#whatever it's nature we have giant plants

[fr-thrice]

i like pretend I that veilspuns are smaller, and undertides are larger, than their canon sizes. veils are a few feet long but to me they're bug-sized. tides are about the same size as the other largest breeds but i wish they were twice as large leviathans

[headspace-hotel]

Many people, especially USAmericans, are very resistant to knowing the plants and living according to the ways of the plants. They lash out with a mix of arrogance and fear: "Don't you know what bad things would happen if we lived a different way? There is a REASON for living this way. Would you have us go Back—backward to the time without vaccines or antibiotics????"

Ah, yes, the two immutable categories that all proposals for change fit into: Backward Change and Forward Change! Either we must invent a a futuristic, entirely new solution with SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY that further industrializes and increases the productivity of our world, or we must give up vaccines and antibiotics and become starving illiterate medieval peasants.

Every human practice anywhere on Earth that has declined, stopped, or become displaced by another practice, was clearly objectively worse than whatever replaced it. You see, the only possible reason a way of life could decline or disappear is that it sucked and had it coming anyway!!! Pre-industrial human history is worthless except as a cautionary tale about how miserable we would all be without *checks notes* factories, fossil fuels and colonialism. Obviously!

Anyway, who do you think benefits from the idea that pesticide-dependent, corporate-controlled industrialized monoculture farming liberates us all from spending our short, painful lives as filthy, miserable peasants toiling in the fields?

First of all, I think it's silly to act like farming is a uniquely awful way to live. I can't believe I have to say this, but the awful part of being a medieval peasant was the oppression and poverty, not the fact that harvesting wheat is a lot of work and cows are stinky. Same goes for farm labor in the modern USA: the bad part is that most people working farms are undocumented migrant workers that are getting treated like garbage and who can't complain about it because their boss will rat them out to ICE.

Work is just work. Any work has dignity when the people doing it are paid properly and not being abused. Abuse and human trafficking is rampant in agriculture, but industrialization and consolidation of small farms into gigantic corporate owned farms sure as hell isn't making it better.

Is working on a farm somehow more miserable than working in a factory, a fast food restaurant, or a retail store? Give me a break. "At least I'm not doing physical labor in the sun," you say, at your job where you're forced to stand on concrete for 8 hours and develop chronic pain by age 24.

When you read about small farmers going out of business because of huge corporations, none of them are going "Yay! Now that Giant Corporation has swallowed up all the farms in the area, we can all enjoy the luxurious privileges of the industrial era, like working RETAIL!" What you do see a lot of is farmers bitterly grieving the loss of their way of life.

And also, the fact is, sustainable forms of polyculture farming that create a functional ecosystem made up of many different useful and edible plants are actually way MORE efficient at producing food than a monoculture. The reason we don't do it as much, is that it can't be industrialized where everything is harvested with machines.

Some places folks are starting to get the idea and planting two crops together in alternating rows, letting the mutualistic relationship between plants boost the yields of both, but indigenous people in many parts of the world have been doing this stuff basically forever. I read about a style of agroforestry from Central America that has TWENTY crops all together on the same field.

Our modern system of farming is necessary for feeding the world? Bullshit! Our technology is very powerful and useful, but our harmful monocultures, dangerous pesticides, and wasteful usage of land and resources are making the system very inefficient and severely degrading nature's ability to provide for us.

What is needed, is a SYNTHESIS of the power and insights of technology and science, with the ancient wisdom and knowledge gained by closely and carefully observing Nature. We do not need to reject one, to embrace the other! They should be friends!

Our system thinks land is only used for one thing at a time. Even our science often thinks this way. A corn field has the purpose of producing corn, and no other purpose, so all other plants in the corn must be killed, and it must be a monoculture of only corn.

But this means that the symbiosis between different plants that help each other is destroyed, so we must pollute the earth with fertilizers that wash into bodies of water and cause eutrophication, where algae explode in number and turn the water to green goo. Nature always has variety and diversity with many plants sharing the same space. It supports much more animal life (we are animals!) this way. The Three Sisters" are the perfect example of mutualism between plants being used in an agricultural environment. The planting of corn, beans, and squash together has been traditionally used clear across the North American continent.

And in North America, the weeds we have here are mostly edible plants too. Some of them were even domesticated themselves! Imagine a garden where every weed that pops up is also an edible or otherwise useful crop, and therefore a welcomed friend! So when weeds like Amaranth and Sunflower pop up in your field, that should not be a cause for alarm, but rather the system of symbiosis working as it should.

A field of one single crop is limited in how much it can produce, because one crop fits into a single niche in what should be a whole ecosystem, and worse, it requires artificial inputs to make up for what the rest of the plant community would normally provide. The field with twenty crops does not produce the same amount as the monoculture field divided in twenty ways, but instead produces much more while being a habitat for wild animals, because each plant has its own niche.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

what if the animorphs were in a world where the only animals that existed were shrimp?

Andalites would be prawns, AKA Dendrobranchiata. Those are the shrimp known for their giant muscular tails — which can be up to a foot long — and their ability to shapeshift when young. Plus, they're one of several shrimp species that has four eyes, two of which are on stalks.

Yeerks would be sea monkeys, those tiny brine shrimp sold as pets. They can survive for a while outside of their natural (aquatic) environment, they're considerably smaller than other shrimp species, they're able to live off sunlight alone, and they're capable of reproducing sexually or asexually.

Humans would be common brown shrimp. Like the name suggests: they're common. They're brown. They're full of microplastics. They're endemic on Earth. They're what comes to mind when most people think of shrimp.

Hork-bajir would be cherry shrimp. Neocaridina davidi are known as good aquarium pets because they tend to and eat seaweeds, known to be good for the health of the plants. They're also notably non-aggressive, tending to avoid fights whenever possible.

Taxxons would be Dikerogammarus villosus, or killer shrimp. The reason these guys got their (rude) name is not because they hunt a lot, but because they eat everything, and have destroyed entire ecosystems in areas where they're invasive. They eat other shrimp, each other's young, plants, algae... In waters where they lack their natural predators, they're eating machines.

Leerans would be mantis shrimp. All we really know for sure about mantis shrimp is that they're definitely communicating through means beyond human ken. There's something going on with extra color detection, but for all we know they really are psychic.

The Ellimist would be whatever the hell is going on with Shrimp Jesus. Incomprehensible, terrifying, more machine than human.

[carionto]

How to beat Deathworlders

I don't know what I want to write and it's a little frustrating. So, to fix that, I'm just gonna throw this at me - Giant Ant Planet

The first call to arms Humanity has declared. They mobilize with unseen speed and precision seven of their mightiest Dreadnoughts, hundreds of transports, and amass fifty thousand soldiers, fully armed and trained on the target.

They are headed to a world Humans scouted as having great potential for life to flourish. How correct they were.

In orbit above the planet Chromathium-2-4, the station Truncated Crescent Ellipses was tasked with conducting experiments to test the viability of Human-digestible flora and fauna living on Chromatoff (as the scientists began to call it for short).

When the fleet arrived, the final message from the station turned out to be true - it had crash landed on the surface. From the chaos of the recordings they received, there was a containment breach and the systems were under attack by some unknown electronic waves and incomprehensible code. A hostile act, but by who?

This was two weeks ago. Whoever it was, they would know the wrath of Humanity. Once we find your traces, there will be no hiding for long.

Preliminary scans show the station was dead and only local creatures and plants appeared, in greater density than elsewhere, but no matter. Just some animals.

The first unmanned craft landed and began exploring the wreckage. All of the digital systems were fried, not a hint of power remained anywhere. Attempts to manually power anything up proved fruitless - the data had been replaced with pure garbage code. Then, the drone vanished underground and went silent. Connection failure.

Orbital sights showed nothing, all frequencies were monitored and were free of unaccounted signals. The next group of drones descended and shortly after touchdown they too were seemingly devoured by the ground, all power and electronic signals cut.

A deep scan showed the same dense biological activity, but looking closer at the data it was like a carpet just below the actual surface layer. And for whatever reason the pulse couldn't penetrate below a few meters. Scanning areas further from the crash revealed a much more detailed and sparsely populated map going down the expected three kilometers.

For the third attempt they kept several drones above the landed ones at different altitudes. The moment the drones on the ground were vanished again, a sudden signal struck the ones floating up to seventy meters above and cut them off as well, but didn't seem to reach any beyond that. The visual was not as detailed as they'd like, but it was enough - the tips of large pincers and antennae and beady eyes. Ants.

The fleet maintained a perimeter around the entire system just in case, and spent half a day consulting professionals and former colleagues of the deceased scientists to get a better understanding of the current situation.

Two experiments the team had worked on before and supposedly continued when relocated to the new station stood out - metabolic acceleration, and unassisted neural interfacing via modified brain waves. Far from the wildest here, such as the self-relocating giant sequoia, but ones that offered a plausible explanation.

Ants serve a variety of critical functions in the maintenance of an ecosystem, so naturally they are a part of most late stage terraforming efforts.

Here, however, something went wrong and they evolved alongside technology at an intimate level. Perhaps deliberately made to do so.

They are spreading fast too. Twelve hours ago the "carpet" of underground ants was roughly two square kilometers. Now it was close to three and a half. In mere weeks they may spread across the entire continent, perhaps make it across (or below?) the seas somehow and ravenously consume all life on this planet before succumbing to extinction themselves.

This world is bountiful. Also, we're here already. Hmm...

Eh, may as well. Plenty of us have seen Starship Troopers and only joined to hopefully one day shoot at alien bugs. Guess these are more like home grown critters, but whatever.

With that brazen attitude (and a quick orbital bombardment) the troop ships landed, well, were forced to crash land the final few meters, but whatever electromagnetic warfare these ants were throwing our way didn't account for reinforced alloy armor and hand-held rail guns. Their sharp pincers, acid throwers, and thick carapaces did however.

Actually, fucking hell, they move real fast underground. Uhh...

This isn't looking so good in retrospect. Did they add cockroach DNA in these bastards too? Some of them literally don't care about losing their head, what the fuck!?

Okay, holy shit, abort mission! Good thing we still install regular ignition engines as an added redundancy to the military ships. Not very fast or efficient, but screw you, burn beneath the thrusters. BURN!

*deep breath*

Okay. So. We lost 831 soldiers, and 4625 are injured. And the ant casualties don't matter cuz they're ants. Super mutant ants. Who are going to take over the world if we don't nuke them. Which might not work anyway because HUMAN scientists made them.

Hoisted by our own petard or something.

Right, let's just chalk it up as a... military exercise gone wrong and quarantine the planet. Wait, make that the whole system.

...so this is what it must've felt like to lose the Emu War...

[in1-nutshell]

Tfa Team Prime spending Christmas with human buddy -familia-

Merry Christmas or whatever thing you're doing for the holidays!

Hope you enjoy!

Team Prime celebrating Christmas with Human Buddy

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Human reader

TFA

Buddy insisted on making sure the Bots had a good Christmas.

The Bots had been a bit hesitant in celebrating the holiday after what happened last year. They were a bit paranoid in most things associated with the day.

But thanks to a certain techno organic they relented.

"Please Prime?"--Buddy

"Don't give in Prime! You're stronger than this!"--Ratchet

"I'm sorry but I don't think so."--Optimus

"I didn't want to do this... Sari!"--Buddy

"Please Optimus? Please?"--Sari

"...Okay."--Optimus

"Yes! C'mon Buddy! I know where Dad keeps the lights!"--Sari

"Yeah!"--Buddy

"She pulled the optics on you didn't she?--Ratchet

"... I'm so weak..."--Optimus

Optimus is absolutely shredding the guitar on Trans Siberian orchestra songs. How did Optimus find a guitar his size and was able to learn all of these songs? He is not telling anyone... except Buddy. They supplied the young Prime with a secret stash of Rock and Metal Christmas themed songs.

"Wow Boss Boy where did you learn that!?"--Bumblebee

Flashback to Prime sneaking out with Buddy to practice his guitar in an old factory by the docks.

"Ummm... Natural talent?"--Optimus

Ratchet and Prowl are for the supervision and stories. They both need to supervise everyone at all times. Ratchet refuses to get into the oil nog despite Buddy assuring him that they have been keeping an eye on the drinks. If something does happen, Ratchet at least wants to remember what happened. Prowl has only a little. He later participates in a game of Twisters with Buddy.

Prowl getting ready to play Twisters with Buddy by doing hardcore stretches.

"... This... This was a horrible decision."--Buddy

Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Sari are singing and playing all sorts of games. From an intense game of Twisters to Christmas themed games. Bee and Bulkhead try to get into the presents, but Buddy and Sari have to stop them.

"HOW COULD YOU?!"--Bulkhead

"I DID WHAT HAD TO BULK! YOU WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING!"--Bumblebee

"THAT'S IT! I'M TAKING BUDDY WITH ME!"--Bulkhead

"I'M TAKING SARI THEN! GETTING READY TO SEE ME IN COURT!"--Bumblebee

"Okay maybe we should put the Monopoly away now..."--Buddy

"You think?!"--Sari

The day ended with a giant sleepover near the tree watching the snow gently fall onto the window of the plant.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Bawigrat

This one is kind of odd in general, but also notable in that it's a mythical creature that has not, to my knowledge, made its way into modern pop culture, but is kind of on one of the upper levels of the metaphorical iceberg for people interested in Medieval Bestiary Trivia just because of its... rather memorable ability. So let's get into it.

If you don't know what this is about, you can check out https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting for an explanation and previous installments.

The art you are about to see is all based on this entry here:

And if you want to get in on this, the current entry up for interpretation is here:

(bit of a long one there)

And without further ado, art for this week is below the cut:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has given us a sort of bovine with recognizably skunk-like features. They note that they focused on giving it an appropriate pose (more details in the linked post), which I think they pulled off well -- I would absolutely believe that this creature is about to fire dung at the viewer.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) has a shaggier bovid here, with a notably calm expression. The peace of mind that comes from knowing you have a terrifying defense mechanism? Also we see that the emphasis here is on the fiery nature of their dung-based defense, as shown by the flames at the back there. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has done a bit of malicious compliance here. Yes, it has the head and size of a bull, the maned neck of a horse, sure, but otherwise this is clearly a giant bombardier beetle. You know what, that's fair. I like it. I also appreciate that it is, to quote Coolest-Capybara, "seen here incinerating some Stylized Plants." (And thank you for including alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) has a bull/horse hybrid thing for us, but notes particularly the distended belly, saying that they figure that whatever kind of internal chemistry is going on here might have externally-visible effects. They also question the "acres" thing, as it seems to imply "a creature which can basically do sniper-range attacks with its poop".

I am thrilled to tell you that it's even worse than that. The phrasing of this entry aside, an acre is technically not a measure of distance, but of area. And this isn't a modern contrivance, it's always been area: the definition of "acre" that our medieval writers would be familiar with is "the amount of land that a man can expect to plow in a single day with the help of oxen". Three acres is, according to a quick conversion on Google, 130,680 square feet / 12,140.6 square meters). So it's not a sniper-like attack, it's blanketing an entire city block (or most of one, depending on your city) in burning fumes & poop.

Implications for the fertilizer industry are, I assume, still under investigation.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) apparently decided to roll with the "three acres" thing and has drawn their Bawigrat... um.. burninating the countryside. Which is very funny to me, as a person of a certain age who grew up on the Internet, but the rest of y'all will have to Google it. Reasons for domesticating the Bawigrat may expand from agricultural to military, though that does seem like a dangerous proposition. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) also decided to go with a bombardier beetle, as the animal with the most similar defense mechanism in real life. (This one is also giant; note the banana for scale.) They've made it more unambiguously insectoid, as the "horns" are clearly antennae and the "mane" is a sort of ridged plate. I really like the stylization here and the inclusion of the alchemical symbol. For more information, and a video that shows off the glittery ink used here, check the linked post. (Also thank you for including alt text.)

On to the Aberdeen Bestiary:

Yep, that beast is sure farting fire onto some knights. If you look for other medieval images of it, this is a pretty common way to show its defense mechanism. I think my favorite is this one:

(Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 3630, folio 78r)

Tell me that doesn't look exactly like the face a creature with weaponized flatulence would make.

Anyway, this is the bonnacon.

As mentioned previously, this is a mythical beast that for obvious reasons failed to really catch on in modern pop culture, but remains a favorite in Bestiary Trivia -- any Internet listicle about obscure mythical creatures is almost certain to mention the bonnacon.

Beyond that, I really don't have much to add other than reiterating that I think it would be pretty funny to include attempts to domesticate the bonnacon in your fantasy worldbuilding.

[skyeblue8]

Ⳑσσƙട ɬιƙҽ 𝜏ԋҽ Լᥙട𝜏 Ꭱιɳց ιട ᥙρ ɳҽχ𝜏 ~ 💋💖

–> So this was honestly a bit tricky at first as, originally, and as much as I criticize her other works within Helluva Boss, I thought Vivzie's overall portrayal of the Lust Ring was pretty on point as it exhibited an environment similar to what I would expect to see in a Red Light District. Then I started the think more about practicality, other-worldly originality, and the fact we only really see Lust at night and have no idea what it's like in the day, so, in the end, this is what I've got...

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Lust's Environment:

♥︎♡ Now, while the whole neon light/Red Light District aesthetic Viv was going for is all well and good, I think that it's also both impractical and kinda boring as A) There's no way the lights would look good in the daytime (especially considering we only see Lust at night) and B) It's kinda boring considering we see this exact thing within the Pride Ring.

♡♥︎ On top of that, I'm not a fan of the whole blue/dark blue thing for the ring, or for Asmodeus in general.

♡♥︎ I mean, yeah, it looks good within the club, but outside of it, it just doesn't suit the lustful prince at all or his citizens as they don't coincide with each other at all.

♥︎♡ Because of this, I wanted to distinguish the ring and it's environment from other places in Hell, so I headcanon that Lust's hues would be pink, hot pink, fuschia, light purple, a hint of red, and white (day) and black (night). Overall, the environment would have a dual nature to it depending on day or night, which I'll explain more in a little bit. The color pallete and general environmental feel of Lust would be similar to that of Spring Broken's.

♥︎♡ Moreover, similar to the canon Sloth Ring, the whole ring would have a wistful cloudy environment, kinda like non-stop aphrodisiacs pumping into the atmosphere, combined with lovecore vibe that frequently toes the line between cutesy and outright raunchy.

♡♥︎ Of course, the whole place will have a general heart motif in skies, the buildings, most of the flora and fauna, the fashion, and especially the people. Because of this, I think Lust would, ironically, give off a sort of faux innocence/Heaven-like vibe as it looks wholesome at first glance but is, in fact, anything but.

♥︎♡ This, of course, brings me to the duality vibe I mentioned earlier. During the daytime, the Lust Ring is arguably a more tame in its hypersexual themes (though admittedly not by much) as, while it's still openly lewd, it's more casual and common since it is the norm for those living there. Also because of the fact that, despite it being Hell, people still have shit to do and can't always spend their time focusing on sex acts (on less, of course, it's their job).

♥︎♡ Also, At night, though, this is where the Red Lights District aspect comes into play. The light pink aphrodisiac environment becomes more bold and vibrant, transforming into hues of hot pink and red that just tempt you and lure you in. The suggestive neon signs begin to shine bright and, overall, everyone is a lot more insatiablly freaky.

♡♥︎ In terms of any thematic layouts in the buildings and the properties themselves, I headcanon that any residential building will likely just be heart-shaped while actual businesses, food centers, whatever, will be some sort of sex-based shape, probably phallic more often than not, if we're being honest here.

♥︎♡ In short, I like to think of the ring as one big 'ol giant sex pun reminiscent of those frequently seen in Panty & Stocking (hense the people's behaviors). Hell, even the most mundane things like restrooms, coffee shops, and even plants will relate to something sexual in some way, because there, that's just normal. 🤷🏾‍♀️

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Lust's Residents:

• Hellborns: Succubi, Incubi, and Satyrs (Ancient Greek Horndogs)

–> Indentification: Vibrant skin tones (Hot Pink, Fuschia, Pinkish-red all w/ Black highlights); Frequent heart-shaped markings on wings, horns, and bodies; heart-shaped tails, Lust-related abilities [See Abilities]

• Sinners: Any one else who doesn't look like the aforementioned Hellborns, but have a similar heart motif w/ lighter skin tone & white pattern

• (Hellborn) Abilites: Aphrodisiacs, Life-draining of others through sexual acts, shape-shifting, etc.

♡♥︎ Caste System: There is none. Well, no definitive caste system, anyway, though the people here do generally frown upon those who value commitment and romantic relationships as they see it as a waste of time and a boring inconvenience.

♥︎♡ Outside of the Lust Ring, while not as low as an imp or shark, the natives don't really get a lot of respect from others, especially from sinners due to being "easy sluts" in their eyes. Unless they have a substantial amount of wealth, are entertainers (i.e. Verosika), or are connected with royals or overlords in some personal way via concubine, business association, friendship, relationship (rare), then the status quo often won't change.

♡♥︎ Lifestyle: Since sex is easily the norme here, it's incorporated in everything from clothes, to food, to even the people's language in casual innuendos, so much so that they don't even realize it they're doing it nor do they care. The same can be said for hellborn children too, though (thankfully) they're far too young to understand it as "sexual" so much as "normal". The understanding steadily becomes more apparent the older they get, but they're not strongly affected by this.

♥︎♡ Also, going back to the "life-force draining ability", draining a soul via succubus sex, is one of the (many) ways sinners can physically wither away in Hell, toeing the horrific line between afterlife and true death. They become a literal blackened husk of their former souls, unable to feel the sweet release of death, exterminated or otherwise, and unable to quit their vices until then.

♡♥︎ Hellborn demons have more of a resilience to the "Sexy Soul-Sucking" method, as we'll call it, but if they go too hard they, unlike a sinner, will eventually succumb to a semi-quick death. The natives here generally go for Sinners when hungry, though, as they have sinful souls that are long-lasting and, thus, have more to offer.

♥︎♡ Now, you'd think that would ease some of the tension off the overpopulation issue if not for the fact that those who feed often tend to get pregnant immediately after, and healthcare in Hell is both near impossible and (as you'll see in the future) dangerous.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

《This procreation is possible in the event that a hellborn possesses a womb for the sinner's essence to procreate, but not the other way around, btw.》☝️🤓

•°○°•

Cast your votes, please! 😊

[aelfheimerandrobots]

Sims au: Old Helex, Castle Heights, Old Dreadnaught Castle| Overlord

Brought to you by popular demand we are now featuring a tour of the infamous, Dreadnaught Castle! This castle has gone by many names over the centuries and certainly has a reputation of a sort but it's current owner has certainly done quite a deal to turn this crumbling old fortress into a magnificent mansion! Now this tour may take us awhile ( a reblog or two) due to its sheer size, but don't let that deter you! This masterpiece is worth the long walk! Should you survive ....

Rather than a street view look we'll start this tour with an aerial shot of this sprawling estate. From it's magnificent front towers to it's beautiful gardens and lovely private pool this mansion features of plenty modern touches to bring the crumbling relic up to our contemporary standards. With solar panels galore, on-site farming, rain capture water heaters, and natural springs this space does it's best to erase whatever carbon footprint it might take to keep this place up and running. And the incredibly manicured gardens surely- wait...do those trees look...phallic to anyone else?

*ahem* Yes, well, phalic nature of the tree-lined exterior approach aside, the gardens are excellently maintained and offer lovely moments of picturesque splendor in this quaint countryside. And what a front walk this makes for! With a romantic fountain, iron lampposts, and an expansive patio with elegant architecture this space certainly holds to higher standard of elegance and atmosphere.

Continuing our tour of the grounds, we'll be starting with the southern garden path. This lovely pathway beckons us in with a fantastical archway and leads down an ancient but lovingly restored path to the Castle's growing fields. While not terribly expansive this section of the grounds do offer horribly fertile ground to grow grapes for the ground's famous in-house wine. I'm told that most of the manor's food needs can also be supplemented from these fields and offer a lovely tableau for the grilling and picnicking area adjacent to the fields. This outdoor rest area looks out perfectly over the estate's expansive pond, which we will happily explore next!

This large pond can be easily accessed via the posterior entrance to the estate grounds as well as from the Castle directly. The Castle entrance here leads from the ground-floor laundry and storage area directly onto this waterway and it's lovely collection of flora and fauna. With romantic archways and grottoes reserved for enjoying the beauty of nature one can hardly blame Overlord, the current owner, from doing his best to stock the pond with local wildlife. Why there's a lovely pair of swans who- Is that an Alligator? No not the log, the thing next to the log. I saw it move! I did! Right there! I- ugh... okay fine. Let's move on to finish the tour of the grounds.

This long back walk opens toward the road leading to the estate and back out to the road, allowing access to staff and guests alike from the rear should they not wish to traverse the long drive to the front entrance of the estate. Though, I'm told it's bad manners to approach the estate in this manner. The walk is lined with lovely memorials to beloved pets who once walked these grounds and opens up to the west side of the grounds which feature a historical graveyard that has largely been overtaken by native plant growth, now cut back and cultivated to reveal more of the old facade. How odd though that some of those graves seem freshly dug. Also why is there a giant bonfire located near the gravesite? Hm. Yes well, moving on. The West end of the grounds also feature some ruins from the old castle which have been left intact for posterity but removed from the castle proper due to their crumbling nature and state of disrepair. And with the grounds wrapped up, let's head on inside for the rest of the tour!

We enter on the ground floor into the lovely foyer which features many of the estates modernized furniture while also highlighting the eras that have come before. Particularly the nineteen twenties which saw quite a bit of activity for the Castle! With lovely art deco revival pieces and stately vintage furniture to highlight updated facades and restored architecture, this foyer feels grand and welcoming. The water feature in particular is quite lovely and an amazing statement piece! Huh, that vase...is that really an urn? Hm. I'm sure I must just be mistaking it for a funeral urn, that's all. Shall we move on?

Heading into the hallway on the right we've entered into a stately passageway that features some lovely modern art pieces as well as a bit of industrial storage while still providing access to the safety measures included in the castle to protect the owner's vast investment into this home.

Heading into the door on the right and we've entered into the ground floor office space. This cozy den has plenty of charm and really highlights the use of industrial, art deco, and luxury inspired pieces to create a cohesive and good-looking environment. The office's private bathroom also features lovely tile work that manages to avoid feeling cramped thanks to the vaulted ceilings and large mirror. Just around the corner from the couch is the first set of stairs on the east end of the castle, which will eventually become the east tower. Ah and I see we've included a few antique taxidermy pieces. What a...lovely vulture skull. Oh and a preserved cow-plant! How...unsettling beautiful. Erm, let's just head on out shall we?

We'll head next into the door at the end of the hall which leads us into the ground-floor laundry which has access to both the exterior grounds as well as the pool deck and patio space! The laundry itself is serviceable and feels charming with much of the original stonework and infrastructure remaining intact. And with this room we'll go ahead and take a break before returning to our impressive tour!

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

Ok, yes, I know it’s been… A WHILE. BUT I HAVE RETURNED!!! AND WITH INPUT!!!!

I first wanna start off with Chip and Knuckles’s dynamic in the recent pages, because there’s obviously something there that others may miss.

Knuckles is the Guardian of the Master Emerald, we all know it, been there done that. And Chip is a LITERAL GOD. And yes, Light Gaia is separate from Chaos and the Master Emerald, but the two are still connected. Light Gaia seems to feed off of the energy from the Chaos Emeralds like plant feed, treating it like a form of much needed sustenance. Dark Gaia is the same, but it feeds off the anti energy instead, or I suppose the lack of natural Chaos energy. And while Light Gaia is a calm, childish, optimistic being with a form of his own, Dark Gaia is brash, angry, and wild. This means the two have different reactions to their food source being taken away.

See, when Eggman zapped all the energy from the Chaos Emeralds at the beginning of the game/comic, it reverted Sonic’s Super form to his Werehog form because of the lack of energy. And since there was suddenly more food for Dark Gaia to snack on, he was awakened prematurely. Think of a child sneaking into the kitchen to steal a few cookies. In contrast, when Chip’s Chaos energy was zapped away and when he was awakened, all he did was find temporary replacements like fair foods and giant ice cream cones. But when Sonic and co. started bringing the Emeralds back to normal, Dark Gaia got angrier and angrier, causing the issue with Omega right now, while Chip got more and more answers to who he is and what he truly wants in life.

Knuckles is the only one who understand’s Chip’s dilemma here. He is a young Guardian whose only goal in life is to, like I said, guard the Master Emerald. And while he knows what he has to do in life and what his purpose is, he’s not satisfied. He longs for something more, a family, a home, a life. Him and Chip are kind of similar in this sense, as they both desire more than just vague visions of their past or where they came from.

So, since the two aren’t directly connected, they are still connected. So when the temple begins doing whatever temples do, they both feel the same thing. Knuckles feels Dark Gaia’s anger, and Chip feels Dark Gaia’s influence grow stronger. It’s also why poor little Tails is left out of the loop haha~

To summarize: My take on the relationship between Chaos Energy and Gaia Energy is as follows: Dark Gaia and Light Gaia feed on the different energies from the Chaos Emeralds, (Dark feeds on anti/negative energy and Light feeds on the positive energy when the Emeralds glow) so when Eggman disrupted their eternal snacks they were awakened and started causing problems. Due to this indirect connection, Knuckles and Chip understand each other much more than they realize.

Next I wanna talk about Omega’s situation here because it’s actually really interesting!

So as we all know, Omega is a robot, an artificial intelligence, created by Eggman. And also as we all know, Omega hates Eggman’s guts! And I mean he H A T E S Eggman! So much so that it’s the default emotion for him. Naturally, when interacting with any Dark Gaia creature, this hate gets amplified so much that it corrupts him. But that doesn’t make sense, does it? Omega is a robot, not a living being! His emotions are all fake, he doesn’t know what real hatred is!

…

If that’s the case then how did he even escape Eggman’s control in the first place?

Well to be fair, he is still a robot and it is true that robots typically don’t feel any “Real” emotions. However, in fiction it is possible to program a conscience or a simulation within the core programming that imitates emotion. This allows Omega to feel just like any other person, also allowing him to escape Eggman’s grasp due to feeling inferior and under appreciated. And if my theory on Dark Gaia is correct, then this all makes perfect sense!

I theorized that Dark Gaia’s just throwing a tantrum because Sonic and his friends are taking away his midnight snack, and I used a kid taking a cookie as an analogy. Well, just like that little kid, Gaia is desperate for any little crumb, nugget, or particle of food, no matter what it is, because he’s angy. Dark Gaia is desperate for literally anything at this point, so he’s ramping up the amount of monsters and negativity in the world just to get what he wants. Simulated or faked emotions are no real difference to him in this enraged state, so to him, Omega is just another random idiot for him to suck dry. After all, if Omega’s able to fool even Rouge and Shadow with his simulated emotions, then Dark Gaia doesn’t really care.

Another summary: Dark Gaia is pissy and hungry, so he doesn’t really care if one’s anger is simulated or not. He still likes the taste of Omega’s fury, so he is able to corrupt the robot despite the guy being, well, a robot!

AND NOW FOR GUN YES I CAN FINALLY HATE ON THE GOVERNMENT LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Wait-

Oh shoot this is already reaaaaaaallllyyyyyyyy really long! Uh. You know what? I’ll make a separate ask at some point later on talking about G.U.N. and what their whole deal is in this situation. This whole ask was mostly about gods and emotions anyway, so it would be quite the whiplash to go from that to government stuff. So with that said, thank you so much for reading this very… V E R Y long ask! I hope it was enjoyable despite its length. Great way to come back from a 5-month disappearance…! Haha… We have fun here.

Thanks for making this comic at all btw, it really shows your talent and growth as an artist and it’s in general just fun to read. There are so many little details and plot points that I could go on and on about but again, I’ll save it for later. Byeeeeeeee!!

very good points regarding knux n chip! I rly wanted to give them this connection that only they could have, which is one of those big missed opportunities from the game by cutting knuc from the story.

Nd super interesting take on the gaia/chaos energy duality 👀 cant wait to shine my own light on that in the future!

[stellanix]

queerness and space

i always felt like this planet's gravity is too much for me

partly in the literal sense - it's not nearly bouncy enough for me - but also in the sense that i feel a vast inescapable pull tethering me to a place where i don't belong

when i was a kid, i looked up at the daytime sky and felt like i was at the bottom of the ocean, crushed by the pressure and wanting so desperately to swim up to somewhere i could breathe

i've also always been interested in space - it wasn't long after i'd begun talking that i could recite the names of the planets in order. but lately i've been realizing that it goes beyond an interest, or even a passion. space is part of my identity, a part that's always been there. when nobody else was there for me, not my family, not friends, not teachers, when i didn't know who i was and felt like an empty shell repeating a daily routine, the stars and planets were there. space was the one thread that's stayed with me all my life and that has never ceased to bring me joy

consider also that space is a place where norms that we take for granted get twisted and turned upside down. there is no up or down in the weightlessness of orbit, the basics of motion need to be re-learned. one world might have no clouds, no sky, while another is all clouds and sky with no ground. planets can be hot enough to melt lead, or just a smidge above absolute zero, or be made of ice, or have lava seas or clouds of glass or lakes of natural gas. suns can be red or blue or angry and active or giant and boiling. there's no sound - unless you count inaudible electric plasma waves. gravity can be hardly anything, or it can crush you into a pancake

and that's just the "normal" stuff! there's also dying suns and neutron stars and black holes and quasars and the big bang and inflation and all these things so far removed from everything we know

space defies labels, or understanding, or any conception of normalcy. the universe is queer. that's perhaps why i've felt more kinship with it than with anything on this planet, where people are so concerned with things being "normal", and changing or destroying whatever they think isn't

that's not to say i don't care about earth. i love lakes and rivers and plants and birds and beaches and, yes, even clouds sometimes! i'm an environmental scientist, and tending to my own little parcels of earth in my work has been really rewarding. and, of course, earth is in space too. but sadly colonial and extractive forces have forced true freedom for beings both human and more than-human to a marginal existence

but none of that exists in space! i can imagine that i'm the small, fluffy, cute, whimsical, bouncy foxgirl i am in my heart, playing on distant moons and basking in the light of other suns. you might say "that's not real, that's impossible," but i am most myself when i yearn for the joys of the wider universe. that yearning helps me get through these days i spend stranded on earth, it brings me life. and i love earth, but space is where i belong, heart and soul

[katyspersonal]

Speaking of the potential titular goddess of moon and water that might have paralleled Fell God (fire and sun, because of how Hornsent pictured his face as a heraldic sun and the fireball form of his fire in it's more "real" state)

1) It is very interesting how the Moons that Carians discover sorta.. foreshadow their fates? Ranni's Dark Moon hints at her obstructing the golden light of Grace in her ending. Rellana's Twin Moon hints at her eventually representing two powers standing together, not unlike how astrologers and fire giants (so, sorcery and fire) were neighbors once! Rennala's Full Moon hints at her marrying into Golden Order; a moon's shine is AKTYALY reflection of sunlight, and Erdtree is associated with the sunlight too... Dark Moon of Nox seems to have been the most prominent, and I believe it was discovered and claimed not by one person or two, but by a cult, granting it so much power!

So I am thinking, maybe the Moon deity sort of "killed" herself to grant people this ability to discover the power through her lingering presence, and forge their own Moon? Alternatively, someone or something killed her! Maybe it was the Founding Rain of Stars! But in either case, that power still exists by her will for those who seek it!

2) To think of it, Fell God being evil is a bit odd because fire is not only destruction, but also warmth, light and healing! A forge also primarily exists for creation, and smithing was a sacred art at the times of the giants! Fire of Ruin exists as something capable of burning the Erdtree, but without the sun, not a single plant would've grown to begin with!

So like maybe there has been imbalance! Moon either kept him in check naturally, or he was upset because of her disappearance and it broke something in him! If she sacrificed herself as her own way to let people go against GO/Fingers/whatever, he on the other hand might have considered dumb mortals not worthy of it and hated them since they've "cost" her but over many years too little of them shown the capacity to use that sacrifice for anything worthy! They say 'jealous moon' but he was jealous in the end, sort of XD In either case, natural balance has been broken, to better or worse. No power of nature should be inherently malicious, but it might happen if something is missing or left unchecked!

3) That'd ironically make him quite similar to how Marika is at the end; someone left without the power to counter-balance them thus giving them space for corruption, having so much power of "life" that in the end all this light becomes power of wars and ruin. WE ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT YOU AND I FDHRJFJFUGJHKH . Fuckin theme of cycles and parallels in these settings.

[headspace-hotel]

Chemically sterilized...or mechanically sterilized?

It is clear that applying chemicals to your yard and landscape, be it fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides, has devastating effects to the community of life that is present in every place.

But is the terrifying decline in insects explainable by chemicals alone?

When i am in mowed environments, even those that I know have no lawn chemicals, they are almost entirely empty of life. There are a few bees and other insects on the dandelions, but not many, and the only birds I see are American robins, Grackles, and European starlings.

Even without any weed killers at all, regular mowing of a lawn type area eliminates all but a few specially adapted weeds.

The plants of a lawn where I live include: Mouse ear chickweed, Birds-eye Speedwell, Common blue violet, Dandelion, Wild Garlic, Creeping charlie, White Clover, Black Medick, Broad-leaved plantain, Mock Strawberry, Crabgrass, Small-flowered Buttercup, Ribwort Plantain, Daisy Fleabane, a few common sedges, Red Deadnettle...That sounds like a lot of plants, but the problem is, almost all of them are non-native species (Only Violets, Daisy Fleabane, and the sedges are native!) and it's. The Same. Species. Everywhere. In. Every. Place.

How come...? Because mowed turf is a really specific environment that is really specifically beneficial to a number of almost entirely European plants, and presents stressors that most plants (including almost all native north american plants) simply can't cope with.

The plants mentioned above are just the flowering weeds. The grasses themselves, the dominant component of the lawn, are essentially 100% invasive in North America, many of them virulently and destructively invasive.

Can you believe that Kentucky bluegrass isn't even native to Kentucky? Nope, it's European! The rich pasture of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky was predominantly a mix of clover, other legumes, and bamboo. The clovers—Kentucky clover, Running buffalo clover, and buffalo clover—are highly endangered now (hell, kentucky clover wasn't even DISCOVERED until 2013) and the bamboo—Giant rivercane, Arundinaria gigantea—has declined in its extent by 98%. Do European white and red clovers fulfill the niches that native clovers once did? Dunno, probably not entirely.

One of the biggest troubles with "going native" is that North America legitimately does not have native grass species that really fill the niche of lawn. Most small, underfoot grassy plants are sedges and they are made for shady environments, and they form tufts and fancy sprays, not creeping turf. Then there's prairie grasses which are 10 feet tall.

What this means, though, is that lawns don't even remotely resemble environments that our insects and birds evolved for. Forget invasive species, lawns are an invasive BIOME.

It's a terrible thing, then, that this is just what we do to whatever random land we don't cover in concrete: back yards, road margins, land outside of churches and businesses, spaces at the edges of fields, verges at bypasses and gas stations...

Mowing, in the north american biomes, selects for invasive species and promotes them while eliminating native species. There's no nice way to put it. The species that thrive under this treatment are invasive.

And unfortunately mowing is basically the only well-known and popular tool even for managing meadow and prairie type "natural" environments. If you want to prevent it from succeeding to forest, just mow it every couple of years.

This has awful results, because invasive species like Festuca arundinacea (a plant invented by actual Satan) love it and are promoted, and the native species are harmed.

Festuca arundinacea, aka Tall Fescue, btw is the main grass that you'll find in cheap seed mixes in Kentucky, but it's a horrific invasive species that chokes everything and keeps killing my native meadow plants. It has leaves like razor blades (it's cut me so deeply that it scarred) and has an endosymbiont in it that makes horses that eat it miscarry their foals.

And this stuff is ALL OVER the "prairie" areas where I work, like it's the most dominant plant by far, because it thrives on being mowed while the poor milkweeds, Rattlesnake Master and big bluestems slowly decline and suffer.

It's wild how hard it is to explain that mowing is a very specific type of stressor that many plants will respond very very negatively to. North American plants did not evolve under pressures that involved being squished, crushed, snipped to 8 inches tall uniformly and covered in a suffocating blanket of shredded plant matter. That is actually extremely bad for many of the prairie plants that are vital keystone species. Furthermore it does not control invasive species but rather promotes them.

Native insects need native plant cover. Many of them co-evolved intimately with particular host plants. Many others evolved to eat those guys. And Lord don't get me started on leaf removal, AKA the greatest folly of all humankind.

So wherever there is a mowed environment, regardless of the use of chemicals or not, the bugs don't have the structural or physical habitat characteristics they evolved for and they don't have the plant species they evolved to be dependent on.

Now let's think about three-dimensional space.

This post was inspired when I saw several red winged blackbirds in the unmowed part of a field perching on old stems of Ironweed and goldenrod. The red-winged blackbirds congregated in the unmowed part of the field, but the mowed part was empty. The space in a habitat is not just the area of the land viewed from above as though on a map. Imagine a forest, think of all the squirrels and birds nesting and sitting on branches and mosses and lichens covering the trunks and logs. The trees extend the habitat space into 3 dimensions.

Any type of plant cover is the same. A meadow where the plants grow to 3 feet tall, compared with a lawn of 6 inches tall, not only increases the quality of the habitat, it really multiplies the total available space in the habitat, because there is such a great area of stems and leaves for bugs and birds to be on. A little dandelion might form a cute little corner store for bugs, A six foot tall goldenrod? That's a bug skyscraper! It fits way more bugs.

It's not just the plants themselves, it's the fallen leaves that get trapped underneath them—tall meadow plants seem to gather and hoard fallen leaves underneath. More tall plants is also more total biomass, which is the foundation of the whole food chain!

Now consider light and shade. Even a meadow of 3ft tall plants actually shades the ground. Mosses grow enthusiastically even forming thick mats where none at all could grow in the mowed portions. And consider also amphibians. They are very sensitive to UV light, so even a frog that lives in what you see as a more "open" environment, can be protected by some tall flowers and rushes but unable to survive in mowed back yard

[skullsnbruises]

If it's not too late, could you write about giant!ranboo encountering tiny! sbi+tubbo with some nom action and possible fear play? Also, I enjoy your artwork! ^-^

-🧁

Anxiously setting this down because it’s been so long since I got this request I am so sorry

[Ao3 Link]

Taglist: @poprockpanda @brick-a-doodle-do @local-squishmallow @dingbatnix @da3dm

Sleepwalker

(1199 words) [fearplay]

As the sun had set, and Michael was tucked into bed, and Tubbo was off spending time with the others on the server, Ranboo was left alone in their mansion with a certain sorrow in their chest. They were lonely and bored, but it was nighttime, and there was no need for any more activities to take up their day. Sleep would be a distraction from how they felt. Hopefully Tubbo would be back by the morning, and they could plan something like a picnic with their child.

Ranboo stood lonely over their king size bed, wishing for a moment that someone else was there, at least to talk to. They sighed and pushed the feeling down before climbing into bed, tucking themself in under the covers. They shuffled to their side and stared blankly at the wall, ender particles floating around dimly by their head. Slowly, they closed their eyes, drowning in late night thoughts until they dozed off.

When they woke, their brain was crowded with an uncomfortably familiar buzz, something speaking in a language that felt so natural, but so distant at the same time. They watched through their own eyes, as their body moved on its own. Standing up from the bed, kicking off the blankets, staring down at themself. Ranboo felt a dull panic, scared of this feeling but unable to do a thing about it. Something ached of deja vu, but between the amnesia the exact memory was lost.

Though, by the way Ranboo’s legs walked without them, they knew this had happened before. The particles that usually lazed about their head glowed brightly in neon hues of purple, blurring with speed as they circled and danced.

Oh yeah, enderwalking. Or whatever the server were calling Ranboo’s sleepwalk state.

Two toned hands met doorknob after doorknob, until they had left the mansion behind, out in the bitter cold of Snowchester. The country was frozen still as the snowstorm raged, sending icy flakes to battle against Ranboo’s ender particles. The body shivered, and Ranboo wished their sleepwalk state would have grabbed a coat before leaving, but alas. They were useless as they watched, body leaving fresh paw prints in their path, that would only soon be covered with more powdery white, judging by the swirling haze of snow.

‘Where were they going?’ Ranboo questioned as they took an unfamiliar path. The body stepped past into the garden, fields of crisp dead sprouts. ‘Why do we even plant here?’

They were in a clearing now. Plenty of room as the unconscious body stopped dead still. Unmoving, the eyes darted to the side, assuming the space around them. Ranboo was quiet in the back of their mind, viewing the space outside them carefully. It was beautiful, white filling the sky around a masterpiece of the same. The ocean lulled out powerfully against the icy shoreline. Wave after wave crashed, a gorgeous pattern of sound that echoed in the otherwise silent space. Something about winter was gentle and peaceful, silence and serenity. Despite the death of it all, between the lack of wildlife and the sleep of greenery, it was kind. Nature recharging for another year, where life would be brought back once again, a cycle of rebirth and death.

Maybe Ranboo was just tired to think so, though.

The world around them shook all of the sudden, and Ranboo felt anxious, unable to grab something to ground or hold still. Their heart thumped in their ears as they watched the landscape shrink around them. Everything became impossibly small, the frozen dead crops turning into tiny blips in their vision, and the mansion seeming like a dollhouse in scale.

They realized then, with a shocked horror, that the world didn’t shrink. Ranboo had grown. They were now a giant, towering over the infinite space of the server, scale stretched taller than the trees. ‘What is going on??’ They begged to nobody. Ranboo was aware they had powers, but this was unprecedented. They could do small things, like pick up grass blocks, not grow into a giant!

Suddenly, an insatiable appetite wracked through Ranboo’s body, his stomach growling to emphasize its point. His mind raced, demanding to meet his friends. The implications scared him, but they weren’t able to control the urge. They pulled out their communicator, and promptly asked for Tubbo’s coordinates. He returned them, and said he was hanging out with Wilbur, Tommy, Phil, and Techno. Ranboo purred deeply at the thought of more friends.

He quickly made his way over to the location, traveling so much easier with his newfound height, taking long strides over trees and otherwise annoying obstacles. They were making their way along with ease now.

It was only a few moments before Ranboo spotted the group, chatting happily with one another on the prime path. The first person to spot the looming ender hybrid was Tommy, who shouted out a yelp, pointing shakily to the sky. The others turned around and eyes widened. Tubbo faltered, Wilbur’s mouth was left agape, Phil and Techno reached instinctively for weapons, and Tommy was shouting incoherently.

Ranboo couldn’t care, his thoughts chirped away at wishing for his friends and husband. They crouched, movement slow. He cooed at the terrified group.

“Ranboo?!” Tubbo panted out in fear.

That was the last chance he had to speak before Ranboo’s hands came around his husband, and lifted him into the air effortlessly. He dangled his husband above him, opening his mouth with a swipe of his tongue. Tubbo screamed helplessly, before being dropped directly into Ranboo’s mouth. He felt him struggling and fighting against the squishy insides. Ranboo swallowed his husband down with a soft burp.

The others stared like deer in headlights. Too terrified to look away. Phil started to slowly back up, and Ranboo noticed immediately. He grinned and chuckled under his breath, causing tears to form in Tommy’s eyes. Then, their claws came back around, squishing the four into his palms. They laughed maniacally, almost enjoying the sense of fear he was inflicting onto them, the poor things didn’t realize they’d be okay.

His instincts had completely taken them over at this point, as the handful of friends was shoved into his mouth. They swished the bodies around from cheek to cheek, tongue curling around playfully. They felt weak punches from, probably, Tommy. His tongue came around something pointed, weapons. Using the prehensile appendage, he swiped the swords away from the two, and spat them out, the metal clanging against the path.

Then, a simple few swallows led the four down into his stomach. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over the enderman, and they rubbed at their mismatched eyes.

He made his way casually back to the mansion, watching scenically as the land transitioned from grass, to sea, to snow. When their presence was introduced back into Snowchester, they realized they were too giant to go back into the mansion. Upon this mild annoyance, he laid down among the snow, the coldness like a shivering blanket. They wrapped around themself, curling into a comfy little ball, tail curled over his legs.

The struggle inside his stomach amused him, as they dozed off to sleep.

[sadlynotthevoid]

Once, I had a dream where Og!Cale had been travelling back and forth between Rain City and Little Garden. Then he had to stay on his natal world for a few years, no world hopping for a while, only to come back at Azi Dahaka trying to squash his Kuro-noona's new friend.

He was pissed off.

Just to be clear, he didn't come back alone at that time. His previous travels had been just him teleporting from his room to Little Garden, and then back again, without anyone noticing. This one, however, was not his doing. Mostly.

It's just that he got bored easily and Little Garden's games were fun. It's just that he has always been good at riddles, so beginning with games based on intelligence and deduction skills was the logic thing to do. It was that he got luck and won useful gifts. And it was that winning other kind of games becomes easier the more gifts you have. And, maybe, it was that he didn't realize exactly how well-known was himself between the people there.

Okay, so maybe not having to act the same trash role as always has taken quite a big weight of his shoulders. He felt so free that he forgot to pay attention to his reputation. Running here and there, doing whatever he wants.

(Now that was a luxury he would never indulge in his homeland. Cale could buy almost anything in Rain City, but being himself was not one of them. That was the choice he made, because the price would had been too high.)

Then, one of the residents of Little Garden had heard about him and decided to challenge him. Cale had been at the Henituse County at that time, pondering the pros and cons of healing himself. The child and the foreign god had surprised him a bit, but it was a pleasant surprise. It has been a while since he had been challenged by a kid like this.

The god, some guy that got dragged as the responsible adult— a plant-based deity, if he had to guess—, is designated as the impartial third part. They're not in Little Garden right now, so an extra pair of eyes to act as a judge is necessary. And he won't lie. "Even if I wanted, I wouldn't be able to, since I'm currently under punishment from a previous game", is what he says.

The kid— a redhead with reptilian pupils (was she a dragon?)— also offers a nice deal. Most likely because she doesn't owns a Host Master Authority, she prepared a tempting price for him: salvation from an uncoming danger.

The [salvation] she means is, in simple terms, a massive transmigration to Little Garden. Of course, it doesn't apply just to him, but to anyone of his world according Cale's conditions. (If his conditions include almost everyone who isn't responsible of the threat, and maybe some more that are, that's between him and his guests). Is not Cale's ideal method to keep his family safe, but is the avaible one. Which is good enough for him.

The punishment for Cale if he loses would be just his strongest gift. A bargain, if he says so.

Sure, he likes that gift, is one of his favorites, even. But its worth is not remotely close to his family's lives. Besides, she's not asking his whole deck of cards. 'She would have to wait too much to play with him again if he did so', is what the kid said.

Naturally, Cale accepted.

He also won, but because they were too into the game, they ended up landing on the capital. Inside giant bubbles and with blindfolds covering their eyes. And just in the middle of the Plaza. He's going to have to explain a thing or two to his family, isn't him?

It was good then, that Little Garden wasn't ruled by a noble society.— Noble what? We have demon lords and host masters. Even deities don't get a pass.— Because there's no way his trash persona survives the inquire.

Anyway, the kid kept her word and fulfilled her part of the deal right there. In a matter of seconds, the stone floor under them became grass and their surround changed.

"Space control, my element", she cleared out. Definitely a dragon, then. And one of his world, it seems.

She looked so proud that Cale didn't have the heart to tell her she has just let out two big hints about herself. She's still young, isn't her?

But it was an impressive power. The thousands of people (and maybe even more) hadn't have time to panic before being teleported to a completely different world. Although it seemed like there were some people already grasping into the situation.

However, before they could start asking questions, a little black blurr flew right into the red haired girl.

"Noona! That old white lizard is back! The Rabbit-noona and her friends are fighting him!"

...What.

"Kuro-noona!"

The red dragon stayed still, blinking at the space where his new friend had been just a moment ago.

"Wow, Noona, that red human is really fast!"

Yes, he is. After all, a great dragon like her had almost not being able to see him leave.

Bonus

Bassen, after he met with most of his family: Where is hyung-nim?

Violan: I think I saw him over the front.

Lily: *sees a bright red blurr* He left!

Deruth: What?!

Lily, wide eyed: *raises her voice* That he left!

Bassen, still looking right and left for him: when?

Lily: Just now! He was like "fwoshh". Like a lightning :D

Bonus II

Izayoi: *about to be impaled by a bastard*

Azi Dahaka, the bastard: *about to open a new hole through this brat*

Cale, falling from the sky in pure rage: —your ugly-ass paws away from my friends, scaly-branded cerberus, discount hydra fucker!

Azi Dahaka: *freezes* what?

Izayoi: *snorts*

————

So, a few things more about this dream/AU:

•Cale's deck of cards is like it sounds: a deck of [gift] cards. Bro seriously did not intended to collect so many, but he was having fun.

•If you're wondering why or how can Cale travel to Little Garden and back to home, I think it was a present a sort of big deity gave to him. I have this vague memory of twelve-ish year old Cale sitting on a bed in a milky way-looking room, a giant pink lady standing besides him. She was really cheerful.

•When he is in Little Garden, he spends a lot of time at the No Name community. So much to the point he has his own room there. The only reason he hasn't joined the community is because he still wasn't a full-time resident of that world, an therefore he has some restrictions.

•Due to those restrictions, he can't use all his acquired gifts back outside what counts like Little Garden's world. Most of them get blocked or restrained when he goes back home. The ones who doesn't are the one who lets him jump between worlds, a healing gift and one that basically works like a library. The reason of this is to avoid a big disbalance in his and other worlds.

•Before this, Cale had been on a break from world hopping. He wanted to get officially out of the heir position before going back. With his 18 birthday coming soon, he had to do it soon before someone realizes that he's tecnically still the heir. (Then Choi Han happened). He hasn't seen his friends for almost a year.

•He usually gets into games/fights alone, but he's strong point are group fights where he can help them and use the battlefield like his own scenery.

•He had a gift even since before putting a step into Little Garden, but he wasn't aware. Is not something useful for most games, specially not friendly ones. Deathly fights, however... Let's say he can touch souls, and pulling one out of its body, hence separating them, is not something you can survive. He either fails and his enemy lives, or he succeeds and his enemy dies. He only has used it to pull a soul all the way once before, and it was a possession. The owner of the body was already dead by then, sadly.

•One of his gifts can be used like a warrior legion. It looks like ghostly samurais: glowing, translucid japanese warriors with an ominous aura. He got it from a war deity. (In my dream, he used it to fight Azi Dahaka)

•The gift he used to get to Izayoi and Kuro Usagi so fast was actually an object. A magic hooverboard, basically. Though he is fast, just thought saving energy would be better.

•He and Jack-o-lantern are close buddies. They met when he was thirteen, still so young and naive, travelling around Little Garden for the best sweets. Jack managed to trick him and then teased him about it (not to be mean, he was just to easy to annoy and his face went red really fast, looking like a red panda). In reprisal, Cale kept showing up near him, eating pumpkin desserts for a whole month. Somehow, they grew found of each other in a uncle-nephew relationship. Cale calls him uncle Jack.

•After the fight with Azi Dahaka, Jin presented Cale to the newest members. He and Asuka have a weird rich-kids conversation that no one else understands where they only spoke one or two words per turn (they were comparing life experiences).

•Yo, in all of her cat learned manners, measured him, determined he was not going to harm them, and blinked twice to show approval. For everyone else it looked like she stared at him for a long minute before blinking again. For some reason, Cale feels like Hans would be found of her.

•Izayoi and him get along like a house on fire. Izayoi likes to cause chaos and Cale likes to watch the chaos. Instant friendship. Although Asuka is absolutely sure that Izayoi has a puppy crush on Cale. (Idk if he has, dream asuka was always like "I know what you're" to Izayoi. Most likely not going to happen tho. Cale sees anyone younger than him like "little sibling aged")

•Cale finally joins No Name and some people of his previous world decides to follow as well.

•Lily and Lily bounding.

•Not really important but quite funny: in my dream, because Cale kept running here and there, kicking ass and being a decent person, but forgetting to properly introduce himself, he got an embarrasing nickname. "The Crimson Knight", they say. Cale was so ashamed when he found out. It took years for him to get used to it. Lily was thrilled once she heard about it.

[lollytea]

any huntlow miraculous au ideas ??

Disclaimer: I have not watched miraculous in nearly four years. I do not know what is going on in that show anymore and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.

However the reason I did start watching it for a time was because I was intrigued by the concept. I liked this idea of different facets of your personality only on display depending on the identity you're presenting and how mixed up that can get when it's a romance between two people who know each other with and without the mask and how the relationships shift depending on that. It's very basic superhero trope stuff but idk it scratches the little part of my brain that's obsessed with psychology and messy convoluted character dynamics. So the idea of doing something like that with huntlow DOES sound cool. But I have no concrete ideas.

Me personally I don't like doing AUs with huntlow unless it keeps them in the Boiling Isles setting and it keeps their respective backgrounds as GG and half-a-witch Willow. So I'm not big on Human AUs. So I wouldn't think too much about a typical miraculous AU myself. I'll leave that to other people to have their fun with. I love the miraculous AU art they do 💕

But WHAT IF. WHAT IF WHAT IF

Okay okay okay. So what if we start off with the idea of Willow having a celebrity crush on the Golden Guard. Remember that AU? So lets say its pre-season 1. So Willow is still in the abomination track and is kinda a shrinking violet. So the Golden Guard happened to rescue her once and now she's all smitten over how cool and confident he is.

Anyway, Willow is forbidden from doing plant magic. However Willow loves to do plant magic. So her solution to this is to do plant magic in secret. One thing leads to another and now she sneaks out of the house every night and uses her magic to assist civilians in need. She's never really had a chance to let loose with her powers before. It makes her feel so cool and strong. Plus she really does empathize with how it feels to be vulnerable so she likes to help when she can. So she's developed a little bit of a superhero-ish alter ego.

The aesthetic of this is just making me go insane. Like the plant based superhero costume Willow would fashion for herself. It'd be so dorky and over-the-top. Im seeing shit like a poofy little dress, a skirt made out of giant flower petals, boots made of leaves, vines snaking all over her limbs. Fairycore vibes. I also really like the idea of using her magic to spread a cluster of tiny flowers around her eyes in the shape of a domino mask.

She calls herself "Force of Nature" (or "Force" for short.) And honestly, the name suits the person she becomes. When she's taking on this identity, Willow's full chaotic side comes out. She's got a big personality. She's ruthless, she's talkative, she's mischievous, she's everything that's always been bubbling under her surface. I wanna say she even takes a little inspiration from the trademark Golden Guard dazzle.

Now Hunter is the Golden Guard and he believes it's his duty to help and protect people of the Boiling Isles. However, he begins to notice that Belos is constantly preventing him from doing so. Hunter keeps getting sent on tedious tasks to collect ingredients for his uncle's experiments or deal with business matters or WHATEVER. There is a distinct lack of helping going on here. And everytime he tries to respectfully point it out, Belos insists that the work Hunter does is important. Admittedly, Hunter is beginning to get a little frustrated. He certainly doesn't want to believe that his uncle is wrong (His uncle is never wrong.) Buuuuut maybe his uncle just isn't seeing the big picture correctly. Maybe he just needs a little convincing.

So this is when Hunter commits himself to sneaking out of the castle at night and helping all the people that the Golden Guard was too busy to help. If he used his GG persona, word would get around and he'd be in trouble for disobeying. So Hunter opts to carry out these deeds unmasked. He might have a special outfit for the occasion but his full face is on display. Doing these things has nothing to do with building Hunter's confidence, it's just to do what's right.

He keeps a journal where he documents all the good he's done while carrying out this secret job and intends to hand it over to Belos once it's full so his uncle will finally understand. The mental gymnastics are insane here. Deep down, Hunter knows Belos would kill him if he ever found out and he's taking this secret to his grave. But the journal helps him feel less disobedient so we'll let him have this.

Anyway of course Willow and Hunter eventually cross paths and decide to work together for the greater good. A friendship is formed and it does not take long before Hunter falls head over heels for Force of Nature. And because he's so transparently himself with none of his Golden Guard swag, he's a shy blushy mess around her. It doesn't help that she's one of the only people besides Belos to call him by name.

(He didn't tell her his name at first. It only slipped out after he developed a crush and he found that he had a really hard time saying no to her.)

Meanwhile Willow is very fond of Hunter. However, I feel like she's kinda blocked herself off from entertaining the idea that she might have feelings for him because of her crush on the Golden Guard. It's a very idealized crush and she's built it up so much in her head that it subconsciously prevents her from even thinking about anyone else in a romantic light. But I think some feelings for Hunter might be sneaking up on her without her noticing.

Anyway Willow has hung around Bonesborough often enough that she knows the exact times the Golden Guard shows up for patrol. She slinks around the areas where he's known to meet with people and discuss business. She'll wander around town on weekends just for the off chance of spotting him. However, though she's brave enough to march right up and say hello, she really hasn't a clue how to talk to him like a normal person so all that comes out is word vomit. (Again, this is pre-season 1 Willow. A bit of a nervous wreck.) Anyway she's stopped to "talk" with him enough times that he remembers who she is now. So that's a start!

On Hunter's end, there's this one schoolgirl who he usually meets in town and she's a massive stroke to his ego. She's clearly starstruck with him and he's eating it up. He's constantly playing up the GG persona for her to the point that it's almost flirtatious. He doesn't really notice that he's doing this and doesn't understand that she might take that the wrong way. Hunter doesn't have any strong opinions about Willow Park. She's sweet, she's a little awkward and he humors her whenever they meet. But he doesn't really form a deep friendship with her for quite a while because it can be very difficult to make connections when you're playing a character.

Anyway. There's a basic premise for your consideration. Hijinks ensue and whatnot.

[randomthefox]

https://randomthefox.tumblr.com/post/760632883900760064/eggman-and-gerald-known-for-their-outlandish

"That’s why assertions like Pariah’s that he can’t consider SA2 to take place in the same setting as the classic games is so ridiculous"

I really dislike those types of claims. The classic games had normal cities in the backgrounds and it was no big deal.

People need to understand that Sonic's world is meant to be a blend of real-life possibilities AND bizarre nonsense. Mario does this all the time and no one bats an eye. Sonic fans just like to nitpick about every little thing.

The Sonic setting should have wacky places and normal places. The stories and characters are designed/written with that notion in mind.

Stuff like that is why I also hate when people say the Riders series makes no sense it supposedly just HAS to be an alternate timeline or something. This is the same setting that has magical casinos, nonsensical areas like music plant, and giant rings that send people to acid trip pocket dimensions. Is it really that crazy for the characters to go racing on hover boards in futuristic cities?

Sonic's world is fine as is. Sonic fans are just weirdly insistent on giving everything an explanation or justification when that type of thing isn't needed.

Yeah, exactly. It's always so weird and dumb when people try and make shit up like that. Saying that the Riders games must be an alternate timeline or non canon because of whatever stupid reason they've manufactured. Trying to argue that Sonic Adventure was somehow a reboot. Insisting that Sonic Generations makes the classic games noncanon. Ect. Whatever weird shit they invent in their imagination and then act like is irrefutably true. In cases such as those, I blame the wider media landscape we currently find ourselves in. The Halloween-ification of all franchise properties.

This kind of thing is unfortunately not uncommon. The X-Men movies. The Alien movies. All kinds of long running big franchises do this kind of thing, where they'll reboot and do twenty year later sequels that disregard everything but the first movie, and so on. A thirty year long video game franchise just having one single unbroken continuity that has been running continuously and seamlessly is practically unheard of. I understand the instinct of those who are a bit more surface level in their media consumption and who aren't all that invested in the Sonic franchise to assume that Sonic MUST have done something similar, at some point.

But no. Just play the games from start to finish in release order, and that's pretty much the chronology of the series. There's only two outliers that I would say are hard to place, Sonic Battle released on the same day as Sonic Heroes but by my appraisal it makes the most sense to say it takes place after Shadow the Hedgehog. And Sonic 06 has a few peculiarities with its plot such as Blazes involvement that seem to cause a bit of friction with other established elements of the series. But you can still play them in the order of their release and it'll still make sense.

It all goes back to that "Sonic is/has always been inconsistent" thing people say. Which Pariah has now started saying. And which he had honestly been building up to ever since his Shadow the Hedgehog video, where he said this.

And I honestly just cannot tolerate this entire sentiment. It's such a shame. Pariah's entire thesis for his videos was originally "Sonic was always good." But it turned out to just be the same old shit. And now he's completely mask off and straight up saying unironically "Sonic has always been inconsistent." It's such bullshit.

The classic Sonic games had dark themes and nuanced story telling. It just EXPRESSED them in a very different way because of the nature of the medium at the time the games were made. And the Adventure era games have plenty of levity and humor and had an uplifting message of hope, just like what the classic games had. The games are ENTIRELY consistent. Some games having different tonal priorities than others doesn't mean they're in a different fucking universe or timeline or continuity. It doesn't mean that Sonic Adventure 2 takes place in the Christopher Nolan universe and Colors takes place in the Adam West universe. Those two games having different tones doesn't mean they're in other dimensions or that the series isn't consistent. It just means your imagination is anemic. And I'm sick of hearing that shit from these fucking haters pretending to be fans.