#black knot fungus

[blackknotbegone]

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For more details, visit our website: https://www.blackknotbegone.com/

[buffetlicious]

For today’s Breakfast, both sis and I opted for Vegetarian Food. Sis got her fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli) with mock char siu. Also included are both pickled green chilli and red chilli paste. Mum went overboard and picked for me four vegetarian dishes of curry mutton & potato, stewed knotted bean curd skin and sweet & sour pork with a crispy vegetable fritter.

Mum herself went for the Mee Tai Bak Soup (米苔目汤) or 老鼠粉 as some would call it because of the shape of the noodle which is tapered like a mouse tail. Comes with pork slices, minced pork, pig’s livers, fishcake slices and lettuces.

[zoeflake]

Black knot fungus, close-up

[gracemain919]

Cannibal smut?? Pain kink is obvious.. because he braindead, probably obsession need to initiate it, or does cannibal has sexual interest at all??? I think he's quite braindead enough to not have any desire at all??? Any smut with any leader is ok too

The Cannibal(oc):

(The Fungus universe)

Tw: Yandere, Masochism, Smut.

(quick writing)

Another stressful day… Having to sit in meetings and hear the leaders bicker about who should you spend time with. Especially when they expect you to agree with them. God it’s exhausting.

Well, maybe you deserve some sort of relief with no strings attached. You know?

And that’s how you found yourself riding Johnson. Quite literally. Muffled gasps as you went up and down at the pace you liked. Not like he would complain.

That’s the thing you enjoyed. No requests, no demands, just a simple fuck and then you could leave.

Not because he was an idiot. Not entirely. He was still a man with desires no matter how small. The cannibals are just simply neglected by the other leaders even with Johnson’s high status. They were considered a nuisance by the Liar’s standards so they're grateful for any crumb of sexual pleasure.

“Please…, please hurt me” he silently begged as you kept moving looking for your own pleasure in this whole ordeal but his pitiful face only excited you. Maybe you could be merciful.

Grabbing a nearby knife you stabbed his chest probably piercing a lung. Blood tainted your thighs but you didn't care as The Cannibal could only smirk at the thrill. “Again,” he asked like an excited child and you didn't disappoint. More holes to decorate his already fucked up body.

Even with the power to heal, his body has deformations. The hands that gripped your hips were plagued to be the color black. Sharp talons replaced where there should be fingers and the black tint of color trailed down his arms ending up covering some parts of his chest. He was one of the many examples of the corrupted.

“Stay still,” you ordered as the room you were in felt smaller as if you both were the only ones there when in reality some thirsty corrupted might be listening in. You didn't fear such facts. It became more than normal for privacy to be disregarded.

You just enjoyed the sensation of heat building up in your stomach as you started rubbing your own clit while the Cannibal eyed his wounds with love-sick eyes. “Need help?” he asked with a new sudden interest in your actions.

“No… just keep… still” you moaned continuing to grind your hips against his member before the familiar knot of tension broke leaving you in ecstasy.

You were out of breath letting a strange sense of calm watch over you as Johnson released his grip on your hips as he just watched. Waiting for anything to allow him to stand or continue but you were satisfied.

Now you could leave and not have to see his face for another week probably… wasn't he so easy to use and please?

(The outcome/start of this whole interaction depends on the reader)

[aisling-saoirse]

Plant of the day: Black Cherry - Prunus serotina

Today I wanted to recognize a lovely early successional tree species, one of America's showiest "Cherry" species and a vigorous ecological powerhouse

Black cherry has quite the unusual range, commonly found All over the Eastern US but has multiple geographically distinctive subspecies throughout the West and Mexico. North from Minnesota to Nova Scotia south to mid Florida to east Texas, Additionally it can be found in Big Bend National Park, areas of Arizona and New Mexico. South of the border Black Cherry is found throughout the East, West, and South Sierra Madres mountains reaching as far south as Guatemala.

Black Cherry as I've encountered it grows mostly in old fields and disturbed grounds, but apparently in Mexico it occupies mountainous regions. The species is also able to live long enough to be part of some older forests as well. In terms of finding it, If you've ever driven down an Eastern-Midwest highway in May, you'll notice plenty with a stunning display of white flowers (see below). I saw them all the way out to Kansas on Route 70.

This cherry occupies weedy environments very well, usually ending up with twisted bent forms and has an incredibly high germination rate. This vigorous tree can dominate a seed bank for years (I've pulled probably thousands from my garden beds). In Europe-East Asia it is considered a problematic invasive...but here where it's native it can outcompete the worst competition.

Identifying black cherry is rather easy, it has a dark flakey semi-plated bark (below), while the stems are notably cherry like (horizontal fissures) at the stems and intact portions of bark. The heart wood is notably orangish in color and the leaves give off the cherry-like odor when crushed. Leaves are typically longish symmetrical semi-shiny, darkish green with one very visible vein and shallow serated edges. Flowers are white clusters reminiscent of horns present around late May to early June. The ripe fruit is blackish red and present around August, on a good year it's quite plentiful (and delicious).

Black cherry is a wild edible in a few forms. I personally like to snack on the sour ripe fruit and spit out the large seeds, in Mexico these fruits are referred to as cupelines! The most fruitful useage is probably making jelly from collected fruit (something I do not know how to do). Cough syrups were historically derived from the bark and are still present in popular tea flavors such as "throat coats" (awful name).

While marginally edible to us the black cherry is ecologically the most important native cherry species for wildlife. Not only is there plentiful fruit for birds and large mammals the tree is rated number three amoung supported lepidoptera species. Per Doug Tallamy and Kim Shropshire's research the Prunus genus supports [at least] 465 species of invertebrates.

In this vein a common species which inhabits these trees are eastern tent caterpillars (image from inaturalist). I bring them up only because people commonly confuse them for the spongy moth (formerly g*psy moth). But tent caterpillars live in groups and only really eat prunus species whereas spongy moths are devastating and solitary. Interestingly enough the leaves of black cherry contain enough cyanide to make these caterpillars toxic to most predators! Don't break up the tent, tent caterpillars won't kill your tree.

In terms of modern relationships with the tree, people mostly use it as a higher quality cabinetry wood. I believe this species is one of the more common cherry woods to recieve, it has a strong orange hue to its wood which lasts. People also refer this species as an aromatic wood...however having cut down multiple of these trees I hate the smell, fresh cuts are like a chemical cyanide scent...

Lastly I'll bring up causes for decline, lately I've seen a reduction in black cherry due to an introduced fungus called the black knot. This affects many cherry species and isn't always fatal but can kill a tree (hence why I cut down multiple). You can treat individuals if you spot them early by cutting infected branches and burning/burying them before they spore in spring.

Ultimately the Black Cherry is the less famous cousin to the showy Asian cherry cultivars, but still holds a punch of beauty and provides incredibly high ecological value compared to most other American trees. Happy hunting!

[salamansir]

Dream post, I'd appreciate if you gave your thoughts (read the tags please)

So I had a dream a few months ago that was a little weird. I was tied to the base of a pine tree with a stiff rope, and a handsome man with black hair and pale skin came around the trunk. I think I knew him, and trusted him. He laid out a beat up book, a small pot, and pulled a small knife out of his pocket.

He was whispering sweet nothings into my ear about how much he cared about me, and that he was going to show me. He ripped off my boots and my pants, I was shirtless and in my underwear and socks

The ground I'm sitting on is soft and mossy, but the two trees beside the pine are branchy, have no bark, and look dead. He puts his hand on my thigh and lovingly squeezes the fat there, tracing his warm fingers over the small scars while flipping through the book. He's mumbling something under his breath and following the words on the stained paper with a finger and the book on the ground in-between his legs.

He stops, and looks up at me. I think I'm crying, begging him to let me go. He gives me a smile that has my stomach twisting in uncomfortable knots despite the warmth of it. He kisses me on the forehead and tells me that I'll be fine, ill wake up good as new! He tells me that the pain will be temporary, but his love will last longer than my body ever will.

He picks up the knife, and sits on my shin, and says "Look", and cuts a deep line on the inside of my thigh. There is blood all over his hands, and he was going for the artery. I'm screaming, but nothing is really coming out aside from pained whimpers, and I feel very tired. He does the same thing to the other leg, but I'm more focuses on how beautiful his expression is, how much focus he's putting into... whatever the hell this is. My mind feels hazy, like I'm standing in a foggy field. He makes a cut right under my collar bone and it feels like I'm being burned alive. Like I've been doused in cold water, the haze is gone, and he looks... deranged. He's enjoying this. He brings his hand up to his mouth and licks my blood from his wrist all the way to his finger tips and shivers a little. He's savoring the taste, and reaches into his bag and pulls out a candle in a glass jar. He puts it to the side.

I haven't bled out yet. Or maybe I have? I'm still conscious, but I'm so... cold...

He puts his tacky hands on my shoulders and makes a matching cut under the other side of my collarbone. I don't even feel it. I can't hear what he's saying anymore, he kisses my on the cheek this time and gives me a little pat on the other. He sits infront of me as if this were a picnic and starts talking vigorously about something. I don't know, I finally close my eyes. I'm dead. I know I am. So... why do I feel so warm? I'm tingly all over, and I feel like I'm under water.

That's the end of the dream (that part at least)

I was walking through the woods behind my house today doing ✨️creture✨️ things and I go deeper than I have ever gone. And I see it. The tree.

It has the two dead ones around it, and when I go closer, I can see that around the trunk, towards the very bottom, it has an indeat 3/4 of the way around like it was strangle by a vine and then cut away. I do a stupid idiot thing and sit on the ground where I was in the dream. A TERRIBLE, STOMACH CHURNING SENSE OF DREAD washes over me and I feel like I'm going to vomit. I stand up to leave and my foot gets caught in a hole, but I pull it out. I'm on the phone with my friend (We'll call him Ace) and we're talking about the tree, and I tell him I'm not sure which direction I'm going in. I tell Ace that I'm going to walk until I find something familiar, and then I hear my little brother (11) tell me "House is that way Age!"

(Age being how you pronounce a nickname my friend shortened my name to)

Ace hears me acknowledge my brother and I start heading in the direction I heard the voice. I find where I am, and stick to that area looking at some different fungus and what not. But I can't get the tree out of my head, and as I'm about to go back to it, I remember that MY BROTHER IS NOT HOME-

He is at my grandparents house for the day. I start speed walking, and then run out of the woods and inside and here we are.

ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED-

[palushiemalis-fr]

Ouzel found himself stepping tentatively on the loose pebbles of the cave floor, every click of his claws would send echoes scattering down and out of the depths. The breath of earth was just as she said it would be, heavy and almost living...

He curled his tail around himself, he felt the dark drawing over him like a silent crowd. Perhaps he should turn back? The tunnels under the lair felt like they were infinite, knotting and writhing. His map scroll was getting harder to discern in the dim light, his lantern only providing a small glow around himself.

"Ouzel...?"

From the blackness a faint voice came, multiplied by echoes. He instinctively froze before urging himself to reply, he often spent days without talking and had to remind himself how to form her name.

"Eph-epp-...Ephryx!" He spoke, the echoes mocking him. He almost dropped the lantern in fright. "Ouzel! Come down, it's not much further!" Ephryx sounded thrilled, as if it wasn't a leap of faith to wander into the blackness.

He took a deep breath and began walk down, the path becoming smoother and sloping as he went. The air became warmer and he could here the twinkle of dripping water. The dug tunnels now became natural caverns, he saw the shiny glint of quartz and limestone where the light of his lantern fell. Soon the tunnel was lit with the soft blue glow of luminescent fungi. The path opened into a chamber and there lit up at the end of it was Ephryx.

She stood over a sprawling patch of fungus, they had amber caps and were growing up her ankles. She beckoned him over and Ouzel had to pick carefully through a garden of fungal specimens. He kept his tail high and examined the ground with each placement of his claws.

They sat for a while in silence as they listened and watched beauty of the fungarium. Some specimens were grown for study and experiments, others for magical components, but largely it was a pantry for the clan. Ouzel was most interested in the rarest specimens, he eyed a Blue Entoloma springing from a piece of mouldering log that had been brought down to her lair.

"Cute, aren't they?" She smiled, flicking the small springy caps, "You know, it would take three tonnes of powdered entoloma to kill an imperial!"

"How did you calculate that?" He said, peering down at the dewy blue fungi.

"I measured the compounds against the neuroactive matter within Imperial anatomy..." Soon Ephryx was explaining her methodologies as Ouzel stared into the gills of the Entoloma, entranced by its hues as well as Ephryx's soothing lecture.

"Ouzel, have I ever told you about my paper on the taxonomy of the Fungalhoof Qiriq's symbiotic colonies? I realised that it might have some pertinence to your collection!" She clasped her claws together in excitement.

"No, please tell me more." He said, laying down to get a better view of his chosen specimen, "And don't stop this time."

[mrgcalgary]

Black Knot Treatment in Calgary: Simple Steps to Keep Your Trees Healthy

Black Knot is a common fungal disease that can seriously harm trees, especially cherry and plum trees. This disease shows up as ugly, black swellings on branches, which can weaken and even kill the trees if not treated. Black Knot Treatment in Calgary is important for anyone who wants to keep their trees healthy and their yards looking good. In this article, we’ll talk about how you can treat and prevent Black Knot disease, focusing on easy and natural methods. 

What is Black Knot Disease? 

Black Knot is a disease caused by a fungus called Apiosporina morose. It mainly affects trees in the Prunes family, like cherry and plum trees. The disease appears as hard, black lumps or "knots" on the branches. These knots can choke the branches, eventually killing them and making the whole tree unhealthy. If you don’t treat Black Knot, it can spread quickly, especially in areas where many trees are close together. That’s why Black Knot Treatment in Calgary is so important for homeowners and anyone who takes care of trees. 

How to Treat Black Knot in Calgary 

The best way to deal with Black Knot is to catch it early. By checking your trees regularly, especially in late fall or early spring, you can spot the signs of Black Knot before it gets too bad. Once you see the signs, you need to act fast to stop the disease from spreading. 

One of the easiest and most effective ways to treat Black Knot is by pruning the affected branches. You should cut off the branches at least 4 to 6 inches below the black knot to make sure all the infected parts are removed. It’s very important to clean your pruning tools after each cut to avoid spreading the fungus to other parts of the tree. After pruning, you should destroy the infected branches, usually by burning them, because the fungus can survive on cut branches and keep spreading. 

If the Black Knot infection is really bad, you might need to call in professionals. Experts who specialize in Black Knot Treatment in Calgary know exactly how to handle the disease and can use special tools and methods to treat it. They might also suggest preventive measures like applying fungicides, which can help in areas where trees are at high risk of infection. 

Organic Pest Control in Calgary: A Natural Way to Protect Your Trees 

Besides treating Black Knot directly, taking good care of your trees in general can help prevent diseases. Using Organic pest control Calgary is a great way to keep your trees and garden healthy without using harmful chemicals. 

Organic pest control involves using natural methods to protect your trees. This might include introducing insects that naturally eat harmful pests, using organic compost to make the soil healthier, and watering and fertilizing your trees properly. By keeping your trees strong and healthy, they’ll be better able to resist diseases like Black Knot. 

What You Can Do Next 

If you notice Black Knot or any other problems with your trees, it’s important to act quickly to stop the damage. You can get help from professionals who specialize in Black Knot Treatment in Calgary and Organic pest control in Calgary. They have the knowledge and tools to provide effective, natural solutions to keep your trees in great shape. Reach out to us today to schedule a tree inspection and learn more about how we can help you maintain a healthy, beautiful yard. Don’t wait until the problem gets worse—take action now to protect your trees and keep your landscape looking its best. 

[thiae-vi]

CORPSE FLOWER

shards of a mind stained black transparent only in those cracks, where slivers  slithers where light has yet to escape, there you see

what was once healthy and red,  a flesh so thick and meaty and raw, ah woe to all that had their share  on their nicely cut and crisply marked porcelain

woe to all that eat woe to whoever still keeps  their insides inside, and their hearts stitched on their sleeves their brains out on the streets

JAPANESE ANDROMEDA

you are the woman i never stopped loving even in death, your mirror image still, in frames, in reflections, shattering about spaced out, the silence between droplets from  the organ playing in this room  where the abuser becomes the abused and the blood spilled is acidic

SHOWY MILKWEED every song has been sang, thus they now flow through our veins wire together and attached to lists  scattered about on the floor of this home,  it beeps and powers on connected by the blue and the white teeth, but life loses its bones and is undone without you an illness - a friend  the symptom - the fiend

4 music; the love that hurts just as much as it  heals ; hears violence without the danger pain without the suffering takes the heart and tunes it into softness, the wet of the soil sits to watch it bloom  overgrows castles, dials the sun will u let the seedlings overthrow our city where ur voicenotes pan and reverberate in a pulsing room, surrounded by the Raw and the Real forever flowing through a beating machine broken friendship bracelets, though we tied a knot again to see where this will lead but especially , where will it end? 

ALGAL BLOOM the muscles turn and twist, their white skin stretched, rippled, on the leg, gleaming thighs and calves, so unafraid under that sun i could not help but want  all around me the same and the other i cannot embrace, i cannot bother

the poison blue pulls me  from my strange new lover holding desire over me, a roof of fungus pulls away as i draw  nearer an attempt there, in dirt, i could not hear her cleansed, i do not fear her

take a picture of me, baby angel see what is left (oh, Hell) and put it to use i dont need a sign, nothing has been clearer i've peeked into the windows i've withdrawn i've seen ur heart and u know it, i'll see u again  we'll meet again at dawn

[blackknotbegone]

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Visit: https://www.blackknotbegone.com/

[batchelorandsons]

7 Signs your Peach Tree Needs Pruning

The peach tree is a beautiful and hardy addition to any garden or landscape. It produces delicate, fragrant fruit that can be enjoyed by both humans and animals with the help of a tree lopping Logan. Unfortunately, like any fruit tree, it is prone to certain problems that need to be addressed to keep it healthy and productive.

One such problem is the need for pruning. Pruning helps to promote healthy growth and maximizes fruit production. Knowing when your peach tree needs pruning can help you save time and money by preventing potential problems before they arise.

Here are some significant signs that your peach tree needs pruning.

Overcrowding

If you notice branches growing close together or rubbing against one another, it’s a sign that your peach tree may be overcrowded. This overcrowding causes competition for light, air, and nutrients within the canopy which can lead to poor growth and fruit quality. To help reduce overcrowding, remove some of the smaller branches that are crowding larger ones or those with weaker angles of attachment to the main trunk. 

Poorly Placed Branches

Branches that have poor angles of attachment from their point of origin on the trunk or main scaffold limbs should be removed as they are likely to break away during storms or heavy fruit loads. Aim for 45-65 degrees when looking at branch angles as this is considered ideal for proper structure and support throughout a tree’s lifetime. 

Unbalanced Growth

If one side of your peach tree is much taller than the other then consider heading back any excess growth to restore balance to your peach tree’s overall shape. Additionally, if there is excessive regrowth coming from the same spot this could indicate vigorous suckers that should be removed as well to encourage more uniform growth throughout your tree’s canopy. 

Too Much Shade

Peach trees need plenty of sunshine to produce healthy fruits with full flavour profiles so if you notice interior portions of your tree getting too much shade from its foliage consider thinning out some branches near these areas to allow more light penetration into these shaded areas where it is needed most. 

Pest Infestation

If you find insects like aphids or scale-sucking sap off new shoots then prune back severely infested branches to prevent further spread within the canopy or even onto neighbouring trees or plants in your yard. Also, inspect trees for borers that can weaken branches due to their tunnelling and drilling habits; any damaged wood should be removed before these pests cause further damage or spread disease throughout your entire peach tree population. 

Disease Prevention

Pruning away diseased branches or shoots (such as black knot fungus) can help protect other parts of the tree from becoming infected by removing sources where diseases might start spreading from one part of a plant to another; dead wood should also always be removed as soon as possible since this provides a place for fungi and other disease-causing organisms to live on and thrive off dead material without causing direct harm until they reach living tissues nearby later down the road as conditions become more favourable for them in terms of temperature and humidity levels etc. Keep an eye out for powdery mildew symptoms like spots on leaves too; removing affected leaves immediately upon observation will help keep this fungal disease from becoming widespread throughout a single plant let alone an entire garden filled with different varieties!  

Improving Fruit Quality & Yields

Pruning away old fruiting spurs (woody growths) helps promote better fruiting spurs with higher yields since new growth tends to bear fruits far more easily than older woody material does; however, don’t go overboard here since having too few spurs can also equate to fewer flowers/fruits being produced each year! Additionally thinning out overly dense areas helps promote better airflow between individual blossoms which encourages good pollination leading up towards larger crops each season! 

Knowing when and how much to prune can help maintain better health in peach trees while boosting fruit quality & quantity during harvest time! By following all of the steps outlined above, gardeners everywhere can ensure that their trees remain strong & healthy while producing lots of delicious peaches year after year!

[buffetlicious]

I am doing my part of eating less meats and here is my Vegetarian Rice (斋饭) for breakfast. Seems like the curry mock mutton & potato is the first dish that mum chose for me, followed by sweet & sour imitation pork slices. The third dish is stewed knotted bean curd skin with black fungus and lastly another favourite, the creamy sweet mock pork ribs.

[doctorbhargavahomeopathy]

How Do I Reduce Hair Loss Problems Naturally?

Hair is the crown on every individual’s head that is a direct expression of their personality and style. Hair loss is one of the most common problems affecting the self-esteem of both men and women today. Losing 50 to 100 hair strands per day is considered normal. However, excessive hair loss can be troublesome and difficult to manage without a proper diagnosis.

Before investing in hair care products, it is important for us to understand the underlying causes leading to hair loss. Stress, underactive thyroid, genetic factors, nutritional deficiencies, pollution, hormonal changes such as puberty, pregnancy, taking birth control pills, menopause, and chronic illnesses with long-term use of allopathic medications are few of the common causes of hair loss.

Hair Care Tips for Hair Fall Control:

It may be very surprising for us to learn that hair fall Homeopathic remedies can be managed with every easy natural remedy as well as changing little things in our daily hair care routine.

Massaging – Massaging your scalp with your fingertips applying slight pressure in circular motion increases blood circulation to the hair follicles. Gentle scalp massages done every day over the time period of a few months have shown to significantly help to reduce hair fall and help in hair growth.

Regular Hair Wash – It is important to regularly wash your hair and scalp to maintain hygiene and keep your scalp free from any bacteria and fungus which may further lead to dandruff. Make sure to wash your hair 2-3 times every week with lukewarm water and a mild shampoo. Dead Sea shampoo is one such mild homeopathic shampoo that clarifies your scalp, reduces hair fall, and helps treat dandruff too.

Hair tip: If you have longer hair, comb it before washing to detangle any knots present! Wet hair should not be combed as it is weaker and breaks easily.

Aloe Vera Gel and Tea Tree Essential Oil: Aloe vera gel, by itself, is a common and easily available ingredient that helps reduce hair loss, treats itchy scalp and dandruff. Tea tree oil is another widely used ingredient for scalp homeopathy treatment for dandruff. Since essential oils are a concentrated form of oil, they need to be mixed in a medium. Combine aloe vera gel with 10 drops of essential tea oil in a bowl, apply on the scalp and leave for 45 minutes. Wash with a mild shampoo and follow up with a conditioner on the length of your hair.

Oil Massages – Hair oil massages have been an ancient tradition for Indians to maintain our luscious hair. Though every grandmother has their own secret recipe for the perfect hair oil, a mixture of curry leaves, castor oil, rosemary oil, geranium oil, and lavender oil will provide your scalp with the nourishment it needs.

Combating Nutritional Deficiencies – We are what we eat! Fueling your body with food rich in antioxidants, vitamin B-complex, C, D, and essential fatty acids will give your hair growth a much-needed boost. Including food items such as eggs, flaxseed oil, yoghurt, berries, sunflower seeds and black sesame seeds in your daily diet is bound to help improve your hair health. The addition of a medicinal supplement such as Bals Tablet homeopathic medicine will help fight against hair fall, itchy scalp and dandruff.

If you are experiencing excessive hair loss and are unable to understand why, consult with doctor immediately to get an accurate diagnosis.

[mushroom-gt]

rest of your life

(otherwise known as rose’s terrible horrible no good very bad day. follows rest stop and restless, both of which should be read first! around 3K words. cw for the usual fungus and corpse-based grossness. this piece was sponsored by episode 32 of the magnus archives. You Know Why.)

-

Rose’s eye snapped open.

The groggy remains of their brain shot into overdrive at the sudden influx of sensory information, burning away the haze of their dreams in light and sound. Too bright. Too green. Loud. Buzzing. Something in their back. Something in their face—away, get away, they swatted at the thing hovering too close to them, to knock whatever it was out of the air. Unfortunately it was too quick to actually hit, and instead darted back from their hand with all the grace of a housefly avoiding a newspaper.

Without a four-inch assailant in his personal space, the harsh spotlights and stereo sound dimmed, the colours congealed into comprehensible visuals, and he remembered where he was. The forest. The prince. His half-baked resurrection, the puppeteering tendrils, his impromptu nap. All of it came flooding back. And the very real pain in their back from the knot in the tree trunk they’d slept against indicated that, yes, as far as they could tell, this was not just a stomach-turning nightmare. A glance at their decaying arms further confirmed that they were exactly as dead as they remembered. Good to know. Great, actually. So much for resting in peace.

Their body ached as they took shuddering, unnecessary breaths. The world was still realigning in their eye, coming back into focus—or maybe they were the one coming back, back into their rotting physical flesh from wherever they’d gone in their sleep. The memory of it was dying by the second, but they had been… floating? Not floating, they hadn’t had a body, they were barely even there, and it was too empty, they’d been lost, alone, afraid—

“Finally. I was beginning to wonder if you’d somehow died again.”

Sebastian’s smug tone cleaved through his thoughts and turned them to dust and spores. He grit his teeth. Oh, he certainly hadn’t forgotten about the prince, but it was nice to pretend he wasn’t there while he could.

“How long were you waiting there?” they asked.

From the shade his hair turned—because of course a fungus pretending to be a fairy would blush through its disgusting mold-hair—Rose intuited that it had been a while. But the little creature puffed his chest and deigned not to answer, instead saying, “I’ve realized, corpse, that we failed to negotiate the terms of our little arrangement here. Thus our disagreements, leading to your… outbursts.”

Oh, this was going to be good. They slumped back into the tree and braced themself for what was sure to be an insufferable monologue. “Right. That’s why.”

“I suppose I’m to blame for that,” he went on. “You were unusually competent at following basic instructions. I barely had to move your legs once you began to walk. Most of my other reanimated servants couldn’t even stand on their own. Shame on me for thinking it a stroke of good fortune rather than an omen of rudimentary sentience.”

“Uh huh.”

“As such, I have drafted a pact that I believe we will both find agreeable. Neither of us are content with the current state of affairs; the sooner we strike a deal, the sooner we are rid of one another. I am not in the mood to repeat myself, so pay attention.”

“Sure,” they said, not paying attention. “Hey, what the fuck is that?”

It had somehow slipped their notice when they first awoke, but in their attempt to distract themself from Sebastian’s blathering they spotted the dead bird that had definitely not been there when they fell asleep. It was sprawled out on the ground in front of them, black feathers spattered with dried blood, fat, hairy flies circling it like vultures and covering it in their germs. Its neck looked like it had been snapped, and it stared vacantly at them.

“What—” The prince turned his head. “Oh. That. It was lunch,” he said, far too nonchalantly. “But I’ve had my fill. Help yourself if you like.”

Undeath apparently did not suppress the gag reflex. “Vegetarian, actually, but thank you for the generous offer. Get it away from me.”

“You have a perfectly functional pair of hands, for the time being.”

“I am not touching that thing with my bare—” They groped around themself, found a decently-sized branch, and used it to poke the decaying bird to a more acceptable distance. Even that was enough to make them want to hurl, not the least because its dead black eyes seemed to be looking directly into their soul. Watching them. Judging them. Eugh. “Did you…?”

“Kill it? Yes. Before it got the chance to strip the skin from your skull. You’re welcome. Now, are you ready to hear out my proposal, or would you prefer to stay locked in this frustrating tug of war for the rest of time?”

“You’re making it real tempting,” they muttered. “But whatever gets you to shut up faster.”

The prince landed in front of them, finally putting an end to the high-pitched drone of his wings. Only fitting, they supposed, that he managed to be loud and annoying even when he wasn’t talking. He cleared his throat like he expected them to sit up straight, and received a flat look and crossed arms for his troubles.

Sadly, this did little to discourage him. He merely shot them a glare before he began to speak. “You, human, will act as my mode of transportation throughout the yet-unclaimed territories of these woods. You will perform this role until such time as a sufficient replacement corpse is located, defined as the remains of a deceased creature with equal or superior physical strength to my present vessel—that is to say, you—which either lacks a mind of its own or agrees to assist me in my aims.”

Rose rolled his eye.

“Prior to the discovery of a sufficient replacement corpse, you will obey any commands given to you. You will not attempt to sabotage, obstruct, or otherwise slow the pursuit of a sufficient replacement corpse. This,”—he gestured towards them and the tree they had napped against—“will not happen again. In exchange for this service, upon the location of a sufficient replacement corpse, my present vessel—again, you—will be retired, as per your stated interest. You will return to death, and as the new lord of the Court of Scales I will personally see to it that your body is never again reanimated.”

They waited a moment for him to finish. He did not continue.

“… Is that it?” they asked.

“Is what it?”

“That’s—” They rubbed at their temples. Fucking hell. “That’s your deal. That’s the entire offer. I keep being your chauffeur, I carry you around this magic nightmare forest without arguing, and my grand reward at the end of it all is you kill me. Are you for real?”

For a brief flash, Sebastian looked genuinely taken aback. But then his face hardened, and he said, “In case you’ve forgotten, you are already dead, corpse. Did you not express a preference for quiet decomposition?”

“I mean, it’d be better, in the same way that fucking a cactus is better than fucking a woodchipper.” A bitter laugh escaped their lips. “Actually, no, that’s not even what you’re saying, is it? You’re trying to entice me into the woodchipper by promising me a chance with the cactus later. Fuck off.”

“Well,” he huffed. “Aren’t we confident in our choice?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty easy when you can’t offer anything better than ‘I’ll kill you once you stop being useful.’ What happens when I say no?”

… He shouldn’t have asked that.

The prince’s demeanour changed on a dime. Gone was the antagonism, the ire; in its place came an uncanny degree of glee that made Rose one hundred percent certain they’d just stepped in a conversational bear trap. His mouth curled into a too-wide smile, and he clapped his hands together. “I am so delighted you asked, my dear human!” he exclaimed, so upbeat he was nearly singing. “If you choose to reject my partnership, I leave you to your own devices. You will never see me again. I will disappear from your unlife… and I will take my ward with me.”

Oh, they hated this. He’d been waiting, he’d prepared for this precise opportunity, and they hated it. Hated knowing they were playing right into his hands, hated that they were giving him the satisfaction of following his script. Hated that they were going to ask for clarification, because he wouldn’t offer it on his own, because he wanted them to ask for themself. Wasn’t it enough to know that whatever he meant by his ‘ward,’ it was bad enough to be his trump card? Were the specifics worth their pride?

Yes. They were. “Your what?”

His laughter grated on their ears almost as much his buzzing as he lifted off to face them at eye level. “My ward, little corpse,” he said, the saccharine-sweetness of his words like cough syrup swirled with arsenic. “Certainly you didn’t think it was mere coincidence that you’re in such remarkable shape? Just a scant few fungal patches. Only one eye lost. Nothing like that poor carrion crow. Shall we take a look?”

“I’d really rather not—”

“No, no, I insist.” And with a strength disproportionate to his stature, roots shot from his gown, laced through the bird’s body, and dragged it back, so it was even closer than when they’d woken up. Instinct and germophobia forced them backwards, but they were already up against the tree, nowhere for them to go. All they could do was pull their legs to their chest as the rotting pile of feathers mouldered away in their personal space.

“It’s blooming quite nicely, don’t you think?” They’d been so repulsed by the crow they hadn’t noticed him fly up to their ear, and they flinched hard. “The blowflies came and went while you were asleep, I’m afraid, but they left plenty of eggs. Some are hatching even now, a million squirming maggots that will burrow their way into its breast. Not all will live, of course, and any that burst—well, they just become part of the buffet! And they’re not alone, no; other flies are coming, too, with larvae that specialize in exterminating early arrivals. They’ll go to war, just moments after birth!” He gave a fond little sigh, like he was recounting an old flame instead of a compost heap. “Creatures after my own heart…”

“Okay,” they breathed, trying not to choke on their own disgust. “Stop. I get the picture.”

“I really don’t think you do. That’s only the flies, after all. Why, you haven’t even seen the dermestids that will chew up its skin and feathers, the bursts of microbiota that will bloat it with putrid gases, or any of the lovely molds that will surely spring up! As we speak, their invisible spores are drifting through the air, landing on each and every surface, desperate for something dead enough to grow into. The ones covering your skin must be so disappointed.”

They knew what Sebastian was getting at. They weren’t stupid. But he just kept going, every rotten word turning their stomach, and if they weren’t too busy constricting their throat to keep the bile down they would have screamed at him to get it over with, to fucking say it already.

As if on cue, he giggled, and said, “Just think… without my ward, all of that could be you.”

There it was. He shuddered, pushed the thought out of his mind as much as he could. He still had a choice. The prince might have succeeded in nauseating him, but he was stubborn, and it’d take more than some gross-outs to change his mind.

“… So either I help you and I die,” he said carefully, “or I don’t help you and I die. This isn’t the slam dunk you thought it was.”

If they’d stepped in a bear trap earlier, then here was the bear itself. Peals of the fairy’s laughter rang out like awful, mocking church bells, and he nearly fell out of the air in his fit. “Oh, no, no, no, my dear, naive corpse,” he singsonged once he had caught enough breath to speak. “You misunderstand.” He dove towards their face like a dragonfly after a mosquito, hovering just before their eyes, wearing a ghastly, malicious smile.

“You don’t die if I remove my ward.”

No. “Get away from me.”

“You will feel every writhing grub that makes your flesh its home. Every scavenger and worm that strips away your skin, every bacterium that flourishes in your bloodless veins, every tendril of every spore that uses you as substrate. Any sleep you manage, you will awaken less whole, more infested, until your joints break down and you can no longer move or cry or scream.”

No, no, no. “I said get away from me.”

“You’ll be more than a host, sweet corpse. You’ll be a hive. Can you imagine it? Decomposers, parasites, feeding and breeding and multiplying, all within your body—for as long as it can meaningfully be called ‘yours,’ anyways, and not theirs. Their habitat, their haven, their environment. Oh, it’s a shame I won’t be around to see what nests within that empty eyesocket… It looks positively cozy.”

He was bluffing. He had to be. “I said get away.”

“And the best part? You’re the only case I’ve seen in which a reanimated body gets its mind back, too… Which means I don’t know when you’ll finally be released. Who knows? Maybe never! Maybe you’ll spend the rest of eternity in a hollow state of agony, long after your corpse is dust, kept forever from any sort of peace. Maybe your last sensation will be your skeleton crumbling into the dirt, but you’ll still be stuck, and you’ll go mad from lack of stimulation. Maybe you’ll reawaken spread far and wide in the digested bodies of everything that returned your cadaver to the soil, so thoroughly fractured you cannot even comprehend it. Which will it be? Do you want to find out?”

A tendril grazed their shoulder—

“Don’t FUCKING touch me!”

As quickly as it had arrived, Sebastian’s amicable affectation dropped, and his voice went cold. “I am not playing games, vessel,” he hissed, as they stared at him in horror. “I have a mission. You are lucky I haven’t already left you to rot alive for your disrespect. Make. Your. Choice.”

The only sounds in the clearing were the hum of his wings and Rose’s ragged, panicked breaths.

Later, he would regret letting fear make the choice for him. The pressure of the situation had been too much to think clearly. Grisly as the fairy’s threat was, he clearly needed Rose more than he cared to outright admit, and he could have leveraged that. He could have been more specific, negotiated more for himself, to make this nightmare more tolerable. And by the time he got the chance to think things over, it would be much too late to amend the contract.

But in the moment, he met the crow’s empty, glassy eyes, and found his voice before his reason.

“Two conditions,” he managed.

The prince clucked his tongue, but didn’t look away. “I’ll hear them.”

“One: I can’t keep roaming around forever. I need rest. At least once a day, at least a few hours.”

“Necromancy removes the need for sleep—”

“Maybe physically. But if you try to make me walk for a week straight without a break I’m going to snap and see how well you grow back from being peeled like a string cheese.”

“Always the brutality with you,” he said, as though he was in any position to judge. “Acceptable. Secondly?”

“You talk to me like I’m a fucking person. Okay? None of this ‘corpse’ or ‘vessel’ shit. My name is Rose.”

For a moment, Sebastian just blanked. Like they’d blindsided him. Was that… good?

Apparently not, because then he chuckled. Not with the manic schadenfreude from before, no, this was lower, darker. Disbelieving.

“… You really don’t know anything about the fey, do you?” The look on his face was almost pitying. “Handing your name over just like that.”

Wait. Shit. Shit shit shit that’s right you weren’t supposed to do that. They’d never cared for stories about the fey, but even they knew that was always like rule number one, fuck, they’d screwed themself over—

“You are remarkably fortunate that names cease holding power after death. Else, you would be serving as my transport and I would grant you a waking decay,” he tutted.

Oh. Okay. So… not immediately ruined. That was… about as much of a relief as they could hope for, all things considered. Not that that made them feel any less like a rabbit in a snare, especially when the prince had such a satisfied gleam in his eye.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I find these terms agreeable. Is that all?”

They kept their mouth shut. Not in the mood for their words to betray them again. Instead, they nodded, slow and deliberate, and Sebastian’s face lit up so quickly they immediately regretted it.

“Well then, Rose…”

Something shuddered in their veins as he spoke, old rotten blood standing alert at the call of a name, an echo of a force that could have once strung them along like a helpless marionette and still had the power to shake them to the bone and all at once they realized the scope of the mistake they had made.

“I believe we have a deal.”

[shewhowantsmouseears]

morgwing meet-up messy drabble

My year-long-fic-break has been slightly broken, but don’t expect too much. I had enough brain juice in me to write this 3 page silliness.

Still riding the high from @queenie-draws-stuff ‘s rad Morgana redesign, I decided to write a potential “how they met” deal, combining the original Fungus Amongus quotes/situation with Queenie’s Goth Rock set-up.

Additional notes now I think of them before jumping right to what is basically “mel enjoys writing simps”

The Band uses a We Will Rock You style song (been listening to this cover) to hypnotize her fans into attacking Darkwing and the gang.

Halestorm’s cover of Bad Romance is definitely suitable for attacking and flirting with Darkwing at the same time.

At one point, Darkwing gets her guitar away from her and he’s confident “Ahaha! Now that I’ve taken away your magic, you’re helpless!” And Morgana smiles... then bursts into cackles. “Oh, Dark Darling... my guitar isn’t the source of my power. It’s merely a conduit.” (”a... a what”) “In other words...” her hands and eyes glow. “It’s time for the encore, baby.”

OKAY TIME FOR THE SHORT WRITTEN THING ITSELF

In hindsight, this wasn’t the best plan, but in his defense, it worked all the time on a TV show he’d watched as a child. Darkwing paused to think about that train of logic, and pondered if perhaps he should stop trying to plan his investigations that way and instead follow his own instincts next time.

 “OWWWWW BONES DO NOT BEND THAT WAY!”

 If there was a next time. He had assumed the whole goth rock mutant monster image was just that, an image. The guy with two heads, the girl with one eye, the behemoth of a drummer? All of it was just costumes and acting! So when announced his presence in his typical overly dramatic fashion, he assumed they would cower in fear before offering their assistance. Instead, they had jumped him and were now holding his arms behind his back and threatening to tie his limbs into knots. As he continued to squirm in place, he once more tried to plead his innocence.

 “I’m here to HELP!” He cried out, nervously noticing the two-headed terror cracking his knuckles while the one-eyed wonder was pulling out various sharp instruments from her purse, and they definitely weren’t the musical kind. “I was just looking for clues! You know those robberies that have been happening around here, right?! There’s a connection between them and your band!”

 “And now we’re about to disconnect your head from your neck!” Said the left head, and the right headed nodded vigorously.

 Darkwing winced, as the others advanced on him, the grip on his arms tightening. If this was his last day on earth, he really wished his last words to Gosalyn hadn’t been “Remember to run the dishwasher after homework.” He closed his eyes, his brain struggling to think of how to get him out of this sticky situation…

 “HEY!” A sharp - yet familiar – voice broke through the scene. “What’s going on here?! We do not treat our fans this way! Put him down!”

 It took less than a second for Darkwing to recognize the voice – this was the singer of the band, after all. When Gosalyn had showed him the link to her new favorite indie band, Darkwing had taken a compulsory listen without paying attention to the visuals, as he was busy trying to pin down the strange case of robberies where the victims couldn’t remember being robbed at all. The singer was definitely talented, a strong but sultry voice that Darkwing certainly wouldn’t have minded listening to on a loop. But it’d been also terribly distracting, so he hadn’t tried to give the music video any attention. Once again, this proved to have been not the best idea in hindsight.

 Because then he would have prepared for the absolute bombshell that walked through the curtains.

 Darkwing opened one eye to see his savior, and then both eyes were not only open, but they were also quite wide in shock. The woman in question was a leggy stunner, her black and white hair parted over one side and trailing down her eerily pale feathers like a shadowy walk lit by moonlit. Sharp green eyes pierced right through his heart, analyzing him as he stood there in a slack-jawed stupor. She adjusted her blood-red guitar over her back, the crimson and black spider-web outfit giving him the feeling he’d be the fly that eagerly walked into this parlor any day. She rested one hand on her hip, and snapped her fingers – even her nails were unique – long, sharp, yellow, and deadly.

 Darkwing had no more time to realize he had a type and she was it when he was let go and dropped to the floor. As he scrambled to get up and dust himself off, the one-eyed woman huffed. “We caught this weirdo sneaking around here, Morgana.”

 Morgana held up a hand, signaling for silence. “I got this, Cornea.” She looked Darkwing up and down once more before smiling in amusement. “I believe this is where you introduce yourself.” She offered her hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, mister…?”

 “D-Dingwing Dork.”  Darkwing sputtered, his palm feeling incredibly sweaty in her delicate hand. He was quick to realize his mistake, yelped, and fumbled with his hands and hat as he tried to make his brain calm down. “DARK! Darkwing Duck! Dark-Darkwing Duck.” After a hard throat clear, he tried to pretend he hadn’t made an absolute fool of himself several times, tipping his hat politely, doing a gentlemanly bow, and ignoring the various eyerolls of the other band-mates. “At your service.”

 “What an unusual name,” Morgana commented, lightly tilting his beak up with one of her fingers, closing the gap between them for a few but very, very personal seconds. “But then you appear to be very unusual… I like that.” When she pulled away, it was a sheer miracle Darkwing didn’t fall forward, though he certainly leaned in enough to make it a close call. “We were just wrapping up rehearsal. We want to close up shop early, what with all those midnight robberies going on.”

 Darkwing stopped for a second, befuddled. “Hang on. How did you know they were midnight robberies?” He was fairly certain that was something the press hadn’t leaked, and he’d only just figured out the timeline a day before.

 Morgana froze in place – eyes quickly shooting to her fellow players – before rolling her shoulders, readjusting her guitar so that it slid back into her arms. “I… deduced it.”

 Maybe if Launchpad and Gosalyn were there – the former to ask more questions, the latter to smack some sense into him – Darkwing would have taken greater notice of that lengthy pause. Instead? She deduced it, he thought, his heart doing cartwheels. My kinda woman. Despite his clear problematic infatuation, his brain did have enough cells left to ask another important question. “Isn’t it kind of… peculiar… to hold a rehearsal this late?”

 Morgana plucked a few notes off her guitar, walking back onto the front of the stage, the curtains now perfectly parted to show the moon shining down from the ceiling – the venue, such as it was, had certainly seen better days. But now the various holes above seemed to be an improvement rather than something that needed fixing. “I enjoy the night,” she answered, and then playfully added, “Besides, the sun is so harsh on my skin.”

 “You know…” Darkwing casually strolled up to Morgana’s side, his previous predicament forgotten already, “I’m something of a creature of the night myself.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

 Morgana chuckled quietly. “I bet we have a lot in common, Darkwing. In fact…” She lightly nudged the guitar’s neck into Darkwing’s actual neck, enjoying the audible tiny ‘eep’ his flustered mouth made. “I bet we could make beautiful music together.”

[radiomayak]

Kolya

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

Ivan looked up from his boots and looked out into a clearing produced from a landslide. His weight sat on his heels so his toes could perch on the crumbling edge, and in front of his eyes swept a grand pelvic curve of the forest upward into a small mountain, one green mound of many. It was a beautiful shape. The hill drew the eye as much as the bend, the space that begged for the sky to fill it, and the sky delivered. The summer stripped away any chances of mist with lavish sunshine, bearing the contrast between the sky and the trees with the frankness of nudity. The blue and it’s sweeping, gauzy trim of clouds was cut by ridges further north.

The trip was longer than he’d remembered, but it may have been the day dragging. A bus, another bus, a train, and a round of hitchhiking over the course of a few days brought him to the right place, or one that was right enough. After that, he’d been on foot… it was only day four of that. He’d missed bathing in the springs. It wasn’t hot enough for ruin his clothes, and it was amazing what the proper polyester-spandex could do to make travel easier than it was a century ago. The walk was lovely.

It was comforting to feel that his legs could still carry him up and down all day. His hands hadn’t forgotten the simple knots that made a tent between two trees possible. His body could still rest that close to the ground, and he could still find something to eat out in the rough. He hadn’t forgotten how to live off of… himself. It seemed as simple as picking a scab for sustenance.

The bugs and the critters on every surface, hidden under logs and brush, went about their days as usual. The shuffling and the flapping of wings in the night was comforting. As sure as the lines of his skin, every tiny shape that bender with a twitch of muscle, there was a worm working it’s way through the soil.

One morning, he looked into a clearing made from lumber harvesting, with the small saplings sprouting to replace only being armpit-high at the most, with their spindly branches and fresh greenery splaying them out like tiny decorative sculptures among the forest floor made of sticks and the fungus trying to made it soil. Stumps were still solid, but grayed from the weather and the sun. There was a single brown and black wolf standing in the daylight…

Ivan drew his gun when he saw the look of extreme interest on its face, with raised ears and piercing eyes, watching him pose, and the dog began to approach. His hands shook as he saw it run, but without the deepness of form of a wolf charging forward. The power was gone, and the dog ran forward like it recognized Ivan, trotting and waggin its tail, tongue flying as it bounded over the fallen logs that were left behind. Ivan lowered the gun, but it couldn’t be the same dog he’d known so long ago. There was no way it could have survived over a century without him. It didn’t work that way. That’s why Ludwig always brought his dogs around with him, right?

But as it lept and slowed down to a trot to greet him, his knees made him kneel, and the way the dog approached him despite the gun in his hand, and brushed his face across his chest… Ivan nearly felt forced to accept the best case scenario. It was almost humiliating to believe a fantasy that he’d held so dearly. He could never have another dog again after seeing that carcass… he’d forced himself to believe it was him even though the fur looked different. He’d wanted so dearly for a friend in every dog he met, wanting to capture a little bit of the understanding he’d felt in Kolya’s gold-flecked eyes that were now staring back at him through the blur of his tears. His nose ran on Kolya’s thick, dusty fur, every bit as soft as when they slept together like pups in a hunting cabin in the winter. And Kolya, ever-content, didn’t understand the cause for tears and began to fuss and lick and nip and Ivan’s hands and the bottom of his chin.

It was noon by the time Ivan had reckoned enough with the presence of Kolya to leave, and carried Kolya until they had found a trail. He’d used a spare rope as a leash although he never used to tie Kolya, but Kolya had left one night, long before the world knew global war, when the serfs that had been released were still forming a new social strata as free(r) people. Ivan had found something precious he thought was lost forever and wanted to keep Kolya safe until he could meet the world that had grown in the meantime.