Dolphin's Thoughts

block minors and ageless blogs. this is the most universal, agreed upon rule. yes, people can lie online; however, by doing this, you are showing you are doing all you can. and also tbh it just makes ur online experience so much better haha

don't interact with content creators, especially ones you post explicitly about or their coworkers, on your 18+ blog. don't follow if your main blog is 18+, don't reblog posts onto your 18+, etc. i highly, strongly recommend blocking them altogether, but that's an additional layer of protection.

don't interact with non 18+ blogs altogether unless you know they are chill. similarly, don't reblog sfw posts and add on 18+ content, ever (people who might not be chill can look through reblogs!) instead, make your own post!

don't maintag 18+ posts (ie. tagging with #hermitcraft or #inthelittlewood.) have you ever seen where somebody tags as 'g.eminitay'? that's to avoid showing up in main tags. this prevents your post from showing up in front of people who may not have been wanting to see them! what i've done, personally, is turn off showing up in tumblr search results altogether, which helps with controlling how many people see my blog, which helps MAJORLY with harassment. the only ways you can discover me is through a direct link or if another blog and i have an interaction.

to emphasize: even if you're posting innocuous stuff in the maintags, if it's on an 18+ blog, you're still potentially exposing yourself and people you interact with, and i highly recommend not doing that.

caveat: some creators (ie. inthelittlewood) do have an inherently older audience, and some things that wouldn't fly in, say, grian's tag can for them. additionally, tagging purely with ship tags CAN mean you have more leeway with what you can put in there (ie. innuendo, a more scantily clad design). use common sense and, if necessary, ask a few friends before posting!

this is where i would mention something about the mature content labels, but, right now, these block people in the uk and in brazil from seeing your posts unless they give tumblr their government id. if you are affected by these laws, DO NOT GIVE ANYWHERE YOUR ID, especially fucking tumblr. there's so many reasons why that i'm just not gonna get into it. instead, you can post links to things that would make tumblr autoflag and impose a mature content label on you (squidge for images, ao3 for fics.)

speaking of art posting–well, the tumblr line is weird and finicky. sometimes, it'll let you post full penis or pussy, and, sometimes, completely innocuous posts will get flagged. there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason other than a spray and pray method, BUT, generally, explicit genitalia will get flagged more often, along with images containing a high amount of lighter flesh tones (light oranges/pinks.) if you want to upload an art piece in that vein, the generally agreed upon thing to do is upload your image to squidge, use the direct link (which is the second provided link once you upload your image) and tell people what's going on in it! for me, this looks like martyn/cleo/skizz forcefem with neon lights/high contrast, and include a more innocuous image preview (usually the character/s face/s), to further provide context as to what the viewer can expect!

utilizing content tags is also extremely helpful, along with listing what those tags are in either a pinned or a page on your blog linked in your pin (for brevity's sake, i do the latter). i tend to both list the tags and keep what content i'm filtering clearly labeled. while esoteric tagging schemes ARE fun, making sure to include what you're tagging for clearly is for the best to make it easier for your followers to block out certain kinks. as a broad example, using 'sex words' to tag for sex is the best way to go; censoring that like s/x or something quirky ie. "bing bong baby makin' thing" means that, if somebody's blocked the word "sex", they'll still see your post. (i used 'sex' as an example because i don't think many people in this space would have that tag blocked, btw, haha)

with this rule, you're protecting both people who might accidentally stumble onto your blog and not know what's going on and also your own followers who might like your posts about one thing but not the other!

i really highly recommend having a fully separate 18+ main blog/account, rather than it being a sideblog. this means you can leave likes, send asks without being on anon/having to say "this is so and so", and, if your account does end up getting mass reported and deleted by tumblr, you won't lose any other blogs, just the 18+ one.

blog backups are a very good idea!

Start

Scar slowly drifted closer to the surface of the water, drawn by the vibrant colors dancing in the ripples of the waves. Head quietly breaking the surface, he spotted the source of the colors with mild surprise.

An avian. It was rare that Scar saw them considering the whole 'he lives in water and birds drown in that usually’ thing, but he wasn't one to pass up an opportunity. Adding feathers to his collection of trophies would be such a bragging point to the other sirens.

He rose a little higher, mouth opening to hypnotize the bird into the water, but before he could get more than one note out, the avian turned to him and he choked. The man was so stupidly beautiful that Scar's brain paralyzed.

That was unfair, was his first thought apon being able to think again. People shouldn't be allowed to be that pretty. Especially people Scar was planning to lure to their deaths. He was supposed to be the hot one! Not songbirds with wings formed straight out of a sunset. 

“Are you okay?” The songbird asked, face scrunching in confusion and concern.

That was when Scar realized his song, usually perfectly performed to enchant, was coming out more like claws against a rock. He coughed following the butchered notes, like he could clear his airways of the inability to function in the face of-, of that.

“Yeah.” Scar eventually responded with a croak. “So good. Great, even! There's never been a more okay guy than me.” He said with a shakey smile and a thumbs up breaking through the water, words spilling out of his mouth without his consent. 

The songbird's lips pressed together and Scar got the distinct sinking feeling he was being laughed at. “Okay. You just sounded kind of, uh-” the songbird trailed off, evidently not cruel enough to finish the sentence.

“Horrible? Yeah.” Scar grumbled, abandoning the attempt at grinning to sink down until his mouth was covered by the water as though that could take back the horrid sounds that just came out of it.

The songbird laughed again and Scar grumbled a few bubbles at the frankly evil injustice of how charming that laugh was. “Yeah.” He agreed, and Scar couldn't fault him. “Are you sick?”

Scar petulantly rose back up only just enough to talk. “No, that's just my lovely voice you heard there.” He bluffed, the usual false confidence ruined a bit by the dissapointment in his voice.

The songbird's amusement drifted to concern. He tilted his head in thought and Scar wanted to find a way to drown. “Aren't you a siren?”

“Yeah.” Scar deadpanned, deciding to stare at the sky instead of the bird, unable to handle the rising embarrassment clashing with the giddy feeling in his chest anytime the bird did literally anything.

“Has-,” he hesitated, “your voice always sounded like that?”

“No.”

“What happened?”

“It would seem the great Scar has forgotten how to sing.” Scar looked back at the songbird and hoped he didn't ask why he'd forgotten to sing.

“Well that's no good.” The songbird fluttered down from his perch to the edge of the waterbed. If Scar were a stronger man, it would've been the perfect opportunity to grab him and pull him under.

Unfortunately, he was not a stronger man. He crossed his arms under the water at his own inability to do the thing he was quite literally made to do. "I know." He whined.

“Here. I might not be a siren, but I know a thing or two about singing.” There was a confidence in the songbird's voice that Scar desperately wished he had. “I could help you relearn.” 

Scar did not need help relearning to sing, he just needed to be anywhere but there in front of one of the universe's meanest tricks. He should politely turn down the songbird's offer. The situation was awful enough as was. “Would you?” He said instead, and followed it up with a dramatically relieved sigh. “Oh, my livelihood is saved.”

The bird laughed again and Scar wondered if underwater combustion was possible. “Don't worry buddy, we'll get you back to singing in no time.”

“Gri!” Scar called to announce himself but didn't wait for a response before he ran up to Grian and deposited the small robotic cat into Grian's lap, not caring for the tools scattered around Grian or the very obvious project he was working on. “Watch Jellie please!”

Without another word or so much as a goodbye, Scar was gone.

Grian sighed, rolling his eyes a bit. Setting aside his project, he turned his attention to the soft mechanics in his lap. Already Jellie was padding around, trying to find a comfortable position. He ran his fingers along the synthetic fur along her back, her spine arching to follow the movement.

She didn't need to be watched. Yet Grian kept her in his lap, allowing her to settle down enough to start purring. Usually, he'd just set her to the side, let her follow her programming to roam around the room. It wasn't like Scar knew whether or not Grian actually kept a hold of her while he was gone.

Yet still, he kept her there, continuing to pet her curled form. He could always set her down later, he reasoned. Besides, her baby programming was rather cute. The unique set of behaviors that triggered every time she had her pheromones refilled made her softer and calmer, more clingy. Less like the idle companion she was usually and more like the vexen baby the false pheromones indicated.

While those behaviors were designed to match Scar's reactive change in behavior, as the only person Scar's ramped up instincts trusted her with at this time, Grian could appreciate the appeal sometimes. 

Not that Grian had any instinctual drive toward her. She wasn't exactly egg shaped. Just a little robot cat designed to keep Scar from instinctively throwing himself into dangerous situations. Grian laughed quietly to himself as he recalled the one time he'd been around Scar without Jellie's false pheromones.

They'd settled on a safe neutral planet, everyone needing a pseudo-vacation after the last mission. Technically, it was supposed to only be for the ship being repaired, but given that was projected to take at least a week, everyone sort of collectively decided to take the chance for a break where they could get it.

Since they'd be stationary for a while, and presumably perfectly safe, they'd decided to turn off Jellie's output to give Scar's instincts a break from the perpetual dad mode they kept him in. Grian had been warned about the way vexen acted without kids before then, but he genuinely hadn't been prepared for just how much danger Scar could manage to find.

With instincts primed for a planet far on the more dangerous side of the scale, Scar was one of their resident tanks. Vexen were tough and built for getting hurt over and over again. Vexen babies were not though, still soft and vulnerable. All their energy and resources going into growing and developing instead of the regenerative process of vexen adults. 

With a baby, vexen tended to be more careful. Primed to take care of a little one who could die far too easily. Thankfully, they were instinctively driven to protect themselves along with the child, as an injured adult is less capable of protecting the child in the case of an emergency.

But without a baby, vexen instincts were dedicated to trying to find and build a good place to care for a child on a planet full of hazards. In order to do that, they needed to test the safety of everything around them. That meant intentionally throwing themselves at any hazard to gauge how easy it would be for a child to get hurt. An adult vexen could tank the damage and work to make sure a developing vexen never did.

Which led to some both frustrating and hilarious moments with Scar. Grian once watched the man stare at an open flame before sticking his entire arm into it. Least to say, there was a ban on open flames for the rest of the crew's break. The sheer amount of heights Scar found to fall off of was ridiculous. Grian couldn't say the tactic didn't work. Heaven knows he became aware of dozens of ways someone could get hurt that he'd never considered before.

Thus, the robot cat that Scar loved. The cat that smelled like a vexen baby to protect Scar from himself. Normally, the output was just high enough to dampen the ‘let me see if I could get my head stuck in there’ instinct. A little companion Scar kept around the ship. When the pheromones had to be refreshed though, the spike of scent drove Scar into a full 'new baby’ frenzy and he refused to put her down for anything.

That was, unless he could find Grian to stick her with. Grian supposed on some level it was flattering, knowing that Scar's trust in him was enough to bypass the deeply seated instinct, but it did get annoying sometimes. Grian didn't exactly sign up to play parent. It wasn't Grian's instincts that insisted the robot be carried around lest she spontaneously combust.

No, Grian was just sacked with the responsibility of instincts that weren't his own. He was just thankful avians weren't nearly as hardwired in their instincts. He could actually be reasonable. Though, speaking of reasonable, the longer Jellie lay in his lap the more Grian became aware of how cold she was. Sure, vexen were lower in average temperature than avians in general but still. It felt wrong. She felt too cold, even for a vexen.

Grian frowned down at her. She seemed content enough but-, she could be warmer. She probably should be warmer. Grian couldn't really remember how warm she normally was, but surely she wasn't supposed to be that cold. Chewing on his cheek a bit, Grian decided she could probably benefit from being just a little warmer, just to bring her temperature up to a safer level.

With that decided, he reached under his wings to undo the latches on his shirt and jumper, pulling both over his head. The feathers on his chest were already puffing up and starting to vibrate. Sliding off of his chair, he settled into a proper perch, Jellie still safely situated on his thighs as he curled around her, tucking his chin down. His wings unfurled to wrap around himself until he and Jellie were safely tucked into a cocoon of feathers and warmth.

Just for a little while, he told himself. Just to get her temperature up. In reality, he remained curled up in a feathery ball until Scar's confused voice broke into his warmth-induced brain-fog.