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catapparently · 2 months

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A Particular Type of Happily Ever After

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MASTERLIST

Fandom: OUABH

Ship: Evangeline x Jacks

Word count: ~1.8k

PART 1: Evangeline Fox

Evangeline Fox had always had a particular penchant for little foxes. Perhaps she had a special connection to them because of her last name, or perhaps she simply wasn’t cruel enough to not be head over heels for the adorable fluffy creatures. How could one possibly see a fox all snug and sleepy in its little den and NOT want to cuddle it close and bring it home with them?

On an unusually stormy evening, Evangeline heard the distinct creak of the front door opening. The familiar aroma of sweet apples and newly healed heartbreaks instantly wafted through the air, overwhelming her senses. Jacks. Had she not loved the man so dearly, she would have long since boiled him into a bottle of the perfect perfume for her to use.

She quickly sprang up from her comfortable, sprawled out position on the new soft rug they’d gotten and rushed down to see the not-quite-human boy. He’d been gone all day doing who knows what shenanigans with Castor. Castor, who Jacks still refused to let anywhere near his “precious Little Fox”.

Evangeline came to an abrupt halt the moment she laid her eyes on Jacks. He had gotten, through unknown means (and frankly, she didn’t want to know how), a brand new winter coat. The coat was a pretty shade of blue, an uncommon color for him to wear. He was ever so insistent on wearing red, white, and gold. Then again, his preference around her was rather to wear nothing at all.

It wasn’t the color that surprised her, no. It was the fur lining on the collar. It didn’t look like it came with the coat, rather that it was stitched on separately. The cut of the lining wasn’t quite the same as the collar underneath them. The fine strands of the said fur lining were of a beautiful beige-orange color. Too beautiful, actually. No synthetic fur could be dyed to imitate such a unique and extravagant coloring. In fact, the fur on Jacks’s collar looked exactly like that of a fox. Suspiciously so.

“Jacks… what did you do to that poor fox?!”

He twirled the apple in his hand, sparing a glance back and forth between it and Evangeline’s lips, and finally set it down on a nearby tabletop with an exaggerated flourish. He stepped towards her, a certain freely expressed fondness that Evangeline had yet to get used to gracing the usual playful smile on his flawless face. Despite him becoming somewhat human, he still had an ethereal glow on his skin. Not quite human.

“What, don’t you find it pretty? I thought you’d finally stop berating me for not wearing enough layers in the winter.”

Evangeline touched his collar, inspecting it from every angle, desperately hoping that it wasn’t what she thought it was. Sure, she loved Jacks more than everything, but she knew first-hand how cruel he could be sometimes.

Her heart sank to the lowest pit in her stomach. This had to be real fox fur. There was no other way.

��Jacks, how could you? How could you do that to the poor fox?!” Her hands gripped his shoulders tightly, tempted to shake him back and forth like a plum tree until some sense was finally knocked into his thick skull.

Jacks cupped her face with his hands, his thumb gently stroking her cheek. “Relax, love, it’s not real fox fur.”

“I don’t believe you.” “It’s fake fur.” “I really don’t believe you.” “I swear on the Hollow that it’s not real.”

She paused, looking at him. “Then what is it?” she demanded. If it was indeed fox fur as she’d thought, she wouldn’t talk to him ever again unless he figured out a way to bring the heartlessly slaughtered fox back to life.

Jacks’s chest heaved with a heavy sigh as he lazily ran a hand through his messy blond hair. It had grown longer ever since he’d finally given up on the blue dye, but Evangeline didn’t let him cut it. No way in hell. It was just the perfect length for her to play with when he was fast asleep with his head resting on her chest, curled up into her like a clingy cat. Sometimes he’d wake up with little braids and ribbons in his hair.

“When we were kids, Aurora taught me and Castor how to change anything’s appearance with certain combinations of her weird ingredients, so I tried to alter some fake fur I conveniently found on an old coat. Then I had LaLa stitch it on for me.”

She exhaled in relief. She’d already been planning the many ways to make Jacks deeply regret his existence had he actually killed an innocent fox. Her favorite that she’d come up with had been to lock him inside the Hollow with a bunch of foxes she’d lure in so that he could see what cuteness he’d dared slaughter.

“You promise?” she tilted her head up to look at him right in the eye. “Promise. Besides, I like having a constant reminder of you or your hands around my neck, Little Fox.”

Her cheeks turned bright red, matching the shiny crystal heart on her ring, identical to the one on Jacks’s ring finger.

Delighted at the adorable reaction, Jacks wrapped his arms around his chosen true love, burying his face in her soft hair. He was always making sure that it was really her, alive and in his arms.

“You really like foxes, don’t you, Little Fox?”

“Who wouldn’t?”

Jacks could not argue against that.

PART 2: Jacks of the Hollow

Jacks of the Hollow found himself in a rather peculiar situation. He was in the middle of a very foggy forest, hiding behind a tree. He’d placed a fresh piece of raw meat a few feet away, near a tree. It had been carefully and strategically placed near a poorly concealed hole in the ground that he hoped was indeed a fox hole. He’d roamed around the Cursed Forest for days, looking for foxes like an Archer and his Fox. Now that he’d finally found the spot, he was determined to stay there as long as he had to. Nothing in the world –except maybe his own Fox- could distract him from his mission.

As he waited patiently, he started preparing the cardboard box he had brought with him. Jacks neatly smoothed and rearranged the small pile of his clothes that he’d placed in it to create some sort of animal bed.

He looked back at the piece of meat. Was the lure not working? He’d made sure that it was the juiciest, tastiest, and most expensive meat that he’d found. What a picky, pretentious little fox this was. Jacks had chosen to catch this exact one because it was still a small kit, and it had no family, so it would be starving and lonely. Then why was it not coming to the meat?

It was getting late, and Jacks was growing restless. Finally, as the sun was setting, he spotted a tiny pair of ears peeking out from behind a snow-covered bush. Jacks held his breath as the cutest baby fox in the North came out and began nibbling on a corner of the red meat. Poor little guy must be freezing; its stubby little legs were shaking.

Before the cute creature could react, Jacks stepped over to it and swiftly picked it up, his large hands carefully wrapping around its shivering body and holding it close to his chest. The fox squirmed and trashed a bit, but quickly calmed down, too weak to protest. It curled up in Jacks’s arms and dozed off, content with the warmth emanating from the boy.

Jacks’s heart melted. He didn’t even want to put it down in the comfy box he’d so carefully prepared, so he left it there. He didn’t like those clothes anyway.

He pressed a soft kiss between the loveable animal’s ears. “Eva is absolutely going to love you,” he whispered to it. Jacks walked home, making sure to protect his newest family member from the harsh, icy winds. As he stepped inside their room in the Hollow, he was greeted with silence. Hmm. Evangeline must still be out with LaLa.

While waiting for her to come home, he set the now-awake fox on his shoulder, rummaging through the cupboards to feed it some bread.

As if on cue, he heard the front door open, and, soon after, a certain pink-haired girl bounced over into the kitchen to him, stopping short when she saw what was on his shoulder.

“Jacks… Is that what I think it is?” she exclaimed, the pitch of her voice reaching new heights.

Jacks finally turned and held out the little fox, now warm and fed to her. “Meet your wedding gift. A little fox for my Little Fox.”

She took the creature from him, looking at it with adoration in her eyes as it licked her cheeks.

“He’s so so so cute! Where did you find it?” she smiled, petting its soft fur and rubbing its ears.

Jacks sighed dramatically, collapsing on top of the couch in mock-exhaustion. “I stood day and night in the freezing cold, shivering and slowly dying, waiting for the little guy to one day decide to come out of his hiding place.”

“Well it’s your fault for not having a coat,” she retorted as she sat beside him, the fox curling up on her lap. “What are we going to name it?”

“Red.”

“No.”

“Orange.”

“We’re not naming him a color, Jacks.”

“Foxy.”

Evangeline stared down at the still nameless kit, petting it lovingly as it made a catlike purring noise in her lap. She tried to think of a fitting name since Jacks clearly wouldn’t be of any help.

“Let’s name it… uh, Maximilian? Maximilian of the Hollow. Max for short.”

Jacks stared at her blankly. Maximilian? It worked, but he couldn’t tell where it came from. Why Maximilian?

He must have accidentally talked in her mind, because she soon answered.

“Maximilian was my father’s name. Maximilan Fox.”

“…Oh.”

Part 3: Maximilian of the Hollow

Maximilian of the Hollow was a particularly happy little fox. Once upon a time, he’d been cold and weak and starving, until, one day, a strange not-quite-human boy smelling of apples and healed, forgotten heartbreak came along, saving him and bringing him home.

Max was now healthy, warm, and well-fed. He was rather spoiled by the pretty once princess with the golden-pink hair. He was the happiest of foxes, snugly tucked into his soft bed near his owners, who were all tangled up and asleep in their own bed.

Max had yet to understand who the strange little dragon creature who snuck in when nobody was looking was and why it was here, though.

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rebeccathenaturalist · 5 months

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Y'all know I'm a sucker for endangered species reintroduction stories, right? Especially when it's not a charismatic megafauna being highlighted. So of course I was excited when this headline crossed my dash.

The magnificent ramshorn (what a great name!), also known as Planorbella magnifica, is a tiny snail endemic to ponds and other quiet waterways in North Carolina's lower Cape Fear River basin. In fact, they were only known from four sites in the region. Due to plummeting numbers in its limited habitat, some of the last of these snails were removed from the wild to create an intensive captive breeding program. (It really doesn't take much to keep a snail happy in captivity once you figure out what conditions it needs.) The last wild individual was observed twenty years ago, and it is considered to be extinct in the wild.

That is, until now. Two thousand of these little reddish snails were released into a safe pond in Brunswick County. Researchers are using this as a way to observe how well these captive-bred snails adapt to their historic habitat, including successful reproduction. If all goes well, we can hope to see more reintroductions of these native mollusks back into their original range.

We nature nerds are biased, because we think everything in nature is awesome (yes, I'm even an apologist for mosquitoes!) So of course we get excited when a bunch of rare little snails get a second chance, because we understand how crucial each species is to its ecosystem. It can be tougher sometimes to sell the importance of this to the general public, who may question why it would be such a big deal for one snail species to go extinct. That's why I think it's so important for us to keep sharing our knowledge and--perhaps even more importantly--our enthusiasm for all these amazing beings. Keep being cheerleaders for critters like these snails, and your enthusiasm may end up being contagious!

#snails #ramshorn snails #magnificent ramshorn #molluscs #mollusks #gastropods #wildlife #animals #endangered species #habitat restoration #extinction #environment #conservation #nature #ecology #science #scicomm #North America

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