#digging stick

[siliconpoems]

One of the most interesting finds found at the Star Carr Mesolithic site is that of the completely intact digging stick. A complete tool for unearthing edible roots and tubers; they are still used in parts of the world today.

'Digging Stick' Poem by The Silicon Tribesman. All Rights Reserved, 2025. Repost only with credits.

Part of the forthcoming 'Star Carr: Selected Poems' chapbook release in April 2025.

[boopjuice]

Human's Are Space Orcs: Sticks and Stones

Tools are hardly uncommon in the Galactic Federation. Without them, not a single species would have been able to advance, create sustainable food sources, societies, spacecraft. But, for most species, tools have advanced alongside the species.

"Human Jane, what is that you are holding?"

"A stick."

"... Why do you have a stick?"

"In case I need to scratch my back, duh. Or to hit the engine if it acts up again."

Humans, as with much else, didn't get the memo.

Chi'l'zak had spent several cycles with humans, even spending time on their native planet and some of their interstellar colonies. Their weather was horrifying, and their culture so diverse it gave xem whiplash. It was on one of these trips that xe learned of the human's particular affinity for tools.

Xe was at what Human Sarah had called a 'beach' at one of the colonies, and xe saw as an adolescent human began to dig a fire pit. Except, instead of using a shovel, he had grabbed a nearby piece of driftwood and began to use it to dig. Xe was certain the efforts would be fruitless, the stick being rounded and not suitable for digging. But in twenty minutes there was a pit a meter deep, deeper if one counted the walls the adolescent human had made from the excavated sand.

Xe had brushed it off as human stubbornness and continued with xir trip unfazed, until Human Lake had wanted to go hiking. Chi'l'zak agreed, not truly understanding the point of simply walking up and down mountains but willing to try the experience and see if maybe xe could gain some anthropological notes on the subject. Halfway up the mountain Human Lake called a halt. he wandered into the trees for a moment and returned with a stick almost as tall as he was.

"We can rest here for a while. I've been needing a new walking stick, and this one's just gorgeous."

"But, Hu- Lake, why do you need walking assistance? You have been perfectly fine up until this point. Are you injured? Should I apply first aid?"

"Nah, I'm fine, 'zak. I don't need one, they're just nice to lean on when you're hiking. Plus their fun to have. makes me feel like a wizard, y'know? But I gotta smooth this one down if I'm gonna use it, or I'll have splinters in my hands for days."

Chi'l'zak didn't mind the rest, and took the time to simply observe the flora and fauna in the area, absorb some nutrients from xir pack of supplies, and-

*scrape* *scrape* *scrape*

As Chi'l'zak looked over, xe found Human Lake seated on the ground, legs fcrossed in a manner that was normal for humans but made xir fur stand on end. He had balanced the stick across his legs, and was scraping it with a rock he'd apparently found nearby.

"Human Lake, what are you doing?"

"Smoothing out the stick, like I said." He didn't look up from the task he'd set himself too, continuing to scrape the rock along the stick, occasionally hitting it against small branches to knock them off.

"Yes, but why are you using a rock? Surely there are better tools. I have heard tell of a common smoothing agent, 'sand paper,' that would be better suited to the task."

"Don't have sandpaper on me. Besides, the premise works the same. Rub two rough things together and the softer things gets smooth. Sure, a rock isn't going to have as fine a grain as some sandpapers, but it works in a pinch."

"but we are not in a 'pinch', as you say. We are perfectly capable of taking the stick back with us and getting sand paper."

"Look, the rock works just fine for me, and it's cheaper. No point wasting money when i have the tools to do the job already."

"Human lake, that is a rock. That isn't a tool."

"Sure it is, if you get creative enough. You can use it to smooth things, hit things, if you angle it like this you can probably use it to dig, and you could always throw it. Hell, I'll bet you this end here could be used to open that stupid finnicky pressure lock Jacob's been complaining about."

"But it isn't mean to do those things. It could damage the lock worse, or break the wrong things."

"Look, 'zak, i appreciate the concern, but a tool is what you make of it. If I've got some nails I need hammered down and all I've got to hand is a rock, then I'm going to use the rock until the rock breaks or the nails are hammered. Just because we have tools better designed for a task doesn't always mean we need to use them. Sometimes old ways work just fine."

Chi'l'zak was quiet the rest of the time Human Lake used the stone to smooth the surface of his new walking stick, and had quite the interesting talk with him the rest of the hike about old human tools, how they were used, selected or constructed. Xe learned about spears and bows and how some still used those tools for hunting. Learned of tools used in leatherworking, all made of bone since the first leatherworkers had found nothing better to work with, and modern human's hadn't either.

"Anthropological Notes: Humans are excellent at creating and using tools, as are most other species. However, humans are slow to abandon old types of tools, some using the same methods prevalent centuries ago in order to complete a task simply because they have the old tools to hand. Humans are also adept at improvising tools, able to use one item for many different functions depending on their needs.

In relation to Incident 739, human crewmembers should not be allowed to bring items such as sticks or rocks on board without prior authorization, lest the engine be completely dismantled again."

[kittarts]

coraline meeting an opposite version of herself that’s perfect

Caroline Janes; straight teeth and polite, shy and hates mud vs Coraline Jones; the complete opposite.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Good Morning, World.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[queermasculine]

when doing butchifications of canonically male characters i don't personally feel the need to necessarily "do" anything about the male pattern baldness if it's there, if a receding hairline is a big part of a character's canonical appearance and i don't want to change that too much (which i usually don't) i'll just make my butchification an old school testobutch who's been living as a man for like 30 years and has the hairline to show it, or i'll decide she just has more testosterone in her system for some other reason (like on account of having balls) (or PCOS) and that's made her go bald, that's also a thing that happens sometimes, anyway you need not fear the male pattern baldness in your butchifications is all i'm saying

[optichocolate]

[sticks-stones-sonic-insanity]

Expression practice

Below is some process yapping! And some explanation!

Having this next to a completely normal sketch felt insane but sometimes u hone in on smth so hard you forget what else is on the page lol.

While I was trying to get a feel for how to draw this expression I was thinking about what actually would bring Sonic to this point and make him this upset. I did a whole analysis of his character in my head and came up with this idea of Sonic, someone often capable and relied on in tense situations(such as the 3rd act of xyz Sonic Game), being forced to take the observer role as someone else takes the sacrifice role for him.

That someone in this case, being Tails.

I was looking at some Frontiers stuff today - cinematically edited playthroughs by AltheBoi to be specific-, and seeing their dialogue in Frontiers reminded me again of how badly I want Tails to get his own chance to save the day alone for once, and what would that look like.

But also.. how would Sonic react?

It's a show of Tails' growth as a character in bravery and skill being able to take on something as challenging and dangerous as Sonic usually would, but is also a painful role-reversal in which Sonic has to watch his brother face impossible odds alone and cannot step in to save him, only able to hope that he will make it back to him alive by the end of the fight.

Sonic has faced off against terrifying enemies and impossible odds in the past, but I think that what would break him harder than any Super Sonic boss fight would be having to see his younger brother take that burden on instead.

[wilting-fl0wer]

The only correct form of caltam, as far as i am concerned

[actuallyjustabiscuit]

You know, you’ve been a good…friend to me.

Friend! I like the sound of that.

Ever since @endomentendo finalized Ragatha’s role in their Digital Wonderland AU I’ve been dying to do a redraw of one of my favorite pages from the graphic novel Wonderland by Tommy Kovac using these characters!

I love love LOVE Ragatha as Mary Ann!

[mispatchedgreens]

here's my entirely too disjointed tbr list for 2025, i barely know what i'm doing. not pictured here but definitely present in my heart are alecto the ninth and the second sunshine court book which are not published yet but will force me to drop whatever else I'm doing at the time to read them.

special thanks to @ash-and-starlight for tagging me and uncovering this mess

tagging @gatoraid @thestoriesthatweweave @kazhan @luckylocus and whoever else is feeling it

[uncanny-tranny]

The thing that gets me about history and humanity is that you never know what is immortalized, and the things that will be immortalized are things you would never think.

I saw a person sharing a new tattoo, and it was one of Onfim's drawings. A boy who lived so long ago he is barely a blip now, but his drawings meant so much to people that somebody is now permanently marked in their skin with one of those drawings. Do you ever look at the things you make and just sit there and wonder if this is the thing that future people look at? Do you ever look at your art, your writing, your schoolwork, or anything that is yours and just wonder who will find it, who will fall in love with a piece of your humanity and become overwhelmed with emotion over? It's not unlikely. It's not totally unlikely that somebody will find a piece of you in the distant future and devoid of any other context of who you were will still love you because you were here. You were here, and you are still here, even hundreds or thousands of years later. Treat yourself with the same love that so many have for dear Onfim.

[amygdalae]

daily affirmation im not a fuckup lazy piece of shit just because i keep procrastinating contacting my psych....my adderall refill is not a life or death matter.........

[kaeyachi]

Kaeyappreciation post!

Kaeya is wonderful in a sense that he:

Has a penmanship described as "Beautiful Handwriting". He for sure worked on that.

Willingly spends his time making sure his outfit looks perfect

Is well-loved by Mondstadt and the Dawn Winery staff

Is described to like a prince, both in looks and in actions

Is shown to be gentle and caring to children and elderly, most seen with Klee and the staff from Dawn Winery

Is a great listener and, therefore, also knows what gifts to buy based off of something someone said in passing

Is predominantly kind- unafraid to help out and defend someone in need. His first reaction is always kindness, and worry about covering up that kindness later on

But Kaeya also has his moments where he:

Says things out of pocket with enough alcohol in his system. Things that usually lead to shame and regret.

Would rather give others the credit for his hard work if he could help it

Intentionally makes himself look suspicious by withholding information and only throwing tidbits that are not of substance

Has sadist tendencies, which affects how he treats both his (cavalry) company and his enemies

Can and will use underhanded tactics to gain the upper hand

Rarely ever says what he truly wants to say

Has a fake smile. Usually lies or only deals with half truths.

He is such a complex character. I really do want people to appreciate him and his intricacies more. The fact that his entire personality and story is done so well and continues to actually grow and expand as the story progresses is something that genuinely makes me want to keep watch of him. I have never, in all my fandoms, stuck to a character as long as I did with Kaeya, and honestly? I know I'm not alone with this.

Look at how well they made our boy!

[neallo]

no matter what happens. everyone promise me you'll always remember that unexplained canon divergence and intentional vagueness surrounding the timeline & trajectory of the canon plot is an honored tradition in death note fic. there is a fine art to being clear enough that your readers understand what's going on (to the degree they need to in order to enjoy the story) while being vague enough that you don't have to engage directly with details of canon that don't serve the story you want to tell. it's a matter of defining scope. i want us to keep dissecting canon forever & i want to understand the facts of the series but i also never want to lose the whimsy of just doing whatever the hell i please without justifying myself.

[jorvikzelda]

When I first played Minecraft, I pretty quickly learned how to craft two things: wood from logs and sticks from wood. I didn’t learn how to craft anything else. My inventory was full of sticks. Knowing next to nothing about the game, I assumed the world was round, and so in my first ever world I set out on a mission to walk around the globe and get back to my spawn point. I played on peaceful mode because I was terrified of the monsters. In hindsight, this might have been in part because with my inventory full of sticks, I was rather defenceless against them, but I also just preferred to keep my long, long walk calm and quiet - nothing but my footsteps, the beautiful view, and the music. I walked through day after day, biome after biome: countless sunrises and sunsets, endless rain and snowfall, tall mountaintops and long, winding rivers. Then one day, I fell into a deep, deep hole in the ground. By some miracle, despite having no armor, I survived.

My inventory was full of sticks.

[thr0bbingcunt]

new tat on my hip… hope no one kisses it or sucks on it while it hurts and is healing…