#white necked stork

[squirrelsqwirow]

HC: househusband!reiner x fem!reader

a/n: I have so many ideas and just cannot seem to write them all down properly cw: just fluff, no smut, modern au

househusband!reiner who had been in the infantry since he turned eighteen, and now seven years later, after almost a decade of what seemed like endless bloodshed and horror, he's happily married and retired from the military

househusband!reiner who didn't know what he wanted next, everything was moving too fast and he felt left behind - civilian life was hard to adjust to, and he was grateful that you let him relax and take it easy for the first few weeks

househusband!reiner who quickly fell into a productive pattern while you were away at work - early morning rise, self-made schedule for house-hold duties, flipping through cooking books and preparing meals - he never liked wasting time

househusband!reiner who one day concludes after searching for jobs online that he doesn't want to go back into the workforce - he is completely happy staying home and doing all the household chores, in fact he recently found that he enjoys cleaning and putting things back in order

househusband!reiner who cautiously approaches you with the idea, unsure of how you'll react as it isn't too common for a man to be a fulltime househusband

househusband!reiner who is so relived to hear your agreement and support, as you just want him to be happy and you already make enough money to support you both - it would be nice coming home to a clean house and homecooked meal, too

househusband!reiner who awakens early every morning just to plant a sloppy, loud kiss to your cheek before he gets up to make you breakfast - and he had gotten incredibly good at cooking - eggs benedict, cilbir, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, english breakfast

'mwah!' a smooch against your forehead. 'mwah!' a peck to your cheek. 'mwah!' a long wet kiss to your lips. reiner grinned above you, feeling fuzzy as your face scrunched with small laughs with every kiss he gave you. the white sheets were twisted around you both, creasing as reiner flopped down and dug his face into your neck, a final 'mwah!' to your jawline before he got up for the day.

househusband!reiner who packs your lunch with a content smile, scribbling a quick note of love that he stuck to the container of food - some of your co-workers tease you for it, others fawn over his adoration and wish their partners would do the same

househusband!reiner who will closely trail you as you walk towards the door, arms around your waist as he lathers one side of your face with quick kisses - he'll whine and look pained if you push him away, so don't do it - pull him in for a deep kiss to make up for it, one that will make him sigh through his nose and have him keep his eyes closed for a few more seconds

househusband!reiner who'll look gloomy as you walk out the door, but his hardened soldier expression returns when he sees the large pile of dishes on the bench and a carpet needing to be vacuumed - big man will roll up his sleeves and crack his knuckles as if it's a life-or-death mission

househusband!reiner who's army habits never left him and now treats everything as an operation

in the garden, between bushes of pink roses and lavender, reiner was kneeled and yanked the weed from the soil. it's dirt-laced roots hung like vines. he tossed it into the wheelbarrow behind his back, and shuffled to the next weed. beads of sweat were caught between the furrowed lines on his forehead, and his scowl was deep as he glared at the weed. he pulled once, and it didn't move, so he pulled again, yet it was stubborn and strong. reiner snatched the gardening knife to his side and spun it in his hand, before he dug it into the soil and hooked it under the weed. he pushed down the knife and pulled the stork, and the weed came free. there would be no weeds in his garden.

househusband!reiner who does that 'harshly flipping the dish towel onto their shoulder when doing the dishes' thing

househusband!reiner who has a 'kiss the cook' apron

househusband!reiner who'll spray you with water when he watering the garden, laughing at the way you squeal and run back inside behind the safety of the floor-to-celling glass windows

househusband!reiner who has you on his arm as you both walk down the shopping street in the city, drinks in both your hands as you laugh at each others terrible jokes and gossip about the drama in your neighbourhood

househusband!reiner who hears all the latest gossip from the older ladies down the street, and immediately goes straight home to tell you

househusband!reiner who takes brisk morning walks with these older ladies - they often compare their husbands to him, giving a whole 'if I was young again' speech, and all they talk about is drama, so he is always up to date on everything that's happening

househusband!reiner who will give you a 'did you hear that?!' look when over for brunch at a neighbours house and someone says something outrageous

househusband!reiner who occasionally shows up to your work to take you to lunch - some of your co-workers blush while he's there, but all reiner is focused on is you and the weird painting in the lobby

reiner stood with his arms crossed, completely focused on the mismatch of colours and shapes and human features on the large canvas. it was vivid against the white walls of your office tower, but oddly comforting. "what is it?" "I dunno," you said honestly and you both tilted your heads to the side. "gary bought it in." "of course it was gary." "it's always gary," you said. "but we like gary." "we do like gary." "I like gary too," said your co-worker susan. she stood a little too close to reiner's side and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. she looked up at reiner as she spoke, red dusting her cheeks. "he's a good boss." you poked out from beside reiner's chest and said: "nobody likes a suck-up, susan!"

househusband!reiner who isn't completely oblivious when it comes to people staring at him - his career needed him to read people's body and facial expression, so he knows when someone is taking too much of a liking to him - so that is why he always shows at your work wearing a matching outfit and greats you with a kiss

househusband!reiner who keeps himself entertained by completing diy projects - he's grown found of gardening, wood carving, construction, painting and clay

househusband!reiner who renovated a small extension from the house into a work station for himself, and it's where he completes his clay and painting projects - garden pots, vases, little sculptures, cups

househusband!reiner who uses pinterest as inspiration for many of his projects - he has multiple boards for paintings, clay, garden accessories, diy project ideas -

househusband!reiner who always melts when you join him and make clay pots together, and especially loves to paint them with you once they're dry - he always uses them in the garden, and takes good care to maintain them

you were seated in reiners lap as you both painted dried clay cups. he was delicately painting a small penguin with a scarf and wool hat, his tongue poking from the side of his mouth as his eyes were almost crossed in concentration. you smiled at him and placed a long, chaste smooch to his cheek. he blushed and tilted his head to rest against yours, a subtle grin on his face.

househusband!reiner who's gotten really good at painting with watercolour, and many of his paintings hang in the house

"you don't have to put it in here..." he trailed off as you held his latest painting - a soft-coloured village over-looking the sea - against the wall. "it's not my best work." "i want it above our bed," you said and stumbled over the pillows as you tried to find the flat point. "can you go get the- the, y'know- that flat-bubble-in-the-middle-thingy, please?"

househusband!reiner who crafts handmade gifts for you - a paper-flower bouquet, a jewellery display, a bedside table you've been wanting for a while, unique real-flower bouquets from the garden which he wraps - anything you want because he loves crafting and he loves you

househusband!reiner who teaches gabi and her friends how to make clay cups and paint them - gabi loves to pain little faces onto her cups and will proudly show them to everyone - she once showed it in class and the teacher was so impressed that he asked if reiner could make small plant pots for her class so they could paint them - he said yes, but refused to take the money offered

househusband!reiner who lays on the patio couch with you asleep on his chest almost every evening, admiring the orange-yellow-blue sky as the sun sets behind the treeline

his head was rested on a propped up pillow against the patio couch armrest, and his arms were firmly wrapped around your waist. he stroked your back as you lay asleep on his chest, the gentle rise of your back as you breathed lulling him to sleep. reiner felt his eyes droop and his head nod, but he refused to submit to sleep. you looked too peaceful against him, too beautiful and perfect with your hair skewed over your face - he'd be damned if he missed such a sight for something trivial such as sleep.

househusband!reiner who despises the mosquitos that come out a night with all the hatred in his heart - he'll swipe at them and spray them whenever he gets the chance

househusband!reiner who - with your help - transformed an unused room into a home gym because he likes working out and feeling fit, but he doesn't like other people all too much

househusband!reiner who has cleared out a room over a few weeks and had been dropping hints about something he'd been wanting for a while now

househusband!reiner who had been crafting a unique crib while you were at work, painting it soft colours and making it as safe as possible, hoping one day soon that he goes from househusband!reiner to stay-at-home-dad!reiner

[aleafinacup]

Identifying Demons: Ars Goetia

Pretty random thing to attempt but I wanted to try it, mainly thanks to posts by @mintaikcorpse :]]

This is what I got so far and I’m gonna list why I think this is who’s who below the cut (also even if it’s revealed these are wrong or irrelevant I don’t really care that much bc there’s little chance I’m gonna write using the Goetia much

Vassago: Pretty simple start, it’s already confirmed

Raum: Described as an Earl ruling 30 legions of demons, his description mentions him taking the appearance of a crow and he is then also described to “steal treasures out of kings' houses, carrying them where he wishes” — so from the appearance of this bird guy, he seems to really like his gold since his anthropomorphised wing-hands have gold rings all over them

Sitri: Honestly my favourite look out of this group :] a Prince ruling over 60 legions of Demons, he’s one of the few Goetia depicted as having a leopard appearance, alongside griffin wings. Fits pretty perfectly for what’s in the picture

Shax: Marquis having power over 30 legions of Demons (on evil horses apparently) he is depicted as a stork, and I think with the long beak and thin neck that’s what he’s implied to be. His outfit also sort of looks like the uniform dressage riders wear (at least in my eyes) with the black coat and white shirt underneath, so that could potentially cover the “evil horses” thing

Botis: Pretty easy one as not a lot of Goetia appear to be serpent like. A President that commands 60 legions of Demons and depicted as an “ugly viper” aww poor guy :(( I think he’s silly looking

Ipos: Prince that commands 36 legions of Demons. A pretty hard one to figure out, but in this pic he’s very vulture like, so googling “vulture ars Goetia” brought me to Ipos’ page, as he is sometimes described as a vulture (although very rarely, he’s commonly a fuck ton of animals smooshed together)

Buer: President with 50 legions of Demons under his command. This was definitely the toughest one T-T the picture of this lil guy very much yells goat to me but looking through all the Goetia descriptions the only time I could see anything like that was in Buer’s text, which says “He has been described as being a wheel with several legs, or even as a lion head with multiple goat legs.” That was all I got, but given that there’s several Goetia already with lion features, I decided to focus on the singular goat part and leave it at that 💀

It’s fun and definitely satisfying to put names to faces, as for me I like to have things like this tucked away to potentially use in stories

I severely doubt all 72 Goetia are ever going to show up in Helluva or Hazbin, but given how many there are and how plenty of them have a surprising amount of description, there’s a lot of overlap in animal features and I do hope that if any more are shown they aren’t just all birds

Maybe I’ll make another post like these if they get more screen time?

[what-the--curtains]

Fire & Ice

Chapter 6 - Dances & Diatribes

(Robb Stark x f!Targaryen!Reader)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: Tenuous bridges are built with the arrival of a wedding present from across the Narrow Sea. Bridges that are tested by a visit to the Vale

Authors note: She's Baaaaaaaack (by unpopular demand) Let me know if you want to be untagger I know I've been gone a while!

TW: Fighting, Swearing (maybe?), mentions of blood, hallucinations, alcohol

Taglist: @kittykylax @winxschester @mihrimahsultan03 @stargaryenx @the-desilittle-bird @roselibrary @luxlisbonlover @r1dd1kulus

Word count: 5.1k

Playlist

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Snow dusts the foliage around you. The quiver hangs on your back, reigns grasped loosely. A hushed barter with a stable boy allowing your escape for a few hours most mornings. ​​The woods are silent this hour. You basque in the quiet knowing the men would soon return from the front. The sky glows copper as the sun rises, blood has been spilled. 

You slow your horse to a walk stopping when tracks appear in the distance. Three pronged digits jut out from a large base, the prints were uncanny, unfamiliar, distorted. The air goes silent as you raise your bow. No birds chirped above, no crunch of the frosted ground beneath you, no wisp of the wind. 

Nothing. Not even the sound of your own breath reached your ears. 

Something is watching you. 

 You turn and a chill shoots down your spine, every hair on your neck lifted. Your heartbeat fills the empty space as cold breath hits your neck. You grab an arrow and drive it backwards, but it falls to the ground imprinting in the snow that dusted the remaining grass, the sound of the forest returning. 

Your hand reaches back again and you fire into the nearby bush pheasants flocking upwards and you shoot two down.

You were spending too much time alone, too much time with your head buried in books full of tales meant to scare children. The chilling legends that had always managed to find themselves lodged in your head.  These occurrences were the last thing you needed, a senseless distraction. 

You prayed Jorah's return with the rest of the men would settle you, though you hesitate to share your visions with him considering your lineage. Unless it progressed further, it was best kept a secret. 

In addition to the sense of comfort you hoped Jorah would provide insight into Talisas departure, you had your suspicions but you weren't one to breathe life into rumour before it was fact. The thoughts are fleeting and they dissipate as you dismount inside the stable. Coming forward to thank the mare for her efforts.

“Thank you for lending her to me, and for your discretion,” you say to the sable haired boy appearing from the shadows of a stall he was cleaning. He smiles, but it drops slightly as footsteps approached. Had it followed you back from the woods? You look over your shoulder to see Robb freshly returned from war, unwashed and bloodied. 

“Fear not, he is not nearly as ferocious as he looks, and he only turns into a wolf on the battlefield” you whisper to the boy who smiles. 

“You ride?” Robb asks, rinsing his hands of blood in a nearby barrel. 

“A long time ago, in another life,” you admit, your wedding gift from Drogo passing through your mind. You hand the saddle to the boy who runs off as quickly as he came. 

“You're working in the stables now, is he sharing his pay with you?” Robb asks. 

“Yes, and you should pay him more, it's hard work. Do not blame him I am very convincing,”

“Seems people find you impossible to refuse,” 

“I can think of at least one person always ready to refuse me,” 

“Your lack of broken neck suggests you ride well, you should take your pick'' Robb states, “save for the white mare, she's mine. ” he relays storking the creature's speckled face, one of his fathers final gifts to him.

“She’s beautiful, do the rest not have owners,” you ask, hanging the pheasant on the wall as the boy leads the horse back into the stable, you hang them on the wall as you wash your hands of the mud. 

‘Four in the back lost their riders, they would do well to have someone keep them in shape, try them, choose your favourite. Did Ser Darrion shoot these?” he asks, before you have time to thank him.

“I shot them, your Grace.” His eyes flit to you then back to the birds “they go to the boy, he takes them to his family, that was part of our deal,” you relay pulling them down off the wall “He wanted nothing of course but I told him to never do anything for free, especially if the person asking is wealthy,” Robb’s laugh catches you off guard 

“Aren’t you angry,” you ask, turning to make sense of the lightness you felt in the conversation. 

“Quite the opposite. You’ll have to teach my youngest sister, Arya when… if we find her,” he relays, stone faced. “She would like you,” he admits. 

“I look forward to meeting her,” 

“His family must be well fed, you're a good shot,”  Robb says, looking the birds over. 

“I've been hunting for a long time your Grace, though Visery didn't think it a very lady-like hobby so naturally…” 

“Well my mother would agree, but if it keeps you out of my hair for a few hours I see it as a benefit to our union,” 

“Did you come here to land an insult or was there something else you needed?” you ask 

“I believe I just paid you a compliment,” he states

“What was your intended purpose here then?” 

“A gift arrived late last night, a wedding present for you,” he says as you re-don your cloak. 

“A compliment, a horse and a gift. Seems a very fortunate day for me. Why haven't you opened it yourself?” You ask, looking down in confusion at his arm extended to you.

“They are not addressed to me” he states, “And we may as well look the part” you link your arm in his and exit the stable. Appearances were crucial now, and any effort on his part at this point seemed miraculous.  “You’ve grown more accustomed to the cold, last I saw you wore three cloaks when you went outside,” 

“We run warm, I just needed some time to adapt,” You explain, though the heat radiating from your arm was welcome as days grew colder. 

“Blood of the dragon, I almost forgot,’ Robb states. 

“Was that a joke your Grace,” you ask looking at him. 

“Was that a compliment?”  he replies, mouth cautiously upturned. 

“I don't recall saying it was funny,” you remark dryly as he pulls the tent flaps open. Perhaps there was a reason his men followed him to death after all, now he was no longer blaming you for his anguish; he was, dare you say it, tolerable.  Your heart skips seeing Darrion inside, and you instinctively drop Robb's arm. 

“Ser Darrion, Ser Jorah,” you address “It does my eyes good to see you both alive and unharmed,” your eyes trail down to the chest before them. 

“Thank you Ser Mormont for delivering this to us, safely and for ensuring it is not tampered with,” Robb states, so Jorah had brought them back. 

“Who are they from?” you ask 

“An Iilyrio Mopatis, you stayed with him a while as a child after the maesters. I told him you were married and he said he had been saving it for the last true dragon,”

“Rheagar was the last true dragon,” you reply, “but I will not refuse a gift from someone who cared for me when the rest of the world would not. I will entrust you with a letter of thanks that is to be delivered to him, I will write it myself,”

“Yes, your Grace,” Jorah replies

“You may leave us,” Robb finishes throwing his gloves down on the desk. Your eyes involuntarily stuck on Ser Darrion as he bows, his own eyes trailing up your body causing a heat to flush throughout your inside. 

“Are you going to open it?” Robb mutters, removing his blood stained linens and rinsing himself with the water from the basin, warmed by the hearth burning beneath it.

“Have you always been so impatient or are you just used to getting what you want?” you prod playfully, looking over your shoulder quickly. 

“I have always been good at getting my own way,” he relays

“Privilege of being the eldest,” you replay, kneeling before the chest on the floor. 

“Topped only by the preference for the youngest,” he counteracts, watching your hands ghost over the box, hesitantly.

“It has been checked, both by Jorah and Darrion, though I can open it if you…” 

“I am fine your Grace, just admiring the craftsmanship, appears to be welded in Dothraki gold,” you click the latches open slowly pushing the wooden lid eyes widening as the contents are revealed. 

“What has he sent?” Robb asks, unable to hide his curiosity, noting the look on your face your hands reach in, pulling out an egg, the size of a man's head, a bright gold. 

“Dragon eggs,” you reply breathlessly, wonderment plastered on your features as your hands trace down the scales, warming them.  “Three of them.”

“All gold?” Robbs queries, watching  you intently as you carefully place the first down on the hearth. 

“No. It’s rare any within a brood are remotely alike,” You lift the other two together, one black and one green reuniting them with the gold on the hearth. 

“Dragon eggs have to be kept warm if you want them to hatch, they cannot survive in the cold and before you start I know they are decorative in a likelihood, but you have your gods and we have ours. To leave them in the cold would be disrespectful,” you explain looking up to meet Robbs own gaze of bewilderment at the mythology placed before him. 

He pulls a clean shirt on and sits down in his chair rolling up his sleeves before decanting wine into a glass, watching curiously as your hands gently stroke the scales of the matte coloured eggs illuminated by the embers.

“I realise now I know nothing about you, or your family or your beliefs. Well apart from what I assume are the most horrifying details and some of which I assume to be less than true,” 

“Whose fault is that?” you counter eyes still on the eggs, hands trailing across them. 

“Must you always be so difficult,”

“Me?” you begin, but when you turn towards an argument he's smiling at the wall, so you forgo it. It was the first time he had asked you a question about yourself, the first time either of you had to be fair.  “Well some of the atrocities are certainly elevated though many I fear to inform you are true. Tell me then, your highness, what it is you wish to know,”

“Is it your highness now? Is that better or worse than your grace,”

“I am only trying to uphold the standard of address you set for me when we first met,” 

“Tell me about the dragons. They were the only part of my lessons I could focus on from what I remember,”

“Oh I find it hard to believe you were anything but the perfect student. Would you like to hear the truths or the myths?” you ask and gently stroking the tops of the eggs, the scales lining the shell shine in the flames, and for a moment you swear you feel them beating.

“Are they different?”

“You have much to learn your Grace,” you replay standing, brushing off the ash from your skirts. 

“Then teach me, perhaps some of your ability to perceive strategy will rub off on me,” 

“As much as it pains me to say, you would survive without me, most of my conclusion are easily found once you know what you're looking at,” 

“Yet none seem to find them,” he replies 

“Was that another compliment? Two in one day, have I strayed into a dream?” you joke  

“Eye for an eye,” he replies, a playfulness playing off you both, previously unknown. 

“Very well, I concede, what would you like to hear about the dragon's your highness”, you ask, curtseying, causing Robb to shake his head. 

“Where did they come from?” he asks as you pour yourself a glass of wine. It was bitter compared to that you'd had in Dorne, but you were growing accustomed to it. 

“Depends on the source. Some say they were born from deep beneath the mountains. When Westeros and Essos parted and the earth cracked open, ash and fire rained down from the sky as dragons crawled out from the centre of the world. Others say they fell from the moon, a gift from the gods,” 

“Why was your family so favoured by the gods,”

“The gods simply placed the dragons on this earth, the Targaryens learnt to train them,”

“How did they manage that?” he continues. 

“My fore-bearers knew of their breeding grounds, before kings and kingdoms existed, before Targaryens and Starks and Lannisters and Baratheons. We lived alongside them in trust until a rule was broken. An egg stolen, dragons devastated bruning the land before them,”

“Creating the red waste,” Robb finishes, enraptured in your words glad for your immersion in tale lest you see his stare, one he could not seem to deter as the warmth of the light illuminated your features drawing him further in. 

“See, the perfect student,” he chuckles, “ Well the dragon went into hiding as the kingdom of men grew, and relationships strained. It became a tradition, a ritual, a rite of passage; it was the entrance into Targearyn lineage. Before the incest and the inbreeding a Targaryean was any who would be bold enough to survives the dragons nest and return with the eggs. Then it became a customary practice of marriage and engagement, and eventually even a gift for children, but populations dwindled. The dragons became few and populations inbred shrinking them making them vulnerable and weak in the mind, an easy correlation perhaps to my own family history,” you admit sadly, swilling your wine around in the glass. “You know, we once rode them to war,”

“I have heard that tale, They said your forefathers would ride to war a back them,”

“It is not merely a tale nor was it only the men. Women rode alongside their husbands; you'll find that in any book you read.”

“Will I,” he challenges 

“Are you calling me a liar,” you press 

“Perhaps I'll believe it if I ever see it, for now the hour grows late, so I must call a truce,” he states, weary from battle, your tales having entranced him into a state of relaxation he rarely felt. 

“I accept,” you reply, placing the glass down, going once more to the eggs to bid them goodnight. Your arm reaches down but they are caught before they make contact. You look up to Robb whose thumb runs gently over your wrist. “You’ll burn your hands beyond repair touching those now…” he drops your wrist, realising the intimacy of the moment “ without gloves at least,” words fail you, but he clears his throat. 

“There is another piece of business that demands a truce,” he admits and you look at him. “ We are stopping at the twins. My grandfather survived another year, he is to celebrate his name day at the Vale, and my mother demands our attendance. I agreed with her on the sole condition that more support is needed if we are to win. While you need not attend, I believe you would be an asset,” 

“Truly,” 

“Yes,” he confirms. 

 “If you believe I will be useful, then we shall attend,” 

“Be warned, since her husband's death my aunt has gone somewhat mad, try not to take offence,”

“Salt helps well with the blisters,” he says, nodding down to your hand “They stop forming once practise with the blade is consistent, they should heal up by the time you meet my grandfather, I do not know what kind of chastising I will get for allowing you near a weapon. Also, it may also be best if you address my by my name when around family,”

“Is your grace giving me permission to forgo his initial request?”

“Robb, is very much indeed asking that of you,” 

“Very well, if your grace demands it, who am I to refuse,” the haze of the wine had seeped into the surrounding air, the whole room slightly out of focus when you blew out the candle and pulled the furs over your shoulders. “Goodnight, Robb,” 

“Goodnight Rhaeanya,” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Vale

Light blue garments adorned your body, intricate silver clutching around your waistline flowing up into trees and woodland scenery and downwards into roots, starks colours for the night. 

“You look well,” Robb says, offering his arm as you meet him by the base of the stairs. 

“As do you,”  you reply, taking it, you had arrived a few hours ago from the front, Cat had arrived early in the morning.  The ride to Riverrun was silent for the most part, Robb having fallen asleep, saving you the need for unnecessary small talk, less chance of irritating the other. 

“The celebration is due to begin shortly but I will first introduce you to my aunt ,nephew and grandfather,”

“Lysa, Robyn and Hoster,” you list

“Very Good, my Uncles will likely be here as well, The blackfish and Edmure. The former is interesting and the other is relatively useless but harmless.”

“Lots of family, once again my job is much harder than yours. I only had one and that proved so difficult for you to remember you killed him,” you state, relieved by Robb’s huff of amusement.

“Best behaviour, just for Lysa and my grandfather, the rest well they are easier to converse with,” your feet almost trip over one another when you enter the large room, taken aback by the woman sitting high atop a throne nursing what appeared to be an eight year old boy. 

“Lady Arryn,” you curtsey  “I wish to thank you for your hospitality, your home is truly a work of fine craftsmanship, and its upkeep impeccable,”

“The last time I saw a Targaryen here was when I was a few years younger than you, I believed you all dead,” she states, a carelessness that implied neither malice or hatred, neutrality was better than you had expected. 

“We are sturdy folk, hard to be rid of my lady, and my lord. Your son looks well, may I ask his name”

“Robyn,” she replies, the boy looked sickly with large eyes and runny nose perched atop a somewhat frail frame. 

“Robyn Arryn, a gentle name, but a strong one as well. One of good fortune and friendship, it is a name as high as honour one that carries the Tully spirit with the Arryn name,” she smirks. 

“And your name,” she asks

“Rhaeanya, my lady,” 

“Flowing with grace in the common tongue, we shall see if that holds true,” she replies, sushing Robyn who had begun pulling at her hair. 

“I hope it does, my Lady“

“And what of you my beloved nephew come forward you need not stand in her shadow of all places. The king in the north , avenging your father and your uncle against the evils birthed of lannister incest.”

“Thank you aunt, your husband gave his life for my family, that will not be forgotten, but I must see the guest of honour before the festivities begin,”

“He is with your mother, and Edmure no doubt gossiping without me,” 

“It was lovely to meet you lady arryn and you as well lord robyn,” you smile at the boy whose brown eyes stare at you as if you were an apparition. Though your features were likely obscure in the north especially to a boy who hardly left the tower walls. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Please my lord do not rise on my behalf,” you begin

“Fear not you grace, I am old but I am not dead yet,” 

“You have her likeness, your mothers,” he says sitting down at the dresser, and your heart drops 

“I am glad to encounter one who knew her, though I warn you I may bore you with many questions now we are acquainted,”

“Tales I am happy to share, none find my words interesting these days, not since they were children, and I am always happy to share the past especially with one so full of beauty,”

“I see Robbs charm is not merely a product of the Stark lineage,”

“The Tullys were always less serious my dear,” 

“Where on earth would you get the idea Robb was serious?” you joke opening the door allowing his dressers to enter. 

“Speaking of serious,” Robb interjects, “There are matters I hope to discuss,not tonight grandfather not on your name day but there are things that need seeing to before we depart,”

“Of course, my boy, tomorrow we will discuss before you leave but tonight we celebrate. Rhaeanya, a pleasure to meet you, and what a joyous thing for you to be apart of our family,” 

“It is my greatest joy to have found family here, I thought it lost to me forever,”

“Well you shall have children soon enough, I hope to meet them,” your chest tightens, your throat closing as you swallow your panic, fear of being caught for the fraud you were. Unable to complete what was needed to ensure a war won. 

“Well my aunt only slightly insulted you, and my grandfather seems to want you for a son, so  all in all its going quite well,”

“Had you not prepared me for the breastfeeding that would have thrown me, how old is the boy?”

“Must be nearing 8, and for once you are speechless. I suppose we should make our way down to the festivities am I still presentable,”

“Are you asking if you appear kingly,” 

“Yes,” he replied, his earnestness catching you off guard, you refute the joke sitting behind your teeth and take a step back. You move forward, hands reaching up, his gaze following you as you shift the crown on his head just to the left. 

“It's never quite fit right,” he mutters,

“It fits, and more importantly it suits you, shall we,” you ask. There is a steadiness to him as you enter the hall, despite the eyes and the whispers, the paranoia you felt entering a room was absent in him. You wonder if he felt through your facade. You watch intently as he pulls out your chair waiting for you to sit before taking his place next to you taking up conversation with his grandfather. 

“And you must be the new bride,” a rough voice speaks out. 

“Perhaps the old bride now, but yes, no longer a Targaryen by name,”

“But in appearance, the lineage is unmistakable”

“You must must the Blackfish,”

“Aye your Grace, I see my reputation precedes me, I hope you don’t think too ill of me,”

“Well, hard to pass judgement while rebelling against a kingdom that deemed my entire family an outcast. Perhaps we are more alike than you think,” 

“And how does Westeros compare to Essos,”

“Essos is warmer, the wine is sweeter and it smells less of piss and more of flowers,” you relay, causing the Blackfish to cough into his drink caught off guard. “Apologies my lord, but I assumed you of all people would forgive such low language. Now tell me for I must know, what was he like as a child, I imagine he came out stern faced and serious, shouldering the weight of the world before he knew it,”

“In ways he was, but unlike now it was attributed to an almost unbelievable shyness,”

“Shyness,” you respond, shocked at the revelation. 

“I believe so, but duty always prevailed and he always did what he needed to,”

“Well that what not nearly as fun as I had hoped, nor did it provide me with any such ammunition for teasing,”

“He use to be funny, though now I fear joy may be lost on him, make sure he finds some,” 

“I will try, though I do admit I may not be the best candidates,”

“Well you made me laugh, and that's a victory in itself these days,” he nods his head back and you turn your attention to where your name had just been called

“Rhaeanya, when may I expect a great grandchild, I will be first in my family to see such a sight,” Hoster states loudly, Robb seemingly gone white

“Soon, we hope, I pray everyday” you say, taking Robbs hand in yours. 

“Unfortunately the situation with the Targaryen lineage,” Lysa chimes in from further down the table, “they are mad and rumours say their offspring have been born deformed and scaly, monsters. You should have found better breeding stock for your eldest son, such a fine young man surely others would have been willing,” Lysa shouts loudly, words clear over the crowds clamour, you feel Robbs hand tense as your eyes glaze over. 

“Lysa,” Catlynn warns, but she doesn't let up, and you feel your demeanour shift, cowering inwards at the fear of being found out. An uncharacteristic meekness that caught the attention of another. 

“Your highness,” Ser Darrion interrupts, you release Robbs hand and tune back into the crowd  “may I request a dance with your wife,” 

“It is her decision, though I encourage it. Conversation here has grown tiresome, she has my permission if she wishes to leave,” you feel his eyes on you

“Thank you Ser Darrion. I would be glad to leave the scene,” you state standing from the table and making your way to the floor. 

“Her stock is higher than any I am aware of, she's the only with a true claim to the iron throne, and in addition to that she is invaluable in the war room. She does the work the Lannisters entire counsel cannot. As for scaly children, perhaps you have fallen victim to propaganda dear aunt, ” Robb defends. “A war your father supported,” Lysa fires back

“A war that saw her entire family slaughtered, and would have seen her dead had my father not intervened,”

“Enough, no more of this on my name day, celebrate, the night is young and I am old, I do not wish to spend my last days listening to family squabbles,” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Apologies for interrupting your conversation,” ser Darrion whispers.  

“Is that what it was, felt more of personal attack from a woman who still breastfeeds her son,” you mutter

“I have missed you,” 

“And what about me is it that you have missed,”

“Every aspect, you face,  your voice, your laugh, your stories,”

“Enough of my stories, I need a few of yours,”

“Anything you request,”

“You have known Robb since childhood”

“I have,” 

“Was he always so… well… him,” you chuckle 

“Yes, but infinitely more reserved. He never danced, hardly laughed, was always shy, and very serious. Keep to himself, drove most of the girls to him of course, man of mystery and all,”

“Is that jealousy I sense in your voice,” you joke 

“I’d like to say I’ve gotten over it,” 

“Oh i'm sure you did just fine,”

“Well I was able to make them laugh, does he make you laugh” the lightness of the conversation shifted. 

“He is my husband,” you reply, hoping to avoid broaching an intimate topic so publicly. 

“If I was your husband I would ensure your happiness,” he whispers  “My hands would never leave you, there would not be a day that went by without my love for you being expressed,” 

“Ser Darrion,” you whisper

“Rhea,” he replies seriously, 

“You forget yourself,” you mutter sternly,  eyes boring into his, resisting every urge in your body. You stare over the shoulder to see Robb staring directly at you grey gaze amber under the light as the music ends

“Thank you Ser Darrion, but you should be on your way,” you reply, and he kisses your hand.

“If you ever wish to leave this behind you need only ask,” he states, and your stomach drops, heart racing.  Your eyes watch as he leaves the floor, ignoring the women walking towards him. 

Your heart flutters, beating up into your ears. Against better judgement you lift your skirt and follow him, but by the time you reach the outer room he’s gone. You walk off into a hallway looking around when you turn to go back you see Robb. Concerned at the look in your eyes during Lysas trade, seeking you out as another olive branch, only to see you following another. He had not been concerned with the dance, not until he saw you rushing out after Darrion.

“What do you think your doing?” he asks

“I… I was… what was I doing with what?” you stutter. 

“Don’t act stupid, we both know you are not,” he relays, and you shift into defensive mode. 

“So you get to go gallivanting around into every whorehouse in Westeros, but I am not allowed to walk in the same direction as a man?”

“I will not have an uncertain heir, I cannot, do you understand,” he states firmly

“Are you jealous,” you ask, echoing back words he had once shouted at you. 

“Of what? I seem to remember getting an earful about making you out to be a fool. You dancing closely, so closely with your guard makes me look foolish. Do you understand that? They will not follow a man they do not respect. If you cannot see that then perhaps I overestimated your intelligence,” he scolds. 

“Do not mock me,” you reply evenly, feeling smaller than you expected

“You do it so easily for yourself in your hypocrisy,” he digs further into you.

“You are being unnecessarily cruel,” you snap. 

“Perhaps you bring it out in me,” he states

“Apologies, your highness have I awoken the dragon,” you shoot back.

“Do not compare to that man,” he states, anger now evident in his features. 

“Then stop acting like him,” you state clearly

“Perhaps if you were not such a spoiled brat…”

“Me?” you laugh, “ I am not the one currently in the throes of a tantrum. You have had everything handed to you since the day you were born, the perfect prince, beloved by his kingdom, adored by all. Well perhaps not so perfect considering your failures of late,” there it was. The dagger behind your teeth sharpened to a point, always ready to strike, always to kill, never willing to only wound. 

“I am well aware of my failures, I know my fathers death , and my sisters' continued torture falls into my hands. So yes I am a failure to them. I need not have a stranger remind me of this,” You feel the truth in his words and guilt washes over you. 

“Tonight by all accounts has been a success. So we will go back inside, we will dance, we will drink, we will stay a night then we shall return to a war I'm failing to win. Join me once you have composed yourself,”

“Robb,” you call and he turns around

“Save it, I do not care to hear anymore from you tonight besides what is owed to my family.”

[supremebirdbracket]

General Vulture Fun Facts

Just to share some more love!

Vultures in general

Vultures are critically important to keeping an ecosystem healthy by cleaning up carcasses and preventing the spread of disease. They have incredibly acidic stomachs with a pH of about 1, causing them to be able to digest diseases including rabies and anthrax. Through eating carrion, they destroy harmful bacteria found in rotting meat.

Vultures are a major conservation concern. Of the 23 species of vultures, 9 are critically endangered, 2 are endangered, 2 are vulnerable, 3 are near threatened, and 7 are least concern.

Most vultures have featherless necks and heads. This is partially to help them stay clean when they feed by reaching their heads into carcasses; with bald heads, they can more efficiently clean their heads and the sun can bake off detritus more easily. This adaptation also helps them regulate their temperatures.

Old World and New World vultures are only superficially similar in filling similar ecological niches. I'll go into more depth below!

Old World Vultures

Old World vultures are members of the order Accipitiformes and family Accipitridae, which includes hawks and eagles. Many of these vultures are no more closely related to one another than they are to other members of Accipitridae.

They can be generally divided into two major clades, Aegypiinae (cinereous, red-headed, lappet-faced, white-headed, hooded, and all Gyps vultures) and Gypaetinae (bearded, palm-nut, and Egyptian vultures).

While some New World vulture species forage using their sense of smell, Old World vultures have poor senses of smell and find food exclusively via sight.

Many Gyps vultures are known as griffon vultures in at least one of their common names (G. fulvus, Eurasian griffon vulture; G. coprotheres, cape griffon; G. rueppelli, Rüppell's griffon vulture; G. himalayensis, Himalayan griffon vulture).

Most Old World vulture species are of conservation concern. The most dramatic declines are in Asia due to accidental poisoning by diclofenac, a problem known as the Indian Vulture Crisis. It is caused by cattle being treated with the drug diclofenac; when these cattle die they are consumed by vultures, but diclofenac causes fatal kidney failure in vultures. This crisis largely affects Gyps and red-headed vultures and has caused a 99% decrease in Indian vulture populations since about 1990. Major declines in Africa are caused by poaching and intentional poisoning.

In ancient Egypt, vultures were associated with purity and motherhood as well as the cycle of death and rebirth.

New World Vultures

New World vultures are placed in the family Cathartidae, but nobody can agree where to put Cathartidae. It was originally in the order Falconiformes. It was then moved to the order Ciconiiformes (storks and herons) due to erroneous studies but later removed. New World vultures are now considered to be most closely related to Accipitriformes raptors, and Cathartidae may now be placed in Accipitriformes with the Old World vultures, or in its own closely-related order Cathartiformes.

These vultures can be generally grouped into two clades, one consisting of the black vulture and the Cathartes vultures, and the other including the king vulture and both species of condor.

New World vultures do not posses a syrinx (bird voice box), and so can only hiss and grunt as vocalizations.

Cathartes vultures, meaning the turkey vulture and both yellow-headed vultures, are some of the few birds to have a good sense of smell. This sense makes them the most efficient birds at finding carrion.

Black and king vultures as well as condors will follow Cathartes vultures to carcasses, where they generally tend to dominate. Condors and king vultures are larger than Cathartes vultures, while black vultures are more aggressive. However, these larger vultures are needed to tear open tough carcasses. Therefore, large vultures and Cathartes vultures rely on one another to effectively access food.

New World vultures do not build nests but rather lay their eggs directly on bare surfaces such as cliff ledges.

They cool off via urohidrosis, or urinating on their legs. They cool off as the waste evaporates, similar to how humans cool off as sweat evaporates. This process also kills bacteria accumulated on the legs at carcasses.

King and black vultures are often found depicted in Mayan codices. The king vulture is considered a divine messenger and used to depict the thirteenth day of the month, while the black vulture is associated with death and aggression.

New World vultures may vomit when threatened in order to distract the threat and to lighten themselves enough to take off quickly.

[pleistocene-pride]

Phoenicopterus roseus better known as the greater flamingo, is a flamingo species native throughout much of Africa, Southern Europe, the middle east, the Indian Subcontinent, and various Mediterranean islands. Here they inhabit mudflats, rivers, deltas, lakes, and shallow coastal lagoons. Using its feet, the bird stirs up the mud, then sucks water through its bill and filters out various invertebrates, plankton, seeds, and algae on which it feeds. Aside from the occasional human, crocodile, big cat, baboon, or hyena, adult greater flamingos have few natural predators, however eggs and chicks are frequently taken by raptors, crows, marabou storks, and in particular yellow-legged gulls. Reaching some 3.6 to 6.2ft (110 to 187cms) in height and 4.4 to 9.9lbs (2 to 4.5kgs) the greater flamingo is the largest living species of flamingo. Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The chicks are covered in gray fluffy down, whilst subadults are lighter in coloration with dark legs. This is because the flamingos coloration comes from the carotenoid pigments in the organisms they eat. A social species the greater flamingo lives in large flocks, and breeding in large colonies. They are a monogamous species which perform synchronized 'dances' which involve neck stretching, preening and wing movements. Together, the two partners will build a mound of mud with a single egg. It's incubated there for 27 to 31 days by both the mother and father, and is fed by regurgitated 'crop milk' for the first 3 to 4 weeks of its life. After this, it will begin filter feeding and, at 10 weeks old, the chicks fledge, but they will live in a creche that's looked over by a non-breeding adult for another month thereafter. Under ideal conditions a greater flamingo will reach sexual maturity at around 2 years old and may live upwards of 80.

[magnetothemagnificent]

My birding week vacation is over, so here are all the bird species I saw:

1. Little blue heron

2. Sharp-shinned hawk

3. Black vulture

4. Great egret

5. Sandhill crane

6. Mourning dove

7. Common loon (there were two of them just hanging out at a lake. We couldn't believe it but they were unmistakable)

8. Cattle egret

9. Great blue heron

10. Anhinga

11. Double-crested cormorant

12. Red-winged Blackbird

13. Limpkin

14. Wood stork

15. White ibis

16. Muskovy duck

17. Boat-tailed grackle

18. American crow

19. American coot

20. Common gallinule

21. Common grackle

22. Glossy ibis

23. Palm warbler

24. Osprey

25. American purple gallinule

26. Wood duck

27. Red-shouldered hawk

28. Pied-billed grebe

29. Royal tern

30. Eastern Phoebe

31. Roseate spoonbill (last year it eluded me, but this year I saw two at two separate locations!)

31. Black-bellied whistling duck

32. Tricolor heron

33. Northern harrier

34. Yellow-rumped warbler

35. Tree swallow

36. Swallow-tailed kite

37. Ring-billed gull

38. Turkey vulture

39. Mallard

40. White pelican (there were two just hanging out at an artificial lake in the middle of a residential area)

41. Red eyed vireo

42. Mulard

43. American pekin

44. Mallard/Pekin hybrid

45. Downy woodpecker

46. Grey catbird

47. Blue-grey gnatcatcher

48. Fish crow

49. Northern parula

50. Snowy egret

51. Chimney swift

52. Common yellowthroat

53. Bald eagle

54. Red-bellied woodpecker

55. Blue winged teal (we only saw these guys because we had to walk an extra 1.5 miles to take the long way back to the car because an alligator decided to block our short way back)

56. Great-crested flycatcher

57. Louisiana waterthrush

58. Laughing gull

59. Northern mockingbird

60. Mottled duck

61. Loggerhead shrike

62. White eyed vireo

63. Tufted titmouse

64. Northern cardinal

65. Black and white warbler

66. Ring-necked duck (I saw this lone duck from the car as we were driving past an artificial lake. From it's silhouette I could see it looked different from the other ducks common in the area, so we stopped the car literally on the side of the road so I could run out with my binoculars, and sure enough it was a new species to add to the list. And then when we came back a few days later, it was still there swimming around and diving, so I guess it lived around there.)

67. Carolina chickadee

68. Swamp sparrow

69. Ruby-crowned kinglet

70. Pileated woodpecker

71. Belted kingfisher (we visited the same place three times because my Grandpa saw kingfishers there a few times. It wasn't until the third and final time, while we were ready to give up and leave, that we saw it, perched on a sign post over the water)

72. House sparrow

73. Cooper's hawk

74. Carolina wren

75. White-throated sparrow

[outofangband]

Birds of Dorthonion

Flora, fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

Dorthonion was a region north of greater Beleriand. It was a cool region covered in steep slopes, conifer forests and Heath covered highlands. The mountain range Ered Gorgoroth bordered it on the south and above it was the fields of Ard Galen. It was inhabited by the Arafinw��an host following Aegnor and Angrod and later, the human host following Bëor. Nomadic and semi nomadic groups of the northern Sindar and Avari also possibly lived there

As always I included world building notes at the end so it’s not just a list of species

In the conifer forests: black grouse, willow tit, goldcrest, mistle thrush, pine grossbeak, common tree creeper, common redstart, black woodpecker, chiffchaff, coal tit, common raven, crested tit, wood grouse, goshawk, spruce grouse, black throated thrush, pine bunting, boreal owl

The highlands and around Tarn Aeulin: graylag goose, common nightjar, common kestrel, snow crane, hen harrier, tundra swan, horned grebe, common crane, blue duck, water rail, black francolin, northern pintail, velvet scooter, great bittern, pallid harrier, rough legged hawk, little egret, wood lark, corn crane, black necked grebe (migratory), garganey, Merlin

The cliffs and slopes: see see partridge, rock dove, great bustard, long legged buzzard, common quail, black headed bunting, booted eagle, chukard, barred warbler, northern wren, little owl, white throated dipper (near Rivil’s well), black winged kite, steppe eagle, roller

The mountain border: bearded vulture, red fronted serin, black stork, snowcock, horned lark, rock bunting, wallcreeper, blue rock thrush, red kite, peregrine falcon, golden eagle (rare), white wagtail

World building notes:

-The vague images of pine grossbeaks were embroidered on the blankets of Bëorian children using a diluted version of the dyes created from blood madder and coal. The name in Bëorian Taliska translates to pine song bird.

-The Arafinwëan host of Dorthonion as well as some of the Avarin groups hunt with birds of prey which are also used by some of the scouts. Kestrels and Harriers are the most commonly used species. The practice is less common than among the Noldor of Eastern Beleriand however.

-Feathers (usually of peregrine falcons or common kestrels) were also used as a method of communication among Arafinwëan scouts during the times of year where weather would allow for this, left in strategic locations, lodged into the earth or tucked into trees to indicate presence or dangers.

-Eggs of various ground species were eaten by the Bëorian population and there was a practice of burying the eggshells. This was learned from the elves of Ossiriand prior to their settling in Dorthonion.

-Birds eggs appear in Northern Sindar art, in or separate from nests. Though the eggs of certain species have different meanings, they are commonly associated more generally with fragility and defense. Their images may be created through pigments made from certain actual eggshells as well as minerals and plant based dyes. One common motif involves a nest of eggs upon a steep slope or cliff.

-Birds appear throughout Bëorian songs and poems. Most commonly mentioned are the general name for the “fisher birds” (wading and diving birds) seen on and around Tarn Aeulin, as well as several of the smaller songbirds found in the pine forests such as pine grosbeak, tree creepers, and thrushes. After the Bragollach the names for some species became lost or translated differently.

-Also it’s been a headcanon of mine for awhile that Baragund would take Morwen when she was a young child out to the cliffs to watch the birds. He would teach her to identify them by their call. She remembers a lot of them, even as an adult though they are called different names and their habits are often unfamiliar.

[witchstone]

okay, birds seen at home in june round up! comes to a total of 62 species, which is oddly high for the middle of winter. the highlight was the green twinspot, which i’d only got my first ever sighting of two weeks earlier. presumably it had only found its way to our garden because of the heavy rains and flash floods (and the tornado what the fuck) a few days prior - they’re forest birds, whereas our area is more broad-leaf woodland.

full list and photos under the cut!

bar-throated apalis, black-collared + crested + white-eared barbet, cape batis, dark-capped bulbul, green-backed camaroptera*, yellow-fronted canary, fork-tailed drongo, crowned eagle*, southern black flycatcher, african dusky flycatcher, african paradise flycatcher (odd for this time of year), egyptian goose, gymnogene, southern hadeda, purple-crested loerie. speckled mousebird, black-headed oriole, rose-ringed parakeet*, black-backed puffback, red-capped robin-chat, cape glossy + black-bellied + red-winged starling, collared + greater double-collared + olive + amethyst + white-bellied sunbird, olive + kurrichane thrush, golden-rumped tinkerbarbet, southern black tit, spectacled + village weaver, cape white-eye, cardinal + golden-tailed woodpecker, red-eyed + tambourine* dove, brown-hooded kingfisher, red-backed + bronze mannikin, klaas’s cuckoo*, lesser honeyguide, grey-headed bushshrike*, familiar chat, southern grey-headed sparrow, woolly-necked stork, sombre greenbul*, green woodhoopoe, cape wagtail, southern boubou, black sparrowhawk, african palm swift, green twinspot, black cuckooshrike?, black-headed heron, little sparrowhawk?, pied crow, african goshawk

* = call heard, no visuals, ? = i’m reasonably sure it was that, but not 100%

dark-capped bulbul, taken at a nature reserve up the hill

eurytela dryope

not sure yet. maybe a mocker swallowtail judging by the body?

olive sunbird my beloved

the green twinspot!! absolutely not a great photo, but i was surprised to get a pic at all tbh. either a female or juvenile

bosduival’s tree nymph

souther hadeda. chicken sized rats and the worst dawn chorus you’ve ever heard

golden-tailed woodpecker

gold-spotted sylph. have never seen one before in my life, but it was hanging around the laundry

southern black tit!

[feliniakattus]

Character Card: Vulture

shes sooo crazy ... love her <3

Name: Thunder

Role: Senator/Acting Consul of the Coalition

Family: Marrah, Crane, Thunder (cubs), Ibis (partner),

Description: A light grey molly with yellow eyes. She has long fur with four braids in his tail. Her points are striped with darker grey. She has a blaze of white down to her nose. She wears a belt embroidered with fangs and has two stork feathers and two bags attached. A knife is looped into her belt, and she wears a Breezeblown tail around her neck.

Age: 13 cycles, or 65 human years at death

Orientation/Gender: Heterosexual, cis female (she/her)

Personality: Devoted, Withdrawn, Ambitious

[officialweezerelections]

BRACKET D

Shoebill Stork (Balaeniceps rex)

They’re tall, clack their beaks, stare at you like that, look like muppets, don’t take care of their weaker young, one submitter was apparently bitten by one and I don’t like thinking about how much that might hurt. They’re also very fancy, bowing to other birds and humans to show their respect! Make sure you bow back.

VERSUS

Capuchinbird (Perissocephalus tricolor)

One nomination says, “Are. Are you kidding me. It looks like someone took a perfectly good bird, removed the neck entirely, and attached an alien head onto its shoulders. The dark vacant eyes do not help. And if you think this is all, you're wrong. The sound it makes is....like an old computer attempting and failing to run.”

No bitches?

VERSUS

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

They’ll eat anything that moves, and that means ANYTHING. They look pretty fucking scary when they yawn. They are the longest bird native to North America. As adults they have no natural predators. You cannot stop the American White Pelican.

Also I saw at LEAST seventy of them when I went to see Evil Dead Rise with my sister who lives a couple cities over. (-🦢)

[thenixkat]

I have no idea if I'll still have the urge Friday or the weekend to do it but I've had vampires on the mind recently. SOme designs I've thought up/what I've been thinking about

Vampires covered with fur and being boneless (at least 2-3 folkloric 'vampires' bouncing around in my head)

I should work more on Zan von Drake's revamped stuff and his vampirism. Like, he's a living vampire/dhampir of course and I know I'm know I'm keeping him covered with fur and with fewer bones than it would look like he has. Brain has been going back and forth about the animal theming tho. Do I want moth? stork? bat?

Brain thinking about that cat vampire lady from one of the African American ghost tales/folklore thing I read awhile back. And also a lot of AA ghosts, witches, etc can turn into cats or dogs.

Thinking about a red owl vampire lady. Long feathered neck, taloned feet, tits, you know how it goes

Also thought about a transparent boneless vampire

ALso thought about having Tamaki Amajiki briefly turn into a vampire for a fic idea bouncing around in my skull. The design for vampire!Tamaki that coalesced today involved a mixture of bitterly, moth, squid, and fox. A butterfly proboscis-like tongue to drink lifeforce, a skinless/bloody bones canine-like muzzle protruding from an otherwise human face where the nose and mouth would be, an insect-like arrangement/jointing to the arms with an additional smaller pair of arms to cover his eyes/face, wings that are white on the outside and stain glass blue and purple on the inside that drapes around the body like a cloak and hood, a mass of tentacles emerging from the lower back and wrapping around the legs under the wing cloak that reach out and crush the shit out of the victim's bones.

[brown-little-robin]

I’m really curious about Stark and Hobb :0

(question from this game, character from this list! Here is the premise of Clown World for anyone who doesn’t know about it!)

Thanks for asking! :D Stark and Hobb are interesting characters; they're both unusually successful for clowns of their types, and both are uncomfortable with that fact.

Stark used to be a medical clown! To be clear, this was actually Stark doing this; Clowns and human-clowns are both welcome in most major hospitals. Stark (then known as Storks) would go to hospitals, peek in at various rooms, and cheer up the patients that seemed receptive to him. To be a medical clown, you have to be very good at figuring out who's okay with you and how to make people lose their fear and discomfort around you. He wore white greasepaint makeup with blue and green accents. This is fairly standard for clowns, but somewhat unusual for medical clowns, who usually wear only accent makeup rather than doing the whole circus-clown thing of the white greasepaint base layer that covers the whole face and neck. Storks wishes his parent had picked less makeup, honestly; he thinks it's harder to connect with kids because he has no human skin showing, but he likes the blue and green. Anyway, Stark made kids in hospital beds smile at origami tricks, okay? That's the kind of person he was.

And then he got bitten by a scary clown, and he became a scary clown himself. He was already comically tall; now he's frighteningly tall. He wears a medical mask (oh, the irony) to hide his sharp teeth. He works as a security guard for a firm that specializes in hiring scary clowns who can pass a background check, who usually have no (good) job prospects and are, by necessity, incredibly loyal to the firm. Stark is a good security officer, he keeps people safe, he learned all the rules and follows them—and he hates his job. Especially his newest client, who he's pretty sure is doing technically-legal but morally-repugnant stuff with clowns. And, for that matter, humans.

Stark just wants to go back to his old life.

Hobb is a tramp clown. He's near the bottom of the rung of clown types, but he has a pretty good life for a permanently-scruffy, sad-lookin' middle-aged guy who physically can't take off the clown makeup. Hobb is the volunteering coordinator and mentor leader at the Clown Shelter of Des Moines—he helps new clowns get on their feet, teaches them what professions they could probably get into and how, and so on. He's always keeping a sharp eye on the legal landscape for clowns, watching the legislation about inheritances and certifications and so on. He's a decent guy, but sometimes he lets his analytical head overrule his morality. He can be cruel, sometimes, and he knows it and deals with it. It's just so easy to see people as clients rather than as people with feelings and whatever.

He's working on it, bless his heart.

Hobb's favorite drink is vanilla latte, and he's a morning person, but in a slow enjoyment kind of way, not a Get Up And Get Going way. <3

[echoes-of-kemet]

Do yu know what other animals were in ancient egypt? I want my oc to have a unique animal and you seem to know a fair amount

I am a well of ridiculous, hyperspecific, only interesting to some trivia lmao.

I would encourage you not to limit yourself to an entirely unique beast- many deities share sacred animals and are still strong individuals. My mind immediately goes to the huge number of feline deities- lions and lionesses in particular- for an example. Additionally, it's nigh impossible for me (with no academic anthropology/egyptology/historic zoology knowledge) to say for certain that particular animals were present in Kemet when they have no documented deities, mummies, or written mentions. I've had to guess for some, deduce by their present day habitats and more or less "timeline" of their species.

It's also important to keep in mind Kemet had contact with other civilizations in other habitats, meaning they were aware of animals not necessarily native to the area. A perfect example is the Hamadryas baboon- they were Nubian animals, but were sacred to both Thoth and Babi, depicted in art, and many mummies of the species have been recovered. A more surprising example is the Syrian brown bear, which was a rare exotic spectacle for the royal elite. There's also the trouble of many species now being extant from the area, meaning they were there but the local population is now extinct- the African sacred ibis is the example my mind comes to first, the waterfowl no longer present along the Nile.

Coincidentally, I've been compiling a list of animals for my own reference to supply a beast or two for the deities that don't have one in tradition. 

Birds

Abdim's Stork

African Darter

African Dwarf Kingfisher

African Grass Owl

African Open-billed Stork

African Pied Wagtail

African Sacred Ibis

Asian Green Bee-Eater

Barbary Falcon

Barbary Partridge

Barn Owl

Barn Swallow

Bearded Vulture

Bennu Heron (likely not an actual animal, the Bennu bird inspired by the Goliath Heron- but felt like including it anyhow)

Black Kite

Black Stork

Black-throated Loon

Black-winged Kite

Brown-necked Raven

Carrion Crow

Cattle Egret

Chukar Partridge

Common Buzzard

Common Cormorant

Common Crane

Common Greenshank

Common House Martin

Common Kestrel

Common Kingfisher

Common Pochard

Common Quail

Common Raven

Common Redshank

Common Redstart

Common Sandpiper

Common Spoonbill

Common Teal

Crab Plover

Crested Plover

Dalmatian Pelican

Demoiselle Crane

Eagle (I'm sure there were some, but I can't find any definitive evidence of species in the ancient Kemetic culture- I would take a guess that the Golden Eage was an infrequent visitor)

Egyptian Plover

Egyptian Vulture

European Roller (considered a pest)

European Turtle-dove

Eurasian Coot

Eurasian Crag Martin

Eurasian Teal

Eurasian Wigeon

Fan-tailed Raven

Ferruginous Duck

Gadwall

Garganey

Glossy Ibis

Golden Oriole

Goliath Heron

Great Bittern

Great Bustard

Great Cormorant

Great Egret

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Great White Pelican

Greater Flamingo (possibly not native)

Green Sandpiper

Grey Heron

Griffon Vulture

Helmeted Guineafowl (not native)

Hermit Ibis

Hobby Falcon

Honey Buzzard

Hooded Crow

Hoopoe

Houbara Bustard

House Crow

House Sparrow (pest, hieroglyph had negative connotation)

Kittliz's Plover

Lanner Falcon

Lappet-faced Vulture

Laughing Dove

Lesser Kestrel

Lesser Pied Kingfisher

Little Bittern

Little Bustard

Little Egret

Little Owl

Long-eared Owl

Long-legged Buzzard

Mallard

Marabou Stork

Marsh Sandpiper

Masked Shrike

Merlin

Mourning Wheatear

Northern Lapwing

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Ostrich

Pale Crag Martin

Peregrine Falcon

Pied Avocet

Pink-backed Pelican

Purple Gallinule

Purple Heron

Red Kite

Red-backed Shrike

Red-footed Falcon

Red-rumped Wheatear

Reed Cormorant

Ring-necked Dove

Rock Dove

Rook

Ruddy Shelduck

Saddle-bill Stork

Saker Falcon

Sandhill Crane

Sand Martin

Sand Partridge

Short-eared Owl

Spotted Redshank

Sooty Falcon

Squacco Heron

Striated Heron

Swan (not native)

Tawny Owl

Tufted Duck

Western Reef Heron

White-backed Night Heron

White-crowned Wheatear

White Stork

White Wagtail

Wood Sandpiper

Yellow-billed Stork

Mammals

Aardvark (possibly not native)

Aardwolf

Addax Antelope

African Clawless Otter

African Giant Shrew

African Green Monkey (not native)

African Grass Rat

African Leopard

African Striped Weasel

Arabian Oryx

Barbary Deer (not native)

Barbary Lion (now extinct)

Barbary Macaque (not native)

Black Rat

Common Patas Monkey (not native)

Black Rhinoceros

Blanford's Fox

Black Wildebeest

Bubal Hartebeest (now extinct)

Cairo Spiny Mouse

Cape Hare

Caracal

Cheetah

Common Beisa Oryx

Common Genet

Desert Hedgehog

Desert Long-eared Bat

Dorcas Gazelle

Desert Black Cobra

Egyptian Fruit Bat

Egyptian Jackal/African Wolf (originally misidentified, now the African Wolf)

Egyptian Mongoose

Egyptian Pipistrelle

Egyptian Red Fox

Egyptian Slit-faced Bat

Egyptian Tomb Bat

Egyptian Weasel

Egyptian Wild Ass 

Fennec Fox

Flower's Shrew

Four-toed Jerboa

Geoffroy's Horseshoe Bat

Gerenuk

Giraffe

Golden Spiny Mouse

Greater Egyptian Jerboa

Greater Mouse-tailed Bat

Greater Red Musk Shrew

Hamadryas Baboon (not native)

Hippopotamus

Honey Badger

House Mouse

Lesser Egyptian Jerboa

Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat

Long-eared Hedgehog

Long-nosed Shrew

North African/Bush Elephant (vilified and driven out by prehistoric Egyptians)

North African Crested Porcupine (not native)

Nubian Ibex (not native)

Olive Baboon (likely not native, sometimes called the Anubis Baboon)

Persian Fallow Deer (not native)

Rhim Gazelle

Rüppell's Fox

Sand Rat

Serval (likely not native, but Ra was depicted as one)

Scimitar Oryx

Soemmerring's Gazelle

Somali Dwarf Shrew

Spotted Hyena

Spotted-necked Otter

Striped Hyena

Syrian Brown Bear (not native)

Wild Boar

White Rhinoceros

Yellow Baboon (not native, species' epithet means 'dog-head' in Greek)

Vervet Monkey

Reptiles

African Chameleon

African Rock Python

Arabian Horned Viper

Desert Horned Viper

Desert Monitor Lizard

Egyptian Cobra

Egyptian Gecko

Egyptian Sand Boa

Egyptian Sand Racer

Egyptian Tortoise

Javelin Sand Boa

Insects/Arachnids/Etc.

Nile Crocodile

Nile Soft-shelled Turtle

Red Spitting Cobra

Saharan Sand Viper

Amphibians

African Common Toad

European Green Toad

Marsh Frog

Mascarene Grass Frog

Nile Delta Toad

Nile Valley Toad

Camel Spider

Banded Garden Spider

Brown Widow Spider

Carpenter Ant

Centipede

Click Beetle

Common Housefly (NOT considered a pest, actually revered as a protector)

Danaid Eggfly

Desert Ant

Desert Locust

Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

Dorippus Tiger Butterfly

Dragonfly

Flea

Fire Ant

Jewel Beetle

Gaudy Commodore Butterfly

Half-edged Wall Jumping Spider

Large Salmon Arab Butterfly

Maggot/Carrion Fly

Migratory Locust

Messor Ant

Millipede

Red-breasted Goose

Mosquito (pest)

Moths in the Saturniidae family

Palestine Yellow Scorpion

Pantropical Jumping Spider

Pharaoh Ant

Plain Tiger Butterfly

Praying Mantis

Scarab Beetle

Sinai Baton Blue Butterfly

Southern White Admiral Butterfly

Scorpions in the Buthidae and Scorpionidae families

Water Scorpion

Fish, Mollusks, etc. (Keep in mind fish were taboo in Kemet)

Abju

African Catfish

African Tigerfish

Bayad Fish

Blacktip Shark

Blue-spotted Stingray

Bolti

Chromis

Cichlid

Cornish Jack

Eel

Flatfish

Gilt-head Bream

Great Barracuda

Leopard Shark

Lepidotus Fish

Loligo Squid

Lungfish

Moon Fish

Mullet

Nile Barb

Nile Bichir

Nile Carp

Nile Mormyrid

Nile Labeo

Nile Perch

Nile Puffer

Parrotfish

Reef Manta Ray

Reef Shark

Sandbar Shark

Sea Snake

Scorpionfish

Spiny Lobster

Sturgeon

Surgeonfish

Swordfish

Thornback Ray

Thresher Shark

Tiger Shark

Tilapia

Triggerfish

Unicorn Fish

Wrasse

Zebra Shark

Domestic Animals

Bean Goose

Brant Goose

Camel (not introduced until Middle/New Kingdom)

Cats (Mau breed)

Chickens (not introduced until New Kingdom era)

Cow/Bull

Dogs (Saluki, Greyhound, Basenji, and Pharaoh Hound breeds)

Donkey

Egyptian Goose

Greater White-fronted Goose

Greylag Goose

Honey Bees

Horse (not introduced until New Kingdom)

Pig

Ram

My sources, if you're interested, are the Wikipedia page for Egyptian wildlife, a few different diving sites about the Mediterranean and Red Sea, a couple books I own on Ancient Egypt that describe the geography of the periods, and this lovely reddit multi-post

Sheep

[floridensis]

when i was like 9-10 i had a guide to florida birds that i would just look at constantly. i would take it with me everywhere. i still have it

i have a mental list of a bunch of birds i liked and formed a vaguely parasocial relationship with but hadnt to my knowledge seen in my one decade of life but really wanted to. the mental list has never left me and i get so excited every time i see something on the Mental List that i havent seen before

the birds:

common loon [i found a dead one once does that count]

pied billed grebe ✅

white-tailed tropicbird

northern gannet

american white pelican

magnificent frigatebird ✅

american bittern

least bittern

snowy egret ✅

little blue heron ✅

reddish egret

glossy ibis ✅

roseate spoonbill ✅

wood stork ✅

fulvous whistling duck

wood duck ✅

bufflehead

hooded merganser ✅

ruddy duck ✅

crested caracara

american kestrel ✅

northern bobwhite

purple gallinule ✅

black necked stilt ✅

black skimmer

white-crowned pigeon ✅

common ground dove ✅

downy woodpecker ✅

pileated woodpecker ✅

loggerhead shrike ✅

florida scrub-jay [i apparently saw them as a child but barely remember]

cedar waxwing ✅

blackburnian warbler

black and white warbler ✅

ovenbird ✅

summer tanager

scarlet tanager

rose-breasted grosbeak

indigo bunting

painted bunting

bobolink

red winged blackbird ✅

scarlet ibis

dovekie

.

dovekie

dovekie

[tigwex]

southern poland birdwatching count so far: - rock dove (saw a couple of melanistic ones!) - collared dove - mourning dove - jackdaw - hooded crow - magpie - blue tit - MANY barn swallows - ring-necked pheasant - mute swan - mallard - goosander - white stork - black headed gull (at a lake! insane) - booted eagle (insane as well)

[talesofmetalandmagic]

Azir and the law of nature

CW for this one: animal d3ath

When Azir was a child, their father the Emperor of Shurima took him and his children on a country trip.

Along the way, one of the children spotted something among the reeds: something white and red, small and puffy.

A baby stork, in their last moments of air.

“Father, can we keep it?” one of them asked. “We can nurse it back to…”

“No, children”, the Emperor said. “This stork is dying. It was meant to go this way.”

“How so?” another asked, as the others gasped in fear. The Emperor raised his staff to a tall palm, where a grown stork was flapping around a nest. A full hatch of four chicks awaited their parents’ return.

Even Azir couldn’t help but notice the other chicks were… bigger. Stronger. With fuller plumage and a wider wingspan. The one on the ground, on the other hand, was barely the size of a sparrow.

“Nasus”, the Emperor commanded. “Explain away”

“In the wild” the Curator said, “mother storks may discard their weakest hatchlings. They break their necks, or toss them off the nest. It’s not a pleasant sight, children. I suggest you avert your gaze.”

A couple of princes shed tears, another covered his mouth. Azir, hiding behind an older sister’s skirt, went as pale as a sheet.

“That’s so”, the Emperor said. “It’s not pleasant, but it must be done. That way, the strongest can be cared for and survive the best. This chick is weak, and scrawny, and probably dumb. It couldn’t have survived. This is just nature’s way.”

“But it’s their kid”, Azir blurted out. He felt even smaller among the reeds. “They should love him, even if he’s small.”

That’s strange, Nasus thought. Why is he calling the chick a he?

The Emperor touched his son’s head and shook his own. “Nature doesn’t love, Azir. It merely survives. Power comes from strength, and when one cannot provide it…”

Nasus hated the face the old monarch made when he said those words. “…it’s best for all if they’re gone.”

After such a horrifying reveal, the kids all turned away from the dying baby stork, walking around the reeds in search of more amusing pastimes. Chasing frogs, picking flowers, collecting rocks. Even His Imperial Majesty sat in his patio, reading documents and relaxing in the sun.

All of them except Azir, who remained near the dying thing like a small statue.

It was Nasus who found him, of course.

“Are you alright, your majesty?”

Azir gave a small hiccup, tears running down his face. “I feel… sorry for that stork.”

Nasus held him in his arms, making so he averted his eyes from the dying chick. Nature is indeed unforgiving. Azir was to learn, sooner or later.

“That’s sad, child. But like your father said, it’s the way of nature. People are different.” Hopefully so, at least. “We’ll never understand it, but we can accept it as the way things are. That way, it won’t feel as ugly.”

“But I can’t leave him there, all alone. He will think he’s unwanted.” The child held onto the Curator’s bandaged hands. “He’ll think nobody loves him, he’ll die alone, without anyone by his side. I can’t go, Nasus, please…”

There’s the he again. Nasus could see what was going on. He held Azir’s cheeks, wiping his tears, and removed some bandages from his arms.

“I’ll pick it… him up. We’re going to make a little shrine, ok? A small resting place.”

Azir gave a faint nod. He wiped his face and gave himself a more imperial presentation. Nasus wrapped the baby bird, his small chest still heaving, in the bandages, and held him in a gentle caress as Azir dug a hole in the muddy floor, and Nasus laid the bundle of bandages into it with a gentle motion.

“Do you want to tell him something?”

Azir stretched his neck to look at the small corpse, but turned away at the last moment. His eyes fixated to the floor, holding onto the ground with his hands, he gave another small nod.

“Hey, I don’t know if you can hear me. I’m Azir, and this is Nasus. We love you. You’re not a mistake. You’re not weak. You’re good, and we love you for who you are. Now you’ll… you’ll rest. I made this for you, see? It’s cozy, and warm. Like a real nest. You’ll love it. Maybe next time… there’ll be a better place for you.”

He can’t hear you, sweet one. But there’s no way to tell you without betraying your very soul.

As the Curator stated at Azir’s small face, the child was lost in a strange contemplative silence. This gesture wouldn’t change the laws of nature, or help any of the other storks that perished all over the lands. It’s something Azir did for himself – pushed by a mixture of love, pity, and a need for comfort that binds us all as living things.

Azir covered the hole in dirt, leaves and a circle of rocks. A perfect little shrine. Nasus gave him a smile to cheer him up, and water to clean his muddy hands.

“You’re a kind child, little…”

He can’t call him little bird, not after what they saw.

“Little prince. You did something special. Now let us go back to more pleasant places.”