(no subject)

These questions were written by ysabetwordsmith. and i copied them from @replyhazy.

1) What are your five favorite birds?
2) What are your five favorite pet-type animals?
3) What are your five favorite wild animals that live in your locale?
4) What are your five favorite zoo animals that you always want to visit?
5) What are your five favorite cryptids that may or may not be extinct, may or may not exist in this world?

My answers:

1. Chickadee (I used to think of them as a boring default kind of bird but i have learned the errors of my ways), tufted titmouse, broad winged hawk because one lives in our neighborhood and it has a funny squeak, bald eagle is special to me this year, and red winged blackbird
2. cat dog goat hedgehog and leopard gecko (i haven't owned these last 3, they just rock)
3. porcupine, fox, turtle, black bear, and moose (they really exist but i've only seen one)
4. Lion, elephant, giraffe (you could feed them lettuce at our zoo, plus their gait is entertaining), slow lorus, reticulated python (he was gigantic and lived in an enclosure inspired by a southeast asian temple, he looked like Kaa)
5. This is a challenging question and I've never thought about it before! I'm going to go with
   1. Batboy (from Nat'l enquirer circa 1998) - hope he's doing ok.
   2. Hellhounds - particularly the Irish Hellhounds from Christopher Moore books.   
   3. The Manticore from the Last Unicorn
   4. Quetzalcoatlus (God, bird, dinosaur, serpent- in rainbow colors!) 
   5. Deep sea fish with lights and teeth.

This got me thinking about Genius Loci.  They tend to be my favorite characters when they appear and they make a lot of sense in my head.   I'm thinking of Demonreach from Jim Butcher as well as the river spirits from Ben Aaronovitch.  In books they usually have an appearance where they help the Good Guy with vast/massive power in a surprising moment - even though this always happens! The third one I remember clearly is in the Left Handed Booksellers of Bath and it's a mountain.