#they're so nice and they're all unique

[gnocchey]

the party has been wandering the sword coast and doing random quests, making friends and killing goblins

and they've been travelling for a few weeks and had some bonding moments, shared some secrets about shar or the orb but they're not really friends, like just good acquaintances or chummy coworkers

but they just cleared out the blighted village and saved wulbren and they end up camping in the apothecary cellar camp

and theres plenty of wine but not much food so they get pleasantly tipsy and lounge around

and bard astarion finds his way from his little room with withers to the balcony area overlooking gale, wyll and the fire, having a good time noodling around on the lute and enjoying his wine from his vantage point above

and the boys are cheering him on and making song requests, being talkative as usual so they manage to convince astarion to play for them

maybe if wyll or gale has a level bard they can also play along and have a jam sesh

and lae'zel and shadowheart eventually wander over (but maybe they're pretending to get things from the travellers chest and didnt even notice the fun) and at least sit nearby, start chatting and having a nice time

and tav is somewhere in the mix having fun (or they're off being silly if it's a durge run)

but this is really like the first time the entire party gets together and has fun socialising (and it's like when its a birthday in the office and you get to chat with people you haven't spoken much to) and the next morning they start to banter on the way to their next quest ♡

im sorry i just love the camp designs, they're so nice and they're all unique (i hate elfsong bc you spend most of act 3 in one spot and it's samey after a while) (and the pets dont wander around and the companions don't move as much) (like by the end i was going to wyrms crossing to long rest bc i just wanted a proper camp)

[wasyago]

jay and chip as tritons hehe

(i know that every other person drew them as tritons already, but like, cmon its so fun)

[dentist-brainsurgeon]

Long Vent under read more

TLDR: Tired, Lonely, unhappy with living situation

These past 2 and a half years, especially these past six months have really nailed in just how stifled and suffocated I feel, there was a point where living with my aunt and grandma felt good, I felt loved and comfortable for once, I've lived with them for 8 years of my adult life, but the older I get, the more I realized this is just another restrictive household where I have to walk on eggshells. I have to pretend to be Christian, I have to pretend to be cis and straight, have to pretend I don't have mental problems, and when I'm angry, its always chalked up to be my period, and they always treat me like a child, and its getting more and more obvious as the years go by. I don't get to go out much, in the past two years, the only times I was out of the house for days, was when I was in the hospital, and despite the pain I endured there, I felt sad to leave, and I cried when I was given the OK to go back to work, I hated going back to normal. And the other time, very recently, was when I got to hang out with my best friend for a few days, and it was great! I loved it!! But it was so short lived, it was the only time I was comfortable being myself in public. and I hated going back to normal again. I don't really get to partake in hobbies until maybe when my aunt and grandma fall asleep, and even then I'm too tired to do much of anything. My time is never considered, scheduled for my first PT session? Oh family is coming over and they're going to borrow the car, work? Oh we're going to go eat out with a friend at the Cheesecake Factory, final doctors appointment? Oh I'm getting my hair dyed, Hang out with my friend that was planned for months that I made sure they knew about? we're going on a cruise!!! and many such cases, doesn't matter if I tell them, and put it on the calendar. Sure the house they live in is pretty nice and its good to actually have AC, wifi and my own room for the first time in a long time but, I really only get to exist in my room, if I'm lucky, and they're out of town for a few days, I can finally exist in the living room and I actually don't mind cleaning and I'm able to cook! When my grandma and aunt can't criticize every little thing. I wouldn't mind living by myself, with friends, or even the small chance of having decent roommates, I want to be around people I actually like being around, I want to partake in hobbies at any hour of the day, I just want out, I want to be able to live my life

[powdermelonkeg]

Ahem.

Introducing Nanim, heir of House Exeltis of Baldur's Gate

AKA, if Larian isn't going to give us a nonbinary companion, I'm going to make one up myself.

Quick Class details:

Wild Magic Sorcerer with a noble background, half-drow, they/them

Meeting:

In the wreckage of the Nautiloid crash, you find them cornered by three sheep. As you approach, they warn you in a panic to stay back, and the sheep attack. The aforementioned sheep are actually polymorphed Intellect Devourers.

Starting Cantrips:

Minor Illusion

Mage Hand

Shocking Grasp

Ray of Frost

Dancing Lights (drow heritage)

Starting Spells:

Disguise Self

Color Spray

Skills:

History (noble background)

Persuasion (noble background)

Arcana

Religion

Personality:

Starting off by saying they're Lawful Neutral. They grew up nobility with strict rules about when and how to behave and what to do in regards to their Wild Magic surges, so they firmly believe that anyone who is in charge is in charge for a reason, and any rules they set are SET for good reason. You can sway their opinion on this by investigating into the people in charge; for example, initially, they're on the druids' side on the tiefling vs druid conflict, because it's THEIR grove, they're allowed to let in whomever they choose, the refugees are infringing on the rules they set by staying. However, when you find out Kagha's there because Halsin's gone and Kagha's been dealing with the shadows, Nanim's like "wait a minute. You aren't qualified to lead at ALL" and reevaluates their opinion.

They are VERY sheltered as to how the world works. Courtesy of their upbringing.

Very optimistic and charismatic, VERY loyal, and will judge you if you AREN'T loyal to the company you keep. Extremely eager to explore, with little regard to personal safety due to being a Wild Magic bomb all the time. On the more negative side, they're careless, naive, a bit insensitive and pompous due to their status, very impulsive, and hedonistic. They like luxury, they don't believe in challenging rules to help those affected negatively by them, they think they're greater than they are (sorcerous hubris at its finest) and that all their opinions are correct, and they chase novelty like an addiction.

They also zone out. A lot. Like, in the middle of a conversation, a lot. It's often filled with impulsive thoughts that they're sorting into "yes" and "no" piles (examples: "Should I ask Astarion if he's also part drow? If I smack Shadowheart's braid, will she kill me? I want to poke Karlach, just to see if she's REALLY on fire or if it's illusory.") an you can use the tadpole to listen in. Don't get caught!

They're genuinely afraid of confronting their negative traits or admitting they might be wrong about something, in denial about things that don't fit their pre-established idea of themselves. Unintentionally condescending at times. Craves friends and romance both, has no idea how either work (has been to brothels, sure, but hasn't ever had a genuine connection with someone). Likes music, plays the lute. Very vain. 

Approval:

Following pre-set rules (the druids want the refugees out of the grove, the refugees want your help, you refuse to challenge the druids)

Being willing to engage with your surroundings (Eilistraee's sword, the Blood of Lathander, touching the button in Withers' crypt)

Refusing to deal with rule-breakers (the Zhentarim)

Researching/being knowledgeable about religion/history/magic (successful dice rolls)

Staying out of problems that don't concern you (declining to get involved with Ethel vs the brothers)

Taking charge and standing up for your companions (telling the Gur that Astarion's under your protection, standing up for Gale when the others want him to leave, telling Mizora off when she comes to punish Wyll)

Literally anything positive to do with the drow twins at Sharess's Caress

Disapproval:

Defying the order of things (helping the refugees, telling Minthara you'll help her)

Picking the safe route/electing to leave something alone (non-confrontational dialogue choices, abandoning the Blood of Lathander)

Dealing with blatantly bad characters (the Zhentarim, the goblin camp, that paladin that wants to steal the gith egg, Viconia, Balthazaar, Mizora)

Being genuinely dumb (licking the spider, drinking Thisobald Thorm's brew, giving your blood to Araj, waving to Vlaakith, drinking Priestess Gut's potion)

Getting involved with other people's conversations when they didn't ask for you (convincing Rolan's siblings to stay at/leave the grove, interrupting Kagha vs Arabella)

Selling people out (Astarion, Isobel, Shadowheart)

Prying into other people's heads in your party on purpose (Gale, Shadowheart, themself)

Being rude to friendly characters

Being modest and/or humble (downplaying yourself or refusing finer things in life; they want luxury and rewards, damn it!)

Some general, non-personal-quest-related dealbreaker moments (ie, moments where Nanim will permanently leave your party):

Betraying the grove (you have to roll intimidation a few times to avoid this)

The Dark Urge kills a companion on purpose (non-combat, specifically by giving in to the Urges)

Goading Orin into killing whomever she has captive

This is a very long post, so I'll split the Nanim lore into multiple parts (their history, their quest, their romance, etc) and link them here when finished.

Part 2: Nanim's History

[ereh-emanresu-tresni]

People get wayyy too comfortable shitting on entire regions istg

[sysig]

Working some more on this Weird Little Guy (Patreon)

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

Honestly, Randall was surprised to know that someone else she knew was afraid of the Fae: In many ways, it seemed like such a uniquely Pace fear, as his father confessed to being similarly superstitious on account of having been raised on the same stories, seeing nothing fun or whimsical about being at the whim of such capricious beings. To know someone else out there had the same fear, it was a pleasant surprise to hear, honestly.

And honestly, he didn't hold it against her for laughing; it was a little funny, he could admit that...a grown man being paralyzed by the idea of the likes of Tinkerbell was an admittedly funny image, and so he could laugh along, before he listened to her own confession, and finding an affinity with her when she did.

"Ah, I, uh, I used to get spooked by thunderstorms too," he replied with a small smile, saying, "I used to think the thunder was, uh...the footsteps of giants walking around, probably looking for children to gobble up. When I was very little, I used to walk up and run hollering to my parents' room and want to sleep between them."

Fortunately, his parents were good sports about letting him sleep there for the night, his mother kissing his dark curls and swearing not to let a giant snack on her little boy, while his father bundled him in blankets, promising to fight any giants who dared stick their big noses in their houses. Randall, at that age, firmly believed his father could take down such beings, just like the giant heroes of old, and that made him feel very safe and secure as he drifted off back to sleep.

[cutiepieautistic]

I'm no ornithologist, but i feel like every chicken deserves a wide,open space with plenty of safe areas to move around in and play (mess around with puzzles,that sort of thing. they probably need a lot of mental stimulation too! ) and eat so they don't get over crowded, and safe spots to retreat to when they need to calm down or mate and roost/nest(i mean, i know chicken sex is probably weird like it is with most birds, but i feel like they would appreciate the privacy and safety. I've been around plenty of chickens. they're generally sensitive animals that deserve more respect.), or be quarantined if they've come down with something or have been injured. they seem to do much better that way,their quality of life seems to improve greatly in captivity when people practice better husbandry with them. of course, different variants of chickens have different needs I'm sure, but it's something I've observed often. birds deserve so much better than to have their intelligence be undermined and be treated like shit,which is unfortunately rather common in today's world.

[foxxsong]

Not to be a prick, but your art is gonna have to be Real Damn Good to get me to interact with it if you slap something like "Don't even bother if you're not gonna reblog" on the end of the post. I'm not enough of one to like and scroll out of spite (though I'm not above thinking about it). I am, however, perfectly willing to ignore something I wouldn't have otherwise. If you're fine with a lower note count in the long run as long as it's more equal, if you think less interaction isn't gonna fuck with you worse than uneven likes-to-reblogs, then sure. Show some attitude. But if you're relying on commissions and dumb enough to think saying that sort of thing isn't gonna have consequences, I Do Not Feel Sorry For You.

[masquenoire]

what colour is your aura?

Crimson

Rose vines, blood, apples, velvet, sharp nails, galaxies, dripping jewelry. Your essence is crimson: you are the strong, defiant and avoidant. You crave some sort of deviation; to walk in another's footsteps feels mundane, a waste of your time. You are possessive and never look back at the things you've lost or forgotten. You are the rebel. You are the one who will change the world. You find kinship in like-minded individuals of red, blush, garnet, and bronze, who share your impassioned existence. You are also drawn to the confident souls royal and gold, who will help you grow and show that not everyone seeks to break you. However, you may struggle to get along with the slow-acting personalities of navy and umber who never seem assertive about anything. 

Stolen from;; @curaetive (♡) Tagging;; @arkhampsychiatrist, @ataviisms, @babydxhl, @caestusvulpes, @chauvesourisnoire, @deciphertheriddler, @defectivexfragmented​, @oswald-pengu1n-cobblepot​, @purrvoke​, @sanguine-salvation​, @shinebrightsweetdove​, @sionisassistant​, @the-blackened-dove​​, @wingingthenight​​, @undeadasshcle​​ and anybody else who wants to do it?

[mwagneto]

ok i'm gonna say it. shadowhunters isn't a bad show. it's good even.

[sailorsun546]

shopping for new shoes is so stressful

they’re so expensive and i never know if they’re going to fall apart quickly, it doesn’t matter how expensive they are, that doesn’t guarantee quality, and i never know if they’re going to hurt me

i’ve bought so many shoes that i can’t wear because i don’t know if they hurt until i wear them every day for a week and the pain never goes away and after that i can’t return them because my wretched feet have been in them

and i can read all the reviews and mission statements in the world, but i don’t know who is being honest and who is being paid to say the shoes are good

hell this is hell

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than the thing that, uh... More amazing than... That one thing.

More amazing than these TEN things?!

SURPRISE! TWENTY CARDS!

[steviesbicrisis]

A Barbie AU where the Kens decide, in order to get some recognition, to get individual names.

Steve, who’s just a Ken very good with kids, is having an identity crisis after his Barbie, journalist Barbie, broke up with him.

Not even picking a name as unique and special as Steve, so much different than Ken, managed to cheer him up.

Everyone keeps saying he should be happy about the change, and discover who he is outside of Barbie’s orbit, but he can’t see what was so wrong in their relationship. He loved waiting all day for Barbie to look at him, even if it was for a brief second.

As if going through an existential crisis wasn't enough, he has to do it under the constant mocking of his archnemesis, Ke- Eddie.

Eddie, with his long curly and annoyingly gorgeous hair, who has a sense of style he would give all of his rollerblades for, and who's always there to notice whenever Steve makes a mistake.

Eddie even has his Barbie still by his side, cheerleader Barbie, and every time Steve sees them together he gets a sick feeling in his stomach, like a tummy ache. Doctor Barbie visited him a couple of times and found nothing wrong with him, he imagines he's a little jealous of Eddie for being with a Barbie.

Steve talks about this with Polyglot Barbie, his best friend, annoying her to death.

"Why are we talking about Ken, again?" she interrupts Steve's retelling of his last encounter with Eddie.

"It's Eddie" Steve corrects her.

"Right," she nods. She's very supportive of their silly-name-thing (how most Barbies call it), but she still has trouble remembering all the names, "why are we still talking about him?"

They're hanging out at the park, sitting under a tree, Barbie's leg on top of his, and they're holding hands. It's nice. Steve is happy to have a best friend like Barbie.

Steve looks up, meeting Eddie's gaze. He's sitting at one of the picnic tables not far away from them, doing nothing besides glaring at Steve.

Barbie squeezes his hand to get his attention back, and Steve looks away.

"Because he keeps tormenting me! he's even glaring at me right now, I'm gonna get stress wrinkles!" Steve finally replies, in a distressed tone.

"You're being dramatic," she says, matter-of-factly, "Eddie isn't so bad with you. You know, he kinda treats you like his Barbie."

If Steve had a beating heart, it probably would've stopped right at this second.

"What?"

"You know, he's always looking for you, he is always giddy whenever you give him a crumble of attention. He hangs out where you hang out... why do you think he's sitting all alone at a picnic table, just staring at you?"

"Maybe he's waiting for his girlfriend" he suggests.

"Are you talking about Cheerleader Barbie?" she giggles, "she's not his girlfriend, trust me."

"But he picks on me! all the time! Like this morning, I tripped and he made a comment about my legs!" He gestures at his legs with his free hand.

Barbie tilts her head to the side "you mean this morning at the beach when he held you in his arms for ten minutes to prevent you from falling and Barbie had to tell him to let you go?"

"… yeah” he manages to say. He hadn’t realized how long Eddie held him in his arms, he was upset about almost falling in front of him, but he also liked the feeling of his arms around him.

Everything feels different now.

Barbie's look softens "How does this make you feel?"

"I don't know" he answers, honestly "I just can't stop thinking about him."

A loud noise at their right startles them off of their conversation. They turn around to see Eddie lying on the floor, a trash can at his feet.

Steve doesn't give himself the time to realize that Eddie has probably heard their entire conversation and has tripped on that trash can because of it, he just rushes to Eddie's side to help him out.

Eddie stammers while Steve pulls him back up, not making much sense.

Steve is used to see Eddie as an intimidating guy, someone to compete with for Barbie’s attention. He never realized how much he liked to have Eddie’s attention instead, nor how he loved to give that attention back in equal amount.

“Nice legs” he tells him, repeating the same words Eddie told him that morning.

Eddie stops his incoherent stream of words when he hears him “what?”

“You heard me” Steve says.

“I did” Eddie admits. He pulls the trash can back up, to have an excuse to not look at Steve when he asks “you can’t stop thinking about me?”

For some reason, that’s the easiest question Steve has ever had to answer to “yes, I can’t.”

Eddie jolts back up startling Steve, the trash can falling out of his hands and hitting the ground once again.

“Cool” he says, using all of his willpower to hide his excitement by keeping a relaxed face, failing miserably.

“I guess” Steve grins. Knowing he has that effect on Eddie is making him the most confident he has ever felt in his life.

“So, since you can’t stop thinking about me…” Eddie repeats, in a tone that Steve would’ve mistaken for a mocking one until few hours ago “…we could hang out on the beach later. I’ll bring my guitar.”

“I’ll bring mine too then” Steve replies immediately.

Eddie panics “We can’t both have a guitar!”

Steve crosses his arms on his chest “who says that?”

Eddie opens and closes his mouth a couple of times then mutters, defeated, “fine.”

“Great!” Steve takes a step forward and gives Eddie a peck on his cheek “I’ll see you later.”

Eddie, who makes a face again trying to hide his excitement, nods and turns away “cool.”

He walks away slowly, towards the park’s exit. Right by the gate, he throws himself into an hedge. Steve can clearly hear him when he screams words along the lines of “FINALLY”, “I HAVE A DATE” and “SUBLIME”.

Steve turns to Robin who has witnessed the whole thing, while Eddie is still screaming random words from the bushes.

“I think I’m in love.”

[ddejavvu]

pairing: aaron hotchner x reader

summary: your BeReal for the day is, perhaps, a little too real

contents/warnings: smut (18+, minors dni)

There's no mistaking the notification that chimes on your nightstand. It's BeReal, the unique sound lets you know, and you're not in the best position right now to answer it.

You're in the best position, period. You're sprawled out against Aaron's silky bedsheets, the fabric soothing and cool against your flushed skin. You're sweaty, hot, and bothered, your cunt begging for more as Aaron drives his cock repeatedly through your sopping folds.

"Fuck," You hiss, partially at the feeling of Aaron's teeth scraping at your collarbone, and partially because you panic at the sound, "Aaron, my- gimme my phone."

"Don't you think this is a little more important?" He grunts, nearly knocking his skull into your jaw as he lunges for a kiss. He takes you by surprise, and you're nearly pulled away from your urgency to post when his tongue practically slips down your throat.

You nearly gag on it, and your nails take a break from scratching up his back to weave through the short strands of hair at the back of his neck. It's not long enough to tug, but he huffs at the feeling of your nails scraping across his scalp, and rocks his hips into yours slightly faster.

"Oh, fuck, Aaron," You pant when he finally lets you breathe, burying his head in your shoulder to bite at the skin there instead, "Aaron this is so hot, I wanna- please, I wanna post it."

"No face," He instructs, and you're more than happy to choose a different area of his body to focus on, "Don't need Garcia figuring us out."

The moans that escape your mouth, albeit muffled by Aaron's own, are so pornographic that you're paranoid they'll somehow be captured in the photo you snap. When you finally get your hands on your phone you aim it at Aaron's back, as well as the red stripes left by your newly manicured nails, and snap a photo. Then, with the front camera, your jaw that's been sucked sore by Aaron, and in the corner of the shot, his short black hair and strong jawline nestled against your skin. You keep it just as he's instructed, vague enough of a profile so that your coworkers shouldn't be able to figure out that it's him, and his post without a second thought. You feel the buzzings of replies soon after, but you're no longer capable of caring about them while they vibrate against your nightstand, much happier to focus on Aaron's relentless jackhammering into your pulsating cunt.

--

Gathering in the conference room the next day means that you get a lot of shit-eating grins. You'd expected it, what with the soft porn you'd posted, and you're surprised when even Rossi offers you his congratulations.

"Nice going, kiddo," He knocks elbows with you, and you laugh sheepishly.

"You saw?"

"Morgan filled me in," He nods, "Garcia was the first one to know, of course, but it spread very quickly."

You don't have it in you to be embarrassed in front of your team too badly. You're all adults, and they're more proud of you than anything, even if Reid's smile is extra awkward today.

"Just be glad Hotch doesn't have the app," Emily laughs, and for a moment you forget that they don't know you're together. But you play it off with a wry smile towards her as your Unit Chief walks through the door, and you're happy to let your attention drift to him as he speaks.

His tone is authoritative, like always, and you fight to stop something from stirring between your legs. You tune into what he's saying instead, something about a double homicide in Kansas, and that helps dissuade any distracting thoughts you might have had.

"-and those pictures are... not on the monitor." Aaron narrows his eyes at the black screen, and Garcia nearly breaks the remote trying to get it to respond.

"Sir, I'm trying! I'm sorry," She frets, mashing all of the buttons at once in her panic, "It's not working, I- I think the batteries might be dead?"

"I changed them two weeks ago," Hotch shakes his head while taking the remote from her, stepping up towards the monitor to fiddle with the buttons beneath it, "It's alright, Garcia, it's not your fault."

He cranes his head down to peer at remote in his hand, intent on making sure no acid has leaked from the batteries, but when he does so, the back of his neck is no longer covered by his shirt collar, and it's bright red.

There's clear marks from your nails, red streaks that haven't faded in the mere hours they've been left alone and probably won't for another day. It barely takes any time for a room of profilers to connect two and two, and Penelope's position as technical analyst doesn't hinder her realization.

Your hand shoots over your mouth as the rest of your team exchanges incredulous gasps and jeers, all looking rapidly between you and Hotch. He turns to raise an eyebrow at them all and his eyes land on your bashful grin.

"Remind me to rub some aloe on the back of your neck when we get home," You mumble sheepishly, and there's only more scandalized comments made about how you two go home together.

Aaron's jaw clenches and he sighs defeatedly at the realization that you've both been caught, a hand flying up to cup the back of his neck.

Everyone waits with bated breath to hear what he has to say for himself but he can't manage to muster up anything to save the awkward situation.

"We'll look at the details on the jet," He grumbles, setting the faulty remote on the counter and snatching his bag off of the ground beside his chair, "Wheels up in thirty, and we never speak of this again."

[alithographica]

As promised, welcome to

Fun biology in TOTK’s designs

I'll keep this post updated as I go through the game. I'm going to skip the more general identifiable things like apples (they're based on apples!) because there are tons of more unusual species to talk about.

Overall, the really interesting thing I've noticed is that many of the more unique Earth-based lifeforms in TOTK are super ancient, like predating dinosaurs ancient, which is a really cool tie-in to the overall time-hopping plotline of TOTK. Specifically, they're found in the new areas (caves, depths) while the surface remains a bit more normal.

(There will be no plot spoilers in this post, and also I've barely gotten into the plot because I'm spending all my time wandering, so shhh no spoilers in the tags for like a month please.)

Most recent additions: More lilies, irises, wild ginger, spiny bones, pigeon extravaganza, plus added some more real photo comparisons to old stuff.

PLANTS

Bryophytes my beloved. Bryophytes are among the earliest land plants, waaaay predating flowers and even seeds. In our world, they’re small by necessity—they lack vascular systems to help move water around like other plants, so they have to stay small and moist (hence their frequency in caves in TOTK—though they do need some light in real life.)

In TOTK they’re quite large and I think that’s very sexy and art directors should give us big bryophytes more often

Anyway, there are three types of bryophytes: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. First image pair is a moss, second is a liverwort. Those red-brown and palm-tree-like structures, respectively, are their reproductive structures.

Real liverwort photo © Graham Calow, NatureSpotUK

Not yet spotted: Hornworts! Did they forget the third bryophyte sister :(

I think these next guys are probably lycopods (specifically club moss, which is not a true bryophyte moss, thanks science.) Very old, but vascular, so they're a bit more evolutionarily recent than bryophytes.

Real photo © Gloria Hanley Schoenholtz, virginiawildflowers

All the enormous curly-topped trees in the depths: Ferns! They curl like that until they unfurl. Another very old plant, though younger than bryophytes and lycopods.

Real photo via The Cosmonaut, Wikipedia

Brightblooms and some of the other giant plants in the depths: Possibly based on a cycad? Again, a very ancient plant lineage. At this point, evolutionarily, they've developed seeds—that giant cone in the center is called a strobilus, and that's the seed structure.

These next few plants are angiosperms, meaning they produce flowers. Angiosperms are a more recent evolutionary lineage—still many millions of years old, but it took a while to develop flowers as a reproductive tactic.

Sundelions (left) are a fun recolor of a lily. There are also some scenery lilies (right) in various places—there are yellow ones that spring up when you turn on a lightroot (which gives them literal and thematic connection to the surface) and several other varieties, including tiger lilies, throughout Hyrule. Fun note, the sundelions appear to only have 5 stamen, while other lilies in the game (correctly) have 6. Seems to be an intentional decision to make it a more distinct fantasy species.

These next ones are Peruvian lilies/Alstroemeria, just used as a scenery plant but a very fun inclusion. Fun fact, not true lilies, so they're not deadly to cats like true lilies are.

Real photo © Dick Culbert, Wikipedia

Plum trees: These are also called out as plum trees in game! There's a journal in Kakariko that refers to the plum orchards.

Okay I'm a little proud of figuring this one out. Bomb flowers blend a few botanical references. Superficially, the fruit resembles a type of seed pod called a capsule—specifically it's very similar to a poppy capsule. The little red thing in the center is a nice addition to resemble both a flower stigma (reproductive part that leads to the ovary) and a bomb fuse. Now, poppy capsules disperse their seeds via wind, but there are other plants who do explode their seeds outwards as a dispersal tactic! This is called explosive dehiscence.

There is one tree in particular called the sandbox tree, AKA monkey-no-climb or dynamite tree (yes, really.) Their capsules look more like little pumpkins, but are known for violently exploding when ripe—they can launch seeds at 150 miles per hour (250 km/h) and spread them roughly 200 feet (60 m) away. The photo comparison is a poppy capsule but you should def go look up dynamite tree videos.

Real photo © PommeGrenade, pixabay

Fire fruits (and the other elemental fruits) grow on the same generic plant that looks kind of like it has grape leaves. Fire fruits resemble a specific botanical thing too though—the black netting is a papery calyx (part of the flower) seen in a nightshade genus, Physalis (golden berries, tomatillos, etc.)

Real photo © Helene Rogers, Alamy

I think this stuff is an Asarum, AKA wild ginger. I was actually puzzling over it until I walked past some today and went HEY

Not sure of the exact species but they're very green and heart-shaped and love being dense and low to the ground.

Real photo via David Stang, Wikipedia

Irises: Love irises, one of my favorite flowers and words, very happy to see them in game.

MISCELLANEA

Cup lichen! Lichen is not a plant, but a symbiotic structure of an algae + a fungi. Cup lichen is just a type of lichen formation that has a kind of vertical cup-like structure.

Real photo via Bernard Spragg

Geology crossover! Go look carefully at some of the whiter walls in the depths—they look like they have fossils of coral and other undersea hard-structured animals in them.

ANIMALS

Sticky lizards: Based on Diplocaulus, a very early (now extinct) amphibian! Their skulls are wacky. We're not sure whether the long sides stood out separately or were smoothly connected to the body by skin flaps, but the separate arrow-like shape is the most popular rendition.

Deep firefly: Might be a stretch because it could just be a multi-winged fantasy critter, but I think the "wings" and antennae are very reminiscent of Anomalocaris, an ancient aquatic arthropod.

Update: Other folks in the notes/tags have pointed out that they're probably based on a cryptid that's especially popular in Japan: skyfish AKA rods! They show up in photos and people think they're an alien lifeform. In reality, they're an optical blur created when a lower quality video captures intermittent flaps of an insect's wings, leaving sort of a many-winged smear in the photo. Thanks to all who left info!

Little frox: Another stretch because it totally could just be a Hinox-like frog, but every time I see the little ones I can't help but think of like...Ichthyostega, Mastodonsaurus, Eryops, and other early amphibians. They were pretty hefty—little frox size or bigger—and had with little waddling legs. This is less "I think it's definitely this" and more "it makes me happy when I picture frox as primitive amphibians."

I haven't detailed many of the scenery animals around Hyrule because most are identifiable with the camera function—it'll tell you that a certain animal is a heron or porgy, for example, and those groups are real, even though the exact species is made up. But I think the pigeons are fun because they're all crested pigeons. Pink-necked green pigeons may have also been the inspiration for the color palettes on the wood and rainbow pigeons.

Both pigeon photos via JJ Harrison, Wikipedia

Spiny bones: Not a specific critter, but those spiny bones that you can find lying around Eldin Canyon are vertebrae—possibly from the same thing that left those big rib cages around? The top spike is the spinous process where muscles attach, the littler spikes on the side are the transverse and articular processes. The dark O in the center is the spinal cord.

Also I made a friend who finally recognizes my purpose in Hyrule.

That's all I've got for now! Will add more as I keep playing.