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[curlicuecal]

I think "what's your favorite turtle? and what's your favorite parasite?" should be standard questions that we ask people

What’s your favorite turtle and also favorite parasite?

How could I ever choose?! I can’t pick absolute favorites but I can definitely choose some top contenders

Turtles:

- Alligator snapping turtle (I deeply love any type of snapper but these guys are just totally something else- once you work with one you’re hooked forever)

- Gopher tortoise (keystone species with talk show host level charisma)

- Bog Turtles (the cutest animal on earth??)

- Radiated tortoise (I love all the Madagascar tortoise species but these take my breath away)

- Eastern box turtle (if these dudes don’t fill you with childlike wonder I don’t get you)

- Diamondback terrapin (makes me feel how I assume old white guys feel when they see a fancy muscle car. Just a great looking kickass turtle here)

Parasites:

- Screwworms (parasitic larvae of a fly but terrifying and fascinating- these worms are the reason we have sterile insect technique)

- Toxoplasma gondii (best parasite to go down the rabbit hole researching; this protozoan is running the world)

- Parasitic wasps are morbidly fascinating to me so I’ll also say Jewel wasp (can perform brain surgery on the exact part of a cockroach’s brain that would allow it to escape)

- Any type of pentastomid (mysterious and cool, will never forget finding a dead snake filled to the brim with them)

- Guinea worm (interesting worm with cool history and life cycle- former US president Jimmy Carter once vowed to eradicate this parasite in his lifetime)

[curlicuecal]

Ultimate Fantastic Four #23 (2004)

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submitted by @tendou-souji

[curlicuecal]

unavoidable that you will be the villain in someone else's story. You will be painted in an unfavorable light. You will be the irredeemable one. and all of this will happen despite how nice you might usually be or how kind or how respectful or how warm. and you will just have to move on.

[curlicuecal]

Found today while gathering acorns (swamp white oak). How adorable is this? I love her little feet, and the way she pivots around her proboscis, fascinated by how far her head rotates… Curculio sp. (if anyone can ID to species, please add!)

[curlicuecal]

just fucking with some dinosaurs. some raw forces of nature

[curlicuecal]

We're gonna be okay

[curlicuecal]

#this is from 2007#not technically pre-tumblr but pretty close

Yeah, this is from a feature called "Steve, Don't Eat It" on The Sneeze. I remember reading these as they came out. :)

Very funny series (if a bit anglocentric). I recommend a read.

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it_old.html

[curlicuecal]

Lightning whip LIGHTNING WHIP!!!!

[curlicuecal]

[curlicuecal]

more of these two being human and stuck

[curlicuecal]

for anyone who criticizes jyl for bringing soup to yiling instead of like, money—

we should first ask: could jyl actually have given wwx money? she must have something, you say. the jins are rich! she could even give him some of her betrothal gifts.

but realistically jyl probably didn't have much money at all! let's think this through. not only did she not marry jzx yet at the time of her yiling visit, but (based on many, many imperial palace tv shows lol) all her worth would be in betrothal gifts of jewelry, fine clothing, or other misc items, which is 1) heavy and difficult to transport without notice, but that doesn't actually matter bc it's ultimately 2) disrespectful to sell and worse to have the gifter find out when they come by for tea and you begin chatting about the event in two days and they say oh where's that one-of-a-kind jade bracelet I gave you wouldn't it match the also one-of-a-kind silk garment that lady jin gave you sooo well oh you will look so lovely in it won't you wear it.

or worse, have it recognized in some random pawn shop on the street by someone who has never really liked you and WILL get you in deep shit for it.

does jyl have any money from the jiang side? well, jc has been busy at work rebuilding lotus pier and the clan since before wwx's defection, and even if he's not borrowing a shitton of money from the jins (which he almost certainly is), he definitely has the opposite of surplus funds. he's also busy organizing and buying gifts for the wedding too, making him go more in the red because you know the jins aren't going to want cheap-ass things even if you don't have money.

let's say jyl did get a significant bride price (aka given money money)—not only does that go to her family (jc), but it is given during the ceremony (which, again, hasn't happened yet). and, realistically, jc probably will have to use it to offset the costs of the above.

beyond that, let's just take this scene from a storytelling perspective. sometimes it is simply about the emotional resonance. the vibes. let's say jyl did have some funds to give wwx. but imagine if jyl was like here a-xian take all this money 😐 ok sure useful for some period. but is that the gift that wwx would want during the first time he's gotten to see her in months, and likely the last time he will see her in a long, long time (possibly years)? would that be impactful for the story?

meanwhile, the soup she brings represents her love. we hear in the extra, from wwx's own words, the care she put into selecting the ingredients, making sure the lotus root is fresh and perfectly ripe. it also takes hours for her to even make iirc. wwx derives so much comfort from it—that's why it comes up again and again. it is one of his first memories of feeling safe in lotus pier, of home. it provides wwx some semblance of normalcy. he hasn't had any this entire time, and is likely something he aches for whenever he's homesick or sad or questioning his choices. it is simply, given the circumstances, incredibly thoughtful. (and how meaningful was it to see wn treat it with such respect? seeing that is literally the moment in the chapter when wwx realizes—ah. the wens are people I cherish as well.)

and regarding jyl coming in her wedding dress—it is not for herself. it is for wwx. we saw how devastated wwx was just to even hear that jyl was getting married because he had to hear it from someone who wasn't jc or jyl. and to immediately then realize he cannot go? even more heartbreaking. and jyl, who clearly knows wwx extremely well, would know, without having to ask, how upset wwx would be to miss such a huge occasion in their lives that was previously a given. this is what she can do to offset that, even just a little. because jyl came in her dress, wwx gets to experience a piece of her wedding even though he cannot physically be there. not to be a 2000s mastercard ad, but there really are some things that money can't buy.

idk there's also some fist-shaking at the class discrepancy in the scene. and I get it. it sucks! her dress is certainly lavish, and the wens are farming on a corpse mountain and have only just started making a bit of money. yes, it's fine to think that if you were in the character's shoes, maybe you would've found it to be in poor taste—but the story isn't about you. it is about these characters, and what this scene means to them. and I'm of the camp that if there is no indication that wwx is upset by any of this, and in fact moved by it, there really isn't reason for the reader to be righteously indignant about these things on a character's behalf. that's just not the focus or the point of the scene.

plus, jyl is sharp. she is likely more aware of the discrepancy than most people think. she has also been shown in the text to not just be another sheltered, spoiled noble (re jzx soup incident). but if what you want is guilt from jyl—I personally think that guilt is performative, and accomplishes nothing. her guilt would've only made wwx unhappy. instead, here is an action that is meaningful and brings joy to wwx. to share her joy with him is not selfishness, nor is it some lack of awareness of their situation. if in this moment, she shows off her dress, if she revels in her joy, her happiness, it is for wwx, and wwx is incredibly moved by it.

and let's face it—wwx, of all people, would want to see jyl in a wedding dress that cost more than rebuilding lotus pier from the ground up. he wouldn't want anything less.

[curlicuecal]

I guess this is what would happen if a werewolf bit a skeleton.

[curlicuecal]

yeah this article described underperforming as 'loud quitting' and I'm just like

do they even know what quitting means

Quiet Quitting is when you're not doing anything wrong but the vibes are off

[curlicuecal]

meeting your job description is a problem because something something capitalism

Quiet Quitting is when you're not doing anything wrong but the vibes are off

[curlicuecal]

This wins the internet for 2024!! 😂😂

[curlicuecal]

reblog for sample size !!