#first of all its more likely than not that the prey animal is very stressed in these situations

[trans-xianxian]

sorry I don't care if your miniaturized apex predator is nice to the tiny prey animal you have brought into your home they should not be interacting 😭

[fairszy]

# — oral ! 🕊️

how : alhaitham, wriothesley, cyno, diluc, + zhongli give head !

disclaimers : afab!reader + no specific pronouns. mentions of a skirt in cyno’s ! zhongli has dragon features ! mndi ! 18+ ONLY ! 🍓

#001 — ALHAITHAM !

his hands are gentle and delicate. like a wild animal he stares at its prey. alhaitham is fixed between your knees, watching your body as if it was some kind of experiment.

finally he stops staring, leaning right in close to your heat. again he stares but this time it’s not a careful study, no, he’s letting his mind run rampant with impure desires.

your grinding hips and needy whines fall upon deaf ears. alhaitham is not listening. slowly his tongue pokes out, gently using the tip of it to graze your clit. the gesture is so gentle it makes you shiver. he takes his time, slowly and calculated he devours you whole. ♡

— “i will take my time with you . . . just be patient, okay ?”

#002 — WRIOTHESLEY !

the duke is rough. every action he has is always full of greed. he can’t take his time, it might kill him if he does. so it’s no surprise he has you pressed against the closest wall.

it’s absolutely no surprise that inbetween ravenous kisses and clashing teeth, wriothesleys hands would be tugging your bottoms down past your knees. at this rate he didn’t care who saw you like this.

he will kiss his way down, leaving a plethora of bite marks and hickeys along the way. now you’re able to look down and see your adoring partner eagerly spreading your thighs and sucking happily on your clit, shooting you a cheeky wink in the process. ♡

— “i don’t care who sees, i want to see you break darling.”

#003 — CYNO !

it’s always the quiet ones you gotta look out for. the general mahamatra was more than skilled in keeping such a calm composure even when in a situation just like the one you’ve put him in.

you’re in the tavern, happily drinking and feasting with friends !! however no one knows that cyno’s hand has slowly creeped its way up the incredibly small skirt you decided to wear. for five minutes now his hand was rubbing lazy little circles when you needed him the most.

if there was one thing cyno was incredible at ? it’s eating you out into next week. the mahamatra was not only skilled in combat but also with his tongue. one by one more people started to leave. a perfect enough distraction for a very hard cyno to drag you to the restaurants bathroom to reward your patience. ♡

— “you did so well waiting for me . . . you’ll be compensated cumpletely . . get it because — sorry.”

#004 — DILUC !

he melts. it’s as if a lifetime of stress slides right off his shoulders when he’s in your presence. he takes his time, kissing from your lips right down to your inner thighs. fiery red eyes never leave your expression.

diluc is rather quiet during sex — unless he’s eating you out. diluc truly gets into what he’s doing to you. he prefers to do it in the morning the best.

occasionally he wakes you up by gently kissing your thighs all the way to the softness that is your folds. his eyes hood and his mind swims in an endless sea of lust as he slowly wakes you up with his gentle kitten licking. ♡

— “good morning firefly . . . allow me to finish here and then we’ll get breakfast, yes?”

#005 — ZHONGLI !

for a centuries old retired god zhongli is rather clueless in his ministrations. every way he touches you is like learning to read for the first time. gold eyes carefully watch and observe each and every gasp, whine, bite of the lip — you name it. he was watching.

the way you call out to him does a number on the god complex he tries so hard to deny. thanks to zhongli being an ancient dragon he also had a stunning tongue.

so here he has you in a field of glaze lilys, marking your body in light possessive geo markings you gasp at the all too familiar feeling of zhongli’s forked tongue working to gently flick against both sides of your clit. a satisfied hum leaves his mouth the more you scream and beg for release.

— “your body . . it belongs to me. your god. are we clear little lamb?”

[craftingcreatures]

Today I want to talk about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (Octopus paxarbolis).

OK, so for those who don't know, the PNW Tree Octopus was an internet hoax created in 1998 consisting of a website detailing the animal's life history and conservation efforts. It's completely fake - saying that up front. This animal never existed.

But if you look at this from a speculative biology standpoint? It's genius.

There is one, and only one, thing preventing Octopus from colonizing and being hugely successful in terrestrial environments in the PNW, and that's the fact that no cephalopod has ever been able to overcome the osmotic stress of inhabiting freshwater. We don't know why this is; other mollusks evolved freshwater forms just fine. But if you hand-wave away that one, single limiting factor, the PNW is just primed for a terrestrial octopus invasion.

The Pacific coast of North America is an active tectonic boundary, meaning the coast transitions pretty much immediately into the Cascade and Coastal mountain ranges (contrast with the east coast and its broad Atlantic plain). It's also a lush temperate rainforest, with very high precipitation. This means lots and lots of high-gradient mountain streams with lots of waterfalls and rapids and cold, highly oxygenated water, and not as many large, meandering rivers.

This has important consequences on the freshwater fauna. For one, there are not many freshwater fish in the Pacific Northwest - the rapids and waterfalls are extremely hard to traverse, so many mountain streams are fish-free. There also just isn't much fish diversity in the first place - there's sturgeon in the big rivers, salmonids, a few sculpin and cyprinids and... that's pretty much it. These cold northern rivers are positively impoverished compared to the thriving fish communities of the Mississippi or Rio Grande.

Few fish means few predators, and depending on the size of the first freshwater octopus, salmon and trout just wouldn't be much of a threat. And while these rivers don't have much in the way of fish diversity, there's lots of prey available - crayfish, leeches, mosquito larvae, frogs and tadpoles, water striders, and other aquatic insects, just to name a few. So the first Octopus pioneers to invade the rivers would be entering what essentially amounts to a predator-free environment with lots and lots of food and no competition. Great for colonization.

These ideal conditions get even better once you get up past the rapids and waterfalls, since there's no fish whatsoever in those streams. Octopus, with their sucker-lined arms, are perfectly equipped to navigate fast-moving, rocky-bedded streams and climb up cliffs. They'd also be well able to traverse short stretches of dry ground to access even more isolated pools and ponds. In fact, once Octopus overcome the osmoregulation problem there's nothing at all preventing them from colonizing land in earnest, since the PNW rainforests are so wet; there's no danger of drying out.

Finally there's the question of reproduction. Octopus are famously attentive mothers, because they need to keep the water around their eggs moving and well-oxygenated. In a mountain stream, this wouldn't be an issue, because the cold, turbulent water holds lots and lots of oxygen. Breeding in high mountain streams would be ideal, and the mothers might not even need to attend to their eggs, freeing them up to evolve away from semelparity and allowing them to reproduce more than once in their lives; their populations would thus increase rapidly and dramatically.

I think, if octopus managed to invade freshwater ecosystems in the PNW, it would dramatically change the ecology much like an invasive species. They'd be unstoppable predators of frogs, bugs, slugs, maybe even larger animals like snakes, birds, and small mammals. Nothing would eat them except maybe herons, and things like bears and raccoons would give them a wide berth due to their venom. They would rule that landscape.

The tl;dr is that the PNW is primed for invasion by cephalopods, if only they could manage to overcome the osmoregulation problem and live in freshwater. If the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus really did exist, it wouldn't be a shy and reclusive species on the brink of extinction; it would be a pest, an invasive, overpopulated menace you couldn't get rid of if you wanted to. I can just imagine them crawling up onto people's bird feeders and either stealing the nuts or luring in unsuspecting sparrows and starlings. They would sit in the trees and throw pinecones at hikers for fun. They would be some unholy mixture of snake and slug with the personality of a magpie and I am incensed that they only exist in fiction.

[snootlestheangel]

141 Headcanons

This is "the 141 as shelter dogs" cause that's the only thing on my mind the last 5 days. It's so rotting my brain so I have to share. If nothing makes sense feel free to ask questions. I'd love to explain in more detail about my job since I actually didn't know how much goes into a shelter.

Anyways this is just a little thing right now cause I'm tired and brain no work except when it comes to my work

Some things: bonded animals are harder to adopt because they need to remain together and people often don't want that responsibility.

There are waivers for animals. Typically dogs will have waivers that are for they have a bite history, cannot be around small children, cannot be around small animals like cats, cannot be with other dogs.

Ghost

He's a big Shepherd/Pyrenees mix that's known for being a bit difficult to handle. He came in because animal control took him from a really abusive home. He was terrified of everyone but used his teeth and big size to fight first.

Hes the entire staff's favorite though because they all know it's not his fault, its just the abuse he suffered all those years. The behavior team loves when they get to spend time working with him on leash training and desensitization.

He started improving cause they introduced him to playgroups (where he gets to finally meet other dogs and play with them). He spends most of the time hiding between the team lead of that particular playgroup (despite being like half her size). He does eventually come out of his shell a bit but he's still very reserved.

Gets called "handsome man" literally all day by staff. So many treats. Is actually the sweetest and prefers to sit and "keep watch" then anything else.

Is bonded with Soap. Has bite history waiver.

Price

Big shaggy looking older dog. Has the schnauzer beard so he definitely has some of that in his blood. Called "Captain" cause he just seems to be in charge. Just has that face of "I'm the boss" despite being a dog.

Gets overlooked a lot cause he's not the most attractive dog for people wanting to adopt. He's shaggy looking and a bit grumpy, he's also an older dog so he's overlooked a lot.

Was surrendered for biting the neighbor. It's not his fault, it's the neighbors but ya know. Dog bites person, dog gets taken. It's an unfortunate reality and often times either the owners don't want the dog back or can't get them back.

Soap

Aussie/border collie mix. Has a patch of brown on his head that makes it look like a mohawk. Has the brightest blue eyes and looks just as intelligent as he is.

Was dumped on the shelter's doorstep. He quickly ate his way through a delivery that had soap in it, hence where he got his name.

He became a favorite quickly, got adopted, but was returned in less than a week. The reason being he was "too jumpy". Yes. This is a real ass reason people return their adoptions.

He gets introduced to Ghost as a playmate. They think Ghost needs a more social, confident dog to be buddies with (nothing else is working). It goes great, the whole staff is shocked when they see Ghost play wrestle with this little maniac.

It goes so well, in fact, that Ghost gets more stressed when he's not out in the run with Soap. They end up putting the two together in a kennel that's technically a room. (Something called a real life room that enables higher stress dogs or dogs with buddies to stay visible for the public)

He likes to use Ghost's head to stand on his hind legs when it's food time. Likes to yell but one slap from Ghost and he'll stop.

Gaz

Puppy privilege. Isn't even technically a puppy anymore, he's just got the face and personality of one.

Has a big prey drive though. Was surrendered for killing a bunch of stray cats.

Literally described as sassy cause he'll "talk back" and gives side eyes all the time. Known by the dog walkers as a menace just cause he's strong despite his size, and will yank the leash out of your hand or pull your arm off when he sees anything interesting.

He's a "walk only" dog because he's also an escape artist. Can be in playgroups but needs the "rough and rowdy" one to keep him occupied so he doesn't try to escape.

Soap and Gaz both throw hands with the people trying to leash them for walks, to go on the runs (little spaces of concrete made for dogs to go to the bathroom and play), to go meet potential adopters. Price will politely stand there and let you leash him. Unless Ghost knows you, he will lower his head and let out a growl but doesn't do anything else.

[paintingpuff]

Scavengers Reign: The Dread of Knowing vs. The Horror of Not Knowing

Just a little analysis, heavy spoilers under the cut.

As lots of people have mentioned, one great thing about Scavenger's Reign is that it feels like a legitimate ecosystem that is dangerous but is not technically out to kill you (as opposed to other scifi planets with hyper aggressive megafauna and cute little guys and nothing else), and I think part of that feeling is because Scavenger's Reign as a Formula™ when showing off the dangers of the planet: they almost always show it in its natural environment first. Before Hollow meets Kamen, we see them hypnotizing a regular little creature; when Ursula is captured by those bird things, she sees the method it kills through another prey animal captured; my personal favorite is when Sam is infected with his first parasite, and the opening of the next episode is like a step by step documentary of this cloning parasite's life cycle.

It's all very Hitchcock's Bomb Theory, where the show details these horrifying fates on the animals as a way of telling the audience, "this will happen to your beloved characters if something isn't done about it." It leaves the experience drenched in suspense and dread, and once again the cloning parasite is probably my favorite example of that. We the audience know what is happening, but the characters don't, so it gives you that fun screaming-at-the-screen kind of tension where they can't pick up all the warning signs, and you know why they don't, but dammit they're about to die and it's stressful.

But then there's a specimen that very noticeably breaks this rule.

This fucking thing haunted me when I first watched it, and not just because of the obvious body horror. With every other creature and its behavior, I was able to at least somewhat understand it under the framework of an ecosystem, despite the strange sci-fi elements: Hollow's species have weird hypnotism powers, but that's because it's a method of gaining food; This plant clones animals, but it's because it's a way to infiltrate social animals and propagate itself. And while Sam's heart parasite can at least be understood as wanting to propagate itself, its other behavior is a lot harder to parse. And I feel like part of that is because we never see what its intended prey is. When we get that episode intro showing off the parasite's life cycle, it's showing the effects on the previous group of humans, and never an ordinary animal. And a lot of the parasite's behavior thus feels really specifically attuned to prey humans. There are very few creatures we see on the planet with dexterous hands that could build the shrine(?) it apparently needs to reproduce (is this even to reproduce? Is the implanting of seeds in other animals its means of reproducing? What the Fuck is UP with this thing). Also, because it's unclear how much control it's exerting over the woman, there's the possibility that this plant monster has a very extensive understanding of human social dynamics and physiology in order to pose as a regular human and lure in more victims (of course, there's also the idea that the woman is mostly autonomous, but ultimately puppeted by the plant monster, and thus the plant doesn't need that understanding, but I think part of the horror is not really knowing).

In a world where humans are very much not native, that means this heart parasite is either really really quick to adapt to humans as a prey, or it was already adapted to humans before they ever arrived. And because we never see it properly preying on anything other than humans, we can't get a definite answer.

(I know some may point out that Sam says the heart parasite urges him to implant the seed in lots of animals, not just other humans, but once again we don't actually see what that would entail. How tf would a bird build a shrine?)

By showing how the ecosystem works in its natural state, Scavenger's Reign easily brought suspension and stakes to the characters in danger, but when it refused to give that expected explanation, it instead veered into full on Lovecraftian Horror.

And I love it.

[justatypicalwizard]

Rough and new | bakugo | part one

✦ Summary: You meet a new and interesting creature that seems to share your curiosity. Both of you have motives to your actions that turn out to be vastly different.

✦ Warnings: mer!Bakugo, fem!reader, adult reader, smut(ish) content due to the curcumstances of the story do not expect full smut, dubcon

Minors do not interact

Mers, merfolks, mermaids, mermans, merpeople, they call them various ways in different places. Nonetheless, all these names describe a vast group of human-like creatures living deep down in the dark sea waters. It’s common knowledge that mers exist, though, experiencing one is like standing eye-to-eye with an exotic wild animal. You know they’re there, you’ve probably seen them on the Internet but it’s unlikely you’ll see one with your very own eyes.

Mers keep to themselves. You’ve heard there are delegations and deputies from both species, some peace treaties, off-limits territories for both sides… that’s pretty much all you know about the sea creatures, it’s not like this topic ever interested you. Mers were just always there, what’s the fuss about it?

You crack your knuckles and straighten your back as you step outside of your house. The summer exams have really worn you out. All the stress, sleepless nights, sweaty hands and tears squeezed out of frustration. You feel you have to shred off of it, peel the thick layer and let yourself peacefully wait for the results. Nothing more you can do now anyways.

What’s more soothing than the sea? Evening tamed the hot summer sun, luring you outside of your room and onto the beach. You packed a few things, a towel, suncream, water, snacks, a book and took off.

As your feet hit the warm sand of a wild beach you breathed it, filling all of your lungs up to your nostrils with the salty ocean air. Your fight with science was totally worth it. There were some other people here but nothing too packed. Guess the benefits of ending your semester early. Still, lacking privacy you turned your way towards a boulder to your right. Being a local here, you knew that just behind the tall structure there are large stones sunken in the water. 

Just as you anticipated, the secluded area was empty. Maybe climbing underwater boulders wasn’t the smartest but you’ve done it a million times before.  Dropping your bag on the sand and throwing off your clothes you exposed your skin to the welcoming sunrays. The sea sang its soft and soothing tunes, lulling your shattered nerves. You accepted its quiet invitation and stepped into the cool water. It crept up your ankles, held onto your knees and kissed your tights softly. Finally, you immerse yourself into the water completely, leaving only your head untouched, not wanting to get the salty water into your hair.

Splashing around clumsily you swam to one of the boulders, about to climb on top and lay down on its somehow flat surface. Feeling the stone’s roughness with your hands you repeated a well known pattern of pulling yourself up higher. The stones surface was neatly aligned with the water, making it possible for a bigger wave to hit your but softly. Settling down you breathed out, happy with your position. You looked up at the sun lazily heading down. It’s still a lot of time until it sets, but its enlarging golden visage looks magical right now. 

Fuck those exams, you feel so good right now.

Some time has passed as you relaxed on the stone. That was until you spotted a movement under the glistening waters surface. Something big was swimming there. It was quick and agile. You were unable to make out the exact shape of it, all you knew was that it’s no small fish.

Instinctively, you crumbled in your form, standing on all four, maybe unconsciously trying to hide. At first the movement was far away but it neared you in a weird circling manner. From left to right, right to left, it swam in a large horseshoe shape. Suddenly, you felt like a prey. You asked yourself what was in that head of yours to mindlessly climb on that rock, alone on a wild beach where no one will help you if something happened. They said, never underestimate the sea and of course you didn’t listen. Heck, you always thought people meant slipping or being pulled by a strong wave and drowning in the end but this was something else. A big thing was circling around you and you didn’t have a clue what that could be.

It became clearer the closer it came. A light shape, something orange with a glimpse of black. Suddenly it sank lower and you could no longer make out anything due to the rippling water. 

Adrenaline hit your veins. It was like losing a spider out of your view, even worse than seeing it. You kept crouching trying to merge with the stone. The beach was not so far away but now it seemed like miles. Thinking about how fast the thing seemed there was no chance of swimming back to the shore safely. 

Think, think, think!

Your mind shouted as it tried to work through the fog of panic and adrenaline. You felt how tears prickle your eyes. Maybe if you stop moving it will just go away, think that you’re dead or gone. You tried to stay in the exact middle of the stone, as far from every side as you could. You counted from hundred down, trying to calm yourself, reassuring that everything will be alright, you’re safe as long as your body is above the water.

The thing appeared once again, slowly emerging from the depths. It seemed to be going up the boulder. Spotting its movement you had no clue whether it was scared or… hunting. Your eyes were glued to where it was getting bigger and bigger, something pale. Tensing your muscles you were ready to jump into the water and try to swim away as fast as you could. No chance for that but your panicked mind couldn’t think about anything else. 

A chin, milky cheeks, halo of fair hair. That thing started to look human-like. Finally you spotted what threw you off the edge, red eyes staring into your soul. They were wide open with small pupils concentrated solely on your face, not even blinking. You on the other side blinked a few times. A face in the water. Was it making this situation better or worse?

Your lack of movement must have assured the creature that it can, in fact, move on. With that it’s face finally came inches from the water surface and now you could make out all of it’s might.

It looked like a man with blonde hair. He was moving softly with the water's motion, looking at you. Both of your bodies stayed still, yours out of fear, his… you didn’t know. Something moved below him and you caught a glimpse of a fin. 

A fin, a face and a fin.

No shit, it’s a mer! You gasped despite your tries to stay still and silent. It was like an exotic animal, well maybe it was an exotic animal. You had no clue, mers never interested you so you knew very little about them. What you remembered was that there was supposed to be peace between your species. So it shouldn’t attack you, yes?

You were crying and amused at the same time. Too many emotions flowing through your body and brain caused conflicting reactions. You were slightly trembling but wanting to touch it at the same time. Apart from the water making him move the mer stayed still, watching you without blinking. It was fairly unsettling.

But what if… no, sticking your hand out towards a wild animal is the worst thing you can do, even if it looks peaceful and maybe even interested in you. But touching a mer, feeling it’s skin, it’s hair. You wondered whether he would be warm, slick, if its hair strands were as soft as those of humans. An opportunity like this could never happen in your life any more. You could brag about it, tell people that you had an interaction with, simultaneously to humans, the most intelligent creature in the world. Maybe he would touch you back. Maybe he was just curious, having swam so high and seeing a human. Maybe he also was scared, that’s why he moved so slow. He or it? You didn’t know.

Your eyes ran up and down his face. One thing was for sure, he was beautiful. His features and persistent gaze reminded you of a curious cat. With every passing second you wanted to touch him even more.

Your hand budged, slowly as not to scare him (or yourself) you moved your arm towards the water. Like greeting a scared puppy you slid the hand towards the water's surface to show it to him and his gaze caught on it. Your breath got caught in your clenched throat as you lowered your hand towards the salty water, closer and closer to his head. You aimed for the hair, scared to put your palm on his cheek, it was too close to his mouth.

He still didn’t move, watching you intensely. Your fingertips dipped under the surface, the water seemed cold and eerie. With surgical precision you caught a single strand of his flowing hair and he allowed you.

It was soft and runny, slipping away from your fingers just like that of a human underwater. Seeing his lack of movement this time it was you feeling slightly more courageous. You traced his hair dipping your hand completely into it, the fair strands flowing and making your hand disappear into the light mess. Tho his eyes never left your face.

Toying with his hair you wondered about his light skin. Was it soft, warm, was it different from yours? Moving your fingertips along the crown of his head you went for his forehead, the furthest place from his mouth. Your hand trembled slightly as you laid your fingers on his skin. The lack of surprises shook you. It was just like yours, human-like. Turning your hand slightly you brushed his forehead with the back of your fingers, grazing it delicately with your nails. You went lower and lower, feeling his nose and cheeks. Your eyes locked onto his pale lips and just as you thought of grazing them with your thumb an arm emerged from the water gripping your wrist.

The mer held you, his hand above the water, the grip tight and unforgiving. Was he fed up? Did he have enough of your bullshit? Was it just a game to lure you to him so he can devour you?

Your mind ran a thousand miles a minute as you started to squirm and squelch. You grabbed his hand trying to pry it off of your wrist but his grip was like steel. His arm was massive, only now did you realise just how big he was. Tears of fear ran down your cheeks as your butt hit the stone and you kicked the mer’s arm in panic.

His second arm emerged from the water with a splash. He pulled your wrist down, smashing it into the stones surface. It hurt. You felt the pressure of his body on your bruised wrist as he pushed himself up, using both hands to handle his weight, on the stone’s surface. With half of his body up he towered over your crumbled form, the sun dying somewhere behind his back, casting a shadow over his persistent face and massive form.

Your wrist was stuck under his hand, pinned to the stone. It hurt like hell so you tugged on the palm restraining you, your voice caught in your throat. He seemed to ignore it while looking at your face. His other hand went for your face so he shifted all of his weight on your poor wrist.

This was enough to draw a mortified scream out of your throat. You thought he broke your hand. The sound made him flinch and dip slightly underwater but he stopped, submerged down to his nipple line. You grabbed your hurting wrist and hugged it tightly to your chest crying. A few seconds of your whimpering passed and you put your hand to the sunlight trying to examine it. You moved your palm around inspecting whether it was broken or not, luckily you didn’t have problems with tossing it around. Nonetheless, it hurt like hell and you spotted a purple mark where he grabbed you. It had the shape of his fingers. This will certainly leave a bruise for some time.

Your body reacted on its own, flinching, when you heard him emerge from the water once again. This time his palms were both situated on the stone and he was staring intensely at your wrist. He actually looked shocked.

The new wave of adrenaline washed out of your body and you started to analyse the situation. Looking at his weird expression and his earlier approval of your touch he most likely did it accidentally. You shyly showed him your wrist and he put his hand up to it, stretching his fingers, they matched the bruise on your skin. Only now did you realise his hand had a membrane between each finger. It was nearly transparent and looked extremely soft.

A weird sound came out of his throat. It seemed like a groan but you weren't quite sure. His eyes shifted back at your face. The mer put one of his hands up in the air but the stone was slippery and he slid down into the water. You looked after him and soon he emerged once more with greater force this time. The creature took a weird spin and there it was, his tail in all its glory. 

You didn’t even realise he somehow sat down next to you because you were too fascinated by the orange-to-black scales on his lower half. They glistered in the sun with water droplets making them look like someone scattered glitter all over. Your hand shot its way but you were cut off by a smack, surprisingly gentle one. You looked up at him and he was towering over you, staring down with his red eyes, this time blinking, maybe even a bit too fast. 

You realised what you were doing. He let you touch him and you didn’t give anything back. If your assumptions were correct and he was interested in you then it was only fair to have a trade. You gulped, the thought of his membrane connected hands roaming your very exposed body sent a wave of panic and excitement down your spine.

His eyes search for something on your face. You wanted to give him a sign to go on so you stretched your neck, turning your face to him completely. The wind moved your hair around in contrast to his wet strands, sticking to his skin. This must have interested him because he went for your head first, just as you did to him earlier.

He was less delicate than you, grabbing a handful of your hair and yanking your head to the back. It didn’t hurt but it was uncomfortable. You looked at him murmuring something incomprehensible. The mer started to squeeze and tug at your hair. Soon his other hand joined and he was smearing the strands all over your head and face, tangling them.

You didn’t know where it came from but a small laugh escaped your throat. It just felt funny, how rough he was and how he possibly had no clue how to touch you. The noise made him stop, his hands still tangled in the mess on your head. You looked at him, pushing hair out of your vision. A second passed and he was down for tangling your hair once more which made you snicker again. He ceased his movement once more at the sound of your voice. Was he analysing what was going on? Was he trying to connect his movement with your sounds?

‘’It’s funny.’’ You said and his pointy ears seemed to move. 

What was going on in his head right now? 

The mer moved his hands out of your hair and cupped your cheeks in a rough manner. You slid the messy hair out of your face to give him a better view yet, he seemed not interested. He grumbled once more, in that weird manner, putting one of his hands into your hair, gripping at the back of your head. Is he more interested in it because it’s different from his? Or at least because it’s dry?

He yanked your head once more, exposing your neck. His eyes shot at the crook where your head connected with your shoulders. What did he mean with that neck, throwing your head back and forth like that? His other hand wandered to your face. At first he gripped all over your mouth and nose but soon his thumb found a way to your lips where it rested. You shut your mouth, feeling his clawed finger on the soft of your lips. Surprisingly his pointy and sharp nail was black.

You felt him move and suddenly his face came closer to yours. He rested in the exposed crook of your neck. Then you heard his inhaling. In and out, he breathed next to your ear, tracing his cheek up and down your neck. You felt his finger push inside your mouth and a red bulb lit in your head. This was way too much, what was he doing?

Well, there was little you could do because his grab was like steel, he did what he wanted. His finger traced your teeth as you tried to push your tongue to the back of your mouth, not to lick him by any means. He murmured something into your neck, circling your canines. Finally he pulled out. Even though it was a few seconds it felt like eternity with his thumb in your mouth. The mers face also left your neck. He slides his hands through your hair once more before moving away completely.You stared at him. Now what?

PART TWO

SERIES MASTERLIST

[hlficlibrary]

✤ Crime Fics ✤

A series of posts with the top five fics of each category by kudos plus five more hidden gems from that category! Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

- Top 5 H/L Fics -

1️⃣ my heart, in deadly rhythm by orphan_account (M, 42k)

There exists somewhere a very, very small list containing the names of people who don’t want Louis Tomlinson dead. Harry Styles may or may not be one of those people.

(or a Spies!AU in which Liam is the Wade to Louis' Kim Possible, Zayn seduces people for intel, Niall is an expert at blowing things up, and Harry is more than a bit famous in his particular field... or infamous, actually. And Louis? Well, Louis just wishes people would quit trying so bloody hard to kill him all the time.)

2️⃣ A Rose, By Any Other Name by iwillpaintasongforlou / @canonlarry (E, 10k)

“I don’t understand, Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry says quietly.

“You don’t have to understand, sweetheart.” Louis reaches over and runs his thumb across Harry’s cheekbone, watching the boy’s breathing pause as he dares not move beneath the touch of this strange, imposing man. “All you need to know is that you work for me now, and that I’m going to keep you safe from all the bad people in this city, you hear?”

Louis Tomlinson is the head of New York City's mafia, and Harry is the beautiful boy from Texas who falls in with the wrong crowd (which turns out to be the right crowd).

3️⃣ Little Cub by aace1234 (NR, 68k)

Harry is head of the underground, he's ruthless, possessive, feared and powerful.

Louis is a student, his dad works for Harry but Louis has no idea about the underground world.

What happens when Louis Dad causes trouble and Harry kidnaps Louis for revenge.

4️⃣ we've got the world in our hands by sarcasticfluentry (E, 54k)

A mutants/superpowers AU. Louis and his friends attend the Cowell Institute for General Education and Mutant Training in London; when Louis meets Harry, the newest student at the Cowell Institute, he immediately recruits Harry to help play matchmaker for his friend Zayn. Harry and Louis are so caught up in meddling in Zayn's love life, though, that they don't notice that their own friendship is progressing into something more. Meanwhile, an ominous threat up north grows slowly until suddenly, no mutant - or human - is safe.

5️⃣ Watch Him As He Goes by LoadedGunn (M, 14k)

It's why Harry loves assignments with Louis; they're thrilling in a way. It's like he never rests. He's this animated, gorgeous guy who's all over the place and Harry actually has to work hard just to catch up to him.

It kind of reminds him of trying to stalk a predator stalking its prey, with his old 70-300 mm lens. Only the predator is a cheeky arsehole. "Come along Harold, I know you usually wait for your zebras to pose for you but here you've got to think on your feet," Louis yelled one time, before disappearing to interview Detective Payne. Never mind the fact Harry was slow in the first place because of Louis' tight jeans.

Or, the AU where Louis' the best police reporter in the country, Harry's the new photographer who is more used to penguins than human subjects, and also there are superheroes.

HIDDEN GEMS:

💎 this charade (was never going to last) by @scrunchyharry (E, 68k)

On the surface, CitizenX, an international caritative nonprofit, looked like any other nonprofit, funding humanitarian missions worldwide and striving to make the world a better place, one donation at a time.

At least, that was what Harry thought, until he was hired as a computer specialist for a spinoff agency called carish, whose true purpose was to reveal CitizenX’s tangled web of lies.

As if the whole ‘industrial spy’ business was not stressful enough, Harry found himself in a hatred-at-first-sight relationship with one of his new coworkers, Louis, a man intent on detesting Harry.

When the worst happened and Harry and Louis found themselves thrown together in hiding, with only each other to rely on, Harry never could have predicted the turn their relationship would take.

Nor could he anticipate that it would all be taken away from him and he would have to decide how far he was willing to go to get Louis back.

💎 All My Roads Lead to You by @dandelionfairies (M, 41k)

Harry’s stuck in a life he didn’t choose after leaving home at eighteen. Bartending and running drugs were never on his list. Louis is an undercover cop sent in to figure out exactly what’s going on inside of the bar. Neither could have known they’d be drawn to each other.

It’s obvious to Louis that Harry isn’t aware of everything that happens in the backroom. It’s obvious that Nick [Grimshaw] has used Harry’s vulnerability, insecurities, and naivety to keep the man exactly where he wants him.

Harry has never admitted to anyone who he is. They wouldn’t accept him. In fact, he has no doubt that if anyone found out he’s gay, he’d be dead. He doesn’t want to let that wall down for Louis. Because no one can know. But that’s easier said than done. Louis is everything Harry could have ever pictured.

💎 Cowboy Like Me by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings (M, 29k)

Going legit and starting over in a small town was supposed to solve all of Harry’s problems. That was until a string of robberies in wealthy towns brings him face-to-face with his rouge ex-partner and their dicey, unresolved past.

💎 Tonight's the Night by @jaerie (E, 24k)

Tonight’s the night. The night Harry has been waiting for. Everything has been carefully planned, nothing left to chance, the scene set and waiting for their arrival. It’s time.

Harry lives a double life. During the day he's Harry- trusty blood spatter analyst, at night his darkness comes out to play. So far he's been able to act his way through a normal life without drawing attention. What happens when that is no longer the case?

Or a Dexter AU where Harry is Dexter, Liam is Doakes, Niall is Masuka and Gemma is Deb.

💎 Harry, That Kills People by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup (T, 2k)

If there’s one thing that Harry hates, it’s getting his clothes dirty.

If there’s one other thing that Harry hates, it’s murder.

Unfortunately, right here and right now, Harry’s clothes are dirty, and he’s murdered someone. So. It’s not a great day.

“Ugh,” says Harry. “Yeargh. Bleh.”

[jellybeanfeind]

Magic in Astrozoda behaves less like an innate force of nature and more like a coding language that hasn’t been updated since it was originally written. This means that spellcrafting is an extremely powerful but extremely dangerous line of study; amazing discoveries have been made entirely on accident, but so have a lot of…less fortunate occurrences. But for every For loop that ends in catastrophic disaster, there are a dozen misspelt attributes or misread commands that lead to Astrozoda’s cultures, landscapes, and wildlife being peppered with the screw-ups of spellcrafters past. And chickens, being plentiful, are often tragic test subjects.

The cockatrice is among the most populous and ancient of these screw-ups. Whoever first made one did so well over five hundred years ago, so their exact intentions are unknown, but very few modern scholars entertain the idea that the cockatrice was what they were actually trying to make. Cockatrices can occur if a snake nests eggs in magically-enhanced henhouses, but with improvements to homesteading magic, this has become rare. Nonetheless, breeding populations of cockatrices are well-established in warm-temperate regions where poultry farms and wild snakes co-occur. In some of these regions, they have out-competed other mid-sized carnivores to the point that some areas have experienced local extinctions of foxes or bobcats.

The chunk and the long chicken are more modern in origin. Both are the work of (in)famous spellcrafter Atticus Owle, whose various discoveries (and screw-ups) over his career ended in his sudden disappearance about thirty years ago. Both of these animals were crafted with the original intention of increasing the meat output of domestic poultry without selective breeding to the point of debilitating deformity; he’d hoped that the long chicken in particular would replace the popular broiler chicken breed, and that the chunk would reduce hunting stress on ducks. Unfortunately, long chickens are far too dangerous to farm, and chunks are much better at hiding than ducks, in addition to not being any bigger.

The chunk lives in rivers and shallow lakes, where it hides close to the bottom to ambush prey that ventures too close. When no fish are nearby, chunks will swim slowly in the direction of the water’s flow, allowing their markings to help disguise their movement. Chunks beach only to nest, but they will rarely do so in the territories of humanoids; they are apparently quite intelligent, and only a few safe locations are known to hide their nests. Fishers in regions with established populations of chunks will often leave fishmeal bait a few hundred paces away from their fishing spots, to keep the birds well-sated so as to leave the largest fish for the fishers.

Long chickens are quite the mystery all of their own. The spell creating them was apparently supposed to simply create “large” chickens, but clearly, something went wrong. Owle reportedly hypothesized that chickens are descended of much larger animals, but in trying to unearth the supposed ancestor, made something far more difficult to farm. Long chickens are cooperative hunters, living in disorganized packs of around thirty individuals, and they primarily use their immense speed and high numbers to simply overwhelm prey animals. Though they are only about two feet tall at the shoulder, flocks of long chickens have reportedly been sighted felling moose.

Chittens and nuggets are the result of more elementary-level spellcrafting errors, but simplicity in the mistake does not equate simplicity in the consequences. Chittens were intended to be a sort of “designer” pet, to retain kitten-like cuteness its whole life and to come in a variety of colors. While they do certainly live up to this purpose, and indeed are very popular pets, feral populations are also now established, and these feral colonies have led to the discovery of some previously-unknown effects of their origins.

To dissuade potential animal abuse, a condition was written in their creation spell which could inflict immense dread upon someone knowingly harming a chitten. This had additional conditions attached to it, such that the condition would not affect anyone acting in self-defense, or in the chitten’s best interests, or for the safety of others, but these components were written in less-stable terms, and some feral populations of chittens have become nearly impossible to remove as a result. Even local predators cannot face them; wolves living near feral chitten colonies not only avoid chittens, but they secondarily will avoid anything that looks or smells like one. This has led to some interesting changes in these areas, where cuteness has converged on an aposematic condition, and other prey animals will mimic the round head and colorful eyes of a chitten to avoid being eaten.

Nuggets, on the other hand, are harmlessly filling an ecological niche they found completely on accident. Like every other animal featured here, nuggets were created on accident by a spellcrafter’s poor proofreading, however they have no exceptional features that endow them with the ability to out-compete much of anything. They’re basically hamsters. Conveniently enough, their invention coincided with a terrible plague which had devastated a small region’s populations of mice and squirrels. Releasing nuggets into the area prevented the drop in rodent population from negatively impacting higher trophic levels, and now they are a staple worldwide, as common as mice.

More “important” information on Astrozoda to come, I was just possessed by the need to make sure these chickens were seen.

[crystal-verse]

FFXIVwrite Day 1 - Steer

(More under the cut for length purposes)

You do not know this kind of creature. It is -- large, and strong, and a skittish prey animal and oh, you are going to die, you are going to fall off and then this horse will trample all over you until your bones are broken and you are dead--

"Don't worry so much." Assures Buqatai, the Mol who had offered to teach you. (Had been told by Fate to teach you, or one of the other gods that spoke to the Mol, some times. So said Temulun Khatun, she who hears the gods' voices clearer. She hears your voice most clearly of all, you being in the flesh to speak, your soul bound to that Tower with its spires reaching into the heavens.)

"Horses can be very dangerous." You point out, not illogically.

"The horse will not hurt you." Buqatai replies, evenly, with a hint of laugh in his voice. "You are far stronger than it."

"This body is not." You stress, sitting in the saddle as if the horse would suddenly toss you off. It might. You don't know. You've never ridden a horse before -- and riding horses is much different from riding chocobos, or other creatures. It's terrifying! The horse is taller than you are!

"It will be easy," Buqatai reassures, "once you have gotten used to the act."

And, thinking logically, Buqatai is right. But you are not thinking logically right now. Raha, you wonder, have you ever suffered something like this? (Probably not. Or -- maybe. He'd made quite a surprised noise when you first had him ride chocoboback with you, those many years ago. How softened the memory is, by time.)

"If you are sure." You say, instead of lingering in your thoughts. "Remind me again what to do?"

The instructions that Buqatai gives are easy, and simple to follow. Were you any more prideful you'd perhaps be embarrassed -- but you are a god in mortal flesh, and you know better than to be embarassed by being unused to things you'd never tried before. Why should you be embarassed for struggling to ride a horse? You've never gotten practice at such a thing. You know this. The Mol know this. There is no judgement, or mockery, only patient, gentle teaching. As it should be. (The Mol are your favorite Xaela tribe, and have been for quite some while. Fate, and the other gods that you once shared the skies with, speak and the Mol listen. They are good people, the Mol. Kind-hearted. Gentle. Willing to wander whither you or your kin would direct them. You do not do such a thing, not anymore -- in a mortal vessel, the act seems different, like something you are not to do. Perhaps that is why you do not steer them with your words, why you smile softly but do not answer their questions with much other than vagueness. You do not want to give things that could be heard as orders.

With you in mortal flesh, it puts you at too much of an advantage to your kin. The Mol are to hear all of their old, still-remembered gods, that share the sky. You are the oldest god, and they remember you much, and you would not want to prevent your kin from saying their pieces. Would not want to smother their authority with your own. If Temulun asks, you will share your thoughts, but only as thoughts. You are a god but you are also mortal, in the present moment, and so 'tis not your place to steer the way the Mol live.)

"May I try, now?" You ask, gently, as you ease yourself out of that musing, and recall the advice that Buqatai had given you. "I can do it, I think. The horse will not hurt me."

"The horse will not hurt you." Buqatai confirms yet another time, a smile on his face this time.

Gently, you urge the horse to move forward. It does. And so, for this brief moment -- you are not a god, nor are you one of the two Warriors of Light, nor are you someone fighting to save Doma from Garlemald's clutches -- no, for this moment you are just K'pheli Tia, a person riding a horse, and who is one of the Mol, taken in alike to a long-lost cousin. It is a nice thing to be.

[ow1et]

@ofsoul — i've been wondering, because you've indulged me w/ masked attie writing, do you think her aura/soul changes when she's with the mask vs when she's without it? as in, her aura gets darker or harder to see, or any symbolism you might consider showing up.

in short, i think it does change when she does and does not wear her mask. i also think there are some changes between when she's in public vs in private and some subtler changes between her usual roles/facades that she puts on. i don't think every act she puts on results in a lot of change to her aura/soul, just the ones that she frequently slips into ( socialite, happy-go-lucky, airheaded, cold ). though, i think there's always some amount of wrongness that can be picked up on.

when she's acting, i think her soul almost feels stressed or strained, like she's trying too hard and pushing the boundaries of being something that she isn't. i don't know if that makes any sense at all, but i think you would be able to tell on like a spiritual level that something is off even if she's a good enough actress that you would never know based on physical cues. it's like trying to fit into a dress that is several sizes too small and the seams haven't started to pop yet, but they are stretched to their limit.

her aura's original, base color was a yellow-orange. from what i've read, those colors are tied to taking risks, valuing wisdom and knowledge, and determination. a lot of the suggested career paths were artsy, creative, and athletic, which also fits what athene would have chosen for herself as a career had she had the freedom to do so.

a couple of things kept coming up when researching yellow especially : happiness and generosity. both of which athene does not seem to be at face value, but she is generous in ways she knows how to be ( buying expensive gifts, charity, mostly monetarily ). happiness is a little harder because there are so very few instances when she is genuinely, truly happy at this point in her life ( this aspect burnt out the fastest and while she was still young ). so it goes back to her originally being a happy kid. a troublemaker for attention, but always happy. you can still get notes of it if you're lucky enough to see her genuinely smile or put in the work to actually have a positive relationship with her.

at this point, i think her aura is very desaturated with a brownish tint. it's that gross sort of yellow that doesn't even seem appropriate to call yellow anymore. i read that this usually happens as a result of fearing a loss of power or control, instability, or feeling trapped or stuck. all of which definitely apply to athene. it's at its darkest point ( a murky brown like a creek after the silt has been disturbed ) around her lower back. this is where her worst scars are : five lines from her right side across her left hip. they're from her first training session with the court. they run deep and they still burn.

as far as differences between owlet vs athene, i think the overall color is the same. with the mask on, there's more of a faintness or wispiness to her aura. it's harder to get a feel for, almost like it's a snake that is constantly shifting and moving, hiding behind stronger souls, and always slipping through your fingers. owlet is a hard catch ( even harder to keep ahold of ) and her soul is no different. while athene absolutely tries to hide in the shadows and conceal herself on a physical level, she isn't consciously trying to do so on a spiritual level as well. her own deception just runs deeper than even she realizes.

on a less visual note, i think that approaching athene always feels akin to approaching a cornered prey animal. this is worse when she has the mask on. the two aspects i don't believe she has ever and will ever be able to hide are her fear and her guilt. as far as body language, she absolutely can hide both. but she cannot wrench the fear and hurt from her soul. i don't think she's pleasant to be around and i think these two emotions just bleed out of her wherever she goes, taints the air and the world around her.

all of this is also applicable to change as well. there are some dynamics that i already have where i think her aura/soul would be at least beginning to heal and be less clouded. the opposite is also just as easily possible. in fact, i'd say in instances where athene becomes a talon that her aura is almost imperceptible and is entirely that murkier brown color.

[thaethiira]

Ok @goblin-witch-bird I made a separate post to be polite to OP. I'm going to focus on what traits or behaviours about the animal I'm talking about, and what those suggest, rather than going into too much detail:

Honeypot ants - inflation, transformation into an object. Inflation is a whole fetish that seems complicated and opaque but actually it really is primally simple when it comes to the honeypot ants: I'm intolerant of fructose + my mom didn't let me have a lot of candy as a kid (not even on halloween; I was allowed to trick-or-treat but she took it all and rationed it out to me a little at a time after I got it home) + being fat or eating a lot was taboo. Watching a documentary that mentioned there's bugs that purposely feed some of their colony lots and lots of candy and turn them into food storage did... a lot of things to my imagination. Being an object--a useful object--takes away all the stress of being a person and being expected to do people things like socialise or have a job.

Honeybees - ok this one is actually because of a specific cartoon, the Queen Bee episode of Super Secret Secret Squirrel, which involved hypnosis and being drowned in honey as well as the usual Captured By The Villain bondage and damsel-in-distress stuff.

Termites - inflation, oviposition. Queen termites just being... well, look them up. They aren't like queen bees or ants, they can't move at all and are helpless to the colony's whim. I also badly misunderstood the common definition of 'oviposition' when I first encountered it--I thought it assumed you were already an egg-laying species to start with, not being used as the nest.... XD

Orb-Weaver Spiders - The Spider and the Fly is extremely erotic if you look at it right. Also Tony DiTerlizzi's art is very sexy like. The lines and the shading are very sexy. I don't know how to describe that to someone without synaesthesia other than 'the way he draws planes and shades them is very sexy'. James and the Giant Peach was also a formative book and film for me (As it happened, the Henry Selick film and being able to read the book happened at the same time for me).

Ladder-Weaver Spiders - weave a web that is specifically designed to foil a butterfly or moth's usual method of escaping a web by shedding a few scales--the ladder web is structured so that they try and do that and end up falling down the web, losing more and more scales until they have lost so many they can't fly anymore. The idea of not being worried about being stuck in a web until you find you foolproof method of escape has been thought of by the spider... listen, I like clever villains and I like villains that lay traps.

Bolas spiders - perfectly recreate the perfume of a lady moth, and moths are creatures where the males are entirely driven by pheremones past the point of usual caution. See above--I like clever villains who lay traps. This also has elements of hypnokink but the hypnosis using entirely and wholly another sense than sight is something I don't see often.

Farmer Ants - Livestock, ejaculate-milking. They farm aphids and stroke them to make the sweet stuff come out. That can turn into erotica SO easily come on now.

Wolf Spiders - They're very sexy. Idk. There's something about the way they look and the way they are the only ones that look AT you. Also a lot of the 'giant spiders' in media are based on wolf spiders in terms of how they look, even if the giant spider acts like a web-weaving spider.

Leeches - This isn't really about the leeches themselves so much as its about the fact that leeches are a medical tool and I have a medical fetish but only for 19th and 18th century medical stuff. I know, I know that's WEIRDLY specific. I'm aware. I also had dizzy spells as a child and fainted a lot, and so it was easy to fetishise something I was experiencing all the time anyway. I don't have that vampire kink for nothing!

Tarantula Hawk Wasps - Something something the inherent eroticism of a whole species evolving to prey on you in such a specific way, something about the devotion of the mother to leave her child so much food and idk have you seen the way people talk about knights and dogs and such in terms of the devotion to protecting another even laying down life? Yeah that's me with the relationship between the wasp and the tarantula. Also wasps are incredibly sexy looking especially Tarantula Hawk Wasps.

Bonus: Many of these animals use venom, and I'm quite into venom. I'm also fascinated by eusocial animals that have biological castes, simply because that's so much the opposite of my own species, which doesn't even have sexual dimorphism to any real degree. Antz, Bugs Life, James and the Giant Peach, and like... idk a surprising amount of media I grew up with was going in for bugs when I was young and impressionable. I also watched a lot of nature documentaries back before they were censored and sugarcoated all to hell.

I love villains, and honestly spiders, wasps, bees, ants and termites are real-life animals that people villify over and over, who have natural behaviours we associate with villains (idk which came first I think it's a bit of a loop).

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #5: Spiders

Will this blog one day have a real theme? Who knows? For now, I'll continue simply talking about anything I find interesting. This is Letters From a Not-Quite Lunatic, after all. Maybe by the end I'll achieve full lunatic status and enter my final, most powerful form, but regardless, today is the day I talk about spiders.

I think maybe it all started when I was little, out of a desire to be fearless (or perhaps, the simple recognition that I was fearless about uncommon things, just as the things I did fear were usually odd). My mom and brother were both terrified of spiders, so when my dad was at work (a.k.a. most of the time), it fell to me with my concerning ability to switch off my emotions for a task to be the slayer of these mighty, tiny beasts.

I took pride in my warrior's status for years, only having one or two big scares (wrapping a towel around yourself out of the shower to see a huge wolf spider right on the front of it is not for the faint of heart), but over time I went from apathy to an actual affection for them.

The seed was planted most likely by my nana, who told me she was glad to have spiders around because they were good for her garden, eating all the smaller bugs that preyed on the plants. They were protectors, in that way. Nature's guardians.

I kept this in mind as the years passed, especially as I found myself to be a rather odd and lonely child. What was so offensive, I wondered, about a little creature who traveled alone and ate flies? We don't even have more than two species of venomous ones in my state. I pondered this, as I tended to ponder things. 

My life changed drastically at twelve when my mom had my little sister and we outgrew my childhood home. We moved to the east side of town and bought a house built in the 70s with problems I don't even blame the seller for tiptoeing around. It was my parents' first time buying a home, being just ahead of millennials in being able to do so at all, and it was certainly an experience. 

The house had a finished basement (a somewhat generous term, in hindsight), and I alone slept down there in a room we had to erect a small wall to create. And perhaps it was the eerie backyard pool just outside my ground-level window (by pure coincidence and having been built in the 70s, it was the exact same blueprint as the one they filmed at in season 1 of Stranger Things), or the fact that the stresses of school difficulty and caring for my little sister were beginning to truly wear on me, but I couldn't find it in me to worry very much about my constant roommates, the basement spiders. 

I think I used to kill them at first, but there were so many of them that after a while I got tired of it, and unless they were in or near my bed I began to leave them alone. I would idly watch them crawl along the wall or the floor, and something like compassion for them began to grow in me. We weren't so different, really. Small, lonely things who kept to the shadows and watched as good, social, normal people turned up their noses. As time went by and life changed, another sibling came along and school got harder, we moved again, twice, and I grew only more wracked with anxiety, I began to almost see spiders as a sign of good luck. A small moment of companionship between me and the creature, two otherwise unconnected beings who despite the so-called ways of the world, had no desire to kill each other.

A couple of years ago I even got a plush spider at a gift shop. It looked cute to me, with its big shiny eyes, and it had just the right constitution to squeeze. I named it Paolo, and with the exception of my youngest two siblings my family found it rather horrid. 

"What's with the spider?" a relative asked. "Why would you get something scary for a stuffed animal?"

I pointed out that bears were quite scary too if you actually came across one, but had been the standard stuffed toy for around a century with no complaint. 

"Well, you can at least see the good things about bears," I was told, "like how they care for their young. This is just…creepy and evil."

I didn't say that spiders protected gardens, or often died for their young. I forgot. I was quieted. 

But despite their rampant unpopularity, I still find myself defending the little creatures, perhaps all the more because they're so universally hated. I tend not to trust human vitriol, I suppose. We often aim it at things, or even people, who have committed no sin but inconveniencing us or being a bit too "different" for our personal comfort. 

It does things for the soul, I think, to love a horrible little creature who can give you nothing back. Perhaps, then, there is hope for yourself, too.

[knockknoxwho]

Deer

I have referenced deer in the post introducing this project and a general idea of the fungus, and today I get to tell you all about them. The deer, after the fungus infects them, change in a couple different ways. These changes were mostly caused by the fungus but also due to different factors such as changing hunting strategies from predators (see coyote and the hawk I’ll write about soon) to altered dietary capabilities.

Mutations

Deer are a very prevalent sight in my community, it’s always a nice time to see them (unless you’re alone at night). But the deer have changed due to this fungus. They’ve developed sharp canines and a digestive system with omnivorous capability. This is one of the first species which has a difference in mutations based on the sex (Bucks have antlers as normal and much longer canines as well as being roughly 4 inches taller on average than the doe’s. While the doe’s have gained, instead of antlers, a two spikes on their head).And have grown a thick membrane around their abdomen, which, like a camel’s hump, stores water. This water is then released as a mist through pores in their skin, creating a very thick fog when done in herds. They use this fog as a defense mechanism to obscure the area around them and escape using that opportunity.

Hunting

Deer have been one of the most famous prey in history though many stories of deer depict them as this unknown and surprising danger. Due to their mutations they have much more in depth hunting practices. When encountering a substantial threat, herds will release stored water and conjure a thick fog, then as they do the doe’s in the herd move to a safe distance while the bucks loosely encircle their prey on the edge of their views, appearing to be in much greater numbers than they truly are, disorienting and terrifying the threat at the center of this whisper rushing across the brush. Then they begin attacking each member of the threat one by one. They latch onto them with their holepuncher-like fangs and drag their target off into the fog. The deer group up with each other and tear the prey apart with gruesome and deep puncture wounds. This happens to each member of the threat until they are all in shreds. The doe rejoin the bucks and the whole herd enjoy their meal.

Some herds frequent the territory of the coyotes and run ins between the two are not an uncommon occurrence.

Materials

Because fog is produced by very clean water vapor, the deer’s skin is very effective in filtration. And any leather made from the skin is very breathable as well as durable, despite the often rotten patches that the mutated animals have. The membrane can also become a very effective and antibacterial storage place for water

Misc

(Tw death)

We went into the brush, I know it was stupid now, but I figured it’d at least be safer than the city. You know, less cars on the roads out there, less people, and I thought less of those beasts. We, my brother, a couple friends, and I, were all at my house when it hit, I’m still not really sure what happened. But we had seen apocalypse movies before, end of times and all that. We knew to do two things: board up the house, and prepare. After about a week, the bulk of the chaos began to die down. we got in the car and somehow found a street that was open enough to use. As we got over to the outskirts of the city we encountered some deer, or at least at the time that’s what I thought they were. They were about 50ft away and just staring us down like normal. A weirdly dense fog crept up as they were. Stressed as we all were, Dan, my brother, said to “just run past the creepy thing”, And so I tried. But as I got up to speed and drove on the left, they slammed into my car and flipped the whole thing on its top. We tried to get everyone out of the car, but Dan was completely missing. I still wish I reminded him to put his seatbelt on, or maybe I don’t. Maybe what came next was worse than a broken neck on rocks beside the road. The deer chased us down, through the brush and trees. I didn’t look back, but I heard the screams. First David, there was a wet crunch and then I head him drop with a pained yelp. Then Tim, he ran with me for a good bit, but the moment we stopped to rest, thinking maybe they just took David and we could at least escape, the deer’s angular jaw clamped down on his shoulder and hauled him away. I didn’t stop running after that, I only got away because of what I assume was a small fire that must’ve been set by some poor guy who they found next.

[poppys-pets-and-arts]

How long did it take for your guinea pigs to like you? My snow white has been with me about a month and shes so scared! If i look at her she runs if i get too close the the cage she runs. I just wanna cuddle her but its almost impossible to grab her unless shes in her little house.

Step 1 is to get her a friend - it'll make her feel a lot more safe and less stressed to have another guinea pig around. It's best to pair a pig with one who's a lot younger or a lot older because if they're the same age they'll fight for dominance. Guinea pigs naturally live in herds of a dozen or more, so the more the merrier, but just giving her one companion is already a HUGE improvement.

Step 2 is to not grab her unless you have to. Build trust by just sitting next to the cage, hand-feeding her her favorite veggies, and talking softly. Eventually she'll allow you to touch her face and neck. Do NOT touch her bum unless you absolutely have to, that's their no-no area. They get very scared when their bum is touched because that's where a bird of prey would grab them. Most guinea pigs follow this chart (though you'll get a few oddballs who love being pet on the back and belly, and others who hate all kinds of pets. They are individual animals with different personalities):

Step 3, once you've built up enough trust that she'll let you pet her, is to follow this guide:

When pick her up, be sure to give her lots of treats and let her back in the cage when she wants to go back. She is an individual and she shouldn't be forced to do something she doesn't want. When you get a live animal you never know what kind of personality you're gonna get. Some love cuddles, others will never love cuddles. Guinea pigs, especially, are a lot more fussy and grumpy than most people expect them to be. But I like that about them - it makes it feel like an outright accomplishment to build a bond with them.

Animals will love you to the best of their ability. My stick insects will never come when I call, but they can recognize my scent and know I'm not gonna hurt them - for an insect that's as good as love in my book! It's the same with all other animals - they may not love you to the extend that a dog does, but they will love you as much as they're able to. If all the love my guinea pigs are able to give me is the trust that I (a huge and loud and scary predator) won't hurt them when I stick my hands in their cage, I'm more than happy with that.

As for how long it takes? I got Tiffin right before New Year's and she finally let me pick her up without a fuss last month. I got Kvisth last August and he still runs when I pick him up. Pooka is only 3 months old, so I can't really judge her temperament yet - all guinea pigs are somewhat afraid of humans for the first 4-5 months of life. They aren't naturally tame like dogs - you need to tame them. Here are two videos about that

[s0ym1lk]

This has been reblogged several times with pictures of rats being bathed. OP is not a rat owner and has gotten mixed advice on whether bathing rats is acceptable (and therefore whether the photos are of mistreatment) so I'm reblogging to clear this up.

Tl;Dr rats don't need bathed and it's harmful for them, so except in very specific circumstances where not bathing would do worse harm to the rat, they should not be bathed. If you *need* to bathe your rat, you'll know. If you're uncertain, ask for help for your specific situation from more experienced rat owners. Therefore, you absolutely shouldn't post pictures of rats in water unless you are 100% certain the rat put itself in the water for its own enjoyment, and even then you shouldn't post unless it's blatantly obvious in the picture that that's the case.

Long version under the cut.

First, rats don't need bathed. Rats actually groom more often than cats and keep themselves very clean as a rule. Typically if a rat has a hygiene problem, it's either due to dirty cage conditions or sickness (and a rat has to be very sick not to groom). Rats also use grooming as a self-soothing measure and as a bonding mechanism with other rats. If your rats are close to you, they will groom you as a sign of affection as well (rats especially love to help trim your nails). Bottom line: they just don't need it! All it does is add stress and potentially cause medical issues.

Second, being bathed is actually somewhat harmful for rats. It strips their skin of natural protective oils, and as rats are already prone to skin issues including very nasty cysts, that should be avoided. Water in the ears can cause ear infections, which if left untreated for too long will cause permanent head tilt and balance issues - bad for an animal that enjoys climbing. Though rats are good swimmers, most rats do not enjoy swimming or being wet, so putting them in water will cause high levels of stress.

One issue that causes people to think pictures/videos of rats in water are cute is that rats groom as a stress response, so often when people see a picture of a rat in water grooming itself, they think it's "taking a bath". In reality, the rat has been stressed by the water and is grooming as a self-soothing measure. Another issue is that rats are prey animals, not predators like dogs or cats; when they are stressed, their instinct is to freeze and become unresponsive in hopes that the stressor will go away. This is doubly true for something like a bathtub, because everything about a bathtub is designed to trigger a rat's anxiety: it's bright, slippery and difficult to walk on with their claws, and has no places to hide. Since a rat (particularly a fancy rat, bred to be harmless to humans) usually doesn't scratch, bite, or struggle to get away, people think they're fine in the bathtub if they're not moving. They're not, they're frozen in fear.

I'll take a little detour here to address a common "fact" shared about rats, which is that they can swim for up to three days straight. This is true, but this fact actually comes from a very inhumane experiment done on rats at Harvard in the 1950's. Suffice to say, the rats were not in the water by choice, and there's a reason that study detailed exactly how long the average rat can swim before it can't swim anymore. Look the study up at your own risk, it contains animal abuse and death.

So, are there times when a bath is necessary? Yes, in limited circumstances. Rats will groom things off their fur, so if they've gotten into a substance that will hurt or kill them, a bath is necessary. If the substance won't hurt them, you can let them groom it off themselves or wipe it off gently with an unscented baby wipe. This is also a good way to help out an old or sick rat that can't keep up a good grooming regimen.

Can rats interact with water safely? Yes! Some rats do enjoy swimming and many rats enjoy interacting with water on their own terms. Lots of rat owners like to buy battery-operated toy fountains/sinks for their rats to play with. You can also put frozen vegetables like peas in a dish if water for them to fish out. If you suspect that a rat you own may enjoy swimming, you can create a shallow pool for them to interact with - the key rules are that it must be optional, they must be able to easily enter and exit the water, and you should allow them to get in on their own(don't set them in the water). I don't recommend using a bathtub, even just a little full so the high side is still dry - I find rats don't enjoy being in bathtubs as they're slippery and echoey. You'll end up with stress poops everywhere(another thing you never see in these "cute photos": the photographers take the picture before the rat poops itself in fear. Poop water isn't quite as photogenic.)

How do you know if a rat picture in water is cute? First, videos are better than pictures because you can see if the rat chose to interact or was forced. For pictures, see if the rat has the ability to get out on its own (so bathtubs and sinks are automatically Not Cute). Check the posture - if the rat is grooming, it's probably stressed. If it's hunched and in an "alert" stance, it's probably stressed. If the rat's head is wet, it *may* have dunked its head under itself, but more likely it was put into the water.

Should you share the photo/video? Personally, I would not share any photo or video in which I wasn't dead certain, and it's not blatantly obvious, that the rat was in the water of its own accord. The reason that I'm posting this PSA is because there's a lot of misinformation even in the rat owner county about bathing rats. Many owners mistakenly or intentionally spread this misinformation. So when people share these photos, it reinforces the idea that this treatment is fine, which encourages others to share or even recreate those photos for clout. Sharing photos of rats in baths, even if your intention is good, leads to mistreatment of more rats. Or think of it this way: the best case scenario is that you get some likes for an innocent picture, the worst case scenario is that you've just reblogged a photo of animal mistreatment. Imagine that instead of a rat, this was a kitten someone threw in a bathtub full of water for the express purpose of taking a "cute" photo of a wet kitten. If that idea made you uncomfortable, know that this is the same thing.

4 days until wet rat wednesday

[breathlesswordsbloodyknees]

fuck. if i start thinking i won't stop. hands shaking in the slightest ways, at the ready to overwhelm. like soldiers in a line. i have to remind myself that i have til noon tomorrow to go back to work (even though it's a bell to bell day, i think i'm just gonna skip the morning which i'm sure the gm will have something to say) it's halloween. normally i'm so excited. i was gonna wear my shark costume to work. lmao not anymore.

but there's no way around it, gotta go through it. whatever happens happens. but it happened it's over it's done and all i know is "serious steps have been taken"

i need a new fucking job. i can't stand the idea of working a deal with him, and it's near unavoidable at some point. i mean yeah, i'm moved. but it doesn't work like that.

been listening to Placeholder over and over and over and now I'm on Nothing Feels Good Anymore. because well, yeah. nothing feels good anymore. not the car sales, not the writing (though i am proud of that, i expressed a lot that i usually shove down) not the relief from the hr investigation being done. just the fallout.

all i can do is sit with the feelings. there's the rational logical legal reasons he's not fired. and i can acknowledge that.

but the feelings. how is it every time they feel like the worst thing i've experienced. and i've gone through a fucking lot. but this might be taking the cake. like i put myself out there, i did the 'right' thing. the brave thing. everyone keeps telling me that. that i'm so brave, that i'm helping others, that what i did matters.

but nothing feels good anymore. so we search sad angry pop punk on spotify and hope to cry it out.

which lately has only been in silent moments at my desk when i just can't help it staring blankly at my computer, crouched outside the dealership hoping a customer doesn't come by, in my car outside my house in the moments before i unbuckle my seatbelt. stifled breakdown while trying to watch the first predator movie at my friend's house.

i don't know if i've ever had as severe a breakdown as that, i feel bad for my friends for having to witness it. but the shaking, the tension, the vise around my heart getting tighter and tighter. and cold, so fkn cold. like the time i got locked out of the house in the middle of chicago winter. footprint in the ice.

if i cry at home, really the wracking shaking loud sobs that i need, my dog, the love of my life, gets so upset. pounces on me and licks my face relentlessly. she's trying to do what she can, and it's very sweet, but i can't let it out. anywhere. i mean everyone's either worried about me or uncomfortable and i can't blame them. even my customer picked up on it when we had to go to chevy. fucking prey ass animal behavior of me. like a fucking deer like a rabbit and normally i'm not the most opposed to that dynamic

i'm the furthest thing from okay right now, having pushed this away since fucking july. three months of every fucking day stuck feet away from him. pretending i wasn't collapsing inside, flinching every time he came near, every time he laughed at a joke. not to mention everything that happened with m!josh. don't need to think about that quite right now.

so i gotta give myself grace, right? acknowledge that it's not...it's not okay. it wasn't ever okay. and it might never be. but it happened. it happened. it happened. and we sit with it. it doesn't ever leave, we just grow around it. easier said than done and the furthest thing from a quick process.

and its haunting me, but i feel fine/war of worlds in real time better off signing a truce that's drawn up in your name but i hope you go home and admit you/were wrong for the stress you put me through free me from the anchor/depart these seas and let me do what i have to do

running around in circles/the path i always choose/i hate that i can't accept anything more than the worn out soles of my shoes

can't eat anything more than half a small meal, if that. can't sleep. tension headaches and stiff neck, always. chronic shit acting up. every joint feels unmoored. always a little dizzy.

but there's the little moments. laughing with my friends. a warm cup of tea. laughing at that celebrimbor gif. connection with people. it's there. it's there. sunlight in the fall trees that make the world look like Lindon.

doesn't stop the ache. heartache is an apt description but it's maybe the worst i've ever felt. like i know panic attacks and chest pain and trauma well, but this... i'd think i was actually dying if i didn't know better. i try to sit with the feelings, let them just be there, pass over me. grounding, breathing exercises. but then it just bubbles up, so visceral. pain doesn't cover it. it takes my breath away.

so we throw ourselves into fiction. relate too strongly to characters. write long overly personal think pieces that will probably certainly fade into oblivion. we lean on supportive people but we can't overwhelm them and that's all i am right now, overwhelming. we try to share without trauma dumping or word vomiting. process. we try to process. we try we try we try. whatever way we can. we do this, write and write and write and post a waaaay too personal thing. but it is indeed tumblr.com so i mean idk

but those little moments. the light in the trees, the warmth of the cup. it can be like that. it has to. it has to. it has to.

headstrong in the world/with the wind at my back