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fieryanmitsu · 4 years

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The Heart-Pounding Sunrise Trek of Bonding | A3! | “Take the Stage” Fanzine

I am very honoured to announce that I am one of the contributors for the recently released A3! Take the Stage Fanzine! It was such a great experience working with so many talented artists and writers! Everyone's pieces turned out AMAZING, and I would highly recommend to check out the full zine! The fanzine can be downloaded for free here!

And, now that the zine has dropped, I'm able to share my piece with you all here! This story is based on the "Campfire Bonds" event and stars Muku and Citron as the focal characters!

Please enjoy~!

THE HEART-POUNDING SUNRISE TREK OF BONDING

THEME: “Campfire Bonds” event

CHARACTERS: Muku Sakisaka, Citron, Sakuya Sakuma, Masumi Usui, Tsuzuru Minagi, Itaru Chigasaki, Tenma Sumeragi, Yuki Rurikawa, Misumi Ikaruga, Kazunari Miyoshi & Izumi Tachibana

My fanfic masterpost: Here

AO3: Link in my Blog Menu

Muku stared intensely at his phone as he checked for the umpteenth time that he had set his alarm properly. Seeing that the numbers really did read ‘3:00am’, he locked his phone and placed it beside his pillow.

“Ugh. I swear I can still taste the tabasco in my mouth even though I brushed my teeth,” Tenma groaned as he entered the tent.

“Did anyone get a normal chocolate for the s’mores?” asked Kazunari, looking up from his phone.

“Izumi liked hers!” Misumi chimed in.

“That’s just because she’s a crazy Currian! No one would normally like a curry-flavoured chocolate,” Yuki snapped back.

“Anyway, everyone’s here, right? I’m gonna turn off the lights,” Tenma announced. “We have to get up early tomorrow, so we should sleep now.”

A flurry of mumbled goodnights flew around the tent as their leader turned off the lamp. Before long, the air was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing and light snoring.

However, sleep continued to elude Muku as he stared fretfully at the ceiling of the tent—his brain whirring with his anxieties. Though the Summer Troupe’s first two plays had gone well, deep down, Muku felt that he had barely squeaked by with his performances. He knew that he was still the weakest link, and was terrified of dragging everyone else down.

Just once, Muku wished he could give back to the ones who continually helped him so much. But, he didn’t even have any special skills—like Yuki or Kazunari—that he could put to use for the Summer Troupe or the Mankai Company.

So, when Izumi had first announced this training camp, Muku had immediately volunteered to be one of the organizers, even though he had never taken on such a role before. At the time, it had seemed like the perfect opportunity to prove himself and be helpful to the others. Surely, even someone as untalented as him could manage to do this much.

Inspired by a scene out of a shoujo manga, Muku had manically researched to formulate a grand plan. First, they would strengthen their bonds as they hiked side-by-side through bountiful nature. Then, they would share a heart-racing special moment together as the rising sun etched its image into their memories. Plus, with the fresh mountain air, he was sure they would get more mileage out of their vocal exercises.

However, when they had gathered to discuss the itinerary, his excitement had quickly been extinguished when his plan had been met with unenthusiastic faces. Some of the Company members hadn’t seemed interested in witnessing the sunrise, and many others had groaned about the early start time.

After the meeting, Citron had clapped him on the shoulders, looked him in the eyes with a mysterious, all-knowing smile and said: “Do not worry, Muku! Your idea is most wonderful! Everyone will be super duper happy when they see the sun grating them! I will make sure of it—trust me!”

Though his brain continued to worry and fret, Muku clung to the words and reassuring grin that the Zahran man had given him that day and allowed the darkness to finally lull him to sleep…

The next morning, with much struggle—along with Citron banging some pots and pans together—the two organizers managed to wake up their fellow troupe members and line them up outside of their tents. Though, they may as well have still been laying in their sleeping bags. Masumi was draped on top of Tsuzuru’s back, fast asleep. Itaru was crouched on the ground, muttering to himself with a half-dead expression on his face. Even the ever-chipper Kazunari had his chin propped on Misumi’s shoulder, both of them nodding off despite being on their feet.

Citron came to stand beside Muku and nudged him gently. With a gulp, the pink-haired boy mustered all of his courage and stood up as straight and tall as he could manage.

“G-Good morning, everyone! Thanks for waking up so early to join us for the first item on our itinerary today: the ‘Heart-Pounding Sunrise Trek of Bonding!’” Muku announced. “I know that it’s silly to want to follow someone who’s more annoying than the itchiest bite from a mosquito that arrived earlier than the usual mosquito season—”

“Muku, literally no one said that,” Yuki interrupted with a sigh. “Just lead the way.”

“O-Oh right! S-Sorry!” Muku responded, snapping out of his rant. “P-please follow me and watch your step!”

As Muku led the way to the forest trail, with the others shuffling groggily behind him, he couldn’t help but cringe as he heard someone yawn loudly and another person let out a groan.

“Ugh, this sucks…”

“Masumi, stop it! The Director wouldn’t be happy to hear you say that,” Sakuya protested in a hushed tone. “Look! She’s enjoying herself, so you should copy her.”

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all… Muku thought to himself, worrying at his bottom lip.

“Muku, why don’t you tell everyone about the path?” Citron suddenly said from behind him. “Did you not do lots of the research?”

“Really, Mukkun?” Kazunari asked, perking up and looking more awake than earlier.

“O-Oh, yes! Apparently, this path dates back to the Sengoku era. Monks used it as part of a pilgrimage route and this campsite actually used to be an aesthetic training ground,” Muku explained.

“That’s actually really cool,” Tsuzuru remarked. “Who knew that there was so much history in a place like this!”

“Ah! That signpost there marks the quarter-way point! We can take a quick rest here!” Muku explained, noticing that they had lost a few members.

“I-I can’t go on…” Itaru wheezed as he finally caught up to the others several minutes later.

“C’mon Itaru, we’re almost there! You can do it!” Izumi chirped encouragingly, passing the salaryman a bottle of water.

“It’s okay, Itaru! You will soon have your senses delighted by a surprise up ahead! Tell them about it, Muku,” Citron implored.

“Y-Yes! Ummm… Just down this path is a beautiful waterfall that the monks used as part of their training,” Muku responded, taking the older man’s cue. “I… I actually purposely picked this path because it would take us by the waterfall. Legend says that, if you make a wish there, your deepest desires will come true! So, I thought that you would really like to see that, Itaru! Maybe it’ll help with your next gacha pull in your games!!”

“Seriously? Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.”

Muku felt his heart flutter as the others started chattering excitedly about what wishes they would make. With this renewed vigour, their group continued on their hike, making a stop at the wish-granting waterfall on the way.

Then, almost an hour after they had left their campsite, Muku spotted the sign marking their final destination.

“We’re here, everyone!”

There was a collective sigh of relief as the members of the Mankai Company cleared the last steps and planted their feet on the plateau. However, their mutters quickly died in their throats as they came face-to-face with the view before them. A forest of trees spread out endlessly ahead, surrounded on both sides by jagged cliffs. The sun peeked above the horizon of the valley and the sky was dyed a gorgeous blend of soft oranges, pinks and straggling blues.

“Amazing!” Sakuya breathed softly. “This is beautiful, Muku!”

“Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it!!” Kazunari added, immediately taking out his phone.

“You did good, Muku. Here’s a triangle!” Misumi said with a smile, handing the pink-haired boy a smooth and shiny triangular-shaped rock.

“Yeah… It made waking up worth it,” Masumi murmured, showing a rare smile.

“This was great, Muku. Thanks for planning this for us,” Tenma said, punching him lightly in the arm.

“Yeah, seriously! I’m so glad that someone was able to plan a normal activity for this training camp. Unlike a certain someone’s crazy ‘Russian Roulette S’mores’ idea,” Tsuzuru said with a sigh, throwing a baleful glare at Citron.

“Oh, Tsuzuru! You wound me! I put so much thought into making an unforgiveable event for everyone!”

“I think you mean ‘unforgettable’,” Itaru piped in.

“Look here, it’s not ‘Russian Roulette’ if all of the options are weird!” Tsuzuru exclaimed in exasperation.

“No kidding! I can’t believe I had to eat that awful wasabi chocolate because of you! I thought my mouth was on fire!” Yuki added, jabbing a finger into Citron’s chest angrily. “You’re lucky this sunrise made up for that atrocious game!”

As Citron dramatically crumpled to the ground from Yuki’s attack, a hand clutched over his heart, he turned his head towards Muku and shot him a wink.

At that moment, Muku felt a rush of warmth surge out of his chest and envelope the rest of his body. As he suppressed the tears prickling behind his eyes, Muku thought that he could now truly understand the meaning behind all of those times his shojo manga had compared someone’s smile to the brightness of the sun.

Writing this story was such a fun challenge for me! I had to work with a word count restriction, but I also wanted to make sure I somehow included every other character from the event — so it was definitely a juggling act, haha! It was also my first time writing about both Muku and Citron, so that was a new challenge in itself. Especially since I wanted to make sure I did two of my favourite characters justice!! In the end, I'm really happy I had the opportunity to write this and am so thankful that I was able to be part of this zine! Again, do check out the full zine if you have a chance!|

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment if you have any thoughts!! Any reblogs are always appreciated!!

-Anmitsu

#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! act! addict! actors!#muku sakisaka #a3! citron #act addict actors #a3! game #a3! actor training game #sakisaka muku #a3! muku #citron #anmitsu writes #a3! take the stage fanzine

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eternallyyoungjustice · 5 years

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Wherever the Winds Take You: Chapter 10

A/N: Hey guys! I can’t believe we’re already on chapter 10...I decided to do this little bit from the comics because it’s just too pure not to write. God bless the team just being teens, you know?

Anyway, just a side note, the next couple chapters are probably going to be a little bit late because of finals, summatives, work, etc. Oh the joys of being a student in June (hahahakillmehahaha). Anyways, I hope y’all enjoy! Sorry for the length.

Martín Dance Studios, Paris

July 21

03:12

To say that Lina was flustered would be putting it lightly. As she hurriedly attempted to pack up her music equipment and put her clothes on over her dance-wear, all at the same time she felt as if she wanted to slam her head into the dance studio linoleum flooring that she had just been practising on.

“You know you don’t have to rush, yes?” The robust voice beside Lina spoke, sounding more than a little amused.

“You closed four hours ago Quinn. Of course I have to rush!” Lina exclaimed, sparing a hand away from her equipment to shove a tangle of sweaty brown hair out of her face.

Rolling his eyes, Quinn Martín found himself moving closer to his friend and took the speaker chord she had been attempting to coil out of her hands. "If I had wanted you out, I would've have kicked you out Lina. Even if it meant daring to intrude on you practicing."

The girl dared to look up to Quinn, still looking angry at herself, before sighing in defeat as she took his non-verbal hint to let him help.

"Thank you." She muttered as she stood and focused on putting a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt over the shorts and sports bra she had been wearing.

“So,” Quinn spoke as he continued to pack up the last of the stuff, “other than practicing here three hours a day and taking advantage of our business free of charge, what has the Fabulous Lina Dubois been doing?”

“Oh you know.” Lina shrugged, even though Quinn couldn’t see it. “This and that. Family to care for, crops to harvest, errands to run.”

“Teams to form and genetic labs to implode.” She wanted to add, but she had promised herself long ago that she would keep her only civilian friend as Lina, separate from her life as Zephyr, even though a small part of her always wanted to disclose her many adventures to him.

“That’s all? You lazy girl.” Quinn shook his head. “Maybe that’s why you can stay up, dancing your feet off after three in the morning. You must be sleeping so much…”

Once again, she felt compelled to tell him the truth. She wanted to explain that no, that wasn’t the reason. The real reason she could do this was because she had spent the last few days in Happy Harbor, so what little of an internal clock she had after two years of constantly having to bounce around the world, was set to Eastern Standard Time, where it was only currently dusk.

But instead, she simply laughed quietly and muttered a silent “Oui, of course.”

“You know,” Quinn stood up just as Lina finished putting her hair in a loose ponytail, both finished with their respective tasks. “Mina Élysée is hosting an old silent movie marathon next weekend, if you’re not too busy with family, crops, and errands…..we should go.”

Lina raised an eyebrow, “Hasn’t Mina hated me since I first came to the school?”

Quinn looked a touch embarrassed. “Touché...she didn’t exactly know how to react to someone with autism…”

Lina gave a half-hearted shrug. “You can always go without me. I bet Chloe would love to go with you…”

Quinn let out a deep, sarcastic laugh. “No thank you. Chloe may be sweet, but I don’t want to spend the whole night hearing how ‘whatever artist’ is better than ‘whoever’, and then have to try and find a good enough reason to fend her off at the end of the night.”

“Awww, wee lamb.” Lina mocked in English. “How cruel the world is that such a sweet girl is interested in you.”

Quinn rolled his eyes, then shoved Lina’s radio and devices into her as he gave his cookie-cutter excuse. “She’s not my type.”

Lina gave a small snort as she shouldered her equipment. Then, she was distracted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. As she pulled up the small glass device, she saw that she had a message from her newest contact.

HEy Lina!1

Wallyhad thr idea to gocamping twonigt! Want 2 joinn?

-Megan

Lina smiled, amused. It was becoming evident to everyone in the team that M’gann still hadn’t gotten used to human technology. The other day they had taught her how to use an electric oven properly (after yet another batch of hockey puck cookies). The experience was possibly the most dangerous thing they had done yet, including Cadmus and Mister Twister.

“What are you smiling about?” Quinn asked, as he leaned over to look at Lina’s phone but she quickly shut it off and shoved it in her bra.

“None of your business, Martín,” Lina smirked as she eyed-down her friend. As Lina’s light blue eyes met Quinn’s dark dark brown ones, he felt his resolve weaken. The pools of azure could have that effect on anyone if she wanted them to. He was just a little more vulnerable to it.

“It was my brother, he wants me home,” Lina spoke after a moment, a pang of uneasiness surging through her stomach as she lied to someone she considered to be one of her best friends.

“Well, it is three in the morning.” Quinn shrugged, running a hand through his shoulder-length black hair.

“You know how protective Calvin gets.” Lina shrugged. Quinn couldn’t help but let out a loud howl of laughter.

“Don’t remind me. Remember the first time I visited your place? The guy interrogated me.” Quinn laughed. “But I suppose you’re not much better…”

Lina frowned slightly at that. “What? I am not even close to being as protective as Calvin!”

Quinn gave the small girl beside him and gave her an unconvinced smile. “Whatever you say, Cherie.”

Lina, not catching the sarcasm in his voice, simply waved her hand in dismissal and made her way to the door. “Well, I best be off. Goodnight Martín, love you!”

When the door to the studio closed, Quinn remained in the studio; alone and the room darkened by the loss of sun gazing through the windows. He dug his hands in his front pockets, his smile left on his face.

“Goodnight Dubois.”

Happy Harbor

June 20

21:35

It didn’t take long for Lina to fly home at top-speeds, shower, get changed into some nicer civvies, and zeta over to the cave. Another talent she had picked up in her years as a hero; she had become very good at quickly changing clothes. Robin had once told her that it was one skill every hero grew into after time.

And just as she thought of the young, raven-haired boy; he materialized in the Zeta-tube beside her.

“Fancy meeting you here Airhead.” Robin cracked open a grin as his eyes met Lina’s figure.

“You as well, Boy Blunder.” Lina nodded. “I was just thinking of you actually.”

Robin’s smirk doubled in length, and a hand swept through his hair. “I knew my good looks and charm had to get your attention eventually.”

Lina let out a loud snort of laughter. “Mhmm, sure. I think you’ve been spending a little too much time around Wally.” She rolled her eyes. “Get back to me when you’re not a child, okay?”

Robin joined into the French girl’s laughter as they made their way into the kitchen, where they found Kaldur, Conner, and M’gann waiting.

“Ah, you two made it!” M’gann exclaimed happily. “Sorry for the last minute plans, but Wally’s idea to go camping sounded like so much fun!”

“No problem M’gann.” Robin shrugged. “Beats patrolling with Bats any day of the week in my book.”

“It was kind of you to invite everyone.” Kaldur nodded.

“But where’s Wa-“ Before Lina could finish her question, the ginger speedster sped into the kitchen with his hands full of camping supplies.

“Gathered a couple chairs, some firewood, scrounged the pantry for graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows; and now we’ll cozy up together outside…”

Wally’s voice trailed off as he entered the kitchen and caught a look at his teammates waiting inside, his expression full of surprise which led everyone to believe that these plans were not made with them in mind.

“We’re going to need a lot more stuff than that if we’re gonna go camping!” Robin smirked.

Happy Harbor

June 20

21:56

“This was a great idea, don’t you think Wally? Camping in the great outdoors…” The cheeky mockery in Robin’s voice could be heard a mile away.

After digging into some supplies around the cave, the group had found enough to be used for all six of them. Three two-person tents, a hammock, more firewood and food, a few chairs that could be used outside, even a cooler that the teens used to store the food in case of any animals that may be lurking in the woods.

It was the true camping experience, save for the actual home base that was less than a kilometre away from the campsite.

“I don’t remember inviting you.” Wally huffed. “Besides, I didn’t say anything about camping. I said a campfire. Big difference between just a campfire and the whole camping thing, I don’t like camping outside anyways…”

Wally sent a grinning look over his shoulder at M’gann, who was sitting far back from the fire. As Martian and Atlantean biologies were extremely susceptible to high temperatures, such as fire, both M’gann and Kaldur had to sit far away from the fire as to not receive any unwanted heat.

“...unless, of course, I’m camping with that special someone.”

“Dude, that was borderline creepy.” Robin cringed.

If M’gann had noticed Wally’s flirting or Robin’s line, she didn’t bother to show it. “Well, I think all of us camping is a wonderful idea!” The alien girl piped up.

“She didn’t seem to think my line was too bad,” Wally smirked.

Robin looked at Lina, noticing her holding back her on cringing. “She’s probably on a sugar overload.”

“Thanks to Wally, I get to try s’mores for the first time.” M’gann cheered as she took a bite of the mushy marshmallow-chocolate-graham cracker concoction on her stick.

“What can I say? I’m a sweetie!” Wally quipped. “Get it? Cause s’mores are sweet?”

Seeing the Martian girl enjoying her own s’more, Lina looked down at her own with an alien look.

“I do not understand this dessert…” Lina muttered.

“They don’t have s’mores in France?” M’gann asked, mouth full of gooey marshmallow.

Lina shook her head. “Marshmallows aren’t very popular, and graham crackers aren’t even available anywhere that I know of…” After poking the melted sugars white goo spilling out from the dessert, the girl wrinkled her nose and handed hers to M’gann; who ecstatically snatched it and popped the dessert into her mouth.

“So this is what you do when you go camping?” Superboy asked, gesturing to their makeshift camping grounds. “Sleep in these flimsy things called ‘tents’ and sit around the fire?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much about it. So if you feel like heading home, I can sit here with Ms. M...alone.”

“You’re about as subtle as a train wreck, you know that?” Robin grinned. The flames reflecting off his sunglasses, which he was still wearing despite it being the middle of the night, made his mischievous features look downright malicious.

“You’re not going to catch any fish unless you go fishing dude!” Wally replied, then seemed to catch himself as he looked back at Kaldur-who was cringing a little at the metaphor. “Sorry, no offence.”

“Usually,” Robin cut in, crossing his arms, “you sit around the campfire and tell stories.”

“Oh!” M’gann exclaimed, whipping around to face Kaldur who broke off his eye contact with Lina to face the Martian. “I would love to hear your story Kaldur. Could you tell us how you became Aqualad?”

“I was thinking more of a ghost story type of thing but I guess…whatever.”

Seeing the flames continue to brighten the boy’s sunglasses along with the almost evil in appearance expression, a shiver ran through Wally’s spine.

“Dude, tone down the evil villain vibes would ya? You’re creeping me out!” Wally whisper-shouted.

“Oh, I suppose I could do that if you do not think it will be too boring…” Kaldur said, eyes darting around his teammates to get a reading on how they may feel about the suggestion. Everyone’s interests seemed to be piqued however, everyone’s eyes on him save for Robin’s-whose head was tilted in his direction but his eyes still lay focused on the flames before him.

“Not at all! I would love to hear it!” M’gann nodded.

Ever self-conscious about being in the spotlight, Kaldur took one more look around the campfire. When his eyes landed on Lina, whose head was propped up in her hands as she waited for him to begin. Her eyes displayed such excitement, even though she already knew his story from many a telling, and the Atlantean felt a sense of confidence flow through him. His mind began to formulate his story, piecing together the chapters of his life as his grey-teal eyes became entranced by the fire.

“Well, I grew up in the city of Shayeris, which is a city in Atlantis. Surface dwellers think all Atlanteans are the same, but our kingdom has many cities, many people, many cultures. When I was twelve, I completed my education and began my mandatory service in the Atlantean military-which is standard for all at that age.”

“After a while, I was transferred to the prestigious Conservatory of Sorcery in the Atlantean capital of Poseidonis. Queen Mera is the Head Mistress of the Conservatory and wife of King Orin, Aquaman. It was a very different time for me. It was difficult, as it would be for anyone at age fourteen I suppose, but also a time in my life where I met friends that I know will be with me for a lifetime."

"Then came a day...a horrible day when Poseidonis was attacked by the Ocean Master. I can remember it vividly, as if it only happened yesterday. It was the day Aquaman almost met his end."

"Aquaman and Ocean Master fought for what seemed like hours. When the two clashed it seemed to shake the very foundations of the city. Ocean Master had gained the upper hand, and nearly defeated Aquaman." Then, Kaldur paused. "Correction: Aquaman was defeated."

"Garth, a fellow student, and I intervened on the King's behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing. The danger did not occur to us, the only thing that mattered to us at the time was that our King was in danger. It may have been one of the most foolish things Garth and I had ever done, as we nearly met our own end. We had no hope of defeating him whatsoever, but the time we spent engaged in battle against the Ocean Master was time enough for our King to recover. That was all he needed as Aquaman finally triumphed over Ocean Master."

"Aquaman is a being of two worlds. On the surface world, he fights for justice of all beings, under the sea he is a leader of many. Both carry the weight of responsibilities. Overwhelming responsibilities that only the best of men can carry for so long. Even Aquaman cannot do both forever. Realizing that on the surface both Batman and Green Arrow had taken on apprentices that could one day take over their respective mantels, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea. With this in mind, he approached both Garth and myself with the possibility of becoming his proteges. I must admit, the possibility intrigued me immediately."

"I had never been to the surface world, and I will be the first to admit that I am a bit of an adventurer. Many is the day in class that I would dream of visiting distant oceans and possibly, one day, even the surface world. Both Garth and I seriously considered the King's offer. But Garth ultimately chose to continue his studies with Queen Mera at the Conservatory of Sorcery. For me, however...the chance to visit the surface world was a dream come true. So at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad. I miss my friends, Garth, Tula...but the chance to work with my mentor and King was an opportunity I could not pass up. I like to think the work that I am doing makes a difference."

"The rest of the story you know. Aquaman brought Aqualad to the surface world...and now I am here with you."

Kaldur's story elicited a smile from pretty much everyone, although on differing levels.

Lina stretched her back over the log she was leaning against, moaning slightly as she did. "I love stories of the fathoms below…" she sighed.

"So you wanted to be Aqualad?" M'gann asked.

"Yes, the opportunity alone...I could think of no other path." Kaldur spoke with a small, content and nostalgic smile on his lips.

"If you think he wanted to be Aqualad so badly, let me tell you about how I got started." Wally piped up.

"Oh this ought to be good." Lina heard Robin mutter.

"It literally goes back a couple generations. Each generation of Flash has started with a bang! Literally! Jay Garrick was in a freak accident: Boom! There it is. During the 40s and 50s, he was everywhere. 'The fastest man alive', Jay Garrick was the first Flash."

"Then, one day this guy comes along; a huge fan of The Flash, wanting to know all about this Jay Garrick-back in those days Jay didn't really hide his identity-he contacts Jay and the two spend hours and hours talking about his adventures and his accident that turned him into the Flash. This guy even goes so far as to re-create the accident that created the original! But whereas Jay Garrick's was a complete freak accident, this guy rre-createsit under laboratory conditions; he set the whole thing up in his lab and tried to make it happen. Result? Still a big explosion, but lo and behold he becomes speedy mcspeed-speed himself! Now he's The Flash. Well, not the original Flash, but the new Flash...the Flash we all know! Now that I'm saying all this...they probably could have used different names…But now this time, he was even faster than the old Flash! He had even more speed!"

Wally popped another s'more into his mouth, then continued his story.

"Okay, so check this! The second Flash is a fan of the first Flash-Jay Garrick-and it turns out great minds think alike! Cause I was a fan of the Flash! The second one, not the first. Well, I was a fan of Jay Garrick after I got to meet him, but he was a little before my time."

"Long story short, one day I was in my Uncle's house and stumbled across his old notebooks, and got the shock of a lifetime. That was the day I found out my uncle was The Flash! Once the shock had passed a bit, I kept reading. He had been keeping a journal of all his experiences and experiments! Especially the one that made him the Flash-the second one, not the first-""We get it already!" Robin interrupted.

Wally ignored his friend's outburst and carried on.

"When I found that out, I would kind of keep hinting to my uncle that Flash could maybe use and needed a partner. I mean, come on, by this time Bats already had Robbie over there, GA had Speedy, Aquaman had Kal...heck, even RT had Lina at that point! This was a total no-brainer! I've got to admit, Flash was a little resistant at first."

"Does this story sound confusing to anyone else?" Superboy asked.

"Just let me finish, and you will be confused no more Supey!" Wally winked, sending finger guns to the clone. "So, having his journal just like he saw the previous Flash's, I try to recreate the experiment with my own chemistry set. And what do you know? I was actually able to do it."

"The experiment actually worked?" Kaldur asked.

"Well...not at first, actually." Wally suddenly seemed a little uncomfortable. "I was hurt in the explosion, it was pretty bad...but although the super speed didn't kick in for a couple weeks, when it did; I was perfectly fine, and then I was off and running. I couldn't wait to show Flash! When he saw that I had powers, how could he not want me as a partner? You guys should've seen his face when I showed him! This time he jumped at the chance to have me as his partner, Flash couldn't wait to show me off to the world! He was beyond ecstatic, he couldn't contain his excitement! It was the greatest day in the history of the world! Why you ask?"

"We didn't." Robin snorted.

"That's the day the world got Kid Flash!"

Wally remained silent, as if waiting for people to applaud, then said with an air of victory and pride, "You. Are. Welcome."

"Ah yes, we're all so pleased that you're so speed-capable." Robin snickered. Wally shot a glare at him.

“What’s the matter? Jealous?” Wally asked.

“Sheeyah, right. Jealous of you?”

"What about you Lina?" M'gann cut in, catching the small brunette's attention.

"Moi?" Lina asked, then laughed awkwardly. "I can assure you, mine's not as interesting as fighting alongside great monarchs or sciencey explosions…"

"As long as it's not so confusing…" Superboy shrugged.

"C'mon Lin', you've got a great origin story!" Wally cheered on.

Lina sighed, a timid heat crawling up to her ears, and she found herself fiddling with a strand of hair.

"Well, then...I guess I should start with where I grew up. My family line worked in the circus industry for generations, right down to my parents, my brothers and I. We performed for a European Travelling Circus, Cortez' to be exact...it was my home. My father was a stagehand, he was never one for acts himself, but my brothers were a fire-dancer and an animal tamer respectively and my mother and I...we were an acrobatic duo! Aerial work, floor routines, silks, contortion, gymnastics...everything you could think of, we specialized in! Growing up in a circus...there's nothing else like it. The acts, the work that goes into it, the family...it's perfect."

Lina's eyes seemed to light up as she spoke, but then suddenly the light seemed to fade. "But then...there was a fire. The authorities never figured out how it started, but my mom and I got crushed in some debris when she tried to save me and...when the smoke cleared my mother had…passed. I was put into a coma lasting for months. Apparently, nothing in the circus lay untouched by the flames. With the destruction it wreaked, and then with one of the most prominent families in Cortez' history leaving after the death of their monarch...the circus closed before the end of the season."

"But then, while in my coma, this power in me suddenly manifested. Somehow, I don't know exactly how, I created a giant tornado in the France countryside. Thank God nobody was hurt, and the destruction was minimal considering. But when I woke, the Justice League was there. My family had explained everything to them and then; Red Tornado, Black Canary, and Batman came into my hospital room and talked to me. They told me of how Red was willing to take me in as an apprentice, teach me to control my powers, and Black Canary would help me heal while also teaching me hand-to-hand combat. My family wasn't too happy at this initially...but I agreed. I felt like I needed to do something so it wouldn't happen again."

"Then started a whole year of training. Being in a coma for months while I healed from serious wounds had left my body weak and brittle, so I had a lot of work to do. But as I'm sure you'll all find soon, Black Canary is the perfect person to 'whip you into shape', no matter what shape you start off in. And then, after I was deemed ready by both my mentors, I was officially given the title 'Zephyr' and I started fighting evil. And now...here I am, with all of you."

"...I'm sorry about your Mother." M'gann frowned. The girl looked a little guilty, but Lina shook her head and smiled.

"It's alright, I have made peace with her passing. And besides, I know that wherever she is...she's happy that her family is all well and safe."

"You really don't know where your powers come from?" Superboy suddenly asked. His question surprised Lina, but she answered nonetheless.

"I do not. The League has apparently attempted to find out, I even was the subject of a couple of tests at STAR Labs for a couple of days because we wanted to figure it out, but...we simply do not know." Lina shrugged.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon.” Robin shrugged. “Just gotta find the right people.”

The French girl gave the younger boy beside her a smile and gently rustled his hair. “Merci...perhaps one day…”

“Can you tell us how you got started Robin?” M’gann asked.

Wally answered with a loud snort of laughter, which seemed to put Robin in a very bitter mood as the raven-haired male looked away and began to pout a little. “Are you kidding? Bats won’t even let him tell anyone his real name!”

Finally looking back at his best friend, Wally noticed that the youngest of the group was looking particularly uncomfortable. A slight blush was dusted on his cheeks, and his shoulders were slouched. The ginger also noticed the fact that Robin was avoiding looking at Lina at all costs. As if just looking at her, or as Wally knew-thinking too much about the story she had just told-would lead him to unravel. Wally sidestepped and reevaluated what he just said.

“I mean...you’ll probably get a better origin story out of Supey over there.” The ginger motioned to the shadowy figure across the fire from him.

“But you all already told me his story, didn’t you?” M’gann spoke. “You told me that the four of you rescued him from CADMUS.”

Wally nodded. “That we did.”

“Yes, chronologically Superboy is only 16 weeks old,” Kaldur explained

“And you don’t have any memories of what happened before you were rescued?” The Martian girl asked Superboy.

If Superboy was at all anxious from having the attention suddenly tossed onto him, he didn’t bother to show it. “I have some memories...from the g-gnome…it would teach me about the world outside while I was in the containment pod.”

This made M’gann smile but then frown slightly. “So you can remember things? When you were in the containment pod they would feed you information and you could remember it, right?”

“I guess so.” Superboy shrugged indifferently.

“Well if you can remember what they taught you, you must have been thinking about things as they fed you information,” M’gann said, her voice almost analytical in a sense. “What did you think about?”

“When I was in the containment pod, I was fed information. But I really didn’t start thinking for myself until I got out.”

“Well what kinds of things do you think about now?”

The group seemed unsure of why the sudden interrogation had sprung up surrounding Superboy’s thoughts, but when the clone hesitated in his answer the attentions of all the experienced proteges seemed to be piqued. And when the boy looked back at everyone with a gaze that was equal parts cold and empty, several warning signs began to go off in their heads. The only exception to this was Robin, who Wally noticed hadn’t reacted at all.

“The one thing that’s always on my mind...destroying Superman.”

Almost in unison, a chill crept up every single hero’s spines. Upon seeing the shocked expressions on their faces, Superboy stood from his chair and turned away from the group.

“Are you serious Superboy?” M’gann asked.

Superboy paused. “...it’s how I feel...sometimes. What if that’s why I was created? What if that’s the only reason I was created?”

“That’s not possible.” M’gann shook her head.

“Yeah! Look at all the good stuff you’ve done so far!” Wally exclaimed.

“What would be the possible reasoning behind this thinking?” Kaldur inquired.

Superboy sighed, and his fists tensed by his sides. “I just feel...I don’t know what I feel. Sometimes thoughts happen.”

“Those would be silly thoughts!” M’gann chipped. “You should put them out of your head.”

“He does have a valid point.” Robin pointed out, but the tone of his voice made it evident he did not want to be the realistic one in this scenario. “We really don’t know anything about what they did to him yet…”

Reaching up, Lina touched Wally’s arm and the two looked to one another for a moment, then nodded.

“We know he’s one of the good guys, and we know he’s part of the team,” Wally argued, standing up.

“We know he fought side-by-side with us to get out of Cadmus, and helped to free us from being cloned ourselves,” Lina added on, standing up herself and floating over to the clone. She was joined by Wally, spare s’more in his hand.

“In this world, actions speak louder than words,” Kaldur spoke. “Superboy has proven his intentions with his actions.”

“Hero, villain. Human, or otherwise. Each and every living being has a balance of good and evil in them. That includes all of us here today, whether we choose to recognize that or not.” Lina nodded and placed a caring hand on Superboy’s shoulder. “What matters is what part of that balance we choose to act on. You’ve proven several times that you act on the good.”

“Exactly!” Wally exclaimed, and shoved the s’more into Superboy’s hands. “So put those thoughts outta your head Supey! And while you’re at it, have another s’more.”

Superboy looked down at the s’more, his expression shrouded in shadow. “Thank you...all of you.”

As Wally and Lina sat back down, the former nudged Robin with his foot. “Dude, what’s wrong? Not like you to zone out mid-monologue.” Wally whispered.

“I guess Superboy isn’t the only one lost in thought tonight…” Robin whispered back, ever so mysteriously.

An awkward silence spilled over the teens. The only sound surrounding them being the cracking of the fire and the odd rustle in the bushes. Nearly everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats, not wanting to continue in the awkwardness but not wanting to be the first to speak after such a dramatic moment. But never being one to like silence of any sort, especially amongst friends, Wally’s eyes latched onto the only person who had not given their own personal origin story.

“Hey! Miss M! What about you? What’s your dealio?”

“Oh...uh, I guess since you all told your stories…” M’gann cleared her throat, which had suddenly gotten very dry. “I guess, well, I’m from Mars…”

She slapped her head, “Hello Megan, you all already knew that!”

“All Martians live in underground tunnels because the surface is inhabitable. Our family lives are very intertwined because, as you already know, we mostly communicate telepathically. This helps the large families of Mars keep a sense of community and stay closer."

"Large families?" Wally asked, looking intrigued. "How many are in in your family?"

"Martian families are quite large. I myself have twelve sister and seventeen brothers. In my extended family I have over three hundred counsins." M'gann explained. Everyone's eyes widened at this, especially Wally's.

"Three hundred?" The speedster asked.

"Yes."

"Are they all girls like you?"

"Dude!" Robin exclaimed. "You are a class act!"

"Dude!" Wally called back. "Three hundred girls that look like her? Now that's a planet I want to visit!"

Lina nudged Wally with her foot. "Bordering on creepy again, KF."

"Well, half of my cousins are male, but yes. Most Martians look similar...mostly Green like my Uncle J'onn and myself. But there are other...differences. There are also Martians who are red and white...but some on my planet do not see the whites as equal."

"Well, that's a little ironic, compared to Earth…" Lina thought.

"My parents are both green, and I was raised in what would be called a 'liberal' type of environment. My family, I, have no issue with white Martians. Others...are not as tolerant."

"What made you come to Earth?" Kaldur asked, and Lina could notice a little bit of discomfort in his voice.

"Of all the brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles; the family member I was closest to was Uncle J'onn. We had a great relationship." M'gann went on to explain. "We would watch exploits on Earth with the rest of the Justice League. He grew to be a true beacon of hope and stood for what our society could achieve. He became the most famous Martian in our history! And upon his return to Mars, it was considered a planetwide celebration! But his return was not for adoration...he had a more specific purpose in mind."

"Upon learning about all of you-Robin, Aqualad, Zephyr, Kid Flash, and Speedy-J'onn decided now was the time to introduce a younger Martian hero to Earth."

"J'onn J'onzz came back to Mars and declared he would hold a competition to find the next Martian champion that would be returning with him to fly amongst the heroes of Earth. I decided I would enter the competition, as it seemed so did half the population of Mars. I however, was coming to Earth. The competition was fierce and dangerous. It was exciting, and consumed the lives of every single Martian on the planet."

"At first, Uncle J'onn seemed as if he didn't want me to compete. I thought maybe it was because he didn't want me coming to Earth. I had seen some of his adventures, they were life-threateningly dangerous. But I was not going to let that stop me, I was determined to win! From everything I had seen and heard of Earth from that point...I had loved it. I wanted to come see it for myself, I would not be bested. I won the whole competition."

"My heart soared! I was coming to Earth! This was the most exciting point of my life, and now I am here with all of you! I am a part of the Team! I truly love it."

"We are happy you're here with us as well M'gann." Kaldur smiled.

"You could say that again," Wally added.

"And I hope we continue to live up to the...what's that word…'hype'." Lina reached over to pat Megan's leg.

Pulling the conversation away, Robin stood and stretched. "Well...I don't know about you guys, but I think I've had one s'more too many. I'm going to hit the old sleeping bag."

"Yes!" M'gann cheered. "This has been such an amazing evening, but I am so excited to sleep in a tent!"

"I'm right behind you." Wally piped up, only to be pulled back by Robin.

"Yeah, only you're sleeping in this tent right over here," Robin spoke, motioning to the tent that the two boys had agreed beforehand to share.

As everyone began to stand, M'gann turned to face Lina. "Are you turning in as well?"

"I believe so, I'll be in in a minute." The human girl nodded, stretching her neck to crack the bones. The girl with green skin nodded happily and zoomed over to the tent belonging to the two of them.

"Hey, next time you think we should go camping for real? Like in an actual camping ground instead of in our own backyard?" Wally asked.

"You don't strike me as the outdoorsy type...maybe next time we'll try down the hill a bit." Robin shrugged indifferently.

"You're certain your family is fine with you staying the night here again?" Kaldur asked the small French girl standing beside him, who nodded in response.

"Believe me, they are more than fine with it. Last I spoke with them my older brother said, and I translate, "it's good to have your sorry butt out of the house for once”.” Lina laughed a little. “What about you? I hope this isn’t stopping you from visiting Atlantis.”

Kaldur shrugged. “Atlantis will survive without me for a few more days. For now, my place is with the team-my friends.”

Lina smiled at this, and gently bumped her shoulder with his. “I’m glad to hear it! But for now, I think your place is getting some sleep.” Kaldur’s lazy smile turned into a chuckle.

“The same to you.”

“In that case,” The air-manipulator grinned and took a curtsy to both the Atlantean and the clone, who had been silently watching them with an empty expression, “I wish you adieu et bonne nuit.”

Kaldur watched Lina turn and leave, a small smile itching at the corners of his mouth, but Superboy just turned to face the flames once again. After a moment, the Atlantean focused back on the Kryptonian.

“That was a fun evening indeed, but I think I will be turning in as well...unless you would like some company, Superboy?”

“No, that’s okay.” The younger boy barely made a physical notion of whether he had heard Kaldur or not, “I’ll turn in soon. I just want to sit here with the fire a bit longer.”

Kaldur nodded but didn’t question the response. “Well, if you need anything; you know we are all here for you.”

And with that, Kaldur left to enter his own tent. But Superboy continued to stand, his eyes on the dancing flames but his gaze seeming to go straight through them. As if even though his body was standing there, in the makeshift camp site, but his mind and thoughts were...elsewhere.

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crimson-of-the-earth · 3 years

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Would You Rather (Fanfic Edition)

Got tagged by none other than @theladyisapirate so let’s do this!

Do you prefer friends to lovers or enemies to lovers?

I prefer enemies to friends to lovers. so

Would you rather be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fanfic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fanfic?

My least favorite fanfic is still great so I’d prefer that being adapted. Maybe the adaptation would make it even better.

Besides, I’ve been burned so many times by my favorite CANON books being adapted into disappointing pieces of shit. *cough*Percy Jackson*cough*

Would you rather read fanfic chapters backwards or read them as parsed from google translate?

I’m gonna have to skip this question too.

Would you rather consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator or have to read on a tiny printed piece of papers written in yellow highlighter?

I feel like reading fanfics out loud ruins the whole mood, tbh. And besides, nobody will read yellow-highlighted stuff anyway because it’ll hurt their eyes.

Would you rather get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read or never read fanfic again?

I’d rather get tattoos of every fanfic title I’ve read. Most of them are pretty poetic, some even have song lyrics for titles!

Do you prefer vampire au or werewolf au?

Vampire AU all the way, bruh. It’s a classic AU.

Would you rather get sold to a boy band or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest?

Am I allowed to relive a certain moment with my love interest in the time loop?

Would you rather kill your favorite character or marry your least favorite character?

My favorite and least favorite characters are the same person. If you’re a wrestling fan, you know what I mean.

Would you rather meet your love interest in a coffee shop au or college au?

Coffee shop AU for life, my dudes. Again, it’s a classic. Granted, so is the college AU but let’s just say that college doesn’t hold fond memories.

Would you rather have your fic history leaked or never read another fanfic again?

Go ahead! Just sign this waiver that says that I will not be liable for any mental health issues that you may experience.

Would you rather be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life?

Bro, bold of you to assume that I haven’t enjoyed mpreg fics before.

Would you rather gay ships or straight ships?

I don’t care about that. What matters fic potentiality and chemistry. I ship mlm, wlw, straight and every ship in between. As long as the influx of fics are either great or plentiful.

Would you rather ship a rarepair with almost no content or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut?

Yo, rarepairs are practically diamonds in every fandom. Everyone wants to find new ships but they’re too busy shipping every obvious ship. When you create fics for a rarepair, it’s gonna go one of two ways:

People are either gonna go crazy for it and demand skyrockets, or it flops and you abandon your works out of shame.

Would you rather see your otp shatter years after their happily ever after or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place?

As a member of any fandom, I think it’s better to never wish for a happily ever after for your OTP, unless you wanna cry yourself to sleep every night.

Call me nihilistic. It’s just the way shipping works.

Would you rather read a poorly written but complete fanfic or a literary masterpiece last updated june 2013?

I’d go with the latter but I’d honestly give the complete one a try. How poorly written are we talking about here? Like, a wall of text? Continuous use of “said” without further action descriptions?

Would you rather read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words or 70k words worth of fluff?

BOOOOOTTTTHHHHH!!!! One of my favorite fics is a 100k+ smut with a mix of fluff. AND IT’S ALL IN ONE CHAPTER!

Would you rather read only alternate universe fanfics or only canon fanfics?

Dude, canon fics are super boring!!!!! Gimme the AU!

Would you rather introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing?

Honestly, I don’t like making friends with normies. They’re too boring to be around with and talk to.

Would you rather read your notp with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization or your otp with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization?

I read any fanfics that aren’t huge walls of grammar errors.

Would you rather have a major character death or have a bed sharing scene but it’s a ship you hate?

I don’t ike reading fics of my hated ships, anyway. Why should I bother? Just give me the MCD and I’ll see myself out.

Would you rather every fanfic includes Jackson Wang or every fanfic includes at least one nsfw moment?

I don’t quite understand the question....

Would you rather read a fanfic that has constant grammar and spelling mistakes or one that the characters are wildly different than canon?

I honestly like OOC fics. And reading a wall of grammar errors is like having barbed wire pressed into my eyes.

Would you rather read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome ship or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your notp all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar?

Give me my favorite wholesome babies going through serious shit!

Again, wall of horrible grammar = barbed wire in eyes.

Would you rather have the power to read every fanfic in existence or have the power to make any ship canon?

Dude, I would ALL my ships canon! I don’t wanna read every fanfic ever, that would include the horrible ones.

I’mma be the Pope of Shipping, dammit! Just canonizing ships left and right!

Would you rather read a cringy 70 chapter harry styles mafia au or a high school kpop au y/n fic with horrible grammar?

That AU you just mentioned is cringey in and of itself. High school AUs are cringe enough but at least it’s a classic.Personally, I think adding K-Pop to anything is like adding BBQ sauce to a S’more. It fucking ruins it.

So never mention K-Pop to me again. It’s bad enough that I have to deal with it in the game I’m playing.

But to answer the question: Harry Styles? Classic. Mafia AU? Also a classic. So I’ll go with it. I can deal with a lot of things but K-Pop is not one of them.

Would you rather have your otp get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way or all members of your otp survive but get together with other people?

The second one. No one’s gonna stop me from breaking canon and shipping them anyway.

Would you rather accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss?

This involves real people with no gimmick/persona (Wrestlers are a gray area) and that’s against my shipping policy. Next!

Would you rather read smut fanfic aloud to your parents or submit smut fanfic to the employer of your dream job?

Again, involves real people with no persona. Again, breaking Shane’s Shipping Scheme

And it involves my parents so....

Would you rather pine after an oblivious love interest or be the oblivious love interest pined after?

I was pining for an oblivious childhood crush. Try to guess my answer. It’ll absolutely shock you /sarcasm

Would you rather hanahaki disease or your soulmate’s first words to you tattooed on your body (and they’re really stupid)?

I actually like both, the latter one is great cause comedy, but Hanahaki is such a dramatic plot device.

Would you rather be an alpha, beta, or omega in omegaverse?

My brain and attitude say Alpha but my actions and personality say Omega.

Would you rather read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant?

Pass on both.

Would you rather be able to resurrect dead fics or have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly?

Create a plethora of new fics. Being in a seemingly never-ending writers’ block, that would be a miracle.

Tagging: @mercy-ed @perversionsofjustice @nosiize

#tagged #Personal

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lovelyladyjane · 4 years

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Back on My BS

I’m good at a lot of things. Not great, but good. I’m a good character writer, a decent world-builder, and my prose hasn’t made anyone scratch their eyes out yet. I can draw. Not as well as I’d like, but better than I could five years ago, which is progress, so I’ll take it. My kids are fed, clean, and happy, and they like to cuddle with me, so I’d say I’m doing pretty well on that front, too.

You know what I’m bad at? Social media.

It’s supposed to be my generation’s thing, right? I mean who among us didn’t chronicle every waking minute on MySpace and LiveJournal, and then Facebook and Instagram?

Not to mention Twitter. Ugh. Twitter.

We’re all driven to connect. Internet access just makes that connection quicker and easier, and if I’m being totally honest, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We’re more aware of others’ experiences, and more open to asking about them. We live every day with information at our fingertips about billions of people around the world. And while bad things can be done with information, information is not of itself a bad thing.

So, what do we do with it? What do we do with all this information about people we’ve never met, but who, ultimately, have a profound impact on our lives? And how does it affect us to have our lives exposed for all the world to see?

Who are we? Who am I?

I guess why I’m really bad as Social Media is because this online life seems so inauthentic. Who is this person? Who am I that the world should listen to me when I am but one of a billion voices crying out to the void?

It’s Impostor Syndrome times a thousand, because if the person you’ve created isn’t IRL, then what, therefore is Real?

Maybe the next generation won’t suffer the dichotomy between an Online Personality and The Real You.

Anyway, before my inner philosopher starts running away with me, let’s get back to some practicalities. I want to write. I want to be published. And in that world, what truly matters (besides doing the work) is who you are online. We can debate the pros and cons of that, but the core of the matter is that who you are -- your brand -- is what sells. So if I’m going to sell that, I have to do the work to create it.

To that end, I logged on to Twitter for the first time in years.

And immediately regretted it.

I mean, it was probably bad timing. As of right now, the impeachment is wrapping up, and it’s all anyone can talk about. And really, who can blame them? It’s history in the making. It’s also really stressful to watch, in real time, as the cracks appear in society and democracy shatters. The world is on fire, both literally and figuratively, and Twitter is the world’s dumpster. And it, too, is on fire.

...but, to be fair, the same can be said for any other social media. The trick is to (again) do the work. Cultivate your experience. Share what you want to see, ignore what you don’t. It’s not precisely that simple -- nothing ever is -- but it’s a start.

So, here I am again, writing, sharing myself, hoping that I’ll find some like-minded people out there, hoping that I won’t be alone. Reach out. Connect. Sure, this world is a trash fire, but I’ll bring the marshmallows if you bring the chocolate and your friend brings the graham crackers.

Let’s make s’mores and scream into the void together.

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browanger55-blog · 5 years

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My London Semester Journal I: Sunday, January 14, 1996

Sunday, 1-14-96 12:53 AM London 6:53 PM E-Town/Chambana (1-13-96)

2 Weeks! I have been here for that long… or short… Okay, I had a bit too much (Merlot) red wine just now… I thought it would help me wind down before bed… Mission accomplished, maybe even a bit more than I had in mind!

Today was another long day! I guess every day here is that way. Lori & I slept until about 11:35 AM when Molly (our GR = Graduate Resident) came a knocking on our door! She brought two FREE tickets to a play! Still more study abroaders haven’t made it here due to the east coast blizzards & the U.S. government budget crisis preventing passports being issued… Once again… Their loss is our gain. That is 3 free theatre visits in 14 days now!

So Lori & my planned activities — to study & relax for the day became a shopping trip to Piccadilly & Oxford Circuses followed by a 3 hr. long, but wonderful, rendition of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband!” What an ironic play title considering the events of the past few days…

I bought a great pair of funky black shoes at “Sacha’s of London!” They have a chunky heel, but aren’t the average penny loafer look… They are kinda my own little style twist! They will ultimately be a b-day gift from Judy! ☺︎

Lori & I also both got scarves for £6 each from a street vendor! We feel so cool now w/ our scarves sporting the Brit look! ☺︎

Okay, after the played we shopped s’more & Lori bought a white fake fur coat! Yow! We walked into this one store & got separated, an hour later the store was closing & when I found her, I almost didn’t recognize her in the fur coat! ☺︎

Dinner was a great bonding experience… I am really starting to care for & feel a connection to many of my housemates! ☺︎ Especially Lori, Adam, Paul, Melissa, Erin, Erica & Nick. We all decided after our usual long meal to go to a pub for a bit. I chose not to drink then, due to menstrual pain & sleep deprivation — and lack of funds — I decided I’d rather just chill there w/ my buddies. We went to “Churchill Arms” pub! It had a great atmosphere & I sat in a corner by a little fire place & chatted w/ Melissa most of the time! Then 1/2 our house rendezvoused back here at Pembridge in the TV room for our own little laid back party!

Oh, Lori called Andrew earlier today & he was not there. Then I called Nathan from a BT phone booth at Piccadilly Circus & he seemed really happy to hear from us, me, whatever. Then Lori called Andrew later & made plans for us w/ them for tomorrow! 4 PM at the “Chalk Farm” tube stop…

Later ☺︎

Sunday, 1-14-96 11:20 PM London 5:20 PM E-Town

I don’t feel like writing in here. I have had enough analyzing & am confused as to what is what… I know why I am here, but I don’t know where I am going or what that means… and in the words of Stuart Smiley & someone who really needs sleep, “that’s okay!”

— ☺︎

The next part isn’t dated, but I think I might’ve written it later that night (Sunday, 1-14-96), even after I said I didn’t feel like writing or maybe the next day, though in my next dated entry (on Tuesday, 1-16-96) I say, “Didn’t get to writing in here yesterday…” And that would’ve been Monday, 1-15-96. Anyway, here’s what I shared:

There is no specific way my life “should” go or be…

GOALS:

MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS – What I do with my life I choose not to come from constant polls of those around me as to what I “should” do – There is nothing wrong with asking for advice, but I choose not to depend on other to decide for me

By making my own choices I want to also ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY – When things turn out well, great! – When they don’t, I can learn from them as opposed to trying to blame someone or something

Care about others (roommates, friends, etc.), be there for them, but not necessarily above my own well being… – Be easy on my expectations – When meeting Princes (such as Nathan…), even the charmers, remember my life is not a fairy tale — there are morals to my story and ultimately I trust God to guide me to a “happy ending” but what happens until then… Que Sera, Sera!

I have almost an obsession w/ certain types of form & organization! This isn’t always necessary to enjoy life. It keeps me from ultimately “relaxing” which I feel I need to do!

As Melissa told me through relating a Robert Fulgham story… “Where do the mermaids stand? Beside the…” When playing games or at life for that matter… You don’t have to be only what options have always seemed the only ones, it’s alright to want & even insist on being a “mermaid” & ultimately others, at least those who need to, will understand and accept.

But, once certain realizations are made, they are important… They mean something, but THEY DO NOT HAVE TO MEAN EVERYTHING!

Those around me are more like me then I usually realize, what a comfort when I am reminded of that! ~ Like me in the sense that I am not alone in my feelings, they have similar ones too!

– Nick, Erin, & Melissa all feel naive here

– Ruth says we all dream of prince charming

– Erica now recognizes how attached she was to home

★ As for learning:

– Erica commented on thinking we can just jump into Brits lives for a short time & play with them for awhile being somewhat unrealistic…

– Adam believes he will never “grow up”

– Lori follows “no one!” or so she tries

★ I would like to read s’more Oscar Wilde, not that I know of any that I have read to date…

Always living, learning, loving, losing…

All ears, some tears…

I will grow more again & again…

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Note from Present Day Kathy: We/I sure packed a lot in to that first two weeks of our/my time in the UK! I love getting to recall that we saw so many plays early on, as to this day going to see live theater is something I enjoy and prioritize. Our family has tickets to the Broadway Series at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL, which does 4 awesome productions a year. Bob and I also have a subscription to Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, with another couple, and get to see 5-7 plays there annually.

I still have the shoes that I bought that day, as I’ve never been able to part with them. The picture of them above is recent, not from 1996. They do look super cool, but are not comfortable to wear and weren’t really even back then.

I am thinking of making a list of the pubs we went to that semester in London, as it seems that some, like the “Churchill Arms,” we hung out at more than others and when my family and I travel to the UK in the future (we are tentatively planning a trip in the summer of 2020), I may want to try to go to one or more of those we went to in 1996. Though, as Bob pointed out when I shared this idea recently, they may not exist anymore. Maybe I’ll Google them, one of these days, and see what I can find out?

It’s also nice to see how some of my stronger friendships there were starting to form, including the helpful advice and affirming things that my housemates shared when I was struggling to make sense of some of my early experiences abroad.

One of the most frustrating things for me, about these journals and others that I have written in and kept over the years, is what I chose to leave out, for whatever reason(s). I don’t recall much about what happened with (not their real names) Nathan and Andrew, the guys we met clubbing that Friday night and then hung out with on Sunday. I am pretty sure we never saw them again and I’m not clear on why. Of course 22 years later it doesn’t really matter. It seems from my writing I might’ve even felt embarrassed that I was so giddy about Nathan and then maybe he didn’t end up returning my feelings?

I do comment later, I think in another entry (I read ahead sometimes, after I transcribe one or more here for my blog), about they guys being cool and also somewhat clueless. So maybe after our initial infatuation wore off we didn’t find them as interesting or impressive either? My roommate was engaged at the time too, so I get why she might’ve been less interested in hanging out with them as much.

I appreciate that though I didn’t share the details of why things didn’t work out with those guys, I did write about how I was processing my feelings. There’s still a lot of wisdom in some of the *goals* I came up with back then and I continue to work on them today.

One of the most fascinating things for me about revisiting these old journal entries from age 20-21 is how much I’ve changed in some ways and in other ways not so much. It a window into who I was before marriage and children and seeing that version of me can feel exciting, cringe-worthy, and also bittersweet at times.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reminder: Unless I’ve been given permission to use people’s actual names, in most cases I’ve removed or replaced the names of the real people who were part of my journey/experience there, in effort to protect and respect their identities/privacy in my London Semester Journal entries. I will also not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here’s the back story of My London Semester Journals from 1996, including what prompted me to revisit and decide to share them here in 2018. And here’s a list a list of the entries, which I will update as I share them.

Source: http://bereavedandblessed.com/2018/10/my-london-semester-journal-i-sunday-january-14-1996/

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andrea-cristina-travel-blog · 6 years

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Traveling Freestyle On The Open Roads Of America

I love decadent resorts. And if you know me, I feel the same about lavish cruises … In fact, I daresay they can be run-of-the-mill and I’ll STILL find ample reasons to like them. To me, travel is one of the greatest gifts of life. Something as simple as changing one’s geography, view and perspective can sow the seeds of learning and change. Essentially, to travel is to grow. And there are just so many different experiences and approaches to travel, there is really just no good reason to stop. Ever. And while there are few substitutes for the replenish and calm one gets from a week or two of doing nothing but pampering oneself, dining and letting troubles melt away into a sea of infinite calm (the kind of experience one might have at a four or five-star tropical escape) … there are other ways to recharge, revitalize and renew. One of those ways, we call, “Travel al Dente.” TAD can be done creatively. It can be a spur of the moment road trip. It could be pursued in tents. It can be enjoyed in odd urban sites or in areas so remote that they’ll confuse your GPS. Or you can even approach it without GPS (Though, it probably doesn’t hurt to have some tech available in case of emergency.) The goal here is to have an experience that brings you closer to the world around you. One that calms you, not because you are cosseted in lavish surroundings, but because it allows you to let go of your regular daily rigors and monotony by forcing you to be completely engaged in something else entirely. Look, nobody here is going to compare the quality of one vacation escape or engagement type to another or lend an arbitrary value judgement based on personal preference. In fact, I love each type of escape in its own way. I just see many (including myself), often because of limited time or know how, doing more of the resort or cruisy thing, and overlooking the joyous sensory overload of an experience al dente. Think about it this way. When one literally cooks al dente, the food is a bit firmer and much of the time, finds their meal requires a bit more effort to chew. But, the food itself is also enhanced. It is even MORE nutritious. The colors are brighter and ultimately, al dente food better for your body and mind. I am NOT advocating giving up pizza. Cook the heck out of it and I’m in. It’s just that I am just not writing about great pizza today. Rather, I am writing about a preparation style that requires the experience itself to be a bit less boiled down. Today, I am sitting at my desk at one of the largest travel companies in the world. We put together amazing trips and travel opportunities across the globe. We do it for individuals, members, companies – in fact, you wouldn’t believe how much of the travel that goes on in the world is touched by us in some form or fashion. Virtually everybody who works with me here loves people, loves vacations and probably with no exceptions, we love new ideas about taking trips. That, is today. I should tell you, however, that less than two weeks ago, I was in a late model Toyota Tacoma, one taillight out, driven by a guy named James. I had met James just three minutes earlier. He lives in a Fleetwood Bounder RV in Torrey, Utah. His Tacoma tires were kicking up the local red dust from the soil as he, for no reason other than his sense of humanity and good humor, was running me into the next town to a gas station that carried transmission fluid. Yep, my RV, a Fleetwood Southwind Storm was having transmission problems. Maybe a drink of some new fluid would get me going – at least far enough to get to a town with an actual repair shop (not one with a broken, hand-painted sign fastened onto a post by a guy named Mike who wasn’t “too keen on helping out until Tuesday or so.” See, hand-painted sign repairman Mike was, “into some other things right now.” I am not going to lie, I was stressed. My wife was there stranded; my four kids were there stranded. No cabs. No busses. No train station. Nada. Our RV was cracked down in a place that was so off-the-grid that the middle of nowhere was a few miles closer to civilization than were we. What’s more. When I did put in the transmission fluid – it didn’t work. Like Ren and Stimpy, we were MAROONED!!! (And I know most of you will likely miss that reference, but hey, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good one. Besides, in the days of Google, you can look anything up – hint, hint.) Okay, I am not going to belabor the RV crackdown. It was on the last leg of a truly amazing journey and in part, it was my fault. Why it happened or even that it happened is not critically important. What is important is that I learned and won’t be so foolish again … and that my kids learned that every problem has a solution if you keep your wits and stay positive. But even this realization is NOT WHY I am writing this little blog story. Nope. What its really about is … Heartbeat. It’s about the unmistakable, strong heartbeat I felt throughout our al dente journey. It was swimming in Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald. I am telling you, it is a magical place. The lake water is so clear you can open your eyes underwater and seemingly see forever. We were also about 80 yards from some bighorn sheep, too. There was no zoo. They could have horned us, or rammed us, or whatever it is they do with those attached shofars of theirs. We saw Billie Goats munching on wildflowers and my elder daughter (age 15) was singled out for an intense one-on-one conversation by a yellow-bellied marmot (No shame in this guy’s game. Not sure what it was, but he had a very important message to relay to her). The moment was epically hysterical. Did you know that in July in Montana there’s sunlight until after 11pm? I didn’t either. I mean, I knew the days were long in Alaska in the summer and that their winter’s days were notoriously dark … but there’s just things you get from al dente travel that mean so much. There we were. The campsite in Glacier. A much appreciated success after missing out on a site the night before because we were newbies and got hornswoggled by campsite reserving technique pros (another lesson). My son Aiden (age 14) was doing his “Ahhhnold” impersonation by campfire. It was well after ten o’clock – at night. Still light out, mind yout. We were laughing hysterically – our nine-year-old daughter was out of her mind – the clear result of doubling down on double stuffed s’mores amplified by a prodigious lack of sleep (those long days get you amped, I tell you). Admittedly, we also knew that we were likely annoying the group of strapping young University of Kansas guys camping nearby who, much to the liking of my fifteen-year-old daughter, seemed to be obsessed with changing their t-shirts 5-6 times a day. (Your guess is as good as mine.) Nevertheless, Aiden was on point. He was even lacing in four-letter words to enhance his act. All fair game under the towering pines of Glacier in the glow of campfire embers and bellies full of stick-broiled hot dogs, marshmallows, chocolate and grahams. Some other notable sights, moments, and thoughts from our journey (and these are mine though some may have been discussed with my wife and kids.) And that’s the thing, I am sure we ALL have our own list – with only instances of overlap. With no further ado … here are a few of my al dente highlights, for you: I know about the reputation for Washington cherries. But, if you were to have tree picked cherries from the orchards surrounding Flathead Lake, you too would immediately purchase the t-shirt. Norman MacLean was right. Missoula, Montana is everything he said it was. And to stand on the banks of the Blackfoot River with your family – no words spoken, watching and listening to the waters ripple over the rocks. You could feel the words of his classic American novel swirl all about you, “I am haunted by waters.” Kaleb, my twelve-year-old answered his mother after coming back to the RV from a rural Idaho gas station bathroom. “Yeah, Mom, the bathroom was fine. There was just this weird hole in the stall wall.” Whitefish, Montana is one of the most perfect towns on planet Earth. Period. One morning I awakened to the sounds of a river coursing beside our RV, we sat parked at a random pull-off I chose of the remote two-lane blacktop. I was still in the foothills on the way out of the mountains, but I could see a sun-kissed farmhouse in the distance with a tree that summoned recollections of Redd’s from Shawshank Redemption. My daughter blowing dandelion wisps into the air with a backdrop akin to a Riccola commercial. About 30 percent of the cars north of Utah are Subaru Outbacks. Another 15 percent are Forresters by the same maker. (I now want one too.) If cows and bulls ever unionized and staged a coup d’état, we’d all be screwed. Is it possible that there are more mosquitos NEAR cities? When traveling, do whatever is necessary to avoid major expressways. They are miserable, life denying crap flats. Use backroads whenever possible. The time you think you will make up by taking an expressway is simply not worth it … Ever. Allow yourself flexibility. Sometimes there are places along the way that are worth softening your al dente pledge for – even if just for the night. Always allow the room for something special. There is beauty everywhere. Sometimes, it is better to ride through it, or stay in the heart of it (than it is to fly over it or cruise past it.) Some wild bunnies are less afraid of people than others. My daughter made an actual friend that followed her around. I think it had something to do with her access to a particularly delicious leaf variety that Jade could grab from some low hanging branches that even said rabbit’s bunny “hops” couldn’t quite help her get to. Mountain goats’ ability to scale sheer rock is beyond explanation. There is a road named Going to the Sun Road. The moment you are on it, whether driving or riding, you realize that it was not a clever name, rather, a perfect one. There is a very real satisfaction to driving, maintaining the safety, cooking all the meals and overseeing the set-up and breakdown of a roving gypsy family trickster for the family. It just gives one the feeling of being complete. We call our rig Stomy. Music is only slightly less important that oxygen when you’re on the road. Some cheap advice to our readers: Travel al dente can be done locally or over great distance. Start small. Start big. It is all up to you. Throw caution to the wind, but do take time to be prepared. Go places that you picked randomly. Plan ahead. This is YOUR trip. If you have kids, take them. (And then remember/write down the places you’d like to revisit without them;) Don’t wait. Start planning some travel al dente immediately. You don’t need an RV. You can take your car or SUV. You can take a train and ride it to some off the beaten path places. You can take a bus somewhere. Go see what’s in between, above, below and around. Fill your cup with life. Share moments with those you love and tell your stories to those you cherish who were unable to join. Engage the world around you. Get in. Get on. Roll your sleeves up. Treat yourself to a little dirt under your fingernails. Make it a point … to be brave. P.S. If you’d like to know more about RVing or why/how we did what we did. Just check out or Insta @TheRVingRosenthals – See you there, road warriors! The post Traveling Freestyle On The Open Roads Of America appeared first on Must Do Travels.

https://www.mustdotravels.com/traveling-freestyle-open-roads-america/

#Things To Do #Travel Stories #America #Family #Glacier #Goats #Montana #Roadtrip #RV #travel #Utah

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