#They are a cute couple :)

[iwoszareba]

i finished up answering the overdue questions for Aqil (and one for Knave)

@lairiend @gutterspeak @silversiren1101 @commander-lariel @dujour13 @desnas thank you for sending them!! and sorry i got distracted by clownery!! △ Hey Aqil, what’s an awkward fact about Kitsune puberty that most people wouldn’t know? "You probably are aware that we are natural shapeshifters. It's not a spell we have to consciously learn, it's simply an ability that is in our blood and we develop it quite young, alongside things like walking or speech. But that also means it can go a little unreliable when young kitsune are experiencing heightened emotions. You sometimes shift between your forms unexpectedly and involuntarily. For most it relates to some kind of anxiety but not always. I'll give my sisters as an example: Qurin was strongly affected by anger, while Khadija would shift multiple times when she was very excited. It's embarrassing, sure, but it wasn't that big of a deal for us since we are quite open about our family being a kitsune clan. However it must be extremely stressful for those of our kin who prefer to keep a low profile. Do I have any especially awkward memories myself? I guess I do. I was addressing our congregation as the new Meru for the first time. It was probably too soon, I was still a little off from the ritual and getting used to my oracle curse, but I was stubborn and insisted that I could do it. I barely stumbled through my little speech, got all dizzy, shifted three or four times. It was a mess. Afterwards I felt like I made a complete fool out of myself and that it was all over. I went to my father to formally declare that I deserve to be cast out and forgotten but he just put a hand on my shoulder, looked into my eyes and said: "Son, failure is not a matter of making mistakes, failure is letting mistakes you've made define you." So… yeah. It was terrible at the time but I survived just fine. I’m sorry, this probably went beyond the scope of your original question. Anyway, I hope this was a satisfying answer!" invasiveness rating: question itself not invasive, but his own folly of getting too personal was a little embarrassing △ Aqil, with Sosiel – kitsune form or not? "Let me start by saying I admire how much implied suggestive context you were able to express in just a few words. Always a pleasure to meet someone this efficient, I myself have a trouble of being quite verbose.  Another thing I find interesting is how you set this up as a big secret reveal. Yes or no! One word and we will finally know the truth. But let's put a pin in that and run a little thought experiment. No, I'm not trying to stall from time, indulge me. Let’s say you are of elven heritage but every other day you become more human in appearance. It's not a problem and you are at peace, this is simply who you are. But then you find out your beloved finds you attractive and wants to be with you physically only in one of those forms. How would that make you feel? Would you develop a distaste for a part of yourself? Or maybe you start to doubt your partner's feelings and wonder if they truly care for you. I'm not saying that everyone needs to find everything attractive but maybe some relationships would have a hard time surviving or they would devolve into something unhealthy over time. Sosiel has never given anything less than the sense of being loved completely and that is that." invasiveness rating: miffed because it’s literally just his body, but he expects people to be curious, especially in Mendev where kitsune are rare (but 100% thank you for sending it like this, i love thinking about shapeshifter stuff) △ Aqil! You read so many books and learn so many things. Do you keep any 'spicy' books on hand in your library? 'Just in case'? "Just in case? In case of what? I can't wait for the fateful day when my knowledge of "With sword and magic" plotline and 'techniques' will be the thing that saves the day.  I jest of course, I don't think I keep any books of this type on hand at the moment. I did read a fair share of them when I was studying in Absalom, if you ever find yourself there you can seek out Madame Magnolia's Library for Light-hearted Libertines. That's where most of my reading material came from.  Magnolia herself is a wonderful woman, always a delight to talk to and could endear anyone with how open and accepting she is. I once asked how her collection had started and she told me that she would say to her friends 'with every raunchy book I read I become more immune to bleaching' and to join in on the joke her friends would gift her all sorts of outlandish titles. At some point she had so many that it seemed like a waste to just keep them to herself so she started a little private library. After that her collection only grew when even strangers were willing to sell or give her more volumes to fill her shelves.  Recently I got my hands on a little fictionalised retelling of the Knight Commander's 'exploits' during the Fifth Crusade and after reading it through I knew I had to send it to Madame. I wrote a little personalised dedication, tied a pretty bow on it. I hope she gets a kick out of that and may her colours be ever vibrant." invasiveness rating: i guess depends on who would be asking this but in peers type of situation he would be okay. and i really enjoyed making up Magnolia for this question △Aqil, is there anything you wouldn't do to prove yourself to your clan? is there anything more important? "Well of course, if you leave the question this open I can easily imagine scenarios where my decisions and their expectations don't mesh completely. We are all individuals of strong convictions so obviously we clash on details. But our love is not a result of a rigid structure and enforced hierarchy, it's a decision we've made and try to maintain through care and understanding.  I don't have to prove myself to gain their respect and support because I already have it. I want to prove myself because I wish to strive for greatness just as our god teaches.  I guess you could also mean this as 'if the ancestor spirits tasked you with something could you possibly refuse' and then the answer is no. I belong to Nethys and by extension I have to follow the guiding hand of Meru. But then again guidance does not have the severity of commands and I still have plenty of freedom to make my own choices." invasiveness rating: i thought it would get him, i really did. but then i considered it some more and realised he would be prepared to answer something like that because he did think about it himself △ aqil, what are/were your parents/guardians like? "They are wonderful. And I don't say that just to maintain my image of 'everything for family' kinda guy. When I was a little kid I believed that all parents are probably like mine because they are close to old parental archetypes. The father who, while not open with his feelings in words, shows his care through actions and structure he provides and the mother who spoils her children with affection and teaches them how to find joy in life. Of course when I got to experience more of the world I quickly realised that families can run the gamut from good to bad and in-between. And my own in its typicality is far from typical. But what more can I tell you about them…  My father, Bashar Khay, is a very knowledgeable man, serious in demeanour, his very presence commands respect but his wit displays both cunning and sense of humour. He is a teacher of magic theory first and foremost even if he dabbled in other things. The two of us perceive spellcasting in different ways. Where I hear a melody and follow it to its logical conclusion, he sees rules and equations that need to be solved. But he never tried to convince me that my approach was wrong. We would simply compare and contrast and I think it made us both understand the arcane in new ways. Then my mother, Safiya Ineni, ever radiant and full of mirth. People sometimes would tell me that I take a lot after her and I consider that the highest compliment. This may surprise you but she is a bard. I mean she started her learning journey in the usual wizard fashion but when she discovered the joy of combining sounds and magic she knew this was the path for her. And to be fair she is not the usual flashy performer, she uses warm tones of her harp to calm and soothe. Her magic is not only beautiful but also helps those who are entangled in negative emotions and struggle with stress. While I don't have those talents myself, whenever I have a rough day, I play melodies she taught me and it does make me feel better. There is more I could say but I admit that talking about them is making me a little homesick." invasiveness rating: opposite of invasive, he will use any excuse to talk about his family △ for knave, what's your biggest regret?" Regrets, regrets, regrets, regrets, regrets, regrets are for mortals and other beings with enough hubris to think reason has more power than instinct. I follow my nature where it leads me. If given the same set of choices I could make different ones. Or not! But regrets… Does zephyr spite tempest for its destruction? Does tempest begrudge zephyr for its leniency? They are both made of the same force." invasiveness rating: mostly confusing, you could point at a specific thing and he’ll be like “oh yeah, kinda feel bad about that one. i guess?”, ten minutes later point at the same thing and he’ll be like “nah, that was totally fine, idk wdym”

[sandpaperoctopi]

Hacel and Brach. They are engaged 👬

[kindinb00]

[solestella]

[imbluefox]

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Strange Bedfellows: these unprecedented photos show a leafcutter bee sharing its nest with a wolfspider

I stumbled across these photos while I was looking up information on leafcutter bees, and I just thought that this was too cool not to share. Captured by an amateur photographer named Laurence Sanders, the photos were taken in Queensland, Australia several years ago, and they quickly garnered the attention of both entomologists and arachnologists.

The leafcutter bee (Megachile macularis) can be seen fetching freshly-cut leaves, which she uses to line the inner walls of her nest. The wolfspider moves aside as the bee approaches, allowing her to enter the nest, and then she simply watches as the leaf is positioned along the inner wall.

Once the leaf is in position, they seem to inspect the nest together, sitting side-by-side in the entryway; the bee eventually flies off again to gather more leaves, while the wolfspider climbs back into the burrow.

The leafcutter bee seems completely at ease in the presence of the wolfspider, which is normally a voracious predator, and the wolfspider is equally unfazed by the fact that it shares its burrow with an enormous bee.

The photographer encountered this bizarre scene by accident, and he then captured a series of images over the course of about 2 days (these are just a few of the photos that were taken). During that 2-day period, the bee was seen entering the nest with pieces of foliage dozens of times, gradually constructing the walls and brood chambers of its nest, and the spider was clearly occupying the same burrow, but they did not exhibit any signs of aggression toward one another.

The photos have been examined by various entomologists and arachnologists, and those experts seem ubiquitously surprised by the behavior that the images depict. The curator of entomology at Victoria Museum, Dr. Ken Walker, noted that this may be the very first time that this behavior has ever been documented, while Dr. Robert Raven, an arachnid expert at the Queensland Museum, described it as a "bizarre" situation.

This arrangement is completely unheard of, and the images are a fascinating sight to behold.

Sources & More Info:

Brisbane Times: The Odd Couple: keen eye spies bee and spider bedfellows in 'world-first'

iNaturalist: Megachile macularis

[superkursunaskr]

[psykopaths]

Manifesting ✨️

[burkiningalerisi]

[g3othermal3scapism]

rose tyler visiting home wearing tshirts from artists and tours that havent happened yet or tv shows that dont exist yet and everyone thinking she just has weird obscure music taste and is rly weird. its 2006 rose tyler walking down the street and everyone who glances at her shirt is thinking ‘who in the fuck is olivia rodrigo and where did this girl get a 2024 tour shirt’

[mavigardenya]

[kindinb00]

[solestella]

[imbluefox]

[caats]

[efsungeradam]

therapy