#n i really love beaches. n oceans. n lakes n rivers n the rain. i love water. i feel so at home n so safe with water

[noxtivagus]

neath dark waters

[salad-tales]

I want all the cute commander questions for Cor but I'll settle for 4, 7, 14, and 18 - @moonlit-grove

Aaaaa fren I will do my best! It's under the cut because length-

1. Do they sleep with stuffed animals?

At her home? Yes. She has a few that she bought or made herself when she was a sapling. After becoming commander and not being able to sleep in her home anymore, her sons roomates take care of them. But she's already making more whenever she has some downtime. Either to be handed out to children or as cushions for her new bed.

2. How do they like their coffee?

Nonexistent. She's a tea person. Coffee tastes ew.

3. What’s their favorite dessert?

She doesn't really have a favourite. It always depends on.. the mood?

4. What was their favorite bedtime story?

Back when she was traveling with Rosalus.. When she couldn't sleep, he told her about his previous journeys and the life when he was a sapling.

5. Big spoon or little spoon?

Both, depending on if her beloved has a preference! She loves cuddling so either way fine with her! Though sometimes she needs to be held

6. What’s their ideal date like?

I think I answered something like this before. Just spending time with her beloved is honestly all that she can ask for. Though she'd prefer not so public places

7. Do they daydream? If so, about what?

Oh she daydreams a lot About her beloveds and family most often Otherwise daydreaming includes: - books she's been reading - projects she's been working on - pretty places she's seen

8. Do they see shapes in the clouds?

She used to do that with Rosalus and later with the twins. Nowadays it happens rarely but when she has the time, she likes to lay down and see what she can find. Especially with beloveds.

9. Do they prefer rainy weather or sunny weather?

Either is really nice when the moment is right. She'd rather not be on a mission in the blaring sun or pouring rain.

10. Do they like going to the beach?

To be very honest? Not really. She doesn't like Beaches or the ocean.. Lakes and Rivers are fine but she's not a beach person

11. What was the last party they attended?

Uhhhm... Is it bad that she doesn't remember?

12. What’s their favorite drink?

Please don't ask her such hard questions! It depends on her mood really. Sometimes she prefers something more sweet and smooth and other times she prefers something funky and sour or fruity

13. Do they like flowers?

It would be quite ironic to say no, wouldn't it? Yes, she loves them, keeping a small garden with fruits and vegetables as well as some pretty flowers inbetween

14. What’s their favorite holiday?

Oh dear- She doesn't have a favourite but Wintersday and Dragonbash are very close to one another.

15. Do they collect anything?

Memories. Well, she also likes to keep little things that she finds on her travels. Things that remind her of her family.

16. Do they prefer to read or write?

She likes both, but lately her writing has been put on the backburner

17. What do they do on their days off?

Relaxing! Be that in the form of snoozing and cuddling with beloveds, tailoring or sowing plushies/cushions, making some art, visiting her sons old roommates in the Grove.. there's a lot she likes doing in her time off

18. Do they like to dance?

That depends. In a room full of people, especially people she barely knows if at all? N o Alone with her beloved or family? no she doesn't melt when her beloved pulls her in for a slow dance out of nowhere, nope ..maybe

19. Are they any good at dancing?

Hardly, really. But she makes do, when she has to. Otherwise it's more about fun than skill.

20. What’s their happiest memory?

There's... few - her excitement on the day she would go on her first adventure - falling in love with whoever her beloved is in which AU - seing the Pact celebrating the fall of Zhaitan - optional: reunion with her beloved after PoF and LW4 - ther wedding - Aurene's hatching - Aurene's Ascension

[dyrwoodan]

11 questions

rules: answer 11 questions, write 11 questions, tag 11 people. tagged by @highevre and @sidesteppin like many many months ago i bet u forgot griff and i did too but here i am. thank you both lmao tagging if y’all want: @henantier @weisshavpt @eledhrim @arlathen @nirn-root @kajgott @bosmerie @jennystahl @elvhenstar @drthamen @gwynbleidd @lavellane @roguefatebinder @nordxz

here are my 11 questions and under the cut are the,, 22 answered ones because it’s real long

favourite flower and tree? whyyy

milk chocolate? dark? white? with orange? nuts? strawberries? which do you prefer!!

if you could move to a fictional place in a heartbeat where would it be?

any specific Woter you love? rivers? lakes? the ocean?

do you like the sun?

do you believe in cryptids?

something you did, however big or small, that made you feel proud of yourself recently?

any fictional character you'd like to have as a parent? or a guiding figure? mentor? whichever you prefer

if you had to choose to become one video game protagonist which one would it be?

 what is your favourite scent?

any funny/surreal/scary dream you would like to share?

1. If you had to get a piercing, what would you get?

def one of those eyebrow ones. like i never seriously thought about getting one, i don't feel like i need it but,, i like how the eyebrow ones look so probably that. idk what's it called. i imagine this kinda circle, like around the end of the eyebrow. does that make sense

2. Favorite time of day + weather?

very early mornings. maybe because i don't even experience them often but when i do they just feel so special and eerie and something about them makes me really content. well, unless i am woken up by an alarm and i have to go somewhere real early, then i'm fucking pissed. as for the weather. i like autumn/winter when it's finally cold but not freezing, not a single ray of sun, just fog and clouds, no rain or wind. just fog and cold. OR in winter, freezing cold, snowing, again no wind i hate wind.

3. Board games, card games, or jigsaw puzzles?

board games! my fave is probably something like monopoly but it's with horses? you buy horses and do stuff and it's fun because i always win and my family refuses to play it with me

4. Opinion on wearing socks to bed?

not a fan. feet prison.

5. Is there a childhood storybook or tale that stood out to you or one that you remember every so often?

yea yea yea. this one book, in my language and it wouldn't really have a translation because the title is a made up word. my mom would read it to us and i remember very little but i remember it was quite scary at times? it was very... surreal, dream-like or kinda nightmare inducing. idk what is it even about. i think there were some children and they were playing a game? and that game was scary? idk i just remember surreal images i had in my head

6. Seasons ranked from worst to best?

summer, spring, autumn, winter. but i hate spring and summer almost equally.

7. Any pets?

my cat, my pal, my best friend. a doge. two other cats.

8. A band that you can’t stop listening to?

apparently imagine dragons. because i've known this band for the longest time and i'm still listening to it? like i abandoned Everything i used to listen to, except for this band. like i always come back to them during points in my life ya kno. not rn tho but i still love them

9. Any place you would like to visit at least once, if given the chance?

iceland :/ the black beaches, the volcanoes, the hills, the glaciers, the sheep.....

10. Hobbies/Pastimes?

oh you know it. games n stuff. painting i guess. reading but evidently only in autumn and the rest of the year i'm illiterate. photography i Guess. mediocre writing.

11. Coffee or tea? Any favorite order for either of those?

just tea thank u. i dislike coffee. i like green, black and white tea. herbal infusions, lemon balm and linden mostly. herbal with honey and the others with sugar. if i'm feeling fancy i add a bit of milk to my green/black tea.

1. What’s one of your irrational fears?

i feel like all of them are irrational. like, they have a reason, they are deeply rooted but when i look at them rationally i'm like.. why. insects and spiders for one? like they are so small and so harmless and i'm terrified. hospitals and doctors and medicine and needles and everything connected with that. like,, legally they can't do anything to me i know that but i'm still terrified and i would literally rather bleed out after being stabbed than go to the hospital.

2. What do you love most about your favorite ship?

morrigan and caiwyn. ok. i talked about it a bit before but i will talk about it again. that morrigan makes caiwyn feel free. he knew a lot already but he was still restricted by living in the circle. so he never met an apostate until morrigan, in the wilds. and it opened up his mind a bit more and inspired him. like, you can be a mage and be outside the circle? that's cool, i want that. and she simply represents to him what it means to be free and that it's possible. also that they are both selfish bastards but they found each other and they care about each other so much and they are loyal beyond grave. that caiwyn is not loyal to anything and anyone... but to morrigan. that you'd think both of them are incapable of love but they both have reasons for appearing that way and Despite all that they Are capable of love. that none of them expects it either, none of them realizes they are in love because how would they know it if they never felt it? and it's new to them but they both take that.. leap. because both of them are secretly wary, they both think this is just a fling and deep down they are afraid it will end eventually. until they realize it isn't and that they won’t let it end. and it takes them some time but they make it work.

3. What would be an ideal morning for you?

without an alarm waking me up. no one in the house. i'm alone. it's dead quiet. it's raining subtly. i feed my cat and make myself some tea. i go out to sit on my porch, my cat purrs in my lap. i stare into the woods and the morning mist forming in between the strands of grass. it's quiet and i feel at peace with being alive. and my vampire/mothman/creacher partner is emerging from the mist with a bag of freshly baked goods they went to buy to the nearby village. we greet and eat breakfast together in quiet understanding. and they ask me how i am and i say good and i mean it.

4. Name one or more fictional characters that are 100% your type.

morrigan (dao), serana (skywim), manon (tog book). kinda goth? yellow/vampire eyes? blood aesthetic somewhere? kinda mean? not to be h*rny on main but that's hot.

5. What is the most moving/emotional experience you’ve ever had in a video game?

ah. i remember it as if it happened yesterday. when i played da2 for the first time. for some reason i sided with the templars, i think i thought i would be able to betray them and backstab them, that's what i wanted to do. then i had to kill all the mages, i thought i would be able to avoid that somehow. and if that weren't already emotionally a lot for me.... i sent anders away and then he showed up again and i had to kill him?? that was like the worst thing that i ever had to do. idk what happened, i knew where my alliences were, i loved anders. and yet i made a series of stupid decisions and man i cried so much that day. but like there were so many other experiences, this one was just from the top of my head. like generally,, bitch i am moved by anything in video games. video games probably made me cry more than books and i like to think i read more books than i played video games and i cried while reading books but still. video games man...... so many moments from skyrim made me cry too. in da2 and dao... SO many.

6. Cats or dogs? And what is your favorite thing about them?

cats!! that they are little bastardly creachers. they don't listen to no master and i respect that and i understand them. i'm unable to listen as well. they are soft and cute and they like to cause trouble and they have so many personalities, they can be broody and antisocial or they are cuddly or they are talkative. round... soft... fluffy... the eyes... the little teeth.... paws.... they have healing skills too. little magicians. they are also smart while simultaneously so dumb. i love them.

7. If you could press a button and instantly learn a new language, which would it be? How many times would you press it?

norwegian. i would probably press it very slowly, once. both because i'm not sure about my choice and also because.. learning languages is fun for me personally so i would hesitate if i really want to skip the learning process? but then again, i'm also lazy so, yea

8. Do you have OCs? Who is the first and who is the closest to your heart?

oh first would have to be,, one oc from an original thing. but since i'm not talking about that here... ravell? from skyrim? i think she is the oldest. AND closest to my heart. like i switch in between ocs i hyperfixate on but i love ravell just a Little Bit more than the others?? probably because she has been with me for the longest time and helped me a lot.

9. What are some of your favorite book/movie/video games quotes?

oh so so many but i will mention a few!! "i'd say i was being punished, but i know that the world doesn't punish wicked people. we make our choices and take what comes and the rest is void." from dishonored, spoken by daud "if more people valued home above gold this world would be a merrier place." the hobbit, thorin "maybe it is time to leave this hatred behind. it's poison, yet i continue to swallow it." da2, fenris "...folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didnt. they kept going. because they were holding on to something..." lotr, sam "we live and breathe words ... it was books that made me feel that perhaps i was not completely alone." clockwork prince, will "the world will be saved and remade by the dreamers" empire of storms, aelin

10. If you had the power to instantly make a prequel/sequel/spin off/remake to a video game/movie/tv show of your choice, what would it be and why?

dao and da2 sequel that isn't dai because i don't like it. dishonored (2012) sequel that isn't whatever came out after it because it just doesn't have the same Vibes skyrim 2?? skyrim 2. because i love it. remake of da2 maybe? so that it has at least some charm that dao had? dishonored prequel would be really fucking cool too i love the world of dishonored.

11. Name a character whose aesthetic and style you identify with.

like apart from my blatantly self-inserted ocs,, maybe fenris from da2? in a way? or dorian from throne of glass. we really vibing, me and dorian and fenris. i don't really know though? like i can relate to canon characters but idk about the aesthetic, so probably only dorian and fenris are the closest. maybe even anders? because uhhhh cat. and we both dress like sewer goblins ig, no offence anders.

[oliver-traveller-blog]

Well Hello

I have stumbled upon Tumblr, and had an epiphany that this is where I belong. Where my words belong.

Who am I? My Name is Oliver. I’m a middle aged, balding Canadian with a love of travel, culture, scuba diving and all things. I have been fortunate to travel the world. Across the great country I call home, across the US, Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. John, Mexico, Germany, France, the UK, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Hawaii (sure, it’s the US – until you ask a Native Hawaiian J ) and countless other tiny places around the world.

This blog is about these travels. About the people. The diving. The friends I have made. I find myself thinking about the words of Terry and Renny Russell from their wonderful book “On the Loose”

Have you ever walked 34 miles on a straight-arrow dirt road in the desert with only a Tang-jar of some rusty water because you expected somebody who didn’t come and then walked past your turnoff in the dark and had to sleep on a cattle guard? Have you ever dropped your sleeping bag in the ocean? Have you ever followed a jeep-track in the rain which got worse and worse and fainter and fainter and petered out a vertical quarter mile from where you wanted to go? Have you ever slept on a cobblestone river bank? Or on a sand dune on a windy night and spit sand all the next morning? Have you ever climbed a mountain but missed the right peak by a half a mile but the sun was going down and you were freezing and had to find some dry wood and a place to sleep in the snow quick? Have you ever walked 234 miles on mountain trail to see how hip fast you could do it? Have you ever started a backpack trip and hit a storm on the first pass and spent 24 hours under a wet plastic tarp drinking lumpy iced chocolate and walked through the snow to a cabin and burnt your jeans drying them out over a wood stove? Have you ever left your insect repellent behind on a rock? Have you ever had a cheese sandwich for Christmas dinner in Death Valley? Have you ever camped in a dump? Have you ever gone to sleep on a beach and woke up in the water and had to sleep up on the rocks under a cliff which rained sand on your neck all night and lost your tennis shoe and almost your glasses to the tide? Have you every lain under a truck for five hours because it was the only shade in the desert in July? Have you ever walked 50 miles? Or walked 41.3 with blisters for glory? Have you ever fallen out of and under a boat in a rapid because the deck wasn’t tied on right? Have you ever had just dried figs and sandy bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Have you ever floated a lake shore at night groping for a campsite midst bare rock and cactus? Have you ever built a fire with a water ski because it was the only wood?

No, I reckon not all of them, maybe. But that’s how we’ve grown up Ren and I, that and a thousand puffs up the trail. Everybody goes about it differently, of course, but I don’t guess we’d trade any of it. It’s meant a lot of good humor. It’s meant a few flashes of almost unbearable beauty which I can only call religious experiences (and if religion means anything, that’s what they were). “Fitness,” experience, are part of it, too. Most important is an imperishable attitude, a philosophy if you like, a way of laying out the world and planting yourself in it. Now we know what is trivia and what is real.

…

Actually, the eloquence of the wilderness is not a pattern for human eloquence. There lives no hardier fool who shouts “The scene inspired me to set pen to paper,” or brush to canvas, or thumb to lyre. The wilderness inspires nothing but itself. Our babblings and scratchings resume in the den or studio, whenever things resume their comfortable and incorrect proportions.

….planet earth twentieth century after Christ. We live in the house that God built but that the tenants remodeled-blew up, it looks like before we arrived. Poking through the rubble in our off hours, we’ve found the corners that were spared and have hidden in them as much as we could. Not to escape from but to escape to, not to forget but to remember. We’ve been leaning to take care of ourselves in places where it really matters. The next step is to take care of the places that really matter. Crazy kids on the loose; but on the loose in the wilderness. That makes all the difference.

[africacalling]

From Swaziland to Mozambique

We have travelled quite some distance since I last wrote. We left the beautiful Lesotho due to heavy rain making it impossible to get to the places we wanted to see. We decided to enter back into South Africa, have a one night pit stop in Clarens, a beautiful little town (even had a room for the night for £20 to get things dry). Then we began the 8 hour trip to get back on to the South African coast. Illovo was our first stop, we stayed for one night in a little camp site and then moved down the coast a couple of km to Kerradine where we camped for 3 nights at the Petora Hotel, we were able to use all the facilities and the beach was right on our door step.  Each day the monkeys would come and put on a show using the trees and shrubs as a gymnasium to swing from and chase each other. We met a nice couple, Mike and Denise who gave us some tips for the trip ahead and warned us of the cyclone due to hit Mozambique.

From here we headed north of Durban to Ballito, we camped at the Dolphin Resort making this home for a week. A sea town with a bit of hustle and bustle, a few bars and restaurants and most importantly, somewhere for Chris to watch the rugby. We met a lovely Dutch family Jiske and Jurrianne travelling with their 2 children Hugo and Sophie age 3 (very adorable may I add). The day they arrived we experienced one of the maddest thunder storms I had ever been in. The lightning lit up the sky in shades of purple and pink while the thunder roared and crashed above us. For shelter we had the awning from their motor home and decided we would drink wine and flying fish to get us through. A few hours and many laughs later, the storm passed and we were able to safely retreat back into our tent.  The heavy rain continued for a few more days and so we stayed stationary. We were in the tail end of cyclone Dineo which hit Tofo region in Mozambique pretty bad. Soon enough we would see the destruction that it caused.

We travelled with the Jiske and Jurianne for another 5 days heading north to St Lucia and Hluhluwe before travelling into Swaziland. We were able to do a really great self drive in the iSimangaliso wetland park. We saw lots of Giraffe, elephants, buffalo, antelope and zebra. On our way back to Sugar loaf camp in st Lucia we crossed over the river and to our amazement were able to catch hippos having their daily swim down the river. Thankfully we were viewing them from the safety of the bridge and not ground level. Hippos are one of the most underestimated animals of all time. They are notoriously quick on their feet and know to attack humans frequently.

After iSimangaliso we headed to Hluhluwe where we camped at the Bushbaby Lodge. We relaxed in the pool and then the following morning made an early start to the game reserve. Once again we were able to get up close to elephants, giraffe, zebra, wilder beast, buffalo, many antelope and we must not forget the rhinos. I was amazed by the sheer size of them, some of them weighing up to 3 tons! Another successful day at a game reserve and we decided we would make the border run to Swaziland. I don’t think we had really accounted for how long it would take to get there... Finally at 10pm we found our destination, Milwane Nature reserve.

Waking in the morning we were able to take in the beauty of Milwane. Zebra, Warthog and Duiker roamed free. The trees surrounding us were tall reaching up into the sky, offering plenty of shade to get respite from the sun. We went on a hike around the reserve in the hope to spot crocodile in the lake. It wasn’t until we were leaving that we were able to see a crocodile off for his morning swim.

Heading north we made our way to Maguga dam, one of the largest in Swaziland the infrastructure was quite impressive, despite the rain the dam was still only at 20%. We camped for our last night with the Dutch at the Maguga lodge. The whole area to our selves overlooking the dam was a perfect setting. We held a little party for Chris’ pre birthday night, even had a cake and balloons courtesy of Jiske. The only thing that was quite was concerning was the sign stating to be aware of the hippos and crocodiles!! Needless to say I was hyper sensitive to all the sounds around me that night.

The day of Chris’ birthday we went white water rafting in the Great Usutu River. There had been a lot of heavy rainfall and so the river was full. The safety speech at the beginning was enough to make me want to turn back and get on the bus, but it was Chris’ birthday and so I thought I should really face my fears and give it a go. The first couple of hours were really fun; we rafted down a working wear and got into sync with our paddling. I don’t think any amount of paddling would have prepared us for the rapids that would face us in the afternoon. The guides had decided to not show us the rapid before we went down in the fear that I would say I didn’t want to do it. We tipped over the edge and were faced with waves of water crashing into us. Two brits on an inflatable croc... this wasn’t going to end well. We negotiated the second wave and it sent us sideways, crashing into a large rock that we got stuck on. The force of the water sent us flying out of the croc, trying to get orientated I surface from the water and shout for Chris to help me. The guides are laughing finding it all very amusing, they drag me back to the river bank where I am able to get my breath. Chris had managed to swim himself in and decided he needed another go down the rapids. This time he went with a guide and again they get over the first wave and then the boat gets tipped vertically and out they come, floating down the river. Thank goodness for helmets and a life jacket is all I can say. I am thinking that has to be the worst one, but then later that afternoon we had to take climb with our croc over rocks to bypass a raging waterfall, the rain is coming down and the rocks are slippery. The guides make it look so easy, jumping across the rocks with our croc on his head as if we goat clinging to the mountain. Myself and Chris however, are sliding all over the place. The final large rapid of the day and there is a torrent of water raging down there. Keep straight, come on keep straight we can do this, and then we hit another rock, and get spun sideways. I luckily manage to stay in the boat but Chris comes flying out again. He resurfaces and to make matters worse I go over his head with the croc. Get me off this croc, I have decided that grade IV water rafting is not for me and I will leave it for the adrenaline hunters. Needless to say that night we treated ourselves to a room in the hostel to recover from the day. 

The next day a much more relaxing day, we went to Hilwane Royal National Park, we stayed in a beautiful traditional rondavelle. We booked onto the sunset safari ride and at 4pm off we went. Within 10 mins we come across 6 rhinos grazing, we are able to get so close, all I can think is please don’t charge. Their giant horns protruding into the sky, they really are beautiful. We travel around the park for another hour and just as we are about to go back we get to see what everyone has been waiting for...lions, not just one but three. They are napping and hiding in the tall grass so we are able to just see them but still we have seen lions.

For now it’s goodbye to Swaziland and onwards to our adventure in Mozambique. We are prepared for the border we have everything that we could possibly need, they are particularly fussy at the border and on the roads so you need to have all your paperwork in order and the car in good condition. We cross with no problems, a few runners trying to earn some money but we head straight to immigration and get through within thirty mins. Our first night to break it up we stay on Macanetta Island at Tan ‘n’ Biki, then onwards to Priar do Bilene. Palmerio Complexo would be our home for 3 nights. It was a great place to get into the swing of Mozambique life and also bulk buy the famous tipo tinto rum (6 bottles for £14). We experienced quite heavy rain while we were there; thankfully we had the gazebo for cover.

Next stop Chidengule, 160km up the road. There is only one main road heading to the north of Mozambique and so as long as you keep the ocean to your right, you can’t go wrong. Again we have some more rain in Chidengule so we only camp for two nights at the sunset lodge. Onwards and upwards to Tofo, which is where I am now. As I sit and write this I am sat looking at the turquoise ocean, golden sands and blue skies. The rain has ended.

We have been in Tofo for 13 days all ready, the break here is just what we need to refuel the batteries. Camping is so cheap, £3.50 a night so we can’t go wrong. Tofo is only just recovering from the cyclone that hit. As you drive around you still see so much damage, houses that have had the roofs blown off, straw houses that have been flattened. Giant trees that have fallen from the extreme wind and rubbish is everywhere. People are still working so hard to get things back in shape. Tofo is paradise and brings a lot of tourism to Mozambique so people need to work quickly. Thankfully the locals aren’t forgotten, there has been a lot of community projects and fundraising to help people rebuild their homes and lives. We donated a load of vegetables and rice to a school to help feed 800 children. About one week into our stay we are warned that more heavy rain and strong winds are coming. We take down the gazebo and prepare for the 50kmph winds. The sea becomes wild and waves double in size. All of the rubbish the initial cyclone took into the ocean gets spat back out on to the shore; the once beautiful beach is covered in plastic and debris. Operation clear up begins, Chris and me decide that we will get the rakes from the caretaker and clear the beach, slowly more people join and before we know we have a team and within two to three hours the beach is looking much more appealing. Less plastic in the sea = happy fish.

In a couple of days we are heading to Vilankulos where we will explore the Bazarutu Island. I won’t wait so long to write next time. To be continued....

Love Marie and Chris

[noxtivagus]

>< today was really good!! 🫶🏼