Claire Keane
hello vonnie
wallacepolsom
đŞź
taylor price
Stranger Things

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Kaledo Art
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
AnasAbdin
dirt enthusiast
Monterey Bay Aquarium

#extradirty
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TVSTRANGERTHINGS
DEAR READER
I'd rather be in outer space đ¸
Mike Driver
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

ellievsbear

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@bookwyrmie
Need some motiv-ocean to leap into the weekend? You got this!
Leaping blennies are amazing amphibious fish. They can launch themselves off rocks and into the air sometimes up to 50 times their body length. Not only do they flash their red dorsal fins to communicate, but they can also live on land temporarily in tidepools and rocky coasts.Â
These extraordinary terrestrial fish shore do know how to make a splash, both in and outside the water!
Headcanon: Many populations in AramĂĄn have some variant of a legend of "The Tooth Fairy" who magically visits every child who lost a tooth that day, no matter how many or how farflung they are. And many of their children faithfully put their lost teeth under their pillows and wake up to find it replaced by a coin, stealthily swapped out by the adults who know that is just an old story/bit of whimsy and quite impossible in reality.
Except... tooth fairies (a type of fae, not a singular entity) do exist in AramĂĄn, and they do collect teeth and leave various small valuables in return. It's just that they're as limited in speed of travel as any other beings (especially since the Shapers War and difficulties with magical travel), so you're only likely to be visited by one if you lose your tooth close to where tooth fairies live. Those areas were scarce enough before the gates to Faerie closed, and now the few remaining pockets shrink ever further away from the dangers of close contact with the other species of AramĂĄn.
...With the notable exception of the Golden Orchard.
Which will set up the Seekers for a very unexpected conversation someday when one of them gets a tooth knocked out in a fight, and they find that Sir Julien Davinos is determined to find the stray tooth once the fight is over because how else are you going to trade it to the tooth fairy? Of course it has to be traded to a tooth fairy. That is what one does with lost teeth. It does no one any good to just leave them to rot in the dirt. (He did formally waive collection for one of his when he was thirteen and tipped the fairy a silver in recompense for the trouble, but that was to keep it for a specific purpose, not just wasting it.)
Thaisha and Hal kept up the Tooth Fairy ruse when their kids were young, and Occtis has only ever been aware of it as a lie told to other children, since his family disdained the whole concept. (This is the first Vaelus has heard of the idea, period.) Both of them are desperately trying figure out, without provoking a fight, whether Julien knows something they don't, if he somehow made it well into adulthood without catching on, or if this whole thing is just an elaborate prank on his part.
In the garden. Värmland, Sweden (19 May 2019).
Things to consider when Writing about Heists!!
âš What are they actually stealing and WHY. money is boring unless there's a specific reason they need that exact amount. magical artifact? information? person? the declaration of independence? make it interesting and personal
âš Who planned this thing. because the planner is usually not the leader and that creates tension. is the plan genius or are they just winging it and pretending they know what they're doing
âš What's everyone's role. you need: the mastermind, the muscle, the hacker/magic user, the conman, the thief, the driver/getaway person, the inside person, the wildcard who's chaos incarnate. everyone has a job and also a reason they can't just be replaced
âš How did this crew even form. old friends? recruited specifically for this job? forced together by circumstances? some of them hate each other but need each other's skills?
âš What's the target. museum? casino? palace? dragon's hoard? corporation? secure facility that's supposed to be impossible to break into (it's not but it's close)
âš What's the security like. guards, cameras, magic wards, traps, locks that require specific keys, biometrics, creatures guarding it, all of the above. make it seem genuinely difficult
âš What's the timeline. do they have weeks to prepare or is this a "we have 48 hours" situation. rushed heists are messier and more fun
âš What's everyone's motivation. money obviously but also: revenge, saving someone, clearing their name, thrill seeking, blackmail, ideological reasons, debt. mixed motivations create the best conflict
âš Is there a traitor. there's usually a traitor. or at least someone with a secret agenda that contradicts the group's goals. trust issues everywhere
âš What's the escape plan. because getting in is only half of it. how do they get out without getting caught or killed. what if the escape plan fails (it will)
âš What can go wrong. everything. something WILL go wrong. alarm gets tripped early, guard that wasn't supposed to be there, someone gets injured, the thing they're stealing isn't where it should be, betrayal. plan B time
âš What are the consequences if they fail. prison? death? worse? are there people threatening their families? debts they can't pay? this raises the stakes
âš How much prep/planning do you show. the planning montage is iconic but don't make it boring. show the research, the practice runs, the moments they realize how screwed they might be
âš Is this crew's first job together or have they done this before. experienced crews have history and inside jokes and old grudges. new crews don't trust each other yet
âš What's the moral line. are they robin hood types stealing from the evil rich? morally gray criminals? fully selfish? do they have rules about collateral damage?
âš How do they split the take. equally? based on contribution? does the mastermind get more? is someone getting shortchanged? money ruins friendships
I've wanted to do something with this general shape for awhile, and finally figured out how I wanted to approach it - intertwined rainbow gradients. Blackwork embroidery on 14-count Aida cloth.
Pattern here (my site) or here (Etsy).
Night on the Spaceship
Getting a drink of water is one of those things Iâd like to say I could do in my sleep, but ironically that was not the case tonight. The water bottle on the bedside table was usually trustworthy. Sometimes you just fumble the basics, though, and this time I fumbled it right onto the bed. Soaked the blanket and my favorite pajamas too.Â
I grumbled and complained about it, hurrying to grab the bottle and pull the blanket off before it seeped further. The sheets were dry, thankfully. I piled everything wet on the floor, turned on my dim reading lamp, and got new pajamas.Â
I complained thoroughly and creatively, but Telly wasnât there to flick an ear about it. She didnât even peek her head in through the little door in the cat ramp near the ceiling, so she must have been elsewhere on the ship. Probably just as well. I would have felt bad if Iâd spilled water on her too.Â
Though, to be fair, she was the reason my spare blanket was waiting to be washed instead of ready to throw on the bed and go back to sleep. The dang thing stank of seafood, because my darling feline had apparently managed to steal more of Blip and Blopâs favorite shrimp sticks and eat them on the bed.
Great, choice, cat, I thought as I gathered up both blankets and my wet clothes. Spectacular choices all around. I should probably talk to the twins about where they were keeping those, since she had been really chowing down in the last couple days.
Iâd ask in the morning, though. For now, I grabbed the empty water bottle and bundled my armload of cloth out into the quiet spaceship hallway, padding along on bare feet while reflecting that it was good the cleaning station was quiet. I didnât want to wake anybody up.Â
This is one of the scariest things Iâve ever done! Putting myself out there and asking for things is HARD, and I genuinely donât know if thereâs enough interest in this for it to be viable.
BUT shy bairns get nowt and all that, and if there is enough support and this does work out, then itâs a chance to do something really exciting. Very few people have had a properly fitted suit of historical plate to test with, and even fewer of them have an audience of this size to share their findings with. And while I may not be the best person for the job, Iâm the only person that I am.
SO, if you want to see how far I can push movement in plate armour, or how many fantasy tropes I can recreate; if you want to see the process of making and fitting a full suit, and learn more about historical craftsmanship; OR if you want to watch a goofy goober pole dancing and attempting gymnastics in a clanky tin suit, with lots of failure along the way, please support this project.
Thereâs no way I can do it on my own, but if enough people chip in, thereâs a chance!
And if you canât or donât want to contribute, donât worry about it! Iâll still be here making my usual content either way!
The provisional cast on lets you cast on stitches that you can undo later to reveal live stitches:
đ§ś Using a crochet hook and scrap yarn, make a couple of chains and then start casting stitches on the knitting needle as shown. Make an extra chain or two at the end.
đ§ś Start #knitting with your proper yarn
đ§ś Undo the cast on and transfer the stitches onto a knitting needle
Long-tail cast-on and basics My go-to cast-on method is the long-tail cast-on. I prefer to start without a slipknot. Do not make the stitche
Per @spoonstrek
Thaisha, finally back in Dol-Makjar: Look at this. Amazing. No sparrow swords. No getting chased by sky ghouls in an eagle carriage. No corpses devoured by spectral nightingales. No half-dying through a trauma parade in Bird Hell. No one is birds here. It's all behind us.
Soldiers: What's up, we're calling ourselves the Fanged Falcons :)
Thaisha: no
Schemers: What a coincidence, our network is a Mischief of Magpies. A Tiding of Magpies to friends :)
Thaisha, head in her hands: no no no
#A messenger magpie sent by Hal: Thaisha I'm so glad to see you!#Thaisha: THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN IS BIRDS [tags by OP]
Eat Your Water
I held the box while Paint greeted the client. âGood morning! I must say, you have lovely weather here.â Her orange scales shone in the sun, and if we hadnât been busy making a delivery, she probably would have been searching out a nice flat rock to lie on.
The client standing in the doorway just looked tired. âThanks,â he said. âWeâve worked hard to make it nice. Many years of terraforming.â He took the payment tablet that Paint offered with his own blue-furred hands, moving with all the enthusiasm of an exotic alien beaver who hadnât had coffee yet.
âWell youâve done a great job,â Paint said firmly, looking around at the lush greenery that surrounded the building. âI hope you can enjoy these waterspheres with a sense of accomplishment.â She took the tablet back and turned towards me.
I held out the box, which was reasonably heavy on account of all the water. âWhere would you like it?â
âJust stick it on the table,â the client said, pointing out at something near my knees that could charitably be called a table. It had tools strewn across it and a cabinet above. He added, âI want to put some in there before stocking the rest.â A glance back at him showed me that he was pointing at the cabinet.
âRighto.â I stepped aside and set it down, glad to be done carrying its slightly wobbly weight. âCareful opening it. Itâs pretty heavy; I think they filled it all the way to the top.â
âGood to know,â he said. Without further ado, he waddled over and peeled back the label to unfasten a catch that made the lid pop free, which he set aside with the ease of someone who had gotten many things mailed in. The box was full of bags, not individual waterspheres (thankfully), but it was definitely very full. Lots and lots of little grape-sized balls of hard water with regular water inside.
âThat ought to last you a while,â I said.
âTheyâre not for me,â he muttered with a look back into the building.
Look I know the whole âJulien was twelve at a time before the door to faery closedâ was almost certainly an improv error but in my heart I want it to be true because what does that mean about the Falconerâs Rebellion.
Azuneâs speech about how he remembers what really happened the day Thjazi was captured is because Azune watched a feral ten-year-old raised with the likes of Thimble stab Thjazi in the kneecaps and everyone on both sides collectively decided to make the battle sound more impressive because damn. It makes all of them look bad.
sometimes depression is so scary because you stop being able to achieve any sense of fulfilment. a huge part of being human is looking forward to things and having treats, goals, rewards, outcomes that you strive towards. if you donât have those things it can be really, really hard to find any sense of purpose. having depression is asking yourself what do i want to eat, what do i want to watch, what do i want to play, what do i want to listen to, what do i want to do, what am i looking forward to, whatâs driving me to keep going, and having the answer be a resounding ânothingâ
Iâm kinda surprised that nalbinding isnât as popular as crochet and knitting tbh because it has an even lower barrier of entry tools wise and unlike crochet and knitting it makes fabric that you can cut.
I guess itâs because itâs slower or something.
Nalbinding aka needle binding is when you use yarn and a big sewing needle to make fabric btw
It also has a lot of different kinds of stitches you can do that make different densities of fabric.
Some people even make rugs.
I feel like part of it might be casual people are generally aware of the existence of crochet and knitting, even if they donât know very much about either, but have never heard of nalbinding
Yeah I hadnât heard of it until recently and I ordered a big bone needle for myself to try it out and that should be arriving soon.
I was surprised that Iâd never heard of it though. Itâs older than knitting and crocheting and even though itâs been done all over the world itâs super relevant to Nordic culture and my grandmother and I are both into keeping in touch with our roots a bit so Iâm surprised Iâve never heard of it.
It seems like the sort of thing that would be popular even if not as popular as crocheting and knitting, considering the low barrier of entry.
You also donât need a bunch of different sized needles for nalbinding or whatever. The size of the stitch is controlled either completely freehand or by pulling it against one of your fingers. Most people who have a lot of nalbinding needles seem to either have tried out wood, bone, and metal ones to see which kind they liked or they enjoy carving wood or bone and like making their own needles as an extra hobby.
Itâs also a lot easier to freehand and adjust as you go than crochet or knitting and you mostly go by inches instead of rows and number of stitches so a large number of accessories like stitch markers or whatever isnât really necessary.
Maybe the lack of accessories also makes it unpopular idk. People do like collecting things in their nests.
I've been wanting to do so, I cannot find anyone who can teach me, and any books I can find on it are Ass in the Visual Learning department. Otherwise I'd be making the hell outta some nalbinded fabric
I found this channel by a nice man who makes up close tutorials
I create videos on YouTube to learn people how to needlebind using two fingers and your thumb. Needlebinding helps people to relax, relieve
I thought this would be kind of a niche post to make but I was quickly reminded that Iâm on tumblr, the website full of gay people with one billion hobbies.
So my bone needle actually came this evening (yay!) and Iâve started trying this for real. It clicks in my brain way easier than crochet does. Iâve gotta work up the muscle memory but I think I can do this.
The downside as a beginner is that undoing mistakes is more time consuming than with knitting or crochet. Youâve gotta like sew your mistakes out backwards. Disadvantages of making a really sturdy fabric I guess.
I like the feel of this bone needle though and donât think Iâll be trying the wooden or metal ones.
Also I think Iâm gonna have to get good at doing Russian joining if I decide to get good at nalbinding because I donât have wool yarn and the ends wonât felt together if itâs not at least 50% wool. A small price to pay for using big bone needle though.
Anyways curse of new fiber craft be upon ye.
Russian join tutorial I did, if you need it.
I really like that Azune is the one to ask Bolaire whether heâs a thing, or a person, and that his follow-up to âthingâ isnât insisting that Bolaire is a person, but rather asking if he canât be both. Â
I think largely, everyone else is defaulting to their own base opinions on this without directly talking to Bolaire about it, with Hal and Murray considering him first as a person, treating him as such (though with justified suspicion in Halâs part) and at first struggling to even understand Bolaire is saying heâs a mask. Meanwhile, if Bolaireâs word can be believed, Thjazi jumps to considering him a thing, and treats him unjustly based on it (thereâs a whole essay somewhere in there about how Thjazi and Bolaire both define themselves as a story but this isnât it).Â
I donât think Bolaire being a person or treating him as one is wrong, exactly (despite his own denial of his personhood), but it does ignore aspects of his lived experience and sense of self.Â
Azune, though, has experience with being both a thing, and a person. A mercenary, a soldier, and a spy are all roles of utility; of being a weapon. They mean pushing down the âpersonâ parts of you that are saying âIâm scared, Iâm hurt, I donât want toâ and saying âNo- Iâm a soldier.â Basically, you force yourself into the narrative of what you need to do. You are the role- the tool- over the person.Â
I donât think Thjazi or the Torn Banner actively tried to dehumanize Azune- though I definitely think the environment wasnât *great* for that; in war, youâre often going to be looking at people as their utility.Â
But beyond even the war itself, we see a lot of Azune treating himself as a tool. âIâll do whatever it takesâ is a shade off from âIâll be whatever it takesâ. Later in life, we see Azune doing undercover work as an Arcane Marshall. Itâs something he clearly feels a disconnection from (a la Luis explaining that he had never thought too much about his subordinates and his role there, since it was an acted part for Thjaziâs sake). Most of his life then is spent in a metaphorical mask.Â
So Azune is set up to understand the disparity of being both a tool and a person, but struggles a bit perhaps with Bolaireâs choice of âthingâ and rejection of âbothâ (âMaybeâ isnât exactly a ringing endorsement). He gets âbothâ. He doesnât get the story being better than being the person. His âbeing a storyâ isnât positive. It isnât a narrative he likes. Itâs being a tool for a cause and getting brief breaks to be a person again.Â
âIs being a story better than being a person?â is a question that means *very* different things to these two characters.Â
Eurasian red squirrel/ekorre. Värmland, Sweden (27 April 2024).