space. Shelters are supposed to be temporary places for most birds, not permanent homes, because they can't get the adequate level of care and attention that they need.

also, I'll point out that being pets has allowed many parrot species to have thriving populations that are not threatened by climate change, which is something to their benefit. given. you know. climate change. not that pet ownership is conservation, but, it's not that far removed from it - the axolotl population owes a lot to both pet ownership and zoo captivity, for example.

like, it's a spectrum, right? And it doesn't really go along with size, at the end of the day. There are tons of extremely neurotic and high needs small parrots, and many larger ones that are exceptionally chill. So while the vast majority of humans on this planet should not have a parrot, that's not all of them; and while the number that can handle higher maintenance ones is even smaller, its not zero. And I think, given the fact that we have all of these captive bred birds in the states at least, it's not a good idea to tell people that there is no way to ethically practice husbandry with them.

and I'm not the kind of person who assumes I know everything about someone's life in order to tell them "no you shouldn't bring home that cockatoo", so I'm not going to. In fact, I give everyone on the internet the benefit of the doubt if they have a parrot unless a) that parrot shows signs of distress (like plucking) or b) there is clearly something wrong going on (like someone's smoking weed around their bird)

so, no, there's no commonly kept (and thus domestically captive bred) bird I think is a bad pet for every single human on the planet. And it's not my business whether a particular individual should or should not have a particular bird.

[lingthusiasm]

Bonus 92: Xenolinguistics 👽

Someday, we might make contact with intelligent life beyond our planet. In that case, linguists want to be PREPARED. Enter the excitingly named field of Xenolinguistics!

In this bonus episode, Gretchen and Lauren get enthusiastic about how linguists might go about communicating with aliens. Drawing on highlights of the academic book "Xenolinguistics: Towards a Science of Extraterrestrial Language", we talk about how we'd actually go about trying to communicate with aliens. First of all, how can we know that a species is trying to communicate, and how can we convey our intentions in return? Secondly, do we have a shared context: are they on our planet, are we on theirs, or are we trying to decipher some sort of radio waves from afar? Third, what sort of medium are they using: visual, audio, and touch are all used for human languages and have some obvious advantages, but what about smell, electromagnetism, or electric pulses? Fourth, what could we learn about interspecies communication here on Earth from the African Grey Parrot, the prairie dog, and the vervet monkey? And finally, what other practical and ethical considerations do we need to remember based on current linguistic documentation projects? (The aliens may have multiple languages, only some of which are appropriate for outsiders to learn. And there are no spare AA batteries available in orbit around Alpha Centauri.) Listen to this episode about how linguists might go about communicating with aliens, and get access to many more bonus episodes by supporting Lingthusiasm on Patreon.

[franabz]

★Random 141 headcanons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[jimothy-hopkins]

Mr Galloway Headcanons???

Mr. Galloway is actually a very successful author. Most of his books are written under a different pen name though.

His favorite genres to write are mystery and horror. Sometimes being drunk as hell helps him come up with really good ideas.

He doesn’t even remember writing some of his books as a result of his alcoholism.

Mr. Galloway’s alcohol addiction really picked up after the passing of his wife. The stress from Hattrick at work only worsened it.

Mr. Galloway and his wife were married for over thirteen years. Her cause of death was bacterial meningitis.

Mr. Galloway actually went to and graduated from Bullworth when he was younger. In his younger years Galloway could be described as a bright young man whose social awkwardness gave him some charm.

He is VERY adamant about having his students understand the material they read in his class. One of his biggest fears is illiterate people.

I once read a fanfic where someone said he was a bird person and I can’t see him owning anything but an African Grey parrot.

The Parrot is named Harlan and Galloway used to take Harlan with him to work during the school day but the kids wouldn’t stop teaching the bird cuss words so he had to stop doing that.

Ms. Phillips is one of the reasons Mr. Galloway has been able to slowly accept and healthily cope with the death of his wife.

Before he and Ms. Phillips started to date she and Mr. Galloway were best friends and would talk mad shit about Hattrick and Dr. Crabblesnitch.

They still talk mad shit about them.

Mr. Galloway listens to Tom Gurney’s conspiracy theories and rants and helps him build off of them occasionally.

Mr. Galloway fully believes Dr. Slawter has killed somebody before and that Mr. Luntz helped him hide the body.

He was friends with Daniel Lamb. Galloway wonders what happened to him after they parted ways.

Sometimes Galloway just shows up with a funny hat on.

He goes all out during spirit week and gets DOWN at school dances. Galloway can break dance.

All of the antagonists in his books have at least ONE thing in common with Mr. Hattrick.

Both he and Ms. Philips will pull female students out of gym so that they are not left with Coach Burton.

[cryptidcr3ature]

So I was in the middle of nowhere all weekend so I had a list made on my notes app for a post and forgot about it.

RDR HORSES AS OTHER PETS

Bodecia- A mutt (probably part pit bull) dog who terrorized everyone and ate at least one of the entire gangs boots.

Old Boy- A Chesapeake Bay retriever who John cannot get out of the water.

The count- A cockatoo. Dutch acquired it from a very reputable breeder and treats that bird like a god. It also knows how to talk but only curses out the gang.

Silver dollar- An African Grey parrot. Hosea rescued his parrot from a bad situation and because of the situation, he can’t fly. However that means Hosea walks everywhere with that parrot on his shoulder. The bird sings show-tunes often.

Boaz- A rainbow boa. Javier is a reptile geek and has a really nice set up. He has had snakes all his life but nothing compares to Boaz. That snake is his first born child.

Taima- A German Shorthair pointer who was surrendered for being too energetic, and she still doesn’t trust a lot of people. However Charles takes her to the park every day for a hike, plays with her at every possible opportunity, and has been doing everything to get her to trust him. She’s absolutely a cuddle bug around him.

Maggie- A standard poodle who knows more tricks than any other dog in the gang. She is extremely well behaved, however she is spoiled by Lenny a lot. She will not eat if anyone feeds her but Lenny, but she will always beg for a treat from the others.

Brown Jack- The biggest, friendliest dog possible. He’s a mutt and no one knows what he is but he is LARGE. Bill carries him around like a baby though.

Ennis- A fuckass hamster that bites everyone. Sean loves that little guy though, even though his fingers are perpetually covered in bandages from hamster bites.

Old belle- an extremely judgmental Russian blue cat. She’ll always just stare at everyone and John has threatened to fight the cat.

[spinedog]

Please talk about birds and why their existence is horrifying!

For dabble prompt, Yang and Weiss making macaroni, as inspired by the recent Instagram where Barbara and Kara made macaroni.

You can request a ramble and drabble here, and see prompts I've finished and am currently working on!

Ramble - I have a lot of Emotions about birds and their relationship to mammals.

Drabble - The college AU returns: guess who has no fucking idea how to make macaroni, and who else finally got fed up with it.

Birds. Birds my beloved, birds my beloathed.

Here's the thing. Every time I research birds, for any reason, I learn something new and horrifying. I could fill a post the length of Do You Like The Color Of The Sky with the shit I know and fear about birds. Rather than go into a specific reason, let me explain the underlying reason why I find them both fascinating and disturbing.

Birds are endotherms (warmblooded), like us. They have a four-chambered heart, like us. They have complex social behaviours across multiple unrelated genera, like mammals. Many unrelated bird species use tools and can solve human puzzles. While not shared with us, birds also have paired larynx structures that let them make insanely complex noises. Between the intelligence and this ability, many species are capable of mimicking human speech - and at least one species has both scientific and anecdotal evidence of being able to use human speech to communicate. (The only mammal proven to be able to mimic verbal speech is a goddamn Grey Seal btw)

All of this is lovely until you take a step back and realize our ancestors diverged 300 million years ago. Our shared ancestral traits are a handful of internal changes, the loss of gills, keratinized skin, and fucking chest breathing. That is how goddamn little we have in common with birds ancestrally. To be clear, the first true mammal came along closer to 225 mya - but we are the only living group left from the synapsids, then therapsids, that grew Better Teeth and split off. In comparison, birds and crocodiles are the only living members from archosauria, and the arrival of birds themselves is still under a lot of debate but was probably around 150 mya.

This is the part that I find so fascinating. Go all the way back to that paragraph with all the things we share with birds. Both mammals and birds evolved all of those traits separately. And yet, despite being so far away that we may as well be alien, we've ended up on a parallel course to each other. Almost every part of our body, right down to the brain, works in a completely different way and yet the outcome is spookily similar. We can reason. We can problem-solve.

We've gotten to the point that a well-educated human and a well-educated grey parrot have stood eye to eye with each other and had a true, verbal, two-way conversation.

Seriously. Think about that. That's something we had to use sign language to do with our closest living relatives, and talking buttons to do with our longest-running domesticated companion species - and both happened in the last few decades. The first account of a 'talking parrot' was in 5th century BC.

I think that's a significant connection, on the grand cosmic scale of time and evolution. Sister groups not in blood but in destination, driven by curiosity and a miraculous set of coincidences, reach out and speak to each other in a language both are able to understand.

And I didn't even touch the fact that birds and mammals are the only two living vertebrates that developed fucking flight.

---

"I wouldn't use this in a hot pan, it's plastic."

"Oh." A pause. "Right."

Yang's voice coming from the kitchen wasn't new, but Weiss' certainly was. Blake poked out from her room, curious enough about the potential of dying in a house fire to emerge from midterm studying.

Immediately she saw Ruby, pressed up against the wall to stare down the stairs. The younger woman turned, catching sight of Blake and pressing a finger to her lips before motioning her forwards, kneeling to clear room for her. Blake slowly crept up, leaning over Ruby as they both peered around the corner.

Down the stairs, the small, messy kitchen was visible. Weiss Schnee hovered over the stove, hair pulled up in a ponytail and eyes wide with uncharacteristic worry. "Okay, I think it's all combined."

"Good, now you can pour the milk in." Yang appeared from behind the wall in their view, where she must have been standing by the fridge. "Don't do it all at once, pour in about... here. That much. Whisk it together until there's no clumps and then add the rest."

Blake turned her gaze downwards, bewildered.

"Weiss admitted she doesn't know how to cook mac and cheese." Ruby whispered. "Yang couldn't let that one go."

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. It was probably bound to happen. Weiss hadn't had to cook for herself a day in her life, and Yang had probably been cooking for herself and Ruby since she could reach the stove. Sooner or later, there would have to be a collision. Of course, she had to feel a bit bad that no one had ever taken the time to teach Weiss any of it. But any guilt she felt was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer surrealism of the scene unfolding in the kitchen. Weiss had merely brushed off all points at her complete lack of housekeeping and cooking. And now here she was, taking lessons from the person who gave her the most shit for it.

"This all seems complicated?" The trademark Weiss sass wasn't gone entirely, even with her being miles out of her element. "Isn't mac and cheese supposed to be a really simple thing that kids can make?"

"That's Kraft dinner. This isn't much harder to make and tastes way better, so we're starting with it. Relax, ice queen, it's hard to screw it up completely."

Weiss heaved a frustrated sigh, whether it was at the nickname or the recipe wasn't clear. "Is the pasta in yet?"

"Nope, water still isn't boiling." Yang had leaned against the cupboards, clearly amused.

"They always say, to uh." Weiss looked up, blinking. "A watched- when you look- when you watch the bowl of- it never boils." She looked over, as if hoping Yang might have understood the verbal equivalent of an orchestra falling down the stairs.

Yang nodded sagely. "Exactly."

Blake pulled herself away from the corner, barely choking back laughter. Ruby's breathing devolved into chaotic inhales.

"Seriously, what is the saying?! Something about pots? And watching it?"

"No, no you nailed it. A watched when you look when you watch-"

"Yang Xiao Long I will beat you with this spatula I swear to God."

She could hear the grin in Yang's voice. "You and what ladder?"

That was the final straw for both Blake and Ruby. Ruby broke first, the laugh escaping like a water from a high pressure hose. Within moments both of them were in hysterics, Ruby on the floor and Blake leaning against the wall, fighting for air.

"Well." Blake managed to look over, and found Weiss glaring at them both from the bottom of the stairs, hands on her hips. "If you two are going to have input, you may as well get downstairs and help cook."

It was a fair enough point, and the two women managed to pull themselves down the stairs and into the kitchen, still wiping tears away. Yang watched them sit down at the table, clearly fighting back a laugh of her own.

Weiss re-entered the kitchen, frowning down at the water in the pot. A split second of quiet.

Blake wasn't much of a comedian - but she knew when the timing was right. "A watched pot never boils, Weiss."

Yang broke like china, falling against the fridge with a howl of laughter. A spatula bounced off the center of Blake's forehead, and it was worth every second.

[bomberqueen17]

the gay dolphins are too powerful

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

plot and worldbuilding wittering behind the cut

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

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

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

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

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

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

DOLPHINS

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

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

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

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

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

GAY DOLPHINS

too powerful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[eldritch-alicedoll]

It’s been 4 almost 5 year in Twst and now it’s might be a good time to summarise twst TL for my baby girl again. I’m aware that Yana sensei did mention that we can all decide the TL of the event by ourselves. Some event can’t be overlapping like Fairy Gala and it is fine cuz I want the second one to happened for my girl. (Sorry Leona senpai XD)

I try to make a road map for my girl since her growing from a clueless small punny to someone with a strong backbone happens through an experience share with the boys.

The way she start on the left and slowly transform to the right (ignore that bat they exchanged hair clip after officially date…….) with confident and cheerfulness……I want to tell that kind of story next year

Start > Prologue : like most Yuu she wake up here in the sourcing house ceremony but get amnesia and get blast by Grimm Fire which result on her have to cut her hair. Couldn’t say we here for 2 days…….more like thing happen in 24 hour 😂 drop in to Ramshackle at night , Grimm join the party. Then first thing after task to clean the street by Crowley then Ace shit us and detention after detention almost get expelled. Rolling from hill and we get to face the first blot monster. Retrieving the crystal and back to Crowley. Become the student then Bamm!

Book 1 happen in the same day we become student…..like 2 am? Idk my girl can’t say no to Ace bumb into the bed and being bully by both Grimm and Ace. The first day (for us) at school so we now student…..

The first time my baby girl get to talk to Lilia but briefly. Then she get summoned to Pomfiore because Vil can’t stand her hair cutting skill. It’s look terrible like unwash puppy…..thing in Heartslabyul keep rolling then while go get an egg with Deuce. Sam san give her a girl uniform but she refuse to wear skirt since Ace tease her. (That uniform had been untouched since here in Ramshackle wardrobe) She pick grey waistcoat and tie reflecting her mental state at that point……..

She try to return Riddle’s ceremony robe she borrowed and I think her puppy love episode start here. Later on at some pint Trey think it’s a good idea to cheer for Daia since it might be good in a long term if Riddle got something other than study to focus on while Ace is try to sell his bud to distract Riddle……He care about Daia okay but it’s win-win situation too

The day after is the unbirthday party which turn chaos….end up challenging Riddle and face our first Overblot. I think Riddle might need a day or two to heal up before turn up on the next unbirthday party where he fall for Trey joke and put oyster sauce in the tart.

The gap between the Overblot and second unbirthday party probably be the they when Cater ask Daiya and gang to live up their light music club performance . The boys pick their club so do Daiya where she get to become the 4th member of Light music club. Grimm does not recruit in since they want alone time from each other and club activities doesn’t require magic…….may be Grimm would start his own Grimm sama club (unofficially club that Crowley just don’t wanna fuss about)

Book 2 happened during the official magift tournament between dorm. She got bully by everyone 😂 and often sulk in the club getting help from the 3 easy going senpai. Kalim start feeding her crazy (cuz Daiya eat Tamago gohan for as a coping mechanism from her stress 🤷‍♀️ and Kalim……being Kalim see his junior eat raw egg on rice = she is broken. Ofcause Kalim will try feed Daiya like that parrot in Alladin) so she likely know Jamil for a while (but not his true colours until Book 4) the 4 of them end up chit char in Scarabia. Lilia had been consulter (And probably psychiatrist too) for her so they grow closer. But he won’t know about Tsunotarou incident yet from both Mal and Daia.

Metting the Savannaclaw and face another overblot she start to realise that she’ll die if she still being the same. So around here instead of Book 3 she meet Mal for the second time. And she Copy Ruggie habit of athletic between the broom in Magift and likely ask Mal for help. Yeah……..the nick name little Crow start here cuz she hang on Mal broom while he playfully speed to the sky teasing her)

Then it should be nice where Bean day 1-2 happening: I think it’s the first time she stand up against other at the end of bean day. Where Rook start call her Trickster and Floyd call her starfish chan……..and likely during Bean day Lili could found out thing between Mal and Daia so he kinda plan on having Daia get close to all his boys especially Sebek. Since they close in year and they got opposite traits. That kind of smile at the end of Bean day might be something Briar Valley need hmm…….

(Idk if Bean day suppose to be Zetsubon in jp which should be happened in January right. And some say this could happen before Book 2 but for the development of my baby girl. It’s should be here)

Book 3 happened during first test right? (I grow up in very traditional school…..like 130+ year boarding school full of haunted story……similar to Ramshackle but better condition so idk how other school divide the test) so during the deal with Azul. A big commotion happen while the gang first visit the merfolk museum. Daia drowned…..well technically she not since Azul’s potion work perfectly fine but being under water stirred her memory so the Leech twin and Acdeuce combined drag her back. Riddle out burst to Azul and the light music club isn’t quite happy. Azul break off the deal since he was ensure to provide the potion but the potion is failing and he take full responsible in it. Ace Deuce Grimm go back in slavery work in Mostro lounge but Daia secretly go back to make a deal with Azul again. This time with secret guide by Mal and a help from Leona gang to do the same of what happened in Book 3

They live happily for a while in campus until they got bomb bath by Ghost marriage event. Daia is send with the second team to fakely cry to the princess that Idia is her lover but being too scared to she end up congratulating to the princess and stay as Idia’s guest instead…….fucking traitor 😂 Leona push her to move them into more comfortable positions and demanding thing around. Lilia also join in teasing and kinda have a good time. Almost ignore Idia until Ace team arrive to save the day. Then Lilia card story happens when he show off to Daia and get freak out by the price of Kalim’s treasure…..they almost get in a dance so Cater start aware of this two chemistry. He start to act as third wheel to make sure Lili doesn’t fully win the girl before Riddle.

May be another event take place here likely to be wish upon the star since Daia is closer to Deuce and Trey now. Ortho get to talk to Daia and they talk more about her amnesia symptoms. May be future event can be here as well cuz it’s sound like a big gap until the break

Daia & Riddle relationship probably at peak around here. It’s a wrong call from both end since Heartslabyul gang encouraged her too soon so everything fall apart before the break. They don’t get to clear thing up as much as they wish to. Thing between Mabu and Daia also get affect cuz she sulking and avoid the topic. And they part way on the break with all that angst

Book 4 happen on school break……so yeah except what happen in Scarabia. Jamil finally exploded with Daia habit of eating raw egg on rice 😂 in his point of view. He had to make extra potion for her since Kalim ask for it but instead of being grateful. This little shit go back to eat garbage food so he had enough. But does he still cook for her ..? Yes! But he doesn’t shut his mouth anymore. He even laugh if she get stomach cramps if she eat raw egg. So Daia learn how to shout back from Jamil lol in the most stupid way ever. Oh and Azul claim that whatever he own Daia is now clear off. They are in good terms

Mal card drop in my Lilia. He fully aware of their relationship now. Mal also accidentally become a consult for Daia staying in Twst. And encouraging her to take after Trappola and Spade to talk thing out….kinda like Sebek and Silver.

They make up and white rabbit fest happening introducing Silver to Daia.

Book 5 : it run for a month if I still correct…. I’m hesitant to put Harveston Sledathon here since I’m not sure if Vil will let Epel off for couple days. May be Daia and Epel need to beg hard and accept the consequences. But January should be a snowy month and it’s good for Daia to get to know Sebek too

Then another overblot happen. Tsunotarou identity revealed. And Lilia drop a bomb on her telling how he had a thing for her. I think what’s going on between Lilia and Daia. He was going to play match maker for Daia and one of his boys for a while. He thinks she’s adorable and her presence in Briar Valley is something he looking forward to. And Mal talk some sense into him. The girl already hesitated about belonging to twst since her break up? With Riddle. Mal barely hold her so whatever you want to do just do. Lilia confesses to her. He say he can wait since he had no idea his time is too short than what he had expected. And being selfish for once. Being honest for once isn’t that bad. Even if he plan to part way with her at some point before graduate. He can teach her a thing or two about love and being loved. Bonk him bonk himmmmmmm yeah Daia is very sweet to him then she will punch him at the end of book 7.

Book 6 : and happen right after book 5

Firelit sky : over the sand happen so I got a sibling moment between Mal and Daia here

And cloudcalling on the Savanna can be here to so Daia and Lilia get more time tgt before the nuclear bomb in book 7

Book 7 : so at the beginning Lilia broke up with Daia and about to leave forever in a week 😂 my girl fight back. She face 7 overblot and almost the end of the world. There is nothing to fear……..she ask to spend time with Lilia as his gf only to break down at the end and Mal know it. She is another reason why Mal overblot for sure. And regardless of how thing going in end of chapter 7. She will get her memory back and her relationship with Mal bloom into Big brother - Little sister thing. Unofficialpart of Diasomnia family at this point. But thing with Lilia oh please do i need to say that he need a lot of make up for it?? And after Book 7 she change her uniform. She finally wear that NRC girl uniform she get since book 1

(Idk where book 8 gonna be we have to wait)

Port fest happened here cuz I want my girl to team up with Ortho and open her Japanese traditional sweet shop.

Fairy Gala if (Sorry Leona your one not happen in this TL) I revisit the event recently and I think it’s quite nice to summarise the relationship between the 1st year. Othro had grown up as a person. Sebek is open up for friends that not from Briar Valley. Daia could lay back and be a supporter for once and the whole thing how she view Fae kin affect her relationship with Mal and Lili. Especially if Season 2 of Twst coming up in a few years (i hope)

Camp Vargus

Stitch event can happen here too cuz it’s kinda wrap up thing between Riddle and Daia.

Then All the Halloween is happen here. I want Halloween to be the end of their year

Masquerade first

Lost in the book with The nightmare before Christmas

Then Halloween 1-2

Playful land might be push further back between book 4 and 5 it’s not that affect and it’s give more event for Daia & Ace + Daia & Lilia

Cooking class would be scattered around all year so whatever it’s sound like an on going class…..

And whatever I rant about might be scrapped and rewrite to whatever I come up with again when I write it for real lol 😂

[arsenicflame]

silly Izzy situation: he gets a parrot.

HE GETS A PARROT OH THIS GAVE ME BRAIN WORMS

-Stede is the one to get him the parrot- something about how hes got the wooden leg he has to complete the look? honestly izzy wasnt listening, stede was using his excited voice and izzys learnt he can zone out a bit when he gets like that. there was a hat too but that went to someone else Real quick (the parrot was trying to eat it anyway)

-i know nothing about parrots but im gonna say stede gets him an African grey. it's the goth-est parrot and they're Friends Now, hes got to give a gift that fits in with izzys Look

-when stede gives it him he protests LOUDLY but when stede gets all sad and says he will return him izzy draws a knife. wtf you can't return my gift Stede

- the parrot learns to say fuck REAL quick

-izzy learns bird care from buttons, obviously- izzy is Rules autistic he needs to know How you look after his pet. he is super rigorous with following the rules and at least one crew member has faced a tirade for feeding him something bad

-the bird rides everywhere on his shoulder. frenchie makes him a little pad so his claws don't scratch izzys leathers and so he can grip better

-he starts stroking the bird as a comfort (in Correct places, thank u buttons) he doesn't notice hes doing it but everyone else does. lucius has a sketch

-you know how some pets are like? exactly like their owners? yeah. this is the grumpiest fucking parrot and they are perfect together. he only likes izzy. after a while he mimicks izzy yelling at the crew and nobody knows what to do they all just. stare. izzy laughs.

- the parrot spends a little too much time with the swede somehow (jackies? izzy & jackie friendship my beloved i will force you in anywhere) and picks up his singing. its. something. they end up using it on raids as part of a fuckery. two haunting tones to create a sense of unreality, of being surrounded.

-i didn't give the parrot a name here because i genuinely believe izzy wouldnt give it a name, hed just call it 'the parrot', occasionally 'my parrot' when drunk. the crew call it mini Izzy.

(buttons asked the parrot its name)

-someone once gave the parrot a knife because they thought itd be funny. we do not talk about the parrot knife incident.

[fanby-fckry]

If Alastor had bird traits, what would bird species would they be?

Ooh, this is a good question. Very much in the spirit of random anons. (This is a compliment, I promise.)

My first thought was that it’d have to be something intelligent, something capable of mimicking human speech. Alastor’s voice is very important to him, so I think if he had traits from an animal in a class where some are extremely good at mimicking human speech and some aren’t, he’d be one of the talking ones.

That narrows it down to mostly parrots and corvids, but I’m willing to throw in Australian Magpies (not corvids, despite the name) because they’re such menaces, and I think swooping season is a fun parallel to the fanon idea of Alastor going through rut.

I like the idea that rut isn’t necessarily sexual for Alastor, that he just gets extra combattive and irritable. It’d be similar for swooping. He wouldn’t be protecting offspring or a mate, he’d just get extra territorial about his radio tower for no apparent reason, snatching up any demons who get too close.

Now, back to corvids and parrots.

For parrots, I narrowed it down to two species based on intelligence and speech, as well as the additional criteria of having some red on them, somewhere. This leaves us with African Grey Parrots (red tail feathers) and Scarlet Macaws (mostly red).

But deer aren’t exactly red, so I don’t think that should exclude our next contestants, the American Crow, the Fish Crow and the Chihuahuan Raven.

One of my favorite things about Alastor being a deer is that the particular species I believe him to be (a White Tailed Deer) is native to Louisiana. Now, you’re not exactly going to find Australian Magpies, African Greys, or Scarlet Macaws flying around in Louisiana unless somebody’s pet got loose.

Meanwhile, American Crows, Fish Crows (the two species of crows most often observed mimicking human speech) and Chihuahuan Ravens are all birds that Alastor would’ve been fairly likely to encounter during his lifetime.

And then, after all that research, I remembered the existence of the shrike…

The Loggerhead Shrike fits none of my original criteria, but is native to Louisiana and is famous for hunting prey that is sometimes as large or larger than they are and impaling them on sticks.

You see this bird?

This bird is a serial killer.

Ok, so that’s anthropomorphizing a bird that’s really just hunting to eat, like most carnivores do, but like. If you know this bird, you know I’m not wrong.

They’re nicknamed the butcherbird, and they’ve fucking earned it.

Bonus points for two of their common prey items being spiders and snakes, for all your RadioDust, RadioApple, and RadioSnake needs, platonic or otherwise.

I have some choice sections from their wikipedia page that I’d like to include, but I’m putting them below the cut in case anyone’s squeamish about details of animal death in a predator-prey context.

Loggerhead shrikes have been repeatedly observed killing prey larger than themselves by spearing the neck or head of the animal and twisting. The speed at which this occurs causes a whiplash injury to the animal. The neck strength of the shrikes compensates, making their talon weakness inconsequential.

Although loggerhead shrikes are passerines, they are a predatory species that hunt during the day. They primarily eat insects, but also consume arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, bats and small birds. They have even eaten venomous snakes such as the water adder. The size of prey ranges from 0.001 g (3.5×10−5 oz) insects to 25 g (0.88 oz) mice or reptiles.

They are not true birds of prey, as they lack the large, strong talons used to catch and kill prey. Instead, they are sit-and-wait hunters that stalk prey by hawking and diving from elevated perches.

Due to the shrike's small size in proportion to the size of its prey, it must rely on specialized adaptations to facilitate its hunting. The powerful, hooked beak of the loggerhead shrike allows it to sever the neck of a small vertebrate. Larger prey are subjected to impaling, in which they are pushed down into a sharp projection, such as a thorn or barbed wire. The bird can then tear off flesh by using the projection as an anchor. The shrike may also use the thorn to fasten and store its food to return to at a later time.

The motion of impalement appears to be instinctive, as parent shrikes do not demonstrate the behavior to their nestlings.

Yeah, I think we have a winner here, folks.

[betterbemeta]

Yeah Dinotopia did this to me, I love art that depicts humans living and working with dinosaurs, its so cool

but like. we need to have a talk. there are two options for this scenario and both of them require human beings be a lot braver or more thoughtful than I think we are on average:

the dinosaurs are sapient. But bird intelligence is convergent evolution to mammal intelligence. Meaning that what we're really depicting is a society where humans and 'an alien species' have peacefully integrated: just, aliens separated by time from the same planet and not aliens separated by distance such as from another planet.

the dinosaurs aren't sapient. Human beings have sustained a military loss to emus, it's pretty hard to have a cassowary as your chill friend and most attacks have to do with feeding them, and most human beings tend to be wary or frightened of even middling-large birds such as geese, turkeys, swans, and that's without getting into predatory birds like eagles and condors. Human beings have domesticated birds and kept them as pets for a long time, but we're talking chickens, pigeons... 'exotic birds' kept as companion animals such as parrots aren't domesticated and we should understand how huge a commitment it is to keep them. Are we ready to be pals with a cockatiel the size of a donkey? How about larger than a rhinoceros?

I'm not slamming these as fantasy concepts. People love to depict Amazing Animal Companions and probably always have throughout history. But I think we can keep it fresh by coming at this with a smidge of realism. Your intelligent dinosaur friend may not be a human person in a lizard suit but instead an Extremely Large African Grey Parrot With Fingers. Or your Pet Dinosaur may be, uh, Loud And Broody if you don't put it to bed on time. How do you enforce bedtime and lights out for a creature that can thagomize your walls, and you? Carefully.

[creature-wizard]

do you have any suggestions for people who react to any criticism/debunking of alter programming/ramcoa/etc with yelling about the grey faction and false memory syndrome foundation? there's a lot of legitimately horrible denial that abuse exists and insisting that anyone who might remember something later that they didn't previously is obviously lying or manipulated and that's the only explanation going on with those groups and that's... obviously not good. but what do you say to people who insist that anyone criticizing alter programming/ramcoa is just parroting their talking points? is there anything to say or are those people just too dedicated to a conspiracy because they feel it legitimizes their trauma to be reasoned with?

Personally, I have avoided getting into arguments over the credibility of the Grey Faction and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation by simply not relying on them, and instead showing people instances of New Agers "remembering" past lives that took place in times and events that very obviously never existed because they're based on pseudohistory made up by racists.

For anyone who isn't aware: RAMCOA, which stands for "Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, & Organized Abuse" is not an innocent catch-all term for religious abuse, institutional abuse, sex trafficking, etc. It was coined by conspiracy theorists to try and make far right conspiracy theories sound respectable within legitimate psychiatry. For more information, see this post.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

thestarlightfae asked:

Time for a question dump! Feel free to pick and choose which questions to answer, or not answer at all. LMK if this kind of ask is annoying to you please! Like, say it is annoying. I am autistic and will not understand it unless you say it outright. Alright! Here we go!

You know, I think I’ll answer pretty much all of your questions today! The only one I’ll keep for later is the “Twst boys as animals” one, because I really want to think about it + that would make this post way too long lol

I feel like I talked about a lot of these at some point, but it’s been a while, so replying again definitely wouldn’t hurt.

And no worries at all; if there were any uncomfortable questions, I’d just skip them. I like the format, it’s refreshing.

What are your favorite animals?

Both of us love a lot of animals… but mostly cats! Especially Katsu, Katsu is like a priest in the cat church. Sometimes I feel like Katsu and Mila (Katsu’s cat) speak the same language.

I also love snakes and lizards! And ever since my mom got a dog, something in my brain chemistry changed, and now I can’t look at dogs without wanting to cry because they are precious.

Do you have any pets? If yes, what are their names? Can we see pics?

Did you used to have any pets? If yes, what are were names? Do you have pics? Can we see them?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pets… To be honest, I am too unsure about being able to take care of anything, I’m killing my plants all the time lol I used to have a grey kitten when I was like 5 (my parents took it away) and two parrots (yellow and blue) when I was 9-10 (both suddenly died…). And unfortunately I don’t have pics of them.

Like I already mentioned, Katsu has a cat <3 (Katsu used to have a guinea pig, hamsters, a rat, and a cat back in childhood.) Mila is adorable and very loveable, and also sneezes a lot… She’s an old lady, but still pretty spunky and talkative. I want her to have all the kisses and treats she wants…

Do you and Katsu ever disagree on if a character is top or bottom?

I don’t think so. I don’t know why, I guess it’s because we generally prefer the same types of characters to play a certain role. We do have discussions sometimes when we’re not sure what to do with the guy… Katsu also loves to hit me with “but what if he is a bottom though?” while fully believing that the guy is a top just to see if I’m going to hesitate or not. Or maybe just to mess with me lol

What are your favorite platonic relationships in Twst?

Octa-trio is fun, any other top with Ortho is fun, also Rook and Trey are a funny duo, and Vil and Idia… A lot of them are very good, to be honest.

Do you have a minimum age for discussing characters on here? Like, would you talk about Cheka? I'm not into that, irl or hypothetically so I wouldn't ask about him in a romantic/sexual way, but I am curious.

Not really. Everything is on a case-by-case basis, and if we’re not comfortable with something (either in general or uncomfortable with posting it), we just won’t post it at all. It’s mostly about people overreacting about literally anything we say.

How old were you two when you started drawing?

Did you learn to draw together? Your drawing styles are really similar.

I’m the only one who actually draws :) My mom said that I got my first crayons when I was 4 and has been drawing ever since, but I started to draw anime/people when I was 11-13. When I was 16-18, I started to actually work on bettering my skill, now with Katsu’s help.

We say “our drawings” because a lot of time we’re working on them together, especially if it’s the bigger pieces. We either discuss the idea together or Katsu comes up with stuff, then helps me to pick the best thumbnail, find references and inspirational pictures, gives me tons of feedback and keeps me focused and entertained by talking with me while I draw. Those artworks (the anniversary one, the Octa/Idia one are some recent examples) feel like projects sometimes, and I really feel like we did them together. Plus, a lot of sketches that I do myself are based on our discussions, AUs and inside jokes. But the more serious/complex ones have much more of Katsu’s direct influence.

In a way, despite the fact that Katsu doesn’t draw, we did learn together because Katsu is figuring everything out at the same time as me lol Me learning how to draw was just Katsu and I going “hey does this look right?”, “you should learn how to draw ears, the ears don’t look good” , “you keep forgetting about this bone” and “I hate how it looks, please tell me honestly if it looks bad” every single time I draw something. It’s been a long journey, we’ve been drawing together for more than 10 years now…

Also I am kind of wondering which artworks you thought could be mine and which ones are Katsu’s… hehe.

How long have you known each other?

14 years! <3 We started dating pretty early on; and we just had our anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

That is all for now! Once again, please tell me if I am annoying either of you in anyway or stepped over any bounderies!

You’re not annoying at all! No worries. Like I already mentioned, if there were any uncomfortable questions, I would’ve just skipped them. I know that people are mostly here for the twst boys, but talking about these things is a good change of pace every once in a while.

Thank you for your questions, I hope you (and anyone who is still reading) enjoyed the post.