#also wolves do not have a killing bite like a lion or tiger

[hobimo]

this is because im a massive nerd but i think if you're going to write an a/b/o you have to at least have a solid understanding of wolf behaviour and biology if you dont at least keep up to date with the latest research. yes this about how people always write wolves as ambush hunters as if they aren't literally persistence predators

#pleaseeee stop making wolves pounce #pleaseeeeeeee #the pounce you are thinking of is when they sniff out a burrow underground and they're trying to get in there #similar to a fox #but the wolf hunting strategy is to run their prey into exhaustion so they're too weak to fight back when the wolves descend #also wolves do not have a killing bite like a lion or tiger #its very romantic to believe they do but wolves really do just start eating their prey alive as soon as its down #sorry this is like my pet peeve in a/b/o. #i get the trope is inherently ridiculous but come on. lets hold hands and make an effort #also wolves cant bark i dont know why people have no trouble imagining a wolf barking but. they cant #barking is a domestic dog thing #also solid black wolves are an indicator if interbreeding with domestic dogs #which would be fun to talk abt in a fic..... if people would bother doing a wiki search #ah yes your big strong black wolf alpha is . not even a pure wolf </3 #devastating </3 #ok im done being annoying please see the unfollow button at the top of my blog!

[ratsandfashion]

@SHOFARSOGOOD SORRY TUMBLR WOULDN'T LET ME REBLOG???

BUT

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE OPENED THE FLOODGATES HNNNGH

Okay, so you're in France in the 1760s. Specifically, you're a peasant in the Gevaudan province.

AND SOMETHING IS KILLING THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYBODY

It's described as being "like a wolf, yet not a wolf" and these people, they're shepherds, they see wolves ALL THE TIME, so if they say this thing WASN'T a wolf, I trust them. But the problem is, we don't know WHAT it was. Descriptions vary a LOT, probably owing to the people who saw it being terrified and trying to get away, combined with a typical "game of telephone" deal where the thing got changed each time someone told someone else about it, combined with people just lying and SAYING they'd said it, combined with the fact that if it was an exotic animal (more on that later) people just had no idea what they were looking at. But some fairly consistent traits are that it's BIG, it's got a long tail with a tuft, and it's a reddish color with a black-striped back and white underbelly.

Sounds like a tiger, right? That's a common theory. A lot of nobles kept zoos of exotic animals that peasants would never have seen before and have no reference for, so the fact it's a big furry predator on four legs was probably enough to make it "like a wolf but not a wolf" if it wasn't a bear (and we don't think it was a bear because people also knew what bears looked like) Some good candidates are a tiger for the aforementioned reasons, a lion (tufted tail, some drawings have a mane), and a hyena (wolf-like, has the bite force necessary for decapitation, as many of the corpses had the head removed from their bodies, another unusual feature)

So this thing just fucking runs around the countryside savaging peasants. And they can't do much about it because it's illegal for peasants to have guns. If you ever have to make an argument for the right to bear arms, bring up the Beast of Gevaudan, gurantee no one will see that coming!

Some peasants made do with what they had though. A group of boys managed to save their friend with, iirc, sharpened sticks, though they did not escape unscathed. One had his cheek basically TORN OFF, and as a result the king funded his education for the rest of his life, which was a big deal for a peasant boy who wouldn't ordinarily receive it. And a girl, Marie-Jeanne Valet, successfully fended it off with a homemade spear (she described the beast as a large dog) A statue still stands in her honor today.

Speaking of the King, the news about all this was reaching him. So he started sending out hunters and dragoons (a type of cavalry that would dismount to fight) to get the wolf. But, to no avail! They couldn't seem to kill it. And when they DID finally get a great big wolf, as well as a female wolf with unusually large pups that had traits not normally seen in wolves (ex: double dew claws, which some large dog breeds have, indicating wolfdog hybrids) the killings stopped for awhile. . .and then started again.

This became one of the first international news stories; other countries thought it was HILARIOUS that the King of France and all his men couldn't handle one little WOLF!

Eventually, it was brought down for good by a local hunter named Jean Chastel. Legend sprang up that the beast, which was said to be immune to ordinary bullets, had been felled by a bullet which had been made by melting down a medallion of the Virgin Mary. At the time, the fact it was killed by a holy icon was what was significant, as some people thought it was a werewolf and those were seen as creatures of the Devil at that time (rather than innocent people afflicted by a disease/curse as in modern media) but the fact the medallion was silver may be the source of the modern "silver bullet" myth which isn't from any real werewolf folklore and seems to be an invention of Hollywood.

The royal notary examined the animal after death and recorded in what is known as "The Marin Report" that "This animal which seemed to us to be a wolf; But extraordinary and very different by its figure and its proportions from the wolves that one sees in this country." and details a "monstrous head", unusual body proportions, aberrant morphological characteristics, and unusual fur colors. The report also includes the dental formula (number of molars, number of canines, etc) of the animal, which does seem to indicate a canid of some type. The report is preserved in The French National Archives.

So, this wasn't an unsubstantiated cryptid. It was pretty darn meticulously documented.

Unfortunately, photos didn't exist then, and by the time the corpse was taken to Versailles, it was so rotten and badly decayed that no one wanted anything to do with it, and it was in all likelihood dumped somewhere like garbage. I reckon everyone was just happy to be done with it.

While the beast was dead (or at the least, the attacks ceased) the speculation never has. Some people think it was just a big wolf or wolves, but like I said, I think these people knew what a wolf looked like. Other people think it was a wolfdog hybrid or family of such, which would account for the large size, unusual features, and lack of fear of humans. This, I think, is the most likely option. The escaped exotic animal is the next most likely imo; I remember that there's no records of. . .it was either of any such zoos themselves at the time or of no escapees, but like, if I was a noble and my tiger got out and it was eating people, I don't think I'd say anything.

Then there's more fringe theories. The werewolf thing, of course, but also the idea it was a conspiracy against the king, or some big political plot, often involving Chastel (the hunter who shot it) or his son, or that it was a serial killer dressed in animal skins, or a serial killer that had trained a dog to hunt with him as his method of killing. I...kind that pretty unlikely, just because I've never heard of a serial killer doing anything like that, like using an animal is just not 'intimate' in the way serial killers seem to like to be? But I'm no expert.

My PERSONAL favorite Unlikely Fringe Theory is that it was a mesonychid. See, some descriptions of the Beast claimed it had hooves. And while no modern carnivore has hooves, there is a prehistoric class of carnivores called mesonychids who are often described as "wolves with hooves" and whose appearance---monstrous head, longer tail---do match up pretty well with a lot of accounts.

Now, is it likely that a breeding population of huge prehistoric predators just...survived THAT long into the present and just NEVER got noticed by humans except this ONE time, and no other remains to indicate their survival have ever turned up? Yeah, no. But I really like the idea! That and the werewolf are my FAVORITE options, but in all likelihood it was a wolfdog(s) or escaped exotic.

#this is a pretty condensed version and mostly from memory #but I'd totally rec checking out youtube videos on it #there's some great ones with animation and puppets and stuff #but yeah its my fave historical mystery! #beast of gevaudan

[intj-writer]

How would you represent the 16 personality types as animals?

ENTJ - Lions & Tigers, proud but predatory and in charge, amazing sense of presence, easy to be in awe of even as they destroy and scare everyone in their path, often becomes a big target for others because everyone wants to say that they were able to “bring the fat cat down”

ENTP - Seals & Sealions, the clowns of the sea who are awkward, get into all sorts of trouble on land and the sea, but lovable, always barking never shutting up, until they do and then they are very sad (or are trying to find a way to break the silence and any other rule you imposed on them)

ENFJ - Horses, proud and strong and carries others, sometimes are independent stallions that cannot be tamed, sometimes can be your literal nightMARE, but also liable to be showhorses prancing around and DEMANDING attention from the audience

ENFP - Dogs, usually intelligent and generally loves people and are very protective of the “underdog” but ultimately enjoys having fun and doingt hings to get praise/pets and being affectionate towards those they love, comes in all sorts of sizes and colours like the rainbow beings they are

ESTJ - Rhinos & Bulls, generally BIG stubborn herbivores that could run you over if you get in their way of doing things, can be very loud, very gruff, and very in your territory trying to make it THEIR territory

ESTP - Racoons & Weasels, sneaky and adventurous, gets into all sorts of trouble but surprisingly tenacious and clever, you find them getting into garbage and things you thought you locked them out of, but there they are again, making a mess!

ESFJ - Bears, protective of those in their charge (mama bear!), generally very sweet and generous and maybe a bit “dumb”, but watch out when they are passionate about something! THEY GET VERY LOUD AND SCARY AND IN YOUR FACE!

ESFP - Birds, flighty and freewheeling, but often graceful and pretty, sometimes a bird of prey who can target and hunt targets with exacting vengeance, or can be sweet songbord hyping up the coming seasons.. or annoying woodpecker who won’t just shut the hale up

INTJ - Cats (housecats), often aloof and independent, but can be very curious and affectionate when you have gained their trust, liable to bite or swipe at someone with their claws if they try to get too familiar, often seen as very exact but sometimes you catch them in meme-like stumbles

INTP - Sea Anemonae, Cucumbers & Squirts, very cool but very weird and unclear if they belong with all the other animals, an ecosystem of their own inside their heads, fascinating creatures where you’re not sure how they stay alive

INFJ - Rodents, often small and hidden but are capable of digging through mud and human trash to make complex networks or extract the essences of humanity, intuitive sense of danger and doom (rats escaping a sinking ship), usually very cute but a lot of people are scared of them because they can be vicious (or suspected of carrying mystery pathogens)!

INFP - Deer & Other Pecora (like gazelles), seen as peaceful and gentle but are easily alarmed and may kill you by throwing their bodies into your moving vehicles out of nowhere (half the time because they think they are saving your life, the other half because they won’t listen or GO THE OTHER WAY when you’re honking at them), very funny but will tend to ghost you and run away due to anxious nature

ISTJ - Ants & Insects, hard working and industrious, creating complex systems that helps sustain their society even though maybe very boring seeming on an individual level, much stronger than they appear, quietly holding many burdens on top of their shoulders for the sake of a job well done

ISTP - Wolves & other solitary predators, often alone and solitary in spirit but can gather in packs and work in hierarchical systems, quiet and wary until they start howling or are on the sudden attack, very cool but can be very territorial or hang around the wrong packs out of group loyalty

ISFJ - Spiders, dutiful weavers who seem to be in the know of everything that’s going on, so quietly prepares self and ties up loose strings for everyone else, though often small, can be terrifying once you understand how big a web they can weave to tangle you into

ISFP - Snakes, sometimes cute, docile and harmless, other times clingy, suffocating and poisonous, mysterious and often mesmerizing in their artful grace, but once you see them really mobilize or seek to engulf something, it’s hard to not feel disgusted.

- Prax Nguyen (Quora)

#mbti types #mbti #intj writer #not mine #intj perspective

[doorbloggr]

Tuseday 7/9/21 - The Dinosaur Scavenger Debate

Model of Sue the T.rex eating a baby Edmontosaurus, from the Field Museum, Blue Rhino Studios

Full disclosure before I start this article, I am not a palaeontologist, neither have I kept up with all of the relevant literature to know everything on the topic. But I've seen this debate flair up a few times on paleo twitter in the past, so I'm gonna give you a very shallow overview of the discussion.

Therapod dinosaurs were a very unique type of carnivorous animal. All the active hunting terrestrial carnivores we have today have an upper size limit of maybe a tiger or a bear, and most of those travel on all fours. Large meat eating dinosaurs had different bone structures, metabolisms, and importantly, different prey.

A few times in the past, and again recently, there have been those sceptical of the actual hunting ability of large therapod dinosaurs. Sure they were big enough to kill their prey, but were they fast enough? Had enough stamina? Tyrannosaurus rex had jaws powerful enough to break clean through flesh and bone, but you know what else does? Hyenas, jackals, vultures; scavengers. I am not personally aligned with this hunter-sceptical side of palaeontology, but it is an argument that exists.

Hyenas scavenging, Credit: The Next Crossing

Long ago there was an ill-informed take that some dinosaurs were too big to walk. Now the current take is that some dinosaurs were too big to hunt. So, with a bit of research, today I'm going to explore both sides of this debate.

Obligate Scavengers

The first part of the argument is usually about how powerful the jaws of Tyrannosaurus are. Its bite could crush bones, and coprolites (fossil poo) from the species has shown remains of bone fragments, confirming that this dinosaur was indeed eating bones. The teeth of dinosaurs more commonly thought of as pursuit predators such as raptors have narrower, blade like teeth, while T.rex had large, thick, banana sized/shaped teeth. So was this dinosaur specialised for mostly rotted carcasses?

Tyrannosaurus eating a Triceratops, Atrox1 (deviantart)

Tyrannosaurus has also been recently found to have extraordinary senses. It's eyesight is second to none in the dinosaur kingdom and may even rival the visual acuity of today's falcons. And it's sense of smell was amazing too, able to smell blood way beyond even it's visual range. Senses like these are useful for scavengers today who need to travel long distances to find their food. Vultures and condors may travel thousands of kilometres to find a carcass, and like T.rex, their large size means that they can scare off most smaller scavengers from a larger corpse.

Allosaurus fragilis attack a Diplodocus, Fred Weirum

This last point is more about Allosaurus, who has recently been accused of a scavenging lifestyle too. Although Allosaurus was more lightly built than Tyrannosaurus, and had large powerful claws, it has long been studied to most often preyed on Sauropod dinosaurs, which were many, many times larger than Allosaurus. Allosaurus was thought to be unlikely to be able to take down a Sauropod on its own, and its skull is not as robust as most large therapods its size. Sauropod dinosaurs were truly gigantic, and have been studied to move in herds, so perhaps it was just that Allosaurus followed these herds, and when one died, that's enough meat to sustain even a family of Allosaurus for weeks!

Active Hunters

While it's easy to find fossil evidence of bones being damaged while the animal is dead, evidence of the animal being hunted is not as easy. BUT it can be found. Many prey species dinosaurs have evidence of bone scar tissue, meaning that the animal was injured, but got better. In some specimens, there are specific markings evident of teeth marks on partially healed bones, or even teeth lodged in the bones. Tyrannosaurus rex teeth markings have been found in multiple specimens, showing that Tyrannosaurus was actively attacking live animals, and sometimes, the prey got away.

Tyrannosaurus, Mark Garlick

The unusually well adapted senses also point to a predator positive position. Tyrannosaurus' binocular vision is evidence of an animal that needed depth perception, and the only extant animals with true binocular vision are predators. Bone studies have, for a long time, concluded that Tyrannosaurus rex could only walk relatively slowly. But this is a misconception, Tyrannosaurs preferred to walk slowly, and may have travelled most of the time at a more relaxed pace, but it could likely experience short bursts of higher speed. The herbivorous prey items it hunted were not extraordinarily fast either, and a quick dash as an ambush was probably all it took to grab a surprised hadrosaur or ceratopsian.

Komodo Dragon hunting a feral goat, Caters News Agency

The hardy teeth of Tyrannosaurus rex may have been well suited for crushing bones, but their overall shape point to damages that could also better injure their prey. Unlike the pointed daggers of most therapods, Tyrannosaurus teeth were deeply serated like a Komodo Dragon's. And Komodo Dragons do not need to kill their prey in one bite either. Their serated teeth are home to bacteria, and once they bite into their prey, the wound festers and bleeds out profusely, until their injury worsens enough that the predator catches up and finishes them off. Palaeontologists have theorised T.rex may have done the same.

Opportunistic Scavengers

The issue with this debate is there seems to be this misconception that it's either one or the other. But what if we consider modern examples of meat eating animals? Sure Hyenas, a well established scavenger can crush bones with its jaws, but you know what else can? Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh my! Crushing bones can help you kill living animals too actually.

And sure Tyrannosaurus rex has shown evidence of scavenging on the carcasses of long dead animals, and Allosaurus has been discussed reaping the benefits of a massive Sauropod carcass, but what predator wouldn't pass up on an already dead animal corpse? Big cats, bears, and wolves have been observed countless times reaping the benefits of animals killed by humans, or massive sea mammals or fish that wash up dead on the beach.

A brown bear and a wolf scavenging on a fin whale carcass, Credit: Brad Josephs

The probable truth of the dinosaur scavenger debate is that most large therapods were capable of taking down some prey items, but would not pass up a large dead dinosaur if the opportunity presented itself. Because much like the corpse of a whale at the bottom of the ocean, a dead dinosaur could sustain a small ecosystem of its own for a while.

Thanks for Reading

This was a very long blogpost, so if you read all the way through it, I much appreciate you taking the time. The topic of predatory dinosaur behaviours is ever evolving as new tests and evidence are presented. The consensus on Tyrannosaurus is currently leaning more toward predator than scavenger, but this study on Allosaurus is still fresh, and despite much of the paleo community opposing this take, evidence against it hasn't been well compiled yet.

If you have any further information you want to present on this topic, I am more than happy to hear it in the Notes, or via inbox. If you know other Palaeontology based topics that you think would be interesting to cover, my inbox and asks are always open.

You can find more articles like this linked in my pinned post.

Credits/Further Reading:

Was Tyrannosaurus rex a Ferocious Predator or a Wimp? (Wilkin & Hone); Frontiers for Young Minds

Allosaurus was not a Carnivorous Predator but a Scavenger during Late Jurassic, Study Finds (Jefferson); The Science Times

Time to slay the T.rex Scavenger Debate (Brian Switek); National Geographic

Tyrannosaurus rex was not a Fast Runner, more a Slow Walker, Simulation shows (David Bressen) Forbes

T.rex: A Hunter AND a Scavenger; The Prehistoric Saga

The Truth About T Rex - Predator or Scavenger; Dangerville - Youtube

#blog #blogpost #palaeontology #dinosaurs #tyrannosaurus #tyrannosaurus rex #allosaurus #allosaurus fragilis #tyrannosaurus scavenger #allosaurus scavenger #dinosaur scavenger

[mammons-sugarbaby]

Hmmmm... What about a hc about the brothers visiting a zoo?

(I'm also going to reference the paws and claws event which was when I started playing....at the tail end of it lol)

MC's begging finally paid off and Lucifer cracked, agreeing to go on an outing to a human world zoo for the day, and of course the other brothers wanted to go where MC was going!

(this got suuuuuper long so I put most under a read more)

Lucifer

⦁ At first he would see it as something that cut into his busy scedule running errands and doing paperwork for Diavolo, but after getting there and seeing MC so excited, of course he'd soften up.

⦁ He'd tease them about acting like one of the kids running around but would 100% enjoy their enthusiasm. He'd take an interest in the wolf exibit, reading the information plaque about wolves and their familial bonds and feel a sort of kinship.

⦁ Of course he's also heard stories casting wolves in a negative light, in one case humans killing many in a particular area to protect their livestock, and an experiment reintroducing them to the area. The experiment went on to show how vital wolves were to the ecosystem and public opinion changed. They were misunderstood, Lucifer knew that feeling well.

⦁ At the end of the visit, Lucifer and MC were in the gift shop and MC picked up a stuffed wolf and showed Lucifer, saying how it reminded them of him. When they put it down and went to look at something else, Lucifer picked it up and bought it, surprising MC with it on the way home.

⦁ "So you'll have something to remind you of me when we're apart." He told MC, giving them a sly smile and causing them to blush. But Lucifer didn't fail to notice how they clutched the stuffed toy to their chest the whole way back, as well as noticing it sitting on MC's bed whenever he would pay them a visit. He'd never admit it, but it made him happy as well as a little jealous that MC slept with it every night. At some point he'd suggest MC could sleep in his room if cuddling the wolf plush wasn't enough.

Mammon

⦁ He wouldn't get why MC would want to walk around in the hot sun and look at animals all day, but once they get there, he gets just as excited as they do.

⦁ He'd ask all sorts of questions about every animal, and make plans on how to steal some and bring back to the devildom, surely they'd sell for a ton of grim!

⦁ Satan has to remind him human world animals wouldn't survive long in the devildom, and Mammon would dismiss him saying as long as he made a profit, who cares about some dumb animal.

⦁ This upsets MC and they scold him and tell him all about exotic animal smuggling, circuses, and other places that used animals for entertainment even if it caused the animal distress. Mammon feels bad and apologizes for upsetting MC.

⦁ But as soon as he sees the tiger, he is once again thinking of ways to get one, not for profit this time, but for himself. He admired the way they excluded a sort of quiet power, a regality, something beautiful and dangerous. He wondered if he could find the devildom equivalent and just how he'd be able to smuggle it into the house of lamentation.

⦁ At the gift shop he sees MC admiring a tiger keychain and when they walk away he pockets it, planning to give it to them later. While leaving he hands it to MC. "I saw you checking this out and I thought you'd like it." He says, cheeks flushing red as he tried to act nonchalant.

⦁ MC is surprised and brings out a matching one and gives it to him, explaining that they saw HIM looking at it and thought how nice it would be to give him a souvenir. MC laughs and says they have a matching set now, causing Mammon to lose what little control he had and he turns into a blushing, stammering mess. He starts rambling about how they shouldn't have spent so much money on something like that, but inside he was over the moon that MC had thought of him and that they now shared matching keychains.

Levi

⦁ He complains about having to go to such a "normie" activity, he has game events going on! And anime to review!

⦁ He's pouty through the first half hour of being there, until MC's constant attempts to include him in their fun finally win him over. He focuses on enjoying his time with MC, taking note of everything they find particularly interesting.

⦁ They reach the exhibit with the zebras, elephants, gazelles, and giraffes and he notes MC's smile drops when they don't see the long-necked herbevore. However he notices a sign that says "Feed the Giraffes!" with times underneath, he checks his limited edition Ruri watch and sees that it's feeding time.

⦁ "Hey, follow me MC." He says quickly, not wanting them to notice the sign. MC gives him a confused look but follows. The crowd gets thicker and MC falls a little behind, and when Levi notices, he grabs their hand and pulls them along, not wanting to miss surprising MC with feeding the giraffes. ⦁ Thankfully they're able to get there before the line got too long, and the take their place. While standing in line, Levi realizes he was still holding MC's hand and quickly lets go, blushing and stuttering out an apology. MC tells him they don't mind and if it's okay with him, they would like to keep holding hands. This makes Levi blush even harder and he holds out his hand for MC to grab.

⦁ "So what are we in line for?" MC asks, bringing Levi back from his inner thoughts about how it was just like that dating sim 'I took my crush to the zoo and we got separated so when I found them I didn't let go of their hand for the rest of the trip and eventually they kissed me in front of the panda exhibit'. Levi tells MC it's a surprise and they'll see in a little bit.

⦁ When they get to the front of the line, a park worker gives them a large cup of feed and explained how to feed the giraffes and ushered them up the platform. MC looked excitedly at Levi and was practically bouncing with excitement.

⦁ After feeding the giraffes, MC throws their arms around Levi and hugs them tight, jumping up and down and squealing about how he was the best and how it was such an awesome surprise.

⦁ Levi thought it would be the perfect chance to kiss MC like the protagonist in that anime, but MC beats him to it and plants an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek, making the shut-in otaku completely lose his composure and become a blushing, stuttering mess.

Satan

⦁ He actually is interested in going to the zoo, he reads a few books about zoos, what makes them good or bad, and about some of the animals that the zoo may keep.

⦁ As soon as he clears the gate, he grabs a pamphlet for himself and one for MC. He starts pointing to places on the map, explaining what order they should view the exhibits so that they would have time to see them all.

⦁ Halfway through MC's stomach growls and they apologize and ask Satan if he minded grabbing a bite to eat at the cafe with them. ⦁ He agrees and they head into the cafe, and to Satan's delight it was big cat themed. The barista was wearing tiger ears, their coworker wearing cheetah ears and when they turned around, MC notice they also wore a matching tail.

⦁ MC and Satan got their food and drinks and sat at a nearby table, while MC ate, Satan filled them in on various facts about the animals they'd seen that day.

⦁ When they get up to leave, Satan notices a souvenir stand and goes to investigate. MC points at a shirt that reads "Big Cat Cafe" with an image of various large cats curling around a mug below, and tells Satan they think it would be fun to get matching shirts. ⦁ Satan happily agrees and buys the shirts, then he suggests MC should try theirs on and MC tells him they both should change and wear the shirts for the remainder of the visit. So they change, and for the rest of the trip Satan can't stop smiling and thinking how cute MC looks and feels slightly smug thinking about how his brothers would react, especially Lucifer.

Asmo

⦁ He didn't really want to go, walking around in the sun for long periods of time was so bad for his skin. Not to mention the smells, he told MC he'd never be able to get it out of his clothes.

⦁ Nonetheless, MC convinced him and being Asmo, he's pulled out all the stops, wearing a gaudy explorer outfit to "fit in", as well as carrying an umbrella.

⦁ He cooed over various animals, saying how cute they were. Not as cute as him of course, but they had their charm.

⦁ It was then they came to the black bear exhibit, the massive creature lumbering over to the edge of its enclosure before flopping down. I seemed to look up then at Asmo and MC did a wave motion with it's paw.

⦁ Asmo went wild, pointing and dramatically exclaiming that "It recognizes my beauty!! No other animal here acknowledged me! This is obviously a creature of intelligence, class, and culture!"

⦁ MC couldn't help but laugh and after Asmo gave them an offended look, they explained that bears sometimes mimic people in that fashion, usually to get treats. ⦁ Asmo waved them off and continued to fawn over the bear. Eventually the bear wandered back inside, presumably to get out of the heat, and Asmo blew it kisses and waved until it was out of site.

⦁ On their way out, Asmo insisted on stopping at the gift shop, where MC bought Asmo a small teddy bear, since "he loved the bear so much". Within the week, a huge box arrived from akuzon addressed to MC and when they opened it, they were surprised to see a gigantic pink teddy bear that was covered in ribbons and bows. Asmo waltzed in and dramatically called "Ta-dah~~!!! Just a little thank you present for my favorite human~"

Beel

⦁ Beel was happy MC asked him to go to the zoo with them, he enjoyed hanging out with them.

⦁ Once through the gate they picked up (more) snacks so Beel wouldn't get too hungry while walking around.

⦁ Beel asked tons of questions about the animals they saw, and what kinds of animals MC liked best.

⦁ When they came to the lion exhibit, the lions were being fed and MC could hear Beel's stomach growl. He apologized and Mc told him not to worry about it, that if he'd like, they could go grab so more food.

⦁ Beel nodded but told MC he wanted to watch the lions for just a while longer. After a few minutes, his stomach growled again, even louder this time. The male lion's head turned towards them and he let out a bellowing roar.

⦁ They both burst into laughter and had to find a quiet area to calm down. Wiping tears from their eyes, MC asked Beel if he wanted to go to the restaurant now, Beel nodded and took MC's hand and they headed off to find out where the restaurant was.

⦁ While they waited for their food to arrive, Beel chatted excitedly about the various animals they had seen and MC asked if there was a devildom equivalent to a human zoo, Beel replied he was unsure. MC asked what his favorite exhibit was and Beel eagerly replied the lions, because of the moment they shared together.

Belphie

⦁ This boy complained the whole time MC was trying to convince him. At first he was extremely opposed to going to the human world in the first place. Besides, animals usually didn't like demons, unless it was the kind they were connected with.

⦁ Then he'd complain and ask what the big fuss was about looking at some animals in cages, it sounded pretty miserable for the animals. It's just like humans to not care about something unless they got entertainment out of it, even at the expense of what ever was entertaining them.

⦁ He complained even while walking around, though did secretly enjoy seeing MC happy. ⦁ After another round of complaining, he saw MC's smile slip ever so slightly, become a little more forced, it not quite reaching their eyes. 'Damn it, I went too far and now their upset.'

⦁ From then on he tried to keep his bitching to a minimum, though he was getting so sleepy. He didn't see how MC thought he could make it through the whole trip without falling asleep.

⦁ Eventually they came to a sort of petting area where various employees showed off various animals and let visitors touch them while explaining about the animal.

⦁ Belphie saw a bench in the corner and made a beeline for it, he sat down and leaned against the wall, promptly falling asleep.

⦁ He woke up to MC's voice calling his name and he reluctantly opened his eyes before he noticed a weight in his lap. Looking down, a fox had curled up on his lap, sleeping soundly. He was surprised and accidentally moved, causing the fox to wake up and look at him.

⦁ But it just sat there, staring at him as if saying "Why did you wake me up?" He knew that feeling all to well. "Sorry for waking you..." Belphie muttered, then slowly brought his hand up and gave it head scritches. The fox seemed to enjoy this and Belphie ran his hand along it's soft fur, noting a kind of harness on it.

⦁ He was so content he didn't realize a zoo employee come up and apologize for the fox's behaviour, that one was always slipping off somewhere. Belphie shook his head and told them it was no problem, but then the employee brought out a leash and clipped it to the fox's harness and clicked their tongue, causing the fox to jump down.

⦁ MC was bubbling over with excitement and envy on their way out of the park, saying how lucky he was that he got to pet the cute fox. Belphie only heard half of what they said before a fox plush outside of the gift shop caught his eye. He turned and headed towards the shop without warning, catching MC off guard. They soon followed after him and saw him looking intently at a row of fox stuffed animals, he seemed to find one he liked more than the other identical ones and picked it up.

⦁ He then asked MC if they could buy it for him, since he didn't have "human money". The laughed and agreed, buying it for him and smiling at how cute he was clutching at the stuffed fox.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mammon #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me belphie #obey me levi #obey me lucifer #obey me imagines #obey me headcanons #answered #sorry this took so long! #msb writes

[asterekmess]

S3A - E4

Alrighty, here we go. Maybe I’ll get a little less fired up this time.

Be Kind, Read More’s (I’m bad at puns or jokes.)

Thoughts:

So, I get that they’re trying to amp up Scott becoming an Alpha or whatever, but I just really hate the concept of dogs needing to know “who the alpha is.” It’s a really harmful myth that leads to a lot of frustration for owners and a lot of fear for their dogs. I actually recommend anyone with a dog, or thinking of getting a dog to look at this video to understand how huge a myth that whole Dominance thing is. He explains it better than I ever could. That also doesn’t work in the show, since we know that all werewolves have sway over dogs. Derek does it like a fucking pro in S1 (Yeah, he scares the dogs, but it’s entirely controlled. The dog didn’t freak until he wanted it to.)

Woooow, Scott actually working at his job? That’s new!

Deaton, mistletoe is poisonous to anyone. Wtf are you on about “to the dog, and you too.” literally everyone is poisoned by mistletoe.

Is this a reference to a movie or something? IT’s so fucking creepy and gross, him sticking his hand under the dumpster and getting bit. And what’s with the whispering??? JENNIFER did you bite someone? WTF? Also, he literally can’t get any closer, dumbass. He’s on his knees right up against the dumpster.

I hate this woman. This show I think has a lot of issues with actual foreshadowing and making villains appear earlier in the show. Like, they knew Jennifer was going to be the villain. So what was all this extra shit? All the random clips of her grading papers and getting spooked walking down the halls of the school. She’s literally committing murder every single night and is far scarier than even werewolves, even without the extra powers. Showing us this stuff directly contradicts her being the villain. I can’t tell if they thought we as an audience were too smart and we’d figure out she was the villain, so they had to cover their tracks extra hard bc we all know that plot twists should only ever happen when it makes no sense, or if they thought we were too dumb to notice that they didn’t put any effort into her character until she starts being actively creepy.

I hate this. I hate all of it. I’m disgusted and nauseous just fucking watching this, knowing that Derek isn’t fucking choosing to do any of this. He’s literally under a spell that’s making him worry about her, because she wants an Alpha guard dog.

I’m also gonna point out that since the show hadn’t told us that Derek was being controlled yet, they were trying to show Derek being interested in Jennifer and trying to make Jennifer someone Derek would be interested in. In order to do that, they made her jumpy, suspicious, anxious, and over-talkative. And crazy smart. With brown hair. Just saying.

The Crucible? Dude, you started the class on The Heart of Darkness literally last Wednesday. Chapters 1-3 weren’t due till last Friday. Why can’t this show fucking make up its mind?

Aannnnd here we go. Love watching Scott laugh about something that he knows Stiles is absolutely terrified by, seeing as Heather DIED. God, if you want Scott to look funny, can you not make him make jokes about something that’s getting people killed and traumatizing his best friend? Jesus.

I...I feel the need to point out that Stiles jumped exactly the same way Jennifer did like two seconds ago....just saying.

Honestly, I like that this Danny did this, not just to fuck with Stiles (in a non-sexy way) but also to try and subtly point out that he can hear them talking about virgin sacrifices. Maybe keep it down boys?

As much as I hate this shaky camera, slow-mo to fast-mo stuff, it’s still so much better than the CGI/Green Screen. Just, so much.

Boys, stop sticking your tongues out while running, you’re gonna bite them off and that shit doesn’t grow back. Also, I wanna give Isaac props here for managing to keep up with Alphas. Speedy Boi. AND, did you notice the look on his face before he ran after them? TOTALLY different from the look on his face before he attacked Cora in the woods. Not play time, kill time.

Those are...those are also not wolf sounds. At least I know Cora wasn’t a sexist thing? Seriously, wolves sound terrifying enough on their own, no need to add in the lion--wait didn’t I read that they don’t use lions roars most of the time, they use tigers instead? Whatever. NO need for the cat noises. I get it for the actual roaring stuff, but the snarls can be wolfy, can’t they?

How long did they have to stand there waiting for the cops to arrive? THe whole class is just standing around in a crowd? You know, I’d believe it, honestly I don’t think Finstock would think to make them go back to the school. He’s not great at the adulting thing.

How--How did Kyle’s girlfriend know? She’s not on the track team, is she?

I hate this whole “He’s got a point” thing. Stiles admitted that he agreed the Alphas were connected somehow but his reasoning is perfectly sound. Are you seriously telling me that Scott didn’t talk to Deaton about this? We can assume he did, because it’s Scott and he tells Deaton Everything. But that means Deaton DIDN’T tell him what he knew, openly lying to him. And none of that should matter anyway, because Stiles is Scott’s best friend. It is not too much to ask for him to just believe Stiles. In fact, it’s pretty fucking basic friendship stuff.

ALSO I hate that Isaac appears to give zero fucks about Erica. “They killed that kid, they killed the girl that saved me” But no mention of Erica? Or of how they imprisoned erica and boyd for four months? No mention of his own pack members? Seriously?

Hi cora. Hi derek. I really really wish you were going to be a reprieve from the bullshit of the rest of the episode so far, but instead you’re going to break my heart by refusing to give me even the slightest hint at Derek and Cora giving any kind of fucks about each other and finding out that the sibling they thought was dead is not dead. Nothing. We get absolutely Nothing. I don’t even get to see where the FUCK Cora got the exercise clothes from? Did they go shopping? did they go find her bag of clothes that got left in a building somewhere when she was taken? Huh? SOMETHING?

I’m just so...disappointed, and it’s definitely not directed at Derek.

Also, Derek, your alarm sucks ass if it only tells you that someone’s at your place once they’re outside the door.

I’m gonna be honest, Derek does need to work on his ranged combat. He’s all about the up close and personal, our boy needs a quarterstaff or something. Maybe a bat?

Sup duke? I hate your guts.

Sup Harris? I hate your guts too.

I don’t--I don’t even wanna talk about this scene with the twins. I just...what the absolute fuck? Those kids need so much therapy. I just feel ill. Also stop with the making werewolves masochists for some reason! Stop it! It’s boring and dumb!

I literally refuse to believe any of that had plot relevance. I think the twins are just being assholes for the fun of it. That is so convoluted in so many ways.

Other than the really really overdone British villain trope thing, I literally have nothing to say about this scene. Other than, you know, the part where Derek outright refuses to kill his pack even with a fucking PIPE through his CHEST, yet somehow we’re meant to believe that he wanted to kill them on the full moon even when he had no proof that they’d hurt anyone? Love that logic. Yah. Uh huh. Side note: why do I even like this show? Side Side note: It’s cus’ Derek and Stiles and Cora and Isaac and Boyd and Erica and Lydia are all fucking awesome. Honestly, Allison too. And Danny. And Jackson. And Kira when she comes in. Even Malia has potential

Isaac, honey, you have claustrophobia and that’s a legitimate medical concern that Harris would need to make adjustments for.

HI BOYD. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOD. Thanks for stabbing me in the heart with that friend comment. My everything hurts now. I love you. Also, bye, cus’ you don’t come back for the entire rest of the episode. awesome.

Is it even remotely okay for the school to make students handle chemicals and fuck with the janitor’s stuff/do custodial work? Like, detention is detention and the school/Harris has no business using the students for free labor.

Fucking pathetic. I hate this stupid Alpha command thing. I hate this whole plotline and no I’m NOT going to stop complaining about it any time soon. It’s stupid as fuck.

Stiles how do you expect Lydia to know about this shit when no one fucking talks to her except you??? SEE? YOU SEE? THAT is how you use humor in a tense situation!

Lydia, Stiles is human.

Please stop with the sexual tension, it’s pissing me off. Allison fired over a dozen arrows into Erica and Boyd, then help her grandfather kidnap and torture them and sliced Isaac to ribbons. I’m not done being mad at her, and Isaac Damn Well shouldn’t be either.

Okay WHAT? Since when is English the last class of the day? It was their first class an episode ago! What the fuck are you talking about? and WHY are you writing “Great Expectations” on the board!!???? Even if The Crucible was for a different class you’re STILL ON HEART OF DARKNESS.

I just-I get that they’re teenagers, but that’s seriously the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen and even though Allison’s still pretty high on my shit list at the mo, she’s way too smart not to know that this is stupid as fuck. Just because the Alphas are being stupid doesn’t mean you PISS THEM OFF. Nothing you just did HELPED at ALL. You didn’t Hinder them or Weaken them or ANYTHING. You just played a stupid ass prank???

So...Stiles has a free period in the last period of the day? When no one else does? Yet somehow he’s in all their classes AND we SAW him AND LYDIA in Scott and Allison’s English class? ALSO the twins are Miraculously now in the English class as well, even though they weren’t there on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL??? WHat the FUCK This is a show about HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS and you can’t be fucked to actually get their stupid fucking Schedule right? The same with the full moon. The two things that should always be consistent are the FULL MOONS for the WEREWOLVES and the SCHOOL SCHEDULE for the STUDENTS. You spend hours of episode planning time on making outfits and references to horror movies, but you can’t get A SIMPLE FUCKING TIMELINE right?

I know Stiles hasn’t talked to Deaton all that much so far in the show, but this is a really weirdly long introduction to him asking Deaton for info, when I honestly expected him to just push in and say, “HEY, so how about those human sacrifices, huh? You keeping something from us again?”

I hate them cutting up these scenes so much. Derek’s effectively been pinned to the ground for an entire school day at this point.

Actually, this little speech of Duke’s is where I got a huge headcanon for the show about how truly monstrous Duke and the rest of the Alphas are. He says he didn’t know that killing your own Beta adds their power to yours. But, shouldn’t that be like a really well known thing in this werewolf world of horrific murders and “Rite of passage, into his pack” mentality that the show seems insistent on showing us? Instead, I think that Duke is actually like he says he is. The Demon Wolf. He’s a fucking demon and all werewolves know it, because he and his pack are disgusting and twisted enough to kill their own pack. I firmly believe, beyond all reason because fuck this show, that Alphas have a biological imperative to protect their pack, to keep them safe and happy and provide for them. That the reason no Alphas really knew about what happens when you kill your own Beta is because no one ever would. It’s the most taboo, horrific thing a werewolf can do, harming their own pack. Their own family.

STOP TOUCHING PEOPLE’s FACES. ESPECIALLY DEREK’S.

I love Derek’s line so much. “You’re a fanatic.” Like. Yes. Completely shutting him down. That was so good.

Also, Duke. you literally just said “You’ll get to know me.” and now you’re mad because “Know me? You’ve never seen anything like me.” I wish someone would just pick him up by the scruff and toss him out a window.

What’s with the sudden lightning? and why is the thunder happening at the same time?

I have literally had the fifteen minute rule held over my head so many times. We once got locked outside our orchestra room for fifteen-minutes and one of the secretaries from the front office had to let us in, and then they had to send us a sub teacher because ours was sick but even though she called in, they’d hadn’t bothered to call the sub yet. the fifteen minute rule doesn’t exist, and I wish so fucking badly that it did. PLUS. I thought School was OVER????

Stiles, you should know better. The Celts were accused of human sacrifice by the Romans, who were trying to demonize them and take over their land. (which is pointless, since the Romans participated in tons of human sacrifice, even if they didn’t explicitly call it that. Anybody heard of the fucking Colosseum?) Plus, there isn’t any actual evidence that isn’t from extremely biased Latin texts that indicates the Celts performing human sacrifices as religious rites. You’re right though, cus’ the show does pull a lot from the concept of Celtic Druids. It just does it horrifically badly and completely misconstrues them by using the modern myth of the druids rather than the historical reality of them. I was a classics major, with an obsession on Druidic practices. Fight me about it.

Thank you Stiles, for calling Deaton out. Also, what does Deaton mean ten years? He was the Hale emissary six years ago. Jesus christ, this isn’t hard.

I hate to say it, but that is correct, Deaton. Druids were philosphers and scholars. That’s because Druid was a SOCIAL CLASS not a JOB. They didn’t believe they were “keeping the world in balance’ but they believed the world was MADE UP of balances. The Celts didn’t believe in letting people die for the sake of “maintaining the balance.” Their social structure was based on equality between the sexes and community ownership (a bit like socialism, it’s actually why the Romans hated them so much, they represented the exact opposite of Roman Ideals of hierarchy and private ownership with the male head of family in charge) But I digress. My bad.

Cue the dropbox ad

So what’s with the chanting? There wasn’t chanting when Heather was taken? Or Emily? Is the method of abduction supposed to be different for every group?

Ooooh, Dell school computers. Did they lose their Mac contract?

Oh Look! It’s the consequences of your actions!

They have so much time to react and do something to keep the boys from merging while they’re busy taking their dumb shirts off.

For the record, Druid is not the gaelic word for “wise oak”. It’s generally accepted to mean “oaken knowledge” or, less literally, “the one whose knowledge is great” (since oak was considered to signify greatness). But those are just semantics and I’m not as bothered by it. I’m MORE bothered by the use of the word “Darach” which does NOT mean Dark oak. “ach” is an Irish suffix meaning “Belonging to” and Darach is an NAME, as in like Emily or Janice, it’s a Name not a title. One that means “belonging to the oak” (actually, it’s masculine, so it would mean “Son of oak”). Scottish Gaelic and Irish are still real languages and you mistranslating things and taking words from their already incredibly oppressed and abused culture is really fucking annoying. So, uh. yeah. Listen, this is one of my few areas where I know anything so I had to complain about it. I get that it’s just a show. I really do. But it’s my post, so meh. Also, you bet your ass I have opinions on the concept of a Nemeton as well. But that’s not for now.

I find it kinda hilarious that none of the names on those papers had last names. Tom. Terry. Tim P. almost has a last name.

and now we break my fucking heart. Actually, first I wanna give this show some props for once. The music they use for this season is very drum based, very repetitive, and it really helps with the ritualistic vibe they seem to be going for. The chanting, etc. I worry about what they pulled that stuff from, cus’ if it’s from actual religions that’s fucking dicey, but the atmosphere is good.

NOW we break my fucking heart. Fucking fuck. It hurts, especially knowing that Isaac already had one flashback today. And then they have to go and add anger to my turmoil by having him go to SCOTT. Fuck scott. I fucking hate this.

Bye Harris. No, wait, I have questions. So Harris helped Jennifer somehow. By...what, helping her fake her identity? Was he her reference for getting the job at the school? Or did he help her with the killings, by finding her students/teachers who fit the bill? When he says “They’ll figure you out” is he talking about the cops or the wolves? Does he know about the supernatural? If he does, does that mean that he knew who Kate was when she found him in that bar? Bye Harris.

Last Thoughts: I’ll give this episode props. It had sunlight in it. Uh...I honestly can’t think of anything else I enjoyed. This shit, this shit is why people write fanfiction. These mistakes with the timeline and the schedule and the character’s whose personalities flip back and forth at random? The refusal to acknowledge trauma and deal with it appropriately? I honestly don’t even know how to feel about the show selling this Derek/Jennifer romance to us and then revealing at the end that he was under a literal spell the whole time. That he had sex with her while under the influence of her magic. That these oh so brief moments where we actually get to see Derek smiling and joking and see a hint at his personality and his intelligence and maybe even his past, they’re all forced on him. It’s all a trick. He has sex with her while he’s incapable of giving consent. It’s fucking rape, shown on-screen. And the show portrayed this as romantic, for the sake of their stupid fucking plot twist. We were encouraged to like this relationship because we didn’t know he was being Controlled. Ugh. Bleh. Plus there’s the whole thing where once again Stiles is being ignored and Lydia has no clue what’s going on, and Deaton is hiding things from everyone and Boyd is barely a character. And Allison’s behavior is never dealt with, and Scott is just...Scott. This is why I make changes.

#personal #rape: tw #anti-scott mccall #TeenWolf-Rewatch

[quiizzate]

When mentioning ferocious animals.

When mentioning ferocious animals, some may think that the fiercest animals must be large animals, and carnivores in particular, but the truth is that there are many ferocious animals that are small and not predators, and some of them may be some kind of insects, and some animals They are fierce and aggressive in 

nature, and some become fierce only when they are trapped and provoked, and since it is difficult to determine what is the fiercest animal in the world, therefore some animals that many experts agreed to consider as the fiercest in the animal world will be mentioned in this article. Fierce animals in the world honey badger It may be difficult to find a fierce and aggressive animal than honey badger (English: Honey Badger), as he does not hesitate to attack any animal, even if it is large in size, such as: the lion. Al Ghurair is characterized by a huge skull, strong sharp teeth, and thick skin that protects it from poisonous snakebites, bee stings, porcupine thorns and dog bites. For his neck, and above all he has a special gland at the base of his tail that enables him to produce an unpleasant smell when he feels threatened. [1] [2] Taurus Shark is a dangerous marine animal, and one of the most dangerous for humans in particular is the bull shark (English: Bull Shark) , And the great white shark, and the tiger shark, only a fate The bull sharks live on fresh and salt water at the same time, and their preference for shallow areas with high population density, such as: tropical beaches, makes it, in the opinion of many experts, the most dangerous sharks in the world. The bull shark is called by this name because of its short, flat nose, aggressiveness, and the start of its attack on its prey by hitting it with its head, and this shark can eat almost everything it sees; it eats dolphins, fish, other sharks, and humans. [3] [4] Some are surprised that Hippopotamus is included in the fiercest of animals, because it is an herbivorous animal, but it is indeed a fierce and aggressive animal, especially when it comes to protecting its territorial areas, it is with its huge sharp teeth, its great speed of 30 miles per hour, and its weight Which could reach 10,000 pounds or 4.545.5 kg, killing 3000 People each year, and hippos are famous for their fighting with predators, such as: crocodiles, and lions. [5] [6] Black mamba Black mamba (English: Black Mamba) is a poisonous brown viper, but it is called by this name because of the color of the lining of its mouth inside. , Which is black, which is the fastest snake in the world, the longest poisonous snake in Africa, and the second longest poisonous snake in the world, which is aggressive and fierce if it feels threatened, as it is very toxic; it produces one of the toxins that attack the nervous system, and the aggression of this snake is in She not only bites her prey once, but bites her Time and time again, every time a large amount of poison was injected into its prey. Black mamba is the cause of death for 20,000 people annually. [7] [8] Saltwater Crocodile Saltwater Crocodile - as its name indicates - lives in saltwater and is the largest living wild reptile. The saltwater crocodiles camouflage themselves well and ambush their prey, to be able to launch a surprise attack, and they are famous for attacking humans. [9] Killer Bee Killer Bee appeared to exist; as a result of experiments to crossbreed African and European bees, a new species called ( Africanized Bees), characterized by being more aggressive than the usual bees, and by launching large-scale attacks, that could include 100-1000 bees, while European bees are attacked in a squadron of only 10-20 individuals, and can be provoked easily, and are factors that increase their risk He builds his cell in populated places. [10] [1 ] Bird Alchbanm bird Alchbanm (in English: Cassowary) is similar to a bird Balnaamh, an aggressive if disturbed, or approaching their young, or its territory. Sheep spreads his feathers, makes a loud sound, and launches a sweeping attack using three sharp claws like a dagger in each man, so fatal that the New Guinea tribesmen put them at the end of their bayonets, to become more lethal, a fast bird, up to thirty miles an hour, and can Jumping in the air for more than three feet. [12] [13] Wolverine for an animal, Wolverine (or Wolverine) has thick skin, strong jaws, and sharp claws, characterized by the courage to steal food from bears, wolves, and predation to a large animal, For example: the employee, although his weight is not more than thirty ba Peer is approximately 14 kg. [14] [15] The Malawian Sun Bear The Malayan Sun Bear (English: Malayan Sun Bear) is a very aggressive animal by its nature, it can attack without being provoked, and has teeth that are the largest in the world of bears, and it is very protective of its young. 16] Wild boar Wild boar (English: Wild Boar) is an animal known to be aggressive and fierce; it attacks any animal that happens to pass its path. Wild boars have a sharp sense of smell, but their eyesight is weak. [17] Baboon The baboon is one of the fiercest primates; it is the highest rank in the mammal population. Baboon males dispute among themselves the rule of the group, which is violent with females that are half the size of males, and they also do not hesitate to pursue their enemies and kill them when caught. [18]

#animals

[annoyedbritishperson]

Alien Food Chain

So the food chain is basically the only universal thing that includes humans and aliens on the same evolutionary grounds. There is a food chain and each species would’ve evolved to accommodate a certain niche in it and as a rule of thumb there needs to be more food than there is consumers. Food chains typically go in the order: producer (typically plants), primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, final consumer (apex predator) and decomposer.

Producers: As a result of this, the overwhelming majority of alien species would be plant like producer species, they probably don’t eat anything but would still need to take in the necessary nutrients and liquids they need and are likely to get their energy from photosynthesis or possibly another form of converting external energy into internal energy. Though this would only apply if each planet had active flora life which is unlikely, coupled with the factors that could limit their rise to sentience.

Primary consumers: Slightly higher on the food chain would be the herbivores since they would be primary consumers. These most certainly would be the majority of alien life as there would be a higher chance for a rise to sentience and intelligence. For all we know higher intelligence could be even more likely since it would benefit them in avoiding their predators. They would be the majority because they don’t need to actively hunt; they can just graze on plant life for food. As a result of this, agriculture (with a lack of domestication) would be more likely since farming for your preferred flora is easier than searching for it yourself. I say with a lack of domestication because as humans, we used domestication for food; whether for said domesticated creatures to be eaten (pigs, cows etc) or for them to help hunt (mainly dogs). Another reason as to why they’d be more abundant than omnivorous and/or carnivorous species is that they’d need to have high populations compared to their predators since predators will be consuming multiple individuals to survive.

Secondary consumers: Next are low predators. By that I mean that they would eat prey but would largely also be preyed on. They might have either the carnivore or omnivore approach , insectivore (only protein intake is from insects) isn’t unlikely either but as long as they hunt prey they’re above primary consumers. They would be less common but still numerous because just like primary consumers, they would be preyed upon by bigger predators. They would basically have the same chances of becoming space faring as primary consumers though it might be a little more difficult with the fact that they’d have to catch their own prey as well as avoid becoming prey.

Tertiary consumers: aliens that are tertiary consumers would be even rarer, though not the rarest. They’d likely be larger than the average secondary consumer on their planet and rely more on prey than others. Humans could be found both here and as apex predators depending on the circumstances.

Final consumers: They would essentially be the apex predators and have very few if any galactic species due to the fact that they’ll have smaller prey numbers than any other. They’ll likely be purely carnivorous though the omnivorous option is still likely with bears being a prime example of this. As previously stated humans could be found here too given the few that actually try to prey on us even outside our area of species origin (I know what you’ll say, “but what about bears, lions and tigers?”. Essentially all bear species will leave you alone as long as you make your presence known and you don’t seem an immediate threat, the only bear species that will hunt a human is the polar bear and they’re so easily distracted if you drop a glove or something they’ll take a good 10 mins checking that out before they realise you’re gone. Lions are scared enough by us to allow us to steal a fair amount of their kills, this is even practice In African tribes to steal lion kills because it’s easier than hunting yourself. While tigers are able to kill us they only do it under dire circumstances and reasearch shows that they genuinely try to avoid us, an example being that tigers will take the same paths as humans but only at night to avoid us. Bonus animals like snakes avoid us because we can crush their skulls easily and so only give a warning bite(a snap at the ankle essentially, no actual contact) wolves actively avoid us because throughout history we’ve hunted them for various reasons)

Decomposers: They’re a little less predictable with their numbers since they’ll likely eat basically anything that’s dead and death is inevitable for all life (otherwise it wouldn’t really be alive). Though since they essentially just wonder about to see if somethings died or been killed it’s unlikely they’ll become sentient or space faring due to the fact that they don’t really need to put effort into the complexities of getting nutrients. They would likely be common as animals but as a creature with a culture etc that’s a LOT less likely than if they actively caught food.

So, in conclusion: humans are likely an extremely rare example of a predatory species becoming sentient. Have a burger you marvel of nature!

Edit: predators aren’t a necessity to an ecosystem, there’s diseases and parasites that could cull the population in the same way. On a death world, predation would likely be large scale (like on ours) but (multicellular)predators didn’t exist for the best part of 60 million years in our early evolution. On a more tame and less environmentally taxing planet there may not be a reason for predation to evolve past filter feeding, thereby surpassing the point that predators would be more likely, since on tamer planets there would be tamer solutions. Evolution isn’t survival of the fittest, it’s the survival of the good enough. All you need to do to evolve is to live long enough to pass on your genes, you don’t necessarily need to be a predator to do this.

#humans are space raptors #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians #humans are space orcs #humans are deathworlders #humans are weird #humans are strange

[fleurdehivers]

Can u like.. link that pynch playlist u were talking about? Because i think you have great taste

sure i can! i’m going to apologise in advance because you probably just wanted the link – hope it works! –, but i’m going to explain my choices of songs a little because i kind of envisioned it as a sort of soundtrack to the series. so there are different ‘blocks’ of songs each one referring to a particular book or even a single chapter or scene. 

(also sorry for replying so late, i had a full day)

i’m going to put the rest under a ‘keep reading’ cut because this is going to be long.

the raven boys comprises the songs from when you were young by the killers to sky full of songs by florence. the songs from luck by american authors to can’t help falling in love by elvis refer to the dream thieves and a few of them come from mstief’s soundcloud playlist for the novel (nominally luck, fight song, keep it low, daydreaming). from welcome home, son by american authors to the chain by fleetwood mac we’re in blue lily, lily blue. from in my veins by andrew belle to winter winds by mumford i’m following the events of the raven king. and the songs from first day of my life by bright eyes to the end refer to adam and ronan’s life after chapter 67 of trk… in my head when i made the playlist til death do us part by white lion was about their marriage, but yeah that’s just a hc.

okay, this is the part that you can totally skip and i wouldn’t blame you if you did. BUT. these are the songs that reminded me of specific moments in the story:

snake eyes is about calla revealing her insight into ronan’s mind and calling him a snake in trb

pills is about ronan punching adam’s father

daydreaming is about ronan experimenting with his abilities in tdt

unattainable and can’t help falling in love with you are about ronan voicing his second secret at the end of tdt

welcome home, son and home are about ronan being able to return to the barns

the songs from skin graph to somebody to die for are a hypothetical mix for the cassette ronan leaves in adam’s car and i took them from another playlist, made for the fic things you know by heart by moreraventhanothers (they wouldn’t be my choice of songs for the playlist, they feel too romantic, but i liked the songs so that’s that)

the songs from take me to church to devil side are about the church scene in bllb

church refers to the quote at the start of chapter 18 of trk

angels and first time he kissed a boy are about adam and ronan’s first kiss

i want to know what love is is about adam and gansey’s conversation soon after

trade mistakes and together we will live forever are about the rest of adam and ronan’s night

the moon is down and mr loverman are about ronan being alone at the barns when adam is away for college

and then (i’m sorry, this is going to end soon i promise) these are the lyrics that really screamed pynch imho.

When We Were Young, The Killers

[about adam]

Watch it now, here he comes

He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus

But he talks like a gentlemen

Like you imagined when you were young

The Bad in Each Other, Feist 

[adam]

Speak plain he said

But didn’t say

He acted that way

Therein lies the doubt

We had the same feelings

[both]

When a good man and a good woman

Can’t find the good in each other

Then a good man and a good woman

Will bring out the worst in the other

The bad in each other

But what and how

To find us now

When we’ve become two

Pills, The Perishers

[ronan]

I hope my fists

can fight for two

So you’ll never have to see

What we’ve grown to be

Snake Eyes, Mumford & Sons

[about ronan]

It’s in the eyes

I can tell, you will always be danger

Fight Song, The Republic Tigers

[both]

Everyday we’re fighting, and we’re

Causing bolts of lightning, like a

Hot and cold collision in the sky.

[ronan]

If you cared, there’d be love in the air.

Thisle & Weeds, Mumford & Sons

[adam]

Spare me your judgments and spare me your dreams

‘Cause recently mine have been tearing my seams

Unattainable, Little Joy

[ronan]

Only when the goal is unattainable

Do I start to feel like I’m losing myself

And this deep secret that hasn’t come out yet

Is buried down deep with the rest

I can’t coerce you into this one

Jealousy lay all your spells to bed

I’ll choose unloved instead

Can’t Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley

[ronan]

Shall I stay

Would it be a sin

If I can’t help falling in love with you

Wolves Without Teeth, Of Monsters And Men

[ronan]

You hover like a hummingbird

Haunt me in my sleep

You’ll sailing from another world

Sinking in my sea, oh

You’re feeding on my energy

I’m letting go of it

I can see through you

We are the same

It’s perfectly strange

I Wanna Be Yours, Arctic Monkeys

[ronan]

Secrets I have held in my heart

Are harder to hide than I thought

Maybe I just wanna be yours

I wanna be yours

I wanna be yours

From Afar, Vance Joy

[ronan]

They told me “boy, look the other way”

Told me “boy, bite your tongue”

‘Cause that’s not the way

Yeah, that’s not the way

Oh, that’s just not the way that friends behave

Oh, that’s just not the way that friends behave

You light me up across the room

Two falling sparks, one willing fool

And I, I always knew that I would love you from afar

And that is just the way that we remain

Oh, that will be the way that we remain

It shouldn’t come as a surprise

What I’m feeling, what I’m feeling now

It shouldn’t come as a surprise

The Run And Go, twenty one pilots

[ronan]

I can’t take them on my own, my own

Oh, I’m not the one you know, you know

I have killed a man and all I know

Don’t wanna call you in the nighttime

Don’t wanna give you all my pieces

Don’t wanna hand you all my trouble

Don’t wanna give you all my demons

You’ll have to watch me struggle

From several rooms away

But tonight I’ll need you to stay

Devil Side, Foxes

[adam]

Run and hide, it’s gonna be bad tonight

‘Cause here comes your devil side

It’s gonna ruin me

It’s almost like, slow motion suicide

Watching your devil side, get between you and me

Still I want you, but not for your devil side

Not for your haunted life, just for you

So tell me why I deal with your devil side

I deal with your dangerous mind, but never with you

Church, Fall Out Boy

[ronan]

If you were church, I’d get on my knees

Confess my love, I’d know where to be

My sanctuary, you’re holy to me

If you were church, I’d get on my knees

My Body Is A Cage, Arcade Fire

[ronan]

My body is a cage

That keeps me from dancing with the one I love

But my mind holds the key

Angels, The xx

[both]

You move through the room

Like breathing was easy

If someone believed me

They would be

As in love with you as I am

And everyday

I am learning about you

The things that no one else sees

And with words unspoken

A silent devotion

I know you know what I mean

And the end is unknown

But I think I’m ready

As long as you’re with me

I Want to Know What Love Is, Foreigner

[adam!]

I’ve gotta take a little time

A little time to think things over

In my life there’s been heartache and pain

I wanna know what love is

I want you to show me

I wanna feel what love is

I know you can show me

I’m gonna take a little time,

A little time to look around me

I’ve got nowhere left to hide

It looks like love has finally found me

Trade Mistakes, Panic! At the Disco

[ronan]

I may never sleep tonight

As long as you’re still burning bright

First Day Of My Life, Bright Eyes

[ronan]

Yours is the first face that I saw

I think I was blind before I met you

“This is the first day of my life

I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you

But, now I don’t care, I could go anywhere with you

And I’d probably be happy”

[adam]

So if you wanna be with me

With these things there’s no telling

We’ll just have to wait and see

But I’d rather be working for a paycheck

Than waiting to win the lottery

Besides, maybe this time it’s different

I mean I really think you like me, me, me, me

Drive, Halsey

[ronan]

My hands wrapped around a stick shift

Swerving on the 405, I can never keep my eyes off this

My neck, the feeling of your soft lips

Illuminated in the light, bouncing off the exit signs I missed

[adam]

And California [Henrietta] never felt like home to me

Carves into my hollow chest, spreads over the emptiness

Over analyze again

Starving, Hailee Steinfeld

[adam]

I didn’t know that I was starving till I tasted you

[ronan]

You know just how to make my heart beat faster

arms, Christina Perri

[adam]

I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart

But you came around

And you knocked me off the ground from the start

How many times will let you me change my mind and turn around

I can’t decide if I’ll let you save my life or if I’ll drown

The world is coming down on me

And I can’t find a reason to be loved

I’ve never truly loved ‘till you put your arms around me

And I believe that it’s easier for you to let me go

I hope that you see right through my walls

I’ll never let a love get so close

You put your arms around me and I’m home

The Moon Is Down, Radical Face

[adam]

There ain’t no moon tonight

It’s hard for me to see

But if I can catch a glimpse of you

It helps me feel at ease

It helps me sleep

[ronan]

You were never at rest

You were always somewhere-bound

But as for me, I’m the simple kind

I’ll live and die in this town

#✉️ #anon

[andorandrook]

Hellion

since some of you guys like my writing I thought I might as well share with you the first part of a non-fanfic story that I wrote in the summer. it’s unfinished and is likely to never be finished but if you’re curious, give it a read and please tell me what you think!

The journey to work that day was as uninteresting as usual.

My blaring alarm had woken me with just the right amount of time to shower and dress myself but not enough for breakfast so I grabbed an apple to eat while I walked. It was bitter, unpleasantly soft and the crunch of it between my teeth felt so loud and like physical attack on my already pounding head. I let it fall from my hand to the grimy pavement after just a couple of bites. However much I wished I could just leave it at that I knew I’d need energy for later.

The shop I stopped at was just down my street; the sort of flickeringly lit, messily stocked place that never closes and never has anything you’d truly want to buy. At this evening hour any decent shop would be closed so in a way I was lucky to live in convenient distance. The door was a little stiff and rattled when I opened it, causing the bored-looking shopkeeper to look up and recognise me. He didn’t know my name, I’d never said a word to him but he clearly didn’t get regular customers as consistent as me. I’d never stolen anything and yet his eyes still followed me warily around the shelves as if I looked like the type. I should feel insulted, in all honesty. I didn’t.

I grabbed some trashy cereal bar, a bottle of water and some chewing gum. When I went up to the desk to pay my eyes lingered longingly on the packeted cigarettes behind. My throat twitched with the urge, how easy it would be to ask for some. I didn’t.

The cereal bar was my usual brand but in my haste I had bought a different flavour than usual. It was sticky to the touch and cloyingly sweet with bits of fruit scattered in it. Not great. Better than that apple though.

I waited at the bus stop for the last trip of the day, precariously balanced on one of those useless benches used to stop anyone sleeping on them. A cat startled across the street in my direction and proceeded to rub its side against my leg, marking it with the scent of its hideously patched fur. I kicked it away.

The bus journey was similarly uneventful. I listened to music and determinedly ignored to scant few other passengers traveling at this time. I watched the street lamps go past through the smudged, scratched glass and the rhythmic passing off the light almost sent me to sleep before my stop. I was jerked back into the present by the hissing of the breaks and stumble down the aisle off the bus.

A few minutes more walking and I approached what appears from the outside to be some kind of abandoned industrial building. It was a little early for people to start arriving but a few patrons have gathered already in the concrete courtyard outside. I nodded to them in greeting, glad that they didn’t recognise me with the hood of my jumper pull down over my head. I quickly made it round the back to the ‘tradesman’s entrance’. There was a keypad and intercom system next to an unremarkable door, dwarfed by the scale of the building. I press the button to request entrance. It crackled with static.

“Hey, it’s Ryan,” I spoke at the wall. I received only silence and static as a response. “Ryan Benton.” Still nothing. I sighed. “Hellion.”

“Oh right, sorry man, come in,” the intercom voice muttered and the door clicked open.

I had thought the stage name had sounded cool at the time I had chosen it, when I was just starting out aged seventeen. Now I had to force myself to say it, wincing at how childish it sounded. Inside the building was dry and oddly warm as I closed the door. I was accustomed to this, however, simply shrugging my hooded jumper off as I climbed the staircase and ran my fingertip over the exposed brick. It came away grossly covered with dust and dirt. I promptly wiped it on my trousers before entering the first door on the left.

“Ah, Ryan, I’m so glad you’re early!” Julia exclaimed as I attempted to enter without causing a fuss. She grinned at me, an uncommonly genuine smile for her, and ushered me back out of the door.

Julia Lund had been my ‘manager’ from pretty much the beginning. A plump women that I would have placed at around thirty-five with permanently pursed lips and dirty blond hair scraped back tightly into a ponytail, she had been almost a mother-figure to me since she took me on. There were better managers around, of course, and I did not stick with her out of a sense of loyalty; I liked that she spoke frankly without embellishment or euphemism, I liked that she was one of the few people I knew who were shorter than me. Most of all I liked that she was unemotional, uncompassionate and ruthless. That was how to succeed in this kind of industry.

“I’m not early,” I shrugged, glancing at my watch.

“Well, I’m glad you’re not late, then,” she snapped. “Anyway, I have a surprise for you today, kid.”

“A...good surprise?”

“I hope you’ll think so. She’s very expensive so you’d better like her,” she laughed, though there was certainly an undercurrent of threat. She gestured for us to descend the staircase I’d just climbed, to my mild annoyance, but then kept going down. However much I personally disliked the basement layers of the building, I knew better than to argue with Julia, instead meekly following her down. The heat only seemed to increase as we reached the desired floor. When Julia opened the door labeled ‘Storage 6’ I was immediately enveloped in a wave of moist air heavy with the scent of animal and metallic tang of blood. I took a breath, ran my fingers through my hair, and followed her inside.

Each cage was a three meters cube, bulletproof plastic mesh supported by thick steel bars. There were about twenty cages in this one room; one room of dozens more underneath the main complex. On each cage was the name of the agency it belonged to and occasionally other specifications. In each cage were the animals.

I didn’t spare a glance the the dead-eyed creatures as I walked past and they didn’t care to look at us. There were larger animals, wolves and lions and bears, alone in their confines whilst the smaller beasts shared two or three to a cage. Each one made no reaction to our presence.

We stopped at the cage furthest from the entrance to the room, labeled with the logo of Julia’s agency. Julia was more careful than most with her creatures, each one being securely locked away to prevent anyone stealing these valuable animals. She quickly typed in a code and the cage door clicked open. Neither of us had to duck to get inside.

The animal inside was lying down, head lolled to one side and eyes staring blankly ahead. She was huge; stretched out she could easily have touched both walls of her enclosure. Not elegant in the slightest, she was of a stocky build, her head a squat jumble of features with wide set eyes in an unappealing shade of yellow. Beauty wasn’t an issue, however, when it was clear how much power was held in those thick muscles that heaved with every breath, mouth opening to reveal a mouth of sharp teeth and wide tongue.

“What is she?” I asked, keeping my distance but squatting down so I could look closer.

“A tileguaress,” she stated. I raised my brow and she sighed impatiently. “A hybrid. A lion had a baby with a tiger and that baby then had a baby with a jaguar. Or it might’ve been the other way round.”

Now that she had explained her parentage, I could see where the animal got her looks. The body shape very much resembled a lion with its stout build and oversized head.. The colouring was that of a melanistic jaguar, a panther as it is known; dark grey-black fur, thick and dense, spotted with faded rosettes that become clearer on the lighter coloured belly. Her tiger heritage was expressed primarily in her enormous size, but also with larger paws and a flatter snout on what would otherwise be a jaguar-like head.

“It doesn’t matter either way,” Julia continued. “She’s fast, she’s strong and, more importantly, she’s yours.”

My head snapped round to face her, grin already spreading on my face. Mine.

I looked back at the animal and noticed now that the right ear was incomplete, a roughly semi-circular hole in the shape of a bite mark had been cut from the edge, relatively recently if the red rawness of the flesh was a good indicator. That’s my mark. That means she’s mine.

“Well...what do you think?” Julia pressed.

“She’s amazing. When do I get to try her out?”

“I’ve got you last slot tonight. It’s going to be the main event,” she grinned, clearly proud of herself. I hold her gaze, cynical causing her to shrug. “You don’t need any practise, you’ll be fine. Apparently she handles just like a tiger.”

“Can she roar?”

“You’ll have to find out,” she smirked.

I reached out as if to touch the animal’s face but instead brushed the metal device attached under her ear. It was one of the latest models, brand new by the looks of it, small and smooth enough that it could not get caught on anything. When it was switched on I knew the small light would pulse blue. It was newly installed, too, and just for a moment I allowed myself to wonder what this great beast was like before they fixed wires into her brain and dosed her up with chemicals to make her as placid and dumb as a baby.

Even though she stared blankly forward I still felt a flash of guilt when I looked into her eyes. It was gone in an instant and I stood, turning to the exit.

“You going to name her?”

I glanced at Julia, then back down to the undisturbed creature. “Maybe. If she lasts the week.”

“She’d better. I spent good money on that thing, you’d better not get her killed until I’ve reaped my investment five times over at a minimum,” Julia said sternly as we exited the cage. “I’ll give you manageable opponents.”

I scoffed. “Who are we against later?”

“One of Hauxwell’s lot; a lion, I think.”

“Do you reckon we’re up to it?”

Julia locked that cage but stayed peering through the mesh. “Look at her, Ryan.”

I do. I see muscles and teeth and claws and a single torn ear. Mine.

“You’re going to be just fine,” she reassured and patted me on the shoulder.

We walked back up the seemingly endless staircases in silence. I struggled to keep up with her brisk pace, struggled to keep my breathing shallow to not let her realise how absurdly drained I was after just one flight of stairs. The blood in my head seemed to constrict my brain with pulsing pressure. It hurt.

When we reached the main office belonging to Julia it had gotten a lot busier. The other pilots in the agency were lounging on sagging sofas whilst a few technician flitted around them. I made a move to go sit with them and rest for a while but Julia stopped me with an outstretched arm.

“Go get changed, Ryan. I want you in Prep in five minutes.”

“I thought you said I was on last!” I growled.

“You are. You’re also on first; starting and ending the show,” she smiled, this time with a certain savageness and insincerity. I huffed in irritation.  “The crowd loves you and don’t you dare try to kid me into thinking you don’t love being the star, the golden boy, the centre of attention.”

“Sorry, I guess it’s too much to hope for: a relaxed evening to prepare for piloting that new beast,” I sighed.

“Dream on, kid.”

I rolled my eyes and headed towards the door but my way was blocked.

“Poor little Ryan, is mummy making you work for a change?” the man said.

Marcus Heath. We were of a similar age though I was far more experienced having started nearly three years before him. Where I was small and slightly built, he towered over me and felt twice as wide, arms roped in burly muscles and legs like small trees. Most of the other pilots disliked me but only Marcus truly seemed to hate me. He loathed me for reasons I could not specify; perhaps it was jealousy of my adoration or my skill. I didn’t mind; he was large and brash, specialising in bears. He relied too heavily on the strength of his animals over his own skill and I knew that soon he would be tossed out of work like countless others that I had seen pass through.

I slipped past him quickly before he had a chance to react and scuttled from the room scowling. The next door over led to a small changing room with slightly battered lockers lining the wall. At the sight of one particular dent I was reminded of the pain in my skull that came from my head being slammed there after a particularly displeasing fight for my opponent. It had been easier to flee than fight back.

I opened my locker and found my outfit for the night newly washed and neatly hung up. A lot of the other pilots have fancy costumes that match their gimmicks; Julia had originally tried to force me into one until it became obvious that I would not compete properly unless I was comfortable. The clothes were still custom made but simple outfits that rotated throughout the week. I shrugged off my jeans and shirts and stuffed them in the bottom of the locker, pulling out my new clothes. Today’s outfit was one of my favourites; skintight black leggings with my signature blue flame pattern spiraling the lower leg and a loose sleeveless shirt with a ripped effect at the edges also in black. I pulled on the trousers and stood in front of the mirror in the corner of the room fiddling with my hair.

Julia insisted I keep it long to suit my ‘wild’ look but for practicalities sake we compromised on a shaggy style that still irritates at my eyes if I don’t style it. It’s dyed too, my natural near-black bleached white on the top layers so that that the pale and dark strands are mixed and contrasted. I would never have admitted that I thought it looked good even when I spiked it erratically with hair gel like I did then. After perfecting my hair I sighed and grudgingly took out some make-up. The audience could only see my face for a couple of minutes yet Julia still insisted on well above the bare minimum of stage make-up. Luckily, she also made the other pilots wear similar amounts so this was not yet another thing they could insult me with. The foundation made me somehow look paler than usual and the eyeliner was near impossible to apply steadily.

I was still standing in front of the mirror attempting a neat-enough line above my eye when their was a knock on the door quickly followed by the door opening.

“Sir, Ms Lund was just- oh,” interrupted the young technician who had been assigned for me for nearly a year now. He saw what I was doing and stuttered, eyes clearly noting my state of half-dress and cheeks turning spectacularly red. “I’m sorry, sir, I’ll come back when...when you’re-”

“It’s fine,” I assured him, smiling to settle his obvious nerves. The boy was always so skittery around me, as if he was constantly scared of my judgement or approval. I gestured at him with my head to come in . “What did she want?” “Oh, she wanted you to be in Prep already so she sent me to see what was taking so long.”

“I’m not late, am I?” I asked, confident until I glimpsed the clock in the corner of the room. “Oh shit, sorry. It’s this eyeliner, you see.” I gesticulated at my face with the pencil and ended up drawing a black line on my upper nose.

“Do you need some help?” he chuckled tentatively. I nodded, failing to suppress an embarrassed smile as I wiped the mark off with the back of my hand.

He took the pencil and faced me towards him, tilting my head up so he could see better. He instructed me alternately to close and open my eyes as he deftly applied some more marks and neatened the ones I had already made. When my eyes were open I could see him biting his lip in concentration, his big owl’s eyes blinking furiously behind thick-rimmed glasses. He looked proud but not smug when he asked for my approval of his handiwork.

“It’s your fault, you know,” I nudged him, only half joking. His brow furrowed. “Those drugs you fill me with; they’re what make my hands unsteady.”

“Maybe I should up your dosage. I thought I had it calculated perfectly but perhaps…” he trailed off.

He watched quietly whilst I slipped my shirt on and added the accessories; blue and black leather cuffs the cover most of my upper arms, matching coloured bracelets on my wrists and a necklace strung with feline teeth. No shoes because I liked to work in bare feet and it showed off my Julia-approved tattoos that spiraled across my ankles and feet. I would have liked to spend a couple of minutes more on adjusting my hair but I could see the kind-eyed technician fidgeting, clearly anxious to get going.

As we set off down the corridor I realized that despite working with me for nearly a year, I still didn’t know the boy’s name.

Once we reached the small, sterile room labeled ‘Preparation’, I was sat down as usual on the plasticky coated chair. It was like one you might find in a dentist's only upright and the arms were covered in ominous straps. He took my right arm and attached it in position before sliding the leather cuff down my arm, revealing the tattoo there.

It read, in a clean and official font, ‘Insert Needle Here’ below a small cross now riddled with tiny scars. That design and position was definitely not pre-approved of by Julia. She had been furious when she first saw it and was forced to adjust all of my outfits to cover it up, hence the arm-cuffs. I couldn’t understand why she was so angry; it wasn’t as if it wasn’t common knowledge that the pilots are dosed up on chemicals to enhance their ability to fight. I had got the tattoo done soon after this unknown-named technician was appointed because on the first few days he kept failing to find a vein on the first try. Facing Julia’s wrath was worth it to see the boy’s face when I next went into Prep.

He smiled reassuringly as he administered the first injection, accurate to the tattoo’s instruction. He muttered the names of some of the chemicals contained and their properties, as much for himself as for me. “This one is for better connectivity to the devices,” he gestured to the syringed once he’d taken it out, as if I didn’t go through this process daily. Theoretically anyone could be a pilot but without the correct additional chemicals in your system it would be difficult to control, the movements would be slow, jerky and awkward.

“This is to keep you calm,” he continued and I winced slightly as the liquid entered my arm. I used to look away, sickened by the procedure. Now, however, I’d barely feel a thing.

“”And this is for faster reflexes,” he concluded as he administered the final dose. “I think...perhaps this is what is causing the shaking. Your body has become almost dependent on it, requiring a higher dose to last you a full day.”

“Is there anything you can do about it?” I asked as I watched him carefully seal and dispose of the used syringes.

“I’m sure I can figure something out, Sir. Give me time to throw some calculations about and I’ll get back to you for tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I smiled up at him, heartfelt. I knew that he was paid to work for me, to make me as comfortable and happy as possible, and yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was genuinely fond of me. He unstrapped my arm from the chair and I flexed it. I never had been fond of the dull ache that injections cause. I replaced the cuff over the minutely swollen skin.

“Have you still got a headache?”

I nodded. “It’s been on and off for about a month.”

“Did the gel help last time?”

“Yeah, maybe. Well, it can’t hurt to try,” I shrugged.

“Well, actually it could. Say you you were allergic to one of the ingredients then you might go into anaphylactic shock or get at least get a rash. Or if you overuse if you might become desensitised to the ingredient that-” he stopped after seeing my cynical expression. He tried to suppress an embarrassed laugh. “It can’t hurt to try.”

He produced a small vial and moved me to face him, holding my head still. With a finger of the grossly gelatinous substance he rubbed it into my temples. I closed my eyes and relaxed as the coolness of the gel bought minimal relief from the pounding in my temples.

“Is that any better?”

I forced my eyes open, a little annoyed at the interruption of the rhythmic smoothing of the  substance into my skin. “It’ll do. Has anyone told you what the specifications for the first fight today are?”

The technician hesitated. “You’ve both got felines. Medium-sized, I think. The opponent is one of Kaplan’s lot but I don’t know who. It shouldn’t be too straining, anyhow.” “How would you know?” I snapped. “You don’t know what it’s like.”

He glared, a moment standing defiant before he caved back to his normal pliant self. “No, you’re right. I don’t.”

I left the room quickly, feeling a little ridiculous that I had gotten so worked up over such a minor comment. Still, I both had too little time and was too stubborn to go back and apologise, instead heading to wait outside what the pilots had dubbed ‘Stage Door’. I leant against the wall with the intention of having a few minutes to myself. Of course that would never happen.

“Ryan, are you fully prepped for the fight?” Julia called as she trotted down the hallway towards me. “You look very flushed; did you put enough foundation on?”

She grabbed my face not roughly and tilted it. I rolled my eyes but let her examine the make-up my technician and I had applied earlier. She grunted in approval before letting go.

“Right, you’ll be piloting a cheetah first thing, the one you used to fight Marcelli’s hunting dog last week? You’re going against Kaplan’s Unbleached Claw.”

“Who?” I asked, trying to stifle a laugh at the ridiculousness of the name.

“Unbleached Claw? I don’t think you’ve fought her before, she’s relatively new. She’s one of those hippie ‘natural’ types who are all into keeping the animals as wild and pure as possible,” Julia dismissed, voice dripping with scorn.

“Sounds like she’s in the wrong business.”

“I agree,” she continued. “Anyway, you’ll be fighting her and her new snow leopard. Should be quite the opening match. Keep it quick, though, because we’ve got a lot of stuff to fit in tonight.”

I almost choked in surprise even though I wasn’t eating anything. “A snow leopard? I thought they were extinct.”

“Near as,” Julia shrugged it off. “Kaplan says some guys sold it to him wild-caught. Got no breeding behind it, no gene mods so it should be an easy win.”

“He sure it’s not just some painted-up jaguar?”

She laughed and waved it away, nudging me through the door and muttering whatever her version of ‘good luck’ was. As soon as the door’s seal broke, sound flooded the corridor. The horrendous clamour of near a thousand voices jabbering away, the clattering of their bodies and throats overlayed by the mechanically loudened announcing from the commentator’s voice. It felt like a physical agony in my head but it had to be done and so I stepped through the door into the Pod.

It was narrow and long, the half at the other end made entirely of glass save for the floor and empty save for a single chair. The half in which I stood was darkened with shadow and so I could hand back unseen by the crowd. Through the glass I could see that it was crowded tonight, the whole arena completely full of soon-to-be-drunk patrons chatting and shouting and arguing, a few of them listening to the night’s proceedings being announced. Above I could see the wealthier sponsors enjoying their fancy drinks in the spacious private booths that gave an excellent top-down view of the arena.

The walls at a level with me were lined with three other pods jutting out towards the centre of the vast room and in the one directly opposite I thought I could see the shape of my opponent hanging back in the dark like me, waiting patiently for the night to begin.

And it begun.

“...honoured to welcome our first pilots. In the East Pod we have....Hellion!”

A thunderous cheer swelled in the arena, a vibration felt deep in my core as I stepped into the light of the glass room. I grinned and gestured for more praise, psyching the crowd up for the fight. This was Hellion, not Ryan, and Hellion was loved for being arrogant and cocksure, not loathed for it. I padded round to in front of the chair, bare feet on the cool floor and once again beat my chest for approval in full view of the crowd.

“Against him in the West Pod we have...Unbleached Claw!”

Another swell of applause, though I noted smugly that it was not as loud or confident as mine, her name being less known or prestigious. My opponent slunk of the dark, a tall woman a little younger than me in a tight top and loose trouser that were a spectrum of pastel shades. Her hair was long and a natural brow that fell in waves to her waist. She smiled sweetly at the crowd but did not beg for their attention as she took her place in front of her own identical chair. She glared at me and tossed her hair back so that I caught a glimpse of the silvered rings adorning her ears, identical to the one through the side of her nose. I licked my lips and pressed my hands to the glass, smirking a little. She looked perhaps and little intimidated but remained firmly stoney-faced.

The announcer was prattling more details to the fight and I was setting up, taking the headset that was sitting on the chair and strapping it to my head. I kept the viso up for now but lowered the headphone speakers over my ears and made sure the entire device was secure, next fitting the controllers dangling for the sides from wires to my hand. They looked like simple black gloves and were lined with tiny sensors and wires, all reporting back to the main headset. I sat down on the chair and glanced up to see my opponent doing the same.

“How’s the crowd tonight?” a voice started up in my ear.

“Loud,” I complained.

It was one of Julia’s subordinates, a man named Odell. Julia often advised the fights herself but with the agency expanding she needed others to take over some of the time. I still felt a little twinge of bitterness that she couldn’t be bothered to help me out herself every time I heard someone else’s voice on the comms. Still, Odell was civil enough not to despise me openly so I didn’t overly mind.

Suddenly the audience’s screeching was gone, replaced with complete silence and the whirring of blood in my head. Everyday I muttered a short prayer to the guy who invented soundproof glass.

“Better?” Odell asked.

“Much appreciated,” I thanked him. “You’ll have to tell me what’s going on though. Can I start yet?”

“The commentator’s just talking about the creatures so I guess you should probably get going, yeah. I think that’s what that Claw girl is doing.”

I looked over to check and he was right, she had already pulled her visor down and was sitting tense in her seat.

“Okay, I’ll get on that then.”

I slid the visor screen down over my eyes, my vision turning to darkness. Not hearing or seeing anything was a little disconcerting but it soon ended as Odell continued in my ear.

“You ready?”

“Of course.”

“Brilliant. Booting up in three...two...one…”

To someone who has never been in two places at once it is near impossible to describe the feeling of opening your  second set of eyes, of standing up whilst you remain firmly seated, of yawning whilst your mouth is shut and stretching out your tail. I did all of those things and then looked about me, taking in the holding pen I had been lying asleep in. I could hear the rumbling of the crowd again through the door.

“How are you doing?”

“Seems normal,” I mused, knowing that everything my screen displays was being streamed back to where Odell is advising from. “Response with little to no delay time. Stats say all the vitals are fine, he’s fully recovered from last week.”

“Open the mouth.” I did. “And close.” I did that too. “Looks like we’re good to go. The hatch will open in approximately sixty seconds.”

I paced briefly, stretching my legs and warming the muscles. The wall on one side of the pen was a mirror, smudged and scratched but still clear enough to see my reflection. It would be a strange day when I could look into that mirror and my insides not lurch with surprise to see a creature that was certainly not me staring back. I took a few seconds to preen and admire my appearance.

I never liked piloting cheetahs. They’re too lithe to make proper fighting animals, their speed advantage rendered practically useless in the small confines of the arena. Still, even I had to admit that this particular specimen was impressive; selectively bred for size and muscle he cut an imposing figure. A king cheetah is a colour variant rather than a true subspecies,but still rare enough to make them more desired and more praised by the crowds. I tilted my head and to see the telltale blue flashing light on the metal device there as well as my signature bite-mark cut in his ear.

I should name him, I thought, staring at my reflection. If he survives, that is.

I started a little as the voice returned to my ears. It was always strange being so immersed that it felt like I was hearing the instruction through the animal’s ears rather than my own.

“Get ready, Hellion. Hatch opening in five seconds,” Odell informed me. I turned to face the door, simultaneously listening to the commentator introducing me and Odell counting down. “Four. Three. Two. One.”

I hadn’t realised how dim the holding pen was until the hatch lifted and glaring light split through the opening, causing me to reflexively flinch. A low grinding bass music was playing underneath the crowd noises as I stepped out onto the walkway, timing my steps to each thumping beat and prowling forward. I tossed my head from one side to the other, engaging the crowd. I leapt off the walkway and into the arena neatly, a large entrance and a drop of about half a metre. I heard the cage door slide down in place behind me.

I took a moment to survey my surroundings, having not bothered to check with my human eyes a few minutes earlier. The cage is the same as always; plastic mesh strong enough to withstand a blow from a polar bear but thin enough that it provided easy viewing. They configure the arena itself slightly differently for every fight. This time they had platforms jutting out at various levels, some unattainably out of reach, and one hanging to the centre of the arena maybe three metres in the air. I grumbled slightly at the inequity; cheetahs are terrible climbers. Any attempt by me to attempt to mount one of the higher platforms would lead to certain injury. Perhaps they felt she needed the advantage.

I stalked one circuit around the cage, pausing occasionally scuff my feet or bare my teeth at the crowd, no sound. Cheetahs are sinister enough animals when silent, lean and aggressive. They can’t roar, however, or growl or snort. The noises they produce range from not unlike a baby bird, to not unlike a kitten. Not particularly intimidating to say the least.

As I paced I made eye contact with and observed members of the crowd. A group of drunken men far richer than they looked who cheered when I bared my teeth at them; a couple, arms slung over one another, who looked mildly terrified; a lone man with a handkerchief covering the lower half of his face who made no reaction at all, even when I hissed directly at him.

After circling for the crowd, showing off the cheetah’s beautiful body in slick movements, I turned to the real audience. The camera.

The money made from this kind of sporting came almost entirely from the gambling industry. Whilst the crowd in view were wealthy, and those up on the balconies even richer, it was those sitting in the comfort of their country manors, apartments in city centre and other such opulent dwellings that brought in the real money. Millionaires betting thousands on their lucky favourite, billionaires betting millions on an outside chance and those with more money than someone could spend in a lifetime throwing half a city’s wealth away in one evening. All done through internet payments whilst they lounged on comfy sofas and watched the blood run red on their screens. It was all horrendously illegal, of course, but there was far too much money in it for it to ever be stopped by force.

I stared directly down the lens of the high-quality video camera, curled my lips back to reveal sharp fangs and hissed a little. I turned my head to let the harsh lighting shine off my rich coat and let them observe the layers of muscle underneath. The patrons knew me, of course, but they might not know the animal. I needed to show them this was a creature worth staking their fortunes on.

The commentator announced Unbleached Claw’s entry and I only just turned in time to see the creature hop gracefully down from the walkway. As is courtesy, I held back and simply paced, waiting for her to engage the audience. It was only fair that we both had a turn to win favour before the fighting began and also it gave me a little time to observe her.

The snow leopard herself was truly stunning, although at the same time smaller than expected. The creature was short and stockily built, entire body covered with thick silver-grey fur patterned with large irregular rosettes. Built for far colder temperatures than these. The fur around her head was so dense and fluffy that it entirely concealed the controlling device, adding to the ‘natural’ look that Julia had told me about. The only give-away that this was not a wild beast at all was the thick silver ring pierced through the side of her nose to match the pilot. That and the dead-eyed gaze that all piloted animals had; a vacant look that told of the external control and powerlessness of the body.

I watched as she leapt with ease onto one of the lower platforms, the body of a snow leopard being one built for climbing. My opponent clearly wasn’t one for pandering to the crowd, instead using this time to test out the new surroundings and exercise the vessel’s body. I noted with a certain smugness that her movements were on the whole far less graceful than mine, her comparatively little experience as a pilot making her a little awkward and jerky. Also she seemed to be slipping a little on the platforms as she jumped from one to another, suggesting they were perhaps not as much of an advantage as I had initially assumed.

Once she had scouted out the upper levels, she jumped deftly to the floor and faced me. I stood opposite her  on my side of the arena and nodded. The fight was beginning.

“You’re ready?” Odell asked for confirmation.

“Let’s get on with it.”

She chuffed at me and I bared my teeth. The fight had begun.

I spent only a few moments pacing before making the first strike, reminded of Julia’s words from earlier. Keep it quick. Using the cheetah’s ability to powerfully spring, I launched myself straight at the snow leopard, claws aiming at her head. She was quick enough to raise a paw to protect her face but not quick enough to dodge. I skittered to the side having gouged a deep mark on one of her front legs and a lesser scratch to her domed brow.

She tried a similar attack on me, a simple lunging leap. Her animal, however, was slower and gave me time to avoid the pounce entirely. She skidded past me and allowed me to twist and ram her against the cage wall. This exposed her belly which I proceeded to bite at, ripping deep as she squirmed to get away.

I saw this all through a screen on my visor, of course. These movements weren’t controlled by my muscles but by highly advanced electronics tracking the activity of my brain as well as subtle movements in my hands. And yet even without the pain or pressure feedback expected it still felt so real, so immediate. These claws were my own.

I let her go, failing to do any crucial damage at this angle and also realising that it was visually rather boring to keep her in one place. Anything to please the crowd. She sprung free and sooner than I could turn to follow her movements she sunk her teeth into my left haunch, using the wider jaw and longer teeth of a snow leopard to her advantage. Clearing away as quickly as I could, I hissed at her from a safe distance, irritated.

“Why the hell did you let her go?” Odell whined in his ear.

“It was a mistake,” I assured him. “What’s the damage like?”

It would take too much effort for me to read the blinking read text at the bottom of the screen that detailed injuries. I was far too busy fending off and delivering strikes with my foe, a rapid pace of scratching and hitting and gnashing.

“Minimal. No major blood supplies hit, muscles that were damaged are still functional. You’ll be fine, just be more careful next time.”

“Yes, sir,” I breathed sarcastically as I deftly avoided another blow to my side.

My eye caught on the shining of the metal hoop through the snow leopard’s nose. I pondered for a second, calculating the risk before deciding to go with my instinct, however sickening it is.

I lunged forward head first in an unnatural movement, bracing my claws against her shoulder and bending to hook one long tooth through the ring and shut my mouth. I distantly registered the crowd cheering as I began to drag the other creature by its nose whilst she struggled helplessly and lashed at my face. Now I had her caught I aimed my claws at her face, intending to inflict damage to her eyes or sensory organs. It was always an easy win to blind your opponent so that they could barely fight back.

I only managed one slash across her face before there was a great tugging and I was shocked to see her pull away from me. She had wrenched away so hard that it had ripped the ring out of the side of her nose, now gushing red. The snow leopard was whimpering presumably not under the pilot’s command, the animal inside crying out in pain through the layers of controls. She looked even more unsteady on her feet as she bounded away and onto an above platform, safe from further harm.

I spat out the ring and played with it in my claws whilst the crowd cheered me on. The piercing was her gimmick, similar to the way my animals have their ears cut, to make her more memorable. Hers could be used against  her, however, whilst mine was entirely harmless. I was reminded briefly of a pilot I once knew when I was first starting out who used to collar all his animals like pets. It was cute, sure, until I hooked my paws under it and used the collar to crush the wolf’s windpipe. It was a lesson poorly learned, however, and many have followed him in the pursuit of individuality.

The snow leopard was not running scared as I thought she might. Instead, she began stalking me from above, glaring down as she paced from one platform to another. It was unnerving because she looked like she was going to strike at any moment and I hated that she had this height advantage over me.

I looked up defiantly and chirped at her, the trill noise hoping to taunt her into action. It didn’t work and she continued circuiting above me, occasionally pausing to growl.

“What’s going on? Why isn’t she attacking?” Odell asked.

“The animal is in pain which makes it very difficult to pilot,” I stated, trying not to lose focus. “She’s trying to get the vessel back under control.”

“Can’t you go get her? Attack while she’s weak?”

“I’m in a cheetah, Odell. This animal is not meant for climbing; I’d likely end up more injured than she is,” I snapped, working off my irritation.

Which meant I wasn’t fully focussed a second later when the snow leopard leapt from the high platform.

She landed with full force on my back half and suddenly my screen was flashing an array of red as I fought her off. She had landed roughly and that had affected her too, enough for me to catch a claw on her eye before she could retreat back up high. I saw blood splattered on the concrete beneath me and could tell my animal was buckling unevenly as I tried to stand.

“Damage report!” I half-shouted.

“Left femur is splintered, hairline fracture to the pelvis, one of the lower ribs is cracked and three more suffering severe bruising. Internals seem fine, no major arteries hit but still serious damage to muscles nearing the hind legs,” Odell listed as I began an uneven pacing to assess the maneuverability of the broken body. “Sorry, Hellion. I don’t think you can win this one.”

“I can,” I hissed. “I can and I’m going to. She’s running half-blind now, it’s only so long until she make a mistake.”

The snow leopard was visibly struggling to traverse the platforms; her right eye was swollen shut and oozing blood and her paws were slipping, slick with blood. Her face was somewhat mangled with the addition of half the nose being ripped away causing the red to flow openly and soak the dense fur. She was, however, in better shape than my cheetah with all her limbs unbroken and only minor external injuries. She was chuffing loudly at me now and the audience were cheering, chanting for her to finish me off. She leapt around the outer ledges and then to the hanging platform in the middle.

She missed.

A combination of her newfound arrogance and the blood on her paws meant caused her to slip whilst jumping. She only landed half on the platform and scrabbled desperately with her paws, claws extended in a panicked attempt to reach safety.  Her hind legs and long tail were flailing, suspended in the air at the centre on the arena. My opportunity had arisen so quickly.

I dragged her down from her hanging position so fast and brutally that I heard her skull crack against the hard concrete. She still tried to bat me off but the resistance was weak, head and spine irreparably damaged by the fall. I leant down and she tried to snap at my head with the little strength left. I pushed her aside with one paw, holding her head back to gain full access to her exposed neck.

Such an amazing creature, a snow leopard. Near extinct, and effortlessly beautiful.

I bit out her throat.

The roar of the crowd was like a jet engine as it echoed around the arena, the great swell of noise amplified across every available surface. The body of the animal beneath me was still writhing even as her life was spewing in bursts through the torn flesh of her neck. I stood proud and accepted the applause of the crowd, front legs propped up on the snow leopard’s ribcage. I turned directly to the camera and once again bared my teeth, now red and dripping. I stayed there as the body twitched a little and blood gurgled out of its mouth, heart finally finished with beating.

“Well done,” Odell praised him. “That was nicely played. But we are on a tight schedule so…”

“I understand.”

I tried not to limp too much as I abandoned the body in the centre of the arena and exited the same way I got in. The hop up to the walkway was challenging and I had to take two attempts to scramble on properly.

“Hey, Odell?” I asked and he grunted in response. “Do you reckon they’ll kill him?”

“Your cheetah? No, the damage is repairable. He won’t be able to fight for a week or two but I’m pretty sure the patrons will want to see him back. Why do you ask?”

I hesitated, pausing over whether to admit my slight attachment to the animal, a tiny twinge of sentimentality. Weakness.

“No reason, just curious.” Once inside the holding pen I lay down in the corner, considerate as possible of the broken leg and other wounds, and closed the cheetah’s eyes.  “Unhook me.”

“Sure thing,” he affirmed. “Shutting down in three. Two. One.”

The engine-roar of the crowd silenced in an instant and everything was black. I enjoyed the peace for a moment before lifting the visor of the headgear and unstrapping the controllers. I stretched, my human muscles feeling stiff and awkward. I could have felt them the whole time I was piloting but I was concentrating hard enough for my brain to block most of my real body’s senses. I carefully place the headset on the chair and turn back to the audience.

They were clearly cheering wildly, excited by the first bloodshed of the night, although I couldn't hear them through the soundproof glass. I pounded my fists against the transparent barrier and grinned, egging on further praise. I could see the cameras down below and above, some carried by people, others operated on suspended wires, most pointed at me whilst  a few lingered on the mutilated corpse of the former snow leopard. I noted smugly that my opponent had already left, presumably enraged at her failure.

I didn’t wait for the cheering to die down before making my own exit, preferring to leave on a high with applause still filling the arena. As soon as I turned away it didn’t matter anyway as I couldn’t hear them in my sealed little Pod. I slunk off into the darkness and out the door.

There was no one waiting in the corridor to congratulate me. There never was. Instead I just glanced at the clock and worked out roughly how much time I had until my next fight, walking down the corridor to Julia’s main office. I was drained after that fight and, although I had only woken up a few hours earlier, I really needed to rest before my next fight. I looked longingly through the door of the main office at the comfy sofas, imagining curling up on the plush seats and sleeping soundly. That could not be a reality, however, not with Marcus and the other disdainful pilots littered across them or the bustle of the room. I considered going in to speak to Julia but she looked busy and I had very little to say to her.

I left, legs heavy, to try and find somewhere else to nap. It always felt as if my blood was saturated with grains of metal after a fight, weighing me down and making each movement sluggish and dull. I normally went straight home when I only had one fight and slept until my alarm woke me up the next evening. When I had two fights, which was happening with increasing frequency as Julia seemed to want to work me harder each passing day, there was little I could do to stay awake for the time in between.

After peering through several doors into rooms sterile and deserted or humming with people I found one further along the corridor that was labeled ‘Server Room’. I searched through my slightly fuzzy memory to see if I had any recollection of if I had been in here before and found nothing. The room wasn’t locked and so I slipped inside.

The room was small, made more compact by huge machinery against each wall that whirred and hummed quietly considering its bulk. It was dimmer than the corridor outside and lit with a flickering orange glow. Wires like hair follicles sprouted out in places to curl away behind other metal cubes whilst some parts were an array of blinking lights, red and green. It was much colder that the rest of the building, almost uncomfortably so, due to the steady breeze blowing through grates on the ceiling. The floor was cool and metallic when I ran my fingers over it, slumping down into a corner of coiled wiring, presumably spare as it did not seem to be attached to anything. It was chilly and solid but the nest of wires allowed me to tuck together and in moments I was unconscious.

As always, the sleep was heavy and consuming. No dreams, no thoughts at all until I was awoken by the door slamming open, a sound which resonated through the metal of the floor as physical vibration. My eyes snapped open and I saw a huge figure silhouetted in the doorway. I flinched as it stepped forward, only to lean back out the door and shout down the corridor. “Julia, I’ve found the runt you were looking for!”

I knew the voice and as my eyes focussed I could tell it was Marcus who had interrupted my doze. I growled, irritated at the use of the word ‘runt’ but otherwise I made no reaction. A woman’s voice shouted something indiscernible and Marcus entered the room and stepped towards me again. I tensed and backed up against the wall, noticing for the first time that someone had tucked a blanket around me whilst I was asleep, an act of kindness vaguely unsettling in its intimacy. I chose to ignore it for now, with more pressing matters to hand.

“What are you doing?” I practically squeaked as he came closer. He just rolled his eyes and grunted, dragging me up by my collar and shoving me into the corridor. With a firm, unfriendly hand on my shoulder he guided me down the hall in silence until we reached where Julia was fidgeting impatiently. Marcus pushed me roughly from the small of my back so I stumbled embarrassingly.

“Ryan! You are due in your pod in less than ten minutes. What the hell were you doing?”

“I-”

“I found him sleeping in the Server Room, all curled up like a baby animal,” Marcus spat and with fake concern added, “Julia, I’m not sure he’s alright in the head. I think maybe piloting from such a young age has turned his brain mushy.”

“That will be all, Marcus,” she dismissed coldly. He slunk away, grumbling and muttering under his breath. “I’m not happy with you, Ryan, but I don’t have time to complain. Quickly fix your hair and get checked over by your technician and be outside stagedoor in five minutes sharp.”

I nodded and jogged off to the changing room. It was again empty, allowing me to relax a little as I fished the jar of hair product from the tangle of clothes in my locker and haphazardly spiked the side the had been flattened from where it was resting on my arm. My makeup too was a little smudged and so i fixed that with a licked finger until both eyes looked roughly even. No time to hesitate I quickly left the room in search of my owly technician but he was already waiting outside the door.

“How are you doing, Sir?” he asked as he began poking at my sides, lifting my arms and clicking in from of my eyes.

“Less tired than I was.” “Yes, I heard you were having a nap,” he smiled at me, a hint of colour on his cheeks. “You look fine physically. How’s the head?”

“Better,” I said, although it wasn’t much.

We walked in companionable quiet to where the stagedoor was and he picked up my headset that was left there ready for the fight. He picked it up and adjusted a few things on the side, only occasionally glancing up at me, focussed on whatever he was doing. He handed me the headset.

“This should help,” he stuttered a little and smiled sheepishly. “I-I’ve adjusted some of the fitting so that it puts less pressure on sensitive parts of the skull, particularly around the ears.”

I nodded and looked cynical. “Go put this on the chair; I’m doing my entrance in about two minutes.”

“Certainly, Sir,” he complied and slipped through the door. I could see his face fall at the dismissal but I pretended not to notice, uncaring. He was back in a matter of seconds, eyes still bright and kind despite my brashness with him. It was somehow infuriating. “Haven’t you got something else to be getting on with?” I snapped.

“I guess so,” he hesitated. “If you’re sure that you are fine, that is.”

“Yes. I am.”

“Oh, okay.” He scurried down the corridor and out of sight and I sighed in the brief moment of quiet, dim audience sounds through the door. In my haste to be rid of the young technician I had forgotten to ask him any details about the fight but I was sure I could successfully manage it knowing just the basics.

I once again lurked in the dark back of the Pod when I first entered, just as the announcer began to introduce my opponent. I liked going second better but it it did little to take the edge off my dark mood. Perhaps it was being so abruptly woken or perhaps I was just nervous about the new beast. First time with a new creature always has potential to be tricky.

“For our final fight of the evening, in the West Pod we have Rex Terrae!”

Even my current resentment for seemingly everything could not stop me from grinning then. Rex had been piloting for almost as long as me, signing on with his agent Hauxwell a few moments after I contracted to Julia. I definitely wouldn’t call him a friend but we were fairly amicable, having sparred our animals frequently over the last five years. He would always greet me kindly and embrace me with intimidatingly affectionate bear-hugs. Whilst Julia and her agency were stationed permanently at this arena, many contractors like Hauxwell have taken to touring the smaller fighting rings across the world and so I haven’t seen Rex in a while.

He caught my eye during his entrance and smiled warmly at me, still waving to the crowd. He was very much into costuming, his Roman styling not overdone but obvious and effortlessly cool. It suited his name and his chosen creatures; all very traditional colosseum type animals.

“...Hellion!”

The roar of the crowd was notably louder than it had been at the beginning of the night, both from an increase in spectators and a brief popularity boost from the win of a good fight. I soaked it in and wallowed in it, cheering and encouraging them when a small group started chanting my name.

“Hello?” I asked into the microphone once I had sat down and set up the headgear and controllers. I noticed that the technician had marginally improved the comfort of the headset and felt a pang of guilt that soon eased.

“Hellion, at last you’ve decided to join us!” a voice replied with a thick Eastern accent.

“Rex? What are you doing on my comms?”

“He’s here to work with you,” Julia’s voice interrupted. “This is not going to be a fight per se, more of a showcase of the tileguaress and her talents. It will be obvious from the very beginning that Rex’s lion has no chance but you must let him fight back a little to show some skill before you finish him off.”

This sort of thing was rare, although not unheard of. Hauxwell and Julia often work together and seem friendly so it seems reasonable that they made some kind of deal together. No doubt Julia will pay for the expenses of the soon to be dead lion.

“But surely no one would bet against me?” I puzzled. Rex scoffed at how arrogant it sounded even though he understood what I meant.

“They haven’t if they have any sense; this is just to introduce her to the audience. Make a loss now to insure future gain.”

“And Rex is okay with this?”

“I get handsomely paid from it,” he affirmed and I could just imagine his wonky grin. “It seems to me I have to do less work than usual so I am not bothered.”

I chuckled, as ever amused by Rex’s nonchalance.

“Alright, kids, visors down,” Julia interrupted. I could understand to some extent her calling me ‘kid’ as she had known me since age seventeen and my looks haven't matured much since then but Rex every bit the late-twenties working man that he did. Still, it was better than ‘runt’.

I did as instructed and was mildly alarmed when the crowd noises that had been grounding me were cut off a few moments later, leaving me feeling suspended in the confined darkness. It only lasted a few seconds before the screen booted up, startling me.

“Julia, you’re supposed to count us in,” I grumbled, slowly orientating to living in a new head.

“We had already wasted enough time talking, it seemed stupid to spend any more,” she snapped back. “Rex, you’re used to this lion right?”

“I have used him a few times before, yes,” Rex confirmed and then, because he clearly didn’t understand Julia’s hint about time wasted chatting, added, “It seems such a shame to let him die, if I’m honest. He’s a noble beast; strong and-” “I’m opening your hatch. Go stir up the crowd a bit while Ryan gets himself in the zone.”

“Yessir,” he breathed grumpily and presumably did as instructed. His voice had that distracted tone common with all pilots during a fight; like they’re not really there at all, distant and struggling to keep under the mental pressure.

“How is she?” Julia asked me.

I didn’t know the answer, having only opened my eyes, and so I began to stand. It took a moment to wield the limbs correctly, the movement at first being uneven and heavy, and I faltered a couple of times in standing. “It feels like…” I answered. “Like she doesn’t want me in her head.”

The moment I said the words I knew them to be true; the feeling of pressure inside my skull, the way I had to fight for each movement. The only explanation was that the animal herself was attempting to reject me.

“Stop being so dramatic, Ryan. You have a maximum of three minutes to get her under control before showtime.”

“Fine,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

Julia explained her big plan  for a dramatic entrance whilst I half-listened and began pacing back and forth. The resistance in the animal seemed to be softening with time and before a minute had passed the movement felt almost natural, despite the ever presence of pressure inside my head. I couldn’t help grinning when I saw my reflection, the animal herself looking so much bigger and fiercer when upright and active as opposed to slumped dully in a corner. I unsheathed her claws and saw they were long and recently filed sharp, protruding from her overrsized tiger-paws. Her teeth when I opened her mouth were gleaming white fangs, contrast to the black of her fur and her eyes were the same goat-yellow that I had seen earlier. The muscles knotted across her body visibly rippled as I moved back and forth, tail swishing out randomly. I growled a little to test out her vocals but didn’t want to fully roar in case the audience could hear it over their cheering for Rex’s lion that was presumably already in the arena.

Fully prepared now, I spent the remaining minute staring intently at my reflection and running a claw along the metal casing of the device attached to the creature’s head. My real stomach began to twist a little with neves; the fight would be easy, I knew, but I had to do it perfectly, I had to make them love her.

No you don’t, idiot. Just let the beast speak for herself.

“Okay, kid, the hatch is opening in three seconds. Get ready and do exactly as I explained.”

I positioned myself as instructed facing the hatch and well back from the entrance as it opened. No light streamed through the gap, the audience bathed in darkness with only the dim glow of the holding pen to silhouette my figure as I very slowly approached the entrance. They hadn’t seen me yet and already the crowd were screaming wildly. I imagined how it would look to the cameras; the dark shape against the dark backdrop with only faint light to outline my stalking forward, eyes bright against my body and staring straight ahead. I stepped slowly, each pace measured and taking my time until my head was just out of the hatch and the audience quietened.

Suddenly I jumped forward, still in the dark, sprinting down the walkway only visible as a swift shadow. Seconds later I reached the cage and leapt down into it, lighting flashing on like the prelude to thunder.

And thunder it did as I opened my mouth and roared, showing all my glorious teeth. It was more the roar of a tiger than a lion; deep and guttural, explosive from the animal’s throat. The audience erupted into cheering as I stood proud only a moment before advancing toward the seemingly small lion before me.

I launched myself at him, knocking his body sideways against the concrete, claws piercing along his ribcage.

“Easy there, Hellion,” Rex complained in my ear. “We want this fight to last more than ten seconds.”

“Sorry,” I smirked, not meaning it a bit.

I did get off him though, allowing the creature the opportunity to stand up before I confronted him again with a series of sharp edged blows to the head and forelegs. The lion was roaring in response and striking out sporadically but they were easily brushed aside. Wearing him down was not taking very long and with occasional advice from Julia, Rex’s beast was soon pockmarked with bites and deep gashes, blood spilling freely onto the floor of the arena. The crowd were going crazy.

Whilst going in for another bite, Rex raised his paw and slashed across my face. Nothing was damaged, just a superficial wound to the cheek but even so I hisses and turned away. We began circling the cage, stalking each other carefully and I could see that Rex was already limping. An easy fight if ever there was one.

I roared again, this time at the crowd rather than my opponent. I looked over them as I circled, growling for their approval and showing off my creature’s impressive size and form. I caught eyes with the man I had seen earlier, the one with the covered face who made no reaction when I hissed at him. This time I could roar and I did so directly at him; he had the decency to flinch away and I thought I could see fear or at least awe in his visible eyes.

Distracted, Rex used this opportunity to charge at me from behind, leaping up and digging his claws into my back. I hit him away with some effort and he scampered back the the other side of the cage.

“Hey, that was hardly fair,” I complained at him.

“This whole fight isn’t fair. I needed to as least get one good attack in before you maul this poor lion to pieces.”

“Speaking of which,” Julia piped in. “I think it’s time we go in for the kill, hm?”

I frowned inside my visor. “We’ve only been fighting for five minutes,” I protested and heard Rex grunt in agreement.

“If we get this over with quickly it will reduce the damage caused to the tileguaress and it will leave the audience desperate to see more.”

Rex and I begrudgingly agreed that it was a good idea.

I turned to face him at least, and we squared off from opposite sides of the cage. The lion himself was not a bad specimen at all; larger than average with a thick dark mane running down to his belly and powerful limbs. Now, of course it was a patchwork of gashed and bitemarks, the tan fur matted with barely dried blood. One of the front legs was mangled badly enough to become almost useless.

I roared, he roared in response and then we leapt at each other. It was a colossal collision, the two great beasts wielding claws and teeth on hind legs in the hope of gaining a height advantage. A red display told me that I’d fractured a rib but it was hardly relevant as I toppled the other beast and landed on him with enough force to shatter half of his ribcage. The battle was over now; the lion could no longer stand, only wheeze on his side as the blood drained away.

I growled and stalked a circle round the heaving body, deciding which way to finish him off. I was struggling to recall the exact anatomy of a lion and with a further few deep wounds had yet to locate a major blood vessel that would end the creature’s life quickly. The blood was already sticking my paws to the concrete but the lion still lived, grunting with each of my poorly aimed blows.

At last I managed to pierce an artery in at the juncture of the hind leg and the body, causing whatever blood remained spray forcefully across the concrete, including over my body and face. I shook it off and snorted to clear my nose of it, blinked it out of my eyes as the body stilled and bloodflow turned to a trickle rather than a steam. I stood defiantly  with one paw resting on the head of the dead creature and roared for a final time as the crowd screamed all about me.

“Exit now, Ryan. I want them desperate for more,” Julia commanded.

I left numbly, one foot in front of the other until I was in the holding pen, practically unscathed. My vision went black.

But the headset had not been disconnected. It was my eyes that were not seeing anything as the screen still displayed the small concrete room. I only saw black and the pain in my head returned in full twice over and there were screams in my ears that I couldn’t hear over my pounding heartbeat. Someone was shouting my name and something was clawing at the inside of my skull and somewhere my body was frozen still but I couldn’t feel it. Somehow I was still breathing even as my lungs burned and my nose was blocked and my mouth was gasping.

The screen turned off and I registered this as a different kind of black. Some of the pressure released from my brain, enough so that I could make a weak noise at the back of my throat, a cry for help. I could feel my body again, although still distant and dull. I wanted to rip off the headset that was pressing in on my head, threatening to crack it like an eggshell at any moment. I wanted to pull away my visor in the hopes of seeing something besides the swirling patterns of dark in the backs of my eyes.

As if in answer to my desires I felt hands frantically grabbing at my head and, however unwelcome their touch was, they released the headset and I could see again. Only visually though because what I was seeing didn’t seem to connect with my thoughts and at last my eyes rolled back into unconsciousness.

When I awoke in what felt like moments later I was lying down on the dentist-like chair in the Prep room. My technician was standing above me, brow furrowed with concern and owly eyes wide as he blinked down at me. He was dabbing some cotton below my nose and each time he took it away I could see it stained with a fresh spread of blood. I forced open my eyes to regard him properly and opened my mouth to ask a question.

“What-”

“What the hell just happened to him?” Julia screeched as she burst into the room. I winced and leaned back, eyes fluttering shut.

“I-I don’t know, ma’am,” he stuttered, still using one hand to wipe at the red leaking from my nose. “He sort of blacked out and his n-n-nose started bleeding and-”

Julia slapped the technician with the back of her hand, the crack of hard fingers colliding with soft cheek loud in the small room. He reeled back, looking more ashamed than frightened or angry as it would have made me.

“You are an incompetent child!” she snapped. “You are in charge of his medical and technical needs, no? It is your job to make sure things like this do not happen, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am, but-” he hesitated when she glared blades into him and lowered his tone to a more defensive stance. “You did not let me examine the creature before he linked with it and so there was no way I could have predicted how his body would react. I’ve never seen such a violent rejection of the technology before.”

“Do you know the cause?”

“No. It could be he is overworked and the strain of the two fights today or maybe there’s something about the new animal that is incompatible with him...either way he needs a few days break and I need access to the tileguaress to see if I can help.”

I listened to them talk about me without interjection, mind still mixed up and confused as to what just happened. Julia ground her teeth in irritation.

“Fine; you can go see the creature in your own time, not during work hours. Ryan goes home now and can rest all he want but I need him back here on time in the evening. I already have him booked for two fights tomorrow and I can’t reschedule.”

“You can’t!” the technician blurted. “You can’t make him fight tomorrow, let alone twice. Look at him, he’s exhausted.”

I might’ve objected to this, claiming stubbornly that I was perfectly healthy, if he hadn’t ran his hand through my hair, that small soothing touch being almost enough to send me back to sleep.

“You do not get to decide when he fights,” Julia hissed.

“No, but I have to deal with the consequences.”

“Get out!” Julia snapped and pointed to the door. “I need to talk to Ryan alone and I’ve had enough of your insolence. He rests when I tell him he can, not before.”

The technician’s eyes linger on me a moment longer before narrowing as he stormed out of the room. My head lolled back as I sighed, wiping at the remaining blood on my nose with the back of my hand. Julia looked at me sternly and with a hint of pity.

“What do you want?” I groaned, the first full sentence I have managed since waking up.

“That fight was good. Short. It shouldn’t made you…” She gestured loosely at me.

“It did, though.”

“That boy is wrong, you know. He thinks you’re weak; you’re not. You can fight better and harder than anyone I’ve ever met,” she said softly. Her hyperbolous praise was beginning to concern me slightly. “You should see the crowd, Ryan, they love you. And I’m sorry it’s hurting you but if we hesitate for even a moment then they’ll lose interest so we have to keep going. I promise that we’ll make enough money so that after this you’ll never have to work again, okay?”

I nodded and sat up on the chair. “I’m not going to quit just because I got a nosebleed,” I smirked although I knew it was much more than that.

The corners of her mouth tugged into a small smile. “Good. You’ll be piloting the tileguaress again tomorrow; you can handle than, right?”

I glanced at the door, wondering if my technician was still waiting outside. He doesn’t think so. “Sure,” I replied.

“Go home now, Ryan, get some sleep,” she instructed, hand patting his shoulder as she turned to leave. “And when you get back here I want you to have named that creature.”

I agreed and left the room a short way behind her. I half-expected my loyal technician to be waiting in the corridor or perhaps Rex come to check I was alright. Instead, I found only warm, still air and a stifling urge to escape. I stumbled along the corridor to the changing rooms and dressed myself as fast as I could with fumbling fingers. I didn’t bother wiping away the eyeliner that had smudged long before, leaving the skin around my eyes streaked with grey and black. It didn’t matter; no one I cared about would see me.

I pulled my hood down to shade my face as I left the building because I knew there would still be some patrons lingering in the courtyard in the early morning light. I did not wish to grab their attention and they would certainly recognise me after today’s fights. As I paced quickly to the bus stop I saw a figure peel away from the deep shadow of a neighbouring industrial building. Whoever it was was far behind me, walking slow and I had no logical reason for the paranoia of being watched. I felt it all the same.

When I reached the road and leant against the broken plastic of the shelter I noticed the sleeping form of a young woman slumped in the corner, huddled in a ragged blanket and no shoes. I stood listening to her shaky breathing and waited for the bus, failing to resist the urge to see if the figure was still following me. I kept checking and every time could see nothing; only the concrete and brick of this industrial site, the weeds growing taller than people between cracked paving and glimpses of quick rats or thick pigeons all bathed in the dull brown of the morning.

The bus arrived on time. It was a older model than the one I had taken to work and it creaked as it came to a stop. The inside was predictably filthy so I chose the seat that I saw had the least visible signs of decay, the least oppressive odour being near the front. I was the only person at my stop so I expected the doors to shut right away instead of lingering open as they did. I thought perhaps that they were broken until a figure stepped through the door, said good morning to the bus driver and walked down the aisle past me, sitting down a few rows behind.

It was the young man I had spotted in the crowd earlier, the one I had roared at who wore a bandana over his face. Glaring at him as he walked by I was sure he had been the shadowy figure past the courtyard.

He’s not following you. You’re seeing things that aren’t there.

I tried to listen to music on the journey home but each song was too whiny and repetitive and made me want to scream. I kept the earphones in and listened to groans of protest the body of the bus made as it meandered its way through the street. My neck kept twitching to turn round and see if the guy was looking at me and each stop I waited tensely, hoping helplessly that he would get off the bus.

He didn’t. Or at least, not until just after I did.

I could hear his footsteps a few metres behind me, slower than mine for his longer legs. He was keeping my pace, keeping the same gap between us and keeping up with me no matter if I walked so fast it was practically a jog. The streets around were empty of activity and the shadows were still deep and ominous.

He could kill you. No one would even notice. I shoved the thoughts to the back of my mind but they kept resurfacing with every steady footstep on the path behind me.

The shop I had bought breakfast in yesterday was still open and so I took my chance to slip in there, meaning at least I could confront the stranger in the light. The same man from earlier was behind the counter, narrowing his eyes like earlier but more with tiredness than suspicion. What a boring job this would be, I thought. Every night the a scraggly few customers and the rest of the time silence. When I retire, this is the job for me.

I walked over to the barely cooled drinks cabinet and ran my finger over the bottles, pausing for a while over the beer, then cider, then some sort of cocktail thing. I sighed and grabbed a fizzy soft drink, surprisingly upmarket for this shop with a proper glass bottle. I kept glancing at the door, even as I was paying for it, and the stranger did not enter. I was too cynically minded to even think for a second that he had left me alone, knowing full well he would be lurking around some corner on the last few streets home.

Twisting the cap off the drink, I poured the oversweet liquid down my throat, not previously realising the full extent off my thirst. I left the shop hurriedly and continued my walk-skip-jog back home. I could hear him behind me, this time at a much greater distance. I wondered if he thought he was being subtle. I considered taking a wrong turning so that I wouldn’t lead him back to my house but there seemed to be little point as I’d have nowhere else to go and I knew he’d keep following.

I took one final swig of the drink, draining the remaining few drops into my mouth before holding the bottle tightly by the neck and slamming the base into the sharp concrete corner of a building. As I had hoped, the bottom of the glass shattered leaving sharp uneven spikes that glittered deadly in the early morning light. Although certainly not the perfect weapon, it might have served to make up for some of my lack of size and man-to-man fighting experience. I pivoted on my heels to face the man, now only a couple of metres behind, and raised the jagged weapon in his direction.

“Leave me alone!” I shouted because I needed to say something. My voice came out shriller than I intended and sounded painfully loud on the silent street.

“Calm down, kitten,” he replied, raising his arms in a display of innocence. His voice was infuriatingly patronising but also slow and slightly slurred. His movements too had a vaguely disconnected quality and his eyes appeared glazed over. Definitely drunk then. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then why are you following me?” I hissed, still gripping the broken bottle.

“I just wanted to talk, that’s all.”

I glared at him. He was taller than me by at least a head, broad shouldered and muscles scarily bulging underneath his plain t-shirt. He was wearing that cloth around the lower part of his face and head; if anyone saw him kill me, he’d never get recognised. It was a clever move.

“Who are you?”  I asked, against any common sense. Fear is powerful.

It felt to me like he smirked under his mask but his eyes betrayed no hint of emotion. “Guess.”

“What?” I blurted.

“Come on, you’re a clever guy, right? So guess who I am.” His tone was surprisingly measured for how slurred and fuzzy his voice was.

I hesitated before eventually conceding to play along. “You’re a patron,” I mused. “You got drunk and bet a lot of money on one of my opponents, probably the snow leopard, and are now out for some revenge.”

“No.” There was no hint as to how close I was.

“You think I’m clever. You want me to throw a match and win you a lot of money in exchange for some in return.” People had offered me small fortunes to throw matches in the past but I’d never accepted their offers. I already had enough money.

“No.”

“You’re a crazed fan who followed me to my home looking for a chance to meet me.”

“In your dreams, kitten.” “What, then?” I snapped. “I don’t have a clue who you are.”

“My turn,” he stated. “Your name is Ryan Benton. You come from a family of four on the West side of the city, upper-middle class but you disguise your accent to fit in. You’ve been working as a pilot since the age of seventeen so it’s just gone your fifth anniversary of fighting in the cage. You specialise in felines even though Julia Lund always thought that your tactics were better suited to canines. She’s never told you that.”

I snorted at how ridiculous the idea was before frowning. It wasn’t true, was it?

“You live alone on this run-down estate yet you always insist on payments in cash; not the wisest move. It does however suggest that you want to leave this place but you haven’t yet decided where to go. You have no friends.”

At this, my mind flashed to the scitterish technician with the kind brown eyes. I quickly dismissed the idea. You don’t even know his name, he’s not your friend.

“So you’re a stalker, then?” I asked, trying to ease away the fear that had locked all my muscles.

“I do my research,” he shrugged. “But there’s one thing I still don’t understand; you have all the money you could ever need, you hate your job despite what you have people believe and you have no attachments here. Why don’t you just...leave?”

“Is that really what you came here to ask me?” I spluttered, laughing horsely. He barely blinked, face for what I could tell still stoney serious. I raised a brow at him. “Where would I got to? I’ve got nowhere else to be.”

“I’m sure you could find some place, kitten.”

“Why, though? I’m…” I couldn’t bring myself to say happy. “...fine here.”

“Of course you are,” the unsettling man said without the slightest hint of sincerity. “You are the best at what you do, right? Don’t be modest with me, Ryan.”

I nodded. “People have told me that.”

“And does it never bother you that someone else might like their turn in the sun? Someday one of your come knocking on your door with a loaded gun and all your enhanced reflexes couldn’t stop a bullet being buried in your skull.” He glanced down to where my makeshift weapon was limp in my grasp. “I don’t think a broken bottle will help you then.” “Are you threatening me?” I asked and he turned to leave, walking down the road away from me. “Who the hell even are you?”

He stopped his walk suddenly, jerking to a halt about five metres away with his body still paused mid-stride. “I’m a pilot like you. We’re going to fight later today so I thought I’d gather a bit more data, see if I can find a weak point.” He was still facing away, although no longer moving. I was still firmly rooted in my stance on the pavement.

“I haven’t seen you before,” I called after him, against any rational thought. I should have just let him leave but I kept talking.

“I’m new.” He took a step before I stopped him by talking again.

“Did you get what you came here for?” My voice was wavering and high. Scared. “Do you think you can beat me?”

He turned his head over his shoulder to look me in the eye, his obviously drunken gaze holding mine surprisingly steadily. “Oh, kitten. I’m going to destroy you.”

He continued walking and my fear urged me to not let him leave, to not let him have the final word. “We’ll have to find out,” I said offhandedly, trying to act arrogant like Hellion would. “See you tonight.”

“I look forward to it.”

[heart-holes]

ask game under cut bc im bored, just ignore me 

jasmine; what mythical creature do you wish actually existed? the geopolitical impact of dragons would be weird as shit dude 

lavender; soundcloud or vinyls? neither, i’m a CD person still

primrose; what book does everyone right now need to read? hm taran wanderer

lunar mist; do you like wearing other people’s shirts/jackets? yes!!! makes me feel very loved

bird of paradise; what was the best thing that happened to you this month? this month has only just started, so i really don’t know yet

gardenia; what’s a promise you’ve recently made to yourself? to be kind to myself before anyone else 

lion’s fairytale; would you rather be the sky, the ocean or the forests? would love to be a forest 

whirling butterflies; would you kiss the last person you kissed again? yep! probably going to later today lmao 

marmalade skies; do you plan your outfits? only occasionally

apricot drift; how do you feel right now? my head hurts

everlasting daisy; what’s the last dream you remember having? two of my friends having an oddly NSFW conversation...

queen’s cup; what are you craving right now? dick uhh i’d like a nice cup of tea actually 

lavender dream; turn ons/offs? turn offs: spit, scat, piss, bad smells  turn ons: like everythign else lmao

water lilly; when was the last time you cried? why? a few minutes ago; stressed about my ex 

lily of the valley; did the one person who hurt you most in your life apologize? no

winterberry; do you bite or lick your ice cream? bite

honey perfume; favorite movie ever? hm i really like paper moon, i really like young frankenstein, but my fave is probably hackers lmaooo

desert rose; do you like yourself? on and off, yeah

snapdragon; have you ever met or seen in person a celebrity? yes, but mostly minor celebrities-- musicians, jazz people, etc. 

night owl; how many countries have you visited? seven if we don’t count the places where i only saw the airport, like nine if we count those too 

heliotrope; have you ever been in a castle? nope

creams and sky; what’s the craziest/bravest thing you’ve done? nothing comes...immediately to mind? i do a lot of crazy shit 

lantana; what’s on your mind right now? the song im listening to

pumpkin patch; what’s your zodiac sign? virgo sun, aries moon, leo rising

tulip; name 5 facts about yourself. 1. i have a joint disease 2. i canoe better than i walk 3. my glasses have been at a restaurant in town for like two weeks and i keep not going to get them  4. i have 2 wolves inside me: one is horny, and one is depressed 5. i love board games 

daphne; do you believe in karma? a little bit but i try not to 

queen of the meadow; ever been in love? yeah, several times 

wisteria; whom do you admire and why? my  friends for their unending generosity and intelligence and kindness

angel’s face; what was your favorite bedtime story as a child? i’d usually ask my mom to make things up for me 

remember me; did you make someone laugh today? yes!

iris; do you believe in ghosts? a little, yeah

lilac; if you could go back in time which time period would you visit? hm ....the eighties? maybe? if i were there as an observer and not to live in it  else i’m not really sure 

caramel kisses; would you want to live forever? why/why not? no! lonely

primula; what makes you sad? feeling abandoned or ignored or talked over 

rain lily; was today typical? why/why not? i’m still in the middle of today, i don’t know

queen anne’s lace; who do you trust the most? liz, with my life 

lady’s slipper; what did you have for breakfast today? peach creme french toast :3 

forget me not; do you have any regrets looking back in your life? yeah but i havent got all that much life to look back on, not sure i’ll regret those things forever 

lunaria; what’s your favorite fictional universe? not sure! i like the world of neuromancer a whole lot, also the fallout universe, planescape...idk 

violet; favorite tv show? still justified but i probably cant’ finish it until i get over my ex

sunflower; share a favorite quote. “The earth, that is sufficient, I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are, I know they suffice for those who belong to them.”

snowdrop; what does your ideal day look like? i spend it somewhere outside with my friends and plenty of activities and good conversation and coffee, and then at night i go have cute low stress sex or whatever and watch the stars with someone cute

tiger lily; do you have any hobbies? plenty but im too sad to do most of them  i like to draw, that’s my main one and i sing

peony; share a small random book passage that means something to you. “Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel.” god i...love taran wanderer

tea rose; what’s something you always wanted to do but were too scared? sky dive

honeysuckle; do you usually date people your age or older/younger? usually right around my age

sweet pea; who means the world to you? why? my friends! they are still here after everything

love in the mist; best books you’ve ever read? taran wanderer i know this much is true god bless you, mr. rosewater pedagogy of the oppressed black skin, white masks collected poems of AR Ammons  please kill me: an oral history of punk our band could be your life weetzie bat  foxglove; who is your favorite cartoon character? snufkin!

magnolia; coffee or tea? coffee!!!

crown imperial; would you rather be extremely rich or extremely loved? extremely loved! 

snowflake; are you a dog or a cat person? cats but dogs are good too 

bell flower; what is your biggest addiction? coffee at this point 

cosmos; do you ever think about the galaxy? uh, yeah? this is a weird question

moonflower; what’s your favorite color? probably green or yellow

freesia; do you have a good relationship with your parents and siblings? why/why not? yeah im pretty close with both of my parents

sundrop; are you a morning or a night person? night person generally  kind of a noon person i guess 

poppy; have you ever dealt with a mental illness? hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

yep

clover; how would your friends describe you? unstable, clever, funny, kind i should hope 

dandelion; do you consider yourself and extrovert or an introvert? extrovert

lilly; what’s something you love watching/reading but you are too embarrassed to admit you do? i dont have a whole lot of guilty media pleasures im not usually that guilty about watching or reading things 

anemone; describe yourself in 3 words. always moving forward

lotus; best memory as a child? going to a dog parade and then buying pumpkins and apples with my dad...

angelonia; what is your eye and hair color? brown and brown

dahlia; do you like crystals? sure, i’m alright with them, just not into their Magic most of the time

buttercup; if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? this is too hard of a question, pass 

baby’s breath; what’s your hogwarts house? slytherin

calendula; biggest pet peeve? being interrupted

blanker flower; would you rather go to a cocktail party with your best friends or stay home and read a book/watch a movie with your pet? oh good question probably the party 

blazing star; share a secret. no

carnation; would you rather live longer or happier? happier 

petunia; who’s story is your biggest inspiration in life? why? idk

bluebell; do you wear glasses? yes but i keep leaving them places

nymphea; forest or river? river!

orchid; do you like exercise? like i guess

pansy; do you like poetry? yes!!!

morning glory; any special talent that you have? i can mouth trumpet 

#mine #text #long post