#I did not think I'd have time

[kazimakuwabara]

Knit

Summary: A demon out for Hiei's life finds himself at the mercy of one... old, knitting, man.

***

When Tallo burst into the front of the human shrine, he had been expecting many sights, but not the one he was greeted with.

He had expected to find Hiei, who he had tracked here, and engage with him in battle. If he could kill him, he would present his head to that damned Mukuro. Perhaps the shock of her general's head would make her easier to kill. If not Hiei, Tallo has expected at least some meandering humans. Didn't humans visit temples like these? If there were humans, he was going to eat his fill, and face Hiei with a full stomach, and fully charged reserves.

Instead, the sight that waited for him, was an elder human in a soft powder blue sweater, with fly-away white hair, and large glasses.

The human was knitting, or maybe it was crocheting. Tallo wasn't one to be able to tell which thing he was doing... but the human was sitting on the porch of his temple, his eyes cast down as he worked on weaving some purple and gray yarns together. A long stretch of silence passed between the two, Tallo waiting for some sort of reaction, and the human just... quietly sitting there. Not caring for Tallo's presence.

Tallo opened his mouth to speak, but the human heaved a dramatic sigh, "Damn! This is so fussy!"

"Human-"

"Don't shout!" the old man interrupted again, "I know you're there. But I was trying to get this done before I had to deal with you." The elder set down his knitted things, and flexed old boney fingers that were surprisingly steady.

"The scarf is becoming triangular... I'll have to ask Kurama where I messed up... he'll know. He's better at knitting than me," the human announced, lifting up his other hand and flexing his fingers.

Tallo took a step forward, his hackles raised, and his teeth bared as he prepared to roar at the foolish old pest who didn't seem bothered by him. But after that step, a ripple of intense energy poured out from the human. Like a slow heat, a wave of human Reiki washed over him, and Tallo winced at the might of it.

"You know I started crocheting first, but I thought I'd try knitting. I don't get why I'm struggling more with it. I began to practice to help keep my hands limber and steady... it's good if you're a doctor you know," the human rambled.

The bespectacled man looked at Tallo, his eyes slightly obscured behind his glasses, "Not that I'm sure you care for that. But I'm sure you'd like to know, you've stepped into my territory... and you can't leave until I let you. This is my space... and there are rules within it."

A chill was running up and down Tallo's spine as the human's aura continued to spike. He needed to get out of here... or at least he needed to step back, and give himself room to charge. Tallo took a step backward, and the human smiled, his sagging flesh stretching with his grin.

"Ah... gotcha."

The human's hands, still flexing in front of him glowed, and too late Tallo realized around every finger was a thread of energy. The thread stretched out, all the way to Tallo, to just beneath his feet. And beneath his feet was a loosely knit weave of Reiki. The human closed his hands into fists, and tugged.

The net at his feet closed around Tallo, and he screamed as he was hauled off his feet. At first, he struggled, but the thread cut too easily through him as he moved. He lost a few fingers, and half a foot before he had enough sense to stop. With effort, he remained still, caught and helpless within a glowing orange net of Reiki that was biting into him like the sharpest of blades.

Breathing hard, the old man approached Tallo, staring at him with a scolding look. Like he was a child.

"What is this?!" Tallo demanded, recoiling at the own terror in his voice.

"Well, this is a trap," the elder explained, shrugging a little. "A friend of mine warned me he planned to lead you through here so I could finish you off. You're a small fry he doesn't have time for."

Tallo felt a consuming rage burn like acid in his stomach, "I, am a small fry?! I, the breaker of human spirits? The terror to even demons! I am Tallo, the one who will be the next king of Makai, and with my kingship, I'll end pathetic little lives like yours!"

The old man grinned, suddenly looking boyish as he stifled a chuckle, "You? The next king? Please. You're not even in my league. Well... anyway. Goodbye. I promise it's quick. I don't like to make others suffer."

"Wait!" Tallo shrieked as the old man raised his fists, "Who the hell even are you!?"

"Kazuma Kuwabara," the elder answered patiently, "Someone before your time. Goodbye."

He pulled his hands over his shoulders, and as Kuwabara promised, it was quick. Tallo was gone before he was aware of pain.

As a mess slopped on the ground, Kuwabara released his threads of energy. It was a nice little trick... his own special ability he'd figured out some thirty years ago. He shuddered and tutted at the pile of Tallo on the ground, "Diced meat. Gross."

Tucking his hands behind his back, Kuwabara stared at the bloody mess for a few seconds longer and shook his head. Perhaps if could make the net, while also slicing up another dimension with his Jigen To, he wouldn't have to worry about cleanup. Maybe he could test that at another time. Turning over his shoulder he called out, "Hiei... will you clean this up? I'm too old to do this!"

Hiei appeared, flitting in front of Kuwabara like a shadow. Hiei smirked a little, "Your spiritual awareness is as good as ever I see... you knew I was here."

"Of course! Only my hearing is going, thank you very much!" Kuwabara sniffed, nose stuck in the air.

Hiei pointed at Kuwabara's glasses without a word.

"...Okay so my eyes are bad too. Be a friend, and help with this mess!" Kuwabara pleaded, his voice pitched in a way that made Hiei remember a young teen in a blue school uniform.

"You took care of the nuisance for me, so fine. Though you should just get a dog. Or a demonic beast. They could clean up the scraps," Hiei advised.

Kuwabara turned back towards the shrine calling over his shoulder, "If it's not a cat, I don't want it!"

"What are you knitting anyway?" Hiei asked, fire curling around his arm as he prepared to obliterate what was left of Tallo into ashes.

Kuwabara picked up his knitting, and held up a long stretch of woven together black and purple yarn. Kuwabara smiled, "A scarf. For you... But I think I missed a row."

Hiei wrinkled his nose and muttered, "If you think I'll wear that..."

"Oh, you will, spiteful little thing! You will!" Kuwabara grumbled, and then sat back down on the porch to resume his knitting.

End

[composeregg]

edit (10/23/2024) now that the poll is over: Original version, with 10 questions, from April 2023 here

And, given that the original is from April 2023, that means I can very easily say:

No, this was not an ISAT reference!

Just because I use parentheses and 2nd person pov and love the same concepts of what a time loop can do to a person doesn't mean it's ISAT

(Yes, I like ISAT, the original poll is why I was recommended the game! But if you look at the original, you can see all the origins of the options to choose from, including what spurred me on with the moss option from the replies)

If I were going to make something for ISAT, I would never be so vague, you can simply look at my ao3 for proof of that

[irenespring]

Today I would like to shout out that one random Twitter person who made up that JD Vance bragged about fucking a couch.

Imagine making a random shitpost and less than two months later your joke is being used by a major party nominee for Vice President on live television at his introduction rally, earning him thunderous applause.

That poster must be having quite the experience.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The indescribable tension between an overworked and underpaid smut writer, and his biggest fan hater.

(for @frummpets)

[brainrotcharacters]

makes me giggle to think of X2 Logan meeting dp&w Logan when this is a thing

[qiinamii]

crown swap

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts Union χ - Daybreak Town

[demigods-posts]

me personally. i wouldn't have gone after all the olympians at once. you're biting off more than you can chew here. all you would need to do is take each olympian out one by one. and then convince demigods that once enough people stop believing in a diety, that diety ceases to exist. which is not a lie. and you could use the death of pan to back yourself up. sure, you'd be in it for the long haul. but chess isn't meant to be a quick game.

[bunnieswithknives]

hey in ur peri animatic: (https://youtu.be/OCqlRuDaXYU?si=K52WDu_vw9rg7chz) that I have been permanently obsessed over since today and have watched about 20 times by now so much that I have drawn & posted stuff based on it what was that partial bug form peri had?

I haven’t watched either of the show btw so if it’s explained in the show please tell me plsssss

OK, SO the bug thing is not technically canon to the series. It's based on my own headcanons for fairy biology, but i do have justifications for it!! Fairies have very strong shape-shifting abilities, so it would make sense that the form they show to humans isn't necessarily their true form(not to mention extreme that mimicry is very common in insects). And you want to know the visible traits almost every fairy has in common? Being very small with Insect-like wings.

The fact that their humanoid form isn't their true form in actually confirmed in the show! Cosmo and Wanda are revealed to look like biblically accurate pseudo-angels in the museum episode. (I say pseudo angels because the Flaming Sword of Eden is only debatably sentient and I don't think is considered an angel. Ophanim are also debatably not angels because they don't have wings (sorry for the angel tangent I like angels))

So wouldn't their true forms be angelic then? Well, yes. But I like bugs so. Also I have more headcanons to justify myself. I like to think that they have both a true-true form (incomprehensible to the human brain, probably exists mostly in a dimension invisible to us, that looks how we imagine biblically accurate angels), and a fairy form (which is visible to humans but is naturally very insect like and tends to scare people). So, in order to interact with humans, they have to learn to shapeshift into a humanoid form but will occasionally slip if they get too relaxed/aren't careful, hence the mandibles coming out when he yawns!

The reason they struggle so much more with human forms than the animals or objects they typically turn into is that, well, they aren't trying to convince those animals or objects. The more human they try to look, the harder it is to keep up convincingly. If you turn into a really uncanny squirrel, only other squirrels will notice. If you turn into a really uncanny human, they form a lynch mob and burn you at the stake.

[yashley]

[gardenofskeletonss]

Anger

[screwpinecaprice]

Some warm up connverse

[starflungwaddledee]

some rather strong first impressions were made.

required reading for the magical "voice" headcanon and another for starstruck's signature in particular. asked by @trainerbob23 !

[16th-of-a-twigg]

🏐 His Hot Girl Summer Era 💅 Ko-Fi

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Been thinking about the X-Files recently. A show I have a hazy, but fond memory of.

[anipgarden]

Adding To or Starting a Garden

AKA, the beginning of the Plants-Related section of this series.

This is my third post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps! 

Got an area of lawn you’d like to convert to a wildlife haven? An area you can stick some hanging baskets in? Want to know how your garden of tomatoes and zucchinis is already putting in a lot of work? This is the section for you!

It would be dumb of me to not acknowledge that the act of gardening can come with a lot of costs. Buying seeds, buying plants, buying soil, raised bed materials, mulch, etc. … it can all get a bit daunting, let’s be honest! But there’s quite a few ways to get seeds and plants for free or extremely cheap, which I’ll be addressing in this section! The next section will be all about addressing the other Costs in gardening and how to mitigate or eliminate them entirely.

Also, do keep in mind; there’s no need to try and convert a whole area from lawn to garden or unused to garden at once. In fact, it could actually be extremely beneficial to do it a little at a time--maybe four or five square feet to start out.

Front Lawn (or Managing Principles)

If you live in a place where you’re required to have a grass turf lawn (HOA’s come to mind…), try replacing it with native grasses instead! You could even possibly use a low-growing ground cover plant like clover to a similar effect! Reseeding/replacing an entire lawn can be a big upfront cost, but even just letting the lawn be a little messy and tall helps. If the lawn gets patchy, leave the bare spots for a little while and something different will likely pop up! Pioneer species will fill the gaps and provide benefits to other plants around them, support animals, and more! If you want to take the guesswork out of it, you could always research what the pioneer species are in your area and plant the ones you like most. 

Obtaining Seeds for Cheap or Free

The cheapest way to start a garden is by far via seeds. However, seeds can be a bit complicated to grow, and some sources make them… way overpriced. Fortunately there are ways to get seeds for little to no cost! 

Some places sell seeds for as low as a dollar, 50 cents, or 25 cents! The packets may not have a lot of seeds, but it’s definitely a good start for a low budget! I’ve personally bought cheap seed packets at Walmart--the Ferry-Morse and Burpee brands are not what we’re looking for here. Typically the cheaper ones I’ve found are American Seed (which is owned by Green Garden Products, which also owns Ferry-Morse, Livingston Seed, McKenzie Seed, and Seeds of Change. Do with that information what you will), but they’re rarely stocked near the Ferry-Morse ones in the Formal Gardening Section. I’ve most often found them on end caps near the gardening section, so you may have to weave through a few aisles to find them, but once you do there’s an array of flower and vegetable seeds to select from! Alternatively, I’ve found seeds at Dollar Tree sold 2 or 4 for a dollar in Spring as part of their seasonal product; however, when they’re out of stock, they’re typically out of stock for the year. Try to check them out early in the year!

Otherwise, other seed companies like Urban Farmer or Botanical Interests will often have semi-frequent sales in spring and fall, when people are stocking up on seeds--joining their email lists can help you be the first to know when a good sale is going on!

Some foods from grocery stores will provide seeds that you can use in the garden as well. I’ve had the most luck with store-bought bagged beans, peppers, and tomatoes. Some people have had luck with watermelons, apples, citrus, squash, and more. Do keep in mind that you likely won’t get the same variety of fruit/vegetable as the one you bought--the resulting plant may look different and taste different.

Give it a shot! Pick some beans you like--if they don't grow well, at least you can eat the rest!

If you live in the US, food-producing live plants, bare roots, and seeds can often be purchased with SNAP benefits. But what does growing fruits, veggies, and herbs have to do with boosting biodiversity? While food crops aren’t typically native, they still provide valuable shelter for native insects. Some plants even have intricate relationships with native fauna--like the squash bee, a solitary bee which exclusively pollinates cucurbits like pumpkins, squash, and zucchini. And we get to benefit more directly as well! If you’re planting a diverse range of foods in your garden (as opposed to the swaths of single-plant farms that typically produce what’s sent to grocery stores), you’re supporting high levels of biodiversity by providing a variety of plants for creatures to live and hunt around.

Most of the time, when we think of boosting biodiversity with a garden, we think of a colorful flower garden teeming with pollinator species. However, if we’re striving to use native species, it can be a bit difficult to find some species in stores. I can say from experience that trying to find any wildflower seeds other than butterfly weed, purple coneflowers, and black-eyed-susans is… challenging, if you limit yourself to stores like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. You might occasionally get lucky with an ACE Hardware or a local nursery, but even then sometimes it can be hard to track down who in your area is selling what--let alone if you live in an area where no one really is selling native plants or their seeds. Not to mention, even once you find a local or online store selling the seeds you want, they can sometimes cost a pretty penny. So what do you do?

If you have the option to, consider gathering native seeds yourself! Get good at identifying the native flora and fauna--or at least, a few target plants and their lookalikes--and get ready to go! Learn where they tend to grow, when they’ll be seeding, etc. Try to identify the plant before it goes to seed (for most plants, it's easiest to identify when flowering), then check back regularly to gather seeds. Typically, if I want to learn how to collect seed from a specific plant, I just search it on Google or YouTube--oftentimes, I'm lead to the GrowItBuildIt Youtube page, so it may be a helpful resource for you as well! Of course, make sure to leave plenty of seed behind so the wild population can repopulate, and seed can feed other creatures in the area. A good rule of thumb is to take no more than 1/3rd of what's available.

Buying seed in bulk is an option if you can afford the upfront cost. Try teaming up with a few friends to buy some bulk seeds and split them amongst yourselves--you’ll get tons of seed! Prairie Moon is a popular site that'll sell seeds by the pound if you can afford the price--though they're in the US, and I believe they focus on Midwest and East Coast natives.

If you want to cheat the system, don’t buy bulk sunflower seeds--buy bags of sunflower seeds being sold as birdseed. They’re typically all black oil sunflower seeds, but they’ll sprout, and they’re fairly cheap for the amount you get!

However, beware generic wildflower seed mixes! Many brands like to sell wildflower seed mixes in big box stores like Home Depot, Target, or even Dollar Tree, but they’ll often include flowers that aren’t native or possibly even invasive in your region! Before you make any purchases, double check to make sure the contained seeds won’t do more harm than good! A quality source of native seeds will provide English and Latin names for all seeds included, and will be native to the region or at least non-invasive. 

See this? I don't trust this.

There’s a good handful of programs online that’ll send you free seeds if you’re planning to start a native habitat project! Poke around online and see what you can find; you might get lucky! The best time to start looking for these is fall and winter, I find--by early spring, many of them are either done or beginning to wind down... though some also start up in spring. Ultimately--just check regularly! You never know what you can find!

Other Ways to Get Plants

Don’t want to start from seed? That’s fair! You can try cuttings! Just be sure not to take too much of the plant while you do so. Make sure you’ve gotten a few leaf nodes on your cutting, and cut any flowers you may have gotten. Make sure to leave some blooms and foliage on the original plant for the creatures in the current habitat--you don’t want to destroy one habitat to make another in your garden. There’s tons of methods of rooting cuttings, many of which have different efficacy rates for different plants, but that’s a topic for another post.

If you find seedlings growing in a place where they won’t be able to sustain themselves long-term, or are in danger of being destroyed, consider relocating them! You may be able to gently dig up and transplant the seedling to your garden. Don’t do this if they’re in a place where they can easily survive--ideally, you’ll be taking plants from sidewalk cracks, heavily maintained public gardens, roadsides, etc. Do be careful while doing this--ensure your safety first!  

You’re totally allowed to join gardening communities like clubs, facebook groups, and more before you’ve even put a trowel to the dirt. These are great places to learn information and advice! Many gardeners are more than happy to help out a new gardener, and will eagerly provide seeds, cuttings, or even baby plants! Talk to some people about your gardening journey and what you’re hoping to do, and you just might find some kindred spirits--or at least get more people interested in the topic! 

Seed and plant giveaways and trades happen all the time in gardening clubs, as well as online! Just poke around and see what you can find! Some are explicitly trades, meaning you’re expected to send something in return, but once you get your feet on the ground with some plant knowledge you’ll be stellar! You may be able to explain you’re just starting out, and someone may send you seeds without expecting a trade, but I’d suggest trying giveaways first. 

Poke around online and see if there’s a local chapter of your state’s native plant society. From there, you’ll likely be able to find a calendar of events--many of them will host plant sales in the spring, with a bunch of native plant seedlings ripe for the pickings if you can make it out and have some money to spare! Fair warning, though, you’ll want to get there early if you can. If they say they’re starting at 10, try to get there by 9:45. Year after year, there’s always record turnout, and they sell out of plants faster than ever. Just trust me on this. I’ve been let down; hopefully you won’t have to be.

Some libraries are beginning to host seed libraries! Check around and see if your library has one! Ideally, the system works best if you also have seeds to contribute in return, but if you’re just starting out I’m sure they won’t mind you taking some seeds! Just consider saving some seeds to contribute in the future and pay it forward. If your library doesn’t have a seed library? Consider asking if they’d be willing to start one! Community interest is a great way to get the ball rolling on projects like these, but they’ll only know the community is interested if the community tells them they’re interested!

Volunteer to Garden for/with Someone Else

Maybe someone in your area wants to garden, but is struggling to find the time/energy. Many elderly people who used to garden simply can’t anymore but still would like a garden. Other people may love to have a helping hand in their garden. You might even find a few people in your area interested in renting and sharing a community garden plot with others, so they don't have to handle it all on their own! They may be interested in increasing biodiversity right now, or may be willing to if it’s brought up to them. You might be just the kind of person someone needs! Since it won't be your garden, you’ll likely need a bit of permission and collaboration to get anything in particular going, but it’s worth a shot and a way to maybe even make friends! 

Again, your mileage may vary with some of these. You may not know where there's a bunch of wildflowers growing in your area, or maybe your local library doesn't have a free seed library. That's okay! Do what you're able to, find what you can find, get what you can get! And there's never any shame with starting small--in fact, starting small can make the project easier to manage and expand when you're able!

That's the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about ways to start growing plants cheaply--low cost seed starting set ups, essentially. There's a lot of good options, many of which I've used myself even! Until then, I hope this advice is helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!