#its that its ok to get funky with a relative

[ichooseviolence]

Are you a jonsa?

Hmmmmm. Not necessarily. I like the idea of it if I'm being honest, but I ship Sansa more with Willas or Garlan (even though he's married, I'm sorry.) Basically, I just want Sansa to be with someone who will love her and actually take care of her for her. Jon would be one of those people so I make an acception hehe. I know people see it as a yucky incest ship, which I find understandable. And a lot of tye Jonsas I follow have come up with some convincing theories to back up their ship, so I can see it happening. Not saying it will for a certainty, but if it did, I would be happy with it.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

small update :d

[darabeatha]

[ocean-sunfish-hater]

The Real Life Biology of the Three Body Problem Series

In the first book of Liu Ci Xin's Three Body Problem series, we are introduced to our main antagonists, the Trisolarans. Whilst we never get to see them directly, we are shown some of their biology via the game that our protagonist plays.

ID: A grand domed palace in a chinese style sits in the background of the image. The foreground has hundreds of ancient Chinese soldiers holding white placards on sticks. Two people dressed in Chinese armour can be seen riding horses towards the palace.

In the game it is revealed that Trisolaris, the planet in the Alpha Centauri system on which the aliens reside, revolves around not one, but three suns. As such, the system is subject to the classic physics conundrum of the three body problem (after which the first book in the series is named), which states that for most initial conditions the trajectories of three celestial bodies is chaotic and difficult to predict.

This means that Trisolaris experiences very extreme, unpredictable conditions, divided into "stable eras" and "chaotic eras". Stable eras come about when Trisolaris settles into orbit around one of its three suns, bringing relative prosperity to the planet. However, chaotic eras result in disasters, such as extreme droughts, seemingly endless nights, and even changes in gravity. The first novel partially revolves around the Trisolarans attempting to see if humans could collectively solve the three body problem and bring some level of predictability to their planet.

During the course of the game, it is revealed to the protagonist (and us, the readers), that in order to cope with the devastation and unpredictability of chaotic eras, the Trisolarans can dehydrate themselves and enter a spore-like state, hibernating until the next stable era comes. This allows them to bypass some of the extreme conditions and ensures the survival of the species as a whole.

Believe it or not, we have our very own Trisolarans here on Earth. In fact, there's loads of examples, from bacteria to triops, to my favourite of the bunch, Bdelloid Rotifers.

ID: An electron micrograph of some Bdelloid Rotifers and their mouthparts. They are long and slender, with a distinct mouth and tail section. Their mouthparts look like two semicircles lined with a comb-like structure.

These microscopic animals look freaky, because they are. If you've got any media literacy you've probably picked up by now that I am segueing here because they are somewhat similar to the aliens in the Three Body Problem, except this time they are very much real. Like the Trisolarans, Bdelloids live in very ephemeral environments: their usual haunts are the very thin film of water on moss and lichen. As you can imagine, these do not last all that long, and thus when they dry up, so do the Bdelloid Rotifers; in biology, we call this process anhydrobiosis.

"Ok, that's all well and good Ocean Sunfish Hater, but why do you like these guys more than the other anhydrobiotic creatures that roam our good, green Earth?" I hear you ask.

So you know how things that reproduce asexually don't have all that much genetic variation, and how sexual reproduction gives you an edge over asexual populations since you can keep that genetic variation fun and funky fresh, and how that has been the cornerstone for eukaryotic reproduction? Well. Well. Just like me, Bdelloid Rotifers have been completely celibate for 35-40 million years, with some people even bringing that number up to 100 million years, when they diverged from their sister clade. So how do these turbo-virgins not go extinct, racking up tonnes of deleterious mutations, not having any advantageous innovations, and eventually exploding into a genetic soup?

The secret lies in their ability to dehydrate. Not only is it a really handy dandy way to stay alive when your only source of water is gone, it literally rips apart their cells and genes! And why! Why the fuck does that help? It sounds like the opposite of helping!

ID: An electron micrograph of the foot of a Bdelloid Rotifer. It has been shaded a light green. The structure looks almost like a face, with a smile and two stalk-like structures that could be mistaken for eyes. But this is not a face.

Having this mild-to-moderate level of cell membrane and chromosomal damage enables the Bdelloids to take up genetic material from their environment, mostly via their digestive systems, where their last meals are slowly being broken down to reveal that juicy DNA inside. When the water returns and the Bdelloids rehydrate, this genetic material gets incorporated into their chromosomes as their cells get back to work repairing themselves. And they sure ain't picky. In fact, it has been shown that in some species of Bdelloids, up to 8% of their genetic material has non-animal origins. How cool is that?

This is probably what has allowed them to continue adapting and evolving, even when they have been reproducing asexually for so long. This strategy has been so successful that the Bdelloids have managed to diversify into over 450 species. Pretty impressive for a class of animals that haven't had sex in over 40 million years.

Perhaps the Trisolarans might have a similar mechanism as part of their biology (even if they do reproduce sexually as stated in the book). Maybe they've managed to survive for this long because they have been able to absorb useful genes from their home planet, just like Bdelloids have been doing here on Earth. I don't know if these are what Liu Ci Xin had in mind when he wrote the Three Body Problem, but they sure were what I was thinking of when I read the book.

If you're still here, thanks for reading! I know this was a bit of a longer post, but I just wanted to use the new Netflix show to talk about one of my favourite books and one of the weirdest, most underappreciated animals.

[viky-somebody]

ok so idk of its just me still being in shock over the new life series release, but my brain latched onto the evo logo on the statue and now im going insane with theories, specifically over Bigb's episode. (im possibly looking in too deep for evo references and parallels.)

First of all, why is his scroll red. Why is that.

Second of all, he got so much stuff from the secret keeper when he sorta completed the task. (i saw some gold blocks and ancient debris, not bad, compared to the fact that some members didnt receive anything at all except hearts.) Is the watcher favouritism towards him carrying over from evo.

why is the scroll red.

(Bigb's episode 30 of Evo - each member got a chest with loot of varying quality depending on what the watchers thought of them.)

also, Bigb is seemingly planning to build a tunnel to everyones bases from one big hallway. ( Like Grian did, at the start of evo, which then got revealed dramatically to everyone and got blown up later on i believe.) just funky

Another fun fact, the sky near the secret keeper statue turns dark. like when you stood right above bedrock in older versions of minecraft

finally, this is probably a stretch. but the way his scroll is formulated left behind a weird feeling, its less formal than scrolls of the others? (might be wrong on that idk) like,

the task is relatively easy, too. the way this is written reminds me of episode 45 of Evo from SalemsLady for some reason. She was the last person to get her clue for the portal jump, and the watchers seemed to be so tired of waiting for her they didnt even rhyme most of her signs. AND her trial was to simply follow the cobblestone path (the other members all got a big challenge with some riddles and a few epic builds that mysteriously appeared for them). The watchers seemingly gave up and just gave her a simple thing to solve quickly so they can get on finally.

(watcher signs from Salems episode 45 of Evo)

like. its similarly exasperated and slightly condescending tone. idk there might be something there. might be same person (admin?) (watcher in canon?) ???

im having fun

[carrionhearted]

HIII I hope you don’t mind me answering this over here @seagull-spouse :3 To anyone else reading this, If you’re squeamish, this may not be a fun read… so be warned!! I’m no expert of course, just an autistic little freak with a special interest in dead things, so this is just what works for me!

My top 2 de-fleshing methods are: Maceration, and… bugs.

Maceration is ye’ ole bucket of water + dead thing soup basically, creates a home for helpful bacteria to chew the flesh into goop! Ideally it’ll slough off the bones naturally with time, though some stubborn bits may need to be removed manually. It’s a very stinky and very goopy method. It takes a long time unless you live in a consistently warm environment, or are using an aquarium heater to keep your soup warm (I reccomend a MAX of 85 degrees Celsius, DO NOT BOIL THE BONES, it’ll bake the grease into them forever and ever. Greasy oily yellow bones are very yuck). The only times I manually carve off flesh preemptively are when I’m macerating something large— like a deer skull!

I personally prefer the “bugs”/ “let nature do it” method. Find a nice patch of soft damp soil to place your dead thing on (it’s gotta be in direct contact with the soil), then cover it with something like chicken wire, or a wire garbage can, or one of those inner plant pots with drainage holes— some sort of barrier that bugs can crawl in through, but big critters can’t. Then cover it with an opaque tarp or a black garbage bag, leaf litter even— something that blocks out the light and keeps in the moisture. Then weigh the edges down with heavy rocks so no big scavengers can steal your goods! This dark damp n soil-y environment creates a bug paradise basically, they can get in through the wire holes/ up through the dirt, and FEAST all throughout the day (they like to work in darknesss)! I like to check progress every week or so, but they work pretty fast— and leave some pretty clean bones. You may have to use warm water to pry off some stubborn bits of flesh, but beyond that… this method is pretty hands off and tidy. Hope you don’t mind bugs and mold though.

That being said, whenever possible, I like to preserve more than just the bones. Small animals (IF FRESH) can be dry-preserved in bits and pieces— things like rabbits feet, bird wings, bird claws, other rodent limbs, you get the idea. This is where “taking apart” the animal becomes a concern— your best tool is anatomical knowledge. When severing off bits, you wanna go for the joint— so know what you’re looking for, feel around to find it and cut right in between the socket. Pocket knives and tiny surgical scissors are my go to tools. Once you’ve got your bits isolated, submerge them in a mixture of 1 part salt, 1 part borax— in a container that you can close off and keep somewhere room temperature and dry. If you don’t have borax, you could use 100% salt *OR* cornmeal for really small specimens— but it’s a bit riskier. Borax also helps clear up funky death smells. Make sure anything you put in is fully submerged, and remember the position you put it in will be its forever position! Wait time depends on what exactly you’re preserving— something like teensy birds feet may only take a week, whereas rabbits feet/ raccoon paws could take months! You can check on it throughout the process. You’ll know it’s done when it’s totally firm and dry, and relatively odourless.

Also ok. What I’m about to say may be frightening. But Reddit is a very good info resource for this stuff. The bonecollecting, vultureculture and boneID communities are actually really useful! OK RAMBLE OVER for now EXCUSE THE INFODUMP I like bones

[favouritefi]

I love your Terror catboy AU, it’s a funky combination of adorable drawings and Victorianesque pseudoscientific hierarchies. However, it made me wonder about catgirls/doggirls; if you’re happy to answer, how do you see the intersection of gender and hybridity playing out in this universe?

I LOVE THIS QUESTION THANK YOU FOR THIS QUESTION i have a lot of thots on this bc the whole "angel in the house" image of the ideal (middle class) victorian woman is such a fun concept to play with more under cut

ok so what im about to say rn really only applies to middle class and upper class women in this au as those are the main characters in the terror if we get into the lower classes its a more complicated and nuanced story.

anyway in victorian times women were expected to be chaperoned everywhere by an older woman such as a female relative or female servant lest she be corrupted by the ills of the world and by men etc. this is where cat/doggirls come in. its expected that if you have a daughter then you goooootta adopt a companion or two for her both to show off your status and to ensure that your daughter has a friend / chaperone / mentor / moral compass for life. so in cat/dogpeople households the cat/dogboys usually go off to whatever institution their bloodline is associated with and cat/doggirls usually become companions for the wives and daughters of the men employed by those institutions. its very different from human family structures because the expectation here is that your child will not stay with your household, youre making children knowing that they will likely not belong to you regardless of whether they are male or female and that you might never see them again once theyre adopted and they need to be adopted or else its a failure on you and your bloodline. (grim i know) this system is also why each generation of cat/dogpeople tends to be fairly large, little and hodgson and irving all have an overabundance of siblings and cousins many of whom theyve never met in their life.

interestingly, cat/doggirls are actually more valued amongst these families than cat/dogboys because cat/dogboys can only be sent off to the institution the bloodline is associated with whereas cat/doggirls can be sent off to any upper/middle class household regardless of association and it would still be considered respectable AND it creates new relationships between human families that the human owners might find beneficial (kind of like how marriage was historically the exchange of women to strengthen political ties between families). this means that excess cat/dogboy sons are often disappointing to the parents - edward little is one of these. all 3 of his elder brothers had already left for the navy so he grew up playing w his sisters and getting dolled up in their dresses and being told that oh he'd make such a pretty girl and pretty bride oh if only he'd been born a girl etc. totally doesnt fuck him up.

speaking of fucked up theres hickey and his whole situation w sophia. having a catboy as a companion for an upper class girl is a big no-no and only happened because [insert hickey backstory here that is too long and really should have its own post]. no body approves of this but sophia loves him so very much and they were inseparable up until they were separated when sophia went to tasmania with the franklins and hickey was abandoned to the streets against both his and sophias will. sophia refused to adopt a new more appropriate companion in tasmania and after the franklins returned to england she tried to find him but couldnt and assumed he died. then when it seems like the ships are lost and jane starts campaigning for a rescue mission suddenly hickey shows up and for a few blissful years they are together again. he is older and quieter and has scars he wont explain, but hes still hickey and sophia still loves him. and then sir john comes back and fucks all of that up again.

sorry this was meant to be about gender dynamics in my deranged catboy au but i got distracted by hickey (as per usual)

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

ok you have a special interest in tma (im pretty sure) and i do not want to relisten to the whole fucking series SO can you give me liek a summary (however detailed you want) of what i need to know beofre tmp please and thank you

what gave you that impression whaaat???

ok but i love this question bc i can procrastinate on my hw without catastrophizing yippee!!

i'll do like a timeline of main events without dates bc i cannot actually remember numbers for shit

Jonathon Sims becomes Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute (im going to stop with capitals bc it is too much work) because his predecessor, gertrude robinson, died. he's extremely skeptical of anything "paranormal" so it's kinda funny in the beginning bc his whole job is recording statements people have given of their encounters/experiences. Every episode at this point ends with a, "well, it could be dismissed except for this one spooky detail."

at some point a delivery made by breakon and hope (a delivery company that shows up in statements; two guys with suspicious cockney accents) to jon. it's a table with a hole in the center (also has shown up in statements multiple times). because of its association to, like, bad things, jon takes an axe to the thing and it is left in artifacts storage.

the events of season one are basically worm lady named jane prentiss is stalking the institute in order to take it over. she traps martin blackwood, the poor sweet boy, in his apartment for a week. now he cant stand the sight or taste of canned peaches! he moves into the archives temporarily because of this. jon finds him annoying/a nuisance but is very quick to offer the archives as a place for him to stay (spoilers they kiss). sasha james, another employee, meets an entity who calls itself Michael (an icon) who takes her to see a guy from a statement where his one night stand explodes into worms bc she had an encounter with jane prentiss. he is now a worm person. michael gets a worm from sasha's arm that tried to get into her arm w his finger which is Too Long and Too Sharp. The season ends with prentiss invading the archives and being burned to death! tim stoker (another employee, promise that's mostly all of them), martin, and jon are all Traumatized and end up covered in scars from getting worms out of each other with a corkscrew :) sasha and elias bouchard (everyone's boss) attempt to get out, but sasha is separated and ends up in artifacts storage. someone else is there and then the tape cuts out (everything is being recorded on tapes because something funky happens when certain statements come in contact with digital technology). the tape goes missing.

season two is jon's Paranoia Era. he's not sure who he can really trust anymore, since if jane was out there, there must be others and they could even be his own staff (how did she get in?? what are the underground tunnels beneath the archives??). at the end of each statement there is now a "supplemental" in which he describes his suspicions (which leads to him following some of his employees to their homes and they find out and... are not very pleased) and his findings in explorations of these strange tunnels that seem to move by themselves. there is someone down there, but who could it be?

oh btw another reoccurring thing are spooky books with the name "jurgen leitner" in them

the last two statements before Shit Goes Down are both about someone who's relative changes appearance, sound, and personality, except that no one thinks that this has happened and even pictures would suggest they had always looked like that (except polaroids and tapes). jon finds sasha's "missing" tape and listens to it. and... she sounds different in this recording. uh oh!! she isn't who she says she is!! she attacks him, he ends up running around in the archives (perhaps because of michael, who has a multidimensional door that enters into a spiral of confusing hallways) and meets the man himself, jurgen leitner (who, it turns out, has been the one living in the archives). they trap the Not-Sasha in the tunnels because leitner has a book that, if he reads certain sections, can move the walls/stairs/entryways/etc. jon Obviously has questions, so they go into his office and he keeps interrupting leitner (obviously). what he is able to tell jon is basically:

he found some spooky books and decided that he could collect them all. he built a library and put his name in all the books he owned, but one day it was too much and basically the whole thing burned down, all his assistants died, and the books were yet again scattered to the winds. he explains that he believes these books, entities, and items are all part of powerful beings. he also tells jon that elias killed gertrude. jon freaks out and decides to take up smoking again in that moment, so leitner is left alone. and elias goes in there and kills him with a lead pipe. jon comes back and is like wtf. he's pinned as the murderer bc all his coworkers were suspicious of his behaviors.

so now jon is on the run. he hides in his ex-girlfriend's apartment. he decides to do field research into something gertrude seemed to be interested called The Unknowing. we also learn that he encountered a leitner book as a child which led him to witness his school bully being taken by a spider behind a door (this is an animatic of said book teehee). also that georgie (the ex) also had an encounter separate from him which resulted in her losing all ability to feel fear. jon's field research leads him to find various entities from the statements and is kinda bullied by all of them tbh. hand burned by a woman who's basically made of wax (she likes destroying people's things and fire), simulated vertigo from a guy with a lightning scar down his back, and kidnapped by a clown manequine who wants his skin (as part of the Unknowing)! oh and also almost murdered by a bloodthirsty cop (daisy tonner my beloved plus her gf basira. idr if their relationship was ever established but). he tells daisy that he wasn't the one who killed leitner and that it was elias (i think he has proof?? bc she believes him). they corner him but hes like lol no u cant kill me if you kill me you all die rip teehee!!

oh! on his adventures, he ends up in america and learns that the powers are organized into types of fears. there are fourteen of them, jon works for the Eye. jane was the corruption (rot, bugs). the circus is the stranger (fear of the other, unknown, etc).

at this point i think also the clown + her circus have gathered all the materials for this "Unknowing," (a ritual of sorts). the crew (now including daisy and basira) devise a plan to end it while also distracting elias so that he can be arrested. jon makes martin and tim stay behind (as the distraction), but tim refuses bc his brother was killed by a clown (not the same one as the kidnapper) and hes Angry. I think at this point basira and melanie (she made a statement and then got fired from her job as a ghost hunter youtuber) work at the institute also.

they enter the circus Unknowing and martin burns statements to get elias's attention. all the circus people forget who they are so it's hard to blow everything up, but they figure it out enough for tim to detonate. daisy is thrown into a coffin (also a thing that shows up in multiple statements), tim dies in the explosion, and jon is catatonic.

season four! jon wakes up six months later in the hospital and is told that he was entirely dead except for brain activity. martin is distant, elias has been arrested and replaced by peter lukas, a name that has also shown up before. he is part of the lukas family, which is aligned with the lonely (they help fund the institute). jon pulls back up to his place of work and everyone's kinda annoyed and sad bc their friends are dead. melanie is increasingly violent, most likely due to a ghost bullet in her leg from right before she was hired (this is the slaughter, which is war and senseless violence/murder). she hates jon because she is stuck working for the institute forever (you cant leave or you'll like. get increasingly more sickly or something like that). basira spends a lot of time in the institute library. jon realizes that he can Know things randomly now. he also starts needing to read statements in the way that we need food and sometimes kinda is not so great to (random) people when he's especially lacking

oh my turns out there is a word limit to these things!! whoopsie doo there is more so get ready ig

[paperstreetlocal]

How did you manage to improve your art so fast in so little time?

i dont think 5 years is that little 😭😭😭😭 i mean.drawing daily for that long ....thats like thousands of drawings since on some days i draw several times

i started drawing fr at the start of quarantine for whatever reason (end of my gacha phase + i wanted to branch out + general boredom) and had a relatively supportive friend group who liked what i made (even tho i deem it utter garbage by my standards now) so that did motivate me to do it often asides from my general love for it... i usually focused on chibi/more cartoony stuff without a general sense of direction (didnt know anatomy or anything) so i guess the real start of me taking it seriously (whatever tha means) was watching fight club? cause i was like Yeah no way am i drawing tyler as a twink in my usual artstyle so hence came my insane focus on learning anatomy and how to draw muscles/fat whatever else

i dont ever do studies and barely use references (aside from character ones so ik how to draw them correctly) because it feels incredibly restrictive and i just like drawing what interests me and cant force myself to do anything that idgaf about which is probably a bad habit and uhm. I should actually learn color theory and whatever but I dont care I draw for fun.art isnt a serious thing if you put your heart to it you can learn anything with enoguh trial and error❤️ experiment!!! if it turns out like shit, good! you learned not to do that thign next time! you also learned how to utilize said style in the future to make something better!!!! If you struggle with studying shit make your favorite character/topic a core component of it!!! if you dont like drawing something, dont!!! take inspo from other artists, use the components you like from their styles to create your own!! its probably not that easy for most people but its how it came to me i Guess... if you struggle with something you want to get better at just fuck around with it until it looks good.......i have horrendous perfectionist issues and if my brain doesnt like what its seeing its gonna tell me (un)fortunately and i draw until its good enough. Or i dump it. my main goal is make as much shit as possible until i just gradually get better at it

i never take more than 5 hours on a drawing since my style is relatively flexible and i dont focus on much than besides basic anatomy and making it as funky/appealing as possible.if ur pose is too stiff mesh transform it until it looks fine, feel free to scrap shit if it looks bad. dont dwell on it for too long. people always talk about rules and whatever other shit or using tutorials it just Doesnt work for me...

only rule i Do like is you have to learn anatomy to break it properly ok. this applies to cartoonish shit too. and chibis. Learn it

gradients are awesome and will make ur stuff look 50 times cooler and I encourage using filters if ur colors look bad.. (i do it for every drawing)

dont compare urself to other artists EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean EVER you can like another persons art but NEVER compare yourself to them IT WILL KILL YOUR ART Only compare yourself to yourself . compare new art to old art if you need to. Do Not compare yourself to others you dont know how long theyve been drawing, how much time thye spent on it, their circumstances, talent, tools Ok. Dont . Jealousy is bad and ugly and you should never indulge in it. draw for nobody but yourself. if you like it its Good enough

tldr: fucking around

[pastellmochi]

when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers or moots (positivity is cool) 💖

hello mochee ^_^

HIIIIIE IRENE !!!! thabk youy 4the ask!!! you already got sent this but you should list 5 more songs oyou like 💪💪💪

ok let me seeeee (blowing dust off myplaylist)

wahrheit by yousei teikoku !! anything super 2000s warms my heart andis good for the soul

kitty girl by trixie mattel , shangela , bebe zahara benet , and kennedy davenport !! ITS SO CUTE 🥺🥺🥺 snd also my ringtone. in the disco heat youre the boogie body rockin queen…

so there’s this girl by dunni !!! PINER ANTHEM ANTHEM OF LOVE AS A WHOLE !!! this is like a whole body experience so wonderful it can capture the feelings of love in like 2 and a half minutes <333

you’re right by LUCY !!! UUUUUEFFGHHGGFCVBGHH … oh violin.. sweet violin.. one day i’ll get one 🫶 bc of this. i could cry. i did cry

she’s here !! or 떳다!!그녀!! by witches !! OH ITS SO FUN another love song but its funky groovy time plus theres a relatively well known korean newgrounds animationto this called there she is by SamBakZa its very cute

[robbie-roo]

Hey! Maybe you could expand on the monotremata have special bones thing? Pretty please? Love the animal facts ♥️

Monotremata's special bones huh?

sure! although I don't remember what I might have touched on already so I apologize if I repeat myself and I'll do a special info dump on bones and how we know what mammals are later on too!

OK so monotremata our five species with the most primitive traits left on earth in a mammal they're pretty fucking cool. without getting super deep into more ancient history and traits the very early "mammals" were similar to an alligator in that it had one hole (the cloaca) jaws that were only really good at snapping shut not made for chewing, and limbs that were a little more splayed out

so obviously there's some similarities in that essence with a platypus and an alligator. they both have jaws that are made to snap shut, they both have the same cloaca, and their limbs are a little too awkward for 4 wheel drive all the time. what makes a mammal a mammal is four things

1. hair

2. the ability to lactate

3. complex teeth

4. inner ear bones

now some of these traits are more obvious than others in certain animals or may be diminished to become basically non existent for example hair on dolphins or like the platypus that doesn't really have any chewing teeth at all

but monotremes are special because of their extra traits I mentioned before- they have cloacas, barely any if any teeth at all, they "sweat" milk, and they don't give birth to live young but they are still "mammals" because of those earlier traits

their bones however are relatively the same as other mammals- we have a thing called determinant growth- basically we have a set size and we won't get any bigger we also evolved from a certain skull orientation known as synapsid

synapsid skulls ate hard and heavy because the back of the skull is solid bone- this is big news for early critters because it gives us places to attach muscles this leads to the snapping shut jaw we later gain a cheekbone when we meet our friend the pelycosaur

now we have a zygomatic arch! this gives us more places to put muscles for our jaw we are getting closer to chewing but not quite there yet

so these are the traits I mean when I talk about "primitive mammals" we get three surviving groups

the monotremes

the eutherians (that's us!)

and the metatherians (marsupials)

so backtrack a little- the cynodonts are giving us a soft and a hard pallete we can now eat AND breathe silly little reptiles can't do that

now ok ok I've gone over a lot that's like background information for monotreme bones let me skip ahead a few million years

so monotreme skulls- that's their funky part

monotremes have skulls similar to a bird- they don't have any ear flaps and no teeth at all (just that hard pallete) the skulls are also fused together with fewer openings

they also have weirdly shaped inner ear bones here's a picture

so this doesn't mean much to any of you so the take away is just- its weird.

they do have some "teeth" when we are talking about platypus they have triangular molars and have an egg tooth that goes away eventually

so this is their skull

left is a platypus right is an echidna

so as you can kinda tell... it's weird. monotremes are weird. platypus have bones that only go around the side of their beaks and look at that weird head its just.... weird

and their hips are also weird!

they have epipubic bones in their hips

(echidna pubic bones)

and an extra interclavical bone around the shoulder cradle it's similar to those therapsids I mentioned (did I mention those? idk I'll make another post if not)

(platypus sternum)

they also have a short stiff spine but that's kinda boring

anyways that's what I know about monotreme bones if I think of anything extra I will add to it but I hope this gives you the information you were looking for!! please feel free to ask me anything :)

[nerves-nebula]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OMG OKAY QUESTIONS (no pressure to answer or go too in depth !)

What inspired you to make the characters? like where they an instance "YES I HAVE A CHARACTER IDEA" or was it more of a development over time?

Will Etik and Groe get along?

Will Etik ever have to pick a side between Maureno and Groe? (oo possibility of angst but also Etik.. Etik deserves to not be put in that position)

I LOVE how you do your character designs, like all of them feel unique but not overly complicated/hard for eyes to make out (if that makes sense? it's a compliment my eyes are wonky alerkgm). do you have any tips for character designs?

Thanks!!! I can't wait to learn more about Etik as you share more about Etik's story with Maureno (and Groe!)

OK SOOOO you've given me the chance to ramble AND SO I SHALL.

FIRST QUESTION: buck up cuz this is a long one.

Etik, Maureno, and Groe are all pre-existing characters. Sort of. They originally come from a story where Groe is the main character and is dealing with a lot of PTSD and has to teach a class of teens/young adults how to Use Magic! Etik is one of his students, and Maureno (called Maurice in this story) lives in the palace Groe is teaching at on a boat they can never leave (for backstory reasons)

(scenes of Maurice and Groe on the boat can be seen here)

so they didn't really spring up wholesale, but the next story put them in they were just background characters. Still, this version of them was wayy different. this was also the version where I changed Maurice to Maureno, sicne the characters were very different and i wanted a more funky name of this Evil Version. Etik isnt an important part of this story.

(I've posted that second version here)

WHICH LEADS US TO the maureno and groe that YOU, the ASKER know.

this version of them is relatively new compared to the other two, i just came up with it earlier this year. YOU SEE, I developed a bit of an infatuation with Sun Wukong and a dozen or so iterations of his character. I also later on fed my affection for honey badgers, and SO! I wanted to write a character that was inspired by Sun Wukong but like, for honey badgers. (sort of, there's plenty of differences but yea)

I also wanted to include Groe because I LOVE to torture him, and because I'd had this idea of him being killed/brought back which fit in well with my sun wukong fascination. Plus Groe's personality was perfect for it cuz he's already really bitter and petty and a bit of an asshole. I ended up including Etik and making her play a more main role because she's been underdeveloped for a while so I figured Why Not give her some attention?

SO IN SHORT: It was a combination of "YES I HAVE AN IDEA" and then mapping that idea on to pre-existing characters.

SECOND QUESTION: Etik and Groe already get along! Etik thinks he's cool and mysterious and admires his craft/work (his plants & his potions). Groe likes Etik too, it just hates that she stays with Maureno because it doesnt trust Maureno to look after a kid. and also because of its own child-related trauma.

THIRD QUESTION: Sort of! Etik is kind of caught between them already, but in more of a "Divorced parents trying to one up each other" sort of way not a "You have to choose one of us!" way. She'd probably choose Maureno anyway because she lives with her, and because she made a pact with Maureno to rescue her siblings. But she wouldn't be happy with or accept the idea of cutting off contact with Groe.

FOURTH QUESTION: Uhhh once again I'm kind of at that stage as an artist where I've internalized a lot of shit but cant exactly explain it. I basically just try to follow the rules of like, Shape Language and designing recognizable silhouettes (Groe is tall and thin and mostly pointy so that he looks like of like a wilting flower, Maureno is short and round but with a few edges that show that she's not just a big softie and is a potential threat, Etik just has a pretty average build cuz she's a pretty average girl. probably the least recognizable silhouette except for her little AAC snake)

my only other advice is to make more of your characters fat and transgender and disabled and non-white. fsdfmkdsfmsdf those arent really tips though, that's just what i like to draw hah.

[angelkids]

ive been waiting for this one

- Status Symbol - KFC murder chicks

- Rage - KFC murder chicks

- Cicada - M1DY

- The Wheel (Is Turning Now) - Everything Everything

also unrelated but i've been listening to so much blksmiith it goes so hard thank you for recommending to mee

status symbol: im not entirely sure if this is the right song but it does feature the band so. i believe its the right one. i like the pumping crunchy bass in the first half. and woah this shift to the second half. really fun lol. i love the compression throughout the whole song. really ties the whole vibe together. great little beat with some funky loops. i enjoy. might definitely check out some more if i get hungry. very “ok i really like this one/downloading immediately”.

rage: haha now this is fucking hardcore techno. love it. its like the lisa soundtrack but pumped with steroids. freakin awesome. im not typically a hardcore person but i do listen to it as a treat every now and then. love the little breakdowns throughout the whole song. very fun. “kinda catchy”

cicada: ohohohoo. very upbeat jam. that fucking bass holy shit. this goes hard. the contrast between the silly, relatively calm piano loop segments to the massive drops with the bass. its so funny and i love it. this is the kind of music that makes me laugh out loud listening to it because its just so awesome. cant see myself listening to it all the time but i wont be mad to hear this. “kinda catchy”

the wheel: i really like the laidback sound here. great drums and some fun electronic flair. i dont have a whole lot to say other than i just enjoy the sound here. very pleasant. great vocals too. “ok i really like this”, says me

also yeah man blksmiith is great. im happy to share my favorite music genre with everyone.

[cosmicoceans-fr]

Personal Lore Stuff

General Edition

First a disclaimer: A lot of my lore is just gonna be tweaking things about Flight Rising/Sornieth that I just don't like/vibe with, so if that'll bother you I advise not reading further.

Disclaimer part two: Some of the stuff mentioned here may already be canonical and I either A. haven't read about it yet (in which case feel free to shoot me the relevant readings ^^), B. I'm incorporating and expanding on it, or C. Incorporating and altering it.

Punctuation usage note:

Parenthesis () are used to signify a related but seperate thought to what they're grouped with.

Brackets [] are used as a form of authors note.

Now to begin: This is largely just going to be one chaotic info dump of all the stuff living in my head rn so I can come back and organise/edit it later but also so I can link it in my pinned cause I use verbiage that relates to my personal lore and figured this'd help anyone who might be confused.

Auction House is now:

Travel Listings

Name is a work in progress but the basic idea isn't.

The current system of dragons being put up for auction didn't really sit well with me [I understand it's function as the FR game itself goes don't at me please] so after some mulling it over I settled on Travel Listings!

The general idea is that dragons who are looking to relocate either to a new Clan within their own flight (flight AH) or just anywhere on Sorienth (Site-wide AH) can post the travel costs for them to do so with their stuff. When a Clan who's willing to sponsor the fees for the dragon posts them the dragon is then able to move in with the Clan!

This helps maintain the autonomy that dragons have as established in canon lore as well as giving the world a fun "new" mechanic [in my opinion at least]. In addition is use this as a basis for my pricings. If I consider the cost listed alongside each dragon as travel costs it let's me make some base costs guides based on things like breed, gene rarity, eye rarity, and in the event of a one-on-one arranged travel fees the cost for "luggage" (ie familiars, outfits, etc. which, btw, if you arrange for a dragons travel with me directly they'll almost always come with luggage).

The above is why I might seem to price travel fees a little weirdly and while I'm ok with the prices being a little funky I do want to be fair so if I unintentionally price something outrageously please let me know! ^^

Familiars

Familiars being listed as and treated as items within the game canon bugs me a bit as many of if not most/all of the familiars are canonically described as having sentience (sentience in this case meaning being living) them being treated as items isn't great for me.

Similar to Travel Listings I'll price/talk ahout/treat familiars with the same/similar verbiage. Familiars get travel fees as well albeit less involved than dragons might.

Familiars will also be treated as thinking beings who've choosen to come stay with our Clan for xyz reasons within lore contexts.

This leads me into my next bit:

The Coliseum

I'm not 100% posi on the canon lore surrounding Coli stuffs but the stuff I've developed whilest grinding in it as follows:

The Coliseum was started by [unestablished] as a way for dragons and beast clans to, hopefully, find some common ground.

Each coli arena/area is a neutral sparing ring/arena set up in each of the diff regions.

All who come to them agree to leave past issues/agressions/conceptions at home and have acknowledged that they are there to learn from eachother, as well as to have a good time. Each person who enters the Coli area agrees to do their part to ensure a friendly and (relatively) peaceful enviroment for all participants.

To be chosen to represent your Clan in the coli is considered a high honour by most involved and the importance of its neutrality is widely established/acknowledged. In the spirit of this many participants, dragon and beastclan alike, will bring gifts/offerings for their opponents [the coli drops]. Some participants might even find that they vibe/work really well with a clan/it's members and as such will choose to return with those dragons to their clans [familiar drops].

Due to the nature of the Coli its generally frowned upon for participants fo significantly higher levels to enter a match against participants of much lower levels [lack of exp gain], the exception to this are for teams who have come specifically to share their knowledge with those at lower levels [this parts honestly just so I can grind lower levels with my lvl 25s and not feel so bad about it 🤣].

Aaaaand that's about all I've got at the moment, there's other stuff that's dragon/breed line specific that'll be its own post(?).

[safetyrat]

Please give us your thoughts on Bigb.

I. love him. thats it thats the thought.

hjhgffghj no i actually would love to write a fic focused on him/the fairy fort but i tend to feel like u have to get art n writing done within a week in this fandom? bc otherwise it might not be canon anymore, and im just not that fast. so i hope u dont mind me just dumping all the concepts here anon

so one, he and lizzie are besties obviously. they have one braincell collectively. he brings her human blood. its all very cute. i like the idea of her being like, kinda pushy and overbearing towards him and ren after cleos death? like "u will move in with me. u will stay save. ren u can stay in ur tower if u want but u will have a place stay here if u need one." idk how in character it is, but just,, them being kinda disfunctional, but very close and sticking together at all costs.

then there is bigbs relationship to ren, which is less clear imo? bc obviously from lizzies pov she was relatively trusting that ren wouldnt kill her as the boogeyman, while cleo was absolutely not ("i took bigb away from there bc i dont trust ren" cleo... cleo u doubted ur wrong ally whos the boogeyman... cleo...) i think bigb agreed more with cleo? but he didnt really say anything about it. him reflecting on the different ways they went about being boogeymen would be funky to explore though. generally i dont think theyre close? but also it was ren who begged lizzie to let bigb stay intitially which is very interesting. i suppose they both sympathize with him a lot. also is that just me or does bigb treat ren more like the defacto leader of the alliance than lizzie? there has been quite a few times where he was like "ren said this" or "lets wait what ren says". im just saying, with all of rens and martyns talks, this might not be that inaccurate 👀

give me all the most awkward conversations about what happend. have them make a joke cleo used to make and cringe so bad when they realize. somebody calls someone else a superstar and they just die instantly. just,, them trying to act like everything is normal when it very much isnt. acting like there isnt somebody missing.

late night conversation between bigb and ren when neither can sleep, something along the lines of:

"why do you trust me?"

"because ive been there too. and i know youve learned ur lesson."

"huh?"

"you wouldnt do it again if you had another chance, right?"

"i mean..."

"you would?"

"...is that a bad thing?"

"..."

"not if i knew she would become red but-"

"because you wouldnt want her to come after you?"

"no! thats not what this is about! she was my only chance to cure myself, i had minutes left. and- maybe im naive, but i thought she could be ok as a yellow, maybe not with me but somewhere else. i thought i could make it up to her one day. the choice was between one new yellow or one new red, ren. i would have lost her either way."

"...ah, right. you dont know."

"what?"

"she told the shadow queen- she told lizzie and i something, before she left. bigb, she would have let you kill her if you had asked."

just jkhgfhjk. them. angst and awkwardness, and maybe domesticality in the place you would last expect to find any

i just like bigbs character so much man, i hope whatever ren and martyn have planned, he can be included in some way

[friendofflowersandfrogs]

Guys I may need a ~little~ help

Idek im having a small itty bitty little crisis over here???? This is (surprisingly) the best place to get advice so here I am.

I may be a *tad* neurodivergent. Ik ik what a big deal /s but here's the thing. I really don't want to be one of those annoying people who appropriate culture or smith or diagnose myself with things to be *special* ya know? But the more I think about it, the more I relate to a lot of the things

1. no me like prolonged eye contact. Especially with a stranger. Its just... awkward and doesn't feel right. I've always just bowed my head in recognition or respect or smth to avoid it im just now realizing.

2. I need escapism to live

3. Sorta related to 2-- I make like alternate versions of myself that I want to be. Not like DID, more like persona's that I'll role-play when I can't handle my real life. That could be normal

4. I do not tick but if I hear a funky sound you better be sure I will try to mimic it without thinking and fail

5. continuing on with #4, randomly drumming my hands on my thighs really fast is very fun and soothing??? especially when tongue trilling???

6. This could be normal too but I need physical contact to express love and affection like, platonic too my friends please sit on my lap or sit shoulder to shoulder with me its so calming

7. loud noises are a no. especially if its a lot of loud noise. I don't do the thing where I hear it all individually or smth but for me it just blurs together until I can't think and it low-key hurts?

8. I didn't used to stim but after I met my bff who did I would just naturally do it with her when I got excited and now I do it normally whenever I feel a really overpowering emotion. I didn't mean to do it in a mocking way or anything it just felt natural and idk

9. I don't hyperfixtate but I like reverse hyperfixtate where I get super duper duper in love with a piece of media and it consumes my thoughts for about a week (or a day or a month) and then it's gone and replaced by the next. I can have the same interest multiple times tho.

10. weighted blankets and blanket burritos are crucial to life.

11. I have realized (don't kill me) I'm unusually smart for my grade? didn't know this until this year but yeah ig things just click in my weird brain in ways it doesn't for others. idk if this is a sign or not.\

12. I fucking need my schedule. If someone asks me to do a relatively large task right then I will have a breakdown cuz it wasn't in my schedule. Idk why I have this but I need my pattern and routine and order yall

13. no me like making new friends. like I wanna im just not good at saying words. not that my stutter is bad (I do have a small one tho when im emotional) but words just don't come to mind and I'm not very funny so I just...dont. connecting with people hard.

14. fidget and stim activities are the best ok. I fiddle with the pop socket on my phone constantly

I'm not sure tho. Cuz my best friend in the whole world who has comprised of much of the important stuff in my life is autistic and maybe I accidentally absorbed some stuff like osmosis over the years we've been close so it might not be real. And if I am, I'm either really low on the spectrum or high-functioning (or both?) bc a lot of things im good at, like social cues, so maybe im not. I'm also not very educated I'm just pointing out things ive noticed that nuerodivergents mention that I do too.... I mean no offense to anybody I just wanna know some opinions? is there a chance im not actually nuerotypical? help