#wren's warbles

[witchofwolfwood]

Sometimes, I think I am a wolf

A ghost that moves through the forest

Clear pawprints on snow

Bonds stretched unbreakable to the pack around me

Blood alive, singing, I am here, I know what I am meant to be

Then I remember

I am a half feral dog

Chained in the backyard

The metal bites into my neck

If I could I would chew myself free

Maybe I will try anyways

The hands that feed are the hands that beat

I am not like the tamed, toothless creatures around me and they know it

Do I not want what they have?

A gentle touch, a treat from the plate

I scream - we could be free together, a true pack

But they do not hear the call as I do

It is a terrible thing, to know others and yet be alone

I am not the only one of my kind

Creatures of matted fur and snapping jaws

Maybe there I can find true connection

But they are all focused on their own chains

They cannot spare a thought for mine

They say to save yourself first but we cannot save anybody

I am a wild thing in a tame body

Craving human connection but shying away in the same breath

Sometimes, I want those reaching hands to come close

But at the last instant I cannot help the baring of teeth

The desire to bite and rip and tear until they never touch me again

Maybe it isn't the chains binding me, but the fear

I have been away from the wild too long

Would I still belong if I went back?

Would my heart still sing with the joy of being alive?

Would the trees recognise me, changed as I am?

I wonder who I am without the anger

I don't know if there's anything left for me there.

I am a half feral dog

Straining against the chains to get to that faraway land of anywhere-but-here

Looking for a pack I cannot be sure exists

Blood on my teeth, anger flooding ny veins

I think the anger is all that is left

You can steal the wolf from the wild, but you can't beat the wild out of the wolf.

#wren's warbles #poetry #dog motif #wolves #poems and quotes #werewolfisms #queer poetry

[when-pigsfly]

writing is so so. so so hard sometimes.

like, what do you MEAN I “can’t use ‘laser-sharp’ because lasers didn’t exist in the 1890’s.”

FUCK YOU!

#witching hour #ao3 #this is sickening #red dead redemption 2 #writers on tumblr #☆ wren warbles

[starlit-cervidae]

How are people able to upload sketches daily? I genuinely wish I could do that but I struggle hardcore to focus on anything for more than 5 or 10 minutes and get anything substantial done

#wren warbles #fuck it thats the talking tag now lmao #if you see this and have any tips #please let me know #My adhd and autism refuses to just. sit and draw sometimes even when i want to

[ragnarokhound]

Don’t have any questions. Just wanted to say that I love your fics a lot! Thanks for blessing the jaytim tag with your giant brain!!

I've been hoarding this ask in my inbox because I keep looking at it and crying from happiness djncjdjd THANK YOU this means so much to me ;O; I love jaytim, and more than anything I love the people I've met through it who are so encouraging and so kind!! That's what fandom is ABOUT, BABY

Thank you for reading my goofy stories about these two goofy guys!! I'm so happy!!!

#OTL MAKING ME CRY DUDE #asked and answered #jaytim my beloved #a-warbling-wren

[voidmoth-slut]

the wren is under my window. i love you wren. ouh!! she found a bug 🥺. i love you so much wren. enjoy your bug.

#flew away #bye wren <3 #my warbles

[dreadful-windandrain]

I sang the second verse of the DDLC song "Just Monika" today and it sounded okay, so here it is. Please don't reblog but likes and comments are okay!

#this might be the one time my desire to share myself beats my desire for anonymity #ren's warbles #<- get it like the bird wren? lmao i think i'm funny

[cherokeeghostwriter]

wren

songs of a sudden  warbling from the window.  a clarion call ascending -descending.  left to wonder,  what the wren wants. 

maybe a composition before dawn,  or a question of some import. a declarations trill, delivered in earnest, yet indecipherable -unburdened  into the patient arms of morning.

#poem #poetry #i have a wren for company this morning

[kalevalakryze]

I Don't Need A Jedi, I Need You

Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Ahsoka Pairings: Shin Hati/ Sabine Wren,  Characters: Shin Hati, Sabine Wren, Ahsoka Tano, Baylan Skoll Warnings: Abandonment, Revenge, Rage, Violence, The Dark Side Of The Force, Healing, Force Bond, Blood and Violence Notes: For Whumptober Day  10  This is going to be small, but def something I plan on delving into more Prompt: No. 10: “You said you'd never leave.” Word Count: 3,174 AO3 Link: Here!

They found him three weeks after Shin had been cleared to get up and start moving. Three weeks after she started the journey of rebuilding muscle and herself. Ahsoka and Sabine left her alone, for the most part. The Togruta’s cloak hadn’t left Shin’s shoulders since that first night, waking with it draped around her shoulders. 

Her tunic had been ruined with blood and holes that even she could not repair, so the Jedi’s cloak became all she had to cover her modesty, though Sabine had helped her repair the straps of her bra. The pants she’d been given upon her reluctant rescue were tied to her waist, double knotted to prevent the article from sliding off. Her pauldrons not longer shined where they sat strapped to her shoulders beneath the cloak, smeared with blood (an unfortunate amount her own), with a thin layer of ripped fabric separating metal and skin. 

Shin’s gloves and pauldrons stopped just before her elbows, bare skin and muscle just barely covered by Ahsoka’s cloak where it sat when her arms were down. Sabine helped give her a proper haircut, though there was nothing that could be done to force the brown from their head, leaving the only blonde in her hair for the frayed Padawan brain that settled over her right collarbone, dirty green beads untouched from where they were intricately woven the last time Baylan had helped them dye their hair. 

When they found Baylan, Shin had only found out through Huyang receiving his comm as droid and apprentice worked on fixing her saber, the charge pack wouldn’t hold and the crystal inside was reluctant; like Shin closing herself off from the force and from the kyber had harmed it. Huyang had spent days working with Shin to work with the blade, to reach back into the pool of the force no matter how much it hurt to reconnect.

It had been impossible, up until this point. The blade kept coming out warbly and unstable, before sparking back into its emitter and threatening to spark through the Apprentice’s hands. Huyang hadn’t even had the time to turn towards Shin, to warn that he knew their thoughts, order them to stay behind. She was gone in seconds, leaving only the tail of Ahsoka’s cloak whipping in the wind as she whistled for her Howler. 

Shin rode hard and fast across the Peridean wastes. The Nomads that had allied with the ‘Rebels’ had done what Shin’s own bandits could not; They found Baylan Sköll, and she would be damned if she let him get away. 

“We need not be at odds.” He was trying to worm his way out of the circle the Nomads had him trapped in, trying to talk his way out in an illusion of peace. Shin slipped from the Howler’s back, boots thudding in the dirt as she breezed closer, shoving past an armored being. Baylan was facing away from her, but she could see the way his shoulders tensed.

“You were supposed to return with the Imperial fleet,” His chin rose, yet he still did not look at her, igniting the anger that sat dormand in her veins. 

“I was supposed to die.” They snarled, venom in their tone as their hand wrapped around the hilt of their saber. The crystal resonated with her anger, with the hurt she knew was pouring off in waves, knew her Master could feel it too, the danger of the person he’d created. “I was supposed to die when Thrawn realized you were gone.” 

Baylan’s head turned until Shin could see the hard line of his lips. “You turned against me.” They snarled, finger hovering over the ignition of their saber. Anger flooded their mind, they could strike him down right here, prove that they could choose for themselves, choose this desire for revenge over it all. 

“Only a Sith deals in these absolutes, Shin. We are not Sith,” He sounded tired, like a father explaining to his child that the park was closed and they could not go play until another day.

“I am what you made me!” When their saber ignited, the orange of her saber was bled out, barely visible behind the tangible reality of the pain Shin had been carrying. “This is the end for you, my Master.” 

Near red arced through the air towards Baylan’s head, he’d seemed to be in acceptance of his fate, Shin could finally be free of this pain. She could finally let the past die, she just had to kill it, and maybe then she would be able to breathe again.

A pillar of pink energy stopped her blade, Sabine Wren placing herself between Shin and Baylan, supporting her saber against a beskar gauntlet. “Shin, you need to stop,” The Mandalorian was out of breath, like she’d ran the whole way here, or had worked herself up at the thought of what she knew Shin would do.

“This isn’t you,” Sabine pleaded, trying to get yellowed eyes to look at her, to turn their murderous intent away from the man at her back. 

“You don’t know me,” Shin snarled, teeth bared. Her muscles were still weak, arms shaking as she pushed against Sabine’s saber, moving one foot forwards to attempt to bring her down like they had on Lothal. 

When the connection broke, Shin sidestepped, avoiding interlocking blades with Sabine again; She wasn’t their objective. If the Mandalorian wanted to stop her, then she would have to take Shin’s like. 

Baylan’s gaze was somber, yet he did not probe the bond he once had with the apprentice, did not offer a vocal apology; He felt he knew how this story would play out, that if Shin would commit themselves to killing him, then it was their destiny. “You promised!” Shin hissed, emotion closing at her throat as she swung her blade. Sabine’s use of the force was growing, enough to prevent the blade from doing much else to singe her Master’s robes. 

Throwing her saber to the ground, Shin decided she wanted to feel the life leave his body. He abandoned her, Thrawn left her to die, and the Force was nowhere when she needed it most. She would not kill him as his apprentice, but as the daughter he raised, as the bandit and the monster he’d crafted. 

Her fist cracked against his jaw with a snap of his head to the side. Her second hit went into the unarmored section of his gut, knuckles cracking over his liver and sending him doubling over. The armor at her knee rang when she brought it up to smash into his chin, his blood flying from his mouth in spittle as teeth cracked under the pressure. 

Shin followed him to the ground, knee pressing into his abdomen as her hands secured themselves around his throat. His hands pressed into her wrists, but the armor stopped him from being able to do anything. “You promised me, Master.” A fat tear dropped onto his cheek as Shin’s face reddened. ‘What did I do wrong?”

A large hand settled against Shin’s shoulder as Baylan’s face turned purple. “You need to let him go, Shin,” Ahsoka’s voice washed over her, urging her grip to loosen. Baylan’s breath rushed past his lips in a choked rasp. 

“No.” They vehemently declined like a petulant child. She wanted it to stop hurting- she needed it to stop hurting so bad. She could feel the stubble of rough hair against her fingertips in the holes of her gloves, could feel the warmth of his skin like a beacon of his life, life that she needed to take away. “He deserves it,” 

“Perhaps,” Ahsoka agreed, kneeling in the dirt beside Shin. “But you don’t want to be the one to do this.” The hand on her shoulder was an anchor, as was the warm thumb that pressed past the thick material of her cloak, rising goosebumps to sweat damp skin. “You don’t know that,” They argued, even as they felt the fight abandon them too. “You can’t know that.” 

“But I do, Shin.” Their eyes were still yellow, overpowering the pools of blue and silver, with dark veins spreading across pale skin, but Ahsoka could see that glimmer of hope, that promise that Shin was still good. “You’re in an unimaginable spot right now. And try as I may, I cannot make this decision for you. You have to decide for yourself.”

Ahsoka’s hand begun to raise from her shoulder, willing to leave Baylan’s fate up to the turmoiled blonde. Two hands wrapped around her wrist, keeping her hand in place; the choice was made. 

“Come on,” Ahsoka guided them up, off of Baylan, guiding their sorrowed eyes away from his broken face. They turned back at him one last time. “You said you'd never leave.”  Sabine was picking their saber from the ground, though instead of offering it back to the Apprentice, the weapon was handed to Ahsoka. Shin did not argue as the Togruta clipped it to her belt; wanted nothing to do with the near red blade, the reminder of how much she was failing in all of her teachings. 

Ahsoka walked with Shin all the way to the shuttle, where she dropped bonelessly into a seat in the cockpit, hands in her lap, staring at the flashes of scarred, pale skin that poked through the holes in her gloves. Their fingers clenched and unclenched; Baylan deserved to die, he promised he’d never leave, promised he would always be there, and yet… He left, he left her alone on a planet far from home, on a mission she did not agree with. 

Now she was stranded on the graveyard planet, housed by the enemy, and abandoning all of the teachings she had once been so eager to learn..

Ahsoka settled into the seat across from her much more gracefully. Her hand reached out once more to touch the cool skin just above their gauntlet, bringing their focus back up. “You did good, Shin,” Ahsoka praised, fingertips grazing tensing muscle, easing the stiffness. 

“I was going to kill him,” They argued, though their voice held no fire, their accent thicker than could translate to basic, words slurring as she reverted to a language that had been dead to her for so long. “I wanted to kill him… I want-”

“But you didn’t, because that isn’t who you are.” “Why is everyone so intent on telling me who I am?” They seethed, leather gloves creaking as their hands flexed in anger. 

“Because you need the reminder that you are more than you’re seeing yourself as, right now.” Ahsoka pulled Shin’s saber from her hip, holding it into the chasm between them. Shin stared at the weapon sourly, as if it could be at fault for her pain. “Take your kyber,”

With a sigh, Shin reached for the saber, though it was pulled away before her fingertips could brush cold metal. “With the force, Kurs’kaded.” Sabine spoke up, alerting the Apprentice to her presence, leaning in the open doorway; she hadn’t heard the Mandalorian come in, the force hadn’t given her the brush of whatever it was she’d grown used to with Sabine’s presence. 

“I don’t need the force, and I don’t need you.” They snapped, rising to their feet harshly. She turned away from her saber and faced the door, staring past the faded paint on Sabine’s pauldron as they started for the door. “I can’t let you go,” Sabine’s hand reached out, pressing on Shin’s shoulder, barring her from the exit. “Not like this,”

“It’s none of your concern,” Shin had growled, fingers wrapped around Sabine’s elbow, rearing to flip their positions, to fight her way out if not for the burn of muscle, than for the promise if she got too far, they would kill her.

“What if you don’t come back, Shin?” Sabine wasn’t looking at her, golden eyes focused on the ragged scars from the blade that had ripped her open, had brought her to them after months of isolation from everything. This was enough to give Shin pause, to stop pressing against Sabine’s hand, and to watch as The Mandalorian’s hand shook where it parted Ahsoka’s cloak further across her bare abdomen.

Her fingertips were cool against inflamed scar tissue, still in the painful process of healing without the aid of bacta or any real medical supplies over the alcohol created by the Noti to help keep it sterilized. Shin swallowed thick in her throat. She could feel the Togruta’s eyes on her back, but the glide of Sabine’s fingers along her scar and the way the Mandalorian’s hand pressed against the plate of armor over her abdomen, where Shin knew her own scar sat healed under all the layers.

“What if you leave, and we can’t get to you in time?” There was a vulnerability to Sabine’s voice, a hurt that Shin found she did not like being the cause of on her face. “What if you come back wrong?” 

“Careful, Mandalorian; Someone might start to think you care.” Their voice was raspy, cracking with unidentified emotion as their hand finally dropped from Sabine’s elbow. 

“Seriously?” Sabine scoffed, the jab of her finger into their stomach had them yipping in surprise, stepping back, away from the shock of pain. “All this and you didn’t figure that one out? Are you a di’kut?” The next time Sabine touched her, it was with the palm of her hand into their shoulder, forcing them back into the chair. 

Shin’s head turned to pass a helpless look towards the amused Jedi Master as Sabine’s fingers gripped at her jaw, forcing them to look her in the eye. “Of course I fucking care. I’ve cared since you stabbed me, I’ve cared since Seatos, I’ve always fucking cared.” 

Shin’s gaze was fixed on Sabine’s narrowed eyes, on the twitch of muscle under the collar of her flight suit, and on the smooth furrow of her brows. 

She’s beautiful…

Ahsoka stood and brushed past Sabine; The Apprentice watched in her peripherals as their saber hilt was clasped to Sabine’s belt, before the Jedi was sweeping from the cockpit with the door swooshing shut behind her.

The moment the door shut, Sabine’s lips were pressing against theirs, urging their eyes to close and their hands to move back to the Mandalorian’s elbows as she leaned onto the arm rests of the cockpit’s chair. 

Shin’s heart thudded against her chest, with each thump entwined with the glide of Sabine’s tongue across her lips, the anger faded, the hurt eased, finally offering the sought after reprieve from the hurt. 

Sabine pulled back, breathing hard as their eyes blinked open. “I care, and I’m not leaving.” She whispered in their shared air, hand raising to brush against their cheekbone before she was leaning back, dropping into the chair Ahsoka had once occupied.

“Now take your saber back; we’ll fix it together,” 

Begrudgingly, Shin sighed and raised her hands. Opening back up to the force after months of trying didn’t go as she’d prepared herself. For the first time since Seatos, it felt like coming home again, as she felt the life spark back into her being, reclaiming her space in the cosmic flow of life, interweaving her story back in the threads of the universe. It was overwhelming and it hurt, until she felt the warmth of someone pressing forward with her, someone whose fate was  so so intricately woven with her own existence. When silver eyes opened, Shin caught the look of concentration on Sabine’s face, and the crack of a smile on her lips when her eyes opened and caught Shin staring. 

It took some work to figure out the flow between them, as Shin’s saber was brought to hover between them, pieces unfolded from each other as they slowly worked to expose the wounded Kyber. She’d bled it a lot, had made her crystal hurt the way Baylan had made her hurt, and it was evident in the darkness and the blood of the force threatening to overshadow the orange, but… it wasn’t too late. 

Shin had many dreams healing from her wounds, months back, but in her fever, she could recall the feeling of Ahsoka’s hands brushing through her hair, of delicate fingers smoothing the rough edges of her braid, and the promise of “It’s never too late.” Passed between the silence, a promise that they hadn’t been able to understand.

Now though, with Sabine’s form rising from her seat, Shin watched as the woman’s fingers brushed against her Kyber, the pad of her thumb trailing along the ridge from where she’d snapped it from the peak on Ilum herself. “It’s okay,” Sabine promised, gently; Shin could feel it, could feel her words and her touch as if her and the Kyber were of the same entity, as if, in the red that Sabine was urging away from the crystal, she was easing the darkened blood from her own presence in the force.

Shaking her head, Shin rose, trapping the Kyber between their hands as they interlocked their fingers with Sabine’s. The Mandalorian glanced at her once, before her eyes shut. Her forehead pressed against their joined hands. Shifting their weight between their feet, Shin’s head bowed, fingers squeezing against Sabine’s. “I am one with the force…”

“And the force is with me,” 

When they separated, there was no red to be found in the glowing Kyber, a bright, vivid orange, paler than she’d seen but still bearing the unique coloring, floated between them peacefully, held up by the combined force of both apprentice and padawan. 

“I know you,” Sabine promised, as they worked to reassemble the saber together. “Forever. You hear me?” She grabbed the saber from its stasis, pressing it into Shin’s waiting palm. “You can stab me, you can call me names, and you can walk away right now, but don’t you dare forget; I know you, and I care.” 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Shin promised, closing the distance and hesitantly moving to rest her forehead against the feisty Mandalorian. 

Sabine’s arms circled their neck, noses bumping together as she leaned up on her toes, fingers carding through the short, scruffy hair on the back of their head. “Better… say it again,” 

Rolling their eyes, Shin pressed forward to shut her up, pressing their lips together with little fanfare, hands moving to rest on Sabine’s sides, thumb pressing into the space between beskar and flightsuit to brush against the fabric over her scar. 

Baylan Skoll would go on to become their prisoner, but Shin would not give him the glory of a reaction, or a response when, the next time they visited, her padawan braid was gone, cut with care by the Togruta who held out her hand in kindness when he had left. 

She wasn’t a Jedi and she wasn’t a sith; She was just Shin Hati, and Sabine was just Sabine; together and individually, they were both Enough, and that was good enough.

#whumptober 2023 #no.10 #“You said you'd never leave.” #Star Wars #Ahsoka Series #fanfiction #blood tw #violence tw #dark side tw #corruption tw #revenge tw #abandonment tw #insecurity tw #wolfwren #sabine wren #shin hati #shinbine #wrenwolf #sabine wren x shin hati #shin x sabine #ahsoka #ahsoka spoilers #ahsoka tano #sabine x shin #baylan skoll #i love him but i'm angry at him #LET THEM HEAL #also let sabine wren have a pink lightsaber #shin hati needs a hug #shin hati gets a hug

[magnetothemagnificent]

I guess it's time I share my list of birds from this past Jewish year (I've been keeping two Big Year lists, Jewish year and secular year). All are from the US, except the last few which are indicated.

1. Ruby-crowned kinglet

2. American Robin

* Leucistic American Robin

3. Song sparrow

4. Rock pigeon

* Melanistic rock pigeon

5. Chipping sparrow

6. Hairy woodpecker

7. Mourning dove

8. Northern flicker

9. Eastern towhee

10. White crowned sparrow

11. White-throated sparrow

12 Savannah sparrow

13. House sparrow

14. European starling

15. American Crow

16. Common Raven

17. Gray catbird

18. Northern mockingbird

19. Canada Goose

20. Spotted Sandpiper

21. American herring gull

22. Marsh wren

23. Limpkin

24. Great white heron

25. Cattle egret

26. Anhinga

27. Snowy egret

28. Great blue heron

29. Black-crowned night heron

30. Wood stork

31. Common gallinule

32. Blue-gray gnatcatcher

33. Turkey vulture

34. Black vulture

35. Yellow rumped warbler

36. Tufted titmouse

37. Little blue heron

38. White ibis

39. Cooper's hawk

40. Cardinal

41. Green heron

42. Carolina wren

43. Palm warbler

44. Pine warbler

45. Sandhill crane

46. Carolina chickadee

47. Bluejay

48. Osprey

49. Chimney swift

50. Red-tailed hawk

51. Prairie warbler

52. American kestrel

53. Glossy ibis

54. Pied-billed grebe

55. Double-crested cormorant

56. Grey kingbird

57. Brown pelican

58. Fish crow

59. Royal tern

60. Bald eagle

61. Painted bunting

62. American white pelican

63. Common grackle

64. Boat-tailed grackle

65. Great-tailed grackle

66. American purple gallinule

67. American coot

68. Brown-headed cowbird

69. Tricolored heron

70. Mallard

71. Black-bellied whistling duck

72. Eastern kingbird

73. Yellow-billed cuckoo

74. Muscovy duck

75. American bittern

76. Ring-billed gull

77. American Pekin

78. Mallard-Pekin hybrid

79. Eastern bluebird

80. Yellow-bellied sapsucker

81. Red-winged blackbird

82. White-eyed vireo

83. Mottled duck

84. Broad-winged hawk

85. Dark-eyed junco

86. Brown thrasher

87. Sharp-shinned hawk

88. House finch

89. Eastern Phoebe

90. Downy woodpecker

91. Fox sparrow

92. Loggerhead Shrike!!!!

93. White breasted nuthatch

94. Red-bellied woodpecker

95. Brown creeper

96. Pileated woodpecker

97. American goldfinch

98. House wren

99. Barn swallow

100. Tree swallow

101. Black and white warbler

102. Red eyed vireo

103. Yellow warbler

104. Mute swan

105. Rusty blackbird

106. Common yellowthroat

107. Warbling vireo

108. Northern waterthrush

109. Veery

110. Swamp sparrow

111. Wood duck

112. American redstart

113. Orchard oriole

114. Greater Yellowlegs

115. Lesser Yellowlegs

116. Baltimore oriole

117. Hermit thrush

118. Wood thrush

119. Ovenbird

120. Indigo bunting

121. Black-throated blue warbler

122. Scarlet tanager

123. Worm-eating warbler

124. Northern rough-winged swallow

125. Blue-headed vireo

126. Northern parula

127. Prothonotary warbler

128. Philadelphia vireo

129. Blackburnian warbler

130. Magnolia warbler

131. Cedar waxwing

132. Blackpoll warbler

133. Yellow-throated vireo

134. Eastern wood pewee

135. Acadian flycatcher

136. Tennessee warbler

137. Caspian tern

138. Laughing gull

139. Forster's tern

140. American oystercatcher

141. Green-winged teal

142. Purple Martin

143. Least tern

144. Field sparrow

145. Killdeer

146. Grey-cheeked thrush

147. Rose-breasted grosbeak

148. Great-crested flycatcher

149. Swainson's thrush

150. Bay-breasted warbler

151. Chestnut-sided warbler

152. Willow flycatcher

153. Ruby-throated hummingbird

154. Peregrine falcon

155. Hooded crow IL

156. Laughing dove IL

157. Eurasian collared dove IL

158. Eurasian jackdaw IL

159. Common myna IL

160. Rose-ringed parakeet IL

161. White spectacled bulbul IL

162. European bee eater IL

163. Chukar IL

164. Short toed snake eagle IL

165. White stork IL

166. Little egret IL

167. Pygmy cormorant IL

168. Eurasian hoopoe IL

169. Alpine swift IL

170. Graceful pinia IL

171. Eastern Olivaceous Warbler IL

172. Tristan's Starling IL

173. Fan tailed raven IL

174. Eurasian black cap IL

Here's to at least 200 next year!

#birding #birds #big year

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Imagine...

An 🪶Avian AU

Yes! An Avian AU! Where instead of being mutants, the X-Men, Brotherhood, and their friends and foes (who are mutants) are part bird!

Now, we have different bird wings, bird talents, and bird talons for each different type of mutant. For the feral/beastly mutants, we have larger birds of prey. For the psychics, telepaths, and generally smart/ingenious/creative mutants, we have the likes of parrots, parakeets, and budgies. For faster/coordinated mutants, we have things like the falcon birds of prey, or the likes of hummingbirds. Witch/sorcerer-like mutants are more akin to the likes of ospreys and large waterbirds, such as cranes, storks, and herons. Mutants with abilities like fire, energy, sparklers, ice, and the like fall into the songbird/woodland bird categories, ranging from wrens to crows to bluejays to cardinals. There are so many options, and there are just as many for the reader.

In the 🪶Avian AU, they tend to call their groups/family "flock". Younger avians are referred to as "hatchlings", "fledglings", "nestlings", and "chicks". Different species may use their respective bird species to refer to others, such as calling a young eagle avian "eaglet" or a young swan avian a "cygnet". Adults are very protective of their young, and will die trying to protect their flock from danger. Their territory is fiercely guarded and secured, unwanted intruders being scared off, or hostile ones killed. Nests are built in large rooms that are deemed secure, and are filled with whatever is comfortable/comforting, like blankets, sweaters, plushies, and feathers, and are usually large enough for the entire group. Adults can end up in a more primal mindset when too stressed or threatened, where they keep any younger members in the nest and attack any deemed threats. The same can happen with younger avians, who will go into a state of mind of where they seek comfort and hide from deemed threats. When in these states, both adults and younger members become extremely broody and cuddly towards whomever they deem safe/in need of help.

Different avians eat different things. Some eat fruit, some eat meat, some eat seeds and nuts, others eat fish and crabs. Some have been known to eat carrion, or even humans, if nothing else is available... Avians can mix up their diet, but tend to stick with what they know. Many are known to preen feathers, similar to actual birds, and can do it for each other if wanted or needed. Sharpening of talons can also take place for those who have them. Most avians' eyesight is better than humans, but some have been known to have poor eyesight or none at all.

Avians have been hunted down in the past for their feathers, and for them supposedly bringing luck to whomever can catch one. It was also known that if you caught one, they would likely kill you at the first chance. Avians can hold a grudge, and are not above doing what it takes for their survival, or their species' survival. It was considered much safer by humans to collect avian feathers rather than actual avians. Different feathers meant different things, and many rich and influential humans would have cloaks or fans made out of the collected feathers. Avians can speak the human languages, but also have their own language, comprised of chirps, clicks, caws, hoots, screeches, tweets, and warbles, a language that only a few humans have ever been able to translate.

Flying is important to avians. That is the highest freedom they have, and to take away their wings is considered a mortal sin, an act punishable by death. There are tales in different regions of foolish humans who injured young avians, hoping to take home a trophy, only to be met by their parent or flock, who would then tear them apart. Other tales speak of trying to take one for a romantic partner... those end just as worse, with endings ranging from the avian's original romantic partner slaying the human, their flock destroying the human village, or the captured avian themself ripping through their captor in a feat of rage. Avian folklore is filled with its own mythological figures, like the Cunning Owl, Wise Crow, Loving Dove, and Immortal Phoenix. They also take great pride in their abilities, whether it be fast flight, heightened senses, sharp talons, clever wit, or impeccable beauty.

With a bby, the platonic yans would all go a little "coo-coo". They don't care if their bby isn't quite the same type of avian as them, or how old or young they are. Once they've set their sights on them, they're fixated. They don't want anything to happen to them, and it drives them so close to slipping into their instincts whenever they leave, but, they'll struggle to remain normal. They don't want to scare them off. But, they don't think they can fight it for much longer...

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #yandere platonic marvel #platonic yandere marvel x reader #platonic yandere xmen #yandere x-men #platonic yandere #platonic yandere x reader #🪶Avian AU

[pickerelstripe]

[CM] Birds - Biyaw 2

Our final bird post! At least until I inevitably find some Maine birding guide that introduces a new species, haha. Today’s the second half of the biyaw* list, birds that are common and easily hunted. 

Below are translations for sparrows, vireos, and a whole lot more.

Northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) - Chochocho Streaky brown-and-cream bird. Present in summer and fall. Feed on insects, snails, fish, and salamanders. Known for foraging along watersides in the bog.

Wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) - Wupwiurr Brown-and-white thrush with a spotted chest and belly. Present in summer. Feed on insects and berries.

Veery (Catharus fuscescens) - Veerr Brown-and-white thrush, similar to a wood thrush but unspotted. Present in summer. Feed on insects and berries. 

Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Hipchee Brownish sparrow with heavy streaking and red stripes on the head. Present year-round. Feed mostly on insects and seeds. 

Swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) - Sees Brown sparrow with an unpatterned belly. Present year-round but most abundant in spring, summer, and fall. Feed mostly on insects. 

White-eyed vireo (Vireo griseus) - Pikchikawee Gray-and-yellow vireo with white eyes. Present sparingly in summer and fall. Feed on insects and berries. The word pikchikawee is derived from a mnemonic I saw for white-eyed vireo calls!

Yellow-throated vireo (Vireo flavifrons) - Ee’earp Mostly gray bird with a yellow-olive head and white underparts. Present sparingly in summer. Feed on insects, fruit, and seeds.

Warbling vireo (Vireo gilvus) - Wiuwiu Dull gray bird with a slightly lighter belly. Present in summer and early fall. Feed mostly on insects, but eat berries as well.

Blue-headed vireo (Vireo solitarius) - Wee’rip White-and-olive bird with a blue-gray head and white eye rings. Present in summer and fall. Feed on insects and small fruit.

Marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris) - Pich Little chocolate-brown bird with a distinct body shape, often seen perched while bobbing its tail. Present year-round but most abundant in summer. Feed mostly on insects.

Alder flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum) - Rebeer Grayish-brown and white flycatcher with a small head crest. Present in summer. Feed on insects - can be seen flycatching, darting off a branch to catch bugs mid-air! 

Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) - Weebee Small flycatcher with a dark brownish-gray back and white underparts. Present year-round but most abundant in summer and fall. Feed on insects and berries.

Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) - Wikbwip Small heron with brown-and-cream streaking and a long striped beak. Present in spring and summer, sometimes seen in fall. Feed on fish, frogs, insects, and other aquatic life. Bitterns have some unique nicknames - my favorite is “mire-drum”.

#claymew #birds #biyaw

[witchofwolfwood]

I love you transformation through destruction, I love you grief turned into rage, I love you self fulfilling prophecies and fate nipping at your heels, I love every chaotic and ugly emotion that defines the human experience and I love the flames that clear the forest so new shoots can grow and I love my patron

#wren's warbles #oh there's a funky mood tonight guys #pagan #rokkatru #norse rokkatru #fenrir deity #fenrir devotee #fenrisulfr devotee

[when-pigsfly]

at what point in time do we stop laughing at the sound of metal pipes falling

#☆ wren warbles

[stopthatmyhandsaredirty]

Star Ware Rebels Bechdel Test Rewatch- 3x07 ‘Imperial Supercommandos’

Plot

When the rebels lose contact with Concord Dawn, Sabine, Ezra, Chopper, and Mandalorian prisoner Fenn Rau investigate. They find an unexpected, deadly new threat waiting.

Female Characters: 2

Hera Syndulla Sabine Wren

Male Characters: 6

Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios, Fenn Rau, Gar Saxon, Jun Sato

Droid Characters: 1

Chopper

Does it pass?

Yes, but it’s literally the bare minimum. In the opening briefing scene, Hera tells Sabine to take Rau, Ezra, and Chopper to Concord Dawn for a reconnoissance mission...and reminds her not to wreck the newly found Phantom II. Sabine replies “Understood.” So....technically that’s a pass! 

This isn’t the best episode, but I’ve always had a soft spot for it. I just find the whole jetpack canyon chase sequence very charming. I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a Sabine/Ezra shipper but this episode makes me root for it a little. Ezra falling onto Chopper and then replying to his warbles with “I know it was an accident!” gets me every time. 

Sabine’s backstory is given to us like bread crumbs but we get a few morsels in this one. We learn her family is “loyal” to the Empire but likely because they have no choice. Fenn Rau is an interesting character but I don’t feel like Rebels ever used him to his full potential. I think he could have been an early death in Season 4 to help raise some stakes. 

Saxon is a formidable villain.... I always think he plays a bigger role in the series but this is only one of his two appearances. 

#star wars rebels #rebels #rebels rewatch #sabine wren #hera syndulla #mandalore #women of star wars #swrebels #sw rebels #bechdel test #star wars women #fenn rau

[aridlands-apologist]

Please and thank you: tell me something about the desert, I’ve never met one, but would like to. Something big or small, just something lovely?

in the sonoran desert, when it rains during the monsoon, the desert petrichor mingles with the exudates of the creosote/chaparral and makes the most incredible scent. i smelled in when i visited in 2021 and it made me cry instantly

in phoenix, the introduced mediterranean gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) has become incredibly common, and most of my childhood lizard memories are either of encounters with them, or with the tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus). the geckos are really hidey and stay in the shadows and come out at night (you'll see them a lot around lamps eating the attracted insects), but the tree lizards are showy, and they love to dash around on cinderblock walls and soak up the sun, and do pushups at other tree lizards (males have a bright blue patch on their throat). until recently tree lizards were classified as part of a larger Iguanidae family, but were recently re-classified into the Phrynosomatidae family, which also includes the horned lizards* and spiny lizards, and you can see the relation between them in the shape of the top of their skull around the parietal eye. also i just found out that the oldest known member of this family, excavated in Mongolia, has been named Desertiguana, not to be confused with the desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) which is found in the sonoran desert (& bordering deserts) another incredible thing about the desert are tadpole shrimp (Triops) and spadefoot toads (genus Spea and Scaphiopus). during the monsoon these'll pop out of the dust and spend the next week or so fucking in the very temporary pools, and lay their eggs. the shrimp eggs will not hatch (and iirc need to be dried out before they will hatch) and will settle into swiftly drying mud. the spadefeet eggs will hatch and then mature incredibly swiftly, and the little toads will dig into the drying dirt and cover themselves with a membrane that will keep them moist until the next rains come.

also the sonoran desert at sunrise is just incredible, visually, and also aurally. all of the many many species of bird found in the desert sending out their symphonic cacophany into the morning. warbling cactus wren, whistling thrasher's and creaking grackles and the little cheep of the verdin (a little green-grey bird with a bright yellow head that's often found on the palo verde, which has green bark and bright yellow flowers). in some areas you might see gila woodpeckers nesting in holes in saguaros, and in the phoenix area a population of introduced peach-faced lovebirds has become established, and occupy seemingly a niche that nothing else was in, and sometimes you might see them amongst the cactopodes also. *these fuckers eat ants and are so specialized in eating ants that they have a compound in their blood to neutralize formic acid and if they don't eat enough ants that need neutralized the compound builds up and poisons them. also some species can shoot blood out of their eyes. please don't make them do this

[anonsally]

Father's Day leisurely hike

Today we took a leisurely 2-hour, 2.3-mile hike with my parents for Father's Day, and we brought binoculars.

We started off in a sort of foresty area where we could hear tons of birdsong, but couldn't see any birds at all! There were some Swainson's thrushes, and Merlin claimed to hear a black-headed grosbeak, which I have never seen around here.

In the tiny lake, we saw something that we eventually figured out had to be a bullfrog. They're apparently invasive, unfortunately, but it was interesting to see. We also spotted a deer later in the hike.

For a while we walked in a more open, grassy area with bushes and a few trees. While there, we heard what I'm pretty sure was a spotted towhee, and we saw a bird we couldn't identify. It was very active, and seemed a bit larger than a sparrow. At one point it was hanging upside-down-ish from a twig eating what I assume were tiny bugs from a plant. Its underparts were a solid, light but distinct lemony yellow, and we had the impression its upperparts were yellow/olive with no distinct markings. The beak was not goldfinch-y, but seemed a bit long/heavy for a warbler. I've tried to look through possible birds for that area, and the only guesses I've got are warbling vireo (but we don't think it had markings on the face, and the behavior doesn't seem right?) or orange-crowned warbler. Any thoughts, @lies? Is there some other bird I'm not thinking of?

Near the end of the hike, I did spot a Wilson's warbler and a raven, and we heard Bewick's wrens and a song sparrow.

#personal #birdwatching #wildlife