justsomeectoplasm

[justsomeectoplasm]

[justsomeectoplasm]

A Meal In The Rain

17 April 2024 — 17 April 2024

Summary: A meal in the kingdom of Sky is always best shared with others.

Word Count: ~1.6k words

Author's Note: This is inspired by Sky Food ideas by @justsomeectoplasm, go check their work out!

Also on AO3

Eating a good meal in Hidden Forest wasn’t like eating a good meal in, for example, Daylight Prairie. Prairie had plenty of options; after all, it was the home of cooking and farming! The lands were fertile and the mantas were abundant. Even Sanctuary, for all of its praise for being a vacation location, had a teeming export economy via its seafood. However, if there was something that Forest had that in abundance that Prairie didn’t, it was — 

“Fruit!”

The chibi-like skykid yanked the bowl out of the vendor’s hands with an excited honk. The bowl was slightly chilled and contained a dark violet mash, topped with various other fruits and a sticky floral syrup. The skykid let out a few more excited honks and was about to rush off before the vendor let out a call of their own. They held out a hand and mimed someone putting something in it.

The chibi-like skykid placed down the right amount of candles before scampering off to find a seat in the treehouse. The treehouse was crowded with various skykids from different realms, all crowding around to find a proper seat to enjoy their meals or snacks. The persistent scent of petrichor pierced through their brown mask to their nose.

Thankfully, most veterans were cautious enough to not accidentally kick around any chibis or moths underfoot. Most veterans were also willing to give up their seats to other skykids, unless they were deep in conversation, to which others simply gave up trying to catch their attention via honks and moved on.

The skykid swiveled their head around and tried to find their friends. They let out a few high-pitched squeaks, but that only got the attention of a few baby mantas as they flew past with the adults close behind. One baby manta even got close enough to fly in a circle around the cherubic skykid before it rejoined its squadron.

The skykid inhaled and screamed out a deep call. It reverberated through the open space, causing several skykids to answer back with calls of their own. A nearby swarm of butterflies reacted to the deep call and fluttered around the skykid before lifting them up.

They let out another deep call.

This time, another deep call answered them back. Then, another one.

The first call was a bit bubbly, and a few nearby mantas passing through the area reacted to it by letting out calls of their own. The second call was newer; it was a deeper bird call that whistled instead of chirped.

The chibi-like skykid flapped their blue, birdlike cape a few times to escape from the butterflies before gliding over to a little table set up on the mainland of the treehouse area. It was closer to the food stalls than the treehouse’s homey seating area, so the smell of various spices and herbs stuck to all pieces of fabric and mixed together to form a hot, homogenous, herbal area.

The table was set underneath a large cover, so the occasional drip of water from the trees created a deep ploink that worked to bring a sense of rain back to the Forest, even though it always rained in the realm. As the chibi skykid landed, they placed their fruit bowl down on the table and took a seat on one of the chairs provided. “I got a fruit bowl!” they announced.

One of the other skykids gave them a soft applause. “That is good to see,” they said as they pushed forward a woven steamer with its lid still on. “I got some crab dumplings to share for us, as well as some freshly stuffed buns before the vendor sold out.”

“They can sell out?”

“Yes, especially when there is a large influx of skykids such as now.”

“Because it isn’t raining in the treehouse area?”

“Exactly.”

The other skykid pushed a hot cup of tea towards the chibi. The tea smelt of various aromatic herbs, and the bottom of the clay cup revealed various crushed plants floating around. “Drink up Zephyr,” they gently ordered, “and take some of the other food as well. A fruit bowl isn’t going to fill you up.”

Zephyr removed their mask and set it on the table, inner side up. Their naturally short height revealed itself to any passerbys that might’ve assumed they were a taller skykid wearing a chibi mask. They took the cup of hot tea in both hands and took a careful sip. Despite heat not being a large problem for skykids — their inner candle was hotter than tea water after all! —  the taste was still strong and their face crinkled up in response. “Bleh! Gross! Tastes like how grass smells.”

“How would you know that?” Whynn asked as they fixed their hair. It was half-up and tied back with a violet and gold hair tie, which automatically made it ten times cooler in Zephyr’s mind. “Is that a Prairie kid thing?”

“I dunno. You ever smelled grass?”

“I have, before I settled in the vaults.” Whynn removed their pale mask and brought the cup of tea up to take a sip. They stayed silent for a moment before they added, “There’s a garden in the Starlight Dessert. I can smell some grass there.”

“But it’s not Prairie grass! Grass smells fresher in the sunlight.”

“Are you sure you are smelling sunlit grass and not trampled grass?” the third skykid asked. “On my travels to Prairie, it is always crowded when moths enter the picture, and let us not forget the sudden adoptions.”

“Dunno A.T., you live in Valley and Valley doesn’t have grass.”

Whynn promptly choked on their tea and started to cough loudly, leaning over the edge of the table to hide their face. “Zephyr — !”

A.T. gave the chibi a long, long gaze. Its bright eyes didn’t break the stare except to blink. Then, they sighed and tipped their cap at Zephyr. “Touché.”

Zephyr loudly cackled and swiped a stuffed bun. They took a large bite and gasped as a vegetable chunk nearly fell to the ground. They caught it with a hand and stuffed it in their mouth. The soft bread was light and properly held the filling of minced crab and vegetables inside. The crab was sweet and cooked in a similar seasoning as the vegetables, which were still a bit crunchy. “Yummy!” they cried out with a honk. “Thank you!”

“You are welcome,” A.T. said as they removed their own mask and set it down. He took a deep spoon and carefully scooped up a dumpling before placing the whole wrapped goodie in her mouth. It silently chewed on it as she used her free hand to adjust the feathers of his slim blue cape.

It was less of a cape and more of a back warmer to Zephyr, but it provided the same purpose: help channel their winged light to power their flight. The youngest skykid didn’t fully understand the love of skinnier capes, but maybe it was because they were young and only went through one reincarnation. Once through Eden and Orbit was enough for them, so they also didn’t spend too much on hunting down all the winged light.

They knew that Whynn and A.T. were both seasons older than they were. Whynn told them stories of Eden and how it subtly changed, while A.T. shared new locations of winged light popping up as more of the kingdom revealed itself to the skykids.

Zephyr thought that the kingdom was already large enough, but to hear stories of how it was smaller before? Why, it made them hungry. So they grabbed a crab dumpling.

The dumpling burst as soon as they bit into it, some of the sticky juice escaping from the corner of their mouth. The filling was savory and tasted different from their stuffed bun, despite containing the same filling of crab and forest vegetables. They wiped their mouth with the back of their hands.

“Zephyr, those are sticky and they’ll– Here, let me.” Whynn abandoned their chair and moved over to Zephyr’s side. They took a cloth napkin that was hiding underneath the dumpling steamer and wiped both the chibi’s mouth and their hands. “You’ll get these on your clothes.”

“Then it’ll be a snack for when I gotta go back to Prairie!” Zephyr joked. “Mmm, sticky crab juice.”

Whynn chuckled and shook their head. “Or you could eat your fill here and just be more careful. I know there’s good food in Prairie too.” They set the napkin back on the table and took a stuffed bun before heading back to their seat.

The conversation softly drifted into other topics as the food on the table slowly dwindled. The dumplings were the first to go, followed by the stuffed buns. Zephyr was forced to share their fruit bowl after looking at it and realizing that they didn’t have enough room to finish it all. But it was okay: the looks on unmasked faces of the two veterans after trying the fruit bowl made them feel warm inside. Warmer than their inner candle.

That warm feeling inside them caused their eyes to droop and a yawn to escape them. The constant ploink of raindrops falling from the trees gradually faded as they felt themself being lifted into another’s arms and carried away. They snuggled their face against a scarf-like cape and smelled faint traces of dust and stone.

Memory cubes.

Vault.

This was Whynn carrying them.

The veterans murmured whispers carrying words they didn’t fully comprehend through their drowsy state, so they let it lull them to sleep in the misty forest, carrying them far away to warm meals shared with loved ones.

#THIS IS SO CUTE I LOVE IT AAAAAA

[justsomeectoplasm]

While standing in line trying to get some food in the southern Gaza Strip, he yelled at the journalist Fakri Ibrahim, saying: 'Send this picture to Israel and the world.'

[justsomeectoplasm]

The thing is that getting Palestine free is both very difficult but not as difficult as getting South Africa free. South Africa had more resources than Israel does, it could hold out so much longer and still the apartheid was ended by people working tirelessly and boycotting and pushing for divestment and sanctions. These methods will work for freeing Palestine too.

I know it doesn't feel like there have been many successes, but all the politicians are feeling the pressure. Pressure that we are able to sustain and even increase as we come up with new initiatives and convince new people to join.

One of the reasons they're resisting our pressure so strongly is because they know that when we see gains we will push harder, we will continue to push until the stones falling becomes a rock fall and Palestine's freedom is secured. They know if we get a taste of the power we can wield we'll turn that onto freeing Congo too. They know we're unhappy and have been for a long time and their very secure system starts to look a lot less secure when we start mobilising to change things.

[justsomeectoplasm]

Palestinian activists get their message across on Londons iconic Tower Bridge landmark- one of the cities most historic buildings. We need a ceasefire now.

[justsomeectoplasm]

Hello tumblr may I introduce you this creature from Eves' music videos?

[justsomeectoplasm]

Maggie has got some serious sea legs!

(via Kale Pixey)

[justsomeectoplasm]

I love that the lines on her one eye is thinner than the others since her eyelashes broke off when she was turned to stone

Dungeon Meshi E15

#its the little details that make this series so good

[justsomeectoplasm]

In avatar this would be some ancient creature or some shit.

[justsomeectoplasm]

What kinda 'I have no mouth and I must scream type' of bullshit is this.

I traumatized a friend by showing him a sonic AU where Tails accidentally killed Sonic by blowing up a robot he was trapped in, then Sonic possessed the remains of the robot and started tormenting his friends.

#death tw

[justsomeectoplasm]

We have officially reached a viewership level that has never been obtained by another museum before! All of us at the Sacramento History Museum are in disbelief.

We would have never thought that our institution, a small nonprofit museum in Sacramento, California, could reach this many views, but we are incredibly thankful for all of those who take the time to watch our videos and for your support.

In this video, Howard letterpress printed a headline announcing “Sacramento History Museum Reaches One Billion Video Views On YouTube” while using our Washington hand press, which was manufactured in 1852!

#I hope this old man lives forever

[justsomeectoplasm]

LISTEN UP AGAIN KIDS STOP REBLOGGING THIS FUCKING GARBAGE POST. IT IS 100% FUCKING BULLSHIT AND CAN AND MOST DEFINITELY WILL LITERALLY KILL. DO YOU NOT SEE WARNING LABELS THAT SAY “DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING”? THEY AREN’T FUCKING AROUND. YOU CAN FUCKING BURN THEIR ESOPHAGUS BY CAUSING VOMITING, CAUSE CHOKING, DROWNING, OR MAKE IT WORSE! AGAIN DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING DOWN ANYONE’S THROAT. THEY. CAN. DROWN. IF SOMEONE IS LOSING CONCIOUSNESS ALL THE CHIT CHAT IN THE WORLD WILL NOT PREVENT IT AT THAT POINT THEY ARE IN SERIOUS DANGER. “Buuut i don’t wanna take them to the hospital!!!” WELL SUNSHINE GLAD YOU’D RATHER HAVE A DEAD FRIEND THAN A LIVING ONE BUT YOU’RE IN LUCK CALL FUCKING POISON CONTROL. THEY ARE NOT THE COPS. THEY WILL HELP YOU. AND IF THEY SAY GO TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL YOU GO TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL. NO EXCUSES. 0. NONE. I have seen this shit cross my dash SO MANY TIMES so PLEASE fucking reblog this and prevent some well meaning idiot from accidentally killing someone they love!

[justsomeectoplasm]

KOSA IS STUPID

STOP. IT.

[justsomeectoplasm]

remenber to stop kosa

it doesn't matter if you are gay or straight, it doesn't matter if you are trans or cis, it doesn't matter if you are a minor or an adult, this is going to affect you and all your friends.

[justsomeectoplasm]

[justsomeectoplasm]

(I typed and erased this ask several times and I still haven't quite got the phrasing right; please bear with me.)

In December 2022, you wrote a drabble about humans bringing charities to an intergalactic scale. Today, I saw it on my dash for the first time. I've been having an interesting few weeks, both good and bad. I've been overwrought recently.

Reading that piece felt like resonance. I teared up near the end of my first read and had to go immediately back for a second. You wouldn't see anything I had to say in the tags because the piece was a reblog and not an original post, so I'm sending this to make sure you knew it was still appreciated.

Thank you for writing that, and thank you for sharing it.

I just want to say that I have been having a rough week and this message has genuinely brought a smile on my face. I am so happy that my writing has touched somebody on such a level. Thank you for sharing your message and I hope you have a wonderful day!

#THANK YOU SOOO MUCH THIS MESSSGE MEANS A LOT #I GENUINELY LOVE THAT PEOPLE SOMETIMES TALK ABOUT MY WRITING AHSUSHEHJ #that piece is so old that I nearly forgot about it #thank you for brining it up

[justsomeectoplasm]

I have not drawn people in a year or line art in 5 years. This was done with only an edge pen and a normal pen + the will of a stressed out university student. It is so far starting to look like my best work.

I'm having an absolute CRISIS over the edge pen in medibang how did anime artists saw this and went "yeah I'll make a whole art piece with this tool alone" like??? How did you come up with that??? AND WHY DOES IT WORK???

#Gotta stop here cuz back ow ow ow ow ow