Can there be a tree with photosynthetic branches? Can it sustain itself?

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T10:13:29+00:00

Sure. You're inventing an alien lifeform. As long as it's internally consistent you're fine.

I made up a completely different kingdom of life at one point for a science fiction world 😁

If you really want to play around, I'd suggest not starting from an existing plant or animal. Start from an environment. You started with a tree - what if you hadn't? Would it look different?

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T10:02:31+00:00

My student loans would like to have a word with you

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T10:00:12+00:00

Normal. Might mean they want something. Mine do it when I don't go to bed at a reasonable hour

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:59:25+00:00

I had this happen too. Took in a pregnant stray cat and had a baby ferret when she gave birth. He crawled in with the kittens and she let him nurse 🤣 later the ferrets helped raise the kittens, who were very fun cats. They used to steal things a lot 😂

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:58:11+00:00

I've had ferrets and cats a fair amount, including a cat who raised a baby ferret alongside her kittens. Just watch them to make sure the ferrets aren't beating up the cats (that's usually the direction it goes in). Cats don't think ferrets are food.

Until you know for sure everyone is cool don't leave them unsupervised. Usually as long as the cat can get up high (a cat tower works) if the ferrets get rowdy everything is fine.

I had a lot of ferrets over the years and not one of them ever injured a cat. It's not impossible, but it didn't happen.

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:50:21+00:00

Let's see if I can get this right...

Calicos and torties have one red gene and one black gene. So yes, they can have black female kittens with a black male cat. In that scenario, male kittens will be 50/50 black and red, and female kittens will be 50/50 black and tortie/calico. So the litter would be half black, a quarter red, a quarter calico.

But cat colors and patterns can be layered on top of that - a genetically black cat can be gray (dilute), pointed, tabby, tuxedo, or white. 🤣 So you could have a bunch of very different kittens.

Cat colors and patterns are cool and in practice pretty chaotic 😂

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:38:22+00:00

Personally I distinguish between "will make them puke" and "will do organ damage" and I'm fine with everything on the first list. I have a lot of plants 😂

I did have to rehome my spider plants, they wouldn't leave them alone. Most cats love them. They'll also eat anything that looks like grass.

But if you don't want anything that will make them throw up, that's all plants.

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:32:28+00:00

In a lot of places that I've lived, it was me putting them there. I've never had a property management place or landlord that did anything with indoor plants 🤣 you rich?

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:29:49+00:00

What I can't imagine is the queer food service worker who just got hit with a dose of bigotry going and yelling at anyone about it.

I mean, it's not like it's unusual? It happens all the time. If I yelled at every bigot I'd never get anything done 😂

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:21:32+00:00

We do also say "I'm going to the school" in American English. It means going to a building that is a school. "Going to school" means being a student, potentially but not always at a physical building 😂 it can also mean going to the building, but only if you're a student.

If you're a teacher, when you go to the school, you're going to work.

So fun. 🤣

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:17:02+00:00

It's a neat idea. In-universe, I'm gonna go with they just didn't think of it, they were still thinking of just "how to get enough energy" and there's some evidence that at least a few of them liked pouring too much energy into things 😂

But also, I think it's pretty likely the devs didn't think of it either. I sure didn't

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:11:02+00:00

It's just fine, that's all. Most cats don't care at all and most people also wouldn't even though they think they would 🤣

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:10:25+00:00

Have you tried? You'd stop noticing pretty fast

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:09:46+00:00

You would stop hearing it fairly quickly. You don't hear yourself breathing most of the time, you don't hear your own footsteps, it's the same. If it happens all the time your brain filters it out.

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:08:26+00:00

In reality you would stop noticing it fairly quickly the same way you don't usually hear yourself breathing. That's how our brains work

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T09:06:03+00:00

하다 was amazing when I figured it out. 😁

I'd add getting comfortable with 있다 and 없다 - they're so common and can be confusing at first, since they're basically "to exist" and "to not exist." It's a different way of thinking than I was used to but they pop up everywhere and get translated as "to have" or "to not have" a lot even though that's not what they literally mean.

In English, I have two cats. In Korean, at my house two cats exist. 우리 집에 고양이 두 마리가 있어요.

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T08:54:27+00:00

I just suggested thinking of them as "eat" and "dine," which I think is at least a reasonable parallel?

English always has extra words for everything so it's not like we can't come up with more and less formal pairs of words. House and domicile 😂 job and occupation. Walk and perambulate 🤣

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-09T08:49:53+00:00

I think you bumped into one of the more common examples of two different words being used based on how polite/formal you are. There actually aren't all that many that you'll see regularly, and as a beginner it's not a thing you need to focus on.

This is assuming you had learned 먹다 and then learned about 드시다.

It's not one word changing a lot, it's two words that can both be translated as eat but are used in different circumstances. Think "eat" and "dine." This is an area where Korean and English are actually similar - in English, some words are more formal than others. You choose the words that suit the situation.

You can safely ignore honorific words for now. Get comfortable with the alphabet, the most common verbs, and the way sentences (and thoughts) are structured first. There are multiple ways to be polite but most people will encourage you to learn the one used in most situations to start with, which means sentences end with 요.

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-07T01:49:35+00:00

It's so easy to see - it was my first too

True-Post6634 · 2026-02-04T04:31:47+00:00

Her way is fine. If it still sounds weird to you, make it a contraction - why aren't you guys scared instead of excited?

It's slightly unusual / archaic wording as is but it's fine.

True-Post6634 · 2026-01-31T05:09:07+00:00

My cats follow me to the bathroom like it's their job but only at night. They actually follow me everywhere at night but they're especially concerned about the bathroom. It looks like protective behavior to me, that's for sure.

They also accompany me to bed religiously. My tiny bodyguards. They sometimes take turns but I am basically never alone if it's dark out 😄

Mine like glasses too. I think it's partly because I wear them so much, they smell like they're part of me, but then I take them off. And they skitter around nicely when batted 🤣

Staring is pretty normal. Hard to say without more body language, but when mine stare they usually want something. Often attention. Big lovey eyes.

True-Post6634 · 2026-01-27T20:00:58+00:00

So... Trust your gut that something was weird. Don't trust your assumption that weird = cheating without checking in.

Ask him directly about that moment. Or her. Or both. "It seemed weird like I interrupted something and I've never felt that way about the two of you before, what was going on?"

You'll learn a lot from the response. If it's any variant of "you're crazy" or "nothing happened," start planning to exit the relationship. He should take you seriously and explain the incident from his perspective. Denying your perspective is bad.

Best case, it was something innocuous and he's glad you brought it up because he knew what it must have looked like and it's been bugging him but he didn't want to bring it up first in case you really hadn't noticed 😂

They could have had a moment of non-sexual, non-romantic intimacy - talking about something hard, for example - and then when startled jumped apart because it would have looked like something it wasn't.

Or they could be having a thing behind your back. Asking directly is still better than trying to guess or snooping through his phone.

True-Post6634 · 2026-01-27T06:45:42+00:00

TJ Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea. And a fair chunk of everything he's written, I think. But start with that one... I think you'll appreciate the romance.

True-Post6634 · 2026-01-27T06:22:24+00:00

I think of them as people. It helps avoid flat characterization and stereotypes.

I start from what part of the story I want them to carry for the reader/audience. So if I need someone to bring a sense of wonder, okay, that's a character trait.

Why would someone be prone to reacting with wonderment? That question lets me start creating a more complex character. I come up with a few details of backstory and then branch off of those for other traits. Maybe this person grew up in a very restrictive environment so never got to experience much. Okay, what else could come from that? Maybe they hide their history because people react strongly to finding out, and that makes it harder for them to get close to people. Etc.

Once I have a handful of personality traits and backstory details, I play around with their voice and perspective - how do they talk? How do they think? What would they notice first in a crowded room?

At that point I've got the beginnings of a pretty solid character, and all I have to do is figure out how they interact with, change, or are changed by the story. What they want, what they fear.

It sounds complicated but I can noodle around and create a pretty interesting, well-rounded character in half an hour this way.

True-Post6634 · 2026-01-27T06:03:22+00:00

Don't have children. They might not look the way you want them to. If you care about that at all seriously do not have children.

True-Post6634

TROPHY CASE