#gnomes get compost
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Hi CreeSims. Can you explain me what the gameplay is in Paradise Falls? I'm very curious!
Sure, and I'm happy to answer any questions if there's something I don't cover here
Vault 88 is a 3-story, 18tile by 18tile building on a 2x2 lot. I had to start building on a 3x3 lot then use lot adjuster to shrink it, that little bit of extra space really does make a difference. It let me build rooms that feel like tight quarters without having routing issues
First floor is workrooms. They are, starting on the lower left: Clinic with Biotech station and a few Sun & Moon herb plants. Gym. Food Production with compost bin and Midge's 3t2 indoor garden plots. Ichthyology lab (big fish tank). Geology lab with Sun & Mon Refine & Shine equipment, an invisible mining rook on top of the hole in the ground, and @nixedsims blacksmith station. The middle room is Vault Maintenance with woodcarving, robot, and toymaking benches. Front right room is the quartermaster department with gnome making, flower arranging, sewing, and candle making craft stations.
Second floor is recreation. Music room with a wine bar. Cafe with MajorJeff's Chocolate Factory and a Uni stove. There's an invisible pond on the floor by the balcony so Sims can fish into the big tank below. Games room. Hot tub room. Media room. The middle is the Overseer's Office with a computer Sims can use
Top floor is living quarters. Each apartment is 2 rooms with a bed and dresser. Communal bathroom in the middle with 3 stalls, 3 Uni showers, and a potty trainer for toddlers. The room at the end has stuff for toddlers to play with and build skills. The hall on the right has a washer and dryer for Sims who want to build cleaning skill, the other hall has a 1-tile changing table and a Supa Fridge so Sims can get baby bottles
Each apartment starts with 2 adult Sims, plus there will be landlord, postal worker, and cafeteria worker NPCs visiting the Vault which makes the place feel nice and full. After Sims rent their apartments I use the Insiminator to take away all their money
Sims can't work careers because they can't leave the vault but they are assigned duties based on their LTW, One True Hobby, and 3t2 traits. All of those are randomized using the AnyLTWforallaspirationsAL mod (I think it's by Pescado), @midgethetree's Randomizer, and the Traits randomizer. Some vault jobs are obvious, my Sim with the Cuisine hobby and Professional Party Guest LTW makes money by working in the cafe or playing guitar for tips. One of my Science enthusiasts is the medic who harvests herbs and makes medicine at the Biotech station. But for some of the jobs you'll need to get creative with the crafting stations, which is why I recommend having a nice variety. One of my science Sims is in charge of making sure the Vault infrastructure is in good repair, she makes robots to simulate doing this. One Sim uses novel writing to simulate doing paperwork, another is using it to write a cookbook
I sell everything they make right from the inventory because they can't own businesses yet and I want them to have enough cash that it influence's Cyjon's Bigger Bills mod. I keep track of how much they spend on rent and bills so that later, when they start leaving the vault, I can incorporate a little bit of BACC play and have that money go into buying things for the hood. They can use their money to buy kids stuff when they have a family, or deco stuff from the Buy Catalog to spruce up their rooms, or just save it for when someone in that apartment chooses to leave the vault
My Sims usually work on their Vault jobs until about 5 or 6 pm, then they socialize and canoodle with their roommate or other Vault dwellers. I'm about to start round 2 and will be focusing on moving Sims around if they'd be a better fit with a different roommate and getting them to start having babies (limit of 2 kids per apartment). The plan right now is to keep everyone in the vault until the first kid is University age. By then the Vault will be feeling crowded and the kids will be wanting to know what else is out there
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i need to start tagging posts with my dnd ocs so im setting up tags now
brightcore - my tiefling cleric of life. my contradictory fave. holds so much trauma but knows how to make a good soup from 30 years of experience she/they/he
popcore - my kenku ranger. small and gets on your nerves but grows on you like a fungus they/he/it
evancore - my emo teenager half elf warlock of the fathomless. plays in a band called ‘funeral for a plankton’. what more can i say (he/they)
binglescore - my first character! an old gnome druid who adopts a chicken called wilfred and has a vegetable garden and composts her enemies she/they
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Leverage Log: The Low Low Price Job
Ok so based on the name, we're either dealing with As Seen On TV products that are made so cheap as to endanger people, general "store discounts that are only affordable because its made in a sweatshop in china" shenanigans, or a Big box chain using an up front loss to drive the locals out of business and become a de-facto local monopoly before type of story. (did I mention that capitalism sucks yet?)
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Ok government inspector is looking round a store and is pulling lies out of their ass.
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I agree with Elliot, Composting is good but should not be done in a kitchen. That is a health inspectors nightmare.
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Oh its about the a big box store, thats bribing the inspector (and zoning comittee) into shutting down competition.
Why is she talking about it as if its a small town? Since when is Portland a small town? Thats a major American city right?
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I stand corrected, just because she's currently in portland to talk to Leverage Inc, does not mean she's from Portland. She's from a (presumeably fictitious) small US town called Apple Springs (home of America's largest garden gnome)
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Ok it seems we're not even going to try and make the villain act like a human person. Just openly gloating to her intern about how she's gonna destroy the town.
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And once again Nate makes the point: The Food Industry is only thing scarier then Sterling.
I like the premise of them going for a "smaller" target (a single store rather then the megacorp attached), but its sort of a suck that this episode promises to end with a "the real villain got away with it all in the end" sort of deal. (maybe the sequel series can do a call-back episode where they go after Corporate)
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Sophie starts listing Cadmium Poisoning symptoms. To a woman whose hotel room we have seen Parker and Nate break into already. This can only mean 1 thing: Its chemical warfare time!
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Oh so thats how corporate plays? Forging crimes onto Sophies Forged identity?
Guess we might see Nate take the gloves off and take down corporate after all. (cause lets be clear, if this is a thing they know how to do it means they do it on the regular for non con-artists)
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I dont think Elliot is lying about his old man running a hardware store, like this could be an attempt to make the guy more sympathetic to his cause to aid the union, but this feels genuine.
Old man has diabetes... that is ominous, I feel like Elliot might be about to get himself a surrogate dad only to lose him.
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And she's met Nate. (only Hardison and Parker remain un-compromised)
Eliiot's dad is real.
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Oh she tracked them back to Portland. Now that either means our heroes somehow tipped her off deliberately or that she's got GPS tracking on her employees.
Oh she said the F word, (which means she can F off)
also shouldnt the poisoning be kicking in right now? sure she prevented Sophie from telling the town about the "cadmium" but thats no reason to make her think she's not dying of cadmium poisoning.
Making her think the thing she covered up is a genuine threat awaiting re-discovery is a great way for our heroes to get her on the mental back-foot
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"its not like we can make bad luck". Nate, im sorry to say that you're an idiot. Making it look like an accident is literally crimes 101.
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Sophie's bringing in the army. (oh the Kaki's and overall flashmob. Classic)
Oh Elliot's surrogate Dad just died and/or got hospitalised.
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Record sales? Oh we're so framing her for theft arent we. (rigged the cash registers to claim they're taking 99.99 for the TV's while still taking the full 999.99)
And she even bragged "the TV's were my idea" so when the citisens sue Value!More over their fraudulent cash-receipts her bosses will pull out a recording from their phone conversation proving her guilt by her own admission!
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Wait it wasn't part of Nate's plan? Our team just accidentally pulled a loss leader? Goddamn it.
Well the HQ guy is coming for the BBQ now. Which is probably on the parking lot that she thinks is cadmium poison... So poison HQ guy with cadmium and get her superiors to shut her store down?
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Wait we're only renovating her hotel room now? In literally any other episode we would've seen Nate and Parker break into the store, and then had a greyed out flashback of the things they did while there to poison the ever loving heck out of this woman.
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I dont like that, now that we're finally getting to the "drugging her by putting chemicals in her make-up and sleepmask" sequence we took out her shower. (I get it, its to make her more anxious over meeting HQ guy for her promotion by not letting her take care of herself. But we literally had an entire Poison story right there with the Cadmium and this is breaking from that narrative, it feels like the broken shower is an unnecessary risk. Im not saying she deserves a shower it just distracts from the Cadmium Poisoning story)
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And we got ourselves the classic "broadcast their conversation over the intercom".
Last shot of her seeing Leverage Inc lined up so she can connect the dots of her being played somehow. Strong end to a rather weak episode.
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Our heroes are turning the not-really poisoned big box store into a theatre. (nice place for Sophie to Own instead of Rent, plus a good back-up now that the Frame Up Job compromised their new Portland residency)
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there's something really weird about the way in which Elliot keeps getting in short-term relationships with female clients.
Elliot is off to reunite with dad, but it seems that time will do what time will do. (whomever owns the home now has excellent taste in windchimes though. Love the little dolphins)
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This episode was generally sub-par as far as A-plot goes, every twist and one-up by Caroline felt like it came from right up a writers behind, and the final conclusion of "our battle shut off the one store but Evil Incorporated continues to win the war" leaves this episode overall unsatisfying in its climax.
The Elliot sub-plot was good though. Just not enough to fix a broken episode.
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When I met you, you were beautiful
You were desirable, like molten gold
Like a statue chipped of marble and pearl
You were gilded
Lithe, the slope of your porcalien skin like the tops of mountains
Kissed only by the cream-like clouds and the
God-like sun
Your eyes, jewels inside a balanced, polished, breathtaking face
Full lips, thin, graceful neck
Your whole body poised like a flower,
Ripe and opening,
Heavy, scented, blooming
Your hair was glossy and your waist a smooth terrain of soft, pink flesh
Your step graceful, elegant, your poise undeniable and ruinously attractive
When I met you, you dressed like you wanted to ensnare the world with your beauty
And when I met you, it worked
And now you are older
Fatter
Duller
Your lustre is gone.
Your skin slopes around bumps of fat, dimpled and hairy
Lumpy and asymmetrical, not such a graceful statue but more a garden gnome
Rugged and rough and dirty and
Partly forgotten by the world
Out of eyeshot, your visage weakens
Grows dull and unkempt, with flyaway hairs and unshaven armpits,
Thicker eyebrows, a disappearing waist, like an unassuming lump of clay.
You are no longer attractive, no longer desirable to most. You have become commonplace; no longer God and instead animal - wild and crooked and breathing and sweating.
And yet. And yet I look at you - untidy hairs tousled from sleep. Stomach pudgy with delectation. Clothes askew and unfashionable, clinging comfortably to your old, persevering form. Skin that has wrinkled and puckered from exposure to the sun.
You are warm. You are comfortable. You are fed. You are alive, and you show it. You are a liturgy of proclamations, written on the body - I have been warm. I have been comfortable. I have been fed. Look at me - I have survived it all.
I no longer desire you the way I once did. I no longer wish to place my tongue against the heavy, ripe fruit of you. Such longing has passed, the fruit devoured to the core, the passion burnt down to embers and ash. Time has passed for us. We are older, fatter things. Slower things. And in place of the longing I feel only quiet contentment, low-buzzing excitement. I get to live the rest of my life with you. I get to watch you, in this age past your blooming, in this era of your slow and beautiful composting - I get to watch you and I grow old and mulch, turn ugly. Become a part of the natural rhythm of the earth. You are warm. You are comfortable. And together, we eat breakfast of pickled eggs and toasty bread and sweet, sweet jam. Desire cages us but love? Love is the slow hum of a bug as it chews a wet, unpretty leaf. Savouring it, savouring you.
#poetry#from 'scent'#saw someone talking about how they were prettiest in their youth but also unhappiest#and how being at peace is nicer than being desired#and so i made it a love poem because i always do#consider it a love poem to yourself.
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How To Fight A Shadow
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15: Settling | 16
The gang watches a movie and mildly angsts!
SHOUTOUT TO MY PROOFREADER FOR BEING AWESOME AND STAYING UP TO HELP ME FINISH THIS LOL-
also shoutout to the people on this post and this post and this post for the notenrique subscriber nicknames/dialogue!! lol
kinda similar vibes to @magic-and-moonlit-wings’s fic’s movie-watching chapter at one point too, so shoutout to them as well since their fic is great!!
(again, the formatting is being weird about spaces for some reason, so i’ll use periods to space out the scenes ghfsfdhfjg
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“Look, Bagdwella, I don’t particularly care about how rude the New Jersey gnomes have been.”
Blinky had been pacing back and forth in The Forge basically the second he had started this phone call. Aaarrrgghh was peacefully laid down near him, listening to him ramble on with the New Trollmarket residents. They had done a good job on their cleaning efforts today anyways, and a break was well deserved.
“Yes, yes, I understand that they’re vile. But unless they’re spewing shadow portals, that’s not what I’m calling about.” Blinky sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Has everything on your end still been relatively… you know, normal?”
Aaarrrgghh’s ear perked at the sound of approaching footsteps, and he opened one eye to see Jim entering The Forge.
“Jim.” Aaarrrgghh grunted, getting Blinky’s attention.
Upon hearing Aaarrrgghh point out Jim’s arrival, he cut the call short. “Yes, very good. Let me know if anything abnormal pops up.”
“Is New Trollmarket doing okay?” Jim asked as Blinky hung up the phone.
“Ohh, none worse for the wear.” Blinky replied. “They’ve been handling themselves surprisingly well. Nobody’s destroyed the place yet, at least…”
“And still no magic on their end going out of whack?”
“It doesn’t appear so.” Blinky answered, rubbing his chin. “Aside from some Changelings being able to switch forms, they’ve reported no other anomalies of that sort.”
“Huh… Well, as long as they’re staying alert, I guess…” Jim sighed, but then he followed with a chuckle. “Man, I’m still surprised they haven’t burned the place down yet.”
“You and I both!” Blinky chortled in response. “I hadn’t expected we would be gone this long, but alas, they’ve been managing... I assume you’ve come to collect us for movie night?”
“Yeah, Claire and Toby are getting the stuff set up now!” Jim replied. “We should get going.”
.
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Within the Domzalski household, a certain Changeling was yet again making a video of some sort, filming himself with his phone.
“A’ight, you rats! Today you’re gonna be caaalled...” He squinted at a dramatically oversized list of nicknames for his subscribers, skimming over his favourites. Hobgoblins, Mother-sockers, Real Enriques, Miniriques, too many sock puns to count… “Eh, fuck it, Not-E’s.”
He threw the list aside, adjusted his phone camera, and went on. “Okay, my little Not-E’s! T’day, we’re gonna be goin’ on a wildlife expedition!” He hopped out of Toby’s room, phone in hand, and kept talking as he bounced down the stairs. “The infamous Domzalski home is FILLED with all sortsa creepy-crawlies! Look over there, I can see one now!”
Claire, blissfully unaware of NotEnrique’s sudden approach, had been adding the finishing touches to her famous guacamole-and-chips mountain. She had just been disposing of her compost when she heard the pitter-patter of Changeling feet.
“... and ‘ere we find a wild Claire in ‘er natural habitat.”
A space in which Claire could usually whip up her famous guacamole in relative peace had now been infiltrated by her twerp of a brother. NotEnrique filmed her so closely, he may as well have slapped her in the face with his phone. She rolled her eyes in good humour, but otherwise ignored him.
Snickering, he focused the camera on her guac pile and said, “As you can see, wild Claires dispense MASSIVE boogies throughout their lifet-- Oi blimey!” After dodging a barrage of guac and escaping the counter, NotEnrique turned the lens to himself for a moment. “She’s an aggressive specimen, that one!”
Looking around, he caught sight of Angor Rot in the next room over, leaning against a wall and casually carving another totem, as he often did.
NotEnrique hopped right over to him. “How ‘bout you, Spooks?” He said, full of energy. “Up to any weird voodoo shit today?”
“... No?” Angor Rot replied, mildly confused, but not surprised by NotEnrique’s blunt approach.
NotEnrique turned the camera to himself again. “You never know! Gotta be careful with these ones!”
When Angor gave Claire a confused look, she could only shrug at him, then turned all her attention to NotEnrique.
“Put that away, would you?” Claire called over to him, carrying her mountain of guac towards the living room. “We’re gonna be ready soon!”
“Oi, was that happenin’ tonight?” NotEnrique exclaimed, shocked. “Ugh, fiiiine.” He turned his camera towards himself and said, “Be right back! We’ll continue our journey later.”
Before she changed rooms, Claire glanced back at Angor and asked, “Can you go get Dictatious?”
There was a split moment of hesitation on his end, but Angor Rot made sure to brush it off fast enough that Claire wouldn’t notice. “Of course.”
As he walked out of sight, Claire texted Toby to get over there or else they’d hit Play without him. What she immediately got back in response was a >:U.
Toby quickly followed up with “omw back now!”.
Satisfied with that, Claire put her phone aside and started munching on tortilla chips and guacamole early. NotEnrique hopped up beside her and swiped a massive chunk of dip with one chip.
“Where’s Tubs been, anyway?”
“Oh… You know, camera stuff.” Claire answered. “Went to change the batteries, I think…”
There was a weird look in her eye, one that NotEnrique had noticed more than once now over time, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Somethin’ buggin ya, sis?”
“It’s nothing, really…”
When she got a skeptical squint from NotEnrique in response, she felt she didn’t have much choice but to explain herself a bit.
“I mean, it’s just, like…” Sighing, Claire admitted, “Sometimes I just feel like I’m not… doing enough. Jim’s going through so much right now, and Toby’s been obsessing over those cameras--”
“Slim Jim’s gotta deal with his whole body horror mess, and Tubby’s runnin’ himself into the ground at the rate he’s goin’.” NotEnrique pointed out. “Yer the only one outta these idiots that’s still functional. What, would ya feel better if ya had somethin’ destroying yer brain, too?” Jokingly, he added, “Cuz I can do that for free!”
“You know what I mean.” Claire sighed again, slightly irritated. Though, her expression quickly shifted back to one of doubts. “... I don’t know. It’s just… Morgana, She… She makes me feel so... scared.” She admitted quietly. “I’m barely even helping, and I… What if She...”
Claire trailed off, an empty look behind her eyes. She had been repressing the memories of what Morgana did to her as best she could in order to keep some level of calmness, but… Was it selfish to feel any worse about this mess when they were all feeling useless to some extent?
“... Aw, sis…” A pained look crossed NotEnrique’s face for a second, but it quickly gave way to his usual mischievous smirk, and he punched his hand for emphasis. “Oi, if that witchy turd messes with you again, I got no problems beatin’ her outta you again, you know!”
If anything, his enthusiasm about it at least made her laugh. “Should I be thankful or worried at how that’s your immediate reaction?”
“Why not both?” Her brother smirked.
“You’re a gremlin.”
“Why thank you!”
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Luckily for Angor Rot, Dictatious was never hard to find. If he wasn't in the living room, he was in the garage, so that was naturally the only place he’d need to look. Still, he had some hesitance in approaching when the doorway came in sight.
While he and Dictatious had made up some days back, Angor Rot got the feeling that Dictatious was still nervous about being near him.
He approached the garage, the door already being slightly ajar. Angor pushed it open further, but didn’t step inside. Dictatious appeared to have not noticed his presence, as he didn’t stop his routinely laundry-folding, nor made even a glance towards the doorway.
“... Dictatious?”
Angor Rot tried to ignore how hearing his voice still made Dictatious jump every now and then. The Conundrum was quick to calm himself back down, glancing in Angor’s general direction. “The others will be ready soon.”
“Ahh-- Yes, yes, I’m coming.” Finishing what he was doing, Dictatious stood and made way to the door.
Angor Rot stepped aside, giving the smaller troll much space to comfortably pass him. While it’s true that Dictatious seemed to be getting used to the idea all over again that Angor wouldn’t try to hurt him, Angor Rot didn’t want to risk crossing any lines.
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Order of the Phoenix was the title of their Harry Potter film for the night. The children had been making a big deal over this particular movie basically all day, so finally having everyone settled into the living room was a relief.
“What makes this one any more special than the other ones?” Angor Rot asked.
“Ohh, just you wait!” Toby said excitedly. “This one’s got one of THE MOST satisfying scenes you’ll ever see! This is definitely the best one of them all.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that!” Jim disagreed. “Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty fucking iconic, just saying!”
“I think they all have their strong points and their weak ones.” Claire pointed out. “There’s no one true ‘best’ or ‘worst’ movie.”
“Deathly Hallows part one.” Toby challenged.
“... Okay, so there are no BEST movies…”
The boys chuckled at her backtracking, and Blinky rubbed his chin in confusion. “So the worst is yet to come, eh?”
“Meh, let’s not worry about that now!” Toby said quickly, finally pressing Play on their current film. “It’s Order of the Phoenix time, baby!”
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The movie kicked off with the action right away, what with a Dementor attack, Harry being expelled, a court hearing… and the way the children erupted into aggressive “boo”s towards one member of the court, the trolls weren’t surprised to see that she made another appearance at Hogwarts. Even still, they did not expect the infamous blood quill scene.
“How on Earth does she even get away with that?!” Blinky questioned aloud as the scars appeared on Harry’s hand. “Is this not one of their most important students? Once he reports her--”
“If he reports her.” Claire pointed out.
“If?! Why wouldn’t he?”
The only response to that was awkward laughter from the children. Blinky sighed irritatedly, already annoyed with the dynamic being set up with Umbridge.
The magic in this show was intriguing, for sure. While the quill was a means of causing pain to a child, it was still conceptually and visually interesting to watch.
Angor Rot glanced at Dictatious, who had stayed relatively quiet throughout the movie so far. Sometimes he wondered if the Conundrum ever got frustrated, not being able to get the added visual context of these shows…
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On a lighter note, the fact that every troll continued to be repulsed by the uncomfortably long kissing scenes never failed to make the teenagers snicker.
“Hey Tobes, you should rewind it a bit, I think they really liked that scene with Cho and Harry!” Jim teased.
“NO!” The trolls yelled basically in unison, and the children’s snickers turned into loud snorts of laughter.
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That moment of lightheartedness didn’t last long, however, and everyone in the room fell uncomfortably quiet as the scenes of Snape probing Harry’s mind started to play. Jim kept giving Claire worried glances, and although Angor Rot didn’t show it externally, Toby seemed to pick up on his concealed discomfort as well, judging from how he completely shifted his attention to his carving when it started.
“Um... “ Toby spoke up, glancing between the two of them, “We can skip these kind of scenes, if you guys want…”
“It’s fine.” Claire said immediately. “Just a little… off-putting now, I guess, but…”
Toby frowned at her, then at Angor again, who was either ignoring the question altogether, or didn’t realize it was also directed at him. “Well… okay…”
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There was cheering at the Weasley fireworks scene, booing at every Umbridge appearance, but then, the children got strangely excited when the scene suddenly switched to Umbridge, Harry, and Hermoine in the dark forest.
When she got dragged away by the centaurs, and Harry threw her line back in her face, the trolls could finally see why.
“Karma, bitch!” Jim shouted, Claire and Toby cheering in agreement.
“She die?” Aaarrrgghh asked, confused.
“Sadly, no.” Toby replied.
“We’re horrible, oh my gosh.” Claire chuckled quietly.
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Yet again, the good times didn’t last as the climax approached. There was Sirius’s death, of course, followed by a beautifully crafted battle of magic, but it was when the possession scene started that discomfort started to really set in again. Angor had glanced at Claire, who said nothing, but there was a visible flinch as she watched the events unfolding. Jim took her hand into his, rubbing his thumb along her skin for comfort.
Once they got through that, however, the rest of the movie was smooth sailing, and the ending was (thankfully) satisfactory to all.
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“Great movie!” Toby exclaimed yet again when the credits began to roll. “Let’s have some of this energy in our lives!”
“Agreed! We need more of this kind of stuff.” Jim laughed. “It’s too bad about Rowling, though.”
“Yeah, oof.” Toby responded. “Welp, unfortunately even jerks can make good books.”
“Why, of course!” Blinky agreed, despite not having full context. “Just look at Dictatious!”
Toby slapped a hand to his face to muffle the snort that came out, and Dictatious shot his brother a dry glare.
“Very funny, brother.” He snapped back. “Though, that’s no longer true, now is it?”
“Oh, come now, I was only kidding.” Blinky chuckled, waving him off. “It still applies whether you can write or not, I’m sure.”
“How is your work in The Forge coming along?” Angor Rot interjected, very deliberately changing the subject. There was a note of annoyance towards Blinky in his voice, one that he had meant to better conceal, but Blinky seemed to have caught on that a line might be getting crossed with this thread of conversation.
“Oh, ahem… Fine, fine. Still quite a bit of clean-up to go before the training equipment can be turned on, but we’re getting there!” Blinky replied confidently. “Perhaps Aaarrrgghh and I can get more done tonight still…”
“Can I come help?” Claire asked, hopeful.
“Of course, fair Claire!” Blinky accepted the offer immediately. “Many hands make light work, after all!”
“Oooo, I’m comin’ too!” NotEnrique declared, hopping onto Claire’s shoulder. “Would make an interestin’ background for the rest o’ my video!”
“Whatever you say, Mr. One-Track-Mind.” His sister teased him, earning a ruffle of the hair from the Changeling.
“Izzat the best insult you could come up with?! I’m disappointed!”
Jim got up from his seat, stretching. “I’d better get back to my house. I promised Mom and Strickler that I’d cook dinner.”
“Save me some leftovers, Jimbo!” Toby asked, practically drooling at the mention of his food. He stood as well. “I better go upstairs and check if the cameras caught anything while we were movie-watching…”
“Remember sleep.” Aaarrrgghh said, giving Toby a stern look. The redhead just chuckled awkwardly in response, making no promises.
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One by one, the others had filtered out of the room until Dictatious and Angor Rot were the only ones left. Dictatious seemed relieved the moment that Blinky left, anyways, although he still looked a touch wary of Angor still being in the room. All the same, he picked up the remote and switched the TV to one of his crime show channels with a practiced hand.
His ears stayed quite low, and his eyes cast occasional glances in Angor’s direction, though sometimes it was hard to tell how intentional that movement was.
Angor stared at him quietly for some time, but eventually, he spoke.
“Does my presence still bother you?”
Dictatious’s ears flicked upwards for a moment in response to the question, casting Angor a surprised look.
“Oh-- No, no, it’s, um…” His eyes darted away, and he quietly cleared his throat. “Just haven’t yet... gotten used to it again, is all.”
“... Is there any way I can... ease your concerns at all?”
The Conundrum could detect a note of uncertainty in Angor Rot’s voice, as if doubting Dictatious’s reassurances. It’s not like Dictatious could really blame him. He had been quite bad at keeping his own stupid anxiety in check, even still.
“It’s okay, Angor.” Dictatious assured him again, this time with less hesitance. “You’ve already done enough.”
Still not fully convinced, but also not in a position to pry further, Angor let it go for now, going back to his carving. The two of them stayed silent as the crime show continued to play.
Angor Rot wasn’t sure what the overarching “plot” of the story was supposed to be… He could tell there was a team of scientists, and a… warrior of sorts that protected them? Was ‘Cop’ the term that humans used for these ones? He’d only caught small pieces or one-off episodes here and there in Dictatious’s company. “Bones”, he had referred to the show before.
A lot of the language they used went over Angor’s head, but he could follow the general series of events, usually.
One recurring process he noticed being used in not just this show, but across the board of the crime genre altogether, was “DNA” jargon.
He glanced at yet Dictatious yet again, silently debating something...
“... So, this… ‘Dee-en-ay’ testing… How does it work?”
Dictatious’s ears perked up immediately upon hearing Angor’s inquiry. “Oh, that’s easy!” He proclaimed. “You see, humans have created technology that can analyze particle traces of the human body - hair, skin, saliva, you name it - and they use it to...”
Angor Rot watched calmly as Dictatious rambled on and on. One of the few situations in which Dictatious seemed most comfortable was when he was sharing knowledge, Angor had noticed, and he was glad his gamble seemed to work this time. It was almost as if nothing had even happened between them, how quickly and naturally the small troll took to his conversation-starter.
Even if it was still sometimes hard to grasp the massive technological advancements he described, Angor Rot took a strange comfort in hearing Dictatious talk like this around him again. It was, in some sense, relaxing to him.
#trollhunters#angor rot#dictatious#aaarrrgghh#blinky#toby#jim#claire#trollhunters fanfiction#text post#goldie post
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Hello!! Its heathen!
First of all, doing this out of order is my jam. Second of all, I am answering this right after reading the one I sent about the garbage gnomes. Third of all, if your master post need doing then do it now and I'll give you an Internet cookie.
The mental image of Sophie trying to draw and then hating it and then a gnome coming over and gobbling it down is amazing and I will keep it near my heart.
Crystal buildings are entirely impractical and honestly ugly, who the fuck would want to live in that all day. Like the green of the tribunal hall would just set me off like, sense wise. I guess this is what happens when a pretenscious species decides that they're too good for wood and stone and brick, because no matter how much they want to preserve there has to be excavation for all that crystal, like for a race who's entire thing is being peace loving hippies who don't want to hurt the earth, they sure are hurting the earth (I read like. A small bit from the first book online and apparently they made the core of the earth habitual?? Like that is just straight up impractical especially for a prison. Just put them in some city catacombs like a normal person.)
Also I have not gotten around to reading your wings au yet but! The mention of Keefe doing the bird thing of pruning someone's wings on instinct is fucking adorable and I love it and I need to read that bit but I don't want any other spoilers.
Also, are the time zones addressed in kotlc?? I remember reading a post somewhere that mentioned that they don't really but i don't know if it was from you or not
(Please ignore the spelling errors, I mess up so often that my auto correct incorporates them now)
heathen! hello! I am doing so many things out of order so plenty of jam to be found here! Once a group of asks gets old enough I stop the chronological approach and instead go by vibes and which ones I think I can answer most efficiently, so sometimes I do things out of order. Also if a certain topic is relevant (like wings au day or character/ship hours) I'll prioritize those instead. Essentially: out of order chaos!!
also I'd forgotten about that gnomes eating the trash thing...does this mean they're like compost bins? Are there certain trash items they can't be fed? Or do different gnomes eat different types of trash? now I'm imagining there's specialized gnomes that are equipped to eat the tougher waste. How convenient it would be to have a gnome bodyguard you can always feed your trash! That's Flori's real purpose /j
(also my masterpost does still need to be updated and I still have not done that. Maybe that's a project I'll tackle this weekend. Though I'd like to also go through my bookshelves to make an official TBR!)
The crystal buildings have always been like a "okay I guess we can do that" element to the story for me. Like I have so many questions and would probably never live in a crystal home (well, at least not without asking a million questions about it so I know it's a sound decision) but as far as the story goes I mostly brush it off. I think it's the vibrant colors that are off-putting for a lot of us, at least here in the US. There's this element of what?? Colorful houses?? You can do that? Though it may be more normal to other cultures and areas of the world that have brighter houses (I can't remember any specific ones off the top of my head but I know they exist!) Another aspect of it is that if the house is made of crystal and the crystal is colored...does that mean that's also the color of the inside of your house? So in that sense it's different than having colorful exteriors to your house if your entire house is super bright. Which would probably hurt my eyes depending on the light
The excavation thing! That's a great point. Crystals are a non-renewable resource, and so much use of them for building means they're using a lot and taking a lot. For a species that supposedly values the earth and the ecosystem, i feel like it would make a lot more sense for them to build something out of a renewable resource. It doesn't necessarily have to be a human resource like wood or anything, but crystal feels like it was more for the purpose of making the world seem rich and aesthetic instead of aligning with their morals. Which is fine! Sometimes authors have to prioritize one element over the other! It's just something we happen to notice so we can be like "ah, you see, here's the decision they made and why it was the best decision at the time despite contradicting a few other things." I've done it myself!
(yes, they made the core of the Earth habitable canonically. Though I think that's from book 2, Exile. Apparently the dwarves dug out the space and the Elves made it habitable, or something along those lines. Also the elves are not normal in the slightest and had to be unbelievably extra, making a prison in the center of the earth. They do have other prisons! I think this was in part to make the elves seem really capable and other from humans, and also to add to the drama of the second book)
please don't feel any pressure to read the wings au! It's just there for fun if you want to. And it's very long (it's longer than the first book in the series and getting close to being longer than the second) so if you do read it, please take your time (this also applies to you, Nines, but I know you won't listen /lh). But yes! There's little animals traits in a few of them and preening happens to be one of them for Fitz and Keefe (as they both have feathered wings). It's such a great opportunity for cute moments between them <33. Speaking of the wings au, there's actually a new chapter tomorrow!! I won't spoil anything though, don't worry!
Time zones are not really addressed in the Lost Cities. I believe there's a brief mention in Legacy where Sophie goes from Havenfield to London and comments on how its night in both places, meaning they had the same time zone. But aside from that it's ignored. I don't know if i was the one who made that post (I have so many I've lost track), but it's one of those details that the fandom occasionally bring up like "hey guys this is still a confusing thing" and we all go "oh yea that's weird haha" until we forget and then repeat the process. There are a few topics like that that come up fairly often, usually being reintroduced by new fandom members who have no way of knowing that we've already made that observation! (not saying you're doing this or that it's a bad thing, just something I've noticed)
(also I make my fair share of spelling mistakes and I have no intention of policing anyone's spelling or grammar unless they ask me too, so you're good! autocorrect is not my friend either and my partner and I have had our fair share of funny moments because of it)
there's a lot to the worldbuilding of the Lost Cities--that tends to happen when you create an entirely new world--so it's only natural that we as readers who have the time to think things over from a lot more perspectives are bound to catch a few things that seem weird or nonsensical. But unless it's actively harmful it's usually just good for a little laugh! I have an entire series of posts pointing out the tiniest details of the worldbuilding, and while my observations are mostly valid, it's all in a joking manner.
but it's always fun to talk about!
#I happen to really like worldbuilding so I'm a menace to authors#they're like 'hey look at this fun world' and I start picking it apart#not out of dislike or anything#it's because I'm invested!!#and always want to make things better!!#kotlc#keeper of the lost cities#kotlc worldbuilding#quil's queries#heathen nonsie#long post
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Mujina
“Fukuro Mujina” © Newgrounds user Vertiras, accessed at their gallery here
[Commissioned by @mr-w-rambles, who requested it be a player character race a la the kitsune. I wanted to mechanically distinguish it from both the kitsune and my previous kawauso. Part of that was giving it a Charisma penalty, which is unusual for D&D shapechangers. But typically, mujinas just want to be left alone, so I thought it fitting.]
Mujina
CR ½ CN Humanoid (shapechanger)
This humanoid stands about a head shorter than a human, and has the head and fur coat of a badger.
A mujina is a shapechanging humanoid with badger-like features. Unlike kitsune or kawauso, they are shy and retiring, and live in small villages far from other humanoids. Those few that do live in mixed society typically take great care to disguise their true nature. They often use layers of disguises in this process, and may encourage belief that they are a tanuki, nopperabou or other, more dangerous, shapeshifter. Mujina are usually standoffish, and prefer to attempt to scare interlopers away rather than invite them in.
Many mujina have hoarding tendencies, and they like to collect things, the more unusual the better. Some mujina can be convinced to come out of their shell by talking about crafts or trade goods, but others become covetous and attempt to steal these things instead. Of all the humanoids, they get along best with gnomes, as both peoples have a tendency for becoming fixated on a special interest. Mujina are carnivorous, but will occasionally supplement their diets with fruits, nuts and flower bulbs. Earthworms are a particular favorite food, and mujina villages typically feature large compost piles that act as worm farms.
Mujina as Player Characters
Mujina do not have racial hit dice—they are defined by their class levels. Mujina have the following racial traits
+2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Cha Mujinas are hearty and cunning, but reserved and wary of others
Medium size A mujina gains no penalties or bonuses for its size
Darkvision 60 ft.
Slow and Steady A mujina has a land speed of 20 feet, but her movement is never modified by armor or encumbrance
Burrow A mujina has a burrow speed of 10 feet
Blustering A mujina gains a +2 racial bonus on Disguise and Intimidate checks
Spell-like Ability A mujina with an Intelligence of 10 or higher can use disguise self as a spell-like ability once per day. She uses her Intelligence modifier for the purposes of determining the save DC
Change Shape see below
Languages A mujina begins play speaking Common and Sylvan. Mujina with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following as bonus languages: Dwarf, Gnome, Orc, Terran, Undercommon
Mujina wizard 1 CR ½
XP 200
CN Medium humanoid (mujina, shapechanger)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception -1
Defense
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 10 (1d6+4)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1
Offense
Speed 20 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Melee quarterstaff +2 (1d6+3)
Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8)
Special Attacks battleshaping (6/day)
Spell-like Abilities CL 1st, concentration +4
1/day—disguise self (DC 14)
Spells Prepared CL 1st, concentration +4
1st—cause fear (DC 14), grease (DC 14), enlarge person (DC 14)
0th—acid splash, detect magic, mage hand
Favored School transmutation (shapechanging subschool); Barred Schools abjuration, evocation
Statistics
Str 14, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 17, Wis 8, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Dodge, Scribe Scroll (B)
Skills Appraise +7, Disguise +1, Intimidate +2, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +2; Racial Modifiers +2 Disguise, +2 Intimidate
Languages Common, Orc, Sylvan, Terran, Undercommon
SQ arcane bond (amulet), change shape, physical enhancement (Strength), slow and steady
Ecology
Environment cold and temperate hills
Organization solitary, band (2-12) or hamlet (13-100 plus 50% noncombatants and 1 3rd level elder per 15 individuals)
Treasure NPC gear (quarterstaff, light crossbow with 20 bolts, spellbook [with spells prepared, comprehend languages, expeditious retreat, mage armor
Special Abilities
Change Shape (Su) A mujina can assume the appearance of a specific single Medium humanoid. The mijina always takes this specific form when she uses this ability. A mujina in human form cannot use her burrow speed, but gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear as a member of that race. This ability otherwise functions as alter self, except that the mujina does not adjust her ability scores.
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9, 10?
(From this ask meme that purports to be For Adults)
9 - smallest bill you pay
My smallest monthly standing order is the £5 a month I automatically donate to each of three causes/charities.
Each of these causes can do vastly more with that £5 than I could by myself for £5. I budget them as bills, and part of the cost of living.
It's more than some, and less than a lot.
10 - a small responsibility you get excited about
As an adult living in Britain, I have achieved a certain rite of passage: an allotment.
Allotments don't really exist in the same way in the USA. Picture, in the middle of densely compacted European towns and cities and villages, where space costs thousands of monetary units per meter, a huge lot of highly desirable land. But this land is covered in rotting sheds, disreputable greenhouses, infinite rows of runner beans, and Very Carefully Maintained Boundaries. Each carefully delineated plot is picked over by a person - usually a retired middle class white British person in wellies - who has a worrying personal life, like when you talk to them you inevitably find out that they're the champion grower of giant cucumbers in the county and have been arrested 6 times for vandalizing the town hall with graffiti. There is usually a terrible sort of clubhouse, to make tea in, and some kind of small lawn area for drinking in the daytime the tea and keeping the bees. The whole thing is an eyesore, and has likely been for generations, all while smugly occupying a prime piece of real estate in some overpopulous area, and it is ridiculous. Endless "dalek" compost bins, water butts capturing the rain from Dr-Suess-like guttering arrangements nailed to sheds that collapse in three directions at once. The local houses crowd around and stare; and the local developers grieve for the profits lost; and the local teens press themselves fitfully against the fences, crying out to smash the greenhouses and gnomes, to fuck in the tempting clubhouse; and they can all do nothing. There is nothing they can do. It is The Allotments. It has too much weight, too much power, too much permanence. Against its serried ranks of cabbages have crashed generations of greater hungers, fiercer desires than their own - grumpier homeowners, greedier developers, rowdier teens; two world wars, empires rising and falling, social revolutions - and they have all gone away, and The Allotments Remain.
And now they must turn their gazes away quickly, for Roger has spotted them, and is coming for them with a muddy mug of tea to shout at them about cucumbers.
I now have a small-yet-horrifyingly-large allotment a few minutes' walk from my home. For this privilege I pay £29 per year and must keep it weed-free, or face tremendous social censure and the irrevocable loss of the plot.
I find this strangely exciting.
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Treat you like a Chicken
From this post here, I got a wild hair and felt a ficlet ready to run with it.
It’s been a while since I've published anything but since I’ve been deep in writer’s block for months, I won’t complain.
Set in the Vows Universe (and thus Molly is still in therapy for her long-neglected PTSD) and rated PG-13 / 15 / T for language, dark themes, and references to character deaths. Ace Safe. Caveat Emptor.
Still waiting on my blasted Demarcation line
A long gong rung in the kitchen, breaking her rhythm while peeling potatoes and parsnips for the meal this evening. The ham was in the cooling cabinet and so were the pudding that Arthur asked for earlier. She couldn't resist him, even after thirty years of marriage.
"It must be those gnomes again, trying to get through the boundary wards in the orchard." She put on her housecoat over her apron and dress, having thrown it on out of habit. She checked the pocket of her apron, feeling the comforting wood under her fingertips and the magic through the wand bristle the nerves in her hand.
Ever since the war ended, Bill checked the property monthly to make sure the charms were still working effectively. Anyone trying to cross them who didn’t have Weasley blood in them would, well, let’s say that they would need to get to St. Mungo’s straightaway if they wished to not turn into a gnome within twenty four hours.
It hadn't been too long, only a few months really, since her ordeal with Rabastan Lestrange and surviving everything that followed that trying time. Andromeda was a huge help and so was Audrey. She never realized how much she carried on her heart and soul for so long and how much impact it had on all the kids. She thanked her stars that everyone understood all too well and accepted what she was going through.
Molly toddled to the door, wand in hand, ready to send the gnomes that lived near the orchard outside of the family boundary lines since Arthur was getting up in years and she didn't want her parsnips to get eaten before they were ready for harvest. The dropped apples were fine but not the parsnips.
She stepped outside, letting the kitchen door close and walked around the back of the house, ready to do battle with gnomes when her eyes fell upon two black robed figured, their wands pointed downward, and looking right at her.
A wordless spell flew from her wand instantly, flowing fast as thought. She'd not lost her nerve, not in the years since the war ended or her recovery from her ordeal. Instantly, one was immobilized, falling to the ground, his arms and legs frozen in the moment. Owein apparated a few feet away, trying to dodge the furious amount of spells flying his way. Every time he tried to plant his feet to cast a spell at the dumpy witch she’d buzz one right past his ears that he didn’t want to find out what it did. But he couldn't leave his friend Charlie behind, not if he hoped to pick up the bounty that was on Potter's head.
They said she was a housewife, damn it, not a dragon clad in human skin.
He apparated again, landing on the other side of an Oak tree, hiding behind the enormous trunk and hoping he could get a shot off. He’d stun her, wake Charlie up, and then they’d apparate back to Leyton, in London, to send the ransom Patronus.
Everyone they’d gone after for the bloody bounty was kicking their arse. How the bloody fuck did these people manage everything they’d done, not being the Muggle fuckers they are.
He looked down and saw three gnomes crawling up his robes, biting him wherever they could get a purchase. He screamed, feeling the sodding bastard bite down on a rather tender bit before getting hit in the face with a metal bowl. He tripped backward over a root, falling arse first into a huge pile of dragon dung, used to nourish the soil of the garden.
He rolled over, trying to keep from gagging from the stench filling his nostrils and as he opened his eyes, he saw the furious face of Molly Weasley standing over his body, dousing him with hundreds of pounds of parsnip and potato peels, some reeking of having been in a compost pile for probably months now. He froze, seeing her wand casually pointed at his nose.
He gulped.
She frowned and lowered her voice and a cedar wand pointed at his nose. "Who sent you after me?" her voice was as cold as a Scottish Loch in the middle of the deepest winter. "Tell me now."
"If I tell, they will kill me."
"They aren't here right now, are they? Tell me now."
"I can't tell," he whimpered. “I took an Unbreakable Vow.”
Her voice grew soft, so soft he strained to hear her. "You do know that self-defense is a legitimate reason to use the killing curse. And by your appearance, you're the ones who went after Andromeda, Teddy, and Luna. Now tell me who, otherwise you will cease to exist," Molly bent over his face, her features screwing up like he Mum used to do, "and they will never, ever find your remains."
“I can’t.”
She smiled and he felt his spine seize up. “You can’t be more than, what, 17? You’re probably too young to remember,” her voice dropped to a whisper. “Mummy probably scared you to stay into bed by telling you that Bellatrix Lestrange would come kidnap you if you got out of bed, yes, or that You know Who would take you away if you didn’t finish dinner?”
He nodded, barely.
“I killed Bellatrix in a dual, by myself. Now tell me.”
He uttered a name and felt... nothing happen. Those bastards. They tricked him into thinking he'd taken an Unbreakable Vow. Everything he’d done was because of what he thought was a bloody Unbreakable Vow.
He watched her point her wand back at his heart. "When you wake, you will be in custody at the Ministry. You told the truth and don’t deserve to share my Fred’s face." She motioned with her left hand and he saw the white marble stone bench a couple of feet from his head. He turned back to see a lone tear falling down her cheek. “I’d suggest never returning here again. I won’t be so kind next time.”
A red beam shot out of her wand, stunning him unconscious.
He woke sometime later, feeling like someone had dropped a hippogriff on his head, while sharing a cell with Charlie and facing down a rather irate Auror Ron Weasley and a bemused Auror Harry Potter.
“Glad to see you back Charlie, Owein.” Potter pushed the glasses back up his nose.
“I see you tried to go after Mum.” Ron’s smile was frightening. He saw where he got the smile from. “You’re lucky she didn’t treat you like the chickens we have for Sunday dinner.”
#Dragon's Fic#hpfic#Molly Weasley#Harry J Potter#Ron Weasley#OC's#Vows universe story#Rated PG / 15 for language#and some dark themes#mentions of character deaths#Hope y'all like it#Gotta get back to studying#Dragon's Post
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Ohay, so I have a headworld and I have trouble getting stuff on paper (or the digital equivalent) so let's just stream of consciousness this and hope that I can get some down. No editing, we die like men.
So the basic premis of this world is that a massive magical explosion went off and completely irradiated everything in toxic levels of magic. Magic permeates the air and in general works like mutagenic radiation with some bonus life magic thrown in so things are less likely to die when exposed. Basically accellerates evolution like woah and makes things more an more improbable the more intense the aerosoled magic is cause it is helping sustain the life and power of whatever's there.
Because the explosion (bomb? portal? nuke? accident? who knows!) happened in a certain place, the levels of magic vary by location in a graduated way - closest to the epicenter is just a wild permian soup of elemental storms and masses of the craziest single-celled life that anything that can survive the elements long enough quickly turns into.
Next up is dwarf lands - the different areas are named for the demihuman races that tend to live there, and are each zones of the concentric sircles of the blast radius, with some variation from the weather patterns moving the edges around. Dwarves are the descendents of those lucky enough to be far enough away to survive the initial blast and smart enough to go underground to escape the worst of the radiation. Go deep enough and the rock and dirt will work as well as a lead shield for more conventional radiation. Dwarves venture up for sustenance and salvage when they have to, but keep to the depths as much as possible. underground, they have about halfling levels of ambient magic, which is much more survivable. Above ground it is a lush wilderness of uncagorizeable life, nothing staying the same long enough to be classified as a "species". It is extremely dangerous, the magic levels enough to quickly warp anything exposed for more than a few minutes. Dwarves wear hazmat suits and pass through many levels of decontamination when they have to go aboveground. It's post-apocalyptic like woah. Anything they bring back has to be extremely thoroughly examined and rather than risk eating anything directly they prefer to more safely decompose it in a low-magic environment and grow fungus and the like on the resulting compost. This will kill or render harmless most of the potential dangers that could be in the mutated lifeforms.
Gnomes life in a comparably survivable magical grade, though that is debateable as they still have to go to extreme measures to survive. Gnomes basically have to use up as much internal and ambient magic as they can, or they explode. This is actually an adaptive defense mechanism, as it prevents the gnome in question from mutating too far and posing a risk to those around them.
Elves, on the other hand, are in a much safer zone. While there can still be monsters roaming about, the occasional wild magic storm, and elves are much changed from what they once were, they are adapted to their magic level and secure where they are.
Halflings live in areas where there is only a small magic boost. Enough to make life easier and things grow better, but not enough to change things significantly. They are descendants of gnomish ancestors that migrated away from more volatile environs and those from dwarvish lands that fled soon after the initial blast rather than hunker down and adapt.
Orcish land is somewhere around the same level of magic as there was before the blast. As such, they are the least changed from the magical radiation, though their society has adapted due to the early lack of contact with the rest of the world's populace, not to mention the apocalypse itself.
Out past the orcs is a no-man's-land. While the explosion caused an overall increase in the level of the world's magic, it was preceeded by a vacuum that sucked the original magic towards the epicenter. While magic can be a force of destruction, it is also the origin and sustainer of life and everything needs some level of it as much as a person needs water or air. While one can exist in a magical desert for a period of time, it is extremely temporary and akin to fasting or holding one's breath. The length of time one can spend in no-man's-land is highly variable, and doing so is inadviseable especially without heavy precautions. As the border of this zone in particular is both stark and volatile, people living within a few dozen miles of it risk the weather bringing death storms with it.
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Useful Home Gardening Tips For Beginners
When one finds himself searching for home gardening ideas, it's important to think of the sorts of gardening such as indoor gardening, organic gardening, and vegetable gardening. These different"genres" of home gardening tips will only lead you into confusion so it's essential to be aware that there overall home gardening advice that is versatile and are fitting to your average gardener. However, before anything else, one must get an idea on the best way best to begin gardening at home so you could fully grasp the very idea of overall home gardening tips.
What's home gardening about? It's a sort of gardening in which house growers can sustain themselves with healthy tasting produce and flowers that appear to bloom with the essence of beauty. To make the so-called tasty and attractive products of gardening, one must get the ideal set of gardening tips out there. When it comes to gardening in your home, there are certain tips you should follow. These house gardening tips are best for people that are just about to begin as home gardeners.
First off, when intending to prepare a home garden, it's extremely important to select a particular area on your lot. This area will be based on the sort of plant or crop you're planning to cultivate, but just about all the plants for gardening comparatively share the identical set of desirable outdoor conditions that are full or near-full exposure to sunlight. Additionally it is crucial to prepare your patch of plants close to a faucet so that it would be simple to maintain because you would not have to move around that much.
Of all of the home gardening tips on the market, this is among the most important to be aware of Deciding which vegetable or plant to grow is one of the most essential processes a gardener needs to take since understanding which type is going to give you an estimate of how big the garden plot you need to have. By way of instance, vegetable plants consume little patches of soil and are easy to grow while vine crops, such as cucumbers or watermelons demand larger patches of soil and are more challenging to manage compare to vegetable plants.
These home gardening tips are simple to master but the most significant element in home gardening comes from no publication or from any hint out there. It will come from you. Each successful gardener has their own set of gardening hints. This advice will be nothing if you wouldn't exert effort and time into gardening. After all of the hard work, you'll have the ability to see and even literally taste the fruits of your labor.
Small Garden Design Ideas - Landscaping and Home Garden Plans
A garden operator can themselves design and can create design plans for planting of garden and landscapes. You as an amateur gardener can achieve a great degree of experience by working for several hours in your backyard. This gives you many ideas. Landscaping can be enhanced using a vegetable house garden as part of their little garden design. There's been an increased interest in small garden design because the twentieth century.
Who ever be the designer of the garden, be it an amateur or a professional, make sure your home garden plans include a vegetable garden planting. Ask friends and family for their ideas. Landscaping should follow certain principles and rules to satisfy the needs and need of their owners or the consumers of gardens. The design of the gardens must consist of walls, sitting areas, paths, in addition to plants themselves. I know somebody who has placed numerous yard gnomes throughout their backyard. That is some strange home garden decorating. Care at regular periods of time is necessary.
Stick to a basic and easy little garden design to ensure that the garden is manageable. The first thing should be done is to select n proper place for the garden. A location that's topographically appropriate must be considered. There should be a well organized connection with water. The area should have rich layers of dirt. Besides a well constructed and designed garden can weigh a lot over the location. The quality of the soil in the backyard is the most important aspect as it has a significance influence on the achievement of garden. There are various kinds of fertilizers which could help the garden grow.
There are lots of soil organisms which assist gardener in improving the soil quality. Planting nitrogen fixing plants such as the ones in the family of legumes can give a increase from the fertility of soil. The excavated dirt of the landscape ought to be mixed with peat, mineral dust, compost, sand and manure. All these are examples of organic garden fertilizer. Last, the border impinges can offer a excellent finishing appearance to the garden.
Your own place looks amazing and organized. It can be marked with either fencing or slanting bricks or a raised base or shrubs. A proper fencing is required to keep away the animals from ruining your backyard and to enhance the beauty of your backyard. This prepares you for an excellent setting for your next home garden party. And remember the yard gnomes! Happy Gardening! Best of Luck! - Brian Dick I've been gardening for almost 30 years and have grown everything from asparagus to zucchini.
I have recently run into many excellent sources for helping to decide what to grow based on the nutrient make up of every vegetable a, source that actually lays out the secrets to successful gardening and much more. I strongly endorse both products and best of all they're available just as a e-book so that they are environmentally sound.
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Just last week a long-held dream of mine came true - we bought our own garden!
Right now it’s kinda messy and run-down (like me... lol) but with time I think it will be really awesome. I’ve spent the past week basically organizing trash, finding little treasures in the rubble (such as a chainsaw and creepy gnomes!) and getting a feel of the place. I think I’ve never been so dirty and exhausted in my life - not even while doing fieldwork in the jungle - but it’s satisfying work. So, since I am a zoologist and thus a total plant noob, I will spend the fall and winter learning about planting veggies, taking care of fruit trees (we got cherry, apple, pear, apricot... omnomnom), composting, and all things garden (and maybe hang around the hellsite a bit less).
#gardening#cottagecore#solarpunk#tinyzoologist goes green#i hope only houseplants hate me#get a garden they said it will be relaxing they said#if you got any tips please hmu
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Someone asked awhile back about having zero waste cats, and I just ran across this article tonight. They have a lot of good options here, so I thought I’d share it here.
Every person with cats will have varying opinions on what’s best, so here are some of the things we do differently at Gnome-central:
We always use distilled or reverse osmosis water that we refill at the grocery store in gallon and two gallon jugs. This is because our kitties have some urinary issues, but that’s a 100% effective way to avoid chlorine which can be problematic for cats. Also, we don’t use the filters on our cat fountains as the charcoal in them tends to breed mold here in VA, but your mileage may vary.
We also flush our litter instead of using bags, but you’re on your own judging your plumbing and litter for whether that’s a good idea. Some cities accept compostable cat litter in city compost, but you should definitely check that it’s OK before going that route. If the compost facility isn’t equipped to deal with feces and such then it could contaminate everything. :(
And finally, as a PSA, if you don’t want a meat-eating pet, you should probably get a dog or rabbit. Cats MUST have meat in their diet as they are obligate carnivores, but dogs are a lot more flexible as they are omnivorous.
#solarpunk#lunarpunk#zero waste cat#zero waste pet#zero waste#cat#pet#obligate carnivore#cat litter#cat food#cat water#water fountain#solarpunk cat
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A little Urban Fantasy
I wish I could say this was born out of a long, well thought out concept of a wizard/shaman character trying to scrape by in the big city as a detective on a supernatural investigative team whilst dealing with the myriad of fantasy creatures sticking their nose into his personal life and causing all kinds of chaos around his town. But in reality, I just wanted a chance for a guy to nail a God in the junk. So, Enjoy.
~~~~~~
The night air was heavy with the musk of summer heat. Standing across the desolate park was Mr. Simmons, or so he went by. I had been tracing his movements for some time, trying to catch him slip up. I had my suspicions after watching him stand behind little Timmy at the festival a few weeks ago. An unremarkable man, Mr. Simmons looked like any other office worker. His dull suit and unoffensive presence made him blend well into the scenery of the urban setting. A little too well.
I had managed to get him out to the meeting when I mailed him some photos I took of him at the festival. I had to shop in some special details, marking in the note that I had a special lens attached. I figured he would just get antsy and cover his tracks, but here he is. Staring at me as if to set me on fire. For all I knew, he could do it.
I guess Gods can get nervous too.
Mr. Simmons reached into his jacket. I tensed my hand around the revolver at my side. A bullet to the gut probably wouldn’t do much to an omnipotent being, but its presence allowed me the bravado I needed to stare down celestial types. He produced an envelope and held it out in front of him, quirking an expectant eyebrow. I followed suit. Without losing my grip on the pistol, a steady hand fished a roll of film from my pocket. I also held it up for the long-distance scrutiny of my business partner.
Now this is where the dance gets tricky. We show off the goods, hand it over to a confidant and they make the trade. If either side showed sign of unfavorable response, the deal is blown and we go our separate ways, usually the head goes one way and the body goes another. Seeing as my conversation piece was powered by gunpowder and his by the visceral might of eternity, I hedged my bets on taking a dive. As such, I play by as many rules to get by as I can. Stay cool, stay professional, stay alive. Blackmailing Gods is tricky business to say the least.
I hand the cartridge to my confidant beside me, a little sprite I have lovingly deemed “Fetch”. The Fey can be chaotic at times, but with the right incentive they can be a boon for simple tasks. Such as, “give to the big scary guy and nab the goods. Then comes energy drinks.”
The diminutive fellow hefts the cartridge in his arms and sets his wings in motion. Across the park, Mr. Simmons does the same. His choice of companion is best described as a pile of compost. Various bits of plant detritus, leaves and twigs, jutting out at odd angles and mashed together with a pair of flowers at the top as a form of eyes I guess. It managed to balance the envelope on its head and shamble its way over to me.
I had been milling the thought for a while, ‘why would a land god use a blob of mulch as a companion and not some kind of cute woodland creature?’ I narrowed my eyes at the undulating creature. As it approached, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I glanced over to Fetch, he was almost to Simmons. I decided to make a small diversion. Tilting my head back, I let out a loud sneeze. Everyone on the scene froze for a moment as I reached for a handkerchief. I wiped my nose and glanced over at Fetch, who had been looking at me over his shoulder. He whipped around, letting the canister fall from his grip. It clattered on the ground.
“Ah, come on Fetch!” I called to him, “Be professional, like we practiced.”
Yelling at my companion gave me an opening to steal a glance at the vegetative familiar. The envelope had toppled from its head when I bellowed my sneeze. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the mess snatch the envelope with a bony hand protruding from within the pile of leaves. I made a sound, something between a hiccup and a shriek. Whatever it was, it was obvious enough to alert the land god to my epiphany. Er, correction. That was no land god. I was attempting to blackmail a being of decay, of rot and death. Standing across from me wearing a rather irritated expression was a Plague God.
Remember that part about “separate ways”? Well, things were going to go very “separate” for me in short order unless quick thinking could save my bacon. When in doubt, fall back on the classics.
“AAAAAAHHHH!” I shouted and ran like a maniac. This clued Fetch in to do his most favorite trick. A mystical light-speed hokey-pokey that filled the area with enough razzle and dazzle to out glitz Vegas. The diversion must have gotten to the very angry being of unlife as I managed to make the few steps necessary to pounce on the envelope. A well placed back-hand toppled the camouflaged corpse into a rotten pile of bones. I sprang to my feet as the glitter faded from the air, the little guy can only boogie so long. I let loose a string of colorful language. Or I tried, I got to kiss the dirt before finishing “Shi-“ and had a powerful and ancient being digging its all-powerful boot into my back.
“Did you really think you could best me, Mortal?” It said with a voice like searing acid. I felt a deep chill fill my body. A cold that threatened to stop my heart before I could blink. But, it is in our most dour moments, that glory can be found and indomitable wit can be harnessed. I dug my numb hand into my pocket and work what I assumed were my fingers around my revolver.
“Did—you think, I wouldn’t…gun!” I pulled the trigger and felt a hot sting in my foot.
Some ideas are better than others. The deity howled in laughter, stepping off me and drawing a long, gnarly looking scimitar. Raising it high over his head and looming over me.
“Such are the machinations of a fool.”
I flipped to my back, “Me? A fool?” I pulled my bloody foot in front of me. “Maybe, but I ain’t the one staring down a Gate, am I?” With my one-liner properly dispatched, I gave Simmons my best crippled nut-shot.
The look of surprise on his face was priceless. Horror, disgust, rage and maybe a tinge of acceptance, though that might just be the hubris talking. The portal I had unlocked via bullet to the foot swallowed the powerful being in a wondrous display of magic and light. There were magical words floating in the air, vortex-y looking structures crafted from aether and a really sci-fi “vwoosh”-ing sound. After the fireworks display, the dust settled and the park returned to a quiet and serene place. I even had a moment to enjoy the adrenaline before the shrill sound of police sirens permeated the night. My signal to get moving.
I whistled for Fetch and I hobbled my way back to the car. My faithful driver waiting patiently, smoking a thick cigar. As I approached, he pulled the door open for me and I threw myself inside, Fetch staying close by. We pulled away from the park and disappeared into the night, literally. It’s handy to know a few gnome mechanics.
“Just as planned?” Piped up my driver, the cigar clenched between his teeth.
I winced as the adrenaline gave way to the throbbing pain aching my whole body. I managed to pretty up the expression with a rugged and manly smirk. I reached down and tugged the envelope free from the hole in my foot.
“All in a day’s work.”
He gave a sideways glance and shuddered, “You Gates are so weird.”
We continued in silence. It gave me time to wonder. A plague god had no place waltzing into the festival. How the heck did he sneak in? I looked over the envelope and resolved to bring it up with Marshal back at the office. But that could wait.
“Danny,” I said, “Take me to 42nd and Vice. I got a date with a gal.”
“Can I ride shotgun?”
I shook my head, “Got a Plague God riding shotgun right now, but if you are into that kind of thing…”
He pounded the palm of his hand on the steering wheel. “Dammit, I never get to—“ He paused and let the cigar drop from his mouth. “Plague God!?”
I snatched the cigar before it landed on the seats and popped it back into his mouth. “Never fret, my friend.” I smiled, “I got a plan.”
He took a drag on the tobacco and let out a thick sigh, “I need to find a new line of work.”
#Writing#urbanfiantasy#kick to the junk#fiction#fantasy#monsters and gods#stupid stories I like to write
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Comings and goings in the spring garden
March 30, 2022
She ran late by a week or two, but Spring finally made up her mind and sprung. Last week ornamental trees like Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) flushed into flower as live oaks overhead began their annual mass shedding of “evergreen” leaves. It’s autumn and spring all at once in my garden!
This understory Mexican plum is finally getting some height and showing off lots of flowers about 5 years after planting.
Bees and other pollinators love the flowers.
The white blossoms look so pretty against a deep-blue sky.
And they smell good too — not too sweet and kind of spicy. The fragrance wafts across the garden.
You want sweet? Bury your nose in the purple gorgeousness of Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora). Ahhh, that grape Kool-Aid smell! After taking a hit in last year’s Freezepocalypse and not flowering at all in 2021, the survivors — even the maimed — are putting on the best show in years. Gardeners all over Texas are remarking on it. The one pictured above is a neighbor’s tree.
I have one too — the sole survivor after last year’s freeze took out my biggest and oldest one. This one means more to me though. My daughter grew it from seed in middle school — it was a class project — and now it’s about 9 feet tall and blooming beautifully.
It still looks wintry around it though. The straw-colored grass is bamboo muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa), which got bleached by the (second in a row) hard winter. It’ll green up again soon. The cut-back plants are Mexican honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera), which after a normal winter (remember those?) would be blooming about now. Ah well, maybe by early summer.
Native spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) is blooming all over the back garden, having seeded itself in nooks and crannies in the shade and in morning sun. I just yank up the ones I don’t want, or where it seems overly weedy. But mostly I approve of Mother Nature’s design sense. The bees love this one too.
After schlepping my small succulent pots in and out of the garage all winter, they’re finally back out on the porch, soaking up the sunshine (bright shade, mostly) and warmth of our recent string of upper 80-degree days. The red Circle Pot is a new addition to the porch, after hanging from a tree in the lower garden for years. I like the height it adds to the eclectic tabletop pot display.
Sedge (Carex leavenworthii) is blooming in a pot, supervised by a matching gnome.
A few other faces keep me company here too, like the one on this little mezcal shot cup I found at Ceremony in Wimberley. He sports a tillandsia hairdo.
Huh, I’m noticing a theme of circles, suns, and faces in my garden art. Because we recently took everything off the house to have it painted, I had an opportunity to rethink what to keep and where to put it. I discarded some old stuff that was falling apart and made new combos, like this one: Death Star and Killer Flower. Better watch your step!
I’ve also taken a few plants out this week, including some loropetalums. They were beautiful shrubs before the Freezepocalypse, which killed them to the ground. But even though they returned from the roots, their new growth has been sickly, yellow, and anemic. No amount of compost or acidifying MicroLife fertilizer seemed likely to improve them, so I’ve been digging them up. Yep, even a year out from that awful freeze, the impact is still being felt.
I neglected to get a decent pic of its replacement, but in the photo above, at upper left, you can see its rich purple foliage. It’s another loropetalum! I’m not letting that freeze scare me off planting them again. The dark foliage and pink flowers are just too pretty to do without. This time I’m trying ‘Cerise Charm’. But I’m still hunting for a replacement ‘Sizzling Pink’, so if you see one for sale in Austin, please let me know!
Out front a Corten dish planter stuffed with golden barrel cacti is new. My neighbor inherited the cacti and was looking for a good home for them, and I said, they can come live with me!
They harmonize with my new Wasabi door color and gave me an excuse to add another steel planter. I hope they’ll be happy here.
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Digging Deeper
Learn from gardening experts at Trowel & Error, the annual symposium at Mayfield Park in West Austin. After a 2-year COVID hiatus, the symposium returns on Saturday, April 2, from 9:30 am to 1 pm. Designer Colleen Jamison will be speaking at 11 am, along with entomologist Wizzie Brown at 10 am and rose expert Theresa Anderson at noon. Located at Mayfield Park, 3505 W. 35th St. A suggested donation of $5 gets you in.
Need design help with your yard? Hire me as your personal garden coach! Maybe you need replacement plant ideas after the big freeze. Or maybe your landscaping has grown tired, and you want fresh curb appeal. Or perhaps you’re ready to get rid of some lawn and create a pollinator garden, bird habitat, or hangout space for you and your friends. I’m here to help! Contact me to let me know what’s going on, and let’s figure it out together. My range is Austin and suburbs within a 25-min. drive of NW Austin, but I’m flexible and can travel farther with a surcharge, so let me know where you are. Weekday morning appts. only.
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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