#where is the cowrie shell

[nonasuch]

it's that time:

Miss Universe National Costume 2024

is Here!

that's right! Everyone's favorite justification for the continued existence of beauty pageants has returned. with Looks!

Some of this year's top Themes include:

foliage!

gold!

weapons!

giant birds!

letting seventh-graders make your costume, apparently!

I did watch the video, but the most complete version I could find is missing a bit at the beginning. So I can't tell you what the inspiration was for anything before Bolivia; on the bright side that's fewer shitty rhyming couplets I had to suffer through.

Let's begin with:

Miss Angola! Tone down the color palette a little, and this honestly could have worked for that year the Met Gala was Catholicism- themed.

Miss Argentina, looking just thrilled about the sparkly toucan on her head. I feel like this is supposed to read as some combination of jungle/river/waterfall but this is from the part that I couldn't find on video.

Miss Aruba, I don't know if your giant spangly bird headdress was supposed to look like a potoo, but I am choosing to believe that it's on purpose and I love that for you.

(okay I checked, it's an endangered Aruban burrowing owl. even better!)

This is like the fourth year in a row Miss Australia has just worn a regular-ass gown. Do better!

You know who's doing better? Miss Bahamas, is who. Look at that giant fish. I wish I had video of this, I bet it moves.

Ah yes, when I think of Belarus I definitely think 'verdant tropical foliage.' also is it just me or is does the bodice fit very weird.

Holy shit, Miss Bolivia. This is where the video kicks in, so I can tell you that she somehow managed to dance in it. I'm a little afraid that this costume is going to eat Miss Aruba.

Miss Bonaire is from a Caribbean island that I don't think has ever competed in Miss Universe before? They have a national marine park that this costume is based on, which is is nice!

Miss Botswana's costume is made of leather and cowrie shells, and she is clearly having a great time being able to move freely without 75 pounds of headdress or platform heels. She did a very cute dance that kind of felt like a flex on her more heavily encumbered competitors.

Miss Brazil is wearing a tribute to Brazil's mineral wealth, which is something that basically every country with a mine in it has done at some point. I like the pannier-esque things, I guess.

Love a Tribute To A Weirdly Specific Thing, and Miss British Virgin Islands' mail-themed costume is a wonderful example of such.

Miss Bulgaria showed up dressed as a supervillain, her outfit is vaguely themed around 'the strength of women' and she just spat out a MOUTHFUL of BLOOD? on stage??? No idea how to react to that, frankly.

I'm going to pause to get the next batch of images together, and also to recover from the 'spat out a mouthful of blood' thing, because I was NOT prepared for that.

[strifetime]

TIL that cowrie shells come from cowrie sea snails

( /) ____(\);;;;

[mostlyjustgoose]

don’t mind me, just thinking about how in 1941 Aziraphale stepped in to cover for a magician who was specifically a deserter and ended up having to pull off a legitimately deadly trick, under intense scrutiny and pressure, with no miracle other than somebody he trusted

just thinking about how Aziraphale is now stepping in to cover for a deserter and is going to have to pull off the highest stakes magic trick of all time (saving humanity), under intense scrutiny and pressure, with no one he trusts immediately within reach

just thinking about a lone caraway seed and three cowrie shells, and the art of making sure your audience is looking exactly where you want them to look, so you can hide the trick in all the spaces they’re not paying attention to

just thinking about how he can only ever pull off a magic trick when it’s either very close quarters or vitally important

you know, just thinking

[goofy-clan]

Heyo! Narrator peep and creator of goofy clan! I wanted to share this fanart I made as a gift to the clan series that inspired this entire series! Enjoy!!

And now it’s time to pair cat with creator! Click more to see notes I left for the creators too!

————————————————

Goldsight belongs to @gray-thistleclan , I loved the way the cats were drawn in this series, and especially how the story progressed! Gold was always my favroite -w-! Even though she has the crazy disease now ;-;.

Eukltna belongs to @loudclan-clangen ! I loved the silly cats in this series, the artstyle actually helped me draw mouths easier! I love our doomed religious kitty, even if she was a bit odd. That crude oil does get everywhere huh…

Longstrike belongs to @juniper-clan ! The fact that the entire series was set in olden times is really neat! I also love the theme of seashells/ cowrie shells being bad, those are spooky! Long was my favroite, I was sad to see him go. So he’s drawn in the cozy sunshine!

Tigertoe Belongs to @circus-clangen ! Circus clan was actually a big inspiration for the puzzles/cipher aspects of my blog! I was always a sucker for finding stuff out, plus clowns are cool! I love tiger with all my heart, she was so fun to draw! Best entertainer :)!

Ravenstar belongs to @fallenclan ! Oh boy where do I start. I think it’s super impressive how far the series is now, even if I picked up halfway through! I love how the cats look, fun fur colors! Raven is such a good villain, evil stinky cat. So here he is with a totally real (and not painted) star!

Kestrelstar belongs to @echoes-in-echoclan ! I love this series, even though I don’t get what’s going on sometimes, it’s still a wonderful read! I also loved the connected universe with circus clan, what a twist! Kestrel is my favorite, he’s such a cool old dude!

Sweetkit belongs to @mourningsbane ! It isn’t every day I see a eldritch horror/spooky clangen series! As an avid horror fan, I love how body horror is drawn and shown in this series! Honey is the best cat :)! But, I drew sweet today! They’re a good protagonist, because who better to explore the spooky uknown than kittens?

NettleIris belongs to @moons-of-dewclan ! I adored the art style of this series, and the fact all the backgrounds are drawn so beautifully! Even though this series tugs at my heart strings, it’s lovely! Makes me wanna go wander in the woods! Nettle is my favorite lil’ peep, best medicine cat. Plus, puffy cats are fun to draw!

ConiferSun belongs to @castaway-clan ! I love the trope of “rebuild and build anew” in clangen runs! Seeing the clan in this series slowly grow in size and for the leader to not be alone anymore was very comforting. Conifer is my favorite simply because they’re blue and just a wonderful cat in the series! They also get to look at the lady bug :)!

And that’s all! Y’all are cool Peeps, keep on rocking!

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Mollusca - Gastropoda

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

The class Gastropoda is the most diverse and successful class of molluscs, living in most habitats in saltwater, freshwater, and on land. They are one of the largest classes of animals, second only to insects. Members of this class either have an external or internal shell, or have lost their shell secondarily. Gastropoda includes the snail clades Sorbeoconcha, Hypsogastropoda, Architaenioglossa, and Neogastropoda, the snails and slugs of the clades Heterobranchia, the snails, slugs, and limpets of the clade Neritimorpha, the deepwater limpet clade Neomphaliones, the “true limpet” clade Patellogastropoda, and the primitive snails and limpets of the clade Vetigastropoda.

The anatomy, behavior, feeding, and reproductive adaptations of gastropods vary significantly from one clade to another, so it’s hard to make a general summary. As you can probably tell above, the terms snail, slug, and limpet are not taxonomic, but moreso descriptive! The word “snail” is generally used for gastropods with an external shell big enough for the body to withdraw completely inside. Marine snails tend to have many names based on their shell shape, such as abalone, conch, periwinkle, whelk, and cowrie. “Limpets” are generally considered to be marine snails with a simple, conical, flattened shell. “Slugs” are snails that have no shell or a very small, internal shell, while “semislugs” are snails that have a shell that they can partially retreat into but not entirely. These groups are all paraphyletic, as some slugs are closer related to shelled snails than they are to other slugs and vice versa. Shells have evolved and been lost within the many different gastropod lineages. These species are wildly diverse, living from the depths of hydrothermal vents to dry deserts to inside other organisms as parasites.

Gastropods are distinguished by an anatomical process known as torsion, where the visceral mass of the animal rotates 180° to one side during development, such that the anus is situated more or less above the head. The gill-combs, the olfactory organs, the foot slime-gland, nephridia, and the auricle of the heart are single or at least are more developed on one side of the body than the other. Torsion is present in all gastropods, but the opisthobranch gastropods are secondarily untorted. Gastropods typically have a well-defined head with two or four sensory tentacles with eyes, and a ventral foot. Gastropod eyes range from simple ocelli that only distinguish light and dark, to more complex pit eyes, and even to lens eyes. Most shelled gastropods have a one piece shell (though there are some bivalved gastropods), typically coiled or spiraled, at least in the larval stage. This coiled shell usually opens on the right-hand side. Many species have an operculum, which acts as a trapdoor to close the shell. Like most molluscs, they have a rasping, toothed tongue called a radula. Gastropods can be herbivores, detritus feeders, predatory carnivores, scavengers, or parasites.

Some gastropods have seperate sexes while some are hermaphroditic. Many undergo elaborate courtship rituals before mating. Some utilize unique calcareous or chitinous “love darts” in courtship, which are coated in allohormones that enable their partner to receive and store more sperm. Gastropods will lay eggs which hatch into larvae, some of which are planktonic trochophore or veliger larvae. A newly hatched snail is called a neonate, and their larval shell is called a protoconch.

The fossil record of gastropods dates back to the Late Cambrian, with Chippewaella and Strepsodiscus, though these may be stem-gastropods as their only gastropod characteristic is a coiled shell. Crown-gastropods arrived and began to diversify in the Ordovician, though they were still less common than bivalves. By the Mesozoic, the ancestors of many of our modern living gastropods had evolved. Most ancient gastropods were marine, with some land snails appearing in the Carboniferous, but not becoming common or diverse until the Cretaceous.

Propaganda under the cut (warning: gif heavy!)

Gastropod shells make up many of the “seashells” washed ashore after the animal dies, and are created by the animal via secretions of chitin and conchiolin from its mantle edge. Unfortunately, many species are also endangered or extinct in the wild due to overcollection of live gastropods to be killed for their meat or “collectable” shells, as well as due to habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change.

The Rough Keyhole Limpet (Diodora aspera) has a symbiotic relationship with the Scale Worm Copepod (Anthessius nortoni). The limpet provides host for the copepod, which in turn bites predatory starfish to discourage them from eating the limpet.

The largest gastropod is the Australian Trumpet (Syrinx aruanus), a sea snail that can measure up to 75 cm (2 ft 5.5in) long and weigh up to 18 kg (40 lb)! While the animal’s shell is well-known and valued by collectors, it is rarely seen alive.

“Micromolluscs” are numerous species of gastropod with adult shell lengths of around 600 μm. You could say this is no bigger than a grain of sand, and you would be right, as many of their washed up shells are sand. Not much is known about these species and many remain unclassified as their minute size makes them very challenging to study.

Members of the family Conidae, known as “cone snails”, are some of the most venomous animals on earth. They use a modified radula tooth like a dart or harpoon to attack and paralyze their prey. Their beautifully patterened shells lead to humans sometimes trying to pick them up, resulting in the snail using this tooth in defense. The harpoons of some of the larger species of cone snail can even penetrate gloves or wetsuits. Symptoms of a more serious cone snail sting include severe localized pain, swelling, numbness and tingling, and vomiting. Symptoms can start immediately or can be delayed for days. Severe cases involve muscle paralysis and changes in vision and respiratory failure that can lead to death. Cone snail venoms are mainly peptide-based, and contain many different toxins that vary in their effects. Cone snail venom is under study for its use in the medical field, as it works quickly and precisely. Many of the compounds target only a particular class of receptor. This means that they can reliably and quickly produce a particular effect on the body's systems without side effects; for example, almost instantly reducing heart rate or turning off the signaling of a single class of nerve, such as pain receptors. Ziconotide, a pain reliever 1,000 times as powerful as morphine, was initially isolated from the venom of the Magician Cone Snail (Conus magus). It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2004 under the name Prialt. Other drugs based on cone snail venom targeting Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, and epilepsy are in clinical or preclinical trials.

Sea slugs:

[blackhistorystoryteller]

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE HEAD OF OBA

THE BENIN KINGDOM

THE LOOTED TREASURES BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE

BLACK HISTORY IS DEEPER THAN SLAVE TRADE

The head sculptures of the Oba of Benin, also known as the Benin Bronzes, are a collection of intricate bronze and brass sculptures created by the Edo people of Nigeria. These sculptures typically depict the reigning Oba (king) of the Benin Empire and were produced over several centuries, with some dating back to the 13th century.

They are renowned for their artistic and historical significance, representing the cultural heritage and power of the Benin Kingdom. These sculptures often portray the Oba wearing coral beaded regalia, symbolizing his divine status and authority.

Many of these artifacts were taken from Benin during the late 19th century by British colonial forces, and they are now scattered in museums and private collections worldwide. There have been ongoing discussions and negotiations regarding their repatriation to Nigeria to restore their cultural heritage.

The head sculptures of the Oba of Benin remain a testament to the rich artistic and historical legacy of the Edo people and the Benin Kingdom.

HOW THE BRITISH STOLE FROM THE EDO TRIBE

1. British Punitive Expedition: In 1897, a British expedition, led by British officials and soldiers, was sent to the Benin Kingdom (in what is now Nigeria) with the stated objective of punishing the Oba of Benin, Oba Ovonramwen, for resisting British influence and trade in the region.

2. Sacking of the Royal Palace: During the expedition, the British forces entered the royal palace in Benin City, where many of these intricate bronze and brass sculptures were housed. The palace was looted, and numerous artifacts, including the Benin Bronzes, were taken.

3. Confiscation and Dispersal: The looted artifacts were then confiscated by the British authorities and later distributed to various individuals, museums, and institutions. Many of these artworks ended up in European museums and private collections.

The theft of the Benin Bronzes remains a contentious issue, as these artworks are considered cultural treasures of the Edo people and Nigeria as a whole. There have been ongoing discussions and demands for the repatriation of these artifacts to Nigeria, which has gained momentum in recent years as part of broader efforts to address historical injustices related to colonial-era looting.

The head sculptures of the Oba of Benin, like many traditional African artworks, hold deep symbolic significance within the context of the Benin Kingdom and its culture. Here are some of the key symbols and meanings associated with these sculptures:

1. Royal Authority: The Oba's head sculptures symbolize the authority and divine status of the reigning monarch, who was regarded as a sacred figure in Benin society. The elaborate regalia, such as coral beads and headdresses, worn by the Oba in these sculptures signifies his royal and spiritual power.

2. Ancestral Connections: The sculptures often depict the Oba with distinctive facial scarification patterns and detailed facial features. These features can represent specific ancestors or dynastic connections, emphasizing the Oba's lineage and connection to past rulers.

3. Historical Record: The sculptures also serve as historical records, documenting the appearance and regalia of the Oba during their reigns. This provides valuable insights into the history and evolution of the Benin Kingdom over the centuries.

4. Spiritual Protection: Some sculptures may incorporate elements like beads and cowrie shells, which were believed to have protective and spiritual qualities. These elements were worn by the Oba not only for their aesthetic value but also for their symbolic protection.

5. Cultural Identity: Beyond their specific symbolic meanings, the head sculptures are integral to the cultural identity of the Edo people and the Benin Kingdom. They represent the rich artistic traditions and heritage of the kingdom and its rulers.

It's important to note that the symbolism of these sculptures is deeply rooted in the cultural and historical context of the Benin Kingdom, and their interpretation can vary among different individuals and communities.

[serpentface]

What are each of the main cast’s favourite foods, and how to they reflect what they grew up eating/their background/broader cultural trends?

Key for the constructed foods that come up in this post:

Nara: a type of citrus fruit, comparable to a lime in sourness. Peledyo: a type of fermented fish sauce used as seasoning in of itself or a base for other sauces. (This is a knockoff of irl garum). This is FUNDAMENTAL to Imperial Wardi cuisine, and closely analogous/connected variants are produced by all the peoples of the Viper as well as across most of the Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin). Magah: a type of tuberous root vegetable. Similar to a potato, but coming from a wholly different plant and more strongly flavored (notes of cabbage) with yellow-orange flesh. Heavily cultivated in the Highlands and considered more of a famine food elsewhere in Imperial Wardin. Yute: a cultivar in the same species as magah with purple flesh and a sweeter taste, a staple in the mountainous parts of Kosov and some other parts of the Burri Republic. Gaiyi: a brassica cultivar used in Kos cuisine, resembling broccolini. Completely absent in Imperial Wardin. Yamnina reyla: the premier spice blend used in Wardi cuisines, it has some regional variants but its core ingredients are crushed chilis, coriander, cumin, and firebug (imparts little flavor but significant reddish-orange color that gives this mix its name), all ground together. Camiche: an edible seed, eaten as a nut. Kolis: a cactus-like plant with edible fruits and young shoots. The fruit tastes like watermelon and is very sweet, but has more sour notes. Anuje: a sap extracted from one of the region's few native palms, has a sweet, molasses-esque flavor. This is the staple sweetener and culturally favored over honey in most provinces, consumption of honey is generally seen as a 'rural' thing]

---

Tigran spent the first 11 years of his life in pretty extreme poverty as an agricultural laborer so did not have a lot of exciting food. His family is Ubiyan-Wardi (pretty rare ethnic minority in the region, mostly descending from people hired or enslaved as war captives and/or indentured servants for labor by Imperial Bur at its height). Many of these people formed communities that retain their cultural identity to this day, but these largely occur in the north and in the province of Lobera. Most people with Ubiyan heritage in South Wardin come from more isolated lines that fully integrated and intermarried with the Wardi(nae) population, and are heavily 'Wardinized' in the present day.

Tigran's family is an example of one with this cultural heritage being largely lost- they know that much of their ancestry comes from far northeast across the Viper but they don't know from where exactly. They are culturally South Wardi but with some traditions (and names, 'Tigran' and 'Otto' are both Ubiyan given names in origin) that have survived passed down from parent to child. To the point of this post, a lot of these traditions involve food.

He mostly ate a pretty typical South Wardi agricultural diet with the majority of his meals being variations on maize and lentil porridge, yams, onions, dairy, and foraged plants. His village also reared horses for milk and wool and ducks and fowl for eggs (and occasionally meat). He lived right on the Brilla River so would get the benefit of meat from fish or the occasional wild duck or goose. When he was 5 someone in his village killed a bull crocodile that had been eating their horses and they all had a big pit roast with it to celebrate, but he barely remembers this.

A major Ubiyan cultural element that he experienced in his childhood diet was a form of pasta. His mother and grandmother would make pasta out of maize dough in the shape of a cowrie, which they just referred to as 'little shells'. They had a secret ingredient used to toughen the consistency of the maize dough to hold the shape but wouldn't tell him, since this was apparently only for the women to know. His mother planned on teaching his future wife to make these little shells, and made it very clear she wouldn't let him marry any woman who couldn't get the technique down. To celebrate the new year, they would make a larger variant stuffed with soft horsemilk cheese, explaining that it was for good luck and abundance in the next year. This was never a Favorite food of his as a child (his favorite was the joyous occasion he got to eat fatty, non-gamey domestic duck), but he's never been able to find these little shells anywhere else, hasn't seen his family since he was 11, and misses it.

His FAVORITE food is duck. The best meal he's probably ever had was roast duck glazed with date wine, dried nara, chilis, and a little bit of peledyo. Duck is central fare for a holiday that is timed when the reed ducks return to the region and start to breed. This moment is recognized as the transition from a period of seasonal barrenness to abundance (the mid rainy season through mid dry season span in which plant life flourishes, ends with the last harvest periods for most staple crops). It involves a feasting day in which most people make meals based around preserved fruits/vegetables, early wild forage, and duck (hunted or slaughtered).

Tigran completing his initiation as a Galenii monk (which involves a year of only taking food received via begging) timed itself very close to this festival occurring. So not only did he Finally get to eat regular meals, but he had never in his entire LIFE tasted anything so good. He was 12 years old and was guided by his mentor into an epiphany that like, 'this IS what it's all for, guaranteeing that we have the season of abundance year after year. AND more importantly I get to eat really really really good meals provided by the temple'.

---

Palo grew up in the very cushy end of the mercantile commoner class with his father being a guild glassmaker, and lived in the province Odkotonnos (one of the more agriculturally rich) and city of Godsmouth proper (THE center of trade), so he had regular access to a decent variety of pretty good food. He and most of his family are first generation immigrants from Kosov (a province of the contemporary Burri Republic, occupying the same latitude as South Wardin). He moved as a baby and grew up eating a lot of Kos food in addition to the general western Wardi diet (which itself has a heavy Burri/Kos/Titen influence).

(The most immediately distinctive difference between these and Wardi cuisines is staple grains/starches often being eaten in the form of noodles, which is more broadly a characteristic of a wide span of the Inner Seaways peoples west of the Mouth. The other big difference is a fermented corn sauce (functionally similar to soy sauce) being the foundational umami flavoring, rather than the peledyo fish sauce that is a staple in Wardin)

He also spent a cumulative few years of his life in Kosov and there had the favorite thing he's ever eaten, which is a mung bean noodle dish with catfish, yute, gaiyi, spinach, onions, and a chili-olive oil sauce. Some of the core ingredients are rare if not absent in Imperial Wardin (magah is generally considered a famine food and not widely cultivated outside of the Highlands, gaiyi grows in the humid montane conditions found in southwestern Kosov, and this particular kind of catfish was notably tastier to him than commonly eaten Wardi species) so he's never had this exact dish or a close equivalent since.

Otherwise his diet throughout most of his life was very seafood heavy in addition to staple grains, starches, and legumes. He dislikes most non-fish meat and hates the texture of fat, so eats a lot of whitefish when given the chance.

One thing that actually like, comes up in canon as a thing he really loved is seabass he ate at social events with his family. The bass is roasted whole and (along with other elements of the meal) surrounded by dips and condiments. You pick up the fish meat with pieces of pounded yam and dip/scoop up condiments before eating it. On a really nice occasion, condiments could include fermented corn sauce in plain and semi-sweet form, Basically Aioli (a blend of mashed garlic and olive oil), several types of peledyo (sweet anuje-wine peledyo, bitter vinegar peledyo, plain salty peledyo, etc), several hot sauces (the typical formula here is different kinds of chilis mixed with olive oil, cumin, coriander, garlic, and citrus juice, all mashed into a liquid paste), a sweet anuje-garlic sauce, chopped onions/parsley raw in citrus juice, a mash of peas + onions cooked in duckfat, fermented salted crab roe, plain olive oil, chili-olive oil, etc.

This style of eating is an aspect of the Burri cultural sphere (and the Odkotonnos provincial subculture by extension), utilized for meals during intimate social gatherings. A main course of meat cooked minimally (or wholly un-)seasoned and served with a variety of sauces and seasonings to be sampled independently aims to bring out and emphasize each component's unique qualities. A palate cleanser (usually a weak wine infused with a citrus fruit's juice) is sipped in between. This also had/has levels religious function; the traditional condiments in this meal (most of which aren't represented here) are connected to major deities of the Burri pantheon, and the diversity and abundance of the meal is recognized as the gods' many gifts made manifest (and some of each are left as offerings in a home shrine).

Palo and his family are practitioners of the Faith of the Seven Faced God (a sect of which has spread into the Burri Republic, where it is currently a very significant religious minority) and have been for several generations. So the religious aspects were framed differently in his experience, but have similar functions in representing the great abundance that God provides. (He was also brought up instructed to leave some of the corn sauce Specifically as an offering in the household shrine. This sauce is a staple across cuisines in the Burri sphere and a key offering to Vazhirum, the goddess of maize, patron of the city Titenegal, and functionally the chief agricultural deity of the pantheon. Offerings of the sauce to agricultural Faces is retained as a practice in Burri sphere sects of the Faith).

Anyway Palo mournfully thinks about this delicious seabass meal with his extended family while sitting in an alleyway with Tigran and choking down unseasoned boiled pigeon (that the guy literally caught by hand) with pounded yam, not a condiment in sight.

---

Brakul was raised in a low cattle-wealth clan in the West Rivers region of the Highlands. He lived in the Urbin river valley, which is one of the largest and most agriculturally fruitful (though his clan itself was located upland and could not grow a lot of this themselves). The West Rivers Hill Tribes have an amicable trade relationship with the province of Ephennos, so he had a fair deal of exposure to Wardi trade goods, but this didn't affect his diet much. He grew up eating an everyday diet consisting of the core staples of barley + amaranth + magah + LOTS of dairy products, in addition to some hunted/fished meat and foraged wild plants.

Crayfish was his favorite food growing up. He lived in immediate proximity to several creeks, so freshwater food (crayfish, trout, mussels, frogs) could be a pretty major portion of his diet during the summers. On some occasions, crayfish and mussels would be boiled to make a broth with chilis and onions, then served in a soup with yogurt, barley, butter, fennel, and magah. This was his absolute favorite meal and he particularly liked the crayfish themselves (his brother didn't, so would trade his crayfish for Brakul's mussels).

Living in a coastal city and being introduced to the concept of Crabs and Lobsters (it's like a crayfish but HUGE) later in life was lifechanging. Crab meat is now his absolute favorite food. He sometimes attempts to recreate the crayfish boil dish with crab (he does a pretty solid job but the yogurt always ends up curdled). He's also a fan of a dish where a softshell crab is fried and then coated with a concentrated sticky sweet peledyo sauce.

He's pretty enthusiastic about trying new foods (and benefited tremendously from having a rich boyfriend who can facilitate this) and has decided that anara is the best game the lowlands has to offer. Their tails are VERY rich, tender, and fatty, very good roasted with a sweet+spicy sauce. He first experienced this at the wedding of one of Janeys' cousins and now insists on eating it regularly/pursuing anara on hunts over more favored game like gazelle and nechoi. There's also a greater variety of alcoholic beverages available, and he's become fond of the a very decadent form of date wine sweetened with anuje and imported cardamom.

He also likes + misses a dish composed of feydhi (highlands khait) fat which is rendered, mashed with dried berries and a little honey, left out in the snow to chill solid, and then sliced and eaten on bread. This is a staple in midwinter feasts and a special treat. Its considered an obligation for each tribe's chief clan to fatten some of their khait on grain and then provide their fat to their constituents for this feast (the ability to Afford to give this gift effectively demonstrates + reinforced their power). Young children and pregnant women get first dibs/the biggest helpings (regarded as good for a growing body, helps pack fat on for the lean season) so there's a childhood nostalgia aspect to it. It's something he would look forward to every year.

He hasn't had any access to this dish whatsoever in South Wardin, as khait are virtually never slaughtered except as an act of desperation (culturally considered to be poor meat in general) and the Coldest winter temperatures average in the high 40s F (sub-freezing temperatures and snow Happen but not predictably or regularly) which is not adequate to cool fat to the desired consistency. This is particularly torturous because feydhi are actually quite common in South Wardin as pack animals and have a tendency to get VERY fat on the seasonal abundance of grass (being an 'easy keeper' landrace adapted to having nutritional needs met by much poorer mountain forage). His khait She-Bites is a feydhi and was sold to him cheap (on account of behavioral issues), he was originally intending to have her butchered but got too attached.

---

Etsushir grew up in a clanless Jazaiti community, in a coastal fishing town northeast from the city of Wardin proper. The existence of clanless Jazait mingling with Wardi populations long predates Imperial Wardin as an entity, but these communities have grown substantially in the past two centuries, in large part due to heavy encroachment on Jazaiti fishing territory causing major subsistence issues and driving many people to look for employment to sustain themselves. They are very marginalized ethnic minorities and tend to form distinct sub-communities amid their Wardi counterparts, but the decentralized structure of Jazait society and certain practices (like polyandrous marriage and minimization of reproductive females in any given family) cannot be fully retained in these settings (both on the levels of pure logistics and a result of disenfranchisement). As such, these groups tend to experience a degree of 'Wardinization', which affects all aspects of life, and in this case The Food.

Etsushir would have grown up in large part eating a typical coastal South Wardi diet (lots of maize porridges, lentils, and fish), in addition to exploiting uncultivated resources that his human Wardi counterparts physically cannot (certain grasses especially) or culturally Do not (only a couple seaweeds are considered good eating).

His favorite food is part of the Fusion Cuisine found in some of these partly Wardinized Jazaiti communities. It's a dish consisting of several kinds of seaweed mixed with hominy and raw tuna that has all been marinated in vinegar peledyo. His family and wider community have adopted the Faith Of The Seven Faced God and practice what would be considered a syncretic folk-variant. The Jazaiti Moonfather (who created tuna and sometimes takes the form of one) is associated with the Face Mitlamache, and tuna is often eaten in place of beef during the Mitlamache-focused maize planting festival. His family getting to catch, keep, and eat their own tuna would have been a special occasion largely reserved for these celebrations.

(The strictly Jazaiti version of this dish uses seaweed and fish in addition to the young shoots of a type of grass, all cured in nuji (VERY bitter native citrus, not commonly eaten by humans) juice. Elowey and human chemical sense of taste overlaps considerably, but elowey can digest a wider range of plant matter and have a substantially more complex experience with bitter tastes, a lot of foods from elowey cuisines are distastefully bitter to human palates)

He also has the genes for lactase persistence (VERY rare in the Jazait population, as well as the broader White Sea elowey population group). He doesn't like yogurt and finds adults drinking milk to be mildly disturbing, but is very fond of cheese. He prefers cowsmilk cheeses over the slightly more common and accessible horsemilk, and likes a fairly common Wardi cheese dish (a soft cowsmilk cheese cooked in a pepper/onion sauce and eaten atop grits).

---

Faiza (and every other character from here on) is in the noble class and grew up eating a substantially more varied, calorie rich, and meat heavy diet than the average person. This doesn't mean that every meal is Very Fancy, they're still ultimately reliant on most of the same basic staples as the lower classes, but their everyday diet includes More of these staples at once, with more variety, more spices, and a much more regular addition of meat.

The Haidamanes are all multiethnic (most relevant here is that their father was Titen on his mother's side and South Wardi on his father's), they're squarely South Wardi in terms of cultural identity but were brought up eating some Titen cuisine on a more than incidental basis. Faiza was the only one of her siblings that was notably into this, she thinks the noodles are fun. A favorite standby would be a dish made with very thick mung bean noodles, chickpeas, pre-roasted horse udder, cabbage, and onion, which is all fried together in fermented corn sauce and garlic-olive oil.

Faiza really likes salutachin dog meat, most commonly eaten in a dish where it is roasted with a rub of olive oil, garlic, date wine, and smoked yamnina reyla. Salutachin is a dog breed specifically raised for meat and is a South-Wardi specific practice in the present day (livestock dog types fed on plant matter used to be more common across the region. Burri influence contributed to the notion (already extant in some Wardi groups) that ANY form of dog meat is unclean, and the practice is extinct or rare in most other parts).

This is kind of a luxury food and regarded as a delicacy. It's of critical importance that salutachin stock is kept entirely 'pure' and prevented from breeding with ANY other dogs, and fattened on exclusively vegetarian diets, generally maize and yams (this partly stems from wider dietary taboos surrounding consumption of predators, but largely just improves the taste of the meat). They can be more costly to maintain than other types of livestock (which will help feed themselves via grazing) or working dogs (which aren't supposed to be eaten and thus can be fed on any number of scraps). As such, it tends to be fairly expensive and reserved for special occasions, and is a mainstay at South Wardi wedding feasts.

Faiza has a notable childhood memory of being at her uncle's wedding, feeding a scrap of salutachin to one of the hunting dogs, and experiencing a kind of sick, nervous thrill at compelling a good animal to cannibalism. She interacts with food taboos/taboos in general more skeptically than average and experiences temptations to violate them, though she's never actually gone through with it on the food level. She doesn't ultimately disagree with any of them though, just interprets their necessity through her proto-materialist philosophical background instead of the strictly spiritual angle. She's very fixated with the stories of Godsmouth civilians starving to death in the siege resorting to eating feral dogs (which is VERY taboo) that had themselves eaten human corpses (thus this is like, the worst thing you could possibly eat short of an actual human corpse). She's kind of fascinated with cannibalism in general.

---

Hibrides is from the city/province Erubinnos and predominantly of Yuroma-Wardi ethnicity. This refers to descendents of a Yuroma ethnic group first arrived as refugees several centuries prior, and is considered an Imperial Wardi subculture in the present day (practicing the state religion and fully integrated into the broader cultural sphere, but retaining a sub-identity).

Erubinnos has a near-equivalent makeup of South Wardi and Yuroma-Wardi inhabitants and its regional cuisine is influenced by both groups. (Some distinctive Yuroma elements are the regular consumption of raw fish, heavy specialization into smoked and cured meats (as a culinary form rather than a practicality), use of squid ink, and favoring of rice (which was first brought here by Yuroma migrants)). So Hibrides spent her first 15 years of life eating a bougie version of this diet before being moved to the province of Wardin for marriage.

She's a Very picky eater and has a lot of dislikes- she doesn't like most whitefish, most freshwater fish in general, tuna (doesn't actually dislike the taste but found a very big worm in her tuna once and it put her off forever), most red meats (she particularly doesn't like horsemeat, she got attached to a childhood pet horse to the culturally rare point of not wanting to eat Any horse meat altogether), eggplant, most lentils, or raw tomatoes. And to top it off she has a lower than average heat tolerance. So when she has a choice in the matter she tends to go for oily fish, fowl, rabbit and hares, and some reptiles like crocodile + turtles + certain snakes.

One of her favorite meals is an Erubinnos-specific dish where sardines (or other oily baitfish) are marinated in a sauce made with vinegar-peledyo, olive oil, and a sauce of mashed tomato + garlic + more olive oil, and eaten raw. This exact preparation with raw fish is uncommon in the city+province of Wardin, but she has the benefit of living in a household with a cook on hire and requests it very frequently. It reminds her of home.

She also used to love turtle meat (a type of softshell turtle is a delicacy here, usually eaten in soup). The Erubinnos regional turtle soup is kind of an outlier among Imperial Wardi cuisine in being very delicately flavored (a thin broth made with a dry wine, onions, fennel, rice, and usually ginger (imported)). She actually prefers the South Wardi variant (which is a heartier stew with heavy seasoning, eaten over grits).

She has had intense cravings for turtle during each pregnancy (which is interpreted as a bit of a concern- most river-based foods are thought to support a healthy pregnancy, but Cravings indicate that the womb is excessively 'hot/dry' and at greater risk of miscarriage). She ended up liking turtle a lot less after the first pregnancy when the cravings ended, and shifted her reptile soup focus to a species of python with a similar tasting (but less luxuriously fatty) meat. The return of the turtle cravings was one of her first indicators that she was pregnant a third time, and she doesn't stand a goddamn chance of getting any turtle meat in the 6th year of the drought.

She's pretty fond of a lot of game meat in general. Her favorite uncle was an avid hunter and made a point of bringing back gamebirds (and their eggs and feathers) for her, so she has a nostalgic fondness for dishes with duck, goose, ibis, pheasants, and the like. Hunting is also one of the diminishingly rare things she enjoys doing with her bitch husband and she's found that actually participating (granted, just in the form of watching and yelling directions) makes eating it afterwords more satisfying.

She'll only eat the nechoi they kill smoked and cured though, it tastes repulsive to her otherwise (in no small part due to this tending to be big boar nechoi killed in a prolonged, somewhat foolhardy solo struggle and is thus pumped with testosterone and fear hormones). This meat is stripped of (horrid tasting) fat, salted, slow-smoked, and usually eaten in soups.

---

Janeys is also somewhat of a picky eater, in his case he dislikes almost any animal product that comes out of the water (with a particular disdain for shellfish and crustaceans), and consciously frames it as such- crocodile, duck, and goose is an exception because they don't live in the water permanently, turtle is on thin fucking ice. He has to make an exception for peledyo because it's in just about everything and he can't honestly say he dislikes it.

His favorite meat is beef. He and his siblings grew up eating more beef products than average (even for nobility) due to the agricultural aspect of their wealth being rooted in ownership of cattle herds (which are actually reared, managed, and slaughtered by peasants). The Haidamane family is considered 'new money' landed nobility (opposed to established, multi-century old landowning families with wealth based in crop agriculture)- the vast majority of their wealth is mercantile, with a small facet being the 'ownership' of mostly uncultivated scrubland and the cattle grazed there. Janeys is now in charge of the latter aspect after being quietly cut out of his actual intended inheritance, so this humiliation has a fringe benefit of having plenty of beef around, AND he hasn't quite gotten sick of it yet.

Cattle are very sacred animals and the Only sacred livestock. Sacred status doesn't entail not being eaten by any means, but it does entail a lot of emotional+spiritual investment in them as livestock and ritual surrounding their rearing and consumption. Janeys has also always been a little jealous that both of his sisters are in the priesthood, and his (ultimately very distant) involvement in the management of these animals (some of whom are donated to temple sacrificial stock herds) feels like a slice of that, getting to eat their meat on a relatively regular basis is psychologically gratifying in ways beyond just liking the food.

His favorite cut is actually the oxtail above anything else. This would mostly be eaten in a (notably bougie) South Wardi oxtail soup (tomato and olive oil sauce, wine, beef broth, yamnina reyla, saffron, hominy, onions, garlic, cabbage). He also is very fond of sweetbreads, and the liver. The liver is culturally considered the best part of the cow and its consumption is ceremonially restricted- half of the liver Has to be offered in sacrifice for each cow slaughtered (a sort of thanks-giving and payment for the cattle's death), and the other half is reserved for the patriarch who owns the cattle, which can be distributed as he chooses. As of his father's death, Janeys is now technically the patriarch of his family so like, great news for him.

There are no such restrictions on the livers of other regularly consumed animals, and he does like horse liver too. Usually takes it in sausage form (the favored, high quality type here is minced liver mixed with the tender ground meat of the tail, cumin seed, and thyme, cased in caul fat).

He's notably fond of sweet foods- major examples available are roasted figs with cheese, figs or dates stuffed with nuts, sticky pine nut and/or pistachio 'candy' made with anuje, candied figs/dates/kolis/nara. One variety of cornbread is stuffed with pine nut + camiche + pistachio, fried, and glazed with anuje. A type of native melon (similar consistency to a watermelon but VERY mildly sweet, tastes more like a cucumber) is used to make a cold soup with mint + thyme, he takes it sweetened with anuje. He also tried grilled honeycomb with honey + larvae while in the southern-central Highlands and was shocked that he liked it (given that insects are not only famine food but Peasant famine food).

In relation to this, he eats a lot of fruit when it's in season. His favorite fruits are figs and pomegranates. These aren't accessible year round and he doesn't particularly like them dried on their own, so it's something to look forward to every year. Kolis has a very long fruiting season and he has one growing on his balcony for personal use.

He likes sweet wines (typically served strong, rather than watered down like how most wine is consumed on a regular basis) but is a lightweight and noted sloppy drunk. He dilutes it with rosewater on occasions where he's exhibiting a reasonable degree of self control.

---

Couya isn't a terribly picky eater (she will eat just about anything) but has strong proclivities towards very simple comfort foods and doesn't like meat all that much, to the point of her chosen diet being regarded as spartan and peasant-esque. A big part of her personality is thinking of most of her fellow nobility as Pussies and making a bit of a show about how much she doesn't mind discomfort and relative non-luxury, which extends to her food tastes. (though to be clear, this is mostly a prolonged act of 'fuck you mom/brother/most of my extended family'. If she had to spend a month living as an actual peasant she would DIE).

This is also motivated in part by the fact that her childhood home life was legitimately horrendous and a whole lot of Really Nice Foods and Delicacies are associated with bad memories for her (particularly the Titen noodle cuisine that Faiza is very fond of, since that's the only element she's ONLY experienced in that home and nowhere else.) Switching most of her diet to basics more characteristic of the lower mercantile class (and eating very little meat outside of holidays and ceremonies) is kind of an escape from that.

She doesn't really like sitting down for meals and favors 'husk meals', which is a subclass of foods built around being wrapped and cooked in corn husk, where they will hold a semi-solid shape and can be eaten on the go. There's a tremendous variety of husk meals, this is the equivalent of The Sandwich in terms of its utility and variability. They're usually composed of a seasoned grain or starch, often stuffed with vegetables/cheeses/egg/meats. Some variants resemble a sausage (without casing) where equal parts of a finely chopped/ground meat is mixed with grain and other ingredients and cooked in the husk. These meat variants most often use meat from the head (as well as eyes, tongue, and brain, and leftover scraps) to extend a valuable slaughtered carcass; head-husk is specifically regarded as a peasant food in this capacity.

Her favorite husk meal variant is one made with seasoned crushed rice stuffed with onions, cabbage, and soft cheese. Rice is her favorite grain, but its not The Most accessible where she lives (the province of Wardin is the driest and has a very small rice output) so she's having variants with maize dough/grits instead on most occasions. She also loves okra (a landrace of which can be grown here, though is a fairly delicate and non-staple crop), which is often eaten with other vegetables and hominy grits (she usually takes this as a husk meal too).

[littlestpersimmon]

Mancala really is that deep.. Just played a round with my friend that I was 100% sure I was gonna win.. but then she pulls a stunt where she randomly got 15 of the cowry shells.. I didn't know that was a rule where if you run out of cowries, the enemy gets all remaining on their side... I was so flabbergasted.. she played me like a kazoo. I have no idea how it happened.. this is like 10d chess. To me.

[mushyposts]

"No thing defines a man like love" crew summary!!

Here we GO!!! This is the OFFICIAL list of the crew's descriptions in my ATLA fic. If there are any inconsistencies with appearance in the characters LMK!! I only finished this like, the other day and tbh I should have written this all out before starting to post but I also didn't expect the OC's to become so enjoyed AND important to the plot, but I'm so pleased they are and I hope u all enjoy this and enjoy seeing the characters in more detail : D

Buteq : Mid length hair that just brushes his shoulders, half of it is tied up with a braid on each side of his face. The left side has one bead at the base of it, the right has two beads at the base. He has light stubble over his jaw, patchy and salt and pepper coloured. His eyes are thin, dark blue with the right eye being half brown, partial heterochromia. Thick, bushy eyebrows with a slight unibrow. A large nose with a thick bridge and slightly pouty lips. He has the mark of the Brave.

Neter :  Missing his right arm from the centre of his upper arm and the limb is generally wrapped in leather and bandages to protect it. His hair is shorter, shaved underneath and tied back into a very wavy wolf tail with two braids sticking out, a bead on the end of each. His eyes are brown, a bit droopy at the sides with a very defined cupid's bow on his top lip. Very angular eyebrows. He's clean shaven and has a cut in the centre of his bottom lip. He has a few piercings, wears a lot of bracelets on his left wrist. He has the mark of the wise.

Kaiqa : Short, wide and muscular, long hair usually in a ponytail that's then braided. Prefers to wear sleeveless clothes and long, loose pants, White, bone piercings all through his ears (a few metal) and a bone septum piercing. His eyes are wide and dark brown, thick eyebrows, a large, hooked nose and pouty lips. His canine teeth stick out a bit, missing a tooth in the back of his mouth. He has coming of age tattoos associated w first menstrual cycle, FTM (He/him). His coming of age mark was the Brave, incorporated to his other tattoos very subtly. 

Mikla : VERY tall, thin with wiry muscle. He looks young, a bit of a baby face. His hair is tied back into a ponytail, either all the hair is braided or only the top half of it. He has one singular bead at the end of it. He has thin eyebrows, thin lips and brown, almond shaped eyes. He has the mark of the trusted.

Sorqai : Tall, muscular, long hair, no beads. Very wide, broad figure. Chipped tooth, his first and seconds pierced and his earrings are simple bone and shell ones. Has a beard with a large scar on his right side which goes into it, stopping hair from growing in that area. His eyes are a dark blue, bushy eyebrows, a hooked nose and thin lips hidden behind his beard mostly. He has the mark of the wise, but it looks slightly different (more detailed) due to being from a different tribe. 

Natai : Long hair he usually braids back loosely, blue eyes that are almond shaped with a few brown freckles through them. Thick eyebrows, no piercings aside from his firsts in his ears which have simple cowry shell piercings with small, blue leather tassels on them. His hands, up to the middle of his forearms, are slightly discoloured, and are lighter than the rest of his body, not intensely so but noticeably. Stains his nails with dye. Tattoos associated with first menstrual cycle, he never went ice dodging for coming of age and thus does not have a mark incorporated into his tattoos.

Kutai : He’s short and stocky with thick, wavy hair, a few small braids around the crown of his head keeps the hair out of his face, five braids with five blue beads at the base of them where the braids becomes loose again and joins the rest of his hair, where it isn't tied back and is left to go free around the back. His eyes are round and droopy, almost sleepy looking, at the outer corner, and are light brown. His eyebrows are thick and dark, a wide nose with the mark of the trusted tattooed on his head. His arms are full of tattoos too, and so is his chest. 

Kovak : Hair is shaved, the shortest on the whole crew, his arms are mostly black from ink with sparse spaces of geometric designs cutting through the black out. He has a lot of scars through the tattoos, showing which tattoos are pre-fleet and which are post. He has gauges, thick eyebrows, bright blue eyes. He has the mark of the brave.

Mori: Tall and very thin, generally a long distance fighter so not a lot of muscle on them, very pale blue eyes (almost otherworldly), with no eyebrows (They shave them off as a coming of age tradition from their tribe) and thick, curly hair and darker skin than most other warriors. Tattoos associated with the first menstrual cycle, extra details associated with having a child. GNC (He/they).

Luqait: Short, broad, chubby kinda muscular build. Paler skin, but still not white. Hair done in two braids with thin bits of blue leather woven into his braids with numerous beads on them. Soft, round features, thin eyebrows, scar on lip, amber eyes. They have the mark of the wise.

Saila: Very androgynous, dark, curly hair. Thin eyebrows, their eyes are round and doe like, dark brown in colour, almost amber in certain lights. They have a very intense, almost uncaring air about them. They have the mark of the trusted and tattoos up and down their arms that are generally hidden by their clothes. (They/them) 

Morqa: Grey hair, but very young in his features, doe eyes that are a light blue, grey eyebrows and eyelashes and pale skin. A broad nose, eyebrows are thick, a rounded cupid's bow and pouty lips. No coming of age tattoos, his hair is tied back into a ponytail with two thin braids through it and a bead on each one. LOTS of piercings, the most out of the crew. A mix of different metals he finds at ports and trades for, along with traditional bone and bead ones. He sports no tattoos on his person, but his hands up to his elbows are stained maroon.

[pinkanonwrites]

YES beachcomber would be such a collector of rocks and minerals and show them to his human friends. Especially unique ones like fulgurites

Him sharing all his different rocks he's collected with you and you sharing your different seashells with him.~ <3

I think he'd be REALLY into fossils and amber too. The idea that over time a once-living organic creature can slowly but surely become an indelible mineral, a snapshot of a bygone era, is deeply fascinating to him.

"This one's called a cowrie shell." The shell that fit so snugly in the palm of your hand is dwarfed in Beachcomber's massive servo, but he still handles it with incredible care. "This one's on the bigger side, but small ones used to be used as currency in different parts of the world."

"It's beautiful. And it ain't polished or anything like that?"

"Nope! Sometimes you'll find them covered in salt in the water if they've been there for a while, but while it's alive the snail inside keeps the shell shiny and clean. Not all shells are like that, though."

You can tell you've piqued Beachcomber's curiosity, so you quickly take the next shell you've brought out of your bag. "This is an abalone shell. The rough outside helps them to camouflage with coral and rocks. But on the inside..."

You turn the iridescent inner shell to Beachcomber's gaze, and his faceplate lights up with awe.

"It's beautiful."

You take the cowrie from his servo and press the abalone into it. He cradles it so tenderly, rocking it gently back and forth to catch the rays of light bouncing off the glistening, pearlescent interior. Before knowing the Autobots, you wouldn't have expected their stern metal faces to be capable of this level of soft sincerity. How foolish you were, back then.

"We could go shell-hunting sometime, if you'd like!" You add. "I can show you where I found some of my collection, see if we find anything good?"

He turns his attention back to you, his voice low, smooth, and achingly tender.

"I'd like that very much."

[themarginalthinker]

Undertow

Laddie and the Boys go beach combing. Laddie shows Dwayne some shells he found.

-

Hey guys! Back with another one! A cute scene between Dwayne and Laddie I've had in my head for forever, and finally getting around to writing it.

However, before the drabble, there are a couple of things I'd like to say about specifically our version of Dwanye here:

In our headcanons and worldbuilding, Dwayne is Native Canadian, from the Haida people of Haida Gwaii off the coast of BC Canada. In this drabble, he tells Laddie a story of Raven. I, nor my co-author, are Indigenous. The information on the story nominally comes from the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Museum of History. Here and here.

As someone who is not part of the culture and wishes to be respectful, I am open to concrit and suggestions for how to change or improve the character's representation or dialogue, and corrections about the presentation of the story or alternate sources of information!

As always, thank you. :>

When Laddie runs back to him, he's covered in sand.

"Did you fall in?" Dwayne asks with a laugh at the sight of the boy. The large shirt they'd cut down to size that still hung off his small frame was soaked, a smear of red, slimy algae coating the lower edge. His shorts, that were at least made for his small stature, are no better, wet on the front at the backside. There's sand coating Laddie's legs up to his knees and crusted on his forearms. Dwayne will end up brushing out his hair later and come away with enough to make a sandcastle, he's sure.

Laddie is grinning from ear to ear, though. He rushes to Dwayne, barefoot on the deserted beach. The epitome of a child in summer.

"Paul was giving me a piggy back ride and Marko pushed him and we all fell in the water!" Laddie says as he comes close.

Dwayne raises an eyebrow and looks up, to the pair further down the way. Paul and Marko are dancing around each other, feet barely touching the surf as the waves flow and ebb, pants rolled up to their knees and similarly barefoot to avoid soggy boots. They laugh, call each other names that Dwayne is glad Laddie is out of earshot for, and attempt to toss each other into the waves - or failing that, throwing gobs of wet sand at each other. Their jackets are stashed at the bikes that they'd parked up the dunes, where the beach turns into rocky outcroppings overlooking the little curve of hidden cove.

Up there, the glow of a lit cigarette brightens and dims with each pull on it, David huffing out the smoke as he watches the dark ocean and his pack, away from the grit and dampness.

Dwayne thinks priss, and even from this distance, he can see David pause in his smoking and shoot a look down at him. Dwayne just smirks and turns back to Laddie.

"Find anything good before they started being idiots?" He asks.

Laddie nods, and holds up the plastic yellow toy bucket in his hands, rattling its contents. Inside is a collection of shells and stones, glinting under the moonlight, washed clean.

"Uh huh! They showed me the best tide pools. Look! Paul even found some alive snails!"

Laddie reaches in and wedges one off the side of the bucket where it had been attempting to make its escape, the creature sliding wetly back into its shell to hide at his touch. The shell is striped orange and brown and faintly pink at the edges, pretty. Dwayne hums his approval at the treasure, though knowing Laddie might want to toss it back when he's told he can either let it die and keep the shell, or have to give it up anyway because, according to David, "Marko's flying rats are enough."

Dwayne glances into the bucket, pawing through them himself to see what else Laddie had managed to find.

A good handful of seaglass, blues and browns, worn smooth and frosty with the endless sands and waters. There were a good number of cockle shells, small and grey and pretty, a couple spiraling augers like little unicorn horns, a broken half of a scallop, and cowry shells jingling like coins in his palm. One, two, three four, five-

Dwayne closes his eyes, and takes a breath, banishing the numbers from his head. Waiting until the urge to count, count, count passed.

When he opens his eyes again, he sees something else, near the bottom of the bucket, grey and round and unassuming.

Dwayne reaches in and pulls it out, tugging off some seaweed clinging to it, scraping off the sand coating the inside so the pearly white interior is better seen.

A clam shell, dead and empty, but still attached by the connecting hinge.

"Hey Laddie," Dwayne says, "do you wanna hear a story?"

Laddie, previously entranced with the crawl of the whelk on his hand, leaving wet little trails along his skin, looks up.

"Yeah!" He nods his head, long sun-streaked hair flying around his ears. Dwayne reaches out and hooks a truly wayward lock behind his ear. If he wasn't careful he'd start to look like a mini Paul, and then where would they be.

Dwayne rubs the clam shell between his thumb and finger, and the words come quietly.

"A long time ago, when the world was very new, there was Raven. And because the world was so new, Raven was alone."

He lets the count of each pass of his fingers keep the words from catching behind his teeth. Letting them pass.

"One day, Raven flew down to the beach, where he watched the waves come in and out. He didn't find anything new, anything to catch his interest. He very well may have left, if something new hadn't caught his sight, at the last moment."

Laddie tilts his head, eyes intent, on Dwayne and the shell.

"There was a clam shell in the sand, but not like any other shell Raven had ever seen. It moved around, wiggling like no clam ever did. There was something in it."

"What?" Laddie asks, the conspiratorial tone Dwayne had unintentionally adopted having wormed into his own curiosity. Dwayne smiles with him. Leaning in a little. Thirty one passes of his thumb, thirty two passes, thirty three-

"Well, Raven flies down, and he lands on the shell. He pecks it, he prods it, he tries to see it all. And when he tries to open it, a hand comes out! Inside the clam shell are creatures that Raven has never seen before. Very strange looking, too. Bare skin instead of fur or feathers or scales, and just one patch of long black hair, the same color as him. When they see Raven, they are very afraid, and want to stay in the shell, but Raven calls them out. The world is very big, but Raven wants friends, and eventually, they emerge. The first people in the world."

As he has spoken, Dwayne's soothing of the shell hasn't stopped, the numbers in his head keep ticking up. He's smiling down at the shell in his hand, hearing the hush of the ocean nearby. The words come easy, as a scar on his palm catches on the edge of the clam.

"That's a funny story," Laddie says. His smile has turned into a little contemplative frown, shifting from foot to foot as he waits for Dwayne to finish.

Dwayne blinks.

"Yeah, it is, huh."

"Hey! Laddie! Over here!"

Laddie turns around as Paul calls out from down the beach, he and Marko crouching by some big, flat rocks, poking at a pool. Waving to him to come and see and fill his bucket more.

Dwayne breathes.

"If you find any more shells small enough, you can ask nicely for Marko to make them into a bracelet for you," Dwayne tells Laddie, standing up properly. Laddie's eyes sparkle at the idea, and he nods vigorously again, hair flying back out of place from his ear. He's off before Dwayne can reach out to put it back, legs kicking up sand as he runs, bucket of finds swinging.

Dwayne watches him go, and only realizes he's still holding the clam shell when the edge digs into his fingers. Held too tight in his hand.

Looking back out at the dark ocean, Dwayne pulls his arm back, and throws.

-

"Laddie-!" Star exclaims, eyes wide from where she'd looked up from her seat on the bed. She tosses aside the book she'd been reading to rush up to Dwayne.

Laddie is in his arms, barely awake. "Relax, Star," Dwayne shrugs. "It's summer. Let him live, huh?"

Star pointedly looks over the boy, covered in leftovers of the night's escapade from head to foot. Sea salt and sand and stained shirt, hair tied back with a bit of dried kelp of all things - matching Paul's own hair, evidence of the culprit of such a silly thing. A faint smile still on his face as his hands barely keep hold of his bucket.

With a sigh, Star just reaches forward and gently lays a hand on Laddie's back. "Fine. But you're washing it all tomorrow. Child included."

"Fair enough."

[slippinninque]

Like, y'all remember that part in Pride & Prejudice movie (2005) when Mr. Bingley was trailing after Jane and he just lightly touched the ribbon of the bow at the back of her dress? And she didn't even notice? But he was just so so so delicate?

That's Fontaine.

When you aren't looking, he'd touch the corner of your oversized hoodie sleeve. Picks up one of your fallen hair clips or cowrie shells and keep it in his pocket, running his thumb over it time and time again.

Fontaine will stare at the passenger seat, where you just were, and imagine if you stayed a bit longer.

He'd clean out a space in his head everyday just for you.

[80ssuperstar]

Here's another Story Script I wanted to do which is a part from Madagascar Escape 2 Africa 🌍 When Alex and Marty tries to find the Water from the Humans and Gloria Rescuing Melman from the Volcano Sacrifice 🔥

This Time I want to change the characters from Regular Show which is the following:

Benson as Alex

Rigby as Marty

Mordecai as Melman

Samantha ( @80ssuperstar ) as Gloria

Hot Dog Leader as King Julien

Fat Hot Dog as Maurice

"Operation Water Rescue: The Volcano Dilemma"

[In the woods, Benson and Rigby go to look for the clog.]

Rigby: Is this place starting to freak you out?

Benson: We'll slip in, find the problem. Hunters will never know we were here.

Rigby: Why are we doing this?

Benson: Look Rigby, maybe my dad will think I'm... I just want to show him I'm a real Boss.

Rigby: As opposed to a chocolate Boss.

Benson: Shh. I know this may sound hard to believe; but apparently, Bosses don't dance.

Rigby: [shocked] WHAT?!?

Benson: SHH!! As far as my dad is concerned.

Rigby: As far as people are concerned, you're a huge hit.

Benson: That was California. This is Africa... it's much tougher crowd. Rigby! Rigby, this is it! This is the clog! Come on.

Rigby: Well, there's the water.

(Rigby drinks some of the water. While Rigby is drinking the water, Benson notices Nana)

Benson: Rigby, stay down. Look at that.

Nana: Knit one, purl two.

Benson: It's her.

Man: Is this right?

Nana: Very good.

Man: Nana, slow down.

Nana: You're a little tangled, aren't you? No, don't pull. I'll do it.

Benson: We need dynamite. Got any dynamite?

Rigby: (loudly) Oh, snap! I just used my last stick this morning!

[Benson tells to quiet down, but an arrow hits the fruit hat of shame 🏹]

Rigby: Savages!

Benson: Evasive maneuvers!

Rigby: Serpentine, serpentine!

Benson: Squiggly squid maneuver!

Rigby: Zag, zig-zag, zig ziggy zag!

Benson: No, no! Squiggly squid!

Rigby: Etch A Sketch! Etch A Sketch! Etch A Sketch!

Benson: That's too complex! Octopus, octopus!

Rigby: Benson!

Benson: Run, Rigby!

Rigby: Come on, I can't leave you here!

Benson: Go get help! Squiggly squid maneuver! Go! Go! Squiggly squid!

Rigby: ETCH A SKETCH!!! ETCH A SKETCH!!!

[The camera changes to the volcano where Mordecai, Wearing a White Orchid Flower Cowrie Shells Veil Headwear, 4 Flower Lei's, Black and White Feathers on his Ankles and Wrist, is about to go into the lava, but he is looking to the deep of the volcano.]

Mordecai: OK. OK, OK, OK. OK, here we go. OK, OK. Here we go! Here we go!

Joe: What's all the hoopla about?

Blue Jay: Joe?

Blue Jay 2: Joe the Witch Doctor? We thought you were dead!

Joe: So did I. Then I realized I'm covered in brown spots.

Blue Jay: So, Mordecai's not dying! [suddenly realizing the truth] Mordecai's not dying!

Blue Jay 1: Oh, no!

Samantha: Excuse me! Mordecai!! Move! Don't do this! Hot Dog Leader, stop this! This is crazy!

Hot Dog Leader: Oh, suddenly throwing a blue jay into a volcano to make water is crazy!

Samantha: Yes! Please, Mordecai! STOOOP!!!! 😱😱

Mordecai: Samantha? 😯

Samantha: You can't do this! 😭😭

Mordecai: Why not?

Samantha: Because...Oh! 😯😯

[But as she could finish, she trips which causes cracks to come out, Mordecai is shocked at what he's seeing, he runs up, but begins to fall. Samantha stops him from falling]

Samantha: You can't do this, Mordecai. 😢😢

Mordecai: First of all, that hurts. Second of all, I've only got 18 hours to live, anyway. 😢😢

Samantha: Mordecai, I gotta know...did you really mean those things you said about me? 🥹🥰

Mordecai: Of course I did. 🥲🥲

Samantha: That's crazy 😧😧

Mordecai: It Is? 😟😟

Samantha: It's crazy to think I had to go halfway around the world... to find out that the perfect guy for me lived right next door. 🥹🥹☺️😊

Mordecai: Then I guess it's you and me, neighbor. You and me for the next 18 hours. 😻😻😻

Samantha: I'll take whatever you got 🥹❤️🩵

Hot Dog Leader: WHOA WHOA WHOA Fat Hot Dog, what just happened?! 😱😱😱

Fat Hot Dog: I believe the Hot Sassy lady has sung. 😏❤️

HERE'S THE END TO THE PART! 〽️ I Hope you guys love it!!!

------

For: @fxe4596 , @nicomxm23 , @mordorigs , @jgquintelslut , @pinkcandycatmakesart , @anifaz , @isrrael120 , @notadumbdog , @martingeekermmd , @eeveepalooza , @apollothedeity , @sidoresca , @siinhorhy , @insomniacz , @rhyliethecaterfly , @yeetafry , @at-weeb96 , @kiwithekool11437 , @kiko2032 , @orchestralauthor , @untitled14360 , @loudlyhappycupcake

[naffeclipse]

Hey Naff! How are you foing? ^_^

Just had a couple questions about Oceane! In the picture of the fish you posted, it seems to have a red-white stripe on top, so does she also have something similar on her back? Or is it more just general red gradients? Oh and! Just to make sure I'm not completely misreading the reference you provided of her as example dñgkjhdsfakjh, her fins are to the side of her tail and not vertical like the actual fish right?

And last question would be! I don't know if her tale takes place on actual Earth or if it's more of a fictional world, but what sort of environment would you say she finds herself in when it comes to the ocean? A coral reef, more open sea, or maybe somewhere with lots of kelp? (If it's not spoilery for your story of course!) And is she particularly fond of anything found in the sea?

Lots of questions I know haha 🙈

Heya, babe! I'm doing good and I hope you are too! <3

Oh ho, okay! *rubs my mitts together*

The red-white stripe is a gradient to her fins, specifically to one side and bit on her tail fin. Yes, her fins line the sides of her tail! So, not vertical like the fish reference. I have this saved in my reference folder if it helps (forgive the crude drawing, it's just there to emphasize the tail position on her body)!

The setting is very earth-like with the story taking place off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean. She loves open waters with lots of warm sand where it's a gorgeous turquoise color, like this:

She loves seashells, especially cowrie seashells and triton shells! (Those are the seashells on her bracelet in the art!)

(cowrie seashells)

(triton seashells)

Whew, I hope that's not too many references but here ya go! I love the questions so don't worry <3 I'm not normal about this for no reason once so ever!

[procrastiel]

Let’s imagine Metatron threatened Aziraphale flat out.

We already know our dearest Aziraphale is not 100% reliable when it comes to telling stories, and we get to see the talk with Metatron only through his narrative in the show.

Michael had already started earlier with the erasure from the book of life palaver. So, let’s say Metatron comes in and (figuratively) grabs Az by the balls.

He says you either take this offer or we will disintegrate you.

Now, imagine being Aziraphale. Do you want to be responsible for leaving Crowley behind to face eternity on his own, without you?

There has always been a fear of you two being torn apart eventually. You have never been able to openly be ‘together’. You are quite familiar with the act of hiding things, heck, you two have been playing hide the cowrie shell for 6,000 years now. You even developed your own little coded language around it. You made it romantic, having to love in secret. Somehow you managed to make it even more meaningful, because it’s forbidden.

And now this twat is forcing you to choose between being wiped out, thus leaving Crowley by himself, or becoming heaven’s full-time slave (aka away from Crowley), but at least there’s still a slither of hope that you could fix this.

What would you choose? Would you try to temporarily break up with the love of your life so you can both keep existing and work out a plan to re-unite, or would you tell the Megaphone Metatron to get stuffed and risk being smote right where you sit?

I think I’m starting to understand Aziraphale.

[chysgoda]

September 27 Memory

Support

X’rhun did not have time to call her name when he turned the corner of the graveyard path and saw Art’imis already fading into the life stream with a teleportation spell. The mage frowned, she had been in her full, shining white, battle plate and he wondered where she had been and where she was going. When he reached the monument that memorialized his slaughtered brothers and sisters there was a spray of red gladiolus wrapped with a strand of cowry shells. Carefully he laid purple star lillies next to the red gladiolus. Quietly, he told the crimson duelists of the past the trials and triumphs of the order he was rebuilding

Art’imis had an armful of red gladiolus flowers wrapped with a strand of cowry shells as she descended the steps to the Gladiator’s Guild mausoleum. It wasn’t unusual for gladiators to have no family outside of the guild to mourn them. It was part of the guild fees to maintain it and it was rare to see anyone but guild members inside. The raen woman blinked to see Riol laying pink sea thrift at the base of the wall where her mentor’s name was listed in bronze letters. He smiled at her and gently took the gladiolus to lay with the sea thrift. Riol brushed a tear off her cheek and they went to find where their favorite street food cart was peddling lunch today.

The star lilies and sea thrift were very pretty together, Riol thought as X’rhun laid the purple flowers next to his own offering. In the deep red shadows of Little Ala Mhigo he appreciated the company even if it wasn’t X’rhun’s burden to bear. The miqo’te man laced their fingers together and squeezed gently. Riol swallowed thickly and returned the gesture before letting go so that he could crouch down and run his fingers over Wilred’s name carved into the gravestone. X‘rhun rested a hand on his shoulder and for a time they kept vigil.

(Star lilies are the stand in name for lilies of the nine)