#which was mostly ashe juniper

[syngoniums]

Snow-on-the-prairie (Euphorbia bicolor) and wild sunflowers (Helianthus annus) bordering some newly bulldozed land.

[noh07]

updated list of mixed name ideas (nov 5, 2024)

in this list, there's any type of names (mostly for english-speaking people though): typical first names, noun names, mythology names, etc.

i sorted them into three categories: androgynous, feminine and masculine.

if you have more ideas of names for trans folks, writers, etc, just lemme know! (Can also be not-so-cool names for the writers, we need them for the asshole side characters :3)

i will update the list every time I have a lot of new name suggestions. you can always find the newest list under the tag #updated name list on my profile, which is currently this one.

(alphabetical list with 712 mixed names under the cut)

--- androgynous ---

Addie/Eddie

Aki

Alex

Alexis

Alli/Allie/Ally

Am/Em

Amethyst

Ares

Ari

Artemis

Ash

Asher

Aster

Azure

Basil

Beluga

Bennie/Benny

Bermuda

Bev

Beverly

Billie

Blair/Blaire

Calypso

Caramel

Cat

Cave

Celeste

Charlie

Chrissy

Coco

Crimson

Crow

Diamond

Edie

Eli

Ellori/Ellory

Emerald

Emerson

Emi/Emmie/Emmy

Evie

Finn

Forest/Forrest

Frances/Francis

Garnet

Gem

Goldie

Gray/Grey

Hayden

Hunter

Indigo

Jackie/Jacky

Jade

Jamie

Jess

Jessie

Jupiter

Lark

Lenny

Lori/Lorie/Lory

Lou

Louie

Mag

Maggot

Mars

Mauve

Max

Meadow

Mercury

Mika

Miko

Mizu

Moss

Neptune

Noah

Nori

Nyx

Ollie

Onyx

Opal

Paris

Quinn

Rafa

Rain/Raine

Raven

Reg

Remi

Remu

Robin

Rocky

Ronni/Ronnie/Ronny

Sage

Saturn

Shilo/Shiloh

Silver/Sylver

Sky/Skye

Snow

Val

Venus

Vin

Vinny/Vinnie

Wilson

Wither

--- feminine ---

Abby

Abigail

Adelaide

Adeline

Agatha

Aileen/Eileen

Aimee/Amy

Alana

Alena

Alessia

Alexa

Alexia

Alexandra

Alice

Alissa

Alli/Allie/Ally

Alura

Amalia

Amber

Amelia

Amelie

Amethyst

Amity

Andromeda

Anela

Angela

Angelina

Angeline

Angie

Anika/Annika

Anisa

Anita

Anna

Ann/Anne

Annie

Anastasia

Andrea/Andreea

Antheia

Arabella

Artemis

Ashley

Astra

Atlanta

Audrey

Aurora

Autumn

Azura

Bailey

Becky

Bella

Belle

Beluga

Bettie/Betty

Beverly

Billie

Brenda

Brie

Calypso

Candace/Candice

Caramel

Carla/Karla

Carmen

Carol

Carolina

Caroline

Catherine

Celeste

Celestia

Celina/Selena/Selina

Celine/Selene/Seline

Charlotte

Christina/Kristina

Christine/Kristine

Claire

Clara/Clarah

Chloe/Chloé/Cloe

Cindy

Cissy

Cora/Corah

Dana

Daniela/Daniella

Danielle

Dalia/Daliah

Daria

Darla

Debbie

Debora/Deborah

Delilah

Diamond

Diana

Dianne

Dora/Dorah

Dorothy

Eburia

Eclipse

Eda

Elena

Eleanor/Elenor

Elisa/Eliza

Elise

Elizabeth

Ella

Ember

Emerson

Emery

Emi/Emmie/Emmy

Emilia

Emilie/Emily

Emma

Esme

Esmeralda

Euphemia

Euphoria

Eva

Evie

Evelyn

Felicia

Fenya

Finya

Fia

Fiona

Francisca/Franziska

Freya

Fuchsia

Gaia

Georgia

Gina

Ginny/Jeanie

Hanna/Hannah

Harmony

Hazel

Heather

Hecate

Helena

Helene

Hera

Hestia

Holly

Hope

Iana

Irena

Irene

Iris

Isa

Isabel/Isabelle

Isabela/Isabella

Ivonne/Yvonne

Ivory

Ivy

Izzy

Jade

Janice

Jasmin/Jasmine

Jenna

Jennifer

Jenny

Joelle

Joelina

Jolene

Julia

Julianne

Julie

Juliet/Juliette

Juniper

Kaia/Kaya

Katarina/Katharina

Kathy/Katy

Kelly

Kira

Lana

Lara/Larah

Laura

Lauren

Laurel

Lavender

Lena

Leia/Leya

Levina

Levinia

Lia

Liana

Liara

Lilac

Lili/Lilli/Lilly/Lily

Lilian/Lilien

Lilith

Lisa

Liv

Livi

Livia

Liz

Lizzie/Lizzy

Loanne

Lola

Lorelei

Lori/Lorie/Lory

Louisa/Luisa

Louise/Luise

Luce/Luz

Lucy

Luna

Lydia

Maggie/Meggie

Meg

Madeline

Maira/Myra

Mara/Marah

Margaret

Marge

Marla

Marlene

Maria/Mariah

Marie/Mary

Marina

Mauve

Melanie

Melissa

Mellie/Melly

Meryem

Mia

Michelle

Milly

Mina

Minerva

Minnie

Miriam

Mona

Monica

Naira/Nyra

Nancy

Natalia

Natalie

Natasha

Nellie/Nelly

Nessie

Nina

Noelle

Nora/Norah

Nori

Nyx

Oliv/Olive

Olivia

Ollie

Paris

Pascale

Patricia

Paula

Peggy

Penelope/Pinelopy

Penny

Petunia

Philippa

Pia

Pippa

Polly

Poppy

Queenie

Ramona

Rania

Rebecka

Regina

Robin

Rose

Roxana

Roxanne

Ruby

Safira/Saphira

Sandra

Sara/Sarah

Sari

Serena

Silvia/Sylvia

Sofia/Sophia

Sofie/Sophie

Stella

Stephanie/Stephany

Tara/Tarah

Tatiana/Tatyana

Tess

Tessa

Tia

Tiana

Tina

Valerie/Valery

Vanessa

Vela

Venus

Vera

Veronica

Victoria

Viola

Violet/Violette

Viona

Vivian

Viviana

Willow

Xandria

Xenia

Yana

Yasmin/Yasmine

Zehra

Zoe/Zoé/Zoey

--- masculine ---

Achilles

Aiden

Aion

Alex

Alexander

Amon

Angelo

Angelino

Anthony

Anton

Arcturus

Ares

Asher

Audrey

Ben

Benjamin

Bennie/Benny

Benson

Bill

Billie/Billy

Bob

Bobby

Brendan/Brendon

Brian

Bruno

Calvin

Carl/Karl

Chad

Charles

Charlie

Chase

Chester

Chris

Chrissy

Christopher

Conan

Damian

Dan

Daniel

Dave

David

Davon/Devon

Dionysos

Don

Donald

Dorian

Dylan

Elia/Elijah

Elio

Eliot/Elliot/Elliott

Emerson

Emilio

Erion

Evan

Felix

Fred

Freddie/Freddy

Gian/Jan

Gus

Hannibal

Harald/Harold/Herald/Herold

Harry

Hendrick/Henrick

Henry

Hunter

Ian

Icarus

Jace

Jade

Jack

Jackie/Jacky

Jaden/Jayden

James

Jamie

Jasper

Jay

Jeremy

Jerry

Jimmy

Joe

Joel

Joey

John

Johnny

Jona/Jonah

Jonas

Jones

Julian/Julien

Julius

Jupiter

Justin

Kevin

Lance

Larry

Laurence/Lawrence

Lee

Lenny

Leo

Linus

Logan

Lori/Lorie/Lory

Louis/Luis

Louie

Lucc/Luke

Lucas/Lukas

Luigi

Marc

Marco

Mario

Mars

Max

Mercury

Michael

Mickey

Mike

Milo

Nathan

Neptune

Nick

Nico/Niko/Nikko

Noah

Noel

Oliver

Ollie

Orion

Paris

Pascal

Patrick

Paul

Pete

Peter

Philip/Philipp/Phillip

Ray

Raymond

Reg

Reginald

Regulus

Remi

Remus

Rick

Ricky

Rob

Robbie/Robby

Robin

Ron

Ronald

Ronni/Ronnie/Ronny

Rubeus

Sam

Sammy

Samuel

Saturn

Sean/Shaun/Shawn

Sebastian

Simon

Sirius

Stephan

Steve

Steven

Theodore

Thomas

Tim

Timmy

Toby

Tom

Tommy

Tony

Valentine

Victor

Vince

Vincent

Wilson

Yan

Zach/Zack

Zeus

If you want me to add meanings, origins, etc., just tell me ^^

[ladytanithia]

WIP Wednesday

For a chapter I'm inserting into Dalliances with Dunmer, to fill in more of Miranja's friendship/romance with Talvas.

tagging @dirty-bosmer @gwilin-stay-winnin @mareenavee @skyrim-forever @thana-topsy @thechaosdragoness @thequeenofthewinter

**********************************************************************

Returning to the campsite, she couldn’t help but grin at the sight of Talvas sitting cross-legged before the fire he’d built – no doubt using magic to light it – and twirling a stick in each hand to evenly cook the ash hopper legs. He looked a little silly, yes, which was endearing in itself, but mostly she felt proud of him for learning survival skills during their time in Skyrim. Of course, she wouldn’t have been able to teach him if Faendal hadn’t first taught her. She felt a little twinge and chided herself for still carrying a torch for a married man, especially when her sweet, handsome Talvas was right here with her, just waiting to finish supper so they could snuggle and make love.

“How are you going to cook them?” Talvas asked.

“Same way you’re cooking those,” Miranja smiled. She pulled out the thin, flexible snowberry twigs she’d cut and started skewering the berries along the lengths. Then she sat side-by-side with Talvas and twirled her own sticks, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Sing something?” Talvas requested.

“Anything, or do you have a particular song in mind?”

“Wasn’t there one about a man going courting in the snow with brandy and wreaths of juniper for himself and his lover?”

“Yes, it’s called A Wintertide Wooing. Seems fitting, actually. But you’ll have to pay me first.”

“Pay you? You’ve never asked for…” Talvas trailed off when he realized Miranja was smiling impishly at him, shifting her gaze from his eyes to his mouth, waiting for him to take the hint. Returning her naughty smirk, he leaned over and tried to kiss her, but she caught his bottom lip in her teeth and sucked on it for a moment. When she released him, he kissed her in earnest, then pushed his tongue against her lips until she opened to him, then he delved in and sucked her tongue between his lips.

“Mmm,” they hummed in unison, and Talvas let go of her tongue and kissed her a couple more times, long and sweet.

“Will that cover the price?” he murmured, tipping his head down to press his forehead against hers. He was already getting hard.

“I guess it will have to suffice,” Miranja teased. “Any more of that and I’d lose my inclination to sing.”

“And I’d lose my inclination to even eat dinner.” Talvas shifted a little, trying to get his excited member to go back down.

“I love that you’re just as ridiculously horny as I am,” Miranja said, but rather than the wicked smile Talvas expected, she favored him with a soft, affectionate one. “My bosom buddy.”

Talvas’s heart swelled and he smiled back, his adoration bringing tears to his eyes as they turned back to heating their food and Miranja began to sing.

“The winter in Skyrim makes the bones grow cold, and makes aching arms long for someone to hold…”

The food was done before the song was finished, but Talvas insisted that she finish it, so she did – between bites. They each held a stick of meat in one hand and a stick of berries in the other, and Talvas ate his meat while letting his berries grow cold because he insisted on keeping one arm around Miranja while she ate and finished her song. The aurora was, by now, the most spectacular thing in the sky, in spite of mighty Masser having lifted his majestic head above the horizon. It undulated lazily in broad bands of cobalt and deep purple.

“Ahh, my favorite colors of the aurora,” Miranja breathed, laying her emptied sticks near the fire while Talvas finished off his berries.

“I prefer Telvanni red-orange and green,” Talvas asserted with his mouth full.

“Of course, you do,” Miranja smirked, elbowing him gently.

Talvas swallowed and took a quick swig of mead from the bottle they were sharing. “Especially when the green matches your eyes,” he continued in a soft murmur. Miranja turned her gaze from the sky to meet Talvas’s crimson eyes, which were already fixed on her. Before she could formulate a response, his hand was on her cheek and his lips were devouring hers. Her heart immediately began pounding in her chest, and her breath became ragged gasps between his fervent kisses. No longer was her beloved friend content to wait for her to initiate contact – their month-long trip together had given him the familiarity to read her receptiveness and the confidence to act without fear of rejection.

[lolo3h]

Asexual Ranks How Hot the Pokemon Professors Are

In honor of pokemon day, I'm doing this ranking. This is a joke meant to be taken semi-seriously. Rated on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 meaning I would be repulsed and 10 meaning I could marry them (platonically)

Oak

I mean he seems nice enough? He’s smart, but forgetful, but also a great pokemon battler. He’s also a celebrity which would be annoying if I were to hang out with them. I suppose living in the lab would be fun.

5/10

Elm

I know he’s clumsy and forgetful, but it’s sort of charming. He’s also more quiet and lowkey compared to the other professors which would be nice. He also has a wife and kid so he’s a good husband and parent, I guess?

6/10

Birch 

He’s energetic and outdoorsy, which is fun but maybe a little too much for me. He seems like a good dad so that’s nice, but I’d imagine he’s too busy to be a proper spouse. But I got to give points for his generosity for allowing the player to keep the pokemon he brought

6/10

Rowan

He seems too stuffy and serious, but apparently has a kind side. I don’t know, it just seems like I would accidentally make him angry somehow. Maybe it's trauma from Kamado kicking us out of the village

3/10

Juniper

The first mainline professor to be a girl, we love women in stem. Apparently she’s also the first of the “hot professor” trend, which is the reason I’m doing this. Her research is the most interesting to me

7/10

Sycamore

Okay, this is the first professor that I actually understand why people find him attractive (no offense to the others, you’re all pretty). I like his relationship with Lysandre, it gives him a bit of sad boy charm. His theme is also the best (again, no offense to the others).

9/10

Kukui

He’s already in a loving relationship with Burnet so he has to be a good husband, not to mention he’s a good father figure (to Lillie in the games and to Ash in the anime). Although I’d imagine he would make a mess with him researching pokemon moves. Him being a strong battler is also fun

8/10

Magnolia

I don’t have much to say about her considering she wasn’t in the story much. She has a good design, I like her cane

5/10

Sonia

I really like her personality and how active she was in the story. Her being in the shadow of her grandmother and learning what to do with her life is interesting. I love all the hearts on her outfit and hair

9/10

Laventon

He’s really kind, welcoming the player into the village and standing with us when we were banished. I like his narration for the pokedex descriptions, it makes him more charming. It makes me a little sad that he’s probably dead in modern games but I bet he had a fulfilling life

10/10

Sada and Turo

Grouping these together because my opinion of them are mostly the same. They’re both terrible parents but clearly loved Arven, makes their personalities more interesting. I also love their designs, it shows how interested they were about the past/future

7/10

[justmybookthots]

18 Dec 2023

I read a bunch of books for the past few weeks and I mostly disliked them so I'm just going to make this wrap-up as quick and painless as possible.

Six Crimson Cranes

Honestly? The writing isn't half-bad. The premise and storyline was a whole lot of fun, and I adored most of it. The saving grace / highlight of this entire story? Raikama. This woman made me cry. Yes, I actually ended up shedding some tears for her at the end of the story. I loved her character tremendously, and I just… felt she deserved the world.

I only WISHED the rest of the main cast was as interesting. I'm furious that Seryu isn't the male lead. We were fucking robbed, y'all. He is a gazillion times more interesting than Takaan. Oh Gawd. The romance is the worst romance I've ever read. I don't buy anything here. I don't care. 

Unfortunately, Raikama wasn't enough to save the story for me. If I don't care about the leads, then I don't care about the book. While I don't follow this rule for thrillers, books of that genre are the only exception to that rule. It's that simple. 

Silence of the Lambs

It's funny because this book is the total opposite. I was extremely fascinated by Hannibal and I thought he was the highlight of the story. However, I didn't care for the rest of the thriller. I'm not the biggest fan of books—in fact, I hate it—where the killer's identity is revealed at the start. I don't mean Hannibal, by the way; I'm talking about Buffalo Bill. That's what the majority of the plot circles around. It sucks out all the tension for me, and I need to say that even for a police procedural, this was a very dry, very tedious read. There was just too much detail on extraneous parts of the book. 

Okay, it wasn't entirely extraneous, but it might as well have been. I didn't need chapter after chapter of the police people doing police things in excruciating detail before finding out something mildly important. I have read A LOT of police procedural thrillers, and this is by far the worst. Most of it just involves you sitting there waiting for the main leads to connect the dots that you... already know.

City of Glass

I finally read this! I preferred City of Ashes, but it wasn't a bad book. I think out of everything in this wrap-up, I liked this book the best. After watching the paint dry with Silence of the Lambs, reading a storyline that actually gripped me and kept me turning the pages was MOST welcome.

I do think, though, that Sebastian was quite wasted of a character and he died too easily. But the twist with how Valentine broke through the city's wards was AWESOME. (And also the Hodge twist? *chef's kiss*)

In my opinion, the series should have ended here. I really am hesitant to continue with the rest of the Mortal Instruments series. I know the next three books go to shit, and I... do not know if I want to waste my time with the brain rot. This would have been quite satisfying as an ending, and we REALLY don't need any more existential drama from Jace.

(Also, I still think Simon is garbage and I wish he didn't exist.)

Juniper and Thorn

Ava Reid, you are my mortal enemy. YOU are the reason I'm in a slump right now.

I think a lot of people would like this book, and I don't blame them. The fantasy elements are beyond fascinating, and I think that the story is far superior to Six Crimson Cranes. I couldn't put the book down. I think the level of darkness is just enough for me—any more and it might feel too much. (I was actually expecting more.) The ending twist was pretty good, and I wished A Study in Drowning had produced some kind of twist in its conclusion too.

That said, the heroine is an idiot who does idiotic things, and if this wasn't fiction, she'd be pregnant, duped by a man and even more fucked over than she already was… which is saying something, given her familial circumstances. But because this is fiction (but a very unconvincing one), Sevas, the hero, is a decent man. I do not know why he liked her, I do not know why this romance had to happen, and I do not buy any of this charade with its insta-love and lack of chemistry. I still think Takaan and Shiori were a smidgen worse, but this is a close second. 

Marlinchen is the type of foolish, sheltered heroine you'd read in The Only One Left by Riley Sager, the one that makes horrible mistakes and meets a horrible end. I can stomach characters like that in thrillers, because it's not romanticised and you see the ugly reality for what it is. But in this story, it is completely romanticised, and I just… I don't want any part of it, and I'm annoyed that this is the aftertaste I'm left with after reading three unsatisfying books in (almost) a row.  

I'd hoped this could redeem the author after A Study in Drowning disappointed me, but I know better now. To the Blacklist you go, Miss Reid!

(Also… Ava, there is such a thing called 'female orgasms'. Feel free to Google this phenomenon, because I don't think you've ever known about their existence. We do not exist just for male pleasure. Just a heads-up!) 

[coldsore-sound]

COLDSORE - SOOT GROWTH

SOOT GROWTH SLOWLY CHOKES. CRAWLING SMOKE INVADING LUNGS. CURSED BE EVERY EMPIRE.

SOOT GROWTH EXTENDING ZONES. INVADED LUNGS COUGH UP ASHES. DEATH TO EVERY EMPIRE.

SOOT GROWTH ON SCORCHED EARTH. WE CARRY FIRE INTO YOUR EMPIRE. WE WILL IGNITE THE END PYRE.

this was the last recording made in my last lost home. the cover is a picture of a found post-war map of berlin, that had a lot of blanks, which i stained with soot raising from a piece of burning juniper tree root from sápmi/laplad. the map was pasted to my ceiling to keep the insulating sawdust and mouse shit from raining down on me. the place i was born in - germany - is also the cradle of war in so called europe. ever since fueling the fires with it's ceaseless mass production of weapons of war. some of these tanks are manned by fascist grey wolves destroying land and people in kurdistan in an imperial ottoman expansion, while other german tanks roll up against a rusisct invasion in ukraine, claiming to cleanse it's territorial claim from fascism, while nothing else can be said the russian state itself. we are mostly collateral damage of the crossfire of propaganda so delicate and subtle we hardly sense it when it passes us through. post truth paradoxxig turns some of US into 'war boys', others into 'crazies' and many just die. all this, while the general colonial destruction of land and people goes on uninterrupted since centuries all over the world, in all the places we rarely look at and where the color of peoples skin is different, than what is constructed as white. we chose to ignore their ongoing resistance, unless it is served to us in massive PR campaigns and hence we fetishize them. we dwell in the privilege of consuming the cruel harvests of resources, that our encapsulating systems feed us. extracted without mercy or regard of the misery, grief and death it causes, we don't taste the bitterness, when we drink from the blood chalice of this death-cult everyday. call it capitalism, call it white supremacy, call it fascism, call it patriarchy - we must destroy the seed of the imperial beast that is EVERY state, the best way to do that is from within. ERODE [SABOTAGE] EMPIRE Layout and mastering by grm for Totes Format. totes-format.weebly.com

[urbanseeress]

𝙷𝙴𝙻: 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑.

WHO IS HEL?

Hel (or Hela) is the daughter of Loki, the trickster god and the Jötunn Angrboda and sister to the monstrous wolf Fenrir and the Midgard serpent, Jormunganr. Appearance-wise, she is “half living”; where half her body is described as being heart-achingly beautiful, and “half dead”, where the other half of her body is described as the pale flesh of death and the rotting flesh that comes after.

Odin, the All-Father and ruler of Asgard, sent Hel to the realm of Helheim where she was to rule over the souls of those who had died a “dishonourable death” - this refers to the death of those who did not die in battle but have died of natural causes, sickness, old age etc. This gives her titles such as Goddess of Death, Goddess of the Underworld etc. (NOTE: Those who die in battle do not directly go to Óðinn. Freyja gets the first pick of warriors and those she chooses go to Fólkvangr, only then does Óðinn get to choose his warriors for the Valho̧ll from those who remain). 

ASSOCIATIONS:

SOLAR SYSTEM: Pluto

ZODIAC: Scorpio

MOON PHASE: Dark Moon, New Moon

CELEBRATIONS: Samhain, Yule

COLOUR: Black

NUMBER: 9

RUNE: Hagalaz

HERB: Mugwort, Wormwood, Cedar, Rue, Mullein and Plantain

INCENSE: Myrrh, Storax, Jasmine, Sage

TREES: Ash, Beech, Elder, Elm, Holly, Juniper, Willow and Yew

CRYSTALS: Black Tourmaline, Black Obsidian, Black Onyx, Apache Tear, Black Moonstone

ANIMAL: Wolf

ISSUES, INTENTIONS AND POWERS: The Afterlife, Battle/War, Darkness, Death, The Otherworld/Underworld, Shadow Work, Necromancy

HONOURING HEL:

The various ways I honour Hel:

I built Hel an altar that consisted of a statue of Hel, black candles, black crystals (See above in “Associations”) and a black altar cloth.

Make offerings to Hel – she tends to like coffee and dark chocolate, but I also burn incense on the altar for her. I also light a plain black candle dedicated to Hel.

Hel’s Incense – See above in “Associations”.

I meditate on the Hagalaz rune.

I say prayers in her name to my loved ones that have passed away.

I leave offerings for my loved ones who have passed away, this is mostly a candle, incense, a small dish of their favourite food.

Clearing up the graves of the dead whenever I walk pass and see rubbish left around it or fix any flowers or wreathes that might have fallen over.

Doing anything creative for her is something that she loves. I made a gemstone bracelet to represent her so that I can wear it everywhere I go and connect with her even more. The bracelet is made of Black Onyx beads, Skull beads and the Halagaz rune bead; all these things are associated with Hel.

CONNECTING TO HEL:

How I connect to Hel is by taking a walk through a cemetery where I can really contemplate on Death and connect with the energies of the dead around me. I also do meditations in the cemetery to tap into the death current. Whatever I hear, feel, smell and think of during my walk (or during my cemetery meditations) I always write down in my journal.

Sometimes I call upon her with a simple invocation before asking her directly for guidance. I use Tarot Cards to communicate with her following an invocation or sometimes I just meditate on the spot and wait for any images or sounds to appear in my mind’s eye that could potentially be a message from her.

I play dark, tragic and brooding instrumental music out loud, which helps me relax and contemplate on a lot of things. I also listen to a lot of Viking-inspired music to help me connect to her. I also read a lot of gothic literature, which inspires feelings of grief and longing as a healthy way to let all those feelings out, Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry is one of my personal favourites to read out loud for Hel and I to enjoy together.

MY MEDITATION – ENCOUNTERING HEL:

The first time Hel appeared to me was when I was simply daydreaming, I heard faint whispers of “Hela… Hela… Hela…” in my mind. Before this happened, my mind was completely blank and this was at nighttime as I laid in bed. I thought that this was very random, but nevertheless, I understood these words and felt inclined to close my eyes and meditate in case there was a message for me.

Hel was very unfamiliar to me and to be fair, I am still getting to know her to this day. Deities are very complex with their many different layers, personas, and energies. In general, if I ever feel like a deity is reaching out to me, I focus on the energies I feel from them and meditate on it. Doing so helps me get a “feel” of them, their energies, their intentions, their story. I tend not to look them up because I always want to feel their raw, unfamiliar energies personally and not let their mythology affect the way I sense or view them. I then take note of it in a journal and then proceed to read about them afterwards to see if my interpretation of the deity matches that written in the literature. I always believed in trusting my intuition.

In this meditation, I found myself being transported into what looked like the inside of a cave, however, part of me felt like this was no ordinary cave because it was not completely dark and obscure like caves would usually be without a torch to light the way. This cave in my vision had a pale light blue light seeping through from somewhere. I also noted there were white/pale blue crystals around me among the rocks that made up the cave’s walls.

In the cave, a child approached me. She had long silvery-white hair and pale white skin and icy blue eyes. I also noticed she was wearing a grey torn-up viking dress that was up to her ankles and that was also covered in dirt (perhaps she had been in this cave for a while trying to find her way out of it). She did not seem like she was afraid or lost, in fact, she was quite the opposite. She saw me, playfully touched my hand, smiled and giggled and happily ran away.

Not long after, a woman appeared in the direction the little girl ran off to. She had long raven black hair and was wearing a long, black dress. Her appearance reminded me of a crow.

She just stood there and stared at me, studying me. We stared at each other without saying a word to one another for a while. Later, the little girl I saw later reappeared and joined the woman. Were they mother and child? I had no idea, but they most certainly knew one another and seemed very close. They held hands and suddenly, a flash of light appeared above them and then they disappeared…

Standing in the spot they were standing was another woman with her back turned towards me and partly covered in the shadow of the cave although part of her was also under the pale blue light of it. She slowly turned around to face me. As she turned, I saw from the light that she was indeed very beautiful. Youthful, glowing and with an air of mystery around her but I could not help but feel a sense of brooding and grief in the air too. I could not tell if she was smiling or not for she also looked as if she was pained and in sincere regret. When she finally turned to face me completely, that was when I realised half of her face was disfigured.

It was not just her face, the other half of her body that now revealed itself from the shadows as she stepped forward, half of her body was either rotten or in the process of rotting away. I admit that this image frightened me, and I felt my heart beating and I also felt myself going into fight or flight mode. However, I could not move and stayed rooted on the spot, just staring at her. I could not scream but I know my jaw hit the floor at this point, to be in shock is a complete understatement.

This was Her, this was Hel and I was in Helheim. I probably should not have come here.

I stood there as she limped over to me, she was limping because she was trying to drag her “dead half” with her. The dead half of her was completely limp. I noticed the half of her that is “alive” is also had toned arms and legs and has somewhat of a four-pack, possibly from dragging that “dead weight” for so long. She took my hands in hers; one of her hands was pale but felt very warm, I even felt a pulse from it, a sign of life. The other hand, rotten, decayed, skeletal but still covered in strips of tissue felt cold and dry, and majority was bone, it made me flinch. I also noted the smell of rotting flesh and perfume (I assume is what her live half was wearing at the time) as she stood in front of me.

I finally had the courage to look up at her, into her eyes. One eye was a beautiful sapphire blue, while the other eye was blind, white and lifeless and barely hanging on in its socket as there was no eye lid to support it. I tried to ignore all that and she smiled at me. Her lip curled into a small smile, whereas the skeletal half of her face already looked like she was smiling since all I could see were her exposed teeth. The image of Hel then faded, and I slowly came to, back to the mundane world.

I am still in the process of interpreting this message but I believe the main thing that Hel tried to convey to me was DUALITY. Half beautiful, half rotten and decay. Half alive, half dead. Woman and child. Black and White. Shadow and Light.

HEL IN MY LIFE:

Whenever I think of, work with and connect to Hel, I have always felt a sense of brooding and grief, darkness and mystery, there are also times when I feel fear. She is most certainly a compassionate deity when she wants to be, but most of the time, she is detached, cold, stoic and does not really take sides. She also does not mind what you do in your craft or in your life. She basically gives off the impression of, “You do YOU as long as you do not impede on others.”

She prefers to not interfere with anything and would rather watch you. I always feel like she has her eyes on me, watching every move and decision I make, wondering what will happen next. She sometimes expresses curiosity and fascination with me; I interpret this as even though she is a Death goddess, she still likes to be involved in the lives of her children where she can watch them live in the way they want until they pass away from this world and she welcomes them into her realm with open arms.

I never really got over the fear I feel sometimes when I connect with her, but then again, I believe that was her intention. The whole point is to feel uncomfortable and never get used to this feeling. I remember sincerely apologising to Hel later for reacting so negatively towards her, but she told me that she took no offense and that it is a good thing that I reacted in the way that I did towards her.

She wants to constantly remind me of how I feel whenever I encounter a shadow of mine. This fear is a projection onto her. It is almost as if she is a mirror image of all the “bad” and “evil” things of myself that scare me, make me uncomfortable and make me want to run away from. Since she constantly pulls out the shadows from within me to make me feel extremely uncomfortable and makes me face them, I ended up doing Shadow Work with her as my guide. She always asks me, “Are you truly afraid of me or of the things I remind you of when you look at me?”

She is aware that half of her body is Death itself, but it never bothers her. Even though she literally must drag the other half of her body along with her wherever she goes (literally the dead weight of herself), she acts like she had gotten used to it over time and does not let it stop her from doing what needs to be done. The fact that physically, she gained muscle from dragging her dead half around for so long indicates that she gained strength from her ordeal.

I see Hel and see that this dead side of herself is like her very own personal shadow, except that, she is at peace with it and living in harmony with this side of her. She is an example of someone who had integrated their shadow into their life and has reached the point where she no longer needs “Shadow Work”. Only a deity is capable of this because to me, Shadow Work lasts a lifetime. As you grow older, the more Shadows form.

I admire her so much and this is why she is my role model. I strive to become like Hel and so I have dedicated my entire life to Shadow Work with her. I believe that I too can live in harmony and be at peace with the parts of me that I tried to cast away. I want to unapologetically bare my real self and feel nothing but pride. I want to uncensor my own ugliness.

Hel also eased my fear of death and completely changed my perspective on it. I view death as an end to something and the beginning of something new. I view death as a transition. Death also leads to rebirth. It is very hard and painful to let go of things sometimes, but it is necessary in order for you to move forward with your life. You come out of that situation stronger.

I used to be so afraid of the idea of dying and leaving behind all my loved ones. I also struggled with the death of loved ones, losing my Father was the one that hurt me the most. When he left, I felt a part of me die with him. I remember it took a very long time to heal and move on with my life. I was trapped in never-ending grief and was consumed with so many negative emotions like guilt, pain, rage.

What I felt is indescribable, but I remember telling my therapist that “Losing Dad felt like there was a hole in me that can never be filled by anything or anyone and I had to learn how to live with a part of me gone, but at the same time I somehow still felt severely depressed. It is not normal, it did not feel normal, nor did it feel right. I felt so numb and so empty yet despite that a part of me had died along with him, I was still able to feel negative emotions that reminded me that I was still alive.” Thinking back to that moment, it feels like Hel was with me all along, but I never realised until much later, she was there especially during those times where I felt, “half dead and half alive”.

Nowadays, I have accepted and even embraced death. Hel made sure that I was ready for when that time comes. To live your best life, you must also embrace death. As for the death of my Father, I had finally come to terms with it and vowed to live the best life that I can. I also realised that he is not truly gone because as long as I remember the memories of him, he will live on inside of me.

[punz4lyfe]

Wasted Plotential: Ash’s Krookodile

Let’s talk about a certain beloved and goated CHAD in the Pokemon Anime.

Sooo, yeah, Ash’s Krookodile.... I fucking simp for this dude, guys. Not only is the Krookodile species one of the coolest Pokemon designs imo, but Ash’s Krookodile was just fucking awesome in the anime. He had a personality, a pretty nice moveset, his own minor goals, a passion for battling, super cool sunglasses to help him stick out from others, a good connection with Ash, and a superb battling fight. Seriously, after getting caught by Ash, he literally only lost one fight under his care and that was before he fully evolved.

Basically, this guy’s the total package! .....But I honestly feel a little move could’ve been done with him.

I mean, when you compare him to Ash’s other aces, both before and after Best Wishes, he doesn’t really stick out that much. He doesn’t go through any type of struggle under Ash’s care nor did he have a personal rival. Yeah, the reason why he followed Ash for almost half the region before getting capture was because he saw Pikachu as his rival, but that just disappeared once Pikachu bodied him.

For this blog, I came up with a scenario that I would incorporate in the Best Wishes in order to give just a little more depth to Krookodile.

Krookodile, his glasses, and Trip

For this scenario, I would have Krookodile be more involved with Ash’s rivalry with Trip, kinda making him Ash’s main mon to end their conflict instead of Pikachu. Firstly, while Trip would still make an appearance in the first episode, it would mostly just relegate down for a few seconds as Pikachu never got struck by Zekrom. Because of that, Ash doesn’t have a need to stick around at Juniper’s Lab for much long, so once he gets a glimpse of the Unova Starters and learns about the Unova League from Professor Juniper, he says his goodbyes to Oak and Delia before rushing out the lab with Pikachu, excited to see what Unova could offer. On his way out, he swiftly passes by Trip, who’s just now entering the lab. While Ash doesn’t notice him, Trip briefly stares towards Ash’s direction with a slightly surprised expression before shrugging it off and continuing his way in.

From then on out, Best Wishes more or less continues normally, with Sandile beginning to follow Ash on episode 3 not out of to find a way to battle Pikachu, but out of respect and curiosity for Ash after he helped him and his pack a bunch of Pokemon.

It’s when the events of episode 10 come to play is when certain plotpoints start to change. At the beginning of the episode, we see Sandile having to have encountered Trip, battling his Servine and revealing Snivy to have been his starter. Despite the type advantage, Sandile manages to pull a decent fight which somewhat impresses Trip until a well-aimed Cut attack manages to knock Sandile’s sunglasses right off his snout, sending him into his panic mode. Disappointed at the side, Trip recalls Servine, puts away the Pokeball he planned to catch Sandile with, and walks away, insisting that Sandile’s reliance on his glasses makes too pathetic of a Pokemon to catch. Sandile overhears this just as he picks back up his glasses, making him a little depressed over Trip’s words.

Later, Sandile spots Ash, Iris, and Cilan making their way towards Luxuria Town and uses Dig to follow them. He doesn’t appear again until we much later during Ash’s 3-on-3 battle against Trip, where he witnesses Trip taking out Ash’s Snivy with Servine. This motivates Sandile to achieve his revenge, so just as Ash is about to send Pikachu out as his last Pokemon, Sandile suddenly runs to battle instead, much to Ash and Iris’ shock and Trip’s surprise, with Sandile’s glasses being a dead giveaway to them. Seeing Sandile’s determination, Don George allows Sandile to fight despite Ash and Iris’ protests that Sandile isn’t technically Ash’s Pokemon. However, seeing Sandile’s intense glare towards Servine, Ash immediately understands Sandile’s ambitions, so he allows it himself. Thanks to Ash’s direction, Sandile is able to pull off a much better fight against Servine up until his glasses get knocked off once again. This causes Ash and his friends to discover Sandile’s reliance over his glasses just as Servine finishes the fight with Leaf Tornado, knocking him out and making Trip’s first victory a little less contrived and a little less bullshit as it was originally.

With Sandile knocked off, Trip’s declared the winner and he makes his leave. Meanwhile, Ash and his friends comfort Sandile over his loss with Pikachu retrieving his sunglasses for him, cementing their new friendship. After the usual Ash-Mon talk of getting stronger together (a per anime tradition, really) Ash takes out a Pokeball and Sandile happily puts himself into it, officially making him Ash’s Pokemon.

From then on out, Sandile does what he can to be a perfect Pokemon for Ash and a reliable teammate. He happily converses with others, helps Ash catch other Pokemon like Roggenrola, cheers for Tepig when he battles Shamus, and overall just be more involved in Ash’s journey through Unova.

As the adventure goes, he soon evolves into a Krokorok to help Ash win against Elesa and her annoying-ass Emolga (because I’m sure we would ALL do something to make that episode letter) and evolves early into Krookodile during his and Ash’s training with Brycen and Beartic. After their training, Krookodile wins, but mostly out of luck that Krookodile’s sunglasses didn’t fall off, like it did during Ash’s battles against Clay and Skyla.

And here’s when things get interesting.

Even after reaching his final evolutionary stage, Krookodile STILL gets nervous whenever he losses his sunglasses, no matter what Ash, his Pokemon, Iris, and Cilan try to do to help him out with that issue. Just as everyone tries to come up with a new strategy to help out Krookodile, some antics by Axew and Scraggy causes the gang to get attacked by a group of Ferrothorn, forcing them to split up and get lost in a treacherous valley. As the plot progresses, everyone manages to get back together except for Ash and Krookodile as a result of the latter losing his glasses from the attack and the former’s determination to find those accessories. When they eventually do find Krooky’s sunglasses, that is when they confronted once again by the angry Ferrothorn. Knowing Krookodile is too nervous to fight, Ash has him take cover behind some boulders while Ash tries to distract the Ferrothorn away so that Krookodile can get his glasses back.

Things don’t go as planned and Krookodile ends up getting chased as well when some of the Ferrothorn find him. Because Ash is, well, Ash, he quickly takes many of the attacks the Ferrothorn have aimed for Krookodile. Seeing Ash’s life in danger, Krookodile regains his confidence, steps in between his trainer and attackers, and, remembering his training and battle against Brycen’s Beartic, fends off the Ferrothorn with Stone Edge and learns Aerial Ace in time to completely ward them off. With the Ferrothorn fleeing away, Ash manages to get the sunglasses back and his friends and other Pokemon regroup with them, having to have heard all the commotion from their battle. Everyone is caught off-guard by Krookodile’s confident stance without his glasses, and while he continues to keep them in order to retain his individuality, he full-on proves his development much later down the series during the Vertress Conference in Ash’s final battle against Trip.

Like in the original, it delves down into a one-on-one, with Ash using Krookodile and Trip using his fully evolved Serperior. It’s a well-fought battle, with both sides fighting to their fullest. Up at the climax of the battle, a Dragon Tail from Serperior manages to knock off Krookodile’s sunglasses. Trip smiles. His opponent’s achilles heel has been struck. Victory is more than ensured. One final Frenzy Plant should end this quick, might as well end this quickly after all. But once the thorny vines struck down towards the downed reptile, Krookodile is up to his feet. He has caught two of the vines and is using them to hold up the others. He then pushes the vines off of him, cancelling the attack and forcing Serperior to recharge. He shows no signs of distress. In fact, he’s glowing red. As the announcer points out, Krookodile has learned a new move. Outrage, replacing his Dragon Claw move.

The fight is then concluded by Krookodile running towards the defenseless Serperior to beat them senselessly with Outrage. Serperior tries to fight back with Energy Balls and Dragon Tails, but Krookodile’s relentless spirit helps him keep going to eventually taking down Serperior, winning his beloved trainer the battle and equaling the score with his longtime rival. He and Ash have now earned Trip’s respect, ending their relationship on good terms, Ash retrieves his sunglasses for him, and a huge hug further emphasizes their developed bond as Pikachu, Iris, Axew, Cilan, Ash’s other rivals, and the entire stadium cheers them on, wrapping up Krookodile’s arc.

So yeah, that’s my own little Krookodile arc for ya. Hope y’all liked it!

[wc-fourfates]

Clantember Day 1: Territories

ThunderClan

ThunderClan’s territory is ancient woodland comprised largely of oaks, but also with ash, beech, and elm mixed in. There’s a good mix of clearings and areas with denser underbrush, suited to a variety of hunting styles. There aren’t any human walking paths, but there are a variety of deer paths.

To the North is the Thunderpath, their border with ShadowClan. Because of the inconvenience of crossing, ThunderClan has little contact with ShadowClan except at Gatherings. Technically ShadowClan also owns a small strip of forest between the Thunderpath and Fourtrees, but it is not commonly used unless the extra hunting grounds are sorely needed. The Snakerocks are found along this border, and the Sandy Hollow is due North from camp.

To the East is the edge of the Twolegplace. It is a large town/small city, the portion that borders ThunderClan territory being a peaceful residential area. Most kittypets in the area are indoor-outdoor cats that go in for the night, and most are smart enough not to venture into the woods but instead hang around the yards or in Treecutplace.

To the South is Treecutplace. In this area of England, junipers are the only native conifers, and the rest are only found where cultivated. Here, lodgepole pines are planted for timber, and there is little undergrowth as they are regularly harvested. ThunderClan’s border markers end at the edge of Treecutplace, but they sometimes hunt here when the humans aren’t too active.

To the West is the River, which marks their border with RiverClan, and Fourtrees more to the Northwest. The Owl-tree is not far from Fourtrees, marking the end of ThunderClan’s territory in that direction.

RiverClan

RiverClan is mostly dry heath, with lots of alder and silver birch along the river. The river itself is relatively slow-moving along much of the territory, and therefore safe to swim in so long as one is careful to stick to those parts. There is also a large stream running through the territory, around which the camp is built.

To the North, the River cascades down forming the Falls, into the Gorge that divides their territory from WindClan. The steep, sandy slopes are navigable provided one is careful, but falling over the edge unprepared spells almost certain death.

The river curves around, flowing from the North down to the East border of the territory. The river is the calmest here, safest for swimming and fishing. When Sunningrocks was an island, it was a favored spot for swimming, fishing, and relaxing, and it still is, provided RiverClan can keep a claim over it for any length of time.

To the South, the territory is cut off by a small Thunderpath leading to the Farmhouse. It’s a small family farm of several acres, containing a Twoleg den, a handful of assorted livestock, pastureland, and some actively planted fields. RiverClan keeps a friendly relationship with the few barn cats.

To the East, there is more free heathland. RiverClan doesn’t always bother to mark this border, so there is no hard line on where it ends. Though they could claim more of this territory, it is not especially fruitful for hunting and so they usually consider it more trouble than it’s worth to head all the way out to hunt and patrol. The Flood-camp, the backup area RiverClan evacuates to in case of heavy rain or meltwater, is located East of the main camp.

WindClan

WindClan is comprised of lovely heath and moors with very few trees and shrubs. The elevation increases steadily from Fourtrees, transitioning smoothly into the mountains north of the territories.

To the North, WindClan borders on the Thunderpath. Past the Thunderpath is the mountains, which are definitely on the smaller end for mountains, with fairly smooth slopes. The mountain closest to the territories is often referred to as “the Mother”, supposedly because the top resembles a mother cat and her kittens when viewed from the right angle. “Mothermouth” is the entrance to an aborted attempt at a mine, within which lies the Moonstone. Cross-the-Way Barn is a bit south of Mothermouth, and it’s where Barley lives.

To the East, WindClan borders on Fourtrees and on the edge of ThunderClan’s forest territory. The first large slope past Fourtrees is named Runner’s Hill, after Windstar herself. The Outlook Rock lies just East of camp, allowing a cat to survey a large portion of the territory at once.

To the South is the Gorge that borders RiverClan. WindClan cats, having little reason to go down to the water, tend to mark their border well away from this so no cat accidentally runs too near the edge.

To the West is largely farmland, though the area immediately around the River continues uninterrupted for some way. Though WindClan will hunt upriver in times of need, they don’t claim this territory for the same reason RiverClan doesn’t - it simply isn’t worth is most of the time to stray so far from camp.

ShadowClan

ShadowClan is largely valley bog and alder carrs, though the elevation varies enough therein that it can usually be traversed without getting muddy. The bog supports a variety of birds, reptiles and amphibians for the cats to prey on.

The North, South, and West borders are all demarcated by the Thunderpath, and to the East is the Twolegplace. Though they’re bordered on all sides by Twoleg activity, ShadowClan’s territory is usually left quite well alone because of how difficult it is for humans to traverse and build on. However, this also means that in times of scarcity they do not have any additional areas to expand to.

To the South is the border with ThunderClan, and also where they have the driest and most densely forested area. The Burnt Sycamore resides in a clearing near this border.

Carrionplace is located to the Northwest, and cats will hunt here occasionally. Other areas are usually preferred, but Carrionplace rats are often turned to when other prey is scarce. Contrary to the stereotypes, they do not eat crowfood, but hunting parties do often come back smelling like it.

[namelists]

a list of names inspired by: plants

this list includes names relating to trees, shrubs, herbs, succulents and lesser-known/used flowers.

Abu: minor Sumerian god of plants

Alder: flowering plants in the birch family

Alfalfa: a perennial flowering plant in the legume family  

Almond:  a species of tree native to Iran  

Aloe: a succulent native to the Old World tropics

Amaryllis: an autumn-flowering South African bulbous herb  

Apple: the round fruit of a tree of the rose family  

Aralia: trees and shrubs of the ginseng family  

Artemis: Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, nature, wilderness

Ash: a tree with silver-gray bark and compound leaves  

Aster:  a plant of the daisy family with bright rayed flowers

Balsam: a herbaceous plant cultivated for its flowers

Basil:  an aromatic annual herb of the mint family, native to tropical Asia

Bay: an evergreen Mediterranean shrub of the laurel family  

Calla: South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow spadix  

Carraway: white-flowered aromatic Old World herb of the carrot family  

Cayenne: a bush of moderately-hot, tapering, skinny, mostly red-colored peppers

Cedar:  conifers which typically yield fragrant, durable timber  

Chamomile: an aromatic European plant of the daisy family, with white and yellow flowers.  

Cherry: trees and shrubs of the rose family cultivated for their fruits or ornamental flowers  

Chervil:  a plant of the parsley family, with small white flowers and delicate fernlike leaves

Chicory: a blue-flowered Mediterranean plant of the daisy family, cultivated for its edible salad leaves

Chloris: Greek goddess of flowers

Chrysanthemum:  a plant of the daisy family with brightly colored ornamental flowers  

Cicely: an aromatic white-flowered plant of the parsley family, with fernlike leaves  

Cinnamon: an aromatic spice made from the peeled, dried, and rolled bark of a Southeast Asian tree  

Clementine: a tangerine of a deep orange-red North African variety  

Coral Bell: a perennial alumroot cultivated for its feathery spikes of tiny red bell-shaped flowers  

Coriander:  an aromatic Mediterranean plant of the parsley family  

Cotton:  a soft white fibrous substance that surrounds the seeds of a tropical and subtropical plant  

Demeter: Greek goddess of the harvest, crops, the fertility of the earth

Diana: Roman goddess of the hunt, wild animals, nature, wilderness

Dill: an aromatic herb of the parsley family, with fine blue-green leaves and yellow flowers  

Durio: a small genus of tall Asiatic and Indian trees with tapering leaves and small green flowers  

Echeveria:  a succulent plant with rosettes of fleshy colorful leaves

Feronia: Roman goddess associated with wildlife, fertility, health and abundance

Filbert: a cultivated hazel tree that bears edible oval nuts.  

Flora: Roman goddess of flowers and the spring

Freesia: a small southern African plant of the iris family, with fragrant, colorful, tubular flowers  

Gaea: Greek goddess of the earth and its personification

Gardenia:  a tree or shrub with large fragrant white or yellow flowers  

Haricot:  an edible bean of a variety with small white seeds  

Hawthorn: a thorny tree of the rose family, with white, pink, or red blossoms

Hazel: a small tree with broad leaves bearing catkins in spring and edible nuts in autumn

Hemlock:  a highly poisonous European plant, with a purple-spotted stem, fernlike leaves, and small white flowers

Hickory: a chiefly North American tree of the walnut family

Holly:  a shrub, typically having prickly dark green leaves, small white flowers, and red berries  

Hosta:  an eastern Asian plant known for its shade-tolerant foliage and mauve or white flowers.  

Huckleberry: a low-growing North American shrub of the heath family  

Iris: a plant with sword-shaped leaves and showy flowers, typically purple, yellow, or white  

Ivy: a woody evergreen climbing plant with shiny, dark green five-pointed leaves  

Jade:  a succulent plant with small pink or white flowers known as a “lucky plant” or “money tree”

Juniper:  an evergreen shrub or small tree that bears aromatic berrylike cones  

Kale: a cabbagelike cultivated plant of the mustard family, having curled or wrinkled leaves  

Lavender: a small aromatic evergreen shrub of the mint family, with narrow leaves and bluish-purple flowers  

Lilac: a shrub or small tree of the olive family, that has fragrant violet, pink, or white blossoms  

Magnolia: a tree or shrub with large, typically creamy-pink, waxy flowers  

Mahogany:  the tropical American tree that produces mahogany timber used for high-quality furniture

Maple: a tree with lobed leaves, winged fruits, and colorful autumn foliage

Medeina: Lithuanian goddess of forests

Mint:  an aromatic plant native to temperate regions of the Old World  

Nectarine: a genetic variant of common peaches, domesticated in China over 4,000 years ago  

Oak:  a tree that bears acorns as fruit, and typically has lobed deciduous leaves  

Okra: a plant with long ridged seedpods, native to the Old World tropics  

Olive: widely cultivated evergreen tree, native to warm regions of the Old World

Orchid: a tropical forest plant with complex flowers that are often showy or bizarrely shaped

Ostrya: a genus of small deciduous trees in the birch family

Oxylus: Greek god of forests & mountains

Palm: an unbranched evergreen tree with a crown of long feathered or fan-shaped leaves  

Parsley: an herbal plant with white flowers and aromatic leaves  

Peach: a Chinese tree that bears the peach fruit

Pentandra: the ceiba pentandra is a massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its trunk

Peony: a herbaceous plant of north temperate regions, cultivated for its showy flowers

Pepper: a climbing vine with berries that are dried as black or white peppercorns

Persephone: Greek goddess of spring growth

Poinsettia: a small Mexican shrub with large showy scarlet bracts surrounding the small yellow flowers  

Pomona: goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards

Ponderosa: a tall slender pine tree, the most widespread conifer of western North America  

Poppy: a herbaceous plant with showy flowers, milky sap, and rounded seeds

Porvata: Polish god of the woods

Rosemary:  an evergreen aromatic shrub of the mint family, native to southern Europe

Sage: an aromatic plant with grayish-green leaves that are used as a culinary herb  

Sequoia: a redwood tree, especially the California redwood.  

Silvanus: tutelary spirit or deity of woods and fields and protector of forests

Spruce: a widespread coniferous tree which has a distinctive conical shape and hanging cones  

Stevia: a composite herb native to South America whose leaves are the source of a natural sweetener

Sugar: sugar cane is a perennial tropical grass with tall stout jointed stems from which sugar is extracted  

Sycamore: a large Eurasian maple with winged fruits, native to central and southern Europe  

Tamarack: a slender North American coniferous tree with bunches of deciduous bright green needles  

Terra: Roman primeval goddess personifying the earth

Tilia: a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes

Tulip:  a bulbous spring-flowering plant of the lily family, with boldly colored cup-shaped flowers

Tāne: Māori god of forests and of birds

Verbena: a chiefly American herbaceous plant which bears heads of bright showy flowers

Willow: a tree or shrub of temperate climates that typically has narrow leaves, bears catkins, and grows near water

Zelkova: an Asian tree of the elm family, cultivated for its timber, or as a bonsai tree

Zinfandel: a variety of wine grape grown in California

[reachfolk]

8, 11, and 12 for Ursula and Bothela then!!! And if you wanna pick a random ship for Alexi to answer them for go for it!!

💛 from @korvanjund

aaa thank you sm for the ask!! bothela and ursula are my emotional support lesbian moms so i'm glad to have an excuse to rave about them more lol <3 for lexi, i decided to just go for the little team i've got for her in my current wip, which is her, lucien, inigo, and vilja !! it's the one i've been posting some promos for, so i'll be posting more about them later this month.

who shows affection through touch?

bothela & ursula: definitely ursula !! growing up, she and her sister were extremely close and very touchy and physically affectionate. even though the sisters grew apart over the years, i think ursula still has that streak where she loves being as close as possible to the people she loves. her favorite thing hugging bothela from behind while she's working at the alchemy lab and giving her a kiss on the cheek. bothela would call her out for being a distraction, but she secretly loves it too lol. they've got that old married couple banter. "stop doing that, this is a sensitive mixture!" / "what? i just wanted to remind you to dilute the ash hopper jelly more. it's not watery enough." / "it's perfectly fine." / "you know, this is why my health potions are better than yours." / "why you-! you're fired." meanwhile muiri is trying to figure out how this relationship lasted 30+ years dkdflkhsd

lexi's polycule: oohh my god it's alexi by FAR. i mean, vilja is also very affectionate too, but alexi will be all over whoever is in her vicinity. she's her mother's daughter in that regard and it almost confuses people who aren't used to affection cause she's so casual with it. she will find a way to cuddle in any position--by lifting their arm and putting it around her, or sitting in their lap, or hugging them from behind. will not go an hour without giving someone a kiss on the cheek. it makes vilja so happy and she returns it enthusiastically. inigo sometimes teases her for it, but he lets her get comfortable and loves it all the same. lucien gets very flustered by it, because he's not exactly used to having a woman all over him like this, and definitely not one so scantily dressed (forsworn armor and whatnot). he gets used to it eventually, but no matter how long it's been since they've gotten together, he still ends up blushing a little.

how do they comfort each other?

bothela & ursula: a lot of the time their way of comforting can be seen as a little harsh i think? it's part of how they were raised as reachwomen; they don't sugarcoat anything and tend to focus on practical solutions to problems. they aren't insensitive by any means of course, and they won't dismiss the other's feelings, but they also won't let them wallow in it and make themselves feel worse. so when bothela is having a rough time because of her nephew being in the mine, ursula would tell her there's nothing left to do but take care of each other and their other loved ones as best they can. when ursula is anxious about her niece alexi going off to do gods-know-what, bothela assures her that no matter what, alexi's choices are her own and ursula gave her the self-assuredness to make them for herself. they often opt to distract the other from their worries by drawing their attention to their work or to something pleasant and relaxing. walks along the karth river are their go-to.

lexi's polycule: alexandria is more gentle with her words than her aunties, seeing as she spent much of her childhood acting as a peacekeeper between her family. she's really sensitive to people's moods and feelings, and she's very emotionally supportive, but she feels bad that she doesn't always have the wisdom to give advice on what to do. lucien is a great listener as well, and he's really great to talk to when one of them is feeling confused and torn over something because he's really good at asking the right questions and helping to make sense of what they're feeling. he also tends to offer rational solutions and offer help however he can. vilja is super understanding and always has a shoulder to cry on, but i think she's also someone who's able to lift someone's spirits when they're down. she's great if you need a distraction or change of pace. there's a little scene in my fic where she helps alexi down from a panic attack by singing her favorite song and giving her a hand to grasp to ground herself. lastly, inigo's been through hell and back, and so he's very sympathetic and gives really great advice on how to cope with a lot of difficult things, especially grief and guilt. he's just a warm person and a comforting presence. and like vilja, he can help lift someone's spirits just by his sense of humor! he can get someone laughing even if they're having the worst day of their life.

what’s an ideal evening for them?

bothela & ursula: i actually think they're both very sociable, community-oriented people! their favorite memories are in group settings, surrounded by family and loved ones. usually potlucks and big family gatherings. sad as it is, those memories are long gone. much of what's left of the reachfolk perished in the markarth incident or were thrown in the mines (including bothela's family). it left ursula and her sister constantly at odds, and it tore up the community they had grown to love. they do still have a few people left that they love spending time with; namely robin, marceline, and muiri (and alexi before she left of course). they never had kids of their own, but they took on a very parental role with muiri, and they treat her like family. and of course, ursula loves her nieces and nephew with all her heart. they'd usually invite the kids out to a picnic overlooking the karth river. ursula would make her famous juniper berry pie, and bothela makes a great salmon stew which is a classic reach dish.

lexi's polycule: kinda different things for all of them! with lucien, alexandria and he are both absolute nerds, and they often spend hours on end discussing their research (their interests mostly overlap in history, but lucien learned a lot about alchemy from her and she learned a lot about philosophy from him). basically, study dates!! with vilja, i think she enjoys a calm evening. she loves walking along the coastlines and looking for pearls, and alexi loses her mind when finding new ingredients, so it's a pleasant way to spend time for both of them. with inigo, i think he's got the most adventurous spirit of the bunch, and he always brings it out in lexi! she's most fond of nordic ruins (inigo's worst nightmare lol), but they find their common ground in smashing giant spiders !! lexi insists they're cute in their own way, which pretty much always leads to playful bickering between the pair, but they have fun regardless (and lexi gets tons of ingredients, which is like christmas for her)

[peak9ine]

Purging of the Cedars- pt. 2 Pastel on paper: Legion Rivers Buff 19” wide x 26” high /A 2021 #pastel #painting #art #artistsoninstagram #artwork #artoftheday #arts_help #new_and_abstract #draw #drawing #andrewnaeger #pastelonpaper #abstract #abstractpainting #abstractart #abstractartist Inspiration: My pastel paintings are often almost completely rendered by my memory and emotions an event or place. Considered this an abstract painting with resemblance to landscape. Watching the smoke billow from cedars burning near edges of the cut pasture ready hills inspired this piece. My neighbors spent a summer reducing cedars to open pasture land and control threat of future wildfire. I can’t help but think of all the carbon releasing into the atmosphere at a time where we are all under threat of a global climate crisis. I visited the burn sites where large cedar trees were piled high. In the remains of the burn wood pieces I took an axe and collected pieces to use in this painting. These charred cedar are block like ashes provided the dark charcoal like pigment used in this pastel painting. There is a lot of history about cedar trees being purged to control grasslands, prevent large wildfire. They have a reputation of not being native to Missouri, but they in fact, are. The Juniperus virginiana (Eastern red cedar) are native to Missouri. Another native is the Ashe's juniper (Juniperus ashei), which are found mostly in the northeastern portion of the state. “The cedar tree is an important habitat for certain animals. Russell says endangered species such as the black-capped vireo and golden-cheeked warbler thrive on the cedar tree as part of their natural habitat. The bottom line is cedar trees can be good for an ecosystem as long as they don’t displace entire species of wildlife, or decrease plant diversity within a pasture. However, the bad far outweighs the good when it comes to cedar trees.” Source: https://www.hpj.com/ag_news/waging-war-on-cedar-trees/article_7b8c7ae8-204d-56db-8d39-24bfd9a5fcf4.html https://www.instagram.com/p/CPVsjuSFUVf/?utm_medium=tumblr

[annieboltonworld]

Juniper Publishers-Open Access Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources

Impact of Natural Short-Term Climate Forcing on India's Climate

Authored by Ashutosh Mishra

Abstract

Among several factors of climate, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Sunspot cycles work on inter annual to inter decadal scales and it is believed that while the El Niño-La Niña pressure seesaw of Pacific Ocean affects climate by altering global wind and rainfall patterns, the 11 years periodic variability of sunspot appearance bring changes in insolation and cloud formation. Thus, the role of these two climate forcing seems critical in pushing short term climatic variability's. This paper attempts to know the impact of these two climatic phenomena on temperature and rainfall patterns at regional scale, and for the purpose the study considers India as the case. Analysis reveals that temperature show a good correlation with sunspot activities, while the effect of ENSO cycle on country's rainfall is not very clear. However, India's coastal states record a notable rise in temperatures during El-Niño phase of ENSO phenomenon, and this may be the cause behind fragmented and uneven rainfall over the country during El-Niño years.

Keywords: Sunspots; El-Niño Southern Oscillation; Short-Term Forcing; Temperature; Rainfall; Natural Variability

Introduction

Yielding from sun and varying with inclination, the climate of a place determines nature and state of biota flourishing there. However, atmospheric-oceanic-geomorphic changes modulate the climatic properties in course of time. Apart from these natural forces, today man also has developed the technology and skills to regulate climatic characters up to some extent. Natural forces that affect the climate, work on millennium to minimum scales whereas human role is limited up to a life span. The natural forcing are- Earth's orbital variations, changes in solar output, plate tectonic movements, volcanism, meteorites, oceanic circulation etc. while the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), fossil fuel burn greenhouse gases, industrial aerosols, and enhanced atmospheric water vapour are the ‘humanogenic’ causal factors of changes in climate. The discovery of the stratospheric ozone hole over Antarctica in 1987 propelled scientific research on role of manmade CFCs in atmospheric alterations. And soon, searching statistical significance in the man-climate change relationship became focus of correlation studies on this issue [1,2]. Most of these studies surmised that human additions in the natural climatic variability is the cause behind increasing temperatures, disrupted rains and intensifying extreme climate events. They tried to estimate the departure of climatic conditions from their natural course of variability. However, they considered natural forcing as rhythmic and predictable. But, climate is a dynamic system where all of its components are linked with feedbacks, and, therefore, change in one component may lead to change in one or the all. Measuring probable departures in all the directions is really an accuracy challenge. It is rather more realistic to measure the degree of association between natural forcing and climatic variability. If natural causes fail to synchronise well with climatic trend, it is indicative of some unnatural causes of change.

The notable natural factors that affect the climate are- Milankovitch cycles, plate tectonics, sunspot cycle, meteorites, volcanism and El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Orbital changes and plate tectonic movements are slow and longterm processes mainly responsible for climate reversal, while the sunspots, volcanism, ENSO like short-term forces induce rapid changes in the climate. Studies suggest that increase in sunspot numbers increases surface temperature of the Earth while decreases the amount of rainfall [3] Svensmark, Friis- Christensen [4] found in their study that increased sunspot activity strengthens the electromagnetic field of Sun and that blocks galactic cosmic rays to enter into the inner solar system. This reduction in the cosmic ray flux, then, reduces the cloud seeding rate and thereby reduces the amount of solar energy reflected back by clouds directly to the universe. And by this process the enhanced amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface rises its temperature. The fall in rate of cloud seeding also decreases the volume of rainfall. Besides sunspot changes, the external bodies like meteorites, which fall on the Earth’s surface at a speed of approximately 10-75 kilometres per second after passing the thick layer of atmosphere, are also believed to have some impact on terrestrial climate Kohler, Beauford [5]. At this speed when these interplanetary bodies come in contact with even the thinnest of atmospheres, generate heat from both friction and compression. And the temperature and dust released at the time of their collision, sometimes alters the climate significantly. Several studies have attempted to substantiate that sudden climate change caused by heavy meteoritic shower in Cretaceous period was the cause behind extinction of dinosaurs from earth Ganapathy [6], Alvarez [7], Russell, Tucker [8].

Volcanic eruption is also a short-term forcing that affects the climate through injecting a large amount of ash, sulphurous gases, halogens and water vapour into the Earth’s atmosphere Gao [9], Crowley [10]. These gases and aerosols produce a cooling effect by reducing the amount of insolation. However, the extreme amount of volcanism can also produce global warming Robock [11] Timmreck [12]. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is another short-term climate forcing that is characterised by a warm (El Niño), neutral and cold (La Niña) phases. The warm phase of the ENSO event is associated with higher precipitation in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific and reduced rainfall in Western Equatorial Pacific when compared with neutral condition. These patterns are reversed during the La Niña phase Salau [13] Collins [14] Chavez [14] McPhaden [14]. Scientific accounts find a good connection between El Niño phenomena and a week monsoon over India. They observe that during El Niño years, it is more likely that India receives less rainfall than normal Pant & Parthasarathy, [15] Francis & Gadgil [16] Sajani [17].

Apart from these short-term forcing, the long-term climate agents also affect the climate as well, however, they are very slow-moving forces, and would not be very helpful in explaining short-term climate fluctuations. Hence, present study considers only the short-term climate agents for its investigation, and takes India as a case of analysis. It is important to mention that no significant occurrence of meteoritic impacts or volcanism have been recorded in India during last century. The study, therefore, analyses only the sunspot changes and El Niño events to understand the departure of climatic variability from the natural path.

Data Source and Methodology

The study is based on the temperature and rainfall series of 116 years (1901-2016), collected from India Meteorological Department. The data pertaining to Oceanic Niño indexes of past of 52 years (1961-2012) was obtained from the National Centres for Environmental Information, Boulder, USA while the data related to annual change in mean sunspot numbers during last 102 years (1911-2012) was collected from the World Data Centre, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. The study uses simple correlation and regression analyses to examine the degree of association of sunspot and ENSO events with temperature and rainfall.

Temperature and Rainfall Changes in India: Recent Trends

India, which is a country of monsoon climate, witnesses seasonal trend reversal of pressure and wind system during the year. The Tibetan plateau and the Himalayan Mountains situated in the north, Thar Desert in the west and Indian Ocean in the south of the country, make its climate unique and diversified, varying from tropical to temperate and from desert to alpine conditions. The country receives most of its rain during summers while faces extreme cold conditions in north and mild temperatures in the south during winters. In recent decades India has recorded an increase in extreme climate events and there are several studies which link this change to rapid humanization of Indian landscape Mishra [18] Mishra [19] IPCC [20]. Notably the correlation between sunspot numbers and temperature is positive for all states. These relationships significant in case of Sikkim, Odisha, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar while the statistical insignificance for most of the states can be attributed to geographical variations. Nevertheless, the unidirectional covariance of sunspot activity and temperature change shows that temperature trends are mostly being governed by the incoming solar radiation.

The uneven rise in surface temperature can be understood by differences in surface reflectivity and regional geography. For example, same amount of insulation will produce more warming on darker or flat surface and less on the light or undulating surface, like in Rajasthan, a large area of land comes under desert which reflects more energy and thus, is not as warm as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, or Northeast states which is marked by surface of vegetation cover absorbing more solar radiation. On the other hand, the state of Punjab is known for its green fields, absorbing more heat, but due to intense irrigation, this heat produces a 'partial cooling effect' as the naturally enhanced temperature spends its energy for evaporating the field waters. The state of Haryana along with the Chandigarh and NCT of Delhi is under the 'partial cooling effect' of urban heat islands as the extra heat accumulate in local atmosphere enhances the rate of evaporation and thereby atmospheric water vapour content. This effect is visible in the rainfall patterns of these states as they have received more rainfall due to the enhanced water vapour in their local atmosphere. The partial cooling effect of urban heat island is also working in case of Kerala and the state has recorded a less warming than its neighbouring states. The relationship between sunspot number and rainfall is not very clear, yet, due to low cloud seeding during increased sunspot activity, it can be suggested that the rainfall will decline (Figure 1).

(Figure 2) demonstrates the monthly and seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall conditions of India during last 116 years (1901-2016). Evidently February, November and December are the months that have recorded highest increase in temperature and on the other hand the month of July has witnessed maximum decrease in volume of rainfall. It is clearly visible from the Figure (2). That winter and Post-Monsoon seasons are gaining heat, while the Monsoon season has noticed a decline in rainfall.

(Figure 3) displays the temperature and rainfall pattern of India for 1901-2016. A sharp increase in temperature and a significant decline in rainfall after the year 1990 are quite evident. Virtually the year of 1990 can be termed as 'climate dividend' for India. Actually, this was the period when India opened its market for foreign investors to install industrial units in the country. It is evident that the India's climate is shifting towards hot and dry conditions and this change is more evident for last 2 decades.

Linking ENSO and Sunspot phenomena with Temperature and Rainfall Changes

(Table 1) shows the correlation between annual mean temperature, annual rainfall and annual mean sunspot numbers for a period of 102 years (1911-2012). Notably the correlation between sunspot numbers and temperature is positive for all states. This relationship is significant in case of Sikkim, Odisha, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar while the statistical insignificance for most of the states can be attributed to geographical variations. Nevertheless, the unidirectional covariance of sunspot activity and temperature change shows that temperature trends are mostly being governed by the incoming solar radiation.

The uneven rise in surface temperature can be understood by differences in surface reflectivity and regional geography. For example, same amount of isolation will produce more warming on darker or flat surface and less on the light or undulating surface, like in Rajasthan a large area of land comes under desert which reflects more energy and thus, is not as warm as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, or Northeast states which is marked by surface of vegetation cover absorbing more solar radiation. On the other hand, the state of Punjab is known for its green fields, absorbing more heat, but due to intense irrigation, this heat produces a 'partial cooling effect' as the naturally enhanced temperature spends its energy for evaporating the field waters. The state of Haryana along with the Chandigarh and NCT of Delhi is under the 'partial cooling effect' of urban heat islands as the extra heat accumulate in local atmosphere enhances the rate of evaporation and thereby atmospheric water vapour content. This effect is visible in the rainfall patterns of these states as they have received more rainfall due to the enhanced water vapour in their local atmosphere. The 'partial cooling effect’ of urban heat island is also working in case of Kerala and the state has recorded a less warming than its neighbouring states.

The relationship between sunspot number and rainfall is not very clear, yet, due to low cloud seeding during increased sunspot activity, it can be suggested that the rainfall will decline. The correlation between sunspot numbers and the rainfall partially support this idea. It can be gauged from (Table 1) that almost half of the states of the country are showing negative relationship between sunspot activity and rainfall. However, owing to the two-tailed relationship, no definite association can be interpreted. It can be said that the rainfall depends more on local atmospheric conditions rather than external forcing. The second natural short term forcing for temperature and rainfall changes is the El Niño-La Niña oscillation. This is measured in Oceanic Niño Index (ONI). (Table 2) presents the correlations between Oceanic Niño Index and temperature and rainfall for a period of 52 years (1961-2012).

The (Table 2) shows that during El Niño years, temperatures were high over India and also that there was more rainfall during such years. Although the rainfall-oceanic Niño index correlation is insignificant for most of the states, yet few have recorded a significant positive correlation. This goes against the so called El Niño-Monsoon relationship that during El Niño a less rainfall is expected over India. However, the two-tailed relationship between El Niño and temperature, and El Niño and rainfall limits the possibility of predicting any significant association between these two variables.

Conclusion

The positive correlations between Sunspot cycle and Temperature patterns show that solar activity is a critical determinant of regional temperature profile of the country, however, the degree of correlation between sunspot numbers and temperature patterns for most of the states is very weak. On the other hand, the sunspot cycle-rainfall association is two tailed and do not support Svensmark, and Friis-Christensen's cosmic theory of climate change. It is noteworthy that most of the coastal states of India record a good correlation between Oceanic Niño Index and Temperature. This simply means that during El Niño years, Indian coast becomes warmer than usual, and thus, this phenomenon disturbs normal monsoon mechanism by easing the pressure gradient developed over the country. However, the correlations between El Niño and rainfall patterns do not justify the hypothesis that during El Niño years India gets less rainfall than normal.

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[knightmaring]

𝙳𝙰𝙸𝙻𝚈 𝚃𝙰𝚂𝙺 𝙽𝚄𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝙾𝙽𝙴 : 𝚂𝙲𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴

𝙰𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙰: Smoldering and Earthy

CLOVE:

Taken from the banquet hall during holiday festivities. Hudson keeps them around in little satchels, placed near the areas of his little makeshift barn structure and his Aspida apartment he settles down in the most. He takes other spices as well (such as cinnamon, myrrh, and frankincense), but he’s particularly fond of this one.

CAMPFIRE:

Hudson’s little structure doesn’t have any electricity or gas heating, but it does have a small opening on the roof  to allow smoke to escape. During the fall through the early spring, at sunset---after he’s brought the animals in---he tends to light a small fire beneath the opening. He sits there and reads or gets lost in memories.

GUNPOWDER:

With a collection of old soviet firearms and other stolen weapons, Hudson tends to wind down after a particularly rough day by testing and cleaning the guns in his collection. The past year’s been particularly rough for him, so he spends most night fiddling with them, hence the lingering smell of gunpowder.

OAKMOSS:

The structure he resides in made up of stones, logs, leaves, branches, mud, cow dung, and moss he’s found around the forests and across the camp over the summer. The moss has been used to create a blanket over the roof and between the logs as insulation, and also, mostly just for decorative reasons. He think it’s really neat looking.

SAGE:

If he’s feeling particularly cursed or feeling particularly anxious (which has been most days for the past year), Hudson will burn a stick of sage. He’s brought back seeds from wild sage grown in Arizona, and there’s typically a patch of it growing during the warmer months by his little barn structure.

BERGAMOT & BOURBON:

These scents are a result of his body soap.

CEDAR (& JUNIPER):

Hudson carries a satchel of cedar and juniper ash with him in case he encounters any devils or skinwalkers.   

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

4, 7, 14, and bc it's my favorite 69 for all three ~~

if they could learn one spell that isn’t available to them at present, which spell would it be?

ori wants true res, but i frankly think she deserves find familiar. she'll get the druid variant in 2 levels but. full time friend is ideal.

anthe... i considered changing her to light domain because i thought anthe with fireball would be funny. i stand by this fact.

ves. i have to look at starfinder spells because they are not a mage. but i think they'd like identify :-). which is a sf spell as well! dnd au ves would be an artificer, is the thing, so.

7 answered for all 3!

what is something they love about themself?

ori loves her creativity. while she tends to pride herself mostly on her intelligence... her art makes her happier than learning, even, and she allows herself that creative outlet as a small kindness to herself. she's starting to allow herself more of those.

anthe loves her connection with nature. it makes her really, really, really happy. it's something that's completely hers and that is inate to her, not something given to her by the gods, and it's just... it's really nice.

ves loves their curiosity. it gets them into bad situations on occasion, but. it's good, and it keeps them engaged with the world even though it's difficult!

how would they describe their party members?

answered for ves. let's go. party by party.

arsonparty, including alba:

klem: quiet and frightened and in need of help. from the dominion, clearly lower-class--experience in intense battle and melee without a clear military background. tries to maintain a level of calm, but quick to run away from trouble. she's thinking about him. she wants to understand him.

alba: :( pirate dad. ori has trouble with anyone from the caeld and anyone who reminds her if her father, but. she really ended up caring for alba. she wanted to help guide him through his deals, and she kind of wanted to nerd out about mechanics with him at some point. he was a good man. she wishes he could've healed. she's... processing. she will process.

chanterelle: that's a little boy. like... she could handle herself at his age, of course, and he's a very put together young lad, all things considered, but. he's so fucking young, and he's been through so many awful things! she wants to keep him safe and also for the two of them to do plant magic together. he's sweet and clever and level-headed and he is a breath of fresh air. he doesn't need to be.

pen: tempted to just post a screenshot of their playlist. but. we all know. she sees herself in him a lot, and it's been... especially so since chanty entered the picture. but beyond that, he's just... pen and juniper and alba were her first-ever friends, and pen's the only one left, and it fucking kills her. she adores him, though, has adored him from the start, even at his worst. he's... yeah. he's the best brother she's ever had. she can't live without him. ashes ashes dust to dust the devil's after both of us. you know?

dreamteam:

nev: nev is... nev. dude. she's nev. she's so kind and warm and healing; her presence is fucking magical even regardless of the paladin thing. she is just... anthe doesn't "click" with people? she clicks with nev. nev makes sense. she wants nev to feel okay opening up more, but she doesn't want to overwhelm her. so for now... they can be gentle with each other. you know?

nol: anthe just... nol is very smart and passionate. and confident. confidence is admirable. she wishes she could talk to nol without getting so... emotional. nol needs help and comfort, but won't allow herself those things, and it's complicated. and nol is frightened, too--maybe that's where they can connect?

vic: they need to talk. So You Lost Your Powers: A Guide To That Whole Thing. or something like that. yeah. she just loves vic a lot and he deserves so much love; he radiates love. it's admirable. he needs to direct that warmth and care inward, but. he's working on it. she'll love him even if he can't.

raelian: anthe admires raelian so much. she's so tough and funny and she's got a wisdom that anthe envies. anthe is also just. so curious about where raelian learned to be... Raelian. she's just so fascinating!!!

ziggy: it's a work in progress. change takes time and work, and she's looking to see that work in action. [redacted redacted redacted because only will and i know some stuff]. they're the clerics, though. they gotta work together.

[snikker-doooo]

Love like yours Fest - Day 5 - Day to Day Bliss

I missed day 4 of @lovelikeyoursfest because I decided to do a drawing for it instead. So it might be up later. Prepare for tooth rotting fluff. Snikkers name is not mentioned in this as lore wise, she has to choose a new name and I haven’t come up with one as of yet.

Pancakes

Muriel x Snikker (Also starring their first born twins Demitri and Leo)

870 Words

It had been at least a year since she had been woken up this early, and never had she been woken up so gently. There was a tug on her hand, soft, small fingers wrapping around her own as Leo pulled her from the bed. Yesterday, after she had finished at the shop and the twins were done with their lessons, the second twin looked at her with his big green eyes and said, “Hey, can we make pancakes for Papa tomorrow?” 

She had agreed, partly because, yes, she always enjoyed having pancakes for breakfast. Mostly, however, because as it got colder, it always seemed the Muriel would get a little melancholy. The hearth still held embers from the night before. She motioned to it, Demitri hoisted a log roughly half his size into the ashes. Leo had gotten a cookbook out like she had asked him to the night before. The boys sat on their seats across the table from their mother. 

“You’re both going to help with the measuring alright?” She yawned out. They nodded to their mother with the wooden measuring cups already in hands. “What do we need first?” 

“One and a half cups of flour.” Leo replied without taking his eyes off her.

“Is that doubled? We need to do double the recipe because you’re both still growing.” she said, wondering how they could still be growing, they were only five and already near her shoulders. 

“Three cups.” Demitri nodded.The boys would take turns scooping the flour into the mixing bowl. Demitri went first as his answer was the correct one. Next was baking powder which Leo correctly calculated. Salt. Sugar. “Eggs.” Demitri said. “Two.” 

“Alright, you boys go get them, remember to ask nicely.” The boys rushed from their seats and out the door, forgetting that their footsteps made noise but remembering to shut the door quietly. She shook her head, steadied herself and walked over to the ice box. Milk, fresh from Juniper yesterday, and butter which she had traded two bottles of milk for the week prior.

 The boys reappear moments later with a collection of eggs. They placed two eggs beside the mixing bowl and placed the others in the chicken shaped basket near the ice box. They smiled. A knowing smile, before giggling. Leo went to open his mouth, “No.” Demitri said. “We can’t let her know.” 

“Let me know what?” Their mother asked and was met with more giggling. She simply rolled her eyes, suspected it was some weird joke between the twins like they often had. “Leo, can you mix this while Mama slices the lemons.” 

He nodded and took the mixing spoon into his hand. 

“Demi, can you set the table?” 

He did as he was asked, placing four plates on the table, four forks, a series of condiments and a selection of spoons to go with them. He then provided his mother with the two fry pans she would need to complete the cooking portion of breakfast.

Both boys would watch in awe as she poured sugared water into one and scooped a spoon of pancake batter into the other. As the first pancake began to bubble to be flipped, their mother poured the slices of lemon into the boiling sugared water. The sweet and sour sticky smell began to waft through their hut as the lemons began to candy. For a moment, she thought she would throw up. “Water. Please.” she said, Demitri rushed to the sink and poured her some.

She drank, and after that she was fine. 

After the third pancake was cooked, the mother turned to her sons. “Would you gently go and wake Papa Bear up?” she motioned to their bedroom as she walked across the room to open a window. She took a breath of fresh air and closed her eyes. “Bliss.” she said taking a moment for herself in the fresh morning air. She inhaled deeply before heading back to the hearth. 

It was only a moment later that the boys returned, each one grabbing one of their fathers hands. He was still half asleep but when he looked up and recognised her form, Muriel smiled. “And whose idea was this?” He wrapped his arms around her waist. He planted a kiss on top of her head as he leaned in and embraced.

“Leo asked yesterday.” She admitted. “And both boys helped me make them this morning.” 

“And we collected the eggs Dad and you’ll never believe what Bawk Bawk told me.” Leo yanked on his dad's hand, the boy's face lost its well concentrated look as a smile beamed from his mouth. “She said mums going to have another baby.” 

There was a moment of silence. Muriel snickered and then boomed laughter. Realising that the boys were confused he slowed to a chuckle. “When she was having you both Nana told me when she was too busy fussing over how to announce it.”

“I never get to announce this myself.” The mother pouted. “Well, surprise?” she said, handing a plate of pancakes and candied lemons to her husband. “Late Spring for a due date, you happy with that Papa Bear?” 

“Unbelievably Mama Bear.” He smiled and kissed her again.