#Growing Grape Leaves For Cooking

[wonderjanga]

I love your headcanons!!! Do you think that with Fawcett being a time bubble and magical influence and when new technology is introduced to the city that it changes? Like the engineers study magic as well due to the proximity to the Rock of Eternity? I'd imagine like perpetual motion machines do exist and parts of the plumbing system are fantastical magic animals. Like the old telephone wires are autonomous snake-like entities that Marvel has to untangle sometimes. (They do get tangled up). It's all very surreal and dream logic stuff.

I would love to see what's under the hoods of their cars. Do they run on pixie dust or dragon tears? Are there small sprites keeping it all together?

I’ve actually never really thought about this but here are some ideas! I think they would study magic when getting engineering degrees cause I’m pretty sure they’d just think of it as apart of engineering maybe. Like for example, when building houses they’d make fairy doors in certain places. I also think that instead of Lightbulbs for street lamps they hire fairies every night to make themselves light up. They get payed in pretty stones. Detectives can hire ghosts to help solve crimes. I think their cars run on either, but they’d be higher quality gas so most people would use normal gas. I also think there would be lawyers who work specifically with cases about fae. There’s gonna be lawyers to get that first born back. People might use magical herbs in everyday cooking too. Like someone might get a dried leaf called mystic petals because when ground up, they taste similar to sugar. (The plant makes hair, skin, and eye color more vibrant) One of the teachers at an elementary school is a Lich that has nothing better to do but teach. Or a Centaur works as a PE teacher. I also think that Fawcett could be so affected by magic that the buildings and sidewalks could be sentient. Like a little kid’s about to trip on a crack and the pavement moves the crack out of the way. Or someone who’s vandalizing a building gets hit in the face when the building pushes a brick out. Certain roads seal up their potholes, and maybe Billy is running down an alley being chased or something and the alley walls close up behind him cutting his pursuers off. The flowers grow all year around in a certain part of a city, it could be hot all the time in another, it could snow frequently in another, and trees could start turning orange and letting leaves fall in another because of the presence of spring, summer, fall, and winter fairies who split Fawcett up into small kingdoms. Billy oversees their diplomatic affairs. You find Santa at the grocery store buying cookie mix because “it’s cheaper here than at the North Pole”. The Spirit of Halloween would start pestering people in beginning of September to put up their Halloween decorations. The Easter Bunny would be a local attraction to go see, as it would be in a meadow every Easter making eggs and giving them to other bunnies to go hide. There’d be tones of restaurants in Fawcett with from from multiple creatures. You can go to a small place on 45th, where you can order from fairies who make sandwiches and soups using traditional fairy recipes and herbs. Or a small stand ran by orcs who sell Owlbear on a stick and roasted Blood Hawk legs. There could be a pair of yetis who sell snow cones using snow from the Himalayas. They have human flavors like grape, and yeti flavors using fruits grown from their tribes. When zombies crawl out of their grave, there’s insurance for both the damage to the coffins and the ruined grave and for people who get bitten. Doctors tweaked the polio vaccine for zombification. Wind elementals help people they favor when they fall. Water elementals help move snow from roads. Earth elementals help with construction. Fire elementals help melt down metals for jewelry stores and factories. Harpies sing for crowds. Gelatinous Cubes can be used as lubricants for machinery and extremely strong glues. I also think the rock messed with time. There are dinosaurs displayed at the zoo. Certain buildings look like they’re from different eras. Gothic architecture, favored by vampires. Victorian architecture. Neoclassical architecture. Also there are wyvern. Though they’re all the size of vultures. They’d have multiple different scale colors which have been made into jewelry or bags. Animal rights activists heavily protested that, and did the same thing they would do to mink coats in the 90’s to the dragon scale items. They threw paint on them. Mimics have exterminators to sniff them out. Shapeshifters wear certain tags while in magical form so they won’t get flagged for animal patrol. There’s also a bunch of other races such as lamia, gorgons, lizard people, homuncules, and goblins.

[woso-dreamzzz]

World Cup III

Magdalena Eriksson x Hardersson!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: Sweden vs USA

Usually, you go with Momma to her camp for international break or back to Denmark to spend time with Momma's parents. But, this year, it's the World Cup and you're with Morsa.

Sweden camp is a little strange, a lot stranger than Denmark camp. At Denmark camp, Momma lets you have free reign so long as you're within eye line of one of her teammates.

Morsa, on the other hand, doesn't let you wander. She keeps your hand tight in her own as she introduces you to everyone.

You know a lot of them already though from your visits but this is the first time that you're actually been around them a lot.

Much to Morsa's annoyance, you stick quite firm to the Arsenal Swedes and then to Amanda when you find out that she's now signed for Arsenal.

If you're not with them then you're with your moster (aunt) Frido, who shares you room in Sweden with Morsa.

"There she is," Captain Caroline says one morning as you hold Frido's hand tight as you wait for her to fill your breakfast plate," Future Captain of Sweden, my little protégé."

You don't quite understand what that means but you know it kind of means that you'll be like her when you're older.

"Don't let Pernille find out you've said that," Johanna says from further down the line," She almost slapped me when I told her that y/n will be a Swedish international."

"That doesn't sound like Pernille," Filippa says, frowning as she moves to take your plate from Frido and put some grapes on it before passing it off to Nathalie to add more to.

"Momma says that I have forever to choose the right team," You say as you go up on your tiptoes to see what juice options there are. Morsa and your aunties usually have weird-tasting protein drinks but you don't like that so the cooks have started to leave juice out in the mornings for you.

"And that Morsa should stop trying to convince me to play for Sweden just because she's ego-eg...er, just because she's tistical...no...er...Because she's got a big head."

"Who's got a big head?" Morsa joins you all now, looking freshly showered.

"You, apparently," Linda scoffs.

Morsa looks confused, brow furrowed in a way that Momma likes to joke you do too. She feels her head. "I don't get it. Who said that?"

You smile, skipping away from Frido to hold her hand. "No one."

"You're up to something, princesse."

You shake your head. "No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Morsa gives you a long, considering look before deciding to drop it. "Who's got your breakfast? You need to eat if you're going to grow up big and strong like me and play for Sweden."

She goes back to looking confused when the whole team starts laughing at her.

She doesn't get the joke through the entirety of camp and all through the flight to Australia. The World Cup beginning takes her mind off of it and you flip-flop between staying with her and staying with Momma.

The highlight of your World Cup so far is meeting Keira Walsh and getting her and Mary Earps' shirts. It's a feeling like no other and you ride that high all the way back to the Swedish Camp and all through the rest of their group stage.

You only really tune back in to what your Morsa is doing when she goes up against America.

The day starts like any other. You're carted into breakfast by Nilla, who proclaims you the team's good luck charm (and they'll need all the luck they can get going against the US).

"If you win today, Zećira," You say, as Frido wipes your mouth" Can I have your special gloves?"

"If we win," Zećira says," Then you can have absolutely anything you want."

You arrive at the stadium in the coach and Morsa changes you into your special Eriksson shirt and lets you go around the locker room giving everyone hugs and kisses - you take extra care to give your favourite Arsenal girls, your moster Frido and Zećira the biggest ones.

You return to Morsa and hug her tight. Just like all her World Cup matches, you walk out as her mascot and give her a big kiss before kick off where you scamper off to the bench.

Lina isn't starting today so you stick close to her side on the bench as she sits you on her lap so you can see everything. She tells you that the US are the reigning champions and are very good so this match means a lot.

America rains down on your team and you crane your head to watch as Zećira pulls off another amazing save.

You want to be like that one day, playing as the first keeper for your country. You want to be just like Zećira and save all the goals that come your way.

It's nearing the end of the first half and there's still no goal on either side. The US continues to attack Morsa's defence and Zećira's goal but can't quite get it passed.

A few times Lina covers your eyes when she thinks America is going to score but they're all false alarms.

The game falls into half-time fairly quickly and you're relegated back to the locker room to regroup.

"Come here, princesse."

Morsa seems a bit sad and down and you ragdoll to let her pick you up and squeeze. When she lets you go, she cups your cheek. "I'm going to get you another medal," She says," We're not going out here."

"I don't need another one," You say softly," I'm happy with my one now."

Morsa shakes her head. "No, no. I will get you another one. You're going to get a medal in every World Cup I play until you're old enough to earn your own. We aren't letting them knock us out."

Morsa's determined now and you just nod.

You weave your way through the group of girls until you're in front of Zećira. You don't say anything, just crash into her arms and give her the best hug you can manage.

The second half goes much the same as the first and you have to let go of Lina for her to go onto the pitch so you end up attached to Johanna who's just come off and holds you so tight that you almost can't breathe.

That feeling persists in your chest as the game ends in penalties.

The team lines up by the edge of the pitch. You stand in the very middle as you watch on.

Zećira goes the right way for the US's first shot but misses out on the save. But moster Frido keeps Sweden level with her own goal. Horan gets the next goal but Elin scores back.

You shift anxiously on your feet, scuffing your shoes on the grass.

Kristie, who you know dates Sam, scores one past Zećira and you have to hold your breath as Nathalie misses her shot. You only release it when the US also fail to score their next goal but then suck in another one when Naeher saves Rebecka's.

With Smith missing her own and Hanna scoring, you feel more content again.

Naeher scores then it's Morsa's turn.

You bite at your lip and play with your Eriksson jersey as Morsa does her little runup.

The ball flies into the top corner of the goal and you smile.

O'Hara misses and then Lina...Maybe scores?

You don't understand what's going on.

"They're checking VAR," Caroline says as she crouches by you," Because Lina's goal might have already gone over the line before Naeher saved it."

The whole stadium is silent as the ref listens to what they're saying in her ear.

You grab hold of Caroline in one hand and Johanna in the other.

The ref makes an odd gesture and suddenly you're being thrown into the air and Johanna's running with you in her arms.

Everyone converges on Lina and then on you, giving you kisses and spinning you around. You slip away before Morsa can trap you with her own love and run to your favourite goalkeeper in the whole wide world.

You skid to a stop as Naeher wildly gestures to the ref.

Zećira pulls a glove off her hand and claps her palm against Naeher's before lifting you up so you can do the same.

She throws you into the air like Johanna did and catches you. You're placed safely on the ground again as a cameraman catches the moment Zećira kneels in front of you and pulls her gloves onto your hands.

"We won," Morsa says to you.

"You had a good goal," You say, easily falling into her embrace.

"I sense a but?" She teases and you look down at the gloves still on your hands.

"But Zećira was the best today. I'm going to be the best like her one day too."

"Of course you are."

[bedoballoons]

This. Is. Gold. I have no idea who requested this but I love you and thank you. I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry you had to wait so long!

─⊰⁠⊹ฺ❄️𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕤⊰⁠⊹ฺ❄️

{༻~At your service and your mercy~༺}

CW: Suggestive! MDNI! GN! Reader, reader wears a maid out fit, a few times the reader calls the character master, mentions of the skirt being short, some slightly nsfw requests from the characters, sitting in lap, and making out. As well as one spank from Kaeya :p

(Includes: Diluc, Neuvillette, Wriothesley, and Kaeya!)

𑁍༄Diluc:

"Thank you Adelind-" Diluc caught himself as he looked up at you...his eyes widening and a blush growing on his cheeks, "I- why are you dressed like a maid?"

You chuckled and leaned in to kiss his cheek, moving a piece of his firey red hair behind his ear, "It's your birthday today and I thought it would be nice to spoil you. So I told Adelinde to take the day off and plan to do everything she would have, and more of course~" You winked at him suggestively and hurried to fetch his drink, leaving him wondering just how many...other things, you had planned for this day...he secretly hoped no one else would show up wanting to celebrate his birthday...he'd much rather stay with you instead.

𑁍༄Neuvillette:

You poured Neuvillettes water into his cup, trying to had the satisfied smile that kept creeping onto your lips when you felt his eyes on you. "Oh Monsieur Neuvillette, I've poured your water, is there anything else I can do for you~" You set the jug on a nearby side table, taking your place beside his desk and awaiting his orders... excitement coursing through your veins, he could order you to do anything and you'd gladly accept as his sweet maid.

"Perhaps...you could sit with me for a moment.." Your heart skipped a beat as he gestured to his lap, the pads of his fingers tapping against his desk like he was growing impatient..."Of course master." You climbed into his lap, feeling his hands pull your waist further down on his lap, the seam of his pants rubbing against your thigh. You adubily gasped at how tight his grip got..

"You said anything...right?"

"Yes master~"

𑁍༄Wriothesley:

"How am I supposed to get any work done with you dressed like this~" Wriothesleys voice was almost a growl as his words escaped between heated kisses, his rough hand slowly sliding your already short skirt up to your waist and his knee in between your legs. Seems your plan of being a maid for his birthday was just what he wanted, you moaned quietly tugging on his hair as his lips crashed into yours.

"It's merely a gift Wrio, you could tell me to take it off anytime, any order you give me I'll fulfill~" You clicked your tongue at the end of your sentence, watching as his eyes dazed at the thought.

"Any order hmm? Maybe...maybe I'll leave the work to the gardemeks today. I can't leave my pretty little made bored now can I?"

𑁍༄Kaeya:

You jumped as Kaeyas hand landed firmly on your rear and sent blush straight to your face, "M-master Kaeya I-" He hushed you with a quick kiss, his arms wrapping around you and pulling you close to his body. He'd been using his birthday gift to his best advantage, asking you to cook his favourite food and let him feed you grapes, to let him touch you and anything else he could think of that caught his fancy.

"May I, have my beautiful maid take a break from their duties for a couple hours and spend some time with their master in his room. He's getting rather impatient, even with the perfect maids work~" The tone in his voice sent a shiver down your spine, whatever he had in store was sure to leave you unable to fulfil any other duties. "But of course master~"

ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚~Have a nice day!~*⁠.⁠✧

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-fi prompt from IndigoMay:

What would be the economic impact if people could magically grow whatever food they liked? Including fodder for animals.

This is a very wide-ranging question, like... when was the magic introduced? What was the state of agriculture before that? Is this food generated from existing matter, delivered by gods, or something else?

I'm going to narrow this to:

What would happen if people could, starting tomorrow, grow any plant...

That is edible, by either humans or livestock, with appropriate treatment.

Without delay, meaning that the time sink is several minutes instead of weeks or months.

Without concerns for weather or other natural dangers like fungal infections or pests, or requirements for water or fertilizer.

Without depleting soil nutrients, so long as they have arable land to work with.

Without relying on fresh seeds or other 'raw ingredients' like leaf cuttings.

Well... let's start small.

Personal Basis - people who are not farmers

People who do not normally grow things would start angling to acquire some kind basic gardening implements. For some, like those who live in the suburbs, this would be as simple as going into the backyard. For those in cities, they'd need to get a window box or similar to use. If you have free, guaranteed fresh plant matter, that's already a good thing, but the time and care required to keep a garden alive is more than some people can manage due to work or children or housing. With immediate food that requires minimal effort, a lot of those hurdles are removed. You can grow the two tomatoes you need for dinner, and then put the pot of soil away for tomorrow.

The cost of

Personal Basis - small farmers

The obvious impacts for those who are small farmers is that people are less likely to buy their raw ingredients. Most of these small farmers would start looking into modifying their operations to do things that require processing.

Growing apples in your house for a snack is fine--if you have a pot big enough for a small tree, and a way to dispose of the wood if it's a one-time thing--but if you want applesauce or cider or pie, someone who knows how to cook or bake needs to do that part. You can grow wheat, but your chances of having the necessary tools to grind flour are slim. You can grow cashews, but fuck knows how you're going to process that without poisoning yourself! You can grow grapes on your trellis, but that doesn't mean you have the knowledge to make wine without accidentally going straight to vinegar. You can grow corn, but that doesn't mean you know the best way to dry it to make popcorn.

So small farms shift to those products that either need processing, or are part of an animal-based food. This includes things like flowers for bees. You can't really control bees, so just 'grow and go' might incite the bees to leave somehow. Maybe they can sense magic! Who knows!

Another option would be to focus on unique or heirloom things. If you go to a farmer's market, you might be going just to see all the fruits you've never encountered before. If there's an apple stand one year, and suddenly you can grow your own apples at home, then maybe what they start doing is growing unique or rare cultivars that you've never heard of, and that's their new niche. It's not that you can't grow the apples, but would you grow them if you've never heard of them? Plus, the apple stand is doing sauces and ciders now.

Mid-tier and large farms

These farms will start to focus in on large-scale crops that don't go straight to tables or cooking pots in homes. Scrap the eggplants, the cucumbers, the blueberries. Focus on:

Fruits and vegetables that are needed for popular secondary products, like tomatoes (ketchup, marinara), or oranges (juice), or corn (anything with fructose corn syrups, popcorn).

Plants that are popular but NEED processing to be edible, like coffee beans, cocoa beans, or wheat, that most people just don't have.

Plants that are needed in massive quantities for animal feed, such as alfalfa or chicken grains.

Now, I think these large farms would still be in production. We'd see a massive reduction in water usage, which is great (except for cranberries, I guess), but many of these products would still be needed in quantities that need industrial levels of processing. Someone needs to pick the oranges, to drive them to the juicing facility, the facility needs to juice and treat and preserve and bottle them, and then that needs to be driven to the store. The reduced time to grow, reduced water usage, reduced waste from natural predators or dangers, and general ability to plan things more efficiently would result in lower costs for many of these products in a truly free market... but would possibly also rise in cost as companies try to maintain a consistent flow of profit.

Sure you can make the juice at home, but what if you're already at work? There's still a demand for products; most of us can get water from a tap at home, but there are still convenience stores selling bottled water on every other corner in a big city.

I think the most interesting of these concerns would be grazing animals, like sheep, cattle, and goats. Being able to 'refresh' the grass of a single field without having to rotate the animals to new pastures once they've eaten away at one, and without damaging the nutrient profiles of the one they're staying at, means reduced deforestation or soil destabilization in agricultural areas. We'd see a fairly significant stalling of things like the decimation of Mongolia's grasslands if the goats didn't need as much grazing land.

Maintaining the meat industry would be one of the most constant sources of demand for large-scale agriculture, given that other products could go through cycles to more efficiently use land. You can grow and harvest oranges for Tropicana on Monday, grapes for Welch's on Tuesday, soy beans for Silk on Wednesday, tomatoes for Heinz on Thursday, and so on. They probably won't need more than they used to.

Meanwhile, the cows gotta eat. And eat. And eat.

Corporations

This one is fun! MONSANTO'S GONNA BE PISSED.

So, magically growing food, you don't need seeds, at least in this case. Or you can coax more product out of a seed you already have planted. You've gotten eight cycles corn out of this one stalk this season!

So Monsanto loses some of that insane seed monopoly situation.

You'd see a decrease in pesticides and anti-fungal products as agriculture speeds up a cycle by enough to prevent the spread of dangerous infestations. It's not going to kill your entire farm if you find fungus one day and have to burn it to prevent the spread. You lost one day's profit, not a full year's.

This impacts Monsanto too. Remember the Roundup debacle?

Now, to be clear, there are still plants that will rely on pesticides and anti-fungals. The premise only covers food, after all, so there are still important plants that will need longer, dedicated growing seasons.

Industry-wide shifts

Sooooooooooo a lot of the money starts to come from non-edible plants. This is your cottons, linens, hemps, latex/rubber trees, cork trees, lumber, and so on.

As the needed arable land necessary to feed humanity (and our livestock) decreases, more land is freed up for return to indigenous peoples, reclamation by nature, usage for alternate cultivation, housing, or... well, other capitalist ventures, like bitcoin mining or whatever.

On a geopolitical level, this causes some interesting shifts in places that draw their power from being 'breadbasket' nations. For instance, if you remember the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, we saw some major pressures being placed by virtue of some countries (e.g. Lebanon, Pakistan) getting most of their wheat from Ukraine, and the war suddenly cutting off a massive portion of how they fed their people. Much of Ukraine's support, in those early days, derived from their importance as a breadbasket nation. If everyone can grown their own food, that moves the lines. Countries that are poor on space or water can stop relying on trade to survive in terms of water. Countries that rely on their agriculture to be able to trade for other things need to diversify their economies, and fast.

(Does mean that Saudi Arabia can stop using Arizona's water, though.)

The greatest shifts would come down to water usage and pollution, I think. Agriculture is currently one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis, and the reduction of water use by farming would be a massive help. However, I'm less sure of how we'd see meat consumption change. The greater availability of fresh fruits and vegetables could result in a shift towards more plant-based diets worldwide, but just as easily we could see large agricultural corporations (and those that rely on them, like John Deere or the aforementioned Monsanto) market meat to consumers as a greater rate due to the profit margin.

Oh, also, I have a feeling that a lot of those corporations would try to get garden centers shut down, or buy out ceramic pot and planter factories. If you can't grow anything at home because you don't have a window planter, you have to buy from the store, right?

[wisteriaiswriting]

Hello! May I request for Sova, Iso, Gekko, Jett, cypher, and Reyna reacting to a reader who absolutely loves sour things? For example she eats lemons like oranges in a daily basis and eats super sour candy like it's nothing

𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕪 ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕪 𝕃𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕫𝕪

Words: 864

He’ll search around for any type of sour recipes, to either make them himself or find someone else if he has a lack of time.

Most of the time he’ll try the food, whether or not he actually likes them (I imagine him as a spicer type.) you’ll be able to have the majority.

He’ll search around for any type of sour recipes, to either make them himself or find someone else if he has a lack of time.

Most of the time he’ll try the food, whether or not he actually likes them (I imagine him as a spicer type.) you’ll be able to have the majority.

***

Hours ago he left, and the only answer you got when asked was ‘Market.’ It seemed he was planning something as he would normally tell you, and even ask if you would accompany him.

This time though you were left in the dark until he returned. Which luckily wasn’t too long ago, now you had to endure him removing you from the kitchen for who knows how long. First he leaves you then bans you from your own house? What was he up to?

Well luck seemed to be on your side today as he was quick to call for you. Returning to see a bunch of packets on the counter, a closer inspection only showed Russian writing on them. Even with the images you had no clue.

“Y/N, I believe you’ve been asking about my homelands candy?”

Oh…

Majority of the time he just… doesn’t notice the amount of sour stuff you eat.

The only items he notices are the wrappers, fruits and other foods, although he won’t question you about it.

***

Recently Iso had started noticing a few things. Such as candy wrappers, especially sour candy. The fruit bowls had more lemons and other citrus fruits then the normal ones, the pantry was similar.

It wasn’t weird though, he had his preferences and you had yours. It just seemed to be sour food. While he wouldn’t eat it much if you enjoyed it he wouldn’t complain.

He’s learnt to handle anything but sour growing up.

If you eat anything sour in his sight he will openly cringe, might say something as well.

***

Gekko was bored. Everyone else was either on a mission or just too busy to deal with him, except you. He found you in the kitchen, eating what he assumed were grapes, from a bowl.

“Mateo, what some?” You held your hand out, which held the fruits. Ones he took gracefully. The sweet flavour never showed, instead covered by immediate sourness. Causing him to spit them out.

“What was that?”

“Hmm?”

“Those!” He pointed at the mess.

“Oh, they’re Gooseberries.”

She's cooked and tasted more than her fair share of sour food, so she’s learnt how to handle it.

Is aware not many people can handle sour well, but that won’t stop her from teasing anyone.

***

It was Jett’s turn to make dinner, and this time she made Tungsuyuk. She’s grown so used to cooking for the both of you she honestly forgot how others couldn’t handle the sourness of it.

But she also made yours special, able to give you a larger portion. Even then the others couldn’t handle it.

“Jett! What did you put in this?”

“C’mon Neon, I thought you could handle this?” Turns out she couldn’t, watching the group either give up or drink more water.

Due to his connections and access, if there's something you want he’ll be able to get it, the only problem is if he will.

He is kinda a picky eater, also much prefers spice over sour. So he won’t try many, only a select few me might enjoy.

***

The mission brief had just finished, and unluckily for you Cypher managed to scurry off from you. So until he came back around you’d have to either entertain yourself or find someone, but it seems he thought of that already.

As a decently sized box sat on your bed, seemingly just delivered as all the agents were in the meeting. And on top sat a note.

‘My Dear,

Hopefully these are to your liking, I’ll be waiting for your answer.

Love, Amir.’

And you guessed it, the box was full of sour Moroccan snacks and foods. Knowing he’ll be ready to order them and more.

This woman is not fazed, as she’s seen worse things. But will look at you like you asked the dumbest question ever if she sees you eating a lemon, at all.

From her experience souls taste… different to say. And a good few are weirdly sour, so she isn’t too put off by their flavour and sensation.

***

The day was just another, this one neither you or Reyna were to be sent on missions. So you spent it hanging around with others, while she was training. When she finally finished she started walking back to her room, passing you and Gekko in the living area.

A quick glance had her brain assuming you held an orange, nothing out of the ordinary. Until Gekko spoke up.

“Ew dude, why would you- stay away!”

At first she was alarmed until she remembered who you two were. Slowly stepping back to see you holding out the orange- wait no, that's not an orange. You were holding a lemon, one that currently had a bite mark.

At the realization she could only stare at you, turning into a glare when you made eye contact.

“Want some?”

[the-froschamethyst4]

could u write smth about being out with Simon and a guy is hitting on reader?

Either watch the Hand or lose the Hand

��Pairing: Husband! Ghost x Wife! Reader

𖤐Pronouns: She/Her

𖤐Warnings: fluff, hints of smut, harsh language, protective Ghost, creepy men, kissing, married couple, harassment, some perverted comments,

𖤐summary: Ghost and Y/n need to go to the store for a few things but when Y/n is on her own and Ghost is trying to find the other things on Y/n's list, but he comes back a creepy man is flirting with Y/n

————

————

"Come on baby! We have to go!" Ghost yells for his wife from the bottom of the stairs.

"Chill, I'm taking my time, the store isn't going to grow legs and leave." Y/n giggles at her husband.

"You never know, and I want to get there before all the weird people come out."

"What's considered weird to you Ghost?" She asked, getting her sandals on and grabbing her purse to complete her outfit. Ghost placed his hands on her waist of her sundress and kissed her temple.

"I'm talking about the weird so-called single mothers that always hit on me," Ghost says, opening the front door for Y/n.

---------

Ghost grabbed a cart pushing it as Y/n locked her arm with his as they looked down at the list. Y/n and Ghost had a family cook out they were going to this Saturday, but they were also out of a few things.

Y/n wanted to make a fruit salad, and some cookies and brownies as a sweet treat. Ghost pushed the cart as Y/n was going over the list on what she needs. Ghost takes the list from her and memorized the things she needed.

"Why don't I go the stuff to make your homemade brownies and cookies and you worry about the fruit, okay?"

"Are you sure? It's a lot of things, Si."

"I know, I know, I can do it, I know what you need," Ghost says.

"Okay, get everything."

"I will," he kissed her lips before going to the baking section leaving Y/n on her own. She had grabbed strawberries, blueberries, grapes, kiwis, raspberries and more.

"You should get bananas if you like fruit." Y/n stopped what she was doing and turned around, she knew it wasn't Ghost, but she felt uncomfortable with that sort of comment.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"If you like fruit, get some bananas."

"Are you suggesting that because I'm a woman and 'knows' how to handle a 'banana' or you are just saying that cause you think you're funny?"

"Honey, I know I'm funny, that's why I suggested it, you could handle my banana anytime," Y/n gave a disgusted look on her face and walked away. She hates bananas and for this type of reason as well, she doesn't even eat bananas around her own husband.

"Hey, now, I wanna keep talking."

"Well, I don't wanna talk to you," she says, walking away.

"Come on, now, I'm sorry about the comment...I like your dress...you single?"

"Married?" Y/n says.

"Oh damn, well, he doesn't have to know-"

"Actually he will," Ghost comes up past him placing the baked goods in her cart. "And yeah, that dress also looks better on the floor," he smirks, placing his arm on her waist and they walked away from the creepy guy.

----------

Ghost and Y/n were now in the frozen section and the same guy was in the aisle, maybe he will leave Y/n alone getting the hint that Ghost is her husband and to leave her alone.

The guy was looking in the freezers 'looking' for something.

"Which one, love?" Ghost asked.

"The chicken, get chicken," she says, leaning on the cart, Ghost opens the freezer turning his back to her. The creep then shines his phone under Y/n's skirt.

She didn't notice. Ghost turns back around and the creep had moved away from Y/n, but Ghost caught it. He places the frozen meat into the cart and marches to the guy.

"Simon?"

Ghost grabs the creeps wrist, he drops his phone on the ground and Ghost grabs it off the floor, the creeps is wallowing in pain and his knees landed on the floor. Ghost opened his photos and saw a few pictures of Y/n's underskirt and a short video as well.

"You takin' photos of my wife!?" Ghost was pissed, seeing red pissed. Y/n had pushed the cart next to Ghost, he shows her the photos and video. She gasps and takes the phone from Ghost seeing more underskirt photos of different women.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Y/n asked.

"I think you're really pretty."

"You are fucking disgusting," Ghost then starts dragging the creep. Ghost drags him to the front of the store knocking on a door labeled 'Security'

The door opens and Ghost basically tosses the guy inside the office.

"He's taking underskirt photos of women and he got my wife," Ghost says.

"We caught him doing it to another woman, we called the police, it's good to know the police won't go on a wild goose chase to get this guy."

Ghost heads back to his wife, she looks at him a bit worried.

"Is he gone?"

"They already called the police because they caught him doing it to other women, I just made their job easier by dragging his creepy ass up there," he says, he puts his hand on her waist and they went to go pay for their stuff.

----------

Ghost and Y/n were home, and Ghost was putting everything away in their certain spots. Ghost placed the chicken on the counter and was going to prep it for dinner tonight.

Y/n was cutting veggies, once Ghost was done, he moves over to Y/n placing his hand on her butt giving her a lovingly squeeze and kissing her temple.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"I've just never had anything like that happen to me before...not even when I was in High school with dumb jocks, no one has ever done that to me before...I don't know, how I feel," she says, leaning on Ghost.

"I understand," he says.

Ghost watches as she cuts the vegetables he grabs her hands taking the knife from her hands, he made her wrap her arms around his waist and hugged her, rubbing her back.

"Your hugs are the best," she says, snuggling her face into his chest.

"Only for you...you are quite literally the only person I hug because you deserve it," he says, kissing the top of her head.

Y/n looks up at him, her chin on his chest. His hand ran through her hair, and kissed her lips.

"For now on, to make you feel comfortable I can go to the store for you or I can come with you everywhere."

"I wouldn't mind that," she says, burying her face in his chest.

[infiniteglitterfall]

Tu Bishvat is almost on Valentine's Day this year! I'm calling it for the Jewish aros. This is our new aromantic holiday.

(But only this year. Because it's usually in January.)

Instead of celebrating romantic love, we are celebrating uhhh... the start of spring, and the birthday of the trees.

Also, fruit. It's a very fruity day for us to be aro.

Tu Bishvat is the trees' birthday because Jews needed a way to keep track of how old their trees were. Which was because Jewish law says that you have to wait three years before harvesting a tree's fruit.

If you want a fun example of how different Judaism and Christianity actually are: You don't go to hell if you harvest the fruit too soon. You just end up with crappy fruit.

Because it takes fruit trees about three years to develop enough to bear good fruit.

It's literally only Jewish law so that you know how to grow fruit.

Going to hell like that isn't a Jewish concept. Christianity invented both the concept of "if you sin you will burn in hell forever," and the concept that "only accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior will save you from burning in hell."

Nothing really brings home the fact that we're not only celebrating seasonal agricultural holidays on a lunar cycle, but specifically celebrating the 4,000-year-old agricultural festivals from ancient Israel, like realizing your holiday exists just so that you'll know whether you can harvest your fruit trees...

In around six months...

When the fruit that is starting to come into blossom now actually ripens.

Also, obviously, so that you can celebrate the beginning of spring... in Israel. 

Not wherever you actually are. Unless you happen to be in the same sort of climate. Or in Israel.

As my copy of "The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking" says:

"Like all the major Jewish festivals, Tu b'Shvat, which means 'the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat,' has its roots in the rhythms of nature....

"Arriving just a few weeks after the winter solstice and exactly six months after Tu b'Av, summer's Festival of Love, the fifteenth of Shvat marks the moment in which we can actually feel the night grow shorter and the hours of daylight increase, gently warming the earth. The dormant trees awaken from their winter hibernation, and the roots begin to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil."

There's also a newfangled tradition of having a Tu Bisvhat seder, where you eat the seven staple species of ancient Israel: barley, wheat, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates.

It started in the 16th century, when Safed became a center of kabbalistic learning. (So new!)

Apparently you can save your etrog from Sukkot -- the one that, if you have access to it at all, you probably had to get shipped from Israel, because we celebrate four dIFFERENT species for THAT holiday but they're STILL Israeli ones -- Anyway, it's apparently cool to save that expensive lil fucker, stick cloves all over it to preserve it (like an orange), and put it in a bowl with oranges, walnuts, and almonds, to symbolize the physical world and the strong outer defense you need in it. 

In a slightly higher bowl, you put dates, olives, and apples, which are edible down to their seeds: the world of Formation, where new life is started. 

And in the highest bowl, you put figs, carobs, and raisins, which can be consumed completely, representing the world of Creation and "those who are entirely 'one' with themselves and with others."

"To this day, around Tu b'Shvat, the change is felt even in my Tel Aviv garden; new leaves begin to unfold on the fig trees, and the earth seems to come alive again. Just as they have for millennia, the almond trees burst into glorious white bloom.

"The still-untamed hillsides are covered with wild leaves and roots that once helped sustain our ancestors through the winter months, and dotted throughout are the red anemones that reminded them of the beauty of the earth in this season.

"Living in the hills of Safed, in the Galilee, and responding to that wintry splendor, the famed sixteenth-century mystic known as the Ari ('the Lion'), Isaac Luria, originated the custom of  special Seder for Tu b'Shvat revolving around the eating of thirty different native fruits, which he believed contained the 'divine sparks' that had been scattered all over the universe when it was first created.

"The Seder also included a unique ritual blending red and white wines, reflecting nature's colors as winter becomes spring and the white almond blossoms slowly yield to lush carpets of red poppies, just about the time of the wheat harvest of Shavuout, in May.

"With the passing centuries, the Tu b'Shvat Seder spread rapidly through many communities, especially among Jews living in Arab countries, though in the course of time it fell into obscurity [among Ashkenazim, who were living where the weather sucked]."

I don't know what THIRTY (!!!) fruits the mystics were eating. I want a full list, damnit.

Carob was a popular addition for Jews in the Ashkenazi diaspora, because carob traveled well from Israel. Some of them only had dried fruits and a little bit of carob to celebrate with.

Carob is actually really good, if you don't claim it's a chocolate replacement.

Carob is really terrible if you tell children it's chocolate instead.

I went to a party with my parents once, when I was little, where they brought out what they SAID was a chocolate cake. It was carob.

I have never forgotten how bad it tasted, or how angry I was about it. And there was nothing better I could eat to get the taste out of my mouth!

It's possible I cried a little bit, even.

It was REALLY AWFUL CAKE. It tasted like dirt.

Sefaria doesn't list the fruits either, but it says there were ten for each bowl. It offers a nice short seder that begins:

A tree is constantly growing and so must we. A tree produces fruit and so must we. On Tu B'Shevat we must renew personal growth, just as the trees on Tu B'Shevat begin to draw moisture from the earth.

The Velveteen Rabbi, which is a GREAT blog, says:

Some Jews regard Tu BiShvat as a kind of hinge-point within the year, between the season of darkness (Chanukah) and the season of light (Passover). Some conceptualize the round of the Jewish year as a single long day, in which case Tu BiShvat comes around 3 a.m., an hour which is neither precisely night nor precisely morning....

In an alternate interpretation, suggested by a modern scholar of comparative religion, this weekend is not Tu BiShvat but rather Tuba Shabbat, when Jews worldwide bring our large brass instruments to shul to have them blessed before we use them to accompany the melodies of the morning service. I don't know about you, but I think a brass quintet in shul would be a lot of fun...

(Fun fact: The Shulchan Aruch, a major rabbinic text about Jewish law, was written in Safed at around the same time. "Shulchan Aruch" means  "Set Table."

It was written by Rabbi Yoseph Caro, who basically went through the entire Talmud and Mishna and gave a simple, clear list of still-relevant laws from them. Minus the debate, the historical and anecdotal commentary, the stuff that couldn't be followed after the destruction of the Temple, and the extensive explanations of how frigging HOT Rav Yochanan was.

As it turned out, Rabbi Moses Isserles of Poland was attempting the same thing. When he saw Caro's work, he dropped his own and just added commentary to what Caro had written.

Chabad tells us, "Keying off the name Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Moshe called his commentary Mapah, which means 'tablecloth.' In the words of his introduction: 'I have come after [Rabbi Caro] to spread a cloth over the set table, upon which he has collected all the delightful fruits and delicacies that a person may love.'"

VERY Tu Bishvat.

Another fun fact: I read something last year about how Passover probably started as another seasonal festival, later in spring when the first crops ripened.

Apparently, what you would get if you'd run through your stored grain by then, harvested those very early grains, and tried to make a kind of Desperation Bread out of them, is a lot like matzah.

But it was worthy of celebration, because it meant you'd made it all the way to spring, and new good food was going to be available soon.)

[hearthandheathenry]

All About Mabon

Mabon is the name given to the pagan and Wiccan holiday that is celebrated on the autumn equinox. This year, it falls on September 22nd in the northern hemisphere. Although celebrations have been happening on the autumn equinox for centuries, Mabon as we know it today is a holiday coined and created around the 70s by new-age paganism and Wicca, named after the Welsh God. Although it doesn't have ancient roots, it does take inspiration from other autumn harvest festivals and participants have created beautiful ways to celebrate the neo-pagan holiday.

Just like other autumn equinox festivals, the main theme of Mabon seems to be one of transitioning seasons and giving thanks to the harvest and honoring nature. Many people consider it the pagan version of "Thanksgiving" as both holidays share many of the same symbolism and draw from seasonal items. Cornucopias play a big part in the symbolism of Mabon, representing a bountiful harvest, along with apples as well. Many people gather, feast, and spend time preparing for the long winter ahead as the days now grow shorter. Balance and scales also play a big role in celebrations due to the equinox, making it a great time to reflect on the give and take of life.

There doesn't seem to be one set way to celebrate Mabon due to its recent nature, so participants are encouraged to simply lean on the underlying themes of the holiday and celebrate in the ways that speak to them as they enjoy the universal shift in seasons.

Mabon Associations:

Colors - red, orange, brown, yellow, gold

Food - apples, squash, bread, corn, grains, root vegetables, grapes, nuts, pomegranates, wine, beer, cider, cinnamon

Animals - farm animals

Items - cornucopias, corn stalks, harvest tools, scales, acorns, autumn leaves

Crystals - amber, citrine, jasper, obsidian

Other - balance, change, thankfulness, reflection, letting go

Ways to celebrate:

have a feast

gather with loved ones and give thanks

write a list of everything you're grateful for

have a bonfire

decorate your home with Mabon and Autumn symbolism

harvest food from your garden

visit a farmers market

bake bread or pie

cook autumn themed food

write down goals for the coming season

create a Mabon altar

donate your time or money to those in need

go apple picking

cleanse and ward your home

stock up on food for winter

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Could we plz have some Knuckles and Maddie headcanons?

Knuckles is a very MESSY kid, even more so than Sonic. It drives Maddie up a wall whenever she asks him to clean up his mess and he only cleans small amount of it and leaves the rest cause it “provides protection” according to him.

It took him a bit to get used to sleeping without wearing his shoes since he was so used to it after so many years.

At first, he was fighting for her attention against Sonic, and sometimes Tails, trying to please her with everything she asked them to do. She had to give them all a stern talking to that she loved them ALL equally and nothing was going to change that, due to some of the house got damaged in their little competition.

Unlike Sonic, who won’t admit it outright, he loves having his quills and head stroked whenever he receives some cuddles from Maddie. Total red cuddle-bug.

There were time where he would fall asleep while snuggling with her. It’s an adorable sight, but Maddie makes sure that he’s not totally leaning up against her whenever this happens since he can be pretty heavy to move.

Maddie has a knack for baking sweets and home goods, so she tends to make cookies, brownies, etc on a rare occasion. Whenever she does, it’s for a special purpose.

Knuckles eventually gets intrigued by the craft of cooking and often joins her on the process. It takes some getting used to since he’s not used to the machinery to make the food and actually not using his full strength to do it like he used to.

He tries out yoga with her one one occasion, but he found it a bit boring even though all the stretching helped with loosening his muscles up.

The two start to garden together and even grow a small vegetable garden as a mini project for Knuckles to work on, learning how to manage his own food without the urge to got and forage for food.

Can’t say the same for growing grapes, poor guy attempted that with poor results.

Out of most of the family, Knuckles hugs Maddie the most. It’s kinda like that “wrap the arms around the legs” type of hug, but he likes it cause she actually hugs him back and not pat his head like Tom tends to.

Maddie tends to have a little “pep-talk” for each of her boys whenever they need a pick-me-up, this is the one for Knuckles:

“Who are you?”

“I am Knuckles.”

“How are you going to treat the day?”

“Head held high, and my fists raised and a blazing!”

“But no challenging people to a duel, got it?”

“Understood.”

[hey-august]

🎪 4 of 5 - Gifting

WC: ~450 Warnings: nsfw, Buggy x GN!reader, oral (kinda) - reader receiving

💌 #hey-august valentines 2025

First it was a fresh drink of ale. And a hand pie that was still steaming when you bit into it.

After visiting an island with netted seats hanging from trees along the seaside where you spent multiple afternoons, Buggy had hammock chairs installed on the ship’s deck.

One morning you woke up to a notebook and pen. Behind the flyleaf was your name, written in Buggy’s scratchy handwriting. Buggy liked how the pen’s ink was the same color of your eyes, even down to the shimmer that made the stars envious.

Buggy made a meal that you mentioned months ago. Your grandma would make a stew that was swimming with strong flavors and aromas - ginger and black peppercorns, salt from the soy sauce, and vinegar. You only mentioned it because Buggy’s pits were so fragrant that the tang reminded you of how heavy handed your grandma was with the vinegar when she cooked.

That meal tasted like home.

Whenever you visited beaches during the journey’s pause, you would walk with the sea on one side and Buggy on the other. For a while. Eventually the pirate would stop walking and do everything else. He’d kick aside rocks, flip driftwood, pick up unknown treasures only to toss them over his shoulder - all while talking to you about everything and nothing. 

And back on the ship, at the end of the day, Buggy would empty his pockets of all the things he brought back for you. The abandoned home of a sea snail. Small shells with holes drilled in them by hungrier creatures. Wishing stones that Buggy would hold up excitedly and show you the completed stripe. Little fossils in the shape of stars, which ended up everywhere. Sand dollars. Sea glass in all hues. And one time, a cowrie shell with a very confused hermit crab.

There are also the gifts that Buggy benefits from, as well.

All sorts of fresh fruit that he cuts bite by bite, with each slice alternating between your mouth and his. A wedge of apple for you and one for him. Pineapple so juicy that he has to swipe a drop of nectar off your bottom lip with his thumb. Plump grapes with skin that snaps. Peaches that would bruise if you look at them for too long. Bananas that Buggy hands to you - uncut and with a wink.

And the clothing. Especially the collection of undergarments that doesn’t outgrow the storage space, only because of how often they end up ruined. Lipstick marks that won’t wash away. Ones that are torn off by hands, teeth, or blades. Cumstains.

Buggy’s favorite are the ones made of silk. He likes how you shiver against the cool fabric. He watches every goofy dance you do when putting them on, enjoying your silly show of appreciation. He chooses items that are made for your body. Ones that drape exactly where they should. That hug you just right. That show off your assets while still keeping things hidden.

He also likes watching you make a mess of your underwear. The wet spot that grows along with your excitement is a treat for him. Literally. Buggy will get you worked up with hungry kisses that leave you breathless and drooling. He’ll say naughty things and offer the sweetest promises. He’ll make you repeat every word he’s said, until you’re pleading and begging for more filth than what came from his lips.

And when your gift is soaking wet and you're about to take matters into your own hands, the gift changes owners. With his hands on your wrists and his face between your legs, Buggy is sucking your taste from the fabric. Your arousal is replaced with his spit.

The thin fabric lets you feel plenty and not enough. You can feel the heat from his mouth and the vibrations from his moaning, but not his breath. His tongue presses hard and the pressure is delightful, but not better than feeling the rough, wet affection directly.

Yes, Buggy likes to give you gifts. But when it’s his turn to enjoy one, he’s going to take his time.

[nudibutch]

oh my god i found it

lemme be real and frank with you dog. i literally do not give a shit about having a baller venue or tiny pretty little nitnoid whatever signage mason jars for my future wedding. i am dumping all of the money into nonstop food, alcohol, and music. if we arent blasting emad sayyah's 2006 lebanese bellydancing album live i dont WANT IT

[vay99]

Hades x reader

Queen of hell

Anime/Manga: Shuumatsu no valkyrie

"The Queen of hell?" Hades raises an eyebrow, not quite getting what his nephew means by that.

"She was a Queen of a country that used to rule over most of asia and europe. Her army consisted mainly women and the wars she fought were legendary. But the winners write the stories so when she died in her last battle she got called a demon, a witch, the devil. Through out history she's known as The Queen of hell, and her empire is referred to as Hell is a place on earth. That's pretty much everything I know." Hermes concludes his history lecture.

"So she's a Queen of the underworld? Why isn't she fighting?"

"She denied the offer, she didn't give a reason." he shrugs his shoulders, watching Hades walk past him.

He was walking around the underground of the arena when he overhears an argument.

"You're just as worthless as the time you were the Queen of hell!" some guy yells while another slaps you across the face.

"You b***h, bow before us, we've killed you so you belong to us!"

"We've freed everyone from your hell!"

"Show us soms respect!" just as one of the kings is about to slap you again you block his arm, breaking his instead.

"I never liked men that force women into submissiveness. All you ever did was to drink, eat and grow fat as your countries crashed under the weight of inequality. You ruled your hell and now I'll rule mine." you spit back, walking past, noticing someone at the end of the hallway.

"You want to join them or what?"

"Well that's a way of greeting a god." Hades muses, enjoying what he saw of you so far. "The Queen of hell I believe?"

"y/n, just y/n."

"y/n... I like the sound of that. I'm Hades, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hades? As in God of the underworld?" you ask him. "You don't take requests by humans for any chance?"

"That depends." his curiosity kicks in, interested to hear your request.

"Could you show these fckers what hell looks like? You know, the usual 'cooking them in a hot bowl' kinda hell?"

"That's an interesting picture of hell you've got there." the God laughs. "If you'd let me borrow a bit of your time I'll make that possible."

"Deal!" you agree immediately, not questioning the fact that you kinda just made a pact with the devil.

For the next 2 days Ragnarok pauses, therefore Hades fully uses those to get to know you better. He even took you to hell with him... where you immediately befriended Cerberus.

"Can I adopt him please?"

And that's when he knew.

"You've been spending a lot of time with that human." Zeus comments, watching his brother take a seat next to him, watching the battle begin once again.

"I've always enjoyed humans, the way they can turn from good to bad by a finger snap or how some don't even give up their kindness as they live through hell." he answers calmly, he was never an enemy of humanity, rather the one to enjoy watching their development. "And if you hurt her by any means I'll make sure to show you how hell looks like."

Not waiting for a response Hades leaves, him and Zeus were never as close as he was with Poseidon. "You would've understood."

"Looks like the human is gonna loose." you comment, throwing another grape into you mouth. "Want one?"

"No thanks." Hades denies your offer, standing next to you at the highest point of the arena.

"Why didn't you watch with the other Gods?"

"We have our differences regarding this fight."

"Oh right, you believe humans deserve to live." you roll your eyes, eating the last grape.

"Why didn't you participate?" Hades asks the question that's been eating him up inside. Knowing you were in the panel, with great fighting skills, you denied, and he can't wrap his head around the reason.

"What is there left to fight for? A world full of people who believe I was a monster? Rather than trying to repaint a canvas you could just start it all over again."

"So you don't want to save humanity? Not guide them onto the right path?"

"How would I know what's the right path? I only know that mankind won't change. They despised me for being a women who fought better than them. Just because I ruled over the biggest kingdom in history men decided to throw me off the throne. And they haven't changed yet. Men still try to make empires crumble that women have build. The real hell was the one they have created to tear me down."

Taking a few minutes to let your words sink in Hades starts to laugh. Which you have haven't seen him do so far.

"Something funny?"

"Yeah." he chuckles, calming down again. "This is exactly why I love humanity. Those who learn from the mistakes in the past will create a stronger future and those who don't come to hell, where I take care of them. Lately your species has too many of those for me to take care of alone though."

"Wait, so you wants humans to win so you can torture those who don't evolve?" you sum up what he just said, staring up to him.

"Yes, exactly."

"You live my dream life, damn it."

"I mean, there's a spot open if you'd like it."

"Spot open? That sounds like a job offer." you laugh. "But I'll take it."

With that you actually made a pact, which made you half human half God. You became his right hand after the humans won Ragnarok and assisted him to take all those evolutionary failures off of earth.

*Just a smaaaall time skip*

"I can't believe it's been 100 years already." you chuckle. "And you never forget to prepare the best dinner."

"It's our anniversary y/n."

"Yeah, of being the God of Hell and his assistant." you fill up your wine glass and his.

"Sounds as if you're sick of that title." he raises a brow.

"Not sick as in hate it but as in... Am I just an assistant for you?" you rub your neck, staring at your plate.

"You've never been just an assistant for me, in fact, since day 2 I knew that one day or another I'd ask you."

"Ask me what?" you look up to him, not sure what to expect.

"How about I make you and actual ruler of Hell?" he forms you a crown, matching his eyepatch from the design and color.

"Is there some form of ritual? Or is it just the regular 'I do' we do on earth?" you joke, not believing that he's serious.

"You'd become my wife, Goddess of hell."

"Wait, hold up now, I'm gonna be the what of the what now?" you take a few sips from your wine. "Hades, we aren't even dating yet, how???"

"You've been trying to confess for me for quite some time now so I thought I could sped up the process. Didn't want to propose without knowing you're sure about your feelings."

"Wait you knew?"

"It was obvious darling." he sips on his glass, watching your face grow as red as the wine.

"I'm sorry okay! Every time I tried some idiot landed in hell and started whining, or your lovely brother dropped by."

"Or you got cold feet."

"Shut up! You're the only talking! You could've confessed first, you knew for 100 years! Who waits 100 years!?" you flip it around, making Hades search for excuses now.

"You know what, I don't care anymore."

"Why? About what?" Hades eyes grow bigger, anxious he might have upset you.

"I'll become you wife so we can skip this dating part and start a new chapter." you put the crown on your head. "Now you'll be mine forever."

"That was the idea behind it." he pulls you close, adjusting a few hair stands. "Plus, you're much better at ruling hell than I am and I can't help but loving the idea of your throne right next to mine."

Pulling you into a kiss he pulls you onto his lap.

"I'd rather sit on your throne with you but having my own throne sounds nice as well."

"Anything my Queen wants."

[papaflynn]

TASK 002 — Happy Holidays, everybody!

Does your character celebrate Christmas?

Yes, very much so. Callum is big into Christmas and always has been since he was young.

If yes, how do they celebrate? Are they super pro Christmas, or a grinch?

Super pro Christmas. They decorate the small apartment in late November, and then, in December, there is a Christmas-themed movie every night with his daughter (Avie). Christmas Eve is a family night. He will spend the day cooking, and they will put on matching pyjamas, watch more movies and shows, then eat lots of Christmas treats. Avie gets to pick and open one present, and then they put out milk and cookies for Santa and Reindeer treats before they go to bed. Avie likes to sleep with her Dad on Christmas Eve, and he will read her different books until she falls asleep. When she's sound asleep, he will go out and fix all the presents for her, eat the cookies and drink the milk, then climb back into bed. A very tired Callum is woken up VERY EARLY, like 5am, and he shuffles out to watch Avie excitedly open presents. He would usually FaceTime his mom around this time, and they all share in the moment.

What do they eat on Christmas?

Christmas dinner is turkey, stuffing, ham, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and sprouts with lots of gravy. Callum likes cranberry sauce, too. They like cake and custard for their Christmas dessert. Outside of that? Lots of chocolate and snacks. Callum has some wine, and Avie has some grape juice or other fancy juices that are her kid's wine.

What their favourite traditions?

Before they settle down for their Christmas Eve night, they carol sing door to door in the apartment complex to raise money for a local shelter, then donate it and help out for an hour at the shelter. That's Callum's favourite tradition, as he loves to share those moments with Avie and friends but also help others. Avie's favourite tradition is chocolate for breakfast (only on Christmas...and maybe Easter), and calling her Granny Flynn back in Ireland as she opens her presents.

What do they love most about Christmas?

Time off with Avie, making memories, and seeing her happy little face.

What’s the best Christmas present they’ve ever gotten?

For Callum, it was his first guitar when he was 9.

What was their favourite Christmas?

The second Christmas with Avie. The first Christmas had been hard as he came to terms with Hayley leaving them; he was sad and heartbroken. However, the following year, he vowed to make those traditions and moments with his daughter, and he's never been happier since.

Have their Christmas traditions changed since they were a child?

There is much more American influence and culture in his Christmasses with a young daughter growing up in the US. Callum keeps some Irish traditions going with movies, food, and treats, but overall elements have changed. The holiday is much smaller as he doesn't have all of his family, but Callum likes to invite friends around on Christmas day, as he loves a big, happy, laughing home on Christmas.

What’s the Christmas wish this year?

That Avie's troubles ease up. She's been having a tough year since the storm and feels her mother's absence more than ever. Callum hopes that sadness lifts from her and that with the new puppy (he bought her for her birthday) and time off with the family she does have, she will feel better. He wouldn't mind a Christmas kiss from a particular woman friend, but he's not expecting anything. They're just friends having some fun...

What’s their Christmas like? Do they dress fancy or in pyjamas? Presents before or after breakfast, presents on Christmas Eve? What’s their typical Christmas day?

Christmas Eve is pyjamas, and Christmas Day is cheesy jumpers. Presents early on Christmas morning before breakfast. After that, Avie naps on the sofa, watching cartoons, as Callum tidies up and preps dinner. He will invite friends over and then help Avie get ready. They will both be in cheesy Christmas jumpers, and when friends turn up, he will dish out dinner. There will be crackers, and they will all wear silly paper hats. After dinner, there's dessert, and theeeeen its party games/board games with Christmas music.

Anything else?

Here's some gifs from NP that give the vibe:

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

My Garden Flowers Part 1

Just thought I'd give you all the garden tour. :) I will update when I get more photos. This is of course not counting any of my ferns or conifers as they don't flower. I might do a series of foliage posts, though. All photos mine, unedited.

In order of appearance:

001. Canada Plum (Prunus nigra) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. I have her in a shady spot and she's fairly slow-growing but healthy.

002. Yellow Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttata) An annual that sadly doesn't seem to have reseeded despite flowering profusely last year. But maybe next year! That happens sometimes.

003. Boreal Yarrow (Achillea millefolia borealis) The place where she is is north-facing so she doesn't get quite as much sun as she'd like, so she can get a bit leggy but she still flowers so it's fine.

004. Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) Not pictured as I haven't got any pictures yet, but I will if she flowers this year. I actually had to move her because she had planted herself in a not ideal location in my garden. Which is fine because I wanted one anyway.

005. Vierhapper's Aster (Aster alpinus vierhapperi) This was supposed to be Canada goldenrod, but it's okay because Canada goldenrod planted herself. I relocated her to the intended spot and they get along fine together. Asters and goldenrods generally do. :)

006. Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) I did not plant this! Must have been given to me by a bird or squirrel. Sadly she didn't reseed. Oh well, she's a cultivar and I did get the wild type. Interesting to me that she actually flowered in that area when her cousin stubbornly refuses to.

007. Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) This refers to the fact you can move the flowers around, not to the behaviour of the plant, which is very aggressive.

008. Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

009. Enchanter's Nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) I didn't plant her; she just started coming up everywhere when I removed the grass. She is not a nightshade. I've learned that even people interested in planting natives regard her as a weed. I disagree. She's not aggressive to other plants and she's pretty.

010. Northern Gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

011. New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) Haven't tried her for tea yet, but she's a lovely little bush.

012. Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosa) Aforementioned cousin of the common sunflower. Not pictured as she keeps making her flowerbuds too late in fall so the frost gets them before they can open.

013. Potato Bean (Apios americana) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

014. Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) SUPER fragrant, especially in the evening. This is an aggressive plant but worth it for the flowers, the fragrance, and the butterflies they attract. Not to mention the young shoots, flower clusters, young leaves, and young seedpods are all edible if cooked properly!

015. Northern Bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. Her leaves are nice and evergreen, though.

016. Virginia Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) Also known as "wild strawberry", but so is her cousin. She flowers reliably every spring but no strawberries yet. The flowers themselves are edible but I keep hoping she'll make strawberries. lol

017. Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

018. Riverbank Grape (Vitis riparia) Not the greatest picture, but the point is I will get grapes one of these years!

019. False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) It was hard to pick a favourite photo. They're really quite stunning. She blooms from July until the frosts of October. :)

020. Canadian Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet. She's a wee little tree in the shade for now.

021. New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) Probably the most attractive of the Symphyotrichum asters, to be honest. The flowers are more compact than most of her relatives while still being a decent size, and the colour is much more saturated too. And the bees absolutely love her. But that doesn't stop me enjoying other asters!

022. Common Elder (Sambucus canadensis) She almost died when I potted her for the move. See I dug up as much of her taproot as I could, but she'd already gone quite deep and I had to break it. But she lived! She's quite big now and has these wonderful lacy white elderflowers every year, with elderberries to follow.

023. Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculata) Not pictured as I didn't get any pictures yet. Should have when I first got her. She was in flower then. She hasn't since.

024. Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) Not pictured as I don't have pictures yet. Don't know why. lol I've taken pictures of the berries. I'll remember next year.

025. Fox Geranium (Geranium robertianum) A true geranium I managed to trade for last year. You mostly find these in the woods and now I have her in my garden.

026-027. Common Hops male and female flowers (Humulus lupulus) I can't remember which is which, but yeah! I could flavour beer if I was a brewer. :)

028. American Spikenard (Aralia racemosa) Another one with lacy little white flowers, and it looks like some of them are going to fruit!

029. Silverweed (Argentina anserina) After several failed attempts, this one has finally taken off. Truly lives up to her name in the spring and has these nice yellow flowers later on.

030. Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta) The name must refer to the leaves, which are kind of blue-grayish, because the flowers are just a nice purple.

[calbeloved]

Trans Kaiser fic that didn't quite work out is officialy done!! It's just a little short one shot about apple slices and a boy missing his dad... full fic under the cut too :3

He likes apples, but only when his dad makes them. He cuts them into thin slices and leaves the skin on. “The vitamins are right under it,” he explained one day; “And those make you strong.” He doesn't doubt that. Dad is big, way bigger than anyone else and he can pick up and sometimes throw him up high into the air. (Even when Mom is angry and they argue over it when he's supposed to be asleep. When they argue over him.) He wants to be exactly like that one day.

Mom always cuts them too thick and cuts the skin off. “I read in this one book that said little kids like you shouldn't eat those yet. And you're my little baby, no?” And then she messes up his hair and kisses his forehead even as he whines in protest- but he'll eat those slices too, even if he complains.

But.

Dad is away today. Has been, for a couple of days now.

Usually, Mom wakes him up and they both go into the kitchen where Dad is cooking breakfast; something with a weird name that he can't say right yet. (It always makes Dad smile though, so he never stops trying.)

Today is not like that. Dad is away, again. Mom has to cook more often nowadays, so maybe that's why she looks so stressed.

He looks at her for a long moment before returning his gaze to the TV. Licks his lips and takes another bite of the sandwich, setting it back down on the plate after.

He chews first before speaking. Manners. “When is Dad coming home?”

Mom doesn't answer. She stares at her phone instead, her eyebrows furrowed. Her forehead is resting on her hands and she's breathing loudly, so loud that he can hear it over the cartoon playing.

“Mom?”

She straightens up suddenly, wide eyes staring right at him, nose scrunched up. “What do you-” And then she falls silent, angry voice and a start of a sentence in a language he can't understand disappearing. Her lips tremble slightly, but a smile appears on them nonetheless. “Sorry, baby girl. Mommy hasn't slept well. What were you asking?”

“Um,” he shifts on the couch slightly. “When is Dad coming back?”

Mom's smile falters. She swallows and there's a pause, and then she huffs out a laugh.

“What, is mom not enough for you now?” She stands up from her chair and sits down on the sofa next to him. “I thought we were having fun today! Don't tell me you want to play superheros again.”

He does. Dad always hums this one song under his breath and throws him up into the air and says he's flying. And when Mom isn't looking, they can turn on TV and watch real superheros. It's fun. Dad doesn't even turn it off when they fight, not like Mom does.

“I want to play with you,” he says instead, because he does.

Mom presses a kiss to the top of his head. She smiles at him and stands up. “Okay. We'll play. But first, you have to eat your breakfast. You're still growing, Andréia!”

He nods in response, a smile of his own growing on his face. Grabbing the sandwich again, he directs his gaze at the TV, and away from his Mother. He doesn't catch the way her smile fades the second he looks away.

They play with dolls after he finishes eating and gets dressed. The dress he has on is light, a perfect fit for the hot weather today. It's yellow, the same colour as his favourite doll's hair.

In the bowl sitting next to them is a mixture of fruits; grapes, apples and oranges. They're not cut quite how he likes them, but he hasn't complained. He doesn't want to make Mom feel bad. Cutting things with a knife is hard, something he still can't do even when Dad is helping him.

“Andréia?”

His gaze goes back to Mom, focusing on her again.

“Are you tired?”

He doesn't answer. Instead, he gets a grape out of the bowl and pops it into his mouth. Shakes his head.

Mom smiles softly, placing Laya on the floor. He stares at the doll; at how her orange hair tangles and unnaturally forms a weird shape. It doesn't look good. Maybe he should cut it. But Mom will get angry if he ruins another toy again…

“It's okay if you are. You can still take a nap, you know. It's not just for little girls.”

He doesn't want a nap. He wants…

His hand finds the bowl again. This time, he grabs an apple slice. It's wrong. He eats it anyway.

He wants his apple slices cut right. He wants to play superheros again. He wants Dad.

“When is Dad coming home?” He asks so quietly that he can barely hear himself. Mom stares at him for a long moment.

“...Soon. You know he has work, baby.”

He looks away, thinking. Soon. When is soon?

“...Can we watch his movie, then?”

The movies Dad plays in are always different, and he himself always looks different. Not like... himself. Mom says he's dressing up like other actors who are afraid to do scary stuff, like jumping from a high building on set. He thinks it's stupid. Dad is cool and should have his own movies made specifically about him. And their family, too.

But above all, he has a favourite movie Dad is in, one where he can instantly recognise if it's him or another actor on the screen. ‘Dad's’ movie.

“Of course, honey,” Mom says weakly and smiles. “Bring your fruit with you.”

He will. He has to get big and strong somehow, if he wants to be like Dad.

[violettadecalda]

Elements: Air Edition

About the air element: The air element is linked to things such as divination, concentration, visualization, and prophecy. Air teaches us how to hone our scattered energy and focus it toward what we want. It teaches us to use our intention. Air can be a big cleanser and also a big charger. Just stand outside for a few momenrs on a windy day, letting it blow around you and play through your hair, and you will feel renewed.

Air in magic: The air element is often used in combination with smoke, feathers, trees, flowers, and plants. It is common to use the air element in both spells that require letting go, and in spells that bring you new information. After all, rumors can travel on the wind. Aromatherapy, hanging objects up, playing the flute or other woodwind instruments, and tossing things to the wind are all examples of using the air element in magic.

Forms of air include: wind, still air, breath, vibrations

Some air spirits include: Sylphs, zephyrs, faeries

Color: Yellow

Direction: East

Tools: Censer, athame, sword, wand

Tarot suit: Swords

Zodiac signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Symbol:

Air in daily life: The most obvious form of air in our daily lives is the air that we breathe. Everyone does it, everyone needs it. Speaking requires the element of air as well, as it carries the vibrations of our voices. We use air to cool off, and every time we look up at the clouds in the sky, we are interacting with the air element.

Air in the home: Similarly to how fire is used to keep our homes warm, air is used to keep them cool. Whether you are opening a window, turning on a fan, using an air conditioner, or fanning yourself with the playbill for your little brother's school performance of Legally Blonde in the stuffy auditorium, you are using air to cool yourself down. Air can also be very healing. How many times have you stepped outside to get some fresh air and take in the breeze while you were feeling sick?

Air in the kitchen: Though it may not be obvious at first, there are some cooking methods that utilize the air element. Perhaps the most common is drying, whether you are drying meat for jerkey or herbs for tea. Then there is cooking with convection heat, which is growing more popular, or cooking with microwaves. Also popular, as seen by the amount of fizzy beverages and whipped toppings available, is carbonation and aeration. There are several foods and ingredients associated with the air element, including~

Almond, anise, bamboo, brazil nut, caraway, chicory, dandelion, endive, hazel, hops, lavender, lime, mace, maple, marjoram, mint, mulberry, parsley, pecan, sage, acorn squash, artichoke, bitter melon, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, fennel, okra, rhubarb, spaghetti squash, alfalfa, cannelini beans, lima beans, mung beans, celery seed, chamomile, rosemary, scallions, amaranth, puffed rice, rye, apple, apricot, blackberry, currants, lingonberry, pear, pineapple, tamarind, pomegranate, black tea, chocolate, coffee, white vinegar, cabbage, celery, grape leaves, mustard greens, daikon, sunchoke, parsnip, hibiscus, macadamia nuts, walnuts, stevia

Herbs associated with air: Frankincense*, myrrh*, pansy, primrose, vervain, violet, yarrow, dill, clove, acacia, aspen, beech, benzoin*, bodhi, bracken, bromeliad, clover, fern, goldenrod, horehound, houseleek, mistletoe*, papyrus, pine, slippery elm, tobacco, rose petals

Stones associated with air: Fluorite, moonstone, turquoise, amethyst, rhodochrosite, topaz, pumice, alexandrite

Animals associated with air: Doves, hawks, eagles, foxes, turtles, ravens, spiders

Incense: Lavender, lemon balm, linden, frankincense, myrrh, violet, anise, chicory, mace, pine

Air on the altar ideas: yellow feathers, feathers in general, bird imagery, incense, censer, bells, flute, objects hanging above the altar

Divination with the air element: Nephomancy, austromancy, alveromancy, feather divination

Air work for spoonies:

Open up the window to watch the sky

Collect feathers or scatter them to the breeze

Keep a handheld fan nearby for when you need to create a breeze of your own

If you dont have your own windchimes, ring bells or listen to recordings of chimes on your phone

Use yellow pillowcases, blankets, sheets, curtains, or wall decorations

Hang beads or ribbons in your window

*Some herbs are unsafe or even deadly to ingest and can be dangerous to use. ALWAYS do research.

Sources: