sodatabsandspiders

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got a giant and i mean GIANT fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonade at the farmer's market today. i'm talking like a full quart with a straw in it. very delicious. five dollars. nice. as i was leaving, laden with vegetables, a young man waved at me and asked where i had acquired my immense beverage. and after i pointed him toward the stall and informed him of the various prices and flavors, he looked toward the sky, basketball shorts flapping in the breeze, and bellowed to the heavens, "oh i am gonna SLUUUUUUUURP that." happy slurp that saturday everyone.

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Posting up some old art on Inprnt, so that's as good a reason as any to repost these guys

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Segorbe, Castellón, Valencian Community.

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something I've recently noticed with characters -- mainly my d&d characters -- is that backstories are especially fun if you take a trope or a common backstory but change your character's role in it. Bonus points if they're the "villain" in this trope, whether by accident/misunderstanding or actions they intended to do but will/do regret after character development.

"my parents were killed by a (vampire/evil wizard/raging maniac/whatever)" but you're the one who killed someone's parents and now they're out to fucking Get You.

"my spouse/significant other died and I'm out to avenge them" but you're an undead or have the Reborn lineage or something and you're the dead spouse trying to find your revenge-obsessed lover before they do something they'll regret.

"my village was taken over by a tyrant" but you're the tyrant who's been chased out and fallen out of power and now you have to get Away From Here Fast.

"my noble family's manor burned down and I want to find the person who did it" but you're the housemaid who's been cast aside and put out of a job, and needs a quick way to make some money.

it sort of instantly gives the character more depth and makes the backstory feel more three-dimensional. Your character has done something wrong, whether by accident or on purpose, and that makes them feel more human. Not to mention the fact that many of these automatically create the easy-to-harness plot device of Someone Is After Me.

Anyways, hope that's helpful in some way :> happy character making!

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iBook G3, Apple, 1999

instagram: cheri.png

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This Fossil Friday, meet Gomphotherium productum, or the “club beast.” This early relative of elephants lived in what is now Texas about 10 million years ago. Like others in this tall, short-necked group of mammals, it probably used its tusks to scoop up food. Over time, most members of the elephant family became larger, and the number and shape of their tusks varied. Gomphotherium had interlocking upper and lower tusks, but many later elephants had only upper ones.

Photo: © AMNH

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"Now I've shot so many Nazis, Daddy will have to buy me a sable coat." (From his Wikipedia article).

Neil Munro "Bunny" Roger

June 9, 1911-April 27, 1997.

Bunny Roger killed a bunch of Nazis and then invented Capri pants.

He was expelled from Oxford for his indiscrete gayness (discrete gayness being perfectly fine at Oxford and part of the curriculum until...today probably, at least like 1992?). Then, having been sent down to London, he started his own fashion business, and his first client was Vivien Leigh.

Bunny served in WWII, killing fascists in North Africa and Italy, and often wearing a mauve scarf in the field. Roger claimed that he had gone into a battle brandishing a rolled-up copy of VOGUE and commanding: "When in doubt, powder heavily!"

Roger was known in high society for his themed soirées; Diamond, Amethyst, and Flame Balls were held to celebrate his 60th, 70th, and 80th birthdays. He wore a curious plum colored catsuit with a feathered headdress at his 70th birthday ball in 1981. At his 80th, he made his entrance in a catsuit of scarlet sequins with a cape of orange organza, greeting his guests from behind a wall of fire. His parties were covered by the newspapers, including a New Year's Eve Fetish Ball where the proper upper class mixed with young guests in rubber S/M gear.

From an obituary: "Beneath his mauve mannerisms, Bunny was stalwart, frank, dependable and undeceived; to onlookers a passing peacock, to intimates, a life enhancer and exemplary friend."

From another obituary:

He served valiantly in every way.

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DID IT AGAIN

FUCK

fully dislocating my knee on my lunch break, next 3 hours r gonna suuuuuck

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The birdwatcher

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I'm one of the few people that genuinely LOVES working customer service (hotel receptionist here), like yes the occasional person is rude and entitled. But most of the time? People are kind, and funny, and will jump at the chance to share a bit of their lives with someone else.

The businessman that comes in every week who seemed grouchy at first now smiles and waves when I remember his name, and explains he's just finished a long drive, and he doesn't MEAN to come off as rude, he's just tired.

The mother and daughter who visit the hotel each summer and tell me they've been coming here for years, and each time they visit they go to the pier and save up their tickets for the big ticket items. One day they come through the doors with the biggest grins, the older lady in the wheelchair proudly waving a huge stuffed toy tiger she's "had her eye on for years".

The young man with his girlfriend who looks nervous as he approaches reception, and stumbles over his words, his hands shaking as he signs the paperwork to check in. I've spent the last two weeks on the phone with him organising this; we've set up the bedroom with balloons and petals and decorations, and he's going to propose as soon as they get to the room.

The woman who I've not seen before who asks if I'm local, and tells me she grew up here, and had recently found herself drawn back. We talk about the sounds of seagulls, and the metal clanging of masts down at the harbour, and how the sounds that fade into the background are the ones you miss most when you leave. She's writing a book and promises to send me a copy when she's done.

The regular who goes out of her way to buy us all the strangest biscuits she can find at the tourist shops. We try them together, pulling faces at the ones that just don't work.

The thirty something woman who immediately sees a kinship in me and whispers to me that she has been here before, but under a name she no longer uses, and we celebrate the freedom she feels.

The support group that comes in for coffee each week and sit together filling the foyer with laughter.

Every single person living their own wonderful complicated rich lives, and I get to be a part of that. How is that not beautiful?

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I love very specific cakes

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VISIBILIDADE INDÍGENA

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diagnoses character with whatever the fuck it is that i got

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Day 9

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life is beautiful

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6.26.2025