#when should I plant cucumbers?

[fordragonfliesandme]

Gardening 101~ Top Vegetables and Herbs to Grow in Zone 5 In May

“You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook’s year. I get more excited by that than anything else.” ― Mario Batali I am getting so itchy to get out and plant stuff!!! If you’ve been following me on my Facebook & Instagram, then you’ve seen my new greenhouse go up & the raised…

[bunnyb34r]

Well I didn't check on the garden Wednesday or Thursday bc it was windy and rainy... the wind knocked down ALL THREE cucumber plants 😭😭 they're fine but I was so sad when I saw that

Buuuut I did get to pick not just a cucumber and zucchini... BUT THREE CUCUMBERS AND TWO ZUCCHINIS :D

The bounty 😎🤙

Gonna make some good zucchini bread with those babies and some nice salads with the cucumbers :P

[farmerstrend]

Cucumber Farming In Kenya; A Comprehensive Cultivation Guide

Cucumber farming in Kenya has gained significant growth as a profitable agricultural venture, catering to both local consumption and export markets. Cucumber farming in Kenya comprises of three primary methods: greenhouse cultivation, hydroponic and open field growing. Each approach has its distinct advantages and challenges, contributing to the overall success of cucumber production in…

[fuckingrecipes]

Do you have any healthy snack suggestions for someone who isn't a huge fan of nuts and dried fruit?

FIRST: A 'Snack' is just a small portion of food. It is a signifier of quantity. 'Snack' does not exclude any type or form of food - it just means a lil' bit of food.

SECOND: "Healthy" is entirely relative to every individual.

'Healthy' is just 'Supportive of a complete nutritional profile, taking into account a person's existing diet, dietary needs, and habits of energy expenditure'

For example:

A small, greasy hamburger is an EXCELLENT snack for a highschool athlete who needs to consume an large amount of calories every day to maintain their body. It has lots of fat and protein for muscle recovery and long-term energy, carbs for immediate energy, and some lettuce/tomato/onion for some extra fiber/vitamins/minerals.

On the flip side, if someone already eats a fair amount of of meat and carbs already but has a lower-energy lifestyle, a healthy snack for them might entail leafy greens, beans/legumes and vegetables, because they need more fiber and nutrients in their diet that plants have in abundance.

--

If you are allergic to or hate eating something, then it's not healthy to force yourself to eat it anyway. Find a different food, or a different way to prepare it that doesn't cause physical or psychological distress!

Don't like peanuts, but peanut butter is good? Eat peanut butter instead! Hate the texture of whole tomatoes, but tomato sauce is good? Eat tomato sauce instead!

Don't be afraid to finely mince or blend your ingredients into a sauce or smoothie if you feel you need or want to eat something for the nutrients but hate chewing it.

--

I'm a big fan of probiotic stuff in general, like fermented foods (kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut, miso, mustard and yogurts), since a strong bacterial colony in the gut has a positive impact on wellbeing for most folks. More importantly, I love the taste.

Buuuuuuuut~ some people are extra sensitive to compounds that are concentrated in fermented foods. Those people should not eat a lot of fermented foods. It's not healthy for them.

--

If you're munching snacks out of boredom when you're not actually hungry, something low-fat but satisfyingly crunchy usually does the trick for me. Something I can keep devouring for the sensory delight, gives some good nutrients, and won't make me feel overly full afterward.

Carrots, bell peppers, mung bean sprouts, apples, pears, jicama, radish, pretzels, sweet onions, green papaya, broccoli, popcorn, cucumber, water chestnut, seaweed crisps, coconut chips, any of those fermented foods I mentioned... hell, coleslaw is mostly cabbage with oil and vinegar - plow through that and have a great time!

--

If you want a snack because you're hungry, but you just want to tide yourself over until the next meal, eat something that is high in fat and fiber. Fat & Fiber makes you feel full.

Cheese, Yogurt, Butter. Olive oil. Guacamole. Tinned fish. Cream. Fry up an egg. Olives, Hard-boiled eggs - These are all relatively high in fat.

Beans, Legumes, Oats, Leafy Greens, and most Berries are pretty high in fiber, and can pair up with any of the fatty things.

Hell, a slice of cheese pizza is also fine! Buttered toast is fine! A small portion of roast beef from last night's dinner!

Eat a little bit, wait 20 minutes, and see if you're still hungry after that. A normal stomach takes 20-30 minutes to register feeling satiated. (Some people's stomachs don't really feel the difference of hunger vs satiation. Those people need to be more mindful of the quantities of food they eat - both eating too much, AND eating too little!)

--

If you want a snack because salty snacks in particular sound fucking amazing, but other fatty and high-protein foods sound kinda gross, Try chugging a glass of water.

If water doesn't resolve the feeling after giving it a few minutes, try something with salt.

Dehydration and not having enough salt in your body both cause salt cravings. Acute thirst is often mistaken as hunger.

Honestly, you can have a handful of chips. Eating a whole family-sized bag of potato chips in one sitting is probably too much salt & fat for most people, but eating a handful here and there is fine. It's just as morally neutral as eating a carrot.

Eat some rice with soy sauce. Eat some pickled okra, or pickled onions. Eat some miso soup. Drink some soup broth. Have some salt-cured meats.

--

So: A Healthy Snack!

Ask yourself: Am I hungry, bored, or thirsty?

Ask yourself: What have I been eating lately, and what has my diet lacked, or had in excess? (Fats, Protein, Carbohydrates, Vitamins/Minerals, Water, Salt)

Ask yourself: Am I trying to provide my body with a complete nutritional profile, including fats and carbs - or am I focusing on an imagined 'purity' of food and assigning moral value to eating what diet culture calls healthy so I can be 'good.' (Aka: Do you think instances of eating candy or fatty food is 'being bad'? Stop that.)

Ask yourself: Am I able to rely on my body's signals for hunger and thirst, or do I need to manually track this?

Sometimes a snack is a small portion of leftovers from yesterday.

Sometimes a snack is carefully sliced, cooked, and arranged on a cute plate.

Sometimes a snack is gnawing through half a head of cabbage doused in vinegar.

Sometimes a snack is a handful of shredded cheese eaten from your own palm so you become both the gentle horse and the stablehand feeding it, and that's all okay

[littlewigglers]

Okay I’ve never asked on tumblr but I just found your page and I’m OBSESSED!!! I want to get/make a Vivarium/bioterrarium for millipedes and isopods and I can’t WAIT!! Please please if you have any advice at all, I’d love to hear it! Where to get supplies, the buggies themselves, how to handle them, what do you do if they get sick, how much space to they need for how many there are, etc? Your buggy babies are so cute!!

First off thank you! I love all my little guys as well <3

I ramble kinda a lot so I'll put this under a read more.

For advice I'm still very much a novice when it comes to keeping but I'll tell you what I can!

For tanks I got my glass ones second hand or ones made my the store I buy used to buy my millipedes from, you'd be surprised how cheap you can get a nice big one! For Acrylic THESE are the ones I've had the best luck with not warping BUT they sometimes have kinda blurry parts on the plastic, but still I'd say good for the price if you can't afford glass. I tape up some of the ventilation holes to keep more moisture in.

For soil that ISN'T bought from a specialist stores(Sometimes I can't afford it) I use Peat free compost, paired with leaves and rot wood I buy off ebay stores that sell bug/reptile products, I mix them together with some water and leave them in a tub for 1 week to soften up the leaves. Some people go out and get their own leaves and wood but I'm not really in an area to do that so I can't give advice on that. It's important to keep it moist BUT NOT WET!

Heat mat! You want one to put on the SIDE of the tank and not under it, just one would be enough. I have a timer plug for mine so they're on a few hours a day on and off all day. If you REALLY wanna spoil them then I've seen a few people use reptile headlamps.

For moss and plants I again just buy it off ebay in sheets and give it a cheap over to make sure there are no hitchhikers on it before I put it in the tank. It needs watered and looked after for a while for it to take to the tank. Carpet moss is mostly for looks while sphagnum moss is used to keep moisture in areas and should be water/sprayed often. I have a little fern plant in my tank rn they seem to leave alone. I know a lot of people use fake plants as well for decor!

You should make a point to put a little temp and humidity monitor in your set-ups as well. The special reptile ones can be expensive so I just but the little ones you put in rooms and have had no issues with them.

Don't forget to give them hides! Cork wood/bark or coconut shells are nice and cheap. You can also use man made items just make sure they can handle the moisture and aren't made of anything toxic to your new friends. Also give them little sticks and things to climb up on. Just make sure the lid is secured so they can't escape.

For food I just use kitchen scraps like carrot peel, cucumber, apples and melon, give them a cuttlefish bone and some dried tiny shrimps in small amounts once a week or so, but you can also use fish flacks instead. But remember! Leaf litter and rot wood is meant to be their main diet for most species.

For the millipedes I would recommend Ivory millipedes as a good starter one, they're lovely in colour and are often up top, hardy as well, and usually you can get them captive bred which I've had much higher survival rates with vs wild caught. For each species you'll have to look up their needs yourself though, there isn't a 100% catch all set up for all species. Woodlice/isopods I'd suggest dairy cows as they're lovely and also very easy to get a hold of. I will say species of Armadillidium(roly poly/pill bugs) are my fave and I'm very biased and want 500 of them.

For handling just be gentle! I wear gloves in a lot of my videos but that because I've incredibly sensitive skin and can't stand soil under my nails. The worse they can do to you is them staining your skin(not all species), or give you a little nibble. Make sure if you're handling to wash your hands off BUT be careful what hand soaps you use! Wash hands after as well some can be toxic to bugs from what I've heard.

For tank size hmm that's hard, usually you want soil as deep as their body but that can be hard, 10-15cm is what I aim for my BIG boys and 7-10cm for my others, deeper is better but sometimes you'll also just never see them again! You'll want a tank at least a few times longer than your pets body or at least big enough for them to filly stretch out in if you get really big millipedes like giants and a 120cm tank is just kinda unrealistic haha.

I do not have a lot of advice for if they get sick sadly, it's kinda of hard to tell honestly and usually when you can it's too late. I would just say don't beat yourself up too much if some pass away sometimes bugs just do that especially if you don't know their history.

Where to get them depends on where you're from and what you want. A ton of reptile/specialist stores will have wild caught which isn't great but they will have the largest range of species and usually also sell all the stuff you need to tank care of them. Ebay is where I've gotten most of my captive bred and I just message people if I've questions about their bugs there.

I think that's everything I can think of,

Again I'm a big novice when it comes to bugs, @onenicebugperday and @crevicedwelling likely know way more than me, though idk if they're open to questions but they likely already have a lot of info on their blogs.

[mamawasatesttube]

other timkonbart-adjacent thoughts that i entertain myself with: the specific vibe of romantic timkon + queerplatonic konbart (who simply don't label it bc they don't feel the need. kon is bart's favorite jungle gym and bart is kon's silly rabbit. what else is there to say?)

kon and bart are just at each other's houses and homes constantly. max loves to talk gardening and farm life with kon, who passes on ma's recipes and tips for his kitchen garden. bart offloads chives (and cucumbers. and zucchini. and eggplants. max for the love of god don't you dare plant that mint) onto kon, who is more than happy to bring by some offerings from the kent family farmer's market stall. bart shows up at the farm all the time just to hang out with kon when he's bored. ma loves to feed him and he loves to eat. it works out incredibly well for the both of them. bart will help himself to kon's closet and sleep in his bed even if kon himself isn't there. this tickles ma pink. at least once kon has made what he calls "the most bitchin' peach cobbler of all time", courtesy of ma's recipe, and bart takes one bite and his entire face lights up and he just launches himself across the room like "bro this is so good i am kissing you on the mouth" and then he does. he's so very aroace but physical affection is good and great and frankly, the peach cobbler is just really that bitchin.

all of which is to say: when kon finally is like soooo ma. im uh. dating one of my friends now :> she's So confused when it's not bart. like... oh, it's... it's not? oh i just thought-- no no tim is very sweet, he fixed the tractor up so well for us, of course i love him! i just, well, i thought you and bart... i've certainly never seen bart perched strangely on the rooftop at half past four in the morning, is all. but you should definitely bring tim around more! that boy is too thin we need to feed him--

[kedreeva]

I just want to send solidarity vibes as a fellow michigander looking at their black raspberry bramble in mild horror as they start to ripen during the wave of hot'n'humid we're dealing with. mine are going to be so wildly overgrown bc this was supposed to be my weeding / thinning week as the harvest started ;-;

I'm so glad I'm not along but also a moment of silence for us both. I started weeding on sunday, at least some, to at least clear around where I put my feet to grab berries, but yesterday was too much even for me, who normally wears hoodies year round. I feel like maybe I should go out in the middle of the night but the choices seem to be harvest while standing on the surface of the sun or harvest while being eaten alive by mosquitos who are LOVING this "hot days to rot everything, rainy nights to make children, so humid NOTHING EVAPORATES OR DRAINS EVER" weather. I've been doing my best to water the raspberries early in the morning, before the sun gets to them, because if I don't, I just know that I'll have a year like the one where I decided not to water them and the berries were all itty bitty.

The rest of my garden seems to be enjoying whatever the fuck is happening, too. Te cucumber/zucchini plants are fucking LOVING this, somehow, when I thought it would kill them. They've all been kind of sad and wilty since being planted and I figured 90F+ would do at least one of them but nO. They're all perky and putting out new leaves and feelers and the tomato plants too are finally turning green (I rescued some sadder looking tomato plants that were turning yellow all over) and growing fast.

I wish you luck with your raspberries. Maybe they will realize their folly and give you a few more days to get to the weekend...

[oceanlue]

[Daycare]

Part 2

alphonse who takes care of them when there doing arts and crafts

seth who watches them out side during play time

finn who teaches them of how to take care of plants and takes care of the little garden that they have outside

lucien who takes care of the snacks and make sure that they're all healthy

Charlie who reads the kids stories when it's story time

auron the boss of the hole thing he still is in the daycare but he's doing his paperwork on a clipboard and thanks to the kids being a little scared of him so he has time for himself.

-----------

1 whole month has passed since the opening of the daycare Alphonse teaches them how to be clean after part time Seth takes them outside so he can play with the kids and make sure that they're all safe overall it was a good month, but the only problem is that little rookie does not want to ever do anything fun all little Rook wants to do is just stay by auron and he has no problem with this it's just that Little Rock needs to interact with kids. So auron is going to spend some time out of his office with Little Rock since they didn't feel safe.

*meanwhile*

Alphonse was just finishing up cleaning the Arts area and little boo came over because they wanted to help they did get distracted by a couple things but they were a good helper

Litte boo: *puts a pink sticker on his face* "you look pretty in pwink"

Alphonse: awwww thank boo *pats boo's head*

And over the time that boo was helping alphonse decided to Award them with a cookie but told not to tell anybody.

And Seth came in with the kids as Alphonse was putting some stuff away and then decided to take over bringing in a book about plants and a couple of plant stuff since they're going to grow their own tomato a fun little project for the kids.

As they were getting ready to start with the basics auron came over and said that Rook needed to be with kids so he is going to be with them for the time being.

Auron: rookie need to have some time with kids instead of being with me all day so today I will be joining you guys in your plant making thing

Then handed out the pots for the soil and told them not to fill it up too high or too low and everyone grabbed a small little toy shovel and scoop some soil into their pot where they will plant the seed rookie was doing it very slow cuz they were nervous so Aaron helped then the bit and everything was ok

After a wild day finished putting their soil into their pots and finally they got to choose what seed there were a flower seeds tomato seed and a cucumber seed so....

Boo/sugar got flower seed

Orchid got cucumber seed

Little mouse got tomato

Angel got tomatoe seed

And rookie got flower seeds

And told them exactly the instructions on how to plant them and then get a spray bottle and spray some water so they can have water to drink after that they put their names on the pot and put him on the window sill where the sun shines and they were done with that activity of the day

And for the rest of the day auron stayed with rookie outside of his office keep an eye on them and to make sure everything was doing okay in the daycare.

And so when they was time for the parents to pick up their kids auron told Rookie's mom what happened today and what was going on with them turns out their mother told him that they have some social anxiety and they've been trying to work things out and trying to get them out more.

He nodded and bid farewell to rookie and as they were walking away rookie waved bye to auron and he knows that tomorrow that it's going to be more chaotic again like everyday care is.

End of part 2

Should I do a part 3

--------

I hope you like it also here is part 1

Peace out

💙💙💙

[disabled-dragoon]

Gardening with A Disability

Everyone answering my gardening questions has been so helpful and kind. It's made me feel a lot better than when I started the week, but I've reached a point where I'm getting quite a bit of advice thrown at me all at once and it's getting difficult to keep track of it all, so I'm going to note it all down here!

Recommended Plants:

Mint, Tomatoes (Regular, Cherry), Cucumber, Radishes, Strawberries, Peppers. Aubergines, Potatoes, Squash, Lettuces, Chard (Swiss), Beets, Spring Onions, Garlic, French Beans (Specifically Dwarf French), Carrots, Kale, Spinach, Onion, Celery, Bush Beans, Blueberries, Bok Choy, Zucchini, Edible Flowers, Sunflowers, Green Beans, Currants, Lavender, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Sage

Methods:

Fabric Pots

Raised Beds* I was pointed towards Vego garden beds as a starting point. They are quite expensive but I think it's still worth a look to see what you might consider with raised beds.

Trellises

Gallon Buckets

Grow bags in inflatable kiddie pools with a few holes drilled inches from the bottom

Bottomless Pots

Grow Tents and Greenhouses

Nursery Plants

Vertical Grow Towers* Was helpfully linked to this site.

Soil and hay bales

Soaker hoses on the topsoil of small raised beds

Grow bags in bins or on low tables, in 1-2 inches of water

Using a grabber to weed

Long handled tools

Things to Note:

Someone recommended if growing potatoes not to do them in pots as you generally have to lift the pot and tip it over to harvest them.

You can specifically get "container-sized" varieties of plants.

If looking into growing squash and cucumber in pots, look for "bush" varieties, or get "short and wide" trellises for the vines so they're not on the floor.

Big pots for aubergines.

Vertical grow towers are useful because they spin and you can adjust the height, but the price is a bit expensive.

Peppers and aubergines do well in 4-5 gallon buckets.

Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes do well in 5 gallon buckets. You can grow blueberries in 5 gallons as well if they are of a "bush" variety

Bush beans do well in window boxes.

You can grow beets in window boxes but they might not get as big.

Strawberries grow well in 1-2 gallon buckets, and can be rooted into other buckets for more plants.

Bok Choy grows great in 2-3 gallon buckets and a "slightly shady" spot.

Containers need more consistent watering and fertilizer than ground plants.

"Lettuce in a “cut and come again” variety should be pretty easy to maintain but do prefer cooler weather".

Apparently immature sunflower heads are edible.

Thyme, rosemary, oregano and sage don't need much watering. Neither does lavender if outside.

Get a bag of soil specifically for container growing.

Buy already established plants and put them in containers larger than maybe necessary.

[semisolidmind]

Since this was gonna be longer than a standard ask, I thought I'd submit it instead.

Here are my human x mascot OCs for Fuwa Fuwa Pandemic

Sakiko "Kiki" Djobo

They/she

Has a Togolese father and a Japanese mother. Raised primarily in the U.S. but spent a lot of time with family in their parents' home countries growing up.

Kiki was able to get a job as an English teacher at a Japanese school that happened to be close to where her maternal grandparents lived, so she spent some time visiting them before her job officially started. That is, unfortunately, when everything went down.

Kiki ends up escaping an encounter with a mascot, but her grandparents sacrificed themselves to save her. They hid her in an old bunker in the house, where she stayed until the threat of starvation forced her out.

Eventually, she meets up with a group of survivors, mostly around her age, who are trying to find the perfect place to settle, where there are few mascots or where they can more easily defend themselves from attacks.

The group travels far, but eventually they come across an old farm near a city that seems to be mostly left alone at this time and decide to make it their homebase. Kiki, who likes to garden, and a grad student who was studying industrial agriculture convince the group to try and farm it for a steady source of food. There's even a stream that bisects the farmland, a stable source of water they can exploit for themselves and the crops.

Suiko

He/him

Suiko is an apex mascot, inspired by a mythical water creature that, according to folk tradition, inhabited that very creek, the Kappa.

Because the mascot he was based on was actually made of waterproof materials, Suiko is one of the only mascots who has the ability to swim, as his skin is naturally smooth and watertight.

His swimming prowess has allowed him to supplement his carnivorous diet with water creatures, such as fish and frogs. But he'll drown a human if he's hungry enough and the opportunity presents itself. Transient survivors are often drawn to the creek because it's a good water source.

If he's not that hungry or he's too tired to hunt, he may engage survivors in polite conversation, but they should still be wary of him.

How They Met

At first, Suiko enjoys his solitary life, but he begins to grow lonely. Until, one day, a group of survivors overtakes the recently abandoned farm that surrounds his part of the creek. He revels in the prospect of a steady source of meals for the next week or so.

But one of them comes to the creek to do laundry, and he has to admit, he finds them kind of attractive. And he's not that hungry at the moment, so he reveals himself and promises not to hurt them if they don't try to run from him.

The human hesitantly agrees, eventually introducing herself as Sakiko, or Kiki, for short. Even though this mascot is polite to her, she can't help but feel disappointed that her group might have to move again. Until she remembers a bit of folklore about Kappas; they love cucumbers. And the farm has a few cucumber plants that are putting out fruits like crazy. So Kiki promises to come back and give him one. He's a little skeptical, but he lets her go because he's genuinely curious about this exalted "cucumber."

Kiki leaves to put the clothes out to dry and comes back with a handful. Suiko's face lights up when he tries the strange fruit and he becomes somewhat obsessed with them.

So he and Kiki strike a deal that, if she brings him cucumbers whenever she can and talks with him for a while, he'll leave the other survivors alone and will hide from them while continuing to defend his territory from rival mascots.

—————-

they sit by the river and “talk” (suiko talks, kiki listens and tries not to think about how easily he could tear her apart)

[scarletsaphire]

@dooshek the second veggie burger scene for the ask game.

Tucker wrinkled his nose in disgust, grabbing the napkin next to him and spitting the half chewed mush into it. He took a thick swallow of his chocolate shake. "You are doing nothing to change my mind on the matter."

"Oh come on!" Sam protested, throwing her hands into the air. "That was one of the best fake meat replacements on the market right now. It tastes exactly like beef."

Tucker crossed his arms. "You may be an expert in suspicious plant based meat replacements, but you are no expert in good beef. Or any beef. Or any other meat."

"And I take pride in that fact," Sam interrupted.

"No matter how much pride you take, it still makes me the expert on meat. And I still say that none of these plant based scientists have ever tasted meat in their whole lives."

"They totally have! Why else would they be making these replacements?" 

"They totally haven't! How else could they say this," Tucker poked the not beef patty with his fork, "tastes like meat?"

"Have you tried thinking about happy cow faces while eating it?" Sam suggested. "It might make it taste better when you consider that every bite you take isn't soaked in the blood of an innocent animal."

"Have you ever watched Veggie Tales?" Tucker shot back. "Those vegetables have faces! How are you supposed to eat a cucumber when its Larry's cousin!"

Sam threw her hands in the air in anger. "No I haven't seen veggie tales, I'm Jewish! And even if I had, its a cartoon! Cartoons aren't real."

Tucker opened his mouth to add a rebuttal, but was cut off before he could do so. "I'm sorry," the waitress, a shorter, petite woman with short hair said. "But if you're going to keep fighting like that, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Tucker glanced around the restaurant they were sitting in, catching Sam doing the same. A number of the surrounding tables were staring at them, with others make a point to not stare at them. He felt his face heat up slightly in embarrassment.

Sam, of course, had abandoned the concept of embarrassment sometime in high school, and had no issues with defending herself. "We weren't fighting, we were debating, there's a difference," she pointed out. "But we understand. We'll keep it down."

The waitress gave a tired, strained smile at both of them. "We appreciate it, thank you."

The two sat there for a moment, watching the waitress walk to another table, before turning back to each other and giggling, Tucker mostly with embarrassment. "I feel like we should have seen this coming," Tucker said, his voice much more hushed than it had been before.

"Considering this is like, the 3rd time? Yea, probably," Sam said.

"Next time, I'm choosing the date spot."

"Only if you admit that the patty was good," Sam argued. At Tucker's glare, she laughed a full laugh. "I'm kidding." Tucker couldn't help but laugh along.

[iboatedhere]

(more thanks to @pragmatic-optimist @welcometololaland & @rmd-writes)

---

Henry fiddles with the tap, turning the water temperature down from scalding hot to just piping hot while the biodegradable sponge Alex insists they buy crumbles into nothing in his hand. 

He sighs and rinses the mug before setting it on the rack to dry, turning off the water, and leaning against the sink, looking out into the expanse of their backyard.

“Penny for your thoughts, sweetheart?” Alex asks from the table and Henry turns. 

“Do you think we should be growing our own food?” 

Wide eyed, Alex looks from the strip of bacon in hand to Henry and back again.

“I was talking about vegetables, darling.”

“Oh! Ha! Thank fuck,” he says as he shoves the last bite into his mouth. “Because you know I would get attached to that thing as soon as its little swine-eyes found mine and I could never…” He trails off and drags his finger across his throat. “You know.”

“I do,” Henry tells him. “Would it be enough to turn you into a vegetarian?”

“Hell no, but I would probably switch to turkey bacon. I’ve had enough of those feathery fucks to last the rest of my life.” He stands with his plate and coffee mug then nudges Henry out of the way so he can clean up after himself. “You want to start a garden?”

“We have all this land we're not using and who knows how long it’ll take the renovation permits on the shelter to come through. I have a bit of spare time.”

Alex eyes him warily and Henry pretends he doesn’t notice. 

“I was thinking I’d start with the basics…tomatoes, cucumber, courgettes…”

“That’s zucchini, right?”

Henry rolls his eyes fondly. “If you want to be American about it.”

“Well, since we’re in America. I think a garden would be nice. You gotta be careful though, my abuela had one and she was overrun with vegetables. She canned and pickled everything and still couldn’t keep up. She’d pay me and June ten dollars to go around to her neighbors trying to offload peppers because it was impossible to say no to two cute kids.”

“I’m sure I could find a food bank that would take them.”

“I’m sure you could,” Alex agrees before swaying into him. “Are you okay?”

Henry gives him a smile that must look as weak as it feels and Alex presses his lips together and tips his head to the side, giving Henry his best puppy-dog eyes.

“It’s just…you know,” Henry says because Alex does know and Henry doesn’t want to be the one to say it. 

The anniversary of his father’s death looms, the same way it does every year, but every year there seems to be more for Henry to mourn. 

His father never got to meet Alex. He never got to see how full of love Henry’s life is now. How happy he is. He’ll never set foot in this home or see the garden Henry wants to plant or hold the future children they might have.

Henry’s love for Alex grows with every passing day but there’s still a corner of his heart that is gray with grief that no amount of early morning kisses or late night conversations out on the porch will color.

“Baby,” Alex says, leaning in and pressing a kiss to Henry’s shoulder. He can’t mourn the way Henry does, but Henry knows he tries to shoulder the weight of it even if he can’t quite fit his arms around it. “You know it’s okay to slow down and relax.”

“Plenty of people find gardening relaxing.”

Alex sighs, the same way he always does when he knows he’s been beaten at his own game and pulls back. 

“Okay,” he says, “I can duck out of work early and we can hit up the nursery–.”

“Oh no,” Henry interrupts. “I’m not letting you anywhere near my garden.”

Alex blinks at him. “Excuse me?”

“You, my love, have what I believe they call a black thumb.”

“That’s a fucking lie, I do not.”

“You somehow managed to kill a cactus.”

“That thorny piece of shit had it out for me.”

“Of course, love,” Henry says, gathering Alex’s face between his hands, “whatever you say.”

[selfcare-with-senshi]

How to care for your body - Hydration

The five fundaments of proper self care are eating enough food, drinking enough water, getting enough restful sleep, exercising, and your personal hygiene. If even one of these fundaments is out of balance for a while, you will feel unwell. That's why most times when you have a headache, feel exhausted or just unhappy, the first questions include whether you ate, drank or slept recently, when the last time you went outside was, and when you took your last shower.

It's annoying to hear, especially when you struggle with your mental health. But sadly, it's very important and very true - when you make a change in these habits, you will notice a difference in your wellbeing, even if it's small at first.

Most people struggle with consistently keeping these fundaments covered, so don't worry, you're not alone if you feel like it's a lot.

Let's take it step by step. And step one should always be hydration.

Start with drinking enough. Always, always start with drinking enough. Water is life. Without water, there is no life. Even our bodies are mostly water. So it only makes sense we need it the most out of the fundaments of self care.

The human body needs about 2 to 3 liters of water a day. The heavier the body, the more exercise you get and the more you sweat, the more water you require. If drinking water by itself is difficult for you, there are lots of ways to make it more appealing for you. I'll be listing some useful examples below:

Set an alarm every hour to remind you to drink a 250 ml glass of water. If you wake up at 8 AM for example, you'll have 2 liters by 4 PM, and 3 liters by 8 PM.

Use small drinking glasses, or cups you enjoy drinking out of in general. I personally find it easier and more appealing to fill a 80 ml glass three times in a row than to drink from a bigger glass.

Make it fun. I pretend I'm taking shots from my 80 ml glass for example. Or I pretend I'm a flower on the verge of drying out and I finally receive much needed rain. It doesn't matter if it's silly, as long as it helps you stay hydrated.

If you're like me and water makes you nauseous or gives you an icky feeling, I suggest trying healthy additions like water syrups, waterdrop microdrink cubes, making iced tea or fruit juice yourself, or if you crave the bubbles of a soda, I can only recommend purchasing a soda maker. You can regulate the amount of bubbles you want yourself - AND you can add syrup after if you want, too!

Other alternatives to get more water into your body include (but aren't limited to) sucking on ice cubes or eating crushed ice for example. Foods like watermelon, strawberries, cucumbers or milk also help with keeping you hydrated.

Keep a water diary or a log, if it helps you. Personally I feel stressed out by these things, but if it's helpful for you to write it down whenever you drank something, go ahead! I saw there are also apps designed like games that help you drink enough, like every time you drink water and type it in, a plant grows a little more... it's very cute, but like I said, stressful for me personally.

If you have any more ideas or questions, feel free to comment, reblog, or send me an ask :)

Hydration can be very difficult, especially when you're ill, busy, or dealing with sensory issues. If you can manage to hydrate well, your body will thank you. You're at a lower risk for UTIs, your body has an easier time flushing out toxins and illnesses, your skin will become clearer, maintaining your weight will be easier too... it has lots and lots of positive effects.

You can do it! ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

[goldensugarywaffles]

Oops I Summoned a Succubus!

Summary: The maknae line summoned a demon and now it’s everyone’s problem.

Warnings: Innuendos, discussions of sex, and Y/n and Taehyung being slight perverts?

Author’s Note: New series! Less edgy than my other one. Don’t really write smut so we’ll see how this goes. Practice makes perfect and I have now given myself an entire series to practice with T-T...inspired by @sunshinerainbowsbts​ because she is the one person who can make me cackle and leave me scandalized in the same fic. She made me laugh and now everyone has to suffer. Forgive me if the fic is bad I swear I tried...

Taehyung was bored and horny. An often-dangerous combination with horrible consequences. After the last incident, it took months before Jimin could look at cucumbers again without a chill going down his spine. Rolling off the couch with a groan, Taehyung set off on his search for some entertainment. While he would usually quell his arousal with help from one of his six boyfriends, he wasn’t in the mood today. With the group becoming increasingly popular by the day, the time for romance and sex was virtually nonexistent. Even when they had the chance to engage in such things, there was no spark. It was practically a chore to relieve stress. Sighing sadly, he wandered into the gaming room, hoping to drown his boredom with video games.

Walking into the room, he was met with a familiar sight. Jungkook was at his computer, grumbling out curses and aggressively smashing the buttons of his keyboard with no strategy. Across the room, Jimin sat watching the younger boy in mild amusement. “How many times has he failed this level?" Planting a kiss on Jimin's cheek, he flops down next to the dancer with a huff. Jimin merely chuckles in response, "I've lost count after fifteen. He's been here for hours, and I don't think he plans to leave anytime soon." Taehyung hums in acknowledgment, watching as Jungkook’s character dies and the screen fades to black flashing the words “Game Over” across the screen. With an angry shout, Jungkook tosses down his mouse. Grumpily making his way to his older lovers, he collapses on their laps without a single care in the world. Jimin fondly pats Jungkook’s butt while Taehyung runs a comforting hand through the younger idol’s hair.

“Guys, I’m bored. Let’s do something fun,” Taehyung whines. If anyone was going to entertain his antics, it would be Jimin and Jungkook. The three were often known for getting into all kinds of mischief. Lifting his head from Taehyung’s lap Jungkook gave the singer a curious look. "You aren't horny, too, are you?" Jimin shivers at the statement. He would never trust a bored and horny Taehyung ever again. Taehyung scoffs, “If you must know, yes, I am feeling a little worked up right now.” Jimin subtly shifts in his spot, preparing to make his escape. Taehyung cuts him off before he gets the chance, “However, I am mostly bored and do not feel like having sex right now.” Jimin instantly relaxes while Jungkook pouts, the youngest’s sex drive insatiable.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Jimin questions, not fully convinced about Taehyung’s innocent intentions but willing to play along anyway. Taehyung hums, "I want to do something mischievous but not necessarily harmful.” Jimin raises an eyebrow at the vague statement. “Like a prank?” Jungkook excitedly suggests. Jungkook was a master at pranks and knew exactly how to set everyone off. “Let’s prank Namjoon! He’s the least scary while angry and will probably only lecture us,” Jungkook gushes, “Oh! Or he’ll do that thing where he looks at us, sighs, and then walks away.” Taehyung nods in agreement. For now, Namjoon was the safest choice to prank, especially because he was in a good mood today when Taehyungs last saw him. “How should we prank him? He’s already clumsy,” Taehyung muses. “We could rearrange his books by size instead of the genre,” Jimin offers. Namjoon’s room was extremely organized, or he would often lose things. Namjoon was especially adamant that his books remain organized by genre and hated when people tampered with them.

Taehyung shrugs; while this wasn't the most exciting activity, he figures it could alleviate at least some of the boredom. Hopping off the couch, the boys make their way to Namjoon's room, knowing that all the others are out for the day. Yoongi was probably locked up in his genius lab, Hoseok was at the dance studio, and Seokjin had gone to the grocery store dragging Namjoon with him. “Okay, what are we waiting for?" Jungkook hops off the other two and rushes to Namjoon's room, far more excited than he should be. Grabbing the younger's hand, Jimin drags Taehyung along to the leader's office. By the time they arrive, Jungkook has already removed various books from the shelves leaving them scattered all over the floor. With a shrug, Jimin starts helping, picking up books and looking over them as if he is interested in what they have to say. Taehyung groans, this was one of the most boring pranks they had ever come up with, and he couldn't believe he agreed to it. Sitting on Namjoon's desk, Taehyung yelps when he sits on something. Looking at the offending object, he suddenly becomes intrigued.  

It wasn’t a book that Namjoon would typically read. It looked old and didn’t even have a title. There was an intricate design of red flowers all over the cover with gold embroidered around them. "Taehyung, why aren't you helping? You were the one who was bored,” Jungkook whines draping himself over the singer to get a look at whatever had caught his hyung’s attention. Giving up on his work Jimin makes his way over to the other two. “What are you two doing?" Taehyung traces his fingers over the book, a sudden chill going down his spine. For some reason, it felt ominous. Flipping the book open to the last page, he reads the passage aloud.

The Demon of Eros Summoning Spell:

From the blood of Eros and blessed by the hands of Aphrodite, a creature of passion and pleasure was born. A gift to mortals and mystical creatures alike, their one true purpose is to serve and provide in the most intimate ways. To fulfill your deepest desires and mend the wounds of the heart, summon the demon if you dare and follow the ritual exactly:

Obtain the flowers born from Eros’ demon:

Coriander for Lust, Roses for Love, Camellia for Desire, and Chrysanthemum for Death

Obtain the demon’s spices:

Cinnamon, Ginseng, Nutmeg, and Ginger.

Spread the ingredients in a large circle, and add three drops of blood from the summoners.

Chant the spell: I summon the sinful demon of lust, pleasure, love, and desire. To pull your soul from the pits of fire. Reveal yourself to the great cosmos; I call upon you, the demon of Eros!

The boys stood in confusion around the book. Why did Namjoon have a demon-summoning book? Ignoring the feeling of unease in his stomach, Taehyung speaks, "What if we summon it?” Jimin scoffs while Jungkook’s breath hitches. “You want to summon a demon?” Jungkook questions the older vocalist, trying to understand if he heard correctly. Taehyung nods, “It would be a great prank. We’ll wait until everyone gets home and then summon the demon!” Jimin raises an eyebrow at the younger man, “You do realize this won’t really summon a demon, right? Demons aren’t real, and this is probably just an old occult book Namjoon found." Taehyung nods in confidently, "All the more reason to do it. Demons aren't real, and no one will get hurt." Jungkook hesitates; while demons aren't real, he still feels uneasy with the whole idea. However, looking at the excitement on Taehyung and Jimin's faces, he relents.

“Alright, where do we get all this stuff?”

Yoongi was tired. He had been locked away in his studio all day long and probably wouldn’t have left if it wasn't for Hoseok. The two men shuffle towards their home, ready for a decent meal and a good night’s sleep. Hoseok leans into Yoongi, almost ready to pass out after an intense session of dancing. The younger rapper pushed himself far beyond his limits despite Yoongi's protests. Placing a gentle kiss on the dancer’s temple, Yoongi unlocks the door, ready for a peaceful night.

Unfortunately, peace is not a thing in the Bangtan household. As soon as he opens the door, his poor ears are assaulted with shouts and shrieks. Seokjin is red in the face speaking so fast that Yoongi can barely understand him. It would have been an almost sight if it wasn’t for the scene in front of him. There are flowers and some sort of powder scattered around his living room. Jimin is standing on a couch arguing with Jin as if the height gave him an advantage. Jungkook is holding Seokjin back from snatching Jimin up. Taehyung has some book in his hand, declaring no one can stop him. Sitting in the corner, Namjoon merely watches, clearly giving up on de-escalating the situation at hand. While Yoongi would ask what's happening, he doesn't have it in him to care. He drags Hoseok over to the couch, flopping down on it and forcing Jimin to move over. Closing his eyes he decides to wait until the commotion dies down before attempting to engage with anyone.

Suddenly Taehyung shouts, “I summon the sinful demon. Of lust, pleasure, love, and desire. To pull your soul from the pits of fire. Reveal yourself to the great cosmos; I call upon you, the demon of Eros!” The room immediately gets quiet. While Yoongi was not completely aware of what was happening, he managed to put two and two together. Taehyung was trying to summon a demon, Jimin and Jungkook were in on it, and he just chanted the spell. Looking around the room, everyone waits for something to happen. Even Hoseok, who had woken up out of his sleepy state after hearing the word demon and summon in the same sentence. After a solid minute, Jimin laughed, "I told you it wasn't real, Jin!”

As if on cue the power went out and suddenly shrouded in darkness. Hoseok immediately screamed and followed it up with a violent slew of curses. Seokjin immediately went into a tirade against Jimin while the latter defiantly claimed it was a coincidence. "Um, guys, look," Namjoon's voice echoed throughout the dark room, and everyone turned their attention to the mess on the floor. The flowers and spices were glowing a faint pink color. Soon they started shifting as if they were being pushed by a breeze, swirling up into a glowing tornado. The boys stood in horror as the tornado burst into a bright light.

“What the fuck is happening?”

“I told you not to summon the demon! Now look!”

“We’re all going to die!”

Suddenly everything stops. The wind no longer blows, and the light disappears. Even the power comes back on.

Rubbing at his eyes, Namjoon looks around to see the men doing the same. Namjoon attempts to compose himself before flinching at Hoseok’s signature scream. In the center of the room stood a girl. An alarmingly attractive girl. At first glance, she seemed normal, dressed in a hoodie and some joggers with white sneakers to match. She didn’t even glance at the seven men in the room, her attention captivated by the cell phone in her hand and the headphones signifying she couldn’t hear a thing. But looking closer, Namjoon saw a pair of dark horns protruding from her head and a striking set of sparkling eyes with flecks of red and pink. Looking up from her phone, her smile immediately dropped from her face, “Oh fuck.”

And for the third time that night, Hoseok screamed.

Jimin wasn’t exactly sure how demons worked. After all, he didn’t believe they were real until five minutes ago. But from what he gathered so far, you were not a normal demon. Almost immediately after being summoned, you had changed your appearance, your horns disappearing and your eyes a more natural color. You merely observed the idol band lose their shit and even allowed Seokjin to tie you to a chair and attempt to banish you with a twenty-four-karat gold necklace with a cross charm that he found in Jimin’s room. Namjoon had immediately fetched a notebook and began taking notes about every detail he could find, while Taehyung bombarded you with so many questions it made your head spin.

After a good thirty minutes, the men had seemed to calm down, and you decided now was a good time as any to introduce yourself. After all, while you usually enjoyed being tied up, there was nothing sexy about this situation. In a puff of bright pink smoke, you suddenly appeared on their couch, no longer restrained by the ropes Seokjin had taken the time to put you in. You held your hands out in a surrendering motion, hoping your usage of magic wouldn’t set off another freakout. “Everyone, let's calm down. I’m not going to hurt anyone. Well, unless you want me to, but that's a conversation for later. Sorry for the dramatic entrance. It's a typical thing we demons do so that mortals have no room to deny our existence. Just some basic stuff. Anyway, my name is Y/n, and I’m your personal demon.” The boys blink in shock at your clearly practiced and polite tone, fully expecting you to take their souls and suck their blood. A minute of silence passes before you decide to prompt the men, the awkward silence suffocating.

“So, may I ask who I am speaking to? Something I can call you other than daddy?” Jungkook choked at the thought, and you gave him an innocent smile. Seokjin, on the other hand, scoffs, far more concerned about your supposed lack of knowledge about who they are. “Wait. You don’t know who we are?” This causes all seven of the men to look at you incredulously. While they never considered themselves to be arrogant or narcissistic, they found it virtually impossible that'd even a demon wouldn't know who they were. Rolling your eyes, you figure that they are no longer freaked out if they have the time to worry about their popularity, “Yes, I am aware of who you are. I was simply being polite. But shouldn’t we be focusing on the more serious topic at hand?”

Tilting his head Hoseok regards you wearily, “What serious aspects?” He was concerned that this was the moment you’d reveal your bloody fangs and kill them all. However, he was relieved when all you did was give a half-hearted shrug. “It is extremely clear to me that no one in this house summoned me intentionally. Luckily for you unlike most demons I have a passionate hatred for killing mortals so there will be no repercussions for reckless summoning.” Yoongi quirks a brow at the statement, “I thought you said you were our personal demon? Are you saying we could have summoned someone else? Maybe someone less chatty?”

Ignoring the cat-like man's jab, you decide to give the men the general rundown of summoning Eros’ demon. “Yes, I am your personal demon. Think of it as a matchmaking system. Every person has a specific type and specific needs, and I fit all seven of yours. If anyone else outside of you seven had cast the spell, a different demon would have appeared." Yoongi nodded, seemingly satisfied with your answer, but Seokjin, however, was not. After furiously flipping through the pages of the book that summoned you (hoping he could find a way to send you back), he was scandalized to learn just what type of demon you were. Pointing at the maknae line accusingly he shouted, “You three idiots summoned a sex demon! Did you even read the book?”

“Woah, not to ruin the already awkward mood, but sex demon comes off as kind of derogatory, and I'm not into degradation. I’d prefer if you’d use the more politically correct term succubus.” Seokjin flushes, mumbling out a quick apology, caught off guard by your constant sexual references. Hoseok would have almost found it funny if he wasn’t still scared out of his mind at the fact that there was a demon in their living room. In fact, he found it disturbing that everyone else was seemingly okay with the concept.

However, Taehyung still had one very important question, “Where does the sex part come in?” In an instant, the serious tone of the conversation was broken. Jimin immediately slaps his palm to his forehead, Namjoon chokes, Seokjin sputters, Jungkook and Hoseok blush a furious bright red, and Yoongi nods in genuine agreement wondering how you are going to explain that. Surprisingly, you weren’t fazed by the question at all.

“I mean we could go at it now if you wanted.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows immediately shoot up at your bold statement, and you swear he's considering it. However, Namjoon clears his throat gesturing for you to go on and give a more serious explanation. With a sigh, you tap on the book in Seokjin’s hand, “Since you guys clearly have something against reading, I'll give you a basic breakdown. I’m basically a kinky therapist. I bring the spark back into your sex lives and help you explore your kinks while also helping you strengthen your relationship. I’m your personal demon so I already know your kinks now that you've summoned me. So really, my only goal is to get you to embrace them.”

Hoseok nods slowly, though he is still quite cautious. “What exactly do you get out of this? Are you going to take our souls?” Making finger guns at the dancer, you continue, “You know how vampires need blood to survive? Think of me as an energy vampire. While most just drain energy from their prey, leaving them feeling tired and exhausted, succubae choose to feed on sexual energy. It's enjoyable, consensual, and doesn't hurt the person they're feeding from, unlike most other energy ways of energy feeding.”

Every so subtly, Taehyung chimes in, "So how much sex do we need to have? Is this like an everyday thing?” Seokjin slaps the younger man on the back of the head, chastising him for speaking without tact. You only shrug as if he asked about the weather, “I can survive without it for long periods of time. It’s kind of like getting a craving for certain food and just ignoring it. Nothing you need to be worried about.”

Not knowing what else to say, the room gets quiet. It was a lot to take in in one night. Though after some consideration, none of them were necessarily against the idea of having sex with you. You were extremely attractive and seemed genuinely friendly. Fooling around with a succubus with no strings attached even seemed appealing. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

“I’ll bet a hundred bucks that Jimin has a mommy kink.”

“Taehyung what the hell?!”

“Make it two hundred and I’ll tell you if you’re right.”

“Y/n!”

“Deal.”

“Guys seriously?!”

[gardeningforfun0714]

Hi everyone I’m sorry I haven’t updated as much as I planned, but I thought I’d share pics of how everything’s going in my garden (6/23/24)

The tomatoes have exploded and there’s lots of flowers. I’m hoping it’s not too hot and we actually get fruit this year (last year got so hot our tomatoes didn’t even flower during the normal growing season).

Next is the corn, which are also doing really well. It’s the sweet corn variety. Funny story, I planted the corn seeds without knowing you kind of need a lot to get a good crop because it’s wind pollinated. However, we have about 10 mature stalks and I’m hoping to get at least a small harvest. A few of the stalks are taller than me (5’3”/160cm) and one of the ears growing already has silk growing out of the ear.

Next are the cucumbers. One of the plants has a few eggs on the bottoms of the leaves so I used some Sevin dust. I’m hesitant to use neem oil because I’ve noticed lots of ladybugs in the garden and don’t wanna kill them.

The carrots are doing well after being transplanted. Unfortunately I don’t remember when I started the seeds so I’m not sure if they should be farther along by now (I believe I planted around late April/early May—late for seeds I know but I’ve got a long growing season and few frosts).

The various fruit trees/bushes/shrubs are doing well. Pictured are a thorny blackberry vine, an olive tree, a papaya tree, and a babcock peach tree. Everything is doing amazing. The blackberry is producing, the 4 peaches are growing and changing color while the olive, fig and papaya have been putting in some major growth/establishing.

Last is the melon patch. It’s also exploded and there are so many watermelons throughout the whole patch of varying sizes from bb-sized to the one pictured with my hand. I didn’t see any cantaloupe yet, but there’s lots of flowers. I haven’t actually gone into the patch due to how crowded it is (I’m hoping if we do get some we’d be able to see them when they get big enough). I’m estimating we have between 12-15 watermelon at least so far.

However, not everything is doing so well. The rabbits have been so destructive, they killed my producing pole bean, the peppers I transplanted into the ground and most of the radishes, leaving 2 left for us (I did start new seeds though because radishes are some of the quickest vegetables you can grow from seed to harvest).

For things I didn’t cover like the grapes, blueberries, raspberries, guava trees, the apple tree, the lemon tree, various flowers, onions, potatoes, and pineapples, they are all doing good as well. I also wanna add that I did start new bush beans/pole beans as well as various kinds of peppers (jalapeños, hot salsa blend peppers, golden bell peppers) in containers to make up for the ones that got chewed. Hopefully those will make a nice fall harvest. The potatoes are almost ready to be harvested and the blueberries and raspberries have had berries ripen one at a time due to how small they are (this is the first year for berries).

As for other things I have planned, I have a few art pieces I’d like to post if that’s something y’all are interested in. I also would love to talk about my experience with gardening and mental health but any and all posts related to that will be labeled with appropriate trigger warnings.

Thanks for all the support with likes/reblogs. Feel free to come lurk, talk, vent, ask, whatever. I just wanna inspire others that think they cannot grow things that they can. If you’d like to talk I mostly would like to talk about gardening/plants/mental health and how it impacts us as humans.

Happy growing🌱🌿💙

[chaotic-orphan]

Febuwhump: Day Ten

Prompt: Killing in Self-defence — @febuwhump

Oh… this one is gonna hurt.

TW: murder, self-sacrifice, suicidal tendencies? Ish?, hopelessness, everyone’s sad, death of family member

*~*~*~*~*

Rogue stepped back, eyes wide in horror as Leader advanced on them. “Leader? L-Leader? What happened to you? Where have you—”

Rogue didn’t get to finish their sentence before Leader lunged for them, right hand swinging for Rogue’s head. Rogue dodged quickly under it, heart racing and thoughts flying through their head too quick for them to notice any real one, except: why was Leader attacking them?

“Leader, I don’t want to hurt you,” said Rogue, raising their hands as if to show that they weren’t a threat.

“It doesn’t matter,” said a voice from behind them. Rogue spun on their heel and saw Villain standing on the upper tier of the roof, leaning against the brickwork of another building, cool as a cucumber. Villain met Rogue’s eyes with greedy ones full of revenge and malice. “He can’t hear you, Roguey.”

A left hook caught Rogue in the cheek and they let out a cry of surprise. Villain said: “Oh, that’s gotta hurt.”

Rogue shoved Leader back again. “Villain! What did you do to him?!”

“I fixed him, Rogue. That’s what I did to him. That’s you Heroes did to my brother.”

Rogue blinked but couldn’t reply in the moment. Leader lunged and caught Rogue around the waist and went rolling on the roof. Leader had strength on Rogue, but Rogue was nimble. Rogue used Leader’s momentum to roll them further and get on top of Leader.

Rogue grabbed Leader’s fist with both hands as they shot up to grab Rogue by the throat. “Leader! Stop! It’s me, it’s Rogue!”

“They can hear you Roguey,” Villain said. Rogue huffed out a breath as they tried to wrestle Leader’s wrists to the ground. “They know it’s you. They just can’t stop, because I won’t allow them too.”

Leader waited until until Rogue had finally pinned them to plant his feet and bucked his hips roughly. Rogue’s eyes blew wide as they were propelled forward, their cheek grazing along the roof tile stone cutting into their skin. Rogue hissed, feeling the broken skin with their finger. Rogue rolled when they saw Leader’s boot coming down on where their head was not a moment ago.

Rogue rolled onto their back with a huff and screamed when Leader’s boot came down again on Rogue’s chest. He lifted his leg and Rogue went for their knife belt, but Leader dropped a knee onto Rogue’s chest. Rogue cried out and slashed blindly with their knife but Leader grabbed their wrist and bent it back, before slapping the knife out of it and pinning Rogue’s wrist under their boot, faraway enough so Rogue couldn’t do any damage.

“Wait, Leader,” said Villain and Leader froze. Their eyes still not leaving Rogue’s. Rogue pleaded, searching his face for something they could latch onto.

“Leader please,” Rogue whispered.

Villain appeared beside Leader, placing a hand on Leader’s shoulder like a father.

“You don’t know how long it took for me to get him like this,” said Villain, pressing his hand into Leader’s hair. Leader hated anyone touching his hair, but Leader didn’t so much as blink at it. “Does it hurt to know that he sacrificed himself for you? For your little team…”

“Villain,” Rogue ground out. “Your brother was a Hero! He died a Hero’s death which is what he wanted.”

Leader pressed down harder on Rogue’s wrist until Rogue cried out again pathetically. “My brother didn’t want to die for your cause,” Villain spat. “He shouldn’t have died for people like you. He should never have been a Hero!”

“Do you really think he’d want you to be a Villain now?” Rogue cried out, desperate. Villain levelled Togue with a piercing stare.

“It doesn’t matter what he wants, he’s dead. You should be dead, Rogue, or maybe Leader should?” Villain said, yanking Leader’s head up by the hair. Leader didn’t react. He didn’t blink or moan or so much as twitch when Villain pressed a blade to his throat and cut in a little.

“No!” Rogue cried out, struggling to get out of Leader’s hold on them. Villain scoffed, disgust clear in his hollow look.

“He’s the reason you’re unarmed, Rogue,” said Villain with a sneer. “I mean honestly, do you think you would die for him? If it came down to it?”

Rogue’s eyes shot to Villain’s. They swallowed hard. “What?” They asked, voice quivering.

Villain let go of Leader’s hair and crouched down next to Rogue. “Do you think, if I— I don’t know… if I told Leader to kill you, do you think you would stop him? Do you think you would sacrifice your life for his?”

“Villain—”

“If I told Leader, to keep attacking you until you were dead or he was.”

“Villain please,” Rogue said, tears forming in their eyes. “Please don’t do that. Please.”

“Do you think you would spare his life, if it meant giving up your own? Is that a Hero’s death, Rogue? Is that what my brother died for?” Villain’s voice gradually rose in volume as they spoke. “Well?! Is it!”

“I don’t know, Villain. I don’t know, but I know if Leader was there he would have made the choice. He would have sacrificed himself to save your brother I know he would have because he made the same deal to save us!”

“Would you repay the favour, Rogue? Would you sacrifice yourself to save him?”

Rogue started trembling. “Please, Villain. Don’t make me choose.”

Villain stood up and turned his back. “Leader. Only one of you leave this roof alive.”

Rogue didn’t have time to blink before Leader was on them again.

Villain went back to his edge of the roof and stared into the night sky, legs hanging off the edge of it, the wind pulling at his hair and clothes. Aware of the fight to the death happening beside him, but he really didn’t care who won or lost. He didn’t care who died and lived.

He didn’t care about any of it anymore.

It must have been at least a half an hour later before Rogue screamed and broke down into a fit of sobs. So Leader was dead then. Villain stood up and walked over to Rogue. They were cradling Leader’s bleeding body to them, their hair and tears rolling down onto Leader’s face.

“I guess you’re no Hero after all,” said Villain. Rogue didn’t answer. They didn’t look up or seem to take note of anything that happened except their grief. Villain left them with the body. It was empty now, Leader was gone. That was all the Heroes left Villain with, his brother’s body that he buried in a box.

An empty husk.

Just like Villain. Just like Rogue now too.

Maybe… just maybe, someday, eventually, Rogue would come to understand just how empty it all feels. Maybe they would seek Villain out when they did. For now though, Villain walked alone down the stairs and wanted nothing more than to see his brother’s grave again. Just to feel something… even if it was bad, just for a little while.