#snake river plain

[craftingcreatures]

Today I want to talk about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (Octopus paxarbolis).

OK, so for those who don't know, the PNW Tree Octopus was an internet hoax created in 1998 consisting of a website detailing the animal's life history and conservation efforts. It's completely fake - saying that up front. This animal never existed.

But if you look at this from a speculative biology standpoint? It's genius.

There is one, and only one, thing preventing Octopus from colonizing and being hugely successful in terrestrial environments in the PNW, and that's the fact that no cephalopod has ever been able to overcome the osmotic stress of inhabiting freshwater. We don't know why this is; other mollusks evolved freshwater forms just fine. But if you hand-wave away that one, single limiting factor, the PNW is just primed for a terrestrial octopus invasion.

The Pacific coast of North America is an active tectonic boundary, meaning the coast transitions pretty much immediately into the Cascade and Coastal mountain ranges (contrast with the east coast and its broad Atlantic plain). It's also a lush temperate rainforest, with very high precipitation. This means lots and lots of high-gradient mountain streams with lots of waterfalls and rapids and cold, highly oxygenated water, and not as many large, meandering rivers.

This has important consequences on the freshwater fauna. For one, there are not many freshwater fish in the Pacific Northwest - the rapids and waterfalls are extremely hard to traverse, so many mountain streams are fish-free. There also just isn't much fish diversity in the first place - there's sturgeon in the big rivers, salmonids, a few sculpin and cyprinids and... that's pretty much it. These cold northern rivers are positively impoverished compared to the thriving fish communities of the Mississippi or Rio Grande.

Few fish means few predators, and depending on the size of the first freshwater octopus, salmon and trout just wouldn't be much of a threat. And while these rivers don't have much in the way of fish diversity, there's lots of prey available - crayfish, leeches, mosquito larvae, frogs and tadpoles, water striders, and other aquatic insects, just to name a few. So the first Octopus pioneers to invade the rivers would be entering what essentially amounts to a predator-free environment with lots and lots of food and no competition. Great for colonization.

These ideal conditions get even better once you get up past the rapids and waterfalls, since there's no fish whatsoever in those streams. Octopus, with their sucker-lined arms, are perfectly equipped to navigate fast-moving, rocky-bedded streams and climb up cliffs. They'd also be well able to traverse short stretches of dry ground to access even more isolated pools and ponds. In fact, once Octopus overcome the osmoregulation problem there's nothing at all preventing them from colonizing land in earnest, since the PNW rainforests are so wet; there's no danger of drying out.

Finally there's the question of reproduction. Octopus are famously attentive mothers, because they need to keep the water around their eggs moving and well-oxygenated. In a mountain stream, this wouldn't be an issue, because the cold, turbulent water holds lots and lots of oxygen. Breeding in high mountain streams would be ideal, and the mothers might not even need to attend to their eggs, freeing them up to evolve away from semelparity and allowing them to reproduce more than once in their lives; their populations would thus increase rapidly and dramatically.

I think, if octopus managed to invade freshwater ecosystems in the PNW, it would dramatically change the ecology much like an invasive species. They'd be unstoppable predators of frogs, bugs, slugs, maybe even larger animals like snakes, birds, and small mammals. Nothing would eat them except maybe herons, and things like bears and raccoons would give them a wide berth due to their venom. They would rule that landscape.

The tl;dr is that the PNW is primed for invasion by cephalopods, if only they could manage to overcome the osmoregulation problem and live in freshwater. If the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus really did exist, it wouldn't be a shy and reclusive species on the brink of extinction; it would be a pest, an invasive, overpopulated menace you couldn't get rid of if you wanted to. I can just imagine them crawling up onto people's bird feeders and either stealing the nuts or luring in unsuspecting sparrows and starlings. They would sit in the trees and throw pinecones at hikers for fun. They would be some unholy mixture of snake and slug with the personality of a magpie and I am incensed that they only exist in fiction.

#long post #octopus #speculative biology #speculative evolution #spec bio #spec evo #pacific northwest #pacific northwest tree octopus #truly a shame that there are no freshwater or terrestrial cephalopods

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Three-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma tridactylum)

(Photo from the Missouri Department of Conservation)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Gulf Coast Plain

Size (Weight/Length)- 70 cm

Diet- Fish; Worms; Insects; Mollusks; Snakes; Amphibians

Cool Facts- Upon first glance, you might think a three-toed amphiuma is a very large worm or small eel rather than a nearly legless salamander. The salamanders are expert hunters and eat anything that swims. After eating a crayfish, the three-toed amphiuma will take over its burrow to call a home. Their vestigial legs are practically useless as they wiggle through water and mud like an eel rather than attempting to crawl across the bottom of a river. Three-toed amphiuma have recently found their way into the pet trade, resulting in wild individuals being captured and sold. Luckily, their population is relatively stable as long as their rivers remain clean.

Rating- 13/10 (Has the largest red blood cells of any animal.)

#animal of the day #animals #amphibians #salamanders #amphiuma #sunday #january 7 #three-toed amphiuma #biology #science #conservation #the more you know

[toastandjamie]

Thinking about Mat and Tuon again. So something I’ve been considering lately is how the thing about Mat that Tuon seems to like the most is surprisingly his “softness”. So Tuon clearly likes how Mat can be cold and calculating even a little cruel when it comes to battling enemies, no mercy, the whole Lion on the high plains thing. This is an upbringing thing, what she expects from her consort, competency and a little cruelty that is necessary to what needs to be done. However, it’s impossible to ignore how endeared she is by the more, Two Rivers, aspect of Mat. His hang ups on killing women, his gentleness towards her physically, his embarrassment and shyness around public displays of intimacy, his in her view naive views on love and marriage, his just generally caring and self sacrificial personality even though he tries to hide it. She finds those aspects even more appealing to her than his capability for violence, because his kindness is New and Different to her. Seanchen culture does not promote the type of vulnerability Mat so innately shows. Like when he claimed to have snuck into the damane kennels to give one of the wind finders sweets because she did him a favor before, and while that was a lie, it’s unclear whether Tuon realizes it. The way she praises him for it reveals this almost affectionate side of her, to her it’s like seeing a cute boy feed a stray cat and give it little scratches behind the ears. It’s cute to her that he’s so kind towards damane, his shock and confusion over her telling him not to do so again because others may get the wrong idea only adds to her amusement, because Mat hadn’t even considered the possibility that someone could think he was there for unsavory purposes. Him letting a poisonous snake go, his shyness over her telling him to kiss her in front the Band, and again when she starts to strip in the garden after they reunited. And listen, while she obviously likes him capable, you can’t tell me that Tuon “likes lowering his eyes” Paendrag DOESNT like him at least a little wet and pathetic.

#wheel of time #mat cauthon #tuon athaem kore paendrag #minor wot book spoilers #wot meta #wot rambles #wheel of time spoilers

[bonefall]

Do you have any plans with Petal? She was so interesting even when she played mom to Misty's kits, taking care of them even when Misty did not do the same for her and Fox, she was dealt a rough hand and I always said she deserved better than to be Clear Sky's Loyal Lackey forever

Petal is still a bit up in the air, but I DO know for certain a few things;

She is now a Tribe cat. BB!DOTC features a language barrier between Park and Tribe cats, so everyone in early SkyClan must come from the Tribe.

Fox Claw and Petal Claw will probably end up being part of the Claw Family.

Fox's death will need to be shuffled, since the set-up is so different. I do like Petal holding a grudge against the person forced to kill him, though.

I know for a fact that Red Claw is going to be part of this family; either a child of Fox or Petal. Acorn Swoop eventually has children with a member of the Claw family-- her canon love interest is Red but I'm not averse to making it someone else in this group.

Petal Claw is rewarded with the orphaned kits of Misty-- now a Park cat. Tensions are going to rise between SkyClan and the River Kingdom as a result of this.

However. Birch and Alder won't keep those names for two reasons;

Reason One, the more important reason, is that Park Cats are born nameless. They don't HAVE names yet-- just physical characteristics.

But also, SkyClan wouldn't allow them to keep the names either. So, Petal Claw will rename them.

I was thinking it COULD be Red Claw and Snake Claw, but I'm not sure if it's wise to fuse FOUR characters into 2 so hastily. So, I am still unsure.

In any case, eventually one of these kits will defect on learning they have family in the River Kingdom, curious to learn more.

Anyway, back to Petal Claw.

She will be doggedly loyal to SkyClan her whole life, Clear Sky's favorite soldier. She enjoys a lot of privilege within the Clan, and revels in her power and status.

She does eventually die for the cause-- probably in the First Battle, because Sparrow Heart needs room for an opportunity to become the next leader.

Petal Claw is also, unfortunately, a major reason Skystar becomes part of StarClan. She really is loyal to the very end, rallying his other dead supporters to clamor for him when he arrives.

Overall, Petal is an ambitious, scrappy, loyal cat who is a major recurring ally of BB!Clear Sky. She revels in what SkyClan can offer her, and the influence she weilds as a result of her devotion. Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven!

She's got an important role. If I wrote every cat someone likes defecting I wouldn't have anyone in SkyClan at all lmao

I do have to say though-- the little "bonus chapter" trying to frame Petal taking Misty's kits as "aww shes being so noble when misty didnt do it for her" frustrates me immensely. I'm VERY much not a fan of it. This woman was fucking murdered on screen for her land by a bloodthristy tyrant and Petal jumped foward to prevent the maniac from slaughtering babies too. The way it tries to take attention away from CLEAR SKY'S MURDER to make it about Petal "breaking a cycle" is just plain awful.

Even worse is how the books quickly shift to passive voice after First Battle. "After their mother Died." Mentions of Clear Sky murdering this woman dry up for a looong while until Milkweed.

So in BB I honestly have no desire to preserve that in any way. Petal Claw wanted the kits because a bigger family is a point of status, and the mother was dead now anyway. Someone needs to care for them-- and so it should be her, because she deserves it. Clear Sky agrees, happy that she will raise more cats who are loyal to him.

Thunder Storm will be witnessing this while he is training under his father; and I'll probably end up doing something with the fact that this means he has information that will be relevant to River Kingdom.

(Or perhaps the Wind Coalition. I'll figure out which one works better for political tension here.)

BUT at the very least, Petal Claw won't be getting fridged for Clear Sky's man pain like canon. Seriously what the fuck. What an awful way to send her out; dying of illness but having just enough strength to throw herself at Clear Sky's feet going "ouuuugh i knew youd saave me. Ur so strong and brave and amazing and cool and misunderstood and everyone on the internet who says mean things about you is evil."

We support women's wrongs here. She will die in BATTLE like she DESERVES

#BB!DOTC #BB!Petal Claw #Better bones au

[stillflight]

I would like to offer this resource for therians, an extensive list of all of Sir David Attenborough’s nature documentaries that are available on soap2day, and a full list of what species* they each (notably, prominently) feature the natural behaviors of, separated by episode, and omitting species that were only shown dead, juvenile or being predated on. This took me a while (I have been working on it since Prehistoric Planet’s release) because I did in fact have to watch every single series in full in order to list all the species and the episodes are around 50 minutes long, but enjoy.

Long post ahead:

Most of these shows have closed captioning, which is why I’ve picked soap2day. Planet Earth is the only one that doesn’t. I did not include Dynasties and Dynasties II because each episode only features one species.

Thank you to Birch (@ambiguousmutt​) for his help (he watched about half of the episodes) so I didn’t have to do it individually. Credit goes to him as well.

*Sometimes Attenborough doesn’t say the specific species and I was too busy trying to get through the episodes to identify it. In those cases I just put the most specific name I could.

Planet Earth

Episode one (From Pole to Pole): emperor penguin, polar bear, caribou, arctic grey wolf, Amur leopard, six-plumed bird-of-paradise, superb bird-of-paradise, great white shark, African elephant, African buffalo, lechwe, baboon, African wild dog

Episode two (Mountains): gelada, walia ibex, Ethiopian wolf, guanaco, cougar, grizzly bear, markhor, snow leopard, golden eagle, grey wolf, panda, golden snub-nosed monkey, red panda, demoiselle crane

Episode three (Fresh Water): giant salamander, grizzly bear, smooth-coated otter, Nile crocodile, dolphin fish, midge, Amazon river dolphin, dorado, piranha, spectacled caiman, crab-eating macaque, snow goose

Episode four (Caves): wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat, cockroach, bat hawk, cave swiftlet, yellow-red rat snake, Texas blind salamander

Episode five (Deserts): Bactrian camel, dromedary camel, red kangaroo, fennec fox, guanaco, long-nosed bat, Nubian ibex, flat lizard, lion, African elephant, locust

Episode six (Ice Worlds): snow petrel, Antarctic petrel, south polar skua, humpback whale, emperor penguin, eider, muskox, arctic grey wolf, polar bear, little auk, arctic fox

Episode seven (Great Plains): Mongolian gazelle, red-billed quelea, wildebeest, snow goose, arctic fox, arctic grey wolf, bison, wild ass, Tibetan fox, pygmy hog, African elephant, lion, baboon

Episode eight (Jungles): magnificent bird-of-paradise, spider monkey, howler monkey, siamang gibbon, gliding tree frog, colugo, red crab spider, African elephant, chimpanzee

Episode nine (The Shallow Seas): humpback whale, multiple corals, banded sea krait, trevally, dugong, bottlenose dolphin, Socotra cormorant, salp, comb jelly, sea lion, dusky dolphin, sea urchin, sunflower starfish, short-tailed stingray, great white shark, king penguin, fur seal

Episode ten (Seasonal Forests): Eurasian lynx, moose, crossbill, wolverine, western capercaillie, pine marten, great grey owl, pudu, kodkod, mandarin duck, cicada, red deer, Amur leopard, tiger, mouse lemur

Episode eleven (Ocean Deep): whale shark, oceanic whitetip shark, common dolphin, Cory's shearwater, manta ray, sea spider, vampire squid, spider crab, unnamed deep sea eel, giant isopod, chambered nautilus, Pacific spotted dolphin, mola mola, frigatebird, sailfish, blue whale

Planet Earth II

Episode one (Islands): pygmy three-toed sloth, Komodo dragon, sifaka, marine iguana, Galapagos racer, Buller's albatross, fairy tern, Christmas Island red crab, yellow crazy ant, chinstrap penguin

Episode two (Mountains): Nubian ibex, red fox, golden eagle, grizzly bear, bobcat, flamingo, mountain viscacha rat, snow leopard

Episode three (Jungles): spider monkey, flying lizard, sword-billed hummingbird, river dolphin, jaguar, glass frog, paper wasp, click beetle, red bird of paradise, Wilson's bird of paradise, indri

Episode four (Deserts): lion, Harris's hawk, shrike, locust, sand grouse, pale chanting goshawk, feral mustang, golden mole, desert long-eared bat, darkling beetle, Namaqua chameleon

Episode five (Grasslands): saiga antelope, lion, harvest mouse, carmine bee-eater, Kori bustard, African elephant, serval, Jackson's widowbird, grasscutter ant, compass termite, giant anteater, bison, red fox, arctic grey wolf

Episode six (Cities): langur, peregrine falcon, leopard, European starling, great bowerbird, raccoon, rhesus macaque, spotted hyena, wels catfish

Our Planet

Episode one (One Planet): lesser flamingo, orchid bee, golden-collared manakin, red-capped manakin, blue manakin, cormorant, booby, common dolphin, shearwater, African wild dog, timber wolf

Episode two (Frozen Worlds): gentoo penguin, wandering albatross, narwhal, Pacific walrus, humpback whale, orca, leopard seal, polar bear

Episode three (Jungles): lowland gorilla, forest elephant, black sicklebill, twelve-wired bird-of-paradise, western parotia, mountain treeshrew, Philippine eagle, black spider monkey, leafcutter ant, Sumatra orangutan, velvet worm

Episode four (Coastal Seas): northern fur seal, compass jellyfish, giant trevally, mobula ray, Atlantic stingray, bottlenose dolphin, grey reef shark, whitetip reef shark, sea otter, California sheephead wrasse, Steller's sea lion, bald eagle, humpback whale, Guanay cormorant, Inca tern, Peruvian booby, South American sea lion

Episode five (From Deserts to Grasslands): Socotran cormorant, Arabian leopard, Arabian oryx, African elephant, cheetah, bison, Alcon blue butterfly, saiga, Przewalski's wild horse, tiger

Episode six (The High Seas): blue whale, spinner dolphin, mobula ray, oarfish, anglerfish, bristle worm, giant petrel, black-browed albatross, wandering albatross, bluefin tuna, sea lion, humpback whale

Episode seven (Fresh Water): Australian pelican, torrent duck, grizzly bear, manatee, giant mayfly, common kingfisher, osprey, jaguar, callipterus cichlid, Siamese fighting fish, hippopotamus, lion, African elephant, sandhill crane

Episode eight (Forests): Siberian tiger, bald eagle, rough-skinned newt, great hornbill, African elephant, African wild dog, fossa, gray mouse lemur

A Perfect Planet

Episode one (Volcano): lesser flamingo, marabou stork, Galápagos land iguana, vampire ground finch, Aldabra giant tortoise, North American river otter, coyote, Kamchatka brown bear, wildebeest

Episode two (The Sun): yellow-cheeked gibbon, fig wasp, arctic grey wolf, wood frog, garter snake, arctic fox, Saharan silver ant, golden snub-nosed monkey, sooty shearwater, humpback whales

Episode three (Weather): straw-colored fruit bat, fire ant, Amazonian giant river turtle, desert rain frog, Bactrian camel, Christmas Island red crab, carmine bee-eater, Nile crocodile, African fish eagle, hippopotamus

Episode four (Oceans): common dolphin, marine iguana, flightless cormorant, flamboyant cuttlefish, eider, bottlenose dolphin, lemon shark, manta ray, blacktip reef shark, trevally, rockhopper pengin, Eden's whale

Episode five (Humans): none

Life

Episode one (Challenges of Life): bottlenose dolphins, cheetah, panther chameleon, orca, brown-tufted capuchin, stalk-eyed fly, hippopotamus, Clark's grebe, giant Pacific octopus, strawberry poison-dart frog, leopard seal, orangutan

Episode two (Reptiles and Amphibians): pebble toad, caiman, basilisk, Brazilian pygmy gecko, panther chameleon, Namaqua chameleon, red-sided garter snake, collared iguana, hog-nosed snake, horned lizard, sea krait, African bullfrog, Komodo dragon

Episode three (Mammals): Weddell seal, elephant shrew, aye-aye, caribou, straw-colored fruit bat, lion, spotted hyena, polar bear, brown-nosed coati, meerkat, African elephant, humpback whale

Episode four (Fish): sailfish, flying fish, weedy sea dragon, convict fish, sarcastic fringehead, mudskipper, Hawaiian freshwater goby, hippopotamus, barbel, silvertip shark, clownfish, sea lion, ragged tooth shark, multiple snapper, whale shark

Episode five (Birds): spatuletail hummingbird, lammergeier, red-billed tropicbird, magnificent frigatebird, red knot, horseshoe crab, lesser flamingo, chinstrap penguin, great white pelican, Clark’s grebe, sage grouse, Vogelkop bowerbird

Episode six (Insects): Darwin’s beetle, unnamed damselfly, monarch butterfly, alkali fly, Wilson’s phalarope, oogpister beetle, mongoose, bombardier beetle, honey bee, black bear, Japanese red bug, Dawson’s bee, grass cutter ant

Episode seven (Hunters and Hunted): ibex, short-tailed stoat, brown bear, Ethiopian wolf, California ground squirrel, star-nosed mole, cheetah, red fox, greater bulldog bat, bottlenose dolphin, Bengal tiger, rattlesnake, orca

Episode eight (Creatures of the Deep): Pompeii worm, Humboldt squid, nemertean worm, moon jelly, fried egg jellyfish, spider crab, stingray, cuttlefish, giant Pacific octopus, sunflower sea star, king crab, cleaner shrimp

Episode nine (Plants): monarch butterfly, purple-throated carib hummingbird

Episode ten (Primates): Hamadryas baboon, Japanese macaque, lowland gorilla, spectral tarsier, phayre's leaf monkey, ring-tailed lemur, Sumatra orangutan, chacma baboon, white-faced capuchin, brown-tufted capuchin, western chimpanzee

Blue Planet II

Episode one (One Ocean): bottlenose dolphin, tuskfish, tern, giant trevally, mobula ray, false killer whale, Asian sheepshead wrasse, orca, humpback whale, walrus

Episode two (The Deep): sea toad, Venus’ flower basket, unnamed shrimp, ethereal snailfish, cock-eyed squid, pyrosome, barrel-eyed fish, unnamed siphonophore, yeti crab, Humboldt squid, fangtooth fish, sixgill shark, scabbardfish, zombie worm

Episode three (Coral Reefs): broadclub cuttlefish, coral grouper, day octopus, multiple corals, green turtle, bottlenose dolphin, manta ray, bobbit worm, saddleback clownfish, marbled grouper, grey reef shark

Episode four (Big Blue): spinner dolphin, yellowfin tuna, mobula ray, sailfish, sperm whale, sea turtle, blue shark, great white shark, multiple jellyfish, Portuguese man o' war, whale shark, wandering albatross, shortfin pilot whale

Episode five (Green Seas): Garibaldi, Australian giant cuttlefish, weedy seadragon, common octopus, pyjama shark, sea otter, tiger shark, smooth stingray, zebra mantis shrimp, common dolphin, humpback whale

Episode six (Coasts): Pacific leaping blenny, king penguin, southern elephant seal, Sally Lightfoot crab, Galápagos sea lion, ochre starfish, clingfish, chain moray eel, Atlantic puffin, arctic skua

Episode seven (Our Blue Planet): none

Prehistoric Planet

Episode one (Coasts): Tyrannosaurus rex, Tethydraco, Phosphatodraco,  Tuarangisaurus, Mosasaurus hoffmannii, pycnodont fish, ammonites,  Kaikaifilu

Episode two (Deserts):  Dreadnoughtus, Tarbosaurus, Velociraptor,  Mononykus, Barbaridactylus, Secernosaurus

Episode three (Freshwater): Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus rex, Deinocheirus, Quetzalcoatlus, Masiakasaurus, Beelzebufo, elasmosaur

Episode four (Ice Worlds): dromaeosaur, hadrosaur, Ornithomimus, Olorotitan, troodontid, Antarctopelta, Pachyrhinosaurus, Nanuqsaurus

Episode five (Forests): Austroposeidon, Triceratops, Carnotaurus, Qianzhousaurus,  Edmontosaurus, Atrociraptor, Anodontosaurus, Therizinosaurus, Telmatosaurus, Hatzegopteryx

The Hunt

Episode one (The Hardest Challenge): African leopard, African wild dog, Parson’s chameleon, nose-horned chameleon, African mantis, Darwin’s bark spider, Nile crocodile, Amur falcon, orca, cheetah

Episode two (Arctic): polar bear, arctic grey wolf, arctic fox, glaucous gull

Episode three (Forests): tiger, American marten, sparrow hawk, Portia spider, tarsier, harpy eagle, chimpanzee, army ant

Episode four (Oceans): blue whale, frigatebird, dorado, sargassum fish, spinner dolphin, Beroe ovata, Chiroteuthis, lionfish, black-browed albatross, sea lion, tuna, copper shark, common dolphin, Bryde's whale

Episode five (Plains): cheetah, caracal, honey badger, termite, bald eagle, lion, Ethiopian wolf, hotrod ant, spoor spider

Episode six (Coasts): bottlenose dolphin, algae octopus, sand bubbler crab, long-tailed macaque, marine otter, grizzly bear, grey wolf, peregrine falcon, orca, humpback whale

Episode seven (Conservation): none

Life In Colour

Episode one (Seeing In Color): Indian peafowl, mandrill, Costa’s hummingbird, magnificent bird-of-paradise, blue moon butterfly, fiddler crab, mantis shrimp, flamingo, poison dart frog

Episode two (Hiding In Color): Bengal tiger, langur, ptarmigan, crab spider, zebra, Cuban painted snail, blue-striped fangblenny, common waxbill, pin-tailed wydah, Augrabies flat lizard

Frozen Planet II

Episode one (Frozen Worlds): emperor penguin, orca, Pallas’s cat, Siberian tiger, grizzly bear, hooded seal, polar bear

Episode two (Frozen Ocean): polar bear, beluga, harp seal, skeleton shrimp, crested auklet, orca

Episode three (Frozen Peaks): high-casqued chameleon, japanese macaque, kea, andean flamingo, giant panda, golden eagle, andean mountain lion

Episode four (Frozen South): king penguin, Antipodean wandering albatross, blue whale, Weddell seal, chinstrap penguin, snow petrel, leopard seal, orca

Episode five (Frozen Lands): grey wolf, arctic fox, Amur leopard, Siberian tiger, painted turtl, Lapland bumblebee, snowy owl, caribou, grizzly bear

Episode six (Our Frozen Planet): none

Africa

Episode one (Kalahari): fork-tailed drongo, ostrich, black rhinoceros, Angolan giraffe, African leopard, armored ground cricket, spider wasp

Episode two (Savannah): Agama lizard, shoebill, bee-eaters and rollers, lesser flamingo, African elephant, crowned eagle, African fish eagle, martial eagle

Episode three (Congo): chimpanzee, central African rock python, Angola banana frog, African skimmer, rockfowl, African elephant

Episode four (Cape): emperor swallowtail, giant kingfish, African penguin, monkey beetle, springbok, yellow-billed kite, pied crow, ghost crab, vundu catfish, Nile crocodile, Bryde’s whale, great white shark, common dolphin

Episode five (Sahara): Grevy’s zebra, naked mole rat, barn swallow, Dromedary camel, dung beetle, crocodile, western yellow wagtail, Saharan silver ant

Episode six (The Future): none

#alterhuman #therian #resources

[srbachchan]

DAY 5541

Jalsa, Mumbai               Apr 18,  2023                Tue  10:53 PM

EF birthday greetings .. ❤️

🪔 .. April 19 .. birthday happiness to Ef Arth Vaishnav .. Ef Beejal Bhatt from Indore .. Ef Devang Joshi from Gujarat .. and Ef Meenakshi Sethi from Delhi .. be well all and happy .. love from your Ef Family ever .. ❤️🌿🙏🏻🚩

.. ✨

Birthday Ef - Beejal Bhatt .. Arth Vaishnav Wednesday, 19 April ... and my wishes as of the Ef for this day in your lives .. stay well and protected .. prayers .. 🙏

It has been long since the spending of hours of connect and consult with the makers to understand and assess the work on hand to be .. the next .. the fresh and new .. 

Seems odd to be referring to it .. but time waits for no one .. slip on to the wheel and ride .. before the circulation of the water works come to a halt because the river has either frozen or drifted away in the ‘horse shoe water body’ .. the cross bow , the Oxbow .. 

Familiar with your Geography lesson ?

Remember the study of the river flows and the resultant formation after the floods occur  ..? No .. ?

Well an explanation ..

Rivers when they flow under normal conditions , meander in the sluggish flow of their stream , snake like , over the plains after coming down from the mountainous regions .. 

And when the rains occur , the flow of the stream gets strength and the flow races on with speed , flood like .. the force of the flow is so large and strong that it cuts straight through the meandering body , leaving the looped portion by itself .. thus forming a semicircular water body lake in isolation .. shaped like the bend of the river at the time of the flood .. which is horse shoe shaped , like an oxbow , a cross bow .. 

Thus the cross bow lake .. 

Brilliant eh ..?

The memory of the 4th STD., suddenly awakens .. 🤣

meandering rivers .. but in the rains and the heavy fall , like say during the monsoons when the flow of the water has increased due to the excessive rain .. the force of the flow moves in a somewhat straight line , and cuts the looped portion .. and the ox bow lake of the remaining water body is formed  ..

brilliant eh .. 👏

nothing like some self praise  ..  !!!!!

The lesson then if it can be devised by the BLogoamaestre is that , when life meanders in the luxury of time and absence of certain elements , be wary of the force of the excess that come by, in the form of the gushing waters, cutting off the meander .. flowing on to its normal existence .. BUT leaving behind your meander in an isolated looped form .. alone .. and in survival , dependence of the circumstances , your isolated condition shall give you .. which is meagre and limited .. and in time shall disappear in evaporated fumes to the elements ..

Be in aware .. be in discipline .. be in ethical order .. be in conditions of exist ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[holly-fixation]

Fallen Silver

Summary: Sephiroth is MIA. Second Class Rhapsodos and Third Class Hewley are tasked with locating and finding him. The public does not know of this disappearance. No one was prepared for the truth. 

Further inspired by my ask to @altocat. 

Please enjoy.

…

The plains of Wutai raged with the never ending war against the Shinra Electric Power Company and their newest military program: SOLDIER. Even the most recent entries of this program decimated enemy forces under the simplest command. Of course the strongest of these SOLDIERS was nicknamed The Demon of Wutai: Sephiroth. Most enlistees joined to follow in his footsteps and become SOLDIER First Class for fame, strength, or riches. 

Sephiroth, in reality, was more ‘down to The Planet’ than anyone outside Wutai knew. His closest friends, comrades he made on the battlefield, knew him as the awkward and sheltered super soldier he truly was. The public admired his strength, but his friends cared for his innocence. Even their first few interactions revealed the truth, but more than one audience with the Silver Soldier was incredibly rare for normal recruits. It took time for him to open up. He liked pasta. He liked reading. His cat-like pupils widened to saucers when he spoke about the stars. He was… normal. A little weird but yes, normal. An awkward, normal guy. Genesis and Angeal were teaching him how to fit in simply by being his friends. Everything was going well for so long, until…

Shinra locked down any rumor of Sephiroth’s disappearance through their troops. Even the simple thought of losing their trump card lowered morale at this critical time. No one knew exactly what happened. One average battle in the forest, one average day and tactic for success, Sephiroth running ahead as always to take down or distract any large threats.

An average, normal battle. But Sephiroth didn’t return. 

“It’s been a month,” Genesis stated as he paced in their tent.

“We’ll find him,” Angeal countered simply as he continued cooking their meal.

“Something’s wrong. There’s no ransom. There’s no negotiation.”

“You don’t know that-”

“Yes I do.” It was a snippy and childish response but not at all inaccurate. Genesis was under strict order to keep this any and all news within the tent. No one could know of Sephiroth’s situation until all was well. “They’re doing something to him. This isn’t normal interrogations, I can just feel it.”

“They might be waiting until morale’s shaky. It’s the perfect time to strike.” Angeal kept his gaze on the meal, forcing himself to stay calm and collected for his friend’s sake. “You’ve been captured before. You know what they do.”

“I know exactly what they do, and This. Isn’t. It.” His truth cut like a dagger, and silence claimed the tent. 

“...we will find him.” That was the only promise Angeal could make. His condition? That was another story. “We will, Genesis. We’ll find him…”

* * * 

It took three months to take down the correct fortress. Every troop fought savagely, desperately on both sides. The rivers of blood were nothing new. The rain put their foreign forces at a heavy disadvantage but they eventually broke through. While most troops and squads celebrated this great victory, the Second and Third Classes searched high and low through every centimeter of the fortress. 

Their efforts paid off. Finally months of effort bore fruit. They located a hidden trap door to an ornate staircase, patterns of gold and silver lining the walls deeper and deeper as they entered. At the bottom, stone and marble statues of the Wutaian water god constricted the room. The scales surrounded them like a victorious snake. Altars, fountains, torches, candles, shackles, weapons that could never be useful in battle with carvings dry with crimson, all kinds of ritualistic objects lined the edges and led the SOLDIERs to their desire. 

Sephiroth.

It was Sephiroth.

They couldn’t stop themselves from running to his side, but they rapidly searched for any uninjured place to begin. 

Sephiroth wasn’t dead, but that was the only detail that didn’t claw at their hearts. His uniform was long torn from him, replaced with barely concealing garb of snakeskin and brown leather straps. Each open section of ghostly white skin exposed deep blue scars and the tiniest of bleeding cuts. Injuries that small should heal in seconds to the average SOLDIER. Sephiroth’s body would heal too fast to process the injury at all, yet he bled and he couldn’t stand. Gold shackles at his wrists were the only thing keeping him upright. His bare feet slumped against the ground. 

How was he still bleeding?

Why was he still bleeding?

“Sephiroth!” Genesis was the first to speak as they searched for any opening that wouldn’t cause more harm. But there wasn’t any.

“Sephiroth, can you hear us?” Angeal questioned before giving up his search and lifting the Silver Soldier. 

They heard his reflexive, pained gasp from his weight being moved from the chains, his lungs both free from strain but crushed in adjustment. 

Genesis cut the chains with his red rapier and immediately casted cures and healing spells. But they did nothing. Not the tiniest cut responded to the magic or resealed. 

Though Sephiroth's face was only marred by two perfectly symmetrical lacerations down his cheeks, his sunken eyes and dried lips claimed their attention. Wutai left him down here to die of starvation and dehydration along with whatever rites they conducted. 

His friends watched his lids flutter as they adjusted his body onto both of their shoulders for support. 

“ah-ah…!” A pathetic moan left his lips as he winced and tried to force his body to respond, the slightest tensing and moving of muscles. 

“Don't move. We got you. Just breathe, Sephiroth. You're safe,” Angeal reassured. 

“What did they do to you…?” Genesis mumbled aloud the thoughts plaguing his mind. “What did they do to you…?”

“G-Genesis…?” His voice was so broken, so shattered, stuttering and struggling through his raw throat. “A-Angeal…?”

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, giving him the moment he silently requested. Sephiroth focused his strength and carefully pried his eyes open. “I-I…”

Genesis unconsciously grabbed his face and forced the Silver Soldier's eyes to his. The mako in them had vanished, drained, as if he never stepped foot in a tank or opened his arm for an injection. But his pupils… they were small black circles, struggling against the light. 

Circles. Not needles. Human. Not snake-like. Not cat-like. Not Sephiroth. The eyes were crystal blue. Wrong. Utterly wrong. They fell closed again, but Genesis saw it clear as day. 

“Genesis, let's move.”

Finally the redhead got control of himself and both SOLDIERs lifted the MIA Demon of Wutai out of the chamber. Only in the cloudy light of the moon did they spot another horrifying change. The silver mane the entire planet recognized did not reflect light as it once could. The defining difference between silver and gray had fallen. 

Sephiroth looked too human. Dangerously human. 

Genesis flung off his red coat and covered Sephiroth in it for both protection and covertness. They couldn't let anyone see him like this. They snuck Sephiroth into their tent and made sure no one caught a glimpse. Once he was set down, Angeal stood back up. 

“I'll get communication to send a message about 'SMIA'. Just get him comfortable and get him clean.”

“Angeal-”

“don't go…” The broken baritone pleaded. It was so dramatically different from what they knew, they assumed he was in a trance or a dream or an adrenaline induced hallucination.

Genesis forced his initial reaction back down and overrode his friend. “Get back here. ASAP.”

“please…”

The begging froze the Second but forced the Third through the opening faster. 

“I swear on all the gods I will destroy them all for this,” He muttered as he grabbed the hidden medical kit and pulled out all kinds of wraps and disinfectants and cleaning products. He only stopped when a hand wrapped around his wrist. 

“Genesis…” Sephiroth was looking away. “stay close… please stay close…”

Without thinking, he shifted all materials closer and began cleaning the lacerations of his cheeks first. “I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere.”

“...I… don't know what they did…” He struggled to speak. “but I can't… heal…”

Genesis grit his teeth against the truth leaving his friend's mouth. Sephiroth clearly didn’t know it was much more than his healing factor. “We're taking you to Midgar. They'll be able to do something. They definitely know a lot more than me.”

“don't leave…” Another childish plea, trying to ensnare the wrist in his weakened state. “I'm so alone…”

Now the Second really did stop in his tracks, clutching the silver soldier's chin to make him repeat. There was something in his voice that was just wrong. This wasn't the basic shock from torture; this was something emotional as well. 

But Sephiroth was impossible to break. Interrogations with him even in the rare instances of capture were useless. He was silent, not giving up any information or even a cry of pain. When he returned, he kept his silence as a defense while he healed until he returned to his normal self. 

So who was this? Who or what was speaking through Sephiroth?

“please don't go…”

What did they do to him!?

“I'm not going anywhere.”

Any time the Second’s touch left the captured man, the First pleaded without fail. Even if it was only the moments between wringing out the bloody towel used to clean his skin, he spoke. He needed touch and no one knew why. Presence alone wasn't enough. 

Genesis couldn't help but think of the moments they've spent together as friends. Sephiroth was incredibly avoidant of any and all contact. He forced himself not to think about the reason this changed as Angeal returned and received the same treatment. They were both trapped in his grip or by his voice. Sephiroth hated this desperation in him but the very same desperation overpowered his thoughts. 

“don't go… please don’t go…”

* * * 

The healthy soldiers were initially commanded to stay on the front lines, progressing through Wutai until new orders said otherwise, but their presence was the only thing keeping Sephiroth calm. The Silver Soldier nearly screamed when medical personnel tried to take him alone. His friend stayed with him on the helicopter to Midgar to keep him quiet. Shinra still did not want anyone knowing of his condition. Screaming in an ambulance cot would not help that goal. They didn't leave his side in Medical. They even forced their way into the Science Department, and for a short time, the doctor allowed them to stay. Anesthesia wasn't working. No chemical knocked him out long enough for Angeal and Genesis to leave his side before he reacted, not like they wanted to. The staff surely didn't want them in the way though. 

“Take them out…” Sephiroth tried to explain as he fumbled through his torture stained memories. “They have to be the source…”

“What are?” Genesis questioned immediately. He would fix anything without question. 

“The blue sheets… the slabs… They're in…-” He winced sharply, and Genesis instantly grabbed the hand on his arm. 

“I got you.”

“They're in here…” His arms shook as he pointed to the blue scars at his side. 

“Try not to move so much,” Angeal suggested calmly, trying to keep the hushed tones of the lab around them. 

Sephiroth just turned to his dark haired friend with his horribly human eyes. “Have they tried to already…?”

He nodded. “They discussed removal in the medical wing, but they said something more is going on. They didn’t elaborate.”

They went quiet after that, Angeal scanning the walls to give Sephiroth some privacy, but Genesis refused to move his eyes from the horribly human form.

The very moment Sephiroth was okay, Genesis would burn Wutai to the ground. 

A moment later, the doors opened and Professor Hojo strided through holding some kind of sealed, opaque container marked with yellow biohazard tape, muttering something about finally getting ‘them’ out of here. Without warning, he placed the box on Sephiroth’s chest, not even acknowledging the two soldiers in the Demon of Wutai’s grip.

Instantly Sephiroth’s persistence collapsed. He curled around the container as a child does with their favorite blanket, all but putting his thumb in his mouth, releasing both of his friends as relief flooded his features. 

“Now that that's taken care of, you can leave.” The scientist wasted absolutely no time kicking the SOLDIERs out. 

Angeal grabbed Genesis before he could throw a punch or say a word. 

“We need to begin the procedure. If you truly care for Sephiroth's well being, leave my laboratory now.”

Genesis really did swing that time and Angeal blocked it, grabbing his fist and guiding him away. 

“Let's go.”

“I really wanna hit him,” his voice was ice.

“So do I. But for Sephiroth's sake, let's go, Genesis.”

That was the only comment that convinced the Second Class to leave, the Third following behind to make sure he didn't break anything. 

* * * 

Pacing. Pacing. Pacing. Pacing. 

“Sit down.”

“No.”

“This isn't helping, Genesis.”

“Nothing's helping.” He crossed his arms and his finger tapped anxiously. “He's been in there for seventeen hours and they won't even put us on missions to clear our heads.”

“Because we can't go overkill in Midgar, it's incredibly dangerous.”

“Not in the slums.”

“Knowing you, you'll cause structural damage to the pillar right now.”

“Then don't put me near the pillars.”

Angeal sighed. “I am literally the farthest from assigning you missions.”

“You can put in a good word.”

“I'm a Third.”

“And they trust your judgment more than mine.”

“Genesis.”

On and on they went with their childish worry. Genesis threatened to burn down the building multiple times just to get a glimpse of Sephiroth. Every passing lab technician was only saved by Angeal's level headedness. They panicked with no updates, no knowledge of what was truly happening.

Deep within the lab, the horror of truth was worse than the uncertainty of the unknown. 

The Wutaian Water Defense Ritual was merely a legend, folklore passed from generation to generation as far as Shinra and its Science Department were concerned. ‘Incapacitate any intruder with the strength of Leviathan’. Simply the necessity of Leviathan scales made the rite next to useless. To gain these scales was no easy task, and storing them posed an incredible risk to thievery. 

Apparently, Wutai was smarter than they thought. While Shinra swept through the country, Wutai gathered all resources to take down the Silver Soldier, including items of legend. Every item in Sephiroth’s imprisoning chamber was taken back to Shinra for analysis and all were a major piece in completing their goal. Though no one currently knew how Sephiroth was captured in the first place, this ritual crippled him. Ceremonial spears cut him open long enough for Leviathan scales to be inserted into his ribcage like CDs piercing his lungs. The first five healed over with terrible blue scars. The last two eroded into his bloodstream, tainting his very genetics. Like the ancient belief that tempering swords with the bones of your enemies imbued them with their spirits to make them stronger was truly the result of the bones’ carbon and the iron of the blade creating primitive steel, Wutai clearly had no idea why the scales weakened the Silver Soldier so. 

As the scales degraded from Sephiroth’s incredible healing factor, they blocked critical connections with his Jenova based cells. His hair, eyes, and body becoming as weak as a human’s were direct results of this severed connection. This permanent severance even began killing his enhanced cells. Hojo’s current theory grew from his Reunion theory. Sephiroth no longer felt the subconscious presence of Jenova, or however he felt it, and his body and that desire panicked. The failed results of Project G were the closest connections he had before he was given the container of J-cells.

After removing most of the scales, the lab hooked Sephiroth up to a type of transfusion machine. This slowly and painfully restored the mako and Jenova cells Sephiroth had lost in the ritual, but too fast or too slow of a procedure was critical to correct. 

He was fragile. Human. Hojo hated seeing him like this.

Unbeknownst to the friends of the Demon of Wutai, Hojo remained at Sephiroth’s heavily medicated side. With the container, medicine and chemicals finally took their desired effects. Sephiroth wasn’t mentally present, but he refused to release the container of cells. The doctor watched achingly as the molasses of silver claimed his hair once again. Then his weakened health returned to that of a new SOLDIER. Lastly his eyes adjusted to their enhanced needles, and he let go of the container. Hojo took the box and left before Sephiroth could open his eyes.

Twenty two hours of procedure passed, and Sephiroth was finally back to himself.

Angeal and Genesis ran to his side the moment they were allowed entry. They stayed with their silver haired, cat eyed friend for the entire month it took to regain his strength. Genesis couldn’t describe the joy he felt from Sephiroth’s victory over him in the training room. 

He liked pasta. He liked reading. His eyes were saucers when he spoke about the stars.

His friend was finally back. He didn’t care about the legend or his second place reputation. His friend was back to normal. That’s all that mattered. 

.

.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading!

To be continued...

Chapter List

#sephiroth #angeal hewley #ff7 angeal #genesis rhapsodos #ff7 genesis #hojo #ff7 hojo #wutai #ff7 #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #ffvii #fallen silver #Fallen Silver #sometimes you just gotta write some angst

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hecate kids' powers, please?

oooh yes Hecate kids are fun cause Hecate has a LOT of aspects and epithets

Shadow-travel, obviously, as a being of the Underworld. Also potentially just straight up creation of portals.

Similarly, ability to speak/communicate with creatures of the Underworld and immunity to foods of the Underworld

Immunity to the River Lethe

Magic, self-explanatory, and enhanced manipulation of the Mist - both canon. “Magic” can get funky if you want - specialization in runes is canonical through Alabaster, though you could totally play with Hecate kids with different magic specialties like crystals, cartomancy, herbs, etc etc.

Turning others into animals. Kind of counts as general “magic” but also canon.

Control of shadows and obscuring self or others in shadows/hiding in plain sight

Creating duplicates/illusions, particularly in threes

Influence over wild things / the wild

Inflicting curses and/or influence over fortune and luck

Precognition/prophecy (probably to a lesser degree than Apollo kids)

Astral projection/walking in and manipulation of dreams

Night-vision or just general enhanced senses/extended senses (particularly sight)

Minor shapeshifting and generation of extra limbs

Minor pyrokinesis and/or photokinesis

Bypassing locks/passwords/encryptions

Ability to speak with (and possibly control) canines, snakes, polecats, surmullets, lions, horses, cattle, and boars

Control of poisonous plants, oak, cypress, and garlic

Summoning ghosts or otherwise being able to communicate more easily with them

Control or influence over demons and warding off of dangerous spirits/creatures

Geokinesis

Proficiency with daggers

Generation of and/or immunity to poisons

Natural fluency in different languages

and possibly something like strength, endurance, power, or other skills that increase and decrease in conjunction with moon phases, or something else related to the moon.

This obviously isn’t an exhaustive potential list, but these are all definitely options.

#pjo #percy jackson #chb #camp half-blood #camp halflbood #ask #anonymous #headcanon #headcanons #hecate pjo #hecate cabin #godly parents

[apoemaday]

A New National Anthem

by Ada Limón

The truth is, I’ve never cared for the National Anthem. If you think about it, it’s not a good song. Too high for most of us with “the rockets red glare” and then there are the bombs. (Always, always, there is war and bombs.) Once, I sang it at homecoming and threw even the tenacious high school band off key. But the song didn’t mean anything, just a call to the field, something to get through before the pummeling of youth. And what of the stanzas we never sing, the third that mentions “no refuge could save the hireling and the slave”? Perhaps, the truth is, every song of this country has an unsung third stanza, something brutal snaking underneath us as we blindly sing the high notes with a beer sloshing in the stands hoping our team wins. Don’t get me wrong, I do like the flag, how it undulates in the wind like water, elemental, and best when it’s humbled, brought to its knees, clung to by someone who has lost everything, when it’s not a weapon, when it flickers, when it folds up so perfectly you can keep it until it’s needed, until you can love it again, until the song in your mouth feels like sustenance, a song where the notes are sung by even the ageless woods, the short-grass plains, the Red River Gorge, the fistful of land left unpoisoned, that song that’s our birthright, that’s sung in silence when it’s too hard to go on, that sounds like someone’s rough fingers weaving into another’s, that sounds like a match being lit in an endless cave, the song that says my bones are your bones, and your bones are my bones, and isn’t that enough?

#poetry #ada limón #a new national anthem

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights - Mirage

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

Funny - Pacifism

For the first time in his life, Grakk felt a little warm and fuzzy inside.

Funny - Elixir of Vitality

“Eternal life or your money back.” —Unnamed Suq'Ata merchant, deceased

Emotional - Reign of Terror

“I don’t know what takes them; they die around me without time to scream.” —Scout Ekemet, final journal

Worldbuilding - The entire Love Song of Night and Day* *which I will put under a line break because it's super long AND I want to repost content from a Wizards article which is no longer available

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

The full poem, taken from the article of the same name originally posted in 2003 on the wizards website (here) with footnotes explaining which cards quote it.:

Love Song of Night and Day by Jenny Scott

He (Night) / She (Day)

Wrap yourself in your best bright clothes, your red and purple scarves of silk. Run with me to the festival, where we will dance until sunrise. The dwarves will beat their funny drums of zebra skins and hollowed trees, while stiltwalkers perform, and the musician blows his bamboo flute.

And late in the night, the poets and storytellers entertain, delight us with their dancing words, as we listen, clapping by the fire. Enchant me with your tale-telling. Tell about Tree, Grass, River, and Wind. Tell why Truth must fight with Falsehood, and why Truth will always win.1

I will tell my father's stories: how the giant mantis fooled Death by holding still as a felled tree; how the elephants trampled the leopard cub, and its father, though he knew, killed nine goats instead;2 how pirates gambled with a djinn and lost the thing more dear than gold.3

Tonight we'll eat a farewell feast. Cold corn porridge is not enough. Let's peel papayas, pineapples, and mangoes, drink coconut milk, and bake bananas.4 We'll dine on crocodiles, wild birds, and turtles, perhaps a hippopotamus--if only you can catch it first.

I'll build a palace made of stone. Two hippo-headed guards will serve, and tigers carry in your meals. I'll capture flying zebras for your steeds, and fill the stable with every kind of unicorn.5 Butterflies and salamanders will decorate your garden.

I'll strand long strings of beads for you, blue, the color only kings may wear. I'll carve a soapstone lioness, a wooden box to lock it in, girded with sapphire amulets, ostrich feathers, ivory. These things will protect you while I'm gone, remind you of my love for you.6

Your voice resounds like a songbird's, every word is a sweet, soft song. When you run you're graceful and swift, sleek as a powerful panther.7 Mysterious chameleon, you're a thousand women at once, sharp and strong as a lioness, yet gentle as a striped gazelle.

On this our last day together, let us walk across the grasslands. Hold my hand and let's walk slowly, seeing everything as children. Let's walk on the Daraja Plains, where leopards hang from trees, dosing, tasseled tails swaying in the shade, near villages of tree-dwelling elves.

Glorious, to walk again across the savannah with my beloved. A lion walks commandingly, a general among his troops, camped the night before a battle. A snake, colorful and coiled, loops around his bough, mischievous, hanging over the village path.

We'll find termites in their nests, hard tall towers above the plains, and point-eared cats, taking their turns, guarding their many entrances. We'll find the basket-nests of birds hanging from the acacia tree. Rhinoceroses and dragons for once will let us walk in peace.

When lightning tears the sky's dark cloak and heaven's bird beats the water on the muddy plains with its big wings, termites and frogs escape their homes toward the lamps in the nearest village. Spiders dry themselves indoors, the spotted lizards that never fall from ceilings suddenly appear.

In the forest, fires light the sky as the black clouds unfold their weight.8. The black-and-white sacred monkey holds her children to her, and waits.9 Love, like lightning hits suddenly. It sparks the heart with blows of light, its fire extending, bends, expands, beats and breaks your hiding places.

* * *

Remember when we were children, herding the sheep together, leading them over the grassy hills with long sticks. Your silly songs made me laugh, and in the evening, you'd enchant me with your stories, lying on your back beside me. Even then my heart was yours.

I remember your sacred rites. You were so funny, so grown up, so stiff and serious, all arms and elbows. You went in a girl, but you returned a warrior. You marched back with the others-- your hair was cut, your eye tattooed with the red triangle of war.10

Tomorrow I must go, my love. I will tattoo my head with braids. My shield will bear a shining sun so you will always be with me. Inlaid with gold, it will shine like glowing embers.11 I will return with lizard skins for your sandals. Paint your eyes black and wait for me.12

I am the sun, you are the moon. Wherever you lead I will go, following across the wide sky, as long as I live and you love. Sun follows Moon until she tires, then carries her until she's strong and runs ahead of him again.13 I'll carry you, too, my beloved.

My love, we are not Sun and Moon. Instead we are like day and night. The old ones say Day is a woman, who works only while it is light. She herds her goats and catches fish, fills her fields with golden corn, shows her children what is just and protects them from the cobra.

Day loves Night, who works in darkness, walking through heaven's milky sky collecting stars with his quick arms, piling them into a basket like a child collecting lizards and piling them into her pot until the pot overflows with lizards, 'til the basket overflows with light.

Night wears a black cloak lined with fire, studded inside with gleaming stars. At dawn and dusk he spies his love. Across the rolling hills of sky, they glimpse each other--so briefly. They throw each other kisses, cry. Their tears spill over Jamuraa. Mixed with blood, they wash everything red.14

But once, with a magician's help, Time was stopped and Day stood still.15 Night spread over Jamuraa, wrapped Day in his dark cloak and held her. In their miraculous embrace, the two became as One. Until pulled from Day's arms, Night sank, commanded by the western horizon that always beckons him to come.

I won't give up hope, my love.

Our love is like the river in the summer season of long rains: For a little while it spilled its banks, flooding the crops in the fields.16 But soon it will evaporate with the dry heat. Like Day from Night, I'll live my life apart from you, just glimpsing you across the sky, because you cannot change, my dear, and nor can I.17

[1] "Enchant me…" - Village Elder, Mirage [2] "I will tell my father's stories… how the elephants…" - Wild Elephant, Mirage [3] "…pirates…" - Kukemssa Pirates, Mirage [4] "Tonight…" - early harvest, Mirage and Sixth Edition [5] "I'll capture…" - Zebra Unicorn, Mirage (note that "flying" was changed to "gentle" on the card.) [6] "These things…" - Remedy, Visions and Sixth Edition [7] "When you run…" - Panther Warriors, Visions [8] "In the forest…" - Flare, Mirage [9] "The black-and-white…" - simoon, Visions [10] "…you returned a warrior… your hair was cut…" - Zhalfirin Knight, Mirage [11] "My shield…" - blinding light, Mirage [12] "I will return…" - Femeref Knight, Mirage [13] "Sun follows…" - Chariot of the Sun, Mirage [14] "Their tears…" - Mortal Wound, Visions [15] "But once…" - Sands of Time, Visions [16] "Our love…" - Summer Bloom, Visions [17] "Like Day from Night…" - Unfulfilled Desires, Mirage

#magic the gathering #flavor text highlights #Love Song of Night and Day #mirage

[raayllum]

puzzle house thoughts

Kpp'Ar "mysteriously disappeared" and now we know exactly how (thanks Viren)

There's a card game you can play with cards based after the six primal sources, it seems

Claudia (here) and Ezran (1x02) figuring out Kpp'Ar's puzzle stone doors

THRERE'S SOMETHING CALLED DARK LIGHT THAT'S LIGHT YOU CAN'T SEE AAH

moving hallways <3

Claudia (here) and Rayla (BH) having to adjust to abandonment/absence of multiple figures. Claudia leaving disaster wherever she goes...

"If he left a surprise for us... maybe he left a note or a letter too" just stab me and it'd hurt less

He really was a grandfather figure to them i Hate it here

solutions and puzzles and traps they're getting me real good about that goddamn cube thematically i'm so mad

"i'm... alive?" "yup, thanks to magic!" and here it begins

getting really strong long suffering big brother soren vibes

"But none of this is magic. It's just statues and machines"

claudia apologizing to the statue unicorn and giving its horn back Killed Me

"It wouldn't have smooshed you. It was a spike trap. It would have just stabbed you" [whispers softly] don't

NOT BABY CALLUM TALKING ABOUT HIS BIO DAD

"Nothing makes sense." "Oh. Yeah. I... I know how that feels. Um, you know, wh-when I lost my Dad, it was hard. I didn't... I don't want to think about it, but my Mom said that we have to grieve. That we should remember everything we love about the people we've lost. Keep them here" [hand over heart] "Not try to hide from it. It's okay to be sad."

Callum intentionally giving Claudia ideas in the library and not understanding her takeaways is now 2/2

Everyone who was like "dark mages would never baselessly steal and imprison sapient / sentient 'magical creatures' for dark mage uses" owes me like, a thousand dollars

"I thought I knew who he was. And then he disappeared" / "But I'm not evil. It's me. You know me"

NOT CLAUDIA IMMEDIATELY THINKING ABOUT THE GIANT'S FAMILY i hate it here

"Your heart is not darkened [...] I see sadness in you"

"Everyone is acting so weird! And wrong! And everything is broken! Soren was sick, and then Kpp'Ar disappeared, and then Soren got better but then Mom and Dad started arguing and then mom - she - she left."

"You will find a way. Like river through rock."

"Kpp'Ar wanted key for seeing. [I] am no key. I was keeper of the scroll. Is no key. [...] Maybe what broke [Kpp'Ar]. Puzzle [he] could not solve. Secret of the scroll is hidden in plain sight."

NOT THE SNAKE BRACELET BEING A GIFT FROM KPP'AR AND SOMETHING CLAUDIA USES TO UNDO CHAINS. AAAH

"I've been messing things up, and everyone's angry at me. What if they're right? What if I'm... not good?" "Most humans think I'm a monster. You help. You see me as person. Your heart? It will see."

"Find me again someday, Claudia. In a place less... dark."

"I just don't know what do with all this" feelings. inheritance callum vibes

"But I'll always be here for you, Claudia. I promise you that." "Thanks Dad. I'll be here, too."

#the puzzle house #graphic novel #fandom merch #pre series #tdp claudia #tdp spoilers

[rhikasa]

Introduction & Navigation

last updated 1.22.2024

about me

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Erin, I use he/they pronouns, and this is my writeblr. I’m an occasional writer at the moment due to burnout, so posts containing snippets of my writing will remain elusive for now. Despite being rather sporadic when it comes to posting writing from my own wips, I do still love being given opportunities to ramble about them.

A few things to know about me:

I’m 22 years old, and my birthday is on April 4.

I’m a queer (nonbinary & ace), neurodivergent adult.

I have a BA in English Literature, but I initially attempted a degree in Creative Writing (a horrible decision really).

For those interested, I’m an Aries (sun) / Virgo (moon) / Leo (rising), and my personality type is INTJ.

I love animals; my family currently has three cats, a dog, three tortoises, a snake, and several fish.

My favorite genres to read and write are fantasy and science fiction.

I’m tag game and ask friendly! You’re welcome to tag me in writing related games, or anything else you’d like me to see, and don’t be afraid to stop by my inbox to ask questions or simply wave hello. Do be aware that I might be slow to respond most days because of social anxiety and/or lack of spoons.

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my writing • answered asks • brain dumps tag

taglist masterpost • wip masterpost

tag games • wbw • sts

my wips

World of Skies Universe

The old guardians have vanished, slain by the warrior of darkness long ago. Memory of them has all but faded from the minds of mortals who have not lived under their divine protection and thus they have fallen to legend, but there are those who hold the hope that someday angels will return when the need arises.

Children of the Maar

summary in progress...

Elysian

Stolen from her former life, Saeth is taken to a world beyond hers; a hidden moon known as Elysium, where she learns about a secret society isolated far away from the hostile planet below. Very few in her position ever choose to resist their new life of luxury, but for Saeth, she would rather be up there with her wife or not at all.

Kinder

Generations ago, the last of humanity was forced to flee into caves far below the land they had once called home. Although the first few years were full of struggle to adapt, the magnificent city of Eldoris was built. Few alive today remember the feeling of sunlight on their skin, and fewer still are aware of the atrocities committed in the darkness that has kept a fragile peace for the residents within.

The Huntress & The Wolf

The small town of Aerilon is left shaken after the discovery of a brutal murder by the river’s edge. Disturbing markings upon the victim leave some of the towns folk to speculate this was not the work of another human being, but a nefarious creature hidden in plain sight, only revealing its true existence beneath the light of a full moon.

The Lost Generation

The last generation of mages has been decimated, their magic stolen from them by outsiders. When a young girl named Julia inherits powers that were not intended for her to receive, she is hidden away on Earth until she learns how to utilize her gift.

Witness

summary in progress...

#navigation

[blackjackkent]

Unsurprisingly (I guess) we don't have the option to tell anyone in camp about our weird nighttime visitor. We do have a couple of other somewhat interesting little chats to clean up, though.

----

Rakha asks Wyll how it feels to be a devil. It's a matter-of-fact question as much as anything else - curious whether it affects his abilities, what exactly Mizora did to him - but he seems pleased that she asked, a slight smile touching his face for a brief moment.

"It's said that anyone who bathes in the River of Blood emerges as one born anew. It's a lot like that, I imagine. I feel the weight of these horns on my head, curling upwards like a mammoth's tusks. I feel these ridges snaking down my back." His lips twitch, his eyes narrowing in a flash of humor. "Not to mention a few bumps and prongs in unmentionable places."

Rakha raises an eyebrow uncertainly.

He clears his throat. "But... I haven't seen my reflection just yet." His smile fades and he looks at her with sudden, unexpected intensity. "Be my mirror," he says softly. "What do you see?"

She blinks, surprised. That he wants her opinion is surprising. That she wants to give it is equally so. She finds that there is something familiar in what he describes - how he has been saddled with a darkness that he did not ask for, a piece of himself that he has no control over.

Like her, in this moment, he seeks to know who he is.

She has no deep answer to offer. She says what she sees as the plain truth - he has not changed. In the same way that her own brutality and the Urge's darkness stand separate in her head, so Wyll's personality - the bewildering altruism that he has already shown her multiple times - bears no connection to the monstrous form he has been saddled with.

"I see the Blade of Frontiers," she says calmly. "No more. And no less."

He relaxes visibly, and this time he really does smile, and looks at her with a new sort of respect and more than a little gratitude.

"It's because you know the heart lurking under the horns," he murmurs. His shoulders square and his back straightens, his jaw lifting with a new confidence. "The people will see a curiosity," he says thoughtfully. "Maybe even a beast hungry for their souls. But I will slay their monsters, keep them safe. And one day they *will* see the Blade of Frontiers again."

He is so earnest, so certain of the rightness of his intentions. It draws a stark contrast to the strange, creeping, skeletal creature who visited her last night, who spoke excitedly of the blood on her hands.

-----

Since it's now morning, Rakha asks Shadowheart again about her Shar worship. Shadowheart's still pretty reticent about it, but Rakha talked her into giving some more information.

"I am indeed a disciple of Shar, Mistress of the Night and Lady of Loss. I assume you've heard of her?"

"Remind me," Rakha says, deeply dry, because of course she hasn't.

Shadowheart's description is surprisingly intriguing. "Most fear the dark, like children, because in darkness they see their fears reflected. But Shar teaches us to step beyond fear. Beyond loss. In darkness we do not hide - we act. Pain, hope, the promise of better days - all of these are heavy cloaks that bend our backs and burden our hearts. We shed those cloaks. Before Shar we stand gloriously naked, beyond the vanities of mortals."

Rakha takes this in thoughtfully. It is her first real exposure to the concept of religious philosophy (besides Lae'zel's oblique references to Vlaakith and, of course, whatever is going on with the Absolute). What Shadowheart describes is an approach to life where there is no hope but also no fear, something that steps beyond raw emotion. A stark contrast to Rakha's experience of life since she woke up, which has been all rage and blood.

Shadowheart seemed surprised, too, when Rakha expressed no obvious fear of her - that Rakha in fact stated, quite matter-of-factly, that she held no judgement of Shadowheart's beliefs one way or the other.

"Curious. Most are afraid of my Lady," she says, squinting at Rakha pensively. "I think I did well by joining you. Most agreeable company."

(A/N: Leaving aside all the murder, one assumes. XD This is a whole string of oddly nice conversations for Rakha, which is kind of pleasing to see directly on the heels of the business with Sceleritas. The contrast is pretty dramatic.)

-----

Rakha talks with Lae'zel a bit as well. I think she tends to drift to Lae'zel's corner of camp whenever she's not actively occupied with something; Lae'zel has a stabilizing effect on her, and though she doesn't actually explain what happened with Sceleritas, she is sure the gith can tell that something is bothering her.

Rakha has a dialogue option with Lae'zel - "I didn't kill Alfira, no matter what you might think." I don't think this is exactly what Rakha says here, to be honest - she really hasn't at any point made the assertion (to herself or anyone else) that she didn't kill Alfira. But perhaps she does reiterate to Lae'zel that there is something strange going on, that some power she doesn't understand is influencing her, watching her, using her.

And I really, really like Lae'zel's response, as it sums up a lot of how I see their relationship right now.

"I'll tell you what I think anyway," she says, flat and calm and serious. "I won't miss Alfira. But I won't stand for chaos. Govern your hunger, before it governs you."

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #this was a surprisingly wholesome series of conversations #for rakha anyway

[theothermaidoftarth]

The Favoured

Pre-Cregan/Baela/Jace

Rating: T

Warning: non-graphic violence

Cregan liked to think he had the measure of the Crown Prince but his betrothed was more of a mystery to him. One he found himself keen to solve now he had her in his sights.

The young heir to the Iron Throne was racing like the wind, following the winding river of the Wendwater through the kingswood. Jacaerys Velaryon reminded Cregan none so much of a dog chasing after a thrown bone. The Lord of Winterfell had been two weeks in King’s Landing thus far, accompanied by sundry lords of the north, all come to swear oaths of fealty to the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, this boy’s mother. The Crown Prince had invited Lord Stark to hunt with him and now that was done he bade them accompany him onwards. Onwards to what Cregan knew not for the wind had snatched at his last words. It would not be ambush nor some other trickery for the party was small, Targaryen red and black far overwhelmed by northern colours. He was a dragon on his lonesome. Nor did the prince have a treacherous bone in his body, besides; his face as plain to read as the stars in a night sky. He did seem to be leading them somewhere, or at least had a destination in mind, spurring his horse faster that very moment. It was usual for such zest and focus to be seen in men during the hunt, not just after it. For a moment his brother lived again; Willam used to ride like that and walk like that and live like that — like there was nothing he wanted to miss, nothing he would not know the secret of.

Riding beside him, Osric Cerwyn echoed his thoughts with a laugh. “And there was I thinking the hunt was done. Think you he seeks something? His lost lady love, mayhaps?”

“I had not known she was lost.” Except to the ways of propriety. A harsh thought he knew but a true one nonetheless for the breeches-wearing noblewoman who regularly flouted her duty to take to the streets of Flea Bottom. Arra would have liked her; she was ever one to know the story of another, travellers most of all. And from what he knew of Prince Daemon’s eldest daughter, Lady Baela Targaryen was a perpetual traveller. “I have no home,” she told Cerwyn, who had warmed to her almost at once, he with his own outward looking nature and weakness for a comely face. No home. Not Driftmark, not the Red Keep nor Dragonstone? A year into her reign, would she mount her dragon and ride away to Pentos, the city of her birth where she spent the first ten years of her life? Would the lives of her people ever take root in her heart, or would she flit from pillar to post like her father, beholden to nothing and no one? Cregan had not spent much time in the Prince Consort’s presence either but he had heard tales enough to last him a lifetime.

He saw the man’s daughter now up ahead, lolling in a glade by the river playing a card game with a few men-at-arms dressed in aquamarine blue and silver. Velaryon household knights. She had some loyalty to her mother’s house then. Raised amongst them as ward, how not? She spoke with them easily, as if they were themselves lords. Nay, she spoke with them more merrily than she did with most lords. She and Jacaerys shared an aversion for the southron court and its rigmarole and strictures, its pomp and pageantry. But where the latter came by it through an unpretentious nature ill-suited to the snake’s pit of King’s Landing, was it so with his lady?

She wore a riding tunic and breeches, her silver curls cropped to her chin — scandalously short for a noblewoman but she did so love to ride and fly, he heard. As the three men drew nearer upon their horses, she said something that made the household knights smirk and snicker. Too familiar, he thought. Is it not good for a lord to know his knights so? She is no lord. No ordinary lady either. Daughter of a king who gave up his crown, raised by one who could have been queen, betrothed to one who would be king in time. No, no ordinary lady was this girl. No ordinary family did she hail from. Targaryens took to the skies upon winged beasts of destruction, and in their arrogance some had named them for gods of the land they hailed from — Balerion, Vhagar, Syrax. What was Lady Baela’s called? He couldn’t recall in that instant. Could she be more Alysanne than Visenya? Many were the tales of the Good Queen who had charmed Cregan’s dour grandsire Alaric and sundry other northern lords, held women’s courts for high and lowborn and rode a draconic mount simply named Silverwing. But Daemon was no Aenys.

Baela’s own great uncle Vaemond had spoken treason, accusing the then-crown princess’ eldest sons of being bastards, no true Velaryons, an offence punishable only by taking the speaker’s tongue. Twas all the king demanded of the Velaryon lord but after cutting him down from behind — not even looking him in the eyes, letting him know his death was upon him — the prince they called Lord Fleabottom said, he can keep his tongue. It was said Lady Baela had a similar penchant for such jests; an earthy, almost indecent sense of humour. Was that what she whispered to make them laugh in such ways? Cregan looked to Prince Jacaerys. If any would know, surely it would be he. He was a dutiful young man, unlikely to approve of such things. Cregan was struck by the way he gazed upon her. A gentle happiness, as fragile as if he cupped a newborn bird between his hands.

He knew Lady Baela better than Cregan, better than rumour. Would a girl who had danced upon the tabletops of a brothel possibly make him look so?

“Prince Jacaerys. Lord Stark. Lord Cerwyn. And dinner for the next week. Well met, all of you.”

Gazing upon his fond mirth felt too intimate, like Cregan was intruding upon a private moment. He had been seeking her then. Cerwyn slanted him a look of smug amusement, as if to say: did I not tell you? As they dismounted, Jacaerys said, “You look more happy to see the boar, my lady.”

“Not as happy as Moondancer would be.”

Moondancer, odd name for a god, Cregan thought dryly. The name had nothing reminiscent of Old Valyria at all.

“You should have seen him while he lived.” Jacaerys smiled at Cregan, who nodded back, an echo of a smile on his face in turn. “It was a glorious effort to bring him down but we managed.”

Her gaze dipped down momentarily to her hand. “Yes, I suppose there would be a sort of glory.”

Cregan spoke then, smoothing a hand down his horse’s nose. “You do not sound wholly convinced, Lady Baela.”

She appraised him intently. He had not had occasion to be so close to her before, not in so intimate and casual a setting. He felt a pang within him, like a bell had been rung too close, soundless but reverberating through him all the same. “You have the right of it, I confess — I am not. I hardly credit hunting to be some great pastime.” She spoke easily as if she had not just slighted what was indeed the greatest sport known to man.

“I would have thought otherwise.”

The corner of her mouth tipped up slightly. “From my attire and lack of side-saddle? Appearances deceive, my lord.” She hadn’t yet looked away, neither had he. The strange feeling deepened. Small wonder when he hadn’t had anything to eat over the past three hours save dried strips of beef, two boiled eggs and a handful of berries. “Do try to ride an ordinary saddle in skirts and tell me how you fare. Certes I do not fare well in a hunt; the chase is a thrill, yes, but the interminable wait afore then, less so. Hawking, now, is much more of a delight. Or a tourney.” Jacaerys groaned under his breath drawing her half-smile out into a broader curve as her gaze dipped down again to her cards. Ah, yes, another rumoured transgression: performing in the coronation tourney under the guise of a mystery knight. No rumour by the prince’s reaction. She is not as those who came before her. He liked to think he had the measure of the Crown Prince but his betrothed was more of a mystery to him. One he found himself keen to solve now he had her in his sights. Baela fiddled with the corner of one of her playing cards with a musing frown he was half sure was in jest. Absently, absurdly, he found himself missing her smile.

“Has Princess Rhaenys forgiven you for that yet?” Jacaerys asked.

“I’d say so.” She looked up at the young prince and winked. “She never stays angry with me for long.”

Read more on ao3

#Cregan x Baela x Jace #Cregan x Baela x Jacaerys #hotd fic #rare pair #pre relationship #OtherTarthianMaidWrites #pre poly #posted to ao3 awhile back #hotd au #my edit

[askthatoneanacondraikaiguy]

How’s Kai’s fear of water as a snake? Is it better, worse, the same?

It takes on a fresh new irony, because, fun fact; Anacondrai are semi-aquatic!

Anacondas are water boas and are actually considered kinda clumsy and slow while on land. Their eyes and nostrils are higher up on their head specifically so they can be almost completely submerged while they hunt. (this is my theory on why Pythor's got that stupid long neck) Their natural habitats of swamps, rainforests, slow-moving rivers, and flood plains.

So, by extension, this also largely applies to Anacondrai. They're scary fast in water and, since we don't see a lot of bipedal Anacondrai I choose to HC that the other Serpentine aren't semi-aquatic. The tail makes for easier mobility in the water.

This is why Ray sealed them away in the Sea of Sand; the Anacondrai would have been harder to round up and restrain in a wetter environment.

But Kai's still scared of water, especially since he doesn't know initially that Anacondrai are even semi-aquatic. But knowing it doesn't comfort him a whole lot, either. The others definitely rib him a little over it once they know that Anacondrai are semi-aquatic.

I don't think the others' realize how scary fast and dangerous Anacondrai are in water until later via Skylor (because she is not scared of water and I HC she was trained in how to fight while partially submerged in water) or via Maya and Ray, because they definitely had to face off against Anacondrai in their natural environment at least once.

Once Kai's been exposed to the potential of an Anacondrai in water, he resolves to get over his fear and become dangerous in water. I'm not sure when that specifically would happen though, either after Posession or after Hands of Time. Probably after Hands of Time, in between all the searching for Sensei Wu.

#permanent anacondrai au #anacondrai kai #ninjago au #ninjago kai

[amaurotine-daydreaming]

XII. Dowdy

A chorus of giggling awakens Urianger from his slumber.

“Rise and shine!” sing-song a trio of pixies.

Urianger opens his eyes. He is laying on a threadbare bed in a small chamber nestled at the back of the Bookman’s Shelves. A faded blanket has been thrown over him, and the door to the main chamber is wide open. 

He sits up, rubbing the inside corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Good morrow to thee and thine.”

Light slants in through the long, elegant windows at an angle that suggests, at most, late morning. Urianger only went to sleep at dawn, at the blessed end of that riddle contest, and–

“We were feeling generous, so we let you sleep for a bell or two–” says Nyl Ul, poking his nose.

“–but since you’ll be living among us now,” adds Fyr Or, twirling in a wide arc over them, “there is something veeeery important we must do!”

Urianger sits up and gently pulls aside the blanket, knowing there is no more respite to be had until he has entertained his guests. 

“I prithee, enlighten me,” he says, but the pixies need no such invitation.

“Your clothes are horrid!” Fyr Or exclaims, poking at his collar, his chest, his sleeve. “Is this what you mortals wear? So dowdy!”

The robe is, like most of the few possessions Urianger has on the First, a gift from the Exarch. ‘Tis plain in appearance, true–light gray in color, with only modest accents on the hem, the sleeves, and the sash–but Urianger finds it suits him well. He has not sought to be overly ostentatious, nor would he ever cast aspersions on gifts…even gifts which also serve the purpose of being able to present oneself in public after having arrived with not a stitch on.

“Aye, such boring, dowdy clothes!” Selg Bir says, inspecting the hem with distaste. “Boring, boring, boring!”

“Dowdy U-ri-an-ger!” sings Nyl Ul.

“We must dress you, something befitting our [Kingdom of Rainbows]!”

“Lots of colors, oh yes!”

“And pretty shiny things!”

“Scales of a water snake!”

“Stones from the river! On the hem, in your pockets!”

“Cloth from the wings of morphoi! Their dust will make the cloth shimmer! You don’t mind a teensy bit of poison with your garments, do you?”

“A robe, a dress! Something to frolic in!”

“You do know how to frolic, don’t you?”

Urianger smiles wanly. “Pray, ere you begin, I wouldst fain give unto thee a gift in return.” The Exarch has warned him that “gifts” from the pixies may later incur debts at their whims, and to never let the ledger go unbalanced for long. 

“Oh?” says Nyl Ul. The trio of pixies gather back together, hovering just above Urianger’s knees. “What’s that?”

“A hundred years hath passed since thou perchanced to look upon the night sky in all her splendor, hath it not?”

“Aye. In truth, none of us have ever seen it,” says Selg Bir. All three pixies settle upon the bed’s footboard, intently listening.

“Pray allow me to weave for thee a tapestry of words to illustrate that ink black expanse, twinkling with countless pinpricks of colorful light…”

---

When the story concludes, the pixies are satisfied–and restless–enough to go on their merry way. Taking advantage of the respite, Urianger sets about tidying the lodgings he has earned from the fae. Books are reshelved; linens are taken outside to be beaten of dust and then washed; a broom is fashioned to sweep the floors with.

The pixies’ eventual return some bells later is only apparent by their giggling. When Urianger turns, he does not catch sight of any fae, but something else has appeared. 

Draped across a chair is a sleeveless chiton, dyed black as night yet which delicately shimmers when Urianger lifts it. Strung across the garment are ornaments of brass inlaid with rubellite in the shapes of the moon, stars, and other celestial bodies of Urianger’s tale. He checks, but detects no hex or other tricksome spell woven into the fabric. In the pockets he does indeed find rocks, but they are naught more than a few water-smoothed pebbles, which he arranges neatly atop one of the shelves. 

And when he dons the chiton, he finds it fits perfectly.

#ffxivwrite2023 #ffxivwrite #ffxiv #urianger augurelt #shadowbringers