#and tortoise

[snickerdoodlles]

If you could have a storyline for chai what would it be ?

i might disappoint you nonny 😅

lita uses the mafia as flavoring for Phayu and Prapai, seemingly with the intent of more sexy, more dangerous, and/or more alluring. which is ridiculous. mafias don't exist in dramas to make the characters sexy. mafias exist in dramas to give pretty boys trauma and make my faves cry.

i think lita writers intended for the semi-legal street racing to be hot, but what i see is Pakin's recruiting grounds. just look at the rules: no violence allowed, bet anything from money to people, don't. tell. anyone.

no violence...enforced by violence and threats of death

bet anything from money to people -> what will you risk, what do you value, how do you treat your 'possessions'

don't tell anyone -> the most important and most obvious rule. why would Pakin give a shit about anyone knowing? the races are an open secret. he shuts down highways. this rule exists so that he knows who might be capable of keeping his other secrets.

the street races are designed to attract reckless young men who come from families with money, influence, and power. they give Pakin not only a lot of information on who might be useful to him later, but also leverage. any consequences from illegal street racing is unlikely to stick to these boys--which is why they think they're safe. but now Pakin not only knows a lot more dirt on them than they do him, but he's also the person they call when they're in trouble (see Phayu, see Prapai)

and Chai's his right hand man. he's the face of the races.

now, there are a lot of character quirks about Chai that i immensely enjoy. as i said in a previous post, the fact that his wardrobe includes zebra print shirts delights me endlessly. him trying to keep his customer service voice in place when the guy calls him a lackey is hilarious. when Rain ordered the mafia men to wait so that he could get a few kicks in on his kidnapper, my first reaction was to text tortoise "Phayu is Pakin's favorite, but Rain is Chai's." and i do think Chai genuinely likes both of them, and i like the idea of Rain sometimes chilling with Chai during the races.

i just don't think it will be enough.

Pakin got two big fish during lita canon--he sort of already had Phayu, given that Phayu works on his bikes and organizes his races, but now Phayu owes him a favor for his men scaring off Rain's kidnapper. and then there's the even bigger fish Prapai, who's the heir to an international corporation, filthy rich, and has shown discretion, loyalty, and drive as one of the top racers--and now owes Pakin a favor and can be threatened with conspiracy for murder. Pakin doesn't care about these two staying around in his races as much as he cares about the fact that he has a hold over them now. one of the main faces holding that power over them will be Chai, and Chai will always be Pakin's man first, Phayu and Rain's friend second.

these boys need to find a way to get away from the races and all these mafia men stat.

[everythingfox]

A tortoisaurus

[justcatposts]

"I'm just gonna squeeze in here".

(Source)

[typhlonectes]

[stellaseveride]

ELEMENTARY | 2.19 The Many Mouths of Aaron Colville

[indoraptorgirlwind]

[hometoursandotherstuff]

"Jonathan" is the oldest living terrestrial animal known in the world, born in 1832 and in 2024 he turned 192 years old.

He lived through the First and Second World Wars, the Russian Revolution, lived through seven British monarchs and 39 presidents of the United States.

[heartnosekid]

through.the.lleaves on ig

[babyanimalgifs]

I'm not sure who enjoyed it more

(Source)

[sloppjockey]

stillsees. gouache watercolor

[amu-says-hav-says]

I can’t believe I went through all of Season 2 assuming Nina was the stand-in for Crowley when you actually pay attention it’s so CLEAR that she’s Aziraphale. I was tricked by her spiky, sarcastic, cynical outer shell and lulled into a false sense of security by Maggie’s bubbly optimism and wholesome goodness, because on the surface they reflect the ineffable husbands perfectly, in their personalities, their aesthetics, even many of their actions and morals. but not, and this is the real key, when it comes to their “relationship”. but those first impressions really had me damn fooled. 

I missed the blatantness of Nina’s “we’re just friends. actually we’re not friends. we barely know each other.” the same thing Aziraphale said in season 1.  the way he still struggles to quantify their friendship when Nina asks. Nina’s sarcasm when Crowley asks about rain and awnings because it worked for him (we all know it LMAO). hell, that whole convo the girls have in the rain is so AziraCrow (“I know. I’m not your type” “...You have no idea” hits so much harder the second time, help meeeee.) “Lindsay” maybe being symbolic of Heaven and Aziraphale’s toxic relationship with them and their abuse? (the handwritten text messages in red pen make me think of angry notes on paperwork, anyone else?) because Crowley has never actually cared about what Hell thinks of him, just not getting into trouble (or him or Aziraphale getting hurt). Maggie is always chasing Nina. NINA NEVER GOES IN THE RECORD STORE. Just like Crowley always goes to the bookstore, to Aziraphale, Zira NEVER WENT TO THE FLAT (apart from The Swap but that doesn’t count imo). Crowley has always chased Zira, not the other way around. Always there to rescue him, always going to him for company, always relying on their shared connection, always US. OUR SIDE. All through season one, he comes to Zira every time to work together, never trying to work alongside Hell in any way that isn’t to save their skins or Earth, while Zira hides things from Crowley because he STILL thinks Heaven is ultimately good and will do the right thing if he can just show them. fix it from the inside. 

Maggie working up the courage to finally say something, to put herself out there, while Nina is utterly oblivious and then when she does realise Maggie has feelings, becoming standoffish, putting up that barrier, fighting it, denying it, ITS SO CROWLEY AND AZIRAPHALE IN THAT ORDER. the way I was fooled into thinking Nina’s trust issues are Crowley because he does have trust issues ofc he does BUT Crowley has ALWAYS TRUSTED AZIRAPHALE. has always relied on him. has always been hurt when Aziraphale doesn’t immediately reciprocate the way he expects (the holy water request, the bandstand, the “off in the stars” etc). he’s always the one putting himself forward. Aziraphale has always been the one to second guess everything, to fight their connection, their similarities, their friendship. the girls really made me think it was going to be okay when they sat Crowley down, even as my inner sirens were going haywire about Metatron interfering, they were telling Crowley he just needs to open up and it’ll all work out BUT HE’S ALREADY AT THAT POINT. he may not say it, and by gosh is that part of their damn problem, but he’s always SHOWN IT. he’s not Nina who needs time to heal and recover from her broken trust, he’s always been Maggie believing it doesn’t matter, they’ll end up together in the end anyway AND I WALKED RIGHT INTO THE TRAP THAT THIS MEANT THEY WERE GOING TO BE OKAYYYYYYYYYYY

[herpsandbirds]

Imperial Tortoise Beetle (Stolas imperialis), family Chrysomelidae, found in the Amazon and Atlantic Forests of Brazil

photograph by Sergio Monteiro

[onenicebugperday]

Colombian tortoise beetle, Eugenysa columbiana, Cassidinae, Chrysomelidae

Found from Costa Rica down to Colombia

Photos 1-2 by mason_s, 3-4 by kyukich, 5 by cicciocostarica, 6-7 by bridgitte1234, 8 by birdbarcr, and 9 (for scale) by charlieroberts