I feel that often, people really disregard bivalves (and other sessile animals absolutely) as just a little more than background objects, somewhere between a plant and a rock, when they’re fellow animals just like us. I mean I get it, a mussel siphoning in water all day is less engaging than like a songbird darting about the woods or a sheep that walks around and that you can pet. But they really aren’t at all just machines!
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting adult freshwater pearl mussels, who were being showcased to raise awareness about their endangerment and ecosystem services. They had a few mussels in these small tanks to show how quickly they can clean the water — I’m sure you’ve seen the setup, there’s one really cloudy tank and a clear tank that used to be cloudy a few hours ago, but is now clear thanks to the filtering made by the mussels! One of the tanks had a strange sight in it: two still mussels and one… flailing one. Its light leg was fully out and waving about, and its shell was sort of lodged in the corner, upside down. When my friends and I asked what the matter with the mussel was, it had apparently been unsatisfied with its place in the sand that the scientists had put it in, and while trying to figure out a nicer position it had accidentally flipped itself over! Poor guy couldn’t quite get out from the corner for a while ToT
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What drives me even more insane about this scene is how you'd expect Gojo to imagine High school era! Geto in the crowd. Or at least not the cult leader, worst of all the curse users Geto Suguru. But no, it's the cult leader Geto. It's Geto as Gojo last remembered him. As Geto last was. Whatever choices Geto made, wherever his choices led him and them, however he was, whoever he was, traumas and messed up ideas and bad choices and ill reputations and scorns and all. Gojo wanted Geto Suguru there. Not any ideal version. Not any "what if" version. Not any "at some point in time before things went downhill" version. Not any "when your hands weren't stained with innocent blood" version. He knew very well what he wanted. And he wanted it all the same. He wanted Geto Suguru. However he was. He just wanted him to be there. He just wanted him to be.
And he didn't want him to help him, he didn't want him to fight with him even if they were strongest together and always fought together for a while. He just wanted him to be there in the crowd and cheer him on. He just wanted him to stand there and give him one of his sweet, heartwarming smiles that shaped his eyes into crescent moons. He just wanted him to be. Then even if Gojo had died in the end anyway, he would have been satisfied. It would have been worth it. Only if Geto was there.
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they're filming season two, but i'm thinking about the potential adaption of the mount tam scene in season three. you know, the one where annabeth could apologize for pushing percy out of the way and falling off the cliff in his place, and how she knows that sounds terrible but they didn't have time for another plan and she didn't want to lose him that way. but percy just engulfs her in a hug because he's so relieved that she's safe now and everything else be damned. and annabeth doesn't understand why he's snickering to himself after that last statement, but she melts into the hug anyway because she missed him. and thalia and grover stand in the background happy for their friends on the outside but internally mortified, because their friends are definitely falling for each other but fate may not allow them to see it through.
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