#botanical vocabulary

[kndll-art]

Grevillea banksii

210 x 135 mm / watercolour

instagram

and to send off 2024 i leave you with this fun fact about these plants

[mybeingthere]

Rithika Merchant is a visual artist from Mumbai, India (b 1986). Her work explores the common thread that runs through different cultures and religions. Similar myths, stories and ideas are shared by cultures all around the world, her paintings explore this concept while also featuring creatures and symbolism that are part of her personal visual vocabulary.

Nature plays a pivotal role in her work and is emphasised by the use of organic shapes and non saturated colours. Her paintings and collages are made using a combination of watercolour and cut paper elements, drawing on 17th century botanical prints and folk art, to create a body of work that is visually linked to our collective pasts.

“I would like the viewer to place themselves in my work, regardless of where they are from,” says Merchant. “The figures in my works are also deliberately free of any race, gender, or ethnicity. I tend to be drawn to symbols that are universally recognizable and not culturally specific—like the eye, the sun, the moon, and botanical imagery in general.”

[kings-roar]

credit card: prologue

summary: Yuu gets invited on their first journey to one of their schoolmates’ hometowns! But with the meager allowance given by that stingy headmage, they don’t think they have enough to cover the travel. Luckily for them, they’re dating a super rich (and surprisingly generous) boyfriend. notes: this is part one of my series: credit card! details/warnings: gender-neutral pronouns, yuu instead of y/n, adult!yuu, established relationship, leoyuu, follows EN server

ao3 link: xxx

It was on a lazy Friday evening in the botanical gardens when Yuu was approached by an energetic ball of energy, otherwise known as Kalim Al-Asim, and his childhood companion Jamil. Yuu looks up just as Kalim barrels into them with a hug. They laugh as Jamil begins to scold Kalim, reminding the latter to be aware of boundaries, something that is hardly in the young heir’s vocabulary.

“How can I help you, Kalim?” The prefect moves their homework to the side as they reciprocate the second year’s hug.

“We’re going on a trip!” he exclaims excitedly. Yuu tilts their head to the side.

“Oh? Well, congrats! I hope you have fun.”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming with us!”

‘… Huh?’

“Kalim,” Jamil’s voice sounds tired as he places a hand on his classmate’s shoulder. “You can’t just tell someone they’re going somewhere. You have to ask them first.”

“Oh, right! Well, Yuu, do you wanna come home with us?”

Jamil smacks a hand to his forehead as Yuu continues to become more and more confused. What does he mean, “come home with us”? Is Crowley kicking them out of the campus? Did Grim do something whilst with the Heartslabyul duo? Yuu thought they could trust those two, but maybe they were wrong.”

“It’s nothing like that,” Jamil explains with a tired sigh. “Kalim and I are heading back home, to the Scalding Sands, for the Yasamina River Fireworks Fest.”

“And since you’re from another world, I’d love to show you my hometown, Yuu!” Kalim adds with a beaming smile. “We got six VIP seats, so you and Grim can both tag along! Oh, maybe I should hit up the guys from my Pop Music club too!”

“Wait a minute, you are one of the organizers of the event, Kalim, and as your attendant, I will also be at your side. Inviting Grim and Yuu last minute is one thing, but adding even MORE people whilst we’re busy is too much.”

“It’ll be fine, Jamil! The more the merrier, as they say. Besides, They can take care of their own, right?” Kalim looks towards Yuu with shining, puppy-dog eyes.

“Um, sure.” they nod hesitantly. “But what about the cost? As you can probably guess, Crowley isn’t really on the generous side…”

“Well, the seats for the festival are covered by your tickets. The street food is pretty cheap though! Maybe you could ask the headmage to lend you some more money?”

“Eh, I doubt he’d agree. Grim is also a really big eater.”

Suddenly, a figure jumps down from the tree Yuu was leaning against. The Scarabia duo jumps in surprise, whilst the prefect merely smiled. The figure, ignoring his two underclassmen, ruffles Yuu’s head lightly before sitting down beside them. His long tail curls around Yuu’s wrist as he yawns.

“Hey, Leona-senpai!” Kalim’s the first to recover from the unexpected guest. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice you up in that tree.”

“‘Course you didn’t,” the beastman smirks. “An herbivore like you would never be able to detect a beastman like me.” The comment doesn’t hold much malice in it, if any, and Kalim continues as if nothing happened.

“Well, anyway, were you able to hear everything? Do you wanna come with us?”

“Kalim!”

“What? Leona-senpai is a classmate of ours! Besides, it would be rude not to invite him after hearing us invite Yuu and Grim.”

Leona yawns again as he nestles himself closer to his favourite human, who also happens to be his partner. His eyes are only half open, a sign that he’s just about ready to fall asleep once again.

“A trip to the Scalding Sands? I’ll pass; not a huge fan of large crowds. But if you wanna go, Yuu…” He stares into his lover’s eyes, waiting for a response. The prefect gives it a thought before answering.

“Hm, well I would like to go, since the festival is a once-a-year event. After all, who knows if I’ll be here to experience it again.”

Leona ignores the twinge in his heart at the thought of his favourite herbivore leaving his side, opting instead to reach into his pocket. He takes out a leather wallet, opening it with one hand and expertly fishing out a thin object. The prince places it gently into Yuu’s hand and quickly tucks away his wallet.

“There, now you can enjoy yourself without worrying. Just don’t let that little weasel see it. He might think this means he can spend on whatever without thinking.”

Yuu’s eyes widen as they unfurl their hand, their gaze falling on a shiny black credit card embellished with gold printed words. LEONA KINGSCHOLAR bedazzles the front, and a shiny crown emblem is stamped at the end of his name. The name of some unknown bank, as well as other details, dot the rest of the card. They flip it over and over, studying it carefully to make sure it’s real. Kalim and Jamil’s faces are also aghast as they recognize the card.

“WOAH!” Kalim gasps. “Is that a black card?! I have one too!”

From the sounds of Kalim’s voice, a black card seems exceptionally rare. Perhaps only the rich and royalty could own one. Either way, Yuu remained quite shocked at the mere fact that Leona trusted them enough to loan them his card. After all, he’s a prince! If Yuu ended up misplacing the card, and it got into the wrong hands, then who knows what could happen to THE prince of Sunset Savanna if his royal funds were taken.

“See? You’re all set now. Now hurry up and leave. You’re digging into my date time.”

“All you’re doing is sleeping…” Jamil mumbles, though it still reaches the beastman’s ears. “Whatever. Let’s go, Kalim. Because of you, I have to rearrange a bunch of things.”

“I’ll pass the news onto Grim for ya, Yuu! Be sure to be at the Mirror in the morning!” Kalim waves to the prefect and beastman as he’s dragged off by Jamil.

Once they’re gone, Leona gently brings Yuu closer to him, nuzzling his face into the crook of their neck. The prefect smiles and softly begins to brush their fingers through the prince’s brown locks, eliciting a pleased noise from the back of his throat.

“Thanks for trusting me with your card, Leona. I’ll be sure to keep it safe and use it wisely.”

“‘s all good,” Leona’s words come out slurred, the familiar and comforting scent of the gardens and his love lulling him back into dreamland. “Just want you to enjoy yourself.”

Leona finally falls asleep, and Yuu joins him once they’ve packed all their things. Trying to do homework now would be futile, it seems. The two peacefully slumber in each other’s embrace for the next hour or so, until Grim and Ruggie came to bring them back to their dorms for curfew.

[tea-and-textbooks]

₊˚✧October 22, 2024 ✧˚₊‧

I am so sorry for the really long hiatus. I have been dealing with chronic illness lately. I am feeling so much better now. I am so excited to get back to studying. Here are a few updates over the past month and a bit I was off. I got my first ever hobonichi I have always wanted to try one. I got the hobonichi cousin with the orange Mr. Saturn cover. (i got the orange cover so I can find it easily.) I decided to redo my obsidian set up to make my note taking process a bit more seamless. I went to the aquarium and the botanical garden while i was on hiatus so I will be posting some photos soon. Thats all I have for updates I spent the last month mostly resting.

What I did today:

I transfered some of my paper notes to my obsidian

I practiced my finnish vocabulary

I also practice my potawatonmi vocabulary

I am currently reading a new book Gathering Moss bty Robin Wall Kimmer ( I really love her work)

What I would like to do tomorrow:

I would like to read a bit more of my book

I would also like like to do some more langage lessons

I would also like to upload some of the aquarium photos and videos tomarrow..

[elbiotipo]

We should make the world language a conlang that isn't eurocentric. I think combining the vocabulary of Mandarin, Arabic, Hindustani, Malay, Latin/English, Swahili, Nahuatl and Quechua would be the best way to go about it.

Yeah, Esperanto and Interlingua are basically "all (Western) European languages together", why not add some variety? Come on.

I've tried to learn Mandarin and I'm surprised at how economic it is with its words and sounds, the verbs just make sense, it flows very well. The tones are very hard to learn to someone who isn't used to it and it's very fast paced, but I find it interesting to learn because it's very distant from Indoeuropean languages (learning English as a Spanish speaker was "easier" because of that, especially because English is perhaps the most 'latinized' Germanic language because of the Normans)

I don't really thing a conlang will ever be able to impose itself as a world language, but I'm of the theory that "World English" will eventually be shaped by second-language speakers rather than those of the "Anglosphere", eventually diverging from UK or US speaking to become a whole new language. That is, of course, if it continues to be the world language, and given that the US might eventually fall from its spot as world hegemon (IMPERIO EN DECADENCIA) other language might take its place.

Of course, I'm still saying it should be Latin. It's a shame that scientific papers aren't published in Latin anymore. Even by the mid XXth century some plants were STILL being described in Botanical Latin, and I don't mean "scientific names" I mean that the description itself, all the organs and habits of the plant, were published in Latin. They don't do that anymore, but it was so cool.

[mia-studyhaus]

5 Minutes, 5 Words - #71

(〃＾▽＾〃)

Predilection /ˌpriːdɪˈlɛkʃᵊn/ (n.) - a preference or special liking for something; a bias in favour of something.

The boutique owner had a predilection for placing fresh daisies at the shop entrance every morning.

Venerable /ˈvɛnərəbᵊl/ (adj.) - accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character.

Mr. John was chosen to be the company's advisor, because of his venerable profile attributed to many years of industry experience.

Voracious /vəˈreɪʃəs/ (adj.) - wanting or devouring great quantities of food.

After a 6 hour hike in the morning, me and my friends were voracious

Anachronism /əˈnækrənɪzm/ (n.) - a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.

Jenny's Victorian-inspired fashion in the ultra modern town she lives in is an anachronism.

Herbaceous /ˈhɛrətɪk/ (adj.) - denoting or relating to herbs (in the botanical sense).

The herbaceous plants made a unique addition to Sita's home garden.

(〃＾▽＾〃)

Definitions from: Oxford Languages.

IPA Phonetic Transcription (UK English) from: tophonetics.com

Sentences are fictitious, though they may be based on real issues.

Follow @studyhaus for more vocabulary content!

[do-easy-art]

San Francisco's Legion of Honneur museum offers a dazzling selection of Guo Pei’s magnificent haute couture gowns created from 2006 to the present. Considered to be the first Chinese haute couturier, Guo Pei grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a tumultuous period where anything belonging to China’s Imperial past - traditions, script, literature, arts and antiquities, family histories and property - were all forbidden or destroyed. With an inexhaustible vocabulary of traditional motifs (lotus, Buddha, dragon, lilies, peacocks) woven onto sumptuous gold thread, “Guo Pei creates a fantasy that fuses the influences of China’s imperial past, decorative arts, European architecture, and the botanical world.” As imposing as the garments are, they also seem to poke fun at the spiritual and cultural weight of couture and Chinese traditional values. In several of her architecture series pieces, she uses bamboo strips, a material usually used as throwaway building scaffolding, in constructing Edwardian-style hoop skirts with boned corsets. In another couple of pieces from the same collection, she references Gothic cathedrals in monochrome embroidery on silk gauze: One can see pointed arches, flying buttresses, and stained glass sections placed where the wearer’s chest would be. Formerly reserved by law for the royal court, yellow silk dragons make their appearance time and again over gowns, deconstructed epaulets, even chaps held up by gold ribbons.

[whatpennymade]

Back in time for the gardening season!

🌷🌷🌷

Broaden your botanical vocabulary with The Garden Alphabet. A coloring book with bouquets for every letter. 💐

[wolfclad]

❛  fervent .   to  have  sex  with  my  muse  after  a  fight .

Farkas despised battles of words. He was too slow in speech, too lacking in vocabulary to express the feelings that clawed their way out of his chest. What he could not voice was instead written into the features of his weathered, war painted face. Anger sprouted from hurt – that ugly, barbed seed – and left him seething.

Fortune had been on his side. A job had taken him deep into the pine-soaked, misty vales of Falkreath. As he made his return, nursing bloodied and bruises knuckles, he had caught their scent. Carried on a wind wet with the threat of rain – pipe smoke and leather, liquor and botanicals he could not name. In the moment it tickled his nose, he imagined he could still taste his own blood, that which had been spilled during their final, flint-edged kiss.

Dionisia.

His hunt ended in confrontation, in a reunion that burned white-hot, bringing them to a violent boil beneath boughs of dew-painted trees.

“You left.” Farkas snarled, pricked by the abandonment, by the rejection. The cut on his neck had healed in a thin red line – a parting gift from Dionisia’s blade – but it was the unseen and bloodless wounds that stung most sharply. “You left me.”

Fury simmered in his blood, a fire that spilled too easily into passion. He could not say exactly how he ended up kissing them, ferociously, skinning them like a rabbit. The tug and peel of leather saw their breeches bunched at their calves, their mound left bare. Farkas dropped to his aching knees, sinking into that thick carpet of pine needles, burying his face at the apex of their thighs, their cunt beneath the blade of his tongue.

Wicked, clever fingers dragged through the wild tangle of his hair, nails scraping against his scalp, scratching him like spurs. Farkas growled, turned his mouth to their thighs, feasting on blue-violet flesh. Teeth left them bruised and love-bitten, the coarse drag of his short beard giving rise to a dusky, moon-shadow flush.

Still unsatisfied, he soon dragged them down onto the damp earth and turned them about, using his strength to shamelessly position their limbs, their body, until they were on hands and knees. Thick, eager fingers then fumbled beneath his leather tassets, plucking at the strangling ties of his breeches until they loosened, until he was able to pull them down. Farkas was on them in an instant, mounting them in the manner of a stray mutt-dog. Rudely, he stuffed his aching cock inside them, his bear-paw hands seizing their hips, heaving them back onto every desperate thrust. It made for a furious rut, among the leaf litter and fungus, among all things green and mossy.

Breath escaped from between Farkas’ clenched teeth in ragged exhalations, steam leaking from the chinks in his steel armour as the fever of his blood burned bright and hot. He drove himself into them as though this physical joining would be enough to keep them united, as though the warm wet of their arousal would be enough to glue them together.

A broad hand curled around the back of their neck before thinking better of it, instead snaking around to hold their throat. There he squeezed, he lifted, bending them back until their back arched like a drawn bow. He wanted them looking at him. He wanted the intimacy of being face-to-face. Reflexively, his unoccupied palm rubbed over their thrust-out chest, seeking the apples of their breasts, only to be denied by the leather cuirass they still wore.

“Didn’t you miss this? Didn’t you miss us – ?”

[jonquilyst]

OC question of the day!

If you could make a character real, which of your OCs would be:

your bestie

your spouse/partner

your secret lover!

your friendly rival

your enemy!

BONUS: do this for other people’s OCs too!

Pass the game along (anonymously or not)

Aaa ty for the ask!! 💖 I read your response to this ask and when I saw you sent me this ask too I was so excited!!

My characters (The Runaway):

Bestie: Definitely and without a doubt Eva. Her character/personality is actually inspired off of my childhood best friend so it makes sense. I feel like our personalities would mesh really well together

Spouse/partner: I'll answer this as a "who I'd marry," and while I should pick another character, I think this character would also be Eva. I think we'd have good chemistry and she would do a great job in making sure I'm happy and healthy (a dynamic similar to Jayden and Megyn!) but alas... she is a fictional character and she is my creation. Maybe one day I'll meet someone like her though 💖

Secret lover: Assuming this one means a character who'd have a crush on me. If he weren't already with Megyn, I think Jayden would have a crush on me. However, I probably wouldn't reciprocate feelings. I think he's more compatible with Megyn anyways!

Friendly rival: I think Wyatt would be my friendly rival because both of us are pretty nerdy and I could see us going back and forth about science-related trivia. While they would win in the botanical/plants part of the spectrum (Wyatt is massively into plants and botany) I think I could probably win with other science trivia!

Enemy: Since my only character that's actually unlikable is Nick, it's a no-brainer, but besides him (since he is Megyn's abuser and is meant to be hated on) I think Robin and I wouldn't really get along the best (at least at first)

Your Characters (The Harpers)

Ok, I'm gonna do your characters next!!

Bestie: My ultimate bestie from your legacy is Le Chat. Hands down without a doubt. He may be a cat but I absolutely adore him. He's my favorite Harper. He's got style, class, and most importantly: moi thinks he haz dee greatest vocabulary!

Spouse/Partner: Heathcliff is my man. That man is so smoking... I love him. I'm a music lover too... 👉👈

Secret Lover: Hmm... It's a bit hard to say since there's so many characters, but I think Paris would be most likely to have a crush on me!

Friendly Rival: Logan bc even though I adore him, I can't forget that I put him through a bunch of crazy challenges in a reality show called Total Drama Sims! But maybe he'd like me if I didn't do that to him...

Enemy: As much as I love Xavier (and how hot he is too) I can't deny he's an asshole and we'd likely hate each other...

[benkyoutobentou]

31 Days of Productivity Reading: Day twenty six

Before: I’m going to the bookstore today! The next volume of Guardian by Priest comes out in English today so I’ll be picking that up and using the opportunity to study some more. I should probably study Japanese today, though…

I don’t really have any other goals for today. Based on the amount of pages I have left in ベルばら, even if I only read for my minimum hour I should still have time to read some 憎らしい彼.

After: Second chamomile harvest of the season! My first harvest is still drying so I haven't had any tea from my garden yet, but I'm very excited for that day to come!

I also finally started a new anime today after feeling like there just wasn't anything I wanted to watch for quite some time. I'm watching 美少年探偵団 now! I read the book a few years back and it was honeslty a supremely bizarre experience. It was the first book I ever read in Japanese, it was extremely difficult to get through (and would probably still be hard for me, based on what others in the book club had said), and I think the majority of us in the book club, myself included, didn't realize going into it that it was a parody novel. I suddenly remembered that it had an anime adaptation, and absolutely had to watch it. Knowing the original, watching it is so much fun. It's supremely ridiculous in every single way and, personally, I find that to be a bonus, especially going in expecting it. And afterwards, I had a dog and a cat laying in my lap, so I couldn't just get up. Luckily I had planned to be trapped in my seat and wasn't caught without my book, so I also got some reading in.

I also had a bit too much success at the book store. In addition to my usual book store study time, I went for Guardian and ended up picking up A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock as well. I knew that there was a book I had looked up recently that was in stock at my store, but couldn't remember what it was. As soon as I saw this, though, I knew that that was the one for me. And while I'm thinking of it, I'm going to put some of my books on my tbr into the little free library near my house. There are a couple that I just don't see myself reading anymore, and I would rather free up that space to house books I actually want to read.

I finished ベルサイユのばら volume two today! I read 69 pages over an hour and one minute for an average reading pace of 1.1 pages per minute. So, I guess I was wrong about being able to finish the volume in under an hour, but I still have time in the day to get to more reading tonight. I think it's fair to say now that my average reading pace with this series is a page per minute, which is actually really nice in giving myself a close estimate as to how long a single volume is going to take me. Also, even with just two volumes under my belt, I'm noticing that I'm getting used to the style and vocabulary of the series. I'm looking up less words as I see the same ones appear and reappear.

I'm already thinking about what manga I want to read tomorrow, and I think I might jump ship to another series... This is why I read so many one shots and 2-3 volume series; I just can't stick to one thing long term unless I'm a little bit too obsessed. I'm a one volume at a time type of person.

Even though I didn't get a whole lot of time to read 憎らしい彼 today, I did read some! I read eight pages today over thirty eight minutes, for an average reading pace of 4.75 minutes per page. That's certainly not my best reading pace, but it id getting pretty late, so that might be slowing down my pace. My total reading time for the day was an hour and thirty nine minutes.

[stardust-swan]

My New Year's Resolutions for 2023

Read a book every fortnight

Visit art galleries and museums regularly

Walk at least 10k steps each day

Go to the gym regularly

Make one new dish each week

Play the violin for at least 30 minutes each day

Take a new evening class

Dedicate at least an hour per week for learning Arabic, French, and Irish

Take a day out each week for pampering. Face masks, exfoliating, microneedling, epilating, mani-pedi, etc. Complete with a lit Yankee Candle and my Aphrodite playlist on.

Give back to the community. Join the neighbourhood litter collection group and volunteer at the Town soup kitchen, if possible

Improve my art skills; paint more, learn new crochet stitches (try to do at least one small project per month), start embroidery, learn to use my Polaroid camera and take it out to pretty places, like the Botanical Gardens

Dress chicly every day, even when staying indoors. Pyjamas and hoodies no more; wear jeans, jumpers, blouses, dresses, and skirts, and at least eyebrow pencil and lip gloss.

Watch one girly movie and one documentary each week

Journal at least once a week

Get the "likes," "ums," and slang words out of my vocabulary for good!

Buy a notebook and write poetry at least once a month

[mybeingthere]

Rithika Merchant is a visual artist from Bombay (Mumbai), India. Her work explores both comparative mythology as well as science and speculative fiction, featuring creatures and symbolism that are part of her personal visual vocabulary. She creates bodies of work that visually link to our collective past as well as imagine possible new worlds which we may come to inhabit.

Nature plays a pivotal role in her work and is emphasised by the use of organic shapes and non saturated colours. Her paintings and collages are made using a combination of watercolour and cut paper elements, drawing on 17th century botanical prints and folk art.

[alphaman99]

Georgie and Mikey

Weekend activities that cultivate your mind:

go to a local museum or gallery. observe everything — other patrons, the art, the information, whatever you can learn

find a coffee shop along a busy street and order something special. sit at a table near a window or on the patio and people watch

pick up a book from your local bookstore and read it in its entirety. notice how you feel before, during, and after.

clean your space. (happy space, happy mind)

go for a mini-trip. find a new city a few hours away and travel there. while you’re there, do at least one thing you’d not normally do in your own city

eat a meal at a fancy restaurant by yourself.

grab your journal and write down in detail everything about your “ideal self”. act like that person from here on out

have a movie-marathon with a docu-series! really pay attention to what is happening

grab a copy of the local newspaper and read it. staying on top of local news is so important

volunteer for a local food bank or clothing drive

go to the botanical gardens. bring a plant ID book with you and your journal and look up and document the plants you don’t know

spend time with your friends.

call your mom (or anyone you need to catch up with) and ask how they’re doing. really listen to what’s going on in their life. pay attention

go through your closet and donate what you no longer wear. remember, if it doesn’t align with your dream self, it’s not serving you anymore

write a letter or a poem or a short story. really pay attention to grammar and vocabulary. see what you need to brush up on

[fatherfigurefusion]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FUSION!!!! I don't have anything for you BUT I would love to hear you talk about whatever you want ^_^

Thank you, Myth!

ُThis is something that has been on my mind, ever since I've settled on Gonta being Emu in my DanganSEKAI AU: how Gonta would talk.

Since Gonta isn't raised by wolves in this AU (I'm going to downplay a lot of backstories in this AU), I'd imagine that Gonta wouldn't speak in the caveman talk that he did in canon. And it's honestly kind of cursed (yet adorable) to imagine Gonta saying something like "super-duper-sparkly-warkly-jiggly-wiggly-huzzah-ful". Currently, I'm imagining this Gonta's speech patterns to be some kind of weird combination of speaking in the third person, using high-class vocabulary, and mixing in random made-up words (words like ecstatical-licious or magifimagical) to sound more "gentlemanly". I also imagined that Gonta would use "Butter-hi!" and "Butterbye" as greetings, much like Emu's "Wandahoi!".

I was also wondering about the general motif of the Gokuhara-owned theme park. I'd imagine that it would be a gigantic botanical garden (complete with a wide-variety of butterflies and fruit plants, and possibly their own brand of fruit spreads) that also happens to have performance stages. Gonta's parents would plan on getting rid of the gardens, and it would be up to Garden X Grandness to convince them not to. I was originally considering the park to be cowboy-themed, as a reference to Gonta's execution, before scrapping that. (Maybe I could turn this idea into an event.)

Because Kaito still retains his interest in plants, I'd imagine that he would be a massive fan of this theme park and go there all the time with Aries/Quad.

(On an extra note, I've also enacted some talent swaps on the cast, to make them seem somewhat more probable in the slice-of-life setting. Kaito is now an Astronomer, Maki is now an actual Child Caregiver, Celestia is now a Magician, Mondo is now a Motorcyclist, Fuyuhiko is now a CEO, Kiibo is now a Gamer, and HPF/Midnight are now all Reserve Course Students.)

[gcldfanged]

[Continued from HERE.]

There are no more wolves stalking the white-peaked mountains of Nunkkot. Barely any sign of foxes, either. Yoon is a fox all the same- His body sleeker, the muscles more compact. Bristling ivory fangs not quite as large as a wolf's, but still more than capable of stripping flesh and shattering bone.

No sane person wakes up and welcomes the predator framed by their now open bedroom door, it's unctuous shadow flowing liquid over freshly thrown sheets. Trying to domesticate any feral animal is pure arrogance, blind vanity to believe you may reach out and touch it. Stroke your fingers through the raised hackles and you'll lose a limb, or at least your base naïveté about said creature's nature.

Yet Hewley did. The First wanted his unfamiliar shape stalking the cold air beside him. Angeal knew that he was talking to something he hadn't even tried to put a collar on, merely entertained some twisted delusion that the Turk was actually a house cat wearing a hand-knit scarf and hoped (possibly prayed) for the best.

He always smiled with his eyes. There was an odd warmth to his gaze.

"Maybe we could order dinner together-"

"Should we grab some coffee?"

"Would it be alright to meet up at the botanical center later...?"

Never stating with the utmost confidence that Jae-hyo SHOULD accompany him, or that he WILL show up and buy some house plant that the Commander can loudly assert his all-encompassing knowledge over.

The first night they'd stayed up 'till near 2AM laughing and getting drunk off cheap soju, he had expected to hear the SOLDIER's weight making the washed out floorboards creak in protest. Narrowed eyes searching for a shifting movement in the dark, the telltale thump of someone's head hitting an unfamiliar ceiling that his honed senses would pick up- even beneath the raucous melody of his neighbor's constant arguments rendered in shrill Wutainese.

It would be nothing new, nothing he couldn't easily handle when steady fingers slid over the textured grip of his service pistol- But Jae only ever found his guest waiting at the kitchen table with breakfast: fried eggs rimed with a browned butter crust and steaming mugs of freshly steeped tea, some saintly corona of pollution-discolored sunlight framing laughably messy strands of disheveled hair.

Somehow career military without the ever-growing entitlement. Stalwart and loyal, also unexpectedly gentle- Like the massive brindled dogs Grandfather used to hunt with, their blood-streaked muzzles always petal soft against his weathered palms. Steely jaws that can crack an adult frost hare's neck so neat and clean, there's no bruising or any blood pockets to spoil it's precious meat.

Ji-ho had loved those dogs, had loved her Grandpa. Maybe even actually understood it, back then.

A four letter word that comes easily to the larger man's openly expressive vocabulary doesn't hold the same meaning, if there even is one to ascribe to it. It's better spent on closer friends, rank and file comrades beneath the same banner- He understood the import and difference reflected in his own pack (of sorts) and their specialized department.

It should be an easy mistake to fix- no harm, no foul. Instead they find themselves at an impasse, a deadlock further cemented by his own oppressive silence.

"Hey. Don't make it into a big deal, yeah?" Jae retorts, pulling away to straighten out the lapels of his dark trench coat. Layered clothing pulls double-duty as a shield of sorts, yet another reliable physical wall keeping unexpected discomforts from breaching his outer shell.