#Looking for Something?:: Starters

[cuminhoid]

i need to put jango in a jar and shake him around. i think that will fix him.

[kedreeva]

Quail conformation anon: thank you! That was an incredibly helpful run down. I'm basically just looking to breed for health and temperament, as well as consistency. Good birds that predictably throw more good birds, with a steady laying schedule, uniform eggs, and decent climate hardiness (within reason).

I'm looking to start with regular old coturnix, but there are a ton available around me and I had very little idea where to start looking for ones that do possess the qualities that makes for a healthy bird. A lot of the people around here kind of just chuck them together and don't put much thought into pairings, and then produce wonky or inconsistent birds, which is what I'd like to avoid, but it also means that the majority of the birds I've seen in person have been bred by people who just raise them for meat and don't really put consideration into things like structural soundness beyond the basics of "it can move around? Yes? Perfect" or longer-term health. And I can *tell* that a lot of them don't look quite right but I can't always put my finger on what it is that looks "off" to me because like I said, I have very little knowledge of what they SHOULD look like.

Yeah I see it a lot here too, people not caring at all. And I'm not saying I don't ALSO produce those birds; this year especially, I've set a lot of eggs that I would consider to be "garbage" type eggs (ones that I would not set for myself, because I don't want how that egg texture is, or the color on the CE eggs isn't ideal) because I do frozen day old feeders but I've also gotten a LOT of requests from people who literally say up front that they don't care what kind or don't care about anything but numbers (I assume for meat raising, which fair enough, if I was just going to eat it, pretty much any half-decent bird will do I suppose). I'm always up front about the quality, but some people really do just not care.

You also reminded me: on the point of climate tolerance. Coturnix are not great at being in extreme heat, but they're generally great at being in colder climates. But you DO have to keep a little bit of an eye on it. I take all of my babies off heat by 2.5 weeks (sometimes as early as 2 weeks), and any that handle that transition poorly get culled out (either by selling them off or hard culling for the freezer). It's pretty rare these days, maybe 1 in every 200 birds or so, but it was a lot more common a couple years back. They should easily be able to tolerate freezing temps at 4 weeks old, so if they can't, then you'll have work to do (unless you live someplace it doesn't really get freezing).

And to temper expectations; even a GOOD line will produce some duds. Even a jumbo line will produce some non-jumbo birds. ANY line that you take birds from and combine with any other line (and I recommend getting lines from a few different areas if you can hatch eggs, just to open up genetic diversity at the start) is going to present selection challenges. It takes time to develop a line that's yours, to whatever your desires for them are, but bar little exception, if you're starting with several sources, you can select nice birds out of even crappy starter birds, it's just a matter of how long you want to be doing the initial selection work (as opposed to the maintenance selection work.... which is basically the same thing except you have more nicer birds)

[thankstothe]

[front-facing-pokemon]

[lukazlaska]

open to: anyone! łukaz is in his cabin.

Łukaz, as always, never noticed when someone entered his space. His nose always stuck in a book or some other business that stole his focus, it was perhaps the one thing that gave away his true age. When someone jokingly referred to him as an 'old man,' well... he took it personally.

(What was wrong with being old? Mature? Erudite?!)

But his aloofness could not be mistaken for lack of caring, because he truly did want to be of service to both his fellow counselors as well as the campers he considered his students. He possessed knowledge; he wanted to pass it along. Every day could have been his last, even after so many years of prolonged youth. The next generation needed to be educated.

But finally, a rustling alerted him to a visitor's presence. "Oh—?" he murmurs to himself, turning to face the other. "Apologies, I was just... nothing, don't worry about it. Is there something I can help you with?"

[spirit-x-ing]

Bro, all I gotta say is that, I'm glad Lorelai is already established because it is TOUGH balls trying to get people to actually RP with an OC. People follow back it seems as an automatic common courtesy or to eye potential partners... fine, do so. Though honestly, I'd rather have shy or shady RP partners than the dressed pretend to be an RP blog I've been seeing of late. I've seen so many people asking for RP. So I sent a meme out no reply. Okay, that's okay too, but then I decided to browse their dash all they got is OOC posts about their personal life, like hardly any roleplay. (I've literally seen three with NO ROLE PLAY whatsoever!) I know I'm not the only person out there who's bold enough to send a starter, these RP'ers are popping out, but are you just actually that picky, or are they there to just gush about their muse(s) and not write?

[lucygraysboy]

eyes full of stars,  hustling for the good life,  never thought i’d meet you here.   it could be love.   we could be the way forward,  and i know i’ll pay for it…   you’re a bandit like me.

@billysgirllol

[sparklytimebun]

You see this pretty little lady standing in the rain, what do you do?

>seduce >head pats >other

[mania-sama]

Repetition in Mondstadt (Genshin Impact Analysis)

In response to @sleepytwyla42's request for my thoughts in Old Mondstadt, I present you this: something that is not quite Old Mondstadt but kind of sort of is. If you squint. :)

One of the most common and sensible theories for Genshin Impact's main storyline is that the Traveler is going to return to Mondstadt for, essentially, Round 2 of Archon quests. This is backed namely by the fact that the Mondstadt storyline feels very unfinished, especially in comparison to the other nations. There are several mysteries left yet to unfold, with their proximity to Khaenri'ah being one and the upside-down tainted Anemo Statue of the Seven being another. However, I'd like to present a slightly different point of view on why we are probably going to be returning to Mondstadt before this game is over:

Mondstadt's theme of repetition. Yes, I think it has even Sumeru beat out on this theme. Here's why.

Everybody knows the story of Old Mondstadt and Decarabian. It's fairly straightforward: Decarabian, the god of storms, and Andrius, the north wind (god of ice and snow, if you wish to interpret it that way) get into a small war with each other during the chaotic, power-struggle time period overall known as the Archon War. Andrius covers the land now known as Mondstadt in ice and snow, making it virtually uninhabitable by humans, which causes Decarabian to gather his followers/people into a sectioned-off area. He encases his segment in protective winds, and although it does a good job of keeping out the cold, he also completely traps his people inside. They cannot escape (for the most part), he treats them terribly, hides in his tower to "watch" over them, and is overall an evil tyrant. When evil tyrants rule, revolutions tend to happen. After encouragement from a small wind sprite giving a blessing to a group of Gunnhildr's that left Decarabian's land to live in the cold, Mondstadt's people uprise and overthrow Decarabian's rule. No, we do not know where Decarabian is now. We are not quite sure where his body is or how they managed to contain such a powerful god.

Anyway, now that we have a brief summary of Old Mondstadt, it is time to move to what happens next. Decarabian's (ex) followers all leave to live in the little sprite-blessed town called Mondstadt. The wind sprite strikes up a deal with Andrius; Andrius stops terrorizing the land and gives up his title of Anemo Archon to Barbatos, and Barbatos proceeds to terraform the land to be more habitable to his newfound people. These people pack up and move to Cider Lake, which is then terraformed to keep the city strategically protected.

Now we have (New?) Mondstadt and the Anemo Archon. Here is where our repetition begins.

The Genshin Impact manga depicts two times of Mondstadt's history: one, the Era of Aristocracy, which was Venessa's early life in Mondstadt as a slave battling for her freedom. The second is Diluc and Kaeya's timeline, about 3-4 years before the main timeline events, where their father dies, they fight, and Diluc defects. For right now, we will focus on the Era of Aristocracy.

Here is this thing about aristocracy: it doesn't come out of nowhere. Generally speaking, based on actual human history, ruling clans, factions, and families tend to come from the early founders of a certain city/state/nation. They could also come from the noble classes of other cities/states/nations, and they just use their wealth, power, and status to establish dominance in whatever region they are taking over. Really, truly, the whole of Mondstadt is pretty reminiscent of French and English history.

To tie into Mondstadt: Really, truly, the whole of this nation is pretty reminiscent of French and English history. We see that Decarabian is overthrown by the people. What we don't see, at first, is that the ones leading the charge would later become the major and minor noble clans. Some of them probably already were noble families (case in point, the Gunnhildrs probably were. They most likely used some sect of their power to escape the storms and brave the Monstadt's snowy wasteland). A tyrannical ruler is never going to rule alone. They are always going to have an upper noble class that they have in their pocket to quell the common people and stomp out uprisings. You have to have friends to defeat your enemies. Or, you want to keep those wealthy who are happy, appealing to other proverb keep your friends close but your enemies closer. The noble class can kill you. Typically, peasants cannot.

Until the peasants do kill you. In this case, they probably still did have help from some rich people. See: the likelihood of the Gunnhildr family being high nobles. MOVING ON.

So three big clans established Mondstadt on Cider Lake with the blessing of freedom and independence from Barbatos: Gunnhildr, Lawrence, and Imunlaukr (which seems to have faded into obscurity in modern Mondstadt, but I digress). You may be thinking: what about Ragnvindr? I imagine they were a noble class at this time, along with many unnamed ones; they were likely lesser nobles and weren't those founding Mondstadt like the big three.

What do nobles do when they gain power? That's right. THEY BECOME TRYANTS! Even though Barbatos gave them their independence to escape tyranny, rich people did what rich people do best and they became rulers and tyrants. This is where we see the first major repetition come into play in Mondstadt's history. Even though they all knew of Decarabian's tyranny like the back of their hand, history still repeated itself. Like it always doomed to do.

And like Venti is always doomed to do, he wakes from his slumber to give his blessing to his people to overthrow the tyrannical Lawrence clan. As for the other clans, people tend to herald the Gunnhildr clan mainly for being awesome and helping the people, but they were still a clan that did NOTHING until the common people revolted. Which is also pretty common in real-life history. Rich clans tend to only cash in when it seems profitable, and in order to not be exiled with the "bad guys", even though their inaction was still aiding the tyranny (proverb: "Evil persists when good people do nothing"),

We come to the modern day, where the clans are still evident in different ways. While the Lawrence clan and Imunlaukr clans have both lost significant power and relevance (due to their previous exile) and are more just an occasional societal nuisance, the Gunnhildr and Ragnvindr clans are still extremely prevalent in modern society. And while I am not saying that either of them is going to repeat their ancestors' mistakes any time soon (moreso Diluc than Jean, no hate to my queen though, it's just the archetype of intense, overworked protection leading to Accidental Tyranny), it still shows that Mondstadt cannot let go of the scars of the past. Their aristocracy still exists, it just breathes a different air.

It seems inevitable that one day, it will be the Gunnhildr's turn to be tyrannical. It's just how this thing goes. Or, someone else is going to come in and take over to terrorize the Mondstadt citizens. I am going to use this as a shitty transition into the second repetition: Dvalin and Durin.

By the time Dvalin comes around, the Archon War is finished and done with. This also means that dragons are Not Liked by General Populous, so nobody really likes this new, innocent creature. Nobody tries to befriend it. Except for, well, Venti. Venti and Dvalin the Dragon become friends. They are ride or DIE, okay. And then the abyss strikes.

While Mondstadt's people fight a war on the ground by sending out a squadron to the apparent source of the abyssal monsters (Khaenri'ah), Venti and Dvalin fight a sky(?) war against the Khemia-dragon named Durin, who is most notable for being Evil, corrupted by the Abyss, and for terrorizing the citizens of Mondstadt. Dvalin and Venti manage to defeat Durin, but not without grave hits to their health. They both seem to follow the path of deep slumber to recover from the abyssal corrosion they suffered from the fight. And while Venti seemed to heal... Dvalin, with an immense lack of Venti's archon power, is not so lucky.

Dvalin is then woken from his slumber and his abyssal corrosion from his fight 500 years ago is used to by the Abyss to be Evil and terrorize the citizens of Mondstadt. Sound familiar? Yes, because this is the second major repetition. While it isn't the exact same circumstances, it is still similar. Proper measures were not taken to root out evil (like the Mondstadt aristocracy), and thus, evil came back with a vicious bite. Thankfully, the Traveler's ability to cure abyssal corrosion seems to have solved the biggest of these issues. Still don't know what's going on with Durin's heart, though. That's kind of. Concerning.

But on the topic of dragons, we do have another pretty important and relevant repetition, which concerns both the first and the second half of the Genshin Impact manga, and now with our favorite evil organization: the Fatui!

The Era of Aristocracy is a painful time in Mondstadt's history. It is also a point in time when Ursa the Drake was roaming around Mondstadt. For those unaware, the creature drake is essentially just a dragon/dragon-like animal. So, by accordance to our pre-established rules, Ursa was not very well liked at this point. She was also a bit of a foul creature, unlike Dvalin, who was pretty innocent and unassuming at his point of roaming Teyvat originally.

Vanessa and her tribe run into Ursa the Drake while traveling in the Mondstadt wilderness, which is what leads to their seeking of refugee, capture, and subsequent enslavement by the high nobles in Mondstadt on Cider Lake. They do eventually have to fight Ursa the Drake again in the gladiator-type arena while attempting to win their freedom, and while they think they've killed Ursa, they've merely driven her away.

Which is why she comes back, 1000 years later. Ursa the Drake serves as sort of our third and fourth repetition. For now, I will just focus on the third major repetition: the mere fact of her return. Just like always, something that is not properly vanquished will come back to bite in Mondstadt. And so it does: Ursa does not merely terrorize a group of traveling tribesmen. Ursa indirectly kills Crepus, Diluc's father, which leads to a massive political scandal. Eroch, a high-ranking member of the Knights of Favonius, tries first to make Diluc take credit for killing Ursa (at this point in time, Ursa had only been driven away again, not killed). Eroch suggests this because Diluc, newly 18 - quite literally, it was his birthday - and promoted in the Knights, was the only one there at the time of Crepus' death. Diluc, enraged by the suggestion, promptly quits the Knights and flees Mondstadt entirely after a fight with his adopted brother, Kaeya. Eroch takes claim for the defeat, but that is quickly uprooted and dismissed.

As I've repeated, nothing that is not killed comes back. Nothing that is not defeated will bite. Ursa does not come back again, but she is killed by a Fatui Harbinger: Il Dottore, the Doctor, the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. And the big thing to understand about Dottore is that he is not a dumb man; he does not do something nice for the sake of nicety. No. This action of eliminating a major threat to Mondstadt makes Mondstadt indebted to Snezhnaya and the Fatui Harbingers.

You all have (presumably) played the Archon Quest. You know that the major point of concern for our leaders of Mondstadt is to make sure that the Fatui have no hand in eliminating Dvalin. That would put them in an incredibly horrendous position with Snezhnaya, and they could not afford it. Hence, our fourth major repetition: a dragon that terrorizes Mondstadt and leads to immense pressure from Mondstadt and the Fatui Harbingers. A problem that is not killed or defeated coming to bite them in the ass, as always.

It is also at this point that Venti makes a reappearance in Mondstadt. He wakes up again to help his people, as he always does when it is apparent their freedom is in danger. So far, this has been recorded in these instances (excluding the Archon War/and the years following. Only starting from when he first relinquished full freedom to his people): the Era of Aristocracy, the Cataclysm, and the Stormterror.

... But it really isn't Stormterror, is it? Because we know that Dvalin was never really out to kill anybody. He was being hurt and manipulated. That situation is quite unlike the Cataclysm, in which he likely also received a calling from Celestia and the other gods to, I don't know, do something??????????? So it can't just be Stormterror. Venti knows that his people's freedom is at stake.

And, well, that Abyss issue was never really resolved in Mondstadt, was it? Durin's heart is still beating, Venti's statue is corroded and upside-down, and the hilichurls and other Abyssal creatures still have strongholds and are forming true offenses against Mondstadt. And the Fatui are still, you know, around. They were never defeated. Only minorly wounded, a mere setback in their plan.

If I know anything about Mondstadt, it is that their oversights will eat them alive.

At least Barbatos is sticking around for this one.

[tommarvoloriddlesdiary]

Share your lastest WIP! If you want 👀

which one 🥲😂😭💀 i have a few - will this do?

~

“They’re quite odd, aren’t they?” 

Abraxas is snickering when he says it. He’s just loud enough to grate - nothing new - but in what should be the quiet sanctity of the library, his tone sufficiently pulls Tom from his reading. 

His eyes lock on Abraxas across from him and flick to the ‘they’ in question. 

And, of course, it’s the Grangers. 

Since entering the magical community, Tom has learned a thing or two about their societal norms. An interesting component being that it is surprisingly challenging to be seen as ‘odd’ here. A wixen can be any number of things: lazy, stupid, poor, muggle - the list goes on, but ‘odd’ is a category used sparingly when directed towards each other. Much unlike the muggles Tom has known and grown his whole life around. 

He was always seen as odd by them - freakish - and continues to be whenever he returns to the orphanage for summer. So he doesn’t much care for the word. 

Besides, if anything, the Grangers aren't even worth gawking over and snickering about. Their worst can be summed up to anti-socialistic, codependent, and exclusionary behaviours - probably a trauma response from the war. They clearly have no interest in playing house with their dormmates or the rest of the school, so why bother?

They are sitting beneath the second-story stair landing where the elves have managed to shove one last table. It’s one of the more tucked away and private places on this level — a place Tom would not consider and will not consider; he needs to be visible, available — and they’ve claimed it like it’s never belonged to anyone else. Like it was placed there just for them. Their ease of acclimation to Hogwarts as a whole has certainly raised some eyebrows, yet still, he isn’t concerned. 

He had also known Hogwarts was his home the moment he had stepped foot in it, after all. He is not so foolish as to believe himself an outlier.

Hermione Granger’s hands are waving wildly, turning in circles and gesturing in a vague sphere-like shape. She’s talking aloud - not that Tom, or anyone else, can hear it - and doesn’t seem to like what she’s saying, given the harsh line between her brows. Ronald Granger is sitting in front of her and starts shaking his head. He says something and reaches across the table to take her wrists — expands them — the sphere becomes an oval.

Harry Granger sits beside them pensive, with his head down and reading carefully from a book in his hands. He starts to turn the page but pauses; he frowns and looks up.

He looks right at Tom.

Granger blinks once, slowly. He mouths something, but it’s not directed towards Tom because his siblings turn to look at him. It only lasts a moment before they suddenly turn around to stare at Tom as well, their eyes wide and alarmed. 

Tom watches on as Harry Granger slouches - maybe sighs? He shakes his head and palms his face in something like dismay. It doesn't take a legilimens to read his lips now—

“You are both such idiots.” He says.

The corner of Tom’s lips curl. It’s possibly a smile. He’ll never call it that out loud.

“Very,” he finally replies to Abraxas.

[juvian]

Piplup, the penguin pokemon -> 393

Prinplup, the penguin Pokémon -> 394

Empoleon, the emperor pokemon -> 395

Do not repost

[boimlerkisser]

I can feel myself starting to get sad again

Save me Arthur...Arthur save me 😭😭

[lonelysgorg]

test muse: mina lee. she/her. 21-25. intensely closeted lesbian. professional cheerleader. connection: femmes 21+. e-boyfriend turns out to not be a boyfriend.

　　　mina sits silently, hands gripping her coffee cup tightly and no doubt making the other intensely uncomfortable. she should have known better - her friends had laughed and told her the supposed cute guy she'd been dating was most definitely not who she thought she was. but she hadn't cared much, he was the first guy she didn't have to force herself to like. so what if he looked a little different or been a little older than he claimed ?? she could work with it. however the possibility that he wasn't a he hadn't been on her radar. mina opens her mouth, finally speaking. ❝i - . . . i'm not. so you're jacob ?? ❞

[quietlyblooms-gone]

someone explain to me why a crowded grocery store is one of the top ten most stressful places to be bc i was ready to have a meltdown fr 😔

[chaos--mode]

give this a like and ill write you a starter based on something in my wishlist

[laugtherhyena]

Other thingys that happened while gaming (Lady's really just fucking around huh)