#earthquakes exist and volcanoes????

[anarchistratbastard]

i'm really glad tag i'm a person and alive and on earth. I love you gravity I love you string beans I love you ants I love you birds I love you worms I love you water I love you shells

[doesgodexist]

Volcanoes Are a Design Feature of Earth

Villarrica Volcano Planet Earth has roughly 1350 volcanoes and is far and away the most geologically active planet in the solar system. The only astronomical body that is even close to Earth is Io, a moon of Jupiter with more than 400 volcanoes. Io’s volcanoes result from gravitational flexing because it is tidal-locked with Jupiter while being pulled by the gravity of Jupiter’s other moons.…

[lilislegacy]

I really wish we could get a scene where Percy reaches his breaking point and uses all his abilities at once. I want to see a proper earthquake. I want to see what he can do with his control over storms. Like, I want to see him move mountains - literally move mountains - to take care of business. Maybe the world is about to end. Maybe Annabeth is in danger. Maybe Estelle is in danger. Maybe his own children are in danger. There are several things that could make him so angry and scared that his limits shatter.

Children of Poseidon, even demigods, are often referred to as monsters. Because like the sea, they are brutal and merciless. And Poseidon has implied that Percy has surpassed every hero he’s ever seen, even hercules, when it comes to his capabilities and determination. Leo and Hazel have said you can physically feel and see his power, even if he’s not doing anything. I want to see Percy really tap into the godly part of him. I want him to send his enemies running for their mommies. And I want to read it from someone else’s point of view. Someone who can describe what it really looks and feels like.

Becasue imagine the most frightening, intimidating man you’ve even seen - his wolffish glare, embodied by his sharp features, frightening enough to paralyze you in fear - flying straight towards you on an angry black pegasus. Hundreds of other angry pegasi fan out on either side of him, looking like something out of a mythical nightmare. Then a dark, gigantic wave spanning several miles, taller than mountains, rises behind him. It’s towering over the valleys and hills, casting a shadow over the land, and coming right towards you, ready to demolish and drown every semblance of your existence. Then all of a sudden the entire sky is dark and the air is cold, and the storm hits you with unforgiving force. The brutal winds and sharp cold rain is so strong that you can barely stand. The booming cracks of thunder make your ears ring, and the blinding bolts of lightning light up the sky like electricity is at war with itself. And now… now the entire earth is shaking. The ground is rumbling beneath you so violently that every part of your body is painfully trembling, your teeth chattering and eyes bouncing. The earth around you is splitting into wide chasms, boulders tumbling and tress falling. Oh also a fucking volcano just blew up. It’s suddenly hard to breath as rock and dirt rain down on you, and you’re about to be burned and buried by miles worth of molten ash. Pompeii part 2, brought to you by Perseus Jackson.

Only this is 10x worse, because every natural element is out for your complete and utter destruction.

Because Percy controls all of that. And if he hits his breaking point, there’s no telling what he could do if he set his mind to it.

[ladythornofrivia]

Aemond existing:

Me: no lube, no protection, all night, all day, from the kitchen floor to the toilet seat, from the dining table to the bedroom, from the bathroom sink to the shower, from the front porch to the balcony, vertically, horizontally, quadratic, exponent al, logarithmic, while i gasp for air, scream and see the light, missionary, cowgirl, reverse cow girl, doggy, backwards, forwards, sideways, upside down, on the floor, in the bed, on the couch, on a chair, being carried against the wall, outside, in a train, on a plane, in the car, on a motorcycle, the bed of a truck, on a trampoline, in a bounce house, in the pool, bent over, in the basement, against the window, have the most toe curling, back arching, leg shaking, dick thribbing, first clenching, ear rining, mouth drooling, ass clenching, nose sniffling, eye watering, eye rolling, hip thrusting, earthquaking, sheet gripping, knuckles cracking, jaw dropping, hair pulling. teeth jitterbug, mind blogging, soul snatching, overstimulating, vile, sloppy, moan inducing, heart wrenching, spine tingling, back breaking, atrocious, gushy, creamy, beastly, lip bitting, gravity defying, nail biting, sweaty, feet kicking, mind blowing, body shivering, orgasmic, bone breaking, world ending, black hole creating, universe destroying, devious, scrumptious, amazing, delightful, delectable, unbelievable, body numbing, bark worthy, cant walk, head nodding, soul evaporating, volcano erupting, sweat rolling, voice cracking, trembling, sheets soaked, hair drenched, flabbergasting, lip locking, skin peeling, eyelash removing, eye widening, pussy popping, nail stractching, back cuts, spectacular, brain cell desolving, hair ripping, show stopping, magnificent, unique, extraordinary, slendid, phenomenal, mouth foaming, heavenly, awakening, devils tangos, you could dracarys me like how you dracarys the Riverlands, or take me as a prize of war and i'd still ride you.

(Decided to make part 2)

[machine-saint]

yeah i fundamentally just don't gel with posts like this that imply that nature "loves" us or anything. it's a strange kind of love when hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanos exist. when there are bacteria and viruses that will gladly kill you to produce more of themselves. and of course there's the cosmic threats like stray asteroids or a gamma ray burst.

"nature" doesn't love or hate because only minds can do that. nature just is. and the moralizing that you can only avoid being environmentally destructive by animizing nature in this way really chafes.

like, okay, look at this:

We will tell the students that it would have been weird even among "environmentalists" of the time to think of trees and insects as your family. I mean, well, yes, we knew that everything was related, but we thought Charles Darwin was the first to come up with that.

the implied presupposition here is that something being family means that you should have warm fuzzy feelings towards them and that's, uh, not how I feel about some of my own family! conversely, evolutionary "we are all related" is a factual statement about common ancestry. if it turned out that animals, plants, and fungi underwent abiogenesis separately that wouldn't change our moral obligations. "family" as "people you care deeply about" vs. "biological relations".

[astra-ravana]

Elementals

Elementals are spirits that dwell with and hold power over the elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. Elementals are similar to the Fae in some ways, except they typically reside within their element's domain. They can essentially be put into four groups, broadly speaking.

Gnomes

Also known as Pygmies, these are the elemental spirits of earth. They are responsible for erosion, earthquakes, the discovery of mines and other earth matters. Gnomes appear exclusively as male.

Undines

The elemental spirits of water are also called nymphs. They exist in all natural forms of water: seas, rivers, lakes, streams, even the rain. They are all female.

Sylphs

They are the elemental spirits of air and rule over the air and sky, and govern the gathering of clouds, storms, and weather. There appear to be both male and female sylphs.

Salamanders

The elemental spirits of fire can manifest anywhere there is heat and flame. They tend to exist in great numbers where there is tremendous heat- volcanoes, forest fires, and even the molten core of the planet.

[swordoffrivolousthings]

Thoughts about Heroes of Olympus and how it could have been better. pt 2

This time I will get so nitpicky that I will change too much for this series to be considered a reworking of the original. More like a HOO as a source material / hopefully.

So, to the next 9 points! part 1

Diversity in the Camp Half-Blood cabin archetypes, because humans aren't a monolith

Aphrodite cabin? pff, just a bunch of boy-obsessed girlies, am I right? (no, go jump in a lake)

But seriously, humans are not the same. Why has Riordan been stereotyping a lot of the cabins at camp by one (1) characteristic? I don't know.

Cabin 10 (Aphrodite's Cabin): People can be interested in make up, clothes and dating people. But this is a series about demigods whose parents are Greek Gods. Utilise that in your favour. Bring forth Aphrodite Ourania (Heavenly) kids that are morbidly interested (or not) in love in all its forms as a concept, knowing what fulfillment romantic love can bring but not being interested in persuing it. Just the philosophy of it all. Bring Pandemos (common) Aphrodite kids that like people, seeing them go about their day. That gather in public spaces and people watch. Aphrodite Androphonos (Killer of Men) or Aphrodite Tymborychos (Gravedigger) kids that are just as bloodthirsty as some of the Ares kids, violent and petty in their rage, like their mother.

Cabin 5 (Ares' Cabin): (an older gripe of mine, I'll admit) Not all Ares kids need to be violent killing machines. Give me kids of Ares that despite however much they try, they can't seem to come out victorious (because Ares has a track record for getting absolutely obliterated). Bring forth kids that are all bark, no bite, that make so much noise with their arrogance, but it is mostly a front. ("Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Ares, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars", Orphic Hymn 65 to Ares (trans. Taylor) ) Ares kids that lead wars more on the political, intangible side of things. Slippery little shits that are just about invincible when turning a situation in their favour with their words.

Cabin 11 (Hermes' Cabin): Trickster archetype characters can be fun and enjoyable, but when you have a cabin full of them it gets boring. Hermes kids that are intersted in animals, specificly cattle, and that help in the CHB stables. Camp Half-Blood has milk now, too! Hermes kids that interested in death, the way to the Underworld, whose souls follow in the steps of their father and guide people when lost in the realm of Hades. Hermes kids that are honorable merchants, that trade without stealing. They are the ones that try to bring their more kleptomaniac siblings into line, but rarely succeed.

2. Bring the war with Gaia on a larger scale, magnify it by 1000 times over

Gaia wants to rid the world of humans so nature could heal. Let her bring upon cities terribly powerful earthquakes (magnitude 6.8 and higher). Make them frequent, frighteningly so. Let a horrifying amount of magnitude 8.0 or greater hit major cities all around the world.

Have Gaia fuck around with tectonic plates in the oceans, make her start tsunamis. Have those be frighteningly big, too. Drive the people into the mountains, further inland, make them evacuate islands or peninsulas and drive up population in the cities. Than hit those cities with earthquakes.

Forest fires. A lot of them. Dry places around the world exist. Start a fire. See how fast it becomes an inferno. Light California and Florida and Texas on fire. Let the characters that are from there (i.e. Jason, Hazel and Frank who care about Camp Jupiter, Will Solace) be horrified at what is happening. Have them react.

Another hit, because humanity can bare some more punches, would be to introduce a plague to the main crops like seeds, rice, potatoes, and drive the production of food down. Let food be a concern, see how long the billions of people can go without food being produced all the time.

Volcanoes. Just, active volcanoes. Spitting, gurgling, bubbling, always on the edge of eruption.

Have agrarian gods ally with Gaia. See how much they can fuck up with humans: Aristaeus (bee-keeping, cheese-making, herding), Britomartis (nets made for hunting, fishing, fowling).

Do not be afraid to put the fear of nature in people. Make the main seven (7) realise just how much power and influence Gaia has. Raise the stakes.

3. The gods have gone mad with pain, what are the effects

It is established that the gods kept the Greeks and Romans apart because of many things. One of them is because the two parts that compose the gods attack each other.

Now there are mad gods roaming the world. Nature would be even more affected than what Gaia is already doing.

Zeus/Jupiter would make storms and thunderstorms out of the blue, ravage the world. Tornadoes, erratic air flow, no air flow, so much rain the earth can't absorb it. Ozone layer? something is certainly happening to it.

Poseidon/Neptune would mess up the currents, fuck over the tides and create tides so big that they rival tsunamis. Coral reefs, they start to die, powerful surface currents, too many riptides, the salinity drops. Small scale earthquakes.

Artemis/Diana and Apollo/Phoebus, moon and sun? Well, imagine just how fucked up would it be for the day to suddenly last eight (8) hours and the rest of sixteen (16) to be night, or go even further. One (1) hour of daylight, twenty three (23) of night. Or change from one minute to another. Guess we have a problem huh.

The worst of it. There is no safe space. Apollo and Artemis can't retreat to Delos because half of them is repulsed by that place. No retirement and riding out the chaos until the Greeks and Romans work it out.

That means no godly help, but also no godly trouble, from anyone. The demigods are sailing blind into the unknown. Have the world border apocalyptic.

4. Tartarus and worldbuilding hellish landscapes

The Pit is the place where the monsters get reborn. The body of a literal god. Have the threat of him waking be there from the beginning. The way the ground moves with his every breath, the veins running deep with an almost ichor, but black and molten.

Make the air, beside being toxic, give other side effects. Damaged lungs, weakened bones, infections from the smallest cut. Not only it smells like the worst memories of whoever is unlucky enough to fall, but it preys on hem. Kind of like with Melinoe. Percy sees Gabe out of the corner of his eye, feels Luke's heavy gaze on his back. He turns around but there is nothing.

Have Annabeth feel the blood on her knees from when she knelt beside Luke's dying form/corpse. Let her hear Thalia's last yell towards the monsters that were hunting them when she died, echoing with Tartarus' every breath.

There is no water down there, and if there is, it is not safe. Have them suffer from dehydration, hunger, lack of sleep. Indulging in such things could mean death, so they don't.

Have the monsters, even half formed, emerge from their bubble of remaking and hunt them down.

Nico hadn't been safe either, but for him it was only a few days, not weeks. But he still hears Bianca's voice in his mind, even when escaped, that maybe he should have gone on the quest in TTC and have died. Because he had always been the annoying, pestering little brother and the world would've been better off without him.

Tartarus is weakness and pain and poison. It will haunt everyone that survives it, long after they've escaped.

5. Camp Half-Blood vs Camp Jupiter

The start of the conflict is dumb, and its resolution is even dumber. For this war to start, a minor, needless war, lets change some things. After the quest to find Thanatos/Mors in SON, a year goes by. Let Percy become integrated in the Camp Jupiter dynamics, have him learn the ins and outs of the place. Build trust and respect. Hell, have Octavian come to respect Percy.

Then the Argo II lands. Annabeth, instead of staying put and listening to the introductions Reyna makes, (which means being respectful to the leaders of the place you are currently in, those who are more important than you and your feelings) jumps at Percy. She judo-flips him when he is not expecting that. In what way could this be perceived by people that are wary of battle (the veterans) and kids that are out for blood, as kids are? As assault.

This sets the Romans from the start on the wrong side of the conflict. It does not matter they have a larger objective to achieve. Their pride, their praetors, both of them, were disregarded from their positions of power. One of them was assaulted. (and please do think of this situation objectively here, please) (According to legends among the Romans, every civil war between the Greeks and the Romans was started by children of Athena / from the Athena Parthenos PJO wiki <- just found this. wouldn't this be funny if it's true? Well, I'm making it true.)

This is a very strong basis for mistrust for the Greeks. It doesn't matter in that moment that Percy is Greek too, because he was practically adopted as a honorary Roman.

Annabeth continues to try and gaslight Octavian. And this time the Romans (Reyna and the rest) don't fall for it. It is manipulation, however small or seemingly insignificant. That can't be trusted.

But Percy's reaction, his endorsement doesn't help either. He may love Annabeth, but him also gaslighting Octavian to cover for her prophecy, is not ok. This is the stepping stone for the Romans losing their faith in him.

Jason? Well, he was taken from them and made Greek, which translates to do not trust, now. This is a logical conclusion to add to the fact that Leo's body is stolen and used to set fire to New Rome, potentially harming civilians, innocents.

And then, the anger would naturally translate to seeing Camp Half-Blood as a threat and wanting to eliminate that threat before it bites them in the ass. So the Romans do what Romans do best: preventive defense/warfare, what they used to conquer half the known world.

I'll admit that I've not read the finale of Blood of Olympus recently, but the Athena Parthenos helps with nothing. more about it in n. 8.

6. Death is chained, but death still affects things

Death is the finale. So why can people come back from the dead without something having changed about them? Especially when they need to make their own way back, which doesn't make sense but ok. (like, how would they find the places that lead back to the surface?)

So, have those that have come back to life be uncanny, or too canny.

Example a) Hazel - she is a daughter of Pluto. Have her appearance be just a little off, more god than human. More corpse than alive. Riordan gave her gold eyes? Ok, so have them not be natural, but a result of being dead for 70(?) years. She has adopted some gold in her time as dead, maybe because she is a daughter of Pluto and his domain is also wealth.

Example b) Jason - he is killed by Hera's true form, but comes back soon after. Have him see just a little too much, a bite too well. Things that the Mist covers even for other demigods. Have his eyes emit a low glow in the dark. Or when it becomes dark, have his eyes spark like lightning, quick, than disappear.

Just, make dying important, because it changes you. Otherwise it is just cheap.

7. Roman on Roman, Greek on Greek, Greek on Roman, Roman on Greek

Gaia's conflict is more than just black and white. Have demigods and humans that can see through the Mist want to help her. A majority of Satyrs and dryads and nymphs would join her.

Have demigods become spies for Gaia (she doesn't want then, nor need them but she will allow them to exist, for now) to learn how the others plan to retaliate. What they think that they can do against a primordial goddess.

This happens in both camps. And the spies are not subtle about it, because it is a cause worth dying for. This leads to paranoia in both camps.

It makes the conflict not only Greek vs Roman, demigods vs Gaia, but also family against family, friend against friend.

Drive the fact that people are willing to do what they think is right, and die for it, as deep as bone. Make the theme of the conflict (which I hope is clear that is governments/associations/powerful individuals that don't believe in climate change vs. what the fuck is actually going on, especially with this inner conflict in both camps)

8. Athena Parthenos and the inefficacy of it all

Why is the Athena Parthenos, a single statue that is tied to Athena only, the catalyst that offers the gods peace, rids away the madness.

The Athena Parthenos is a symbol of Athena's pride, and the fact that the Romans where smart enough to hit where it hurts most. Why would it be the thing that heals the rift between the gods? After all, the Greek and Roman gods are two being that share the same 'body'/spirit/are tied together inexplicably. And the two (2) parts hate each other.

I just don't see why it would affect the other gods. Or even Athena. This is what the wiki has to say: "[...]  the capture of the Parthenos was seen as an act of belittlement to Athena, and the source of the seemingly eternal conflict between Greek and Roman demigods" from the Athena Parthenos wiki. Why is it the source?? The Romans and the Greeks have been fighting for other reasons, not some statue. That was just a war prize for the Romans, if we were to take this logically.

The Romans emulated Greek culture and religion, which I guess is why the Greek gods started to become Roman. It doesn't explain why it heals the gods.

Why would the gods even need to be healed? They seem to be aware that it is the way it is. They tried to keep the Greeks and Romans apart because they knew this would happen to them. (or my guess, in other words)(don't get me started on the fact that Riordan chose to ignore that Minerva also has warfare and strategy domains in Roman mythology, all for a subplot badly executed, in my opinion)

9. War ends, but scars remain

I will admit now, I don't know how to work out a satisfactory conclusion to the original HOO and the version I've been cooking. I don't. I think that BOO was badly plotted and it would take a total remake for me to get something useful out of it.

But this isn't about how I would tie together the ending. I want to talk about the aftermath of war, taking into consideration, this time, both the original and what I've been working up to.

Aftermath in the original HOO - the Romans just leave? Like there is no meeting that I can remember that the leaders had. Just Reyna and Piper talking about feelings (not judging, but not the feelings I wanted discussed) and then it's Leo's funeral. I say that some animosity should have still remained, because these guys had killed some enemy soldiers. Lives had been lost, even if the 'rift ' is healed, there should still be some hard feelings. I would suggest the Romans not opening up New Rome, and subsequently the university they have there. Because they can be petty while still not actively at war with the Greeks. Like, this is the best I can do in terms of scars and consequences.

Aftermath in this HOO thought experiment - Well, the world is shit. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of humans, have died horrifically. Society will need to deal with this trauma, that is for sure. But focusing on the demigod side of things; most demigods would be dead, lets be serious. Killed by the civil war or by each other because of paranoia. They still need to be separated, because the hatred is still there, and the gods can't help. So who would need to do some damage control? Our Six, of which, preferably, only three (3) are still alive. The pain is deep and the wounds are raw, and Percy, whom I think we all know has the luck and wits to survive despite it all will, be fed with the entire situation. Meaning that he would most likely abandon the godly world and go back to his family. Try to live a normal life, or not. Hazel and Frank will not be allowed back in New Rome, because they are traitors, and the Greeks will not have them because they are Roman. The same will go for Percy, also - Romans will not take him back, and the Greeks see him as too Roman. Maybe only Piper, if she survives, will be allowed back in Camp Half-Blood, but that depends. And maybe the shit with Gaia isn't done, because you can't kill gods.

So, uh, 18 points of what I would change in HOO later, I find that I haven't run out. Which is either terrifying or absolutely insane seeing how well the original series was written and just how half-assed this one is. Like, Riordan, HOO was clearly a way to keep making money and not a passion project. And I don't mean it in the mean way, because it had good moments and interesting ideas, but they were poorly executed. Or I needed to read between the lines to see the subtext he was to cowardly to include outright. (not that I'm saying I could do better beside a published author)

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

[boreal-sea]

Something I don’t see people discussing properly on tumblr is how progress happens. I don’t mean the mechanics, I mean the overall momentum.

I’m going to use geology here for a moment. For a long time there were two schools of thought about geologic processes: catastrophism and uniformitarianism. The first posits that all major geologic change happens in sudden and catastrophic moments. Volcanoes suddenly appear, landslides occur, earthquakes tear apart the ground. Uniformitarianism instead states that all geologic change is slow and constant. Mountains erode over millions of years, tectonic plates move only centimeters per year, rivers carve out a course over thousands of years.

Now, even a non-geologist can look at this and correctly observe that in fact BOTH of these types events happen. Volcanoes and erosion exist side by side. And geologists agree. Today it’s accepted that much of geologic history is typified by long slow processes interspersed with rare moments of catastrophe.

And social change is a lot like geology. It feels like a lot of people fall into catastrophism or uniformitarianism and these two groups are at odds with one another. Catastrophists in particular are extremely frustrated with the slow periods of social change. Uniformitarianists tend to be wary of the "burn it all down" crowd, citing the harm that would do to vulnerable groups.

But social change does in fact move at two paces. It tends to plod along, with groups slowly gaining rights over decades. One small law here, another there. When you look back over the course of 50 years you can see significant change! But in the moment, it feels like nothing is happening at all. However, there are moments where there is significant and sudden change. The Civil War is one example. Brown v. Board of Education is another example.

And like nature, these watershed moments, these leaps forward for human rights, are usually the result of a culmination of social pressure, of the slow incremental change that happened in the decades prior. The Civil War didn't come out of nowhere. Neither did Brown v. Board of Education. These moments of upheaval need the work of the slow and steady folks.

Again, to use geology, I think about it like how earthquakes work. An earthquake does not (usually) come out of nowhere. It is instead the result of pressure building up between two tectonic plates. This pressure finally becomes too much, the friction between the plates is overcome by the shear force, and the plates violently lurch. In some places, there are lots of little earthquakes: it doesn't take much force to cause the plates to slip, and the resulting earthquakes aren't very big. In other locations though, pressure has been building for a very long time. When that pressure is released the earthquake is massive.

A lot of people who comment angrily on my posts begging them to vote for the Democrats are catastrophists. They want change NOW. They are tired of the slow and steady work. But I think Roe v. Wade being overturned is an important lesson in how sometimes, those catastrophic moments don't always have staying power, especially if other slow behind-the-scenes progress is not done to enshrine those rights -- and with regards to abortion, the blame is entire on the Democrats. They failed to enshrine those protections into federal law, and instead simply assumed Roe v. Wade would never be overturned.

I'm not against sudden progress, but I do not think it's something you can artificially manufacture. You cannot intentionally make this volcano explode, you cannot trigger an earthquake on purpose. To borrow something from a Folding Ideas video (In Search of a Flat Earth), it seems as though some of these people are attempting to manufacture the circumstances needed to bring about catastrophic change through any means necessary, including allowing Trump to become president again. The harm this may cause is irrelevant; the ends justify the means to these people.

So when I propose we stay the course, vote Democrat, and continue to push for ranked-choice voting, the catastrophists see this as paramount to agreeing to everything the current system is doing. I don't want everything to change right now, so clearly that means I must completely agree with, enjoy, and benefit from the system as-is. This of course could not be further from the truth. I actually want society to change almost completely. I want election reform, I want us to stop being capitalists, I want bigotry to fade into a distant memory, I want us to do everything we can to fix global warming and pollution. The idea world I imagine is very different from the world we currently live in.

I do think another catastrophic lurch forward will happen. I don't know what it will look like. It will probably be the culmination of many years of effort. Maybe it will be an election many years from now in which every state uses ranked-choice voting and a 3rd party candidate actually wins. Maybe it will be something that happens tomorrow. Biden could pass away, leaving Harris to take his place as the nominee. That might seem like it's not the result of decades of effort, but Harris even being in the White House is a result of slow effort.

[ishanijasmin]

alive alive

contemplating the living forces of nature, thinking about life beyond biology (the layperson's perspective)

i have been thinking a lot about how the earth is alive. maybe even how the world is alive. like, alive alive. the all-singing, all-dancing, moving, caressing, feeling, vibing atmosphere that we have all found ourselves in. the twinkle of the stars, the erosion of a cliff face, the coming and going of the seasons, the whip of the wind, the rise and fall of the sea, the trickle of a stream. so much of the earth is not what we regard as being alive, and i find it fundamentally unusual that we reserve the idea of life for things that manifest in a specific way. i’m not a biologist, and the science of the universe baffles me. but i don’t know how to stand at the edge of an ocean, my feet slowly being consumed by the waves, wet silt building slowly around my ankles to stabilise me, without thinking, ‘what is this, if not alive?’ what does the ocean do if not soothe? what do the cliffs do if not hold?

last week i took a boat trip to berlenga island, just off the coast of lisbon. i am always humbled by the ocean—by its vastness, and as someone for whom the titanic is always in mind, by its mercy. on the journey back to the hotel, i sat on the floating front of the prow of our little boat for a while and let my legs dangle, watching the waves, and it was as close as you can probably be to riding the sea.

as i got progressively more queasy, i followed the patterns for a long time, and i couldn’t really figure out which direction anything moved in, including myself. lost at sea, immeasurably. so later, i looked it up. did you know waves move in circles? you probably did. i didn’t. i have absolutely no idea how these natural processes work. if i were in an ancient civilisation, i would get hit by wind exactly one time before being like, ‘wow, this is witchcraft, i’m doomed.’ wind: caused by the varying pressures in the atmosphere? hot air rises and cold air rushes in? a mystery! feels plenty alive to me! why does it hit my face the way it does—why some days the gentle stroke of a breeze on my sweaty back in the summer, and others a force big enough to move oceans? why at the same time? lisbon is a particularly significant place to be thinking about this: a city plighted by earthquake, great fire, and tsunami in a matter of hours, and left to rebuild from the wreckage.

i’ve had this in over my head experience with windsurfing and paragliding, as well. the wind, never tamed, but understood by people who’ve been observing it for a lifetime and who still prefer to use modern technology to double check their voyages are safe. a respect and a fear instilled by regarding these changes around us as almost alive. almost.

it’s not that i don’t trust scientists when they explain simple geological concepts to me—i suppose it’s like intellectually knowing something rather than intrinsically knowing it deep, deep in your bones. how can you demystify that? how can the winds—the oceans, the lakes, the tectonic plates, the rock formations and volcanoes—how can they not be alive? they are growing, shrinking, subsisting and existing like all of us, not just to hold life as an ecosystem, but as motion in themselves—erosion, weathering, death and becoming.

i have been reading braiding sweetgrass of late, which is where a good deal of thinking about this comes from. in the book (at least the half of it i’ve read so far), kimmerer talks a lot about the reciprocity between people and land, and the idea that we are all alive and that the earth, the sky, the land and its processes are not a dead ‘it’ while we are an alive ‘they’. the earth is being all the time and so am i and so are we all, and it’s kind of hard to think about and also to not think about.

where am i with all this? breathing through the crushing feeling in my chest that has kept me company every day since i can remember; thinking about doing laundry, about growing a flower trail up the side of my apartment that the kids next door won’t prick themselves on, on getting rid of the fungus gnats that are plaguing a couple of my plants, about my husband who has a headache and is squinting, about recharging. the ecology and community of self is as alive as anything else. dwelling on the world and where we all fit into it and how to preserve ourselves and each other—the human each other, the animal each other, the plant each other, the tectonic plate rock formation beach gravestone church road brick wall limestone cliff fossilised shell firewood smelted and mined ring earthquake each other.

[bestworstcase]

oh. hm. i wonder if dark made grimm by himself because light refused to participate in creating anything destructive again after the jabberwalker—certainly it seems telling that in the myth, light creates a vast monoculture lawn and then declares that dark’s contribution of a moon and new biomes and plate tectonics is “spoiling” it; the myth flows from light’s presentation of himself to ancient humans and if he saw any value in these things he would surely have claimed them as his own—and then there’s the brother-cult framing that humans were given the capacity for evil (destruction) and good (creation) and the free will to choose which path to walk, always with the underlying premise that if humankind chooses wrong then they will “destroy themselves” (by earning annihilation at the final judgment)

this is in stark contrast to the narrative treatment of destruction as hunger and as an agent of change, and creation-without-destruction as, well, a vast monoculture lawn. sterile, stagnant, artificial, unalive.

(<- not a euphemism for “dead” and i resent that the word has those connotations now.)

to create is to destroy; paint, for example, is destroyed by the act of painting. you can’t ever use it as paint again. eating a meal is destructive—both in the sense that something living has to be killed, whether plant or animal, and in the sense that the food itself is destroyed. but this is the basis of all life. one eats to stay alive, to grow.

so in light’s view grimm are evil abominations because his brother made them to be destructive; to dark the grimm are embodiments of natural forces whose churnings keep the world forever in motion and therefore alive. jabber came out wrong—brutal, but effective, the blacksmith says—because light’s misapprehension of destruction influenced his nature. the grimm, created by dark alone, turned out right.

are they good? are they bad? they just are. the tides, the mountains, the deserts, the storms, earthquakes and volcanoes, the grimm.

meanwhile humans were given destruction by darkness and creation by light—the separation and recombination into one being was probably necessary to avoid a repeat of what happened with jabber—and then taught, by light, to understand their natures as a moral conflict and a moral challenge to rise above ‘evil’, i.e. destruction.

this is, of course, why light is so set on the necessity of permanent death: in his afterlife the dead are unaware and unalive, existing in everlasting stasis, and so nothing can ever be destroyed. darkness, who has never feared destruction, allows salem to glimpse the truth that life and death are a circle. and then he burns it all down and leaves her alive in the ashes, the wellspring of primordial destruction there for her to do with it as she will. and she does, and that is how mankind returns to life and how the faunus come to be.

which is the whole point. the grimm represent and embody pure destruction, hunger and change, which the brothers’ humans were taught to abhor as unnatural, evil abominations. salem becomes grimm and in doing so stakes humanity’s claim on destruction as darkness understood it, rejecting the false moral dichotomy light imposed on her generation. remnant is set free, and humanity rises phoenix-like from the ashes, unbound by death.

the brothers’ humans rebelled in order to claim the powers of their creators and perfect their own design. and she did.

[shaisuki]

ohh yess we should do it with the most twisted smut ever existed, sth goes like this:

no lube, no protection, all night, all day, from the kitchen floor to the toilet seat, from the dining table to the bedroom, from the bathroom sink to the shower, from the front porch to the balcony, vertically, horizontally, quadratic, exponent al, logarithmic, while i gasp for air, scream and see the light, missionary, cowgirl, reverse cow girl, doggy, backwards, forwards, sideways, upside down, on the floor, in the bed, on the couch, on a chair, being carried against the wall, outside, in a train, on a plane, in the car, on a motorcycle, the bed of a truck, on a trampoline, in a bounce house, in the ool, bent over, in the basement, against the window, have the most toe curling, back arching, leg shaking, dick thribbing, first clenching, ear rining, mouth drooling, ass clenching, nose sniffling, eye watering, eye rolling, hip thrusting, earthquaking, sheet gripping, knuckles cracking, jaw dropping, hair pulling. teeth jitterbug, mind blogging, soul snatching, overstimulating, vile, sloppy, moan inducing, heart wrenching, spine tingling, back breaking, atrocious, gushy, creamy, beastly, lip bitting, gravity defying, nail biting, sweaty, feet kicking, mind blowing, body shivering, orgasmic, bone breaking, world ending, black hole creating, universe destroying, devious, scrumptious, amazing, delightful, delectable, unbelievable, body numbing, bark worthy, cant walk, head nodding, soul evaporating, volcano erupting, sweat rolling, voice cracking, trembling, sheets soaked, hair drenched, flabbergasting, lip locking, skin peeling, eyelash removing, eye widening, pussy popping, nail stractching, back cuts, spectacular, brain cell desolving, hair ripping, show stopping, magnificent, unique, extraordinary, slendid, phenomenal, mouth foaming, heavenly, awakening, devils tangos, he could put a nuclear bomb inside me and i'd still ride.

And yeah i luv u too <3

duly noted, yandere anon. i'll get to it once i've finished my requirements.

[x-elyssa-x]

Remix AU - Chapter 3

Part 2 / Part 4

Bubble swam forward, not paying attention to anything. All kinds of small fish passed her by, and she made happy noises to them. Inside, Trollex and Beat Drop were looking at the map. The map showed all six kingdoms that the techno king intended to visit.

"I think we should start with Symphonyville.", said Trollex. "I like the symbolism of this decision. The oldest kind of music mixed with the new kind of music. Classical trolls will definitely appreciate it."

Beat Drop nodded, but he had his own plan.

"And I think we should start with Volcano Rock City. It's the closest."

"Where's the symbolism?", Trollex crossed his arms.

"Barb came to our kingdom first.", Beat Drop said. "Now we visit her first."

Trollex hummed thoughtfully, then agreed with his friend. That was also good symbolism. Besides, they would save time between trips to other kingdoms.

Trollex was really looking forward to his first remix. He felt an excitement similar to the one he felt at his first party. It was amazing. Colorful lights, a happy crowd, and great music. Trollex hoped that other trolls would feel the same. The same excitement.

After a few hours, the whale-bus found herself in warm waters. The warmth was caused by the volcano that was in the rock trolls' territory. This meant that they were close to their first target. Once they were close to shore, Bubble, using her strength and endurance, began to tear through the ground, creating an underwater tunnel. It was uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt her. The closer they got to Volcano Rock City, the warmer it got. Trollex had to make sure they had enough water in their bottles. He didn't like his skin drying out.

Volcano Rock City, the city of the rock trolls, was nothing like Techno Reef. Buildings covered in leather and studs, caves, stone roads, thorny plants, lava flows that flowed through the city, and a sky that was perpetually covered in dark clouds. Living in such a climate was very difficult, but for the rock trolls, there was no better place. They were happy and wouldn't change a thing.

Riff, the queen's right hand, was just leaving college. He was a student, and a studious one at that. He was keen on an education, something that was not really common in rock troll society. Riff was about to head home when he felt the ground begin to shake. The trolls around him stopped, alarmed by the sudden earthquake.

"Is the volcano erupting again?", one of them asked.

"It just erupted a week ago.", another commented. "It's a bit too early for that."

Suddenly, the ground cracked, split open, and the hole filled with warm water. Then, a large whale emerged. The rock trolls were very surprised. Whales did not exist in their waters, and especially not in the middle of the city. Riff walked closer, wanting to see what was going on. Bubble, seeing the other trolls, smiled, and then opened her large mouth. Inside, was Trollex and Beat Drop. Both looked happy and satisfied with achivig the first goal of their journey.

“A techno troll?”, said someone from the crowd.

“And he has a flying fish.”, added another.

Riff recognized who it was. He walked closer to the whale.

"Um, hi.", he said. "I think I recognize you… You're… King Trollex, right?"

"Right.", Trollex nodded. "And you are…"

"Riff. We saw each other during…", Riff fell silent.

He didn't want to think back to the world tour, especially knowing what he and the rest of the trolls had done in the Techno Reef. Trollex just looked at his fish companion, then back at Riff.

“It's in the past.”, the king said with a smile. “There is nothing to remember.”

The male rock troll sighed with relief.

"Then what are you doing here, your highness?" he asked.

"Is Barb home?"

Barb, the queen of all hard rock trolls, was a strong leader, always ready to rock. With a guitarr in her hand, she led her trolls, giving them the best heavy music. Her concerts always ended with some epic explosion or chaos, which everyone loved. But at that moment, Barb was calmly sitting on the couch and playing the melody to her new song. She was going to play it during her next concert.

Then, the door opened and Riff walked in.

"Hey, Barb!", the young rock troll shouted.

The Queen stopped playing and looked at her friend.

"Yo, Riff.", she said. "Good to have you back. We need to practice a new song."

"In a moment. We have guests."

Barb tilted her head. She hadn't expected anyone. Maybe it was Poppy? But instead of Poppy, it was Trollex who stood in the doorway, holding a weird looking suitcase. Beat Drop, who was sitting in his hair, couldn't stop looking around curiously. The young king seemed very excited about his visit to Rock Fortress. The building itself looked like the others in the city, only larger, with extended underground. Barb, seeing him, put down her guitar and approached her guest.

"King Trollex?", said Barb with unconcealed surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Barb. Good to see you.", Trollex greeted her. "We're here to get to know your music better."

Barb didn't quite understand what Trollex meant. And why. Before, no one from outside their kingdom wanted to know more about hard rock, especially after what had happened… Some of the trolls were still distrustful of them. Riff went closer to his queen.

“He wants to learn,”. he whispered. “He said he wanted to understand rock at its source.”

Barb nodded. Well, at least the techno trolls were more open-minded. This could be a great opportunity to warm up their relations.

"Well, if the fishy wants to learn, then let it learn.", said Barb. "But on my terms. Trollex, we're going on stage."

"Do I need to bring anything with me?", asked the techno king.

“Just the desire to ride hard.”, Barb smiled knowingly.

After a moment, Trollex, Beat Drop, Barb and Riff were under the stage. It was huge. Huge speakers stood on the sides, to which electric guitars were connected. Barb jumped on the stage and grabbed one of them.

"Hard rock is more than just loud music and headbanging. It's a lifestyle.", said the queen, before playing a few riffs on her guitar. "We put in all our energy, all our soul! Rock allows us to express ourselves and what we feel. Get it?"

Trollex nodded. Then, Barb started playing the guitar, and Riff joined her a moment later. They both played, jumped around, not caring that they could accidentally break something. Trollex was impressed. The rock music sounded pretty good.

"This will make a good remix.", Trollex said to himself quietly, and Beat Drop, who was still hiding in his hair, nodded. "When they're done, we'll start our experiment."

But to get started, they needed to record some audio. Luckily, like any troll, Trollex also had a few little things hidden in his hair. Including a recorder. Beat Drop quickly found it, and began secretly recording a rock concert.

After a few minutes, Barb and Riff ended their performance in grand style. Barb smashed her guitar on the ground.

"Woo! That's the kind thing I love!", shouted the delighted queen, then she looked at her guest. "Did you like it?"

"Very much!", Trollex smiled and clapped his hands. "Actually, I'd like to play something too. Can I?"

Barb, thinking that Trollex wanted to try his hand at heavy music, let him on stage. When the young king and his companion were on stage, suddenly, Trollex put down his suitcase. He opened it, and it turned into a DJ station. Barb and Riff watched all this with obvious confusion.

"Trollex, what are you doing?", asked the queen.

Trollex didn't answer. He took the recorder from Beat Drop and connected it to the station. Then, he looked at the rock trolls.

"I hope you like it!", he said cheerfully.

He turned on the station, and techno music began to play. The sound alerted the other trolls, and they quickly ran to the stage to see what had happened. The rock music the queen had been playing earlier, flowed through the speakers. Barb suddenly realized what was happening.

"He wants to remix our music!", she shouted, and ran towards the stage.

Before she could climb on it, the rock music mixed with techno, and a powerful drop with bass boomed out of the speakers, pushing Barb and her trolls away. Trollex played his own concert, the only way he knew. The way he mixed rock with techno made the rock trolls' music no longer sound like theirs. It wasn't rock anymore. But Trollex and Beat Drop didn't really care. Their experiment was a success! They could remix other music with their own, creating something new and unique. Something better. The rock trolls couldn't get on stage and stop it. The bass from the speakers acted as a barrier. All they could do was stand there and watch as their beloved music was mixed with techno, against their will…

After a few minutes, Trollex finished his rave. He was very proud of himself. His new music was recorded. He couldn't wait to show his new remix to his trolls. While he and Beat Drop packed up their DJ station, Barb and Riff tried to calm down the trolls. The remix had a bad effect on them. Everyone had a headache, some were even having a small panic attack. The more Barb tried to control the situation, the angrier she became. She quickly turned to the stage, where Trollex and Beat Drop were getting ready to leave.

"You! What was that!?", Barb screamed at them.

The young techno king stopped and looked at Barb, not understanding what she meant.

"Well… Music?", Trollex tilted his head. "I took rock and mixed it with techno. Cool, right?"

"No! Very not cool at all!", Barb continued to scream. "When you said you wanted to play something, I thought you'd take the guitar, not desecrate our music!"

"Desecrate? I made it even better!"

Barb wanted to shout something back, but the way Trollex said it, caught her off guard. Did he really think what he did was good? Before Barb could get over her shock, Trollex smiled innocently, taking her silence for agreeing with him.

"Thanks for everything, Barb.", said Trollex. "I'd love to stay here longer, and play you more rock remixes, but I'm should continue my trip."

Then, Trollex whistled, and the ground shook again and split. The hole filled with water, and Bubble came to the call. As Bubble opened her mouth, Trollex, along with his fish companion, walked in. In farewell, the techno king made a rock hand gesture, and then Bubble submerged herself, disappearing under the water, leaving behind a large hole, and upset trolls.

Barb felt helpless. She couldn't believe she had let this happen. Her music had been remixed against her will. She felt awful. It might not be as awful as her world tour, but it still wasn't good.

"Barb? Is everything okay?", asked Riff, slowly approaching his queen. Her silence was very worrying.

Then, Barb looked at her friend, and there seemed to be fire burning in her eyes...

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Some sneak peeks.

__________

Kunikida Doppo x GN! Reader

_______

"Wait! I still don't understand! How came someone as amazing as you never had a partner?!" Aya ignored Bram's attempts to hush her, deciding to ask That Question. The girl looked not only curious, but also sad. She really thought, that your non-existent love live was something unfair.

You nervously looked around. You really didn't want to discuss it, especially with kids.

Because, of your nervousness, you didn't see, that Kunikida's face expression was quite similar to Kunikida's. Less curious, but, still equally "That's unfair!" expression.

__________

If you were not alone event

_______

🇫🇷 Traveling with Paul Verlaine was like traveling with a portable avalanche/earthquake/volcano eruption/any catastrophic event, that makes people run for their lives. And it wasn't only because of ability, that can turn mountains into flat surface. Paul himself looked imposing and dangerous.

__________

Fukuzawa and Fukuchi comfort fic (SAGAU)

_______

This day started as usual.

Sisters woke Their Holiness in the morning.

Sisters brought Their Holiness their breakfast. Food is absolutely exquisite, prepared by the best chefs in the Teyvat.

Sisters bathe Creator, clothe them, wipe the sleep from their eyes, brush the tangles out of their beautiful hair.

The physicians take Creator's temperature, listen to their breathing.

And everyone saw the sorrow in Creator's eyes.

----------

This day started as usual.

Fukuchi gently rubbed your hands, reassuring them, that they shouldn't apologize for having nightmares, waking up because of your own screams.

Fukuzawa helped you go to the bathroom. You tried to care about yourself on your own. You were afraid of being a burden.

Still, Fukuzawa brushed your hair.

Then, Fukuzawa brought you breakfast. Something simple and light. Ivan, Yosano, Doc, Mori and Nikolai were overdoing themselves, making sure, that food will be nutritious enough, without harming your body and health after long starvation.

You had breakfast in your room, with Fukuzawa and Fukuchi joining you. Nowadays, you rarely have breakfast in Common Room, with others, but you always had breakfast with people, who would look after you that day.

Then Yosano would check your health, being happy for every tiniest step forward to the full recovery.

And all morning, everyone could see an almost empty shell of their most treasured person in the world.

[jacksgreysays]

Tobirama matter of factly planning a temple of the Shikabane-hime in the middle of Konoha is SENDING me oh my god?? Is Shikako still born to Shikako and Yoshino in this universe? How does everyone react to maybe having a mortal incarnation of their patron deity growing up before their eyes? Wait does Shikabane-hime create the Garden during the Founding era. Is she also worshipped in Sand?? And not to hijack other anon’s prompt but the full saying is “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes” so.. Jashin? Does Konoha have beef with Yugakure in this world? I LOVE THIS AU AAHH

First of all, Tobirama is a very clever lad: if a goddess is going to support their village built on the shakiest network of treaties and alliances, then he's going to take that support and use it as a foundation because otherwise all they have to go on is his older brother's charisma and that's NOT going to cut it long term. Also, he really is quite jealous that all Izuna had to do was look at Shikabane-hime to get a cool technique while he has to actually go through the scientific method WHILE ALSO DESIGNING THE VILLAGE.

I think Shikako looks enough like Yoshino that in this universe, they think it's the other way around--that Yoshino is, if not a mortal incarnation of their patron deity (because MAYBE Shikako is immortal in this universe due to the massive amounts of earnest worship actually working to make her a goddess even if she wasn't actually one in the beginning) then some kind of... goddess blessed? Like... this Konoha is so off the rails that there may be a separate order of priest/priestess-nin and Yoshino would be recruited for that.

And, like, I do like the Shikaku and Yoshino's love story, and it would be very sad if they didn't get together, so it's not that the priests/priestesses of the Shikabane-hime CAN'T fall in love and have families (and also, because Shikako is just like. Hey. As long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, the genders of said parties does not matter. Hooray marriage equality decades earlier)

Anyway, then if they do still have child Shikako, it could be a very... !!!! ... A Chosen One!!!! And then, THIS Shikako would be the "she who has divine right" version of Hokage!Shikako from my Hail To The Queen series... but that's maybe getting too self-referential?

I do think Shikabane-hime and Gelel create the Garden during the Founding era--because her arriving in each universe post-Split makes the Garden, if it hasn't already been made--so I would think that, yes, a version of her is also worshiped in Sand. But if she didn't stick around to make contact with the shinobi who would become the founders of Sand, they may know her by a different name? Like, in Land of Wind she is Gelel but in Land of Fire she is Shikabane-hime and it becomes a matter of, like, denominational differences.

Alternatively, rather than the Kazekage clan being called "Sabaku no" (of the Desert) perhaps they are called "Yokuchi no" (of the Oasis)? But I suppose that depends how early on in the timeline she is for Sand.

And finally… IS THAT WHERE THAT PHRASE COMES FROM? Oh my god, I'm so bad at identifying when prompts are references to things. It just goes right over my head T_T

I don't think Yugakure even exists long enough for Konoha to have beef with them. If one of Shikabane-hime/Gelel's early "miracles" DOESN'T include a divine smack down of Jashin, possibly erasing Yugakure--or possibly the whole of Land of Hot Water--from the map via volcano (I mean, hot springs are usually because of geothermals, and if she can make an earthquake she can probably make a volcanic eruption) then I don't know what counts as a miracle.

[quasarlasar]

SAN ANDREAS WATCHES SAN ANDREAS

Well I haven't done a geology comic since *checks archives*...2018??!

Okay then. Here's a new one after 6 years.

This joke is 9 years out of date, but I had the pencil sketch scan sitting on my computer for years so after I had a dream featuring San Andreas I figured I would finally ink and color it.

In this comic the San Andreas Fault (the guy with the hat) is watching the 2015 movie San Andreas, which was a disaster movie starring Dwayne Johnson. In it, the San Andreas Fault creates a steadily escalating series of earthquakes, culminating in a magnitude 9.6 quake.

This is...impossible for the San Andreas Fault to produce. It can only get up to magnitude 7.8, maybe 8.25 if the entire fault ruptured at once? But the San Andreas is not known to do that. It has a midsection that creeps instead of causing giant earthquakes, and ruptures to the north and the south have trouble breaking through this section.

But you know what kind of fault can produce a magnitude 9+ earthquake? Subduction zones. The giant earthquake and tsunami in San Andreas is way more appropriate for the Cascadia Subduction Zone than for the San Andreas Fault. So I imagine Cascadia (the guy with the volcanoes on his back) feels insulted that the humans gave this ability to San Andreas, who is comparatively weak and scrawny.

I should note San Andreas and Cascadia are roughly the same length, but San Andreas' body is mostly hidden by his couch here. It mostly exists as a zone of fractured rock in the ground, but he's capable of rearing the front portion out of the ground to watch TV.

Cascadia is depicted of course as much more powerfully built than San Andreas since he has a greater rupture area and overall is just a more powerful force of nature than San Andreas is.

If San Andreas wasn't a continental transform fault, and was an oceanic one, Cascadia would probably eat subduct him.

[trigunwritings]

Hey! Saw your new blog! Lovely layout! Anyway, if your accepting requests can I please have a request of vash traveling with a time traveler that claims they are from 21st century earth but are now stuck on Norman land? Maybe she tells him stories of all the wonders of the world?(huge trees that touch the sky, thousands of flowers of different colors, all the different types of donuts that exist, water that comes from the sky in such huge amounts it could flood a valley, volcanos that spew hot lava and giant glaciers of ice that float in giant pools of water) they just tell each other stories of their adventures on their respective planets while vash also teaches his time traveler buddy all the stuff about Noman land. Much thanks!

Vash's eyes fill with glittering awe as the words of home continue to fall from your lips. Of Earth. What had once been idle conversation to fill the awkward and empty air quickly became stories of things that had, at least at one point, been completely normal to you. As normal as things could be to a person who had been whisked away from everything familiar and safe in the blink of an eye. Even weeks after the fact, you still clutch onto the dire hope that you're simply dreaming a fantastical, horrifying dream.

"So you're telling me it could rain so much that it could fill up this entire gorge?"

The man's tone had not faltered from childish disbelief for a moment since deciding to tell him of the various wonders of Earth—it is so different from this... place, this No Man's Land of endless desert and scorching heat.

The fact that anyone could even survive upon such an inhospitable planet is beyond understanding.

Your eyes glance from one side of the rocky landscape to the other, then up towards where the edges of the rocks jut into the amazingly bright sky. Several meters high and several more wide at least. Idly, you wonder what could have happened in the history of this planet to create such a formation if rain was not the maker.

Nonetheless, you nod and look towards him again. "Easily," you say with a smile nearly forced. "There are plenty of places on Earth where the rain would fall so quickly that the ground can't absorb it quick enough—even in the desert. I think they were still called flash floods."

"Would it rain like that everywhere?"

"Oh no, not everywhere," you say, tapping a finger to your chin. "Lots of places didn't get so much rain that it washed everything away. There were forests and jungles, meadows and mountains—have you ever even seen a tree?"

"A tree?"

The blonde looks utterly befuddled by the word, though there's a thin veil of... recognition? He doesn't offer anything besides a look of genuine interest as that expression fades away, and you're not sure if you had simply misread him, and merely nod.

"A tree. It's tall and full of bright green leaves usually—Earth had all sorts, some were so huge you couldn't see the top, others grew fruit like apples and oranges."

You take a moment or so before glancing down towards your feet. There isn't even a tuft of grass, a sprig of green; dead or alive, there isn't an inch of plant growth to be found.

"Trees and grass... and bushes and flowers—never thought I'd be this desperate to even just see weeds or some cactuses."

Vash blinks, looking both as if he understands and doesn't at the same time, but before he can say anything the ground suddenly starts to shake beneath your feet. Not hard; it feels like a gentle rumbling as opposed to anything else, but fear rolls down your spine all the same.

"What-" you say, trying desperately to figure out if the shaking is coming from something large moving outside of what you can see within the valley of the gorge. "What is that? An earthquake?"

"Earthquake?" Vash sounds too amused, but lays a hand on your shoulder to steady you—perhaps more emotionally than physical. "That's just a sand-worm. Big one, I bet. They don't tend to surface in rocky places so I don't think we need to worry about anything."

A dozen questions immediately surface about nearly every word that came out of the man's mouth, but you shove them down so as to nod in silent acceptance of his answer. The rumbling continues for at least a minute before eventually calming down, leaving the ground beneath your feet still once more.

Vash removes his hand from your shoulder and adjusts himself, flashing a grin that looks almost stupidly energetic on his face.

"See? Nothing to worry about."

You simply remain silent, brows furrowing just enough over your downturned eyes that the stress must have looked obvious enough; your traveling partner quickly makes a noise to get your attention and gestures widely with his hands as he talks.

"Look, we're way too small to be considered any kind of good eating to a sand-worm like that—those things mostly eat tiny bug that live deep in the dunes out in the open sea anyway."

What?

"Sea?" The confusion grabbed you so quickly that there wasn't a moment to be concerned over the horrible way Vash had described such a monstrous thing—humans were too small? You narrow your eyes at him and tilt your head to the side. "What do you mean sea?"

He meets your confusion with some of his own, echoing the expression across your face.

"I mean... the open sand," he explains with a useless wave of his hand out towards the end of the gorge the two of you had entered from, where the sand dunes rolled on for miles upon miles. "No town for days, just dunes and stuff."

"That's...a desert."

Vash only looks more confused as you try to clarify his choice of words. It leaves you wondering if, perhaps, there's been a defined shift in what he means from your use of the language.

"A sea is a large body of water," you finally explain, uselessly trying to conjure up flashes of memories in your mind as if that would help you describe it perfectly into words he could connect with. "Like, huge. They're hundreds of miles wide at the smallest and deeper than anyone could ever swim. They have dolphins and whales and squids—"

"Are you sure you're not making some of those words up?" Vash asks with a chuckle, but you ignore him in favor of trying to finish your thoughts.

"—and we'd have huge ships that could sail across them, sometimes people would spend vacations on fancy cruises or— or scientists would find all sorts of new animals we never knew existed! They were huge and deep and filled with water and not sand—"

As your words turn less explanatory and more frantic, you swear that the world starts to shake just a little bit. Or maybe that's just you shaking, brain unable to wrap around the fact that this never-ending desert is not home, it's not Earth, and you are far, far away from anything even remotely familiar to you.

To this, Vash finally seems to take a step towards you, face empty of humor and instead filled with a look of soft concern.

"Hey hey hey—" his hands fall on your shoulders just hard enough that the pressure snaps your mind out of its whirlwind of worry. "Don't start thinking too much about it. I promise I don't think you're lying, not at all."

Your eyes meet his own for several long seconds. Even through the tint of his glasses, you can't help but feel comforted by the soft blue-green of the man's eyes, mirroring a perfectly clear sky and filled with an assurance so strong you couldn't help but feel calmed at least a little.

"...I miss it," the words gently mumble past your lips. "All of it. Earth."

"There's nothing wrong for someone to miss home," he whispers in return, soft tone nearly lost in the wind blowing through the gorge and whistling its lonely reminders. "And I'll do everything I can to make sure you go back to it, okay?"

Your face bounces with a nod after a few seconds, temporarily comforted from the anxiety biting at the edges of fragile thoughts.

"Please," you say, gentle and firm, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Vash is silent for a moment. At first you think he's going to say nothing and merely change the subject or hurry the two of you to keep moving before the day turns too hot—but instead, the grip of his hands on your shoulders grow tight and hard, just short of uncomfortable.

"Don't worry." The words are simple, and there's a smile on his face. "I won't."

It's a painful, honest smile.