#edge of extinction

[peachy-keen22]

Babes, it’s been years and I’m still upset at Storyscape closing down

[hughestism]

i miss themed seasons </3

[afterbirthonthekeypad]

pete wentz playing bass for straight edge band extinction, new years eve 1997

[awkward-sultana]

“Maybe once, I admired her. Her beauty and grace and her intelligence and her courage just amazed me.” (requested by anonymous)

[frecht]

my last 5 books on goodreads look soo good together it's a pity i haated one of them

[bookdragonideas]

About Momo.

You ever notice how alone he is in the Southern temple?

There is no other sign of life. Only a few dry bones and rusted helmets, which are signs of death more than anything else.

He bonds to Aang so quickly, despite having never seen an airbender before. And is eternally loyal. Constantly helping the Gaang, even to the point of straight up attacking people. (Like Zhao in the north). He is clearly a smart and social animal, able to mimic behavior, use simple tools and understand basic commands. I'd say at least as smart as a crow or raven if not smarter.

He gets an entire segment in Tales of Ba Sing, and we are shown his sense of loss over Appa. How much he misses him, how smart he is, how he is also searching for his lost friend.

He follows Aang to the turtlelion, and shows up right after Aang defeats Ozai, clearly having been close the whole time.

There's a reason that Bumi calls him important.

And he's all alone. In a very strange way.

Aang and Appa are in the same boat as each other, both the last of their kind, yet tied to the rest of the world. They are the last airbender and sky bison, yes. But they're also the Avatar and his Animal Guide. There were others before, there will be others after.

The last of their kind in one aspect. But just another link in a long line in another.

Momo isn't that.

He is the last flying lemur. And he is nothing but that.

We can assume he had parents. That there were others once. Perhaps he was the youngest in a dying clan. The last alive in a dead place. How long did he wander the halls of the air temple alone before he heard human voices? How long was it? From when he saw his last family member die to when he found a new family?

(Maybe he didn't see them die. Maybe he just woke up one morning and they were gone.)

How often did he listen to the echos of his own chattering and screeches? Did he make noise, or did he go silent? Fearing predators and whatever had robbed his home of life.

What did he eat?

Did he scrounge for a few small plants in the wrecks of old gardens? Or nibble on small animals he was able to catch. Did he sit by ancient skeletons and wait for the flies to come, snatching them out of midair for a tasty treat?

Was the peach Aang gave him the first he tasted? Or did he pick them from some twisted old tree, scarred by ancient fires, yet still producing fruit for the single remaining resident of the Southern temple?

Did he understand what he might lose, as Aang lay still and injured from Azula's lightning? Did he ever understand why his new pack, his new family, was so excited by the end of the war? Or did he simply pick up on the emotions and join in them?

Does the rest of the Gaang understand what he is? What he's lost?

Aang probably does, it was his home too.

Does Katara ever gently pet Momo late at night, when she's missing her mother and wondering if he remembers his mother?

Perhaps Sokka gives him special treats on occasion.

Did Toph ever hug him tight and promise not to lose him like she lost Appa. (Blaming herself long after the others stopped blaming her.)

Does Zuko ever watch him play, feeling guilty that it was his people who tried to destroy these intelligent and playful little creatures, along with the rest of the air nomads?

Is anyone aware how important Momo is?

[iamdangerace]

DOOM, Carnivore Christian and Eh!? from the Extinction of Mankind/ DOOM 7" split, DOOMED TO EXTICTION e.p., (1994).

[thevalleyisjolly]

I know the chances of it happening are minuscule to nil, but since Power of the Doctor established the Edge of Existence, I just think it would be really neat to see Fifteen meeting all of the previous surviving Doctors there. They all collectively refuse to give any useful advice because "This is your show now, go and be brilliant, Doctor!" but Fifteen and Nine do share a bonding moment over leather jackets being fantastic.

[oodlenoodleroodle]

I'm reading this article (originally written in 1994) by Wang Huning (not an endorsement) where he talks about like cultural sovereignty and soft power etc, and it's so fascinating how what he says comes across so different to me (white person from a "Western" country) even when I know where he's coming from. Like for example this:

Cultural sovereignty cannot become an excuse for cultural isolation, because cultural sovereignty ultimately aims for cultural openness and benefits the development of the people of the world as well as the cultural development of certain countries and peoples. The experience of biology and of human history have both illustrated that any closed system inevitably becomes archaic and obsolete, which means that at the present moment, all cultures must become open systems—open to the shared use of other cultures and other systems of knowledge, as well as the shared use of measures to meet the challenges and problems of the age of technology.

He is talking about the Qing dynasty making the mistake of rejecting modern technological advances in favour of traditional Chinese/Confucian ways of thinking and doing things, which directly led to the century of humiliation and the horrible plunder at the hands of colonialism and imperialism. He is saying "you can't not progress or you will be left behind and abused." For him openness is the willingness to take in outside influences. He isn't at all considering the idea of giving other people open access to your own culture in a way that can damage your culture.

Like I know that is where he's coming from, and I know he's talking to a domestic audience, but as a white person that cares about social justice it still sounds like a person going "weewoo all cultures must be open, everyone must share, my spirit animal is a terf and I'm selling dream catchers on Etsy!"

[delicatefury]

Don’t you dare slander zoos. The St. Louis Zoo is fighting to conserve species most sanctuaries have never heard of, let alone care about.

What sanctuary is helping the African painted dog? Or the Ozark hellbender? Which are using their resources to help an Ecuadorian foundation study and protect their native amphibians? Are they successfully helping cheetahs increase their population and genetic diversity?

And the Saint Louis Zoo is free to visit.

And have you seen their expansion project?

[always-rolling-my-eyes]

At least chris was kinda smart and a genuine comp beast 🫠

I guess. And I don’t remember Chris being annoying like Jag but then again, I don’t really remember Chris at all 😭

[lingthusiasm]

101 places to get enthusiastic about linguistics

In honour of Lingthusiasm's 100th episodiversary, we've compiled this list of 101 public-facing places where linguists and linguistics nerds hang out and learn things! 

17 podcasts about linguistics

Lingthusiasm — A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! 

The Vocal Fries — Language discrimination and how to fight it

The History of English — From Proto-Indo-European to Shakespeare in 180 episodes (and still running!)

A Language I Love Is — Guests (some linguists, some not) talk about languages they love and why

En Clair — Forensic linguistics and literary detection

Because Language — New guests every episode discuss their linguistic interests

The Allusionist — Stories about language and the people who use it 

Subtitle — A podcast about languages and the people who speak them

Field Notes — Five seasons on linguistic fieldwork 

Tomayto Tomahto — Language meets cog sci, politics, history, law, anthropology, and more

Word of Mouth — A long-running and wide-ranging linguistics program on BBC 4.

Words Unravelled - A new and very well edited etymology podcast with popular creators RobWords and Jess Zafarris

Something Rhymes with Purple — Learn the background behind another word or phrase each episode

Lexitecture — A classic etymology podcast with a huge back catalogue

A Way with Words — A "lively and upbeat" public radio call-in show about language and culture

Språket — A radio program in Swedish answering listener questions about language. We don't speak Swedish, but this was the most-mentioned non-English content in our listener survey!

Living Voices — A podcast in Spanish about endangered languages of the Amazon

12 nonfiction books about linguistics

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch (Amazon; Bookshop) — A linguist shows how the internet is transforming the way we communicate

How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning and Languages Live or Die (Amazon; Bookshop) by David Crystal — A journey through the different subsystems of language 

That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships by  Deborah Tannen (Amazon; Bookshop) — A pioneering researcher on conversations gives advice on how they can go wrong

Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self by Julie Sedivy (Amazon; Bookshop) — Scientific and personal reflections on nostalgia, forgetting, and language loss

The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building by David J Peterson (Amazon; Bookshop) — an accessible guide to making your own conlang 

Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English Language by Arika Okrent (Amazon; Bookshop) — The history behind English's many oddities

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell (Amazon; Bookshop) — A well-researched pushback on sexist language ideology

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (Amazon; Bookshop) — A lifelong lexicographer discusses the job and the things she's learned along the way 

Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages by Gaston Dorren (Amazon; Bookshop) — A quick, funny tour of the quirks of 60 European languages

Bina: First Nations Languages, Old and New by Felicity Meakins, Gari Tudor-Smith, and Paul Williams (Amazon; Bookshop) — The story of Australian indigenous languages' resistance and survival

Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan (Amazon; Bookshop) — A writers' style and grammar guide focused on real usage, not made-up rules

The Language Lover's Puzzle Book: A World Tour of Languages and Alphabets in 100 Amazing Puzzles by Alex Bellos (Amazon; Bookshop) — Solve puzzles about writing, grammar, and meaning drawn from real and fictional languages

Poems from the Edge of Extinction: An Anthology of Poetry in Endangered Languages (Amazon; Bookshop) — An anthology of poems in endangered languages, with commentary

6 linguistically-inspired novels

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang (Amazon; Bookshop) — Imagine a world where linguistics was as vital — and as ethically compromised — as engineering is in ours

True Biz by Sara Nović (Amazon; Bookshop) — Love, friendship, and struggle at a residential high school for the Deaf

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by by Mark Dunn (Amazon; Bookshop) — "A progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable" full of wordplay and weirdness

Semiosis by Sue Burke (Amazon; Bookshop) — Human space colonists communicate with sentient plants

Translation State by Ann Leckie (Amazon; Bookshop) — What does life look like for a perfectly genetically engineered alien–human translator? (Spoiler: weird, that's what.)

Stories of your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (Amazon; Bookshop) — Includes the long short story that became Arrival, plus other reflections on humanity and change

13 linguistics youtube channels

Crash Course Linguistics — A whole linguistics course in 16 videos

Tom Scott's Language Files — Pithy language facts explained quickly and clearly

NativLang — Language reconstruction and the history of writing

Geoff Lindsay — Facts (and some scholarly opinions) about regional English pronunciation

The Ling Space — An educational channel all about linguistics

langfocus — A language factoid channel that digs deeper than many

K Klein — Language quirks, spelling reform, and a little conlanging

biblaridion — Teaching about conlanging and worldbuilding, with lots of linguistics along the way

RobWords — "A channel for lovers and learners of English"

Otherwords — "the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted"

LingoLizard — Widely spoken languages and their quirks, comparisons, and history

linguriosa — Spanish linguistics (in Spanish), including learning tips and linguistic history

human1011 — Quick accessible facts about linguistics (and sometimes other things) 

Simon Roper — Language evolution and historical English pronunciation

10 shortform video channels about linguistics (tiktok/reels)

etymologynerd — Internet speak, etymologies and more! (reels)

linguisticdiscovery — Writing systems, language families, and more (reels)

jesszafaris — Fun facts about words, etymologies, and more (reels)

cmfvoices — An audiobook director talks about the linguistics of voice acting (eels)

mixedlinguist — A linguistics professor comments on the language of place, identity, politics, technology, and more (reels)

landontalks — Linguistic quirks of the US South (reels)

sunnmcheaux — Language and culture from Harvard's first and only professor of Gullah (reels)

dexter.mp4 — Talks about many branches of science, but loves linguistics enough to have a linguisticsy tattoo (reels)

danniesbrain — Linguistics and psychology from a researcher who studies both (reels)

wordsatwork — Quick facts on languages, families, and linguistic concepts (reels)

the_language — The Ojibwe language — plus food, dancing, and more

[awkward-sultana]

Magnificent Century: Kösem + Menekşe Mothering Mustafa & Dilruba (Requested by anonymous)

[reasonsforhope]

"Many people know about the Yellowstone wolf miracle. After wolves were reintroduced to the national park in the mid-1990s, streamside bushes that had been grazed to stubble by out-of-control elk populations started bouncing back. Streambank erosion decreased. Creatures such as songbirds that favor greenery along creeks returned. Nearby aspens flourished.

While there is debate about how much of this stemmed from the wolves shrinking the elk population and how much was a subtle shift in elk behavior, the overall change was dramatic. People were captivated by the idea that a single charismatic predator’s return could ripple through an entire ecosystem. The result was trumpeted in publications such as National Geographic.

But have you heard about the sea otters and the salt marshes? Probably not.

It turns out these sleek coastal mammals, hunted nearly to extinction for their plush pelts, can play a wolf-like role in rapidly disappearing salt marshes, according to new research. The findings highlight the transformative power of a top predator, and the potential ecosystem benefits from their return.

“It begs the question: In how many other ecosystems worldwide could the reintroduction of a former top predator yield similar benefits?” said Brian Silliman, a Duke University ecologist involved in the research.

The work focused on Elk Slough, a tidal estuary at the edge of California’s Monterey Bay. The salt marsh lining the slough’s banks has been shrinking for decades. Between 1956 and 2003, the area lost 50% of its salt marshes.

Such tidal marshes are critical to keeping shorelines from eroding into the sea, and they are in decline around the world. The damage is often blamed on a combination of human’s altering coastal water flows, rising seas and nutrient pollution that weakens the roots of marsh plants.

But in Elk Slough, a return of sea otters hinted that their earlier disappearance might have been a factor as well. As many as 300,000 sea otters once swam in the coastal waters of western North America, from Baja California north to the Aleutian Islands. But a fur trade begun by Europeans in the 1700s nearly wiped out the animals, reducing their numbers to just a few thousand by the early 1900s. Southern sea otters, which lived on the California coast, were thought to be extinct until a handful were found in the early 1900s.

In the late 1900s, conservation organizations and government agencies embarked on an effort to revive the southern sea otters, which remain protected under the Endangered Species Act. In Monterey Bay, the Monterey Bay Aquarium selected Elk Slough as a prime place to release orphaned young sea otters taken in by the aquarium.

As the otter numbers grew, the dynamics within the salt marsh changed. Between 2008 and 2018, erosion of tidal creeks in the estuary fell by around 70% as otter numbers recovered from just 11 animals to nearly 120 following a population crash tied to an intense El Niño climate cycle.

While suggestive, those results are hardly bulletproof evidence of a link between otters and erosion. Nor does it explain how that might work.

To get a more detailed picture, the researchers visited 5 small tidal creeks feeding into the main slough. At each one, they enclosed some of the marsh with fencing to keep out otters, while other spots were left open. Over three years, they monitored the diverging fates of the different patches.

The results showed that otter presence made a dramatic difference in the condition of the marsh. They also helped illuminate why this was happening. It comes down to the otters’ appetite for small burrowing crabs that live in the marsh.

Adult otters need to eat around 25% of their body weight every day to endure the cold Pacific Ocean waters, the equivalent of 20 to 25 pounds. And crabs are one of their favorite meals. After three years, crab densities were 68% higher in fenced areas beyond the reach of otters. The number of crab burrows was also higher. At the same time, marsh grasses inside the fences fared worse, with 48% less mass of leaves and stems and 15% less root mass, a critical feature for capturing sediment that could otherwise wash away, the scientists reported in late January in Nature.

The results point to the crabs as a culprit in the decline of the marshes, as they excavate their holes and feed on the plant roots. It also shows the returning otters’ potential as a marsh savior, even in the face of rising sea levels and continued pollution. In tidal creeks with high numbers of otters, creek erosion was just 5 centimeters per year, 69% lower than in creeks with fewer otters and a far cry from earlier erosion of as much as 30 centimeters per year.  

“The return of the sea otters didn’t reverse the losses, but it did slow them to a point that these systems could restabilize despite all the other pressures they are subject to,” said Brent Hughes, a biology professor at Sonoma State University and former postdoctoral researcher in Silliman’s Duke lab.

The findings raise the question of whether other coastal ecosystems might benefit from a return of top predators. The scientists note that a number of these places were once filled with such toothy creatures as bears, crocodiles, sharks, wolves, lions and dolphins. Sea otters are still largely absent along much of the West Coast.

As people wrestle to hold back the seas and revive their ailing coasts, a predator revival could offer relatively cheap and effective assistance. “It would cost millions of dollars for humans to rebuild these creek banks and restore these marshes,” Silliman said of Elk Slough. “The sea otters are stabilizing them for free in exchange for an all-you-can-eat crab feast.”"

-via Anthropocene Magazine, February 7, 2024

[twisted-whatifs]

Cultural exchange, Malleus x reader.

Sumary: you’re hanging out with malleus, and end up getting to see his more dragon side.

Notes: it can be read as both romantic and platonic, but there is already an established close friendship, as well as I did put a minor sex joke in there but it’s overall pretty innocent.

2.4K words

His bed is criminally soft, the air smells of fire, pine, and comfort, and the dorm room you´re occupied in screams of wealth and status. So of course, this is exactly where you want to spend your afternoons!

Your head rests against the pillow, letting your hair spill out around your face, as you lay on your side in the middle of the queen-sized bed. The view before you is that of the soon-to-be king of Briar Valley’s room. The floors and walls are shrouded in black, making the fireplace at the foot of the bed seem much more powerful. Though his room isn't the most welcoming at first, you've grown used to it and all its quirks- like the tiny stone pieces on the floor, which he drags with him - by accident - while making gargoyles.

You let out a sigh of relief, not feeling burdened by the tall presence behind you. Rather, you find solace in knowing he's here with you, accompanying and protecting you. You roll over and onto your back, in response to him sitting on the edge of the bed.

“it's nice to finally have some alone time, without that weasel constantly complaining in my ear.” You say with a soft content smile, mirroring his own.

“I know how you feel. I'm beyond grateful for the time here at Night Raven Collage, although having Sebek and Silver tailing me at any given moment can be a burden at times.”

You let out a small kind of laugh, finding amusement in the fact that he, too, acknowledges those two and their overprotective nature. Releasing another sigh from your lungs, you close your eyes and bask in the peace of the moment; the bed beneath you lulling you to sleep, yet your mind still drifts.

“I could so live here - it's way better than ramshackle. That much is certain.”

“If it were up to me, you would have already had a room of your own in our dorm.”

“But it doesn't work like that, does it? Crowley wouldn't let me stay here in a million years”

“No, unfortunately not.”

He finishes off before laying down next to you, joining you in simply relaxing in the presence of each other. As tempting as it would be to open your eyes and turn your head to see him lying next to you, sleep is dragging you in.

“You know, all this dorm stuff… It's so weird to me. Where I'm from, we don't exactly have a magic mirror to tell us where we belong.”

"Well I have to admit, it is a bit of an oddity here as well- But how is your world, for it to be so different from ours?”

“I think a very big part of it is that in my world, we simply don't have magic and because of that, anything within the realm of magic is entirely foreign to me.”

“How intriguing… I think it's safe to assume you miss your home?”

“Yeah… the world I'm from is so different to yours… Like, for example, in my world dragons don't exist.” I finally open my eyes and turn to look at him. As I do, I see him quietly laughing.

“Believe it or not, the people of this world believe the same.”

“Really?!... But aren't you like a dragon?”

“To answer your question, no, I am not a full-blooded dragon. Rather, I'm a dragon/draconic fae, the two are different. According to the public, dragons are extinct, and even though I am in direct opposition to their claims, the general knowledge stays the same.”

“Woah… that's… wild?”

“You're right, it is, my Child of Man…”

“... Well, what does it entail to be a dragon fae?”

His gaze, which earlier had been focused on the ceiling, dipped down to meet yours. His breathtaking green eyes are locked on your own, as he gives you a quizzical look.

“What do you mean, Dear?”

You turn to your body to fully face him, as you sit up on the bed, looking down at him and taking in your position looming above him. He lays relaxed against the sheets, with his hands on his stomach. It is a rare sight for many, but not for you.

“Like, what's it like? What differences does it make?...” You shot a look up to his horns “... What does it look like?”

“... You wish to see my dragon form?”

“-YES”

He's taken aback for a second before his face softens into a smile and he laughs, like actually laughs with heart.

“You humans are such curious creatures… I should warn you, that you might not like what happens if you choose to go through with it.” A mischievous - almost playful - smile is spread across his face. It makes you smile too, to see him so genuinely enjoy something.

“And what does that mean? Is that a threat?”

“You'll find out~” There's no way you're backing down now. You wait patiently as he slowly sits up on the bed, his back just a few inches away from the headboard, his back is as straight as ever.

“Where do we start?”

“Well I've already seen your tail once, but I would love to get a chance to see it up close!”

And with that, a tail spins itself around the edge of the bed from where it connects to him. It's as if it was never hidden in the first place, by how you didn't even notice it appeared. It is longer than his legs and it is covered in beautiful black scales, that shine blues and purples in the light, along with a couple of spikes along its back, ending at the tip with a small appendage (look at the picture for reference). Your eyes are busy studying his tail, while his eyes are busy studying you.

“... Wow… Can I touch it?”

“Go ahead… But be careful, one wrong move and it could easily fling you across the room.”

“You wouldn't do that, would you?”

“Maybe,” He says with that same grin on his face. He clearly wouldn't do it. He's just saying it to tease you. Taking his advice, I carefully reached my hand towards his tail and he so graciously moved closer to me- to the point where the end was touching my thigh. The scales are smooth and cold, yet I can feel the warmth from underneath them, it's a similar feeling to holding a snake yet way bigger- and that it belongs to one of my close friends. My hands trail across its length, admiring the intricacies as I run my fingers up the sides of one of the spikes, gently tapping the tip when I reach it to see how sharp it is. When retracting my finger, it was wholly intact. The spikes aren't particularly sharp.

My eyes met his once again, he wore a face of satisfaction as he observed me.

“I was right. You didn't send me flying”

Breaking the silence I spoke up, and in response, he chuckled- not so much because he found it funny, but rather, perhaps he was simply amused by my intrigue of his extensions. My hand was still on his tail, absentmindedly stroking the scales in an up-and-down motion.

“The last time I saw your tail, I didn't get to see it in such lights as the ones we currently have- Your scales are breathtaking”

“I'm glad you think so.” As he finished up his sentence, he lifted the end of his tail, until the tip was at perfect reach. Taking in the unspoken invitation, I make a final stroke from one of the points of the three-pointed tip, down before he retracts it, adjusting his position against the headboard.

He leans towards me, lifting his knee to support his elbow, so he can rest his cheek on the back of his hand. Meanwhile, his face is reflecting his highly aroused state of mind.

“Are you ready to move on to the next ones? To indulge your curiosities more; or do you wish to back out while you can?”

“You make it sound like I’m in some sort of imminent danger…”

He raised a brow and squinted his eyes, exaggeratedly scrutinizing me- for his standards- you, that is to say, most people as well, rarely ever see him so animated as he is now “Who says I'm not? I strike fear upon whoever may witness me.”

“Well, not me.”

“Perchance you're the peculiar one, then?”

I scoff and roll my eyes, not taking the jab to heart, before returning my gaze to his happy one. ”Well… you got wings right?”

“Indeed I do; you wish to indulge them next?”

“Sure, let's see them.”

Closing his eyes while nodding, he leaned back slightly, returning to a more neutral position, and relaxing his shoulders. “If I do, then it would make it a lot easier for me if I were to remove my shirt; are you comfortable with that, Child of Man?”

“Yeah, sure, I don't mind.”

“... And you can promise to not tell of this to anyone? If my grandmother were to catch wind of me undressing before a human, I would not hear the end of it.”

I chuckle at the thought.

“I promise- It won't end well for me either!”

He goes ahead without further conversation, beginning to undress. As the layers of fabric lifted off his body, it revealed more scales splayed across his features- even on the features visible earlier. The scales beautifully apply to, and exaggerate the contours and highlights of his body and face, making him look even more inhumanly beautiful.

He sits on his knees in front of me, threatening to make my neck ache if I had to look him in the eyes. Then, faster than I could compute, I’m surrounded by black. His large- large- wings encircle me. I whip my head from side to side, trying to look at them fully before my eyes lock with his. He wore the same stupid grin he did earlier, only bigger, I didn't even know he could be this expressive.

“So, child? Are you intimidated?”

“I-... well yes, kind of...”

His voice is roaring as he laughs at me, having his fun to the full before it softens into a more apologetic one.

“Sorry, the last thing I would want is for you to be scared of me.” He raised his hand and gently glided the back of his fingers against my cheek; he's been very bold recently.

He unflexed his wings, allowing the light to flow back to us. Between the very forward displays of affection, his high mood, and your eyes having to accommodate more light, you need a moment to adjust. And following you as you adjust, he does the same with his position, allowing you full access to his back. His wings go far lower than his back- the ends splay down far onto the bed.

You slowly reach out your hand, first coming into contact with the skin between the shoulder blades. His teal-tipped hair ends tickle your fingers before you finally come into contact with the wings. They spout out unusually from his back, with a joint prominent on the shoulder blade. As your hands glide upwards towards the tip of the top joint, you lightly graze over the talon placed on it, and moving your hand down further to the very end, you grasp the tip and watch it flex out and unfurl again, taking in and admiring the intricate ways it moves.

A few minutes go by of this- by curiously taking in his features, as he sits with his back turned to you in silence, to not interrupt your so focused observations; his wings being the biggest muse as it stands. Mesmerized by the way the thin tissue of his wings unfold when they open up, or the way that they can shield you away from almost any danger out there, within but a second.

The hair running down his back shifts, as he turns his head back to look at you, gazing at you with what could almost be described as sultry eyes.

“Did you have your fun?”

“Oh, if I did- your wings are enchanting, Malleus.”

He's turned over so he's facing you again, now getting yet another good look at the scales adorning his upper body. He smiles in contentment, the worn-out traces of his lipstick emphasising his lips as they curl upwards.

“So, Mal… is the next step full dragon form?”

“Oh no, my Child of Man, I think that will have to wait for another time; royal secrecy and indecency rules and whatnot.”

“Aw… Though when that does happen - which it will- can I ride you?”

“I can't promise anything, but it certainly wouldn't go against my reservations.”

Before you could answer, a notification rang through your phone, that Crowley gave you back at the Scarabia incident. As it turned out it was a text from Epel, in a group chat you’re in with your first-year friends. But as the screen lit up, the time caught your eye.

“There's only about an hour left, until I have to meet up with Grim again for dinner… how about we savour these last few moments?”

“Do you have anything particular in mind, prefect?”

He raised an eyebrow before answering, and when he was done speaking you took a bold move to lean forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down to lay on the mattress along with you.

“Could we spend the time cuddling until I have to go again?”

His usual warm smile returns to his face, though differently this time, accompanied by the slightest redness dusting his cheeks.

“I would be delighted to.”

He gently grabs onto your waist, pulling you closer to his body. The scales on his neck feel cold to the touch, as you make yourself comfortable laying your head against his chest; letting the soft rhythmic thump of his heartbeat lull you to sleep before his tail wraps around one of your legs. Lastly, he opens his wings and wraps them around the two of you.

Staying like that, the two of you lay comfortably in each other's presence, before you had to return to whatever duties and responsibilities await you outside his room.

A/N (Chrille): from what I've heard, in Briar Valley, there's a rumour/belief that dragons are extinct? I’m not too sure though. Also please exuse if my grammar or mommas are weird English isn’t my first language😭

[alphynix]

Metriorhynchids were a group of fully marine crocodyliforms known from the mid-Jurassic to the early Cretaceous of Europe and the Americas. They were the most aquatic-adapted of all known archosaurs, with streamlined bodies, smooth scaleless skin, small front flippers, larger hind flippers, and shark-like tail flukes. They may also have been endothermic, and might even have given live birth at sea rather than laying eggs.

Rhacheosaurus gracilis here was a metriorhynchid that lived in warm shallow waters around what is now Germany during the late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. Around 1.5m long (~5'), its long narrow snout lined with delicate pointed teeth suggests it fed on small soft-bodied prey, a niche partitioning specialization that allowed it to coexist with several other metriorhynchid species in the same habitat.

Unlike most other marine reptiles metriorhynchids didn't have particularly retracted nostrils, which may have had a limiting effect on their efficiency as sustained swimmers since higher-set nostrils make it much easier to breathe without having to lift the whole head above the surface. The lack of such an adaptation in this group may be due to their ancestors having a single nasal opening formed entirely within the premaxilla bones at the tip of the snout, uniquely limiting how far it could easily shift backwards – other marine reptiles had nostrils bound by the edges of multiple different bones, giving them much more flexibility to move the openings around.

(By the early Cretaceous a close relative of Rhacheosaurus did actually evolve nostrils bound by both the premaxilla and the maxilla, and appeared to have started more significant retraction, but unfortunately this only happened shortly before the group's extinction.)

Metriorhynchids also had well-developed salt glands in front of their eyes, but the large sinuses that accommodated these glands may have made their skulls ill-suited to deep diving, being more susceptible to serious damage from pressure changes and restricting their swimming to near-surface waters only.

Preserved skin impressions in some metriorhynchid fossils show several unusual "irregularities", including curl shapes, small bumps, and cratering. It's unknown what exactly caused these marks, but they may represent scarring from external parasites such as lampreys and barnacles.

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References:

Andrade, Marco BD, and Mark T. Young. "High diversity of thalattosuchian crocodylians and the niche partition in the Solnhofen Sea." 56th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, 2008. https://svpca.org/years/2008_dublin/abstracts.pdf#page=14

Séon, Nicolas, et al. "Thermophysiologies of Jurassic marine crocodylomorphs inferred from the oxygen isotope composition of their tooth apatite." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375.1793 (2020): 20190139. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0139

Spindler, Frederik. "Live Birth in a Jurassic Marine Crocodile." Abstracts of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, 2019. https://www.palaeontologie.geowissenschaften.uni-muenchen.de/pdfs/palges2019_abstracts.pdf#page=141

Spindler, Frederik, et al. "The integument of pelagic crocodylomorphs (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae)" Palaeontologia Electronica 24.2 (2021): a25. https://doi.org/10.26879/1099

Young, Mark T., et al. "Convergent evolution and possible constraint in the posterodorsal retraction of the external nares in pelagic crocodylomorphs." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 189.2 (2020): 494-520. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa021

Young, Mark T., et al. "Skull sinuses precluded extinct crocodile relatives from cetacean-style deep diving as they transitioned from land to sea." Royal Society Open Science 11.10 (2024): 241272. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241272

Wikipedia contributors. “Metriorhynchidae” Wikipedia, 12 Nov. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metriorhynchidae

Wikipedia contributors. “Rhacheosaurus” Wikipedia, 02 Dec. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhacheosaurus