Dragon printables coloring sheets
"Fire and Ice" This bearded dragon was drawn in colored pencils and a tiny bit of white acrylic ink. Love the blues and oranges.
2023.04.01 21:33 Gray_Ghost_Creations "Fire and Ice" This bearded dragon was drawn in colored pencils and a tiny bit of white acrylic ink. Love the blues and oranges.
 | submitted by Gray_Ghost_Creations to BeardedDragons [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 20:52 ChiorgirlHotel My notes on Greta Thunberg's Call to Action
Interestingly, the Bible clearly says God’s New Earth (Jerusalem) will be ruled by children. Greta Thunberg represents this new generation, striving to promote and sustain life on our planet. Here, I share my notes on her most recent (February 2023) work The Climate Book, with the hope in my heart that her voice will be carried far. *[My own Christian perspective is weaved into her scientific outlook.]
To begin, Carbon Dioxide (C02) is a basic building block of life, some of which has been stored underground from plants from long ago. Over 2 million years ago, too much C02 caused a mass extinction. Afterwards, trees were virtually gone. It took millions of years for Earth's biosphere and life to recover.
People have been farming for over 10,000 years, depleting the nutrients of the land. Between 1945 and 2000, the number of people tripled. Since the 1990s, we have dumped more climate changing toxins into our environment than throughout all of human history. We consume more, due to this “great acceleration.” In the 20th century, people accelerated their use of fossils fuels.
The science is solid. The great acceleration occurred with the industrial revolution. We have filled our oceans with plastics, and are destabilizing our own ecosystem. This is like sawing off the branch we are sitting on!
Nature cycles carbon, but global warming can be exacerbated by the release of carbon from the soil due to warming. We have knocked the natural balance off, due to our use of stored fuels and our own carbon emissions. Since the industrial revolution, our economy is reliant upon fossil fuels and non-sustainable practices.
We must rebalance our planet by controlling our own behaviors and emissions. If we continue with current practices, we will warm our planet by 4 degrees by the end of this century.
What will this be like? Extreme heat waves will occur yearly, along with drought and famine. Sea ice will disappear, revealing more of the ocean.
Climate change directly causes the death of coral reefs, and if they collapse they will also take with them millions of ocean species. We may be causing the 6th extinction. Coral reefs become bleached due to warmer waters as their colorful algae is expelled, threatening over 30% of ocean species. Right now, three billion people rely upon our oceans for food. We need to farm our oceans sustainably (such as for seaweed). Fishermen are currently exploiting 90% of available fisheries. One billion people depend on fish for omega-3 fatty acids and more.
Why don’t more people care? Many do not perceive a threat because it is slow and complicated. We have exploited and distanced ourselves from Nature. Even our religions have promoted the false notion that this world is to be devalued, and we are separated from our Creator. Many feel a void, with no God within. Many try to fill this emptiness with ceaseless products. Our entire worldview and our daily habits must change.
Today 20% of California’s power use goes toward providing water. We can take better measures, like drawing from ocean water.
Factory and human waste is polluting our waters. Riots have broken out, such as in India, over access to water. Who is taking this seriously? The public? The government? It seems almost no one.
Our government could pass new laws, but they do not. People are also self-interested, and rarely act for the social good if it takes from them in any way. This age is characterized by selfishness and greed, as even the Bible warns in Revelation. Tragically and shockingly, the fossil fuel industry is receiving 11 million in subsidies each minute.
The Industrial revolution, rise of science and decrease in religious morality have all compelled these trends forward. We need a new ethic prioritizing life. Religious leaders must support life, not the Death Culture which exalts the self (no matter the consequences).
We are literally obsessed with culture wars that distract us from our common interests in protecting our planet and making future generations possible.
What stands in the way of a sustainable future for human life? Should consumers even have a choice to purchase destructive products, like plastic containers for single-uses? Should meat even be available? If we really took this seriously, what measures would we take, and what laws would our government pass?
One problem is how some lives are valued more than others, and a select few are exploiting and making life impossible for many. Those in power do not tend to question their privilege!
GLORIFICATION OF THE SELF We have convinced ourselves that we deserve our carbon-rich lifestyles. If we remain hedonistic and not prudent, the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change will suffer the most.
And, Christ will judge us based on how the least among us is treated. Do we contemplate this with each plastic bottle we toss out, or plane trip we take? Isn’t living sustainably Christian behavior, reflecting the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and our living God?
Our future grandchildren will pay and suffer for our convenience now. But, we glorify the self. We glorify the pleasure of the individual and freedom to drive our species over a cliff. Many arguments from the ‘other side’ boil down to a call for the freedom to die.
CORRUPT LEADERSHIP Our leaders are taking us over a cliff. George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto protocol, given it was not ratified prior to his taking power. He chose to serve corporate interests (even over human life). Bush declared that the American way of life is not negotiable (1992). Since he spoke these words over 30 years ago, our emissions have increased by 60%, creating an existential crisis.
Given such attitudes and priorities, we have a limited carbon budget to spend in the next few years if we wish to avoid the most dire consequences of global warming. We need to raise the cost of carbon, forcing consumers to pay more for products that are heavy in carbon pollution. We also need to change our diets. We must get our priorities straight.
In 2009, corrupt lobbying destroyed an act that would have helped. But the fossil fuel industry, driven by greed, spends billions on disinformation and distraction. They poison public debate with dirty money. Leaders set non-binding targets, then fail to reach the goals. Their true priorities are economic growth and profit. It seems to the public that actions are being taken, but they are not taking serious measures at all.
The richest ten percent contribute 50% of our total C02 emissions. We need to restructure our economy to be sustainable. The idea of infinite growth is not possible on our finite planet.
We are all in the same crisis, but not the same boat. The only hope is in speaking truth to power and adjusting our behaviors accordingly.
CURRENT SITUATION There is about 1 carbon molecule for every 2,000 other molecules in our atmosphere, so carbon is difficult to locate for removal. To stop putting carbon into our air is much cheaper and better than paying for carbon removal later, which would cost trillions upon trillions. Why should we allow companies to continue business as usual, passing cost and problems to future generations?
Climate change is responsible for over 2 trillion in economic costs. Economic damage from climate change will cost over 3x the amount the pandemic cost. For example, insurance rates will rise and the real estate market will suffer due to not being able to sell in coastal and impacted areas.
Worldwide, waste is increasing at an alarming rate and 20% of methane emissions are due to our waste. We need to engage in more intelligent practices. For example, we can compost (which reduces waste in landfills that leads to methane emissions). Composting will also nourish our gardens.
Methane removal, through oxidation, is needed. Half of our methane is produced from human behaviors like cattle agriculture.
C02 is forever, while methane is temporary. Methane is 20-30x more potent in warming our atmosphere than C02, but it dissipates over 40 years while C02 will remain thousands upon thousands of years. C02 is also cumulative.
Given this, we must stop our emissions of greenhouse gases immediately. If we reach zero emissions, it will drastically reduce global warming. Carbon dioxide is at its highest in 2 billion years, due to our behaviors. We are experimenting with our own lives and planet!
Toxins accumulate in sea creatures, damaging the whole ecosystem. C02 enters the blood of fish, affecting acidification. Acidity has already risen 30%, producing hazards for marine life, like for coral reefs and in decreasing calcification in the shells of sea life. Shopping bags can strangle sea animals and their stomachs are found full of microplastics.
The Amazon forest works as a giant air conditioner, cooling our planet. It absorbs C02. But temperatures in the Amazon are increasing and it is getting more dry due to the expansion of farming and deforestation.
Aerosols like smoke and other tiny particles in our air affect our global temperature. Some cool our atmosphere by reflecting the sun, even dropping temperatures by 0.5 percent. Without aerosols, our atmosphere would be hotter. But air pollution is also hazardous, coming from our cars and factories, for example.
Clouds reflect sunlight back into space, but can also insulate heat like a blanket. Reduced clouds over our oceans force the ocean to absorb the sunlight, thus contributing to global warming.
Melting ice caps no longer reflect the sun, leading even to more warming. Our glaciers are melting. The Himalayas provide drinking water to billions, yet will melt by 1/3. We have enough ice to raise our ocean levels the equivalent of a 20 story building. We have already lost the equivalent of Mt. Everest in ice sheets. This melting will lead to coastal devastation for those living near our oceans. Our oceans will rise by a meter by 2100.
Oceans absorb about 90% of the excess heat produced by global warming. While oceans absorb about ¼ of C02, warming produces less absorption. We must enhance our oceans ability to absorb C02. Even a 1.5 degree increase in temperature is a great risk to our future survival. Our weather has extremes, like the freezing waters and the heatwave that killed many in 2021.
Human made climate change has devastating consequences. For example, Hurricane Harvey cost billions and the severity was 15% greater due to human made climate change. Sadly, 20 million people were displaced by flooding in 2020.
Distressingly, we have all witnessed that even minor disruptions in our supply chain are devastating. Thus, climate change must be averted at all costs.
Our temperature has already warmed by 1%, which all reputable science agrees upon. This is already causing damage right now. Heat waves and air pollution lead to heart related and respiratory deaths, not just heat strokes. Millions die per year due to air pollution. The warming climate also triggers diseases like Maleria and will kill millions. These diseases are being seen in areas not seen before.
The increase of C02 in our atmosphere is even making our crops less nutritious. Specifically, soils lack zinc and protein. Zinc deficiency then leads to a reduced immune system. Millions more will have an iron and folate deficiency due to current C02 levels. Iron deficiency leads to premature births.
GOING FORWARD So then, what is our best path forward for survival? We have to stick to a carbon budget per year to reach our goal of only increasing the temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The carbon budget, to stay within the agreements of the Paris accord, will be used up in a few years. But noone seems to be sounding any alarms. Is this because our media is controlled by the elite?
Politicians still respond to mammon ($) with no concern, really, for life. Congressman Manchin singlehandedly rewrote climate legislation in 2021, even with all aware that he has millions invested in fossil fuels, like the influential Koch brothers.
Exxon Mobil has been well aware of the consequences of their actions for decades, yet put forth false discussions into the public sphere. They purposefully stalled for time, which we do not have.
The King of Saudi Arabia has unbelievable wealth and power, but when we move to solar and wind energy power will not be so concentrated. This may lead to a more hopeful and democratic future that serves the actual interests of the people. We need to turn to our Sun. We need to now rely upon energy from heaven, not from hell. It is not that we do not have the money to change. It is that those benefiting from our current Death Economy do not have the will to change.
Many will promote carbon capture technologies, but the reality is hidden. There are only about 20 carbon capture facilities operating right now, some shown to produce more carbon than they capture. We can use fossil fuels only until around 2050, unless technology like carbon capture is seriously invested in (and not just used as a talking point). Many CEOs deflect attention from change right now, promising (like snake oil salesmen) to develop sustainable technology in the future. (Interestingly, blue hydrogen can be made from carbon capture.)
Solving our crisis calls for us putting less demand upon our energy system, such as in consuming less. We need to return to more of a natural, Earth based way of life. Do we all really need to extend our days, with artificial light, past the natural hours of sunlight? Must we eat meat? Wherever there is a roof, there is a potential for a solar panel. Wind parks can also be built in offshore locations, where they are less disruptive.
Green hydrogen is a fuel that leaves only water behind and is usually produced by methane. But it costs more to produce than it makes. Thus, green hydrogen requires an abundance of cheap energy.
Hydropower facilities use water flow to produce energy, while nuclear power splits elements for energy, and produces around 10% of the world’s energy. But, a nuclear power factory that just opened in 2022 took 16 years to open. And, nuclear power can have disastrous consequences and can be the target of terrorism.
Biomass energy creates energy by burning wood or other biological matter. But, it can take hundreds of years for forests to regrow. Thus, we need to slow down this process and aim to stop burning things on Earth for energy.
Geothermal heat takes energy from the Earth's heat, producing around 17% of greenhouse gases. But it is limited in that there are limited planetary hot spots. In air capture measures, carbon is pumped underground, like in BECS. BECS pumps carbon underground and provides electricity from the burning of plant matter, which is cost effective compared to other measures. Enhanced weathering is also a promising technique, such as exposing crushed rocks and minerals to the carbon in the air to facilitate natural processes.
Finally, some promote geoengineering, which is the manipulation of our atmosphere, such as reducing the warming effects of our sun. Some support spraying sun-blocking aerosols or coating ice to protect it. This is actually risky to our ecosystems. Solar engineering is too dangerous, given once the process is started it must continue indefinitely (and political regimes can change). If suddenly stopped, warming will occur to an even greater degree than if no measures were ever taken.
REAL SOLUTIONS Elites consume and produce more than most. Our problems are that of inequality as much as pollution. If the top 10% (financially) only produced the carbon footprint of the bottom 90% of global emitters, 1/3 of carbon would be reduced. Thus, carbon budgets will affect the filthy rich the most. The most wealthy are contributing a shockingly disproportionate amount of pollution. The average person produces 6.5 tons of emissions per year, with the wealthy producing 75 tons.
Rich countries know they are liable for their pollution. They, of course, do not want to focus discussions on responsibility. The global economy could shrink by 18% due to the climate crisis.
We need to reduce emissions, restoring soils and forests. We need to protect our soil from tilling, pesticides and depleted nutrients. We have found that enriching soil with nitrogen has polluted our water. We need new practices. How can we sustainably grow food? How can we facilitate new ideas?
PLANT-BASED DIET We know that as affluence increases, so does meat consumption. But more efficient use of water and land, such as in transitioning to plant-based diets and farms, is our only viable path forward. This would support health of our land, souls and bodies!
Plant-based foods have the lowest impact, while meats can impact our environment over 20x more. Every 50 calories that go into meat (feed) produces 1 calorie as human food. 4x the size of Brazil in land is used for grazing cattle, the greatest use of land (even above forests). And, 20% of gas emissions are due to how we use land, mainly for agriculture. Our current food production also causes 30% of greenhouse gases. We need to shift to a plant-based diet. We can feed our communities using 76% less land. One burger, which gives 10 grams of protein, uses resources like land and water that would provide many more nutritious calories if the same land was instead devoted to vegetable and fruit gardens.
Turning away from meat would not only help us feed more people, it would also help reduce diseases in our bodies and help reduce carbon pollution. Specifically, 350 million tons per year in emissions would be reduced if we shunned meat. Becoming vegetarian is the single most impactful action you can take to help.
We are eating more calories, when we need to consume less. Specifically, we need to reduce pork and beef calories by 80% in wealthy countries. Currently, 1/3 of all food produced is not consumed. We must make smarter use of our land and reduce our food consumption and waste. Humans have directly reduced biodiversity in shaping the land for our purposes, such as in agricultural practices. We farm around 30% of land now. It would take far less land to farm if we stopped using land for food for cows and other “products” for the meat industry.
Given all of this, how can it be that $500 billion in government subsidies go into agriculture that is not sustainable? We need a political and spiritual revolution. We need significant behavioral and technological changes immediately. For example, if we lowered the speed limit, we would save over 5 tons of carbon emissions annually (just in Germany). We also need cities that are efficiently constructed, and need to reduce unnecessary travel. We can use online meetings rather than physically traveling to meetings.
We can also encourage college students to prepare solutions for our problems, instead of preparing for the job market! This kind of free thought would be supported by a Universal Basic Income.
Even in 2021, 95% of transport relies upon oil (including cars, planes and ships). We need to curb the sale of SUVs, which produce great emissions. Why are they so popular? We need to encourage lighter vehicles, banning SUV advertising. We need to wake up!
Renewable energy is now the cheapest form of energy. Renewable energy makes more sense, yet those who have vested interests in fossil fuels do not want change and actively work against change. Still today, 1.446 billion vehicles run on petrol. EVs are a good step, but we really need electric public transit.
We need to outlaw all petrol engine vehicles starting 2025, and more. By 2035, there will be 2 billion private vehicles. We need free public transportation, like trains, trams, busses and ferries.
We also really need to buy less. We can reuse and repair our items and vehicles, rather than buying new things. Americans spend $5,400 per year on impulse purchases, and studies show that more ‘stuff’ does not equate with greater levels of happiness. We can share and borrow items, as a true community. This is also Christian behavior.
We can wear second-hand clothing. The clothing industry fills landfills! Electric bikes are also good alternatives to our current ways. We can buy only energy efficient appliances and can avoid over packaged foods, meat and dairy.
We need to transform our food system and plant green gardens everywhere possible. We need home garden and trees and biodiversity in cemeteries, parks and public areas as well as home backyards.
Biodiversity protects us by removing C02 from the air and purifying our waters. It helps mitigate disease and even protects our health. We need to support biodiverse land because it absorbs more C02. This is a real action we can take.
We also need to let forests grow and stop cutting young trees for wood. Before the Industrial revolution, people burned mostly wood for energy. Industrialization did relieve the deforestation occurring at the beginning of the 19th century by turning to fossil fuel energy instead of wood burning. After the development of coal burning machines, pollution killed more people than we realize. We do have to stop burning fossil fuel.
Today the ability of a forest to store carbon depends on many factors. First, we need to replace trees at the rate carbon would have been captured if wood was not harvested. If a tree is not cut, how much carbon would it capture over its lifetime?
We need to reduce wood harvesting. Specifically, we can harvest from constructed tree farms, but also allow other trees to grow old, to support biodiversity. We need no till farming, a plant based diet, biodiverse forests and more. We need drastic carbon emission cuts now.
We have already reduced the populations of birds, reptiles and insects by 2/3 since the 1970s. Sadly, 60% of all songbirds have disappeared in the last decades.
We are killing our ecosystem. Pollinators (like bees) are dying, thus leading to our deaths due to not being able to eat vegetables (which increases heart disease due to poor diet and high meat consumption).
But, are people even able to respond to new information? Are we able to act on new data? We will see.
Buying less means we do not have to earn as much. Our world will be better and we will feel better. We need to take the status away from consuming products. There are websites devoted to revealing the true carbon footprint of popular products, like: www.ethicalconsumer.com
Profits motivate corporations to distract the public from the truth. We are not told how unhealthy certain common things are, even in the long term. It is not in their interest (they mistakenly think) to be honest and change to a more sustainable economy. Of course, God sees all.
Politicians are short sighted and are not addressing the crisis at all. We need “honesty, integrity and courage” (Greta Thunberg). But, many are still driven by mammon (money) to the point of our death. Many politicians are corrupt, with our blood on their hands. They have the blood of all future children who will never breathe in God's air of life, given lobbying, on their hands. How is lobbying legal? Our government does not work for the people, but for power and mammon. The rich are served and our Death Culture continues, while we continue to consume dead flesh.
Our politicians must lead us in a new direction, no matter if it is aligned with popular public opinion. Politicians need to communicate our true situation and our media needs to direct us to a more healthy future.
“The time for little steps in the right direction is over. We are in a crisis” – Greta.
Promises to become climate neutral by 2050 puts everyone back to sleep. If they really cared, drastic changes would be made right now instead of distracting our focus, according to Greta Thunberg.
“It matters what we say, but it matters even more what we do” - Greta.
We cannot act only nationally, given we are on one planet and are all affected. For example, the pandemic could not be kept to one nation. We must address our crisis as a world, not as isolated nations.
Geopolitical tensions stand in the way of true international negotiations. Nations are driven by a will to power. We need a new base ethic of valuing life and caring about each other (across nations and groups).
We need to work together to address the planetary crisis. Instead, each nation is actually preparing for conflict, based on the finances devoted to building military forces. Our money shows our true priorities.
Greta Thunberg says we need to just simply “tell it like it is.” We need to stand on our moral ground and be open to innovative ideas and solutions. She suggests many ideas for change.
First, we must start treating this climate crisis like a crisis. We must get our priorities straight. We must also admit our economic systems have failed. We need to face reality to be able to create a better world.
The best way to absorb more carbon is to leave forests alone. “A living tree must be valued more than a dead one,” explains Greta Thunberg. Scientists recommend we protect at least 30% of nature. Currently, only 3% of the Earth’s surface is unharmed.
We must spread the facts; 5.9 trillion dollars are spent annually in subsidies for fossil fuels, which is insanity. Do not fly; avoid air travel. The tourist economy is responsible for 8% of our yearly emissions. Instead of subsidies for air travel, we need to pay subsidies to encourage train travel. We can invest in wind and solar power, and scientific advances like farm-free food grown in a laboratory.
Science can shed light on how to nourish our soil and stop depleting it. Thus, we can go forward with science and morality as our guiding forces. The ‘is’ and the ‘ought’ will be complementary.
We need to educate ourselves and become climate activists. We can institute justice through protests and civil disobedience. We need to fight for democracy in non-violent ways. We need new laws to protect us.
Be disruptive. Look for common ground, using love and not hate to shed light into the darkness. Avoid culture wars that only distract us from survival with endless debates. Very simply, we must also buy less and use less. We can also stop purchasing single-use plastics, like bottles for water.
Plastics that are disposable have been available for 20 years, and thus have accumulated in our oceans. Companies that used to offer glass bottles and also clean them have now moved to disposable products and thus have passed on costs to us.
Coca-cola actively acts against legislation that would have them offer reusable bottles again, as they did before single-use plastics. Companies blame consumers for bad habits yet shoot down laws against single-use plastics. The UK is the second highest trash producer, after the US. Most plastic is counted as recycled but is not. It litters deserts and waters, affecting our climate. Transit companies disguise the true origin of waste as it is relentlessly burned in the cover of darkness.
Countries like the UK, US, Japan and Germany export waste to places like Southeast Asia, where it is often burned at night. People now suffer respiratory illness due to these common practices. Plastic produces greenhouse gases, as it is derived from oil.
And, even today, we do not have accurate data on carbon emissions. The Washington Post found that our current path to climate solutions is not even credible nor viable, given the reported numbers are so distorted. Countries report only a fraction of their true emissions, like Sweden, who reported 50 million tons of greenhouse gases when in fact they emit closer to 150 million tons per year. So, even now, only 1/3 of emissions were even included in reports in Sweden. This is seen internationally as well. We need a proper road map, based on data and our moral ground, that we actually follow!
But “Who do you vote for when the politics needed are nowhere to be found?” poignantly asks Greta Thunberg. Even in progressive countries like Sweden, only 10% of ‘recycled’ products are actually recycled. Much is burned, causing further pollution.
So, recycling is a huge greenwashed myth. Most plastic will never be recycled. It is all made so cheaply that it is made to be disposed of. So, plastic litters landfills and our waters, especially in poorer areas. Micro plastics are now everywhere, even inside us. 8 million tons per year of plastic waste is dumped into our oceans.
We can reduce packaging, to start. We need a major system change. Greenpeace is calling for a 50% reduction in plastics in coming years, given our situation.
Specifically, we already also have 40 years of carbon built up in our atmosphere and our C02 emissions are on track to rise 16% in the coming years.
We are set to increase our global temperature, yet the media is not covering this crisis. We cannot negotiate, for we value life itself while those in power prioritize profit; “They speak to flowers in the language of US dollars” says Greta Thunberg.
We need regular press briefings on our climate crisis and many discussions on how to solve our problems. For example, we can institute a #UBI as part of the transition in our economy and as jobs related to fossil fuels diminish.
Communist China is using over 70% of our carbon budget, and still will in 2030. This, while developing countries are affected the greatest by climate issues. How can developing countries move forward in a sustainable way? Capitalism also contributes to our crisis by encouraging increasing GDPs, despite the true costs to our planet. This economic system demands growth. Yet, high income nations do not need more growth. We need a new economic system based on our ecosystem. No current systems lead to life.
We need to educate ourselves. We need both individual and systemic, market change immediately. We must restructure our economy around renewable energy, less meat consumption and less SUVs, for example, to ensure our future. In fact, 80% of energy used in 2019 was still derived from fossil fuels.
Frequent flying and eating meat are some of the most destructive activities an individual can do in terms of the climate crisis. Some have made an oath to never fly and to become vegetarian, given our situation.
We need to phase out private jets, mega yachts and other egregious displays of wealth and status. We can make these displays shameful and not glorify them. We can take public transport and move away from fossil fuel based engines. For example, in Vienna, 60% of people live in community housing.
Should we shame those who live an unsustainable lifestyle? Should we offer softer signals that change is needed, like having our family over for a vegetarian dinner?
We can encourage others to live with less of an environmental impact. As one neighbor gets solar panels, so do others. We can share plant-based recipes. We can participate in social actions and protests.
Government also (on the macro level beyond the individual) needs to lead and set examples for a new way of living, following through with laws. We need to meet the basic survival needs of all humans on our planet with current resources.
The richest 20% need to reduce their consumption to 1/10th of 2015 levels, making room for others basic needs. Christ stood up for the needy and the powerless. But are we too unloving and selfish to survive as a species? What will happen to our souls, as we turn our backs to the most vulnerable?
Psychology has been used to advertise toward people’s deepest desires to inspire their purchases. Ads create (or play upon) a deep need, promising to fill the inner void. Products promise to make us feel better and to lead to our acceptance by our social groups. But, without God, people remain empty inside while landfills overflow.
For example, 73% of textiles (clothing) produced ends up in landfills. Can we start identifying with God, and not by our outer appearance and the latest fashion?
We need to phase out excess for a few, while expanding access to basic resources to all, like healthcare and housing. This is in line with instituting a Universal Basic Income (#UBI) for all, to help people of all identities survive the upcoming transitions on earth.
Our excesses are a clue into inner poverty. Many do not have solid community ties, even if they have material wealth. We are actually happier when we are connected to others, giving and sharing. Our efforts to help others and transition from our selfish society will lead to deep joy, not poverty. We will be blessed as we use our voices and hands to carry forth God’s will.
As a start, we can choose (given our morals) to buy only 3 new pieces of clothing per year, take less trips, rid ourselves of personal vehicles and eat a plant-based diet. What else can we do?
We need the Holy Spirit to guide our souls and hands as we create a new day! We can change if we hold hope, as the eloquent theologian Jurgen Moltmann has shared. We can shift from unhealthy social norms, and these healthy changes will allow all of us to thrive.
We need relationships based on love and reciprocity instead of greed and a will to power. We need less selfishness and more sacrifice for others whom we share with because we actually care. We need to restructure our world based on love, as Christ taught.
When we take action for a sustainable society, we will find new meaning in our daily actions. Our community bonds can grow stronger as we change. And, as sociologist Emile Durkheim found, strong community bonds lead to less suicides. We have the opportunity to promote life and even joy in coming together to change our world for the better!
We do not wish to conserve the world, but create a new one. We need more community control over resources and a guaranteed income for all, regardless of group affiliation. We need energy efficient public housing and to restructure the economy to a more just system. We need to align our economy with our ecosystem as well as our morality. As the brilliant Martin Buber wrote, we need to develop I-thou relationships, based on a recognition of others and not an exploitation of them. Equity and sustainably go hand in hand; there can be no sustainably without equity. Instead of asking who owns land, we need to ask who is responsible for the land. We need a politics of love.
CONCLUSIONS: CARETAKING IS A GREEN JOB! We need to transition to a care-taking society, where all are cared for and treated with love. We need to dismantle the call to endless growth and greed.
“We need to redefine hope and progress, so that these words do not translate to destruction” – Greta.
We need to prioritize people over profits. Green jobs, like caretaking, can be recognized as we turn away from jobs based on over-consumption of unneeded products. Carework is climate work! We need to not only repair our relationship with our planet, but also with each other. We can become a global family.
Solutions involve community actions in helping each other, just as Christ called for. Also, our youth must be a global force of change. We must learn from our mistakes and challenge the status quo and those with interests in the current Death Culture.
Truth, justice and morality are on the side of creating a sustainable future, explains Greta Thunberg. In our Postmodern age, where some claim all views are valid, what is Truth? Both sides of an issue are not equally valid. Survival is not a story with two sides.
We need to end our Death Culture by following the path of love (set by Christ) and carrying out God’s will, for God is Truth. When we recognize this, we will move from the Postmodern Era to the Pre-Utopian Era, as we prepare the ground for God’s New Earth.
Takethejump.org
submitted by ChiorgirlHotel to Environmentalism [link] [comments]
To begin, Carbon Dioxide (C02) is a basic building block of life, some of which has been stored underground from plants from long ago. Over 2 million years ago, too much C02 caused a mass extinction. Afterwards, trees were virtually gone. It took millions of years for Earth's biosphere and life to recover.
People have been farming for over 10,000 years, depleting the nutrients of the land. Between 1945 and 2000, the number of people tripled. Since the 1990s, we have dumped more climate changing toxins into our environment than throughout all of human history. We consume more, due to this “great acceleration.” In the 20th century, people accelerated their use of fossils fuels.
The science is solid. The great acceleration occurred with the industrial revolution. We have filled our oceans with plastics, and are destabilizing our own ecosystem. This is like sawing off the branch we are sitting on!
Nature cycles carbon, but global warming can be exacerbated by the release of carbon from the soil due to warming. We have knocked the natural balance off, due to our use of stored fuels and our own carbon emissions. Since the industrial revolution, our economy is reliant upon fossil fuels and non-sustainable practices.
We must rebalance our planet by controlling our own behaviors and emissions. If we continue with current practices, we will warm our planet by 4 degrees by the end of this century.
What will this be like? Extreme heat waves will occur yearly, along with drought and famine. Sea ice will disappear, revealing more of the ocean.
Climate change directly causes the death of coral reefs, and if they collapse they will also take with them millions of ocean species. We may be causing the 6th extinction. Coral reefs become bleached due to warmer waters as their colorful algae is expelled, threatening over 30% of ocean species. Right now, three billion people rely upon our oceans for food. We need to farm our oceans sustainably (such as for seaweed). Fishermen are currently exploiting 90% of available fisheries. One billion people depend on fish for omega-3 fatty acids and more.
Why don’t more people care? Many do not perceive a threat because it is slow and complicated. We have exploited and distanced ourselves from Nature. Even our religions have promoted the false notion that this world is to be devalued, and we are separated from our Creator. Many feel a void, with no God within. Many try to fill this emptiness with ceaseless products. Our entire worldview and our daily habits must change.
Today 20% of California’s power use goes toward providing water. We can take better measures, like drawing from ocean water.
Factory and human waste is polluting our waters. Riots have broken out, such as in India, over access to water. Who is taking this seriously? The public? The government? It seems almost no one.
Our government could pass new laws, but they do not. People are also self-interested, and rarely act for the social good if it takes from them in any way. This age is characterized by selfishness and greed, as even the Bible warns in Revelation. Tragically and shockingly, the fossil fuel industry is receiving 11 million in subsidies each minute.
The Industrial revolution, rise of science and decrease in religious morality have all compelled these trends forward. We need a new ethic prioritizing life. Religious leaders must support life, not the Death Culture which exalts the self (no matter the consequences).
We are literally obsessed with culture wars that distract us from our common interests in protecting our planet and making future generations possible.
What stands in the way of a sustainable future for human life? Should consumers even have a choice to purchase destructive products, like plastic containers for single-uses? Should meat even be available? If we really took this seriously, what measures would we take, and what laws would our government pass?
One problem is how some lives are valued more than others, and a select few are exploiting and making life impossible for many. Those in power do not tend to question their privilege!
GLORIFICATION OF THE SELF We have convinced ourselves that we deserve our carbon-rich lifestyles. If we remain hedonistic and not prudent, the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change will suffer the most.
And, Christ will judge us based on how the least among us is treated. Do we contemplate this with each plastic bottle we toss out, or plane trip we take? Isn’t living sustainably Christian behavior, reflecting the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and our living God?
Our future grandchildren will pay and suffer for our convenience now. But, we glorify the self. We glorify the pleasure of the individual and freedom to drive our species over a cliff. Many arguments from the ‘other side’ boil down to a call for the freedom to die.
CORRUPT LEADERSHIP Our leaders are taking us over a cliff. George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto protocol, given it was not ratified prior to his taking power. He chose to serve corporate interests (even over human life). Bush declared that the American way of life is not negotiable (1992). Since he spoke these words over 30 years ago, our emissions have increased by 60%, creating an existential crisis.
Given such attitudes and priorities, we have a limited carbon budget to spend in the next few years if we wish to avoid the most dire consequences of global warming. We need to raise the cost of carbon, forcing consumers to pay more for products that are heavy in carbon pollution. We also need to change our diets. We must get our priorities straight.
In 2009, corrupt lobbying destroyed an act that would have helped. But the fossil fuel industry, driven by greed, spends billions on disinformation and distraction. They poison public debate with dirty money. Leaders set non-binding targets, then fail to reach the goals. Their true priorities are economic growth and profit. It seems to the public that actions are being taken, but they are not taking serious measures at all.
The richest ten percent contribute 50% of our total C02 emissions. We need to restructure our economy to be sustainable. The idea of infinite growth is not possible on our finite planet.
We are all in the same crisis, but not the same boat. The only hope is in speaking truth to power and adjusting our behaviors accordingly.
CURRENT SITUATION There is about 1 carbon molecule for every 2,000 other molecules in our atmosphere, so carbon is difficult to locate for removal. To stop putting carbon into our air is much cheaper and better than paying for carbon removal later, which would cost trillions upon trillions. Why should we allow companies to continue business as usual, passing cost and problems to future generations?
Climate change is responsible for over 2 trillion in economic costs. Economic damage from climate change will cost over 3x the amount the pandemic cost. For example, insurance rates will rise and the real estate market will suffer due to not being able to sell in coastal and impacted areas.
Worldwide, waste is increasing at an alarming rate and 20% of methane emissions are due to our waste. We need to engage in more intelligent practices. For example, we can compost (which reduces waste in landfills that leads to methane emissions). Composting will also nourish our gardens.
Methane removal, through oxidation, is needed. Half of our methane is produced from human behaviors like cattle agriculture.
C02 is forever, while methane is temporary. Methane is 20-30x more potent in warming our atmosphere than C02, but it dissipates over 40 years while C02 will remain thousands upon thousands of years. C02 is also cumulative.
Given this, we must stop our emissions of greenhouse gases immediately. If we reach zero emissions, it will drastically reduce global warming. Carbon dioxide is at its highest in 2 billion years, due to our behaviors. We are experimenting with our own lives and planet!
Toxins accumulate in sea creatures, damaging the whole ecosystem. C02 enters the blood of fish, affecting acidification. Acidity has already risen 30%, producing hazards for marine life, like for coral reefs and in decreasing calcification in the shells of sea life. Shopping bags can strangle sea animals and their stomachs are found full of microplastics.
The Amazon forest works as a giant air conditioner, cooling our planet. It absorbs C02. But temperatures in the Amazon are increasing and it is getting more dry due to the expansion of farming and deforestation.
Aerosols like smoke and other tiny particles in our air affect our global temperature. Some cool our atmosphere by reflecting the sun, even dropping temperatures by 0.5 percent. Without aerosols, our atmosphere would be hotter. But air pollution is also hazardous, coming from our cars and factories, for example.
Clouds reflect sunlight back into space, but can also insulate heat like a blanket. Reduced clouds over our oceans force the ocean to absorb the sunlight, thus contributing to global warming.
Melting ice caps no longer reflect the sun, leading even to more warming. Our glaciers are melting. The Himalayas provide drinking water to billions, yet will melt by 1/3. We have enough ice to raise our ocean levels the equivalent of a 20 story building. We have already lost the equivalent of Mt. Everest in ice sheets. This melting will lead to coastal devastation for those living near our oceans. Our oceans will rise by a meter by 2100.
Oceans absorb about 90% of the excess heat produced by global warming. While oceans absorb about ¼ of C02, warming produces less absorption. We must enhance our oceans ability to absorb C02. Even a 1.5 degree increase in temperature is a great risk to our future survival. Our weather has extremes, like the freezing waters and the heatwave that killed many in 2021.
Human made climate change has devastating consequences. For example, Hurricane Harvey cost billions and the severity was 15% greater due to human made climate change. Sadly, 20 million people were displaced by flooding in 2020.
Distressingly, we have all witnessed that even minor disruptions in our supply chain are devastating. Thus, climate change must be averted at all costs.
Our temperature has already warmed by 1%, which all reputable science agrees upon. This is already causing damage right now. Heat waves and air pollution lead to heart related and respiratory deaths, not just heat strokes. Millions die per year due to air pollution. The warming climate also triggers diseases like Maleria and will kill millions. These diseases are being seen in areas not seen before.
The increase of C02 in our atmosphere is even making our crops less nutritious. Specifically, soils lack zinc and protein. Zinc deficiency then leads to a reduced immune system. Millions more will have an iron and folate deficiency due to current C02 levels. Iron deficiency leads to premature births.
GOING FORWARD So then, what is our best path forward for survival? We have to stick to a carbon budget per year to reach our goal of only increasing the temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The carbon budget, to stay within the agreements of the Paris accord, will be used up in a few years. But noone seems to be sounding any alarms. Is this because our media is controlled by the elite?
Politicians still respond to mammon ($) with no concern, really, for life. Congressman Manchin singlehandedly rewrote climate legislation in 2021, even with all aware that he has millions invested in fossil fuels, like the influential Koch brothers.
Exxon Mobil has been well aware of the consequences of their actions for decades, yet put forth false discussions into the public sphere. They purposefully stalled for time, which we do not have.
The King of Saudi Arabia has unbelievable wealth and power, but when we move to solar and wind energy power will not be so concentrated. This may lead to a more hopeful and democratic future that serves the actual interests of the people. We need to turn to our Sun. We need to now rely upon energy from heaven, not from hell. It is not that we do not have the money to change. It is that those benefiting from our current Death Economy do not have the will to change.
Many will promote carbon capture technologies, but the reality is hidden. There are only about 20 carbon capture facilities operating right now, some shown to produce more carbon than they capture. We can use fossil fuels only until around 2050, unless technology like carbon capture is seriously invested in (and not just used as a talking point). Many CEOs deflect attention from change right now, promising (like snake oil salesmen) to develop sustainable technology in the future. (Interestingly, blue hydrogen can be made from carbon capture.)
Solving our crisis calls for us putting less demand upon our energy system, such as in consuming less. We need to return to more of a natural, Earth based way of life. Do we all really need to extend our days, with artificial light, past the natural hours of sunlight? Must we eat meat? Wherever there is a roof, there is a potential for a solar panel. Wind parks can also be built in offshore locations, where they are less disruptive.
Green hydrogen is a fuel that leaves only water behind and is usually produced by methane. But it costs more to produce than it makes. Thus, green hydrogen requires an abundance of cheap energy.
Hydropower facilities use water flow to produce energy, while nuclear power splits elements for energy, and produces around 10% of the world’s energy. But, a nuclear power factory that just opened in 2022 took 16 years to open. And, nuclear power can have disastrous consequences and can be the target of terrorism.
Biomass energy creates energy by burning wood or other biological matter. But, it can take hundreds of years for forests to regrow. Thus, we need to slow down this process and aim to stop burning things on Earth for energy.
Geothermal heat takes energy from the Earth's heat, producing around 17% of greenhouse gases. But it is limited in that there are limited planetary hot spots. In air capture measures, carbon is pumped underground, like in BECS. BECS pumps carbon underground and provides electricity from the burning of plant matter, which is cost effective compared to other measures. Enhanced weathering is also a promising technique, such as exposing crushed rocks and minerals to the carbon in the air to facilitate natural processes.
Finally, some promote geoengineering, which is the manipulation of our atmosphere, such as reducing the warming effects of our sun. Some support spraying sun-blocking aerosols or coating ice to protect it. This is actually risky to our ecosystems. Solar engineering is too dangerous, given once the process is started it must continue indefinitely (and political regimes can change). If suddenly stopped, warming will occur to an even greater degree than if no measures were ever taken.
REAL SOLUTIONS Elites consume and produce more than most. Our problems are that of inequality as much as pollution. If the top 10% (financially) only produced the carbon footprint of the bottom 90% of global emitters, 1/3 of carbon would be reduced. Thus, carbon budgets will affect the filthy rich the most. The most wealthy are contributing a shockingly disproportionate amount of pollution. The average person produces 6.5 tons of emissions per year, with the wealthy producing 75 tons.
Rich countries know they are liable for their pollution. They, of course, do not want to focus discussions on responsibility. The global economy could shrink by 18% due to the climate crisis.
We need to reduce emissions, restoring soils and forests. We need to protect our soil from tilling, pesticides and depleted nutrients. We have found that enriching soil with nitrogen has polluted our water. We need new practices. How can we sustainably grow food? How can we facilitate new ideas?
PLANT-BASED DIET We know that as affluence increases, so does meat consumption. But more efficient use of water and land, such as in transitioning to plant-based diets and farms, is our only viable path forward. This would support health of our land, souls and bodies!
Plant-based foods have the lowest impact, while meats can impact our environment over 20x more. Every 50 calories that go into meat (feed) produces 1 calorie as human food. 4x the size of Brazil in land is used for grazing cattle, the greatest use of land (even above forests). And, 20% of gas emissions are due to how we use land, mainly for agriculture. Our current food production also causes 30% of greenhouse gases. We need to shift to a plant-based diet. We can feed our communities using 76% less land. One burger, which gives 10 grams of protein, uses resources like land and water that would provide many more nutritious calories if the same land was instead devoted to vegetable and fruit gardens.
Turning away from meat would not only help us feed more people, it would also help reduce diseases in our bodies and help reduce carbon pollution. Specifically, 350 million tons per year in emissions would be reduced if we shunned meat. Becoming vegetarian is the single most impactful action you can take to help.
We are eating more calories, when we need to consume less. Specifically, we need to reduce pork and beef calories by 80% in wealthy countries. Currently, 1/3 of all food produced is not consumed. We must make smarter use of our land and reduce our food consumption and waste. Humans have directly reduced biodiversity in shaping the land for our purposes, such as in agricultural practices. We farm around 30% of land now. It would take far less land to farm if we stopped using land for food for cows and other “products” for the meat industry.
Given all of this, how can it be that $500 billion in government subsidies go into agriculture that is not sustainable? We need a political and spiritual revolution. We need significant behavioral and technological changes immediately. For example, if we lowered the speed limit, we would save over 5 tons of carbon emissions annually (just in Germany). We also need cities that are efficiently constructed, and need to reduce unnecessary travel. We can use online meetings rather than physically traveling to meetings.
We can also encourage college students to prepare solutions for our problems, instead of preparing for the job market! This kind of free thought would be supported by a Universal Basic Income.
Even in 2021, 95% of transport relies upon oil (including cars, planes and ships). We need to curb the sale of SUVs, which produce great emissions. Why are they so popular? We need to encourage lighter vehicles, banning SUV advertising. We need to wake up!
Renewable energy is now the cheapest form of energy. Renewable energy makes more sense, yet those who have vested interests in fossil fuels do not want change and actively work against change. Still today, 1.446 billion vehicles run on petrol. EVs are a good step, but we really need electric public transit.
We need to outlaw all petrol engine vehicles starting 2025, and more. By 2035, there will be 2 billion private vehicles. We need free public transportation, like trains, trams, busses and ferries.
We also really need to buy less. We can reuse and repair our items and vehicles, rather than buying new things. Americans spend $5,400 per year on impulse purchases, and studies show that more ‘stuff’ does not equate with greater levels of happiness. We can share and borrow items, as a true community. This is also Christian behavior.
We can wear second-hand clothing. The clothing industry fills landfills! Electric bikes are also good alternatives to our current ways. We can buy only energy efficient appliances and can avoid over packaged foods, meat and dairy.
We need to transform our food system and plant green gardens everywhere possible. We need home garden and trees and biodiversity in cemeteries, parks and public areas as well as home backyards.
Biodiversity protects us by removing C02 from the air and purifying our waters. It helps mitigate disease and even protects our health. We need to support biodiverse land because it absorbs more C02. This is a real action we can take.
We also need to let forests grow and stop cutting young trees for wood. Before the Industrial revolution, people burned mostly wood for energy. Industrialization did relieve the deforestation occurring at the beginning of the 19th century by turning to fossil fuel energy instead of wood burning. After the development of coal burning machines, pollution killed more people than we realize. We do have to stop burning fossil fuel.
Today the ability of a forest to store carbon depends on many factors. First, we need to replace trees at the rate carbon would have been captured if wood was not harvested. If a tree is not cut, how much carbon would it capture over its lifetime?
We need to reduce wood harvesting. Specifically, we can harvest from constructed tree farms, but also allow other trees to grow old, to support biodiversity. We need no till farming, a plant based diet, biodiverse forests and more. We need drastic carbon emission cuts now.
We have already reduced the populations of birds, reptiles and insects by 2/3 since the 1970s. Sadly, 60% of all songbirds have disappeared in the last decades.
We are killing our ecosystem. Pollinators (like bees) are dying, thus leading to our deaths due to not being able to eat vegetables (which increases heart disease due to poor diet and high meat consumption).
But, are people even able to respond to new information? Are we able to act on new data? We will see.
Buying less means we do not have to earn as much. Our world will be better and we will feel better. We need to take the status away from consuming products. There are websites devoted to revealing the true carbon footprint of popular products, like: www.ethicalconsumer.com
Profits motivate corporations to distract the public from the truth. We are not told how unhealthy certain common things are, even in the long term. It is not in their interest (they mistakenly think) to be honest and change to a more sustainable economy. Of course, God sees all.
Politicians are short sighted and are not addressing the crisis at all. We need “honesty, integrity and courage” (Greta Thunberg). But, many are still driven by mammon (money) to the point of our death. Many politicians are corrupt, with our blood on their hands. They have the blood of all future children who will never breathe in God's air of life, given lobbying, on their hands. How is lobbying legal? Our government does not work for the people, but for power and mammon. The rich are served and our Death Culture continues, while we continue to consume dead flesh.
Our politicians must lead us in a new direction, no matter if it is aligned with popular public opinion. Politicians need to communicate our true situation and our media needs to direct us to a more healthy future.
“The time for little steps in the right direction is over. We are in a crisis” – Greta.
Promises to become climate neutral by 2050 puts everyone back to sleep. If they really cared, drastic changes would be made right now instead of distracting our focus, according to Greta Thunberg.
“It matters what we say, but it matters even more what we do” - Greta.
We cannot act only nationally, given we are on one planet and are all affected. For example, the pandemic could not be kept to one nation. We must address our crisis as a world, not as isolated nations.
Geopolitical tensions stand in the way of true international negotiations. Nations are driven by a will to power. We need a new base ethic of valuing life and caring about each other (across nations and groups).
We need to work together to address the planetary crisis. Instead, each nation is actually preparing for conflict, based on the finances devoted to building military forces. Our money shows our true priorities.
Greta Thunberg says we need to just simply “tell it like it is.” We need to stand on our moral ground and be open to innovative ideas and solutions. She suggests many ideas for change.
First, we must start treating this climate crisis like a crisis. We must get our priorities straight. We must also admit our economic systems have failed. We need to face reality to be able to create a better world.
The best way to absorb more carbon is to leave forests alone. “A living tree must be valued more than a dead one,” explains Greta Thunberg. Scientists recommend we protect at least 30% of nature. Currently, only 3% of the Earth’s surface is unharmed.
We must spread the facts; 5.9 trillion dollars are spent annually in subsidies for fossil fuels, which is insanity. Do not fly; avoid air travel. The tourist economy is responsible for 8% of our yearly emissions. Instead of subsidies for air travel, we need to pay subsidies to encourage train travel. We can invest in wind and solar power, and scientific advances like farm-free food grown in a laboratory.
Science can shed light on how to nourish our soil and stop depleting it. Thus, we can go forward with science and morality as our guiding forces. The ‘is’ and the ‘ought’ will be complementary.
We need to educate ourselves and become climate activists. We can institute justice through protests and civil disobedience. We need to fight for democracy in non-violent ways. We need new laws to protect us.
Be disruptive. Look for common ground, using love and not hate to shed light into the darkness. Avoid culture wars that only distract us from survival with endless debates. Very simply, we must also buy less and use less. We can also stop purchasing single-use plastics, like bottles for water.
Plastics that are disposable have been available for 20 years, and thus have accumulated in our oceans. Companies that used to offer glass bottles and also clean them have now moved to disposable products and thus have passed on costs to us.
Coca-cola actively acts against legislation that would have them offer reusable bottles again, as they did before single-use plastics. Companies blame consumers for bad habits yet shoot down laws against single-use plastics. The UK is the second highest trash producer, after the US. Most plastic is counted as recycled but is not. It litters deserts and waters, affecting our climate. Transit companies disguise the true origin of waste as it is relentlessly burned in the cover of darkness.
Countries like the UK, US, Japan and Germany export waste to places like Southeast Asia, where it is often burned at night. People now suffer respiratory illness due to these common practices. Plastic produces greenhouse gases, as it is derived from oil.
And, even today, we do not have accurate data on carbon emissions. The Washington Post found that our current path to climate solutions is not even credible nor viable, given the reported numbers are so distorted. Countries report only a fraction of their true emissions, like Sweden, who reported 50 million tons of greenhouse gases when in fact they emit closer to 150 million tons per year. So, even now, only 1/3 of emissions were even included in reports in Sweden. This is seen internationally as well. We need a proper road map, based on data and our moral ground, that we actually follow!
But “Who do you vote for when the politics needed are nowhere to be found?” poignantly asks Greta Thunberg. Even in progressive countries like Sweden, only 10% of ‘recycled’ products are actually recycled. Much is burned, causing further pollution.
So, recycling is a huge greenwashed myth. Most plastic will never be recycled. It is all made so cheaply that it is made to be disposed of. So, plastic litters landfills and our waters, especially in poorer areas. Micro plastics are now everywhere, even inside us. 8 million tons per year of plastic waste is dumped into our oceans.
We can reduce packaging, to start. We need a major system change. Greenpeace is calling for a 50% reduction in plastics in coming years, given our situation.
Specifically, we already also have 40 years of carbon built up in our atmosphere and our C02 emissions are on track to rise 16% in the coming years.
We are set to increase our global temperature, yet the media is not covering this crisis. We cannot negotiate, for we value life itself while those in power prioritize profit; “They speak to flowers in the language of US dollars” says Greta Thunberg.
We need regular press briefings on our climate crisis and many discussions on how to solve our problems. For example, we can institute a #UBI as part of the transition in our economy and as jobs related to fossil fuels diminish.
Communist China is using over 70% of our carbon budget, and still will in 2030. This, while developing countries are affected the greatest by climate issues. How can developing countries move forward in a sustainable way? Capitalism also contributes to our crisis by encouraging increasing GDPs, despite the true costs to our planet. This economic system demands growth. Yet, high income nations do not need more growth. We need a new economic system based on our ecosystem. No current systems lead to life.
We need to educate ourselves. We need both individual and systemic, market change immediately. We must restructure our economy around renewable energy, less meat consumption and less SUVs, for example, to ensure our future. In fact, 80% of energy used in 2019 was still derived from fossil fuels.
Frequent flying and eating meat are some of the most destructive activities an individual can do in terms of the climate crisis. Some have made an oath to never fly and to become vegetarian, given our situation.
We need to phase out private jets, mega yachts and other egregious displays of wealth and status. We can make these displays shameful and not glorify them. We can take public transport and move away from fossil fuel based engines. For example, in Vienna, 60% of people live in community housing.
Should we shame those who live an unsustainable lifestyle? Should we offer softer signals that change is needed, like having our family over for a vegetarian dinner?
We can encourage others to live with less of an environmental impact. As one neighbor gets solar panels, so do others. We can share plant-based recipes. We can participate in social actions and protests.
Government also (on the macro level beyond the individual) needs to lead and set examples for a new way of living, following through with laws. We need to meet the basic survival needs of all humans on our planet with current resources.
The richest 20% need to reduce their consumption to 1/10th of 2015 levels, making room for others basic needs. Christ stood up for the needy and the powerless. But are we too unloving and selfish to survive as a species? What will happen to our souls, as we turn our backs to the most vulnerable?
Psychology has been used to advertise toward people’s deepest desires to inspire their purchases. Ads create (or play upon) a deep need, promising to fill the inner void. Products promise to make us feel better and to lead to our acceptance by our social groups. But, without God, people remain empty inside while landfills overflow.
For example, 73% of textiles (clothing) produced ends up in landfills. Can we start identifying with God, and not by our outer appearance and the latest fashion?
We need to phase out excess for a few, while expanding access to basic resources to all, like healthcare and housing. This is in line with instituting a Universal Basic Income (#UBI) for all, to help people of all identities survive the upcoming transitions on earth.
Our excesses are a clue into inner poverty. Many do not have solid community ties, even if they have material wealth. We are actually happier when we are connected to others, giving and sharing. Our efforts to help others and transition from our selfish society will lead to deep joy, not poverty. We will be blessed as we use our voices and hands to carry forth God’s will.
As a start, we can choose (given our morals) to buy only 3 new pieces of clothing per year, take less trips, rid ourselves of personal vehicles and eat a plant-based diet. What else can we do?
We need the Holy Spirit to guide our souls and hands as we create a new day! We can change if we hold hope, as the eloquent theologian Jurgen Moltmann has shared. We can shift from unhealthy social norms, and these healthy changes will allow all of us to thrive.
We need relationships based on love and reciprocity instead of greed and a will to power. We need less selfishness and more sacrifice for others whom we share with because we actually care. We need to restructure our world based on love, as Christ taught.
When we take action for a sustainable society, we will find new meaning in our daily actions. Our community bonds can grow stronger as we change. And, as sociologist Emile Durkheim found, strong community bonds lead to less suicides. We have the opportunity to promote life and even joy in coming together to change our world for the better!
We do not wish to conserve the world, but create a new one. We need more community control over resources and a guaranteed income for all, regardless of group affiliation. We need energy efficient public housing and to restructure the economy to a more just system. We need to align our economy with our ecosystem as well as our morality. As the brilliant Martin Buber wrote, we need to develop I-thou relationships, based on a recognition of others and not an exploitation of them. Equity and sustainably go hand in hand; there can be no sustainably without equity. Instead of asking who owns land, we need to ask who is responsible for the land. We need a politics of love.
CONCLUSIONS: CARETAKING IS A GREEN JOB! We need to transition to a care-taking society, where all are cared for and treated with love. We need to dismantle the call to endless growth and greed.
“We need to redefine hope and progress, so that these words do not translate to destruction” – Greta.
We need to prioritize people over profits. Green jobs, like caretaking, can be recognized as we turn away from jobs based on over-consumption of unneeded products. Carework is climate work! We need to not only repair our relationship with our planet, but also with each other. We can become a global family.
Solutions involve community actions in helping each other, just as Christ called for. Also, our youth must be a global force of change. We must learn from our mistakes and challenge the status quo and those with interests in the current Death Culture.
Truth, justice and morality are on the side of creating a sustainable future, explains Greta Thunberg. In our Postmodern age, where some claim all views are valid, what is Truth? Both sides of an issue are not equally valid. Survival is not a story with two sides.
We need to end our Death Culture by following the path of love (set by Christ) and carrying out God’s will, for God is Truth. When we recognize this, we will move from the Postmodern Era to the Pre-Utopian Era, as we prepare the ground for God’s New Earth.
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2023.04.01 20:34 IndieRex Part XVI: Yon (Lockbury Henge and the Mines)
 | Welcome to Part 16 of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Reimagined, an expansion and alternative take on the The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign. Previous entries: submitted by IndieRex to wildbeyondwitchlight [link] [comments]
Foreword: This post contains spoilers for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight IntroductionGreetings travelers of the frigid expanse of Yon! When we last left off, the party had made their way up into the Shimmerstorm Mountains and taken a rest for the evening.Today we will cover the party's continued journey through the mountains as they meet the korreds of Lockbury Henge, descend into a new location known as The Howling Mines, and finally encounter the small but industrious brigganocks. As a reminder from last time, we are skipping the Fey Beacons location as I am breaking up that content into parts elsewhere. Let's dive in! Lockbury Hengehttps://preview.redd.it/tjgivz62gbra1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=a773744fcfef40bf9cfe2682e3c57c804deb4b42Lockbury Henge is a great time to level up your players to Level 7, though I leave it to you whether this is when they first arrive at the megaliths or once they say their goodbyes to the korreds. We'll be running this area a bit differently as we can make this area more of a hub for select events:
The Korred VillageRead the following as Argantle and the group arrive:As you follow Queen Argantle, you soon find yourself standing in front of a small village of sorts nestled into the side of a mountain. The homes here are made of stone, each with a beautifully decorated roof made of intricately designed tiles. It's clear that a lot of care and attention has gone into their creation. There are dozens of Korreds, each with their signature wild black hair, milling about and glancing in your direction.Queen Argantle will leads the party into one of the dwellings, the interior of which is simple, with the furniture all crafted from stone. She will invite the party to sit and shares the information from the book that she would typically give at Lockbury Henge itself. As the discussion continues, at this point the "Distant Racket" event should play out as Argantle heads outside to investigate and subsequently also shares the info listed there as well as the additional pieces below:
Gleam If the players seek out the high elf acrobat, she will beseech them for help. They may notice though that she's missing her shadow... Gleam will share the following:
While in the village, the party should find that while they're not merchants per say, the korreds do have some of their craftwork available for sale (1 of each):
While I chose not to use it at all, this could also be a good place for the Evil Kite event (but again swapping out the goblins for korreds). Staying the Night If the characters take a long rest in town I recommend having this event play out. It's an alternative take on an idea from Korred Clans by Dan Kahn. On that note, if you're looking to expand this area even further, Dan's supplement dives into all of the different clans. During the evening the players should hear the shuffling of multiple pairs of hooves outside. This is a group of young korreds, one of a which with a shaved head, trying poorly to sneak outside. If the party confronts them they will explain that:
The Howling MinesOnce the party is ready to depart, Queen Argantle and/or Gleam and guide the group to the nearby entrance down into the interior of the mountains to The Howling Mines and the next step on their journey.https://preview.redd.it/c5u76d4hgbra1.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=aa3867cc4780dac86eb4341a56807548bb82c811 When the group enters read the following: As you step into The Howling Mines, the first thing you notice is a low, mournful wail that seems to echo from everywhere and nowhere at once. The rocky walls are lined with massive, shimmering stones that glow with an inner light that fills the cavern with a soft, otherworldly radiance of blues and purples.The walls inside the mines are made of solid rock and are on average 30 feet tall. An examination of the walls reveals a cluster of 1d3 leaves of moonwort, a silver-leaved herb that when consumed makes the user become partially incorporeal for 1 hour. While partially incorporeal, the creature has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Once inside there is a single winding path for the players to follow deeper into the mines. A Treacherous Path After a short while of the party walking deeper inside and marveling at the interior read the following: The path ahead of you narrows, the walls now tightly closed in from both sides while icicles hang down from the ceiling to almost the floor like a maze of sharp teeth. The icicles glisten in the light of the mines, and look brittle enough to shatter at the slightest touch.Whereas the mines have been spacious so far, there is only this narrow 10 ft high corridor ahead. With a successful DC 14 Perception check a player can discern this narrowing is temporary, and the passage opens back up soon after. With a 20 or higher, they will hear what sounds like movement beyond the passage as well. While the icicles hanging down the path ahead are a barrier of sorts, they can potentially be avoided. Any character who makes a successful DC 15 Acrobatics or Stealth check can weave through icicles or duck down and make it out to the other side without breaking any. On a failure, a character knocks into a set of icicles causing them to break off and crash to the ground. This will alert crystalline sentinels and lookouts ahead in the next room to the party's presence, causing them to immediately attack once the players come out the other side. Once through the obstacle, the players will be be brought into a path continuing deeper into the mines. I used this map by FairyTale Maps to represent it. There are 3 crystalline sentinels and 5 crystalline lookouts (see below) that will attack any intruders, but if the players successfully did not break any of the icicles, the party will be not be spotted by the creatures when they first arrive. These golems once were tasked with overseeing work done here in the mines, but this area has long been stripped and abandoned for greener pastures. You might allow your players to bypass fighting the crystalline sentinels and lookouts altogether if they have a way to sneak by. If they are defeated though, an examination of the bodies of the crystalline creatures will provide chunks of ore worth 50 gp for each sentinel and 20 gp for each lookout. A search of the area should also uncover the following:
https://preview.redd.it/fadoltwogbra1.png?width=812&format=png&auto=webp&s=b2b964332910a3c9d04d3cd6f0535d8b67110326 https://preview.redd.it/yf06grupgbra1.png?width=158&format=png&auto=webp&s=78138361693102eaf999b0b19290d19080e83573 https://preview.redd.it/3fw15epqgbra1.png?width=823&format=png&auto=webp&s=394711f7edc4d47c7229fb2fdb42188878a8f603 Gorgenal, the Mummer Soon after making their way past the golems, the party will come across a chamber with a locked thick iron door that blocks their progress further into the mine. On the walls of the room, there is a panel with six levers (that can only be moved in the up or down position; they start up by default) labeled with numbers from 1 to 6 and a single button. The players must figure out the correct sequence of levers to pull in order to unlock the door (which is 4-2-5-6-1-3). The button resets all of the levers back to the up position. As they search the room, there are three main clues to solve the puzzle but you can feel free to add more as needed:
The faint sound of a lively tune in the distance echoes through the chamber. The music leads you to a hooded figure, their fingers expertly dancing over the holes of a flute. The man is slender with a sharp nose and dressed in a patchwork of mismatched furs and hides.A player with a passive perception of 16 or higher will notice Gorgenal does not cast a shadow. This is because it was severed by Endelyn's Scissors of Shadow Snipping, though he will not share as much. If the players introduce themselves, the man will do so in kind: "I am Gorgenal of the Greyhawk Mummers," he says in a sly voice and with a slight bow. "Perhaps you've heard of me?"As mentioned earlier, as we are not using the Fey Beacons section I am breaking that content into other sections, starting with one of the mummers, Gorgenal, who - unlike the book, is not a peryton. Gorgenal will share the following information:
If the party accepts his help as a guide, he leads them down a series of twists and turns, dodging and weaving through the mines until they reach: A narrow stream of water winds through the ground here, shimmering in a spectrum of colors from vibrant teal to deep purple. A statue of carved of ice sits at the end of the stream. The statue depicts a humanoid creature with thick fur covering its body and its hands are elongated into long claws through which the water releases down into the stream like a miniature waterfall.
The potential exception here is if the party showed any interest in stagecraft and taking part in Endelyn's plays. In that case he may be inclined to safety lead them out to Brigganock Mine and give directions to Motherhorn. The Ambush Soon after the path leads into a small chamber of the mines filled with a light fog. The trap consists of a ghost of the mines (see below) and three shadow (variants) that are shadows snipped by Endelyn. While the howling noises of the mines are indeed a natural phenomenon - the increase in volume here is from the ghost. At your discretion one of the shadows could be Gleam's, which means it's destruction would lead to the restoration of the imprisoned Gleam's actual shadow. As soon as the fighting begins Gorgenal will drink a potion of invisibility. https://preview.redd.it/cj54phizgbra1.png?width=823&format=png&auto=webp&s=2895f1f23063db85d3fd8dffa419318496b4e945 You can use this map for the ambush encounter The Mineshaft Once out of the ambush on their own, it will take the party a few more hours of travel through the mines until they reach the final chamber. Light spills through an opening in the rock wall in this large chamber clearly marking the path forward. While a clear exit lays ahead of you, there is also a large, vertical platform that sits in the back of the room with an intricate control panel set into it.The platform is a steam powered elevator that leads down to a lower level of the mines where the dragon Zephyrum nests.
The exit meanwhile leads directly to Brigganock Mine, which is most likely course of the action here. Zephyrum's Lair If the party takes the elevator from the mine shaft down, they are brought into a lower level of the mines. As you make your way in, you come across a small alcove that has been converted into a living area of sorts. A bedroll has been laid out on the ground next to a small fire pit and an assortment of basic supplies.This is Gorgenal's home for the nights where he is keeping watch over the mine and Zephyrum. As the party examines the area, eight winged beasts with antlers will circle and wheel around them, before landing and watching them quizzically. If the players learned of the perytons from Gorgenal and aren't putting two and two together that these are his old troupe, allow a DC 12 History check to connect the dots on their behalf. If the party has a spell such as speak with animals they can learn of the peryton's plight, and that they have stayed near their old partner Gorgenal out of boredom. If not, consider placing a scroll of the spell among Gorgenal's belongings - he may need to speak with them on occasion after all. The perytons will also share that:
Similarly, the characters can also impress the perytons by putting on a performance of their own. Impressing the perytons requires the performing characters to succeed on a DC 15 Charisma (Performance) group check. Any character who received an acting lesson from Candlefoot in the Witchlight Carnival has advantage on this check. If the group check succeeds, the perytons regard the characters as kindred spirits. In the case of a good show (by the mummers or the party), the perytons will warn them of the dragon and Gorgenal being further ahead. As a part of this they will share the dragon's resistances and immunities and its main abilities (tunneler, spider climb, debilitating breath, hold person). Zephyrum After a short trek past the camp site read the following (though if the group was warned by the mummers and is being sneaky, you may choose to exclude the last sentence): As you venture deeper, you are suddenly confronted by a massive, fearsome creature that bursts out from the rock wall with a fierce roar. Its scales are a deep, iridescent blue that shimmer and sparkle in the dim light of the mines, creating an almost mesmerizing display of color. Despite its beauty, there is no mistaking the raw, primal energy of a deadly predator that radiates from the creature's piercing gaze. Its muscles are coiled, and you can feel the cool wind of its breath on your skin as it snarls and prepares to strike.If Gorgenal is alive, he will also be here watching over the dragon. They will both attack the party on sight. Gorgenal uses the bard (MotM) stat block (but with a Charisma of 18, spell save DC of 16, and double the hit points), while Zephyrum is a young sapphire dragon (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons), though a young blue dragon (Basic Rules; but substitute it's lightning breath for the cold breath from a young white dragon) can work as a substitute. If they are defeated, the players can loot Zephyrum's hoard which contains:
Cold Iron Cold iron ingots can be used to craft a cold iron weapon. Recommended locations include the Woodcutter's Axe in Vale Crossing, Arctis Tor, and once the party travels back to their home city after Yon (Waterdeep for my campaign). You may choose to allow it to happen by other means - especially if you have a character well versed in smithing. It takes two ingots to enhance an existing weapon (similar to silvering a weapon), or you may choose to allow a new weapon to be made with other ingredients mixed in. Cold iron weapons have the following properties:
Brigganock MineOnce out of The Howling Mines (see the mineshaft section above), the party will soon find the entrance to the Brigganock Mine (the two are connected), and should hear the tapping, etc. from the book. Things should play out as written until the confrontation with Molliver and the brigganocks where we will need to change what is told to the party.When speaking with Molliver he will instead share the following information and will similarly order the release of any captured characters if convinced appropriately. If the party helped Elkhorn and Strongheart earlier in The Fields of Spring, they can use that to their advantage to win over Molliver.
Once pleasantries are done, Molliver and the brigganocks will lead the group back towards Wish-Come-True to meet with Obud. During the trek, Molliver will share the additional tidbits:
Once at the grotto things will play out mostly the same except:
Tunnel to Motherhorn Once the party has defeated Zephyrum (or otherwise convinced Obud), he will lead the party to a permanent illusion in the basement wall of the lodge. This secret tunnel leads out of the mines and back out to the Shimmerstorm Mountains near Motherhorn. As an additional reward I had Obud allow each party member to take a stab at mining. Each player should roll a D12 and receive the reward below (based on tool proficiencies you may allow a +1 or +2 to the roll):
A final note. The book suggests that if the korreds and brigganocks are allied an assault could be made on Motherhorn. This is less in line with the concepts we're going for (plus the play is a ton of fun) so I might avoid this altogether. An alternative for team up action could be them all helping the party to defeat Zephyrum and Gorgenal and thus free the mountains of the hag's influence. ResourcesI have highlighted some of the resources I used for this portion of the campaign below.Art
What’s Next? After coming out of the mines to the other side of the Shimmerstorm Mountains, our party will find themselves at the doorstep of Motherhorn, the amphitheater of horrors. As alway |
2023.04.01 20:28 Ok-Ability-9798 Symbolism on the Thundra Plateau…?
 | There are four elemental (not fire water etc) balls and dragons on the thunder plateau: A red sun, purple S, yellow star, and most significantly, a green eye. The eye dragon has a rusty claymore stuck in front of it, and a strange arrow shaped structure behind it. Furthermore, there are tear shaped sculptures on top of each dragon head, similar to the ones seen in the trailer, but the tears on the green and red dragons are facing inwards while the others facing out. submitted by Ok-Ability-9798 to tearsofthekingdom [link] [comments] Hmmm… The elements don’t match up to dragons, colors match triforce except for symbols. What could this mean? |
2023.04.01 20:25 bryansise ASIN (incorrectly) under hazmat review, exemption sheet rejected -- advise please!
I have been successfully selling an ASIN for 3 years, using FBA. Suddenly out of nowhere I received a notice from Amazon that the ASIN is under hazmat (dangerous goods) review. The ASIN is still showing on Amazon, but it has a "ships in 1-2 months" message.
Facts:
I am totally confused as to why this ASIN (and only this ASIN, not the other variations) has been flagged for hazmat review, as it has no dangerous chemicals.
I am worried that if I submit an SDS, maybe the product will be cleared for sale, but it will then be classified as dangerous goods (with all the extra costs of international shipping, storage, etc.) -- and maybe Amazon will then (wrongly) classify all the other variations as dangerous goods too!
Have any of you ever seen this situation before? What would you recommend I do? Should I...
submitted by bryansise to FulfillmentByAmazon [link] [comments]
Facts:
- The ASIN consists of only one type of material, and does not contain any harmful chemicals whatsoever. Nothing flammable, explosive, corrosive, etc. No chemicals whatsoever.
- The ASIN is not intended to be eaten or applied topically. It is for use in the home as a decorative item.
- The ASIN is a variation (a particular color). All the other variations of this ASIN have not been flagged for hazmat review -- they continue to sell on Amazon as they have for years.
- The ASIN is part of an established category on Amazon, and the products in this category are not categorized as dangerous goods. When I use Amazon's "check if an ASIN dangerous goods" tool for competing products in this category what are nearly identical to this ASIN, they come up as "not dangerous goods".
I am totally confused as to why this ASIN (and only this ASIN, not the other variations) has been flagged for hazmat review, as it has no dangerous chemicals.
I am worried that if I submit an SDS, maybe the product will be cleared for sale, but it will then be classified as dangerous goods (with all the extra costs of international shipping, storage, etc.) -- and maybe Amazon will then (wrongly) classify all the other variations as dangerous goods too!
Have any of you ever seen this situation before? What would you recommend I do? Should I...
- Try again with submitting an exemption sheet for products without harmful chemicals?
- Submit a ticket to Seller Support and request an escalation?
- Email the [email protected] email address to request a special escalation?
- Go ahead and submit the SDS, and risk having this ASIN and all variations incorrectly classified as dangerous goods?
- Other approaches?
2023.04.01 20:23 brawlganronper Anyone else seen this?
 | submitted by brawlganronper to danganronpa [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 20:16 AnimeSamaDesu Spring 2023 Anime Calendar
 | submitted by AnimeSamaDesu to anime [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 20:13 TheAmethystDragon Umbrella of Reversal - an April Fools' Day item with potentially life-saving qualities - by The Amethyst Dragon
 | submitted by TheAmethystDragon to DnDHomebrew [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 20:09 TheAmethystDragon Umbrella of Reversal - an April Fools' Day item with potentially life-saving qualities - by The Amethyst Dragon
 | submitted by TheAmethystDragon to UnearthedArcana [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 20:06 Blakeroid [Store] 30 Knives, 100 Playskins, 10+ Crafts AK Case Hardened T3, 4x Stockholm Holo Crafts, 4x Antwerp Holo Crafts, 4x MLG Holo Crafts
I'm only looking for trade offers, not intrested in cash trading.
(Prices updated 03/27-2023)
CRAFTS
PLAYSKINS
Buff Store
submitted by Blakeroid to GlobalOffensiveTrade [link] [comments]
(Prices updated 03/27-2023)
Tradelink
Steam ProfileCRAFTS
| Name | Exterior and Float | Buyout (BUFF Value) | Sticker Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| AK-47 Case HardenedTier 3 #867 Blue Mag | FT 0.19 | $ 304,95 | $18.26 |
| StatTrak™ AK-47 Blue Laminate Crown (Foil) and Krakow Gold, "Scream AK" | FT | $ 275,91 | $1283,11 |
| M4A1-S Printstream4x G2 (Holo) Stockholm 2021 | FT 0.24 | $ 159,00 | |
| USP-S Blueprint 4x Cloud9 (Holo)Antwerp 2022 | MW 0.09 | $ 101,00 | |
| StatTrak™ Glock-18 Water Elemental 4x Movistar Riders (Holo)Stockholm 2021 | FN 0.02 | $ 99,00 | |
| AK-47 Neon Rider 4x Liquid Fire (Holo) | MW 0.09 | $ 98,00 | $74,48 |
| MP9 Hot Rod 4x G2 (Holo) MLG Columbus 2016 | FN 0.02 | $ 87,13 | |
| AK-47 Bloodsport 4x NAVI (Holo) Stockholm 2021 (3 scraped once) | FT | $ 82,08 | |
| AK-47 Nightwish 4x FURIA (Holo)Antwerp 2022 | FT 0.18 | $ 65,00 | |
| UMP-45 Blaze 4x G2 (Holo) MLG Columbus 2016 | FN 0.03 | $ 50,82 | |
| AK-47 The Empress4x Furia (Holo) Stockholm 2021 | FT | $ 42,12 | |
| M4A1-S Nightmare 4x Team Spirit (Holo) Stockholm 2021 | FT 0.18 | $ 23,50 | |
| Desert Eagle Midnight Storm | MW | $ 18,33 | $68,12 |
| Name | Exterior | Buyout |
|---|---|---|
| ★ Skeleton Knife Crimson Web | WW | $ 1077,62 |
| ★ M9 Bayonet Autotronic | FT | $ 956,57 |
| ★ Butterfly Knife Urban Masked | MW | $ 713,27 |
| ★ Hand Wraps Cobalt Skulls | FT 0.16 | $ 626,00 |
| ★ Sport Gloves Nocts | FT 0.16 | $ 490,00 |
| ★ Bayonet Damascus Steel | MW 0.07 | $ 402,58 |
| ★ Stiletto Knife Damascus Steel | FT 0.17 | $ 319,64 |
| ★ Skeleton Knife Boreal Forest | FT | $ 305,81 |
| ★ Survival Knife Case Hardened #35 60% Blue | WW | $ 257,00 |
| ★ Sport Gloves Scarlet Shamagh | WW | $ 237,37 |
| ★ Falchion Knife | $ 203,44 | |
| ★ Bowie Knife | $ 190,48 | |
| ★ Survival Knife Crimson Web | BS | $ 189,24 |
| ★ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe | BS | $ 181,30 |
| ★ Survival Knife Stained | MW | $ 179,34 |
| ★ Ursus Knife Night Stripe | MW | $ 172,42 |
| ★ Stiletto Knife Scorched | BS | $ 169,65 |
| ★ Stiletto Knife Forest DDPAT | BS | $ 167,47 |
| ★ Gut Knife Slaughter | FN | $ 167,45 |
| ★ Stiletto Knife Safari Mesh | BS | $ 166,01 |
| ★ Ursus Knife Damascus Steel | FT 0.20 | $ 163,10 |
| ★ Huntsman Knife Black Laminate | FT | $ 158,44 |
| StatTrak™ AWP Asiimov | WW | $ 157,13 |
| ★ Huntsman Knife Black Laminate | WW | $ 152,91 |
| ★ Flip Knife Safari Mesh | FT | $ 147,08 |
| ★ Flip Knife Scorched | FT | $ 145,26 |
| StatTrak™ AK-47 Bloodsport | FT | $ 134,70 |
| ★ Classic Knife Urban Masked | FT | $ 131,06 |
| ★ Moto Gloves Eclipse | WW | $ 118,68 |
| ★ Gut Knife Blue Steel | MW | $ 110,67 |
| USP-S Printstream | MW | $ 103,10 |
| ★ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat | BS | $ 100,70 |
| ★ Survival Knife Scorched | FT | $ 100,48 |
| ★ Survival Knife Safari Mesh | FT | $ 96,99 |
| ★ Shadow Daggers Stained | FT | $ 87,16 |
| ★ Navaja Knife Safari Mesh | FT | $ 69,83 |
| Desert Eagle Printstream | MW | $ 69,39 |
| AWP Containment Breach | FT | $ 68,73 |
| USP-S The Traitor | FN | $ 53,66 |
| M4A4 Bullet Rain | FN | $ 52,93 |
| M4A4 In Living Color | FN | $ 48,35 |
| StatTrak™ P250 Undertow | FN | $ 45,87 |
| StatTrak™ AWP Neo-Noir | FT | $ 45,70 |
| M4A1-S Player Two | MW | $ 44,20 |
| M4A4 Neo-Noir | FN | $ 37,13 |
| Desert Eagle Kumicho Dragon | FN | $ 34,80 |
| SSG 08 Blood in the Water | MW | $ 33,42 |
| AK-47 Nightwish | FT | $ 22,92 |
| AWP Chromatic Aberration | FT | $ 19,44 |
| M4A1-S Cyrex | MW | $ 18,11 |
| Sir Bloody Skullhead Darryl The Professionals | $ 16,38 | |
| StatTrak™ M4A4 Evil Daimyo | FN | $ 14,42 |
| USP-S Road Rash | WW | $ 13,93 |
| Galil AR Urban Rubble | FN | $ 11,33 |
| Elite Trapper Solman Guerrilla Warfare | $ 11,21 | |
| MAC-10 Stalker | FT | $ 10,51 |
| M4A4 Desolate Space | MW | $ 10,34 |
| AK-47 Green Laminate | FT | $ 10,10 |
| Sawed-Off Kiss♥Love | MW | $ 8,55 |
2023.04.01 19:57 cooldrawingideas Simple Free Unicorn Coloring Pages for Kids
 | Unicorn Coloring PagesA unicorn coloring book to keep your kids busy with their favorite thing? This list features illustrations of various magical unicorns, from adorable baby unicorns to magnificent winged unicorns, as well as more intricate drawings to color.Unicorns often appear in children's cartoons, books and movies. The only distinction between unicorn coloring pages and a horse is the single horn that protrudes from its forehead. Unicorns are sometimes depicted as minions of girls and princesses but more often as protectors of property and empires. Like most mythical creatures, unicorns are not evil. They are characters of purity, polish and magical influence. The horns of these supernatural beings can neutralize poison and turn poisoned water into drinkable liquid. Unicorn Coloring Pages With Heart Free Unicorn Coloring Pages Unicorn Coloring Pages Printable Unicorn Coloring Pages Printable Coloring Pages for teachers and parents to use in the classroom or at home are a great free option. Perfect for a unicorn-themed party or just spending time on a rainy day. Scroll down the list to see all printable unicorn images. This article presents some of the best unicorn coloring pages. Fun and educational, these free printable unicorn coloring pages let kids plunge into wonderland while learning about this mythical creature. Kids don't have to stick to the standard white body and silver horn color scheme. These unicorn coloring pages can be adorned in many modes: pink, blue, purple or multicolored. You can also utilize these simple printable unicorn coloring pages to add backgrounds and ornamentations. With these unicorn coloring sheets, you will be amazed at your child's creativity. A unicorn party is also a good use for these coloring sheets. You can also create your unicorn coloring book. Online Coloring Kids can color online as well as print out pages on our website. You can choose and color unicorn drawings online without printing them on paper or colored pencils. Capture the screen and print the created page. If you like it, tell your buddies and family! |
2023.04.01 19:43 Cortecz Printable #006 Friends of Humanity
Hi everyone. Just wanted to share something I've been working on. I made some printable 'bystander tokens' for the X-Men:Dark Phoenix Saga #006 Friends of Humanity figure. There's one sheet for each click available on the figure and ten fronts/backs per sheet. Obviously this isn't for anyone that only plays modern age. But, if any of you enjoy golden age games and want to run a mob of these guys and don't want to buy a ton of the actual figures I hope this helps.
https://ln5.sync.com/dl/67260cae0/mysra5gw-hfjmbzn7-zunvb47m-rnb22ph9
Also, I plan to do something similar for the G002 Sentinels of the same set.
submitted by Cortecz to Heroclix [link] [comments]
https://ln5.sync.com/dl/67260cae0/mysra5gw-hfjmbzn7-zunvb47m-rnb22ph9
Also, I plan to do something similar for the G002 Sentinels of the same set.
2023.04.01 19:43 Lou9896 2TMC [Vanilla][SMP]{1.19.3}{Java}{Datapacks}{Whitelist}{Discord}{Hermitcraft-like}{18+}
Hello! We are 2TMC a community based server much like Hermitcraft. We are on 1.19.3. We are active in game, in chat and on our Discord voice channels.
We are looking for players who will be active in game and will talk either through in game chat or Discord (Preferred). The server is in NA but we have players from all around the world. Discord and a mic are required! The reason for all updates surrounding the server are on our Discord and we want people who we can talk and interact with, though its not required to be on voice chat when in game its preferred.
We are also youtubestreamer friendly. Even tough we are an 18+ community, we try keep ourselves family friendly. The server has simple voice chat. The server is also running some data packs, The datapacks and what they do are listed below.
afkdisplay - Grays out a player's name that is not moving for 5 minutes.
anti enderman grief - Prevents endermen from picking up blocks.
armor statues - Adds a unique book that allows you to alter the properties of armour stands in survival. Recipe When signing a written book name it "Statues".
back to blocks - Allows you to craft full blocks from slabs and stairs.
coal to black dye - Allows you to craft coal into black dye.
charcoal to black dye - Allows you to craft charcoal into black dye.
confetti creepers - There is a 10% chance that a creeper will explode into confetti and do no damage to blocks.
coordinates hud - Adds information to your action bar, XYZ coords and a 24hr clock (in game time). Type /trigger ch_toogle to toggle on/off.
craftable notch apples - Allows you to craft Notch apples again. Recipie 8 golds around an apple = 1 Notch apple.
craftable coral blocks 3x3 - Allows you to craft coral blocks from their coral plant in a 3x3, both tubes and fans may be used interchangably. Recipe 3x3 of coral plants of same colour = 1 block of coral in that colour.
craftable gravel - Allows you to craft gravel from flint. Recipie 2x2 of flint = 1 gravel.
double shulker shells - Makes all shulkers drop two shells.
dragon drops - Makes the ender dragon drop a dragon egg and elytra drop on death.
durability ping - Get notified when you damage an item with 10% or less durability. fully customizable type /trigger duraping.
fast leaf decay - Leaves decay much faster.
graves - When a player dies, a grave is made at their location containing all their items. Right click the grave to retrieve your items. Type /trigger grave to see the location of your last grave.
kill empty boats - Kills all boats that do not have players in them.
more mob heads - Adds a chance to receive a mob head upon killing it.
multiplayer sleep - Allows just one player to sleep to skip the night.
player head drops - A player will drop their head when killed by another player. The item displays who the killer is.
silence mobs- Adds the ability to silence a mob using a name tag,"Silence me"; "silence me"; "silence_me" are all acceptable names.
straight to shapeless- Craft items such as paper, bread, and shulker boxes directly in your 2x2.
unlock all recipes - Automatically unlocks all recipes as soon as you start playing.
universal dyeing - Allows you to dye any dyeable block to another color, no matter what colour it is(does not include wool and concrete).
unpackable nether wart - Allows you to break down nether wart blocks into 9 nether wart. Recipe 1 nether wart block = 9 nether wart.
wandering trades hermit edition - Adds Hermit heads and mini blocks to wandering traders trades.
Here are the rules for the server as well.
submitted by Lou9896 to MinecraftServer [link] [comments]
We are looking for players who will be active in game and will talk either through in game chat or Discord (Preferred). The server is in NA but we have players from all around the world. Discord and a mic are required! The reason for all updates surrounding the server are on our Discord and we want people who we can talk and interact with, though its not required to be on voice chat when in game its preferred.
We are also youtubestreamer friendly. Even tough we are an 18+ community, we try keep ourselves family friendly. The server has simple voice chat. The server is also running some data packs, The datapacks and what they do are listed below.
afkdisplay - Grays out a player's name that is not moving for 5 minutes.
anti enderman grief - Prevents endermen from picking up blocks.
armor statues - Adds a unique book that allows you to alter the properties of armour stands in survival. Recipe When signing a written book name it "Statues".
back to blocks - Allows you to craft full blocks from slabs and stairs.
coal to black dye - Allows you to craft coal into black dye.
charcoal to black dye - Allows you to craft charcoal into black dye.
confetti creepers - There is a 10% chance that a creeper will explode into confetti and do no damage to blocks.
coordinates hud - Adds information to your action bar, XYZ coords and a 24hr clock (in game time). Type /trigger ch_toogle to toggle on/off.
craftable notch apples - Allows you to craft Notch apples again. Recipie 8 golds around an apple = 1 Notch apple.
craftable coral blocks 3x3 - Allows you to craft coral blocks from their coral plant in a 3x3, both tubes and fans may be used interchangably. Recipe 3x3 of coral plants of same colour = 1 block of coral in that colour.
craftable gravel - Allows you to craft gravel from flint. Recipie 2x2 of flint = 1 gravel.
double shulker shells - Makes all shulkers drop two shells.
dragon drops - Makes the ender dragon drop a dragon egg and elytra drop on death.
durability ping - Get notified when you damage an item with 10% or less durability. fully customizable type /trigger duraping.
fast leaf decay - Leaves decay much faster.
graves - When a player dies, a grave is made at their location containing all their items. Right click the grave to retrieve your items. Type /trigger grave to see the location of your last grave.
kill empty boats - Kills all boats that do not have players in them.
more mob heads - Adds a chance to receive a mob head upon killing it.
multiplayer sleep - Allows just one player to sleep to skip the night.
player head drops - A player will drop their head when killed by another player. The item displays who the killer is.
silence mobs- Adds the ability to silence a mob using a name tag,"Silence me"; "silence me"; "silence_me" are all acceptable names.
straight to shapeless- Craft items such as paper, bread, and shulker boxes directly in your 2x2.
unlock all recipes - Automatically unlocks all recipes as soon as you start playing.
universal dyeing - Allows you to dye any dyeable block to another color, no matter what colour it is(does not include wool and concrete).
unpackable nether wart - Allows you to break down nether wart blocks into 9 nether wart. Recipe 1 nether wart block = 9 nether wart.
wandering trades hermit edition - Adds Hermit heads and mini blocks to wandering traders trades.
Here are the rules for the server as well.
- Be Respectful
- No griefing, stealing, or cheating
- Chat is English only
- Non-Destructive Pranks are allowed (so Hermitcraft style pranks)
- Spawn area is for a spawn town
- Bases must be built 250 blocks away from Spawn.
- No duping except for carpet, rail and tnt.
- No combat logging, this means mobs as well.
- Taking items/griefing from active and maintained ruin sites is prohibited.
- No hacking or hacked clients
2023.04.01 19:39 Somepeopleskidslol 5 hours left on a 24 hr print
 | Usually, print RC-type stuff but my wife wanted some dragons for her craft fair thing. Coming out pretty decent. 42m of filament used so far but the colors are pretty cool. submitted by Somepeopleskidslol to prusa3d [link] [comments] |
2023.04.01 19:38 WhatsMyRedditUser PowerColor 6800 xt Red Dragon - Discover which PCB layout prior to purchase
 | Hi there! Is there a way to know the PCB layout for the 6800 xt Red Dragon board prior to buying the gpu? The water block options are limited, and the alternative for PCB with capacitors from Bykski looks odd as the backplate is longer than the block itself. submitted by WhatsMyRedditUser to watercooling [link] [comments] Thanks! |
2023.04.01 19:37 thatblondenurse Advice / tattoo regret
 | Hello! I need some opinions- I have a Tiger on my other side and wanted a dragon on this side of my back. I have to go back for color but a friend of mine made the comment that it looks more like a demon than a dragon - and now I can’t unsee this. That’s def not what I wanted - it was suppose to be more of a D&D or GOT style dragon - def not a demon 🤦♀️ I think maybe the way the head is shaped or the horns ? submitted by thatblondenurse to tattooadvice [link] [comments] I’m not really sure what to do now. Opinions ? Thanks! |
2023.04.01 19:28 BurnoutJackal Monstrosity culture makes all characters a bright primitive. Trying find ideas how to fix this.
English is not my native language, so I will try to choose the words correctly.
I have ASD and very strong synesthesia. And through this prism I`m writing this post.
I don`t know, if I said word culture correctly. Maybe it's fashion. With the advent of tabletop RPGs, and similar games, everything has become too bad. It's fun to play as a monster character, from mythology, or someone new, or a dragon, or an alien. They have super powers and features. And if you impose DnD`s rules, or other board games monster rules on real culture, then you will get gorgeous monsters. And it's all terribly wrong. It looks like a primitive bright entertainment, that completely incorrectly shows multiculturalism or myths to other people.
But I noticed what influence this has on today's creative youth people. In fact, I am one of them, and this story is rather part of my experience. lol.
Such works show people, that being a deviant is good, and that all people, like you, will understand you. But it doesn't work in real world. And such people lock themselves in, because their expectations about wonderful world of rainbow friendship magic have been deceived. I have synesthesia, which greatly affects my life. I feel the textures of everything I see, hear, taste, and I can see something and I will have a phantom feeling about what it is, hear and I will understand exactly where this object is, or seeing the color, I can determine the tone. This is how I perceive the world, I can't turn it off. It makes me a monster- No. But I will be interesting monster, or a whole nation with such an ability - Yes, of course. It's very disappointing, in fact, because there will be a misconception about me, that being like me is fun and convenient. Do I want to find someone, who looks like me among any pop-characters? - Of course I want. But only this does not exist.
People with autism, synesthesia, with other diseases and/or features, are so different, but they all have one common thing - they are all people. All my life I've been researching fiction to find something that looks like me. But instead, I have gathered a huge amount of experience on topic of patterns that seem very wrong, and have an influence as a misconception. But now any media, especially for children, has monster characters, whose whole personality converges in fact that they are monsters/mage/vampire. Recognizable pattern, but... will be development in this?
That's why I hate Dungeons and dragons 🌈 with all my being. It's fun, it's bright, it's an endless multiverse of fantasies.🐱🐉 And it also gave rise to narrative patterns, techniques, and cultures, that no one wants to change. Generic fantasy. Writers, who want to go beyond these impenetrable patterns, it familiar.
As example of wrong and correct line of development this theme, I can imagine two line of the World of darkness: The Classic World of Darkness: Changeling: The dreaming and the Chronicles of Darkness: Beast: the Primordial. Theme of first line is - Save your childish creative magic. Theme of second - You have flaws, accept it and learn to live with them. Theme of both - No one really sees you, except for those who see. I find Beasts more true to reality than Changelings, loneles in yourself vs magic of friendship. Also Beasts have a bad storyline, but talk not about else, lol.
It seems to me, that I`m very incorrectly explaining my thoughts, and I`m very ashamed that I cannot explain them differently now. 😟 I'll try to be more dot - I tried to explain, that turning everything into monsters, for sake of fun, and recognizable images, is wrong. As an example, exist recognizable images of elves and dwarves, which can have different ethnic groups, including those that we know in real world. For example, European mythological images that became PoC (I don’t know right say that, or is it`s racism, like latinx). But you can create new cultures, or remove elves, dwarves, and other images pattern, and show mythology of other countries, or come up with something completely new. This is what I dream of, and what is in an alternative universe, where DnD not become popular. Such an omission. But it looks like inclusion LGBT+ prides in worlds where no have inequality, otherwise, without a tag, no one will definitely understand that two kissing women, who got married, and became mothers, are part of something in the modern world, without context of described world. Or magical transgenders, who can just change sex with magic, and be happy, or vice versa, in a world, where magic of a complete change sex, but they refuse it, although they can improve their lives, but then it erase transgender people from world. This storys exist only for inclusion people with real proplem, without exploring real issue outside of magic. It always confuse me. And this is just wrong use of popular images. It seems to me, that this is done for rating, and not for culture development and image real problem. It's very sad.
I'll try to get my thoughts back on track. As a person who, very receptive to what I feel, for me was very interesting to find something that is similar to me. In RPG games of course. Someone even thought I was a professional role player, but I'm not, and I don't tell people what I'm doing, that they don't think that I'm crazy. But to be honest, it's an obsession. There are too many contradictions. Monster culture, even if it is human culture, often makes them bizarre monsters with humans habits. For people, who are "not from this planet" anyway, and who feels that they are locked in themselves, these are difficult images. I use AI art to display my emotions, and it works so amazing. But it doesn't help me figure out how to find the right way.
I understand that this is all done for majority, without depth, just for fun. And that makes all even harder, when you think you're same as everyone else, but you're not. It's like you're from another planet, where everything is different. It's only because your brain doesn't work like to everyone else's. It's very hard to accept that you're human. This theme made me start researching psychology of personality, and continue to conduct experiments on myself. This what led me to conclusion, that very often images bizzare people, or other cultures, like monsters, are very harmful to such people themselves. Now I'm trying to figure out what rules should be for correctly identifying the characters. Divide all beautiful and magical into elves, strong into orcs, workers into dwarves and goblins, is a bad stereotype. But if each character is revealed as a hidden image, in form of hidden abilities, or, for a banal example, eyes that glow with a special event, under special conditions... it also seems banal. I'm trying to find the answer, but now it seems to me that I'm stuck. Now I`m experimenting on a world, where everyone is skeletons, in order to destroy myth, that all skeletons are same. This equalizes all people by gender and race, and allows me to explore their personalities. I also investigate question, that people themselves awaken monsters in other people, and then pretend that monster-person is blame for everything. But it seems to me, that this right direct. but wrong choice, and that right choice is drop this things and switch to something else. But strange movements of sensations inside me not give me peace, aha. And the monster characters won't let me rest either.
In general, I don`t know. If you understand what I'm talking about, please advise something. And if not, thank you for reading the title at least. 😂
submitted by BurnoutJackal to worldbuilding [link] [comments]
I have ASD and very strong synesthesia. And through this prism I`m writing this post.
I don`t know, if I said word culture correctly. Maybe it's fashion. With the advent of tabletop RPGs, and similar games, everything has become too bad. It's fun to play as a monster character, from mythology, or someone new, or a dragon, or an alien. They have super powers and features. And if you impose DnD`s rules, or other board games monster rules on real culture, then you will get gorgeous monsters. And it's all terribly wrong. It looks like a primitive bright entertainment, that completely incorrectly shows multiculturalism or myths to other people.
But I noticed what influence this has on today's creative youth people. In fact, I am one of them, and this story is rather part of my experience. lol.
Such works show people, that being a deviant is good, and that all people, like you, will understand you. But it doesn't work in real world. And such people lock themselves in, because their expectations about wonderful world of rainbow friendship magic have been deceived. I have synesthesia, which greatly affects my life. I feel the textures of everything I see, hear, taste, and I can see something and I will have a phantom feeling about what it is, hear and I will understand exactly where this object is, or seeing the color, I can determine the tone. This is how I perceive the world, I can't turn it off. It makes me a monster- No. But I will be interesting monster, or a whole nation with such an ability - Yes, of course. It's very disappointing, in fact, because there will be a misconception about me, that being like me is fun and convenient. Do I want to find someone, who looks like me among any pop-characters? - Of course I want. But only this does not exist.
People with autism, synesthesia, with other diseases and/or features, are so different, but they all have one common thing - they are all people. All my life I've been researching fiction to find something that looks like me. But instead, I have gathered a huge amount of experience on topic of patterns that seem very wrong, and have an influence as a misconception. But now any media, especially for children, has monster characters, whose whole personality converges in fact that they are monsters/mage/vampire. Recognizable pattern, but... will be development in this?
That's why I hate Dungeons and dragons 🌈 with all my being. It's fun, it's bright, it's an endless multiverse of fantasies.🐱🐉 And it also gave rise to narrative patterns, techniques, and cultures, that no one wants to change. Generic fantasy. Writers, who want to go beyond these impenetrable patterns, it familiar.
As example of wrong and correct line of development this theme, I can imagine two line of the World of darkness: The Classic World of Darkness: Changeling: The dreaming and the Chronicles of Darkness: Beast: the Primordial. Theme of first line is - Save your childish creative magic. Theme of second - You have flaws, accept it and learn to live with them. Theme of both - No one really sees you, except for those who see. I find Beasts more true to reality than Changelings, loneles in yourself vs magic of friendship. Also Beasts have a bad storyline, but talk not about else, lol.
It seems to me, that I`m very incorrectly explaining my thoughts, and I`m very ashamed that I cannot explain them differently now. 😟 I'll try to be more dot - I tried to explain, that turning everything into monsters, for sake of fun, and recognizable images, is wrong. As an example, exist recognizable images of elves and dwarves, which can have different ethnic groups, including those that we know in real world. For example, European mythological images that became PoC (I don’t know right say that, or is it`s racism, like latinx). But you can create new cultures, or remove elves, dwarves, and other images pattern, and show mythology of other countries, or come up with something completely new. This is what I dream of, and what is in an alternative universe, where DnD not become popular. Such an omission. But it looks like inclusion LGBT+ prides in worlds where no have inequality, otherwise, without a tag, no one will definitely understand that two kissing women, who got married, and became mothers, are part of something in the modern world, without context of described world. Or magical transgenders, who can just change sex with magic, and be happy, or vice versa, in a world, where magic of a complete change sex, but they refuse it, although they can improve their lives, but then it erase transgender people from world. This storys exist only for inclusion people with real proplem, without exploring real issue outside of magic. It always confuse me. And this is just wrong use of popular images. It seems to me, that this is done for rating, and not for culture development and image real problem. It's very sad.
I'll try to get my thoughts back on track. As a person who, very receptive to what I feel, for me was very interesting to find something that is similar to me. In RPG games of course. Someone even thought I was a professional role player, but I'm not, and I don't tell people what I'm doing, that they don't think that I'm crazy. But to be honest, it's an obsession. There are too many contradictions. Monster culture, even if it is human culture, often makes them bizarre monsters with humans habits. For people, who are "not from this planet" anyway, and who feels that they are locked in themselves, these are difficult images. I use AI art to display my emotions, and it works so amazing. But it doesn't help me figure out how to find the right way.
I understand that this is all done for majority, without depth, just for fun. And that makes all even harder, when you think you're same as everyone else, but you're not. It's like you're from another planet, where everything is different. It's only because your brain doesn't work like to everyone else's. It's very hard to accept that you're human. This theme made me start researching psychology of personality, and continue to conduct experiments on myself. This what led me to conclusion, that very often images bizzare people, or other cultures, like monsters, are very harmful to such people themselves. Now I'm trying to figure out what rules should be for correctly identifying the characters. Divide all beautiful and magical into elves, strong into orcs, workers into dwarves and goblins, is a bad stereotype. But if each character is revealed as a hidden image, in form of hidden abilities, or, for a banal example, eyes that glow with a special event, under special conditions... it also seems banal. I'm trying to find the answer, but now it seems to me that I'm stuck. Now I`m experimenting on a world, where everyone is skeletons, in order to destroy myth, that all skeletons are same. This equalizes all people by gender and race, and allows me to explore their personalities. I also investigate question, that people themselves awaken monsters in other people, and then pretend that monster-person is blame for everything. But it seems to me, that this right direct. but wrong choice, and that right choice is drop this things and switch to something else. But strange movements of sensations inside me not give me peace, aha. And the monster characters won't let me rest either.
In general, I don`t know. If you understand what I'm talking about, please advise something. And if not, thank you for reading the title at least. 😂
2023.04.01 19:14 peaceofcheese909 7 Multi-Paragraph Frag Reviews, Because I Just Can't Help Myself
(All the notes are pulled from Fragrantica, so don't come after me if they're wrong/if you disagree)
Xerjoff Casamorati Dolce Amalfi
Top notes: Quince, Cardamom, Apple, Saffron
Middle notes: Cloves, Tolu Balsam, Incense
Base notes: Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Amber, Cedar, Musk.
Like a freshly opened pack of Juicy Fruit gum, in the most beautiful and photorealistic way. As a child of the 90s, this reminds me of when you’d open a pack and realize it was SUPER fresh—each stick of gum was super supple and had that extra powdery yum on it. I love baking with quince, and yeah I get that this is the quince + apple note I’m picking up on, but mostly it reminds me of those extra-tasty packs of Juicy Fruit.
BUT, there’s also clove, which helps keep it more sexy and grown up. Like Juicy Fruit Gum with a perfectly applied smoky eye look and a pair of Prada Loafers. My grandmother used to chew cloves as breath mints (you’d find 1-2 cloves in every pants pocket, purse, or wallet of hers) and for that reason, I find this a really magical fragrance. I wear it to bed a lot. I’ve only worn it in cold weather and I’m interested in seeing what it does in warm weather. The scent trail is like a chai latte, but from somewhere where they make the concentrate in-house and really froth the (local, naturally) milk.
I’m enchanted by this fragrance, in case you can’t tell. It’s so evocative, and reminds me that our brain processes fragrance through the lens of our memories. When fragrance lines up with a beautiful memory, magic happens.
100/10
Kilian Angels’ Share
Top note: Cognac
Middle notes: Cinnamon, Tonka Bean, Oak
Base notes: Praline, Vanilla, Sandalwood.
Initial thoughts: Like a cookie-scented candle. My partner said it smelled like a J. Crew employee lol. I couldn’t decide if I was enjoying it or if I hated it.
That said, I took a nap with this frag on, and when I went to bed later that night, it smelled way better. Like Rihanna just invited you into her bed chamber, with gold silk sheets and sleek onyx flooring. Sexy and mysterious in its utter perfection. Damn. I wish I could just experience the dry-down.
6/10
Arielle Shoshanna Saturday
Top notes: Passionfruit, Peach, Rhubarb, Mandarin Orange
Middle notes: Magnolia, Saffron, Pink Pepper
Base notes: Iris, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Ambroxan, Musk, Vetiver.
I was so excited by the idea of a passionfruit fragrance, expecting it to have flirty tropical cocktail vibes. Nope! Much more photorealistic just-picked passion fruit, with a baby powder dry down. Maybe you smell the plastic bottle too? I wouldn’t call it juvenile, exactly, but fresh and wholesome. Like someone who talks to their mom on the phone every day. Like a sunburst after rain. Like a baby that you’re taking to a church to be baptized.
Remember that Michael Scott bit from The Office, the “Holly is sweet, and simple. Like a lady baker. I- would not be surprised to find out that she had worked in a bakery before coming here. She has that kind of warmth. I’m pretty sure she’s baked on a professional level.” That is exactly the vibe here. Not my cuppa, but cute.
6/10
Tom Ford Bitter Peach
Top notes: Peach, Blood Orange, Cardamom, Heliotrope
Middle notes: Rum, Cognac, Davana, Jasmine
Base notes: Indonesian Patchouli Leaf, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Styrax, Labdanum, Vetiver.
YUCK. The spice and the booze notes are so overbearing. Vintage in the worst way.
Like you murdered a wealthy widow for her money.
Like bad car freshener they douse a rental car with to try to hide that someone just smoked in what was supposed to be a non-smoking rental car.
One where the person smelling it might be impressed, but I don’t like wearing it
0/10
Hilde Soliani Fraaagola Saalaaata
Notes: "Big" strawberry, salt
I giggled aloud when I smelled this for the first time. It’s not meant to be a beast-mode situation or a come-hither scent. It’s just a damn delight, and a masterpiece in that regard. Soliani is a theater actress, painter, and jewelry designer. She’s called “the queen of gourmands” and I feel like this is the perfect post-modern gourmand. Doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t care what you think of it. Like Baz Luhrmann made a biopic about Strawberry Shortcake (the OG, big-cheeked version, not the sleek rebrand).
Cheeky and magnificent. I can see a lot of folks hating this, but I love it.
Unicorn/10 (You can’t rank art on a scale of 1-10)
Vilhelm Parfumerie Basilico & Fellini
Top notes: Dragon Fruit, Basil
Middle notes: Violet, Wild Fig
Base notes : Vetiver, Green Hay
Fresh and dreamy. I don’t know this fragrance’s birthday, but it 100% gives non-binary Sagittarius vibes, in the same vein as Janelle Monáe. Vibrant! Captivating! Perfection transcends the gender binary!
I’m very femme-leaning, but I would wear this fragrance for a boost of confidence and effervescence while wearing a colorful outfit.
8.5/10
DS&DURGA I Don’t Know What
Top Notes: bergamot essence
Heart Notes: iso e super, vetiver acetate
Base Notes: civetone, firsantol, ambrox super
Technically, this is a fragrance enhancer, which means that it’s lovely on its own, but the perfumer also intended it to be layered with other fragrances.
When I wear it on its own, it smells like what I wish Chanel No 5 smelled like on me—mysterious and woodsy (Bergamot and Sandalwood are two overlapping notes), but also clean and ethereal. Like you just happen to smell perfect without having tried. Not my vibe for every day or even most of the time, but I’d wear this if I were bar hopping in Berlin. I’d be interested in hearing how folks layer this.
7/10
submitted by peaceofcheese909 to fragrance [link] [comments]
Xerjoff Casamorati Dolce Amalfi
Top notes: Quince, Cardamom, Apple, Saffron
Middle notes: Cloves, Tolu Balsam, Incense
Base notes: Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Amber, Cedar, Musk.
Like a freshly opened pack of Juicy Fruit gum, in the most beautiful and photorealistic way. As a child of the 90s, this reminds me of when you’d open a pack and realize it was SUPER fresh—each stick of gum was super supple and had that extra powdery yum on it. I love baking with quince, and yeah I get that this is the quince + apple note I’m picking up on, but mostly it reminds me of those extra-tasty packs of Juicy Fruit.
BUT, there’s also clove, which helps keep it more sexy and grown up. Like Juicy Fruit Gum with a perfectly applied smoky eye look and a pair of Prada Loafers. My grandmother used to chew cloves as breath mints (you’d find 1-2 cloves in every pants pocket, purse, or wallet of hers) and for that reason, I find this a really magical fragrance. I wear it to bed a lot. I’ve only worn it in cold weather and I’m interested in seeing what it does in warm weather. The scent trail is like a chai latte, but from somewhere where they make the concentrate in-house and really froth the (local, naturally) milk.
I’m enchanted by this fragrance, in case you can’t tell. It’s so evocative, and reminds me that our brain processes fragrance through the lens of our memories. When fragrance lines up with a beautiful memory, magic happens.
100/10
Kilian Angels’ Share
Top note: Cognac
Middle notes: Cinnamon, Tonka Bean, Oak
Base notes: Praline, Vanilla, Sandalwood.
Initial thoughts: Like a cookie-scented candle. My partner said it smelled like a J. Crew employee lol. I couldn’t decide if I was enjoying it or if I hated it.
That said, I took a nap with this frag on, and when I went to bed later that night, it smelled way better. Like Rihanna just invited you into her bed chamber, with gold silk sheets and sleek onyx flooring. Sexy and mysterious in its utter perfection. Damn. I wish I could just experience the dry-down.
6/10
Arielle Shoshanna Saturday
Top notes: Passionfruit, Peach, Rhubarb, Mandarin Orange
Middle notes: Magnolia, Saffron, Pink Pepper
Base notes: Iris, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Ambroxan, Musk, Vetiver.
I was so excited by the idea of a passionfruit fragrance, expecting it to have flirty tropical cocktail vibes. Nope! Much more photorealistic just-picked passion fruit, with a baby powder dry down. Maybe you smell the plastic bottle too? I wouldn’t call it juvenile, exactly, but fresh and wholesome. Like someone who talks to their mom on the phone every day. Like a sunburst after rain. Like a baby that you’re taking to a church to be baptized.
Remember that Michael Scott bit from The Office, the “Holly is sweet, and simple. Like a lady baker. I- would not be surprised to find out that she had worked in a bakery before coming here. She has that kind of warmth. I’m pretty sure she’s baked on a professional level.” That is exactly the vibe here. Not my cuppa, but cute.
6/10
Tom Ford Bitter Peach
Top notes: Peach, Blood Orange, Cardamom, Heliotrope
Middle notes: Rum, Cognac, Davana, Jasmine
Base notes: Indonesian Patchouli Leaf, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Styrax, Labdanum, Vetiver.
YUCK. The spice and the booze notes are so overbearing. Vintage in the worst way.
Like you murdered a wealthy widow for her money.
Like bad car freshener they douse a rental car with to try to hide that someone just smoked in what was supposed to be a non-smoking rental car.
One where the person smelling it might be impressed, but I don’t like wearing it
0/10
Hilde Soliani Fraaagola Saalaaata
Notes: "Big" strawberry, salt
I giggled aloud when I smelled this for the first time. It’s not meant to be a beast-mode situation or a come-hither scent. It’s just a damn delight, and a masterpiece in that regard. Soliani is a theater actress, painter, and jewelry designer. She’s called “the queen of gourmands” and I feel like this is the perfect post-modern gourmand. Doesn’t take itself too seriously and doesn’t care what you think of it. Like Baz Luhrmann made a biopic about Strawberry Shortcake (the OG, big-cheeked version, not the sleek rebrand).
Cheeky and magnificent. I can see a lot of folks hating this, but I love it.
Unicorn/10 (You can’t rank art on a scale of 1-10)
Vilhelm Parfumerie Basilico & Fellini
Top notes: Dragon Fruit, Basil
Middle notes: Violet, Wild Fig
Base notes : Vetiver, Green Hay
Fresh and dreamy. I don’t know this fragrance’s birthday, but it 100% gives non-binary Sagittarius vibes, in the same vein as Janelle Monáe. Vibrant! Captivating! Perfection transcends the gender binary!
I’m very femme-leaning, but I would wear this fragrance for a boost of confidence and effervescence while wearing a colorful outfit.
8.5/10
DS&DURGA I Don’t Know What
Top Notes: bergamot essence
Heart Notes: iso e super, vetiver acetate
Base Notes: civetone, firsantol, ambrox super
Technically, this is a fragrance enhancer, which means that it’s lovely on its own, but the perfumer also intended it to be layered with other fragrances.
When I wear it on its own, it smells like what I wish Chanel No 5 smelled like on me—mysterious and woodsy (Bergamot and Sandalwood are two overlapping notes), but also clean and ethereal. Like you just happen to smell perfect without having tried. Not my vibe for every day or even most of the time, but I’d wear this if I were bar hopping in Berlin. I’d be interested in hearing how folks layer this.
7/10
2023.04.01 19:09 _Triple_ [STORE] 900+ KNIVES/GLOVES/SKINS, 50.000$+ INVENTORY. M9 Fade, M4 Poseidon, Kara Gamma, BFK Freehand, BFK Bright Water, Spec Gloves Kimono, Nomad Fade, M9 Doppler, Skeleton, BFK B.Steel, AWP Fade, Stiletto Fade, S.Gloves Slingshot, BFK Ultra, Kara Damas, Bayo Lore, Bayo Gamma, Flip Fade & A Lot More
Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory
Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.
All Buyouts are listed in cash value.
KNIVES
★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $1867
★ Butterfly Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $1098
★ Butterfly Knife Blue Steel BS, B/O: $907
★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $789
★ Butterfly Knife Stained FT, B/O: $695
⎯★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $888
★ Bayonet Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $727
★ Bayonet Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $608
★ Bayonet Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $521
★ Bayonet Rust Coat BS, B/O: $253
★ Bayonet Night FT, B/O: $251
★ StatTrak™ Bayonet Lore MW, B/O: $751
⎯★ Karambit Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $1343
★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $774
★ Karambit Rust Coat BS, B/O: $537
★ Karambit Boreal Forest FT, B/O: $488
⎯★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1523
★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1523
★ M9 Bayonet Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $1008
★ M9 Bayonet Blue Steel FT, B/O: $534
★ M9 Bayonet Rust Coat BS, B/O: $449
⎯★ Flip Knife Fade FN, B/O: $703
★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $509
★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $406
★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $228
★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $332
⎯★ Falchion Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $292
★ Falchion Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $264
★ Falchion Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $258
★ Falchion Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $133
⎯★ Stiletto Knife Fade FN, B/O: $822
★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $569
★ Stiletto Knife Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $530
★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $396
★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $172
⎯★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $830
★ Gut Knife Fade FN, B/O: $204
★ Gut Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $138
★ Gut Knife Bright Water MW, B/O: $104
★ Gut Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $92
★ Gut Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $82
★ StatTrak™ Gut Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $93
⎯★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $258
★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $165
★ Shadow Daggers Blue Steel FT, B/O: $82
★ Shadow Daggers Bright Water FT, B/O: $82
★ Shadow Daggers Blue Steel WW, B/O: $80
★ Shadow Daggers Rust Coat BS, B/O: $74
★ StatTrak™ Shadow Daggers Marble Fade FN, B/O: $186
⎯★ Classic Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $311
★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $163
⎯★ Talon Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $605
★ Talon Knife Scorched MW, B/O: $290
⎯★ Ursus Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $405
★ Ursus Knife Night Stripe MW, B/O: $162
⎯★ Paracord Knife Stained WW, B/O: $125
★ Paracord Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97
★ Paracord Knife Safari Mesh FT, B/O: $96
⎯★ Navaja Knife Safari Mesh FT, B/O: $71
★ Navaja Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $71
⎯★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1015
★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $909
★ Bowie Knife Boreal Forest MW, B/O: $106
★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97
GLOVES
★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $335
★ Driver Gloves King Snake BS, B/O: $270
★ Driver Gloves Lunar Weave WW, B/O: $113
★ Driver Gloves Overtake WW, B/O: $88
★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $67
⎯★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $171
★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $137
★ Moto Gloves Transport WW, B/O: $71
★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $62
⎯★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1027
★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $654
★ Specialist Gloves Mogul FT, B/O: $295
★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $277
★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web FT, B/O: $275
⎯★ Sport Gloves Slingshot FT, B/O: $796
★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $699
★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $656
⎯★ Broken Fang Gloves Unhinged BS, B/O: $60
WEAPONS
AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130
AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79
AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76
AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76
AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70
AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60
⎯AWP Fade FN, B/O: $864
AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $84
AWP Containment Breach FT, B/O: $69
AWP Containment Breach FT, B/O: $69
AWP Wildfire FT, B/O: $59
AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $59
StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $65
StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $65
⎯Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $565
Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $565
Desert Eagle Printstream FN, B/O: $155
Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $58
⎯M4A1-S Icarus Fell FN, B/O: $414
M4A1-S Printstream MW, B/O: $204
M4A1-S Printstream MW, B/O: $204
⎯M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1402
M4A4 The Emperor FN, B/O: $152
M4A4 Asiimov WW, B/O: $97
⎯USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $65
USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69
StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $123
StatTrak™ USP-S Neo-Noir FN, B/O: $106
⎯AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $218
P2000 Ocean Foam FN, B/O: $139
Souvenir SSG 08 Death Strike MW, B/O: $81
CZ75-Auto Emerald Quartz MW, B/O: $61
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2023.04.01 19:04 thatblondenurse Tattoo regret
Hello! I need some opinions- I have a Tiger on my other side and wanted a dragon on this side of my back. I have to go back for color but a friend of mine made the comment that it looks more like a demon than a dragon - and now I can’t unsee this. That’s def not what I wanted - it was suppose to be more of a D&D or GOT style dragon - def not a demon 🤦♀️ I think maybe the way the head is shaped or the horns ?
I’m not really sure what to do now. Opinions ? Thanks!
submitted by thatblondenurse to TattooRemoval [link] [comments]
I’m not really sure what to do now. Opinions ? Thanks!
2023.04.01 19:00 Galaxy_the_nightwing The Strays: 4 Abandoned 3/3
[Its been a while. I had a good long spurt of writers block for this part along with college work and tests. Anyways: Warnings for: blood, impaling, abandonment, betrayal, major wounds, and death. Tell me if I forgot anything]
First Previous Next
Starclaws was interrupted from continuing his story by Foxglove's eerily calm voice. "Pardon my intrusion, dear, but I have a question." Starclaws looked back at her and hummed to prompt her. She calmly climbed off of the hammock and stood infront of Starclaws. She cleared her throat before lunging at the nightwing, grabbing his shoulders in an iron grip and roaring into his face.
"YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF!?" The nightwing took a second to gather himself from the sudden shout right in his face then replied. "Not intentionally!" "THAT ISNT ANY BETTER!" "STOP YELLING! ITS NOT LIKE I WANTED TO!"
Foxglove took a few steps back and huffed out a harsh breath to try and calm herself down. "We are talking about this later." She growled at him and he nodded reluctantly. "I know." Foxglove huffed again and crawled back into the hammock, the grey-ish icewing wrapped a wing around her to try and help her calm.
Once she was settled Starclaws slowly resumed working on his axe and continued the story. "Anyways.....so when I woke up"
---------<------------
The nightwing came back to consciousness slowly and groggily. It took him a few minutes to gain the energy just to open his eyes. He blinked at the room around him, attempting to lift his head but only gaining a violent shock of pain down his neck when he tried. He whimpered at the pain and tried to curl into himself but that only caused more pain to spark along his scales.
"Oh. Oh! Oh, no! No, no! Calm down, friend. Moving will only make it worse. Just lay flat and relax. The pain will go away in a bit." He didn't know the voice but it was so calming and gentle he did as he was told. After a few minutes of pain that made his entire body throb, it dulled into a low but constant ache.
He was just starting to relax more when he shivered, causing the pain to flare up again. The voice from before was back. "You poor thing. Don't worry. I have something here that should help." He heard the sound of a lid popping open. "Clear warning, though: This will sting a bit at first." He felt a small pressure on the aching scales of his lower back, making him yelp from the pain.
"I know, I know. It hurts. Just bear with me for a bit longer. You'll feel better in a bit, then we can sort out your shivering." For a few long agonizing minutes, the dragon put somthing on his aching scales that slowly numbed them. Soon the dragon moved in front of him and gently lifted his head to work on the top of his eyeridges.
He saw a pale pink-purple drake with their ears lowered sympathetically. "Wh-..." He attempted to croak out, making the dragon's ears perk up and small flaps behind them on his jaw opening a tad. Scarredscales thinks he saw the drake's scales brighten in color a bit too. Scarredscales worked his jaw a bit before retrying. "Wh-who...are you?"
The purple dragon smiled at him and gently put his head back down. As his head was set down he caught glimpse of the dragon wearing dried-leather gloves, that were so worn they had a red-ish color to them. "Im Lilac, friend. Are your shivers from pain or cold?" He took a minute to think about that. Then he struggles out a reply. "'M always cold." It came out more of a pitiful whine than he wanted it to. Lilac hummed and wilted a bit in sympathy then walked out of his view. He could hear that the dragon was still in the room and shifting around a few things, though.
It took a few minutes until a thin cloth was gently draped over his back. The pained nightwing flinched and whined at the small spark of pain just that light pressure created in his aching scales. Lilac apologized with another sympathetic paling of his scales.
It took multiple months for Scarredscales to be able to move around without crippling pain. Then another few months before he barely felt any pain anymore. Within that time Lilac had been helping him out by telling him a variety of different ways to prevent his scales getting that bad and ways to help them heal if they did.
Over the months of his stay, the two had gotten close. It wasnt too deep of a friendship since both of them refused to let down their walls for the other, but it was a friendship nevertheless. Scarredscales told the purple rainwing some of his life as a dragonet, and in return the rainwing told him about the potions he brews and wards he peices together. Both of which he sells to be able to live comfortably and continue brewing.
"Hey, 'scales?" The white drake lifted his head from the scroll about potions he was reading at his name. "Yeah, Li?" The light purple drake smiled at him. "Im going out to the market. Do you wanna come this time?" Scarredscales hesitated. It would be easy to get lost or be abandoned again there, but it has been a while since he's stretched his wings.
Before he could answer, Lilac spoke up again. "If you're concerned about your scales, I sew some clothes for you to cover some of your more sensitive areas." Lilac grabbed cloth from a chest and handed it over to the nightwing.
"Sadly I couldn't find anything to cover your wings without impeding their movement and I know you don't like cloaks so that'll have to do." Scarredscales gave him a smile anyways. "Thank you." Lilac returned his smile and he left the room to finish getting ready to leave. Scarredscales put on the clothes then spotted a loop of chain on the long strip of cloth that was supposed to be wrapped around his tail.
"Hey, Li?" He called out. The rainwing called back from a few rooms over. "Yeah?" "What's this chain?" "Oh, yeah!" The rainwing trotted into the room again. "I nearly forgot!" The rainwing grabbed the chain and hooked his wing around Scarredscales', pulling him into another room, one he hadn't been allowed in before. The rainwing then gave him the chain and opened a set of double doors along the wall.
"You can pick an amulet for your necklace! Each one has a ward of some kind on it that will activate once the necklace is put on and will...." He hesitated, trying to find the best wording. "It'll kinda bond with you, I guess. It won't activate for anyone else, I mean. Anyways, just check the labels for what amulet has what ward. I'll be back to grab you before I leave!" The rainwing then left the room again.
The white nightwing stared at all the amulets for a while, picking what ones he liked and sorting through them by what ward they held, putting back the ones he didn't think would suit him. Slowly he got frustrated after looking through nearly all of the amulets and not finding one that he liked both the design of and the ward with it. Eventually he huffed out a puff of the smoke building in his flame-sack from his growing irritation.
Thats when a glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking over he saw another amulet sitting in a stand on a desk a few steps away. It was made of a stone that looked similar to a slitted dragon's eye with a bright icey blue coloring to it fading more towards a deep ocean color the farther away from the 'pupil' it got (Blue Cat's Eye gemstone). There were tools and leftover herbs and semi-magical plants around it like it was still being worked on or just finished. With the open ink pot and partially written on label sitting infront of it, he guessed it was the latter. His curiosity peaked, he padded over to read what was written.
In looping easily legible writing there was the usual format for a protection ward he had seen on others.
Protection against: loneliness (+ long-term effects of such), physical, emotional, and mental harm
Drawbacks: ward bonds permanently with user and is made with-
The label stopped there, Lilac probably having needed to get up and do something before he could finish. He weighed the thought of taking this one. Lilac has told him that most of the things he uses to create wards always have some kind of side effect or drawback, but on the other talon, whatever it is will probably be worth it for that much protection.
He weighed the decision a bit but eventually decided to take the amulet. He slipped it onto the loop of chain right before Lilac poked his head into he room. "Ready to go?" He chirped out. Scarredscales smiled at him and nodded. The rainwing retreated from the doorway as the white nightwing slipped the chain over his head, tucking it under his new shirt, and followed behind him.
The two exited the rainwing's den and flew the short distance to the nearest town. The two wandered around for a while, mostly just Scarredscales following Lilac around as he did his business. After a while Lilac turned to Scarredscales. "I just have to talk to one of my business partners and then we can go. You can wait here in the shade if you want. I know the sun is probably getting to you."
The white nightwing hesitated but nodded and wandered to a nearby shaded storefront. He passively watched the dragons around him for a while. Eventually he nearly jumped out of his scales when an almost echoey voice spoke up from beside him. "What are you so nervous for?" Scarredscales whipped his head to the side to meet the blank, almost bored, eyes of a white dragonet just slightly smaller than him.
"Uh, I....what?" The spikey dragonet raised an eyeridge at the stuttered answer. "You know: nervous. You do know what nervousness is, right?" The heavily sarcastic remark caught him off guard and he took a second or two to reply. "Well, uh....my friend left to go talk to someone and I....uh..........don't do very well being alone in crowds..." The dragonet's voice was laced with even more sarcasm, if that's even possible, when it replied. "Clearly."
Before he could retort, the spikey dragonet spoke up again. "Im just going to go out on the ice here and guess you haven't done this before." "What do you mean?" The dragonet gave him an expression like it didn't belive he could have gotten any more oblivious and was just proven wrong. "Take a goooood loooong look at me."
It was that moment he realized he could see the street through the dragonet and the dragons around him were giving him looks like he was crazy. He started anxiously glancing around, making the dragonet sigh after a minute or two and reluctantly rise to its claws. "C'mon. Lets get somewhere we can talk." As soon as it said that it rose in the air like it was flying but its wings were still loosely folded on its sides. It looked around for a second before floating off down the street a bit.
Scarredscales hesitated but soon followed with his head down. Every glance from the dragons he passed or slight graze of a wing or tail on his scales from the packed streets made his internal panic grow. The dragonet brought both of them away from the public and between two buildings. It then turned to him and seemed to be caught off guard for a second, nearly bored expression slipping for a second into concern.
Scarredscales was confused about that. Why were they concerned. The ghostly dragonet floated toward him a bit more. "Hey. You're ok. Everything's fine." He only just noticed the near-violent tremors shaking his body and the quick, rattling breaths passing through his lungs. Oh. He's having an episode. Been a while since he's had one of these. Of course he had to have one now. He was just getting better then this comes back to bite him in the tail.
He was broken from the beginning of his spiraling thoughts by an echoey voice. "Hey, hey. No, no, no. None of that. I know what you're thinking. Don't focus on that. Instead focus ooonn....uh....what...tell me what you can see." Huh? Scarredscales blinked and glanced around a bit. What did they- oh. He stared at the ghostly rabbit sitting at his claws. "Its....uh...a rabbit. Floppy ears....wide eyes......looks fluffy..." He slowly spoke through the dark thoughts swirling through his head. Movement at the corner of his eye drew his gaze to a very round and puffy bird perched on a bit of scrap near the wall. "Oh, I've....I think I've seen one of those before..." he tried to remember where or when but it was a bit hard to sort through the thick fog in his mind. "It......it looked a bit different....I think..."
His head tilted as his eyes squinted at the puffy bird. "It had ears....I think.......and....had a darker color.....grey maybe? It's......its eyes weren't as big but....I think it's face was just as flat." The fog cleared a bit at the memory and he found it a bit easier to think. His gaze moved away from the bird and watched a fox trot around him, nose to the ground. "Thats a...fox? Right?......I like the color of them....kinda a warm redish-brown."
He watched as the fox paused its trot and stared at the ground, head tilting and ears shifting at some sound. He flinched when the fox suddenly lept into the air and faceplanted into the ground, ghostly piles pushed up next to it as it wiggled with its tail stuck in the air. Taken off guard, Scarredscales busted out laughing. Folding in on himself from the strength of his rolling belly laugh.
After a minute of catching his breath he was able to speak, the fog of his dark thoughts having left with barely a trace. "What....what in the three moons was that!?" He decended into another round of laughter, making his current ghostly companion crack a small smile at his mirth. They made the ghostly animals dissapear with a small flick of their wrist. "You ok now, whitey?" With his laughter slowly tapering off he gave the dragonet a look, the light of laughter in his eyes giving away his amusement at the nickname.
"Speak for yourself, spikey. You look like the dragon version of a pinecone" The floating dragonet smirked a tad, feeling the pull of the spellwork keeping together their form urging them to continue the teasing. Not that they wouldn't have anyways. Even without the spellwork allowing them to monitor this dragon's emotional and mental state, it was clear the kid needed the banter.
"Well, excuuuuse me. This is the peak of fashion, thank you very much." They brushed a paw over their neck spikes, pushing them against their scales for a second before using the not-muscles of their ghostly form to fluff them up a bit like a bird with it's feathers. Scarredscales laughed again. "You look like a hedgehog!" The dragonet smirked and lowered to 'stand' on the ground.
"I prefer.....'porcupine'." With that they extended their neck spikes all the way to make them stick up fully and puffed up their sharp scales to only further the effect. The nightwing could barely keep on his feet with how much he was laughing. He only started to plead for mercy when the ghost started strutting up and down the alley like they were on a runway for a fashion show.
"No, please. Stop. Stop. I'm gonna pass out! Please, have mercy! I can't breathe!" Chuckling, the dragonet stopped their strut and floated back into the air, shaking their head and neck to let their spines and scales settle back down against their not-body. Scarredscales took a few minutes to gain his breath back.
The two continued on like that for hours. Eventually they moved to wander the streets of the slowly emptying town. The ghost making sarcastic remarks here and there and causing the nightwing to struggle not to bust out laughing. The longer they wandered and bantered, the more Scarredscales relaxed. He even forgot about his rainwing friend for a good bit. When Scarredscales was studying the items of a stall towards the end of the day, he didn't notice the glance his ghostly companion threw down the street. A purple rainwing with worn-scarlet gloves appeared to meet their eyes and started trying to shove their way over.
"Hey, cloud-face. I think I saw a weapon-cart go that way. Didn't you say you wanted to find something?" The Nightwing nodded without looking, trying to make it seem like he just thought of something, and chirped out a happy bye to the shop owner as he walked in the direction his ghost friend pointed to. The floating icewing threw a glare behind the leaving nightwing, gaining one back from the purple rainwing down the street. A small troop of armored guards walked over to flank the rainwing right when Scarredscales glanced back and spotted said drake.
He perked up and was about to happily call out a greeting to his friend when the rainwing said something that neither of the two could hear. The guards immediately locked their gazes onto the nightwing and took off in his direction. Scarredscales was gripped with fear, unable to move, at the snarls of the larger dragons barreling towards him. His icewing friend broke him out of his frozen state.
"MOVE!" He felt a large pressure shove him to the side, away from the guards, and he needed no further prompting to bolt down the street. His smaller size and tan-ish clothing helped him blend into the streets and passing dragons but the guards were larger and were given the right-of-way by the dragons they passed. As he ran, the nightwing's ghostly friend shouted directions to him for what turns to take and where to run, him following not even a second later within the same stride.
"There! Hide there!" The brightly scaled nightwing slipped into a group of icewings, keeping the majority of the group between him and the turn the guards would take. Not even a second after he merged into the group, the guards whipped around the corner and locked their eyes onto a icewing dragonet with similarly colored clothes as him. They yelled at the dragonet, making them panic and bolt down the street, guards hot on their heels. A few spread their wings and took to the air as they all turned a corner.
Scarredscales took a few minutes to make sure they were gone before slipping away from the group of white dragons and into a small dark alley. He curled up at the very end, pulling up a dark cloth to cover his bright scales as he did. Only then did he let the panic and confusion wash over him.
"What.....why...? I thought we were friends. Why would Lilac do that? Why would he tell guards to chase me?" His ghostly friend floated over to sit infront of him. "You're the first Nightwing many dragons have seen in a very long time. Not only that, but your scales are strangely colored as well. If someone is in the right circles, you can be alot of money." Scarredscales whimpered at the explaination and curled in tighter to himself, draping the cloth completely over himself as childish shield. His ghostly companion seemed unsure on what to do and eventually sighed, deciding to just let him work through this himself. Ignoring the unhappy thrum through their being, they turned away from the whimpering drake to keep watch.
It would take many weeks for that fact to fully sink in and a little over a year of meeting, bonding, building friendships, eventual betrayal, and abandonment from countless dragons in countless ways for him to fully accept it. Eventually he gave up trying to build friendships or find somewhere he felt safe. Giving up the dream that spurred him to leave his own tribe in the first place was a hard hit. It took many days for him to pull himself out of the depressive ditch it threw him into.
Despite the work he made, when he got the news of the nightwings fleeing to the rainforest and being allowed to settle there, all his progress nearly slipped through his claws. It was only by the support of his ghostly friend that allowed him to keep his grasp on the edge of that pit. But as the saying goes: 'time heals all wounds'. It was very slow going with many regressions and worrying teetering on the lip, but he eventually pulled himself away from the drop and became himself again.
Over the years him and his ghostly guardian, that he named 'Blast' because of the large open hole in one side of the ghost's chest that went straight through to the other side. Apparently that was the wound that killed them, not that they could remember what made the large wound. The two grew incredibly close. Blast was Scarredscales' only friend and he didn't mind in the slightest, anymore anyways. They were close enough that they considered each other siblings, despite the obvious differences like tribe and, you know, life.
Two years after that news and one after he heard the rumors of the goings-on on Pantala (said continent finally starting to settle in the new tribes/territories/trade routes/governments/etc, etc) he was walking around a cute little town called 'Estuary', built on boardwalks over a large lake-river on the edge of the ice-sand-sky border. If the continent were a dragon, the town would be around the continent's wing-shoulder.
"This place is nice. If I were alive, I wouldn't mind settling down here." Scarredscales hummed as he glanced over the weres of a stall he was passing, smiling and nodding politely at the stall-owner as he moved on. Continuing his casual wandering down the market streets, he glanced over the crowd. Flicking an ear and twitching the end of his tail in the opposite direction, he silently commented to his friend. It gained an eye roll from his friend as they flipped around in the air to float on their back.
"I know you would, but we both know why we can't." Turning his head and lifting his muzzle slightly to take a few short sniffs of the air, shifting his wings' placement against his sides as he did, he drew a dramatic gasp from his friend as they whipped their head around to stare at him.
"Well, I never! How could you even suggest I would leave you! You wouldn't last a day!" Letting a small smirk twitch one side of his mouth he let himself glance at his friend for a split second before rising to stand upright on his talons and gave someone room to pass infront of him without breaking his stride, flicking his claws to get some spare moisture from them. Or at least that's what it looked like to anyone else. For his ghostly companion, this motion was the greatest offense, causing them to flip around to face their bound companion.
"How dare you! I'll have you know I am not short! You just shot up like an undercurrent!" Scarredscales snorted softly at the response and smiled to himself as he dropped back down to all fours, ducking his head and wings to slip under a large crate being carried by two burly mudwings. This apparently only further teased the now pouting spirit tailing him. He didn't get a reaction to the tease other than pouty grumbles of 'I am not small' and 'stupid nightwing size genetics' along with a few 'why did I have to be bound to him'.
Scarredscales snickered under his breath but let up on the teasing as he scanned the crowd again. He continued his mindless wandering, floating over to stalls when something caught his eye but mostly just letting himself relax in the cool air of the eternal-fall-weather the town stays in. Him and Blast chat back and forth, gossiping, trash talking, and making fun of the crowd around them without anyone even noticing.
Unfortunately, Scarredscales grew a bit too relaxed. He forgot about the real reason he was mindlessly walking circles around the crowded market and accidentally distracted Blast from keeping an eye out. He was reminded of it when he was yanked into an alleyway and painfully slammed against a wall. He didn't think. He immediately lashed out at his attacker with a snarl, drawing an enraged one from said dragon.
The dragon wasn't alone though, there were quite a few in the group and more making their way over from the crowded street. The group blocked his way out of the alley, keeping him from the relative safety of the crowd. Wings twitching at his sides, Blast answered his question. "Nope. There's a good number of them waiting on the rooftops and circling the market from the air. We are well and truly trapped." Dang.
Well if he's going to die, he'll put up one hell of a fight. Rising up, he reached to the handle on his back and grabbed the battleaxe held there. Holding it in both claws, he set his stance and glared that the group. To their credit, the group did hesitate for a second. A few looked to one of the dragons in the front of the group before pulling out thier own weapons. So apparently they aren't all idiots, just led by them.
"Five o'clock, topside." Blast warns him. Whipping around and slashing at the dragon jumping from the roof attempting to attack him from behind, he kicks off the fight. Time becomes irrelevant. It's just a constant stream of attacking, blocking, dodging, and countering. His mind clears of any thought not about the fight around him. The only thing that registers through said blankness is the warnings and orders of Blast and the occasional shoves, nudges, and shifting of his limbs from said ghost to help him dodge as many attacks as possible.
However helpful that blankness was, it ended up to be what allowed something as unassuming as a thrown stone statuette from a stall nearby the alleyway to hit his face and throw him off. Now knocked off guard, he was easily subdued and pinned to the ground. Though, he still fought fang and claw against them to make doing so as hard as possible. To keep him pinned and effectively vulnerable, three of the group had to put all their weight on him.
When the apparent leader stepped close to his pinned form he glared up at them with a snarl slipping past the claws clamping his muzzle to the ground. One eye was closed from the deep cut gushing blood that had been gouged under it from the statue. He felt the dragon who's weight was pressed against his head and neck shift a bit. Then the leader pointed their blade at the newly revealed junction at his jaw and neck in silent threat.
He only stilled because moving would cause the point to draw blood. He glared up at the leader of the group as they started to monolog. He tuned them out, shifting his gaze to just past the dragon to look at Blast. The two shared a glance, feeling like entire paragraphs passed between the two at the speed of light. They had only connected eyes for a second before Blast's attention was drawn from farther down the alley. The ghost quickly sped down that direction and out of Scarredscales' sight. He only tuned back into what the leader was saying when he felt the blade against his neck press further into his scales.
"-more for you if you were dead rather than alive. What do you think boys? Sell him off whole or kill him and sell his peices?" The group hummed with many excited voices chiming in. The leader listened to them for a second before rising a wing to quiet them and turning back to the pinned nightwing with a smirk.
"Looks like peices it is." They drew back the blade to ready the killing blow, making Scarredscales snarl and struggle one last time, closing his eyes to not see the blow coming. The leader ignored his struggles and brought down the blade only for it to halt a few tiny centimeters from his scales. The group, that had been cheering them on, went dead silent. Everything stilled for a few blissful seconds until Scarredscales opened his eyes to glance at the leader at a choked cough.
His eyes were met with the dragon's shocked expression, a trickle of blood falling from the side of their mouth. Trailing his eyes lower he spotted the problem. An incredibly sharp point, that he couldn't identify the weapon of, had been stabbed straight through the dragon's chest. Even past the light armour it wore that deflected most stabs, though slices were a bit more effective. A drop of blood traveled down the point to the tip then hesitated there before taking the leap and landing on Scarredscales' pearly snout.
Almost as if that drop was the signal, the blade was raised and easily lifted the leader from the ground. Then both were whipped to the side to make the body slide off the blade and slam into the wall of the alley. Following the blade as it retreated, the entire group saw that it wasn't a blade, but a spike (or maybe a stinger?) connected to the end of an absolutely colossal dragon's tail. Just by the size of the dragon's tail he knew that it was bigger than even the biggest mudwing he had ever met.
Scarredscales' eyes slowly trailed up the tail, taking note of how there wasn't a single scale or spike on the dragon's body that didn't have a scar of some kind. As his eyes trailed up to the dragon's hip and hindlegs he noticed how it's scales completely wrapped around it's legs like natural armour. The only place that wasn't scaled was it's underbelly and wing-leather but even the skin of those looked incredibly thick and tough, like sun-baked leather. His eyes trailed farther, pausing at the sight of two wings connected to a single one of it's shoulders.
As his eyes trailed even higher, getting close to their limit of his vision in the position he was pinned in, he took note of how many scars were concentrated around this dragon's chest and throat. Multiple scars crossing over each other and making a vast spiderweb of lines and marks. There was more scars than clear scales on the dragon's neck. When his eyes couldn't go any farther up, he took note of a old wound along the side of it's neck just under it's jaw that didn't look like any of the other scars.
Before he could really study the scar, the dragon growled. At the sound Scarredscales felt like a hatchling again. Like he was being disciplined for doing something wrong by a dragon so much larger, older, and stronger that his only hope was to freeze and make himself small and weak looking in hope the punishment lessens. He could feel the ground itself tremble at the silent threat like nature herself was scared of this dragon.
The group of dragons around scarredscales stared in silent fear at this titan of a dragon. The dragon pinning his hips and tail shifted it's weight and the growl stuttered to a stop. It felt like the entire world held its breath for the split second the dragon turned it's head to stare at the unfortunate dragon that moved.
Then all hell broke loose.
With a roar that shook the very air, the dragon lunged towards him. Scarredscales couldn't help the squeak of fear that escaped him as he tenced and closed his eyes, preparing for the dragon's titanic weight to slam into him and squish him like a bug. The hit never came though, quite the opposite actually. The weights pressing him to the ground suddenly dissapeared.
With the newfound freedom to move, he scrambled away from the panicing group of dragons. Standing farther into the alleyway Scarredscales turned to watch the fight. It wasn't actually much of a fight, though. Watching the fight was like watching rats attack a wolf. The titanic dragon was swatting its attackers away like flies. It didn't even move from the spot it landed in from the first lunge. It just stood there and let the dragons come to it.
Scarredscales did see that some of the dragons tried to flee. The ones that did were quickly caught with some kind of string around their throats that snapped their necks without any hesitation. His eye caught on Blast as they reappeared infront of him.
"Eight o'clock, big guy." He whipped around teeth bared just in time to see a dragon be interrupted mid-lunge by being stabbed through the head from under it's jaw. He stared as the body went limp and crumpled to the ground, only being held up by the spike through it's head. The spike shook the body off it and let it fall completely to the ground. Looking down the spike, that he thinks is a deformed wing of some kind, his gaze connected with the calm expression of a dragon just barely smaller than his own size. One of it's eyes had three scars covering it and one over it's muzzle.
He couldn't identify what tribe it was or even if it was a hybrid. As he sized up the small dragon in front of him, he came to the realization it was doing the same with him. The two stared at each other for a second before Scarredscales was snapped out of it by a deep rumble of a near-growl behind him. He whipped around and stared in terror at the giant dragon behind him.
It stood there calmly, between him and the absolute bloodbath behind it. It's claws, tail spike/blade/stinger, and muzzle were splattered with still dripping blood. Even the thick, slightly curved, third horn between it's eyeridges was dripping blood from impaling a few dragons with it. It's four eyes had a calm expression but bore into him like his very being was on display for the dragon's viewing. The sight terrified him more than he has ever felt before.
Apparently it had finished its fight. It said something but he didn't hear it, ears run I no with fear. It glanced at the other dragon and the two exchanged a few words before the large dragon tried to get him to understand what it was saying multiple times, getting more and more annoyed at each repeat. Both dragon's head snapped towards the enterance of the alley at a shout. Scarredscales' ears cleared just in time to hear the deep rumbling voice of the titanic dragon infront of him mutter to itself.
"We don't have time for this." It turned to face him and snapped it's head towards him, bloodied jaws parting as it did. He was only able to fearfully yelp and scramble a few steps back before it's jaws clamped firmly, but not painfully, on the back of his neck. He was then lifted from the ground like a dragonet with their parent. Instinctively he curled up and froze stiffly to keep his weight from shifting too much.
The giant dragon then lunged at it's small companion and clamped it's claws around it's sides as the giant dragon took to the air with a powerful flap of it's four massive wings. Scarredscales watched from his frozen state as town guards swarmed the alley and a good number broke off the group to fly after them. The dragon carrying him seemed to spot the guards tailing them as well since it silently growled. With the fact he was being held like a dragonet, the feeling of the growl vibrating his neck and head was quite the strange sensation.
The dragon banked around and lashed out at the group with it's tail-blade, hind claws, and forhead-horn until the majority of the group were either dead or too wounded to continue after them. Then it turned and continued fleeing. Scarredscales, who was now thoroughly splattered with blood, shared a glance with Blast as he was involuntarily taken away from the town.
submitted by Galaxy_the_nightwing to WingsOfFire [link] [comments]
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Starclaws was interrupted from continuing his story by Foxglove's eerily calm voice. "Pardon my intrusion, dear, but I have a question." Starclaws looked back at her and hummed to prompt her. She calmly climbed off of the hammock and stood infront of Starclaws. She cleared her throat before lunging at the nightwing, grabbing his shoulders in an iron grip and roaring into his face.
"YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF!?" The nightwing took a second to gather himself from the sudden shout right in his face then replied. "Not intentionally!" "THAT ISNT ANY BETTER!" "STOP YELLING! ITS NOT LIKE I WANTED TO!"
Foxglove took a few steps back and huffed out a harsh breath to try and calm herself down. "We are talking about this later." She growled at him and he nodded reluctantly. "I know." Foxglove huffed again and crawled back into the hammock, the grey-ish icewing wrapped a wing around her to try and help her calm.
Once she was settled Starclaws slowly resumed working on his axe and continued the story. "Anyways.....so when I woke up"
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The nightwing came back to consciousness slowly and groggily. It took him a few minutes to gain the energy just to open his eyes. He blinked at the room around him, attempting to lift his head but only gaining a violent shock of pain down his neck when he tried. He whimpered at the pain and tried to curl into himself but that only caused more pain to spark along his scales.
"Oh. Oh! Oh, no! No, no! Calm down, friend. Moving will only make it worse. Just lay flat and relax. The pain will go away in a bit." He didn't know the voice but it was so calming and gentle he did as he was told. After a few minutes of pain that made his entire body throb, it dulled into a low but constant ache.
He was just starting to relax more when he shivered, causing the pain to flare up again. The voice from before was back. "You poor thing. Don't worry. I have something here that should help." He heard the sound of a lid popping open. "Clear warning, though: This will sting a bit at first." He felt a small pressure on the aching scales of his lower back, making him yelp from the pain.
"I know, I know. It hurts. Just bear with me for a bit longer. You'll feel better in a bit, then we can sort out your shivering." For a few long agonizing minutes, the dragon put somthing on his aching scales that slowly numbed them. Soon the dragon moved in front of him and gently lifted his head to work on the top of his eyeridges.
He saw a pale pink-purple drake with their ears lowered sympathetically. "Wh-..." He attempted to croak out, making the dragon's ears perk up and small flaps behind them on his jaw opening a tad. Scarredscales thinks he saw the drake's scales brighten in color a bit too. Scarredscales worked his jaw a bit before retrying. "Wh-who...are you?"
The purple dragon smiled at him and gently put his head back down. As his head was set down he caught glimpse of the dragon wearing dried-leather gloves, that were so worn they had a red-ish color to them. "Im Lilac, friend. Are your shivers from pain or cold?" He took a minute to think about that. Then he struggles out a reply. "'M always cold." It came out more of a pitiful whine than he wanted it to. Lilac hummed and wilted a bit in sympathy then walked out of his view. He could hear that the dragon was still in the room and shifting around a few things, though.
It took a few minutes until a thin cloth was gently draped over his back. The pained nightwing flinched and whined at the small spark of pain just that light pressure created in his aching scales. Lilac apologized with another sympathetic paling of his scales.
Over the months of his stay, the two had gotten close. It wasnt too deep of a friendship since both of them refused to let down their walls for the other, but it was a friendship nevertheless. Scarredscales told the purple rainwing some of his life as a dragonet, and in return the rainwing told him about the potions he brews and wards he peices together. Both of which he sells to be able to live comfortably and continue brewing.
"Hey, 'scales?" The white drake lifted his head from the scroll about potions he was reading at his name. "Yeah, Li?" The light purple drake smiled at him. "Im going out to the market. Do you wanna come this time?" Scarredscales hesitated. It would be easy to get lost or be abandoned again there, but it has been a while since he's stretched his wings.
Before he could answer, Lilac spoke up again. "If you're concerned about your scales, I sew some clothes for you to cover some of your more sensitive areas." Lilac grabbed cloth from a chest and handed it over to the nightwing.
"Sadly I couldn't find anything to cover your wings without impeding their movement and I know you don't like cloaks so that'll have to do." Scarredscales gave him a smile anyways. "Thank you." Lilac returned his smile and he left the room to finish getting ready to leave. Scarredscales put on the clothes then spotted a loop of chain on the long strip of cloth that was supposed to be wrapped around his tail.
"Hey, Li?" He called out. The rainwing called back from a few rooms over. "Yeah?" "What's this chain?" "Oh, yeah!" The rainwing trotted into the room again. "I nearly forgot!" The rainwing grabbed the chain and hooked his wing around Scarredscales', pulling him into another room, one he hadn't been allowed in before. The rainwing then gave him the chain and opened a set of double doors along the wall.
"You can pick an amulet for your necklace! Each one has a ward of some kind on it that will activate once the necklace is put on and will...." He hesitated, trying to find the best wording. "It'll kinda bond with you, I guess. It won't activate for anyone else, I mean. Anyways, just check the labels for what amulet has what ward. I'll be back to grab you before I leave!" The rainwing then left the room again.
The white nightwing stared at all the amulets for a while, picking what ones he liked and sorting through them by what ward they held, putting back the ones he didn't think would suit him. Slowly he got frustrated after looking through nearly all of the amulets and not finding one that he liked both the design of and the ward with it. Eventually he huffed out a puff of the smoke building in his flame-sack from his growing irritation.
Thats when a glint in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking over he saw another amulet sitting in a stand on a desk a few steps away. It was made of a stone that looked similar to a slitted dragon's eye with a bright icey blue coloring to it fading more towards a deep ocean color the farther away from the 'pupil' it got (Blue Cat's Eye gemstone). There were tools and leftover herbs and semi-magical plants around it like it was still being worked on or just finished. With the open ink pot and partially written on label sitting infront of it, he guessed it was the latter. His curiosity peaked, he padded over to read what was written.
In looping easily legible writing there was the usual format for a protection ward he had seen on others.
Protection against: loneliness (+ long-term effects of such), physical, emotional, and mental harm
Drawbacks: ward bonds permanently with user and is made with-
The label stopped there, Lilac probably having needed to get up and do something before he could finish. He weighed the thought of taking this one. Lilac has told him that most of the things he uses to create wards always have some kind of side effect or drawback, but on the other talon, whatever it is will probably be worth it for that much protection.
He weighed the decision a bit but eventually decided to take the amulet. He slipped it onto the loop of chain right before Lilac poked his head into he room. "Ready to go?" He chirped out. Scarredscales smiled at him and nodded. The rainwing retreated from the doorway as the white nightwing slipped the chain over his head, tucking it under his new shirt, and followed behind him.
The two exited the rainwing's den and flew the short distance to the nearest town. The two wandered around for a while, mostly just Scarredscales following Lilac around as he did his business. After a while Lilac turned to Scarredscales. "I just have to talk to one of my business partners and then we can go. You can wait here in the shade if you want. I know the sun is probably getting to you."
The white nightwing hesitated but nodded and wandered to a nearby shaded storefront. He passively watched the dragons around him for a while. Eventually he nearly jumped out of his scales when an almost echoey voice spoke up from beside him. "What are you so nervous for?" Scarredscales whipped his head to the side to meet the blank, almost bored, eyes of a white dragonet just slightly smaller than him.
"Uh, I....what?" The spikey dragonet raised an eyeridge at the stuttered answer. "You know: nervous. You do know what nervousness is, right?" The heavily sarcastic remark caught him off guard and he took a second or two to reply. "Well, uh....my friend left to go talk to someone and I....uh..........don't do very well being alone in crowds..." The dragonet's voice was laced with even more sarcasm, if that's even possible, when it replied. "Clearly."
Before he could retort, the spikey dragonet spoke up again. "Im just going to go out on the ice here and guess you haven't done this before." "What do you mean?" The dragonet gave him an expression like it didn't belive he could have gotten any more oblivious and was just proven wrong. "Take a goooood loooong look at me."
It was that moment he realized he could see the street through the dragonet and the dragons around him were giving him looks like he was crazy. He started anxiously glancing around, making the dragonet sigh after a minute or two and reluctantly rise to its claws. "C'mon. Lets get somewhere we can talk." As soon as it said that it rose in the air like it was flying but its wings were still loosely folded on its sides. It looked around for a second before floating off down the street a bit.
Scarredscales hesitated but soon followed with his head down. Every glance from the dragons he passed or slight graze of a wing or tail on his scales from the packed streets made his internal panic grow. The dragonet brought both of them away from the public and between two buildings. It then turned to him and seemed to be caught off guard for a second, nearly bored expression slipping for a second into concern.
Scarredscales was confused about that. Why were they concerned. The ghostly dragonet floated toward him a bit more. "Hey. You're ok. Everything's fine." He only just noticed the near-violent tremors shaking his body and the quick, rattling breaths passing through his lungs. Oh. He's having an episode. Been a while since he's had one of these. Of course he had to have one now. He was just getting better then this comes back to bite him in the tail.
He was broken from the beginning of his spiraling thoughts by an echoey voice. "Hey, hey. No, no, no. None of that. I know what you're thinking. Don't focus on that. Instead focus ooonn....uh....what...tell me what you can see." Huh? Scarredscales blinked and glanced around a bit. What did they- oh. He stared at the ghostly rabbit sitting at his claws. "Its....uh...a rabbit. Floppy ears....wide eyes......looks fluffy..." He slowly spoke through the dark thoughts swirling through his head. Movement at the corner of his eye drew his gaze to a very round and puffy bird perched on a bit of scrap near the wall. "Oh, I've....I think I've seen one of those before..." he tried to remember where or when but it was a bit hard to sort through the thick fog in his mind. "It......it looked a bit different....I think..."
His head tilted as his eyes squinted at the puffy bird. "It had ears....I think.......and....had a darker color.....grey maybe? It's......its eyes weren't as big but....I think it's face was just as flat." The fog cleared a bit at the memory and he found it a bit easier to think. His gaze moved away from the bird and watched a fox trot around him, nose to the ground. "Thats a...fox? Right?......I like the color of them....kinda a warm redish-brown."
He watched as the fox paused its trot and stared at the ground, head tilting and ears shifting at some sound. He flinched when the fox suddenly lept into the air and faceplanted into the ground, ghostly piles pushed up next to it as it wiggled with its tail stuck in the air. Taken off guard, Scarredscales busted out laughing. Folding in on himself from the strength of his rolling belly laugh.
After a minute of catching his breath he was able to speak, the fog of his dark thoughts having left with barely a trace. "What....what in the three moons was that!?" He decended into another round of laughter, making his current ghostly companion crack a small smile at his mirth. They made the ghostly animals dissapear with a small flick of their wrist. "You ok now, whitey?" With his laughter slowly tapering off he gave the dragonet a look, the light of laughter in his eyes giving away his amusement at the nickname.
"Speak for yourself, spikey. You look like the dragon version of a pinecone" The floating dragonet smirked a tad, feeling the pull of the spellwork keeping together their form urging them to continue the teasing. Not that they wouldn't have anyways. Even without the spellwork allowing them to monitor this dragon's emotional and mental state, it was clear the kid needed the banter.
"Well, excuuuuse me. This is the peak of fashion, thank you very much." They brushed a paw over their neck spikes, pushing them against their scales for a second before using the not-muscles of their ghostly form to fluff them up a bit like a bird with it's feathers. Scarredscales laughed again. "You look like a hedgehog!" The dragonet smirked and lowered to 'stand' on the ground.
"I prefer.....'porcupine'." With that they extended their neck spikes all the way to make them stick up fully and puffed up their sharp scales to only further the effect. The nightwing could barely keep on his feet with how much he was laughing. He only started to plead for mercy when the ghost started strutting up and down the alley like they were on a runway for a fashion show.
"No, please. Stop. Stop. I'm gonna pass out! Please, have mercy! I can't breathe!" Chuckling, the dragonet stopped their strut and floated back into the air, shaking their head and neck to let their spines and scales settle back down against their not-body. Scarredscales took a few minutes to gain his breath back.
The two continued on like that for hours. Eventually they moved to wander the streets of the slowly emptying town. The ghost making sarcastic remarks here and there and causing the nightwing to struggle not to bust out laughing. The longer they wandered and bantered, the more Scarredscales relaxed. He even forgot about his rainwing friend for a good bit. When Scarredscales was studying the items of a stall towards the end of the day, he didn't notice the glance his ghostly companion threw down the street. A purple rainwing with worn-scarlet gloves appeared to meet their eyes and started trying to shove their way over.
"Hey, cloud-face. I think I saw a weapon-cart go that way. Didn't you say you wanted to find something?" The Nightwing nodded without looking, trying to make it seem like he just thought of something, and chirped out a happy bye to the shop owner as he walked in the direction his ghost friend pointed to. The floating icewing threw a glare behind the leaving nightwing, gaining one back from the purple rainwing down the street. A small troop of armored guards walked over to flank the rainwing right when Scarredscales glanced back and spotted said drake.
He perked up and was about to happily call out a greeting to his friend when the rainwing said something that neither of the two could hear. The guards immediately locked their gazes onto the nightwing and took off in his direction. Scarredscales was gripped with fear, unable to move, at the snarls of the larger dragons barreling towards him. His icewing friend broke him out of his frozen state.
"MOVE!" He felt a large pressure shove him to the side, away from the guards, and he needed no further prompting to bolt down the street. His smaller size and tan-ish clothing helped him blend into the streets and passing dragons but the guards were larger and were given the right-of-way by the dragons they passed. As he ran, the nightwing's ghostly friend shouted directions to him for what turns to take and where to run, him following not even a second later within the same stride.
"There! Hide there!" The brightly scaled nightwing slipped into a group of icewings, keeping the majority of the group between him and the turn the guards would take. Not even a second after he merged into the group, the guards whipped around the corner and locked their eyes onto a icewing dragonet with similarly colored clothes as him. They yelled at the dragonet, making them panic and bolt down the street, guards hot on their heels. A few spread their wings and took to the air as they all turned a corner.
Scarredscales took a few minutes to make sure they were gone before slipping away from the group of white dragons and into a small dark alley. He curled up at the very end, pulling up a dark cloth to cover his bright scales as he did. Only then did he let the panic and confusion wash over him.
"What.....why...? I thought we were friends. Why would Lilac do that? Why would he tell guards to chase me?" His ghostly friend floated over to sit infront of him. "You're the first Nightwing many dragons have seen in a very long time. Not only that, but your scales are strangely colored as well. If someone is in the right circles, you can be alot of money." Scarredscales whimpered at the explaination and curled in tighter to himself, draping the cloth completely over himself as childish shield. His ghostly companion seemed unsure on what to do and eventually sighed, deciding to just let him work through this himself. Ignoring the unhappy thrum through their being, they turned away from the whimpering drake to keep watch.
Despite the work he made, when he got the news of the nightwings fleeing to the rainforest and being allowed to settle there, all his progress nearly slipped through his claws. It was only by the support of his ghostly friend that allowed him to keep his grasp on the edge of that pit. But as the saying goes: 'time heals all wounds'. It was very slow going with many regressions and worrying teetering on the lip, but he eventually pulled himself away from the drop and became himself again.
Over the years him and his ghostly guardian, that he named 'Blast' because of the large open hole in one side of the ghost's chest that went straight through to the other side. Apparently that was the wound that killed them, not that they could remember what made the large wound. The two grew incredibly close. Blast was Scarredscales' only friend and he didn't mind in the slightest, anymore anyways. They were close enough that they considered each other siblings, despite the obvious differences like tribe and, you know, life.
Two years after that news and one after he heard the rumors of the goings-on on Pantala (said continent finally starting to settle in the new tribes/territories/trade routes/governments/etc, etc) he was walking around a cute little town called 'Estuary', built on boardwalks over a large lake-river on the edge of the ice-sand-sky border. If the continent were a dragon, the town would be around the continent's wing-shoulder.
"This place is nice. If I were alive, I wouldn't mind settling down here." Scarredscales hummed as he glanced over the weres of a stall he was passing, smiling and nodding politely at the stall-owner as he moved on. Continuing his casual wandering down the market streets, he glanced over the crowd. Flicking an ear and twitching the end of his tail in the opposite direction, he silently commented to his friend. It gained an eye roll from his friend as they flipped around in the air to float on their back.
"I know you would, but we both know why we can't." Turning his head and lifting his muzzle slightly to take a few short sniffs of the air, shifting his wings' placement against his sides as he did, he drew a dramatic gasp from his friend as they whipped their head around to stare at him.
"Well, I never! How could you even suggest I would leave you! You wouldn't last a day!" Letting a small smirk twitch one side of his mouth he let himself glance at his friend for a split second before rising to stand upright on his talons and gave someone room to pass infront of him without breaking his stride, flicking his claws to get some spare moisture from them. Or at least that's what it looked like to anyone else. For his ghostly companion, this motion was the greatest offense, causing them to flip around to face their bound companion.
"How dare you! I'll have you know I am not short! You just shot up like an undercurrent!" Scarredscales snorted softly at the response and smiled to himself as he dropped back down to all fours, ducking his head and wings to slip under a large crate being carried by two burly mudwings. This apparently only further teased the now pouting spirit tailing him. He didn't get a reaction to the tease other than pouty grumbles of 'I am not small' and 'stupid nightwing size genetics' along with a few 'why did I have to be bound to him'.
Scarredscales snickered under his breath but let up on the teasing as he scanned the crowd again. He continued his mindless wandering, floating over to stalls when something caught his eye but mostly just letting himself relax in the cool air of the eternal-fall-weather the town stays in. Him and Blast chat back and forth, gossiping, trash talking, and making fun of the crowd around them without anyone even noticing.
Unfortunately, Scarredscales grew a bit too relaxed. He forgot about the real reason he was mindlessly walking circles around the crowded market and accidentally distracted Blast from keeping an eye out. He was reminded of it when he was yanked into an alleyway and painfully slammed against a wall. He didn't think. He immediately lashed out at his attacker with a snarl, drawing an enraged one from said dragon.
The dragon wasn't alone though, there were quite a few in the group and more making their way over from the crowded street. The group blocked his way out of the alley, keeping him from the relative safety of the crowd. Wings twitching at his sides, Blast answered his question. "Nope. There's a good number of them waiting on the rooftops and circling the market from the air. We are well and truly trapped." Dang.
Well if he's going to die, he'll put up one hell of a fight. Rising up, he reached to the handle on his back and grabbed the battleaxe held there. Holding it in both claws, he set his stance and glared that the group. To their credit, the group did hesitate for a second. A few looked to one of the dragons in the front of the group before pulling out thier own weapons. So apparently they aren't all idiots, just led by them.
"Five o'clock, topside." Blast warns him. Whipping around and slashing at the dragon jumping from the roof attempting to attack him from behind, he kicks off the fight. Time becomes irrelevant. It's just a constant stream of attacking, blocking, dodging, and countering. His mind clears of any thought not about the fight around him. The only thing that registers through said blankness is the warnings and orders of Blast and the occasional shoves, nudges, and shifting of his limbs from said ghost to help him dodge as many attacks as possible.
However helpful that blankness was, it ended up to be what allowed something as unassuming as a thrown stone statuette from a stall nearby the alleyway to hit his face and throw him off. Now knocked off guard, he was easily subdued and pinned to the ground. Though, he still fought fang and claw against them to make doing so as hard as possible. To keep him pinned and effectively vulnerable, three of the group had to put all their weight on him.
When the apparent leader stepped close to his pinned form he glared up at them with a snarl slipping past the claws clamping his muzzle to the ground. One eye was closed from the deep cut gushing blood that had been gouged under it from the statue. He felt the dragon who's weight was pressed against his head and neck shift a bit. Then the leader pointed their blade at the newly revealed junction at his jaw and neck in silent threat.
He only stilled because moving would cause the point to draw blood. He glared up at the leader of the group as they started to monolog. He tuned them out, shifting his gaze to just past the dragon to look at Blast. The two shared a glance, feeling like entire paragraphs passed between the two at the speed of light. They had only connected eyes for a second before Blast's attention was drawn from farther down the alley. The ghost quickly sped down that direction and out of Scarredscales' sight. He only tuned back into what the leader was saying when he felt the blade against his neck press further into his scales.
"-more for you if you were dead rather than alive. What do you think boys? Sell him off whole or kill him and sell his peices?" The group hummed with many excited voices chiming in. The leader listened to them for a second before rising a wing to quiet them and turning back to the pinned nightwing with a smirk.
"Looks like peices it is." They drew back the blade to ready the killing blow, making Scarredscales snarl and struggle one last time, closing his eyes to not see the blow coming. The leader ignored his struggles and brought down the blade only for it to halt a few tiny centimeters from his scales. The group, that had been cheering them on, went dead silent. Everything stilled for a few blissful seconds until Scarredscales opened his eyes to glance at the leader at a choked cough.
His eyes were met with the dragon's shocked expression, a trickle of blood falling from the side of their mouth. Trailing his eyes lower he spotted the problem. An incredibly sharp point, that he couldn't identify the weapon of, had been stabbed straight through the dragon's chest. Even past the light armour it wore that deflected most stabs, though slices were a bit more effective. A drop of blood traveled down the point to the tip then hesitated there before taking the leap and landing on Scarredscales' pearly snout.
Almost as if that drop was the signal, the blade was raised and easily lifted the leader from the ground. Then both were whipped to the side to make the body slide off the blade and slam into the wall of the alley. Following the blade as it retreated, the entire group saw that it wasn't a blade, but a spike (or maybe a stinger?) connected to the end of an absolutely colossal dragon's tail. Just by the size of the dragon's tail he knew that it was bigger than even the biggest mudwing he had ever met.
Scarredscales' eyes slowly trailed up the tail, taking note of how there wasn't a single scale or spike on the dragon's body that didn't have a scar of some kind. As his eyes trailed up to the dragon's hip and hindlegs he noticed how it's scales completely wrapped around it's legs like natural armour. The only place that wasn't scaled was it's underbelly and wing-leather but even the skin of those looked incredibly thick and tough, like sun-baked leather. His eyes trailed farther, pausing at the sight of two wings connected to a single one of it's shoulders.
As his eyes trailed even higher, getting close to their limit of his vision in the position he was pinned in, he took note of how many scars were concentrated around this dragon's chest and throat. Multiple scars crossing over each other and making a vast spiderweb of lines and marks. There was more scars than clear scales on the dragon's neck. When his eyes couldn't go any farther up, he took note of a old wound along the side of it's neck just under it's jaw that didn't look like any of the other scars.
Before he could really study the scar, the dragon growled. At the sound Scarredscales felt like a hatchling again. Like he was being disciplined for doing something wrong by a dragon so much larger, older, and stronger that his only hope was to freeze and make himself small and weak looking in hope the punishment lessens. He could feel the ground itself tremble at the silent threat like nature herself was scared of this dragon.
The group of dragons around scarredscales stared in silent fear at this titan of a dragon. The dragon pinning his hips and tail shifted it's weight and the growl stuttered to a stop. It felt like the entire world held its breath for the split second the dragon turned it's head to stare at the unfortunate dragon that moved.
Then all hell broke loose.
With a roar that shook the very air, the dragon lunged towards him. Scarredscales couldn't help the squeak of fear that escaped him as he tenced and closed his eyes, preparing for the dragon's titanic weight to slam into him and squish him like a bug. The hit never came though, quite the opposite actually. The weights pressing him to the ground suddenly dissapeared.
With the newfound freedom to move, he scrambled away from the panicing group of dragons. Standing farther into the alleyway Scarredscales turned to watch the fight. It wasn't actually much of a fight, though. Watching the fight was like watching rats attack a wolf. The titanic dragon was swatting its attackers away like flies. It didn't even move from the spot it landed in from the first lunge. It just stood there and let the dragons come to it.
Scarredscales did see that some of the dragons tried to flee. The ones that did were quickly caught with some kind of string around their throats that snapped their necks without any hesitation. His eye caught on Blast as they reappeared infront of him.
"Eight o'clock, big guy." He whipped around teeth bared just in time to see a dragon be interrupted mid-lunge by being stabbed through the head from under it's jaw. He stared as the body went limp and crumpled to the ground, only being held up by the spike through it's head. The spike shook the body off it and let it fall completely to the ground. Looking down the spike, that he thinks is a deformed wing of some kind, his gaze connected with the calm expression of a dragon just barely smaller than his own size. One of it's eyes had three scars covering it and one over it's muzzle.
He couldn't identify what tribe it was or even if it was a hybrid. As he sized up the small dragon in front of him, he came to the realization it was doing the same with him. The two stared at each other for a second before Scarredscales was snapped out of it by a deep rumble of a near-growl behind him. He whipped around and stared in terror at the giant dragon behind him.
It stood there calmly, between him and the absolute bloodbath behind it. It's claws, tail spike/blade/stinger, and muzzle were splattered with still dripping blood. Even the thick, slightly curved, third horn between it's eyeridges was dripping blood from impaling a few dragons with it. It's four eyes had a calm expression but bore into him like his very being was on display for the dragon's viewing. The sight terrified him more than he has ever felt before.
Apparently it had finished its fight. It said something but he didn't hear it, ears run I no with fear. It glanced at the other dragon and the two exchanged a few words before the large dragon tried to get him to understand what it was saying multiple times, getting more and more annoyed at each repeat. Both dragon's head snapped towards the enterance of the alley at a shout. Scarredscales' ears cleared just in time to hear the deep rumbling voice of the titanic dragon infront of him mutter to itself.
"We don't have time for this." It turned to face him and snapped it's head towards him, bloodied jaws parting as it did. He was only able to fearfully yelp and scramble a few steps back before it's jaws clamped firmly, but not painfully, on the back of his neck. He was then lifted from the ground like a dragonet with their parent. Instinctively he curled up and froze stiffly to keep his weight from shifting too much.
The giant dragon then lunged at it's small companion and clamped it's claws around it's sides as the giant dragon took to the air with a powerful flap of it's four massive wings. Scarredscales watched from his frozen state as town guards swarmed the alley and a good number broke off the group to fly after them. The dragon carrying him seemed to spot the guards tailing them as well since it silently growled. With the fact he was being held like a dragonet, the feeling of the growl vibrating his neck and head was quite the strange sensation.
The dragon banked around and lashed out at the group with it's tail-blade, hind claws, and forhead-horn until the majority of the group were either dead or too wounded to continue after them. Then it turned and continued fleeing. Scarredscales, who was now thoroughly splattered with blood, shared a glance with Blast as he was involuntarily taken away from the town.
2023.04.01 18:59 NYY657545 Adding a sentence below an HTML table in email
Hi - I'm looking to add a sentence of text below the HTML table (with a space) and I can't seem to figure it out. Can someone please advise how I can update the below to create a space between the table and a sentence that says like "Sent via Google App Script?"
function createTable() { var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("Current Standings"); var dataRange = sheet.getRange(16, 1, 10, 15); var backgrounds = dataRange.getBackgrounds(); var data = dataRange.getDisplayValues(); //table header var url = "Sheet URL"; // Replace with the static URL you want to use var table = "
| Ranking | Manager | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | K | ERA | WHIP | QS | SV+H | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ` + cells[u] + " | "; } table = table + "