Welcome to Gaia! ::

For imaginary ailments, from boredom to melancholy to heartbreak to unquenchable lust for vengeance, visit the Manticore Apothecary. Pose a question or problem and receive a remedy and the story that goes with it. (Like an RP, only once you give your character into my keeping, I get to write a short story with them and you get to be surprised.)

Request for Prescription:


Current Inventory Offered (will be updated as the apothecary expands)
Remedies:
Pure Talent – To give you a jump start. The first drop is the most potent. Can also be used to enhance natural talent during a plateau. Can spark Renewed Interest.
Raw Potential – To broaden your scope. Too much causes physical burnout and stretches other abilities too far. Works well with Pure Talent and Young Genius.
Young Genius – To revive the brain and recapture a child's capacity for learning. Caution: Overdose or extended use may cause Arrogance, Cynicism, and Paranoia.
Renewed Interest – To lift spirits or find a new angle. Can also be used to overcome trauma.
Second Love – To re-spark a current romance or help broken hearts heal. Only works after genuine First Love has been achieved.
Faux First Love – To simulate the fireworks of first love. Cannot not induce real First Love.
Distilled Wonder – To curb oppressive cynicism. Wears off quickly and effectiveness decreases with prolonged exposure.
Essence of Innocence – To regenerate physical innocence. Larger doses are needed to regain mental or spiritual innocence. Overdose can cause amnesia.
Liquid Golden Rule – To feel everything you do to others. Small doses work on an emotional level. Larger doses can cause physical reactions. Warning: Do not use when engaged in sex.
Vapors of Closure – To let go of past grief, guilt, anger, or pain. Large doses can cause drowsiness and temporary confusion.
Powdered Pluck – To give momentary courage and reduce shock. Warning: this remedy reduces the body's ability to feel and process fear. Extended exposure can cause permanent emotional numbness.
Ashes of Sighs – To ward off bad dreams. Add to candles or incense and burn through the night for best results.
Slivered Silence – To quiet unwanted voices and noises. Applied externally, it silences footsteps, vocal chords, and bodily functions. Taken internally, it can alleviate voices caused by schizophrenia, demonic possession, or overbearing parents.
Lion's Tears– Increases courage and intestinal fortitude. Increase dietary fiber and avoid dairy 3 days after taking.
Second Chance– "Near Miss" in a bottle, or a get-out-of-death-free card. Can only be used once in a life time.
Blind Faith– Object of faith refined by other ingredients and charms, stronger than distilled wonder, and very dangerous; effects can last for years and cause self-sacrificing tendencies.
Emerald Empathy– To cultivate genuine empathy for those who never learned as children, similar to Liquid Golden Rule but without physical side effects. WARNING: Contain's widow's silver; Not for lycanthropes.
Sweet Honesty– To help bring the truth to light. Not as strong as a truth serum, but has the added bonus of helping one to be honest with themselves.
Pearls of Endurance– To emotionally and physically brave the worst trials, preventative medicine. Can replace REM sleep in extreme circumstances.
Brave Smiles– To lift the weight of grief or stress. Prescribed in tea form, best served in an agate cup or with an agate charm in the tea pot.


Charms:
Refined Polar Down – To give comfort in times of trouble. Harvested from the undercoats of mother White Bears, it radiates warmth to even the coldest hearts.
Ammolite Tears – To dispel illusions. Warning, viewing one's reflection in the mirror while under the influence can be disturbing.
Wishes– Scales from a talking fish. Highly volatile.
Loves Labors - Increases libido in men and women. Onyx orb dipped in concentrated oil of hyacinth.
Ballast– A rosary-type bracelet made from granite, unakite, and snowflake obsidian. Helps reinforce personal beliefs and resist peer pressure.
Familiar Ties– Matching bracelets braided from wolf, bear, and/or lion wool; additional charms can be added. To begin the bonding process between estranged family or adoptive parents and adopted children.

Satisfaction CANNOT be guaranteed. You are asking a monster for medicine, after all.

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I've had a lot of people tell me that I know so much about farm medicine that I should be a doctor or a vet. Well, I'm hoping that in a year and a half, after I finish my bachelor's degree, that I can pursue my DVM.

In the mean time, my little "residence" here will be stuffed with some of the more interesting biological things I discover, because I can't help but share the cool stuff. ^_^ And anyone who reads this is welcome to ask questions about their animals or their personal health.

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A VETERINARIAN OR MEDICAL DOCTOR!!! If at any time you or your pet feel seriously ill or are experiencing pain or bleeding profusely or your bones are in the wrong alignment--SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP!!! I'm just here to say things like "Oh, you're horse has pain from laminitus but you don't want to risk a bute-toxin buildup? Ask a veterinarian about Devil's Claw," or "Have a sore throat and a choral concert tomorrow night? Gargle with (sea) salt water and alternate drinking honey water and lemon water," or "Make sure you have X mg of Y vitamin to keep Z healthy." I'm not professionally trained; I leaned from the school of hard knocks. ^_^

that is beautiful and interesting! smile i'm intrigued, i wanna know more. do you know the name of the Tribe that call themselves the Shark People?

I never thought I'd hate a hobbyist group, but after reading an article on pigeon keepers, I'm pretty darn close.

In 2007, the Gaming and Wildlife Department wrapped up a 3-year undercover investigation of pigeon keepers. I know, my first thought was, "Pigeon keepers? What, were they stealing wild pigeons and painting them like parrots or something?" No. As it turns out, hawks and falcons like pigeons too. For lunch. So pigeon keepers were literally blasting ENDANGERED SPECIES out of the sky for the sheer sport of it!

It wasn't even slightly humane. They made bated traps and would shoot them repeatedly with customized, silenced (and frankly illegal) rifles. One guy put poison on the back of his pigeons' necks, so when the falcon bit into it, it died. And poison isn't a quick and painful death like you see in the movies. We're talking hours of agony if the bird somehow managed to get away. When the birds were down, the pigeon keepers would kill the birds by beating them to death with a bat, stomping on them, cutting them to shreds, and one man mixed ammonia and bleach in a squirt bottle and spray the falcons in the face with it until they died of horrible, chemical suffocation. Yes. MUSTARD GAS. These were some sick, sadistic pigeon keepers.

All this was going on while wildlife groups were desperately trying to bring the peregrine falcon back from the brink of extinction. So while one group is breeding birds, another is taking out 40+ falcons, hawks, and raptors of all sorts every month. That's hundreds in a year! The G&WD brought down 7 of the head honchos in California, but they couldn't do more than fine them! Since then, there are lots of people trying to ramp up the penalties for killing these birds--especially where it's repeated and involves cruelty.

Not all pigeon keepers are like this. In fact, this bust caused a lot of backlash in the pigeon-hobbyist community between those who did and didn't support killing hawks. I think pigeons are rats with wings anyway--and I love rats, so I don't mean that in the standard derogatory way. But if you're going to keep and breed a prey animal, it's your responsibility to protect them. Not beat the crap out of the predator for just being a predator. Where's the sense in it? So you loose a few birds to a hungry hawk--pigeons breed fast! Really fast! You'd be overrun with the birds if you just let them copulate naturally.

Gah! I'm not one to flinch from necessary culling, but it doesn't matter how pesky a species is, cruelty is never "ok."

Yeah, I spend about an hour brooding yesterday. burning_eyes

So I'll go back to my attitude fix-all--SHARKS! ^_^



Chris Fallows - South African Shark Conservationist - & Frank Mundas - the inspiration for Captain Quint from Jaws

Frank Mundus was the most notorious shark hunter in history and remarkably one of the first conservationists of Great Whites. First he created the industry of "monster fishing" and then Jaws came out and he was a national hero. But he never really wanted to be--he didn't ever hate sharks. He was caught between the customer who wanted to kill the fish and the beautiful, crafty creature in the water. He's retired in Hawaii now, and after a trip to South Africa to see flying sharks, he wants to create a "shark watching" business. Like whale watching. Only with great whites. How cool is that? cool

i do love Sharks. whee

but gods damn, those psychotic birds-of-prey-haters! o_O; i'm stunned by that!

i swear, i'm gonna be getting in on that, doing my part to keep the skies free of those cooks and their species-bias! >.>

EPIC! xd heart

i take it that's you hair then?