Too Many Thoughts

Echo - queer. just. everything about him is so queer. look at him! you get it! gender and romance and sexuality are all so weird! he doesn't understand it and he chooses not to question it and just let himself beeeeeeeee and do whatever tf he wants. he's an icon he's a legend. also a massive slut

Fives - *cough* slut *cough* who said that?!?!?! This man seeks to try everything at least once. very adventurous and not picky but has very high standards for partners. any partner. any gender. he's down. give him five (lol) minutes to prepare and he can be ready for anything thrown at him

Wrecker - bisexual. absolutely bisexual and like very much demisexual. can't be with someone unless he is their very best friend first which is so valid me too bro me too. but he is also just like! so loosely interested! like, he knows he likes people but he's also completely fine just doing his own thing and not getting into a relationship

Crosshair - evil bisexual. mean and bitey but also clingy as fuck. Very picky about his relationships. like heavy on the he's got to be so close to a person before he even does anything about liking someone. undying trust is his SHIT MY MAN. if there is not undying trust he is not taking off his clothes end of story. but also he will bite and it will hurt and he is so mean sometimes but then will turn around and be very sweet? accommodating? gentle? man isn't cruel he's just got a massive attitude problem lol i love him

Tech - ???? tbh I look at Tech and I'm like so confused by what's going on there in like the best way possible. in, like, the way I want people to look at me and be like.... I'm confused. definitely queer just in a way I can't describe. has no opinion on what the other person has to be but has high standards for relationships of all kinds. so like compliments to the chef yk

Rex - asexual as fuuuuuuuuuuck. dude just gives me ace vibes (I'm not projecting leave me alone). He doesn't want to have sex or be in a relationship he just wants to vibe. he cares about being around his loved ones and living peaceful lives with them and protecting people. will sex ever be a part of that? probably not. dude wonders why Cody keeps talking about his general's eyes and misunderstands that when people say someone is 'hot' they mean they're horny for them and something physical happens in their body to indicate it and it is NOT just a descriptor word for a person's physical appearance (I'M NOT PROJECTING YOU SHUT UP)

Cody - disaster bisexual. he loves people who know what the fuck they're doing and kick serious ass (competency... you know!) also why is everyone so beautiful and why is everyone acting like only half of people are beautiful do they not understand that everyone is so fucking beautiful he's gonna die

Fox - UR GAY! also demisexual. didn't experience attraction until he met one very specific mother fucker and then was devoted for life. thinks he's dying the first time he realizes he likes someone. like, what is going on with my heart? why is it beating so fast, oh god am I dying??? is this what it's like to be Cody?!?!???!?!!

Bly - baby boy only has eyes for Aayla sexuality doesn't exist his sexuality is just her. if she is there he is down for it. doesn't care about literally anything else and would do anything for her and has done many many things for her and will continue to thank you very much

Wolffe - down for literally anything and anyone but only sexually. he is aromantic for sure. doesn't want a relationship AT ALL but does have a few people he sees casually and they all get it and understand what he wants and are also down. boy has never even considered romance as an option because he doesn't want to

In General:

I'm convinced that the clones have a very fluid relationship with sex, romance, and attraction. They have accepted that each of them has a very unique relationship with it and that is fine by them. The rules are their own to make. Living in a system where control is so prevalent I think sexuality, gender, etc would be heavily experimented with. So they dabble here and there with a lot of different things and different people and eventually come to a loose understanding of who they are, what they like, and how often they like it. For some it's never, none at all, forever, and others it is everyone all the time, ya know? They have range.

Fives is 100% bisexual, but I’ve always been of the opinion that while he talks big game, he’s actually a terribly awkward and innocent flirt in practice.

Rex is demi/asexual, he’s not looking for anything but if he meet the right person, he’d be sex-favorable in the relationship if that’s what his partner wanted.

Cody is the ‘I’m attracted to men but too much of a workaholic to explore it’ kind of gay, and he doesn’t appreciate his General walking around and doing attractive things because it’s making it hard to keep not wanting to explore it.

Fox is aromantic bisexual, but he’s not against a lasting relationship with someone that he feels comfortable around.

Wolffe is aroace and has no interest in pursuing anything. He doesn’t understand when his brothers come to him with relationship problems.

Hunter is the most bisexual man to ever be bisexual, no further notes.

We ended up having a lengthy conversation about how a disease, sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS), decimated the wild populations of that species and many sea stars a few years prior and how that aquarium was actually one of the few in the country exhibiting Pycnopodia that didn't lose their entire population to the disease. We talked about some of the research that was happening to help protect them and she started to feel a little better. She wanted to feel like it was okay for her to visit the aquarium and that she wasn't just staring at caged animals.

Pycnopodia are now listed as critically endangered. They are a keystone species in their environment and SSWS is estimated to have killed 90% of the wild population. Without them, the shores of the entire west coast have changed. Now, ten years later, that same aquarium was the first to establish a successful treatment for the disease. Before that, most aquariums had the protocol to remove symptomatic animal and generally had to euthanize them because nothing could be done. Within a matter of days, they were completely melted. Now, there is a treatment. It's not a cure, but there's hope that something can be done. That same aquarium is also part of efforts to work towards reintroducing Pycnopodia to the wild to help restore the ecosystems.

People have started to understand that zoos work in conservation and education, but aquariums do, too. We talk about the California condor and black footed ferret as success stories and Panamanian golden frogs and rhinos as works in progress, but aquariums are doing that same kind of work! There are coral conservation labs, efforts to reintroduce wild animals and remove invasives (looking at you, Florida), housing of non-releasable marine mammals, research into new medical procedures and treatments, and breeding of endangered species. The fish (and inverts!) in aquariums have an easy life, and might even be part of something so much bigger.

🐠 Some aquatic animals, like jellyfish and starfish, don’t have a brain. Instead, they have a bunch of neurons randomly distributed throughout their bodies. This is not to say that they don’t matter - of course they matter - but they don’t exactly think. A starfish has no concept of wanting to be in the ocean, because they don’t have concepts.

🐬 Many other animals, like fish and whales and octopi, do have brains, and therefore, they do think. What they think about probably varies, but ultimately, we know they think. Good zoos and aquariums provide enrichment for such animals, such as cool plants and rocks to look at, and for the more advanced sapient creatures, puzzles!

🐠 Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) is a disease of starfish and other echinoderms that causes mass death in populations. Symptoms include lack of eating, listlessness, white lesions, limpness, losing the ability to grip things, body fragmentation (limbs twisting and falling off), and death. The limbs that come off can move independently for a while, because of the starfish’s neurological structure, but they will obviously not be healthy, and the limbs will die, too. The rest of the starfish will eventually become an unrecognizable, disintegrated, white, mushy, dead blob. It’s cause isn’t fully understood. Aquariums have found a treatment for the disease. It’s not a cure, but it’s leagues better than nothing.

🐬 Zoos and aquariums (reputable ones, anyway) are wonderful places for animals to live. They get food, healthcare, protection from predators, enrichment, protection from humans who would harm them, nice living quarters, and more. They provide a place to live and thrive for animals that wouldn’t survive in the wild (like that blue lobster). Many animals in zoos and aquariums are born there.

🐠 Good zoos and aquariums fund important conservation efforts, including research, anti-poaching measures, habitat restoration, and more.

🐬 Researchers have not proven whether or not a starfish can feel pain, but it’s hypothesized to be possible.

🐠 Fish lack eyelids (except for some sharks), so they don’t sleep the same way we do. However, many fish will rest periodically, and some can be alert for potential danger while being somewhat asleep.

🐬 Dolphins dream! They don’t dream as much as we do, but they do dream. Also, only half of their brains sleep at a time.

see that theory's cool, but I'm personally a bigger fan of him being Satine's actual nephew and there being a third, normal Kryze sibling that we never see