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jumping spiders and their babies

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I've been told that it's #InsectWeek and that I should plug my work.

I'm so bad at marketing... Uhhhhh... Buy my books...!

https://www.owlflyllc.com/publishing

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There was something a trans woman said to us long before we came to realize ourselves. I think this was back in 2008 or so, I can hardly be sure of the time or site, and those specifics aren't important. We had exchanged DMs on most days for a while, and I asked her how she was doing. She replied, "I looked in the mirror and there was a pretty woman with stubble staring back at me."

I recall asking her whether this was a good thing or not, and she affirmed it was. Her body felt like hers, and she could only see herself as a girl, regardless of such things. She had simply admired her reflection for what it is, shaved, and moved happily on.

I think why it stuck with us for so long, was that it was the first time I had heard a trans woman talk about herself in such a way. I was in a few lgbt groups at the time, identifying as a gay man, and had interacted with them a number of times, finding them good company and relatable for reasons that needed another few years to come out. They had always couched such things in disappointment, as though any incongruence with femininity had snatched all the joy it brought them.

This was the first time it occurred to me, that you could learn to see yourself as inalienably feminine. That your body is a woman's body, if you want it to be, and nothing can take from you.

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As , the United States, potentially heads into another forever war I can only think of this quote.

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Gate

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Hey don't cry, okay? We just found Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, a species thought to be extinct for the past 60 years.

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Fucks me up to think about how every character in the world is literally just someone's OC

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If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

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I mean surely we all grew up feeling like there was a wrongness inherently deep inside us that will endure for the rest of our lives

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you guys don’t even understand what GoodTimesWithScar means to me. Funniest character to ever exist. He’s the server’s sexy pool boy and marriage counselor and he’s bad at all of his jobs and you can never tell if it’s through intentional sabotage or genuine incompetence and then you see him build the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen and log out. He’s not a himbo because he’s a genius and master manipulator but he decided a long time ago that he cares more about having abs and giant tits than proving to anyone that he’s smart. He can cry on command and make you think he’s the most helpless creature on the planet and then turn around and fire an arrow from 200 blocks away and get a headshot and kill you. And then he turns around trips over his own feet and drowns in four inches of water. I’m literally obsessed with him

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they call me the bug whisperer. because i whisper to bugs

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Reached out to a biologist to request some info about an extinct species of freshwater shrimp and the email she sent in response was not only lovely and helpful but also kind of poetry to me? People who study invertebrates are actually the most hopeful and compassionate scientists that we have.

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Relisting to travelers gate and going 'wrong place wrong time' at it over and over again

Simon, at a time when he was too young to do anything, met a traveler of Valinhall the House of Blades who offered to train him into something that could actually fight for the people he loves. by the time he is old enough to make good on that request the friendly Traveler is gone and he's left with Kai as a mentor; uncaring and avoidant with a rather concerning doll fetish, a guy who thinks the best way to swim is getting thrown into the atlantic without knowing what water is. if he had only been a little older when his parents died, something could have changed.

And later he learns of the Dragon Army; the origional 12 travelers of Valinhall trained by Valin; its founder. If Simon had been around just a bit earlier, he could’ve had a community, a team of other travelers to fight with and love as the family he never got to have. Instead, he has to walk the house alone, the only other Traveler around being Kai.

He was in the wrong place as well, his home village, just outside of the Damascan Empire, was not made aware that they take sacrifices. so when Damascan soliders came for them, for Simon and everyone he loves, he couldnt do anything because his town wasn't far enough inside the empire to know.

Alin is Eliadel, a born Traveler of Elysia, the most powerful of Territories. He is a hero of legends that will take down the empire, stop the sacrifices, and look good while doing it. He's a humble (yet charismatic) village boy turned badass hero of old. his territory is a beautiful city of gold with fairies and big fluffy dogs and shining knights in armour with glowing swords. It's perfect. he is our hero, our chosen one, our leader and martyr and the only one working towards true good (if only he would question what 'good' really means in the eyes of Elysia.)

Simon is pathetic. He can't swing a sword, he has no big powers or sociable personality. his only big upside is his borderline obsessive determination, but he is handed no boons by anyone. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong person.

And yet. He goes into the forest alone looking for that Traveler he met when he was a child on his own. His alcoholic mother dead and his friends either heros or captives, he has nothing left but himself and he decides to do something about it. He’s not perfect nor chosen. Literally just some fuckin guy. And god does he want to give up sometimes, to kick and scream about the injustice of Valinhall’s brutal training methods. Hell, he does literally kick and scream and try to throw a bed at one point. But the thing is, while Alin is given his power, Simon Works For It. Constantly. In Valinhall, you have to fight a man of leather and crystal for your food. If you bathe for too long, the imps of the bath claw you into drowning. The housekeepers are cloaks of shadow with black chains that wrap your throat while you sleep and squeeze. But Simon carries on, that is the spirit of Valinhall. While most Travelers summon things to fight for them, all power found in Valinhall is just an enhancement of self. Every ounce is lovingly fought for, rather than summoning a centipede in exchange for blood, you would fight a metal skeleton with a penchant for dance and his motley crew of skeletal knights. Instead of reading infinite knowledge from a summoned book, you would earn the loyalty of the Nye (aforementioned deadly housekeepers) so they might gift you a cloak of invisibility.

Valinhall travelers are Soldiers not Wizards, i think is the best way to put it, and it ties the themes of the story together beautifully because of that. I could go on, about Incarnations and Alin’s journey and the gorgeous magic system and Valin’s fall and that one sick ass fight scene with all the creatures but ill leave it there

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im rolling Alin around in my head like a bowling ball

(this is about book 1 of travelers gate) he's not evil despite being opposed to the protagonist. theyre working separately towards the same goal and Simon is usually the one jealous of Alin for his ability to lead and his chosen one status. if Simon and Alin could just work together they'd flourish.

But god is Alin a jackass. i need to stress that he's not evil, just immature and prideful. His Territory reflects moral purity and goodness, which makes all the better a contrast between Alin's personality and his title. He always speaks like he imagines heroes should, like he's telling a story, he is impatient and doesn't think before taking action, he looks down on Simon and pities him (unwilling to acknowledge that the guy is stronger than him) and he's petty. Alin should not be given all the power he has; the story even points that out when he is directly given early access to a power he hasn't proven himself enough to get. Its not his fault really, hes not a villain at this point in the story, he's just young and easily influenced. he thinks in black and white, he thinks like a Hero should, and that's whats so tragic about him and what happens to him.

Hey also, why does nobody talk about how Kai canonically has wet dreams about the dolls? I entirely forgot that was a thing until it cursed my ears

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