#very glowy and many many fins

[jack-o-phantom]

Big guy, oh boy.

#mereclipse #eclipse #fnaf #mermaid au #mermay 2022 #y/n #Big fish boy #very glowy and many many fins #theharedraws

[flutteringfable]

big ol’ furina headcanon list like my venti one <3

yall know the drill. time for me to gush about my specialest girl whom i love very much. i’m not at full friendship with her quite yet, so hopefully these are mostly accurate jfndksnd—

fontaine spoilers ahead; tread with caution!!

starting at the top with her hair!

furina is incredibly neat, and likes to keep her hair perfect at all times

…. well, except for when she doesn’t have to go out anywhere.

she likes keeping it short since it’s less to deal with, and it puffs up easier after it’s washed.

probably has super soft hair that you can run your fingers through and not catch on any tangles

if she’s feeling too tired to actually do her hair, she’ll pull it into a bun

twirls her hair around her finger when she’s stressed or anxious

she likes having her bangs longer and her hair fluffier because she can cover her face with it. it makes her feel more secure, and while she was acting as the hydro archon she used it to more easily hide her true emotions.

overall, she just has really clean, soft hair and she likes to take good care of it.

moving down a bit to her face!

dark circles under her eyes. she covers them with makeup to keep up appearances when she’s acting as the archon, but when she steps down she gets a lot more sleep so they gradually go away.

doesn’t have many marks on her face, save for a few scattered freckles

her face sunburns so so easily, please make sure she puts sunscreen on it before she goes outside!! maybe kiss it better if she does get burnt

her expression changes almost as a reflex when she feels the need to act and hide her emotions. it’s a bad habit of hers that she’s still trying to get out of.

dislikes being seen crying, and will often refuse comfort if someone notices she’s upset.

able to hold back tears well, but the minute something or someone presses a little too much she’ll start crying without even realizing it.

chews on her lips when she’s bored or focused.

somewhat poor eyesight from staying up late reading novels

very squishy cheeks, if you’re close enough to her and ask very nicely she’ll let you squish them (partly because she likes having her face held)

has a very dramatic pout. like, sticks her bottom lip out puppy dog eyes pout.

likes to wear sparkly eyeshadow and lipgloss

next, her build!

furina is pretty short, standing at about 5’ 0” (she will tell you she’s 5’ 2”. do not believe her lies but go along with it for her sake)

sof tumy………

her chest is also soft!

i imagine she felt the need to keep up appearances while acting as the archon, so her posture was more rigid, but now she tends to gradually slide into a slouch when she’s on soft chairs or couches, and likes to sprawl when there’s room.

girlie is the embodiment of “gay people dont know how to sit in chairs”

she has what looks like a burn scar on her right hand from when she put her hand into the primordial seawater during the trial

a really neat furina rp account (@myjustice i believe? i think..? i follow too many genshin rp accs bajdbsjdnsjd) mentioned that the glowy bits on her skirt are her oceanid fins, and i can totally get behind that!!

i also like the idea of her with small webbing between her fingers pre-archon-trial?

i feel like after the trial she would lose a lot of her more oceanid-like features since fontainians have officially become human? or maybe they would stay…? idrk! the concept of her with more aquatic features is rly cool to think about nonetheless.

i think she would like beachcombing a lot, and frequently goes out to the beaches and lakes of fontaine to look for shells and trinkets!

gets paper cuts on her hands from reading all the time

finally, her outfit!

likes looser, more casual clothing when she’s at home.

whatever the big tshirt/hoodie equivalent in teyvat is, she has it

despite this, she still loves intricate formalwear and spends a lot of time at the boutique, usually just to browse

she uses the shells she collects to make jewelry!

she probably got a lot of jewelry gifts from citizens during her time as the archon, and adds them to her outfits whenever she feels like they need something extra

likes fluffy and flowy skirts. if it doesn’t flow outwards when she twirls, she doesn’t want it

picks at the buttons on her sleeves when she’s bored or nervous

loves fur lined items in the winter, because they keep her warm but also aren’t too bulky

i like the idea of her in a white sundress when she goes to the beach

conclusion: i just want to see her dressed up in lots of pretty outfits lmao

#fable writes 💫 #furina genshin #furina de fontaine #furina headcanons

[olivyh]

Twst Species headcannons

Beastmen:

-Palms and bottoms of their feet are rougher and more padded, as well as a slightly darker shade than their normal skin tone

-Legs are built similar to the hind legs of animals (with the sharp angles and little bumps)

-Start “walking” as children on all fours because it’s more comfortable due to the way their legs are built

-Many have scars under their bottom lip due to accidentally biting it bc their fangs were longer after losing their baby teeth

-Similarly, they also have small scars across various parts of their bodies due to their claws

-They can see in the dark to an extent

-Their eyes also do the glowy thing in the dark, as well as on camera

-Beastmen have very thick and coarse hair, which makes it notoriously harder to cut

-Many lion beastmen especially do not cut their hair often, as their hair symbolizes strength within their communities

-Cutting ones hair is a sign of trust in beastmen communities, considering how guarded they are with who touches their head (Patting a beastman’s head is a quick and easy way for them to get their guard down, and it takes them off high alert) as well as their ears being within constant danger near scissors.

-Beastmen do shed, a lot, like, a lot a lot

-They have been known to growl and purr like their animal counterparts, as well as hunch their backs and snarl when threatened

-Baby beastmen will bite you, as a sign of affection. They also wrestle with their caretakers from a young age to show affection as well. Grown beastmen will let the younger beastman win, regardless of species

-They also play wrestle with mates and potential mates to show their interest and affection. Not too hard, but enough to jostle the mate around. They will be absolutely smitten if the mate does it back.

-Beastmen grow up using the same sounds their animal counterparts do, as its similar to being taught a first language that the rest of your family speaks. Most aren’t taught English (Or commonspeak since England is nonexistent in Twisted Wonderland) until later in life

-Beastmen can understand similar dialects and tones of other species, and can further understand and speak a little bit of other beastmen languages

-They cannot eat certain foods that their mother species can’t. Canine beastmen cannot eat chocolate, onions, etc, feline beastmen cannot eat onions, garlic, grapes, etc etc without having issues afterwards. (This makes them a target for pranksters on NRC’s campus. Ex: The incident of Heartslabyul’s Ace Trappola switching out all the tea for coffee during the unbirthday party and Chenya unfortunately missing the cues and drinking the whole cup)

-They are very territorial to anyone besides the clan they reside with. The only people they aren’t territorial with are young children, although they are on high alert if the child’s guardian is nearby

-Beastmen will adopt a child if they see it doesn’t have a clan to stay with, regardless of species. It’s not unheard of to see a beastchild of another species or a young human in beastman clans

-I saw a hc that said that Rook is mixed beastman/human so I’m gonna roll with that for the next one: Beastmen and human mixed babies can have the same attributes as beastmen but on a tamer scale. Their vision, hearing, sense of touch and smell could be higher than a human’s but not as high as a beastmans. The ears and tail are the more dominant gene but it’s not uncommon to see a mixed beastmen/human child with more human features

-Beastmen grow larger than most humans, with the average beastmen (under the right conditions) ranging around six ft at full height. Female hyena beastmen grow taller than their male counterparts

Mer:

-They’re hypersensitive to sunlight at first and have to wear sunglasses or something shading their eyes their first few weeks on land

-They also get dehydrated very easily even in human form, so they have to carry around water bottles

-Their skin dries out quickly, so their hands and feet especially will be very dry and potentially cracking unless they moisturize often

-They have a lot of back and leg pain because they’re not used to gravity pulling them down

-Can also see in the dark very well due to living at the bottom of the ocean

-Their hair is also very thin and silky, but separated into thick chunks, almost looking like scales from a distance. Furthermore most Mer don’t like having longer hair due to the amount of effort it takes to maintain it, with currents twisting it up and the high chances of it getting stuck between rocks and coral

-Most mer have the habit of picking up whatever’s nearby and eating it raw, due to the fact that their bodies can process it. It’s not uncommon to see a mer picking a crab off the side of their house and plopping it into their mouth.

-They have no problem with eating the fish they are associated with, and they do not consider it cannibalism since they aren’t exactly the same species. (Meaning the Tweels can eat eel and Azul can eat octopus without any problems)

-Baby mer can swim around at a very young age (from just a few days old), and mature faster than most other species in the first few weeks of their lives

-Azul has horizontal, rectangular pupils

-Aside from cecaelia, most mer do have slanted pupils that change shape depending on the danger in the area.

-Mer communicate under the water using clicks and chitters similar to echolocation, and could choose to not learn commonspeak as they don’t interact with humans as much as beastmen

-They are born with teeth and can eat smaller fish from birth (or hatching, depending on the species)

-They’re not mammals, so they don’t have nips I think

-They don’t choose to wear clothing or accessories unless it’s for a formal event or a family heirloom

-Back to the birth thing I think mer eggs are very easy to lose due to the harsh climate of the ocean. Many mer settle for only having a child or two due to how hard it is to raise a child there. Jade and Floyd also hatched from the same egg, meaning they were on the smaller side as babies

-Mer babies also bite to show affection, and will wrap their tail around their guardians when they feel scared or nervous

-Cecaelia babies are well known for sticking to their guardians for the first few weeks of their lives, and are very difficult to pry off due to the strength of their tentacles (And when they do theres little marks left across their backs, stomachs, shoulders, etc from the suction cups) (I’m sorry i cant stop picturing tired momma ashengrotto walking around w little marls on her and baby azul still stuck to her like 👁👁)

-I know this is a little far fetched and is nowhere near mentioned in the game or comic but I have a feeling the tweels have a hard time seeing out of their gray eye? Like coming from the same egg they maybe took some features from the other or they had a difficult development while in there (or maybe I just know nothing abt twins)

-Incredibly territorial, especially towards members of different species.

-Most mer have skin pigmented similar to their tail color as well as thick layers of scales (if their species permits) around their throats, their sides, their arms, and around their ear fins (It throws me off how Azul and the Tweels are the only ones with different skin tones- like you’re telling me you have two teal mer and a black and white mer but the guards at the museum had just blue tails and absolutely no other signs of being a mer??? Give us green Rielle pls and thx)

-Mer grow much larger than humans and beastmen, and don’t stop growing until their twenties.

-They also have markings on their torso, tail, and face that’s similar to others in their families. Normally you can tell which mer is from which family depending on the markings said mer has

-Similar to beastmen tails and ears, mer can be read by their fins. In extreme emotion, mer’s fins will flare out or flatten against their body when they feel threatened.

-They don’t know how to drink things when they get to the surface. I think they’d struggle with the idea since you can’t drink underwater or else the liquid will go everywhere (but then how’d Azul make those potions???)

Fae:

-Also hypersensitive to sunlight, which results in many fae being nocturnal.

-Older fae have been known to go days without any sleep with little to no repercussions. Younger fae have more difficulty with this.

-They have a stronger immunity to magic, and often potions crafted by them are well known to be more potent due to this fact

-Fae speak many languages, with many smaller species talking in little chirps and bell like noises, with bigger species talking in low growls and hissing noises. Fae on opposite sides of this cannot understand each other, but each species of small fae can understand other small fae, and larger ones can understand other large ones, even if there’s a difference in language.

-All of them can practice transformation magic without the use of a spell or potion, regardless of genetic makeup. It’s not uncommon to see large dragons or other reptiles walking the streets of the Valley pf Thorns, nor is it too uncommon to see small “floods” or floating fire balls in more secluded areas of the woods

-Fae grow the largest out of all the groups, but have control over their size due to their transformation magic. They don’t stop growing until they appear the same age as thirty (but is actually a much longer time considering their lifespans)

-Because of this fae take much longer to mature from birth/hatching (I like to think 1 normal year= 80~ years) (So An 80 y/o fae would only be equal to a one year old in any other species)

-Very reserved in their relationships with other fae and especially species. I think the cultural differences between other fae is enough to create a large gap between them, and most fae understand the difference in life span between them and other species, so they actively go out of their way to avoid forming relationships with them. (I feel like this is a part of why Sebek is so abrasive towards humans. I mean, his life span has to be different even if he’s only half, so he might be using his anger to deflect his own feelings about eventually having to lose his human father and Silver, as much as they bicker. Poor guys just in denial and trying to protect himself :(()

Human:

-Humans who grew up around magic users have more resilience to magic and potions (meaning Mc/Yuuken, who grew up in a world without magic at all, is more susceptible and will be effected longer by the side affects of potions and spells, or the spells will pack more of a punch and be potentially more dangerous)(Meaning they could take a sleeping potion meant to give the user a full nights rest and be out for a week straight)

-The chances of a human’s unique magic leaning in one direction depends on the area they live in and what resources they have available (I can’t think of anyone else’s unique magic who does this but Kalim’s oasis maker is a big example. He mentioned they had difficulty getting water on the Land of the Hot Sands so maybe that could have been a factor that altered the makeup of his magic. Like a demand and supply type deal?)

-Magical human’s pupils also change shape when they’re using their magic. I like to think that whenever it’s being used their pupils are blown wide to the point where you can hardly see their actual eye color

-Either that or their eyes glow

-Magic using humans are typically stronger, but have lower endurance than non magic users. This is due to the strain that’s put on their bodies even when magic isn’t in use. There are potions they can use to lessen these effects, and many choose to naturally boost their endurance through various activities, but they have to work harder than non magic using humans

#twisted wonderland headcannons #twisted wonderland #twst #beastman #merman #fae

[so-i-dont-forget-again]

So I Don’t Forget Again: A Breath of The Wild fanfiction

Entry 208: Zora’s Domain

 Sidon made me breakfast. He made things I had taught him to make back at Hateno, he had to wake up very early to get the ingredients on time. He tried to hide it, but I could see he was a little sleepy through the whole day, he’s had such little rest. I really appreciate this, him just focusing on me, almost like there’s nothing else, but I don’t want him to push himself. Though I want to thank him all the same. He just makes me feel so special and safe, in a way unlike anything else, I guess. I feel like he really sees me, like he truly wants me. I don’t know how to describe this, but I want to. I want to pour these feelings into these pages, have him read this so he can know just how much he means to me, how he’s an irreplaceable part of my life, how he

I just want him to know as amazing as he finds me, I find him to be just the same. He’s much more eloquent with words than me, so maybe he’d know how to write this, but I want to at least try, even if this is just kinda incoherent thoughts by now.

We went to market, it’s a bit away from town, but that’s because it’s more of a trading area so Hylians and Gorons and others can get there easier than going through the canyon to the town. We did some shopping but we heard a lot of rumors. A new hero appearing, one who couldn’t be the reincarnated one. A hero who did not wield the blade of evil’s bane but a trident, instead of working in service of the princesses, or royalty, or goddess they worked for the people, a blond gender ambiguous Hylian who slew a massive, fearsome beast all to get ingredients for a medicine for a gerudo woman’s sick husband they didn’t even know, a person who helped the descendants of the champions calm all the Divine Beasts soon after their rampages began, a person who is a brother to the strong gorons, a person who had begun to teach others how to fend for themselves, on and on it went, even false or exaggerated tales. They were all about one simple person who served the people for their sake and nothing else. This person was not grand or flashy, they were only recognized since tridents are an uncommon weapon and even more uncommon for hylians outside of the royal family to be blond, two odd, eye catching characteristics and people made the connections from there. Sidon told me it just seemed fitting that the “Hero of the People” would wish to use all his peoples’ fighting styles, a person who was strong with all their power, their best qualities united.

I guess it is fitting. Before being the chosen hero or whatever felt like a burden, but this time, it felt different, it didn’t feel bad, like there’s this cumbersome weight I just can’t carry. I’m being called a hero for things I have done already, not things I’m expected to do, I think that’s the difference. I think Sidon could tell too. He admitted he was a little nervous about this, but if I did react badly, he wanted to be beside me so he could comfort me and not have me over hear this some other place far away and for my thoughts to go dark again. And we had the whole day to be together so we could do something fun to get my mind off it.

We had a lovely walk back. Bossa Nova kept trying to steal some of the ingredients we ended up running part of the way as he chased us. He even tried nibbling on my hair to get my attention. Sidon tried scolding him, but Bossa Nova didn’t care. After gifting a Hearty Radish he calmed down, but Sidon said I shouldn’t spoil him, that he’ll just take advantage of that and eat through all my non-meat supplies sooner or later. But then he just looked at me for a moment, smiled and shook his head before turning back to the trail ahead. When I asked him what that meant he told me he couldn’t find my behavior endearing and that I need to learn how to say ‘no’ sometimes. I guess he is a prince, he has to make decisions for his people, and he’ll likely have to say ‘no’ sometimes, but how can you say no to a cute hungry capybara! Besides I don’t think he would have stopped trying to knock us over till he was fed so I don’t think it could have been THAT bad. Just a treat. He’s a good boy, he needs the love. Sidon then gasped and said this must be why Bossa Nova likes me more now. It was clear he was play acting, playing up the moment but his reaction did get Bossa Nova to charge at him and knock him into the river for hugs. Much of the fruit started floating down river and it took a while to collect it all.

We cooked lunch together, a fusion between Rito and Zora cuisine. I always love cooking with him, well I just like cooking, but especially with him. Food reflects it’s culture and traditions, cooking is literally making something to help the other keep living and making it enjoyable all the while. I don’t think I need food, not anymore at least, but I can still enjoy it, making it and tasting it with others. Eating and cooking with others feels different than on your own, it only makes sense, food reflects people and so more people would surely make it taste better. All this to say I just really enjoyed lunch. And Bossa Nova still ate his meal so giving him his treat was not spoiling him! He didn’t eat his whole thing though, but that’s not the point! He still ate it… I guess it’s because I don’t get hungry I don’t see the point in having scheduled meals. Sidon said that was not the point, the point being Bossa Nova acting bratty to get whatever he wants. But could it be so bad, all he ever wants is food or extra affection.

Sidon asked if I knew how long I can hold my breath for. Much of his kingdom is underwater and he wanted to show more of it to me. Zoras really are made for the water, even the shape of their heads are kind of like arrows so they can effortlessly pierce through it. I know fish need fins to swim, I wonder how fins help Zora swim. They’re just stunning racing past, or at least Sidon is. Even with my complete zora armor set swimming can be a struggle but for him it’s effortless, he can go in circles and make twists and turns so quickly. Light seems much starker underwater, either bright or dark, I notice his glowy parts much more, I still can’t tell if they’re always glowing or if the glow activates when he’s in shade.

His home underwater looks similarish to land with similar plants, but there are also very different ones I don’t even know where to begin describing them. Some are kind of like flat dishes and others more spindly, then there are others that are wrinkly, I’ve never seen plants like those in the rivers before. There are some like stone, Sidon says they’re called coral and are plants oddly enough. Many of these only grow in the domain, but there are similar ones in the ocean. I wondered if any could be used in cooking, as they are plants zoras have never tried and Sidon was rather keen on assisting me if I tried working with them.

His kingdom underwater is so much larger than on the surface. Sidon and his people could so easily be separated from the rest of the world and be just fine. Their most important places like the throne room are on the surface so others can more easily reach them. That is something he’s always had been so appreciative of his ancestors for doing. His people, they’ve always been distant from the rest of Hyrule whether they lived solely underwater or some place out of reach or hidden away, of all times this current era is likely the closest they have been to others even with being separated by a distant canyon still. He doesn’t like this distance, even if it is better than before. After the champions fell and the hylians had no leader, everyone mostly went their own ways and more of a divide was created between everyone, sure there’s trade and the mail service but other than that, nothing, no alliance promises or at least documents stating they were at peace with one another, there’s nothing except for the few individuals who sought out pay from others, that’s why he finds what I’m doing to be so incredible. This legend I’m making just by being myself, becoming something or someone everyone can connect too or want to strive for. A kind of hero he could only have dreamed of. I told him I can’t do anything like uniting everyone, I’ve just lived with them and gotten to know them, he however, someone who knows how to lead others, someone who can understand and relate to others so easily or through his sheer determination, his hunger to know others better, wanting those connections, he could become someone who could lead and unite hyrule. He told me uniting hyrule again was going to be a monumental task, surely one he could not handle on his own, he’d definitely need someone who’s on good terms with everyone, and more importantly a partner by his side, someone he could lean on during the rough days, someone who could emotionally support him and just be by his side, just someone precious to him to keep close.

How tenderly he held my hands and stroked them with his thumbs, and just that way he looked at me. I don’t know what I was feeling but it was so warm, and soft, and like my chest was fluttering. Just… how he wants me, not just for what I can do, he just wants me. He wants me to be there because he just wants to share his life with me, I just happen to get some additional satisfaction since I know I get to help, but even if I couldn’t I KNOW he’d want me to be there with him and it just…

It means so much to me.

Today was just so nice.

After leading me to my room he collapsed on the bed. I don’t know about him, but I know swimming definitely takes a lot of energy and he was already working with little sleep, at least this way I know for certain he’s getting rest. I hope nobody comes here looking for him. For now, I guess I should get some sleep myself.

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#loz #botw #loz botw #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #legend of zelda breath of the wild #link #wild link #botw link #breath of the wild link #sidlink #link x sidon #sidon x link #fanfic #fanfiction #botw fanfic #botw fanfiction #loz botw fanfiction #loz botw fanfic #breath of the wild fanfic #breath of the wild fanfiction #sidfa #so i don't forget again #soidon'tforgetagain

[heavenlyeros]

you know how much I love glowy colourful things so of course I had to make the jardaan just like that. below the cut a long ramble on my headcanons about them

ko-fi || commissions

While thinking about who the jardaan could've possibly been I came up with the idea that they had some form of elemental powers, on a very small scale, much like the bioelectricity they gave the angara. Whether some of that was naturally there or they genetically gifted themselves is a wholly different can of worms. But yes.

I think they decided to terraform the whole cluster because they could. Their society had gotten to a point where they had the knowledge and resources to do it, and I think amongst the many differences of their many cultures they did share the trait of being deeply attuned to life. They might have been inspired by these elemental powers and wanted to apply them on an inconceivably massive scale - by altering planets to support life similar to their own.

Obviously, they must've gotten to a point where they simply didn't know what to do with so much habitable space. There's a few small remnant sites on the surface of most planets, but otherwise little sign of anyone living on them. Why would they go through all that trouble to just live underground? The vaults are humongous, and it did make me wonder if perhaps the jardaan cannot live in sunlight - perhaps a fault of their own bioengineering they're yet to fix, perhaps by nature. But instead of altering planets to accommodate themselves, they wanted to create life that could fully enjoy light - the plants, the animals, finally the angara.

Meridian where the jardaan might actually have lived is artificially lit, no? So perhaps it is starlight/sunlight which the angara need and love that the jardaan cannot live in. They would've made the centre of their vault network a habitable place for themselves.

So yes, I think they started out with just terraforming worlds and observing the simplest organisms that came to be on their own over a long period of time, and worked from that to create their own flora and eventually fauna that thrives in the sun. They got the chance to properly study organisms that, because of the whole sunlight thing, were very different to themselves (and quite possibly most other life from their homeworld?). And after that? They wanted to go bigger. They had learned how to facilitate and create life. It was time to make it sapient.

Their shape is inspired by that one statue in the game, which Avela mentions to look very strange and different to the angara. Whether that's the artist's touch, an earlier angaran model (either in game development or in angaran bioengineering), or an actual jardaan, I just really liked the idea of them being pointier and larger. They have the connected fingers they gave the angara and the fins and the crests, but everything is sharper, and they are tall and wide. Basically the angara are small, soft, colourful versions of the jardaan. If they were going to create life they would create it differently, but going by my headcanon that the angara were their first sapient creation I imagine they wouldn't have strayed too far from what they knew works. I also think by that point the jardaan would've managed to pretty much perfect their own DNA, so it wasn't a case of simply creating a genetically flawless version of their species - simply one that could live under very different conditions. They wanted to make a new people and give them the opportunity of their own life while still allowing them to fit into jardaan society without many special adjustments that would come with different biology, sans the sunlight part, for which they'd have lamps.

The jardaan are naturally bioluminescent, so the markings are not painted on. They started out as random splotches and freckles and stripes but were eventually just genetically engineered into various decorative patterns over many generations. I'm yet to decide if the colour is genetic or if it changes depending on mood (maybe it doesn't change but certain colours are associated with certain traits, and they put that into the design of the remnant bots, like green being serene and red being protective). Perhaps, even, the bioluminescent particles are under a first layer of translucent skin and the patterns can change. Vague memories of these might've inspired the face paint/tattoos we see some angara wear.

As a people so deeply attuned to everything living, they decided to go for the same visual feel to the architecture meant to bring whole worlds to life. Amongst their powers it was the bioelectricity they used to operate all of this machinery, so that's what they gave the angara to begin with. I think the angara were still very much a work in progress, centuries after the first truly living beings.

I'm fairly sure scanning the structures on Habitat 7 at the start of the game mentions they are only 300-400 years old, meaning the jardaan kept building the network for further expansion up until the scourge hit.

I really enjoy the theory of the jardaan having made the angara to be soldiers (I do like myself some delightful darkness and the irony of their situation when we meet them, long after the jardaan left). But for my main headcanon, I think they made them to be their equals, and they were cherished creations. The angara got to experience and live things the jardaan could not, and share all that with them. Perhaps the jardaan did not even want to change themselves and living underground went far beyond just biology. But in any case, most of all the jardaan simply loved being able to breathe life into worlds, and found the creation and nurturing of the angara very fulfilling.

With the jardaan preferring to dwell underground or in dark space it'd also make sense why we don't stumble upon any signs of life from them, though they're probably actively hiding as well. I do wonder if the jardaan were created themselves (which could play into the shortcomings of their own biology that they hadn't yet overcome) and also whether it was other jardaan (opposed to the angara, perhaps also somehow involved with the kett?) or even their own creators who made the scourge, rather than a random adversary. What happened to this enemy anyway? Sure the jardaan are hiding, but we don't meet anyone hunting them? Perhaps because they stopped doing what was bothering this enemy to begin with - working on the angara.

I believe the angara were well aware of the jardaan at the beginning, and interacted a lot, as the jardaan originally intended. Maybe in an attempt to see where life goes on its own that was reduced to a select few from each angaran group as the centuries went on (political drama?), but there would've still been plenty of angara familiar with the jardaan before the scourge. After that, the jardaan didn't run off and hide just to protect themselves - they did it to keep the angara safe, too. Perhaps without interference by a greater power the enemy would leave them alone.

Tl;dr the jardaan are big and bioluminescent, they have little elemental powers that inspired them to terraform, they cannot live in sunlight so they created creatures who can enjoy it, and they love the angara very much

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Next up: clothing them, and also Sjefa somehow stumbles upon a small covenant of jardaan and many awed cuddle piles ensue.

#jardaan #angara #mass effect andromeda #mass effect headcanons #mefanart #outfits

[nightfury-2001]

crackverse shadow again,, only made some very minor changes but i think it looks better

also lately ive been trying to type out some of the lore and ideas i have for the crackverse and i'd like to share the WIP word vomit ive managed to write about crackverse shadow’s species asdhgdsahsdf

- as you can probably guess theyre not actually called (h)edgehog dragons. actual name for their kind is probably something like gy'var....which is a fantasy-ish name i just pulled out of my ass but it actually sounds kinda cool h m m m m m

- theyre not true dragons,, theyre more like,, hybrid magical creatures that have some dragon/fury features

- human level intelligence, though they have different behaviors, ways of thinking, ways of communicating etc. bc making sapient non-human species act exactly like humans is boring af

- animalistic behaviors are mainly based off actual hedgehogs, birds of prey.....or well,, really just birbs in general, and guinea pigs

- have their own language and can learn to speak human languages, however i imagine it's generally very difficult for them unless they are around humans/taught from a young age

- primarily bipedal but they can prowl around on all fours if they want to - body is covered in fur, tail and wings are scaled

- the big spines/quills on their heads arent really quills and are mostly used for display/intimidation and expressing emotions. bigger spines/quills/whatever are generally seen as an attractive trait                                                                    (i imagine they might actually be kinda sensitive too and might help them sense wind currents or some shit like that,, or like help them echolocate if i give them that ability,,)

- hands and feet are not super human-like, they have talons and i also imagine they probably have some sort of pads on the bottom, also might give them a sixth digit thats a sort of dewclaw that helps them grip onto things bc thats a neat idea. alternatively could make their fifth digit the dewclaw

-  idea - fine motor skills arent as good as a human's, however they are physically stronger.....?

- fire is basically the same as an actual night fury's - have night fury dorsal plates/back spines, they can split them just like an actual nf can and they have their own glowy spines thing/supercharged mode/dominance display

- tail and wings are very similar to a nfs, however i imagine there are usually some differences,, i imagine maybe their wings (and fins) are generally a bit slimmer/more similar to an actual falcon's

- have sharp quills that cover most of their back. usually lowered unless they feel threatened/mad

- idea - they also have spines on the backs of their arms...?? - compared to humans they have longer and more flexible necks

- large lungs, *insert other shit here like this that makes sense

- averge adult male is around 5'11", average adult female is 6'11". females are also generally beefier than males

- mature males generally have brightly colored markings on their faces and head spines/quills and iridescent markings on the undersides of their wings to help attract mates

- don't lay eggs, they give live birth

- newborn hoglets are very strange and kinda ugly looking lol. like you know how newborn hedgehogs look? or rly young bby birds? yeah

- babbies are fed by regurgitating food

- idea - young gy'var can actually kinda curl up into a lil ball like an actual hedgehog

- like many other magical creatures they take forever to reach adulthood,, like 50 years lmao (could be bc of magic shit??)

- courtship is often times very long and complex

- most are monogamous but it's not unheard of for them to have multiple mates

- omnivorous and eat fish and fruit, also eat insects, worms, etc. just like actual hedgehogs

- pretty resistant to most poisons and the venom of most creatures (kinda based off of how real hedgehogs have some immunity to snake and scorpion venom)

#tales from the crackverse #crackverse!shadow #crackverse!gy'var

[jawnwicks]

Cryptid, Crystal, Spirit, Blood, UFO, Haunted House, Fae, Footprint, Deer

Cryptid: What kind of otherworldly/cryptid/folk lore being do you identify with the most and why?

A ton of otherworldly/mythical creatures fascinate me. Wendigos, thunderbirds, genies, incubi/succubi, dragons, werewolves, centaurs, chimaeras, phoenixes, griffins... but the one I most relate to or keep coming back to is the concept of selkies. Something about the idea of being from somewhere else and losing that connection or having it be very vulnerable, then either being able to slip right back into a real version of me when the external place gets too much or be locked off from going back to it because of somebody else’s cruelty/selfishness... that really Connects. Equally though I love the idea of shapeshifting from one True Form to another partial form that interacts with the above world, with the true one saved for the inner world where everything is innately free and understood. Yup.

Crystal: What color palette do you think descibes your personality the most?

We’re gonna need a bigger colour palette. Many different palettes for different styles of living and being. One is black/red/white; one is auburns/purples; one is soft pastel natural colours; one is glowy neon aqua/pink; one is brown/green/auburn forest colours; one is silver/white; one is yellow/dusty/scrubland. Lots and lots. I wouldn’t say a rainbow, but definitely a whole fucking mix.

Spirit: Do you believe in magic?

Not really? I’m vaguely superstitious and I used to have a tarot deck which 100% worked but I don’t really attribute that to magic, more... the ability to extrapolate meaning from what arises as an unconscious empathy exercise. I’d like to, but I spent a lot of time waiting for that world and it never arrived, so I’m a big ol’ non-believer.

Blood: What's your biggest fear?

To lose what I’ve gained.

UFO: What places are on your travel list?

Iceland, the US again, Canada, Ireland for the millionth time, France for the millionth time, one of the Scandinavian countries, Scotland again, poooossibly Australia.

Haunted House: You hear scratching noises from the attic, too loud to be caused by a squirrel or a raccoon. At the same time you hear a knocking at the basement door, but you know that everybody else is in the kitchen. Which one do you investigate?

I absolutely investigate neither of them and just sit there frozen like an idiot.

Fae: wings or fins?

WINGS. Who needs fins. Gimme the wings and give them to me right now. My favourite dreams are the flying ones and I’ve yearned for that ability since I was a wee kid.

Foot Print: Mothman or Big Foot?

Bigfoot because I like the idea that it’s just some guy who had enough.

Deer: antlers or fangs?

gnffjdhg I have to say antlers, but jesus they’d get annoying. Then again, so would fangs. I’d be constantly biting my own mouth by accident. I’ll say fangs purely because I think they’ll be less trouble and comfort is so big for me lol.

#quehons #ifridiot

[sawkinator]

I decided to start revamping some VERY old Neopets OCs so here is the first of many!

Caspian here is a water mage and really enjoys history. Also blind. I didn’t draw it but he definitely has a cane-sword like Terezi because someone decided it was a good idea to read Homestuck to him, which he really enjoyed and now he’s making it everyone else’s problem. He’s heavily based on an otter with some other general aquatic features like fins and webbed paws slapped on. Plus some bioluminescence akin to deep-sea creatures because it’s rad. He doesn’t actually turn darker when he glows, I just wanted to make the markings clear :v

My friends made some comments about the mouth but I can assure you that I just 1. wanted to draw a cute yawning face and 2. decided I wanted there to be glowy bits in his mouth because it looked cool and a glowing tongue and fangs would probably scare off any would-be predators and I refuse to let CERTAIN GROUPS OF PEOPLE take that aesthetic from me. So if you try to (incorrectly) infer anything deeper about me from that then that’s a You problem

#Sawk art #original character #actually rather happy with this design #surprising considering I don't know anything about creature design lol

[smallgayblanket]

New/revised/whatever- List of stuff

Egos (Marks/Jacks) that I have written for or at least actually have thought about HCS/other universes for:  (Just some brief rambles about them, please don't hesitate to ask about them :3)

  -Anti,   Two takes really, I like him soft, like him mean, hes just fun to write, plenty of different ways to spin why he acts out, what he is and all that. My current fav way to portray him is a missing piece of Seans soul, which means hes unstable as a ‘person’ (cough, not really a human but not, not human either.)  And how he has static filled blue eyes but usually hides them with the scary emerald green...

-Jameson,  I will always stand by this kinda universe i created with a friend aages ao that Shawn took away Jamesons voice when being puppeteered by an awful ink creature that shares his body.  Giving Jameson a lovely fear of knives, some scars, and some very damaged vocals..

-Crank, Oh my fucking boi, a near dead human spliced with a bunch of robot parts..human skin tangled with wires and a heart incased in metal..hes a right mess, a voice in his head that makes him feel all sorts of bad.. He tries his best..he cries oil,  I hardly get to write  him but I love him.

-Blank, another big fav oi, black hollow eyes..a tendency to faint... My Hc involves him having been in an accident that almost killed him, leaving him with a very rare heart condition. He also has an aura which..kinda ties into him having a few abilities and stuff. 

-Nes.. He started off as my own kinda Ethan ego, basically Ethan who was mistreated and really lost his marbles..hes great for the real twisted messed up kinda stuff, so dependant on others, a minor murderer, and has been eyed off by a certain ice cream driver for quite some time...

-Were eth,  Okay granted this was literally just kinda an idea that..Eth became a were wolf boi, fangs, tail, ears. Hes just a fun lil pupper

-Eden. Succubus Ethan basically, but well, he again kinda turned into his own thing separate from Ethan. He's got a tail and wings, and hes a lovely lithe thing. He doesnt dare do things without consent, just gets a bit touchy-feely when hes gone without any energy for too long. Very wide stunning saphire eyes. 

- Jackie  Oh my lad..Buff, trans, adorable, sweet. I always love tinkering around with how/what powers he has tbh..and like- I’ve always had the hc that his eyes are lilac?? or gold. Depending on things.. and he works either at a comic book store, a gym, or at the counter of a gas station. Gives the best hugs. Also I love AUS where hes a phoniex because of uhm?? Big fucking red wings??? YES.

-Hen, Getting his accent right is tough but other than that I love writing about the tired doctor living off coffee and ignoring himself in favor of others. 

-Chase The fucking best dad, sunshine lad. Running a vlogging channel and doing his best while combatting depression..I hc him to have chronic fatigue so he has to push himself extra hard. but He does well in trying to get better and look after himself and only slips up like any other helpless human. Very fun to write. 

- Robbie.   Sof.t zombie lad. Drown in a sweater. Stutters and is v quiet. Slow with speech. Struggles to see sometimes. Loves soft textures.Loves attention. Overall soft fucking lad.

-KOTS, To mean known as Simon. Actually v smart, big brain, very scattered n shy and nervous and squirrelish. Loves books n plants, loves nature. Red is his best colour. Warm sweaters and nuzzling and cuddling up. I always get torn between him being a hybrid of human/squirrel or just a lovely soft guy. 

-Yan ! My fem nb/trans gal! They’ll kick ass with their katana, have the hots for Bim, and looove Japanese culture and stuff. Very adorable. Loves pink. 10/10 love to write. 

-Technically I do have a muse for Mark, or..idea? I’m thinking about shoving it into my own oc/thing..but basically he got tortured n abused by Authy so hes not quite like the real life markimoo..just a nervous mess whose dealing with his traumas..

-Bing, Skater lad, yellow/orange eyes, sunflower vibes. Tries his best, clumsy as fuck, great for a laugh when hes not cowering under google. 

-Edward iplier,  Gah my doctor lad.. I have a hc that he Lost arm. In fire..or by dark n wilf.  He has heterochromia too!! One cho ceye one blue one. He is a fucking nerd (Minor adhd lets be honest) He fucking loves space and science and space/science related lights. He has a bat plus with spacey wings. He likes reading, likes being clean and is quite a quiet indulger in food which has left him with a big of a softer figure. Super gentle nature..nothing like the arrogant portrayal we got in some videos. 

-Angus   I love this man!!! Part Aussie, part irish, a whole lot of gruff old dad with a soft spot for nice people and animals, has his own big place, next to a large ass forest. Loads of scars. Loves boots and cameo coloured clothing. A lovely guy when you get past the rough edges. 

Aand onto all my ocs as of writing this (cause you name well know I be writing new ones like..all the time.) 

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

OC’S (My original characters!)

-Jessy, Cowboy-   Choker with gold bell. Lil ears/horns. Spots. Shy but sweet. Hands and feet different colour to rest of skin. Kinda  fur ish feeling rather then just straight-up skin.  Pear shaped figure. Shy lad. Likes to take lots of naps, anxious easily but a big people pleaser too. 

-Ailan and Keros. Moth n butterfly boi.  (Literally just made up with a friend, just a random soft pair of lads tbh nothing too fleshed or spesh)

- Louie - Followed by a dark being/creature/spirit... Yet to determine what else about him, but hes got brown hair, pointed ears and looks lovely in green.

-Quinton  A Hybrid of Demon and Angel otherwise called a Guardian. Quirky, Pan as shit, great dress sense. Extremely calm. Can see auras. Lovely black feathered wings. Bright blue hair.  Kind smile. Works at a little coffee shop in his spare time.

-Ori  Very pure angel boy, previously owned and not very well treated by a god, came crashing down to earth with no memories but his wings intact. Some help him. 

-Lumi  Ghost boy! Died years ago under awful circumstances..now lingers around on earth, sometimes meeting humans who happen to be able to feel or see his presence, he has the ability to make himself solid for short periods of time. 

- Lucio Witchy..dragon soul something or other- Deaf.Paralyzed? In the arms??They might use alot of energy trying to hover around instead of having to use a chair..(I mean how many witches do you see with chairs??).. Although they could not have use of their arms instead, like..paralyzed from the shoulder down- they still have them but theyre effectively useless and easily sore.. (which might make magic really hard, cause theyd have to master it again without their hand gestures.)

- Eztli, Bit of a prick. Basically got cursed to have really weird blood that replished and rejuvinated too fast/too much by a witch he angered. So he turned the curse into a good thing and basically goes out offering himself as a human blood bag for vamps willing to pay in info, items, cash or uh..other services..  

- Gallio Photographer, has hypocalcemia. Haven't really done much else with him tbh.

-Aomi Warlock/witch in training. Downright awful at it. Young and lives in a nice lil cottage outside of the village he was abandoned in.

- Lucas A moonstone gem perma-fusion, he kinda has SPD/DID but he doesn't, cause..hes two gems that became one but not fully. Leaving him to be a bit of a mess and not as strong as other moonstones. 

- Kiyan. A little assistant android!! Created to assist, he can make portals!, He works at a post office. Hes under surveillance by the company that made him and isnt yet aware of many human customs/emotions.. 

- Alex  A very confused, overly optimist Alien who doesn’t know what they are. Come from the planet Eutychia, 4'3. They fucking glow. You know  Kilowatt from space chimps? think that. But hair n freckles and more human and just as  bubbly and energetic. 

-Locus  Mer/Fish boi!  Transparent fins, glowy patches, plays harp + loves music.

-Lir  A Tiny Octopus/Human hybrid lad. Makes little burble and trill noises. Quite harmless. Needs a home. 

Benji (Strawberry shortcake boi- Cursed tape /bandages. Demi half god.? One eye. Uses notes. To communicate but also sign. Really. Good sweets maker)

 Small bois (A collection of tinys because G/T is fucking great okay?)

- Tobias. Literally Made of hair gel. cleary, adorable, aaand Eats soap..amoung other non food items he probably should not ingest but does..

- Hinto  Guy made of foam slime. Very chill n laid back.

- Glowstick bubs. (Alo/aloke -  Green and blue  +  Siro - Yellow n pink.  + Mavi (Vi) Red and silver. + Roxy (Ro) - Orange and  purple )  They’re a cross between glowsticks and lava lamps and its epic- asides the fact they have like.half a brain cell each. Lots of sleeping n lazign around.

- Theo  A tiny ink creature.  A clever little lad, who likes to drawn and write n paint in ink and leave cheeky little black splotches everywhere. A very good writer companion tho. 

- JellyBubs! A collection of tiny sentient jelly babies, hungry lads will raid your cupboards. 

-Miel A tiny little bee boy! Loves flowers <3 

Apocolyse Squad:

The planet Keres,  Left uninhabitable after the invasion that ruined the air and killed almost the entire race.

Sameal o’Ceirin (Being of smoke- partly blind.)

Mallory Thomas (Part cat. Vet, partner to Sam who ends up dying in the canon of their story)

Hamrish Benat  (Hayden. 4 eyes, soft tongue. PTSD. extra tiny heart in wrist. Quite fem/soft. Likes soap cutting vids and stuffed toys/teddies.)

Joshua who cares (An asshole. Staight up. He dies. Fuck him. He sucks ass.)

Andy peters (Strong, kind. Kinda like Tyler shied. Big, tol, but actually pretty soft.)

Adrian  Géarán  (Tail, fire abilities, likes to make little robots. Very weak n has a couple of disabilities that leave him tired n such, which aint great for his esteem or his team when the apoc hits.)

--

Wyatt ???? ?????????????????

Pace- Nerdy. Finds a cat. Observer for the aliens. Is immune to black goop. 

Four - buff. Scary. Deadly. 

Apocolypse Squad Part 2  Small lads who dont derese to be in danger: 

  -Apep, Naga boi  Legs mutate into a cool tail. Hisses, fangs. Adorable loves the sun. bout 20 years old. 

Chris. Camp leader! Biig dad type, redhead, buff, likes gardening and camping, very outdoorsy. Little awkward but great.

Small child Talise- nickname tails? ..   Blind and slightly traumatized by the car crash that killed his mother and ended up with glass in his eyes, very sensitive to noise n textures.     Ends up mutating tails.  6 v young n smol  blocks n colourin

Shirin Parvis. Crystal boi .. trained solider/ royalty.  Tried to warn people before the apoc hit and failed. Now tries to protect the small group of surviors he stumpbles across. 

 Zephaniah, mutation turns him into a  Chameleon basically, just.. a human one. He  Prefers Zeph. Big gamey Nerd-  gets a pet gecko.  16. Quiet. Loves Lazar skirmish and lazers. 

Moyachi, Cactus boi!! Plant bab. Loves water and has clear/lime green tinted aloe/herbal helpful blood. Spikes up at defense from bad people 18/ 19   likes drawing. Pretty grumpy and needs a break.

Colin, nicknames: Coco,  Lady bug lad, who is baby trans  mutation resulted in a weird Red/Orange skin condition basically.  Can predict weather v accurately.       Ballet/dance, 14   Likes cooking. 

Hotaru , Firefly bby  - Glowy bub with antenna,  possibly mutates wings.. Sassy and tired. Turns nocturnal as the apoc progressed. Also becomes Colins first love <3

Zeno  A Siren of sorts.  DC/ hip hopper/   Lost his arm in apoc.  He loooves music alot. Very purple aesthetic and checkerboards.

Liren Pichi, deaf peaches n cream aesthetic boi- Nickname Pichi.  He is alone during the apoc, sneaks aboard and ship and goes missing..

Neighbours AU:

They all live on the homeworld, Ermioni.

Lesbabs:

Blake Aglaia  A human with a gift of being able to put emotions into glass balls.. Red head, quite fem, but gay, sweet, but not mousy. 

Lynx ?? An alien and human, the alien somewhat resides inside its host but they coexist. Sometimes goes feral.  Alien half likes to go by Perse  (Percy)  They have cool looking saliva- viens that run down their arms that are pretty cool- sharper nails/claws. Tendrils. Large ol mouth. Lots of pointy ass teef. Lynx likes to train,go to gym, and kick ass. Big ass butch energy.

Demon fam:

Hyacinth  A six-armed demon with serious parent energy. Big gardener, his body grows flowers depending on his moods/strength of emotions. Purple neck length hair. Great at comfort and cooking. 

Rhys  A Demon with a great curiosity about humans has a sibling, Feri.  Rhys is a big nerd, but very hard to get to know. Not great with emotions, comes across a tad distant and cold without always meaning too. Loves candles and lots of autumn aesthetic. 

Anthos, AKa Ant. Rhys and Hy’s accidentally created/summoned a toddler.. and hes fucking adorable. 

Vato - V   Hy has another bub later on who's more purpley blue with red curled horns and 4 arms.. No tail.. 4 eyes. V cute and inquisitive. Less noisy and wreckless than Ant. 

Roommates:

Douglas Connelly  A regular chubby human bean! Learning to become a chef. He loves food, loves cooking and also loves dancing. Hes a big guy, big cudddler, but a little shy and akward at times. 

Donovan Amores  Real fricking cool and smokin hot Bartender with a love for dogs. Dougs roommate. Has glowing fuckin orbs- donates his heart to a fucking god is smooth as fuck, background heavily Spanish, moved when young.

Haris Alaksim Real name (lost in translation, Huitzilopochtli God of sun and war) ) - A god whom Dono is very close with and donates his heart two one every 3 years during the day of the highest sun. He is a god / Mouros.    Donovan refers to him as “Dios gentil”  or “ Viejo colibrí sabio”   (“El viejo colibrí sabio es un dios gentil” (The old wise hummingbird is a gentle god.)

Donovans Family

Rem (Looks after magical creatures- Cane is from Haris)

Oscar  (Not sure what trinket or power but He’s just a casual store worker w/ good arms. Surprisingly good with knives- perhaps has one from Haris?)

Nicole  (His only sister Makes clothes..possibly got some ability to do with seasons..?  Perhaps earrings or a bracelet from Haris)

Javi  (Makes jam, cute boy, wears cloaks. Maybe has a cute little jar necklace or magic jar??)

Luca (Trans bookkeeper- Talks to Haris most often and likes to ask questions..Has precious books...Possibly a special pen..) 

Forest bois!!

Cypress The soul of the forest - Mentor of Rem. Very calm, very wise. Kinda like master oogway type. 

Unicorn boi, Hes rare, missing a chunk of his horn. Dont hurt him. He doesnt even have a name.

Fyn. Mushroom boy. Protects a gate. Lost his twin during a human-caused fire. Very mad about it. 

Fie. Bat boy. Loves fruit. 

Moh. Fairy/incubus hybrid.  

Tucker. Bunny boi, Best friends with Ainsley. Got some like, punk vibes about him, piercings n such. Not as soft as one would expect but still nice at heart.

Ainsley. Fawn boi, clums, shy, round glasses,  Looks smart but doesn't always know stuff. Very unsure of self. 

Experiment AU: 

Izekiel Iris A being of Paint. Hes made of paint. He has trauma from being experimented on. Slightly depressed. Loves art, loved creating. also regresses to try to deal with said PTSD.  Hard to get to know at first. 

Matty  (Matthew Libelle)   An experiment, part human, part lizard, part dragon. Much smol.  Hes fucking baby and i adore him alot please do ask anything and everything about him. 

Cult bois:

-Nero Aakil   (Means Genius/Orange blossom)   Orange bub  - Leader. Smart. Telepathic link with all cult members.  V corrupted…  (Parents were rich and ignorant)

-Mao Cerise   Pink - Ditzy, Looks after their ‘little bird’ (aka Jey) 

-Jey Michael Cherubim   Fallen angel -  Corrupted..desaturating and weak.. Was summoned by the cult and captured as a trophy. 

-Jaden Hirav  Looks after a garden of plants both harmless and some not for master. Previously Neros old pet..His  The family was alright but he was moreso raised by like his mum and bro. He was kidnapped from his garden and never seen again. The cult ritual to initiate him into the group failed and he was spliced with plants making him near useless to the cult.

-Rowan maverick - Now known as  Rogue- Red. Lost their tongue. Does Not follow orders to the T but gets their job done.   Has another voice/god/soul looking out for them… Very assassin ready, very perceptive. Wants to get out the cult but knows theyre too far in.. Cool glowy words in the air because they don't have their tongue. Possibly only lives of medication and vitamin pills..possible OD? Possible addiction. They struggle alot with it. 

P - Pax -  God who watches over Rowan. Was killed by the Master but their spirt lives on.

Cato.   Purple - Another smart one.. Possible Wiccan?  Sadist. Mean. Tall.  Scary. Abuse. Twisted. Loves being in the cult. Eventually wants to host Masters soul.. 

Gin Short for Ginger but the real name is Xanthe.  Blind. Also another assassin like Rogue but more obedient.  Doesn't talk often out of fear. 

Benjamin Brandy  (Benji. B) is Gins friend, Gin is trying not to get him involved in the cult but was too late as B had previously already been cursed and dealt with mythical beings..

 Silver bub. Demir. A demon summoned by the cult to complete the collection. Wants out, very stressed.  

Adopted AU: (This is like a mess of some of the boys but younger and in a different timeline to their universes smushed together intoa kinda cute school/adoption au idea.)

Matthew is smol autistic, malnourished and heavily abused both mentally and physically, leading to selective mutism and being a small fragile easily tired bab.  He loves hanging in the library once he gets used to going to some schooling. Gets tutored by Chris? Goes to camp and helps around n has fun..

Jaden, loves the school garden, and likes science class. His family is alright, However he ends up mostly raised by his sister? Or brother? 

Iz is the lil art bab, also in foster care of a big family, not so much abused but semi neglected. Quiet.

Nero is the gifted nerdy child..Parents ignorant. They love history and fictional books and reading and learning.

Benji is the slightly older kid whos possibly maybe a little behind or delayed or..something, they help out with other kids as a buddy? They like to do cooking classes.

DA AU

So this Au was like..the Septic tank births all the egos.

Angus first- He has..some kinda strength I imagine/..

Then Anti, Hen, Jackie. Marv. 

Chase -  He kills himself because of Glitch- also falls in the tank a second time and ends up with odd powers. 

Glitch Starts off as very bad and misunderstood. Turns out they were just highly unstable and required medical treatment.  Their real name is Arius and they cant stomach solid foods all the time. Mostly a liquid diet. They have glitchy fits/static seizures. Very unpleasant. Can enter tech, and its not so great, can get trapped. Can absorb certain amounts of electricity because of this they Got hit by  ightning once and has epic lighting scars!! Up arms..some on neck. All over his chest and back. 

Septic clone AU

Sean giving up bits of soul to make clones ends up in coma

Experiments and torture and odd shit with the egos ensues??

Minecraft AU??  

Yeah i had weird ideas for a cute minecraft gang of minecrafters who had accidents involving getting merged/recded with other creatures traits ect. 

Vail.  -Vex / Human

Snow golom hybrid? Or Blaze?

Slimey boi

Kitsune

Panda lad.

Pokebabs au

Mainly for Matty, Iz and Blank.. were they have pokemon forms and when bonded with a human long enough can evolved into human forms?? 

Horned AU  (With Troiseh/Glitch-in-the-static)

Shiro  -Prince lad  (This is their lad :3)

Junji - Battery..whump/slave/lost prince 

Isao Asuka -  Shiros Royal Guard 

Alien AU

Hami if he were..alien instead of being a human in an apoc basically. 

Angel AU stuff: 

Good omens inspired boi

Leo Halvar   Part..humany..demon..Cambion are according to google "In late European mythology and literature, a cambion is the offspring of an incubus, succubus, or another demon with a human, or of an incubus and succubus"

Ryan  Hot archangel guy: One wing, demon hunter thing.. Good kinda reforming from a less nice lifestyle previously. 

Mute angel possibly demon idk- -   Latif? Emmet? Evan? 

Long fringe shy boy-  Cael / Lox

#list #ocs #egos #ideas #hcs #blu rambles #blus list #its fuckigng 2 am #im sorry if this makes no sense #but here are a fuck ton of lads #and a fuck ton of aus and ideas #if anyone ever wants to ask XP

[inkedmyths]

Priorities are definitely in order here

Because who loves Feral? I do that's who

Summary: A certain hero finally sets out to get something actually done about that big bad thing over by the castle. Of course his shadow follows him for the ride.

Disclaimer: As unlikely and seemingly impossible as it seems, yes Link decided to do 40 shrines and get those 10 extra heart containers before even bothering with the Divine Beasts quests. He's just a frustratingly distracted person, doing glowy dungeons instead of actually trying to save the world.

Link hummed as he scanned the landscape before him. An inactivated tower stood in the distance, orange light becoming less obvious as the sun began to shine over the horizon.

Hearing grumbling behind him, he turned to face his shadow. Feral was squinting at the east, looking disgusted and uncomfortable. "What's up?" Link asked.

Feral grunted. "Bright," was all he said.

Link turned back to the breaking dawn. That made sense, he guessed. Feral was basically made of darkness. Of course he wouldn't like the big shining orb that was the sun. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Probably, other than being in a constant state of discomfort."

Thoughts swirled in his head for a moment. Then he pulled out his bag and began shuffling around in it. A moment later, looking triumphant, he pulled out what he was looking for. A black hooded cloak. He held it out to Feral. "Here."

Feral, in turn, looked mildly surprised. He accepted the cloak. "Thanks," he said, pulling the hood over his head. "I am now somewhat less uncomfortable."

Link shrugged, then turned back towards the tower in the distance. He pointed to it. "That's where I want to go next." Feral squinted, then nodded.

They started down towards the wetlands below. As they tromped ahead, Feral spoke up. "What even is your overall goal here? Don't you have some sort of like, heroic quest you're supposed to be doing?"

Link frowned slightly. "Uh... yeah? I mean, I'm supposed to be working on defeating Calamity Ganon. Something about the, uh, what do you call them... I don't remember, the big machines."

"So let me get this straight," Feral began. "You're supposed to be doing something to defeat a giant demon cloud... and you just haven't done anything yet?"

"Sure I've done something! I've been doing shrines, and I got the Master Sword."

"Alright, but what about the whole... big machine thing you just mentioned?"

Link shrugged. "I haven't gotten there yet. Actually..." He pulled out his Sheikah Slate, poking it a few times. "We're sort of headed in the general direction of one of them I think?"

Feral peered over his shoulder at the golden dot that marked a location. "If we're in the area we could go and check that out."

Link nodded. "First the tower though. I need to see where I'm going."

"Nah. Just launch yourself into the unknown."

"If there's a big robot I want to know where it is."

"What, don't want to get jumped by lasers?"

"Not if it's ten times as big as a Guardian."

They continued forwards as they quipped back at one another. Water sloshed around their feet, and the sun reflected off the ripples they created. Link hadn't been in an area quite like this yet, but he didn't mind it. Link didn't mind a lot of things, therefore neither did Feral. With the exception of the infernal source of light otherwise known as the sun. Feral definitely minded that.

In the middle of making a comment about how maps were overrated, Feral was interrupted by someone calling out. Surprised, the two looked up. A figure was waving to them from a pool of water. They exchanged a glance, then walked forward to the pool.

"Hello!" The person greeted. They weren't Hylian, that was for sure. They had fins and a long tail coming out of their head, and were red in coloration. Link didn't know what they were, but a prickle of familiarity echoed in the back of his mind. "Are you both Hylians?"

They looked at each other again. "Er... yes." Link wasn't entirely sure if Feral qualified as Hylian, but it was probably the best explanation since 'no he's a shadowy demon thing that looks like me' was likely not going to go over well.

"Wonderful! Our prince has been looking for a Hylian!" The person smiled, then pointed off to a spot near the tower where they were headed. "Won't you please go talk to him?"

Link nodded in response, then set off towards the tower once more, waving goodbye to the swimming person. Feral followed, sparing only a glance backwards before turning back forward. "Prince?"

Link shrugged. "Guess we'll find out what that's all about."

The tower ended up taking longer than they thought to reach. After punting around some bokoblins that were milling about the area, Link climbed up the large structure. Feral followed behind, making comments on how overly ridiculous the design was. After all, if only the Hero could activate them, why make them so ridiculously tall? Link said it may have something to do with the scanning aspect. Feral said it had something to do with trying to acheive an aesthetic.

After activating the tower, they examined the new portion of the map they had gained. "Looks like the dot wants us to go there." Link gestured in the general direction without looking up.

Feral, on the other hand, did look up. "Wow, you mean Rain Town?"

"Huh?" Link looked up to see what he was talking about. "Oh, wow." There was a dark cloud hovering over that area of land, sheets of rain pouring out of it. "Yeah, looks like that's where we're headed."

"Sweet, no sunlight."

Link stepped to the edge of the tower before pausing. "Hang on. Do you have a paraglider?"

"I... actually, I don't know." Feral frowned.

Link pulled his out of his bag. Feral examined it, then mimed a similar movement. A shadowy copy of the item was now in his hands. "I guess I do."

"Interesting." They pondered it for a moment before deciding there were much more interesting things to be doing. "Race you to that rock over there?"

"You're on."

With that, the two launched themselves off of the structure. After an eventful flight that consisted mostly of narrowly missing each other, they both landed at the afformentioned rock. This was immediately followed up with an argument as to who had gotten there first. As they walked they bickered over whether or not Link's toe had brushed the ground first.

"Hello!" The two were startled out of their debate. They hadn't been paying attention to where they'd been walking, and had come across a bridge. It was unlike the wooden bridges that were all across Hyrule, made of glimmering blue tiles and white stone. Two pillars towered above it at the entrance. They looked around for the source of the voice that had interrupted their very important conversation.

"Up here!" Looking up, they saw a figure waving from the top of one of the pillars. It jumped, flipped through the air, and landed directly in front of them. Standing, they towered over the two. "I am Sidon, the Zora prince!" He grinned at them. "Are you both Hylians?"

It took them a moment to recover from their shock. "Yes?" Link said, looking dazed.

"Wonderful! I have been looking for a Hylian! Two is even better! Although," he leaned down slightly, looking at Feral. "I waz unaware they came in such colors!"

"I'm special."

"Special! That's incredible! And would you say you're both great warriors among the Hylians?" Sidon, as he said he was called, seemed very excited.

"Er... yes?" Link glanced at Feral, who shrugged slightly.

"I knew it! After all, I am the Prince of the Zoras. I have an eye for these things. I've been watching you both, and you hold yourselves like no ordinary man. Please, I implore, will you lend your aid?"

"Aid? Aid in what?" Feral eyed the Zora with mild suspicion.

"The Divine Beast Vah Ruta," the prince explained. "It has been agitated of late, and poses a threat to our realm. I've been looking for a Hylian to help us appease it."

Link and Feral exchanged a look. "We can help."

"Wonderful!" He clapped his hands together. "Oh! I nearly forgot. What are your names?"

"I'm Link. This is Feral."

"Wonderful names! Although I feel like I've heard that first one somewhere before..." Sidon murmured to himself. "In any case! Please make your way to the Zora Domain. The rain from Vah Ruta makes the cliffs impossible to scale. You will have to make the journey by the road. Monsters patrol the way, many with electrical powers. However! I think you will be able to make it with your expertise! I believe in you!" His grin seemed to sparkle with absolute belief and joy. It was hard not to feel confident with that kind of support.

"Here, take these as tokens of my support." He handed them each a yellow vial. "It doesn't work on Zora's, but should be able to provide you with electrical resistance. I will follow your progress from the waters. Good luck." He waved, and dove into the river nearby. He was out of sight before long.

"Well, that was interesting." Feral turned to Link. "You okay there?"

Link still seemed rather dazed. "Really big." He muttered. "Very energetic. Big smile." He shook his head. "Divine Beast. Right. That's what they were called."

"Are you still in shock from Mr. Fish Prince there?"

"Aren't you? He's a big muscley shark dude who was extremely friendly."

"Yes. Definitely muscley." Feral hummed. "Anyway, this is part of your quest to save Hyrule from utter destruction?"

"Looks that way. Guess we head up this path?"

"Seems that way. At least there's no sun over here. I will be far more comfortable."

"Good for you. Can't wait to get sopping wet."

"Oh, shut it."

"You shut it first."

The two resumed bickering. This time, however, they were walking with a destination in mind. The dirt below their feet turned to mud as they trekked towards the Zora Domain.

"Bet you I'll get there first."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

#legend of zelda #legend of zelda breath of the wild #link #wild #dark link #feral #feral and wild #the awful twins themselves #prince sidon #loz #fanfic #myth writes

[asrisartarena]

In all of your time on this godforsaken planet, you have never seen a creature like this. Smaller than an average predator in here but still bigger than you. The tail and the teeth of the creature were most certainly Reaper’s, with weird colorful side fins that reminded you of Mesmer. Its whole body was slightly transparent and glowy almost like a Ghost Leviathan. The bad thing? It spotted you. The worst thing? Its torso was a human male. There was nowhere to hide but it looked more curious than angry. It swam closer, circling around your fear-frozen body, closing the distance between you. For a second it stopped right in front of your face, making eye contact. Whatever it was it was definitely intelligent. Suddenly, it grabbed your arm and started dragging you deep down into the caves. You tried to fight, but the creature’s grip was too strong. It released you the moment you arrived at the sea floor. There in the darkness was a small rusty base. The creature pointed at the busted hatch and swam away. You quickly got in, collected the PDA and some materials and got away from the caves. Later, in the safety of your own base, you played the PDA’s recorded message. The man on the screen was eerily similar to the creature you met in the caves. Log #1 *Authorisation name: Anti* This is day three, the ship crashed and it took a while to get this thing going. I have no resources, the fabricator is broken and the pod is leaking. I don’t know what to do, I wasn’t trained for this! *sigh* I’ll try to swim to other pods I’ve seen, maybe there’re survivors or at very least some resources. Log #2 Day 4. I’ve managed to find some tools and titanium but not food or water. Raw fish are fucking disgusting. When I return home, I’ll throw away all of Schneep’s fish supplies. I don’t care how many good things are in there, they’re going. Log #37 Day 30. I managed to build a base in a cave system. Well, more like a room with a hatch. I don’t have anything to put in it, but hey, at least the creatures are not trying to kill me here. Log #53 Day… I don’t fucking know. What’s the point? I’m gonna die here anyway. I’m starving and the only thing left is this fucking transfuser. *crashing sound* I know I said I’ll get out but… *sigh* I can’t go on anymore. The only thing keeping me going is some fucked up image that I’ll see my family again. I promised Robbie I’d come back. I won’t break my promise. Log #56 I used the transufer. I got close to some Mesmer and injected myself with its DNA. The good thing is I’m not starving anymore. The bad is that everything is trying to kill me now, even the herbivores. It’s like they know I’m an abomination. Log #72 Adaptation. That’s how the humanity survived, right? By adapting. So me taking a Ghost’s DNA isn’t bad. I had to, I couldn’t see shit down here. Now I’m glowing. I’m adapting, right? Right? Log #89 The bioluminescence made me a target, so I attacked a Reaper. I’m gonna show them who’s the predator. Log #94 Something’s happening to me. I am dizzy, I can’t breathe, my whole body aches and I’m growing scales. *violent coughing* On top of that, I keep coughing up some black slime. I think those are my *coughing* Log #??? I took it too far. I’m choking on the air, my lungs, or whatever is left of them, are begging for water. I thought I would survive longer if I did this. Instead, I just brought death closer. Text Log #1 I’m so sorry Robbie.

(Submitted by @nerdlemons)

I’M SUFFERING.

#THIS WOULD BE AN INTERESTING AU LIKE IF THE EGOS WERE MERCREATURES FROM SUBNAUTICA BUT AAAAAAAAAAAA #antisepticeye #nerdlemons #submission #Asri posts

[terrible-tentacle-theatre]

The Bestiary Revamped: Vampire Squid (HALLOWEEN SPECIAL)

Disclaimer: While this article is founded in scientific fact, it contains hyberbole and conscious exaggerations for the sake of comedy. Do not take my ramblings at face value. You can find the sources at the end of the article and tools for scientific fact-checking under the “Learn more” link on my blog.

The old article can be read here.

(I intended to post this yesterday but stuff came up. Anyway.)

Ahem.

Cue the spooky music.

*threatening organ music plays at unbearable volumes*

That’s right, dear readers, the Spooky Gourd Day has finally, finally come, and with it the nigh-endless Halloween shitposting that permeates this website every October like the smell of pumpkin pie did my house just a few hours ago, immediately before I ate most of it. (I still have like half of it left, but it’s cold now so it doesn’t have that mouthwatering smell unless I reheat it. And I was too busy watching old Betty Boop Halloween cartoons to reheat it. Anyway, I’m getting off track.)

Frankly, the obsession of internet culture with this innocuous holiday has always fascinated me. What it is about a day when you get to dress up all funky-like, go from house to house acting like an idiot, horf down all the candy you can get away with and watch scary movies all night that is so attractive to them youngsters? I simply cannot wrap my head around it.

However, it is a day of great significance to this blog, since this is the day when we celebrate the utter freakiest of the freakiest that can be pulled up from the stygian waves of the planet’s oceans. This is the third Halloween of the Terrible Tentacle Theatre, and for this notable occasion, I have decided to give one of my earliest poster children a much-needed revisit.

Back in the early days of the blog, when it was still called Hectocotylus and my content mainly consisted of spicing up Wikipedia and Cracked articles with swearing for the sick enjoyment of some 30 followers, the article in question was my first big hit among the people of the Digital Blue Hills of Hell. In the days when most of my articles didn’t go above 20 notes, this beast gathered up 300 notes by using its nebulous tendrils to reach into the deepest corners of the ole ‘web. Not only was this creature my first big hit in my career as a marine biology blogger with tone moderation issues, it would also fit in great as the main monster in a theoretical Universal Horror/Syfy teamup, which would be the Halloweeniest shit ever.

Ladies, gentlemen and other fellows, the vampire squid.

Before you even see this thing in full detail you can already gather that I didn’t choose it for this year’s Halloween special for nothing. Everything from the ghoulish dark red color scheme to the bat-like webbing between eldritch tentacles screams “cheesy Hammer Horror movies written by good ol’ Howard Philips”. And it will become even more evident when you see it in its full, glowy, betentacled glory.

This is how it looks like when you stare down a squishy, floppy incarnation of doom. This thing looked so freaky that the dude who discovered it, a certain German biologist called Karl Chun, decided to name it Vampyroteuthis infernalis. That’s Latin for “vampire squid from Hell”. Yep, that’s right. Remember the part where science is hard fact unaffected by emotion? Well you can throw that right out the window, because this fucker freaked its discoverer out so hard that he named it the vampire squid from Hell.

“The shit I’ve seen, kiddo. You wouldn’t believe.”

Even descriptions of this guy sound like they escaped straight from a 19th century gothic horror novel. For example, in 1925 the Arcturus expedition caught one near the Galapagos Islands and described it as “a very small but very terrible octopus, black as night, with ivory white jaws and blood-red eyes.” Even in the years of the Roaring Twenties, merely seeing the vampire squid was enough to bring out anyone’s inner Poe or Bram Stoker, apparently, which isn’t very surprising considering that it looks like Béla Lugosi had an illicit affair with one of the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu.

You’re welcome for that mental image.

While calling it a vampire is more than appropriate, the names “squid” or “octopus” are much less fitting. While intially appearing to be something of an octopus, it’s actually not one of them; and it isn’t a squid either, which left the confused scientists to place it within its own little private taxon, the order Vampyromorphida. If you know a little bit of Latin, that means “vampire-shaped”, which would imply that this is the general shape for vampires. So next time you read Twilight, imagine Edward as a vampire squid flopping around on the ground the entire time and I guarantee you’ll have a blast reading through several hundred pages of sweaty bloodsucker romance.

Unlike Edward however, the vampire squid doesn’t actually feed on blood. Dashing from shadow to shadow in the cover of a snappy opera cape and hunting for innocent young maidens in the night is the kind of energy expenditure that this malevolent mollusk cannot afford. Mainly because it lives (you guessed it) in the darkest, deepest excesses of the oceans, where the eternal darkness creates an all-year-round Halloween mood. In these waters, even beginners have a hard time finding the tiniest scraps of food, and have to resort to drastic measures to get by. But the vampire squid looks at those beginners and goes “yall are scrubs git gud lmao”. Compared to the vampire squid’s lifestyle, virtually any other denizen of the deep sea lives right in the middle of a goddamn cornucopia.

See, the vampire squid doesn’t just live in the deep ocean. It specifically prefers places called Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZ), which sounds more like the hardest Sonic level ever than any serious place which can support life. OMZs are vast sheet-like expanses of water in the deep sea which barely contain any breathable oxygen. Some of these zones can contain as little as 5% of the oxygen that saturates air, and barely anything survives here.

And guess what? The vampire squid lives here. Not only lives, but thrives.

This is the game the vampire squid plays, every day of its life. On hard difficulty.

Obviously, living in a dead wasteland of suffocating water has required the squid to adopt some nifty tools of survival. Do not do so would be like entering the final dungeon of a video game with early game gear.

First off is a pair of sensory filaments, which the vampire squid extends through the water much like a spider does its web. They are super long and flexible, and probably the source of so many dick jokes that the squid will choke a bitch if anyone tells one more.

“No, I’ve never heard that one ever. Ha ha ha. Real fuckin’ original.”

Next up is a pair of membranous wings, used by the squid to travel through the aether of space to “fly” through the water, it’s cape-like arm web billowing behind it. The vampire parallels are getting more and more accurate.

Interestingly this wing isn’t the same in adults and juveniles. At one point in their devlopment they start growing a second pair of fins which eventually fully substitutes the first pair, which then atrophies back into the flesh. Thus if you’re lucky enough to catch a vampire squid, it’s not impossible that it will have four fins. The biologists who first found these four-finned squid nearly went insane trying to describe it (and several other developmental stages) as separate species. It was such a mess it took years to sort out, and nowadays the vampire squid is the sole surviving species of its order. He’s standing in the darkness. Alone.

WAKE ME UP INSIDE

The fins and the filaments aren’t just decorative elements the squid picked out at Hot Topic, either. Used in tandem, they’re a fearsomely effective netting tool and the way this crafty cephalopod earns its daily bread. You think spiders are cool with their webs? Nah, Spiders ain’t shit. They’re lazy idiots and their web does all the work for them. the vampire squid’s filaments is where it’s REALLY at.

See, the vampire squid’s main diet is thankfully not blood but something called “marine snow”. This is basically the shower of discarded tissue, shit and corpses that rains down upon the lower layers of the deep ocean from the upper layers all year round. Having this fall from the sky for “White Christmas” would probably be quite traumatizing.

DECK THE HALLS WITH BALLS OF FECES SHALALALALALALALALAAAAARGH

The vampire squid, however, has had its resolve steeled by years of isolation in the darkness of the deep ocean, and is willing to chug down anything to survive. Bear Grylls is a picky gourmet chef compared to this guy.

That said, it needs to eat something that’s actually of some nutritional worth. It could spend its life scarfing down every chunk of marine snow it comes across, but that would be a waste of muscle movements since most of it does exactly nil to fill up its stomach. That’s where the filaments/fins combo come in, turning the vampire squid into an angry little tripwire trap ready to snap at any moment.

Note the filament. That’s not a parasite, that’s legit a part of the animal. Nobody knows where it evolved from, it’s not a modified arm or tentacle and it’s a fucking enigma.

Mystery tentacles: the quintessential Terrible Tentacle Theatre experience.

Extending its filaments (one at a time) into the mucky waters around, it waits more still then I do when I go to the kitchen for a glass of water during the night and I hear a sudden noise. The filaments come with a plethora of sensitive nerve endings, ensuring that anything bigger than a flea’s asscheeks landing on them will elicit an immediate response from the squid. And if said asscheeks touch the filaments, responds the squid it does. Specifically, it exhibits a surprising burst of speed (considering it just drifts around all day and it is effectively the consistency of Jell-O), pulled entirely by its fins to perform an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle, whipping around in a loose loop and catching its own filament. Millions of dogs around the world enviously sigh in unison.

After this, the squid pulls off its prey from the filament using its arms, which generate a solid slime-like material. The collected chunks of edible whatnot are rolled into a ball of slime, and horfed down by the squid at once. You probably cannot tell but there’s a Michelin star underneath its mantle. “Slimeball à la Vampire Squid” is one gourmet-ass dish.

Molto bene!

Of course, all this fine dining makes the vampire squid itself tasty as all hell. You are what you eat, afterall. But in the deep sea, you do NOT want to be tasty, because everyone is hungry on top of being the most light-deficient gourmet motherfuckers on the planet. So naturally, our subject needs some sort of way to evade the raving food critics hunting him in the deep. And he has this way in the form of a very unlikely tool: bioluminescence.

“But Admin”, I hear you say, “didn’t you just get done telling us last week that glowing in the deep sea will attract everything around you?” That I did, young padawan, and it still stands. However, just like last week’s subject, the vampire squid uses its built-in glowsticks with a very express purpose and doesn’t just flash into the sunset willy-nilly. The glowy parts of this beast have very well-defined places and usages, exquisitely located and timed, just like a laugh track in a sitcom. Underneath its dark-red skin the vampire squid carries clusters of glowing photophores mainly on the tip of its arms as well as in two fake eye-spots on the top of its mantle, ready to flare up in a blue burst of light on demand. The fake eyes even come with their own built-in eyelids, opening and closing as Dracula Jr. sees fit.

Imagine you’re a predator and you see this glowing collection of random bullshit. Now figure out where to bite. Good fucking luck.

These lights are used with great care and consideration in order to troll the fuck out of anybody who is foolish enough to make an attempt on the vampire squid’s life. Upon attack, the squid whips its arms around with the lights on full luminosity, creating a confusing dance of light spots in the otherwise total darkness and messing up the predator’s perception. The false eyes only make things worse, finally creating the illusion that the vampire squid possesses unlimited godlike control over space and time, which may damn well be true.

Question: What way is this vampire squid going? Hint: It’s not facing toward you.

The appearance of the squid as a godlike psychic is surprisingly in line with the whole vampire angle, since Dracula has reknownedly had the ability to charm and hypnotize people. The effect is further accentuated by the squid’s eyes, proportionally the largest of any animal ever discovered. With a diameter a whopping one sixth of the animal’s whole body, this thing's oculars are like if you were walking around with eyes the size of your head. Each.

And for added effect, they glow and change color depending on which angle you’re looking at them from.

DISCO CTHULHU

And finally, if a spooky vampire-looking-ass dark red glowing octopus-squid-thing with hypnotic powers isn’t Halloweeny enough for you, the vampire squid has a final trick up its sleeve that catapults it right into the realm of body horror. This is suspected to be a defensive tactic but who the fuck knows, really. Deep sea creatures are enigmatic as shit, and they guard their secrets jealously.

Alright, I’ll quit beating around the bush and say it outright. Basically the final defensive measure of the vampire squid is turning itself inside out.

Yep.

Of all the stupid shit that Mother Nature could have come up with, she went and decided “alright, it just up and turns itself inside the fuck out. What are you gonna do about it?”

This behavior is known to science as “pineappling” or even more Halloweeny-ly “pumpkin posture” (no, seriously) and it involves the squid taking the webbing between its arms and turning it upside to shield its head and body from harm. Now folded comfortably into a spiky little footbal, the vampire squid knows itself free from harm. The webbings are thin enough for it to see through, but also don’t let its lights to shine around, so doing this effectively means the vampire squid switches into stealth mode. Plus it looks stylishly similar to Dracula popping the collar on his cape.

The vampire squid is every Monster Mash horror cliché come to life and smushed into a vaguely cephalopod shaped package for best user experience. When the stars are right and Cthulhu and his Star-Spawn emerge from the sunken city of R’lyeh to bring the world to ruin once more, these guys will be the first living things they encounter. And then they’ll fuck off back to their stupid city, mumbling things like “what the hell man, that’s plagiarism” and “that’s way too extra, even for us”. The apocalypse is postponed once again, thanks to the vampire squid’s vailant efforts of looking weird as fuck.

Happy Halloween, everybody! I was a day late due to the length of this article, but I hope you don’t mind. Until next Tuesday’s article, have a wonderful time with the aftermath of the day of cheesy horror and confectioneries.

Sources:

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life Web Project

Animal Diversity Web

Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)

Ellis, Richard. “Introducing Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the vampire squid from Hell”. The Cephalopod Page. Dr. James B. Wood. 

Seibel, Brad. “Vampyroteuthis infernalis, Deep-sea Vampire squid”. The Cephalopod Page. Dr. James B. Wood. Retrieved 3 July 2011. 

Hoving, H. J. T.; Robison, B. H. (2012). “Vampire squid: Detritivores in the oxygen minimum zone”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 

#bestiary #bestiary revamped #halloween #halloween special #cephalopod #deep sea creatures #bioluminescence #marine snow #vampire squid #spoopy #bela lugosi is spinning in his grave somewhere

[razmahdaz-art]

Everything is Queit.

(I spent way to much time on this. But some Creative writing stuff with my Science Fiction characters? Enjoy on my terrible writing!)

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

                Everything on the Sigma was quiet. A rarity, the large vessel was usually booming with activity, people constantly working in the supply or medical bay, footsteps going up and down the metal halls while boots clanked with every step, someone somewhere doing something to make noise. But tonight, was so different. It was like the quiet of space had creeped its way into the ship and calmed everything and everyone that was aboard the ship, even those that didn’t need to sleep. The light hum of the engines was the only noise that filled the recycled air.

                Everything was silent and it was torture. The only human on the ship, the one who needed silence most, and she can’t sleep. Micah had been working for two days straight, none stop with engine maintenance and even needing to repair a sister ship that required the extra help made the past few days torture.  So anyone would assume that having a quiet night, away from work, and being able to remove her prosthetic arm for more than 20 minutes, would put anyone in her situation out like a light. But it didn’t. She tossed and turned in the small bed, groaning as she sat up in the dark quarters to look around. Her metallic arm laying on her work desk, along with other miscellaneous gadgets she worked on, her uniform that was tossed onto the only chair in the room, her com bracelet giving a small glow on the charger it sat on next to her bed, and the door to her quarters that was locked tight.

                She let out a loud sigh, before getting out of the bed and throwing on some pants. Her scarred stump of an arm ached as it usually did after a long time of wearing the metal limb for long periods of time. Micah stretched her remaining arm and picked up her bracelet and a headband to pull her auburn hair away from her eyes. She yawned, before unlocking the door and letting it slide open, it raising into the ceiling with a click before she stepped out into the calmness. Small lights along the floor gave off enough light to show where someone would be going, along with the small signs that told of what rooms and bays were where. Her feet gently pattered against the steel floor as she walked down the hall, making sure not to wake anyone as she crept her way towards the mess hall. If she wouldn’t sleep, shed at least get some much needed water.

                She peered through the entry way and into the empty hall. Empty tables and chairs and an abandoned com bracelet that was about to die were the only things that remained in the room. No people, no food, not even lights. She rubbed her eyes as she walked towards the food preparation area, where all the fabricators and dehydrators were kept. She opened and closed cabinets and drawers before finding where all the cups were stashed. Clara was the last one to clean and it showed, every cup and mug neatly tucked away that it would have been a crime to ruin such an elegant and neat display. But it needed to be done, and Micah took the cup that looked as if it wouldn’t ruin anything. She walked over to one of about five sinks and let cold water run into the metal cup. And as she leaned against the counter as she waited for the cup to fill, it was growing more and more obvious that she wasn’t alone.

                A tall, and skinny figure stood in the door frame, skin grey and devoid of all colour except for dark lines that made markings down the form. Large fins could be scene sprouting from its head, and dark eyes gave off the slightest glow as it looked around the room. A tail could be scene swaying as it stood still, eyeing Micah. And then it squinted.

                  “Micah?” a very familiar voice said, whispering. The figure walked closer as his hands ran across the counter.

                “You lose your glasses again, Doc?” Micah asked, looking around the area. Sure enough, a small pair of special bifocals laid on the cold floor. She picked them up, before handing them to the slender male.

 He let out a sigh and cleaned them off with a towel before pushing them onto his face. “Yes, left them hear when I was making my nightly cup of coffee,” he admitted looking the other up and down. “A bit bold of you being out at this hour, without your arm and all.” He added, before sitting on the counter next to the sink. The running water was officially running over the cup. Micah turned it off and grabbed the cup before taking a few sips to aid her dry throat.

“I was thirsty, and I’m not putting that thing on for the next twelve hours.” She said, putting the cup to the side and rubbing her stump. It ached, worse than before. She sighed as she massaged the scarred tissue, making an attempt to ease the pain. “Just want trying to relax, Secol.”

“Ah, yes. The Infamous, and specifically human phenomena of Phantom pains. Must be a pain to not be able to grow back lost limbs like some of us,” he teased, earning a light punch from the other. It just made him chuckle.

“Secol, I swear to god, I will put my arm on just to knock you senseless.” Micah threatened, even if she was smiling herself. She picked up the cup and chugged the water until it was half full, why the other talked.

“You should really talk to Clara about this. I am aware that that’d mean you’d have to tell her about the fact that you don’t have an arm, and all the illegal activities you participated in to gain the necessary mechanics to make an arm, but at least you may get medication for those pains.” Micah just rolled her eyes as the other talked, occasionally drinking from the cup. She let out a sigh as she relaxed. As much as Secol seemed to be rude or pestering, he was her best friend. Secol always said they were the smartest ones on the ship, though Micah questioned that fact. None the less, they spoke frequently, got along relatively well, and were comfortable to talk to each other when needed. After all, Secol is the only person in the crew to know of her arm.

“Would you care to join me in my quarters? You have no intent on going to sleep, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be fired or arrested tonight, and I’m busy going over the flora that you brought back from our previous venture,” Secol invited. He hopped off the counter and pulled up his shorts that just barely fit him. It’s always hard to find clothes when you’re as skinny as he is.

“You have a good point, Dr. Pavonass,” Micah stated, in a bit of a snarky tone. “Sure. I can discuss what my drones have picked up, or just zone out looking at your windows.” Micah downed the last of her water before putting it back in the sink since it was considered dirty. And then the pair snuck through the quiet and darkness, through a maze of halls to reach a room that was away from all the other bunks. Secol quickly unlocked his door, and issued Micah inside, before locking it quickly.

Secol had the best room in the ship, Micah even stated it was much better than the captain’s quarters. Mostly because his room was also his quote on quote Laboratory. A few computers rested on a sturdy but well used desk, massive bookshelves lined the tall walls full of modern, exotic, and even, old Earth scripters. But the best part was the massive, floor to ceiling half dome that was made of thick and almost impenetrable Viewing glass that stared into the depths of space. Stars, distant planets, asteroid belt structures and all. Secol’s ‘Bed’ was in a corner, just a cot with a lone blanket and pillow, barely ever used.

Micah walked across the slightly warm metal floor and towards a chair that sat against the window as Secol walked to his desk to conduct experiments on plants that they had gathered from their last trip planet side. He peered down microscope like devices, typing on a holoscreen as he examined the cellular structure and what these almost luminescent plants could do. Micah just watched him work, pulling her legs to her chest as she messages her arm to relax. It was quiet again like it was everywhere else. She looked out the window, watching the passing stars and dust clouds as the ship made its way to whatever its next destination could be. This was mostly the worst part about this job. Just aimless wondering until radars pick up any sort of planetary masses, or they find a planet already accounted for in the Senate’s Star Maps.

“Anything cool or interesting about those glowy plants we picked up?” Micah asked, not really looking at Secol as she spoke. Her words were drawn out, and exhaustion was definitely in her voice by this point.

“Besides containing similar chemicals to make very illegal drugs, and the fact that they seem to feed off of dead tissue like many Fungi, they’re just regular cave plants that have feasted upon multiple, unidentified Species. Nothing to interesting or remarkable to them,” he answered. He put the samples away in preservation tanks before they were froze in holding gel. The gel hardened leaving the plants still glowing the fainted pink glow but floating in their encasing. Secol brought them over to a shelf that was full of plants in this situation, all completely unique to their home planet. He quickly labeled them with a pen before placing them on a higher shelf. He gave a small smile to his growing collection before coming to join Micah near the window. He sat on the floor, watching the window with the other.

“If all my maps are correct, and if I have been properly keeping track, we should be entering the Vexia Path Galaxy sometime tonight. Not so far from home.” He said, his tail wrapping around his leg so it was just out of the way. Micah looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s it like? You never talk about your home planet,” Micah inquired in attempt to pick at the others brain.

“Home is strange.” He started, resting his head in his slender hand. “It’s dominated by water, land is crowded, and my parents were somehow rich. I was alone a lot, since it’s impossible for my people to have more than one offspring, it’s strange to learn two different dialects just to communicate around your neighborhood, and everything seems impossibly small from here. Even the oceans we came from. I read a lot, got my first Botany PhD, then I left to get my astrological studies. And I haven’t been home since.” He continued, droning on as he spoke, seeming like his home wasn’t important.

“Do You…Miss It?” Micah asked, confused on if he cared at all about it.

“Dearly.” He said looking at Micah as he answered her. “It may not have been great and immensely overpopulated, but it’s still where I was born and raised.” Silence fell between them, as they passed a rare siting of a distant Supernova lighting up the inky blackness that surrounded it.

“Do you miss home, Micah?” Secol questioned to try and fill the silence.

“Well. What planet are you referring to?” She rebutted, a tinge of snark in her voice.

“Well, the one that you were born on and had no hand in killing in the slightest,” Secol stated, looking at Micah.

“Well, it could have been worse. Good childhood, lived on an agricultural planet so I was basically working my dad’s Orchards until my younger brother chopped my arm off. Then, things just got easy. Didn’t work, school was easy, built a prosthetic when I had everything and then I left to get a job at a mechanics shop. That’s when you guys were hiring. End of story.” Micah looked at Secol, the slightest smile on her face as she lamented her childhood.

Secol’s head fins moved themselves, switching from one side of his head to the other, his strange way of fixing his ‘hair’. He gazed up the large book case, hundreds of read books that were now collecting dust. It was almost sad, seeing as he only kept them for the off chance they could have been useful. He stood up, walking over to examine the titles and lost and new languages that were titling them. Micah yawned, her eyes just staring out towards the stars. A small ship could be seen in the distance, going to who knows where in this big system. A small reminder that no matter where they were, it was hard to be alone. Out of the corner of her eyes, Secol sat with a book and thumbed through it.

                The pair sat in a Familiar silence, one that they shared often when they were the only ones awake on the entire ship. Both lost in thought but not wanting to share them. It’s what made them such good friends.

                After a few minutes of the blissful quiet, Micah moved her hand up to touch the special window, her fingers sliding over a short distance. Numbers are displayed in a small square, dimly lit to fit the dark environment the pair inhabited. The numbers read the time.

                  1 : 57 AM I.S.T.

                  It had gotten later than Micah would have thought it had. She knew it was late, but she wasn’t expecting it to already be in the AM hours. She sighed as she stood, stretching her back and rubbing her now relaxed nub of an arm. She adjusted her shirt, before sliding her hand across the glass, the clock fading away with the swipe. She pulled the hair out of her face and looked out the window for a moment more.

                “Leaving?” Secol asked, looking up from his book for a brief moment. He adjusted his tail a bit, not sure what to do with it in the chair he was relaxing in. It wasn’t made for extra appendages. Micah nodded, her feet carrying her towards the only door in the room. She knew she shouldn’t be up any later. Tomorrow was a day of rest, but those tend to be days when something will most definitely go wrong. Her hand lingered on the control pad for a moment before she looked back towards the view towards the outside. Everything was moving slowly and gracefully. She smiled a small bit before saying a Good night, and leaving the room to enter the dark and quiet hall.

                She walked back to her quarters. Her feet gave out just before the bed and she fell onto the slightly firm mattress that was her bed. She turned to her side and pulled the covers over her form. She flipped over one more time, eyeing the room one last time before her heavy eyelids closed and she drifted off into a blissful sleep.

#creative writing #science fiction #aliens #ocs #orignal story #my writing #alein oc #this was fun #a little world and character building #futuristic #space #this took way to long #2500 words #like shit

[callmearcturus]

chapter preview

quick preview of the next chapter of TWYCC, mostly because i’m so happy to be writing jake again, and idk i am very happy with this bit. it’s coming along nicely. only context needed is that dirk’s been working on the acorn all morning.

You have no excuse for anyone sneaking up on you, except it’s barely noon and you’re already fucking tired. But as you sit with your head against the frame of the door, there’s the sound of approach, that swish of someone cutting through the grass.

It’s the lorelay. Jake. He’s out of the lake, standing on those long green legs. His tail loops across him, thrown over his shoulder, the long ribbon fin hanging down his back as he walk, the whole monstrosity wrapped around him like a toga.

It’s up pretty high on the list of strangest things you’ve seen. As you squint at him from behind your glasses, waiting for his visage to resolve into something less weird, he smiles and waves at you.

Hot on his heels is Jane, having a bit of a harder time with the tall grass, clutching her notebook. “Hang on, Jake. Jake! Oh goodness…” She reaches up, touching her ear, and… you’re not use what the verbage is for suddenly lapsing into another species language through magical means.

Allspeaks, you decide. She allspeaks, the sounds out of her mouth weirdly unsynched with her lips, some transformation of vernacular and vocabulary happening before your eyes.

Jake jerks to a stop, and you watch him almost overbalance, stumbling two steps before he can shift his inertia enough to turn back and water-cricket-chirp back.

But his pace does slow. He has a very long gait, but is remarkably and almost comically graceless out of water. That’s to be expected, you guess.

Soon, he’s standing over you. He’s taller than you expected. “Hallow, Dirk,” he says, and a musical burble of words spills from his mouth.

“Uh. Hey,” you say.

Jane catches up, and you see the way she knuckles her side, breathing a little hard.

She allspeaks to Jake.

Jake’s face falls into a frown of confusing, and he points to you, and replies.

There is a back and forth you don’t follow. You try not to let it bother you, taking a sip of your water and letting your gaze slip away. It’s a weird thing to be used to, people talking around you.

His tail is so green. It’s not scaly like a fish, it’s definitely froglike, an inhumanely smooth expanse of bottle green skin. The fin that runs along his back and tail is darker, interspersed with even darker spines. The spines seem to hold his tail fin up, unlike all his glowy gold fins that hang under their own weight, each one making you think of the amphibious mix of a peacock feather and a lionfish fin. There’s a lot of them around his hips, kind of accenting the transition from brown to green.

It’s way too quiet. You look up and Jane is looking with exaggerated focus at her notebook. Jake still looms, his head canted to the side, watching you.

Then he climbs past you, up into the airship, ducking his head to get inside.

Your first impulse is to follow him and make sure he doesn’t touch anything. It’s waylaid by your second impulse, to stare at Jane over the rim of your glasses.

She sighs, and walks up the stairs too, pausing to take your hand and help you to your feet. “I got him to understand my earring lets me talk to him. He thought since you wear earrings, you would be able to talk to him too.” She sighs. “He’s a handful.”

“I’m getting that feeling, yeah,” you say, following them both into the cabin.

Jake has released his tail, and it drags behind him as he looks around. You point. “So. He can walk?”

Jane takes the opportunity to sit on one of the bench seats, taking her glasses off and setting them aside. “Yes, it’s pretty interesting, actually. He doesn’t go for many walkabouts since until we came, there wasn’t much interesting out of the water. But he does have legs and enough motor control to stand on them. And-- and this part is interesting, when he’s in the sun, he uses his tail to keep himself dry. It’s like a camel’s hump, it can hold all this water and keep him damp! Sort of like a reverse waterbreathing spell.”

You nod, and step over the tail as Jake wanders past to look at something else. “Swell.”

“I mentioned you were working on the airship today and he wanted to see it.” She rubs her face, pressing her fingers in against the apples of her cheeks and dragging out some weariness. “Marched right up.”

As you both talk, Jake plucks up Jane’s glasses from the edge of the table and just puts them on his own face.

Jane is back on her feet in a flash. “No, no, put those down, I need those, I only have one backup, Jake. Jake. Oh, for gods’ sake.” Her hand flies to her ear, her other hand held out, fingers grasping meaningfully as she allspeaks that to Jake.

Jake freezes up, his body going oddly tense. He leans away from Jane, and his eyes flit past you, towards the door. You don’t know his language, but you know body language, and some things are universal: he’s going to bolt.

You take off your own glasses; they’re not for vision like Jane’s, just tinted to help with bright light and coated in some slightly reflective glaze that is meant to help throw of compulsions and mesmers. Unlike Jane and hers, you don’t need yours, and so hold them out, holding the legs together and waving the glasses at Jake. “Trade you.”

Again, Jake stills, but at least it doesn’t look like the stillness before a cat runs full tilt out of a room. He reaches out, and you pull the glasses back. “No. Trade.” You point to Jane’s glasses with your pinky. “Give me those.”

Language barrier or not, he catches on quickly, nodding. He swaps you, taking your glasses and putting them on his face before just… ducking out of the cabin and back out onto the grass.

Not before waving to you. Okay.

Rather than chase after him, Jane lets out a huge sigh and puts her head on the table. When you place her glasses next to her, she lays her hand over them, and tucks them into her breastpocket.

#twycc #jane's life is pain #dirk's life is tense bemusement #jake's life is very exciting all of a sudden

[bettsplendens]

Additional notes on Grim species:

Holy fuck would we be in trouble if Grims existed.

Reasonably vague descriptions of animal death below the cut. These are critters that stem from wrongful, cruel animal deaths, after all.

Possible additional Torment subspecies (must be intentionally inflicted):

Poison/radioactivity

Suffocation

Starvation

Carelessly Poisoned, i.e. “I don’t really /need/ there to be no rodents but will put poison everywhere anyway” 

Usually rodents

Unnatural coloration

Toxic dripping+oozing+fog

Typical blood thinner poison = even more oozing from cuts

Can’t properly trace the trail of intent, may eliminate killer, loathe all humans

DO NOT TOUCH

Known to poison target’s food+water

Also in this category, Polluteds (i.e. “I know this trash might be harmful but I just don’t care/no our company will not pay to fix the accident/yes we’re sneakily dumping toxic waste):

More toxicity from polluted sludgey areas

Oil spills 

Similar to Poisoned but w/ more water and dripping sludge

Mess up entire buildings when they find a target

Loathe humans but may be sympathetic to those also suffering from pollution

May end up tracing intent trail back to CEOs

Can definitely track parts of the group responsible if/when it’s a company

Strangulation Polluteds 

Cut into all over from trash, fishing lines, nets, etc

Reach out w/ strangling wires

Wires may be own tendons, muscle

CAN BE SEA LIFE

Strangled Grimm whale 

Radioactive Polluteds

Stem from accidents caused by neglect- usually monetary reasons

Also waste dumping

Often glowy

Drastically mutated

Too many limbs

Definitely radioactive

Very sympathetic to those also affected

Confused by chemo+radiation and the lack of malice therein

Wrongfully Slaughtered

Overly cruel hunting methods (not dog hunting, that goes in Brute category)

Poor slaughter methods/improperly maintained equipment

Finned sharks

Male chicks in improperly maintained crushing machinery

Etc

Vengeful things

May be calm around nice-acting people

Bled Out 

Stem from unskilled crossbow hunting, slower slaughter methods

Male chicks might fit this category

Gushing blood from fatal wound

Pale

Tend to fill target’s lungs with blood and drown them

Finned sharks tend to rip off legs

Bad for inside b/c blood pools

Blood evaporates eventually

May eventually just fall asleep and dissipate if not given constant supply of cruel hunters to be angry at

There’s probably sharks in Chinese waters that have been around for as long as China but might dissipate soon

Trapped

Leg hold traps, pitfall traps, etc, not checked in time

Any trap that often kills by dehydration, hunger, exposure

Metal jaws+teeth

Often still with leg-hold trap on, but unimpeded

Collect more traps, attach to trapped leg

Known to remove traps w/ alarming dexterity and attach to target

Known to trap target and watch target struggle for hours before making the kill

Often gnaw target’s legs off afterwards

Slow stranglation trap subspecies

Collects traps

Uses on target

Both kinds may stalk woods and kill those with enough malice and lack of caring behind their actions

Have goal, tend to not dissipate

Responsible hunters may be chased but generally won’t be harmed

Gassed

Shelter dogs at bad shelters, etc

(proper injections to shelter animals don’t count- no malice. Car fume mercy killing of suffering animals never counts. Mostly improper, cruel methods for no good reason)

Constantly oozing fog of whatever killed them

Breathe out toxin

Follow target around 

Leap on target, breathe in face, leap away, repeat

Dangerous to be around b/c toxins

Calm otherwise

Safe to someone w/ proper protection

Aimless

Generally dissipate quickly

#Grims #Animal cruelty #Animal death #etc

[kagapop]

is buff fish bokuto a valid prompt?

“BitW AU where everything’s the same except Akaashi and Bokuto’s roles are switched” has been discussed a lot lately, so here’s a rewrite-ish-thing of that beach scene from Chapter 5 or whatever.

It was a shame that birds didn’t live under water.

It was a terrible shame, because Koutarou, really, truly loved them. He loved his time at the sanctuary, he loved spending time with Yui, but, god, these legs.

Legs were the worst possible invention. Period. Why did people like them so much?

Well, okay, maybe they didn’t have a choice. That was… fair. And, really, his legs weren’t so bad, all the pain and fuss that came with land exhaustion aside. He had good legs. Good, thick, sort of scaly legs.

Right now, however, he did not have those legs. Instead, he had a strong, gold and black and white tail, and it felt so good to have it immersed in the salty water again. This part of the beach was pretty abandoned at night and early in the morning, so he’d been venturing out to soak up as often as he could without getting caught.

Koutarou dipped his head and all beneath the water, sighing something content as his gills parted and the sounds of the sea calmed his racing mind, free of things like Eventide and serpents and all that nonsense.

Except, that wouldn’t last. That never lasted. He was trying really, really hard to make it happen, though.

He poked his head halfway above the water, only to gaze at the moon with a clearer view. It was so glowy, and calm. Why couldn’t he be that calm? Fuck the moon.

At that very thought, he heard a tiny splash, as if the big round thing in the sky was retorting through the waves. The jerk.

Except, the moon didn’t do that. Probably wasn’t capable of it. So, he looked for the source, and found something far more interesting, and far prettier than the moon.

He grinned, and dipped beneath the surface. He could see the visitor’s feet through fading clouds of sand in the more shallow water. When he came close enough, that water was far too shallow to properly swim in, so he promped himself up by his arms with his fin still mostly-submerged.

The jerk-of-a-moon had its light reflected in Keiji’s wide, unexpectant eyes, and it made Koutarou think that the moon couldn’t actually be that much of a jerk, if it could somehow make the sailor look even more pretty.

“Surprise!” he said, but not too loudly. His grin was loud enough on its own.

Keiji was definitely staring at his tail, so Koutarou gave it a show-offy little flop. It sparkled in the moonlight, he knew it did. Humans were fascinated by this sort of thing, right? And Keiji looked pretty amazed right now, he was sure.

“…Shouldn’t you be more careful with that?”

“I am being careful!”

“Anyone else could have seen you. Aren’t you concerned someone might…”

“Throw a fishing net at me?” Koutarou blew that off with a “pfft” sound. “I’ve been at this for months, Keiji. I know what I’m doing.” He pulled himself upright, almost sitting, or as close to sitting as he could come without a proper butt. “But what are you doing out here? Did you come to see my tail?”

“I hardly expected to run into you again, Koutarou.”

Koutarou pouted, and gave his tail another little flop. “Okay, but, here I am. With my tail. Isn’t that, like, a really rare sight for you sailors? I’m letting you look at it! You can even touch it!”

Keiji looked down to said tail, and offered a very slow nod. “It is… quite impressive.”

“A-ha!” His tail splashed again, this time not on purpose, and getting Keiji wet.

The sailor frowned down at his pants, soaked far more than he’d intended, but he wasn’t exactly unaccustomed to wet clothes, anyhow. “Perhaps, if you’re going to come so close to shore, you should… change back?”

Another pout, and Koutarou stared long and hard at the shore. He’d been in the water for long enough tonight, right? Sure. It would be worth it. Definitely worth it.

“One second,” he said, and turned to dive back into deeper waters, leaving a confused Keiji behind. Moments later, he was rushing out onto dry stand, stark naked and making a dash for the clothes he’d left by the rocks. When he finally put on some pants, he found Keiji sitting in the sand, looking very much like he’d just seen something he shouldn’t have. As if his tail wasn’t naked when he was looking at that, too. Humans were weird. “I thought you’d be gone by now!”

“I did contemplate leaving while you changed.”

“I– what– not just now,” he huffed, “I mean, your ship! I thought you were just delivering some stuff and ditching?”

“We’ll be leaving port later, after the sun has risen. There are more supplies we need before we head out for Kingston.”

“Then you have more time to spend with me!”

Keiji didn’t look as excited as Koutarou wanted him to look. He looked more suspicious of him, actually. Shouldn’t a human have been more excited to spend time with a handsome merman like himself? He definitely should have been. Maybe he was. Maybe he just didn’t realize he was. Koutarou had to make him realize he was.

“Wait,” he said, then, completely ditching that train of thought, “Kingston? Your ship’s going there, next?”

Keiji quirked a brow. “Have you been?”

Koutarou threw his head back. “Yeah, that place sucks! It’s way better here, right? Everyone’s friendlier, and there’re more birds and nature and stuff.” And it was easier to hide, on Owl Roost.

“Everyone’s so friendly, but you sure wanted to avoid that person in the tavern, before.”

“Keijiiiiii,” he groaned, rolling his head until he was looking the sailor in the eyes. Fuck, those eyes. Humans weren’t supposed to have such nice eyes. Or hair. Or faces. Or anything in general, really. “That’s not fair. That’s an exception.”

“I don’t suppose you intend to explain it, either.” Keiji drew his legs up closer. “You don’t have to answer that. I wasn’t expecting you to. I… did want to ask, though….” He looked like he was contemplating a few different ways of going about his question, first. “…Do you know anything of any kidnappings? Regarding your kind, I mean.”

Koutarou’s expression fell, then, and Keiji’s eyes were suddenly a little less distracting. “Oh, er….” His feet pushed through the sand until they were straight out in front of him. “Like, anything specific? No… That stuff happens a lot, though.” He ran a sandy hand through black and white hair. “A lotta humans are assholes. I mean, you’re fine! I don’t really know you, but I kinda feel like I can trust you, for some reason!” He made eye contact again, just once, but he couldn’t handle the questioning look Keiji was staring him down with. “I mean, most of you don’t realize people like me exist, right? But then the ones who do are just… really fucking sick, y'know? They think they can use our tails and scales however they want.”

“You mean for decor,” Keiji said, not asked. His eyes trailed to the patches of scales dotting Koutarou’s stomach, then the ones outlining the muscles of his arms.

Koutarou seemed to catch onto his question before it was even asked. “That, or clothes, or jewelry…” He ran a finger over a patch on his upper arm. “It’s fucking stupid. Most of you guys don’t even think we’re real, so what’s the point in choppin’ us up for that sorta thing? You already got snakes and shit.” He gripped at his arm. “The people buying that stuff don’t even buy into the ‘mermaid scale’ thing. They just think it’s pretty. Which, I mean, we are pretty.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, Keiji made a small sound that seemed like one of agreement.

He let go of his arm, then, and flexed it in front of the sailor. “I’m not afraid of you tryin’ to rip 'em off me, though. So, you can look or touch all you want!”

Keiji did stare, for just a moment, then turned away. “That’s very considerate of you,” he said, “But I think I’m fine.”

“They’re smooth, Keiji.”

A pause. “I’m sure they are, Koutarou.”

He dropped his hand to the sand all pathetic-like. “Fine. If you aren’t gonna appreciate my amazing scales, we should do something else, while you’re still in town.”

“I don’t recall making plans to spend the rest of my day with you.”

“You just did!” Koutarou nudged his arm. “C'mon, how many people get to say they spent their day with a merman?”

Koutarou did not know about the merman sitting in a barrel on the sailor’s ship.

“I can’t say I know too many,” he said, anyway. When he caught Koutarou’s beaming look, Keiji sighed and got to his feet. “It’s early, Koutarou. I will give you an hour, at most.”

Koutarou jumped right up with him with a whoop, and pulled shook the sand from his shirt before pulling it up and over his head. “An hour of what, then?”

Keiji’s eyes wandered, and he pursed his lips. Then, he said, “How well acquainted are you with Barnwood Trail?”

#bokuaka #hq sailor au #ask #haikyuu!!