#haha I remember old boomerang

[hsllfirescoopsreblogs]

Fic Recs (steve harrington)

just some of my favorite one-shots or series i’ve read on ao3 and few from tumblr. all works ranging from 1.5k to 30k+ i believe. 18+ readers!

some have a tumblr that i tagged, but others i couldn’t find . i am doing this on mobile which is a bit difficult haha! i read these all (except 2) on ao3 so the links will be ao3. i know some are here on tumblr but i didn’t realize till after reading and making this! <3

steve harrington

come home by @stevie-petey <3💕

-"come home to me, okay?"

"always," steve promises

in between saving will, then hawkins, then somehow the world, you fall in love with steve harrington.

(a stranger things rewrite).

dancing with our hands tied by @andvys

-You and Steve have never seen eye to eye, and it never changed, not even when you were pulled into a world of monsters and risked your life to save him. But tension had always been between you both, something that neither of you ever wanted to admit -- but how much longer can you take it when the pull between you gets stronger and stronger each second you spend by each others side?

paint me red by eddiemunsons ao3

-You're one of Vickie's best friends. Her girlfriend, Robin, is in need of a distraction for her best friend, Steve Harrington, who you vaguely remember from school. Which is where you come in.

i’m your idiot by thebestandworstdayofjune ao3 @thebestandworstdayofjune

-Steve Harrington has a way of worming himself into your heart, and social situations you had done your best to exclude him from.

small hands, big heart by finalgirlharrington ao3 @sexybabystevie

-Steve Harrington has a massive crush on you, but his recent lack of luck in the romantic sense has him stuck on how to make a move. Plus, something about you makes him nervous in a way he's never been – in a way he likes. His simplest solution? Flirting via the old 'comparing hand sizes' method.

promise by Harley_Honey_Quinn ao3

-Reader learns about Steve's feelings thanks to some Russian truth serum.

kiss me by @corrodedseraphine

-Your friend is desperately trying to find a person who will give him something more. Wanting to feel what it's like to be loved again and after many failed dates he gets the idea that it's time to go back to King Steve's famous tactics. Telling him that it's not the best idea gets you involved in a deal where you have to help him get another girl. Will helping the boy you're in love with turn out to be a good idea? Probably not.

every rose has its thorn by @corrodedseraphine

-Christmas is coming to Hawkins. It is a time of joy and forgiveness. It turns out that your sister's best friend is looking for a new place to live, and you happen to have a spare room in the apartment. It wouldn't be a problem if that friend wasn't Steve Harrington. A man whom the more you try to avoid even more often comes back like a boomerang.

hearts on the telephone line by t_lostinworlds ao3 @t-lostinworlds

-You thought Steve was okay dealing with a long-distance relationship after you moved for an exciting internship in New York. But you were proven so wrong when your boyfriend finally poured his feelings over the phone. Because distance wasn't making his heart grow fonder, it was breaking it.

competitively stupid by t_lostinworlds ao3 @t-lostinworlds

-It was stupid, jumping off a cliff just to prove that you were better than Steve fucking Harrington. But you were competitive. You were not losing to him. But you know what was stupider? For it to take a near-death situation for you both to confess what you truly feel for each other.

perfect blend by Your_Writer ao3

-No one likes their summer job. Working at a coffee shop was sticky, exhausting, and overall boring. In fact, the highlight of your day was the charming, gentle eyed sailor scooping USS Butterscotch just across the way.

the things we don’t say by rdrickheffley ao3

-Steve Harrington once was the bane of Y/n's existence. He had always been an arrogant asshole and a terrible kisser. She never understood how others fell for the boy's eye-roll worthy charm. Now it seems like he will do anything to prove her wrong about anything.

next time? by rdrickheffley ao3

-Three instances where Steve and reader find themselves in intimate situations.

candyfloss and confessions by ACourtofSnakesandStars ao3

-You’ve been in love with Steve Harrington for years, like every cliche come to life. You’ve battled monsters, found friends within kids with superpowers, and you even managed to graduate. Yet the one thing you’ve never been able to do, is tell Steve how you feel. But maybe you don’t need to wait any longer.

a night to remember by RaeWrites94 ao3

-Steve has to attend his 10 year high school reunion and somehow manages to convince you to go as his date and his fake girlfriend. You've had feelings for him for a long time, but figure, why not? You could probably survive an evening of pretending he liked you back and come out unscathed. Right?

with bated breath by brianmay ao3

-Rumors fly after you attend Steve Harrington’s party one weekend in September. Thinking they were his doing, you do everything in your power to avoid him, which proves easier said than done.

cross my heart (and hope to die) by @talesofesther

-Every time Steve gets hurt, you're there to help pick up the pieces; you just weren't expecting him to fall for you in the process.

tales of a love between the lines by @talesofesther

-Sometimes the thing we want most is right in front of us, and Steve might be just that for you; all you have to do is see what he’s been showing you for a long time.

love is easy by seidenbros ao3

-The day you wrote I love you on a post-it note before you'd said the words out loud, and it's the best note Steve ever got.

everything means nothing if i can’t have you by iridescentpetrichor ao3

-Steve and Y/N go on a double date to impress the other one, but it's only so long until the tension between the two breaks.

you’re not by frostandflames ao3 @frostandflamesfanfic

-The year is 1985, you're on a school field trip to cheer on Hawkins High at the championship game before spring break. When the game doesn't pan out as expected, you're even more surprised to discover the one and only Steve Harrington in only his underwear at your hotel room after being locked out by his teammates. What happens when the two of you have a little heart to heart?

last christmas by frostandflames ao3 @frostandflamesfanfic

-You and Steve had always been childhood friends-and remained that way. As Steve ping-pongs around in his relationship status, you have a hard time keeping your feelings to himself as Nancy surrounds his entire world. What Steve doesn't know is his relationship to Nancy may end your own with Steve.

the scoundrel and the princess by @mrshipsmcgee

-after an awkward run in with Tommy Hagan, Steve Harrington is invited to an awful party where he meets a beautiful stranger.

also have a ton under the (steve harrington x reader) on my blog! credit to the maker of the gif from pinterest!

#fic rec #fic recommendations #stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #x reader #one shot #imagine #f!reader #series #smut #fluff #angst #enemies to lovers #ao3 #stranger things rewrite #stranger things au #gn reader #stranger things x reader #steve harrington fic rec #steve harrington fic recommendations #joe keery

[candy-fae]

HELLO CARLIE I am here to get u to talk about batman stuff

What got u into batman and why is the riddler ur fav? I am hella curious and i don't remember if we talked abt it!

-Chris! (@worldtravelercv)

LET ME BEAM YOU BACK TO THE RIPE YEAR OF 2004!! I am fresh to the world, 4 years old. I know what Batman is, because I have three older brothers. But I only watched live action silly Jim carry villains, and the colors and Tim burtony city were what stuck. Cool. Neat.

Fast forward. 200000007? Probably. BOOMERANG. I grew up without cable, and the internet for a while. Didn't get a phone until I was 14. so, late at night, while I'm watching the brand new box tv, what comes across my screen?

Well at that time certainly not robot chicken. The theme song was scary. So, the 2004 Batman reruns catch my attention on boomerang, and BOY did they hold it! Feral joker. Penguin being a greedy little criminal. And the Batman. Everything was dark, and angular, and when there was color it was BRIGHT. but it was used so well it made things seem intentional and wacky.

That's actually my favorite version of Bruce. I'm not really a batfam fan at all haha. Hard to keep track of the robins for me. But he was animated like a shadow, or a vampire, and was sharp like a villains design. Kevin Conroy has the best Bman voice, but this guy was my OG and a different spin on the hero's I'd seen so far.

the best version of everything is the the version we were exposed to as kids.

And I loved it! Penguin was definitely my favorite, and I'm actually not a big fan of the Batman 2004's Riddler lol. Just not my style, but INTERESTING. story wise sorta reminds me of the fox gothams Riddler.

He's different, very much so. We get NOTHING of Fox riddlers story before we see him which. Is usually such a big part of his character haha. He doesn't have the same "I'm better than you" energy either that I'm use to. But you know who's got it down just about right?

Arkham Eddie. I played the game at a friends house once, and he explained to me how Riddler progressively learns to outsmart you through the entire series.

He's like an underdog villain, who has SO much potential, but is sparingly used, because he's hard to write, and I hate that haha

To write a good, Compelling Riddler, you have to be smart enough to make, and solve, a complicated obstruction. He's never a toll bridge for the Batman, he's ALWAYS a speed bump. At first. Then he's a boulder, then a mountain, until you can't ignore him anymore, then he's not something you can keep beating up, you actually have to outfox him, and he's aware of it.

He's a good villain because super intelligent people often see things from all angles, and to keep a guy who's called the world's greatest detective on his toes guessing, is pretty impressive for a guy we don't get to see too much. And I think it's a shame.

Personality wise, I think he's funny. Like, accidentally. Have you ever played the Arkham games? HOURS of failing that stupid race track to the sound of him taunting you makes it very full filing to finally catch him, but I WOULDN'T know. That jerk.

At current though, zero year is my favorite. Greg Capullo has such a good understanding of drawing movement and lots of Eddie pictures portray so much action in a still frame, it's crazy, but, now you've got me rambling.

#riddler #edward nygma #the batman #the batman 2004 #ask #chris #!!!! hi chris!!!!

[summer-solo-day]

7/?? Childhood TV Shows You Should Watch

Title: The Quick Draw McGraw Show

Seasons: 3

Episodes: 45

Original Air Date: September 28, 1959 - October 20, 1961

Synopsis:

Quick Draw was usually depicted as a sheriff in these short films set in the American Old West. Quick Draw was often accompanied by his deputy, a Mexican burro called Baba Looey. Although technically the side-kick, Baba Looey is often portrayed as the more thoughtful half of the duo; at times realizing some detail about a given situation and trying desperately without success to caution Quick Draw of a trap or other danger. His plans would then go disastrously wrong, and Quick Draw would be forced to realize he should have listened to Baba Looey.

[Note: Quick Draw is a part of a 3 segment show that includes "Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy" as well as "Snooper and Blabber"; which I will get to later in these posts]

My Rating: 7/10

My Reasoning:

Like I have been saying about these older shows; it's been a while since I've watched them. However, I do still remember them and have fond memories of watching them. I used to watch a lot of Boomerang when I was a kid because my dad would watch these shows. Anyway, I like this show and I think the characters are lovable. I prefer Baba Looey to Quick Draw haha but don't get me wrong; I do like both characters. The premise isn't like ground breaking or anything but it's still good, silly entertainment. I definitely think it's worth checking out and watching at least some of the segments.

#childhood tv list #childhood tv shows #tv shows #cartoons you should watch #childhood cartoons #cartoons #the quick draw mcgraw show #quick draw mcgraw

[axolotlsauce]

Game awards trailer reactions

Kinda didn’t expect a death stranding 2 tbh Was that... the backstory for the weird baby from the first game? alright IS THAT A METAL GEAR????? no it’s a big fucking hovercraft EVIL GUITAR PERSON??????? what the fuck is death stranding about

Okay I don’t like that there are title cards for all the trailers. I would’ve been taken by surprise to see a new armoured core game.  dude I fucking love rubicon mango juice.  anyway this game looks fucking awesome (in terms of explosions and cool looking robots) i’m just wondering if it’s gonna be a soulslike? I have no idea what the old armoured core games played like so. It’s a numbered entry in the series so i’d guess it’s going to be in-line with previous games? Anyway no gameplay shown so I can’t really get hyped.

I already saw the hades 2 trailer and GOD can I NOT WAIT 

Okay so this is a suicide squad game but it’s made by Rocksteady so basically it’s going to be an Arkham game FUCKING CAPTAIN BOOMERANG anyway I like the concept of having the justice league be the antagonists Oh batman’s evil an shit now kay HAHA HE SAID THE LINE FROM THE MOVIE that is not a batman voice I do not know who kevin is Skeptical about this game but hopefully it’ll be good, No Gameplay Shown™ 

I do not care about tekken. I do not know what tekken is about. I have no idea what is happening in this trailer. What nice graphics. Points for showing some fucking gameplay (even though nobody was wondering what tekken gameplay looks like)

NEW STAR WARS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (remembers EA makes star wars games) okay my expectations are now curbed I think the title implies that this is a sequel to fallen order? oh yeah there’s the guy from the first game Oh fuck yeah this game looks EPIC Did he have a beard this entire trailer and I’m only now noticing BATTLE DROIDS?? BOOOOO KYLO REN SABER BOOOO LAME ASS PIECE OF SHIT LIGHTSABER DESIGN BOOOOO why is there a cheering sound effect at the end anyway YEAH THAT LOOKS COOL

The new final fantasy game is revealed to feature childhood trauma! no wait nevermind the kid’s dead Yeah that certainly is a new final fantasy game Nice to see they’re continuing with the action-rpg formula Are you fuckers HEARING this music? (no you’re not this is a textpost) THIS IS A BANGER GOOD BOI CONFIRMED okay I’ll be real with you I’ve only ever played final fantasy 1 on the gameboy advance I do not have enough investment in this series to be excited

I have no fuckign clue what judas is about but I want to play bioshock now

Diablo 4 opening with the feet shot I’m skeptical of activision-blizzard to make this game not a diabolical cashgrab oh and no gameplay. obviously

“From the creators of celeste” sent me from zero interest to 1000000 interest immidiately It looks like earthblade is gonna be celeste platforming but with combat in a metroidvania world? I am going to lose it

warhammer 40k, the series I know only for being the origin of the term “grimdark” Warhammer space marine, the game I know only as a game that exists I’m not gonna care im sorry

oh hey they’re making a dune game I literally watched dune and I still don’t know what dune is about anyway it’s an MMO which means I instantly Do Not Care and will never play it

Never heard of remnant before. cool enemy designs I guess WOW! GAMEPLAY SHOWN! WHAT A CONCEPT! AND IT LOOKS COOL!

Haven’t I heard of lords of the fallen before? YUP it’s a sequel to a 2014 game WHY would you make the only change in your title a “the” people are gonna think this is a remake I guess if Fromsoft isn’t gonna make dark souls someone has to

Bayonetta prequel huh [joke] What’s the point of a bayonetta game where she isn’t sexy??? More of a spin-off I guess since that is not bayonetta gameplay Why did no one tell me that bayonetta was briish

New destiny 2 bullshit can’t wait for the IHE video  WAIT SONY OWNS DESTINY 2 NOW??

New street fighter game. Looks like a street fighter game. Where’s mega man zero 5 capcom I actually hope street fighter 6 is really bad because I have a specific gag written that requires a third sixth capcom game to be bad

I DON’T CARE ABOUT HELLBOY

Dead cells DLC! THe animation is so cute!!! CASTLEVANIA CANON??? WHAT IS A MANNNNN

(the crash trailer wasn’t even fucking in this compilation but I sought it out) Anyway it looks bad.

MY TAKEAWAY FROM THESE TRAILERS AS A WHOLE

is really that I just want to play all the games that the games they revealed are sequels to tbh. Also HADES 2!!!!!!!!

At least the PS5 is finally getting some games

[osakunt]

Hello! I'm so excited when i see that ur request are open! So lately i've been reading lots of atsumu angst with no comfort where most of them are when he left the reader and now i kinda need some sad atsumu (or revenge HAHA). So may i request where atsumu left the reader for someone else and even marry them but after 2-3 years their marriage is falling apart, then when he still feel stressed he found some old memory with the reader (photo or something) and it makes him cry because he realize how bad he had hurts the reader also that no one understand him like the reader did and leaving the reader is his biggest mistake ever, but it was too late because the reader is already moved on now and happy with someone else.

I'm sorry if it is too detail tho and it's okay if don't want to take this! Thankyou so much! Have a nice day!

[TIMESKIP]

He found them in a box he held dear to him. The pictures said it all. The memories that are clipped along with the pictures made the tears slowly make their way out of his eyes.

His marriage had become shit in the blink of an eye. He doesn’t understand how one day she could be happy then the next she’d be on his throat about the littlest thing.

This wasn’t what he had imagined when he chose her over you. He thought he’d love it there - the life he imagined. Two years in and things were crumbling like an old building.

Each memory of you with him flashed through his eyes like a montage. The tears stream down his face and onto the scattered pictures as he slowly comes to realize that the smile you had in the pictures was stained with sadness when he broke it off with you.

The hurt he is feeling now was probably the same hurt you felt when he walked out on you for someone he thought he was going to be happier with.

Oh how wrong he was. As soon as he got married things took a turn that he didn’t expect at all. He tried explaining to her his point of view - she never did understand his side and always stuck to her point of view of things. No matter what it was, she didn’t really bother trying to understand him the same way you did.

He stuck around thinking that things would get better. Six months after his two year anniversary, he’s looking at these pictures after a long stressing day - A day full of arguments with the now Mrs.Miya.

Crying at how wrong he did you. The guilt and shitty feeling weighing him down as things come to settle on him.

He now knew that leaving you wasn’t the best decision he made. Not the best but the worst one he’s ever made.

The thought of wanting to know how you are now - came to him. He was in luck when he found your Instagram. Still the same username - one that he remembers you picking out just to be funny yet it grew to stay.

Maybe you were still single - or so he hoped you were. Scrolling through your page he sees pictures of only you. Getting a little more curious he taps the little circle of a highlight.

His hopes of you being single are then shattered at that moment. The highlights were just quick clips of either a photo with music or a video of a hobby you did.

The one that broke all his hopes down was one of a person. You were sharing lunch at a picnic table with someone who had a chain with your name as it’s pendent. You pointed the camera to the food then the person that now had your heart.

A small boomerang was what ripped Atsumu’s heart out. He had no say because he was the first to rip yours out.

Ofc imma take this up 😡 it’s soo good. I’m convinced that you, yourself could write this up better than I can. Enjoy, babyyyyyyy ♡︎

#haikyuu x reader #miya atsumu x reader #atsumu x reader #atsumu angst #inarizaki x reader #haikyuu angst #miya atsumu x y/n #atsumu x y/n

[missed-connections-of-fear]

on avatarhood post-fearpocalypse

Not sure how to write this one down. When I haven't been actively putting it off, I've been starting and deleting this for the past hour or so. I think a place of honesty is the best way I can carry forward. So, uh, four things:

1. This isn't really much of a lost connection. Sorry.

There are some people I encountered that I do, genuinely, want to see and/or hear from again. There are others that, while I don't want to see again, I am morbidly curious to see where they ended up. The only problem is that, well, in some ways I did lose connection! Internet connection. Voluntarily.

After the apocalypse, I just didn't touch the internet for months. It was annoying as hell, but I absolutely had to. For the first month after I got home, I kept most of my electronics in a box. Stayed as far away from social media as possible, and am still trying to. This is because--

2. My domain was... weird.

As in: my domain was my phone. I think.

No, I wasn't (physically) trapped inside of it, or attached to it in a dependent way. Well, I guess in some ways I was trapped in there, right? When I realized that my phone was... I don't know, malevolent? Influencing me? Influencing others? When I realized that, I tried to break it or throw it away a few times, but it'd remain in tact, or just come back like the world's weirdest boomerang.

But even during the apocalypse, it was just a normal phone (aside from not running out of battery). It was my only degree of normalcy, so I started to make diary vlogs. I thought it was really funny how TikTok was still operational, so I decided to post some there for kicks just to see what other people thought. Hell, I just wanted to know if there were other people still out there.

I didn't want to think about the implications. I still don't. Call me a coward if you'd like: I certainly do.

3. I need to find someone else like me.

The main reason I'm writing this here, now, is that I want to know I wasn't the only one who had a domain like this. I hadn't realized how literal some domains were until everyone else in my life started to talk about it, and for--er, reasons--I wanted to keep my mouth shut just in case whatever I said gave someone the wrong idea.

I really need to hear that I'm not the only one whose domain wasn't a place. I really want to hear that there's someone else out there who--I don't know, wasn't confined to a location but was still afraid. Apparently there were some people who just can't feel afraid and weren't affected, and there was this whole thing about Melanie King "severing a connection" or whatever, but... I was neither of those things.

I've always been a little emotionally detached, but that didn't mean I wasn't fucking terrified, y'know? I could see the Change from my apartment window and I thought my family's mental illnesses were finally catching up to me. There are so many things I thoughtlessly recorded that I ended up deleting once everything stopped. I don't even know why I thought it'd be a good idea to keep those, even if it was just to reaffirm to myself that it was, in fact, happening.

Recently I bought a new phone. The dread remains all the same whenever I look it.

4. I think I was an Avatar.

I tried to delay the inevitable as long as I could, but that was probably, deeply, unfair. And this is starting to get away from me very fast, so I think I need to get to the point, like, now.

I don't want to get too deeply into it--"it" being all the warning signs and personal trauma and whatever the fuck entails "becoming an Avatar." I might have even been an Avatar even before the Change; I genuinely don't know, but it doesn't matter much to me anymore.

(My personal opinion is that, in the apocalypse--and if evidence suggests, before it--there was a spectrum with two ends when it came to the entities: the fearful and the feared. One ate, one was eaten, and your point on that spectrum could be shifted at any time. Any time.)

That aside, I genuinely don't know what entity I "served" or whatever. It was part coping and part survival the entire way through for me. Beholding seems like the obvious choice, since I was recording and talking to people, but... I embodied a lot of other things too. I think if I explain it, it'll make more sense:

Sometime into making my vlogs, I started running into other people. They'd always be a little bewildered to see me, but whatever torture they were enduring or inflicting would just... come to a halt. In the beginning, I didn't even realize that the people were going through hell: I was just so relieved to see someone that I'd call out to them, ask them how they were doing, sit with them and just relish the company of a human being for awhile. I didn't even realize the camera was recording some of the time.

And those first few times, I'd practically beg the person (or people) to come with me. They always accepted, even though I was simultaneously super clingy and closed-off. They always put up with me and my stupid phone. But they were never able to stick around.

By the time I stopped remembering faces, I stopped asking.

I had resolved to find somebody important to me in the very beginning, so I was always travelling. But I never stopped trying to talk to anyone I found. I'd always say some shit like, "Care to introduce yourself to the viewers?" and, "So tell us what traumas are going into your cringe compilation," and other influencer lingo just to lighten the mood, but some things--referring to the "viewers" and speaking about myself in the plural--became reflex.

And our conversations always came with the expectation of speaking of some sort of trauma. A tiny part of me always looked forward to it: I always tried to remind myself that people wanted to talk about themselves, their problems, and to be able to talk; that I was just one of many people in a bad situation and that I shouldn't prioritize my own suffering.

But I think... well, if I describe it, there's no damn way I won't be called a sociopath by someone. So just assume that I uncomplicatedly enjoyed their pain and pat yourself on the back for being able to believe you're still morally upright after all this time.

Sorry. It's just... I've been thinking about how people might respond a lot. I've curated a lot of this just to make sure no one tries to witch-hunt me while still trying to keep my story believable.

I think that's a sign to stop digging my own grave.

Apologies for how long it got in the end there, haha. I'm trying to... not really put this all behind me, I don't think any of us can. I've accepted what had become of me--or, well, I'm in the process of it--thus why I'm back on the internet in the first place.

I haven't gotten rid of the old phone yet, because... I've been thinking about uploading some of the videos I've recorded. From the Fearpocalypse. I desperately want to delete all of it, to keep it out of reach (my reach, particularly), but I... I think it needs to be archived somewhere. Anywhere.

You’re not an advice column, but since I’ve already gotten this far… well, I shouldn’t ask more than that. If I upload those videos, and you recognize me or yourself, feel free to reach out. I live in East Texas, but I somehow stumbled across some domains in Britain, Egypt, Japan, the Philippines, etc… (I didn’t learn about the Entities until the late leg of the apocalypse, so I was just trying to find domains that seemed to connect to the fears of the person I was looking for. Lots of Lonely, Slaughter, and End domains.)

(ROSE’S NOTES: damn another long post, I don’t know what to say. I uh. I hope you can find comfort in the internet again. I personally don’t know what i’d do if I had that domain. The internet is a safe place for me and has been for nearly a decade. Damn. Rose getting into stuff she should talk to a therapist about huh? Anyways. I guess to make a post that’s already long longer, I hope this post has made you feel better. I hope you find someone to talk with who understands what you went through. Take care my friend)

#the magnus archives #tma #unreality #unreality tw #missed connections of fear #submission

[gloomyhearts]

Mellilla || Owen P. Joyner

Chapter four~ you scared the sh*t out of me

Dahlia sift through the peppers to find an acceptable one.

"I need some sweets" Valerie's voice claims.

"I know, you told me million times," she roller her eyes.

"Don't forget, pleaseee,"

The brunette felt a light pressure on her shoulder casing her to turn around and instinctively grab a cucumber as a weapon. Her eyes glued on the person in front of her. The face mask hides most of his face. A cap sitting on his head and a few blonde strands falling out of it.

"Lia?" His raspy voice reached her ears; she didn't hear it in a while.

"Owen?" She knitted her brows.

"Yeah. It's me," he thought about hugging the brunette girl but decides not to, "it's good to see you," he padded her shoulder.

She takes her air pod out of her ear and pausing the call from Valerie.

"Yeah, I mean look at you. Still the charming boy if you wouldn't have scared me to death," she compliments while pointing him up and down.

"You're still stunning yourself," he rubbed his neck.

"Thanks, thanks. It was really nice catching up again but I really have to go," she insists, grabbing her wheel and walking fast and far away from him.

Putting her air pod in again she continues the call.

"Did you paused me D?" Her voice loud, she's definitely heated.

"I'll explain later. I'm back in a few," she ends the call, getting the last things she needed and then pay her groceries.

Her car stopped in the driveway and she steps to the door, fiddling her keys to find the right one as Valerie opened it herself. Her hand was tight around Dahlia's upper arm as she pulls her back inside.

"What the hell?" They walked into the living room, throwing themselves on the couch.

"You'll never guess who I met in the store."

"But you'll tell me."

"It was Owen" Valerie's eyes widened.

"You're kidding right?" Dahlia just shakes her head.

"No way, that's not possible." She paces up and down in front of her best friend.

"I missed him," sadness overflows her body

"I know, sweetheart. But he's an ass, he just left you."

"But it was for his career."

"But he didn't wrote you nor called you."

"You're right. I thought we'd something special."

"Yeah. After our graduation, I thought he'd stay here and wait for you," Val takes her hand, her thumb rubbing small circles on the back.

"I just don't understand why he ghosted me. I remember, everytime I enter a car how he taughted me to drive and I never visited boomerangs again, it was our place," by now Dahlia was in Val's embrace and she strokes her hair.

"Let's watch some TV," she turned the power on and went to the kitchen to bring Dahlia some ice cream.

Browsing through Netflix to find a new show to watch. Dahlia's head laid in her lap and she fiddles with a strand of the brown hair.

"This sounds good," Valerie points with the remote towards the flat-screen, the other girl turns her head to read the description. She shruggs her shoulders as an answer to her friend who press the button and she show starts.

The screen shows a neon sign Orpheum and another sign with Sunset Surve.

Suddenly an electric guitar begins to play.

"This riff is stunning," Valerie brakes the silence and Dahlia just nods shoving another spoon of ice cream into her mouth.

The next point of view shoot was a blonde boy, a pink shirt suited his upper body, half of his hair falling into his face and drum sticks in his hand.

"Hit the break," she shoots up into a sitting position, "what the? That's a joke right? You didn't know right?" Dahlia was now on her feet.

"Didn't you saw it on his Instagram?" Valerie's voice still calm.

"No cause whenever I saw his name I scrolled as fast I could back up," the brunette explains.

She walks over to the TV, laying her hand on the screen.

"But look at his precious face," her finger running over it.

"Dahlia," Valerie steps next to her, arms resting around her shoulders when Dahlia's feet gave in she hold her in position.

"Babe. It's okay, let it go," her hand rubbing circles on her back. Tears streaming down Dahlia's freckled cheek.

Valerie gave her a piggyback ride to her room, setting her down into her bed.

"You need anything? Food, drinks?" But Dahlia just shakes her head.

"Call me if you need anything," the brunette gave her a weak smile, drying the tears on her cheek with a tissue.

"Love you," Valerie turns around and walks off.

Dahlia darkened her room only her LED rose illuminates it. The rose Owen gifted her.

She grabs it and throws it against the wall, she exhales sharply as she notices what she'd done. The girl rushed over where the lamp hit the ground. Thank God it didn't broke and she sighs.

Her phone lit up on the bedside table.

Owenjoyner

It was really nice to see you again Dahlia

What am I supposed to response? What does he want?

The brunette places her phone back down. Dahlia rested on her carpet, her hand strokes over the fabric, calming her vaguely.

She took all her bravery and grabs her phone.

Crueldahlia

Yeah it was nice

Owenjoyner

Maybe we can see each other again

If you want to

Crueldahlia

I don't know

Have a lot to do for uni.

Owenjoyner

Fair enough

She doesn't answer to that, emotionally too unstable; not wanting to blurb something she'll regret in a few hours.

The blonde boy called his best friend.

"I.. I met her," he stutters into the phone.

"Who?"

"Her."

"Really? Dahlia?"

"Yeah in the store. And she.. and she looks gorgeous, more than ever," Owen exclaims.

"And what did you do?"

"Well I walked over to her and taped her shoulder."

"Did she faced you? Did she saw you're walking to her?"

"What.. no. She didn't recognized me at first," he states.

"Well that's bad."

"I screwed, right?"

"You screwed years before, this makes it all worse," Charlie explains.

"But you didn't wrote her, right?" But the blonde remained in silence.

"Dude, that's... Owen what did you write?"

"I wrote 'it was really nice meeting you again Dahlia.'"

"What response you get?"

"'Yeah it was really nice'. After an hour or so."

Owen paced through his room, lifting his cap and setting it down again.

"And I answered after a second 'maybe we can see each other again. If you want to.' And she wrote. 'I don't know. Got a lot of work to do'"

"That doesn't sound enthusiastic," Charlie comments.

"Haha, you're funny," he retorts.

"What did you say?"

"'Fair enough'. I should've asked what she's studying or how she's feeling. I messed up, shit."

"No, Owen shut up. She needs time definitely, don't push her. I mean the last time you've seen each other was," the boys both gulped.

"The night before you left."

"Indifferent that was three years ago."

"I know. But from what you've told. You grew visible inseparable. After all the things you've done."

"I don't know Char."

A message pops up on his screen.

"Dude she answered."

"Read."

Crueldahlia

Well next week is Thanksgiving let's see if it's doable

"She really wants to see you again?"

"Seems like." He threw his phone on his bed and began to dance through his room, taking his cap off his head and toss it into the air.

"I'm back. I'm back," he shouts into his phone.

"I'll answer her."

"Wait. You're looking clingy like you want her back."

"What else would I want?!"

"You're an idiot."

"I know," he ended the call.

Owenjoyner

Sounds amazing

Boomerangs like the old time?

#jatp fanfic #jatp x oc #julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms fanfiction #julieandthephantomsimagine #owen patrick joyner #owen joyner #julie and the fat ones #owen joyner imagine #owen joyner fanfiction #alex jatp #jatp alex #alex mercer #julie and the himbos #julie and the podcasters #alex julie and the phantoms

[z3phyru5]

Ask me One (Fluff/Angst)

1. Don't freak out.

2. We both know this have been coming for a long time.

3. I've been staying awake at night wondering if i should tell you.

4. I bought the kind of crackers you can eat. They are in the hall cupboard.

5. Now that we have watched all the episodes of True Blood, I do not know what else to do next.

6. I always imagined this would happen without warning, like suddenly on an ocean cliff side but this is the kind of thing where waiting for the time to be right would just mean waiting forever.

7. I've just been too afraid for too long.

8. I came home on Tuesday and found all of the chairs that I own stacked in a tower in the center of my kitchen. I don't know how long they had been like that but it can only be me that did it. It's the kind of thing a ghost might do to prove to the living that he is still there. I am haunting my own apartment.

9. My grandmother was still alive when I was 5 years old and she asked me to check and see if the iron was hot enough yet so I pressed my hand against it and it was red and screaming for hours. 25 years later, she would still sometimes apologize in the middle of conversations, "I feel so bad about making you touch the iron" she'd say, as though it had just happened. I cannot imagine how we forgive ourselves for all the things we didn't say until it was too late. But how else do you tell if something is hot but to touch it?

10. I keep imagining my furniture in your apartment.

11. I wonder how many likes this will get on Facebook.

12. My dad always used to tell the same joke but I can't remember the punchline.

13. I was 8 years old and it took 3 weeks (3-8 yr old weeks, imagine) to gather everything that I would need to be Batman. Rope, boomerang, a Mardi Gras mask with the beads cut off. I couldn't find a cave near my house, so I buried them all in a bundle under the ivy. For years after, I tried to find that spot again. The ivy grew too fast. I searched in so many spots. It seemed impossible that I had missed one. But I never found it. How can something be there, and then not be there? How do we forgive ourselves for all the things we did not become?

14. I never had the courage to buy bright green sheets. I wanted them, but thought they were too brash, even with no one but me to see them. I bought a set yesterday and put them on the bed. I knew that you would like them.

15.I don’t know if you can tell from this scribbly handwriting, but my hands are shaking like crazy.

16. This was never going to be easy to write, but I’ll do it anyway: I know this will make things easier. For the both of us.

17. The library finally had that book you were looking for, so I checked it out for you. It’s on you to return it though. And you better not tear a page — the librarian would kill me, haha.

18. You ever feel so much that it hurts?

19. I thought about writing this in pink gel pen. I thought it would be tacky... but maybe it would have made this kind of funny. I know this isn’t something to laugh at, but maybe it would be simpler that way. I could crumple this up and restart with the pink, but my bin’s already full of scrapped drafts because I keep finding myself rambling on.... sometimes you just need someone there to cut you off when you’ve said too much. Otherwise, how can you tell?

20. I’ve always been scared of forevers. Guess I’ll have to get over that for this, though.

21. I don’t know if I should apologize for this.

22. I just realized I never got to see the Eiffel Tower. I always dreamed of seeing it up close... but at this point, I feel like this is a bigger priority.

23. I quit secrets. I quit unsaid words and bottled emotions and hiding truths in an old Amazon box under my bed. (You were going to find it anyway.)

24. I hope you’ll always be there to make the promises I couldn’t keep.

25. I love you.

26. "i feel like i am losing my mind"

27. "no matter where you are i hope ill always be in your heart"

28. "i'm not scared anymore because now i know i am finally at peace"

29. "i am, and have, and will ALWAYS love you."

30. We almost had it all

#angst prompts #fluff prompts #prompt list #love prompts #death prompts #whump prompts #tw : suicidal thoughts #love #happiness #tw : death #tw : mental health issues #source : Doc Luben #14 lines from suicide notes or love letters #and the comments below it

[rainbowserenity]

Fragments After

I finally got through it! Here’s some random tidbits I like from the book, guaranteed to give massive feels the next time the game’s played hahaha it’s fine

Here are the posts for Episode Zero and Fragments Before

- Caius comes and takes all the Yeuls away when they learn to speak, so a seeress’s mother will raise her in silence to prevent her from talking as long as possible :(

- the 3AF Yeul’s very first vision was of Lightning getting taken to Valhalla

- Lightning describes Pulse’s blue sky as “the color of hope” ;D

- after getting pulled into Valhalla, her first concern after Serah is wondering if Hope is safe

- she literally refuses the idea she could be dead, what a boss

- Lightning sees herself in her armor riding Odin as she’s trying to get to Etro and immediately believes she’s lost her mind

- she describes Etro as “if a smile could have a presence”

- Lightning isn’t very confident in her defensive magic because she always left that to Hope~

- Mog turns into the bow to help Lightning defeat Bahamut

- she believes that helping Mog was ~fate~ and then immediately compares meeting him to meeting Hope...

- “She’d seen him as a burden at first, but he had eventually become a trusted ally.”

- we never see Etro in game because “powerless human eyes” cannot see a goddess???

- Bhunivelze is a huge ass, what a surprise

- I’m 99% sure this is mentioned in-game, but Yeul was the first human and created in Etro’s image

- Mog’s “determination in such a tiny body” reminds Lightning of Hope

- she regrets being so inconsiderate to Hope when they first met and thinks meeting Mog is a kind of do-over

- MOOGLE FOREHEAD FLICK~  Light once used the same technique on a boy bullying Serah lmao

- Lightning believes the deaths of those she killed as a l’cie will torture her with guilt for the rest of her life :(

- 200AF Yeul calls Noel and Serah “a strange pairing” lol

- she also thinks Noel is cute

- wind and rain are more common in Cocoon after the weather fal’cie goes dormant

- Snow smuggles the Cactuar fal’cie to Cocoon in a bag

- Cactuar shows Snow visions that become clearer the more they hang out. He figures that clearer visions are based on mutual understanding, which I think explains why the vision the gang got from Anima was so blurry

- the fall of the Fifth Ark caused a dimensional tear??

- this tear leads Snow into the Historia Crux and dumps him in the Coliseum lol

- everybody knows Lebreau wears the pants in NORA

- Snow can’t picture Serah being a “great a fighter as Lightning”

- Snow gets shown a bunch of scenes in Bresha and some soldiers mention Serah. Then they say “those two” disappeared after beating Atlas

- when Snow realizes Serah had a companion, he thinks it was Hope

- “So Hope would’ve been the one to tell her Lightning was alive.”

- Snow believes that Hope would rather keep Serah safe than put her danger.... “Not unless Lightning herself had asked him to take Serah.”

- Snow sees a boutique display in 400AF with tons of accessories and says Serah could pull it off, but Lightning wouldn’t want to “jingle”

- Snow sees Cocoon fall and immediately screams for Vanille and Fang :(

- he then sees Serah fighting a black Bahamut (Caius?) and she’s killed from it?!

- this and a vision of New Bodhum in 700AF is what convinces him to become a l’cie

- Lightning’s armor reminds Snow of “lady warrior out of a fairy tale”

- she’s pissed at Snow for becoming a l’cie and grumbles that he never listens lmao

- Snow jumps around time periods because he activated an incomplete gate, lovable dumbass he is

- the giant flan smacked the Cactuar fal’cie off into the distance right before Serah and Noel showed up in 300AF

- after Snow fades, he ends up in the Coliseum and it sounds like he fights Gilgamesh

- 400AF Yeul was the one who liked to sing. Her mother taught her :’)

- Yeul can hear Fang and Vanille in the pillar, though it’s more a song than words

- she sees Hope standing in front of the pillar and notices he looks lonely, but “his eyes shone with strength”

- Noel’s determination reminds her of Hope and it’s why she approves of his journey

- Hope can silence people with a ~look~ lol

- Hope carries his boomerang around for good luck (which is why he randomly had it in 500AF)

- he knows how to hack computers

- he officially entered the Academy in 2AF, I guess when he was 16...gotta love that big sexy brain

- Alyssa went to a boarding school

- an Alyssa duplicate tries to shoot Hope

- he mentions the enemy “using illusions of people he cared about to upset him”.............................

- Alyssa’s roomie in boarding school was Elida...Hope’s childhood friend

- she says Hope is a “most likely to succeed” type lol

- Alyssa meets Caius while sleeping in the time capsule, like how Lightning visits people in their dreams. It’s how she gets that fake artefact >:(

- Alyssa calls Serah and Noel “simple” and then goes “Man, they really are Hope’s friends.” #fuckoffalyssa

- Hope basically knew all along that she’s a huge bitch, but kept her on his team because she’s so talented

- he visits that gravesite in Bresha 500AF where she’s buried, but doesn’t really know why he’s there, just that he “should” see it (this is when the paradox is corrected and nobody remembers Alyssa anymore)

- 500AF Yeul hated humans, partially because her mother didn’t want her :(

- she has a vision of Noel after the fall and realizes humanity will go extinct, freeing Yeuls from the curse

- she asks Caius to make sure that last Yeul lives a happy life....

- Caius shows up when 700AF Yeul is 13 days old haha

- Noel assumes Caius is “braggy” about his battle skills and hates him for that

- Noel’s grandmother knew Yeul would probably be the last seeress

- Noel had a friend named Yanny in their village and they’d take turns being the one to hold bby Yeul’s hand for the day awww

- Noel felt the kids in New Bodhum were “immature” because they were so carefree. by the time he was six, he had more responsibilities than most adults do, so he couldn’t even imagine a time where kids didn’t have to work so hard

- bby Noel pesters Caius for ages to get him to teach him to use a sword

- Yanny was that one kid who always piggybacked, getting all the credit and doing none of the work - but he put his full effort into hunting, making Noel resent him a bit

- Yanny was the one who first suggested a hunt for Yeul’s birthday feast. Noel refused to go & Yanny was killed (this was when they were younger, 16 I believe)

- Noel talks to his grandma about Yanny’s death, & she says the only way to resist death is to live to the fullest

- Yanny had a cousin, Rigo, who was just like Snow and died running into an Adamantoise STEELGUARD

- the stuff Noel says to Snow in Sunleth is stuff he wanted to say to Rigo

- Yeul had a vision of the gate of the goddess. She assumes it’s because Caius was going to Valhalla (but I think it references Noel getting taken there)

- Serah assures Noel that he and his Yeul will meet again, and he gets a sense of foreboding...

And with that sense of doom, now we wait to see if they’ll ever release an official translation of Tracer of Memories 8))

#final fantasy xiii #final fantasy xiii2 #final fantasy xiii-2 #ffxiii #ff13 #long post #very long #i got really into the chapter about hope and alyssa #any info about hope is always good to me mwhahaha #and hey it only took me like two months to get through this!!! #idk why i've read like 20 books in between #oh well #also there was nothing about mog and lightning's rock paper scissors game??? #idk if it was lost in translation or what #and replaced with the forehead flick #so rude

[captivity-whump]

I was remembering recently that I first got into whump when I was 4/5 years old! I remember watching penelope pitstop reruns on the boomerang channel in the late 90s/early 00s, and I was obsessed with the episode where she got tied on train tracks! On the drive to daycare I would use my mom's briefcase strap to pretend to tie my wrists together just chilling in the backseat 😂

Haha. I love it! I started out young as well. I remember that 'tied to the tracks' trope from the 80s too. Helpless victim waiting to be saved by their knight.

Nice visual nonny!

#asks #Nonny asks #Whump #Early whumper

[lovemesomesurveys]

Have you always known what you've wanted to do with your life, career-wise?  I thought I did. My freshman year in high school I learned what psychology was after having a health and psychology class and decided then it was something I wanted to pursue. Prior to that I knew I wanted to help people, but I was thinking like a counselor. I was always the friend people came to if they needed advice or just someone to talk to. In middle school I remember going on those AOL teen message boards and offering advice there. I loved trying to help people and being the one to lend an ear. In college I majored in psych and obtained my BA. And then that was it.  I have no plans or interest in pursuing anything further, so obviously a psychologist isn’t in the cards anymore.  I honestly have no idea what I want to do career wise. 

If you found out you couldn't bear children, would you be willing to adopt? I can’t have kids, but I also don’t want any.

Would you stay at a haunted hotel? Nope.

Could you live without the Internet? I mean yeah, the world would keep on spinning, but I quite enjoy my internet and would like to keep it.

Do you always remember to bring a towel? I always set out a towel before getting into the shower.

Spiders: Kill them or let 'em go? Well, I don’t do anything. Noooo way. I get someone else to get rid of them!

How do you feel about Paris Hilton? I don’t care. I very rarely hear about her anymore.

When drunk, are you: violent, crazy, clingy, talkative, or depressed? I got talkative and the word vomit liked to come out. I usually also ended up feeling depressed and lonely by the end of the night.

Do you know who is on the $5000 bill? (yes, it does exist!) James Madison. They don’t make ‘em anymore, though.

What is the best HAND-MADE present you've ever received? A quilt a friend of my grandma’s made for me when I was a kid during one of my hospital stays. 

Do you Yahoo? My email is Yahoo.

Have you ever gotten pizza delivered to your house that you didn't order? Nope.

What's the most disgusting thing you've ever encountered while at a hotel? I haven’t had a bad hotel experience, thankfully.

What would you do if Hugh Hefner hit on you? He died a few years ago, but anyway he wouldn’t have been interested in me. Which is perfectly fine haha I don’t want some pervy old man hitting on me.

Is the price always right? No.

Do you smell what the Rock is cookin'!?!? Nope. (And yes I know that was his wrestling tagline or whatever back in the day).

Are you gullible? I’m a pretty skeptical person. 

What's the craziest rumor you've heard about Marilyn Manson? That he was the kid from The Wonder Years lol. The friend to Fred Savage’s character. I have no idea how or why that rumor got started.

(Insert random song lyric of your choice here): “Cause I’m one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break.”

Does unneccessary punctuation annoy you? It’s unnecessary. 

Do you know anyone who was born on leap year? Nope.

Do you follow a 5-second rule after dropping food on the floor? Ew, nooo. Once it hits the floor it’s trash.

Do you think that only unclean people get head lice? Nope, major misconception.

Are you skilled with balls? (like basketball or baseball, you perv!)  Nope.

Did you take Flintstone vitamins or any others as a child?  Blech, yes. Those were so gross.

What types of things do you think the government is hiding from us?  I know a lot of people think there’s something going on given current events. I’ve seen those comments.

What would you do if the Kool-Aid man busted through your wall? If something just randomly burst through my wall it would scare the shit out of me omg.

Have you ever been to an art museum? Yeah, a few.

How do you like your soda: Glass bottle is best, followed by fountain soda, but can and plastic bottle are fine, too. I used to love soda, but I don’t drink it anymore apart from when I take my medicine. 

Do you recycle? Yeah, we recycle cans and plastic bottles.

Can one person really make a difference? Yes.

Which is worse: elevators or escalators? Well, all I can take are elevators, so. The thought of being stuck in one scares me.

Are you gonna make your momma proud? I feel like such a huge disappointment. 

Ring the bell for service or wait patiently for a minute first? I’d wait a bit first.

Boomerang or Cartoon Network? Boomerang is cool cause it shows old stuff from my childhood. 

Have you learned anything valuable today? Not so far.

What's your favorite kind of Doritos?  Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch. Back when I could eat spicy food; though, I would have picked the Spicy Nacho ones. They have Flamin’ Hot Doritos now, which I’m sad I never got to try.

Do your parents have MySpace pages? No. They weren’t into social media stuff back then. They have a Facebook, though. 

If you had a time machine, would you go to the past or to the future? I’ve always wanted to go back in the past, but now there’s a big part of me curious to see past this coronavirus stuff. Like when will it end? Will it? That could also be terrifying, though. The future could end up looking even worse...

What if Darth Vader was YOUR father? So I could be a jedi? Sweet.

Do you honestly know how to play Monopoly or just make up rules as you go? I think I’ve played it the right way. For the most part, anyway.

Be honest...ever peed in the pool?  Nooo.

Do you ever fathom the amount of words in the English language? It’s pretty wild.

Have you ever pulled a fire alarm? Nope.

Do brain teasers tickle, confuse, or fascinate your brain? They definitely are often confusing, but I like them. 

You're hungry. All there is to eat is stale chips. Eat 'em or not? Mehhh probably not. 

Have you had your tonsils removed?  No.

If Ashton Kutcher punk'd you, would you feel the need to punch him?  No, but depending on the prank I might be upset or pissed off. I loved watching that show back in the day, though. I also had a crush on Ashton Kutcher at the time, ha.

Have you ever fallen off of a treadmill while walking/running?  I’ve never been on a treadmill.

Do you drink milk right from the bottle/carton, or pour yourself a glass? I don’t drink milk at all.

Isn't Chef Boyardee awesome? I wouldn’t say it’s awesome, but I do like Spaghetti O’s. 

Do you like marshmellows in your hot cocoa? Marshmallows are a must.

What reality show has been taken WAY too far? I’m just wondering why The Bachelor is still on. That’s one I never got into.

If you were going on a trip, would you Mapquest the directions first? I used Mapquest back in the day, like when you still had to print out directions. Now I just use Google Maps on my phone. 

Do you hide when Jehovah's Witnesses knock on your door? We just don’t answer the door.

Did you ever think any of your teachers were HOT?  Nope.

If you farted in front of your significant other, would he/she care? I’m single.

White Castle: nasty or absolutely yummy?!  I’ve never a fresh White Castle from the actual place, just the kind you can get in the frozen food section at the store haha. Those are good, though.

Must you grab a souvenir from almost everywhere you go?  Haha I’m a keychain gal. I also like getting a shirt or hoodie.

Have you ever walked out on a movie at the theater? Which one?  I remember doing that once, but I don’t remember what the movie was.

Did you enjoy making things out of Play-Doh as a child? Yeah, I loved Play-Doh. If I ever happen to be around Play-Doh and get a whiff of it, it instantly takes me back to childhood. It’s such a nostalgic smell.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

[purplesurveys]

313

How is the day so far?:  A bit puzzled as to how I’m feeling extremely exhausted when I only had one class today, but yep mostly exhausted and nothing else. I’m also kind of already feeling bad about my decision to buy a ticket for this college party tomorrow because I have no savings as it is, but whatever. What about your sex life?: School is keeping the both of us very busy, but that’s never been a concern. What did you do when you woke up this morning?:  I got up to feed my dog, went back to bed, and then cried. How many sisters/brothers do you have?:  One of each, both younger. What was the last thing you consumed?:  I had an original glazed doughnut from Krispy Kreme.

When was the last time you wore high heels?:  That would be the last début I went to, which was January 2017. I love high heels so much but there’s just no occasion to wear them :’( Do you like Myspace or Facebook better?: MySpace has stopped being a thing for about a decade now, and I hate Facebook, so I’ll take a pass. What’s your bf/gf doing? If you have one?:  She’s in school but on a break. Her next class is in 20 minutes. Is there really no place like home?: Depends on your idea of home. My house is not home to me. My friends are, and there is no place like being with them. What did you do yesterday?:  Drove to school, attended classes, had a scheduled consultation with one of my professors. I also saw Gab to resolve a conflict we were in then ate dinner at this AMAZING new fried chicken place after. What are you doing right now?:  Taking this survey and resisting the urge not to turn on the air conditioner. Do you like Dairy Queen or Wendy’s better?:  They have entirely different menus though? Have you ever held a tarantula?:  Nope. Do any of your friends have a birthday soon?:  Nacho. Can you remember the worst injury you’ve had so far?:  Yep. 11 years old. Weird wound thing that got super infected and ugly after kicking on coral reefs a hundred times with my bare feet. Have you ever found the perfect solution to boredom?: Netflix. < THIS. This. so. much. I hate myself for not subscribing sooner. Are you bothered at the moment?:  Yep. Summer in the Philippines is the worst. Like, actual-visit-to-hell kind of worst. No amount of electric fans will make my room any colder and more comfortable and I hate it so muccchhhaaaaaggghhhsjksjkdjskfhsdjf sweating through my clothes is an everyday practice now. What’s the last thing you drank?:  Water. Who did you last speak to on the phone?: Probably my girlfriend. Do you watch Boomerang?: I don’t know what that is. Is that a channel? We don’t have that here. Can you remember your favorite cartoon as a kid? What?: SpongeBob. Have you ever been to crazyshit.com?: No...shouldn’t have Googled that either. Where are you right now?:  My bedroom where I’m trying not to burn to death. Is your bf/gf taller than you?: Yeah, she is a couple of inches taller. When was the last time you were extremely upset?:  This morning when I had a small breakdown out of nowhere and started crying. Does your phone have a camera on it?: Yep. Who all out of your immediate family smokes?:  No one. Do you Google a lot?: Yes, I look up so many topics both for school purposes and my free time. Do you like incense or candles better?:  Neither. Have you ever dyed your hair?: No, I haven’t. Do you respect your parents?:  I have to. What color are the bottoms you're wearing?: I’m wearing a sundress right now. Who’s in the room with you?:  I’m alone in my room. My dog would usually keep me company but he’s out hanging with my siblings downstairs for now. What’s your bf/gf’s name?: Gabie. Do you wear glasses?: Sure do. What are some piercings you want?:  No piercings for me. Do you work well under pressure?: Most of the time. The only time I don’t is if it’s journ-related because I hate the living shit out of my course and I can’t work well with it even with lots of time. Do you like The Beatles?: No. When did you last use the restroom?:  Couple of hours ago. My bra came undone and I had to fix it up there. Do you think too many people are obsessed with Twilight?:  Not really these days. The OG Twilight Trash™ really just come up when the topic is raised haha. How long is your hair? Do you like it?:  It’s up to my boobs. It’s fine, but I feel that for the longest time my hair has had no personality to it. Then again I’m too scared to experiment with a new hairdo so I’m guessing it’s just gonna stay as plain old long hair for a while. What do you miss most about last summer?:  Fuck last summer. I nearly killed myself. Do you wear your hair up more often or down?:  Down, but been wearing it up in a pony more often now because of stupid summer. What was the last reason you got excited?:  I finished my media law midterm today and now I have fewer stuff to worry about :) Have you ever had a favorite video game?: I guess? It’s always been the Grand Theft Auto series. Not a huge player outside of that. What is your last name?: Cortez. Do you think you’ll ever get married?:  Oh I will. I’ll make sure I do. Do you know anyone who drinks the pickle juice from the jar?:  This just sounded so Western to me...no, we don’t have that in our culture. Have you ever been to Mammoth Cave?: I haven’t. Do you have a best friend?:  I got two. Have you ever stayed up more than 24 hours?: Yes. Not very pleasurable. What time is it right now?: 6:12 PM. What color are your best friend's eyes?:  Filipinos all have the same physical features, so that makes both my best friends’ eyes dark brown. Have you ever played any sports?: Yes I did track for a brief time, then moved on to table tennis which ultimately became my forte. Have you graduated high school yet?:  Yup, Batch 2016. Do you have your own car?: It’s treated as mine, but it was bought with my dad’s money. Have you ever been in “true” love?: Yes. Who do you live with?: Immediate family, a dog, and a cat. Do you wear foundation?: No makeup for me. What’s your favorite alcoholic drink?: Mixed drinks. Shots scare me and I’ve never tried them. Do you believe in God?: No. What color is your house?: Beige. Earrings or none?:  Not since I fucked up my left ear piercing ten years ago. What’s your favorite music genre(s)?:  I don’t have a favorite music genre; I’m really more of a film person. What’s do you like most about winter? Summer?:  We don’t have winter but I’m gonna go right ahead and say I love the cold and I love being cozy. There is nothing good about summer.

If you smoke, how much do you smoke a day?:  Nope. Dogs or cats? Why?: Dogs. I’ve never had fun with a cat. Do you use a vanity to get ready?: I don’t. Name something crazy that’s happened recently?:  A high school batchmate had her baby last April. What kind of toothpaste do you use?:  Colgate. What KIND of shoes do you like best?:  Stilettos if I could just wear them everyday. Otherwise, I like sneakers. If you had to choose, would you have a snake or tarantula?: Snake. Do you have a trampoline? How long have you had it?:  Never had one. Do you like nature?:  I love it, but I’d much rather be at the beach.

#survey #surveys

[meldylove]

Had a good mummy-daughter date yesterday, I could see how much it meant to Beth. Since we have our @kidsstopsg membership, we headed there for a few hours again. KidsSTOP is a part of the Singapore Science Centre @sciencecentresg and is a curated indoor play space for kids aged 18 months to 8 years old. I love that different stations appeal to Beth each time we have been there. Every station has cool science theories behind them for learning but for preschoolers, it’s really mostly learning through play. Bethel loves the kid-sized supermarket, the construction station with lots of colourful balls, the wind tunnel, and the light box station at the play rooms toward the back. . Covid19 safety measures include the usual temperature checks, safe entry, social distancing, lotsa hand sanitising throughout, and limiting the number of people at a station at one time. Expect to wait/queue for the more popular stations. They used to have outfits for dress up at some of the stations but of course that’s not possible now during these times. Remember to pre-book (and pay) for your tickets online. I feel the prices are very reasonable, our annual membership is $45 for one child (fixed) and one adult (any accompanying adult). Single entry passes are also available. If you live in the west, this is definitely worth checking out. . Indulged in a quick Mos Burger treat at Jcube after our play time before heading home so Beth was just real happy as you can see in the video. It’s not a boomerang HAHA . When was the last time you went to the Science Centre? Anything else you’d like to know about KidsSTOP? :) (at Kids STOP Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMdw-CnGP4/?igshid=7u1m1c4ioywi

[memorylang]

Home for Christmas: Birth, Endings and Marriage | #18 | December 2019

I returned from Mongolia to the States for 12 days this winter! It’s the first of my three stories picking up from my adventures away.

With a confluence of reasons to see the States this year, plus some for China, this felt like the perfect Christmas journey. I open with Advent meeting my baby nephew, then Christmas among my family in Vegas before my travel to Reno (my college town) for a wedding and my return to Vegas. Then I left to China. 

Settling In: Stateside Once More

Having set a new record for days outside the U.S., my late-December return marked nearly seven months overseas. 

Upon returning to the state my family occupied, Nevada, I learned its population just passed 3 million. My state’s population nearly matched Mongolia’s! But with the Vegas Valley, its population hits nearly twice Mongolia’s capital. 

But as for temperatures, comparisons stop there. By the time I reached Vegas, I’d shed my puffy winter coats and stuffed them in my backpack. Vegas sat at a toasty 15°C (59°F), compared to Mongolia’s -30°C (-22°F). And Vegas friends said their weather felt cold!

Reunited in Vegas

My first days back at the house, caught up with my four siblings who reassembled. And I ate copious amounts of food, of which I’ll write a couple blog stories from now.

I would bring music, photos, some of my journals, travel souvenirs, Bibles and letters as keepsakes for my continued service in Mongolia. Special thanks to my 23-year-old brother for helping me through my college boxes in the garage. 

I love rainy days. They remind me of Mom, too, at times. 

My older brother gave me plenty tech support, including helping me get downtown to replace my Surface that’s been faulty since Dad bought it three years ago. (Free upgrade!) I also backed up files to cloud storage I could access from Mongolia. 

I also kicked up a K-Pop playlist with recommendations from friends and my 18-year-old youngest bro. The list used to just have songs I encountered at Kiwanis CKI events and a few from my 17-year-old Mongolian host sister. I felt needing K-Pop’s positive vibes and high-energy, as opposed to American pop’s tendency toward symping. Why dwell in darkness when I have the light?

But here’s the key reason I came back to Vegas early. I needed to sort through our late mother’s belongings. I’ll touch on this during the next blog story, about my return to China. Thank you to those who supported me through the sorting.

Baby Wally

I returned home for Christmas for a huge reason—to finally meet my nephew, Wally! 

Squishy baby Wally came from Ohio with my 42-year-old half-brother and my sister-in-law one night, the fourth week of Advent. 

Meeting them the next morning felt amazing. 

I’m an early riser, and his family was still on Eastern Standard Time. After finishing hard drive backups upstairs, I walked downstairs to the kitchen, where Wally stared at me from his rolling chair a long time. He was eight months old. 

I loved his marshmallow hands and how he babbled both incomprehensible murmurs I repeated back to him and vaguely word-seemingly things like, “dada.” I probably only held him a couple times, but we made up for that with how long others held him while he continued to gaze at me.

My brother said Wally really liked me. 

I mentioned a little how the toddlers at the orphanage, too, seemed fascinated by me. Someone somewhere told me babies, kittens and puppies must sense goodness in people. 

Christmas in America

Leading up to Christmas, my family attended Simbang Gabi, a Filipino Catholic celebration during Advent. Since Dad had my siblings and I come, we also got to see the Filipino family ours has evidently spent time with. It reminded me somewhat of the Feast of Santo Niño I attended three years ago in Reno. 

I loved getting to experience at a beautiful church the whole Mass in English—my first back in the States. The Filipino pastor gave a very Vegas homily, in how our vibrant Catholic community sets an example for this city. The Mass also featured a presider I recalled would sometimes say Mass at our church we’d attended since moving to Nevada a decade before. Afterward, we enjoyed a reception featuring copious amounts of Filipino food and music, per usual. 

Midnight Mass

As is Christmas tradition, my family attended Midnight Mass at church. But this year, my 20-year-old sister drove so we could attend carols early. Our music even included hymns from Afro-Caribbean traditions, in addition to choral classics. I recorded clips from caroling and shared with fellow Peace Corps Catholics and Mongolian friends. I wore my silver Mongolian дээл, since this could be the only year I’m back for Christmas while a Peace Corps Volunteer. 

During Mass, I remembered baby Wally when our new pastor spoke of baby Jesus. (Our past priest announced his relocation during my final Mass in the States seven months ago.) Anyway, babies are outstandingly helpless. They require others to survive and thrive. And humans seem biologically programmed to love and care about infants. 

Yet I considered Easter Vigil (my favorite Mass), too, since our Midnight Mass began with a hymn like, “The Exultant.” So I felt somber, considering what mankind one day does to who was once this poor infant. 

After Mass, I greeted a high school friend who’s stayed involved in Kiwanis Circle K International at UNLV and still sings in our local church’s choir. Like many, he felt astonished I could come home from Peace Corps but gleeful nonetheless. 

Full Families

On Christmas Day, my visiting siblings, my younger siblings and I continued the movie-going tradition, seeing, “Knives Out.” I found it delightful, with heartwarming heroes and a clever cat-and-mouse adventure with contemporary themes. I loved its art. Plus Craig and Evans were hilariously not playing James Bond and Captain America. 

That evening, our family had a wonderful dinner, with the Filipina family over. Unfortunately, my youngest brother decided to schedule for work that night, which aggravated Father. But, we still had a nice time. I like how my siblings’ ages merge well with their ages. (From oldest to youngest goes: their oldest sister, my older brother, me, their second oldest sister, my younger sister, my youngest sister, their youngest sister, my youngest brother.) 

Plus, my half-brother, his wife and their son also attended. He sincerely thanked the other family’s mother that our dad had someone new in his life. I smiled, agreeing. It reminded me the speech he gave years ago in getting to know my mom. 

The guest family’s oldest and second oldest sisters brought their boyfriends, and my older bro brought his girlfriend, too. We’d such a large Christmas dinner that we used the kitchen island counter space for food, then the dining room and ping pong tables for eating. 

Following our meal, we exchanged gifts I’ll cover when I describe what I brought back to Mongolia.

Returning to Reno

After Christmas and further friend adventures (I’ll cover in a couple blogs from now), I flew up to Reno, my undergraduate city of four years. We’d a wedding coming.

I felt amazed to boomerang from my high school city to college town and back before my return to Asia. Even in Vegas’ airport, I saw college friends I hadn’t seen in years! Rather, they saw me, while I video called my professional mentor. They joked that they would have thrown Chex Mix at me, but they weren’t sure we had that kind of relationship. I would have loved it, haha.

On the flight, my friends gifted me two palm-fulls of Chex Mix. I felt elated. After take-off, I felt pleasantly surprised to hear and understand small talk around me. People behind me chatted about EDM music careers. From the window on my right, I saw how Nevada’s snowy mountains looked steeper than Mongolia’s. I continued rehearsing my wedding reading I copied down, Romans 12:1-2, 9-18. 

As the flight neared landing, I gazed out the window and saw the familiar Sparks hill where the house my college friends and I rented stands. After landing, I felt weird somewhat recognizing the faces of uni students around in the airport. With a Reno-Sparks population over 500 thousand, though, “The Biggest Little City” stands five times larger than the “big” city where I serve in Mongolia. 

Here to Serve

Just as I disembarked my plane began a funeral service across town for the mother of someone close to us all. While I didn’t have to come, I wanted to. I remembered how touched I felt by those who came to Mom’s funeral, even if they only met her briefly. 

When I arrived, somewhat dazed, in the lobby, the soon-to-be-weds spotted me from the pews and walked out to greet me. They brought me to sit with them, beside other parishioners from our church I hadn’t been with in seven months. As the eulogies concluded, and our priest blessed the casket with the family, we sang together.

I felt at ease among such close friends. The service felt a warm reintroduction to my college town community. For, my trip home wasn’t meant quite for me. I meant to support.

First Wedding Party

That night, I reunited with and met the many of our wedding party for rehearsals. Rehearsals went smoothly. Afterward, the wedding party enjoyed pizza and wings with the bride and groom. I felt gleeful to catch up with some of my favorite faithful folks from my final years at university.

Between wedding rehearsals and Sunday Mass, I reunited with the choir I knew and loved singing with four years, including my confirmation sponsor. Even our instrumentalist who’d since left for graduate school returned to play. Just like old times. 

That weekend, I also attended my first bachelors’/bachelorettes’ party. I felt much more relaxed among these people I’d known a while. I enjoyed the added benefit of having no college coursework to distract me from being present to those there. I felt honored to partake in the wedding tradition among such fun people.  

Christian Love

The Monday morning of the wedding, one of our choir members had a family emergency, and I received the appointment to cantor our psalm, “To You O God, I Lift Up My Soul.” So I started rehearsing from the morning-of. 

I wore the most eclectic outfit, including a normal pair of black slacks I’d known since high school in Vegas (before 2015), the golden silk shirt I bought in Beijing the 2017 week I first met Chinese relatives and the black suit jacket I bought in my Mongolian city for Teachers’ Day 2019. What a coincidence they asked me to wear golden colors, a suit and something traditional if I liked. These came together with my Reno boutonnière to form, for me, among my most meaningful outfits. 

As the hours neared showtime, our jazz cue began, and I transitioned from greeting guests at the door and choir rehearsal to assembling for the procession in. I walked in with a close friend, who I loved chatting with. I especially loved the ringbearers with the rings on their sabers. Most special, our wedding party had front-row seats to witnessing the bride’s beautiful entry and seeing the heartfelt betrothals. I felt like such a cheerleader.

I stepped up to the ambo for what the groom called his favorite psalm. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to let me be the vessel. I sang with a little soul, yay. Seeing the couple’s and my choir members’ cheer gave me strength all the way to my high-note finish. 

Then I closed the songbook I borrowed from the Grand Knight, prepared the mic once more, probably gave a curt smile, and began the reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans. 

In Mongolia’s capital for the Peace Corps conferences, one night at dinner, one of my Catholic friends asked me my favorite Bible verse. I said, "Oh, I love these readings from Saint Paul, since he was my confirmation Saint. And reading his readings feels like reading a cosmic ancestor of mine. Especially, 'Do not conform yourselves to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind'" (Romans 12:2). After that, I went to help my student and a teacher apply for summer fellowships to the U.S. that were due the next days. After finishing those a few hours, I finally opened the bride-to-be’s message to see exactly which Paul reading she sent me. As I got midway through reading it aloud to a friend, I realized this was Romans 12 and went, "OH MY GODDDD."

What a sacrament. I felt great hope that taking my time with relationships will lead to extraordinary joy. Choir members congratulated me on an amazing psalm. After Mass, our priest commended me as having delivered the best reading of Romans 12:1-2, 9-18 he’d ever heard. I felt stunned. 

The wedding reception felt wonderful. I spent most of my time with the fencing group. I enjoyed their fellowship, and they enjoyed my energy. I’d spend my days up to New Year’s among the newlyweds and their family still.

Las Vegas and Nevada Grow on Me

Given the subtle ways Nevada reminds me of Mongolia, I felt myself starting to feel more at-home in the Sagebrush State than when I left. From Vegas to Reno and around.

I used to loathe telling people I’m from Vegas, actually. I usually note it as the city where my family lives. But, after seven months in Mongolia, I feel like even Vegas has its charm. Hearing Panic! At The Disco on a mall radio felt right at home. 

Vegas lights appeal to many from many places—especially Asia, reports say. And that’s special. Mom liked this city.

Up next is my New Year’s 2020 experience, followed by my return to Mongolia through Beijing, China.  You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #story #Catholic #wedding #memoryLang #USA #Christmas #newyear #holiday #love #blessed #funeral #service #baby #winter #Reno #lasvegas #nevada

[evolutionxrev-blog]

Samurai Jack Series Finale Review [SPOILER WARNING]

With the story of Samurai Jack concluded on the twentieth of May broadcast as part of Adult Swim's late night action lineup, Toonami, longtime fans, as well as the younger generation of the series, have been left with in either awe or slight disappointment. Either way, the series has finally ended as wished. And it's a good thing, too, because then we would have to make our own unofficial ending. Haha. Anyway, with that said, I am here to express thoughts on the show's ending as well as explain the series' history and reception from viewers and yours truly. Of course, beware of spoilers.

History of the Samurai Jack Production Samurai Jack was created by a Russian American animator, director, storyboard artist, producer, and screenwriter named Genndy Borisovich Tartakovsky. The man is also known for works such as Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: Clone Wars as well as being involved in the development of Powerpuff Girls, Sym-Bionic Titan, Batman: The Animated Series, and non-Cartoon Network work, Hotel Transylvania. Tartakovsky's goal was to create a cartoon that captures the cinematic feel while incorporating action-packed, humorous, artistic and cultured elements. To add to it, Tartakovsky was actually quite a fan of the samurai culture and the bushido code himself when he was a child and even had a dream of wandering in a post-apocalyptic Earth fighting mutants with his crush. August 10th, 2001, Samurai Jack debuted on Cartoon Network with the three-part special titled "The Beginning". The premiere would receive high praise and positive ratings from critics and won four Primetime Emmy Awards. Eventually, a standalone DVD and VHS format was released on March 19th, 2002. The network ordered 52 episodes (four seasons; 13 episodes each) airing as part of the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays and Toonami programming blocks. The final episode of season 4 would be aired on September 25th, 2004 (a day before my birthday, ouch).

Though, ended without an answer on whether Jack will ever get back to the past or not, fans were left sour with the sudden realization that his adventure was cut short. The last episode ended with Jack finding a baby and returning it to its mother after fighting through bounty hunters and ogres. The halt somewhat had to do with the production of Star Wars: Clone Wars and Tartakovsky not wanting to rush straight to the ending. They likely did not have the time to fully think of the right conclusion for the show. The show would eventually be aired with reruns on both Cartoon Network and sister channel, Boomerang, before being brought back (again) to Adult Swim's Toonami on February 1st, 2014. ...Then it would get removed again on January 25th, 2015.

Thirteen years later after the cancellation, Samurai Jack returned to television after the conclusion of season 4. The show aired on March 11, 2017 on Adult Swim as part of the Toonami action block with most of the original cast including Tartakovsky himself returning during the production with the exception of the late Mako (previous voice actor of main antagonist Aku) now replaced by his understudy, Greg Baldwin (who also took over as Avatar: The Last Airbender's Iroh during his passing). The season would contain more mature and darker elements to fit with the target audience, but still maintain its family feel the last seasons carried. Ten episodes later, the show finally concludes on the twentieth of May 2007.

The Final Conclusion of the Samurai Jack Fifty years have passed during Jack's struggle to return home; however, though time has aged, he did not. Jack was driven to despair by his endless quest to find a way back to the past and defeat Aku. The show started well with viewers discovering Jack is without his sword, the only thing that could defeat Aku, his armored gear, and a manly beard. Along the way, we would also see he struggles with a case of PTSD; experiencing hallucinations of his loved ones as well as children and civilians crying and moaning for him and seeing a mysterious armored figure on horseback. Jack would eventually come across everyone's favorite assassin, Scaramouche the Merciless (voiced by Tom Kenny), a jazzy flute playing android. Before battling, Scaramouhe noticed Jack's sword was missing. Laughing, he proceeded to make a call to Aku before he would get mauled by Jack. Scaramouche would use his signature flute which had the ability to make golems out of stone. After he eventually got his flute destroyed, he revealed that his voice was the true source of his ability, singing a tune to control the direction his blade would go. He also possessed a special "tuning sword", a weapon that would make anything explode within seconds after making contact. Eventually, Scaramouche was defeated due to his cockiness outplayed by Jack being one step ahead. 

Jack eventually encounters seven human women named the Daughters of Aku. Born, raised, and trained by their mother, the High Priestess, they exist for the sole purpose of killing Samurai Jack. Jack was clearly outmatched by their speed, agility, and numbers. And even with heavy weaponry, he struggled. During the battle, Jack's hallucinations would continue to spawn. This time, it was his conscious acting out, or rather the anxiety he has been bottling for years. Jack continues to outrun the Daughters of Aku before having to avoid fighting them again in the ruined temple. Though, one of the women have caught up to him and tried to kill Jack. However, Jack got the upper hand and ended up slicing her throat with her blade before the horrified Jack escapes. Remaining hidden for dawn, Jack's conscious continues to haunt him over the fact he has never killed real flesh. Then, he recalls what his father told him after a bloodied encounter; the decisions he makes and the actions that follow are a reflection of who he is. Jack returned from hiding and battles the Daughters of Aku again after warning them. This time, with no hesitation, he succeeds in killing nearly all except for the leader, Ashi, before he would fall off the trunk of a tree. There, he would confront the persistent Ashi who continues to try to kill Jack even after being eaten an enormous creature. Jack's hallucinations would continue to spawn arguing over saving or leaving Ashi to die while Jack continues to protect her. What he had in mind was to convince her that Aku was truly evil and attempt to form a bond through humorous moments. After eventually escaping, Ashi tries to strike Jack again before she would see the light as he gently release a ladybug as opposed to remembering her mother killing it for not being a part of Aku's order.

The Scotsman is one of the fans' most favorite supporting characters in the Samurai Jack lore, maybe even the most favorite. So the reaction of him seeing him return for the season got everyone hyped for the episode. The Scotsman, elderly and wheelchair-bound, leaded an attack on Aku's tower, but to no avail. Aku destroyed two of the assembled armies. The Scotsman attempted to stall Aku in order to have his daughters escape. The Scotsman would then be killed by him, but returned to life as a specter and instructs her daughters to regroup and find Jack.

Jack's chemistry with Ashi started to pan out episode to episode with Ashi noticing Aku's destruction after Jack proved of Aku's evil nature. Ashi wanted to stop Aku then, but the deluded Jack claimed there was no way to defeat him. They would eventually enter a village where they encountered mind controlled children attacking them. Near the end of the episode, Ashi destroyed the device and saved them. However, Jack was horrified seeing them collapsed and believed they were dead. There, the mysterious armored figured appeared and guided Jack to the fog. Ashi arrived seeing the children alive and well, but saw Jack was nowhere near. Ashi started his search for Jack and, on the way, had one of the most beautiful transformations and developments in cartoon history, washing off her tarred body and creating her own clothing from nature. She would also encounter familiar grateful people who have helped Jack in the past including the Woolies, the three blind archers, the older Olivia who was now the DJ of the Ravers, and Da Sam-moo-rhai who was the bartender of the same bar he encountered Jack in. Meanwhile, Scaramouche, shown to be alive but without his body, was out to inform Aku Jack was missing his sword. Ashi eventually found Jack in a graveyard thanks to a mysterious small silhouette and stopped him from committing seppuku. They then set out to find Jack's sword. Jack remembered how he lost his sword which involved encountering Aku and being forced to killed three innocent goats transformed to monsters by him. Traumatized killing living creatures, Jack dropped his mystic sword to a deep pit. Returning to the current timeline, Jack and Ashi were not able to find the sword in the location. It was then he realized the sword abandoned him for his rage rather than accidentally losing it. Jack would meditate to find its whereabouts while Ashi keeps watch. While the meditation took Jack to an astral setting with an old monk, Ashi was battling an army of soldiers trying to kill Jack and the High Priestess, her mother. After the tea ceremony, the monk told Jack he lost his spiritual sense of balance and can't retain his sword without it. This would release the angered conscious that has been haunting Jack. Finally relinquishing  the anxiety and frustration of his, he regains the balance and his sword along with his original attire was given back to him by the gods Ra, Rama, and Odin. After returning, he and Ashi set out to find Aku.

Jack and Ashi continue their travels on a giant beast carrying passengers through the desert; however, they realized the passengers are also after Jack, so the two fought them off and escaped. Trapped in the sandstorm, they found shelter in a crashed spaceship, but they were not alone. Leech-like creatures scatter in the ship hunting Jack and Ashi. When the creatures formed together, they turned into a beast named Lazarus. Jack and Ashi escaped and came across a device that stops the said creature. Though, they were not able to activate the device straight away during their battle with Lazarus. Before they were completely engulfed by the creatures, Jack managed to set the device on and electrocuted the creatures. After they were saved, a smash cut of the two sharing passionate kiss to Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" as the episode ends. Jack continues to bond with Ashi telling her of his life before Aku invaded his village. After so, he ventured off alone while Ashi was asleep. Jack entered a familiar field and found a portal was destroyed along with the Guardian's broken red glasses. Ashi eventually caught up to him seeing he left her in fear of losing her to Aku. However, the confident Ashi reassured they will defeat Aku together. At the moment, Scaramouche appeared with Aku, who he informed him Jack lost his sword, saw that Jack indeed did have his sword. Aku destroyed Scaramouche and left before sensing his own power in Ashi. The plot twist would show Aku did appear and left part of him in a goblet. It was assumed the High Priestess drank it and gave birth to seven of her children, which would confirm Ashi is his biological daughter. Aku would then possess and transform Ashi to a form resembling him. Jack tried to get Ashi to resist and remember her identity, but was unsuccessful. After wounding her, Ashi tells Jack he has to kill him, but Jack refused. Hopeless to save her, Jack dropped to his knees and laid his sword for Aku to hold up triumphantly.

At the final episode, Jack was seen imprisoned in Aku's fortress broadcasted for the entire world to see. The broadcast would use the intro that was used for the last four seasons as part of Aku's brief storytelling of his rivalry with Jack. After finishing, Aku mocked Jack's failure and threatened anyone who would defy him. Aku pondered on how he should kill Jack before eventually letting the possessed Ashi kill him. Before then, however, many of Jack's closest allies came to his rescue and try to fight off Aku. In the progress, Jack managed to free Ashi of her possession from Aku by telling her he loved her. Ashi discovered she is half demon with the same power Aku carries and opens a time portal back to Jack's time where Aku sent Jack to the future. When Jack returned, he was able to destroy Aku for good and save his family and village. In doing so, he rewrote the timeline for the future to come. Jack and Ashi's wedding ceremony was in preparation with them wearing their traditional wedding hakama and kimono as they were ready to live together. However, before Ashi would approach Jack, she collapsed and vanished from Aku's defeat in the past preventing her from existing. The episode ended with Jack wandering to the mystic woods, but gained hope for the future after seeing a ladybug lay on his hand reminding him of his time with Ashi. He would then let the ladybug go and stand under a blooming cherry blossom tree peacefully.

Overall Rating Samurai Jack is the kind of show that brings the adventure to viewers on a television screen. Since its debut, everyone watching was cheering for Jack to get back to the past, defeat Aku, and save everyone. Each time he was close, Aku ruined those chances, and brought him frustration along with people like me cursing Aku. However, that was not the only thing brought about. There were moments that defined Jack's character and the show's tone; from fighting battles for and with new made allies, fun and humorous skits, and lighthearted and emotional moments that had us shedding tears, Samurai Jack performed its best to deliver the best story, characterization, and animation direction any action cartoon fans would want. Season five did not fail to continue despite its transitions to the current generations. I believe it did well to not only pleasing the longtime fans of the series, but also gain new fans of the action genre as well. The only problem I had with the show is the fact it's only ten episodes. But other than that, I enjoyed the bond between Jack and Ashi and the thrill ride and am glad the show finally ended on a good note. And I also hope this opens the gate for Genndy Tartakovsky and other animators to get more creative with what they could attract with the younger and older audience for the action genre. Samurai Jack season 5 gets a rating of 4.5 out of 5.  

----- Thank you for reading my first in depth review for a TV show. I have been a longtime fan of Samurai Jack since I was a child so I thought of expressing to friends and peers. I plan on doing more reviews like this for other works I've experienced as well. I will write a top ten favorite episodes of season 5 eventually, but until then, thank you again. And I'll see you next time. ^^

#samurai jack #toonami #cartoon network #adult swim #cartoon review #genndy tartakovsky #thank you genndy #samurai jack season 5 #samurai jack series finale #evolutionxrev

[ddrkirbyisq]

Life has just been chugging along, it seems.  Nothing spectacular has been happening, but that's not a bad thing really at all.

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Crunchyroll Expo 2019 happened and I stopped by on Saturday to hang out, walk around, and go to some things that seemed interesting.  I got to go see the premiere of the first two episodes of Season 3 of Chihayafuru which actually ended up being a highlight of the entire thing, I had no idea I was going to enjoy it that much!  That moment near the end when _____ finished playing their match and thought to themselves _________ and the other member on their team suddenly realized _________, omg, that really really got to me for some reason.  So yeah, that was great!  Makes me want to rewatch the first two seasons at some point, especially to refresh my memory about all of the other more minor characters that I completely forgot about, haha...oh!  And I just remembered that there's a live action movie series as well...maybe I'll give that a watch too =X

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I bought and played through all of Mega Man 11!  I pulled the trigger after watching some reviews and such and since it was on sale on Steam.

I ended up enjoying it quite nicely!  It's a nice blend of old and new as far as Mega Man goes.  The thing with Mega Man is that the old tried and true formula is really just great at its core -- running and jumping and shooting.....more running and jumping and shooting....it's just good 2D platforming at its finest and I've always been a huge fan of it.  That said there ARE already a ton of classic Mega Man games out there, so as much as I'd love more games in the vein of Mega Man 9 and 10 (which were faithful to the NES series) (various fangames also exist, some of which I've played through), I will say that the fresh coat of paint that Mega Man 11 offers does make a lot of sense.

The graphics were pretty decent and I didn't mind the 2.5D much at all!  Unlike a certain other popular game pretty much everything was very readable -- just look at the screenshot above and how obvious it is that the yellow center pieces of each gear are in the foreground, while the rest of the gear is in the background.  One thing I thought looked a little odd were the "fuzziness" of the black outlines on the cel shading, but maybe I should chalk that up to me playing on a monitor with only 1280x1024 resolution?  Perhaps it looks better with a higher pixel density, but maybe rendering thin outlines is just not a strong point of the cel shaded look.

The bosses were pretty well designed -- they had a lot of personality, both in their animations and voice acting (I played only with the Japanese VA).

Maybe I was a bit biased after watching a video analyzing the level design, but I really did appreciate the designs of most of the stages and how they made for interesting progressions despite only using a few unique elements per stage.  It felt like they really made the most of many (perhaps not all, but many) of the different "gimmicks" they introduced in each stage, and that sort of clean, logical, and pleasant progression reminded me a little bit of Celeste.

The main "new mechanic" of MM11 is the "double gear system", which allows you to get a temporary limited boost to your power or slow down time for a bit.  It was an interesting concept, and actually played out pretty neatly in practice a few times -- those moments when you activate the both (double) gears at once for a last-ditch attempt to beat a miniboss and then finish the fight at low health.

However, one of my complaints about all of these "extra" 2D platforming abilities -- whether it be special weapons in mega man, additional items in shovel knight, or even magic spells in hollow knight -- is that they tend to provide a sort of frantic decision paralysis in the moment while you're in the middle of an intense fight or platforming section.

The issue is that platforming and jumping around and shooting and all of these things already occupies so much of your brainspace in terms of attention required, that it's really hard to also add in the double gear system and trying to use the different special weapons and all of those things.

Now that I'm writing about this, it really gets me thinking about 2D platformer ability design.  I know that other people might really enjoy switching between different weapons during the middle of a Mega Man level, but I've always found it to be cumbersome, and a weak point of the series for me personally -- I always Buster my way through most of the stages unless there's something particularly well suited for a particular weapon (e.g. a tricky room, a platform that I need to air-dash too, etc).

There are multiple reasons for this:

- Weapons have limited ammo available (whereas the mega buster has unlimited ammo), so you naturally want to conserve them for situations where you actually NEED them.

- In addition, the bosses at the end of each stage typically have a significant weakness to a single weapon, and you don't know what it is ahead of time.  Since the boss battle can be one of the most difficult parts of the entire stage, this incentivizes you to save all of your ammo for the boss.  Again, you don't know which weapon type you'll need, and frequently you'll need all of the ammo of that type to beat the boss.

- Switching weapons requires either opening up the menu -- which is awkward in terms of game flow -- or quick-toggling via the right analog stick or the shoulder buttons.  The right analog stick selection is actually great, but there aren't enough opportunities to really =practice= mapping each direction to a weapon in order for it to become second nature.  Because of this, switching weapons requires you to stop and think about which weapon you want to use, figure out which direction to press in order to switch, THEN go about using the weapon.

So even though I thought Mega Man 11's eight special weapons were GREAT in their variety and design (you could tell they each would be useful in very different cases), I didn't find myself using them much outside of boss and miniboss battles.

I know this is part of Mega Man's fundamental core design, so I don't really blame Capcom for not iterating on it, but I do wonder if perhaps a different mechanic for boss weapons would work a little better.

If you look at abilities in Metroidvania games, you'll see that they fall into two different groups:

Some abilities fit very naturally into gameplay and you find yourself using them again and again very naturally.

The most common way for abilities to fall into this category is for them to just be upgrades to your existing powers.  Get a main weapon upgrade?  You're automatically using it all the time.

Note that some abilities are not "direct" upgrades but natural and very obvious extensions of existing powers.  A doublejump ability, for example, is very straightforward to grok.  The speed booster upgrade in Super Metroid is the same way -- there's nothing complicated about how to activate it, you just keep running.

Another common way for abilities to fall into this category is for them to be required to be used very very commonly.  The morph ball in Metroid falls into this category -- you use it soooooo often that it becomes second nature for you to use it again and again and again.

Other abilities don't really become part of your regular rotation.  They're either too situational, difficult to use, have a cost associated with them, etc.

The X-Ray scope in super metroid sort of falls into this.  Not only does the X-Ray scope stop all of your momentum, but you often don't really =know= when and where you need to use it.  So oftentimes your only choice is to go through the entire world pausing every so often to x-ray scope......but nobody does that because that would take foreeevvverr.

Most of the attack spells in Hollow Knight tend to fall into this category.  Not only do they require mana to use (mana which could be used for healing instead!), but there aren't a lot of enemies where using a certain magic attack is required or even significantly recommended over just using your sword.

The good thing about the offensive spells in Hollow Knight, though, is that they're very easy to execute, like the special moves in the Smash Bros series: Button press gives you a fireball.  Up + button press gives you an upwards attack.  Down + button press gives you a dive.  Very intuitive.  So even though I never really ended up using most of these most of the time, they're still easy to remember.

Perhaps that's really the key -- the control scheme associated with the abilities.  The WORST way to add a new ability is to simply add a new button or key for every single ability you gain.  There are some games where at the end of the game literally every button on the controller performs a different action: Jump, Attack, Sprint, Dash, Glide, Special Move 1, Teleport, ....

So maybe =intuitive button combos= and =contextual actions= are the way to go.  That still doesn't fix the problem of having limited ammo though.

What about something like this?

Every time you beat a robot master, you unlock a new ability.  These abilities have various intuitive input commands, for example:

Jump + Attack (while in the air): Performs a mid-air forward dash with a sword slice.

Special button + no direction: Creates an energy shield around you that absorbs enemy projectiles.  The next time you press the special button, the shield fires in the direction that you are holding (or facing)

Special button + either side: Shoots a boomerang in the direction that you're facing.  It has some tracking ability, which means you can direct it upwards or downwards by jumping before or after the shot.

Special button + down: Sends an energy bolt downwards.  When it reaches the ground, it splits into two energy balls that travel along the ground until hitting an enemy.

Special button (while mega buster is fully charged): 

Button combinations and contextual actions are used to help your muscle memory instead of forcing the player to memorize the arbitrary position of each of 8 different weapons.

These abilities all draw from a =shared ammo pool=, encouraging you to choose the ability that best fits the situation.

The shared ammo pool replenishes every time you die.  Normally Mega Man weapons encourage you to AVOID using them carelessly, because if you use up ammo on a boss and then die, you're left in a worse situation than you started with -- having to face the same boss battle, but with less ammo available.

In addition, the shared ammo pool also replenishes through normal gameplay, via something like:

- Gradual replenishment over time

- Replenishes with each enemy destroyed

- Replenishes via random pickups from enemies and scattered around the level.  There's also a large pickup before each boss.

The point is to encourage the regular use of these weapons as the situation demands, rather than incentivize saving ammo for the very end.  You need the player to become comfortable with using each of these abilities and the only way to really do this is to incentivize them to use them repeatedly.

So I dunno, maybe that's not a perfect solution.  But I do feel like there is a lot of room for experimentation and iteration here.

One thing that Mega Man 11 DID do right was giving rush coil/rush jet it's own button.  Woo!!!

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Have been continuing to drill puyo transitions -- I've gotten sort of comfortable with the sandwich transition and am now trying to wrap my head around GTR.  Building the GTR core is ok, but I find myself having trouble finding the right forms to work on both the first and second floor simultaneously with GTR since it's only 3 tall and I don't yet have a handle on managing color conflicts.

#Blogger