#lb: orchid

[samthecookielord]

commission for @owo-whats-bliss!

(Commission info)

[mycenaae]

in amidst the mess that is his personal life and his incoming isolation, i AM proud of eddie for recognizing that he's doing badly, mentally, and being worried about himself. season 3 eddie would never have admitted that about himself to anyone. growth has happened! we're just ... not blooming just yet

[wumblr]

vanilla production facts

it is an orchid

the flower blooms one day per year and must be manually pollinated. pollination causes the base of the flower to swell almost immediately, from there it takes weeks to develop into a seed pod

vanilla costs about $300/lb. this being the pulp of the fruit itself, the extract we are familiar with is dilute. second only to saffron for expense. the price also tends to fluctuate greatly depending on the abundance of any given year's crops

there are three strains of cultivated vanilla. cultivation dates as far back as the totonac people in the 12th century, who live in present day veracruz, on the eastern coast of mexico. the olmecs may have also used wild vanilla in cooking thousands of years earlier

vanilla was cultivated in european botanical gardens but not really used much for 300 years after the colombian invasion of mesoamerica until finally some idiot realized the melipona bee doesn't live there, which may not have even been the correct type of bee (possibly euglossine)

five years later (1841) a 12-year-old slave named edmond albius on the island of reunion figured out how to manually pollinate the flowers, which is an extremely delicate and difficult process. some french botanist claimed to have invented this process, and people believed him for over a century

the aroma doesn't develop until after the seed pod is harvested and processed. it must be sorted, graded, blanched, then alternately sweated and dried for 15-30 days. the blanching halts fermentation, which makes one wonder, what is a fermented vanilla seed pod like?

synthetic vanillin is derived from eugenol, from clove oil, and lignin, from any number of sources. the vast majority of synthetic vanilla is made from wood creosotes which occur as a product of lignin pyrolysis (fire). its major source is, like anything, the petrochemical industry, which requires heat to fractionally distill oil into several byproducts (kerosene, naphtha, gasoline, etc). which is to say, 85% of synthetic vanilla is made from the wood smoke of the oil industry. you might be inclined to ask "doesn't this pollute" which, if you recapture the smoke to sell its particulate creosotes to synthetic vanilla producers, no, i guess not really, or "why don't they use oil to heat the oil" because it is more profitable to sell the oil and burn wood to make it, obviously

it is difficult to tell the difference between natural and synthetic vanilla in baked goods, because the baking process burns off the distinctive notes, most of which differ by growing region (tahitian vanilla is floral, indonesian vanilla is smoky, mexican vanilla is woody or spicy, bourbon vanilla from reunion has an alcoholic richness)

price markup occurs not at the point of farming, but after the point of curing. there is no set price for green vanilla beans, but there is a set price for dried vanilla beans, after they have passed through several middlemen from farmer to broker to curing. after this point, they are marked up several more times before finally making it to grocery store shelves in the form of bottled extract

in 2017 a cyclone destroyed maybe 30-80% of madagascan vanilla crops, where possibly as much as 60-80% of the global supply of vanilla is grown. in the 5 years since then, the price has not recovered, but boy howdy, have the labels gotten more fancy in specifying when it's from madagascar, haven't they?

70% of madagascar lives below the poverty line, despite the island producing the majority of the world's supply of the second most expensive spice

by volume, the number of vanilla beans imported to the united states every year is nearly two for every single member of the population (~640m, for a ~330m population)

anyway stop pouring a whole bottle of it into a cup for a joke what the fuck is wrong with you people i hope to god that ibuprofen potion post was staged with some vaguely brown liquid. also the word vanilla etymologically derives from the latin vagina meaning sheath ok bye

[grimowled]

Does Stolas have a favorite plant?

he has many cherished plants !! too many to list !!

he likes alien carnivorous plants and orchids the most, but if he were to choose one plucked from the mortal realm he particularly enjoys growing and caring for, and it is as rare as it is demanding, but yields extraordinary results, it would be amorphophallus titanum / titan arum - also known as the corpse plant.

it is the largest kwown inflorescence on the mortal realm and can grow into an impressive height, weight and overall size (up to 3m/ 10.5 ft in height and 150 kgs / 340 lb weight), but its most defining and peculiar feature is that it emits a most foul stench that resembles a decaying cadaver to attract insects for pollination.

other than the sheer reward to making one flower successfully, stolas is enchanted by the fascinating dichotomy of sheer beauty and decay it represents.

he keeps these in a separate greenhouse due to the odour they emit when flowering.

on a related note, he gets a lot of his seeds and plants from the gluttony ring, which houses the largest areas of forests and vegetation in hell. he also gets them from the mortal realm and other planets where peculiar flora grows.

[lindsohalloran]

general information.

full name lindsay amos o’halloran

nicknames linds / uncle linds ( only by maisie )

age 41

date of birth may 1

place of birth elderslie, scotland

zodiac taurus sun cancer moon virgo rising

gender cis male

nationality scottish

religion raised catholic / non-practicing

orientation homosexual

physical attributes.

face claim richard madden

voice claim richard madden

height 5’10

weight 176 lbs

build athletic / muscular

exercise habits whenever possible but mostly circumstantial

allergies cats + nickel + medical adhesive

hair color dark copper with faint grey + a mallen streak at his hairline

hairstyle short

eye color blue

glasses/contacts no

dominant hand right

tattoos a small black orchid on his inner left bicep

scars too many to count

piercings none

jewelry/accessories garmin instinct 2x solar watch + dog tags

background information.

hometown elderslie, scotland

current residence new york, ny

spoken languages english / gaelic / spanish / belizean creole / igbo / hausa / yaruba / a few other languages very minimally

driver's license yes

occupation private security / previously scottish royal regiment

familial information.

relationship status single

mother eilidh o’halloran ( nee buchanan ) 

father graeme o’halloran 

siblings niamh o’halloran / sister + deceased

other maisie o’halloran / niece and current ward

children none

pets none

personality.

positive traits steadfast + astute + observant + loyal + selfless

negative traits guarded + overbearing + distrustful + suspicious

likes  earl grey + cutobrute + air-dried laundry + live music + runner’s highs

dislikes disorganization + rainy weather + selfishness + coffee + sunburn

moral alignment lawful good

mbti entj

Lindsay has always been private, especially when it comes to matters of his personal life, and the outbreak has only seemed to amplify this about him. In his prime, he was a skilled leader and communicator; his nearly two decades spent in service with the Scottish Royal Regiment have left him vigilant and selfless, always at the ready to keep a sharp out for the sake of those close to him, whether friends, family, or battalion. Professionally, he had a sternness about him that was not unkind, often softened by a quiet charisma and sudden and unexpected bouts of dry humor, and own his own time, he lived a life surrounded by vibrancy, more an observer than a participant. He’d frequent bustling bars and cafes and music venues, existing as a stoic fixture in the background, enjoying and observing with a simple smile twitching at his lips. He doesn’t take time for the simple pleasures anymore, and those glimpses of humor, of the lighthearted man he could have been, they’re rarer now than they ever have been.

supplies.

95-ltr. capacity tactical backpack / rucksack

first aid kit ( nearly empty )

two stainless steel water bottles

water purification tablets

utility knife / swiss army multi-tool

solar powered flashlight / power bank

hand-crank emergency radio

lighter / magnesium fire starter

signal mirror

tarp / rope

a children's sleeping bag

small plush rabbit

glock 17 + ammunition

machete + thigh holster

biography.

tw: brief mention of homophobia + abuse + drug use + death

From the outside looking in, the O’Halloran household is almost picturesque; with a modest but lovely two-story in the heart of Elderslie and two children, a son and a daughter, it would appear that Graeme and Eilidh have it all! Graeme has a government job that provides well enough that Eilidh can stay home and mind the house and the children. Lindsay Amos O’Halloran is younger than his sister Niamh by two years, but the pair are incredibly close; their father is strict — they’re mindful of their manners, their marks in school, for fear of his reaction if they don’t — and their mother is … well, Lindsay suspects she hasn’t been in her right mind in years. ❛ The pills will do that, ❜ Niamh tells him, ❛ numb you right up. ❜ She tells him this is why their mother never says anything. Lindsay expects all children must live like this — quiet, obedient. They protect each other, Lindsay and Niamh — best they can, at least. He walks her to class, she helps him with his coursework, and then they hide away in her bedroom and make up stories, elaborate tales of all the places they’ll go once they only get out of Elderslie.

To his credit, Lindsay does well to appease his father and keep relative peace in the house for many years. He learns when to mind his tongue, how to behave. If he yearns for approval, he quickly learns what it feels like to go without. Praise comes in the form of a quiet night — no shouting, no dishes thrown. He is careful to make no mistake significant enough to not be forgotten after his father’s spent a few long nights at the pub. Not until he turns fifteen. All his life, he’s been keeping it a secret; from his parents, his sister … sometimes it almost felt like he was keeping it from himself. For a while, it isn’t hard to keep it locked away; between school, church, and chores, he doesn’t have time for sinful thoughts. He can almost pretend …

His world ends on a brisk September afternoon at nearly three p.m. He’s sitting on his bed with Colin Bigbie from trigonometry, trying desperately to figure out how to calculate angles. And Colin’s tutoring him, which should be helping. It should, but Colin’s sitting so close Lindsay can smell his spearmint gum and he can’t stop looking at his lips, the way he grins around the eraser of a pencil. He still remembers the way his mother shrieks when she opens his bedroom door to find her son pinned under another boy in his own bed, a tangle of lips and limbs. ( How could he have let himself get carried away? How could he have let himself get caught? ) Colin has the common sense to scramble out of the house long before his father comes home. Lindsay is not so lucky. He has nowhere else to go.

Only a few months shy of his sixteenth birthday, Lindsay enlists in the Royal Regiment of Scotland. His mother nearly worries herself into an ulcer over the idea alone, but his father is supportive. Thinks it’s a ❛ wise move, ❜ in fact, that Lindsay could use the structure. She weeps over afternoon tea the day he brings home the forms, cannot even bear to look her husband in the eye as he fills them out. The more unpalatable truth need not be said aloud, for Lindsay already knows it in his heart — as far as Graeme O’Halloran is concerned, he no longer has a son, not in the eyes of God. Perhaps if he leaves now … learns what it means to really be a man, to bring his family respect in lieu of shame, of disappointment … well, perhaps he might return home to more welcoming arms.

This, Lindsay thinks as he packs a sparse duffel the night before he leaves for phase one training, that’s what he wants out of enlisting. He wants to feel like he belongs again. ( Has he ever? Has his father ever actually been proud? ) ❛ No but for christ’s sake, fuck ‘em all, Linds! Honestly! It’s all a bunch a’ shite, and anyway, you’ll always belong here with me,❜ comes a tearful reassurance from his sister over a shared rooftop cigarette the very same night, a possible last ditch effort at convincing him to stay. It doesn’t work! His mind is made up, and when she pinky swears that she gets it, that she understands and she could never hold it against him, Lindsay believes her. He cries when she hugs him goodbye the following morning. In spite of his best efforts, he cannot hide red eyes and mottled cheeks from his father as he climbs into the car. He says nothing, but Lindsay can feel his gaze; he cannot bring himself to meet it for the entirety of the six hour drive from Elderslie to Berkshire.

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst provides twelve months of intensive training to all prospective young officers. Lindsay is desperate to succeed because, in his mind, there is no other option. He learns to operate on a strict schedule and quickly becomes regimented, disciplined. But Lindsay does not socialize with the other young men in his barracks. Many of them are quick to make friends — he sees them being raucous in the mess hall, hears them slagging off their superiors when they’re out of earshot — but Lindsay always keeps to himself. He never joins in. In his spare time, Lindsay pens letters. They’re mostly to Niamh. He tells her of his successes, embellishes his happiness in neat lines signed with love. The letters he receives back are the highlight of his time at the academy — they keep him going. Occasionally, he’ll write to his mother and father; to those letters, he hears nothing in return. his mother takes his phone calls on holidays — he expects that’s the only grace his father allows — but beyond that, they make no effort toward significant contact.

At least not until he graduates. They all show up, all three of them, but make no mistake it is not a grand affair. He knows from his sister’s letters things have not grown better in his absence but worse; his father’s temper flares and without Lindsay there to take the heat, his mother and sister suffer in his place. At dinner that evening, Niamh announces her plans to move overseas. She’s nearly twenty now, and after all, they’ve got relatives in America, distant cousins in New York, and she intends to relocate with their help. Her news doesn’t go over well; their father shouts, their mother wails, and when they leave, it is with the assurance that the entire lot of them are banned from what was Lindsay’s favorite Italian place in Berkshire for life. In the end, it doesn’t actually matter though, does it? He’s leaving again anyway.

Lindsay returns home for two weeks while he awaits his assignment. He helps Niamh pack and does his best to avoid conflict with their parents. When she leaves for New York, Lindsay is the one who takes the family car to drive her to the airport. ( He finds out that day that maybe he doesn’t know how to say goodbye to his sister without crying. Once can be written off as a fluke, but twice? ) He doesn’t know what to expect when he receives the call specifying the location of his first tour, but Lindsay can be certain that Belize does not even make the list. He didn’t even know they had anyone stationed in Belize. ( If he’s being honest, before he knows he’s going, Lindsay couldn’t have confidently pointed the country out on a map. ) Within seventy-two hours, he’s on a plane. Unlike with Niamh, when his parents leave him at the terminal, Lindsay sheds not a single tear. On the flight, he thinks of this mother’s outpouring of emotion and wonders if it’s sincere. Does she mourn the loss of both her children?

The stifling heat of the South American sun — surely impossibly the same sun that casts clouds over his village back home — fries pale, freckled skin within hours of landing, but Lindsay quickly learns that he enjoys the pain. It provides a welcome distraction. A lucky break, it would seem, because it is found here in no short supply. Tropical Environment Training, it’s called. Or, how to fight in the jungle! From dawn to dusk, he and his battalion trudge through gnarled, swampy undergrowth; they learn to camouflage themselves in the wild, how to use nature and the elements to their advantage. He learns to blink past the burn of sweat in his eyes, to claw his way forward when his limbs threaten to give out. His limits? Clearly he’s been underestimating them all his life! Out here in the harsh wild, nobody cares about his story, where he came from. Nobody cares who he loves. They only care that he can perform. Endure. It matters not who he is, only what he is capable of.

Belize teaches Lindsay O’Halloran that he is a very capable man.

When he first enlisted, it was without a clear, intentional path in mind; he’d known then that he wanted to serve his country, but he hadn’t the foggiest what he could even offer. would he be sent to kitchen duty or put on the frontlines? Were there even front lines? Six months after arriving in Belize, Lindsay completes his training. He’s adapted extraordinarily well to the environment; his superiors watch as he takes lead of his battalion, seizes control to lead his brothers- and sisters-in-arms to safety. He watches his team with the fierceness and precision of a hawk. When his entire battalion completes the program with flying colors, Lindsay is asked to remain in Belize. For someone so young, he displays potential. For the next ten years, Ladyville becomes his new home. He immerses himself in its culture just as much as its jungles; his accent twists the words in a funny sort of way, but he learns to speak spanish and Belizean creole. He drinks belikin and shares panades with locals. He becomes familiar with the forestry, teaches it to hundreds. And he writes to Niamh about all of it.

One day, when she writes back, Lindsay learns he’s an uncle. When his tour ends, he hops on the first plane he can catch to New York so he can meet his niece. Her name is Maisie O’Halloran and Lindsay is convinced he falls in love the second he holds her in his arms. He spends several weeks in the states with Niamh; he sleeps on her couch and spends day in and day out with her to make up for all the time they’ve lost. She tells him Maisie’s father isn’t in the picture, and Lindsay makes her pinky swear that she’s safe, that she’s okay. He wishes he could stay, but he’s given another assignment far too quickly. He tells himself he won’t cry this time when Niamh and Maisie leave him at the terminal, that he can keep it together. He can’t, and they’re both laughing through their tears as she makes him promise they’ll meet here again in a few years and he relents on one condition: she sends him weekly updates on Maisie in the meantime.

When he lands again, Lindsay is in Nigeria. He has been assigned to the UK’s permanent outpost Abuja to aid in the training of the Nigerian military. What he lacks in knowledge about the country and terrain, he makes up for in a passion for the sharing of knowledge, of valuable, life-saving skills. Hausa and Yaruba are more difficult to learn than spanish, he’ll admit, but he spends enough time there that he becomes at very least conversational in a few different local languages. When he returns to Elderslie after another six years, he does not sound the same and the streets no longer look like home. His country beckons him back before he can visit Niamh, but he promises soon. He still writes every chance he gets; she convinces him to start video calling because Maisie is talking more than ever. His parents don’t see their only grandchild, don’t get the privilege. He visits them once while he’s back on home soil. Once in two years. It’s tense. His mother doesn’t recognize him. His father shakes his hand.

It takes fifteen years, but Lindsay can finally feel the weakness in his grip.

Time slips through his fingers faster than Lindsay can stop it and before he knows it, the year is 2023. He’s back in Berkshire and, as it turns out, that little Italian restaurant? They don’t even remember him anymore. Lindsay is in his flat when he receives a phone call from an unrecognized number. It’s his cousins from New York, bearing news of his sister. Grave news. He can barely make out the details over the ringing in his ears the moment he realizes what they’re trying to say. ❛ …it was a break in … she’d just gotten back from work … didn’t even know she’d been struck …’m so sorry … ❜ And just like that, Lindsay O’Halloran’s whole world shatters.

By some grace of God, Maisie isn’t home when it happens. Their cousin had been watching her while Niamh was on shift, had just gone to take her back and opened the door when … ( oh, she saw it, the poor girl saw it! ) Lindsay requests immediate discharge and his years of dedicated service allow him to catch the next flight out of Heathrow to New York. He has to begin making arrangements. It takes six days to find a flat in the city and get Ellie moved into it; with his cousin minding her for a few hours, he packs up his sister’s apartment in a single night. Delicately, he tucks away years of memories into boxes — some he’s seen, many he’s missed out on. He does this alone, and he realizes a truth he’s known his entire life. He will always cry when he says goodbye to his sister. This night is no different. He weeps openly on the floor at the center of her apartment, surrounded by sweaters and pillows and photos — he cries for every little piece of her that he is forced to say goodbye to. His grief echoes off the walls. He gives so much that by the time they bury Niamh, Lindsay has no tears left to shed. He is exhausted. And for this, he is grateful. It allows him the ability to stay strong — he does not do well with emotion, but he knows how to push through fatigue. For Maisie, he will. From this day forward, his needs will forever take the back burner to hers. He is no father, but he will raise her the best he can. He owes as much to Niamh. 

To provide for them both, Lindsay secures a position at a private security company called Sentry Solutions. His extensive military and combat training make him the perfect fit for private security, and he finds that he approaches his new career with an inherent sort of dedication. Blame it on the guilt — he wasn’t there to protect his sister, couldn’t save her, but he’ll be damned if he can’t protect everybody else. Most of all, he intends to protect Maisie, to provide her with anything and everything she could ever possibly need and keep her safe. He wants to keep her happy, too, but he knows that’s a more difficult battle won. Though he could count the number of times he’d seen her face to face before moving to New York on one hand, they were hardly strangers; he used to call weekly at minimum to speak to her and her mum, often sent her gifts from Nigeria and then again from Berkshire. This does not make the process of familiarization any easier or less awkward, but Lindsay does his best and eventually, they fall into a routine. He learns what Frozen is and how to dutch braid hair. He wakes up early on Saturday mornings to make chocolate chip pancakes and commits the details of a traditional tea party menu to memory. Every Wednesday starts with a visit to Maisie’s grief counselor and always ends with gelato from the little Italian place on the corner of their block. After a few months, Lindsay starts to believe he can actually do this. That they both can.

And the moment Lindsay thinks he’s finally started to find his footing again, it’s as if the rug has been ripped from beneath his feet again. The world is ending. If it was dangerous to live in the city before, it begins to feel like a death sentence the moment he hears the news. He immediately begins formulating a plan. They need to get out of the city. The population is too dense, the layout of the city too labyrinthine to feel safe. He packs a bag and instructs Maisie to do the same. ❛ Only take what ye can carry, Mais, ❜ he says as if he’d not carry the moon on his back had she told him she wanted to take it along, ❛ only take what’s important. ❜ Her backpack is pink with faux-fur straps, stuffed with crayons and fruit snacks, plushes and photos of her mother; the matching sleeping bag is attached to his own rucksack. 

Lindsay expects it will take them some time to leave New York, but no amount of training or planning can prepare him for the chaos and bloodshed that ravage the streets. The streets are gridlocked but the cars are abandoned, some with windows smashed or doors left wide open. Driving out of the city is an impossibility, and every sidewalk, every building is like an active war zone. To think he'd been worried about the barricades. Moving through the city is slow. Every new street, every building promises new threats; if it's not the undead, it's the living trying to ransack them for supplies. Desperate people. Lindsay tries not to fault them ― fear can make people do all sorts of irrational things. He knows this. But if Maisie's safety is threatened, Lindsay does not hesitate to exterminate said threat, living or otherwise.

Distances Lindsay expects might take hours to cover instead take days. Weeks, even. Maisie is scared, confused, but she holds up better than he expects her to. He should've expected she'd be resilient like her mum. He keeps watch while she sleeps, operates on bare minimum and learns how to whittle his exhaustion into something functional and sharp under the cutting edge of adrenaline. He's never been in survival mode for this long. He thinks back to Belize, to the way the sun blistered his skin and the way his muscles screamed for mercy. He'd been able to push through it then for family who didn't give a damn about him, and he'll dig his heels in and survive this too. For Maisie.

When the snowstorm hits, they take shelter in an elementary school. It appears as though it had been used at some point in the recent past as a makeshift shelter, but aside from the biters that Lindsay methodically removes, it has been thoroughly abandoned. ( Some of the ones Lindsay exterminates, they look fresh. He does well not to dwell on this. ) The winter is long and cold and grueling but they survive. Lindsay is careful to ration what food he can scavenge from the cafeteria and, by some grace of God, it's enough to last the pair of them through the coldest months. He's grateful for the sense of familiarity the location provides Maisie; there are books and toys in the classrooms to keep her entertained and enriched. She has the chance to be a child and Lindsay finally has the chance to rest. At least for a little while. Come spring, they'll be getting out of this city.

Lindsay thinks so, anyway, but he's beginning to realize that what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men might actually be true. Maisie falls ill sometime in late February. It's not that he hasn't been keeping track of the passage of days, either, only that he doesn't know for sure when it actually begins. Her sniffles are easy enough to write off as a symptom of the colder weather, of course, but the cough is admittedly concerning. She seems unfazed, so he keeps an eye on it for a few days and intends to wait for it to resolve itself. Only it doesn't resolve itself. Maisie gets worse.

When the fever appears, Lindsay can no longer deny his concern or the way it steadily seems to morph into panic. He's never dealt with this before. He's only been responsible for her less than a year. There are no useful medications to be found in the nurse's office, nothing more than old antihistamines and cough drops in the desks. He's not familiar with this part of the city, and even after scoping from the rooftop, there's not a pharmacy in sight, not that he can tell. It isn't as if he can leave her, either, to go looking further, or even take her along in this condition, out of fear he'll come up empty-handed and make her feel worse in the process. But he's been surveilling the area, watching. He's seen survivors at the Wexley, coming and going. They must have supplies. It's a short enough distance that he could run it from the school even with his pack on his back and her in his arms, and, with no other options, that's precisely what Lindsay does.

[no-ditches-no-bitches]

He watched curiously. What? Not like there was anything better to do.

He wondered what it was like to have something like that. A strong connection. A companion, if you will. After-..well, after vinnie and him-..yk..nothing else has really..clicked.

..when the fuck was this storm gonna pass???

He sighed loudly, just being all pissy and stuff. He missed his hat…made him feel a lot taller and confident then Now.

You’re messing around outside of your warehouse—doing who knows what—a storm beginning to brew. Well I guess you’d have to go back inside soon then, huh? Might as well now. Or at least that’s what you thought, before you heard a bark followed by a recognizable voice. We should be heading home soon, Orchid. It’s about to start pouring, and besides, we’re getting a bit too close to… you know where.

What do you do?

@ask-quinn-connors

((AYEEEEE HRU DOING??))

He did a little head turn, smirking. Well, wasn’t this gonna be fun. He leaned on some random thing. Raising a brow, getting ready to speak

“Oh, yeah. Don’t wanna get all wet, right? Better skitter home~”

He practically sang the last part, looking mischievous. Always always, I suppose.

“or don’t. Your choice.”

God he was such a silly guy. A fuckwad, but a silly guy.

[grief-worn]

name; jenevelle hallowleaf. shadowheart. age; 47 years. race; half-elf. high elf / human. gender; a woman of darkness. she/her. height; 5'6''. weight; 172 lbs. aroma; night orchid, amyris, sea breeze. favored season; autumn. guilty pleasure; trashy erotic novels.

to mourn is a gift. to suffer is a privilege. to grieve is a blessing.

she knows not where she comes from, nor who once loved her. all she is, all she understands, all she needs, is faith to her mistress.

reared in the sanctity of her shadowed cloister, she has been hardened by divine trainings. the vice of a bloody interrogation. the void of utter isolation. the lingering chill of memories vanished. it was all endured for the sake of Her favor.

in the absence of hope, ambition, yearning, shadowheart wants for nothing but righteous glory. she is a vessel for her lady's will, and will stand high in shar's embrace.

stand high. stand tall.

of course she will. what else could she possibly stand for?

[achy-boo]

Name: Malina Chausiku

Romaji: Chausiku Malina

Quote: “I may be blind but I will never let it be my flaw.”

V/A: Japanese: Mirajane Strauss from Fairy Tail

English: Momo Yaoyorozu from My Hero Academia

Gender: female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Age: She is 16 years old

Birthday: May 21st

Zodiac Sign: Gemini tho she is born after the Taurus season

Eye color: Orchid( before the incident )

Lifeless dark pink eyes

Hair Color: light pink

Height: 5’0

Weight: 109 lbs

Race: Human (before)

Infested human??

Homeland: [Information Unavailable]

Family: She had a wonderful family but unfortunately they were all killed.

School Status and Fun Facts

Dorm: Sapphire Lake Manor

School Year: 1st

Class: 1-C

Student Number: No. 12

Occupation: Bartender at night, DJ during parties.

Club: Light music club, Hiking

Best Subject: History and Flying

Favorite Color: The main color palette is dark and neutral colors but if she had to choose: It’s pale purple

Favorite Food: She likes anything from homemade food to store brought food.

Least Favorite Food: Stale food, Lilia’s cooking, too spicy or sour foods.

Likes: Sapphire Lake Manor(It’s the uniqueness of the dorm), practicing with Tsukii, music, she likes mixing drinks(non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks), the times where the dangers is on rest mode, the night, the moon, rainy weathers, reading.

Dislikes: She dislikes having her privacy ruined by rude people, having to prove that she is not faking her blindness, events that involves families, Dire Crowley(for obvious reasons), Vargas(The yelling hurts her ears), Rook Hunt(The stalking..)

Hobbies: baking, cooking, she tends to play a instrument here and there.

Talents: Super regeneration (Tho she tend to get overboard), inhuman speed and strength, she can tell if people is lying or not,

Nicknames: Saku (Tsukii, Night, and Jeanne), Mental patient (Ace and Epel) {This causes them to be banned from the dorm for a week..} , Fellow Bookworm (Tsukii) Little survivor (The dorm)

Other Nicknames:

Ember: Mal

Chione: Mally

Daniel: Malina (Normal)

Kassie: Mal-Mal

Raelyn: Pinkie

Kuno: Little Malie

(An: These ocs belong to @sakuramidnight15

Appearance and Personality

Appearance: Malina has pink that that she put into a low point tail, her body type is hidden due to the white straight jacket she wears daily. But it was slim and yet litter with scars. Her eyes is covered by a light purple blindfold that she stole from one of the patients. The girl may look weak but she is strong due to her being an infected being. She had scars on her face during her escape.

Personality: Malina used to be this very timid and sweet girl. She treated everything with the most respect she believe everyone deserves it. Nobody never really hated her due to her sweet and timid personality. She was a wonderful family, along with her two older brothers and baby brother.

That is until the incident occurred that turn her world upside down. She was one of the victims of the experiment and..the witness to her family’s death. She is the witness of all her neighbors,friends and extended family’s deaths. It pained her. The boss of the lab deemed Malina as..pawn worthy. He or it wanted to make Malina his pawn. However, the girl’s will to avenge her loved ones’ death and make her life change for the good is so powerful. She refused to become a pawn. With the blindfold she stole from the recent deceased patient, she covered her eyes and began to escape with her new weapon in hand: a death scythe.

Now Malina who is once timid and sweet, now turn cautious and distant. The girl is still her old timid self but it would take a long time for her to get back what she lost. She is now protective of anyone who escape their hell of a place and now the dorm she is now resides in.

𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒂

-She do not like to confront people

-She is a HUGE introvert at NRC but she is extrovert in Sapphire Lake Dorm

-She changes her blindfold weekly

-She gets along with Malleus and Silver shockingly.

-She keeps in contacting with the people like her (Which causes one of them asking her if she want to hang out with them)

-She avoids Ember and Daniel whenever they have their bloody fights (Which is all the time sadly..)

-She cried black tears whenever she cries.

-She can sing but it is very rare for her to be caught singing.

-She is good at any weapon but her favorite type of weapon is blades.

-She avoids Vil and the fish mafia every day...

[firefighterrojas]

BASIC INFORMATION.

full name: angel rojas

age: twenty nine

birth date: june 17th

birth place: aurora bay

nationality: american

gender: cis male

pronouns: he / him

orientation: bisexual

neighbourhood: seabrook quarter

occupation: firefighter

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

face claim: sean teale

hair colour: black

eye colour: dark brown

height: 6"1’

weight: 185 lbs

build: athletic

scars: a four inch scar on his left calf he got when he was a probie, various minor burns from his years as a firefighter and another scar behind his ear he got when growing up

tattoos: angel has a tattoo of an orchid for his mother on the back of his left upper arm

piercings: several piercings on his right ear including his lobe, helix, rook and snug that he only wears when he isn’t on shift at the firehouse

FAMILY.

mother: catalina rojas

father: javier rojas

siblings: two younger brothers

PERSONALITY TRAITS.

+ forthright, compassionate, ambitious, sincere - overcritical, blunt, resentful, judgemental

HISTORY.

angel was the first born son to catalina and javier rojas, a respected paediatrician and trauma surgeon amongst their peers at aurora bay hospital and their community around town. despite what his name might have suggested, angel proved to be a handful for his parents in his childhood, growing up to be quite driven and stubborn once he had set his mind to something.

when he was eight years old he ended up in the ER for attempting to perform a back flip from a tree in his families back yard onto their trampoline and bounced straight off and broke his arm — leaving angel wearing a cast for the next eight weeks and on supervised house arrest with his grandparents so that he didn't attempt another dangerous stunt.

although his grades remained consistently good throughout elementary school all the way to high school, angel's teachers all had the same thing to say about him; he could be capable of so much more if he just applied that drive of his into his academics and not just sports and reckless behaviour

when angel was fifteen years old he was pulled out of class by a dishelved and puffy-eyed catalina after his father had suffered an unexpected stroke while on shift at the hospital. his mother reassured him that everything would be alright, that his father would good better and be healthier than ever.

angel believed her of course, he looked to his mother like she held all the answers to the universe — she never, of course. angel learned this the hard way as javier suffered several more strokes over the remainder of angel's teenage years. some minor, others major but all ultimately lead to his father developing early onset dementia.

angel's once loving and doting father soon became paranoid, confused and apathetic. as hard as angel and his brothers tried to rally around his parents, offering to help with the bills by any means necessary and take care of javier while catalina was at work — the responsibility fell mostly on angel's shoulders and he was happy to carry that burden if it meant his brothers were able to scrape together a slice of a normal childhood.

when angel graduated high school he decided to remain at home with his family instead of leaving town with a football scholarship to any college of his choice to help catalina with his ailing father and younger brothers. catalina had been furious, javier too, reminding angel that he shouldn't put his life on pause for him but angel's mind was already made, no matter how hard they pleaded with him or how furious they got his mind wouldn't change — angel didn't want to leave his family behind in case the worst happened with javier and he didn't get to say goodbye.

true to his word, angel has remained in aurora bay ever since — even joining the aurora bay fire department at twenty five after javier finally passed away after suffering another stroke that lead to a heart attack in the middle of the night. angel has worked at the fire house for the three years, was recently turned down for a lieutenant position due to his lack of experience and age but hasn't let that deter him.

TIDBITS.

his ambition, drive and stubbornness can sometimes be his biggest flaws as they can cloud his judgement and make him callous and apathetic towards anybody standing in between him and his goals.

although it's been three years since his father passed away, he's never really dealt with his death and grieved him — instead choosing to throw himself into his career.

he's a big dog lover and has fostered several dogs before they went on to find their forever home, except for two that he ended up having a bigger soft spot for than most and was unable to let them go — one black american pitbull named luna and a blue nose pitbull named

CURRENT CONNECTIONS.

ex boyfriend of @nomadjones. now they work together. it's complicated

neighbours and surf buddies with @heyits-asher

childhood family friends with @lemielewis and @luckylewis

if @willxmeyers only has one hater then that hater is angel

firehouse fam @nomadjones, @hcnter and @atticuscortes

wingman / drinking buddies with @rominacortez

high school bros with @maverick-liu

platonic soulmates with @noralevin everyone thinks they're dating or have dated because of this

went on several dates with @leomlarson but it didn't lead anywhere

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

PLATONIC

childhood friends / seabrook quarter neighbours / ex-classmates from high school / firehouse fam / friends he’s made from rescuing dogs from the animal shelter / people he has helped while on shift / drinking buddies / etc

ROMANTIC

first kiss / unrequited love / tinder matches / exes / one night stands / flirtationships / situationships / bad dates / friends with benefits / enemies to lovers / high school exes / first love / etc

OTHER

somebody angel has pissed off when responding to a call / exes that ended badly / petty neighbours / professional rivals / etc @aurorabayaesthetic

EXTRA

pinterest

[pointythetree]

Introduction

I like a lot of stuff including:

- movies:

My suicide, Scott pilgrim vs. the world, Palo Alto, Welcome to the dollhouse, Little miss sunshine, Perks of being a wallflower, Fight club, NOPE, Disturbia, Superbad, Everything everywhere all at once, Edge of seventeen, Shaun of the dead, Push, The half of it, Sound of metal, To the bone, Mid 90’s, The little hours, As you are, Rocky horror picture show, Bottle rocket (1996), Isle of dogs, and sorry to bother you. (And more)

- shows:

We are who we are, looking for Alaska, black mirror, love death + robots, bojack horseman, Anne with an ‘E’, Disenchantment, Community, The OA, Crashing, Fleabag, shameless, The dear, Bridgerton, and Everything sucks.

- music:

Alex g, Hozier, Elliott smith, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Fiona Apple, the garden, Vs self, smashing pumpkins, Erykah Badu, The posies, Deftones, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Sex Pistols, Amy Winehouse, mom jeans, The cure, Stevie wonder, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Camping in Alaska, Sunny day real estate, incubus, A tribe called quest, Sex bob-ombs(lol), the fugees, Thee sacred souls, Third eye blind, Frank ocean, Aphex twin, Bjork, Saetia, You and I, knumears, Versera, Jack off Jill, Veruca salt, Daffo, Pixies, Basement, Iris bilinsky, OutKast, Superheaven, Interpol, I hate myself, Faye Webster, Mitski, ICP, Manners, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Siouxie and the banshees, Burial etiquette, Orchid, Rage against the machine, Return to dust, Korn, LINKIN PARK, Limp Bizkit, Sepultura, All American rejects, Evanescence, Type O neg, and BLooDSHOT.

- interests:

Philosophy, communism, music, Hozier, Pheobe waller bridge, fashion, and art.

＊ I NEED BOOK RECS PLEASE (preferably coming of age and less fantasy)

Socials ＊

Instagram: Pointythetree

Letterboxd: Shoeshoes (pls follow me on LB I’m desperate)

(I got bored the colors don’t mean anything)

[samthecookielord]

ART BLAST 💥💥💥

[wcrpbubble]

DOSSIER CHEAT SHEET

LEGAL NAME: beverly crusher nee howard

NICKNAME[S]: doc, bev, crusher,

DATE OF BIRTH: october 13th, 2324

GENDER: female

PLACE OF BIRTH: copernicus city, luna

CURRENTLY LIVING: on the uss enterprise

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english, french, gaelic

EDUCATION: starfleet academy, her grandmother

HAIR COLOR: red.

EYE COLOR: blue

HEIGHT: 5'8''

WEIGHT: 128 lbs.

FAMILY INFORMATION

SIBLING[S]: none.

PARENT[S]: paul howard and isabel howard

RELATIVE[S]: felisa howard (grandmother), she also heavily considers the enterprise crew to be her family

CHILDREN: wesley crusher, jack crusher

PET[S]: do her orchids count?

RELATIONSHIP INFORMATION

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: jean luc picard. heterosexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: usually varies depending on the timeline, mostly single/widowed/complicated.

SINCE WHEN: until she and picard can figure out their relationship status or she finds another ghost alien to tickle her fancy

Tagged by: @my-timing-is-digital Tagging: anyone who wants! i'm so bad at tagging people rip

[moonieminhoh]

King Kim Namjoon

Age: 27 y/o

Height: 6'3

Weight: 200 lbs

Breed: Black Wolf

Scent: Orchids blooming under the moon in a bed of mint within a pine forest

Occupation: King of Moon Shadow

[caduceuss]

tagged by: @baishouqijia love my life tagging: @wcndererr, @ragingtdes, @supportingfire, @celestiafell, @alatusatlas, @zorkaya, @dawnswine @caelune, @lionfanged idk if you've already done this ignore im sentient soap; also u reading this - do it.

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬. name.      baizhu ( good luck finding out his full name ) age.       30s ??? birthdate.       may 23rd species.       human... maybe. gender.       masc presenting (he+him/they+them) orientation.       pansexual, though possesses a preference for males for the most part. he is unduly uninterested in romance. profession.       doctor, herbalist - owner of bubu pharmacy

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬. hair.     jade green, wavy and extremely long and well kept. he typically keeps it in a long braid and bun combo, while stray bits frame his features. two sandbearer wood hairpins adorn the bun, both of which can double as knives in a pinch. eyes.     golden, serpentine - with slit pupils and red undertones. skin.    pale, but less so than one might expect. height.     5'9'' on a good day. weight.    about 120-130 lbs, give or take, but that's only when he's feeling particularly healthy.

𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. siblings.    fatui brother.  parents.   deceased. grandparents.   unknown. other relatives.   unknown. pets.   does the white serpent around his neck count? changsheng would resent being called a pet. partners.    none he makes public. baizhu is a painfully private person, although the number of suitors he has given a successful business and known name in liyue is not small in number.

𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬. natural medicine.    an expert in herbal and natural remedies - baizhu's name is known throughout liyue for his effective (but bitter) treatments and knowledge of the human body. green thumb/herbalist.   can't find it in the wild? he can grow it. can't grow it? he can find it in the wild. baizhu is an expert in all things plants - medicinal and poison a like. snake charmer.   serpents seem to like him, for whatever reason. it can be a bit of a nuisance to those who do not share his enthusiasm. subterfuge.    there's always something a bit off about baizhu, isn't there? catch him looking at you a bit too long and you might see the cunning gleam within his eyes. though he puts on a genial, gentle persona - there is something that swims beneath the surface... almost like he's fooling everyone in his presence, and is looking forward to his next manipulation. venomous.    there's a rumor (possibly started by baizhu himself, or a jilted lover) this his bite is indeed snake-like in quality due to a covenant passed between him and changsheng. what the venom actually does is anyone's guess.

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬. colors.   all shades of green, purples, golds, white, sometimes red. smells.   qingxin blossoms, orchids, the forest after rain, elderberry. textures.  snake skin, the finest of silks, airy linens, soft tresses falling through fingertips drinks.   he's a tea enthusiast, and actual prefers them to be very sweet or spiced accordingly. liyuen alcohol (despite being his homeland) tends to make him ill, but baizhu has been known to prefer sake from time to time.

𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬. smokes.   not unless it's for medicinal purposes. drugs.   baizhu has been known to kill his pain on particularly bad days via a variety of plants - some of which could definitely be labeled as 'drugs.' driver license.   baizhu is a surprisingly capable horseman, despite his weak constitution, due to having to often ride around the countryside for house visits. his gliding leaves something to be desired. ever been arrested.   once, in his akademiya days, but baizhu can charm his way out of most things - and this was no exception.

[utau-bowl]

Rose ~CORDATA~ and Orchid ~INVICTUS~ Review

Today’s review is special! I got a request from Theverrine themselves, the creators of an UTAU i reviewed before...! This has happened a few times with characters I regularly talk about on the blog, but it always feels nice every time. I felt it only right to review these two together since they’re a package deal. If you don’t know already, the pink one is Rose and the blue one is Orchid. 💮

*Art by VERRINE

Hear a Sample of Rose and Orchid

Bio

Orchid

Height: 5'3 (160 cm) Weight: 109 lbs (49kg)

「Orchid, or Maeko Enomoto, is an idol in an idol group duo called CROSS, known for her energetic stage presence and advanced idol experience. She is dating Rose, the only other member of CROSS. If anyone ever met Orchid personally, they should be aware of her two-faced nature, as she can come happy with spark at one moment, but become cold and serious in the other.」

Likes: Rose, Scratch and Sniff Stickers, Okonomiyaki, Jogs Dislikes: Laziness, Paradise, Slow Music, Pickles

Rose

Height: 5'3 (161 cm) Weight: 108 lbs (49 kg)

「 Rose, or Ayaka Tomi, is an idol in an idol group duo called CROSS, known for her mature aura and deep voice. She is dating Orchid, the only other member of CROSS. Despite looking prim and proper in public, she is actually a crybaby klutz who loves to draw horror related images. She used to work as a shrine maiden before she became an idol.」

Likes: Orchid, Candles, Dorayaki, Naps Dislikes: Competition, Ill-mannered songs (will scream in rebellion one way or another), Meat, Stairs

Official Site

The Primus UTAUs finally have a website on Neocities. Downloads are in the respective links on the CHARACTERS page.

INVICTUS is 650 MB and CORDATA is 450 MB after unzipping. Each comes with fully generated frqs. Orchid has some .llsms left over, which I think is causing the higher file size.

First Impressions

Rose and Orchid are two rich and fully featured feminine voicebanks. The UTAU engine noise doesn’t really do them favors, but it gives them some extra energy. Rose is gentler, softer, and more natural sounding. Orchid has a higher, more exaggerated and character-like tone. Both fill a different niche within general feminine UTAU character types while being voiced by the same person.

Configuration

Orchid is recorded at A#3 / C4 / F4 / A#4 / C5 and Rose is recorded at  E3 / G3 / C4 / E4 / C5. Rose’s C5 pitch is labelled as a falsetto. Both also have breathless vowel endings, end and beginning breaths, glottal stops, vocal fry, and English R/L sounds.

Their otos are mostly copy and paste between each pitch with slight adjustments made for the CVVC to work, so nothing crazy going on there. Rose uses 1:3 ratios, while Orchid uses 1:2. It’s important to keep their consonant velocity high with how large the overlap is.

Orchid sounds stranger in lower range while Rose can be pushed pretty far below E3 and still sound good. Orchid I feel is most suitable for Hiiragi-kirai type songs that utaite like to flex their singing skills on.

My recommended flags:  Y0H0F0D10 [Orchid]    b30Y90H0g3 [Rose]

My recommended resamplers: doppeltler, f2resamp, EFB-BS

Final Thoughts

Rose and Orchid are solid additions to your UTAU library. They’re really well made and I will rotate them in my mind often

Got any other UTAUs you want me to review? Send an ask!  

[kingmakerpod]

This week's recipe (sssh I know it's late) is seafood bouillabaisse

This traditional French recipe is often enjoyed along the VSR's western border, where the culture has a much stronger French influence. As the VSR is landlocked, more often than not the fish that would be used in the recipe would be river fish such as carp and trout, or, in the northern part of the country, more exotic species such as the three-eyed oiosone, unicorn squid, and orchid isopod.

Ingredients

5 lb assorted seafood, divided into firm- and soft-fleshed varieties

2 crayfish (or similarly sized invertebrate)

1 baguette

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 onions, peeled and chopped

4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled chopped

2 sprigs fennel fronds

1 dried bay leaf

¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled

1½ tablespoons coarse sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

2–4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

Prepare your seafood- gut, de-vein and wash as needed. Discard the gills, but the heads can be kept to add flavour and thickness to the broth. Cut the crayfish, langostine, isopod, or whatever you happen to be using, in half length-wise. Preheat your oven to 121 degrees Celsius. Slice your baguette into small pieces and lay them on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven until brown. This should take 30 minutes. In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium head. Add your aromatics, spices and vegetables and sauté until soft but not browned. Add your crustacean of choice and your most firm-fleshed seafood first. Cover with boiling water, increase heat to high, bring to a rolling boil and let cook for 5 minutes. Add the soft fish and boil for a further 7 to 10 minutes, until the broth thickens and the fish is cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove any shells or heads. Serve with crusty bread and parsley to garnish.