When I see people build million dollar homes on swampland or in flood zones again and again, I can’t help but think that those are the actions of an invasive species. I really wish people would stop buying and developing in areas that get hit by disasters again and again and again. If it were up to me we’d give this land back to nature.

Above is an example of what I mean, granted yes this is a dam not a house. I want thoughtful land management that will turn the land back over to nature and that includes monitoring by experts if necessary.

Monster Spotlight: Cactus Leshy

CR 2

Neutral Small Plant

Adventure Path: Ironfang Invasion: Trail of the Hunted, pg. 86

This, I believe, is the first of the Leshy species we’re looking at on this blog, so I wanted to make sure I chose the best one. Leshy are the result of Druids tampering with the world in beneficial ways, giving bodies and voices to the spirits of nature that permeate every environment but cannot express themselves in ways races as short-lived as humans can notice, let alone understand. While nowhere near as powerful as spirits who can form material bodies of their own will, such spirits tend only to do so when driven to violence and rage by the actions of man and elf. Leshy, thus, tend to be significantly more chill, spending the majority of their life tending to plants and rearranging stones and other small items in their territory, while keeping it free of invasive pests. Simple lives as gardeners and stewards of nature. Most of them don’t want to fight. Some of them can’t.

A Cactus Leshy is not either of those. Cantankerous and prone to hurling insults first and asking questions later, Cactus Leshy are noted to be ‘bitingly sarcastic’ and difficult to be around, prickly in personality as they are in body. Their Needly Body, in fact, deals 1d3 damage to anything attacking them with a natural weapon or unarmed strike, and anyone who has the bright idea to grapple one of them (and the worse idea of being grappled by them) takes 1d3 damage every round. They can even hurl those needles a surprising distance away to cause sickening pain in anyone they don’t like. So, it’s REALLY saying something when listening to them is harder than touching them!

Immediately backpedaling for your intrusion and apologizing to the diminutive spirit--who you may not even see, as all Leshy have excellent Stealth in their natural environments and can freely shapeshift into a mundane plant  as well---is the correct answer to suddenly being yelled at by a cactus. No Leshy wants to stir up trouble that could end up causing significant damage to the surrounds, and this is true even of the ornery Cactus Leshy. Easily accepting apologies from people who mean it, anyone who can put up with a Cactus Leshy finds out they’re eager to make fast friends with anyone who’s braving the desert, and they’re easily swayed towards helping those who seem like they’re struggling to make it. Knowing the desert is harsh even for creatures adapted to live in it, Cactus Leshy keep mental maps of their terrain to point travelers to oasis’, shaded caverns, and other such respite if only to give them a moment’s rest.

To those who’ve bonded with the prickly pears, or those who are in dire need of assistance, Cactus Leshy can sacrifice small parts of themselves to grow un-prickly pears. Over the course of a minute they can focus their vitality to grow a single, delicious, hydrating fruit, which acts as a Goodberry that also blesses the eater with a 24-hour shield of Endure Elements. While a literal godsend that allows travelers to, at the very least, sustain and protect themselves from the desert’s ravages for a day, it’s not without cost; each fruit pulls 1d4 Con from the Leshy, putting a limit to how many times they can provide a bite for a passing traveler. The fruits don’t keep long in the desert sun, preventing the Leshy from hoarding them as panic buttons, so they tend to only have--at most--one or two available at a given time, the rest needing to be freshly made.

Adorably, their temperament does a complete 180 whenever the deserts are blessed with rain. Ballooning in size as they soak everything in and becoming softer in both body and personality, the Leshy turn from cantankerous old men into friendly, cheerful, open, and welcoming neighbors, and greet every traveler as if they were old friends. Travelers met during rainfall are told not where to hide from the sun, but where they may shelter from the rain, and more importantly are told where the rain will linger in refreshing puddles for the next few days.

I, personally, think it’s funny that visitors are welcome to stay for a few days while it pours... and then swiftly told to leave once the rain stops and the Cactus Leshy’s true personality comes back to the foreground.

You can read more about them here.

You said in a previous ask I sent where if Aro learnt that venom had an alien origin, being the equivalent to hot sauce for aliens, that he wouldn't be surprised, but worried they might send in the metaphorical mongoose to take care of the vampire pests.

Well, I'm asking, what if they did?

Not immediately after the alien visitor messed and gave it's human buddies the venom hot sauce, because the answer would be boring. The vampires would have been nipped in the bud before they could become a problem and the entire Twilight series would have never happened.

Let's say, some time after Breaking Dawn, the alien species the original visitor came from finally find out what a big mistake the visitor made. Well, now's the time to fix this mess. So, they create and send in the vampire mongoose to wipe out the vampires. It is designed specifically to kill vampires and won't stop until they have been wiped off the face of the Earth.

I guess what I'm asking is how would the characters, the Volturi and the Cullens in particular, react to this existental threat to vampires? Would they band together in hopes of increasing their odds of survival, or is it every vampire for themself?

... Anon, I hate to inform you that historical attempts to introduce an invasive species to take care of the other invasive species has rarely (if ever to my admittedly limited knowledge) gone well or only affected the targeted species.

Caveat

The vampire thing is actually pretty under control thanks to the Volturi. It's a brutal way of doing things, horrifying, but the law means that anyone who eats too many humans gets the axe.

What this means is I doubt our aliens would notice post Breaking Dawn. They actually think the invasive species wasn't that damaging to the ecosystem, go team, and if they notice anything it's the large population of humans who seem to have done quite well for themselves despite being the only food source of an apex predator.

That's a little strange.

Point is though, I doubt they'd act as they'd consider it under control.

They Release the Mongoose

This fucker kills everything, I'm sure. Look, I'm sure it's designed to hunt vampires, but that doesn't mean it's not causing collateral damage to everything else. That's how life works, if you run out of food sources you have to get creative.

This thing is going to eat other creatures and it is going to be bad.

But focusing just on the vampires as you asked...

Depends.

First, they have to notice this is happening and realize what it means/what they can do to stop it. Probably they won't band together though as it was hard enough getting everything together for the trial.

If Carlisle tried really hard again he could probably get his friends together (but he had a month to do so last time) and Aro clearly has his own people and things going on but the species as a whole, I just don't see it.

Also, what would the vampires even do together as a species that they can't do as individual cohesive groups? I'm sure the Volturi would much rather deal with this as the Volturi versus involving people like the Romanians who will gladly take this as an opportunity to stab them in the back. The Cullens, similarly, won't want to be with those who supported the Volturi and might take this as an opportunity to quietly feed them to mongoose.

Whatever they're doing, they'd probably try to solve it on their own first and then spread the word.

Unveiling the Secrets of Your Gut Microbiome: A Journey into the Hidden Garden Within Shaina Tranquilino May 1, 2024

In the vast ecosystem of our bodies, there lies a secret garden teeming with life and vitality—the gut microbiome. Much like a hidden sanctuary waiting to be discovered, the intricacies of this microbial community have long fascinated scientists and health enthusiasts alike. As we delve deeper into the mysteries of our inner world, we uncover parallels between the gut microbiome and a flourishing garden, both nurturing and complex in their own right.

The Seeds of Diversity

Every garden begins with a single seed, and so does the gut microbiome. At birth, our gut is a blank canvas, awaiting the seeds of microbial life to take root. As we journey through life, our microbiome flourishes, shaped by various factors such as diet, environment, and genetics. Just as a diverse array of flora enriches a garden, a diverse microbiome fosters resilience and balance within our bodies.

Tending to the Soil: Nutrient Richness

The soil of a garden serves as the foundation for growth, providing essential nutrients for plants to thrive. Similarly, the gut environment plays a crucial role in nurturing microbial life. A balanced diet abundant in fibers, prebiotics, and probiotics acts as fertile soil, promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria while keeping harmful pathogens at bay. Just as a gardener tends to the soil with care, we too can cultivate a healthy gut environment through mindful dietary choices.

The Symphony of Interactions

Within the confines of a garden, a symphony of interactions unfolds—bees pollinate flowers, earthworms aerate the soil, and plants compete for sunlight and space. Similarly, the gut microbiome orchestrates a complex dance of interactions, influencing everything from digestion to immune function. Bacteria communicate with host cells, metabolize nutrients, and even produce essential vitamins, underscoring the interconnectedness of our inner ecosystem.

Weeding Out the Unwanted

In every garden, weeds pose a threat to the vitality of surrounding plants, competing for resources and space. Likewise, the gut microbiome must contend with invasive species that disrupt its delicate balance. Antibiotics, stress, and poor dietary choices can perturb the microbiome, leading to dysbiosis—a state characterized by an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. Just as a vigilant gardener weeds out unwanted intruders, we too can support our microbiome by fostering a healthy lifestyle and avoiding practices that disrupt its equilibrium.

Cultivating Harmony: The Mind-Body Connection

In the serene ambiance of a well-tended garden, there lies a sense of harmony and tranquility. Similarly, research suggests a profound connection between the gut microbiome and our mental and emotional well-being. The gut-brain axis—a bidirectional communication network linking the gut and the brain—underscores the profound influence of gut health on mood, cognition, and stress resilience. By nurturing our inner garden, we cultivate not only physical health but also emotional resilience and mental clarity.

Nurturing the Garden Within

As stewards of our inner ecosystem, we possess the power to cultivate a thriving garden within. By nourishing our bodies with wholesome foods, fostering a diverse microbial community, and tending to our mental and emotional well-being, we lay the foundation for vibrant health and vitality. Just as a garden flourishes under the care of a devoted gardener, so too does our gut microbiome thrive under the guidance of mindful stewardship.

In the tapestry of life, the gut microbiome emerges as a testament to the intricate interplay between human health and the natural world. As we unlock the secrets of our inner garden, we embark on a journey of discovery, forging a deeper connection with the hidden forces that shape our well-being. So, let us tend to our inner sanctuary with reverence and care, nurturing the delicate ecosystem that sustains us from within.

So now that I have a bit more time, I can say a couple of things about The Nine Realms season 3.

So for starters, this season is the best one so far! I know I’ve said it before, but this one is really a great season! For once, Jun also didn’t annoy me to the point of screaming. Like, her character was actually really good in this season and it was a very nice change. Also, it’s so nice to see so many familiar dragons (which at least shows that the “old world” dragons have not changed, really, so thus I am continuing to stick with my “there’s no way Thunder should look like he does unless he’s mixed with some other dragon species because evolution does not work that fast and the wings and tail fin traits are not night nor light fury traits at all, but this is for a different topic altogether).

Frankly, my only complaints for this season (spoilers under the cut):

-Eugene finding the Dragon Club hang-out spot and seeing all of the dragons was treated in a very underwhelming way. Basically, everyone was just “Oh, it’s you. Get out”. Like he broke into their tree house and not discovered their biggest secret ON TOP of telling the world about it. Eugene has also been horribly annoying until, like, the last two episodes. So I really hope he does a lot of development next season.

-The fact that The Hidden World has been SO sectioned off has made it so dragons can’t go into a different section of this “Oh so perfect” place without miserable, terrible things either happening to them, to other dragons, or their environment. I just feel like instead of being this “all dragon utopia” it’s a super delicate balance supported by flosser strings that can be upset even without human involvement. Ex. the gronkles not being able to eat anything outside of the Fire Realms, the flamethrowers as a whole, the entire last episode. Outside of The Hidden World, it seemed like the dragons had a lot more range to go about and cross-interact without everything falling apart or suddenly becoming invasive (obviously not a catch-all statement since there are some issues, but it just didn’t seem as bad as it is in The Hidden World).

-The one chick Tom’s mom hates, and frankly, so do I. (I forgot her name, please forgive me). Like, I know she’s kind of a “bad guy” role in this, but she just acts so unprofessional in a VERY professional setting and the fact that she keeps running off to do her own thing involving the fissure or resources that roll into ICARUS makes me feel like her higher ups should have put their foot down at least once or twice. She’s just annoying and a very generic “I’m mean and greedy and you will listen to me and I will get my way or else” and really has nothing else going for her and hasn’t the whole 3 seasons.

-Buzzsaw. Just...Buzzsaw. I know he’s another “bad guy” in the series, but he’s just so gd incompetent and poses such a minor threat that I can’t take him seriously and he doesn’t even have a good driving reason for acting the way he is. He’s just...there? I hope he becomes at least somewhat interesting in Season 4. Until then, his character is literally pointless.

-The ending episode’s finale. Now I’ll say that the new big dragon was actually REALLY cool-looking. I was loving it, though I have no idea why it was involved with the flamethrowers unless this was like some kind of Scar and the hyenas-type deal. However, my biggest issue with this episode is that it’s just resolved too easily. It really didn’t have much of a build-up nor final battle. I was hoping for some kind of more action-driven battle or at least a close-call with one of the riders to show that this is still a dangerous place they’re in, but it just kinda ended up with not much going on and the battle ending pretty easily. I know the whole thing was to show that they can do this without hurting dragons, which is good! However, it left much to be desired unlike the battle between Thunder/Tom and the skrill in the last season.

Either than these points, I loved the season and I’m super excited to see what looks like an Ice Realm for the next season!

The 63, Part 5:

41. Illusion: I talk a lot about the will of nature and Biosophy in my work, and so this piece is all about how we connect with nature as just another species of animal, though it is an illusion to see ourselves as equal to other wild animals and plant life, as of course we are too consciousness to really think we are equal to the things we slaughter and devour each day en masse. The Illusion of an egalitarian perspective, is that humanity thinks it can fully equalise all of man with the animal kingdom, and yet even that functions as a kingdom due to the reliance on a food chain and the hierarchies that keep everything in check, we are however able to abscond from a food chain and a natural hierarchy because we can contemplate and imagine a world where that doesn’t impact us, an animal and plant cannot, their primary function is survival, and if we were in their way of survival we too would not last long in the real jungle of nature. It’s often why the works of Blackwood talk about the facade of nature as docile and incompetent, and this is only a human logic because if we didn’t have our advancements and our tools as well as our intelligence, we too would be victim to the natural course of the animal kingdom. Believing that you can live in nature as one with the animals is an insult to the animal kingdom, try living like a feral beast for a year and you’d starve in weeks, taking your pre-established ideas of civility and social conditioning into the natural world and you fail everytime against the other animals who had no intervention of consciousness to be better than nature itself, they accepted their fate and role in the kingdom, we merely made our kingdom about control and currency. 

42. Judas: Out of the images of kisses and necrophilic and sadomasochist relations through portraiture, this piece is just me wanting to make something that Suehiro Maruo could enjoy, that of a depiction of Jesus and Judas caught in a illicit act, feasting on each others’ mucus and bodily fluids and the like. I often used to enjoy drawing on such references in theological stories and making satirical pieces like this, but this one is more for my own enjoyment and honestly isn’t to be taken too seriously. If you wanted to stretch for a concept here, you could argue it has something to do sexual insecurity as portrayed through religious referencing and it’s associations with prudishness and the reliance on spiritualising shame and guilt to force people into becoming sexually robotic and rigid. So in turn, why not depict the son of god in a homosexual relationship with the man who betrayed him, sort of another sadomasochist connection that is far more originally surrealist than dark or horrific per say, atleast in my opinion. 

43. War: This piece is based on this still and scene from ‘Come and See’ (1985), a war film by Elem Klimov:

Source: http://dfv363summer2012.blogspot.com/2012/07/elem-klimovs-come-and-see-1985-by-mark.html

This piece was inspired by the invasion of Ukraine during the earliest months of this project, and I couldn’t help but be frustrated by the amount of people making portraits about Putin, and even though I have stated I won’t discuss the war itself until it’s over as no party in that war has a clean record and history may repeat itself very soon either way, but I felt so many contemporary artists missed the mark. They made images on the invader and non of them captured the faces of the massacred and destroyed, I could only think of the film ‘Come and See’ as a fantastic example of how to represent war and it’s effect authentically. The lead character: Florya, as played by Aleksei Kravchenko, represents the human cost of war, as a child fighting back the worst of the German army in Belorussia he witnesses lynching, the execution of his family, the immolation of people en masse in barns and their homes, the ransacking of farms and the destruction of the countryside, rape and animal abuse. By the end of the film and with no physical representation of Hitler ever being made present to the audience, Florya having survived so much and aged in his face by what looks like decades of fighting on his still adolescent face, shoots at a portrait of Hitler as he cries into the closing scene of the film. It shows how scaring and deeply defeating it is to live through a survive a war, though you made it out, you didn’t leave with everything you had in the beginning, and Elem as a soviet director of the time knew this mindsight all too well. It often bothers me that war is about the people in power and not the soldiers or the civilians you lose their lives in the thousands, we call ourselves humanitarians, but where is the human representation when everyone is concerned with making images of Putin in clown paint? It doesn’t make sense to me personally, it honestly made me believe and see that people were clearly more interested in criticising egos, over criticising the actions on the ground and those who are actually and currently committing war crimes and taking the rights of others as I write this even now. 

44. Godwin: This piece feels like an adequate progression from the last piece, this piece being based on Godwin’s Law, in that all contemporary political conversation eventually leads to referencing and comparing things to the nazis, and the law generally proves the impact the nazis had on post-modern conversational debate, as in the age of Trump and Putin most can’t help but make pathetic comparisons to Hitler when they never experienced the threat of true nazis in their life. The threat of Nazism certainly being far more of an intellectual debate than an actual pragmatic terror in real life as most would point out to you, as even contemporary nazis aren’t even socialists and they don’t even respect the original values of the thulean perspective, of which nazis was built upon. The term ‘nazi’ and ‘fascism’ are interchangeable only now, back in the day they were not as they represented to separate, yet, allied political parties (mussolini as the head of the fascist movement, fascist coming from the latin ‘fascio’ to mean a bundle, i.e. power through collectivism as inspired by the propaganda of roman history within the fascist movement), and though yes the terms become more alike in time due to their dilution in pop culture, these times now have no power or intellectual value, they are watered down to the point of making them a quick slander that any idiot can throw out once their argument begins to fail, i.e. when criticising world leaders like Putin that people can’t be bothered to actually study and find actual reasons to hate him beyond articles read through their phone screen (It’s important to mention I’m not a fan of Putin, just the idea of calling him Hitler diminishes the brutality of Hitler and his war when you start calling everyone you disagree with or anyone who gives you conflict a nazis and a physical embodiment of Hitler, 8 million civilians didn’t die so you could moan about your mom being a Hitler to you). It’s my theory that most don’t know the true terror of national socialism or communism, and hide behind pop cultural terms without looking into their actual history and seeing just how destructive groups like these were in the 20th century, and all in the name of progress past the dogmatic religionist past of europe before these movements. Diminishing the real history of WW2 and it’s after effects is what causes history to repeat itself and causes characters like Hitler to lose their strength in teaching the next generation about the realities of human conflict and the potential we all have to destroy the very world around us, and so calling everyone out that you disagree with a nazis, by my understanding of history, that makes you the fascist for generalising so badly that you inadvertently brand a whole group of people and beliefs not worth debating or even allowed to exist, the very thing the nazis caused a world war for. But because people want to soak in their western privileges of having never lived under the threat of communist and nazis supremacy, they then think they understand what it could be like rather than actually educating themselves with the weight of merciless of evidence there is available to them, and it’s ironic in a time of immense liberalism that humanity would forget would a controlling and oppressive attitude would look like when they are happy to cancel, attack, and silence who groups of people for simply existing in what should be a secular and democratic body politic.  

45. Posterity: This piece is from the same ideas of the last, in particular, focusing on the future of discourse, especially when the immense of accessibility of information has made people dumber, and the reason why this has happened is because more information does not mean better information, or better translation and criticism, it just means more people are passing misinformation and pseudo-intellectual takes around faster than they’ve ever done. As instead of the old wives tales we grew up with, now we have fake news and outrage porn, we went from making up parables about not going out with wet hair to avoid getting colds, to believing every conservative is a nazis, and every liberal is an art college dropout with a victim complex, we have become ruled by assumptive thinking and speculative intellectualism, and yet no one is talking or seeing for themselves, god forbid anyone goes out and gets a fresh slice of life and more advanced intellectual material into their life. The posterity of discourse is looking good and people would rather live in their own bubbles than debate the uncomfortable and discuss real world history and current events as they are in the noumenal world outside of their own egos and habitual lifestyles. It all diminishes the real world impact of people’s choices and so I naturally find it so resent inducing in me to try and speak with my own generation without them making everything about politics they don’t even understand, or about celebrities with no relevance to their own ideas and ambitions in the world. It’s why I keep calling my own generation aimless and sad, stupid even, which of course makes me sound arrogant as all hell, but that’s only because I know my own worth and I know I can’t improve my own position in life without being responsible for my own development and critical thought, so many want to live collectively, and yet, blame every conflict they ever face on the nazis in power and their agents out in the public. I find this impact that comes directly from the nazis and their hold over even contemporary pop culture to be utterly fascinating, as any sociologist would too, it’s a subject to study intently with the aim to see that the nazis exist now as the archetypal villain and prove that people need a villain and scapegoat to vent at, and to use as the thing to justify their causes in life. It’s why you so often see Icons and idols as the personal enemy of an individual, rather than them looking to work on their own self-doubt and obsessive behaviours. Because if Hitler never existed we would have found another fall guy, another devil and a justification to rebel against it, that’s all we ever do, find the next bad guy and then base the rest of your life on fighting it so you don’t have to look at yourself and make introspective judgements on your own self worth and independence of though and responsibility over your actions. Of which people often forget where the same things that made Hitler into the power mad leader he was, no responsible and mature man claims millions of lives in just under a decade only to blame them for his downfall. 

46. Pauline: I made this image after years of shaving my head and adopting the lifestyle of a hermit, especially that of almost zen Buddhist hermit in particular, as they wish to completely remove themselves from vanity and material dependency, and in my travels I have even met and received a gift from a buddhist monk (I was touring temples in Thailand at the time, even saw the largest Gold Buddha too on the same day), I always thought it was due to the mutual connection of us both having a shaved head and not dressing too vain. The term for this style of avoiding vanity through a haircut being known as a ‘Pauline Tonsure’, atleast in the christian world, as St Paul was bald and saw his baldness as a virtue, due to not wanting to live a vain life always wondering about appearances and aesthetical value above all else. Though I love this mode and have done so ever since I began to truly go straight edge and sobered up back in 2019, I also see as the ambiguity of identity, as alot of people see their hair as their identity whereas I don’t. This removal from vanity makes you see just how vain the average person can be, always worrying about the smallest of hairs and the slightest grey tinges, people are often using these mechanisms to attract and distract the people around them, and thusly it becomes a dishonest form of expression by proxy, as expression should not hide or take away from your natural state, but hair can easily become a symbol of status and privilege far quicker than jewels and clothing can be as it starts from birth. Even my role model Anton Szandor LaVey shaved his head upon founding the Church of Satan for the same reasons, it’s about simpler wants and natural masculinity without some level of idealism present, it represents a life that is modest yet enjoyable due to it’s liberating feel when you are no longer weighed down by typical vanities. So it’s a universal symbolism that even the religious, agnostic and atheistic can enjoy, it gives the wearer a chance to shine on their own and without some poncy plum dancing about their forehead. 

47. Ares: This piece is inspired by this version of Mars (the Roman equivalent of Ares) by Jacob de Gheyn iii (1599):

Source: https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/mars-lc20160208-3645

I love this depiction of the god of war, because it’s so Gaullist and slobbering, very barbaric and dog like, not at all a romantic depiction of war by any means, this again being a reference to the comments made in the piece ‘War’, and that of depicting war through the actual humanity that gets caught in the crossfire. This being why I upon finding this image of Gheyn (iii), I just had to focus on it’s sad expression and make into a comment on the image of war in historical media, as in, war has always and throughout history represented a ghoulish aspect of our propensity to deal with conflict through further conflict. No artist has ever truly been able to make war look like a sport or hobby to anyone, it’s always been seen as a brutal and graphic fact of life that war is capable of happening and ruining millions upon billions of lives in the process over hundreds of thousands of years. While we can praise victory and the soldiers who died for it, as well as mourning defeat, war itself will always be recognised by the creative and the philosopher as an overall tragedy, and no better face of this concept made more sense to me than the one this portrait is based on, of which I found during the war in Ukraine and instantly I knew I had to make my version of it. 

48. Janus: This piece is not inspired by the original deity of the same name, but his adaptation in the writings of Thacker to represent the uncanny and the paradoxical. The idea of the two faced yet one headed god and image of a living paradox is one that fascinates figures like Eugene Thacker and Thomas Ligotti to no end, as it represents the very borders between familiarity and the potential for the surreal and abstract as made all the more important when trying to study and understand the uncanny, as the as of yet unimagined and imagined together as one entity and atmosphere within philosophical conversation on the testing of the boundaries between the metaphysical and meontological. 

49. Stoic: Mark Manson wrote on stoicism that is a path to sociopathy, that being completely indifferent to your emotions and the effect they have on your everyday life makes you naturally more inhuman and cold, it makes you into the worst person at any given party, and human connectivity relies too much on emotional exchange and physical comfort around others, not being the one stone on the shore against the naturally crashing waves of humanity in motion. It’s for this reason why Nietzsche hated stoicism so much, he saw it as mask of which all logic and reason was bound to in the history of dogmatic philosophical discourse, as while the stoics would tell you to control your emotions and actions to best mature yourself, that would also seek to have a reason behind any and everything that would present even the smallest conflict in their life, not allowing their emotions to respond. It’s why you see no artists loved for the radical stoicism in the historical or contemporary discourse, they just make for some of the worst creative thinkers and can’t express anything without absolute logic needing to present at all times. It’s why I see stoicism as a mask, the representation in this piece even being based on the typical visage of greek and roman heroes, of which were chiselled into stone, becoming later the quintessential image of stoic philosophy as emblemised by the analogue of the emotional fortitude found in stone as an artistic medium. The idea that a person can be completely emotionless or control their emotions to the point of numbing their natural responses and reactions is not something to be proud of, but it’s role in post modern society only makes sense as a way of curbing the temptations of outrage culture and nothing else, living life behind a mask that hides any and all overt expression and natural exchange is often the key symptom of psychopathy and sociopathy for a good reason. It takes allowing yourself to express and speak openly on your own experiences and view of the to teach and connect with others, but some will always see an expressionless mask as the only protective tool they have against the inauthenticity of western civilization and it’s people, something that has not gotten better since the days of early cynicism and Diogenes, of which actually influenced both pessimistic philosophy and stoicism in the wake of Diogenes’ death. 

50. Bacon: This image is based on this Francis Bacon painting (Study for a Portrait, 1953):

Source: https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/study-portrait-3

It’s obvious enough just how much I love the works of Francis Bacon, and if I had allowed myself more time to research via quotation I would have written up even more notes about his ideas on ultra-violence and truth with in art too alongside the notes on Manson and Ligotti, but the one take away here is that I still wanted to represent my affinity for Bacon and his work from the 1950s in particular, as this is my favourite period of his practice due to how dark and atmospheric all the pieces are. Bacon’s work in the 1950s and the earlier stages of his public career are less about the use of colour or shape, and are instead so much more about the presence of existence in space and it’s dynamism against shadow and light, with most of his portraits looking almost unfinished or intentionally empty, and all of this is on purpose to focus on the figure in space and how they punctuate a scene, something that Bacon’s history as an interior designer makes all the more relevant. You see this portrait in particular makes me think best on where we link together stylistically, he in attempt to represent people and their relation to space authentically, does so by drawing and painting the figure expressively and without overworking the details that make the subject factual human, and in turn this allows the audience and their brains to make up the rest on the spot, it’s almost an optical illusion that both makes you want to look for the smaller details that build up this image, and to look at it at a distance to see how your brain smudges everything into a coherent image once you stop overthinking it. And my work attempts to operate on this same basis, though of course more conceptually and in the key idea behind the work as represented through achromatic surrealism, with an emphasis on presenting the viewer with a deeply expressive piece and without giving too much away. This can breed misunderstanding as Bacon didn’t want his work to be seen as works of horror or terror even though most assume they are, and mine are attempts at horror and dark surrealism yet it can still be misunderstood and seen as lesser art for those associations compared to the brilliance and nuance of Bacon’s works. In summary, this portrait is about that conflict between space and our negotiations through it, through portraiture as best discussed in the works of Bacon in his more achromatic days of earlier painting etc. 

War & the Jedi

This will be a long meta rant, FYI.

The Jedi Order, specifically the Prequel era Jedi Order, gets a lot of hate these days particularly regarding their involvement in the Clone Wars. Accusations are tossed at their feet constantly ranging from corruption all the way up to warmongering. 

Let’s first look at the Oxford English Dictionary definition of these two accusations, shall we?

Corruption - having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.

Warmonger - a person who encourages or advocates aggression towards other countries or groups.

The definitions of these two words are so very misunderstood when it comes to relation to the Jedi. If the Jedi are truly “corrupt” then where are the examples of their dishonesty for wealth or personal gain? In fact, I’d argue that canon (and Legends) makes a point to show us that it is the Sith who are in it for personal gain, not the Jedi. The Jedi have absolutely NOTHING to gain from this war on a personal level, in fact they are losing members in terrifying numbers.

The Jedi are also not advocating aggression towards the Separatists, in fact what we see instead is the Jedi DEFENDING against the Separatists. I have yet to see in either canon or legends an instance where the Republic forces invade a Separatist planet who doesn’t have an army or some military involvement (i.e. weapon factories). However, time after time we see the Separatists forcing peaceful planets who want nothing to do with them to either bow to their cause or die (i.e. Ryloth, Lurmen planet, Kiros, Mandalore) the Jedi and Republic Troops will then follow the Separatists to these planets, but they try to do what they can to liberate the planet from the Separaist invasion and then they give the planet the OPTION to join the Republic for safety and economic reasons, but they never force them, as is super evident with Mandalore.

Yet people don’t seem to see this and continue to drag the Jedi through the mud. 

Here are the top 5 other “woke” takes I hear - 

Jedi are peacekeepers and should not have gotten involved:

 First things first, let’s look at the definition of Peacekeeper - a soldier, military force, etc., deployed to maintain or restore peace. 

I’d argue by that definition the Jedi were still peacekeepers, it’s true that they weren’t a 3rd party as they normally were before the war, but their position was trying to maintain or restore peace. Peacekeeper is not the same thing as a Pacifist, the Jedi were skilled warriors (training from childhood to wield a lightsaber), the difference is Jedi used their skills for defense not attack which is what we constantly saw throughout the Clone Wars. 

With regards to the idea that Jedi “should not have gotten involved” I ask you then what exactly were they supposed to do instead?

 We see at the beginning of Attack of the Clones that the Jedi are worried things will escalate to war, they have obviously gone to the Chancellor hoping that a diplomatic solution can be presented to avoid bloodshed. Or if that isn’t possible then that the Republic have some way to defend themselves other than relying solely on the Jedi (i.e. an army). The Separatists are the ones pushing them to a breaking point, were the Jedi just supposed to stand back and let innocent people be invaded/killed because they didn’t want to get involved? The Jedi were “Guardians of Peace and Justice” which means it was their duty to help bring about peace in the galaxy while also enacting justice. 

Then after Geonosis (where they lost approx. 187 members mind you) they learned that the Sith are leading the Separatist army - the Jedi are duty bound by their code to fight the Sith, they had no choice but to join the war. 

So, I ask again...what were they supposed to do instead?

2.  Jedi used a slave army for their own purposes:

 Okay, I can (and probably will) write a whole argument based on just this accusation alone. There are so many fallacies I don’t even know where to begin but I’ll try. 

I guess my first question is the same as #1, what were the Jedi supposed to do instead with regards to the Clones? 

Technically speaking the Clones didn’t “belong” to the Jedi, they were “property” of the Republic (as stated by Lama Su in Attack of the Clones). In fact, the Jedi Council not only didn’t know about the order, they had vehemently denied Syfo Dias’ earlier request to raise an army in the first place. The Sith KNEW the Jedi would be against it, this was all part of their plan to trap the Jedi (as was EVERYTHING about the war) - they clouded the Force, they literally deleted Kamino from the Archives so the Jedi wouldn’t discover it until the Sith WANTED them to (i.e. Jango just happened to use a Kamino dart?? Come on people). Yoda even states “blind we are if creation of this clone army we could not see” he fully admits they missed it because the Dark Side was clouding their vision. 

Regardless, the army was created, there was no changing that fact. Had the Jedi not taken command of the army do you think the Clones wouldn’t have had to go to war? Do  you actually believe that the Republic who couldn’t get their citizens to give 2 craps about the war would’ve taken up the mantle and fought instead? Do you think if the Jedi were like “thanks, but we didn’t order this” that the Kamioans would’ve just let the Clones go free? 

The answer you’re looking for is...no. 

So, like absolutely everything about the Clone Wars the Jedi did the best they could with the cards they had been dealt. They chose to lead the army on the front lines, putting themselves in just as much mortal danger as the men they were leading. They even sent a member of the Jedi Council to oversee the creation of future clones/training to ensure they were being treated humanely (something the Kamioans thought was ridiculous). They were the first to tell the clones that they were individuals, they constantly put themselves in front of their men to protect them (i.e. season 7 Obi-Wan deflecting the rocket from blowing up his men). The Jedi did what they could, just because we didn’t see on screen Jedi stopping to grieve every time a clone died did not mean that they didn’t care - real life Generals can’t stop in the middle of a battle to grieve over their fallen soldiers either, so why is it we consider it a moral crime if the Jedi don’t?

Another thing I’ll add is once the Jedi had evidence that the Clones were actually ordered by Dooku, did they immediately stop and say “oh hell no, these flesh droids can’t be trusted, we should just have them decommissioned”?? NO! They defended the Clones, stating that they were good men and should be trusted (and look where that trust got them in the end).

The Jedi were forced/coerced to fight this war as much as the Clones were!! Why are we willing to forgive the Clones, but not the Jedi???

3. Ki-Adi-Mundi killing Geonosians was the same as Anakin’s slaughter at the Tusken camp: 

This is another moment where context is everything because there is a HUGE difference between Ki-Adi-Mundi on Geonosis and Anakin in the Tusken camp. The fact that I have to even spell it out makes me wonder how people can even dress themselves in the morning. 

The Geonosians were an opposing military force, attacking Ki-Adi and his troops. Anakin slaughtered unarmed women and children out of vengeance. 

Now, had Ki-Adi turned to his men and screamed “to the catacombs!” brandishing his lightsaber with a murderous glint in his eyes and proceeded to cut down the unarmed bugs below the battle then you’d have an accurate comparison on your hands and I’d be appalled right there with you.

But, as it stands this is not the same thing...not even close.

4. The Jedi sent children to war: 

So, this is a tougher one and I can even understand the concerns behind it, and I even share some of those concerns. The thing I will say to this is, given what we see throughout Star Wars, what constitutes a “child” seems to be different than our own real world definition. 

Padme, for example, was 14 when she was elected Queen, and she wasn’t even the youngest ever elected. She (and her handmaids) were trained as children to defend themselves and their people both politically and in battle (much like Jedi), but you don’t hear people condemning the people/traditions of Naboo the way we see the Jedi being condemned for theirs.

Jedi children arguably mature faster than your standard person, and with regards to Star Wars there are also species’ age ranges to keep in mind. Grogu for example is still a baby at age 50, could it be possible that Ahsoka at age 14 is on the same maturity level as a human in their early twenties due to her Togruta DNA?? We don’t know, it’s never stated other than Anakin saying something about because of her advanced skills he forgets how young she is. 

Obviously Boba Fett is treated like an adult by other Bounty Hunters - no one even questions when he picks up a job and is placed in charge of a group at age 12 or 13 (and he is placed in an adult prison without anyone questioning it). It could be that by law according to Star Wars that 13 is actually considered an adult. Throughout history (and in many different cultures) 13 was when people were considered to be “coming of age”, So, once again we’re placing our cultural biases onto a fictional space fantasy world without realizing it might not even be an issue in that world.  

But even beyond all of that I ask you again - what else should the Jedi have done? 

Their young Padawans would eventually have to grow into Jedi Knights, even before the war by the time they are teenagers they usually followed their Masters on missions (often very dangerous missions) in order to get real world experience. At the time of the Clone Wars the real world they were living in was one at war. If they hadn’t brought their Padawans onto the battlefield how else would they have learned how to strategize, or how to cope with the emotions of battle? They would’ve been ill prepared if the war had continued on for years and years as it had looked like it was going to do...once again, the Jedi had no real choice in this. 

5. The Jedi lost their way because of the war: 

Did they though?? I’d argue they actually didn’t. We first have to ask ourselves what is a Jedi - well, according to the very first time we hear any type of a description about a Jedi they are introduced as the “Guardians of Peace and Justice for the Republic” I don’t see how the war took that away from them. 

The Oxford definition of Guardian is a defender, protector, or keeper. I fail to see how the Jedi stopped being any of these things because of the war.

Here’s the bottom line, the Jedi’s biggest mistake was that they fell for a plot 1,000 years in the making. The Sith spent over a millenia perfecting/hatching this plan, there was nothing the Jedi could’ve done to prevent the war by the time the trap was sprung. As always, I’m not saying the Jedi were perfect (I hate that I have to always specify that when I argue that the Jedi were good), all I’m saying is they tried to do the most good that they could with the situation they fell into - few groups/characters can claim the same thing.

Everyone seems to forget that the Sith controlled BOTH SIDES to that war, there was nothing - absolutely NOTHING the Jedi could’ve done that would’ve changed or won that war. So, instead they saved as many innocent lives as they could and to me, that’s very Jedi. 

I want to psycho analyze the Madrigal’s gifts by the triplets’ line.

Bruno’s is the most obviously worse out of the Triplets. Physically taxing, mentally scarring in some cases, and drives a wedge between him and everyone around him. I think if Bruno had had any cannon children, their gifts would have been similarly bad. -100/10, the future is overrated.

Pepa’s line is interesting to analyze in my opinion.

Pepa has a difficult gift in the first place- she has to bottle up her own emotions to maintain a perfect weather cycle, has to force negative (in most cases) ones to change the cycle, and her bottled up emotions have a chance of exploding in a quite nasty way. I think we can see her gift’s difficulties reflected in her children’s. 2/10, I would be raining all the time, and I would give a big fat middle finger to anyone telling me “you have a cloud!”

Dolores’ is obvious in my opinion- she literally has a heightened sense tuned to what seems to be roughly a mile around the Encanto (give or take), and if she is able to concentrate on a certain set of noises, which in of itself is a difficulty, she’s left with the decision to either share or act on anything she hears. Her gift has slim to no upsides, and I’d go as far as saying that it has no upsides at all. -∞/10, even though my hearing sucks atm.

Camilos’ is a little more subtle, but certainly still prevalent- he/they literally have the ability to shift any part of their body into anyone he has a clear image of- or to even change things about his body he doesn’t like- hello, body dysmorphia?? And I can’t imagine that this ability isn’t taxing- so if he wasn’t constantly eating Tia Julieta’s miracle food, I would bet that his muscles would be sore ALL the time. And having to eat constantly to replace burned energy! -7/10, I already don’t like my face, but I don’t want to have a cure-all for it!

As for Antonio, I don’t honestly know if his gift would have huge upsides like his siblings- but I think it would be like Julieta’s side- subtle, but really serious. Antonio can understand any animal- and they’re probably more compelled to be nice to him (i hope) but that would mean that Antonio probably won’t be doing much socializing outside of his family. Possible social anxiety? He’s got a really good net of people to help him though, so I can’t honestly see much downside to his gift. 10/10, the only good rating, I want to hear gossip from animals about the humans.

And oh, ho, ho! We’ve arrived at Julieta’s side of the family!

At first glance, I think Julieta’s gift looks pretty much without downside- just eat some of her cooking and wow! No more seriously broken bone!

Two things immediately pop out to me- this hinges on Julieta’s cooking, nobody else! I’m obviously not sure how persnickety magic is, but assuming it’s extremely picky, Julieta has to do everything- that means from raw ingredients to fully cooked, and she has to make a LOT. No rest for the weary here!

Second- relying on a magical cure for sickness and injury is concerning to me in two ways. What happens in a situation where (like after Casita falls) Julieta’s cooking isn’t a heal-all? Does she know anything about identifying injuries or treating them? I’d wager very little- given how much time she has to spend preparing her magical food.

And lastly- we saw a pattern here! Julieta has no time (or very little) to do literally anything else other than working with her gift. I’d wager she’d kinda get resentful of having to cook so much- it keeps her from paying attention to people who need her, not her food! Julieta’s gift gets a -2/10 for me, and that’s with me considering that her food could remove nausea.

Isabella Perfecta- on the outside I’d see her gift as pretty damn amazing- grow any flower, make a tree speed run growing, make any garden flourish? Cool!

But I think before Isabella actively changes what she’s growing, I think she could cause more harm than good. Any non-native plant can become an invasive species, if left unchecked. Now I think this is where it gets more complicated- I have a feeling that at least a certain amount of Isabella’s abilities are linked to her emotions, and if she set her mind to it, Isabella could likely remove plants in a wide area, much more effectively than a regular person. So, meh on the oof scale.

However! Her gift is incredibly unique, and we certainly saw that she used it ALL the time, often to try to appease Abuela. Now I’m going to try not to rant about Abuela’s influence on this side of the Madrigals, but the sheer energy Isabella spent on appeasement must’ve meant physical exhaustion. On my scale I’d say 6/10, because I realized that her abilities would help curb deforestation. In terms of taxing, 5/10.

Luisa. Oh, wonderful, beautiful Luisa.

I don’t have a lot to say really, your gift means you’re expected to do all the heavy lifting. You’re taken advantage of to move a building (seriously why did they have her move the church? No enough godly light??) and other things that HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING MOVED! REROUTING A RIVER IS NOT A THING TO BE DONE BY ONE PERSON!

This also means you’re away from the people you want to spend time with- you can pry my thoughts about how much Luisa loves her little sister from my cold dead hands, I’m a last child, I know how older siblings (with 5+ age gap) really want to treat their siblings, and it’s to play/spend time with them at the drop of a hat.

On top of all this? Her entire mental image of herself is being able to serve others in increasingly over complicated ways. She lost her cool at the dinner because she couldn’t do what a GUEST asked her to do. If I was the head of a household and my guest asked my (overpowered and certainly capable) child to move a large object for their own whim, I would kick them out! (Seriously! Mariano is fine, but Señora Guzman is on thin fucking ice!)

In my terms, Luisa’s gift is a 3/10, and that’s because she’s gotta have a heightened balance ability somewhere in there too.

And finally, Mirabel. Oh Mirabel, I literally sobbed every time you felt the gap between you and your family members- as a third child, you are so relatable and it broke my heart!

As a giftless Madrigal, you were seen less than, maybe not intentionally- but the feeling of uselessness was constantly being projected onto you, just because those with gifts wouldn’t allow you to help.

Because of that feeling of uselessness, I think Mirabel overcompensated- tried to do things that would “make my family proud”, show that she’s just as special as the rest of her family, and she shouldn’t be pushed aside just because she has no gift.

However, in a way, I think the lack of a gift saved Mirabel a lot of pain- the pain of never being enough, not if she couldn’t stretch herself to her very limits just to make people happy.

My diagnosis? Mirabel’s lack of a gift is a 8/10, and it’s only an 8 because no gift caused her so much pain.

Long story short, I think that the Madrigal’s family followed a pattern in gift types/burdens, and in the end I would call the gifts the drawback of creating a safe haven. They might be cool, but I would not want a Madrigal’s gift for myself, not even if it meant clear skin.

In The Shallows...Part One.

Summary: @hanji-is-life more merman!Bakugo and so I shall provide! I was hoping to get this out much earlier, back in may because MerMay but better late than never I suppose! You, a marine biologist, take a scuba dive to see the local fauna off coast and you find more than you ever could've bargained for...

Word Count: 1.5.

Warnings: None but minor curses, mentions of the ocean, an illusion of drowning. Viewer discretion is advised at least.

How did you manage this?

You hadn't walked on the beach, much less roll around in the coarse substance. So how did it manage to get into your pockets? This was a new jacket so how?

A short walk from the parking garage to the pier was all it was, no beach travel involved yet it had wormed its way into your pockets, in between your toes and nearly everywhere else. 

Your team chuckles at your discomfort finding your squirming the funniest thing on the planet as they loaded up the sizable vessel for the day on the water. For the past several weeks you had been cooped up in a lab studying the samples others brought to you but now you were given the green light to head out into the field yourself. Your goal for the day was to gather samples, check on the status of the coral nursery, and a checklist of other menial tasks. A full plate all things considered, much better than getting a migraine staring through a microscope at sea water until you either give up or get sent home. 

Waves battered against the hull of the boat while you and your fellow colleagues suit up in scuba gear. The goal wasn't to go to the bottom of the ocean, far from it, fifteen meters was the maximum for today so simple snorkeling hear wouldn't cut it. You didn't get your diving certifications to be stuck in a lab. The salt spray refreshing against your skin for the few seconds it was vulnerable while you changed from your outfit into the designated wetsuit. Not the full suit that covered your body from head-to-toe, just a body one to keep your core warm when your swimsuit didn't offer much protection.

The boat came to a stop right around where the GPS locator dinged where the nursery site was and the captain gave everyone a thumbs up as you and your fellows attached their fins, tanks, SPG's and all the other necessary equipment. One-by-one each of them held their regulators to their mouths and fell back into the blue ocean below until it was your own, to which you received a wink instead while everything turned upside down.

Ten, twenty, thirty, a hundred. Regardless of how many dives you've had you'll never get over the beauty of the reefs. Each time serving something new, change was ever present in your line of work. Never seeing the same specimens twice to witnessing a rare species and everything in between. The sunshine overhead casting glittering ripples on the sandy floor, catching your eye on the schools of fish that swam by as their scales gleamed in different patterns. This was the closest feeling you had ever come to your childhood dream of becoming a mermaid. When you wished on your birthday candles and shooting stars to holding your breath underneath tub water in hopes gills would magically appear. That's what started this career. Maybe it was a long forgotten portion of your evolved brain from life's time in the ocean but you felt at home, a familiar sense of belonging that you didn't have on dry land. This was where you were meant to be but sadly your wishes had never come true and you were cursed to remain a land-dwelling mammal.

The beeping in your ears ripped you from your fantastical daydreams to remind you of the harsh reality. This is as close as you were going to get but that wasn't so bad, it was better having a little than nothing at all. Looking at the gauge meter it showed that you have roughly an hour left of oxygen which meant you had been in the water for an hour already. How time flies when you're having fun, absorbed in your daydreams, and checking on coral and taking samples.

"Hey, could we switch our tanks out without getting oxygen narcosis or are we screwed in that department?" Your voice came over the radio built in the full face masks everyone in the diving team used no doubt scaring those who were lost in thought as you just were. 

"Y/N...do you really want to stay out here longer? Shitting Christ, you should be glad you're out here in the first place!" The captain's voice responded from the safety of the boat. "Now get your asses back up here n' we'll head on ba-...what was that?"

"What was what?" 

A chorus of responses chimed in immediately after, some crackling from the distance they were from the source and others sounding as if they were a foot away.

"Nothing, never mind, must've been a Manta Ray. Forget about it. Just get your shit and come back, I'm gettin' hungry and its close to lunchtime so hurry up." The static cut off as he put down the radio and looked out into the churning ocean. The massive shadow he had just seen passing by the boat putting him on alert, he didn't want to witness any reef shark's feeding frenzy.

"We can come back tomorrow, Y/N. Nothing's stopping us from that, right?" Another voice, one of your favorite colleagues suggested. That was right, you were there and your boss hadn't explicitly said that this was a one time thing. Another visit would do some good to see if the biometrics have changed in a span of twenty-four hours.

"Alright, okay, we'll come back later for a differential test."

The group had a collective sigh of relief. You were notorious for loving the ocean to such a degree you'd do anything to stay in a while longer, they were all content with leaving now and coming back later if it meant they wouldn't see your sad pouting all the way back to the van. Picking up their equipment and vials everyone began swimming back to the boat now most of them making small talk and discussing their plans for the weekend while you were once again lost in your thoughts.

Something impossibly dark darted through your vision. Blocking out the beautiful view of the turquoise water and colorful life like an angry, ominous storm cloud. A blanket of blindness shrouding all light for a moment but it felt like an eternity as dread sunk in the pit of your stomach, anchoring you to the spot. The warm water now felt cold, goosebumps running up your bare arms and thighs like pinpricks. The heart that had been so calm in the home of your ribcage now pushing adrenaline through your bloodstream, adjusting to a state you weren't acting on. Fear. That wasn't a Manta Ray or a comically large Stingray that was something else entirely. A predator that crashed against the fragile cage of safety, security and believing you were untouchable in shallow depths.

You were reminded of the psychologically scarring and irrational fear of one's ankles being grabbed particularly in the ocean by a shark, the part of your lizard brain firing signals all across your synapses to detach the leg. If only. A fair trade, being left alone at the price of a limb but unfortunately humans couldn't detach or regrow whatever they lost.

That fear was horrifically evoked when something far more firm than a limp leaf of seaweed wrapped around your ankle. Slimey, cold as death and tipped with five sharp points. Reminiscent of a hand, a very large hand. Expanding across your bare skin like a calloused cuff that threatened to break the skin, sink into the meat and tear your foot off entirely. However, that didn't seem to be happening. No cloud of your own blood instead the safety of the boat got further and further away, turning into a speck barely seen in the shallow water.

"Wait, wait no! What the fuck?! Let go! What the hell?" When your brain managed to get over its fear and shock of the situation your fight-or-flight instincts kicked into high gear and your body began to thrash around against the hold. If it was a shark hitting it in the snout and eyes was imperative to get it to release but what if it wasn't? What else could possibly have your leg in its grip with a goal of pulling you away from the boat?

A flurry of indistinguishable voices and noises came over the radio. From yelps, screams and to curses but the thudding in your ears and the furious splashes drowned them all out, everything became topsy turvy, what was the bottom of the ocean and what was the surface became an abstract concept. The primal urge to escape was ripped away when the respirator giving you oxygen was unceremoniously and harshly ripped from your mouth, the hand that had done it orange and black. The water was salty, like you had dumped an entire container of table salt into your mouth and you washed it down with a sip of water. It was invasive, slipping down your throat into your lungs as they tried to gulp air instead. The more you inhaled the harder it was to move. Your limbs becoming as heavy as cement bricks. Unconsciousness began to consume everything, your body down to your mind. The eerie sensation of falling was the last thing before everything faded to black...

I revere pigeons. Their care and history is my special interest and they occupy my mind almost all the time. The knowledge that someone is deliberately hurting and neglecting ones they've stolen from caring, safer environments and people that were concerned for their wellbeing has me crying. Imagine being so empty as a person, to go so far as to injure a pigeon for imaginary internet points and attention.

I have been trying to work up the energy to write a post about this for weeks.

Christmas eve of 2018, my business page was contacted by some one looking for birds. 

In January 2019, he let slip that he was a minor, and that his parents were adamantly opposed to him having birds.

Minors whose parents are not fully supportive of their choice of pet are a hard no in my screening process. He kept asking questions as if preparing to care for birds he expected me to sell or adopt to him, and every time, I would ask to speak to his legal guardian. He did everything he could, from telling me his mom would call me later, to eventually calling my personal phone in the middle of the night to try and coerce me into sneaking him birds under the cover of darkness. I got to the point where I would only answer his questions about available birds with "Have your legal guardian ask me." About this time, Palomacy's head, Elizabeth, came to me privately to warn me not to adopt to him. I know she thinks breeders will do anything for a sale, but my screening process for babies I have hatched is every bit as strict as my screening process for rescues. I told her I had no plans to. But confessed that I’d had a troubled history of using rescue as a coping mechanism for an abusive home situation when I was in college, and felt obligated to mentor him. I was also taken in by the charming 'enthusiastic teen who really wants to learn' facade that he's so artfully developed. So, when he used a different name to get into the Small Scale Rescue and House Pet/Therapy pigeon discord servers, and let slip who he was by accident, I was content to let him stay, hoping that the information we share would help him develop into a better care taker. But more and more red flags started popping up.

One pigeon’s bare neck, claimed to have been a wonky molt, but inflamed and bristling with filoplumes (The avian equivalent of whiskers;thin hair like feathers that also fall out during that heavy a molt)

The same bird claimed to have eaten playdough and thrown it up, in a photo with a cage full of green, moldy poop. (Where did the bird get playdough? Why was it allowed to get far enough to swallow it?)

The same bird claimed to have coins and chunks of carrot pulled out of his crop (things a pigeon can’t physically swallow unaided)

In every progressive photo, the feathers are thinner and more bedraggled and the bird himself was losing weight.

That pigeon mysteriously vanished, only got him to get two more, and mention nonchallantly after the fact that “Oh, puff died last week.”

His new pet pigeons, who supposedly lived in their own room in his house, got out while he was moving a couch.

He got, and promptly lost two other rescue birds from the rescue I posted about late in the summer that was shut down by her city and urgently needed homes for their birds.

When told Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue was going to be warned about adopting to him, this is what he posted on my education server:

He had his eye on a bird of mine (Frito), talking him down like he was undesirable or unadoptable, and reasoning that I’d have a hard time finding a home for him because of his bad personality.

Frito washed from therapy training due to INTENSE dislike of his harness.

That, and that he had developed a strong independent streak and prefered the company of other birds to people were the first things I told Brysen when he asked after that specific bird.

In one channel of the server, he would be talking to me about how he didn’t mind Frito just being a pretty house bird and would be ok if he never warmed up to being handled...

While, in another, he would be posting harnesses, asking if they would work for Frito, and asking other residents how to make an independent bird get used to being handled.

When I called him on it, he came into my DMs with this mess:

(The turn around in tone in the 12 hours I was too angry to respond is almost funny..)

Remember that rescue from earlier?

These are screenshots of her conversation with him (used with permission) about the birds that were lost, sent to the person in charge of Palomacy, where he was an active member on their platform at the time, to warn that he was preying on rescues to get more birds:

This conversation clearly illustrates that he was using us and Palomacy only to adapt the way he preys on rescues.

There is a reason he preys on rescues. We are hopeful for people to improve. So he expects infinite chances from us. And he expects that a correctly worded apology will erase any consequences. He preys on pigeons because there are no laws in the US concerning their welfare. Despite being domestic animals (the pigeons brought by Europeans to North America had been domesticated for thousands of years, and there were no natives of the same species or even in the Columba genus to mix back with); Pigeons are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources, which governs wildlife, and legally classifies them as an invasive pest. The Department of Agriculture is the one that presides over domestic animals and investigates animal cruelty. They may only act for the welfare of pigeons under the specific circumstance of the pigeons in question being meat breeds bred for squab intended for human consumption via restaurants. In any other instance, killing a pigeon by any means, including torture, is legally equivalent to pest control. There are no legal consequences for it.

After I blocked and banned him, it came to light through several sources in personal contact with him that he maimed, killed, and discarded 25 birds that we know of, and he is still trying to get more.

Several people who denied him birds shared screen shots with us proving that they were also sexually harassed and threatened with sexual violence by him.

Several of the people who came to us told us that they had also tried to warn Palomacy, but their comments were immediately erased.

Brysen was allowed to continue to speak openly on their platform with no consequences, allowing him to truthfully say that he was being mentored by Palomacy to lull smaller rescues into a false sense of security and convince them to give him birds.

They had two articles on their website about what a wonderful young rescuer he was, only taken down after they tried to claim I had doxxed an innocent child, and it was pointed out to them that their public articles had his full current address, date and place of birth, and a photo of him in front of his house. I had beef enough with the organization before this that I will not go into on this post, but I am disgusted by the way Elizabeth silenced her own admins and community members from warning other rescues and individuals and tried to shut the rescue up who sent the above screen shots when she came forward about the birds he tricked her into bringing to Ga who were immediately killed. And then blamed her for their deaths. @tutu.pigeon brought me those screen shots the day after I banned him and one of my server mods took it upon themself to be a voice for his other victims by creating the Instagram @exposing_helluva_duv What ever respect I might have had for Palomacy is permanently destroyed.

You cannot call yourself a rescue if you cover for a serial abuser, actively prevent his victims from warning the rest of their community, and then blame those victims for having been taken advantage of.

The harm that that, combined with everything else I have beef with, has done so out weighs any good that I can no longer, in good conscience, attempt to put aside our differences and meet in the middle.

I’m not gonna waste the energy to start any shit, and I don’t think any one else should either. 

But I’m done trying to be any degree of supportive to them.

Gonna put my energy into encouraging more small shelters so there are better options.

Making Your Own Correspondences for Plants

Disclaimer: This post is about magical and spiritual use, not medical, and medical use is mentioned only for historical examples. Don’t mess around with medicine unless you know what you’re doing, or consult someone who does. I’ve previously written about where the majority of magical plant correspondences tend to come from in modern pagan & witchcraft sites and books. If you decide to DIY some or all of your correspondences, how you do it will depend on what your beliefs and practices are. Some things to consider:

Do you believe the magical properties are already in the plants, are unchangeable, and need to be discovered? Or that they depend on your beliefs and associations?

Do you value individuality and personal significance, or having shared lore with your community and culture? Or both?

Do you value the process of relationship-building with a plant or spirit?

Do you value receiving lore through ancestry or lineage? Does it matter to you how old it is?

I’m going to delve deeper into 3 main sources: existing lore, physical characteristics and the plant itself.

===1. Building upon existing lore===

Learning the history and folklore of a plant, even if it doesn’t have existing magical uses, is likely to give you ideas and a deeper understanding. Some potential sources of lore: recorded folklore and common names, oral tradition, fairytales and nursery rhymes, etymology, flower meanings, appearances in mythology, appearances in well-known books or poems, pop culture and fiction.

Whether or not you want to think about it, the greater story of your practice includes the story of your lore and how it came to you. Oftentimes that story involves violence, theft, deception and ridicule. BIPOC have written at length about cultural appropriation [link, link, link, link] & cultural genocide as one of the ongoing harms of colonisation and racism. If you’re not part of a culture that traditionally stewards a certain plant or body of lore, listening to (whether literally hearing or by other means) and respecting those people’s voices is your ongoing responsibility when engaging with it. Navigating these issues as a member of an oppressing group often involves ambiguity and discomfort. This is also part of the path. Remember that we’re blessed to have the opportunity to listen to these voices today. Others did not survive.

Practical uses, both modern and historical often include medicine, but there’s much more, e.g. thorny plants’ association with protection - not only because the thorns protect the plant itself, but because thorny hedges have been grown in many times and places to deter large animals or trespassers from crossing a fence. More recently, I suspect the modern-day association of lemon with cleaning products has led to its current use in magical cleansing.  In any case plenty of common correspondences have arisen fairly recently from modern-day uses. Whether you place special value upon ancient or pre-modern lore is up to you.  The reasons behind old magical lore were often related to practical use, so I see it as a continued tradition.

===2. Looking at physical characteristics===

What you see depends on how you look (and think). Many plants have heart, star or crescent-shaped leaves. What do these things mean to you? A crescent usually reminds me of the moon but you could also see it as a claw or a smile, two things with very different connotations. Sympathetic magic (a phrase from anthropology) is the idea that things can magically affect each other based on their similarities. But beyond the obvious, there are also symbolic meanings. Many unrelated trees across the world happen to have dark red oozing sap, often earning them a name like "bloodwood". A straightforward use of sympathetic magic would mean it can affect blood, e.g. to stop bleeding. But symbolically, blood often means vitality, death, birth or rebirth, so that oozy tree could be thought to represent any of those things too. Learning observable facts about a plant can be a rich source of inspiration and understanding. Some things to consider: habitat, place of origin, endangered or invasive status, the wild form of a domesticated plant, gardening information, close relatives, lifecycle and seasonal cycle, and parts of interest (leaves, roots, flowers, seeds). For example, a plant well known for its flowers could have something interesting about its seeds which are usually overlooked. The internet is a bountiful source of information, as are books. Your local community likely includes many people who might be willing to pass on their knowledge, for example in local gardening or nature enthusiast clubs, nurseries, environmental groups, and cultural organisations.

You can apply a traditional method of Western astrology to make brand new correspondences to use for sympathetic magic, even with plants that have never been used this way before. This involves comparing the physical qualities of plants (shape, colour, smell, texture etc) with a list of qualities associated with each planetary energy. You might pick one or two features that stand out and concentrate on those. The planet it matches best is considered its ruling planet and will determine its magical application. It's possible for different parts of a plant to have different ruling planets, but not necessary. Common references for planetary qualities include Renaissance philosopher HC Agrippa and famous herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, but your associations may differ, or come from another system of astrology entirely. In any case, once the plant is connected to the planet, it’s also connected to everything else the planet represents. For example, if I determined that a herb in my garden had Venusian qualities, I’d consider it useful for any magic involving love, beauty, harmony or comfort. By a similar process you can assign herbs to a list of deities, zodiac signs, tarot cards, or whatever you want. 

===3. Asking the plant itself===

What this looks like depends on your personal beliefs and practices. It might mean asking an individual plant or a spirit representing the whole species. It may involve trance or ritual, or be as simple as listening inwardly for an internal voice in your thoughts. Will you seek out a living plant, contact it through its dried leaves, invoke its spirit into your space or meet it in a non-physical plane? Additionally, not all communication is about sound and words. Among humans some languages are signed and some people communicate with picture boards. Images, emotion, gesture, touch, music and body language are things to consider.

In some belief systems listening to plants may be interpreted more metaphorically, involving intuition or imagination. Using intuition-enabling practices such as dream work or trance may help you to connect your accumulated knowledge to a spiritual or magical meaning. Imagination and roleplay is also a way of gaining a new perspective, such as the deep ecology practice of a psychodrama called the Council of All Beings (note that the original form was heavily influenced by misappropriated Native American practices and stereotypes).

“What [something/someone] is telling me” is a phrase that can be used literally or figuratively in English. In other languages, especially Indigenous ones, such a distinction may not exist. This use of grammar can reflect a way of thinking and relating that considers humans as one part of a whole. If you were raised in a colonial mindset, asking the plant about its correspondences (whatever form that takes) and considering the plant’s priorities can be a way of challenging that mindset by reframing the interaction as one between two beings, rather than a human acting on a passive object. To me this way of thinking invites respect and reciprocity. How you can act upon that is a topic for another post, or maybe another author.

Do you have any hcs about Magnus+animals👀. I just love that he likes them. Sorry if this is dumb

ITS SO NOT DUMB!!!!! like first of all i love every ask i get and never not once felt that they were dumb and second of all this is actually one of my fave ever asks which is why it took me months on end to answer it. rip. i'm so sorry

anyway like not to have a shallow stereotypical fan take but he is so soft and precious. like the way he talks to/about animals is everything to me. magnus gushing over his snake? beautiful. incredible. outstanding. tears in my eyes, thundering applause. i love him

i almost wrote tears in my ass god help me

as a whole here's what i think

magnus is the kind of guy who loves any kind of animal (except maybe like mosquitoes) and considers them all baby in his head. however he is respectful of wildlife and stuff because he was also raised in javanese society in a time where humans interacted with wild animals way more than they do today, so he's not stupid

but just like there's no animal he doesn't like? he's not really a dog person but it's less that he doesn't like dogs and more that he knows a dog isn't the most suitable kind of pet for him. doesn't mean he can't be happy and pet one when he sees it tho

he totally has a soft spot for reptiles. like again THE WAY HE TALKED TO THAT SNAKE. i think magnus totally does the thing many marginalized ppl do where he just loves pets that are usually considered weird and that are sort of "outcasts" in that sense. so like he loves snakes, iguanas, chameleons and other animals like that, even tho his favorites will of course always be cats

at first magnus felt kind of weird/guilty (?) about his connection to cats because, you know, cat eyes, it felt like he liked cats because of his demonic side and it made him anxious to think that it might be just asmodeus' heritage because he doesn't want that. but over time it just became clear to him that cats are amazing animals and there is nothing bad, evil, abusive, or demonic about them or the way magnus feels about them

magnus is totally the kind of guy who doesn't have, like.... Official Pets but has a lot of unofficial ones. i know this is basically canon since we've seen how he basically has a bunch of street cats that come and go through the loft but it's still a detail i like a lot. like he doesn't want to Own Them and force them to be with him, he wants them to come and go as they please but he also wants them to have a home and shelter, you know? i love that cuz thatd be my ideal way of having pets (but cats are an invasive species where i live so i cant rlly do that, rip). he just sees them as like creatures with agency and wants them to be able to make their own choices

related to that, i think magnus' magic means the way he perceives animals is different. like he can't Speak To Animals or anything of the sort but animals have like... energy and auras just like humans and i think the fact that he can perceive that physically means he sees them as people a lot more than other humans do. that is probably enhanced by the cultural differences, since the strict division between animals and humans is a VERY modern western thing, but idk the details about javanese culture's views on that (and it would depend a lot on his religion and stuff like that anyway since javanese society, especially in jakarta, was so diverse)

anyway my point is that he perceives animals as beings with agency, feelings, wants, dreams, anguishes and etc more than most because he can kind of feel that energy and knows it's just the same as a human's. so it's weird for him to have a kind of domestication relationship where he keeps an animal in his home and dictates where they go (and when) and stuff like that. they are people to him

however he does have names for them all and he most definitely knows which are which and how are they doing. he doesn't really keep tabs exactly but he pays attention, you know? also if he happens to come by a rescued animal who cant live in the streets/wild for whatever reason, he most definitely will adopt them. it helped him a lot through the times when he felt loneliest (like after he broke up with camille and in twi)

this is gratuitous and not rlly a headcanon but you know that scene in tgp where eleanor has a whole ass lizard on her head? that is my absolute dream and therefore i just want to take a moment to imagine magnus with a lizard a real one, not lorenzo on top of his head or shoulder. bonus points if hes acting like it's the most normal thing in the world and whenever someone is like "magnus... there is a lizard... on your head" hes just like "i know right! his name is Coldskin Warmheart and he likes to be tall" and thinks it's the coolest thing even if it messes up his hair

lmao magnus and coldskin warmheart dressed up in like matching outfits or in such a way that the lizard is a part of his outfit. walk walk fashion baby

oh he absolutely loves to give animals the most outrageous names and the most outrageous names ONLY. again that's essentially canon but like all of his animals are either named puns or something completely corny and absurd like Mr Snugglyface. he never repeats a name and his friends are kind of impressed with how many awful names he keeps coming up with

not animals but magnus also loves plants! so much! and he definitely loves to prune and water them and talks to them ya know

magnus isn't much of a biology nerd the way he is with physics but he loves animal facts

ok i think thats all ive got rifnfid thanks for the question aaaa ❤️❤️

Josele Canty (Black Clover OC)

(Art by @cringeyvanillamilk.)

General Information -Status: Alive -Species: Human -Gender: Female -Affinity: Emotion, Blight (artificial) -Age: 27 (introduction), 28 (Spade Invasion Arc) -Birthday: December 5 -Constellation: Sagittarius -Height: 169 cm (5′7″) -Blood Type: A -Eye Color: Brown (naturally), gray (under the effects of Blight Magic) -Hair Color: Brown, with gray streaks on her left side -Hair Style: Reaches her shoulders and left loose -Skin Tone: Beige

Biography (buckle up, ‘cause this is a doozy) -Josele’s parents are Gwenith and Thomas Canty. Gwenith was a seamstress and Thomas was a hunter. -Josele learned how to use magic from her mother since she inherited her mother’s attribute. She also learned how to use weapons from going out hunting with her father. -At age 7, she met Nacht Faust when she interrupted his mischief making. Morgen arrived while looking for his brother. She befriended the twins with that encounter. -Josele and Morgen would often help others while together. Meanwhile, most of her time with Nacht meant him dragging her into trouble and her dragging him out of it. She treasured her time with both of them. -Gwenith fell ill and died when Josele was fourteen. Her last words were “Every feeling, no matter how painful, is necessary. You have a strong heart and so long as you trust it, you can do wonders for others.” -At age fifteen, Josele joined the Grey Deer squad alongside Morgen and Yami Sukehiro. -Around a month after joining the Magic Knights, Morgen confessed his love for Josele and she reciprocated. When she brought it up with Nacht, she assured him that she cared for him too, just in a different way. -Morgen and Josele proposed to each other simultaneously (to their glee and embarrassment). -Her happiness came to an end when Nacht suddenly showed up at the Grey Deer headquarters with Morgen limp in his arms, begging her to heal him. Try as she might, Josele couldn’t do anything to save Morgen. -After that day, Josele’s grief took a major toll. She could no longer heal and couldn’t create certain elements. The stress made the situation worse until she could barely keep her magic from spreading her negative emotions to others. -Unable to control her emotions and beginning to doubt their worth, she decided to rid herself of them. She cursed herself to suppress her emotions which further diminished her magic so she took a break from the Magic Knights to find a way to help others again. -In her search, she discovered the devil-binding ritual. She made contact with the devil Almatra and bested them with swordsmanship alone. What she failed to realize was that Almatra purposefully threw the fight to have a host. Still, being the host of a devil gave Josele a new magic attribute. -Nacht, after having been missing for several months, visited Josele. He pieced together what she had done and demanded she undo everything. Since she could no longer understand his anger, she refused. -Thomas (who was deathly ill at the time) died not long after Nacht’s return. Before he passed, Josele apologized for not helping him live longer to which he said she didn’t need to but forgave her regardless. -When Yami established the Black Bulls, he offered Josele membership and she accepted. She became one of the more reliable members, though she couldn’t make up for the destructiveness of the others.

Personality -As a child, she was happy but somewhat reserved. She understood how hard her parents had to work. So she tried her best to not act on her own and not cause trouble. -After meeting Nacht and Morgen Faust, she became bolder, taking risks and doing what she likes. -With her heart fully opened, Josele became a lively and good-natured person. -The type to see the simple beauty in things and take them as they are. -She enjoyed helping others and wanted to spread the happiness she felt. -Loved people in a general sense, as in she saw the inherent value in human life and wasn’t inclined to hate. Although she strived to love everyone, she didn’t care about everyone’s opinions of her. -Strong sense of empathy, not just because of her magic. Emotions are like a universal language and Josele was adept at understanding how someone felt, even without entirely knowing why. -While most of the time, she could keep her emotions in check, she could of course get carried away by them, but usually for the sake of others. -Quite the stubborn one. Wanted to do whatever it takes to stay true to her words and didn't give up easily. However, she disliked making promises and preferred to simply say "I'll do my best." -She had a teasing side to her as well. She wants to have fun but never at the expense of other people’s feelings. -Could be quiet and contemplative. She could live moment-to-moment but she liked considering how she's grown as a person and how she wanted to shape her future. -After cursing herself, her emotions still exist but she can no longer recognize nor express them. It’s bad enough that she requires someone to inform her of the mood of a situation. -Cold and pragmatic. Will be brutally honest without softening it. Doesn’t care about injuries in a fight as long as people live in the end. -She still maintains her good morality and strives to benefit the most people possible. She does right by people as a principle. -Loyal to the end. When she cares about someone, it’s difficult if not impossible to stop.

Trivia -Her name is an altered combination of the Japanese word 情 (jō) meaning “emotions” and the German word Seele meaning “soul.” It’s pronounced similarly to Giselle. Her surname comes from Tom Canty from “The Prince and the Pauper.” -Josele and her mother are both technically human but they descended from a witch who left the Forest of Witches generations ago. -Josele is associated with violet flowers. They symbolize modesty, for Josele's humble upbringing, as well as sentiments of faithfulness, as her loyalty to her loved ones remains despite the loss of her feelings. -Almatra’s form is fox-like in appearance. -Answering my thematic oc questions for Josele. -Answering my meta oc questions for Josele. -Josele's future children with Nacht. -This is what Josele's grimoire looks like:

Alien Invasion Apocalypse AU LawZo

Detailed summary fic style, because I can't write full fics without wanting to die. This one is pretty fragmented with my ideas, so it'll be choppy. I just wanted to put out my dark!Law and Zoro fic. Alien!Law and Human!Zoro

Part one, cause I didn't realize I was going to write such a long fucking world building opening. Dark Lawzo should be found in part two. I will admit, it does seem pretty zolu in this though.

Earth was invaded by aliens when Zoro was 18 and chilling at Luffy's place, a promise to the younger boy's older brothers to take care of Luffy until they came back. Not that Zoro needed to make that type of promise, as he saw the excitable, straw hat wearing boy as his own younger brother, but sometimes, it's the words being said that make his resolve that much stronger.

And his resolve to take care of Luffy and make sure he stayed safe and alive in the midst of an alien fucking apocalypse had to be strong when it came to the crazy boy.

At first, Zoro convinced Luffy to wait at home, in the throes of their city where the aliens have yet to descend to, that's protected by policemen and army men and all that jazz. It worked well for about a week before Luffy declared that they should just go to Ace and Sabo instead. Two people that were in two very different locations.

It didn't help that civilian communication lines have gone completely down, leaving them in the dark of how the two brothers were doing. And Zoro, though he KNEW that staying in a well guarded and protected place was the best course of action, was also secretly worried for the two men. Anyways, Luffy had him watching his back, and there's no way Zoro would let Luffy die in any way, shape, or form without him dying first. And he doesn't plan on dying.

So they leave. Literally having to sneak out the city turned base with a food supply that Zoro clumsily gathered and in an old beat up car. Luffy, of course the shitty brat, goes through what Zoro had thought would be a week's worth of food within a day, they're fucking lost as all hell, because the GPS obviously doesn't work, what with satellites being taken over by aliens, and neither of them really knew which way to go, and aliens could be at the next fucking exits they take, ready to kill and murder them or capture and enslave them or whatever the fuck the aliens were doing with humans. Fuck if Zoro knew at that time.

How they got from that fucked situation to it being a year later, Zoro, 19, Luffy, a young 17, and somehow, the kid is a beacon of HOPE to humanity in a world on the brink of destruction against another species far superior in all ways to humans. Through that year of struggle, as they go from city to city, war zone to war zone, trying to find Ace and Sabo, who's fled their original location as it was one of the first places to be attacked, Zoro's stuck by his promise without a hint of hesitation.

He's taken plasma bullet after plasma bullet for the younger boy. Clashed plasma swords (that he's looted or snatched off of unsuspecting aliens) against plasma swords aimed at his precious best friend's neck. He's learned to keep one eye open in the nights, as both of them slept like the dead, and grew experienced in battle, in fights against creatures physically stronger and faster than him. He's broken bone after bone, bled out pint after pint of blood, but he never hesitated to follow Luffy into battle. Doesn't hesitate to go through with Luffy's definitely-not-a-plan-but-Luffy-says-it-is plans and fully supported the straw hat wearing boy through all his choices.

But even then, Zoro knew that Luffy was wearing down. Through their travels, they've met people after people, saved hundreds and lost handfuls, and all of them grew to rely on the never faltering smile that was etched onto Luffy's face. But Zoro knew Luffy, and despite the insanity and seemingly unstoppable force that the boy portrayed, Luffy was still that.

A young boy.

And the fact that they've yet to see or hear about his older brothers were beginning to weigh on the boy. It's there, lingering in Luffy's eyes, when he's staring up at the skies, away from prying eyes. Luffy, no matter how naive he acted or seemed, knew what he meant to their current growing army. He was their source of strength, their rock, the anchor to weigh them on rocky ocean waves, and him showing weakness would only incite fear and incertainty.

One night, long after a wild party thrown for another close victory in a skirmish against the aliens, Luffy had shuffled over to his side. ("Zoro, let's have a sleepover!" Luffy said with his usual odd laugh. It's not much a sleepover, considering they've been sleeping next to each other for the past year, but Zoro lets the younger boy call it that.) Even though there was plenty of room to camp out in the worn and battered building, Luffy had slid his bedroll next to Zoro's, connecting the two with the zippers and slipping in to curl next to him.

Surprisingly, Luffy doesn't chatter away like he always did until he fell asleep. The boy doesn't fall asleep, either. Zoro knew Luffy wasn't asleep because they've slept next to each more times within the past year than they had in the other remaining 10 years that he's known the kid. He's stayed awake from the pain of his injuries, listening to his very much alive and mostly unharmed best friend breath in and out, a snore often times breaking the rhythm, and occasionally, some sleep talk.

So it doesn't surprise him when he felt Luffy's fingers grip onto his tattered shirt, head bowed against his back.

"...Do you think Ace and Sabo are alive?" Luffy asked quietly, then and there, his voice so weak, so fearful, that Zoro could be told it was someone else other than Luffy, and he'd probably believe them.

But Zoro knew that this was Luffy. And if he were to be honest, he would tell the boy that he didn't know, that with how the world was currently there was a high chance that they weren't. But he doesn't. Instead, he told him,

"Of course."

Because who was Luffy to rely on if not for him, the boy's best friend and the one who's followed him throughout this entire journey through a time of chaos and danger.

Luffy chuckled into his shirt, grip relaxing, the tension leaving his body.

"If Zoro says so, then it has to be true." Luffy said sleepily, his voice so calm and serene that Zoro doesn't regret lying. "Zoro never lies to me."

Even with those words slipping out of the boy's lips as he went to sleep, Zoro does not regret. Instead, he simply believed in his own words, silently reminding himself of a promise to two men and pressing himself back against the younger boy as he fell into a light sleep.

It was weeks later, when their close victories were slowly becoming closer and closer to losses. Not quite losses, as at the end of the battles, it is they that come out on top, the aliens forced to retreat back instead of scouring the area for stragglers to kill or enslave. But the increasing number of casualties, the way the aliens were beginning to become stronger and more powerful than before, now with unique abilities that Zoro had believed only to have existed in fiction, and the way Luffy was beginning to exit battle more and more battered, as Zoro is unable to defend the boy's back as much due to the increasingly difficult opponents, told a different story.

Then it finally happened. The end of yet another close battle, Luffy, weak and wobbly, perhaps from lost of blood and blows to the head. A falling water tower loosened by the battle around them. Zoro doesn't hesitate, as always. Doesn't hesitate to rush over, forcing his battered and destroyed body over to knock the boy out of the way pounds of falling steel.

A broken corner of a steel plate jammed into his body, knocking him down to his back. He's clumsily trying to resist the weight of gravity and steel with his arms, trying to stop the mess from completely cutting him in two and he could feel muscles and tendons and ligaments snapping, bones succumbing to a weight that his battered body could not longer support. Vaguely, he could feel support pipes stabbing through him like a pin cushion in his stomach and his thighs and something crushing parts of his ankles, guaranteeing that he would not walk out of this alive.

There's water, too. Dripping onto his face, but Zoro wondered if it was sweat or blood, and knew for a fact that the warm liquid he felt pooling under him was his own blood.

When everything finally settled, when the fog of exhaustion clears a little to every single bit of his body screaming of pain, he made of Luffy's voice. Shrill, distressed. He could hear the boy banging at the steel that's piled on top of him, could feel parts shifting, making him wanting to scream as metal dug deeper into his body with every movement.

"ZORO." He could hear Luffy scream. The boy repeated it over and over, and Zoro gritted his teeth, because moments before this, he saw the telltale signs of reinforcements coming in. Enemy reinforcements.

"Luffy." Zoro forced out, his voice more steady than he had expected.

"Zoro, you're okay!" Luffy replied back. "You're okay. I'm going to get you out of this." And Zoro gritted his teeth at the relief in the boy's voice, glad that the other cannot see the state his body was in.

"No, Luf." Zoro said. "You have to go."

"...What?" Luffy said, small and frightened.

"Luffy, you have to get away." Zoro repeated.

"No!" He could hear the boy scream, anger and desperation in his voice. "No! I'm not leaving you here! I can get you out!" The metal moved some more and Zoro held back his scream, even as tears pricked at his eyes, blurring his vision more than it already was.

"Luffy." Zoro choked out. "There are more coming. I saw them."

"It's fine! I can beat them." Luffy shouted. "I can get you out of this!" The metal shuffled more violently, stars dancing in Zoro's vision.

"Luffy, no." He gasped out. "You can't stay. Everyone needs you, Luf. You need to get them out of here."

And this paused Luffy. Zoro knew it would, because he knew Luffy felt responsible for the lives standing behind him. A responsibility Zoro never wanted to use against the young boy. But he had to, to get Luffy to live.

"...I can't leave you here." He heard Luffy whisper. And Zoro squeezed his eyes shut, guilt hurting him far more than the physical injuries that he had.

"I can get out of here on my own." Zoro lied.

"You're lying." Luffy said, his voice shaking. Zoro forced out a laugh.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Zoro said. Luffy doesn't respond, and Zoro pushed once more.

"Just go on ahead, I'll be right behind you."

"...You promise?" Luffy asked, voice as small and weak as the night of their sleepover many nights ago.

"Yes." Zoro said, without hesitation. "I promise."

There was the sound of shuffling, but to Zoro's luck, no shifting of the metal.

"You promised, Zoro." Luffy said, his voice low. "So I better see you again." And then there's the sound of Luffy's footsteps as it grew quieter and quieter as the boy went further and further away.

No doubt, Luffy would try to come back with others, but Zoro is also damn sure that they'll stop Luffy from doing so, because they've probably seen the signs of reinforcements coming in as well.

And because Zoro promised Luffy, he truly did try to escape his steel cage. He forced the snapped muscles and crushed bones of his arms to uselessly push at the steel plate stuck jabbed into his body. Even as it caused the feeling of blood to pool more and more underneath him. Even as his vision goes black for brief moments from the pain. Because as long as he was still breathing, he had to try.

He doesn't know long he had left. Doesn't know how long it'll be for the alien reinforcement to arrive and cut out his possible escape, despite his inability to move anything. He does know when they arrive, though, because he could feel the strange pressure the stronger ones emitted, oddly enough, gathering around him. There's the faint murmur of alien language, that's mostly drowned out of the sound of his own gasping breaths, as he felt his body slowly give up despite his urging not to. And that's all he remembered as he felt the spike of the deadly pressure sending him into what he thought would be eternal darkness.

Zoro doesn't expect to wake up, later on, well and alive, chained naked onto a cold, steel table. Nor the inhuman golden eyes staring coldly at him as he awoke.

"For a human," the alien said, shocking Zoro as he never expected them to speak their language, "you're rather durable." The humanoid creature walked over to him, a needle filled with an unknown substance in their claws. "Perhaps my efforts in keeping you alive will reward me with a subject that won't die within minutes."

Humans are weird: Political Maneuvering

The human placed a small paper bound package on to the table and slid it over to which the Vojocal grabbed it with ease and ripped it open. As the contents fell across the table the Vojocal’s eyes darted between the falling Federation credits and frowned. 

“This is not enough.” 

They threw the paper wrappings back at the human and smacked the table with their hand. The action made them unstable and they wobbled before their three legs could regain their footing but they had wagered it would be sufficient to unnerve the human. The Vojocal people were civilized just like any other space fairing species of the cosmos, but their appearance made them somewhat difficult to interact with. 

Standing at roughly two meters tall on three legs they resembled what humans would call “ant eaters” with their long mouths and tongues. What made them difficult to interact with was their skin pattern. Rather than a single bath of fur or skin tone they had a selection of scales that would change pattern as they moved. The pattern shifted randomly but each pattern it took on it would be disorienting to the eye to look at, like an optical illusion that just didn’t make sense. 

The two humans standing behind the one sitting made to reach for something at their sides but were stalled with a wave of the sitting humans hand. 

“That was the agreed upon amount.” said the sitting human. They tried to stare down the Vojocal but they were having trouble holding it without having to break away and rub their eyes. “You’re not getting cold feet now are you Foldif?”

Foldif spread his arms wide in a motion that once again made the humans avert their eyes. “That was before I ran into complications.”

“How are complications my problem?” 

“Because complications for me mean I needed to do more work; and more work means more effort; and more effort” Foldif smirked, “means more payment.”

The human sighed loudly and motioned with one of them to come forward and they brought up a large suitcase and placed it on the table. Popping several latches it opened to reveal several dozen more stacks of credits. 

Foldif pulled the case over and examined the credits as his eyes widened over the amount of wealth now before him. He was transfixed for but a moment before looking back at the human. 

“You think you can buy me off wi-”.

“I would consider your next words carefully.” the human cut in before Foldif could finish. “I am being generous. It would be wise for you to not become greedy.”

Understanding the threat Foldif backed down as he saw he had pressed his luck as far as it would go with the human buyers. They wanted what he had, but they had also come with a limit they were willing to pay for rather than just killing him and taking it for themselves. 

Closing the case Foldif pulled out a small storage device and slid it across to the human. 

“Everything you need to know about the coming offensive is on it. Dates, locations, army groups, supply depots, fleet movements.” Foldif rambled off everything he had collected as the human pulled out a scanner and plugged the storage device in and began going over the contents. “With this you will soundly win the war.” 

The human pulled the storage device out and placed it into their pocket. “Once we’ve verified the information we’ll be in touch.” They stood and made for the turned to the door as the two behind him opened the door and exited. 

The human Foldif had been dealing with stopped at the door and turned back to look at him. “In the future, it would be wise to plan ahead so there would be no more “complications”. You’re an investment worth keeping, but not going broke on. Remember that.” With that they tipped their hat and left leaving Foldif alone in the room. 

After the human left Foldif pulled over the case again and began counting the credits he had just earned. He had gotten through a single stack when he heard a commotion outside that brought his attention up. 

Without warning bright lights lit up from outside and filled the room in a blinding glow. Foldif made to cover his eyes and only then could hear the shouting of voices outside. One of them was the human he had been just dealing with though he couldn’t be sure. He had just began recovering his eyesight when a loud crack of auto fire rippled from the street below and Foldif dove for cover. 

A short brutal exchange of gunfire came from below with a few stray rounds firing upwards and shattering several of the windows. 

Foldif was still hiding under his cover when the provosts kicked in his door and leveled their weapons at him. 

“Foldif Makthren,” the lead provost shouted as they pulled out a pair of restraints, “you are under arrest for high treason.” 

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“Our operatives were discovered shortly after the transaction was complete and killed on sight while attempting to flee.” The sub commander looked frustrated bu twas keeping a level head as they read the report of the latest failed mission to the head director of the Intelligence Subterfuge Agency, or more commonly known as the ISA. “Our informant was likewise discovered and is being held now awaiting trial.” 

The director was reading along with the report as it was read out loud; casually flipping back and forth between the pages as if confirming things in their mind. 

“We have lost not only a vital team of field agents but our highest placed source within the Vojocal Federation.” The sub commander took on a more defeated demeanor. “I will accept full responsibility and tender my resignation by the end of the day.” 

Finally looking up the director looked somewhat surprised. “Failure?” The director inquired, “What failure?”

It was the sub commanders turn to look confused. “For failing to obtain the recent enemy campaign plans.” 

Waving it away the director motioned for the sub commander to take a seat opposite him. They were all smiles as they pulled out a small glass container and poured two glasses of liquor. 

“The operation was never about getting the plans, it was about framing the informant.” 

“Sire, i don’t understand.” 

The director keyed in something into his desk and the holographic image of the informant appeared. “Foldif Makthren; age 79, single, no family, no love interests, no outside work friends or other relations; one might even go so far as to describe our friend here as a complete loser in his society.” The director chuckled at their own seeming reverent wit and continued. 

“Normally he would be a complete waste of time were it not for who he works for as an executive aide.” The director keyed a few more keys in and the image changed to another alien. “Supreme leader Volgrim.” 

“I’m afraid I still don’t follow sir.” the sub commander chipped in. 

“The mission was to frame Foldif and implicate him in an act of treason. Being the highest level aide to the supreme leader thus in turn implicates Volgrim into the affair as well.”

The director took a pause to sip their drink. “What would you say if my aide was caught sleeping with my wife without me knowing?” 

Not knowing how to respond the sub commander remained silent. 

“Come on, give me an answer.” 

“I would say, that you are not that observant.” the sub commander ventured.

The director smiled. “Exactly. People would be talking behind my back questioning everything I did after that. Which is exactly why we did it to Volgrim.” 

The dots started to connect one at a time as the director continued. 

“Foldif’s trial will besmirch Volgrim’s image in the eyes of his people now regardless if he’s found guilty or not. Now his opponents have been given ammunition to question him and hound his every action as subversive. He will be spending much more time trying to protect his political career rather than preparing the next invasion of human space.”

Something wasn’t adding up even as the director spoke and the sub commander could not wait any longer for its answer. 

“That’s all well in good and all, but that still doesn’t answer how they knew we would be meeting them.” 

Finishing their drink the director set it down and crossed their fingers. “They found out because I fed them the tip. 

“You what!?!” 

The sub commander rose up in shock but the director calmly waved them down again. 

“I tipped them off to ensure the team would be caught only moments after leaving the aide’s apartment, thus insuring a direct line of evidence leading back to him.” 

“But why would you sell out your own team?” 

The director shrugged. “They had failed me on several jobs before and I had told them this was their chance to regain my favor. Granted I failed to mention the job was destined to fail but in the end it all worked out rather nicely.” 

Skyfish - Air Rod (Flying Slug)

“ Your camera got a glitch, a little fella very fast without seeing any our eyes. Gentle and cutest of all and the fairest species of nudibranch can adapt their own sac act like a balloon and dancing in the sky. That called by cryptozoologist is... skyfish. ”

– Eostre

Skyfish or Flying Rods is the one of the mythical creature and a cryptid introduced in Worldcraft: The Actress and the Sky, skyfish is invasive species in Berbania as part of mass rewinding by the conquistadors and Celtic monks before the great war of Earth and Berbania. Appearance Skyfish is the only airborne nudibranch mistaken for mayflies or aliens. Nudibranch's moist skin are unchanged. Skyfish inserts any bioluminescent markings on the fins and back from the neck to waist down mostly rainbow. Some nudibranches lacks any eyes, skyfish can is mistaken for some sort of fish flying in the air. Their organs are intestine and reproductive organs, including the special organ a large bag-like use as aid in flying. Abilities Skyfish cannot attack itself, even provoke until some groups of skyfish called shoals of skyfish creates a large flash grenade causing blindness. Behavior Skyfish is always passive towards everything including humans, but ran away from larger than itself and space jellyfish, a skyfish's main enemy and predator since in ancient times. Distribution Skyfish was found worldwide, originate from our Earth as well. Scattered skyfish population is drastic increase found in all realms like Berbania, Reinachos, Jotunheim, Avalon, Svartalfheim, Hell, Heaven, and Niflheim. Tamed Even for some princesses or scientists have special feeder for skyfish. Skyfish cannot be tamed except for have magical staff holds from a survivor if have a clan, it was used for find lost person or items as one of the guild animals. This feeder called Air Rod kibble made of rock pigeons used for breeding.

Website

https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Skyfish-895939923