#crocuses-and-frogs

[gayarograce]

Happy aroversary. I think this is the creature from the game you like. My question for you is, now that you know you are aromantic, are there any memories you have of pre-aromantic-identifying times that indicated you were aromantic?

[Image description: A drawing of the knight from Hollow Knight. Its cloak has been colored with the colors of the aromantic pride flag. Attached to its back is an aromantic flag. Below it is text which reads, "Happy Aroversary". End ID]

Yooo, this is co cool! Thank you for the drawing, I appreciate it!!

Anyway, as for your question:

I can definitely remember some times that, in hindsight, were probably some major green-white-and-black flags that I was aro.

I didn't date anyone in high school. Hell, I didn't even try to date anyone. No one in my high school (with one exception I'll talk about later) was really interesting enough for me to even consider being in a relationship with them. My excuse (mostly to myself--i was never personally questioned about my perpetual single status to my recollection) was that the majority of relationships formed in high school don't last, so why even bother?

Another sign I'm aro in hindsight is that on the extremely rare occasions I would picture myself trying a relationship with anyone, there were basically no romantic elements in my imagined relationship. I basically imagined my hypothetical relationships as friends who live together and sometimes have sex. I feel I should add that, although I'm not actively looking for a relationship right now, I am open to maybe eventually getting into an aro4aro qpr with someone at some point down the line, which, in my head, would look similar to the relationship I just described. I guess that just must be my ideal relationship lol.

I don't know if this is an aro thing or not because I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about this (so it could just be a me problem), but all throughout high school, I could never tell when two of my friends were dating each other. Actually, I couldn't tell when any two people were dating unless I was either told or I walked by them PDA-ing in the hallway. If I wasn't told by someone, "A and B are dating," usually just assumed they were friends. I can remember a time when two of my friends dated each other for a little bit, while I was actively friends with them. I didn't know and didn't find out until they mentioned it off hand months after they broke up and went back to being friends! They were surprised when I told them that was news to me!

Right, I think that's all the stories I can think of for now. Maybe if I think of more I'll add them on later.

(Also I hope you don't mind I tried to improve on your image description by adding a little more context.)

[specialagentartemis]

Citizen Science and Contributing To Scientific Endeavor When You're Not "A Scientist"

Comments on some of my posts about science and misinformation express frustration with scientific establishments, and want to see more accessibility and attention given to amateurs participating in the scientific process and having their scientific voices heard.

If being involved in the creation of knowledge and discovery is something important to you, that's something I strongly encourage! It's absolutely possible. Amateur researchers with a passion and an eye for detail have made some fantastic discoveries - but what is often glossed over in stories like these are the years of work, the patient dedication, and the collaboration with university researchers that often underlie such discoveries.

The search for truth and information and the passion for science is present in a lot of people who aren't official "scientists" - curiosity is natural! And if participation in scientific observation, hypothesizing, experimentation, and discovering new things about the world is important to you, there are lots of ways to go about contributing - and the new year is a great time to start.

What are you interested in?

Ecology

Observing the world around you is for everybody. Getting invested in the environment of your hometown is for everybody. And, as the Mythbusters famously said,

Some ideas for a local ecology project:

Record the temperature outside every day at the same time - at sunrise, or noon, or sunset, or midnight. Depending on where you are, the local weather recording station may be miles away or on top of a mountain - measure the temperature yourself and compare it each day to what your app says. When is it accurate? When isn't it?

Record the weather every day. How much precipitation? What time of day? What kind?

Record what animals you see every day, where, when, and how many. Or choose a specific animal, like birds, or bees on flowers, or turtles or frogs in a local pond, or whiptail lizards vs. invasive house geckos, and record the numbers you see each day.

Record when in the year you see the first, or last, of a plant or animal. When the crocuses sprout, when the buds appear on the maple trees, when you see the first clover flowers or prickly pear flowers, when the first robin comes out or the first lizards come out of hibernation.

If you have an outdoor cat or a free-roaming dog, attach a GoPro or similar small camera to its collar to see where it goes and what it does.

Identify the plants growing in your neighborhood, and check in on it regularly to keep track of how each one fares in different weather conditions, or if any animals particularly like or don't like to eat it.

Bulk order some test strips, then take a small sample of soil from a local park or water from a local waterway each weekend and test them for PH, lead, chemicals, or whatever. See if it changes over the year, or after a heavy rainfall, or during drought.

Take a photo of the same spot every day for a year.

Linguistics

The study of how people use language! Everybody uses language in some capacity.

Do you have any small children near you? Talk to them! Record how they pronounce things and what they call new (or even familiar) concepts. Look for patterns.

Ask people you know if "dog" and "blog" rhyme, or if "Alohop" is a good pun for a pineapple beer. My family gets ENDLESS amounts of mileage out of this one with each other. Ask people you know questions about how they pronounce things, or what they call things. Make maps of dialectical differences between generations, neighborhoods, etc. Track linguistic shifts in the modern world.

History

Everyone and everywhere has a history, and accurate history is pressingly relevant always.

See if you have a local historical society, library archive, or history museum that is looking for volunteers to transcribe or translate collections.

Get elbow-deep in local archives. You likely have some sort of local archive near you that has not been fully digitized. Go in with a topic you want to learn about - Black families, Jewish communities, how your hometown transferred from Indigenous hands to settler ones, women who owned their own businesses, immigration, inter-racial relationships, sports, ice harvesting, farming practices, contemporary opinions on a major world history event that now seems so inevitable, sports and people's reactions to sports - and read everything in newspapers, wills, deeds, photographs, or other available records about your topic of choice. See if you can find connections that you haven't seen anyone else talking about.

These are just some things that occur to me immediately as something that anyone can do, if you're sufficiently interested in a question and want to discover more about it. The more local your topic, the less likely anyone has a solid answer to whatever you're wondering - and the more immediately relevant to the people around you your discoveries may be!

Combining it with a New Year's Resolution can also get you more motivated to do the things you want to do. Is your resolution to get more exercise? Take a brisk walk each morning and take a picture of the same area every day for a year. Take a walk every weekend down to the lake and count the turtles and frogs you see. Is your resolution to keep a daily diary For Real This Time? If nothing else, resolve to write down the weather and precipitation each day! Do you want to volunteer more or meet new people? Look for citizen science or local history groups! Feeling like you're working toward something Real is a great motivator.

Henry David Thoreau's detailed descriptions of the nature each day around Walden Pond in the 1840s provides a valuable benchmark for modern ecologists to compare environmental and climatic changes since then on a granular level. Silly rhyming poems and idiosyncratic spellings in letters and diaries help linguists track dialectical and pronunciation changes across time. Amateur science is great and valuable! We all can have a part in understanding and paying deeper attention to the world around us, if we want to.

[outofangband]

Spring Headcanons for the Elves of First Age Beleriand

Autumn headcanons

Winter headcanons

Obviously I couldn’t go through each group or culture so please feel free to send one and I’ll tell my ideas for them! I’m going to do humans next. Feel free to request for outside of Beleriand too!

For elves the season of stirring (Echuir in Sindarin) begins the equivalent of February First and ends March 27th. Yestarë or Iestor is the first day of the year, approximately March 28th on the Gregorian calendar. Echuir (Sindarin) or stirring corresponds to February first to 27th March on the Gregorian calendar and ethuil or spring began on March 29th and ended May 21st.

Stirring and Spring are seasons of awakening. The frost melts, the rain replaces the snow, and the grounds become green once more. The elves become reacquainted with the earth.

(Note: I do think some elves hibernate but that’s a different post)

Note: I used a more canon climate for Beleriand and other lands here but I'm always happy to make environmental or other world building posts for locations based on other places including specific real ones like I did for the Havens of Sirion! I did talk about non temperate climates a little here and I did more on the winter posts

The Northern Sindar (in Mithrim and elsewhere in Hithlum as well as parts of Nevrast) mark the beginning of spring by the return of leaves to trees and through watching the migration of certain communities of birds back to their homes. Bird houses are built by some, constructed of natural materials like bark and woven grasses. Children often collect feathers left behind. The Northern Sindar also gather may apples, wild strawberries and rhubarb which are favorite spring edible flora. These are often used for cool drinks, the strawberries used to sweeten.

Seasonal changes in Doriath are mostly mild though there are regions that experience more extreme differences throughout the year. While snow rarely falls due to the Girdle, the winter months are still colder. Spring in Doriath brings a forest floor carpeted in new flora; crocuses, snowdrops, bluebells, wild tulips, primrose and more early spring flowers. Lighter materials are often worn in celebration of milder weather. Traditional outfits for spring use fabric created from nettle fibers, a custom shared with the Sindar outside Doriath as well as certain Avarin groups.

In Himring, stirring and then spring represent a slow release of the extreme cold and snowy conditions of the local winters. Visibility becomes clearer as the lands themselves are uncovered. Scouting groups, though in operation all year round, are sent out more often and for longer periods as travel and communication become easier. Trade also increases and rations become more generous. The gardens in Himring (post here) are started as soon as the ground is soft enough to allow for it.

Outside of this climate, the beginning of spring might indicate a rainy season as it does in some regions East of the Ered Luin. Some of the Silvan who live there gather water and collect rain for when the overflowing rivers become too dangerous to use reliably. Shelters are fortified with a variety of materials before the beginning of rainy season and in some locations settlements move temporarily to higher ground

Amphibians returning to activity occurs throughout Beleriand in early spring. Elven children (and human children of course!) often enjoy staying up to here the first choruses of frogs, searching for eggs and watching tadpoles. Many adults too find joy in this new continuing of life. In Nargothrond for example, there is a tradition to follow short migrations of salamanders as they reach the ponds they will lay eggs in.

(I worry this one isn’t as good as my previous ones, I hope it’s ok! Please feel free to give requests)

[ennaku-sirri-da]

I’m as busy as a spider spinning daydreams,

I’m as giddy as a baby on a swing.

I haven’t seen a crocus or a rosebud

Or a robin on the wing,

But I feel so gay—in a melancholy way—

That it might as well be spring…

It might as well be spring.

[ ID: Traditional art that has been colored and edited digitally, featuring Kamal Bora and Dr.Habit from Smile For Me the game.

In the artists interpretation Kamal as a kid is much shorter than Habit. He has short straight hair. He wears a oversized dark purple sweater. Then he has a frilly red skirt which sparkles. Ending with light blue socks and pink crocs. Blue-magneta headphones are worn.

Here Habit is a really tall kid. He has a muppet-like appearance with yellow-greenish fur, very long rose-pink curly hair, pink blushing cheek patches with three freckles, ears stuffed with cotton fluff , deep red nails. His eyes are orange, circled below by red ruffles and have some pale purple eyeshadow. He wears a teal buttoned shirt with wavy darker pants that have yet darker stripes on them. Basically it's Kamal’s outfit from the game. His feet are bare.

We are viewing them from above. Kamal is braiding lillies of various colors and shapes- multicolored, freckled, painted- into Habit's huge hair, now he's at the end of it. He sits with folded legs. Besides Habit's ear lies a Tooth Lily. Habit lays his head back, supported by hands on the ground, and looks at the viewer with a devilish smile-a glint in his eye, one blue snaggletooth showing. His feet are thrown about casually. Between them lies a half-open book titled 'Science Of Constipation' in loud colors and fonts. It shows a page titled 'Importance of taking a dump by Bob Smith' that has been absolutely vandalized by Habit. Bob Smith's photo now sports a hat, devil horns and a mustache. ' Preface' has been struck out and replaced with 'Peeface'. Skull, flowers, star, eyes, and a silly emote with its tongue out have been doodled with a red sketch which lies nearby.

Nature surrounds them. Most of it is springtime flowers that can be found in Boston, USA. Daffodils, crocuses, peonies, roses, azaleas, pansies, tulips, black-eyed susans, trailing arbutus. Among this lush greenery- snails, ladybugs can be seen underneath while dragonflies, butterflies, bees fly above. Some young black sheep graze. One looks ahead, with a white heart-marking on its head. Beside Habit's left leg is a large light orange-brown rabbit, curled up and sleeping. Somewhere among the flowers are two small white red-eyed rabbits nuzzling.

To the far right swaying bushes of cattail grow. Beside them is a clear stream running, host to a male and female mallard duck leading their ducklings, bladderworts, white waterlilies with their pads. Among these waterlilies, a brown frog and tadpoles in various stages of life can be spotted. One duckling catches a tadpole in its beak. To the very front are Habit and Kamal's paper boats engaged in a race-- Kamal appears to be winning. One is pink and crumply, heavily decorated, a submerged tag attached to it reads ' B.H'. The other is neat and streamlined with a little teal flagpole announcing it as 'KB'.

The first version of the drawing is overlaid with a very warm orange filter, the second is unedited. End ID]

Talk below the cut!

PLEASE LOOK AT THIS I WORKED ON IT FOR MONTHS NO JOKE THIS IS MY CHILD WHOM I WAS PREGNANT WITH AND NOW I HAVE PAINSTAKINGLY BIRTHED AND CLEANED HIM FOR ALL OF TUMBLR TO SEE

[ Plain text: Please look at this I worked on it for months no joke this is my child whom I was pregnant with and now I have painstakingly birthed and cleaned him for all of tumblr to see]

🥸[ Glasses-and-moustache silly disguise emoji ]

aNYWAY this is part of a series of drawings where Habit and Kamal are just playing as kids really LOL

I listened to Vashti Bunyan's 'Just Another Diamond Day' album a LOT while coloring and drawing this HAHA also some vintage springtime songs! They were so lovely!!!

This also taught me a lesson to plan out my drawings more I guess but also WITNESS THIS BEAUTIFUL CHAOS AND MAY YOUR HEART BE OPENED TO ALL THE JOYOUS POSSIBILITIES MY FRIEND

[ Plain text: Witness this beautiful chaos and may your heart be opened to all the joyous possibilities my friend]

----

A stranger would not have noticed the change, but Molly could see that the withered earth was brightening with a greenness as shy as smoke. Squat, snaggly trees that had never yet bloomed were putting forth flowers in the wary way an army sends out scouts; long-dry streams were beginning to rustle in their beds, and small creatures were calling to one another. Smells slipped by in ribbons: pale grass and black mud, honey and walnuts, mint and hay and rotting applewood; and even the afternoon sunlight had a tender, sneezy scent that Molly would have known anywhere. She rode beside Schmendrick, watching the gentle advent of the spring and thinking of how it had come to her, late but lasting.

"Unicorns have passed here," she whispered to the magician. "Is that the cause, or is it Haggard's fall and the Red Bull's going? What is it, what is happening?"

"Everything," he answered her, "everything, all at once. It is not one springtime, but fifty; and not one or two great terrors flown away, but a thousand small shadows lifted from the land.

Wait and see."

-- From The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

:-) [ smile emote ]

[wuxiaphoenix]

Thoughts on A Winter Sky

Some days the sky is so clear and blue and sparsely tufted with white, you could reach up with chilled fingers and rake down ice crystals. Some days, you just know it’s cold.

I’m open to debate whether a dry cold or damp cold is worse. On the one hand, when it’s damp and gray and otherwise shadowed with overcast, you at least feel like it ought to be that miserable. On the other hand on the clear, cold days it’s almost warm enough in the sun... until the wind blows. Then you’re icicle-knifed to the bone. It feels distinctly not fair.

I know there are people who love winter. I have no idea why. Though I have been known to indulge in the occasional, “Isn’t this great? No mosquitoes!”

I prefer spring, even with the thunderstorms. Maybe even especially with thunderstorms. Snow and ice can be handled with plows and salt. Usually. But for pure “yep, staying home and reading”, nothing beats a tree-dropping, thunder-cracking, tornado-spawning spring storm. Anything that comes down probably would have come down sooner or later. And odds are you needed the rain. The tulips and crocuses appreciate it. I live too far south for those without refrigerating bulb shenanigans, but roses and azaleas like it too. To say nothing of the frogs. So. Many. Frogs.

(And oak pollen. Argh.)

Summer’s nothing to sneeze at either, though it’s more of a lizard time than frogs. Anoles, brown and green; skinks, glass lizards appearing on night walks. Snakes, too, become more visible; especially if it’s been a good frog or lizard year. Garter snakes come in a stunning variety of colors and patterns, sometimes all from the same live-born litter. All harmless, unless you’re a smaller herp. I find them a reassurance that the local ecosystem is ticking on. And they’re nice quiet neighbors. Not something you can say about squirrels. Or jays. Or woodpeckers.

I can only imagine the look on the first woodpecker’s face to encounter a metal roofpipe, and realize that his drumming to attract females would be so much louder. It’s the woodpecker bling equivalent of showing up to the date in a limo and an Armani suit. They love it. Very loudly.

Fortunately, by autumn, most of those hijinks have tapered off. Though autumn brings more rain, meaning the frogs are at it again. Or an entirely different set are. Hard to tell through the cacophony of at least four different species all trying to announce themselves as Most Eligible Frog in the pond.

But eventually it gets too cold even for the leopard frogs to court, and the honking of geese migrating from pond to pond (yet never quite leaving) rings through the twilight. Which has turned from hazy to crisp clear yellows and oranges, because Arctic air is here again....

And the ice-clouds streak the sky, like cotton fluff pulled too thin to hold warmth.

Yeah, it’s cold down here. Brrr.

(Originally written January, been a bit since I could actively post...)

[jjspina]

Spring has finally sprung!

The weather is getting better here in New England. The crocuses and daffodils are out, temps are climbing and the peepers are peeping in our backyard pond. For those who do not what peepers are, they are frogs who are looking for a mate to procreate. They make the sound of peep constantly and there are many of them peeping at the same time. It is mind boggling and can drive you crazy with the…

[bucket-of-mold]

Its my first year of college, and therefore my first year away from home for more than a few weeks. I haven't felt very homesick since I left, until recently. While I do miss my family and my house and my old friends, its not to the extent I would call homesickness. However, lately I've realized some things I've taken for granted after living in the woods for my whole life. Now that the seasons are starting to shift and the first signs of spring are appearing, I'm realizing that I can't see and hear the signs I'm used to experiencing. I can only hear the frogs calling in a certain part of campus, and even then its faint. There is only a small patch of crocuses, and I have yet to see any daffodils. My school isn't in an urban area, but its not a very forested area either, and I'm feeling rather homesick for the woods right now.

[ettawritesnstudies]

The croak-uses are blooming :)

[wildsummerrose]

Midwestern early spring and late winter.

[kawaiigrimoire]

🌷🐸Ostara🐰🌿

I love this time of year! Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Life if returning to the earth and my birthday is a few days after the equinox. Here’s how I’m celebrating this extra special time of year🌱🥚

Colors🌈

All pastel colors! I like to emphasize yellow for daffodils, blue and green for new life, and pink for the other spring flowers

Altar decorations🐰

🐣Animal figurines/stuffed animals lambs, chicks, deer, frog, and bunnies are great choices for this time of year. You can even make clay figurines of the animals you see around you.

🥚 painted or plastic eggs

💐Flowers/Plants/Seeds/Sprouts

🌷A vision board/representations of things you wish to get done

☀️Solar symbols

Spell themes🐸

🌱 Renewal

💫Cycles

🌳Balance

🍃Getting rid of negative thoughts, cycles and patterns

Plants 🌱

🌼Daffodils (my favorite)

🌷Tulips

🌱Crocuses

🌺Hyacinth

🌿Thyme

💜Lavender

🌳Rododendron

🌸Hellebore

Food 🥘

🍳 Eggs

🥛 Milk

🥐Baked goods

🥖Bread

🍵Peas

🥕Carrots

🍋Lemons

🥦Any in season vegetables where you live

Ways to celebrate 💐

🎨Paint eggs with friends

🌳Go for a walk, taking notice of the new spring plants and animals

🌅Wake up at sunrise and hear the birds chirping

🍰Bake and cook while putting your intentions into the food

🌱Start your garden by filling an eggshell with dirt and planting the seed in the eggshell. Say your intention while planting so it manifests as the seed grows

🖌Make Ostara themed art, doodles, and crafts

🧺Have a picnic or tea party

🎵Sing, dance, and make music

I hope everyone has a wonderful Ostara and let me know if you try any of these🐣

[plushyteeths]

gender envy but it gets randomly concerning gonna be updated occasionally !!

   + ravens    + it’s the end of the world as we know it by r.e.m.    + the snail bomb from half dead 3    + the creatures from gtfo    + black cats with solid white eyes    + mothman    + forget-me-nots    + facial scars & piercings    + stick n poke tattoos    + early 2000s band rubber bracelets    + gloomy bear    + the russian sleep experiment     + the vibes of a city after dark    + pitbulls    + anthrax [the disease , not the band]    + pink & green plushys    + bags covered in pins & keychains & patches    + weird really specific vintage pins/graphic tees/etc    + dermestid beetles     + turkey vultures     + banshees    + teeth    + wet specimen hearts    + bible accurate angels    + kandi accessories    + “i am made of memories” from the song of achilles    + like , the entirety of cemetery boys    + crona from soul eater    + get cool by stray kids    + also god’s menu by stray kids    + also also back door by stray kids     + guts    + hanahaki disease     + the bandsintown logo    + samsara room    + endermen     + cherries    + lord death from soul eater    + dr stein from soul eater    + grell from black butler    + undertaker from black butler    + the word boom    + infections    + ankou    + the like ,,, apple spice candle scent    + the word swarm    + “history , huh ?” from red , white , & royal blue    + baz grimm-pitch    + full body stims    + magpies    + the black dahlia [esp the mouth cuts]    + semi-sweet chocolate chips    + scott pilgrim vs the world ruined a whole generation of women by negative xp    + rosaries & straight razors     + existential crises     + the word queue     + frog skeletons     + dandelions    + crocuses     + the moon from soul eater    + the word hollyhock    + scourge from warrior cats    + the horseman of pestilence     + bloody noses    + oogie boogie & boogie’s boys from the nightmare before christmas    + the scary teddy from the nightmare before christmas    + spraypaint    + steel-toe docs    + sour candies    + scars on your knees from skinning them alot    + buttercups    + smoking     + the word heretic    + shane madej’s vibes    + there is no game : wrong dimension    + my oversize walking dead tshirt    + izze blackberry soda    + plushtrap from fnaf4    + this one bunny plushy i have with really long limbs    + toothfaeries    + swamp creatures    + birds that look like they know everything and then some    + red lights by stray kids     + the pretender by foo fighters    + beat up old notebooks crammed with sketches    + collarbone piercings    + the blood eagle [i suggest not googling this]    + ballora’s voice    + the bonnie song    + the word skitter    + coils of wire    + wooden boxes filled with little random trinkets n things    + necrosis of the flesh [another thing i suggest not googling]    + basement gerard    + picking up nightcrawlers and having a religious moment    + lilypads     + alternates from the mandela catalogue     + the heaven’s gate away team patches    + polaris & yildun from star crossed lovers    + aaron from dear , door    + my kitten’s 3am zoomies    + venus flytrap genderbend art    + corpse flowers    + tons of rings    + hands covered in plasters    + creepy plushys    + button eyes    + the other wybie from coraline & regular wybie too    + beetles ,,, just as a concept ,,, beetles    + femboys ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,    + hipbone piercings    + beppi the clown from cuphead     + many many many eyes    + balljoint dolls    + haunted toys

[gayarograce]

For the ask game, 5 and 25?

Thanks for the ask!

5. What made you start your blog?

I started this blog as another way for me to interact with the online aro community. I joined a lot of the aro subteddits a few weeks prior but wasn't super happy with the frequency of posts; I wanted more! I think also part of the issue is I basically never post or comment on reddit, which meant I wasn't really interacting with the community so much as I was observing them. And so, I eventually decided to try tumblr.

25. Favorite season and why?

Hmm, I guess fall, although sometimes fall can be pretty cold and wet and miserable. I've had it hail on Halloween before, which is not fun, as most Halloween costumes don't give you much in the way of protection from hail. It's also not uncommon for there to be a thin layer of snow on the ground by Halloween. However, I still like fall because the deciduous trees are very pretty throughout the season. Also it's apple season and I really like apples lol. Apple cider is so good this time of year!

[larkspurflesh]

07/03/22

the time has dragged on since the very first day of it all. that movement seems almost entirely faded in the attic, collecting dust put down to no more than an old music box with faded pictures stuffed inside of its wooden frame. and yet the melody lingers, always lingers. now i have found myself standing on the threshold of some forest, damp fog pushing downward from the canopy as if to serve as a solemn forewarning of what lies ahead. what lies within wood. ive been edging slowly toward this precipice for over four years, and finally there is no way out but in. the whispers seem to come from above the fog, even the camphor trees themselves. and i follow the sound, unable to fathom its meaning. what would i do without a ceiling? without a tangible and solid end in sight, how would i ever feel guarded? but then, i have loved the moon and her stars and the breeze that cuts through the new england air and the white and purple crocuses that sprout so jovially and without care, the Queen Anne’s lace that stretches through that meadow in beverly, the raspberry bushes on the farm up in maine and the frogs that swam through the clay bed of the brook. i have seen so much of this earth and have loved it all. and i have felt so much of the world and despaired and grieved such immense pain and guilt. so the fog that caresses my face feels gentler now, a mist of promising green and shaded sunlight. the moss beneath my feet feels like a plush and luxurious carpet. the whispers that come will never stop coming, but the earth doesn’t stop growing and the birds will never stop singing and the heart in me will never stop the nagging sensation of my consciousness screaming “run”

[elsanna-shenanigans]

August 2021 Voting

All the stories are in and we’re now opening this voting period with 20 brand new shiny Elsanna stories. This time around we had two mandatory restriction (no major character death and no gruesome injury details) and two extra restrictions (mention crocuses and include the quote ‘Are those for me?’) for bonus points.

You will have until Sunday the 19th to vote for your favorite of the 20 stories. Keep reading for the voting link and story list!

Don’t forget to fill in the additional feedback for your favorite stories! (And please mind your titles - since there are two kudos votes, we separate the feedback into first [higher on the lineup list] and second [lower on the lineup list] story for that category.) 

Vote here. See how to vote here.

Lineup for this month: 1. Attainable 2. Frogs 3. Rule Number One 4. Crown of Thorns 5. Freaking Crocus! 6. The Burdens of Winning 7. The path of the rose 8. The Body of the Monk 9. Forget-Me-Not 10. in my chest, a garden made for you 11. Fleurs Anciennes 12. Lilac Spring 13. Icy Justice And Poisonous Roses 14. Of Flowers and Child-Friendly Scissors 15. Jupiter's Moon 16. The Transfer Student 17. A Perfectly Normal Prom Night 18. The Concrete Rose 19. Budding Romance 20. Love Delivered

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[contreparry]

“Hold my hand for a second. It won’t kill you.” for DWC!

Sure! I’m going to try and write some pre-relationship Trevelyan/Cullen for this one, for @dadrunkwriting!

The day was going well, considering that they were stuck in Val Royeux trying to woo allies for money and influence. That is, Evelyn hated every minute of it and desperately wished she could escape it- escape all of it. Stupid Mark. For all that it seemingly saved her life when the Temple of Sacred Ashes was... Evelyn shuddered slightly at the hazy, distorted memories of that day. One minute she was in a stone hall, listening to muffled shouting, and then there was a flash of blinding green light. Then there was a voice, and she woke up in pain and confused and being shouted at about murdering the Divine and being the sole survivor of an explosion- and the world was completely new and horrifying. 

She still hadn’t quite gotten her footing. The moment one problem was solved, another appeared, and she was leap-frogging from one event to another at a breakneck pace, hoping that she could manage to keep herself alive long enough to get out of this mess. If she just had a few moments alone, she could slip away and have a day to breathe, to think, to come to terms with all these changes- Evelyn scowled and carefully glanced to the man walking next to her at her right.

Some people, it seemed, knew that she wanted to escape. So they sent a guard. Or maybe her guard volunteered. Once a Templar, always a Templar, she supposed, and Evelyn tried not to be hurt by the complete lack of trust. But was it really a surprise? Ser Cullen hadn’t trusted her from the start, and she certainly didn’t trust him. She supposed she had just hoped that there was enough trust that she could have spent a day without constant supervision and a very obvious bodyguard. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call Cullen her guard, making sure she didn’t cause trouble. Who needed a Circle to keep you under lock and key when you had a personal Templar watching your every step?

“Lovely weather,” she remarked, and she tried to sound polite. Light as a feather, carefree as a leaf on the wind- that was what Grandmere would advise. Don’t let them see the anger, the hurt. Let them think it doesn’t matter, and keep pushing onward.

“What?” Cullen asked.

“The weather. It’s a pleasant change from the mountains,” Evelyn said. Her words didn’t sound nearly as carefree as she wanted to sound. Every word was strained, anxious, stumbling, and she wished she could take them back because awkward silence had to be better than this.

“I suppose climate is the more accurate term,” she added hastily, “but that’s a little pedantic, don’t you think?” Oh, she shouldn’t have asked a question. She really should have shut up and kept on walking through the gardens. She could have looked at the neatly pruned rose bushes and the crocuses popping out of the ground in their showy bunches of purple, yellow, and white, but Evelyn had to open her mouth and ask questions!

“Your meaning was perfectly clear the first time,” Cullen eventually replied. “I was simply distracted.”

“Oh.” Evelyn wondered if she should pry. No was the obvious answer. It did no good to ask questions that wouldn’t be answered, and it was a terrible idea to want to know anything about what Ser Cullen- Templar (and no, she didn’t believe that he left the Order for one moment)- was thinking. And yet! Yet. And yet she was still curious.

She was obviously desperate for conversation and company, that was all. She was about to apologize and end the entire conversation, but then she overheard someone- thick Orlesian accent, disparaging tone, and it sounded like trouble. Ser Cullen tensed next to her, his hand reflexively reaching towards his sword- Evelyn sighed and reached for his left hand, her calloused fingers gripping his tightly. He pulled his hand away, but Evelyn stubbornly held on.

“Just hold my hand for one second! It won’t kill you,” she muttered, and she pulled him along a garden path until they were hidden behind tall hedges and trees. When Ser Cullen opened his mouth to speak she held up her hand.

“That’s our host,” she explained quickly. “I think Leliana and Josephine would be very interested in what he’s saying to his...”

“Friend?” Cullen said dryly as the conversation quickly turned from ranting about Ferelden barbarians and apostates and towards the latest gossip in The Great Game. 

“Professional acquaintance, I think,” Evelyn replied. “If they were close friends they’d take the masks off.” She peered through the leaves of the bush and frowned. They’d moved off to another part of the garden, and she wouldn’t be able to follow them unless Cullen was willing to tag along, and she’d have to drag him down the garden paths, hand in hand- oh Maker. Evelyn dropped his hand as if it burned her. Maybe it had.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It didn’t kill me,” Cullen replied. “They headed back to the house. Shall we follow?”

That was... new. There was almost a laugh in Cullen’s voice, and when Evelyn looked up at him he seemed to be fighting a smile. Maybe it was her imagination, but he sounded... friendly. If only for a moment. And he had... asked her where they should go. Gave her a choice.

That was new, especially for a Templar.

“Only if we can’t be seen,” she replied. “And I don’t fancy getting lost in that hedgemaze, do you?” That made him actually smile, a fleeting thing, yes, but a smile.

And she wanted to see it again.

[strafethesesinners]

17 Questions

17 Get to know me questions. Answer 17 questions then tag 17 people you want to get to know better. Tagged by @f0xyboxes thank you!! 

1.Nicknames: Never had one. I’ve been referred to as “Strafe” a couple of times on here and honestly that would be a WICKED nickname but I’m not going to ask anyone to call me that...

2.Zodiac: Pisces

3.Height: 5′6″(167.64cm)

4.Hogwarts House (you can change this one to something else if you don’t like HP, idk like D&D class or Divergent Faction or something): honestly don’t know. Way back when Pottermore first started I made an account and got Hufflepuff, then a few years later I forgot my login and made a new one and got Gryffindor, then when they changed it up I made a new one and got Slytherin....

5.Last Thing I Googled: Taco Bell Menu/Sunday hours for the one near me

6.Song Stuck In My Head: “Orange Crush” R.E.M

7.Number of Followers: 102 (!!!!)

8.Amount of Sleep: my sleep schedule is nonexistent. I guess on average though I get like 6 hours, then if I have the day off I’ll sleep for like 12 (not straight, I wake up every couple of hours or so)

9.Lucky Number: don’t have one

10.Dream Job: No job at all. “I don’t dream of labor” as they say.

11.Wearing: pajamas

12.Favorite Song: uh literally hundreds haha. I’ll go by my favorite songs of the past couple of weeks which have been “American Jesus” by Bad Religion, “True Faith” by New Order, and “the Passenger” by Iggy Pop.

13.Favorite Instrument: don’t play any but to listen to I guess guitar or banjo

14.Aesthetic: Virginia summer nights filled with fireflies, loud music and friends. Purple crocuses, dirty plates and cups stacked on dusty dressers, the smell of laundry detergent and faint scent of wheat beer, old band t-shirts from your teens, the slightly musty smell of an old car interior, the whir of a computer fan, the smell and sound of fizz from a just opened energy drink, split lips and the faint taste of blood, muffled sound of heavy metal through headphones, the rattle of pill bottles in the bottom of a purse, worn out combat boots and overlarge flannel shirts...

15.Favorite Author: JRR Tolkien, George RR Martin, Susan Cooper, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, lots more.... Do poets count? I have more favorite poets than novel authors I think. I’m big into the Romantics (Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Whitman) and Modernists (WB Yeats, TS Eliot etc.). And Victorian era poets too (Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning...) (I really need to get back into reading though, I just keep reading the same books over and over.....)

16.Favorite Animal Noise: spring peeper frogs and toads singing, and cats purring. 

17.Random: don’t hate me but I never could get into to Pokemon like, at all. I used to hate it because I got teased for not liking it, now it’s just like something that’s there that don’t mind if I can blacklist it/I’m not overexposed to it lol..... I’m tagging: @risenlucifer @madsismad @goodboiboomer-fc5 @fromathelastoveritaserum @edensfate @amistrio @indigorox @alwaysseedfamily @dep-yo-tee @unleashed111 @ja-crispea @jack-morrison @nightwingshero  @deputy-janai  @returnofthepd3  @farcry-5fan  @tomexraider’m particularly interested to see what people come up with for their aesthetics but no pressure at all!