Did you expect any less of me?

Now some people ask me "SodiePawp! You dastardly fiend! Why all the itching powder? Why not just tickle the feet instead!" To which I respectfully, yet subtly snidely respond, "Because I'm a Funderlander rabbit." Ya see, itching powder is a little less common outside of Funderland because it's overall a rare substance, some people even argue it doesn't exist. Sure, there's the velvet bean which produces a diabolical itch, but that only really grows in the more tropical zones on earth, not so well in most first world countries, where BDSM is typically most prevalent. But in Funderland, however, the itchybell flower tree is fairly common place. Not extremely, mind you, as most bugs can't pollinate these flowers and thus the reproduction is mostly limited to the wind and a scarce few species of native bees that are immune to the pollen's natural itchy effects.

The itchybell plant is a relatively tall tree, but not too tall, the leaf canopy rarely coming up higher than seven feet off the ground. It can be spotted from almost any distance due to it's fiery orange gleam that its leaves have year-round. In the Autumn though, one needs to look for the bell shaped hanging flowers, suspended by fibrous, stringy orangish-green vines. The flower petals themselves are slightly curved and overlap one another, and only bloom in direct sunlight. The pollen, on the flipside, only grows when the flower is closed, which is at night and on really cloudy, overcast days. When bloomed, however, the blowing wind shakes the loosely hanging flowers, and the nut-like stamen (which is quite sweet and tasty when cleaned), also hanging by a loose set of fibers, shakes at a different momentum, knocking into the side of the flower and kicking the pollen loose, the fine dusty gold easily carried along in the wind and over to nearby plants. By now you've probably figure out that this pollen is very very itchy on contact with the skin. This is due to a chemical that the pollen is largely comprised of, which happens to be very nutritious for most plant life. So while some might consider the plant a nuisance for gardening, the pollen acts as a great fertilizer and plants nearby the itchybell tree tend to flourish, as does the tree itself.

The pollen, as previously mentioned, is a natural itching powder. Unlike the velvet bean hairs, this is but a fine dust, not needing to be rubbed into the skin like the spicules of velvet bean hairs. The presence of the trees, while not common, are prevalent enough to have worked their way into the cultures of Funderland. the powder isn't produced in large enough quantities usually to make a lucrative source of fertilizer, that's still left to manure mostly, but its other function has led to its success as a commonly sold itching powder in many stores. And the plant itself has a lot of use as well, beyond being a beautiful flaming garden ornament. The maddening pollen works as a great deterrent for thieves, often planted around entrances to places that aren't well-guarded otherwise. Picking locks and being stealthy is awful hard when your body is itching up a storm~ Granted, that only disrupts stealth, so at least one guard is usually necessary, unless the fumbling burglar can't even concentrate enough to pick the lock.

Now what about the common uses as a dedicated itching powder? Well, for one, Funderlanders don't believe in ruining someone's life over crimes, so punishments are usually rather "humane" by some standards at least. But the Funderful people have a draconian sense of humor, if nothing else. Being thrown in the town stocks and tickled by the children and villagers with spare time is a common punishment for vandalism and petty theft and other such misdemeanors. When there's simply no time to tickle, however, it's not uncommon to rub some itching powder into the convicts' toes, and even sometimes some in the pants or on the tip of the nose! Some villages with nearby itchybell trees will sometimes strip a thief down to his underwear and tie them down to the ground right beneath an itchybell tree with tent stakes, right before sunrise and leave them for the day. Oh the look of desperation in a repeat offender's eyes as the sun climbs over the hills and the flowers start to open up~ Sometimes they'll wait until after a cloudy spell to carry out the sentence, after lotsa pollen has built up in the flowers. Kids tend to enjoy pranking each other with the stuff too. It's used by families at home sometimes during family tickle-time, should the family even have such a practice in place. A story on that later though! While used very sparingly during family games, it's also employed often as a means of punishment for unruly kids, both at home and at school. In homes, when tickling proves ineffective as punishment (which it can be both fun or a punishment to the same person depending on the context) then it's not uncommon to discipline one's child with itching powder, the duration and intensity of the punishment varying from family to family of course. In schools, disruptive kids and bullies can sometimes be made to stand in a tray of itchybell polled during lessons, or made to wear socks lined with the stuff, or et cetera, there's a lotta creativity to be done with the stuff. Cruel, you say? Well to you maybe, but a lotta kids prefer itching powder or tickling over a spanking if given the choice, so that's just your opinion as an non-native. A culture is determined by its geography, and Funderland regions with flourishing itchybell life are no different.

So now you should understand my uncanny fondness for itching powder torment in addition to tickling when I draw more of it, at least a little bit. Tis my local culture, something I grew up with and am more than happy to share with the rest of the world. =3


*Re-uploaded from the ruble of The Great Crash of A Few Days Ago*