#also aquatic plant posts

[prince-liest]

the stuff going on with reddit means that I no longer have a site where I can construct a social media feed made up exclusively of specific niche communities that are tailored to my current hyperfixations, and that has finally driven me back to recommit to tumblr as my primary social media platform

and I must say that I Have Missed This Place. I had a thought for 2 seconds like “maybe I shouldn’t post too often” and then I was like “no actually this is my weirdness safety zone” and made a long post about fish to my weirdly large audience of people who have never seen me post about fish before, which was promptly well and delightfully received

:sparkle:

[emuwarum]

oh so baby pond snails are bastards on purpose

[toytulini]

Okay fuck it. plantposting

plonking these 2 purple passion plant cuttings into the fish tank, gonna try to convince them to grow emersed. hope it works

[potatobugz]

Could you tell us more about Jsabstuck?

hi hi thank u for this ask tony i am sorry it took me. like two months to answer it 🏃i had beatstuck thoughts today & i will do my best to not type a ten thousand word essay (giggle)

basically it takes place in Paradise, which iirc is where. Jsab takes place in as well. But the four player shapes (skya iris cirk & pent) r living at a different point in time than the boss characters (basically all the bosses from jsab, not counting final boss or annihilate bc they're the same character)

this is the cool part: they're basically in a time loop. Paradise gets destroyed and turns into the ocean wasteland, then it gets reborn again, and then gets taken over again. Basically at some point one of the characters realizes that they're stuck like this and they use the game as a way to escape (not necessarily just to escape the time loop for all the characters though, I think having a theme of wanting to escape something by playing the game would be really cool :]])

basically. lots of time shenanigans that are gonna destroy my brain cells

also: one team has a space player but no time player and the other has a time player but no space player. so in order 2 create a new universe they devise a plan to merge their game sessions somehow hehehe

hrmm how do I word this. the player shape's version of "Paradise" is this, vast ocean wasteland. there's some buts of land scattered about that have like, I guess pocket dimensions (basically the levels in jsab. I think this would sorta be like the area you first start out in jsab itself, like before u get to the main area of the game) but for the most part it is just water.

The bosses' version of "Paradise" is much more,,, lively than the other Paradise. This is just the Paradise that u see in game basically <3 but specifically the Island after it's been taken over by the antagonist. basically Paradise is under a tyrannical rule by the boss from New Game so life there is very far from paradise , actually.

also, something 2 note is that Boss/Bosse, I can't decide on the name yet, (the character from Long Live the New Fresh) & Neuga (name I came up w for the character from New Game that. I will not elaborate on [yet]) are separate characters here. Neuga acts more as like a guardian to Boss (but like. not a very good one)

umum anywho things to note is that the main few areas are the cave, factory, volcano, & the mainland (had a very important tree there that basically creates new objects that got wrecked and replaced w a sick tower. by Neuga of course <3

im gonna be real with u 60% of the worldbuilding is loosely based on what the actual game gives us and then 40% is just. stuff i thought was cool.

OK SO I FAILED AT NOT WRITING AN ESSAY ,. I wanted to ramble abt some of the characters too but ‼️I don't want to write a novel (and also I'm a bit tired) so i think i will definitely ramble abt them at a later date

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Finally finishing all these guys we’ve got charts and headcanons! (Long post)

(Height)

(Wingspan)

(Body length & basic shapes I used) (it might be odd but ignore any detail on the back, the shapes are for general body shape)

Headcanons:

Seawings: - Colors range from red and purple to yellow - Aquatic is based off areas of bioluminescence rather than singular scales (because no one wants to draw all of those) - Although they average small compared to the other tribes, gigantism is more common - Wing bioluminescence gene is always present but for some doesn't show, thus aquatic doesn't utilize the wings

Rainwings: - Can change the texture of their scales alongside color - Weakest bite due to their fangs, probably why they're vegetarian - Mimic interesting behaviors - Have forked tongues

Mudwings: - Colors range from olive green to purple-ish red - Very resilient - Able to breathe fire regardless of body temperature, the heat of the flame depends on body temp - Their horns constantly grow and sometimes have to be cut due to dangerous growing patterns - Love gnawing on things, tough foods like jerky is popular - The horn covers of fallen siblings are harvested and turned into instruments to remember them by

Leafwings: - Colors range from gold to teal (and pink to olive green during cold seasons) - Can appear to have false eyes - Bug-like just like the other Pantalan residents (because they're just some weird outlier like what is going on here) - Leafspeak doesn't actually allow them to hear voices from plants but rather increase the sensitivity of their antennae which pick up on the changes in plants - In colder seasons, regions that have deciduous trees influence leafwings in that their scales change into warm tones similar to fallen leaves for camouflage but this also negatively impacts one's leafspeak ability; this doesn't apply to evergreen leafwings however

Hivewings: - Colors range from hot pink to olive green - Can appear to have false eyes - Have elbowed antennae just like their "cousins", Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants) - Tend to disregard personal space/get close out of habit, being close means better temp regulation and better communication - All hivewings have stingers, wrist stingers, and a venomous bite but it largely depends on preference of which they choose and like muscles, they can be exercised to become deadly weapons - They're not capable of "emitting a horrible stench"

Icewings: - Colors range from white to pale indigo - Melanism is still very rare but more likely in icewings - Can be iridescent in any color, especially visible in lighter scaled individuals - The scales on their face is very fine and is flushed with blood which darkens the area and allows them to see in the snow by absorbing light, otherwise the glare from the sun reflecting off would be a hinderance - Their wings are thin and thus have visible veins most of the time - Idk how to describe their scales other than its kinda like basalt formations - From the side they appear large but are actually thin and flexible - They can freeze to death if they've gone without cold for a long time and then reintroduced too quickly - In hybridization, they have dominant genes, partially because the animus gene - The extra mane of horns can appear randomly on the body in singular spikes, they also make a clink sound when they collide as if they're made of ice, making a pretty scary rattle when disturbed

Nightwings: - Colors range from orange to purple - Albinism is still very rare but more likely in nightwings - Dwarfism is more common - Teardrop scales are always present, highlighted when the dragon has powers regardless of type - Pitbull ready to bite kids - They CAN hang upside down as the books suggest but not for long - By taking dust baths, they dull their scales to reflect less light and blend in better in the dark - Have white fire but cant breathe for long due to how hot it is (this is mainly to add onto the mysterious factor of em and I always liked the idea) - Due to eye sensitivity, they hate sudden bright lights and will close their eyes as they breathe fire

Silkwings: - Can have black or dark accents but never as a whole body color unless they've hybridized - Wing shapes vary widely - Can appear to have false eyes - Flamesilk is rarer than one might think - Very flexible and have strong tails used as a sort of 5th limb in climbing - Albino or melanistic dragons still keep their iridescence - Silk is emitted through a spinneret on the chin rather than the wrists - Prefer to travel in pairs (instinct)

Sandwings: - Colors range from red to olive green - Dark patters often mimic a snake's - Horse-like in complexion - Alongside their snake-like appearance, they have pit organs - Tend to move like birds - Poor eyesight but good hearing - Their horns angle upwards sort of like a bull

Skywings: - Colors range from red to yellow (and green because skywings are meant to be your typical fire breathing dragon which is most often depicted to be red but can also be green) - Tend to move like birds - Weaker than they appear - Green skywings are incapable of being or having flamescales - Their horns constantly grow and have to be filed down - A flamescale cant melt rock or metal by touch alone, only via fire is it possible - It's not that they don't want flamescales that they kill them, it's more of a mercy killing because of how lonely their life can be

[craftingcreatures]

Some sketchy concept stuff that I'm posting because I liked it but couldn't be bothered to refine it into an actual artwork.

These submarine behemoths are the Mermares (Clade Euhippocampiformes), secondarily aquatic descendants of the domestic donkey. The group first appeared around 29 million years post-cataclysm, in the late Nerian stage of the Diluvian period. They evolved from an animal called the Seabra, a descendant of the Donkey which adapted to exploit a niche with, thus far, zero competition - that of a large marine herbivore.

On earth, marine ecosystems are notable for the distinct lack of vascular plant life, a condition caused by a number of factors - most notably the osmotic stress caused by the saltwater. Most photosynthesis is carried out by algae. On Spero, however, things are different. Because Spero's oceans were generated relatively recently, from extraterrestrial ice particles, there just hasn't been enough time for erosion and the water cycle to deposit dissolved minerals in the water. As a result, Spero's seas are made of freshwater - a much more tolerable condition for most plants, and thus the diversity of marine vascular plants is much, much higher than on earth. Also, due to the flatness of the flooded landscape and lack of any real tectonic features, enormous swathes of the seabed lie within the photic zone, less than 200 meters from the surface. Thus, endless expanses of marine grasslands - the "seagrass prairies" - extend from the shore, often for hundreds of miles before the water finally gets too deep for photosynthesis to occur.

All of this plant life is an extremely attractive prospect for herbivores, and it was likely what drew the ancestral Seabra to forage in shallow coastal meadows in the first place. But as the oceans got deeper and life adapted, the Seabra had to adapt in kind - their hind legs rotated backwards to act as a pair of propulsive flukes, their forelimbs developed into steering flippers, and their nostrils retreated to sit on their foreheads.

One notable feature of the Mermares is hyperphalangy, a condition where the fingers have too many bones. It's very common in large marine tetrapods in Earth's history - whales and dolphins, Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, and Mosasaurs all exhibited hypoerphalangy to some degree - and seems to be associated with the specialization of the limbs into flippers. We would expect to see similar patterns in marine lineages on Spero. What's unique about the Mermares, however, is the sheer number of extra phalanges in the finger; at least fifteen in the shorter-finned species, and more than thirty in the longest-finned forms. And because Mermares - being equids - only possess one digit per limb, the result is a single long chain of flat, squarish bones which, in some cases, can reach over forty feet long - the longest arms ever to exist.

These ridiculous appendages produce a lot of drag and are merely adequate for steering and stabilization. So why do the Mermares have them?

The answer is that they're weapons. And particularly devastating ones, at that.

Mermares use their flagellating flippers as bludgeons, against both predators and conspecifics. The flippers are connected to powerful neck muscles and can be swung forward with impressive force; combined with a well-timed twisting of the giant horse's torso, the huge flippers can impact hard enough to shatter bone and pulverize flesh. The flippers themselves do not escape unscathed, and older individuals often have scarred or mangled flipper-tips from numerous battles over the years; but it's a small price to pay for survival.

When not being used against their enemies, the flippers may be folded back against the sides of the animal to reduce drag, or used as props to keep the animal's belly up off the seabed when feeding. Mermares spend up to 18 hours per day grazing, using their long neck to crop aquatic grasses and other vegetation in a wide arc without moving their bodies and occasionally dipping up to the surface to breathe. Mermares are keystone species in the seagrass prairies; as hindgut fermenters, they are not as efficient at processing plant matter as ruminants like goats, and produce large amounts of nutrient-rich dung which acts as fertilizer for the meadows and helps keep the environment productive. The dung also acts as food for a variety of fish and invertebrates.

Let's look at some of the Mermare's diversity, shall we?

Drepanarion (center right) One of the smaller Mermares, Drepanarion nonetheless grows to nearly 12 meters (39 feet) long. It is immediately recognizable by the bold black-and-yellow striping on the heads and necks of the stallions, and by the tall, narrow nuchal crest which extends from the withers and makes the stocky body look even more powerful. Unlike most other Mermares, which live in small groups of less than ten individuals, Drepanarion can be found in herds of over a hundred in the seagrass prairies of the Savanian (41 - 50 million years post-cataclysm). These nomadic throngs graze patches of seagrass nearly to the roots before moving on, giving the ecosystem time to regrow before returning in a few years' time. Drepanarion exhibits the most extreme sexual dimorphism of any Mermare, with stallions being both larger and more brightly coloured than mares; during the annual rut, males will fight each other in brutal bludgeoning matches to establish dominance and secure mates. To this end, they have some of the most extreme flipper anatomy of any Mermare; though not especially long (indeed, they have the shortest flippers of any derived genera), each phalanx bone has a protruding bony tubercle on the anterior edge which extends into a keratinous knob. These knobs both protect the flipper during combat and focus the force of the blow into a smaller area, dealing more damage.

Hipposeidon (bottom left) First appearing in the early Imberian (50 million years post-cataclysm), Hipposeidon is the largest of all Mermares and, indeed, the largest animal ever to exist on Spero, with stallions regularly reaching over 24 meters (80 feet) long (mares are slightly smaller). Extremely large specimens may even reach 30 meters (100 feet), although this is rare. This ludicrous size - nearly rivaling even the mighty Blue Whale of Earth - is possible only due to the sheer abundance of its food. Hipposeidon appears at the height of the seagrass prairie's extent, and can pack away almost 900 kilograms (1900 pounds) of seagrass per day. This superlative food requirement has important consequences for Hipposeidon's behaviour; this animal is migratory. Seagrass prairies are extremely productive ecosystems, but nonetheless Spero is a seasonal world; as the summer growth gives way to the winter die-back, the greatest of the Mermares must migrate across the equator to seek out a continuous food source to fuel its immense bulk. In this way Hipposeidon experiences a perpetual summer, interrupted only by the biannual migration from north to south and back again. Female Hipposeidon are pregnant for about one year, timing the birth of the single large foal with arrival to the feeding grounds; the six-meter-long foal enjoys a long childhood nursing and playing in shallow summer waters, gathering strength before making the long swim across the barren tropical zone to pastures new.

Bathypegasus (top left) The last and possibly the weirdest of the great Mermares, Bathypegasus is the only member of the clade which is not a grazer. Instead, it is a specialist feeder on pelagic, free-floating ferns. These ferns are a seasonal bounty, growing in huge numbers in the tropical summers of the late Imberian (60 million years post-cataclysm), where the planetary ring system shades out large portions of the planet for half the year. A close relative of Hipposeidon, Bathypegasus has left its ties to the seabed behind, becoming a fast, powerful swimmer which spends most of its life far above the sea floor. Its flippers have adapted to be even more ludicrously long - the longest forearms of any animal, ever, with each one measuring nearly 14 meters (45 feet) in length and each containing at least 35 individual bones. No longer used to prop the animal up off the seabed, these whiplike flippers are narrow and streamlined and can be whipped through the water at speeds of nearly 20 meters per second (that's over 40 mph) - the most extreme weaponry of any Mermare, and used to great effect against predators. Bathypegasus, like Hipposeidon, is migratory, following the blooms of pelagic ferns across Spero's oceans. Thanks to this midwater diet it is the only genus of Mermare to survive past the mid-Imberian extinction, when rising sea levels and steepening coastal slopes caused the seagrass prairies to disappear. Bathypegasus finally died out in the Ultimoxerian stage, around 75 million years post-cataclysm, the last and weirdest of the giant marine horses.

[karlachismylife]

For the celebration! The Prompt: laying their hand on the other’s leg. The pairing SoapxReader or DammonxReader, you choose! >:3 pls and tyyy

Never ask me to choose again, darling, I'm polyamorous for a reason >< You get both! And also lots of love from me for your support and overall awesomeness <3

Link to the celebration post for anyone interested here!

Emotional Support Dog

John "Soap" MacTavish x gn!civilian!reader

Even the air around you feels charged with anxiety. No amount of meticulously created comfort can tone it down: tucked into the soft corner of your couch, surrounded with pillows, a blanket, a steaming cup and a bowl of snacks to accompany fat stacks of papers to read, you still feel nervous. No one can blame you though: your boss wasn't particularly fair informing you of the upcoming meeting late. Very late. Couple of days before a very important meeting with your place at the company depenging on it - that sort of late.

Goddamn corporate.

So it's not surprising that you're slightly crumbling under pressure to get prepared with all available documentation; maybe they're trying to set you up to be at their mercy or fail, but you're not going down without a fight. Even if the fight makes your knee bounce nervously and the almost-forgotten nail biting come back as your eyes scan one bureaucratic word vomit page after another.

You're so engrossed in the process of absorbing vital information from the bulky speech figures and long columns of numbers that you nearly miss the sound of the apartment door opening and closing - and the one entering isn't even trying to be subtle about it. Poor door suffers a concussion in its core each time it gets slammed shut by the overly excited to be home individual; then follows the jiggling of keys thrown to their place, two hasty thuds of boots being enthusiastically kicked off, and finally - a dramatic pause. Were you a little less busy, you would've already been at the door, right where one hearty hug awaits, arms opened and everything; maybe you would've made him wait on purpose, just to see a sulky pout of an impatient pup light up with pure inner sunlight by your presence; but you can't just pull yourself away from this very important reading.

So in a minute Johnny peeks around the living room entrance, wary expression immediately replaced with a loving glint in the aquatic eyes at the sight of you. In two strides he is already at the sofa, plopping his ass right next to you and nuzzling the side of your face with one, two - three kisses: to the temple buzzing with brainwork, to the soft cheek and to the corner of your sightly frowned mouth.

"Whit are ye doing there, bonnie? Thought ye fell asleep, didnae even come hug me at th' door," here comes the famous pout, eyes full of betrayal boring straight into your soul in hopes of coaxing more kisses and cuddles. Would've definitely worked.

If not for the bloody headache fussing over this goddamn meeting planted into your skull.

You open your mouth with a sigh, planning to answer him - you're going to hug and kiss him alright, just a second, you just have to finish this paragraph, so wordy and inhumanely written that you almost don't doubt it was done by a real person - to deliberately make every reader's of this file head explode. An efficient way to balance the workforce market.

Soap, however, reads into your frowny silence and immediately smells that something's wrong. And it very much might be his fault - even though he did the dishes, took you to your favourite Italian on the weekend, showed impeccable restraint when a guy at the parking lot ran his mouth at you (that prick was lucky Johnny didn't want to start the date with a fight: "Ye better thank tis guardian angel 'ere fur haudin' me back, or ah'd teach ye a lesson, ye sod," - all said with a firm hand placed on the small of your back while you glared at the mouthy motherfucker), folded the laund- oh shite. It was the laundry, wasn't it?

"Bonnie, ye're nae angry at me, are ye?" Johnny tilts his head, trying to catch a direct glimpse at you, and almost shoves himself between you and your reading, squeezing in more kisses. "Ah'll dae th' laundry, ah promise, must've forgotten-" - you finally blink and emerge from your hyperfocused state, immediately cupping the Scot's worried face and planting a loud smooch on his nose.

"I'm not angry... not at you, at least," you give him an apologetic kiss on his pouty lips and look back down at the paper in your lap. "It's just work. Gotta read all this or I'll be in trouble, boss gave me a really short notice this time. It's like they're trying to set me up... sorry for ignoring you, sunshine."

Initial relief on Johnny's face that showed there when you confirmed he didn't get on your bad side (he did fold the laudry after all, just managed to forget that he did) gets replaced with a concerned look once again. Leaning back a bit, he gauges the stacks of papers laid out on the coffee table in front of you and furrows his full brows.

"'N' how long ye 'ave tae read all tis?" - "The meeting's two days away, morning." You rub your neck with another exasperated sigh, and a much larger hand, warm and calloused, comes up to do it for you, squeezing the sore spots and making you shudder as it forces the knots away. How long have you been sitting here, hunched over the papers?

"Steamin' Jesus, tha's a lot of reading tae dae," he mutters, squinting to try and make something out of the corporate gibberish - and inevitably failing. With a sigh, Johnny reserves to kissing your temple again. "Well, shite, nae lik' ye 'ave much choice, dae ye? Wanntae 'ave pasta fur dinner? Ah'll cook."

With a confirming nod and a grateful grunt from you, already deep in the papers again, he raises from the couch that creaks with relief, but then pauses and sits right back down. His big hand finds its way to your leg, squeezing your knee reassuringly and stopping the jittering with warm, heavy weight. You lift your eyes once again, meeting his bluest ones with a net of crow's feet around them, nothing but warmth towards you. This sight makes breathing, constricted by the pressure put on you by the situation, easier.

"Ye got tis, aye, bonnie? Ah ken ye got tis. Ye gonnae show 'em."

With a pat, meant to gently hammer in this confidence in case you were still worrying and doubting yourself, Johnny finally gets up, and your knee immediately feels cold without his big paw on it.

"Ah'll go start th' dinner, and ye holler if ye need anything, aye? Ah heard snoggin's good fur yer brains."

Of course he did. Bloody rascal with his innocent blue eyes winking at you and calming your wired self down. Well, why refuse such considerate service when offered?

Forged Under the Stars

Dammon x gn!reader

The cool of the night yields under the relentless burning of several campfires and torches lighting the clearing your celebratory party takes place at, their heat amplified by mulled wine and other drinks generously shared between everyone present. Sitting close to one of the campfires, you quietly observe folks with genuine smiles on their faces that only add to the pleasant warmth in your chest. It's nice, you think, seeing them relax and shrug off the heavy weight of barely avoided danger. They deserve this small moment of peace and quiet among impending doom, and so do you.

Drunken laughter at one of the barrels people gather for the good ale distracts you, your curiousity piqued as you lazily try to make out what caused the whistling and hooting - some brave soul trying to compete against others in absorbing a humongous mug in one go, perhaps? Whatever it is, it keeps your attention long enough for someone to stumble a bit clumsily and seat themself down with a quiet "oof", warm knee nudging your leg in an accidental move before the person straightens up. Snapping your eyes to the right, you can't help the wide smile tugging at your lips.

"Hello to you too, Dammon," you raise your clay mug as a greeting, taking in the view. The blacksmith doesn't look too out of it, but he's clearly tipsy - you aren't surprised, he does give off the impression of someone easily getting lightheaded from a drink or two. Even the warm orange hue of the campfire can't hide cute rosy blush on his cheeks and pointy eartips; neither manages he to conceal a certain glint in his bright glowing eyes.

"Sorry," he mumbles, probably referring to his clumsy landing, but you just shake your head - he didn't even really disturb you, holding up quite well. Same can't be said for everyone: with another glance around, you notice a completely plastered tiefling maiden try and dance with Wyll, who ends up catching her and preventing a fall after fall for the giggling girl. A quiet rustling from behind alerts you, but even without looking you realize it's just Dammon's tail getting restless, usual reserved attitude lifted by ale or whatever he was drinking.

You two sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, watching the party and stealing glances at each other, smiles widening and chuckles escaping when you catch each other looking - after one of these accidental eye contacts Dammon and you burst out in particularly loud fits of laughter, leaning forward and shaking your heads. Alcohol makes it so much funnier, fuzzy, pleasant feelings coiling like furry cats in your stomachs.

"Gods above, I haven't laughed like that for a long time," Dammon sits back up and tilts his head back, inhaling fresh night air and watching the night sky. His vision makes the stars shine brighter, and while you watch him instead of the nightsky, you think you see the celestial bodies swirling in his eyes, reflected as if they were a crysral clear lake.

"Not much laughter in Avernus, eh?" Your slightly intoxicated tongue works faster than your brain, and you immediately stutter, cursing yourself for bringing The Descent - of all things, damn it! - up. "Sorry, didn't mean to..."

"It's alright. I know what you meant," Dammon's smile doesn't falter and he tears his gaze away from the sky to look at you. Maybe it's a play of the flickering flame you sit at, but it seems as if his eyes only shine brighter when looking at you. "And you're right, that wasn't... although there was this one time..."

He briefly checks if you're listening and goes off - waving his mug, unusually expressive and talkative, clearly encouraged when you prop your cheek on your palm and listen on. Maybe you don't quite keep up with the amout of terms and unkown words his slurred speech is littered with, but you still laugh, when he puffs his blushing cheeks, reenacting the way some poor apprentice thrown into his forge held a heavy anvil and tried to use it as a hammer when they ran out of those (how does a forge run out of hammers? why yes, of course, when a whole squadron of unprepared for battle soldiers swarms it and takes everything and anything they can use as a weapon. yes, the firepokers too.)

At the sound of your laughter, loud and unbothered, Dammon pauses with his antics and turns back into his shy self, holding his breath and drinking in the sight of you with a surprisingly sober shine to his eyes. Your fit of giggles dies down, when you feel a warm hand on your thigh, barely squeezing, long tiefling claws carfully denting the skin underneath your clothing.

"Thank you," sincerely whispers Dammon, looking at you like you've hung the moon in the skies and lit up the fire in his forge, "for everything. For this night."

He leans in closer, lips slightly parted, something else dancing on the tip of his tongue, something he can't brace himself to say out loud. You smile, covering his palm with yours - his is strong, warm, a hand of someone working hard, rough and with visible burns from accidental sparks scorching through the protective mittens. It startles Dammon, fingers twitching and squeezig a bit harder before he lets go of your leg and moves his eyes away. His ears slowly start glowing brighter, tail swishing behind you and nearly swatting your bum - turns out, it almost coiled around your waits while you two were sitting next to each other.

Unwilling to let his bashfulness to get in the way, you catch Dammon's hand before it slips away and hold it gently, allowing to rest on your thigh again, your fingers almost intertwined.

"I'm glad you're here," there's enough courage in you for the both of you, added in liquid form or coming to you naturally - doesn't matter. Dammon's shy smile grazes his lips once again, and he finally allows his tail to wrap around your seated form, carefully, ready to pull away if you show any signs of discomfort.

You don't.

"I hope we see each other again," with your support, Dammon allows his thoughts to spill out. It's a little bittersweet, a reminder that the celebration will eventually come to an end and you both will have to move on, heavy burdens on both of your shoulders. But maybe, just maybe the knowledge that wherever life chucks you, if there's a forge nearby, you might see a familiar face - maybe that knowledge lifts the weight just a little bit.

After all, this blacksmith has some fine, strong shoulders you can lean on.

If you know anything about the Faerûn traditions, it's that lovespoons are carved out of wood. Unlike that little forged one that you find among your posessions the next morning.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: alligator snapping turtle

This will be a shorter WBW than usual, as I forgot to prep a post in advance and am writing this on short notice. Today's topic is the alligator snapping turtle, a beast from the bayou almost looks like a dinosaur. Macrochelys temminckii is the only member of its genus and, along with the three members of the genus Chelydra, is one of the four living snapping turtle species. Some scientists suggest splitting it into three species, but this is still a matter of debate. Snapping turtles are large, predatory turtles known for their very sharp beaks, extreme bite forces, and alleged aggressiveness.

(Image ID: an alligator snapping turtle sitting on gravel. It is a large, brown turtle. Its shall has three spiked ridged running down it. The head is large and angular, with a very sharp beak. It has small, brown eyes. Its mouth is open in a threat display. End ID)

The alligator snapping turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, surpassed only by a few species of rare Asian softshells. The alligator snapping turtle can be distinguished from the common snapping turtle, whose range overlaps with that of the alligator snapping turtle, by the three spiky ridges going down its shell. These ridges, along with its powerful jaws, are often compared to those of an alligator, hence the common name. The turtles grow through their entire lives and can reach truly huge sizes. In the wild, adult males (who are larger than females) range between 35 and 80.8 cm (13.8 to 31.8 in) in caprapace (top shell) length and weigh between 8.4 and 80 kg (19 to 176 lbs). Sometimes, a true giant will be found, usually an old male. Reported weights of giant males include 113, 107, and 135 kg (249, 236, 298 lbs). The tail is longer and thicker than in most turtles. The head is large and thick and can deliver bites with a force averaging 159 newtons. This is less than the bite force of the common snapping turtle, but still enough to bite someone's finger off. The inside of the mouth is brownish and the tongue has an appendage that looks like a worm on it. Unlike most turtles, the alligator snapping turtle cannot withdraw into its shell. The plastron (lower shell) covers less of the body than in most species and cannot cover retracted limbs, heads, or tails.

(Image ID: a close-up of the head of an alligator snapping turtle with its mouth open. The tongue is visible, which has a pink, fleshy appendage that looks like a worm. End ID)

Alligator snapping turtles live in the southeast USA in rovers, streams, and lakes, preferably with deep water. They spend most of their lives in the water, only leaving if in search of a new home or when laying eggs. They are nocturnal, but may still hunt during the day. The turtles are passive ambush predators who sit perfectly still with their mouths open and tongues exposed. The worm-like appendage on the tongue is used to attract prey, which the turtle will bite down on quickly and with extreme force. This is a form of aggressive mimicry. You may be wondering what they eat and the answer is just about anything. Fish, amphibians, and snails appear to be the most common prey, but they will also feed on crayfish, insects, snakes, worms, birds, small mammals, other turtles, and even small alligators. Basically if it can fit in the turtle's mouth, it will be eaten. While not active predators, they will dig up burrows in search of food. They also feed on carrion and will sometimes eat aquatic plants. A turtle can go 50 minutes between breaths and they sit still so much that most individuals will have a thick layer of algae growing on their shells. The algae helps them camouflage as rocks when not moving. Fishermen tales often say that alligator snapping turtles can depopulate all of the fish in a body of water, but this does not appear to be true. Adult alligator snapping turtles have no natural predators while juveniles are eaten by fish, birds, raccoons, and other snapping turtles.

(Image ID: an alligator snapping turtle underwater in an aquarium. Picture from the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. End ID)

Mating takes place in spring, earlier in the season in more southern climates. Laying takes place around two months later. The females will leave the water and travel around 50 meters inland. The distance is to prevent the eggs from being flooded, which would kill them. She will build a nest in sandy soil and bury the eggs. No further care is provided. Clutches consist of between 8 and 60 eggs at a time. After 100-140 days, the eggs hatch. The hatchlings are fully independent and must make their own way in life. The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the soil they are incubated in. Soil of 29-30 degrees C (84.2 to 86 F) results in primarily females, 25 to 27 C (77 to 80.6 F), results in primarily males, and anything in between results in a mix. Individuals become sexually mature after about 11-12 years. The maximum lifespan of wild turtles is unknown, but individuals in captivity can live over a century.

(Image ID: two baby alligator snapping turtles held in a person's hand. They are smaller than the person's palm, but otherwise look no different than the adults. One is on its back, displaying the small plastron. End ID)

(Image ID: alligator snapping turtles hatching in captivity. The eggs are small white spheres that look like ping-pong balls. The number 19 has been written on them in what appears to be sharpie. Several of the eggs have already hatched. In the middle of the picture, a turtle is pertially emerged from its egg. End ID

Alligator snapping turtles are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. Their primary threat is habitat loss as wetlands are drained and dammed. They are also hunted and used as food by humans. This is common enough that some states have had to pass laws protecting the turtles. Despite being characterized as aggressive, alligator snapping turtles rarely attack humans and only in self-defense. Because they cannot retract into their shells, the turtles defend themselves by facing a potential threat with their mouths open as a warning. This has furthered its reputation as an aggressive animal. Because the turtles take so long to reproduce, restoring populations is a very slow process. Alligator snapping turtles are sometimes used as pets, though they need expert care due to their sheer size and the potential danger of handling them. Use in the pet trade has resulted in the turtles being introduced outside of their native range. They have become an invasive species on some places, notably in southern Africa.

(Image ID: an alligator snapping turtle next to a human man. The human is holding it up by the front of the shell to show its size. End ID)

[hedgehog-moss]

The girls have arrived!!

I received an email from the goldfish-delivering company that had “how to take care of your mogwai” vibes, with recommendations I was expecting like “don’t feed the fish for the first three days” but also some I wasn’t expecting at all, such as “don’t make eye contact with aggressive fish”:

If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see it’s already too late.

I decided to follow the timeless human tradition of ignoring things I don’t understand, and moved on to phase 2: poking tiny holes in the bags of fish and letting them float around on the water of their new tank until water temperatures and pH became even. In the meantime I had a mystery on my hands: in addition to the two bags of fish I had ordered, the parcel contained another, smaller bag full of some unknown liquid.

The paper inside is just a page torn off a catalogue, there were no indications as to what this little bag was for and I was puzzled. My first thought was that it contained some kind of big name fish that needed to travel alone—or maybe the aggressive fish that you shouldn’t make eye contact with? An aquatic Pyrgus. But then I opened the bag and it only contained a clear water-like liquid; no fish.

My second thought was that the liquid was a goldfish tonic that I should pour into the tank to help the fish adjust to their new environment. I called the goldfish-delivering company just to make sure, and the man I had on the phone was like “Oh I’ve never been asked this question before! The little bag just contains a block of ice to keep the fish cool during delivery. If there’s still some ice in there you can put it in your apéritif this evening.” I felt pretty silly, but he sounded happy to answer a silly question about ice instead of having someone call to say “some of my fish died during delivery.”

(I shared my initial hypothesis with him—that the little bag contained the fish in chief who travelled alone in its own VIP vehicle—and he said “Vous avez été chercher loin !” (you’ve thought about this a lot!) and I said “no that was my first theory” and he was like “how was it your first theory”)

Anyway—the fish had now floated long enough and were ready to be scooped out! Their travel water was pretty dirty and the bags pretty cramped, I bet they’re enjoying their 1000L tank with water lovingly filtered by my hardworking vegetables.

Here they are exploring the place! You can see the plants’ roots dipping into the water from each tower (explanation in this post in case you’ve missed it) so they have quite a lot of underwater greenery to play with or munch on. I hope they acclimatise well and enjoy their mutually-enriching relationship with my greenhouse plants :)

[atelierlili]

What's your headcanon for Katniss and Peeta's children?

How old was Katniss when give birth to their daughter?

How many years apart between them in age?

Your headcanon for their name?

Who gets the singing and art skill from their parent?

Bonus question : please give recs of your fav everlark post-Mockingjay fanfic.

Thank you :)

@curiousthg

You’ve made a grave mistake because I have so much to say and some art as well(becuase I’m so sane for them I swear)

So I’ve always headcannon that Katniss had her first baby in her late twenties-early thirties. In my head the 5, 10, 15 years go like this. Year 5: Katniss is open to the idea of children now. The games are done, but is Panem really safe yet? Is she ready yet. No, not really. Year 10: okay, Katniss feels safer and braver now. If it happens it happens. They won’t actively try for it and will let nature take its course. Year 15: Toast boy and girl are born within a 5-ish year time span.

Katniss names the girl Marigold for the golden flowers that Peeta planted next Katniss’ Primroses. Marigolds represent warmth, creativity, joy and good luck, but they were also given away during times of grief as a gesture of kindness and solidarity as the flower’s vibrant colours helped ease the pain of grief. Gold is also the colour that represents the bond between the district 12 team that comprised of Peeta, Katniss, Effie, Haymitch, Portia & Cinna. So it’s also carries some sentimental weight as without them and their bonds, this little girl wouldn’t have been born. Of course, Peeta calls the girl Muffin. Because she’s his little muffin. His little cupcake. It’s not until Effie decides that Mary is too bland a nickname for her favorite niece that we get the girl’s most used nickname- Muffy.

Muffy is a bundle of joy to their lives. And Katniss loves being a mother more than she’d thought. Having Muffy made Katniss yearn for the mini Peeta she dreamt of on a beach in the QQ.

Toastboy pops out about three and a half years later. The age gap is so close to be about the same as Katniss and Prim’s that it makes her heart squeeze again. His name is Cress, after Watercress (wait plz don’t leave), the aquatic plant that can be found in bunches at Katniss’ special lake. They are a highly nutritious plant to eat and is said to believe to have medicinal uses like treating swelling and fevers. The name is also a small nod to Annie Cresta and Finnick because of the water connection. His curly blonde hair gets him the nickname Goldilocks from Johanna.

Both children are highly artistic and connected to nature, Katniss teaches them both to hunt, but the kiddos don’t like it as much because they don’t like to hurt animals. It hurts Katniss a little bit, but she’s glad that bloodshed and violence (even to survive) aren’t a daily part of their lives.

Muffy is a performer. She’s definitely daddy’s little girl because she loves to yap. She could yap all day and still find something to talk about. She grows up loving to dance and then wanting to sing and dance- the dreams of making it big in the Capitol as a actress. (To Katniss’ complete and under horror) She’ll definitely develope some complex when it comes to being the Mockingjay’s daughter. Especially when she starts getting movie offers to play her Mom, even when after she tries going out of her way to distance herself from Katniss by going under a different stage name.

Cress is very much not Muffy. He’s a quiet little guy who follows after his big sister like a little duckling. He’s the only one who doesn’t get tired of her yapping and genuinely listens to her. Peeta and Katniss were a little worried when they started noticing that he wasn’t speaking for a while. They go to doctors and they can never find what’s causing this speech delay, but one day he starts talking at the age of 2, and he has the softest most sweetest voice in the world. He’s a very quiet and observant kid, that gets into more trouble than you’d think. While Peeta’s art is very imagery and emotionally (and politically) focused, Cress’s art is not. He’s super talented with a pencil and really skilled at realistic/technical drawings that he’d probably go an illustrate diagrams for scientific textbooks on nature and stuff. Growing up, he probably feels like his art work is too cold and unfeeling compared to Peeta’s splash of life. But in reality, the difference between they art styles are indicative of how they see and filter the world through their art.

Anyway, this is taking waaay to long so here is some early concept art of the toast babies. I’m still messing around with the tones and hues of their design, so none of this is final. I’m probs gonna switch Cress’s skin tone to a more golden undertone as opposed to Katniss’s reddish one to match his hair color, which might get a tad darker (or lighter tbh. In the books Peeta’s an ashy blonde) Meanwhile maybe I’ll give Muffy the redder undertone? There’s something off bout her that I need to keep experimenting with. She screams Movie Katniss baby, not Book Katniss Baby, but maybe that’s only because Jen has blue eyes.

[fantisyoflove]

Relationship Stoplight ~ Neville Longbottom

Relationship stoplight is a level by level relationship imagine post. You decide how far you want to go with the character and keep scrolling until you reach a point you don't want to read about or until you finish the post.

I hope you enjoy!

Friends:

Being friends with Neville includes...

Working on homework together

Talking about plants

Working late in the greenhouse for Professor Sprout

Bringing one another snacks and treats when you spend the weekend looking for plants along the shore of the black lake

You love playing with his curls at the nape of his neck. You beg him not to cut his hair.

Neville likes physical touch and will lean against you when you two stand next to each other. His leg will press against yours when you sit next to each other. And he will loop arms with you while you walk together. He craves the pressure of another person

Sitting in front of the fire Dean and Seamus are on the couch you and Neville on the rug. You are reading over Nevilles essay holding it in one hand while the other cards through Nevilles hair, his head in your lap, eyes closed, and hands folded over his stomach. "You might as well come out and say it" Seamus snaps slamming his book shut. "We are only your bloody friends for crying out loud!" Neville scrunches his face in confusion and looks to you for clarification. You were also startled by this sudden outburst and had dropped Nevilles essay. Seamus looks pointedly between you and Neville before looking at Dean for help. "He is right, you guys can tell us we are happy for you" Dean said. "What are you on about?" Neville asked. Seamus stood throwing his hands up in the air. "You and y/n are going together" you and Neville exchange a glance and then burst out laughing. "We are not together Seamus. We are just friends" you giggle. Dean raises his eyebrows in shock and Seamus looks completely bewildered. "Fine! Don't tell us!" He snaps and sits back down next to Dean.

You both are "shy" and "quiet" so you are often overlooked by your friends and classmates. You use this to your advantage to eavesdropping, gossip, and people watching together.

You are over the moon when he starts dating Ginny. You had been hyping him up to ask her to the ball for weeks!

Relationship:

When she breaks up with him you are there to comfort him and help him move on.

Being fluffy with Neville includes...

Nose boops

Him tucking your hair behind your ear before he kisses you

Pressing your forehead against his

Nuzzling into his neck

He likes to tickle you by blowing on your stomach

Always having to touch you

Having you sit between his legs during quidditch matches, you leaning back against him with his arms over your shoulders holding you close to keep you warm

Wearing his sweaters

Meeting his gran for the first time, she doesn't particularly like you but then again she doesn't really like anyone

"I appreciate you"

"You are the heavens and the earth to me"

"I love you" he whispers against your temple the back of his hand brushing against your cheek and the other holding the small of your back, pushing you against him. Your turn your head to kiss his fingers and whisper back "I love you too"

Neville doesn't bring you flowers but whole potted plants. Once you move in together you get him an aquarium full of live aquatic plants.

"Im so proud of you" you whisper when theh call his name. Neville receives the Herbology award at Hogwarts and is almost to shocked to move. You have to give him a little push off the bench for him to start walking up to recieve it.

Being smutty with Neville includes....

He worships your body

The first time together was silly and awkward but you both giggled and kissed and reassured each other through the whole thing

He loves you on top so he can admire every inch of you

Kissing you from your feet to your nose

He has a wicked tongue

The full definition of "making love" Neville is sweet and giving

You love the little huffs of breath that come from him and when he moans in your ear

You both arnt very risky so each time you both know you have as long as you need to be together

The first few times were quick but once you both learned each other's bodies you were able to make it last at least an hour every time.

Spending all day in bed together was your favorite and in his little house in the country you could walk around naked without any worries of someone seeing you

Your toes curl as you throw your head back chanting "Yes, yes, yes " as you slide up and down on his cock. His large hands firm around your hips helping you bounce up and down. He gasps and you know he is close. You looks down at him, one hand on his chest to balance and the other cupping his cheek. His mouth is slightly open, his breaths heavy. You cum hard, your walls squeezing tight around him, and try your best to keep the rhythm. Neville cums close after you. His hips come off the bed slightly, pressing into you. Finally your body relaxes and you lay on top of him gasping for breath. He lightly traces his fingers across your back, humming with pleasure.

[tribbetherium]

The Late Rodentocene: 20 million years post-establishment

Remember the Titans: Cavybaras of the Late Rodentocene

Much of the Early and Middle Rodentocene had been defined by its lack of large terrestrial megafaunal animals. In these early founding eons, the introduced hamsters still try to gain their footing in a strange new world, first spreading out into adjacent niches filled by other rodents back on Earth, before, over time, slowly progressing generation after generation onto other roles occupied by gradually bigger and more diverse creatures.

Yet in the Late Therocene, this era is quickly coming to an end. As the descendants of the gouties and the squeasels, prey and predator, clash in an arms race to gain an advantage over the other, their sizes have been growing at an unprecedented rate: as bigger prey animals can better defend themselves from predators and are able to resist attacks. The cavybaras, already the largest terrestrial animals of the Middle Rodentocene, have grown even larger than ever before, with some reaching truly impressive proportions.

The largest of them is the titan cavybara (Noderotitan gigantus), which grows to roughly the size of a mid-sized cow and can weigh half a ton or more. These enormous creatures are among the first animals on HP-02017 that can truly be considered megafauna, grazing in small herds on the open plains and feeding on tough, woody vegetation that, without their heavy grazing, would quickly overwhelm the prairies and savannahs and crowd out other, more easily-edible vegetation that other herbivores such as hamtelopes and jerryboas depend on for food. At such a size, the titan cavybara now affects its environment to a degree unlike any seen before: acting as a vital ecosystem engineer helping keep the grasslands well-managed and promoting maximum biodiversityby allowing other plants, and animals dependent on them, to thrive.

While not all cavybara species are as large, they nonetheless are quite huge for their time compared to the hamsters they descended from, and thus have come to affect the environment in significant ways. Wetland swampsogs (Potamocricetochoerus breviceps) are smaller, but still quite large, cavybaras that have a preference to marshy areas, spending much of their time in the water to cool off, conceal themselves from biting insects, and foraging at the bottoms of swamps, rivers and lakes for the abundant, fast-growing aquatic plants. They, too, are important ecosystem engineers, as their huge appetites for water plants prevent them from overgrowing in bodies of water, shading out all the sunlight from photosynthesizers lower down at the lake bottoms and clogging the flow of rivers and impeding its usual course that can lead to small, localized droughts when river flows bringing much-needed water to drier regions get deprived of their usual water supply.

Not all cavybaras are purely grazers, however. In the competitive environment of the Rodentocene, where many clades collide and compete for niches in the presence of many vacant ecological spaces, it pays off sometimes to try something new, that others have not yet taken advantage of. Long-toothed cavyboars (Protosuimys magnodontus) are one such illustration of this, having expanded beyond a diet of tough, woody vegetation and also supplementing its diet with seeds, fruit, roots, insects and even carrion and small animals on occasion. These proper omnivores have the upper hand in dealing with small-scale food shortages, as they can thrive off other sources of sustencance until their preferred forage becomes available again, while other more-specialized species are forced to migrate in search of food or simply die out at the slightest changes of the environment. To aid in digging up roots and invertebrates, the cavyboars' lower teeth have become longer and stronger, protruding out of the animal's mouth even when closed: these also make remarkably effective weapons when utilized by males against same-species rivals over food, territory, and mating rights to nearby receptive females.

While many cavybaras have grown to enormous sizes, a few have taken an opposite route. Some, like the banded cavilet (Nanocricetochoerus minimus) have, in fact, gotten smaller than their Middle Rodentocene ancestors, as they became small-scale herbivores feeding close to the ground in a manner similar to rabbits or guinea pigs. These tiny cavybaras specialize on the tough woody stems and shoots of small ground plants and grasses, and would eventually usurp and outcompete the broadheads: a clade of Early Rodentocene herbivores whose lineage would disappear entirely by the beginning of the Middle Rodentocene.

While cavilets continue to persist in the Temperocene in small, unassuming grazer-rodent niches, they have changed little from the Late Rodentocene, having settled onto a stable and secure ecological space that has profited them since then. But their ever-growing kin continue their trend of increasing size well into the Therocene and Glaciocene. From the titan cavybaras eventually come the mison, the Therocene's dominant megafaunal herbivores, from which in turn descended the hammoths of the Glaciocene and the piggalo of the Temperocene. The semi-aquatic swampsogs, meanwhile, would become the amphibious mudmallows, with some crossing across shallow seas to colonize islands and subcontinents in the Temperocene, while the cavyboars, with their diverse and omnivorous diets, would give rise to the highly successful bumbaas, some of which, the beelzeboars, would become proper carnivores during much of the later part of the Therocene.

-----------

[baroueman]

Star feathers are unique, they have high resemblance to pre-historic aquatic fauna; plants. Just like horseshoe crabs, their existence as a subset of species dates back to millenniums.

These are mobile versions of crinoids, that's a member of animalia (animal organisms), their original predecessors that came first --- the prehistoric plant-versions of crinoids that were rooted in the sea's sand as shown in the bottom figure were also animalia, but have differences in mobility. The rooted plant crinoids are among the oldest prehistoric members of lifeforms that dates back to even before the Cambrian explosion period. Fossils of crinoids are often seen in fossil marketplaces, alongside fake's, but these more recent versions of crinoids which have genetically adapted through evolution to thrive and live outside of the sand and actually swim amongst other fish, it was a characteristic often seen in the ocean's habitat.

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[outofangband]

I really loved @gwaedhannen ‘s post about wanting more strangeness in First Age Beleriand and I had a post awhile back about potential strange ecology for Middle Earth so I wanted to revisit it with some more thoughts!

Following up to my speculative biology ideas for elves,

Like the last list, these are more jotting down ideas, please please feel free to give me any to elaborate on!

Mammoths on the Helcaraxë and other cold reaches. Tolkien talks of all creatures that walk or have ever walked the earth existing in Valinor and throughout Arda hence prehistoric and extinct species can also exist here. I do also headcanon smaller herds of woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos in northern Hithlum and north of greater Beleriand. Stellar’s sea cows in the frozen waters:(

Early cenozoic aquatic birds such as Hesperornis off the coasts of Balar and Alqualondë.

 Enchanted orchards of Valinor; large, seemingly abandoned self containing gardens and orchards. There are fruit tree orchards hidden behind ivy covered walls; some always filled with Autumn breezes, citrus groves always kept warm and bright lined with lemon trees and deep green grass. Except for the Maia who tend them, the only beings who enter the orchards are elves who do so, usually by mistake.

There are places throughout Arda where the Music was not well, loud, enough. They can be the size of a footstep or a field and are not fully connected to the space time continuum. Those who tread on them will end up elsewhere in time or space and will never realize what had happened.

In the great expanses of unexplored Valinor, there are coves, glens, lagoons, and all sorts of other places that seem shift and change, being there one day and not the next. Even while walking through familiar, charted territory, there is always the possibility of ending up in a hidden clearing, covered in hanging mosses and with strange lights all around.

The forests of Beleriand are full of strange, sometimes dark creatures that have never been properly documented. They are the strange hybrids of Yavanna’s creations and Melkor’s corruption and a few have escaped the eyes of even the Ainur. 

The underground lakes of Middle Earth, especially around Angband contain blind, hungry beings, nourished by the volcanic soils. Strange fungi and lichen stick to the walls of the caverns and passageways beneath the fortress.

There are hot springs in several locations in Beleriand South of the Ered Wethrin (there are many in the Ered Wethrin of course but these are not exactly relaxation destinations). Namely in Himring, throughout Hithlum, north of Barad Eithel, parts of Dorthonion, in the caves of Androth, and parts of the Ered Luin. Not all of these are used by residents and not all maintain safe temperatures or conditions but some do! In many parts of Northern Beleriand, they're used for bathing and communal relaxation. There are other springs throughout the March of Maedhros and I like the idea of Himring being built around a hot spring. There are hot and warm springs in both Nargothrond and Menengroth. The definition of warm springs differs from hot springs only in average temperature

The caves of Menengroth and Nargothrond allow elves and others access to the strange wonders of the underground world of Middle Earth.  They are lit by lanterns and by certain bioluminescent plants. There are windows in key areas that allow sunlight to filter into some of the larger halls and though there are small gardens of species that do not require direct sunlight, some are stationed in the areas where sunlight filters in. A small tributary of the river Narog flows directly through one of the great halls of Nargothrond. Its flora and fauna remain untouched by the elves and algae and aquatic plants as well as small fish, salamanders in their early stages, and stranger creatures are visible to see for those who walk along it. 

In realms with Ainur or certain Eldar rule, natural life may not follow typical laws. Melian has great influence over the biodiversity and climate of Doriath for example even without meaning to.

The horror potential of the boundaries of the girdle or of Nan Elmoth. Time and space distorting, the forest becoming a maze, bird calls confusing and disorienting unwary or unlucky travelers

The Ered Gorgoroth, the eerie, mysterious mountain range, bordered to the north by Dorthonion and to the south by Nan Dungortheb. It was said the spawn of Ungolian haunted these mountains and the valley. I have some more posts on this but I've always imagined there being many pools and meres in Ered Gorgoroth, many harmless though frigid and some completely corrupted by the powers of Ungoliants spawn and other beings. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to know which was which until it was too late.

Chemical reactions causing glimmering or colorful water. Elves learn carefully when this has occurred due to natural phenomena and when it is the result of unnatural influence or Ainur presence.

Salt lakes and landlocked waters mimicking ocean conditions. I’ve always imagined there being a lake like lake Baikal in the March of Maedhros

More Bioluminescence

The realms draped in dragon reek especially around Nargothrond. The pools of Ivrin are ruined by Glaurung and they are the source of the river Narog, the largest tributary to Sirion. The entire land could be poisoned. I imagine that plants wither or lose color, birds and frogs stay silent, animals are thrown off of their natural cycles, The orchards in the hills barren or producing foul fruit, strange happenings resulting from drinking from the river Narog or even eating animals that drank from it…

Alternatively the effects of the water where the power of Ulmo is still strong such as in Nan Tathren or the Twilit Meres

[rebeccathenaturalist]

What Are Mosquitoes Good For?

Originally posted at my blog at https://rebeccalexa.com/what-are-mosquitoes-good-for/

Now that the weather has cooled down over much of the United States, insects have died back or gone into hibernation for the winter. So you may be tempted to be glad that the mosquitoes have disappeared for the time being. Maybe you even wish they wouldn’t come back next year! After all, they’re just mosquitoes, which annoy us and spread diseases, right? What are mosquitoes good for, anyway?

Much to the surprise of a lot of people, they actually have some pretty important ecological functions, and your local ecosystem would likely suffer if the mosquitoes were all exterminated. So today, I am going to be a mosquito apologist.

What Are Mosquitoes Good For? Food!

You may have seen hundreds or even thousands of mosquito larvae swimming in a pond or other fresh water. Perhaps you thought every single one of them came to find you after they became adults! They certainly are prolific; some species can lay as many as 300 eggs at once.

But this isn’t just because they want to have more young to annoy you, generation after generation. Rather, it’s because a lot of mosquitoes end up eaten before they even get a chance to reproduce. As eggs and larvae, they’re food for fish, amphibians, and aquatic insects and other arthropods. Once they take to the wing, birds and bats become major predators, as do adult dragonflies and other winged insects, plus spiders that catch them in their webs. While a single bat might not actually eat 1000 mosquitoes in a night, all those various predators do take a significant chunk out of the mosquito population.

Platanthera obtusata is just one of many orchids that rely on mosquitoes for pollination.

What Are Mosquitoes Good For? Pollination!

Believe it or not, most mosquitoes aren’t out for your blood! The majority of mosquito species are entirely vegetarian; it’s only a few in which the females seek out blood to help produce eggs. Most mosquitoes drink nectar or plant sap, and in the pursuit of the former they play a vital role in pollinating the flowers they visit. Goldenrod and orchids are just two examples of groups of plants pollinated by mosquitoes. And while mosquitoes might drive Alaskans buggy, they are vital for pollination during the short Arctic summer.

What Are Mosquitoes Good For? Keeping Things in Check!

Mosquito larvae spend anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in the water where they hatched. They feed on a variety of bacteria, algae, and other microorganisms. Because they have a lot of growing to do, and need to prepare for their final molt to adult form, they have to eat a lot! That means they help keep their prey species’ populations in check. An overgrowth of algae, for example, can reduce the amount of sunlight that submerged plants have access to, and as the algae dies it increases the amount of nitrogen in the water. By constantly grazing on algae, mosquito larvae are helping to prevent these sorts of ecological imbalances.

What If We Made Mosquitoes Go Extinct?

So what are mosquitoes good for? Quite a lot, apparently! However, there’s no denying some species have also caused us a lot of grief. There have been calls to exterminate all mosquitoes, or at least every species that could ostensibly cause us problems through disease transmission. And to be sure, I don’t want to see people dying of malaria or West Nile virus, especially as these diseases often hit disadvantaged populations harder, with fewer resources for treatment. But it’s something where we need to weigh the consequences carefully.

What would happen if there were suddenly no more mosquitoes? Sure, the animals that prey on them could potentially find other sorts of food, but there would be an upset in the food web as the predators put more pressure on remaining prey species, which could lead to some of those species become locally endangered or even extirpated. Or the predators might drop in number as they failed to find enough food. Either way, getting rid of all the mosquitoes would have a negative impact on the food web.

Finally, and possibly most importantly–we may not fully understand the ecological roles mosquitoes have. As I wrote recently, ecosystems are incredibly complex networks of relationships among thousands of species, and for centuries we have been eradicating entire species without any thought as to what long-term effects their loss might have on their native ecosystems.

However, that brings up another point: the fact that there are invasive mosquitoes. Invasive species wreak havoc on ecosystems they’re introduced to, and it just so happens that one of the most notorious disease-spreading mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti, is invasive across much of the tropics, as well as subtropical and temperate areas worldwide. Spread through the slave trade, this mosquito is a prime vector for yellow fever, dengue fever, Zika, and several other pathogenic diseases affecting humans. Its cousin, Aedes albopictus, is also a disease vector and is more cold-hardy, meaning it could spread even further.

What’s the answer? Well, historically people just drained wetlands, much to the devastation of the native ecosystems there. More recently, the widespread and indiscriminate use of pesticides like DDT also knocked back mosquito populations (at least temporarily), but also killed off many other animals both directly and indirectly, to include nearly wiping out multiple raptor species due to eggshell thinning. Moreover, mosquitoes have developed resistance to pesticides, making them a less useful tool overall.

More recent innovations to control specific invasive mosquitoes hold some promise. A. aegypti, for example, has been genetically modified in labs to create a strain known as OX513A. Not only do the offspring die before they can reproduce, even if a OX513A breeds with a wild mosquito, but the offspring also apparently lack resistance to some pesticides. Biological control using Wolbachia bacteria inhibits A. aegypti‘s reproduction, and also makes them unable to carry certain diseases such as Zika and dengue fever.

So it would appear that the fight to control invasive species also has the bonus effect of stopping the mosquitoes most likely to give the rest a bad name.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[falloutjuli]

Back on my shitposting Bullshit. This posts theme is something I had already done on my older writing blog and I always love making headcanons so here it is for JJBA. (Jodio not included yet)

 Feel free to drop in my ask box if you miss any character and wanna hear what I think or for literally anything else. (Please remeber to not send in too many charcters, Ill set the limit for now at 6)

Anyways, I hope yall get a kick out of my funky ideas. 

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1-8 JoJo’s x Reader - Playing Animal Crossing Together

Wordcount:

Short summary: My personal headcanons on the JoJo’s playing Animal Crossing with references to you and their friends.

Warnings: None. Only wholesomeness here., except for Joseph srynotsry

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Jonathan:

Loves it, huge fan of the tiny wholesome animal game.

Speedwagon showed it to him, knowing Jonathan would love it.

Jonathan puts a big effort into keeping his island pretty, villagers happy, filling the museum, sending gifts and letters to his friends and you.

Most wholesome player you'll ever encounter, that happily trades anything he has.

Loves to buy furniture and clothing for you to surprise you with it.

 🌟

Joseph:

Wasn’t that big into it until he discovered the custom pattern function.

Now he's a menace, using loads of cursed patterns to paint his island in and give his villagers ugly shirts.

His own character wears a "Pussy Master" shirt.

Will visit Caesar’s and your island just to mess with you and gift your villagers ugly clothing and furniture.

Avid time skipper.

Biggest troll you two know and yet you love him.

  🌟

Jotaro:

Not interested, didn't know what it was until he saw you having fun with it.

He asked Kakyoin what the game is, and he happily showed Jotaro.

Jotaro eventually surprises you with a friend request on your switch.

He doesn't do much around his island, just places some stuff here and there.

Is absolutely obsessed over aquatic Villagers and filling the fish part of the museum to take pictures there with you.

  🌟

Josuke:

Organized Town, pretty layout, casual player that takes his time to slowly work towards everything.

Will make his house gaming themed.

One part of the island is dedicated to recreating the cafe and fill it with references to you and his other friends.

Eager to get his friendship up with all his villagers, loves to give them gift and talks to them daily.

Loves the Nookmile tickets/ Kapp'n trips and goes on them whenever he can.

  🌟

Giorno:

Froggy Chair obsessed.

Owns the Sanrio Amiibo cards and decorates with it.

Also has all the villager amiibo cards and everyone is welcome to borrow them to get their favorites on their respective islands.

Loves the museum and eagerly works on filling it, gifting anything he already has to you.

Cute natural island theme with loads of plants and occasional duplicated statues spread around.

Made a cute park for you that has lots of hybrid flowers and cutesy furniture.

Loves all villagers, but his favorites are the frogs.

  🌟

Jolyne:

Surprisingly organized in a sense?

Like you, Ermes, FF and her share a group chat where everyone posts their newest decoration updates, what villagers moved in and might move out, turnip prices.

You trade furniture for the catalog and help each other's museum, teamwork makes the dream work.

Loads of pictures of you four hanging out in the coffeeshop.

One room in her house is dedicated to you and filled with references to your relationship.

Anasui is banned from all islands, and you designed a custom pattern with his face and a red X on it that all of you have next to your airport.

  🌟

Johnny:

Johnny wasn't big into it at first and then got completely hooked.

Only Horse and Mouse villagers.

Western themed all the way. Kentucky state flag as his island flag.

Loves Gyroids and has multiple in each room.

Gyro and he trade furniture and ignore the museum completely. They are only interested in decorating their homes and island to have it perfect.

Made it big with turnips but refuses to explain to Gyro how it works.

  🌟

Gappy:

Was confused at first why you liked the game so much.

Yasuho and you made him his sailor outfit and buy him some furniture to start him up with.

You two explain the whole concept roughly to him and then let him play.

You never expected him to figure it out super quickly and making loads of money with turnips.

His house was upgraded faster than yours and Yasuho’s, he began making his own custom paths, made an orchard on his island.

He quickly takes a huge liking to the game and loves everything about it.

He leaves the island largely as it is, the only stuff he really decorates are his house, the orchard (reminiscent of the Higashikata one) and the little area with his villagers.

The rooms in his house are all dedicated to a person that he then decorates accordingly to. (You, Yasuho, Holly, the Higashikata Family etc)