How would a thunderclan cat go about caring for leeches? I imagine it would be harder for them than Shadowclan cats since I imagine things aren’t quite as like.. damp in thunderclan. I love leeches pls give me the husbandry lore 🥺
I'm taken aback at how many people want the leech lore, I did not expect this much love for Spotty's girls. But, ok!
For one, they are medicinal leeches. Hirudo medicinalis. This species is actually threatened in England, specifically because it's so rare for livestock to drink from lakes these days. So these wild leech specimens are actually found in ShadowClan territory, and they heavily rely on Clan cats!
They also do prey on the occasional boar, fox, or badger that wades through the mud. ShadowClan loves leeches, they think they are useful as medicine AND as snacks, leading to a symbiotic relationship.
(sadly this means that the expansion of the highway and the loss of the Clan cats massively disrupted the leech population. There are probably conservationists who discover too late that there were medical leeches surviving in this area and despair over how they could have saved the White Hart woods.)
Anyway, keeping leeches is easiest for ShadowClan of course, but ThunderClan can do it with some effort. Spotty has a two-part terracotta bowl (a dish and a lid) which helps keep them cool, even in summer, and she stores them in the darkest part of her den. At the bottom of this bowl is mud, wet leaves, swampy substrate.
It's not hard to feed them with worms or insects, but they have so many elders with joint pain that there's enough food to go around. Spotty also really doesn't mind just letting them nibble her arm; leech bites aren't painful or anything.
The hardest part is getting pond water when she needs to clean the bowl. You want water that's full of good bacteria that can support fish, not just any old ditchwater.
Before Yellowfang's exile, she would ask for ShadowClan pond water and usually be granted permission with an escort. Brokenstar didn't see a need to make a hard embargo with ThunderClan when he was so focused on eradicating WindClan first.
Yellowfang has a lot more knowledge about caring for leeches though. Because she can't access pondwater, she ran some experiments with the lesser-leeches (the ones that weren't Spotty's beloved 3), and found she can clean the bowl slowly using river water, but doing it all at once could shock the leeches.
But, it's not very hard. Harder than keeping mealworms, but leeches are an easy animal to keep. They're also really cute, like fat worms, with nice patterns.
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Simple lifeform facts I take for granted that I've now seen blowing people's minds on here:
That sea urchins walk around and have mouths with teeth on their undersides
That corals are related to jellyfish
Barnacles being related to crabs and shrimp
Ants being an offshoot of wasps
Termites being totally unrelated to ants and all similarities just being convergent evolution (they're actually a group of cockroaches, but even science didn't know that part until a few years ago)
Starfish having an eye at the end of each arm
That the bodies of ticks and mites are also their heads, essentially big heads with legs (they even frequently have eyes way up on "the body")
Sperm whales have no upper teeth, and also their bodies are flat from the front
Goats also having no upper (front) teeth
Tapeworms having no mouth at all and just absorbing nutrients over their entire body surface
That flies are bigger pollinators than bees
That moths are bigger pollinators than bees
That wasps are just as important pollinators as bees (more important to many groups of plants) and when we say they're "less efficient" at it we just mean individually they get a little less pollen stuck to them.
That honeybees are nonnative to most of the world and not good for the local ecosystem, just good for human agriculture
That earthworms are also nonnative and destructive to more habitats than the reverse
There being no hard biological line between slugs and snails; all slugs aren't necessarily related to each other and there are gastropod groups where some have shells and some don't
That ALL octopuses (not just the blue ring) have a venomous bite
Most jellyfish and sea anemones being predators that eat fish
"Krill" being shrimp up to a few inches long and not some kind of microbe
Blue whales therefore being the deadliest predators to ever evolve as they eat up to several million individual animals per day
That krill are still "plankton" because plankton refers to whatever animals, algae and other organisms are carried around by the sea's currents, not to any particular group of life or a size category
Fungi being no more related to plants than we are, and in fact more like a sibling to the animal kingdom if anything
Venus fly traps being native to only one small area of North America in all the world
Parasites being essential to all ecosystems
Leeches not having a circular ring of teeth anywhere
That algae is not a type of plant
That most seaweed is just very big algae
That enough wood ends up in the ocean that plenty of sea life evolved to eat only wood
Speaking of which the fact that the "ship worms" that make tunnels in wood are just long noodly clams
Butterflies technically just being a small weird group of moths we gave a different name to
That insects only get wings once they reach maximum size and therefore there can never be a younger smaller bee or fly that's not a larva
Spiders not being any more likely to kill their own mates/young than just a cat or dog might, for most species maybe a lot less often?
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Okay, I read something about moths going kinda crazy during mating season. It's especially crazy for the males. Can I request Valentino smut with his favorite female porn star reader?
𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕊𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟
Words: 872
Warnings: GN!Reader | Smut [Eating out, rimming, fucking, degrading]
Valentino knew what was approaching, every year he tried to ignore it as no one was good enough to spend it with him. His mating season was a sensitive time, meaning a lot of things could go wrong.
But this year someone had caught his attention. It was you, one of his newer contracts on the scene, quickly becoming a fan favourite, and he sees why. So he makes the decision to have you help him.
Unluckily though you were pretty dense to his advancements, unsurprisingly due to the fact he was a moth and you weren’t. But still, at least you could acknowledge him.
***
Fuck.
Mating season had officially started, and it was hitting him hard.
“EVERYONE OUT!” His screaming shocked everyone, also sending them all rushing out. You were at the back of the group, wich let him grab your collar to pull you towards him.
“Not you babe,” As he spoke smoke swirled around you both, a lot more seeping out this time. “You get the honour of helping me tonight~”
Holding you as he started walking, turning into stumbling. The first time he hit a wall you were pulled to his chest. Soon enough he opened the doors to the nearest room, revealing it to be one of the bigger studios.
Passing the chairs and equipment to drop you on the bed, following by dropping onto his knees. Hands kneading your thighs, sliding up to your waist. His breathing became harsher during this, red smoke circling the area.
Sitting up before pulling you closer, fingers finding their way under the waistband of your pants and underwear. Staying still for a few seconds before pulling away, ripping both.. Quickly pulling them off, throwing them onto the floor somewhere.
“I’ll buy you better ones, just let me…” His words faded as he became less focused. More smoke was puffed out and into the room as his mouth opened, letting his tongue out.
Leaning closer to let it move along your thigh, quickly moving up. Although it couldn’t go much further due to your position. Arms wormed their way under your legs, using one pair of arms to hold you up.
Strong enough to not let you drop any lower than needed, which was up near his face. Allowing his tongue to get where it needed, leaving the area with a tingly feeling.
Not moving in immediately, instead running along the outside. Letting your muscles relax before he moved in, your tensing didn’t have any visual effect on him. Everything for him felt doubled, so even the slightest movement had him jolting.
So when your legs wrapped around over his shoulders, hands grasping at his hat. That seemed to flip a switch in his mind. One pair of arms reached up to remove your legs, while another hand pulled yours off.
Controlled yet dropping you onto the bed again, this time making you lay down. His hand on yours didn’t leave, instead intertwining them. With your legs, his hands had moved down to your ankles. Moving them onto his shoulders.
He had started huffing, even though more smoke left his mouth it stopped affecting you. Instead filling the room and leaving you unable to see him unless he was in your face, which you wouldn’t mind either way.
His fourth and open hand held his cock, making sure he has a smooth entrance. Which he did, once he was in he let you adjust. When you were good he picked up the pace instantly.
From just quick to slamming into you. His hands left your ankles to hold your waist, with how hard they were grabbing you would surely have bruises later. Only able to accept him.
He kept pounding until his glasses fell off, rushingly placing them onto your head. Even with his hand holding yours it didn’t stop you from moving at each thrust, never stopping him. Only going harder.
“That's what you like huh? Course it is you slut!” At these words he leaned forwards, taking a sniff at your collarbone. You smelled like him now, no one could ever confuse you for one of his other sluts, you’re his now.
Letting his teeth sink into your flesh after, not that you minded. He tasted your blood, which was almost sickeningly sweet for someone stuck in hell, especially stuck with him.
During this his pace never slowed or even stuttered. Causing both of you to get closer to your orgasms. At this point Valentino had lost almost all his focus.
The light above was soon shut out, due to his wings making an appearance. Which also revealed the button up underneath, giving you something to grab onto.
Hands reaching to grab bunches, in turn pulling him closer. Your nails, ones Valentino has you care for, threatened to rip the shirt. Although neither of you cared in the moment, he might later. But you didn’t care.
“There we go, cum for me Luz~” At his words you did, the air was filled with both of you huffing. You were trying to get air back into your lungs, while he looked down at you. Taking in this image.
Maybe he’ll start caring for mating seasons if you’ll stay with him.
***
Luz - Light
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