#I'm gonna shed like a lizard

[chalice-half-full]

The gods turned up the heat recently and now my shoulders carry the painful attention of the sun. Woe is me, undeserving of the trials I must endure... 🛩

[theoktiste]

So, BF and I went on a nice little trip yesterday. We looked at some cool plants, ate some delicious seafood, saw a bear crossing the road, it was great.

When we got home I discovered that I had made a mistake. You see, I had neglected to put on sunscreen before we went out. I had also failed to take into account the possibility of us driving with the top down. These two things combined led to me having the most ridiculous sunburn--the top half of my face is bright red, except for the unburned space around and between my eyes, in the exact shape of my sunglasses. There are even tiny slivers of white clinging to the tops of my eyebrows.

The thing is, I have a big nose. I've always had a big nose; I'm used to it at this point. I usually don't even notice it. But now? It's fire engine red. It looks ten times bigger than it actually is. I looked in the mirror this morning and saw this:

(Image source)

Help me, Aloe-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope

[empyreva]

Daisies

Summary: All you want is to have ONE nice date with Luke without him sabotaging it in some way--surely a flower meadow is safe

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Reader

Word count: 1k

Tags: Fluff, established relationship, fem!reader, Luke and reader are sassy and silly with each other, flirting, teasing, Luke loves getting under your skin, implied sex, vague nudity, 17+

A/N: My thoughts got ahead of me....I liked the idea of reader being like the A type partner and Luke loves messing with her--but you braid flowers in his hair anyway!!

The air is thick with the scents of lavender and honeysuckle--wildflowers dancing with the wind, bending gently but never breaking under the force. Here and there, butterflies and bees dart from flower to flower, sipping nectar lazily.

As you step onto the sprawling expanse of green grass, you can't help but gasp at the scene in front of you. It was like Gaia herself handpicked this location--a sprawling meadow between junctions of neighboring forests, brimming with life. "Wow..." You breathed out, eyes wide with excitement for your perfect picnic date. 

From behind you, the tall grass rustled--a strong arm snaking its way around your waist. Your boyfriend's eyes were pointed ahead, silently contemplating the sanctuary the two of you had found while attempting to get some private time away from the camp. Tugging on Luke's shirt, you enticed him to lean over for a quick kiss before you beckoned him to follow you as you searched for the perfect place to settle down--taking his hand in yours as you ventured further.

"Here's good?" You stopped in front of a small clearing in the field, a patch of dirt stripped bare and empty. Despite being objectively dead, it seemed well-loved, a little TLC would be needed to brush away dust and stray weeds--How many demigods before you had snuck away to this place? The romantic notion alone made your heart flutter.

"Perfect," Luke drawled, giving you a cheeky smile. Enthusiastically, you billowed out the large sheet you had tucked in the small picnic basket--fussing over making sure there were no crinkles in the fabric or sharp rocks underneath it. Watching you bend over and curse as dirt scuffed your pretty white dress had his own thoughts wandering--He honestly couldn't care less about where the two of you ended up.

After deeming everything to be perfectly in place, you dragged Luke down next to you, giggling as he stumbled into a comfortable sitting position. You began to ramble on about something--Luke honestly didn't care much for conversation. He offered you a couple "Mhm"s and "Oh yeah?"s, feigning interest in what you and Annabeth discovered while cleaning out the shed behind Athena's cabin. His eyes flickered down.

Gods, you weren't even wearing a bra.

"Luke--Luke!!" Suddenly you were right in front of him, nose to nose as your eyebrows furrowed. "Are you even listening?"

"Uh-uhm yeah--So uhhhhhh....So what happened after Percy killed that...Lizard?" 

"Tarantula, Luke. And he didn't kill it, he just flung it somewhere and told Annabeth that he killed it," you sighed, pushing your hair back with one hand. Luke felt like he had been pierced through the heart, gazing intently at you as you preened yourself for a moment. "But, anyway, Annabeth was so cute because she..."

"It's a bit hot, don't you think?" He interjected, fingers skirting along the exposed flesh of your thigh--peeking out from beneath your white dress. "Like, I'm actually sooo hot--Aren't you feeling it?" You gasped and pouted, gently pushing his wandering hand back to his side of the blanket. No no, you weren't going to let him win, again. The last time the two of you even tried to leave for a date, he 'accidentally' spilled something all over your shirt so you had to change. In front of him.

"C'mon, Luke, the food's gonna go bad if we start now!" You whined, pointing at the two perfectly crafted sandwiches you made, not to mention the various fresh fruits you packed up for dessert!! Completely ignoring you, Luke shrugged his shirt off from over his head, letting it fall somewhere in the nearby daisies. A smirk danced across his face, noticing the way your gaze immediately diverted the second he was facing you again. His abs had a slight shine to them, his biceps flexing as he pushed himself onto his haunches. "A-Aren't you hungry? We've been walking for like--like an hour!"

"Oh, I'm hungry--starved, even..." Luke pushed the basket out of the way, a slow crawl landing his lips just a breath away from yours. Your breath hitched in your throat, eyes locking with Luke's--Gods he just had this way of getting you right under his thumb. A large hand slipped all the way up your dress, gently massaging the burning-hot flesh of your chest.

"I just have this...craving for something else."

--

"This is fucking amazing, baby," Luke moaned, his fingers dwarfing what remained of his sandwich. His head lay on your bare lap, cradled between your knees as he lounged, free as a bird, basking in the warmth of the sun and summer air. "Best. Sandwich. Ever."

"Thank you," you huffed, one hand massaging his scalp as the other supported your dinner. "You spoilt brat..." Luke frowned at the words that you muttered under your breath, reaching a hand up to flick at your nose.

"Hey!"

"I'm not a brat," he whined, poking at your jaw like a child. "Don't say that."

"Don't say that," you mocked. "Gods, can you ever NOT act like a big baby."

"Just for you, my girl."

You looked down at your boyfriend's handsome face--His mischievous brown eyes sparkled under the soft rays of the setting sun, while his dark curls fell around his forehead in gentle waves. Laughter escaped him as you gave his ribs a soft tickle, and he tried to evade you for a second before you decided that you wanted to try and actually be romantic. Something about these teenage boys...

You turned to your side and reached over, plucking a few daisy blossoms from the ground—a bouquet of white. With a smile, you began delicately threading them through his locks. Some clung tight to his scalp, others drifted lightly to the tips of his curls. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, relishing the sensation of your fingers against his skin--the soft tugging and gentle petting as you crafted a sort of halo.

"My handsome boy," you murmured, hoping to commit this moment to memory. Luke was growing sleepy, you could tell by how his eyes fought to stay open long enough to gaze into yours--the rise and fall of his chest in the rhythm of a euphony of crickets in the distance. He looked so pretty like this, so vulnerable, so trusting. You wished that this day would never end.

[irkimatsu]

AHHHHHH I love Husk and your content is by far my FAVORITE 😍 the sweet, the smut, the little bit of both...I love it all.

So I have a cute idea for this one. Neko!reader x husk. The reader isn't fully cat, but has the ears and tail, a cat-like face and of course the mannerisms. Husk is crushing hard and thinks that she (or they, whichever pronouns :) ) is cute and nonchalantly points out that it's adorable when her ears twitch. And then she's like, "And you wonder why we're always messing with you, eyy Kitten?" which makes him all flustered and he can't even say anything.

I can just picture them doing the equivalent of holding hands only their tails wrapped around each other 😚😚

Thank you so much for enjoying my writing!

I envisioned Reader as an anthro like Husk; I'm hoping that's what you meant with your description! Reader gets drunk and rants to Husk about cat instincts, Husk offers some advice, light flirting and flustered Husk ensues. I hope this is close enough to what you wanted! 1.2k words, SFW, female reader!

---

You’ve had way too much to drink.

It’s not like you’re inexperienced at drinking; you knew the hard stuff you were knocking back would be enough to get you wasted. That was the point.  Maybe if you got drunk enough, you could shut off the stupid cat instincts that hadn’t left you alone since the moment you died. The exercises you’ve been doing at this hotel for the past few months may have taught you things like not stealing and believing in the power of friendship, but there hadn’t yet been any lessons on how to stop swiping at your own tail every time it entered the corner of your field of vision.

You’re not sure if the alcohol has turned off the instincts, but it sure has turned on your mouth. Without thinking about what you’re saying, you’ve been ranting to the bartender for the past thirty minutes, barely pausing to take a breath. Surely he doesn’t mind, right? Not only are bartenders supposed to listen when their customers want to bitch, but he’s in the exact same position as you are as far as species goes!

“...and the fuckin’ hairballs!” is the latest thought in your stream of word vomit. “I thought mucus was bad! Hairballs! They get stuck in my throat, and they itch like hell until I can cough ‘em up!”

“They sell stuff down here to take care of that,” the bartender says, pouring you another drink without you asking. “It tastes like shit, but it works. I don’t get ‘em anymore unless I forget to drink it.”

“And what about shedding?!” you continue on as if he didn’t say anything. “It’s impossible to keep my room clean! It’s like the more I clean up, the more fur there is!”

“Niffty’s been helpin’ me with that since I met her. She gets pissed about the fur I leave everywhere otherwise. She ain’t gentle with that brush, though.”

You take another gulp of your drink and slam it down onto the bar. “Fuck, think I just swallowed some fur…”

“You haven’t even been dead for a year yet, right?” Husk asks. “ That’s barely anything. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get used to being a cat. Some of the bullshit never goes away, but it becomes part of you.”

“Do you like being a cat?” you ask.

He laughs at your question. “Hell no! But what choice do I have? There’s no going back to bein’ human for any of us. May as well learn how to deal with it.” He takes a gulp of his own drink, not even bothering to pour it into a glass. “If ya want, I can take you to a good supply place sometime. They’ve got good products if you can put up with the fact that it looks like a fuckin’ pet store.”

“Hmm…” you neither accept nor deny his offer. You only take another drink, swallowing more damn fur in the process. That’s definitely gonna lead to some late-night hairballs. “It’s so annoying…” you whine as you plop your chin on the bar. “Why couldn’t I have been something cool? You know I saw a giant lizard the other day? Lucky bastard…”

“Bet they have a hell of a time findin’ clothes,” he says. “Or even gettin’ into places to begin with.”

“And even you got wings…” you continue on.

“Yeah. Wings. I get to clean up after fur and feathers, and if I don’t find the perfect position while sleeping the fuckin’ things go numb.” He takes your glass away, but you’re too lost in your own self-pity to protest. “We’ve all gotta get used to our new bodies when we get down here, and I doubt it’d be any different if we somehow got into heaven. Just gotta make the best of it.” He turns around to put away some bottles. “Besides, it’s not all bad. At least you’re cute.”

“...what was that?” you say, not expecting that word out of Husk’s mouth.

“I said you’re cute. Everyone thinks cats are cute, don’t they? Even I liked ‘em when I was alive. I don’t want to be one, but you can’t resist their mannerisms, can ya? The big eyes, the soft fur…”

He turns around just in time to see your right ear flicking in annoyance from the condescension. “The twitchy ears…”

You smirk, knowing the weight of what you’re about to say next but too drunk to stop yourself. “So now you get why Angel and I are always commenting on your mannerisms, eh, kitty?”

“Whoa! Hey!” His fur bristles, and you know you shouldn’t find his own agitation cute, but you can’t help yourself. It helps you understand the way he was just talking to you, at least. “That’s different! You’re a young lady! You died at, what, 25? You’re supposed to be cute! I’m an old man who drank myself to death. Nothin’ cute about that.”

“You’ve still got the big eyes and the soft fur…” you continue on.

He groans in response. “If you were a stranger saying that shit to me, I’d kill you.”

“So what makes me so special?” Your tail waves playfully behind you, and he’s obviously following it with his eyes and blushing.

“I…” he starts, but never manages to come up with the rest of the sentence. “Jesus Christ,” is all he has to offer before grabbing a couple of glasses from the shelf. He fills them both with water, then carries them around to the other side of the bar.

“Here,” he says as he sets one of the glasses in front of you. “Drink this. You’re gonna feel like shit in the morning. May as well not be dehydrated on top of everything else.”

You stare at the cup as he takes a seat on the stool next to you. “How do you resist the urge to knock cups over?” you ask.

“Lots of self-control,” he says with a smirk before guzzling his glass in one go.

You place your paw on the side of the glass, originally intending to pick it up, but an overwhelming spark takes over your brain, and you start easing the cup toward the edge of the bar. Husk grabs it and places it back where it started before it can crash to the floor.

“You’ll get used to it,” he assures you. He’s finished his water, but for a reason you can’t determine, he’s still sitting next to you.

“How long have you been down here?” you ask. “A couple years?”

“Mmm… fifty?” he guesses. “Almost as long as I was alive, at this point.”

“Fifty years?!” you exclaim. “And you still have to deal with cat instincts?!”

He shrugs. “Like I said, it never goes away. Just gotta get used to it, take the good with the bad.”

“The good…” you repeat. “Like being cute?”

“Oh, shut up,” he says. “...but in your case… yeah. Like being cute.”

You finally manage to pick up your water without giving into the desire for destruction. As you take a sip, something feathery starts to tickle against your tail. You look over at Husk from the corner of your eye. He’s trying to be nonchalant, not even looking at you, but there’s only one thing that could be brushing against you right now.

Without looking, you shift your tail, allowing it to curl around Husk’s. Husk curls his around yours in turn, your tail tips forming a spiral that just barely reaches the floor.

It’s the closest he’ll get to flirting for now. You’ll take what you can get.

[tadpolesonalgae]

So my girlie has cancer, nice. YOU KNOW I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT like why she's basically eating herself up (don't know any other way to describe this) but then i was like illnesses like cancer are probably not even possible for faes' due to their regenerative abilities? good to know that's what that is though. I am a littleeeeeeeeee pissed about the Bas convo because i've already started headcanoning about how the reader will feel a little guilty about how she handelled the situation after she's in a better mindspace. MY POOR BABY BAS LIKE HE WAS SSO IN LOVE WITH US WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I CAN'TTTTTTTTTTT UAHUAHUAHUAHUH so now how is she gonna cure herself :3 is she going to be her sciency-self and start mixing chemicals??? or does she get a new body? kinda like amren situation??? (i imagine her shedding skin like a snake? or lizard)

um, being totally honest with you I'm not really sure how to respond to you? I'm having quite a bit of difficulty figuring out your tone through text...?

Um, anyway though, it's not really cancer - I wouldn't call it that anyway. I won't deny that some of her symptoms do line up for those of cancer, but I would argue that blood appearing where it isn't supposed to, night sweats/fevers, lumps in your skin are some pretty straightforward signs to give a character to let people know there's something wrong with them?

I think it might be tricky because originally Reader's power was going to be radioactivity (varying on the type of radiation - alpha at her fingertips usually but sending out gamma radiation during large detonations), which can cause cancer (It isn't radiation anymore, don't worry that isn't a spoiler). However, I ultimately decided against that pathway when it started leading me to learn some stuff about nuclear energy, atomic bombs, and eventually lead back to World War II and just with how the world is at the moment I wasn't comfortable touching on it. I didn't feel like I had the words or the understanding to articulate a story like that and I also felt mainly that it wasn't a story I wanted to write? That giving reader the power of radioactivity/something similar to nuclear power would distract from the story that I actually wanted to write?

Anyway, that was a very long way of saying while I can completely see why it might look like it's cancer, I'd like to clarify that it isn't. As cbmthy continues we'll gradually learn more about what her magic does, and is :)

'MY POOR BABY BAS LIKE HE WAS SSO IN LOVE WITH US'

haha, I'm happy you feel so connected to him! Sorry for writing it so that he's going away though :') Though that was a very fun scene to write, as well as then heading into the parallels between Bas leaving Velaris and reader leaving life behind, and that being that driving force behind her determination to tell the people around her <3

'so now how is she gonna cure herself :3 is she going to be her sciency-self and start mixing chemicals??? or does she get a new body? kinda like amren situation??? (i imagine her shedding skin like a snake? or lizard)'

She's going to cure herself?

[bat-under-a-bridge]

Scug Siblings!!!

Monk - She/He - Shortest slug

Monk sort of lives with a Yellow Lizard pack. She has the shed skin to blend in and protect from spears and such! Though I'm probably not gonna draw him with it to much because it is unnecessarily hard to. She mainly survives by companionship! Vibing with the lizards and scavs! Her leg scar is from the first Green Lizard in Outskirts! Permanent limp because of it. Whats to go home, but has to find his sibling first!

Survivor - It/Its - Albino

Fights! A lot! Unlike its sibling, Surv survives by fighting and keeping on the move. Most of its scars are from scavs or lizards. Surv does have a vulture mask, but they don't like wearing it, so they only use it when they have to. Just a lonely little guy! Trying to get home and completely unaware that Monk is looking for it.

[lunartflare64]

I did it. I made an OC to be Leonora's GF. The shipper in me wouldn't let her get away with being a disaster lesbian without a GF. So here is the other disaster lesbian, Julie! Personality and background under the cut! (Be warned, I ramble)

So! Julie! She's a year older than Leo, making her 19 to our girl Nora's 18, and an artist

Julie cut off contact with her parents when she was 14 (they sucked), and two years later she found herself mutated, and since her roommate has a green keel-bellied lizard...she got stuck with bright blue-green scales and a pretty long tail

It sucked those first few months, obviously, but she was already kinda a hermit, and what's done is done, so she wanted to focus more on finding what her new normal looked like

Weirdly enough, very few mutants were content to live semi-normal lives, mutant communities were very.....combat focused. Even if Julie was interested in fighting, her tail would give her a massive learning curve, so.......no, that's not happening

So how will she contribute to the mutant community? Well, tattoos don't really stick around through the mutation, and getting tattoos the regular way doesn't really work well (fur and scales don't cooperate with tattoo guns, and that's before you take into consideration things like shedding), so she'll focus on bringing tattoos to the mutant community! Luckily her roommate (a biologist in college) took her mutation well and is happy to help figure out how to make that actually possible

Its not just tattoos, she learns how to do a wide variety of piercings and body mods, her only limit being actual surgery (she has a strong stomach but not that strong). She believes its important to give these options to mutants, its not mandatory, but if a mutant decides they want to have fun with their form, have control over how they look, then they see a future with their mutated body. Its acceptance. The majority of them didn't choose to be this way, but now that its done they should have the chance to have fun with it, should they want that

Outside of her new career, Julie has found a love of parkour. It started out as something she did for convenience, since the rooftops are safer to travel on for mutants than the road is, but it turns out the species she was mutated from are super big on climbing, so when she's feeling particularly pent-up, scaling the nearest skyscraper is the ideal workout for her

I haven't quite worked out how Julie met Leo yet, but Leo's siblings weren't there for it. They had no idea about Julie for the first few weeks, and even after they found out their sister was seeing someone they still didn't meet her for a while after that. Leo hasn't really had many opportunities to have a life completely separate from her siblings, and she loves them, but Julie was a breath of fresh air. Aaaand Leo wanted to keep her GF to herself for as long as her nosy siblings would allow.

Julie is a pretty smart person on her own, she started one of the first "mutant" businesses, of course she's smart. And no matter how chill she is, she likes to stick to her schedules. But with Leo......that all kinda goes out the window. For both of them. Their braincells cancel each other out and suddenly they're staring at a livestream of a goldfish tank for three hours straight.

It has it's downsides, schedules fall to pieces after they start dating, everyone hates it, but it also gives them the rare opportunity to just...forget their responsibilities. And since neither of them do that ever, anyone who plans on interfering with it is gonna find waaaay too many ninjas in their house the next night

Okay, I thiiiink I'm done rambling about Julie. For now. Time to give my wrists a break, and then I can move on and start drawing these dumb lesbians, I love them so much

[rabbithexrt]

☝, 📝, 🔥, 👃, 💭, 👟, 🌀

hello, my beautiful friend 💕hope your day is as lovely as your radiant self 🌷

☝ - How tall are you? I'm 164cm or 5'4 ( I think ^^ one of these days I'll have to learn american measurements )

📝 - Story from your childhood. so my parents would quite regularly rescue animals and nurse them back to health - I'm talking dogs, cats, turtles, hedgehogs, etc - but the one that stuck out the most was the most gorgeous buzzard who had a broken wing iirc ( I was like 7 or 8 so I am not 100% sure what it was, but he was hurt ). His name was Tassilo and he lived in one of our garden sheds for a few months until he was strong enough to fly off on his own 💗 ( really explains where I get some parts of my personality from when I think about it haha ) I also once found a lizard and carried it home and my mom helped me take care of it over night and then we released it in the morning 😅

🔥 - Something spicy you like? I'm just gonna asssume we're talking about food here hah! I can handle hot spicy a lot better than cold spicy ( which I cannot handle at all really ), but I can only handle so much 😅 having said that I generally really enjoy curries, especially indian ones.

👃 You hate the smell of …. hate is a very strong word but I am not particularly fond of the smell of coffee or chocolate - particularly when lotion smells like it

💭 - Favorite foods? fruits - especially berries and melons, bagels with smoked salmon, potatoes, various curries, and pasta; ( there is more but rn that is what my brain can think of )

👟 - Favorite shoe(s) to wear? I got these black boots that I wear basically constantly when the weather is cold enough for it, other than that I prefer to not wear shoes at all 😅 since life sadly tends to force me to wear shoes, I opt for comfy sandals when it's warm I'm a boots or barefoot girly 😅

🌀 - Favorite type of weather? I do enjoy pretty much any weather - there's good sides to everything - I think my absolute favourite is when it's a little cloudy, a little sunny, not too warm and windy ( sth so magical about wind, I can't explain it ). bonus points if it rains at night ♥ also special mention to thunderstorms because just ♥

thank you so much for these, I loved answering them, even tho my brain fried about half way thru 😂 love you 💕

[theomnicode]

Happy new year 2023 from Tonari!

Year of the Rabbit is upon us in 2023 and I'm just gonna drop some fun meta in accordance to this image.

Because I can.

Can't forget that Saitama did some bugs bunny stuff before.

What he did on Moon of I.O is basically bending reality like he's a cartoon character. So it kinda fits with the rabbit and the moon mythos lol.

But I'm also interested about all the symbolism of the rabbit and the moon and the chinese zodiac.

In the Buddhist Jataka tales,[4] Tale 316 relates that a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit resolved to practice charity on the day of the full moon (Uposatha), believing a demonstration of great virtue would earn a great reward. When an old man begged for food from them, the monkey gathered fruits from the trees and the otter collected fish, while the jackal found a lizard and a pot of milk-curd. Knowing only how to gather grass, the rabbit instead offered its own body by throwing itself into a fire the man had prepared. However, the rabbit was not burnt and the old man revealed that he was Śakra. Touched by the rabbit's virtue, he drew the likeness of the rabbit on the Moon for all to see. It is said the lunar image is still draped in the smoke that rose when the rabbit cast itself into the fire. The rabbit is believed to be a Bodhisattva. Han Dynasty poets call the hare on the Moon the "Jade Hare" (玉兔) or the "Gold Hare" (金兔), and these phrases were used often, in place of the word for the Moon. A famous poet of Tang China, Li Bai, relates how "The rabbit in the moon pounds the medicine in vain" in his poem, "The Old Dust".

When Westerners gaze at the 月亮 (yuèliang; moon), they may jokingly say that the moon is made out of cheese or that they see the Man in the Moon. When a Chinese person looks at the moon, however, they most certainly will see the Jade Rabbit (玉兔 Yùtù) standing under a cassia tree holding a precious elixir. Like the Chinese zodiac itself, the legend of the Jade Rabbit has many different origin stories. One of the most common stories in China begins with the Jade Emperor disguising himself as a beggar. Once disguised, he embarks on a journey to find a worthy animal to help him prepare the elixir of life. In this tale, the Rabbit willingly attempts to sacrifice himself as food for the beggar by jumping into a fire. However, the Rabbit is saved by the Jade Emperor, who then carries the Rabbit to the moon where he helps create the elixir of life. Those looking for the Jade Rabbit will find his outline on the moon with his pestle and mortar, mixing the divine elixir to this day. The concept of the Chinese zodiac has spread to other Asian countries, but other cultures have slightly different interpretations regarding the Jade Rabbit. In Japan, the Old Man of the Moon brings the Rabbit back to the moon to live with him because of the Rabbit’s great kindness. According to this myth, the image seen on the surface of the moon is of a rabbit pounding out mochi rice cakes, not the elixir of life.

About this elixir of life...I've thought about references to elixir of immortality before.

The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. In the 8th century AD Man'yōshū, 'waters of rejuvenation' (変若水, ochimizu) are said to be in the possession of the moon god Tsukuyomi. Similarities have been noted with a folktale from the Ryukyu Islands, in which the moon god decides to give man the water of life (Miyako: sïlimizï), and serpents the water of death (sïnimizï). However, the person entrusted with carrying the pails down to Earth gets tired and takes a break, and a serpent bathes in the water of life, rendering it unusable. This is said to be why serpents can rejuvenate themselves each year by shedding their skin while men are doomed to die.

I am distinctly reminded of the part where Sage centipede's carcass drops down on top of heroes while it bathes in ocean water. Heroes were definitely kind of doomed to just perish here, but Saitama parking a large ship avoided the disaster. Then pig god casually eating all the heroes allowed them to ultimately survive. Sage centipede and Elder centipede were notorious for being practically immortal because they just regenerated and shed their skin, so Garou had to destroy it's heart.

Ergo, removing the heart removes the source of lifeblood, so might be one to keep in mind.

I can't forget how Pig god ate Evil Natural Water and how human body consists of mostly water and what it might entail cuz he ate evil natural water remnants.

Can't forget how Psykos also made Evil Natural Water and she has serpent motifs.

So if divine power is "elixir of immortality" and evil natural water is a construct of what may be just divine power, water and evil intent...checks out.

Oh and OPM God being in possession of elixir of life? Lifeblood? Yeah. Also checks out because the one below is depicted with little more than blood circulatory system.

Makes you wonder why a samurai dude, I forget the name, who got cleaved in half somehow didn't die. And tank top master got brutally mangled and somehow...survived and is not worse for the wear. And Air got his neck pierced and his spine and idk, he's gonna be ok too right?

Divine power = elixir of life sounds appropriate.

Rabbit personality traits Let’s start with the impact of being born in the Year of the Rabbit on personality. Rabbit people are said to live life free from constraints and are in constant pursuit of their ideas. Because of their weak wills, however, they have difficulty achieving great things.  In addition, Rabbits are sometimes too guarded and delicate when managing human affairs and personal matters. While they tend to be tenacious and ambitious, these characteristics may also lead to jealousy when they don’t get their way. Those born under the sign of the rabbit do not like to argue, preferring peace and quiet. They are good listeners, excellent negotiators and tend to work well on a team. They can be artistic and creative but also have a strong desire to avoid stressful and risky situations. They can also be pessimistic and insecure and therefore are hesitant to make quick changes.

Sounds like an interesting year might be ahead of Saitama.

And finally, an aztec mythos reference, because OPM God's temple is basically an aztec temple.

According to an Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl, then living on Earth as a human, started on a journey and, after walking for a long time, became hungry and tired. With no food or water around, he thought he would die. Then a rabbit grazing nearby offered herself as food to save his life. Quetzalcoatl, moved by the rabbit's noble offering, elevated her to the Moon, then lowered her back to Earth and told her, "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will remember you; there is your image in light, for all people and for all times."

"Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers', but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."[6] Among the Aztecs, whose beliefs are the best-documented in the historical sources, Quetzalcoatl was related to gods of the wind, of the planet Venus, of the dawn, of merchants and of arts, crafts and knowledge. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and knowledge. Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of the sun and wind, air, and learning, wears around his neck the "wind breastplate" ehēcacōzcatl, "the spirally voluted wind jewel" made of a conch shell. This talisman was a conch shell cut at the cross-section and was likely worn as a necklace by religious rulers, as such objects have been discovered in burials in archaeological sites throughout Mesoamerica,[8] and potentially symbolized patterns witnessed in hurricanes, dust devils, seashells, and whirlpools, which were elemental forces that had significance in Aztec mythology.

I mean yea, Feathered Serpent basically. Quetzalcoatl reference. And Psykos learned more than she wished for and according to her, became the ultimate being of intelligence.

A very interesting year ahead.

Unlike Tigers though, like last year, Rabbits are prey animals. And many myths talk about Rabbits making some kind of sacrifice and how appropriately we're also dealing with a dude from Tsukuyomi at the same time. Like oh em gee rabbit and the moon mythos oh em gee.

[jennyandvastraflint]

Very glad you rebloged the ask game, I was hoping you would :D I hope you don't mind that I am sending too many questions. Just pick whichever ones you'd like to answer!

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about Your beauty never ever scared me? Answer it now!

(11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

just kidding, I know the answer to this one but feel free to talk about them anyway <3)

20. If you wrote a prequel to Lizard Queen, what would it involve?

22. Who is your favorite character in The Knight and the Dragon and why?

47. If the pirate/mermaid AU (all together or each part on their own) was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

and

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

So I'll be guided towards the next thing to read again ;)

Thank you so much!!

Okay, let's see!

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about Your beauty never ever scared me? Answer it now!

I think the inspiration for it in the first place! I technically wanted to write a Beauty and the Beast-inspired story, but halfway through planning I abandoned a lot of these aspects in favour of including a bunch of characters as cameos. (I kept the rose, though it had a different use.) It was very intriguing to explore a human curse (something I've now explored a bit, but always from Jenny's POV, as I realise. I'll shed light on Vastra's POV at some point in a different fic I think)

(11. Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is? Okay we all know I'm extremely partial to my wives XDD I *will* make everything about them (yes ik it's annoying <3 But this is my account heheh), and will include them even in other works for a bit at least. It is 100% because I relate a lot to many aspects of them - the fun of Jenny's horrible parents, queerness, and the isolation they both feel to name some of them - and I'm well-aware of it XD Also my brain chose them as my special interest years agooo.)

20. If you wrote a prequel to Lizard Queen, what would it involve?

Oh, I have two answers for this... Either Vastra getting cursed in the first place and navigating life as a tiny lizard (maybe she meets Strax somehow just because.), OR the story of Jenny's mother and what happened to her. (As a sequel, I'd look at Vastra finding the ruins of her realm.)

22. Who is your favorite character in The Knight and the Dragon and why?

I'm obviously in no way biased because a) I wrote it and b) it has the wives, and since choosing either of them feels like cheating, I'm gonna say... Out of the rest of the cast, Ada? I think. I loved bringing her character to life in a different setting, especially since she's a character I very rarely see anywhere (and she had potentialll!!!) Her story can be adapted beautifully, and I feel like she would flourish with a job or hobby like that, working with herbs and healing. I'm definitely going to include her in Turn Loose the Mermaids btw!

47. If the pirate/mermaid AU (all together or each part on their own) was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

You really went with this one, hu... Okay, I'm thinking leather boots, worn, been through quite a lot, but very solid shoes you can always rely on. They're a pretty inconspicuous brown, a bit broken in parts but fixed up. They go almost up to your knee, hugging your legs very comfortably. They're also padded so they keep you warm in even the darkest winter nights. The laces on the sides have been added later to help the boots stay together, and they have beautiful jewels in different shades of green on the side that shimmer in the sun.

I hope you like this description!! XD

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

I have a bunch for this, I think XDD (Especially since archive-locking my fics my kudos have declined a lottt)

The first one would be A Lonely Place, which is a sort of Fantasy AU for the Paternoster Gang! I love how I came to explore pollution and environmental destruction in it, and also how Jenny and Vastra - in this at least - reluctantly grew closer. (Please they are such disasters especially in the beginning)

Then my Turn Loose the Mermaids series in which Jenny's family are a bunch of shitty scammer pirates, and Vastra is a mermaid (and later can shift). The first two parts are out rn, and I hope to write more of it soon-ish (uni is killing me I'm so sorry)

There'd also be my winter rose in which one Silurian goes splash in a river when it's very cold :D I love how that literally was my prompt for writing it...

And last but not least, I want Popcorn to get some more views! It's a Strax-centric fic (I knoooow, there's not much interest in that, but give my boy (gn) some love) set shortly after Demons Run, and it takes a look at Strax dealing with silence and peace after... well, a lifetime spent only in war zones? The Doctor gives him a way to cope with that, but it escalates a little. It was I think my first full Strax-POV fic, and he honestly has such a unique and intriguing view (which I wish Big Finish would explore instead of once again reducting Strax to comedic relief like the show already did :/)

Yeah, I think that's about it for now? I can't think of more specifically for this, but I'm leaving you a few more recommendations I think you might like! Rapid Fireee

you're the closest to heaven that i'll ever be

The Case of the Egg Thief

Sick fics for Jenny being sick (watch you sleep.), and Vastra being sick (Sleepy little darling, snuggle in tight) respectively!

Meeting Torchwood Paternosters meet vicious, sadistic Torchwood sapphics from Victorian England!

Right, I'll end this here now (it may have taken me almost the entire lecture btw to write this while paying attention as well) and I hope you are satistifed with all these answersss

[illiana-mystery]

Results of the WIP Poll Game

Recently I was tagged by @eclecticwildflowers to participate in a 24-hour poll that involved my current WIPS. The winning WIP was to be updated when those 24-hours were up.

So with that being said, the winner was...

Space Oddity

So that's the WIP that's gonna be updated and I have a little sneak peek of Chapter 6 for you now. Enjoy!

---

Space Oddity - Chapter 6

(Shout out to @kurtiplier for finding and sharing this picture 😊)

After lunch, you and Saaltar had to split up again much to his disappointment. But you had two more classes to attend, and he had his two to attempt to teach. So reluctantly, he let you go without a hug or a kiss to not alarm suspicion.

But just like you, he was anticipating seeing you again at the front of the university where you told him to meet you.

However, unfortunately for him, he had to wait a little longer than planned due to Professor Finnbar letting your Advanced Calculus class out late.

It was a nasty little habit that the older professor had, but you hoped today would be different. Too bad it wasn't. So you just hoped Saaltar wouldn't be too upset when you got there.

Luckily, to your utter surprise, you found Saaltar playing with a little sand lizard that must have been scurrying near his feet. The alien was standing on his knees while he patiently waited for the creature to climb on his palm. Not a second sooner, the lizard got the hint and did as the humanoid wanted bringing a wide smile to his face.

"Now what are you, you fascinating little creature?"

"It's a sand lizard," you said, slowly meeting the eyes of your love. "A Pandora lizard to be exact. They're called such since they like to burrow in holes that are usually occupied by little insects, hence opening a 'box' that let out vermin."

Saaltar just smiled, although you could tell he was a bit confused. So you quickly explained the myth of Pandora's Box. He gave you his usual nod after then went back to observing the lizard.

"I like him..."

"I think you mean her. Male Pandora lizards have brownish-green heads, females have just brown. They make really fun pets. I used to have one as a child."

"Would you like to hold her?" he excitedly asked.

You giggled.

"Sure," you replied before he carefully handed her to you. You tried to be as careful as possible since the creature was in its adolescence and much smaller than Megeara, your old pet.

"This is a young lizard. I've never handled one so small. My Pandora Lizard was an adult named Megeara. She was my best friend. I had her for about 12 years."

"Wow, a long living little creature then."

"Yeah, they have the longest lifespan of any lizard in this part of the country," you said as you put the reptile back on the ground. "She's probably is looking for her mommy though. So I'll set her free."

"That was probably the right thing to do," he said as he watched the creature disappear into the bushes. "I'm happy to see you again."

"Me too," you chirped. "I'm ready to go, if you are."

"I'm ready, but I want to go behind a tree first."

"Behind a...," you questioned before you realized what he said. "You really can't wait to kiss me again, huh?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, okay. Let's go behind a tree," you replied before you led him to the nearest one around.

You looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then you intitated the kiss. Softly, you grabbed his suit and pulled him closer to you as your lips connected. Fabric was soon let go after and then your arms coiled around his neck as his hands clutched your hips.

You were both practically humming into this kiss, quickly deepening it with the connection of tongue.

Then you pulled away, simply admiring how cute Saaltar was with his red flushed cheeks and happy grin.

"There, now let's go," you said. "I promise you they'll be more to come once we're alone and you can shed that meat suit."

"I can't wait," he happily said.

---

Stay tuned for more! I hope to have the full chapter as well as the current chapters of The Art of Seduction and Sugar Baby up real soon. 😁

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Last Boy Scout (Scott, 1991)

There's undeniably something ugly about the way this movie views women. You have one hero, Bruce Willis, who drops by his house, immediately suspects his wife of cheating on him, waves a gun around, is revealed to be right, shoots a family photo on the way out, and the movie basically supports his point of view. And you have the other hero, Damon Wayans, who arguably has the healthier relationship with women, introduced as having cheated on his girlfriend, who he also gets annoyed with when she gets chatty with the first hero at the bar. Neither the wife nor the girlfriend get to exercise much in the way of agency, the former being reduced to one dimensional shrillness only to embrace her husband at the end as he tenderly spouts vulgarities at her, the latter not making it past the first act and essentially being defined by a past relationship with a sleazy NFL bigwig. The only female character to have much in the way of agency is Willis' daughter, who gets characterized in vile, uncharitable terms and then has a joust of profanities with her father.

Because this is was written by Shane Black, who can't help but write colourful dialogue, some of these scenes manage to be entertaining, if only in a lizard brain way. ("Buy a dog.") Like Eddie Murphy's Raw, the brutal precision in the delivery of punchlines shakes a laugh out of you despite the pungency of the material. You might not like that you're laughing, but you're laughing. But at the same time, this is all plunged in a certain self-loathing, which might make some of this a bit easier to sit through. We meet Willis as he's sleeping in his car and some punk ass kids drop a dead squirrel on him, then watch him pathetically trying to compose himself as he prepares for the day, appraising himself as he looks in the mirror. "Nobody likes you. Everybody hates you. You're gonna lose. Smile, you fuck." And we meet Wayans as he broods over a sleeping woman who is definitely not his girlfriend, pops a bunch of pills so he can "get by", set straight a friend who is treating a woman abominably and look glum about his life situation. Of course these guys have issues with women. They have issues, period.

And over the course of the movie, they rediscover their self respect and regain the luster that had dimmed. Willis, the former secret service agent who saved the president's life (seen in flashback, resembling the Jimmy Carter mask in Point Break) but lost his job after confronting a sleazy, perverted senator, shedding his hungover aura of booze and stale cigarettes and slowly transforming from his zombified state to the hero he once was. Wayans, shedding his insecurity and proving to everyone that his reputation for the best arm in the league was well earned. The movie pushes the two against each other, having them bristle and eventually bond, each doing wonders with the dialogue even as they operate in different registers. Perhaps because the movie starts them off so low, and because of the dignity both actors bring to their roles, I found I was quite moved by their arcs.

And on top of all this, this is just an amazingly fun action movie directed by one of the kings of action movies, Tony Scott, who keeps the movie in hyperdrive. It's got that beautiful shimmering look that Scott's movies had during this period, but with intriguing variations. You get sparkling champagne magic hour look in the daytime scenes, but you also get intense moody blues at night, almost out of a dystopian science fiction movie. The screenplay by Shane Black, in addition to giving texture to the heroes, is great about keeping the convolutions of the plot easy to follow and finding ways to twist tense situations with juicy dialogue. (At one point, Willis avoids being killed by colourfully describing the girth of his assailant's wife. "Now I'm not saying she's fat, her high school picture was an aerial photograph.") And because of the pervasive misogyny and self-loathing, and because the movie opens with Billy Blanks gunning down opposing football players and blowing his own brains out during a game, there's a corrosive quality to the movie that gives the action an added kick. Every explosion goes extra loud. (The best one has a car crash into a pool, blow up, and then get blasted a few extra times by Willis for good measure.) Every gunshot sprays as much blood as a splatter movie. And if you get both explosions and gunshots in the same scene, like the poor bastard who's shotgunned repeatedly while on fire, that's just icing on the action movie cake.

[timstolejasonscorpseagain]

whats the story behind the rat? like your sister didnt actually boil one did she

Holo there.

Okay, I talked a bit about it in the end notes of the fic I mentioned this in, but I'll tell ya the whole story, just for you, Anon.

CW: Snakes, Dead animal, mentions of vomit

So, this happened years ago by this point. I'm gonna start off by simply answering your question: Yeah, she did.

When I was a teenager/young adult I kept reptiles. Snakes, to be exact. I wanted to be a zookeeper who specialised in reptiles, once upon a time, and even went to college for it briefly (they were ableist as hell).

I have experience with lizards, tarantulas & scorpions, and, of course, snakes. I only personally owned snakes, even though my grandma's terrified of them lol. Anyways, I had 6 snakes (I had more room for them in my room than I had for myself tbh) and I fed them with thawed rodents, aka, rats, on saturdays.

One of those saturdays I wasn't home, it was November and I was spending the day with a good friend of mine (well, we were talking on the phone all day as I was doin' my thing), I had plans to get my septum pierced and I was excited.

Afterwards, I noticed I had a bunch of missed calls. I was confused, and a bit worried, because I was pretty sure I told people where I was gonna be that day. But maybe it had slipped my mind?

But no, after listening to the voicemails, it turned out that my sister had boiled a rat.

Here's the thing. My sister is crazy smart! Especially with linguistics (She has a BAs in ancient greek & latin, she can read runes and knows several languages such as Arabic, Norse, Greek, Latin, German, English and probs loads more that I can't remember atm) but.... She's never been the best cook. Not that I blame her, it's not like she had anime to teach her like I did lmao.

Anyways, she's not really the best to trust in a kitchen, is what I'm gettin' at.

Since I had plans that Saturday, I had asked her if she could cover the feedings. She's seen me do it, and done it with me, plenty of times. Before I feed them (I fed them depending on shedding schedule so they didn't all eat the same time) I will douse the bag in hot water. My sister.. Decided to take it a step further.

You see, in her mind it made perfect sense that to warm up the rat, why not just boil it? It'd still be edible and hey, maybe even a gourmet meal! It'd be perfect.

(It was not perfect).

The smell was, according to everyone around the house, horrid. People were vomiting from the stench alone of tender, boiled rat.

She tried to feed the snake that was on schedule for that size rat (different sizes based on snake) and, unsurprisingly, the snake didn't want it. So she put it back into the pot of water and placed it on the stove.

The rat was falling apart.

She left it there. The stench stayed.

Cue angry calls, as the flatmate had come home and ran upstairs to vomit from the smell.

I am fortunate that I wasn't home lol

So yeah.

Don't boil rats. Research safe feeding methods, y'all.

(I was laughing but also like, told her to just call me next time please)

[garbagefarm]

Garbage Farm #52

2024-05-03, session #52 of Garbage Farm! Spanning Spring 4 through Spring 10 of Year 5!

cast:

me ( @mothmute )

E.B. ( @blueherin )

Kimi ( @2kimi2furious )

Highlights include, but are not limited to the following:

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES (every time!)

Pizza may secretly be demon spawn.

Right to jail!

Spring 4:

Rainy day!!

I remembered that EB's also got a cellar full of aged wine, and cycle that

(EB has to remap her controls)

Pam wants potato booze (again); we'll support her alcoholism if it gets us paid.

Smallmouth bass frenzy in cindersap forest?? (I miss it entirely)

Kimi vandalizes EB's sign

Spring 5:

Baby dino is born!! I named it "...lizard?..."

Kimi buys the Junimo catelog

Kimi can have a little deforestation, as a treat

DISCONNECTION

Spring 5 (take two):

Baby dino is born! It's named Lizardo, in this timeline it's italian

oooh, heart event with Vincent and Jas! "spwing onions" are full of bugs, and Jas is appalled at Vincent's violence.

Kimi gets to level 10 foraging (and later picks Tracking), getting her one step closer to Mastery!

I pick up some Tom Kha soup for Elliott from the Cool Pig

Kimi can't access anything 'cause EB is ~crafting~

(taters, precious......)

Sebastian catches Kimi digging through the trash. I'm just glad somebody's remembering to do it!

Elliott talks about how he was never able to successfully "grow plant" at his seaside cottage. Not "plants", "plant". Elliott... is there something you aren't telling me? (it's weed)

EB is #blessed by Wild Possum, Grandpa Jr. and Kimi!

Spring 6:

With foraging complete, Kimi is off to fight some dudes.

I hate to give Pierre money, but we need grass starter. At least Abigail and "carloine" will benefit from it.

(hell with this prismatic grange, I'm gonna buy stuff)

Abigail catches Kimi digging in the trash, and nobody cares!

EB finishes foraging! Mastery getting closer every day!

Spring 7:

duck violence

You can edit Pam's sign??

Prismatic grange complete!

Ancient farming secrets line 37: "there's no better helper than a raisin-fed Junimo"

(Gettin' cheese and jelly bucks tonight!)

Why is there a sign in Kimi's bedroom?

Spring 8:

"grandma is watching........."

Meanwhile, Kent sends me another bomb in the mail.

Kimi kept the valley safe by defeating a Fly. Thank you for your service, braver than any US marine

(Heart event with the sad island boy...)

ugh, more prismatic bullshit, or Qi's Crop? Fuck it, we bean! And I find the first one right away!

Potato juice is ready!

EB fuckin' dies, her husband bills her 1000g and makes her walk home by herself at 1:30AM

Spring 9:

Pizza and Violet are lying in bed on a tuesday, trying to get out of Garbage School

Possum gave EB a chub! "that's what she said"

PRISON BREAK, duck on the loose!

aw hell I was supposed to potato pam, gotta juice the old lady, pamtato.

ffff I gifted it to her, I was supposed to put it in her kitchen (situations like this are what fairy dust is for)

Pam event, praying to Yoba with a Sign of the Vessel she bought from Joja dot com.

Gifted Penny some cookies I found in the trash. "better than her cooking" heyoooo

Lewis showed me his gacha machine, gotta get tickets to win cash prizes!

(haunted by shorts)

EB stays out too late and gets murdered by the Qi Beans

Spring 10?:

GARBAGE CRIBS

Kimi shows off her kitchen skeleton

EB admires Kimi's fish tank

Kimi says that my skeleton pineapple room "slaps"

"what's behind the bed" "nothing don't worry about it :)" (just my attic of amontillado)

-

TO-DO:

I still need gold and iridium to finish out my Crystalarium shed

(speaking of which, I still need more preserves jars for my jam shed, and more kegs for the keg tunnel)

I meant to spend some time reorganizing the storage shed, but didn't get around to it this time

still need to find cave jelly, so we can smoke a fish, so we can befriend the raccoon!

gotta re-do all the tapped trees, but ugh I don't wanna

I HAVEN'T DONE ANY SKULLS IN SO LONG

gotta keep making friends! current target: small island child

my grocery list is so big! still, I did make some good progress on it, I need to check and set up some new priority targets

oh right! RAINY DAY: FIGHT FISH

Good garbage, everybody!!

[itsadragonaesthetic]

Found what I think is a Zebra-tailed Lizard deep underground while digging a new garden bed. I was so worried I had chopped a limb off or something but they were actually totally fine. I was also worried I had cut their tail but uh nope. It's just... that small. There's even a break in the scale texture halfway down the tail. Looks like the zebra tail did work for them at one point.

I held onto them in my extremely hot hands until they could run on their own. They were in a winter torpor state and I didn't want them to run away while they were still groggy and go straight into the mouth of the neighbor's chickens or dog. I'm so happy I somehow didn't hurt them I would have given them a kiss if they weren't covered in dirt.

ANYWAY the lizard was kinda just an excuse to talk about my new garden bed! I literally don't know what I'm doing and I'm just sorta doing what makes sense to me. I want it to be a three-sister's garden... hopefully. I honestly don't garden for food or anything. It's just for fun. I live near a lot of heritage gardens and I have pretty easy access to centuries-old crop varieties so a three-sisters garden sounds like fun. I've honestly never found any sources of a person trying a three sisters garden and thinking it was worth it but often the person was a kinda biased seasoned gardener who just went "I like this corn. I like these beans. I like this squash. Let's grow them together" and then acted surprised when the beans crushed the corn and the squash took over the whole garden. I suppose I may perhaps have some success if I grow varieties that are known to work well together.

That's if literally anything grows lmao. The ground is actually not that bad here. It's never been stripped for a lawn or anything. It's just dirt near what used to be a chicken coop just outside of a mobile home-turned-house and garden. Previous owner was all about plants n shit.

London rockets and all kinds of common weedy plants grow in this area, as well as some stuff that I have no clue what it is. Digging through the dirt revealed that it was quite compact clay, but full of some cool stuff. A few old and hollow cocoons and as stated above, a hibernating lizard. It was also full of roots probably from the surrounding small trees. That could be a problem? I think? I kinda want to cut them down anyway cuz we have enough trees for gods sake. But hey it's proof that the soil isn't so compact that nothing can grow. Regardless, I put some soil conditioning stuff in it and some regular soil that I basically always keep cooking in a bag with some dead stuff in a shed. The whole bed is in a small depression cuz uhhhh this is how the heritage gardens around here do it I don't see why you would have mounds to "save space". Makes no sense to me. Dig further, idiot. Anyway yeah I guess I'll just keep in mind that I shouldn't grow anything that likes sandy textures here.

It recently rained so that made everything a thousand times more difficult but yippie it's done and I tested how absorbant the soil was when I was done and it was pretty damn good! Quite literally the first time I was ever able to make water drain and absorb really well without straight up using potting soil. I covered it with cedar bark chips cuz it's all I had as mulch. Mulch is important pretty much everywhere but it's super important here where the sun can literally fry eggs in the summer. Mulch doesn't typically exist in large quantities anywhere in my surrounding area, hence the growing habit to have wide, shallow roots or to grow near washes and just have a super huge taproot.

Additionally, I tried to cut out a space that was as big as I could make it cuz I know you need a lot of corn for the cobs to fully develop, but it's still probably not enough. I'm cool with that tho cuz like I said, this is for fun and experience in an environment where fucking up a garden isn't gonna ruin my finances or starve my family. I'm a little more excited about the beans anyway.

So yeah, kinda excited but trying not to get my hopes up and I'm telling myself this is for fun and it's a learning experience. I'll probably be cutting out another garden space or two for sunflowers and More Beans and whatever else I think will be fun.

[creature-beast]

It's 5:20 am I wanna talk about my ocs

This is gonna be about kel :p

Keleta "Kel" Farren

• goes by they/them

• kel's an only child but has like 30+ cousins and is closest with their cousin Knox, basically like siblings those 2, would die for each other but also kill one another over the last gummy snack

• kel's mother is a mandalorian and their father is a farmer

• has their mother's height, build, face features

• has their fathers hair, attitude, love for animals, and alcohol tolerance (low to moderate)

• has a genetic condition that causes super dense bones and muscles, got it from their mom, makes them stronger then a normal person but at the cost of muscle/joint pains that they have to manage, this gets passed down to their kids and kel feels kinda bad about it :(

• kel's first kid, ori, was a born a month early, he had a Malformed right lung that causes him breathing problems up until he finally gets a replacement one when he's a teen

• ori's other buir is wrecker, kel met him while training a small group of clones on kamino, not part of the cuy'val dar, kel and wrecker fell in love

• wrecker saw kel first and was instantly like " :0!!! Pretty muscle!" But kel fell in love first, "he makes me laugh also he can lift a ship UwU"

• they had a "secret" affair while kel was on kamino, which lasted a few years, and the week before they had to leave kel asked wrecker to marry them and have a kid with him. Wrecker thought very hard about it for like 5 minutes then agreed very enthusiastically

• kel tried to stay in contact but the com channel they were using became compromised and they had to ditch it, the last message wrecker got was that Ori had been born too early and they we're monitoring him :( then radio silence

• about 3 years pass and after order 66 (and the batch get their shit together) they go to kel's home planet to hide out, the batch are asking around for where the Farrens are, no one wants to tell them because who tf are these random clones asking about our mandalorians?? But then wrecker spots Ori chasing a chicken lizard and is like "Hey I think that's my kid"

• it is and he goes to meet his ad'iika and kel is like 4 feet away don't worry, they have a reunion, tears are shed, ori meets his uncles and aunt omega, sneezes directly into echos mouth, then falls asleep in wreckers arms

• kel apologizes for scarring wrecker with the last transmission, he's just happy his family is ok and together

• kel gets everyone settled in the Farren stronghold, which is in a huge abandoned military base in a mountain

• kel also has a surprise for echo at the stronghold (its fives he's alive and dating Knox)

• nothing bad ever happens to them again except when I'm bored :)

Other facts because I went off on a timeline tangent

□ Kel is a hunter/bounty hunter, more so a hunter, they only do bounty hunting when they need the extra credits but once the empire happens they pretty much stop

□ when it was announced that kel was pregnant a few mandalorians were Very Upset, they had a few admirers and hearing that Kel found someone Else?? That they LOVED??? made them big mad

□ Wrecker did have to beat a few asses once he got there because while mandos are usually respectful of people's choices for partners, people are still entitled assholes, but he enjoys a fight and showing off for his baby's buir ;)

□ Kel has a bad habit of staring very intensely O_O

□ Kel, being a hunter, has an Or'shorna named snapsnap