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ilovecoelacanths · 1 year

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It’s time for some facts about coelacanths!

I said I’d do this a while ago and I forgot so I’m doing it now because coelacanths are the best and more people should know how cool they are! I did not mean for this post to turn out so long but I promise the facts are very good (how could they not be when coelacanths are so cool)

There are two living species of coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, the West Indian Ocean coelacanth, and Latimeria menadoensis, the Indonesian coelacanth.

This is a West Indian Ocean coelacanth, they’re dark blue and each one has a unique pattern of white spots:

And this is an Indonesian coelacanth:

Indonesian coelacanths are noticeably different from West Indian Ocean coelacanths due to their background colouration being more of a greyish brown rather than blue. Their spots also appear more gold due to light reflecting off them :)

Coelacanths are old! The oldest coelacanth fossils date to more than 400 million years ago, and they were thought to have gone extinct about 66 million years ago, until 1938 when one was accidentally caught off the coast of South Africa and found by Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer.

Latimer contacted her friend, the ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith, who confirmed the fish was a coelacanth! Smith was given the honor of naming the fish, and he named it Latimeria after Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer. (Shown below with the coelacanth she found)

After their discovery, people mistakenly described them as the 'missing link' thanks to their leg-like fins, and this myth persisted thanks to the interesting way coelacanths swim, which appears almost like crawling.

Even today they are sometimes called 'living fossils' because of how little they have changed over millions of years. This label is not technically accurate since they are still evolving, but they do have one of the slowest evolving genomes in the animal kingdom, probably because they're already very well adapted to their environment and they don't have a lot of selection pressures affecting them.

Coelacanths can be more than six feet (up to two meters) long, weigh up to 200 pounds, and are estimated to be able to live up to 100 years! They are covered in hard, armor-like rough scales that are themselves covered in tiny spikes called denticles, which help protect coelacanths from rocks and other fish that might want to hurt them.

They also give birth to live young in litters of 10-25 pups and new research suggests they can be pregnant for as long as 5 years! This would mean that they beat out the frilled shark as the record holder for the longest gestation period by more than a year!

(Unfortunately this means that the birth rate for coelacanths is very low, which doesn't help their small populations. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is critically endangered, and the Indonesian coelacanth is classified as threatened :( )

Coelacanths are what’s called a lobe-finned fish! This means that their fins look more like stumpy appendages than skin that's been stretched over flexible spines. Their closest relatives are lungfish, and that actually means they’re more closely related to us humans than they are to ray-finned fish like tuna or goldfish! Hell yeah!

Coelacanths live in the "twilight zone" which is between 500-800 feet deep. It’s hard to study coelacanths in their natural habitat for extended periods, but they never survive trips to the surface due to the pressure change, so a lot about their behavior is still pretty unknown.

Coelacanths are generally slow moving, nocturnal drift hunters, which means they tend to sort of just eat whatever fish cross their path, but they have a lot of interesting adaptations that make their particular method of drift hunting unique.

First, coelacanths have a hinge in their skull, called an intracranial joint, that lets them open their mouth more than would be possible with just their jaw.

Second, they display an interesting behavior when feeding, where they will float with their head pointed down, almost like they're doing a headstand. They do this while floating along catching prey, and it seems to be working out for them.

Third, coelacanths have a sixth sense! They have an organ in their snout called a rostral organ that functions as an electrosensor to help locate their prey by detecting the electrical signals given off by other animals!

They truly are a unique animal. They even have a caudal (tail) fin with three lobes instead of the two-lobed tail that is common in many fish.

(source for this diagram)

And here you can see the three-lobed caudal fin on a real coelacanth (and also you can have a reminder of how big these guys are. They are not little fish)

It seems coelacanths also have more similarities to their relatives, the lungfish, than we used to think. It turns out coelacanths have a vestigial lung! They have a lung that they don’t use anymore! It’s all shrivelled and wrinkly but it’s there!

They also have a spiral shaped intestine! Some sharks have this too, it’s basically shaped like a spiral to increase surface area for maximum nutrient absorption.

Another way they differ from many other fish is their swim bladder, which is how they control their buoyancy! In most fish the swim bladder is filled with gas, but coelacanths' swim bladders are filled with oil and fat instead!

Coelacanths are also the proud owners of notochords! They don’t have backbones, they’re so old they were around before animals had backbones and they just never got one, they still have their oil filled notochords! Don't fix it if it's not broken, right?

Also, just in case you were wondering, they would not taste good, they are full of all sorts of oils (as mentioned in the above two facts), plus they do have very hard and rough scales. (But also even if they did taste good it would be a bad idea to eat them since there aren't a lot of them left and it's generally considered bad to eat endangered species)

Well, that's the end of my coelacanth facts, so if you took the time to read this whole long post that was just me talking about my favorite animal, thanks for sticking around! Here, have some bonus content!

Coelacanths make a guest appearance in Atlantis: the Lost Empire!

I like seeing them in the movie so I ignore they weren’t discovered when the film takes place in 1914 (easy to ignore) and that they wouldn’t survive the trip to the surface due to the immense pressure change (less easy to ignore but I do it anyway) :)

My friend @thelunarbee even crocheted me one for a Christmas present :’) his name is Milo and I love him so so much

I also drew a coelacanth a while ago, here's where I posted it if you want to see it :) (I mean, I draw coelacanths all the time but those are mostly doodles, this one I actually put effort into)

Alright that's all I have to say, but I hope you liked the coelacanth facts and remember, if coelacanths can survive for 400 million years, you can make it through today. Be kind to yourself :)

#coelacanth #i love coelacanths #sorry for the long post #me rambling #featuring the coelacanth aka my very favorite animal #this turned out way longer than i meant it to lol #fish #fish facts #coelacanth facts #im also a big fan of relicanth the coelacanth pokemon #i dont know anything about pokemon but i love bulbasaur and relicanth #i also want to play animal crossing very badly because i know there are coelacanths in it #basically if a piece of media has coelacanths its a guarantee that i'll want to consume it #also i love reading tags so if you have any thoughts feel free to tag this post #credit for that last coelacanth pic with all the hearts: me! I did that :)

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bitey-baby-shark · 1 year

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Facts of the Day: 🦈 Great White Sharks 🦈

Scientific Name: Carcharodon carcharias

Length: 11 to 16 feet in length, the largest on record being 20 feet long

Weight: 1,500 lbs to 2,400 lbs, the largest on record being 4,400 lbs

Lifespan: Estimated between 30 to 70 years old

Reproduction: They give birth to live young with their litters being between 2 to 14 pups

Diet: Fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals with a liking towards seals and sea lions

Habitat: Temperate subtropical, and tropical waters worldwide

Status: Vulnerable

Summary: Great White Sharks are formidable apex predators for a reason. They were the Megalodons competition and won that battle of evolution to become one of the most striking and notable predators of the ocean. They’re strong, fast, and can even breach out of the water to strike their prey from below. Each shark has their own personality but Great White Sharks are notably intelligent and highly curious. These sharks are super predators, and they’ve earned that name for a reason. While you shouldn’t go diving with Great White Sharks, they tend to be indifferent towards divers, and while attacks have occurred, they tend to be nonfatal curiosity bites. Most of the danger this shark poses to humans is solely based on its size and how much damage these curiosity bites can do.

#baby shark bites!#shark regression #sharks #shark #great white shark #shark agere #shark regressor #agere #sfw agere #agere fun facts #sfw age regression #age regressor #Age Regression #petre #pet regression #pet regressor #I love great white sharks so much it's unfair

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thecreaturecodex · 1 year

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Platecarpus

Image © Gabriel Ugueto, accessed on his twitter here

[Paizo's record with prehistoric reptiles is, I would say, "enthusiastic but mixed". The dinosaur art in the 1e Bestiary was frankly hideous, but later books and the new edition improved the quality of their art immensely. The art for the mosasaur genus Tylosaurus in 1e, is much better than the 2e art. And as far as accuracy goes, neither version has the streamline shape and lobed tails that we know that mosasaurs have. And in both 1e and 2e, the mosasaur statistics include a land speed, which would be impossible for derived mosasaurs (early members of the group were probably amphibious). So this version of the platecarpus is based on the 2e version, only with more attempts at accuracy. The real Platecarpus was more like a pilot whale and less like a killer whale as far as its diet and behavior, as far as we know. But Pathfinder animals at least have the excuse of Lamashtu for them to be violently disposed towards player characters.]

Platecarpus CR 4 N Animal This creature looks like a cross between a whale and a lizard, with a low triangular head and four broad flippers. Its tail has a vertical fluke, the lower lobe much longer than the upper.

The platecarpus is an example of the group of animals known as mosasaurs. Mosasaurs are lizards that have evolved a fully aquatic lifestyle, and their bodies converge on the shapes of whales. Unlike most other lizards, mosasaurs give birth to live young. Platecarpuses cannot support their own weight on land and tend to live in warm, shallow seas. A platecarpus is mid-sized by the standards of mosasaurs, and fills a niche as a mesocarnivore. They eat primarily fish and squid, and are themselves fed on by large sharks and larger mosasaurs. Platecarpuses occasionally eat larger prey, as their jaws are jointed and can expand to swallow fairly sizable morsels. They do not attack ships or groups of humanoids, but a lone humanoid may be seen as possible prey by a hungry platecarpus.

Platecarpus as Animal Companions A platecarpus companion uses the statistics of a tylosaurus companion (for a more realistic take, remove the land speed of the animal).

Platecarpus CR 4 XP 1,200 N Large animal Init +3; Senses low-light vision, Perception +7, scent Defense AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural) hp 45 (6d8+18) Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +4 Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee bite +8 (1d12+7 plus grab) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Statistics Str 20, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7 Base Atk +4; CMB +10 (+14 grapple); CMD 24 Feats Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack Skills Perception +7, Stealth +8, Swim +18; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth SQ hold breath, mobile grappler Ecology Environment warm and temperate oceans Organization solitary, pair or pod (3-8) Treasure none Special Abilities Mobile Grappler (Ex) A platecarpus can move at up to its full speed when it makes a combat maneuver check to move while maintaining a grapple.

#platecarpus #mosasaur #paleontology #paleoart #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder 2e #marine reptile #animal companion

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silvfyre-writings · 9 months

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I love you for you (BSD Fanfic)

Soooooo, hiiiii. Welcome to a fic I have been sitting on for a while now because I wasn't sure on whether to post it or not. But then I shared it with a friend and they enjoyed it, which gave me the confidence to post it (thank you friend <3). Even as I'm writing this, I am nervous and unsure, but I'm pushing through to just share something relatable for all the period buddies out there that suffer when shark week/mother nature/monthlies comes around.

Now, I am not trans, but I am non-binary, so idk, I have some idea of the process of transitioning because I got asked all the questions when I started my top surgery process, so Ranpo's experience is based upon that mostly. Ranpo's feelings on the other hand, are entirely based upon my own experiences, so any negativity can be taken right back out the door, thank you.

But yes, anyways, enjoy some ranpoe comfort!

Cramps were a bitch.

This was something that Ranpo had long since learnt, long before he’d started his transition, and long before he’d found himself living with Fukuzawa. The moment he’d first woken up with bloodstained sheets when he was eleven years old, he’d known exactly what was happening and hated it, but the blood was the easy part to deal with. What wasn’t easy were the agonizing cramps that came with his periods; constant waves of pain that spread through his entire body, sapping his strength and his sanity. Aside from the dysphoria that always came along on that first day—because periods did nothing but remind him of what he was not—the issues surrounding his gender identity always faded into the background whenever the cramps came along. He was just in too much pain to focus on anything else at the time. And because he’d grown up in a small village with his parents, where his neighbours still insisted on calling him she, there wasn’t much to do but curl up into a ball and hope for the best.

But then his parents had died, and he’d left everything he’d ever known behind to go to Yokohama. What for, he wasn’t exactly sure, but all he knew was that a friend of his father’s resided in the big city and that was all he needed to know.

Going to Yokohama had been both the best and worst part of his life; the best because he could finally introduce himself as who he felt he truly was without anyone questioning him so long as he flattened his chest and wore masculine clothing, but also the worst because he no longer had easy access to the products that those of his birth gender needed whenever his periods came along. His only consolation was that the uniform of the police academy was black, and that the principal—the friend of his father—knew about his situation, so the man had been kind enough to supply him with what he needed, when he’d needed them.

But then he’d wound up on the streets after getting kicked out, and the next months were actual hell.

Ranpo had grown quite adept at sneaking down to the river in the early hours of the morning in order to wash his clothes whenever his period snuck up on him—he always tried his best to track it like he’d been taught to by his mother, but when you lived on the streets, you didn’t tend to remember what the date was. It also didn’t help that the stress of his living situation made it impossible to predict when it would even happen in the first place; most of the time, Ranpo would wake up with bloodstained thighs and stiff clothing, and that was how he knew his period had started. He’d also become pretty good at stealing, as much as it pained him to do so in the first place, but he really needed the supplies, so it wasn’t like he had any other choice. Not unless he wanted to bleed through his clothes every time. And it was simple, really; all he had to do was find a store filled with people, wander the aisles for a while, sneak what he needed into his satchel, wander about some more before finally leaving with his hands hanging by his side and a determined look.

It worked every time.

But he still felt like the worst person on earth when he had to do it.

And then he met Fukuzawa, and Ranpo found his entire world thrown into turmoil, with everything he thought he knew, tossed around like a tornado had just come through his mind. In less than a day, Fukuzawa had given him a roof over his head, as much food as he wanted, whenever he wanted, and also a job. But there’d been something else that he’d given Ranpo, something truly important; pure acceptance. Ranpo had almost panicked, when his period first made its appearance, and Fukuzawa had caught him in the dead of the night, washing bloodstained sheets in the bathtub. They had stared at each other for some time, but instead of scolding, or judging him, Fukuzawa had helped him wash his sheets, and told him to take a shower before disappearing for some time. He’d spent the entire time in the shower terrified and stressed, waiting to be accused of being a liar about who he truly was, or that he was a freak of nature, but none of that happened; Fukuzawa simply returned, placed a packet of pads on the bathroom counter, along with some painkillers, and then left like nothing had happened.

Ranpo had spent the rest of the night confused, and rightfully so, because no one in his life had ever just… accepted him as he was without asking questions.

Of course, the next day had brought about the most awkward conversation of Ranpo’s life, because he’d never been particularly comfortable about talking about himself, but… in the end it had turned out well. He and Fukuzawa had spoken at length about what Ranpo was going through, his identity, his feelings, the way his body was changing, all things that Ranpo knew, but also hadn’t, because his mother had taught him like he’d been a girl, and not the boy that he was. But then Fukuzawa had gone on to tell Ranpo about options he’d never heard of, and how to obtain some of those options. Ranpo had been stunned; it was one thing to put on masculine clothing and tell everyone he was a boy when his body physically told everyone he was not, but to learn that he could actually change that, actually become who it was that he wanted to be, and finally be comfortable in his own skin, it was hard not to be excited.

So, Fukuzawa had found a doctor for him—after many tears of relief and joy had been shed—one that had worked with people like Ranpo before and knew how to talk to him, and Ranpo’s transition begun. It had been a long and confusing process; there’d been a lot of things that Ranpo hadn’t known about or hadn’t quite understood, and there were also a lot of roadblocks and speedbumps that he’d needed to navigate around. Because he was underweight at the time, he’d needed to put on some weight before the doctor felt comfortable prescribing Ranpo any kind of medication, and that had been a battle, because Ranpo and food had never been friends, and there’d been many a night where he’d lain in Fukuzawa’s arms, crying, because he couldn’t finish the dinner that’d been cooked for him.

But he’d done it, the changes to his body brought about by puberty were slowed from the blockers he was allowed to take.

The next roadblock had been his chest, because he had to be an adult for anyone to even consider removing the two lumps of fat on his chest, and, well, Ranpo had naturally had a breakdown over it. It truly felt like the world had been against him in that moment, because so far, nothing had gone smoothly, and having his journey be delayed for years had been the final nail in the coffin. Sure, there were binders, and Fukuzawa had kindly bought him some after they’d been told the news, but it hadn’t stopped his mental health from crashing and sending him into depression.

He would forever be grateful to Fukuzawa, who had continued to love and support Ranpo, even in his darkest moments, throughout the years until he’d turned twenty and finally been allowed to pursue surgery.

And for the first time since he was a child, Ranpo finally felt that he could be himself.

“Nngh.” Ranpo groaned as he, once again, changed positions in the bed because of the agonizing pain that was rippling across his abdomen, just like it had been for the past hour. He’d gone to bed early that day, well before his usual time after feeling off for the entire day, only to wake up after a measly hour of sleep, with his body aching and his stomach metaphorically stabbing itself. It’d been so painful that all he could do was curl up into a ball and do his best not to disturb the other occupant of the bed. He’d long given up any attempt at getting anymore sleep; now he only wanted to find that one position that would bring him the relief he was after. But so far, he’d had no luck, and he was starting to give up on ever finding it.

One would think, after being on puberty blockers, and later, testosterone, for so many years, that he would finally be free from the jaws of periods and the god awful cramps that came with them, but no, he wasn’t that lucky it seemed. They didn’t happen often, usually only two or three times a year, and never for more than three days, but they always seemed to hurt so much more than he remembered; almost as if his body was mad that he had rejected it and changed it into what he wanted.

But that wasn’t the point.

The point was, Ranpo was in pain because his internal organs were currently attempting to murder him, and he wanted to do nothing but curl up into a ball and cry. Because pain and hormones. But he couldn’t, because he had an insomniac for a boyfriend that was currently in the bed with him, finally sleeping peacefully and Ranpo wasn’t going to be the reason that Poe didn’t get any sleep that night. He was amazed though, that he hadn’t woken Poe up yet since Poe was usually the worlds lightest sleeper—seriously, Ranpo had shut the door behind him once a little harder than normal and that had woken Poe up—but that was just further testament to how little Poe had been sleeping.

But yes, keeping still usually helped to ease the cramping, but this time it was doing nothing, and no amount of tossing and turning seemed to fix it.

At this point, the sun would rise before Ranpo could find a comfortable position.

He let out another groan as a wave of sharp, shooting pain washed over him, spreading from his abdomen out towards his back, his hips, and even his elbows—which really, should not be allowed in such a situation as this, because it was just so unfair—and he couldn’t stop himself from curling into a tight ball this time, a whimper escaping him before he could stop it, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

“Ranpo-kun?” Poe’s sleepy voice echoed through the night, and Ranpo froze where he lay, breathing slowly to try and convince his partner he was actually asleep. But then his emotions betrayed him and a quiet sob escaped him. He felt the bed dip as Poe shifted, and an arm came to drape itself over his waist, and Ranpo let out a relieved sigh, the heat of Poe’s skin against his own so, so welcome, and he didn’t want it to leave. He felt Poe bury his nose into the back of Ranpo’s neck. “What’s wrong?”

And even though he knew that Poe wouldn’t believe him, especially since the man had been worried when Ranpo had announced he was going to bed early, he was still going to try and placate Poe into trying to get some more sleep; his partner had had only a few hours of sleep over the last few days, and Ranpo refused to be the reason that Poe didn’t get a good night’s sleep. “I’m fine.”

He felt Poe frown against his skin. “Sorry, love, but I don’t believe you. You’ve been restless for some time now.”

“Oh… I didn’t—” Ranpo swallowed, stress stopping his words from coming. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Ranpo-kun. I’ve been on and off sleeping for a little bit now.” Poe soothed, kissing the back of Ranpo’s neck. Ranpo sighed and uncurled from his ball a little, slowly as to not aggravate his angry organs that had finally calmed down a little. He wanted to roll over so that he could talk to Poe face to face like he preferred, but he didn’t dare move, just in case it made things worse.

“Is everything alright, my dear?” Poe asked, and when Ranpo didn’t respond, he shuffled closer, slotting his legs between Ranpo’s own, and spreading his hand across his stomach in order to pull Ranpo close to him, and Ranpo could’ve cried from how nice it felt. The warmth of Poe’s palm was in just the right spot to chase away a little bit of the ache, and just the feeling of Poe holding him flush against his own skin was enough for Ranpo to be able to focus less on the pain, and more on other things—like Poe’s beating heart against his back. It was comfortable and it made him feel loved, and Ranpo never wanted it to end; he wished he could always be held like this by Poe, because it was just… perfect.

Ranpo closed his eyes, the vestiges of sleep that had eluded him for hours now, creeping back towards him and offering the sweet release of sleep, when he felt Poe stiffen, and that hand against his stomach stray in the direction of their legs and oh god, he’d forgotten about the bleeding part of periods. He stiffened, but for an entirely different reason, one that was familiar and unwanted; fear. He’d never told Poe about himself, had never needed to, and had most certainly never expected to. Until now.

“Ranpo-kun, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m sorry.” Was all that Ranpo said, his voice shaky as he croaked out the words, because what else could he say when he’d just bled all over himself and Poe’s sheets, and potentially Poe himself? Nothing, that’s what. All he could do was apologize and pray that Poe wouldn’t be mad at him. But he would understand if Poe was mad.

Poe sucked in a breath the moment Ranpo apologized, and he found the warmth fading as Poe pulled away and climbed out of bed, and Ranpo, forgetting about his pain momentarily, frantically reached out for Poe as he realized just what it was his partner was planning to do. But he wasn’t fast enough, and Ranpo quickly hid under the blankets as light bathed the room. Ranpo listened closely, as no sound came from Poe until his partner finally began to move about the room, even leaving it for a few minutes, and he had to wonder just what it was that his partner was doing. It didn’t take all that long for his curiosity to overcome his shame, and he poked his head out just as Poe sat on the bed again, and their eyes met.

“Oh.” Poe said, surprised; his eyes were visible for once, his bangs pinned to the side by a hairclip that Poe had clearly forgotten to remove before crawling into bed. The writer smiled—one of those gentle ones that promised comfort and kindness—and he held a box out towards Ranpo. A box of pads. Ranpo stared at the box for a moment, suddenly reminded of a time long ago when he’d been a teenager, before he took them. Poe stood and threaded his fingers through Ranpo’s messy hair, eyes just gazing upon him softly. “I got in the habit of keeping some on hand because of Lucy and Louisa.”

It was Ranpo’s turn to be surprised. “Oh.”

“I have some painkillers as well, and although I use them for migraines mostly, I think they’ll work for cramps, but I’ll double check the box just to make sure.” Poe continued to say as he began to tug the sheets free from Ranpo’s grasp. “I’ll get those for you, and change the sheets if you want to take a shower?”

It’s an out, and one that Ranpo was going to take, so he nodded and crawled out of bed, hunched over slightly as he raced to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. His eyes stung as he stripped, throwing his soiled clothing into the corner of the room and turned the shower on as hot as it would go—considering Poe was rich and could afford the best, it was hot—and then collapsed against the shower floor, sobbing into his knees, his emotions getting the better of him even though nothing bad had actually happened. Poe hadn’t judged him, hadn’t asked him questions, or even told him to leave; all Poe had done was help, and here Ranpo was, repaying him by crying on the floor of his shower.

Another reason he hated when this happened. He just became so damn emotional.

The door to the shower opened after a few minutes and Ranpo watched as Poe entered with a fresh pair of clothes in his arms. Poe himself, was wearing just a pair of boxers, and his hair was damp; he must’ve taken a quick shower in the other bathroom, and Ranpo was honestly tempted to ask his partner to join him, if only for the comfort it would bring. But he didn’t, and watched as Poe placed the clothes on the edge of the sink and left, the door clicking shut behind him, and leaving Ranpo alone. Yet, despite being on his own, Poe’s actions left Ranpo feeling loved, and his tears began to slow, but he didn’t get out of the shower until his skin was red and burning.

The clothes that Poe had lent him were his own, soft, and rich, but massive on Ranpo’s own frame, yet very much appreciated all the same. He always liked stealing Poe’s clothes whenever he was at the writer’s home, because Poe had an abundance of soft clothing he’d collected in his time with the Guild, clothing that Ranpo intended to put to good use. Underneath the clothes, a box of painkillers lay, and Ranpo took two before he left the bathroom and made his way back to bed where the old sheets had been replaced with new, fresh ones.

Poe didn’t say anything as his eyes looked over Ranpo, but his brow furrowed when he saw Ranpo’s red and puffy eyes. Poe lifted the blankets and patted the space next to him. “Come here.”

Ranpo didn’t hesitate to crawl underneath the covers, and began to tear up once again as Poe pulled him close, giving him all the warmth and comfort he could possibly want, in just a single embrace. “I’m sorry.” He apologized again, despite not knowing what it was that he was even trying to apologize for.

And as it seemed, neither could Poe. “Whatever for, love?”

Ranpo sniffed, and hid his face into Poe’s bare chest, even though he knew it would make it obvious that he was crying again—as if it wasn’t already obvious. It wasn’t like he was a silent crier. “I don’t know. Bleeding all over everything? Lying to you? Waking you up?”

Poe hummed, and tucked Ranpo’s head under his chin, a hand slowly running itself up and down Ranpo’s back. “You don’t need to apologize for those. Sheets can be washed after all. You never lied to me—”

“I did.”

“You did not.” Poe’s other hand moved to grab at Ranpo’s, giving it a squeeze. “And as for my sleep, well, I’ve never slept particularly well, love. You know that. If anything, sleeping with you helps me sleep better.”

“I don’t understand.” Ranpo hunched in on himself as best he could with Poe’s arms around him, tears running down his cheeks. “How can you just… accept this?”

Poe hummed again, and a thumb wiped away the tears on his face. “I think this is a conversation best had when you aren’t feeling so overwhelmed, my dear. But if it helps you feel even the tiniest bit better, why wouldn’t I accept it? I love you for you, Ranpo-kun, and that’s that. Even if you bleed and cry from the cramps, I still love you.”

Those words caused Ranpo to cry even more, although he’s smiling now, and through his tears, he can hear Poe starting to sniff, and he can feel a few tears drip onto his head. He laughed through his own tears. “Why are you crying.”

“Because you are hurting right now, in more ways than one, and I tend to cry when you hurt and all I can do is hold you through it. It’s a fault of mine.” Poe chuckled, raising a hand to wipe away his own tears this time.

Ranpo laughed again, and brought one of his own hands up to cup Poe’s cheek, brushing away a stray tear. “Thank you, Poe-kun, for helping and accepting.”

“Always, Ranpo-kun, always.”

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bsd fanfic #ranpoe #edogawa ranpo #edgar allan poe #trans ranpo #hurt/comfort #comfort #writing #fanfiction

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lumiereandcogsworth · 2 months

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wait wait omg I have another question bc I was thinking about parents n such. you might’ve already answered this, and if so please link me bc I wanna seeeeee, but how exactly did things go down when Adam’s mom and dad died? Like how did he feel? How quickly did things change? Obviously I know things went Bad™️ but I’m still 👁️👁️ curious

aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGGGHHHGHHHJHHHFKFKRHDJFJHHHHHHHHH. alright

so in my little timeline world, adam was nine and a half when his mother died, and so very close to turning sixteen when his father died (a month before his birthday.) i— gosh. alex, my guy. it’s so much. it’s the crux of everything. like adam would still be shitty if they lived but the fact that they DIED? and when he was so YOUNG? my gosh. my goodness. okay.

when queen renée died, the rest of the world wasn’t too terribly impacted. she wasn’t the most active of queens (because of hidden mental and physical health problems, and the fact that louis didn’t really let her Do anything on her own. she was essentially a trophy wife) so while the country was SAD, and engaged in usual Mourning The Queen practices, life carried on. the throne had an heir so no one was super concerned (as they were when louis’s First Wife died… but that’s tea for another post.) the servants were pretty sad. mrs. potts got pretty close to her, and lumière & plumette really adored her, so this was a big loss for them. they knew how abused she was, how much she loved her son, how desperately she wanted to run away with him. it broke their hearts that she would never get the chance to know freedom again.

the servant who had been closest with queen renée was her lady’s maid, anne. louis had her fired, finding no use to her after he tried to fuck her and she refused. anne was devastated to leave adam behind, he was like a nephew to her, and she knew things would only get harder for him as he got older. she even considered staying, being one of louis’s mistresses just to be around to protect adam… but she couldn’t bring herself to compromise her own life for his, as much as she had loved him and his mother. so she left. and truthfully, if she had stayed, there isn’t much she would have been able to do. he wanted his mother and no one else.

louis himself hardly cared about renée’s death. he never loved her, only mildly cared about her at times. he had become increasingly frustrated with her over time, as she continued to combat him, and mostly as she continued to fail to carry another pregnancy to term. (giving birth to adam very nearly killed her, and she just ended up with issues that caused her to keep having miscarriages thereafter) (these issues would definitely have been fixable in modern day. but ya know.) so louis was, overall, indifferent. mostly disappointed in how poorly she performed as a wife and queen to him.

adam, on the other hand, broke into a million tiny little pieces that would take decades to recover from! his mother was his whole world. he struggled so very much, even excluding all the abuse from his father, he just Struggled. renée was the only one who could really get through to him. she spoke his language. she understood his needs even more than he did. so losing her really just felt like he was cast adrift in shark infested waters… with no hope of ever being rescued.

the staff did everything they could but it was hardly anything at all. louis became even more strict about their interactions with adam, because he found it absurd that the staff should ever feel friendly with royalty. but still, they tried to sneak around. they tried to tend to his wounds when he’d been hit too hard. following renée’s death, adam had terrible, awful nightmares. he’d wake up in the middle of the night screaming. he’d start crying and panicking and shaking. lumière started sleeping outside of his room, so he could come in and comfort him and get him back to sleep. louis eventually found out about this and put a stop to it, of course.

in the autumn (renée died in march) adam had turned 10 and was sent to boarding school. some of the time in paris, some of the time in italy. louis really just didn’t want to deal with him. he just Really didn’t like adam. adam was timid and shy and weak. he was nothing that an heir should be, and he hated that HE was his only heir. (which is why he hated renée so much for not giving him more sons.) (but he also hated adam, in turn, for BEING his only son.) (and, deep down, louis saw himself in him. louis used to be this way, as a child, but his father beat it out of him. the cycles keep on cycling…) so adam lost his mother and his home in a very short period of time, and it was wholly impossible to deal with. he was bullied by other school boys for being so shy and for preferring books to any other activity. (he especially Hated being outdoors.) he was also disciplined by professors for reading during class, or spacing out, or not understanding instructions and being scolded for asking clarifying questions that came across as questioning authority.

and when he came back home on breaks, he had no reprieve. his father was constantly barking orders at him, trying to get him to just behave “correctly.” he constantly yelled at him and hit him. sometimes louis would take adam along on trips because the people wanted to see the heir, (it was good for publicity), and adam always hated how fake his father would be in social settings. but he always very much studied him too. he was trying so hard to survive, so he studied what made the other people laugh, what made them LIKE his father so much. he studied so hard and he practiced his behavior in the mirror at night. he still fucked up, in louis’s eyes, all the time. he was never going to be enough, never going to get it right, but adam started to grow so twisted, so desperate for louis’s approval, because there was no other alternative. it was become louis, or die trying.

there was only one time that louis ever remotely appeared proud of adam. the prince was thirteen and louis took him hunting with the other men. louis pulled adam to a secluded spot, and they crouched down when they saw this really magnificent elk. just huge. louis told adam how to aim and get in position. adam’s heart was pounding so loudly in his ears, his palms were dripping with sweat, he was so scared he’d drop the gun. he held as steady as he could, his father’s words echoing in his mind, and he pulled the trigger. the elk falls to the ground. louis laughs. he LAUGHS. adam’s heard him laugh, at social events, but never with him. louis claps a hand on adam’s back (which makes adam flinch really intensely, but louis doesn’t even notice) and stands up. “good shot, boy,” louis says, now calling for the other men to come and see. adam is paralyzed as he processes what just happened. a dismal little spark ignites in his heart.

additionally at this age, thirteen, adam gets very into fashion. he realizes that wardrobe is a huge factor into being liked and admired, and boyyyy does he want to be admired. it’s also the year he starts school at the university of paris. he’s still a tragically shy bookworm, and he’s still very regularly picked on, but he finds a group of delinquents to be terrible with. they commit little crimes like stealing liquor from the professors’ quarters, and breaking busts and vases in the night. adam is still fairly quiet but they discover that if you get some alcohol into him, he becomes the life of the party. AND BOOYYYYYYY DOES HE WANT TO BE LIKED!!! he starts drinking and engaging with pretty much everything that can intoxicate him in any way. everyone suddenly LOVES him at parties. he explores sex and just how many ways it can distract him (and how desperately he craves the attention.) he forgets about everything. he loses himself. he loses the little sunshine that his mother adored. he loses the worthless creature that his father hates. he forgets the world. he’s free, for just a moment. he has everything.

the summer after he graduates from the university of paris, his father comes home from a trip with a bad cough. he’s been rather decrepit for a few years now, despite how young he is (47) but this seems worse. i will note, here, that i actually have written a fic about this period of time. i wrote it four years ago (january 2020, can you believe?) and it remains my longest fic (18.8k). it is A LOT. i was still building my lore and it honestly isn’t very well written at all. i was so proud of it when i made it, and i’m still proud of it in a retrospective way, and it IS all still my canon, but my gosh it’s so wordy. it’s just a lore infodump. i’ll link it here but really and truly feel no pressure to read it. it’s… a lot. but if you do want some intense introspection and lots of words! go for it.

but, i shall continue to explain and tell you all you need to know right here, lmao. basically, louis dies at 47, right before adam turns 16.

(oh, i didn’t really say what caused their deaths, huh? for renée, i think it would be so sick and twisted if she died from an STD that louis gave her. don’t you think? but i also just think she didn’t have a great immune system. she was sick a few times before this and recovered but was worse each time. so hey, take your pick. it’s all bad! as for louis, i think his lifetime of debauchery honestly just decayed his body at a much faster rate. he didn’t remotely take care of himself and he indulged A Lot. plus i’m sure STDs were involved. fuckin whore bastard. bitchass motherfucker. rot in hell you son of a BITCH— anyway. yep!)

louis dies and adam, at this point, gosh. how is he supposed to feel? he hated him. he hated that man more than he even remotely liked anything else. he hated him so much, he dreamed of his death, he longed for it. but now that it was finally here… what is adam supposed to do? adam grew up so twisted; forced to conform to his father’s ways, forced to bend into his mold, forced to crave his praise and basically started living for him. and now he’s gone. adam had really started to come alive with his father at parties. it wasn’t often but they really started to… look like each other. they were never close, and once the party ended and they were in private, louis still berated him for a thousand things he said and did wrong, still hit him and belittled him. but they had their shining moments in public, so adam had always counted it as a small victory.

and now it’s just. nothing.

so what does adam do? he spirals.

he descends into the madness, he leans into it. he needs oblivion, because he’s directionless now. there are advisors and elders begging him to focus on finding a wife so he can take the throne, but he shirks every responsibility he can. he continues his debauchery, he meets people, exciting people, lavish people, sexy people, beautiful, beautiful, GORGEOUS distractions. he drowns himself in alcohol and drugs and sex and parties and a glamorous life free of troubles. his father’s council (well, HIS council, now) still arrange royal balls that invite eligible women for the prince to meet, in the hopes of finding a wife so he can properly take the throne. he attends these balls because hey, a party’s a party. he gets so lost in himself. grows so cruel to those around him, so cold to the servants who had once been like family to him, so angry at the world yet desperate for it to like him.

he gets so lost and hopeless, his heart grows so wretched and angry, that one day… an enchantress decides to teach him a lesson.

#thank you as ALWAYS for letting me give my little fake history lessons 😭#i hate to say that was fun to write because it’s just the most tragic topic ever but like djfkdj. that was so fun to write HAHA #what can i say? i love my lore #thank you though truly. this topic makes me CRAAAZZZYYYYYTY #alex tag #answered #adam #queen renée #king louis #batb headcanons #batb 2017

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katyspersonal · 2 years

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Do you think the Snatchers and Bell-ringers are Pthumerians?

I definitely do! In fact, I believe Bellringing Women bit is hinted on by a description of one of the chalices?

Not only the looks, but also the fact that both Snatchers and Bell-ringers are exclusively found in Dungeons + connected with School of Mensis (whom we did figure HAD Pthumerians involved). Also:

While I was looking at Snatchers again for this ask, I noticed this super cool detail, that their necklace looks like a torch sort of...? And we know Pthumerians dabble in pyromancy + if Keepers of the Old Lords are any indication, fire - and setting your body and soul in fire - was sort of a sacred thing for them! Makes me wonder if necklace design is one of the tokens of that. Heck, their odd skin patterns might be burnt marks? Unusual color, because Pthumerians are still not quite humans!

(My headcanon is fire magic gifted to their kind by Wet Nurse that once was one of the crowlike Great Ones living on the sun but sacrificed like 70% of her body to help proto-humans to survive THEIR beast plague at least somewhat)

What also messes me up sometimes is:

There is clearly some heritage within Cainhurst! Annalise does recognise the meaning of that ring, too.

I personally do not think that pthumerians slowly evolved into humans on their own somehow? For me pthumerians appear to be sort of proto-humans, kinda like nephilim! They even have racial variety of their own - just skin that is bleach white and shades of grey, rather than beige and shades of brown. However, I do think that they are ABLE to mingle genetically with humans! My biggest hook is that Maria who looks as human as possible, can use fire blood magic that appears to be their genetics (at least / especially taking roots from Pthumeru Ihyll).

My lucky guess is that this line, the now known Cainhurst nobles, at least has had a long line of generations of pthumerians procreating with humans - only the strongest and the prettiest ones! - in order to weed out 'unwanted' genes and take the best from both species. Leading to a mixed line - super tall humanoids with very pale skin and permanent dark circles under eyes. Not always pale skin though, it depends on the region... But yeah, Cainhurst vilebloods had a LOT of arrangement I think. The royal people just tend to be like this about bloodlines :pensive:

These guys are also what gives me a hunch that pthumerians or humans or both were not really nice to offsprings that showed genes they considered 'unwanted'? Lost Child of Antiquity is a mob that is also found in Pthumeru Ihyll - so, associated with the line that eventually became Cainhurst vilebloods. Giant Lost Child is associated with Loran - they are only found in Nightmare Frontier (and stormy pathwalk to Nightmare of Mensis, which IS layer of Nightmare Frontier)... We did agree as a fandom that Nightmare Frontier must be connected to Loran, right?

So like, Giant Lost Children were disowned once they were born like this - and used in slavery it seems?? This is what whip lashes are? I think this also has connection with how pthumerians have gigantic variants sometimes - like giant Church Servants, or Shark Giants (my beloathed -_-), or the big guys in the dungeons with cannons and literal candles on their backs! This one might be result of painful birth mutation where it is mesh of human and this 'gigantic' pthumerian.

(But, I honestly do not have an idea what could have caused a mutation that makes you look rocky and have bat-like wings (undeveloped). I think Kin were involved though - there are themes of petrification from great blast of Arcane in the game (Eye Pebbles, Rom's "corpse" on altar, statues all over Upper Cathedral covered in dramatic manner as if they were creatures that ended up turning into stone, petrified people in Yahar'gul)... And it is Arcane-boosting blood gems that are grey in color, too. The closest to winged Kin we do have are Gardens of Eyes.)

I side-tracked but yeah, yeah they are pthumerians. Hell, I'd argue that Bloodborne Patches is easily mixed between human and pthumerian, just look at him closer!

I am yet to figure what did happen historically - how there are friendly pthumerians that do NOT act like zombies (like Chapel Dweller), what about pthumerians that seem to have lost their roots (like Logarius), why ones like Church Servants work for the group that has been actively raiding the dungeons where remains of their civilisation were etc? So many questions??

Though the gist of this I think, most remaining pthumerians have gone crazy from living far too long thanks to their unholy magic and rites, longer than what nature had prepared for them, but naturally humans didn't learn from history and attempted doing the same lol

#bloodborne #pthumerians #bloodborne theory #bloodborne headcanons #fandomry rambles #ask replies #it is very hard to not sidetrack and just say 'yes i do' without extra essay sdhdsfd trust me #(lol no it is literally not so hard i am just being myself)#i am not sure how humans OR pthumerians appeared though!#if doll's dialogue is of any indication moon presence might have had a hand in creating both #which makes doll's lines even more eerie #it is as if flora tries to passively-aggressively hint what attitude she wants from mortals through her #but yes i think they are able to breed together #and cainhurst decided to go freak mode on orchestrating a 'proper' bloodline because thats what nobles like to do #like you know the nobles? people that historically would even have children with relatives to 'preserve the purity of bloodline'#wow that went well....

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irl-morros-account · 8 months

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hey here’s your daily sea creature for… the past… few days.l yeah sorry about that.

So anyways todays creature is the catshark.

They’re ground sharks that live nearby seabeds in temperate and tropical climates! They’re named for their large cat-like eyes! There are also some catsharks known instead as dogsharks. The biggest difference is that the ones we call catsharks tend to lay eggs whereas the ones commonly called dogsharks give live birth instead.

There are even pictures where they curl up like a cat like this sometimes!

Cat sharks are actually the largest family of sharks, with around 160 different species belonging to it!

Among them are Swell sharks, who are capable of inhaling air and water to expand and appear bigger

The chain shark and the swell shark have actually been found to have biofluorescence! It’s normally invisible to the human eye, but by shining a UV light or using special cameras it’s possible to see them.

HAH you actually had a shark response to that joke. Of course you did. I'm entirely unsurprised.

Oh my FSM, thats the dumbest looking shark I've ever seen. It's magnificent. Look at those massive eyes, like fucking frog spawn.

Also in what universe does making catsharks the ones that lay eggs make sense??? I'm sorry??

Awww the fucking picture with it curled up. Ok. I accept the name cat shark as it is very fitting. Well done cat shark

When you said largest I thought you meant size wise and I was like no FUCKING way this little trickster here is bigger than a great white shark. No way. And then I actually read it

Thats cool. They really are like cats, who fluff up to seem bigger. That's funny. Why do they glow in the dark tho, why was that necessary

#morro irl account #irl morro #ninjago #answering asks #cookii-moon

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ygdrasilly · 7 months

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14 and 40!

14 What was an important, defining moment you’ve had with fish/aquatic animals?

probably when i worked at my local zoo on the bird and reptile unit! i was often assigned to the penguins (since my degree is marine bio) so got to see how they act up close. i later did my dissertation on those penguins and their behaviours. another moment would probably be when i fed sharks.

40 Share a pet peeve about something marine-related (e.g. a misconception, a portrayal or lack of portrayal of an animal, etc.) that drives you up the walls.

ohhhhhh man i have a whole list of pet peeves and irritants:

when films that include penguins in it can't even be bothered to research said penguin and continually call them by the wrong species name. there was a film i watched some time ago that was set in a zoo, and the protag was meant to be an ~expert~ on the penguins. except that the penguins in question were magellanic penguins and the protag kept calling them adelie penguins. the two look nothing alike and i spent an hour just fuming.

the vilifying of gulls in every day life. people call them flying rats and all sorts of names and there's so much hostile architecture put in place to stop them landing when really gulls are absolute sweethearts. if you have a lot of gulls (as you usually do when you live by the sea), you tend to have less of a rat population, which you'd think would be good, right? well, it's not good enough for most people apparently. they don't even see gulls as living beings half the time, just letting their kids kick at them. and they might be on the protected species list in the uk now, but it doesn't stop said hostile architecture from appearing. i want to burn any building that has it to the ground.

the use of the term 'seagull'. no such thing as a seagull. in marine bio they're just called gulls, with their other name before 'gull' (ie lesser black backed gull, herring gull etc).

SHARK PORTRAYAL SHARK PORTRAYAL. jaws has ruined the reputation of sharks and has severely harmed shark conservation efforts. great whites do not act like the jaws film says they do. if they bite a human, it's because they mistake them for seals or are just curious. no shark species acts the same as the other (greenland sharks don't act like whitetip reef sharks don't act like goblin sharks). the only shark that actually deserves a reputation of ferocity is the sandtiger shark, and they cannibalise their own siblings in utero. (also sharks are mostly ovoviviparous and give live births and i am tired of media not acknowledging this).

edit: i forgot my most rage inducing one: PENGUINS DON'T JUST LIVE IN ANTARCTICA. there are around seventeen officially acknowledged species of penguins and only two of them live in antarctica proper. the rest generally live in tropical areas.

sorry lmao i got carried away with the last question but i have a lot of rage in me about this subject. i subject everyone i meet to at least one of these rants.

ty for the ask!!! <3

marine biology ask meme

#flowergrenades #ask box #marine bio shit

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rating-sharks · 2 years

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Haha shark go zooooom

The Shortfin Mako Shark (Surus Oxyrinchus), also known as the Bonito Shark, aswell as the Blue Pointer is a 10 foot(3.8m)tall shark, ranging from 132-298 lbs (60-135 kg)

These lovelies are known to inhabit temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Like some other species, they tend to be alone. They travel an extremely long time to find a mate! (Wow talk about dedicated)

They can manage to travel these distances because of their fast speeds! They also have one of the biggest brain-body ratios! (Big brain time) Unfortunately, due to this, they are a big "game" shark, meaning that it's somewhat of a feat to catch one, which makes them hunted a lot. They are an endangered species, and our environment is very important, so please do not hunt sharks or any other species. Animals dying isn't a game, hunting for game is a large cause for animals to be extinct.

Speaking of prey, they eat bony fish, cephalopods, and other sharks mainly. They also give birth to live young!

Overall, I give this brilliant shark a 10/10 (just look at those eyes!) I'm sorry if this one was a bit dark!

#shark #shark facts #oh god help me #endangered #bonito #sharks #lovely #sharkie #sharklover #sharks are cool #hehehe #ratings #help me i am in hell #ocean #i am being completely serious

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misslevy · 3 months

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Let's Meet My OCs !!

Felix: Dog Shifter (Golden Retriver) - 16 years old - He/Him - DemiSexual and Biromantic.

A young boy who loves company, friends and family. Family is everything to him, he would die if he had to. He loves to play with little ones, is lively even gets too carried away, is a good listener and is that friend that if you are sick, he brings you your favorite food to make you feel better, he can't cook so it's best if he take it to the locals. The downsides is that he doesn't know how to listen, he does his own thing and is always looking for " right decisions " , it is hard for him to accept the reality of things.

Demy: Raven Shifter - 17 years old - Asexual and Lesbian A rebellious but also independent girl, she tends to keep to herself and do things only for the sake of herself, because of social experience that is reduced in having friends. Few but good, in fact when she is with her few friends who have won her trust she has a different approach, she is a bit bitchy but she always does it the right way without offending (at least she tries). As I said before, she tends to do things without anyone's help, she never asks...But gives a lot.

Kit: Bat Shifter - 13 years old - They/them - Non-Binary

They are a shy kid, they loves to skateboard in the street making them feel freer and more confident. They has some problems in talking or communicating, They are not mute, they just can't deal with a conversation when they makes a mistake or when someone yells at them. And they doesn't like to go to stores,clubs alone so much, they always has anxiety about answering or asking the clerks, in fact they always leaves it to their older friends or their father to do. They tends to close to themself, if something goes wrong at school, they never wants to talk about it…So to spur them on just do some activities together and make them feel safe.

Haladir: Dragon shifter- 40years old - He/Him - Pansexual

(It's an OC created for an The Owl House AU) He is a man in his 40s, a great potionist and alchemist, famous for his store both in public and in black markets. In fact he is known there as " The Dragon." He was not born as a shifter, when he was young he had experimented with a potion with dragon scales, causing it to explode and he immediately started growing horns,tail, claws in his nails (in fact he does a lot of manicures to keep from cutting himself) and scales on his face up to his whole arm. Every so often his dragon form grows more and more and he has not found a cure for it. He lost his wife when he gave birth to his daughter, Levy, and from there he has always done everything to raise her properly. Although he is a few times, he becomes an absentee father.

Shank: Shark Shifter - 35 years old - He/Him - Gay

He is a former famous Rockstar guitarist, now enjoying his solo life composing music for other singers, he had an independence with alcohol and drugs and it is for these reasons that his career ended up among the forgotten, it took him years and willpower to clean himself up. Now he is a 35-year-old and single father of 3 adopted boys (Felix,Demy and Kit) ! And supports in everything, when Kit had to specify that he uses They/Them, Shank bought him a skateboard with the colors of the No-binary flag. He is a good father.

#levysart #ocs #animalshifter #shifter #animal #theythem #sheher #hehim #lgbtqia #art digital #noai

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uncharismatic-fauna · 6 months

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Taming the Tiger Shark

The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is a common sight for divers, fishermen, and tourists in the tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They are often found around sea grass fields or coral reefs, and tend to prefer warm, shallower waters near the coastline or surrounding atolls and islands. The northern end of their range extends up to the northern borders of the United States and China, while their southern range reaches down to Brazil, Madagascar, and the eastern coast of Australia.

While they're slightly smaller than great whites, G. cuvier is still one of the largest carnivores in the ocean. Adults can grow up to 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in) long and weigh between 300 and 900 kg (700 and 2,000 lb). Females tend to be larger than males, but the two sexes are otherwise indistinguishable. Individuals are typically bluish gray or green, with a white or light yellow underbelly; this provides them with camouflage, as fish swimming overhead or below are unable to pick out the shark's silhouette against the dark or light background, respectively.

As an apex predator, G. cuvier has few predators of its own. Juvenile tiger sharks will often fall prey to other sharks, including adults of their own species. Orcas are also occasionally known to prey on tiger sharks, but these occurrences are rare. In their own food chain, G. cuvier has a large appetite and will eat almost anything. Coral reef fish are a common target, though their speed and small size makes them harder to catch. More often tiger sharks will prey on cephalopods, crustaceans, sea snakes, turtles, sea birds, and a host of marine mammals like dolphins, dugongs, sea lions, and young, injured, or dead whales. Inadvertently, tiger sharks will also consume garbage such as bottles tires, earning them the nickname 'The Garbage Can of the Ocean'.

Tiger sharks are primarily active at night. Contrary to other sharks, G. cuvier has excellent eyesight, as well as a keen sense of smell. In addition, tiger sharks have two special sensory organs. The lateral line extends down the length of the body and can detect minute vibrations in the water. Ampullae of Lorenzini are small electroreceptors located on the snout; these detect the weak electrical impulses generated by prey. All these features make it easy for tiger sharks to find a meal, and once located their body shape allows them to put on a burst of speed and make quick turns to catch their target. Most of the time, this hunting practice is done alone, but occasionally groups of tiger sharks will gather to scavenge a large carcass or for the mating season.

Male tiger sharks mate every year, while females only reproduce every three years. Breeding seasons differ based on location; in the Northern Hemisphere mating occurs between March and May, while in the Southern Hemisphere it's between November and January. During this time, dozens or even hundreds of sharks may gather to find mates. Females carry their young for up to 16 months, at which time they give live birth. Tiger sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning that eggs are fertilised and hatch inside the mother; this species is also unique in that they employ a technique called embryotrophy, in which young gestate in sacks which are filled with an embryonic fluid. A single litter of tiger sharks may contain between 10 to 80 pups, and each one may live up to 12 years in the wild.

Conservation status: The IUCN has classified the tiger shark as Near Threatened. While exact numbers are unclear, a great many tiger sharks are killed each year for their skin, fins, and liver. This species also has a reputation for vicious attacks, and while they can be aggressive when threatened, only a handful of shark attacks occur each year.

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lastchancevillagegreen · 1 year

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Saturday, 8 April 2023:

Good Shave Baby Bird (no label, self released) (released in November 2022)

The UK is able to mail out of country once again (a ban was enforced in November just as this album was being released by Stephen Jones) which means this album finally lands in the US.

Stephen Jones, the abbreviated version, mind you, is the man once upon a time known as Baby Bird (not to be confused with the band Babybird which was also Jones only with a band), a master of lo-fi and the Bedroom Sound. From 1995 to 1997 he released self released five albums that were the pinnacle of lo-fi (discounting another master of lo-fi Guided By Voices who reigned prominent in the 90s for this record lover): I Was Born A Man, Bad Shave, Fatherhood, The Happiest Man In The World and Dying Happy. This was before the internet exploded and I bought at least two of these five lo-fi jewels through chat rooms for exorbitant prices. I paid $80 for Bad Shave to be shipped from Paris, France, wondering if I would actually see it arrive, after all Paypal didn’t exist and debit cards had not yet been birthed. I sent a money order (I was King of the Money Orders in the 1990s) off in hopes it would pay off and of course, it did. Before the internet, people didn’t rip you off and they followed through because a record collector was a record collector was a record collector (insert eye rolling whistling emoji here).

Today, the internet destroys lives and it enhances lives (see A Tale of Two Cities) and for Stephen Jones, he can actually almost make good money on the music he makes in his bedroom by going directly to those fans who love his music. No longer relying on kind hearted collectors in Paris, France I can dial up Stephen on bandcamp, tell him what I want, send him the money through the magic of the modern world and presto chango it arrives in my mailbox! What could be simpler? For fans it is a heaven that actually exists, for musicians like Stephen it is a never ending job. Not only must he write the music, record it, produce it and mix it (maybe) he must also design the damn digipaks, put them together, buy an endless supply of CD-Rs (and in some instances actual pressed silver CDs), have plenty of packing envelopes, go to the post office, mail this stuff (and spend a fortune on postage for the entire world, because he has a generous supply of fans worldwide). For the likes of Mr Jones this is a never ending job. Remember when you wanted to be a musician? It sounded so perfect: make records, sell records, drink too much, drug to much, have too much sex and live in Heaven. But the internet giveth and the internet taketh away. Today’s musician must endlessly bust his tired exhausted imagination especially if he is a self contained industry like Stephen Jones is.

And then he has fairweather fans such as myself who don’t buy everything he puts out. And trust me, this guy never stops. He’s like a never sleeping shark, he must be glued to his social media and laptop. He sends out 40 tweets/messages a day and he must put out an album a month. In 50 years when virtually everyone reading this tumblr is dead and gone, who will tend to Stephen’s discography page? How messed up and full of errors will it become?

Good Shave is a companion album to his 1995 Bad Shave album. The songs, according to our man, come from the same grab bag from which he chose to compile Bad Shave from: all demos, all lo-fi, all composed and performed and sung by himself. No one else is reissuing these albums so Stephen might as well make his house payment and his daughter’s tuition however he can. I do not begrudge the man one thin dime. I just can’t buy everything he does. (Today I counted 303 releases on his bandcamp page! 75 rows of four albums plus one row of three albums. The man is a machine.)

Above you see the cover and the back cover. Below, check out the gatefold taken in two shots. The first shot is the left hand side of the digipak as it would appear when it is opened up. The second photo is of the inlay tray on the right sans the CD which would normally sit in said inlay tray.

The next photo is of the CD itself. Keep in mind this is a CD-R which means in about a decade or less, if it is like my Dylan bootlegs that came out on CD-R, they will stop working and I’ll have nothing left but the memory of this music. Isn’t modern life full of miracles?

I am going to be on those people who foul up poor Stephen’s discog page because he included a bonus CD with Good Shave. It is obviously not his work since the title is Not Stephen. If I recall correctly, a fan made an album of covers and sent it to Stephen who liked it so much he included it as a bonus disc here. At least I think that’s how the story goes.

Below you will find photos of the original Bad Shave album from the cover to the gatefold to the back. Remember, this once lived in Paris, France, a place I can only dream of.

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duunswitch · 1 year

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sea serpents;;

Appearance and Special Abilities

Finless with long, sinowy, scaled bodies, and vaguely dragon shaped heads, sea serpents lack limbs of any kinds and look rather like a dragon crossed with a snake, though they do have a fin on each side running down the last third of their tails. Owing to the shape of their heads, it is believed that sea serpents evolved from the earliest dragons, ones who took to the sea instead of to the mountains like the known dragons of the modern day; the two species are in fact related very very distantly in the past. Gils along the side of their face along with air breathing lungs allow sea serpents the ability to breathe both in and out of the sea; they also have long hooked fangs in the front of their mouths followed by shorter serrated teeth much like sharks.

Agile and extremely quick in water, though they do not speak human tongues they communicate among themselves with clicks and whistles reminiscent of whales and dolphins, and can breathe both air and underwater. Due to their habitat they can withstand the immense pressure of the deep, and can see with little to no light underwater.

Habitats, Behavior and Feeding

Seas and oceans, though there exists a smaller sub-species that inhabits both salt and freshwater lakes. Sea serpents live deep within the depths, hundreds of miles below the surface where there is very little light though they may sometimes surface for various reasons.

Diet-wise, they subsist mainly on larger marine species such as small whales and sharks, dolphins squid and octopi, and the larger species of fish that can be found within the depths, though they will also supplement their diet with smaller fish and marine animals, as well as plankton and shrimps in small quantities. When coming to the surface, they may also snack on smaller fish common to the area.

As they are non-sapient and not sentient, the intelligence level of sea serpents is entirely speculative, though it is believed they may be on par with dolphins and other sea mammals.

Serpents are solitary for most of the year, only coming together in large groups to migrate to their mating area once a year. They are somewhat lazy, preferring to spend their days drifting along the scope of their underwater territories except when hunting for food. As they have no natural predators (except humans, when they surface in a populated area), they are fearless though younger and therefore smaller serpents may fall prey to opportunistic predators of other species and sometimes even other, larger serpents. They can be somewhat violent and have been known to attack and sink ships though due to their laziness and rarity at the surface this is not a common occurrence.

Lifespan

Unknown. Because they live so deep underwater, they have not been available for study or records. Most serpents who die do so deep within the sea and thus are eaten by predators and scavengers. There have been cases of sea serpents washing up on shores in the past, but this is incredibly rare and usually the corpse of a young serpent who happened to be near the surface at the time of death and even their autopsy tends to be inconclusive about the age before death.

Group Hierarchy and Reproduction

N/A for most of the year as they are a solitary species, except during mating season when males fight for the right to breeding females. Females will feed on normal prey and the remains of males who may be killed during mating fights; older and therefore larger serpents may also bully younger serpents when they meet during the year but this is typically a case of the strong dominating the weak rather than any sort of real hierarchy.

Sea serpents bear live young and they are fully capable within hours of birth. They are left to fend for themselves hours after birth and seek out their own territory immediately. Some may group together during this mini-migration in search of homes, but it never lasts for very long; often they end up in-fighting instead. Young serpents typically take small areas at first, growing their territory as they age and grow big enough to defend a larger space.

#worldbuilding;; this is our moment in history

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bittybattybunny · 3 years

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What happened to the rest of Ru’s clutch? Were the other eggs just eaten or destroyed? Or does Ru possibly have a monstrous sibling still out there?

Leviathan’s don’t lay more than one or two eggs in a clutch actually!

similar to long-lived species like a whale, elephant, a Greenland shark etc they have a more lengthy gestation time/period between breeding

this is why the pups grow so fast

Doesn’t help there’s a lot of cannibalism for leviathans. they tend to eat smaller ones all the time. it’s not a fun time.

So Ru doesn’t have anyone related to him in the ocean, and even then he drifted really far south when he was taken by Marcus and the magic the moonjumper uses has kinda warped him.

If he met another leviathan he most likely wouldn’t have a good time

#ask #anon #spin off au #not art #If I'm honestly leviathan's don't normally lay eggs unless the female is in danger #they tend to do 'live' birth like a shark #but if the female is distressed or unhealthy the egg can be laid and hatched in the water

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dungeonaspects · 3 years

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Campaign Idea: The Crusade

"The filth of this earth shall be crushed beneath my heel, ground into the dirt where it belongs. I shall cleanse this world in blood, each drop as putrid as the last"

The History

When the Queen gave birth to an aasimar daughter the kingdom was shaken, would they support the king who called infidelity? Or would they choose the child blessed by the angels?

This decision did not take long as the trial of the Queen began the court shook, the windows shattered, and the voice boomed.

"You have no sovereignty here tainted mortal, the blessed child and mother shall cleanse this world. You are nothing." The light intensified, the King shuddered and began to scream. A black taint crawled over his skin and dug into his eyes, any who watched could see each sin he had committed burrow into his flesh.

The corpse was buried in an unmarked grave, the church refusing to allow him on hallowed ground.

So the child was raised as a saviour, the Queen taking hold and driving the whole kingdom into a religious fervour. Decades passed under her, any wrongdoers forced into servitude or slain for their (sometimes petty) crimes. A dictatorship bent on bringing Law and purity to the masses.

Now the child has grown, a culture of fear and adoration centred around her. She is the right hand of the aasimon, the leader of the immutable church, the saviour of all, and the slayer of corruption.

The world shall bend or break under her reign, long live the Empress.

The Hook

I think you can guess where this is heading. The Empress now leads an army of LG obsessed crusaders who will cut down any man, woman, or child who is tainted. A whole generation has been raised to be perfect religious warriors ready to die for the cause with no fear, able to withstand any torture for their saviour.

The Holy Empire has marched on a trade hub city-state, easily crushing it for the supposed "sin" that its practices yield. This also coincides with being able to distribute propaganda far and wide and regulate (confiscate) any goods that come through. Taxes are high and will be paid under pain of death for treason, any law broken your life is forfeit, and any attempting to leave are simply sinners trying to escape justice.

The Holy Empire shall march again now that it has consolidated its power, the surrounding countries too fearful of the repercussions should they intervene. Resistances have popped up and militia have mobilised, yet they are small groups of disorganised people doing little more than making trouble or being slain in the name of the Divine War.

Will your party be able to stop the world being overrun by fanatical psychopaths willing to kill a child for stealing bread to survive?

Some Ideas

I feel like this is a somewhat predictable story, a demonstration of how extremes can be terrible even with good intentions. Yet depending on how you set things up and describe the world there is the question of, "Could this be better once the war ended?".

The Holy Empire's people are safe and happy (if brainwashed), the fields are well tended, each person fed, there are no homeless or unemployed. There are no loan sharks controlling small families into destitution, no mafia trying to muscle in on towns, not even drugs turning the vulnerable into mindless zombies in alleyways.

Ultimately I believe expression is more important, but your party members may disagree, a rogue brought up in an abusive orphanage, a half-orc treated like a sideshow, even a cleric unable to heal the sick because they did not pay the gold required. The narrative is up to you, let them come to their own conclusions and use personalised encounters to challenge those beliefs.

As for the Empress it's up to you, the Queen can still be alive, whispering words into her daughters ear. She could also be a puppet of the church, the divine event at the trial simply being the church working together to create a Theocracy.

The war ends either when the Empress dies or the war is won, yet after there will be splinter groups, fanatics, even those that had been occupied brought round to this way of living. You will need allies to take down this monster, and those that greatly oppose the LG warriors may not be good at all.

Art by Yang J

She looks amazing, the regal stance and expression, the angelic details being intimidating rather than gentle cherubian style. She will cleanse you in fire and scatter the ashes. I love her clothes and the sword is beautiful. Thank you.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k4Wz1z

#d&d #character design #dnd stuff #dungeons and dragons #character concept #tabletop #rpg #Plot hook #Hook #Quest #campaign idea #campaign design #Lore #lawful good #Lawful #Good #Crusade #War #Holy war

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