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staff · 10 months

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Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience.

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content.

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up.

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant.

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are.

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds.

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs.

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread.

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads.

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed.

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it.

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages.

Test what the right daily push notification limit is.

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users.

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

#tumblr #engineering #core product strategy

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mrsrookhunt · 10 months

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What To Expect When Your Lab Experiment Drinks Formula| PT. 3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Rook Hunt (Part 1)

Part three by popular demand! Malleus, Rook, Floyd, Sebek, Lilia, and Azul with feisty toddlers.

Warnings: angry toddlers, exhausted parents

Note: Every character has more than one child now with the exception of Azul.

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Malleus Draconia

The new princes and princesses of Briar Valley are Tiny Little MenacesTM.

You are Malleus are dealing with two wild toddlers, and one extremely fire-loving baby. Fire-loving, as in, the entire room has had to be fully fire proofed, from the walls to the ceiling.

The other children love being outside and playing, which gets them out of your hair while you attempt to feed and care for baby #3, oven mitts and fire-proof gear on.

The only one that your baby won't lease a barrage of firey giggles onto is Great-Grandma Maleficia, who can pick up the child without worry, a blessing in disguise to poor you and Malleus.

Whenever you aren't trying to wrangle the littlest Draconia heir, you and Malleus' time is filled by playing with rambunctious dragon toddlers. Your oldest is still as mischievous as ever, now taking off in full distance flights with your lunch everytime you turn around, and your younger toddler requiring immense amounts of attention.

All three have been deemed the 'wildest children the Draconia bloodline has ever seen', which says a lot. You hope they grow out of it, but the little ones seem stubbornly wild, with no chance of changing anytime soon.

Long training flights with Malleus often leave you watching the skies for their return at dinner time. It's not the life you imagined. But it's the life you never expect that's the one that satisfies you.

Rook Hunt

"HEYYYYYY!!!! PAPAAAA! LOOK WHAT I CAUGHT!" It's always a peaceful evening when the children are outside, until it's not.

Your 3 year old has been regularly running in with things you don't even know how they've caught as a toddler with no weapons.

Today, it's a bird bigger than your toddler's tiny body.

Rook has been diligently teaching your children how to hunt since they could walk, taking them for small hunting trips and shooting targets with children's play-bows.

Only two of your five children are too young to hunt, in his eyes, and even then you have not escaped their sharp, predatory gaze, which has been present since birth. You have no doubts that all of your children will be hunters. It's definitely a given, and as you've seen from Rook's family, seems to run in their blood.

The toddlers go outside and play on your patio every evening when the heat cools down, allowing you and Rook to have some peace and quiet. Rook is very enamored with the family you've created together. He always dreamed of finding beauty in his future, but never knew it would be so soon, and in the form of a domestic life with a spouse and children.

You and Rook are happy with this life you've created, enjoying the ups and downs of parenthood, the thrills of hunting with your whole family, the cuddly movie nights and soft words exchanged between you and your kids every night before bed.

It's a perfect life, one you never expected get, and never to love as much as you do.

Floyd Leech

It's been challenging for Floyd to be away from the sea for so long. You both agreed that it would be easier and more comfortable to live on land for the sake of your family, but it's definitely been a source of tension. Floyd and the children both go out to sea often as a compromise, leaving you all alone with the family pets and the occasional guest.

When they're home, you all spend hours together playing and loving on each other. All seven of your little ones have grown accustomed to Floyd, and have shifted their little spats of dominance to between each other.

It's true, it's practically a full-time job to keep them all from fighting. The youngest ones are the most ruthless, attacking their siblings and destroying their surroundings entirely as they cry and whine, throwing little catty hands at each other as 'fights'. It seems to do more emotional damage than physical.

Then again, are your surroundings ever not destroyed by the 7 restless children? They're so obscenely playful that they make sure that your life is challenging to say the least. Sometimes you're glad for the break you get when they go for day-long dives under the sea. They're probably making some tornadic-like mess of Jade's home, but that's not the end of the world for you.

Your relationship with Floyd is nothing short of magical. There's still as much love there as there was when you started dating, if not more. Your family has its odd little quirks, but what matters is that you're all together, happy and proud of the life you've created. You are especially thrilled that you made your own life work in a world that wasn't even yours. You've made it your home now, and you could never feel more content than you do now.

Sebek Zigvolt

Sebek has grown to love his children very much. After your first began to love on him as often as you, he fell completely into the role of a family man. All three of your children love Sebek immensely, having grown fond of him after he let down his guard around them.

Your littlest one is the perfect carbon copy of Sebek, even at 15 months old. Not only does this child seem to possess no personality traits or features of yours, this little one's very first word was 'Mallie'. Sebek could not be prouder, and more eager to train his children in the path of a royal retainer afterwards.

Your oldest is still the wildest little mini croc you've ever seen. Nothing in the parenting books could have prepared you for your child's defiance and strong will. The other two, though relatively calmer children, seem to eagerly egg on your oldest with nonsense excited baby babble.

Now that your oldest's teeth have grown in fully, Sebek has to watch his limbs carefully. His family is known for their bite power, and this child is no exception by a long shot, seeming to have a stronger bite than even Sebek himself. Though your toddler does love Sebek dearly, they haven't learned that biting isn't a game. And after biting clean through a leg of furniture last month, Sebek has been terrified ever since.

The younger two don't use their teeth to bite people, but toys and furniture are a free-for-all.

Your children are very adept and skilled at squirming out of any situation, physically and verbally. You think to yourself that they will in fact make wonderful guards some day, but you don't ever tell Sebek that for fear that he'll make the poor things train even harder to please both of their parents.

You and Sebek end up on the floor, playing games with your very imaginative children quite often, cuddling and laughing with each other while they all pretend to be royal knights and sometimes, doctors. Sebek won't say it but he thinks his oldest would make a very good doctor and he approves.

You've never been happier, and never more in love with Sebek, as is he, you. It's a perfect fairytale world for the two of you. Who knew that Twisted Wonderland would end up becoming where you were always meant to be?

Lilia Vanrouge

C H A O S.

There's twelve little Vanrouges running around, acting absolutely chaotic and mischievous at all times. Poor you and Lilia. Twelve children under four sounds cute but it's an absolute nightmare, especially when they have the lineage of a certain silly fae.

It's manageable, but only because Silver is there suffering with y'all. And barely. Sometimes you think he's about to run out of the house and cry after some unwitting action that led to a vicious prank from one or more children.

Last week, they cornered him from all sides with sticks while you and Lilia were out, and the oldest threatened to poke him in the eyes.

Some mischief, lots pure evil.

It's only you that can scoop them up and tell them to behave, because they are absolutely remorseless in their merciless bullying of their father. Most of them don't even call him dad. They call him 'oldie'. The ones that are too young to talk still laugh at him.

Lilia doesn't mind too much, scolding them for their rudeness, but rarely punishing them. He claims he's too old to be properly disciplining them, but it's quite obvious that he's reminiscent of himself in these children.

During the good moments, you might be able to convince the children to at least make a father's day card, or get them to agree not to prank Silver on his birthday. Usually this is still done with bribery. But sometimes, the sweetest moments are unprompted. Like the time your daughter sat on Lilia's lap and gave him a hug after he watched a scary movie, because 'Daddy might have nightmares.'

Your family is wholly complete Silver hopes and prays. You and Lilia are happy, and content. Lilia is still overjoyed that he got the chance to have biological children, and you're just happy that you've found a place to settle down in Twisted Wonderland, and be happy.

Azul Ashengrotto

You only have one child still? Yeah. He loves your child dearly, but after much consideration and a lot of diapers changed, you decided one was for the best.

Your baby is three now 'Three n' a HALF', your child insists.

Your little one is pretty well-behaved. Despite being a spoiled only child, little Ashengrotto is very humble, kind, and sweet.

Definitely not like their money hungry father. This child just wants animal crackers and time at the swimming pool.

But your child is sharp-witted, just like Azul. There have been many times when you've said something to your toddler and had it immediately debunked with a smug look on their face.

It makes you laugh. And cry, a little bit. Time flies, and your child seems to mentally age two years for the physical price of one.

Your little one reminds you with a smile and crumb-littered cheeks and askew purple octopus glasses that they're still young, and always here for you. You are enthralled with your life with Azul and your baby, a real true blessing. This was how it was always meant to be, even if it wasn't how you ever thought your life would go.

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Unless I write a part 4 by request this is probably the end of the series, but I really loved it! Thank you for coming along!! As always, feel free to request for more.

-Kaori

-July 13th, 2023

@growingupnrealizing , here it is!

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snowyslytherinowl · 9 months

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Joyous Nightmares - Part 1

PAIRING: Severus Snape x (Professor) Reader

SUMMARY: A year after surviving the Second Wizarding War, Severus Snape begins to have joyous nightmares where he dreams of having a wife and a daughter. These dreams bring him nightmares because he doesn't believe that he'll ever get married or have a family of his own. So what happens when the wife in his dreams is revealed to be you?

Warning: Nothing heavy, but there are some mentions of death. Angst and nightmares are also featured. This is my first fanfiction for Harry Potter. I hope you enjoy it!

Part 2 | Part 3

*GIF isn't mine

Severus has had nightmares for as long as he can remember. As a child, he dreamt of his parents arguing and his father hitting him when drunk. Then his nightmares focused mainly on his rejection from Lily, and Potter and Black bullying him. Sometimes they would trip him in the hall, causing his trousers to fall off, and other times Potter would make him kiss the ground and eat the dirt while Lily watched. As he grew older, he dreamt of Lily’s death. After the Second Wizarding War, he relived his near-fatal attack by Nagini almost every night. But about a year after the war ends, Severus starts to have nightmares about a much different topic.

Severus is sitting on his bed when he hears crying. He walks down a hall in a house, one that looks much different than the one in Spinner’s End, to the source of the crying: a baby. He opens the door at the end of the hall and sees a small infant flailing around the crib. Gingerly lifting the baby from the bed, he cradles the baby in his arm and places their head on his shoulder. He doesn’t know why or how, but he knows that the baby is a girl and that she’s his daughter. He gently bounces her up and down and sits in a rocking chair.

“Hush now. Daddy is here,” he whispers and kisses her forehead. “You have nothing to fear. I will always protect you.” He holds the little girl closer to him, and soon she falls asleep in his arms.

Severus wakes up in his bed in his private chamber at Hogwarts. Although he has dreamt of much more horrific, much more gruesome things, this dream leaves him feeling immensely worse. He has been bullied and seen death in the real world, so seeing it in his mind’s eye at night is no different than experiencing it. But dreaming of cradling his own tiny baby girl? That leaves him with a gaping hole in his heart, a hole he cannot mend because he will never have a family. Pathetic, greasy-haired Severus, forever condemned to loneliness.

He pulls the covers back up his chest, turns on his side, and closes his eyes. No matter how much he tosses and turns that night, he can't fall asleep until dawn.

XXX

Several nights later, Severus has a similar dream.

He’s back in the same house. With a quick peek through the window, he can tell that this house is in the countryside with its green, sprawling valley. Severus turns to the little girl in the highchair, who is now eight or nine months old. He dips a spoon into a jar of baby food and tries to feed it to his daughter, who purses her lips and turns her head.

“Do not be picky. This is delicious,” he says and puts the spoonful of baby food into his mouth. No, he was lying about the delicious part. “Perhaps it does not taste good, but it is good for you. My Half-Blood Princess must grow to be healthy and strong.”

Even though his daughter giggles at her nickname, she still refuses to eat the food. “Fine. I did not want to fall into temptation, but you are forcing me.”

Severus takes a small cauldron from the cupboard, which is no bigger than a large bowl. He puts the jar of baby food and spoon into the cauldron and uses his wand to make steam rise from the cauldron. He swirls his wand over the cauldron, pretending to stir it, and casts a fake spell of gibberish words.

Severus’s daughter breaks into a giggling fit and bounces up and down in her high seat. Severus can’t help but smile and laugh at her joy. He uses his wand to lift a spoonful of baby food from the cauldron and towards the little girl, who finally opens her mouth and eats.

He never thought himself much of a fatherly figure, but these joyous nightmares have made him realize how desperately he wishes to have a family of his own. Every time he visits Hogsmeade, he stares at the small children accompanying their parents at shops or playing in the playground. Even though he doesn’t show much love to the people around him, he somehow knows that he would shower his own child with love and affection.

Severus decides not to go back to sleep. There are two hours until he must make his way to the Great Hall and he still has essays to grade. Anything to get his mind off the baby, though a small cauldron in the corner of his room ensures that the hole in his heart remains open.

XXX

Over the next few months, Severus has dreams about his child almost every night. In every dream, he watches her grow up, even if it’s by a month or two. Nothing particularly profound happens; they merely participate in average daily activities. Once he dreams that she plays with a toy wand set that emits tiny colorful sparks. Another time she sits on his lap as he reads to her and wrestles his hair from her tiny fingers. That one makes him feel especially pained as he’s always felt insecure about his hair, and he can’t imagine a baby happily playing with it.

After a particularly hard day of disciplining dunderheads and spilled potions, another person joins his dreams.

Muggle baby strollers are quite the invention, Severus thinks as he pushes his sleeping daughter around the main square of the nearest town. Stores here display all types of clothes, as well as chocolate boxes and snack bags; however, he doesn’t see anything suitable for his wife’s birthday.

Finally, Severus spots a beautiful dark green pendant through a jewelry shop’s window. An idea pops into his mind about how he can transform this simple Muggle pendant into something enchanting for his wife.

He buys it, then spends the rest of the day locked in his study working on magically connecting the pendant and a journal. He charms the pendant to heat up and display messages Severus writes in the journal. This way, Severus can send short messages to his wife no matter where he is. “I love you,” he writes in the journal and watches it slowly appear on the green gem.

“What do you think?” he asks his daughter when he enters the living room. She giggles and grasps the chain of the necklace, which Severus takes as a yes.

“One day, I will give you one of your own, my Half-Blood Princess.”

A wife. A wife whom he loves. A wife that loves him, too, even if he has no proof to support his theory. A wife who he loves enough to have a baby with. A wife who he knows he will never have.

Since he started having these joyous nightmares, he has recognized that the existence of a wife would appear at some point. Though when she finally does, he’s caught off guard. He thought that as an adult, he would finally grow out of the nervous, insecure person he was as a child. But he’s thought wrong; a fist squeezes his heart as he thinks about how lonely and unlovable he is. His hand wanders to the pillow on the other side of the bed as he imagines a wife lying beside him. He wishes that he could hold her, kiss her, and love her. But who would ever be attracted to his oily hair and sallow skin, or not be appalled by his deeds as he served the Dark Lord?

Tears have threatened to spill after waking from his past dreams. This time, though, the tears overtake him and sobs wrack his body.

XXX

Steps sound from around the corner. Severus prepares to berate the student he catches, but he stops short when he spots you. “Hi Severus, you can go to bed. It’s my night to patrol the corridors, remember?”

Severus doesn’t have many friends at Hogwarts, or anywhere for that matter. But out of the few people he can rely on, you are one of them. You frequently eat lunch with him and sit beside him for meals. You’re always there for him to talk to, though you aren’t pushy. He appreciates you more than you likely appreciate him.

“I know,” he says a little too harshly. “I thought I should help since I could not sleep.” Do not want to sleep is more like it, he thinks.

You don’t take offense to his harsh tone. “That’s nice of you. Are you having nightmares, perhaps? Are the ghosts in your dreams giving you too much grief?” You give him a gentle smile and Severus feels a warmth spreading over his body.

“I consumed too much caffeine,” he lies.

“Don’t I know the dangers of drinking too much tea before I go to bed.”

You two patrol the corridors as he listens to your stories of catching students out of bed and making fools of themselves in class. He rather enjoys being in your presence, a warm welcome from his joyous nightmares.

It seems too soon when your patrol is over and you head in different directions to return to your chambers. Determined not to fall asleep, Severus spends the rest of his time until breakfast grading essays. He has never physically seen his dream wife; he only writes to her or prepares dinner or breakfast for her. Unfortunately, his eyes feel too heavy and he eventually succumbs to sleep.

It’s a beautiful day and Severus chases after his daughter, who runs through the valley outside their house. He finally catches up with her when she drops to the ground, picking at something. “I got you!” he yells after he grabs his daughter and lifts her into his arms.

“Daddy!” she giggles and presents him with the flowers she has picked. “For you!”

He takes the bundle from her dirt-stained hands and smiles down at her. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He places her back down on the ground and kneels beside her. “How about you pick some for Mummy?”

“Okay!” His daughter runs around a little more until she picks the largest flowers in the valley and gives them to her dad for safekeeping. He lifts her back into his arms and walks towards the house.

In the distance, he can see a woman by their house. He knows that it’s his wife, but the light from the setting sun and the shadow from the house blocks him from seeing her features. Severus uses one of his hands to shield his eyes from the sun glaring into his eyes and tells his daughter, “Wave to Mummy!”

Severus checks the time and jumps to his feet. He strains to discern the identity of his dream wife based on his memories of the dream but to no avail. He arrives at the Great Hall, takes his seat beside you at the High Table, and attempts to compose himself as he digs into his food. Why are you living under the delusion that this dream woman is a real person? Severus tells himself in his mind. If you ever see what she looks like, she will be an imaginary woman who only lives in your head.

For a split second, Severus peeks at you from the corner of his eyes and imagines you as his wife blinded by the light from the sun. Deciding that it’s a dangerous path to take, he snaps out of it and goes back to nibbling his toast.

You catch him looking at you and you ask, “Are you alright, Severus? You look like you didn’t get any sleep!” Oddly, he enjoys the concern in your voice and the furrowing of your brows.

“I am fine,” he brushes off, but you’ve already poured him coffee and waved your wand at it.

“Take this. It should get you through the rest of the day.” Severus grunts thanks and takes a sip. Normally, coffee makes him feel shaky and nervous as he unwittingly recalls his joyous nightmares. This coffee tastes different; it's sweet and makes him feel like he will stay awake and alert for the rest of the day.

You talk to each other about your plans for the day until you finish your food and stand from your seat. “I’ll see you later!” you call from behind. For some indiscernible reason, Severus is looking forward to that.

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blogauroragloryme · 1 month

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Yesterday I was scrolling through Pinterest and stumbled into many fan art depicting Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. JC taking care of JL as a month old baby ,then as a toddler,etc etc...

It reminded me that we never really give much credit to JC for raising JL. I mean sure JGY also played a part , but JC's affection and concern for JL is unbeatable. There was this fanart where JC is actually holding a very tiny JL , trying to figure out how to feed him , then how to change his clothes and all the things that involves taking care of a newborn. The expressions depicted in JC's face just made me ache. I mean just imagine the pain of losing his sister, brother in law and WY(cmon I know despite of JC's love and hate relationship with WY, there definitely must be a part in his heart that must be aching) fresh in his mind , having to take care of a new born , which you have zero idea about. You have to build your sect ,you don't have anyone else to rely on. You can't show your weakness to anyone else. Even if you are damn tired , almost near a mental breakdown,you cannot falter ,you have a nephew and he doesn't have anyone else but you as a family. I would like to believe many a times when JC would be extremely tired and feeling hopeless,JL must be a source of his motivation to keep on.

(I can see a bit of parallelism here with LQR where both of them were young(baby of the house 🤭)and thrusted the responsibility of taking care of their respective nephews. They're not married,but with hit and trial,they are able to raise their nephews to be fine young men.)

Just imagining what would JC have taught JL for his first word. Would he insist that JL learn Mother first before anything. Imagining JC telling a toddler JL about how his parents were ,his mother ,his father,his grandmother and grandfather and about his Da-jiu(only till the time JL doesn't understand as soon as he would grow up ,he would stop telling JL about how the three of them used to enjoy Lotus pier).

And JL eventually learning to call Jiujiu.When JC and JL had their first fight how JC must have felt? Like he's been a strict person like his mother and how certain traits of his mother can be reflected in his upbringing of JL? And when JL got his first scrape after falling down,how worried JC must be? Ok there are so many what if's and possibilities to think about...

But I just wanted to mention that JC tried his very best to raise his nephew. Parenting can always have good and bad , that's what we can see ,but both of them share a loving bond.

I really wanted to write this appreciation post for JC. I know JC has committed horrible mistakes, which are inexcusable ,but still some fans are really very harsh in criticizing him. As much as I love WY ,I won't deny that in some instances I even fault WY ,for not understanding the bigger picture. For me the simple conclusion is that both of them had pride and anger and the result was disastrous. Some are more to blame for their actions,some are less,but the mistake was on both of their part's.

So yes he's a Sour purple grape lol ,but I really hope post canon,him and WY are able to find some semblance and common footing.

#headcanon #mxtx novels #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #jin ling #wei wuxian

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kedreeva · 8 months

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Regarding your post about how big Bug’s toes are, is there a way to tell how big Peafowl will end up growing before they’re mature, like with measuring bits of the leg on a horse or the size of a puppy’s paws?

Nope! You can kind of compare between hatch mates if you have them (like Io was fucking gigantic by the time he was 3 months old), and you can get a pretty good idea by the time they are 8-12 months (comparing Helios to his father as a yearling). Feed when they're very little matters a lot; if they are well fed with good protein when they're little, they tend to grow out bigger as adults. But genetics help. What you want to look for early, more than size, is shape; is the skull shape looking good, are the legs long and strong, is the neck long and unkinked, are they strong enough to carry their wings up, do they carry their tail high, are they growing in strong color early?

I've seen a LOT of people argue about giving peachicks a lot of protein when they're little. People will say it twists their legs because their muscles or tendons grow faster than the other (it varies which people say, "muscles grow faster than their tendons" or "tendons grow faster than muscles" or even that their bones grow faster than whatever). But in my experience, it's not a problem with the protein level. It's a problem with the space those people provide their babies, as well as a problem with a) what KIND of protein and b) ratio of protein to fat.

Most people are feeding only dry chow to their babies. This is... okay. But peachicks prefer moist foods, as anyone that's ever put water in some chow can tell you. So they'll EAT a dry chow but they won't eat a LOT of it, they'll eat the minimum to not die, and so even though the chow may be "nutritionally complete" (and that's another can of worms on its own), they don't get enough of it to grow to their potential. Most dry chows also get their protein from soy or corn, neither of which should make up a peafowl's primary protein source. We make do with what we can get for now, but it would be a LOT better if they were to make a peafowl chow that had fish/krill meal as a base for protein instead. I've heard of a few breeders offering krill oil in wet mash, and how much nicer it makes the colors on their birds, which doesn't surprise me. Fish oil is likely an essential to their diet in the wild- and hilariously (sadly) a lot of owners will straight up and vehemently tell you peafowl don't eat fish... despite direct evidence to the contrary in wild observations. Yes those long leggies help wade through tall grasses, but you don't see pheasants or quail on stilts. Even turkeys don't have the long legs of peafowl.

It's because peafowl are out there doing this:

But I'm rambling. The point is, a lot of people underfeed their birds on less than ideal proteins to make up for not providing them enough space to run and fly, things they NEED to be able to do to grow properly. This makes it very difficult to judge what size a bird will be as an adult and, in addition, hard to judge what size offspring they will throw. But even under good circumstances, most of the time it's just wait and see.

#peafowl #peacocks #my pets #asks #peafowl masterlist #anon asks

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fandom-zoomer · 13 days

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I think I may have come up with the best worst tma time travel “fix-it” au (imho)

Inspired by Ketakoshka's 'dread spawn' idea in their dread child jon series, Dribbledscribbles' origin story for the dread powers and extinction entity interpretation in their extinction!jon fic (and some more of the latter in their post-eyepocalypse fic too), as well as my own love for making unholy (aka fun) fusions of things and sandboxing eldritch interactions with the 'mundane' . . .

. . . I have created a post-canon, Somewhere Else, time travel ""fix-it"" story that I think might be unique (at least I've never seen any fics like it– but if I'm wrong then please please share the link!! or dm me if it's your own work hehe but no pressure!!)

(mag 160+ spoilers after this point!)

(i'm about to wax poetics here (hopefully coherently)—so you can read the story-ramble OR you can scroll to the TL;DR at the bottom to skip it & spoilers to read the nutshell & see if you're interested :3)

so get this...

The big Change happens right? But this time the Extinction is a bigger player in the game than canon, and ultimately deeply marks Jon throughout the eyepocalypse.

So when the finale happens, since Jon is now connected to the epicenter of the whole show, his 'death' and the panopticon's destruction has the simultaneous effect of baiting the Dread Powers into the Hole (via his voice in the spools of tape)– and also killing everyone trapped by the Dread Powers in the world via Jon the walking detonator thanks to being entrenched in the Extinction's influence. —Combining both his best and worst plans and realizing his worst nightmare: killing everyone and spreading the Powers to an unknown number of worlds to wreak even more havoc.

How did this happen?

Simple—but first some backstory for context.

The Extinction was more of a 'lurker', much less "outgoing" than its 'siblings'. And when it was "grandiose", well. . . it tended to leave no survivors. Thus its unrecognition by those like Robert Smirke or Jürgen Leitner.

To go back even further, the Dread entities were originally one cohesive entity with many faces and limbs. Its faces reflected the same developmental complexity as the sources of their manifestation. So those with the most diverse species feeding them held the widest capacities. Namely: the Hunt, End, and Extinction. But being a singular entity, it didn't mean much.

But as human species' family lines develop and grow more complex cognitive ability, more esoteric Dreads developed, and more faces become more complex. And the Extinction was right there from the beginning as more species died out one by one. Quietly. (...maybe? 👀)

Over time humans discovered the Powers and bonded with them, then started to classify them. From here, the Dread entity fragmented into Dread entities.

They developed their own 'consciousnesses' distinct from the hive 'mind' they once were. And, eventually, sapience. Self-awareness. Desires. Personalities. But they were still connected, part of the 'system'.

The Extinction and the Web (newer, but always sapient) are a quirky pair, the Web seeking control over everything and the Extinction seeking ultimate entropy and change upon its catastrophe.

It's hard to distinguish the Extinction exactly, its work misidentified for others with few under its own unique umbrella. Things 'unique' to it get missed due to being a misnomer and not getting clocked. (But that is the nature of the Dread Powers after all.. being a fragmentation of their original singular mass.)

...

The Extinction represents the fear of disaster that will bring about the end of everything—everything you know, love, need to survive. Everything you built, worked for, hoped for. The destruction of stories and of life, of the very history written by your land—your home.

Your community. Your society. Your species.

You.

Annihilated in totality.

The Extinction represents the fear of those that come after you to replace you—worse than you, different from you. Leaving you and your history and stories (the driver of your continued existence) forgotten forever. The fear of life moving on after you, ignorant and apathetic. Your story meaningless, irrelevant.

Your community's story. Your society's story. Your species' story.

Your story.

Erased and written over.

The Web represents the fear of being controlled, fate being out of your hands—by malevolent authorities out of reach, by abusive companions or relatives, by invisible forces far beyond the human comprehension. Spinning, winding, twisting, pulling each decision in your life made for you. Until destruction of the self by your own hand.

Your struggle for change futile. Your feet following the same path. Your fate determined for you.

You forfeit control—your feet march you to your bitter demise.

The Web represents the fear of being conspired against. Scheming, plotting, planning your downfall. The loss of everything you hold dear, worked for, bled for. Spinning, twisting, scripting lies about you. Your credibility falls to pieces, your world shatters, and your story distorts.

You are kept alive by the spreading of your story. And the people have decided to trust the manufactured tale.

You are forgotten—twisted into an image of something wrong.

...

Sometimes they're at odds. Where one seeks to manipulate the threads of everything endlessly, the other seeks to destroy it all so thoroughly, with such finality, as to mutate it– the schemes, the pawns, the gameboard itself.

Sometimes they're complementary. Where you watch as you lose everyone you cared for one by one, spiraling down a path darker into entropy, the irreversible nightmare, and wondering if you ever really had free will in the first place– if anyone did.

What if the end for you really was just another game to them? What if this wasn't their first round? What if you're just the next step in the grand scheme, larger than even your own universe?

Alright, now with that out of the way, let's bring back the question.

How did the Extinction change Jon, and how did this cause the altered result of the finale?

The Web has been there since the near beginning, pulling Jon along and guiding him to his next milestone in the plot. She had known the world would come to an end one way or another, and wanted to bring it about on her own terms so that she—they all—could escape it.

So when the Web saw what the Eye was doing, she had an idea. So she aided their acolytes, seeing her sibling as the perfect way to bring all of them together for the final step. And the Web set her own card onto the board: Jon.

Jon had a natural disposition for the Eye; from stubborn curiosity to the reckless pursuit for answers to even the coldest cases. Whether he knows it or not, his mind is a gaping maw for horrible knowledge—chasing after experiences disguised as answers to his burning questions so dreadful they leave scars on him like sigils of a looming doom.

While he has no affinity for the Web's machinations, he is still hers. She has no issue with guiding agents from across the court, she knows how to share. Especially when it benefits her. Jon archives each event, every little detail, with such care and readiness that he makes the perfect vessel to pull them in—to guide them out. He'd flourish best as her tool in the Watcher's sphere.

After the Watcher's Crown and the Dread Powers came into the world, the Extinction started to make its presence known. It seeped into other Domains and fed on the people's dread for permanent catastrophic change, on their fear of ruin and total desctruction. And as Jon traversed them and lived through their fear, so was he marked by the Extinction.

It seeped into his skin like oil and burned through his veins like acid. It tainted his trails with the radioactivity of human hubris and greed, twisting and mutating both the mundane and Dreadful as he passed. It closed its grasp on him with the tightness plastic rings and infected his Perceived routes with the stench of mountainous landfill and the thickness of city smog.

The Web and the Extinction had a complex relationship, but in this moment they guided the Archivist in synchronous song like a soldier being led to his final mission: dropping the nuclear bomb.

Did Jon know?

...

No.

The twines of manipulation layer labyrinthine over everything, above and below and through every angle and dimension. Even the Nigh-Omniscient Antichrist and his All-Knowing God will never fathom its depths.

He might never know that he helped start the Extinction's ritual: Raze the Earth.

Or that both the Web and the Eye knew and did nothing. (honestly, the latter's only there for the show)

So when Martin stabbed Jon and Melanie lit the gas mainline, the threads around the world snapped and the glowing light of humanity's greatest sins exploded over everything—

—and they prayed—

—and they wept—

—and the Dreads rushed out torrentially. (pulling a few strays with them)

Now for the part you were all waiting for (well I was)—the Heart of this AU

The Dread Powers and the ones who were dragged with them were transported Somewhere Else– a parallel world in a parallel universe. But they were. . . Changed from their previous/original selves.

The tag-alongs—Martin & Jon of course, but also Annabelle Cane, Oliver Banks, Simon Fairchild, and Arthur Nolan—replaced their parallels at birth, and gained partial or full amnesia to their past lives. But their personalities are altered, reflecting some aspects of their pre-finale personalities.

Except for Jon. Jon, the Pupil of the Eye, the Warhead of the Extinction, the Spools of the Web, the Archive of the Dreads and linchpin to their escape. . . was significantly destroyed in the center of the storm. He got it and so much worse—a stick so short its existence was inverted.

While they did get reach the new universe, they had to reconstruct their linchpin/Archive that they're still connected to so that his total destruction doesn't tear them apart as well (being an Extinction avatar that's now deeply connected with them, he's capable of "taking them down with him").

When Jon was reborn, he was literally thrown into the world like a meteorite, landing with an explosive blast that rendered the surrounding area a lifeless wasteland in moments. High radioactivity and a deathly curse left few flora or fauna returning before wasting away soon after. Those that 'survived' did so by being infected by the Extinction or Corruption.

It would permanently remain uninhabitable, and it would take months before the withered stillborn spawn of the sapient eldritch Dread Entities would crawl out of the jagged crater on its own, none the wiser to its tragedies.

TL;DR

The Web manipulated Jon's attempt to put a stop to the Entities' reign, utilizing the Eye's easy influence to help the Dreads escape the world and into a fresh new one before they were also destroyed in the Extinction's "Raze the World" ritual (set up by using Jon to weave toxic-filled veins throughout the world he was traversing that'll explode at once 'grand finale' style).

Jon, now deeply binded to the Entities' purest forms and still an Extinction time-bomb, was mostly destroyed during the trip to Somewhere Else and the Entities had to reconstruct him so his death wouldn't destroy them too. This led to Jon being reborn a near completely different being (with some of him preserved) as functionally the direct spawn of the Dread Powers, replacing his parallel counterpart from the new world.

#yes i made him So Much Worse ur welc <333 #if you couldn't tell this is my favorite self-indulgent au #i love jon he's my favorite ragdoll /aff #so sorry for the length i honestly thought it'd be shorter :8 #i have a name for this au but it's also the name of a collection of au's so lmk if you have a name for this one specifically!#i'd love to hear any thoughts!#don't be shy but don't feel obligated #tma #tma au #yafc au #yafc-j au #tma time travel au #tma somewhere else #it's not really a 'fix-it' au i'm just used to that being part of the name lol #ig it'll depend where the au goes whether it's a fix-it or just me using jon as a sandboxing dummy #tma jon #jonathan sims #tma entities #jonmartin #to-be #(sorry for the clickbait jonmartin consumers they're not in this post just the au hehe)#tma writing #my writing #god i'm probly gonna cringe at the mess of these tags later but whatever i'm too busy riding my high to care atm #future me's problem #my post

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spamhamandeggs · 5 months

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When You Get Home From Work

I’ll be there for you when get home from work, waiting and ready. I know it’s been a long, stressful week for you. Go on, relax, decompress a bit. You know that I’ve made sure things are ready for when you want to have some fun. It’s been on my mind all day, as I know it’s been on yours, the wonderful activity that makes our mutual dream come true. It’s time for me to eat.

It’s a wonderful ritual, starting with you putting on my collar, symbolizing me surrendering my body to your will. You’re now free from the expectations and responsibilities of your job. This is now your domain. I am here for you. I find my sense of purpose in giving my body over to your desires. When the collar is on, I am in the headspace to perform for your pleasure, and I derive so much joy from bringing you pleasure.

As you guide me to the table, you get a chance to truly inspect your handiwork. You can see how much I’ve grown during our relationship. I am so much wider now, my steps slower and heavier. We are both in awe of how much smaller the same exact doorways now seem.

Tonight I’ve squeezed myself into an outfit I wore when we first met. There was never any chance it would come close to containing my considerably enhanced girth. The shirt doesn’t come close to covering my belly, the pants were thoroughly ripped as I tried to put them on. Your enthusiastic attentions have turned them into tattered rags.

And yet, even though I just bought new clothes earlier this week, even though I cannot wear a single thing I owned when we first met, in spite of the sorry state of the clothes I’m barely wearing, I am still here, happily walking toward the dinner table. And I have a special goal in mind for tonight. I will make no move to remove these clothes, yet by the time I’m done eating, I won’t be wearing them anymore.

You must marvel at how I can still be excited to stuff myself yet again, despite how much weight I’ve gained, how awkwardly large my body has become. But in truth, I’m excited because of how big I’ve gotten. We’re a team working together on a shared dream: you want to make me bigger, and I want to be bigger. I eat for you because I enjoy growing larger, and growing larger for you.

Do I submit to you because I want to get fatter, or do I get fatter because I want to submit to you? To me it’s the same thing. I’ve always wanted to submit, and I’ve always wanted to get absolutely fat. And you’ve done such a good job. You’ve turned me truly, undeniably, irreversibly fat. And I am honestly proud of what we’ve done to me.

So, please, go ahead, have your fun tonight. Feed me everything I can eat. Enjoy the musical sounds of ripping stitches. Take pleasure in watching me eat. Stare at me as I jiggle when I heft my enormous limbs. Feel my soft doughy flab. Admire me, your growing feedee. This is who we are, feeder and feedee. You work hard in a cold world, and you deserve to have someone to fatten up to your heart’s content. I truly enjoy being that someone, and I love that I get to be the source of that joy for you.

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stevenbasic · 11 months

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GITJ Post 322: A Date with Her Chest, p2

“Thank youuuu..!!” she called after the delivery guy, waving as he turned once more to catch one last glimpse of the holy shit galactic-level babe that had answered the door and taken the food from his awestruck hands. She watched him stumble over the stone steps that led out to the circular drive, and found herself giggling. Men were funny. But: she needed to get back to Jay! So, in a twirl, Melissa was back inside the house, kicking the heavy front door closed and sealing the two of them back off again from the rest of the world.

“Be there in a sec!” she called out to where he waited on the couch in the great room. She’d come in to set the bag on the counter, right aside the haha miserable failure of lasagna that still sat, now growing cold in all its charred glory on the countertop. Boy had she burnt that thing to a crisp! She’d started it late and learned that doubling the temperature doesn’t necessarily just halve the cooking time. But, she knew enough to order take-out so she could get him fed.

Opening the delivery bag, she pulled out the contents: a tin tray with a dozen dumplings and three lidded, plastic containers full of what she hoped he’d find delicious. She pulled a fancy bamboo tray from below the counter, set everything up along with the now-chilled bottle of wine, two goblets and - after a moment of thought - a single spoon alongside the chopsticks. She tossed a pile of napkins from the delivery bag onto the tray, too, in case things got messy.

“Here we are..!” she sang, coming back into the great room from the kitchen, “I hope you’re hungry!” Though she put a nice swing in her hips, carrying the tray towards him, she felt like he’d been a little too focused on her butt this evening. She’d felt his eyes on her anytime she’d turned away, like watching her as she’d left the room to answer the doorbell, just as she’d gotten him settled on the couch a couple minutes ago. What could she expect, wearing these little booty-shorts. Not that she minded the attention! But, the evening was supposed to be about her boobs; she’d talked about this with Abby. Yes, she’d spent countless hours at the gym making her legs and butt look bigger, stronger, shapelier, more powerful. She wanted him to notice and to think she had the best legs in the world. But, her breasts were the more purely natural demonstration of her womanliness, were an organic symbol of how good a source of comfort and pleasure she could be for him, and were supposed to be the focus for tonight. So when she finally came to stand in front of him at the couch, across the low coffee table, she made sure to lean over slow enough, just right to give him a nice view of her cleavage.

“Nice and warm still, I’m so happy,” she clucked, as she popped the tops off the three quart-sized containers and the tray of dumplings. She fought back a smile as she felt him alternately watching her set up their dinner and occasionally lose his fight with the urge to just gape at her chest. She opened up a single set up chopsticks and scooted around the table to sit aside him on the white leather couch.

Melissa sank to the couch slowly but making certain her weight hit with enough force to be heard and felt while curling her legs underneath herself so that her thigh muscles were on clear display. Pivoting at waist, she posed her enormous chest and trim shoulders. Watching the movement of his gaze was a true delight as the man aside her struggled to find somewhere to let it land. Her smile had shifted so that her face didn’t seem entirely appropriate to focus on, and his eyes dropped to her legs. Despite the fact that it was her legs again, she soaked in the attention he was lauding onto her body; forget the Chinese take-out, this was nourishment enough for her. Feed me, she thought.

But enough was enough, as much as she loved it. She briskly slapped her thighs <slap slap> to grab his attention, break his engrossed leg-trance. “Ugh, my thighs feel so thhhick,” she said with a faux lisp, “might have to call in thick tomorrow.”

That shook him from his oblivious dwam. “t-tomorrow’s Saturday…” he responded. Was that his lame attempt at a joke haha?

“Oh yeah!” she laughed blithely, eyes sparkling in mischief, ”Now, let’s get you fed.” Pivoting again, she reached back to the table with her chopsticks and picked up her first morsel from the tin tray. “How about a dumpling…Dumpling?” she giggled, bringing the warm little steamed pocket of pork, ginger and shredded cabbage towards his mouth. She knew he’d balk, at first, but all it took was a couple clucks and a reminder of just how much he liked it when she fed him and he was taking his first bite. “Yummy?” she asked, watching him chew. It warmed her heart.

He nodded, swallowing, and she watched him. She knew how little he’d been eating these days, how skinny he’d been getting. He opened for another bite, taking the rest of the dumpling, and finally asked about the other three containers when he’d swallowed again. Egg-drop, Tom-Yum, and something with some noodles.

“That’s…a lot of soup,” he commented, noticing that the dumplings were really the only solid food she’d ordered for them.

“Yeah,” Melissa agreed, tossing her hair and reaching again for another dumpling. This one she took for herself: all in one bite. “Itssf…” she began, but then stopped, giggling, her mouth still full. She chewed for a moment with a hand shyly to her mouth and rolling her eyes, swallowed, and began again. “It’s for your tummy,” she said, “I know how you’ve been having trouble these days. I figured soup would be easier for you. But these ginger dumplings are supposed to be good for the stomach, too.”

With a furrowed brow he nodded, grateful for her concern but sheepishly shrinking in his seat as one of his many recent fragilities were pointed out. He watched her choose another dumpling for him. Yes, something was up with his stomach and his constitution in general. He knew he should get it all checked out, when things calmed down a little. It was emasculating, how weak he’d been these days, but none of it seemed to bother Melissa. In fact, she seemed to embrace it, love it, and really leaned in to helping him be comfortable in his meagerness. So, he allowed himself to be pampered, a bit. “Thank you,” he simply acknowledged, and opened wide for another bite.

Melissa’s heart was fluttering, she was almost shivering in seeing - even after a tough week in which she hadn’t been able to pay him much attention - how easily he was falling into this docile, submissive role tonight. She was feeding him like a mama bird and he wasn’t complaining at all! She’d spoken to Abby about how important it was to show him how gentle she could be, how loving and nurturing. She thought she’d have a little fight but this is fucking easy, she thought to herself, and the warmth she felt for him in her chest grew. Eventually, after feeding him three of the dumplings, she could sense how he maybe needed a break, to let that tummy settle. Chopsticks were back on the table, and she reached for the now-opened bottle of wine, poured him a glass. She handed it to him and then sat back, moving to tuck her knees under herself on the couch. That raised her up a bit, brought her chest right up to about his eye level. She smiled down at him, and watched him take his first sip of fancy French white wine.

“So, I wanted to apologize for something,” she began, knowing she had to be careful with how much she told him, “I’m sorry for not asking you to help me move. Lakshmi said you felt a little bad about it.”

“I, uh,” he started, struggling with how he was going to express himself here without just making himself sound petulant. He began by explaining how he thought boyfriends were supposed to help girlfriends move their stuff, right? Heavy boxes and all? Just because he was, like, half a wimp didn’t mean he couldn’t have helped in some way, right? He tried to sound casual, in good humor as much as he could about it, but she saw through it and it brought a chorus of apologies from her. In the end, he went on to tell her, it wasn’t a big deal. It was just one of the many little emasculations he was now weathering on a daily basis. That brought another wave of apologies and coos from her, and she scooted closer to him. She just wanted to hug him so bad!

“I know, I know, I know!” she whined, laughing a little to herself, “You were just, y’know, you're so busy, and not feeling great…” She was gushing with half-truths, here, fully aware that she couldn’t tell him the real reason she couldn’t have had him help her move, see her old place. That would have been too much to try to explain haha. And getting him clearance would have been impossible.

“I wasn’t that busy,” he said, “for you, I would have made time.”

Ohmigod.

In a sudden burst of affection, she reached out to grab his head again and began to cover his face with apology kisses: <Muah Muah Muah!> they came, rapid, all over his forehead and cheeks, nose and eyelids. After more than a dozen she sat back and the lipstick marks she’d left made her giggle. “Omigod you are so sweet,” she cooed, licking her finger to clean him up. He had awkwardly started moving his hands onto her; she felt them on her hips.

She had given him some space, after the elections, after being a little physically aggressive with him, and she began to tell him as much. But she now knew that he’d taken it as being too unfeeling and distant. Yes, maybe he had been a little emotionally needy, but she loved it! She, though, should have responded with reassurance and affection, and she knows now she was too casual about it. She had to remember to be better about his feelings in the future. It wasn’t just his weak little male bones that were fragile…his heart was, too.

He tried to protest, defending himself, but really just sounded sort of silly. He knew it, too.

In the meantime, Melissa realized that with her emotions her pheromones had begun pouring off her body and had begun to really affect him, as they sat here. His hands were on her hips, and his gaze had once more lowered to study the hourglass of her body. His eyes had dropped to her lap, again, to her big bulging thighs, smoothly bare and throbbing with muscle as her feet stayed tucked beneath her. They were huge and perfect and haha someday soon might each weigh nearly as much as he did, but she had to remind herself again why she’d brought him here tonight.

Sitting up, above him on the couch, Melissa casually lowered her stretchy top a bit more off her shoulders. A big breath pulled the neckline down a bit, exposing more of the upper swells of her firm, giant breasts and a bit more cleavage. Aha, she thought, that worked. Now she had him looking where she wanted...

“Jay, I never, never, ever want to make you feel bad, or ignored, or that you’re on your own,” she began again, “I want to make life easy on you. I want to protect you.”

“P-protect me?” he queried, and she could see the protest again beginning to build behind his brow.

“The world’s been changing, and it’s about to change even faster,” she continued, making sure her voice was strong but gentle and soothing, “I know what happened in clinic, with that girl. There’s going to be more of that, everywhere. Women are becoming different. So me and the girls think you need protecting - not just with the clinic patients. But, like, all the time.”

Now she saw him start to really bristle, but then she began to list the recent news stories they’d all heard, the female-on-male violence, the gangs, what had happened at some of the rallies. Unconsciously, her body had begun to flex her musculature while she was talking. Was it already rising to defend him, swelling, or was the idea of women breaking men into little pieces secretly exciting her?

He seemed to be in denial, like so many men were. He didn’t see the reality that things might actually get dangerous on so many levels for him in the coming months. He assured her that the world would settle down, like they always did. She tried to be patient, knowing this was hard for him, but knew she needed her point taken.

“Here, let me show you this thing I recorded,” she said, reaching back to the table to grab the remote. With a single button, a big-screen TV rose out of the floor, bringing a nod of admiration from him.

“That’s cool…” he commented.

Nonplussed by the technology - much of what she’d been surrounded with since her childhood would put this fancy television setup to shame - Melissa pressed another button or two and brought up the news clip she’d wanted to show him. Abby had suggested it and she’d had it all queued up, prepared.

It was a piece from one of the late-night shows, from one of the news channels, an interview by a blonde anchor. She was speaking via satellite feed to a woman who he immediately pegged as a leader of one of these “fringe” groups, one of the extreme female-empowerment outfits that were being given more and more of a voice in the media: “It used to be that we sat back and watched as men in society were slowly becoming infantalized, doing it to themselves. The video games, the laziness, the dwindling education,” the woman - a pretty, but somewhat severe looking redhead in glasses - was saying, “It upset us, a little. As wives, mothers, partners. Now, though, we have it figured out - hey, let’s encourage it. Let’s encourage these people to sit back, to give up their responsibilities so we can take them ourselves.” The woman was obviously excited, energized, and something about her tone certainly did have the effect Melissa wanted: it was making him nervous, as he sat there on the couch. She also noted - with a quick, furtive glance down - it was also making him hard. “Now...now we have the opportunity to FORCE it,” she continued, “Forced infantalization, forced physical infantalization. Make them smaller, make them weaker. Make them dependent on us for our minds, for our physical strength. We have the ability to make them physically dependent on our bodies for the very nutrition their bodies need.”

“W-wait,” he said, as he still watched, obviously confused, “what is this woman talking about?” They’d maybe missed the first part of the interview but his tone was plain: this chick is crazy. There were, he knew, all sorts of kookie conspiracy theorists out there and he was half in disbelief that this one had been allowed on CNN. The other half of him, though, began to get even more nervous.

To his question Melissa said nothing, but had turned to watch him and how he was reacting, handling what this lady was saying.

She was still talking. “We can start the process. We can start to physically turn them into the infants they’ve been for nearly a generation now,” she ranted. The anchor lady had to stop her, at some point, but instead of cutting away like they normally would when a guest went wacky, she presented some follow up questions.

“Sure, there will be a place for men,” the bespectacled redhead answered, “physical labor, landscaping, package delivery. It just may take two of them to do one job, and we’ll have to be patient. But with our surplus of undereducated men we do have to find a use for th-.”

Melissa clicked off the TV. Smoothly, it sank back into the floor, and she turned back to him.

The big house was suddenly, eerily silent. “Th-this is scary,” he admitted in disbelief, obviously struck but what he’d just heard. I mean…it was ridiculous, wasn’t it? That lady’s a crazy lady, right?

“Is it?” she asked, controlling as best she could the excitement in her voice, “Is it scary to you?”

“Y-yeah,” he answered, “a little.”

“When you say that,” Melissa spoke, inching herself on her knees a little closer to him, “It makes me feel extra protective of you. It so does…” He’d slumped back, now, against the back of the couch, while she still sat up straight aside him, facing him. She smiled warmly as he looked up at her; he looked so deliciously little. “Like, I feel like your big cuddly wolf mommy, and you’re my pup,” she continued with a little giggle, reaching out to stroke his hair, “My pup. My little pup, my puppy <giggle!>. I want to protect you from the big, mean world.”

He looked up at her, and was unquestionably aware of her greater size, her greater strength, her greater mass. Her immense beauty, her warmth. It was also not lost on him that he was here, in this magnificent mansion that was basically hers, while he was near homeless, dependent on the mercy of his bitterly angry ex-wife for the hovel where he lived. He was dependent on women, he knew he had been for years, and now his reckoning had come. They were not going to tolerate his kind any longer; they were sick of all the shit. Maybe he needed her, Melissa, now. She was offering to be his protector, and maybe he needed to latch on to a strong woman for the sake of his own safety. But, perhaps somewhat abstractedly, he knew inwardly what he’d be giving up if he put himself in her care.

He watched as she pivoted towards him, and smoothly raised her left leg to straddle him. She now faced him, sitting heavily on his lap, towering over him like a giant. He looked up at her, and tried to keep his jaw from falling open, or quivering. He could just barely see her face beyond the imposing swell of her enormous bosom.

“I can be your superhero…” she said with a glorious smile, sitting up straight and raising her arms into an impressive, double-biceps pose. She flexed, causing her muscles to explode in a display of her surprising, secret brawn. “…don’t you think I’m built like one?”

At that, Melissa giggled, and then threw her head back in a laugh. She couldn’t help it! It just felt so good, showing him how strong she was. She raised her arms up into the air, above herself, in a stretch that reached towards the heavens. She felt his eyes on her, gaping, in awe of what she was and what she was becoming. She was just so big! And below her, he felt very, very small.

“oh my god Melissa…” was all he could manage, in a weak little voice.

She looked down at him again. Good, she saw, allowing herself a crooked little smile, he’s staring at my tits. With her hands she gently cupped his face, held it in place, allowing him to look, forcing him to look. Slowly, then, she ran them down, down his neck in a caress, down to his chest, over to his shoulders. She palpated him, felt his smallness, how frail he felt under her big hands. He could feel it himself: she was examining him, sizing him up.

Finally, she couldn’t help but ask. “Hey…are you smaller?” she posited, cocking her head.

“Wh-what? I don’t…I don’t know.” He looked away, embarrassed, caught.

“Hmm…” she continued, running her hands down his thin upper arms, now, feeling them for their meager strength. He’d worn a white collared polo shirt for their date, with his khakis, and she pushed his short sleeves up a bit, revealing how weak he looked. “I think you are. You look thinner, smaller, shorter.”

Though his heart was racing, and his cock was throbbing under her, he said nothing. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her what he already knew.

“Haha, how shy, I like it,” she said, with a little laugh. She did love how flustered he got when they talked about the difference in their sizes. Knowing that he knew, and could feel, how much bigger she was than him was just so thrilling. She knew tonight was about making him feel safe and protected, but she really couldn’t help herself. Plus, it might make him understand how much he needed her protection if she did this…

“Let’s measure you,” she said dreamily, her strong hands having moved from his arms back to his shoulders, now grasping him behind his neck, kneading him in a gentle massage. The suggestion, the thought of him and her and a measuring tape, was turning her on.

“N-no, it’s okay…” he answered, remembering his morning, the moments of self-pity, “I did it myself, at home, this morning.”

Melissa’s eyes widened, and she tried to hide her excitement. Oooo…. “How tall are you now?” she asked, with prurient interest.

“I’m…just about five-one,” he said, face flushing in shame. How had it let it go this far?? Where was his self-respect?? Why wasn’t he doing anything about this, his health??

“‘Just about five-one’?” she asked, “you mean you're not actually even five-one?”

He saw how exited this was making her. “Well, I’m like…” he began, in answer, “just over five-feet even.”

“Like, five-foot, and a half inch?”

“More like…” he started, pulse throbbing in his face, cock ready to break through his khakis and press into her mighty thigh, “…five-foot and a quarter.”

“Oh god you are shorter,” she exhaled, overcome, with an enthusiasm that betrayed her excitement but just made him feel even weaker and more afraid. Like telling her this, speaking it aloud, had made it more real: he was shrinking, faster.

He was looking up at her, while she smiled down at him, and his lip was quivering, his eyes glassy and full. Her expression changed from one of animated exhilaration, though, to one of immediate concern when tears began coming out of his eyes. Then, he covered his crying face.

“Are you…crying?” she gasped, quickly putting her hands into action. “Aww, don´t cry, come here,” she cooed as she both leaned forward into him and pulled him up away from the couch into her. She felt it immediately: this did not have to be an act, or contrived in any way. Melissa’s maternal instincts were kicking in, plain as day, and she couldn't bear to see him crying. Thirty-five or forty or however many years-old he was, it didn’t matter; she wouldn’t have him crying without comforting him.

She had his face right on her boobs. Her bosom was huge, and his head sank into it like a child’s. She was about to comment on it but just as she was about to speak up, he started outright sobbing.

“Shh, shh, it´s okay, don´t cry, honey, don´t cry,” she cooed, wiggling herself closer to him to more adequatelyhold him, “Why are you crying? Hmmm? Did I say something wrong? What´s the matter?” He was obviously incapable of speaking, so distraught, so she just hugged him tighter to her chest. “It’s okay. Let it out, just let it all out for me,” came her voice, surrounding him and filling his ears, “Melissa’s here…”.

He went on like this for a couple minutes, and she just let him cry. She coooed and clllllucked and purrrrred to him, reassuring him, coddling him, feeling his hot, wet face against the soft skin of her big breasts. She was telling him it was alright, that everything would be okay as long as he had her. She wouldn’t let anything happen to him, no sir! Her voice, her tenderness seemed to calm him, but still he sobbed, more gently now. And, after a while, he stopped.

“Are you feeling better, dear?” came her sweet voice again, as she rubbed his back with one hand, the other gently releasing him from her chest so he could sit back a bit.

“I… I am…” he replied, and opened his tear-blurred eyes to look up at her. He saw how she was looking at him in a strange way. He felt suddenly ashamed, so he turned away.

“Aww, don´t be shy,” she cooed, immediately taking his chin and redirecting his face to look back up at her, “it´s natural for a man to cry. You shouldn´t hide your feelings, not from me. If you have a need to cry sometimes, it´s okay. I’m here.”

Melissa knew he had become overly aware, overly sensitive of his height, and hers. She knew how it made him feel, knowing she was growing larger and stronger while he for some reason kept dwindling away. His eyes, so many times over these past weeks, had been caught running up and down her body, checking her size, her height, how tall she was compared to him. And that didn´t changed with other people. She could also see it, out of the corner of her eye, when he was trying to talk with the other girls. She knew his shrinking had make him insecure, and now imposing herself and her growing size over him should be a last resort. A “power” she shouldn’t abuse.

But her boobs were a different story.

Seeing that he had stopped crying, for sure, she allowed her smile to change from one of pure matronly concern to one flavored with a bit more mischief.

“Did my chest make you feel better?” she asked, with as much girlish innocence as she could muster. The hand which cupped his chin, her right, left his face and came to rest lightly on her more-than-maidenly bosom. Her fingers began to play with the neckline of her top, and slowly started peeling it down, fraction by fraction, as her left hand slid up his back, behind his head. His gaze was redirected by her to her tits, and he was getting harder and harder. More and more of the huge upper swells of her breasts were being exposed, and his eyes became fixed and dilated.

She tried to keep from giggling. “I don’t know if you’ve been properly introduced, Jay,” she began, her voice gentle but full of good junior, “These are my breasts. Say hello…”

With that, Melissa drew in a great, filling breath and watched his eyes widen as her chest expanded, her already enormous tits seeming to double in size as her mighty lungs filled. The elastic fabric of her top stretched to its limit and god knows how she didn’t just pop right out of it. She felt her nipples harden and announce themselves through the spandex. He had begun to shake, and she felt his thin hips try to press up into her, as he struggled to keep himself from rutting.

“They’re excited to see you,” she began again, twisting at the waist just enough to pivot one hardened nipple right in front of his face, aggressively showing him its size, plain to see even through the aquamarine lycra of her too. She twisted again, to now show him the other one, equally swollen. “My breasts are just so ready to comfort you and make you feel good tonight, Jay,” she continued, as she slowly inched her massive breast closer to his face, his eyes staring and unblinking at its nipple, “They just want you to get to know them better.”

She knew, she knew for sure, just how breast-obsessed Jay was. All men, really, these days, had been becoming tit-men, had grown to be attracted to and fascinated by the big female breast. It gave women, especially women built like Melissa, a new power. It was a growing weakness in all men, something guys everywhere were developing. But Jay, she knew, and his weaknesses for tits, were really on another level.

She shimmied her shoulders, just the slightest bit, just enough to bring some movement to the massive monument of mammary she had right in front of his face. Below her top her whole breast shifted, and he let out a groan as he gaped at the jiggles and waves of movement that flowed through the flesh just under the skin of her upper tit.

“What’s your favorite word for them?” she asked, as she gathered her shoulders together a bit, squeezing her KK-cups together in a wedding-cake display of cleavage that nearly made him explode. He did, in fact, groan again, heedless of just how enthralled he was by her chest.

But, she’d asked him a question. “Boobs? Breasts? Tits?” she began again, “What’s your fave? Knockers? Mommy Milkers?” He had begun to pant, and she felt his hips press up into her again. He seemed to like that last one haha, she thought and in response she redoubled her display, squeezing her shoulders together some more, now pressing in on her mountainous boobs with her upper arms. It surprised even she herself how big she could look when she did this. “BIG Mommy Milkers?” she pressed on, “BIG, HUGE, MASSIVE Mommy Milkers <giggle!>? What do you want to call them?”

It was hard not to stare at the deep line of cleavage between her tits. Seeing him stare, she jiggled her monstrously burgeoned cleavage a little, right in front of his face. He, of course, had - aside from now the occasional whine - gone totally quiet. He was speechless. She knew she’d rob him of his voice by overwhelming him with her chest like this, but it was still fun to tease. “Can’t decide, huh?” she finally concluded for him, allowing him to stay quiet, “Well…why don’t you just call them ‘home’ for now…”

At that, Melissa used the hand still behind him to hug his face once more to her chest. If she thought she could fit his head inside them, probably make it disappear between them, she was right. With just a little wiggle, some readjustment of her torso and shoulders, she sunk his face and head fully between her breasts. She now then hugged herself around him, surrounding him completely. The feeling was divine, enveloping his whole head like this, and she could only imagine what his world felt like right now. Darkness, her warmth, her body’s sweet perfume: it would be all around him, enwombing him.

“I…” she heard his muffled little voice begin, “I d-d-don’t know if I can handle this…” Indeed, his body was tensing, trying to keep itself from just spasming into her.

She felt a new wave of maternal love flow over her. ““Get used to it, baby. You’re going to be spending a lot of time like this,” she purred, knowing her voice would carry through her chest to him, “if you want to relax, let the pleasure take you and just let go, you’re welcome to. Go ahead, I don’t mind.” She felt big, magnanimous. “Take as much pleasure as my breasts can give you. Use them how you want.”

He was still trying to keep himself, she could feel, from outright rutting up into her like a dog. He didn’t want to come this way, so soon, in his pants again. He wanted to save himself. She held him to her, and she understood. She just wanted him to be happy, but she knew he couldn’t last much longer. It was okay.

After allowing him another moment, but not wanting him to struggle too much more, Melissa slowly released his head. “I love getting closer with you, more intimate,” she said, gently, as his head and face slid out from between her breasts and she cupped his chin again to bring his gaze up to her. She wanted him to look her in the eyes. She was happy with how rapt he was, how mindlessly he paid attention to her. “And,” she continued, “I have some ideas on how we can…bond, together.”

With that she tilted his face down again, so he could watch as her hand had come once again to her chest, right above the nipple of her huge left breast. Her fingers took delicate hold of her neckline, the stretchy fabric that just barely now covered her grandly erect nipple. “Skin-to-skin contact helps, make two people closer connected,” she said, and began to peel down her top.

He noticed the faint hint of a tanline, still, separating the most intimate, creamiest skin of her breast from the rest of her chest. She pulled down her top, oh-so-slowly some more and he watched, with wide, unblinking eyes, as the darker skin of her areola now appeared. Already there were smaller bumps, engorged Montgomery glands, grown and ready to moisturize her nipple. Her flesh was otherwise smooth, perfect, and he could just barely see the fine hairs like down on her skin. He had begun to pant, and whine, and oh no just as she pulled down, a bit further, just as the big nub of her nipple played at the hem of her top, ready to pop above it and finally be revealed to his ravenous stare, he felt himself jolt. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no…

“Ohhh…” she cooed, her fingers freezing in place, keeping her nipple just covered by the spandex of her top, “oh no…”

He groaned, in defeat, and felt his hips buck up again into her. A familiar shock ran through his hips, into his belly, tightened his torso and made his eyes clamp shut. The first burst of wetness he felt on his thigh.

“Oh, sweetie, it’s okay,” she cooed, feeling her lover be taken by premature climax under her, “let it out…”

He groaned, he whined again. Nooo…! But he couldn’t help himself. Still staring at her tit, at the promise of her big nipple under her top, he came in his pants. He rutted, weakly and with as much restraint as he could, up into her. This was…this was…

“Shhhhh, honey, shhhhh…” she purred to him, allowing him his moment and secretly satisfied she had him on his way to where she wanted to get him, “we have all night, baby. Mama’s just getting started…”

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stevebasic Patreon

#growing into the job

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wcamino-confessions · 5 months

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I'm popping in to just give my 2 cents to the whole of lt

As a nearly 7 year old member of WA I'm currently 19 I'm gonna say the lt are people, human people with lives that decided to uphold the community they care about and try to strive for the highest standards they can achieve as a team. HOWEVER, in the last 4 years the very concerning red flag I've seen pop up time and time agajn is the fact members of the lt have been under aged and by that I mean by that is 16-18 years olds having to be the one to eb the community outlash in ufc and other areas the lt have open for communication. I'm sorry but I can not fathom why this is continuing because WA has a history of leaders who were under 18 joining into the lt and yet it feels like it's ignored. 16 to 18 yos do not have the mental capabilities to be responsible for a group of how many people, I'm not saying any current or former members of the lt are stupid they are capable of great things and all have contributed to the community in different ways but where was the standard created that it was okay to put such a insurmountable amount of responsible of teenagers who still are learning the skills to understand their actions in full. If you say " well these younger members are signing up on their own accord" yes yes they are but it is influenced by the fact for the last 4 years the team has had both minors and adults in collaboration of leadership. Where this started is unclear to me but I know as early as 2018 at the earliest there was members 16 or 17 during the time of their leadership.

Where I'm trying to get at here is the fact it's an unhealthy dynamic for both minors and adults and the community as a whole, obviously the minors; it's mind altering to try and be in charge of things like UFC and community feedback. I say its also unfair to a part for the adult lt as most having to insure the safety and well-being of their younger co members while also juggling the bigger things they face from the community. And it's unfair to the community to continue to set the standards of thinking this is an healthy working relationship when it is not. Elders from years ago now will absolutely remember Helpclan and the absolute damage it caused for the members involved in running it and those who turned to them for help. And what was the circumstances of this clan; Adults and Minors being in charge of the well-being of an ever growing community with a wide range of problems and no real rule set in place to protect both parties. This isn't okay, there's a problem here that needs to be addressed as a whole process and review of the state of things. I want to clarify again though, at this point the lt who helped create this normalization of circumstances is no longer in place, it has been years since and with the current lt I want to believe that they can set the right course of responsibility and mutual interest for the community and each other. The lt is a complex working of years of changes and rules and procedures but it can still change, there is no need to continue feeding into what past WA was doing; there needs to be a change somewhere for the well-being of everyone who is on WA and it can happen with the respectful feedback of community members who aren't just screaming lazy or bias, it's so much more then that ofc but by creating open sources of conversations like ufc and other gateways; WA can be a great place for everyone. I avoid saying it can be great again because looking back it is great I won't lie but it was also setting up harmful standards and normalcy to not okay situations that the newer generation of WA members and lt are having to deal with to this day

Stay safe yall, happy holidays and be respectful to each other 💖

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evolutionsvoid · 1 year

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It is interesting how horror stories around water and the aquatic tend to be set in and around the ocean. Like, I get it, the sea is a mysterious, unfathomable place with its fair share of leviathans, unexplainable phenomenon and bizarre fates. When I travel across the ocean, I too get uncomfortable and worried at times! What I am trying to say is not that the ocean doesn't deserve this fear and wonder, but that freshwater can be just as ominous and dangerous as well! What of the lakes, ponds and rivers? Why do we not have nearly as many superstitions and worries tied to these water bodies? Is it because they are small? No, there are some massive lakes out there that can definitely make one think of the ocean. Is it because they are shallow? Shouldn't be, because there are some water bodies that far deeper than one would think possible, with hearts of darkness right below where some communities fish and swim. Perhaps it is because these freshwater sources are so close and provide so much that we don't like to dwell on the idea of them betraying us. The ponds we fetch our water from, the lakes we pull our fish from and the rivers we use as passageways and roads through the wilds. Maybe since we see them so often and see so much of them, that we believe they cannot hide much from us. What danger and mystery could possibly be within the pond we wash our clothes in? I am sure communities that live near these places do know what threats exist both above and below, I just feel that they are often overshadowed by tales of the wild sea. Perhaps this entry will go to show some folk that the simple ponds we think little of can contain their own share of monsters. When one talks of aquatic beasts, the thought usually goes to sea serpents, toothy reptiles or great fish that swallow boats whole. At the very least, people figure the monster of the deep is made of flesh and blood like them! However, in some ponds, lakes and wetlands, the beast you fear may be a plant. What I speak of is the glutwort, an aquatic plant that lives more like a creature than any rooted flower. Think of them like us dryads, not bound to earth and far more active. They grow and live in the depths of still bodies of freshwater, like the ponds and lakes I mentioned before. They can live in wetlands and marshes too, as long as there is enough water for them to hide in. Like dryads, they don't spend their whole life rooted to the soil, rather it is only when they are growing from a seed. Once they reach an essentially child form, they emerge from the mud and go onto a life of swimming and eating. They start off small, being about the size of a human head when they first pop out of the silt and muck. However, given enough time, food and space, they can reach startling proportions! As they start growing bigger and bigger, that is when this aquatic plant starts to become a menace.

To explain why the glutwort is dangerous, all we need to do is discuss how it feeds. Obviously as a plant, it gets energy from the sunlight, but such a mobile lifestyle cannot be sustained by light alone! Like dryads, it needs a real diet. In particular, it needs some meat. Fish is a big source of food for them, but to be honest, they will eat pretty much anything put in front of them. This is because the glutwort is a very straightforward hunter and eater, with no interest in superficial things like "stalking prey," "finding weaknesses" or "chewing." When a glutwort is hungry, it reaches its sense out to find concentrated areas of food, like schools of fish. In some cases, it is best to sit still and wait for dinner to swim to them. Glutworts spend a lot of their time resting on the bottom, having no need to expend energy if it isn't hunting. It is even believed that they may be able to bury their limbs in the mud to act as temporary roots to absorb nutrients. So sometimes they just sit still and wait, while others find it better to swim to where the grub is. Their limbs and tendrils help them navigate the world beneath, sometimes swimming and other times pulling themselves along by grabbing onto sunken logs and tree roots. Due to their size and shape, they aren't the most graceful swimmers, and thus the are pretty easy to notice when they are coming to feed. In that case, the food should just be able to easily flee, right? Unfortunately for them, the glutwort does not care for the chase, it wants dinner and it wants it now. To get its meal, the glutwort just...opens its mouth. The secret behind the glutwort's feeding strategy is its massive expanding stomach. It is able to swell to insane proportions, so that it can contain pretty much anything it swallows. The important thing, though, is that this huge gut not only can hold a lot, but it is also designed to hold absolutely nothing! What I mean is that it is able to flush the water out of its stomach, leaving it completely empty. No air, no nothing. This causes the gut to kind of shrivel and suck in on itself, but there is a point to that. When the glutwort opens its mouth, the water instantly rushes in to fill this void. It moves so fast into the stomach, that it easily pulls in the fish and other aquatic critters with it. When feeding occurs in ambush mode, the glutwory swallows its food so quickly that the prey doesn't realize what happened until it is already in its gut. This water vortex pulls in everything in front of the glutwort, and sends it straight to its stomach. When the mouth is snapped shut, there is no escape. Victims are left trapped in the water-filled gut, which can be fine for aquatic species and pretty bad for those who need air. Regardless of what you breathe, things become less good when the glutwort starts pumping digestive juices into the water. Those who drown are honestly the lucky ones, as the others are left being slowly digested alive, their skin and flesh burning away over the course of days. If a glutwort gets a good gutload from hunting, it will settle back down to the bottom and slowly digest it all. It may sleep down there for days, even weeks, until all the tasty bits are digested. After that, it spits out what it couldn't absorb and then begins to empty the stomach again. Soon it will be time to feed again!

So take this hunting strategy, where they just swallow any living thing they can, and then add it to the fact that they can grow to massive sizes. Start seeing the problem? The young ones stick to fish, frogs and bugs, but at a certain size, the glutwort is open to more options. Bigger fish are fine, but what are those creatures catching them? They look nice and meaty! Not going to lie, humans totally land on the menu for glutworts, as well as other terrestrial beasts! As they get bigger, they get bolder. Animals that come to the water's edge to drink can be a victim, as the larger specimens stalk the shallows for the chance of a big meal. To deal with the lower water level, they completely shrink their stomach down and lay themselves flat, so that they can better hide. When they see their moment, they lunge with mouth open and arms reaching, seizing prey and stuffing them down their throat. If they get their victim halfway into their gut, that is good enough for them, as they immediately dive back down into the water. Their quick retreat to the bottom is to finish off their prey, which need air to live. Those struggling in their jaws or trapped in their stomach will eventually drown, saving the glutwort the trouble of killing them. Once again, the digestive juices come in and melt their prey away. As a voracious hunter, the glutwort is a threat to pretty much anything that fits in its stomach. They don't care about what they swallow, as long as there is food to be gained. They target those that swim, those on the surface, those that stand at shore or even those traveling in boats. I have heard of specimens that could swallow entire canoes and their paddlers, resulting in plenty of scenarios where people "vanished without a trace." Even if people are wary of glutworts, they still aren't easy to fend off. They have strong grabbing limbs to pull folk under, and if they are dealing with a boat or victims on shore, they will gladly use a gut full of water to sink and crush. Glutworts have the unstoppable need to get prey into its stomach, so they will spend all battle trying to ram you down their throat. They will swallow your weapons, your gear and the boat you're in if they can. If you do wind up in their stomach, do not think a simple knife will save you. Their gut is incredibly durable and thick, so cutting your way through will take some time. Sadly, land dwellers don't often have enough time to saw through the stomach and escape, especially when the glutwort sinks to the bottom. Most will drown in its gut, and those who do get free may still perish trying to reach the surface. The one mercy that comes with this is that a glutwort of that size needs a lot of space and food to survive. So in shallower waters or smaller ponds, the species will only grow so big. Then there is food to factor in, as glutworts eat a lot. What winds up happening in places is that only a few glutworts can attain such incredible sizes, as that is all the environment can support. The other ones must remain small and stunted, until one of the big ones die and free up resources. In some ponds, only one glutwort can fill this role, meaning there is only one threat to worry about. On that note, it should be stated that glutwort are surprisingly good parents despite their voracious lifestyle. The small young hang around the full grown adults, often clinging to their tendrils for a free ride and protection from predators. When the glutwort devours its meal, the young remain on the back to avoid being swallowed. After a certain point in the digestion process, only chunks and pieces will remain of their victims. When this happens, an adult glutwort may open its maw for the little ones to swim in. Inside, they will suck up what morsels they can then leave with full bellies. On a less lovely side, the glutwort may also vomit out some meaty pieces to lure in more prey, so that they can be devoured too. And before anyone asks, dryads do not have good relations with glutworts. Why do people think all plants get along? The thing to remember is that glutworts pretty much eat anything that moves, so dryads can get swallowed too. Though they prefer meat, they won't complain eating one of our kind so long as it fills the belly. Glutworts are a bane to lily dryads, not because they target them but because these dryads wind up as collateral damage. When the beast swallows a whole bunch of water near the surface, some lilies can get sucked up too. I feel bad for anyone eaten by a glutwort because it sounds like a terrible way to go. Some folk have gotten it in their head that perhaps a glutwort could be trained and used for underwater travel. The idea is that the glutwort would instead fill its stomach with breathable air, where the owner could then dwell as the creature swims to their destination. Perhaps it could be pulled off, mainly with magic and such, but its a position I would rather not be in. Sitting in a stomach with the hope that your steed doesn't digest you seems like a terrible idea. I know trust is powerful, but so is stomach acid... Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian

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“Glutwort”

A while ago I read something that was talking about how pitcher plants and venus flytraps get all the attention when it comes to carnivorous plants. With that being said, I took it upon myself to seek out the other types and turn them into beasts. Justice must be given to them!

#bladderwort #plant monster #monster #creature #carnivorous plant #art #drawing

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therealnightcity · 4 months

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2 for Hiro, 1 for Avi and Ares, 16 for Ares :3

Character asks for @a-pirate 🥰🥰

Hiro:

Lt. Mower: What is the worst betrayal your character has faced?

Hiro isn't a stranger towards how self-serving people can be, but by far the worst was Wakako. He grew up thinking he didn't have any family aside from a brother he was estranged from, didn't know that she was his grandmother or that his dad had been her son, estranged from the family, or that he has a half-sister. She kept an eye on him growing up, but always held him at arm's length. She said it was because she didn't want him to turn out like his father, that it was for his own good but he wishes she just would've told him, been more involved. She let him make his own mistakes, firm iin her belief that if he was determined enough he would dig himself out of them, and while that held true, he's always resented her for it. He put his trust in the wrong people and she simply watched.

Ares:

The Wasteland: How does your OC feel about the Raffen Shiv? Is it too harsh what the Nomad clans do, or is it fair?

Ares' view of the Raffen Shiv is less rooted in personal views and more of a practical nature. While she doesn't think the punishment of exile is too harsh, especially given what led to them getting kicked out, she's less "kill on sight' than other Nomads. She's the only mechanic shop around for miles, and as a result her clients tend to be an ecelctic mix, Wraiths included. And she knows that sometimes it's easier to tolerate their occasional presence in exchange for leaving her alone, and minding their own business. It would be foolish to raid a place packing that much firepower, at least on your own, and her no-nonsense attitude is at the very least, respected. If you bring her a car with blood on the seats though, expect an extra cleaning fee tacked on. She doesn't like the Raffens, but she also doesn't have a Nomad clan backing her, that allows her to pick the bigger fights, and still sleep soundly.

Avi & Ares

Demons of War: Is there a job that's left a permanent mark on your OC?

Mr. and Mrs. Peralez turned to Avi, when they started questioning their home's security, and wanted to investigate the death of the mayor. He'd previously been afiliated with Arasaka, and had experience with corporate politics/complexities, while not having current loyalty to any coorporation, and had slipped out of the limelight following his departure from the company--a perfect fit for digging up information that others wanted to keep secret, and to protect himself or them, if it ever came to that. He'd been communicating with an anonymous source since before his split with the company, feeding them information in exchange for Arasaka's dirt--assistance in locating his files, of which he could find no trace. It's the first time he met the mysterious Mr. Blue Eyes face to face, and shortly before he was able to connect his mysterious source to an individual, and the realization that he'd stepped into a mess even deeper in the attempt to avoid Arasaka's.

For Ares, it was the hit put out on Joanne Koch, Biotechnica's chief. She has her own reasons for mistrusting Corpos, and a group of Nomads reached out to her, seeking vengence. She's not tied to a clan, and doesn't have the same responsibilities to stay put and look after her family. Although hit jobs aren't her usual forte, it was something she never would have been able to refuse, particularly after she was able to locate the files on her mark, and learn of the death of the Red Ocher Nomads. Rather than electing to zero Koch, she knocked her out and delivered her personally to the Nomads, feeling as if they should be the ones to decide what to do with her. It's only intensified the belief that Corps can't be allowed to get too comfortable in the Badlands, and she's been open in discussing this with the Aldecaldos, stating that she'll in no condition be an ally if they side with Biotechnica. This has led to her relationship with Saul being strained at best.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk ocs #oc: hiro oda #oc: ares tanner #oc: avi kaiba #character asks #cyberpunk headcanons #thanks for asking!! this was really funnn <3

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scaevolawrites · 6 months

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FFF223 By Candlelight

This was written for @flashfictionfridayofficial

WC: 577

“ ‘I’ve always been fascinated by fire’… somehow every pyromaniac starts their story with those exact words. They’ll say that they first encountered The Flame when they saw the candle being lit. They talk about the wonder that is the flame dancing against the wind, trying to survive the onslaught of air. They saw the hunger that was present in that itty bitty light, the hunger to grow bigger, to grow stronger, the hunger for more. And that is where the descent into madness and mania starts for them. They give in to that hunger, want to see it consume everything, but get consumed by it instead…

As for me? I’ve always liked fire, been interested in fire, have been intrigued by fire. Sounds awfully similar doesn’t it? Are you afraid I’ll end up the same as them, consumed by my own mania, fallen for The Flame? You know, I might have thought the same throughout the years. But I’ve found that my fascination, pardon my interest in fire differed from others. Where they wanted to see The Flame grow and consume I was content with it being small and staying small. It was the fragility of fire, the struggle for air, that attracted me to it. Fighting against the source that feeds for the chance to live, knowing that too much of it will surely kill you… it is kind of poetic, is it not? I can lose hours of a night just looking at the candlelight, looking at is unending struggle for life. Serenity descends upon me at those times, The Flame centers my thoughts and everything becomes clear.

That candleflame, the limited amount of light it provides does not show weakness. It shows that even small things have the potential to become great. I feel that is the reason why I never lost interest in candles and the form of fire, why my house is littered with them. I just can’t get enough of it. It wasn’t a big surprise then that I made it into a profession and went into studying and eventually teaching Fire Magic. I wanted to know, nay I needed to know what this fireform was and what it could do and become. That knowledge needed to be mine. I wanted others to know about that delightful fire as well, they needed to see the beauty of it.

Others were skeptical and suspicious of me at the beginning, of course. The way I obsessed with the candle was something they had too many times. I’ve heard that there was a betting pool going around on when and how I would finally snap, how I would give in to the hunger of The Flame, and embrace the wildfires. Truth be told though, I hate wildfires, they have forgone all potential, and can only destroy, the heat they give does not nurture, does not sustain, it merely kills.

The candlelight, however, provides you with the light to see, the light to read. The candlelight provides the heat for the teakettle, the heat for the stove. The candlelight is The Flame that gives knowledge, it is The Flame that sustains.

And that’s why I’ve always been fascinated by fire.”

An introductory monologue for a story I might write one day that centers on a Sorcery Professor specialized in Small Fire Magicks, but is doomed to succumb to the fall to The Flame.

#fff223 #flashfictionfriday #scae.writes #writeblr #I've found candles to be very calming in the dead of night #seems like an interesting foil for a protaganist as a way to lose themselves #almost like a Shakespearean downfall

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luonnon-varainen · 1 year

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Can anyone tell my how is Eda going to feed King(and probably Collector) after everything goes back to normal?

Honestly, we talking about one semi god who is on his way to multiple his size and in the end has at least 15 km height and 5-year-old who is already as big as entire their planet. This two kidos gonna need a lot of food and one cranky old lady won't provide such an enormous amount of food to make them eat their full. Especially that both of them are rather carnivorous being(King literally has dozen of sharp teeth to eat meat, collector probably can eat everything and by this I also mean metal, stones, wood and any form of energy or force). King is growing up very quickly and he gonna need a lot to actually synthesizes new proteins and develops into fully grown titan. Titans need titanic amount of nutrients and I'm not really sure this planet has enough to handel King and let other beings alive at same time. Maybe when there were a lot of titans they could somehow live on such a small diversity in diet(I have this eerie feeling titans before meeting with collectors might have pretty nasty tendency to cannibalism, because there is no other way they could live on this planet in this size without same size food source), but not now with this small beings as a dominant size of life form. Same situation is with Collector, they needs a lot to grow five times bigger than they already are. And to get this many new atoms inside their body they needs to really decompose a lot.

Like, I need the answer how the Boiling Isles will deal with their small hungry gods on the deck. Dose Eda make a deal with entire island " I will rise those big-trouble boys and you will give me food every week so they won't look for food by themselves "or every citizen has obligation to once a year full thier bottomless tummies? Maybe cities will take shifts which will feed kids? Or Eda will basically send them on other island(Titan trappers for example) so they will eat as much as they need to grow up and won't bother main island? It is inhuman, but some sacrifice must be done to prevent another round of chaos on the boiling isles. One small island won't handle gods needs alone, one lady is not able to rise and control two troublesome kids alone and King can't decline their health for others also.

If the Collector also be new kid in squad, then how she will control their diet? Like, believing they eat metal and knowing what they are capable of, they can just slurp some of the planet core when nobody watchs them, causing little ice age. How Eda will feed little stary kid and prevent them from eating what never suppose to end in thier mouth? Just no-no or deals and games "who will longer resist drinking things that are tasty but nasty for others" would be involved. What actually will she give them? There is a chance that all organic food is for collectors junk food, if so how Eda will enforce them to eat healthy? By showing them side effects or wait till they get a little bit ill and be like "Ha! Who was right? This lady! I told you to stop eating apples.... " and then Collector start eating what they should from the beginning.

My love of biology and ecology just can't live this question without any hypothesis, so I shared them. If anybody has another hypothesis i would love to hear it 👉👈

#toh analysis #toh s3 #toh theory #the collector the owl house #toh king #the owl house theory #speculative biology #speculative ecology

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adventures-on-foster-island · 9 months

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A wave of sweet smelling humidity washes over you as you step into the green house. The loud hum of large fans fills the building, though they seem to do little to lower the temperature. Ellisa and her Sceptile stand between a large table and a tall, narrow rack. The table is covered in plants, ranging from tiny seedling, to leafy bush, to draping vine. Terracotta pots, square plastic containers, and fabric grow bags line the shelves of the rack. Ellisa is already elbow deep in a wheelbarrow full of dirt as students begin to gather around.

Gardening in Small Spaces

Whether you live in a tiny studio apartment or on acres of land, everyone can grow something. With a little planning and patience, you can turn a windowsill, shelf, corner, or closet into a functional green space. Lets break it down into a few simple parts:

Location and Lighting

You should choose your location based mostly on the kind of light it will receive. Although most fruiting plants prefer bright, direct light, even a less than optimally placed window can provide enough light for some herbs and leafy greens. If you want to grow more than that, or have no good natural light source, you can find reasonably priced grow lights at your local berry shop or growers outlet. Install the lights to where it will reach the maximum space possible. If you are converting a closet, the ceiling light may not be enough, and you may need to use strip lights along the inside of the door. If you have a patio or balcony, make sure your plants are positioned to receive the most light in the morning rather than the hot afternoon sun if possible.

Containers and soil

Plants take up space, both above and below the soil. In fact, most traditional crops take up about as much space underground as they do on the surface. The container you choose should be roughly two inches bigger than the adult plant will eventually get. Additionally, plants in larger containers are more susceptible to water logging and root rot. Because of this, gardeners in small spaces often need to get creative with their potting choices. High quality potting soil can help combat these issues by providing enough nutrients to feed the plant even in a smaller container and enough drainage to direct water away from the roots until they fill the container. Soil for crop plants in containers should mostly consist of organic matter such as compost, manuer, and worm castings, as well as lots of small gravel or perlite for drainage. Another excellent option for some plants is to grow them upside down. I'm sure you are all familiar with the "Topsy-turvy" tamato berry planters, however any vining plant can be grown in this fashion, and you can make the containers yourself with materials you may already have lying around. These containers make use of vertical space and help plants thrive in a less than optimal amount of soil. Stacking pots or vertical grow towers are also efficient ways to grow several crops at once in a small space, though they can be more expensive and harder to maintain.

Water

Of course plants need water to live, however over watering can cause major problems in container grown crops. Rather than watering on a schedule, your can stick your finger down to the second knuckle in the soil, being careful not to break any roots. If it feels moist, check again tomorrow and leave your plant alone. For most plants, wait until the soil completely dries up before watering deeply. How do you know you have watered deeply? Sometimes when soil is very dry, it may become hydrophobic. Water will pool on the surface, never absorbing, or drain straight through the bottom without reaching the roots. Any container you can lift that has drainage holes at the bottom can be bottom watered, which allows the soil to slowly absorb water. Fill a bowl or other solid container about halfway with water, and place your pot right-side up in the water. Wait twenty minutes and come check on your plant. You will know that it worked if the top of the soil is damp and there is less water in the bowl. For larger pots or upside down planters that can't be lifted, try poking holes in the soil with a small stick or chopsticks and spraying the surface to wet it slowly and provide pathways for the water to enter.

What to grow

So you have everything you need to get started, what should you plant? Well, start with things you know you will eat. Tomatoes, beans, and lettuces are some of the fastest growing crops, but not everyone likes them. Start small, and consider variables such as how much time and energy you have to spare. If all you can manage to begin with are a few herbs then it's still a great place to start. Rosemary, mint, basil, and thyme are great beginner herbs. They are relatively hard to kill and smell wonderful, plus they add that extra touch to anything you cook.

Succession sowing and other helpful hints

Growing indoors means you can grow year 'round with a little timing. When you purchase seed or nursery plants, there will always be a tag that tells you how many weeks until sprouting and then until harvest. Subtract the weeks 'till sprouting from the weeks 'till harvest to get how far out you should begin the next round of seed to ensure you always have fresh produce.

Quality potting soil can be expensive, or you can compost your kitchen scraps to add to cheap potting soil. Food waste makes up a huge percentage of landfills, but you can easily combat this with a few simple items. You'll need three buckets at five gallons each, holes drilled in the bottom of two of them. Stack the buckets with the solid one on the bottom. Fill the middle bucket with kitchen scraps and paper waste, then add worms. Over the next few weeks, put all of your kitchen scraps in the top bucket. When the worms have processed everything in the middle bucket, you will see them move up to the top. The middle bucket is now organic compost that you can add to your soil! Empty the middle bucket, replace it on top of the full bucket, and repeat forever! The bottom bucket will fill with a concentrated liquid fertilizer that is also great for your fruit bearing plants. Mix your compost with cheap potting soil and perlite or small gravel, and now you have premium potting soil for a fraction of the price.

By the end of the class, Ellisa has filled the rack with various herbs and lettuces, with cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes hanging from the sides . Sceptile helps her roll it towards a closet within the greenhouse, which has been lined with grow lights, and push it inside. Campers can see how even in a very small space, they can grow enough to at least lower their grocery bill.

#pokemon #pokeblogging #pokemon irl #rotumblr #foster island summer camp #open rp

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