#not a fig expert

[mayperhapsbe]

“Did you know that the flowers of a fig are inverted? They rely on certain wasps that burrow into them to pollinate them. In the process, however, they lose their wings and end up dying inside the soon-to-be fig after they’ve pollinated and laid their eggs. After a while the eggs hatch and the newly hatched wasps burrow their way out of it. The reason why we don’t get a mouthful of dead wasps when we eat them is due to an enzyme that the pollinated fig produces to digest and absorb the nutrients of said dead wasps. The fig then ripens into what we eat. Oh, and that crunch you hear when eating it is just the seeds btw, so don’t worry.”

[frodo-with-glasses]

Bonus doodle! Figured I'd get all my Beregond-posting out of my system on the same day.

So I was talking to a friend recently and said that Beregond was “stripped of his rank” when he went to fight at the Black Gate. Autocorrect, being autocorrect, changed it to “stripped of his tank”.

We thought this was very funny.

So here’s Beregond in a tank :-D

[todaysbird]

I just wanted to say.. your blog makes me SO HAPPY! I don't know what it is about birds but they make me smile and go crazyyyy! I love them so much! I was wondering, since you are the bird expert, do you know any interesting green colored birds? :>

thank you!!! And yes, there's so many interesting green birds! (DID YOU KNOW: many birds APPEAR green, but their feathers are only structured that way. the only 'true' green pigment in birds is turacoverdin, found only in turacos!)

There's the Javan Green-Magpie, now sadly critically endangered

A personal favorite & common pet, the Indian Ringneck

Couldn't mention turacos without including them...this one is a White-Cheeked Turaco

Double-eyed fig parrot...love how vibrant they are

green broadbill...gotta love a bird with a snoot

the iridescent shine of the Green Pygmy-Goose!

the green pheasant...he sure is green and a pheasant

the green inca (there's lots of nice green hummingbirds, but having green in the name means he takes the cake)

And, of course, the Green Jay.

[a-very-tired-jew]

The very peaceful protests and their very peaceful actions. I previously posted about how the Columbia SJP has an infographic on terrorist groups and uses language justifying and endorsing their actions. Well here is the UCSC SJP's Instagram.

Fig. 1. Depicts a police car that was damaged by an IED on June 1st at the UCSC student Palestine protests.

Listen, I'm as ACAB as the next person. Hell, I'm an independent forensic consultant. I get to see first hand the fuckery that goes down when I get called in, regardless of what side I'm on. But this? This action here on the official UCSC SJP Instagram page? That is employing the same methods that recognized terrorist groups have used around the world. Jews have said for months that these "peaceful" protests were on track to becoming violent. When you shout and endorse the same rhetoric as terrorist groups that have repeatedly stated they want to kill Jews there is the eventuality that you will start using their same violent tactics. We've already seen these student protesters engage in the same behavior as Nazis by preventing Jewish students and faculty from attending their classes and buildings. We've seen them spit on us, threaten us, shout vile insults, attack us, and attempt to burn down / bomb / destroy our places of worship and business, and we have repeatedly said that it will get worse. Well here it is. Once you start trying to blow up vehicles in the street you're too far gone to call yourself peaceful protesters anymore, you’ve become terrorists. Plain and simple. And guess what? The picture on their Instagram has a descript that is equally chilling.

Fig. 2. Is a message that is attached to the photo in Fig. 1. and includes language that emphasizes violence and terrorist actions. This reads like a manifesto that is attempting to garner support from minority populations here in the USA by appealing to the issues they face. However, the language they are using is a giant warning klaxon because it undermines the actual severity of what these groups face by couching it within the ProPal Western Activist lexicon. Many people, myself included as a death expert, have pointed out that the term genocide as applied to the conflict is improper and does not meet the criteria. That doesn't stop these protesters from using it to appeal to emotion and attempt to guilt others into supporting their cause. It's clearly an attempt to gather support and drive others to violence. Nothing in here says that these are peaceful protesters. They are ready to lay down their lives for the Cause™ in a violent manner.

Glorifying martyrdom.

Red flag.

Death to amerikkka.

Red flag.

Knife to the throat of zionism.

Red flag. You already complained about the more benign Finding Out portion of employers flagging certain degrees from specific universities and wanting to know if their possible employee is an antisemite. The Finding Out portion of actually planting IEDs is much, much worse. At a certain point people will have to accept that the SJP/PSC system blatantly endorses and justifies violent terrorism. This is what Globalize the Intifada means. It means engaging in the same violent acts of the Second Intifada. It's a call to engage in violent terrorism. But ya'll don't want to accept that, regardless of how many times it's pointed out.

[warehouse-in-la-cienaga]

Fantasy high au where over the course of four years, The Bad Kids all end up with online followers for wildly different reasons, and it makes the rest of Solace realise that this disaster group of teenagers are responsible for their continued existence (many times over).

-As in canon, Fig has all her music accounts. However, they all link to her personal accounts (not including any from before freshman year). On her personals, there are plenty of clips of her and the rest of the BK, starting halfway through Freshman year. She has a Fantasy YouTube account where she shows concert clips and music demos, but also running complications of each bad kid being cool/stupid/insane. The highest viewed video is Riz and Adaine pulling Fig into a magic debate, with the quote ‘someone get Kristin, I think they might actually kill each other’.

-Kristin actually gets involved on social media at the end of Freshman year. She starts with taking about her deity ‘yes!’ but also includes stories about unlearning toxic religious teachings, and how to deal with changing/leaving a religion. She gets a lot of ex-religious followers, although few of them actually follow ‘yes!’ When she starts talking about Cassandra at the end of Junior year, a lot of her followers get behind it. Highest viewed video is introducing her Sibling Bucky, who talks about following an older sibling who’s been denounced and escaping a religion as a pattern in families.

-Riz starts his social medias during the summer of Freshman year, when he gets his license and starts getting clients. He has a separate, personal Fantasy YouTube account that’s a mix of reviewing mystery-genre media (books, films, ect), and advice for adventurers (think Polygon Unravelled meets Monster manual guides). Highest video is rating all the enemies the BK’s have fought in their time, with the quote ‘Porter was strong, but he also relied on angry teenagers to be subtle and organised, so that’s a flaw.’

-Adaine is next, takes an idea from Riz and talked about her favourite media, as well as advice to other Wizards. Guides on memorising spell chants. Organising material components. She has Jawbone on some videos to talk about how to deal with the mental effects of adventuring. Most of her videos are very calm and easy to listen to, with a few insane clips of the BK’s thrown in, usually when demonstrating a spell. Highest viewed video is a blurry clip of a car on fire. In the background, Fig is howling laughing. We hear Riz say ‘what have we learned.’ The camera flips, and Adaine’s blank face says ‘do not punch a car to see how far it’s thrown.’ End clip.

-Fabian is terminally offline, and only joins the others online at the end of Sophmore year. His videos are a mix of dancing and fighting techniques. He goes through steps easily, from beginner to expert. His fighting videos include the rest of the bad kids as opponents. He sometimes does talk over them to give advice, but there are also complete dances and fights set to music with no talking. Highest viewed video is his first dance with Mazey. It’s not a ‘couple dance’ it’s almost like breakdancing, but you can tell the two have high chemistry together.

-The group channel is started at the beginning of Junior year. It’s mostly clip compilations, to begin with, since everyone is incredibly stressed and busy, but as the year goes on there’s videos of the snowball fight at moonar yulenear, the frostyfair. Debates between Riz and Adaine, Godess talks with Fig and Kristin. At least half of their videos are the BK’s doing something insane and documenting results, ranging from ‘fantasy jackass’ to ‘fantasy myth busters’ depending on who’s involved. Highest viewed video is Fig surfing a lava river, following Fabian who is riding the Hangman through the same river like a jetski. Adaine is standing on the other bank, holding an ice bag.

-Gorgug is surprisingly last. The audience know about him, he’s appeared in Figs music, Fabian’s fighting, Riz talked about his gadgets and the group channel includes him as much as the rest of the BKs. He just doesn’t really think there’s anything for him to have his own channel for. Until there’s a group video where Fig needs a gadget, and the audience get to see Gorgug’s workshop, where he’s currently working on a robotic, fox-like creature that jumps up on Fig when she walks in. His channel is sort of a Michael Reeves type, where he does such impressive engineering for the most insane reasons. Highest viewed video is a workshop tour that includes three fires, at least one of which is Figs fault. The thumbnail is Gorgug watching the fire on his desk with a completely straight face.

[deconstructthesoup]

What's been in my head lately is a Fantasy High pirate AU. Not a Leviathan AU, an actual pirate AU.

Bear with me---

Adaine is a bookish princess of a kingdom by the sea, and while she has everything from an outsider's perspective, she's neglected by her parents as the second child and is incredibly lonely. Her only real friend is Kristen, who's a representative of the church of Helio and is kind of Adaine's unofficial lady-in-waiting, and both of them are fairly sheltered... until one fateful day, while the two are enjoying a small day of freedom, they get captured by a motley crew of pirates.

Fabian is the captain and the son of the fabled Old Bill, and he's been making his own mark on the seven seas via sheer charisma and chaos. He's trying to build up a reputation of being a ruthless thief and murderer like his father was, but it's pretty plain to see that he cares a lot more than he lets on... like, for instance, upon realizing that Adaine's parents don't care enough about her to pay for ransom, he immediately offers her a spot on his crew. And once Kristen has a very public crisis of faith, she's granted a spot, too.

The other members of Fabian's crew are as follows:

Riz, his first mate and best friend. He's a son of two prolific spies from the goblin kingdom, and he initially wanted to take down the vast network of pirates across the world, but quickly changed gears once he realized that working for the monarchy was a lot more morally corrupt. He kind of acts as the voice of reason, while simultaneously being one of the most feral members of the crew.

Ragh, the ship's chef and the other first mate---Fabian couldn't decide between him and Riz. His mom used to be a pretty prolific pirate herself, and he and Fabian have known each other since they were kids... and, yeah, their relationship has changed from "best friends forever" to "work husbands" over the years. They have some good times.

Gorgug, the ship's resident gunner. He grew up in a family of blacksmiths, couldn't find a lot of honest work, and eventually got a steady position on Fabian's ship. He's happy to be here, he's happy to show off the fact that he's a beast in combat situations, and he's one of the most technically savvy members of the crew. Also, he's a surprisingly good listener.

Fig, the musician and "dark sorceress" of the ship. She used to be a traveling singer-slash-songwriter and used an elven disguise to blend in, but eventually decided "fuck it" and took on her true form as a free-spirited tiefling pirate who kicks ass, takes names, and curses anybody who badmouths her. She's great.

Tracker, the ship's surgeon. She was raised in the church of Helio before being bitten by a werewolf, after which she promptly left to learn under her uncle, who was a prolific pirate himself before he retired. Nowadays, she's learned the secrets of both witchcraft and medicine and made a name for herself as a skilled healer and fighter, and is pretty happy where she is.

Gertie, the ship's other chef and resident wildlife expert. She's definitely one of the most friendly members of the crew, and even though she butts heads with Fabian a lot, she's a pretty core part of the crew. And yeah, between her and Tracker, Kristen is definitely getting a big lesbian awakening.

There is, of course, still a version of Leviathan out there, and Ayda still lives there as a librarian... which is the reason why the crew regularly makes stops there, though getting more supplies is also a plus. Garthy is also there, along with Sandralynn and Jawbone (and Hallariel and Gilear, much to Fabian's displeasure). The Seven are also around---they're a fierce crew of pirates who have a bit of a friendly rivalry with Fabian's crew, though it's never escalated into outright battle.

[dullgecko]

Another goblin headcanon is that goblin hoards have a reputation for a lot of in fighting and strict hierarchy, which is just completely untrue.

While they do have leaders this is normally just the oldest/most experienced in whatever area they’re in charge of and hoards are actually normally very close knit and protective of each other.

One reason for this stereotype is that goblin as a language has a lot of clicks, hisses and growls that to someone who’s not used to it would think that anything said sounds aggressive and threatening.

They also wouldn’t be able to tell the nuisance in goblin body langue e.g angry tail thrashing vs excited happy tail thrashing, big toothy smile vs showing off teeth and ears going back relaxed not really concentrating on anything in particular vs ears going back I’m annoyed and about to attack.

Goblins also tend to use a lot of touch to communicate; gentle biting of friends, whining up to someone when they want something they have (especially younger goblins to older ones), playfully pushing each other and cuddling that honestly looks more like grappling and all this from a uneducated point of view could be seen as fighting.

Add this to people already having a low opinion of goblins and a lot of the ‘studies’ and ‘research’ done on goblins is at best extremely biased and inaccurate and at worst just plain racist, and goblins developed the reputation as savages that will attack even those in their hoard.

I’m also imagining a scene where riz and the bad kids go to the mountains of chaos and either run into or get captured by a goblin hoard. And after a few misunderstandings (they did plan on eating them, apart from riz) they’re happily welcomed and shown all around their section of caves, given food, a place to stay the night if they want etc.

It’s definitely weird for riz to suddenly be surrounded by other goblins after spending his whole life with the only other goblins he really interacted with being his mom and his dad and he does get pretty overwhelmed and emotional at points. But it’s also nice to experience for himself that no matter what people say goblins aren’t just these naturally evil stupid creatures.

Also the rest of the bad kids get climbed on, a lot.

These Goblins don’t often get a chance to interact with other races so are naturally very curious about the bad kids and to them getting up and close to new friends is perfectly fine, plus they’re all so much bigger than them so it makes perfect sense to scale up them to say check out gorgugs goggles or check out the colour of Kristen’s hair etc. xx

Honestly, i love this so much that i want to print it out and eat it. Thankyou.

---------------------------------------------------

They only even got attacked in the first place because a group of older goblins out for a hunt came across a pack of tall-men carrying what is clearly a CHILD and stepped in to 'save' them.

Noone actually got hurt, despite a lot of weapon brandishing and hissing, mostly because all the bad kids by this point are EXPERTS at reading Riz's body language and it translated perfectly over to the dozen or so goblin adults surrounding them and were smart enough to firstly drop Riz (who had been play-fighting Fig earlier and was at the time being carried around like a sack of potatos under Gorgugs arm until he calmed down because he had entered the silly and biting zone) and secondly put their hands up and drop their weapons.

It had taken Riz a while to talk them down, mostly because (as he explained to his party later) his mum and dad were from the opposite end of the range and had a WILDLY different accent and he had to wrap his head around that first. Think a New Zealander trying to talk to someone from Rural Texas. They can understand eachother, it just takes a bit for you to get used to the accent.

Once Riz explained to them that they were from Elmsville, and that this was his horde, the goblins attitudes changed drastically from 'intimidating and pissed off' to 'friendly and curious'. There wasnt much of a change in their body language, but all the bad kids relaxed immediatly when they clocked the shift (which only added weight to Riz's claim that these were his horde). Especially since Fig could hiss out a passable 'nice to meet you', even if her accent was terrible.

Some of them even put down their weapons to get closer and examine the rest of the bad kids, several of them grabbing and poking at Fig and Fabians forearms when they noticed the bite marks from the earlier play-fighting and Riz showed off his own bite-marks from Fig.

They get the invite to spend the night in the caves, since its already getting dark by this point and a bit too late to set up camp, and they happily accept. Kristen and Adaine have an absoloute ball playing with the goblin kids who come to investigate (they're so SMALL AND CUTE) while Fig and Gorgug get climbed all over by children and teens in equal parts. All of them kept getting offered food that they knew from experiance they proooobably couldnt eat without getting food poisoning, but they had plenty of rations to offer back and Adaine kept pulling candy out of her jacket to the delight of both the kids AND adults.

Fabian gets spared the brunt of the grabbing and poking, but mostly because Riz has taken refuge on his shoulders after a couple hours and was flicking his tail in mild annoyance anytime someone got TOO grabby. He'd fled up onto his favorite perch when, intrigued by the novelty of a NEW and STRANGELY DRESSED goblin teenager, more than one of the hordes teens had flirted a little too aggressivly with Riz for his liking (a boy around Riz's age had grabbed his tail and done SOMETHING Fabian hadnt quite seen, but the next second Riz was scrambling up his back and hissing so he didnt ask).

[sunnyrealist]

Let's Talk about Sebastian's Parents

I recently needed to write about Mr. and Mrs. Sallow for my fanfic, and because there is very little information out there, I had to invent a lot of backstory as to who they were and what life was like for the Sallow family prior to their deaths.

I'm so curious to know what headcanons others in the fandom have created about them. It would be interesting if some of us had similar thoughts. If you're willing, would you share your own ideas via comment or reblog? Thanks!

I threw in a little preview above of one of my many commissions from @giselsann-opencommissions that I've been sitting on for quite some time. I don't usually post them until I get to the plot points they depict. This one is close enough - I'll show the entire thing real soon.

Before I get to my headcanons, this is what Hogwarts Legacy: The Official Game Guide has to say about Sebastian's parents (see last paragraph):

Here is the background I created for my fic:

Their names were Samuel and Selina (Ware) Sallow. Their family and friends called them Sam and Lina.

They were both pureblood and the same age.

They met at Hogwarts. Sam was in Slytherin, and Lina was in Ravenclaw.

When they were students, they were academic rivals - not "enemies," per se, but they were not exactly friends until they were assigned as partners for a project in Potions during their seventh year. They realized how similar they were and fell in love.

They got married very quickly after graduation but didn't have Anne and Sebastian until they were older (around 30).

The two of them eventually became teachers at Hogwarts. Sam taught Magical Theory (predecessor to Professor Fig), and Lina taught Defense Against the Dark Arts (predecessor to Professor Hecat). They were experts in their fields.

They moved to Aranshire when they became professors. I believe they lived in the spider house in Hogwarts Legacy (there's actually evidence to back this up). It was FILLED with books to the point that it was practically a library.

The cellar was their workspace, and the twins knew that when their parents were down there that they were not to be disturbed unless there was an emergency.

Both of the Sallows were incredibly studious and conducted a lot of research in their spare time. They sometimes teamed up to study particular subjects, such as defensive magical theory and love as a form of magic in its purest form. They didn't view Dark magic as inherently evil, just as everyday magic is not always perfectly good.

Mr. and Mrs. Sallow were quite lovey-dovey. Sebastian remembers them reading in front of the fireplace, engrossed in their own books, but always holding hands or touching. He also remembers being grossed out as a little boy by how often they would kiss.

Neither of them had big families, and just about all of their family members had passed by the time the twins were born. Solomon Sallow was their only living relative at the time of their deaths.

They took the twins to Hogwarts often during summer breaks, so they had a head start on learning the lay of the land and the school's curriculum. Sam and Lina had them read some of their textbooks prior to their first year so that they could get the most out of their education.

They wanted the twins to be well-rounded, so they taught them multiple languages. Lina considered music a language and taught them how to play piano. She also would sing them a song every night when she put them to bed.

Lina was exceptionally gentle, despite her interest in magical combat, Dark magic, Dark creatures, etc. She tended to coddle and fuss over the children. Every year on their birthday, she would bake a spice cake with vanilla icing. She was proficient in both Muggle and magical healing. Her nicknames for Sebastian and Anne were "little prince" and "little princess" - "the little twin rulers."

As far as looks, Sebastian takes after Lina, who had curly auburn hair and freckles. While Anne got a few of Lina's freckles, her hair is similar to Sam's.

Sam loved to give the twins sweets behind their mother's back. He had a distinct laugh and enjoyed reading stories aloud and "doing the voices." He taught the kids how to play Quidditch; he had once been a beater. When he traveled for his studies and would come home with unique artifacts and new information, he would share all of it with the twins in plain language, never talking down to them. I see Sam as an Atticus Finch kind of father.

Christmas was a simple affair. They'd have Uncle Solomon over for dinner, and he would leave pretty quickly after dessert (he and Sam were not close and disagreements were frequent). The twins were always gifted two items: a new book and something particularly interesting, useful, or coveted.

They liked animals and had an Old English Sheepdog named Endy (short for Endymion).

Again, I would love to hear your headcanons. Are yours similar or completely different from mine? Sound off in the comments or reblog! I love discussions like this.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Fantasy High Junior Year and Rock the Boat

Who knew the opening minutes with Ally hijacking the intro would lead to Brennan quitting just before the episode ends? I guess we did. We were told. By Ally's before-the-season featurette, and by the episode description. We were told.

Almonds almost took out Brennan before Ally could. We got a little ghost with hairy feet--showing hole! And then we got the wrong graphic at the end? I think?

And now Zac's the dungeon master.

The biggest thing I learned from this episode? How dim the lights that are on Brennan have to be, just so he doesn't wash out. Like, look at Zacky in that photo. The lighting team is truly amazing at their work, just to be able to balance Brennan out with the rest of the cast.

But joke's aside--

WHAT AN EPISODE!

The Intrepid Heroes are one hundred percent some of the best players of tabletop-roleplaying in the business. And not just because they're making us laugh--it's because they're able to deliver some outstanding storytelling alongside the jokes!

Yes, a lot of kudos goes to Brennan too. For his amazing DM-ing. But the cast? A standing ovation for the lot of them. Even just Ally pointing out how Gorgug and Kristen being the first of the Bad Kids to die--and being in direct line of fire with the dragons? Accidental narrative drama! (Edited to add: It was Gorgug who remembered they died, and Kristen—looking at all the dragons surrounding then—who said it could happen again still.)

Fabian having invested so much on his popularity track pays off. Riz and Eugenia being an amazing team, Siobhan and Ally giving outstanding support, and Fig (and Emily!) finally getting over their cursed rolls--it was all so brilliant. Blimey!

Gorgug was the MVP of this fight though. Zac's rolls and Gorgug's stats truly kept the Bad Kids afloat. And Brennan asking Zac to roll for things Gorgug was concentrating on gave me the loudest laugh of the episode. Because the only thing he was concentrating on: was staying alive!

And, please, talented artists out there. Let's make a music video for Fight in the Sky by Fig and the Cig Figs. Using vulture footage taken with GoPros.

I don't have much else to say. Next week looks even more wild. And Murph is now the Expert of the Cocked Dice.

Oh, and "Shoot Grandma and gas it."

[canisalbus]

I realize this might be a slightly odd ask, but… Out of curiosity, what sort of foods do you think Machete would be fond of? And do you think they’d differ noticeably from when he was young vs once he’d grown older?

He's a fussy eater. He rarely eats for pleasure and dislikes being seen dining in company, but attends formal dinners and banquets if invited, since declining without a very good reason would be at best rude and at worst a devastating faux pas. He prefers fowl dishes over red meat and greatly dislikes sea food (which is just peachy since this is the Mediterranean). Pasta seems to be already a well established part of the cuisine at that point, maybe he's into that. For the most of his life he's eaten rather simple foods so he finds bland soups and broths very safe and comforting. Pomegranates are his fruit of choice, he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth but enjoys candied apricots and figs on occasion.

He's exceptionally bad at holding his liquor, and he can't stand the feelings of unpredictability, disorientation, unsafeness and potential loss of control that being intoxicated causes in him. Unfortunately, drinking plain water was very risky and uncommon, it was contaminated and unsanitary more often than not, especially in population centers. Generally the main drinks you'd consume through the day were diluted wine and beer/ale (this was the case for children as well). Machete tends to prefer wine, which he waters down heavily, and sometimes has it flavored with spices, herbs, honey or sugar. Having even a little bit of alcohol in the mix would kill at least a portion of the bacteria (not that the concept was known at the time, people believed many illnesses were caused by tainted air and foul smells, I mean fair enough, if your water is filthy it probably smells bad too).

(Fun fact, apparently Ancient Romans had more or less perfected the art of winemaking but by the Middle Ages a lot of the techniques had been lost. During the Renaissance wine was generally very low quality and the way it was fermented and stored (making the switch from sealed ceramic amphora of the Antiquity to those iconic wooden barrels) meant it would only stay good for a year at best and the taste would start to deteriorate within the first couple of months. Vintage wines weren't a thing, the best stuff was fresh. Apparently European wine was pretty bad for hundreds of years and would only start to improve again around 1800s. Or at least that's what I've gathered, I could be wrong, I'm not a wine expert).

Europe hadn't quite adopted tea yet and he narrowly missed the time coffee began to spread to his corner of the world (I bet he would've loved both of those, with the help of caffeine he could've been twice as much of a jittery sleepless wreck). I've read that people would distill sage and drink the resulting concoction with hot water to create this very tea-like minty drink, that sounds like something he'd like.

[narniadreams]

Can I request some Casmund Headcanons... About food? Lol I feel like it would be a very interesting topic cuz of Edmund's sweet tooth and that lol

oh my gosh it's been such a long time since i wrote headcanons, but thank you for asking!! this is such a fun request :3c

edmund and caspian are pretty much the total opposite of each other when it comes to food: edmund is a very picky eater while caspian likes almost everything

edmund associates certain foods with certain times in his life, making him dislike them, especially if they relate to winter (based on this headcanon post)

edmund prefers simple foods that don't require a lot of preparing, cooking, mixing etc.

he loves fruit - yes, especially the sweet ones, like strawberries, grapes, pineapple, clementines etc.

he also really likes dried fruit, such as dates or figs.

while he also enjoys many other foods, like bread, soups, stews, potatoes and such, he usually eats only a little bit of it to keep room for something sweet afterwards - or he puts a heck load of jam on his toast, a lot of sugar and honey in his tea etc etc etc.

caspian will calmly eat whatever and look at edmund devouring multiple slices of cake when they have dinners.

(he does this in front of anyone else too, even at important dinners, edmund needs dessert)

neither of them are very good cooks btw.

edmund has the technical skills but the flavour palette of a child and caspian is way too clumsy to make a proper meal

together they make it work though, if necessary

they like eating what others have made more though (lucy is an expert at baking, especially cookies)

one of their favourite things to do together, as a date, is find a pretty place, preferably in soft grass, and have some simple food together: bread with butter, nuts and fruits and wine.

they will feed each other, sometimes jokingly, but really it gives them butterflies from time to time

sometimes edmund talks about the kind of sweets that he liked in england - even trying to recreate them in narnia, often to no avail.

one of caspians favourite moments is when edmund has leftover food around his mouth (cake icing, liquid from fruit) and clean it away

(yes, sometimes he ''kisses'' it clean)

[ruki-mukami-dl]

Good Night, Bed Fragrance

Note: I've tried to translate the descriptions of the new fragrances. But I'm not an expert. So I picked out only the important features and translated them as best I could... 🙈

Please bear with me 🙏🏻

I apologize in advance for any mistakes made

Ruki's fragrance

Bergamot

Citrus-floral note

Kou's fragrance

Fig

Fruity-woody note

Yuma's fragrance

Mandarin orange

Citrus-oriental note

Azusa's fragrance

Black tea

Vanilla

Fruity note

Shu's fragrance

Bitter orange

Citrus-oriental note

Reiji's fragrance

Musk

Floral note

Ayato's fragrance

Honey rose

Vanilla

Floral note

Kanato's fragrance

Cotton

Jasmine

Floral note

Laito's fragrance

Vanilla

Lavender

Floral note

Subaru's fragrance

Musk

Floral-citrus note

Carla's fragrance

Musk

Oriental note

Shin's fragrance

Bay leaf

Blackberry

Fruity note

Kino's fragrance

Orange

Lilac

Citrus-floral note

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST!!!

REBLOG IS ALLOWED~

[a-very-tired-jew]

Sort of From the Horse's Mouth

For months people have been talking about how Hamas has long planned to infiltrate and influence Western countries that they not only disagree with fundamentally, but also want to violently overthrow. Hell, experts on Hamas and other terrorist groups have long documented this course of action prior to any of us speaking about. I have talked about this ad nauseum regarding the 93 Philadelphia Meeting tapes that the FBI submitted as evidence during the HLF trial in the 00s. But that may not be enough for some people.

Edit: Thanks to @nerdypagan1 for pointing out that this is not their website.

However, I am going to keep this post up. Why? Because the materials contained on the website are very similar to materials we have seen in the past from Hamas on their actual website (I thought this was legit because the actual one is inaccessible at this time). Furthermore, the language, intent, and materials displayed below are in line with what is in their charter, has been expressed by their members and leadership, and experts on the group have stated and published on (e.g. Vidino and Levitt).

The likelihood is that someone took materials from their old website, telegram, and other sources and put this together.

Fig. 1. Hamas's four principles that guide their actions.

Fig. 2. The 5 stages of Hamas's activities in other countries. Hamas tells us exactly who they are, what they're about, the actions they take, and their agenda. These two images are from their website (which is just their name .com). They openly admit that they mislead and misinform people around the world. They openly admit that they create organizations to convince people of their ideology and garner support. They openly admit that they want a theocratic fascist state and will kill to get it.

These are not "Freedom Fighters".

These are not "Liberators".

These are theocratic fascists who will do anything to get what they want. If at this point you're still denying the intent of a theocratic fascist terrorist state and its openly stated goals, course of action, and intent then I don't know what to say to you. I would hope that even the terrorist group admitting to all of this would cause some self reflection. But somehow I think a good number of people are so invested in hating the West and being antisemitic that they will mental gymnastics away even the most blatant admissions.

[mindblowingscience]

Ancient symbols on a 2,700-year-old temple, which have baffled experts for more than a century, have been explained by Trinity Assyriologist Dr. Martin Worthington. The sequence of "mystery symbols" was on view on temples at various locations in ancient city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, present-day Khorsabad, Iraq, which was ruled by Sargon II, king of Assyria (721–704 BC). The sequence of five symbols—a lion, eagle, bull, fig tree and plow—was first made known to the modern world through drawings published by French excavators in the late nineteenth century. Since then, there has been a spate of ideas about what the symbols might mean.

Continue Reading.

[dullgecko]

Ok, since you said this is how we play I'll try It, how does Riz react when he learns he's Friends are alive? I guess he feels relive, that means he hasn't got them kill but at the same time why haven't they revivem him?

Yeah baby! Play the game get a prize (the prize is more words)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

There was something to be said about being dead, Riz certainly didn’t feel himself getting tired anymore beyond the general brain fatigue of reading through records for hours on end. Bytopia almost rivalled the nine hells when it came to bureaucracy but the rogue considered himself an expert after helping Fig claim ownership of the bottomless pit. A little angelic paperwork wasn’t going to stop him even if he felt like he was going a cross-eyed from reading through rulebooks and forms.

Once Pok had shown him to the record room, a vast almost endless plain of bookshelves that stretched to the horizon hidden behind an unassuming door in the fields of Elysium, he’d been called away to deal with a problem for the LPRTF. Riz getting left behind to find the information he needed with only what little guidance his father could give him in the few seconds he had spare before sprinting out of the room.

This was fine. Riz was his party’s research guy. If there was something here to find he would find it that was guaranteed. First and foremost? Making sure his party was okay. It took him a couple of hours to track down everyone’s files, the goblin feeling relieved when he checked and found that each of them was still okay and alive in turn. Each of their records was a detailed account of their entire lives, the pages in the ‘future’ were written but even looking at them made his head spin and he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He absently wondered if maybe Adaine would be able to see what was written there given she was the oracle, but the better question would be whether she wanted to read it.

He didn’t want to violate his friend’s privacy too badly though, even though he was very tempted to take a quick peek at their childhoods, only quickly checking their status was listed as ‘alive’ on their files before placing them back where he found them. Checking his own records should be fine though right?

Finding his own records was a lot harder, mostly because they were stored separately from those still on the Prime Material, and when he found it it was almost triple the size of his friends. Reams of paperwork regarding his employment with the LPRTF enclosed between the covers of the folder making it much thicker. He carefully started pulling out and reading through the bundles of paperwork, mostly just curious if there was any information that could be gleaned there but his brows ended up knitting together in confusion. The goblin tucking the folder under his arm as he went to find a reference book to double check everything was filed correctly because he had a niggling feeling still that something was off about his current life-status.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Time, when you’re dead, can get a little bit weird. You don’t need to sleep or eat (even though you can if you really want to) so the normal methods Riz tended to use to track the progression of time were completely absent. Because of this it had been nearly five days after entering that he finally stumbled back out of the records room, clutching his own file and a reference book in one hand and a slightly crumpled wad of paperwork in the other, and at least three files with his tail. The goblin looking a mix between completely and totally manic and gleeful as he stumbled over to the nearest agents desk and slammed the paperwork down in front of them.

“I should NOT be dead. Where’s Agent Gukgak?”

“He is, um, out? Some trouble in the Nine Hells.” The gnoll who’s desk he’d slammed the paperwork onto looked surprised, hyena ears flicking as they glanced between the face of the slightly unhinged looking goblin and the paperwork pinned under his hand.

“Oh okay, cool, never mind I’ll just talk to you then. I shouldn’t be dead.”

“You said… but I’m going to assume you’re going to explain why?”

They knew this was Pok’s kid, everyone in the LPRTF knew who he was and when word came in that he’d ascended at only seventeen they’d felt awful for him. Their wonderfully talented part time lower planar consultant suddenly promoted to full-time agent before he was even legally an adult? Incredibly sad, but there was little they could do about it other than help him through the first few stages of realising your ticket had been punched permanently. He looked WELL and truly into the denial phase right now.

“Yes. Okay, look. I found my file and all my employment paperwork and stuff.” Riz juggled his armful of papers, dumping them onto a clear spot on the gnoll agents desk and flipping open the reference book to the pages he’d marked. “You guys had permission to fast track me to ascended soul when I died and lock in my employment. This form.”

“Sure did honey, didn’t want you having to spend weeks in limbo while we processed everything so it was pre-filled for you.”

“Cool, alright, you know what I’m talking about then.” He shuffled through the pages until he found the one he was looking for. “It’s filled in WRONG. You’ve got it listed as ‘on the event of my death’.”

“Yes dear.”

“No you don’t get it. It’s been filed as ‘on the event of my next death’ not ‘permanent death’. They filled in this bit of paperwork wrong. I’m an adventurer we die all the time but our cleric usually brings us back.” He jabbed at the page, juggling another file onto her desk from the stack he was holding with his tail. “This is my friend Kristens file, she’s my party cleric, she tried to resurrect me within fifteen seconds of my dying but you guys had already locked me in to becoming an ascended soul working here. You stopped me from being resurrected with the protections that stop agents being summonable to other planes without prior approval. She totally could have brought me back.”

“That’s not-“ The gnoll agent blinked, pulling the page Riz was jabbing at closer and reaching over to grab the reference book as well. The agent flipping through a few pages before smoothing out the slightly crumpled page Riz had been clutching, their eyes going wide with realisation. “-oh… oh dear. Well… you’re not wrong.”

“So we need to fix it.” Riz reached behind himself to grab the other files he’d been holding in his tail and stack them neatly on the desk, wings relaxing out of their outstretched position to fold comfortably behind his back as he calmed down.

“Well, we can fix it but you’re still dead kiddo. This is a huge fuck up on our part but we can’t just… zap you back into your old body. Literally all it will do is change the wording on this form to be ‘permanent death’… and it’s been nearly seven days since you died.” They dug a pen out of their desk drawer, waving it over the piece of paper and instantly fixing the wording in front of Riz before placing it back in his file still sitting on their desk.

“Yeah but they could still bring me back. Kristen could try Raise Dead that’s got a ten day time limit.” Riz flicked his tail, drumming his fingers on the edge of the desk.

“Not really? You’re already an ascended soul and like you said, they can’t summon you to a lower plane without permission.”

“So? Just get me to a lower plane? Fig is the mistress of the Bottomless Pit they can just resurrect me there.”

The gnoll agent winced, having to look away when the rogue dropped his ears back and gave them the saddest look they’d ever seen. Holding their hand up to block their view of his face when he purposefully dilated his eyes to make them look bigger. “No, stop that. We could try but the process for approving getting an agent to the lower planes can take days.”

There was a blinding flash of light off to their left that made Riz drop the ‘sad goblin’ expression and stand back up straight, ears flicking into an expression of mild confusion as Pok was left behind in the wake of the beam of light. The older goblins hair smoking slightly and smelling heavily of sulphur as he glanced around the field and zero’d in on his son.

“Hey sport. Feeling better? Find what you needed to find?”

“Yeah. Paperwork was wrong. I shouldn’t be dead.”

Pok blinked, glancing at the gnoll agent who just nodded and shrugged in answer to his silent question. “Oh. Alright then. Glad to hear it. You might want to come with me then.”

Riz ruffled his wings and trot over to take Poks hand when it was offered, his father leading him away from the field full of desks until they were barely visible in the distance. The rogue just making a confused noise before reaching out to dust some of the soot off his dads back while they walked.

“Where have you been?”

“Just a few problems on the lower planes, I had them teleport me back here when I realised where the problem was headed.” He laughed, leading Riz up and over a hill that looked down into a different field of Elysium below them. A jagged tear splitting the landscape like someone had ripped a hole in a piece of paper, the bow of an unfamiliar ship jammed through the crack and allowing several demons to spill into Bytopia unimpeded.

All Riz could really do was stand there in shock as several figures clambered their way out of the ship to the ground, one of them stabbing one of the demons that launched themselves off the ship after them and putting them down in one attack. The figure turning to point their sword at the nearest celestial trying to fight back the incursion in order to ask them a question.

“YOU! Where the FUCK is Riz Gukgak?” Fabian slashed at another of the demons as they tumbled off the ship, giving it a swift kick to knock it back through the rift.

“Oh. Wait are my party the problem or are they helping you with a different one?”

“Bit of both.” Pok laughed, ruffling Riz’s hair after letting go of his hand. “The demons were trying to invade anyway they just hitched a ride on their ship to help fight them back… and probably come to fetch you.”

“Well… saves me a trip to the lower planes for a resurrection since I got my paperwork sorted.”

“I was a bit worried we’d have to fight your friends off too if they tried to take you but it looks like you sorted out the nitty gritty on your own… Good job.” Pok held his arms out, grunting a little when Riz threw himself at him for a hug before glancing back down at his friends fighting below.

“I’m going to go help… and hopefully get revived. Thanks dad.”

“No problem Riz. Just… make sure you don’t come visit again for a long while?... at least outside of normal consultant stuff at least.”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fighting back the incursion had been tough without his weapons but at least he still had claws and teeth that he could fight back with. When the last demon fled back through the rift Riz was left exhausted, covered in gore and with a newfound appreciation for his wings which gave him a bit of an edge when it came to getting into a good position to rip out taller creatures throats.

He was only able to bask in the satisfaction of a fight well fought for all of six seconds though, Fabian dropping Fandrangor to the ground as he scooped the goblin up in a hug that could crush ribs. Riz happily throwing his arms around his neck and hugging back with just as much enthusiasm.

“What the fuck Riz, I take a nap for three hours and you go and get yourself killed? Ridiculous.” The half elf huffed, smoothing his hands along Riz’s back and tucking him more securely against his front as he turned to convene with the rest of their party.

“Sorry. It was an accident. Would have been fine if someone hadn’t fucked up my paperwork up here.” Riz purred happily, not caring that he was getting Fabian covered in demon ichor as he was hauled over to Kristen. Their cleric elbow deep in his briefcase as she pulled out a blanket wrapped bundle and placed it gently on the floor. Unwrapping it just enough that it wasn’t so tightly bound but keeping the sheet draped over the top so he wasn’t visible underneath.

“Oh… that’s my corpse. That is… deeply unsettling.” Riz winced, glad that he couldn’t really see past the sheet that had been left draped over his body. Seeing his own seven-day rotting remains would not be good for his psyche.

“NOT going to be a corpse in a minute.” Kristen reached over to pat his head when Fabian sat down next to her, their cleric reaching into her pocket with her other hand to withdraw a massive purse full of diamonds and slam it on the ground next to the head of the body before her.

“I am going to do this until it FUCKING STICKS this time. OKAY. Riz Gukgak. You are currently available and willing to be resurrected yes?”

“Yeah?”

“Good. Fair warning, this is going to take a while and you are going to feel like shit afterwards. Raise dead is going to leave you exhausted for a while afterwards.”

Kristen reached into the bag for a diamond with one hand, holding it up as she touched Riz’s body with her staff and started the spell. As soon as the staff touched his chest Riz felt something tug at the core of his being. He didn’t resist, letting his consciousness blank out and following the pull as everything went black for what felt like a few seconds.

Riz had to admit, when he next opened his eyes, that Kristen was not lying about how awful he would feel upon being resurrected. The goblin groaning and throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the light because everything hurt. He assumed it had worked though, not just because of the sheer exhaustion he was feeling right now but also because of the delighted exclamations of his teammates around him. The goblin huffing tiredly flicking his tail when Fabian picked him up again and held him against his front, Riz dropping his head onto his shoulder and making an unhappy hissing noise at the movement.

“Uuuuugh fuck. Ow? You weren’t kidding. How long will this take to go away?”

“Four long rests. Sorry.” Kristen pat his back soothingly, Riz absently noting that he didn’t have wings there any more and feeling a little sad for their loss. Oh well.

“Gods. Okay that’s going to suck.” He yawned, squinting his eyes open to blink at the ship still lodged in the dimensional tear behind them. “Speaking of sucking… did any of you tell my mom that I died or is that something I’m going to have to do when we get home?”

“Oh fuck… sorry dude we totally forgot.”

[jo-harrington]

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 19 - In the Garage

Summary: The boys get crafty...

Word Count: 690

Rating: T

Warnings/Themes: Older!Corroded Coffin (it's the late 90s...), the pure boys will be boys energy, car speak thats probably wrong

Note: Big thanks to @courtingchaos for being a trashcan with me while everyone was asleep.

Check Out the Main Post for @corrodedcoffinfest here! Even if you didn’t start on Day 1, you can still join!

Tagging: @the-unforgivenn at her request.

You can find my masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

They’re too old for shit like this.

Hands down. Point blank, end of story.

Still, they’re walking through the Hawkins junkyard looking for all manner of bits and bobs for their newest “project."

They'd honestly all grumbled about it when Jeff told them his idea: building a go-kart. They all had work and other commitments and if they were going to do anything, they should be practicing and working on getting their demo tape finished.

Eddie was the one to hone in the vision, though; not a go-kart, think bigger. Think cooler. As much as he hated to say it, the punk rockers had something going with their rat rods and beaters.

“And it would look so fucking cool in a music video,” Eddie pointed out.

That was all the convincing they needed to build their own car.

Now, Eddie wouldn't consider himself an expert mechanic but he could get by. He'd worked on his van for years, Jeff's car too, and provided tune ups for neighbors every now and again.

But this? This was new territory. This would take time and work and extra sets of hands.

Gareth was the most precious about it, stating that his hands were the money, their bread and butter.

"You do realize all of us need our hands to play," Dave pointed out. "You're not special just because you're the drummer."

"I just don't wanna break my wrist again if it gets smashed under the two ton shitbox we're building, asshole"

"You'll be fine, just lift with your legs."

It also required more time spent back home in Hawkins, but it was a sacrifice they were willing to make.

“For the music video" became their mantra as they imagined themselves featured on MTV amongst flashing images and psychedelic colors as their songs blasted in the background.

Wayne was happy to see them, of course.

He got breakfast with the boys every weekend before they went on their little scavenging missions at the junkyard. From there, they spent the rest of their Saturday at the Emersons, turning the two-car garage that they used to have band practices into some strange auto shop where they learned to weld and install suspension and everything that wasn't just an oil change.

They even leaned into the shitbox-style that Gareth had criticized, and Jeff created a little experiment for making some of the pieces of metal rust and corrode intentionally.

They were Corroded Coffin, after all.

"Just don't get tetanus," Mrs. Emerson warned when she brought snacks out to them.

Unfortunately they all ended up needing a booster shot by the time all was said and done.

Little by little it came together.

They each had their specific vision, using other fictional cars as inspiration--the Monkeemobile and the DRAG-U-LA--but they agreed that they needed to keep with the theme, and in the end they built something reminiscent of a hearse.

A long body with panels that were probably poorly welded together, but they made the best of that, hoping that the Frankensteining of it would look more purposeful. In fact, they ended up naming their rod Frank because of it.

Steady hands from hours of painting mini figs led to pinstriping wherever they could. There were exposed pipes that looked like rib and an extra set of headlights that looked like angry, glowing eyes. Eddie even sacrificed one of his rings and soldered it to look like an earring. Absolutely badass.

"Ok but can it run?" Jeff asked nervously.

They'd gotten it started many times, tested to make sure everything worked...but now it was a real put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is moment of truth for them.

They piled in, strapping themselves into the makeshift, mismatched seats and then prayed that it would all go right.

"Wait!" Eddie cried out right before he was about to start it. "Frank needs a little good luck charm."

From around his neck he pulled his lucky guitar pick--one he caught as his first concert, the one that he'd worn for years--and he wound it around the rearview mirror.

"Alright boys," he breathed. "Here goes nothing."

They all held their breath as he turned the key in the ignition.

And with a vrooom Frank started with a purr.