#that was the start of my love for reptiles and wildlife

[starb0oooy]

I'm going on a 3 day camping trip tomorrow to mist net for bats :3

[dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling]

Hello!

So I started watching ROTTMNT a few weeks ago despite my only exposure to the Ninja Turtles being a single scene of a 90's live-action movie when I was maybe 5 because the turtles started repeatedly appearing in my dreams, and my brother informed me this was the universe telling me I need to watch the turtles.

In any case, I have now become hyperfixated. Could I request platonic ROTTMNT turtle boys with a reader who is a biting insect magnet? It doesn't matter if the bug usually feeds on humans or not, the reader's blood is, for whatever reason, sweet, sweet nectar to all manner of biting insects, to the point that even max strength bug repellant doesn't always work to keep the bugs away; so reader is always getting bitten up by all nearby biting insects. To make matters worse, reader is mildly allergic to the itch juice bugs inject when they bite, and gets huge, swollen, itchy rashes from bug bites that itch for several weeks. (Reader is also an avid herper—someone who enjoys catching and releasing wild reptiles and amphibians, a passtime that involves being out and about where bugs are going to be at the times they are most active.)

My first experience with tmnt was the 2012 series when it first came out, I was like 7ish. Didn't Really get into the fandom though untill recently!

Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello and Michaelangelo x reader who's catches lizards and is allergic to bug bites

Raph

★ Whoo boy. He is so scared that you are going to get bitten by a oozesquitoe. It's not even funny. Anytime you're remotely near one he's pulling out Donnie's emergency hazmat suit (More on that later)

★ He urges you to where long sleeves and pants when you go out. Actually really likes the lizards that you catch. His favorite lizard native to New York is the coal skink because it looks a little red in the right lighting.

★ Raph's worried about your health, but that's just how he is. He will always be a bit worried about your health. Its actually pretty sweet. But please put a bandaid over the bigger bites so that he doesn't fret.

Leo

★ Leo, being the ever so intelligent person he is, decides that you're the perfect bait to catch oozesquitoes. Fortunately he is quickly shut down by his brothers the moment he voices his clearly perfect idea.

★ He keeps more than a few bottles of benadryl around the lair. Allergic reactions to bug bites wasn't something he knew about before meeting you. He's well stocked for whenever you get attacked by bugs.

★ Yes, he tried to cut a mosquito in half with his ōdachi. No, it didn't work. His weapon got stuck in a log because he put to much force into the swing.

★ He might get a little jealous over the lizards. Especially if you start talking to them. "look at you, handsome little guy!" And "oh, you have beautiful coloration" all prompt his jealousy. "Why don't you talk to me like that :'("

Donnie

★ Your blood seems to be irresistible to blood-eating insects, bug spray or not. His quite perplexed by the whole situation. Are you sure you used bug spray and not sunscreen?

★ His fear over you getting bitten by an oozesquitoe mixed with his tendency to plan things out in advanced led him to make a emergency hazmat suit for you in the turtle tank.

★ The amount of times he's had to put calamine lotion on you because you had gotten bit by bugs is way too high. To be blunt, he thinks you should stop trying to catch random lizards. Or at the very least cut down on it.

★ But then again, the look on your face when you catch a lizard and show him it is really cute. Especially when you explain to him what species it is and where it likes to hide during the day.

Mikey

★ Knows next to nothing about lizards, which is surprising because he's a reptile. If you have any books on wildlife he would like to borrow them to read up on New York's reptile population.

★ When you get bad allergic reactions he brings you to Leo. He would carry you but he probably can't because he is smol. Mikey loves animals but he doesn't love mosquitoes because of the effect they have on you.

★ He joins you whenever you try to catch lizards. Mikey loves to give the lizards you catch different names. Whenever you go out he brings a jar of dehydrated mealworms for whatever creature you catch.

[cinnamonest]

more thoughts on feral animal hybrid darlings please Lena 🥺 the wild fox darling with tighnari was so cute… I was imagining a scenario with Childe or Kazuha plucking hybrid darling out of the woods to take on their travels 🫣

I love writing these man, I don't normally do fluffy cutesy things but these are so soft and good for my soul, yet the "naive and unable to fully consent/easily manipulated" part gives it just enough of a dark touch so I don't combust into flames while making it. Writing hybrid posts is like eating warm soup on a cold day, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy, maybe I do have a soul after all

I actually would like to redo the boys in the original hybrid post, the very first one I did was so short I'd like to go back and make longer entries... So I'll start maybe doing that little by little.

I did do a wild girl one for Kazuha a while back in (the last hybrid post) (love our snek girl, our nope rope, our danger noodle) but for now I am redoing Childe and adding Itto, Dainsleif and Dottore (as this was requested by an ask I answered a bit ago), and a lengthy (entirely skippable so feel free to ignore it) rambling on lore at the beginning! >:3

//Basically enslavement of creatures, trafficking mentions, very naive hybrids, also needles for Dottore's

------

In terms of worldbuilding, there's varying social perceptions on owning various hybrids. People tend to be inclined to think of hybrids similarly to how they'd think of the actual animal to which they share traits with.

For example, hybrids of wild animals are thought to be best left to their own devices by most people. But due to their human features, there's a lot of debate and discourse as to whether or not they should be left alone, as some say they "belong in the wild," and that it's cruel or inhumane to take them out of their natural environments. Whereas on the other end, some would argue that it's best for them to be brought into captivity and kept as pets, seeing as it significantly increases the hybrid's lifespan due to being better protected from danger and more readily able to receive medical care.

But even for those who think they should be kept as pets, that raises the issue of how, for some of them. Some are notoriously aggressive, just like their fully inhuman counterparts. Some require very specific environments and care that is very expensive to emulate in captivity, and thus end up only being owned by wealthier individuals who like to show off owning exotic pets (unless someone who probably shouldn't have one and can't afford this special care keeps one anyway, in which case it may become a legal issue). Reptiles, for example, should only be kept in warm climates, although some resolve this by keeping their houses artificially warmed. There are large-sized red lamps available for reptilians as well.

Thus, different nations actually have different regulations on the matter. Some have laws prohibiting the ownership of certain types of hybrids that are considered to be "wild animals," deeming it akin to animal cruelty to take them out of their homes in nature. Some outlaw the ownership of hybrids deemed to be too dangerous to be kept in a human community, such as highly venomous snakes and spiders, or aggressive and strong hybrids such as bears or tigers. Several nations also outlaw the ownership of hybrids considered invasive species, who are dangerous to local wildlife, or hybrids who are simply not suited to the local climate and thus becoming deemed cruel to put them in an environment where they're miserable and uncomfortable.

Black markets still exist, though, for those people who just can't get over the thought of how neat it would be to own an "exotic" pet. Much like a normal universe with normal animals, these people tend to be young males in their teens or 20s who think it's cool or edgy since it's dangerous and illegal, and something they can show off. As you can imagine, this doesn't go over well with law enforcement. However, sometimes they then have to deal with the issue of it being harmful to the hybrid's mental health to take them away from their owner, so exceptions are made as long as they remain subject to regular check-ins... thus, illegal ownership can essentially be excused, and a lot of guys take the chance.

Hybrids, however, are held to a higher standard of care due to their human likeness. Whereas it would be considered acceptable in some climates to have an exclusively outdoor dog or cat (the actual animal, not hybrids), in most places it's illegal to leave hybrids outside for extended periods of time, especially overnight, and especially in particularly hot or cold climates. Hybrid neglect is a crime that carries high penalties, so it's very rare to see this actually occur, and is usually dealt with swiftly when concerned neighbors alert authorities.

Neglected or abused hybrids will be taken into custody of said authorities, and then placed into specifically designated shelters that re-home them, much like animals. It runs the same way it would for regular domestic pets as well -- people can come in, look around, pick one and leave, but only after signing a bunch of papers and performing background checks and the like. Hybrids can be expensive, considerably more so than pet animals. This, however, does help ensure that they go to good people who intend to take good care of them.

Obviously, due to their humanoid nature, hybrids are fetishized, lusted after and frequently taken as partners. It's not necessarily for everyone. Much like any kink or fetish, there will be some guys who are foaming at the mouth at the mere mention of it, and some guys who shrug and say they don't really see the appeal at all.

There's also an attitude held by some that it's kind of pathetic, you'll hear some guys mocking or teasing friends who have one -- couldn't get a normal girl to date you? It's viewed similarly to how a guy who isn't very successful with girls might hire escorts or buy a sex doll or the like.

The legality of hybrid partnership, however, is... messy. The argument against it is a moral issue. Sex slavery, purchasing spouses, and forced marriage are all illegal. How is purchasing a pet to be some kind of fleshlight-spouse any different? Hybrids are loyal by nature, they could also hypothetically be emotionally manipulated this way too.

Likewise, there's moral qualms about their nature as well, regarding the hybrid capacity for consent. Many hybrids are low IQ and highly manipulable and gullible in general, so some people take issue with it. That's not even taking into account the ones that can't speak, and especially the ones that can't understand human speech too.

However, due to overwhelming populace demand, it remains generally legal. In most nations, the final ruling is that partnership and physical relations are legal, but most places do not legally marry the two. Also, this is influenced by the fact that it's simply such a common and widespread thing to have hybrid partners by the era that their rights even come into question, means that outlawing it would be stripping thousands of hybrids from their owners and tearing long-lasting unions apart, which would be emotionally detrimental to the hybrids themselves. Basically, the consensus is simply: is it manipulating the hybrid's good, loyal nature and low IQ? Yes. But is it better than the emotional distress it would cause them to be removed from their owner? Also yes.

Thus, you need money and legal verification, and in many places, you need to register a hybrid for money. In some nations, it's perfectly legal to just bring in a hybrid you find out on the street and take them in, and in some nations it's not, and you need registration through local government establishments. This can also be species-dependent -- there's a pretty stark difference in how it would be seen as wholesome and kind to take in some poor dog or cat abandoned in the street, but frowned upon and potentially seen as a wrongdoing to drag in some wild creature you find on a hike.

Discourse also exists on black market exotic hybrid trappers, people who set traps to catch wild, non-domesticated hybrids that may often hurt the hybrid in the process. Traps like bear traps are gradually outlawed, so wire/rope net traps and cage traps are more common, but this still bothers a lot of people to think of the distress it causes.

Perhaps it feels a little cruel even to trappers themselves -- the poor things are obviously terrified when they come check the traps. Some are angrier, lashing out in an attempt to bite and scratch, others have a more human-like reaction, just huddling at the back of the cage or curling up in the net, sniffling and trembling with tears on their face. Usually they're scraped up or have rope burns from desperate attempts to escape, so that has to be dealt with too.

Wild hybrids don't speak, so unfortunately there's no way to communicate to them that they're not going to be killed and eaten. After a few hours, they stop crying so much, but they're still visibly afraid and make some rather pitiful noises. There's often issues with getting them to eat and drink, as they're wary of anything presented to them. Usually they simply get so hungry they're willing to eat food they're given, despite their caution, and realize it won't harm them. The general public isn't aware of how distressing this whole process is... probably for the better.

Other laws exist regarding what is cruel or humane, and the attitudes regarding this vary a lot depending on the general nation's consensus, and sometimes simply depending on who you're talking to.

Is it cruel to clip bird hybrid wings? To dock certain breeds' tails? Is it fair to require doggirls with a history of biting to be muzzled in public? If a hybrid vet isn't available, is it reasonable to take a hybrid to a human medical facility in the case of an emergency? Should it be required to keep them in portable crates on transportation such as trains? Should they have to be kept on leashes in public areas? Should venomous reptiles be allowed in public at all?

Similarly, some people have different ideas on what is appropriate regarding them depending on whether or not the individual being asked sees them as "animals with human characteristics," or "humans with animal characteristics." Every individual leans towards one view or the other. The former is more likely to see them as lessers, while the latter may question the morality of keeping them so subservient and controlled, even if they do depend on humans a lot.

Some people will also have negative perceptions of others based on what they own, and communities may set rules for specific individuals with their pets. Someone in the neighborhood thought it was a bright idea to own a raccoon girl, who has since terrorized the neighbors by sneaking out at night to rummage through trash -- and due to human weight and size, knocking plenty of bins over and all over the ground in the process. Now, although that one is permitted to stay, the local city board makes a rule against hybrids of non-domesticated animals. Similarly, even in nations where it's generally legal, specific areas with high populations of families and children may make regulations against aggressive or venomous species.

And finally, when dealing with the most intelligent of creatures, there is an issue of hybrid rights to be addressed.

Rarely, a few abnormal hybrids possess full human intellect. It's a case-by-case sort of thing, but most of the time, if they can prove this, they will eventually be granted full, normal rights. They usually prove themselves, and go on to live normal lives (some become war generals and botanists for example!). However, these are abnormalities, and hybrids are assumed to be "normal" (low intelligence) by default.

Hybrid intellect can vary greatly from one species to the next, and this has sparked a lot of discussion as to whether or not some hybrids should be regarded as deserving the same rights as a person.

At the Sumeru Akademiya in particular, there have been studies over the years that have produced a citable average IQ for different species, as well as other matters related to intellect and stability. They test things like short term memory, ability to solve different puzzles of different difficulty levels, ability to follow logical thought processes, and so on. They also test for dependency, trying to determine to what degree the hybrid depends on the owner to go about its daily life.

The speech capacity is obviously dependent on exposure -- wild animals have no speech capacity, dogs and cats can usually speak fluently, and others like cows and goats, as well as street-dwellers like raccoons or rats, etc have moderate speech capacities. Wild animals can be captured and taught to some extent, but it works similar to real-life cases of feral humans: their brains are fully developed and no longer have the elasticity to fully master language, so at most, they will learn some words and phrases, but never speak in full capacity. A lot of such hybrids may learn words like their master's name, words like "hungry" or "water" or "sleepy" to indicate their needs, names of others, times of day, a few common sentences, and other words like "yes/no", "please," "sorry," etc. They also will often pick up on the name assigned to them, but have a pattern of referring to themselves in third person using this name, rather than the use of "I."

Cats, for example, are very high on the list. Foxes and dogs were slightly below them, but still rather high. Dogs in particular showed high levels of dependency -- despite being rather intelligent, they often would interrupt the observing researchers performing the test to ask when they could go home, see their master and so on.

Bovines, sheep and pigs, however, are significantly lower, as were small mammal species. These were found to be incapable of solving complex puzzles, took more time to solve simple ones, struggled with short term memory, and many showed signs of high levels of distress as soon as they were taken to a separate room where they couldn't see their owner (who was watching, they allowed that, through one of those one-way glass panels on the side). The results for those were actually partially inconclusive, because they quickly learned that hybrids of these types would quickly become overwhelmed and confused by the task or puzzle before them and would start to whimper and tear up, shaking their heads and squeezing their eyes shut and stubbornly nn-mm!-ing when prompted to continue, refusing to carry on anymore and, thus proving the dependency aspect, start crying for their masters. They weren't so cruel as to deny them that, so they allowed them to quit early and be returned to the comfort of the familiarity of their owners -- to whom they would usually scamper over to as fast as possible.

On the bright side, the intelligent ones very quickly were able to, and all of them eventually able to, successfully complete the "put the shaped wooden blocks through the correct shape hole" test, which was the most basic one. However, the issues began when they reached numerical problems -- "if you have five and give two away, how many do you have left?" was mostly answered right (they were allowed to use their fingers to figure it out, which helped), but multiplication and division based problems were when some subspecies really began to struggle.

This leaves a bit of an ethical dilemma. The intellect varies so much that it seems unsafe to give the less intelligent ones rights, for the sake of their own well-being, whereas for more intelligent ones it seems cruel to deny them rights. And then the question becomes, where should the line be drawn?

The ultimate decision is that, for the sake of the more vulnerable ones, it's for the best to just make a sweeping judgement for their safety, even if it mean subjecting intelligent hybrids to subservience. So outside of the exceptions of highly intelligent individuals, the average species intelligence doesn't really matter, they'll just be subject to ownership anyway.

--------------------

Childe - beargirl

Whenever Ajax makes a trip back home, people often ask him to do all sorts of stuff. Can he fix this or that, fight off these bandits that are harassing a housing cluster, so on and so on. He was always running around doing tasks for locals in his tween years, and it just kind of stuck. Plus, due to being strong, a lot of the elderly in particular ask him out to help them with this or that.

Maybe it makes him feel a little used sometimes, but he likes to help, even if the matter is trivial.

On this most recent venture, according to the neighbors that approach him as soon as he sets foot in his hometown (after at least a brief hello how are you sort of thing, so they have some semblance of politeness), the matter is supposedly a menace of an animal stealing large amounts of fish out of fishery storages. Fishermen come in with their nets, dump a large amount into a vat, leave to get the next batch... only recently, to come back to a near-empty storage unit. Whatever it is, it's eating enough fish to feed an entire family.

But are you to be blamed? They're the ones dumb enough to just leave it all sitting there, unguarded, so you think. If they didn't want their fish eaten, they shouldn't have left it so easy to access. And if the humans really needed it, they would guard it better, so they must not really need it. And you leave some for them, too, you only eat a little over half to make sure they still have enough for themselves.

You still memorize their schedule, though, preferring to avoid direct confrontation, making sure you know around what time they'll be gone so you can come in undetected. Thus, it catches you off-guard when a human nonetheless enters the storage unit as you're chomping down mid-meal.

There's a few moments of quiet that pass as you both look each other up and down. You stare up at him. He looks down at you, where you sit on the ground, half a fish sticking out of your mouth. Round ears, a short little stump of a tail. You make a rough throaty noise.

It's adorable. Granted, this man would probably be able to pet an actual bear without a modicum of fear, but especially seeing as you're human-sized, it's even cuter. After a brief moment of wide-eyed surprise, you see a smirk of amusement form on his face.

It feels mocking. You glare. Your eyebrows furrow and your nose scrunches up, you stomp your way to stand up on your hind legs (or, as humans call them... legs), stretch your arms out for maximum intimidation, and ferociously growl.

He... puts his hand over his mouth, chortling, barely holding back laughter. You don't understand it, but he says something to you, before reaching out, patting the palm of his hand to the top of your head.

Your face suddenly feels very hot. That growl scares off all the small animals! Why is the human not afraid? You will be forced to engage in aggression to get him to go away, lest he try to steal from you. Summoning you maximum strength, growling still, you stomp forward, swinging your hand to thwack him in the side of the head.

But he catches your hand. Hold you firmly, shoves you down. You struggle against the human, but in a few seconds flat, he has you pinned to the ground, growling and snarling at him. A very strong human indeed. It does frighten you, but you're fairly certain humans don't eat creatures like yourself, right? You struggle and you squirm, you writhe and thrash, but soon the human has you all bound up, slinging you up over his shoulder and carrying you off as you growl and huff, a smile on his face. At least that's that taken care of. Who would have thought he'd get so lucky?

The problem is taken care of, sure, but if he just put you out in the woods, you'd just come right back. Normally, this would pose a very difficult-to-solve problem, but as he carries you back to the edge of the forest, he starts to think about this issue, and comes up with an alternate solution. Why not just... keep you? Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Why not? You're so cute, you'll make a great pet!

Of course, he knows people won't really take well to the thought of him keeping a whole bear. Some people will question the morality of the harbinger's actions. It's a wild animal, after all, is it really okay for him to take you away from your natural habitat like this?

However, the vast majority are more concerned with it being... you know, aggressive, strong, incapable of understanding speech, prone to biting and hitting, unfamiliar with human norms and unadjusted to society. But hey, none of that really matters when you have authority to get whatever unreasonable thing you want!

Similarly, some would argue that taking hybrids out of natural environments is unethical when you can't provide them with the food, environment, or temperature they need... but that's not really a problem when you're a high-status, high-power individual who can force a bunch of other people who have no other choice to inconvenience themselves so that you can provide for those needs. He sees no issue there, you can easily have you needs met.

But just look at you, where he has you set on the ground now all tied up, shuffling over to him and viciously gnawing his ankle (unaware you're biting into a boot and not flesh, but making a valiant effort to bite the limb off nonetheless). So cute. How could he just let you go? No, he can work this out. He sets aside the next few hours to go the specifics of his intentions with the first subordinates he comes across, the ones that accompanied him back here. Watching as their eyes go wide, a very uncomfortable look on their faces as they glance over at the growling creature he has in his arms, leaning back to avoid how you chomp your jaws down, craning your neck forward in an attempt to bite them.

One of them is daring enough to voice the obvious concern -- sir, maybe it would be best to let this one go and get something less... wild... and dangerous...?

Huh? Dangerous? Nah, she's just play-biting. She won't hurt anybody, see? He sits you upright, sits behind you, squishes your face in his hands. She's a softie, she's not really mean. You snarl and attempt to bite his hands as he speaks.

Besides, he adds, you'll live a much better life in captivity! You'll be happier and healthier. He's doing a good thing, really, an act of goodwill and compassion for this poor, poor creature. So, while he finishes up all the things he needed to get done on this trip home, he has them go ahead and carry you back to the lodgings to be taken onto the ship when he leaves tomorrow... you do bite directly into a subordinate's ear on the trip. Poor guy ends up with a permanent scar from the whole thing, but at least they got you to un-latch your jaw after several minutes of the guy screaming while they tried to pry your mouth open.

As it turns out, he was right, you're really no trouble at all to have, and keeping you here is a delight! At least, that's what Ajax himself says. The subordinates are less inclined to agree, but they do so verbally, at least.

You have to try to wear the clothes. You don't like them, sure, but it's kind of necessary. Have to start small and gradually make progress, buying a bulk of plain large shirts, gradually training you to not rip them apart via treat rewards for not doing so.

You eat a lot. Like, a lot. He's lucky to be so high in rank, or the Fatui would never agree to cover the costs of your eating needs. It's baffling. If you paid attention to your surroundings (you don't, but just if you did), you would often see the underlings watching you from a distance as you eat with some mix of surprise, bewilderment, and borderline horror as you consume ungodly amounts of food in a matter of seconds.

They have to go to the markets and purchase large amounts of imported fish -- specifically those, as you turn your nose up at local species. It has to be the fish you're familiar with, and yes, you can tell the difference, and yes, you will get angry and violent if you are presented with fish you do not like. You initially turn your nose up to cooked meats too, so they have to go out of their way to procure high quality raw fish and meat. Over time, they manage to get you conditioned and willing to eat cooked fish, so that's at least one small victory for them.

The most desired of treats, however, is raw honeycomb -- made the mistake of giving it to you once, and now you get grouchy when you can't have any, pawing and kneading at your master until you get some (or rather, until subordinates get you some). No, bottled honey is not good and you refuse to eat it, so they quickly discover. Has to have the comb and everything. This is rather expensive to buy, but you know, they have the funds, and if this is what they're commanded to spend it on, so be it... although they do get some odd looks from the poor market vendor when a bunch of guys in recognizable Fatui garb come to purchase everything last piece to be sold. And, of course, someone has to come after you to wipe the floor up after you inevitably spill some on the ground too... calling you a messy eater would be an understatement.

Also, they go to some rather insane extents to keep you cool. They managed to locate a lower rank grunt with a cryo vision, who has now, as per the title given to him by the other grunts who have all sort of group-bully the poor thing about it, become the unfortunate 'bear-sitter' for the harbinger. His job is quite literally to chill down your environment. They've brought in tub-sized containers of water, had them frozen, gotten someone else to crush it up with a hammer and let you -- with a very content expression, seemingly pleased -- rest in it until it melted, and repeated the process. This is not exactly how the poor guy expected the Fatui to make use of his vision, but hey, he's getting paid... at least that what he tells himself.

You're also, ah, kind of aggressive, especially if displeased by being too hot or lack of proper food. They sort of stiffen if they see your presence nearby. Despite being roughly human-sized, you have a lot of strength in those arms, and a good swat to the head will send someone straight into unconsciousness. You are, unfortunately, very aware of your strength, and have no reservations with using it at the slightest of inconveniences or irritation. This has led to a variety of various blunt-force injuries for various underlings. Ajax promises you're getting better with time, and besides, it's just minor stuff that'll heal with time.

However, despite your frequent aggresion, you're not at all unhappy. Sure, sometimes it gets uncomfortably warm, but other than that, you're living like a king!

You have no idea what's going on, but you've accepted it by now.

The humans bring you tray after tray of fish, and you get to lay around all day. Why do they serve you this way? You have no clue. But you're not complaining. Why were you brought out of the wild, why do you sleep in a human bed, what is the point of all these various noises the humans are constantly making with their mouths to each other? Who knows. None of it really matters anyway. You were very oppositional at first, attacked everyone who came near and refused to comply, but you've learned very quickly that this is a major improvement from sleeping outside in caves, drinking river water, having to worry about hunting for yourself. And the many masked humans are the ones serving you, so you have decided that for now, you will spare them, although you may reconsider eating them at a later date.

All you have to do is keep the clothes on your body and not wander off too far from the loud ginger human that brought you here, and as long as you do those things, everything remains tranquil and pleasing to you.

Said human, the one that found you and keeps you by his side, he is very strong. Coming across a human stronger than you was quite shocking, and you have some respect for it. It's why he's the one you don't attack, that you don't bite... at least eventually. You tried to bite him often at first, but he always grabs your jaw and forces it shut, holds your arms still so you can't swat him. No, bad. Bad girl, stop that. Over time, you learn these words mean to cease the behavior, and although you do not like being told what to do, you have little choice. For starters, the human is strong enough to restrain you, and secondly, if you continuously misbehave, he puts you into a large crate for an extended period of time with no snacks and no entertainment. This does give strong incentive to refrain from these behaviors, and you are given toys to chew on anyway, so you just bite those and pretend they are the humans.

But over time, you grow to have a sort of reverence for such strength, so you no longer want to attack him anyway.

More importantly, that means surely, this human is fit to protect you and any potential offspring. If you had to procreate with a human, this one would produce strong cubs. Your brain tells you that strength is good and that this human should be mated with. So for now, you decide to stay by his side and not hurt him.

Unless you're attacking him, though, you can do no wrong. He plays off everything you do like it's no big deal, like it's cute. Oh, you just slammed someone in the side of the head and knocked them out? Aw, someone's grumpy. You snatched some poor grunt's meal right out of his hand and ate it? Well, she can't help being hungry! You end up terrorizing, bullying, and attempt to eat that sheep hybrid that lives here too on a daily basis? Well he should keep a better eye on her, mine's just following instincts.

And then there was that time you quite literally bit a man's finger off, and it had to be reattached -- but not after quite the struggle getting you to give it up, but he was nice about that too. Come on, be good, spit it out. You eventually complied with this request, seeing as you had no way to explain that the human in question had been annoying you, so you supposed you'd be the better person here and give him the appendage back even if such graciousness is undeserved.

Said underlings still attempt to occasionally protest the whole thing. Couldn't he have picked, you know, maybe a normal one? Like... a dog? A cat? A rabbit? Something that only needs light maintenance and doesn't regularly gives people concussions?

Nah. He would hold your face from behind as if to display you, squishing your cheeks and saying something about how cute you are. So cute! She won't hurt anyone, see? You make a low rumbling noise in your throat, intensely glaring at the onlooker, who then by that point usually has taken a few steps back and is quickly trying to exit the conversation. Seeing that narrow-eyed look on your face, the way you bare those pointed teeth when you growl... it shuts down anyone trying to object to him having you pretty quickly.

In truth, he's aware of the effect, even if he pretends to be blissfully ignorant to why they suddenly scurry off. He finds people protesting your presence very annoying, so he has no qualms about scaring them away.

He's not lying when he calls it cute, though. Your growling and aggression is cute to him, in his own morbid little way.

-----------------

Dainsleif - Doggirl

Dainsleif has actually considered dog hybrid ownership on more than one occasion. It's more of a passing thought, though, the sort of what-if thought all people have every now and then, briefly imagining the possibility in his head. But he has no intention to ever actually go through with such a thing, no, it would be far too impractical for his circumstances, and unfair to the creature in question. It's just a pleasant concept, but not realistic.

Or maybe he could get an actual dog. Like, an animal, nothing humanoid about it, no having to deal with the awkwardness of the raised-eyebrow look of judgement and suspicion he knows he'd get from the sellers if he got a hybrid one. Single adult man with obvious distaste for interaction, purchasing a hybrid of all things... they'd think it was for nefarious purposes.

But he's certainly heavily considered the idea. He could get one of those big hunting dog types. Granted, an actual animal would work, but it would be kind of nice to have something that could communicate back to him.

It would be useful for his somewhat nomadic, quest-driven lifestyle. He can't always afford the time to stop in cities and the like, but he's not the most skilled hunter out there. Having a dog that could sniff out and even chase down small animals, and hear upcoming enemies from a distance, would be very useful.

But it's just a thought he's entertained a few times. Not something he actually wants enough to act upon. It would be a hassle, you know? So while he's mulled over it a bit, it never goes beyond abstract thoughts, never into anything serious.

Instead, you sort of come to him.

Not that he's doing anything out of the ordinary to invoke your presence, no. Just traveling as usual, exploring a rural area on the outskirts of a more urban one, with the occasional homestead dotted here or there. A voice calls out of nowhere -- wait, wait! When he turns to face the source of the sound, he can see you from a distance, running up to him, clearly intending to approach him for some reason. He pauses, waits for you to come up.

You seem to be one of those little... yappy dogs.

See, much like with animals in general, for various dog hybrids, the personality and breed are correlated. You're one of those tiny fluffy dogs, where the actual dog you share half your DNA with would fit in a handbag or the like. Those breeds that are made solely for the purpose of being luxury pets with poor athletic and endurance abilities. Your tail is shaped like a pom-pom, more fluff than tail itself. Your ears are disproportionately huge to your head, and equally covered in silky fluff. They bounce with each little step you take as you run up to him, eyes tearful and voice strained with panic. He's the first person to have come by in some time, and likely no one else to help will come by any time soon, so you force yourself to be brave and implore for help from this man, even though he is quite scary-looking.

My master is sick.

Your ears flatten to your head. He has to refrain from sighing... he can't afford to be using up valuable time like this, you probably just need to go into town and get a doctor. Still, he can't bring himself to ignore you or refuse to help.

He does try, though. He opens his mouth and is just about to try and say that you need to go into town and get an actual doctor, and that he has places to be, but... then he looks you in the eye, sees your watery eyes and trembling lip and you look so scared and pitiful and... ugh. Curse him for having a soft side. Fine. He takes a deep breath, asks you to take him in and he'll try his best to help you.

Thankfully, the reality of the situation doesn't hit him all at once and thereby catch him off-guard -- no, the moment you open the door into the main room, the smell that hits him is putrid enough that he's prepared for what he knows he's about to see when you pull the bedroom curtain back. Yeah... ugh, the body is at least several days old.  He feels a twinge of pity looking around the room, several cups of water and the like that you, in your confusion and concern, have brought over.

...You don't understand. You're looking up at him like you're waiting for him to do something to help. Your cognitive capacity isn't deep enough to grasp what's happening. Great... this is a very unpleasant situation to be stuck in.

He explains it to you slowly, but it dawns on you what he's leading up to as he's trying to explain. Your eyes water up. No! He's fine, he's just sick... he was sick and coughing until a few days ago...

He stays for a few hours. You keep trying to desperately nudge the body, now distraught and whimpering. He can't bring himself to just up and leave, so he watches as you do so, repetitively insisting the man is fine, until finally, after a few hours, you lower down onto the ground, pull your knees up to your chest and wrap your arms around them, and bury your face into your arms, shivering and sniffling, ears flattened to your head.

He can be cold, but he's not heartless. He feels a lot of pity, watching you as you accept the matter. What is he supposed to do now? He can't just leave you here, not in good conscience... you'll probably die on your own.

He's quiet for a long time, deep in thought. It's well into the evening when he finally speaks again.

You can't stay here. I'll take you somewhere safe.

You refuse, shaking your head. He has to reason with you. Tell you that you'll be all alone, that you'll be in danger of attackers and predators, that you're going to starve or get sick. Eventually, after a lot of trying to get through to you, you reluctantly agree.

Well, that's good. It won't be a big deal, he thinks to himself. He can just... take you to the nearest town, drop you off at a shelter. You'll be much better off than you would be left alone here. You're not made for hunting or anything, you'll certainly starve to death or worse if he were to let you stay by yourself. He's doing a good thing. It won't be much time at all. You'll be taken care of, and in fact, giving you up to a shelter is probably even better than the life you were living out here. He can't help but wonder why some old man had you out here, living alone... ugh.

In the morning, he sets off, letting you trail behind him. Takes you all the way into the nearest big city. Your eyes are full of wonder, mouth hanging open as you take in all the sights and sounds of a bustling urban area. It's rather cute, but he has to get you to hold his hand so you don't go running off. He ends up finding the place, but... well, he doesn't like the look of the local shelter. Big grey slab, looks very uninviting and cold, seems overcrowded, and something about it just makes him feel... off. He can't bring himself to leave you at a place like this. They're probably too overcrowded to take care of you properly. He can't do that, the guilt would eat away at him.

Next town, maybe. You'll have to accompany him a while longer, he tells you, sorry. You don't seem to mind. You barely hear him, too distracted by everything going on around you until you exit and return to the beaten path. And thus begins what he assumes will be a very brief journey together.

It does occur to him that, after so much idle thought about getting one, it's kind of ironic that a dog hybrid fell into his hands by complete chance anyway. Of course, having you is not what he imagined when he used to think about acquiring a dog. He was envisioning a hybrid that could, you know, sort of rough the wilderness with him. Instead, he soon finds that you end up essentially making his life even harder, posing a burden at every conceivable opportunity.

His teleportative capabilities can only do so much, so he does have to travel by foot quite a bit... but you struggle to keep up.

Noooo, you whine, you don't want to cross the stream because your tail will get wet. He ends up having to make two trips across the water, the first to carry you, your legs wrapped around his waist and arms around his neck (your little pom-pom tail stiff and twitching all the while), then the second to go back and get the things he was carrying. He has to make much more frequent stops, as your feet begin to hurt, and you get hungry rather frequently (and, as it turns out, are a bit picky too).

Granted, you can fulfill the functions he originally considered a dog hybrid for. You can sniff out small animals... except you don't really chase them, just go ballistic at the sight and yap at them as they run up the trees and out of range, scaring away anything nearby. Not to mention, your scent tends to lure predators... and even worse, you attack predators.

See, much like any small dog, you have this odd duality where it seems your brain fails to process that you are, in fact, not a large and deadly animal, and thus you feel the need to attack almost everything, regardless of how many times your size and strength they are. Tigers, sumpter beasts, lawachurls. It's an instinct, too, you'll just be walking or resting until your ears suddenly perk up, your pupils go huge and you bolt off before he can stop you. The creatures often don't see you at first, they just hear a high-pitched yapping sound, turn their heads all around only to finally notice you when you bite their heels. Thankfully, up to now, every single time he's managed to come right behind you, running after you and calling out to you, snatching you up just before you were about to get crushed, impaled, or chomped on. Traveling through Sumeru, you were nearly swallowed up by those tigers what, eight times? It didn't help that, since your brain registered them as cats, your instinct was instead to lunge at them.

In fact, you can't help but yap at enemies even from a distance, thereby drawing enemies that would have otherwise let you pass unnoticed and luring them into combat for him to fight off -- all while ensuring your safety, since, despite your incessant yapping and growling at the sight of them, once they start swinging at you, you curl up into a fetal position and whimper, tail between your legs, crying for him to make them go away. In addition to these safety concerns, you have a tendency to eat whatever you may find, various berries and plants that you swallow up when he has his head turned, often resulting in you getting very sick and him having to care for you as you recover.

You struggle with his name. Mister Day-nz-leeeeev. Too weird of a word for your doggie brain. You settle for Mister, as you call all unfamiliar men, but as time goes on you swap out a vowel, and he sort of just comes to the realization one day when you say it that you've been calling him Master for a while now.

He clenches his jaw. That's not right. That sounds too... permanent. He's still going to drop you off somewhere, you know, he just needs to find a place first.

...He does need to do that, right? He can't just...

No. No, he can't keep you. He chastises himself for even letting the thought cross his mind for a split second. His journey is far too dangerous, and his own future too uncertain to commit to such a thing. It's a non-option.

But the next town also doesn't have a very inviting-looking shelter. He can't leave you here. No, it looks cold and sad and not a place he can feel unworried about leaving you in.

What if the people are neglectful? What if they don't feed you? They'll probably not give you the same amount of focused attention as he does, they're busy taking care of tons of creatures. They won't know you only like this food made this way, that you need these certain conditions to sleep, all the little specific needs you have that he's learned with time. There's no way he can leave you here. He'll have to find someplace else. Surely, soon he'll find somewhere he can leave you.

Each night, now, he runs fingers through your ears and tail, checking to make sure you didn't get any ticks on you with those huge fluffy ears. So soft... but he ends up retracting his hands. He grinds his teeth and moves away from you. Can't afford to get too attached, and he tells himself it would be taking advantage of your naivete to touch you too much in a way that you, too, might get attached.

He ends up not having much of a choice, though. You end up having an… incident. He gets flustered thinking about it at any point afterwards. About a month in, laying there one night trying to go to sleep, you get all… whimper-y. You shuffle over to him and start… wrapping your legs around his leg and… grinding forward… little canine whines, you whimper that you feel hot and weird. Oh. Great. How is he supposed to handle this? It’s the most awkward few minutes of his life.

This man is not exactly the best at dealing with embarrassing subjects, he pretty much just goes red in the face and nearly stammers as he speaks, tells you to just calm down and… and uh… well, he ends up basically just letting you do it. Watching with wide eyes and heavy breath, giving you comforting rubs on your head and neck until you finally shudder and go still, and, thankfully for him so he doesn’t have to deal with unbearable shame, nearly immediately fall asleep – but not before snuggling up to him, wrapping your arms around him. He has trouble falling asleep that night.

He tries not to speak about it from then on out, and thankfully, you seem to not find it strange or shameful at all, not even acknowledging it the next day or ever again. He just resolves to maybe try and forget the matter. He almost, almost finds himself thinking something along the lines of what he can do to help you next time, almost starts thinking through and imagining it in his head, but he stops himself.

No. There is no next time. He'll have found you a better place to stay by then. Maybe those shelters will be able to medicate you or something to prevent this. Yeah, they'll be able to take care of it better than he can.

For now, he'll just have to keep you with him and worry about everything else, such as keeping you safe. He's afraid of failing in that task, though. Always checking up on you.

There's one incident where it comes far too close.

He really, really doesn't mean it. You were being whiny again, complaining you don't want to keep walking, that you don't want to take this route because it's muddy or cold. He's irritated, he speaks without thinking.

Do you realize how much more difficult you make things for me?

As soon as the words leave his mouth, he regrets it. He didn't mean to say something so cruel... he opens his mouth to apologize, but can't find the words.

Oh, no. Your ears tilt back, your little eyes water up and you start to sniffle. Yeah... now he feels really bad.

Agh... hey, he didn't mean that, just... just go to bed for now, okay? He's just frustrated. It'll be better tomorrow. You both need some sleep. You agree to that, sadly curling up into a ball, facing away from him.

As bad as he feels, the situation takes a turn for the worse when he wakes up to find your sleeping bag empty.

He immediately panics. Dammit. You must have run off. Surely nothing took you away, right? He would have heard that.

Yes, sure enough, there's your footprints on the ground. Unfortunately, they cut off only a few feet away.

He scours the area for hours. Calling out to you, doing everything in his power to hunt you down. Checking under every crevice, behind every tree. Eventually, he swallows the dread and checks beside the nearby river, the only place he's hoping to not find you, as he knows it would likely be in the form of your body washed up on the side bank. But still nothing. He makes several rounds around the area. How far could you have gone?

It's not until he finally resolves to go back to where you two had been sleeping and see if maybe you decided to return there, that he hears a whimpering. Coming from... up?

He tilts his head upward. You're up in the branches, curled up. It's an overwhelming feeling of relief.

So much so that even in that moment, he realizes just how much importance he's staked on you. He's fully aware, and isn't the type to push thoughts away or lie to himself. He has to acknowledge the realization in that moment that he's grown so attached to you that the thought of something having happened to you is the greatest panic he's felt in ages, decades even.

You open your eyes when he calls out for you, you're all trembling and sniffling. You say you climbed up to escape a monster that was chasing you. But being a canine, and not a feline, you're not exactly adept at climbing up or down, and now you're stuck, too afraid to attempt to come back down.

But when he tells you to come down, that he'll catch you, you shake your head, ears facing back, puff your cheeks out.

No! You don't even want me! You want me to go away, so I'm gonna go somewhere else!

He sighs. It's petulant, stubborn. You're being childish, and he knows that. But he can't help but feel guilty.

No, I...

He has to pause for a moment. Never been too good with words.

He says he's sorry. That he didn't mean it. That he wants you to stay with him, that he cares about you and wants you by his side.

If I didn't care for you, I wouldn't have bothered looking for you, would I? So... come on, just come down...

Your ears twitch.

Promise?

He gives a long sigh.

Yes, I promise. Come on, I'll catch you.

He holds his arms up and open. You hesitate a moment longer, pausing to wipe your face from all the crying you were doing before.

And finally, after a moment, you leap off, landing directly into his arms. The force is a bit much, and he actually goes stumbling backwards, landing flat on his back. At least it provides a cushion to you, though.

You both lay there for a moment. You feel him take a deep breath in and out. He reaches up to stroke the top of your head. You lay your face down against his chest.

In truth, he's rather worried about the future, if he gets into any serious danger while pursuing his quite powerful enemies... and even so, he also thinks about the fact that your lifespan is limited. He doesn't like that thought. Perhaps he was intentionally trying to avoid growing attached to you for that reason. It makes him feel like there's a knot in his stomach.

But when he tilts his head down to look at you, sees the content expression on your face as you nuzzle your face into his chest, sees your fluff tail moving back and forth... he decides that whatever inevitable pain the future may hold, maybe he can allow himself to indulge in this happiness for now, even if but for what is to him the blink of an eye.

--------------------

Itto - Cowgirl

"Cow" almost feels like an inaccurate description; it invokes too much imagery of a soft, gentle giant sort of animal, peacefully gnawing at grass in a field, rather than the more accurate portrayal of the utter horned, mooing demon that the actual you embodies.

Aggressive and high-strung, and very territorial, it's a fairly common problem with your specific breed. Your cow ears and wiry tail are always twitching with irritation.

And it is for that reason that you find yourself alone on a path in the Inazuman wilderness. This one's too feisty. So they said, you understood that even with a very limited vocabulary and understanding of speech. Didn't bother to try selling you off, since it your aggression was obvious enough no one would accept, so they just dumped you out here on the road, far away and unable to attack the rest of the hybrid herd. You find yourself huffing, stomping around as you navigate the wilderness. Nothing better to do, so you might as well try and find somewhere to go from here. You're rather irked about the whole thing, though. You were never that bad. They were overreacting.

How rude, to just abandon you out here. You're mad. You decide that the next human you see is getting a set of horns directly in their stomach.

Which doesn't take long. You were dropped off somewhat close to the nearby city, along the pathway. Not even half an hour has passed before you cross paths with a human, a very loud one, walks very heavily.

He does take notice of you, though, pausing in his steps. Says something to you you don't understand -- what are you doing out here? -- with a big smile. Seems to find you quite amusing, strolls right over and past the top of your head, laughing about something or another.

How bothersome. You huff a heavy breath, pawing your foot into the ground in a warning gesture. The golden ring through your nose moves with your huffing. He doesn't seemed fazed by it, still more amused than anything, and thus, you have no choice but to take a few steps back, tilt your head down, and lunge forward. Hopefully you'll skewer him.

You're met with a harsh resistance, stopped so firmly the sudden force to your head makes a dull ache in your skull.

Woah, woah, slow down there, uh....

It takes you a few seconds to process that he's holding you still by the horns, one hand gripped around each one. Humans are generally quite weak, and easily knocked over. This one, however, is holding you perfectly still, and he's not even tense, nor planting his feet apart in a stance to ground himself, no, just sort of standing there in a relaxed stance, looking down at you with an inquisitive, but very unbothered and unstrained expression, as if restraining you is not causing him to exert any real effort or strength.

Woah, you're really trying to get me huh. Haha.

He's laughing at you. Not maliciously, more amused, but it makes you feel a tight knot of embarrassment in your chest nonetheless.

After a moment of aggressive thrashing from you, though, shoving yourself forward with as much force as you can muster, you feel your feet leave the ground. You go up, and then, you go down. Your back slams into the ground.

The blow leaves you dizzy. Your vision is spinning, you're flat on your back staring up at the sky, blinking, wide-eyed with shock.

Oh, uh... didn't mean to throw you that hard.... you alright?

You sit up, but you're swaying from side to side pretty badly, jaw hanging open.... whoops. He was just trying to get you to calm down, swear, didn't mean to make you hit your head. Well, never fear, you're in good hands! So, you know, no need to go running off to your owner and getting someone mad at him...

Actually... where is your owner? Hm... you don't have anything on you but basically rags, no collar or anything. And there's no houses or fencing nearby. Oh, you don't have an owner, you must be wild. That's good, that means no one can come after him and get him charged with hybrid assault or something -- or, ah, good because he just doesn't have to explain that you're definitely not actually hurt at all and that you just fell over is all. Uh... what's got you so aggressive though? He was just trying to pet you...

Oh! You probably have something wrong you need help with! He's heard plenty of stories like that before, some wild hybrid or animal will approach a human and try to communicate some need, try to get help from a higher species. And animals get aggressive when they're in pain right? Maybe you're really hurt. Well, no worries, you've come to the right person. Good thing too, you could've ended up coming across a really bad person instead. You were smart to come to him for help! You clearly knew a capable person when you saw one.

Thus, he lugs you all the way to the nearby main part of the city, full of humans -- all of whom give you a wide berth, eyes widening as they watch your thrashing and hear your aggressive bellowing.

Thankfully, he has just enough mora to cover a hybrid vet visit, and is willing to spend it on you. It's the right thing to do, y'know? Act of goodwill and all that to help some poor animal, probably gonna give him good karma and all that.

A quick examination, however, concludes you have no problems. Found in the wilderness, hm... Well, no tags means they can't track down an owner... Unless you want to keep this one, we'll take it to a shelter....

The decision only takes a matter of seconds. It's like one of those divine signs of fate! You're clearly meant to come with him. You have the horns, it's basically predestined, a sign from Celestia or something. It wouldn't be right to ignore that. You'll be like a mascot! Yeah, that'll work.

You still thrash quite a bit as you're carried off again, but he doesn't seem to notice. He's too busy talking about how you're going to be right at home and really get along with everyone or something like that. You only know a few human words, so you're pretty much lost on anything he's saying.

Even after arriving at what appears to be your new "home," you are not entirely certain why you'd been dragged away, and you're quite confused and afraid. After a few minutes of observation, though, you come to an important realization that you did not look closely enough until now. The one who has brought you here is another hybrid, not a human. He possesses horns, which means he is clearly one of your own kind, you were acquainted with plenty of bull hybrids in your herd days. You were mistaken to think of him as human.

However, he has human ears, and has no tail. What kind of bull has no tail? Maybe his was ripped off somehow. That doesn't explain the human ears though... maybe he's some genetic mishap and got the wrong ears. And how did a bull manage to master human speech? More importantly, why form one's herd out of humans? The others here have no horns, nor any sign of animal blood. That seems rather nonsensical. None of it make sense to you.

But as a herd animal (even if not a very peaceful one), you have an instinct to be around others of your own kind. This one and Ushi are likely the only ones of your own kind you'll find for quite some time, you have an urge to stay with them, and really, the thought of being out there alone again is a bit frightening. So even if they already get on your nerves quite a bit, you resolve to stay right here. It's not like you have anywhere else to go, and you quickly realize that they intend to give you free food, which is a major plus.

In fact, you get adjusted rather quickly. After your initial thrashing when you were carried here, you pose no more real resistance to the setup itself, which is taken as a sign that you have accepted your belonging here. Well, you do protest the cowbell that gets put around your neck on the second day of your stay, disliking the sound and weight, but it proves impossible to pull off with your mere pawing at it. Perhaps if you were a bit smarter and capable of using your thumbs in complex ways, you might be able to remove it, but unfortunately all you can think to do is tug on it, which proves futile, and thus you grow used to it. This way everyone can keep an eye on you, make sure you don't go wandering off.

The humans this bull lives with, however, are wary of you. It doesn't help that your initial reaction to them is to huff and jerk your head in an attempt to stab them.

But he doesn't get mad. You're just getting adjusted is all! That's actually your way of greeting, it's playful! You're not trying to hurt anybody, so he says. Still, after a couple of incidents leaving point-tip scars on the appendages of other members, you have the horns shaved and sanded down to dull ends (quite the ordeal, as it took essentially the entire gang to hold you down and complete the process). Though bitter about it for some time, you eventually accepted this, and gradually became less prone to attack in general.

You are now considered the gang co-mascot and group representative. Your role as representative is to... represent. Exist. You don't really have any responsibilities except to be present at major functions and sit there.

That being said, it is a vital function and nothing important can be done without your presence. You are consulted for important decisions (What do you think?, he asks, and when you grunt or flick your ears, see, she thinks it's a good idea!), and no important decision can be made without your supposed opinion (Hang on, we have to consult the representative...). It has been argued by some that this is not necessary (and perhaps that you aren't even aware of what's being said or what's going on in the first place), but after getting into said argument on a variety of occasions and losing to sheer stubbornness every single time, the other members have come to acknowledge the significance of your say in things.

You also get a vote in any major decisions. With your inability to form and limited understanding of human words, however, your vote is automatically determined to align with his vote, thus often swaying the vote in his favor (it does not help that,  as leader, he already gets two votes anyway...).

Much like your general "opinions," this has been protested by other members a couple of times, but it is argued that you deserve to have your opinion heard as a vital and irreplaceable gang member, and since you can't voice your opinion, the responsibility falls upon him to correctly interpret your gestures to the vote you're trying to communicate. Who else knows you well enough to interpret you? Exactly. You're uncertain of what it means when the humans talk back and forth a bunch and then turn to you as if expecting something, but as soon as you give any sort of sound or gesture, that seems to be satisfactory to continue, so you don't mind it.

You're given an outfit color-matching to your owner's, once again for the purpose of matching the gang's "vibes," whatever that may mean, and to be better recognizable as the token representative. Likewise, now, every couple of days, he paints your horns red so that you match, says something about it looking cool and another comment about the aforementioned matching of vibes. You have to be matching, since you're going to be going everywhere together and do everything together!

Well, he does have some necessary things to do that you can't come with him for. In those cases, the others can watch over you. But then again... they're all, you know, normal humans, and there's a chance you could slam them with those horns, make them lose their grip and run off...

Oh, Ushi would never run away. Why didn't he think about that until now? You two would probably get along really well too. You two are kind of the same thing, after all. He loops a rope between the two of you, ties your necks together with a few spare feet of leeway between. See? Just like you. You'll get along well.

You turn towards this... creature, huffing air out of your nostrils, making a low, threatening sound in your throat. Likewise, he makes the same gestures of aggression right back to you, slowly starts to dig a hoof into the ground. After a few moments, you both put your heads down, lunging forward, horns clacking against each other.

Aw, see, you're friends already! Glad that worked out. He'll only be gone a few hours, so just play nice.

Your animal brain is just short of the competence required to understand how to untie a knot, so all you can do is struggle against the tie, but the other creature proves very heavy and prevents you from moving any distance by sitting down flat on the ground, very clearly not intending to move any time soon.

You huff, you moo. You tussle with each other, clonking horns again. The humans that remain to supervise watch on with wide-eyed concern, mumbling to themselves as to whether or not they should intervene, but none of them want to take the risk. Even though they're now very dull, your horns will leave quite the bruise if hit with enough force.

You try your best, but he doesn't budge. In fact, seemingly growing a bit irritated with your disruptions, he gives you a solid headbutt to the side, sending you flopping over. You stay down. Defeated and humiliated and exhausted, you only make a sad sound, resolving to rest on the ground.

...But now that you're not fighting anymore, Ushi seems to calm down as well. Sort of waddles over your way, plops down onto the ground beside you. You're very bitter towards him at first, but quickly find that he is warm and squishy and makes a great companion for napping on the ground in the sun. You're still pressed together by the time your owner returns.

Aw. Look at you two, getting along so well you sleep curled up next to each other like that. This was a good idea.

The days get easier from there on. You still get roped to Ushi daily, you don't mind it so much. You two have fun -- still clonking heads and tussling around, but now it's friendly and playful, with much less force, and when you both get tired you eat and rest together. It becomes a regular routine. Your life is carefree and easy, and the only times you're in any distress were the occasions where your owner was in jail for several consecutive days, but even that never lasts too long.

You think you will stay here, indefinitely, now. You have no real reason to try to run off, you're well-fed and cared for, and all of these humans and the other hybrid alike have become familiar to you, admittedly you are starting to think you might care for them, just a little.

And to be honest, bovine long-term memory isn't that great. Soon you find that your memories of any other life you had before are very fuzzy, you're almost uncertain if they were real or a dream. Soon, they'll fade away for good, and this life here will be all you've ever known anyway.

------------------

Dottore - ratgirl

Agencies can't always ensure hybrids go to good people.

They try. They do background checks, similarly to how someone would adopt a kid. They want to be sure the hybrid isn't going to be abused, neglected, or otherwise mistreated, and that for hybrids requiring special care, that the person in question has the means and finances to properly do so. Granted, they're aware that many people use hybrids for... self-gratification purposes, and everyone knows why single adult males are by far the largest consumer demographic for purchasing them, but plenty of hybrid owners who get hybrids to be domestic partners are still good to them.

But some agencies are lower quality, more shady, and some are just desperate to adopt out a specific hybrid. And plenty of individuals have no real record, positive or negative, to speak of, so it's easier to just not make a fuss and assume they're decent and hand the hybrid over. And, most notably, shelters and agencies are often quite eager to get rid of individual species considered... less desirable.

That's not what they tell you, though. You're just... very special! Sure, you watch plenty of dogs and cats and rabbits come and go within days, while you've been here for months... but it just takes a certain kind of person to take care of rats. The really nice caretaker lady says that maybe they're just afraid that the injuries mean you're aggressive, but she's certain that if someone takes time to look more closely, they'll see you're very nice. Besides, they can kindly explain to anyone who asks that it's not your fault. Poor thing, you heard one of the workers say to another, attacked by some wild animal... You don't remember it very well. You woke up here all bandaged up, and they took care of you, so these are good people, you assume.

You miss the other half of your tail, though. You don't know much about medicine, you thought it would grow back... but when they took the bandages off, only a stumpy half remains. You suppose you look a bit lopsided too, being able to see yourself in the glass well enough to see that one of your ears are all shredded up, with a chunk missing on each. Maybe the visitors just get confused and don't know what you are, or something.

Maybe they just don't notice you, since you're a bit quiet. They'll just... move you even closer to the front, make sure people notice you. You try to sit at the front of your pen to make sure people see you.

People have negative associations just because of the word, too. They're okay with mice hybrids, fawn over how cute they are, but even though you look very similar, they sort of make a face at the word rat. The workers just tell you it takes very special people to appreciate very special hybrids, and you'll find that person eventually.

"Eventually" takes a long time, but it does finally come. The workers that come in to get you seem to be in a good mood, so it must be something good.

They say you're in luck. Someone came in here very specifically seeking a rat, of all things. They go through the standard process. Take you out front, get you to the person that requested it... which happens to be more than one person. All wearing weird masks. They look very scary. But if they want you, then they must be good people too.

The worker stammers out something about explaining the obvious missing parts of you, but one of them interrupts her. That's fine. We were just told to get a rat.

No hesitation. Whips out the mora -- a hundred mora, specifically, far less than they charge for other hybrids -- and doesn't even give them the chance to ask if there's anything else needed before reaching over, picking you up, shoving you into a crate, and taking you outside.

You're very confused, but you maintain a good attitude. You're just grateful for them. You ask a lot of questions, but they aren't very keen on answering you. Eventually you come to understand you were bought for someone else, that they're supposed to take you to, so you wait patiently... a several-day trip, all the way to this large building. Full of the same masked people.

The man is one of them, but he looks a bit different. You're a bit nervous at first that he might not be okay with you, but he looks you up and down and gives a quick acknowledgement to the ones that brought you here, so he must be content. He stoops down to get a better look at you in the crate and smiles... but it almost feels a bit... sinister. It sends a shiver down your spine. You tell yourself you'll have to get over that feeling, this person is a good person because why else would he bother to bring you here?

He says you're going to help with something very important. That you get to help him with research. It's very honorable to be doing this. A privilege. So many people would gladly volunteer for it, but you get to do it because you're special and perfect for it. Isn't that nice?

Such a serious honor and responsibility makes you feel nervous, but proud. You're not exactly sure what you did to be selected, you don't question exactly what it was that makes you so ideal for it. But he said you were special. That it has to be you. It makes you feel happy.

It's not a lie. Rats are very similar to people, genetically. And they're weak and at the perfect level of being intelligent enough to study reactions, while being too stupid to understand what's going on. Not to mention, they're cheap, they're too weak to be dangerous if they lash out, and they're not very bright socially either. That's why they make such good test subjects.

Besides, acquiring full humans for these sort of tests would require unwilling subjects, which is much harder to work with as they tend to be uncooperative, and you have to dispose of human subjects to prevent them from causing problems.

But your nature makes you very compliant, eager to please and unable to understand the weight of what's going on. He's almost surprised that a few nice words was all you needed to hear to be on board with it. He already had a whole second speech planned to convince you you had some deadly disease that needed to be cured to scare you into compliance, but it seems that won't be necessary.

At first, that's all you really do, and thus begins your new life. Each day, he comes into the lab where your crate is, opens it and takes you out. Does a routine check-up on various vitals, treats you in a variety of ways, and then leaves, and you're back in the crate again. Usually this process happens twice a day, but if he's particularly busy he may come only once. He doesn't say too much to you, although he is always muttering to himself about something or another, you usually can't hear much. Master seems to be a rather eccentric person, you sense some of the underlings aren't particularly fond of working under him, seem to be a bit intimidated... but he's never outright mean to you, so that means he's a good person, you believe.

You're very timid, given how new and unfamiliar it all is, so you don't want to annoy him... thus, you mostly keep quiet, speak when spoken to, which isn't very often. You comply with all the instructions, you swallow everything you're supposed to. You don't fight the injections either, even if your instinct is to pull away, instead only giving a tiny squeak. You do the best you can. You occasionally ask questions about his work, but the answers you get are short and dismissive, so you quickly stop asking.

...But in truth, you find yourself growing increasingly sad. Other than these treatments, you spend most of the time locked in the tiny crate, in an empty, quiet room. He doesn't really talk to you besides commands and questions on how you feel from various experimental treatments. There's a certain coldness you're treated with. Not an intentional, forceful coldness, but rather more like being ignored, like he simply forgets your existence outside of the moments he's directly engaging with you, doesn't think to do anything more with you. He treats you with dismissal as soon as you're done with treatment, and even with your limited perception, you sense he doesn't really view you as anything beyond an object to be worked with. You're still very happy to see him, and you desperately hope that each day will be one of the days you get to see him twice, but... it wears you down.

It makes you question why he has you at all. It's not done with cruel intent, rather just lack of even crossing his mind, so you aren't too hurt, but... it does make you feel bad. Are you doing something wrong? You've seen plenty of hybrids that have masters that really love them, so why not you?

But, you suppose, they were different sorts of creatures. Maybe that's it. Maybe your kind just isn't supposed to receive that same kind of affection. The thought makes you feel sad.

Within a few months, you find that you stop feeling hungry. You stop feeling jittery when you're in the crate, and instead you often feel very tired. All you really want to do is sleep.

And you do. Your life becomes even emptier. You lay there and blink as you stare at the wall. You respond to questions with head motions rather than words. The medicines have less effect than ever, you feel perpetually numb.

This does not go unnoticed. At first, he thinks maybe something he gave you did it, writes it down as a potential effect of this or that, and carries on as usual. Must cause drowsiness or something.

Until, on one occasion, he's coming to bring you food as usual (you tell yourself you should be very grateful, he never forgets and always comes at the same time!), but notices that there's no need. Your food from last night is untouched. And while you used to perk up when he'd enter the room, he's noticed the past few days you just lay there, not even raising your head. Nothing you've been given recently should cause this behavior.

He tilts his head, looks at you with narrowed eyes. Casts a glance to your uneaten food in your bowl, your lethargic slouch. Didn't take this sort of depression into account. Sometimes it's hard to remember subjects are living beings and all that.

Which isn't a problem. It won't affect the research quality. You'll live, you'll eat eventually and as long as you're living and breathing, you continue to have some use. He doesn't say anything, just turns and heads back to the door.

And then pauses. Casts another glance back at you, laying all curled up on your side. You hear the pause in footsteps, feel the gaze on you, and you tilt your eyes up out of curiosity just enough to see, but your eyes dart away as you make eye contact. He's kind of scary to look in the eye like that. You go back to staring blankly at the floor, unmoving.

...It really doesn't matter, and he should have no qualms with just walking out the door, but...

...

You hear the footsteps come back in your direction. The sound of the crate unlocking and swinging open again. But this time, hands wrap under your armpits and pull you out.

You're a bit confused. It's not time for your daily treatment. You make a startled little sound as you're pulled out of the crate and up onto your feet.

He tells you you need to get some more sunlight and movement, so... for the time being, come with him and just don't cause a distraction. There's very important matters to be dealt with, so, stay very close and don't wander off either. And don't speak to anyone else.

You are overjoyed at the opportunity, letting out a particularly ear-piercing little squeak of excitement (he tenses up at the ringing in his ear, but does't bother to say anything). You've never been outside the lab since the day you came here. You do your best to stay still and quiet, trailing behind him as he goes about various tasks, talks to various people. He's a lot more animated and theatrical when talking to people, whereas he's usually more quiet and dismissive of conversation when focused on a task such as when he's dealing with you. It's sort of a new side to him... and is admittedly a bit scary.

He even asks you for some things, asks you to hand him this or that, and you happily oblige, the act making you feel very useful. Well, except you can't get things out of labeled containers, as you are quite illiterate, but otherwise you give it your all. Eventually, he has someone go through the various materials and tape colored strips of paper to the jars, so that you can now help fetch them when needed. In truth, getting you to get things often takes more time than if he were to just get them himself, but it gives you something to do, and it makes you happy.

You still have daily treatment, though. The medicines make you feel woozy and tired. You don't like the needles, you squeak when they go into your skin. You dread the one day every two weeks when you have to have blood taken out. It always makes you feel so tired, you shiver so much, some times you pass out for a while. But if it's necessary, you have no choice but to endure. Much to your appreciation, rather than just the tasteless processed feed, he starts to spend money on some seeds and other food to give you handfuls of as reward for your efforts.

Since he has to know if it's working, he has to ask questions. How does it feel?

Your answers are usually not positive. Tired. Dizzy. My stomach hurts. My head hurts. It burns.

But you can do it. As long as you are certain and reassured of one thing.

Did I do good?

As long as he says yes, you're content.

...At night, you go back in the crate. You can't move around much, can't stand and can only barely turn around, but there's plenty to ensure you're all set -- a rodent drip water bottle latched to the side for you to latch your mouth onto and drink from if needed. A thick layer of blankets. A few durable wooden blocks for you to chew on. You're grateful for the kind consideration. At the shelter, you would be left in the cold concrete pen with none of those things all night, and it made you sad oftentimes.  You feel more awake at night, so it's frustrating to be kept in such a tiny space during your most active hours, but you understand. You pass the time by chewing on your blocks.

You endure it, for his sake. You want to help. You want to be good and get the rewards and pats, you don't want to disappoint.

But a day does come that you get pushed over the edge. Lots of needles. The first one makes your stomach feel queasy. The second one makes your head hurt. You feel awful. It gets worse and worse as you swallow this or that, to test how they work together. Something gets attached to your head that feels heavy and just hurts worse. You're about to get another jab, but you can't handle anymore. You squeak.

No more...

You shiver and sniffle. You always try very hard to be good and strong and brave and endure it all, but it's become too much. Tears trail down your face, you shoulders wrack with tiny sobs.

There's a long pause. But you hear the materials clack as they're set back down.

Alright. It can wait.

He comes over to where you are, sits down for a moment, presses a hand to your forehead. Well, you're not sweating, which would be an indicator of a potential reaction that would require emergency intervention, so you'll just have to ride this one out and--

You take the opportunity of him sitting down on the table to shuffle over. You rest your head down on his thigh. You feel all your muscles go lax. You're very tired. He goes quiet when you set your head down.

All his stuff is over there, but even after finishing whatever he was writing down, he doesn't move. After some time passes, you feel fingers run through your scalp, over and over in a soft, gentle motion. You feel yourself drift off to sleep.

And when you wake up... he's still perfectly still. Seems rather bored, he's drumming his fingers against his thigh, but hasn't budged. When you stir, he flickers his gaze down to you. You've been asleep an hour now, he says. It should be over now, yes?

You squeak. You hate to think he sat still just to not wake you up, you feel guilty... but for some reason, something about that fact also feels good. You bolt upright, apologizing, saying he could have woken you up...

He pauses for a moment. It's almost as if your words catch him off-guard, as if that possibility is, for whatever reason, something that didn't even cross his mind. A few seconds pass. But then he just shrugs, muttering something.

It doesn't end, but you do feel that sometimes you're given less tests per day. A lot of it is being given a singular treatment of some kind before being tested in some way. When you asked, he says that yes, it's very helpful, that you've contributed a lot. You feel proud for that much. You carry your head a bit higher whenever you walk around with him during the day.

Granted, you have some inconveniences. You sort of... Detract from his image. He tends to have a bit of a dramatic flair to whatever he does, and enjoys getting reactions out of people, but it's a bit difficult for subordinates to take the theatrical monologuing very seriously when you're sitting there behind him with a blank expression, gnawing on whatever raw vegetable you've been most recently given to placate you for a few hours, occasional squeak and all.

Some of them do question why he allows for what seems so unnecessary, but people generally know better than to question him, and have generally accepted that he's just like that, with "just like that" meaning "weird," and it's accepted that that's not changing anytime soon and that it's not supposed to make any sense to them.

Also, the underlings are allowed to pet you, for a few seconds each, otherwise they're shooed away and told they're overstimulating you, and gods forbid anyone interfere with research quality. Most of them do take the opportunity though, you're just too cute to resist giving you headpats.

Oh, but you do have a tendency to be absent-minded with a particular short rodent attention span, so soon a hybrid harness and leash is acquired for you (think of how they make those child harnesses and leashes? Same idea). It's almost comical, to the various onlookers, to see you two come strolling through the building. While he has that sort of ominous, heavy presence about him, it's quite amusingly contrasted by you pattering away walking on the tile floors next to him, attached by a leash in his hand he pulls you around with. The lower ranks all admittedly find it hilarious though, snicker a bit when you two walk by.

You forget exactly when you stopped sleeping in the crate. He says it's not good for your joints, and you're fairly certain he said he'd get you a larger crate eventually, and you could sleep in his bed in the meantime, but so far the larger crate hasn't come yet. The first night you chew a hole through his sleeve in your sleep, though, so you do have to be given blocks to chew on as you sleep. You're more well-rested this way, and it makes you happier, healthier.

That's what he thinks to himself. It's producing more clear-cut results, having a healthy specimen and all... so it's okay if he cares a bit for you in general. It's rather inconvenient, but might as well roll with it now. Prolonged contact and interaction will cause some variants of attachment in anyone. He just has to ensure to watch over you well, and there will be no concerns as to whether or not any underlying attachment will cause problems.

Oh, and on that note, aside from now-rare occasions where you're locked in your crate while he takes care of things you can't be there for, he ensures you never leave his sight. Can't have you roaming the facility halls... don't want to risk that bastard's bear getting ahold of you... would not be good.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Hi! Do you have any advice on websites or books etc. for snake information for absolute beginners? I would like to learn more about snakes, I've thought they were super cute and interesting since I was a child, but I don't know anything about them xD. (For instance, when I searched 'what is hot snake' on google I only found a wikipedia entry for some metal band, and one movie).

Sure thing! (A 'hot' is a common term in the herpetological community for a venomous snake with venom that is medically significant to humans! Rear-fanged venomous snakes, like hognoses, who have venom that isn't medically significant to humans, aren't called hots.)

ReptiFiles is a pretty awesome resource, and clearly goes to pains to stay up-to-date and avoid minimalist keeping traps. I keep up with their blog; it's a fun way to learn and stay informed and is written in accessible language.

Chris Mattison's books have been favorites of mine for years; I recommend them to beginners all the time because they're informative and entertaining to read! I can't recommend his latest visual guide to snakes enough if you're interested.

Other Smithsonian-produced books on reptiles are excellent. Check out Everything you Need to Know about Snakes! It's easy to read and informative.

How Snakes Work and The Book of Snakes are both staples in entry-level herpetology courses and are written in accessible language, so they're not just great for herpetologists. I love both of these books so much I keep copies on my nightstand.

The Audobon Society's Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians is a book that every single herpetologist has! I grew up with this book, it's a classic. It's old, but it's still good, and it's written to help you identify snakes in the wild. It's a classic for a reason!

If you want a great book about snakes and to support a fantastic snake conservation organization, check out Save the Snakes! They sell a Snakes for Kids book written by their founder, and even though it's written for kids, I can absolutely endorse it as a fantastic intro to snakes for snake lovers of any age.

Finally, it's never a bad idea to start locally. Finding a local field guide to reptiles of your state or area is a great place for even absolute beginners to start, and there's no better feeling than confidently and accurately identifying a snake in the wild for the first time! Check out a local wildlife center or bookshop - local wildlife centers are excellent places in general for everyone to learn about reptiles (and I'm not just saying that because I work at one!). They might have local reptiles for you to meet and run programs by folks like me about reptiles.

[confettifox-ships]

Prompt 23 - Holding hands under the table

My f/o is Nicodeme Savoy from the webcomic/series Lackadaisy! He works as a hitman for the speakeasy Marigold- is very brash and loud despite the fact that he’s supposed to be discrete with his hits. He works alongside his younger sister, Serafine, who shares his personality but is definitely the brains of the two- and Mordecai, who’s very calculated and skilled in his job.

Nico grew up in the Bayou with his sister, having been raised by Voodooiennes and growing acquainted with the wildlife. He particularly likes reptiles

My s/i is a snow leopard college student named Walker Brightman, who also loves animals and studying them. He’s very socially awkward, not knowing people or social cues very well. To continue paying for school, he studied alcohol fermentation and started his own gin joint where he sells alcohol to his classmates. Him and Nico met when Walker was dragged to the speakeasy Nico works for and won him a game of pool

Lackadaisy takes place in the Prohibition Era, so Walker and Nico holding hands under the table could be them trying to be discrete about their relationship? I don’t know, I’ll leave that up to you!

-@floofselfshipblog

i hope you like it <3

@floofsselfshipblog

Nicodeme’s paw weighs heavily in yours. He’s uncharacteristically quiet at the moment, chewing thoughtfully on the toothpick he lets droop out of his mouth. His whiskers twitch occasionally, the only acknowledgement that you really need of his awareness of you and your presence. That, and the rough pads of his paw, gently holding onto you.

It’s dark in the speakeasy now, the reason your current entanglement has yet to be discovered. Secrets are easiest to hide in dark corners, under tables. They’re also easy to hide when most of the cats around you are delirious with contraband liquor.

You watch the side of Nico’s face as he demolishes his toothpick, not using it for its intended purpose but instead chewing it to splinters. His eyes flash over to meet yours. It catches you off guard for him to look directly at you, and not only because he sees you. His eyes are a sharp gold, bright and intoxicating. It’s like staring into the sun, so bright that you can’t look away and leaving an imprint on your vision behind in its wake, so it’s still there when you close your eyes.

His pupils dilate noticeably when he looks at you. His nose twitches and you watch his lips curl into a smirk. He’s caught you staring. He winks, one of his ears twitching.

“See somethin’ y’like, cher?” He purrs, voice low and soft. His words drip heavy with a deep, honeyed southern accent. The flavors of Louisiana are inescapable when he speaks, which sends shivers through you. The whisper is for you, too. Nobody can hear him but you. He quirks up one heavy eyebrow at you, insufferably beautiful even when he’s taunting you.

Of course you do. You always do. He knows that. You want to tell him, you want to shout it from the rooftops. Instead, you squeeze his paw firmly. It’s a simple touch but it conveys all that you really need to.

[clockworksteel]

The Void Rains Upon Her Heart: Guardians

Another monster type: this time the Guardians. As usual, this is the surface level lore aimed at allowing non-players to understand the universe a little in case of multifandom RP or something, not a deep dive, and I'll use [] when I'm citing an in-game source.

Guardians are associated with Red Tetrids, the tetrids of Frustration. From our Tetrid-Memory-based overview, we learn that Guardians are mutated versions of the planet's wildlife. They're always much larger, and every species has at least one. They guard specific areas for unknown reasons, thus the name [Two Red Bonus Gift]. The areas they guard are referred to as Guardian Zones, and they head straight for the nearest zone as soon as they start mutating, overriding their species' "usual habits and instincts" [Three Red Bonus Gift].

They're one of the three monster types that lacks a "Zaranoid" form, and will look the same when conversing with the player as they do in battle, besides that Roundsaw takes her sawblade off [Wrath of Roundsaw Event: My Notes].

This might be approaching deep lore, but just to have one other thing to say in general besides "they are big creatures" I want to bring up the "newborn" Guardian monster, Guardian Soul. Newborn monsters are always some hazy shape in the color of the monster's symbol, which is also their Tetrid-association. The "My Notes" on Guardian Soul indicate she's incorporeal, and is looking for a place to fit in, after having "been born lost and angry". Her Burden says "Where should I go? Why am I asking that? I need to go somewhere? But where do I need to go? And why?" while her Blessing says "This feeling… I need to go protect something. Why does it need to be protected? And why do I have to do it? Because, I am the only one who can." It seems to me like the mutations Guardians undergo may not be random genetics in action, but perhaps a result of fusing together with a spirit that feels a duty to guard somewhere, although I cannot cite anything in game that says this is definitely the case.

I guess while I'm on the subject of unusual Guardian monsters, Ruby, who is actually made of Tetrid motes and is only an honorary Guardian [Ruby: My Notes], has this to say about Frustration and its opposite: Burden: So this is the feeling of frustration? It feels very painful, but it can also be used as a fuel to take action and change the situation. So long as it's kept under control Be very careful with this one. Blessing: So this is the feeling of content? This is a wonderful feeling. It is the feeling of having everything you could ever hope for. At least for a moment. Many others have so much more than you, and yet they still can't feel this. You are very lucky.

For regular representatives of Guardians, I've selected Lila and Roundsaw.

Lila is an "avioc", a species that can be described as eyeballs with bat wings. She's very shy and easily spooked, but likes sweet fruit and can be befriended with some [Lila: My Notes]. She also has bad days where she's even more shy [Shy Lila: My Notes]. If I recall her event properly, Orange Tetrids taste like sweet fruit to her, so they're her favorite.

Roundsaw is a "meerstalk", which is a segmented reptile that lives all throughout The Pit [Saw Bloom Power Gift]. "She uses this rare and dangerous flower as a weapon and has quite the temper", which is why they call her Roundsaw [still the Saw Bloom Power Gift] "A severe lack of affection has caused her to explode into fits of rage" [Roundsaw: My Notes]. Fortunately, as mentioned earlier since she's the only Guardian I'm aware of to change appearance during events, she will put the saw bloom away and can be hugged once loved in the dreamscape.

Other guardians include a couple 4-legged mites, a spiky sandworm, a spiky lavaworm, and a tall plant. Maybe I should've discussed one of the mites considering the green one, Rendy, is basically a mascot for the game. Oh well, let's get some screenshots in here and call it a post.

Lila (What a cutie! So small it's easy to drop your combo if you move too much.)

Roundsaw (So fierce! That saw does extreme damage!)

Guardian Soul (Can't be touched! Still deals contact damage in dreams!)

[disguiseddeer]

🐛🦋🪲🪰🦟🦗🐍🐢🦎🦖🪼

what do all of these guys have in common? being silly beasts, that's what

i'm not the biggest bug fan, bugs don't like me and i don't really like them, but i make exceptions. moths, dragonflies, caterpillars, mantises, crickets and grasshoppers, beetles, and maybe one or two others i can't think of rn are cool with me. although not a bug, spiders are my arch nemesis, sadly - mosquitoes too! those little guys love my blood

snakes are awesome!! i love snakes!! they're either super cute or super cool, little inbetween. ball pythons are the dogs of the snake world, i love them so much! i still gotta make me but ball python (been on my to-do for a while), so silly! i've really liked reptiles for a long time, they're just so interesting to me. crocodiles and alligators are definitely some of my favorites, they're just so cool and wide and beastly and <3

i think that has to do with my love for dragons, though. ever since i was a little kid i've always been so fascinated by them. once a dragon kid, always a dragon kid who's with me 🗣️🗣️🔥

i love dinosaurs too, they were some of the first things i ever drew! it's amazing and mindblowing thst these fantastic, huge creatures once lived on our planet. biology, evolution, and the history of life is so damn cool. i gotta try drawing dinosaurs more

jellyfish are, admittedly, also interesting. like, how does THAT thing just, exist?? what is bro up to?? i haven't looked into them too much, but they are beautifully weird. same goes for sea life in general, especially deep sea animals! so damn ugly and weird i love them

in general i have a huge love for wildlife, biology, (including spec bio!) and just everything and anything relating to animals and ecosystems. recently, i have been *dying* for some sort of custom ecosystem sim, where i can freely create my own species and watch them interact with their world and everything around them. there is just something so damn interesting about it, it sends off all the "ooh, i like this a lot" parts on my brain! if anyone has any recommendations on something like this please let me know! spore is great, i love spore, but i'd love something more in-depth and open ended

i also really like speculative biology, if you couldn't tell before lol. there's just something about it, thinking about how things work and interact in realistic - yet different - settings. it's awesome! -- that and my love for nature and the natural world is probably what has led me to being such a massive fantasy lover. i just love thinking of other worlds, ones that are much cooler than our own. i love thinking of strange, beautiful, crazy critters and beasts that would inhabit those worlds. magic that bends the rules of reality, that can be a tool for both good and bad. everything about it is wonderful, and i eat that shit up!! i'm always on the hunt for new fantasy content to get that itch in the back of my brain, so suggestions are awesome! i've always liked elder scrolls, and just started watching delicious dungeon/dungeon meshi, i've also been trying to get into dnd for like, ever lol (i just gotta get my friends together and figure it out)

thank you for giving me something to ramble about! it is very fun and i'd love to hear any thoughts, comments, or suggestions on anything!! i'm hooked on the tumblr ask system now please give me things to yap about this is so good <3

[reveuni]

I turtley love you

Synopsis: After leaving her home at the family ran turtle sanctuary and moving into the city for some years for work. She gets burnt out from work, she wants to take a break and go back home. She has to travel back to the sanctuary that her parents has been owning since her birth. When she comes back to her childhood home, she also meets her childhood friend Jungwon who has started working at the santuary. Will their friendship turn to love?

Pairing: Jungwon x fem! reader

Genre: fluff,romance,slice of life,wildlife rescue au: turtle sanctuary, childhood friends to lovers

Notes: oof my first oneshot ff it’s probably very bad and boring

Wc: 1,4 k

After y/n was done with school, she moved into the city for work. The office work was so stressful, and she made high expectations on herself, so she ended up burnt out. She has decided to go on vacation and go home to her family home and recover from the stress in her life.

“Home” was actually a haven for all kinds of wild turtles. A beach house at the beach with a sapphire colored ocean and when she jumps out of the car, the smell of salt water and seaweed hits her nose, the smell makes her feel that she is finally at home.

”y/n!” a couple comes with quick steps towards her.

”Mom, dad!”

”Welcome home, our daughter.” The two parents hug her, they have missed her a lot, and they are happy that she is back in the small sea town. The city that she loved as a child, she has missed the beach and the sunset and sunrise that she could watch every day from her bedroom. She also misses all the turtles she took care of, but she has also missed Jung…

“Jungwon come here!” her mother called.

Further by the actual turtle pools where the injured turtles and those soon to be rehabilitated into the ocean live in, a boy comes towards them with a big smile. Y/n freezes on the spot.

"y/n hi it's been a long time" he waves at y/n.

It was Jungwon her neighbour and a old classmate and her crush, a childhood friend that she had missed a lot.

In the neighbourhood where she was raised, her life revolved around the sanctuary and nothing else until she meet jungwon when they were 7 years old. She was at the beach a late night, sad after a fight with her parents, waiting for a turtle to come up from the water to lay eggs and to her surprise a green turtle comes crawling up to the beach shore and starts digging in the moist sand to make a nest for her eggs. She sits there under the full moon looking intently at the turtle until someone approaches her, and she loses her focus on the reptile.

“Who are you and what are you doing out so late?” a boy asks her looking at her with his feline-like eyes in the dark.

“I ran away from home” she looks at him with surprised eyes after he came up to her.

“Why, has something happened at home?” the boy asks.

"My parents got mad at me for not doing my homework”.

"I also usually argue about homework with my parents”

The boy sits down next to y/n on the wet sand.

"My name is Jungwon let's be friends"

He held out his hand to shake hands with the girl.

The girl accepts his handshake.

"My name is y/n I would love to be your friend”. Jungwon turns his gaze towards the shore and sees the female turtle.

“Wow is that a turtle, I've never seen one!”.

“Shh don't scream, she will get scared” y/n said holding jungwon’s mouth to keep it shut.

“Sorry, have you been sitting here watching the turtle all this time? I just came out to look for a turtle, actually I have never seen one when it’s daytime”.

y/n nods.

“Why is there a box on it’s shell?” Jungwon asks, looking towards the little girl with wide eyes.

”It’s a satellite transmitter, so we can track the turtle every time it comes up to the surfaces for air, it sends signals to researchers like my parents”

”Wow, is that why you know because your parents work with turtles?”

Y/n answers with a hum.

"We have a turtle sanctuary at our house”

“huh, you have to show me one day” Jungwon says with excitement In his voice.

After that meeting each day brought new adventures with the boy, you showed him the place he wanted to see, and he was over at your place every day to look after the turtles. They went to the same school and class but later in 7th grade they changed the class and went to different classes, but at every lunchtime they meet outside at the school yard to eat a good homemade meal. Jungwon would always bring cookies for dessert for the two.

Time went by, and you were both going to graduate, and you moved from the small sea town to the big city to do a trial job at a company which later got you permanent employment. You promised jungwon that you would be back soon again in a year, but time passed, and you stay there for years, and you lose contact after a while because you got so much work to do that you never thought to answer his text back. The only thing he had left that reminds of y/n was the sanctuary and the cuddly stuffed turtle you gave him when you were both nine years old that he cherish.

But now the both were face to face with each other again. Jungwon runs up to her to give her a hug.

“It's so nice to see you again” and hugs her tighter.

“It's really been a long time Jungwon" she looks up at him.

"Y/n and Jungwon you can talk if you want until it's lunch time you probably have a lot to talk about" y/n's mom said.

The both agree and decides to walk down to the beach. They look out over the blue sparkling sea the west wind blew behind them the rhythm of the waves was music for both of them that they could listen to for hours. Y/n turns to Jungwon and takes in his features, he hasn't changed since she left except he had grown a head taller since you graduated. Before there was only a cm difference between them and Jungwon would always check each other's height back to back, so she wouldn't outgrow him.

In the middle of y/n admiring him, he interrupts.

“Have you forgotten me and lost interest in me” Jungwon looks down at the sand and starts playing around with a rock.

Neither of them could control the emotions running through their bodies as they just met with each other. They felt that they were like strangers to each other.

“I haven't forgotten you, it just happened that after all the work it was too much, and I left you on read and never answered because I completely forgot to, I’m sorry. That doesn’t mean that I completely forgot you”.

”It's okay, I was scared that you have completely forgotten me”.

After a quiet moment, y/n speak up.

“Are you still volunteering at our sanctuary?”

“Yeah, actually I work here now”.

Now he works at the sanctuary as well, so he could visit more often to check on the sea turtles he loved. Y/n smiles at the sight of Jungwon who is smiling towards her.

He walks closer, not breaking eye contact and tucks some of y/n hair behind her right ear.

”You still look so beautiful”

Y/n blushes, as he stands there smiling like an idiot, watching the sun’s ray spill over her face. His eyes dart down to her lips before skittering up. She notices his actions. She really wants to take his hands and kiss him, but she doesn’t dare to move or make any sudden movements. Jungwon then at that moment ask her if it is okay to kiss her. She only nods and reaches for him. Jungwon hands immediately grab her waist and pulls her against his body, y/n’s hands travels up to his shoulders, so she can hold on to him. They kissed in the open space under the sun, on the warm sand.

“I like you a lot y/n”.

“Jungwon” the name that comes out from her lips is soft and small with a slight temble in her voice.

“I do like you a lot too“

Jungwon hands slowly travel up to rest on her cheeks softly caressing them, he can feel how warm they are in his touch.

A loud voice could be heard up on from the house.

“Its food time!”.

With disappointment in his voice.

“We should go back to the house” he takes her hand in his, they both walk away from the shore towards the house. Maybe taking over the sanctuary wasn't such a bad idea after all when she now has Jungwon by her side.

[vickysaurus]

I posted 1,991 times in 2022

431 posts created (22%)

1,560 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@paleontologylife

@kt--extinction

@chloepleasestopdying

@1dinodaily

@tippenfunkaport

I tagged 1,961 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#dinosaur - 596 posts

#paleoart - 574 posts

#the owl house - 374 posts

#toh - 373 posts

#theropod - 329 posts

#toh spoilers - 283 posts

#paleoblr - 280 posts

#luz noceda - 184 posts

#amity blight - 170 posts

#cretaceous - 168 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#the other stegosaur came from a happy meal i ended up with after i was unable to complete a delivery for mcdingdongs a couple years ago

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

1,090 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#4

Guzma is my hero. I’ve always wanted to be able to respond to trainers who wanna battle like this.

1,511 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#3

So Prehistoric Planet is amazing. A random thought I had near the end is that we actually saw almost no dinosaurs in this episode! Just the T. rex beach trip at the start, the rest was all pterosaurs, marine reptiles, ammonites, and other friends. What a flex for a Mesozoic documentary to in its very first episode go ‘Actually we don’t even need to talk about dinosaurs, all the other amazing creatures that lived alongside them can carry an episode on their own’.

1,718 notes - Posted May 23, 2022

#2

Something unexpected that I really love about Prehistoric Planet is how it stays in a single period in time and explores it, rather than trying to cover the entire Mesozoic and show the world changing. If you showed an alien the programme with the intro cut out and the title censored, they probably would never even guess it was a show about a distant time in Earth’s past. In just being a wildlife documentary that happens to be set 66 million years ago, it’s showing the Maastrichtian world as a living, full-formed, very real world that existed for an unbelievably long time, rather than a phase in an even longer evolutionary process. Now don’t get me wrong, I love wide sweeps of evolutionary history like Walking With Dinosaurs too, but Prehistoric Planet’s vibes are very different and I never knew I needed them. In fact, I’m really hoping we won’t even see a trace of the meteorite in episode five. Let me just go on a little tangent to really get into why.

This is Trix the T. rex. I saw her in the Naturalis natural history museum. She lived and died 67 million years ago. Now, it is very easy for me to see that date and be filled with a sense of impending disaster. ‘Just before the end’ is a thought that quickly appears. But when you really think about it, that’s ludicrous. Trix lived her life, and then after she died her species continued to thrive for a million years. There’s thrice as much time between her and the Tyrannosauruses who died in the K-Pg extinction as there is between me and the first members of my species! And as for the thousands of years of recorded human history, those are a mere drop in that sea of time. Those years didn’t pass any faster back then than they do now, nor were they any less real. There were just as many moments in any one of those thousand millennia between Trix and the meteorite as there were in the millennium between me and Basil the Bulgar-slayer. If a wizard told you your species and your world would continue to thrive for a million years before eventually most of your clade would get wiped out by a terrible catastrophe, would you see your world as a doomed and temporary one about to go over a precipice? I think I would be delighted to know we have such a vast sea of time left.

This got longer and more philosophical than I expected, but the point is that I love the focus on the Maastrichtian as a diverse, living world, rather than the last age of the Mesozoic. We don’t know whether Prehistoric Planet is set a million, fifty thousand, or nine hundred years before impact, and it doesn’t really matter either. Even though all those dates are, geologically speaking, so close to the end of the Cretaceous we could barely tell the difference between them, they all have more time left than any of the animals can possibly conceive of. None of the animals we see in Prehistoric Planet have ever seen a Stegosaurus, and none of them will die as a consequence of a meteorite striking the Earth.

2,317 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Alador: “So, Mittens, how did you and Luz meet anyway?”

Amity: “Well, I spotted her hiding in a cauldron covered in abomination goop and-”

Alador: *sighs* “How romantic, it was always my dream to meet someone like that...”

3,252 notes - Posted May 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[piqueconcentration]

Questions That Actually Prompt Conversation

Originally posted April 30, 2023

Moving is hard. Moving is hard for a lot of different reasons, but one of them, and the one that I've been running into most often considering my relatively recent relocation, is making friends. I'm honestly pretty good at it, too- as much as I like the idea of being the strong, silent type, I tend to not shut up nearly enough which is, ironically, one of the best ways to get to know people.

My partner, having been so shy as to be nearly selectively mute for a while, has much more difficulty on that front, even though she goes to school, something that I have decided not to do for the time-being, under-achieving as I am known to be. School, in this case, provides the benefit of the time-honored shortcut to friend-making- going to the same place on a regular schedule (which is honestly the best advice that I can give on this subject; if you go back to some sort of public place daily or weekly, you will eventually make friends).

Regardless, the difficulty in question has impressed upon me of late the importance of being able to make conversation. I'm not talking about "small talk," as poorly-defined as it may be, as those conversations tend to hit the dirt within a few sentences, I mean I've gotten interested in questions that you can ask people that can actively prompt an entire conversation. Kind of a "get-to-know-you" kind of thing, but odd or off-beat enough that it feels less like an interrogation and more of a brainstorm.

Anyway, here are some good ones from the far-reaching depths of my samsung notes app:

(These will be structured with the question in bold above, and my own responses/examples just below.)

______________________________________________________________

1) If you were to create a piece of media/story to reflect certain themes, which themes would they be, and why?

- Love that takes work

- How to live without regrets (without believing in fate)

- Breaking past the barrier of the self (creative resistance, cognitive distortions, time blindness, etc.)

- How cool it is that everyone is interested in different stuff

2) What is a topic that you have a special connection to because you did some sort of academic assignment about it; what did you learn?

- Tapirs

I don't remember too much, but I definitely did a big project about them in elementary school.

- Basking Sharks

How they're rad, giant , and harmless; how they used to travel in gigantic schools of hundreds of individuals; how fishermen got pissed at them because they would get stuck in nets all the time, so the people started putting giant blades on the fronts of their boats and ramming into the sharks, cutting them in half.

- The Satanic Panic and Dungeons & Dragons

I wrote a research paper that I was really proud of about how parents' fear of the roleplaying game in question at the time may have been misplaced concern about mental health issues.

3) What is a topic that you pretend to know less about than you actually do?

- Anime & Video Games

I am insecure and these feel embarrassing- I feel like I need to make sure people know about my personality before they make judgements based on the things I like, and how other people who enjoy similar things may act/be perceived.

- Herpetology (Reptiles & Amphibians) & Wildlife

I have a tendency to just start regurgitating information at a high speed; I need to make sure the others in the conversation are actually receptive to me verbally launching my interests at them.

4) What is something in pop culture that you would change the representation of?

- Committed Relationships

New love/infidelity is romanticized a lot and I think that it encourages dissatisfaction and a "grass-is-always-greener" attitude, I think solid partnerships built on mutual trust and effort should be romanticized more.

The only piece of media that I can think of that kind of does this (albeit imperfectly) is High Fidelity, and I don't like that movie very much.

5) What is something that you would tell your younger self that is only important to you? (Avoid things that would drastically alter your life trajectory)

- "What you think is Generalized Anxiety is actually OCD, what you think is a Depression symptom is actually an ADHD symptom, and it's called 'Executive Dysfunction.' The right people will understand more easily when you call it that."

- "You do not dislike mayonnaise- you like aioli and those two are the same fucking thing, one just sounds better. The bread you're eating with savory sandwiches is too sweet and your parents are not bothered by it, but you are. Switch to sourdough and put olive oil on it."

6) What habits/motions/idiosyncrasies do you notice about your friends/the other people in the conversation?

- My partner does a thing when she plays video games where she scrunches up her face and relaxes it in quick succession. It is adorable.

- A friend of mine will sometimes tilt his head to one side and then the other when he is about to respond to a question.

(This is best when you can imitate the motion or manner of speaking, but be sure that everyone involved is comfortable with the topic, as this can be a sensitive subject for some people.)

7) In what ways are you glad that you're different from how you used to be?

- I've always been really prone to showing off how much I know about specific things, but I used to be way more insufferable about it. Now, I try to be really transparent and genuine about the things that interest me, and practice Intellectual Humility whenever I can.

- I used to be really concerned about my sexuality and making sure my gender identity was solidly masculine. I no longer give a shit, and thank god for that.

8) Which albums were the most influential in your life? What are some memories that you have of them?

- Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder

- Say I Am You by The Weepies

- Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

- Awaken, My Love by Childish Gambino

9) What are your favorites of the compliments that you've received?

- "I've never once felt judged by you."

- "You make it feel really easy to jump in." (In reference to playing music and improvising)

- "Your sweeping form is impeccable."

10) What crime would you be most likely to be arrested for?

- No comment.

______________________________________________________________

These next ones are bonuses because I did not come up with them, rather I've found them on the internet over the years. The list on my phone is more of a compilation than a canvas:

If anything, what would you change about the way you were raised? - More emphasis on the results of hard work as opposed to talent

- More fluid views on gender

"WAT R UR ADJECTIVES"

Thank you, Skweezy.

Para mi: lanky, nerdy, effeminate, no driver license

What are your tiny hobbies?

- Wire-wrapping rocks and pieces of sea glass for jewelry that may or may not get made; making little wire rings

- Taking cuttings from plants and seeing if I can get them to root

- Finding rocks that I like and putting them in a bag to give out to my friends when they hang out with me

Ideal rocks: ones that fit comfortably in your hand and pocket; soft enough to wear down after a long time of keeping them in your pocket and rubbing them when you need something to do with your hands (I check the hardness); rough enough to feel a difference when they start to get smooth, but not so rough as to be uncomfortable

- carrying around my notebook

- making lists in my phone's notes

Funny animal names

Band/song/album names

Things I like

Gamertag ideas

Story/Fantasy/DnD ideas

Restaurants of whatever area I'm in

Good movies/shows to watch with a group of friends

Websites to return to

Fruits I want to try

Conversation-starter questions

[hungercityhellhound]

hiya!!! santa back again ❄️

your playlist looks awesome! i’ll def have to give it a listen :))

i’m from australia!

nordic practices sound interesting! i don’t know anything about them so if you’d be ok with it i’d love to hear more about that :)

i meant modern music artists - stuff kinda 00s - now. although it’s also interesting to know people’s favourite visual artist as well so feel free to share that also (mine is man ray)

some new questions:

- top 5 songs that you’re listening to right now?

- your top 3 movies of all time?

- 3 favourite animals?

hope to hear from you again soon :3

Australia is cool. I'm a herpetologist (study reptiles/amphibians) and invertebrate zoologist so Australia has so much cool stuff in that realm.

Covering a whole religion/spirituality is hard. I celebrate Yule/Jul with her which is a solstice based celebration. It celebrates a turn toward longer days again and moving toward the end of winter. I'll have to dig up some pictures of the Yule goats we make. If you have any specific questions ask.

Oh.. um. I love music so this will be hard. I will stick to bands that formed in the 2000s and later.

H.E.A.T., Leather Duchess, Orion's Reign, Crash Midnight, Kataklysm, Carach Angren, LA Cobra, Firewind, Heilung, The Midnight Devils, Roadwolf, Sweet & Lynch, Tailgunner, Asomvel, Tengger Cavalry, Tragedy, Wildstreet come to mind off hand but I am sure there are more.

Artists.. I love Dali. More recent art, I love the Bowie art done by Rena Kasuya. The photography of Joel Sartore. Photo Ark is one of my favorite things even if it has a sad reasoning for existing. The purpose is to catalog all life in a way that shows it as beautiful, to get people to be interested and care before they are gone. Another along the same vein is Gregory Colbert, especially Ashes and Snow. A lot of his photography showcases the connection between man and nature/wildlife in an attempt to show the value of being connected and reconnecting with the rest of life. The videos are wildly moving, even more so than the photography which sometimes makes me cry to look at it. I have prints of these two pieces I need to get frames for so I can put them up.

I'm on a huge W.A.S.P., Steve Vai, Stryper, and Metal Church kick right now. The Inviolate album by Steve Vai I have probably listened to everyday for the past week. The album The Dark by Metal Church and especially The Headless Children and Babylon by W.A.S.P. Stryper I am re-deep diving into their discography since I haven't in a long time.

Top movies.. oh that is so hard but as far as go to and love to watch. I would say Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the 1981 Clash of the Titans.

I'm a zookeeper.. favorite animals is such a hard question. I love toads, giant insects (the bigger the better), and crocodiles.

What are your answers to those questions? and a few from me..

What are your favorite bands that started before 1990?

Do you have a favorite holiday season song?

Do you like live shows? Gone to any recently?

[sjjnyc]

Wetlands in the desert

Three words . . . #WetlandsareWealth

GET INTO IT!

(btw, this is not new information)

Sometimes I have anxiety that people will quiz me on my knowledge about wetlands and I won't be able to come up with interesting and accurate facts to convey their importance. I don't want to feel pressure to be a walking encyclopedia of wetland knowledge (even though that would be cool); the way I want to learn about wetlands and share my experiences with different kinds of wetlands is by visiting them and that being enough. As I do this, I know along the way I'll start to retain information. In the meantime, I've been creating digital PDF zines about my experience with wetlands. Learn more at the end of this section!

Photo Description: White birds that look like pelicans (not sure if they are) at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona

Before coming to Arizona, I ignorantly thought there was no water out here. I bought into the danger of the single-story writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talked about during a TEDx talk. Of course Arizona and the southwest have rivers, streams, lakes, springs, seeps and groundwater, so what the hell was I talking about! I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that not only are there man-made wetlands in the Phoenix metro area, but there is a such thing as desert wetlands. My first reaction was "oh my gosh really?!" My second reaction was "that is so f'ing magical" and my third reaction was, "is it normal to have wetlands in the desert?"

"From agricultural expansion and river diversion to invasive species and climate change, wetlands face numerous threats. But one of the gravest may be ignorance. We still don’t know enough about these habitats, and they can still surprise even seasoned scientists like us. Perhaps most surprising of all are those wetlands that seem to confound all logic by thriving amid some of the driest places on Earth". - Paradox lost: wetlands can form in deserts, but we need to find and protect them

Here are more links I found about desert wetlands:

What is a wetland?

Conservation of Desert Wetlands and their Biotas

Desert Wetlands

UTAH DESERT WETLANDS ABUNDANT WITH MIGRATING BIRDS

Cuenca Los Ojos

Mexico’s northern desert wetlands in danger

WETLANDS IN THE DESERT: A PLACE-BASED JOURNEY OF SEASONAL OBSERVATION AND OUTCOMES

Some keywords/phrases from these articles:

Bioregional awareness

Wetland habitats

Beauty

Jaguar

Cuatro Cienegas Basin in Coahuila, Mexico

San Pedro River in Arizona

Water filtration

Flood and erosion control

Homes for fish and wildlife

Degradation

Escalante River in Utah

Black Bears

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico

Arid lands

Desert springs

Holistic approach to biodiversity conservation

The playas and wetlands in Arizona

Ocelot

Mohave Desert in California

Groundwater extraction

Unique desert wetlands

Beavers

Big Bend National Park in Texas

Chorus of voices

United States-Mexico border

My visits to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona

"The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch was created as an innovative and unique way to combine water resource management with wildlife habitat preservation, education, and outdoor recreation. It is an oasis in the Sonoran Desert featuring seven aquifer recharge basins – each kept at different water levels to create diverse habitats and attract a variety of wildlife. Designated as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society, approximately 298 species of birds have been identified at the preserve, and many insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals have found a home here as well." - Discover Gilbert

I took these photos of the riparian preserve during different seasons.

During my visits I have seen hummingbirds, quails and large white birds that look like pelicans, but I don't know what they are called.

Photo description: I'm not sure what these birds are called, but I love that the riparian preserve is a safe place for wildlife, a place to store and recharge ground water and a recreational area for the community.

Photo description: This is a Corkscrew or Screwbean Mesquite tree

Photo description: I forgot if this is somekind of barrel cactus

Photo description: I think this is a Mesquite tree with the long yellow cylindrical flowers

Photo description: Cactus beings at another entrance to the preserve

Photo description: An empty recharge basin

Photo Description: A filled recharge basin

Photo/Video Descriptions: This area of the preserve has signs that say "Reclaimed Water: Do not Drink". I'm guessing that the wetland habitat helps to filter and clean used water so that it can be used again. I'm still trying to understand how the recharge system works and hope maybe one day I can talk to someone who works at the preserve.

Photo description: I'm not sure what this plant is!

"the future" | predicting the future

"the future" captures my first time knowingly standing over an aquifer which is described as an underground lake about 150 feet below these sounds of treated wastewater being pumped into seven different recharge basins throughout the Riparian Preserve in the town of Gilbert. A plaque in front of the recharge infrastructure I stood in front of/near to record, describes where Gilbert gets its water from, it reads:

"In the past, residents of Arizona used groundwater from this aquifer faster than it could be replenished naturally with rainfall. These basins were designed to allow water to seep down into the aquifer, replenishing our groundwater supply, so that we have plenty of water available for our use in the future".

Photo description: A photo of the paragraph above on the plaque.

Listen to "the future" on Soundcloud!

Watch this video to learn more about the treated wastewater and aquifer recharge at the preserve.

-Is there such a thing as telling the future? - What kinds of premonitions, predictions, telling or seeing into the future practices are you aware of? -How are the ways groundwater and aquifers are treated/cared for a way of telling the future?

For the title I use "the future" as it relates to water, waterbodies, waterways and water cycles as a way to push back on this particular spacetime language being in quotation marks - with quotation marks often times being used to indicate inspection or interrogation, irony, inaccuracy or skepticism.

"the future" | predicting the future was the first artistic exploration I did connected to my water and time travel research in the Colorado River Basin.

Photo Description: An online map of the preserve

Surprise Surprise . . .

What do we have here?

Headlines about the recent loss of federal protections for wetlands in the country

#Repost @honortheearth REPOST: @lakotalaw Important Update: Change in the Wetlands Protection Update: The EPA's recent decision alters wetlands protection, raising concerns about impacts on ecosystems. Wetlands are vital for clean water, biodiversity, and flood control. Loss of federal protection may harm water quality, increase flooding risk, threaten wildlife, impact economy, and challenge long-term sustainability. We strongly suggest that everyone contacts their local representatives, participate in community discussions, and educate others about the importance of wetlands. Our collective voice can drive positive change and encourage a more balanced approach to development and conservation. Let's stand together for the protection of our environment, because in the end, the health of our planet directly impacts the well-being of current and future generations. Photo sourced from @npr View all 72 comments

#Repost @democracynow: The Environmental Protection Agency has rolled back parts of the Clean Water Act which protect millions of acres of wetlands, in order to comply with a Supreme Court ruling. The right-wing-dominated court ruled in May that wetlands must have a "continuous surface connection" to streams, oceans, rivers and lakes to be subject to federal regulations on pollution. Up to 63% of wetlands will be affected. The White House said the Supreme Court ruling "jeopardize[s] the sources of clean drinking water for farmers, businesses and millions of Americans." View all 609 comments

The destiny of wetlands: Is there such a thing as destiny?

I never really use the word frequency because it's used so much and some people associate it with the New Age Movement, so therefore its discounted, but frequency is real. I'm curious about the frequencies that make up the awareness and visions we as human beings (with our various identities and positionalities) want and have for wetlands, and what the desires of wetlands themselves might be?

I'll always remember thinking about rewriting the stories of wetlands which for so long have been seen as useless and taking up space, as well as the destiny* (in other words, the trajectories) of wetlands during my explorations of Jamaica Bay in 2021, especially in contrast to the Graniteville Wetlands in Staten Island.

If we think about the kinds of resources and amount of resources a wetland as an ecosystem is afforded (i.e. love, care, protection, healing, stewardship) can we wonder about its destiny? Does logic have a role in destiny? For example, you plant a seed, and it gets soil with compost, water, sunshine, seed songs and conversation, and before you know it, a plant has blossomed and fruited to produce more seeds. Every seed doesn't make it, even with the best care, but is there some kind of TLC-logic (tender-loving-care-logic) that makes the plant's life possible? If we think about the kinds of resources and amount of resources a wetland as an ecosystem is afforded (i.e. love, care, protection, healing, stewardship) can we wonder about its destiny?

Please research the history of wetlands where you live and in the United States. We've lost a lot of wetlands to agriculture, industry and real estate development, but not all. The more people who uplift wetlands in different ways, the better, and it's happening! We are a glorious chorus for that which was previously seen as dirty, useless and taking up space.

*Destiny: We all have our own understandings and views around destiny, and some folks resonate with this word while others do not. Another word to replace with destiny could be trajectory.

Check out my Wetland Zine Series!

Photo Description: During the summer of 2021 I crossed paths with this Eastern Prickly Pear a little ways past the West Pond and now Living Shoreline at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. Eastern Prickly Pear is a native cactus found growing along the Atlantic coast.

I'm making zines about my wetland experiences in the order I encounter them; so far I've made one zine about a swamp in upstate New York. Up next . . .

PROMPT: Visit a wetland in your community. What kind of wetland is it? What do you notice about it?

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

How did you get into rescuing reptiles? (Both wild and in captivity?) / How does one get into rescuing if they’re interested?

For me, it came with the job (I work at a wildlife center). Rehabbing wild snakes for release is a personal passion and part of my work. Another big part of it for me was volunteering with a reptile rescue not far from where I live! I still volunteer with them occasionally but now I have the resources and space to mostly operate my rescue work out of my own home.

I think the biggest thing I would warn about, up-front, to anyone interested in rescuing reptiles is that it will be a very big time, space, and monetary commitment, and you will not make that money back. I'm fortunate in that I've had a lot of professional training, and when I do rescue/rehab work most of them stay at the wildlife center unless they're bad enough off they need to come home with me. But no matter what, it's a big deal in terms of the things you need to have ready to go (enclosures, food, supplies, etc.) and it's important to remember that reptile rescues have a tougher time getting donations than mammal rescues (shameless plug, I have a Ko-Fi here that goes 100% towards my rescue snakes, and I have a list in the pinned post of reptile rescues I endorse whole-heartedly if you'd like to donate to any!).

The first step I would recommend is to reach out to a local reptile rescue and see if you can volunteer with them (once again, I've got a link in my pinned post to some I love!). There's really no substitute for hands-on experience! I recommend avoiding rehab work with wild snakes unless you can do it through internships with a wildlife center or the like, because there's just more specifics there to get them ready for release and they're trickier in general.

Another thing I would think about early is what kind of reptiles you want to work with. I find a lot of private rescuers do better when they specialize - I solely rescue snakes, and others might specialize in lizards or turtles (I know someone who only rescues bearded dragons). Which reptiles do you think you'd be most able to help? Are there specific needs in your area (in my area, for example, we see a ton of ball pythons and leopard geckos in need of rescue)?

If you do decide to get into reptile rescue, another thing to think about before you even get started is where the reptiles will go once they're ready for their forever home. I'll be the first to admit that rescue fails happen, but the goal should always be to keep 'em moving so you can free up space for the next animal who needs your help. I work with a local pet store who take my rescues when they're ready for a new home - a good tip is to ask around with a rescue you volunteer with or at your local herpetological association about what other rescuers do.

Good luck!! Like I said, I think your first step if you're interested in rescue is try to volunteer with a local rescue and find your niche from there. :)

[heartfullofleeches]

Yandere Male Naga x GN! Reader

3k words. Warning for light gore.

(An: Please don’t apologize for sending asks. You aren’t invading my inbox, I love each and every message I get no matter how many one person sends. Take care and I hope you enjoy it. ) 

Ever since you were young, you had a love for the slithery inhabitants of earth. Frogs to newts; the more you learned about reptiles and their amphibian family, the more fascinated you became. Now onto the later years of young adulthood, you were studying to become a herpetologist and live out childhood dreams. Unfortunately, outside of school there weren’t many people to talk to about your love of said animals and you had barely any friends outside that department on top of that. With very few choices of ways to make new ones, you opted for the easiest route of searching online.

You browsed various pet forums; most of your interactions being answering questions the curios folk had and commenting on pictures of cute pets. It was a nice way to past the time and you managed to make a couple acquaintances in the process. As much as you enjoyed each individually, none were quite like your longest chat partner.

With on a hike on a natural trail not far from your apartment, you spotted a snake slithering through a nearby creek. It was the beginning of the warmer months of the year, and at the point where they were starting to get more active. Keeping your distance, you snap a quick photo of it before continuing on you way. You honestly forgot about it, until you found it while scrolling through your camera roll the next day. You decide to post it online, just for the hell of it. A few replies thrown your way and you were content. You thought it’d even there – till you received a message in your inbox later that day.

“What a cute little guy. Is his friend as cute as he?~”

Another message comes your way the second you read the first.

“Ha, that was in poor taste of me. Please don’t block me.. I’ve seen you around this site and thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to send you a message.”

Though a bit of a flirt, you and the stranger got along quite well. You talked about reptiles and the like; most of your conversations ending on snakes, and your studies as well. Overtime, other aspects of life began to blend into your texts. Other interests, how living in your respective areas was, and just life in general. His name is Morgan, from what he claimed; your first real friend in a long while. 

Eventually, you both work up the courage to exchange pictures of each other. It was slightly difficult to see his face clearly, but you could make out the general shadow and his lips quirked in a mischievous grin. “If you think I’m a fake I’ll gladly send more.” He joked. He had deep brown eyes, hints of yellow bordering like off gems in the darkness of his room. Must be some kind of filter – you concluded. You send one back after, met with instant praise. 

“Ah, I knew you’d be stunning. You’re so cute I could just eat you up!” 

Time continues further and you continue speaking. You give him your number; his changing ever so often, buy you never went a day without a response. One night, as you getting ready for bed; you received a frantic message from him.

“Y/n! Are you awake?”

“Yea, I’m still up. Is everything ok?”

“Something attacked one of my cameras just now, but I was able to get the footage from it. Check it out.”

As told, he sends you a clip from a surveillance camera. It was pointed downwards towards a grass covered trail; footage grayscale. Morgan told you he lived near a forest, but this was far beyond than that. It was closer to a jungle; vegetation covered every area and trees dominating the landscape. He put cameras throughout it to capture footage of the wildlife within, and the instances like the one now on your screen.

In the distance, the camera recorded the end of something  slithering off the man-made path and into the trees; just barely catching its shadow. From the lack how far it was, it was hard to make anything out other than it was big. Just the corner of what you saw was nearly the width of a cow. You could vaguely detail a lighter shade of color on its underside, not much else to be seen.

Silence lingers as the footage remains still – then a crack. The tree holding camera topples over, somehow leaving it in tact and pointed at the sky. You hear the sound of something shuffling through the grass, a large shadow looming over view. It’s hard to tell what the thing is as its body coils around itself, you leaning in to try and determine what it is. It suddenly lungs at the camera, the last thing you see before it shuts off being what looks like a pair of fangs longer than any you’d ever seen. 

“What… was that?.”

“I know! I’ve wanted to tell you about it for so long, but I feared you wouldn’t believe me.”

“There’s a legend in my town about a beast in the forest. Larger than any man or animal; ten times stronger than the toughest of either species. Some say it’s even a hybrid of both. I think this is proof it exists!”

You start to believe it’s a prank. “Are you sure?”

“Positive! I wouldn’t bother you with this if I didn’t have more proof to show.”

He sends his proof; all rather damming – or the work of someone who knew their way around scene design.  A closer picture of trail the creature left showed just how massive it was; plowed through the earth like a bulldozer with a girth of around twelve yards. There were pieces of what looked like a snakes shedding shattered through the broken land, big enough for you to wrap yourself in twice over. The most chilling photo was that of the tree, a handprint wedged into the wood topped with thin claw marks. Upon a second look at the video, you swear the jaws holding the fangs seem too human like to be anything but. Hollow and cheeks stretched far beyond possible, but human nonetheless.

“This is crazy! Have you told anyone else about it?”

“I don’t trust a soul but you, my dear. Someone might alert the presses before its time. I need more proof if I want the world to believe me.”

“Is what you have already not enough?”

“The world is full of skeptics, Y/n. You can never have enough evidence! Plus someone might get better stuff than what I have if I wait. I plan on to taking a close up photo of it, but even I know it’s not wise to go alone.”

“Who will you go with?”

“That’s where you come in, love.”

“Me?.. What do you mean?”

“I want you to come! Think about it. You’ll be one of the first people to document a never before seen creature. That’s must mean something in your field.  Regardless of that, the thought alone must be exciting, no?”

You think over his offer, unsure as to what you should say. He did have a point on both accounts. Before you can reply, he sends yet another message.

“Plus… we can finally meet in person. It’s rather embarrassing, but I’ve wanted that for a while now”

“Alright. Alright. I’ll help you.”

“Yay! I look forward to it, my little mouse.” 

“Are you calling that because you plan to use me as bait?”

-

After discussing things further, you get the location of his town and make plans to meet  A quiet place with few towns folk keen on speaking with you..  Unfortunately, Morgan is unable to meet on the night you get in, but he promises to see you soon. As apology, - and because you spoke of it before, he gives you directions to where you’d stay for your visit. An RV on the outskirts of town; key tucked under the welcome mat just for you. A gift from a relative moving out of state – as he told. 

The interior was spacious; kept tidy and sectioned off between bedding and other activities. You knew Morgan had turned the van into a mini research lab, but you hasn’t expected all this much. Tables stacked with notebooks and books on animal behavior; a computer opened with various camera views of the forest beyond. A map was pinned to a board on the wall, thread connects to tacks spread across a makeshift drawing of the woods – detailing the creature’s travel patterns. 

Setting your belongings aside, you suppose he wouldn’t mind if you looked through what he had down. You pick up one of the journals, getting comfortable on the bed before you read. Opening the book at random, you note that some pages had been torn from the spine. 

“Day 1,

It’s my first night out here. The quietness of the forest is pretty relaxing. I tried asking around town to see of anyone could inform me about the stories more with no luck. I’ll head out first thing tomorrow.”

“Day 2,

No luck with my search. When I got back, I noticed tire tracks in the dirt. Not like the van had moved itself, but as if it were pushed to the side. There were strands of black hair by one of the tires. None of us have dark hair.”

“Day 13, 

I finally saw it. At least its tail. From appearance, it seems to be a speckled king snake, but the species isn’t native to the area, nor are they that huge. If I had to guess, it was longer than the van. 

“Day,

I found it’s cave. It was sleeping, so I was able to put a tracker on it, but it woke up. It saw me-"

You close the book, chills running through you. You understood the dangers of coming out here, but this was something else entirely. Who was this “us” he mentioned anyway? You place the book where it came from, focusing the rest of your energy on getting comfortable within the sheets. The trip so far had you pretty tired and you needed your rest. You send Morgan a final message before you shut your eyes  - the distance sound of a photos chime unheard by your ears.

-

You’re awoken by a powerful force slamming against the side of the RV, rattling its walls with you along with it. Startled by the distance, you sit up, looking around for the source. The night still hung high in the sky; the shadow of the moon raining over the window. Upon second glance, the shadow is not that of a celestial being but of a indescribable form pressed against the glass. It drags thin nails along the pale, webbing between its fingers translucent from the light of the moon. You stare in silent terror, mind blank except for trying to process what you just witnessed. It eventually remembers it has a body; you rushing for the door – safety the last thought in your head. 

The monster vanished as quickly as it arrived, leaving you dumbfounded in the doorway. The cold air slaps you in the face, waking you from your trance the creature had over you. You sit at the steps, body trembling from the encounter. Against the voice in your head's demands, you stay put. As terrified as you were, you just had to know more, but you’d have to wait.

-

You climb back in bed, unable to sleep for the rest of the night. By the time morning had crept in, you still hadn’t gotten a response from Morgan. You were starting to get antsy. Leaving without him was the only thing you didn’t want to do, but your patience was run thin. The mystery of the unknown had you completely entangled; a grip that refused to let go.

By the time noon rolled around, you finally gave in and decided to go without him. You carefully unlinked the map from the wall, tracing the thread's lines with a pen. As you gathered things for the journey, oddities began appearing. Some of the journals were written in a different handwriting. Clothes of various sizes tucked in corners. Had your brain not been hopped up on adrenaline, you would have taken the clears signs of warning and ran. Instead, you ignore and hike towards the groove of trees.

The trees block out the sun in an instance, the holes of which it’s ray poke through just barely enough for you to see. Map in hand, you navigate through the thick forest with relative easy. According to the map; marked with bold marker, the beast’s home was directly in the heart of the woods – damn near a straight path from where you were. You come across the tree from in the video, trunk split clean in half. The ration part of your brain makes you dig your heels into the dirt, but the determined part keeps you going.

Time treks on, and so do you – eventually finding the cave where the beast lie. Any warmth in the air was snuffed; dragged in by the abyss of its entrance. Water dampened the earth below like a miniature moat, your foot falling almost ankle deep as you step by. You pull out a flashlight from the bag you had taken; light reflecting on the shine of the cave's walls. Your footsteps echo no matter how quietly you attempt to walk, dread hitting like a hammer with each step.

As you reach the end of the cave, you somehow almost miss the sleeping mass in the corner. Gigantic; wide – blackish-brown scales blending with background of the cave. Yellow scales mixed and hid under the darker ones; leaving it identifiable as a king snake as the journal had foretold. A snake known for its deadly constriction. From the way it was collided around itself, you couldn’t see its face and that was probably for the better. If it woke up now, it had the capabilities to swallow you whole if it didn’t crush you to death first. 

You pull out your phone, snapping a few pictures of the creature while you could. The flashlight helps you get a clearer shot of it, but your phone was too small to catch its full size. You take a couple steps back for a better angle, tripping over an unseen force. It cracks under your heel, causing you to freeze. You had come very little debris in the cave, so you hadn’t bothered to check the further you went. You look down to see what it was, almost dropping your phone and light in the process. 

A human skull rests at your feet; completely stripped of muscle and skin. Its broken jaw lies under your shoe, panic rising up your leg. Looking around the cave, there’s more remains littered about; most by or crushed by the snake’s tail. As you become more aware of your surroundings your other senses kick in; a faint coppery scent masked by the smell of murky water. You needed to get out of here. Fast. You turn your flashlight back on the snake, heart squeezing in your chest as you do so. It was moving.

It had been from the start.

Small, twitching movements that now delved into the unraveling of its body as it stirred. Its upper torso begins to rise, scales declining into human skin the further it rose on its spine. Yellow freckles lined its shoulders, skin ashened. Clawed fingers wipe gore from its mouth as it turns to face you; forked tongue clearing blood from it extended fangs. It’s other arm cradles a broken corpse, bites of flesh torn from its neck and limbs bent an unnatural way. Familiar eyes smile warmly as you, the body collapsing to the floor unharmoniously as it spreads its arms towards you. The irises were thinner now; piercing. 

As if matters could get more terror inducing, it opens its mouth once more. Not to lash out at you, but it greet you with warmth; tongue fluent in human language.

“Y/n! What a surprise to see you, my love~ Had I known you were coming I would’ve cleaned up more.”

It laughs. A deep rumbling cackle that mocks the shocked look on your face. You can’t process it. You had seen the videos and pictures. You felt its presence last night. You had heard his voice before.

“M….morgan?” 

His face melts into a soft expression. “Yes, my beloved? I know this must all be a shock to you, but I assure you I am he.”

He pulls out a phone, the device looking like a child’s tool in his hands.

“The internet is a fantastic place, don’t you agree? I’ve never gotten this much food so quickly in all my years! As wonderful as that is, never did I think that I’d find my mate there as well.”

You shiver as he licks his lips. “Mate?”

“Yes darling.” He’s on you before you even blink, wrapping his tail around you only to keep you still. It’s only when you struggle that his hold tightens; not enough to hurt, but to render you motionless. An act of tough love. His hands snake around your upper body, face pressing against your neck. The slender muscle of his tongue kisses your skin; a cavernous purr leaving his lips as he takes in your scent.

“As you may know, snakes don’t mate for life, but I tend to stick our from the crowd. I’ve longed for another to hold for ages, and you’ve been the only perfect candidate. Such an adorable passion you have for your field of work, and a cute face on top of that. Oh, your scent alone soothes me greatly, my precious mouse.”

Morgan nozzles your cheek, sapping your warmth against his rough skin. Now that he had you, he’d never let go. You manage to wiggle one arm free, attempting to distance yourself much to his disappointment. 

“I’m… flattered, but there’s no way I can stay here. I have a life outside and there’s things I need to-"

He squeezes you to his chest, cutting off your sentence.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Y/n. I’ve done my research, I’ll take such good care of you you’ll never think of another again. I had that van fixed really well for you, did you not like it? Those researchers were so messy, but I made sure they did a good job before they expired.” 

You gulp, not enjoying his choice of words. You’re forced to look up at him; persistence and obsession swirling in his eyes.

“Do you need more? I can get rid of someone in town and you can have a nice home – the whole town if you so wish. Anything for you, so long as you be a good mate and stay by my side.” 

His fingers course up the end of your spine; voice dropping to a whisper. “I’ve even studied human pleasure, if intimacy is what you truly crave.”

[imjusthereforthecatpictures]

Praise for Winter's Orbit

In advance of Everina Maxwell’s (@avoliot) new book, Ocean’s Echo, I would like to take some time to talk about some of the points I love about her first book, Winter’s Orbit. Some of these things I have only noticed because I have read this book enough times that it might actually be concerning, but something about it really captures me and I need to share some of my favourite parts.

I’ll start with some general things and move on to spoilers under a cut. 

First off, I’d like to say how well Maxwell shows the cultural/personality differences between Kiem and Jainan. There are some subtle points, like Jainan mentioning how he doesn’t understand why Iskaners like glass ceilings when it is almost always cloudy right after hearing Kiem say the room they get married in is cheerful because it has a glass ceiling, even though “no sunlight made it through the muted grey of the clouds.”

We see a similar thing with the birds, but I personally think this is more personality than cultural: Kiem likes Iskat’s birds, and Jainan does not like any of the wildlife (for very good reason). Kiem feeds the “doves,” knows about nesting habits, and chooses to have his wedding banquet in the Room of Birds. Jainan thinks the birds are “predatory and alien” and is always very negative when he thinks of them. This is such a fun little dynamic and I think it says a lot about their personalities and how they interact with the world around them.

Another note about the wildlife and Iskat’s “weird design fashions,” one of my favourite exchanges is the “that’s not a bear” and “what kind of bear has fur?” This is made even better, because earlier in the novel, Kiem describes a character as having a “presence like a bear in a room full of nanotech.” Now that is a delightfully futuristic version of the bull in a china shop idiom, but when we learn what Kiem actually means by a bear it gets way funnier to imagine a six-legged reptile in, like, a Best Buy. 

A final note on Kiem and Jainan playing off each other is when Kiem blatantly lies to Jainan to make him feel more comfortable. At their wedding dinner, Kiem tells Jainan that heraldry is a hobby of his and then asks about Jainan’s family crest to get Jainan involved in the conversation. Later in the book Kiem admits that he doesn’t even know the history of the Iskat coat of arms, so it really was just a way off prompting a conversation. I think that is a really sweet exchange.

Kiem’s people skills are threaded throughout the book. It is easy to show Jainan’s intelligence, he’s an engineer and his attention to detail and analytical skills solve major plot points, but Kiem’s are more subtle and just as useful. They are also more spoilery, so I’m hiding them under a read more.

We first see it when Kiem remembers the face of one of the internal security agents. I like to think this is the security guard who talks to him about tree borers right after the wedding. 

My favourite people skills moment is how Maxwell sprinkles in little breadcrumbs that come together later to make Kiem's habit of calling people for help more believable. We see Kiem meeting Master Sergeant Vignar, who does logistics for the military. At the time it feels like a casual one off, and we don’t expect to see him again, but Kiem remembers him and calls on him when he needs to break into a secure military area. He also uses a real conversation he had with Aren about a job opening to make his request sound believable. This is such a beautifully written set up and pay off, and really shows how Kiem remembering details about people is an invaluable and rare skill. 

Speaking of Aren, I can’t help but wonder if he is responsible for there being no record of Audel’s resignation. Maxwell never specifies, but if Aren did find copies of the resignation letters it would make sense for him to delete them to cast more suspicion on her. Maybe that is what happened, maybe Audel was lying about trying to quit to make herself sound better. We'll never know and I love that we get to form our own ideas about it.

I cannot talk about Aren framing Audel without mentioning how ridiculous his little reveal was at the Hvaren Base. Like, he showed a picture of the college, then a head shot of Audel, and only after that did he show her military picture. Why would he do that instead of just saying “I think it was the professor!” He must have realized Jainan and Kiem knew her. If they didn’t outright name her when they were explaining how Jainan found out about the embezzlement, Aren should have connected the dots that Jainan got the data from her. But no, instead of being normal, Aren had to bust out a powerpoint. No wonder Kiem and Jainan were confused. This is just so hilariously flamboyant!

My last point, because I have to stop somewhere or else go on and on about how much I love this book if I don’t limit myself, is how much I like how Maxwell used a small detail to show her readers how two overlapping events were playing out simultaneously. While Jainan is examining the Kingfisher refinery’s orbit, he notices a shift change buzzer in the background, and we can assume it is the same buzzer Kiem mentions in the next POV shift. Because of that small detail, we know where both of them are: Kiem has finished reading Bel’s notes and is on his way to confront Gairad, while Jainan is still in the control room. Kiem’s confrontation leads to him turning off his wristband, so Jainan isn’t able to reach him when he tries to call, which prompts him to go directly to the Auditor with his information. This is such a good way of anchoring the reader in time and showing how the events are lining up without having to actually explain it in detail. 

Anyway, those are some of my observations on the book and I cannot wait to get my hands on Ocean’s Echo. I’ve pre-ordered the audiobook and I know I’m going to devour it as soon as I can.

[ani-also-ashton]

Hulu’s taking off Kamisama Kiss soon so here’s me reacting to it X3 - Part 3

Season one, Episode Four

that hug always fricken gets me ToT

*the episode starts off with people freaking out over a harmless snake* *disapproving reptile enthusiast noises*

Nanami: “white snakes are said to be messengers of the gods, you guys are risking divine retribution.” You tell ‘em girl!!

my girl Nanami be both matchmaking and advocating for humane wildlife treatment *wipes tear*

I swear this episode is the reason Imma pay $400 someday for a BEL ball python XDDD

lmao I love the juxtaposition from Nanami simply wondering about her arm to “THE GOD IS   K I D N A P P E D”—-

and of course my boi be making a five star meal for best girl TwT

damn this is making me realize how attractive good cooking is—

and of course Tomoe goes straight from slandering Nanami to inspecting her arm—

Tomoe is all “pffst! You think I truly care for you outside my familiar duties, even in the sligh– what is that come here give me your arm I need to help you”—

bruh how does Tomoe know about the marital mark of snakes so well?? Is there something you aren’t telling us Tomoe—

oh snap and then he acting jealous mmhmm he know too well 'bout this—

I can’t tell if he’s more mad at the snake or at Nanami—

Tomoe all “I need to rescue Nanami or I’ll lose my reputation” mhmm there isn’t  a n y other reason you wanna keep her safe—

ahahah and now Tomoe’s all “it’s amazing how many dramatic scenarios you humans can create” after reading her manga, okay pot calling the kettle black–

teacher: “this is our transfer student, Tomoe Mikage” OMG HE USED IT AS HIS LAST NAME MY  H E A R T—-

*Nanami’s classmates crowding around Tomoe* OOP now she the jealous one—

NOT TOMOE RECITING THE NAMES OF  A L L  HER CLASSMATES—

NOT TOMOE CALLING NANAMI HIS 'MISTRESS" IN FRONT OF THEM——

ahh but such a wholesome studying scene after uwu

dammnn and then a sick burn on Mizuki from his own goddess ouch—

ok,,,,, and I mean this in the nicest way possible,,,,,, but those shrine spirits look like Kirishima—

DAWW AND THEY’RE JUST SO EXCITED TO MEET NANAMI TwT

*Nanami thinking of Tomoe’s promise to protect her* “……he lied” ASDUSDHSADHHFISUHDSKHFSHFKASFHKDK—

Nanami: Do you know Tomoe?

Mizuki: I’ve known him for a lot longer than you have…

👀  👀  👀

omfg I can FEEL Mizuki’s heart breaking when Nanami gently pushes him away—

I mean he was being invasive so I get it bUT STILL—

…okay nevermind he’s officially being a creep—

and AWWW SHIT,  THE BOI’S HERE—

mizuki’s face literally went D:

*inhale*

THE   H U U U U U U U U U U U G G G G G G G G G G G G

Tomoe: “you’re safe now, thank goodness…” Nanami, teary eyed: “…. you’re late"—

HHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG—–

damn Tomoe be dealing with the same fox slandering from Zootopia wtf—

oh shit Tomoe be burning Mizuki both literally and figuratively—

WOAH JESUS CALM DOWN BOI—

aw damn a sad dramatic flashback U_U

OMFG THE TREE D:

Mizuki, smiling: “It’s the most precious thing I own because she loved it…” …..damn onions—-

AWWW AND NANAMI GENTLY TELLS TOMOE TO STOP,,, BEST GIRL—-

……and I have nothing else to say that last scene was a masterpeice and I loved it 💯💯💯

okay so I know I just said in the last post I didn’t know when I’d be able to keep these up …….. but I wanted to do just a couple more XDD This is probably gonna be the last one for now, but don’t be surprised if the next one pops up real soon. Tysm for reading!!! :)

(also this is a repost to fix some spelling mistakes lmao X3)