Boat Trolls planning thread! (full of spoilers, non-players enter at your own risk)

Yeah! that. No bandaids. If he gets an ear torn, his medical care for the next couple days is going to be 'Erskin will lick it'. Even if it's not life threatening, I bet it'd hurt like heck for awhile.

Knowing Bel's determination and ingenuity, he'd probably figure out how to open some antiseptic and get it on, even without hands, but it'd still be a pretty tough time.

 

haha yeah, erskin isn't interested either— and since it's only mid fall, he'd be surprised if bel thought 'flirting' or 'frisking around' would actually lead to sex, it's the wrong time of the year for that, and pretty damn early for romance too. though, since bel is used to human things, of course bel would be drawing those conclusions.

the littler girl that's playing around is something like the human age of 12, i think? she'd have a giggly interest in Mr Tall, Dark, and Not The Only Five People In The World I Know, but it would be basically wolf hand-holding. in march she will probably go OH. OH!! THAT'S WHAT'S UP. but wolves don't generally actually do it and have puppies until 2-3 years unless something goes really wrong.

 

haha yeah, erskin would have some appreciation that bel doesn't get the finer social nuances of what's going on, but he would have assumed bel would have like... read a wikipedia page on wolves, since he seems like Smart Research Guy. but i suppose the whole 'they only really fuck once a year' thing is counterintuitive to humans, because we don't do that and dogs breed throughout the year too. male wolves can hump stuff before the breeding period, but, interestingly enough, they're shooting blanks till at least midwinter, and the females don't even ovulate for awhile after that. hence any mid- or high-content wolfdog puppies not born in spring are fakes.

also, interestingly enough, this contributes to the very very low incidences of coywolves— not only do wolves typically chase off or eat coyotes, their breeding periods are a little separate, and male wolves have really low spermcount when female coyotes are ovulating. i definitely read a research paper on scientists carefully describing how they jacked off a bunch of wolves to try and make coywolf puppies, it was funny and educational.

i sort of forgot the purpose of this reply. ENJOY YOUR INFORMATION ON WOLF SEX.

edit: oh right, i'm going with 'werewolves are happy to engage in recreational sex like humans, probably go a little babycrazy in late winter like wolves, and who the fuck knows what's up with their sperm counts, not me'

edit: if i became a werewolf and suddenly only had one period a year i'd be so fucking delighted.

 

yeah, definitely. erskin is like... recommending bel just do a smile-and-nod, because it's totally not even a serious thing. like how a non-creepy friend of the family would just gently humor a tween's bids for attention and statements that she's so grown up now. even saying 'i'm not interested' is overkill, because yes, obviously, no one's actually interested for real. i guess that's what i mean. her mom can come shoo her away if you want.

 

ok i really hate being a grumpus, and don't at all mean to be like only i get to make stuff up for this universe, but something about 'everyone is all different kinds of animals!' being introduced to a 'what if werewolves' story somehow makes me super uncomfortable and aversive. i keep trying to figure out how to say so, or even why.

like... 'everyone is all different animals!' works fine for a daemon au. or an anthro universe. or where we started out with the premise that just about anything could be a were. which i guess we did since you've been talking about having pancho be a badger and jethro be a bear since the start, too, and i've been quietly uncomfortable with that too.

i think it's like... werewolves are more of a traditional thing, while were-everything feels like those absurd 'taken by the were-cuttlefish' stories, or the hideous 'were-leopards are great to have sex with for some reason' anita blake books. and also i sunk so much thought and research into the subject of Proper Werewolves, that having to go look up bears and foxes and wolverines seems really daunting and frustrating, and just saying 'hey whatever! how animals really are doesn't matter if we just want to play around with them' is something i don't think i could physically do.

if i write or draw animals they've got to be a certain level of correct— of well i learned and tried— otherwise it's really stressful and shameful to me, it feels like intentionally making a huge mistake, not having fun. so contemplating playing with like... shallow cartoon, romanticized, incorrect versions of (were-)animals is upsetting. but trying to figure out how they all fit in, but 'correctly', is really daunting. i think i'm just freaking myself out the more i try and 'solve' this for myself.

ultimately it comes down to the very subjective, fussy feeling of 'no that's gross' that i would get about food i don't like. i feel bad that you want this thing and i don't? and i really want to be cooperative so you can have fun too. but i can't... go for it... somehow. ):

i guess i'd like to talk this out and work out something you'll be happy with too instead of just flipping my shit and bailing, or yelling NO at stuff like a fussy toddler.

 

haha, ok. i feel a little silly for fretting, then, but mostly relieved. i thought this was something you were really set on.

"this makes no goddamn sense and that's hilarious" is i think something that applies a lot better to the space navy au, where we can pile as many silly sci-fi tropes on as we want and i politely keep my Serious Business Science Feels restricted to ecoforming.

maybe biology is kind of my special interest? i get pretty intense NO IT HAS TO BE /RIGHT/ feels about it. plus i can read about anything related to how animals and ecologies work for like... forever. i guess the space navy and the werewoof au intersect it at different angles.

 

as a suggestion, pancho could be a very sensible raven. we've already established them as 'a bunch of magic bastards'... at the same time i think 'lady who had no idea magic was real until she saw bel turn back into a human' would be pretty funny too.

 

after wolf diplomacy and raven hostility wind up, i'm chill with fastforwarding to them leaving the park. that could be neat. maybe a couple days after the moon bel can turn human again and misses the hell out of some hamburgers.

 

i think his wolf-only period was going to be only about 10 days instead of two weeks. so bel should be recovered enough to drive them places in like three days and erskin should be able to at least keep it up for short stints in four or five days. does that make sense?

 

human bel awkwardly wearing his doggie backpack tho. what a great mental image.