#also there will be more added to this to make them less like just some dudes living on a different planet

[reasonsforhope]

"Around the world, farmers are retooling their land to harvest the hottest new commodity: sunlight. As the price of renewable energy technology has plummeted and water has gotten more scarce, growers are fallowing acreage and installing solar panels. Some are even growing crops beneath them, which is great for plants stressed by too many rays. Still others are letting that shaded land go wild, providing habitat for pollinators and fodder for grazing livestock.

According to a new study, this practice of agrisolar has been quite lucrative for farmers in California’s Central Valley over the last 25 years — and for the environment. Researchers looked at producers who had idled land and installed solar, using the electricity to run equipment like water pumps and selling the excess power to utilities. 

On average, that energy savings and revenue added up to $124,000 per hectare (about 2.5 acres) each year, 25 times the value of using the land to grow crops. Collectively, the juice generated in the Central Valley could power around 500,000 households while saving enough water to hydrate 27 million people annually. “If a farmer owns 10 acres of land, and they choose to convert one or two acres to a solar array, that could produce enough income for them to feel security for their whole operation,” said Jake Stid, a renewable energy landscape scientist at Michigan State University and lead author of the paper, published in the journal Nature Sustainability. 

The Central Valley is among the most productive agricultural regions in the world: It makes up just 1 percent of all farmland acreage in the United States, yet generates a third of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. But it’s also extremely water-stressed as California whiplashes between years of significant rainfall and drought. To irrigate all those crops, farmers have drawn so much groundwater that aquifers collapse like empty water bottles, making the earth itself sink by many feet.

Farmers can’t make their crops less thirsty, so many have been converting some of their acreage to solar. The Central Valley is ideal for this, being mostly flat and very sunny, hence the agricultural productivity. At the same time, farmers have been getting good rates for the electricity that they offset and that they send back to the grid. 

Now, though, California has adopted standards that reduce those rates by 75 percent on average. For a farmer investing in panels, the investment looks less enticing. “The algebra or calculus — or whatever math discipline you want to reference — it just doesn’t work out the same way,” said Karen Norene Mills, vice president of legal advocacy at the California Farm Bureau, which promotes the state’s agricultural community. 

Also, the study found that by fallowing land for solar panels, food production in the Central Valley dropped by enough calories to feed 86,000 people a year. But, Stid said, markets can adjust, as crops are grown elsewhere to make up the deficit. By tapping the sun instead, Stid added, growers can simultaneously help California reach its goals of deploying renewable and reducing groundwater usage. 

The tension, though, is meeting those objectives while still producing incredible quantities of food. “That is always our concern about some of these pressures,” Mills said.

But this isn’t an either-or proposition: Many farmers are finding ways to grow some crops, like leafy greens and berries, under the panels. The shade reduces evaporation from the soil, allowing growers to water less often. In turn, a wetted landscape cools the panels, which improves their efficiency. “This is the compromise that’s going to allow for both energy independence and food security,” said horticulturalist Jennifer Bousselot, who studies agrisolar at Colorado State University but wasn’t involved in the new study. 

Farmers are also turning livestock loose to graze under their panels. Their droppings fertilize the soil, leading to more plant growth and more flowers that support native pollinators. “The grass, it’s so much more lush under the panels, it’s amazing,” said Ryan Romack, founder of Virginia-based AgriSolar Ranch, which provides grazing services. “Especially when the sheep have been on site long-term, you can really see the added benefits of the manure load.”

Then, if a farmer decides not to replace the solar panels at the end of their lifespan — usually around 25 or 30 years — the soil will be refreshed with nutrients and ready to grow more crops. Even if a grower simply lets them sit for decades without any management, the fallowing can restore the soil’s health. “We really see solar as a collective landscape,” Stid said, “that can be sited, managed, and designed in a way to benefit both people and the planet and ecosystems as well.”"

-via Popular Science, May 4, 2025

[sxaymz217]

I know I have talked ad nauseum about retail on here, nevertheless, I have thoughts on this topic. We never had a union, and if it was discussed it was only ever in hushed tones and jokingly. I worked at a relatively upscale mall, at a store that had some mass market appeal, but by large catered to teens, young adults and the parents of such individuals. A good portion of our staff were teens and college age kids. And the working conditions were.. well legal and also unpleasant. All perfectly well within the guidelines set by osha and local labor authorities, but still the labor itself was grueling and vastly unpleasant.

Shipment was always just too many boxes to store safely, hours were always just not enough to get the job done, expectations were way too high but delivered with smiles and compassion (unless your manager was a monster), the pay was not enough to live off of, no benefits to speak of, and you would not believe how gross a clothing store can get (massive and copious amounts of dust, otherwise known as cursed salad by xkcd).

But here's the crazy part, I was fucking good at it, even kind of enjoyed parts of it. I liked the precision of organizing a table or a stockroom. I liked planning and executing shipment and store wide floor sets. I didn't care one way or another about cleaning, it was a dirty job but someone had to do it, and I was fast, efficient and effective. Counting clothes, sorting and sensoring them, it was demanding, and physically exhausting, but easy and sort of zen after awhile. It let my mind wander and wonder. I wrote essays in my head, created characters and worlds, pondered at the questions of life and made life long friends chatting over jeans.

So what made the job degrading? Two things, one the unethical but technically legal business practices of the company I worked for i.e. long hours for low pay, zero med benefits, just ever so slight unsafe working conditions, overnight shifts, outright being forced to work during the pandemic despite being an asthmatic with severe allergies and no hazard pay...

you know all the stuff that could theoretically be solved or negotiated into a more pleasant situation with a union.

But the second thing, was the customers' attitude. Some customers were lovely, compassionate, patient, and decent people. And some customers were here too briefly to make a lasting impression but at least they were polite to our faces. And some customers... just weren't. I gained new appreciation for the words patient and entitlement while in retail.

I thought I knew what entitlement looked like, but holy hell was I wrong. "Excuse me, you're gonna have to put that down now and help me instead," "What do you mean that size doesn't exist!? Why don't you go back and check anyway," "The other store you have in New York had this, why don't you have it yet?!" (The really crazy part is I even worked in a grew up in a pretty progressive area!)

Now, I always had patience for well meaning but confused or ignorant customers. No one can know everything, mistakes happen, people can be clumsy, it's understandable. But there is another level of patience I witnessed from some of my coworkers, who take the most unrelenting and outright terrible nonsense from customers I simply, do not possess (there is a reason I worked in the stockroom lol). The worst? was just how frequently customers didn't even give US a second thought, the underlying assumption that we were underachieving or even deserving of our position. Especially when it came to how customers treated older members of our staff.

This attitude though, like those who've spoken already on this post, I think goes deeper than just customers. Like others have said, there seems to be this underlying assumption that a dirty unpleasant job, is a crap job being done by a crap person. That doing a job no one wants to do, makes the person doing it somehow less than. That poverty exists for a reason. Perfectly acceptable for someone just entering the work force, but scoff, disgust and look down at anyone who is still there (and to be perfectly honest, people were still very mean to younger members of our staff as well).

I don't see anything wrong with doing a dirty, unpleasant, or "degrading" job. Even if when we get out of this late stage capitalist hellscape we currently find ourselves in, there will still be labor that needs to be done. Clothes need to be washed, dust removed, moving shipments of materials from one location to another, and yes cleaning dishes, floors, and toilets. It is a dirty and sometimes unpleasant job, and someone will still need to do it. I don't see anything wrong with a person who would do that job, or even outright desire to do that job. The people who do jobs like this, are not less deserving of medicine, good food on their tables, and a reliable comfortable roof over their heads.

I just do not comprehend how someone could possibly come to the conclusion that because someone is doing a job that is gross, by necessity or choice, they are "less than."

When the health food store unionized, something wild happened that I thought was just a goofy one-off, but makes more sense now.

There was a big push to eliminate "degrading jobs" but the strategy was to eliminate the position, then create a new position outside of the bargaining unit to do the work. So like, we wouldn't have dishwashers, but we'd have people who washed dishes that weren't eligible to be in the union.

I was like A) what the actual fuck? Dish washing isn't "degrading", it's fucking vital. B) What the actual fuck? You want to create a union just to exploit different people?

There were enough of us to be like "Absolutely the fuck not," and put a stop to it, but I was absolutely flummoxed that people involved in a union would say that out loud. Working with more leftists now, it makes sense.

[zeropro]

hi I really love your art I just wanna eat it and consume its knowledge but that’s kinda impossible so I wanted to ask a bit about your process? How do you pick your colors? I really like your color palettes :))

Aw heck thank you!

Here are my color swatches since you asked:

I can go over what I remember of my thought process when picking these colors.

Lets start with Starscream since I really wasnt drawing anyone else back then. I know some of the toys has him as more of a grey mech but I always saw his body as white, but even then I didnt want it to be a pure white. I decided silver would be a good compromise, and to me silver is a light grey with more of a cool tone to it, which meant the grey of his helm and faceplate had to also be more cool toned to match. I also didnt want his helm to be too dark even tho I think it’s supposed to be black? It’s just better for readability, I use that helm color for anything that should be dark grey to black, like car tires. I gave his face a darker grey than the body since Starscream has a darker face than Thundercracker and Skywarp in the cartoon.

From there I think I just tried out different reds until I found one I liked, a bit of trial and error. I might have made it slightly muted cuz it felt less heroic? I don’t really know haha. I just know when I picked a red for the Autobots I made it more saturated. I also don’t know why I chose that particular shade of blue, since I think Starscream’s arms are usually a lighter blue? Must have just decided it worked best with the red, or maybe the reference I was using just happened to be darker.

His eyes (and the eyes of pretty much all cold constructed bots) are pure saturated red.

And then I decided all cybertronians would have blue tongues since their blood is blue.

When I started drawing other seekers I decided they should all have the same faceplate and helm color. The only exception is sunstorm, who I decided to give a warmer toned grey for his helm and faceplate. I think it makes him look out of place among the seekers, which is the point

Thundercracker just straight up shares his color pallet with Starscream, but Skywarp needed his own swatch since neither of them had purple in their designs besides the decepticon logo, and I wanted skywarp’s purple to be different from the purple used in the decepticon logo.

For the longest time my color swatches were just Starscream’s colors plus a purple for Skywarp. Ive been slowly adding colors as the need arises. I prefer reusing swatches over color picking new colors every time, like how Sunstorm and Bumblebee share the same color Yellow. That said, I’m also stingy about adding swatches too XD usually I wont add a color to the pallet until the third or fourth time I have to pull up an old comic to eyedropper from. not sure why I havent added swatches for rumble yet tbh

idk if any of that was interesting or made sense, but thanks for asking XD

[synthaphone]

I love how Neopets draws water (ie. water PB pets) but when I try to copy them it always looks weird, do you have any advice on replicating it?

ooh, let me see- i've only ever tried to replicate it once, with the Water Centibyte:

my favorite water pets are the Kyrii and the Zafara, so those two were the ones I referenced most heavily when I was designing this!

I apologize in advance for not necessarily knowing how best to describe this, but in short, I think I'd recommend

laying down a base gradient for darker areas that you can then add hand-painted caustic detail over on a different layer

make extremities that you'd want to be clearly visible lighter/higher contrast (The Zafara and Kyrii both have lighter colored hands and feet, light colored tails and hair, and faces where you can make out the eyes and facial expression due to having contrasting areas of light and dark next to each other. I find it helpful sometimes to squint at what I'm working on to see if I can still roughly make out its shape, vs everything turning into a same colored blob)

consider keeping thinner pieces of a design like 'sheets' of hair lighter, and maybe visibly darker spots where you'd realistically 'see through' the sheet of water

Honestly I mostly was winging it + heavily referencing those two pets, but looking at irl photos of pools and ocean waves would probably be a good idea too- you can sort of build up a sense memory for how light interacts with water, that can make it easier to stylize or 'cheat' it.

If you want my long attempt to remember wtf my process was for the Centibyte in particular, i've put it under the cut :)

Water is a color that's pretty reliant on gradients, and where the shading and detail work on top of that base gradient really make it shine. Both of my reference pets have their darkest area around their neck and shoulders, and get lighter towards their extremities, so the first thing I did (after making my lineart edits to the hair to get the splashy effect, and recoloring the eyes to match the Kyrii and Zafara) was lay down some base gradients.

I believe i used the gradient tool first to establish main dark-to-light gradient from the head to the feet, and then later went in with a lasso tool to add smaller gradients to the ends of the arms, and probably used the soft brush to add that lighter marking to the face and to make the feet even lighter. (The belly marking I add later will cover up that jaggedy spot on the belly, so it didn't matter that it looks weird)

After that, I added simple gradients to the shell and belly markings too:

I have these on separate layers already, so it was relatively simple to lock the layers and throw more gradients over them.

After that I seem to have started to add stylized water caustic effects!

Note that I'm extremely inexperienced at painting or rendering water, so I was just sort of eyeballing how it looked on the two pets I was referencing, in addition to considering what looked good to me. I used a couple different low opacity multiply layers to do the darker markings on the body and the belly, and a 100% opaque normal layer to paint the lighter markings onto the feet (which also have a gradient on them, so that they'd match the gradient they were being drawn on top of)

After that I... seem to have just gone buckwild and started painting shit with the opaque hard brush.

I mimicked the hands on the Zafara being a less green shade of blue, and sort of gradiated that color out manually by painting on the lighter colors with a few blobby splashes and caustic patterns to make them feel blended. (I don't think anything I painted on these layers has an actual gradient, soft shading, or lowered opacity). I also added lighter outlines and a few bright white highlights to the arms, to give them that shiny jelly-like effect.

For the belly, I also just kind of went wild painting more caustic patterns- my main goal was feeling acceptably "watery" while also keeping the basic shape of the belly marking distinct from the background. The lighter blue marking in the middle of the belly (and at the bottom of it) is supposed to be underlighting that's reflecting back up.

For the lighter splashy 'hair' parts of the design, I tried to focus on getting the basic background colors in before worrying too much about where the highlights would go, knowing I could do those on a different layer afterwards. I tried to use the darkest blues at the spots where the curved hair shapes overlap each other, and also copied the head colors for the parts of the mohawk that would be thin and overlap the darker shell of the head.

I decided to sort of transition that darker shell part out 'early' instead of following it all the way through to that back antenna, so that the hair would stand out from the shell, and also because the antenna gets further away in perspective as it extends past the head.

Then I threw on a shadow layer for the shell, and then (confusingly) I made another layer on top where I added highlights AND obscured the last two segments of the tail and the knees with gradient layers. I think I felt that they didn't feel 'water' enough?

I added highlights and additional caustics for those elements on another layer afterward, with another opaque layer:

Then we have the spots and stripes markings + area specific colored lineart:

Aaaand some causticy-wavey lighting for the hair + blending of the head antennas into their hair, because it felt very abrupt for Water:

For the 'hair' highlights, I used a mix of pure white and very light blue- I probably could have made my life easier by doing a gradient on these areas, but for whatever reason I hand painted them. You'll notice in close ups that it can look a little sloppy, but if it looks decent at the size you intend the piece to be viewed at, this doesn't really matter.

And that's the finished piece! (identical to the one above, i just hid the refs)

No idea if this will be helpful, but I hope its at the very least interesting!! I viewed a lot of the more difficult Centibyte colors as challenges and puzzles to solve- its fun trying to reverse engineer very specific aesthetics I'd never tried to tackle before. I wish you luck and hope you have fun in the future with your watery neopets endeavors!!!

[syluses]

big girls dont cry QNA

i know you guys have lots of curiosities about this fic lolll so i’ll try to answer some of the questions i received (∗ᵕ̴᷄◡ᵕ̴᷅∗) 💕 if u still have some, just shoot me an ask!! :] also im really bad at explaining so i apologize 🤦🏻‍♀️ i have the plot nailed in my head but its tricky to articulate it in a clear, linear way for yall considering all the little nuances i added lol. i’ll try my best tho hehe :,)

Okay so there’s a whole ‘nother plot that exists in the background of this fic- which was super fun for me to write, but im sure from a reader standpoint it’s also kinda thrilling to try to connect the dots i left lol. thats why theres so many interpretations for this story (which i love!! i loved reading all yall’s theories)! 💕 BUT. that being said, the ‘canon’ goes like this:

SPOILERS BELOW read it first then come back! ( ⸍ɞ̴̶̷ ·̫ ɞ̴̶̷⸌ )

was caleb really dead?

No. Caleb staged his own death and then, similar to the main story homecoming wings, didnt tell mc :,) for his own reasons, for a time, he decides he’ll let her go on believing he’s truly gone…

why did he stage his death?

I dropped little crumbs of it in the fic, but it’s hinted that mc, on top of all her grief, feels a bit bitter over the whole shebang and also blames herself for it. hmm… why would that be? 🤔 well because their final moments together (or so she THOUGHT) were emotionally charged and volatile.

the foundation of their sibling relationship was growing weaker and weaker before the explosion. arguments are forming out of nowhere- things are becoming more tense and mc, for the life of her, can’t understand why her gege is always pulling her into a heated debate about safety, danger, blahblahblah, this that and the third, every time they interact. He’s being wildly unreasonable, which she knows, and protective- a trait that has snowballed as they entered their adulthood- but what she doesn’t know is the why behind it. she tells herself she just has a super protective older brother who views her as a little baby in need of his guidance- which isn’t entirely wrong… but she doesn’t see the full picture. His true feelings. All this tension eventually climbs to its peak. Caleb just gets worse and worse. He needs to do something before the world collapses on them both.

Now, in this au, he works at EVER, a somewhat shady but lucrative company- which dabbles in robotics amongst other things. I imagine they have abundant resources and wealth- and what with his promotions, it’s safe to say caleb is making a LOT. So, the delusional guy he is, he buys a big fancy suite with the idea in mind of two eventually living in it ;) but mc doesn’t want to- she has her own life in linkon!! She wants to spread her wings and separate from the nest anyway. Partly to start her own life; partly to prove to her gege that she can take care of herself. The argument that unfolds over this is the last they have before the big tragic explosion 😭 caleb, putting on a show with his beaten puppy eyes, leaves and then that’s the last time she sees him.

Caleb meticulously plans his ‘death’ out (with some help from his wingman ofc) and then eventually the robot is introduced to mc. It serves as a trojan horse. He’ll finally conquer her heart with it and win full autonomy over her. THIS IS HIS MAIN GOAL WITH THE ROBOT. WHY HE EVEN DOES ANY OF THIS TO BEGIN WITH.

Caleb gets to spy on mc with it and also slowly reshape her to accept his feelings; his ‘death’ has left her in a fragile state of mourning and he knows, after she warms up a bit to not-Caleb, he can more or less get away with anything- bc she will claw for whatever’s left of her family member. He can make her finally reciprocate and understand him— whether that be his feelings or fear or love. He tried to be patient, to be good, but obviously he had to travel a new route. He’s thinking of her 24/7. He’s obsessive, longing, protective, you name it- and all of this just worsens the more she denies him. When push comes to shove… well, caleb will do whatever it takes to win her :] He knows it’s unconventional and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t hurt him too- monitoring his endearingly stubborn, but sweet meimei and the shattered pieces he left of her through his android’s eyes— but it’s all temporary, and he truly believes it’s for the better.

did gideon know?

Yes, Gideon knew all along. He’s Caleb’s best buddy after all. To be matter of fact- Gideon didn’t just know, he quite literally ‘herded’ mc into the lion’s den in a way. Mc knew vaguely of their work at EVER, but not too much; so Gideon was the one who shined that light on their robotics and really introduced her to the concept of not-Caleb. Now, i wouldnt say Gideon is exactly comfortable with his involvement, but he actually really does care for mc and thinks she needs that help- as dubious as the means are. Anyway, it’s almost impossible to shut out all of his buddy’s demands: the brunet is nothing if not insistent on getting what he wants. In his own whacky way, Gideon thinks what he did- playing into Caleb’s plan- was for the better as well. I mean, Mc clearly wasnt doing good before not-Caleb came along,… but with the few visits he managed before the android got a little too stingy and sent him off, Gideon actually managed to catch a smile or two from her! So clearly he did the right thing 👀 not to mention… the real caleb seems very pleased with the progress, too. besides- the whole robot situation is temporary anyway :] She’ll be reuniting with the beloved gege she misses so much sooner rather than later.

how accurate was not-caleb?

His programming is like 100% accurate. Mc, for a mix of both naiveity and delusion, thinks not-Caleb is flawed when he starts to show signs of amorous/romantic feelings for her. Really, though, after she tells him to stay the night with her (innocently; and after years of having not shared the same childhood twin bed), it triggers a part of his ‘brain’ that undoes all real caleb’s self restraint thus far :] If the same exact situation happened with the real caleb, his reaction would’ve more or less been the same. Homeboy can only keep his feelings in check for so long

who programmed not-caleb?

Real Caleb

how is mc pregnant?

Because the robot’s creator wanted to add his own special touch to his work if you know what i mean :) yeah he’s a freak like that. Dont think he WOULDNT install in his robot the ability to indirectly knock his ‘meimei’ up. I will say though, that while caleb wants to get mc pregnant, its not fully bc he wants to start a family- at least not right away- but because he wants to emotionally and legally trap her with him. Besides monitoring her/wearing down her walls while she thought he was ‘dead’, this was actually one of caleb’s biggest goals with sending not-caleb into her home.

is not-caleb self-aware?

Yes

what’s real caleb been doing all this time?

Basically climbing the ranks of EVER from his lil perch somewhere in skyhaven. all the while, of course, spying on mc like a hawk. Biding his time & waiting for the right moment when she’s at her weakest, most codependent state to replace his carbon copy :)

was caleb controlling his robot?

No. But he essentially created its whole program. And there are cameras inside its eyes in which he watches mc from :) and cant help but snap pics with sometimes: she’s just so pretty— and endlessly sexy when he finally, in a vicarious way, gets to lie her back and make love to her <3

what is real caleb’s motive/ultimate goal?

1. to control/protect/‘tame’ mc through the robot; get her to see things from his point of view (which means realizing she belongs with him- where it’s safe and he can protect & love her)

2. to knock her up (hence the. ahem. reproductive abilities of the robot) so that he can trap her with a baby on top of all the other emotional strings he’s hogtied her with.

does gideon want mc too?

the question is not would gideon smash her. the question is would caleb LET him…. 👀

also, below i just attached a screenie from some of the notes i took. theyre ofc a little disjointed but i think it might clarify things too :] im so bad at answering questions esp for a plot this spiraling but i really tried my best guys my brain is tired forgive me :,)

[mothinked]

Ellie scuffed a boot against the asphalt as she walked and replied to Abby with more docility than she'd shown before. More passivity, less caution but tentative of their fragile armistice. Offering Abby her full attention. "I'd believe you, if you told me," she said softly, just loud enough for her companions to catch. It was mostly mono-syllabic communication up until this point for the two women while she talked at length to Lev. Answering his questions to the best of her ability, even if they were more of a personal nature.

She was willing to entertain him and patient in showing him things he was unfamiliar with. Teaching was important, to pass on your knowledge and experience was invaluable. It was something she learned after leaving the Boston QZ and settling in Jackson for the first time. She had Joel to thank for learning so much. But also Dina and JJ as well. Meanwhile Tommy was the uncle she never had... Her last connection to Joel. She loved him and Maria like family, and they were her family.

Lev was Abby's family, there was no mistaking that.

Ellie found him to be well-mannered and kind, much like her son. Endearingly inquisitive, too. He covered Abby's weaknesses, helped draw her strength when she faltered and helped to ground her mentally. He was brave and compassionate in equal measure and Ellie told him once, unbidden, that she thought he would make a great leader. That the world needed more men like him. The way he shyly dipped his head and smiled was enough to make her day. Ellie knew she wouldn't have lasted this long being alone with Abby and so she was grateful that he came along for the journey.

Ellie noticed a lot about these two. And she doubted he would have let Abby do this on her own regardless. Nah, not this kid with his unwavering determination and stares that could make even two very headstrong women like them listen and relent, however begrudgingly. Abby needed him, that much Ellie knew beyond the shadow of a doubt. Nothing was able to tear these two apart.

Perhaps to make her first real effort to have Abby open up to her or to fill the quiet, Ellie began enumerating some fucked up shit she had experienced. "Came across a group of cannibals when I was fifteen." It was said with a nonchalant shrug. She'd lived through much worse in the years since. "Then a couple of years back, there was this other group I came across. Near Colorado Springs... I think? This man and woman saw me come out of a building filled with spores—" Here, she chuckled humorlessly. "—no mask. They saw how I wasn't showing signs of infection so naturally, they were curious. Shocked. I went with them to their camp when they offered me food."

"Yeah, I knew it was stupid but I hadn't caught any animals in days. They started acting.... really fucking weird in the next day or two and before I could get out of there, the man... their leader, I suppose, gathers his people in some kind of cult circle and draws a knife on me." Ellie added imagery to the story by holding out her switchblade, her eyes going from Lev to Abby as she lowered her voice and adopted a gruffer tone. "He said, 'We want your blood'. Like he was asking for me to give him the last piece of jerky or something. So I let them see their own blood instead... but then the woman got the others to grab me. They sliced my hand open."

She could still see the line of faded scar tissue on the palm of her left hand. Barely there but a souvenir of this unsettling encounter nevertheless. Ellie's switchblade was tucked away into the back pocket of her jeans before she continued. "They thought drinking my blood would make them immune. I'm sure they would have tried to eat me or worse if I hadn't gotten away. And I couldn't let them follow me either."

The rest of the tale was fill-in-the-blanks. She was quiet for a moment, staring off at nothing in particular as they walked, pensive. "I don't know if it would have even worked. My blood could be different though." She made eye contact with Abby, green seizing blue—like the earth meeting the sky. "Guess we'll find out soon enough." This brokered agreement was why they put aside their history and in spite of said history, they were choosing to co-exist without the threat of violence against each other.

Could she say she still hated Abby with every fiber of her being? The answer was no, she didn't. The hate and the wrath that came with it was gone. Did Abby feel that it wasn't there anymore? If she were to ask, there would be no point in lying. Ellie wasn't willing to choke on her own blood before she'd swallow her pride... Not anymore. Not over this. Abby had her own reasons for being the one to talk Ellie into the whole thing. In truth, Ellie wasn't so sure she would have trusted the Fireflies had they brought others to find her.

She, too, had her reasons, ones that didn't involve helping make a cure. To right her wrongs... To understand the woman who changed everything. Things she couldn't entirely made sense of let alone admit out loud.

Did the Firefly leader pick Abby because of her history with Ellie or did she volunteer beforehand while suggesting they continue Jerry's legacy? Ellie stored that question away for later.

She still wanted to make her immunity mean something, even if that also meant she was betraying Joel's and Jesse's memory in having her peace with Abby. The Fireflies could take her blood, run their tests and ask their questions. But they couldn't have her life—this was something she could not give up while she still had the people who loved her.

"So, what's this thing I wouldn't believe?"

Such a dismissive reaction to the offer of leading them didn’t come as any surprise to Abby. Sure whatever was right. The idea still didn’t thrill her but it was either try to navigate blind or leave it to someone who knew the area better than the two of them. The choice seemed simple enough, even if neither of them were a fan of the idea. She manages to contain an eye roll which is impressive. Lev could at least be proud that she was trying to somewhat come off as reasonable at that moment in time. A quick look in his direction and a nod in return is the reassurance she needs that everything is going to be okay. With such a fucked up history, his was the only judgment she could trust at this point and as long as he continued to trust Ellie, Abby would be forced to do the same. Even if it went against every single instinct in her body. She would be ready at a moments notice though to spring into action if needed. The remnants of the violence Ellie was capable of were scattered about her skin, visible on sleeveless, suntanned arms. No reason had been given on this trip to keep her guard up but she certainly wouldn’t be letting it down around her.

The two of them watch as she hops up onto the roof of the car and their gaze falls into the direction she’s looking at. Mention of a horde makes her tense up, her jaw locking into place. It’s less than ideal, even with the alleged distance between them and infected. Abby had encountered her fair share of infected groups but in terms of numbers, nothing had quite outdone those that had chased her through the snowy Jackson mountains. A horde that nearly killed her if it hadn’t been for… No. She shakes the memory out of her head and forces herself to lock in on the task at hand. “I’ve seen shit you wouldn’t believe,” she states calmly and looks in the direction of the other woman. There’s no sarcasm in her statement. No smugness. Maybe the slightest hint of fear in the way it comes out. No matter how hard she tried, that fucking abomination in the basement of the hospital had not been forgotten. The fact that something like that could exist was one of the things that brought her genuine terror. Making it out of Seattle was an accomplishment but making it out of that place was a miracle unlike any other.

Her focused is back on the land and she takes the binoculars as they’re offered to her with no hesitation. Ellie is right. Definitely a horde and thankfully a solid distance away from them. Not enough for her liking. She scans the surrounding area more before taking one final look at the horde. The faster they can depart, the better. At least they seem to be on the same page with that sentiment. “C'mon,” Abby mumbles to Lev who also takes a look through the binoculars. “I don’t want to stay to find out what kind of shit might be out there.” He’d heard the story of the hospital before and knew better than to question it.

She doesn’t even notice the slower pace and finds herself walking ahead until Lev calls out her name and she glances over her shoulder at the both of them. Too many recollections from her past have her in a momentary fog and the snapback to reality is all it takes for her to lock back in and nod. “We can boil some water for reserve, cool off. I’ll get things going for the night if the two of you want to have a look around.”

[alyona11]

Out of curiosity, why do you draw Hua Cheng with pointy ears? I’ve seen so much fan art of him with pointy ears that I’ve begun to wonder if I missed this detail somewhere or if people just love the aesthetic. Not a criticism just genuinely curious.

No worries! The reason is really silly it’s just that I noticed that giving him pointy ears made my design more stable xDD And I think it started to look better when I added them. I had a bunch of sketch dumps and most times with regular ears I was like “that’s ok but I feel like there’s smth lacking for me to enjoy the design” and then I added those ears and I started liking it more:

Also I think for some unexplainable reason they made him more cute :D

Also you absolutely didn’t miss anything from the book, when I came I also was a bit confused because I saw many designs with unnatural skin colors, pointy ears etc and thought if mb I missed smth. But I think people are just having fun making his design less human. My other guess is that maybe it’s inspired by the scene where HC and XL spend the 2nd night in Puqi shrine and HC tells him “What if my real face is hideous? Would it still be fine if I was some sort of monstrous beast?” :D But as far as I remember, apart from being pale and having sharp features, Hua Cheng looks pretty much like a regular human as per his book description.

[kradogsrats]

Theory: The Other Primal Magic

So I realized something recently: we've actually been shown two adjacent-but-different forms of primal magic, which everyone has just conflated into one because the distinction isn't made obvious.

Primal spell runes are not a form of draconic writing. Both versions of the "humans receive primal magic" story have a strong distinction between the draconic words and spell runes, and the runes themselves have more in common with ideograms than logograms. For example, the pluviam praesidium rune isn't a combination of symbols that independently correspond to words meaning "rain" and "shield," it's a picture of a rain shield (i.e. an umbrella).

Even in the alternate concepts for that rune, where it is explicitly composed of several independent elements instead of just "umbrella," pretty much all of them (including the final one seen in the show) combine something that could be interpreted as rain (the bouncing downward stroke that forms the "handle" of the umbrella) and a shield (the curved dome), but those two symbols don't represent the words "pluviam" and "praesidium."

This is a subtle but important distinction, because while the majority of primal spell runes we see are like this—representations of what the spell does, rather than the spell's words—there is a subset of spells that work the opposite way:

What do these spells (though "spell" is a stretch for the elevator) have in common?

Each is a three-word spell with three corresponding runes, while other primal spell runes are single symbols representing spells of between one and three words (but usually two)

In three out of four, the runes are activated or "lit" individually (aquis spirare faucibus lights all at once, but it's a bit of an outlier in other respects, as well)

Two of these spells—manus pluma volantus and Karim's Sunforge orb destruction spell (which we only know two of the three words of, so I'm just going to call it that)—explicitly can be achieved by only the most powerful mages of those primals. So here's what I think:

These are primal magic spells invented by primal mages, possibly more recently than the primal rune spells.

Except for the elevator (which I'll come back to in a minute), I think these are spells created using draconic words paired with elven runes that correspond to those words. The (presumably Skywing elf) symbols of manus pluma volantus are very different from the (presumably Sunfire elf) runes of Karim's spell because the symbols themselves aren't from the same language. Basically, a powerful mage can combine draconic words and "runes" from their own language to build a spell out of component parts, which are distinct from the universal rune spells any mage can cast.

This also explains one of the more cryptic statements in Tales of Xadia (which is saying a lot):

Plotice, I would bet, has either discovered a combination of draconic words and Skywing runes that forms a new spell, or he may have discovered a universal rune that can be used for an existing compound spell, making a previously difficult spell attainable for less powerful mages. "Discovered" is an interesting word here (compared to "invented") because it implies that you can't just do this by combining words willy-nilly—maybe dragons or archdragons can, but there's a limit to what an elven (or human) mage can achieve, and the trick is figuring out what combinations work. Same for turning the spell words into a universal rune, if that's even possible—you can't just draw a picture and call it a day.

What's interesting is the possibilities introduced by inscribing these runes on objects. We know that even if Rayla carves terminus ad glacium into some ice, she can't activate it herself. Callum the Ocean mage has to do that. However, it's not super clear whether Rayla could have activated the Starscraper elevator if she was the one to read the words, or if a Sky mage (or even just a Sky arcanum) is required for that. We don't really know whether the Starscraper elevator symbols are Skywing or actual written draconic, just that Callum can read them:

Our other example is the waterbreathing amulet, which has to be usable by someone without an Ocean arcanum, considering that Callum doesn't have one when Akiyu gives him the amulet. Callum does have to activate or cast the spell when he draws it himself, but it seems like the amulet is sufficiently magical, itself. (Stella also uses it, but that's less concrete evidence that it can be used without an Ocean arcanum because Callum could be activating it at the same time as the others.)

We aren't told whether the waterbreathing spell (I'm not going to type out aquis spirare faucibus every time, fight me) is particularly difficult, but it fits the pattern and Callum describes it as conceptually similar to manus pluma volantus. Which it is! You might think that "breathe underwater" would be a fairly basic and desirable Ocean spell, but how do you do that with only Ocean magic—no "air" or "breath," those are both Sky primal domain. The way to do it is, as Callum says, "mage gills" that physically attune you to the Ocean the way that mage wings attune you to the Sky. My only doubt with the amulet and its spell is that, unlike the other comparable spells, the runes really don't say "Tidebound elf language" to me. Of course, we haven't really seen any Tidebound elf environments, so who knows.

Anyway, I think this has some interesting implications regarding the link between primal magic and very specifically dragons, how it may have been passed to elves and/or humans, and what kind of "claim" any of them (vs. dragons) have on it. Additionally, it goes a long way toward soothing my nerdrage over the wildly different "sets" of rune designs we are otherwise expected to accept as being from the same language, even though I know that—primal runes aside—this show could not possibly care less about the design of what they call "writing."

It's also shockingly similar to my much-less-substantiated headcanons about how dark magic works, but that's a whole other thing.

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

Had a few what-if thoughts about cat Stan. Bear with me as I list them all

So, in Bill Wins, Ford uses a spell to look at Stan's shattered, mixed-up soul. If that same spell was used on Nikola pre-reveal, would it look like any normal cat soul? Or would there be glimpses of the human soul underneath? Or if it was used on Stanley post-reveal, would the curse be, kinda. Woven into his soul?

Next thought was, what if(in an unlikely scenario) Stan decided to try and come clean about being Stan to Carla? Or Fidds? Or Emma-May?

Final thought: double cursed but they accidentally get carpet swapped. Just. Ford stumbling around in this teeny cat body and Stan suddenly being this big honkin wolf. Would probably be funnier post-reveal because I can almost picture cat-Ford chasing Stan around like "give me my body back! STANLEY!" but Stan's just giddy to finally be taller and doesn't wanna give that up

If Ford cast the soul spell on Stan it'd look like a red cat soul, if somewhat funky looking (being a fish) and with a golden undertone that hints at his human one underneath. Post reveal it'd be the opposite, being a large golden human soul with a few red spots where the curse is clinging to. Not so much woven as hanging on, and if Ford figured out how to look at a dissected version of Stan's soul there'd be red roots shooting through it.

If Stan tried to come clean to Fiddleford it'd go similar to some of my other asks, in that Fiddleford wouldn't jump to 'this cats a person!' but 'oh god Stanfords invited some horror critter into his house and its pretending to be a cat.' He'd more supersticous then Ford, and i think he'd also miss the cat=human jump from Stan's strange behavior, since he's now sitting in the middle of weird territory and has seen some strange things in the woods.

Emma-May would be similar, but with the added terror of 'i need to figure out whats going on with the thing.' less of a fear response, and more of an interest as she continued to find nothing but a genetically normal cat with an abnormal highly intelligent behavior. so now Stan's dodging unwanted tests from the newest mad scientist in town and trying to use Ford as a shield. Since Emma-May is rooted heavily in science and doesnt dabble in magic, she'd also miss the cat=human jump here.

Carla would be Stan's best bet, as she'd be more open minded then the rest of the household (she knows nothing about magic and such other than it exists, and so has no preconceived expectations about whats possible). She'd also make the connection of cat=human=Stan fairly quickly once she got cat=human, as she knows Stan and Nikola being Stan makes sense once the ideas there. The moment she realized Nikola was smart enough to understand her, she'd do a lot of yes/no questions to figure out what he wanted to communicate.

You're absolutly correct in that double curse body swap post reveal is peek. pre reveal there just an awkward shuffle to switch back, but once Stan knows its Fords body he is going to take advantage. He's tired of being small! He wants to dash around! Maybe pick up Ford in his mouth! See how he likes it!

[ancha-aus]

Dropping this in your inbox for later because I'm busy today lol

Still about Small Olympus, but this time adult Nightmare edition ! :D

Adult Nightmare gained some skills, he knows how to be scary and gained charisma and a good face card

But one thing they never talked about is: crush

So Nightmare goes to Ccino's cafe one day and sees the pretty barista and the loser at his core awakens once again

Ccino: and what would you like ?

Nightmare: you- I MEAN- YOU'RE A CAKE- I-

He died a little bit that day and the gang is going to tease him more than ever

I'm also introducing Fluffynight to this AU

Hey!! I am always happy to see asks :D

OKay yes! Far, FAR in the future of this AU. Nightmare is an adult and he has most things down now.

He was taught and learned so much!

He never expected to get a crush. much less for his OWN REACTION to said crush!!

He goes to this cafe he heard a lot about and gets inside. the cats are friendly and there are some people in front of him so he takes the time to look at the food items and the different drinks. trying to see what speaks to him (I also headcanon that nightmare usually unsummons his tendrils in this AU, or like makes them part of his outfits, like a lose scarf or like a bit of a bow, he grow up to be confident and people respect him more.)

Then he looks up and sees the prettiest barista look at him and smile so nicely: Sorry it took so long. What can i get you?

and as you said. that awkward loser teen is awakened wihtin SECONDS and Ngihtmare is unsure what to do or say. fumbles it and just wants to die.

At least he doesn't run. He doesn't run away even if he wants and Ccino is just confused before smiling gently like "I euh... I think you misspoke? i can give you a few more minutes to pick something out?"

Nightmare just nods and speaks "That... would be nice." very carefully. not trusting his mouth and trying so hard to keep it together and staring at the items to appear busy.

Okay but fluffynight is cute for this! Normally i prefer them as friends but it works well enough here :D *eyeing my fav ship classicerror but i know you don't like adding classic* ... error can stay single...

[echantedtoon]

Mermay Day 13 White Butterfly Koi Fish

(Tengen would be a white butterfly koi fish and would look like the linked post below except less eel and more butterfly koi also below.

Merman Tengen( minus the eel like features)

x.com/littlegao_gao/status/1527621514123681793

his tail would be more like this instead

images.app.goo.gl/G6CdGPbiLNgKwHTs6 

Adding onto the ending of Ocean Deep.)

taglist: @six-eyed-samurai @lavenderdropp @jjamsbangtan @camilo-uwu @hopefulworld1

@shadyd3ar @amypop122 @azuredragonstrike

@mimisweetz @chaoticoperatorduckhairdo @staarflowerr @aleee-386 @summrwalkr

@nicora04 @miniverse-zen @heijihattorisgf

@lavender-moony

The water was warm today. Very nice as they sat on the rocks. Of course there was always the occasional human gawker gazing out and pointing out them but they knew better than to try and approach them by now. The rocks surface was smooth obviously smoothed out by the sea water waves rolling over them for so long. It made for a perfect spot for him to just lay there and stare at the blue sky. Well that was before a pouting face leaned over him to stare down at him.

"Tengen! Makio pushed me off again!"

"Well then stop that obnoxious snoring! You sound like a walrus with a headache and bad tooth!"

"I do not! Wwaah! Tengen, tell her to stop being so mean to me!"

He couldn't help but chuckle and dawn a smile before going back to close his eyes. "You know it's Kyo's day to stop the disputes today. I'm taking my time napping."

"Wwwaaahhh!! That's not fair!"

"What's not fair is you snoring my ears off!!"

"LET'S NOT FIGHT NOW!! Suma! Come here! You can cuddle up with me right now!"

"Kyooojurooo!! So considerate!"

He sighed happily settling down back against the warm rock. Listening to the loud sloshing of waves giving their lullaby. The breeze dusting over them. The sweet smells of salts and distant plants from land.

"Tengen!"

He paused. Body going rigid at the voice calling out distantly over the wind....Nah. He must be hearing things. He slowly relaxed back.

"TENGEN!!"

Red eyes popped open. His partners jumping as he shot upright and paused.. before his head snapped around. And his eyes widened at a woman figure on the beach far away waving a full arm at him. You stood there having spotted him from afar and waved your arms at him. It took a few days constantly scouting out the coast until you could find them again and by luck spotted them just off the coast laying on some rocks. You knew it was them by their colors even if you couldn't see them too good from far away. Like you suspected, Tengen's hearing had caught onto your voice and the white blue pushed up from the rocks. Head turning to you...And then you saw the white blur quickly dive into the water.

Here he comes.

Smiling widely you watched and waited right in the water as a massive white blur approached. And then a body breached the water with a massive splash sending water droplets all over yourself as something large crawling up to you with the distinct sounds of jingling jewelry. Red Wine eyes wide and a wide smile on his face.

"Well..looks like I was right and my incredibly flamboyant fiance couldn't stay away.~"

You only smiled wider. "Try your wife."

His eyes blinked confused. "My wife?.." Before an even larger grin came over him. "Even better.~" 

Your giggling only fueled his already beating  heart with adrenaline rushing throughout his body and was what drove him to shakily reach out webbed hands to your face making you blink at the sudden wetness against your cheeks. Your face caused him to hesitate looking unsure if you wanted him to touch you. But when you smiled it gave him all the permission he needed to gently cup your hands, your hands reaching up to hold his hands as he leaned closer to you, and you didn't stop him when he leaned closer to your face and your lips met in an embrace.

[onesnoopyaday]

I AM AT MY LIMIT

Snoopy #90

30/12/2024

description under the cut

[description: a cartoon-style drawing of Snoopy's head. Snoopy is a white dog with black ears. His eyes are shut and his mouth is a horizontal line. There are two large blue teardrops, one under each eye. The text "I am at my limit" is handwritten across the top of the image.]

[hwangyeddeongie]

shaming people for donating THEIR ADULT MONEY to ao3 (an ad-free, censorship-free site with over 14 MILLION works) so you can feel better about yourself is not the flex you think it is. much less if the "charities" you want people to support instead are unverified Gaza gofundme scams

[maraschinotopped]

ive been staring at the naqtube channel page just doing analysis thoughts in my head for like 15 minutes and ive just been hit with the realization that Damn this is not normal. normal people dont do this. either the mental illness or the mild sickness is doing something to me right now.

[retroautomaton]

🍜🐟🍊

[puhpandas]

Opinion on the TalesGames theory?

I think it's becoming increasingly clear that it's probably just all canon because of sotm being (at least right now with the current info we have) true to the books so like. I wasnt a big fan before of things outside of stuff like ggy where it's just very clearly about something in the games, but with how intertwined the mimic is with just normal tftp books I think it's safe to say its pretty much confirmed now lmao