#in direct sunlight it can be as along as 3ft

[axvwriter]

CatMask brings Jaxon some gifts

Here's my attempt writing not only a canon character, but someone else's oc. I am not confident in this at all as I'm still new to writing fanfiction for canon stuff. Riddle is from Twisted Wonderland.

CatMask has taken a liking to @ryker-writes's Jaxon.

word count: 1,797

            Jaxon had seated himself near the Ramshackle Dorm’s fence. The old, dilapidated building rarely had visitors around, which made it a nice space for Jaxon to get away from everyone. The lunch he had grabbed before heading here was nearly gone. He brought the remains of the meal to his lips to take a bit but tensed as something brushed against his waist. Glancing over, he saw a black housecat staring into his eyes. Blinking and quickly adjusting his sight back to his meal, he frowned a little. Professor Trein has a cat familiar named Lucius, but he had some patches of white fur. He had seen some sort of cat hanging around some freshman, but that one had some weird fire ear whiskers.

            Plucking a small, cat-friendly piece from his food, Jaxon held it out to the cat still staring into his skull. The cat dropped its gaze to his palm. Leaning its head down, it quickly ate up the piece. Jaxon left his hand outstretched, allowing it the chance to sniff it. The cat stared at his hand, making no motion to sniff it.

            “Oddball.” Jaxon quietly muttered under his breath before slowly moving his hand towards its head. The cat lifted its head up, bumping it into his hand as it resumed its previous staring at his face. He gave it a few cautious pats, but with it showing no sign of hostility or discomfort, relaxed into truly petting it. The cat’s body rumbled in response.

            “Quiet one, huh?” Jaxon smiled a little at the silent purring. He shifted his body to get a bit more comfortable, unintentionally bringing his meal closer to the housecat. The cat shifted its gaze and chomped down on the rest of his food before he could properly react. Jaxon huffed, finding it rather cheeky for doing that. Slowly he wrapped an arm around the cat’s body, testing how far he could go. Upon its lack of response, he pulled the cat into his lap, hugging it somewhat as revenge.

~

            It was late, so late that even most night owls of the school were asleep. Yet Jaxon was out of his dorm, walking about the campus. He had used some of his unique magic on himself to fight back the sleep and nightmares that always came for him. Though was it really worth it when it almost feels like a nightmare could be starting right now? What if he had fallen asleep despite his attempts not to? Why did it feel like something’s following him? That something’s in the shadows, watching him, keeping pace behind, then jumping in front at times.

            Jaxon stopped, forcing in a deep breath. It was just his magic, just lingering longer than it should. He held it as he told himself it was likely a school ghost. Letting out the breath, he wondered how long a ghost would find this funny. How long until the ghost either jumped out at him or gave up and left? If it would show itself, then Jaxon could quickly make it regret messing with him. Crossing his arms, Jaxon decided to wait. It didn’t take long for him to catch glimpses of something white and something brown.

            Furrowing his brow, Jaxon tried to keep his breathing steady as he realized what was approaching did not look like a ghost. A white cat-face-shaped… mask? A white carved stone? A glossy brown guitar that seemed to be levitating in front of the mask? As it got closer, he noticed four white stones? Four white round objects that seemed to take on a walking pattern. It wasn’t until it was a few feet away that he realized it had some sort of body made of shadow. No wonder he had such a hard time seeing it fully before.

            As the creature reached him, it shifted smoothly onto its hind legs. It stopped, slouched, as its odd face reached the same height as his own. Jaxon stared at the being, taken aback. This didn’t look like a direbeast nor like a ghost. What in the twisted wonderland could it be? Was the creature becoming impatient with him? Perhaps as it was now, lightly pushing the guitar into him. Without thinking too much about it, Jaxon reached up and took the guitar. Once the guitar was in his hands, the creature slunk back down to all fours. Did it’s face change? Weren’t those teeth grooves slanted before?

            Something moved behind the being, catching Jaxon’s attention away from its weird face. Blinking, he realized it was the creature’s tail. Its tail moving lazily side to side. More movement caused him to snap his gaze back to its face. Which was sinking into its body? The face? The mask? The mask seemed to sink into the creature’s head, dimming it to match the same off-white of the stones in its… feet? Jaxon tensed as it reached one of its legs up, reaching for him- wait no, it was reaching for the guitar. It plucked a cord.

            “Do you… want me to play?” Jaxon breathed out. If this was some sort of nightmare, it was on the oddly calm side. Sure, he had never seen something like this before and it had stressed him by silently stalking after him in the dark… but it didn’t seem aggressive at all. Shifting his weight to subtly shake out some nerves, Jaxon plucked each one of the cords. The guitar sounded to be perfectly tuned. Keeping his eyes on the creature in front of him, he started to strum out a song.

            After a couple of songs, Jaxon suddenly realized the empty space in front of him. He stopped, looking off to the sides to try to figure out where it went. Did he really get caught up in playing to lose sight of the creature? Or did it somehow teleport? Then he felt light pressure on his shoe, prompting him to look down. At his feet was the black cat from lunch earlier today. It had one paw on his shoe, staring up at his face. Its gaze felt way too similar to the shadow being’s unblinking gaze for this to be a coincidence.

            He knelt down and the cat reached up, using its paw to pluck a cord. Was this something that familiars could naturally do? He didn’t recall ever hearing about familiars being able to transform. Jaxon sat down, getting comfortable. The cat climbed onto his lap, nosing at the guitar strings.

            “Demanding little crap.” Jaxon half-heartedly grumbled. He strummed away, creating melodies for the cat which curled up on his lap, refusing to blink or even move its gaze away from his face.

            It wasn’t until near dawn that he saw the cat shift back into the large shadow being from before. The sight was rather odd. It was as if its fur grew and extended into a big fuzzy blob until it smoothed out into shadow. The transformation was rather fast, making it difficult to take in even that. Instead of an increased feeling of weight on his lap, it lightened instead. Its shadowed mask pushed out of its head and the grooves of its teeth slanted. He felt a pressure tug at the guitar. Letting go of it, he watched as the odd creature walked away with the guitar levitating in front of its carved mouth. Watching it slink away, Jaxon could roughly guess it to be a foot longer than his own height.

~

            Jaxon sat at a table in the library, rubbing at his forehead. It had been a few days since he saw that odd familiar. Familiars are supposed to help their mages, right? He wondered if he could somehow get that familiar to help him understand what he was reading. Though would it even help him? Familiars are loyal to only one mage at a time, right? He briefly wondered if he could ask Lucius for help, but the idea of the cat telling the professor how stupid he is…

            Jaxon grumbled, shifting up in his seat as he heard a slight commotion. Must be some freshmen getting a bit rowdy in the library. He took a moment to stretch out his limbs, waiting for someone to quiet them down.

            “Enough. Quiet in the library.” A somewhat familiar voice caught his attention. Jaxon looked over as the most bizarre sight arrived before him. The shadow creature, which he could have sworn was taller than that, was walking on its hind legs as Riddle seemed to levitate in front of its mask. The beet red of the boy’s face portrayed that Riddle had not agreed to be carried about like this. Yet he wasn’t casting off fire spells. Had he simply given in to the odd being’s whims?

            With a quiet thud, it released its hold on the back of Riddle’s blazer collar, dropping him by Jaxon’s table. Reaching its head past Riddle, the creature pulled a chair out. Riddle glared at the shadow that barely reached over his head.

            “What is the meaning of this?” Riddle asked, just to find himself being pushed into the chair by one of the creature’s feet. Riddle huffed and adjusted himself. The shadow leapt up, transforming into a cat as it gracefully landed onto the table. Riddle briefly focused his attention on Jaxon.

            “Is this your doing?” Riddle shifted his gaze away as the cat nosed the open book on the table over towards him.

            “No… I don’t know what it’s doing.” Jaxon answered, watching the cat. Riddle reached out to take the book, pulling it closer and briefly glancing over the page.

            “This is one of the third years’ study subjects.” Riddle stated and glanced curiously at the cat, the red finally fading from his face. The cat nodded then looked over at Jaxon. Riddle followed its gaze, giving Jaxon a questioning look. Jaxon stared in surprise and offered a small shrug. The black cat suddenly reached over and batted Jaxon’s face. Riddle let out a small laugh.

            “If only it would talk.” Riddle tapped the cat, gaining its attention. “Come on, I’m quite good at animal linguistics. Tell me what you want from us.”

            “…”

            “I’m not sure it can talk.” Jaxon muttered. Riddle let out a huff.

            “Trey thinks so too. I don’t need to look over this subject… Do you want Jaxon to show me something in this book?” Riddle asked. The cat stared into Riddle’s eyes for a moment before reaching a paw out to Jaxon’s head. It seemed to pat Jaxon’s head.

            “Right, I forgot that Trey’s mentioned its not very good with yes or no questions.” Riddle sighed. “I’m afraid we’ll have to figure out what it wants as I doubt it’ll let me leave.”

~~~

CatMask brought Riddle to Jaxon to try to get Riddle to tutor Jaxon. Those two are stuck there until they finally figure it out or until Trey comes to get Riddle and CatMask.

[isabellelambert1975]

How to make a terrarium that won’t die in 6 weeks

The terrarium is back in fashion. You probably last saw one in the 1970s, gathering dust in Great-aunt Agatha’s musty Victorian interior.

Now you might expect to find them in hipster home stores, or on Pinterest and Instagram.

Terrariums are back in fashion. This one was created by lifestyle blogger, Jeska, of the Lobster And Swan blog in our blogger workshop with James Wong and Fiskars.

But, according to TV botanist James Wong, most of today’s terrariums are doomed to die in six weeks. ‘I found more than 100 images of terrariums on Pinterest,’ he said. ‘And I didn’t think any of them were planted well enough to survive more than 6 weeks.’

We met James in the Sky Garden in London’s ‘Walkie Talkie’ building. It’s free to visit, but you have to get timed tickets.

So Fiskars Garden Tools sponsored a small group of lifestyle/garden bloggers – including me – to meet James at the Sky Garden in London to hear his tips for a successful terrarium.

How long should a terrarium last?

James Wong showed a sealed terrarium, which grew happily from 1963-2014 without ever being opened, watered or fed.

And terrariums changed the world we live in today

May I briefly digress into history before giving you James’ tips for making a fab terrarium?

Before Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward invented the terrarium in 1833, it was difficult to ship plants around the world. On deck they were blasted by salt air and wind. Below deck, plants died without light.

Then Nathaniel Ward observed a fern and some moss growing in a sealed jar. He designed and built a ‘Wardian Case’, which was like a greenhouse in a box. It was completely sealed and created its own environment.

The Wardian Case was used to transport plants all over the world. Without it, we wouldn’t have the rubber plantations of Malaysia, the tea industry in India and more (and without the rubber industry, we wouldn’t have the motor car!)

So the terrarium is more than just something which goes in and out of fashion.

How to make a terrarium

First, you need the right container. It needs to be big enough, said James – around 30cm cubed as a minimum. And it can be square, round or bottle-shaped, but not pyramidal.

James Wong illustrating the ‘wrong shape’ for a terrarium.

We were given a choice of square and round terrariums to plant. They measured around 25cm high/diameter.

My empty terrarium. It’s around 23 cm high with a diameter of 26cm at its widest. To the right are a lightweight plastic fork and trowel, plus super-long tweezers. Top left you can see snippers for delicate work – use deadheading or flower-arranging snippers.

I had trouble finding similar sized ones online, but this pentagon terrarium is about the same size.

Note: there are some affiliate links in this post, which means you can click through to buy. If you do, I may receive a small fee.

Quite a challenge to take home on the train – but much more likely to survive longer than 6 weeks.

Equipment…

A small plastic (or other non-sharp edged) lightweight spade, plus snippers or small scissors for trimming plants in a confined space. Add long pair of tweezers and a small container or funnel for adding the soil to the terrarium.

We get started- adding grit and soil to our terrariums…Instagramming the process….and two James Wongs apparently look on…

Drainage and soil…

You need a base layer for drainage in your terrarium. James showed us some lightweight clay pebbles, similar to this horticultural grit.

This is the right amount of grit to provide drainage for your terrarium.

And being mean with the soil is another common terrarium mistake, according to James. You need a good 30cm of potting soil.

Add sufficient soil to your terrarium.

Choose your plants carefully

Glass filters UV light, says James. Which means that a terrarium is suited to shade-loving plants, not sun-loving ones like cacti. You can’t get round it by putting the terrarium in direct sunlight either, as it will heat up too much.

Secondly, you need small plants. Not young ones. There is a difference.

To make your terrarium look natural, James advises that plants grow naturally at an angle. Don’t plant everything growing straight upwards.

When I googled ‘best plants for a terrarium’, I discovered people recommending things like Areca palms, which may start off small, but which grow up to 3ft-6ft high.

James bought a selection of plants for us to choose from. They included Mini ferns, peperomia, helxine (known as Mind Your Own Business) plus moss and airplants.

Terrarium design tips

James said that we needed to start with a theme, and that he would judge our terrariums ‘along RHS Chelsea rules.’

That means that you aren’t judged according to whether the judge likes your garden, but on whether you fulfilled the brief.

I decided to choose ‘Australia’.

And the other thing to remember, says James, is that human beings were originally ‘forest edge dwellers.’ Our early ancestors probably lived at the edge of the forest, using the trees for shelter and to hide from predators. But we needed open spaces in order to forage for greenery and hunt for game.

Lifestyle blogger, Melanie of the ‘slow living’ ‘Geoffrey and Grace’ blog working out the ideal balance between greenery and open space.

The ideal human landscape, he says, is at least one-third open. Don’t stuff your terrarium with wall-to-wall plants.

Different heights

Few landscapes are completely flat. So add different heights to your terrarium.

So James produced lightweight chufa rocks and miniature spiderwood branches to help us make our terrariums three dimensional.

Bloggers adding twigs and chufa to create different heights.

Cover all the earth

Bare earth doesn’t exist in nature, according to James. He gave us a choice of adding moss or gravel – or both, so that we didn’t leave any bare earth.

A good tip from James: in nature gravel comes in lots of different sizes. In shops, gravel is sold in packets of a similar size. Buy two different sizes of gravel to look realistic.

An hour later…

We finished, and James came round to judge us.

Me and my terrarium. This theme business isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’d originally planned to create something like my brother-and-sister-in-law’s hillside garden in Australia, which is green with tree ferns and conifers. I ended up thousands of miles out, creating a desert. Respect to Chelsea garden designers for sticking to a brief.

James was encouraging about all the terrariums, but awarded the well deserved first prize to Stephanie Donaldson of The Enduring Gardener for her ‘Borrower’s Jungle’ (based on The Borrowers, the novel about miniature people).

Stephanie Donaldson and The Borrowers’ Jungle.

And here’s my terrarium, all Instagrammed (I gave it a retro filter – Nashville – in hommage to the terrariums of my university days…) If you fancy connecting on Instagram, join me here.

And afterwards…

Then James advised us to soak the compost thoroughly, but not to water more often than once a fortnight after that. ‘You can see if the compost looks dry,’ he added. ‘That’s the time to water.’ However, it’s a good idea to spritz the occasional spray on the leaves, too.

Place the terrarium somewhere reasonably light, but not in strong direct sunlight.

Last week I looked at the 2018 garden trends. The biggest one is that after about a decade of the ‘garden as an outside room’, we are now entering the era of the home as an ‘inside garden.’

This means pot plants, terrariums, air plants, grow kits and more. It’s fuelled by the fastest-growing group of plant buyers today – the ‘Millenials.’

While I’m definitely no Millenial, I’m excited about this new direction for plants. I really enjoyed learning about terrariums from James (thank you, Fiskars!).

And if your terrarium doesn’t last fifty years, that doesn’t mean you’re a terrible gardener. ‘Plants die,’ says James cheerily. ‘And I’ve killed thousands.’ After all, gardening is a learning process….

The post How to make a terrarium that won’t die in 6 weeks appeared first on The Middle-Sized Garden.

from The Middle-Sized Garden http://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/how-to-make-a-terrarium-that-wont-die-in-6-weeks/