#but i'm hanging onto this knowledge tooth and nail

[katarascape]

A list of all the Australian plants I know of that are bush food just because:

Bunya Pine

[Image ID: Two large green, very round, pinecones against a white background. Shown in the foreground are some small very spiny-looking green twigs, the ‘leaves’ of a pine cone which are brown and green, and five pale pine nuts. End ID]

Bunya Pine cones. A lot like your American or European pine cones except they’re as big as your head. The nuts taste a bit like chestnuts, can be ground into paste to make bread, boiled, roasted, fermented, eaten raw etc. and have a bit of heft to them so like. Good food. They grow naturally in South East QLD and can be seen in some old gardens and parks.

The species itself is the only surviving member of an extinct prehistoric genus and traditionally the Wakka Wakka people (the custodians of the Bunya Mountains, named for obvious reasons) would host massive festivals with the ripening of the pine cones and people would come from miles around.

Macadamias

[Image ID: A close up picture of Macadamia nuts in their shells, which are warm brown and almost perfectly round. One is split open to show the white nut inside. End ID]

Macadamias are pretty well commercialised, to the point I grew up not even really realising they were a native plant. But my siblings and I have spent whole weekends picking macadamias from a tree in my aunt’s yard and cracking them open on the footpath to eat like possums so.

Lilly pillies

[Image ID: A close up photo of a large bundle of bright pink grape-sized fruits amongst light green, glossy leaves. End ID]

There’s a few varieties of lilly pilly but as far as I know they’re all safe to eat and the ones I’ve had are super tasty. They’re a shrubby kind of tree and are a staple of private gardens and parks alike in Southern QLD and, I can only guess, but probably the Southern states as well. They have a few little seeds inside them and are very attractive to native birds too.

Though I’ve confused them for cheese trees before (which taste like tomatoes, not my favourite) the ones I’ve had have a kind of sweet gingery taste.

Cheese Tree

[Image ID: A close up picture of small pinkish fruits clumped on twigs with dark green, glossy leaves. The fruits are much like a flat pumpkin in shape and texture. End ID]

Only seen one of these before, lived in the yard of one of my aunties. Tastes like tomatoes so I only had one. Also a shrubby kind of tree, large seeds.

Finger Lime

[Image ID: A picture of two elongated limes against a black cloth. One fruit has been split open and the pale green inside is spilling out. The inside is of a texture much like fish eggs, tapioca pearls etc. End ID]

Comes in a few different varieties and colours. The bush itself is kinda like a domestic lime tree but with smaller leaves and many, many spines. Tastes uhh...like limes. Obviously.

It’s common for gardening enthusiasts to have a few plants so you can buy these relatively easily (which is how I got them).

Winter Apple/Berry

[Image ID: A slightly grainy close up picture of round pink berries growing along a plant with long, narrow green leaves. End ID]

My most recent bush food ‘discovery’. I found it growing in my backyard and thought that it was obviously gonna be some introduced english weed or something and was delighted when one of my local museums had a planter box full of it with an information plaque and everything.

Anyway, there is a weed very similar in appearance I’m not game enough to try. But the berry itself, probably not much bigger than your standard garden pea. It’s got a tart kind of taste, I’d liken it a little to passionfruit, and has a very large seed. So like. It hasn’t got a lot of nutritional value but I eat it just because.

I’ve had no luck trying to reproduce it via seed (the internet says it has a funky inhibitor chemical in it? idk why) but it reproduces from cuttings beautifully, just like a succulent.

Anyway, there’s a couple more I know of that I haven’t added yet because this is way too long already but uh. Here :)

[arans-princess]

Run

HEY FUCKER I'M YOUR SECRET SANTA SO I HOPE YOU LIKE THE FIC!You won’t know the character you got till the end so sit tight!

ABO, BREEDING KINK, CNC, PRIMAL, OUTDOOR SEX

Your feet hit the icy ground in a sprint, dashing further and further into the forest, desperately trying to get away. Faster, faster, push harder the mantra repeats in your head as you make your mad dash out of the house.

You see, your heat came sooner than expected, and your alpha was away. You had handled heats without him before, so this is nothing new. You locked the doors, closed the windows and the curtains, got your toys and went to work. You were in the middle of bringing yourself to completion for the fifth or sixth time today, but they were all for naught- they just poured gasoline into your flaming body. Suddenly, you heard scratching at your front door, then knocking, then pounding. 

It just seemed to get louder and louder as time progressed, and it was distracting, so you put down your toys briefly and went to your window, opened it, and yelled for the intruder to leave. Big mistake. Once you opened the window, the smell of an alpha’s rut hit you like a truck. It was a deep minty musk, one that caused more slick to gush down your legs. You caught his attention immediately, but thankfully you were on the second floor, so he couldn't come up to your room. Unfortunately, the confirmation that there was an omega in heat in this home was all he needed to double down his efforts to get the door open.

Panicked, you slammed your window shut again and tried to find a place to hide. You knew if you left the safety of the home, you wouldn't beat him in a foot race. He was much larger and stronger than you- faster too. You would never be able to outrun him or fight him off- your only option was to hide, so you did. You darted into the bathroom, locking the door behind you, and then slid under the sink. You closed the doors to the cabinet behind you and held them shut as you tried to catch your breath.

The pounding soon turned into slamming, and then it suddenly stopped. It was far too quiet for comfort, then -BAM! BAM! BAM! CRASH! The sound of your door being knocked off its hinges rang through your ears and sent chills throughout your body. This is the power of an alpha in rut, and the knowledge made a fresh wave of arousal flood your body.

Heavy footfalls on hardwood echoed in your ears; first, they stomped up the stairs. Then, they made their way into your bedroom. He unzipped his pants and dropped them to the floor. You heard his heavy breathing from your hiding spot as your grip on the door tightened. You prayed that he would take your soiled panties that you had discarded long ago and leave to another room so you could escape unscathed. He growled and pounded what you assumed to be his fist on the door that led to the bathroom; you heard the whistle of his nostrils as he inhaled deeply.

Then, there was silence. A deadly silence, one that chilled you to the bone but aroused you all at once. His footsteps snapped you from your trance, but your lust-filled brain chose that moment to take over completely. Before you even realized what you were doing, you crawled out from your hiding spot under the sink. The overwhelming scent of an alpha in rut took over your senses. The initial pull you felt before evolved into a carnal need to be near him- the need to be bred.

As soon as the bottoms of your feet hit the cool tile of the floor, grounding you, the sensation immediately dissipated and was instantly replaced by a dangerous mix of fear and adrenaline. Your feet moved faster than your train of thought as you pushed open the door and ducked underneath the alpha’s arms to make a mad dash to the stairs. Your abrupt movement caught him off guard, giving you a matter of nanoseconds as a head start to escape.

He was quick on his feet, catching your scent as you whizzed past him, then he was hot on your heels. His much-longer legs were able to take the stairs much faster than you ever could. Soon, you found yourself being grabbed from behind, and you felt a strong gust of wind hit your back before you were slammed into the carpet. The force knocked the air from your lungs and caused your head to throb. He followed you to the ground and hovered over you, panting like a wild animal. He tore your sweat-soaked shirt off your body and then his own boxers. You scooted back on your hands and feet in a desperate attempt to get away from this monster. His curly, black hair was sweat-soaked and stuck to his forehead; his eyes were low and slanted. The beast inside him had awakened. He followed you, crawling over your body, stalking you. In your last attempt to escape, you kicked him square in the jaw, stunning him. You used this to get away, and you sprinted out the door that he knocked down. 

So now, you're here, running through the forest, naked and afraid. You're sprinting as fast as your legs can carry you, and you can hear him snarling. He's so close that you can feel his body heat radiating off of him. Your rational and instinctual sides were fighting. One side wants to do anything but stay put- to flee. While the other, wants to be taken by him, to be bred by him. Your indecision gives him the chance to shove your head into the snow-covered grass, forcing your back to arch and present your bare cunt. He enters you harshly, your slick providing all the lubrication needed. 

Setting an inhuman speed, he holds you in place with one hand gripping your hip while the other tangles itself into your long brown locks. Using his grip in your hair, he pulls you up and uses this new position to deepen the angle, slamming you onto his cock with each thrust. Your cunt being filled so deeply and rapidly drowns your mind in pleasure. Your slick oozes out of your cunt with each thrust, and you feel it dripping down your legs, cooling your feverish skin, but it does nothing to quell the heat inside you. He ruts into you like a wild animal, unleashing his inner beast, then he rumbles in your ear, letting out a wolfish cry as he cums for the first time in your tiny little body. The warm spurts of cum shooting almost directly through your cervix into your womb has you reeling, launching you into your first proper orgasm. But the animal inside you wants- no, needs- more.

His cum joins your own, dripping down your legs as he fucks it out of you. You find yourself being used as little more than a fleshlight. He chases orgasm after orgasm and uses your body to do so. The whole time he snarls and growls in your ear, chanting “mine, mine, mine, mine.” You feel him shift the hand in your hair across your chest, pulling you tighter into him. He is so close to you that his scent is overwhelming. It floods your senses and makes the world around you go dark. Due to the change in position, his engorged tip kisses your g-spot before bashing into your cervix, and he hammers away at it as if he wants to knock it out, causing your walls to flutter around him as your body hurtles into another orgasm. 

“F-fuck, ALPHA!” You cry out as the cusp of your orgasm takes over. Your body thrashes about in a pitiful attempt to escape from the stimulation, yet you crave more, more, more. You need this man- this beast- deeper, harder- you need every ounce of pleasure that his body can provide you. It’s a carnal desire that resides deep in your very soul. “Alpha, please- please breed me! I- I need your knot!”

“Such a slut for some random man? I see your mark. You’re a mated little omega, aren’t you?” His voice is low and cruel. “I wonder what he would say if he saw you like this, split open on another man's dick. He’d probably leave you.”

The thought of your alpha leaving you snaps out of your trance. Your omega wants so desperately to be bred, but you know your body, mind, and omega belong to your alpha, not this man. You start to struggle, fighting tooth and nail, scratching and clawing at his arms desperately in a pitiful attempt to get away. This spurs him on even more, his grip tightening as he plows into you, somehow harder than before. Suddenly, he flips you over onto your back, takes your knees, and pushes them up by your ears, effectively folding you in half.

His relentless pace starts up immediately. With the new angle, he can slam into that spongy spot that makes your vision blur. Your toes curl so hard they start to cramp, and your legs shake uselessly as he uses your body. Your cries for him to stop turn into a plea for more as the internal battle between your and your omega ends with your defeat. She wants to be bred so savagely that she takes over your mind, and your arms take hold of his back, and you sink your claws into it, holding on for dear life. You squeal and beg for him to go deeper, deeper, deeper, wanting nothing more than to be filled up with his pups. 

“Alpha, please, breed me!” The cry leaves your lips before you even realize what you said. Shocked by your statement, his eyes glaze over, pupils blown wide with lust- his alpha has completely taken over him. You finally get a chance to look at his face. His curly bangs are sweat slicked and stuck to his forehead. His skin is so hot that you can see steam coming off of him and out of his mouth as he pants. His mouth hangs open as he ruts into you, and drool starts to drip down his chin. He looks absolutely feral, hypnotized by your hot cunt choking his length. 

“You wanna be bred? You wanna carry my pups, you little omega bitch? I fucking know you do! I know you fucking do!” With that, his pace falters, the once-constant thrust becoming erratic. You can feel his knot start to swell at the very entrance of your cunt. It's so large, and he keeps forcing it deeper and deeper into you as he prepares to cum. Feeling just how large he swells sends you over the edge once again, and this time, you gush all over his cock. Your spasming walls are his undoing. With one final desperate thrust, his knot swells to the size of two golf balls, and he shoots his load inside you, the knot plugging you up entirely. 

The two of you lay there for a bit, trying to catch your breath. He rests his head on your chest, listening to your heart beat and shielding you from the harsh winter. 

“Well, that was fun, wasn't it, Omi? I didn’t think you would break the fucking door down, though.” You’re the first to break the silence with an airy chuckle. 

“Well, I didn't think you would actually lock the door.” He retorts, mocking you, his reply slightly muffled due to his positioning. “Can you blame me? I wanted to make it believable! I'm a poor helpless omega all alone in heat! Why wouldn't I lock the door?” You tease lightly.

“I cannot believe your crazy idea worked.”

“It's the thrill of the chase! Giving into our primal urges entirely gets the job done much, much better.”

Once Omi finally regains enough strength to stand and lift you, he carries you back home, and you two chat about what could have been better and what you especially enjoyed. As you enter your home again, he shakes his head at the door that will need to be replaced- but that can wait until tomorrow.

His warm body protects you from the cold, and soon enough, you’re back in bed, snuggled up and comfortable. There is just one thing nagging you though- you know you have to ask, or you won't be able to sleep. 

“Omi? Did you…. Would you really leave me if I-?”

“If you were forcefully impregnated by some other scum who shouldn’t be called an alpha? No, I would kill the son of a bitch and let you decide what you want to do from there. Either way, I'm not going anywhere, darlin’.”