Nine small things. Grouped here by what they actually respond to, not just the order they showed up in — more on why, if you want it.

No action needed. Honest about some condition in the world — the weather, the hour, the fact that you were here before — and the thistle just sits inside it.

  • Leeward — seeds drift on the real wind in Edinburgh, right now.
  • Gloaming — the sky changes with the real time where you are, sunrise to night. Click still grows a thistle, but the light is what’s actually alive here.
  • Taproot — the only one that remembers you were here. Grows a little more each visit, nothing sent anywhere.

Do something, see what happens. Same recipe three times under different Scots names: find a signal nobody thinks of as an input, and wire it to the seeds.

  • Glisk — switch tabs or look away. the longer you’re gone, the more seeds it’s let go by the time you look back.
    (Glisk is Scots for a fleeting glimpse or gleam.)
  • Souch — blow into your microphone, or press and hold the button, to scatter the seeds. nothing is recorded.
    (Souch is Scots for the sound of wind, or a sigh, breath, or puff.)
  • Birl — scroll the page, with anything at all. the faster you go, the more wind you stir up, and the more seeds let go.
    (Birl is Scots for to spin or whirl — a scroll wheel birls, and so does thistledown on the wind.)

All three at once, in one place. Not a fourth invisible input — the same three conditions above, compounding on a single plant instead of living in three separate tabs.

  • Hain — one thistle that grows with your visits, leans in the real wind in Edinburgh, and stands under whatever the sky actually looks like right now, wherever you are. Fully grown, it starts letting seeds go.
    (Hain is Scots for to spare or preserve — ground fenced off and left alone to keep growing.)

Where it started. Click, and a new plant grows. Nothing kept, nothing real underneath it.

  • One Thistle — a different procedural plant every time you click.
  • Thistledown — same idea, but each click also makes a sound.

Each one has its own post if you want the story behind it.