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o-craven-canto · 2 years

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Gods of Salt, or the “““real””” origins of humankind

Might as well post it here directly. (original link, full text under the cut)

« Certainly Nature, when she left the making ⁠Of animals like these, did well indeed, ⁠By taking such executors from Mars; And if of elephants and whales she doth not ⁠Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly ⁠More just and more discreet will hold her for it; For where the argument of intellect ⁠Is added unto evil will and power, ⁠No rampart can the people make against it. » – Inferno, Canto XXXI, 49-57

Consider the following facts:

#1: The Mediterranean Sea loses more water to evaporation than it receives from rivers: it only maintains its level thanks to influx from the Atlantic. Between 6.0 and 5.3 million years ago, in the late Miocene epoch, the closure of the Gibraltar Strait caused the Mediterranean to dry out. This is known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and it left vast deposits of gypsum and rock salt. At its apex, this event would have reduced the sea to a few puddles of hypersaline water, similar to today's Dead Sea, surrounded by scorching desert - with temperatures possibly reaching over 40°C due to high pressure. Its islands and peninsulas would have turned to massive mountain ranges up to 5 km tall ([1]). This event ended with the so-called Zanclean Flood, when the Atlantic waters rushed back into the basin, through not one but a series of waterfalls. The overall drop was more than a km, and the discharge of water has been estimated at a thousand time that of the Amazon River ([2]). That's enough to refill the whole Mediterranean in less than 20 years. A sumberged barrier, known as Camarinal Sill, forms the shallowest part of the strait, at only 280 meters below sea level ([3]).

#2: Nevertheless, despite its terrible conditions, the Mediterranean Basin still had enough hospitable land to allow animals to move from Africa to Europe, and vice versa. In fact, the climate, flora, and fauna of Africa and Europe were very similar in the Miocene. Dwarf species of hippopotami and elephants have been found in Cyprus, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearics: all the main islands of the Mediterranean. The lowland-dwellers could have lived along rivers like Po, Rhone, and Nile, which would have cut much deeper valleys.

#3: The Miocene was also a time of great diversity of mammals. In particular, it was the golden age of elephants (which existed in every continent but Australia) and apes (which were even abundant in Europe). European apes included the swamp-dwelling Italian Oreopithecus, 9-7 million years old, which had a pelvis suited for an almost bipedal locomotion ([4]), and hands more capable of precision gripping than those of any living non-human ape ([5]). As for elephants, Primelephas, the likely common ancestor of mammoths and all living elephants, lived in Africa at the end of the Miocene.

#4: Molecular studies place the separation between the lineages of humans and chimpanzees between 7 and 5 million years ago, later than Oreopithecus, and corresponding with the Messinian event. Recent estimates push the divergence backward, even to 10-12 million years ago; however, controversial studies suggest that the two lineages exchanged genes as recently as 4 million years ago ([6]). Clearly the process of separation was more complex than we realized at first, and involved some degree of hybridization between the recent lineages.

#5: The Mediterranean region contains a vast diversity of halophytes, plants than can grow despite high concentrations of salt. Many of these are suitable for human consumption: the oil-rich salicornia (Salicornia sp., eaten both fresh and pickled), the cabbage-like sea kale (Crambe maritima, which grows spontaneously on sandy beaches), the spinach-like sea orach (Atriplex halimus, a close relative of which is grown in India as vegetable and livestock fodder). The argan tree (Argania spinosa) is extremely resistant to both salt and drought, and is prized in Europe and North Africa for its wood and oil. ([7])

#6: The list of Mediterranean halophyte species is actually much wider, but many plants that grow in these conditions are not useful to humans: for example, the Mediterranean beard-grass (Polypogon maritimus), a close relative of oat and wheat, much less nutritious than either. Note, however, that elephants (much more common and diverse in this region in the Miocene) have very low nutritional requirements, and can feed on almost any type of vegetable matter. Now, a key characteristic of the Miocene epoch is a wide spreading of grasslands, replacing the forests that earlier covered most of the globe, triggering a wave of adaptation and diversification among mammals. In fact, between 10 and 5 million years ago, the diet of elephants has switched from leaves to tall grass, a change that can be seen in the shape of their teeth ([8]). Only in the last million years elephants have reverted to eating leaves ([9]).

#7: Until recently, the divergence between humans and chimpanzees had been linked to this event: the ancestors of chimpanzees would have remained in the thick rainforests of West Africa, while humans evolved in the new savannas of the east. This places human evolution entirely in eastern and southern Africa until the last million years or so. This view has been challenged by recent finds. In 2002, the 7-6 million years-old Sahelanthropus tchadensis, a serious contender as common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, was discovered in Chad, in North Africa. Its foramen magnum suggests an already bipedal pace, as with Oreopithecus ([10]). In 2017, curiously human-like teeth, 7.2 million years old, were attributed to Graecopithecus, in Greece ([11]). Finally, in the same year, 5.6 million years old footprints that clearly show bipedal locomotion were found in Crete ([12]). All of this suggests that the earliest human evolution occurred at first in the Mediterranean region.

#8: The intelligence of elephants is well known. Their brain, over 5 kg heavy, has more cortical gyres than any primate or cetacean, and they might rank in intelligence besides chimps and dolphins ([13]). They form matriarchal herds with extremely strong interindividual bonds and great capacity for cooperation and reciprocal help. They are the only known non-human animals that seem to have ritual behavior related to death ([14]). Pregnant elephants have been observed chewing on leaves of a Boraginacean tree, used to induce labor or miscarriage by Kenyan women ([15]). They can use branches as simple tools, cover water pools to prevent evaporation, and use logs to disable electric fences ([16]). They can recognize themselves in the mirror ([17]), and seem to have artistic inclinations ([18]). Such abilities are especially astonishing in view of such an energy-poor diet. Yet we have seen that their diet was very different in the latest Miocene - that there are plants that grow in the Mediterranean region, could be eaten by ancient elephants, increased in diversity at that time, and are closely related to our food crops.

#9: The elephants' trunk is a dexterous organ of manipulation, capable of handling single seeds and inspecting delicate bodyparts like eyes. Nevertheless, having only one grasping organ could be a handicap for an active tool user (the two fingerlike tips are unique to the African species, and probably didn't exist in Miocene elephants). The trunk can lift loads of hundreds of kilograms, but it's poor at grasping large objects, and can only wrap around them. In comparison, the hands of apes are much more versatile, especially after the innovation we have seen in Oreopithecus. In addition, the same amount of food that sustains an elephant with its single trunk can support not two, but several ape hands - especially since high-energy primate food can pack nourishment in a much smaller mass, even when inedible to elephants. #10: African elephants in reserves readily initiate contact with humans, often forming long-lasting individual bonds, and often prefer to interact with humans than with other animals of their environment. Many of these elephants appear more relaxed and at ease near humans than near even other elephants. This effect has been documented in species with a long history of domestication by humans, such as dogs and horses. ([19]).

Let's place everything together. Six million years ago, near the end of the Miocene epoch, the natural closure of the Gibraltar Strait turned the Mediterranean Sea into a salty desert. The few inhabitable spaces provided a safe passage between Africa and Europe for many species; elephants and apes, which had been increasing in diversity for all the Miocene, were among them.

The depths of the new Mediterranean basin, on the other hand, were a hellish environment that must have forced many species into desperate adaptations. Many plants learned to grow in sand, long before the Sahara became a desert, with concentrations of salt that would kill most others. Elephants, we've seen, are good at finding and storing water, using tools to prevent evaporation from reserves. They must have evolved their characteristic intelligence to deal with the unique challenges of the Mediterranean Basin. Like the Khoisan hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari desert (or for that matter the earliest Homo sapiens) they needed advanced problem-solving skill, good memory, and the ability to cooperate and trust each other. Their eventual solution to ensure themselves a food supply in the great basin was agriculture. Many Mediterranean halophytes are edible even in the seed- and fruit-focused human diet; but the sapient elephants of the Miocene could feed even on simple grass. Cereals like Polypogon - which are, after all, nothing more than especially nutritious grass - must have been a blessing. Perhaps they were even selected artificially to tolerate more saline soils, as could have been the precious argan tree.

Still, the burgeoning elephantine civilization was slowed down by their sluggish reproduction and by their limited capacity for manipulation. The trunk was very effective, but every elephant could only hold one thing at a time. They must have experimented with many forms of animal labor (as well as hydraulic, etc.), but none of the many animals of their region could help them handle objects, make cheap craftwork, or operate machines. Eventually, they started working with apes. Maybe they took a sample of Oreopithecus descendants or Graecopithecus from the northern highlands. They were clever animals, forged by the same cruel environment, capable of understanding gestures and executing simple orders. They wouldn't take away the hard leaves and grass of their masters, but they would eat almost anything else (to the elephants, the ability to digest meat must have seemed extremely precious). They had hands: two hands to grasp a broad object without handles, to scatter seeds on a field, or to hold hammer and chisel in the making of a triumphal arch. So the elephants found themselves ruling over a vast caste of small, nimble, infinitely versatile slaves. Surely they must have tried to enhance them through selective breeding, as humans did with dogs and horses, creating features similar to the short jaws and small teeth of humans, or the peaceful countenance of bonobos. Their genes still bear traces of closely related lineages being interbred. They certainly encouraged a bipedal gait, so that the precious hands remained always free. With ape-servants so common and useful, crawling all around like living robots, elephants must have had little incentive to improve their technology further.

Remember the air at the bottom of the Basin was very thick: it's likely the elephants were specially adapted to breathe it, and would feel much discomfort outside of their cradle. They never ventured beyond what today is the coastline of the Mediterranean, which must have looked like impassable mountains to them. However, they could have sent their servants in exploration on the great islands: leaving, for example, the mysterious footprints of Crete. The proboscidean rulers probably didn't have much more concern for their primate slaves than humans have for cows in a slaughterhouse. Even though they couldn't eat them, they could still fashion their skins and bones into precious objects; sacrifice them to elephantine gods atop of a ziggurat raised by their work; make them fight in blood games or proxy battles; use them for carnal gratification or for medical experiments. The different proclivities of humans, bonobos, and chimpanzees can be understood as specialization for such tasks. We can only wonder what the apes could understand of their condition.

The civilization of elephants had 600,000 years to develop between the Messinian Crisis and the Zanclean Flood: thrice the age of our own species. Certainly they studied in depth their secluded world. As the sea level started to increase on the Gibraltar Strait, they would have probably predicted the danger, and built a massive dam to block the way of the Atlantic waters. Maintaining this dam must have been the highest priority. But there were certainly those who didn't believe this looming danger. And in the end the central sin of the elephantine empire must have caught up to them. What could have distracted the elephants from preserving the Mediterranean Basin as they found it? Probably action from those who had nothing to lose from utter destruction - such as ape-slaves who had finally crossed the threshold of self-awareness. Or rather a preemptive action from those who feared a revolt more than their own annihilation? Some kind of sabotage action, perhaps, that ended a millennia-spanning history by breaking down the great dam, letting the ocean pour into the Basin with an unimaginable catastrophe, and turn it back into a sea.

Some survived, both apes and elephants. They must have been few, perhaps outcasts that had fled, or had been exiled, to the outer highlands. Gradually they accustomed themselves again to the thin air (maybe this didn't even require evolutionary adaptation, just individual assuefaction; but the lords below were used to comfort...). Some were stranded on the new islands, and became the dwarfs of Cyprus, Crete, Sicily. The others scattered into the wilderness of Africa and Europe. Without the infrastructures of the submerged empire, unprepared for the different environment outside, they were unable to rebuilt their civilization. Most of them had been poorly inserted in society, and their intellective faculties weren't the highest, either as a cause or a consequence of their isolation. Alone, they reverted to wild animals, and became gentler than they ever had been when they were civilized beings. They still retain the vestigial skills of artists and doctors; they still mourn the death of their kin. The surviving apes, now free, wandered back into the heart of Africa, passing through Chad. Some found shelter in the jungles of Congo and Nigeria, others in the savannas of Kenya and South Africa, that perhaps reminded them of the flat lands where they were bred into their new shape.

Five million years after that unimaginable disaster, silt has covered all the ruins on the Mediterranean seafloor, and the "domesticated apes" have left Africa in three waves of migration. Now they control the world, from coastlines to mountains, they remake its land into cities and farms, and they hold in their power the fate of the distant descendants of their ancient masters. It remains to be seen whether they will choose to be merciful or vindictive. Aren't five million years enough to expiate any sin?

#fake antiquities #alternate history #prehistory #my work

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thechekhov · 4 years

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sigh, chekhov, I've been working on a Steven Universe au for like a year but I feel like it gets a fraction of the fan interaction that comics do. I sort of feel like giving up. any thoughts on growing an audience?

Well... hm.

Here’s my thoughts.

Five years ago, in March 2015, I sat down to watch Steven Universe for the first time and subsequently ended up drawing my first fanart of the Crystal Gems.

Five years later, it has 126 notes (most of which are actually more recent, from people digging into my blog.)

Since then, I have a total of 240 posts tagged #chekhovs draws su

of those posts, over 20 of them are long-form comics, being 10 pages or more.

On top of that, I published a comic that is 100+ pages, Pearls Before SW1N3, 3 years ago, which are posted elsewhere and therefore not included in this 240-post count.

On top of that, I have since started my WD!Steven AU on a separate blog not included here, which has been going for 2 years now and has well over 170 episodes.

ON TOP OF THAT:

I started my foray into Steven Universe fanart when the show was at its PEAK fandom. It was right after Jailbreak aired. People would reblog ANYTHING Steven Universe. There were thousands of loyal fans and it was NOT difficult for any fanart or fancomic to gain traction.

...

So. You are worried that your SU AU isn’t getting as much traction as your comics (I presume you mean other comics you’ve drawn?)

I say: Yeah, that makes... sense.

(My comics from 5 years ago used to get 20k notes consistently! My current WD!Steven comics which are way better quality are now hard-pressed to get more than 2k. I’ve got 10% of my previous engagement. And I’ve been doing this five times longer than you!)

I understand a year is a long time, but you have to think about other timescales.

For a show that just ENDED? For a fandom that’s been on a slow decline way past its tallest engagement peak?

Getting any engagement at all for having ONLY started a year ago is already incredible work!! Give yourself more credit!

DON’T blame yourself for something that is the consequence of what is... essentially... fandom weather! You cannot fight a storm. You cannot fight a drought. What is important is if you’re enjoying creating your story. If you think it’s worth it, you should keep going.

(And if you feel like giving up... well... that’s okay too!)

Here’s a post I’ve written up in the past about getting noticed on dumblr.

If you want to try other ways of growing an audience, I greatly encourage you to read through this post as well (click!)

#chekhov answers #Anonymous

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rjzimmerman · 3 years

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From Our Daily Planet:

According to the Australian Koala Foundation, 30% of the nation’s Koalas have been lost to drought, bushfires, and logging in just three years. The population has dropped to 58,000 from more than 80,000 in 2018, and no regions saw positive population growth. These findings arrive just days after the country doubled down on its plans to advance coal production despite its impacts on the environment.

Why This Matters: One million species now face extinction, including 39 species listed as “endangered” or “critically endangered” by the IUCN Red List. In March 2021, the Australian government confirmed the extinction of 13 endemic species, confirming the nation’s first place spot for mammal extinction. The acceleration of climate change and its impacts now threatens to wipe out recently thriving species, and much sooner rather than later. And the sudden disappearance of keystone species threatens to destabilize ecosystems even further.

In the Old Gum Tree

Drought, bushfires, and logging are now the leading threats to koalas. “What we’re concerned about is places like western New South Wales where the drought over the last 10 years has just had this cumulative effect — river systems completely dry for years, river red gums, which are the lifeblood of koalas, dead,” explained Australian Koala Foundation Chair Deborah Tabart. In New South Wales, koala populations declined by a shocking 41%, and some regions are estimated to have just 5 to 10 individuals left. “I just think action is now imperative…these figures are right. They’re probably worse.”

Conservationists like Tabart are calling for the Australian government to implement protections for koalas. In June, the government called for public comments on a national recovery plan for populations in New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory. They are also considering raising the species classification from “vulnerable” to “endangered.”

#koala bears #Australia

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coolingdownanddrawing · 4 years

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Note’s for dopple duties au

I’m mostly noting when the episodes take place based off what we’ve been given of the shows timeline, using the help of @lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks ‘s timeline of events as the base, I want to figure out how much time is between episodes

for ease if a episodes air date is within the month it’s speculated to be in, and the episode doesn't establish in universe what day it is, im using that date

mostly because im giving my boy a job or, seven so i need it for a baseline of his fund’s throughout the story and know what he can buy throughout

riveting I know

(spoilers: there 118 + days of plot happening in danny phantom, and actually figuring out how much time they spend NOT in plot will have to be done later becouse i was up until 5 making this)

nvm i did the math right after

March

the accident happens, were just saying all of march is the month before the accident bit for my sanity

April

Mystery meat - 3rd-4th, school days

parental bonding- 9nth-10nth, school day and potential weekend? (jack threatens to take frustration out on next person to give him bad news)

one of a kind-11nth-15nth all school days?

attach of the killer garage sale - 16nth-17nth, weekend

splitting images-18nth-19nth school days

what you want - 20th-23rd, weekend going into school days

bitter reunions- 24th-26th

30 days in april

days in plot- 23

days to breath-7 HE GETS A WEEK

May-October

prisoners of love- 9nth-10nth, school days

(From here its near impossible to keep exact dates so ill just list days spent in episode)

my brothers keeper - 3 days, all school (ghost weapon destroys a couch) late june ish

shades of gray- look it takes more then 4 days to sell everything and move house, Im dedicating at least a month to this episode, episodes could be going on in the background with this episode, even if the boss guy made her dad pay for all the repairs and stuff it take a week sell everything if their lucky, lets say 31 for the math set in around September

fanning the flames- 4 days, with results of the test being processed later on (fenton stockades is threatened) first week of October

teacher of the year- 3 days (jack breaks danny’s phone to pieces) October

fright night- (a very long Halloween, with underwear eating november 1st)

148 days from may to October

days in plot-44

days to breath-148 days, thats a good chunk! :)

November-December

13- 6 days (parents encourage invading sisters privacy involving her romantic relationship)

public enemies- 4 days (jack and maddie become ghost advisors for current mayor)

lucky in love- 4 days

maternal instincts- 1 night no luggage outside what maddie has on person

life lessons-1 day, one very long day

the million dollar ghost- 1-2 days, (there is a weapons vault in the house)

control freaks- 2 terrifying days

memory blank- 3 days (1 1/2 days removed from dannys memory)

doctors disorders - 2 days (TUCKER BREAKS A LEG?! he cant have actually broken the bone, maybe the muscles got pieced by something or a ankle sprain?)

pirate radio - 3 days (a night, a day, and cruise day)

reign storm- timeframe unclear, at least 2 (an implication that the fentons do not have guest rooms is made when jack offers dannys room to vlad for if he wants to sleep over. which either implies a blow up mattress situation or telling danny to give up his room and sleep on the couch)

identity crisis- 3 days ( “No son of mine say’s who cares about ghosts!” jack fenton, before dragging his teenager into the dangerous world of ghost hunting)

the fenton menace -5 days (fentons attempt to spin the crazy out of danny, danny gains the word crazy as a trigger word, I begin to hate this family)

the ultimate enemy- 10 years and like 6 days off danny’s life? its the time travel ep man

the fright before christmas- 3 days? 2? did ghost writer reset christmas eve?

days in november-december- 61

days in plot- 42

days to breath- 19

January/june

secret weapons- 4 days

flirting with disaster - 8 days

micro management- 2 days

beauty marked- 4 days, at least

king tuck- 2, at least

master of all time- 1 day, or 5 ish if you count the days in the other timelines

kindred spirits- 2 days

double cross my heart- 4 days

reality trip- 4 days

days in jaunuary.june-59

days in plot-31

days to breath- 28

September-rest of year

eye for an eye- politics are involved my dudes, no law is passed in a day, lets give this a week or three

infinity realms- I! HATE!TIMETRAVEL!

girls night out- a day, tops

torrent of terror-

on screen- god I don't even know man tucker and sam fly around the world, danny and vlad ruin a convention

forever phantom- a day?????? WHO KNOWS ANYMORE

urbin jungle- uh less then time then it takes for everyone to die from lacking drinking water, unless they got that from the brain vine

living large- 2 days ish

boxed up fury- a day? time is skewing more and more, i might just be tired

frightmare-ia day, tops

claw of the wild- 4 days

D-stabilized -1 days

Phantom Planet- DOES NOT MATTER, AT ALL but for those curious its, gotta be a couples weeks, or months just based off the difficulty and frequency of the ghosts shown in the montages

Yeah Im not even gonna try to calculate the september/rest of the year part

this gives us a grand total of 118 days of ghost fighting/plot that we KNOW happened, not theoretical weeks of drought or however long a montage is

days out conner has to breath/plan are-202!

oh shit that actually is almost a year in what we KNOW happened and the time frame

thats crazy

edit: I forgot to add march to conners days to plan- 233

that puts us up to 351 days in this universe, that we can CALCULATE

danny fenton was not 14 by the end of the show, he was, at least 15

#danny phantom #dopple duties au #this was a SLOG #but its done #if you want to know theoretically how long the series is #here you go

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terreisa · 4 years

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Love Down the Line: Chapter 9

The last thing Indie musician Emma Swan needs is a gigantic wrench thrown in the workings of her biggest tour to date weeks before its launch. When her backing guitarist that caused the problem says she has the perfect solution Emma is skeptical but left with little choice but to accept. Unfortunately she isn’t really prepared for said solution to be former Rock Star and leading man of Emma’s teenage fantasies, Killian Jones. With no other options and a month of performing across the country ahead of her Emma just hopes she doesn’t come to regret letting Killian onto her stage and into her life.

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, AO3

~*CS*~

Los Angeles, May 24th

“-and there’s a bit of a backup on the 405 just south of the 10 due to a two car accident in the southbound lanes. That’s the morning traffic report brought to you by your local Southern California Honda dealer. This is Treena in the morn’ and I got some Yaz on the way along with Echo and the Bunnymen and Talking Heads after this-”

“A clock radio?” Emma mumbled into the pillow, “Really? What are you, like, three hundred?”

Killian’s chuckle stirred the hair at the back of her neck, “Try thirty-five, love.”

“So you say,” she groused as he reached over her to turn off the alarm. She blinked up at him as he set his hands on either side of her shoulders, looming over her with a smile, “I bet you still have a landline, old man.”

“And a rather impressive laserdisc collection,” he said with a wink.

“You would.”

He laughed, a bright joyous thing that had her smile stretching from ear to ear. It was the last of the three days of no shows that they had while in LA and the second morning she’d woken in the bed of Killian’s house in Malibu. Since their first night together in Denver they hadn’t slept apart, much to Tink’s delight and Will’s annoyance. When they’d arrived in LA Emma had been surprised and pleased to discover that Killian had a house there where no one would disturb them as long as they kept their phones on silent. Unfortunately it hadn’t really been an option as her suddenly vibrating phone reminded her.

“What time is Regina sending the car?” Killian asked as he dipped his head and started trailing kisses down her throat.

She hummed in pleasure, blindly swiping at her phone to dismiss the call, “Nine. We’re having brunch with people from the label to talk about the next album and then it’s interviews for the rest of the afternoon.”

“And after all that we’ll rendezvous back here for dinner and a bit of Netflix and chill,” he murmured into her collarbone before dragging his tongue across it.

“You go-” her breath hitched as his hand travelled up her thigh, “going somewhere?”

He paused his ministrations, much to her frustration, and said somberly, “Aye, Robin still lives out here with his son. I haven’t been in town for… well, quite a while and I’m long overdue for a visit.”

The delicious tension she’d been feeling mellowed into something warm and soothing at his earnestness. Ever since they’d landed he’d waxed nostalgic about all the things he’d used to do in the city, places he’d eaten that he wasn’t sure were still around, venues he’d played, museums he’d spent hours getting lost in and all the interesting people he’d met in that time. What he hadn’t mentioned once was his former bandmate and friend. In the bright morning light streaming through the wall of windows she could see that for some reason he was nervous about seeing him again.

“You guys talk all the time,” she reminded him, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair and cupping his cheek, “I interrupted one of your FaceTime dates just a couple of days ago.”

Killian chuckled, “Aye, and don’t think I haven’t received more than my fair share of nosey texts about that since.”

She blushed, forgetting that when she’d done the interrupting she’d been wearing one of his shirts and not much else.

“Seeing as Robin has come to Boston several times in the years that I’ve been there it’s only fitting that he gets to monopolize some of my time while I’m here,” he said, one shoulder lifting higher than the other in a half shrug. “I’ll be home by the time you’re done with your interviews.”

“You don’t have to rush back just for me,” she said quickly, guilt already pulling at her, “Just text me when your male bonding time is over.”

“We’ll deal with the logistics later, love,” he murmured, turning his head slightly to press a kiss to her palm, “For now I’d like to pick up where we left off before-”

Emma sighed in disappointment as her phone began to vibrate again. Knowing that Regina was the only one who would not only call but do so before nine a.m. no matter the time zone she couldn’t ignore it. She’d made the mistake of doing it before a show in Arizona once and had sworn Regina would have pushed her into the Grand Canyon if she’d been given the opportunity.

Gently nudging Killian off of her with an apology she sat up and grabbed her phone. Killian sat up behind her, pushing her hair to one side as he nuzzled into her neck. Giggling but in no way discouraging him she swiped up to answer.

Regina started talking the second the call connected, “The car will be there in thirty minutes to take you straight to the restaurant-”

“Wait, what?” Emma jerked away from Killian’s ministrations to look at the clock on the bedside table and saw it was only a little after seven. “I thought you said it’d be here at nine!”

“Plans have changed,” Regina said off-handedly. “The brunch meeting is now a breakfast meeting and I’ve pushed up one of your radio interviews to give you the time you’ll need for the streaming exclusives.”

“Exclusives?” She asked warily.

“Enchanted XM wants you to curate a ten song playlist and record intros for their Alt Rock station and then there will be an in-depth interview with one of their djs. Snowdrops and Buttercups has been their number one request since its debut and is poised to take the number one spot on the chart next week. It’s also been getting increasing play on their hits station. We need to strike while the iron’s hot.”

Emma tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling as she counted to ten to keep her patience. She was well aware that self promotion came with the territory, especially as a solo artist, and usually she had no problem giving interviews or whatever little fun extras needed to do so. What she hated was that Regina tended to take liberties with her schedule whenever they were in a big enough city and there was extra down time. It was all the more frustrating that Regina knew that things between her and Killian had shifted and apparently didn’t care about infringing on their time alone together.

“We’ll still be done by six right?” She asked, resigned, Killian’s warm hand gliding across her shoulders calming her much more than her counting had.

“Yes,” Regina huffed and Emma could practically hear her eyes rolling, “You and lover boy can have your romantic evening together and don’t think we won’t be discussing how to play whatever it is you two are doing to the press.”

“Really?” She growled.

“Really.”

Before Emma could even begin to shoot down that idea Regina had hung up, leaving her staring at the phone in her hand with disbelief and anger. Even Killian’s gentle ministrations were no longer helping.

“I need to get ready,” she said mournfully, moving to stand from the bed.

Killian stopped her with a hand on her wrist, “Everything alright, love?”

“Yeah, everything’s great. The meeting with the label got moved and there’s already a car on its way. Which normally wouldn’t be a big deal but-” she shrugged, still angry but also starting to blush, “We were getting to the good stuff.”

“That we were,” he agreed with a salacious grin. Then the grin faded and he narrowed his eyes at her, “Was there something else she said? You seem upset over more than just an earlier meeting.”

Emma hesitated. As much as she wanted to share her frustration with Regina dictating her life she couldn’t do so without bringing up the questions she’d successfully avoided since the morning after they’d first slept together. First and foremost, was what they were doing just as important to him as it was to her and if it was, then what did that mean for them once the tour was over and they returned to their respective lives. Chickening out she figured they could talk it over later, when there wasn’t a time constraint or a full day of interviews where she’d need to keep focused.

She shook her head and smiled, “Nothing you need to worry about. Regina just has me getting some list of songs together for some streaming thing and I have no idea what I’m going to pick. It takes me two hours to edit the playlists I already have, how the hell am I supposed to choose ten songs and then talk about them?”

“Simple, pick one of your playlists, put it on random and the first ten songs that play are the ones you choose,” he said easily. “You already know and enjoy those songs if you spent two hours picking them and there’s no pressure of trying to curate a perfect list from scratch.”

“That’s… actually a really good idea-” she beamed, grabbing her phone and bouncing up from the bed. She spun around and gave what she hoped was a come hither look, “You know, I hear California is in a drought. It’d be a shame to waste water by taking separate showers.”

His lips curled wickedly, “I’d say that I love the way your mind works, Swan.”

Taking his hand she led him into the bathroom and made good use of the less than twenty minutes they had before her car arrived. Several hours later, however, she wished she had pushed back a little more against the schedule Regina had set up for her. Of course she’d had no way of knowing that her too short morning with Killian was going to be the least stressful of her day.

Sitting in one of the green rooms at Enchanted XM between the recording session for her song picks and her interview she let her eyes slide shut. It had already been a long day and it was nowhere near being over and done with. The breakfast meeting had been good, the representatives from the label had been pleased that she had already written a few songs that she felt were strong contenders for the next album and they had easily agreed to giving her three months off after the tour to work on the rest. Even Regina had been pleased with the meeting, if her short and not too unreasonable list of demands for moving forward were any indication.

The interview she’d done directly after had been the kind that she’d gotten used to over the years. Questions that were more often than not the same ones others had asked her time and again. She’d gotten good at making it sound like she was hearing them for the first time and varying her answers just enough so she didn’t sound like a robot. The best part were the teasing texts from Killian waiting for her once she was done. She was surprised and touched that he had taken the time out of his day to listen to her interview, especially since he knew how unexciting they could be.

As her day continued Regina had left her to make her way to the Enchanted XM studios on her own. Once there she had immediately had to get to work ironing out her list of songs and recorded the intros with the program producer. It had been more fun than she’d anticipated. She’d already had her choices written down in one of her ever present notebooks, having listened to a randomized playlist in the car on her way to breakfast like Killian had suggested. The first ten songs that had played had been perfect but she’d made one substitution to make sure that a Realm of Jewels song was one of her picks. It was her thank you to Killian for giving her the idea in the first place and a not so subtle wink to whatever was going on between them.

The producer, a woman named Gwen, had been impressed with her choices. They’d spent nearly an hour talking them over, working through a rough script of what she would say about each one. Then she had been taken to a small recording booth where it had taken less than an hour to get what they needed. She’d wanted to text Killian about it but Gwen had immediately invited her to lunch and she hadn’t had the chance. Once they’d returned to Enchanted’s headquarters she’d been asked to record a few small promos for the stations that played her songs in heavy rotation. Not willing to say no she’d been ushered to another recording booth with barely any time to take a breath.

Being left alone in the green room was a welcome break from what had become an increasingly busy day. Just as she was about to pull out her phone for the first time since after her first interview the door opened and Regina stormed in, angrily snapping at whoever the poor soul was that was still in the hallway.

“-not recording as scheduled and I want to know why a rider was requested when nothing that is on it is in this room. There’s not even a bottle of water. See that it gets taken care of.”

“Of course, Ms. Mills.”

The disembodied voice wavered slightly and Emma's earlier annoyance at Regina flared back up.

“The water that’s in here is fine,” she called out, leaning forward and catching the eye of the young woman in the hallway giving her an apologetic smile. She turned pointedly to Regina and glared, “I don’t need anything else.”

“That’s not the point,” Regina sniffed, her dark eyes narrowing followed by the sound of retreating footsteps. “Certain expectations were to be met and they weren’t. Just one more thing this company has failed at. I have a mind to stop booking appearances here if they’ll just be treated like this.”

“Okay, this is about something more than water bottles and a missing box of Milk Duds. What’s going on?” Emma asked suspiciously.

Regina pursed her lips as she took out her phone and began rapidly typing. Emma waited patiently for her to answer, knowing better than to push if she wanted to keep her head on her shoulders. With a final tap on her screen Regina focused back on her with a wary look that immediately had her on edge.

“You were supposed to do the on air interview with Graham Humbert but apparently due to an ‘unfortunate’-” Regina rolled her eyes, “scheduling conflict you have to do it with Walsh Hoakley instead.”

Emma groaned. An interview with Graham would have been fun and easy. They’d both gotten their start in the business around the same time, so he not only knew what types of questions she enjoyed answering but what her boundaries were when it came to her personal life. Walsh, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

Every interview she’d had with him had her sitting through bad jokes and his comparing her career against his own. He had been the frontman of a pop punk group that had taken a break almost a decade before, though he insisted that it was only a matter of time before they would release another album. It was bad enough she had to play nice as he gave her unsolicited advice but once the mics were turned off he tended to dial up his smarmy charm and invite her out for drinks or a meal. She’d always firmly said no but he’d kept it up and after their last interview nearly two years earlier she’d told Regina that she preferred not to do any more with him.

“I thought he was with that big station in New York,” she said sullenly.

“Apparently not,” Regina sniffed. Her eyes softened fractionally, “Do you want me to reschedule?”

“No,” she sighed, “We’re already here and I know we don’t have any time to come back while we’re still in LA. Plus I don’t want rumors starting that I’m being difficult over Walsh Hoakley. I don’t want to give him that honor.”

Regina smirked, “I’m sure he’d dine out on that for years.”

“He would. So where’d you disappear to?” Emma asked, through talking about Walsh.

“I do have other clients that happen to conveniently live where their label’s offices and some of the best recording studios are,” Regina said drolly, perching herself delicately on a chair. “You might want to reexamine the benefits of moving out here after this tour is done. You’re only going to get bigger from here on out.”

She hummed noncommittally. For a few seconds she let herself daydream about moving into Killian’s beachfront house, waking up in his arms every morning before heading to the studio that would admittedly be leaps and bounds better than the one back in Maine. She could almost see herself returning at the end of her day to find Killian preparing dinner in the kitchen or strumming his guitar on the balcony. Before her thoughts went any further than that she stopped them in their tracks, forcing herself to remember all the reasons why she loved living in Storybrooke and to not let herself get wrapped up in a fantasy. She didn’t let herself dwell on how her imaginings had given her the same feelings of home that her real memories of Storybrooke did.

Ten minutes and an increasingly impatient Regina later another assistant came to show them to the recording booth. From behind the glass they watched as Walsh introduced the next group of songs that would be playing and teased her interview. As soon as he switched off his mic she was ushered into the booth, shown which headphones and mic to use and then left alone with him. To her great relief he smiled and shook her hand, seemingly not knowing that she had requested not to do interviews with him. She smiled back, settling in the chair in front of the mic she’d been shown and adjusted everything to her liking. As they waited for the queued songs to finish playing they made small talk about their day and the thankfully very few mutual acquaintances they had.

The interview started off well. Walsh only mentioned his band Behind the Curtain twice and kept his advice to a minimum. Emma found herself actually enjoying the questions he asked, responding with enthusiasm when he asked about living in Maine and her writing process. She was so caught up in lightheartedly debating with him over notebooks versus a phone app to write lyrics that she was surprised when he mentioned that their time was drawing to a close.

“So, Emma, before you go, how has this tour been so far? You’ve only got a few shows left right?”

“Yeah, just the last few cities heading north but it’s been really, really great,” she enthused, “This is the biggest tour I’ve ever done and the fans have been amazing in every city we’ve played. I’m actually really looking forward to tomorrow night’s show since it’s where they have the Oscars.”

“Right, the Dolby theater, when we played it was still the Kodak and it’s a great venue. Bigger than what you would think when you see it on tv,” Walsh said with a wink and a grin.

Emma fought against a cringe at his bad innuendo, glad that he hadn’t been like that through the whole interview.

“I haven’t had a chance to get in the space yet and, I know this is really nerdy or whatever, but I’m really excited to stand on the same stage that some of my favorite actors have been on. I mean, some of my idols have played there and it’s always an honor to get to perform where they have too, but come on, tomorrow I could be standing in the exact spot where Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks or Oprah have stood. Oprah!”

Walsh chuckled, “So you still get starstruck meeting other celebrities?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a nod. “I don’t even think of myself as a celebrity. I live in the same town I mostly grew up in, all my friends are ones I’ve had since before I even thought about recording an album, I don’t even have ‘people’ or whatever. I nearly had a heart attack seeing Lady Gaga from across the room at a benefit concert once.”

“So how was it when you met Killian Jones, famous guitarist for Realm of Jewels, before the start of your tour?”

She shot a glance to the window into the sound booth where Regina had been throughout the whole interview. Regina barely looked up from her phone and nodded, twirling her hand in a gesture Emma took to mean keep going. They had talked about what would happen when Killian was finally recognized but the longer they went without it happening the more she had convinced herself that they could get through the whole tour with no one the wiser. It seemed their time was up. Taking a deep breath to settle her racing heart she looked back at Walsh and found him watching her closely.

“I was surprised and a little annoyed actually,” she said with a small laugh. “Ruby, the guitarist I usually tour with, had broken her arm but said that she’d found her replacement for me. The thing was she wouldn’t tell me who it was so I walked into the recording studio and Killian was there. Realm of Jewels was one of my favorite bands, still is, so seeing him sitting there was a kinda surreal fangirl moment and intimidating too, knowing how good of a guitarist he is.”

“Rumors have been circulating on social media for a few weeks that it was Killian onstage for your tour and then earlier this afternoon uber-producer Robin Locksley seemed to confirm it-” Walsh pulled up a sheet of paper and began reading, “He said in an interview: ‘I’m very excited to begin working with Killian Jones on new music and other projects moving forward. He’s been touring the past few weeks as a backing guitarist and he told me it’s been a great first step to getting back out there. I was even fortunate enough to hear a few rough cuts of songs he’s already written for a new solo album and they’re amazing. I really can’t wait.’ Since you’ve confirmed it yourself have you heard any of his new songs while on the road? He’s already with your label and turns out he signed on with your manager Regina Mills back in March so will the rest of the tour be a double bill? Maybe even a possibility of a duet in the future?”

Emma felt dazed, like she’d been hit with a pillow shot out of a cannon. She had completely forgotten that Robin had become a music producer after Liam and Milah had died. He’d even sent her an email after her last album had been released, saying he wanted to work with her at some point. That little detail was nothing compared to the realization that Killian hadn’t mentioned that his lunch with Robin was really about business. He hadn’t even hinted that he had whole songs written let alone recorded anything. Worst of all was that he had signed on with Regina before he’d joined the tour and she knew without a doubt Regina would do anything necessary to further a client’s career. Especially if the final outcome would prove advantageous for two clients at once.

“I, uh, haven’t listened to anything he’s recorded-”

Her phone buzzed at her elbow. There were several notifications but the preview screen showed a text from Regina. She opened it in a daze.

Regina: No double billing, play coy about duet, plug rest of tour, still seats in Vancouver

The fog she’d been in cleared away as white hot anger took its place. She looked at Regina through the glass and found her making the same ‘continue on’ motion she had before. There was no sign of an apology on her features, only impatience and the ever present look of expectation that she perform well. While acting wasn’t her forte she was more than ready to give the performance of a lifetime.

“Killian was only brought on temporarily until Ruby was well enough to play again. Luckily her recovery happened to work out perfectly with us arriving in LA-” she knew she sounded too upbeat but pushed through, “I’m sorry to dash any hopes but Killian has decided to stay here and focus on his own music. Ruby will be back for tomorrow night’s show and will be finishing out the tour. We’re sold out for most of those shows but I think there’s still some tickets left for Vancouver, but not many.”

“So, no duet?” Walsh asked hopefully and Emma wasn’t sure if he meant musically or hinting at something between her and Killian.

“Nope,” she said decisively, her heart cracking as she did. “I’ll be taking some time off after this tour is done. Rest and relaxation are the only duets I’ll be performing any time soon.”

Walsh laughed, “Now that’s a duo everyone loves. Well, Emma, it’s been great talking to you.”

“You too,” she said with feigned pleasure.

“Here’s Emma’s latest single ‘Snowdrops and Buttercups’ which has been flying up the charts. Safe to say you’ll be playing it tomorrow?”

“Yup. It’s been fun to see the responses get more enthusiastic as it gets played on the radio more,” she said, finally feeling like she was being genuine.

“That’s always a great feeling,” Walsh said with a grin. “Alright, here it is ‘Snowdrops and Buttercups’. Thanks for stopping by, Emma.”

“Thanks for having me.”

As the first notes of her song filled the studio Emma ripped off the headphones, ignoring the constant buzz of her phone at her elbow. She wasn’t sure who it was that was calling, she’d told everyone important to her about the interview and she knew they had probably all tuned in to listen. With the way her pulse was pounding in her temples she wasn’t too sure she could keep herself from unfairly snapping at whoever it was and whatever questions they were going to have.

“Emma?”

She looked up at Walsh and by the way his grin faltered a bit she was sure that her anger was painted clear across her face.

“Yeah?”

“Er, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink?” He asked hesitantly. “Talk a little shop, maybe?”

“I already have plans,” she said shortly, the words tasting like the ashes of the evening she originally thought she’d be having.

“Coffee then? Or lunch? I’m up for anything really,” He said with a wink and a chuckle.

“Look, I don’t know how much more clear I can make this but I’m not ‘up’ for doing anything with you,” she snapped, his annoying persistence the final straw. “I thought that you’d gotten better than the last time you tried this but apparently not.”

She snatched up her phone and turned to leave when she heard him scoff and mutter something under his breath. She spun back to face him.

“Wanna share with the whole room?”

“Yeah, actually,” he said with a sneer that twisted his face into something vicious. “You act all high and mighty but you’re just a step away from falling into obscurity just like me. That whole thing about Jones was given to me by your people and by tomorrow morning both your careers will be reaping the benefits from it. I could have helped you along even further with the contacts I have in this business.”

Emma gaped at him, “By going out with you? Classy, you sack of shit.”

Something flashed in Walsh’s eyes, “You-”

“Emma! Let’s go, now.”

For half a second she was grateful that Regina had burst into the room, then she remembered why she was angry in the first place. She brushed past her, ignoring her stream of hissing admonishments and the stuttered apologies of the producer. Halfway back to the green room she realized her phone was still buzzing non-stop. Her stomach lurched, not wanting to know if it was Killian calling when she was walking the thin line between yelling at him or breaking down in tears. Steeling herself she finally looked at the screen and breathed a sigh of relief, swiping to answer.

“Ruby, pack your shit. I need you in LA tonight.”

#captain swan #captain swan fan fic #captain swan ff #captain swan fanfiction #captain swan fan fiction #cs ff #cs fanfic #cs fan fic #ouat ff #my writing

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wildestdreamsgardens · 4 years

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A Survey of the Best Goldenrods for your Garden (Part I)

Introduction:

Why goldenrods?

There are currently 136 species in the genus Solidago, three more than the last time I checked the astereae lab. (see https://uwaterloo.ca/astereae-lab/) Most of these species are native to North America. For those who see them on the roadsides as masses of weedy generic golden flowers, it seldom occurs to them that from July through October they are most likely witnessing the blooms of a dozen or more species. By far the most common and most widespread and aggressive goldenrods throughout the Americas are those within the Triplinerviae group, which includes S. canadensis, S. gigantea, and S. altissima all of which can be maddeningly difficult to accurately distinguish even for the experts. Weedy though they may be, there are many plant lovers including those in the cut flower trade who understand the value of the majestic diamond and pyramidal flower forms of the canadensis types. A few hybrids have been developed for the cut flower trade that are generally not available to gardeners. Cultivars sold in the nursery like S. canadensis ‘Goldenbaby are smaller diploid forms that are less aggressive and more manageable. But on the whole, only recently do we see a wider variety of garden worthy species entering the nursery trade.

This is a great benefit to gardeners as many of these varieties are well behaved and very attractive plants that don’t at all resemble their weedy cousins except in their trademark golden flowers. And it must be said, while posing the question, why goldenrods, that they do not cause allergies as they have long been accused of doing. Their pollen is heavy and sticky and not carried in the wind. It has been guilt by association, a purely circumstantial case, while the real culprits (one of them ragweed) are off the hook. Goldenrods depend on insects for pollination.

Which brings me to the overwhelming benefit to growing goldenrods: they are one of the most important food sources in the late season for pollinating insects, especially bees. And goldenrod honey is delicious. Gardeners who are aware of the decline in bee species throughout the world, should straightaway run to their nearest online nursery and begin shopping for appropriate Solidago species for their region of the country. Lastly, in addition to providing you a pictorial and descriptive list of some of my favorite forms, I do so to show another advantage to growing goldenrods. It has to do with form. If you think about most perennials, you notice that many plants come in a variety of colors, but by and large represent a single form. Goldenrods do it the other way around--they come in only two colors, overwhelmingly yellow/golden and a couple of white ones, but they come in a wide variety of flowering forms. I hope to introduce the unfamiliar to some of the more striking and unusual ones, that should provide imaginative gardeners with a lot of landscaping and design opportunities.

1 & 2. Solidago bicolor. Also called silver rod, this is one of the white goldenrods well suited to the garden. Beloved by bees and has a light lily-like or honey suckle fragrance. Widely adaptable in Eastern North America, from the Maritimes south to Alabama and Georgia and as far west as Michigan and Illinois. In the wild, it is often sparse and underdeveloped and makes little impression. In cultivation it can make a rich flowering stand in late summer and early fall producing refreshing cream-colored wands over a 4 to 6 week period. Planted in a mass with Helenium, Sedum, Persicaria or Panicum it will have people asking, ‘what’s that’, and ‘goldenrod, really?’ Can sustain winter damage, but I’ve been growing it for 7 years and still have a few of the original seed grown plants. Reseeds will replace spent plants, and its slender profile won’t take up too much room in your garden. Full sun and part shade, where it can reach 4ft in height. Usually about 2 to 3 ft in full sun.

3, 4 & 5. Solidago riddellii. In my opinion this is the finest and most versatile goldenrod you can grow in your garden. It has an elegant and striking presence from May to November that is just as suitable for refined plantings as it is for the wild or natural garden. What you have here is a distinctive and elegant foliar profile, strong stems and rich, vibrant flowering. Another plus (image 5) is that the spent flowers retract neatly and the golden color of the phyllaries shines through, so there is no drab phase many flowers and most goldenrods pass through. Rather a pleasant golden/brown appearance enhanced by bright chartreuse leaflets below keep it shining through October, along with flashes of variegated colored fall foliage in shades of gold, orange, red, pink, purple and bronze. Finally soft-gray mounding seed heads complete the show in November. This long-lived clumper is a native of moist conditions, but it performed beautifully in the drought conditions that 2020 brought. So at the very least it can withstand the occasional drought. 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 ft in height. Difficult to find in nurseries or from seed. I purchased my seed from Ernst Conservation Seeds. The prices per pound are staggering and have gone up considerably since I first purchased seed in 2013 but smaller portions can be purchased at more affordable prices. Pollinator paradise.

6 Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’. This variation of S. rugosa was discovered in North Carolina in 1973 and registered as a cultivar in 1993. A more beautiful structural plant is hard to find, that and the thrilling lateral blooms cascading in all directions puts this one in my top 5 goldenrods. Likely a tetraploid as it blooms a good month later than the native S. rugosa that grow in Vermont, and it displays a tetraploid’s vigor. This plant is tough as nails and completely immune to flopping or collapse. You can park a bike against it (not saying you would but sometimes kids do the darndest things). The foliage is unremarkable and coarse (thus the name rough or crinkle leaf goldenrod), but notice in image 6 that even at bloom time it maintains most of its lower foliage, so you don’t have to hide ugly legs as you do with most Asters and many fall blooming perennials. You do have to watch this one over time. This slow spreader won’t take over your garden, but a single plant will spread outward into a 3 or 4ft stand, with its underground rhizomes working their way into other plants. Very long lived and hardy. It blooms so late in the north my experience is that it never has time to set seed before it is cut down, either that or it is sterile. Long and short you won’t be troubled with seedlings.

7 & 8: Solidago caesia ‘Blue Stem Goldenrod’. Here is one that can be grown in sun or shade, and a bright graceful addition it is to the shade garden given it blooms in August and September when very little is flowering in anyone’s shade garden. It has lax stems that tend to arch, cascading on slopes and showing off the lovely linear quality of its axillary blooms. Quite bushy in full sun, sparser in shade. This is one of the more delicate goldenrods with its slender purple stems coated with a blue powder, thus the name (reminding me of wild Concord grapes of childhood that ripen at the same time as these bloom) Image 8.

9 & 10 Solidago speciosa ‘Showy Goldenrod’. Put this one in your top 5 goldenrods as well. The shorter diploid version is pictured in image 9 and the much taller bolder tetraploid (image 10) that blooms very late in the North. Image 10 was harvested from the disturbed ground along the NJ Turnpike about 3 years after construction occurred. There are foliage differences as well. The tetraploids I harvested showed no dentation on the leaves (they were entire and longer and smoother than those of the diploids I harvested from Central Massachusetts). I believe most of what you will find offered in the wildflower nurseries such as Prairie Moon and High Country Gardens are the earlier blooming, shorter diploid types. But don’t ask the nurseries, they will neither know nor care. If it says to 3ft, it’s probably diploid, if it says to 5ft, possibly tetraploid. Some of the NJ populations were as tall as 6 1/2 ft, which of course makes a lot of difference if you are planning a garden. Majestic, non-invasive clumps, with quarter inch individual flowers give these full flower heads their showy quality and what I can only describe as a radiant glow from a distance. Another plus are the often deep red stems that intensify in color in the fall and make for a spectacular contrast with the cloud-like off-white seed heads. A stand of these in your pollinator garden is definitely worth growing.

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thumbgarden · 3 years

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How to grow Ammi majus: planting and care

Ammi majus, also known as Queen Anne's lace, can be grown as an annual or biennial plant. It belongs to the Umbelliferae family and has good taproots, bare sturdy stems, and pinnately dissected, lance-shaped leaves. So how to grow Ammi majus? This article provides answers for planting as well as care.

Ammi majus has small, unattractive, and light-colored flowers. They are collected in umbels up to a few inches in diameter. the flowering period is from midsummer to early autumn. The fruits are slightly flattened, side-viewing fruits without anything covering them and smooth. They are quite small, measuring only two and a half millimeters. They ripen in mid-autumn.

INFORMATION ABOUT AMMI MAJUS Ammi majus is a small genus of the Umbelliferae family. It consists of six species of one- and two-year-old herbs native to the Mediterranean coast as well as northern Africa.

Ammi majus has a taproot and an erect, branched stem. The lower leaves are long-petiolate and the upper leaves are short-petiolate. The rich green leaves are dissected into 2-3 tiny lobes. The leaf margin is sharply serrate.

Ammi majus flowers from midsummer to autumn. Small white flowers with five small petals are gathered in large compound inflorescences. The peculiar smell attracts insects, including bees. The honey is fragrant and slightly red in color.

After flowering, the fruits appear as laterally flattened, lamellar fruits. They look very attractive and split into two lobes when ripe.

BENEFITS OF AMMI MAJUS Ammi majus belongs to the category of medicinal plants. It has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. Today, it is known for its medicinal value. Urinary tract. Leucoderma. Digestive organs. Colds.

The plant contains essential oil with the following valuable components. bergapten. Aflatoxin. Royaltyin. Isopirin. Flavonoids. Fatty oils.

Great importance is attached to the medicinal properties of the substance flavopiridol. It has very good properties in restoring skin pigmentation. Therefore, it is an indispensable plant in the manufacture of drugs for the treatment of vitiligo (leukoderma), alopecia, psoriasis, erysipelas, neurodermatitis.

Ammi majus bioactive components in the fine vessels strengthen and regulate the uterus and intestines. It includes preparations of Ammi majus, used as choline, diuretic, and sedative.

In nature, Ammi majus is distributed in southern and southeastern Europe, North Africa, the Near and Middle East, Russia, and Ukraine.

Today, the plant is successfully cultivated on an industrial scale.

HOW TO GROW AMMI MAJUS There are two varieties of farm-grown Ammi majus - large and toothed. The plants are large, but not bulky. The openwork "airy" leaves accentuate the decorative nature of the inflorescence. Ammi majus is excellent for cutting and stays fresh for a week. Great on its own as a bouquet or as a backdrop for other flowers.

Ammi majus is completely undemanding, grows in any soil, and is not attacked by pests. Recommended for planting as an annual. The abundant fruit provides planting material for homeowners.

The fruits of the plant contain medicinal substances. Even ancient Egypt with their help tried to fight diseases such as vitiligo, psoriasis, erysipelas. Today, the cultivation of medicinal Ammi majus on a commercial scale is underway.

Medicines (pills, ointments) are produced by well-known pharmaceutical companies. However, self-medication with infusions and decoctions is fraught with serious problems. In fact, there are many contraindications and side effects.

Therefore, it is better to grow Ammi majus exclusively as decoration in gardens and balconies and enjoy the beauty of the plant.

CULTIVATION OF AMMI MAJUS Ammi medicines can be cultivated perfectly as a cultivated plant. It is very simple and unpretentious. However, there are some conditions to get good results.

So, the soil for growing Ammi majus should be black and clean, and weed-free. It can be planted on plots that have previously been planted with cereal crops, early vegetables, and medicinal plants: chamomile and poppy oil seeds.

Before planting, the soil should be prepared. 1. cleaning the residues of previous crops. 2. to plow. 3. to make plowing and harrowing.

All the above actions are combined with soil fertilization. Before deep plowing, it is necessary to apply the following nutrient mixtures on a per hectare basis. 1. ammonium sulfate: 2.5g. 2. superphosphate: 3.5g. 3. ammonium nitrate: 1.5g.

Before sowing in spring combine the introduction of potassium chloride (50 kg), superphosphate (300 kg), and ammonium nitrate (100 kg) per hectare of soil.

Then, for maximum effect, the sowing should be combined with the application of calcium superphosphate to the soil. This will improve the germination of seeds and increase the yield by up to 35% (seed harvest).

And in the cultivation of Ammi majus, the last application of fertilizer is made at the vegetative stage when the seedlings form about six leaves. At this stage, ammonium nitrate is applied. However, an important condition for fertilization is soil moisture, which must be at least 20%. If, for example, it is impossible to irrigate the site and it has not rained for a long time, but it is better not to do ammonium nitrate.

Ammi majus can be sown with both spring and winter under the ground. It should be noted that it is better to carry out spring planting. To improve the germination of seeds, they are stratified for three months. The seeds are then dried and sieved. Another preparation step is to soak the seeds in water for one day before sowing. Floating sowing is not suitable.

Ammi majus is sown with a disk seeder to a depth of 1inch (2 cm). The sowing rate was 5 kg for a one-hectare plot. Under favorable weather conditions, the first shoots appear after two weeks.

Fall sowing requires increasing the seeding rate to 6 kg and reducing the burial depth to 0.6inch (1.5 cm). Otherwise, the planting technique is the same.

Ammi majus is planted on cultivated land and requires certain human actions to take care of the crop.

The main task is loosening the soil and timely removal of weeds. For this purpose, it is necessary to carry out inter-row clearance of weeds with a special cultivator. During the whole period of formation of the ground part, as a rule, three to four cultivations are carried out.

Weeds in the rows are removed by hand. This work should be done at least twice and should be combined with thinning work. If the seedlings are too thick, the yield will be significantly reduced. The first weeding is done to thin the shoots when Ammi majus is still small and has two leaves.

The seeds are used for medicinal purposes. Therefore, a large collection of this material is grown on an industrial scale Ammi majus large.

The seeds are harvested when the percentage of maturity exceeds sixty percent. This is done mechanically, with the help of a combined harvester specially equipped for this purpose. The harvested crop is dried and cleaned.

The yield of this medicinal plant is not very high, with an average of about ten hundred pounds of seeds per hectare. The storage and use period of the medicinal herb depends on the storage conditions and is 3-10 years.

THE FIRST STEP AFTER PURCHASING SEEDS Ammi majus is grown from seeds. They remain germinating for 3-4 years, which should be noted at the time of purchase.

In areas with relatively warm winters, it is recommended to sow seeds under winter. In areas with more severe climatic conditions, spring sowing is done. The optimum soil temperature is 43-46°F (6-8°C). Seedlings emerge in 1.5 to 2 weeks. Seedlings grow unhurriedly at first. But after the tillering stage, they actively increase in height and width.

To advance the flowering time helps to raise seedlings in February-March. It is advisable to stratify seeds for a month. Bury them in the nutrient substrate 0.8inch (2 cm), moisten the soil and cover it with glass or polyethylene.

Place the container in a warm place until sprouts appear. Sprouts need plenty of light, but the night air temperature should not exceed 53-59°F (12-15°C). Otherwise, seedlings will stretch disproportionately.

Seedlings can be moved to designated locations by the end of May. Given the fragility of the root system, great care should be taken when transplanting so as not to damage the ground nodules.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS Ammi majus grows well in full sun and semi-shade. Any garden soil is suitable, just take care of a good and reliable drainage layer.

In case of open sowing, it is recommended to add organic fertilizer to the soil beforehand. The seedlings are planted with two applications of complex mineral fertilizer.

Ammi majus is drought tolerant but needs regular and moderate watering in the early stages of growth and in hot weather. Temperature and water characteristics are not important.

The plants respond thankfully to weeding and loosening of the soil.

POSSIBLE DIFFICULTIES Ammi majus suffers from waterlogging in the soil. The root system rots rapidly and the plant dies. Lowland areas are considered unsuitable for maintaining representatives of this flora. The soil is watered only after it has dried out.

In the absence of light, the stems increase in height and density, but flowering becomes sparse. There is a possibility of not producing fruits. High air humidity during flowering will have the same effect.

Ammi majus are tall plants with many branches. If they do not have enough space, they will become smaller and weaker.

CARE AND HARVESTING Ammi majus crop care includes systematic loosening of the soil between the rows and the plants do not receive compaction. As two true leaves appear on the shoots, they are thinned out. During drought, at the beginning of cultivation - watering every 2-3 days. During flowering, watering is reduced.

Harvesting of Ammi majus takes place during the period of massive seed maturity when most of the umbels curl and the stems turn yellowish. After harvesting, Ammi majus fruits are dried and peeled.

#AmmiMajus #Tips #How To Grow #Flower #Garden #Ornamentals #CutFlowers #DriedFlowers #DecorativeFlowers #FlowerGarden #FlowerBeds #ThumbGarden

Author: Ms.Geneva Link: https://www.thumbgarden.com/how-to-grow-ammi-majus/ Source: ThumbGarden The copyright belongs to the author. For commercial reprints, please contact the author for authorization, and for non-commercial reprints, please indicate the source.

#ammimajus #tips garden #how to grow flower #flower garden #flowerbed #cutflowers #driedflowers #flowers #gardening #garden #ornamentals #decorativeflowers #flowergarden #flowerbeds #thumbgarden

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guardianofjunmyeon · 4 years

Text

Finding Atlantis (part 5)

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader

Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Lovers, PirateAU

Description: 20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean. But fewer men know the tale of it’s missing child. The key to the ocean, the key to Atlantis but a lost little one. The power one would hold should they find this child would be nearly that of Poseidon himself. Thus, the hunt began.

A/N: Here we are with an update a week later! :3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

You both watch as Chanyeol runs off to collect the new additions to your crew. You furrow your brows. “You’re willing to just leave your ship and your men?” you ask.

He shrugs and starts walking in the direction of the dock. “It’s not my ship. I stole it and scouted a couple of men to help me man it. Jongin, Chanyeol, and Sehun are the only men I really consider my crew.”

“Oh,” you say quietly.

“They don't really need me, the other men. They can have the ship; they were bound to mutiny any day now. I wasn’t paying them shit,” he laughs loudly. You look at him a bit sadly and then conceal it.

What’s a captain without his ship?

In that case, you suppose you don’t have any reason not to take them on as your own. You grab him by the arm to stop him. “Alright, well let’s shake on it. On our temporary ally ship.” You jut out your hand and he takes it in his without hesitation. A solid handshake is all it takes to put the past aside.

“Let’s get this sea bitch home!” He chirps. You give him a tired look and he shrugs it off unapologetically. “What?”

You can see your ship clearly as you near the dock, and a happiness that you haven’t felt in weeks blossoms in your chest. You missed her. You missed her a fucking lot.

“Byun Baekhyun and the Storm Chaser at the same port yet again. I wouldn’t believe myself if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.” You stop in your tracks as a group of three men walk up blocking your path. The man on the left is short and stocky. His skin looks like poorly cared for leather and a tattoo of a water dragon stretches up his neck and covers half of his face. The man in the center, the man who spoke, has a beard so long and unkempt that you can image a family of lice living there unperturbed for generations. The last man is the tallest of the three, extremely skinny, with a creepy smile gleaming with fake gold teeth.

You clench your fists. You just can’t catch a break being around Baekhyun can you? “You must be its captain, going around and stealing other ships to keep your identity a secret, huh? You must think you’re hot shit, you one-eyed fuck,” the obvious leader of the group says, beard lice landlord.

Baekhyun gasps dramatically and places one hand over his heart and the other over his eye patch, “Hurtful.”

You want to drive your sword through the man’s stomach for assuming Baekhyun, of all people, captain of your beloved ship.

It’s been months since you’ve gotten a chance to really use a sword, and with the way things are shaping, it looks like your drought may soon be over. The men train their eyes solely on Baekhyun, and you want to laugh at the fact that they’re completely overlooking the actual Captain in lieu of having a pissing contest with Baekhyun.

Men make you sick.

You’d rather die than let Baekhyun take these kills and your title from you.

The leader takes a step forward and you reach for your blade. Baekhyun side-steps you and blocks you from their vision. Your cheeks flame in anger. “Hey now guys. Come on, why don’t we all just relax and go our separate ways? I need to get back to my ship. As you can see I’ve got company.” He jerks his thumb in your direction and you grumble low in your throat.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” you murmur murderously to Baekhyun’s back.

“Screw you and your whore Byun. There’s quite the reward for you, dead or alive. And another even larger one for that ship there’s captain.” Baekhyun’s mouth turns down in a frown while yours turns up in satisfaction. You’re worth more than he is? A win for you. “We could kill two birds with one gun,” the man continues. His fingers twitch towards the weapon at his side.

Looks like a fight, you think happily. You grab Baekhyun’s shirt to pull him back so that you don’t have to worry about killing him in the crosshairs. Then again, maybe you should slice your way through him first.

He takes a step backwards to your side. “Slap me,” he whispers. You look at him incredulously. “Slap me and follow my lead,” he says a bit louder.

Whatever.

You strike him with all the strength in your body. You aren’t sure why you needed to smack him but you aren’t going to turn down an invitation. The “Ow!” that falls loudly from his lips is genuinely angry. You almost think that the two of you are just going to fight to the death right here to save the idiots -trying to stop you from getting to your ship- the trouble. The sting in your hand feels, so, so good.

He cradles his cheek and his eye flashes angrily before he masks it. “Baby, what’s wrong now?”

You physically recoil in disgust. Baby?

His eye flickers to the side where the men are standing, seemingly amused by what Baekhyun is trying to paint as a couple’s spat. Oh. Realization hits and you jump into your role as the angry lover.

Honestly, you don’t have to try that hard.

“Baby? Don’t fucking call me baby. Why’s it that every time I find myself with you, someone is trying to kill us? Huh? I’m sick and tired of being dragged into your bullshit,” you exclaim. He scoffs, genuinely, or part of the role, you can’t tell. You poke him hard in his chest. “Don’t you think that I want to go out on a walk or go out to eat without…without,” you glance around and spot a woman pushing her child in a stroller. You take in a breath and place you hand over your abdomen. “Without fearing for me and my baby’s life?”

He blinks rapidly. “Baby?” You can hear equal parts repulsion and amusement in the tone of his voice.

“Yes, baby. I didn’t want to tell you like this, but of course this is how you ended up finding out. I’m fucking sick of this Baekhyun!”

“There’s no way that baby is mine. I’ve always used protection.” You raise your eyebrows in amazement. Now that was a flat out lie. His lip twitches upwards.

“Are you calling me a whore?” you hiss.

He holds out his hands in defense. “I’m just saying in your profession I’m sure that you have to entertain lots of men and-” You pull out your sword and point it at his chest.

“The women who sleep with people for money work hard for what they’ve earned, and should be respected for their profession.”

“Don’t act too rash…” he takes a step back and raises his eyebrow minutely. You hope that is some kind of signal, because you don’t know how much longer you can go around acting before you actually drive your sword through his shoulder. “Think of the-” he unsheathes his own sword “Baby!” and hits yours away.

Your arm veers to the right from the impact. Purely from the surprise of it all, you swing your sword back at Baekhyun by instinct. He manages to block the hit. He swings back and nearly nicks your arm; luckily you manage to shift enough for it to swipe at nothing but air. He’s getting too fucking close for this to be part of the act.

You aim for his knee and he jumps back just barely avoiding your attack. “Now!” he shouts to you. It takes you a full second to remember that you aren’t actually supposed to be fighting Baekhyun, but the men still watching you both, fully distracted. You turn your blade on the man closest to you, the man with golden teeth, and swing it across his face. He screams and drops to his knees while Baekhyun drives his sword through the stomach of the shorter man with the tattoo on his face. You quickly slide your blade through the neck of the man on the ground in front of you and turn to find Baekhyun trying to fight off the larger leader of the group.

You run passed the henchmen you each put down, dropping the larger sword you grabbed off Junmyeon to the ground. You snatch the shorter knife on lice beard’s hip while he’s distracted and jump on his back, pulling his head to the side and slicing his throat open with ease. He collapses backwards and you let yourself fall to the ground first and roll far enough way so his dead body won’t crush you.

Your chest rises and falls with adrenaline and you wipe the blood on the blade off onto the thigh of your pants. Baekhyun’s hand lands on your shoulder, “Nice-” your knife drives through his side. “FUCK- why’dyou-shit!” You turn to see him holding both his hands over the shallow gash in his side. You throw the bloodied knife to the ground and stand up, still breathing heavily.

“Sorry,” you say flatly. “Heat of the moment…baby.”

“Oh fuck you,” he spits.

“Come on.” You grab his right arm and throw it over your shoulder. You guide him over to your discarded sword and he hisses with each movement. You let him lean on you as you guide him back, limping, to your ship.

“You did that on purpose,” he accuses. You bite your lip to keep from smiling too wide. “You’re smiling about it? I fucking knew it. You’re a fucking liar, what happened to the truce?”

“It’s not that deep a cut. You aren’t going to die from it. We’ll get you stitched up; stop whining.”

Despite your words, he whines all the way onto your ship. Yixing looks at you with raised eyebrows and you shake your head. “Don’t ask right now. Make sure everyone is aboard and let’s put some distance between us and land.”

Yixing smirks and goes off to get the ship in motion. You decide to attend to the crybaby leaning against you yourself. The infirmary isn’t far from the forecastle, where most of the living quarters are. You stumble into the room and let him go so that he can sit down while you search for the supplies needed to fix him up.

He moans pitifully and you shush him. “Shut up, you aren’t that hurt.”

“You aren’t the one who got stabbed.”

“I stabbed you with a purpose. It stings worse than it actually is.” Supplies collected, you kneel down at his side and lift up his shirt. “Hold it up,” you command. He grumbles but follows your instruction. You wipe away the blood surrounding the cut and work on disinfecting the actual wound. Just as you’d said, it’s not large. About as thick as your pinky and as long as your thumb.

He hisses for a long time as you wordlessly clean the wound. When he flinches so hard that he almost kicks the needle from your hand, you sigh and look up at him.

“Hold still,” you admonish.

You return your focus back on stitching the wound so that it will close on its own. It’s not a pretty job, but it will keep. You feel just the smallest twinge of guilt for slicing open his side during your truce, but it fades quickly at the many memories of the times he’s stabbed or shot you.

Truce be damned for a second. He had this coming. You sit up on your knees as you wrap a dressing around his waist to cover the fresh stitches. As a way to silently apologize for going back on your truce, you treat him with gentle fingers and careful touches. You secure the dressing and sit back on your heels satisfied. You exhale softly and feel strangely proud of your work. You feel a small smile etching itself on your lips before you look up and catch Baekhyun looking down at you. His expression unreadable.

Your smile slides off. He lets his shirt drop down to cover the bandages, stark white against his tanned skin, and you feel a bit uncomfortable with the seriousness in his gaze.

“When you’re ready you can come out and we’ll have a meeting with all of the crew.” He nods and then avoids your eyes. You frown and leave the room a bit aggravated with his behavior. What the fuck is his problem?

Jongin comes up to you as soon as you’re out of the infirmary. “Is he okay? What happened?” He sounds as distressed as he looks.

“He’s fine. It’s a little cut. Nothing he hasn’t dealt with before.” You try to smile reassuringly but it comes out as a grimace at best. Jongin’s eyes widen when he looks behind you and he jogs off with a worried, “Baekhyun!”

Yixing leans against the newly repaired mainmast with knowing eyes. He gives you a thumbs up, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Attention everyone!” you call. A circle begins to form around you. You take note of faces, those you know well, those you know are new, and the ones you know are missing. You feel sadness deep in your heart.

But the ship must go on.

“Everyone, we have added a few new members to our crew as we head off on our new mission. I know that our original plans were to go on that bounty hunt, but circumstances…changed.” You glance towards Baekhyun and his men all standing together. “I know that we have lost a few men in the last weeks, and we will be sending them off in the way that we know how later on tonight.” You watch faces fall across your crew.

“For now, I want to inform you all of our next course of action. I previously discussed this with Junmyeon and Yeri, and they have decided to join me in asking for your support.” You look over and see Yeri nodding her head. Junmyeon looks on tiredly. “We are going after Atlantis…again.” You expect the disgruntled murmurs and hushed whispers among your men. You continue on, “I know that I said we were done trying to find it, but we’ve recently come across some new information.” You motion to Baekhyun. He waves happily to your crew.

You shake your head in annoyance. “If you have any disagreements with our plan, feel free to come talk to me or Junmyeon personally.” No one speaks up so you push on. “Junmyeon, you still have the compass and map I gave you right?” He nods. “I need you and Yeri to make sense of the map as best you can; I’ll be there to explain some things in a minute.”

“Are we not locking Byun up?” Minseok asks.

You sigh. “No, he’ll just pick his way out like a little roach. They'll be sleeping in the crew living quarters. They’re a part of this crew during the duration of this mission; treat them accordingly,” you tell your crew. “As for you all, the rules on this ship are simple. You do your job, you respect everyone on this ship as you would yourself, and you don’t lay a hand on anyone in any way deemed inappropriate. Break these rules and I will personally slice your penis off your body and force you to watch as it’s dropped into the sea,” you tell Baekhyun’s additions to the vessel.

“A-Ay,” Chanyeol stammers.

“That’s ‘Ay Captain’,” you correct.

“Ay, Captain!” all but one repeats. Baekhyun clenches his jaw, refuses to give in. You wait with both hands settled on your hips. Your crewmen look on in a mix of amusement and apprehension at the rising tension.

“I don’t think I heard you Byun.”

He laughs in incredulity. Arms cross over his chest. “Ay, Captain,” he acquiesces. You tilt your head proud of his compliance.

“Alright everyone, let’s get moving!” You crew disperses and you follow Junmyeon with your eyes as he heads into your quarters chatting animatedly with Yeri at his side.

You feel Baekhyun’s presence before you hear him. “It’s him isn’t it? Suho. Junmyeon.”

You nod slowly, staring at the door where your first mate has gone. “Yeah,” you murmur. You know that Baekhyun is still missing a lot of essential information about Junmyeon, about Suho, about his life and how he ended up here practically co-captain of your ship.

You’ll fill him in at some point.

All in due time.

You don’t want to think about all of this quite yet, not with him, so you deflect the conversation. “What can your men do, where can I put them?” You scan the four men standing a bit shyly behind their former captain.

“Jongin was in charge of medical. He’s good with medicine and rigging. Chanyeol was our best man in the artillery and also worked the kitchen with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was our head cook, but is also well-trained with artillery and general sailing strategies. Sehun has good direction and ability to decipher maps,” Baekhyun rattles off.

That’s good. You needed these skills. From what you could tell, you lost your cook and doctor, Kun, two gunners, Jaehyun and Amber, and… Taemin. Each loss hurts a bit more when you think too long about their absence. You try your hardest not to let it show on your face. It feels sick to replace them with people that are responsible for their deaths.

“Kyungsoo, you can head to the kitchen. It’s under your control, we lost our cook when-” you suck in a breath to stop yourself. Chanyeol and Jongin wince. “The kitchen is all yours.” You finish lamely. “Jongin you’re in charge of our infirmary. Our cook was also our head doctor,” you say bitterly. He avoids your eyes and draws into himself. “I’ll tell Minseok to get Chanyeol and Kyungsoo acquainted with our artillery. You and Sehun meet me in my quarters in 10 minutes. We need to figure out our heading.” You turn on them before any questions can be asked and walk a bit dizzily to the forecastle and very front of your ship for a second to yourself.

You hadn’t gotten a chance to mourn the men you lost, and being hit so suddenly with their absence as you quickly filled positions they each held for years is painful enough to force tears from your eyes. You try not to cry in front of your crew for the sake of morale, but it’s tough to skip over the mourning process in order to get back to work. Everyone else at least had a month to properly mourn.

You get a few hours at most.

You wipe away the tears and try to gather your breathing before you have to face everyone in your quarters. You don’t want it to be too obvious that you were crying.

“Hey…” you sniff and rub at your face with the palms of your hands harshly. Yixing walks to your side and leans against the railing with you. He looks out at the expanse of water and gives you a few seconds of grateful silence before he speaks again. “You don't have to hide your crying like this. We all really miss them, you don’t have to pretend that you aren’t hurt.” He pauses. “You could at least choose a better location, you’re completely visible up here,” he jokes. You laugh a bit.

The wind blows and the ship’s sails flap.

“I’m just…it feels wrong to fill their spots like this. It was Baekhyun and his crew’s fault that they died. It’s his fault and now they’re just taking up their space as if nothing is wrong,” you wipe away another stray tear angrily. You understand that taking them on was the smartest decision given the circumstances, but it doesn’t lessen the feeling of betrayal.

Yixing hums. “You know…I don’t want you to think that I’m taking their side because I’m not. But…I don’t think they meant to kill any of our men in the attack.” You look at him in horror. How could he defend them when you all lost men because of them? He sets his lips in a line. “Their cannons were aimed at the mainmast to keep us immobile, and that’s where they hit. When it fell, it nearly hit Junmyeon but Taemin pushed him out of the way and it crushed his legs instead. He held on for a bit, but got sick on top of his injuries as we headed to Arae. He died in the infirmary. Kun got sick while he was trying to take care of Taemin. Pneumonia. We had to quarantine them both for days before they passed away. One of our cannons backfired when we tried to attack Baekhyun’s ship in return, and it took out Amber and Jaehyun. You and I both know how often that can happen in the artillery,” he explains.

You process his words and you know that, logically, all of these things were accidents, a series of unfortunate events and not malicious attempts at murder, but the irrational side of you wants to blame someone. To blame Baekhyun.

“I’m not telling you not to be angry, or upset,” Yixing continues. “I just want you to look at this objectively and realize that it isn’t completely their faults that we lost our men. Fate just…wasn’t on our sides.” He gazes at you with soft eyes. You can feel angry tears welling up again. He pats your shoulder. “Take a while to cool down, to mourn. I’ll tell Junmyeon that you’ll be a minute.”

Yixing leaves with a squeeze of your shoulder and you let yourself breakdown. The tears fall heavily and your chest tightens so much that it physically hurts to breathe. You could curse the sky, the moon, the ocean, but at the end of the day, it was just their time to go.

If Yixing truly believes that it wasn’t blatant murder then you have to take a second to separate your mind from your emotions as well. You can’t storm off and make their lives hell; you told your crewmen that these new additions are a part of your crew. You all have to respect that for the time being.

You could ask anyone on your crew and you’re sure that they would tell you the same things. How they died, the circumstances. They’re truthful people. They wouldn’t recount it blinded by rage and hatred.

They will all tell you what they saw, just as they saw it.

They would say that it was all just bad timing.

Maybe that’s what upsets you most.

You take a few more minutes to wipe your face and gather your composure before you walk into the Captain’s Quarters where Yeri and Junmyeon are crouched over the map and compass speaking in hushed tones. You can see the confusion in Junmyeon’s furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips.

“Does anything look familiar?” You ask smoothly.

“Vaguely,” Junmyeon says before he looks up from the table. He quickly takes in your appearance, and opens his mouth to comment, confusion on his face switching to concern when the door opens and Baekhyun walks in with Sehun on his tail.

Yeri opens and closes the compass. “Your compass is broken,” she says.

“It’s not broken,” Baekhyun corrects. “It supposedly points to the thing you want most in the world.”

“No kidding,” Yeri exclaims in amazement.

You avoid Junmyeon’s eyes as you project composure to the rest of the people in the room. He knows you well enough to know when something is wrong, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else does. “Yeah, that’s what Baekhyun and I were told when it was given to us. Is your home the place you want most in the world?” You ask Junmyeon.

There is a deep sadness in his eyes that only slightly covers up his concern. “I don’t know,” he admits.

“Well we’re kind of fucked if you don’t want to go back,” Baekhyun observes bluntly. Sehun elbows him in the arm to shut him up.

“I know…it’s been a very long time since you’ve been home, and I know there were reasons that you left. But I need you to look deep within yourself and tell me that you don’t still ache to return.” His gaze wavers under yours; he breaks eye contact first. “It’s okay,” you assure him, walking over to rub his back as he tries not to show the battle he’s been waging with himself for years.

He tries to hide it.

You know him well enough to be able to see it anyway.

“This was always the end goal, right? You never have to feel bad for wanting to go home.” You try to smile. Yeri whimpers and throws her arms around him in a hug. Baekhyun and Sehun stand awkwardly to side while you all try to contain your emotions. This isn’t goodbye.

“Maybe you’d be able to come and visit again,” Sehun offers softly.

“Yeah, you guys are acting like he’s going to die if he goes back. People leave Atlantis all the time,” Baekhyun adds.

You grab the closed compass from the table and place it in your first mate’s palm. “Just think of home,” you comment softly.

He takes in a large breath and closes his eyes. You open the compass in his hand and watch it spin wildly from side to side before finally settling. Baekhyun peaks over your shoulder.

“Huh,” he remarks in amazement.

Junmyeon opens his eyes and looks down.

“Southeast,” you say in unison. Yeri motions Sehun to her side. They begin using the heading with the map you were given to chart.

“We’re going to finish this. I promise,” you tell the man at your side.

Baekhyun pushes between you both to grab the compass from Junmyeon’s hand. “Irene said that the sea wants you and that you should listen to her song to lead you home.” He plays with the device with deft fingers.

Junmyeon tilts his head to the side thoughtfully. “Song? I mean…sometimes I hear noises. Something like a melody. It happens randomly, at different times of the day and sometimes not for months at a time. It’s the same tune every time.” He laughs embarrassed. “I just thought it was sea madness or something.”

“We need you to figure out where it wants you to go. You’re the only one who can hear it and follow it. The song and a rhyme, they're the main things you need to get home,” you tell him. “I don’t remember what the rhyme was…fuck I should have written it down-”

“Follow the sound of your soul, she’ll call out to you to bring you back to your shoal. She’ll fight you to prove that your heart is true, to crush you and build you back stronger in her darkest shade of blue. Beautiful songs will call out to confuse the path, to distract you, but remembering your heart will get you through. She’ll finally take you in her arms again, cradled and safe where all life began,” Baekhyun repeats the rhyme with ease. You look at him amazed.

Junmyeon murmurs the rhyme under his breath. “I-I think that I’ve heard that rhyme before…when I was younger. I’d forgotten all about it,” he says in shock. He falls into the chair closest to him heavily and begins to repeat it over and over to himself softly.

“Southeast,” you murmur to yourself. Junmyeon is the only one who can piece together the missing parts of his memory. The longer he’s away, the less he’s able to recall about his relationship with the ocean. Little pieces of memory, little parts of himself, all lost with time. “Yeri, can you work with Sehun and Baekhyun to figure out what we should expect to encounter?” She nods determined. Sehun gives you a decided look and you know that they will work hard together to piece together whatever they can with what little information you all have.

You and Baekhyun share a look. An understanding finally settling between you after all that’s happened, after all that’s been revealed. He nods. You offer a small smile in return.

#exo #exo stories #exo fanfics #exo fanfiction #exo imagines #baekhyun #byun baekhyun #baekhyun imagine #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun stories #baekhyun story #baekhyun pirate au #exo pirate au

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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New on Netflix: May 2021 Releases

https://ift.tt/3e6cVxy

It’s safe to say that the COVID content drought is just about over. Netflix prides itself on being the most, let’s say, prolific streaming service in the game. With its list of new releases for May 2021 it’s once again revealing why.

There is a lot going on for Netflix this month and it all starts with some high profile original films. Zack Snyder’s latest zombie effort Army of the Dead premieres on May 21. That will be preceded by Monster, the adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’ classic YA book, on May 7 and Amy Adams Rear Window-esque The Woman in the Window on May 14.

Games

Castlevania Season 3: Infinite Corridor Explained

By John Saavedra

Lucifer Season 5: Devilish First Footage From Musical Episode Revealed

By Kirsten Howard

Netflix’s TV offerings in May 2021 are just as packed. The adaptation of Millarworld superhero comic Jupiter’s Legacy arrives on May 7. That’s followed by the final season of Castlevania on May 13, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season 3 on May 21, and the second half of Lucifer season 5 on May 28. What’s this we spy with our little eye on the schedule? Is that another season of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None lined up for this month? That appears to be the case. So too will Ryan Murphy’s latest effort, HALSTON, premiere in May.

Of course, every month also needs a refreshing of library titles. Notable films arriving to Netflix’s stream on May 1 are Back to the Future, Zombieland, and Scarface.

New on Netflix: May 2021

TBA AlRawabi School for Girls — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir (2021) Mad for Each Other — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Master of None — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Racket Boys — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Ragnarok: Season 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

May 1 Aliens Stole My Body Angelina Ballerina: Season 5 Angelina Ballerina: Season 6 Back to the Future Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part III Barney and Friends: Season 13 Barney and Friends: Season 14 Best of the Best Dead Again in Tombstone Due Date Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Green Zone Hachi: A Dog’s Tale JT LeRoy Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted Mystic River Never Back Down Notting Hill Open Season Resident Evil: Afterlife Resident Evil: Extinction S.M.A.R.T Chase Scarface Sitting in Limbo Stargate State of Play The Land Before Time The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure The Lovely Bones The Pelican Brief The Sweetest Thing The Whole Nine Yards (2000) Under Siege Waist Deep Your Highness Zack and Miri Make a Porno Zombieland

May 2 Hoarders: Season 11

May 4 The Clovehitch Killer Selena: The Series: Part 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Trash Truck: Season 2 — NETFLIX FAMILY

May 5 Framing John DeLorean The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

May 6 Dead Man Down

May 7 Girl from Nowhere: Season 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Jupiter’s Legacy — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Milestone — NETFLIX FILM Monster — NETFLIX FILM

May 8 Mine — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Sleepless

May 11 Money, Explained — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

May 12 Dance of the Forty One — NETFLIX FILM Oxygen — NETFLIX FILM The Upshaws — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

May 13 Castlevania: Season 4 — NETFLIX ANIME Layer Cake

May 14 HALSTOM – NETFLIX ORIGINAL Ferry — NETFLIX FILM Haunted: Season 3 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL I Am All Girls — NETFLIX FILM Jungle Beat: The Movie — NETFLIX FAMILY Love, Death & Robots: Volume 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Move to Heaven — NETFLIX ORIGINAL The Strange House — NETFLIX FILM The Woman in the Window — NETFLIX FILM

May 16 Sleight

May 18 Sardar Ka Grandson — NETFLIX FILM

May 19 The Last Days Sabotage Small Town Crime Who Killed Sara?: Season 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

May 20 Hating Peter Tatchell Special: Season 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Spy Kids: All the Time in the World

May 21 Army of the Dead — NETFLIX FILM Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous: Season 3 — NETFLIX FAMILY The Neighbor: Season 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

May 22 Sam Smith: Love Goes – Live At Abbey Road Studios

May 25 Home

May 26 Baggio: The Divine Ponytail — NETFLIX FILM High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America — NETFLIX FILM Nail Bomber: Manhunt — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

May 27 Black Space — NETFLIX ORIGINAL Blue Miracle — NETFLIX FILM Eden — NETFLIX ANIME Soy Rada: Serendipity — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL

May 28 Dog Gone Trouble — NETFLIX FAMILY Lucifer: Season 5 Part 2 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL The Kominsky Method: Season 3 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

May 31 Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story The Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties — NETFLIX ORIGINAL

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Leaving Netflix: May 2021

May 1 Hoarders: Season 10

May 3 War Horse

May 5 Hangman

May 6 City of God: 10 Years Later Lockout

May 7 The Chosen Ones House at the End of the Street

May 10 Quartet

May 14 Sherlock: Series 1-4

May 18 Trumbo

May 29 American Crime: Seasons 1-3 My Week with Marilyn The One I Love

May 31 50 First Dates Act of Valor All Dogs Go to Heaven The Blair Witch Project Brokeback Mountain The Boy Deliver Us from Eva The Help I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Julie & Julia Marauders Milk Miracle National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz The Pursuit of Happyness The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption Soul Surfer Striptease Waiting…

The post New on Netflix: May 2021 Releases appeared first on Den of Geek.

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aurora-the-kunoichi · 5 years

Text

The Aftermath - Part One

Part one of my apocalyptic story.

Raphael and Reader.

(Don’t worry loves, there will be smut)

It started out as a routine expedition to Antarctica to gather samples of the melting icecaps. When the team of scientists found hair and frozen tissue in several of the core samples they pulled from the ice, they sent them in for analysis. When the samples returned with wooly mammoth DNA an excavation team was dispatched to unearth the specimen for testing and preservation.

One week was all it took before the first scientist fell ill after handling the thawing samples. They thought it was a common cold from the symptoms but knew once the patient started coughing up blood it was far from it. It took only 48 hours for the unknown virus to take hold and run its course before killing patient zero.

It should have been quarantined, but with only one scientist dead and the rest seemingly fine, they were released back home after the expedition was completed.

The second scientist to fall ill reported similar signs of the virus 3 days later and succumbed to the illness within 48 hours. One by one each member of the team showed signs of the same symptoms and perished days later, the last one dying nearly 7 days after patient zero was confirmed dead.

After that it spread like a wild fire in a drought spreading all over the world in less than a year wiping out the world’s population to near world extinction levels. Family members were unable to bury their loved ones for the fear the virus would continue to spread. So each body that was infected was ordered by the CDC to be incinerated.

Over seven billion people lost their lives to the world-wide pandemic devastating the global economy and dwindling the world’s population down to a few thousand apparently immune to the deadly virus. Cities lay barren, families and legacies torn asunder leaving the remaining population wondering what would be next.

That was 10 years ago, the year now 2030. The earth was still reclaiming her territory, buildings and roads overrun with newly grown greenery and the world’s animal population seemingly untouched by the virus’s destructive grasp flourished in the wake of the loss of human life.

Somehow you had been blessed and cursed with surviving the plague. You witnessed each of your family members picked off one by one at the ripe age of 15. Left alone to survive the apocalypse held up in your family’s home as long as you were able.

Thankfully you were no useless adolescent doomed to wander the abandoned cities witless and helpless. Your family was stock full of bright talent that thankfully trickled down to you, your father an engineer and your mother a marine with a green thumb and a passion for prepping. Your father had rubbed off on you in the early years soaking up his knowledge for solar power and self-sustaining homes. Which was probably one of the reasons you were still alive today, that and the years of hand to hand combat instructed and insisted on by your mother.

“You need to learn how to protect yourself Y/N, be ready for any situation.” She said on a regular basis. She had no idea how right she was…. God you missed her.

The first year after the pandemic crawled by, depression and loneliness eating away at you day after day as your food supplies dwindled to nothing forcing you to make the decision, was it life or death? The next year took a different direction as you worked your fingers to the bone daily to work up a system to keep yourself alive and prepared. Animals were rounded up and put into pastures on your land, animals that would provide food, whether it be meat or from the food they produced.

As the loneliness began to eat at your sanity once again a new ambitious project took hold of your endless spare time. A large SUV you had found parked in a garage while scrounging for supplies was ripe with potential and you had nothing but time.

Your father’s spirit seemed to follow you around the large workspace day after day, fingers worn and bleeding you worked over the equations and drums of supplies until the days blended into night. After countless of hours of mind numbing trial and error somehow by the grace of whatever cruel god that was up there you figured it out.

The large oversized vehicle was now able to switch from gasoline and the power of the sun with a flip of a switch. Gas stations were still producing, but it was only a matter of time before they dried up. And you needed to travel farther and farther for fuel and supplies, you needed to expand your options for travel.

As the truck clicked to life nearly soundlessly solely fueled by the stored energy in the solar panels you screamed at the top of your lungs resting your weary and tired skull on the metal hood. The farthest you had ventured from your sanctum was two hours in every direction. And as far as you could tell there wasn’t a living soul within that radius, and you had scavenged every home and building for useful items. It was time to look farther out and New York City was a prime location. Plus, with your new project completed a few spare solar panels would be nice and the once overly populated city should produce some.

You hadn’t seen anyone alive in years which in this type of situation was mostly a good thing. The end of the world usually didn’t bring out the best in people, survival of the fittest and all that jazz and you had a sweet set up ripe for the pickin. Which was why you had spent many man hours keeping the entrance to your family property hidden. All the tar from the driveway had been removed 100 feet in and an intricate fence from brush and bushes was maintained to keep the entrance secluded from any unwanted visitors.

It took you two weeks to prepare the homestead, making sure your livestock was well fed and your home locked down tight and protected. You anticipated your trip to take roughly 2 weeks but prepared for over a month. There could always be unseen circumstances that would keep you from your home for a longer period of time, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

It was a warm summer morning and your vehicle was packed, the small camper trailer connected, and panels fully charged, it was time to head out. With one final look at your home you made the 5-minute trek down your driveway exiting from your hidden entrance. Once it hidden from sight again you started out ready for the long solitary road trip.

With no one driving on the roadways they had managed to stay drivable for the most part. A few trees and bushes needed to be dodged but you were still able to utilize them for now.

It took nearly 8 hours of driving before you saw the dilapidated welcome sign for New York City. One side had broken free of its bolts and had sunk into the earth where rust had begun to climb up the forgotten metal eating away at its integrity.

It was late afternoon and you needed to start scouting out a safe place to set up camp and hopefully a few hours of scrounging around before dark. You decided central park would be a good place to hunker down and start your exploration.

With your camper set up and prepared you strapped two guns to your hips with two long blades in your boots and headed out with a line of homes to the east your first target in mind. The empty duffel bag slung over your shoulder was ready for supplies and anything that you would deem a sanity saver, something that would help ease the hours of boredom or something that was fun to look at. For some reason those seemed to help the most. Artwork or small trinkets that would occupy your overactive hands. Records were the most coveted though, music was everything. You had an ipod chalk full of music but with no way to add more to it so new records were a pivotal part of keeping your sanity in check.

By the time the sun had begun to dip below the horizon your duffel was plum full of goodies. By some luck you had found a few guns with a healthy amount of ammunition, a plethora of canned goods and a few sanity savers, but no records. You had found a box full of brightly colored comics, Batman, Avengers, X-men and so much more, it was definitely a good haul for one day outing.

With your newly acquired treasures packed away safely in your trailer you lit a modest fire and cooked your dinner. The outline of the fire danced on the treetops that swayed gently with the evening breeze which didn’t help much with the summer’s heat. The humidity of the night had grown stifling leaving a thin seen of sweat covering your skin so a swim in the nearest body of water was tempting.

The pond that sat on the edge of the park sparkled in the moonlight, the steady breeze setting soft ripples across the glass like surface. You were hot and sticky and with an eight hour drive a dip sounded wonderful.

Your eyes scanned left and right observing your surroundings. You had been here for hours and no one had come out to meet you or thankfully worse. With the decision made your clothes were stripped free and your gun set underneath the pile of discarded clothes by the water just in case.

The moons silver light hit your naked flesh as your descended slowly into the pond holding your breath as your head was submerged beneath the surface. You stayed below for a minute allowing the coolness of the water to lower your body temp and it felt glorious. You had been roasting most of the day, but you couldn’t convince yourself to use the A/C in the truck. The fresh air was so much better.

Floating to your back you started to swim backstroke across the pond watching the night sky come to life with the stars. Since the lights had gone out at the end of civilization the milky way could be seen on a clear night. Witnessing the waves of bright lights from the cosmos was one of the few perks to surviving the apocalypse. That and the calming sounds of nature no longer drowned out by the city life.

As you reached the far end of the pool you suddenly felt something you hadn’t in a very long time, a feeling that you were no longer alone. It was eerie and unsettling for the feeling had become foreign. Your eyes scanned the tree lines and watched your campsite with the lazy fire that continued to lazily lap at the fresh wood you had laid within the ring. No shadows, no movement just the strange feeling of being watched.

Lowing further into the pool you watched the shadows, looking for anything, even an animal to come into view but nothing appeared. Then as quick as it came, the feeling vanished, the unseen gaze swept away with the warm breeze. It was strange but had no proof you were in danger, so you finished your swim and dressed heading back to your camper.

Moving the burning logs away from each other and smothering the glowing embers with the dirt you headed into your trailer for a few hours of sleep. With one final look into the darkness you closed the door and locked the reinforced doors tight.

As the final embers died out in your campfire, four very large shadows emerged from the tree lines. With no sound they moved closer, two blue, one green and one set of amber eyes set on the camper where your slept.

“Haven’t seen her around before?” the one in blue whispered into the breeze for only his companions to hear.

The one wrapped in orange moved closer to the trailer trying to peer into the windows, “And I would definitely like to see her again, especially without her clothes.”

A soft whack resounded on the back of his green skull as the largest of the four came up behind him yanking him from the perimeter. “You don’t know who she is, she could be one of them. And be quite shell for brains, you’ll wake her up.”

The tallest of the four came up to the truck taking in the solar panels with keen interest, “She’s smart, that is for certain.”

“We’ll keep an eye on her for now, no contact. You hear me?”

“Yeah yeah Fearless, we got it. Don’t touch the pretty lady.”

“Let’s go Raphael.”

@waterstar2016 @blossom-skies @thelostandforgottenangel @hollybunch95

#tmnt #tmnt raphael #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt fandom #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fic #TMNT TMNT fanfiction #The Aftermath #part one

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