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[dynamictreesolutions-au]

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[andypantsx3]

DEVIL IN THE DARK : TODOROKI TOUYA x READER

SUMMARY: There is no price you will not pay for revenge—and a demon comes to collect. NOTES: First Prince of Hell Touya, gender neutral Reader, revenge, blood, slight body horror, SFW, 1.9k. I did not actually plan a proper Halloween fic this year so here you go!

It's cold on the crossroads, an icy wind whipping along the pavement, rustling in the trees. It sounds like hundreds of whispers in the dark, though you know the stretch of road around you is empty for miles.

That's the only way to summon the demon you're looking for—the only way they say he will answer. He is too clever to appear where he may be at a disadvantage.

Against one lone human, demon hunter though you may be, he stands every chance. Against you in particular, he fares even better. You are not the strongest in the League, were never the best in your class at the academy. You were more a strategist than a warrior, better with a pen than your regulation silver knife.

Your only certain way out is if the demon you're looking for chooses not to appear—or if his interest is adequately piqued by the deal you're offering. You do not know enough to be certain his attention will be assured.

Despite yourself, you take a breath and scratch his sigil in the dirt at the side of the road. It had taken you years to find, hidden by the Council after losing too many hunters eager to prove themselves against this specific demon.

But you are out for a very particular revenge. You would have searched your whole life if that is what it would have taken.

Nothing happens at first, as the final stroke of his sigil settles into the dirt. You wonder if he's chosen not to come.

But then, slowly, the wind dies down. The rustle of the trees grows softer, then still. The scant slivers of moonlight pool strangely in the road, like liquid silver dripping along the grooves of pavement. The wind trails off into a breeze, then the softest, sweetest hint of feeling, like the touch of a breath at your shoulder.

—A breath at your shoulder.

You jump, reeling sideways at the exhale across your skin. You barely choke down a scream when you catch sight of the man waiting behind you.

He's taller than you expected, long and lean. His looks are also surprisingly human, save for the twisting horns curling out of the inky black of his hair, and the patchwork of purpling burns over his skin, left by a magic you don't even want to contemplate.

He's shockingly handsome, though, under the burns, his features perfect, careful, delicate—almost angelic. His mouth is a soft, sensuous curl, at odds with the hard, exacting blue of his gaze. He is watching you like a cat tracking a bug skittering across the floor, and every particle in your body screams with the desire to flee.

You plant your feet firmly in the dirt instead, trying to steel your nerves. But the First Prince of Hell's mouth lifts, a derisive twist of amusement.

"Your kind might be fooled," he says, his voice a low drawl. "But I can hear your heartbeat, human."

As if on cue, you can feel your heartbeat stutter and skip. But still you still your shaking fingers against your thigh. This is what you have worked for; you have come with a plan.

"Prince Touya," you acknowledge him, willing yourself to sound calm. "I am here to make a deal."

A sardonic eyebrow lifts as his eyes flick meaningfully to the knife at your hip, then back up to your face. "A hunter looking to bargain with a demon?"

You force yourself to look into the burning cerulean of his eyes, twin points of eerie blue in the dim. "Yes."

Touya does not look even mildly interested. "Let me guess, you want me to hold still while you stab."

You certainly do, and Touya smirks when your expression gives you away. But there is one thing you want more than to prove your worth upon a demon prince. One thing you are certain you can only get from him.

"I want you to lure your father out," you grit your teeth, spitting the words out quickly before you lose your nerve.

Prince Touya visibly pauses, expression icing over. The shadows around you seem to deepen, and a cloud draws across the moon, casting you into an even deeper dark. A shiver crawls down your spine.

"My father," he spits out, his tone blacker than the night.

You force yourself to nod. All the legends say there is no love lost between the First Prince and the King of Hell, detailing their many clashes across the eons, and the destruction that followed in their wake. You only hope that they have not found it within themselves to make amends in the five hundred or so years since the most recent accounts were written.

"And what would a little nothing demon hunter do with the King of Hell?" Prince Touya demands, taking a step closer. He moves sinuously, like a curl of mist. "Your blade bears not even a drop of demon's blood—I can smell it."

It is true, you have never killed a demon. "It would not be me. I need you to lure him into the League's trap. And there will be others, many hunters equal to the task."

Prince Touya studies you for a long moment, those eyes glimmering in the dark. "The League's gotten more underhanded since I encountered you last. And what would I get out of this deal?"

"The throne of Hell," you say. "The death of your enemy."

Touya steps closer, near enough that you can feel the heat of him, smell the magic of Hell on him. He smells heady and dark, rich like cinnamon and smoke. His proximity makes your blood race.

"And this trap that's going spring closed will exclude me, will it?" he asks. There's a little rasp on the edge of his voice, you notice.

It wouldn't, and you had hoped the prince would not think to ask it. But he has not survived millennia being stupid.

Your non-answer is enough for him, and he snorts as he walks a wide circle around you. In the silence of the night you can clearly hear the crunch of his boots in the dirt. You stand stock-still and pretend you are not unnerved by his attention, by the way he paces with the slow, unhurried gait of a predator.

"This trap of yours," he says finally, "Who's devised it?"

You feel him pass behind your back. "I did."

"You who have never killed a demon," he says drily.

You try to quell your temper, knowing you would not survive it were you to raise his. "Not directly."

Prince Touya's grin is a wicked thing as he stops in front of you, catching your eye. It is a touch too wide, a touch too pleased. His teeth are too white, canines too sharp.

"I thought hunters were supposed to be honorable," he says, tone gloating.

Many things were supposed to be that weren't. Your family was supposed to be alive, for one. But the King of Hell had seen to that, and now nothing was as it should have been.

"I thought demons were supposed to crave deals," you reply. A non answer.

Touya circles behind you again, passing close enough that your skin prickles.

"I want something else," he says finally, clearly enjoying the way it makes you stiffen. "The death of my father is something I can do myself. I'll need more if I'm to change my mind."

"What else do you want?" you ask.

Prince Touya stops in front of you again, too close for comfort. He is warm, too warm. His handsome face twists in another grin.

"A blood oath," he says, leaning down to catch your gaze.

A streak of fear tears down your gut. A blood oath would bind you to him, something he could easily leverage to escape what you had planned. It would ensure you could never raise a hand against him, would be compelled to obey him were he to come calling.

And demons always, always came calling.

Good sense told you to refuse, but of course good sense had told you never to come here in the first place. The First Prince's demise was a hoped-for bonus, but the King of Hell was who you were really after. You had all but already made up your mind.

In the end, there is only one choice to be made.

"Fine," you accept, letting a slow breath out. Your hand falls to your belt for your silver knife, unstrapping it and drawing it across your palm before you can talk yourself out of it.

Touya's eyes track the well of blood, glinting, a twinge of delight passing across his beautiful features. He raises a black claw and pricks his own palm open, pressing his hand to yours, fingers closing over you.

You nearly startle out of your skin at the feeling of those long fingers on your skin, the careful rasp of his claws over your wrist. His hold on you helps steady you when you realize his blood is not pooling the same way as yours—it’s moving, sliding as if of its own volition into the cut on your palm, seeping inside you as your own continues to pour out.

You have to close your eyes to keep from feeling sick.

There's a sweep of heat through your veins as he settles deeper into your bloodstream, warming you like a shot of whiskey. It settles into something almost pleasant, then disappears, as if growing dormant within you. And then it’s over. 

And then it’s done.

Your eyes blink back open when you feel Touya’s hand shift yours in his grip, and then he raises your hand to his mouth, licking across your palm. It’s another shock of warmth, his mouth surprisingly soft, gentle against your injury. His long eyelashes flutter shut as he tastes you, and it's all you can do to hold still again, not to curl away in disgust or embarrassment—or anything else.

Touya's eyes glow brighter when he raises them to your face again, and a pleased smile curls his mouth.

"Just as sweet as you look," he purrs, and you prickle. But disturbingly, he genuinely seems to mean it, tongue passing across his bottom lip to sweep up more of the taste of you.

Something unsettled churns in your gut.

You wonder if you haven’t gotten yourself into something deeper than you’d understood.

But Touya is already moving, pressing a wry kiss to your palm in a horrible mockery of intimacy. Then he steps away, leaving you feeling strangely cold.

"A pleasure doing business with you, little hunter," he tells you, as a scant breeze begins to pick up at your feet again. A few leaves skitter across the pavement, almost deafening against the prior silence.

The first glimmer of moonlight almost blinds you as the clouds move again, the wind starting back up. The dim pools and gathers around Prince Touya as he melds back into the dark, stepping back as if into a patch of shadow.

"I'll be seeing you very soon," he promises, his voice growing soft and low. 

You don’t doubt it, and another shiver creeps down your spine. But it’s too late to go back now, and Touya knows it too.

The last thing you see before he disappears is that white smile in the dark—before you're left alone with the weight of the decision you've just made. And the cost of your revenge.

[gallusrostromegalus]

The Rubicon, Part 3: Allegory Of The Cave

AKA, the Force-Sensitive-teenager-that-didn't-go-to-the-Jedi-I wrote-flash-fic-of-on-someone-else's-post-and-kept-going-Whoops-AU

Part 1

Part 2

---

The galaxy has had many brilliant philosophers, among them is Platocca, the Wookiee scholar wrote an allegory of prisoners trapped in a cave, shown shadows of objects, people and animals are projected onto the wall by their captors, as a metaphor for the limits of the senses, and how the shadow of a Rancor is not the same thing as a Rancor itself.

-

Her disappearance does not go unnoticed- it’s hard to miss when the chateau of a locally prominent political family explodes hard enough to cause a major power outage and the body of their ‘reclusive’ daughter is nowhere to be found.  A search is organized, and the scent-akks trace her footsteps out of the house and into the desert but lose the trail at the river, like how a vulpire evades the hunt.

The search expands- her holo is circulated on the local planetary networks, The family is interviewed and they, tearful, plead for her safe return. Her little sister’s tears and begging that it won’t Lifeday without her play particularly well. It gets picked up by the regional channels and soon there is a galaxy wide search for the Missing Girl.  

Everyone loves to be a Hero. 

The desert is searched by police flyover and volunteer foot teams.  Hundreds scour the bare rocks for clues. Someone treks a full hundred miles into the labyrinthine canyons in search of her.

Everyone loves a Mystery.

Interviews are conducted with the family, with her mentors, with her caretakers and doctors. People try to reconstruct the final day before she vanished, someone publishes her school essays and more photos are found- of a shy child, cringing in the back of the Science Bowl team, or trying to hide behind a tree in a family reunion photo.

Everyone loves a scandal.

Ten is not that young an age to enter politics in the Galaxy far, far away, especially not for the now-heir to a prominent local political family and the little sister’s announcement that she’s running for the local civic council wouldn’t be terribly noteworthy, save that it’s done at a rally to raise funds for missing children all over the planet in her missing sister’s memory. By that afternoon, medical records are leaked- seven major psychiatric institutions in under five years, involuntary commitments, ‘experimental’ treatments for an ‘undiagnosed’ disorder- she hurt her siblings, it’s said, she was mentally deficient and home alone- abandoned, when the home “mysteriously” exploded and she vanished without a trace. 

Tongues wag, and eventually agree that, best case scenario,  it’s a family capitalizing on the tragedy to further their political ambitions But best case scenarios are rare in the Galaxy Far, Far away, and the idea that a family might try to get rid of a troublesome daughter before launching the career of another isn’t even a terribly implausible scenario. 

Regardless of the situation, the Sister continues to poll well. Or, perhaps, because of it. Everyone loves to think they’re in on a conspiracy, and if this family is ruthless enough to kill a daughter, well, imagine what they’ll do to the opposition?

-

She first becomes aware of all this at a funeral.

She had gone back to the oxbow to bathe- having worked out podes that are durable enough for the desert and dexterous enough for her needs, and a steady, efficient gait to traverse the vastness of her new home, she was now experimenting with skin, and while the latest thick midnight-violet mammalian hide performed admirably in terms of thermal regulation and protection against the spines every plant and half the animals here had, it had a tendency to get oily and she thought a nice roll in the sand and soak might be in order. 

Instead, the far side of the oxbow was crowded with people, all dressed in mourning white and carrying candles.  A pyre was set up on the far bank, and a small, closed coffin sat atop it. 

Oh hell. A child’s funeral.  Who died?  Not one of my classmates? or- no, no there are Sis and The Baby, thank fuck. Mom and Dad too. Front row.  Hell of a crowd too. And reporters? Yeah, those are definitely holocorders, for the news. She squinted at the logos on the vans parked just up from the riverbank, having to switch spectra and focal distance a few times before the characters became clear. Big networks!  We don’t have anyone that famous, do we? Which unfortunate bastard are you all the way out here for?

She stalked closer, using the harsh angle of the setting sun as cover, long ears cocked to listen.  Voices sang monotonously through the traditional funeral dirge, her mother blotting at her cheek with a handkerchief. As the assembled tried and largely failed to reach the final note, The local temple priest lowered the funeral torch, lit the pyre, arthritically climbed both stairs to the podium, and tapped the mic. 

“Blessings upon us all, on this sad occasion.” He bowed his head. “We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of one who was taken from us too soon.”  he gestured to the holo broadcast in front of the pyre.  She had to shuffle through the underbrush, until she could make out the flickering image against the flame. A girl, about her age, in fancy dress, grimacing as politely as she could.

Poor thing. Looks wretched even in the best holo her family could find. Would we have been friends, this girl and I? Maybe I knew her-

 She squinted at the holo, something about it familiar- Gods, they’d even had the same awful bob haircut and itchy, itchy tule dress she’d been subjected to-

Wait.Is. Is that ME?

“She struggled in life, but was beloved by all who knew her-”

What.

“-She was a champion member of the Science Bowl Team-”

They kicked me off the team for ‘cheating’! It wasn’t my fault I knew the questions before they were asked!

“-and her artworks still adorn the walls of our school.”

WHERE? I got told that they were ‘Too Scary’ and ‘Not School Appropriate’!  

“She was always unparalleled in character- you could not find a more, sometimes brutally, honest person, and she clung unfailingly to her personal ethics.”

Oh? Oh, that’s what we’re calling it? Because last month in front of the shrinks you called me ‘tactless and prone to blurting things out’ and said I ‘rigidly conformed to arbitrary standards to the point of insanity’!  She seethed, a low rumble of disgust.

“We are all aware of her unfortunate medical history-”

Oh. Oh no.

“-but we can take some solace in the fact that she does not suffer anymore.”

Her mother took this chance to bawl theatrically. 

There are no words in all the tongues of the galaxy-

“While ultimately unsuccessful, the efforts to find her- hundreds, if not thousands of volunteer search parties, all across the galaxy as this tragedy has brought us all together in ways I no longer thought possible.  She is now one with the Nature she loved so much, and at peace.  May this pyre symbolize the light she briefly brought into our lives, and let us reflect on our memories of her.”  

The Priest stepped back and the line of mourners stepped forward- classmates, muttering about brief conversations in the hall, except a Longtime Bully, who gushed enthusiastically about how funny she was, with her weird turns of phrase and the way she-

She almost retched at the way her Bully imitated the way her hands would twitch when she was frightened, giggling. 

Then her mother stepped up.

“We.  We knew She was special, from the very day she was born-”

YEAH YOU SURE FUCKIN’ DID, DIDN’T YOU? She seethed, claws digging into the sand and tail thrashing. WAITING AT THE DOOR FOR ME, YOU SAID.  BUT NO-  NOT, YOU KNEW HOW TO RAISE ME BEST, YOU LOVED ME TOO MUCH TO GIVE ME AWAY, YOU SAID-

She crumpled, flattening against the ground and sobbing, strained hisses as her mother carried on, trying to hold back the tide of emotion before the Pyre exploded or something.  She stared at the hologram instead. The girl depicted  is a stranger- no really when the hell did Mom even TAKE that??  Fucking. Dress. When was the last time I even wore that thing? Gods, last Lifeday? No, I was back inside for that. It was…  Really? Really? You chose a picture two years out of date? 

She remembered the dress well. An awful thing made of tulle that didn’t itch so much as actually shred her skin where it wasn’t dangerously compressing her lungs and intestines.  She’d been ‘allowed’ home for the holiday, a probation for Good Behavior and the muscles around her mouths ached at the memory of the practiced smile she held for weeks, lest her Mother change her mind about letting her attend the party. She’d made it a full three months before her hand slipped doing the dishes and even though the cut on her hand was small it was just one thing too many and the smile cracked and she ended up throwing the offending knife across the kitchen in a panic.

She looked down at her ‘hand’ now, the scar still there despite the changes. Some landmarks were stubborn like that- she still had the freckles and that one mole, and the scar from attempting to ride a swoop and crashing into the shrubbery instead. Others vanished from her body and her memory without a trace with the shape-change. 

…Not that a more current image would really be more accurate but fucking really? That’s the one you picked?  I guess I should be glad you miss me at all, but-

Her tail thrashes, chewing on this emotion and the air around her. Her mother is bent over the podium, sobbing. Her grief seems genuine, really.  These are ugly, snotty sobs and the air around her cracks and splinters like bone in the Force. 

And yet.

…DID she have more current holos of me? I was usually the one holding the camera, but. No, not from last Lifeday, I was inside.  Not from Sis’ birthday, I was in the kitchen all day. Not on the Baby’s nameday either, all the holos are from inside that packed fire hazard of a temple and i refused to go in. Unless she took something between when my last camp ended and before they left for the mountains on the ‘normal vacation, for once’...

That really is the last Holo you have of me isn’t it?

And it’s not even me, just your favorite role I played.

Her father pulls her mother away from the podium, and she latches onto The Baby, cradling him close. The Priest shambles up to the podium again, and starts the final prayers. For peace, for a happy afterlife. The mourners got up and filed by the pyre, setting their candles around it before shuffling past the family, offering their condolences. 

They lay hands upon her parents, and shake the hand of her sister, wishing her luck with her campaign. 

She watched them file by, shrinking and retreating back, cowering in- in what? Fear? Anger? Grief? Disgust? She clawed at her face, unable to run, unable to stay.

Eventually, the neighbors collect Sis and The Baby, and her parents stay, waiting with the priest for the pyre to blow out, as per tradition. Her father stares off into the distance, mother clutched to his side. 

“You. You’ve done this before, right?”  he eventually stammers, turning to the priest.

“Fifty years of funerals.” the priest nods. 

“And. And children?”  He asks.

“Some of them, yes.” the priest sighed. “Children are always the hardest.”

Her father stared into the flames.

“Is. Is it wrong to feel… Relieved?” 

Her mother wails again. 

“I, I just… I keep thinking I hear her, around the house or out in the yard and I keep thinking she’s not really dead but- but it’s dread. I dread having to be on guard all the time or take her to another doctor or suffer another tantrum. I- I loved her, like any parent would but- but-”

“- We couldn’t live with her.”  Her mother sighed. “Not really.“

The priest nodded slowly. “It’s not uncommon to feel relieved that our loved ones are no longer suffering. Or to feel some relief from being free of burden of care, even as we mourn.” he tried, over-optimistically.

“It’s not something you say to a child but. Oh gods. Oh gods what a nightmare.” Her mother sobbed.

“Her spirit may yet be with us!” the Priest pleaded. 

“Body and Spirit, Holy Father.”

They all looked up.

She stood on the sandy bank of the river, the thin nervous girl from earlier this summer. She held her arms out, silently asking for a hug.

Her father shrieked, and stepped back, her mother cowering behind him. The priest held his own arms up defensively.

Ah. So that’s how it is. 

“Relieved? That’s how you feel? The nightmare is over?”  Voice high and tight as she grimaced at them, smiling like a primate baring its teeth before an eye-gouging, face-eating assault. “You know what? I can’t blame you. I have to say, this last month? I’ve been pretty relieved too.  No white-knucke social events.  No more being abandoned so Sis and The Baby can grow up ‘normal’.  No more ‘treatments’- you know the last one involved electrodes, right? Of course you did. You signed the wavier!”

Her mother opened her mouth, but choked on whatever it was she was going to say.

“But the biggest thing?  No more pretending.  No more playing the sweet, stupid girl for you to pity and be pitied for. No more pretending I’m the crazy one here.  No more being something I’m not.”  She grinned, and began to change again, skin darkening to midnight again, stretching her spine out until she tipped forward, forelegs splashing in the water and making them jump. She stretched to the height and shape that felt comfortable, A deeper shadow of limbs and muscle and teeth and too many eyes, tapetum lucidum glittering above them in the last of the Pyre-light. 

Her mother gagged, her father stared, frozen except for the tears, and the priest crumpled back in revulsion.

“I really can’t blame you.” She rumbled, stereophonic now. “-But I won’t let you delude yourselves. I might be free of you, but you’ll never be free of what you did to me.”  She grinned mouths full of teeth at them, before turning and walking into he river, vanishing below the surface with a flick of her tail.

Her mother’s screams echoed in faintly through the water as she made her way downriver. There was a spaceport there, and nothing for her here.

---

Now, Platocca rather famously got in a brawl with another Philosopher named Ogg who posited that while the shadow of the thing is not the thing itself, if there's a moving shadow shaped like a Rancor, it's being cast by SOMETHING, and there are better things to do than standing around philosophizing about it.  Like finding out what's casting the shadow from a safe distance, on account of the downright-likely chance that the thing casting the Rancor-shaped shadow is, in fact, a Rancor.  You Pedantic Twit.

-

It doesn’t take long for the carrion beasts to come around.

The scandal embroils the galaxy, and the gruesome details of the child’s history are the gossip of the day.  

Some can sniff between the lines, and take notice- if it was any of the more common ailments, something would have worked by now. The details of the ‘explosion’ hit the insurance market- no point of ignition- indeed, no fire at all, like someone had swung a wrecking ball out from inside the home in all directions at once. And they dig a little bit and compare her birth date to the public logs of Jedi deployments and make an educated guess or five. 

The only vehicle available for rent was an ugly yellow cargo vehicle, but a make and model with an extremely reliable engine and good mileage, which he decided was a decent tradeoff for its abhorrent color. Alas, to rent! He's already in hot water with the Bounty Hunter’s Guild for ‘retroactively purchasing’ a vehicle the last time he was chasing a mark and while the work was undignified, being a Sith didn’t pay like it used to.

He can hear her miles before he sees her.  A low, rumbling thrum in the force, sort of crunchy and guttural, but not unpleasant. He stops the speeder in the blazing white light of late afternoon and cocks his montrals, the physical sensation helping him mentally triangulate the noise. It’s constant, steady drone, like she’s meditating.  Or asleep.  Either way, a sensible thing to be doing in this disgusting heat.  Maybe she does have promise.

The bounty hunter’s guild membership is a convenient source of income, but more than that, it’s an excuse to stick his nose into whatever business the Force demands.  Need to get into a secure building? It’s fine to put his boot through a window, he’s after a mark!  Need to make some dubious contacts to keep himself appraised of the movements of his fellow force-users?  People are much more willing to wag tongues about criminal gossip for some coin than snoop on the Sith, but the relevant details are the same.

And now, when he was trekking into the desert after a teenager- he’s just doing some public service, and certainly not looking for an enraged force-user to take as an apprentice!  Besides, if she wasn’t up to snuff, he could always turn her in for the money. 

He drives on deeper into the thrum, and eventually spots her location- a grove of massive cacti in a small, depressed ditch.  If there is water anywhere out here, its in there.  Honestly, did nobody know how to conduct a search these days?

About 100 feet front he grove, he stops, and listens.  The thrum is much louder now, but he can’t pick out a specific point of origin inside the grove, which is… peculiar. He hopped down and instantly, the thrum ceased.

“Oh, so you do have some wits about you!”  he laughed, strolling closer, hands up and saber tucked behind him, hidden by his coat. “Hey, hey- no reason to panic, I’m just a… well, you and I- we’d be kin, after a fashion.”

No response.  No scuttling through the underbrush, no tension from nerves. Cool as a cumcuber fruit, watching him.

“Well, maybe not Kin. I’ve heard all about the bastards that you got stuck with for a family. Most of the galaxy has now!” He shrugged, stepping into the shade of the outermost cacti and squinting into the grove. “They didn’t understand, did they?  The connection, the POWER that flows through you- it scared them!  And honestly, I can’t blame them, if half of what I’ve read about how you blew up a house is true, why, you’d give some of the elders of my sect a run for their money.”

He can feel her gaze on him, taking in every minute movement. No particular direction, almost as though she were circling him. Good, good!  She wouldn’t have lasted long if she was completely without talent, of course.  Still, let her circle.  Let her come to me. 

“My parents never understood either.” He sighed, strolling deeper into the grove. “Always insisting that I was breaking things on purpose, that I was being cruel by telling the truth-  but why shouldn’t I?  They always said ‘Honesty Is The Best Policy’!”  He laughed.

“But my Master?  He understood. He understood how big and cruel the galaxy can be, especially for people like us. And it’s not wrong for us to defend ourselves!  I’ve got just as much right to exist as a vrelt or a tooka!  They can’t make people understand growling, so it’s not wrong for them to bite! So what if I had to resort to force when they couldn’t be made to understand?”  He laughed, stopping near the center of the grove.  It wasn’t that easy to hide in- the cacti didn’t branch much, and the scub wasn’t that dense. She has to be using the shadows, or keeping her nerve to stay perfectly still and pass herself off as a rock.

“..I suppose it’s fair for you to be cautious.”  he nodded, reaching into the pockets of his coat. “I mean, the galaxy is full of hucksters and con-artists that think they know what’s best.  I won’t pretend that I do, but I know what it’s like to suffer for having a connection like we do.  And well, like how I was taken in, I should return the favor to those in need.”  He pulled out a bottle of clean water- still cold even!- and a protein bar. 

“Here, a token of my goodwill!” he said, tossing them into the scrub. “I’ll be in the speeder when you’re ready to talk.”  he waved, strolling back towards the rental.

“...You have The Force too?”  She asked. 

He stopped, and couldn’t help grinning a bit. He squinted at where he thought the sound had come from, but only found a plain cactus, and no sign of the frail little girl from the posters.

“That’s right!” He nodded. “That’s how I knew where to find you- belongs like us, we’re all connected.”  He explained, tapping his forehead and sitting down on the ground, lekku dragging a bit on the dirt.  The circling sensation was back, but he definitely had her interest now. He expanded his perceptions- ah, there it was- she wouldn’t know how to shield yet, of course and he could feel the head-tilting sensation of confusion.

“...Do some people have more Force than others?”  she asked, on his other side now. 

“Yep!”  He laughed. “Good trick, throwing your voice like that!  But yes, there’s a huge variation in the capacity people like us have in the force.  Don’t worry-  it took me years of training to get like this, but with practice-”

A sharp chortle of amusement rang through the grove. 

“...What’s so funny?”  He asked. 

“Years Of Training, you say?”  She snickered, and he felt the scales on the back of his neck prickle. He could feel her, close, and moving now, stalking and coiling like a carnivore, but he still didn’t know WHERE-

He was suddenly struck with a vision of himself- sitting, lanky and small, laughably small from her perspective. All the weapons on his person were highlighted, including a dark red throb of the Kyber Crystal in his saber, along with the ache in his back and knees, and the tinnitus in his left montral and his name and his master’s name and- and-

“SHIT!”  he snarled, instantly on his feet and glaring up at the tops of the Cacti, lightsaber thrumming in his hand. “Rude little bitch, aren’t you?  Sneaking into people’s heads without their permission!” he scolded.

Another amused chuckle. “Better a bitch than a braggart.”  she gave the impression of a shrug. “Because I know exactly where and what you are, but you-”

He felt something around his ankles. Midnight violet tendrils, like stalks of mycelium sprouted from the ground and wrapped around his legs. He flipped the saber around in his hand, plunging it into the ground-

“-Don’t even know where to look.”  She finished and suddenly the cacti all fell inwards on top of him, as the tendrils yanked down, and he was pulled under the sand, choking and flailing.

He could see her now and-

Oh.

Oh FORCE.

She felt like she’d been all around him because she HAD. She was the cacti and the root system that spanned the grove and dug deep into the underground river system, and hell, even the river itself. Any resemblance to a humanoid form was gone, she was now a companion shadow to the environment around her, a branching form more like a plant or subterranean fungus than anything else.

You were right of course, to head to the only source of water.  She conceded, and he felt his skull figuratively pop open like a pocket filing wallet, and the midnight tendrils rifle through his memories with a vague disinterest. But you didn’t know that most of a river is underground, did you?  I don’t think any rational search party would have guessed how I’ve been traveling, really-

So, a Sith with a day job? That’s… He felt the mycelium of her body wince in the soil around him as he began to choke on the sand. Pretty embarrassing, actually.  But, you’re right, money makes the galaxy go ‘round…  memories of The Guild application process, how he’d modified his ID card, His Master back on Korriban, the disciplines of the order, assembling his lightsaber-

His lightsaber!  

He swung through the dirt and she flinched away from the blade.

“Well, if you’re going to be like that, I’m going to leave.”  she laughed, a mouth forming and unforming from the mycelium ad hoc, and she withdrew from around him.  He clawed furiously, reaching up with the force, pulling himself awkwardly up out of the soil, spitting and howling curses as he tried to untangle himself from the roots and the pile of toppled cacti over him-

“So long, and thanks for all the snacks!”  She called and he turned-

…to see the yellow rental speeder flooring it into the distance.

He patted his coat and realized that the speeder keys, his wallet, and lightsaber were all missing. 

Oh.

Oh fuck. 

She was too far to reach now, but he could still feel the crystal in his lightsaber, calling out to them.  It’s fine, all I have to do was trust in the force and follow the crystal-  She doesn’t know what its capable of-

-

She set cruise control at just under the speed that made the cheap speeder shudder like it was about to fall apart, and leaned back in the driver’s seat, taking a swig from the water bottle and unscrewed the bottom of the lightsaber.

It was a simple enough device really- a small rechargeable battery that fed energy into the crystal, which was focused through a series of lenses and a magnetic field to create a looping blade of plasma.  Basically a more refined version of a Plasma Chainsaw, with a magic rock for a laser. 

The magic rock pulsed.

She blinked at it. 

It was a pretty thing, the color of really expensive rubies or fresh blood, and sparkled more than either. Not with sunlight. With… Potential.

There was a lot of power in her, and this would let her focus it, to carve the world around her as she saw fit, to conquer all that tormented her-  Visions danced, of her on a throne, the dismembered bodies of the doctors and orderlies and her mother at her feet-

“Nah.” She laughed, tossing it over her shoulder and out of the speeder. “I don’t want conquest or to cut throats or whatever.”

“I mean, I do.” She admitted. “I absolutely did fantasize about killing her, more than a few times, just to shut her up.  But that’d just leave Sis and The Baby without a parent that genuinely cares for them, and they never did a thing to me.” She shrugged. “It’s a nice fantasy, but it’s not what I want.”

Then what? The natural question followed. I really do have unlimited potential. What Do I Want?

She stared at the shimmering horizon in silence for a while, not so much thinking as listening.

“I want.” She started and paused. “I want to be happy.”

“It’s been a relief, to be away from all the doctors and eggshells, and to be the shapes I want.” She nodded. “But that’s not quite the same as happy.”

“It’s boring too.” She added. “Cacti are all fine and good, but hardly good conversationalists. I want-”  

“I’m lonely.  And sad, and scared about a lot of stuff.” She admitted, and the truth sat uncomfortably on her breast, but it was better than where it had been sitting inside her, aching, before. 

“I want a friend.”

She paused, having picked up a thread in the force.  A thin one, feeling like only the finest spun fiber, barely tying her to-

She saw the Apprentice from the documentary again, babbling excitedly about learning about how to conduct diplomacy and the the ins and outs of negotiation, and all the people she was going to meet, and the places she’d see and-

“She looks like she’d be fun to talk with.”  She mused.

----

Philosopher Ogg got thrown through a window for arguing with Platocca, but was really the ultimate winner because centuries later, when an excitable and somewhat high-strung Jedi Apprentice got up from her afternoon meditations and saw her shadow finish stretching a full two seconds after she did, she did not write it off as a trick of the light or still being groggy from a meditation session that had accidentally turned into an unplanned nap. 

She also, in a demonstration of what an early start learning  self-control in an emotionally supportive environment could do for someone, did not immediately panic.

“Alright.” She said, watching her shadow where it stood obediently against the wall in the reflection of the window. “Next we have Saber Practice, and then Rhetoric and then it’s dinner,” She listed off to nobody in particular. The ‘Royal’ We’ they used to call it. Very handy when you couldn’t specify exactly who or what you were talking to. 

She walked down the hall, watching her shadow in reflections and when it skipped ahead of her as she turned down the halls, keeping a close eye on when it actually met up with her feet as she walked. It was close, within the margin of error between the complex shadows cast by the architecture of the temple and the shadows of other Jedi but…

When she finally stopped at her place in the lineup to do katas, she could swear she heard herself take another step.

“You seem distracted today, young one.” The saber master frowned as she missed her thrust for the third time that day.

“I-  yes, sorry master.” she bowed her head. “It’s going to sound bizarre, but- I don’t know.  Does my shadow look weird?”

The master stared at her blankly for a second, then turned his attention to her shadow, which lay on the floor beside her in the expected fashion.

“...No.”  He spoke slowly, running his chin with concern. “But that’s my perspective.  How does it look to you?”

“Like it’s- lagging? Not quite doing what I am-  I stretch, but it stretches for longer. I walk, and it does too, but with a different gait. It’s not much but- I suppose it could be a problem with my peripheral vision? I have been having a lot of migraines lately.”

“Hm.” He nodded. “Well. I do not see any evidence of your shadow behaving in any abnormal way, but you should tell your master and perhaps make an appointment with the ophthalmologist.  I promise to tell you if I do see anything out of the ordinary, though.”  He smiled gently.

“Thank you master.” She nodded, shoulders drooping a bit. It was, most likely, a trick of the light or her eyes, but it was nice to have an additional perspective. 

Her next thrust landed perfectly. 

-

Her shadow was largely out of her line of sight during rhetoric, mostly cast under the desk behind her, and it was easier to focus, but there was the nagging sensation that the usually-empty seat beside her was occupied with someone who kept fidgeting and straining to hear the lecture. 

“You okay?”  her friend asked, taking her hand as they left class together. “You seem really tense.”

“I don’t know.” the apprentice sighed. “I think I might have a problem with my peripheral vision.  I keep seeing my shadow flicker or think there’s someone standing-”  She stuck out her free arm  and waved it in the air beside her.

“Ick.” Nodded her friend. “Yeah, that’d drive me right up the wall. Hopefully you only need glasses or something?”

“Ugh, glasses.” the Apprentice rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure which would drive me crazier- having to clean the lenses constantly just to be able to see or actually being haunted!”

They laughed, and walked together toward the cafeteria.

“So your master’s away?”  her friend asked grabbing trays for both of them.

“Yeah, Mirial, so you understand why the council sent an all-male contingent to the negotiations there.”  She nodded, grabbing a pair of allpes fruits. “He’s actually probably back by now but messaged me earlier that he’d been up for three days straight so to finish classes as normal and go see friends if I wanted because he’s going to have the mental faculties of a sofa for a few hours once he lands.”

“Oh nooooo-” her friend giggled. “You don’t worry about him?”

The Apprentice shrugged. “I mean, a bit? But this is pretty normal for him- he’s like a loth-cat, slinks away and hides when he’s not well, but he’ll call if he’s in real trouble. Still, I think I’ll finish dinner here and go back to our rooms, I’ve got so much reading to catch up on-”

It was good to talk and catch up on all the gossip for an hour- She’d been one of the first of her class to be picked for an apprenticeship and as much fun as her new freedoms and responsibilities really were, she sometimes missed the camaraderie of the creche. There were the expected interrogations about off-planet missions and OH FORCE THE PADDWORK and learning one-on-one and the splitting of responsibilities between master and apprentice. 

“It’s pretty normal that you don’t go on all the missions early on, I know.” She sighed. “But I did miss him this week.  The rooms are too quiet without him taking random calls or doing the dishes at weird hours, you know?”

“Yeah, it’s weird not having you snoring at night.” her crechmate  nodded, grinning.

“I DO NOT SNORE”!” she yelped, mock-threatening to throw the spare piece of fruit at him. 

“We’re kidding!  You whistle a bit, at most.” he friend patted her shoulder affectionately. “Besides, if you get really lonely, you’ve got your little peripheral vision fairy for company!”

The Apprentice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a surreptitious glance at her shadow.

“Your WHAT?”  her crechemate asked.

“I think I’ve got something wrong with my peripheral vision, and it’s faking me out into thinking my shadow is misbehaving or I’m being followed by some sort of sprite that hates rhetoric class.” She shrugged, waving at her shadow, and it waved along with her. “It only gets more boring- tomorrow is Economics, so you should go haunt someone more exciting.” She told it.

“UUUUGH that sounds so annoying!”  her crechmate groaned.

“I don’t know- I suppose it’s not so annoying if I think of it as an invisible friend or something.” The apprentice laughed, and her comm beeped.

>I have returned safely to the bosom of the temple once more.  Wretched migraine, grab me a snack? XD

She snorted and showed her friends the message.

“He texts like such an old fart!”  her friend giggled. “I thought he was like, really young?”

“He’s only a decade older than me, so practically a kid for a Knight, but damn good at it.” She nodded. “He’s Accumulated Great Wisdom For His Years!”  she said in her best esoteric philosopher voice. “So he’s the galaxy’s youngest old fart.”

Her friends cackled as she got up, pocketing the fruit and a few snack bars for him, before waving her goodbyes.

He was curled in bed with a pillow over his head to block the light and noise when she came in, but rolled over and reached out towards her anyway.  Her shadow stretched all the way across the room and onto the wall his bed was pushed against in the slice of yellow-orange light cast through the doorway, like the spectre had already joined her master. 

“Hello Master.”  She smiled, sitting on the bed beside him and pressing a juice pouch into his hand. “I missed you.”

“-and I you.” he replied, slowly sitting up and squinting at the pouch an inch from his face. “Melloon!  You remembered my favorite flavor!” he beamed. 

“You’ll read with less headache with your glasses.” She sighed, handing the small device to him and watching as he unfolded them and blinked, large dark eyes now appearing twice as large through the prescription lenses.  “...How did you know you needed glasses?”  She asked as he fiddled with the straw, trying to puncture the pouch.

“Couldn’t see shit.” He grunted. “Well, actually, it was when I couldn’t distinguish the letters on the board back in my very first formal classes. I’ve had them longer than I’ve been able to read.”  he said, taking a long sip. “...Why?”

“I’ve- all day my shadow’s looked weird.”

He paused, face still scrunched in discomfort. “...shadows in general, or your shadow specifically?”

“-” She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. “-just mine, actually.  And I thought I could hear someone walking behind me, and all rhetoric class I had the impression someone was sitting next to me-”

Her master was suddenly sitting all the way upright, staring at her with rapt attention.  She winced.

“It’s alright.” he soothed, hand on her shoulder. “But please, tell me everything.”

She sighed, slowly recounting- the way her shadow seemed to lag or not quite match her, the ongoing headaches, the sensation that “-I don’t know, like someone’s standing beside me? I mean, I absolutely could be working myself up over nothing-”

“If it’s bothering you this much, it’s not nothing.” her master nodded, still watching her face. “Even if it’s just a flicker brought on by growing pains, it’s not nothing. What was the first lesson you were ever taught?”

“...Trust your instincts?” She tried,

“Trust your instincts.” He nodded, smiling gently. “...Without looking at your shadow-  do you have an impression of what this… companion looks like? Are they tall, short? A sapient being? Or maybe an animal?”

“They’re uh…” She unfocused her eyes, concentrating on the sensation of the person that had been beside her all day. “-They’re… A girl, like me, my age- not me though, she’s… thinner. A little frail maybe? Skittish- no, that’s not right.  Like she’s hanging back.  Not sure when to come into the conversation kind of awkwardness?  And thirsty. Like, dehydrated.”

“Alright.” Her master nodded. His voice had shifted, like he’d sat up more and closer to her. “Anything else?  Do you know what she looks like?  Has she said anything?”

“No.” The Apprentice shook her head. “Quiet. Listening, but not having an easy time of it.  Keeps fidgeting. She-  she has a shape, but it keeps changing. Like- sometimes people don’t know who they are, like they have blurry edges around their sense of self?  She’s got really sharp edges of what is and is not her, but those edges are always moving.  The eyes are the same though. Intense focus, and an eyeshine, like an animal.”  She started to tremble at the feeling of that terrible gaze fixed on her.

Her master shifted his weight, gently wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to lean into his shoulder. 

“...I’ve seen her before.”  the Apprentice realized. “I don’t know where but. I remember those eyes, staring right through me.  Something-  something terrible happened…”

“I’m sorry.” a voice whispered. 

Her head snapped up, staring at the shadow on the wall on the other side of the bed- it had changed- still the same size as her, but they sure as hell weren’t the same species and a pair of holes in the shadow, in the shape and location of her eyes, still staring.  The shadow flinched and the Apprentice’s heart race, but, gazes locked, neither could move.

Visions- the brilliant night sky of the desert, electrodes on her temples, a map tracing the route of a subterranean river, a wound (and the knowledge she’d caused it), the furious screaming of a bounty hunter who had meant her some malice- arced across their connection like lighting.  And visions from her mind- The flowers carved and painted into the bunk bed posts at her creche, the buzz of a training saber, the warp of her Master’s prescription glasses, the weight of his arm across her back- arced back.

“You!” She gasped.  “You’re the girl who- who-” She gasped, tears flowing but she refused to blink, if she blinked she’d be gone-

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!!!”  She yelped and whimpered, unable to pull back from their connection, fear and despair and-

“It’s alright.” her Master’s voice settled over them like a thick blanket, and he reached out, touching the shadow’s shoulder, fingers curling around it as she seemed to peel off the wall, in three dimensions now, and became her own being, still a shadowy echo, but herself and not the Apprentice’s shadow. “It’s all alright.”

He pulled her closer, translucent form still trembling, until the Apprentice couldn’t hold it back and blinked, throwing herself at the other girl, wrapping her arms around her strange not-doppelganger, and sobbing- “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have-  that wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair-”

The shadow screamed, hugging her back and clinging to both of them, smoke-like fingers digging into her robes and hair. 

“By The Force.”  her master whispered. “Oh no, oh dear-” He stroked their backs as the girls cried in his lap.  The shadow girl began to flicker, and his apprentice grabbed at her, trying to keep her with them.

“I- I can’t stay- please- please!”  She wailed.

“We will find you.”  The Master promised, voice heavy with the seriousness of his pledge. “I don’t care how far we have to go or how long it takes, we will find you.” he promised, clutching the girls close in an embrace, the shadow-girl trying to cling to him hard enough that her fingers drew blood on the side of his face and across the back of his apprentice’s neck, before she succumbed to whatever was pulling her away from them.

The apprentice continued to sob as their connection faded, her Master still holding her.

“...I need to speak to the council about this, and fast.” he spoke, voice still grave. “That- If she was doing what I think she was, he is an immensely powerful force-user.”  He swallowed hard, hands trembling. “-A very dangerous thing to be in this galaxy, especially alone.  She could fall prey to all sorts with ill intentions…”

-

She woke up, screaming and clawing at the cheap third-class cabin mattress pad, sobbing, and could only lay there for a second, whimpering and pawing at the blanket that a moment ago had been a robe-

“So uh.” a voice spoke up from the other side of the cabin, pausing to clear his throat. 

She looked up realizing she’d gone from a plausibly-normal-but-uncommon humanoid to something three times her regular size with horns, long thrashing tail and covered in spines in her sleep. Pressed firmly to the far wall was the tiny cabin’s other occupant, a man that was actually probably not that old, but looked like he had gone through the garburator of life without the sink running, judging by scars covering his torso and his cautious but strangely calm demeanor as he slowly stood up from where he’d been taking cover behind his mattress, which was now covered with spines.

“-Do you usually sleep-shapeshift?”  he asked. “Because if that’s the case we’re gonna need to ask the steward for a lot more bedding.”

“...I was having a nightmare.” She croaked awkwardly, slowly collapsing back to her previous humanoid shape.

He nodded slowly, shaking the spines out of his mattress as they shrank along with her and setting it back on his bunk, opposite hers.

“Not to be entirely self-interested, but that’s an unusual talent you have there, and something I would find immensely helpful in my line of work.” he said, studying her with interest. “Ever considered getting into crime?”

[motherstone]

The implications of the curse on Kanalis. Does it only affect people born there? It must, because it's a port town and that wouldn't make a ton of sense otherwise. Also who cast it? There's no indication that stone magic has that kind of power. Stone magic seems more energy manipulation inclined, but there are probably other kinds of magic, given the whole everything of Alledia. Talking trees, giants, etc. Stonekeeper's Curse talks about harnessing the life inside everything, so I decided maybe some people use that magic without stones, in some sort of exchange with the universe/world at large. Definitely not to make an OC that has non-stone magic, I would never mess with canon like that /s.

Only mildly related, but would a giant tree that absorbs a person's life force to produce a fruit that gives immense power to the eater fit within the Amulet universe? It feels like it would.

Lemme be insane for 5 mins:

Ok, but like, I sort of addressed this in my rewrite. Alledia is an alternate version of earth with magic, and humans discovered it pretty early on.

Anyone can learn it w sufficient study and effort. Experimented w it like crazy, advanced many things, and changed many thngs. Precursor elves has an ancestor that changed their appearance and botched an immortality spell. Precursor Kanalis citizen has several ancestors fuck up transformation magic. Gadobas was a result of experimentation with magic. So on and so forth. Magic got widespread enough that it harms people and caused many wars and conflicts. Precursors tried to put restrictions/regulations but shit got apocalyptic enough that many people died and most of the magic is forgotten.

I like to think a few of the "long-lived humans" aka the elves of a long time ago has lived long enough to eventually learn that this precursor magic needs to be forbidden but also recorded as to never be repeated again, hence the elven culture's great emphasis on learning history. There's a small group that's dedicated to keep such magics forgotten or forbidden or regulated and maintains a massive archive of history and magic bc of it (aka, the village where Virgil is from).

So there's probably like, a human that lives as long as an elf, there's a few people in all three countries who has sparse knowledge of that precursor magic but gets passed down as "tradition", nothing too big. Gets mistaken for the magic to be "hereditary" but actually it's just passed down from parent to child

but tbh, precursor magic has limits in terms of energy. Moving a glass's worth of water using magic, easy peasy. Moving ocean's worth of water? next to impossible. Precursors made the Mother Stone for war times to gain immense energy to do that impossible energy levels of magic. Precursor magic is more like AA battery, and needs to be casted, not unlike a computer code? The Mother Stone is more like a generator. But they realize MS is dangerous and buried out of shame and horror and end up forgotten. Basically, it's the equivalent of us inventing the nuclear bomb, realizing it's pretty bad to use it, and then buried it so it can never be used.

A long time passed; civilization eventually recovered but bc of lost history, many of the technology regressed. A new start after that era of magic, you could say. Humans and elves eventually discover MS, ignore sign DANGEROUS CRYSTAL DO NOT FUCKING TOUCH. Stonekeeping becomes widespread. It was free for all, stonekeeper conflict ensues. Cielis is a kingdom that conquered other lands through stonekeeping and established Windsor. Could not penetrate Gulfen bc the mountain ranges proved impenetrable and a natural and difficult gate. Eventually, they used up 2/3rds of stone before some people with sanity realized that power needs to be regulated, overthrew corrupt stonekeeper,s and established the Guardian Council, now putting a metric on whether or not you should be a stonekeeper. Era of peace starts, it was kinda short tho.

The first GC was a mix of humans and elves just a heads up.

Advancements happen, economy improved. Eventually, Cielis lost sight, started lowering their standards on the quality of one's character on who gets to be a stonekeeper. Started resticting the stone power to nobles and people in power. Started having a strict hierarchy, started cutting out "outsiders" (elves, animal people etc). Basically, they're going back to their roots. Started a toxic education system where might is right.

[kiseichew]

Criminal Policies

Prompt: Kidnappers abduct the child of a monster. Summary: A small group of citizens have issues with Mayor Hirokawa's policies. They decide to take matters into their own hands.

Morita nursed his cheap beer sullenly. The news segment playing on the bar’s TV was droning on about one of the new mayor's policy pushes. He scowled as they confirmed yet another manufacturing plant would be closed due to the “clean earth” regulations.

He took a swig to wash down the taste of bile. The man could shove his tree hugging policies up where the sun didn't shine. “What kind of person spits on the hard work of his fellow man like this?” he muttered venomously.

“Politicians usually do,” said Kitamura blithely.

Morita sneered. "The previous mayor was a politician too, but at least he valued the community. Hirokawa," he hissed, "is trying to destroy our home."

"Gentrify it, I think," said Nishida. He laid his glasses on the table beside his glass, scrubbing at his eyes.

Ito heaved a sigh, chin resting in his hands. "If the people who live here can’t afford to anymore, it's the same thing, isn't it?"

"How is everyone doing?” Kitamura asked.

Ito pulled a hand down his face. “Still understaffed. Ex is a harpy. Didn't get to see the kid last weekend. Same as usual.”

Nishida’s oversized suit rumpled as his shoulders slumped. "It's been rough after they cut my hours, but we're handling it."

"Oh, yeah, after their main customer got shut down, right?" Morita commiserated. Nishida nodded.

"What about you, Morita-san?" asked Kitamura.

He shrugged with false casualness. "Still looking for a new job. Got enough savings that I haven't been evicted yet." He didn’t mention the shadier “side jobs” he’d returned to.

Kitamura clasped his shoulder. "We'll get through it."

Morita nodded. Kitamura hadn’t been as unlucky as the rest of them, but his support made it feel like they were all struggling together.

"It's obscene!” Ito burst out. “Struggling families and hard-working men are suffering because of him while he gives money away to loose women and their brats. Completely backwards!"

"It's disgusting that he's destroying jobs where experts worked for years and replacing them with cheap overseas labor," Morita muttered.

“It’s concerning that his political faction is full of unknowns,” said Yamamoto.

Everyone turned to him.

It was rare that the older man spoke, but he had been on the city council in the past and still kept in touch with those circles. His advice on upcoming policy changes had often helped the rest of them adapt quickly. However, this election cycle had caused changes too rapidly even for him to keep up with.

“Few of them are local,” he continued. “The previous staff were nearly all laid off, and the remaining survivors have a hard time dealing with the people Hirokawa brought in. Sei-chan says that almost none of them would have been hired based on prior staffing standards, and she’s concerned that those who had references come from out of town where it’s difficult to verify.”

Morita curled his lip. “So he brought in a bunch of outsiders to manage our city? Does the man even live here?”

“But why?” asked Ito, sounding distressed. “Setting aside the logistical problems of coordinating strangers from out of town, there's no good reason he’s picking people who don’t know a thing about the locale.”

Morita nodded. Ito was a high level supervisor, he would know.

Kitamura asked, “Does Sei-san know what the new staff are getting out of this arrangement?”

Yamamoto took a long sip of his drink before answering. “She isn’t privy to their plans, aside from witnessing that Hirokawa treats them more familiarly than he does the old staff.”

Nishida cleared his throat. “Mayor Hirokawa’s public residential address is within the city limits of Higashifukuyama. He sends his son to a local high school as well.”

“Wife?” said Ito.

“Passed away years ago,” said Nishida almost apologetically.

Kitamura hummed. "So whatever connection he has to these outsiders is most likely under the table." He looked at Yamamoto and asked, "Do you know where these newcomers came from?"

"All over, Sei-chan said." Yamamoto waved his hand in a circle to punctuate it. "No one place they can pinpoint."

"Everything I'm hearing about this guy sounds worse and worse," Morita said as he pushed his chair out from the table. His drink was no longer appetizing. "Any way we can get him out of the position so someone who actually cares about the city can take care of it?"

Yamamoto seemed more interested in his beer now that he'd said his piece, but Nishida contributed, "I looked into past news but couldn't find anything damning for him." He pushed his glasses up. "A private detective might find something if we had a direction to point him in, but at the moment Mayor Hirokawa seems too clean."

Morita snorted. "Bureaucrats are never clean, you just don't know where they hid their dirty laundry."

Nishida inclined his head.

Ito said, “If we’re sure he’s in dirty dealings, could we threaten him with it? Get some, uh, direct political action going?”

“It would need to be serious to get an incumbent to unlatch his claws,” said Yamamoto ominously.

Morita shrugged. “Why not just skip the middleman and threaten him directly?” Then he glanced around furtively, recalling they were still in public.

Kitamura looked at him with interest, then at Nishida. “He has a son, you said?”

— — —

Kitamura watched as Morita tried to drag the teenager into the warehouse. Despite Ito’s borrowed knife pointing in his direction and the bindings around his wrists, Tatsuki Hirokawa had stopped dead in front of the dilapidated building’s shadowy entrance. His eyes were wide with fear.

Unconcerned, Kitamura stood to the side. He lit a cigarette and took a drag before speaking. “Kid, we don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t start moving again that knife might just slip.” He raised an eyebrow when the teen turned to stare at him. “We don’t want to hurt you,” he repeated. “We’re just convincing your father to end his term early.”

The Hirokawa boy made a muffled noise around his gag, but obeyed and finally walked inside meekly. He had been actively struggling the whole drive here despite the futility of it.

Kitamura envied his energy. Ah, how youth was wasted on the young.

He eyed Ito’s trembling hands. They probably shouldn’t have given him the task of threatening a teen when he had his own kid. Unfortunately, Yamamoto was the only one who frequented City Hall often enough to drop off their anonymous message without being suspected, and Morita was irritable enough that Kitamura wasn’t sure he wouldn't stab someone on impulse. As dangerous as kidnapping a politician’s child was, hurting one was a sure ticket to get the crosshairs of the law aimed at them.

The threat of it was best saved for a true emergency.

As Kitamura entered, he nodded to Nishida who had kept watch over the warehouse while they’d done the abduction.  The once-abandoned building, barely lit by the temporary lighting they’d brought and the cigarette ember dangling from Kitamura’s mouth, was still darker than the evening atmosphere. Despite its lack of use, the massive floor was covered with crates and whatever Morita had gotten up to in his extended free time. They attached the kid’s bound wrists to one of the larger crates despite his muffled protests.

Kitamura carelessly looked the arrangement over and took another drag of smoke. He had entrusted the task of watching over their hostage to Ito and Nishida earlier. They were more softhearted than he’d like, but they feared his influence over Yamamoto and Morita too much to dare free the boy.

“We’re heading to the bar on Red Noon Street to see when the news hits,” he said. He gestured with his head for Morita to follow. “When Yamamoto shows up, let him know.” He was sure it wouldn’t take long for the mayor to notice his missing kid.

— — —

Once Morita and Kitamura vanished out the door, Ito snapped shut the large pocket knife that had been foisted on him earlier. He swore he could taste vomit.

How did Ito get dragged into this? Resorting to child abduction was insane. But neither he nor Nishida could argue against it when Kitamura had come up with the idea. If they didn’t go with it, the other three wouldn’t have had a problem tying up loose ends.

Ito couldn’t imagine his own daughter being used against him like this. The kid was innocent. He didn’t have anything to do with his father’s insanity.

He felt like there were eyes in the darkness, watching him.

Their hostage made a muffled sound. “Shit,” he muttered, turning away from his thoughts to the Hirokawa boy.

He looked terrified, his wide stare flitting over the shadows. It looked like he could barely breathe past the tape covering his mouth. Ito’s heart ached.

“Hey, Nishida, are you gonna rat me out if I take off his gag?” he called out. The boy’s stare shot to him hopefully.

Nishida sighed. “Do whatever you want. We’re going to Hell anyway.”

Eloquent. Ito crouched, paused, and said, “You won’t scream when I take this off, right? We picked a pretty deserted place. No one’s gonna hear you.” Certainly no one would be wandering around at this time of night when those horrible serial killers were still at large.

When the teen shook his head, Ito carefully peeled back the duck tape to avoid ripping skin. The boy sat stone-still under his hand. After that awful task was done, he sat back on his heels, waiting for the last of the disgusting makeshift gag to be spat out. The boy made all kinds of faces in the process.

“Bet that tastes awful,” Ito commented. “What’s your name, son? We can’t call you Hirokawa like your father, you know?”

The boy looked uneasy, but answered. “I’m Tatsuki.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Nishida, probably automatically.

Tatsuki just looked at him weirdly.

Ignoring the awkwardness, Ito clapped the kid on the shoulder and felt a bit bad when he flinched. “Cheer up, Tatsuki-kun. We’ll let you go once your father gives up his position as mayor.”

“Ito-san,” called Nishida. He tossed over a bottle of water from their emergency supplies.

Ito caught it and cracked the seal. “You want it?” he asked.

Tatsuki eyed him. He waited until he received a hesitant nod, and gingerly helped Tatsuki drink from it.

To his surprise, the teenager drank deeply, taking multiple hasty gulps. Once he finally pulled back, Ito screwed the cap shut and set it at their side.

“Why exactly do you want my dad to step down?” asked Tatsuki lowly.

Ito’s blood surged. “The man’s destroying this city,” he snapped. “He’s shutting down industries that were standing since before the town was established, and now the people who worked there are losing their livelihoods to his idiot whims.” He’d stood and begun pacing some time during his rant. Nishida said something behind him, but his pulse pounded too loudly to hear it. “The nonsensical regulations he’s been passing are crushing good businesses, and instead of helping the families destroyed by it during this hellish economy he opens budget allotments for so-called ‘single mothers’!”

“Ito-san,” hissed Nishida.

He froze. Tatsuki had pressed himself back against the crate, watching him like he was a wild animal.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, son. It’s… it’s been rough. It just makes me sick.”

A long silence stifled the air.

“So…” began Tatsuki. “That’s it? You don’t know about anything else he’s done?”

Ito raised his eyebrows. “What else has he done?”

Nishida interrupted, “If you know anything we can use as leverage against him, we might be able to convince Kitamura to let you go. Neither of us wanted you to get involved.”

Ito looked away. He hoped their cowardice wouldn’t get the boy hurt.

But Tatsuki was shaking his head. “You have to let me go before Suzuki-san tells him I’m missing. You can’t defend yourself against the kind of allies he has.” For a moment, his eyes seemed to glaze over as if he was looking somewhere far away. Then he focused back on them and said, “They won’t hesitate to kill you if they think you’re in their way.”

Instead of the bravado Ito would expect of a rich teenager threatening grown men, Tatsuki’s eyes were wide, earnest, and touched with a bone-deep terror unlike any fear he’d shown during the abduction.

Ito exchanged concerned glances with Nishida. What kind of man was Hirokawa that his own son was more terrified of him than two strangers who'd kidnapped him?

Nishida said gently, “We were careful to avoid leaving evidence. It’s unlikely the police will be able to track us down in time.”

While they could be a problem, Ito was thinking of Morita’s own suspicious connections. “Is he involved with people outside the law?” he asked. Nishida looked at him in surprise. But, between how the previous mayor had vanished without a trace, how conveniently the incumbent deputy mayor had practically been disqualified, and the fact that Hirokawa was involved with outsiders, Ito couldn’t think of a better explanation.

A shudder ran through him as possible consequences popped up in his mind. If they really had gotten in the way of someone even more ruthless than Kitamura, Ito and Nishida would be the first to go.

Tatsuki was speaking. “He’s involved with terrible things who will annihilate you. Something like that… It happened to my friends.”

Nishida inhaled sharply while Ito bared his teeth. Hirokawa was even willing to kill children for his political aims? That was insane. The man had to be taken down, no matter the cost.

The sound of an engine pulling up startled all of them. Ruffled, Nishida went to the door while Ito stayed beside Tatsuki. The seconds stretched on as heavy footsteps traced their way to the door.

“Yamamoto-san?” said Nishida.

Ito let out a relieved sigh.

“The message has been delivered,” Yamamoto said flatly. As he entered his eyes pinned Tatsuki, who must have been terrified at the new stranger the way he’d hunched into himself. “The boy is unharmed?”

“You think we’d have done anything to him?” Ito demanded. 

“Yamamoto-san,” piped up Nishida nervously, “we have reason to think that Mayor Hirokawa is working with a more dangerous faction than planned for. It’s possible he’s allied with organized criminals.”

Yamamoto’s responding glance was more dismissive than usual.

Ito bristled. “Look, we stumbled into something way too big for us. The five of us need to get out of here ASAP.” He glanced at Tatsuki. “We might as well let the kid go somewhere safe, too. His father’s a horrible human being.” He grimaced as he said this. It was cruel to say such things about a parent in front of their child, but based on Tatsuki’s words, he already knew.

“Where are the other two?” Yamamoto asked, focusing the full force of that icy glass stare on him.

Ito quailed.

“They said they would be waiting at the bar on Red Noon Street,” interrupted Nishida. He stepped closer. “Were you interrupted when you did the drop-off, or…?”

Yamamoto ignored the question. Instead, he said, “I’ll bring them back shortly.” He glanced around at the warehouse. “Convenient place you picked. Quite secluded.”

Ito and Nishida exchanged a bewildered glance. “You were here when Morita told us about it,” Nishida said.

Without a word, Yamamoto turned and left.

Ito blew out a breath and sat on a low crate. “What are we doing,” he asked himself, not for the first time.

Nishida was still looking towards the exit, his gaze distant. “He was acting a bit strange. But there shouldn’t have been anything during the delivery to distract him.”

To their surprise, Tatsuki spoke up. “You have to go. Now. That wasn’t your friend. He wasn’t human. And he knows you’re here now.”

Taken aback, Ito met Nishida’s eyes. Neither of them knew how to respond.

“He’s going to kill you when he gets back,” continued the boy. His face was pale.

Ito shook his head. Tatsuki must have deduced Yamamoto’s ruthless nature. They did say kids were good judges of character. “We’ll be fine,” he said. But… “If you’re worried, I'll cut you free so you can run if anything happens.” 

“Ito-san!” Nishida hissed.

He shrugged helplessly. Trouble was brewing. He didn’t want the kid to get hurt, not when he’d clearly suffered already.

“It won’t stop him,” Tatsuki said, but he seemed to have become resigned to whatever would happen.

Ito took out the distasteful pocket knife–his heart clenched at the flinch–and sawed carefully through the zip ties holding their hostage in place. He half-expected the teen to run for the exit Nishida was still standing in front of, but all Tatsuki did was rub his freed wrists.

“Thanks, sir,” he mumbled.

Ito patted his shoulder. “You can call me Ito,” he said.

Despite the horrible chain of events that had led to this, it was nice to feel fatherly for a moment.

The sound of two cars approaching ruined it.

Tatsuki tensed.

“Make sure to hide your arms,” Ito warned before following Nishida to the door.

“Yamamoto says the message was received,” Kitamura announced as he walked in. He was trailed by Morita, then Yamamoto.

The smell of burning tobacco from what had to be Kitamura’s second or third cigarette filled the warehouse. He took another drag, letting the cloud of smoke dim the weak lights further. “The news hasn’t gone public yet. Hirokawa might be planning to negotiate in private.”

“He’s already made a decision,” said Yamamoto.

In an instant, his hands were wrapped around the back of Morita and Kitamura’s necks. Ito stumbled back at the sound of gruesome crunches echoing through the warehouse. It was followed by the thud of heavy weights hitting the floor, then a long, tense second of silence.

Nishida broke it with a shriek and reached for the door. He had barely moved a step before a hand thrust through his chest with a bloody spray.

Frozen with shock, Ito was unable to move when those cruel, unfamiliar eyes turned to him.

— — —

Tatsuki flinched at the sound of an agonizingly familiar wet splat. He cowered from the human-shaped creature that had murdered four men in seconds. Its flat steel gaze bored into him.

"Your father is waiting for you, Tatsuki," it said, reaching out a red-soaked hand.

[sun-stone-r-ain]

Existential Dread

I just woke up from an apocalyptical nightmare where everyone I knew had a “let’s eat the last of our food” party so that we could die together.  After I woke up, I remembered that we ARE all going to die (one day) and that climate change is real.  So here’s a Welcome to Nightvale fanfic rec and a link to Ecosia to soothe some of that existential dread.

Title: Love is All You Need to Destroy Your Enemies

Author: shadydave

Fandoms: Welcome to Night vale; The Dresden Files

Pairing: Carlos Ramirez/Cecil Palmer

Author Summery:

There are a few things that Carlos may have neglected to tell Cecil.

Like his last name.

Or how he hasn’t actually dated anyone since his junior year of high school.

Or that he’s a wizard of the White Council and the regional commander of Wardens in the western United States and not, in fact, a scientist.

You know. Minor details.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2207475?view_full_work=true

My notes: The reason I thought of this fic is the following quote:

If there's one thing he learned in the desert otherworld (besides rock-based field medicine and how to repeatedly repair a Power Macintosh) it's that you can't just metaphorically live in the present. It's easier to survive there, focusing only on immediate problems or threats or mysteries. But to truly thrive, part of you has to metaphorically live in the future, planning for the hopes and dreams that don't exist now, but may exist, one day. The exact details aren't so important; what's important is that you're headed somewhere and you know who you want walking beside you.

**********************************************************************

The Climate Change Crisis

Obviously what we really need is political action.  One person deciding to get the child size paper cup from McDonald’s instead of the large plastic cup isn’t going to save the world.  We need regulation to cut carbon emissions globally.  We need to switch to other power sources.  I think nuclear power might be our best bet if we can deal with the NIMBYs.

However, I’m nervous at the thought of talking to a hairdresser, let alone my senator.  So here’s a link to Ecosia.  It’s a chrome extension where the revenue goes towards planting trees. Their website mentions Brazil (remember that farmers are setting the Amazon rainforest on fire?) and Indonesia (there’s a video called “why boycotting palm oil is not the solution’)

Link: https://www.ecosia.org/?c=en

*****************************************************************

Death

Here’s a link to donate to the Cancer Research Institue: https://give.cancerresearch.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2560&mfc_pref=T&2560.donation=form1

The other leading cause of death is heart disease.  Healthline recommends that I eat a healthy diet, lose weight, and exercise for at least 30 minutes everyday.  Great.  I guess the dog is going to be walked more now?  Or I could join intermural sports.  Go golf with my dad.  IDK.

[sri-fanfic]

SW: Revenge of the Flimsi

Obi-Wan frowned at the pad with his reassignment orders; he split the screen and loaded the regulations for reassignment in the second half and scrolled through until he found the part the strange Jedi Knight had shown him the week prior. Bandomeer was not an eligible destination for a new initiate to the Agricorps. Not only that but his own preference for assignment had been completely ignored; the Agricorps was at the bottom of the list he'd filed with the council of reassignment at the beginning of the week.

Someone was playing games with his future, games he didn't like, games that he was going to make someone regret when he buried them under a metaphorical pile of flimsiwork. The thirteen-year-old scrolled through the list of forms he'd found on the same server as the regulations and started with the one for reporting an adverse assignment destination.

He followed that up with a delaying action, scheduling an appointment in several weeks, the farthest out he was allowed to, with the council of reassignment to discuss his placement and future with the Jedi Order. His tablet chirped, and the reassignment flimsiwork updated to pending status with the date to be determined.

A brittle smile briefly graced his face before subsiding beneath the mask of serenity he'd been working on.

~-~

Yoda tapped away with his gimmer stick across the temple to the room of a thousand fountains and frowned. His plan should have worked; the fool boy Qui Gon Jinn wouldn't last half a day, let alone the five days to Bandomeer in close proximity with the younger initiate. He just knew that Obi-Wan would be good for Qui Gon, so why had he just seen young Kenobi being hassled by that Kiffar Vos in the refectory. The flimsiwork should've been perfectly settled, and the boy should be on a ship to Bandomeer in the room next to Qui Gon, at least a day away from the temple by now.

He harrumphed to himself and hopped into the branches of one of the many trees in the middle of the garden, settling in to meditate on the force.

~-~

"What," Obi-wan leaned away from Quinlan's outstretched finger, poised to poke him in the side.

"You did something," Quinlan Vos moved to kick him under the table.

"I did nothing," Obi-wan denied and dodged as the force warned his shins.

"Very convincing," Quinlan used the distraction of the dodge to steal fried tuber from Obi-wan's plate.

"Hey," Obi-wan complained, holding up an arm to shield his plate from further raiding.

Quinlan used the distraction to poke Obi-wan's side and frowned. "You did something; I can sense it."

"Okay, I may have countered an attempt to push me together with that dikut Qui Gon," Obi-wan showed him the Bandomeer assignment on his tablet.

"What?" Quinlan asked.

So Obi-wan explained the regulations he'd been pointed to and the forms he'd used to postpone the assignment.

~-~

"What's this?" Quinlan asked a few days later, holding out a pad.

"I don't know," Obi-wan replied. "How about you let me read it first." Quinlan paced as Obi-wan scrolled through the information on the pad.

"So, the flimsiwork hasn't been used correctly for a while, but it does get filed by the flimsiwork droids," Obi-wan observed.

"Not just that," Quinlan said, taking the pad and tapping through the screens before returning it to Obi-wan.

Obi-wan scrolled through the list he'd been presented with, "What is all this?"

"Requests for Jedi aid, I think," Quinlan replied. "There're about a hundred requests in there from someone named Jaster for access to the Jedi library. Not even the private council only part but the main Jedi library, which is supposed to be open to the public."

"So he's asking for access that doesn't need to be requested, and the droid doesn't know how to respond? Who's supposed to be reviewing this folder?"

Quinlan shrugged and tapped a few buttons to filter everything from Jaster into its own folder and send a reply about the library being public access.

"Should you be doing that?" Obi-wan asked.

"Who's going to stop me," Quinlan said and started scrolling through the messages and the form replies sent by the flimsiwork droid for Jaster.

Obi-wan grabbed his own pad, saving his work and clearing the screen, "Alright, show me how to get to that." The two initiates scrolled through the messages wondering why it looked like the last time this inbox had been checked was over 500 years ago.

"Where do you think I should send this one," Obi-wan asked, pointing out a request from somewhere called Rattatak that had been pending for two hundred years about a piracy problem.

Quinlan shrugged, "I think that's close to Serrano; send it to Dooku." Obi-wan listened for a moment and decided the force liked that suggestion, so he did.

~-~

Mace Windu adjusted his tunic and strolled into the temple, happy to be home from a long mission yet fighting a headache from the changing shatterpoints around him. Something had changed while he'd been gone; it was yet to be determined if this was a good or bad change.

"Master Tholme," Mace paused.

"Welcome back, Mace," Tholme replied.

"I trust all is going well with Padawan Vos," Mace resumed his path to the halls of healing.

"That boy is up to something, him and the Kenobi boy," Tholme offered conspiratorially as he followed the Haruun Jedi.

"Kenobi hasn't been chosen yet?" Mace questioned.

"Not yet, no; Qui Gon was adamant in his refusal."

"Why… of course, that meddling green troll," Mace muttered. "Please tell me he didn't…"

"Oh, he did, but either the boy got lucky, or someone showed him the proper form to submit; he countered most of it, delaying it by at least a month with a mandatory hearing with the council of reassignment. The only way around it would be for the boy to withdraw the request in person or be claimed as someone's padawan."

"How did you figure all this out," Mace asked.

"Padawan Vos informed me," Tholme grinned.

"Of course," Mace replied, "I have a feeling something's up, keep an eye on them until Vokara is finished fussing over me, will you."

"As you request," Tholme smirked.

~-~

"Friend Obi-wan!" Initiate Bant Eerin hugged Obi-wan tightly before leaning back and pinching at Obi-wan Kenobi's cheeks. "You look pale, Friend Obi-wan. Friend Quinlan, does Friend Obi look pale to you?"

"Perhaps he's pale because he can't breathe with you crushing him," Quinlan Vos deadpanned.

"Friend Obi-wan should take better care of himself," Bant nods serenely. "Friend Quinlan will make sure of this, or friend Quinlan will feel my wrath."

"Guys, why do I suddenly have a chill down my spine," Quinlan said to the room in general.

Obi-wan breathed deeply when Bant released her hold on him and gently patted her on the shoulder. "I'm perfectly fine, my darling Bant."

"I thought you had been assigned to the Agricorps," Bant said. "Not just yet," Obi-wan smirked.

[volixia669]

Like.

There's a lot of plants local to various regions in the US that don't grow very tall which means they actually stay under 8 inches, a number my town uses for lawn regulations but like, shorter lawns mean reduced chances for ticks.

Trees can be great as they help muffle the sound and there's all sorts local to various regions!

Plus, if you select plants local to your region, you can get plants intended to deal with various common natural disasters! You can also help out local pollinators!

The list version is that plants local to your region planted in both public areas and private can:

-Reduce long term maintenance costs

-Increase local pollinator numbers

-Reduce replacement costs after natural events (tornado, flood, drought, hurricane, etc)

-Provide aesthetically pleasing sound muffling next to busy roads

-Reduce number of tick bites (varies depending on max growth height)

-Reduce city water usage (varies depending on plants and region)

I know a lot of tumblerites can't afford their own house BUT y'all CAN go to city council meetings, join a city commission/advisory board, join forces with a local university to push these local fauna in public spaces, etc. I even worded the benefits in ways city officials can see the benefits!

Sure, it may seem like a small action, but the more of us who push for reintroducing local fauna in public spaces, the bigger the impact!

[achillesahero66]

The Growing Demand for Green Waste Bins: Sustainable Solutions for Home and Business

The demand for green waste bins for hire has surged in recent years, driven by an increasing focus on environmental sustainability and efficient waste management. With the pressing need to manage organic waste in an eco-friendly manner, hiring green waste bins has become a popular choice for both residential and commercial clients. In this article, we’ll explore why green waste bins have become essential, the benefits of hiring them, and how they contribute to a sustainable future.

Understanding Green Waste and Its Environmental Impact

Green waste, also known as organic waste, includes materials like garden trimmings, grass clippings, leaves, branches, and food scraps. Unlike general waste, green waste is biodegradable and can be composted or recycled. However, when disposed of improperly, it often ends up in landfills, where it decomposes anaerobically, producing methane – a potent greenhouse gas. Green waste bins offer a way to manage organic waste responsibly, ensuring it’s recycled or composted, reducing landfill usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

Why Hiring Green Waste Bins is Beneficial

For individuals and businesses alike, hiring a green waste bin provides flexibility and convenience. You only need to rent the bin when necessary, which is particularly useful for seasonal yard clean-ups, landscaping projects, or commercial properties with large quantities of green waste. Here are a few key benefits:

Environmentally Friendly Disposal: Renting a green waste bin ensures that your organic waste is disposed of sustainably, typically being sent to facilities for composting or recycling.

Cost-Effective: For those who only need green waste disposal occasionally, hiring a bin is far more cost-effective than maintaining one year-round.

Convenience: Providers often offer flexible rental terms and delivery services, so you don’t have to worry about transporting large volumes of green waste yourself.

Compliance with Regulations: Many local councils require green waste to be separated from other waste. Hiring a green waste bin makes it easier to comply with these regulations.

Choosing the Right Green Waste Bin for Your Needs

The type and volume of green waste you have will determine the best bin size for you. Residential projects may only require a small to medium-sized bin, whereas larger landscaping jobs may need a commercial-grade bin. Be mindful of any weight limits or restrictions on the types of organic material you can dispose of, as some companies may not accept large tree branches or certain types of organic matter.

The Role of Green Waste Bins in Sustainable Waste Management

Green waste bins are part of a broader movement towards sustainable waste management. By ensuring organic materials are composted, they help enrich the soil with valuable nutrients, promoting healthy ecosystems. Hiring a green waste bin is a simple yet impactful choice that benefits individuals, communities, and the planet.

[highlinetreecare]

Steps to Prepare Your Yard for Smooth Tree Removal

When it’s time to bid farewell to a diseased or damaged tree in your yard, preparing your yard before cutting the tree off makes the process safe. Yet, homeowners make the mistake of chopping down the tree without taking necessary precautions, ultimately risking both the life and structural stability of the property. 

To avoid repeating the same mistake, preparing your yard is crucial. Right from assessing the tree’s condition, obtaining necessary permits, calling an arborist, communicating with neighbours, to protecting the surroundings, arranging for stump and other disposal, and planning for after care post tree removal in Geelong, these steps are of prior need. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through each of these tips helping you to experience trouble-free tree removal with the help of an arborist.

Assess the Tree’s Condition

Before scheduling the tree removal, it is helpful to identify the signs of damage, disease, or vulnerabilities to be confident that the tree needs removal urgently and should be handled by a professional. If you don’t have time and resources to evaluate the tree’s health, it is in best interest to consult with a certified arborist for a professional evaluation.

Obtain Necessary Permits

In Victoria, tree removal requires permissions from local authorities. It is crucial to seek permissions from the city’s planning department or the local council. If you can obtain permissions, nothing beats it. But if not, it is your duty to hire a qualified arborist who complies with all tree removal regulations and fulfils every legal formality. 

Choose a Qualified Arborist

Apart from assessing a tree’s health and obtaining necessary permits prior to removing a tree, it is best to hire the right arborist for tree removal in Geelong. Ensure the team is certified, has years of relevant experience in private properties, conducts professionalism and guarantees safety in every aspect. 

When searching for a professional, it is good to ask for a quote for a detailed comparison of services covered in the quotation.

Communicate with Neighbours

If the tree that you are planning to remove is close to neighbouring properties, it is courteous to inform them. Discuss the planned removal and possible disruptions like noise or temporary road blockages to avoid any disputes later. 

Clear the Work Area

Before the arborist arrives, clear the area around the tree. Remove any furniture, vehicles, and other objects to allow easy access to space. If possible, you must also trim the shrubs or plants near the tree to make ample space for an arborist to work and place their equipment. 

Protect Surrounding Landscape

Before tree removal in Geelong, prepare the yard through wide protection of nearby trees with tarps or plywood coverings. You can even prevent structures and landscape from falling debris by fencing or placing multiple barriers. 

Discuss Disposal Options

Discuss everything about disposing tree waste with your arborist before the removal process begins. Depending on the size and condition of the tree, you can use wood chips as mulch or haul them away. Clarify if you need them to complete the clean up and disposal to avoid any misunderstandings after the removal process.

Plan for Stump Removal

Decide whether you want to remove the tree stump ahead of the process. Stump removal involves additional equipment and may incur extra costs. So, clarifying the expectations can prevent headaches. 

Having said that, stump removal should not be an option. Rather it eliminates the chances of tipping and promotes replanting or landscaping. 

Prepare for Aftercare

Once the tree removal in Geelong is done, plan for any necessary adjustments or replanting in the available area. Consider if the tree removal will increase the sunlight in the yard, expose other trees during heavy winds, and disturb the aesthetics.  

How to Find a Professional Arborist in Geelong?

Here are some steps to help you find the right arborist for your needs:

1. Research Local Arborists: 

Research arborists in Geelong. Look for tree removal companies with solid ratings and positive reviews from past clients to determine their reputation.

2. Check Qualifications:

Ensure that you hire a certified arborist who has received training from credible organisations like the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) or Arboriculture Australia. Certification indicates the arborist’s adherence to ethical practices too. 

3. Ask for Recommendations:

Seek suggestions from friends, family, or neighbours with a past experience of working with an arborist for tree removal. Personal advice can provide valuable insights into the quality of service.

4. Request Quotes:

Contact multiple arborists and request quotes for your tree removal. Compare prices to the service offerings to find the best value for your money.

5. Inquire About Insurance and Licensing: 

Trust an arborist who is insured and licensed to perform tree removal services in Geelong. This protects you from liability in case of accidents or property damage during the removal process.

Final Words

We hope you found this blog useful. Preparing your yard for tree removal in Geelong involves assessing the tree’s condition, choosing a qualified arborist, communication with neighbours, planning the waste disposal, and taking proactive steps to protect your property and landscape. 

With the assistance of an arborist in Geelong, you can confidently bid farewell to your tree, knowing your property is in capable hands. Contact Highline Tree Care – https://www.highlinetreecare.com.au/ today to schedule a free consultation and take an approach to more beautiful outdoor space.

[bigbadwolfdemolitionperth]

What Do You Consider Before House Demolition in Perth?

Have you decided to demolish your residential property in Perth? Do you plan to rebuild your home? You must be excited about creating a new space, but the home demolition process in Perth can introduce a range of complexities. If you want a smooth transition, please check out the essential factors to consider before you start your house demolition project in Perth:

Understand the Legal Landscape.

Permits and Approvals – You should research local regulations and get the necessary permits for the demolition project. The licenses may include zoning approvals, building permits, and environmental impact assessments.

Council Requirements – You can discuss specific needs like asbestos removal, tree preservation, and heritage considerations with your local council.

Contractual Terms – You should review the contract with your demolition company carefully, ensuring clarity on the scope of work, timelines, payment terms, and liability.

Consider Disruptions. 

Utilities – You can arrange the disconnection of utilities (electricity, gas, water, etc.) beforehand to prevent accidents and ensure safety.

Neighbour Notifications – You can inform your neighbours about the planned demolition and let them know about the estimated timeline and any potential disruptions.

Temporary Housing - If you're demolishing your primary residence, you can arrange temporary housing during the construction period.

Determine What Stays and What Goes.

Salvage - Consider any valuable or reusable materials that you want to salvage like architectural elements, fixtures, or landscaping.

Recycling – You can check out options for recycling building materials to reduce waste and contribute to environmental sustainability.

Asbestos Removal - If your property contains asbestos, it should be removed and disposed of professionally according to local regulations.

Choose the Right Demolition Company. 

Experience and Expertise -

The demolition company must have a proven track record and experience in handling projects like yours.

Insurance and Licensing – You should check whether the company is fully insured and licensed to operate in your area.

Environmental Commitment – Take time to check out companies that prioritise sustainable practices like recycling and waste reduction.

Bottom Line –

You need to consider these factors carefully and work with a reputable home demolition company in Perth – Big Bad Wolf Demolition. We provide cheap house demolition services in Perth with confidence and reduce potential challenges. Please keep in mind that, a well-planned demolition is the foundation for a successful home rebuild.

At Big Bad Wolf Demolition, our dedicated home demolition team will collaborate with you to oversee every aspect of the demolition process. Focusing on adherence to industry regulations, we aim to reduce the impact and disturbance to neighbouring properties during house demolition projects. For cheap house demolition projects in Perth, please contact us today at +61 424 316 734. 

[blackboyart]

Natural Laws

Should the government create laws within nature? Most environmentalists would answer without hesitation a strong yes for agreement. Environmental scientists' lives are dedicated to research that helps maintain ecosystems and promotes biodiversity. Few researchers might catch the opposing group by surprise and argue that it would be unethical to create laws for nature that go against the natural process of events. I feel laws created are good at helping sustain the environment and that biologists, ecologists, and scientists should make them however let's delve into why not.

This debate stirs up the purpose of having a government—a system to create laws that are good for the future of everyone and not the individual. The government has long been creating rules and regulations for the environment within the United States. 

In the early 19th century the 26th president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt saved 250 acres of public land to be considered a National Forest. He created the USFS United States Forest Service and was the first president to initiate the importance of birds in making a  Federal Bird Reserve. Today the reserve is known as the national wildlife refuges controlled by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The 37th president of the United States Richard Nixon signed an Endangered Species Act into effect in 1973. The act remains relevant in today's era causing clashes with corporations and farmers.  Recently under former president Donald Trump's legislation, the administration disregarded the endangered spotted owl to open up for acres of logging. The bill was reversed by a federal court in the year 2021. 

The current president Joseph Biden the 46th president has several bills that project a voice for animals in the wild.  The Biden administration intends to list emperor penguins as  “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, stating the bird from Antarctica is enduring risk due to climate change. Furthermore,   the lesser prairie chicken is listed under the Endangered Species Act by the Biden administration.  The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the lesser prairie chicken in the southern portion of its range, which includes part of  New Mexico and Texas.  Lastly, the Biden administration set out to conserve 30 percent of U. S  public lands and waters, which would ideally be good for migration stop-by locations and just all-around good habitat for birds. Currently, in Los Angeles councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky is a council supporter of the  Wildlife Ordinance Bill which had been making its way within the government in 2014  a bill that would protect wildlife and biodiversity by limiting fencing and tree removal.  

The laws that are made by the government are in place to protect biodiversity and mitigate the effects of infrastructure and urbanization.  The laws in place inadvertently affect the phenotypic diversity of the animals. However, it makes one ponder if these laws are intended to stop greed and destruction.

Environmental laws help keep balance in an already just ecosystem using power for the good. Though these laws are made to create biodiversity, they affect animals in ways that can change their genetics. 

Some might argue that nature has a way of figuring it out for itself and people are just interrupting that process. I am explaining these laws of nature because they are natural occurrences that control an animal or plant population. I understand that the rules that are in place for nature are usually to regulate human behavior and not animal-induced behavior. 

The environment has natural laws that affect a species. These laws that may happen such as bottleneck, and genetic drift are known to cause changes in the animal population and even can result in the species no longer existing. Human  intervention does not stop the production of an entirely new species or adaptation to occur. 

Government Laws did not exist billions of years ago and biodiversity is prominent. Without those laws in the past animals have still managed to adapt.  

Decreased land is prominent throughout history in nature due to natural disasters such as forest fires and tsunamis. The human intervention of promoting longevity to a species through government acts can be seen as divine intervention.  As animals naturally cease to exist. For example, a natural occurrence called bottleneck is an occurrence that happens when natural disasters occur causing a dramatic decrease in population size.  When that natural disaster happens the gene pool lets say  birds may be the only of its kind left to pass on a specific trait or behavior reducing genetic variation and resulting in possible extinction. Then there is genetic drift that is more focused on the trait itself like a species passing on a genetic trait that is used for the survival of the species. These traits help the bird survive passing on the genetics used for the longevity of the species. When a species is endangered it is due to loss of variation and or loss of habitat.  They are put into wildlife parks and captive breeding programs, no hunting, or deforestation of ecosystems and pollution. The reason for these laws is to help combat the manipulation of the land that humans build upon.

Laws were created to stop animals and plants from disappearing by advocating conservation through non-destruction or human interference.

The importance of animals and ecosystems that play a vital role in sustainability is seen as good for the planet. People are the voice of animals. They do not have a voice or a democracy in place created for the way of life making people responsible for managing them for their good.  If people did not manage laws for nature there would be an imbalance as more pressure on building and depletion, deforestation, and logging with no end until all resources are gone. Laws are in place to help create a balance between the land and humans and not just to regulate animals for economic gain. 

Thanks to regulations, several species are recovering at the state beach of Bolsa Chica Wetlands. These species include the Snowy Plover, California least tern, and the Brown Pelican. These species are on protected land thanks to governmental laws protecting them from hunting of any kind.  And their ecosystem is protected meaning that the land will not disappear due to developmental infrastructure.

[northshoretreeservices]

Understanding the Tree Removal Permit Process in Sydney

Trees are an integral part of Sydney's landscape, contributing to the city's aesthetics, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability. However, there are instances where tree removal becomes necessary, whether it's due to property development, safety concerns, or the tree’s declining health. In Sydney, strict rules and regulations govern tree removal to ensure that the city’s urban greenery is preserved and managed sustainably. Understanding the tree removal Sydney permit process is key to complying with these regulations, avoiding hefty fines, and making informed decisions about your property. 

This comprehensive guide will walk you through the ins and outs of the tree removal permit process in Sydney, helping you navigate the steps, understand legal requirements, and ensure a smooth application experience.

1. Why Is a Tree Removal Permit Necessary?

Before diving into the procedural details, it’s important to grasp why tree removal permits exist in the first place. Sydney, like many urban centres, has seen significant growth in recent decades. As housing and commercial developments expand, urban tree cover can be at risk of decline. Trees provide critical benefits, including:

Improved air quality by absorbing pollutants.

Carbon sequestration to combat climate change.

Reduction of urban heat islands through shade.

Enhanced property values and aesthetic appeal.

Wildlife habitat preservation for native species.

To balance urban growth with environmental protection, local councils in Sydney enforce regulations via Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) or Development Control Plans (DCPs). These laws mandate that a permit is obtained before certain trees can be removed, ensuring that trees are not removed indiscriminately and that the environmental impacts are considered.

2. When Is a Permit Required for Tree Removal?

While every council in Sydney may have slightly different rules, a permit is typically required in the following situations:

Size Thresholds: Trees that exceed a specific height or trunk diameter often require a permit. Commonly, trees taller than 3-5 metres or with a trunk circumference greater than 300mm at chest height need permission.

Protected Species: Some tree species, such as native trees or those classified as significant heritage items, are protected and will always require council approval for removal.

Location Matters: Trees located on public property or close to heritage-listed sites might require special considerations or approval.

Certain situations do allow exemptions, particularly when a tree poses an immediate safety threat (e.g., it’s dead, dying, or structurally unstable). However, you’ll still need to document and often consult with your local council to avoid fines or legal issues.

3. How to Determine if Your Tree Needs a Permit

If you’re unsure whether a tree on your property requires a removal permit, start by reviewing the Tree Preservation Order or Development Control Plan of your local council. These documents outline specific guidelines, including:

Which trees are protected under council regulations.

Size and species exemptions for common tree species that might not need a permit.

Special conditions for trees in certain zones, such as conservation areas or near waterways.

Many councils in Sydney also offer online tools where you can enter details about the tree (such as its species, height, and location) to determine if a permit is required. You can also directly contact your council's environment or planning department for guidance.

4. The Application Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you've determined that your tree requires a permit, the next step is to begin the application process. This process may vary slightly between councils, but here is a general overview of what to expect.

Step 1: Research Council-Specific Guidelines

Before submitting an application, research the specific tree removal requirements of your local council. Each council has its own set of rules regarding protected species, tree sizes, and acceptable reasons for removal. You can typically find these guidelines on the council’s website.

Step 2: Prepare Documentation

Your application will require detailed information about the tree you wish to remove. Common requirements include:

Tree species and size: Accurate identification of the tree’s species and measurement of its height and trunk diameter.

Reasons for removal: Justify your request by explaining why the tree needs to be removed (e.g., it’s diseased, structurally compromised, or obstructing a planned development).

Supporting evidence: In some cases, you’ll need to provide photographs of the tree, evidence of its poor health, or proof that it poses a safety hazard. An arborist report is often requested to substantiate claims about the tree’s condition.

Step 3: Submit the Application

Most Sydney councils offer an online tree removal permit application process, although some may still accept paper forms. Ensure that all required documentation is included to avoid delays. Application fees vary depending on the council and the specifics of your request. Fees typically range from $50 to $300.

Step 4: Council Inspection

Once you’ve submitted your application, the council may schedule an on-site inspection. A qualified council arborist or officer will visit your property to assess the tree’s condition and evaluate your reasons for removal. This inspection plays a critical role in determining whether your permit is approved.

Step 5: Council Decision

Based on the arborist’s findings and the specifics of your application, the council will either approve or deny your request. Approval may come with conditions, such as planting a replacement tree of a similar species or ensuring that tree removal is carried out by a qualified contractor. If your application is denied, you may appeal the decision by providing additional evidence or seeking further assessments.

5. Understanding Arborist Reports: Why They’re Essential

In many cases, councils will require an arborist report as part of the application process. An arborist is a trained professional who specialises in the health and management of trees. Their report provides an expert assessment of the tree’s condition, detailing factors such as:

Health and structural integrity: Is the tree healthy, or does it pose a risk due to disease, decay, or structural instability?

Pests or diseases: Is the tree infested with pests or suffering from diseases that could spread to nearby trees?

Risk to property: Is the tree likely to damage nearby structures, such as buildings, fences, or utilities, in the event of a storm or high winds?

An arborist report can be the deciding factor in your tree removal application. By providing professional insights, it supports your case and demonstrates to the council that the tree’s removal is necessary.

6. What Happens If You Don’t Get a Permit?

Removing a tree without the proper permit can result in serious consequences. Sydney councils impose heavy fines for unauthorised tree removal, with penalties ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 or more for significant breaches. In addition to financial penalties, the property owner may be required to plant replacement trees or undertake other remediation measures.

In cases of severe non-compliance, councils may pursue legal action, which could result in additional court-imposed fines or even criminal charges. To avoid these risks, always ensure that you follow the correct legal processes before removing a tree.

7. Timeframes and Costs: What to Expect

The timeline for processing a tree removal permit varies based on the complexity of the application and the workload of the council. In general, you can expect the process to take anywhere from two to six weeks. If the tree poses an immediate risk to safety or property, some councils offer expedited emergency removal applications, which can speed up the process.

Regarding costs, fees for the permit application vary by council. Additional costs may include hiring an arborist to produce a report, which can range from $300 to $1,000 depending on the complexity of the assessment.

8. Post-Approval: Hiring a Professional Tree Removal Service

Once your tree removal permit has been approved, it’s essential to hire a qualified and experienced tree removal company. These professionals ensure that the tree is removed safely and in accordance with council conditions. Many councils require that tree removal be performed by licensed arborists or tree lopping services, so ensure your chosen contractor meets these qualifications.

Additionally, professional tree removal companies are equipped to handle large trees, prevent damage to surrounding structures, and manage debris removal, making the entire process more efficient and hassle-free.

Understanding and navigating the tree removal permit process in Sydney is crucial for maintaining the balance between urban development and environmental protection. By following the proper steps, engaging with your local council, and working with qualified professionals, you can ensure that your tree removal project is compliant with local regulations and carried out responsibly.

Remember, each tree removed has an environmental impact, so it’s important to always consider whether removal is absolutely necessary or if alternatives, such as pruning or relocation, are viable options.

[marketanalysisdata]

Squalene Industry Research 2030 Growth factors & Expected CAGR Of Top Leaders

The global squalene market was valued at USD 149.4 million in 2023, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9% from 2024 to 2030. The rising demand for natural ingredients, particularly in the personal care and cosmetics industries, is a key driver of this growth. Squalene, a translucent substance with low odor and moisturizing properties, has become one of the most sought-after emollients globally. Its lack of toxicity has further enhanced its use in personal care products. Squalene is especially valued in the cosmetics industry for its ability to neutralize free radicals that cause skin damage and accelerate aging.

The product is widely used as a moisturizing and cleansing agent in various cosmetics and personal care products, including lotions, hair conditioners, bath oils, lipsticks, creams, and foundations. In addition to its growing use in the cosmetics sector, the increasing demand for natural and organic ingredients is expected to boost squalene consumption. Another important factor contributing to market growth is squalene’s role in vaccines. It is an essential ingredient in vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, due to its effectiveness in enhancing immune responses. The type of squalene used in vaccines and pharmaceuticals is a purified form of fish oil, primarily extracted from sharks. However, concerns about the endangered status of certain shark species, as highlighted by the International Trade of Endangered Species, have led to a shift away from animal-based sources. This shift has spurred interest in plant- and synthetic-based squalene alternatives.

Gather more insights about the market drivers, restrains and growth of the Squalene Market

Source Segmentation Insights:

In 2023, the plant-based segment dominated the squalene market, accounting for over 82.3% of total revenue. This dominance is attributed to the declining population of sharks, increased awareness about animal welfare, and the regulatory frameworks implemented by governments to protect marine species. Plants have emerged as a sustainable alternative for squalene extraction, as they can be grown and harvested without threatening wildlife. For instance, the monkey jack tree (Artocarpus lakucha), native to Asia, can produce 10%-20% of its dry weight in squalene. High-purity squalene can also be extracted from the leaves of such plants.

According to the International Olive Council (IOC), global olive oil production is expected to reach 3.2 million tons, a 2.9% increase from the previous year, thanks to the widespread cultivation of olive trees. Squalene occurs naturally in olives, amaranth, and rice bran, with olives containing the highest concentrations, depending on the cultivar, extraction technology, and oil refining process. Extra virgin, unrefined olive oil contains higher amounts of squalene compared to refined oils, making it a preferred source for extraction.

Historically, shark squalene has been obtained from the liver oil of deep-sea sharks, which contain high concentrations of the substance. However, approximately 3,000 sharks are required to produce just one ton of squalene, leading to a significant decline in shark populations. It is estimated that 2.7 million deep-sea sharks are killed each year for their liver oil, driven by the demand in the cosmetics industry. Shark liver oil has been a primary natural source of squalene, valued for its wound-healing and infection-fighting properties, as it stimulates key innate immune cells involved in tissue repair and wound recovery.

To protect shark populations and encourage the use of plant-based squalene, various laws have been enacted. In India, for example, the extraction, possession, or trade of 10 species of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) is strictly prohibited under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972. These regulations, along with the growing availability of plant-based alternatives, are driving the transition away from shark-derived squalene and supporting the growth of the plant-based segment in the global market.

In conclusion, the global squalene market is poised for significant growth, driven by the increasing demand for natural ingredients in personal care and cosmetics, the rising use of squalene in vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and a shift toward sustainable, plant-based sources. The industry's future growth will likely be influenced by further technological advancements, regulatory changes, and consumer preferences for eco-friendly and ethical products.

Order a free sample PDF of the Squalene Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.

[thetreecompany]

Tree Removal Regulations: What Every Homeowner Should Know

When a storm blows through Melbourne, it can leave behind not just fallen branches but also concerns about tree safety. Picture this: you're sipping your morning coffee, enjoying the view of your backyard, when you notice a large tree leaning ominously toward your home. The last thing you want is a potential disaster, but before you grab your chainsaw, let’s talk about tree removal regulations.

Understanding Tree Removal Regulations

In Melbourne, tree removal isn’t as simple as chopping down a tree whenever you like it. Local councils have specific regulations to protect the environment and maintain the urban landscape. If you're thinking about removing a tree, it’s crucial to know these rules before proceeding.

Why Are Regulations Important?

The regulations help ensure that our green spaces are preserved. Trees provide shade, improve air quality, and support wildlife. By enforcing guidelines, councils aim to balance development with environmental conservation. Removing a tree without the necessary permissions can lead to hefty fines and legal issues.

When Is a Permit Required?

Typically, homeowners need a permit for tree removal in Melbourne if:

The tree is significant in size or age.

It is located in a heritage overlay area.

It’s a protected species (like certain eucalyptus trees).

It poses a risk to public safety.

How to Apply for a Permit

Applying for a permit may seem daunting, but it's straightforward. Here’s a quick guide:

Check Council Regulations: Visit your local council's website to learn about specific regulations regarding tree removal. 

Complete the Application Form: Complete the necessary forms. You may need to provide details like the tree’s species, size, and reasons for removal.

Submit Supporting Documents: You might be required to include photographs and a site plan.

Wait for Approval: After you submit your application, the council may take several weeks to process it. Patience is key!

Follow-up: If you haven’t heard back, don’t hesitate to follow up with the council.

The Process of Tree Removal

1. Assessment

The service will assess the tree and surrounding area to determine the safest way to remove it.

2. Preparation

This may involve clearing the area around the tree and informing neighbors, especially if there are any potential disruptions.

3. Removal

Once everything is set, the tree removal team will complete the process, ensuring minimal impact on your property and surrounding trees.

4. Cleanup

After removal, a professional service will clean up debris and may offer stump grinding services to ensure the area is left neat.

The Importance of Professional Help

Once you have your permit, it’s time to consider how to remove the tree safely. This is where professional services come in handy. Hiring a qualified arborist ensures the job is done correctly and complies with tree removal Melbourne regulations.

Safety: Arborists are trained to handle potentially dangerous situations, reducing the risk of injury.

Expertise: They know the local regulations and can help navigate the permitting process.

Equipment: Professionals can access specialised tools and equipment, ensuring the job is completed efficiently.

Alternatives to Tree Removal

Before removing a tree, consider whether other options might be more suitable. Pruning or trimming can resolve safety concerns without sacrificing the tree entirely.

Tree Pruning

Tree pruning can enhance safety by removing dead or overhanging branches. It can also promote healthy growth and improve the tree’s appearance. Consult with a professional to see if this might be a viable option for your situation.

Conclusion

Being a responsible homeowner means understanding and adhering to local regulations regarding tree removal in Melbourne. Whether you’re dealing with a storm-damaged tree or want to improve your landscape, knowing the rules and considering professional help is essential. By taking the time to do your research and follow the appropriate steps, you can ensure the safety of your home while also protecting the beautiful environment we all share.

Remember to contact your local council or a qualified arborist when in doubt. Happy tree-caring!

Source: Tree Removal Regulations: What Every Homeowner Should Know

[proclimbingtree-services]

How Arborists Handle Council Requirements for Tree Work

Navigating Council Requirements for tree work can be tricky! 🌿🌳 Let professional arborists handle the paperwork and legalities for you. Learn how we work with councils to ensure your tree projects are compliant.