#white corn online

[generalrice]

Discover the Best White Corn and Arborio Rice at General Rice

At General Rice, we take pride in offering top-quality grains that cater to the diverse culinary needs of our customers. Whether you're in search of premium white corn for sale or looking to buy Arborio rice online, we provide products that meet the highest standards of excellence.

Why Choose White Corn?

White corn is a versatile grain used in a variety of dishes, from traditional cornbread to tortillas and more. It is a staple in many kitchens, offering a slightly sweet flavor that enhances the taste of numerous recipes. At General Rice, our white corn is carefully selected to ensure it delivers the best quality and flavor. Here’s why you should consider purchasing white corn from us:

Nutritional Value: White corn is rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making it a nutritious addition to your diet. It is particularly high in antioxidants, which are beneficial for overall health.

Culinary Flexibility: Whether you're making tamales, grits, or a savory corn pudding, our white corn is perfect for a wide range of recipes. Its mild flavor and smooth texture make it a favorite among chefs and home cooks alike.

High-Quality Selection: At General Rice, we offer only the best White Corn for Sale. Our corn is sourced from trusted farmers who prioritize quality and sustainability, ensuring that every kernel meets our stringent standards.

The Excellence of Arborio Rice

Arborio rice is essential for anyone who enjoys cooking creamy risottos. Known for its high starch content, Arborio rice absorbs liquids well and releases starches that create the creamy texture risotto is famous for. If you're looking to buy Arborio rice online, General Rice has you covered with top-tier options that will elevate your culinary creations.

Perfect for Risotto: Arborio rice is the go-to grain for making risotto, an Italian dish beloved for its rich, creamy consistency. The starchy content of Arborio rice is what gives risotto its distinctive texture, making it indispensable for this dish.

Quality You Can Trust: When you buy Arborio Rice Online from General Rice, you’re getting a product that is rigorously tested for quality. We ensure that our rice grains are plump, uniform, and ready to give you the best results in the kitchen.

Versatility in the Kitchen: While Arborio rice is famous for risotto, it can also be used in other recipes like rice pudding, soups, or even stuffed vegetables. Its ability to hold its shape while absorbing flavors makes it a versatile ingredient in any kitchen.

Why General Rice?

When you shop with General Rice, you're not just buying grains; you're investing in quality, flavor, and the confidence that comes from knowing you’re getting the best products available. Here's what sets us apart:

Commitment to Quality: We take great care in sourcing and selecting our grains to ensure they meet the highest standards. From the field to your table, our white corn and Arborio rice undergo rigorous quality checks to guarantee their excellence.

Sustainability Practices: General Rice is committed to sustainability. We work with farmers who use environmentally friendly practices, ensuring that our products are not only good for you but also good for the planet.

Convenient Online Shopping: We know that your time is valuable, which is why we offer a seamless online shopping experience. With just a few clicks, you can have premium white corn and Arborio rice delivered straight to your door.

Customer Satisfaction: Your satisfaction is our top priority. We stand by our products and are dedicated to providing excellent customer service. If you're not completely satisfied with your purchase, we're here to make it right.

Cooking with General Rice Products

Both white corn and Arborio rice can be used in a wide variety of recipes, offering you endless possibilities in the kitchen. Here are some ideas:

White Corn Tortillas: Use our white corn to make fresh, homemade tortillas. These tortillas are perfect for tacos, enchiladas, or as a side to your favorite Mexican dishes.

Classic Risotto: Use our Arborio rice to create a classic Italian risotto. Sauté some onions and garlic, add in the rice, and gradually stir in warm broth. Finish with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese for a rich, comforting meal.

Cornbread: Our white corn is perfect for baking a moist, delicious cornbread. Serve it alongside soups, stews, or enjoy it on its own as a snack.

Arancini: Use leftover risotto made with our Arborio rice to create arancini, a popular Italian snack of fried rice balls filled with cheese or meat.

Conclusion

At General Rice, we are passionate about providing high-quality grains that enhance your culinary experiences. Whether you're looking for white corn for sale or want to buy Arborio rice online, our products are designed to meet your needs and exceed your expectations. With our commitment to quality, sustainability, and customer satisfaction, General Rice is your go-to source for the best grains on the market. Shop with us today and discover the difference that premium products can make in your kitchen.

[cutiekaijumuseum]

A little trivia for those that just got introduced to Ultraman thanks to Ultraman Rising

You know that part where baby kaiju Emi is shown a kids cartoon with an earworm of a song?

That cartoon is real!! It's called Kaiju Step Wandabada and it stars cute kid versions of different monsters from different Ultraman series (mostly the original from 1966 wich Rising is also based on). The opening shown in the movie is in stop-motion while the cartoon itself is in 2D.

The Ultraman heroes don't appear in person, but bizarrely enough they seem to exist as fictional superheroes in-universe, with the kaiju kids having toys and dolls of them. It's no surprise Emi liked it so much! She would be right at home in this show!

The episodes are 5 minutes long, there are two seasons of 26 episodes each for a total of 52. The official Tsurubaya channel has the first episodes of both seasons uploaded...

...but the rest were sadly only up for a limited time cuz gotta sell the dvds. What is officially available online right now is a series of educational shorts.

Some years ago Marvel Comics got the rights to make Ultraman comics and made a mini-series called "The Rise of Ultraman" (no relation), and these Kaiju Step designs got to appear as part of in-universe instructional videos about dealing with monsters and aliens:

So let's have a quick rundow on the little monsters and where each comes from:

Pigmon or Pig-chan is the main protagonist and new kid in town (forest). This coral-looking guy is one of the most iconic and recurring ultra monsters and the go-to kid-friendly one, as he stood out among the original set of kaiju for being friendly and heroic (as well as human-sized). He has the bad habit of dying in many of his apperences but fortunately that's not the case here.

Kanegon or Kane-chan is the second member of the protagonist trio, and the most energic and simple-minded. A coin purse monster that eats money, and usually a human kid under a curse. He actually pre-dates Ultraman, appearing in the black-and-white anthology series Ultra Q wich had monsters but not superheroes. Fortunately this one doesn't need to eat money and was born a kaiju.

Alien Dada or Dada-chan is the reliable but temperamental inventor of the trio, he dreams of building a rocket ship. One of the most iconic villains from the original 1966 Ultraman (and that's saying a lot), it's a weird alien with weird powers looking for human subjects for his weird experiments, like testing his shrinking ray. He really earns the name of a weird art movement.

Gomora or Gomo-chan is probably the most iconic ultra kaiju of all. Remember how in Ultraman Rising there is this whole sequence where the dad omniously talks about fighting him? There is a good reason for that. Gomora had the only two-parter in the original 1966 series, and was able to actually defeat Ultraman in their first figh. He's essentially Godzilla if he lived underground rather than underwater (He's even been a good guy and had a robot counterpart). Here, however, Gomora is a chill guy who's passionate about agriculture. (btw, you can also spot Gomora in Rising on a screen around an hour and eight minutes into the movie).

Red King or just Red is another iconic ultra dino, that looks like corn. In the show he's brute but well-meaning, and has a friendly sport rivalry with Kemur-chan. But in the Ultraman series he's a sadistic and murderous bully who beats up weaker monsters but gets his butt kicked rather easily by Ultraman (although more recent incarnations have have been more positive, both in his fighting ability and sometimes even becoming a loving father). (and yes, you are right, he's not red).

Jamira or Jami-chan is a passionate archeologist and fossil collector in the show, whereas in the original Ultraman he was a human astronaut that got infected by a virus. He hasn't appeared much beyond his debut... but doesn't need to, as his episode was very memorable in how sad and tragic it was. I can't imagine the target audience's whiplash seeing this cute creature one moment collecting fossils and the next having a horrible sad death. I guess one could say the same for most of the characters, but this one takes the cake.

Miclas or Mic-chan is the youngest character, a baby, and loves bugs. He was one of the "capsule monsters" from the second ultra series, Ultra Seven. Sometimes the titular ultra wouldn't be able to fight himself so he would summon up to three very loyal monsters from little capsules to do the fighting instead (or at least buy some time, they weren't very strong). One was a triceratops, another was a robot bird, but the most iconic had to be Miclas because really, what even is he? Some kind of bull toad hybrid? (By the way, fun fact, the capsule monsters were one of the inspirations for Pokemon).

King Joe (yes, that's his name) or Joe-chan is a robot controlled by alien invaders and is to Ultra Seven what Gomora is to the original Ultraman: he's the subject of a two-parter and was able to beat the hero to a pulp at first, made harder to fight by his ability to divide into three flying parts. Fortunately this Joe is very shy and very friendly.

Eleking or Ele-chan from Ultra Seven is another of the "mascot" ultra kaiju. If two ultra kaiju have to appear in anything, chances are they will be Gomora and Eleking. In fact, in Ultraman Rising you can see Eleking in a monitor right next to Gomora (around an hour and eight minutes in). It's a dinosaur-like eel monster with (of course) electric powers, and the enforcer of an all-female bug-like alien species set to conquer the earth, that are nonetheless very affectionate towards their pet-weapon dino-eel. The fact that Eleking's masters are always women may explain why the Kaiju Step one is a very femenine and elegant girl despite having King in the name, though no less dangerously electric.

Alien Guts or Guts-chan here is a very little alien bird child who can multiply into three separate individuals to cause all the destruction in their sincere attempts to help out. The original duo from Ultra Seven meanwhile are ruthless alien invaders that are infamous for freaking crucifying the aforementioned hero, leading to decades of japanese media having christian imagery for the sake of looking cool, most notably Neon Genesis Evangelion, because these birds did it first and it looked so cool.

Alien Kemur or Kemu-chan is a very agile alien that comes from the distant future of 2020 to consume humans and extend his lifespan. Here he's a friendly but competitive ninja from the present, and has a rivalry with Red King being the speed to his strenght. Like Kanegon, he pre-dates Ultraman, being from Ultra Q.

Motokureron or Kureron-chan originates from the whimsical, fairy-tale like Ultraman Taro. A kid found him as a baby and fed him until he grew to giant size, but when the kid couldn't feed him anymore he turned destructive; fortunately he was easy to pacify with food, including the kind that made him shrink. He retains his glutonny and clumsiness in Kaiju Step, often doing the bad thing (tm) so the others can teach the kids in the audience why you shouldn't do the bad thing (tm).

Nova or No-chan originates from the surprisingly dark Ultraman Leo. This creepy and bizarre ghost-like alien created a red mist that made people go crazy, and manipulated a kid with illusions of his deceased family, and under his cloth there are lots of tentacles and a scythe. So of course, in Kaiju Step she's a happy and energic little girl that loves to sing.

Mugera or Muge-chan is by far the most obscure kaiju of the cast. She's from the 2001 series Ultraman Cosmos, the one where the titular hero protects monsters instead of fighting them. Mugera is an ET-like cryptid that lives in an amusement park that only kids can see, with the ability to fix toys and heal wounds with her magic. After the amusement park closes down she phones home and the protagonists have to protect her from the goverment wich is a little too eager to shoot down the UFO that came to pick her up. In Kaiju Step she likes reading and plants.

And that was your daily dose of kaiju sugar, that may be overdose because you probably already met Emi. Cheers!

[kcrossvine-art]

Hiiii friendssss! What the FUCK is up. What the fuck is up. What the Fuck is up. On todays cute little cookin excursion we are going to be deep frying things and using a wok. If you dont feel comfortable deep frying, and dont have a wok, im sure theres other ways to do it silly :DDD

I believe in you.

From LotR online we're gonna be making Fried Beetroot Sticks!! 

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes into Fried Beetroot Sticks?” YOU MIGHT ASKSlices of sweet little beated root dipped into a batter with, watch out, special flavors too.

2 Beetroots

Corn flour

Salt 

Red Chilli Powder

Garlic Paste

Baking Soda

Water

Peanut oil

And we'll also be making some horseradish sour cream dip to go along with it;

Sour cream

Prepared horseradish

1 Green onion 

Few splashes of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Ground pepper to taste

"Cooked, tender beetroot sticks are dredged in a light batter and fried to give a crispy exterior and a soft, sweet interior. Served with a bracing horseradish sour cream, this snack is both filling and delicious."- LotRO Tooltip

AND, “what does Fried Beetroot Sticks taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASKThis is like homemade fair-food and it sounds like a contradiction but its not

But maybe its just because its fried food? American brained, sorry.

Retains the inherit sweetness to beetroot

And similar to pickled beetroot the sweetness contrasts the spicey of the batter

(which i encourage you to amp up if youd like more spice)

The horseradish sourcream dip is to die for

Measure with your heart for that one, and save some green onion to top it with when you serve

This would pair very well with a lime italian soda or with shaved ice cones

Im always very anxious about deep-frying things, or working with oils at high temperatures, but i didnt run into any complications with this dish. Just make sure to keep best practices and safety precaution in mind, especially with a wok as it can tilt!

. If you dont have corn flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour . If you dont have peanut oil, look up oils with the same smokepoint to decide what else to use

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The recipe stuck out to me, as i was assembling a list of foodstuffs from tolkiens work, for being such a "regular" named food. Also its worth 19 silver 69 copper in the LotR MMO and im immature.

I think the dip has the most room for improvement and tinkering. I've never made horseradish sourcream before, so more practiced tastebuds could perfect a simple thing like this. In the future id also like to try adding red pepper flakes along with the the powder and garlic paste, to give more visual variety and spice. I think cumin in the batter would be a nice midtone flavor too.

I give this recipe a solid 8/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) for its relative simplicity and modularity with things you could add.

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Beetroot Sticks Ingredients:

2 Beetroots

130 grams corn flour

1 tbsp salt 

1 tsp Red Chilli Powder

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

178 grams Water

432 grams peanut oil

Horseradish Sour Cream Ingredients:

225 grams Sour cream

200 grams Prepared horseradish

1 whole green onion (green and white parts VERY finely chopped)

1 tspn lemon juice

Salt to taste

ground pepper to taste

Beetroot Method:

Peel all beetroots and cut them length-wise into  rectangles.

Combine flour, salt, chilli powder, garlic paste, baking soda, and water in a bowl.

Mix well into a smooth batter.

Heat peanut oil to medium in a wok and dip beet roots into batter. Deep fry until golden brown in color.

Stack beetroots on paper-towel lined plates to cool and dry as you go.

Serve with horseradish sour cream!

Dip Method:

Mix all ingredients

Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour for the flavors to blend.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

From the Slang Dictionary

part 2

Algospeak - coded language that people use (“speak”) to avoid being censored or moderated by AI algorithms. It combines algo- from the word "algorithm" with the word speak. The word was used as early as 2016 on social media. Many websites, especially social media sites, use AI algorithms to moderate the large amount of content posted on their platforms. These algorithms often automatically flag or delete content that contains or mentions words or phrases that the algorithm has been programmed to recognize as being unacceptable. However, this often causes algorithms to flag or remove permitted content that discusses sensitive issues or content that uses the “unacceptable” words without breaking any rules. Being aware of this, many communities on social media use coded language, emoji, or euphemisms to avoid having their content removed by algorithms. The term algospeak refers to this language. For example, people used terms like panoramic, panini, and panda express to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic after platforms began removing content that mentioned the pandemic to attempt to halt the spread of misinformation. Some other examples of algospeak include using the word seggs instead of sex, the word accountants to refer to sex workers, the word unalive to refer to death or suicide, the corn emoji to refer to pornography, and the phrase leg booty to refer to the LGBTQ+ community.

Birb - also spelled as berb, is a deliberate misspelling of bird used in internet slang such as DoggoLingo. It’s used as a playful way to refer to cute birds, particularly pet birds.

Bye Felicia - a slang way of dismissing someone. Sometimes formatted as bye, Felicia and based on a movie character whose name is spelled Felisha, it often appears in memes, GIFs, and hashtags online to express disregard or indifference to someone. The term has been popular in Black culture since the 1990s when the film was released, although the original spelling of the name “Felisha” has changed to the more common (and, some would point out, more “white”) spelling, Felicia. Bye Felicia is considered by some to be an example of white culture appropriating Black culture, often with little knowledge of the original source material. The phrase enjoyed renewed popularity around 2009 thanks to its frequent use on the reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race. It got another bump in December 2018, when former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, used it as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to describe what was going through her head as she and President Obama waved goodbye to the White House at the end of Obama’s presidency in January 2017. Bye Felicia is most often used humorously or as a way to throw shade at someone, suggesting the speaker couldn’t be bothered with another person’s presence or is surprised they haven’t left yet. While humor is almost always part of the intention in using the term, the tone in which it is said has changed somewhat over time. Initially, bye Felicia was said coolly or nonchalantly, as in the movie Friday; now, it’s just as often used in a more aggressive or melodramatic way.

Doggo - this and pupper are affectionate terms for dog and puppy used in the internet slang called DoggoLingo. This emerged in the 2010s and drew on existing online culture, such as lolspeak, the snek meme, and Doge.

Left on read - in internet slang, a person is left on read when a recipient has read, but not responded to, a sender’s message. The expression is often used to express feeling ignored. A read receipt lets the sender know a digital message has been opened or seen (i.e., read) by the recipient. Microsoft Outlook, for instance, allows read receipts for email. Apple has enabled read receipts for text messages since 2011.

Receipts - slang for “proof” or “evidence,” often used to call out someone for lying or to show someone is being genuine. In popular culture, such receipts may come in the form of screenshots, images, or videos. They also often concern things done by famous people. One of the first prominent uses of receipts came in a 2002 interview of singer Whitney Houston by Diane Sawyer for ABC. Sawyer brought up the topic of recent tabloid headlines that accused Houston of buying large amounts of crack cocaine. Houston denied these accusations and demanded proof: “I want to see the receipts.”

Shelfie - a picture of a shelf, especially a bookshelf that shows off someone’s books, movies, art, collectibles, special belongings, etc. It can also be a proper selfie if you are in the picture with the shelves. On social media, the hashtag #shelfie is often posted alongside pictures of various shelves where a person lives or works.

Snacc - internet slang for an extremely attractive or sexy person (i.e., you want to gobble them up like a snack). It’s also internet slang used when cute animals are seeking or enjoying a snack. Snacc, with two Cs, emerges on Black Twitter in 2009, the deliberate misspelling is consistent with other black slang terms, such as phat, thicc, and succ. Early uses of this term refer to actual snacks. Sexual senses of snacc do begin to appear around this time in wordplay, but it doesn’t take off in earnest until around 2017.

Spirit animal - In certain spiritual traditions or cultures, this refers to a spirit which helps guide or protect a person on a journey and whose characteristics that person shares or embodies. It is also metaphor, often humorous, for someone or something a person relates to or admires. The ancient concept of animal guides, particularly prominent in some indigenous, especially Native American, religions and cultures, was adopted in Pagan and Wiccan spirituality in the 1990s. In these contexts, spirit animals are meant literally, referring to spiritual guides or totems that take the form of animals. Earnest quizzes began to emerge in the mid-2000s to help you find your spirit animal. Spirit animal has increasingly been used to indicate, ironically, a strong appreciation or identification for someone or something.

Tea - best served piping hot, tea is slang for “gossip,” a juicy scoop, or other personal information. As far as we can tell, it was steeped in black drag culture. One theory connects tea to the celebrated drag performer The Lady Chablis, who is quoted in the 1994 bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: “Yeah, my T. My thing, my business, what’s goin’ on in my life.” T, here, is short for truth.

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ Part 1

[yellowjacketsfashion]

MY BIRTHDAY IS NEAR🥳🥳🥳

Any yj party themed ideas?

Or a good idea of what to wear?

Happy early birthday! I compiled a list below of some Yellowjackets party ideas that I’ve either seen online or came up with to fit the show. I have some more themed ideas as well as more general Yellowjackets ideas so there’s more variety to pick from.

THEME: Doomcoming

Inspired by the Doomcoming party, the decor would mix eclectic found/diy objects and an outdoorsy element.

DRESSCODE: Semi Formal

If you’re looking to get more dressed up for your party this might be a good one to pick. The outfits in Doomcoming are that which you might wear at a school dance or fancy dinner which brings a more formal element to your party.

PARTY IDEAS:

• Build your own Doomcoming crown (group craft)

• Berry punch

• 90s dance playlist

THEME: Bacchanalia

Inspired by the Jackie feast, decor could be gold and outdoorsy (fake candles, wood, and antlers).

DRESSSCODE: White/Gold

While the outfits in the show are more formal, you could really open it up to gold and white clothing in general to make it more casual.

PARTY IDEAS:

• Wilderness Feast /Charcuterie board

• Skeleton decorations(?)

• Strawberry desert

THEME: Lottie’s Cult

DRESSCODE: Purple

As the birthday person you could wear yellow and your guests would wear purple/lilac attire.

PARTY IDEAS:

• “Fanta” Soda

• Honey related foods

• Bonfire

• Self care activities?

OTHER OUTFIT IDEAS:

• Antler Queen & Wilderness Acolytes

• Dress as your favorite character

• General 90s Themed Fashion

• Matching Yellowjackets T shirts/ Clothing?

OTHER PARTY IDEAS:

• “I want my lawyer” cookie cake

• Dirt Pudding (Oreos and Chocolate pudding)

• Corn Nuts

• Fruit Roll Ups

• Seance (could use Ouija Board or Pendulum)

Hopefully these ideas were helpful! If you have any further questions or need clarification on anything please feel free to reach out!

[abutterflyscribbles]

Broken Hearts in the Emergency Room

Marianne leaned back in her chair and considered the off-white ceiling panels of the emergency room waiting area. She considered the throbbing pain in her knuckles and how long it would take for the doctor to see her with so many patients it was standing room only. She considered how her hand had not hurt this much when she punched Roland. She considered the irony of the bloody tear on her knuckles being in the shape of heart.

Yes, all things considered, this was the second worst Valentines Day of her life.

"I really hope you didn't break your hand this time." Dawn fussed, wrapping a towel around a fresh bag of frozen peas and putting it on Marianne's hand. Marianne just grunted. Dawn continued, raising her voice in a pointed manner, "And I really hope you didn't break his cheekbone!"

There was another grunt. This one came from the seat next to Marianne. A pair of long legs uncrossed and recrossed.

"He's not even bleeding." Marianne mumbled.

"He can't see out of his right eye, it's so swollen!" Dawn said. She produced a bag of frozen corn, apparently having run out of peas, and offered it to the owner of the swollen eye. "It's such a shame, too," Dawn said, "He's got such lovely eyes and cheekbones."

The owner of the swollen eye and long legs was overcome with a coughing fit, having apparently choked when a gasp disrupted his breathing. Recovering, he pressed the corn to his face and groaned.

Marianne slid down in her seat and occupied herself with pressing the bones in the back of her hands to see if any were noticeably out of place.

"Are you okay, Boggy?" Dawn asked.

"Bog." Their seatmate mumbled. "'M fine."

Bog was not fine.

His face had been smashed to pieces and it was no doubt the fragments of his skull responsible for the stabbing pains around his eye. He wished he'd never left the house that day. He wished he hadn't let himself be talked into grabbed a drink with his coworkers. He wished he hadn't caught the eye of the fluffy-haired little blonde girl decked out in glitter and hearts. He especially wished he hadn't been so aggressively, loudly rude in response to her flirting because that had summoned a blood-thirsty sister who had taken umbrage with his attitude and taken a swing at his face.

The blonde--Dawn--had been so sweetly apologetic about her sister that Bog felt embarrassed and ashamed for being so rude, but the sister--Marianne--was so angry and sullen that Bog was forced into retaliatory grumpiness and was finding it hard to apologize. Anyway, he was ultimately the injured party and should be extended an apology first.

"What kind of name is 'Bog' anyway." Marianne muttered.

A spike of annoyance pierced through Bog's embarrassment. "Oh, don't even start!" He said. "And if you must then at least don't take such a cheap shot. I've heard it all."

"Bog body?" Marianne persisted, challenged.

"In high school. Daily."

"Bog of Eternal Stench?"

"I've lost count."

"Spider-infested cranberry bog?"

"Endless variations."

"Do you write a lot of posts online--"

"All bog/blog puns have been exhausted."

Marianne fell into a thoughtful silence, stumped for the moment. Bog took the opening. He said, "If I hadn't been slouching would I have a chest injury instead of a black eye?"

"I am not short!" Marianne said instantly, "You're just some sort of ambulatory redwood!"

"You being short and him being tall can both be true." Dawn said with the air of a mediator maintaining fairness in this exchange.

"For a moment I thought a wee winged fairy was fluttering up to take a poke at me." Bog said, sensing weakness and seized on it.

Marianne fired back. She said, "I wonder if your black eye wasn't a per-existing injury from smacking your face on door frames!"

"I choose to overlook that remark."

"Because you're the bigger person?"

"I try not to let these little things get me down."

"It's amazing how such a tall guy can be so low."

"They say tiny things are cute but I guess the exception proves the rule."

"You're both pretty cute." Dawn said brightly. "Now break and go back to your corners."

Bog realized he was nearly nose-to-nose with Marianne, having leaned forward to better utilize his glare. It was not being as effective as usual. His face, already flushed with anger, still managed to raise the heat a degree or two before he collected himself and slouched back down in his seat, focusing on the renewed throbbing around his eye.

Marianne frowned ferociously and did not dwell on how bright blue Bog's eyes were in such a heavy-browed face. Instead she thought about how the peas were getting squishy.

Dawn snapped a picture of Bog.

Bog bit back an angry protest and tried to deliver a calm inquiry about why she had decided to document his face.

Dawn smiled. "Your bruise looks kind of like a heart! Besides, we should keep a record of your injury, just in case. Don't worry, I won't show it to anyone!"

"Oh . . . kaaaay." Bog sighed.

"Not until the wedding reception, anyway," Dawn murmured.

"What?" Bog asked.

"Huh?" Marianne said.

Dawn added a glitter filter to the picture she had taken of Bog and Marianne's blushing profiles. "Nothing!" she said, thinking that this Valentines wasn't so bad even if she had to cancel her date with Hadrian. She could not wait to tell Sunny all about this.

[things-for-your-little-mindset]

Spooky regressor?

things for your Spooky regressor ! ( 🎃 )

Snacks & Drinks

👁️ Monster Apples – Apple slices with peanut butter and mini marshmallow “teeth” or candy eyes.

☁️ Pumpkin Patch Popcorn – Popcorn mixed with candy corn and drizzled with white chocolate.

👻 Boo-nanas – Banana halves with mini chocolate chip “eyes” and a melted chocolate “mouth.”

🧡 Pumpkin Potion – Vanilla milk with a bit of pumpkin spice, whipped cream, and sprinkles.

💚 Slime Shake – Vanilla milkshake with green food coloring and chocolate drizzle.

💙 Blueberry Moon Milk – Warm milk blended with blueberries and honey for a dreamy nightcap.

Outfit ideas

halloween-based pj's!

Oversized Sweaters

Tutu & Leggings Combo

Patterned Overalls

halloween striped socks

Bat Wings or Cape

spooky hair accessories

Turtlenecks

spooky printed tees

Soft, comfortable knitted sweaters

Onesies!!

orange and black/purple tie-dye shirts

Comfortable trick or treating costumes. Go full out! Cosplay!

Activities

= Pumpkin Painting or Decorating – If carving is too tricky, use stickers, paint, or markers to make cute or spooky pumpkins!

= Halloween Coloring Pages – Color cute ghosts, bats, or pumpkins with crayons, markers, or gel pens.

= Make a Spooky Storybook – Write or draw a little Halloween adventure featuring friendly ghosts, witches, or talking pumpkins!

= Spooky Sensory Bin – Fill a bin with dyed pasta “worms,” cotton ball “ghosts,” mini plastic spiders, and pom-poms for a fun sensory playtime.

= Dress-Up & Play Pretend

= Read Halloween Picture Books

= Watch Cute Halloween Movies

= Shadow Puppet Show

= Glow-in-the-Dark Treasure Hunt

= Flashlight Tag

= Glow Stick Dress-Up

Games

Roblox games made specially for halloween

Spooky Halloween themed minecraft maps

Halloween coloring books online

Goosebumps horror town

Halloween Home

Wordsearch Halloween

Teach your Monster to Read

Boori's spooky tales

Candy making apps

Candy Crush

Songs & Playlists

This is Halloween - from the nightmare before christmas

Playlist by wallace

Spooky, Scary skeletons

Somebody's watching me

Playlist by Holiday Vibes

Ghostbusters theme

Halloween at Freddy's

playlist by Lofi Girl

[givemeonereason]

Meditations: First Flight

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

Rating: Cotton Candy

Dragon Ball Masterlist Givemeonereason Masterlist

Plot: You meet up again with Piccolo. Is that a good or a bad thing?

A/n: I back burned this one for a little while (like two weeks) I wrote a portion of his and lost it due to Tumblr crashing on me. I was PISSED. Creators work so hard on their stuff and things happen. No ones fault in particular. A lot of the time you have to just step away for a moment and then get back to it.

╒══════════════════════╕

The day is dragging on…

You stare blankly at the black pen you’ve been twirling between your fingers. Ink smudged into your middle finger, exposing the intricate lines of your identifying pattern.

You look to the time on your desktop computer, 4:48 pm.

Kami, could the last twelve minuets of this day be over!

You set the pen down on the desk and sigh.

I just want to see him….to see if he’s even there.

My…the green Martian guy from that “Nam” place.

Not Mars!

You tap your finger against your forehead.

Stupid.

You look out the window towards the hill. His white, flowing cape catches your eye.

I remember now, Namek.

5:00

You hurry out of the office towards your compact car. You dropped your work bag and purse in the trunk. Just your small lunch bag with you as you started up the side of the hill.

“Hello.” You stood near where he sat.

There was no answer. His eyes remained closed. You almost would have mistaken him for a statue had he not readjusted the position of arms against his chest.

You walked over to his side. “Piccolo?”

“Not now, Nail.”

“What?”

His eyes shoot open when you touch the shoulder pad of his cape. You jump at his suddenness. “Gosh, don’t do that. You scared me half to death.” Your hand pressed against your chest.

You took a breath before sitting down beside him. “What is the nail about?”

His eyes are closed again. This is going to be a difficult question to answer. “Not what, but whom.”

You scrunched your face in confusion. Do you even want to know at this point?… “Okay, whatever Yoda.”

The crack of a soda opening broke him from his concentration once more. “Oh, I brought you one if you’d like.” You pulled out the carbonated beverage from your lunch bag and set it down onto the grass beside you. “I also have corn chips. Please help yourself.”

He looks down at your tribute beside him. “I do not eat, nor drink this. However, thank you.” He looked to you nodding his head in thanks.

“Oh. I had no idea.” An over loud crunch as you bit down into the chip in your hand. “What exactly do you eat?”

“Nothing. I only need water to survive.”

“Nothing!?” You’re shocked. He is an alien, what exactly did you expect? Only the best prime rib, rare…or juicy bugs?

Yuck!

Crunch.

“Could you please be more quiet?”

You tried chewing slower, moving your mouth in what felt like slow motion. A damn chip going down the wrong pipe.

You coughed!

Coughed!

His tone is irritated, “are you okay?”

You got the tickle out of your throat and took a sip of your soda. “Yeah, it’s just the wrong pipe is all.” You swiftly changed the subject, “so I tried looking up some info on Namekians online and it didn’t come up with anything.”

“Where Namek used to be, there wouldn’t have been technology to know of its existence. Only the Briefs were able to locate it.”

You turn excited, “you mean the smartest family in all of existence?”

He rolled his eyes, closing them when he felt the pull of his eyelids. “I don’t know about all of time….”

You didn’t hear him mumble that under his breath. You looked towards the sky riddled with white fluffy clouds. “Space is a mystical place. There are so many galaxies out there, planets with life that we don’t know about.” You look to him. “I’m sure you know about so much life out there, right?”

He’s looking out at the water of the lake in the valley.

Small crunch, crunch.

“How did you…”

Surely she knows about King Piccolo?

“I was hatched from an egg that my father regurgitated.”

“Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhha?” You choked on another chip and began your second coughing fit.

I knew she would react this way.

Piccolo, she is only human. It was is if he could hear Kami calming him, bringing him back to his center.

He gritted his teeth and hunched over where he floated.

You cleared your throat from overly coughing, putting the bag of chips down. “I don’t think I should eat any more chips right now. Imagine, that would all I be known for, asphyxiating on chips.” Gesticulating as you speak. “She died doing what she loves most, eating!” You tried pretending to heartily laugh, but it ended up making you actually laugh. And then cough, again. “Okay, I should really stop.”

She’s just a human.

You noticed his silence when you became more lax, leaning back against your palms firmly on the grass. You intently studied him. His brows furrowed, the rich green of his cheeks deepening in the afternoon light. His headdress wrapped tightly around the to of his head, making his pointed ears push out more on the sides.

All things considered, He is quite a beautiful creature, is he not?

You shook your head, trying to shake the thought from your mind.

You noticed the purple of his gi when his cape fluttered to the side as a squall of air passed through. The wind making him look ethereal. You watched with widened eyes as the shifting draft whipped your hair into your face. You pushed the strands away.

If you could just get closer.

You looked away, blush heating your cheeks.

“Hatched from an egg, huh?”

He said nothing, remaining still, and effortlessly floating statue.

And curiosity got the better of you. You got up and walked over to him, standing slightly of to his side. You looked closer at him. His sharp jawline against the oversized shoulder pads. Surely, his shoulders weren’t that wide. You reached out, but he caught your wrist in his hand, only opening one eye to look at you suspiciously.

“I….I….I was….” You couldn’t get any words out. His grip was tight enough to send a pang up your arm. “You’re hurting me.” When he let go you pulled your hand against your chest, rubbing the skin at your wrist.

He doesn’t apologize. He just goes right back to shutting himself out.

She’s only human.

Despite the roughness you received at his hands, you didn’t move away. You simply turned out towards the view in front.

Why is he being this way?

Maybe I should just leave him alone from now on?

I just..

I don’t know why I came back again here today.

“So, are you evil? You sit here so peacefully, but are you some sort of bad guy?”

Please don’t be a bad guy. Please.

Your heart flutters when you hear the deep tone of his voice. You didn’t realized how much you needed to hear him speak. “That’s not for me to say.”

You shut your eyes.

Please, don’t.

“Do you believe me to be malevolent?”

“No.” You are unwavering, standing there firm in your opinion.

I just know, I can feel it.

He placed his feet on the ground. He’s looking at you, your eyes closed, fists closed.

He sighs deeply.

Don’t.

In an instant he grabs you by the waist, pulling you at his side. A small upward push and he takes off flying in the air.

Everything was so quick, but when you finally realized you were several hundred feet off the ground you screamed. It was guttural, ultimate fear. The wind blowing into your face as he flew took your breath away. You turned as much of your upper body you could and pushed it into side of his abdomen, hands white-knuckled, gripping onto his gi.

You heard the deep reverberations in his chest. “What of it now? Do you really believe me to be good? Are you honestly that gullible?”

You pressed your face tightly against his chest, your body shaking. You can barely breathe. You feel as if you might pass out.

Piccolo is seething. His grip on you tightening. His teeth clenching.

Piccolo…Kami is calling out to him.

I don’t understand these people! She barely knows me and yet she trusts that I would not harm her, nor anyone else?

Piccolo…

How can humans be so weak?

A draft swept up into his face, the sweet smell of your perfume catching him off guard.

He stopped flying. Citrus and floral notes rushing through his senses.

He looks down at you in his arms. Your shaking body against his, tightly gripping onto him with all your might. Whimpers vibrating against the exposed skin of his chest. Your hair whipping about as the wind rushed around you both.

She’s…she’s weak….no, soft. She’s soft.

He looked about the ground below to find a place to land. Slowly, he floated down, placing your feet down onto the dust covered ground.

You couldn’t hold your own weight, dizzy, you fell down to your knees. Your hands pressed against the dirt catching your fall. You scrape your fingers against the dust and grabbing at some debris and balling your fist.

The ground. The ground. The ground.

You’re shaking uncontrollably, tears welling up in your eyes and spill over down your reddened cheeks. You can’t help but sob, crying hard, defeated and frightened.

Piccolo shifted, his hand very lightly reaching out towards you.

Soft.

I’m sorry.

When you catch your breath you look up at him, your eyes red and glassy from crying, your nose running. You're hunched over, fist clenched. You could hit him if you had the strength. As if that would help anything.

“You’re fucking crazy you know that!” You coughed, your voice ragged from being unused. “You can’t just do that! You can’t take people and fly off like that. Normal people don't fly!” You start to cry more, wrapping your arms around yourself, lightly rocking back and forth.

He crouched down at your side, hesitating when he reached out to gently brush the hair that was sticking to your wet cheeks away. You shivered at his touch. Holding your arms tighter against yourself.

His voice was low, full of sorrow. “I am sorry.”

You turned your face away from him, skin still hot from anger.

“I was out of line. I acted on my own anger and irritation.”

He wiped away a tear rolling down your cheek. "Please, forgive me."

In one scoop he effortlessly lifted you into his arms. Floating above the ground where he stood. He placed you down into his lap. You curled so gently against him, gripping at his gi.

He's seething with anger on the inside. His eyes closed, but his mind was ablaze.

How can....why would I? Why do I even care about this?

Something so trivial as a human woman, and yet I care about her feelings.

I care about the way she views me.

This ultimately doesn't matter in the slightest.

The light shivering pulled him from his thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked down at your frame in his lap, holding onto the obi around his waist.

With a swift pull at both sides, he wrapped his cape around you as much as he could, gripping you closer against him.

You sunk deeper into his lap, relaxed. Your soft breaths and light snoring have a soothing rhythm, falling into a peaceful slumber.

Shifting in his lap, grabbing onto his forearm, your nose rubbing against his skin sending a shiver through him. His head falling forward when he caught the smell of your perfume once more.

Just a little while longer.

We can stay like this.

━━━━━━»» ««━━━━━━

He nudged you awake, the daylight fading into the western sky. You groaned, pulling his arm tighter against your chest.

Though he has such a strong voice, this came softly. "You have to wake up. I need to take you back before it becomes dark."

You rubbed your eyes, blinking, looking up at him with sleepy eyes.

He feels your eyes on him, looking down, his face relaxed in the twilight glow of the evening. "Do you think you would be able to trust me? I need to take you home."

You sit up and look about you, there is no way you would be able to call for a ride here.

"I don't want to fall." Your body shook from the thought of what happened earlier.

He picked your chin up to look at him. His eyes widened by his own actions. He pulled his hand away, his voice returning its strong cadence. "I had no intention of dropping you."

Without protest he slips his arm under your legs and firmly holds your waist in bridal style. Your grip on him just as tight as before. No looking down. You pushed your face into his shoulder. He smells like nature; this beautiful mix of deep woods, dew on grass, crisp morning air and something else you couldn’t quite pin down.

Piccolo flies to the top of your work building, placing you down onto your feet near the roof access door. “I will find a new place to meditate. I do not want to frighten you any longer.”

“No!” Your voice came out louder than you would have liked. “You really don’t have to.”

He shook his head and turned away.

“I just didn’t like the flying. It really scared me.”

Don’t go.

Please.

His back was still to you. He turned his cheek slightly but not enough to look at you. “Goodbye.”

No.

“Please don’t leave yet.”

He was already flying away.

“Come back!” You screamed after him.

“….I forgive you.” You stand there watching him until he’s out of sight.

Can we just start over?

My green alien man, who can fly, with me.

Next time I won’t be so scared.

“Piccolo…”

╘══════════════════════╛

© 2023 givemeonereason

Don’t steal other people’s works! Respect creators!

Reblogs and likes appreciated :)

Tag List:

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Triple Black Korean Fried Chicken and Waffles

On the back of Eugene Yang's (Of the Try Guys) failure to make fried chicken and waffles, I, as a fellow Korean, thought I would help a bit. by:

Making it super black

Improve the flavor

Make it Korean spicy

For reference how Eugene failed are in these categories:

He failed to realize that Silkie Chicken is more lean, thus he needs to marinade it and cook it for a shorter cooking time.

He used the wrong dipping method. Dry dip, then wet, then that's it.

He could have used rice to make it crispier

He could have made it more evil by making it completely black

He should have made the dipping sauce sweet and spicy.

To be clear he did a pretty good job. He used honey, and used Soy sauce in the place of salt. But I'd have considered a bulgogi marinade at that point for it.

Fried Chicken:

Ingredients

3 tbsp of honey

3 cloves of garlic

1 thumb of ginger

6 tbsp soy sauce

6 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 tbsp kochukaru, fine

1 tbsp ground white pepper

4 tbsp Black sesame seeds

2 tsp of charcoal powder

2 tbsp Corn starch

1/3 cup ground Black rice, made into a black flour

4 cup AP Flour

6 tbsp soju

2 eggs beaten

1 lb Silkie Chicken thighs and wings

kochujang

scallion

1 quart of canola oil for frying

Method:

Make Bulgogi Sauce

1 tbsp of honey

3 cloves of garlic

1 thumb of ginger

6 tbsp soy sauce

6 tbsp sesame seed oil

Mix the marinade. Put the chicken into a bowl. pour marinade over the chicken.

If you want an extra umami kick, then use guk kanjang, but keep in mind it's super umami and also super salty, so you might want to cut down the amount by a tbsp and add a little water.

Normally I would put in sesame seeds and green onions, but both will burn.

The food science reasoning on this is: A marinade makes the chicken more tender. And the oil should slow down and even out how the Black Chicken is cooked. Black chicken also cooks faster, being leaner meat, so this may help even out the cooking process.

The Breading:

Dry Ingredients

1 tbsp kochukaru, fine

1 tbsp ground white pepper

4 tbsp Black sesame seeds

2 tsp of charcoal powder

2 tbsp Corn starch

1/3 cup ground Black rice, made into a black flour

4 cup AP Flour

Wet ingredients

6 tbsp soju

2 egg beaten

1 cup buttermilk

Gochu dipping sauce

1 tbsp gochujang

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic

1/2 thumb of ginger, peeled and ground.

1 scallion, diced

1 tbsp black sesame seeds

1 tbsp honey

Combine the wet ingredients separately from the dry ingredients

You're going to take the mairnated chicken and dredge it in the buttermilk mixture first, and then dredge it in the dry ingredients second.

Use an air fryer/fryer to cook the chicken until crispy. Again, be careful to not overcook the chicken. Silkie is leaner and takes less time.

Black Ink Noodle salad

As a side, black ink noodles in a sesame dipping sauce.

Try to undercook the noodle a tiny bit since the noodles will absorb the sauce.

Sesame dipping sauce:

1 tbsp Honey

3 tbsps soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar (If you're being "more Eugene" you can use balsamic [black] or pomegranate vinegar [deep red] for the color effect for the same amount)

1 tbsp black sesame seeds

3tbsps sesame seed oil

Cook the noodles, and then mix together the dipping sauce. Put the dipping sauce to the side, serve it like soba.

Waffles

The idea is to up the whole "red waffle" is evil idea by making red fish with black spots that bleed red in the middle. Cue evil Eugene laugh.

1 sweet potato, medium, baked prior, and mashed into a paste. (Red fleshed would be better)

1 tbsp soju

1/2 cup rice flour (Not sweet rice flour. Don't mix them up).

1/2 cup AP Flour

1/4 cup Black Sesame seeds

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

5 tbsp red beet powder

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

Black sesame seeds (optional and to taste)

1 fish waffle maker

Sweet Adzuki paste (You can buy online or make it yourself fairly easily).

Combine well until there are no lumps the buttermilk and the beet root powder first. Beet root powder has a tendency to clump so make sure it dissolves.

Combine the dry ingredients first: The rice flour, the cinnamon, the baking powder, the AP flour, the rice flour, the sesame seeds, the salt, the nutmeg.

Then combine the wet ingredients, the buttermilk with the beet root powder, the eggs, and the buttermilk. Add the sweet potato in last.

Heat up your waffle maker. (Better if a fish waffle maker)

Slowly combine 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Combine together slowly. Then combine another 1/3 and then the last 1/3rd. When just combined, spray your waffle maker, and do a test waffle. Often the first one is a dud. Let that be.

Add half the amount of the waffle, let cook halfway, add adzuki paste, cook the other half of the waffle, let cook together.

Serve the waffles hot and crispy.

The theory is that when you serve this recipe, it should be crispy, but still have contrasting flavors, yet have colors that aren't neceearily recognizable. Does it break the majority of the Korean rules? Yes. I suppose if you want to make it more colorful you can add a mango salsa, but look... it looks like a dish Eugene would serve.

[omentranslates]

Trigun Maximum Chugai Grace Cafe Collaboration PART 2 - A Third Website Translation Has Hit The Omen

THEY'RE DOING A PART 2!!?? THEY'RE DOING A PART 2!!! I DIDN'T KNOW THEY COULD DO THAT!!!! Ok so it seems like this time will be a bit smaller of an event, but they have new stuff so I will be RETRANSLATING THE WEBSITE PAGE.

I have done this two other times, including the previous event from last year! (Putting out the call btw I will update that one with the meal descriptions as well if anyone has a higher quality photo of the menu than what I posted ;-; I gave it another shot last night but mine is just too blurry)

ANYWAYS under the cut for clean dash as always HAVE FUN EVERYONE GOING TO THE EXHIBITION/DOUJIN EVENT/CAFE!!! I HAVE TO STAY HOME THIS TIME BUT IF THERE'S LITERALLY ANYTHING THERE TO READ YOU WILL BE SEEING ME ANYWAYS LMAOOOO

SO, THE FOOD

Starting from the top left we've got

"Love and Peansu" <3

strawberry bingsu

strawberry sauce

mango sauce

pink chocolate heart

"Smile, Spikey....Nachos" (they're just being mean now lmaooo)

tongari corn (recently found out that this is the actual name of the snack and not just like a description lmao. um but yeah i was right last time it's literally just bugles)

tortilla cheese (nacho cheese)

guacamole sauce

salsa

cheese sauce

"Crybaby Parfait" (guzuri is like, childish sulking (i am in indescribable pain))

coffee jelly (again!! again!!!!)

vanilla soft serve

the ampoule pipettes contain "metabolism advance stimulant" by which they mean blue curaçao

You're meant to squirt the curaçao over the ice cream and eat them together.

"60 Billion Double Dollar Man" <3

acerola juice (also called barbados cherry/west indian cherry)

grenadine

lemon juice

a cherry (standard)

"Welcome Home Hot Chocolate"

hot chocolate

chocolate whipped cream

white chocolate copeau as confetti (they wrote confetti not me, direct translation, i did not do this)

"Sworn Friends Bride Soda"

red&black mixed berry (usually blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and both red and black courants)

bride soda

Based on the picture it seems like the berries are just in the glass and you pour the soda over it just like the syrup from last time. No indication this time either of what flavor the soda has, if it has one, or if it's changed since last time.

(So I guess what we know about the Bride Soda so far is that whatever it is it goes well with concentrated smoked oak/ceylon tea combo and also tart fruits. Maybe if they do a few more of these we can get our substitute just by process of elimination lmao)

Collab Merch

(Overseas pay attention again, they are accepting online orders via ChugaiOnline store, so we can proxy these as well! Link at the end of section again!)

So they've brought back the buttons (can badges), plastic/vinyl double-sided postcards (with new pictures!!) and acrylic stands from last time (except for Milly????????????????????????)* with no change in price at all. I'll be a lot more brief than last time, all numbers are price in Japanese yen with tax included so you can convert, excluded is just the other number if you need it!

Buttons/Can Badges: 550 yen for one (RANDOM) or 6600 yen for the whole set

Postcards are 660 yen FOR A RANDOM ONE or 7920 for the whole set (THEY HAVE DIFFERENT SCENES THIS TIME, THESE ARE NOT THE SAME POSTCARDS WE GOT LAST YEAR)

Acrylic stands are 1650 yen and just like last time you get to pick but there is still no deal for getting all of them. They actually don't go together exactly like those ones from Amiami I was theorizing about last time it's more like a regular 3 part standee and one part just also has a chain on it.

*As for Milly....she's still listed on their website (as sold out along with all their past cafe merch) so I guess we'll just have to wait until April to see if she gets restocked with the others.

The ChugaiOnline preorder will start April 2nd at 11 am JST and end on May 12th just before midnight JST and merch is set to arrive in July! From here!! ↓

Extra Cafe Stuff (especially for if you're going!!!)

↓　Anyone who reserves a spot online beforehand will receive one of these 8 postcards of a panel from the original manga at random!!　↓

↓　These are the coasters this time, a random one comes with every food or drink order!!　↓

↓　And these are the special gifts, for every 3000 yen (including tax) spent on merch you will receive a random one of the 18 double-sided sketch postcards! It doesn't say if it applies to online orders as well, but if I'm remembering correctly it did apply last time.　↓

They're not doing a wallscroll campaign this time, but there is a twitter follow and reply campaign in which they're giving away a coaster set to 3 people by lottery! I'm not sure if we can enter this outside of Japan, but the entry period is the same dates as the cafe, from April 2nd at 12pm JST to April 20th, 2025 just before midnight JST!

OK THAT'S EVERYTHING!! HAPPY TRIGUN MANGA CAFE EVENT PART 2 HAPPY TRIGUNNING!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE POST ALL OF YOUR EVENT PICTURES I WANNA SEE EVERYTHING SO BAD!!!!

[michael-svetbird]

CERES | Portrait: Female Head With Crown of Ears of Corn | Ceres | Cerere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(mythology) Roman White Marble 2nd-hf of the 1st c. AD to 2 AD.

Musei Reali Torino, Turin | MRT [Ground fl., Museo di Antichità, Galleria Archeologica] Inv. SN539

Web : https://museireali.beniculturali.it/en/archaeological-museum

FB : https://www.facebook.com/museirealitorino

IG : @ museirealitorino

X : @ MuseiRealiTo

YT : https://www.youtube.com/@museirealitorino9942

MRT | Michael Svetbird phs©msp 19|10|24 6200X4300 600 [I., II.] The photographed object is collection item of MRT [Non-commercial fair use | No AI | Author rights apply | Sorry for the watermarks].

📸 Part of the "HEADS.Sculpture" MSP Online Photo-gallery:

👉 D-ART: https://www.deviantart.com/svetbird1234/gallery/78520831/heads-sculpture

👉 FB Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1400262423675664&type=3

.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Ancient Ways: In Defense of Cultivation

“We cared for our corn in those days as we would care for a child; for we Indian people loved our gardens, just as a mother loves her children; and we thought that our growing corn liked to hear us sing, just as children like to hear their mother sing to them.” — Buffalo Bird Woman (Hidasta)

With a modern food system so tied to capitalism and the industrial production-oriented model, it’s hard for us to see how to feed ourselves outside of them. While it’s imperative that we look forward and adapt to our modern context to some degree, it’s by looking back to times before institutions reigned that we start to see our way out.

The erosion of traditional foodways began at different times for different cultures. A basic misconception (or perhaps miscommunication) about “primitivist” theory is that the dawn of food cultivation some 10,000 years ago represented the “fall from grace” of humanity, and that everything that has been developed since that point has been tainted with die impurity of “domestication” and “civilization”. But this simplistic analysis reflects the same reductionist logic that has led to the social diseases of modern life. What was likely a simple adaptation for survival in die face of massive climactic changes did in many, cases lead people down a slippery slope toward domination of nature, but in many cultures, this was simply not the case. Even today, many indigenous cultures thrive on horticultural, village-scale food systems. At the time of white settlement of North America, dozens of indian groups practiced such methods without the trappings of civilization. (See Native American Gardening By J, Bruchac and Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden: Agriculture of the Hidasta Indians as told to Gilbert L. Wilson, also available online at www.digital. library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html)

The fact that many native cultures have endured using traditional horticultural methods, while remaining free from the trappings of civilization (aside from that which was imposed upon them) is testament to the possibilities of egalitarian social relations coexisting with the cultivation of food.

Contrary to the fundamentalist viewpoints that see cultivation itself as inherently dominating, the simple act of collecting seeds and replanting them elsewhere to provide more food sources could actually be seen as a complementary development to a gathering-hunting lifestyle. The transportation of seeds through feces is the basis of much plant reproduction in the wild and in the garden, and may have been the inspiration for humyns to begin cultivating certain plants. Even the selection of certain seeds for desired traits is a way humyns have actually enhanced biodiversity by “opening up” a species to diverse, highly adaptable variations. Instead of viewing the original cultivators with suspicion and doubt, why not appreciate the sensitivity and creativity it required for them to adapt to conditions by entering into a more complex and interactive relationship with nature? Can we make a distinction between cultivation and domestication?

In her book Food in History, Reay Tannahill theorizes that at the beginning of the “Neolithic revolution,” nomadic foragers began camping beside meadows of wild grains waiting for the brief window of ripeness when they could catch the harvest before it fell to the ground. After returning to these places annually, they eventually realized that if duty left some of the grain on the stalk they could expect a heartier harvest the next year. The next logical step was to begin scattering the seeds on the ground, at which point foragers became farmers. Responding to anthropologists’ assumptions that a large labor force was then required to harvest and process grain, thus giving rise to civilization. Tannahill quotes an archaeological study from the mid 1960’s: “In a three week harvesting period, a family of six could have reaped enough wild wheat to provide them with just under a pound of grain per head per day for a whole year” (J.R. Harlan, 1967)

The development of what we know as agriculture was not an overnight phenomenon, but rather a several thousand year-long project. In some places in the world, the earliest stages of cultivation were never surpassed, and remain sustainable today. In many more places, the pressures of the global economy have corrupted these practices just in this last century. But in most of the world today, we are witnessing the full-blown colonization of native foodways, and a nearly complete dependence on western industrial practices. To trace this “biodevestation” directly back to cultivation itself, is to ignore the history of conquest and land displacement that pushed the food systems of subsistence cultures to the brink, where they now teeter on the edge of extinction.

The loss of native foodways in favor of cheap, overprocessed industrial USDA staples has uncoincidenially served as one of the many vehicles of colonialism. The disconnection of food traditions from indigenous cultures has paved the way for illnesses like diabetes, cementing their dependence on western medicine in yet another way. In the Global South, traditional cultures are losing control of their food supplies faster than ever before. Distinct and diverse peoples of the world have become a prime target for conquest by western food producers like Archer Daniels Midland and Caigill. These modern day conquistadors ride the tails of the “Green Revolution” in chemical agriculture of the 50s. After replacing traditional food practices with a cynical “development” agenda based on monocrops and cheap exports, the conquest continues as structural adjustment policies and the current biotechnology phenomenon.

The logic of biotech makes complete sense as planned obsolescence: the same corporations who pushed the Green Revolution and all its chemicals and hybrid seeds, now seek to milk more profits out of fee sterile soil and resistant insects (and displaced peoples) that have resulted. New seeds are developed to adapt to the conditions that were caused by the same companies’ products 50 years ago! Decades of chemical intensive methods have created resistant weeds, so genetically engineered seeds are designed to withstand higher doses of chemicals. Industrial agriculture depends on these methods. At this point, we either turn away from industrial methods, or we accept the fate of high-tech food.

[bowlzone]

Before the year draws to a close I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the best (and worst) cereals of 2023. I appreciate you all coming on this cereal ride with me this year, and can't wait to see what cereals 2024 has in store!

Top three cereals of 2023: 1. Frosted Lemon Cheerios - How tragic it is that these Cheerios were a limited time offer, such was their creativity and deliciousness. As it is, I picked them up on a trip to the States in April and had to be satisfied with one singular box of delight. Here's hoping that the summer of 2024 sees Frosted Lemon Cheerios return with a citrussy flourish.

2. Crunchy Nut Bites - An unexpected light in the darkness of these winter months, this has become a staple of my cereal shelf ever since that first box of them in November. Although a small and slightly expensive, it's hard to rival Crunchy Nut Bites for texture and joy. A welcome bowl of this cereal is a fine way to kick off the first morning of 2024.

3. South Korean Oreo O's - My white whale of cereal was finally acquired this year and lo and behind, I able to confirm what the online cereal community had previously stated. This is the best form of Oreo O's available. Rich, chocolaty and indulgent there is no improvement that can be had for this triumph of the form.

Honorable mention - Although I don't post anything personal on this blog it seems remiss to reflect on the year as such without including the best part of it. My adopted son Mr. Garlic, who is a big fan of sniffing all the cereal I try.

Now, for sadly the worst cereal of 2023...

IHOP Mini Pancake Cereal - The crushing domination of corn as a cheap base for cereal strikes again with this 'blueberry pancake' experience, included here in quotes for it was certainly not the flavor I experienced. A bad cereal is one thing, but a disappointing bad cereal is another and although I tried in my review to find a redeeming aspect of it, with the power of hindsight I spiritually banish this box of cereal to where it belongs... the trash.

[snow-lavender]

now that we're a week out from the finale, i'm feeling settled enough to make my sappy post. TL;DR is: fable has been incredibly important to me, and i think it's a story that's important to have out there. to the community and cast, you've made something beautiful and helped me more than you could know.

so here we go-

i started watching fable in the summer of 2022, to kill time in between summer courses (and thank fuck for that, cause my brain desperately needed to have some fun after 5 hours a day of doing psych stats by hand.) i was originally pulled in by vo'lete, as dissecting a conlang is really fun to me. it became basically the only media i consumed, as 2022/2023 was the fourth year of my BA and i was crazy busy. and then the characters pulled me in further with their earnestness and their devotion to redemption and compassion.

i think one of the theses of fable is "people always deserve happiness. doing awful things doesn't erase your ability to change." and i think the simplicity and love of that take hit really close to home. in the era of modern fandom where bad actors try to make everything black and white, it's an important point to make.

i started making shitposts on tumblr, started enaging with stories from an analysis standpoint again, and found a lot of joy in the community here. i don't have the words for what that means to me, so i'll just default to you guys are great <3

then mid-august happened

those of you who frequent rin's streams might have caught bits and pieces of this, but basically, i had a fall and my knee became royally fucked beyond belief. it can only be fixed with a surgery that's not very common. the pain was (and still is) debilitating to the point that i had to drop out of my second degree, and couldn't walk more than like, a block every few days. my life, my dreams, my future all got put on hold. i was in a new city with no supports, no friends, and no way to leave my apartment. fable went from the only media i consumed to the only thing i did, period.

the fandom became the only people i talked to regularly, other than my family, as online relationships were the only ones possible to maintain. in fableblr and in rin's chat i've found people who i really click with, people whose company i enjoy and who enjoy mine. when i was lying in bed, feeling so alone and less than human, having people on the internet go "i know who you are and you are making an impact," quite frankly, kept me sane. i know i don't talk to people super often, but know that seeing you in my notifs brings me so much joy, and i'd love to talk to you more.

to assuage any worries- i'm doing a bit better now. i've moved back in with my parents so i have human contact and people who can make up for the things i can't do. i have a new doctor who is taking the severity of my condition very seriously and is fighting to get me treated asap. i'll be okay.

so yeah. fable has been super important to me, and will remain so! for me it's a story with so much joy and deep feelings and rediscovery of passions and just. fun. it's been so much fun. and i'm not letting go of that fun any time soon. i'm gonna keep making and watching and enjoying.

to sage, corn, and cob- you guys are great, i cherish every time we get to talk. i hope that it's okay that i count you among my friends

to my other mutuals and people who are here frequently- recognizing you in my notes is such a joy and i hope to get to know you better. y'all are cool and i'm glad you think i'm funny

to rin- thank you for nurturing your little community and creating a space where i have so much fun. also thank you for putting up with my constant setting off of automod

to beck- thank you for making a story that explores sisterhood in all its ugliness and beauty, that shows how even families full of love can fuck up, that holds space for loneliness and loss and joy and fear and new beginnings

to the rest of the cast- thank you for making a story with so many varied and yet connected points, characters and world. with so much love in it. you've truly done something special here and its impact will not be forgotten

to all of you- thank you for knowing my name. thank you for breathing life and joy into these stories. i can't wait to see what else we make. <3

[12minuteairquoteactressairquote]

Thank you for taking it way back and remembering the real reason people hate her and hated this relationship wasn’t because of her corn or friends or racism. No, no.

When the murmurs first started, people knew of the age difference. People were looking her up then. It was a HUGE factor. Even that DM lady on her podcast said she didn’t have access to a lot of info on him but that seemed out of place for him because he dated close to his age. Even damn Melissa (DM) didn’t buy it herself lol.

And when this launched and went public, no one knew about her racism but I remember casually coming online and seeing the most absurd fan reactions at that time. People were crying “he lied!! He said he was single and he lied!!” People DMing me how sick they felt. Like get a grip!

Does anyone remember the mysterious “fan letter” that floated around Twitter? This long ass manifesto of why they were disappointed in him and not who he portrayed to be? I think it was his team personally who leaked that but it made the rounds. Sadly so many were sharing it like “yesssss this!!!” Then the word parasocial got over killed.

And sadly so many fans in private DMs would constantly say over and over “he needs to be single when this ends. Like he has mental health issues! He needs to stay single.” And they don’t hear themselves. Many people have a mental health issue. It doesn’t require you must remain single the rest of your life lol. People self projected like crazy and now the racism and corn created the perfect excuse to hate her. And now people only talk about that but that wasn’t known until like a month later after they went public. For an entire month, people lost their shit because of the age difference and the fact he did that laser focus interview acting like he was a single man. I mean rightfully so people should be upset with her mocking the minority communities but I laugh at people who say that is the sole reason. Stop kidding yourselves, please. I hate the whole “you’re just jealous” trope but sometimes…it was true. That was literally the entire thing! All that weird FS talk that went around proved this. Someone says she likes pancakes and people were ready to kill each other yelling “he would never be with someone who likes pancakes!!” As if you personally are in his friend’s circle and know him.

His team never marketed him as an actor. They marketed him on his looks and being the internet boyfriend so fans could fulfill their fantasies of being with him and thus make money. I do believe Jenny probably did start this. I was an outsider looking in but I recall seeing fan comments on things like “eww she’s so basic or ugly. Why is he with someone like her?!? She doesn’t deserve him!” I remember thinking it was mean despite not liking her cause I just didn’t like her as a person myself (fat shaming & homophobic tweets and standup) but like damn!! His fans be crazy!!

So many fans literally only liked him for his looks and would even come visit Boston from overseas because they were gonna find their favorite white boy!! Yes this was something people openly bragged about on Twitter. When the D pic leaked, so many coddled and came to his defense to delete it and “protect his privacy!! He made a mistake” while continuing to save it on their phone and share via DMs. I came into this fandom during this and I swore I got sent that pic over 60 times with people saying “you need it in color? I got you!” Like I cannot emphasize enough that I’m tired of seeing that man’s schlong. So much for protecting his privacy huh? Nonetheless the fans who knew his addresses and would willingly share in DM. Again - Why? So much gets shared privately too that is insane behavior.

People only were “fans” for his looks and the fact he was single. Period. Suddenly he’s with someone and all the “ugh he’s so ugly, I have no lady boner” started. C’mon!!! Good for y’all for recognizing Nazis are bad but look at the blogs who say they only care about his work and by work they mean “omg I can’t wait to see what his hair looks like!!” No one cares about the acting. They care he’s hot and is single. That’s it.

I need to put this conversation to bed. I have a lot to say but folks are argumentative. It can pick up when the they ain't together no more drops🤣🤣🤣. I'll say I'm surprised that no one has really brought this "His team never marketed him as an actor. They marketed him on his looks and being the internet boyfriend so fans could fulfill their fantasies of being with him and thus make money." up. It's actually a thing I thought about when the married news happened. Think about it; how many male heartthrobs are married? How many are single? How many took years to get married? A lot of male heartthrobs actors stay single, in long term relationships, marry late in life(George Clooney) or marry their complete equal so women can't hate(ryan reynolds, brad pitt, tom cruise). Once they are truly off the market unless they do what george, ryan, Brad and Tom did fanbases take a nosedive cause we can either no longer thirst the man or stan the hot couple. Chris has not given any of his strong female fanbase a reason to stick around; especially since his acting is weak. His wife is an average looking lazy cam girl bum who he can't even kiss properly and he looks miserable.

This was long, but one good thing Chris has done was to get me talking more about what looks like Hollywood intermost workings. Thank you Chris Evans.

[thetomorrowshow]

survival

esh au hiiiii

Announcement: I'm going to be doing whumptober! A week from now is the 1st of October, so in addition to the next oleander update, i'll also start posting my whumptober fics :)

~

He doesn’t stay in the city because of course he doesn’t stay in the city. He’s the prime suspect in a double homicide, after all.

Still, Jimmy sticks around the streets for a while, ducking into the shadows whenever he hears a siren. After all, it’s a bit suspicious to see a dirty teenager out on his own, nothing on him but his clothes and his backpack (still with his cheap geometry textbook and his assigned English reading stuffed into it, because they make for somewhere to lay his head that isn’t hard ground).

(He’d thought about going back to school, at first. How ridiculous is that?)

He sticks around for about a month—far longer than he wants to live on the streets, but his parents are cremated and so the funeral service isn’t urgent, and is held three weeks after their death.

Nobody notices the sallow sixteen-year-old boy loitering in the church front entrance, listening to the echoes of the eulogy. They don’t notice that he spent the last bit of his money on a white button-up from a thrift store, that he’d braved a homeless shelter to be able to shower. They don’t notice the tears that streak down his face, that he desperately tries to wipe away.

Then the loudspeaker in the entrance sparks and smokes and stops working, so Jimmy leaves.

He knows he has to get away. He’s barely been surviving nicking food from convenience stores and restock trucks. He doesn’t dare show his face at any of the homeless camps around the city, nor any of the charity food organizations. He’s certain that they’ll just turn him in.

But he doesn’t have the money to go anywhere, nor the survival skills to set up in the woods somewhere, so he does what must be the inevitable. He breaks into someone’s house and steals every valuable he can find.

The house he chooses has a lot—expensive electronics and sparkling jewelry, and he feels utterly awful about it but he decides against leaving an apology note and just runs, ignoring the way the door falls off its hinges behind him.

There’s an unforeseen issue, though: for a street rat, he doesn’t really have any connections—and he’s too much of a good kid to even know how to go about making connections. The one time he tries, he somehow ends up with three necklaces gone and a small packet of white powder in exchange. That he manages to pass off for some decent money, but he gets out of that area quickly before he ends up getting into the wrong sort of business.

From then on, he robs the nice-looking houses (he doesn’t really care about security and wears a mask and hoodie to do it, and when alarms are inevitably tripped he somehow evades capture) and only goes for cash. Eventually, he’s got enough of the stuff in his backpack to rent a place far away, a shady place he’d checked out online that’s a good thirty minute drive away from any sort of civilization (and quite far away from here) and the landlord doesn’t care that he’s paying in cash.

How to get there is the next question.

The cross-country bus doesn’t run in that direction, and even if it did the price would be over $300, so Jimmy nixes that idea pretty quickly. He can’t hitchhike, that would go poorly. He can’t steal a car—he’d never finished learning how to drive, and it would be a matter of time before a crash.

He ends up doing what he’s only seen in movies—he hitches a ride on a cargo train headed in the right direction. The trainyard at the edge of the city has very few cameras; it had been a piece of cake to sneak into one of the middle cars of what seemed to be a train full of grain and hide out between the stacks of it.

In that train, Jimmy sees the countryside for the first time in his life.

He’s never lived outside Empires City, and while he’d learned about rolling fields and corn for miles on end, he hadn’t actually believed it.

He believes it now.

It goes on for absolutely ages, field after field after field, occasionally broken up by barns or houses, but not nearly frequently enough. It’s insane. Some of the fields are for livestock—there are whole herds of cows, just roaming around out there.

It’s beautiful, but soon enough, the monotony gets to him. It’s nothing like the city, with its bright lights and forever bustle, and eye spy isn’t fun by himself. Jimmy ends up rolling up his hoodie and shoving it under his head, then lying back and falling asleep.

Somehow, the trip passes mostly uneventfully. He’d done a decent bit of research at a library computer (which had flashed error screens halfway through his scouring of train depot maps) and knows that this train will take him almost all the way to his destination, leaving him with a two day walk into town and then a day of walking to reach his rental. The walking part he’s fairly confident about, and there’s a couple of printed-off maps stuffed into his hoodie pocket to guide him. What he’d been worried about was the train.

The train doesn’t break down, though. The most that happens is a couple of bags split open, grain spilling everywhere. Jimmy doesn’t think too hard about it, just hugs his backpack a little closer to himself. He always gets a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when his power manifests these days.

He hopes, if Lizzie’s alive, that she’s all right.

She hadn’t been found, either. The last time she’d been seen was by some friends at band after school on that fateful day. She’d vanished off the face of the earth, much like he had.

Jimmy swallows back the tears that burn at the corners of his vision. He can’t. He can’t think about her. He can’t think about his past at all. He just has to—he has to get away from everyone so that he never hurts anyone ever again, and then everything will become okay.

He sneaks off the train at his stop (a small depot, a couple of houses spread about and a place for the train to stop), slipping and faceplanting in the dust. He stumbles back up, hikes his backpack further up on his shoulders, and starts walking, through the tiny settlement and then along the side of the freeway that cuts through it.

There’s a gas station about three hours into his walk, thank goodness. He’s been out of water for far longer than he predicted, ever since his water bottle cracked down the side five hours ago, forcing him to drink all he could until the bottle was empty. At the gas station, he purchases a six-pack of cheap water and a pre-packaged pastry.

The pastry is moldy, of course. He eats around the black spots.

A two day walk. Into town, at least. Then another day to get to his rental. And after that. . . .

Jimmy’s not really sure what’s left of his life after that. Unless he can figure out how to control his powers, he’s stuck out in the middle of nowhere forever. He’ll have to become a farmer or something, raise chickens and grow food for himself so that he never has to subject the town to his misfortune.

For the first time, Jimmy stops to think about his long-term plans.

For the first time, Jimmy wonders if he should be alive.

-

The house sucks.

The fridge doesn’t work. There’s missing shingles on the roof, and the first time it rains the ceiling leaks all over the threadbare carpet in the living room. The air conditioning won’t turn on, and two weeks into living there the ceiling fan just falls out of the ceiling, narrowly avoiding crushing him (he walks away with some smarting scratches on his legs).

There’s some technically good things, he supposes. For instance, he gets pretty good at using a screwdriver after the cabinet doors and the doorknobs repeatedly fall off. Having a bed is nicer than sleeping on the ground, as he’s been doing for quite some time now. Even if the bedframe collapses on him during his second week. And rent is cheap!

Once a week, the city bus comes by to the bus stop a couple minutes out from the house, near the water tower (most workers at the water plant ride the bus to work), and when Jimmy eventually works up the courage (and entirely runs out of food), he rides it into town.

He doesn’t have enough money to last him forever. He can maybe survive for a year out here on what he has. If he starts a garden, though, gets some chickens like he planned. . . .

Jimmy goes back to the house with an armful of groceries, ten packets of seeds, and three chickens following him. It’s just getting to gardening season, so it’s the ideal time to set something up.

The work of turning the dirt with the rusted rake he finds in the garage is hard, but feels so unbelievably good. It’s awfully nice to have something to do, something that isn’t moping around the house, trying not to destroy everything he touches. He feels like he has something of a purpose, a purpose to plant a sustaining garden and raise three chickens and make something out of the profits.

If things go well, and he becomes less dangerous, maybe he can set up at a farmer’s market. Less exposure to the outside world than an actual job, so less chance of hurting anyone. Still bringing in a bit of money, enough to hopefully keep up with his rent.

His rake strikes a rock, which flies up and hits him square between the eyes. Right. Less planning for the impossible, more cultivating a garden.

For the second time, leaning on the handle of the rake as he rubs his forehead, Jimmy wonders if he’s meant to be alive.

-

By some stroke of luck, all goes . . . well.

The garden isn’t the best garden ever. The chickens are, perhaps, a bit more scraggly than the average chicken, their eggs more often rotten than not by the time Jimmy gets to them. But he can survive off of it, and for a teenage boy, he feels pretty proud of himself.

And he starts to settle in.

Maybe he can make this work. He can . . . he can just be a recluse, maybe work some sort of online job to pay the bills, survive off of his own garden and animals. If he saves up, he could maybe get a goat or two. Goats give milk, right? Edible milk? Having some milk would be nice.

It’s that autumn, of course, when things start to go wrong.

He’s heading into town for the first time in over a month, hungering for something other than bitter lettuce and tomatoes and eggs and Malt O’ Meal (his last box had run out that morning). Maybe he can spare some money on a frozen pizza (he knows he won’t—he’d already made a list for bread ingredients, a cookbook, and plenty of peanut butter and jelly).

The town feels . . . empty. He doesn’t pass anyone out walking or kids playing in yards, houses shuttered and doors closed. There are only three cars in the grocery store’s parking lot, and one of them is an employee.

The groceries are overpriced, but Jimmy doesn’t have any other choices. He’s thirsty, too, and stops for a bottle of water before heading to the single employee for checking out, but the shelves for bottled drinks are bare.

The cashier checks him out with an apology—

“Sorry, we’ll be getting more water on Tuesday, when the shipment comes in. If you can’t hold out until then, I’ve heard that our Belton location has some. Stay safe.”

And that, more than anything else, really worries Jimmy.

The library’s closed (it must be a holiday, or a weekend, or something), but there’s a newspaper box at the bus stop. It cracks open at his touch, so he takes a paper without paying and reads while he waits for the bus, hoping that it’s recent enough to have some news about what’s with the water.

As it turns out, it’s on the first page.

Hundreds ill. Contaminated water. Reports from analyzing labs that indicate that any water from the tap is deadly—as soon as it enters the water tower it becomes contaminated, but they’ve tried disinfecting the tower or gathering rainwater or taking it straight from the treatment plant, but nothing works. Anyone who drinks any water gets sick.

And Jimmy knows, instinctively, that it’s because of him.

After all, he lives within walking distance of the treatment plant.

It’s there, waiting for the bus, that Jimmy decides that he can’t stay here. He’d always known, deep down, that it wouldn’t work out. He’d hoped, of course. He’d hoped that the creaky old house could have contained him, held him there. That maybe he wouldn’t be dangerous if all he could hurt was himself.

Clearly, nowhere is far enough away. Even when he separates himself from civilization as much as possible, he can’t escape hurting people. He can’t escape himself.

He doesn’t move away immediately, though he’s so disgusted with himself (he can see the water tower through his window, and the now-frequent workers trying to fix it) that he wishes he could. Instead, he spends a week harvesting what he can—a few limp handfuls of lettuce and about a dozen tomatoes—and fixes what he can on the house.

When the time comes to leave, he doesn’t take the bus. He walks, his chickens following along behind, until he reaches the town.

Jimmy lifts the chickens one by one into someone’s backyard, leaving them a couple of tomatoes to eat until their new owner finds them.

He feels lucky that he hadn’t managed to kill his chickens. He really did come to love them—he had built the shoddiest of coops out of spare wood from his shed, and he’d petted each of them on the head every day, and frequently carried one around when he was too lonely to do anything. They can’t come back to the city with him, though—he’s sure that they wouldn’t survive the trip.

For back to the city is where Jimmy is headed. He’d considered just wandering, a vagrant, but he doesn’t exactly have the skills for that. He doesn’t know anything about scavenging or hunting, he hates stealing from people who aren’t already well-off, and he’s been feeling unwell for the past couple of days. He can’t survive wandering the country.

And in the city, there’s . . . well, there are more people to hurt, but there are more people to fix his problems. More places for people to go for help.

And maybe he can do some good instead of just isolating himself, get a job where he can be helpful. Balance out some of his karma.

Or maybe the train he hitchhikes on will crash and burn and he’ll die.

Jimmy’s not sure which would be preferable.