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imaginethebeautifulworld · 3 years

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I wish you would do a fic during world war 2 timeline where the reader is running away from germany to switzerland and faints in the middle of a small stable. Maybe a certain Swiss comes along in the morning to let his goats out to graze when he sees you???? (Sorry! I am not good at this and I am simply dying for this man right now ugh)

I don’t think this is quite what either of us had in mind Lovely, but... I sense the potential for a series here, but I doubt I would ever get around to writing it. If so, I feel this is how part of it would play out. Hope you like it!

You couldn't run anymore.

Your legs felt as if they were laden with lead, the effort of moving them only emphasized by the sharp ache that kept piercing your senses with each step.

You were well past the border now, you were certain of it. Even if you hadn't completely made the crossing just yet, your ascent surely had left any pursuers at least a few days behind you.

For now, surrounded by forest as far as you could see, you decided it was safe enough to rest, even just for a few hours.

The moon was scarcely a sliver, barely peeking through the clouds, and you weren't going to risk a light.

You weren't foolish enough to fear the fey from the fairy tales your family had fed you throughout your childhood, but you weren't so naive to believe monsters weren't real. Tragically, it seemed you were damned to know just how real they actually were.

You wandered for maybe another hour, relieved to find a quiet stream and, next to it, a ramshackle old barn. You prayed it was abandoned, dared to hope when you noticed no animals nearby, no recent signs of life.

There was a hole worn through the roof, several in the floor of the loft, and what had likely once been a vividly decorated door barely clung to its hinges; you found a warm wave of attached contentment for its ruin.

You barely remembered falling asleep, barely remembered checking every possible exit for easiest accessibility. You did recall thinking how warm the hay was around you- hidden as you decided to make yourself in it- and the silent hope that any rats would leave you in peace.

Morning came with a gentleness that lulled you into a false sense of security. For a few moments, you simply watched the dust play in the sunshine, let yourself listen to the various birds darting between the exposed rafters, inhaled the scents of pine and hay and goa-

You felt your whole body stiffen in your panic, mentally trying to determine which of the six exits would be easiest, which would-

"Wouldn't bother; you won't get far."

If you had been scared before, the sudden presence of a male voice absolutely petrified you. Your heart stopped, your eyes frantically seeking out the source of sound, even from underneath your pile of hay.

"You could try going west from here, but you don't seem the climbin' type."

You let yourself process his words, recognized some sort of strange calm radiating from them, a detached sort of bluntness. It was- odd.

"Then again, appearances can be deceiving. That's what Lilli's always telling me; for all I know you're even more a mountaineer than I am."

Higher peaks to the west then? You really did make it past the border.

Would also explain his accent.

"I would say south, but they're pretty strict on sending people back to wherever they started from, no matter what they're sending them back to."

So you couldn't go south, and there was no way you were going to risk north or east again. West, perhaps, but you didn't have the right equipment, and you'd be damned if you would risk traveling through a pass, and God only knew how far you still were from France.

Other details of your surroundings were starting to register- the steady rhythm of milking, the scrape of hooves against the wooden floors, the smell of toast and jam drifting in through the window nearby. You could hear the flap of clothes hanging on a line, let yourself imagine the older farmer who was casually telling you how best to avoid capture.

Even in later years, you never would be able to explain what exactly possessed you to leave your little nest, never could quite explain how his odd form of detachment gave you a sense of security.

Whatever the reason, you were soon descending the ladder into the main part of the stable, shocked to discover the farmer- who you had guessed was likely in his 40s or 50s- was maybe only a handful of years older than you, speaking softly to his goats as you crept closer, stopping several feet away, head hanging in defeat.

"Where can I go?"

You didn't see him startle at your voice, missed the surprise and curiosity in his eyes when he got his first proper look at you. You were not at all who he had been expecting, and that fact alone changed everything.

"Who says you have to go anywhere?"

The casual wording, a dismissal woven almost entirely into an invitation, had you once more facing your host, confusion etching itself clearly across your features. "I'm sorry?"

If he was at all fazed by your presence, by your past, by anything- He really was making it a point not to show it. He shrugged at your unspoken question, a half shake as he continued milking the little black and brown goat, attention turning to the task at hand.

"You don't have to go anywhere." There was a pointed pause for a moment, and then he was turning to you again, something resembling concern in his eyes. "Unless you- Sorry, I shouldn't assume. Are you meeting someone?"

The sincerity, the concern, the compassion- It was one of the few glimpses of Humanity that you had seen in what felt an infinity, and you could have been knocked over with a feather for how weightless it made you.

But sobriety was swiftly restored, a bitterness to your words as you felt a familiar wave of grief, of longing, of pure, unadulterated anguish. There were so many connections severed, so many people you would never see again, either of choice or-

"There's no one who'd miss me."

You could have been mistaken, but you were quite certain you saw a flicker of anger in his gaze, so swift and unexpected that you forgot all about it in the next moment. "I'm sorry."

You knew he meant it, even if his tone still carried a hint of that detachment. You knew he was apologizing for more than your isolation, for your fate, for not being able to offer you more than he was.

It was a kind gesture, but the platitudes of strangers are a passing comfort at best. He seemed to realize this even as you did, overcome by an abrupt awkwardness that almost immediately endeared him to you.

He was grumbling something incoherent, a redness tinting his ears, eyes directed somewhere beyond you as he collected himself. Finally, he sighed, turning to you once more.

"Lilli should still have some breakfast warmed up. It won't be much but you're welcome to it. We can try to find you some new clothes later; I'm sure you want a day or two to rest up."

You nearly protested; he was being too kind and almost too welcoming; you-

His very pointed glance at your leg- which you had forgotten all about- and the makeshift bandage (made of an old scarf and your mother's formerly favorite apron) immediately silenced any arguments you may have utelized.

With a wince, you nodded in agreement, silently vowing to yourself to not stay any longer than you needed to. He was too good a person- and Lilli, too, though you had yet to meet her- for you to risk putting in danger.

Just for a few days. *

#spoiler alert: they stay forever~#switzerland x reader #aph switzerland #hetalia switzerland #hws switzerland #basch zwingli #aph basch zwingli #hetalia basch zwingli #basch zwingli x reader #readerfic #i think???#hello lovelies!#more a fic than the last one and wow i really do have a LOT of ideas for this like #seriously it was like each town in switzerland reacted differently to refugees then #some just kind of immediately adopted whoever whenever and then others were immeidately trying to deport #i wish i could say i would write more of this but i can't say that i will #maybe someday?#lilli zwingli #aph liechtenstein #hetalia liechtenstein #hws liechtenstein #so she's more of name but hey she's more presently acknowledged that basch is #sir how do you invite someone into your home and never ask their name????????#i love you but why are you like this????????????????????????????????????????????

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hclianthi · 5 years

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Ooooooh, thank you, this is such a good set of questions!

So..... the important thing to understand is that is that Phos’s initial medal set up was not the best. Far from it. She initially hadn’t put too much thought or understanding into the attribute system that makes up Starlight’s battle ability and slot perks for each form and in turn, this strongly affected the way she approached battle for the rest of her life. So her combat ability actually doesn’t rely so heavily on medals or their individual power so much as her ability to duck and weave and deflect and battles to allow her more well timed strikes.

This was Phos’s set up for way too long, and Chirithy nearly had a conniption when he finally realized this was why she was struggling. Lady Luck is a Starlight keychain that is focused entirely on speed attributes, and while alternating attributes for specific movesets and effects are likely commonplace even without counting on attribute boosts, there’s no real strategy in place here. Her build was just all over the place and Phos ended up brute-forcing things at the start of her journey.

This meant that, unless Phos was up against Heartless at her level or lower, the magic of the medals alone weren’t having the effect they should have, and she just ended up expending unnecessary time and energy when they were her only source of attack.

Obviously she improves, this being a more educated build - not perfect, but clearly much more understanding gained. And with greater understanding came with a much greater threat to her enemies. But what’s important is that the necessity from her initial struggle bred a far more valuable advantage.

It was because of this initial fumble in exploring the extents of her weapon that Phos very quickly learned to be exceptional in another: battle tactics. The disadvantage she carried with lacking the oomph of medal magic that other wielders had off the bat gave her a keen and necessary sense of strategy, requiring her to be quick on her feet and just as quick witted to achieve victory. Unorthodox? Very, but the lack of powerful medals and effective boosts to use them required Phos to use the medals she did have in the most optimal ways she could with her available skill sets; rather than attacking directly, she used the power of her medals to push and dash herself around or deflect, creating her own opportunities in battle. Coupled with her natural affinity for Speed and Power attributes, she can be a sharp hitter.

This also opens her up to being very fluid and flexible as a team member, coupled with her skill in reading a battlefield allows for a unique flexibility with different styles and sets the pieces to steadily build up in both her trio and her bigger, future Party.

tl;dr Phos is a p a i n to fight because she’s so frustratingly hard to hit, the speedy movesets, parries and that build her fighting style making her a nuisance for any battle partner.

As for a signature move?

Her lucky draw: Foxtrot. A rarer, older medal that draws on the power of Foreteller Ava, allowing the formation of 7 clones made of light for a multi-hit attack. This allowed Phos to manipulate and utelize a multi-person attack herself for the short window she was able to draw upon the medal’s power.

Even when she loses her connection to Starlight and the ability to use medals in favor of forging a keyblade of her own heart, a remnant of this ability lingers with her. Though the number is far more limited, she regains it in sustainable time, and learning it (and magic in general) took intense training far outside the realm of her comfort zone -- the restrained world of the keykids in general -- to allow her to grow into her new role.

light-clone-no-jutsu bih

#🌻┊Visitors to the Garden Reading ∣ ASKS.#🌻┊Probably Choked on Sunflower Seeds ∣ OOC.#«✫» We Forget that Fairytales Were Never Truly Happy ∣ PHOS: META.#«✫» Stories With Childlike Epiphany & Fiery Self Belief ∣ PHOS: HEAD CANON.

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young-justice-newbies · 7 years

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A late birthday gift for a sweetie

@futuresuper IT’S DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a first for Gotham but not their heroes, with Batman at home with a broken leg and arm he'd called in one of his sons and his best friends oldest. Red Robin and the elder SuperBoy had been tasked with patrolling Gotham City with Robin (13), he hadn't expected the young in-training SuperBoy (10 year old Jon) to join Conner when the boy Zeta'd into the Bat Cave before Tim arrived.

"Sorry Batman" Conner apologized as Jon looked around in awe but stayed put by the arm of steel holding/hugging him to his brothers side, "dad's got an offworld thing and mom is covering an attack, I can't Zeta to Smallville and Jon's flying is still a little wonky" he said softly glancing at Jon who stilled.

"That's perfectly fine SuperBoy" Batman spoke from the desk chair in front of the BatComputer, "he can team up with Robin, he needs friends near his age" the night reassured the young half-breed who was as usual in a Black Superman t-shirt and beige cargo pants.

"Drake let's go" Robin came down the stairs that lead into Wayne Manor fastening his cape before spying the SuperBoy's, "You didn't call them in did you father?" he groaned as Red Robin came running down the stairs lighting up when he saw the Kryptonians.

"Con!" Reb Robin cast looking professional to the side in favor of throwing himself into Kon-el's arms once Jon was greeting Damian who begrudgingly shook hands, "You act like he bites, it's been months you know him"he teased as brother before leading Conner to his bike.

"I can fly myself" Jon pouted when Conner gestured him over to the bike intending to make the 'boy of steel' ride behind him while Damian took the sidecart, "Robin can take the sidecart" he stated taking to the air as Red Robin revved the Bird Bike to life and took off once Robin begrudgingly got in the sidecart.

Red Robin slid on his helmet and pursued to drive along with Jon flying a little wobbly beside them, "is flying still new to him?" he asked Conner over the rush of the wind around them.

"Very" Conner chuckled against Tim's neck making the bboy shudder a little, "hopefully they'll get along" he said softly as the BirdBike was parked and everyone went off in sets of twos.

"As long as Damian keeps his temper under control it should be fine" Red Robin told his boyfriend as the Krptonian half-breed jumped onto the nearest building, "I hope they get along, Jon's such a cute kid Damian should like him once he knows Jon is a softy" he chuckled looking over the city.

"How've you been Robin?" Jon asked as he floated beside the boy he considered his best friend, "it's been a while" he said casually.

"I've been fine" Robin stated dryly, he'd known Jon for a good month and a half but still didn't feel like letting his guard down around the boy of steel.

"How about we go up on a building for a better view" Jon suggested stopping himself from saying 'Birds eye view' like he had the first time they patrolled together, "it'd be nice to enjoy the breeze" he mused.

Damian thought for a second before nodding, "let's go to Wayne Tower, it's the tallest building in Gotham" the boy wonder suggested understanding what the boy of steel meant about wanting to enjoy the breeze.

"Mind me helping?" Jon asked a tad nervously, "it'd shorten the time and I've gotten better at flying while holding people" he told him.

Damian groaned rolling his Emerald orbs behind his Domino mask realizing they were far and the boy was right, "this one time, but none of that cradle crap" he simply hooked a reluctant arm over Jon's shoulders tensing reflexively when the Krpytonian hooked an arm around his middle and took off smoothly keeping a secure hold on him.

"Not my fault that was how I caught you" Jon grumbled as he focused on keeping them air borne, "I coulda let you hit the water but it was so cold" he said as they touched down on Wayne Tower and he positively beamed at how smooth the trip was.

Damian shrugged his friend off and surveyed Gotham from his perch atop his fathers tower, "I'm used to the cold" he told him coldly still finding it hard to trust the boy.

"Well I could always take you back there and drop you" Jon joked giggling at the weak 'Birdglare' the boy wonder gave him, "I'm kidding" he laughed when what felt like a small rock or medium sized pebble hit his shoulder. After maybe 2 hours of sitting there waiting for the signal to go up Jon started getting bored, he took to the childish act of trying to initiate play with the boy wonder.

"Kent what're you doing?" Damian growled out as Jon once again poked in him in the side and jumped back giggling like a maniac, "don't test my patience" he warned the boy as another poke landed on his shoulder.

"Let's play Damian" Jon told his friend, "haven't you ever played tag before? You tag someone, you run away" he told the boy wonder as he hovered in the air.

"I don't play" Damian informed Jon, he failed to surpress a growl as the boys finger connected to him again. He whipped around reaching for the boys hand only for him to have jumped back, "get back here!" he pushed himself to his feet pursuing the boy as he jumped just out of reach laughing happy to have gotten Damian to play.

"You'll have to catch me dork wonder" Jon giggled zipping off since the best part of tag was the chase, he looked back beaming when he saw Damian pursuing him utelizing his grapple and cape to keep up.

"I'll show you a dork wonder" Damian growled out shoving himself off of a building knocking himself and Jon out of the air and onto another building, "I believe this makes YOU it Kent" he smirked at the Kryptonian who looked like he was having a field day.

"I am" Jon smiled up at Damian his cheeks a little red, "so run" he gave a preditory smirk watching Damian register the point and surprisingly run off with a small smirk of his own.

"Agility training" Damian told himself as he rolled along a new building and threw himself into the air again, "not playing" he said softly before looking over his shoulder to see Jon following him.

"Not fast enough" Jon beamed pulling the hood of Damian's cape off the boy wonder before flying off once he'd tagged him, "hey bro" he called as he flew past Tim and Conner.

"Wa-was that Jon?" Red Robin looked to SuperBoy, "and...Damian?" he was wide eyed as he saw Damian pursuing Jon surprising them both by laughing.

"And you were worried they wouldn't get along" SuperBoy laughed pulling Red Robin into a kiss, "they're doing fine" he smiled watching the boys zip around Gotham laughing and playing tag.

#MunStuff #Out of character Damian #Damian Wayne #Conner Kent #Jon Kent #Tim Drake #Bruce Wayne #Possibly out of character every character #please do not reblog

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rayegunn · 7 years

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Just finished cleaning my fish tank, so thought i would share, because I think it’s been quite a while since I have shared an update on it. And also talk about plans for the future. For reference, this is what it looked like shortly after setting up (and still with lots of tannins in the water) http://rayegunn.tumblr.com/post/131499725421/paludarium-update-photos-with-cat-for-scale-its Everything is largely the same, layout wise, but some plants didn’t make it, (Pogostomon just didn’t get enough light) others have done very well. If you read that, you will notice that the tank inhabitants are not what I had planned. I ran into disease problems with the frogs, and gave up on them since there seemed to be an issue at the distributor level with Chytrid fungus, Shrimp just don’t seem to do well for me for some reason, and I realized the gobies would be ill advised since they are brackish. Extensive rambling below the cut.

For those unfamiliar with it, it is a paludarium with a self watering planter, and contains approximately 10 gallons of water. occupants are 1 Betta named Jesse, 6 Harlequin Rasboras, 5 Pygmy Cories, 2 Ottocinclus, 2 Assassin Snails (which I have no idea what they are eating because the pond snails were eradicated like a year ago. I think they eat the Cories sinking shrimp tablets, maybe) I built the terrestrial part out of a flower pot cut in half then the two halves glued together to create a tower, covered in expanding foam and silicone covered in dirt. The terrestrial part used to contain several types of plant, but the African Violet choked out everything else, it’s huge and doing very well. There is also some moss growing on the submerged wood, and along the edges of the pot/stream area. Aquatic plants are mostly assorted Crypts, but also some Anubias (on the back of the driftwood, can’t see it from this angle), Spiky Moss, (which was redone about a week ago because it had overtaken the left side of the tank, so it’s looking a bit scraggly there) Crinum calamistratum (but I have had troubles with the leaves wanting to stick out of the water, because it is shallow, and they then dry out and die, so there are only 4 leaves on it at the moment), Rotala rotundifoia, (recently trimmed so you can’t see much of it) and I added some Pygmy Chain Sword in the front there recently, it hasn’t entirely filled in yet, but it seems to be catching on. Oh and some moss balls, which I see now are piled up in a corner there to get them out of the way, but they’re normally kinda scattered here and there.

I created it as an experiment, because I want to do something similar on a larger scale, but wanted to work out the kinks small scale. And there are definitely some things I will be doing differently, after having this tank for over a year, i guess? As a concept, it definitely works, but as you can see i have had to stick a heater outside the internal compartment because i needed one larger than would fit inside the hidden area. Kinda spoils the aesthetic, to be sure (though the betta likes resting on it, so whatever. I’ve placed a barrier so he doesn’t burn his fins) I also find the fluctuating water level frustrating. Between evaporation and the planter drawing off water, the water level can go down fairly rapidly, and I have to keep it topped off with a pitcher of water every other day or so. I also had problems with water surface movement leading to biofilm, so had to add a bubbler, leading to the water spatter on the back glass.

All these problems I think can be solved by the larger version using a hidden sump for filtration, with the nylon ropes for the planter dangling into the overflow. It will increase water volume, will skim the surface to take care of the biofilm, and will keep the surface level of the water completely unchanging. the prospect of drilling a tank is a little daunting, but I’ve watched a lot of tutorials on how to do it and I’m feeling pretty confident about it. And I may be able to find one that’s pre-drilled anyway. Then, I would cover up the overflow with rocks and etc. and have the flower pot with a matching fitted base, and it would just pop in the top, so you could lift it out if necessary. You’d be able to see the small holes the water flows into around the edges if you looked close, but shouldn’t be too bad, especially if there is a bit of an overhang at the surface of the water to create a shadow. I’d also be able to hide the heater inside the sump, to keep everything nice and uncluttered. I would also likely use grout or something to cover the sump, rather than potting soil as that has proved to be less than durable. Luckily the front isn’t too bad, but the soil has worn off almost completley in the back, looks horrible. I cover it with an almond leaf.

Should work just fine. As for the tanks, I think I will definitely go BIG. I want 75 gallons+ preferably more in the 125 area, I’ll have to scan the classified around here when the time comes and see what I can come up with, so i can keep it more on the affordable side, and I want TWO of them. Only one of which will have a planter up top.

One will be freshwater, and I want to stock it with Pearl Gouramis, German Blue Rams, and a school of maybe Black Skirt Tetras, I’ve always liked those. Also Bronze Cories, can’t go wrong with Cories. but if i go large enough with the tank, I may switch those out for some Clown Loaches. And the stars would be a Small Scale Archer fish and/or a school of Marbled Hatchet Fish. If you are going for a paludarium, you may as well stock it with fish that can utelize the open air/dry land if at all possible. Archers have a unique hunting behaviour, where they shoot jets of water at insects above the water, something they can only really do in a paludarium type setup. And Hatchetfish are flying fish, able to glide through the air on their specialize pectoral fins, and are able to catch small insects midair. Yes, this means i will have to begin keeping crickets and blackflies, but it will be cool. I want this tank to be fairly heavily planted, but as i discovered with the small one, since the light has to sit so high above the water, you kind of have to stick to low light plants, even with a strong light fixture. but that’s fine, there are plenty of beautiful low light plants. I already have lots of crypts i can take from the smaller tank, as well as some Rotala and Pygmy Chain Sword, but I’d likely fill it in with some Anubias and Java Fern.

And that brings us to the second tank, probably the one i am most excited about. It would be a brackish tank (kinda part way between fresh and ocean water) and would contain Mudskippers (most likely Indian Dwarf skippers), Fiddler Crabs, and a Dragon Goby. I’d also likely add some middle water fish, likely either mollies (natural type colouration) or orange chromide cichlids. Mudskippers actually walk on their petcoral fins, so they and the fiddler crabs would be climbing out of the water, and I would create little sandy flats that the water spills down, and try and create a mangrove look for the tank. After doing some research and narrowing down my inhabitants, it’s looking like i will be looking at a Specific Gravity (salinity) of between 1.005 and 1.010, which should allow me to maintain certain aquatic plants, like Java Fern and Anubias, so it should still have a bit of green, but this one will be mostly hardscape, with lots of ermerged wood and rocks for the fiddlers and skippers to climb on.

Archers actually come in several varieties, one of which, and probably the most commonly seen, the Banded Archer, is brackish, bu gets to be a foot long, so I think I will stick with the smaller (but still like 6 inches) variety, the Small Scale Archer, in the freshwater setup. But the Smallscale is a lot rarer, so I may have to jut make do with the Hatchets.

For both, i definitely want to make the switch to a sand substrate. (i use a very small gravel right now) the Brackish tank requires it, the mudskippers, crabs and Dragon Goby NEED sand, and I will need a lot of it, so am likely looking at pool filter sand if i want to avoid paying a fortune for it, but will have to ask around after a variety that is as dark a colour as possible, definitely don’t want white for these. I may mix in some darker coloured aquarium sand, depending on what I can get. But they rip you off for aquarium sand, for sure. The freshwater tank would have a potting soil base, just like the current one has. The brackish would be pure sand, since it would have no rooted plants, and some of the fish like to dig.

#aquarium #paludarium

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