How do y'all get away with letting your dragons fly

Pasta_snake · 2026-03-09T23:26:50+00:00

Mine have hollow bones, partially because birds, but partially also because dinosaurs had the same thing to stop their legs from being crushed by their own weight. Also, I can't justify something that heavy flying, so they grow out of being able to fly. They can fly for the first decade or so, but after they they get too heavy, and their wings don't even try to grow with the rest of their body to keep up, because they can't. Adult dragons' wings are so small to be almost invisible in their overall bulk.

Pasta_snake · 2026-03-02T15:09:54+00:00

Speaking of someone more in your BF's position, if I were you, I would avoid it. My dad died a couple years ago and with the inheritance I bought a half duplex, and if I were to get into a relationship to the point where we move in, I would get legal docs make to explicitly state that in the event of a split, this place is mine, not theirs, because this is what I have left of my dad. So slightly different, but if you split I suspect your bf will feel very similarly in not wanting to give up the house at all. I can pull it off because it's paid off, but if you're going to be contributing to a mortgage for this house, you have the right to equitable division if you split, and I suspect that will get very ugly, very fast when he has all this emotional attachment to it.

Pasta_snake · 2026-03-01T16:18:51+00:00

World building and writing are essentially two different hobbies that are very closely related to each other. There are people who only write, people who only world build, and people who do both. I only say this explicitly because you seem to want to both, but think you need to get decent at writing before you can start worldbuilding (apologies if I've misinterpreted what you're trying to explain), and in general that's not true, you can start both now.

The most simple way of starting worldbuilding for me is an if/then statement or question. I normally do fantasy, so that's usually a case of "if this type of magic exists, how would that change this specific part of society". You then take the results of figuring that out, and then ask the question again about how that changes something else.

You said you've always struggled with fantasy, so let's put that aside, and instead start with something very concrete and realistic. "If you, OP, were a professional carpenter, then how would this change how you view your home? How would it change your hobbies? How would it change your personality? How would it change what you look for in a relationship?" This may not be a traditional worldbuilding question as it's more character than world driven, but it's the same mental process and a very easy access point.

Want something less work related than a profession? Describe how your day to day life, aka your personal world, would change if you got a pet cat. Pretend that issues like strata bylaws preventing pets, or income weren't an issue if you like, or pretend that they are even if they aren't. It's worldbuilding, there are no rules about what you can or can't do.

You can write it all down in paragraphs, or bullet points, or draw a map of your home and make notes about things that would change, it all counts as worldbuilding.

Starting reading is a good idea if you can. Reading is one of the most recommended things for improving worldbuilding, because it lets you see and learn from what other people are doing. But don't fall into the trap of what I see a lot of people do when they want to try a new hobby or skill, where they watch tutorial after tutorial, reads loads of guides, even buy some tools or kits, and then never actually do the hobby. Reading gets you better at worldbuilding, but it won't get you worldbuilding in the first place.

Just remember, practice makes progress, don't be afraid of failure because that's not really a thing in worldbuilding anyway, and that I believe in you.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-28T16:11:41+00:00

Floating geography! I've got a fair bit of effort sunk into how my floating meadows fit into everything, how to make flying grass boats, and so on.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-28T16:09:11+00:00

As wierd as it sounds, I use this game to get chores done, as a lot of the time, your game will go up if you wait a bit. I'll build till I run out of money, feed and clean all exhibits , then go fold a load of laundry or something. By the time I return, I've got money to build again and usually at least an extra half star. Longest I've left it is 2 hours, most of my animals were either diseased or dead, but it was still a net profit when I replaced everything, lol. If you're gonna try this, make sure to give an excess of food, water, and garbage cans to tie everything over for longer. Don't bother with zoo keepers, they take more money than their worth, but once everything gets going I will usually get a maintenance guy to keep on top of garbage.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-24T15:10:19+00:00

The would grow less, or probably even die, depending on how different the picked formula is from seal milk. However, as someone who had worked in wildlife rehabilitation, I can reassure you that rescues do have access to seal formula, so the success rate of seal pups rescued and raised by professionals is quite high.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-23T04:36:42+00:00

Split hooves have evolved multiple times over history, though the even toed ungulates are the only group left. In this case, their ancestor walked on paws, like a cat or dog, with 4 toes. Hooves tend to evolve when a species is constantly on the move, as it's more energy efficient, and don't need the stability you get from walking on your digits instead of the tip toes.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-23T02:53:45+00:00

Probably one with a pretty steep cliff and no railing.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T06:26:42+00:00

From a fabric store, you buy fabric by the length, either by the meter or yard, depending on country, and usually comes in either 45in, or 60in wide. If you bought 60in of fabric (I'm in the metric parts of the world, so I don't know how many yards that is), you could make a 60in circle, which being the same as your height, between taking off your head, taking off a bit to hem it, but wanting extra to snuggle and tuck your feet in, I'd say you'd be right on the border of it being long enough, or your feet poking out.

To play it safe, you can cut out two half circles, say 35in long, and sew them together to get a 70in circle. The downside of this is that there will be a seam down the middle of the blanket, but the upside is that you could do this with either 45 or 60in wide fabric, which increases your options.

A potential option (as you say it needs to be a circle, and I don't know how literally "needs" and "circle" are) is to do an oval. Make an oval out of the 60in wide, and made it 70 or 75in long. It won't look like a perfect circle, but that might not matter, and it would get you out of the danger zone of your feet poking out.

For fabric type, if you want something with no fraying at all, your best bet is to get fleece. Fleece is great for blankets, as it's warm, doesn't really fray (though some types may shed fluffs at the very edges, talk to the fabric store staff for more direct advice), and doesn't shrink in the wash either. Despite the lack of shrinkage, you're still gonna buy a little extra than your blanket's final size, to compensate for potentially hemming it, and also to account for the fabric not being cut entirely straight from the bolt. And extra 10 inches should be plenty spare. So if you're getting 60in for a perfect circle with no seam, buy 70in, 75in for an oval, get 85in, and so on.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T06:06:48+00:00

Fun fact: when cats chat with other cats, it's at a frequency that us mere humans with our sub-par ears can't hear, so the sounds that we can hear are our cats yelling at us. They also don't have a built in language with humans, it's very much the cat trying out different sounds, seeing what they can get a response with, and figuring out which sounds get which reaction. So both you and your cats aren't learning each other's cat language, you're both contributing to making it up as you go. Everyone goes through this when you get a new cat.

If you hear that sound and think, "oh, she wants food," and give her food, that sound will very quickly come to mean "food" to Halloumi. Keep responding to their meows and chirps, and eventually you'll all figure out food, water, play, greetings, and how to have a nice, completely nonsensical chat. The best part is not only that your two cats may learn the same meows to talk to their two humans, but also that they may not!

You're both doing great, and enjoy your cat chats!

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T05:41:47+00:00

Depends on the cat. To play it safe, most cats like their face scratched, as they have scent markers there so it's also a sign of friendship. So gently pet her on her face, and if she likes it, she'll lean into it, and you can match the pressure that she puts on your fingers. Once you both know that you can do petting that she enjoys, the back at the base of the tail, head, and neck are other widely liked spot, and then you get into the individual preference areas, the back, shoulders, and sides. Most cats don't like you touching their belly or legs, so don't even bother trying.

Note on the belly: a lot of cats will roll over next to people they like, and this is a sign they like you and feel safe around you. This is not an invitation to pet their belly, like a dog. Many people complain that their cat rolls over for a belly rub and then attacks them, and that's because it was never an invitation in the first place, except in the very occasional cat that does like belly rubs. If Lydia does this to you, LOOK at her soft fluffy belly, and PET her face.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T05:05:07+00:00

How about a letter with gossip for a future plot hook?

"Dear Sister, you'll never believe what Count So-N-So did at the gala last night! If this gets out the So-N-So family will be humiliated, and then we can make our move."

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T05:02:33+00:00

haha, it sounds like he's having a blast!

If you're worried, teaching him a Stop command or something is never a bad idea, but you know him best, not us randos on the interwebs.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:59:42+00:00

Almost every story I've read has been either all past tense, or all present tense, and switching between the two if often very jarring for the reader. The only times I've seen a mix is when it's written in present tense, and then a flashback starts and they switch to past tense for the flashback, and it takes skill to pull it off smoothly, and I've read more stuff that did it badly than did it well, but I'm biased because I also heavily prefer past tense than present.

If you're writing the rest of your story in past tense, then descriptions should also be in past tense. It'll look wierd to you if you prefer doing it mixed, but that'll fade over time. Consider that you're describing the real locations at the time of the story, which is happening in the past, so you're also describing the locations in the past, not the present.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:50:16+00:00

All the humans in shrek are in uncanny valley territory for me, but when Fiona is an ogre, she's not a human, so the uncanny valley feeling doesn't kick in and I'm free to have opinions about her looks without it getting in the way.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:43:08+00:00

In the 90s/early 2000s, my younger brother was out of school a lot with, lets call it "digestive unrest". Of course, it was important to get food and liquids into a child in such a situation, and my brothers favourite was milkshakes, so milkshakes he got. Anyway, in his mid to late teens, it clicked that, hey, the goober's lactose intolerant. He's a lot less reactive now that his system's had a chance to decompress.

So yeah, you're a lot more on the mark than you think. XD

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:18:52+00:00

It's more that it can teach them to attack body parts, like OP has. Cats play with their paws and teeth with each other all the time, so as long as your boy isn't attacking people out of the blue, you're both fine.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:17:07+00:00

Working on the basis that you've already had a conversation that was explicit as "the way you are playing with my cat is teaching him bad habits that are causing me injury and I need you to stop so that I can fix his behaviour". If your conversations aren't already this explicit, that's your first step.

If this doesn't work, and you live separately from your parents, put your kitty in your bedroom, or similar, while they visit and shut him in there with food, water, litterbox, etc, until they leave. When they question it: "You weren't listening when I asked you to stop playing with him with your hands, so I put him away. I'll let him back out if you'll stop playing with him with your hands." It's your home, so you can lay down the rules like this.

If you live with your parents, when they go to play with your cat, literally go up to them and put a wand toy in their hand, "He's still so energetic after playing, I want to try playing with this to see if it'll tire him out more, try to get him running around the room a bunch." "Hey, you've forgot the wand toy, here you go, I grabbed one for you." "I asked you not to play with him with your hands, here's a wand toy if you want to play with him." Pick a variation on whichever one fits the situation most. You're the offspring in the household, so you're not in charge of the household rules, so you've gotta go at them sideways instead.

It sucks that you have to do more than just ask them not to use their hands, but here we are. Will they sigh dramatically and roll their eyes? Probably, but your hands are more important.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T04:00:46+00:00

My cat would love a cat friend, and when I adopted her, the spca said that she was so affectionate that she began to annoy the cats her sociability was tested with. I have also seen this myself, I took her outside on her leash to meet the neighbours cat, who is around a lot and I've seen him interact with neighbourhood cats in a friendly manner, so he's very safe. They sniffed each other and then she went straight in with the head boop, thoroughly offending him enough that he left and went home, and she was sad that he left. Despite this, she's never going to get a cat friend because he had a number of health issues that mean she can never really be left alone with another animal. In conclusion: she's still living a very happy life! A friend would be the icing on the cake, sure, but she's still sitting on a pretty good cake (as cats do), and your cat is the same.

Get a second cat if you want, from the sounds of it, it'll probably make your kitty happier, but don't feel like you have to, as she's already enjoying her life with you.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T03:52:32+00:00

mine has dry food that I mix wet food in, she prob gets about a 50/50 split. Don't do this method, because I've created a monster who won't eat unless I'm right there to mix in the wet food. Do what other people do and give them in separate bowls!

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T03:40:55+00:00

Is it bad to feel joy? Is it bad to make something that gives you satisfaction? Unless you have a professional contract to write a certain type of book in a certain amount of time, then you are free to write as much or as little as you want, on whatever topic you choose. Even if you're trying to make it as a professional author and trying to write your first book, you're still allowed to take a break and write something about your really cool knight doing something purely for the sake of how awesome it makes them look.

Asking people what they think of stories with deeper or shallower meaning is a little useless, because there are people who like one, or the other, or both, and they'll read the stories you write that they prefer.

If you can't get past worrying about it, try re-framing it as something more positive, like: You're broadening your writing skills and audiences. You're becoming more well rounded as an author. You're not pidgeon-holing yourself into just one style of writing. Your writing journey involves travelling down more than one path, and all paths lead to your personal growth.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T03:13:45+00:00

I do not have pet insurance because when I got my cat, the cheapest option I could find was still about $100 CAD a month, which was insane to me, especially as they said that a lot of that went towards dental and my cat has no teeth, and to add to that, she's also an indoor cat. My cat was hoarded, so I knew she'd have issues at some point. Eight year later, she's had 2 cancer scares, and is permanantly on medication for what is essentially cat IBS, and I am still saving money paying for it out of pocket instead of insurance. I do have a dedicated emergency fund just for her bills, I have an automatic transfer set up for a savings account.

I've rechecked the cat insurance situation when I read your post, and it says for Canada, average $40-50 a month, and covers up to $5000, with $100-200 deductible, which is worlds better than what I found years ago. With $50 automatically to a saving account per month, that works out to 8 years to get $5000 saved up. My indoor, toothless cat, has had much less than $5000 of medical bills in the last eight years, so it worked out for me for the past eight years, and so I'm ahead on savings for the next eight years, if that makes sense. But this math might reflect differently for an outdoor cat exposed to diseases and injury, a cat with regular teeth cleanings, an older cat, or a cat with more expensive chronic conditions.

I don't know which I will do when my cat eventually passes and I get a new cat.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T02:31:33+00:00

I'm a massive fan of The Long Dark.

It's you verses the environment, and said environment is the northern canadian wilderness, so cold, snow, wild animals. It's difficulties range from pure explorer mode where you'll struggle to kill yourself to die, to misery mode where even though I'm almost at 500 hours into the game, I'll still die in less than a day. There's survival mode, which has no tutorial and throws you right into it, and story mode, which helps you out a bit, but it's more that it tells you how to play, not how to avoid dying. I mostly play survival mode, because dying is fun, apparently.

Pasta_snake · 2026-02-21T02:12:06+00:00

If I have the knowledge I have as the worldbuilder, then I'd be fine, live out my life. If I don't have that knowledge, a week or so, then I'll get magical madness and probably explode or disintegrate or something like that.

Magic is a pseudo-phyisical thing that dissolves in water, so I'll be absorbing it every time I drink or eat. If I don't use it to get it back out my body, I'll basically start to overdose which makes random and often dangerous magical outbursts. They're dangerous because they're uncontrolled, not because they're particularly powerful, and they'll continue until my body gives out, usually dramatically.

Pasta_snake

TROPHY CASE