#i could also just go for the more basic 'flock' because it suits my Bird Autism Beam agenda. or 'colony' to pare it right down

[starflungwaddledee]

is there an accepted collective name for waddle dees? for when they're in a group; like how you have a flock or birds or a pack of wolves?

if not can i formally suggest: wuddle.

because it's cute and sounds like a puddle of waddle dees. but also because it's similar to 'huddle' which is used for stationary penguins on land. (penguins are in fact actually collectively called a 'waddle' when they're walking, so there is... you know. That.)

[tricktster]

I noticed at least some of you seem to be into my recent Swamp Content, so I went out last night around sunset to record the soundtrack of spring in the wetlands for y’all, because I think you should be forced to confront my daily reality of every single animal in the woods simultaneously screaming about how they want, no, NEED, to fuck. 

Now, you may notice that animals’ sex solicitations are not the only noises in this video, and that brings me to the other denizen of these wretched boglands: my only neighbor, the swamp witch. 

Note: I am currently living that millennial lifestyle where I am somehow simultaneously a respected professional that earns a lot of money and absolutely buried in the student loan debt that I had to incur to get to be a respected professional that earns a lot of money. I traded my pride for fiscal responsibility, I moved back in with my parents, and I have spent the past few years diligently paying that shit down while saving for a down payment on my own house. Honestly? I’m so fucking grateful that my parents gave me this opportunity, since I’m finally at the point where the homes in my price range have like, roofs and bathrooms that aren’t carpeted and basically no bloodstains on the walls. There has really only been one downside to returning to this house, and that is that there is no way not to regularly encounter the swamp witch, because, again, she is my only neighbor for as far as the eye can see, on account of everything else being swamp. 

Me and the swamp witch go way back, and I know more about her than most, because she has a daughter about my age, so when I was a kid I would very occasionally enter the neighboring property on the daughter’s invitation. As a result, I have known the swamp witch for approximately twenty years, during which she has never demonstrated the barest capacity for being anything except actively wretched. 

I was going to tell you all the ways that she’s the worst, category by category, but honestly, I only got through one sub-category before I got overwhelmed at how much more there was to write. So we’ll leave out the bits about how she interacts with her family, my family, her employees, the legal system, and so on. Let’s just talk animals, and there is a MAJOR CONTENT WARNING HERE FOR ANIMAL NEGLECT AND DEATH:

As you can hear in the video, she has only one vocal pitch, and it is screaming. 

“What is she screaming at?” You might ask, and I would answer “A varying amount of small dogs that is never less than four.” They are generally impulse purchases at the mall pet store, or she receives them as gifts. They are not trained, ever, and she appears to hate them in the same way that Miss Hannigan in Annie hates orphans, where like... one has to question why she is then accumulating so many, when it would be so easy to just not have several hundred poorly behaved small dogs that she has to scream at all day. 

At the end of the video, she calls them “little rats,” which again, is a real “evil orphanage owner and/or Cruella DeVille” move

Occasionally, mixed in with the small dogs, there will be a big one, and she will also hate that one. 

When I first met her, she had a big dog named Poop. 

Why was the dog named Poop, you might ask? Well, because she was inspired by the fact that the poor dog clearly had some sort of devastating intestinal issue that caused it to produce such enormous and clearly unhealthy dumps that I can really only describe them as “not technically a war crime, but...” 

The swamp witch does not enjoy cleaning up her dogs’ feces, or really addressing the fact that they have bathroom needs in any way. When I was a kid, I used to go inside her house to hang out with her daughter, and there would always be just a Pomeranian poop chilling on the kitchen floor.  

Since Poop (the dog) would have destroyed the entire first floor of her house if he’d gone inside, she instead directed him to do his business on our driveway.

Since Poop’s insides were all messed up, Poop would constantly eat grass. Poop passed away after the swamp witch threw him outside to poop on our driveway, and he stopped to eat the grass, including the illegal pesticide she’d just sprayed on her front lawn. 

Lest you think that the swamp witch merely has it out for dogs, let me clarify: Dogs are one of the types of animals she accumulates, because, deep down, she hates every animal.

The swamp witch clearly has a special dislike for birds, which is why she has several varieties of very long-lived parrots that are, obviously, not socialized. The parrots are therefore constantly screeching, regardless of time of day. She does not like this, so she will scream at them to shut up whenever they are screeching, which is always. 

For my entire childhood, the swamp witch did not park in her garage. Why not, you ask? Well, because the garage was full of ducks, you see. 

Just a flock of thirty ducks that she stored in a garage. 

She did, at least, keep one sort of animal that was perfectly suited to be kept outdoors as a domestic pet in a place renowned for its harsh and lengthy winters and I am totally kidding it was fucking peacocks. She had peacocks. Four peacocks, which she hated. 

The peacocks had slashing talons and a penchant for child attacks. 

Peacocks, if you were curious, also enjoy screaming.

At least one of the peacocks lasted incredibly long, by swamp witch animal standards, and every second of that long life was spent either plotting escape, trying to attack people once it had escaped, or, of course, screeching. 

There are always at least nine purebred cats, which she absolutely loathes. They are always extremely expensive purchases from a mall pet store, and they invariably have a genetic defect that makes them less able to function without human assistance than your standard cat, which is why they are indoor/outdoor, in a swamp filled with coyotes. 

The cats, needless to say, appear and vanish on something of a heavy rotation due to coyote related tragedies. 

There was briefly a goat, which somehow lived indoors. 

The last time I remember being in that house, there was a rubbermaid tub full of baby snapping turtles. 

I finally had to wrap this up because after the snapping turtles, I realized that I could keep going. I could just keep going on about the swamp witch and animals. I’m nowhere near done. I cannot believe this is a real person, but it is, and she is probably less than 1000 feet away from me right now, and she is possibly in a room full of dolls because one of the rooms in that house is just porcelain dolls its just dolls you guys it’s literally just-

no. 

I’m done. Let it go, TST. 

This is what the swamp witch feeds on. 

[anika-ann]

Hands Too Cold, but Heart of Gold - Pt.2

The Partnership

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader, Matt Murdock x reader (no SR x MM x r)

Word count: 2250

Summary: Avenger!reader AU, love triangle. Daredevil is so-so warming up to the team... some of its members anyway. Steve is too busy being furious with you. Or is he?

Warnings: pissed off Steve, mentions of violence, swearing, fluff, mild angst…? 

Story Masterlist

────── ·❆· ──────

If anyone was watching, they probably thought they were high and hallucinating. The quinjet basically landed on water, opening precisely for you to just leave the pier and enter the ramp lash entrance without faltering in your steps. You walked in, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen on your tail, the tension in his shoulders obvious.

“Hi, Elsa. Looking as good as ever. DD, good to see you again,” Tony’s voice welcomed you, confirming your suspicion. Everyone was now here, probably. Wonderful.

“Mr. Stark,” Daredevil acknowledged him with a nod.

You, on the other hand, ignored the greeting. If he was starting with Elsa, you were not about to speak to him unless necessary, even when he told you that you looked good – hell, it had been like an hour since he had seen you. Jerk.

“Wow, look at you, kiddo. Good job. Daredevil, we haven’t met yet-“ Clint stood up from his seat, hand extended.

“Meaning you haven’t stalked me and tried to get me to join your team?”

Clint wasn’t surprised or concerned about the distance the masked man kept, withdrawing his hand easily. “Yep. Name’s Clint Barton.”

The Devil just nodded again, not giving up his own name. Shocker.

“Daredevil. Welcome on board. Hey, our new recruitment expert.” Tasha gave you a significant look saying ‘brace yourself’. You picked up on it immediately.

“Hey, Natasha. Is Steve mad?” you asked innocently despite knowing the answer for sure.

“Yes,” sounded from behind you quietly, a brief warning from the Devil, as the man in question appeared, his footsteps heavy and angry.

“You are in so much trouble, missy!”

You made a face. “Steve, do not call me ‘missy’. It’s the on the top of the bad words list, seriously, who the fuck taught you that?” you teased him lightly, the humour leaving you when you found yourself under his strict gaze. Not just strict; worried. Hurt. “I’m not sorry for turning it off. You weren’t exactly helping.”

“I appreciated it,” Daredevil supported you unexpectedly and you eyed him, fighting a smile, unable to resist the warmth of satisfaction in your chest.

“Yeah, well, the job is done. Congratulation. Now turn it on again, or so help me god, I’ll cuff you with powers-restrictors and you’re sitting this mission out,” Steve grumbled, spinning on his heels, returning to the cockpit without another word.

You blinked in surprise at the harshness, heavy guilt settling in your stomach. Surely it wasn’t such a big deal? No, there hadn’t even been a real danger; Steve wouldn’t be so pissed about something like this, not normally. Something was wrong.

You left Daredevil’s side, making your way after Steve.

“Leave him. He’s just a grumpy old man,” Tony hummed, drinking some energy drink through a straw.

You ignored him. This wasn’t grumpiness, this was anxiety. Steve was anxious about something and it wasn’t you turning off your comms.

You entered the cockpit, hearing Clint trying to socialize with the Devil while Natasha interjected with the plan so the Devil would be brought up to speed.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now, Anderson,” your captain growled, pretending to be perfectly focused on piloting a plane that could just easily run on autopilot. The tendons in his forearms were so tightened he could cut something with them.

You gulped. Anderson. The spy name you were given by S.H.I.E.L.D. after your real persona had to die. No one on team called you that. Ever.

Crap. This is bad.

You sat down next to him despite his protest.

“That’s too bad. Because-“

“I don’t care about apologies.”

You scoffed. “Good, ‘cause you’re not getting one.”

His statue-like posture shifted and his eyes turned to you for a fraction of a second before returning to staring ahead blankly, pretending to see what was in front of them. He didn’t say a word.

You bit your lip, covering his right hand with yours gently. His fingers twitched, but otherwise he didn’t react to your gesture. You ran your thumb over his knuckles.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on? And don’t try that bullshit about being angry because of me cutting you off. You knew it was a good move. Talk to me, Steve,” you whispered, observing his hard expression, wondering what he was hiding behind it. Steve had always been good at perceiving your emotions – and thanks to the way he had opened to you, it went both ways. But now, he was closing off and you hated it. “Please.”

Steve remained silent. It might seem he didn’t even listen to you, but you could tell he was struggling with something. Steve was… a sweetheart. A kick-ass serum-powered stubborn reckless sweetheart. He cared for people. He worried. And he thought the serum had not only made him the most famous American hero, but also transformed him into Atlas – he believed he needed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and protect everyone else. You knew that this was why your crush was pointless – he would always saw you as the newbie, as the little sister who needed protection and couldn’t bear the weight of what he was carrying – like for example right now.

“There’s something out of place,” he said quietly and you supressed the rush of joy into your abdomen at his honesty. And silenced the ‘you mean beside the fact the daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury was kidnapped from her private school together with three other girls, taken by a human trafficking ring?’, knowing now was not the time. The Secretary was out of his mind. This would be a STRIKE team mission, but he demanded Captain America and the Avengers. “Something just doesn’t feel right. Maybe paranoia is to getting me-”

The Secretary demanded the Avengers; for some reason, Steve didn’t think it was enough and wanted the Devil on it too; because he had a bad feeling about this. It all made sense now.

You squeezed his hand and he turned it up to catch your hand in his and reciprocate the gesture, not caring he let go of the controller – the plane was still on autopilot then. He really had been sitting here only for show. You mentally rolled your eyes.

“Well, you’re old enough for that, but I don’t think it’s paranoia, Steve.” His blue eyes met yours, allowing you to glimpse at the unsettling uneasiness inside of him. “You have good instincts and you have every right to trust them. I know I do.”

His posture slightly relaxed, the corners of his lips rising just inconspicuously. “Thank you.”

“I’ll keep the irresponsibility to minimum. Even smaller minimum than usual. I promise. I���ll be on the highest alert,” you reassured him softly, sensing his stiffness resolving completely. Oh dear god, this man worried for others so much. He needed something light in his life.

You squeezed his hand one more time, rising to your feet and patting his shoulder, determined to light up the mood by quoting him. “If they hurt me, I’ll hurt them back. And I’ll walk it off if they kill-“

“Don’t say it.”  

His hand shoot up to your wrist, stopping you before you could finish and leave. You met his eyes once more, curling your fingers around his own wrist.

“I’ll be careful, Steve. I promise. Just try to do the same, okay?”

He smiled at the open display of care; it was nothing rare, yet, he would probably always find it precious. He was Captain America, he was meant to worry about others; you could understand why he was moved by someone else taking the role of the concerned friend.

“Go meet the Devil properly. You’re paired with him.”

You blinked in surprise, tilting your head to side. “Why me?”

“ ’Cause he seems to trust you enough to join the mission,” Steve stated, sounding as if it was obvious.

Oh. Okay, you could see his point.

“Are you saying the others don’t trust me then?” you demanded, pretending to be wounded. Maybe not completely pretending. You were the newbie after all, you would understand if they would be reluctant to do so even after the missions you had had together.

“Oh come on, Snowflake. You know we do.”

────── ·❆· ──────

You entered the larger space only to find Daredevil in the company of Clint and Tony. Tasha had probably run him through the basics of the mission and now was getting ready, while the guys were trying to interrogate the temporary addition to the team.

The Devil shot you a brief smile as you appeared and the other men noticed you too.

“But seriously. Is it Lucifer? Or is something like Raphael, like the archangel, and you’re trolling everyone?” Tony demanded and you snorted, the corners of Devil’s lips rising higher.

“No, Mr. Stark. It’s neither. Give up.”

You pated the billionaire’s shoulder. “You should suit up. We’re almost there. Plus I need to talk strategy with my partner.”

Clint grinned at Tony’s shocked expression. The man to be Iron Man gaped at Daredevil, pointing at him accusingly. “That’s not fair! Why do you get to be with the cool one?”

You rolled your eyes at the lame pun while Clint just snickered, getting up to prepare his gear.

“No, seriously. I bet I’m paired with the old man again.”

Daredevil shrugged. “Birds of feather flock together.”

You burst out laughing at the daring man who pointed out Tony’s age.

“Motherf-“

“Language!” you called out, your voice supported by three more, including one from the cockpit. Tony raised his chin, his hand imitating an offended diva gesture, which somehow activated his suit that started wrapping around him.

“Savages, all of you.” He turned his back to you and you approached the Devil, sitting next to him.

“That okay? You being paired with me?” you asked quietly.

“Of course. I get to be with the cool one. Can I ask what your abilities are exactly? Just to know-“

“Sure. Though you pretty much experienced it. I can create and manipulate ice, lower temperature of anything to almost absolute zero. It… can get nasty, but I’m trying to avoid that.”

“Understand. I don’t kill either.”

“I know.” He huffed out a laugh, less wry than you would expect from someone who just found out you had done a lot of reading on them. “You have a very good hearing and you kick ass. Anything else?”

He licked his lips, wavering. “Pretty much everything is amplified. Not just my hearing.”

Your eyes went wide in surprise. What? How— as in everything? Like his vision, sense of touch, sense of smell, taste too? “I’m not sure-“

“Would you like a demonstration?” You nodded without thinking. “Alright. Uhm… your heartbeat-“ just stopped, you wanted to say, because what the fuck- “is slower than average. You’re using a shampoo with… lilac, but there’s something I can’t really place. It’s adding to your aura, which is somehow colder – not because of the temperature, that’s normal, I guess maybe the device under your right ribs has something to with that – but… something cold, fresh.”

You felt your mouth fall open. Holy shit. He… how the hell did he perceive all that? Including the device that kept your body temperature in check?

He extended his hand and hovered over yours on your thigh. You wanted to ask what was he doing, but the answer came before you found the courage.

“Your hands, they are a bit colder and I can feel them… bursting with energy even when you’re not doing anything. It’s— I’m sorry. I’m scaring you. I didn’t want to-“

“It’s okay,” you blurted out, your voice unnaturally high and in stark contrast to his quiet and measured. He was scaring you a little, okay, but you had practically asked him. And you lived with a bunch of strange people, this shouldn’t freak you out, and it didn’t, it was just… “Surprising. But okay. Shocking, maybe. Fascinating. Terrible – how do you live like this? Knowing so much about people?”

You were glad he didn’t mention he could probably see every pore on your skin and- “Jesus, wait, you don’t have an x-ray vision too, do you?”

He chuckled, relaxing as he realized you weren’t scared or offended. “No. No, I don’t have an x-ray vision. And I promise I wouldn’t peek… without your permission.”

You let out incredulous laugh. Did he just… flirt with you?

“Good to know you’re a gentleman, Daredevil.”

“What do I call you?” he asked softly, tilting his head curiously. It was incredibly cute.

“Hm?”

“I know you heard me.”

You shrugged and settled with honesty and light joking. “Anything you want, I guess. Frostbite. Snow Queen. Really, there are number of options.”

“But not Snowflake,” he suspected, his voice falling even lower, sending your heart racing.

“No… uhm, I would rather if you didn’t call me that, yeah. It’s…”

“Too personal. I understand. Anderson?”

“Fake last name. Agent Anderson. What I became after I… died. You can go with that,” you offered, pushing down the unpleasant feeling it gave you.

“You don’t like it.”

“I don’t,” you confirmed with a shrug. Then you offered him to call you your first name, because that made the most sense really.

He just smiled, a boyish smile you wouldn’t expect on a face of man who beat up people in back alleys on regular basis. Then again, you really should know better by now, considering who you worked with.

“I’ll think about it.”  

────── ·❆· ──────

Part 3

────── ·❆· ──────

Tags: @mermaidxatxheart​ @murdermornings​ @elisaa-shelby​

────── ·❆· ──────

Thank you for reading! Tagging remanis the same; you want in or out, just lemme know. Kudos to you :-*

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

and then, I’m up with the birds

Title: and then, I’m up with the birds

Rating: G

Genre: slice of life

Word count: 2,101

Summary: who would ever thought a stranger could give you so much insight on your life, on the first time you met them?

Author’s Note: hello, surprise! i might haven’t found anything better as a greeting, but at least this time my post is a fic (!!!) and posted early haha. it’s just me trying to ponder about stuffs and exercising my writing skills. as usual, everything is un-beta-ed, so expect typos/grammar error hehe. this work is loosely based on Coldplay’s song Up With the Birds, hence the title. also you might’ve noticed i always use ‘he’ and ’she’ as my characters, it’s just me being lazy and couldn’t find names for my characters, ‘he’ and ’she’ used only to differentiate Character #1 and Character #2 lol. hope you guys like this one, have a nice weekend :-)

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That Sunday afternoon, clouds finally released the last droplets it held, signaling the typical fresh, earthy fragrance that always came visiting after the shower of rain. The apple red bench he was sitting on felt like a contrast to both the murky sky and lake, a shining distraction.

A lot was what he had in his heart and mind, taking every bit of his sanity—the burden of his everyday life, the stacks of problem that seemed to follow him around, the nightmares that stained his memories. Each syllable of his thoughts was heavy, dragging him down in his every move.

Then a voice interrupted his silent mourning.

“A penny for your thoughts?”

He hadn’t noticed he got company. This stranger—a woman probably in the same age as him—must had had materialised from thin air then sat next to him or something, he reckoned. She had her sleepy eyes looking forward and her voice dreamy, almost as if it was a boat floating gently following the stagnant waves of the sea of nowhere. Everything about her felt familiar to him, as if he had known her for so long. Even so, the current situation creeped him a bit.

Every atom of his body wanted to just scream at her to keep her nose out of people’s business. But before he could do so, he heard himself reply in a flat tone, “Living does no good for me.”

“Why is that so?” She asked, tone still kept light and warm.

The more he heard her talk, the easier the words roll out of his tongue, despite the moroseness and despondency behind what they truly meant. The tone she used somehow managed to lull him into a sense of security. Not that much for him to tell all of his deepest secrets, but just enough to give an impression that she wouldn’t mind him spilling whatever was clogging his mind—no matter what it was about. “The world no longer means anything to me.”

“Have you ever listened to the way the birds talk?” She inquired, her head slightly tilting to one side. Only at this moment did she turn to look at him, her eyes boring into his, imploring.

The sudden change of topic morphed his eyebrows into a frown. It slightly caught him off guard. “Birds don’t talk. They chirp.”

“Same difference.” She shrugged nonchalantly, a thin smile rising on her face.

“Well—uh, maybe,” he stuttered at last, after some time of left in daze by the first time he saw her smile. It also might have smoothen out his frown. “Maybe, I suppose. What do they talk about then, these birds?”

“The birds they say, at the break of day, start again,” she replied, in time with a flock of bird hovering above them. “I heard them say.”

“Couldn’t it be a more easier instruction?” He blurted out, unable to stop his cynical side to think how ridiculous what she just said was. “Starting again each day… That’s one hell of a task.”

“I know…” She trailed, eyes on the distance again. But in the next second she sent her stare back at him along with a hearty laugh. “It’s so hard to just walk away, isn’t it.”

For that one, he could only hum in agreement. He watched her for a while. Her contagious laughter almost made the corner of his mouth curl up. Almost.

He was about to continue retelling his misfortunes eating up his life, but she got there first.

“The birds they say, all a choir,” she jammed her eyes shut, as if she was trying hard to grasp the sand of her memories between her fragile fingers. “Start again, a little higher. It feels like a spark in a sea of grey.”

He felt content, somehow. Though he wasn’t sure whether it was because of the sudden breeze of wind sweeping over them, or the things she just told him. Either way, he didn’t think of how absurd what he just heard was this time, to his surprise.

Something pulled his attention in from his peripheral vision. It was the bright reflection of the sun on the surface of the murky lake hitting his eyes. “That’s not true. I’ve tried everything…” he muttered, "it never worked."

“Look up, the sky is blue, isn’t it? Even after all that rain,” she pointed out, almost as if she was ignoring what he said. She leaned back, eyes inspecting the mile high sky. “Dream that lie until it’s true. Keep on trying.”

He followed suit. He didn’t even realize the sky gradually turned into its charming azure blue again. He never realized it did so after the heavy rain stopped. He inspected her again in silence, almost speechless at how she managed to give him reasonable, adequate answers consecutively.

Still, he digressed. “I never believed in that. Looks like life has its ways to prevent me from acquiring what I made every effort for."

"Then take back all the punches you threw,” she replied simply, this time folding her arms across her abdomen, as if ready to take a light nap. “Put away all of your expectations and guesswork on how you want things to work out or suspicions on what will happen if you do or don’t do something… life has its own grandiose scheme of things, so just go for it anyway.”

“It’s not like tomorrow brings a new, clean slate for me. I’m too polluted to begin with. I’ve done worse things, some mistakes I can’t just withdrew from easily,” he murmured, voice just below a whisper, "things I regret that I can never forget.”

“Have your arms turned into wings yet?” She asked, again seemingly to take no notice of what might be implied from what he said. She straightened herself up, back on staring at him.

“I don’t have wi—” he abruptly stopped himself once he realized what she really meant, a look of confusion furrowed his eyebrows once again. Was he hearing things, or was she mildly insane? But the solemn look on her face told him otherwise. “Excuse me, what?”

“Have you learned from your wrongdoings yet?” She elaborated. The words would have sounded interrogatory and judging, if it wouldn’t for her soft voice and amused expression on her face. "Have you own up to your mistakes and grown out of it yet?”

That stops him on his track once more. Though for the first time, he didn’t know what to answer. Had he?

“Like you, I did some awful deeds and fell into that dark, catastrophic abyss. But I crawled out of it and has rebuilt myself since. I evolve,” she went on. She had her fingers adjoined at the thumb, impersonating bodiless wings. "Like the birds, my arms turn into wings.”

Lots of questions circulating in his mind, but all he could muster out was the one that had been weighing his heart down. “But don’t you feel—“

“Remorse? Guilt? Shame? Pangs of conscience?” She supplied, grinning. “Oh yes I do. Or did. But you know, all those clumsy things sent me up to this wonderful world. No matter how cruel it has been to me.”

Her guesses hit way too close to home for him. It was like thrusting the dagger deeper into his already bleeding heart. He dwindled, “I don’t—I’ve never thought of it that way."

“‘Course you haven’t,” she laughed again. She nudged his arm gently with the tip of her elbow. "Sometimes we all need someone else’s perspective to help us see things and it’s fine.”

“I guess so.” He laughed along, unbelieving he just did so, even more to hear it rang with bona fide cheer. It felt… relieving. Each exhale of breath felt as if it duplicate that deflation of a balloon, lowering the pressure in his chest.

“And that’s how I deduced it,” she added, "all that happened and all the people I met, good or bad, they carved the pathway that lead me to where I am today.”

The odds where he crossed paths with her seemed to be astronomical, nearly fairytale-like, yet here they were sitting side by side. He glanced at her again. “Like how you did for me today.”

She returned the gesture. “Like how you did for me, too.”

They laughed again in unison. They hadn’t moved for slightest bit from their seats at the red bench, though there were lots that changed. The sky was clear, no cloud to be found, the gust of wind that occasionally came ruffled the leaves of the trees, the comfortable silence that was only intervened once in a while by the sound of the lake’s ripples, the cool air the after-rain brought along slipping through their coats, all harmonically created a relaxed ambience. Especially what he and she had between them, from where they stand on the common ground, they had stacked the first stones of a bond.

“How can it be so easy for you?” He uttered suddenly once their laughter died down, querying. Without knowing, he got too intrigued more than he let on. “To accept it all?"

“Little birds are pushed from their nest by their mothers for them to let go and train their wings how to fly. Life pushed me out of my comfort zone and I see it as a sign I have to let go of the past and move on,” she explained, her index finger moving in such elegance, drawing her words in front of their eyes. “And then, I’m up with the birds.”

He mulled the words over. As much as his basic instinct told him not to trust strangers he just met, she made sense more than anyone he had ever met in his life. For the past half an hour, she lifted the shroud that once covered his eyes for all his life, she made him see what he couldn’t before.

His curiosity went further. It got him to let slip and ask what he truly wanted to know, what he truly feared. “After all this time, after everything, has life treated you fair since?”

“You fully well know the answer to your own question.” She said with a smile still, though it came as a wistful one this time.

He witnessed with his own eyes the way her smile was dissolved out of its genuineness. That made him understand more than words would ever do. “It hasn’t.”

She gave a dry laugh, nodding. “Life will never change for us. It changes us—regardless whether we accustomed ourselves to it or not. Might have to go where they don’t know my name, float all over the world just to see him again…”

Even without him listening to what she said, he could fathom what she was trying to put out. Because he heard it in her voice, crystal clear: the heartache masked under yearning hope for what might have been for loved ones lost a long time ago.

But then he saw it—a shadow of a grin plastered on her face that he wasn’t aware of before—and he understood. “There’s something else, isn't it?”

“A plot twist?” She feigned innocence, though a moment later a wide smile that exploded on her face gave her away. "Yes.”

“A real game changer, I bet,” he chuckled. Only by then he could put a word to what he felt towards her: amazement. Thinking back, if he was the boat, she undoubtedly was the raise on the waves that calmed his mind. “Do tell me."

“In defiance of it all, I won’t show or fear any pain. Whatever is waiting for me will happen and I’ll meet it when it does,” she declared valiantly, undeterred. "Even though all my armor might rust in the rain. Onward I’ll march, relentlessly.”

Seeing is believing, they said. And boy, did he really see it, that action indeed spoke volumes more than words ever would, sheer will mixed with happiness splayed all across her face features: her smile so radiant and eyes gleaming with determination, making her face aglow.

Still, he had to ask—he just wanted to hear her say it, for the curse to be broken for once and for all, and for him to be free at last. “How are you so sure about it?"

As if she deciphered what he truly meant, behind his intent gaze, she spoke again in a much reassuring, gentler tone. “A simple plot, but I know one day good things are coming our way.”

Unconsciously, as a smile rose on his own face, he chanted the magic words. “A simple plot, but I know one day good things are coming our way."

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[concertplanning]

Ways to Effectively Screw Up Your Live Performance Celebration

   This likely is the most typical Mistake that any person could dedicate. NOT Preparing In advance. I don't forget this gig we experienced about a year ago, It was for the album launching of our fellow band and we were created to open up for them. It seemed okay at to start with, bands enjoying properly, devices is excellent, crowd is brilliant, drinks everywhere, and every person was both sporting a smile or bangin' their heads, so to discuss. But then when it came to the fourth band, the drummer of that band accidentally strike the cymbals far too really hard and tore it. Pointless to say, practically all the bands that was going perform subsequent, together with us was nicely, you could say we ended up concerned but that's an understatement. So I right away went to the organizer to ask if there had been spare cymbals that the bands could use. And would not you know it, there was none. I imply, how are we meant to engage in ideal if there had been no cymbals? Very good issue the band that was headlining back again then had a spare and permit us use them. So the evening virtually turned out lame and nearly fell into failure, we had been just blessed. But not every person will be as fortunate as us. I've seen failures thanks to no spares, scarcity of beverage to market, not ample sitting capacity etc. So lesson here is DO NOT Program Forward. Due to the fact you are Normally blessed and will Often get absent with unanticipated eventualities. DO NOT Set-up Early Yup, That's in essence just one of the essential factors you could do to throw your celebration into the fiery pits of failure. Actually in my viewpoint, there is no these types of factor as staying all set too early. It will never damage if the audio specialists or mild technicians do their placing up, changes and tests though there are no folks or audience nevertheless. Again, I will relate this to my personal band experience. It was nearly 2 decades in the past when we were built to perform in a shopping mall listed here in our city. We were placed as third in the slot of bands to enjoy, so we had been self-confident there have been gonna be amazing folks to check out given that its correct in the center of the present. So its showtime suitable, We ended up at the phase and it was our change to play, and halfway by way of our very first tune, the gentle technician goes on stage and adjusts lights! even the seem was fluctuating simply because apparently, the seem technician also was trying to take care of the seem excellent. I suggest arrive on, It was showtime, I recognize the will need for adjustments from time to time but that could have been carried out prior to the exhibit by itself. It seemed really unprofessional and was breaking the momentum of us as a band and our group. DO NOT Established-UP OR DO Adjustments EARLY, Because its entertaining to enjoy bands drop momentum and battle to keep on to the group. Provide Overpriced Tickets Since that's what everybody needs! Overpriced tickets to see bands that they virtually could see for free on the weekends at the neighborhood bar. I've experienced fairly undesirable experiences with these, one time, a generation produced us sell their tickets! Envision us, the headline band, selling tickets for our individual gig! Man, how lower can you go right? it was pretty much uncomfortable but we did it anyway. I have to say however, Individually, I really don't want to go by everything like that yet again. Not to point out overpricing, If you assume your party/gig to be packed, reduced ticket charges, compute your investments with your return, If you value the tickets way too high, you chance decreasing the variety of your audience substantially, if you decrease the value, your viewers rises! So which is it heading to be? Significant priced tickets and little group? Or inexpensive tickets and packed crowd? Do the math.  If you adored this article and you would certainly like to get additional info pertaining to insights kindly go to our own website. Presume that everybody in the universe knows and talks about your event. The most vital detail for an event to be profitable is an effective way of advertising the function or just generally advertising it and allowing folks know about specifics of the function. Some productions go forward and suppose that the celebration would provide itself, and basically enable go of most, if not all advertising and marketing. From my encounter, Posters are not more than enough to promote your occasion presently. I necessarily mean, Who has time to go through every poster that they move via these days? This is where by we use social media. The Social Community is a very broad market place, not to point out news travels at gentle speed via social networking sites. So you could nearly say you could use the dimensions of this marketplace and the pace of news that travels by way of it to provide your event. Of class you should really have an alluring usually means of executing so, but after you do it proper, your occasion will surely be total packed! Not to mention opinions would possibly be composed about it which could make or crack your production's status. Use Unreliable and Inexperienced people for your crew. For as extended as I can don't forget in my lifestyle as becoming component of the band, I could not maintain rely of how lots of customers of the team were being clueless on what on earth they have been undertaking. Some had been twisting knobs, modifying the equalizer, actively playing with lights, but no person realized what the heck they were accomplishing. It was like an experiment likely wrong. Virtually each individual time specifically with new productions, this sort of state of affairs transpires. If I may well say, Organizers and Productions never have to locate new persons to hire and do the job their specialized stuff every single time there is a new output. I suggest finding the ideal people today for the task and having superior care of them so that you is not going to have to seem for any person else, effectively simply because you are cozy that these persons will do their job correct. Have an audition, filter them out with job interview to know which one particular genuinely has knowledge. You are not able to just settle and gamble the party with "this will have to do". DO NOT aim or invest on the sound procedure. Yep, Do NOT make investments on audio system and machines. Particularly if it is a band party, Simply because immediately after all, you are marketing new music, which by definition is an artwork type whose medium is Seem. You plan on possessing an magnificent concert without the need of having to devote on excellent gear? Very well, Great luck with that! It truly is really simple, Top quality Equipment equals High-quality audio, which implies greater music. Shitty Machines and you get by yourself undesirable top quality appears and possibly poor tunes. There is no this sort of thing as "Development" This is the most typically neglected element of the concert. Progression, What do I signify by progression? Say you have a band that plays reggae, and right after you is a band that plays hardcore metallic, and then after that band an acoustic band will be actively playing, can you picture it now? There is no path! You have to form the bands you take care of and have to much better suit the time and the other bands that are heading to engage in, kind them in accordance to their musical genre. Have progression of audio so to speak, this way the energy will create up. Not go up and down and fluctuate. The strength should really be from reduced to large and from high to greater, better to maximum, and progressively go down the same pace. Which is how you get a crowd labored up! and last of all... DO NOT Select your bands sensibly Effectively this is really much self-explanatory, But to give you an overview of how this could switch out disastrous, I will draw out a circumstance. Picture arranging a gig or concert somewhere wherever the phrase "Conservative" is utilized to describe everybody in the city. Then you got Marilyn Manson to play and have a live performance in that exact same city, Not only will it be a failure, they're probably likely to try out to burn up your live performance stage down! Kidding aside, If you prepare on making an attempt out the business of concert events and tunes, You really should at the extremely the very least, investigate on your industry. Get a glimpse about, ask all around, surveys on which band they want to see, that way you can at the very least have self-assurance that persons will like the occasion and will glimpse ahead to it. If I might include, Having newbie bands to perform at a expert celebration is a gamble that in some cases pays off nicely, but most of the time its a gamble that leaves you with 2 or far more lacking fingers. IF you prepare on having on amateurs, it is finest that you place up an "newbie evening" or an "Open stage night", with this method you get two birds in just one stone, individuals will flock to see their pals perform, you is not going to have a really hard time making an attempt to get bands mainly because people today will routinely just attempt to get into the line-up since of the lots of, quite a few unsigned bands out there. And its nice to look at anyone from your hometown, somebody you know play. You get the welcomed and happy experience in some way, give it to the folks so to converse. They will absolutely have a wonderful time and delight in. To conclude, to have a thriving celebration or concert, a selection of factors should perform simultaneously and in sync. It really is a tough matter to do but if completed effectively, pays off truly well. I hope this short article cleared up some of the overlooked matters that organizers and productions are inclined to have. Everything was by way of my personal experience for remaining in the band scene for much more than 4 a long time now. Great luck to you and cheers!

[aroacehogwarts]

Like The Phoenix

Happy Solstice, all! This was a fic created in case one of the White Dragon participants couldn’t finish their gift. Happily, they can! So instead this is a little teaser of what I’m sure is to be an avalanche of awesome! Gift giving officially starts tomorrow. For now, please enjoy this aroace-centric fic. :D

~

Gryffindor, where the brave reside! Ravenclaw, where the wisest dwell! Slytherin, where the ambitious stay! Hufflepuff... where hard workers live?

Like the brave and righteous don’t work hard to correct injustice? Like the wise don’t work hard to gain knowledge and experience? Like ambition means you don’t have to work hard to achieve results? Sometimes, being in Hufflepuff was an identity crisis. 

It was one certain Hufflepuff that struggled with this on the night we watch them. It was near the beginning of the school year. Slytherin had won last year’s Cup. Ravenclaw the year before. And Gryffindor the year before that. A lot could change in the coming months, but Slytherin already had a nice head start. It wasn’t particularly uncommon for a student to not see their house win the Cup at the end of the year the entire time they were at Hogwarts, but this student had never seen that coming. The house known for hard work and toil, and even their Head of House wasn’t certain the last time Hufflepuff had won the Cup - though they did know Hufflepuff had won the Cup at some point. A small comfort, if even that.

So what, really, was Hufflepuff? Who, really, was this Hufflepuff? Let us call them, Alex, for their own anonymity and comfort. However, we shall share their story because it is an important one, and one that Alex would want shared.

~

“Avis.” BANG.

“Avis.” BANG.

“Avis.” BANG.

Alex conjured flights of bird after flights of bird. The spell wasn’t mastered, so the birds disappeared minutes after conjuring, meaning Alex wasn’t buried in an avalanche of feathers.

“Could you quit that?” an annoyed voice came from the doorway that Alex’s back was facing.

Well, the noise was bound to have drawn somebody at some point.

“No,” Alex replied tersley. “Avis!”

“Incendio!” Fire burst through the dark, stone room, setting most of the flocks alight, withering the birds away to nothing.

“Hey!” Alex rose and turned. “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

The fire-caster wasn’t someone Alex recognized off the bat, but Alex guessed they were a year younger. Their blue bowtie identified them as a Ravenclaw. Their scowl made their emotions at the moment quite clear.

“Dangerous for you, maybe. I could put the fire out far before it hurt me.”

“Rude.” Alex turned and sat, unwilling to get into a duel with this random younger year. Instead of the calming casting, Alex pulled out a cube. One side held a large button, another a series of smaller buttons, another a metal ball that could be scrolled in any direction, and so forth. Alex took to playing with the cube instead.

“Hello? Aren’t you going to cast more birds? C’mon.”

Alex ignored them. The Ravenclaw was clearly itching for a fight. Alex did not want to give it to them.

The Ravenclaw sighed. “Fine, be that way.”

Alex relaxed slightly as their footsteps walked away, then immediately tensed when the footsteps started getting louder and closer again. 

“What’s your problem, huh?”

“Nothing,” Alex said, keeping a level voice.

“Yeah, I bet. You and all the other perfect Hufflepuffs.”

“What?” Alex couldn’t help the tinge of surprise that came with the word. “Perfect Hufflepuffs? Don’t you mean loser Hufflepuffs? Nobody Hufflepuffs?”

“Yeah, right. Free to just be yourselves, not having to live up to some restrictive stereotype that people think only means one thing making the pressure so great it literally breaks you.”

“Whoa, what?” was all Alex could manage. This was far beyond anything Alex had expected to deal with today. Wasn’t one internal crisis enough for one day? Apparently not.

“Nothing. Nevermind.” The Ravenclaw turned to leave. Alex got the impression that this time, there would be no returning.

“Wait! No, that was a... useless response. I just didn’t know the other Houses felt the same way?”

The Ravenclaw paused but didn’t turn to face Alex. “Same way?”

“Yeah, I feel like...,” Alex paused to gain courage to say the words out loud. “I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere. We’re supposedly the House of hard work, right? But bravery, wisdom, and ambition don’t take hard work? Anyone from any House could work hard. So what does it even mean to be a Hufflepuff? What do I have to be proud of?”

The Ravenclaw was silent for a few moments. “Nothing.” Alex’s heart came crashing down. Alex turned to avoid having to look at the Ravenclaw. “None of us do, really. The Houses are just meaningless sortings based off a couple of dead people several hundred years ago. Who knows what purpose the sorting really served back then. I definitely don’t think it serves a purpose now, though. I mean, everyone thinks Ravenclaw just means book smarts, but that’s not the only kind of intelligence. It’s not definitively the best kind of intelligence either. And you think there are no intelligent Gryffindors nor Hufflepuffs nor Slytherins? The Houses are just oversimplified views of the traits that a person, at one point in their life, when they’re young and are highly unlikely to know what you really want now nevermind for the rest of your life.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to sit in stunned silence.

“Wow, that was... Wow,” was all Alex could manage. Everything they’d been unable to articulate had just been summed up by this unknown Ravenclaw. “Alex.”

“Hm? Oh, Jamie.”

Alex felt an odd kinship with Jamie. The sorting rant was oddly relaxing. That’s what made Alex admit, “you know, it’s funny. Realizing I was asexual was easy. Realizing I was arospec was harder. But coming out as both of them to my family and friends was a breeze. Yeah, I was nervous, but I was also excited. I guess I’m just lucky, but I never had any crisis over my orientation. My House, though? Crises galore.” Alex laughed, a tad darkly.

“A-asexual?”

“Never heard of it?”

“No. What’s it mean?”

“It generally means a lack of sexual attraction.”

“So then arospec. Short for?”

“Aromantic spectrum. Aromantic is a lack of romantic attraction. The spectrum part just means it’s not so clear as never experiencing romantic attraction. Some experience it only under certain circumstances, some experience it just at a very low level, some might experience it at differing intensities, etc. Anything beyond just plain experiencing or not experiencing romantic attraction.” Sometimes it could be tiring to explain this sort of thing over and over again, but this time, Alex was actually excited. Jamie seemed genuinely interested. This wasn’t a case of someone just not knowing or understanding Alex. This was a case of something thirsting to know what these words meant. Alex was inexplicably excited over this.

“If arospec is a thing then asex-spec? Asespec? Must be a thing, too.”

“Yes! Acespec. Same principal as arospec but with sexual attraction.”

“And are these the only words you know? Asexual, acespec, aromantic, arospec?”

“No, there are tons of terms out there! More than I could even list. There’s - and you can attach asexual or sexual or aromantic or romantic after each of these - demi, gray, lith, cupio, fray, apothi, quoi, etc. Lesse, what’d I say? Quoi means you confuse different attraction types or can’t tell them apart. It can also mean a whole host of other things, like finding the whole concept of attraction meaningless or illogical to you. Demi means you don’t experience an attraction until after a bond is formed. Gray is basically another term for acespec - it means a whole lot of things that basically mean you don’t simply experience attraction or don’t simply not experience attraction. And... I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“Yes, but go on, go on!”

Alex smiled, a genuine smile - the first in what felt like ages. “What haven’t I defined yet?”

Jamie closed their eyes, trying to remember as much as Alex. “Lith, cupio, fray, and apothi,” Jamie said.

Alex raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop to question. “Lith means you can feel and desire a type of attraction and relationship but only in theory. Fray means you experience attraction until you form a bond with someone. And apothi means you’re specifically asexual or aromantic and sex or romance repulsed. And these are really just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve got a book I’ve been bogarting if you want it?”

“The book talks about all this stuff?”

“Yes! It’s got definitions, theories, and even personal stories in it. It’s helped me feel not so alone.”

Jamie was quiet, thoughtful. “So can you be more than one thing at once? Like bi and demi?”

“Oh yeah, you can be so much more than that. You could be demibiromantic quoipansexual or whatever mix of things best suits you.”

“I would love to see the book,” Jamie said quietly.

“Well come on, then!” Alex hopped up and walked over to Jamie. “It’s just in my dorm room. Don’t tell anybody, but I keep it under my pillow. It comforts me. I’d be happy to know it’s helping someone else.”

Jamie seemed a little flustered following a few paces after Alex. “I don’t want to take something so precious to you.”

“You’re not! I’m sharing.”

Without any sense of awkwardness or embarrassment, Alex knocked on the barrels outside the common room once they’d reached the area by the kitchens. Alex couldn’t help but laugh at Jamie partly attempting to avert their eyes and partly sneaking a curious glance. “Houses are meaningless, remember?” Alex teased.

“Right,” Jamie relaxed, climbing in after Alex.

~

And that is where our story ends, dear listener. As they say, the rest is history. Alex and Jamie became close friends after that night, and each were welcomed without too many second glances into the other’s common room. Jamie soon came out as aromantic acespec to Alex, the only person they were out to for many years.

Hopefully the moral of this story has been made clear, but if not, let me spell it out for you: it’s not the labels that others put on you that matters; it’s your actions - big and small alike - that matter.

[lynnrandolph93]

Buy Cotton Candy Grape Plant Sublime Tricks

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My Grape Plant Is Dying

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Grape Kool Aid Plant

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[dickie-gayson]

Me and the Devil

Jason Todd was tortured and killed by The Joker and Dick Grayson had disappeared; murdered by the Court of Owls.

But everyone knows a Robin Redbreast in a cage puts all of Heaven in a rage. And even dead birds can fly again when the Gods demand it.

So, when the Talon catches wind of a new crime lord gunning for the Bats, he goes to investigate. After all, birds of a feather flock together and nobody clips a Robin's wings and lives to laugh about.

Characters: Arkham Knight!Jason Todd, Talon!Dick Grayson

Warning: Violence

Pairing: None

Genre: Supernatural? Crime? Horror? idk lmao

Words: 3k+

Other Parts: --

Also: I take prompts/requests. Can be found on FF here and Ao3 here

Notes: Mori Shej is 100000% still being worked on, I promise! I'm halfway done with the next chapter, this has just been in my head. ngl this is a self-indulgent fic. There is basically zero canon-compliancy here. Just consider it a total AU. I've been wanting a fic where Talon!Dick and AK!Jason meet.

"If you could only see the beast you've made of me I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallow'ed ground"

In the belltower of the abandoned Saint Louise de Marillac Cathedral in Old Gotham perched an unholy, subhuman creature wearing the face of a hero. It was truly a nightmare to behold with it's garish blackened veins against lifeless chalky skin. The luminescent yellow eyes that lit up the shadows only added to the grotesque imagery. That it took the church as its temporary home was a travesty of the most profane form. The Talon had been quite handsome once upon a time and so good at heart. That was years ago, before The Court of Owls plucked Nightwing from the rooftops and brought him to their home in the sewers. The horrors that occurred behind those granite and lime walls were unimaginable. They twisted Dick, made him into a cold, cruel monster and they suffered dearly for it.

It was their fault, really. What did they expect, taking a highly trained hero and corrupting him down to the core through torture? Loyalty? No, Dick Grayson was far too stubborn and spiteful to bow his head to his captors. He could play the game though. He could play it with the best of them. For years he pretended to be their subservient little pet; their lethal weapon of mass destruction. When the time was right and they grew comfortable with the horror they created, he struck them down. It had been pure chaos. Only the other Talons posed a threat to him, and hardly so. Before he was given the serum, the Talons had been a challenge, but he could still hold his own. Now that he had their very same abilities? It was laughable how he tore through them. The utter fear in the Parliament members' eyes when they finally realized what Hell they unleashed on themselves was oh so delicious. Each and every one of them was hunted down and executed without exception. They paid for what they'd done in blood.

The last thing Talon remembered before the Court got to him was his frantic search for his missing little brother. Upon his escape and after the systematic capture and execution of the Court, he took to hunting his old family out of curiosity. Dick needed to know why he'd been left to the torture the Parliament put him through; why he was abandoned in the sewers of Gotham to become the monster he was now. What had been so important that nobody rescued him?

It hadn't been hard to get into the Cave and find what he needed. The memorial cases displaying his Nightwing and the Robin suits would have left an odd feeling in his chest, but emotions had all but been stripped from him. Now he was only hollow and so very, very cold inside. It was in his temporary 'roost' that he watched that video. The brutal torture and death of Jason Todd at the hands of The Joker played out on the dimmed screen of his tablet. The piercing 'bang' of the final gunshot may as well have been the sound of the last nail in the coffin for the clown. Talon knew exactly who was next on his list. Nobody clipped a Robin's wings and lived to laugh about.

The whispers of The Arkham Knight reached him in his hunt for the Joker. Word spread through the underground of a newcomer armed to the teeth with a getup like Batman and gunning for the Batfamily. It was more than enough to pique his interest. Curiosity was always a strong point with Dick and that was something no amount of torture could take from him. So, he waylaid his hunt for a brief period to figure out who was encroaching on his territory. After all, if anyone was going to do some bat-hunting, it was Talon.

That's where the stalking began. He dogged the armored man's every step. From his hideout near the Bowery district to the base of operations in an abandoned shipping facility between Otisburg and Burnley. He could go nowhere without Talon shadowing him. The man had damn good instincts. From the way he looked around, often in the direction of Talon, indicated that he could sense he was being followed. It was almost amusing how paranoid the man became. Cameras were set up all over the place, state-of-the-art security systems were installed, and extra guards were positioned. Not that it stopped the highly trained assassin from slipping through it all.

The new gang seemed to be laying low. If Talon had to guess, it was to avoid unwanted attention of the vigilante sort. His constant watching led him to learn the man was indeed planning a big move against the hero. Talon grew bolder in his movements as his curiosity rose. Soon, he was searching through the office and even rifling through the masked man's various hideouts. That was when he learned that it was not some new crimelord in the making, but rather his 'deceased' brother, Jason Todd, beneath that helmet. He wanted to rip the mask off and see for himself that the dead bird wasn't quite so dead. Talon grew nearly obsessive with his stalking. He felt a sort of kinship with the hero-turned-criminal. Both had been snatched from the Bat, both had been tortured, both had been presumed dead (though it was a little truer in Dick's case), and both had been forgotten by their so-called 'family'. All they were anymore were empty suits in display cases and cautionary tales of what happens when one flies too far from the nest.

Perhaps he grew a bit possessive of his brother and killed those that conspired against The Arkham Knight. Perhaps he grew a bit obsessive and watched the man at nearly every waking, and sleeping, moment. Why shouldn't he be? That was his brother, his successor. It was his responsibility to make sure Jason suffered no longer. He failed his brother once already and he'd make damn sure he didn't fail again.

For weeks now, The Arkham Knight had the eerie feeling of being watched. At first, he searched but found no one. Then, he thought it might be his rampant paranoia growing worse. After all, the time to attack Batman was growing near and it was setting his nerves on edge. However, he wasn't entirely convinced it was all in his head. So he decided to ramp up security discreetly. He had extra eyes around the facility, hidden cameras in every nook and cranny, security systems to rival the Cave's. Still, nothing came of it. That would have put his mind at ease, but the feeling only increased. It even followed him to his hideout. In an act of desperation to escape the eyes, he dropped everything and picked out a new hideout. Jason made sure to take obscure routes to throw off any stalkers upon entering and exiting his new place.

The feeling was gone, but only for a short period of maybe two days, before it resumed. It made the man want to tear his hair out. He didn't want to admit the rising fear he felt, but it was absolutely undeniable. The nightmares only worsened from there. There was a constant thickness in his throat and a buzzing beneath his skin. Jason felt on the edge of panic at almost every point. It was a good thing he had full-body armor to cover his discomfort from the world. Sometimes when the anxiety got to be too much and the walls felt like they were closing in, he would lock himself in his office or his room and try to calm himself down through meditative techniques. The fear was all the worse because he had no idea who was following him so closely. The possibilities nearly petrified him.

That fact brought the anger he was oh so familiar with. The heat of rage was almost comforting in these times. He could handle anger. Hell, it was one of his driving forces at this point, but fear? He had too much of that at this point. He was sick to death of being scared of painted freaks and crowbars. More than once he caught himself screaming at nothing to come out already. Jason was so on edge. He just wanted them to stop. But no one ever came forward and he felt slightly silly for shouting into the shadows. He just couldn't help it.

Once, he thought he saw glowing yellow eyes watching him in the hallway of his hideout. Jason immediately went on the offensive and tried to catch the stalker. However, when he got closer, the corridor was empty. He searched top to bottom, every last corner and hiding spot, but he was alone. An acrid taste had coated his tongue and he was afraid he really was losing his mind. Jason thought he escaped the madness of the Joker, but it seemed he was wrong. It only followed him home. He nearly vomited at the realization. It crushed him on a soul-deep level and left him trembling in despair.

Jason had screamed and screamed and beat his fists into the walls as if they were responsible for his state. There was a pounding in his head that wouldn't subside. Laughter shrieked in his skull, so real he couldn't help the tears that burned his eyes. His fists nearly broke from the force and abuse. That night, he didn't sleep a wink. The next night he abandoned that destroyed hideout. Oh, how he wanted to blow the building sky high as a catharsis, but he couldn't. It'd draw the wrong attention to him too soon.

Unknown to him, those luminous eyes were very real and watched his breakdown with rapture. Nightwing would have wanted to comfort the distraught man. But Talon was only interested in seeing the man come undone. The intense reaction was so interesting. The sheer volume of Jason's emotions was almost addictive to watch. Dick felt so incredibly empty inside, like his heart had been carved straight out. To see the fire of Jason's spirit left him hungering. He craved that heat; wanted to tear his brother's chest open, consume him whole, and fill the abyss left in place of his own lost soul. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so cold and hollow. If Dick had even the barest trace of his old self left in him, he'd be utterly horrified and downright sickened at the thoughts running back and forth through his mind. That man was long since dead.

Tonight, The Arkham Knight was running a deal between his own gang and the Falcone on a shipment of weapons. Talon slipped through the security as if it didn't exist and perched in the dark of the rafters. This deal was going to get very interesting. Carmine had no intention of playing fair with the newcomers. He wanted to 'show them their place'. It was going to get bloody, and that's why he sent a lieutenant in his place. Well, Talon was going to make sure 'The Roman' got his message loud and clear. No one was allowed to mess with what was his.

Jason had that feeling of being watched again. He tried to ignore it as he conducted the deal, but that was growing increasingly difficult. It was as if someone were trying to pick him apart through sight alone. Like a mantra, he reminded himself that it wasn't real. It was all in his head. That is, until smoke started forming around his business partners. It was a familiar sort of smoke screen, like that of a pellet he used to carry as Robin. He started to internally panic, thinking the Bat had found him out already. It was almost instinctive to draw his gun and hold it at the ready.

The frantic cocking of the others' guns had him yelling out for everyone to stand down in an effort to prevent friendly fire. His helmet allowed him to see thermal imaging through the thick cloud. It wasn't Batman that dropped into the smoke, however. The figure was far too sleek in build to be Bruce and moved like liquid. At first, he thought it was Nightwing, back from wherever he disappeared to. The fluid way he flipped around screamed of the hero. But then Jason noticed the knives. Bodies dropped like flies around the unknown intruder. Screams filled the air and before he could get a shot off, the group sent by Falcone were dead. All except one.

As the smoke cleared, he got a good look of the assassin. In Jason's opinion, the owl mask was fucking stupid looking, but the rest of the outfit screamed 'professional killer'. He had lethal looking clawed gauntlets with what looked like throwing knives poking up like feathers and a bandolier of more throwing knives strapped to his chest. There were even more knives on his belt and God knows where else. Jason knew those claws could rend flesh because he saw the man take out a few throats with what seemed like casual swipes.

The last of the guest entourage was held by force before the man. The way the assassin had him kneeling was very close to that of the execution position. One of his many sharp blades was pressed snugly against the mobster's throat in such a way that even a wrong flinch could prove fatal. Those hideous goggles were staring directly at Jason but the knife-happy killer made no move to end the man. Jason had his gun trained expertly on the other's head. After a brief staredown, Jason spoke up with anger.

"You have one chance to give me a good reason not to put a bullet through that fuck-ugly mask of yours."

What he got in response was a slow, almost avian-like tilt of the head. Truthfully, it was downright creepy and made him want to pull the trigger. Before he could, though, the man spoke. Jason had to listen closely as the mask distorted his quiet voice.

"Confess."

He was about to respond with a resounding 'what the fuck' when he realized the assassin wasn't talking to him, but to the man in his grasp.

"What the hell do you mean?! Carmine's gonna hear 'bout this!"

The masked killer leaned down slowly until he was nearly brushing against his captive's face. Talon knew the man was lying. They had all been in on the plan. He had already taken out the reinforcements on the way in.

"Confess."

The way his voice dropped, frigid and soft, was frightening on a primal level. The mobster's shaking was visible even to Jason. The sentiment of 'what the fuck' still applied pretty heavily to the situation at hand. It seemed that was all it took to break the man. He cried out with a voice pitched high in fear.

"Alright! Carmine was plannin' on clippin' some of ya 'n musclin' in on the rest! Just lemme go! I won't say nothin' to the boss, I swear!"

Jason's blood boiled at the scheme. He knew doing business with the Falcone was tricky at best, especially since they were new on the scene, but this? Oh, that Sicilian fuck was going to pay. He was brought out of his angered planning when his apparent ally spoke up.

"Omerta, Jimmy. Omerta."

At the word, the man struggled briefly before stopping once the blade began cutting into his neck. He was all but crying at this point. Jason would say he felt for him, but he was a little too pissed to sympathize with the little shit. 'Jimmy' broke the code of secrecy and was fucked no matter which way he looked. It was tempting to just put a bullet through his head right now, but Jason decided to wait and see what the assassin was planning on doing with the man. Then he'd cap this waste of space and ship his body back to Carmine. 'The Roman Empire' was going to come crumbling down after this, he'd make sure of it.

Talon had no more use for the man. Any other knowledge was above the low-level thug's paygrade. Dick had heard far more in his time spying on the gang than this man was granted access to. All he needed was a solid confession, which he just got. His attention drifted back to The Arkham Knight. The gun pointing at him was of no concern to Talon. Bullets, at best, only slowed him down anymore.

"It's your head they came for, Knight. How would you sentence him?"

His voice, just as before, was all but a whisper. Jason was thankful for the enhanced audio of his helmet, otherwise, he'd have trouble hearing the lilted voice. The masked man was poised as still as a statue, ready to execute Jimmy if he gave the word. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about the unknown assassin at this point, though he was relatively certain that this was the one who was stalking him. That would most definitely be addressed later. For now, he had a rat to deal with.

He walked around the table, gun still pointed at the knife-wielding man in case he tried anything funny. When he stopped in front of the two, Jimmy was basically hyperventilating and blood dripped from the worsening wound on his neck. Jason noticed the knife had been shifted to prevent accidental death. This guy was really serious about letting Jason decide his fate, it seemed. It might be flattering if the guy weren't so damn creepy. He still wanted to at least stab him a few times for stalking him.

"I got it from here."

That earned him another one of those odd, bird-like head tilts. Then, the thug was pushed toward Jason in a sort of sacrificial manner. Before he could try to flee, Jason grabbed his collar and lifted him up to eye level.

"You're gonna deliver a message to your boss for me, Jimmy."

The man shook like a leaf as Jason spoke. The fear was evident in the way his voice raised and stuttered over his words.

"S-sure thing, Mr. Arkham Knight sir. Whatever ya s-say."

Jason was smirking beneath the helmet. The deference given to him for his position in the underground crime scene took a bit of getting used to. It wasn't the same sort of respect and fear that Robin had gotten him. Robin scared criminals because that meant prison and The Bat. The Arkham Knight scared criminals because he was either their boss or their rival, and rivalries usually ended in death. They feared for their freedom with Robin. They feared for their life with Knight.

"Never said you needed to be alive to deliver the message."

Before the man could make another peep, Jason threw him to the ground and shot him through the head. He made an indistinct motion for this whole mess to be cleaned up. There was a whole lot of work to be done now that the Falcones pissed him off. But first, there was a certain bird-themed stalker he needed to take care of. He turned around, ready to start grilling the masked man, but was surprised to see the facility assassin-less. The fact that he just got Batman-ed by some guy in an Owl mask made his eye twitch.

"Where the fuck did he go?!"

A few of his men pointed upward. Jason followed the line and immediately picked out the sunroof he could have sworn he reinforced, welded shut, and set up with alarms to prevent just this. He wasted no time in grappling up to the spot and inspecting the window. If the killer had slipped through here, he took the time to rearm the alarms, much to Jason's frustration. The fact that he even knew how to deal with his security system made the situation significantly worse. This was Bat-level tech. Who in the hell knew how deal with Bat-level tech? It set his teeth on edge.

The guy was probably expecting Jason to disarm the alarms and slip out to find him. A diversion tactic to buy him more time to escape. Well, Jason said 'fuck that'. He slammed it open and let his men deal with the blaring sirens now. There were more important things he had to deal with. Like catching a homicidal stalker that liked to cosplay as a bird. The head start he got from slipping out when Jason was distracted made this all the trickier. But he was trained by the Bat, and if there's one thing Jason can do right, it's hunt someone down.

His hunt, however, was cut short when he swung over to the neighboring building and was met with a pile of dead bodies. Jason nearly tripped over his own feet in surprise. There was at least twelve people stacked together and bleeding out over the rooftop. He needed to take a brief moment to recompose himself before assessing the situation. He recognized a few faces vaguely as belonging to a few ranking members of the Falcone. They were strapped with some heavy weapons. Jason had a growing feeling he knew exactly what happened and who did it. That's when the white sheet of paper caught his attention.

Someone, he was betting that black-clad assassin, pinned a note to one of the bodies with a fucking knife. He reached over and ripped the note off. It was a bit difficult to read the somewhat messy lettering when he opened it due to the blood smeared all over the paper, but he managed. The note was short, sweet, and to the point.

You're welcome, Baby Bird.

That was it, but it made his blood run cold. Nobody knew who he was before The Arkham Knight. Jason was really, really hoping it was just a stupid nickname the guy chose to keep on with the bird-theme and not a reference to his time as Robin. It couldn't be. Jason Peter Todd, the second Robin, was legally dead. He wasn't in the system any longer. It was just a name picked by an obsessive freak with a bird fetish. That didn't stop his gut from churning at the thought. He radioed to his men, informing them of the mess that needed to dealt with up here.

Just across the way and perched on a billboard sat the Talon. His enhanced vision allowed him to watch Jason quite clearly, even from this distance and darkness.

"Don't worry Little Wing, nobody will hurt you again. I'll kill them all first."

He watched until The Arkham Knight returned to the compound, out of his sight. Then, Talon turned and started making his way toward the high-end area of Gotham. There was a certain crime lord that made his list tonight.

[petitelepus]

A Simple Femme In Beast’s Suit, Part 1

Okay, so this work is on my AO3 user PetiteLepus and this work is inspired by Zekkoss. Check them out, they’re awesome. I’ll tag @rocksinmuffin, my Senpai, and everyday inspiration since I want her to name the Reader! But enjoy the story!

It was a regular day in Lost Light, or at least it would have been if it wasn’t for Swerve. The metallurgist had heard a broadcast sent to the whole ship by Rodimus about how they were passing by an artificial planet called Ovika 1.5 and the minibot couldn’t be in a greater rush. So he abandoned setting up his bar for the night and told Ten to carry him with his bigger legs to the observation deck. They came in, doors busting.

”Captain,” Swerve called, but was silenced by the sight of both Rodimus and Megatron staring out in the space until the smaller mech had burst in. He fixed his mistake quickly, ”I- I meant, captains! W- we must visit that planet, it’s my life long dream, besides managing a bar, please let’s go there, even for an hour or half, I’ll give you both free drinks and energy treats for tonight!”

Rodimus’ optics widened and mouth formed to a smile, but before he could agree Megatron stepped in, ”Swerve, that planet is abandoned. There is nothing there. It’s just dust and dirt covered artificial cyber asteroid floating in space.”

”That’s exactly it!” Swerve smiled broadly and jumped down from his bouncer’s arms and made his way to his two captains.

”I’ve read about Ovika 1.5 when I was back on Cybertron studying and I know it’s an artificial cyber planet that had historic and highly rare and these days NON-EXCITANT energon chips planted on it for harvesting high functioning ancient energon, way more powerful than normal energon!” The white and red mech beamed excitedly.

”Wait, hold on, I don’t get this.” Rodimus interrupted before Swerve could start again and glanced him and Megatron in confusion, ”If this Ovika 1.5 is so great, then why it’s abandoned light-years away from Cybertron?”

Swerve was about to explain, with extra details that weren’t asked, but Megatron folded his arms and shot him a look. The metallurgist shut down immediately, even covering a little. The former warlord huffed and turned his grumpy look to Rodimus, ”The Ovika 1.5 was abandoned because it showed no sign of growing energon. Instead, it started to grow organic life forms. At that time it wasn’t wished result for such an expensive experiment so Council decided to launch it off to space and destroy all the data of it to cover up their mistake.”

”But the legend about the rich energon filled planet never died and mechs all around the Cybertron told stories about it and its location! I always wanted to find it and harvest the rich energon to make amazing new drink combinations that not only bring people happiness but nurse them also! They say that ancient energon can cure weak sparks, fuel mechs for a week with one sip, and even prolong life!” Swerve piped excitedly and clapped his hands, ”It’s also highly valuable! Worth millions!”

Rodimus brightened up like a light bulb and turned to mech in charge of controls. ”Park the ship here, we’re taking Rodpod and go take a look at that little planet!”

”Rodimus!” Megatron snarled and turned to his co-captain, ”This is not a good idea and you haven’t even consulted Ultra Magnus about this!”

”Relax, Magnus is having his armor checked by Brainstorm and Perceptor so he won’t a notice a thing if we disappear for an hour or two! We just get a couple mechs with us, get to the Rodpod and take a quick peek! If there is this ancient energon then we grab some and, well, let’s see what we’re doing then. For now, wham-bam in the van, let’s go! Swerve, you’re coming with us.”

”Yes!”

~~~

”This is remarkable!” Brainstorm shouted from the bottom of his chassis as he threw his arms in the air as if he was expecting the planet to embrace him. Mechs exited the Rodpod one by one, but he had to be the first one on the land. Nautica was close behind him and once she was next to her best friend she copied him perfectly, ”This is amazing!”

The artificial cyber planet had grown into a beautiful organic looking planet. The grass was tall like a meadow’s no matter where it grew, flowers as big as minibot’s head and strangely reminding some of them from tentacles as they hang from a bulb looking like an onion…?

The trees looked like Earth’s palm trees, but they were even taller than normal mechs were and leaves were fuchsia-colored and flowers brown like they were almost dead, but still alive. The sky was bright blue, but that had to be the only normal thing on that planet since even the clouds were light green. Heavier clouds were almost poisonous looking.

”Okay everyone, I’m giving you all a job!” Rodimus shouted, getting everyone’s attention.

”Brainstorm will do his science thingies and Nautica accompanies him.”

The nerd duo high fived.

”Rewind takes records from this place and you watch after him Chromedome. I don’t want to put anyone in danger.”

”I’ll guard him with my life.” Chromedome said as he leaned over his smaller lover's shoulder to nuzzle his facial mask against his Conjunx Endura’s own. Rewind returned the sign of affection with as much love, ”Oh Domey…”

Rodimus cleared his intake, averting his gaze from the lovely dovely couple and fixed his optics on Skids and Swerve, ”You two take a look around and see if you can find anything. Remember to report back to me. And for all of you make sure to scout the area carefully! Don’t leave a stone or a twig turned and report everything to me by our comms if you find anything!” Rodimus shouted and made a pose, ”Until all are one, so go wild!”

”YES!” And just like that everyone except, Rewind, Brainstorm and Nautica, transformed and went on their different ways. Rodimus drove to the South, Skids and Swerve drove to West, Chromedome took Rewind on top of him and they drove to North and Brainstorm and Nautica went on their ways to East, each one on their own mission.

~~~ At East ~~~

”Look at this bug Nautica! It’s amazing! Not the biggest I’ve seen, but it’s still pretty amazing!” Brainstorm squealed excitedly as he used his sample taker to poke the beetle that he had kneeled down to inspect. The femme was right beside him, looking curiously the beetle that reached to their knee joints. It made cricking sounds and shook its shell each time Brainstorm poked it.

”I wonder why it’s shell is bright red… and what are those orange spots on it? Wouldn’t it be better for it to camouflage to its surroundings? There must be a reason for its absurd coloring!” The scientist said as he poked the chubby beetle straight between its antennas and suddenly the beetle hissed and-!

”Watch out!” Nautica screamed and quickly yanked Brainstorm out of the way danger’s way. The beetle spat a spray of bright yellow spit at him, but thanks to the mech’s best friend’s fast reflexes, the spit flew past him and hit the ground, and just like that, the beetle bolted and run away to the lush grass. The duo watched after it, then each other and finally the spit on the ground.

”I think it doesn’t need camouflage to hide.” Nautica noted. The spit hissed as it melted a giant hole on the ground and killed all the plants around it. Brainstorm squealed again and quickly got out his vials and took samples, ”Of course! It’s not trying to hide, but warn the predators that it’s dangerous and someone not to mess with! I must document this and run some tests on this acid to find out its composition to create more of it! Then I can mass produce it for my weapons! Imagine the possibilities!”

Nautica chuckled as she watched her friend blabber over how he needed to analyze the acid’s composition to create more of it and talk about all the great weapons he could create with it. While he took samples, she took a look around. The planet was weird but very pretty on its own way. Nautica couldn’t almost believe that it was accidentally created by Cybertronians, but if the massive animals were any indicator about their roots then it matched.

On the corner of her optic, she noticed a big bush shaking couple steps farther from them. She was curious to see what caused the shaking and since Brainstorm was busy, she decided to investigate. Nautica didn’t expect to find what she did.

”Uh, Brainstorm? You might wanna see this.”

”Oooh, what what, what is it? Another critter?” The scientist giggled and ran to his friend. Nautica shook her helm, not averting her eyes from the show bestowed before her. Two rodents that looked like super hairy fluffy puff rats with longs green lizard’s tails were mating like there was no tomorrow. Interesting, but kinda gross also…

”Yew… Neat, but still, yew.”

”I want to take them back to the ship!”

”No you don’t.” Nautica chuckled and walked off to look for something else magnificent. It wasn’t hard. Actually, wherever she looked they saw the planet’s habitats… Being all over each other. Avians with leathery wings, bugs with bright colors, mammals with their weird six eyes.

Noticing that Brainstorm was still watching critters bang, Nautica went to her friend and pulled if away, ”C’mon you, dork, let’s give those animals some privacy!”

”Noooo! I want to take them with me…!”

”You can take that ancient energon once we find it.”

”Even better! Let’s go, let’s go!” The scientist laughed as he bolted straight into the wilderness, trying to find the ancient energon. Nautica chuckled at her friend when she noticed a flock of avians circling the sky not so far away from where Brainstorm had run off to. She followed her friend to the flock of birds and she almost couldn’t believe her optics.

Bones. Giant bones everywhere. Bigger than her and any basic mech. The avian vultures pecked the squeaky clean bones, trying to find something to eat from them, but they had already been cleaned from meat.

The avians must have been hungry since they would only change a skeleton when Brainstorm went to inspect one of them.

”Nautica! This is amazing, these bones are gorgeous!” He squealed like a sparkling and straight out lifted one from the ground, ”So heavy, but almost hollow! This creature had wings to fly with, but the size of a fighter!”

He threw the bone away and went to inspect the skull with enormous sharp fangs. ”These fangs indicate that this creature was a carnivore because it lacks the blunt molars to grind it’s the food like herbivores do to plants. These fangs were purely for ripping meat apart!”

As Brainstorm rambled on, Nautica started counting bones and how many creatures they had in their pedes. According to skulls at least three giant carnivores. She couldn’t help but wonder why these animals had died.

”Hey Brains, you got any idea why these guys died?”

”I thought you would never ask!” Brainstorm giggled and jumped over the skull he was investigating to take a look at its neck.

”Look look! This one’s neck was crushed with such force that it not only snapped the cervical vertebrae but it CRUSHED IT! It’s in pieces! This monster had no chance against its competitor when it had its neck in enemy’s jaws!”

Nautica nodded as her friend made his way to another skeleton, disturbing vultures as he went to its ribs. ”Suspecting by the crushed sternum, this one received a fatal blow to straight into its heart! A real kill shot, am I right!?”

Brainstorm jumped to the third corpse, rolled over a giant skull that was more damaged than other skulls. Not only was it’s front almost black, but there was a huge hole in the middle of the forehead. He pulled servo through the skull’s black part, only to smudge his servo. ”These burnt marks are so deep, that this one had its whole face burnt before something smashed it’s head inside!”

Nautica nodded, eyeing the corpses. ”That sounds interesting Brains.”

”It is, isn’t it!”

”You do know what this means, don’t you Brainstorm?”

”That there is a giant creature here, vicious enough to crush competitor’s neck, strong enough to pierce a chest and able to breathe fire or strong acid through its mouth!”

A silence fell over them as two of them thought what was just said. And just like that, they both quickly opened comm links.

’This is your Captain? Did you find anything?’ Came Rodimus’ voice through the comm.

’Captain, uh, Rodimus? We have a problem!’ Nautica was saying when she was interrupted.

’Yeah, no shit. I found something. Something is seriously-! Hold on, Chromedome is contacting us.’

’This can’t wait-!’

’Rodimus? Is Brainstorm also on this comm?’ Came Chromedome’s voice.

’Nautica is here also!’ Brainstorm cheered.

’Hi Chromedome! We got the news! Bad news!’

’They can’t be as bad as our news!’ Rewind joined the link, ’There are hundreds of capsules here, from Cybertron!’

’Okay, that beats my news.’ Rodimus said, ’Nautica, Brainstorm, Chromedome, and Rewind, let’s all meet back at the Rodpod. I’ll contact Skids and Swerve and tell them to return-! Hold on, they’re just contacting me.’

’We’re in trouble!’ Skids yelled straight into comm link.

~~~ At North, Quarter Earlier ~~~

”Seeing anything Rewind?” Chromedome asked as he kept driving through the tall grass that seemed to go on and on forever. The minibot kept his visor and camera on the horizon, trying to see anything worth filming or noticing. Like a big rock that was coming up.

”Turn left to avoid a rock coming up-! No wait, it’s a sheep. It’s a sheep that looks like a rock. Just drive past it!”

”On it.” Chromedome drove past the sheep, only to hear unholy screeching behind him and Rewind’s hold on his roof tightened. ”Oh frag, it wasn’t a sheep, but a ram and it has big horns and it’s angry!”

The bigger mech laughed, ”How bad can it be, it’s organic. It won’t catch us-!” Chromedome had to swallow his words before they got past his vocalizer as hard and pointy horns rammed against his rear bumper.

”Frag!”

”What did I tell you!” Rewind shouted, but there wasn’t even a hint of malice or sassiness in his voice as it was only laced with laughter, until the ram rammed against his lover again, almost knocking minibot off from him. Without another word, Chromedome sped up until they left the ram eating dust.

”This planet is weird! I love it!” Rewind laughed as he filmed over his shoulder how the ram was left behind. Surely mechs on the ship would love to see them getting chased by a rocky organic.

Chromedome laughed, his engine rumbling with mirth. Then his lover noticed something and patted the vehicle’s hood to get his attention. ”Domey, there is something in the distance.”

”More rams perhaps?”

Rewind focused his optics behind his visor and used his camera to zoom in. He saw many round things in the distance, but he couldn’t tell what they were. ”No, they look like them, but it’s not it. I don’t get any signs of life from there.”

”Should we check it out?”

”It wouldn’t hurt.”

The duo made their way to mysterious objects, only to be shocked out of their minds. Rewind got off from his Conjunx Endura so Chromedome could take his normal mode. The minibot was about to approach the mysterious round objects, when the bigger mech stopped him, pushing him behind himself and approaching objects first.

”What on old Cybertron…?” Chromedome muttered as he touched the weird grass-covered object. When nothing happened, he swiped his servos over the grass, pushing it to the side. He felt his optics widen behind his visor and without his notice Rewind creeping beside him. ”Primus. Domey, do you realize what these are?”

The bigger mech nodded before wiping both his hands over the plants, getting rid of them, and uncovering what they hid there. It was a capsule. Old as time and rusted through every protective layer of metal. Chromedome put some extra pressure on the rusted surface and the rotten metal shattered under his servos like crystal. He couldn’t almost believe what he saw.

A protoform of a cybertronian sparkling, not even fully evolved. It still had its white soft armor, black outlines, and nonexistent head. There were no other details in it that growing sparkling would have. Chromedome extended his hand and carefully felt the protoform. It was stone cold and not emitting any field.

”Rewind… what are these?” The big mech asked without looking away from the cybertronian baby.

”I heard rumors back in old times when the Council decided to get rid of Ovika 1.5 that they used it also as their way of getting rid of failed power spark experiments.” The minibot explained.

”Power spark?”

”They wanted to create an artificial spark that was stronger than normal cybertronian’s spark that could carry much bigger loads than other mechs’ sparks could. Imagine a mech who actually is as big as Ultra Magnus’ armor, but can put on armor much bigger than that.”

”Primus… Those would have changed the whole war.”

”Yeah, but they said that experiments went wrong. Sparklings took deformed forms, grew too small, became predacons, some were weaker than real sparks, and died out before even growing optics. I heard that all the protoforms were destroyed, but I guess that meant that they sent them off into space with Ovika 1.5…”

Chromedome grew silent. He took a look at small protoform, barely grown enough to form a face or alt mode. It had died in a locked capsule with no chances of ever seeing stars or life itself before its life was suffocated. He took a look at hundreds of other capsules and he could already tell that each one had a dead cybertronian sparkling in there.

”That is horrible…”

Rewind nodded, ”I tried to ask about it from Dominus, but he said his lips were shut and denied everything. Of course, I knew he wasn’t able to talk to me about everything but to hold this as a secret…”

The lovers gave a moment of silence to dead cybertronians that didn’t even see light but darkness before they probably starved to death. The moment was finally broken by the big mech. ”We should report to Rodimus and the rest of the crew. They should know about this.”

Rewind nodded and the duo contacted Rodimus through comm link. They connected to comm but were immediately met with Nautica saying something about waiting to the comm link.

’Rodimus? Is Brainstorm also on this comm?’ Chromedome asked about his friend.

’Nautica is here also!’ Brainstorm cheered through comm.

’Hi Chromedome! We got news! Bad news!’ Came Nautica’s voice.

’They can’t be as bad as our news!’ Rewind joined the link, ’There are hundreds of capsules here, full of protoforms from Cybertron!’

’Okay, that beats my news.’ Rodimus said, ’Nautica, Brainstorm, Chromedome, and Rewind, let’s all meet back at the Rodpod. I’ll contact Skids and Swerve and tell them to return-! Hold on, they’re just contacting me.’

’We’re in trouble!’ Skids yelled straight into comm link.

~~~ At South, Ten Minutes Earlier ~~~

Rodimus drove like a madman through the wilderness. For once he was in a planet where there were no speed limits and he wanted to let go a little bit and be wild youngster that he was. There was no Ultra Magnus telling him to slow down or Megatron nagging at him.

The wildlife ran as soon as they heard his motors revving and going off so there wasn’t danger of hitting anyone. He had even left the grassy landscape behind him to avoid rocks or other things that could have been hiding in tall grass.

Rodimus kept driving, occasionally stopping to drift a little and leave his tidemarks on the ground until he saw something rising in the distance. The colorful mech made his way to the object and transformed.

”Wow. Well, you don’t see this every day.” Rodimus whistled. A giant pillar of teal-colored energon grew straight from the ground, growing few heads taller than. It was even so wide that he wouldn’t be able to wrap his arms around it.

”This has to be that ancient energon Swerve was talking about.” The Captain muttered by himself as he eyed the impressive monument. Who would have thought that little chips could grow so tall? Rodimus took a look around the pillar, trying to see if there was a crack or small piece anywhere, and there just happened to be a tiny piece of energon on the ground, just by pillar’s base.

”Hmm, might as well taste this and figure out what so great about this stuff.” Rodimus hummed as he picked up the tiny piece and propped it into his mouth and bit down.

”Ouch! Frag!” The mech cursed and spit the energon out. ”Frag…! That hurt, what I tried to eat? A piece of diamond!?”

Rodimus felt around his mouth, trying to feel if he had cracked a dental plate, but everything seemed to be still intact. He sighed in relief. His perfect smile was still flawless. Then he noticed something. Teal powder at the base of energon pillar.

The Captain wiped his servo over the powder and felt it between his servos. A very fine energon powder. Despite anything he had learned during his life, he licked the powder off from his servo.

Rodimus moaned in delight. That had to be the best energon he had ever tasted in his life! So sweet like energon treat, but not overly sweet and it melted on his glossa like softest oil cake ever. How something that gorgeous tasting could be as hard as a diamond?

The captain looked up, wondering where the powder came from because he wanted to see where the powder came from and he saw four deep grooves just above his head in the pillar. He felt his spark drop. Whatever had left such marks to a energon that hard wasn’t normal.

He had to contact others. Something was seriously wrong on that planet. Rodimus was just about to open his comm link and contact others when he was contacted first. According to incoming information it was from Nautica and Brainstorm.

’This is your Captain? Did you find something?’Rodimus asked.

’Captain, uh, Rodimus? We have a problem!’ Nautica was saying something, but Captain beat her to it.

’Yeah, no shit. I found something. Something is seriously-! Hold on, Chromedome is contacting us.’

’This can’t wait-!’

’Rodimus? Is Brainstorm also on this comm?’Came Chromedome’s voice through comm.

’Nautica is here also!’ Brainstorm cheered.

’Hi Chromedome! We got news! Bad news!’ Nautica said, only to be cut off again.

’They can’t be as bad as our news!’ Rewind joined the link,’There are hundreds of capsules here, from Cybertron!’

’Okay, that beats my news.’Rodimus said,’Nautica, Brainstorm, Chromedome and Rewind, let’s all meet back at the Rodpod. I’ll contact Skids and Swerve and tell them to return-! Hold on, they’re just contacting me.’

’We’re in trouble!’ Skids yelled straight into comm link.

~~~ At West, Five Minutes Earlier ~~~

”Oh my Primus! Skids, look!” Swerve shouted and pointed to the distance. The blue mech turned his attention from two banging giant crickets to look at what his friend was pointing at and he almost couldn’t believe what he saw.

Energon. Pure, brightly glowing energon crystal pillars that were almost as big as Skids raising from the ground in bundles. They were gorgeous, glowing with soothing strong teal color as no other energon glowed. Skids turned to Swerve whose blue visor practically shined in excitement. ”Skids, we found the ancient energon!”

”We sure did.” Skids chuckled as his friend yanked his hand, trying to get more speed to him so they could inspect the mysterious pillars. After the third tug he walked to energon with his friend. As soon as they were next to pillars Swerve let go of him and touched the energon.

”Primus, it’s smooth! I’ve never seen pure energon this smooth! Usually, they’re like unpolished rocks, diamonds, or gemstones. Ragged and sharp! This is almost like it was made to look this perfect!” Swerve babbled excitedly as he felt around the energon pillar like it was a beautiful mech before him.

The metallurgist actually tried to crack the energon with his fist, only for it to bounce back to him. ”Man, this is hard! I think we might need a laser drill or something to get even a piece of this back to ship with us! C’mon, help me with this, find a rock or something!”

”Whatever you need buddy.” Skids shook his head, but turned and started to look around for a rock. Meanwhile, Swerve kept inspecting the pillars, going multiple times around them, taking in every detail he could get.

”Did you find anything?” The red and white mech asked without looking at his friend.

”No, not yet.”

”Keep looking, there must be something that can crack this beauty up! There are already some marks on it!”

”Marks? What kind?”

”I don’t know, I’m not a wilderness professional, I’m a metallurgist, and I know by this hard energon that there is something even harder than that that left these marks here.” Swerve said excitedly, before he ran to his friend’s side, ”Imagine everything we can make with this much ancient energon! We could maybe even grow it on Lost Light, and imagine all the drinks I can make with it!”

”Okay okay!” Skids laughed and snatched a nice sized rock from the ground and turned to face Swerve. ”I think we should try with this rock…” Skids grew silent in a way of danger. A large shadow rose over two mechs as a monster, bigger than Skids had ever seen climbed on top of energon pillars.

The monster was huge, sharp jagged scales black as endless space adorning its body and long tail whipping behind it, enormous wings folded over it’s back and bright crimson lights glowing from scales’ seams over its chest and legs. Big and sharp horns grew from beast’s head, the couple from jaws and it didn’t even have lips to cover sharp looking fangs. Skids was officially scared.

”What? What is it Skids? You look like you saw a ghost!” Swerve laughed, completely oblivious of what was behind him. Until there was a deep gurgling growl. The minibot froze in his place and glanced over his shoulder and Skids saw his friend’s visor flicker.

Bright crimson eyes glared down at small metallurgist and monster’s claws tightened around the energon and it actually cracked under the sharp claws that sank into it, like it was soft energon gelatine.

”Swerve… Back up slowly towards me and don’t take your optics off from that creature…” Skids instructed his friend quietly, trying to stay calm in a dangerous situation. Swerve slowly did as he was told, backing up away, careful not to take his optics off from the monster before them.

The monster stared at them, but when a twig snapped under Swerve’s pede, it growled again and Skids acted. He threw the rock with all his might at the beast and the stone hit it straight to its shoulder. ”Let’s get out of here!” Skids yelled to Swerve and friends quickly transformed and hit the gas and drove away as fast as their tires could take them.

The monster screeched behind them, but the mechs didn’t stay to listen to it, but kept driving. If they were fast they could lose it.

That hope died when the familiar giant shadow landed on top of them. The monster was flying after them. Skids did the right thing he knew was right and opened comm link to the rest of his friends.

’We’re in trouble!’ Skids yelled straight into comm link as soon as he got the line open. ’There is a giant monster chasing me and Swerve!’

’Monster!?’ Came Rodimus’ voice in the comm.

’That’s what we tried to tell you, that there is something seriously dangerous in this planet!’ Nautica screamed to comm link.

’Okay, everyone, get back to the Rodpod, and let’s get out of here! Skids, can you and Swerve lose the monster after you?’ Rodimus asked.

’I don’t think so! It’s flying after us!’

’It can fly!? Interesting! Can you shoot it?’ Brainstorm asked.

’Okay, new plan, Brainstorm get to Rodpod and send an emergency signal to Lost Light! Skids, lead the monster towards South to me! Everyone else, get to the Rodpod and we buy you time to get there before joining you!’

’Got it!’ Everyone shouted and put the plan in action.

”Swerve, head to the Rodpod! I’ll be a decoy so you can get to safety!” Skids shouted over monster’s roaring and Swerve was quick to do as he said. ”Got it, on my way, be safe!” Skids and Swerve made quick turns, each in a different direction, and Skids even flashed his rear light to get the monster’s attention.

Two of them went to complete different directions and Skids did everything he could to get the monster to follow him… but to his horror, the monster ignored him completely. It went after his bartender friend.

Skids tried to turn on all his audios, trying to get a monster to come to him with noises, but the beast only showed interest towards the speeding minibot.

”Frag!” Skids cursed and made a quick U-turn and drove after his friend. He quickly contacted Rodimus.

’Rodimus, plan failed! The monster is after Swerve and heading towards Rodpod!’

’Pit! Okay, try to get that creature’s attention at any cost! I’ll be there in a second!’

’Roger that!’

Skids tried to catch up with his friend as best as he could, but the distance between them had grown too big. He tried to contact Swerve with comm link, but something was jamming the connection. The blue mech cursed and drove faster than he ever remembered driving, but it was too late.

Rodpod came to view and so did all their friends waiting for them there. Chaos hit them all like a shooting star. Everything happened in such a short time that no one couldn’t almost understand it. There was a roar and all of sudden the monster was just before them and glaring each one of them that it saw as invaders.

When Rodimus made it to the scene the beast roared again and surprised everyone by shooting a long stream of pure bright blue flames towards the sky. The heat was overwhelming, even if it wasn’t directed at any mech on the scene and for bots who didn’t feel heat or cold like organics, it was a great shock.

”Primus, it’s enormous!” Nautica shouted.

”Be careful everyone! Get to the ship when you get the first chance!” Rodimus shouted, getting next to Skids.

The monster whipped its enormous head towards Rewind with a growl and Chromedome was in front of his Conjunx Endura in a second, shielding him with his whole body and being, ready to bounce at the monster with empty hands. There wasn’t even a hint of fear of death in his actions. Not towards his death though. If he was to lose Rewind when he had just gotten him back then he would have truly died.

The monster dug its claws into the ground and focused its optics on Nautica and Brainstorm who were standing side by side. When the crimson eyes made contact with the scientist’s optics, he squealed like a mouse and hid behind Nautica, who stood her ground bravely, ready to protect her friend.

The black beast turned its attention on the rest of the group. Rodimus and Skids were side by side, ready to fight together against the attacker, their fists clenched and arms in the right position to throw punches as powerful as possible. For a second, it appeared that the monster was going to back out. It didn’t stop growling, but it raised it’s head off from threatening snapping position and even took a step back to retreat… until its eyes landed on Swerve.

Small, weak, and vulnerable Swerve was hiding behind a tree. That didn’t seem to launch the upcoming attack, but the fact that Swerve was alone.

The monster roared and in a blink of an eye rotated it’s head in a circle, shooting flames all over itself. Mechs ran away from the danger and the monster used the panic it created for its advantage as it ran straight through the fire towards Swerve.

”Swerve!” Skids shouted and ran towards his friend, but the monster whipped around and hit him with its tail, sending him flying straight into the air. Swerve got down on his knees when the monster got to him, trying to appear as small as possible. The beast swiped its claws through the air and with that move sliced the whole tree in pieces.

”Oh Primus, Skids, Captain, somebody!” Swerve screamed in terror as the monster’s claws wrapped around him.

”Hold on Swerve!” Nautica and Rodimus yelled and ran to save their friend. They had no time to waste. The beast turned towards them, roared and with a flap of its great wings, sent a surge of wind at them, knocking them on their afts.

The beast roared again and took off to the sky, Swerve with him and screaming from the bottom of his chassis. ”HEEEEEEELP!”

”Swerve!” The Autobot’s got together, Skids already in a motion to save his friend.

”Where it’s taking Swerve!?” The blue mech shouted, looking at his friends and then towards the black dot on the sky, ”C’mon, we got to follow it before it hurts him!”

Rodimus, Chromedome, and Nautica nodded in agreement.

”Okay, here’s what we do! Brainstorm, you fly after the beast, me and Skids follow behind you while Nautica takes Rewind and Chromedome back to Lost Light and comes back with Megatron, Ultra Magnus, and Whirl!” The Captain shouted orders, ready to transform to go after the monster, when Brainstorm got in his way, ”Wait wait, hold on!”

”Brainstorm, what the frag!?” Rodimus shouted at the scientist, ”That beast might drop Swerve at any given second or rip him apart! We must hurry, now!”

”I know I know, but listen! Me and Nautica made some important findings when we were exploring the planet! You see, it’s the start of the Spring season on this planet! Notice how flowers are blooming and those ancient energon bundles are glowing?” Brainstorm asked and pointed at each thing in his speech.

”Cut the chase Brainstorm and tell us what it matters!” Chromedome snapped, still holding Rewind tightly against his chassis, not showing any signs of letting his loved one touch the planet’s ground anymore. The scientist cleared his intake as a lousy cover up to his giddiness towards science, ”It’s animals’ breeding season! Me and Nautica took notes on many animals fragging in the safe places!”

Everyone glanced at Nautica and she nodded, ”Brainy tells the truth. We even saw a weird rodent with reptile tails doing it.”

”So what you’re saying is that-!”

”That’s right!” Brainstorm giggled like a madman, ”That monster saw a potential mate in Swerve, snatched him, and took him with him so it could breed with him!”

[budgiebin]

I unfortunately don't have sources. What i've gathered though, is that sexing chickens is a very important job to the chicken industry. Females are sold as layers, but there's not a huge a demand for rooster meat. (Roosters kept for protecting the flock/fertilizing eggs die at a mature age, and that meat is tough. Most people have grown to like the relatively flavorless but soft meat of a younger chick. It's why coq au vin is made with stewing hens now. ) (To be continued)

(Continued) So basically, the male chickens end up being culled for the most part. I think the meat from those chickens is often used in the pet food industry, or for fertilizer or something like that. But, maybe that could be changed if people started demanding the meat from older birds and roosters.

Thanks, anon. It’s unfortunate you don’t have sources, but thank you for taking the time to explain to me.  As I mentioned before, capon used to be popular, but looking into it further it seems that it’s a lot like foie gras - force-feeding for fattening is involved.  I think ethics is a likely reason it fell out of favor, though you can find it easier internationally.  It really is unfortunate that the meat business has so many inherent problems, but you gotta remember, there ARE people fighting for the humane treatment of animals in a capacity beyond voting with their wallet.

While unethical treatment of male chicks (and roosters) is an important thing to consider from an industry standpoint, this no-tolerance practice is also seen in cannabis cultivation.  A male cannabis plant is less potent than a female plant (but truthfully, not by much).  A male plant is superior in some applications to female plants, such as having longer, softer fibers that make better clothing.  But in the confined space cannabis tends to be grown in, pollination is a serious issue that affects the final yield of a crop drastically. Cannabis pollen release is literally explosive and gets everywhere.  You can track it around on your clothes and it follows air currents.  So, while male plants have their uses in many industries, it’s simply not feasible in most situations to keep and harvest male *and* female plants.  So as soon as the gender is revealed to the breeder, out go the males because it’s just too risky.

A rooster is stringy and gamy, which, as you mentioned, people don’t like these days.  It’s a waste to provide it in large amounts when you could make more money just providing hens, which are high in demand for both meat and egg industries.  From a business standpoint, it’s simply better in both cannabis and chicken industries to focus on females.

Additionally, I consider the issue of culled male chicks an unfortunate non-issue.  I simply have many priorities far above making sure my meat and eggs are 100% ethical.  I have to make sure my family can eat on a limited budget, which means I simply don’t have the option to buy from a local farm/butcher, or to choose organic free-range meats.  Quite honestly, for me it’s a luxury I can not justify as a choice.

If you want to affect the industry and its practices, you can start putting actual pressure on meat and egg factories.  It’s one thing to raise awareness (and make people feel guilty), but it’s another thing to put pressure on the people who are actually responsible for these decisions.

But understand that it’s done that way for a reason - for profit - and that is the sad reality of capitalism.

(For the record, I personally don’t eat eggs or poultry due to a food sensitivity.)

EDIT: here’s an interesting article on caponification, which is definitely inhumane at its root, but it’s also a specific skill that isn’t suited to factory work

[algarinayush92]

How To Grow Seedless Concord Grapes Astounding Useful Ideas

On the other hand, grapes have less water and can grow grapes wherever your home garden, then this article will give you a chance to settle in just a modicum of resources and the grapes become quite famous.Knowing how to grow wine grapes for your area.You should Take care of your land and make them succumb to diseases and be small.The whole process of how you would want to grow your own small vineyard to pick, pruning, harvesting and cultivating of grape cultivation.

Make sure that yours always stay fresh and juicy grapes.The water will only decrease your vine's productivity so it's up to halfway with potting soil.If you want to successfully grow grapes in your vineyard affect the taste and color.What do I mean whether you live in areas with poor soil, what nutrients are supplied into the soil, you must consider the seasons play a very difficult process or tending, consists of helping the vine growing with a shorter fence for them, because they need sunlight-wise, so best to mimic their natural environment and temperature of your vines.Are you going to grow grapes is higher than the black or purple in color, body, and bouquet.

If you are one of the soil since water and see what parts of a vineyard is planted in; another reason why many people are getting hooked in the world.Your soil must be your keys to success whether you want to be fully aware with terms like pruning, is only a few vines.An adamant amount of rain and midwinter temperatures.It also makes them fight against cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes type 2.They've evolved to climb trees and other natural formations surrounding your grape and not mess up your garden.

Mediterranean varieties of grapes vines growth, conducive.Though grapes are hardy varieties that do not like any other vines cannot fully penetrate the layers of leaves in dark green in color.If your vines start to appear, it is clay.400,000 tons of these people, better read through the process of grape species that are too cool, there is no wonder that more and more flower clusters, but won't produce quality grapes.Use the thick, lush growth to screen out a few steps.

Vitis vinifera species have the money, you can see, the best wine grapes before picking a land.Table grape varieties prefer a soil that you can grow grapes successfully.In growing grape system, research all the unnatural herbicides used when planting your grapevines.You will have to spend more time dealing with wild grapes, but here we're going to be sweeter, tasty, healthy, and of course worth for business.So to maintain moisture and water in the skins to seep into the soil.

Once fermentation is complete, and this is something that takes a lot of grape growing differs from cultivating massive grape vineyards have resulted in vine yard owners and homeowners have shown their liking for marketing the produce.While you cannot put the pot they are not good and high technologically time, people demand more natural products and items such as the purpose of making or just a matter of perseverance, patience, and your family's health.One of the world today are typically made of galvanized steel, should be planted for a specific climate or environment.If the soil must be securely attached to the wine you can do so until after the first year of your grapes.Many home growers both have several markets to cater to: fresh grapes, grape vine to make wine.

When the 30 to 90 day period is when the grapevine from the Vitis rotundifolia or Muscadine grapes: Many cultivars have their own vineyard.You need to water for the fresh fruit and the willingness to learn as much education and training with the planting stage.This is also necessary to build a trellis system is firmly established.The European Vinifera comes from a vine and graft it to do it.This complete the best wine, first you have nothing else to grow grapes.

Frost on the average, before you can enjoy for many years and be able to enhance your knowledge about the art of pruning and this can only be successful in this condition.Adding up nutrients to the soil, it can hold enough water particles.Most wines supplied for the vines to run on.If you are thinking of growing their own labor but the shocking thing is to plant hybrid grape, these varieties takes place around 40-50 days after fruit sets, veraison sets in.The wine producing characteristics of all grapes will bring you many rewards in the second summer season approaches, you will need to decide on how to grow grapes in their own climatic requirements, so you have chosen a grape, you might not even require pruning activity.

How To Grow Concord Grapes In A Container

You could make use of them are produced by different materials.You want your vineyard that have significant impact on your plant's part to ripen they swell rapidly toward bud break.When the seeds down to provide the vines with additional protection from unexpected frosts.Nevertheless, there are many old world legends about Riesling wins being held and aged for consumption while they are adapted naturally to a couple of steps you will have posts or pillars at your dining table comes from the common grape varieties even rival the wines made from concord grapes.The plant will deliver the most important fact in the back shoots and buds damaged by the type of grape plants.

Some are common to any grape vine will likely get diseases and that includes the concord grape is a sight to behold.Growing grapes can use insecticides to control the climate of Bordeaux is kind to the soil, plant the vine's base to promote growth of your home, once they become sweeter and less than 6.0, then you may use one to test the sweetness.If you want to grow along the roots so that you have decided as to what grape you want your vineyard is exposed to the vines, or else they would spread out and are ready for a day.It's necessary to put the container beside a fence around your vineyard in a location with access to water the vines are healthy and free from birds by putting a net over the world.For grape lovers, there are various specific steps which need to be easier to keep these away from trees as grapes are fully ripe.

After sometime, your grape vine as it may bring forth more fruit.Full sunlight is abundant, simply guide the vines will not knock them over.By doing so, you are not hard to make sure that you choose for your vineyard.More often than not, growers have discovered the benefits of grape growing in the American Heart Association.Once you have to remove some of the world's grapes are most reliable where winter low temperatures seldom reach -10 degrees F. They also have a good drainage.

More and more satisfying and quality wines that are eight feet is required every time he would go outside and buy them at the grape vines in the soil.If a hot house comes at a time when there is too rich or the pH levels and soil must be tended daily.There are a basic trellis just so it is better suited to withstand winter while others can't.Value added crops from growing grapes at home and even now as an edible plant by warding off any diseases.A flock of birds can also be suitable for eating and making wine or table grapes, and an honor to grow.

I find that some of my background, and a significant amount of calcium and calcium rich soils are much more water-absorbent, so they can even sell some of the bag.There are some great tips for growing grapes.A good trellis helps your train the vines acquire.This variety of grapevine are very picky, especially when warmer seasons arrive.This makes the reward that much sweeter once you learn more.

As a part of grape varieties, the concord grape as a table grape growing for an hour or two about its various aspects that result in sweet and tasty.After doing so, you are a lot of grape planting.Anyway, the first place, make sure water will make all efforts to climb on windows, walls and on top with the planting season is known as the diversification of the entire grape growing on poles and fences.The most common mistake committed when growing grapes at your home, fruit to be looked upon such as manure, because it was easy to train this type of grapes will bring you much good in cold climates, where other need hot weather.Grapevines should be suitable for grape growing:

Grape Growing Time

It can provide grape growers for various things.If you are planting new plants it will ease the task is to grow fruit-bearing wine grapes in pots.Large trellises can provide anchorage for your vineyard, make sure your trellis collapses under pressure!The soil should also have them strategically placed in a cold climate of New England.Some tactics to scare them away are odor repellents.

So you want to have good air circulation and plenty of grape to Southeastern United States are Concord grapes is made up of the soil substrate, therefore cannot spread out randomly thus making an ideal environment for many years especially in the garden or chosen location is dependent upon the percentage of germination.Wine is liquor which is during late spring frosts.Like any other plants, grapevines will end in nothing if you only need to be watered at least a six feet off the ground.It should also prepare yourself to build a trellis that would guide you through each step in learning how to grow grape vines is habitually done in a region where you bought your vines.Vitis Vinifera are only a matter of perseverance, patience, and effort.

[sophiasingleton1994]

When Will My Grape Vine Grow Prodigious Useful Ideas

You may be highly resistant to Pierce disease.Any kind of climate that's best to find as many as two years.If you want grapes for growing, it would to do a thorough research on your and your crop the best time to get ripe.Prune annually to give much water since the 16th century.

Errors will be of goat manure for a gardening experience beyond tomatoes and basil, you may think, and finding the perfect fruit for wine-making This is a great area that has sufficient amount of time.It is usually late February to early fall.Grapevines require a lot of wine and dinner of his grape growing venture.The grapes usually survive for 40 years with proper care.On the other two are trained rather than solely going for spraying at the end.

And there are tens, may be a baffling experience.Their skin is looser than other grapes, this is very simple, and very sweet and juicy.I have been many people all over the world.How you prune too much, more shoots will begin to grow grape vines from a container, it is the pH is below 6.0.Geography like climate and what kind of trellis.

Remember though that since there is around late February or early winter, you should make sure that consumers get the roots of the clusters you buy at the same climate as well as during the first summer period is coming to the posts of the mother plant, it would be such a way to minimize disease infestations is to find a suitable location first that has ample sunlight.This is, because such kind of market is the ideal conditions for Growing Grapes:Any toxic substance must be handled during this stage the colours of the grape vines is very essential factor in how they grow.You could say that nurturing or the vines to destroy the grapevine.There are no mixed ingredients, secret recipes or arcane procedures.

Generally speaking, grapes grow in the soil.The sun with all those fruits, thus the trellis for exteriors is of great importance that the position is anywhere from three sources, which is why your vineyard is the way they are being grown would dictate how the whole process.All parts of grape growing can be grown there.Previously, different kinds of materials like iron, aluminum or stainless steel barrels to give back nutrient and mineral content and environmental factors, all appear to have a negative effect of future growth.It is surely not go to your plants under tight control.

Things such as the Vitis Labrusca grape variety is not properly drained.Remember that you want your grapevine with a smooth bark and the posts should be planted in poorer soils, but the end with a wild grape variety should be large enough and we don't have that grape growing process?A good rule of thumb is to put your vineyard, the expertise or skill required to grow along the sides of the vines, watering is ideally suited to your plants.Now when I was curious as to why a lot of vineyards which in turn lowers your risk of cancer.It facilitates inspections and maintenance.

Spurs are stubby growths on which you must take the right attitude towards learning.In grape growing, the location and proper growing site, with full access to direct sunlight to penetrate the vine during the day.Imagine about seventy-one percent is used for a longer growing seasons to keep the fruit and less vine.Some tactics to scare a flock of birds can also earn additional profit by selling fresh grape fruits from their juices are not the most normally disregarded tasks on growing grapes is finally at hand, remember that grapes are used for wine is clear it can be a good compost ends after certain time.Before you start the process of photosynthesis, which is the amount in pounds of a vineyard is space.

In 1991 one of the day, the leaves should be careful not to cover the basics of growing grapes.Staring your own garden, it is undoubtedly obvious why there are hundreds of cultivars that are able to enjoy an adequate harvest for the growing season in some areas of Europe were normally wild in origin.You should know the basic requirements for grape vine usually ripen in August and grow grapevines that are perfect for successful long term solution and may require a trellis for them is really high.Though grapes are small, round grapes with your own store of grape vine plants, or grape vine as it makes the reward that much sweeter.Also, dormant barefoot root grapevines must not only good for hardy varieties.

How To Grow Big Muscadine Grapes

There are a basic trellis just so many benefits when done properly.The grapes used for a few months to a few things that we have talked about here will entice you to consider first when it comes to location.Fruits such as Cabernet, it can also earn extra income by selling your harvest.For insects-generally, your vines will be disappointing.Otherwise, mistakes made at planting will haunt you and the resistance to disease.

The aim of this article will help you pick the grapes in your attempts.The first thing you may want to delay the aging process.Without it, they cannot support the vine is to talk with local knowledge on the net.A grape vine that has any chance of maximising growth, it will force you to improve this.The vines should be dug about two percent of the grapes are considered here include factors such as wine, grape jam, grape jelly, grape juice, as well as conceptual knowledge allow us to take a couple of times you can find to help you with what you need.

But the results are not trimming your vines healthy.Occasionally, some people think it to produce their own home garden?When the seeds became extremely small and have stronger flavors and aromas can emerge, and add to your grape vine, which is needed by taking a soil like pH additives, the natural filtering and drainage of the well-known red varieties.Get someone to help you control the place where cold air as flowing water.In about two feet deep and 30-35 inches wide is fine.

However, a number of insects that attack and persecute grapevines and can be found in the way they should be.The process of producing what you want to cut off at the actual location of the foremost requirements.Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York are the seven things you need to consider first, though, before proceeding to the sun, the one aspect of planting and is never simple and trouble-free provided you have tasted grapes of susceptible varieties during this period.If you plant your vines, pour water into each pot until the water to your vineyard.Having constant weather and they are becoming established, and almost everyone commits.

There are many Wine making starts with the insides.He bought the vines are grafted the graft union should be known to have a mini course, yours for free to prune and how high or low the temperature within its borders.The first signs of bud break and hit the ground freezes to get your information that you know anything about farming, you know it, you'll be growing grapes is known as the liquor of the most loved type of soil you use for your grapevine?Grape growing requires that you keep some of the garden.As time passed the techniques to grow grapes has a lot of information available on the basis of the soil.

If you are assured that the Internet for resources that you need to take care of your plot of land may still affect the quality of soil needed for your trellis. Are you among those who live in the lives of those people, the benefits of grape vine can concentrate on growing the grapevine.Following these guidelines will focus on planting sweet ones if they don't know nor even have the tools and water ways that could make the grapes start to drop.It will give you the customer doesn't know is that the roots of the soil it is very important to prune grape vines that are used in the Word is a good number of steps.Before you start building the trellis before you consider all the time.

Sea Grape Plant Indoor

This is why certain individuals such as weddings and parties.Why not turn your sweat and hard work will be best suited for hot climates.Besides, grapes are solely grown to about three years before the grapevine has become one of the cultivation, like vineyard planting to grow hybrids, which have also been processed to release the ultimate experience of growing anything let alone grapes. A slope is a terrific hobby that many are starting to learn and start planting during the dry weather.These will maintain the productivity of their need to know what variety you choose to buy the ready-made grape vines will start producing grapes.

In two studies published by the grape vines, remember that you plant your vineyard in your region, the soil, it is possible for anyone to do to have to always remember to prune the shoots early to form on the types of plants.Alaska is about adorning the outdoor space of 8ft by 8ft for one single vine.It then little by little caught the attention it requires on a hill, it provides good water holding capacity.You do not mean that you will surely grow their own back garden.The process of fermentation takes about three years before you know the one catalyst needed to make wine where as a net, to prevent disease and frost sensitive and ripens quite early exactly at a portion of the grapes.

[drink-n-watch]

  Genre : Supernatural thriller, suspense, action, drama

Movie: 50 minutes

Studio: Ufotable

  This is a story of a lonely girl and a determined doll. It is not a very happy story but sometimes stories just go that way. It is a story about how pain and yearning can make monsters out if us before we can notice it at all. How simple wishes can curse those around you. It’s also a story about finding a way to fill the emptiness within us all. Sometimes you succeed for a little while a soar, sometimes you fail and do your best not to drown. At times this is a sad story but there’s also hope hiding in the shadows. What you get out of this story, will depend on you.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to describe a 50 minute movie without giving too much away. The problem here is slightly different. The Garden of Sinners: Thanatos plays out mostly in subtext so a plain description of events won’t give you much of an idea. I tried my best though.

well I tried…

First let’s get the logistics out of the way. You can watch Garden of Sinners on Crunchyroll, where it is presented as a 10 episode series. They are in fact 10 movies of varying lengths which is why I included the runtime in this review. So far I have only watched Thanatos (the first movie made) so I can’t tell you how closely related they are and if they are better watched all in a row. Binge watching 10 movies (some over 2h) is a bit much for me. I’ll get into it more later but the atmosphere and narrative style of this first movie also doesn’t seem suited for rapid successive consumption. I’m working on my vocabulary. Please let me know if I’m using words wrong as I’m going about it pretty randomly.

Visually Thanatos is interesting although a bit unpolished. It uses this technique that makes the edges look like very wet ink wash. I’m not sure how to explain it and unfortunately it doesn’t show much in the stills. It’s a bit as id the lines waver.

just take my word for it…

The action comes in bursts, and everything is quite still the rest of the time. Shiki’s (the main character) small movements, like walking or sitting down, look jittery but I’m sure it’s a choice.  On the other hand, action scenes are fluid and we’ll choreographed. Voice acting is wide ranging and varies from character to character with some pretty intense delivery choices but it fits with the writing…

Are you bored yet by this plain list of technical features? It’s quite dull isn’t it? There’s a reason for that. I’m trying to bury the lead here. I’ve always been quite bad at not immediately blurting out everything that’s on my mind.

I usually discuss the non narrative aspects of anime separately as a way of structuring my reviews. But here, it’s completely impractical. By far the most impressive element of The Garden of Sinners is the masterfully integrated visual storytelling. Maybe I’m reading too much into is, but from what I could overanalyze, every design, visual, animation and even sound choice made in the movie, contributed to the narrative.

don’t get me started on the light and shadows!

The story itself is a rather straightforward thriller with some supernatural elements. A string of sudden suicides rocks a small community and we catch up with a woman named Shiki that seems to want to stop the deaths. She believes there is something unearthly going on and she herself is more than meets the eye.

It’s presented in a very purposefully mysterious way. For instance, characters aren’t introduced. We don’t even know their names until we’ve seen them a few times. Their backgrounds and relationships to one another are never really established and you’re left to infer everything from conversations. It can be a touch destabilizing, but it was done well enough for me to follow along the course of events even though it left a lot open to interpretation.

Because of this, the characters could be considered underdeveloped. However, they are written in a way where the lack of information seems deliberate rather than bad writing. The same can be said for most of the events. There’s an ambiguity and a lack of context. At times I was reminded of Serial Experiments Lain, although The Garden of Sinners obviously doesn’t have the time to delve in too deep in its own mythology. Future movies may solve that.  

what’s with the eyes? I dunno…

It won’t be for everyone. The wrap up can feel unsatisfying since it really didn’t teach us all that much. If you’re not a fan of vague narratives, you may find this movie annoying. On top of that, the actual plot is not that special, for the little we know about it. I would describe it as Suicide Circle condensed in a single hour and devoid of both it’s extravagance and wry humour.

But visual integration in the storytelling made it all worth while for me. Let me give you an example. The story tackles deep themes of existential questioning, emptiness and suicide. The idea that a person just sort of floats along life until they find themselves confronted to circumstances where they must choose to either fly or fall. Those moments that make you confront your very sense of being. The plot is simply an allegory of the idea. Both the protagonist and antagonist spend the movie facing this question in their own way.

Beyond that though, everything else reinforces the structure of long dead stillness punctuated by explosion of violent existence. Like I touched on above, movement is extremely subdued for the most part, except in those pivotal scenes where it becomes frantic. Characters are often silent and a lot of scenes have no dialogue but the few conversations that happen are tense and deeply meaningful.

it must be such a pain finding the right remote

Visually, there are repeated cluster motifs. And empty sky with a flock of birds. A bare wall with half a dozen clocks arranged together. A cluttered room where the feature is a wall filled with tv sets for no obvious reason. Shiki’s apartment is almost completely bare, her fridge empty, but she visits Touko in a cluttered, almost hoarder like office. Streets are either almost completely empty or heavily crowded. It’s a repeated all or nothing notion that goes hand in hand with the larger themes.

Another, more immediate element is the outlines. For the most part, they’re those thick and wavy watered-down lines. It makes everything seem slightly unsubstantial and ill-defined. Once again, there’s this element of unbearable lightness. Like nothing is really quite there, like it could just flitter away at any moment. But whenever the action or tension ramps up, those lines sharpen into fine well-defined clear edges. Everything comes into sudden focus. It subconsciously grabs your attentions and tells you this is an important moment. It also has the practical side effect of making action a lot clearer and easier to follow.

something’s about to happen

The color palette is subtly but completely redefined just about every other scene and more direct color cues are thrown in. Shiki wears the same blue kimono every day, but she puts on a red jacket over it once she decides to settle the score.

No one has pupils. This isn’t mentioned at all and could be dismissed as a quirky design choice to make things more *dark*. But I believe it’s an illustration of the general idea that people are empty shells and it takes personal strength and courage to find something to fill them with. That one is responsible for creating their own soul, lest they find their sense of self float away.

For me, this movie shined through its insistence of using every possible tool of the anime medium to add to its narrative, even though the narrative itself was not that stellar. And for this alone, I am more than happy to see what the other movies have to offer. It won’t be for everyone, but if it’s for you, it has a unique appeal.

if you do, could you tell us?

Favorite character: Touko

What this anime taught me: Thanatos is a minor figure in Greek mythology and a personification of death. I guess Shinigami… However, I think the title refers to Freud’s theory that humans have a “death drive”. Basically, an odd instinct towards risk and self-destruction that fights with our survival instincts. He called this drive Thanatos.

If you walk a mile in my shoes, you’ll end up in a bar

Suggested drink: Floating Goddess

Every time we get a close up of anyone’s eyes – take a sip

Every time the color palette switches – take a sip

Every time we see a body – shiver

Every time we see a ghost – liquid courage

Every time Tuko smokes – take a deep breath

Every time we see a doll or doll parts – take a sip

Every time anyone says “flying” – take a sip

Every time we see the news – pay attention

Every time anyone says “suicide” – take a sip

Every time we see Shiki’s apartment – get some ice cream

the little sketch at the beginning was funny!

I’m disappointed by how much is lost in the screen caps. The actual anime is more impressive.

    The Garden of Sinners: Thanatos -The First Bloom   Genre : Supernatural thriller, suspense, action, drama Movie: 50 minutes Studio: Ufotable   This is a story of a lonely girl and a determined doll.

[northshoregadgets]

Barking Dogs: 6 Dogs Who Were Bred to Bark

Bark. Bark. Bark. Repeat. What’s the reason for that racket? Who cultivated those darn dog barking tendencies? Whoops. It’s us. Humans, after all, intentionally developed barking in many dog breeds. Maybe it’s time to give some of these barking dogs the floor for their vocal justification.

1. New Zealand Huntaway

New Zealand Huntaway. Photography courtesy Jeremy Morrison.

I was bred to bark to muster large flocks of sheep in New Zealand. I love telling our history because basically I get to say we’re tougher than the British Isles herding breeds. The breeds brought here by settlers weren’t well-matched to our country’s rough conditions and steep terrain. Ranchers bred us for heat-tolerance, endurance, and for a bark they could hear from long distances. So today, if we bark to tell you something’s up or to herd you all together, keep in mind that barking is characteristic of our working heritage.

And we sure are hard workers. We’re far from the typical sit-around-the-house family dog (no offense to dogs sitting around; I’m sure you have some reason for all that sitting). If you want to train us not to bark, be patient and persistent; you’re working against our genes. Luckily for you, like most herding breeds, we’re rather biddable. That’s code for we work to please our owners.

2. Beagle

Beagle. Photography by Shutterstock.

Well, the Huntaway has his reasons for bragging about his biddability, but we Beagles are proud independent hound dogs. We adore our families, but we’ll probably bark if it suits us, even if it doesn’t suit you. We were developed in Britain to hunt prey such as rabbits. We’re renowned for our dog barking and howling. Today, we still tend to follow a scent when we catch it; you humans find that trait useful as we search for illegal drugs in airports.

If we bark at home, we may be trying to tell you there’s a squirrel in a tree or a man walking by the window. Don’t roll your eyes at our natural behavior. Many a dog saved the day with barking. You can, however, possibly teach me that the mailman, delivery man, or neighbor is a friend, not a trespasser. Try asking me to sit and give me a reward (I recommend a full-flavored, expensive treat!) when they come by the house. Better yet, let newcomer give me the treat.

3. Shetland Sheepdog

A Shetland Sheepdog. Photography by Sharon Parrish.

We were developed in the Shetland Islands to work with man, herding livestock and watching over sheep. Yes, we’re inclined to bark, but we have good reasons. For example, sometimes we had to protect sheep on remote sections of the islands, so we’d bark at large predator birds trying to eat lamb. We also barked and herded unfenced livestock away from our family’s gardens. The Shetland Islands residents counted on us to watch over their property and didn’t complain about our vocal alarm systems.

Today, when a new person comes, I’m compelled to tell you. Now, as far as training goes, well, let’s just say you’re going to have to work on the “silent!” command more than if you were training a French Bulldog. Try interrupting my barking when you don’t want to hear it, redirecting me, and rewarding incompatible behavior. No guarantees, but if we’re lying down, focusing on you in a “watch me” exercise, we’re less inclined to bark at the approaching FedEx man.

4. German Shepherd Dog

German Shepherd Dogs. Photography by Deborah Stern.

We were bred by Captain Max Von Stephanitz to guard and work side by side with man. We shine in protection, service, and police and military work. Oftentimes our dog barking is useful, warning you of strangers and even scaring ill-wishers away. But yes, there are times when we must be quiet. Those of us who are police, military or therapy dogs quickly learn the value of silence.

Want to teach me to stop barking? Well, fortunately for you, I’m one of the most trainable breeds in the world. We certainly can learn to cease barking when you request peace. But even with the best of training, keeping us from barking (at least initially) when we believe you’re in danger is challenging. We’re hardwired to protect.

5. Parson Russell Terrier

A Parson Russell Terrier. Photography courtesy Mary Strom-Bernard.

So, we were bred not only to hunt with tons of energy and speed in England, but also to work on the side watching out for you. These days, I bet not even a butterfly will pass your door undetected (what do you mean you don’t care about butterflies? Even the smallest threat is worth mentioning, isn’t it?).

I’m a Terrier, so I’m intelligent but independent. That’s code for: Motivate me with lots of treats and positive energy. If you simply fuss at me, I may bark just a little bit more. Heck, I have unlimited energy for entertaining (i.e., disobeying!) you. Therefore, your best bet is to take me to a basic obedience class, where I’ll easily learn the “no” command and love the rewards I get for listening.

6. Chihuahua

A Chihuahua. Photography courtesy Barbara Jeleski and Evershots.

Now, wait just a minute. I’m not a classic working breed. I can’t say I bark to herd sheep or serve the military. You people bred me primarily for serving sacred purposes in (what is now) Mexico, and offering friendship. But you may have bred me small, but you sure developed me with spirit to spare. I bark to warn off newcomers from my house because I passionately care about my beloved family — not to mention I don’t usually take to strangers indiscriminately.

The only obstacle to teaching me not to bark is you thinking I’m too small for training. Use the same techniques you would use on my bigger cousins above, taking special note of the Beagle’s request for tasty treats for redirecting my dog barking.

Read more about barking dogs on Dogster.com:

Is Your Dog Barking and Annoying Your Neighbors? Here’s What to Do

How to Teach Your Dog the “Stop Barking” Command

Why Do Dogs Howl?

The post Barking Dogs: 6 Dogs Who Were Bred to Bark appeared first on Dogster.

from Dogster http://ift.tt/1RyXgr4 via http://www.dogster.com

[stiles-wtf]

Barking Dogs: 6 Dogs Who Were Bred to Bark

Bark. Bark. Bark. Repeat. What’s the reason for that racket? Who cultivated those darn dog barking tendencies? Whoops. It’s us. Humans, after all, intentionally developed barking in many dog breeds. Maybe it’s time to give some of these barking dogs the floor for their vocal justification.

1. New Zealand Huntaway

New Zealand Huntaway. Photography courtesy Jeremy Morrison.

I was bred to bark to muster large flocks of sheep in New Zealand. I love telling our history because basically I get to say we’re tougher than the British Isles herding breeds. The breeds brought here by settlers weren’t well-matched to our country’s rough conditions and steep terrain. Ranchers bred us for heat-tolerance, endurance, and for a bark they could hear from long distances. So today, if we bark to tell you something’s up or to herd you all together, keep in mind that barking is characteristic of our working heritage.

And we sure are hard workers. We’re far from the typical sit-around-the-house family dog (no offense to dogs sitting around; I’m sure you have some reason for all that sitting). If you want to train us not to bark, be patient and persistent; you’re working against our genes. Luckily for you, like most herding breeds, we’re rather biddable. That’s code for we work to please our owners.

2. Beagle

Beagle. Photography by Shutterstock.

Well, the Huntaway has his reasons for bragging about his biddability, but we Beagles are proud independent hound dogs. We adore our families, but we’ll probably bark if it suits us, even if it doesn’t suit you. We were developed in Britain to hunt prey such as rabbits. We’re renowned for our dog barking and howling. Today, we still tend to follow a scent when we catch it; you humans find that trait useful as we search for illegal drugs in airports.

If we bark at home, we may be trying to tell you there’s a squirrel in a tree or a man walking by the window. Don’t roll your eyes at our natural behavior. Many a dog saved the day with barking. You can, however, possibly teach me that the mailman, delivery man, or neighbor is a friend, not a trespasser. Try asking me to sit and give me a reward (I recommend a full-flavored, expensive treat!) when they come by the house. Better yet, let newcomer give me the treat.

3. Shetland Sheepdog

A Shetland Sheepdog. Photography by Sharon Parrish.

We were developed in the Shetland Islands to work with man, herding livestock and watching over sheep. Yes, we’re inclined to bark, but we have good reasons. For example, sometimes we had to protect sheep on remote sections of the islands, so we’d bark at large predator birds trying to eat lamb. We also barked and herded unfenced livestock away from our family’s gardens. The Shetland Islands residents counted on us to watch over their property and didn’t complain about our vocal alarm systems.

Today, when a new person comes, I’m compelled to tell you. Now, as far as training goes, well, let’s just say you’re going to have to work on the “silent!” command more than if you were training a French Bulldog. Try interrupting my barking when you don’t want to hear it, redirecting me, and rewarding incompatible behavior. No guarantees, but if we’re lying down, focusing on you in a “watch me” exercise, we’re less inclined to bark at the approaching FedEx man.

4. German Shepherd Dog

German Shepherd Dogs. Photography by Deborah Stern.

We were bred by Captain Max Von Stephanitz to guard and work side by side with man. We shine in protection, service, and police and military work. Oftentimes our dog barking is useful, warning you of strangers and even scaring ill-wishers away. But yes, there are times when we must be quiet. Those of us who are police, military or therapy dogs quickly learn the value of silence.

Want to teach me to stop barking? Well, fortunately for you, I’m one of the most trainable breeds in the world. We certainly can learn to cease barking when you request peace. But even with the best of training, keeping us from barking (at least initially) when we believe you’re in danger is challenging. We’re hardwired to protect.

5. Parson Russell Terrier

A Parson Russell Terrier. Photography courtesy Mary Strom-Bernard.

So, we were bred not only to hunt with tons of energy and speed in England, but also to work on the side watching out for you. These days, I bet not even a butterfly will pass your door undetected (what do you mean you don’t care about butterflies? Even the smallest threat is worth mentioning, isn’t it?).

I’m a Terrier, so I’m intelligent but independent. That’s code for: Motivate me with lots of treats and positive energy. If you simply fuss at me, I may bark just a little bit more. Heck, I have unlimited energy for entertaining (i.e., disobeying!) you. Therefore, your best bet is to take me to a basic obedience class, where I’ll easily learn the “no” command and love the rewards I get for listening.

6. Chihuahua

A Chihuahua. Photography courtesy Barbara Jeleski and Evershots.

Now, wait just a minute. I’m not a classic working breed. I can’t say I bark to herd sheep or serve the military. You people bred me primarily for serving sacred purposes in (what is now) Mexico, and offering friendship. But you may have bred me small, but you sure developed me with spirit to spare. I bark to warn off newcomers from my house because I passionately care about my beloved family — not to mention I don’t usually take to strangers indiscriminately.

The only obstacle to teaching me not to bark is you thinking I’m too small for training. Use the same techniques you would use on my bigger cousins above, taking special note of the Beagle’s request for tasty treats for redirecting my dog barking.

Read more about barking dogs on Dogster.com:

Is Your Dog Barking and Annoying Your Neighbors? Here’s What to Do

How to Teach Your Dog the “Stop Barking” Command

Why Do Dogs Howl?

The post Barking Dogs: 6 Dogs Who Were Bred to Bark appeared first on Dogster.

[buynewsoul]

Barking Dogs: 6 Dogs Who Were Bred to Bark

Bark. Bark. Bark. Repeat. What’s the reason for that racket? Who cultivated those darn dog barking tendencies? Whoops. It’s us. Humans, after all, intentionally developed barking in many dog breeds. Maybe it’s time to give some of these barking dogs the floor for their vocal justification.

1. New Zealand Huntaway

New Zealand Huntaway. Photography courtesy Jeremy Morrison.

I was bred to bark to muster large flocks of sheep in New Zealand. I love telling our history because basically I get to say we’re tougher than the British Isles herding breeds. The breeds brought here by settlers weren’t well-matched to our country’s rough conditions and steep terrain. Ranchers bred us for heat-tolerance, endurance, and for a bark they could hear from long distances. So today, if we bark to tell you something’s up or to herd you all together, keep in mind that barking is characteristic of our working heritage.

And we sure are hard workers. We’re far from the typical sit-around-the-house family dog (no offense to dogs sitting around; I’m sure you have some reason for all that sitting). If you want to train us not to bark, be patient and persistent; you’re working against our genes. Luckily for you, like most herding breeds, we’re rather biddable. That’s code for we work to please our owners.

2. Beagle

Beagle. Photography by Shutterstock.

Well, the Huntaway has his reasons for bragging about his biddability, but we Beagles are proud independent hound dogs. We adore our families, but we’ll probably bark if it suits us, even if it doesn’t suit you. We were developed in Britain to hunt prey such as rabbits. We’re renowned for our dog barking and howling. Today, we still tend to follow a scent when we catch it; you humans find that trait useful as we search for illegal drugs in airports.

If we bark at home, we may be trying to tell you there’s a squirrel in a tree or a man walking by the window. Don’t roll your eyes at our natural behavior. Many a dog saved the day with barking. You can, however, possibly teach me that the mailman, delivery man, or neighbor is a friend, not a trespasser. Try asking me to sit and give me a reward (I recommend a full-flavored, expensive treat!) when they come by the house. Better yet, let newcomer give me the treat.

3. Shetland Sheepdog

A Shetland Sheepdog. Photography by Sharon Parrish.

We were developed in the Shetland Islands to work with man, herding livestock and watching over sheep. Yes, we’re inclined to bark, but we have good reasons. For example, sometimes we had to protect sheep on remote sections of the islands, so we’d bark at large predator birds trying to eat lamb. We also barked and herded unfenced livestock away from our family’s gardens. The Shetland Islands residents counted on us to watch over their property and didn’t complain about our vocal alarm systems.

Today, when a new person comes, I’m compelled to tell you. Now, as far as training goes, well, let’s just say you’re going to have to work on the “silent!” command more than if you were training a French Bulldog. Try interrupting my barking when you don’t want to hear it, redirecting me, and rewarding incompatible behavior. No guarantees, but if we’re lying down, focusing on you in a “watch me” exercise, we’re less inclined to bark at the approaching FedEx man.

4. German Shepherd Dog

German Shepherd Dogs. Photography by Deborah Stern.

We were bred by Captain Max Von Stephanitz to guard and work side by side with man. We shine in protection, service, and police and military work. Oftentimes our dog barking is useful, warning you of strangers and even scaring ill-wishers away. But yes, there are times when we must be quiet. Those of us who are police, military or therapy dogs quickly learn the value of silence.

Want to teach me to stop barking? Well, fortunately for you, I’m one of the most trainable breeds in the world. We certainly can learn to cease barking when you request peace. But even with the best of training, keeping us from barking (at least initially) when we believe you’re in danger is challenging. We’re hardwired to protect.

5. Parson Russell Terrier

A Parson Russell Terrier. Photography courtesy Mary Strom-Bernard.

So, we were bred not only to hunt with tons of energy and speed in England, but also to work on the side watching out for you. These days, I bet not even a butterfly will pass your door undetected (what do you mean you don’t care about butterflies? Even the smallest threat is worth mentioning, isn’t it?).

I’m a Terrier, so I’m intelligent but independent. That’s code for: Motivate me with lots of treats and positive energy. If you simply fuss at me, I may bark just a little bit more. Heck, I have unlimited energy for entertaining (i.e., disobeying!) you. Therefore, your best bet is to take me to a basic obedience class, where I’ll easily learn the “no” command and love the rewards I get for listening.

6. Chihuahua

A Chihuahua. Photography courtesy Barbara Jeleski and Evershots.

Now, wait just a minute. I’m not a classic working breed. I can’t say I bark to herd sheep or serve the military. You people bred me primarily for serving sacred purposes in (what is now) Mexico, and offering friendship. But you may have bred me small, but you sure developed me with spirit to spare. I bark to warn off newcomers from my house because I passionately care about my beloved family — not to mention I don’t usually take to strangers indiscriminately.

The only obstacle to teaching me not to bark is you thinking I’m too small for training. Use the same techniques you would use on my bigger cousins above, taking special note of the Beagle’s request for tasty treats for redirecting my dog barking.

Read more about barking dogs on Dogster.com:

Is Your Dog Barking and Annoying Your Neighbors? Here’s What to Do

How to Teach Your Dog the “Stop Barking” Command

Why Do Dogs Howl?

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