vernalseason

[vernalseason]

Proud member of a Unicorn Quad, AMA

may be a longshot to find the actual original and if so im so sorry but i saw this in a tumblr post ages ago and saved it and now i cant find it anymore 😭

I couldn't find anything solid on this one, and I also stumbled on another version in this Reddit post from 2016:

[vernalseason]

The Bear is perhaps doing what Ted Lasso could not.

[vernalseason]

THE BEAR SEASON 2 IS OUT AND I AM SO EXCITED

#the bear

[vernalseason]

Y'all ever get so excited about a scientific paper you're reading that you get chills???

So I thought to myself

Huh, a lot of our invasive species come from China and Japan

And then I thought, huh, I should look up what Kudzu is like in its natural habitat

And I found this article by a team of scientists investigating the history of Kudzu in China

And ohhhhh my goddddd. I'm vibrating with excitement over how cool this is.

The first bombshell that turned my brain inside out:

KUDZU IS NOT WILD. IT IS SEMI-DOMESTICATED.

In China, Kudzu has been a fundamentally important plant for food and textiles throughout history. We have Kudzu cloth that is 6,000 years old!

THIS PLANT CLOTHED AND FED ONE OF THE MOST POPULOUS AND MOST ENDURING HUMAN CULTURES ON EARTH

and in turn

HUMANS SHAPED AND SELECTED FOR ITS TRAITS

*AND*

in its natural range, humans are the main "predator" of kudzu

"Harvest by humans appears to be the major control mechanism in its native areas."

Kudzu is like that because it co-evolved with humans.

WHAT

[vernalseason]

One of the things I’ve been most enjoying about worldbuilding lately is working back from the very beginning.

On one hand it’s a bad habit, because then I get bogged down in millennia of history and don’t write the story. But other times the choices that people made in the very earliest days of the world inform the way that the world still works, which then tells me how to write the story.

Things like the widths of roads, or the fact that church-equivalent buildings have public fountains and beds in them, or that few of the earliest structures survive because not only were they old, but the first builders didn’t know anything about the load bearing limits of stone and built walls thin enough that most of them collapsed before anyone thought to preserve them.

Or even the fact that there are still areas in certain cities where there are enclaves with streets that make absolutely zero sense because they were built before anyone had any idea what a city ‘should’ look like, and the buildings were just scattered about a roughly even distance from each other and just… stayed that way.

I feel like so many people over the years have encouraged me to get less in the weeds and to focus on the story, or whatever the final product is, and what I’ve increasingly realized is that writing the story isn’t necessarily what I have the most fun with. The worldbuilding is what I have the most fun with: what the city streets look and feel like, what they smell like. What shops sell (or are banned from selling), how language patterns change in certain neighborhoods that are settled mostly by refugees, how government works, how public works are built and maintained.

I love making traditions (like Wintertide, which is held on whatever day snow first falls) or an as-yet-unnamed holiday where everyone walks door to door telling stories and receiving sweets in return if they are underage or alcohol if grown.

Don’t get me wrong, I love telling stories too, because most people don’t want to just read a Wikipedia on a created world from start to finish. (No disrespect to those that would, because I definitely would). Narrative is a great way to introduce someone to just about anything, and new worlds are no exception. But good worldbuilding—thoughtful, original, intricate, but not overbearing—is what turns a work from good to great.

I love it when there are genuine structural reasons for characters to do what they do, layers of cultural detail that come out in second, fifth, tenth re-reads that keep you appreciating books for years. And the only way to come up with that kind of material is to think about it—and write about it—a lot.

#worldbuilding #writing

[vernalseason]

I have found perhaps my new favorite map reference.

I like to draw maps, mostly continent and world sized. But lately I've been focused on city-scale stuff. And not just city-scale, but block-scale, building-scale, because apparently I'm a masochist like that. But a lot of the map references I've looked at have been... somewhat lacking in the detail department, being a bit more fuzzy than would be useful for figuring out the layout of an entire city of a million people.

Enter the 25 Inch : 1 Mile Ordnance Survey Map of England, 1892-1914.

It's got everything. Beautiful lettering. Spidery-fine details. Gorgeous authentic distressing. And even better, you can view it as a zoomable overlay of almost the entire country.

See all that area in white? That's map that you can zoom into down to the same level of detail.

Want different styles? Just change the map overlay! They've got scales down to 1/2" and all the way up to 1 : 1,000,000. Want some inspiration for how to draw trees, bushes, or even moors? Look at these sweet stamps:

Full-size scans of the individual map sheets require contacting the archives and paying for them, but the overlay viewer itself is totally free and you can take screenshots (at a lower quality) as many times as you like.

If you're interested, just visit the link.

#worldbuilding #maps #ordnance survey map #reference

[vernalseason]

Those people who constantly reblog your stuff but you never really talk:

[vernalseason]

Starving to death this morning because ive been to the new local cafe twice this week already and if i go a third time ill look desperate.

[vernalseason]

do you want to hear a joke?

every waking moment, I'm ready

[vernalseason]

the thing about gay bdsm dynamics is they will make explicit what is implicit in normative cisheterosexual dynamics and then those complicit in cisheterosexuality will act all scandalized about seeing themselves in the funhouse mirror

[vernalseason]

imagine the most meanspirited, unlikeable, rude, bitter, self centered, negative person you can think of. not a rapist, not a murderer, not an abuser. just a charmless, tactless, dyed in the wool asshole you wouldn't want to spend two seconds with. now assume they get sick, not with the flu, but with a long term, serious illness that limits their ability to provide for themself. a society in which that person is left to die alone because nobody likes them on a personal level is a failed society.

[vernalseason]

Imposter syndrome

#fuck

[vernalseason]

“money doesn’t buy happiness” have you ever purchased a stuffed animal

#caniplaywithyourorgans #edgybutfemme #y’all it’s you

[vernalseason]

#yup

[vernalseason]

I would fight a fucking army for Syd and maybe it’s because Carmy allowed the others to act like trash. Or that she put up with so much bullshit trying to implement his brigade. Or, despite being tiny, she doesn’t back down from anyone and inserts herself into disputes to de-escalate even if they’re teetering on violence.

Because it’s something so fascinating about one of the smallest people in the kitchen not backing down to tall, aggressive men. When Richie was in her face and episode 7 and she got this crazy look in her eyes like she was with the shits and would take him on.

Or how she just spoke her mind to Carmy as she was quitting and wasn’t afraid or stuttering and hedging her words. Just straight up told this man he was a piece of shit.

And how she got into those mobsters faces and made them introduce themselves and didn’t use violence to de-escalate.

She also talks in this unique way where she’s constantly trying to talk to people in a calm, approachable way, but it’s laced with this frankness like when she was telling Sweeps the floor was so dirty she could slip. Or telling Tina she didn’t have time to fuck around.

But she’s also vulnerable and is trying her best and does everything in her power to make sure things run smoothly.

And my response to her i so visceral because I relate so much to her. I’ve been that person at times. And it’s often a position black girls and woman are put into in work and life. We have to know how to navigate situations all while keeping or cool or standing up for ourselves because we only have ourselves.

So, yes, Syd can fuck up in my book and not apologize. She can say he daughter thinks he’s a fucking loser, and then stab him.

Syd has done more in the handful of months she’s worked than however long Richie has been employed at his “delicate fucking ecosystem.” Which is only delicate because of whatever was going on with Micheal and Richie sure as hell doesn’t know how to run a business.

Because even if Syd did something wrong, no she didn’t.

And, as much as I love Carmy, I don’t give a shit that she didn’t apologize for the kitchen kerfuffle.

[vernalseason]

☠️ daughters of the ninth ☠️

[vernalseason]

okay but like if carmy and sydney just kept getting closer and didnt date at all but like they go grocery shopping together and do recipe practice together and then eventually theyre like “wouldnt it just be easier if we carpool to work” which becomes “lets be roommates” and then in like season 5 of my imagination everyone is like “so when are you and sydney getting engaged” and theyre like “what” and they havent even kissed but they live together and spend all their free time hanging out inventing recipes and being chefs of mutual respect because they’re too stupid to realize they are in love lol