#READ PEAKS AND VALLEYS BTW

[ochablooms]

rivals to husbands type of beat 🍎🍏

#reguri #namelessshipping #pokemon #pokemon red #green oak #blue oak #oh. #pokemon yaoi anyone #pokemon og husbands #if you care #sillies #alolan honeymoon #is it gay to marry your rival #READ PEAKS AND VALLEYS BTW #PLEASE #okay im done with tagging #my art

[lucky-peoqle]

when the truth comes out - tory nichols

request: hello :) i was so excited to see that you take requests for tory, could i please request s5 tory x fem!reader (either an imagine or headcanons) where reader is a member of miyagi do/eagle fang and maybe she tells reader the truth about cobra kai and being forced to break the stone because terry and kim brought up reader? honestly whatever you’d like to write is totally fine with me 💖 thanks so much!

warning(s): swearing, blood(?), scars, angst and fluff hah

word count: n/a

pairing: tory nichols x fem!reader

a/n: finally writing these, sorry schools kinda pushing back schedules due to me missing a few days :/ i had to rewatch this episode but i absolutely love this idea !! also new dividers for fall !! woohoo 💗💗💗 this also feels so rushed im sorry, not proof read btw

it was late, like really late. sensei larusso, chozen, and lawrence had made classes go way over then they were supposed to and then hawk and miguel just needed you to go grab something to eat with them.

you didn’t mind though, you loved spending time with those goofs, but they wore you out.

you joined the miyagi-do/eagle fang dojo with robby earlier in the summer. he had convinced you since you weren’t going to deal with silver’s bullshit. you didn’t miss cobra kai one bit, but there was someone you missed.

that person? was tory.

due to going to separate dojos, you had a falling out and it lead you to break up. it hit you hard, you wouldn’t talk to anyone do anything for days on end until robby checked up on you. you missed her a lot, and you hadn’t see her since miguel’s party where her and sam got into an argument. you tried to chase after her, but she had gotten away before you could.

you had just gotten out of the shower, putting on a clean pair of pajamas shorts and one of tory’s old t-shirts you never gave back. you wouldn’t dare give it back, it’s one of the only things you have left of hers.

walking into your room, drying your h/c hair with an extra towel, you let out a sigh. practice today was tiring, most had been recently. thank goodness your parent’s weren’t home for the weekend so you could have to whole house to yourself.

you almost didn’t hear the frantic knocking at your door, but you did. it made you jump a little, who in the world would be knocking at this hour?

you slowly crept downstairs, the knocking still going. “i’m coming, i’m coming,” you mumble to no one really.

making your way to the front door, you let out a slightly shaky breathe, reaching out to turn the knob and slowly open the door. you opened the door excessively slow, peaking out until you released who was standing in your doorway.

“tory…?” you muttered.

she looked up at you, slightly teary eyed. “hey.”

“tory! what are you- uh. what are you doing here?”

the blonde let’s out a sigh, looking around outside before looking back at you, “can i come in?” she asked.

“yeah, of course-,” you start, before noticing her knuckles, which she had been rubbing gently. “oh my god, what happened to your hand?”

“that’s what i came here for.”

“okay, uh… follow me.” you say, getting out of her way to let her in, shutting the door and leading her to the kitchen.

she sits at the counter, watching you grab an ice pack from the freezer and hand it to her. she rests it on her knuckles.

“so…,” you rock back and forth on your heels, “what’s up?”

tory let’s out a shaky breathe, “my whole life is a fucking lie.”

you quirk an eyebrow, “what.”

“everything is a lie. i’m living a lie. silver paid off the refs at the all-valley last year. cobra kai cheated so i could win against sam.”

“tory- slow down, i can’t keep up. silver paid off the refs?”

“yes! and it’s been eating me alive for months. i wanted to get back at him so bad. i’ve been visiting kreese in prison and all he’s been telling me is lies! i’ve been telling him everything for nothing! i feel like a fraud. my life is a living hell, i’ve lost all of my friends, and more importantly; you.”

you walk up to her and kneel in front of her, looking up at her. “hey, hey, hey, you haven’t lost me,” you say, “i’m not going away at all. we, miyagi-go and eagle fang, can help you. they went to stingray earlier. he basically admitted that silver assaulted him. he’s too afraid to go to the police.

“i knew silver was involved, i just didn’t think he did it with his own hands,” she said quietly.

“yeah, but we don’t have anything to prove it.”

“if it happened at the old dojo, maybe we can..”

“really? are you sure?”

“yeah, but can we not talk about this right now. i need a break for at least a night. can i stay here tonight? i don’t want to be alone.”

you nod, “of course, you don’t even have to ask. just tell me one thing; what happened to your hand?”

“they made me break pure stone, y/n, but i couldn’t. until they brought up our break up… then bam! instant break,” she said, voice breaking at the end of her sentence. “i regret breaking up with you so much. i miss you.”

your heart broke at the sight of her sounding so weak and broken. “hey, it’s okay. it’s okay. those people are sick. i miss you too, and maybe once we go through with out plan, we can try again okay? when we broke up i was broken, but i want us to try again, please.”

tory nodded, “yeah, i’d like that a lot. the worst thing about cobra kai was losing you and i refuse to let you go that easy.”

she placed a chaste kiss to your forehead before you giggled, standing up. “we’ve gotta keep this a secret for a bit, how romantic.”

“this is why i won’t let you get away too easy, juilet,” tory gave you a smile.

“come on, let’s go upstairs romeo. we’ve got quality cuddle time to make up for.”

#tory nichols x reader #cobra kai #cobra kai imagine #cobra kai x reader #tory nichols #peyton list #peyton list x reader

[ashboilol]

Why Naruto always lost rightfully to Sasuke

Tbh I know Naruto lost to Sasuke in the Valley of the End, but I don't think Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto either. Neither he, nor Naruto, wished to kill each other. Both still went all out against each other. Btw I'm talking about their first fight in the VOTE, not the second one.

So many people say Naruto should have won. No, Naruto rightfully lost that fight. Now, I know Naruto only attempted to hit Sasuke's headband, but if Sasuke used Chidori on Naruto's heart, Naruto would be dead, Sasuke may have unlocked the Mangekyo earlier.

Ofc, in Shippuden, Naruto's first fight with Sasuke was an utter 4v1 loss, but the main point is Sage Mode Naruto. First of all, Sage Mode Naruto cannot beat EMS Sasuke. EMS Sasuke was able to block so many of Juubito's attacks, whereas KCM1 Naruto and KCM Minato were unable to react in time, so EMS Sasuke blitzes Sage Naruto who is slower than KCM1 Naruto. Now, MS Sasuke is a more even match. Sage Naruto can stomp Taka Sasuke, who JUST awakened his Mangekyo (who the hell pits a dude with a newborn Mangekyo against a guy like Killer Bee, that made no sense and the Akatsuki was horribly dumb to do that), while Naruto now has more chakra. Kage Summit Sasuke, however, can defeat Sage Naruto. This Sasuke managed to hold his own against the Fourth Raikage, which puts him near the level of KCM1 Naruto (since he can't defeat that version of Naruto), and after that Sasuke managed a stalemate against Gaara who was at peak health. Ofc Gaara can't beat or even match KCM1 Naruto, but still Gaara is a powerful shinobi. So Kage Summit Sasuke beats Sage Naruto.

EMS Sasuke is also a lot stronger than KCM1 Naruto. EMS Sasuke managed to, as I stated before, be a tier of reaction speed even higher than Minato the Yellow Flash, in KCM no less. KCM2 and KCM2SM Naruto can beat EMS Sasuke, which is where it gets to Naruto's favor.

War Arc (Six Paths Naruto vs Rinnegan Sasuke): Now we know that these two fought, with Sasuke have all the tailed beasts under a Genjutsu (no he did not use their chakra), and Naruto having half of Kurama. Now, people say Naruto held back, but that is false. Going all out doesn't mean going for the kill. Did Naruto want to kill Neji in the Chunin Exams? No, but that never stopped him from going all out against Neji, so it cannot have stopped him against Sasuke who is far more dangerous. Plus, Sasuke, as I said before, never used the Tailed Beasts chakra, but he put them under a Genjutsu because he can't logically have let them be without them supplying chakra to Naruto, so it was Sasuke with a base Sharingan (he for some reason, maybe loss of chakra), and a Six Paths Rinnegan versus Naruto with SO6P + Kurama's chakra, so evenly matched. It ultimately ended in a tie, so they both are equally matched at this point. By the end of the series, they are equals.

The Last: Sasuke hands down. Sasuke was stated to be Kakashi's strongest student, so Naruto loses this, but not as easily as most of the main series.

Boruto: Equal, but Sasuke has the edge due to high amounts of time actually facing threats. Amenotejikara is also a good move against Naruto if dear Lord Seventh tries anything. After Naruto and Sasuke lose Kurama and Rinnegan, however, Naruto far surpasses Sasuke due to SO6P.

Ultimately, I think Naruto lost to Sasuke rightfully most of the time. Naruto and Sasuke are true rivals, atleast by the end of the series, and both acknowledge each other as equals. Don't ruin their rivalry and friendship by constant bickering over who is stronger. They acknowledge each other as rivals, so don't make it look like Naruto or Sasuke are far stronger than the other. Same with Madara, he did surpass Hashirama, he only used Hashirama cells to gain the Rinnegan.

Thanks for reading!

#They are rivals for a reason #Dont diminish their rivalry #naruto #Pro naruto uzumaki #pro sasuke uchiha

[financialsmatter]

Saturday Rant…Broke Bank Bailout Bash

The markets were mixed this week during the Broke Bank Bailout Bash between Wall Street and the District of Caligula. Cue up: Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and the ensuing banking crisis unleashed by the O’Biden Administration. And after puking from 32,374 on the DOW, down to 31,466 the markets recovered most of the losses from panic selling over the reality of a broke bank bailout bash. Today’s rant is from a 30-year veteran in the banking business who goes by the handle PrettyInPink. So, take it away PIP:   James, you’ve said it many times how the favorite lines used by politicians and professional liars – when caught lying – is “I’m Shocked, I tell you…shocked. Who could’ve foreseen this happening?” And that was never more obvious this past week as bank regulators shunned the real problem and denied any responsibility. The sad truth is most banks are clueless when it comes to risk management. If they were honest (they’re not) they wouldn’t have loaded up on long-term bonds during the peak of low interest rates. Instead, they ignored the risk and now, thanks to inflation, they’re paying the price of their greed/stupidity. What’s even worse is how this has become a double-edged sword thanks to the Neocons in Washington and their blank-check policy to Ukraine. And NO ONE is holding anyone in Ukraine accountable for where our tax dollars are being spent. The bottom line is we not only face a banking crisis from an imploding Sovereign Debt massacre, but we cannot control inflation while funding a proxy war with Russia. Broke Bank Bailout And now the financial panic in banks has forced First Republic Bank and PacWest Bank into a near collapse state only to be bailed out by JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. But lurking in the background is another elephant named Credit Suisse…trading at $2.02 per share. They’ve been on the ropes for years with all of their exposure to bad mortgages and long-term government bonds. If they go under it will set off an even wider banking panic. The other elephant in the room is now that DC doesn’t want to bailout the banks, they will force the banks into doing Bail-ins. Let’s just hope this doesn’t get worse than the 2008 crisis. You are soooo right when you say how history repeats because the passions of man never changes. BTW, I loved your newsletter article this month on Bailouts vs Bail-ins. …Keep up the great work. **********************************     Thanks, PiP It’s always great to get a perspective from a viable source other than the media Presstitutes. As always, if you – our Dear Readers – have a rant you’d like to share then please send it to us. You never know whose life will be affected by it. And if you want to see some NSFW rants then go (HERE). Remember:  We’re Not Just About Finance. But we use finance to give you hope. ***********************************     Invest with confidence. Sincerely, James Vincent The Reverend of Finance Copyright © 2023 It's Not Just About Finance, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Read the full article

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Today, a friend of mine said that he thinks, in some ways, literature peaked with Shakespeare. He then sent me this excerpt of Romeo and Juliet

And when he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun

He then proceeded to talk about how he couldn't get over it, especially since he couldn't remember ever reading anything else quite like it. And it is really gorgeous, I never read the original Romeo and Juliet and I loved this, but it did make me think immediately of An Apology. So I gave him some context for Kauri's story and sent him the poem (and read it again in the process)

I feel like you should know that the impact for me hasn't changed since you first posted it and that your poem is currently being discussed against Shakespeare. (My friend thought it was beautiful, btw)

(for those who don’t know, this is the post Vicky is referencing)

Oh my gosh, that’s such a lovely thing of you to say. I mentioned it after I published the post, but it has been so long since I put much work into writing poetry that it definitely felt like being Kauri trying to force all the thoughts to fit together the way I wanted them to.

It was a really weird thing of trying to write decent poetry after a long time away from the format while simultaneously trying to make sure it read like someone who hasn’t written poetry in a while and so was a little rough around the edges but ALSO not wanting it to read like BAD poetry and it was just. A whole thing. 

That said, I definitely believe Shakespeare had an incredibly rare gift for words and pulling emotions from thin air. I think the same of poets like Rumi, every once in a while someone is born to write in a way that absolutely eclipses almost all the writing around them. And I’m so glad we have kept as much as we have to look back on and get that “people have always been people, and art/writing/poetry/storytelling in general is intrinsic to our existence, but some people embody humankind’s capacity for art in ways that are absolutely mind-boggling.”

(I have like a whole series of thoughts on this about cave paintings for the record but like. I will spare you. Just know that prehistoric art was one of my focuses in college and I have SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT IT and I think our insistence on everything being for some ritual purpose or a sign of early religion obfuscates the simple fact that people. tell. stories. and. people. love. art. and... I’ll stop now)

Romeo and Juliet definitely includes some of my favorite moments and turns of phrase (although plenty of his other works just absolutely knock me apart too, MacBeth is just... aahhhhhhh, and oh god Hamlet as a portrait of self-destruction in so many ways and the fucking sonnets anyway moving on) and I just. The comparison is so much and I love you for it but I absolutely do not deserve it, haha

Also I’m bad at receiving compliments so there’s that

I will now be hiding under a table

(below the cut is the text of the poem if you want to skip rereading the Kauri piece but want a reminder)

AN APOLOGY

I am built from the hollow air left after your heart stopped beating Your hands still gripped tight to the life they were ending I know you thought of home but I don’t know where your home is The sound of my voice is a green valley that only sends back screaming

Covered in smoke and dust that I told myself smelled like cologne Pathways that remember your laughter silent in the years that followed Have I done enough to build a life you would have enjoyed living? I am built from the hollow air left over when your heart stopped beating

The heat of their hands as inevitable as a river tore down every foundation Their cruelty buried you so deeply that only I remain I don’t deserve the love that should have been yours to receive The sound of my voice is a valley echoing back your screaming

I owe you an apology for walking around inside you Crumbling ruins with my touch and calling it preservation I’m sorry for every blade of grass growing through our bones Am I nothing but hollow air from when your heart stopped beating?

Wildflowers grow inside me from soil windswept over ash Is that life worth everything not quite dead so deep below? Is Kauri Grant good enough to make up for Liam Harker’s loss? In the valley of my body, does anyone but me still hear you screaming?

I owe you an apology and have to hope the life I live provides it I wish I could ask for forgiveness from the shape of you   We’re both ghosts, in the end, mosaic pieces shattered in shadows I’m sorry that I’m all that’s left.

I built myself from hollow air in the shape of a heart still beating The sound of my voice will always carry the echo of yours screaming

#kauri asks #poetry #ash rambles

[kaijuno]

So I (@el-smacko) went to the University of Iowa and took a lot of undergraduate writing classes. I didn’t attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop but I was taught by people who did and the most important thing I ever learned was that there’s more fiction in nonfiction and more nonfiction in fiction and that that’s actually a really good thing.

For nonfiction to work, it has to fundamentally contradict the fact that life rarely ever happens in a cohesive, satisfying story with a traceable narrative arc. In fact, the crisis of identity that a lot of my peers (and myself) had in school and maybe even more so afterward was that our lives weren’t conforming to the story we’d written for ourselves and worse, didn’t even appear to have a narrative trajectory, much less structure. Not to get too off topic or melodramatic, but the whole American hyperindividualism that says slavery and Jim Crow somehow don’t affect people of color today is also telling our children that they need to independently “be something” or, worse, “make something” of themselves. It’s basically saying “Remember Ozymandias? Fuck that guy, build your statue.”

Anyway, for fiction to work it has to reflect reality enough to be accessible to other people that may not share your experience but definitely share that reality. The worst fiction I ever workshopped were barren worlds populated not by characters but by unbelievable caricatures. To write people, to create and direct characters, you have to know what real people are like and especially how they talk.

But there are exceptions. The point of, for instance, The Stranger by Camus (etc.; look, it’s been a while since I was in high school—I had to check Wikipedia to make sure it wasn’t written by Sartre and you can’t make me look up if it’s absurdism it’s nihilism or both I don’t care) is that you may be your own main character, the narrator, the hero of your own story, but for a frightening amount of people especially in America the story is being found guilty and going to prison for the rest of your life and, if a Republican comes into power at any point in your entire life behind bars that may have started before the internet, you’re put to death and your story ends. (The death penalty has recently resumed in the US btw [sorry, I should say “officially resumed” because if you’re a person of color you could be summarily executed at any point for existing near a cop].)

What a lot of Lovecraft enthusiasts especially fail to realize is that “weird” can become meaningless when fiction is saturated with “weirdness” that is weird relative to nothing. These writers actually regularly and remarkably manage what should be an impossible task in writing “weird” that isn’t uncanny because a plain may be the same depth relative to sea level as a valley but without peaks it can’t actually, you know, go a-valleying.

But hey while I have you there’s this writing advice going around that what characters say should be at least three degrees away from what they actually mean because real people don’t perfectly express themselves or have speeches prepared should they be asked to exposit. In fact, a little advice: do not under any circumstances learn to recognize the “cooperative cool with being interrogated” way some characters speak because it’ll fucking ruin a lot of media.

But also, while I generally agree with the advice of meaning having to be filtered into speech, I think it’s far more important to know when those filters shouldn’t be in the way. And I don’t mean a confession of love under stress. I mean Cassandra of Troy perfectly prophesying the fall of Troy but being cursed to be disbelieved. And a lot of people don’t really understand the story of Cassandra in context: she didn’t just have the gift of prophecy and the curse of disbelief. That would’ve been meaninglessly redundant to the Greeks, who if you read Herodotus are regularly given obscure prophecies in poetic meter by the oracle at Delphi that aren’t understood until after the disaster has come to pass. No, the tragedy of the curse of disbelief is that Cassandra was given the gift of perfect, coherent prophecy.

Accordingly, characters shouldn’t be unilaterally denied clarity, but clarity should be leveraged to tell a good story.

Hey but also, and this is super important: writing doesn’t have to be good. In fact if you want to write something enjoyable, it may not have to be good at all. The majority of the stories I workshopped in college weren’t good or even just enjoyable—most of my writing included—but if you had good attendance, engaged with the discussion about whatever story we were reading, and wrote everything you were told to write like workshop letters and analyses and, you know, your fucking story we were going to workshop, you got an A and a depressing amount of published work has that degree of uninspired, formulaic, barely passable bullshit.

Which leads me to my final point: have fun. Fuck it. Write what you want and if you had a good time hell yeah rad.

[butterflydm]

2019 (in fandom)

2019 has been a year where Western media disappointed me over and over. Like... so many times. But the peak (valley) of disappointment was, of course, that poorly-written s4 finale to The Magicians that threw all their s4 plots off a cliff and had their bisexual, depressed, canonically suicidal character commit ‘heroic suicide’ to stop a badly-defined and underwritten bad guy who wasn’t even the main big bad of the season.

Though it was terrible for me as a viewer, it did spite-jumpstart me back into writing fanfic! I went from zero words of fic posted in 2018 (though I did make two vids) to 315,430 words written in 2019, all of it for The Magicians, as I tried to make that horrible ending better in my own head and then jumped back in time for more canon divergence fic as well.

The most popular of those fics was my marqueliot s1 AU epic my mouth (your lips) your hands (my hips), which was a TON of fun to write as well. My marqeliot fics in general have been more popular than my queliot ones, possibly in part due to there being a lot more queliot writers than marqueliot ones.

My newest fic for the fandom is my just-released hallmark holiday fic: by the light of another moon, which is a queliot and fargo fic.

Luckily, a few months ago, as I was still stewing in my frustrations, I took a chance on a show some people on my dash were talking about -- The Untamed or Chen Qing Ling (based on the novel Mo Dao Zu Shi). Talk about a breath of fresh air! I loved the characters, I loved the story, I picked up lots of new people to follow and new actors to check out their other work in. And I’m just beginning to explore that world still -- there’s so much left to investigate and learn and I am also excited to check out MXTX’s other work in 2020.

Though I haven’t yet written any fic for CQL or MDZS, I have still written a lot of words about CQL and plan to write more in 2020 -- my CQL rewatch tag is here btw; feel free to come talk to me about either the show or the novel any time (I haven’t read it yet but love hearing insights from people who have).

I have more casually watched some other shows since then that weren’t at all disappointing -- Schitt’s Creek has been fantastic; the four-ish episodes of Gentleman Jack that I watched before being eaten whole by CQL were also very good (I do want to finish S1 of that up in 2020), but none of them have struck me fannishly like CQL/MDZS has.

I did also finally play through the Mass Effect trilogy! Mostly paragon fem!Shep who had the colonist war hero background and romanced Kaidan in ME1 and then Garrus in ME2 & ME3. Very enjoyable; will probably play through again as a more renegade Shep sometime next year (maybe romancing Liara through all three games).

(fannish) Plans for 2020: read MDZS; finish up the CQL rewatch; read TGCF; make at least one vid about something (I do want to go to Fanworks con this year); write at least a couple more marqueliot fics

#anyway happy new year! #the magicians #marqueliot #queliot #fargo #the untamed | chen qing ling #suicide cw #the 4x13 clown car #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #schitt's creek #gentleman jack #mass effect

[eilonwiiy]

On Your Terms ; an Air Awakens one-shot

Summary: "She’s not looking for an answer.  Someday he would figure out his feelings for his brother.  But not tonight.  Tonight is about another prince.  One that is not tormented by shadows, but caught in a sunbeam, and she has no intention of letting him go."

A glimpse into Baldair and Raylynn's night after he relinquishes his tent to Aldrik and Vhalla in Fire Falling.

Author’s note: This is such a niche ship in an already tiny fandom, but The Prince’s Rogue (Book 2 in the Golden Guard Trilogy) gave Baldair and Raylynn’s fates in Air Awakens a whole new meaning and I hAVE ALOT OF FEELINGS.  Everyone should go read the GG trilogy btw.  Lots of fun.  Lots of pain.

Ships: Baldair Solaris/Raylynn Westwind

Tags: shameless smut, porn with feelings, mild angst/comfort, fluff and humor

Read on AO3: here

*   .   *   .   *   .   *   .

The soft rustle of the canvas could easily be a brush of the night air, but the involuntary uptick in Raylynn’s heartbeat tells her otherwise.  Her fingers tighten around the hilt of her mother’s sword resting by her side, the only sign of life she’ll allow under the veil of darkness.  Any other man wouldn’t live long enough to see themselves cut in two by her blade.

But she hears him even in his silence.

She frowns inwardly.  Somehow war has made her soft.

Keeping her breathing steady, she remains still.  Her bedroll is thin and worn, a companion for many a soldier before her, and hardly accommodating for one person, never mind two.  Certainly not for someone as large as him, and especially not as royal.

Still, she feels his weight as he lowers himself to the ground, crawling towards her with all the careful slowness of someone not wishing to wake their partner.  The thought makes her heart still, and when he peels back the blanket and lays down beside her, she secretly welcomes the familiar warmth, while noting the absence of chainmail.

Good, she thinks.  An admission of defeat.    

Only when his arm snakes around her waist and gently draws her closer so that her back is pressed flush against the hard expanse of his chest does she speak.

“My prince,” she breathes, and she revels in the way the sleep in her voice transforms the title into something seductive, blissfully aware of what it stirs in him.  “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Baldair nuzzles his way through the tangle of hair swept behind her shoulders, holding her closer, and a soft chuckle rumbles through his chest, sending all too pleasing vibrations against Raylynn’s back.  She allows herself a smile, knowing he cannot see.

“I find myself without a bed this evening,” he murmurs.  There’s no disappointment in his voice.

“That’s odd,” Raylynn demurs, her voice light, “considering you burden your men with the task of lugging that monstrosity wherever we go.”

There’s another laugh.  “And yet,” Baldair counters huskily in her ear, hot breath ghosting over her skin, “I do recall you expressing appreciation for it on more than one occasion.  Rather vocally, if memory serves. Multiple times. In one night.”

Raylynn rolls her eyes, but for all his arrogance, the prince’s words hit their desired mark.  Warmth seeps from the wound, spreading fast through her and settling all too comfortably in the place below her navel.  She licks her lips; her little princeling is moving this along much too fast for her taste.  She needs to staunch the break before it consumes her.

“Are you sure about that?” she replies in an entirely unaffected tone.  “Perhaps you have me mistaken for someone else.  No one would be surprised, least of all me.”

“I could never,” Baldair hums, arms tightening around her and breathing in deeply.

Raylynn pauses.  The complete lack of argument is… well, if she’s being honest, unusual.  He’s never not been sincere with her.  It’s the reason why this – whatever this is – works.  But the way his response rolls off his tongue is unsettling.  Though not nearly as much as the lazy circles he begins drawing on her skin with the tip of his nose.

She tries not to react, body fighting with itself, unsure of whether it wants to retreat or surrender to his subtle advances.  With every slow swipe, she can feel his lips just barely graze the tender area, warm, tantalizingly soft.  She trains her gaze ahead, eyes tracing the faint outline of her hand clinging to her sword.  It feels like nothing under her grasp.  Useless.

“Ray,” Baldair whispers into her silence.  She presses her lips together, suppressing any sound that may betray her, and it’s like he knows.  Because suddenly, his mouth is on her neck as though to coax free every bit of longing trapped deep in her throat.

It works, too.  A low, drawn out moan fills the tent, and in the stillness of the night, it stokes the fire of their shared desire, awakening something that the Mother above designed in the stars to never be laid to rest for too long.

Raylynn’s head tips backwards on its own accord, offering the slope of her neck fully to Baldair, and it’s all the permission he needs to latch onto her pulse.  He takes his time, his mouth moving gently over the sensitive spot with wet, languid kisses causing her eyes to flutter close.  She’s already breathless, lips slightly parted, already drowning in the sensation, and she barely registers the hand traveling up her side.  She half expects him to pull her around to meet him fully when his ascent stops and lingers on her shoulder - instead, his touch slowly trails down her arm, grazes the curve of her elbow, and follows the path all the way to the fist wrapped around her sword.  His hand rests over hers and his thumb brushes over her knuckles lightly, tenderly.

Raylynn doesn’t even realize he’s stopped kissing her.  She can only feel his hand curved over hers, caressing something deeper within.

The silence beats between them.

Then, a whisper.

“On your terms.”

Everything stops.  Except for the thumb on her hand.  Except for the heartbeat pressed into her back, reaching out to her, calm and steady.  Never threatening to break her.  

And just like that, Raylynn lets go of the sword.

There is no hesitation in her touch when her fingers find Baldair’s.  They entwine with purpose, savoring how perfectly made they were to fit.  She guides him to the valley between her breasts, holds him there, and together, with her fingers tangled with his, they find her heartbeat.

Neither one of them moves.  Raylynn could stay like this all night, wrapped up in his arms, breathing as one.  She knows he would not object, would not push her further. It’s all she needs.

But she wants more.

Raylynn shifts in Baldair’s embrace, and when she pulls her hand away, he stays where she left him, cradling her heart as though it might stop if he were to let go.  She reaches behind her head, fingers grazing the stubble of his jaw, then further, raking through his hair.  The angle is awkward, but when she turns her head, nose bumping into his, Baldair knows what she wants and draws himself up to meet her lips with his.

For a moment, Raylynn’s lungs forget their purpose.  Warmth seeps into her bones, her body instantly surrendering to Baldair, melting into his.  His lips are soft, softer than they have any right to be after weeks of marching through the desert, and she feels herself pouring everything she has into this one moment, at the same time claiming him, devouring all that he’s giving her in return.

When they break apart, they’re both breathless.  Raylynn’s eyes flutter open to find his already on her.  His gaze is tender, yet intense, searching her face before bringing his hand to her cheek and brushing his lips with hers.

“I’ve missed you,” he breathes into her mouth before recapturing her lips with something much firmer.  Raylynn sighs into him, twisting her neck, desperate to deepen the kiss.  

It’s a ridiculous thing to say.  Truly.  But it spurs her heart to beat faster nonetheless.  From the moment she’d chosen to honor her oath to the crown, the golden cuff around her wrist never came off, as much a reminder to herself that she was bound to his fate as it was a symbol of her place in his guard.  She never left his side; he’d made sure of that when, on the morning of their first ride, he’d taken the reigns of her horse and, in front of all his men, in front of his brother, his father, led her to the front line to ride beside him.  A promise of his own - one made not from the crown, but from a kiss in another desert, in another time.  

By the Mother, she’s missed him too.  Somehow, somewhere in the space between them she had been aching for this closeness.  

“I’m here,” she murmurs into his lips, arching into his touch, bidding the hand still cradling her heartbeat to move.  Calloused fingers find the opening in her cotton tunic and slip inside, grazing her breast.  A broken gasp escapes her when he squeezes and rolls his thumb over its peak, circling the spot over and over, applying the perfect amount of pressure.

It’s not long before his hand is moving again - away - but the disappointment of losing his warmth on her chest dissolves into nothing when his journey begins to take him lower and lower, slipping beneath the blanket, skimming over the hem of her tunic and -

Baldair stops, hand frozen on her hip.  

Her bare hip.

Raylynn smirks.

It takes Baldair a moment to regain his senses.  He exhales shakily. “Were you waiting for me, love?” he teases in her ear, a ragged, almost desperate, edge to his breathing.

Raylynn hums happily, pressing her backside into Baldair, eliciting a surprised breath from him and feeling his hardness, hot and ready for her, through his breeches.  “I wait for no man.”

The silence that follows is so wickedly sweet, Raylynn almost laughs.  She delights in his torture as much as his pleasure, and as the meaning of her words fully sink in, the grip on her hip sharpens.  

“Mother, Raylynn,” Baldair groans, almost painfully, as his forehead drops onto her shoulder.  It’s exactly the reaction Raylynn was looking for, but there’s no satisfaction in it.  Not when his hand is so close, yet entirely too far away from the heat pounding between her legs.  She opens her mouth to say something, but he suddenly jerks his hips, rolling his arousal roughly against her backside, making her feel every inch of him.  

“Did you think of me?” he rasps in her ear.  “As you were bidding you time? ”    

Raylynn meets his thrust with a sensual roll of her hips.  “My pleasure is my own.”

He chuckles.  A deep, lustful thing.  “Indeed. Might you be persuaded to share?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“What you’ll give me in return.”

Baldair’s hand digs into her skin.  “Everything. If you’ll let me.”

She does.

It could have been a couple minutes or several lifetimes before he’s sliding into her, filling her in a way that no other person ever has or ever could.  Strong legs wrap around his waist, guiding him, anchoring him home as her hips rock in perfect harmony with his.  It’s not at all rough, but there’s power underneath his gentle movements, each thrust a punctured call she feels go through her entire body, yours yours yours.  

With the prince, it’s always an endless tide of pleasure, and tonight is no different.  His mouth is everywhere.  Her breasts, her neck, her jaw, her lips - until her entire body is humming in sensation.  And still he has more to give.  Still he breathes quiet praise between fervent kisses.  Soft words of how he missed her, missed this.  That sends her heart fluttering more than anything.

All too soon, it becomes too much for either one of them.  It’s as though time had ceased from when they rode out from Solarin to the moment before Baldair entered her tent and now that they were finally together, it was rushing to catch up.  If Raylynn had any breath to spare, she’d laugh.  They’re just too good together. And it’s been so long.

Damn this war.

Baldair slips an arm underneath her neck, gripping her shoulder and cradling the back of her head in the crux of his elbow, while his other hand props himself up slightly so he can see her face.  His mouth hangs open, eyes tracing the outline of her face in reverence as he pulls her close, all the while he never ceases moving inside her, relentless in his pursuit to bring her over the edge.  

“Ray,” he rasps between labored breathing, lips close to hers. “Raylynn.  I - ”  

She silences him kissing him full on the mouth.  It’s urgent, breathless.  His teeth scrape her lower lip, nipping and tugging until she moans and opens to him.  Tender, the tip of his tongue penetrates, brushes against hers, matching her own wanton sounds with groans of his own.  When their increasingly frantic rhythm forces them to break apart, she fills the space with a litany of his own name.  There’s no air left between them for more than that.  

The sound of his name on her lips spurs Baldair on, and suddenly he shifts his angle, making every stroke a headrush of pleasure for her.  Faintly she remembers that they’re in a tent in the middle of nowhere, but this - this feeling - it can’t be real.  Something this exquisite can’t exist in the Western Waste.

Baldair sets a devastating rhythm, and Raylynn clings to her prince with all her strength, almost desperate as she feels herself being pressed deeper and deeper into the sand with each frenzied snap of his hips.  She can hardly keep up.  Moisture prickles at the edges of her eyes and it takes everything she has to all but sob out loud.  He’s so good.  So so good.  It’s excruciating.  Every blast of breath against her ear sends the mounting heat between them soaring higher and higher and higher until -

Raylynn arches her back and scrabbles at his back, feels her nails dig into his scorching skin as her release crashes over her.  It’s like the wind has been knocked out of her.  She’s gasping frantically for air while at the same time trying to keep from crying out.  

She’s not alone.  

Somewhere beyond her own euphoria, she hears the harsh breathes of her name being buried into her neck over and over again in a susurrus of uncontrol as Baldair’s hips stutter involuntarily against her own.  She feels the quick surging of heat inside her and she clenches and quivers around him, wringing every last swell of need from his spent body.

Despite being out of breath, Baldair pulls her into a passionate kiss - and doesn’t stop.  Nor do their hips, slowly rolling in tandem, lazy and luxurious, neither one of them in any rush to end this moment.  Raylynn has never felt more unwound, more unbound.  His heartbeat, once a tempest, begins to slow against her and she latches onto it, using it to anchor her own runaway pulse.  

It’s only when the desert air settles over them and their bodies begin to cool that Baldair pulls away.  He smiles down at her, expression overflowing with adoration, and he smooths away the damp hair clinging to her sweat-slick forehead.  He bends forward, and she thinks he’s going to kiss her there, but instead, he gently coaxes her cheek to him and presses his lips to the scar running up the side of her face.  A tremor runs through her, entirely different than anything he made her body feel moments ago.  No, it’s better.  She didn’t think it was possible.

The feeling doesn’t leave even when his mouth does.  With her prince sprawled out on his back and Raylynn nestled in his side, they are once again surrounded by the quiet of the night.  Baldair’s hand tangles lazily through her hair as they listen.  It’s not long before Raylynn grows restless.  

“So,” she says, propping her chin on Baldair’s chest and looking up at him, “you’re staying?”

Baldair peers down at her, brow arched slightly.  “Would you like to me to leave?”

“No,” she amends, and she’s a little disappointed with herself for how quickly she says it.  Baldair grins.  “No, it’s not like that. I just figured, tomorrow’s a big day and you have your bed so -”

“I told you,” the prince interrupts, “my bed is preoccupied tonight.”

“That was true?”

Baldair frowns.  “When have I ever lied to you?”  His tone is playfully exasperated, but Raylynn notes the wound underneath the question.  She can’t have that.

Raylynn raises herself up to his face, thoroughly enjoying the way his eyes widen as her naked breasts brush against his chest.  She hovers over him for just a moment, then lowers her lips to his. The hand in her hair stills, then presses her more insistently to him.  It’s supposed to be quick.  An assurance.  But it turns into a promise, and it’s minutes before either one breaks away.

By the time Raylynn releases him, Baldair’s chest is already heaving against her once more.  She rests her forehead against his, giving each other a moment to collect themselves, then gives him a quick peck on the lips before sinking comfortably into her place at his side.

“Did a pack of noru run off with it?” she asks softly, as though she hadn’t just interrupted their conversation with a mindblowing kiss.

Baldair clears his throat, a chuckle escaping.  “No, I let someone else take it.”

That certainly peaks Raylynn’s curiosity.  “My, how generous of you. Who’s the lucky maiden?  Or bachelor? By the Mother, if it’s Jax I’ll - ”

“It’s my brother.”

Stunned silence fills their tent.  Somewhere outside someone coughs.  It takes Raylynn several seconds to process what he’s just said, and when she does, she props herself up to look at him.  He only stares at the canvas ceiling, a line burrowed between his brow.

“You let your brother stay in your tent?” she balks.  When Baldair doesn’t answer, she prompts, “Why?”

“Not just Aldrik,” Baldair finally asserts, still not looking at her.  “It was for Vhalla too.”

The frown on his face deepens at the girl’s name.  Raylynn suppresses a sigh, looking away.  Leave it to Aldrik and his precious Windwalker to snuff out their afterglow.

It’s not that she’s jealous.  No - if she were the jealous type then whatever relationship she shared with Baldair would never work.  However, his fixation on the eldest prince’s “plaything” - his constant concern and drive to protect her from his brother - worries her.  For all her love for him - yes, love, she can admit that to herself - she thinks when it comes to his brother, sometimes the golden prince only sees what he wants to see.

“I think he loves her.”

Or not.

Raylynn’s head snaps back to gawk at Baldair.  He’s already looking at her, expression pained, so different from the face she was kissing moments ago.  She’s tempted to lean down and chase away the tension with another.  One that will carry them through the night and burn through all the stars.

“Would that be so bad if it were true?” she asks instead.  “Does Aldrik not deserve love?”

“It’s not Aldrik that I worry about.”

“Isn’t he, though?”

Baldair’s entire demeanor turns to stone.  Raylynn half expects him to walk right out of her tent.  Naked if he has to.  Anything to get away from this conversation that has driven them so far from where this night began.  But he doesn’t. Instead, he stares at her long and hard, until the serious lines on his face slowly melt away and there’s nothing left but sorrow.  He suddenly looks so young, and that’s because he is.  

Raylynn regards him for a moment longer.  She’s not looking for an answer. Someday he would figure out his feelings for his brother.  But not tonight.  Tonight is about another prince.  One that is not tormented by shadows, but caught in a sunbeam, and she has no intention of letting him go.

Baldair stiffens when Raylynn lowers herself back down onto the bedroll beside him and comes to rest her head on his chest, seemingly surprised by the action, given the exchange.  But when she pulls the blanket over them and snuggles closer, he relaxes, wrapping his arms around her in turn and brushing his lips across the top of her head.

“So,” Raylynn drawls, “your brother gets it on with the Windwalker and your first thought is to pay me a visit?”

“What?” Baldair chokes out.

“Admit it, you were -” Raylynn searches for the right word, “- inspired.”

“I was most certainly not,” huffs Baldair, shifting irritably on the bedroll.  “I gave them my tent because my presence was clearly unnecessary for their prolific declarations to each other to continue and as there was no end in sight, I generously removed myself.”

Raylynn smirks into his chest. “‘Prolific declarations’ you say?”

“Ray, stop,” demands Baldair, and Raylynn actually laughs.  As if the prince could possibly order her to do anything.  Agitation rumbles through his chest. “They aren’t actually - Aldrik wouldn’t -”

There’s a pregnant pause.  Raylynn almost feels sorry for him.  Almost.

“I’m having Jax burn the damn thing in the morning,” Baldair announces deadpanned.

Raylynn pats his chest sympathetically.  “I doubt that’ll be necessary.  The way those to go at it, I’m sure Aldrik will have accidentally set it on fire with their passionate lovemaking.” Raylynn punctures the thought with a sharp sniff.  “Is that - ? Do you smell smoke?”

“That’s it!” Baldair growls and in a whoosh of fabric he’s flipped her over and has her pinned to the ground.  She struggles underneath him.  It’s no secret that the master swordswoman matches the prince in strength.  However, her attempts to thwart him off her are half-hearted.  Because the truth is, that the hands already releasing her wrists and gathering her in his arms are exactly what she wants.  She doesn’t resist when he pulls her against his chest.  She doesn’t care when he refuses to let go.  And she certainly doesn’t turn away when his thumb brushes her scarred cheek and he lowers his lips to hers.    

A sigh of contentment escapes Raylynn’s throat, arms wrapping around Baldair’s neck on their own accord.  She holds him close.

The Western Waste is a blank canvas for those who walk it.  For years, she’d believed to one day pledge her sword to the crown.  Aldrik.  But it was only when the desert’s sand revealed another prince tangled in her red line did she realize just how wrong she was.  

“Thank you,” she breathes into Baldair’s lips.  Whether it’s to him or the Mother above, she doesn’t know.  Either way, Baldair doesn’t question it.  He leans his forehead against hers, a smile creeping on his lips.  

“I think I’m the one who should be thanking you."  

the end.

#air awakens #air awakens series #fire falling #baldair solaris #raylynn westwind #raylair #baldair x raylynn #the golden guard trilogy #the prince's rogue #elise kova #mine #my fics #did i insert a zutara line in there? #yUP #you bet i did

[onepunchmiss]

OPM s2e3 Live Blog

“The Hunt Begins”

Ok I had 3 screenshots leaked to me before seeing the episode, but only one of them was spoiler-y in that I wasn’t sure if we’d get that far in the episode. And of course not only did I not leave work early, but had to stay an hour late. So without further delay, I’m hoppin to it. Reminder, I’m watching each episode as someone who is caught up with both the manga and web comic.

Alright, off the bat we’re getting the Charanko expulsion over with. I wasn’t expecting that, but it makes sense- it’s a good hook to lead with and set up the Garou issue before actually getting into Garou destroying everyone.

BTW I am Still not over the opening theme- nope it still gets me both visually and musically. (I definitely was not listening to the song on repeat at work all day. nope. what kind of nerd would do that definitely not me hahaaaaaa)

I like that Charanko doesn’t bat an eye that The Worlds Strongest Man King is there, or Blizzard of Hell, he’s just like ‘ah they’re multiplying.’ Fuckin kek. Saitama oh sweetheart, “Silver Fang” may be cool but to us you’ll always be the One Punch Man oh dear my heart

oh OH YES Guys you have no idea how excited I am for this fight?? I know Tank Top Master isn’t really popular but like I’m a gym rat so I’ve got a soft spot for him and Superalloy. Guys, in the databook his favorite things are chicken breasts and protein. Also I mean hes actually a decent guy too, but----- Anyway, wasn’t too hard finding Garou, was it Charanko?

Oh, oh right. Let me clarify I’m excited to see TTM get some screen time. Also to watch trash son (aka Garou) kick some ass. I’m, I’m not excited about him kicking Mumen’s ass specifically. This is gonna hurt.

(garou scary face)

His faces literally make me shout WOAH at my screen ok thanks scary trash son. Ah, lookit the tanktopper army!! Fukkin Tank Top Mask is there to I’m- yes, just yes.

YES. MY BRO MY MAN KICK SOME ASS. Garou’s little ‘nani??’ omfg perfect.WAIT the little ‘haha~~’ THAT was perfect. I also need to point out here that in the manga Garou has a lot of crazy faces, like his expressions are very extra, (another way he’s a foil to Saitama, hah) but seeing them actually in motion speaking is borderline uncanny valley? They’ve creeped me out twice already and he’s been on screen for like 20 seconds? I mean i guess he IS going for the scary-monster thing, so uh, good job u freeky trash man you.

Oh, Tiger and Black Hole, I only missed you a little bit.

BOMB. ITS BOMB. YES. AAAHHH. I MEAN I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO SHOW UP IN THE EPISODE BUT IM STILL? HYPED??

Man the Garou music is really intense, holy shit. If I’m not mistaken something at least similar played when he was fighting at the HQ last episode. Honestly, I hope it’s not gonna be this sounding track every time garou gets in a fight. Cause, y’know, ge gets in a lot of those. It’s only been twice now and it’s still during establishing character moments so it passes, but I really really hope they switch it up or it will lose it’s epic feel.

Oh, there he goes with his creepy faces.

FUCK Mumen You FOOL. Also, how did you take that hit so well??? Tiger and Black hole are right for once. Oh you fools. Oh you fools. Stop it’s gonna get worse. ITS GONNA GET WORSE stOP TalKInG

Wait did Garou actually fake walk away in the manga?? I don’t remember that??? Gotta double check myself there cause that threw me off like? Garou??

Garou: 50% Uncanney Faces, 50% Badass

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand back to the freeky faces. Also, TTM’s “KUSO!!”

oh.

oh god.

The sound as he repeatedly bashes Mumen’s skull into the concrete. REPEATEDLY. my stomach. This fight is a rollercoaster of hype and pain oh no

Here have this screnecap so you can suffer, too

I must say, watching Garou fight otherwise is an absolute joy. The rest of this scene was so dynamic. I loved the way just glided through everyone and bounced around so fluidly. Keeping the water stream fist throughout it was also visually really pleasing. I need more. Give me more Garou fights, this is AMAZING. And that put us about half way through the episode like I predicted, which means I have no idea at what scene the episode will end.

“He’s here” Oh that was funny. Was that filler? I dont remember that either good shit good shit

YES IT THE 

B A N A N A T I M E  

TTM: “At least say I put up a good fight!!” Oh sweetheart I love you and appreciate you you did great

OH MY FUCK OH MY GOD OH FUCK GOOD OH FUCK SHIT FUCK

Oh shit that was a cool gag, how the newspaper flew past and garou just appeared. also. The most beautiful friendship is about to start and oh my god I’m so excited. Ok really I won’t lie- I would have been SCREAMING at Tareo on the screen if the didn’t just lead with Zombieman’s face in the catalog. I live for that pout. And his eyebrow is quirked like the heck u lookin at just. F. I’ve exhausted all my energy screaming at that. I’m so sorry.

Wait wait they still showed the side of his face again guys I’ve got it so bad for that 2D man help

I’ve waited so long for this scene. OH MY FUCK the little leg bob guys someone gif it NOW.  I love both of them so much. Also, Tareo’s voice is adorable. Watching that kid go through some shit is gonna be heart wrenching. FFF Anyway, it looks like we are getting GoldenBall and Spring Mustachio this episode? I was torn either way if we’d see that much. huh.

Oohhh Shit Sea King and Melzalgald! Wassup flashbacks?? Oh my gosh Saitama looks so excited I think thats the happiest we’ve seen him in a long time? No wonder he takes an interest in martial arts! AH! The ticket! The ticket! The tournament ticket!! I know a bunch of people considered the tournament filler and found it annoying, but I’m so excited for it!! Like, it seriously gave me a whole new respect for Lightning Max and Snek, I can’t wait to see those boys get the spotlight for a second again!

OMFG What is this jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-- wtf I am Cackling?? Oh my fuck its still going this is Peak Comedy 

AH! I missed them! And I wish the screen wasn’t so dark, but otherwise SEE WHAT I MEAN? Shit watching Garou move is fun as hell, even if he’s barely moving. Also, is that legit bullet fire sound effects? I also love that those two get drinks together regularly enough that Spring knew something was up when GB wasn’t there. So good so good.

Garou: “Ding ding ding”          Me: glorious you bastard

Question, what the fuck is that sword made of that it shoots rainbows for miles? Is it the power of gay? I mean I personally don’t ship Spring and GB buuuuuuuuuuuuuut…………………………….

OH IM SO DISAPPOINTED GAROU DIDNT JUST FLIP US ALL OFF JUST A THUMBS DOWN CMON I WAS EXCITED FOR THAT I FEEL RIPPED OFF. Also there’s that music again, but it didn’t play the whole time thank goodness.

“Here comes the fan service to your screen” amirite?

Eh at least I got the satisfaction of watching the sleezeball get decked in the face. The brunette’s face when he asked for a kiss on the cheek is SUCH  a MOOD. And oh fuck the ‘relax its for peace” Those two girls are the real stars of this episode I love them.

Obligatory “YES”ing at the screen rn hold on

OH FUCK GAROUS REACTION IS PRICELESS

Hey wait. HEY WAIT ARE THEY GONNA SHOW MY TRASH SON WAKING UP IN THE TRASH WHERE HE BELONGS??? THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT VERY

THE POST CREDIT SCENE. Genos I love you never change. Just. look at this precious boy. And the voice acting is perfect. I’m glad they ended on a humorous note this time. Gold.

IN SUMMARY: I honestly don’t feel like I have much to say or reflect on. I just really loved this episode. Favorite one yet. I mean of course I’m going to like it more as the story kicks the fuck up, but I genuinely had zero complaints, and actively enjoyed watching the animation.

Warning for next week btw, I’m going to be out of the country and also not really near civilization, so I probably won’t have wifi, so theres a good chance I wont be able to blog next week’s episode till I get back. Which I’m actually pissed about. because 

WE ARE GOING TO GET TO SEE METAL BAE KICK SOME MONSTER ASS AND IVE WAITED SO MANY YEARS TO SEE HIS STUPID DELINQUENT FACE IN ACTION FUCK MY TIMING MAN IM BOTH EXCITED AND PISSED of all the weeks I had to live in the wilderness UHG. Bet your ass I’m going to TRY MY DAMNDEST  to get internet next Tuesday.

I’ll hopefully see yall next week, thanks for reading!

#FUCKIN SHIT FUCK METAL BAT #I #IM GOING #TO #DIE #DEAD #METAL BAT #Tank top master #bang #bomb #charanko #season 2 #episode 3 #s2e3 #s2e15 #garou #golden ball #spring mustachio #mumen rider #opm #saitama #genos #one punch man #live blogging #live blog #opmiss mumbling

[morepopcornplease]

what-day-is-it13 replied to your post: I can’t believe I’m saying this but… I just got...

Hi, complete film amateur over here. Could you guys explain what you mean by tone problems? I am really curious to see what film pros have to say about Endgame.

i am NOT A PRO and YOU KNOW IT, MISSY.

when a piece of the movie is objectively good, (be it well-written, well-acted, well-shot, etc.) but does not get the expected emotional reaction out of it’s audience, that’s usually when you can start looking for tone issues.

tone issues are more-or-less questions of priming your audience, giving context for the next scene through the delivery of each prior scene. 

example from a script reading i went to a month back: it’s this cute piece about these two girls who are maybe developing feelings for each other, and they ask if they can kiss, and its all very charming. and then, the girl mentions that her father beats her with a baseball bat. wait, WHAT??? we the audience were settling into this childlike discovery of who you might like, when did parental abuse enter the picture?? how was this set up? you just gave your audience whiplash from a lighthearted tentative scene to “oh, and my dad beats me up with a baseball bat.”

without spoiling Endgame, we have scenes where everyone is sad and moody followed by zany hijinks as we try to get to another plot beat followed by quippy one-liners back to oh-right-serious-mission-we-might-kill-even-more-people-if-we-fail. and the audience can’t catch a breath!!

tone issues isn’t about never having moments of comic relief, or only having joke after joke after joke. It’s more about how you pace your peaks and valleys in your story. 

do we go low enough in a low-point scene, and do we not undermine it with a joke? do we go high enough in a moment of joy, and not undercut it with an interjection of “btw-this-is-serious?” sincerity is KEY.

let your scene play, and allow for proper breathing room between scenes. you need peaks and valleys, not an endless high-intensity film that build and builds and never allows for things to settle and sink-in and matter to your audience.

#what-day-is-it13 #popcorn replies #film criticism #film crit #avengers endgame #endgame #i DID ultimately like the film #but so many jokes fell flat to me #or cool scenes where i should have been enjoying them and im like.....huh. i should be enjoying this more???

[malgal7777]

Hiking with Tracy 2021:  Here we go!

Back to Mt. Diablo we went to begin the official Ride 4 Reason - Run•Walk•Ride Event!  Helping to raise funds for 12 Bay Area School PTSA’s:

https://runsignup.com/tracyalbert/Donate

If you need to fill your good deed quota for the day, how about contributing to the excellent cause of our school PTSA’s?  Mind you, we’re not the district, we’re the Parents, Teachers and the Students.  We get s**t done!

Ok, so on Saturday 4/3, I hiked 14.6 miles to the Summit of Mt. Diablo.  My previous post gave you an inkling of what Mt. Diablo was like.  And I’m hooked!  It was 14.6 miles of natural bliss. I started at my favorite gate:  Mitchell Canyon Road and took a trail called Back Creek to Bald Ridge to North Peak to the Summit.  Back down was even more glorious:  Juniper Trail to Deer Flat Rd to Mitchell Canyon Trail which lead me straight back to the car.  

Trying to formulate my thoughts on what I enjoyed best:  

The FLOCKS of Wild Turkey’s?!!  Not 1 or 2.  20 of them!  Like guardians of the peak, gobbling along the meadow, telling all visitors they’re in for a treat.  Now, I do not believe the turkeys get up to the peak.  They’re satisfied with the beautiful long grasses of the bottom.  I’m the only jive turkey among them today.

Maybe it was the GROVES of Manzanita trees?  I cannot express just how beautiful these trees are!  As I was making my climb up I found myself thinking  about my last trip here and lo & behold I was among the groves again!  I know it sounds silly, but it’s as if they magically appeared once I started thinking of them!  Like forest gnomes who wait for someone to BELIEVE that they exist and BAM!  there they were.  I know it’s hard not to focus on the hard but smooth rust colored exterior of their bark, but I could not help noticing the leaves this time.  A soft pastel Easter green in the shape of an almond.  How beautifully these two colors meshed together:  Burnt Sienna & pastel green.  If you have any artist sensibility at all and love color, nature is by far the best place to find inspiration.  

Or maybe it was the wildflowers that are now in full bloom, especially at the top?  Talk about color!  Purples, yellows, whites, pinks, reds...like a natural Seurat painting that you’re viewing up close.  If I was able to pull away and view  at even higher elevations, oh the images they would produce!

I guess I would HAVE to say the views.  Breathtaking. It was such a glorious blue sky day too!  It’s not easy to get up there mind you.  90% of the trip is fairly do-able.  The trail zigs-zags up to North Peak.  You start to get a bit cocky. Looking up and seeing the visitor center building of the Summit, I began my chant, “I’m coming to get ya! I’ll be done in no time!”   And like that...Instant Karma.  That building turned into Zeus throwing an extremely steep hill/lighting bolt my way.  Because it got pretty steep suddenly and my heart was pumping. My chant turned to Fred Sanford...”I’m coming to join you Elizabeth!”.   But, WOW!  It felt as if I was in the Swiss Alps viewing the scenic towns within the rolling green hills below me.  A modern day Elizabeth Bennett walking through the rolling hills of Pemberley.  

Day TWO.  Sunday, 4/4.  Inspiration Pt / Nimitz Way to Wildcat Canyon Peak loop back via Wildcat Canyon Trail and Gorge.  12.1 miles.

After my Saturday hike, I treated myself to a nice cold ice bath!  Yup, sat in the tub, ran the cold water and to Charlotte’s delight she dumped a bag of ice onto my legs.  I lasted about 5 minutes.  Then finished off in a hot shower.  And you know what??  It worked!  On Sunday, my legs were feeling pretty darn good and ready for Day TWO!   Nimitz Way trail to Wildcat Canyon Trail loop.  12.1 miles.  

I got a late start since it was Easter Sunday.  Charlotte had fun hiding the eggs for us and I had fun beating Bob in finding them.  BTW, I’m not competitive in anyway.  Nah!  Not me.  My own personal Christ had risen and he was ready to find the most eggs and walk the most miles.  Thank You Jesus!

This hike was interesting because for the first half you’re walking along a ridge overlooking the Bay to the West and the Valley to the East.  The second half you’re down in the canyon walking along a river stream (which I had no idea existed).  Tons of animal sightings:  Cattle, goats, deer, turkeys, bunnies and a few coyotes. The cattle are a bit unnerving.  They’re docile, but BIG.  Me no likey anything that big that moves. AND they’re very close to the trail, so you need to give them a wide berth as you pass by.  The really creepy ones sit and stare at you from the bushes. Pretty startling you as you walk past. 

The goats are awesome.  A centuries old practice for wildfire management.  Hundreds of goats chomping away at the tall grass!  They’re herded by a Shepard and his dog.  The Shepard sits in his trailer, but now and again you see the dog patrolling the electric fence they have to keep the goats in a particular area.  The views this person gets while the goats munch on the grass is amazing.  Best seat in the house. 

The fun part of this hike was walking in the open air along the ridge and looking back to see my friend Mount Diablo.  Crazy how I was just there less than 24 hours ago walking along it’s trails and staring down on this very spot.  

Then there’s the return through the canyon.  Not too much to say here.  It’s a gravel path that looks up at the ridge you were just walking along.  The really cool part is when you reach Tilden and you get to the Wildcat Canyon GORGE trail.  Now, I am not that familiar with Tilden Regional park.  I live 10 minutes from it and have never truly explored.  We’ve been to the steam train, farm and Merry-Go-Round when Charlotte was little, but I seem to always get lost.  Lost while driving.  The roads do not make sense to me and god forbid you go through there at night.  Even walking through this Sunday I was confused.  All these nooks and crannies of parking lots.  Anyway, must get brave and figure this park out.  

But, the GORGE trail is pretty spectacular.  Really beautiful.  It was a great way to end my journey because it brings you back up to Inspiration Pt.  A perfect loop.  

So this weekend is a big one.  Macdonald Gate in Oakland to Lake Chabot in Castro Valley. Around the Lake and back.  20 miles.  Wish me luck and I’m sure you’ll read all about it!

As Louie Anderson always says...Be Good to your Families!  

Peace Out!

[tinnefoil]

Two Lies and a Half Truth

One thing that really pisses me off is when people make blanket statements that are UNTRUE in support of their ship. I don’t care what you ship, don’t make untrue statement and don’t spread untrue statements just because it benefits your POV. The current complaint concerns ratings. I feel the need to go through a couple of statements I personally have seen floating around in ether. 

1.) Supergirl lost 5 million/10 million/3,9 million viewers because season 2 is so awful and people hate Mon-El.

This statement is grossly misleading. As you can see by this graph which shows all of Supergirls ratings, season 1 and season 2: Yes Supergirl lost a lot of ratings, but the majority (around 3+ million) were lost in the CW transfer. 

Right in the beginning of season 2. Before Kara and Mon-El were even a couple, before Mon-El had uttered a line, before Mon-El did any of the controversial things people hate him for.  (btw, note how using the same scale suddenly makes sesaon 2 look a lot “flatter”, read, constant, compared to season 1? keep that in mind for the next point)

2,) The ratings of season 2 were in a steady/constant decline (other than the episode which featured Barry). Also, everything was perfect and flawless in season 1. 

This statement is untrue. For one, season 1 was also on a decline from ratings in their 8 millions to ratings in their 6 millions (worse if you don’t ignore the pilot because you assume that many people just checked out the pilot out of curiosity and only the ones who tuned in for episode 2 can be considered interested in Supergirl). Season 2 had dips and valleys, people checking out the first episode and losing interest, people tuning in for the crossover, people tuning in for the finale. 

You can argue that while season 2 had dips and valleys, it had an overall downward trajectory (just like season 1 btw), but this is not what “a constant decline” looks like (overall? yes. constant? no) 

Season 2 ratings: 

Even if you ignore the peak for the crossover episode, you have slight upticks for  02-05 (the one where Kara tries to make Mon-El a CatCo intern, which I think was heavily featured in the promos),  02-07, 02-11 and 02-12 ,  02-17 (the episode which the most Mon-El screentime all season, the only episode where he has the most screen time btw),  02-20 (the James heavy episode where Kara had barely any screentime btw),  02-22 (the finale). 

Here is what the graph for season 1 looks like by comparison

As you can see, also dips and valleys, overall going lower. 

In general, we are talking comparable amounts of viewers. If we go by absolute numbers of viewers s1 goes from high 8s to low 6s and high 5s (so 2-3 mio viewers), while s2 goes from high 2s to low 2s (if you exclude the pilots for both seasons). Now percentagewise the loss might be heavier for season 2, because even if you bleed half a million to 1 million viewers hurts more if you only have 2-3 million to start with. Not to mention things like whatever the CW expected out of Supergirl. And of course we don’t have other numbers like how many other countries or streaming services bought Supergirl to air vis a vis other CW shows, what its streaming ratings are etc. 

Overall, talking of ratings, I think “highs and lows, with a downward trajectory, with boost for the premiere episodes and crossover episodes” is a fair rating assessment of the seasons. 

This is NOT to say that everything is fine is Supergirl world, that the ratings are amazing, that everybody loves season 2. This is merely to point out that the statement “they were losing viewers all season, it was a constant decline” is a wrong statement. As you can see there was an overall decline (again just like in season 1 ...) but there were ups and down. 

BTW, I deeply recommend this post which explains why ratings work differently in CW world than they do in CBS/ABC world. Note that even with such low ratings Supergirl is one of the highest rated shows on the CW and shows with much worse ratings like Reign or Vampire Diaries were kept around.

3.)  Viewers and ratings go up every time Katie McGrath made an appearance and went low every time an episode focused on your favorite slave owner. (source)

Again, I don’t care what you ship, but this is a FACTUALLY untrue statement. The episode with the most Lena screentime (which actually featured her heavily in the promos) was 02-18, which is the second lowest rated episode. By comparison, the episode with the most Mon-El screentime 02-17 was higher rated and it was a relative peak in its area. 

I tried to extract the top 5 episodes of each character in screeentime from @supergirlstats​ and these are their ratings. 

Mon-El:  02-17, 02-14, 02-09, 02-16, 02-13

Lena: 02-18,  02-12,  02-21, 02-08, 02-20

Again even if we don’t ignore the highest peak on account of it being the crossover episode (btw, also the episode where Kara and Mon-El kissed for the first time) as you can see, plenty of Mon-El heavy episodes have had higher ratings as plenty of Lena heavy episodes. 

Again the point here is not to say that Katie or Lena suck and is bad for ratings and that Mon-El is amazing for ratings (as you can see, they both have highs and low). And of course you can make up your own favorite fan theories like “2-17 was only high because people watched hoping Kara and Mon-El would break up!” or “2-18 was only low because people were upset that Kara and Mon-El didn’t break up!”, but the bottom line is that the blanket statement “every episode that featured Katie heavily had amazing ratings and every episode that featured Mon-El heavily had shit ratings” is just factually not true. 

So, stop making up false facts just because they benefit your position and more importantly, stop disseminating false facts without bothering to check them just because they benefit your position. 

Sidenote: You can draw slightly different graphs if you go only by demos, but the core messages 1.) Supergirl lost the majority of their ratings through the move to the CW, so hence before season 2 actually aired 2.) Season 2 had upticks and not just downticks 3.) not all Lena episodes had better ratings than all Mon-El episodes still remain. 

Continue to argue and fight over ships, but stop using false facts as part of your argument.This is not about who you like best or who is cuter or how you interpret a scene or what it means within the wider universe, this is plain out “this number is higher than that number” verifyable facts. 

Sources: 

Season 1 ratings

Season 2 ratings

List of Supergirl Episodes 

@supergirlstats​

#supergirl #supergirl ratings #karamel #Mon-El #katie mcgrath #Chris Wood #lena luthor

[tellywoodtrash]

TT!! Hieeeee 😙😙😙!!!! Loooving ur blog....I'm so glad that you are back! How are u?? Are u okay? Btw... did u by any chance notice the parallels between the om-ishaana hand holding scene.... and the Omkara-gauri hand holding scene??? Its pretty much EXACTLY the same. Who would u prefer amongst the two? If u had to choose?

Hello anon! 

Thank you for the love! I’m doing okay. Valleys and peaks… Life goes on, you know? 🙂

I’m sorry, I never really watched much of the Ishana track (as you may or may not know, I started watching IB from somewhere after her track was mostly done…), and Dil Boley Oberoi is just too painful of an endeavor to tolerate on a daily basis for me. So I’ve managed to miss both scenes that you’re talking about. But if you can give me dates for both scenes, I’d sure like to watch it, because it sounds like a very interesting parallel! 😊😊😊

If you ask me who I prefer between Ishaana and Gauri, at this point my answer is undoubtedly Ishana. Was I a fan of her somewhat flighty characteristics, like the sudden dancing? Not really. But Ishana’s character, as it was conceptualized, was the perfect counterbalance for Omkara’s (as it was BEFORE. I don’t even KNOW who this new Omkara is.) I’m still regretful that they managed to bungle that up so much that they had to cut her character. You can read more about why I thought Ishana was perfect for Om in my reply to another ask here.

Gauri’s character, as it exists currently, just angers me beyond belief. I’m sorry, but I just can’t stomach her almost-foolish level of optimism and… her pativrata sentiments towards a man who’s done nothing to deserve it. Okay yes, he saved her life. So the fuck what? It was a basic act of humanity and while it deserves gratitude, it doesn’t deserve such blind LOVE and COMMITMENT, on the basis of absolutely nothing, especially after the way he’s treated her. Her whole character and track rubs me the wrong way. Shrenu’s a very adorable, likable actress though, so I hope the character becomes less annoying to me, so I can watch the show without getting so angry. 😐😐😐

#ishqbaaz #ishqbaaaz #dil bole oberoi #dil boley oberoi #gauri kumari sharma #ishana patel #answered #tt answers

[financialsmatter]

Saturday Rant…Broke Bank Bailout Bash

The markets were mixed this week during the Broke Bank Bailout Bash between Wall Street and the District of Caligula. Cue up: Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and the ensuing banking crisis unleashed by the O’Biden Administration. And after puking from 32,374 on the DOW, down to 31,466 the markets recovered most of the losses from panic selling over the reality of a broke bank bailout bash. Today’s rant is from a 30-year veteran in the banking business who goes by the handle PrettyInPink. So, take it away PIP: James, you’ve said it many times how the favorite lines used by politicians and professional liars – when caught lying – is “I’m Shocked, I tell you…shocked.Who could’ve foreseen this happening?” And that was never more obvious this past week as bank regulators shunned the real problem and denied any responsibility. The sad truth is most banks are clueless when it comes to risk management. If they were honest (they’re not) they wouldn’t have loaded up on long-term bonds during the peak of low interest rates. Instead, they ignored the risk and now, thanks to inflation, they’re paying the price of their greed/stupidity. What’s even worse is how this has become a double-edged sword thanks to the Neocons in Washington and their blank-check policy to Ukraine. And NO ONE is holding anyone in Ukraine accountable for where our tax dollars are being spent. The bottom line is we not only face a banking crisis from an imploding Sovereign Debt massacre, but we cannot control inflation while funding a proxy war with Russia.   Broke Bank Bailout     And now the financial panic in banks has forced First Republic Bank and PacWest Bank into a near collapse state only to be bailed out by JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. But lurking in the background is another elephant named Credit Suisse…trading at $2.02 per share. They’ve been on the ropes for years with all of their exposure to bad mortgages and long-term government bonds. If they go under it will set off an even wider banking panic. The other elephant in the room is now that DC doesn’t want to bailout the banks, they will force the banks into doing Bail-ins. Let’s just hope this doesn’t get worse than the 2008 crisis. You are soooo right when you say how history repeats because the passions of man never changes. BTW, I loved your newsletter article this month on Bailouts vs Bail-ins. …Keep up the great work. ********************************** Thanks, PiP It’s always great to get a perspective from a viable source other than the media Presstitutes. As always, if you – our Dear Readers – have a rant you’d like to share then please send it to us. You never know whose life will be affected by it. And if you want to see some NSFW rants then go (HERE). Remember:  We’re Not Just About Finance. But we use finance to give you hope. ***********************************     Invest with confidence. Sincerely, James Vincent The Reverend of Finance Copyright © 2023 It's Not Just About Finance, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Read the full article

[eat-travel-live-repeat]

A Foodie’s Guide to Bir Billing – The Paragliding Capital of India

Bir is a town situated in the west of Joginder Nagar Valley in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Now popular as the “Paragliding Capital of India“, Bir is likewise a prominent centre for ecotourism, spiritual studies and meditation. Bir is also home to a significant Tibetan refugee settlement with severable known Buddhist Monasteries . While Billing is the take off site for paragliding and Bir is where the landing site is; collectively it is referred to as “Bir Billing”.

  In the past few years, Bir has become quite popular with the travellers, specially with those who are living the Digital Nomad Life. Popular hostel chains such as Zostel, The Hosteller, The Bunker etc have opened up properties in Bir, catering to the demand of the growing travellers, and likewise the Cafe culture has also grown and developed in the past 2-3 years.

  A lot of creative minds, who chose to escape the city life and move to the mountains, have made Bir their home now! And the fact that there are direct buses plying between Bir and Delhi on a daily basis, has contributed significantly in the growth of tourism in the Paragliding Capital of India. 

  All these factors have made Bir Billing not only a popular Weekend Getaway destination, but also one of India’s growing Digital Nomad Hotspot.

  I was fortunate to have spent around 2 weeks in March 2020 (Before Coronavirus aka COVID – 19 was declared an Pandemic by WHO), in Bir Billing, getting High on Himalayas, with a bunch of amazing people, and trying out different dishes to Eat in Bir Billing, on a daily basis, which helped compile this Bir Billing Food Guide, which mainly highlights what’s special to Eat in the different cafes and restaurants in Bir Billing.

  These places have been listed in chronological order, with respect to their location, as you walk from Choughan Chowk towards Landing Site in Bir.

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  Steamed and Fried Momos – Ram Bahadur Cafe

If you have a craving Momos, there’s no place better than Ram Bahadur Cafe !

This small ordinary looking food joint, holds a special place in the hearts of everyone who stays in Bir!

They have got Vegetable / Chicken / Mutton as a filling, which can be enjoyed either steamed, or fried. And my recommendation would be the Chicken Fried Momos, with spoonfuls of the yummy spicy chutney!

PS – Their momo chutney is to die for – just yummmm!

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  Thukpa and Devil Momo’s – Nyingma Restaurant

Another few steps from Ram Bahadur Cafe towards Gandhi Chowk, and you’ll find Nyingma Hotel – a bright yellow structure, on the Left side of the road.

This will look like one expensive restaurant, because of the plush interiors, but trust me, the rates are pretty economical, and the food tastes yummy.

While the restaurant serves a variety of dishes, I found the Thukpa and the Devil Momos to be the highlights at Nyingma Restaurant. And Ginger Lemon Honey tea of course.

Unlike a lot of places, where the Thukpa turns out to be either bland, or too spicy, the Thukpa here is just perfectly balanced, and pretty heavy too!

Devil Momos are basically fried momos, tossed and served in a spicy garlic gravy.

If you are looking for a place where you can chat with your friends, while having some really sumptuous food, Nyingma Restaurant is the place to be!

TBH, I found this to be one of Bir Billings hidden gems, with respect to this Bir Billing Food Guide ! You will mostly find locals here, rather than the tourists and travellers!

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Hogging on Momos in Bir, be it fried, steamed or the devil momos, will forever remain one of my Most Memorable Experiences in the Himalayas.

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Home Cooked Food – Kuckie’s Cafe

Kuckie’s Cafe deserves a special mention in this Bir Billing Food Guide !

Why ? You may ask ?

Well, ask any one who has been staying in Bir for a while, where they go to when they crave some Home Cooked food, and the answer will be unanimous – Kuckie’s Cafe !

The food served by Kuckie Aunty is simple, but yummy, and not that heavy on the pocket. The moment you step in Kuckie’s Cafe, you’ll feel as if, you’ve entered the living room of your house, and having a few words with Aunty will make you feel at home.

Whether you are looking for a quiet place to read a book, or work, or simply have a conversation – Its very easy to find a  spot for yourself at Kuckie’s Cafe.

BTW if you are looking for a place to volunteer, Aunty is always on the lookout for a helping hand.

Yummy Home Cooked Food

Ghar ka Khaana

Kuckie’s Cafe

  Hot Chocolate – June16

The strategic location of June16 Cafe, makes it one of the most popular and frequented cafes in Bir Billing, where travellers can be seen throughout the day, sipping a hot beverage like hot chocolate or coffee chatting with other travellers, and Digital Nomads, engrossed in their work, while sipping some yummy Hot Chocolate, which is what I would recommend you to try out as well.

  Hot Chocolate @ June 16 Cafe

  Vada Pav and Cutting Chai – Bombay Local

If you are craving some authentic and yummy Maharashtrian street food, such as Vada Pav and Pav Bhaji, along with the famed Cutting Chai, Bombay Local is where you should go to.

The Vada Pav is economically priced at INR 40, and will definitely take you back to the streets of Mumbai or Pune.

  Vada Pav @ Bombay Local

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Pasta’s and Fresh Green Salads – Paloma Vegan Bistro

Probably the only Cafe in Bir Billing, that caters only to Vegan Food.

Paloma Vegan Bistro serves some really delectable cakes, pastas and fresh salads, which you should definitely try.

  Fresh Green Salad @ Paloma Vegan Bistro

  Himachali Siddu  – The Northern Cafe

The Northern Cafe is one of the best places to catch the famed sunsets of Bir, with a panoramic view of the landing site in front, and the mighty Himalayas on the back. 

While the food is a bit pricey here, its one of the few restaurants and cafes in Bir Billing, where you can have the traditional Himachali Siddu. Also to try are the yummy pakoras, while enjoying the sunset.

Also, if you are a Digital Nomad, and are looking for a quiet place to work, I would highly recommend you to make The Northern Cafe, as your workspace during the day, when there aren’t that many travellers present.

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  Mint Ice Tea – Musafir – The Traveller’s Cafe

If you are a traveler and are interested in the Indie Music scene, you might be aware about Musicathon Bir. Musafir Cafe is where it all started!

The Mint Ice Tea is sort of a legend, and I highly recommend you try it at Musafir – The Traveller’s Cafe, while enjoying the sunset, with soft Indie Music playing in the background.

If you are an artist, you are going to love the vibes at Musafir Cafe for sure.

I’ve also heard that their chicken curry is also quite sumptuous. So if you happen to stay here post sunset, you might want to check it out.

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  South Indian Food – Avva’s Cafe

Strategically located beyond the Landing Site in Bir Billing, overlooking the green terraced fields, Avva’s Cafe, serves the best South Indian Food in Bir Billing. Period.

Yes, dining at Avva’s cafe, will be a bit heavy on the pocket, but the moment you’ll have your first bite, you’ll realise, that its worth every penny.

The idlis are going to melt in your mouth, the sambar is perfectly balanced and is neither too sweet nor too spicy, the coconut chutney is something that you’ll keep asking more and more, the dosas will be crisp with just the right amount of filling. And did I forget to tell that, you’ll get Rasam with kaala chana on the house.

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  Avva’s Cafe has one of the Best views in Bir Billing, from where you can see the gliders fly in the sky, all day long.

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Bnoffee Pie – Silver Linings

Another quaint cafe, famous with artists, digital nomads and the local community is the Silver Lining Cafe, just opposite Avva’s Cafe.

What usually happens is that, travellers have a heavy meal at Avva’s Cafe, and then cross the road and make their way to Silver Lining Cafe, where they just chill, connect with other travellers, and enjoy their cup of coffee!

The Bnoffee Pie along with Coffee is what I’ll recommend you to try at Silver Lining.

  Bnoffee Pie @ Silver Linings

  Anything and Everything – Kaafila

Tucked in the bylanes of Chaughan village, amidst bright yellow fields with the backdrop of snow clad peaks is a quaint cafe named Kaafila – from the streets of Bombay that offers you a slice of Bombay in the mountains.

From the iconic Bombay wada pav to pav bhaji and other mouth watering delicacies of mumbai street food, Kaafila serves it all.

Occasionally, you can find artistic souls creating soothing music or just leaving their footprints behind by painting a part of them on their art wall. Also, on bright sunny days they bake amazing sweet treats too giving you a complete experience of a guilty food trip filled with tons of entertainment as you connect with fellow travellers!

They also host pizza and burger nights, live sports streaming nights, BBQ and bonfire nights and gaming nights where the community of travellers meets and interacts with each other.

Musafir Cafe as mentioned above in this Bir Billing Food Guide, was previously where Kaafila, is today.

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  Vegetarian Thaali – Suryansh Bhojnalaya

This is the only place in this Bir Billing Food Guide, which is not near the landing site in Bir Billing, but on the highway from Bir to Palampur. Its 4 – 5 KM from the landing site, and the best way to go there is in a cab / your own vehicle if applicable.

The speciality of Suryansh Bhojnalaya serving only Vegetarian food is the Himachali Thaali and its pretty simple and straightforward affair. The food is sumptuous, healthy, and very economical.

One Thali for INR 150, is sufficient to feed two people, if they are not that hungry.

  Himachali Thali @ Suryansh Bhojnalaya

  Maggi and Chai – Multiple Places

This goes without saying, that the joy of having piping hot Maggi, while sipping Chai, is an experience thats synonymous with getting High on Himalayas.

Any any trip to the mountains is incomplete, if you haven’t sipped hot Chai, and slurped the Masala Maggi, while enjoying the view of the mighty Himalayas.

Getting Maggi and Chai in the mountains, is very easy, and can be found at multiple places through out Bir Billing, but the ones where you’ll have the best experience, are literally in the lap of the Mountains, away from the town.

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  I hope you enjoyed going through this Bir Billing Food Blog, and found it as a useful Travel Resource for your Trip to Bir Billing. Don’t forget to Pin this Bir Billing Food Guide, for your future trip.

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  What To Eat and Where to Eat in Bir Billing (Himachal Pradesh, India) | A Food Guide A Foodie's Guide to Bir Billing - The Paragliding Capital of India Bir is a town situated in the…

#2020 #Bir Billing #ETLR Food Trail #ETLR Travel Diaries 2020 #ETLR With Arnav #Food blog #FoodTrail #high on himalayas #Himachal Pradesh #Himalayas #Street Food #Weekend Trip

[topicprinter]

TL;DR By scouring the web and collecting microdata, you can use clues left by your competitors' customers to build your product around their weaknesses. Their weaknesses, your UVP.---One year ago my friend Massimo Giacchino put me on microdata. I merged that with what I know best, competitive intelligence, to rebuild and relaunch a product I already had in my portfolio.With the relaunch, I reached position #2 on the Hacker News front page and #4 on ProductHunt.In addition in 2 days, I've brought the product from ~300 users to over 1,000! A ton of businesses signed-up to receive rising trends in their industries. Including, people from GE, Uber, Accenture and a ton of venture funds.BeginningsWhen I first built it, the tool allowed users to track trends and receive email reports about peaks and downs. Technically it was a very simple software, just a wrapper on Google Trends.It added the ability to monitor trends over time, that Google Trends is still kind of missing.The tool also sent you really nice email reports at your preferred frequency, but didn't make money and got very little traction in terms of sign-ups. Enter microdataWhat is microdata? Generally, microdata is data collected from surveying consumers or by conducting an experiment (for example, an A/B test). But, in this case, I'm referring to microdata as clues (reviews, feedback, anything!) left by consumers online.  Basically, you don't need to survey your customers because you can get the same kind of micro insights from this wonderful place called, the internet.In fact, I didn't have any customers, so I dug up everything about my competitors' customers.Then, I used those insights to build a great (IMO) product that the target market is already asking for, as well as coming up with new marketing angles for the product, and write copy like a veteran. Basically, collecting microdata allows you to copy-paste everything out of your competitors' weaknesses. Their weaknesses, your UVP (unique value proposition).Where do you get microdata?My tool has a few competitors.These are mainly paid newsletters that expose customers to new trends.One big competitor is powered by The Hustle, and a viral podcast called "My first million". They are also in Silicon Valley, so they have way more access to resources than me. There are a few others that are just newsletters. Then, there are tools. The main one was made by an indie maker like me, and it was recently acquired by SEO guru Brian Dean. Of course, there are other competitors in the market, especially targeted towards enterprise (come on, I'm not revealing all of my cards).To find data about their customers I looked at:their Product Hunt, HN, Reddit launchesposts in relevant online communitiesMedium articlesYoutube videosInterviews on podcastsAds (including comments below the ads)Again, while doing this I didn't pay attention to how the founders were phrasing things, but I did pay attention to how their target market (users and customers) where phrasing things.At the end of this process, I had reverse-engineered their success and I had a list with all the good and bad of my competitors in the words of their potential users, or customers.Let's analyze some of the data together.Product microdataHere is a selection of feedback straight from the mouth of my competitors' customers:Would love daily insights. Also would be cool if it was a tool instead of a newsletter.Is there a Pro version where I can get alerts and manage my keywords etc and have a dashboard?This is awesome, would be cool if it was a tool rather than a newsletter. Would love to see all of the trends, but at $39/mo it's unaffordable for my curiosity.So I like the idea but do agree it would be nice if this was an app and not a newsletter I hate email so prefer to consume content when I choose via logging in...From here we understand a lot of things:Not all people in the target market like the newsletter format. They would like an actual tool they can use. From my perspective, I already had a web app. The beauty of this is that a web app can very much also be a newsletter because you can quite easily email your user base. But, a newsletter can not become an online tool as easily because building a tool requires some kind of technology, and tech costs money, resources, and time.They want an active role. They want to manage their own keywords, instead of passively consume the content.They want options. Some people would love to receive insights as often as daily with just-in-time communication, while other people would like to consume the content at their own pace.In their mind, they value having an online tool more than a simple newsletter. The guy says: "is there a pro version..". Keyword: pro (you didn't pay attention to that, did you?)The target is curious people. Pretty easy.There must be a very low entry point. The foot-in-the-door can't cost $39 dollars. But that's not all, I also built features by collecting microdata. Again, here is a selection of feedback straight from the mouth of my competitors' customers and potential clients:You just need to add a way to for users to predict trends and incentivize those who discovered it first and X will become my new addiction.Add links to Ahrefs Keyword Explorer + SEMrush's Keyword Overview on topic pages.I wouldn't recommend it just because I can't see any country or region differences. I need more filters.Filter by category and change the time frame makes it even more useful.I love how it uses different colors to show which topics are doing what.From here we understand a lot of things, as well:This tool could be very powerful for SEO users. Like all users, they are lazy, or productive, depending on how you see it (I found this to be true empirically, btw). They want the tool to link directly to the tools they use for search engine optimization. That's exactly what I did.They want filters. They want to search specific trends in certain countries. Guess what I did? I built those filters.They value having a good UI. This was consistent across all of my competitors: they have good user interfaces. I don't usually do, but this time I've put extra care in designing a good interface.They want a way to predict trends. Guess what I did? I built a forecasting feature on my product. We are now using the latest technologies to analyze 5 years of data on any trend and predict how it will perform 6 months ahead of time.They might be incentivized to spot trends. I'm working on a way to increase WOM exactly through incentives.As you can see, it's like having your target market LITERALLY telling you what it wants.Marketing microdataAs I mentioned, microdata was also useful to come up with new marketing angles, as well as writing great copy. Making the product better was all about the "what". Marketing was all about understanding the "why".Let's take a look at this customer's words:This definitely has a market, but I'm not sure SaaS is it. More typical eCommerce products have a "flavor of the day" like effect, where an article is written in some niche community, and everyone in that community rushes out to buy the thing. Then a few months later, the craze is over. If you're Amazon, you can spot these trends easily (because they have everyone's sales data from the marketplace). If you're a small eCommerce company, unless you just happen to have that product on hand, and someone just happened to have found you, you may never even realize the trend existed. Being alerted that there is a sudden demand for a product, might give you a headstart on marketing and might help you negotiate a deal with a supplier before the supplier realizes what they have.Now, as you know, I'm creative. I'm a musician, after all. It just happens that the day before I was watching TV (well, I don't watch TV but I like to fall asleep with the TV on). I don't remember the name of the show but it was about the beauties of Florence and they were showing Michelangelo's David.A day later, when I saw this, my marketing angle was born. I called it "David vs Goliath". I wrote this copy, which is now featured in the about page of the tool.Image of the "David vs Goliath" copyI used a lot of words from customer feedback. In fact, I would say that 50% of the copy on the website is made up of words straight from the target market.English is not my primary language (as you can probably tell). That's why I built my personal vault of words and phrases I could use in marketing and copy, on Trello:Image of my Trello vaultWith this, I went ahead and created another piece of copy, which is featured on the homepage. I called it: "You don't know what you don't know".Image of the "You don't know what you don't know" copyI'm so proud of this copy. But, the thing that makes me proud the most is that this copy travels:People sharing the copyLet me also stress one other not-so-obvious reason why microdata is good for marketing: handling objections. By reading real feedback from my competitors' posts I noticed a lot of questions like:"How does this compares to X?""How is this different from X"?X could be anything from a similar tool, like Google Trends, to one of my competitors.For similar tools, I just wrote a reply and put that into a F.A.Q. section in the about page of Treendly.For competitors, I prepared a reply beforehand and saved it into a swipe file on Trello. Then, I went to battle! I launched on Hacker News and Product Hunt. These are communities of, basically, tech lovers. They want to understand how you built something, why you built it and all the technicalities. How you phrase your message matters a lot.You can have two outcomes from posting to these communities, one good and one bad: either they grill you (bad) or they give you great feedback (good).Luckily, some of my competitors had successful launches, so I tried to mimic their launches.Thanks to my Swipe file I was able to overcome objections like a Jedi: Overcoming objectionsYou can see how my competitors' weaknesses are now my differentiating factors.Aside from handling objections, I also received a lot of praise and confirmation that what I did was right.In the screenshot above, for example, you can see how one visitor mentioned that he had to leave my competitor's website to see the trend in Google Trends. I had encountered that problem by analyzing microdata and I had put a button into my UI for that.Of course, while launching, I had my fair share of technical problems but all and all, I received very good feedback. Because I had developed the product by analyzing microdata related to my competitors and I had already solved all of their issues, I now was receiving feedback that was new and not obvious to me.What's nextI hope you have enjoyed this article and I hope that you have realized how microdata can inform and improve your product and marketing. Microdata gave my product Treendly a new life.There's no end to the optimization phase. In fact, I'm implementing more changes as I write this blog post.Now, I'm even more excited to use microdata to drive the business forward. I will report back on that.➡️ If you want to read this with images and an extra section on how to use microdata from heatmaps, click here.Thanks for reading!

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