#water-based ecology | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

draconic-desire · 7 months

Text

A Dance With the Dragon I — The Tides Beckon

Yandere Neuvillette x Reader

[Part I — You are here] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV]

The last thing you expected was to have caught the eye of Fontaine’s Chief Justice. You have no choice but to be swept into the dragon’s dance.

Warnings: Yandere tendencies, possessive behavior, forced imprisonment, unrequited relationship

It all started with your realization that Fontaine has some rather intriguing laws.

For as long as you could recall, you had aspired to become a marine biologist. Though you hailed from Mondstadt, you forged your curiosity in the tide pools and lakes around the edges of the region. You scoured over any novel you could find on marine ecology and animal behavior, spending endless hours lost in the Knights of Favonius library. On your thirteenth birthday, your parents bought you a Kamera, which launched your career in wildlife photography and research. You even went on to publish a book cataloguing pictures of your nation’s aquatic life. It came to no one’s surprise, then, when you were gifted with a hydro vision.

Although you loved your life in Mondstadt, the vast waters that surrounded the Land of Hydro beckoned you like the pull of a tide. So, on your twenty-fifth birthday, you parted with your family and homeland, traversing across Teyvat and experiencing its many wonders. You relished in the culture and cuisine in Liyue and marveled at the natural architecture of Sumeru’s forests. Yet nothing would ever be as breathtaking as your first glimpse at Fontaine, at the granite peaks rising above the crystalline waters teeming with life of all forms.

You had secured employment with a group researching the sudden uptick in seal strandings across the nation, taking you across Fontaine’s many beaches. Your main base was located near Romaritime Harbor, which prompted you to spend your lunch breaks exploring the Court of Fontaine.

You made quick friends with the Melusines, some of whom were still a bit nervous being around humans; however, you found their stories of the ocean fascinating and often invited them to join you for lunches or strolls through the city.

One in particular, Carole, had become your close friend after you encountered her being pelted with rocks by a mob of Fontainians. You didn’t hesitate to use your vision to immobilize the rocks and create a barrier around Carole, quickly ushering her to safety. You couldn’t comprehend the prejudices directed towards her and the other Melusines, but after that incident, you made sure to keep an eye out for all of your little friends.

One day, on one of your walks, you ran into said Melusine. She seemed despondent that only a handful of citizens were interested in her hand painted posters, so you decided to treat her to lunch and pastries to cheer her up. That’s when you first caught wind of the Hydro Dragon.

“Well, if you’re worried about the seals, you might call upon the Hydro Sovereign himself!” Carole chirped.

You tipped your head curiously, lowering the cup in your hands onto the cafe table. “Don’t you mean herself? Although I’ve never met the Hydro Archon, I’ve heard others refer to her as ‘Lady’ Furina.”

Carole shook her hands back and forth in front of her. “Oh, no, I mean the Hydro Dragon! He is responsible for keeping watch over Fontaine, which includes all of its resources and residents. I’ve heard that with every sea creature that passes, the heavens open and the dragon sheds his tears in mourning.” She took a bite of her croissant. “I have a feeling he’d be willing to help.”

You tapped your chin in thought. “You don’t say. Well, we are in a bit of a drought, which could be contributing to the beachings… Perhaps I’ll ask this Hydro Sovereign for his favor.”

On the days you were dispatched to Fontaine’s eastern beaches, you opted to sit by the Fountain of Lucine to wish for the Hydro Dragon’s help. It had become a tradition for you to do so ever since your conversation with Carole, for you swore that every time you prayed to his name, rain would grace the shores the next day.

During those research trips, your coworkers would invite you to attend trials at the Opera Epiclese, though you politely declined each time. You had no particular interest in the Opera and were much more inclined to spending your time outside and uninvolved with the court’s theatrics. Besides, you considered yourself to be a model citizen, so the proceedings of the court were beyond your worries.

Or so you thought.

~*~

The incident that led to your arrest was the violation of the order “no domestic pets shall be named after Furina”. Apparently the otter that paddled around the Harbor each morning was undignified of the title of “Focalotter”. You had thought the name quite clever and humorous—that is, until a horde of Gardes surrounded you during your shift one afternoon.

You were detained and led into the Opera immediately, which was where you currently found yourself. You frowned at the relatively large crowd—which, much to your dismay, included most of your coworkers—dispersed throughout the hall. Had they all come just to spectate your trial? Standing alone on the isolated balcony, you felt like an insect under a magnifying glass, an insignificant pest to be probed at for entertainment.

“And how do you plead?”

The deep, commanding voice above you wrenched you from your thoughts. Turning your eyes up, your (e/c) orbs were met with a penetrating gaze.

Pinning you with his lavender and silver eyes from atop his chair at the center of the court was none other than the Chief Justice of Fontaine, the Iudex himself, the face of the law in the Court. Monsieur Neuvillette.

This wasn’t your first interaction with the man.

Shortly your move to Fontaine, you had stumbled across his path. At first, it was just sightings from afar; he would be leaving the Opera, or purchasing a drink (Wait, is he paying for water?) from your favorite cafe. Your favorite flowers also began to appear at your doorstep, each time with a brief, cryptic note, usually something along the lines of To my little pearl —Sincerely, your guardian dragon. You didn’t think anything of it; if anything, it confirmed that your prayers to the Hydro Sovereign had been heard.

Then, however, Neuvillette began to periodically show up around your research stations, claiming to be investigating a court case. Even though the Iudex’s public appearances were supposedly rare, none of your coworkers, yourself included, thought to question his authority, answering his inquiries regarding the base’s activities to the best of your abilities.

You noticed that he tended to speak to you the most, even asking personal inquiries like your favorite drinks, foods, books, and hobbies, and about your marine photography especially. It must be part of the investigation, you rationalized. He was nothing but gentlemanly and always kept conversations curt and to the point, offering you a gentle smile as he departed.

If only you knew the true extent of his desires.

~*~

Naturally, he first caught wind of you from the Melusines. As his closest advisor, Carole regularly joined him for afternoon tea, and though he was not one for idle talk, the manner in which his friend spoke of you sparked his intrigue.

“And when those meanies were throwing rocks at me, (Y/n) was the only one who intervened! If it weren’t for her, I don’t know what would have happened…” Carole rubbed her head, as if remembering the sharp pain.

Neuvillette placed a hand over his heart. “I am eternally grateful for her presence. I cannot stand the thought of any harm befalling you.” The hydro dragon looked out the window of his study to the ocean, deep in thought. “Perhaps you could introduce me. It appears I have much to thank her for.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Carole raised a finger. “She mentioned lots of seal beachings recently, so I suggested that requesting rain from a certain dragon could assist her work!”

Neuvillette nodded, a slight smile pulling at his lips. “Ah, so that is why I’ve been hearing Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon echoing throughout my mind the past few weeks. You have quite the imagination, my friend.”

Carole shrugged playfully. “Hasn’t it been raining more often lately? Seems like her prayers worked!”

That they had, as Neuvillette could attest to.

The first time he heard your soft voice calling to him, he had sent rain the following morning—not for you, but for the seals. His position barred him from forming close relationships with humans, so the notion of attending to your inquiry face-to-face was eliminated immediately.

But when you returned again and again to implore for rain, he couldn’t deny his interest. The day after Carole informed him that his little supplicant and Carole’s hero were one in the same, he knew he had to meet you. He had actually left the Opera to see you for himself; whether he would actually converse with you was still uncertain, but your voice tickled an itch that he needed to scratched.

Neuvillette was an experienced and composed man, but setting his sights on you for the first time stole his breath. This, he thought, must be what it feels like to drown.

Your smile shone brighter than a Beryl conch, and your scent floated around him, sweeter than any marcotte. The light shimmering from the hydro vision on your hip reflected back in your eyes, giving them the appearance of twin pools of blue. You were sitting on a bench by the Fountain, a Kamera in hand as you gestured excitedly towards the screen. To your right was a Melusine he knew well, Kiara, who was clearly enraptured with the technology.

Though he knew of your kindness towards the Melusines—jumping in to save Carole alone was grounds for a medal of peace—seeing it before him sent the waters around his heart roiling. The Iudex was moved by the fact that, despite being a foreigner to Fontaine’s customs, you treated them with the utmost respect, going out of your way to befriend and include them in your daily life. Many citizens of Fontaine still harbored prejudice against the Melusines, but you… You even used she/her pronouns when referring to them, implementing the very law that he set forth.

“I use this for my research on seal behavior and conservation,” you explained to Kiara. “Having pictures of each individual helps us identify them in the future. We even give them silly names sometimes. See this one here? We call him Mr. Sealie, and this otter I like to call…”

When the pink Melusine started giggling over the nickname of your otter, a plan formed in his mind.

Whether attributable to his sense of justice or his draconic instincts, he knew one thing for certain. Like a shining pearl, you must be cherished and protected—and who better to serve than the Hydro Sovereign?

~*~

Those eyes will be my downfall.

Purple and silver locked with (e/c). Despite being newly appointed to the court, Neuvillette was the embodiment of both poise and intimidation. The very air around him seemed to shimmer with power and unyielding authority. His breathtaking eyes swirled with emotions—was that desire or disinterest?—you could not even begin to decipher in your current position.

Archons, help me.

You cleared your throat, hoping you didn’t appear too nervous in front of the judge. “Although I admit to using a version of the Hydro Archon’s name when referring to that otter, I was unaware of such a law against doing so. I’m not originally from Fontaine, so some of its, uh…lesser discussed laws are new to me.”

Neuvillette gazed around the courtroom as the crowd devoured the trial before them. It was baffling how naive humans could be sometimes; of course there was no rule against applying a silly nickname to a pet.

That is, until this morning when he had signed it into law.

Seeing you frightened and alone in the defendant’s box, however, was torture. It took all of his willpower to not to engulf you in his strong arms like waves around sand. But he had to maintain the facade of immovable judicator for a bit longer in order to mold you to his tide. Retaining his mask of composure, Neuvillette continued, “You do realize that previous defendants have been jailed for far less, correct?”

Frustration and fear flared within you. “But I—”

“Desecration of Lady Furina’s name is of the highest offense. Your behavior will not be excused, neither by myself nor the Oratrice.” Neuvillette raised the paper with your verdict, barely glancing over the words before he spoke. “The verdict stands: you, (Y/n) (L/n), are guilty.”

You clenched your fists heatedly. There was no arguing with the Iudex. Clearly, the polite and considerate version of Neuvillette that you had encountered earlier was an anomaly, for the figure looming above you was the complete opposite. Cold, calculating. Distant. A whirlpool cresting a bottomless sea.

Had this been his plan all along? Had you been the subject of his investigation? But why?

“However, because you are not from Fontaine, I will offer you a choice.”

You blinked up at the Justice, a knot of unease forming in your stomach. A choice? What choice did you truly have here? You pursed your lips warily but nodded for him to continue.

Neuvillete raised a gloved finger. “The first: you will serve a life sentence in the Fortress of Meropide.”

A wave of despair seared your insides like a brand. That was your fate? To be trapped beneath the region where you had always longed to live, never to feel the salty wind on your face or hear the calls of seals and gulls again? Surely, the second option was less cruel?

“Or, alternatively: you will dedicate your life to the court. You will abide by its laws without question and with unwavering commitment. You will relinquish your freedom; you will not be permitted to leave Fontaine and will be bound to this place for eternity.”

A choked sob escaped your lips. No matter what you chose, your life’s work and passion would be extinguished. You would be forced to either become an actress in the court’s performance or resign your soul to a watery grave.

Both option chained you to the Region of Hydro forever.

But one option at least granted you a semblance of freedom—a notion that you soon learned was as transitory as a bubble in water.

The crack of a cane against wood resounded through the Opera, quickly silencing the crowd’s mutterings over your sentence. “What is your decision?”

You could have heard a pin drop as the audience waited in rapt anticipation for your answer.

“I…I choose the latter,” you declared, tilting your chin up. You maintained direct eye contact with the Iudex all the while, holding onto your last bit of pride.

You could have sworn you saw Neuvillette release a breath of relief. “Very well. I hereby adjourn the court. Gardes, please escort the defendant to my office for further instruction.”

Two Gardes led you out of the Opera and onto an Aquabus to the city. They informed you that you would now be living in the Palais Mermonia and your duties would begin immediately. When you asked about retrieving your belongings and notifying your family, the Gardes exchanged glances.

“That won’t be necessary,” one said cryptically. “Monsieur Neuvillette will page your relatives and have your possessions seized.”

You frowned, wishing to object, but the Palais doors loomed before you like the entrance to a monster’s lair. You gulped but swallowed your fears, straightening your back pridefully as you were ushered inside and into the Chief Justice’s office. The bolting of the lock from the outside set alarm bells off immediately.

Neuvillette stood from his seat as you walked in. He coughed awkwardly, red dusting across his pale complexion. “Ah, Lady (Y/n). I do apologize for such a fast-paced series of events. You must be exhausted.” He motioned towards the sofa adjacent to his workspace. “Please, sit.”

You blinked at him in surprise. What happened to the unwavering judge from the court? Why was he suddenly treating you kindly? And why in the Archons’ names was he blushing of all things? Unsure how else to react, you obeyed and settled into your seat, with Neuvillette taking his own on the sofa across from you.

Neuvillette poured you a glass of what appeared to be plain water into an exquisitely ornamented cup. You took it wordlessly, noticing his eyes flare with a silver glow when your fingers brushed his own. Gripping his own cup, he raised the chalice towards you. “To a long and dedicated future together.”

You sketched a brow curiously but raised your glass in tandem to…whatever that was supposed to mean. “To not being in prison, I guess.”

“Indeed.” A breathy chuckle followed. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering as to what this whole business regarding your sentence is.” Neuvillette took a long sip from his chalice. He frowned slightly when you simply placed yours on the coffee table separating the two of you. “Although you may have thought you’d be completing droll office work, your duties will be a tad unorthodox.”

At this, your brows furrowed. Wasn’t that what all those employees you had passed in the Palais foyer had been doing—pushing papers? You had cringed at the dark bags under many of their eyes, at how many were asleep at their desks, imagining how similar you’ll look once your sentence was completed. But based on Neuvillette’s words, it sounded like you would be doing something very different.

Oh, Archons. I’m fucked.

You braced yourself to speak, but Neuvillette beat you to it.

“You are to be my wife.”

You blinked once, twice, waiting for the punchline of the joke.

Neuvillette merely stared at you with his hands folded across his lap, waiting for your response.

After a pregnant pause, you couldn’t help the stunned scoff that escaped your lips. “You can’t be serious.”

“Quite, I’m afraid.”

You shook your head. “With all due respect, Monsieur—”

“Please, call me Neuvillette.”

Ignoring him, you continued, “I did not agree to be your wife.”

The Chief Justice leaned back against the posh blue cushions of the sofa. “Although that may be the case, you are in no position to refuse. In fact, your sentence mandates that you follow my orders.”

You stood abruptly, sending your goblet toppling over and spilling its contents across the table. “Marriage was not a part of that sentence.” Which was ridiculous to begin with, you added to yourself. I mean, a life sentence for a pet name? It’s almost like he wanted me arrested.

Neuvillette sighed and flicked his wrist, causing the chalice to right itself and the water to refill. “Marriage is the highest form of dedication, no? Is that not what you pledged to?”

“I dedicated my life to the court,” you clarified.

“My dear, I am the court.”

You emitted a low hiss, turning to the door. “I’m leaving.”

Before you could take more than a step, Neuvillette moved towards you faster than a crack of lightning across the sea. His large frame straddled yours, pinning you against the sofa. He grabbed your dominant wrist, a foreign bubbling under your skin erecting the hairs on your arms. Your mind reached out for your hydro powers to defend yourself, only to be crushed with the realization that your vision had been confiscated at the court.

Despite your struggles, you could only watch in terror as a glowing silver-blue mark in the shape of a dragon burned across the length of your arm. The leviathan’s scaly body twisted in ringlets up your forearm and bicep, ending in a slender head with twin horns that crested your shoulder.

As soon as Neuvillette loosed his grip, you shoved him away, panting heavily. The mark had already disappeared, but you could still feel the ghost of it under your skin.“What have you done?” you whispered breathlessly.

In total contrast to your own contorted expression, Neuvillette appeared completely calm. He smoothed out his robes and adjusted his jabot. “I have lived for centuries, and I have many centuries more. I’ve merely gifted some of them to you.”

Your body began to shake, from fear, sadness, or rage you did not know. “I don’t want them.”

“You do remember that you promised to serve the court for eternity, don’t you? How do you expect to persist by my side otherwise?”

Eyes locked on the exit, you tried for a different tactic. “Take me to the Fortress of Meropide.”

Neuvillette’s expression darkened, his patience clearly thinning. “I will not.”

Your eyes shifted back to his. Although Neuvillette intimidated you beyond belief, you’d be damned if you didn’t go down without fighting for your life’s hard work. “I want to change my sentence.”

He glanced down at your arm. “It’s a bit too late for that, my dear.” Taking your hand in his, he pulled you to his chest. His form towered over you, capable of resting his chin on the top of your head. “Please, understand. I mean to keep you from harm, even if it means being your jailor.”

“You’re insane,” you hissed, futility attempting to pull away. “Let go of me!”

Neuvillette’s grip was relentless. You stilled when you felt claws ghost up your back in a silent warning. “That is one thing I will never do.”

The fight in you slowly ebbed away—for now. Your resistance was clearly moot, like a gnat trying to down a dragon. You’d have to play the long game to learn how to get under his skin—and how to rid your own of this new mark. “I will find a way out of this,” was all you could promise, refusing to meet his eyes.

A deep sigh sounded above you. Neuvillette took a step back, looking at you with such longing you thought you’d combust on the spot. With one last stroke of your cheek, he strode towards the office’s exit and unlocked the door with a flick of his wrist. Looking over his shoulder, he fixed you with a forlorn gaze. “By the time you realize your place here, there will be nothing for you to escape to. Only I will remain.” He once more turned his back to you and stepped out of the room.

You suddenly paled, realizing the implication of his words. If his declaration was true and you were to live as long as him, then your family, your career, the world as you know it would be completely gone. Your only company, your only solace, the only one who would remember your name, would be him. “Wait, no, you can’t—!”

He closed the doors.

~*~

Neuvillette was many things, but a liar was not one of them.

True to his word, you remained locked almost exclusively in the Palais Mermonia. On the rare occasions he let you outside, the Iudex served as your only company, diligently making sure you were hidden. Your vision was permanently taken, supposedly to prevent danger to yourself. It didn’t go unnoticed when he would wear it on his hip at important or potentially volatile trials. When you finally asked—or growled at him, really—why he kept it on his person, he had merely frowned and replied, “I originally thought the idea of a fake vision preposterous, I admit. I have no need for one. Yet having it feels as if you are constantly by my side.”

The draconic tattoo he had branded onto your arm not only extended your lifespan but also gave you a minuscule drop of his abilities—though only when you were in his presence (and most definitely not against him—you had tried). That allowed the two of you to transport to and breath in the depths of Fontaine whenever you begged to go out. In his mind, it was perfect—not only was the sea his realm, but no one and nothing could touch you. You were his alone to hold, to see, to have.

Those trips were torture for you. Free, but trapped; floating, but tied down to the man who was supposed to be the symbol of justice.

You, on the other hand, had tried a variety of (fruitless) tactics to convince the judge to free you. Any attempt at conversation or advance in his part was met with either vitriol or indifference on your part. You had once tried to charm him into letting his guard down, hoping you could sneak away while he was preoccupied at the court. This plan epically backfired on you when he mistook your subtle touches as permission to devour you with kisses and love bites, covering you in bruises from his sharp teeth for the next week. You wouldn’t so much as let him tap your shoulder for the next month after—the spark of silver in his eyes while he kissed you foretold of a deep, overwhelming desire that far surpassed simple kisses. You feared what might occur if the composed Chief Justice were given the opportunity to release his more primal urges.

And so, each day was passed much in the same:

1) Wake up on the floor or couch of his suite in the Palais—like hell you’d be sharing a bed with him. Oh, how he had tried in the beginning to usher you into bed, into his arms. It was childish, yes, but at least your refusal have you some semblance of autonomy.

2) Ponder on how you would greet Neuvillette that day.

3) Choose between fury or pretending he didn’t exist, typically the latter.

4) Look for a way to escape after he left for the Opera. Fail.

5) Spend most of the day scouring court cases in his office for clues to overturn your cause. Fail again.

6) Look out the window pitifully at the water beyond the Court of Fontaine (were the levels rising?). You often thought of your family back in Mondstadt; what were they told of your imprisonment, if anything? How long had you been stuck with the Chief Justice? The days blurred like ink in water.

7) Immediately exit the office towards his attached suite the moment he returned—any other room was preferable to his suffocating presence.

Today, though, he had chosen to interrupt your musings out the window before you could make your exit.

“You know, I find the beauty of the bright sunlight is best appreciated from the indoors through a window.”

Turning your head from the glass pane, your attention was brought to the figure standing in the doorway. He was wearing nothing but a simple pair of dark blue slacks and a white tunic, his robes hooked over his arm. At the start of your captivity you had mused how strange it was to see him without his normal ornamentation; now his comparatively plain appearance was a daily sight for you.

You crossed your arms and leaned against the window, relishing the heat from the coastal sun against your back. It was nothing like the dark pits he practically dragged you to now that you could breathe underwater. “Personally, I prefer to enjoy it with the company of a cool breeze by the shoreline.”

The Chief Justice loosed a deep sigh as he approached you. He extended his palm, caressing your cheek gently. “If you desire it so, I will rearrange some meetings and escort you—”

Below the waves, where he clung to you like a Lumitoile to a rock? “No need. Present company would ruin the experience. I prefer to be above water.”

Neuvillette had the audacity to wince at your retort. “So you instead choose to wallow in your self-inflicted solitude?”

You wanted to laugh at the hurt edge to his voice. Self-inflicted your ass—every moment of your life now centered on him, depended on his permission. Solitude was a disguise for any reprieve you could get from his constant attempts to court you.

The ironic part was that, if he had approached you normally, you could have seen yourself falling for him. He brought and cooked your favorite foods and beverages, showered you with gifts and books on photography, and tried his utmost to make you comfortable.

But you knew it was as nothing but glitter in a gilded cage. Neuvillette had drowned your whole world. So no, you wouldn’t act like any of this is normal.

Resisting the urge to bite his bare hand, you glared at your captor. “You could simply, oh, I don’t know, let me go.”

Neuvillette’s jaw tightened. His patience might run deeper than the Trench of Elton, but it was not everlasting. “We’ve discussed this.”

At that, you shrugged his hand off. “Can I at least speak with my family? My friends?”

A pained look flickered across Neuvillette’s face. “That isn’t possible.”

Your lip curled in response to his expression. “Don’t act like you actually care.”

Pursing his lips, he settled onto the window seat next to you. Though you were twitching with the urge to escape, he placed a large hand on your thigh, a gentle warning. “(Y/n), there’s something we must discuss.”

You narrowed your eyes, though your heart rate spiked. By now, he recognized your silence as a sign to continue.

“Do you wish to walk around the Court of Fontaine with me?”

Blinking, your throat dried. You swore you heard him wrong. “I’m sorry?”

Neuvillette squeezed your leg in what he thought was a comforting manner. His eyes—fuck, you had to admit they were wickedly beautiful, silver and sharp as a sword—never left your own. “You have been justified in your anger with me. I have restricted you for far too long. I would like to extend an olive branch, if you will—an agreement that we will both retain civility. I will grant you freedoms, but you must adhere to your sentence. Any deviation will not be tolerated.”

Your head was spinning, so you didn’t even consider the implications of his words. He was letting you out. “Can we go now?”

Neuvillette smiled softly. “Of course.” Standing, he offered you a hand. You tentatively took it, more awestruck than anything as he unlocked the doors to the outside. You’d finally get to see your family, your colleagues, the sun—!

Fontaine was unrecognizable.

The last time you seen the square of the Statue of the Seven, the roads were cobblestone. Now, strange machines roamed the paved streets, clearly serving as sentinels. None of the shops or restaurants were familiar—your favorite coffee shop, where you had so many chats with Carole, was now boasting signs for upscale fashion. A Melusine hopped by, wearing a Garde’s uniform, something that you remembered as being rare due to the increased chances of them being targeted. Your heart rate spiked in worry when the Melusine approached a group of children and their parents, only for a stunned expression to hit you when the creature was hugged by a little girl, her parents cooing in delight.

“Where…what?” you stammered. Fontaine had seemingly changed overnight—at least in your experience of time. Dread pooled in your stomach.

You attempted to pull your arm away from him, but his grip on you was steadfast. That same pained look from before marred his handsome features. “I did not lie when I said you have nothing to return to.” The Chief Justice sounded melancholic—he wished it hadn’t come to this, but he had to eliminate any prompts for you to leave.

“No, no.” Your heart dropped. “What… What year is it?”

The silence that followed was all you needed to know.

“How many years has it been, Neuvillette?” you repeated, your voice cracking with a desperate tone.

For once, Neuvillette avoided eye contact with you. He simply gestured towards a bulletin board, where the latest issue of The Steambird (at least one thing was consistent) was posted. You tore it from its pin, choking back a sob as you read the date.

Hands shaking, the issue fell to the ground. It landed in a puddle, its edges slowing soaking and blurring the ink. A steady rain had started to fall, quickly turning into a torrential downpour.

It had been over four hundred years since Neuvillette had taken you.

If it weren’t for Neuvillete’s hand on your hip, you would have crumpled to your knees. “H-how?”

Neuvillete looked to the skies solemnly. “Time passes differently for us long-lived species.” You cringed at his use of us, and how he actually sounded remorseful. “But this is our opportunity for a fresh start.”

Silent tears streamed down your face. For what could you do? Everyone and everything you knew was gone. Lost to the sea of time forever. You had nothing.

He wrapped his arms around your waist from behind, placing a delicate kiss on the top of your head. “Cry not, my little pearl. No matter how many centuries pass, you will always have me.”

~*~

Neuvillette was many things.

And now, just as he dreamed since the moment he set his eyes on you, he was your everything.

And yet, you refused to drown.

As the years flowed like water through a stream, you began to learn the beat of Neuvillette’s dance. His emotions, his moods, his thoughts, all reflected themselves within the waltz of his life, and soon maneuvering around the steps became second nature to you. The balance of power laid within the count, and you were determined to be the one leading,

The dragon wanted to dance? So be it.

You’d give him the most challenging dance of his life.

#yandere #neuvillette #yandere neuvillette #genshin impact #yandere genshin impact #yandere genshin x you #yandere genshin x reader #neuvillette x reader #fontaine #ao3 fanfic

1K notes · View notes

goodstuffhappenedtoday · 12 days

Text

Meet the Alabama woman who is turning her farm into an indigenous food forest

Danny McArthur, Gulf States Newsroom

Angie Comeaux walks around her farm in Florala, Alabama. She calls it Hvrvnrvcukwv Ueki-honecv, or Hummingbird Springs, Farm.

It has its own water sources – like a spring that’s not too far from her house. She and a group of volunteers planted 2,000 trees that are all native species, as well as hundreds of plant species. It’s January, so at first glance, it just looks like overgrown grass and bushes.

“A lot of folks might come out here and they’ll look around and be like 2,000 trees where? But it’s because it’s winter time and they’re still small,” Comeaux said.

What’s actually there is the early stages of an indigenous food forest. To understand what that is, think about corn, beans, and squash. They’re known in some circles as the Three Sisters because they grow together, like family.

“So the corn is tall, and it gives a trellis for the beans to climb up. But the beans will put nitrogen into the soil and that will help both the corn and squash grow,” Comeaux said.

The story of the Three Sisters is a smaller version of what happens in a food forest. The plants here grow stronger, together.

“The squash leaves are very prickly and they’re big and cover a lot of the ground, so it’s giving moisture control to the soil,” Comeaux said. “It also gives pest control because bugs don’t like to walk on prickly little leaves.”

From extreme heat, to periods of drought, climate change is impacting farmers in the South. In response some farmers, like Comeaux, are leaning on regenerative practices. For her, that means returning to indigenous practices that focus on preserving the land for future generations – rather than depleting it now.

Comeaux’s journey to launching Hummingbird Springs Farm started in early 2020. She was originally born in New Orleans and raised in southeast Louisiana but she always had a goal of getting land and living off it once her children were out of the house. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her son had to finish school online and she saw her chance to get started.

Comeaux, who said she’s Mvskoke, Cherokee and Chahta, came to Alabama to farm her ancestral lands. She found land from a family of multi-generational farmers looking to sell. But, when she first arrived, it was completely clear cut and hadn’t been farmed in seven years. For nearly a century before that, it had been a peanut farm. Comeaux said that kind of monoculture farming tends to leave the soil depleted.

“We definitely saw that as an opportunity to reclaim and reestablish a healthy ecosystem,” Comeaux said.

To do that, she’s using traditional ecological knowledge, or knowledge that has been passed down by generations of indigenous people based on their direct experience with the environment.

More at the link

#good stuff #indigenous #farming

406 notes · View notes

butchysterics · 2 years

Text

americans imagining Land Back as a reverse colonization where your family is violently displaced from their home—just no, and there’s so much projection and anti-indigenous sentiment in that reaction that we need to unpack. in the same way abolishing private property does not equate to taking the personal property/housing from regular human beings, land back deserves your full attention in the actual demands and futurities that native people are calling for. this knee jerk resistance against land back needs to stop inventing hypotheticals instead of engaging with the reality of this which is A. a broader political call to rematriate land to indigenous communities, who currently have limited resources because this is a settler colonial state B. specific calls to return specific lands—often ‘public lands’ i.e. national parks, blm land etc—which often carry cultural significance and also very direct legacies of violence tied to the original displacement. C. a return to indigenous land management strategies, which are place-based and culture-based and offer paths to restoring/reclaiming/reconfiguring the ecologies and human communities most damaged by colonialism/capitalism/the world we currently live in D. land back is deeply tied to the movements protesting oil and gas pipelines, catastrophic mining, etc ongoing destruction of the environment that place indigenous communities on the frontlines yet threatens /everyone/ downstream who drinks water and has a body

#this is such a complex issue that starts to unravel american society when you unpack it #in a good way that asks—okay what do we do next? how are we going to live here and do right by our neighbors and their+our descendants?#regardless of who is in Power/who heads the State #we live on the ground we stand on we’re responsible to our local ecologies and our neighbors #this is where i’m at politically as a white settler

11K notes · View notes

bogleech · 1 year

Text

"this animal is actually a precious sweet intelligent angel despite its completely unfair public image as a filthy screeching pest" is well meaning and all but I think respect for wildlife shouldnt be that conditional and nature isn't here to generate feel good tiktoks or look pretty at the zoo. It isn't even here to ecologically benefit us, it doesn't owe us shit! More importantly you should consider that it's great and awesome when an animal is a filthy screeching pest. You should adore that we have a planet of corpse wallowing barf eating poison slobbering louse spreading hairy ghouls and feathered imps. I hope the sky dinosaurs shit on every car in the world every day forever. I'm glad when we paved over the forest and filled the earth with a labyrinth of toilet water we just made a utopian diarrhea playground for creatures that can chew through power cables. Love that there's a type of bat that can cut you in your sleep to slurp your blood and by the way it pisses the entire time, just pisses and pisses because it's filtering the excess water out of your blood. "Oh but it hardly ever goes after humans!" Yeah well guess what?? It should. Oh wolves are just pretty misunderstood pupperoos and not scary fairy tale villains?? Just because it's rare doesn't mean wolves can't be incredibly dangerous and it fucking rules actually. Based fairy tale villains. Get wolfed dummies!!

#nature #animals #biology

3K notes · View notes

arminreindl · 1 year

Text

I know I usually talk about crocs, but this is too good not to share. A new giant basilosaurid whale with weird anatomy from the Eocene of Peru. Perucetus colossus is a peculiar animal. It's bones were incredibly thick and incredibly dense, very much unlike those of modern whales and even more extreme than even those of the thicker basilosaurids (aptly named Pachycetinae i.e. thick whales). These adaptations have been compared to modern manatees and dugongs. Know the weight range is highly dependent on what you base the math on. Using manatees as a proxy, you get a weight of "only" 85 tons....using extreme values for whales a whopping 340 tons. Mean values for whales a still really big 180 tons. This could indicate that Perucetus rivaled the Blue Whale as the worlds heaviest animal ever.

The ecology is poorly understood tho. We know basilosaurids preferred coastal waters, and with all the similarities to manatees it is reasonable to assume that Perucetus was a shallow water animal itself. It also likely wasn't the fastest swimmer. And the lack of a skull basically means we can't say much on its diet. We can wager a guess and say it wasn't a predator because, you know....it also likely wasn't a grazer. Cool as it would be, we don't really have herbivorous whales like that so its incredibly unlikely. The two more likely suggestions are that it lived on small animals burried in the ocean floor, sorta like a grey whale. Or that it was a scavenger like a sleeper shark (tho I find that suggestion far less likely, giving me scavenging T.rex vibes ngl). But again, once we get a skull we can talk about this better.

Sidenote I do find the name a little underwhelming. It's a bizarre animal and the best we could come up with is "Colossal whale from Peru". I'm also not a mammal person, but from what I'm being told the silhouette is a little exaggerated and it wasn't necessarily that thick in life.

Life reconstruction by A. Gennari, paper can be found here A heavyweight early whale pushes the boundaries of vertebrate morphology | Nature

#perucetus #basilosauridae #paleontology news #palaeoblr #prehistory #eocene #early whale #evolution #science #whale

2K notes · View notes

dandelionsresilience · 4 months

Text

Good News - May 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi or $Kaybarr1735! Also, if you tip me on Ko-fi or CashApp (and give me some way to contact you if it doesn’t automatically), at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week - almost double the content!

1. Scientists Invent Healthier More Sustainable Chocolate

“The new chocolate recipe from researchers at ETH Zurich uses more materials from the cocoa pod that are usually discarded, including more of the pulp as well as the inner lining of the husk, known as the endocarp. […] The resulting chocolate also [was “deliciously sweet” and] had 20% more fibre and 30 percent less saturated fat than average European dark chocolate[, and] it could enable cocoa farmers [to] earn more from their crops.”

2. Vermont Is Coming for Big Oil, Making It Pay for Decades of Climate Pollution

“Legislators in Montpelier are on the brink of enacting the "Climate Superfund Act," modeled after the federal Superfund law, that seeks to make oil, gas and coal companies pay for damages linked to historical greenhouse gas emissions. […] Companies would be held liable for the costs associated with […] floods and heat waves, along with losses to biodiversity, safety, economic development and anything else the treasurer deems reasonable[, that were caused by their emissions].”

3. Important bird habitat now protected in the Rocky Mountain Trench

“Grassland-reliant species in the Rocky Mountain Trench now have more protected habitat thanks to a new [270-hectare] conservation area near Cranbrook. […] About one-third of the Skookumchuck Prairie Conservation Area is forested[…,] Most of the site is a dry grassland[…, and] Three hectares of wetlands add to the landscape diversity and offer crucial benefits to wildlife and water systems in the area. This conservation gem also provides habitat for endangered American badger and excellent winter range for elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer.”

4. Lemur Week marked by 70th breeding success

“A wildlife park has celebrated its 70th lemur breeding success ahead of a week raising money to help save the endangered primates. […] The park's open-air Madagascar exhibit is home to 31 free-roaming lemurs and was officially opened in 2008. […] Females are only sexually receptive for just one or two days a year, leaving a small window of opportunity for males to father offspring. […] The two playful siblings, one female and one male, were born to father Bernard and mother Hira.”

5. Innovative material for sustainable building

“Researchers introduce a polymer-based material with unique properties. This material allows sunlight to enter, maintains a more comfortable indoor climate without additional energy, and cleans itself like a lotus leaf. The new development could replace glass components in walls and roofs in the future.”

6. Isle of Wight eagles don't pose threat to lambs as feared

“While there had previously been fears that the eagles would feed on livestock, such as lambs, the project has found no evidence of this. [… “W]hite-tailed eagles effectively steal meals from other predatory birds[, which is] a really important ecological role that had been lost within the landscape and is being restored.” [… The birds’] population was boosted by a chick last year – the first time the species has bred in England in 240 years.”

7. Breakthrough discovery uses engineered surfaces to shed heat

“Cheng's team has found a way to lower the starting point of the [Leidenfrost] effect by producing a surface covered with micropillars. […] The discovery has great potential in heat transfer applications such as the cooling of industrial machines and surface fouling cleaning for heat exchangers. It also could help prevent damage and even disaster to nuclear machinery.”

8. New malaria vaccine delivered for the first time

“A total of 43,000 doses arrived by air today from UNICEF, and another 120,000 are scheduled to show up in the coming days. […] They're the first vaccines designed to work against a human parasite. […] Across four African countries, these trials showed a 75% reduction in malaria cases in the year following vaccination of young children. […] The Serum Institute of India, who will be manufacturing the new vaccine, says a hundred million doses will likely be available to countries by the middle of next year.”

9. Urban gardening may improve human health: Microbial exposure boosts immune system

“"One month of urban indoor gardening boosted the diversity of bacteria on the skin of the subjects and was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood. The group studied used a growing medium with high microbial diversity emulating the forest soil," [… whereas] the control group used a microbially poor peat-based medium. [… N]o changes in the blood or the skin microbiota were seen. […] “This is the first time we can demonstrate that meaningful and natural human activity can increase the diversity of the microbiota of healthy adults and, at the same time, contribute to the regulation of the immune system."”

10. Cities Are Switching to Electric Vehicles Faster Than Individuals

“[M]ost large cities have adopted some kind of climate goal, and some of them are buying EVs for their municipal fleets at a faster rate than the general public. And that progress could speed up as more EVs enter the market and as cities get educated about grant funding and tax incentives that were passed over the last four years.”

May 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

328 notes · View notes

rebeccathenaturalist · 11 months

Text

Existence Value: Why All of Nature is Important Whether We Can Use it or Not

I spend a lot of time around other nature nerds. We’re a bunch of people from varying backgrounds, places, and generations who all find a deep well of inspiration within the natural world. We’re the sort of people who will happily spend all day outside enjoying seeing wildlife and their habitats without any sort of secondary goal like fishing, foraging, etc. (though some of us engage in those activities, too.) We don’t just fall in love with the places we’ve been, either, but wild locales that we’ve only ever seen in pictures, or heard of from others. We are curators of existence value.

Existence value is exactly what it sounds like–something is considered important and worthwhile simply because it is. It’s at odds with how a lot of folks here in the United States view our “natural resources.” It’s also telling that that is the term most often used to refer collectively to anything that is not a human being, something we have created, or a species we have domesticated, and I have run into many people in my lifetime for whom the only value nature has is what money can be extracted from it. Timber, minerals, water, meat (wild and domestic), mushrooms, and more–for some, these are the sole reasons nature exists, especially if they can be sold for profit. When questioning how deeply imbalanced and harmful our extractive processes have become, I’ve often been told “Well, that’s just the way it is,” as if we shall be forever frozen in the mid-20th century with no opportunity to reimagine industry, technology, or uses thereof.

Moreover, we often assign positive or negative value to a being or place based on whether it directly benefits us or not. Look at how many people want to see deer and elk numbers skyrocket so that they have more to hunt, while advocating for going back to the days when people shot every gray wolf they came across. Barry Holstun Lopez’ classic Of Wolves and Men is just one of several in-depth looks at how deeply ingrained that hatred of the “big bad wolf” is in western mindsets, simply because wolves inconveniently prey on livestock and compete with us for dwindling areas of wild land and the wild game that sustained both species’ ancestors for many millennia. “Good” species are those that give us things; “bad” species are those that refuse to be so complacent.

Even the modern conservation movement often has to appeal to people’s selfishness in order to get us to care about nature. Look at how often we have to argue that a species of rare plant is worth saving because it might have a compound in it we could use for medicine. Think about how we’ve had to explain that we need biodiverse ecosystems, healthy soil, and clean water and air because of the ecosystem services they provide us. We measure the value of trees in dollars based on how they can mitigate air pollution and anthropogenic climate change. It’s frankly depressing how many people won’t understand a problem until we put things in terms of their own self-interest and make it personal. (I see that less as an individual failing, and more our society’s failure to teach empathy and emotional skills in general, but that’s a post for another time.)

Existence value flies in the face of all of those presumptions. It says that a wild animal, or a fungus, or a landscape, is worth preserving simply because it is there, and that is good enough. It argues that the white-tailed deer and the gray wolf are equally valuable regardless of what we think of them or get from them, in part because both are keystone species that have massive positive impacts on the ecosystems they are a part of, and their loss is ecologically devastating.

But even those species whose ecological impact isn’t quite so wide-ranging are still considered to have existence value. And we don’t have to have personally interacted with a place or its natural inhabitants in order to understand their existence value, either. I may never get to visit the Maasai Mara in Kenya, but I wish to see it as protected and cared for as places I visit regularly, like Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. And there are countless other places, whose names I may never know and which may be no larger than a fraction of an acre, that are important in their own right.

I would like more people (in western societies in particular) to be considering this concept of existence value. What happens when we detangle non-human nature from the automatic value judgements we place on it according to our own biases? When we question why we hold certain values, where those values came from, and the motivations of those who handed them to us in the first place, it makes it easier to see the complicated messes beneath the simple, shiny veneer of “Well, that’s just the way it is.”

And then we get to that most dangerous of realizations: it doesn’t have to be this way. It can be different, and better, taking the best of what we’ve accomplished over the years and creating better solutions for the worst of what we’ve done. In the words of Rebecca Buck–aka Tank Girl–“We can be wonderful. We can be magnificent. We can turn this shit around.”

Let’s be clear: rethinking is just the first step. We can’t just uproot ourselves from our current, deeply entrenched technological, social, and environmental situation and instantly create a new way of doing things. Societal change takes time; it takes generations. This is how we got into that situation, and it’s how we’re going to climb out of it and hopefully into something better. Sometimes the best we can do is celebrate small, incremental victories–but that’s better than nothing at all.

Nor can we just ignore the immensely disproportionate impact that has been made on indigenous and other disadvantaged communities by our society (even in some cases where we’ve actually been trying to fix the problems we’ve created.) It does no good to accept nature’s inherent value on its own terms if we do not also extend that acceptance throughout our own society, and to our entire species as a whole.

But I think ruminating on this concept of existence value is a good first step toward breaking ourselves out first and foremost. And then we go from there.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

#nature #natural history #ecology #wildlife #animals #environment #environmentalism #conservation #existence value #deep ecology #science #scicomm #environmental philosophy #climate change

570 notes · View notes

new-dinosaurs · 2 months

Text

Paakniwatavis grandei Musser & Clarke, 2024 (new genus and species)

(Type specimen of Paakniwatavis grandei, from Musser and Clarke, 2024)

Meaning of name: Paakniwatavis = Paakniwat [water spirits in Shoshoni legend] bird [in Latin]; grandei = for Lance Grande [American biologist and collector of the original fossil]

Age: Eocene (Ypresian), between 51–52 million years old

Where found: Green River Formation, Wyoming, U.S.A.

How much is known: Partial skeleton of one individual including much of the skull and many limb bones.

Notes: Paakniwatavis was a waterfowl. Unlike most modern ducks and geese, Paakniwatavis lacked a broad, flattened bill. Instead, its bill more closely resembles that of an unusual group of South American waterfowl, the screamers, which have narrow, somewhat chicken-like beaks. Despite this, the describers of Paakniwatavis suggest that it was more closely related to ducks and geese than to screamers based on their phylogenetic analyses, which may indicate that the broad-billed waterfowl evolved from an ancestor similar to Paakniwatavis.

Reference: Musser, G. and J.A. Clarke. 2024. A new Paleogene fossil and a new dataset for waterfowl (Aves: Anseriformes) clarify phylogeny, ecological evolution, and avian evolution at the K–Pg Boundary. PLoS ONE 19: e0278737. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278737

#Palaeoblr #Birblr #Dinosaurs #Birds #Paakniwatavis #Eocene #North America #Galloanserae #2024 #Extinct

76 notes · View notes

ot3 · 2 months

Note

Tbh ignoring all the "ai is soulless" stuff cause who cares if art is soulless, I think one should oppose it just due to how it damages the earth

here's from the verge:

The figures were notably larger for image-generation models, which used on average 2.907 kWh per 1,000 inferences. As the paper notes, the average smartphone uses 0.012 kWh to charge — so generating one image using AI can use almost as much energy as charging your smartphone. ... “Definitely this is not representative of everyone’s use case, but now at least we have some numbers,” says Luccioni. “I wanted to put a flag in the ground, saying ‘Let’s start from here.’"

is AI image generation's energy use negligible? i woudn't say that at all. however that number is important to contextualize because having your computer/tablet/etc running an art program for the number of hours it would take an illustrator to make that drawing would use more energy. just straight up it would.

the associated water use for cooling the data centers is trickier to pin down, and this seems to be one of the big complaints. from forbes:

Tech giants have significantly increased their water needs for cooling data centers due to the escalating demand for online services and generative AI products. AI server cooling consumes significant water, with data centers using cooling towers and air mechanisms to dissipate heat, causing up to 9 liters of water to evaporate per kWh of energy used. ... Already AI's projected water usage could hit 6.6 billion m³ by 2027, signaling a need to tackle its water footprint.

this doesn't really distinguish between stuff thats used in AI image gen and the entire field of AI because those numbers aren't there. i'm kind of exclusively talking about ai image gen in these conversations because that's just where my focus is. without knowing what percentage of the demand for AI comes from image generation it's hard to get a feel on the environmental impact. it's definitely bad. tech people should not just be allowed free reign of the world's water supply. i think we can all agree on that.

something i would be really interested in is to see how AI data centers power/water usage compares to that of like. FFXIV and genshin impact. i dont mean this as a gotcha but i feel like it would help contextualize it for me and allow me to really understand the scale this is operating on in a way i currently can't with how abstracted these numbers are.

anyway another angle to consider that i dont see talked about a ton: the physical components of these data centers need to be made out of Something. rare earth mineral mining for computer components has a huge impact both environmentally and on the wellbeing of the communities that are used as borderline slave labor to try and mine it. the congo one of the prime exmaples of this. i'd be really interested to know what sort of demand for high end computing components these data centers have drummed up in numbers that have any kind of meaning to me but i'm not even sure where i'd begin acquiring or understanding this information.

but i think looking at ai specifically as the problem misses the forest for the trees in a lot of ways. AI is one point in the ever-rising graph of ecological destruction wrought by the tech sector. getting rid of it will not address the fundamentally underlying economic structures that necessitate this level of exploitation of the earth and foreign laborers. i think the exceptionalism around AI as a unique evil of the tech sector is not actually based in ecological concerns, as much as ecological concerns are often trotted out by people who already believe ai is ontologically evil in order to bolster their arguments.

80 notes · View notes

roobiedo · 9 months

Text

Happy Solarpunk Aesthetic Week and Winter Solstice! ❄️

While we do celebrate here, we don't actually experience winter in my region, or any of the classic four seasons! The weather here is basically a coin toss between searing heat and torrential rain lol. So while I was musing over how to adapt a solarpunk aesthetic to a tropical lifestyle, I came up with this!

Lengthy explanations and chaotic ideas below:

Disclaimer: I am not a science-y person, so I'm not sure how any of these would technically work or what materials would go into making them. Hopefully one day someone could figure it out, but I'm just having fun sharing these ideas for now :)

-----

What works well both in harsh sunlight and heavy downpours, plus is already something that people here use everyday? Umbrellas! How cool would it be to have an umbrella that absorbs sunlight during the day, and turns it into a personal spotlight at night? Or perhaps it could absorb and store large amounts of rainwater, to be re-used later or released somewhere more useful?

My main inspiration for this is the bamboo. This plant already plays a huge role in our lives here -- culturally, economically, and from what I recently learned, ecologically too! Our region suffers from floods often, and bamboo can help to control the flow of water, for example through their roots providing a barrier against soil erosion, or their ability to store large amounts of water and release it gradually during drier seasons. (And that's just one of the many reasons why bamboos are awesome and solarpunky!) I thought it would be cool to have water stored in the 'bamboo nodes' of the umbrella shaft, which could then be detached and used individually, or as components in other tech!

I chose the Amazonian lily pad as the canopy design because 1) it looks big enough to cover a person, 2) it has a wide surface for solar panels to 'photosynthesize' energy, 3) its container-like shape looks as though it could hold rainwater like a funnel while it trickles into the shaft, and 4) it just looks really pretty! Realistically, this canopy might not be able to do everything at once, so I'm hoping for this tech to be modular and highly customizable -- as in, you could replace this 'lily pad' with something else that serves a different function! I did play around with some other designs, here they are hehe

Hibiscus: Our national flower! Have these bad boys growing in my yard so I thought why not. Not sure what functions it would have yet... perhaps the pistil could be a sensor for gathering weather data? Or maybe the anthers are little lights? Maybe it attracts BEES???

Mushroom: Not familiar with the fungi in my area yet so I went with the classic Amanita. Though now I'm kinda regretting because! Wouldn't it be so cool and lunarpunky to design it based on a bio-luminescent mushroom, so it would make sense for the umbrella to glow in the dark? AGH missed opportunities ;;

-----

Anyway while I was designing the umbrella I thought about giving the model a cool fit too, so tadaaa! A customizable pair of pants that can be worn as a shorts + half-skirt/sarong combo during hot weather, or extended to become a full pair of jeans during colder/rainy times! I used zippers as the connectors because they seem easy to sew on and I like the punky vibe it adds to the outfit. HOWEVER, I'm realising that might be inconvenient or way too time consuming for some people. Maybe buttons, magnets or hook-and-loop fasteners would be easier?

As for the shirt, idk that was just for fun. Maybe it changes colour/design based on the surrounding temperature?

-----

So YEAH that was my longer-than-expected idea dump for this week! Thank you for reading <3 If you have any thoughts or ways of expanding on these ideas please please please share them with me I'm just really excited to see what people think waaaaa!!! ok bye stay hydrated

#art #artists on tumblr #solarpunk #solarpunk aesthetic week #winter solstice #no im not late im not I M NOT #fashion #roobiedoodle #tl simmer #i did not intend for it to be her but she looks similar enough! should use my OCs as models more often actually

188 notes · View notes

probablyasocialecologist · 1 year

Text

The main effort in a process of planetary degrowth must be made by the countries of the industrialized North (North America, Europe, and Japan) responsible for the historical accumulation of carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution. They are also the areas of the world where the level of consumption, particularly among the privileged classes, is clearly unsustainable and wasteful. The “underdeveloped” countries of the Global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) where basic needs are very far from being satisfied will need a process of “development,” including building railroads, water and sewage systems, public transport, and other infrastructures. But there is no reason why this cannot be accomplished through a productive system that is environmentally friendly and based on renewable energies. These countries will need to grow great amounts of food to nourish their hungry populations, but this can be much better achieved—as the peasant movements organized worldwide in the Vía Campesina network have been arguing for years—by a peasant biological agriculture based on family units, cooperatives, or collectivist farms. This would replace the destructive and antisocial methods of industrialized agribusiness, based on the intensive use of pesticides, chemicals, and genetically modified organisms. Presently, the capitalist economy of countries in the Global South is rooted in the production of goods for their privileged classes—cars, airplanes, and luxury goods—and commodities exported to the world market: soya beans, meat, and oil. A process of ecological transition in the South, as argued by ecosocialists, would reduce or suppress this kind of production, and aim instead at food sovereignty and the development of basic services such as health care and education, which need, above all, human labor, rather than more commodities.

Michael Löwy, Nine Theses on Ecosocialist Degrowth

#ecosocialism #degrowth #decolonisation #global south

237 notes · View notes

netherworldpost · 7 months

Text

good mermaid morning

I've been thinking about bodies of water lately and mermaids. I want to devote a good amount of hours to thinking about other water monsters but right now we're thinking about mermaids (or at least I am, join me?)

Mermaids are frequently discussed as near-shore creatures, the "mermaid comes to land for Various Reasons" being a hugely popular genre.

Deep sea (and massive in size) and arctic (and seal or walrus based) are similarly explored, and make for delightful lore and exercises.

via

This is an oxbow (from the Wikipedia Oxbow Lake Page, because the wikipedia oxbow page doesn't have an image at time of writing)

I was fascinated with oxbows when I first heard the term in the mid 2000s and have been thinking about them off-and-on since. They are so very beautiful.

In The Real World Without Magic these things are created by ecological forces.

In stories and lore with magic, they can be explored as marketplaces for mermaids. Or anything else but right now we're talking about mermaids.

The slowing down of the water flow would make it easier for non-aquatic creatures swimming to handle the business of travel, the bends in the river easily section off the market -- here is a spice section, here is a coral section, here are fish, there are mollusks, yonder down there is artwork, jewelry, spell components.

Particularly flashy mermaids in a hurry and/or wishing to avoid a traffic jam could leap from the particularly tightly connected portions of the oxbow --

-- this would be very fun.

Especially if their partners are on that section and there is a jump-out-of-water-fly-over kiss in a truly inspiring acrobatic display.

Good mermaid morning.

#mermaid #mermaid lore #oxbow #mermaid oxbow #mermaid society #mermaid market #river monster

107 notes · View notes

bethanythebogwitch · 4 months

Text

Wet Beast Wednesday: Adélie penguin

I previously covered the world's most famous penguin, the emperor. Today I'll be covering its less famous neighbor, the Adélie penguin. While being much smaller than the emperors, Adélie penguins are just as charismatic and highly ecologically important. They were named after the wife of the explorer who first described the species. Let's see if that was romantic or a mistake.

(Image: an Adélie penguin standing on a rock and facing the camera. It is a bird standing upright with flipper-like wings and webbed feet. The belly is white while the head and back are black. There are white rings around the eyes. End ID)

The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) looks like a penguin. Like picture a generic penguin in your mind and it'll probably look like an Adélie. They are flightless birds that stand upright, a posture that seems to be unique to penguins. They have countershading, with a black back and white underbelly. The most distinctive feature of an Adélie penguin is the white ring around its eyes. As with other penguins, Adélie penguin wings have adapted into flippers that enable powerful and graceful swimming but renders them flightless. Adélies reach a height of 73 cm (29 in) and a weight between 3.8 and 8.2 kg (8.4 to 18.1 lbs). The primary difference between males and females is that males are significantly heavier than females of the same size. As with most penguin species, it can be difficult to tell males and females apart without examining them. Adélie penguin feces and nasal discharge has been noted to be high in salt, the result of living in a very saline environment. By ingesting salt and nitrogenous substances in the sea and excreting them on land, the penguins help hasten the movement of nutrients from sea to land. This makes the penguins highly important to the antarctic ecosystem.

(Image: an Adélie penguin seen from the side as it walks over snow in a very dapper pose. End ID)

Adélie penguins are are one of the two penguin species to inhabit Antarctica itself, the other being the emperor penguin. They also share the many antarctic islands with multiple other penguin species and are rarely found as far north and Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and South America. The penguins spend most of their time out on the pack ice, hunting for food to build up the layer of protective subcutaneous fat that helps keep them warm. Adélie penguins can be found hundreds if not thousands of kilometers from shore as long as there is access to the sea and ice flows to rest on. As the ice extends hundreds to thousands of kilometers in winter and retracts during the summer, the penguins will be on the move to retain access to the water. A penguin can migrate up to 13,000 km (8,100 mi) every year to retain access to both ocean and sea ice. They hunt and forage underwater, with a diet consisting primarily of krill, fish, squid, and jellyfish. Chemical analysis of shell fossils has revealed a change in diet from primarily fish based to primarily krill based around 200 years ago. It is believed that this change in diet was due to whaling diminishing the local baleen whale population, which was the primary krill predator. This resulted in a population boom of krill that the penguins took advantage of. It is very cool to me that you can tell what diet animals from thousands of years ago analyzing ancient eggshell remnants. Adélie penguins swim at around 8 km/h (5 mph) and can leap 30 meters out of the water to reach ice flows.

(Image: a group of Adélie penguins leaping off of ice and into the water. End ID)

Adélie penguins are noted to be very curious and fearless on land. They have no land predators and therefore have no predation response on land. Antarctic explorers have recorded that Adélie penguins would walk right up to charging and barking dogs without fear and quickly get eaten. They have been called boisterous by explorers and have been seen challenging much larger creatures to fights over space. During the filming of the BBC Earth documentary Spy in the Snow, the filmmakers caught footage of an Adélie penguin deliberatly protecting a group of emperor penguin chicks from a southern giant petrel who was hunting them. Despite the petrel's threat and the chicks being of a different species, the Adélie put itself between the predator and prey and repeatedly charged the petrel (which occasionally hunt adult Adélies) until it gave up and left. Adélies are not always as nice to each other. They will fight each other, especially during breeding season. Adélies are known to be reluctant to enter the water if they can't see another penguin swimming safely. They will gather in groups on the edge of the ice until one penguin gets pushed in. If that penguin doesn't get attacked by a predator, the rest will join.

(Image: a group of Adélie penguins being examined by a scientists sitting on the ground in a red coat and black pants. The group includes adults and chicks. The penguins show no fear of the scientist and some appear to be examining them. End ID)

Mating season lasts between October and February. During mating season, the penguins gather in rocky areas with no ice covering. The males gather piles of pebbles which will become nests. Males will try to steal pebbles from each other, which can led to fights. Once his pile is complete, the male will stand on top of it and begin a display involving pointing his beak up, vibrating his chest, and flapping his wings. A female who is wooed by his display will approach and bow, which he will then reciprocate. The male then shapes the nest into a pit and lets the female lay down in it. The male stands on the female's back to mate and they will rub beaks together while doing so. Adélie penguins are serially monogamous. They will form mated pairs during mating season, but will usually not pair off with the same penguin next season. On the other hand, Adélie penguins have been suggested to engage in prostitution. Males have been known to mate with females they are not paired off with, after which the female will take some of the stones from his nest. The reasons for this behavior is not clear and calling it prostitution may be applying human ideas to non-analogous animal behavior. Females may be examining males as potential backup mates should hers die. The male allowing the female to take some stones may also be an advantageous trait as if she does lay his eggs, having better stones will give them a better chance of surviving with him not there. Adélie penguins are notorious for their aggressive sexual behavior. Males will attempt to forcibly mate with females (possibly as a result of mistaking her bending over as a mating bow) and males without partners will attempt to mate with such things as chicks, dead penguins, and the ground. During mating season, males accumulate the hormone corticosterone in their systems. This hormone increases aggressiveness and sexual activity in birds and is likely why males who can't attract a mate will attempt to mate with anything they can.

(Image: two Adélie penguins mating. The male is standing on top of the (presumably) female, who is lying stomach-down on the ground. The male's head is bend down and the female's head is bent up so their beaks touch. End ID)

After mating, the female will lay two eggs, the second a few days after the first. If one egg is lost soon after being laid, a third may me produced to replace it. The second egg is usually smaller then the first so they will still hatch around the same time. The father and mother share share incubation duties. One parent will sit on the eggs to warm them while the other parent returns to the sea to feed. The incubating parent will not leave the nest during this time. They do not eat while incubating and will projectile defecate to keep feces away from the nest. Shifts change every 7-10 days, allowing both parents to eat while keeping the eggs incubated. When both parents are at the nest, they will perform a mutual display involving waving their heads while calling out and bowing to each other. The eggs hatch after 32 to 34 days and the chicks will remain with their parents for another 22 or so days. During this time, the parents will take shifts guarding the chick and returning to the ocean to feed. The chicks are fed regurgitated, partially-digested food. Mothers who have lost their chicks have been known to try to steal chicks from other parents. After the 22 days, the parents abandon their chicks and return to sea. The chicks gather together in groups called crèches for mutual protection from predators. They must subsist on fat stores for another 30 to 40 days before developing their adult plumage and setting out to sea.

(Image: a group of Adélie penguins with a focus on a parent and a chick. The chicks are smaller than the parent and are covered in gray, fluffy down. End ID)

One of the earliest texts on Adélie penguin behavior came from the journal of the explorer George Murray Levick in 1911-12. He described the sexual behavior of the penguins but the result was considered too explicit and immoral to be publiched with the rest of the expedition's notes. As a result, Levick's noted were not discovered and published until 2012. One of the things in the notes that resulted in them being denied publication was the description of homosexual behavior. That's right, this is a surprise pride post. Despite what many conservatives would like you to believe, homosexual behavior is very common in the animal kingdom. Penguins are seemingly especially known for this behavior. While initial reports suggested that Adélies would accidentally mate with other males as a result of mistaken identity, this have been proven to not be the case every time. Male Adélies have been seen taking turns copulating with each other, which means they definitely realize the other is male. Similar behavior has been seen in other penguins. Famously, a male/male pair of chinstrap penguins (a close relative of the Adélies) named Roy and Silo in New York City's Central Park Zoo successfully fostered an egg and hatched a female chick named Tango, who also went on to bond with another female penguin. Multiple other species have also been know to form same-sex bonds in captivity (wild behavior being harder to study) with many even building nests and using round stones in place of eggs. Same-sex pairs have been known to bond with each other year after year when other penguins will chose different mates each year. Multiple zoos will let same-sex penguin pairs to foster eggs.

(Image: two penguins standing among a pile of pebbles. End ID)

Levick's notes on homosexual behavior in the Adélie penguins described them as deviant and disgusting. I bring this up because it leads me to a point I want to discuss. It is very important to not judge animals by human moral standards. Study of homosexual behavior in animals has been distorted and repressed by generations of scientists operating under an Abrahamic religious worldview where homosexuality is considered a crime against nature. In that worldview, it would not be possible for animals to be homosexual because now could nature commit a crime against nature? Thus, the use of rationalizations, deceptions, and cover-ups by scientists operating under that worldview. When the facts conflicted with their beliefs, they chose their beliefs. This is not the only time this has happened. Back in the early days of paleontology, famous paleontologists such as Sir Richard Owen discovered that theropod dinosaurs had similar traits to birds and that dinosaurs were not the slow, lumbering, lizard-like animals they were initially assumed to be, but highly developed, powerful animals. This conflicted with their pre-conceived religious beliefs in Biblical creationism where all species were created as they were and did not evolve and that modern species must be the better versions of past species as God wouldn't replace something powerful like a triceratops with something less powerful like a cow. These early paleontologists covered up and denied evidence that went against their beliefs and in doing so, set back the fields of paleontology and evolution in ways we are still trying to fully recover from. Failure to separate our moral standards from animal behavior is important to studying animals for the same reasons that those early paleontologists failing to separate the evidence from their religious beliefs was. I have heard popular animal Youtubers insult animals like Adélie penguins and dolphins in exactly the same way Levic did because of their behavior when mating. Those kinds of attitudes are thing we need to get over when studying nature. Nature is under no obligation to conform to the many and varied moral standards of humans and we need to recognize that. This doesn't just apply to people who disapprove of animal behavior. You will notice that I never called any of the penguins "gay" or anything similar in the above passage. That was deliberate and it's not because "I'm a homophobe trying to to deny that gayness exists in nature" or anything like that. That would be a pretty fucking hypocritical thing for me, a trans lesbian, to believe. I don't think it's fair or intellectually honest ascribe human descriptions of behavior and psychology to nonhuman animals. We have very different psychological makeups from penguins and the definitions we use simply may not apply to them. Similarly, penguin mental constructs or concepts wouldn't apply to us, at least not in the same way. Nobody can read a penguin's mind and nobody can Animorph into a penguin to experience its psychology first hand. If Roy and Silo were able to talk, would they identify themselves as gay? Would the modern, western idea of gay even make sense to a penguin? I have no idea and neither does anyone else. And I think applying labels for human concepts like being gay that may or may not apply to an animal risks introducing bias to our understanding that can produce mistakes and misunderstanding about that animal's behavior. This is true whether you think being gay is good (like me and hopefully everyone reading this) or bad (like Levick did).

Oops, what's this doing here? (Image: an old-fashioned soapbox. End ID)

Adélie penguins are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN. This does not mean they are not facing challenges. The loss of sea ice due to global warming has reduced the available habitat and has seen population drops. Chick survival rates have also been decreasing. In addition, as of 2024, a mass die-off of over 500 birds was discovered and is being attributed to H5N1 bird flue spread from South America. This strain has also been found in local skuas, which could act as vectors to spread to to other species and populations. This situation is currently under investigations and we currently can't predict where it will lead.

(Image: an Adélie chick nuzzling its parent's belly. End ID)

#wet beast wednesday #adelie penguin #adélie penguin #penguin #bird #antarctica #homosexual behavior in animals #pride month #pride #marine biology #biology #zoology #ecology #animal facts #ornithology #informative #educational #image described

70 notes · View notes