#i love ecology a lot it is fun!!!!

[raintailed]

various doodles of more rot variants because these freakish slime mold things are super fun to think about :]

1. Saddy Longlegs was originally a joke but now it is real! It’s a strain that originated from the Misery. This strain eats already-dead creatures and has an excellent sense of smell. It also tends to form symbiotic relationships with other creatures.

The remaining three images are of rot strains that are descended from malware rot. They are found in Blighted Meadows, one of the regions located near Visions from Windows. It turns out that since malware rot is so virulent and fast-growing, it can mutate very quickly when exposed to the outside world.

2. Instead of actively hunting creatures, leafy rot photosynthesizes instead (though it will occasionally hunt to get necessary nutrients). Some of its tendrils have become flattened and leaf-like. Leafy rot cysts can be seen climbing up structures to get to the sunniest spot possible, then holding up their flattened tendrils to catch sunlight.

3. Another image of leafy rot. In the absence of anything to climb on, leafy rot cysts can be seen standing like trees out in the open. Their shadows are a lovely spot for other creatures to cool down on hot days.

4. Flying rot is another malware rot-descended strain. It has genes that came from rotted batflies. It eats fruit and slow-moving insects, and in the future will evolve the agility necessary to catch fast-moving insects. Flying rot is harmless to slugcats and can be killed and eaten.

In the future, leafy rot and flying rot will develop new strains that are specialized for certain roles. For example, leafy rot will diverge into large strains that prefer standing in the open and smaller strains that climb structures in a vinelike manner.

Note: both leafy rot and flying rot have lost most of their virulence. Leafy rot almost never infects creatures, while flying rot can only infect creatures with weak immune systems.

[prototypelq]

....while I haven't played the ubisoft avatar game myself, or more accurately, I have obsessively played the x360 one, I doubt it could be better than the Ancient Forest of Monster Hunter World.

I have. Never seen a jungle location be this layered, vertical and complex, while also remaining extremely readable. Like, there'a and easy route around the map and insides of a giant tree in the center of it, to act as a crossing or shortcut. However, the actual map is... so much more detailed than just this.

There are vine swing-jumping sections which open up new pathways for you, there are less noticeable vines to climb, which reveal new arboreal pathways ahead. There is an entire 'jungle-catwalk' section right near the dragon nest at the top of the giant tree. You cannot navigate these additional paths with map, it is much more simple and natural just to remember them and trust your memory on this.

It's just I have spawned in a rainy weather for the first time, and started exploring these vines, and this has been THE Avatar experience. Honestly no other game has ever made a more natural and interesting forest to explore than this one.

I genuinely did not anticipate this level of detail, beauty and meticulous attention to everything from a game about exterminating dinodragons. I picked it up for the Monster Hunter part of it the title, but let me tell you the World part is the actual gem of the game for me, I am in love with this.

[raguna-blade]

One thing i'm absolutely loving about Dungeon Meshi right now is that factually, for real, Laius is a real smart cookie. Dude knows his stuff...But unlike a lot of stories where you have a guy who's smart like that, it's not only really grounded in what he knows, being basically hyper focused on monsters, but it's also not like instant perfect recall about every detail and factoid

Like he sometimes just doesn't know off hand about some monster or another's specific ecology...But he knows a decent amount about a HUGE variety of monsters, and the ways they overlap.

Which I think if anything makes him seem smarter because instead of just having the answer it's "I know roughly there about's what is correct based on this class of things. I know it's an X but I don't know all the details, but because it's a Y, this this this and this are probably true enough?"

And what's fun is when some detail or another shows up again the characters CLEARLY remember it or reference it directly without Laius having to pop in and explain, but you might not, but they'll reference oh yeah he said xyz let's try that

It's just such good writing i love it.

[johnbierce]

Fantasy short story anthology time!

My new book, The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories: A Mage Errant Anthology, is out now on Amazon and Audible!

I absolutely love writing short stories. They push me as an author in ways that novels don't, and each one presents me with a unique, fascinating challenge. And, with this anthology, they allow me to explore parts of Anastis, the world of Mage Errant, in ways I couldn't in the main series. I get to travel to out-of-the-way corners, visit ordinary people to see how they get by in a world of giant monsters and ruthless archmages battling for control of petty territories, to explore secret conspiracies and legendary historical figures, and to flesh out Anastis' ecology, culture, and history.

If you haven't read Mage Errant yet, the first three ebooks are free for the next few days, and books four through six are on sale for $0.99 in the US and UK! Mage Errant is a completed, seven book magic school progression fantasy series, following the adventures of Hugh of Emblin as he goes from being a shy, neurodiversefailure of a student mage who struggles with anxiety and depression to being a shy, neurodiverse terrifying archmage who struggles with anxiety, depression, giant monsters, and magical superweapons. It features found family, giant monsters, a science-inspired hard magic system where you're as liable to run into hair or bismuth mages as fire mages, giant monsters, lots of queer characters, giant monsters (some of whom are also queer characters), kaijucratic systems of government, and sapient living cities. (Did I mention the giant monsters?)

The stories in the Gorgon Incident are written to be legible even to people who haven't read Mage Errant yet- though I think most people will get more out of them after reading the main series. The twenty-four stories, all originally published on my Patreon, span five centuries of history, from the last years of the Ithonian Empire up to the events of the series itself, even visiting another of Anastis' continents for the first time.

I also leaned hard into the science-inspired aspects of the setting with many of the stories, building what I like to call science puzzle stories, where the plot of the story revolves around the real-life behavior of various materials and natural processes, through a magical lens. (I had a lot of fun doing it, and it even let me include a whole additional appendix filled with notes on the science of the short stories- I love appendices.)

(Art by Aaron McConnell and Lee Moyer.)

A fugitive child finds shelter with a monster of legend. A mind-blind scholar outwits the mages who disdain him. A gold mage must secure a bank vault from a monster capable of obliterating entire cities. An aging basketweaver wakes up one morning to find a brand new river in front of her house. A palace-sized octopus seeks to defend his city from a living fortress of bone— if he can get his arms to cooperate.

In these twenty-four short stories set in the world of Mage Errant, John Bierce explores the murky depths of history, forgotten corners of Ithos and beyond, and the strangest reaches of magic itself.

Gorgon Incident US link Gorgon Incident UK link Gorgon Incident CA link Gorgon Incident AU link

Gorgon Incident Audible US link Gorgon Incident Audible UK link Gorgon Incident Audible CA link Gorgon Incident Audible AU link

Amazon US series page Amazon UK series page Amazon CA series page Amazon AU series page

[canmom]

Comics mini-Comints: Dungeon Meshi

reread dungeon meshi through to the end. still such a great manga. here are immediate thoughts - if I end up having time and energy I hope I can write something that goes deeper!

ironically i was only a few chapters from the end when I stopped keeping up, but I was struggling to remember all the characters and context, so reading it through in one go was definitely an ideal way to achieve maximum impact there.

ryoko kui does a very elegant job of handling a transition from 'silly antics' to 'big dramatic fantasy' while still keeping the central thematic throughline - eating and being eaten, belonging to an ecosystem, the significance of sacrificing others to achieve your own desires. a lot of setups pay off in a way that feels meticulously planned - and of course the crux of the final showdown revolves around characters attempting to eat each other, of course the big payoff is a huge feast that symbolically unites all the conflicting factions. it is maybe a bit too neat and happy for my taste, but it's undeniably tightly executed - it never loses sight of what it's about. especially compared to something like Frieren, it's an incredibly coherent serialisation, up there with e.g. Fullmetal Alchemist.

kui's art style deserves all kinds of praise - it feels effortlessly simple, but it clearly communicates all sorts of different shapes and body types and it's really fun to see her play around with remixing the different visual elements when she switches the races around. in general Laius's autistic monster loving ways clearly reflect kui's own deeply felt appreciation for all the ways people and animals live (accentuated further by all the extra sketches the scanlators tuck in). in a way you could kinda call it like Parts Unknown the fantasy manga.

the stakes of the final conflict are interesting - there is much to be said about the framing of 'desire' and its fulfilment, of this occult idea of 'the infinite'. lots you could put in relation to other manga, and also buddhism. (in particular I really want to develop a comparison to Made In Abyss, there are so many parallels, it just might be too spicy for tumblr lmao).

one thing I really like about it is how much its fantasy dungeon-exploring setting owes to D&D and other TTRPGs, rather than videogames. monster ecology has been a fascination of that game since the early days of Dragon magazine, and Kui sharply zeroes in on some of the intrinsic conflicts baked in to that fantasy milieu, notably the lifespan thing, while smartly avoiding the traps of 'evil races'. there's some really fun nods to the weirder monster manual entries. and in a story with so many characters and factions, it does a genuinely incredible job of furnishing everyone with understandable, reasonable motivations, conflicts drawn from their context just like the monsters are explained by their ecology.

and one thing that I particularly appreciate is like... how much it is able to simultaneously understand and sympathise with a character and also show us how and why they'd rub others the wrong way. it's impossible not to like our main group, they're all such charming dorks and the manga leads you along with all the crazy rpg party shit they do, but at the same time you definitely find yourself thinking 'guy's got a point' in the kabru chapters lmao. I'm projecting hard bc i don't really know a thing about ryōko kui but laius def feels like the sort of depiction of having an autism that you can only do if you've lived it.

but yeah, it's a fuzzy ending where it all turns out well. but what's the deeper thrust of it all? there's a funny moment where marcille is like 'maybe in the end our journey is about learning to accept death' and the grouchy old gnome guy completely laughs this off as naive, because death doesn't mean anything. and indeed their big plan pays off, and falin does indeed come back just fine. but still, through all of this it asks you to bite the bullet that being a living creature means eating to survive, at the cost of other creatures, with the other side being that one day you too will be eaten. in contrast to this honest way of being is the beguiling fantasy of infinity, where all your desires are immediately fulfilled - this is shown as a dangerous path of corruption that produces madness and manipulability. having limits and rubbing up against the wishes of others, or 'doing things you don't want to do' as izutsumi's arc puts it, becomes necessary for having some kind of definition as a subject. the thing that makes the demon concrete as an entity is a desire, or appetite, that can't immediately be fulfilled.

of course we can connect this to the idea of narrative conflict. a standard advice for putting together a plot is to ask what each character wants and why they can't get it. wanting something implies movement. and indeed over the course of this story, we see that while having too many desires fulfilled too readily leads to incoherence and callousness, equally a character who is left catatonic as their desires have been eaten by the demon must be reawakened to activity by finding a new desire.

it's kinda Buddhist innit. neither the opulence of the palace nor asceticism. desires are what tie you to the world. but mixed with ecology: what a creature does to find the energy to live is what defines its lifestyle, its form.

this is probably where I'd start talking about entropy gradients and shit if i wasn't typing this on a phone at 1:30am lmao.

but yeah - it's a powerful move to go from 'D&D monster recipe show sendup' to 'living with the inherently violent nature of being an organism fated to live in a finite sum game' and yet Dungeon Meshi makes it feel natural and convincing, while remaining tremendously charming and funny throughout. ryōko kui is definitely some kind of genius, and I can't wait to see what her next act is gonna be. it's all definitely making me appreciate the act of eating a lot more.

next story on my plate is probably The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere, which sounds like it will present a very gnarly thematic contrast.

[larkandkatydid]

🎶🎶When You're Living in Amerrrrricaaaa at the End of the Millennnnniuuuumm🎶🎶: My favorite books about life in late 20th century America, with an emphasis on how the conversative turn in American politics affected lives on the margins: Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy metal suicide Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz* , etc:

(descriptions under the cut)

Rick Perlstein, Reaganland: America’s Right Turn. This is where you start. And honestly, the Reaganland Quartet, which this is the last volume of, is the Great Epic Fantasy of actual 20th century history.

Sarah Schulman, Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT-UP New York 1987-1993. This book had a minute and then just faded from public discourse, which makes me so unbelievably sad. I know it’s long, but it’s riveting and energizing. This should be the book that We All Read and everyone peer pressures everyone else to read.

Kathleen Bellew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Another foundational classic about how the post-Vietnam War militarization of the white power movement led to the Oklahoma City bombing. It's also really good context for a lot of the great works that have come out recently about Waco. Also you can read this book instead of swallowing your dignity and giving zoom-masturbator Jeffrey Toobin your money.

Donovan X Ramsey, When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era. This could very well be the best book that came out this year, just a beautiful, empathetic, humanist view of the crack epidemic that perfectly balances the broader context with oral history.

Anna Lowensapt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: This is a weirder choice, but I think it aligns well with alot of the other topics on this list: the consequences of the Vietnam War, the economic collapse in the Pacific Northwest, a new kind of underclass in the global capitalist system...but about mushrooms.

Donna Gaines, Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia’s Dead End Kids. This is a journalistic work written in the 1980s but I think the social panic about (white) teenage suicide, heavy metal, satanism, etc is something that has gotten somewhat forgotten in histories of the 1980s. One thing that feels deeply Of that Time is how the end of the cold war made it harder for working class teenagers to "just" join the military.

Jason LaPerle, American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare: Another deeply empathetic portrait of three women in Milwaukee and how the Clinton welfare reforms affected their lives.

Susan Faldo, Backlash. Look, you really do have to read this classic 1980s feminist brick. You do. It's infurirating and important and pretty fun too.

Mike Davis, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster: Mike Davis is the grim, communist Joan Didion; I love him and miss him. Davis also co-wrote a massive history of Los Angeles in the 1960s that I really recommend and an extremely non-massive history of the car bomb that I recommend above all.

[teenage-mutant-ninja-freak]

if is it ok to request, what if April brought her best friend down to meet the bayverse turtles? But her bestie is goth/punk with piercings and tattoos? looks a little intimidating but an abseloute sweetheart?<3

love this idea, thank you for your patience as it's taken me so long to get to this x

Also this is 100% like my best friend, they're super goth and tatted up to the 9's but they're also a massive sweetheart

Leo

"hey, I have someone I want you to meet" April calls from the doorway to the lair

Leo knows who she wants him to meet, she's been going on and on about how this friend is finally in town and she would love to hang out, all of you guys together

he puts on all his charm

"And who is this lovely-"

then he sees her

lips, eyebrows and nose pierced, hair dyed in an acid green/black split dye, dark and black ripped up clothes, tattoos covering every inch of visible skin

"-wow" is all he can make out

she's the complete opposite of April looks wise

"No, keep going. You were about to tell me how lovely I look" she jokes. "Hey, I may not be barbie girl pretty but I bet 'ya anything I can kick your ass at call of duty!"

that softens the mood and makes everyone a little more relaxed

and she was totally right, Leo was fighting for his life playing that game with her

when it's finally time for them to leave she calls back "And if you think my hair is cool, just wait til you see what I can do with a paint brush, that shell of your's is going to put the Sistine Chapel to shame when I'm done with it!"

Leo just laughs, thinks she's a great girl

"Never judge a book by its cover" he mouths to April as she walks out the door

Raph

He knows April is there, he can hear her joking with Mikey but he can hear another woman's voice

he walks in to say hi and stops dead in his tracks when he sees who she's with

"......"

"Raph, it's rude to stare" April scolds

"It's ok" he friend reassures "I just have a natural allure that's irresistible to men and turtles alike, it would seem"

that makes him chuckle, she's funny, he's glad she's funny

"The, erm, the..." He keeps touching his nose, clearly indicating towards her septum piercing "... like a bull" is all he manages

"Well, I am a taurus" she quips back

he laughs again

tensions settle after that and he gets on with her like a house on fire

he asks her later what he first impression of him was, since it was clear he was taken aback by her appearance

"My first thought was whether or not you'd fit through the door frame, holy shit dude you're built like a truck!"

the rest of the evening is spent with a lot of joking and laughing, April's friend can give as good as she gets and Raph likes that

Mikey

He's so excited to meet April's friend

so much so, he's prancing round the place trying to get everything ready

when April walks through the door with her, he his jaw drops

"Devil lady!" he says in a tone which indicates he clearly thought that was a compliment

"Masked turtle man!" she replies with the exact same enthusiasm

the two of them bond over how cool she is and how cool Mikey is

comparing stories and boasting, all in good fun, until they both get a bit carried away

April has to put her foot down when her friend tries to give him a stick 'n poke tattoo on the kitchen floor

"It's not sanitary! Put the ball point pen away! He's gonna get sepsis!!!"

eventually they all retire to the sofa and play guitar hero, which April's friend does not do too well at

"I thought all you punk chicks knew how to play guitar" he says

"Nope, we just date guys who do" she laughs

After they leave Mikey is begging April to bring her round again

he still wants that tattoo

Donnie

He's not the best at meeting new people

but, he actually feels more comfortable when he see's April's friend is alternative looking

he loves a good social outcast because he is one

they bond over talking about the history of subcultures and the ecological impacts of fast fashion and why you should DIY all your clothes or thrift them

April is ind of just sitting there like "what have I done? Putting two nerds in the same room..."

When the subject of tattoos gets brought up she mentions a couple she regrets

cue Donnie and his inventions

"I have a laser remover!"

"No" April pipes up

"It's totally safe, it's just-"

"N-O! No!" she reiterates

her friend mouths "When she's gone" and winks at him

the two of them are fast friends

[regular-gnome]

I don’t say it often enough but I freaking LOVE your take on the Archivist lore! With so little canon details to go on, and The Collector arguably an unreliable narrator (through no fault of their own), they are an enigma of the TOH universe with questions of whether their actions are malicious or not. I really like how you have characterized and fleshed them out. And, coming from a background of ecology and veterinary medicine, some of your pieces have hit uncomfortably close to home. And just to clarify, coming from me, that is high praise of your work! love works that make the audience think, reflect and maybe feel a bit uneasy when they do.

Thank you so much! it means a lot to me and Im super happy comics do give off bit of that effect:> I always enjoyed whenever villans or generally antagonists had actual reasons for doing what they do. Its not just evil for the sake of evil, there is some reasoning behind it.. ooor lack of understanding for those affected by their actions. Like Collector wasn't being malicious in wanting to play with everyone. But since they come from an entirely different background and perspective their games can seem malicious from the point of view of someone who only experiences their effects. This concept tied up with ecology and the horrors of space.. just feels like a fun story:p

[rockethorse]

Calcinidae Bay Lot Tour: Marine Discovery Centre

I finally got around to picking the terrains I wanted to use for Calcinidae Bay's subhoods, so the Bay now officially has a(n as-of-yet unnamed) Downtown! Yay! Let's take a look through the only currently-finished lot there, the Marine Discovery Centre and Aquarium.

First I wanna shout out @dirtfauna for suggesting I build an aquarium and getting me thinking about this in the first place! As I was putting on the finishing touches I was also inspired by seeing @lolabythebaysims's gorgeous lot influenced by the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Before I get into the lot, I need to show the original Sims 4 shell for reference. It's "what the.. shell?" uploaded to the Gallery by simbellaz, and as you'll see, it was both perfect for and wildly impractical as the basis for an aquarium.

I don't normally go for shell challenges that have so many internal walls, but all those little 1-tile-wide hallways were practically SCREAMING to be made into fish tanks! The external "walls" you see added to my TS2 shell are all either actually half-walls, fences, or just windows placed with moveobjects, all of which are allowed within a standard shell challenge. It may seem like a cop-out, but it's more limiting/challenging than you'd think.

But enough preamble. Let's take a look inside!

The entrance is also a small gift shop. It seems like every aquarium I've ever been to has also sold jewellery. Don't ask me about my tiny penguin earrings.

I really wanted a "fish tank tunnel" vibe, and the effect was... almost perfect, lol. Close enough for a shell challenge IMO. I so so badly wanted to break my CC-free rule to place some fish shaders, but I'm glad I stuck to my guns because I think the solution I came up with looks goofy but effective. (Plus you wouldn't see them in build/buy anyway.)

Ooohhhh jellyfish tank ooohhhhhh they're so lifelike and graceful

I have my fun.

That little "airlock" room is a fun pirate-y undersea exhibit that connects to the outside and is probably where school field trips would loop around rather than heading upstairs.

Through the pirate's cabin is a touch pool and tactile play room where kids can inspect rubber anatomical fish models. I like to imagine the TV plays a short looping movie featuring a B-grade celebrity talking to a cartoon bass about the water cycle, fish spawn, and pollution.

The outdoor area is where the field trip groups would probably eat their packed lunches, fill out activity sheets, and take a commemorative photo with the world's worst greenscreen that's supposed to make it look like you're underwater but just ends up eating half your hair and shirt.

If you're not a student and you're just here for the love of fish, you'd probably head upstairs to get a closer look at the fish tunnel, smaller specialty tanks, and the squid/octopus models. (This room is technically considered outdoors thanks to the shell so tbh I'm not sure how lighting/temperature would behave during gameplay.)

The third floor has more tanks, some hands-on displays about aquatic plants and marine ecology, and finally a room with the actual floor-to-ceiling aquarium objects.

I thought this would be an interesting lot to run as an owned business, so I included a small employee area tucked behind the guest toilet block on the ground floor. It also helped to naturalistically answer "how would Sims feed themselves if their outing wouldn't stop complaining they were hungry," a concern I keep in mind whenever I make a lot I think would be a nice place to take a date.

And here's the floorplan! This lot had a pretty severe ugly stage but I'm really really happy with what we ended up with and the vibe I achieved without any CC. Hope you enjoyed reading this far and that it could give you some decorating inspiration!

[centipedelightning]

Hobbies!

headcanons about what kind of hobbies i think some of the skeles have. this post includes undertale and underfell sans and papyrus. i want to smooch these guys so bad y’all.

| Undertale & Underfell || fluff |

Hobbies: you are here | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4

words: 1045

Sans

Canonically it’s trombone, and he knows how to sew

He started learning how to sew pretty young (out of necessity) so he’s really good now. He made papyrus’s costume after all! He’s actually a pretty skilled seamstress and super super good at making barely visible, perfectly blended alterations to clothing. He’d be better at mending if he cared to, but he isn’t bad.

The trombone was probably in whatever the underground equivalent of his second year of high school.

Yes he was and still is a band kid sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

Other than in game canon, I see him doing origami. He found a box set of books (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) at the dump in great condition and decided to take it up.

He used to make a bunch of little characters and animals for babybones Papyrus to play with.

He makes so many paper stars. Like two of those really big mason jar fulls with a third actively being filled.

It became a bit of a coping mechanism to be able to pick up scraps of paper and make little things quickly and mindlessly. Not to mention the chance to make a wish

More than once he may or may not have used torn slips of blueprints and schematics for projects…. Oops

Papyrus

He’s so babygirl girliepop

He loves puzzles but that’s already covered by playing the game and this is not written to rehash the canon

So instead I will tell you about the million and one crafts he does (no I won't)

He so so crafty and creative so technically he does a lot of different things, but I see him loving making decor items. Stuff like rock painting and recycled garden decor. Yk those bottle cap flowers for your garden? Stuff like that.

His front garden is so cute because of all the stuff he put in it.

The rocks he paints are just random local forest and river stones. The paints are all natural and watershed safe. Ecological awareness queen.

He mostly does those dot patterns when and places them all around the garden and pathways. Sometimes he’ll do little faces or bugs to mix it up

ZUMBA omg

He’s such a Zumba girl you have no clue. He loves the fun danciness of it while still being a good workout. He’s very 90s fashion-wise so you know he’s in those brightly colored body suits.

He lovesss putting together and painting model figures. Kinda like dnd minis but I see him being more into put it together yourself robot sets (like Gundams or whatever they’re called)

Y’all he’s so down bad for sexy robots you can’t tell me he wouldn’t love Gundams. Just look at how he acts towards his action figures AND METTATON HIMSELF. He’s so tragic and so real tbh.

Red

He’s my artsy babygirl.

If you’ve read my headcanon post about him you’ll know.

He’s not very good, but he does do landscape paintings every now and then. Those times are more when he randomly decides to take a walk around a local park or something. He’s more interested in studying other artists’ work than doing it himself.

Onto an actual hobby: Whittling!

He discovered the hobby kinda on his own in the underground. Whenever he was forced to show up to his sentry station and couldn’t find a way to run off, he’d pick up sticks and cut them down to nothing with a pocket knife. Over time he started carving little shapes and figures into the sticks. He’d usually just make simple bone attacks or snow poffs. Sometimes if he found a bigger branch, he’d make replicas of some of the other royal guards or random machines.

Topside he makes so many animals. Like so many. His favorite things to make are birds. He has so many different types of whittled birds all over his room. There’s boxes in his closet overflowing with finished and half finished bird carvings. They’re also in the windows and you can see them walking past their house.

If he’s feeling fancy he’ll pull out the woodstain and give them a little depth to make the species more obvious.

He makes other animals too of course, but they’re usually gifts. He makes a bunch of forest animals for Frisk (their favorites are rabbits and deer).

He made an MTT carving Once when Edge was going through it and was increasingly stressed for like a month straight. Red is a bit of a hater so jacking anything MTT was like pulling teeth. You gotta do what you gotta do for the happiness of your siblings I'm afraid.

A lot of people see him working as a mechanic and I agree, but that’s his career and jobs can’t be hobbies so I’m not gonna go into depth.

Edge

Ok consider for a second: (silk) flower arranging

For one, I headcanon him working as a professional makeup artist on the surface so its not completely left field,

For two, I’m right and you know it.

He does it as casually as you can imagine Edge being casual. Mostly dining table centerpieces and hallways vases. He does silk flowers for places he doesn’t check as often (like hallways) but since he’s classy he dumps the extra G for the fancy fake flowers.

The real flowers are in foyers and on tables. He even takes the occasional flower arranging class in different disciplines to be able to have the skill to arrange any flower in any style.

Edge is such a granny so I think weaving would be reasonable too.

Originally he started out darning his clothes so they would last a few more months, but since he got topside he does a lot of more artsy woven pieces on those small lap sized looms.

He’s not too picky about the actual design; they’re usually classy and fancy and a bit pretentious like him but he’s not actually all that picky about it. He mostly makes scarves and wall hangs that he sells at the local farmers market and craft fairs.

All his friends do have specially designed and stunningly made scarves that he spent hours laboring away on. He gets to critical levels of happiness when he sees them wearing his hard work.

[bonefall]

Is there anything you wish that you could add into BB but can’t? Whether it’s just that it doesn’t work the BB’s themes or plot or that it deviates too far from canon?

Lots, honestly. If I ever did "sand off the serial numbers" I would do a ton of things.

Hollyleaf's Century would have waaaay bigger and more devastating consequences for the entire island. Not just the lake society. All of Albion would have been badly affected.

I've always been really fond of the idea that you first come into this world, assume it's pretty straightforward "oh! Cats in the woods! Simple enough!" And then slowly the lore reveals itself to be like "ARCHIMEDES' CAT SUCCESSFULLY INVENTED LAZER BEAMS ERGO THE ROMANS NEVER STARTED A CONQUEST OF NORTHERN EUROPE"

Im just incredibly fond of lore that looks basic when you're first introduced to it, slowly drops wilder and wilder shit, and refuses to ever engage with it lmaooo

Lots more name changes, more honor titles, etc

I would start tossing in OCs. I like the limitation I work with right now, it's a fun challenge, but I would be padding out allegiances significantly

Populations would get bigger, with more emphasis on Family rather than Individual. I would begin to give major bloodlines their own insignias.

Identifying with these insignias would be something cats grapple with. Everyone in Tigerstar's family, for example, would consider if they want to jump into their mate's families and modify their insignias or wear them with pride

A lot more would go into "aesthetic" production. Flax, leather, the fashion styles between the different Clans.

I'd mess around with more altars and hidden places where various cats go to worship.

For example I would LOVE to have a "dark library" which contains a lot of Ripplestar's strategies and battle plans, buried in the bog, that Runningnose uncovers through his channeling and Brokenstar goes to learn from

More magic stuff in general, a lot of it going back to Hollyleaf's Century. More types of curses and monsters, some of them just kinda showing up at times.

The ecology of Albion would be a bit wilder. Feral cattle, wild dogs, and horses, nothing too drastic.

Researchers would remain I love those guys. Might make some special "field guides" which are humorous journal entries and such. Occasionally they drop hints at the iceberg lore like, "this reminds me of the Great Egg Scramble of '24."

They'd mention some of the magic stuff and explain that humans have had a hard time researching it scientifically. Like Quantum Physics it doesn't like to work the same way when you observe it directly.

One of their specialists has a PHD in Alchemy or something like that

SkyClan would do a LOT more in the suburbs. Like, I would explicitly start working suburban foraging into their culture instead of just the occasional stealing they do.

Been thinking a lot about the boundaries between natural and urban spaces and how maybe it works best to challenge that "boundary" completely. SkyClan seeing itself in the dandelions that sprout between cracks in the pavement. Do you understand

I'd start adding in more spaces for people to break off from "canon." Like saying that sometimes the researchers capture "breakaway" groups to introduce them to other areas, sometimes they hop on trains and spread around Albion. Fanwork Gaps.

[dragongirltongue]

working on a story/game/thing set in the 1990s, it's about the world changing and and the age of magic beginning. time is going to progress narratively only and I want the ending to take place on New Years to fit into the things are changing vibe.

The story is going to be playful but take itself seriously enough, think like Adventure Time or SLARPG in terms of tone, at least at this point in concept and development.

I'm thinking it'll either take place in '99 for the big heavy theming of entering the new millennium as the world changes forever.

Or

Somewhere earlier where the actual year turnover won't ultimately matter beyond the imagery of a new year beginning by the end of the story.

No show results option or suggest your own, though if you choose the second option and have a specific year in mind I'm very willing to listen, do give reasons if you suggest a specific year. Hell feel free to give reasons if you chose '99 too.

If you want more deets hit the read more.

So you wanna know more about this idea huh?

Well I was playing Tunic not long after Lenna's Inception and the Anodyne games and thought, hey I'd really love to make my own Zelda game too.

The idea is that 12,000ish years ago magic was discovered to be a thing by humanity, around this time a dragon appeared and warned that magic would doom the world. The magic users refused to listen and so a fight broke out, the dragon killed them all.

With the magic users all dead the dragon sealed earth in an anti-magic bubble and requested that their followers kill them to truly end all magic on earth, in their final moments they cast a spell with what magic is left inside the bubble to ensure they reincarnate if magic ever returns and can influence their new incarnation to destroy magic once again.

skip forward to the 1990s, after the industrial revolution caused untold amounts of ecological damage the anti-magic bubble is damaged along with all the horrors we know to have happened in reality.

At some point a corporation happens to find the truth, that magic exists and that a dragon is central to how it will alter our world. So they use it in several projects and build dragons to guard the locations these projects are taking place in. These locations then transform into dungeons.

Our hero finally enters the picture, Connie, a young woman who's just been doing whatever with her life, after investigating a rumor about monsters at a construction site she finds herself guided by a voice to take up a sword and fight the immitation dragons so she can achieve her true power, take on the form of a dragon herself, and save the world from the threat of magic.

Connie decides however after an accident at the first dungeon that maybe the world will be better off with magic as long as it's not solely in the hands of greedy rich bastards.

There's a lot more I have figured out but I think this is enough to get an idea for the poll. I am happy to blather more about the setting and Connie herself, her friends eventually too once I have them figured out. Feel free to send me asks about this. I'm prolly gonna make a sideblog for this at some point. Ideally once I have an idea if I can reasonably make a videos game or not lol.

[lavampira]

book recommendations

tysm @winedark and @rosenfey for the tag <:

passing it along to @hythlodaes @scionshtola @coldshrugs @likeabirdinflight @lesbianalicent @veeples @narrativefoiltrope @kirnet @disequilibria @jennystahl @elvves @queenofthieves @weird-ecologies @erielake @verbose-vespertine @solarisrenbeth @onceinabluemoony @queerbrujas @oldblood but ofc no pressure!!

1. the last book I read:

GOTH WESTERN by LIVALI WYLE — well. technically, it’s an indie graphic novel. but it’s a western meets magical realism about necromancy, revenge, and the power of love. and lesbians. I burned through it in a couple hours sitting because I was so gripped by it tbh.

2. a book I recommend:

THE HACIENDA by ISABEL CAÑAS — an absolute all time fave book in my heart; I would say one doesn’t even need to necessarily love horror to get invested in this one, since it also involves very interesting critique of spanish colonialism, religion, and class struggles in post-independence mexico only using hauntings as the lens to view it.

3. a book that I couldn’t put down:

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE by SAMANTHA SHANNON — I was glued to this book for a solid two weeks despite its length. I have a lot that I would change about the pacing and certain events or qualities of some characters’ outcomes, but it was such a fun fantasy read, and I had a difficult time even moving on from the setting and protagonists once I was done.

4. a book I’ve read twice (or more):

THE SONG OF ACHILLES by MADELINE MILLER — my first time reading this myth retelling was my freshman year of college, so I reread it again ten years later to see if it would still hold up for how much I loved it, and it absolutely did. the perspective of the man standing beside and in love with the hero interwoven with the tragedy of achilles and patroclus takes me right out and the passages that tumblr enjoys to quote from it have so much more impact in the full context of the narrative.

5. a book on my TBR:

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA by JULIA ARMFIELD — this poor book keeps getting knocked down on my TBR but I’m determined to read it this year. I’m intrigued by the horror of the protagonist’s wife ‘coming back wrong’ in a sense, and the recommendations based on its similarity to ANNIHILATION, but also the fact it seems to be a wlw scifi horror, too.

6. a book I’ve put down:

AFFINITY by SARAH WATERS — I wanted to like this one so bad, considering how often waters has been hyped up to me as The Author for historical lesbian novels and the fact it delves into victorian spiritualism, but the pacing felt so slow at getting to the point in the plot, and when it finally did, the twist put me off on finishing the end. it’s probably more of a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ but I def had to DNF it.

7. a book on my wishlist:

GHOST STATION by S.A. BARNES — space horror quickly became a fave niche genre that I got into last year, so I’ve been very excited for this release, too. I’m also a fan of how barnes writes atmospheric dread and I have high expectations for it.

8. a favorite book from my childhood:

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by EMILY BRONTË — it altered my brain chemistry as a teenager in high school and I haven’t been the same since I read it. I distinctly remember listening to ‘you said I killed you — haunt me then!’ read aloud and having to pretend like it didn’t make me feel so completely unhinged in the middle of class.

9. a book you would give to a friend:

PIRANESI by SUSANNA CLARKE — I was recommended this one by a friend to begin with, so it feels like an even more perfect book to pass forward. I think it’s one of those books that’s easy to get absorbed into even if it’s not a typical genre one would read, and it’s such a life-altering experience to go through with the protagonist, too. the underlying message that we’re all changed by our own trials and we’re never the same as we were before lingers with me.

10. a book of poetry or lyrics you own:

CRUSH by RICHARD SIKEN — it’s taken me so long to finally track down a physical copy at my bookstore but it was worth it because it remains my fave book of poetry to date. I could quote so many lines, after how hard they’ve hit me, and some of them have influenced my own writing or pairings in some ways.

11. a nonfiction book you own:

HAVANA NOCTURNE by T.J. ENGLISH — back in 2015-2016ish I went through a true crime phase in the prohibition era through the foundation of the US mafia, and this is a very informative book on how the mob became tied to cuba and how the revolution affected it.

12. what are you currently reading:

AN EDUCATION IN MALICE by S.T. GIBSON — I stumbled across this retelling of carmilla set in a late 60s massachusetts women’s college after reading gibson’s A DOWRY OF BLOOD and had to give it a try. I’m enjoying it so far; the prose is full of thick emotional yearning and electric chemistry, and the balance in the narrative of toxic mentorship, historical romantic and sensual attraction between women without shaming them for it, and vampiric elements is really fun.

13. what are you planning on reading next:

WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT by T. KINGFISHER — I only found out the other day that the sequel to WHAT MOVES THE DEAD was even released but I’m so desperate for the next part of alex easton’s story (and how eerily kingfisher writes horror) that it shot up to my next read.

[dipperdesperado]

guerrilla gardening is very cool

I’m really stoked to talk about praxis and solarpunk today. Hopefully, you all know what solarpunk is. I imagine fewer of you know what praxis is. Essentially, praxis is a term, used a lot by leftists, to talk about doing stuff. It’s a practice or activity, informed by theoretical and experiential knowledge. In our goal to create an ecological society informed by appropriate technology, we should think not only about the massive upheavals but the things that we can do right now. That’s where guerrilla gardening comes in.

Gardening in general is activism, but guerrilla gardening is like, super solarpunk. The rundown is essentially when you and/or a group of homies take some love-starved land and turn it into a garden (or just plant stuff there) without permission from the owner of said land. That lack of permission is what makes it guerrilla. This can lead to a better community, and supports abolition (of private property), autonomy, and collective resiliency. Ideally, you can get public support behind ya, and be able to work with the municipality to not get in trouble. The classic asking for forgiveness than permission, until you’re the one that can decide.

Where to Start: X Marks the Spot

When you (and your small-but mighty collective/affinity group) decide that you want to set up a guerrilla garden, the first thing you want to do is find a good spot. It can be that little line of grass that split up two sides of the road, a sidewalk bed, or an empty lot. You want to make sure there’s good sunlight and decent soil. If the soil ain’t good, but you wanna do stuff there, I’d recommend researching how to rehabilitate it. Obviously, that’s more work, though.

Once you have your target spot, you’ll need your tools and plants. Some basic things will be gloves, a trowel, a water source (like a can or hose), and plants/seeds. Some nice-to-haves could be mulch, compost, or soil amendments. It depends on what you’re planting and what your conditions are to know what you’ll need to bring. If you’re in a high visibility area, it could be nice to have some clothing that makes sure you don’t look suspect. That’s probably a good general rule of thumb. Act like you deserve to be in the space because you do! If you look suspect, people will think as much.

Prepping the Garden

Once you have everything you need, you’ll need to get the garden site ready. If you need to clear it out, whether there’s vegetation you’re not interested in, trash, debris, etc., do that. Ideally, you can also improve the soil quality with stuff like compost and organic stuff if you need to.

Time for Plants!

Here’s where the real fun begins. Get some plants going! You want the ones you pick to be a good fit for the target climate and soil. Even better if some of them are edible. When you’re planting, be sure to space the plants out and water them pretty well. If you're planting seeds, be patient! It can take a few weeks for the plants to sprout.

Garden Tending

Now that you have a garden going, it’s time to keep it up. You want to water them regularly and watch out for any invasives or weeds that could crowd out your plants. You might also have to add additional amendments to the soil, to keep the plants happy. Try to make sure to think about and account for issues in the garden. Whether that’s nonhuman neighbors or mean vandals, you want to try to think of ways to uphold the values of the project while protecting its continued existence.

Permablitzing

I also want to touch on some more specific types of guerrilla gardening. Firstly, let’s talk about permablitzing.

Permablitizing is a portmanteau between permaculture and blitzing. Permaculture is a type of gardening and farming that aspires to copy natural ecosystems to create harmonious gardens that are self-sustaining. It generally will include a mix of native, edible, and wildlife-attracting plants. Permablitzing is taking that permaculture idea and rallying the community to create a permaculture garden in a single day.

It looks a little something like this: volunteers collectively design and install the garden. They put in garden beds, plant trees, and shrubs, and install irrigation. There might also be compost systems, raised beds, or accessible walkways through the garden. Permablitzing is great because it’s relatively quick, it’s tangible and immediately garners buy-in. It’s more about finding the space to do this and finding people who are willing to participate.

Seedbombing

If you’re not able to work with a group, or you just want to be able to very quickly deposit new plants in places, you can seedbomb!

Seedbombs are small packages of seeds wrapped in soil that can be thrown or dropped onto the ground. This kinda stuff is great for rewinding and restoring neglected or degraded areas. Just make sure you do research! You don’t wanna introduce invasive or incompatible plants.

The basic seedbomb recipe is:

Soil

Clay or compost

Seeds

You mix them together, roll them into small balls, then let them dry. You can just toss them into your target areas. Seedbombing is great because it’s fun and creative while being a great way to un-neglect neglected areas. You can also do it alone or with the homies. It’s a very flexible guerrilla option.

Final thoughts

One of the most important things to think about when trying to enact social change is aligning your ends (the liberatory future you envision) with your means (the things you do to get to that vision). Guerrilla gardening is great to this end as a form of praxis because it allows for this to be realized in the here and now. It helps us realize that we don’t have to wait until people let us do what we think is right. If you see an issue, you can respond to it. Also, gardening is fun, gets you outside, and allows you to be more connected with the earth, which is just so so so good for you. Be smart, keep each other safe, and good luck with your gardening!

[studiolemonboy]

Mutants of Cherry Creek (pt 2)

Some MORE mutated critters from my YA lovecraftian horror comic set in 90s New England.

Mutagenic ooze is seeping into the town of Cherry Creek and mutating normal New England wildlife into terrifying monsters. The Cherry Creek Middle School Paranormal Investigation Club sets out to discover, catalogue, and tame all of the mutated cryptids and hopefully find the source of the toxic ooze before it permanently infects everything (and everyone) in town.

Northern Short Tailed Shrew — one of only a few venomous mammals

Brown and Black Bears - walk on two legs, climb trees, intelligent

Eastern Crayfish - present in the fossil record for at least 300 million years Eastern

Moose - huge but stealthy

Eastern Newt (Red Eft) — can secrete a strong smelling chemical from glands in its skin

At first, the animals just seem weird, strange, a little “off”. Over time, exposure to the ooze causes these creatures to get bigger, meaner, and much more dangerous. (all the beginning stage creatures shown here are newly mutated, their final stages are after only a few weeks of exposure)

I also love folklore and cryptids and I really love the idea of this club of dorky middle school cryptid hunters assigning names like “bigfoot”, “mothman”, and “hodag” to these monsters so can try and contextualize something they don’t really understand. Soon the club realizes these aren’t fun isolated critters but symptoms much larger impending ecological disaster!

I picture it like pokemon evolution, going from a cute water turtle to a kaiju which is a lot for a ten year old to handle.

Which is your favorite? What cryptid would you wanna see? What animal should I “Cryptify” next? lmk what you think!

[scarsmood]

Basic misunderstandings in ecology and how that translates to otherkinity

Read time: 4 minutes word count: 323

Ecology is the study between living organisms and their relationship to the physical world. This relationship is diverse and has depth that isn’t fully observed by humans.

Because of our inherent bias from anthropomorphism. It means we may interpret animals behavior to be something different than it is. Some easy examples that go against typical notions.

Wolves in the natural world are not fearsome they are typically extremely fearful.

Chickens are not stupid they have a diverse and interesting relationship both with other birds and flock members they’re intelligent and curious.

Sheep specifically rams are not gentle animals and can be huge assholes.

Is this fixable?

Very easily so! Just researching will quickly fix this issue. Indepth research will help with lots of kintype development and it doesn’t even have to be all reading. Documentaries from trusted sources, audiobooks, going to the zoo or animal sanctuary to be up close with animals or observe them at a distance, going to a park or ranch to observe animals in a natural setting.

Is this anthropomorphism “bad” for otherkinity?

Not really. But if you specifically as an animal want to be a 1 to 1 representation, research is going to be extremely important. otherwise knowing your engaging in anthropomorphic or atypical traits is helpful to know but ultimately not extremely dire to change. These essays aren’t meant to shame one individuals way of identity rather explore how we misinterpret animals and how we can either correct that or understand this going forward.

Overall I think deeper research may make the community more interesting. Sharing findings and research projects specific to their kintype would be very cool to see. Volunteer work for your chosen kintype would be fun as well. So go out there are learn things! Share with the community! Write you experiences and how these topics effect you. Id love to hear about it!