#problem is this pattern uses three colours

[rusannadoll]

in a conundrum. can’t decide what colour yarn i should use to make a dragon

[onceuponapuffin]

Fanatic Intervention Part 7!!!

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It will not surprise you at all, dear Reader, to learn that Aziraphale keeps very little in his kitchen cupboards. There is no stove or oven, and the only thing in the fridge is milk (for his tea no doubt). When you start opening cupboards, you find one pack of custard creams, and a second one of chocolate digestives. Well, it will have to do. You find yourself a small plate and fill it half and half before heading back into the shop just in time to say goodbye to Anathema and Newt.

As they leave, you turn to the supernatural entities in the room.

“So,” You say, “If we’re going to the States, then we have a few problems. First, I don’t have my passport or any ID at all, so airport security is going to be fun. Second, I have no money. Third, I’m gonna need a Walmart or something because I don’t even have a toothbrush, my dudes. Fourth, these,” You indicate the cookies, “are fine for a snack, but overall they’re not gonna cut it.”

“You just leave the airport security to us,” Aziraphale replies. You make a note that he glided right past ‘my dudes,’ they’re getting used to you already. Dammit. “As for the rest of it,” Aziraphale continues, “I suppose a trip to Tesco’s is in order.”

Crowley produces a shiny black credit card from nowhere and hands it to you. “We’ll take the Bentley,” he says. He starts to stand, but you shake your head.

“Nuh-uh, you both stay here,” You say. Crowley raises his eyebrow.

“You realize we can take care of ourselves,” he says, “We’ve been doing it for a few millennia.”

“I’m not talking about that,” You say, “Look, what we’re going into is really dangerous. And I know that your pattern is to just wait to talk about things until you’re in the clear, but that’s not a good idea anymore. I mean, I get that I’m not exactly an expert, but I read just as much as you do and I’ve heard a million stories by this point in my life, and in NONE of them do people ever say ‘I’m so glad I never told them how I feel’ - you know? It’s always ‘I wish I would have’ or ‘I should have told them every day.’ So Muriel and I will go ask Maggie to take us to Tesco, and you two need to talk. Please. While it’s safe, while you have the chance, before things get dangerous and possibly deadly.”

Crowley and Aziraphale are silent. You notice that they aren’t looking at each other. Well, you’ve done your best. Now you need to trust them.

At this point, dear Reader, you are probably thinking to yourself ‘well I would snoop and spy on them while they talk! I want to watch them make out!’ But here is the thing – in this world they are real people, not characters. It’s one thing to say that you would creep on them from the other side of this fiction, but when they’re very real and looking at you in person, things are a little different. For one thing, you realize that real people deserve things like boundaries and privacy, especially for sensitive conversations.

And so, you take Muriel over to Maggie’s shop, where you explain that Mr. Fell has sent the two of you on an errand and you need to stop for dinner somewhere and have no idea where anything is. You flash her the credit card and say ‘It’s all on me,’ and she conveniently agrees with a look on her face that says something like ‘least they could do after all that shit they put us through.’

So the three of you go for dinner at the nearest Weatherspoons, where you and Maggie eat while Muriel watches in morbid fascination. Then you all take the bus to Tesco where you buy yourself a small wardrobe, and manage to coax Muriel into some light blue jeans and an argyle jumper so they look a little less like the Beacon of Gondor. You quickly find out that Muriel has an adorable fascination with fuzzy socks, novelty mugs, and coloured pencils. Of course, you enable their fascinations with a happy heart, and as an afterthought, you grab them a small pot of orange daisies from the flower section. It will give them something alive to tend to while you’re gone. Muriel appreciates the thought. All in all, it’s a long but good time.

You don’t know about the talk, and you’re worried about asking when you get back.

THAT BEING SAID

You and I, dear Reader, not actually being in that world, are allowed certain privileges.

The bookshop is silent for a long time. Both of them are thinking, digesting, processing. Feelings are hard to feel, and harder to put into words. Especially when it has been made clear, twice now in the span of a number of hours, that you absolutely need to put them into words.

It isn’t until after Crowley notices you, Muriel, and Maggie heading down the street that he stands up and begins to pace. A few more minutes pass before he speaks.

“So...uhm...are you going to go first or should I?”

“Are we...are we actually going to do this? Have this talk I mean?” Aziraphale has been shelving books to try and take the edge off. Now he puts down the book in his hands and absent-mindedly fidgets with his ring.

“Well, I mean we don’t have to,” Crowley says, aiming for non-chalance and missing ever-so-slightly, “No one can actually make us.”

“Yes, except it feels very much like everyone is trying to.”

“Trying is the key word there.”

“That’s true enough I suppose.”

The silence returns and stretches. It is anything but comfortable. The air is full of words that they have been told they should say, words that perhaps they want to say, but words that have been dammed up with fear and uncertainty for so long now that they’ve become very hard to un-stick. After a while, Aziraphale clears his throat and speaks.

“I, erm, I suppose you had better go first.”

“Me, right, okay.” Crowley clears his throat now and stops his pacing near the desk. He looks down at the scattered papers and books, the pens and photos and newspaper clippings. The assorted clutter of Aziraphale’s life. Looking away makes it easier to start. He takes a breath. “Um..right...well...we’ve known each other a long time. We’ve been on this planet a long time – you and me, I mean. I’ve always been able to rely on you, and you’ve always relied on me,” another breath, “We’re a team, yeah? A group of the two of us. And...erm...we pretend that we aren’t. Always have. Safer that way I guess.” He looks up at Aziraphale. The angel isn’t looking at him, but he nods anyway to show that he’s listening. Crowley continues. “And I mean...I’ve tried not to think about it much before but...but it would be nice, I mean, UGH” He takes off his sunglasses and rubs a hand over his eyes as though he can massage the words and make them easier to say. “I mean, I would like to spend...mmm….I would like to spend the rest not pretending anymore. Be an us. I mean,” suddenly the dam breaks, and Crowley finds the words come tumbling out, “If Gabriel and Beelzebub can do it, we can. We don’t need Heaven or Hell, they’re both toxic. We can be an us, on our side. You and me. What do you say?” He looks at Aziraphale without reservation now. His angel looks back at him, eyes wide. When he does speak, it’s with a smile and a small nod of acknowledgment rather than agreement.

“That was very well done Crowley,” he says. This isn’t an answer.

“Nnyeah, thanks. Your turn though.”

“Right, I suppose it is.” Aziraphale takes a moment to gather himself. After hearing Crowley be so open about this, he feels more resolved himself to do this properly. He faces Crowley and folds his hands to keep himself grounded. “Crowley,” he begins, “I...I wish that this conversation were happening under better circumstances. Although it’s been pointed out that ideal circumstances aren’t a promise that we can wait around for. Well, the thing is that I would like the same thing. Very much in fact. My biggest concern by far is for your safety because, well, frankly I don’t see the point in saving the world again if you’re not around to enjoy it with me. An us, as you said. You and me.” He smiles. Crowley smiles.

“Guess we’d better save the world together then. And try not to die.”

“Yes, quite.”

“Aziraphale?”

“Yes, Crowley?”

“You’re my angel. No one else.”

“And you, my wiley serpent. No one else.”

The shop bell dings.

“We’re baaaaaack!” You sing as you waltz through the door, shopping bags in hand. Muriel follows after you, carefully carrying their daisies. “Did you miss us?”

When you eventually get the courage to ask them about their talk later, you get a “ngk” from Crowley, and a “We’ve said all that needs to be said, for now.” from Aziraphale. And that, you suppose, will have to do.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 🖤

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[haemey]

New snupdate :)

I think I made a knitting mistake on the upper right swoop somewhere, but that's a problem for future haemey. Present haemey needs to go to bed.

Snekkie here is now almost tablet-sized! Neat!

More thoughts and tag under the cut.

I'm going to have to think about what I want to do for the body of the scarf, soon. Should I just continue the black-and-red stripes? Should I make a different colour pattern? Since I bought the yarn when this project was supposed to be two-colour brioche shawl, I have an equal amount of red and black, three balls each. At this point, I've used up I think about half to two-thirds of a ball of each? I definitely have enough to make a nice, long scarf.

I'm open for ideas! I kinda don't want to just continue knitting stripes (I'm not emo enough to pull that off, also it kinda hurts my eyes to look at 😅), but I also don't want to switch to something that's going to look weird next to them. Maybe just wider stripes, then?

And I think I'm going to start designing the pattern for the other end, soon. I really think I'm going to go with the hourglass, but maybe black on red this time? Should be able to make it about the same size as snekkie.

Lmk what you think!

@theriverspath

[grendelsmom]

Knitting Update or as I like to call it: the ice bear sock (mis-)adventure

So, I've been getting more comfortable with patterns lately and I thought "Hey! I wanna try my hand at this with something easy!". Seeing as christmas is around the corner I decided I would knit a pair of socks for a friend. And as a little challenge I wanted to design my own pattern for it. Which I mainly did by taking inspiration from an old pair of socks and changing the design around until it fit the amount of stitches required for the size of socks I wanted to knit. And look at that! They look nice - don't they? And they're almost finished!

Lovely ice bears walking through the snow! Only, I made a mistake with the first sock, which I only noticed once I reached the Zwickel of the second sock (my dictionary is telling me it's called gusset or gore? basically the part of the sock where the heel turns into the foot). In the first sock I had forgotten to leave two normal rows inbetween the decreasing rows - meaning that that part of the sock is now much steeper. It does still fit me, but it could potential be a problem for someone with bigger feet. So, I asked my other friend with the same shoe size to try them on for me. It wasn't a problem. What was however a problem was the ice bear pattern part at the top of the sock. You see, I did try my hardest to knit it as loosely as possible, but I still only knitted the stitches recommend in the guidline for a normal pair of socks without a two colour pattern. Meaning the part, because of the two colours, is less elastic and therefore too tight.

At this point I concluded that I had two options. The work I already done wouldn't fit my friend, so I decided to make them shorter later on and use them myself or gift them to a friend with smaller feet so they wouldn't be wasted. Continuing with the project I could either re-work the pattern so that it would work on a higher stich count or knit two plain socks and then stitch the pattern on afterwards. Because the second sounded like less work, I decided to go with that. And tada!

Looks fine, right? A perfectly normal sock, just waiting for the pattern to be stitched on. Yeah... well... as you can see I used a different yarn for this one. (I was getting kind of bored of the first one and the local store didn't have it in stock anymore anyway so I decided to change it up.) The first 1 1/2 socks were knitted in a 4 ply yarn. The second one in 6 ply. Or so I thought. Until I put them next to each other and realised that the second version looked way tighter.

So, I looked back on the yarn label (something I apparently hadn't done since buying the yarn) and - yes, you guessed it - turns out it was actually a 4 ply yarn and I had somehow confinced myself that it was 6 ply to the point that I never double checked it again. (Actually, I know how I did it. I was choosing between two different yarns and the other was a 6 ply. I thought "Oh, I definitely must remember that, because I'll need a different amount of stitches then". Which, yes, I remembered that. I just didn't remember that that wasn't the yarn I went with.) This is a sock the length of a EU 44/45 (US 11.5) with the amount of stitches, so width, of a EU 34/35 (US 4.5) - yes, it's that ridiculous.

So, instead of fixing the original problem of the socks being too tight, I actually just made it worse. And now three weeks after I started a project, that was supposed to take me a week max, I have 2 1/2 socks I cannot use for their intended purpose and just started the first sock I will hopefully, actually be able to gift my friend.

[witchthewriter]

𝑨𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝑳𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔!

𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐘

First Lesson: Sun🌞

Second Lesson: Moon🌙

Third Lesson: Rising/Ascendant💫

Fourth Lesson: Venus 💛

Fifth Lesson: Mars ⚠️

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and its orbit around the Sun is the fastest one we know of. This is why Mercury is associated with speed, communication, and efficiency.

𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔:

○ Day: Wednesday

○ Colours: Yellow, Grey

○ Mercury rules two signs: Gemini and Virgo

○ Mercury rules the third House of Communication. Some astrologers may also refer to it as the House of Sharing.

○ Mercury Retrograde happens four times a year and it doesn't affect us all the same way every time.

○ Mercury spends about two-three weeks in each sign, but when it retrogrades, which it does three to four times a year, it can stay in one sign as long as ten weeks.

○ Mercury represents the principles of communication, mentality, thinking patterns, rationality/reasoning, adaptability and variability.

○ Mercury: Nervous system, skin, face, thyroid. It has a direct influence over mental disorders, ear problems, etc.

𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑚

Daring, Blunt, and Deliberate

Modality: Cardinal

Element: Fire

Symbol: The Ram

Ruling Planet: Mars

Stereotypical Traits: Fiery temper, competitive, daring, adventurous, honest (sometimes brutally), brave, optimistic, warm

Ruled by Mars, the planet of action, Mercury in Aries people speak quickly and sometimes without thinking first. People with this placement are passionate in their expressions. They are honest and direct which is great in some situations, but can be harsh in others. They also come up with new ideas, express them easily, and have a talent for convincing people to see things their way. Because of this people with Mercury in Aries make great leaders and public speakers.

𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑙

Enduring, Pensive, and Practical

Modality: Fixed

Element: Earth

Symbol: The Bull

Ruling Planet: Venus

Stereotypical Traits: Steadfast, loyal, enjoys physical comfort, stubborn, reliable, grounded, logical

People with Mercury in Taurus tend to take their time considering things before they speak. They are deliberate communicators who get straight to the point, but unlike Aries, they consider everything they say before they open their mouths. Taurean Mercury placements prefer practical outlooks and solutions. They are very confident in their values, so confident that they can come across as closed-minded in certain conversations. They are not actually closed-minded though. It just takes them a little longer than other people to consider and process a new opinion before they can speak on it.

𝐆𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑇𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑠

Effortless, Charismatic, and Beloved

Modality: Mutable

Element: Air

Symbol: The Twins

Ruling Planet: Mercury

Stereotypical Traits: Jack of all trades, flirtatious, social butterfly, curious, charming, unpredictable

People with a Mercury in Gemini placement have an especially easeful relationship with all the Mercurian traits. This is because Mercury is the ruling planet of Gemini. People with this placement are particularly quick thinking and logical. They love to learn about the world and people around them and have a way with words in various mediums. For Mercury Gemini people, flirtation is just another way to communicate, so they do have to be careful not to lead people on. Otherwise, a Mercury Gemini placement makes for smooth communication and a life of learning.

𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑏

Quiet, Sensitive, and Adaptable

Modality: Cardinal

Element: Water

Symbol: The Crab

Ruling Planet: The Moon

Stereotypical Traits: Emotional, intuitive, fiercely loyal, romantic, loves being at home, nostalgic, nurturing

People with Mercury in Cancer have a soft and emotional approach to logic and communication. They make decisions based on your feelings rather than what might seem most logical to someone else. People with this placement are great at expressing their emotions and have a way of making people comfortable with deep conversations. They don’t like small talk, which can make them put up a wall. Instead, they open up and relax when they are in the presence of other people who can go “there.” As an intuitive, sign, someone with Mercury in Cancer seems to always know the right thing to say, even in a delicate situation.

𝐋𝐞𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑜𝑛

Unpretentious, Responsible, and Sincere

Modality: Fixed

Element: Fire

Symbol: The Lion

Ruling Planet: The Sun

Stereotypical Traits: Stylish, enjoys attention, confident, creative, enjoys luxury, jealous in relationships

People with Mercury in Leo may feel drawn to become a performer or entertainer. They are great storytellers and have a way of naturally grabbing peoples’ attention even if they are just talking to friends. They are creatives who don’t enjoy paying attention to smaller details. So, they have to work with others to take care of those parts of projects. People with this placement tend to be leaders because of the way they naturally attract attention. They are also persuasive but have to be careful to allow enough room for other people’s opinions. Someone with Mercury in Leo can easily take up all the air in the room and forget about everyone else if they are not careful. However, in general people with Mercury in Leo are popular and make friends wherever they go.

𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛

Intelligent, Productive, and Logical

Modality: Mutable

Element: Earth

Symbol: The Maiden/Virgin

Ruling Planet: Mercury

Stereotypical Traits: Nurturing, judgmental, quick thinking, logical, hard-working, intelligent, perfectionist

Like Gemini, Mercury also rules Virgo. So, to have Mercury in this sign is a beneficial and easeful placement. People with this placement are analytical and great at recognizing patterns. They are very realistic and communicate directly. Sometimes this can be a little too direct for some people. Mercury in Virgo people need to learn to add a little sweetness into their communication, otherwise, their directness paired with their love of logic can come off as constant criticism. Mercury Virgo people are very sharp and witty, but also serious thinkers. They tend to have sarcastic humor rather than being flat-out funny.

𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠

Diplomatic, Resourceful, and Amicable

Modality: Cardinal

Element: Air

Symbol: The Scales

Ruling Planet: Venus

Stereotypical Traits: charming, beautiful, and well-balanced. They thrive on making things orderly and aesthetically pleasing. They also crave balance, and they can be equally as self-indulgent as they are generous. Libras are also the kings and queens of compromise, and they like making peace between others.

People with Mercury in Libra have a gift of using their words to create harmony, especially in social situations. They intuitively know the right things to say to smooth things over and can be very diplomatic. Unfortunately, they may often find themselves in the middle of conflicts because they are the ones trying to keep the peace. Mercury in Libra people are often the friend that both people in a disagreement confide in. Luckily, people with this placement are very trustworthy in this situation, because their desire to keep the peace is greater than their desire to spread gossip.

𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐨 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑜𝑛

Secretive, Passionate, and Exacting

Modality: Fixed

Element: Water

Symbol: The Scorpion

Ruling Planet: Mars and Pluto

Stereotypical Traits: Emotional, intuitive, loyal, caring, jealous, moody, secretive

People with Mercury in Scorpio don’t open up easily to most people. They keep their personal and emotional information close to their chest. They only open up when they feel close to someone. Because of this, they are likely to have a few close friendships instead of a larger friend group. People with this placement are also sensitive to people who could be seen as nosy. They don’t like when people pry for information. On the flip side of this, Mercury in Scorpio people are fascinated by the unknown. They are motivated to learn as much as they can about the topics that interest them to find the true answers to life’s deepest questions.

𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑟

Audacious, Eccentric, and Unfiltered

Modality: Mutable

Element: Fire

Symbol: The Archer

Ruling Planet: Jupiter

Stereotypical Traits: Adventurous, confident, friendly, open-minded, can seem irresponsible, braggy

People with this placement can be quite academic. They are intrigued by learning about heady topics that open their mind even more. They may also incorporate travel with study or work. People with Mercury in Sagittarius are direct communicators. Sometimes, they can even be a little too honest for some people. However, they never have negative intentions, they trying to be helpful and are simply calling it as they see it. Socially, Sagittarius Mercury people are charming and witty. They make friends easily but their intensity in debates or arguments can be a turn-off to more sensitive people.

𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑎𝑡 

Practical, Honest, and Methodological

Modality: Cardinal

Element: Earth

Symbol: The Sea-Goat

Ruling Planet: Saturn

Stereotypical Traits: Ambitious, honest, hard-working, logical, judgmental, demanding, workaholic

People with Mercury in Capricorn have a trustworthy word. When they say something, they generally mean it and they will do what they say they will, even if they don’t want to. People with this placement can feel like they know everything, or that they know the best way to do things. They can seem to speak down to people, but they are really just trying to keep things efficient as they relate to communication and learning. People with this placement can be social, but they may get annoyed if things don’t feel efficient enough for them. Mercury Capricorn people can learn to be more open-minded and accepting of people with different viewpoints and ways of doing things.

𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟-𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟

Masterful, Well-Rounded, and Confident

Modality: Fixed

Element: Air

Symbol: The Water Bearer

Ruling Planet: Uranus

Stereotypical Traits: Intellectual, compassionate, idealistic, unemotional, eccentric, unique, open-minded

People with Mercury in Aquarius enjoy debating for fun. They can have unconventional opinions on issues, but their arguments are never without merit. Mercury in Aquarius people have done a deep dive to learn everything they can about the issues that are important to them. They prefer to communicate about issues and facts rather than emotions. People with this placement can prefer to learn about the future rather than the past or present. They may be attracted to learning about technology, which can lead to a tech career. Socially, Mercury Aquarius people are witty, and can make you laugh!

𝐏𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐬 | 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑠𝘩

Storyteller, Enigmatic, and Private

Modality: Mutable

Element: Water

Symbol: Two Fish

Ruling Planet: Neptune

Stereotypical Traits: Intuitive, creative, spiritual, caring, understanding, naive, illogical, lots of daydreaming

Mercury in Pisces helps people with this placement communicate their inner thoughts and emotions. People with this placement are fascinated by the larger questions of life and may be drawn to spirituality to find out their meaning. They love talking about these deeper issues, like the meaning of life or why we exist. People with this placement can be sensitive, but that also depends on their other astrological qualities. Either way, Mercury in Pisces people are deep thinkers who want to connect with others on a profound level. They are likely to abhor small talk.

[transmutationisms]

given how you have talked about succession and race before, do you have any thoughts on the recent interview by Juliana Canfield in Vulture? The main gist of the Jess scene in the last episode being meant to be funny, according to one of the (white) writers. (Quote: "Three weeks later, a bunch of us went out to dinner and one of the writers, Lucy Prebble, was like, “We’re cutting together episode eight, and the scene is funny.” I was like, “It’s a funny scene?” It had never occurred to me that it was written to be funny. I saw it as deadly serious, existentially chilling, and reminiscent of the 2016 election.")

so, wrt that scene in particular, it's not totally clear to me what prebble thought the joke was, and imo that would make a difference. to me it read as a very dark joke aimed at greg, who's clearly torn between thinking mencken is 'bad' in a very distant way, and wanting to please his boss and do his job. jess's lines i did not think were delivered or played as funny, and the overall effect of the scene, to me, was to shift focus to the people who work for waystar but cannot really be said to make executive calls: assistants, underlings, &c. i read jess as feeling like she's been complicit in what atn was doing this entire time, and trying, too little too late, to stop it. her field of action is obviously very limited because she, like everyone else on the show, is still operating within waystar's orbit, and within capitalism.

more broadly, i think this jess convo is a little bit frustrating in some of the same ways the sophie stuff has been. it's a very last-minute shift for the show, to actually address head-on (sort of) jess and sophie as women of colour and what that means for them as people who are involved with the roys in different capacities. it's hard to do this well this late in the game, and especially in a season where by necessity the siblings' grief is so central. we still haven't spent any time with jess alone, and we've never really gotten into her head---also a problem with sophie. so, just as the sophie scenes work mostly as kendall characterisation, the jess/greg convo does a lot of its work as greg characterisation, and kendall's remarks to jess earlier in the season about atn covering african politics also tell us much more about how kendall sees jess, himself, and racism than they do about jess herself.

none of this is a new problem for succession; it has always been pretty clear that it's about its white characters. so, these last-ditch gestures toward more commentary on race can read as a bit tacky at best. with the election night thing, i don't mind a joke at greg's expense (it's continuous with him trying to claim he has "principles" in s2), but it is true that in that scene the show is using jess and her race (implicitly) to do that. the show's premise has always foreclosed a lot of potentially interesting questions about people like jess and in jess's position: again, disempowered, but also benefitting in some way from the company and from selling reactionary politics. that could make an interesting avenue to explore, but it's simply not one that this show has chosen to go down. again, it's not clear to me from that interview exactly what prebble thought the joke was so i can't really say much more about her specifically, but the scene itself in the show is part of a larger pattern in how the writers handle race (usually weirdly ignore it, sometimes use it to explore their white characters' psyches).

[adobe-outdesign]

Hello! What do you think of the stormy cloud kacheek outfit?

This outfit was mostly overshadowed by the Fennec fox outfit that came out the same day, but most people that noticed it seem to think it was decent. I... kind of disagree, to be honest. Like, I like the idea of it fine, but the execution doesn't land for me.

First off: why three tails? Such a weird detail to include when the original tail (or a bigger version of it) would've been fine. Is there some kind of mythology reference here I'm missing or something? The three tails are also one item instead of multiple separate items, so it's not like you can just have one if you prefer it that way or something.

More importantly, though, is that the actual storm design used on the body is poorly handled. The body has no shading, just this highlighted beveled effect, making it seem flat. It also seems flat because the storm pattern doesn't wrap around the contours of the body, instead being a piece of art that the Kacheek lines sit on top of (this is also a massive problem with a lot of Eventide pets, but that's a ramble for another review).

And finally, the head is decent minus the same pattern notes above, and I like the eyes and the fun little lighting bolt hair. However, the ears look strange; it's like the artist wanted to have the ears be made out of lightning bolts, but they couldn't get it to work so they just slapped them on top of the regular ears. (I would've kept to a single tail and had the tail be lightning, but that's just one option.) Also, the overly cheerful mouth looks super out of place compared to the intense eyes; some of the mouth wearables work better, though you can't use mouth-be-gone here so clipping is an issue.

Like I said, there are a lot of things that I like about this in theory—the color palette is really nice, the eyes look great, and the whole concept is kind of like a more interesting take on the electric colour—but the execution doesn't quite land. Better than the Fennec outfit though on the grounds of at least somewhat matching Neopets' standard art style.

[robsterskellington]

Sorry this took so long! We struggled to remember what we had originally written, then I caught the flu on top of it. Anyway!

Context: as stated, Chuuya is accused of a crime. Vanitas still doesn't have his memories at this point in time, but he's managed to cure the Port Mafia of Vampirism since Bram was unable to. Bit of a soukoku snippet again, so enjoy!

Days turned to weeks, then soon, Vanitas had been in Yokohama, with the Agency, for just over three months. He still had no memories, only feelings and images, and he had his grimoire that he could use with his Ability. He felt at home, despite everything- Yosano insisted on giving him regular checkups and verified the following: he had started gaining a healthy weight ever since he found out he *loved* Japanese food, his sleep pattern was normal thanks to Kunikida helping him fall into a routine, and his mind was staying active with the amount of paperwork and the drawing he did with Kyouka.

He still felt useless. Sure, he'd joined the Agency, but no Entrance Exam had been arranged for him yet, and he was still under observation. He had managed to settle certain things by curing the Vampires in Yokohama, it was just taking a while for the rest of the world's militaries to gather the remaining Vampires, and it would take a lot out of him to reverse the affects of Bram's Ability.

Thoughts faded once Kunikida started the meeting; Fukuzawa had called everyone, and for once, everyone was able to be in attendance, though Dazai had his feet on the table, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. Kunikida dimmed the lights and began a slideshow presentation.

Photos of corpses on the ground, looking like their bones had been crushed in their bodies, buildings with chunks taken out of them, and a blurry image of a man in a hat, glowing red, jumping across buildings. The corpses belonged to a group that were causing the Port Mafia a lot of issues, stealing money, weaponry and even killing some of their thugs. So naturally, they needed to be taught a lesson, which meant having them slaughtered.

Usually, the person responsible for revenge killings was Akutagawa, however he was very true to his promises, and so he was still holding back on killing people. Kouyou was a Higher Executive, so she wouldn't filthy her own hands unless it was absolutely necessary, and the same logic went for Mori, as he was the Boss. Hirotsu was skilled, and could certainly cause this kind of damage, however his parkor skills weren't *that* good, and his Ability was a purple colour. Tachihara wouldn't make this much of a mess, neither would Gin.

Just looking at the photos, it was fairly obvious that the culprit was Nakahara Chuuya. The culprit could walk on air, had a red aura, and though the hat obscured the face, the style of hat he wore was the same as Chuuya's.

The problem with that was, not everyone in the Agency believed what their eyes were showing- Chuuya wouldn't leave evidence of his crimes, if he committed this. He'd never allow himself to be seen on camera, he was always oddly discreet for someone with that amount of chaotic energy. As for the buildings, since civilians may have been inside, he definitely wouldn't have used them. Even during the Dead Apple Incident, he used empty buildings and skyscrapers against Shibuzawa's Dragon, though whether that was because the Fog made people vanish or not was a factor to consider.

Dazai gave a half hearted shrug and looked up at his work partner, "You believe that slug would do all this? Please."

"I know you want to defend him, you have a history, but this can't just be ignored." Kunikida crossed his arms, "This is obvious to anyone that Nakahara Chuuya did this, so-"

"*Wrong.*" Everyone looked at Dazai, who sat up properly and glared at Kunikida, "Even under Mori's orders, Chuuya wouldn't slaughter this many people, regardless of what they've done to the Mafia. At most, he would capture them and have them sent to the torture experts. If you think this is Chuuya's doing, you need new glasses."

Fukuzawa cleared his throat and they both quietened, then Ranpo yawned loudly, "It shouldn't be any surprise that Dazai's right. Mr. Fancy Hat, while capable, didn't do this. Though something tells me that even with *my* deductions, not all of you seem to believe me. So, raise your hands: who believes Chuuya is innocent?"

Dazai's hand was the first to shoot up- usually he'd hide his feelings behind that mask of his, but since joining what was essentially the *good side*, Dazai had learned so much, and knew that things were always more complicated than they seemed. He trusted Chuuya, nothing would change that. Obviously he'd still keep their relationship a secret, but even if they weren't in love... Dazai wouldn't accuse Chuuya of this without seeing physical evidence, not photographs that could easily be forged.

Ranpo's hand rose as well, then Vanitas', Atsushi's and Kyouka's. After thinking about it, Kenji also raised his hand. Fukuzawa trusted Ranpo, and he also had the benefit of knowing Mori almost as well as Dazai, so his hand went up as well.

Kunikida crossed his arms, he still believed that Chuuya was likely an off the rails killer, and Dazai was likely covering for him. Plus, he wouldn't admit it, but after seeing Mushitaro's Ability, and how easily both Dazai and Fyodor could trick even a skilled person such as Ranpo, but he'd lost a lot of faith in his *Ultra Deduction*. Yosano's hand also remained on the table, since she'd seen first hand how arrogant and ready to kill Chuuya had been when they faced each other during the Three Way War.

The Tanizaki's also stayed out of the vote- Naomi did think that this was all incredibly suspicious, but there was no evidence pointing to someone other than Chuuya. She thought that maybe it would be better to investigate the matter first. The only reason she didn't raise her hand was because she simply didn't trust anyone in the Mafia, for the same reason as Yosano: Chuuya had been the one to help use Naomi and Haruno as bait for Steinbeck and Lovecraft. As for Jun'ichiro, he acknowledged that Chuuya had saved him against the Hunting Dogs, but also knew that he only did so on Mori's orders, not because he was a good person.

Even though the majority vote was that Chuuya was innocent, those thinking he was guilty were unwilling to change their stance and Kunikida nodded, "I'll notify Special Operations, see if they can have some sway over the Mafia."

"You can't do that." Dazai stood up and faced Kunikida, staring into his azure eyes, "Chuuya-"

"Whatever your history with him, forget it." He snapped, "Honestly, how do we know you aren't working with him as well? It's not like you're trustworthy, Mr. Port Mafia Executive." That stung. Yeah, Dazai hid his past, but Ranpo and Fukuzawa did the same thing. He saw red when Kunikida spoke, "He's a mindless killer for the Mafia, able to decimate his rivals. He's no better than the Former Port Mafia Boss. Even when you both worked together, he was the one who destroyed, you simply became his *off switch*, but you were the strategist."

"Kunikida." Ranpo spoke with a warning tone, but was ignored.

"How am I supposed to trust you when you never trusted us?!" He was shaking now, staring daggers at Dazai who had zero expression on his face, "Port Mafia Executive, kill count exceeding 800," that part made Kyouka flinch, "and how many of those were innocent?! Would you kill *us* if it suited your goals?!"

*No*, Dazai wanted to answer. He cared about the Agency, it wasn't even just about his promise to Odasaku anymore. Joining the Agency was the best choice he'd ever made, but perhaps his past could never escape him. He was always going to be just a former enemy, wasn't he? So, he decided to ask: "What exactly do you think of me?"

"After seeing everything you're capable of, I'm convinced that you pretend to have emotions. You're manipulative, cruel, and-" Everyone glared at him, trying to get him to stop, but before Ranpo could interject again, Kunikida blurted: "You're *less than human*, for God's sake!"

Dazai didn't respond to that, at least, not verbally. He just stood up and walked away, grabbing his coat and being silent the entire time.

Kunikida seemed to realise exactly what he just said, and before he could take a step forward, he got knocked to the ground, his vision going white as his cheek burned with pain. Vanitas panted slightly, his fist shaking as he glared at Kunikida, "What the actual *fuck* is wrong with you, Doppo Kunikida?!"

"I-..."

But when he looked up, he couldn't talk. Vanitas looked down, ashamed that he didn't speak up sooner, then took a breath, "Chuuya's innocent. I have proof. The only reason I didn't speak up was out of respect for Dazai." That was when he explained:

****

"Aaaand done." Vanitas looked up at the ceiling of his apartment, having hung up the final paper crane. When Jouno gave him the task of folding one thousand origami cranes, he wasn't exactly sure he could do it, but here he was, proving himself wrong. A thousand paper cranes hung from his ceiling, showing his progress, from when he first arrived here. After getting down from his chair, he caught something out of the corner of his eye- since he was on the top floor, he could see the streets below him from his window, and noticed Dazai, a hand in his pocket and the other on his phone.

Vanitas was naturally a little nosey, and hanging around the Agency only made that worse, so he couldn't help but open his window and leap onto the roof, deciding to follow. Dazai obviously had his own life and business, but something told Vanitas to look into this. Like an instinct that made no sense. He walked along the rooftops, thankful that the clouds in the sky made it impossible for Dazai to see his shadow- then again, he wouldn't be surprised if Dazai already knew he was following.

Dazai waited in an alley, leaning against the wall before grinning, "You came."

"...you called." Vanitas saw that the one responding to Dazai was none other than Chuuya, who wasn't wearing his signature hat... actually, he looked exhausted. His suit was a little crumpled, his hair was limp, and his eyes had dark bags underneath, "So you heard about those attacks?"

"Judging by your appearance, you're not the one responsible. No surprises there." Dazai stood up properly and looked at his partner, "What happened?"

Vanitas listened in as Chuuya explained that someone had been murdering enemies of the Port Mafia, and causing general chaos while disguised as Chuuya, which meant the real Chuuya had to work overtime to stop this asshole. Unfortunately, Chuuya was always a little too late, and ended up having to sort out paperwork, run around to examine clues, all mess that an Executive *shouldn't* be doing. He was burnt out and exhausted, he just wanted to sleep.

Knowing that, Dazai took the proper initiative; he scooped Chuuya up in his arms and ran like Hell. Vanitas followed after hearing the situation, knowing that if Chuuya was going to be accused, he might as well make sure Chuuya had an alibi. He watched as Dazai took him for ramen, then a walk on the beach, then grocery shopping. If Chuuya was under suspicion, it was best to lay low for a while, so after a quick drink at Bar Lupin, they went back to Chuuya's apartment for the night.

Vanitas took photos and even filmed some of their interactions, silently vowing to apologise to Chuuya and Dazai later, feeling gross for stalking them. Before they went into the apartment, Vanitas recorded one last thing that Chuuya said: "If the Agency do think I'm the asshole killing those guys, I don't mind turning myself in. I already know you'll fight to prove my innocence."

"That's not necessary, slug. But thanks for the offer. I'll stay with you for a few days, see if my presence alone is enough of an alibi." He tilted his head when Chuuya started shaking, "...what's funny?"

"Oh, please! You'd ever have the balls to tell the Agency we're together!" He laughed hard and grinned at him, "Even if you did, I doubt they'd believe you're in a committed relationship with a Port Mafia Executive."

"Maybe they won't, but we could get them to listen. The Agency aren't foolish. Sure, they've been tricked before, but so have the Port Mafia, the Guild, even the Decay of Angels." He kissed Chuuya's forehead and spoke softly, "I can at least try, okay?"

They both went inside and Vanitas stopped his recording, smiling to himself. He'd heard that they were a team in the Mafia, and if their love had bloomed from that, then no wonder they were so good together.

****

Once Vanitas had presented his evidence, Kunikida looked away, feeling like a moron. He'd been out of sorts for a while now, Jouno's words from before the attack at the airport still had him shaken to his core. The world wasn't black and white, and of course they wouldn't have believed Dazai if he'd come out as being in a relationship with a man, never mind an Executive of the Port Mafia!

They watched the videos and saw the photos, Ranpo looking at one in particular- it was the pair of them walking out of the grocery store. The time stamp on a photo of "Chuuya" leaping across the roof of a building matched. Dazai was his alibi and Vanitas had provided the proof. Ranpo simply nodded, "I'll talk to Poe and Fitzgerald, see if Eyes of God can help us determine who this Gifted is and why he's purposely pissing off the Mafia. In the meantime, nobody contacts Dazai or Chuuya, got it?"

Of course they all agreed, and those who voted on Chuuya being the culprit all left without a word, leaving the others to discuss how to help. Though Kyouka seemed curious: "Atsushi, Kenji... how come you both believed in his innocence?"

"Chuuya's really nice!" Kenji said with a grin, "He actually buys his veggies from my stall in town whenever he gets the chance, and sometimes we hang out over beef bowls. He respects strength of all kind, especially strength of heart."

"Yeah, I only ever ran into him outside of work once, when we went to go see the same movie. But I saw how he protected the people of Yokohama when the Guild initially attacked; he was the reason I wanted the Agency and the Port Mafia to work together." It was actually hard *not* to like Chuuya once you got to know him. Plus, Atsushi's senses were higher than most, so he could see a lot of the real Chuuya- he cared for his friends and family, had a lot of love for Yokohama and its people. He was terrified of losing himself and losing others, so he fought like Hell to protect what he could.

Chuuya was easier to read than Dazai, but that was okay. Dazai knew Chuuya better than anyone, and Atsushi trusted Dazai- even if Ranpo hadn't confirmed his innocence and Vanitas hadn't proved it, Atsushi absolutely would have believed in him anyway. Kenji obviously felt the same way. Kyouka smiled and glanced at Vanitas, who just shrugged, "I hang out with people outside of the Agency, and I could see more of Chuuya than most ever will when I cured his Vampirism. He'd never do anything blatantly stupid, even if he was pissed off. He'll be fine with Dazai."

Yeah, that was right. Dazai would have gone straight back to Chuuya. *Right?*

******

It was cold, and dusty. There hadn't been a need to come back here, not after Oda's death, not after he left the Mafia and got his own place. Even when he hid underground, it wasn't as miserable as this place. Verlaine had joked that Dazai was saving a lot of money by living in a sparsely furnished shipping container, but the fact of the matter was that it was barely suitable for the purpose Dazai originally got it for.

It was meant to be his own safe space, away from the Mafia, where nobody would find him. And if he got carried away on a ship by accident, then all the better, he could leave everything behind. But that never happened, clearly. He had this container bought since before he met Chuuya, and it was still cold, empty and depressing. But Dazai didn't know where to go with his mind and emotions fragmented. His hands curled in his hair, anger bubbling inside his chest, the pain *burned*- it itched and clawed at his sanity.

"...I always get pushed down, don't I, Odasaku?" He muttered to himself, trying to ignore the ringing in his head, "I don't want to get back up anymore."

He did end up on his knees, trying to breathe. It wasn't a cold day, but the container may as well have been below freezing, the icy temperature bleeding into his chest and making it so damn hard to inhale and exhale. His brain was slow to react, he didn't expect it, but Mori crouched down beside him, wrapping his arms around Dazai.

*When the fuck did he get here?!* He wanted to scream, he wanted to pull away, he wanted to yell for his to get off, to not touch him! But all he said was: "*How?*"

"I have eyes everywhere, Dazai. You should know that better than anyone..." cooed Mori, a smirk forming in the darkness, sending shivers down Dazai's spine. He hated it, he absolutely fucking hated it. "I know everything. About you, and your relationship with Chuuya." He continued, tilting Dazai's face and running his thumb across Dazai's lips.

That made his breath hitch, a lot. He began to panic, how could he not? He felt like a child again in the Mafia's infirmary, feeling like Mori had just told him that he knows he took a drug he shouldn't have.

*Oh, no. Nononononono!!*

"Living in such a disgusting and shameful way..." whispered Mori, as he cupped both of Dazai's cheeks, "You do know that you're a selfish psychopath, causing such issues for the pair of you, and the Agency who claim to care for you?"

Dazai shook his head, which was a mistake considering how much it was already spinning, caught up in the middle of a thought. He can't respond, the heaviness in his chest restricting everything he had. He wasn't sure if anyone ever cared or loved him, or if it was all out of fear, knowing what Dazai was capable of. "Don't touch me..."

If only he kept his mouth shut. But he's scared, he's still broken, fighting back the only way he knows how to. He felt Mori shift and wrap his scarf around him instead, and listened as Mori spoke quietly, "Remember when you were young? What did I teach you?" Dazai found himself slowing his breathing, then covering up his now closed right eye with his hand, like a terrible instinct, "That's right. Calm yourself. Then fight, if that's what you want, *Little Demon*."

Mori, despite his fears, had a soft spot for Dazai. His cold apartment was like this shipping container, which stored nothing but a few belongings, nothing more than a roof and a place to sleep. No matter how much Dazai hated Mori, he leaned into him, his muscles begging to relax, and he wasn't actively crying anymore. But that still didn't stop the tears.

"I want to know who the person behind this is," there was no hesitation in his next words, "and I want them *dead*."

"I can help with that. I'm already having my men looking into it." His manipulative grin couldn't help but make an appearance, "If you agree to do something for the Mafia at a time that I choose, then I'm sure I can keep the bastard alive until you get there. Then, he's all yours."

"Yeah. *He's all mine*." It was a foolish choice, but Dazai was angry. He couldn't help it, especially when as twisted as he was, Mori always kept his word. So, he agreed.

Mori nodded his approval before helping Dazai to stand up, "Even if you don't want to come back, you're certainly not staying *here*." He sneered, even he would never allow Dazai to suffer, regardless of what he personally wanted, "...I'll take you *home*."

Dazai knew what that meant from Mori's voice- he was going to take him to Chuuya's place. For a split second, Dazai actually looked alarmed when Mori caught his arm, then tugged him a bit to let him know that if he chose to pull away, Mori would understand, that it's *his choice*. "No. We shouldn't be spotted together. If... if the Agency found out..." he trailed off, unable to finish his train of thought.

Mori chuckled, "You *can* tell me that you hate me and don't want to be caught dead with me, you know." He tilted his head, "My offer stands if you ever want to rejoin, but it will be your own choice. In the meantime, all I ask is that you do your best to be safe."

"Yeah... you, too." Dazai had thought about it many times, however... he loves the Agency. He loves solving mysteries with Ranpo, drinking tea and playing sudoku with Fukuzawa, but he knew that he never truly fit in, and Kunikida was a decent partner, but he wasn't close to Chuuya's level. That was when his eyes darkened, deadening, to the point of no return all of a sudden. He'd never asked for much or anything, especially from Mori, but: "Don't push him so hard. Stop putting so much pressure on him. *Please* keep him safe."

Mori looked away, "You know I can't promise that, and you know why. However, I give you my word that I'll try to. And if I fail, well." He looked back at him, "Then everything in the past no longer matters. You can kill me." Mori simply left after that.

Dazai laughed a harsh, hollow and bitter sort of laugh. He didn't expect a response, let alone something that sincere, as he watched as Mori left. He felt mortified, to actually find comfort in that. To *lean* into it. It made him feel nauseous, he lost count of how many breaths he'd been taking. The room around him was an utterly mess, and for an ugly moment, Dazai had forgotten why he was mad at Mori to begin with. He jerked backwards, breaking away, out of his poisonous thoughts.

Unfortunately, the stress made Dazai lose the contents of his stomach. It was horrible, Mori was the true monster in this world- manipulating, calculating and simply fucked in the head. And yet... there was a dark part of Dazai's past that had looked up to Mori, as a sort of parental figure. Even now, he technically gave Dazai good advice: he needed somewhere to rest that wasn't this shithole. No wonder he'd desperately sought out comfort in whoever was closest to him, basically. It was disgusting.

"...I hate that man, and how *right* he is." He needed Chuuya, even if it was just being at his apartment until he got home. *Chuuya would be happy to see him. He's right, he's always fucking right.*

He stood and looked at the reflection of himself in the mirror he had over his makeshift sink, hating his jittery appearance, especially with Mori's red scarf still wrapped around his neck. He'd never heard the whispering in his mind that bad before- but what do people expect from someone so inhuman? A little frantically, he ripped off the scarf and threw it to the floor, before punching the mirror, shattering it completely- obliterating it.

*shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup*

He didn't feel better for it, he actually felt far worse. He could have thrown up again when he fell to his knees and gripped that stupid scarf for comfort. He wanted to slit his wrists, or hang from the ceiling for even thinking of being grateful to *Mori*. If he ever went back, then what was the point of leaving in the first place? What was the point of Oda's last wish? Why did he leave Chuuya?

Enough was enough. He ran, he sprinted far away from the container and the memories it stored there. His legs knew where he was going before his brain did, as he headed across town, to Chuuya's apartment. After picking the lock, he entered, then shut the door behind him and fell back against it, letting his head tap the back of it with a slight thump. He dropped down without thinking, catching his breath. It was starting to get a little dark inside, due to the sunset outside the window, but there were no stars out just yet. Dazai was aware that he'd lost the concept of time a while ago, but he didn't care, at least it wasn't so bright he needed to cover his eyes.

He swallowed, looking at the clock to attempt to get his bearings, and noted that Chuuya wouldn't be home for another few hours. He couldn't help but whisper to himself, "I hope your day was better than mine, Chibi."

In case it wasn't, Dazai decided that he'd make sure that Chuuya could relax immediately upon coming home. It'll take his mind off things, but he won't do anything extravagant, he couldn't take it if he fucked anything up. It *was* actually pretty cold this evening, so Dazai would make Chuuya something to eat that would be warm and comforting. He silently thanked Vanitas for teaching him how to cook a decent meal, since nobody else had the patience to teach him.

As he prepared everything, he put little sticky notes around the apartment, with stupid words of affirmation, though after how tense he'd been earlier in the day, his movements were less fluid and so he had to be extra cautious of not screwing anything up. He'd settled on making a nice warm taro soup, toran-guk, as he knew he could make it without it going gross, and the hearty broth and vegetables would do Chuuya the world of good. The vegetables were likely from the stall in town that Kenji set up to sell his crops from his farm, which explained their excellent quality. He placed it on the kitchen table, covering it with a plate to keep it warm.

Once the food was done, and he'd cleaned up after himself in the kitchen, he decided to run Chuuya a bath. He only used hot water so it would stay warmer for longer, giving Chuuya more time to come home and get it while it was fresh, before throwing in some strawberry scented bubbles. He debated pouring Chuuya a glass of wine, but thought it best to leave that for Chuuya, since sometimes after work he was too stressed to *drink*, because that's a thing apparently!

Once that was done, Dazai began to stumble, feeling his body sway as he finally made it to Chuuya's bed, having to lean against the wall for support. His vision started pulsating, his head thumping. He'd already taken off his shoes and coat at the front door, so Dazai just slipped into the bed and curled up, falling asleep immediately.

It had been a shock to Chuuya to come home and see everything that happened! He had a warm bowl of soup that helped him feel better about life, then saw a bath had been run for him! Dazai used to slip into his place and do things like that to cheer him up when things were rough in the Mafia, and Chuuya suspected he continued to do so on occasion after he'd left, but once they reunited, Dazai stopped being discreet again.

Good food, a hot bubble bath and some heartfelt complimentary notes later, and Chuuya headed into his bedroom wearing surprisingly sloppy pyjamas. Everyone assumed that he'd wear silk pyjamas or maybe ones from an expensive brand, but Chuuya just liked wearing short pyjama shorts and an overly baggy t-shirt for pyjamas, because that was simply what made him comfortable.

Chuuya gasped softly when he saw Dazai asleep in his bed. He looked... rough. He'd cried himself to sleep from the looks of it, and had clearly been running on empty. Sighing, Chuuya slipped in beside him, pulling Dazai so his head rested over Chuuya's heart; because of the height difference, Chuuya never got to be the big spoon, so he took advantage whenever he could. He ran his fingers through Dazai's hair and kissed his forehead, smiling softly, "G'night, 'samu. I hope you're still here when I wake up."

Dazai shifted a bit in his sleep. He'd always been a light sleeper, even in the Mafia. For him to not wake up to the door opening or closing... Dazai murmured Chuuya's name in his sleep, and he noticed that he didn't even take his bandages off this time, seemingly too exhausted. Chuuya just continued to stroke his hair before dropping off into sleep as well.

Dazai didn't sleep the full night, the uncomfortable sensation in his body woke him up, his hand and arms were aching with a dull, cold tingling feeling. He shifted a bit, relaxing when he felt Chuuya's breath rise and fall- Chuuya wasn't snoring this time, and his arms were wrapped around Dazai loosely. He had a smile on his face, looking relaxed, and Dazai could tell that Chuuya took advantage of everything Dazai had done for him: he smelt nice from having a bath, and his stomach was quiet.

Dazai curled into himself a bit, as if to appear smaller. He did something right, just one thing. He closed his eyes again, still feeling heavy and exhausted, but he felt warm and safe, listening to Chuuya's breath and his rhythmic heartbeat.

****

"Ah, Snow White finally awakens." Dazai woke up, feeling Chuuya kissing his forehead and smiling, looking like he was in a great mood. Dazai hummed then leaned up to join their lips together properly, and Chuuya smiled against Dazai's lips before stroking his face with a sad look, "Your eyes sore?"

They *were*. Dazai had almost forgotten how much crying could hurt- though, he did also feel less stressed. He nodded to answer Chuuya, his eyes had burned from the scalding tears, but it felt irrelevant when he was here. It was strange, how time seemed to move a little slower when he was with Chuuya. Not in a bad way, either.

Chuuya nuzzled Dazai and sighed, "I'm guessing your colleagues still think I did it, then?" Chuuya wasn't one for subtlety, but knew when it was necessary- instead of calling them his friends or simply the Agency, he called them Dazai's colleagues; stating that at this moment, it's just business. Again, Dazai nodded, briefly explaining just how rocky things had gotten, but he kept Kunikida’s comments to himself. Chuuya just stroked his hair again, "They must've really pissed you off, huh? Well then, you're staying with me until you feel better, then. Boyfriend's orders."

Dazai felt a small smile tug at his lips, as he studied Chuuya's face. He liked Chuuya's warm hands against his own face, even if they stung his sore cheeks slightly, its still pleasant, "Ordering me around, huh?" He whispered lightly, though it was obvious that he didn't mind. While Kunikida’s comments weren't going to be repeated, he still felt hurt- no matter who he was partnered with, they always had a habit of insulting each other, but they never joke about each other's humanity. The question of whether he was human or not burned Dazai's skull, and he asked weakly, "Does Chuuya think I'm... just a monster? Less than human?"

Ah, that was something that used to come up in the past, though never asked so sincerely. Chuuya knew that even though he hated Dazai being upset, he couldn't lie. So he didn’t:

"You can be monstrous, but then again, who isn't capable of that? Listen to me, Osamu Dazai. You're a strong, and good man. And I love you. Even though you're a jackass for insulting my exquisite taste in closed and blowing up my car," He laughed, "...but you never abandoned me, even when you left. You're nothing less than a good man with a kind heart. A true human."

Dazai knew that Chuuya was being honest, he was always honest with his feelings and thoughts. But Dazai couldn't deny feeling like some sort of beast, eager to kill and lose himself, then wanting to die afterwards. He sacrificed so much, for his promises, for the love he felt towards those around him, but he'd always revert to his old ways if it had to be done. "I just... I don't know anymore..."

He always feels guilty. If he can't convince himself or the Agency that he's human, how can they ever trust him? How is Chuuya supposed to feel safe around him?

Chuuya thought about everything for a moment then took a breath, "Y'know, I think that while this is all happening, Yokohama isn't good for you right now. So, let's bail." Dazai looked at Chuuya in shock! He'd never suggested *running away* before, but... maybe a vacation wouldn't be such a bad idea? And that would certainly give Chuuya an alibi if any more attacks happened before Mori or Fukuzawa caught the prick. "How about somewhere like England? I didn't take you to London last time I went. Ooh, or maybe Paris? Somewhere we won't be bothered for a while."

"Paris?" Dazai echoed, smiling softly, "The City of Love. It's an appropriate choice, for such a hopeless romantic such as yourself." His words were teasing, but his heart was racing at the prospect.

"Paris it is, then." Chuuya cupped Dazai's face, and they shared a quick kiss before making some quick arrangements and doing some packing.

They really needed to get out of Yokohama for a while, they were exhausted and needed each other. Thankfully the Port Mafia always had some private jets that could be borrowed.

[livingtheparallellife]

Colour blocked sweatshirt: the adventure

So I got inspired and started on a little something which I decided - for my sake - to document.

This was the primary inspo:

I've got precisely two styles. One's a cottage fairy and the other is Nick Nelson. Whatever. That's how I roll.

The catch is, I'm broke, which means this will have to be a 'buy nothing for it' project. Which is cool, it makes things fun and alleviates some of the pressure I can put upon myself when sewing.

Good thing is I'm an owner of junk. In this case some hand-me-down baby blankets junk which I never used for my babies, duh. They're also not fancy enough for a second hand shop or a charity, so I'm okay with cutting them up and experimenting with the fabric.

As my friend says: I'm gonna Rachel Maksy this sweatshirt.

As anyone who's not colorblind can see, the colours do not really match the inspo. But that's ok, we'll see where the gods of improvisation will take us.

What an artistic portrayal of possibilities!

I ended up choosing the one circled in green due to the amount of fabric in different colours I had. If you ask me, all of them look like hockey shirts. That's probably thanks to my astounding drawing skills!

So I drafted a pattern by copying two of my already existing sweatshirt and some help from YouTube.

Pattern pieces pinned in place.

Of course my dumb ass forgot to add seam allowance which means I'll have to trace every piece of the pattern onto the fabric again. But that's a tomorrow's me problem.

In case you thought sewing is fast, this part took me around three hours. Yay!

To be continued...

[little1too1dramatic]

1st Week; 5 pieces that every Lolita wardrobe should have, regardless of style

Hii ʕ ᵔᴥᵔ ʔ, 

As research for this challenge, I went through my oldest blog and found out that this is actually the third time I´m attempting this. And that I actually forgot what my first lolita piece was, but that´s a story for another time. I didn´t want to go for the obvious - petticoat, white blouse, etc. What do you consider universal essentials? 1. Earmuffs Can you tell that I´m freezing right now? :D Earmuffs are not always practical. They get in a way, you can´t hear through them, and at least I hate using them at the same time as my headphones. Unfortunately, they are so damn cute. And accesible. And I feel like they balance every outfit out so nicely. You have nothing to put on your head? You don´t feel like doing an elaborate hairdo? Well, if it´s cold outside, here are earmuffs! 2. Fan If you have the oposite problem, a fan might help you. Simple black, pink, or one with patterns can be easy to get. You can go for more elaborate one, almost like from Versailles. Some european courts even had a fan language – you can learn some phrases with you friends and use it at meetups, just make sure no one else understands before you sign anything scandalous! :D

3. Brooches You wanted to be casual, but not so casual? Or you don´t feel OTT enough, yet your arms, neck and head don´t have any spare space? Well, cute brooche is your best friend. You can go for elegant pearls, little leaf (I do think about Fellowship of the Ring a lot) or something outragiously extravagant, it´s up to you! And since not everyone wears them, it can gather some attention from fellow lolitas and maybe even become a great conversation starter.

4. Go-to headpiece I feel like I covered this with earmuffs, but I think this is way more helpful whole year around. Do you have any piece, as simple as can be, that you always just throw on? It doesn´t have to go with every single one of your pieces, but it would be helpful. For me, it used to be Margaretha Head Bow, now I prefer simple black headbows. It can be a small bonnet, head-eating bow, or anything that makes your coords feel more complete.

5. Huge collection of socks and tighs I used to hate getting those under Christmastree, now I specifically request this every year. It´s just so helpful! Not just simple black OTKs in many pairs, but colourful (remember the red thighs trend?), with patterns, lace even… not to mention few matching ones if you are into prints. I think that everyone, even outside the lolita spectrum should have a collection of sock and tighs!

Source

Right now, Paris is getting a little bit warmer. Which is nice, but I´m still looking for new black blazer. It´s such a staple of 80s goth. I already have at least three coats, so it will be a nice change. 

Even chilly weather can´t stop us from having a picnic. I went this Monday, maybe chatched a flu, but it was worth it! We went to Jardin de Luxembourg and then to Gibert, this nice 5 floor bookshop. They had amazing renditions of classics as Metamorphosis from Kafka and even a Dracula, but I bought French conversation instead.  Then we had another picnic near Seina, complete with a jazz band playing behind us. I don´t know if I have ever felt so peaceful.

I hope you are doing good! What is your favourite thing about autumn?

[tyo-mimt]

3/36. @tmnt-event-blog

Sometimes, giving a little means getting something back in return.

Raph didn't remember where this habit came from. Maybe it started with the various plushies Dad gave him when he was younger; don't get him wrong, he took care of them well! But the road to learning to be gentle was paved with spilled stuffing and many many stitches. On top of that, as he and his brothers grew up, so did the need to repair any clothing they may have.

Raph remembered when Mikey first caught sewing up Captain Cuddles' arm. There was a little tear and he had to patch them up. His initial fear of being made fun of was completely drowned out when Mikey waddled away and came back with a hole in his beanie. It then spread to the other two, where his services would usually be reasonably required throughout the year.

Though this winter season, the demand for his help grew. It wasn't something he would flat-out refuse; he loved helping his brothers whenever they asked nicely, but it was beginning to get tiring.

Raph called it irresponsible, but Donnie did counter with the very convincing "At least I didn't use any of your clothes."

Leo (for once) had a pass, asking Raph to help sew up the right-sleeve of all his long-sleeved shirts. He seldom ever wore them outside of winter, but it felt right to give him help when he asked. There was also Mikey. He needed help sewing up the tears in some of his jackets; he left the lair more often to accompany the Caseys around New York, but with only Junior's supervision, it was difficult to reel back Cassandra's and his combined chaos. Then there was Donnie, who Raph was sure wouldn't need any help repairing clothing, only to prove him wrong when the softshell came to him with a laundry basket of shredded clothing that fell victim to one of his "mind fog moments".

That was all within the span of two weeks, and Raph's previous plans of knitting a nice thick blanket for himself went out the window. Winter settled in fast (surprisingly so, global warming and all that). It usually wouldn't have been a problem, but heating hadn't properly been installed in the lair, let alone their individual rooms.

Sluggish and struggling to keep his working eye open, the snapping turtle decided to call it quits... It was too cold to work, and he didn't want to assign blame. He put the knitting needles aside and flopped onto his bed.

It was a monstrosity, but it was beautiful.

Mentally preparing himself to brave the cold night, he heard a knock on the door. Even if he didn't answer, they'd still come in, and they did. He wanted to say something about taking a nap, only to find the words dying in his mouth. Warmth flooded the room.

He looked over, seeing all three of them standing there with a Genius Built™ portable heater and a monstrosity of a blanket. Some corners and patches were crocheted and others were knit; all of them were various different colours of yarn, some thicker than others. There were a myriad of attempted patterns on one end and a small cluster of finished ones somewhere on another side.

"What's all this?" Raph dared to question.

"We just wanted to thank you for always fixing our stuff," Mikey hopped over to wrap the blanket around him.

"And we figured we'd be real jerks if we didn't return the favour," Leo continued.

"Also, your room is the most insulated out of all of ours and the heater's better in here than out there," Donnie quickly added.

Raph chuckled, spreading his arms open. Mikey was the first one to take the snapping turtle's offer to embrace, Leo tugging Donnie over for the hug (the softshell would've run away sooner if he didn't want to).

Cocooned in the world's ugliest crotchet-knit-hybrid blanket with his brothers, Raph wouldn't trade this moment for the world.

[whinlatter]

1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14 for the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts *cackling in unseelie tones*

(ignore the previous ask pls! silly me, i chose the wrong no.)

ok… let’s have the tea on old dolores jane umbridge. i warn you, anon, that each of these answers is sillier than the last. RIP dolores* you would have loved valentino fall/winter 2022 🎀

1. Canon I outright reject

the weird girlishness of umbridge! it’s a real nuisance in canon for me. this is partly because it’s another example of jkr using being ‘girly’ as a sign a character is deserving of disrespect/mockery/contempt. but also because umbridge’s whole aesthetic presentation doesn’t really make sense for someone with her political ambitions. if you look at irl right wing female politicians, especially of umbridge’s generation, they almost always play with gender performance/deploy their femininity in very specific ways. eg: they lower their voices, they eschew open performance of patterns of behaviour and dress coded as female unless it’s to invoke a very specific officious schoolmistress vibe (more in mcgonagall’s vein). it’s clear that umbridge is someone of senior political standing who manages to rise up to a position of power in three governments (fudge, scrimgeour and voldemort/thicknesse). in all three instances, her holding a senior position would require a certain level of support from her colleagues i struggle to imagine a woman with an exclusively pink wardrobe with such openly twee taste managing to garner within a ministry that is extremely gender regressive (because the ministry does seem to have a gender problem, in that the only senior female official we encounter in canon other than umbridge is amelia bones, bertha jorkins and two mentions of griselda marchbanks - all other ministers, heads of department are men). so yeah never really made a ton of sense to me other than this is jkr’s yawn takes on girlbossery again. snore!

2. A canon/headcanon hill I will die on

umbridge and rita exchange christmas cards and meet for quarterly brunch to engage in a tit-for-tat exchange of info and influence. ofc they absolutely loathe each other and are competing to outlive each other so whoever dies first doesn’t get the pleasure of writing the other’s horrible obituary

3. Obscure headcanon

umbridge is such a fan of the popular muggle television programme antiques roadshow and tried unsuccessfully to exert her influence to get the wizarding wireless to adapt the format so she can get her extensive collection of pureblood paraphernalia valued

12. Crack headcanon

umbridge actually suffers from a very common form of colour blindness that mistakes reds for greens so thinks she’s actually wearing head to toe pistachio

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done

‘filthy half breeds’ like… girl

14. Most heroic moment

wearing a horcrux necklace in literally the most prominent place possible to make for remarkably easy stealing

* i’m aware in canon she’s not dead but i like to think she one day paused to consider how hagrid must have been conceived and the shock of it killed her instantly

[nitrosodiumaltcontroller]

Rough Idea Generation - Card Games and Board Games

While I usually just do three ideas and choose one after a little deliberation, the brief this time feels very open-ended, and I want to create a good amount of ideas for both video games and more physical ones.

Game 1 - Battle Cards

The idea for this game is somewhat inspired by my vague understanding of Magic: The Gathering, despite the fact that I have never played it, and only know a few rules - this will be rectified with more research if I decide to create this game. Two players will start with a small deck, drawing more from a pile at the end of their turns. During their turns, they can play any cards from their deck, which will be primarily monsters with their own abilities.

This is an example of what the cards could look like. They have an Action value in blue, and a Health value in red. The Action value represents how many moves that card can use - the player could play Maul twice, or Terror once, before their turn ends. The square next to each ability reflects the dice score (six-sided) required to successfully play the action. For example, Maul requires a score of two or more, so rolling 1 means the action fails and must be reattempted. Health would be displayed using tokens per enemy, but other token modifiers could be added, such as extra Action points or a +1 to every dice roll. These could also be "relic cards" or something similar, which are played either before or instead of monster cards. Perhaps each player has a few choices on their turn: the placing phase, where they use Relics or place new monsters onto the field; and the battle phase, where they choose a monster card to use until its abilities are exhausted. The accessibility of the game will come to light with no overt colour-coding. The base card I made is not great for this, but realistically a final version will use stripes and other patterns to signify what represents what.

Game 2 - Compact Wargame

This idea for a game mostly comes from my prior attempts to make "Chess 2". I like chess for its simplicity, but I always thought some more mechanics could make it interesting. Some pieces being able to shoot, having territory control, and city-building mechanics are among my various ideas I want to replicate. And you might say, 'if I want to play a wargame so much, why don't I just play something like Warhammer?' And the answer is that it (and games like it) are way too complex and expensive.

Here we can see that a starter set is 112 dollars. To justify that amount of money, you need to be very invested in the game and setting. Meanwhile a chess set is only about ten pounds. I think this is something of an unseen accessibility problem: financial accessibility. If you are disabled, you have probably already spent a lot of money on all the previously mentioned accessible controllers and addons, and you probably do not want to spend a hundred pounds' more. Then there is the issue of space. The more complex a game is, the bigger box it comes in, and the larger space has to be cleared to set it all up on a table or floor. This is difficult enough for most people, but if you are disabled and space is already taken up by ramps, handrails and other household modifications, storage becomes a problem. I should specify, this is not a game overtly made for disabled people, but its simplicity will make it easier for everyone to play it. My main mechanical ideas involve resource management through certain tiles that generate resources as long as you have 'captured' them with a piece, larger units like siege towers and ballistae being able to be constructed using these resources, and the ability to make squad stacks by literally stacking pieces on top of each other. They will be like draughts/checkers counters with symbols on top to reflect their class. Once again however, this is all preliminary ideas, and may be changed.

Game 3 - Modern Day GURPS

For some context, GURPS is the Generic Universal Roleplaying System, which is a one-size-fits-all system for tabletop games. It can be used for any setting (fantasy, sci fi, etc), and while I have never used it, research has told me that it is very in-depth and complex. Any possible skill a character may need to use, from computer operation to shipbuilding, is added as a separate attribute. While this sort of thing does make it universal, it will also require both GM and players to keep track of a lot of numbers. I want to create a similarly universal system, but a much simpler one - something for people that have never done any sort of TTRPGs before. My main idea is that attributes that will fluctuate regularly during a campaign, health, mana points, armour etc. will be displayed using counters, meanwhile more static skill-based attributes that only change every few sessions will be written numerically on a character sheet. Items such as weaponry, armour, and story-relevant trinkets will be represented by cards, showing relevant information such as the amount of damage a weapon will deal. Enemies will also have cards that detail their HP and damage, but these will mostly be for the GM. I plan for the cards to have fairly simple and easy-to-replicate designs, so that a GM can create more themselves for specific uses.

The game will probably use a square grid system to calculate range. Characters and enemies will probably be represented by fairly abstract tokens, just to show where they reside spatially. Of course, being a universal system, anything can be used. Accessibility-wise there is no real gimmick - I will just refrain from too much colour-coding.

[behindthewox]

Site blogs - five things to try

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in order to make the site blog feature worth the time and effort it takes to regularly create content for them, and most of that work is work that we as a community cannot do. I could go into details but the people who can make the difference already know what needs to be done, or at least I would assume they do. And there are many people within WoX that are far better qualified than me to explain why the current setup doesn't work.

So I'm gonna focus on the things that we as a community CAN do to optimise the site blogs. It's not gonna solve all the problems and magically improve SEO and site visitors overnight but it's small steps in the right direction and it could pay off in the long run. Worth a try, right?

_ _ _

ONE: every blog needs a purpose The overall purpose of the site blog feature (at least in my understanding, but I could be wrong) is to showcase the site to "outsiders" who don't have accounts and can't access all the actual site content, motivating them to create an account to discover more. It's a part of the site that we can link to from our social medias to show what we do and have to offer, and hopefully make non-users join as new users.

Example: make blog posts about site activities, show the world what your site has to offer. Combine with testimonies and examples from users, such as "I love reading homework from this one person who always makes their character make terrible dad jokes at the end of their RP!" to entice new users to join and experience it for themselves.

Wanna read the other four points? Click "keep reading" below!

TWO: longterm planning and strategy A blog without content isn't worth much, and producing that content takes time. But content without a strategy or plan isn't going to get you very far. I've already suggested blog posts about site activities and inspiring newcomers to become users, so consider that the first part of your plan. The second part of your plan should be SEO, search engine optimisation. Basically, pick keywords that people are likely to search for in relation to your fandom. The more keywords and key phrases your site contains in total, the more likely it is to be in the top search results. PS! This isn't just a SoMe and blog thing, SEO is something teachers and journalists need to work on too!

Example: "Who is [greek god]?" with a presentation of the character. Squeeze in your keywords as much as possible without making it feel fake and cringe. If it feels like an A.I.-generated SEO slop, that is what your readers will think your site is.

THREE: social media All site users will get a notification about new blog posts, but if you recall the first point you'll know that it's not the existing site users that you're aiming for. They already have accounts; it's the potential new users you're really after. But no account means no notification about new blog posts. Unless you make one, that is, on your social media profiles. Let your blog content and social media content work together, directing people from one to the other. Use CTAs (call to action), links and "clickbait" for optimal effect.

Example: on social media, make a post about an interesting shop item. Use the item picture, write a brief caption like "you're handed one of these but you have no idea what to do with it. help! don't worry, today we're sharing the instruction manual on our blog: worldofsomething.com/blog". On the blog, remember to link to your social medias (and your site!) at the end of every blog post. SEO isn't just about keywords, it's also about links.

FOUR: graphic profile Freestyling is fun, but sometimes you need to limit yourself to what works best. It's a good idea to set up a few basic templates with simple designs that match the rest of the site and gives a professional but casual vibe. First impressions matter, after all. Avoid "busy" patterns and bright colours, use fonts that are easy to read, and structure your text with paragraphs and headers. Keep in mind that some users might be visibly impaired or dyslexic and might struggle with decorative fonts and certain color combinations. "Boring but accessible" should always win against "decorative but potentially difficult to read and decipher".

Example: light background, dark color text (or vice versa, it's the contrast that matters), sans serif font for paragraphs and a decorative but easy to read font for headers. The letters should be separate from each other (not "holding hands" like in cursive writing) and sometimes it's helpful to increase the spacing. Tip! Sit back and try to read your formatted text from a further distance than usual. If you feel like it's a strain on your eyes or struggle to make out the words, you might wanna adjust your formatting to make it easier to read. If the font and color is good, try changing the sizing and spacing.

FIVE: quality control Impressions matter, remember? That goes for writing as well. Bad writing can make for a bad impression, especially if the reader is used to higher standards. Many of the potential users you're trying to lure in will be avid readers, meaning that they will be used to the standards of publishing and anything less is... well, less. So it's pretty important that you're on the top of your writing game and maybe even get your blogs looked over by a grammar police before posting...

For SoMe team leaders: take the time to put together some good online resources to use for grammar rules, writing tips, spellchecks and anything else your team might find useful. Be gentle with your corrections, focus on the biggest ones and don't adress it as a "fail" but rather a "try this instead". If you can explain why it's wrong and how to do it right, take the time to explain it (easier said than done, I know, you might need to read up on grammar yourself first). And while quality is important, it's more important to have a good relationship with your team so don't hesitate to let the smaller mistakes slide in favour of keeping the writer encouraged and motivated.

_ _ _

This is the best advice I have to give, based on my experience and my amateur studies on social media. If you have the resources to give it a try, feel free to give it a try! And if you have more (or maybe better) suggestions, please share! But if your site doesn't have the resources to make it work right now, I'd argue you're better off focusing on social media platforms and actual site content: the site blogs should be in the lowest tier of priority because they are not worth the effort unless changes are made and you actually have effort to spare.

[botanyone]

Scents Hint At Mystery Pollinators Visiting Daffodils

Scents Hint At Mystery Pollinators Visiting Daffodils https://ift.tt/3aDJgQ1 A puzzle is hiding in the scent of Narcissus viridiflorus. Not only does this daffodil have an unusual colour – it’s the only species of daffodil with green flowers – it also has an unusual scent, or rather an unusual sense of timing. Losch & Weigend have found that it releases its scent at night, when its presumed pollinator is sleeping. The result hints that scientists have not identified the correct pollinator for the plant. Losch & Weigend tracked the scent emissions of three daffodils, using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry to sample the chemistry. They did this for 72 hours, so they could see how scent emissions varied over time. This way they could find if the plants were timing their efforts to catch a specific pollinator. They found that Narcissus viridiflorus showed strong nighttime scent emissions, peaking around midnight. In contrast, Narcissus papyraceus and Narcissus cantabricus had no clear day-night scent patterns. In particular, the botanists noted that in Narcissus viridiflorus p-cresol and benzyl acetate became a much greater proportion of the scent at night. This is a puzzle because the plant was thought to be pollinated by Macroglossum stellatarum, the Hummingbird hawk-moth. The problem with that is that Macroglossum stellatarum is active in afternoons and early evenings. If the scent is meant for them, then it’s always too late. Losch & Weigend think the scent points to a moth pollinator – but not this one. Losch, F., & Weigend, M. 2024. Diurnal patterns of floral volatile emissions in three species of Narcissus. American Journal of Botany 111: e16408. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16408 (OA) Cross-posted to Bluesky, Mastodon & Threads. The post Scents Hint At Mystery Pollinators Visiting Daffodils appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ September 26, 2024 at 08:30PM

[ciaossu-imagines]

hi, my dearie! i hope you’re doing well 💚

it’s nearly that magical time of year again! 😌🎄✨ for my request, could you please do sasagawa ryohei + u(nwrap) from christmas prompt 1? tysm!

Hello to you 😊 I hope the holiday season is bringing you so much joy, as I think you deserve nothing less. Thank you so much for the request – I don’t often get to focus on Ryohei and getting to do so was a holiday treat!

U(nwrap): How’s their gift-wrapping skills? Are they careful unwrapping their presents?

Ryohei’s gift-wrapping skills are…interesting is probably the nicest way to put it. They’re rough for sure, but there’s a lot of heart and effort that goes into him wrapping the gifts he gives others.

He doesn’t like to use gift bags unless there’s absolutely no other way around it. He finds just sticking something in a gift bag and either tossing some tissue paper on top or just taping up the gift bag to be kind of impersonal. It takes zero time or effort and, in his mind, it’s almost like telling the person who he’s giving the gift to that they weren’t worth the time he’d need to take to wrap it up for them.

He’s definitely very attracted to brightly coloured wrapping paper. Anything really eye-catching in terms of colours will attract him, especially if they’re patterned as well. When it comes to Christmas, he’d be really into bright greens and reds with things like Santa Claus, cartoony snowmen, or trees on them, things that really evoke Christmas.

Ryohei is horrible at cutting wrapping paper. He always manages to cut it unevenly and either cuts it too long or too short. If it’s too short, he patchworks other little short pieces to completely cover the gift.

Ryohei also uses wayyyyy too much scotch tape on his gifts. For about ten gifts, he will use at least three rolls of scotch tape, no problem. Every single edge will be heavily taped, along with the corners of the gift being taped, just in case it rips through the wrapping paper.

He’s really bad at making the wrapping paper lay completely flat, which also contributes to why he uses so much scotch tape.

When it comes to opening gifts, he’ll make comments on how cool the wrapping paper is or how prettily wrapped the gift is. He does admire people who can make wrapping look effortless and turns out gifts that are beautifully wrapped and he’ll acknowledge their skills before he completely rips apart every single shred of that paper in order to get into his present as quickly as possible.