#rollie pollie snack meals

[lune-hime]

Garden of Tulips (Levi/Reader) Tea Time #4

~Click me for more chapters~

“What did it look like?”

“Hmm?” Levi looked up from his place next to your sleeping form. “The titan that tried to snack on my darling granddaughter.” “Ugly as fuck.” “Aren’t they all?”

Levi recounts memories of the reader and their shared life together while she recovers from a serious injury.

!!WARNINGS!! - Violence, gore, smut, wholesome content ;)

So these little Tea Times were written as little filler-memory chapters to place in between the main story line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freckles

↞♞♘↠

Jean sucked up his scattered feelings upon seeing you sitting in one of the library’s plush armchairs.

“Hey.” He called with feigned confidence as he rounded the corner of the last bookshelf before your resting place. He faltered a bit when his eyes met the ever stoic gaze of Levi. He was reclining in the chair opposite of you with a stack of documents in his lap.  You looked up from your book in slight surprise.

“Hey, I thought you left already.” Your statement was more of a perplexion as you regarded him gently.

“Yeah-um.” Jean started and furrowed his brow. His eyes darted back over to Levi who had quietly resigned back to his paperwork. His gaze fell back to yours, a look of worry spreading on your face. He bit his lip to contain the fountain of baggage that threatened to spill.

“Don’t worry about it-it’s fine.” He cleared his throat and nodded, trying to look convincingly forgettable. Your eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“I’ll see you at the meeting later, Levi.” You said with a small smile in his direction. His head rose and he nodded once.

“Alright.” He replied curtly. Jean observed the faint blush on your cheeks and the delicateness of the captain’s features as he looked at you. Your crush had blossomed full force and it was sweetly sickening to Jean to watch you flutter secretly under Levi’s actions.

“I said it was nothing.” Jean grumbled as you slapped your book shut and came to his side.

“Bullshit.” You chided as you walked side by side out of the library. Once you were out in the hall you backed him against the wall. You stood in his personal space bubble. The way he towered over you didn’t threaten you at all. It never had.

“ Fine. I was wondering if you would come with me?” He asked, his voice shaking minutely as he tried to keep his weakness from seeping through the cracks of his pride. You tilted your head to the side in a fond grin.

“Of course.” You replied sweetly.

“Let me just drop my book off and change my shoes.” You said as you began walking again. Jean trailed behind you like a puppy, hands fidgeting behind his back accompanied by periodic sighs.

“Are the others coming too?” You asked as you slipped on your everyday sandals after having discarded your reading material. Jean didn’t answer for a moment and only the clap of the soles of your shoes against the wooden floor met your ears.

“No, I just wanted it to be the two of us. If that’s alright.” He confessed. When you stood up straight, the apprehension he had been feeling washed over you. You hummed in agreement.

“Okay.” You smiled knowingly. You gave his arm a few warm strokes as you both headed into the hall.

The walk through the village fields was lovely. The June sun was pleasant on your exposed skin and the lush flowers tickled your ankles along the stone path. The two of you stuck to the outskirts of the village until you reached a grove of trees that opened up into the eternal resting place for soldiers and villagers alike.

Jean was on autopilot as he deftly led you through the rows of graves to reach your destination. The modest stone may have represented a life no longer present, but it was teeming with life. Little daisies had sprouted in the soil where you and Jean had planted them earlier that year. Rollie pollies skittered from their hiding places within the crevasses of the engraved cadet’s name when the two of you leaned down to be closer to him.

“Hi Marco.” You greeted with the same warmth as the summer air.

“Hey Marco.” Jean echoed with a melancholy tenderness to his tone. You watched with a pang in your heart as his hands began shaking around the muffin in his hold. Eventually he placed it down in front of the stone and reached in his pocket for his matchbook. His fingers quivered when he failed to strike fire into the wooden stick. After another unsuccessful attempt, you grasped his hands.

“Let me.” You offered gently and he released his grip. You struck the match and lit the candle embedded in the plush top of the muffin.

“Happy birthday.” Jean spoke, finally giving into his bubbling grief and letting his voice crack.

“Happy birthday, Marco.” You said as your own voice began to falter. You scooched closer to Jean and embraced him from the side. Your arms wrapped around his shaking back. You were sure that if you hadn’t held him, he would have crumbled into particles as fine as the moss that grew along Marco’s grave.

It had been many months but to Jean the loss didn’t sting any less. It only grew as the grass greened and the days lengthened. He kept his profound grief bottled up compactly in a bottle closed tightly with a wax seal. But if he didn’t rip that seal off soon, it would implode and pierce his organs with glass.

“Y/N.” He called through choked sobs. You responded by rubbing a ginger hand along his back and shoulders.

“I-” He hiccuped, taking the hand you began to wrap around his.

“I loved him.” His wobbly confession was like Jean was standing on the precipice of a tidal wave. The reality of his feelings had always resided within him but felt cemented now that he had professed them to you and the earth. Every flutter he felt when Marco blessed him with his sheepish smile, every blush he hid when Marco went out of his way to help him out with the tiniest of tasks, every drop of happiness that boy had made Jean feel came crashing down on him and opened the floodgates he had so desperately tried to suppress.

“I know.” You said. Tears began cascading down your cheeks at the broken heart that bubbled from Jean’s chest. Jean never cried in front of you, it was shocking but not unwelcomed. You had known he had harbored an affection for the deceased cadet for as long as Jean had probably accepted it himself. You observed their obliviously magnetic interactions, supported him silently, and waited patiently for him to tell you about it. No matter how late he decided he was ready to.

“I really loved him.” He cried, reaching one hand out to run his fingers over Marco’s name with utter fragility.

“I was a fucking coward and couldn’t tell him how much I loved him. And now I never can.” He wailed.

“Shhh-Hey.” You released him for a brief moment to turn him towards you. You took his wet cheeks between your hands.

“You’re not a coward. It takes immense courage to realize you love someone, no matter who they are.” You consoled.

“I know he loved you too, Jean. So much.” You smiled sadly as you wiped the next wave of incoming tears from his face with your thumbs. “It was easy to see with the way his face lit up whenever you walked into the room, whenever you sat next to one another for meals, whenever you went into town together.”

“You both made each other’s lives better even without voicing your true feelings. Because your feelings were woven into every action you showed one another. Just because he is gone doesn’t mean what you felt for one another is. That will always be with you.” You said.

“Okay?” You affirmed and hiked the sleeve of your cardigan over your palm to rid his face of the salty sea as he sniffled. He held your comforting gaze for a moment before nodding and reaching out to hug you. You returned the gesture immediately, keeping him afloat as he swam through his grief. When you felt his shaking grow less intense you patted him on the back.

“Lie down.” You instructed and brought him to rest his head on your lap. You ran your fingers through his hair as he stretched out his legs in the long grass. Jean played with the strap of your sandals absentmindedly as he gazed at Marco’s grave. You sat in peaceful silence for a while.

“Jeanie?” You called to make sure he was listening. He hummed against your leg.

“Do you wanna know the moment I knew you were into Marco?” You asked tentatively, hoping the story would brighten his mood. Jean nodded silently.

“Remember when I accidentally walked into the boy’s shower room?” Your sentence caused you to giggle at the memory.

“How could I forget.” He said, a bit less sniffly than before. You smiled in nostalgia as you played with a randomly curly lock of Jean’s honey tresses.

“Well after you brought me out into the hall…and I stupidly turned back around, I saw you peeping at his package for longer than a guy normally would.” Your chuckle turned into a squeak when Jean pinched your leg. To your happiness he was smiling through reddened cheeks.

“Maybe you really are a pervert.” He snickered, damp eyes shining with teasing.

“I couldn’t help it, it was the literal heat of the moment.” You countered and poked his sides. He squirmed in your lap and let out a groan of annoyance.

“Does that mean you saw mine?” Jean asked and pinned your arms at your side.

“I’ve blocked that out of my memory.” You assured and wiggled your sides to free yourself from his grip.

Another gentle silence encased the two of you. Your eyes fell to one of the daisies as it waved its petals delicately along with the rhythm of the wind.

“Thank you, Y/N.” Jean suddenly said. His tone was laced with sincerity as you looked down to meet his gaze.

“For peeping at Marco?” You cracked a half smile which made Jean huff in amusement.

“No, dumbass. For coming here with me. For letting me get all of this out. And for listening.” He said with a sincerity that blanketed your chest in warmth. “I’m not good with emotional stuff, that’s always been more of a you thing.”

“Anything for you, Jean.” You replied with a fond pat of his cheek. “I’m happy that you felt like you could express yourself with me.”

Then, the breeze lovingly blew puffs of warm and fuzzy kisses against both of your skin. You swore you could hear a faint laugh framed by freckles.

Christmas Blizzard

↞♞♘↠

“Fucking shit .” The captain cursed as he whipped his hand back. Puddle’s ears were pinned starkly to the back of his neck as he refused to let Levi bring him into the lab. Your head whipped up at the commotion and you blanched.

“I’m so sorry! I forgot to tell you he bites…” You cried and scurried over to the entrance. Your face was blasted with incoming snowflakes as you took the reins from Levi.

“No kidding.” Levi mumbled in annoyance as he moved to make way for your horse.

“Stop being an asshole to the captain.” You chided. Puddle’s ears immediately perked at your presence and he nuzzled you softly as you led him into the loading bay of Hange’s laboratory. It was definitely not a place fit for horses, but you couldn’t have left them out to freeze in the bitter cold. This was just one of the many inconveniences the sudden snow storm had just created.

Your ears turned red to match your frost kissed cheeks as you realized your use of profanity. You really needed to stop swearing around your superiors. Your loose lips were one of the unfortunate side products of being raised by Oma. You tied Puddle to a nearby railing next to Levi’s horse.

“Sorry to drag you into all of this, Levi.” You exhaled, face stinging from the brutal winter chill. You glanced around the familiar laboratory that suddenly felt so vast and cold.

“Yeah well, neither of us knew it would get this shitty so quickly.” Levi commented. He grimaced at the pickled titan samples that were stored in the formaldehyde pods as he strolled to Hange’s office area.

“Still, I appreciate that you tried to come here and warn me.” You thanked him with a small smile.

“Thank Erwin. I had nothing else going on.” He said blandly and waved your gratuity off. That seemed like the closest thing to a ‘you’re welcome’ you were going to get. It was late into the night of Christmas Eve. After partaking in some festivities with your friends, Erwin had called you to his office in need of assistance. Apparently one of the scouts observed a strange smoke emanating from Hange’s laboratory and since the scientist herself was on a supply run in the city, the next point of contact was her pupil.

You had spent all evening trying to fix the damn incubator, knowing that if you let it smoke out it would devastate Hange to lose her precious samples. Unbeknownst to you a winter storm had been brewing; an intense blizzard that threatened to lock all inhabitants of the area indoors. Erwin had dispatched Levi to come collect you before the impending weather came, however the storm arrived a bit ahead of predictions and turned a couple hour job into a snowy expedition.

“How long do you think we’ll have to wait this out?” You asked apprehensively as you began to get back to work on your project. You heard Levi sigh as he plopped down at Hange’s desk. He reclined in her chair and propped his feet up on her workspace littered with journals.

“I don’t know. Looks like we might be here for a while, though. So take your time with whatever you need to fix, I guess.” He hummed and settled himself comfortably into the leather chair.

For a bit, you let the silence linger as you tinkered with the machine. Mechanic whirls and the sharp stabbing of snowflakes against the lab’s walls filled the lack of conversation.

“Why does four eyes have so many body parts lying around?” Levi piped up with a disgusted tone. You looked at him over his shoulder to see him lazily glancing around her experimental area.

“She likes to dissect them to see how close their anatomy is to humans.” You answered with a chuckle. “It looks a little bit like its out of a horror story, right?”

Levi hummed in agreement and met your eyes briefly. As you got to know him better, you realized the fear people harbored of him really was misplaced. Unless you were a titan, that is. You came to find he actually loved to talk, he would just let silence fill the space when he didn’t know what to talk about.  

“And?”

“...And?” You echoed unsure of his question.

“Are they close to humans?” He pressed with a slight interest laced in his nonchalant tone.

“Yeah, actually. Besides the absence of reproductive organs they are pretty much anatomically identical.” You explained as you flipped a couple switches unsuccessfully.

“So the fact they can’t shit or reproduce is significant right?” Levi wondered aloud as he peeped at one of Hange’s journals. Your giggle caught him by surprise and he felt a flutter in his chest.

“Yes, you could say that.” You agreed. The way he talked when he let himself crawl out of his shell never ceased to amuse you.

“It’s weird to believe it's Christmas Eve.” You commented, changing the subject casually.

Levi just hummed. Another icy silence filled the chamber as you made (hopefully) progress towards getting the incubator up and running again. One of the horses snorted and you were suddenly aware that you and the captain weren’t the only two living beings in the room.

“So what’s your horse’s name?” You asked in curiosity.

“Horse.” Levi’s reply was quick and curt.

“Really?” You asked in disbelief and looked back at him.

“It doesn’t have a name.”

“It?” You narrowed your eyes.

“She.” He corrected.

“Why would I name it when I just use it for transportation?” Levi shrugged dismissively. You pursed your lips.

“Because she’s just as alive and capable of feeling as you are, Captain.” You declared with a pointed glare.

“Maybe even more.” You mumbled playfully and Levi’s brow furrowed, questioning if he heard you right. When he didn’t quip back, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

“Dandelion.”

“Huh?”

“She looks like a Dandelion. So that’s her name now.” You grinned in satisfaction and got back to work. Levi regarded you in silent curiosity. The more time the two of you spent together, the more warm he felt by your sweet personality, quirks and all. Now every time he would regard the creature he would think of you and your dorky name for the animal.

The faint chiming of the HQ’s clocktower through the snow’s assault signaled it was midnight.

“Oh, a Christmas Miracle!” You called cheerily once the bells had ceased. The incubator hummed to life, the light and warmth from the engine buzzing brightly. You breathed a sigh of relief and placed your tools down. You got up and stretched your arms, turning to look at your companion.

“And Merry Christmas, Levi.” You grinned, the corners of your eyes crinkling.

“Yeah, Merry Christmas.” He nodded without much enthusiasm.

“Do...you usually celebrate?” You asked after sensing his lack of excitement.

“Not really, but my squad forces me to celebrate. At least the birthday part.” He explained and your eyes widened.

“Christmas is your birthday?” The innocence of your gasp made Levi want to smile. He nodded once more.

“Oh my-Happy Birthday then!” You said excitedly. Levi was consistently amazed by the eagerness of those he knew and strangers alike to celebrate his birthday. He never got the hype.

“Thanks.” He replied with a gentleness to his features. Your excitement towards him had melted away the ice that usually froze over his expressiveness.

“When we get back tomorrow I’ll make you and your squad some Noel tea I received from home to celebrate!” You mused as you came to sit down at an empty chair on the other side of the desk.

“I-if that is, you want to.” You added quickly, a faint blush creeping onto your cheeks after inviting yourself to something you weren’t even a part of. Oh, believe me, did Levi ever want to.

“I want to.” He replied as the corners of his mouth twitched upward.

[ramona-the-pogona]

A quick guide to ‘clean up crew’ in a bioactive setup for bearded dragons

A ‘clean up crew’ (aka CUC) is a group of bugs that live in the tank, feed on the beardie’s poop, and can sometimes be a tasty snack if caught out in the open by the dragon!

When switching to bioactive, try to give the CUC a few weeks to establish and get used to their surroundings, feed them beardie salad ingredients for awhile until the dragon moves in. This way they won’t have any trouble ‘cleaning up’ any poop. Alternatively, you can move the dragon in straight away and spot clean the tank for a few weeks until the CUC get used to their new food.

The CUC I have in Ramona’s tank currently are:

Isopods (aka slaters, rolly polly, pill bug)

Isopods like the dark and moisture, so thrive best under a log in the tank. To keep humidity levels low for the dragon but moist for the isopods, spray only under the log.

Mealworms

Mealworms like the same conditions as isopods, and despite popular belief, if your husbandry is on point, they are perfectly fine for the dragon to snack on.

Mealworm beetles

Mealworm beetles are the things mealworms turn into as they grow. They actually have better amounts of good nutritional stuff for dragons, so they make a good feeder too! Watch out for escapees if you have a wooden tank.

Springtails

Springtails are teeny tiny white wriggly bugs that multiply like crazy (but you won’t notice). They can be found in areas where no pesticides are used, in soil usually. They’re so small that they just look like moving grains of sand.

Earthworms

Earthworms are good if you have plants, they help aerate the soil and deal with beardie poop. However, they require the soil in the tank to be moist all the time, which means the humidity levels will shoot up. Only use these if you have really good ventilation for the tank! This is why I have mesh doors instead of glass.

Other CUC that are really good to have (but I couldn’t get them in New Zealand)

African nightcrawlers

They sound scary, but they’re actually just dark coloured worms that like hot dry environments (like a dragon tank!).

Red wigglers

Again, red coloured worms that survive in hot dry environments.

White worms

Very thin and long white worms that like moist soil. Only use if you have really good ventilation.

Super worms

Same preferences as meal worms, but they eat EVERYTHING. If you have a wooden tank you better seal it really well otherwise the supers will eat a hole in the wall.

Crickets

Like to eat dead insects and poop, but are probably noisy and you may have escapees.

Dubia, discoid, and hissing roaches

Roaches eat anything as I’m sure everyone knows! Again, there could be escapees.

[lolaleetea]

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