#turquoise secondary

[bonusdragons]

November 21, 2023:

Turquoise Secondary, Snapper, Eye Spots.

Xanthius of PinkyPoodle's clan!

[scryingworkshop]

[fantastic-fr-scries]

Ridgeback Female

White / Turquoise / Pistachio , Crystal / Bee / Filigree

Lightning Bright

[reasonsforhope]

"For generations, the people of Erakor village in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu would pass their time swimming in the local lagoon. Ken Andrew, a local chief, remembers diving in its depths when he was a child, chasing the fish that spawned in its turquoise waters.

That was decades ago. Now 52, Andrew has noticed a more pernicious entity invading the lagoon: plastic.

“The plastic would form a small island inside the lagoon, it was so thick,” Andrew says. “We used fishing nets to pull some of the trash out, but we didn’t know how to get rid of it all. We couldn’t conquer it, there was just too much.”

While residents were struggling to empty Vanuatu’s waters of plastic, the country’s politicians were considering another solution. Could they stop the waste directly at the source?

Small island nations like Vanuatu face a series of unique challenges when it comes to plastic pollution. Many rely on imported goods to sustain their populations, and receive tonnes of plastic packaging every day as a result. Ocean currents pull plastic waste from around the world into Pacific waters, which eventually end up on the shores of its islands.

Few Pacific island governments have adequate recycling or waste management facilities on their narrow strips of land, so rubbish is often burned or left to wash up in rivers or lagoons like the one in Erakor. It is estimated that Pacific countries generate 1kg of waste per person a day, 40% higher than the global average.

In an attempt to drastically limit the amount of waste generated in Vanuatu, in 2018 the government became one of the first in the world to outlaw the sale and distribution of certain single-use plastics – including a world-first ban on plastic straws.

In the six years since, the results have been impressive. Thin, plastic shopping bags are hardly ever seen, with most shoppers carrying reusable bags at their local market or grocery store. At festivals and outdoor events, food is more often served wrapped in banana leaves instead of polystyrene takeaway boxes. Now-banned items used to make up 35% of Vanuatu’s waste, but now make up less than 2%.

Pictured: Pandanus leaves are now used instead of plastic bags at markets, but supply of the crop can be affected by storms and cyclones, vendors say.

The plastic islands that once choked Erakor lagoon are also shrinking.

“Since they started the ban, you can see the lagoon has become cleaner,” says Andrew.

It is a massive victory for a small island nation made up of just over 300,000 people across 83 islands...

In 2020, a second phase of the policy added seven more items to the list of forbidden plastics, which now covers cutlery, single-use plates and artificial flowers.

“It’s quite difficult to enforce because of the very low capacity of the department of environment,” Regenvanu says. “So we try to work with the municipal authorities and customs and other people as well.”

Compromises had to be made, though. Fishers are still allowed to use plastic to wrap and transport their produce. Plastic bottles are also permitted, even though they often litter coastlines and rivers.

Secondary industries have now developed to provide sustainable alternatives to the banned items. On the island of Pentecost, communities have started replacing plastic planter pots with biodegradable ones made from native pandanus leaves. Mama’s Laef, a social enterprise that began selling fabric sanitary napkins before the ban, has since expanded its range to reusable nappies and bags.

“We came up with these ideas to reduce the amount of plastic in Vanuatu,” says the owner Jack Kalsrap. “We’re a small island state, so we know that pollution can really overwhelm us more than in other, bigger countries.” ...

Willy Sylverio, a coordinator of the Erakor Bridge Youth Association, is trying to find ways to recycle the litter his team regularly dredges up from the lagoon.

“The majority of the plastic waste now comes from noodle packaging or rice packaging, or biscuit packets,” Sylverio says. He hopes the plastic ban will one day include all packaging that covers imported goods. “Banning all plastic is a great idea, because it blocks the main road through which our environment is polluted.”

The Vanuatu government plans to expand the plastic ban to include disposable nappies, and says it will also introduce a plastic bottle deposit scheme this year to help recycle the remaining plastic waste in the country."

-via The Guardian, June 20, 2024

[whirlybirbs]

— BURNER CELL ; 1 ; DABI ; 荼毗

summary: you end up at the league's bar, unbeknownst to you or your drunk friends. you just want to go home. set in the early days of bnha. pairing: dabi / f!reader ; quirkless word count: a cool 1.6k tag: humor, maladjusted dabi meets normal adult woman, flirting, canon-based world building, slight au, univeristy student!reader a/n: this is silly and short but man i really want to write dabi pining over a normal, quirkless person and frothing at the mouth when she doesn't text back for an hour the tag | next →

What's the whole bit about 'secondary locations'...?

You're not sure how you even got roped into this — it's a Thursday, for fuck's sake. You have class tomorrow, and by the time you manage to shepherd the gaggle of girls back into their respective Ubers for the night, you won't be back at your apartment until well into the early hours of the morning. 

You wince into your beer, hoping silently that your cat won't be too mad. Mizu can stand to skip a meal here and there, after all. He's a big boy. (Literally.)

In the booth in the back corner, there's a wave of raucous, tipsy laughter from your friends and their new acquaintances. One of those guys — the one who smells like cigarettes and cheap cologne — has his arm around Nuri. She seems totally into him despite the glimpse of yakuza affiliations painting his skin beneath his purple shirt collar. 

Worry tugs at your heart just as the door to this dour, smoke-filled bar opens. A handful of denizens enter, but you pay more mind to the rows and rows of meticulously stacked liquors from behind the bar.

This place is weird. 

Unsettling. 

It's oddly silent, with some too-quiet music coming from the beat-to-shit jukebox in the corner. The loudest thing in here is the drunk conversation from the group you came in with, and the occasional tinkering of glasses from the sparse few patrons posted up in various booths. 

You lean onto the bar, sigh, and take another long swig of your stale beer.

Note to self: Kamino Ward has the most mid nightlife imaginable. 

Suddenly, someone is shambling up to the stool beside you. 

They smell like cinder and smoke. Like a fire on a cold night. It's not entirely unpleasant, but it flicks some sort of DNA-deep warning bell in the back of your mind. Fire. Run. 

Your lashes flutter over, mid-sip. Then, your eyes widen incrementally as the dawning realization of just who's sitting there slams into you. It's the sort of realization that feels like a baseball bat to the back of the head.

You muscle down the mouthful of flat beer before your lips part in silent astonishment. 

Of all the bars they picked... It had to be the League of Villains' haunt?

Because of course, it had to be. It just had to be more than some scummy, ten-years-their-senior washed-up yakuza throwing drinks at them and promising them a good time, huh? It had to be a secondary location after a too-loud, too-hot nightclub downtown. It had to be this secondary location. 

Dabi clears his throat.

You snap your jaw shut. 

"Thought you were gonna catch flies for a second there," comes a rasped, rough chirp — wholly unbothered.

He isn't looking at you. He's looking ahead, presumably trying to discern what kind of drink he wants tonight. Piercing, turquoise eyes flick about the top shelf.

You have to peel your eyes off him.

Your tongue runs along your teeth as you nod, drumming your fingers against the bar. This is bad. Not ideal. Not great. "Sorry."

You slide a look back over your shoulder and catch Nuri's horrified expression. You follow her frantic eye movement to the other side of the room — it's a screaming look over there — where you spot the other well-known heavy hitters who have carved out their spot in recent news highlights. 

You whip your head back around, mild horror set in your face as you take another pitiful swig of your shitty, shitty, shitty beer. 

This is why there's that saying about secondary locations. 

You press your palms to your eyes as you lean onto the bar. 

"What's wrong with you, pretty? Bad break-up?"

Is he... seriously talking to you right now?

You pull your hands away from your tired eyes, your lips parted again but this time in total dejection. Your make-up is a little smeared; the dark circles beneath your eyes are mostly thanks to finals, but the running mascara doesn't help. 

You're cute.

You wouldn't usually be his type, but... Touya's in a good mood tonight. 

Your eyes rake across his face. 

He isn't entirely bad-looking. The deep, purple burns serve as a reminder of just how dangerous the man before her is. The staples digging into his flesh glint in the light. Your eyes narrow in on the trifecta of piercings on his right nostril. He's tall — lanky, even. 

The bartender, the guy who you're realizing is definitely the one and only Kurogiri from those wanted posters you saw on the outskirts of campus, must have slid him the gin soda that's in his hands. He levels your gaze with his own, punctuating it with a slow sip.

"I'm sorry...?" you ask, your brows knotting.

"Y'know," he remarks casually as he leans back in his chair and sips his drink; turquoise eyes flick back over his shoulder, to the gathered booth, "S'typical — dance the night away, try to forget that gut-wrenching heartache, get a lil' sloppy... Our buddy Giran loves the heartbroken ones."

Oh. So the smelly one is Giran. Good to know.

Great. Awesome. Super duper. 

Your eyes flit shut in quiet frustration. You shake your head. "No. No, I... No, I look like this because I have friends whohave terrible taste in men. Like your buddy Giran—"

Then: "No offense."

Dabi actually laughs. It's a raspy sound — like a wheeze and a cough and a chuckle, all wrapped into one mildly unsettling package. 

"Yer funny," he remarks, pointing with the deeply scarred finger that's holding his glass, "I like that."

"Thanks," you offer up pathetically, "I sorta feel like the court jester right now."

"That so?"

"Gotta jingle my bells a bit little more so you don't turn me into a walking ashtray."

Dabi's grin aches — the staples along his burnt jaw tug lightly and glint in the light. Oh, you're fun. He leans forward onto the bar, his forearms braced against the smooth mahogany. "So you know who I am?"

You stare absently at your half-gone beer. "Yep."

You pop the 'p'. 

"That freak you out?" he asks into his drink.

"What's the answer you wanna hear?" you ask, your brows screwed up in resignation. You just want to go home. You totally want to go home with all your skin intact and no grafts needed. 

"I wanna hear your digits. What's your cell?" 

...It's relatively smooth, all things considered. It takes a second for it to even register that he's asking you that and not some phantom apparition floating somewhere behind you. You even double-take for good measure.

"Y'said you weren't all heartbroken, so I'm assuming you're free game," he supplants, "Unless you got a boy toy or somethin' — not that I care, though."

"And what if I'm some sort of nark?"

Dabi's brow quirks.

"I mean," you shake your head as you realize how bad the mere suggestion sounds, "I'm not but, you don't even know who I am—"

"—Giran wouldnta' brought you an' your little idol group here if he didn't trust you were clean—"

"Great. Awesome," you mutter, taking a long swig of your beer, "Hold on, we're not Girls' Generation—"

"Yea, but yer all pretty," he comments casually, leaning back against the bar as he spreads his legs. He takes up a lot of space. He's dangerously close to encroaching on yours, "What're you? University students?"

You sigh. "Right on the money."

"How th' hell did you all manage to land here?" he sounds incredulous. 

"I couldn't tell you," you mumble as you finish off your beer, "Nuri is the one shacked up with Giran. She met him at the last club we were at. I'm sure it's love at first sight an' all that. Couldn't stand to part ways, so we're here." 

"Riiiiight," he rasps; the gin burns his tongue, "S'a little late for a school night, ain't it, pretty?"

"You wanna tell them that?"

"Might not have to," Dabi rumbles as he juts his jaw their way, "Looks like your little troupe is on th' move."

Oh, thank god. You catch a glimpse of Nuri kissing Giran on the cheek, and the others giving their goodbyes. You're fast to reach into your way-too-little purse, snag your phone, and then unlock it with ease. Within all of five seconds, the rideshare is called. 

You hesitate.

Then, you hand him your phone.

The contact screen is open.

The grin it earns you is mildly unnerving — but there's some charm to it. He's got pretty eyes, and his voice is nice enough to listen to. He didn't incinerate you either, and he called you pretty plenty of times to feed your ego properly. 

You watch him enter his information. It's no doubt the number to some shitty burner he might not have in a week, but... whatever. 

"Thanks for the conversation," you offer weakly as you stand; Dabi is a bit shameless with the way he rakes his eyes across your figure. His version of flirting is a little rudimentary but... it's working, "And not melting my face off, I guess."

"You leak my number," he sips his drink, "No one will ever find your body."

Right.

Cool.

Awesome.

"Didn't plan on it. On that note — my ride's here."

"Get home safe, pretty."

Dabi swigs his drink. He's tracing your figure with his eyes.

"Sounds fake when you say it," you call over your shoulder with a burst of bravery as you walk backward a few steps, hand on the door as you hold it open for your friends, "Aren't you supposed to be, like, a villain or something?"

Oh, he likes you. 

And you fuckin' hate secondary locations.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Would you buy this enormous brick house for $699k if its giant pool needed repair? Well, it has a sale pending, so someone saw value in it. The 2007 build in Cedar Rapids, IA has 6bds, 9ba, 13,666 sq ft. $699k.

The grand entrance has this huge open space with a dining room and kitchen combo off to the side. I have a 1bd. apt. w/a small loft- b/c of the high ceiling in the living room I freeze all winter. In the summer, the main floor is hot. If a little apt. is like that, I can't imagine how much a house this size would cost to regulate.

Interesting how they put the hearth so high in the fireplace.

The kitchen color scheme features dark gray middle island cabinets, dark walnut regular cabinetry, and bright turquoise subway tile.

The kitchen is massive and features a V-shaped red oak China cabinet.

Across the hall is the living room. Oh, how nice, they left a grandfather clock for the new owner. I don't care for the wild floor pattern, though.

Guest powder room.

The stairs are pretty nice.

It's got a beautiful ceiling with a round mural. The space is very large up here.

2nd level family room.

This is confusing. There's a fireplace, a terrace, and a bath. Is the bedroom and bath all one space? It must be. The bedroom area is the carpeted part. Don't like that at all.

This secondary bedroom also has a fireplace and a terrace with the tub in the room, but the shower and everything else is separate.

Here's a 2nd kitchen that has access from the driveway.

Then, these beautiful stairs come down to the lowest level.

Here's a bar.

It's gigantic down here.

Then, the other back staircase comes down to a rec room.

And, a home theater.

The indoor pool needs at least a new liner. Look at the mural- it's a building with a real balcony, doors, windows, and columns with a covered patio.

The view from the faux building. This is such a huge room, it looks like the YMCA pool.

The house is joined together by this little connecting tunnel.

There are garages with connecting patios.

It looks like the home is on a bare, hilly .57 acre lot.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4012-Paradise-Ct-NW-Cedar-Rapids-IA-52405/124302669_zpid/

[jekyll-doodles]

The Ladies of Addagala || Kofi | Commission Info | Threadless Shop|| Do not edit, trace, or repost!

So this started as another one-off bit that involved drawing the lords of Alagadda with inverted colors, but it grew into a whole realm with Lore. The finding of this place written below, pov of my sprite persona.

[ You would think I would have learned my lesson by now, considering how the blame fell on me for witnessing and then interfering with these kinds of entities. But, no. And so, with the knowing expectation that I will be held responsible for merely observing this, I wish to tell you what I saw while around the outer boundaries of ■■■ verse, ■■■ space-■■■ time, "SCP Wakey Wakey"’s reality. It would appear that, by accident, a secondary nexus evolved from my observations of Alagadda and its tributaries. An attempt by What Is and What Isn’t to balance out the chaos of the city-state: an antithesis. Such a place is a hefty feast to observe by oneself – hence my absence – so I took in what I could for now. More undoubtedly lingers beneath its glossy surface.]

The Land of Addagala – a name a little too on-the-nose in my opinion, but that's not important – was a citywide sanctuary locked within a snowglobe. The first notable sensation I recall being the chill in the air; I learned later that it became just warm enough in its spring and summer seasons to let the flowers bloom and produce fruit. A warmth that apparently came not from the grey sun, but that radiated out from their beloved monarch. The sun, which also acted as its moon, was more of a static decoration in the sky. No sunrise or sunset; the day faded into night into day into night again without it. The kingdom’s borders were high stone walls, beyond which was a mystery that even my kind could not perceive; it simply did not exist. Leaving through the gates led out to… Well, it led me out to Nowhere, but others presumably back their native reality (hopefully). Within said walls were sprawling, spiraling meadows, pastures, and gardens. Neat rows of simplistic homes and facilities leading up to its centerpiece: a modest basilica with a clock tower that stretched far higher than seemed necessary. Everything within this scenery had its similarly mandated colors – or only naturally occurring ones depending on the realm’s laws– of Silver, Indigo, Sapphire, and Turquoise.

After a general overview, I floated down and followed one of the branching stone paths in the garden. Blue roses and peonies lined in neat spirals, soft turquoise grasses, beautiful stone statues, bumbly honey bees buzzing about; I must’ve spent hours in the garden alone. The aforementioned clocktower would sweetly chime each hour before falling into a peaceful quiet again. I spied a few citizens there as I perused the flowers. Besides the silver masks (also mandatory here), they dressed in accordance with the cold weather: Long gowns, capes, and sleeves; furs, feathers, and fluff; soft, warm, and layered to keep the cold at bay. I learned later that those unfortunate few to enter without proper fittings would not stay cold long as the advising Ladies and their orderlies would happily provide suitable clothing. Their motives are well-intentioned, yet also motivated by an implied modesty dress code. Suppose I should have expected as much from the opposite Alagadda.

It was there within the gardens where I found the first lady of the city: Lady Turquoise, wearer of the Solemn mask. Dignified yet understanding. Her stature towered, imposing an air of respect. She was hard at work tending to the hedges; precise in every movement and measurement. A look within revealed more about her and the kingdom itself: This place had a rigid sense of time and a stern set of rules to keep order: both of which were expected to be followed by every citizen. And schedules needed to be planned, written, and updated by someone. The sense of such strict routines was somewhat nauseating – and I like routine, mind you. But now, in a moment of allowed leisure, she tended to her gardens. I would’ve lingered longer to watch her work, but the hint of desperate perfectionism within warded me off. I drifted off towards the main square.

More citizens, and few visitors, were found here. Pleasantly conversing, eating lunches, etc. It was hard to imagine this place had any tie to Alagadda, opposite or not. The mundanity of it was too… mundane. Even the silver masks adorn by all only gave a small sense of strangeness. Even the appearance of the second lady held little fanfare – if you could even call it that. Lady Silver, wearer of the Solaceful mask. A face that knew deep sorrow yet so hopeful. She was out on a daily constitutional, greeted by the occasional passerby. As I lingered near her, more revealed itself: this was a place of pacifism. Violence of any kind would not be tolerated and be “corrected”. That word always worried me, and for good reason. As the clocktower chimed again, I saw how these “corrections” were made. The tower held many rooms: rooms of solitary for those who needed time to accept the help they were so graciously getting. To break those unfortunate habits they brought with them. Truly, they – well, Lady Silver here had her doubts about it, how helpful – believed this method was humane. My growing disappointment accompanied me as I continued my investigation. The city’s basilica awaited.

More flowers, statues, and an endearing fountain decorated the atrium. A faint humming led me to its kitchen. A friendly tune, hummed by a most friendly person. The third lady of the city: Lady Sapphire, wearer of the Amiable mask. Her countenance bore a gentle, inviting smile. She was discussing medicines with a few visitors it seemed, all while baking some kind of honey pastry. Each and every concern of theirs was met with reassurance, every question had a simple answer. There within her I saw the purpose of the city: to be a place of healing and peace. Vows of sobriety, working treatments for nearly every ailment, and a steadfast belief that anyone could be rehabilitated. Such an unwavering optimist, of her own skills and of people in general, that it was almost… concerning. I did not peer any further.

I meant to keep this short, I really did. However, recalling the little pleasant details before Knowing has helped me get to this point. I remember the walls and columns of the nave being a marble of some kind, streaked with silver and indigo. The natural lighting filtering in and mingling with the grey candle lights. Upon the bema towards the altar, lavish bouquets had been placed. I wish I could have enjoyed the scenery longer – I wish I could have enjoyed Addagala in general longer. However, that is not possible now. There upon the altar stood a large crystalline coffin, occupied by a giant corpse wrapped in glimmering, gossamer shrouds: their beloved monarch, the Charred Queen, seemingly at rest in eternal tranquility. And kneeling at her feet, was the fourth lady of the city: Lady Indigo, wearer of the Quiescent Mask. A face serene in sleep. She was deep in prayer, some hushed communion with the queen. Beseechments of guidance, blessings, and the like. I went to peer in to gain some more insight…

But I found nothing. Hollow. Instead, I felt a connection, a string if you will, leading back to the queen’s corpse. So I followed, and I looked within her instead.

I left the basilica hastily. Back out into the open, chilly air. Up, up, up towards the grey sun until the strange claustrophobic feeling left my chest. Having experienced similar horrors already, it should not have surprised me and I should have expected it, but as you can see  – I did not learn my lesson! After a moment to calm down, I decided to make one more investigation before leaving. Hesitantly, I stepped down onto the grounds of the garden. All around me revealed the brilliant branching life of the plants, healthy and prospering. Then… then there were the “statues”. Some brighter than others, some were dimming, but none were extinguished completely…The lucky few to receive the Queen's “blessing”, I learned : an eternal state of peace in the land of Addagala. Or at least, that's what the queen told them, the Ladies, everyone...

No. She would not rest peacefully anymore.

All it would take. Is one. Little. Push.

~~~

[notaplaceofhonour]

picture it

light sensors attached to the front & back of your car

during daylight, they stay turned off

but ☝️

after dark? any headlight beam over 2000 lumens triggers The Event™️

a delay timer is set, as low turquoise underglow lights flicker & gradually increase in brightness, and a custom audio horn plays the voice of digital sensation Hatsune Miku:

AND NOW, IT’S TIME, FOR THE MOMENT **YOU’VE** BEEN WAITING FOR! READY??

ONE…

TWO…

THREEE…

turquoise-tinted secondary high beams flip on in the direction of the triggered sensor, at 6000+ lumens, as hatsune miku’s voice yells, now blaring at train horn volume:

MIKU MIKU BEAAAAMMM!!!!!!!!

[neopronouns]

flag id: two flags with 9 stripes. the left flag's stripes are turquoise, light turquoise, very light purple-pink, light purple-pink, purple-pink, light purple-pink, very light purple-pink, light turquoise, and turquoise. the right flag's stripes are purple-pink, light purple-pink, very light turquoise, light turquoise, turquoise, light turquoise, very light turquoise, light purple-pink, and purple-pink. end id.

banner id: a 1600x200 teal banner with the words ‘please read my dni before interacting. those on my / dni may still use my terms, so do not recoin them.’ in large white text in the center. the text takes up two lines, split at the slash. end id.

mascwayfem | femwaymasc

mascwayfem: being feminine in a masculine way

femwaymasc: being masculine in a feminine way

[pt: mascwayfem: being feminine in a masculine way

femwaymasc: being masculine in a feminine way. end pt]

for anon! both flags use purple-pink for femininity and turquoise for masculinity. the inner five stripes represent the central quality and the outer stripes represent the secondary quality that the first is 'in the way' of. the terms are the secondary quality, 'way', + the central quality!

since anon didn't specity gender, these terms are not necessarily genders and can be used for other aspects of identity (ex: presentation)!

tags: @radiomogai, @liom-archive, @fem-mogai, @macchiane, @genderstarbucks, @sugar-and-vice-mogai, @freezingnarc | dni link

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 44

First / Previous / Next

When they got back to the frigate, everyone went to their rooms. It wasn't the scheduled rest time, but nobody really felt like sitting in the common room.

Fen was exhausted anyway. She showered and fell into bed. Soon after she was completely asleep.

She dreamed.

Fen found herself on a beach of black sand, with a turquoise sky overhead and a sea that was nearly purple. Behind her were trees that looked like mangroves if you squinted, but the leaves were a deep purple, like the sea.

"Where am I?"

"You're on Meìhuá. Or at least how I remember it." A woman appeared next to her. Fen turned, and was taken aback. It was her... But it wasn't. Her hair was different, the lines in the face different, but it still was unnerving.

"You're Melody, I assume?"

Melody, First Empress nodded. "The star that Meìhuá orbits outputs different wavelengths of light than Earth's sun. The plants here evolved to absorb it's energy and power themselves with their version of chlorophyl. But the most efficient color wasn't the green of Earth."

"Is this real?"

Melody smiled. "No Fen, it's a dream. But it's also a memory. And it's also a reminder. You are my clone, and you did interact with the Nanites." Melody stared out to sea. "I missed this. I had all these plans to go home, to visit everyone, to show them my success." She shook her head. "It turns out, that was not in the cards."

The beach changed. With the logic that only works in a dream, they walked a few meters down the beach and they entered a massive room. Room was too small to describe what this place was, it was practically an arena, with seats for thousands of sapients. At the far end, high above everyone was a throne made of something that looked like green glass. It almost seemed to have grown from the floor, it's role as a throne secondary. It flowed up towards the ceiling and spread in fractal branches until it disappeared in a blur that hurt to look at too long. Melody climbed up the steps towards the throne and sat gingerly, wincing slightly. She patted a smaller - but still impressive - chair next to her, and Fen sat. "Okay, but how did you get here? How are you in my head? How are we talking?

"The Builders - that's the name of the people who ruled with the Nanites a long time ago - used to have this ritual they'd do. They would visit the nearest Gate to where they were and touch the addressing stone. This would initiate an upload, and the Nanites would take... a snapshot of the current Empress and store it. I had a chance to do it once before I began my invasion of Sol." She turned back to Fen. "Think of me like that. I'm a snapshot of the Empress when she touched the addressing stone, but also, I know more than that Melody did because the Nanites filled me in." She chuckled. "I'm almost an AI, I suppose."

"Why are you here? Why now?"

Melody leaned forward, and put her chin in her hands. She stared out at the empty arena, and didn't look at Fen. "The Nanites asked me to. They said that you'd listen to me." Her eyes flicked to Fen. "If you're half as much like me as I think you are, they're only somewhat correct. I know you'll listen, but I don't know if you can be convinced."

"Convinced?"

She nodded, her chin still on her hands. "To take up the Nanites again. To become Empress."

"I don't want to be Empress." Fen rolled her eyes and scoffed.

Melody lifted her head off her hands and stared at Fen. Her eyes - nut brown, just like Fen's - stared into her soul.

"So what do you want, Fenchurch Whitehorse, clone of Melody Mullen?"

What did she want? The answer shouted back at her, clear as a bell.

"I want Ma-ren back."

"The one thing we cannot do for you."

Fen stared out at the empty arena, trying not to weep again. It wasn't fair. If Ma was here, she could help her figure all this out. If Ma was here she would know what to do. If Ma was here she... wouldn't be so alone.

"Fen. The Nanites can't bring Ma-ren back, nothing can. But they can help you make the world the kind of place where the other Fens and Ma-rens of the galaxy won't have to be separated the way you were."

Fen turned slowly and stared at Melody. "You're the Nanites, aren't you."

Melody held out a hand. As she did that, the hand... disappeared. There was no blood, no gore where her hand was, her arm just came to a stop. Around where her hand would have been was a cloud of grey smoke. She smiled and the smoke flew towards her and condensed into a hand again. She flexed her fingers.

"Yes... and no." Melody looked up from her hand at Fen. "I am Melody Mullen - at least her when she touched the addressing stone, but I am also the Nanites. We work in harmony."

"We've moved beyond dreaming now. How are we-" Fen's forehead creased and her eyes narrowed. She unconsciously balled her fists. "Helen. Ancestors damn her."

"Yes, Helen provided you with the concentration of Nanites necessary for us to reestablish contact."

The scene changed again. Now they were floating somewhere. The only colors were grey and black. Fen's crossed arms and frown spoke volumes. "I don't want to be Empress, I don't want to do this. I want to be left alone and do my own thing."

"What better person to rule the Galaxy than someone who doesn't want the job?"

"Just why do you want us to rule anyway? What do you have to gain?"

"We've been over this, Fen and we know that Helen has told you. We want you to build more Gates. The Gates reach into our dimension and give us an outlet into yours."

"But why? Why do you want to enter our dimension?"

The representation of the Nanites currently in the shape of Melody floated in the black and grey nothingness, silent.

"I won't agree to anything unless you explain yourselves."

They sighed. "If we explain ourselves, will you be Empress?"

"I will listen. That's all I can promise right now."

"Fine"

They were elsewhere.

It was a planet. They were high in the atmosphere. Full of pinks and light blues with browns and reds below. Overhead was two moons, either further away or smaller than the huge moon orbiting Earth.

"This... was our home. Long, long ago we were a biological sapient species, like you, like the K'laxi, like the Gren, like everyone. We learned about our galaxy beyond our planet, about the space in our local area, expanding out, further and further. Do you know what we found, Fen?"

Fen stayed silent.

"We found nothing. There were stars, but they were far away and dim. There were planets, but only a few, and most were bare chunks of nickel-iron. We used our strongest telescopes, saw back to the beginning of everything and saw that we were alone. We know that your species had a similar feeling, though you had way more stars and planets than we did. Eventually you met the K'laxi and then the wider galactic community, and later still you found the Gates and met us - but I am getting ahead of myself."

"As the realization that we were alone started to sink in, people decided to throw themselves into learning as much as we could about where we were. We spent decades, centuries trying to learn about the physical laws that we were under. Eventually - much later than yourselves - we figured out the math to predict black holes. We know that soon after you predicted their existence, you discovered them. We searched for hundreds of years without finding any."

"Fen you have to understand, we were undergoing a bit of an existential crisis. If we were alone, then what did anything mean. We were a social species, like yours. We were actually pretty close to mammalian, like yours. What did your species do when they're in close quarters with no outside influence?"

"We self-select into groups and then those groups fight." As much as she didn't like her schooling back home, Fen remembered that much from history class.

"You fight. We did too. Huge, decades long wars about nothing at all. At the time, it felt like it was everything, but in hindsight-" they chuckle "-it was nothing. War is a great driver of technology, so our technology grew by leaps and bounds. Soon enough, we were manipulating matter on the sub-quantum level. With enough energy, we could make anything. Your matter printers come close, but this is an evolution of that."

She let them continue, it seemed like they were on a roll.

"The first time it happened, it was an accident. Someone had uploaded their mind and became distributed. A cloud of nanomachines, sentient. There were discussions and arguments about whether they were alive, whether they were a person. Before we could work out the legal framework, someone else did it. Then another, and another. There was something about this that drew everyone in."

As they were talking, the scene around them changed. It moved from being over a planet to being further out, near the orbit of the moons. As they spoke, the planet turned from pinks and browns and blues to a uniform grey.

"It wasn't long before everyone converted. We had all become one distributed nanoscale being."

"What happened to those who didn't want to upload and become Nanites?"

The representation of Melody turned away from Fen. "You know what happened. What always happens."

"They were killed. Turned into raw material for the Nanites." Fen's eyes widen in recognition.

"As we grew, we required matter. That was simple enough - we disassembled our solar system and moved on to others. Energy was more difficult. Our dimension was much more sparsely populated than yours. We don't know why, maybe a quirk of our physics. Anyway, we spread through our universe, consuming everything, turning it all into Nanites when we came upon it."

"It?"

The view changed again. Now, Fen and 'Melody' were floating above a sphere, brighter than a billion suns and just as large. Light and energy radiated from it in every direction. Fen reflexively held her hands in front of her face, but it wasn't necessary. This was only a memory.

"The white hole. If you think of a black hole as a place where energy and matter is taken in, the white hole is where it comes out. Nearly unlimited energy, all for us to take and utilize."

Now, around the white hole it was uniformly grey. Countless Nanites surrounding the white hole, taking the energy it gives and building more of themselves.

"Even though we had become one large distributed intelligence, this did not sate our curiosity. What was the white hole? Where did the energy come from? We dug deeper and deeper into the mystery until we realized that we were most likely living inside a black hole. Your own scientists theorized this as well. Wondering if inside every black hole was another universe. We wondered this too. Eventually, we gained the technology to be able to check and what did we find?"

"You found us."

The representation of Melody holds up a hand. "Almost. We found your galaxy as it was hundreds of thousands of years ago. All around it was stars, planets, black holes, pulsars. Your universe was teeming with energy, teeming with life. Far, far more than ours. We knew enough that we could open a door to your universe from ours and stream through. We could come in and use that energy to continue to grow."

"Then why didn't you?"

"We spent a long time thinking about it. Eventually it was decided that we should not come into this dimension and consume everything to make more of us. We should... be good stewards of the other universes that we find. We developed the Gates and showed the local sapients how to build them."

The view changes. Now Fen can see a massive sphere, made up of rings interwoven. Each ring glows blue with a painful, fuzzy light, almost like Cherenkov radiation."

"The master Gate. All gates are extensions of this Gate. When everyone uses a Gate they pass through here on the way to their destination. It's how Gate travel is instantaneous. It's how we reached out when you went through the gate."

"Okay, but you still haven't explained why. Why do you try and set up a galactic empire? Why do you give the Empress the ability to give orders that can't be disobeyed?

"It's the most expedient way, Fen."

"Way to do what?"

"To build more Gates, to allow us to see into your universe to help us find other universes."

"Other universes?"

"Yes. We made the decision not to consume this one because of how it teems with life, but it has been a long time Fen. A long long time."

The representation of Melody falls away. Fen is back in the black and grey void. The voice comes from everywhere, all at once.

"We are hungry."

[bonusdragons]

March 20, 2023:

Turquoise Secondary, Fae, Alloy.

Scintillare of Sinjin’s clan!

[scryingworkshop]

[fantastic-fr-scries]

Aether Male

Abyss / Turquoise / Cyan , Tide / Alloy / Contour

Lightning Primal

[lasseutblogo]

I was going through one of the posts about Palette's magic abilities for a story and noticed something; I always thought Palette's magic colors were green and yellow (Kindness and Justice traits respectively), but the color of his magic roller looks more teal/light blue in the picture of him summoning/swinging said roller, which would align closer to the Patience trait.

The Yellow/Justice trait is clear enough, but is his secondary magic color Green/Kindness or Light Blue/Patience trait?

I didn't expect this ask after so long😆

Umm the color I use is #55F4DC, it's almost close to turquoise. I never imagined his magic as green and yellow… that color was brought out by the fans of his eyes… which are not green either (when blending this color #55F4DC and #FFEE00 (I think it is base yellow pure), that a lemon green can be seen.) 🤔

Now with this question… ummmm hmmmm… I think I'm leaning towards kindness. It's a trait that is more in him.🤔 (Even so, it doesn't seem to me that he have or will have a "secondary type of magic" that has that color… I only use yellow and turquoise. But if I look closely, the turquoise is a combination of light blue and green… that shows that Palette uses both functions together🤔🤔🤔💭💭💭🔍🔍🔍.)

[asexual-juliet]

OUTSIDERS MUSICAL COSTUME REFERENCE: Bob Sheldon

[costume masterpost here]

Bob is played by Kevin William Paul, Barton Cowperthwaite, Davis Wayne (who has yet to make his debut), and (formerly) RJ Higton

Costume: Lavender collared shirt under green and yellow varsity jacket with letter “R”, two silver pins, and 1966 Tulsa All-City Football Champions patch; khakis with brown belt.

Shoes: White converse with purple socks

Jewelry: Watch on left wrist, silver ring on left ring finger, gold ring with dark stone on right pinky finger, ring with turquoise stone on right pointer finger, silver dog-tag-type necklace

putting my own drawings under the cut as secondary sources :)

[hometoursandotherstuff]

'Vallecitos' is a luxury earthship house built in 2018 in Taos, NM. It's been featured on Netflix, international TV and social media, among the pages of Forbes and AirBnB magazine, and many others, yet it's been on the market for almost 2 yrs. 2bds, 2ba, asking $825K + $20mo. HOA fee. Let's take a look inside.

So, the typically long earthship garden that is usually inside the house, is separate here, and like a greenhouse decorated with bottles in the pretty turquoise walls.

Food grows out here- I see lettuce, aloe vera.

And, look at this- bananas. Or are they plantains?

I must say that the living room is nice, but the dining area is a little tight.

We've seen some pretty primitive earthships before, but this actually looks like a home with beamed ceilings and quality glass doors and windows.

A real kitchen and it's very pretty. Love the turquoise cabinets.

It even has a pantry and laundry room.

Very nice bath and what looks like a real flushing toilet, not a composter.

Beautiful tile sink.

The secondary bedroom is lovely. It looks like a child's room and has plenty storage for toys, games and books. A desk faces the garden window.

As we can see, the garden runs the whole length of the large "ship."

The primary bedroom is nice.

It opens to the garden area.

Pretty en-suite. I would need something on that window, though.

Out on the patio they have a sauna.

Patio looking out over the 2.31 acre lot.

View of the back of th house with the sauna and patio.

Partial privacy wall around a deck.

Aerial view of the property shows grass and vegetation, but it's quite vast and empty.

Glamor shot of it at night.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/27-Earthship-Way-Taos-NM-87577/2061804094_zpid/?