#fashion incubator

[zanimljivaekonomija]

51. L’Oreal Fashion Week

Beograd, 5 - 14. maj 2023. 

A Modern Renaissance for the Next Generation

(Nova renesansa za novu generaciju)

Nakon spektakularne 50. Beogradske nedelje mode, koja nas je podsetila na sve važne vrednosti kojima je ova manifestacija doprinela našoj modnoj i umetničkoj sceni, Modni studio Click najavljuje prolećno izdanje L’Oreal Fashion Week-a, koje će se održati  od 5. do 14. maja. I ove sezone, ekskluzivni partner manifestacije je globalni lider u industriji lepote - L’Oreal Paris.

Novi koncept 51. izdanja L’Oreal Fashion Week-a podrazumeva ekskluzivni BFW šator, od preko 1000 m2, koji će biti postavljen ispred Ušće Shopping centra, omijenog okupljalište ljubitelja mode koje postavlja trendove bogatim izborom svetskih i domaćih brendova te na ovaj način daje vidljivost i domaćim dizajnerima kroz inovativnu formu. Multifunkcionalni šator predstavlja centralni prostor dešavanja pod kojim će biti održan celokupan revijski program po ugledu na manifestacije u modnim prestonicama poput Njujorka, Londona, Milana, Pariza...

U svom novom poglavlju, Beogradska Nedelja mode u fokus stavlja naboj energije i ideja novih generacija, koje svojom autentičnošću i snagom donose novu Renesansu. Autor aktuelne BFW kampanje je multitalentovana umetnica Nevena Ivanović, koja s upehom vodi svoj brend Neo design. Noseće fotografije kampanje „Nova Renesansa za novu generaciju“ predstavljaju ukrštanje nasleđenog iskustva i novih ideja, promišljanje baštine, ali i slavljenje autentičnosti i održivosti novih vrednosti i poslužile su kao inspiracija za 51. L’Oreal Fashion Week.

Okosnicu manifestacije čini autorska moda prestižnih domaćih dizajnera koji će kroz brojne tematske revije  i samostalne kolekcije predstaviti autentični modni dizajn kao i aktuelne trendove. Na  svečanom otvaranju 51. L’Oreal Fashion Weeka predstavljamo reviju Boška Jakovljevića koji obeležava 15 godina od svoje prve kolekcije muške mode.

Jedna od najzanimljivijih revija u programu BFWa biće posvećena nedavno preminuloj Vivienne Westwood, jednoj od najuticajnijih ličnosti savremene mode, pokretača pank mode, koju je odlikovala provokativna i buntovna estetika. Njena kreativnost I bogata karijera su značajno uticale na razvoj autorske modne scene kod nas tako da će najpoznatiji BFW dizajneri interpetirati uticaj Vivijen Vestvud kroz modele koje su izradili posebno za ovu tribute reviju.

Ove godine se navršava 15 godina od kada na Belgrade Fashion Weeku dodeljujemo Nagradu Boris Nikolić za savremeni modni izraz.  Želja nam je da se podsetimo svih dosadašnjih dobitnika ove važne nagrade, Borisa, njegovog rada, kreativnosti, sjajnih kolekcija koje su obeležile razvoj Belgrade Fashion Weeka i uticale na formiranje autentičnog izraza domaće modne scene.

Na 51. BFWu nas očekuje još jedno izdanje Fashion Incubator programa, koji ima za cilj aktivnu podršku mladim dizajnerima u prezentaciji njihovog rada i započinjanju profesionalnih karijera. Ovoga puta, u saradnji sa dugogodišnjim partnerom Perwoll-om, pozvali smo studente, diplomce i postdiplomce modnog dizajna da na svež i progresivan način kreiraju modele na temu “Rethink Fashion”. U reviji učestvuju studenti Fakulteta savremenih umetnosti mentorke Sonje Krstić, studenti Univerziteta Metropolitan mentora Aleksandra Protića i  studenti Visoke Tekstilne škole, mentorki Sonje Jocić i Ivane Najdanović

U okviru programa predstojećeg BFWa, u saradnji sa našim dugogodišnjim partnerom IQOS-om, realizujemo „Better not burned“ reviju, inspirisanu budućnošću bez duvanskog dima.

Belgrade Fashion Week iz godine u godinu podržava i promoviše različite edukativne i društveno odgovorne projekte. Kroz akciju “Koji je tvoj pogled na svet?” želimo da podignemo svest o bolestima oka i mrežnjače koje dovode do smetnji u vidnom polju, ali i o značaju preventivnih oftalmoloških pregleda.

Novi koncept BFW-a donosi i otvaranje ka širokoj modnoj publici. U sklopu prolećnog L’Oreal Fashion Weeka, Modni Studio Click po prvi put organizuje  “Street & Urban Fashion Festival” na kome će  novi modni brendovi, imati priliku da izlože, prezentuju i prodaju svoje proizvode u ekskluzivnom BFW šatoru. Street & Urban Fashion Festival će se održati 11. i 12. maja od 16 – 22h. Na ovaj način će Ušće Shopping Center dati priliku svojim posetiocima da bolje upoznaju atraktivne mlade brendove na tržištu. Najverniji ljubitelji mode mogu pratiti i konkurs na Tvoj centar aplikaciji i osvojiti ekskluzivne karte za sve revije, kao i druge vredne nagrade.

Finale programa ove sezone biće “Best of Belgrade Fashion Week” revija, koja će se održati u nedelju 14. maja na Velikom stepeništu na Kalemegdanu u okviru manifestacije Skupštine grada Beograda “Dani porodice” . Na ovoj reviji ćemo videti retrospektivu najatraktivnije mode sa 51. L’Oreal Fashion Weeka.

(saopštenje modnog studija Click)

[outtaashes]

Shein Haul Early Summer 2023!!

This is Part 1 of a series of Shein Hauls for early Summer 2023. This video reviews two pair of shoes and two swimsuits for this season. Per usual, I got sidetracked and began talking about my new MaryKay makeup. Watch for Part 2 and 3 to drop later this week  @outtaashes  #OuttaAshes #shein #sheinhaul #sheinforall #sheinhaul2023 #style #styles #fashion #fashionstyle #swimwear #swimsuit…

[noemptywombs]

It used to be so manageable. Your cute bump was easy to put your hands around, easy to hide under fashionable maternity tops. If you didn't want attention, you could find ways to keep your belly hidden.

But now...there's no absolutely no hope hiding it. Your belly is so big and gravid that there's no hope of wearing any of those maternity clothes you spent so much money on. Literally nothing fits. Nothing will contain it besides a massively oversized top which only serves to emphasize to the world how utterly huge you are.

Everyone stares at you now, but you can't help but stare at yourself when you look in the mirror. Your belly dominates your body, completely overwhelms it. The babies growing inside you now define you. You can't help but see what everyone else sees. A hugely pregnant belly and nothing else.

All this attention has made you realize something, though. A profound revelation. You've come to understand your calling, your purpose, as a womb, an incubator, to carry and birth babies. You want people to see you this way, you don't want to hide it anymore. You've determined that this pregnant belly will define who you are.

[arkhamjack]

CW for gore and suicidal ideation (TriMax Vol. 7) also Spoiler warning!

EDIT: I am a drama queen and just assume a lot of Trimax readers misinterpreted this scene bc I saw like only two people do it but I’m also using this as an excuse to yap about Vash and Knives’ personalities bc it was super interesting in this volume ok byyeee read on:

Is it just me or is the majority of the fandom under the impression that it was Knives who stabbed Rem?? Because it was actually Vash. Which I think says a lot about their actual personalities vs how the fandom perceives them.

Analysis under the cut!

In classic Nightow fashion, it's hard to figure out wtf is going on and you gotta read over it multiple times, but look:

After the discovery of Tesla, Knives faints and is placed in a little incubator thing or whatever and Vash laments the fact he remained awake to mull over the horrors. From this point on, Knives is not in the picture bc he's busy honk mimimi (which is actually something he employs as a coping mechanism throughout the story... his precious beauty sleep...)

Now, Vash is refusing to eat and lashes out at Rem, expressing his disdain for being stuck on a spaceship with all these nasty humans.

Rem once again tries to get Vash to eat, peeling him a fruit.

Vash lunges for the knife and attempts to stab himself, but Rem stops him.

Vash is locked in a reactive state - he's in shock and acting out. This is where I think ppl miss the mark in interpreting the twins and why Vol. 7 is so important.

Vash can actually be nasty as hell. He ain't all that babygirl. His silly goofy facade is a way of integrating himself into the human world sure - but it's also lying to himself. He's impulsive, stubborn, and dare I say arrogant with his Messianic martyr type shit. (EDIT: I’m being a bit harsh here… I mean yeah he’s the only person on Gunsmoke who’s got a chance against Knives but like getting up in townspeople’s business gets really annoying imo like I understand why he does it but man…that’s why we’ve got Wolfwood bc narrative foil and whatever… anyway)

Knives on the other hand, internalises everything. Though he may appear to be the one who lashes out, and yes of course he's also arrogant, but it's mostly projection. He is in a MAD state of denial. For all his talk of being a superior being, that humans are icky and should all perish, yada yada yada, he actually wishes for love and acceptance - he wants to be safe.

Obviously, his head is too far up his ass to admit it, and he's always too busy tweaking about how annoying Vash is and blaming Rem for everything to actually try and sit down and think of better ways to do things but ANYWAY

(You know who else's head is up their ass? Vash. The twins are actually so alike if you really study them!! Anywayyyy)

That was Knives' whole deal from THE VERY BEGINNING. Knives was the one to cry in relief when Conrad and the crew accepted them, not Vash. Vash was more like "ok cool! life might not be so bad! yipee!" and then Knives had to Big Fall about his internalised plantphobia or whatever etc etc.

I AM GETTING SIDETRACKED !! ok so

The stabbing occurs. Again, hard to tell it's actually occurring bc Nightow, but yeah Vash stabbed Rem. Not Knives! Bro has passed out for a couple days now lol.

More evidence it's Vash - Vash was the one to express feeling suicidal. Knives cannot express anything to save his life bc he's the king of internalisation and deflection and projection lmao. Also yeah he's still eeping.

Oh look! He rises! Completely unaware of the drama that has unfolded! Not that he'd care! He's set on a mission to hurl humanity to the dust bowl of Gunsmoke! Little scamp.

Ok take from all that what you will!

Thanks for reading <3

[novantinuum]

Some Themed Asks for your Gem OCs

I always enjoy these little ask games to help build up lore about my characters, but so many of them are too human in scope for my Gem OCs- thus, I decided to throw together a set of Steven Universe specific questions for all of your OC and gemsona desires.

Questions are sorted into "eras" thematically. Enjoy!

Era 1:

⚜️Which court does your Gem belong to, if any? 🎆What is your Gem’s planet of origin and given designation? (Ex: Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG… Facet-5, Cut 8XM… Facet-413, Cabochon-12…) 💎Describe your Gem’s gemstone. What color, shape, facet pattern, and placement does it have? 🛠️What is your Gem’s given role under the Diamond Authority? 📌Where does your Gem perform their duties? Do they travel a lot for their role, or mostly stay in one place? 🧦Does your Gem get along with others of the same cut? 🖇️Has your Gem ever partaken in fusion with someone of the same cut? 💼Does your Gem report to anyone below the Diamonds? What do they think about this authority figure? 💥Has your Gem ever been rejuvenated? If so, how many times? 🪦Does your Gem harbor any hidden desires they think might get them shattered?

Era 2:

🌸Was your Gem incubated before Pink Diamond’s shattering, or after? If after, does your Gem differ from others of their cut due to Homeworld’s Diamond essence shortage? 🔎Does your Gem like the role they were given, or is there another role in society they would rather have? 🪢Does your Gem have any friends outside their cut? 🪄Can your Gem summon any weapon or special item? 🌍Has your Gem ever heard of the rebellion on Earth? If so, do they have any opinions on it? 🪩Has your Gem ever partaken in fusion with someone of a different cut? If so, do they defy Homeworld’s fusion rules openly or keep it secret? 🏝️Your Gem has been reassigned to perform their duty on a planet or settlement of their choice. Where do they go? 🫧Has your Gem ever been poofed? How? 🙈Your Gem discovers that someone they work alongside is off-color in some fashion. Do they narc to a superior, or keep this secret? 🪓Does your Gem know anyone who’s been shattered?

Era 3:

👑In the wake of this brand new era, where does your Gem’s loyalty lie? (The Diamonds? Themself? Someone else?) 🎓Would your Gem ever consider attending Little Homeschool, why or why not? ⭐️What is your Gem’s honest opinion of Steven, if they are aware of his role in Gem history? 🪁Name three hobbies your Gem partakes in. 🌄Describe your Gem’s idea of a perfect day. ⚧️Imagine your Gem is presented with the concept of human gender. Do they have any preference in how they are perceived or addressed? 🐌Does your Gem have any non-Gem friends? 🌙Would your Gem ever consider living as a permafusion? 🍕Has your Gem ever tried ingesting food or liquid? If so, what is their opinion on this activity? 🎻Assign your Gem an instrument. What type of sound do you feel best captures their vibe?

[nardo-headcanons]

Writing Scientist Characters

this post is mainly an excuse to post a certain list of lab supplies I've made for a friend and infodump about lab work. but feel free to use this as a little resource when writing characters who are scientists and/or lab nerds. who knows, maybe it'll be of use.

General thoughts

Many people think it's a stereotype that scientist or nerd characters talk using complex technical jargon. While that is true to an extent, there actually is some kind of lab jargon. It varies across different labs and fields, but one thing they have in common is that it seeks to simplify, not the other way around.

gelelectrophoresis becomes elpho

microbiology becomes mibi

deioninized water becomes aqua dist

biochemistry becomes BC

sodium hydroxide becomes NaOH

They will probably not call a glass of water "silicon dioxide and h2o".

...and more. feel free to get creative. If you're writing in any other language than English, you can throw in one or two anglicisms as well. Also, most scientists will never gatekeep their work, and in an opposite fashion, will not shut up about it unless you make them. And no, most chemists do not know the entire periodic table by heart, only the most relevant elements. (main groups and a few commonly used metals of the subgroups) When it comes to characters doing the lab work, keep in mind that there are a lot more people involved than the scientist themself. Most scientists are more occupied with paperwork and data analysis, it is the laboratory technicians and assistants that do most of the practical work. They often have more lab experience than the scientists themselves.

Things you can have your lab nerd character do instead of making random chemicals explode

writing a lab report (and losing their mind over excel)

degreasing the glass bevel stoppers

removing the permanent marker from beakers (labeling is important)

complaining about the lack of funding of [their field] research

cleaning glassware

preparing specimen for examination

googling the most basic equations for their report

checking if the glassware and utensil collections are complete

steal single use plastic pipettes from their lab

pirating expensive textbooks

A list of laboratory supplies and utensils you can have them work with

Laboratory general (chem + bio)

Erlenmayer flasks, beakers, precision scales (3 digits), glass rods, metal spoons/spatulas, screw on glass flasks (autoclave compatible) test tubes, stopcock grease, dispensers with sanitizer and hand cream, gas burners, heating plates, eppendorf pipettes, pipette tips, Peleus pipetting aids, squirting bottles, liquid and powder funnels, incubator/drying chamber, round watch glasses, magnet stirring plates.

Microbiology Autoclave, petri dishes, agar plates, innoculation loops (reusable and metal), clean bench, microscope slides, microscope, drigalski-spatula, test tubes with clamping lids

Histology

Paraffin bath, water bath, scalpels, scissors, razor blades, microtomes (rotating microtome, slide microtome and freezing microtome), histocinette, tweezers (various kinds), ocular

Biochemistry

Sequencing robots, eppendorf tubes, gelelectrophoresis chambers, centrifuge

Analytical Chemistry

Photometer, kuvettes, burettes, mass spectro meters, UV bank (for chromatogrophies), pyknometers, melting point meter, porcelain mortars, pH paper, analytical scales (4 or more digits)

Prep Chemistry

Tripod/standing material, miniature lifting platforms, spiral condenser, colon condenser, round bottom flask (three necked and y- necked), filtration material, Separating funnel

Electrical engineering

Electric generators, Soldering iron, Clamp connectors, plugin connectors, ohm’s resistors, plug in lamps, condensers, transistors, PCBs, amperemeters, voltmeters, multimeters

Mechanics

Tripod/standing material, metal hooks, metal rods, mechanical stop watches, marbles, metal springs, Newton meters, laser motion detectors

Optics

Prisma (various kinds), various glass lenses (concave, convex, biconcave, biconvex), laser pointers, optical bench, mechanical iris diaphragm, looking glasses, monochrome lamps, lamp filters

Most used chemicals

Deionized water, ethanol, NaOH, HCl, H3PO4, NaCl (+ physiological NaCl solution 0.9)

Useful websites for writing science stuff

DNA sequence generator (simple): http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~mmaduro/random.htm

DNA, RNA and protein sequence generator: https://molbiotools.com/randomsequencegenerator.php Annealing temperature calculator: https://tmcalculator.neb.com/#!/main

Medicine name generator: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/medicine-names.php Anything chemistry related: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=chemistry

Commonly used software:

MS Excel

Yenka

CASSY Lab

LabView

SpectraLab

LIMS

LaTex

Slack

Scientist friends, feel free to add onto this.

Have fun writing!

[omgthatdress]

[thedgeoftheuniverse]

AND IN THEIR TRIUMPH DIE | chapter 1

— Seven years after the Outbreak, all efforts to find a cure have been unsuccessful. Nearly a forgotten pipe dream, it's kept alive by a small team of scientists scattered across the country and fiercely guarded by what remains of the military. It was coincidence that brought the missing piece to the cure into the hands of Levi Squad. It was sheer misfortune that it would carry him across the country.

[ WORD COUNT: 4.3k ]

[ levi ackerman x fem!reader ]

[ TAGS/WARNINGS: violence, loss of a limb, cursing, reader described as severely malnourished, mentions of contamination from germs, awful descriptions of lockpicking, levi definitely has anxiety. please continue with caution if these are sensitive subjects for you <3 ]

“Christ!—Levi! Watch out!” 

Fifteen minutes.

No pause.

No reprieve.

Just a full-blown sprint.

“Pick up your goddamn feet, four eyes, or I swear to Christ, I’ll feed you to the assholes myself!”

The formation was ruined. The plan went to absolute shit. 

“I’m trying—he’s heavier than he looks, ya’know!” As though he wasn’t carrying him too.

“Mikasa will kill us if we bring this sorry sack of shit back in more than two pieces—if I don't get to you first.” Levi decided to spare himself the wasted breath of adding that the kid had an extra foot of height and one hundred pounds of weight on him, and he still was not struggling the way they were.

“Levi!” Their leader chastised, jamming his blade through the sinus cavity of a particularly soft-headed Runner. “Leave Hange be and move it. Or have you forgotten what we're doing here?” There was an authoritativeness there that was hardly ever used on him.

Perhaps the jab was poorly timed. 

A pained yelp escaped from the boy as the pair had to lift him over fallen debris. Levi’s unfortunately small build meant he had to assist for a moment and put weight on his injured leg to clear the obstacle. “It’s okay, Eren. Just hang on—me and Levi gotcha. We’re almost there.” He could only respond with a groan.

(If only he knew it was a damn lie.)

(He probably did.)

He was going into shock.

“Erwin,” Hange cried, “you gotta give us something here.”

“There’s more buildings around the corner.” He was so out of breath. His words hardly made sense: “They can't all possibly be boarded up.”

Too much was happening. Too much had already happened. Too much that could not be undone, and too much would haunt Levi for many sleepless nights to come. 

His group of six turned to four, with one member rapidly approaching an involuntary amputation from a tourniquet fashioned from a decaying leather belt and a hacksaw, and Levi with a nasty sprain—he could hardly remember how it happened. He was sure that if anyone other than Erwin and Hange were left, he would've been long dead and beginning incubation.

It all happened so quickly.

They were so quiet. 

It was only a few seconds; he knew that for certain.

The last thing he recalled was Hange rambling about their breakthroughs in stimulating fine motor skills in newly turned Infected—how it’s another lead for the cure. Levi only half listened, briefly catching another one of their theories about recovering explicit memories in different regions of their brains. None of it made much sense to him, and he stopped trying to decipher it for several years now, having long given up on Hange’s ability to further any research for the cure—not because he doubted their intelligence but because a cure was impossible. Eren was complaining about the heat—understandably so, as Virginian summers were known for their brutality. Erwin walked by Levi’s side in silence, aside from his periodic warnings to Hange and Eren to keep their volume to a whisper and their occasional gripe in response. The remaining two members (they arrived only two weeks prior, much to Levi’s disdain. It was their first run.) hovered near the back line and listened in on the periodic childish banter between Hange and Eren, though they were primarily distracted by an old Tamogachi they found tucked inside of a rusted-out Nissan.

They were the first ones to go. 

Their screams were the only signal to the other four that Infected were on their asses.

Eren, a notoriously suicidal maniac and practically a child that Levi knew was not ready for more challenging runs, tried saving them.

He was going to lose his leg for it.

Most likely his life too.

In the chaos of it all, thoughts of Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, and Jean—the faces of the people he’s spent the last seven godforsaken years with—filled Levi’s head. And in that split second, he became reckless. He made an uncharacteristically impulsive decision based on his own feelings rather than what he knew made sense. He should have left the brat behind to suffer the consequences—he knew that made sense. He would have done it with nearly anyone else. But in that split second, he thought of how he watched those insufferable brats at home (though he isn't sure he truly thought of them as such anymore) all grow up together; how they were still just a bunch of damn kids sitting together at the dinner table; how Eren’s mother brushed his unruly hair out of his eyes and gave him her only hair tie to make sure he could keep it out of his face; he thought of how he was supposed to tell them—to tell his mother that Eren was dead because he was too practical to do anything about it.

He knew he wouldn't be able to. 

In that brief moment of distraction and all-consuming empathy, Levi went for Eren, knowing if anyone had a chance at getting him out of there, it would be him.

In the end, Levi misstepped, suffering a nasty sprain in his ankle. Eren was still bitten, and he was still going to die regardless of his interference.

(Why was he never fast enough?)

Their formation couldn't hold with just the three of them. There was no one for backup, no room for error, and no window to fight. Their only option was to run and drag Eren along.

“Why the hell didn’t you let Erwin handle him?” He was never great at holding his tongue in moments like this. It seemed as though he saved his breath specifically to spend on berating his companions when all hell broke loose.

(Hange was used to it at this point.)

Sweat poured down Levi’s forehead, burning his eyes and obscuring his vision as he supported well more than half of Eren’s weight on his left side. With every step he took, Hange seemed to support less and less of his weight. His ankle screamed in pain with every step, the potency of adrenaline having worn off as a painkiller. His hand was sweating as he held his machete, which was missing an approximate half of the blade, and he struggled to keep it in his grasp while he stumbled through the broken, pothole-infested city streets.

(Apparently some of the skulls were too hard for a half-rusted blade.)

(Or perhaps the machete was too dull after slicing through nearly twenty Infected. No matter, a portion of Levi’s blade was forever embedded in the nasal cavity of a freshly turned Runner in a mechanic’s jumpsuit.)

“You're useless with your ankle like that, and I’m out of ammo, and my pack is—”

“I fucking know the situation, four eyes!” 

“Then why are you asking—!”

“Hange! Levi!” Erwin, forever the voice of reason, shouted, “That’s more than enough! You can bicker when we're safe.”

At the same time, Levi spoke: “Why are you the only one struggling!?”

“LEVI!”

He decided to silence any further complaints, not wanting to endure another lecture when—if—this was over. He wanted to tell Erwin that if safety is what they're waiting for, then he may as well cut out his tongue now and spend the rest of his days in silence. He reckoned Erwin would have an infuriatingly eloquent response along the lines of, ‘I fail to see how that would differ much from your usual day-to-day, Captain.’ And—as much as it pained him to admit—Hange was right. His ankle put him in no position to be leading them through the city or carving through Infected, Hange was out of ammo and lost their supply bag to the pack behind them—it wasn't looking good for the three of them, but Erwin had the best chance of guiding them to safety.

“There!” Erwin shouted. “Up ahead, to the right—that hardware store!”

For the first time in about one hundred yards, Levi looked ahead of him as opposed to Eren’s bleeding, rapidly discoloring leg and the potholes littering the streets. The first thing he noticed was the wooden planks, chairs, tables, and various couches blocking the entrance of every store lining the downtown. Then he noticed the barricades did not look all that old—maybe two weeks. It wasn't an uncommon sight… at the start. Plenty of larger communities were holed up in cities and downtowns, capitalizing on the space and sewer systems below, when everything first started. It seemed practical at the time.

Those communities typically failed within the first couple years. He hasn't heard of a successful one in the area in at least four years. It should have looked decrepit.

Not recently vacated.

And then he noticed the lone storefront Erwin was locked on. With no planks, no furniture to block the entrance, only a chair pushed a few feet off to the side, a thick line of chain link between two door handles, and a padlock hanging in the center. And he noticed how strange that was.

Out of the dozens of buildings we’ve run past, why is this the only one? And was everything so boarded up when we scouted this last month?

Levi had a bad feeling about this, one that made his stomach ache. “We should find another.” When did his voice become so hoarse? It felt as though he had swallowed razor blades.

“What? Are you crazy?” Hange added.

“Something isn't right here, Erwin.”

“We’re not arguing. Levi—take care of that lock. Hange—you take my weapons and hold them off. I’ll hold onto Eren.”

Levi had a bad feeling about this. It seemed no one else did. 

He passed off Eren to Erwin, who was able to hold him in his arms with what seemed to be little to no effort despite his fatigue, while Hange (who was objectively the best shot, aside from Levi) fired off rounds into the crowd of Infected. 

“Levi,” Erwin called, dragging out the last syllable to feign placidity. “How close are we?”

He was too absorbed in selecting the right pick to respond.

“Hurry it up, shorty; we only have so many rounds left.” 

“Can it, four eyes! Just- just hold them off.” His fingers weren't as deft in lockpicking as they used to be, having been years out of practice. Infected rapidly closed in on them, their groans echoing off the buildings and the stench of death emanating from their decaying maws, making his hands shake and his stomach turn. Or maybe it was the lack of food. Oh God, was he panicking? The situation was fucked; he knew that—was it worse than even his own consciousness knew?

God, when was the last time Eren made a sound? Was he still alive?

Were they all going to die?

Was it all for nothing?

“LEVI.” Erwin shouted, squaring his shoulders, preparing for the likelihood of having to toss Eren to the side. Fuck, what was happening to him? He never lost his nerve. He never panicked. Had the pain from his ankle left him delirious? 

“Hold the fuck on!”

“I’ve got six left, headshots or not; I can't handle them all!”

They were getting closer. They were so much closer. He still had three out of four pins left, and he was almost confident that his rake pick was not meant for this lock. The relentless groans of Infected began to sound more like a steady roar—like he was a child holding a seashell to his ear in one of his nightmares—and distracted him from the task at hand.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath from his stomach, like his mother always told him as a child. Fear has never been a luxury that was afforded to him.

The second pin gave way.

“Almost there.” His voice finally steadied.

Images of his mother flashed before his eyes. Why would he think of her now? 

And the third.

“Erwin, get ready to bar the doors!”

Only one more left.

"Hange, grab that chair; we can use it to brace the handle.”

Snap.

And the world seemed to stop for a moment.

Levi wasn't sure what he was actually looking at. He thought he was seeing one half of his lockpick in his palm while the other was broken off inside the lock, with no feasible way of removing the thin piece of metal to retry with another pick—but that wasn't possible. No. No, he was about to have the door opened, and the four of them were going to be inside in just a few seconds. They were going to perform a shoddy amputation on Eren’s leg, wrap up his ankle, and find a way out of the city and back to their camp. It surely had to be fatigue, dehydration, or early signs of a heat stroke because Levi did not fuck up like this when lives were on the line.

(There was only one accident.)

(But he was better. He got better, and it was so long ago. He made a full recovery, and he vowed to never make that mistake again.)

How was he doing it again? 

“FUCK.” 

“Levi, what happened?!”

“The goddamn pick broke off in the lock. I can't get it out.” 

He was sure he would never forget the looks on their faces if they managed to live past this. Erwin’s shoulders dropped, his eyes closed, and his brows were slightly furled. It was almost as if he were wincing away from Levi’s words—maybe even Levi himself. Hange’s jaw dropped, their eyes as wide as saucers underneath their glasses, with a look of pure shock. Eren, who remained mostly out of it, tensed his jaw. 

He could feel their disappointment in him.

They were all going to die.

It didn't matter how strong he was; it didn't matter how good his aim was; it didn't matter how fast, silent, knowledgeable, or small he was. None of it mattered. It was never going to be enough in the end.

It wasn't before. He wasn't quite sure why he thought it would've been different this time.

“Alright… We hold on as long as we can. If we’re going to die today, then we take as many of the bastards with us as we can.”

“What makes you so certain we’re dying today, Commander?” Levi said, slowly bringing himself to his feet, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Aww man… I was really looking forward to examining that bite wound.” Hange pouted. 

“We’re soldiers, Captain. We’re certain to die every day. But give your heart here today, and we might live to see one more.”

That son of a bitch. Even knows how to make dying seem like a contribution. “You sound ridiculous.”

They were closing in.

The stench was nearly unbearable, and Levi hated the thought of walking around as one of those disgusting creatures. He’d rather burn in Hell than suffer such condemnation. He hoped someone would put him out of his misery soon enough.

The machete would have to do. Hange emptied the last of their rounds into the monsters and took out a small blade they kept sheathed on their thigh. Erwin was left without a weapon. 

“OVER HERE.”

A shrill voice called out to them, nearly sounding like an angel amidst the chaos.

“Follow me!” It only took a single glance between the three of them to agree to follow the voice. 

Erwin continued with Eren in his arms, while Hange braced Levi to help him run faster. They were led down a narrow alleyway, then to the right, and then left, all while the ravenous hoard stayed close on their trail. The sharp turns of the blocks helped deter them, but it wasn't enough. The pain in his ankle was nearly unbearable, and sweat burned his eyes, but it was too late to stop, and turning back wasn't an option.

“Here!" the voice called. A large, metal door was opened, and the four of them were being taken into what seemed to be a poor excuse for an office. No sooner than the door slammed shut did the Infected begin beating, clawing, and banging on the door, making the whole room feel tense. Levi looked between Hange and Erwin, who didn't appear to have any bites, scratches, or open wounds from their final sprint.

And then his eyes shot to you. 

The first thing he noticed was how concerningly malnourished you were: dead eyes sunken into deep sockets, collarbones protruding beneath the collar of a thin, long-sleeved shirt with half-rolled sleeves, limp hair on your head, and an excess of body hair covering what was visible of your skin—you were slowly starving to death. The next thing he took in was the pistol on your hip and the knife on your belt—both contained and clasped within a holster. He didn't overlook how your hands shook as you held them out in front of you. In fact, your entire body was wracked with tremors. It seemed that the dead sprint back to your base (for lack of a better word) took the last scraps of energy your emaciated frame held. Your eyes drooped, your shoulders sagged, your head seemed too heavy for your neck, and you looked slightly disoriented.

It was a miracle you made it to them to begin with.

By all accounts, you were no threat to them.

Levi reckoned even Eren could overpower you in his current state.

However, in Levi’s current state, that didn't matter.

What mattered was Eren's leg. The discolored veins radiating from the bite on his ankle and up to his calf. The tourniquet that Hange tied from their belt and the dirty rag stuffed in his mouth to keep him from biting his own tongue off when the sawing started. The dull hacksaw and the last of their rubbing alcohol being poured on its blade. Hange’s heavy breathing. The five hearts beating in the room and the four that meant anything to him. The knowledge that it was up to him to make sure Hange was not disturbed while Erwin held him down. The stench of rot that was invading his senses. The sheer adrenaline pumping in his veins and a faint throbbing in his skull that reminded him of how hungry he was.

What mattered was you—who you are and who you were. Where you came from. Why you helped them, and why you waited until the last second to do it. Why you were starving but surrounded by a surplus of food. What your motive was for saving them. When you planned to show your hand and what cards you would be holding. If you were bluffing or holding a full house. 

What mattered was that you were an anomaly. 

The last of his energy was shifted into you, and he began invading your space, doing his best to fight off the pain in his ankle and subsequently noticeable limp in an effort to intimidate you. His efforts were not in vain, if the way you backed into the wall behind you was any indication. But there was an unsettling look in your half-lidded eyes that gave him pause—something wild that told him he had just cornered a stray animal that had nothing left to lose.

(He knew what he needed to do.)

(He knew how to tame a wild animal.)

He continued his trajectory forward until your spine was flush with the wall. Leaning slightly on his toes, Levi caged you in with his forearm against the base of your throat and his broken machete kissing the bottom of your jaw. What he lacked in height, he made up for in strength as you desperately tried to claw his arm away. He nicked your skin as a warning, as if to tell you that one more wrong move would end with his blade piercing through your jaw and kissing the bottom of your soft palate. 

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I'm not sure that's how you talk to someone who just saved your ass.” You hardly had the energy to speak. Up close, Levi could see the deep cracks in your lips and the discoloration under your eyes. You were trembling and on your last leg.

“Oh yeah? And how would you talk to someone holding a knife to your throat?”

“Touché.” You whispered, breathing heavily.

The silence, while only lasting a few seconds, spanned an eternity while the two of you were locked in a staring contest. No one dared to move. No one dared to speak.

“Eren, you're going to need to breathe for me. Can you do that?” Hange’s voice broke the silent battle. All he could do was whimper behind the rag stuffed in his mouth. “Bite. Hard. This is going to hurt.”

They were going directly below the knee. It’s possible he would've only lost a few inches above his ankle had they gotten away sooner. 

“What are you doing to him?”

“None of your business, rat. Where’s the rest of your people hiding?”

“I’m alone.”

“Bullshit.”

Levi vaguely registered Eren’s breathing picking up behind him. His heart hammered into his throat.

“Okay, Eren. On the count of three...”

He was already screaming.

“One…”

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing to him?”

Levi pressed even harder into your throat, effectively cutting your air supply and forcing broken coughs from your chest. He tried not to wince at your spit landing on his cheeks.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Two…” 

He was sure he had never heard someone scream like that. And God, has he heard his fair share.

“Three.”

A bloodcurdling, agonizing scream came from him. Something entirely inhuman, too monstrous to even have belonged to one of the Infected.

And then nothing.

“What the hell, four eyes?”

“He’s passed out. Probably the best we can hope for. But he’s losing too much blood.” Levi reckoned that was an understatement, considering the sheer amount covering the floor, Erwin’s pant legs, and Hange’s arms.

“I have a Bunsen burner.”

“Did I say you could fucking speak?”

“Wait, we need that. We're going to need something to cauterize this, or he’s never making it back to camp. But—wait, there's no gas lines in here, the thing is useless."

“Don't need it. It's just a glorified camp stove—butane-powered but does the same thing.”

Another moment of tense eye contact was shared between the two of you—yours still wild and Levi's still scathing.

“Where?”

“Desk. The middle drawer. Right side. Matches should be there too.”

Levi jerked his head towards Erwin, who understood the silent signal and went searching for the burner.

“Are we gonna find something in there we don't like?”

“Christ, I’m the one that went out of my way to help you.”

“Not what I asked.” He applied another small amount of pressure to your jaw. “Try again.” 

“...no.”

The slamming of a drawer and the relieved sigh from Erwin told Levi that he had found the torch. After a few moments of rustling, Levi heard the gas ignite and looked behind him to see a flame burning. It wasn't much, but it would certainly heat up a blade.

Eren, thankfully, remained unconscious for the rest of the procedure, and Hange managed to—mostly—cauterize the wound. He was far from stable, still subject to turning, and heaving shallow breaths.

(Somewhere in Levi’s heart, he knew this was a win.)

As Hange carefully wrapped Eren’s leg in a clean shirt they borrowed (read: stole) from you, Levi—who never turned his blade from you or lifted his arm—directed his attention back to you.

“We're going to try this again. What's your name?”

“Blue.”

“The fuck kind of name is that?”

You did not deign to answer him.

“Alright, Blue. Where are the rest of your people?”

“I already told you, I’m—”

“Yeah, yeah, you're alone. Now, tell me the truth.”

“Levi.” Erwin said, still crouching on the ground with Eren. His fingers were around his wrist, checking for signs of a pulse. “Leave the girl alone. We’d be dead by now if it weren't for her.”

“Thank you.” You whispered.

“Shut the hell up.”

And for the first time since the five of you entered the room, you listened to what Levi said on the first go. Begrudgingly, he removed his forearm from your throat and lowered himself back to the soles of his feet. Only then did he seem to remember the searing pain in his ankle and collapse to the floor when putting his full weight back on the joint.

“Levi!” Hange called to him, but they were unable to go to him with Eren’s head resting on their lap. 

(His hair was up, just as his mom told him to.)

The adrenaline was worn off, and the pain was too much.

“Levi, when is the last time you've eaten?” 

Two and a half days.

Unbeknownst to Hange and Erwin (or so he thought), Levi was skipping out on his portion of the already slim rations to ensure enough was left for the others in their group.

If the plan didn't go to shit, it would have been fine. He would have indulged upon their arrival at the comms site.

He would have been fine.

He continued to tell himself as such, as the sides of his vision blackened and his ears rang to the pitch of Eren’s screams.

[ a/n: oh boy oh boy! as i'm positive you can tell, we're taking heavy inspo from TLOU here and by inspo I mean we're basically shoving AOT and TLOU into one universe

we're going to be miserable here <3 ]

masterlist and new updates coming soon

[brian-in-finance]

Twitter

Everything You Need To Know About Standing Ground, the British Brand Making Time-Traveling Garments

Ahead of his London Fashion Week show, the designer offered a look inside his sculptural fashion label, built on Irish mysticism, fantasy classics, and an intuitive approach to craft

Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. For Michael Stewart, the designer behind London-based label Standing Ground, they are portals through time: stoic witnesses to the eons. He recalls taking frequent trips to visit them as a child, enchanted by the centuries-old mysticism buried deep within. “Ireland is a superstitious country, which is a good thing, because the dolmens have been preserved and protected over time,” he muses. “They’re feared in a way, so people don’t dare touch them.”

It’s no secret that Stewart’s spiritual connection to these megalithic tombs informs his brand’s name and modus operandi. Speaking from his new studio at the Sarabande Foundation in East London, he explains that the dolmens possess a transcendent quality, which he projects onto his own statuesque garments: deceptively simple creations that borrow from the futurism of sci-fi and fantasy classics such as Lord of the Rings to imagine evening wear, custom garments, and body ornaments that feel rooted in neither past, present, nor future.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2017, Stewart established Standing Ground in 2022, before attracting the attention of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East incubator program, and making his London Fashion Week debut as part of the Spring/Summer 2023 shows.

Remaining loyal to his source material of neolithic artifacts and figures—images of a dolmen and a Saint Brigid’s cross adorn his spare studio walls—he doesn’t have a mood board or sketches, and freely admits to having done no new research since his master’s degree. Instead, Stewart takes an intuitive, and manual, approach to draping, sculpting, and craft, developing his own lines and patterns by hand to produce alien silhouettes that flow from and protect the body like topographic armor.

Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024, which expands on the dialogue between distant pasts and otherworldly futures. “It’s different to what I would’ve presented last February, which was very beautiful, but not as menacing,” he confesses. “I wanted to take some time to figure out what I was doing, and not pigeonhole myself.”

This collection dials back the clock to pre-human times, focusing on primordial, skeletal, and fossilized forms to create uncanny garments that explore the relationship between objects and their surrounding environment. Imagining a world where ancient objects grow and shapeshift across each collection, the designs suggest a speculative place where humankind and nature are mirrors for each other—or, as Stewart puts it: “seeing the body as a landscape and the landscape as a body.”

Makeup by Machiko Yano / Hair by Moe Mukai / Casting by AAMØ Casting / Model is Nyaueth Riam / Fashion Assistance by Florence Thompson / Makeup Assistance by Krishna Branch-Mackowiak

Cultured

Brian’s Note: Cultured magazine’s story was published last year on 15 September. It mentions “Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024.” Some of the dresses included in that collection are the dress Caitríona wore to the IFTAs and the ones below.

Instagram

Remember… Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. ☘️

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 80K - 125K Words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

---

Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done."

Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.”

“I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said.

Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

This starts off as a mostly slice-of-life fluff fic, but about halfway through things turn dramatic when Monarch learns some things he really shouldn’t and takes action. I had a lot of fun with it as it was coming out, it’s worth a read.

---

Kwami Magi Homura Magica by Crossoverpairinglover

After eighty-four loops in time, Homura Akemi takes a new path to Paris to save her friends.

The sixty-third loop after that, Homura arrived at the Agreste Mansion.

After clash after clash with the heroes of Paris and its greatest menace, events have reached a tipping point.

Ladybug faces someone verging on a second wish, a wish that endangers space and time to save a friend.

This was an absolutely AMAZING story that crossoverpairinglover dropped out of NOWHERE. Seriously, if you like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Miraculous Ladybug, this is a real treat - but be prepared to sit down and binge, because it’s over 100,000 words and only has three chapters. 

Anyway, I adore the care that’s taken with going through Homura’s mindset here, she gets a lot of character focus. And the lore! There’s some good explanations here for the history behind kwamis and Incubators’ interactions, and the Order of the Guardians normally treats Magical Girls, and why the Incubators are wrong in their assessment of the universe needing more energy to stave off entropy (hint: it involves Plagg), and just... there was a lot of love put into this.

And the action! Most Miraculous fics don’t have much in the way of fight scenes, and what they do have is mostly just functional. This is one of the rare exceptions. There’s some really long, detailed fight scenes in this (roughly the entire second half of the second chapter has one between Ladybug and Homura), which are a treat to read! 

We also get some glimpses into a variety of other universes here, other timelines, alternate ways things could have gone down - I’m especially partial to the rather detailed view we get of one where Homura sent a message asking for help to the Ladyblog on her third time loop, and how things progressed from there. 

The ending I also thought was really good, a happy ending that generally made sense and dealt with the issue of the Incubators. 

If you can’t tell I’m really happy with this fic, it was incredible and unexpected. The length of the individual chapters can be daunting, but if you’re up for the task, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

---

If I Let Myself Love You by @uptoolateart

It’s hard to be a normal girl with a normal life when your mother has terminal cancer. And when fashion model Adrien Agreste moves back to Paris and wants to be Marinette’s friend – or maybe even more – her life is turned upside down again.

How can she risk opening her heart to love when her whole world is falling apart? Especially when Adrien is hiding a dark secret of his own….

- COMPLETE FIC – updates on Sundays

*** No kwamis AU - 100% Adrinette. About half of it is fluffy and half heavy. Please read tags for trigger warnings. ***

This fic can be rough, definitely pay attention to the tags. There’s no villains in this story, it mostly centers around themes of dealing with illness - both being sick and having a loved one who’s terminally ill - and death, grieving someone who’s lost, and how difficult that can be. It can get pretty gut-wrenching at times, especially as you slowly discover more layers of what’s really going on, what both Adrien and Marinette are hiding, both from others and from themselves in order to help cope with their circumstances. But they still move forwards together, regardless.

---

Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

---

Between the Heavens and the Embers by @readersmoon

Everyone in Paris remembers the fateful night of January 16, when the city was attacked by the most powerful and destructive akuma ever created. The assault, which lasted for hours, resulted in the death of 439 people.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was among the casualties.

Years later, Adrien hasn't been able to move on, haunted by the memories of her broken body. So, when the opportunity to leave Paris for a while presents itself, he doesn't hesitate. But this trip might end up giving him more than he ever dreamt of.

This is a fantastic fic, though a serious and a dark one - make sure to mind the tags, and it’s M-rated for a reason. Vee - or rather, Marinette - is going through a horror story here. Imagine finding out that your life is a lie, that everyone you thought you could trust was manipulating you, that you were just being continually gaslit for years. 

As for Adrien, Alya, and Nino... well, none of them took Marinette’s “death” all that well, especially Adrien. Finding out that she’s been alive all this time, in these horrible circumstances, and they had no clue... it’s hard on them as well.

I love how this fic goes into how much trauma everyone has even after the immediate danger’s dealt with, you don’t just walk off this kind of experience, especially with how many years this lasted.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Rock on with Rock Pigeons

Rock pigeons, also known as rock doves or common pigeons (Columba livia) are one of the most common species of bird in the world, with over 400 million pigeons spread over feral and wild populations. They can be found on every continent, and feral doves are particularly abundant in urban areas. Before their global distribution, the species was native only to southern Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia. However, due to their use as messengers, food, and pets, the species has been introduced to nearly every area humans inhabit.

Most urban populations are feral pigeons (C. livia domestica),  descendants of  domesticated individuals that either escaped or were freed when their use to humans fell out of fashion. These individuals tend to have more color and pattern variation in their plumage, but are otherwise identical to their wild relatives. In fact, as they are functionally a sub species of rock pigeon, feral and wild populations interbreed where they overlap, though wild pigeons more commonly nest along cliff faces closer to agriculture or open fields. In urban areas, pigeon nests are found nearly anywhere with a flat surface large enough for a nest; particularly window ledges, archways, and overpasses.

Generally speaking, the rock dove has dark plumage-- usually grey or black-- with white or iridescent markings along the neck and wings. The distinctive ‘moustache’ on their beaks is actually a piece of cartilage known as an operculum, which can help to reduce moisture loss. Healthy adults have a wingspan of 62 to 72 cm (24 to 28 in), and can weigh up to 380 g (13.4 oz). Females are nearly identical to males, especially among populations with mixed colors, but can be identified by their duller colors and smaller iridescent patches.

 C. livia breeds year round, so long as food is available, but peak nesting times are in the spring and summer. Courtship rituals begin with a male puffing out his feathers and strutting about on the ground. He then approaches the female while cooing, bowing, and spinning. If the female shows interest, he then feeds her regurgitated food before mounting. The female lays two eggs in a prepared nest  and both mates take turns incubating for 17-19 days. Hatchlings, also called squabs, are fed on a rich substance known as crop milk which is produced from the parents’ throat. Individuals take up to 4 months to become fully mature, though young typically leave the nest at only 30 days old.

Rock doves are largely monogamous and mate for life, though separations are not uncommon. Pairs regularly preen each other, and once mated build a semi-permanent nest together. They are also highly social and typically live in flocks of 50 to 500 individuals, with members often moving between nearby groups. Social organization is kept by pecking order-- disputes over territory, food, or mating rights are solved by two individuals pecking each other until the loser retreats. Flocks are also divided by foraging ability; one group, the producers, are responsible for locating food while scroungers feed on what the producers find.

One of the reasons for the common pigeon’s broad distribution is their diet; C. livia are omnivores. In the wild their main staple are seeds and fruits, but wild and feral populations can subsist on a wide variety of plant matter, as well as insects and human food waste. Interestingly, rock pigeons are one of the few birds that can drink continuously from a water source, as opposed to taking only small sips. Groups forage during the day when those on the outer edge of the flock can keep an eye out for predators like birds of prey. Other animals like opossums or raccoons are also known to steal eggs and squabs from  undefended nests.

Conservation status: The feral C. livia domestica has a large and growing population, and is considered Least Concern by the IUCN. However, many urban populations are considered healthy due to poor diet and abundance of diseases and parasites. The wild populations of rock pigeon are functionally considered Least Concern, but their populations are decreasing due to habitat loss and genetic intermingling, and they truly wild rock doves are extinct in many places in Europe.

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Photos

David Lin

Donald Trounson

Jim Rathert

[smaller-comfort]

We picked a quart of blackberries from the backyard this afternoon, so it was clearly time for me to drink inadvisable amounts of whiskey and commit atrocities in the kitchen. First up, that "crustless pie" recipe that was going around a bit ago:

The batter feels a bit like sugar cookie dough that you mix fruit into, so that was...interesting. (Recipe here: Crustless Strawberry Pie.) Given how overripe these berries were, maybe not the best choice. I need to get an oven thermometer because nothing ever bakes in the correct time frame. The recipe recommends underbaking it, which also gives me some ??????? feelings because, again, that batter has some odd proportions, and the bake time is listed as 34-39 minutes which. ?????? Why not just...say 35-40. I kept it in there for at least 45 because there's "slightly underbaked" and then there's "salmonella incubator". We'll see how it tastes. Worst case scenario, I bring it to work and feed it to my coworkers like I did the zucchini bread.

In the oven currently is a tray of blackberry pie bars (recipe here: Blackberry Pie Bars); in true #DisasterKitchen fashion, I didn't realize I was out of cornstarch until I'd measured out the berries. Cue the fastest grocery run I have ever made; the crustless pie had 17 minutes left on the timer, and I made it back with cornstarch and a pound of butter with 3 minutes to spare.

Soon...soon...

[smallnico]

i'm in love with your durge

weird question, but do you believe that esper is technically immortal because of being crafted from bhaal's own flesh? i've seen the theory being thrown around before

WWWWWWWWWAAAUGGHHHhhh???

what the hell thank u so much i'm so happy,, i'm so happy you like my little guy.....

and oh my god not a weird question at all, i also think about this all the time. i have seen some of those theories and a lot of different fun takes on the concept of durge's mortality/divinity, and i do have my own esper mortality lore, so thank you so much for asking so i can talk about it!!

i don't think esper is immortal, but they are chronically unkillable. even before they were orin'd and tadpoled and had their guts all over the place in a necromancer den and eventually walked off that experience, bhaal's been keeping them alive and restarting their vital functions whenever they die somehow. it happened a Lot, especially when they were young, that esper would be burned alive or sacrificed to lolth or thrown off a cliff or otherwise keep going in spite of massive blood loss, and bhaal's divinity or interference would either prevent them from dying or bring them back from the dead. all this is flavoured on my part to comply with things like the last gasp of bhaal given to deathstalkers, or the boon of the unstoppable from bg3.

this is my headcanon for The Esper Timeline: the bhaalspawn of the crisis were created the old fashioned way, and because they were still mortal at the end of the day, they had some trouble holding the essence of the divine without dying -- enough to bring bhaal back and channel him, but not enough for him to stay there long. so durge (esper, in this case) was created to be a more perfect vessel, more divine, more robust. the way i've set up the circumstances of esper's birth is that they are bhaal's flesh, but they still needed to incubate for a little while in a mortal body in order to be born on the material plane. this is also the reason they're half-drow and have biological family in the underdark.

esper's physiology is, in my mind, similar in some ways to dame aylin's. that said, because bhaal is only a quasi-deity, he can't really Do an aasimar on his own. so esper isn't totally divine, but they are closer to the concept of a demigod or an aasimar than other bhaalspawn, and their innate divinity, like with aylin, prevents them from dying until they fulfil their purpose (kill the whole world, last one alive, sacrifice themself on the altar, yada yada). they have no idea if they have a normal half-elf lifespan, or if they physically could die of old age if they did, but they're only 38 years old (half-elf equivalent of ~28?) so they have a while before they get to find out. they heal relatively quickly compared to a normal person, and they have access to some healing magic, but they are still partly mortal, so in spite of being more or less not allowed to die -- brought back at 1hp just like if you lose the orin fight -- they still have to do a lot of the actual healing on their own. and like... they didn't really care to take care of themself in recovery, as long as their body was still physically functional. and all this is why they look Like That, lmao.

so yeah -- maybe not immortal, but not not immortal. they're doing better, though. they don't really remember all of the different ways their bhaalist existence was fundamentally exhausting and agonizing. they have friends and a support network now.

thank u for liking my fucked up little guy... have a bonus doodle. esper is also happy to hear people like them and they definitely will not exploit that fact for personal gain.

they need money for the museum gift shop i mean for therapy. please will you give them 1000 gold pieces

[quirkwizard]

Which HxH nen abilites from villians/antagonists could be easily converted into a quirk?

Could you make a quirk based on forgemaster’s from the castlevaina show? Not necessarily the part of reanimating corpses, just a quirk that makes monstrous looking creatures.

Honestly, I couldn't find much for villain's powers. Most of them were can't work, are uninteresting, or have already been covered in some fashion. The only option was the Chimera Ant Queen. And while I can't exactly see using corpses to make monsters, I can try other ways to make it work.

I see it working as an Emitter type Quirk that allows the user to start growing an egg inside of their body. The user can impart traits to this egg via the food they consume. The user can then produce this unique egg from their mouth. After a period of time, the egg will then hatch into a monster based on what the user ate. These monsters can come in all kinds of shapes and abilities, ranging from animals the size of cats to eight-foot-tall humanoid beasts. The user has a minor influence over the final result of their creation. These creatures are tied to the user, able to follow their vocal commands and the intent behind them. This gives the user an immensely versatile ability, able to make and unleash all kinds of horrors upon the world. They design fighters for themselves, station them as guards on their behalf, make tactics with a squad of monsters, design beasts to counter their foes, or simply make the new designer pet. Though these eggs will need time to develop and grow before they grow into monsters, taking days, weeks, or even months before they are ready. The process of growing these does take a lot of resources from the user to gestate them, specifically a lot of food from their user to build and fuel them. This can make any loss huge for the user. A possible name for the Quirk could be "Incubate".

[monstercampus]

Holy shit, i loved the Dean Lysandre piece! Igot a few questions:

1: how big are the eggs? Because if the dean wants 10, how big is the poor human gonna be? (might be drawing this over the weekend hehe)

2. Would the dean take pleasure in showing off his little human wife or would he keep his little treasure all to himself like the greedy dragon man he is?

3. Would he allow the reader to keep being a student or would he just write her off as "graduated early with honors" and then just move her into his home?

4. Would the dean have a special little area in his office for his human? Hidden by curtains, but behind is a very round bellied human asleep on a plush round bed with her school papers scattered around her?

5. Would any drama happen on school grounds with royal dragonic families being pissed that the dean married and breeded with a human? Any dramatic acts of petty revenge??? (does the dean find himself being very protective of his human????👀)

6. Is there any very domestic habits the dean and his human would do? Of course between fucking like rabbits, what kind of sweet doting things would the dean do??

Sorry if this is a lot, my brain is racing

hehe 🐉🐉🐉 dragon time!!!

1 -> With other dragons they tend to show only when they're carrying a whole clutch of eggs at one time, since they usually carry them until they’re close to hatching to keep them safe before they've laid. Surprisingly, even though it's incredibly rare for dragons and other species to breed (at least when they're not hiding it from the world) dragons have a very sophisticated egg process that translates well to other species, even if they're not of the egg-laying variety. While a human or other monster could carry several eggs at once, knowing Lysandre he isn't going to want you to strain yourself--so he'll likely only have you carry one at a time if you're going to carry it to near full-term, which would probably look no different than a normal human pregnancy from the outside.

But! The other way, and perhaps the preferable way, is a process known as "long-term laying"--in which he would deposit several eggs at once, fertilize them, and then have you deliver them within 1-2 days. The eggs are much smaller and easier to pass at this stage, probably not any bigger than a cue ball, and once they've been laid they'd be buried at the bottom of one of the gold piles in his hoard for at least two moon cycles. Although it's usually only practiced in this fashion by the nobility nowadays, it's an ancient form of preservation for the draconic species that's saved quite a few bloodlines from going extinct and has been practiced by all manner of dragons. The eggs will grow to be about the size of an ostrich egg within those two months, but after that period has passed their growth will stagnate and they'll go into a sort of hibernation state, which they can stay in practically indefinitely in nearly any environment until they’re unearthed and incubated into hatching. Lysandre himself was the product of this kind of egg process, as his bloodline and dragon species was declared extinct for about 400 years before his egg was recovered and he was hatched under an adoptive couple. So, with you being human, he would likely encourage you to go that route so as to monitor your condition better and make it easier for you to endure the birthing process....though that doesn't mean he won't eventually let you try incubating them longer, if only so he can spend more time rubbing that pretty, swollen belly you've got <3

2 -> Greed is definitely a symptom he suffers from and he wants to keep you all to himself, but he knows better than to be like that when you're not at all used to the possessiveness of dragons. Yes, he'll get grabby and greedy and spill filth into your mouth as he humps you throughout the night, but in the day you're completely free to roam the grounds and visit whoever you like, talk to your friends, go out for drinks, and play sports or do your little hobbies on your own. He trusts that you'll keep your interests as a couple in mind and he really doesn't worry about that aspect too much, the only thing he does do is jump at the chance to frighten off anyone who might push your boundaries too far and try to make a move on you. He loves knowing that when you're out and about without him everyone still knows you're his partner, and he's more than comfortable with that....though, when you get home, he's usually got plenty of reasons to remind you of whose bed you're sleeping in every night. Very, very carnal reasons.

3 -> You can certainly keep being a student if you like; he lives on campus for the majority of the year, so it's no bother at all to make time for each other if you still want to attend to your studies. He'll constantly (and secretly) be cancelling his meetings and saving paperwork to do late at night so he can spend quality time with you between classes, but if you're over the whole school thing or you're eager to graduate he'll pull the strings you need. Most of the professors at MC can be bribed pretty easily anyways (it's a monster thing) and it's not considered that unethical in monster society, so a few favours and gifts here and there and you'll have your honours diploma in your hands by the end of the week. And then you're allllllll his.

4 -> He does! Since he lives on campus, he's got a semi-secret entrance in his office that leads down into the depths beneath the school, where he keeps his hoard tucked away in the MC vault. Although he does own an apartment in the staff living quarters, he's got his own private living space down there that would be perfectly comfortable for a human with a few touches here and there. You wouldn't be down there all the time since there's no natural light or sunlight, but it's the perfect place for you to rest when you're carrying your eggs and an ideal spot to keep close to when it's time to lay them.

5 -> Absolutely! Dragons are dramatic creatures and you should expect to witness some rather flagrant displays of jealousy and snobbery while you’re in the Dean's care. Challenges to duels, attempts at bribery, and marriage proposals to your draconic lover while you stand right next to him are all things you unfortunately have to be prepared for. But Lysandre has nearly perfected the art of stoic rejection over his lifetime and will turn each and every one of them away, although his politeness will wane not with the stubborn ones, but the ones who turn their ire towards you or try to turn him against you with false rumours and lies. That's when he'll offer to fight their proposed duel in your stead, and each and every time he does their champion will turn and flee with their tail between their legs at the very thought. Draconic duels are to the death, after all, and next to nobody wants to fight for their life against a Drakon--especially not when he's so angry he's grinning from ear to ear.

6 -> Lysandre loves walking with you, so a daily stroll is often how he expresses his affection. It's never too strenuous (and if you get tired, he'll be carrying you) but there's always something interesting to see on your way, whether it's a new patch of flowers you never noticed or an adorable frog hopping around the pond. But if you're up for it, he's always eager to take you flying--it's a common form of affection for dragons to fly side-by-side, it's even considered to be a sign of good luck to see a dragon couple flying together overhead. And he can reassure you that you're safe on his back, he'll even wait for a windy day so he doesn't have to flap his wings as much in case you get sick from the motion. Aside from that, his love languages are usually gifts and acts of service, so brewing your tea for you, crafting little golden gifts and trinkets, and carrying or flying you places are some of the more common ways he shows affection. And kisses, of course! Lots of big, sloppy dragon kisses <3

[visit-new-york]

Spring and Mercer Street

Spring St & Mercer St New York, NY 10012

Exploring the Vibrant Intersection of Spring St & Mercer St in New York

New York City is a metropolis of diverse neighborhoods, each offering its own unique charm and character. Nestled within the bustling streets of Manhattan lies an intersection that epitomizes the city's eclectic spirit – Spring St & Mercer St.

Spring St & Mercer St in New York City is a captivating intersection that holds a rich history and a unique blend of cultural, artistic, and commercial influences. Here are 15 fascinating facts that shed light on the charm and significance of this iconic crossroads:

Historical Origins and Cast-Iron Architecture: Spring St & Mercer St, located at the heart of SoHo, has its roots deeply intertwined with New York's industrial history. In the 19th century, the intersection was part of a bustling manufacturing district known for its textile factories and warehouses. The most distinctive feature of the area is its cast-iron architecture, a legacy of its industrial past. These elegant buildings, adorned with intricate details and ornate facades, were designed to withstand heavy loads, making them ideal for the textile trade. This architectural style not only served a functional purpose but also became a hallmark of the neighborhood's unique charm.

Artistic Legacy and Creative Transformation: Spring St & Mercer St played a pivotal role in the transformation of SoHo into an artistic enclave. In the 1960s and 1970s, artists and creatives were drawn to the spacious lofts and warehouses that had fallen into disuse. These spaces provided ample room for artists to work, exhibit, and live, giving rise to the concept of the live/work artist loft. The intersection became a nucleus of artistic expression, attracting painters, sculptors, photographers, and performers. The converted industrial spaces allowed artists to break free from traditional gallery constraints and create a vibrant, open environment for the exchange of ideas.

SoHo Effect and Global Influence: The success of Spring St & Mercer St and the broader SoHo neighborhood in revitalizing derelict spaces and fostering a creative community inspired similar transformations worldwide. The "SoHo effect" refers to the phenomenon of urban areas in different cities undergoing similar revitalization and gentrification processes, often characterized by an influx of artists, cultural vibrancy, and economic growth. Spring St & Mercer St's role as a catalyst for this effect underscores its significance as an incubator of creative urban renewal.

Celebrities and Creatives: Spring St & Mercer St has long been a magnet for celebrities, fashion designers, and artists. Renowned names have frequented the intersection's art galleries, boutiques, and eateries. The allure of the area's artistic energy and its unique blend of history and modernity continue to draw notable figures from the worlds of entertainment, fashion, and the arts.

Fashion Forward Intersection: Spring St & Mercer St has emerged as a global fashion destination, boasting an array of high-end boutiques and designer flagship stores. The intersection's streets are lined with some of the world's most recognized luxury brands, making it a pilgrimage site for fashion enthusiasts and trendsetters alike. The presence of these upscale establishments contributes to the area's reputation as a cutting-edge fashion hub.

Historic Preservation and Landmark Designation: In recognition of its historical and architectural significance, the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, which encompasses Spring St & Mercer St, was designated a New York City Landmark in 1973. This designation has played a crucial role in preserving the area's character, ensuring that its cast-iron buildings and unique streetscape endure for future generations.

Cultural Diversity and Global Fusion: The intersection's allure extends beyond its architectural beauty and artistic appeal. Spring St & Mercer St is a microcosm of New York City's cultural diversity, with a kaleidoscope of languages, cuisines, and influences converging in this vibrant corner of Manhattan. The intersection's dynamic environment reflects the global nature of the city itself, creating a rich tapestry of experiences for residents and visitors.

Public Art Installations and Creative Expression: Spring St & Mercer St often serves as a canvas for public art installations, adding an interactive and dynamic element to the neighborhood's streets. These installations range from large sculptures to temporary exhibits, inviting pedestrians to engage with art in unexpected ways. This synergy between art and urban space enhances the intersection's aesthetic appeal and reinforces its reputation as a cultural epicenter.

Film and Television Backdrop: The intersection's picturesque charm and unique ambiance have made it a sought-after location for film and television productions. Its cobblestone streets, historic buildings, and eclectic atmosphere have graced the screens of countless movies and TV shows, further solidifying its status as an iconic New York City landmark.

Historical Role in Manufacturing and Textiles: Spring St & Mercer St stands as a reminder of its role in New York's industrial past. During the 19th century, the intersection was abuzz with textile manufacturing, housing warehouses that produced fabrics and garments. The remnants of this legacy can still be seen in the architectural details of the buildings that line the streets.

SoHo Arts Festival and Creative Celebrations: The SoHo Arts Festival, an annual event held near Spring St & Mercer St, celebrates the neighborhood's artistic heritage. This festival attracts artists, art aficionados, and curious visitors, offering a diverse range of exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences that showcase the creative spirit of the area.

Culinary Delights and Gastronomic Exploration: The intersection is a haven for food enthusiasts, offering an array of dining options that cater to diverse tastes. From cozy cafes serving artisanal coffee and pastries to upscale restaurants featuring innovative gastronomy, Spring St & Mercer St promises a culinary journey that mirrors the neighborhood's fusion of influences.

Community Engagement and Public Spaces: Spring St & Mercer St serves as a communal space where locals and visitors come together. Public plazas, benches, and walkways encourage interaction and create opportunities for spontaneous connections. The intersection's inclusive environment fosters a sense of belonging and camaraderie among the people who frequent its streets.

Urban Renewal and Historical Preservation: The revitalization of Spring St & Mercer St showcases the power of urban renewal efforts. The successful preservation of its historic architecture, combined with adaptive reuse and creative repurposing, has breathed new life into the intersection and surrounding areas, offering a blueprint for sustainable urban development.

A Living Emblem of New York's Spirit: Spring St & Mercer St encapsulates the essence of New York City's resilience, creativity, and cultural vibrancy. As an enduring symbol of transformation and reinvention, this intersection embodies the city's ability to evolve while preserving its heritage, making it a captivating microcosm of the larger New York narrative.

Spring St & Mercer St in New York City is a microcosm of the city's essence – a captivating blend of history, culture, creativity, and commerce. Its evolution from an industrial hub to an artistic haven and fashion destination is a testament to the dynamic nature of urban landscapes. This intersection serves as a reminder that while cities may constantly evolve, they also have the remarkable ability to preserve their heritage and offer a space where diverse communities can flourish. Spring St & Mercer St is not just an intersection; it's a reflection of the spirit of New York itself.